Forgiveness Pendingby KiroberosChaptersChapter 02Chapter 03Chapter 04Chapter 05Chapter 06Chapter 07Chapter 08Chapter 09Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 28Chapter 29Chapter 30Chapter 31Chapter 32Chapter 33Chapter 34Chapter 35Chapter 36Chapter 37Chapter 39Chapter 40Chapter 41Chapter 42Chapter 43Chapter 44Chapter 45Chapter 46Chapter 47Chapter 48Chapter 49Chapter 50Chapter 51Chapter 52Chapter 532013 Hearth's Warming ShortChapter 54Chapter 55Chapter 56Chapter 57Chapter 58Chapter 59Chapter 60Chapter 61Chapter 62Chapter 63Chapter 65Chapter 66Chapter 67Chapter 68Chapter 69Chapter 70Chapter 71Chapter 72Chapter 73Chapter 74Chapter 75Chapter 76Chapter 77Chapter 78Chapter 79Chapter 80Chapter 81Chapter 82Chapter 83Chapter 84Chapter 85Chapter 86Chapter 87Chapter 88Chapter 89Chapter 90Chapter 92Chapter 93Chapter 94Chapter 95Chapter 96Chapter 97Chapter 99Chapter 100Ending 1Ending 2Ending 3Chapter 01Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 38Chapter 64Chapter 91Chapter 98Chapter 02I realized we were trapped. Sweetie Belle lowered herself nervously to the floor of the platform, slipping in behind my right foreleg as I watched Twilight through the crack. Applejack was behind the only exit to this now very horrifying building. To make matters worse, I saw Rainbow Dash flutter down and slowly start to attempt to work the window open outside to the left. A rapid pounding came from the door behind me. "What in blazes do ya think yer doin', Mender?!" I heard shortly thereafter, barely audible through the heavy wooden door. "B-Back, monster," Twilight warned nervously, her horn still glowing angrily as she lowered herself to the stairs. She was scared of me? I started to open my mouth to say something when she opened fire, unfortunately. I let out an exceedingly high-pitched scream, rather embarrassing of my gender, and rapidly raised a shield up using a front leg. The barrier barely deflected the bolt, causing it to tear through the side of my platform instead and knock us back into the door. From my cowering position, I stared in shock at the new hole in my vehicle. Sweetie Belle peeked out from around the busted section, earning another gasp from Twilight. "Sweetie Belle? Are you okay? Let her go!" the lavender unicorn demanded. "I-I will! Please, j-just listen," I begged, peeking around the side of the opening, just above the little filly. Twilight widened her eyes. "M-Moon Mender? What are you, but you were..." she muttered rapidly. "Just please. Sweetie Belle didn't do anything wrong, so please don't punish her. She only wanted to help me," I begged, lowering the platform to the floor shakily and opening the front so she could get down. She surprised me by turning around and looking up at me instead. Huh? "You rescued me and stuck up for me?" she asked quietly, suddenly wearing a warm smile. My mind idled into reverse. Sweetie Belle hugged my left foreleg before I could reply. My magic faltered as I suddenly realized how tired I was. The platform, or what was left of it, anyway, slowly lowered us to the floor. "Oh fer cryin' out loud! Ah wasn't gonna hurt 'er in tha first place," Applejack muttered from the other side of the door. Twilight recovered rapidly and bounded the remaining two meters towards me. I almost panicked, but Sweetie Belle had a hold of me so there wasn't much I could do! There was no impact or subduing blast though. All I felt was Twilight's warm coat as she latched onto my other foreleg, pushing both Sweetie and I gently into the wall next to the door. I was momentarily bewildered, then turned a deep crimson as she pulled me into a tight hug, Sweetie Belle incidentally getting sandwiched between us. I tried to avert my eyes, shifting them just in time to see a cyan and rainbow pegasus flutter through the now open window wearing a smirk. She landed next to me on my right and unlocked the front door, sticking her tongue out as my eyes widened towards her. I fidgeted, trying to shift from her but Twilight wouldn't budge. "I'm so, so sorry for everything, Mender! I'm glad you're awake," Twilight muttered into my neck as she squeezed me. Oops, back to blushing. Threat of imminent death can only hold back the feelings of an amazing girl pressed against you for so long, I guess. "Twi, it's all right. I'm sorry, too," I reminded, realizing Sweetie was right all along. I'm glad I listened to her this time. Rainbow snickered. "Aww. You two are so cu-," she started taunting with a grin, just as she slid the last lock. Wham! The door slammed open, taking the cyan mare with it and flattening her against the wall on the other side. "Woo! Totally party time, right here! I brought the cannon," Pinkie assured whimsically as she bounced through the doorway. I saw Applejack flattened on the step, glaring up at the pink tush bouncing away from her. I just assumed she got bowled over as well. Wait, cannon? "Pinkie! I'm trying to apologize here!" Twilight growled, switching from adoring to irate in a second. Whoa! I was suddenly worried as I was still attached to her. Pinkie giggled and nodded merrily, seeming unfazed as she spun and cart-wheeled. I got even more tired just from watching her. "He already knows about Celestia. I'm sorry, Twilight," Sweetie Belle apologized from in-between us, looking up at the lavender mare. Twilight swallowed and nodded as well, looking back at me instead. "It's all right, Sweetie. Mender, I wrote a letter to the Princess the night I got so worked up. I panicked and didn't know what to do so I kinda ended up telling her everything," she explained quietly, looking more than a little nervous but still clenching me as if I'd fade away should she let go. It wasn't a hug anymore, but instead felt like a strange form of assurance. "Ya were right ta be honest with tha Princess, Twi," Applejack assured slowly, getting up again and walking inside at a far more relaxed gait than her pink friend. Pinkie nodded agreement enthusiastically, then tilted her head as a light groan came from behind the door. Rainbow Dash slowly stumbled out, holding her forehead with a hoof. Applejack held a hoof up however, preemptively halting a Pinkie outburst. "But ta do that, ya had ta betray Mender's trust instead. Ah'm not sayin' ya made the wrong choice. It's just somethin' ta think about," she added slowly, as if carefully picking her words. I swallowed heavily, remembering my nightmare. If Sweetie was right and the Princess helped pull me back then this was definitely the right choice, wasn't it? My memory shifted back to those frigid moments I spent all alone on that ship, in the middle of a massive void and the only other living thing vaguely nearby being a complete monster. I'd wanted so desperately to just let someone else deal with it. I hadn't been brave and strong. I'd just felt tiny and weak, dealing the only hand I had left and hoping it was enough. Truthfully, these ponies meant more to me than I did now. This way of life and everypony in this wonderful world; it was all so pure and beautiful. I hated myself for risking it. Maybe I should have died with the rest of my race? I tried so hard but did I deserve this outcome? I was all that was left. My old race was gone and everyone I knew and loved, dead. And I couldn't even remember them. Did I deserve to be happy when millions of my race lost everything? It was overwhelming. Screams of pain and despair echoed through my head as I remembered. There was nothing but memories of misery from my past life. I wondered if I had seen anything apart from that. "Mender..." Twilight whispered gently. I snapped out of it in time to realize my cheeks felt warm and wet. A sense of disgust came over me as I used my now freed right hoof to wipe my eyes. "Ah, sorry," I muttered, embarrassed. Whack! I reeled sideways from a moderate blow to the side of my head. Stars exploded nonetheless and I felt a sharp sting tear through my left cheek as I hit the wooden floor and slid. "Applejack! What are you doing?!" Twilight demanded, moving in-between her and I while Sweetie Belle sprung over to check me for damage. "That there's fer worryin' everypony with yer shenanigans. Ah imagine Rainbow, Twi, an Fluttershy'll have their own two bits ta add later, but consider yerself paid in full with tha rest o' us," she explained, expression neutral and stoic. All things considered, she probably could have snapped my head off with that hoof hit. She pulled her punch and let me off gently, then. I had expected worse. Slowly sitting up, I rubbed my left cheek and drew back blood on my hoof. Yup. I was definitely going to get a black eye from that one. "T-Thank you, Applejack," I spoke gently, eyes softening towards her. That oddly made me feel better. Well, mentally. Her stoicism slipped and she nodded, acquiring a gentler smile. "Then consider yerself forgiven. Pinks an Rare wouldn't'ah voiced as much, so ah knew ah had ta be the one," Applejack added, averting her gaze slightly from the still angry looking Twilight. "Applejack, I wasn't upset with him at all. Well, maybe a little sad that he almost died. And that he was gonna miss the awesome party I planned, but," Pinkie protested with a little less energy than usual. Applejack shook her head gently, glancing over at the pink mare. "Ah know yer a forgivin' mare, but he made ya sad still and Ah'm sure he didn't mean ta," she explained in a quiet but sturdy voice. Rainbow Dash still looked shocked and remained quiet. "Then why did you do that? He's barely out of the clinic an afternoon and you decide to hit him?!" Twilight asked crossly. Rainbow Dash finally snapped out of it and let out a snicker, raising a hoof between Twilight and her pony of affection. "Relax, Twi. That was barely a swat for AJ here. Plus he seems to have accepted it," she pointed out, now wearing a smirk. Did that mean I did something right in her eyes? I smiled weakly and nodded, trying not to wince and risk damaging my ego further as I felt my cheek swelling. "She let me off easy for what I did to you ponies. I still feel like I owe you more," I muttered. Sweetie Belle quietly shook her head as she reached up with a piece of tissue in her mouth to dab at my cheek. Whispering thanks, I bent lower to make it easier for her. The tissue felt really soft and I wondered where she'd gotten it. "I'm not mad at you at all, Mender. You were amazingly noble and if anything, I should be the one to apologize. I gave out confidential information about you without consent or even informing you," Twilight replied, turning around to focus on me instead, albeit with a far more positive expression. "Is Princess Celestia mad at me?" I asked carefully. I decided to keep the banishment, black ops, and execution ideas to myself for now. All four mares looked bewildered, but Twilight laughed nervously a second later. "You have quite the imagination, Mender. No, she's happy she helped save you," she assured, trying to smile. "But?" I questioned, noting her hesitation. She sighed and noticeably sagged. "She just asked me if it was all right to get an account of the event so she could estimate the level of danger to Equestria," she muttered. "Er, ah might be missin' somethin', but that doesn't sound so bad," Applejack pondered out loud. Pinkie went back to smiling and enthusiastically nodded her agreement. "Yeah. Are ya worried that she'll do something to Mender?" Rainbow asked curiously. Twilight shook her head, to my relief. "No, she reported herself that the link faded after the explosion of the Grosh ship. Mender's not dangerous to Equestria," she assured, making me feel even better. I had planned on asking her if the explosion had worked. But if it wasn't that, I could only think of one other reason for her distress. "She wants a personal account. From me directly?" I asked gently, masking my nervousness. Twilight nodded softly. "Sort of. She wants the direct images from your memories, if at all possible," Twilight informed weakly, looking down. I reeled back in surprise. Oh crap! If Twilight was forceful I could only imagine the level of violation being mind raped by a goddess would bring. She must have seen my reaction, as she rapidly shook both front hooves towards me. "W-Wait! She said when you're healthy enough to. And she wants me to perform the spell, not her," Twilight rapidly over-corrected, although scarily accurate with the second half. "Healthy? Is the ritual painful or something?" Rainbow asked from behind her, sounding a little uncomfortable with the concept. Twilight shook her head, peeking back over her shoulder. "No. It just takes a lot of energy from him. He essentially won't get any natural REM sleep for the night we choose to do it, which might be detrimental to his health at the moment," she reasoned. Oh, I had to be pseudo sleeping? Rainbow started snickering mirthfully, however. She held a forehoof up to her muzzle as she restrained it. "Better eat some Silphium beforehand," she warned, barely holding back the laughter. Huh? What was Silphium? "Er, huh?" Twilight muttered, apparently as confused as I was. Pinkie Pie burst into laughter almost instantly. Applejack chuckled as well and shook her head, though. "It did sound ah tad awkward, but ah think ah get it. He has ta be sleepin' but he won't be rested up after, right?" she asked, smirking still. Awkward? I was seriously missing something. Twilight slipped back into scientific mode rapidly and nodded. "Yes. I'll be peeking through his mind as he sleeps, which means he can't slip into REM and replenish his natural energies. My mind sort of, well, keeps his awake?" she attempted to explain. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Applejack looked truly thoughtful but Twilight suddenly looked perplexed. A single beat later, she suddenly went scarlet in the cheeks and glared intensely at Rainbow. "Hey!" she protested. The cyan mare burst into laughter of course. She joined Pinkie Pie in rolling on the floor. "That is disgusting! You are so horrible, Dash!" she growled, sounding oddly embarrassed. I was just deeply confused. I'd assumed as Dash was laughing, it was because of what she said earlier but I had no idea what Silphium was. Sweetie Belle looked equally confused so I didn't feel as badly. Applejack must have noticed my quiet confusion, as she explained a second later, "Silphium, when ingested by ah mare, works as ah potent contraceptive." "Contra-what?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously. Pinkie winked at me while upside down, ignoring the filly. My cheeks went scarlet, oddly similar to Twilight. "Yeah, wouldn't want Mender to become a daddy!" the pink mare squealed, sounding deeply amused. What the hell?! Where did they get, oh. 'The night we do it.' I mentally groaned. "What? Mender's going to be a daddy?!" Sweetie Belle asked in sudden shock. Oh for the love of all that was just and fair! That's it. Twilight was never going to speak to me again. "Argh! That's it! Mender needs rest so out!" Twilight growled, horn starting to glow menacingly. Dash made a yelping noise, zipping out the window behind her as if trying to escape incoming mortar fire. Of course, Twilight was scary like that. Pinkie giggled and made a light, excited snorting noise before rolling to her feet. "Aww! We were just playing. But Mender does need his rest! Sleep well, cuz it's totally party time tomorrow!" she assured me, giving a wink before hopping out the door like a rabbit with a sugar high. "Ug, fine. Tomorrow evening, though!" Twilight called after her, sounding a little tired herself suddenly. Regardless, she followed Pinkie out the door with the warning just to be sure. "Ah reckon Ah'd best let tha nurse know yer checkin' out an' not in some tree somewhere, rah-ight?" Applejack offered calmly after Twilight wandered back inside, head hung slightly. I sighed and nodded to her wearily. The aftereffects of using my magic again were definitely felt, even though I hadn't done much. It was like any other muscle, however. I was just heavily out of practice. "Yeah. I'm sorry about the whole running away thing earlier," I apologized. Sweetie Belle giggled as she finally took the tissue back, rotating it using her tongue. I saw little dots of blood on it. "Buh iht waas phumn!" she protested, tissue still in her mouth. Applejack chuckled and patted her lightly on the head, having moved up next to me to get out of the way when Twilight went after Pinkie. "Fun is all fine an' dandy but it's only common courtesy ta let tha nurse know he's all right," she explained, smiling at the little white filly. I suddenly thought of something horrifying but decided to be as polite about it as possible. "Thank you, Applejack. Um, where am I gonna stay tonight if not the clinic, though?" I inquired as nicely as I could muster. "Here of course," Twilight answered instead, coming back inside slowly and closing the door. I was momentarily taken aback, memories of almost getting run over with a mattress coming fresh to mind. I must have looked surprised because she suddenly blushed while Applejack started snickering merrily. "Ya have'ta admit, you two last part'd on some rocky relations," she reminded, absently waving her hoof in the air. "Oh yeah. Twilight kicked him out!" Sweetie Belle suddenly seemed to recall, leaning back against my right foreleg. Wait, why was she still here? Twilight winced and nodded. "I know. We have a few things to discuss but please give me another chance?" she requested quietly. Smiling, I nodded gently to her. I was just happy she was giving me another chance instead. The day's events rapidly caught up to me an instant later, surprising me. I wobbled suddenly, feeling the slow throb of my headache spike from the magic and a light, warm trickle go down the front of my muzzle from my nose. Too much magic, too quickly. "Whoa nelly! Ya had best be makin' yer way upstairs an' ta bed. Ya look mighty unstable on yer hooves, so let me help ya," Applejack offered, moving a little closer. I flinched slightly and shifted away from her. She froze for a moment and her eyes softened, her nod assuring me followed by a gentle smile. I relaxed and gave in, letting her hook my left foreleg over her shoulders and slowly leading me to the stairs. She meant what she said earlier. That punch really was my payment, then. "Oh, Sis's nose sometimes does that if she works on dresses for too long," Sweetie Belle pointed out, trotting after Twilight as she went up the stairs following us. "Yes. He overused his magic back there. He'll be fine. He'll just sleep well tonight," she assured. I heard a weak sigh behind us, regardless. "But he did it to save me. To get me out of trouble," she muttered. "Oh, fer crying out loud. Ah wasn't gonna hurt ya, Sweetie!" Applejack protested. Again. I chuckled tiredly and added, "Yeah, and technically I was the reason you were in that position in the first place. I couldn't let anything happen to you." There was light scratching as we reached the top of the stairs, I noted. Spike was writing gently on a long, unrolled parchment that was spread a good ten feet across the floor. "Hey, Twilight! I almost finished the first alphabetized segment of," he started to greet before turning around and giving a surprised start. "Whoa! Applejack? Moon Mender?" he added questioningly. "Hey, Spike. Mender woke up and is going to be staying with us tonight. Can you help Applejack get him into bed?" Twilight requested, coming to the top of the stairs after the three of us cleared it. Spike tilted his head. "Bed? Is he sleeping with you?" he questioned. Even half asleep I still managed to blush. "Ug! Spike! Mattress, then. Sheesh," Twilight groaned behind me, a matching blush almost apparent in her voice. Spike didn't seem to understand his faux pas, but shrugged and guided Applejack and I towards the other corner. I was surprised to see the folding mattress set up there again. Applejack wordlessly picked up my surprise. "We brought it back 'ere after ya went in the clinic. Twi said she wanted ta have ya close ta run some tests fer ah little while," she explained gently, helping me lie down. Sweetie Belle helped adjust my pillow as Applejack actually pulled my blankets back up for me. "Um, thank you, you two," I muttered, somewhat unsure of how to gracefully handle their kindness. "Considering she belted you not even ten minutes ago, that's the least she can do," Twilight muttered, rolling her eyes as I watched her walk around Applejack to examine me. "Whoa, she what?" Spike asked, sounding a mixture of surprised and amused. Applejack looked less entertained. "Ah told ya why. Ah let him off easy fer the amount o' needless worry he gave us," she professed. Twilight narrowed her eyes slightly. "I guess we have different definitions of needless, then. He was brave and honorable, actually ready to give his life to save us," she defended. Er. Brave and honorable? I almost wet myself. If there had been any other option, I would have run screaming. But the only other options I know I couldn't have lived with. You can't outrun yourself. "He coulda let Dash stay an fly 'em through yer magic even faster. Or held off on tha reckless explosions until yer spell was done. Poor Rainbow almost tore herself apart over all this," Applejack growled, tone of voice rising. Sweetie Belle swallowed nervously and backed away from the two mares, bumping into the edge of my mattress. "It doesn't work like that. Twice the mass, twice as slow to move! Would you prefer they both almost died? He did that for her," Twilight explained, blush now gone and looking irritated instead. Sweetie Belle climbed onto the mattress, over me, and hid on my other side. Rainbow must have taken this really badly. I wish I could apologize to her right now. Applejack stomped a hoof down. "He didn't have'ta blow up so soon. It wouldn't'ah been an issue iffin he just delayed ah minute or so!" she argued, gesturing angrily in my direction. I swallowed weakly. She was right, of course. It all boiled down to me being too weak. After I'd gotten hit by that blast in the back, my body just kinda gave out. I should have been stronger. Rainbow could have stayed to the last moment and nobody's feelings would have gotten hurt. The sick feeling came back and I held in the urge to throw up. "Why are you attacking him?! I screwed up in the first place. If it weren't for my scanning spell, they wouldn't have gotten into trouble at all," Twilight growled, not quite as loud as Applejack. No, it wasn't her fault. It wasn't. "Why are ya protectin' him so hard, Twilight? Can't ya just let 'er go at tha one punch an' be done?!" Applejack redirected. She growled low and her snarling face burned into my mind. I winced as a low static audio bled through my hearing. "He's a worthless pile of shit after all! Why protect him in the first place?" Applejack demanded. I reeled in agony as her words tore at my heart. The room started to spin as I fought to close my eyes. Still, she continued, "He's a runt! He failed the breeding examinations and is barely fit to be a janitor, let alone a... Why do you support him?!" I choked back the vomit and sobbing, eyes opening to a darkened room full of glowing red eyes. My vision warped and distorted, spinning as if I had a massive fever. Maybe I did? I felt like I was burning up. The eyes stared wickedly at me, curved mouths twisted in laughter as I tried to spin away from them. They had me completely surrounded, however, and I cried out, trying to get someone, anyone to come help me. I clutched tightly at the only thing that gave me comfort. A memento. Some called it silly or childish but it was all I had. I... Everything was washed away in lavender and it felt like I stopped breathing, if but for a moment. A lovely smell and soft feeling drifted over me, even as my beloved memento faded from my memories. My mind felt sleepy suddenly, and I gave way to the soft light as reality bled back into being. W-What happened? The soft sensation solidified into a warm coat and gentle heartbeat pressed tightly into my chest and a harder push against my forehead. My eyes re-focused just in time to see Twilight's open from an inch away, her horn pressed against my forehead again. She pulled me out of the nightmare? "Ah can't keep him down fer long with that blasted hoof gettin' in tha way. Could ya hurry it up ah tad?" Applejack asked, sounding a bit irritated. Uh oh. All of my muscles relaxed instantly as I forced the tension away. The magic focus went with it and I felt the elongated ribbons connected to my left foreleg go limp. The ends drifted away from Applejack's face and hooves as she continued putting her full weight on my waist and back legs, holding me down. My death grip on Twilight's back also lessened, but I saw her blush lightly as my hooves slid off her back. "Mender, are you here now?" Twilight asked gently, smiling. I swallowed and nodded quietly, unsure of how to respond or even what happened. "Thank Celestia fer that! Those bandages were darn annoyin' when they kept tryin' ta tangle me up or crawl up mah nose," Applejack muttered, shaking her head rapidly and blowing air out her nostrils a couple times. Spike, whom I just noticed, let go of Sweetie Belle, who bounded back up onto the bed again. "Are you all right, Mender?" she asked rapidly, sliding to a stop at my left side. I nodded tiredly as Twilight moved her horn out of the way. "Um, yeah. I just don't know what happened," I muttered. "Ya started freakin' out an squeezin' Sweetie Belle like ah stuffed animal er somethin'," Applejack informed, causing me to swallow. "I'm okay. They got me free of the bandages. But are you all right?" Sweetie asked, still sounding concerned. Twilight frowned, shaking her head as she brushed her horn along my temples instead. Her warm breath drifted down my neck and I tried hard not to blush. "I'm sensing his magic settling down again. It was a panic attack. But your magic activated too, so this could be dangerous if unchecked," she explained. Her tail swished impatiently as her lower half stuck off the side of the bed. "Is that why his eyes glowed?" Spike asked, approaching on the other side of Twilight and sitting down lazily. "Ah reckon it's ah good idea ta keep him 'ere with tha magic expert, then," Applejack admitted, finally releasing my stiff waist. "Ya back then, Mender?" she followed up quietly. Staring at her again, I tried not to shiver while nodding. She hadn't really said that, Mender. Calm down. She doesn't think you're a useless runt. Right? There was a moment’s hesitation. Something silently noticed or maybe a rogue thought in her mind. I saw her eyes flicker for less than a second, averting her gaze from mine. Then she snapped them back onto me and covered the building frown with a warmer smile. "That's good. Ah guess ya should take 'er easy fer ah few more days," she added, nodding solemnly. "Maybe you should leave for the night?" Twilight returned instead, glaring at the orange earth mare over her right shoulder. Applejack sighed and nodded more tentatively this time. "Ah'll get outta yer hair. Ah only seem ta be makin' it worse fer now. Come on, Sweets. Ah'll take ya back to Rarity, too," she finally relented, motioning to the white filly on my cot. "Aww! Do I have to? Sis is gonna kill me," she whined in protest. Twilight hesitated for a second before sighing. "Look, I'm sorry, AJ. I'm just a little stressed right now, is all," she interrupted, apologizing. Applejack stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back in surprise. After a second or two, the soft smile returned and she shook her head. "Ah understand, Sugar. Rainbow's been talkin' with me almost every day 'bout it, an' ah'm ah tad stressed too. Ah..." she started to explain before frowning at me. Jittery, I looked away rapidly, directing attention to Sweetie instead. She was frowning and looking down at the fabric she'd given me earlier. Wait. Fabric? I suddenly noticed the tiny saddlebags on her sides. Oh. "That was for Rarity, wasn't it?" I whispered, getting a closer look at the now bloody piece of fabric. Sweetie Belle looked up at me in surprise, but then smiled. "It's okay. It was for a good cause," she assured hesitantly, absently brushing a hoof over the piece. "Will Rarity understand that?" Spike asked, sitting on my other side now and looking concerned at Sweetie Belle. Twilight migrated over to Applejack while we whispered, tilting her head. Applejack seemed to draw assurance from her and nodded to herself. "That's not entirely true, ah 'spose. Ah've been ah bit worried mahself, too. Ah pony grows on ya after ah while, ya know?" she finally offered up. I grew on her? My heart wanted to believe her but my mind was ever the skeptic. I pretended not to be listening. "Yeah, I know. He's important to me. I just wish I hadn't screwed up so much. It's stressed me out," Twilight returned. I frowned. Important? As a pony or guinea pig? Sweetie distracted my stalker tendencies by sighing, seemingly paying no attention to the mares. "If she gives me time to explain, it might not be as bad. Does blood wash out?" she asked innocently. "Way too easily," I assured before I really realized I was talking. I'd had that impression before, I was suddenly distinctly aware of. "Whew! She might not be as mad at me, then," Sweetie Belle muttered, looking relieved. My darker thoughts lightened a little and I smiled at her. She perked and returned my expression a moment later, nodding. I assured her, "Don't worry. Rarity will understand. I'll even come by the boutique tomorrow and explain." Her eyes got as wide as saucers and she grinned, hugging my chest gently. I chuckled and patted her lightly on the head. "Besides, Princess Celestia left it up to you, right? She still has faith in you," Applejack continued, snapping my attention back to their conversation with that name. Twilight sighed and shook her head wearily. "It's not her I'm worried about. Still, thank you," she returned quietly. I tilted my head and Applejack smirked suddenly, looking past her lavender friend and right at me. "Well shucks. Iffin' that's all yer worried about, he's right 'ere ta ask, after all. Hey, Mender?!" she called out, surprising me. Twilight looked momentarily shocked before glaring at the orange earth mare. "Don't you dare!" she warned. What were they talking about that was so dire? "Do ta think Twi 'ere is a horrible pony deservin' some punishment?" she asked, totally ignoring the unicorn's sputtering protests. I blushed lightly, more than a little confused. Sure, I was apprehensive about meeting the Princess, but I trusted Twilight's judgment most of all. I shook my head as Sweetie let go of me and gave a questioning look back at the mares. Twilight stopped and stared at me in surprise, tilting her head. "You aren't angry that I told the Princess? That I almost got you killed?" she questioned incredulously. I smiled softly and shook my head. "I was in good hooves. Rainbow's a goddess of flight. I don't think we were ever really in danger after you cast it. It was a simple mistake made during a stressful moment," I reasoned. Technically true. I'd gotten most of the damage due to the communication dish skirmish, not on the first approach to the Aegis. Twilight exhaled lightly while Applejack laughed. "Careful ya don't let Rainbow hear ya say that. She might try ta court ya next," she warned, wearing a smirk. I chuckled and shook my head. That I didn't have to worry about, at least. "I don't think she's interested," I observed, brushing the faux warning off easily. Applejack just snickered and nodded. "Ah didn't think she'd be. Anyways, ah should be headin' home. Ah'll see ya at tomorrow evenin's get tagether," she assured, maintaining the friendly smile through her slow drawl. Twilight nodded and answered for me, "Of course! Could you also clear Sweetie Belle with Rarity? It'll save Mender having to tomorrow." "Aww! But I wanted him to visit!" Sweetie Belle complained, frowning sadly. I chuckled, feeling a little more useless than before, but I suppose it's for the best. "He still can visit if he wants. Plus you'll see him at the party, right?" Twilight reasoned to the little filly, not missing a beat or losing her smile. Spike snickered and nodded as well. "I bet you could get Rarity to let you come over early and help decorate, too. I'll... help her with your duties in your absence, of course!" he offered, smirking towards Sweetie Belle. Twilight gave the little purple lizard thing a knowing skeptical look, but Sweetie beamed. "Really? You'd do that?" she asked, sounding absurdly excited. I resisted snorting at his ulterior motives. "Of course! No sweat," he assured, grinning now. I noticed his teeth for the first time and was surprised to note their razor points. Those kinds of teeth weren't meant for a veggie diet. I found myself debating what he actually ate. Somehow, I doubt he'd be Twilight's assistant if it were too gruesome, though. Sweetie gave him a gentle hug before squealing, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Spike! I can't wait to help Pinkie tomorrow." Applejack gave a soft chortle and nodded. "We best be off then, squirt. Ya have ah long day tomorrow, an' ya need ta get some rest, ah reckon," she pointed out, motioning towards the stairs. Sweetie Belle nodded, hopping off the cot and excitedly bounding down the stairs. "So much energy," Twilight muttered, shaking her head. "Youngin's. Ah'll see ya'll tomorrow, okay?" Applejack affirmed as she headed back down the stairs. Twilight giggled and nodded, following after her. "Yeah. I'll see you two out," she offered before disappearing from sight. I watched her tail disappear down the stairs before softly exhaling. That had gone better than anticipated, minus the whole 'panic attack and lose control of my magic' bit. Still, if it was going to be a problem, here was admittedly the best place I could be. My attention was drawn to the shivering Spike a moment later, however, who was still sitting next to me. There was a momentary lapse of concern before I noticed his almost predatory grin. Excited jitters? "Score!" he finally shouted, quiet enough to not carry down the stairs. I couldn't help but laugh at his exuberance. He smirked at me and raised a claw expectantly. Figures. Some things were universal I guess. Rolling my eyes, I gave in and bumped a forehoof into his clawed hand, earning a widening of his grin. I sat back and watched his tiny celebratory dance while waiting for Twilight to come back... Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/ljK1DYczRA4 Chapter 03It was there for but a moment. Like a dying echo as it bounded off a cliff. My conscious awareness flickered, momentarily focusing on where it used to be. I felt a certain sense of distress at finding nothing. No. Nothing wasn't what I was afraid of. A stirring of awareness, as if I slowly opened my eyes to a new day. That nagging sensation. I frowned, right ear giving a twitch of annoyance before I flattened them both back against my head. Before me spread the infinity of stars, winking and shifting innumerable. It wasn't exactly cold, yet the absence of heat. There was nothing around me but the gently drifting chunks of rock. Nothing at all, air included. That wasn't a problem, though. I wasn't breathing so I didn't require air. I wasn't breathing because I wasn't here. This was a dream, right? The cooling remains of a broken planet as it drifted slowly away from our star. The same star that had brought forth a thousand generations of my old people. Now I saw the telling rings being extended around it as it was milked for gas and energy. A certain emptiness filled my chest and seeped from my eyes as I watched. Why bring me back here? That stirring again. No, the link was gone, right? Of course it was. My old body was reduced to the consistency of fine dust and scattered to the solar winds by now. You don't get much deader than that. So why show me this? My mind either felt sentimental or masochistic, I suppose. Still, there was no denying that sensation, even if it was barely a second. An echo. I frowned, letting my idly swaying legs still, for all the good they were doing at the moment. Besides, it's not like I was actually here anyway. "Madness. This is... They're gone, all right? We need... They might find us here. We need to..." It was a whisper in my mind and I frowned. A male voice. Like a radio signal but for my skull. Pleasant. Mentally, I went over potential causes. Skull fracture perfectly aligned to form some sort of audio spell? Highly unlikely. Whispers of an elder being urging me to perform his unknowable designs? I doubt I'd get off that easily. "They can't be all... ...parts of the Grosh ship is... ...think there was a counter..." followed. A droning sensation kept cutting out the words. It wasn't unlike the static sound of an empty television broadcast. Different voice this time and mention of that hellish name. Damn. Why couldn't it have been the skull fracture? So much easier. I grew desperate. Creeping whispers of madness as the mental isolation slowly drives me insane? Probably not. It wasn't Tuesday yet. Radiation from Rainbow Dash causing a brain tumor to form, brandishing vivid hallucinations? Nah. Scan would have picked that up. I rapidly ran out of ideas. Another voice rudely interrupted my bout of adamant denial with, "No! There has to... another explanation. They're... ...near the moons. Hiding, yes! They're not all..." It was much clearer than the others and distinctly female. I also was surprised by the accent. Heavy rolling of the tongue with sharp uptakes on the 'ta' sounds. Where had I heard that accent before? Images of a cat purring came to mind, earning a frown. That sensation reared back rapidly. It was like I was almost remembering something, balanced carefully on the apex of my mind, but I didn't know how to move to get it to fall towards me and was deathly afraid the wrong shift would cause it to tumble away forever. My eyes widened as I rotated in place, suddenly aware of it. A ship drifted into sight from behind the moon! It was a ship. The design looked Kel... Wait, what? My mind jerked awake as Pinkie Pie landed on my chest. * * * * * My world spun as I hacked and coughed, flailing about as the pink monster sat unforgiving on my chest. She giggled in delight at my reaction, as if a devil slowly sampling my soul like a fine wine. My mind was lost somewhere in the metaphor before Pinkie was finally hoisted off of me with a purple glow. "Pinkie! I told you to stay downstairs with the decorations!" a familiar, 'Twilight Sparkle' sounding voice lectured. It was hard to tell with my mind spinning from the lack of air and sudden awakening. "Aww! But he's totally awake now. Does that mean I can decorate up here, too?!" she requested. My eyes widened as it looked like she suddenly drew a cannon out from behind her. Somehow. I filed it under system shock. Twilight growled, ignoring the cannon completely and tossing the pink pony backwards onto her bed. Pinkie let out a giggle and 'Wheee!' as she bounced off what used to be the well-made bed. "Are you all right, Mender?" Twilight asked, smiling upon reaching me. Rolling over onto my side, I winced as I looked up at her but managed a tiny nod. "I'm fine. A little tired and sore today, but all right," I assured. She exhaled softly and nodded before resting her horn on my exposed left forehoof. "I'm glad. Part of me was afraid you wouldn't wake up again," she admitted, eyes tracing the grooves cut into the hoof. It was a desperate measure and last resort but was now promising new potential, I noticed. Her concern made me warm up a little though. Wait, how long was I out for if she was worried? Glancing towards the window, I was greeted by a warm afternoon light. Oops. I blushed and finally managed a smile. "I'm fine, Twi. Although we probably have a lot to discuss," I pointed out. Pinkie Pie got off the bed behind Twilight and disappeared from my point of view with a grin. Now what was she up to? Twilight lifted her horn off my hoof and smirked knowingly. "Indeed. If I saw correctly, that little show last night was magic. The hoof, right?" she reasoned, dead on as usual. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that you're not one heck of a smart mare," I complimented, snickering at her smirk. Her cheeks flushed at the same time that her eyes softened as she smiled at me. "Needs more smooches!" Pinkie suddenly declared from somewhere behind Twilight. Wait, what? Twilight's eyes widened in surprise as her expression took on something similar to my train of thought. I wasn't left any time to react, however. A pink burst of mane collided with Twilight's rump, moving at ramming speed. The lavender unicorn gasped sharply in surprise momentarily as she lost her balance and stumbled forwards. Her still open mouth pushed into mine as her right foreleg outstretched to catch herself. Time lagged hard and my mind joined along as my heart hung up the 'Out To Lunch' sign. A jolt of electricity sparked through me from the contact and I was oddly aware of the warmth and texture of her lips against mine. Her weight continued, pushing her chest into mine as she fell forwards. I was oddly aware of her warm coat mingling with my own as I was pushed backwards into the pillow. Her mane billowed out in slow motion, drifting to each side of my head. A single heartbeat came and went as my eyes widened drastically. Hers infinitely surprised me by lowering, if only slightly. My mind couldn't process anything, and I screamed at my body to not move an inch. Every fiber in my forelegs wanted to reach up and pull her closer. No! Another thud of our hearts. Her eyes widened again, realization dawning behind them. A sharp intake of breath through her nostrils, our muzzles still sealed together. She suddenly retreated off me as if burned; as if I were actively on fire. Her face was aglow with flush as I no doubt mimicked. Instead of facing me, however, she shifted to a glare and swung around at the now ecstatic Pinkie Pie behind her. "Oh, so cool! It actually worked! You two are so sweet together. Of course, I'll have to get Fluttershy to sample, too, so you three can figure out which," the pink one started to gush out. "Pinkie! Why the hay did you do that?! That was... That was my first kiss!" Twilight screamed with surprising intensity. To my surprise, Pinkie actually stopped talking and looked up at Twilight instead. "Really? You've never kissed anypony before?" Pinkie asked, sounding playful yet surprised. Everything dawned on me in a single instant. I stole Twilight's first kiss. Oh crap. I was dead. I was going to go down the stairs this time with my cot on top of me for added measure! Twilight let out a strange mixture between a snarl and snort. "Of course not! I well, I was always too busy with my studies as Princess Celestia's student to worry about stupid, pointless things like that!" she spit out. The dagger of ice slicing my tiny heart open was oddly comforting. Maybe it would numb the physical pain of the multiple series of blunt force trauma I was probably about to receive. "Aww! It's not stupid, or even pointless, Twi. Didn't it make you feel warm and happy?" Pinkie asked, eyes starting to water slightly. Uh no. Everything was falling apart. It wasn't supposed to be like this! Twilight looked taken aback by her expression before hardening hers again and scowling. It didn't last, however, and I watched her eyes shift back over to me for a split second's hesitation. The scowl shifted to a look of frustration as she reached up with her left forehoof and gently held her forehead. "I... I don't know. I've never felt this way before. I don't know what to think anymore," she muttered, causing me to swallow weakly. Admittedly, my mind was still reeling from finding out I was still alive. This was a bit difficult to process and I wasn't sure what to think. Pinkie looked miserable still, however. "But did I do bad, then?" she asked gently, eyes large and watery. Twilight swallowed, looking uncomfortable before shaking her head. "Uh, no, no you didn't. It was just, um, something I wasn't ready for. Do you think you could decorate downstairs for a few more minutes, Pinkie?" she hesitantly asked. Pinkie glanced between us before I watched her expression shift from miserable to positively ecstatic within seconds. I added it to the growing Pinkie Memory Reel of things that would scar me for the rest of my life. "Sure thing, Twi! And I'll keep everypony else away, too!" she assured, throwing a salute and bounding down the stairs before Twilight could get a word in otherwise. The lavender unicorn sighed before turning and facing me again. I tried to remain neutral as she blushed lightly and snickered. "Rarity wanted us to wait until you were up and about before broaching sensitive subjects, but I guess Pinkie got a little exuberant. Ug," she explained, suddenly looking really tired. "It's fine. I'm just a little overwhelmed right now. It's like my mind keeps thinking I should be dead, not kissing cute mares," I reasoned sarcastically. Twilight blushed but smiled and nodded up at me. "I understand. How are you feeling this morning, aside from that?" she asked, sounding a little concerned and walking closer again. I watched her sit down on her haunches a foot from the cot before returning, "A little tired. Um, dreams again. Not as bad as before, but..." Her eyes widened a little. "Memories or…?" she led along. I shook my head. "Images of the remains of the ship and star we orbited. And a tiny scout ship going along the remains. Not Grosh," I elaborated, swallowing. "Ship as in space vehicle, right?" she requested in confirmation. I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. As cool as it would be to have boats in space, I doubt it would be as effective," I admitted wistfully. Twilight laughed, tension lifting a little. "Yeah. Kind of like pirates but for space. Space Pirates?" she guessed, assumingly not realizing how accurate she had been. "Careful. Those actually existed," I warned, winking at her. "Oh, you're kidding. Ug. They're probably a lot scarier and meaner than our versions too, right?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "It wasn't a pleasant world," I reminded, before adding, "Regardless, I'm very happy to be here instead." She smiled again and nodded before standing up off the floor. "Agreed. So let's keep you here. It's probably nothing, but I want to do a dream study on you tonight, just in case. Is that okay?" she asked, tilting her head a little. It was easier to manage looking at her after she shifted back to her professional tone again, I noticed. I nodded, of course. "If it means anything, it didn't feel as hostile this time. I was detached. Bodiless, I think," I added, frowning. She nodded and smiled before climbing up onto my cot with me. My eyes widened and I couldn't stop the blush as I suddenly remembered the feel of her lips. Oh crap. Stupid body! She surprised me again by grabbing my forehoof instead. Huh? Oh. She examined the lines and grooves that were cleanly sliced into its form, frowning. "Is this some sort of focusing symbol?" she asked after a few seconds of examination. I nodded softly. "Yeah. It just helps me focus on an effect I want. It was made to help make fire, but it's just a general concentration symbol," I replied. She nodded absently, seeming deep in thought. Her examination continued and I felt a tingling sensation as telekinesis slipped down into the cracks. "Structural integrity loss. The nurse was worried about that. She said it can support you, but you should wear a covering over it to prevent things from getting wedged inside," Twilight enlightened as she continued prodding with her magic. I sighed. I'd figured as much. Still, as a price to be paid, that was getting off cheap. I wondered about my lower back, however. It was still bandaged, so I couldn't tell if I had a scar or anything. Well, what used to be my lower back before I became a quadruped. Back back? No, that sounded stupid. I should really find an anatomy book at some point Twilight's magic prodded yet again a second later, but this time slipped inside my hoof completely! I gasped, momentarily wondering if she'd sliced into my hoof accidentally or something. Calming down, I felt her warm energy sliding up my left foreleg. Oh, she used the hole to inverse the thing I did last night. Her energy pooled into my chest and I closed my eyes, simply letting her past. It felt distinctly like her as it coiled around my energy inside of me. I felt her testing internal organs, making sure the energy was recovering correctly, and checking along the surface of my skin under the bandages. She was doing a medical checkup. I couldn't help it, though. The energy felt so much like hers, the massive amount of strength behind it, yet it was so graceful. Beautiful, yet a little intoxicating. I felt my face heat up as my energy started to feel out hers. That familiar light-headed sensation drifted through me, similar to the last time she had connected her magic with mine. "M-Mender, that's distracting. Cool yourself off and l-let me focus," Twilight requested, a light blush appearing on her cheeks. "Ah, um, s-sorry!" I muttered, rapidly pulling back all my energy towards my core. Twilight made a light gasping noise in surprise as I did so. I was momentarily confused until I felt her energy slip and rush in to fill the sudden void. Her body fell against mine as it felt like I was suddenly dropped into warm, blasting air currents. The billowing heat surrounded me on all sides as I retreated inside my own mind momentarily, unable to process anything but lavender light. Her level of magic was... It was beyond anything I'd seen before. Her, a small pony, contained more energy than the prior arch-magi of the university! Two violet pools of light opened up in my mind, before a light giggle resounded through me. "Mender, don't retreat like that. This form needs your magic as much as it needs warmth. You create a void by retreating quickly. Um, I need you to come out now," she requested softly. Wait, this form was dependent on magic? Interesting. I gave her an inquisitive 'look' as best I could with no physical body. She caught it regardless, it seemed, and an image formed in my mind. I saw myself and her from outside of our bodies, suddenly. An aura of light burned off her before getting sucked into my hoof? "You partially pulled my psyche into you when you retreated. This, um, it would be bad to stay like this for too long. Could you push me out, please?" she muttered, softer than before. I felt the connection easily enough. There was an odd sensation as I grew curious and felt along the lines leading back down my foreleg. It went both ways, didn't it? If I shifted into her at the same time, that would make it even more of a link, wouldn't it? Suddenly her eyes widened and she 'felt' scared. "N-No Mender! I'm not r-ready for this. I need to... I need to think things over," she pleaded. Ready? What wasn't she ready for? I tried to push a questioning sensation towards her as my progress down the link halted. She sighed weakly. "We all have magic in us. You know that, right? Well, we unicorns can manipulate that, not just in ourselves, but in others too. By melding two magic pools together, we can cause various effects between ponies. Please, let me go?" she requested gently. Various effects? While vague, based off her reaction, I could guess at a few of them. Temptation struck once more, and I realized that she really couldn't stop me if I just kept going. We might be linked, able to remain together forever, even! The pang of guilt hit a second later and I remembered. All those feelings and thoughts when faced with the same choice on the Grosh ship. Was anything different? Not really. As much as I wanted to be accepted and stay here forever, there were some things that just couldn't be sacrificed. I couldn't live with the thought of hurting these ponies. It was decided in an instant. I expanded out again and shoved. Twilight was ejected a moment later and shuddered as her body sat back up on me, psyche full back inside of her. She looked down at me softly and I winced, looking away in no small amount of shame. "What did the Grosh offer you in return for Equestria?" she suddenly asked, voice quiet but solemn. I swallowed, wondering how much Twilight and Fluttershy had seen in my memories while trying to pull me out of that, well, whatever that was that I fell into. I sighed. "You six. And a research position with immortality benefits," I returned, closing my eyes gently. Maybe if I didn't look at her, she wouldn't see what a monster I was for even thinking about it. There was silence in return and I feared the worst. Why was this so hard? What was my problem with this? All I had ever known was myself. To encompass others in that reality was both exciting and terrifying. Sure there had been other soldiers. At least I think there had been. I can't remember anything specific, but a more general feeling of companionship was there. That wasn't like this at all. We weren't friends. Just individuals mutually working towards a common cause. They were allies, just like our nation's allies. This... These ponies were my first friends. At least, I think that's how friendship works. It's been a bit rocky, sure, but I think they were my friends. Now, I valued this world more than my old one. Of course, when all was said and done, my body was out-pacing my heart. Things were happening too fast. Battle was easy in comparison. I knew my targets and exactly what needed to be done to approach the goals given to me. I don't remember much and certainly never a time where I wasn't fighting. This was so different. I just wanted to step back and flee. I wanted to hide somewhere and scream until I felt my head clear and my blood cool off. Yet here I was in the middle of a party getting put together with a cute unicorn sitting in my lap. No, not cute. Twilight Sparkle was gorgeous. She held a more level feeling of maturity and self-assuredness. Fluttershy was beautiful, too, but hers more stemmed from an innocence she seemed to almost drip. After never having dealt with females before to my knowledge, it was overwhelming on my body. I didn't fault it for getting flooded with hormones. Just because it was justified, however, didn't mean I had to put up with it. I needed to fix this somehow. Twilight surprised me out of my self-examination by giggling suddenly. "You're so different. You're a lot like me in some ways. We both worry and overthink things from time to time. Still, I'm not angry. The answer you gave him was quite obvious," she reasoned. I glanced back up at her in time to see her nose press lightly into mine. She sighed and rested her horn against my forehead again. I braced for magic, but none came. A moment passed and I smiled lightly. "I guess blowing him up was as obvious an answer as any," I agreed, hoping that much was a given. Nothing says 'I hate you and want you to drop dead' quite like reducing a few dozen kilometers of space into fine dust. She giggled again and nodded. "I missed you," she suddenly confessed, her hoof running along the fur on my chest. "Why?" I asked, quieter while trying to not blush again. She was just resting against me. No test or examination. Just for comfort. My mind didn't know what to do, so I simply slid my hoof up and down her foreleg. "You make me laugh. You're smart and can hold a conversation about advanced things. You're also full of fascinating things! I like you," she explained, taking my hoof up again and examining it. It never came, as anticipated. I'd been listening for anything actually intimate to be added to the list, but it wasn't there. See, body? There's all the proof that was needed. She could get everything on that list by just being my friend. What was it that I wanted from her, anyway? I stared emptily at the hoof she was holding. That pervasive sense of being lost came back to me. Everybody from my past existence was dead. Why was I still alive? Did I honestly deserve a second chance to find my purpose? There were no readily apparent answers and I somehow doubted there ever would be. "Mender, what's wrong?" Twilight asked hesitantly a moment later. A glance back up at her told me she had switched her attention back to me rather than the gashed up hoof. I shook my head, however. "I'm all right, Twi. Just tired. Pinkie takes a lot of energy to keep up with," I politely lied. No sense in worrying anypony needlessly. There was nothing she could do about it anyway. "Well, if you're sure. You can wander a bit if you feel like it, but be back by six for the party. I also want to discuss your dreams and magic after," she informed, standing slowly and stretching before getting back onto the floor. I nodded and tried my best self-assured smile. I probably looked like Fluttershy at a heavy metal concert, sadly. Although that's pretty accurate for how outpaced my mind felt. "Oh! I almost forgot. Rarity was by earlier and asked for you, but you were still sleeping then. She requested you either drop by later or somepony let her know when you woke up," she relayed. I tilted my head and questioned, "Er, why does she want to see me?" Twilight shrugged absently as she trotted over to her personal bookshelf. "She didn't say. The only thing she mentioned was something about saddlebags," she tacked on idly as she focused on searching through the titles of her books. Rarity made me a saddlebag? I frowned and wondered what the occasion was. I hoped it was an occasion, anyway. I certainly didn't have the bits to pay for it, obviously. Well, I'm sure that should she want me to pay for it, she'd offer some sort of payment plan. She knew of my lack of funding. "I think I might go for that walk after all," I muttered before tacking on, "Maybe I'll go see what she wants before the party gets started." Twilight smiled at me as she turned around, a book seemingly on potion making floating next to her. "That's probably a good idea, Mender. You could do with some fresh air after being cooped up in the hospital for so long. Just please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help you out," she offered quietly. There was a distinct moment of hesitation as she looked at me. It was as if she wanted me to say something but was afraid to ask directly. I nodded and tried to give my best assuring smile. She confused me something terrible but ultimately I'd just prefer to have a little time to myself to think. Plus, I really was interested in what Rarity wanted. Up to this point, she was the one who'd given me the least amount of problems. If she really did have a saddle bag, it would be worth it just for that! From what I'd seen of her work, I knew it would be top quality. Still, the why of the situation concerned me. It wasn't my birthday, at least that I knew of. Maybe it was to celebrate me NOT being blown to tiny little bits? Deciding to just go with that, I nodded gently to Twilight and slowly got out of bed. Thankfully, she was there to brace against me as I stumbled. My left foreleg was surprisingly weak and caught me off guard. "Careful, Mender. I think the magic put quite a strain on that leg. Take it easy for a few days, all right? You're also not fully recovered from the incident," she warned. A lapse of lethargy passed through me suddenly and I slumped against her warm coat. It made sense. My body wasn't fully recovered from the massive level of damage it had received. Plus, it had just spent almost two weeks cooped up in a bed, being fed intravenously through a tube. I took several deep breaths and steadied myself on my hooves. "Mender, you need to take it easy, okay? Your body took quite a shock," Twilight warned gently. Her eyes softened as I managed to shakily stand on my own. I nodded and flushed lightly, fighting back my own thoughts. It really would be nice to stay here with her. A pity it was so hard to think coherently around her. My not thinking properly wasn't fair to either Fluttershy or Twilight. I needed to figure out a way to clear my head. "I'll be careful, Twilight. I just need to clear my head a bit," I assured. She smiled uneasily but nodded after a second or so. "All right. Just be back in time for the party," she reminded. Nodding, I slowly and carefully made my way downstairs. * * * * * The day was a reasonable one. Light cloud cover kept the temperatures down well enough. I felt a light breeze also drifting over my coat, making for a rather pleasant experience. It was Fall now and I figured things would be getting chilly soon. It amused me when I read that they even had snow. Most species capable of controlling their climate wouldn't let their planet's rotation around the star interfere that much. Of course, I had no idea if the planet really rotated around a star. Or if the planet was actually rotating. Hell, I didn't know if I was even on a planet at all! Regardless, I took my time as I walked down the path. The day was almost too bright and I found my eyes starting to ache if I took them off the ground for more than a minute or so. I guess I simply prefer the night in this instance. I'm named after an aspect of it, after all. A bit of noise came from my right as I rounded the street on my way to the Carousel Boutique. I saw a group of young foals playing in the grass just off the street. What day was today? If I recalled, the town had its own school for the young foals. It wasn't late enough for them to be out yet, so it was either a day off or they were playing hooky. Sadly, my thoughts were halted once again by my poor skull smashing into something. There was no give to the harsh metal wall at all as my momentum carried me forward. I squished momentarily into the surface before gravity took over again and I fell over backwards. My landing was surprisingly gentle as I landed on my haunches. After shaking the dizziness out of my head, I looked up at the source of my newly discovered headache. An imposing looking Stallion stood in front of me. He was nowhere near as big as Big Mac, but wore an impressive looking set of armor. It was a shiny golden chest plate and helm set with some sort of plated hoof guards. Wait, was this some sort of law enforcement pony? I hadn't seen any prior to this and frankly didn't think that they were needed here. He gave me a cold, stoic stare that hinted at a detached level of calculated efficiency, and I shuddered. "Oh my! Are you all right?" came a soft-spoken inquiry from behind the guard. I shifted my attention past him to note an almost regal looking mare approaching from his left, my right. My eyes widened drastically as I drew in her looks! She was the purest white that I'd ever seen. Her hair was alive with softly cascading rainbow colors. It was vastly longer than Dash's, but provided a much softer color variation. The colors complimented magenta eyes. To my shock, she had both regal wings and an elongated horn extending from her forehead. Both? What was the name of those? I racked my brain trying to remember what that book had said about them. There was something important that I was forgetting. Answering her would be a good start, I decided, finally replying, "I'm all right. Um, I'm sorry I bumped into your friend." She giggled gently, her eyes softening to match her tone. I was suddenly shocked at the weight of knowledge she seemed to contain behind those eyes. "Oh, I do recognize you. You're Moon Mender, Twilight Sparkle's friend. Worry not. I'm certain my guard is undamaged," she assured, smiling again. "You have me at a disadvantage," I pointed out, deciding to ignore the slight rib from the obviously well off mare. Her own guard? She's probably upper class, at least. She surprised me with an odd smirk that came out of nowhere, before returning, "You can just call me 'Tia' if you want. I'm a friend of Twilight's. She talks a lot about you." I averted my gaze from her rapidly as I blushed. She talked about me? "I didn't know that. Well, a friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine," I assured, trying to will the blush away. Tia nodded politely to me, still wearing that understanding smile. "Friends are very important. I'm glad Twilight has opened her heart to them. I was actually on my way over to the library right now. Do you know if she's busy?" she asked. "Well, Pinkie Pie is over there right now to do the decorations for the party tonight, but Twi probably wouldn't mind company," I cautioned. If she was friends with Twilight, she probably knew Pinkie. That warning should be self-evident if so. "Oh my. Well I don't want to get in the way of anything. Wait, do you know of any good places to eat here?" she suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Well, probably not out of nowhere. I knew firsthoof how fast hunger could sneak up on you. I frowned but nodded slowly, suggesting, "Well, Twi eats at a cafe near here. But she only ever gets dandelion sandwiches anyways, so that might not be the best recommendation." Tia laughed warmly and nodded. "She is a bit stubborn sometimes. Shall we go and see if the food is good there, ourselves?" she asked a moment latter. I swallowed uncomfortably and probably paled a little. How much had Twilight told her? "Ah, you seem really nice but I kind of don't have any bits," I admitted, blushing as I felt a tad pathetic. Tia shook her head softly, smile widening. "Nonsense. I'd just like some company, you know. Besides, I'd like to talk to you more, if you don't mind," she insisted. Well, I suppose there's no harm in that. Rarity didn't know I was coming, anyway, so no loss there. "I suppose I could," I finally agreed. Tia nodded sharply and smiled. Her two rather stoic guards moved back into position near her at the same time. I swallowed my nervousness and followed after her. She waited politely for me to catch up, and a guard fell in to either side of us. Swallowing, I couldn't decide which way to shuffle or who to distance myself from more. With nothing else for it, I headed towards the cafe, leading the way. I should have stayed in bed... Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/_njN1VnKzfw Chapter 04A few minutes later had us arriving at the cafe in due time. Tia made quite a stir, to my surprise. She must be quite a bit more famous than I had originally thought. The waiter looked like he was going to pass out when we walked up. He was so flustered that he tried to bow to Tia when she approached! She introduced me respectfully and nodded towards him to have us seated. Admittedly, I was more than a little impressed by her good graces. I had a sneaking suspicion that Rarity probably liked her. I was unaccustomed to them taking our orders then and there, but the white mare took it in stride. "So how has Twilight been as of late? She writes to me frequently but it's always nice to hear about it from a third pony perspective," Tia inquired after we got comfortable at our table, the flock of attendees dispersing a little. I nodded quietly. "She seems a little stressed but that could just be Pinkie Pie affecting her. I was worried she would be mad at me after what happened but she didn't appear to be at all. It's a little confusing, honestly," I admitted sheepishly. Tia laughed lightly and shook her head. "Far from it, Mender. She likes you quite a bit," she assured as those strange bodyguards settled in close to the table. "I just wonder how much of it is my being an interesting test subject," I wondered out loud. "Admittedly, it probably had a lot to do with it at first, knowing Twilight. These things have a tendency to grow out of simpler things. If only you read some of her letters to me recently!" she tantalized. My cheeks flared up, predictably. Oh my. Twilight shared a lot with this mare! I guess that did leave certain topics open, however. "Well, an Earth Pony that does magic is pretty rare, I guess," I returned, attempting to change the topic. I didn't particularly feel comfortable with somepony else giving away Twilight's secrets to me. Plus, it would tell me how much Twilight had told her. If she acted confused, I could just play the idiot. "Rare is an understatement. What types of magic were you trained in on your world?" she asked curiously. My blood chilled a little. "M-My world?" I asked hesitantly. Or it went the other direction! Twilight had told her pretty much everything, then. Who was she that Twilight hadn't talked about her yet? Tia nodded politely, still maintaining the warm smile before informing, "Twilight tells me many things. I'm her confidant, worry not. I haven't told another soul." I swallowed uncomfortably and nodded. She was a closer friend of Twilight's than I thought. "Ah, I'm just surprised is all," I muttered, looking around to make sure that nopony was listening. To my surprise, I saw that there was a three-table radius where nopony sat. It looked highly intentional to me. "I apologize for startling you. Perhaps I should have been more open from the start," she apologized. I smiled again and shook my head, feeling a bit better now that I saw nopony had heard. "It's all right. I just wanted to keep it a secret. Ponies tend to underrate my sanity when they hear the story," I explained. Tia nodded politely again. "I understand, of course. I don't doubt your sanity in the least, worry not." I had to laugh at that one. "I wouldn't go that far. I doubt I'm holding a full deck of cards," I corrected between snickers. She gave me cold deadpan stare for several seconds before seemingly realizing my playfulness and joining in the laughter. "Ooh, I think I might like you. You have no idea how nice it is to get away from responsibilities from time to time. You're good at getting somepony to let go," she complimented, smile shifting from polite to warm again. "It's not always a good thing. I'm not the best at motivating myself, either. At least not without probable cause," I admitted. Sure, my lackluster approach stemmed from the utterly hopeless war I had been a part of, but this place was infinitely better. Even if it did feel like I had jumped from one event to another so far. "Living with Twilight will help balance you out, don't worry. You never answered my prior question, though," she reminded. Prior...? Oh! "Oh, I'm sorry. I was an Engineer, I believe. My magic revolves around barriers, physical trait manipulation, and repair. I was a more supplemental role, it would seem," I explained to the best of my abilities. "Oh? For such a grim place, you weren't trained in any attack magic?" Tia inquired curiously. Why was she interested in that? I hesitated but nodded a moment later, answering with, "Yes. Just one technique. An energy blade. Rainbow Dash's fly by attack was the first I'd used it in actual combat." "Huh. I was expecting something a little bit scarier. You aren't going to use it anymore, are you?" she asked, sounding a little concerned. I chuckled at that. "Maybe as a glorified letter opener. There's no need for it in this dimension. The less these ponies know of my old world, the better," I muttered, feeling a little bit down again. These ponies didn't need to know about that hellish place. "A noble stance. What if you needed to defend yourself, however? Or defend Twilight and Fluttershy?" she asked next, watching me in an oddly focused manner. That was an extremely specific question. She knew I liked both of them, without a doubt. Why she was so adamant on this was beyond my guessing, however. I frowned and considered it. I didn't know what she was looking for in my answer, so I simply went with the truth and quietly explained, "If we couldn't escape and the only other option was them dying, then yes. I would use it without hesitation. But I don't think it will ever happen. Twilight is amazingly powerful and I have suspicion that Fluttershy is far from defenseless herself." Tia stared at me carefully for a surprisingly long time. I started to fidget nervously after almost thirty seconds of her rather intense stare. Finally she smiled again, however, and I exhaled sharply. "Twilight vouched for you already but I still wanted to ask. I see she's right. I don't believe you'd willingly hurt anypony," she explained. I slowly shook my head. "I love it here, even with the horrible luck and multiple blunt force traumas to my skull. I'd never hurt these wonderful ponies intentionally," I added, looking to the side at the filled tables. I oddly notice that a bit of a crowd was forming towards the cafe entry with quite a few ponies whispering and gesturing towards us. Wow, Tia was popular! I started to feel a little self-conscious. She must have noticed. "Don't worry about them. You're my friend so just treat me like normal. Trust me, it's refreshing. Can you show me your magic?" she requested. I tilted my head and gave her a skeptical glance. Did she mean right here, in the middle of the cafe? She gave an encouraging nod and smile. Sighing, I lifted my left hoof up, staring blankly at it for a moment before nudging my inner pool of energy into movement. Not sure what she actually wanted me to do, I simply activated the channeling and watched the symbol under the bandages start to glow. A few seconds later, the wrappings drifted free from my hoof and into the air. All I did was temporarily turn off gravity for them. The current from my hoof pushed them away gently as a natural result of the energy emission. Tia's smile broadened as she watched. There was that feeling in her eyes again! It was as if a great deal of time resided behind those twin pools of magenta. She suddenly struck me as far older than I had originally thought. "You're not levitating them. You told them to ignore gravity, right? Twilight is right. It's a far more physical magic than a unicorn's. Can you levitate something?" she asked curiously. I shook my head. "No. I can only manipulate what the rune on my hoof touches. Basic manipulation as well. It doesn't feel like I have enough energy in me yet to manage anything complex or permanent," I elaborated. Tia seemed to think for a moment before asking, "So like most unicorns, you need mental exercise before you can manage more?" A wave of gloom washed over me and I put my head down. I'd been so proud of my magic. Now it, like me, was starting over. Worse yet, I was surrounded by magic users of phenomenal skill. Heck, the partial unicorn sitting across from me was probably stronger than me, too! Tia gave me a soft smile, sympathy showing rather plainly before seemingly thinking of something. "I understand your frustration of course. But might I make a suggestion?" she asked softly. I nodded while patiently listening. She continued a moment later with, "Your body is that of an Earth Pony, so it's geared towards directing its magic through constitution. My suggestion would be to train your body alongside your mind. Healthy diet and exercise would do a good job of jump starting your magic as well, I'd assume, based on your body. I blinked slowly, considering what she had said. Wow. That actually was really intelligent. Twilight being friends with her suddenly made a lot more sense. "Wow. Thank you, Tia. You just might be onto something there," I admitted, running the concept through my head again. In all likelihood, it would help to greatly expand my magic pool. If I could do that by doing what I had intended to do anyway, I could use the time saved for training my control capabilities. That would speed the process up significantly! Tia giggled lightly and nodded. "Be sure to run it past Twilight as well. She deals more with experimentation and advanced theory than I do. She might be able to help you out even more," she pointed out. "Still, thank you for your help. Things haven't been going well since I arrived. It's nice that something might be working in my favor this time," I thanked again. She smiled and sat back in her chair as the waiter brought out our drinks. Tia had a tasty looking shake of some sorts and I had ordered tea. Fell in love with it ever since Rarity had served it to me. Sadly, my first sip told me she had spoiled me. It wasn't nearly as good as the stuff she had made. "Admittedly, I didn't know what to expect before I had met you. I was a bit apprehensive after the first letter Twilight sent," Tia returned. Had my delicious, delicious tea not been in the way, I might have slammed my face into the table out of frustration. Was I never going to live that down? She giggled and continued with, "Relax. Then I was deeply puzzled by her sudden change of tone in the letters after that. I was worried she was being manipulated. She's very intelligent but quite young still. Most ponies have good intentions but you should always be careful. It didn't help that you weren't from here." I nodded this time. That much was just playing it safe. I could accept that easily enough. She continued before I could say anything, with, "But now I see that you're just a normal pony with his own fears and troubles. Twilight was right and for that, I'm glad. You have my blessings." As happy as I was to hear that, I was a little confused. "I'm glad, but your blessings in what, might I ask?" I inquired. Tia giggled lightly. "Why in the pursuit of happiness, of course," she furthered simply. Smiling, I nodded and took another sip of my tea. I should have known something was wrong by the way she eyed me eagerly as I sipped. "And Twilight, obviously," she tossed on after I had a good mouthful of tea. It momentarily went into my lungs as I attempted to inhale at the same time. Seconds later, I was reduced to a coughing and sputtering lump on the table. Tia promptly added a "Gotcha!" before bursting into laughter. It felt like an eternity passed before I could breathe properly again. Gasping, I tilted my head up to glare at her. She was still giggling merrily, however. I politely waited for her to finish. "Oh, this is just too much fun! I don't do this nearly often enough," she finally spoke up in a wistful manner. Sighing, I decided that her life was probably pretty boring if that was the case. My irritation faded rather rapidly after that. "Well, try to warn me ahead of time when you decide to choke me half to death," I muttered wearily. To my surprise, she grinned and nodded. "But of course. We shall have to do this more often. You're quite good at relieving the stress of a day," she complimented. At least I think it was a compliment. "Your life doesn't feel so bad after watching my daily maiming, concussions, and almost asphyxiations, I take it?" I asked, using the napkins she floated my way to dab the tea out of my coat. "Well, tragedy is popular for a reason," she pointed out, earning another eye twitch and glare before she snickered and continued, "Oh relax. I tease. As much as you probably don't believe me, I have to say that you really are a good pony. Your luck will turn around soon. You have two cute mares after your attention as well." My mood shifted in a morose direction and I sighed before placing my head down on the table. "I just wonder if it's not karma or something. I lived when my entire species died. Why was I the lucky one? Maybe it's just paying me back?" I reasoned quietly. Tia shook her head softly. "One can never know the future. Not even the strongest magic can accurately predict it. Asking yourself if you deserve the place in life where you find yourself is equally futile. If you can't find a reason to be here, even though I see several, make your own reason instead," she suggested. I frowned and considered it. "A... A reason to be here?" I asked, not sure what she meant. Tia nodded politely and continued, "Of course. You're incorrectly worried that the sacrifice involved in your arrival was too great, right? Even if they actually intended to save only you, you can still choose to give a reason for it all. You don't need to wait for something else to give you that reason." She surprised me considerably. She definitely gave me another point of view, and a wise one at that, but there was something off about her reply that made me uncomfortable. Something she knew and wasn't revealing. Still, she had a good point. They hadn't sacrificed themselves for me specifically. Even though I lived when they died, it didn't exactly make me special in any regard. She raised an eye to me, so I snapped myself out of it and spoke up with, "You're right of course. I'm not that special just because I didn't die." Tia snickered and shook her head. "Of course you're not special because you lived. You're special because you're kind and many a ponies' friend. You're special to them," she corrected. Frowning, I considered her words. They matched well with what I had been told a while ago. Ponies took more away from interactions with others than I noticed or gave credit for. It applied to me as well, I supposed. "You're really wise. Twilight's lucky to have a friend like you," I complimented. This was a good friend of Twilight's, I reminded myself. She wasn't going to have bad intentions. I really needed to do something about the paranoid tendencies. Oh, and the hormones. Tia smiled warmly, but looked away from me. "You're quite a lot of fun as well. Surely you can be my friend as well?" she asked. My eyes softened and I smiled. "Of course, Tia. Are you going to be at the party later tonight?" "That's the whole reason I'm in town. Of course I'm coming. I think Twilight wanted me to meet you," she reasoned, a hint of playful sarcasm in her voice. I averted my gaze. "A little late for that. I guess she didn't anticipated me literally running into you in town," I muttered, face giving a tiny jolt of pain in protest of the memory. Tia leaned back as her salad and my sandwich arrived. "I doubt she'll mind. She's very patient and understanding," she assured as the waiter bowed politely to us. It took her a moment to glance back at me, but she finally noticed my incredulous expression. She hesitated, then giggled. "Okay, she's patient and understanding when scary feelings aren't clouding her judgment," she appended. Chuckling, I brushed the surface of my conveniently still unwrapped hoof against my sandwich. A quick tweak in magnetic properties later, and it was stuck to my hoof as I picked it up. Tia watched me curiously throughout, a mixture of amusement and possibly considering me the laziest stallion she'd ever seen. That last part could have been just me reading into it, though. Shrugging, I took a small bite of the sandwich, not wanting to rush anything. My body was used to an IV supplying its nourishment still. I could potentially get one hell of a stomach cramp should I rush eating. Tia simply nibbled gently at her salad. A small fork drift in front of her effortlessly and fed her bite by bite. Levitation magic must be so useful. Still, things were looking up for me now. All that was left to do was get Twilight to check out this new dream issue, and convince this Princess Celestia pony that I wasn't totally insane. Oh, and apologize to everypony for worrying them. Especially Fluttershy. It worried me that I hadn't heard from her yet, nor heard anything about her. Was she mad at me or something? Maybe Twilight would know. "Hey, this is pretty good after all. I'm going to have to thank Twilight for the recommendation, through you of course," Tia spoke up. Snapping out of my usual spacing out mode, I smiled back up at her. "That's something to be said about somepony who eats the same thing often enough. They get really good at quality testing the dish," I reasoned, gesturing idly in the air with my other hoof. Tia simply smiled and nodded, oddly seeming to actually enjoy my company. I hadn't known her for long, but she seemed to be really tense. It was like she didn't get the chance to unwind all that often. The rest of the lunch period went uneventfully, although the crowd gathered and continuously whispering near the entry to the cafe was a little awkward. I knew they were here for Tia, but it still felt like more than a few directed attention at me. The giggles that sporadically drifted from the mares in the crowd were particularly distracting. That's something I'd noticed almost immediately. I'd not been around females prior to arriving here, as far as I knew. But their laughter! There was just something about it. I couldn't really explain why it was so appealing. It was like something deep inside of me stirred and cheered every time I heard it. It was about forty minutes or so before we were done eating, if one included the conversation and waiting prior. As anticipated, Tia easily managed the bill, floating some gold looking coins out of a small pouch tucked away in her large chest jewelry. The owner of the restaurant almost fell all over himself trying to make sure that we had a pleasurable experience. I was a tad perplexed but Tia seemed to be used to that sort of thing. "But I insist! Surely if there's anything we can send with you, I can get it packed up immediately," he continued to assure. Tia smiled gently and shook her head as I wrapped my hoof up again. She watched me finish the final rotation as the owner deposited the bits. I hadn't paid that much attention to the final tab between the giggling mares and trying to focus my magic long enough to wrap the bandages again. Hopefully it wasn't too much. Even with her being obviously well off, it didn't feel right to leech off of her like this. The first bodyguard went ahead of us and stomped his hoof down once in front of the crowd. As if on cue, they parted in a line to allow us through. Tia went on ahead and I trailed slightly behind her. Awkwardly, a couple of the mares brushed lightly against me as we passed. I stumbled while trying to avoid one, and another managed to catch me and support my balance until I could get back on my hooves. "Don't mind these kinds of mares. Are you okay?" the mare next to the one who caught me asked. The questioning mare had a cream colored coat and a rather poofy, dark blue and pink mane. It was definitely unique. Her friend who caught me hurt my eyes, however. She was a bright mint color with a messy cyan and white mane. She gave me a friendly enough smile as she helped me to get my balance again. The second guard motioned the crowd back as Tia stopped and looked back at me. "Yes, I'm all right. Thank you, um..." I started before hitting a snag. The one still grabbing my left leg smiled warmly and nodded. "I'm Lyra. This is my fillyfriend, Bon Bon. How did you pick up that sandwich with just one hoof?" the minty mare asked. Er, oops. Um... Tia started back towards me again, frowning. Before she got too close, however, Lyra frowned and examined me. Huh? Was there something on my face? Before I could ask, she suddenly flailed and gasped. "It-It's you!" she declared at the top of her lungs. "Lyra?" Bon Bon questioned, tilting her head towards the other mare. I shrank visibly however, doing my best impression of a shivering dough ball. Lyra growled as Tia made it to me. "I stepped in your pee like, three weeks ago! You ran away from me!" Lyra reminded at the top of her lungs to the entire crowd. Oh crap! It was her. I thought she looked familiar... "Lyra! Is this the best time?" Bon Bon asked her quietly. Tia stopped in front of us instead. From my new position I realized how tall she was. "He's had a rather rough last few weeks. I know that much personally. Are you all right, Mender?" she asked gently. Lyra gasped and oddly fell into a bow. That was the second pony to bow to Tia. Warning bells went off in my mind. "I'm s-sorry, Princess Celestia!" Lyra apologized rapidly. A pause. Oh. Tia? Celestia? Celes... Oh crap. Decidedly, my body chose that moment to gargle with my yet beating heart. The newly revealed Princess Celestia sighed and made a motion with her head. "Shall we take a walk, ponies?" she suggested. I don't quite remember moving. I think one of the guards came up and pushed me along from behind. * * * * * The sun slowly sank towards the horizon as I sat quietly in the grass, watching the iridescent sky. The oranges, purples, and blues mixed together so nicely that I really didn't want to leave. Tia, or more appropriately, Princess Celestia, sat a meter or so to my right. Her eyes absorbed the colors of the sky as she watched her sun go down. It was beyond strange to realize that her sister was out there somewhere, directing the moon into the sky at the same time. She caught me looking a moment later, and I rapidly turned my head away, feeling insecure again. At least the mint pony had forgiven me for earlier transgressions before leaving. Lyra was it? She seemed nice enough once she stopped trying to murder me. Honestly, I hadn't realized "stallion smells" were so hard to wash off. Unhealthy obsession with how I picked up my sandwich, though! That was a little creepy. She went on to explain how awesome fingers were and how she wished she had some, like a dragon or something. Bon Bon looked like she wanted to die, though. "Still feeling awkward, Mender?" Celestia asked a moment later. Sighing, I shifted uneasily. "A little. You got me good, that's for sure," I pseudo-complimented. She giggled lightly again. "I only did so to keep you honest. And technically I never lied. Twilight Sparkle is indeed my friend." True enough, I suppose. "So you were asking about my magic to make sure I wasn't a threat, right?" I deduced, absently motioning with my right forehoof. The princess smiled and looked back out at the sky. She was quiet again for a moment before nodding and asking, "You understand why I had to do as such, right?" "Of course. You're the ruler of Equestria. I'm a potential risk to your nation." She frowned but nodded again. "Twilight ultimately can take more risks than I. Normally I don't ask her to, of course," she started to explain. It had been a nagging thought before I went to bed last night. I don't quite know why, but I think it was the way she said it. "She told you about me almost right away, didn't she?" I interrupted, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible. Celestia smiled again at that. "You're clever. You two really would make a good pair," she complimented. Of course. She told her probably right after finding the memories of another world and form in my mind. It was dangerous not to. I just didn't understand why she didn't tell me. "It was the right call. I could potentially have caused a lot of damage, and not much was known about me," I agreed quietly. "She was right, however. Twilight's gotten to be a good judge of character since becoming a Bearer. She said you yourself were harmless, and that the real danger was what you represented." I could tell she was directing the topic away from Twilight being at fault. That probably meant something. "But you're the ruler of Equestria. You can't just trust Twilight, no matter how faithful she was. Too much was at risk," I concluded for her. Celestia remained quiet for a moment and glanced back out at the sky. She hesitated before finally nodding. "Yes, this country is my responsibility. I need to be thinking about its welfare. I asked Twilight to keep an eye on you until I could make it to Ponyville myself that weekend. A potential hostile invasion is extremely serious, you must realize," she agreed. It rapidly snapped together. She had been flustered because of us jumping ahead of schedule. Twilight had wanted to wait for the Princess. Instead of her feelings becoming clear, however, I simply became more confused. How did she feel personally if she was simply told to look after me? My mind shifted back to her eyes slowly closing as I felt her lips push harder into mine. I pushed back the heat that was threatening to drift into my cheeks. No, I shouldn't jump to conclusions. There was definitely something there. Now what about me? I tried my hardest to feel out what I thought of her, but things kept getting mixed up in my head. "You're quiet, Mender. Are you okay?" Princess Celestia suddenly spoke up. As my thoughts had stolen my concentration, I couldn't help but jump when the silence was suddenly broken. "Oh! Sorry, Your Highness. I was just trying to sort out my feelings. And everypony else's," I apologized. She shook her head, however. "Please, either Celestia or Tia. I meant it when I said it was a comfort to just pretend I'm a normal pony for a while," she requested. It felt awkward, regardless. I seemed to be stuck thinking of her as Tia. Maybe that's what she wanted? She continued, " And if you're worried about Twilight, don't be. I was a little concerned when she started getting attached to you, but now that I can see for myself what you're like, I'm happy she trusts you." I had a sneaking suspicion she could see a lot more than she let on. I decided to just be open rather than risk her ire. "Why didn't she just tell me that she was in contact with you, then?" "I told her not to. You'd hardly have acted natural had you known you were being watched. You have my word that she isn't under any orders now," she assured, somehow guessing at my insecurity before I myself did. I was a bit impressed, and just a little frightened. Still, all Princess Celestia would need to do was say the word. Twilight practically worshipped her, from what I'd seen and heard. Celestia smiled gently after a moment, my inner turmoil halting the conversation reasonably well. I stared once again out at the colors of the sky as they slowly shifted towards the horizon. It couldn't be that late yet. Maybe this place followed a more natural seasonal daylight cycle. That would mean that the day would be getting shorter and shorter. Winter was coming. Really, I just wanted somepony I could trust. Failing that, maybe a good, sturdy tree I could kick until I felt better. Rainbow Dash? No. She was loyal, but not exactly to me. Plus she might be mad over the teleport incident still. Applejack? Heh. And get punched again? Pinkie? It worked surprisingly well last time, but this seemed a little sensitive for her level of energy and violation. Fluttershy? I didn't know what she was doing or where she stood on what had happened still. I didn't want to offend her. That left Rarity. The only thing she had done that was necessarily bad was eavesdrop and work me a little harder than I would have liked. She also took things reasonably seriously it seemed. Maybe she'll have some advice? Gently, I stood up and stretched out my back legs, earning Celestia's attention again. "Miss Rarity said she wanted to give me something today, so I should stop by there before the party, I think.” "I'll be at the party as well. May I speak with you more there? You probably have a lot of questions," she requested. I sighed but nodded slowly. She was insistent on clearing Twilight's name. Idly, I wondered why. She continued before I could ask, though, with, "Good! You have about an hour before the party. Best not be late. I don't believe even I can stop Pinkie Pie from going to find you if so." That I laughed at. "Oh, I know her a little bit. I won't be late." She smiled and nodded towards me as I turned and headed back into town, directing my legs towards the Carousel Boutique. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/VkeqBh2WzJk Chapter 05Yawning quietly, I peeked about the town as I strolled, being more than a little happy at my ability to walk properly. It was hard for me to believe that it was less than three weeks ago that I could barely walk on four hooves. Now I could at least manage to look around a bit without risk of cracking my skull on the ground. As per the usual, there were a few stares as I headed towards the Boutique. Oddly, there were more whispers than usual. Surely they were used to me wandering about while looking half dead, right? They should just be thankful that I wasn’t in a mechanical walking barrel this time. They picked up the deeper into town I went, growing in participants and volume. I grew uneasy as I started to pick up Princess Celestia's name, and picked up the pace a bit. Sadly, three mares intercepted me no more than a dozen meters from the Carousel Boutique. "I'm, sorry to interrupt, but you're the stallion that was with Princess Celestia earlier, weren't you?" the cream-colored mare with the rose red hair asked. I swallowed nervously but managed a weak nod. "Ooh! What's your name?" her friend asked almost immediately. The sudden half prance forward caused her blonde mane to bounce excitedly. Oddly, her coat color reminded me of Pinkie. With her level of energy, I wondered if they were related. Regardless, I took a step back from the display of excitement. "I'm, my name is Moon Mender. Uh, why do you ask?" "Oh, I'm Rose," the cream and fittingly rose-colored mare spoke up. "Lily!" the slightly more energetic, blonde and pink one added. The only one to not speak yet nodded along and smiled, adding, "And I'm Daisy. Lily and I run the herb shop in Ponyville, and Rose handles the flower stand." Her lime colored mane shifted gently as she nodded. It looked a little strange with her light purple coat. "Ah. Well, that's nice," I returned, admittedly unsure of exactly why they were talking to me. All three smiled, however, seemingly oblivious. "You were that stallion that Pinkie Pie threw a party for a few weeks ago, weren't you?" Lily asked a moment later. I started to nod in agreement, but Rose interrupted before I could even open my mouth. "Huh? Oh, that party. I never actually saw the pony it was for." Daisy giggled, however, correcting, "Yes you did. He was the bandaged lump that slept on the sofa for most of the night." My eyes drooped as I gave an irritable glare towards her. "What?! No way. I could have sworn that was a throw pillow," Rose muttered, her brow becoming scrunched up. "Is that why you almost sat on him and Sweetie Belle?" Daisy asked skeptically. Lily added at the same time, "Are you sure you weren't drunk?" My ears drooped a bit and I sighed. You know it's a bad day when somepony mistakes you for an inanimate object. "No, I wasn't drunk! And I stopped when I saw her," Rose defended sharply. Sadly, a few more approached while they went back and forth. "Oh, you're the stallion that's been staying with Twilight, aren't you?" a yellow colored mare with a golden mane spoke up. Blinking, I swallowed again and started to open my mouth. A chorus of "Ooh"s interrupted, however, from the trio in front of me. A blush drifted into my cheeks and I stuttered out, "It's not like that. She's my friend!" "You're friends with all six Element Bearers, aren't you?" Lily asked in amusement a moment later. I didn't like her tone or implications, but I nodded anyway. "Uh, yeah. It's kind of a long story. I was trying to get to..." I started to excuse myself. "And friends with Princess Celestia! Are you some sort of secret agent or something?" Rose asked excitedly, halfway through my attempt to excuse myself from the conversation. "Would he honestly tell you if he was a secret agent?" Daisy reasoned, giving Rose a gentle nudge with her left forehoof. That was a very good point. All three were interrupted by a loud voice from above, shouting out, "Whoa! Nice crowd you got going, Mender!” Oh crap. That sounded like... Rainbow Dash swooped in an instant later, blasting all three mares in front of me with a rather sizable gust, earning a trio of yelps. The rest of the crowd seemingly decided that now would be a good time to back up and give the high-speed bolt of cyan fur a bit of landing room. After standing back up fully from her landing, Dash smirked over her right shoulder at me before rotating around fully. "Oh, hey Dash. What are you doing here?" I asked, carefully bracing against the wind she indirectly caused. Scratch that. I still wasn't all that stable on my legs. Dash glanced about at the crowd before puffing a little and snickering. "I was looking for you, duh. Twi said you seemed a little upset when you left and asked me to give you a little company. I guess you found some company on your own, though," she commented, gesturing to the crowd. I glanced about at them, uncertain. Some looked surprised, others more curious, and all were watching me. "Ah, yeah. Um, I don't know?" I offered, which was to say, told her nothing. "He was eating lunch with Princess Celestia!" Rose spoke up. Rainbow gave me a speculative glance, to which I shrugged and elaborated, "I bumped into her shortly after leaving Twilight's. Kinda maybe literally. She invited me to lunch and said she wanted to talk to me." I didn't think it was that big of a deal. "Whoa. Got asked out by a Princess. Nice going, hot stuff," Rainbow cooed, tossing me a wink. Obviously, I whipped out my trademark blush. "Dash! You know it's not like that!" I protested. It didn't help much as I heard the whispers and gasps start up around me. Great. Rainbow took it in stride, of course. "Hey, no need to be modest, Mender. You've got both Twi and Fluttershy hot after you, and you're friends with the coolest, bravest pegasus in Equestria!" she declared, puffing her chest out even further and widening her stance. Her cocky grin met my irked glare blow for blow. "You forgot fastest," I reminded sarcastically. She gave a pert nod and wink. "That's just a given with how awesome I am!" she assured, sounding amused. Okay, she was just screwing with me now. The door to the Carousel Boutique slowly opened behind the crowd, however. To my surprise, I saw both Rarity and Fluttershy peeking out through the doorway. The latter's eyes widened upon seeing me, and mine followed suit. Fluttershy! Mine widened even further when she lowered herself slightly and looked past Rarity and back inside. She was scared of me? Dash had turned around and peeked at point. "Oh, Rarity's? Is that where you were headed?" Rainbow asked a moment later, looking back over her shoulder with a smile. I buried the emotions as fast as I could and smiled back, nodding. Rarity smiled softly at me and strolled out of the shop. Fluttershy took that moment to dive back inside and out of view, of course. “Moon Mender! What a pleasure. I was looking forward to seeing you at the party tonight. I hadn’t expected an early visit,” Rarity spoke politely, drawing out her sentence spacing smoothly as she walked towards us with certain elegance. Wow, she was certainly laying it on thick. It must be the audience that brought it out in her. “I would have been here earlier, but Princess Celestia wanted to speak with me. Ah, I’m sorry,” I excused, nodding courteously to her. She giggled softly as she stopped maybe a meter away from us. Dash had backed up as she approached and now stood to my right side. “Oh I would never forbid a meeting with the princess. What was it she wanted to speak to you about?” the white unicorn asked, pleasant smile dancing onto her features. Rainbow snorted derisively. Uh oh. “What else could it be about, Rarity? She probably wanted to know more about his magi…” she started. Damn my reaction speed! Still, my shoulder jabbed into her side as fast as I could manage. “Ow! What the hay did you do that for?” she asked, glaring at me after recovering from her stumble. “Oh. Oh! Perhaps we should take this inside, dear?” Rarity offered, suddenly seeming to realize what the topic was and looking a little more flustered. Rainbow frowned over at her but lost some of the edge on her expression. Oh sure. Believe Rarity. There couldn’t be a logical reason for me to nudge a pony. I obviously go around all day assaulting random ponies in the side. “Oh. Well fine,” Rainbow acquiesced in an irritably nonchalant manner. It was too late at that point. Due to my lack of reflexes, almost everypony present with more than a dozen brain cells to rub together had figured out what she had been on the verge of saying. More whispers from the crowd could be heard. There were over two dozen ponies at this point, and it was getting hard to hear individual voices. “Wait, was that what you were doing at the café?” Rose suddenly spoke up, separating from the front of the crowd again and stopping just in front of me, looking a little eager. I swallowed nervously and took a step back away from her. “Uh, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I answered, trying to shrug off the suspicion. “That’s good. Neither do we,” Lily muttered, giving a suspicious looking glance at her friend. Rose seemed to pay no heed though and bounced back and forth on her hooves in a rather exciting and oddly mesmerizing fashion. “I thought it was just a rumor but Lyra was going crazy over it earlier, saying he could hold up a cup of tea with just one hoof! Magic!” she exclaimed, eyes widening and dancing with energy as she stepped closer to me again. “That is simply preposterous, ponies! He is clearly lacking a horn, so Lyra simply must have gotten confused,” Rarity tried to redirect. Oh, thank you! Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow to her, however. “What are you talking about, Rare? You know he,” she started before pausing for a moment. A look of dawning graced her face with the punctuated, “Oh.” “Are you serious, Rose?” Daisy asked, looking at me instead of her friend. “Yes! And hey, he’s cuter than Lyra described!” she returned, suddenly looking up and down me. Oh crap. She was suddenly way too close for comfort, my privacy zone expanding by several meters along with my nervousness. I edged away from her as I shifted my gaze back to Rarity, begging for a way out. Rarity sighed and held a hoof to her forehead, just below her horn. She suddenly looked like she really could use a full spa treatment. Oddly, I had no idea where that thought came from. My concentration was cut short in surprise, however, as I heard a light and faintly echoing squeak, shortly after the comment on my appearance. Huh? My mind reeled with a dip of vertigo momentarily, but I shook it off easily enough and glanced back at the Carousel Boutique. That squeak, which was oddly a mixture between a whimper and yelp, was excessively cute enough to be a certain yellow pegasus I knew. Had she heard the comment? More importantly, how had I heard her in return? A strange compulsion bounced into my mind. Both Dash and Rarity gave me a questioning glance as I suddenly ignored the crowd entirely and trotted past the unicorn mare, going inside the Boutique instead. I heard murmurs following me, and the distinct sound of two other sets of hoof steps on the entry step behind me after I entered. It didn’t take me long to find the shivering pink tail that hid behind a rather large supply chest. At least I assumed it was supplies. I guess Rarity might have some other reason for keeping large chests of various gemstones, textile tubes, and spools of thread. Regardless, the soft pink tail shivering behind the chest clearly didn’t belong. “Fluttershy,” I murmured quietly. The tail went rigid, followed by an audible gasp. With glacial movements, I saw her pink mane, and then finally her left eye peek out from around the chest. The eye widened and I watched her visibly shrink under my gaze. There was a long pause where we simply looked at each other again. I slowly sat down in front of her, eyes softening. Why was she suddenly avoiding me? Not making any sudden movements, I simply sat in front of her, breathing slowly. After several more rather awkward moments, she must have realized that I wasn’t going anywhere and slowly peeked out further from around the chest. Her eyes softened a little as she simply watched me, those twin pools of teal shivering lightly as I saw moisture start to build up along the bottoms of them. “Fluttershy...” I heard Rarity muttered from behind me and to the right. The main door gently closed as well, due to what I assumed were Rainbow’s manipulations. The pretty yellow pegasus winced, tears finally coming as she lowered her head and buried her face in her hooves. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, shivering again. Deciding it was for the best, I lowered myself further down into a laying position, leveled out eye to eye with her. “For what, Fluttershy? What’s bothering you?” I asked carefully, trying hard to corral my mind’s natural tendency to start guessing. She stayed frozen like that for a long moment. Rainbow appeared on my right side and sat down next to me, looking down at the shivering yellow pegasus with a frown. Rarity’s hoof steps could be heard getting closer behind me as well. Fluttershy sighed and continued staring at her hooves. “I… should have visited you sooner. I just don’t know what to do. I mean, what to feel around,” she tried to mutter, already quiet and fading to nothing towards the end. That much I could work with. I swallowed weakly and nodded. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable with my feelings. They’re there, but I’m trying really hard to keep them under control and figure them out,” I tried to assure, voice jittering a little. She surprised me by shaking her head rapidly, however, mane fluttering back and forth. “No. It’s not… that. Twilight had me, um, help her pull you back from your bad spot. But I accidentally saw some other things, too. In your memories,” she squeaked out, hiding her face again in her hooves as if she was afraid I’d hit her or something. Oh. Oh crap. She knew about when I first arrived! “Oh! Uh… I can explain! Um, I’m really, really sorry! Honestly, I didn’t mean to look!” I exclaimed rapidly, feeling my blood drain from my face and shivering. Unconsciously, I lowered myself further down to the floor. Fluttershy stopped shivering for a moment and looked back up at me, looking slightly confused instead this time. “Um, what?” she asked hesitantly. Oh. Uh, oops. “Oh my. Who else did you look at aside from Twilight?” Rarity asked behind me, sounding surprised. Crap! She was right on cue. “You checked out Fluttershy’s flank too?” Rainbow asked, starting to laugh. Fluttershy’s cheeks went crimson as her eyes widened. I only saw it for a moment, however, before she buried her face in her hooves again, releasing a timid, “Oh my.” I could appreciate the feeling, and joined her in hiding my face. Mine was out of shame, however. “Oh relax, girls. Let’s not let this get out of hoof again. It’s a natural reaction. It simply wouldn’t be feasible for such a pretty mare to go unnoticed, right? I’m sure he meant no harm by it, right Mender?” Rarity requested, resting what I figured was her right forehoof on my back and patting. “Of course not. There’s just so many… feelings whirling around in my head. I need to sort them out. Then do something about these stupid hormones,” I groaned, whacking my forehead on the wooden floor. Fluttershy let out a weak sigh and shook her head, still blushing lightly as I peeked up at the noise. “It is, well, natural. You’re a very, um, kind stallion. It’s just…” she started to explain before frowning and hesitating. After a moment of staring off into space, she shuddered and rapidly shook her head. “No, no, no! I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. It’s not you. It’s me.” “Flutters, you need to relax. Nobody’s blaming you. Mender’s just a stallion. They look a lot. Take it as a compliment!” Rainbow pointed out, smirking down at me instead. I returned a rather annoyed stare. The yellow pegasus didn’t seem assured, though. “I know. It’s not what I saw. But I can’t get it out of my head. So much. How do you even stand it? There was… It was all around you,” she whimpered, curling up on her side instead. Oh. It snapped back into place and I felt my blush drop away, sitting up again. The cyan pegasus next to me gave a questioning look, but I stared past Fluttershy instead. Honestly, I’m surprised Twilight was alright with it. No. In all honesty, I didn’t know why I was still alright with it. Maybe I wasn’t? I don’t think anypony, or anybody in this case, ever got adjusted to such a thing. Rarity approached and peeked at me from my left. “The war. All of the death. I know,” I muttered, eyes drooping a little. My memories were still a mess. There were no coherent events in them, but many images were still present. Like the photographer went out on a drinking binge and got shots at random before falling down a cliff and trying his best to recover the camera. Regardless, the pictures weren’t pleasant. Dash frowned, this time at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, you know that’s not his fault,” she tried to defend. Rarity interrupted with a sharp clicking noise from her tongue as Fluttershy winced and curled up tighter, as if physically hit by Dash’s words. “Of course she knows that. But when she thinks about him, those memories come with,” she explained. Explained. She knew already, I suddenly realized. Fluttershy nodded weakly, tears now coming down her cheeks. “You’re really nice. For all that to happen, to you and your race; it’s terrible. It’s horrifying. I can’t…” she muttered again, shivering visibly now while barely producing more than a whisper. “Um, should I leave? I don’t want to stir up uncomfortable memories for you,” I offered, quietly looking down at her. The last thing I wanted to do was make the shy pegasus more uncomfortable than I was already making her. She had probably been talking to Rarity about it when I rudely interrupted. Wait, why had I interrupted? I suddenly couldn’t recall why I had wandered in here in the first place. She was scared and needed help. But I don’t know why I thought that. Of course, I was no stranger to having large gaps of memory missing, between already being diagnosed with amnesia and spending an uncomfortable amount of time unconscious through blunt head trauma prior to the coma. I guess I should just be thankful it only lasted a couple of weeks. And from what I heard, I had Twilight and Fluttershy to thank for that. It made what she saw even harsher, though. She had done it for me. I digress, however. I’d never had gaps of memory while awake. This was a little troubling. Perhaps I’d talk to Twilight about it again. Although it probably was nothing, like she’d already tried to convince me. Maybe she was right and I really didn’t have anything to worry about? Fluttershy interrupted my thoughts by sitting up in front of me. Her eyes looked a little bloodshot, now that I was close enough and she had them fully open. Were the images giving her nightmares? “Please. No. I want to… Well, I want to get used to you again,” she murmured, voice a little stronger this time. Rarity smiled and nodded politely off to my left. “Yes. Replace the memories with happy ones instead. Both of you should let those images go, honestly. Surely it isn’t doing Mender any good either, right?” she suggested, motioning towards me with her right forehoof. Letting out a puff of air, I nodded weakly and glanced away from the yellow pegasus. I felt really tired, in truth. It felt like I was going full-bore for so long that I don't remember the last time I really relaxed. Not that lack of memory should really surprise me at this point. Not including the coma, I think the last time I rested was after helping Applejack fix her wagon. “I could definitely do with a little more forgetting, honestly. My dreams still aren’t exactly pleasant,” I admitted finally with a shake of my head. Fluttershy sat up again, shifting to a light smile instead. It still felt a little timid, though. “I’m sorry for, um, avoiding you. I want to get used to you again,” she apologized quietly. Again. I looked away from her slightly. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, Fluttershy,” I expounded, feeling a little better that she was at least being open with me again. I hesitated, but finally got up the courage to add, “It’s true. I like you. You make me feel, well, safe. You calm me down and have already stopped me from panicking on multiple occasions. Plus you’re… Well, you’re beautiful. I’m trying to fix the other things, don’t worry.” I ignored the light gagging noise coming from my right, of course. Predictably, she resumed a light blush, but her smile didn’t go away this time. “I’m not that special,” she whispered, losing her force of voice and looking down again. “Oh, that I agree with him over. You’re very special indeed, my dear,” Rarity reinforced, giving a wide smile to her friend. The blush expanded by several magnitudes and she started fidgeting with her front hooves. “I, um, thank you. I really do want to be your friend, Mender. I’m not sure if I want more than that, but…” she finally managed to get out, sounding as if she were straining to actually push the words out of her mouth. Smiling, I nodded gently. That was the best I could have wished for heading into this situation, really. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I want to be your friend too. Are you coming to the party?” I inquired, curious about her standing. She let out a surprised gasp. My eyes widened a little, but she rapidly stepped forward half a leg length. “Oh, of course! Um, why would I miss it?” she defended, looking surprised that I’d even had to ask. “She has a point ya know. Of course we’re all going to be there. You’re already our friend,” Dash insisted, giving me a light shove on the shoulder with a hoof. Sadly, I tipped and wobbled a bit before Rarity snickered and gave me a push back in the other direction. I nodded, really unsure of what I could say to something like this. Thankfully, I really didn’t have to say anything. Rainbow’s gasp beat me to the punch. “Oh horseapples! The party!” she exclaimed suddenly, eyes widening. Huh? Oh! Looking around, I finally managed to spot a clock on Rarity’s wall. Seventeen fifty-five? Uh oh. That left five minutes before the party started. “Uh, I’d better get going! Pinkie will hunt me down if I’m late for the party,” I whimpered. Dash nodded, looking a tad apprehensive herself. “Run and you can make it. I’ll stall them!” she exclaimed before turning and galloping towards the door. She flicked the knob with her muzzle as she hopped, weight pushing the door open before a single flap of her wings sent her hurtling into the sky in a blur. Damn that mare was fast! Turning around and trying to start into a sprint at the same time was probably a really stupid idea, however. As it turns out, even two weeks in a coma does horrible things to your body. Not that I needed the coma excuse with my general lack of finesse in this body, anyway. Regardless, I tipped and promptly ran my face into the wooden floor instead, skidding along a good foot and a half on my nose. I heard a light squeak behind me, indubitably from a very surprised Fluttershy. Her noises were very distinctive, I decided. Well, as much as I could decide as the nerve endings in my face screamed out for mercy. Attempting to recover what little there was left of my dignity, I simply rolled with it. For a moment, I balanced perfectly on my forehead before falling in the other direction onto my back. With all the grace of a drunken hippo, I flopped backwards and rolled sideways, spinning myself as I went. With my momentum somehow still intact, I came out of the spin on my legs again and booked it towards the door at top speed, utterly afraid to look back at the two mares in my shame… * * * * * In an ideal world, I would have slid through the door totally on time a few minutes later, with everypony there happy to see me and congratulating me on my physical prowess. I’d then be the guest of honor of the party, and have a grand old time. The night would then end on a high note with a swooning purple unicorn and yellow pegasus, and gentle kisses to welcome the coming sleep. Instead, I lay spread eagle on my stomach a dozen meters from the entry to the library, with a bruised face and dignity, puffing like some makeshift steam device. Damn. “Okay, this ‘ere is mighty sad, Mender,” came a familiar accented voice from the direction of the door. I didn’t have the energy, nor heart to look up at Applejack as I heard her hoof steps coming closer. “Haa…” I managed to murmur airily as I exhaled, world still spinning. As to not throw up, I kept my eyes closed. That was as close to “Hi” that she was going to get from me at the moment. “Ya know, it was only ah couple blocks from Rare’s, right? Ya really need ta get yerself back into shape,” she added after a few more seconds. I heard the light puffing noise of a bit of dust in front of me, and assumed she’d sat down. I managed a miniscule nod into the ground, wincing at my aching legs. “Yeah… Ugh. Can’t move,” I finally got out. They wouldn’t mind if I took a little nap here, right? There was an exasperated sigh, followed by, “Ah figured as much. ‘ere.” My surprise doubled when something rough and grainy wrapped itself around my upper body with no little amount of nudging and shoving. My eyes opened a moment later just in time to see her tighten the rope and pick up the other end in her teeth, shrugging as she started dragging me in the direction of the library. Well, this was awkward. It was kind of comfy, though, in a dust up my nose kind of way. Silently, I hoped Ponyville would get some rain soon. Raising my head feebly as we reached the steps, I managed to angle the slope off my collarbone. Applejack took note and pulled me up the forty-five degree angle before continuing into the library. The explosion of light and sound was magnified by my spinning head. Cheering exploded all around the room as the lights flicked on. "Surprise!" several of the ponies shouted, Pinkie at the forefront and very much the loudest. Pause. Most lost their grins and I got dozens of confused looks. Suddenly, I noticed a visible twitch and picked Twilight out of the crowd near the front. "Oh come on! Four hours. I leave you alone for four hours! How do you do this, Mender?" she shouted, looking a little exasperated. Dash predictably burst into laughter, this time drawing many others along with her. My irritation spiked, but once I thought about it, she had technically done her job. Twilight was mad because I bashed my face off Rarity's floor, not because I was late. "Oh who cares! He's here now, so it's time to party!" Pinkie declared, doing a lazy series of somersaults towards my position on the floor. She, and the sensation of horror in me as she approached, were both cut short by a sudden flash of light, however! Twilight was suddenly standing between us with no visual spatial movement whatsoever. What?! She could teleport without charging? What I could recall of my lessons labeled that as a 'Blink' technique. Appropriate, honestly. It allowed the caster to move from one spot to another, usually a short distance away, in the space of an eye blink. To do so impulsively with no charge time was masterful, though! "Oooh no! No, no! He's already injured. He takes it easy tonight," she prescribed, stomping her right front hoof on the floor. Pinkie giggled and started to turn around her, but was easily snatched out of the air in a lavender aura. She took it in stride, of course. "Wheee!" she squealed as she spun about defying gravity. Twilight tossed her into the pillow cluster next to the couch before lifting me up with a similar aura. Absently, I noted that the pillows used to be on the couch. I had slept against them at the last party. The unfazed Applejack nodded to Twilight and undid the rope as I dangled in the air in front of her. This really wasn't helping the dizziness. After Applejack untied me, Twilight walked over to the couch with me floating lazily in the air behind her. She hopped up onto the end cushion and smiled warmly at me before gently setting me down next to her. “There! Now you’re safe and sound for the rest of the night,” she concluded, nodding sharply. Was that on her checklists somewhere? Or was she ordered to watch me again? I nudged my thoughts back into check. Celestia had been very insistent that it wasn’t Twilight’s idea. That either meant that Twilight had expressed discomfort in spying on me and honestly wanted to just be my friend, or that Celestia wanted to keep Twilight in my good graces so I’d be less suspicious. But what was that old adage? Innocent until proven guilty? Twilight’s look shifted to puzzled instead when I took so long to answer, but I slowly got into a vague sitting position instead, leaning against the back of the couch. “Thanks, Twi,” I finally managed. The impact with the couch directly above my head jarred me. I glanced up and saw Rainbow Dash, perched precariously on the top of the couch’s back. "Ooh, guarding him all night?" she asked, smirking. There was a light whispering from various locations around us, and I quickly realized that the crowd was still at full attention. Twilight scowled up at her before defending with, "You know it's not like that, Rainbow!" "Oh! Can we have you, then, Mender?" was suddenly shouted out from the left. I glanced over and blushed as Rose waved from the front of the crowd. Wait, we? I saw the other two flower themed mares standing next to her a moment later. To my discomfort, both were smirking. Rainbow Dash started snickering again, but Twilight looked utterly shocked. She glanced over in the direction of the three flower mares as well. "Wait, what?!" she muttered in disbelief. "Well, he's personal friends with the Element Bearers and Princess Celestia. Plus, he's cute and an Earth Stallion who can use magic!" Lily explained simply. "He can what?" Twilight asked, visually shifting from surprised to annoyed in seconds before turning and glaring back at me. I saw Rainbow avert her gaze in the corner of my eye. Tempting as it was to rat her out, I didn't think it would impress the Element of Loyalty all that much. "Sorry, Twilight. I got caught using it," I apologized softly. She sighed weakly and nodded, turning back towards the group to our left. A frustrated murmur interrupted anything she was going to say, though. "Okay, yeah. I can't let you do that. I let the secret out! I totally didn't think it was a secret in the first place. Sorry, Twi," Rainbow muttered. Sorry, Twilight? Twilight nodded once, a light smile playing at her features. She had probably guessed it had something to do with Dash, I'd imagine. She opened her mouth again to speak. Once again, both her words and my sulking were interrupted by a third party. "I offer my apologies for being late, Everypony. The moon rising here is beautiful without the Canterlot lights to wash it out," spoke the elegant voice of the Princess of the Sun, from the direction of the library's entry. The crowd was like a gentle retreating wave as the collective bowing commenced. The prior whispering tapered into nothingness at the same time, a seemingly mutual respect for the Princess telling everypony to allow her to speak. Everypony minus Twilight of course, who instead released a quiet gasp. "Princess Celestia! You made it!" Twilight exclaimed a moment later, hopping over the back of the couch like a little filly before scampering over to her teacher. I saw that Rarity and Fluttershy were both with the Princess as well. I smiled softly as I watched, finding it more than a little cute to watch the usually reserved unicorn get so excited. Well, I watched until I heard the barely audible coo to my right. Instinctively, I glanced in that direction, just in time to see Pinkie Pie balancing carefully on the other armrest. Uh oh... She wiggled her butt like a cat, giving me a predatory grin before pouncing. I managed to inhale sharply but couldn't quite get the scream for help out before she collided with my chest. My stored air supply left as rapidly as I had acquired it, and not nearly as noisily as I would have liked. It was kind of like being molested by energetic chipmunks wielding cotton candy. I couldn't catch my breath as she tickled me mercilessly, her mane blocking my vision at every turn. She purposefully ruffled my own mane up as I squirmed, trying to get away from her. Dash must have heard my squeaks and gasps, as I heard her start to snicker from somewhere reasonably close above me. "Whoa! Harsh, Pinkie. Flutters, you should see this!" she tacked on in a break between the laughter. I finally managed to get a hold on Pinkie's head and pushed her out of my viewpoint. Just as I got the pink curls out of my eyes, Fluttershy popped into view next to Dash on the back of the couch. "Oh! Oh my. You're not hurting him, are you, Pinkie?" she asked timidly, actually looking a little worried. Pinkie sat up on me and laughed, shaking her head until her mane flailed everywhere wildly. "Of course not! I'd never hurt such a good friend," she assured promptly. She seemed to know how to deal with the yellow pegasus, anyway. "Just tickle me until I can't breathe. Got it," I groaned wearily, glaring up at the pink lump of energy masquerading as a pony. She giggled merrily, of course. "Oh you know you like it!" she defended, giving me a surprisingly flirty wink. Wait, no. She had acted like that with one of the girls, too, if I recalled. It was probably just her way of playing. "Two can play at that game you know," I reminded, grinning back. Her eyes widened as she grinned, making to dive off me. Far too late, my pink friend. My left foreleg exploded into a mess of bandages, snagging her and mercilessly returning the tickle treatment at every conceivable angle. She burst into spastic squealing as she squirmed and laughed, trying to climb up the back of the couch. Hey, at least they were all clean and new. What the pink monster really deserved were the gross and messy ones I had on earlier! "Whoa! Awesome, Mender," Rainbow complimented, laughing as she kept blocking Pinkie's climbing path. I made a clicking noise with my tongue as I sat up again. Less than half were tickling. Heh. Sorry Rainbow. "I'm not letting you off the hook either, Dashie," I warned, winking at the cyan mare. All she had time for was a questioning glance before I snagged her too. She started squealing before I even proceeded with the tickling. "No! No, no! Please?" I cut short her pleading as I pulled her out of her weak attempt to fly away while hysterically laughing. Pinkie's giggles only escalated as her friend got pulled in too. Even Fluttershy giggled lightly as she balanced on the back of the couch. "What the hay is going on over there?" I heard Twilight ask, seemingly finally noticing her friends' plight. Pinkie immediately tried to climb over Dash after she crashed into the couch cushion, and used her as a step to get towards the top of the couch. Guess it was every mare for herself! Fluttershy wobbled and clutched to the cushion as Pinkie giggled and clung next to her. I should have seen it coming. All four of us gave out a yelp as the couch spilled over backwards. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/DVtqPDLWZmY Chapter 06Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 07Maybe it was the potion-induced unconsciousness. Maybe I had a weekly quota. Maybe I was just incredibly unlucky. Regardless of the reasons behind it, I found myself in the other reality. Well in all honesty, I had no idea if this place was actually real or if it was some kind of delusion put together by my brain to further torture me during my lack of consciousness. Twilight seemed to believe that the link was gone, and maybe she was right? This could just be a sign of my slowly decaying sanity, of course. The only reason I knew that I was in space this time was due to the view out the window. My subconscious had taken me to the inside of a spaceship cabin, it would seem. The disembodied projection feeling remained as I peered around the interior. In a way, I was grateful that at least my technical training had carried over to my pony body, no matter how awkward it was. It was kind of like knowing how to do complex math without any memories of ever learning it. The skills and knowledge was simply there. In this case, I must have paid attention in some divination class somewhere, because I knew how to manipulate my mind outside of the context of my body. The cabin was comfy. Not military, that much was certain. It still felt a little cramped, but had personal touches. A couple fanciful pillows, colorful bedspreads, and an array of pictures on the walls brightened the room up quite a bit. Functionally, a bunk bed for two and single lavatory was rather luxurious by itself, though. It cost serious funds to push extra mass through space, after all. In short, I had no idea why I would be here. If this were an elaborate setup on my mind's part, I don't even know where it could have gotten the information to use as a backdrop. Failing that, the only other option was that something was linking me back to that hellish place, even though Princess Celestia herself said the link was gone. Unlikely, but go ahead and call me paranoid if you want. I made further note to stop talking to myself again, as to not further fuel my own insanity. Looking to my own 'body' did nothing, of course. There was nobody there for me to see. The surrounding area gave me little to go off, as well. Given no choice, I closed my vision and opened my Mind's Eye instead. A glorified meditation technique in most cases, the Mind's Eye did have a practical purpose in this situation. Being not in my actual body, be this either dream or some sort of projection, the Eye activated almost immediately. The world shifted into shades of gray and I glanced about, looking for anything that stood out for me. If this were a dream, I'd probably get nothing. I really hoped I'd get nothing. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case. Half a second passed and I picked up a light blue glow coming from the lower bunk bed, barely a meter away from me. Damn it. So this was either a dream that was exceedingly convincing or I was really here, being pulled while my body slept. Or maybe I was rendered unconscious, as my last memory served? Of course, I could have just died from a potion overdose. Snapping out of my distraction, I looked into the sheets. It wasn't very hard to find. The blue glow made it easy to locate, but I almost wish I hadn't. My mind ached in a dull, frozen manner as I looked at the small book lying on the mattress. Its worn wrinkles graced the simple blue dyed leather cover in dignity. The simple lock adorned one side, metal showing a gentle rusting that mirrored the spine decorations. The key lay barely three inches from the book, somewhat defeating its purpose, but telling me something important. It had to be important. If only I knew what it meant. The door slid open with an audible mechanical hum before I could ponder it further. I froze, wondering exactly how visible I was to the natives of this place. With no other option, I watched helplessly as two individuals entered the room. Then the helplessness shifted rapidly to shock instead. Both of them walked upright on two legs. Further, they both wore clothing; space contact suits to be precise. They had no helmets on, however. The true surprise came from the blue fur covering their faces, long ears extending back almost a foot, short muzzles, whiskers, and slit pupils. They were my old race! They looked like I had. Well, prior to the explosion, death magic, and massive bodily trauma. Further, they possessed a curved build, both major and minor mammary gland sets, and a distinct lack of extended upper canines. They were females! The one in the lead was a little taller and had her hair tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes were a pretty teal color and looked right through me. The smaller trailed behind her a little, sporting a relaxed cascading hairstyle and brilliant blue eyes. She lingered in the doorway and glanced about the room wearing a frown. The taller one walked right through me, giving me the rather discerning view of the inside of her stomach before I killed my perception. That was something I could have lived my whole life without seeing! Well, technically I had. I considered this existence my second life regardless. The tall one stopped at the other end of the room by the time I'd pulled my perception back into place. "What's bothering you, Keela?" she asked quietly, upon observing for a moment. The one called Keela jumped slightly, as if spooked. "What? Oh, sorry, Sis. I guess I'm just a little unnerved still," she excused quietly. So they were sisters? Or really close. It made me wonder what family structure was like in my old race. There were no memories of that sort of thing at all. Did I have family too? If these girls were real and not extremely strange dream figments, then maybe I had family left too? "For one as sensitive as you, visiting the remains of our home planet can't be comfortable. How are you holding up?" the yet unnamed female questioned in seeming concern. The younger looking one shook her head tiredly before walking into the room further. Oddly, she drifted a little in her trajectory and walked around me. A subconscious thing? It didn’t seem to be that big of a stretch to think that there were other specializations too. My magic focused on three distinct subjects. Maybe she focused on detection or divination of some sort? My mild distraction abruptly ended with a wave of vertigo. My vision spun to the right rapidly, just in time to see the older girl pick up the small book. "I'm all right, Nirru. Just tired. You've been quiet too, though," Keela pointed out, sitting down on the bed next to the newly named Nirru. Nirru sighed, setting the book down again and dropping my nonexistent stomach out from under me. Ug! "I'm just frustrated. So far, we've only found this book. We need to find survivors," she muttered quietly, looking down at the cover. Keela exhaled gently and smiled, replying with, "This is a survivor. It's perfectly intact. Its magic is strong, but very strange. It's not just an Aegis Artifact." An Aegis... Artifact? That was totally new to me, unfortunately. It must have something to do with the Aegis Barrier, but there weren’t even the faintest of chimes in my memories at the name. That's how it had worked before. Some sort of external stimulus would occur, and the memories involved would slowly start to drift to the surface. It was sort of like blowing up submersibles with depth charges. This topic seemed to be firing blanks, however. "What feels so weird about it? Furthermore, what does it do?" Nirru asked abruptly, snapping me out of my contemplation. Ah well. This sounded more interesting anyway. Keela frowned and slid her small hand along the surface of the book. It momentarily felt like my mind was being brushed against. Instinctively, I held rigid and gave out no signs of life. Crap! That book! "It feels like the owner is still alive. I have no idea what it does, though. Being a book type, it will need to be opened to find out. “That’s not possible, though. At least, if it really is an Aegis Artifact. The very definition requires that the creator be dead,” Nirru pointed out skeptically, frowning down at the book as well, but making no motion to touch it like her sister. Keela didn’t respond immediately. I felt her energy dancing along the book, and in turn, myself. I made no motions and withdrew my energy the best I could as to not be detected, but she was extremely insistent. “It feels like there’s consciousness in this life-force. It’s unlike the other artifacts I’ve handled. It’s alive. The owner is alive. I can almost guarantee it!” she proclaimed, sounding confident. “Can you find anything else out about its owner?” Nirru inquired curiously, surprising me a little. Her uncertainty was slipping fast. She really trusted Keela, it seemed. “He’s very far away, but feels very close at the same time. I’m not sure what to make of the feeling,” Keela muttered, still frowning as she slipped a claw into the lock. There was a ripple and distortion once she was barely a millimeter in, and some sort of invisible field held her at bay completely. It was irritating. I glared at the book, trying to make my mind remember more about it. All I truly accomplished was giving myself a headache, of course. It was important from somewhere! That much I could be sure of. The headache got worse and reality started to bleed, images melting through my perspective. Uh oh. "He?" Nirru asked suddenly, eyes widening and little. It was almost impossible to hear her as her voice echoed and dropped off. Keela said something in return, but I couldn't quite hear it as the backdrop of the world fell out from under me. For a moment, everything was deconstructed into base energy dancing wildly. Then it all went black. * * * * * It was the oddest sensation. Kind of like you just popped out of a blender backwards, only to realize that nothing was moving in the first place. My mind snapped back into its normal spot with a crashing wave of dizziness and nausea. A headache mixed with a dull beating sensation along my left eye followed. What the heck happened?! Was I having seizures while talking to the magic, dimension-traveling frog? Wait. It suddenly occurred to me that the frog might have been a bit nonsensical. My eyes opened slowly, taking in the sight of the gently spinning room with mild disdain. After a moment to adjust, I realized with no small surprise that I wasn't in the clinic bed. Huh. Normally when I wake up from a 'nap' of unspecified duration with a splitting headache, I'm greeted with the sight of the emergency medical facilities. Managing to catch some features as they slid by, I rapidly noticed a couple large bookshelves, another bed, a desk, and a lavender blur. Huh. "Ah! I was wondering when you'd be up! I was just coming to check your temperature again. How do you feel?" the fuzzy blob that spoke like Twilight asked, sounding happy. I tried blinking. It didn't help much. "What happened and why does my face hurt?" I asked wearily. "Hey, you're awake! Finally," a new, blue blob announced, floating up in front of my vision as well. Okay, that sounded like Rainbow Dash. I must be back in Equestria at this point. The blob Twilight sighed weakly and relayed, "You got a massive overdose of truth serum mixed with a powerful hallucinogenic. You then proceeded to shout out some rather, um, interesting things at the top of your lungs in-between throwing up. Rainbow Dash, uh, kicked you in the head and knocked you out at that point." I blinked slowly, head giving another throb of protest. "Hey, he started to blab about sensitive information! I didn't have any choice," Dash defended, crossing her forelegs. I momentarily got distracted by some square looking object tucked under her foreleg. Wait, the frog wasn't real? Damn frogs! "Dash..." Twilight warned, looking over at her floating friend. My vision slowly started to focus again, and my memory caught up alongside it. Oh, oh crap. "How much did I say?" I suddenly asked, apprehensive. Twilight had shifted into focus enough for me to pick up a noticeable pink tint to her cheeks. She gave a sheepish grin regardless. "Well, mostly about Fluttershy and me. Um, just confirming what you thought about us," she elaborated. Yup. Everything the frog had said was actually me. "And I'm sorry for hitting you," Rainbow muttered a moment later, rubbing the side of her neck with a forehoof while drifting further into my field of vision. I glanced back at her, but she continued with, "But hey, you're awesome enough to survive a space battle against a powerful alien boat thingy, so I doubt a little bonk to the head is going to even slow you down!" My eyes widened a little at her sudden bragging. Wait, she actually said I was awesome? Wait, she hit me in the head?! She took it in stride, of course, returning a wink and playful smirk. Twilight laughed before climbing up onto the bed and pressing a forehoof to my forehead. "How are you feeling, anyway?" she inquired curiously, frowning a bit before pulling her hoof back and adding, "You're actually a little on the cold side." “I feel… a little bit sick,” I agreed, shifting onto my side and looking at the mare sitting next to me. She held a look of concern that was much clearer now that she was close enough that my fuzzy vision didn’t matter. Rainbow zipped down and landed next to the bed as well, taking a curious peek at me. I now realized the object she was holding was a book. Dash liked to read? That was a little surprising, but I guess I didn’t doubt it all that much. Everypony had facets of themselves that were a lot deeper than appearance. She caught me looking and grinned, pulling the book out and flipping it face forward in both hooves. Daring Do and the Three Heads of Cerberus? Oh, it was an adventure novel, by the sounds of the title and picture on the cover. She liked fiction, then? I smiled gently while looking at the cover. “Daring Do is awesome! Don’t knock reading until you try it!” Rainbow exclaimed, rocking back and forth on her back legs in an almost giddy sway. Twilight giggled at her display and nodded. “Indeed. Although I believe he’s already a fan of reading, Dash,” she pointed out, looking amused. The rainbow pegasus puffed up, looking proud, if not a bit relieved. What, was she afraid I was going to rag on her for reading or something? “Yup. I love reading. The books Twi gave me when I got here saved me quite a bit of face and social faux pas,” I muttered, blushing a little. Not all of them, sadly. “Foe wha?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head at me questioningly. “Faux Pas. A slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct, usually done in a social context,” Twilight explained as if on cue with no hesitation whatsoever. Without missing a beat, Dash snorted and started laughing. “So making an idiot of himself? I kind of wish I’d seen you when you weren’t prepared then! Oh, that would have been even more hilarious!” she exclaimed in-between snickers. My ears flattened back. Of course she’d bring up that. I knew I hadn’t been the most socially suave pony to grace the lands, but she didn’t need to remind me of that fact. “Dash! Be nice. He’s truly new to Equestria, so a few social blunders are actually totally expected. You shouldn’t tease him for it,” Twilight scolded, outright frowning at the pegasus now. Her laughter died down to a light snickering and she bobbed her head in agreement, assuring, “Don’t worry. I’m just teasing a little. Mender has a ton of guts and I can totally respect that. We made an awesome team, after all!” She smirked back at me and raised a hoof expectantly. I barked out a short laugh, and then extended my hoof as well, earning a firm, but still gentle bump from hers. Twilight rolled her eyes again, but now wore a smile instead. Heh. If she thought this sort of thing was awkward, I doubt she’d appreciate the camaraderie of a barracks, if I recall correctly. “Anyway! I’ve got to get going. I have to meet with Fluttershy to, uh, bird watch, I guess. A dare is a dare. Oh, um,” Rainbow started slowly looking down at the book she had tucked back under her foreleg. “Yes, you can obviously borrow it. This is a library, Dash. And even if it wasn’t, you know I’d let you,” Twilight reminded, smirking at her friend. The cyan coat complimented Dash’s blush well, and she nodded with a suddenly sheepish looking grin. “Thanks, Twi. You’re the best. I’ll talk to you two later, then?” she offered, fluttering into the air again without effort. I momentarily admired her flight capabilities. Having wings would be so cool. “Of course. I’m dropping by Applejack’s later today to help her with the barn if you want to visit,” Twilight agreed. I almost saw a knowing glimmer in her eyes, and shuddered. Whoa. I hadn’t realized Twi had a playful side to her like that. Oddly, the revelation wasn’t exactly a bad thing. Rainbow blushed outright now, but smirked still and nodded. “Ha, you got me there. Sold! I’ll try to drag Fluttershy there too,” she admitted, giving a mock salute with her free foreleg. "That would be a good thing, I think. See you there!" Twilight replied cheerfully, a rather warm smile on her face. I was a little suspicious of why it would be good. Silent dread slipped into my mind again. I smelled plotting. Dash threw up another salute before twirling once in the air and bursting off through the open window on the other side of the room. I watched her go, still amazed at the level of speed the mare seemed to exhibit with such ease. Everypony here was so amazing, but admittedly, the Element Bearers were extremely skilled ponies in their own way. "She really does love the Daring Do saga. Don't let her fool you, though. She was hanging around here extra-long so she could apologize," Twilight suddenly explained, tacking a giggle onto the end. I snickered and rotated to view Twilight fully again. "She's a sweetheart once you get past the exterior, it seems," I agreed, maintaining a soft smile up at her. It earned me a nod in return, followed by, "Just like you, it seems." Her playful mimicking was cute, but her tone caused me to blush furiously as her eyelids lowered a little. I swallowed. "Uh, what do you mean?" I asked uneasily. She smirked as she crawled a little closer, her hip now pushing up against my leg. "You're a gentlecolt, of course. Fluttershy knows you refused the bet for her sake. I also happen to know you find me attractive," she pointed out. Less than half a meter of air separated us. I felt my heart start to beat faster, a light sweat starting at my forehead. "I'm, um, I didn't mean to offend you!" I exclaimed, hopefully derailing any awkwardness at my apparent reveal last night. Why hadn't I realized that she was one of the mares I'd talked about last night?! For some reason, the Twilight Sparkle I associated with my crush didn't always sync with the one that was probably my best and first friend. The heat in my cheeks was probably visible and didn’t help much, though. I only hoped that she'd forgive me if she were mad. Twilight closed her eyes but continued smiling softly. A moment passed and I watched her eyes flicker slightly under their lids. She seemed to be hesitant about something. They flicked open partially a moment later, but remained at half-mast. “You definitely didn’t. It was shocking to realize that a stallion liked me in that regard, but it was far from offensive. It was just something I’ve never had happen to me before,” she assured. My system went fully into shock as she slipped back up onto all fours, leaned over, and dropped herself on top of my blanketed form. Her head rested against my chest lightly as, for a moment, she hugged my torso. The heat magnified significantly in my cheeks but I fought it back as best I could. She was hugging me! No, wait, that wasn't accurate. She was resting on top of me. Cuddling! “A-Ah. You did say you were, um, studying a lot during your time in Canterlot,” I muttered, attempting to simply keep talking to stop myself from locking up. She giggled and nodded against me. “Yeah. Not much time for boys when you’re Princess Celestia’s personal student. Which is why I was, well, hoping to ask you for a favor,” she requested, looking back up at me. Her eyes were warm and held a certain amount of pleading, it felt like. Locking mine to them, I knew there was no way I could say no, even if I had wanted to in the first place. She was gorgeous, and whether she knew it or not, she could definitely dump on the female charm to influence my thinking. Just the way her mane was splayed out, intermingling with the fur of my coat. Her warm cheek against my chest mixed with that soft smile. No! That kind of thinking was definitely not helping me just answer her! “Well, you can ask me for anything, you know. Besides, I do owe you quite a bit,” I finally managed to spit out, blushing furiously still. Yes! Just focus on how much you owe her, Mender! No need to think about how warm she felt, how gorgeous her eyes were, the soft fur against my chest, or the amazing mind and soul sealing it all together. Er, crap. She laughed. It was melodious and quite pleasant on the ears. “Relax. I want the request to be mutual with no strings pulling it one way or another. I, um, haven’t exactly been very good at sorting intangible things like my feelings. So a bit of experimentation is in order, I think!” she explained, a certain level of determination flickering into her eyes. Okay, that was adorable. I smiled at her and nodded. Wait a second. “Er, experimentation with what?” I questioned, suddenly realizing where this might be going. “Hee! You like me. I think I might like you back. How else am I going to decide if I don’t have any experience otherwise? The empirical method has never failed me yet! Well, not too much, anyway. So I want to try kissing for real now,” she explained, sitting up and leveling her face with mine. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped. Or at least if it didn’t, my chest went numb and I couldn’t feel it beating. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but no sound came out. My brain stumbled over itself. She started giggling again. “That’s an ambitious start, but we should try normal kissing first,” she warned playfully, leaning closer. I could almost feel her breath on my muzzle, she was so close. She added, “Last chance to say you don’t want to.” She leaned closer and closer while waiting. I started shaking a little but couldn’t make my brain form proper thoughts correctly. Did I want this? She was gorgeous. Her personality was amazing. So essentially, hell yes! But was this too fast? She’d only known me for three weeks now. Did she really know what she wanted? No, that was a moot point. She had decided to experiment just for that reason; to figure out what she wanted. Who was I to deny her that desire? I closed my mouth again and smiled at her instead, only managing a nod. That was all it took. Her smile turned into a grin and she leaned forward all at once. For the second time, our muzzles locked together; this time of her own volition. My sense of time ground to a halt again. Her eyes softened and slowly closed as I relaxed backwards, pulling her with me. A light hum escaped against my lips from her, and both of her forelegs slipped over my shoulders. A deep floral scent drifted into my nose as I breathed in her scents. The sensations were enough to make me light headed. She was fully willing this time, which made the sensation of her lips against mine seem so much better. Jolts of heat and tingling sensations danced up and down my whole body. I didn't deny my instincts this time, and wrapped my forelegs tightly around her back, pulling her as close as possible. The noises she made when I squeezed her closer to me were delightful. Her smells surrounded me on all sides. I couldn't escape them even if I wanted. Even though it felt like I was starving for the touch, our movements were deliberate and slow. She sampled different movements, one at a time, as if savoring my flavors. I let out a light hum, refusing to have it any other way. The heat in my cheeks expanded through my face and down my neck. My right foreleg slowly massaged up and down her back, kneading the muscles gently. My unoccupied hoof extended up and held her cheek softly, cradling her as I tilted a little bit to give her more room. She started shivering almost uncontrollably. I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad sign. She finally pulled away slightly, splitting our lips apart enough to draw in several panting, ragged breaths. My eyes opened rapidly and sought out hers, looking for any sign that she enjoyed it. Her eyes were still closed, but a deep flush extended along her cheeks. Her eyes quivered slightly before cracking open and looking into mine. They never opened fully, giving her a warm, sleepy look. "Oh wow. Why did I wait so long to do this?" she whispered weakly, nose and muzzle still pressed against mine. Did that mean she liked it? "Was it, um, good?" I asked hesitantly. It sounded good and I remained hopeful. She smirked instead of answering directly. Several small pecks a moment later told me much more specifically. "I think I might need more, hmm, experimentation to figure it out," she cooed lightly after the third or fourth small kiss. I exhaled weakly, relief flooding my system. She must have noticed it, as she giggled merrily before capturing my lips once more, this time with a hungry groan. Her kiss was a little stronger now, but I just let her move at the pace she wanted. My heartbeat quickened as she arched up, pushing me back into my pillow as she tried to almost drink me in. Jolts of pleasure and happiness drifted through my mind and it was difficult to form full thoughts. She practically purred as I pulled her down tighter into the kiss, wishing I could feel her more through this blanket! She started to shiver again as her forelegs extended to each side of my head. Was this good? Did she like it? I had no idea what to do with my forelegs, so I simply went with instinct and tried to pull her as tight against me as possible. A loud impact sounded out off to my right a moment later, followed by, "Hey, Mender! I forgot to ask. Can you help me later with, um, whoa!" Rainbow Dash's voice trailed off and died. Oh. Oh crap! Twilight shot up into a sitting position instantly, flush extremely obvious on her cheeks. "Ah, I can explain!" she declared rapidly. Wait, what? What was going on?! Rainbow Dash recovered fast, however, and had acquired a smirk by the time I looked over at her. "There's not much to explain from this angle. So, how long have you two been an item?" she asked coyly, getting it entirely wrong. My heart skipped a beat. "What?! No, we're still just friends! I was just trying to figure out how I felt and well, experimenting a little bit," Twilight tried to explain, looking as pink as I'd ever seen her. I frowned up at her instead, that leaving me with conflicting feelings. Still friends? Did she mean that, or simply want to keep her feelings a secret? I tried to assume the latter, but it was still a little painful to consider. Dash chuckled, before pointing out, "It looked like you were enjoying it plenty from your end, Twi. You don't need to hide it." Wonderful. She just had to push the lavender unicorn; the only one in the room capable of shattering every bone in our frail, squishy bodies with her mind! I was dead. Rainbow was dead too. Twilight frowned and rapidly shook her head. "I, well, I'm telling the truth. It was an experiment!" she defended adamantly, stomping her right forehoof for emphasis. I winced but didn't dare say anything as it smacked into my chest. "Twilight, stop it. How do you think that makes Mender feel?" the cyan pegasus asked, losing her smirk and actually frowning. Which part? The wanting to not admit her feelings, or the blunt force trauma to my chest? Not that it mattered if Twilight got mad again and threw me instead of the bed this time. Shivering, I tried to keep the situation, and my voice, under control. "N-No! It's all right! She has every right to experiment. It's, um, okay," I assured weakly, not entirely sure where I was going with it. Rainbow gave me a skeptical, unamused looking stare, and I swallowed nervously. Twilight let out a quiet whining noise, however, surprising me. Glancing back up at her, I saw that she was looking down at her own hoof instead as it rested on my chest. "I'm sorry. You're right, Dash. I need to be honest, especially to myself," she muttered to herself. Wait, what? Was she, uh, maybe that was sarcasm and she was actually pissed? Scenarios of her snapping and painting the library floor with my blood came to mind. Something about having a pony you know could rip you apart with her mind sitting on your stomach made it really hard to relax. In substantially different ways than a less powerful mare. I think. I shivered nervously, the image of the full size bed smashing down the flight of stairs clearly present in my mind. That level of force exerted on me, via accident or murderous intent, would result in an extremely quick death. She was stronger than the archmages in my memories, and considering what I could remember them doing to recruits like me, that was terrifying. Rainbow shook her head in my peripheral vision. "You two need to just talk to each other about it. Besides, we could all stand to be a little nicer to him," she reasoned, catching me off guard. "Ah! That's really not necessary! You all have been really nice to me so far. Probably a lot more than I deserve for putting everything you know and love in danger. Really," I repeated, not wanting to be a further drain on these amazing ponies. Oh, or be crushed violently by psychokinetic powers. Living was high up on my list of priorities, ironically. Dash shook her head and walked closer, giving me a stern glance as I looked over at her. "Mender, relax. Again. You need to stick up for yourself a bit more," she groaned, looking a bit exasperated. Frowning, I shook my head. "There's no need to. Twilight hasn't done anything wrong," I insisted. "Mender, I did!" Twilight groaned out, pushing lightly down at me with both forehooves. It happened without a conscious decision on my part. Unfortunately, I wasn't looking at her when I was suddenly jolted down, and panicked. Wincing, I rapidly closed my eyes and cowered, flattening my ears down. There was a pause, and then I heard her gasp. Risking a glance up at her, I saw that she had both hooves covering her mouth. "Oh no. No, no, no! You're... You're scared of me?" she muttered, looking visibly horrified. My eyes widened and I tried to shake my head to assure her to the contrary. Then I realized that I'd be lying. I kind of was afraid of her. She was ungodly powerful. Dash sighed, now a few feet from our bed. "Well, you kinda threw a bed at him. What did you expect?" she questioned in a surprisingly irritated manner. Twilight winced as if burned and looked away from the cyan mare, eyes starting to get wet. Did she truly regret that? Swallowing nervously, I started to shuffle out from under her using my forelegs. Rainbow was right. We really did need to talk this out more. Talking involved thinking about what I wanted to say. Thinking was a lot harder when a gorgeous girl was on my lap. Well, sort of. Did it count if there was a blanket between us? Twilight's eyes shot fully open again as she must have felt me moving under her. Before I fully realized what was going on, she collided fully with my chest again and pressed her now wet face into my fur. "No! Please don't go anywhere. I'm sorry. Having somepony scared of me feels horrible," she pleaded, voice muffled by my coat. Rainbow chuckled and finally smiled. "Mender's afraid of everypony at first. Just be nice to him," she suggested in an exceedingly amused sounding voice, giving Twilight's side a pat. I glared at her while giving the significantly less threatening lavender mare an assuring hug. "You blew me up, dropped several things on my head from absurd distances, and got me in trouble with others on many occasions," I reminded in annoyance. She promptly laughed, of course, returning nonchalantly, "Details, details! I think we're a pretty good team now, right?” That much I had to agree with, and had to nod. Twilight slid her left forehoof gently down my chest, however. When I looked back down at her, my eyes locked with hers. Tears slid down the fur on her cheeks. I swallowed again, urges stirring inside of me. Crying was hardly fair, although it definitely did a good job of almost making me forget that she could pull me apart with her mind. "Mender, please. Tell me what I can do to make you feel safe around me," she requested quietly. She really did look traumatized. Plus, Twilight was never known for her social skills, so pure probability dictated that she truly felt bad. But how could I be sure that sort of situation wouldn't crop up again? "Don't throw beds at him?" Dash suggested, stretching out and flapping her wings gently. After a moment, they sped up and she lifted into the air again. Twilight's ears drooped as she glared at her flying friend. Dash just grinned and winked at her, earning an eye roll. Twilight smirked, however, and I exhaled in relief. Rainbow did know how to defuse a situation, that was for sure. Almost as well as she created them! I sighed. That, of course, just left me. It was true; I was terrified of the lavender unicorn at times, as surprising as it was. It partly had to do with her massive level of power and skill, obviously. But part of me was afraid of her purely because she was female, I realized. Kissing wasn't unheard of in my memories, from a technical standpoint. I doubt that I had personal experience in it before Twilight, but I knew what it represented. Still, the aspect of the female was what scared me. On some subconscious level, I think it had been influencing my actions since I came to Equestria. She felt like she was more important than me. Well, Twilight obviously was, along with the rest of the Element Bearers, but even normal ponies like Lyra or Bon Bon felt 'better', for lack of a better word. Well, if you could consider Lyra normal. Extending my right forehoof back up, I gently wiped the few fallen tears away from Twilight's cheek. It didn't look like she was a pony who cried in front of others very often. It felt so contradictory. Part of me wanted to hug her and kiss her again until she stopped crying, but another part of me was afraid she'd rip off the arms I used to do so. No screaming sensation of agony came, however. Twilight simply stared into my eyes from a few inches away, both pools of lavender shivering periodically. I felt myself warming up again and wasn't entirely sure what to do. Rainbow interrupted before I could decide on anything. "Well, you two seem to be a little bit better, so I'm going to go find Fluttershy. Do you need anything else before I go?" she asked politely, grin shifting back to a soft smile. Twilight blinked twice, then smiled weakly and looked over at her. "No. Um, thank you for bucking some sense into me, Dash," she thanked quietly after a moment's hesitation. Rainbow waved a hoof nonchalantly towards us before dismissing it with, "Oh relax. I just want to see you two be happy. That's what best friends are for!” Twilight smiled fully, finally, and nodded. I couldn't help but join in as well. She really was a good mare, when she wasn't dropping things on my head. Before either of us could reply, however, she started lightly blushing. "Speaking of seeing, think you two could let me watch later when you're more comfortable with each other?" she suddenly asked, tossing in a wink after. Twilight blushed furiously at the same time my mind spun, trying to fully understand what she had just said. She reacted much faster, however, and blushing shock switched to blushing irritation. My eyes widened as several pillows and a few books drifted into the air around us. Rainbow took her cue and launched herself backwards. She stuck out her tongue as she went, barely managed to dodge two high velocity pillows, then burst back out and off the balcony a heartbeat later, laughing hysterically. I sighed quietly a moment later, blushing still. Twi nodded and slowly hauled the pillows back onto the bed. She turned back to me a moment later, smiling shyly again. I started to smile back when she ducked in and put a far more timid kiss on my mouth. My mind spun but that soft, warm sensation filled me again. This one was kept short, however. She slipped back an inch and smiled again. "Please, don't be scared of me. I, um, regret what I did in the past. I overreacted to a rather simple thing, and will never hurt you again. Can you forgive me?" she asked softly from all of an inch away. For a moment, I hesitated. She seemed honest. Taking a risk, I leaned forward, pecking her lips timidly. For a brief moment, I caught myself flinching as I did so. She smiled against my lips however, and I managed to relax. We broke apart again a moment later and she nodded approvingly. "That was much better. Thank you," she added softly, seemingly in no hurry to get off my chest. A moment passed and she faltered slightly. "Still, I've never had a coltfriend before. I, um, admit to liking you quite a bit. There! I said it. What do we do now?" she questioned hesitantly. I blinked once in surprise, then frowned. "Uh, I've never had a fillyfriend either, if that's the term. We're both kind of new to this. And what about Fluttershy?" That last part I barely managed to add. The lavender unicorn blushed and shook her head gently. "Oh, uh, didn't she talk to you before the party? She came by not more than an hour after you left, asking for you," she revealed, seemingly a little hesitant about something. Uh oh. "She was hiding from me at the Carousel Boutique when I saw her. We didn't have very long to talk," I explained uneasily. At least not between her hiding behind furniture. But she wouldn't like it if I said as much. Twilight frowned and exhaled abruptly, angling her lips so her bangs puffed into the air, momentarily. "She lost her nerve, then. What to do..." she muttered, a bit of frustration sounding through in her voice. I swallowed. That didn't sound good. "Is it to do with the memories she saw when you two helped me?" I lead, trying to get anything that would be helpful. Twi obviously knew about her issues already. She surprised me by wincing instead. "Yeah. Another thing I goofed up. It hurt both of you by me asking for her help. I should have just taken more time and not hauled anyone else in," she groaned out tiredly, looking down again. I frowned and started to move closer to her again to comfort, but she shifted back a little. "No. I thought you already knew her feelings. If I'd known she hadn't told you and your mind wasn't made up, I wouldn't have tried to experiment. I'm sorry for," she started to apologize, before my hoof gently pressed onto her lips. "Please, Twilight. Don't be so hard on yourself. You helped me by asking her for help. If she doesn't like me anymore because of things she saw, then that's between her and me. You didn’t have-" I assured softly. It was my turn to be interrupted, though. Twilight gasped and shook her head rapidly. "No! She doesn't dislike you. She knows you only wanted to protect what you loved. She's proud of that and happy. The images are what hurt her. She thinks about it every time she sees you still, and says, well..." I frowned as she trailed off. This is where Fluttershy had technically stopped, too. "She doesn't want to get in a relationship with me, right?" I finished, pretty sure that it was just in need of verification at this point. The unicorn sighed and nodded, exactly as I figured. "She doesn't think she can give it her all anymore, which wouldn't be fair to you. She was very insistent that she didn't think of you as a wounded animal, though," she explained, seemingly tacking things on as she remembered. Her expression looked stressed, and I realized she was winging the conversation on the fly. Lack of planning made for a very stressed out Twilight, it would appear. It wasn't the reason I had expected, but the outcome was the same. I'd prepared myself for it a hundred times over, so why was it still painful? I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I'm sorry. She still needs to tell you herself. I insist. And I apologize for kissing you. I thought you had already picked me," she admitted uneasily. Uh oh. The distinct feeling of screwing up came to mind. So I liked Fluttershy and Twilight, but Fluttershy didn't return my feelings because of my memories from my past 'life'. But not knowing that, I just shared a rather intimate moment with Twilight, who was now rapidly regretting it due to the feelings she saw me having for the other mare. She now refused to acknowledge otherwise until I'd talked to Fluttershy about it, who was currently probably off avoiding me with Rainbow Dash. My head start to spin and I sighed weakly. If Nurse Redheart wouldn’t have a stress attack upon seeing me again, I’d seriously consider jumping out the window while screaming. Instead, I settled with a heady sigh and shook my head. “I figured as much already. Really, Twi. I accept what she thinks of me. I just need to get my head straightened out and figure out what I think about you. Although I’m really pretty sure I already know the answer to that one,” I explained, blushing lightly after. Twilight smiled but also shook her head as well. "I know you like me. I'm glad for that, but I would have believed you without the truth serum issue. But I know that you also like Fluttershy. I just want to have you settle your feelings for her first," she explained, gently warding off my hoof away from its attempts to brush against her shoulder. I was surprised at the brief spike of irritation that went through me. I frowned. With a bit of focus, I calmed myself. I had wanted more. That distinct urge was identified again. Hormones? Not entirely, it would seem. The noticeably cute mare practically sitting on me frowned, looking unsure for a moment. I hesitated. Had I gone too far? I reined in my feelings as best I could. She hadn't intentionally teased me. "Uh, are you okay? Um, did I say something wrong?" she asked cautiously. I shook my head rapidly, hoping she wasn't upset. "No! Of course not." She frowned further and I shrank a little under her gaze, earning a groan as well. "You don't need to be afraid of me, Mender! What can I do to make you more comfortable around me?" she asked, moving her face close to mine again, following as I backed into the pillow. "Um!" I managed to squeak out in a weak voice. Uh oh! She was getting irritated now. She suddenly smirked, however. It was a knowing and predatory grin. Quite familiar, considering I'd seen it all of fifteen minutes prior. "Of course, a little positive reinforcement might help," she whispered, brushing her nose against mine. I couldn't help but blush again, a gentle smile sneaking onto my face. It was accompanied by the soft rumbling of my belly. Twilight looked confused for a moment and I peeked down at my tummy, now blushing even harder. She followed my gaze before giggling merrily. "Or some breakfast first. That works too," she agreed a moment later. I hadn't realized that my body could ask questions for me. "Ah! Uh, I'm sorry?" I offered, unsure of what to do in this situation. Twilight giggled again and shook her head. "I won't hurt you. Stop apologizing for every little thing. Let's go get some breakfast, then!" she assured, sounding surprisingly chipper. She stood up again in one fluid motion, sliding backwards and off the bed. My back legs immediately started tingling as the blood rushed back into them. I smiled at the tickling sensation while sitting up finally, attempting to pull the blankets off of me. Sadly, I wasn't anticipating the wave of dizziness accompanying the simple movement. Twilight started laughing hysterically as I became a confused, tangled ball of blankets at the foot of the bed. I glared up at her as best I could while upside down and prone. "You'll never change," she muttered warmly, giving her head a final shake before her horn lit up. I felt her slowly start to undo the blankets and sighed. This was going to be a long day. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Ux9lO1MYM Chapter 08My stiff muscles released sparks of happiness up my spine as I slowly stretched out. Combined with the warm feeling of the Sun beating down from above and the gentle breezes around me, I was finally feeling pretty good. Heck, I should have gotten outside long before this! That thought jolted me into paranoia and I rapidly looked all around me. Several uneventful moments later, I decided that maybe, just maybe, I was going to have a good day. Maybe even one without blunt force head trauma, full body burns, or multiple lacerations. Twilight lagged behind a little, looking at some sort of flower alongside the path we were on. She was still smiling pleasantly, which was oddly contagious. Still, it was nice to see her in a good mood. Less painful, too. Although admittedly, the only time she had almost hurt me since I woke up was when I broke into her home in a mechanical monstrosity of nightmare, seemingly taking a young filly 'hostage' at the same time. Maybe it was about time to start giving her the benefit of the doubt? She smiled up at me upon noticing my attention, and trotted to catch back up. It was a delightful treat to watch her mane sway gently in the sun as she moved, the pretty purples and violets being illuminated softly. Her eyes carefully roamed along my bandages as I concluded my stretch and straightened into a sitting position. She'd taken some of the bandages off this morning, but for precautionary measures, the main one stayed on for now. That left my lower back, hips, and navel with light wrappings. It had been the worst where the flak lasers had hit me, I assumed. Twilight, concluding her seemingly seventh or eighth assessment of my condition for the day, brought her gaze back to my face instead. "How are you feeling, Mender? The walk isn't too much for you, is it?" she asked politely, a timid and somewhat concerned looking expression gracing her features. The way she was moving, I probably could have taken a nap and still kept up. Still, I was thankful for her concern. "I'm holding up well enough. A little stiff and drowsy still, but feeling pretty good, all things considered," I muttered back, stifling a yawn. Getting poisoned via potion and spilling a few secrets here and there was a little depressing, but at least I was alive still. Mostly. Keep thinking on the bright side, Mender! Twilight hadn't been the one responsible for that little incident, though, so I shouldn't be irritated at her. Twilight snickered in an oblivious manner, adding a nod a moment later. "Admittedly, your recovery has been amazing. Not only from the wounds you received in closing the link, but in resisting the potion effects yesterday," she complimented. It was a little weird now that I considered it. With my current constitution, I should have practically keeled over from that much potion, and slipped into some sort of alchemical coma or something. "Just chalk it up to the universe having a weird sense of humor?" I offered idly, standing fully now and gesturing towards the path again. Grinning, she picked up the subtle motion easily and fell in right next to me as I continued towards the farm. We walked in relative silence for the rest of the way. It wasn't very far of a walk, from the center of Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres, but admittedly, I was getting a little tired. As much as it felt good to be moving again, my full recovery was a ways off, it felt like. It took us a solid half an hour and I was shaking a little bit by the time we got there. Unsurprisingly, Twilight was giving me concerned looks by then. Sitting down, I took a tactical pause in order to regain my breath. My legs felt a little shaky still, the tension from use already creeping up my muscles. Damn. Even for my runt physique, I was out of shape. I figured I'd have lost a little strength during my two weeks of coma, but this was ridiculous. I guess almost dying really takes a lot out of you. "Maybe this was a bad idea? Are you sure you're okay?" the concerned sounding lavender unicorn asked, tilting her head down to peek under my bangs and into my face. I smiled and nodded softly towards her, not quite trusting my voice to not crack yet. Twilight shook her head but grinned, probably thinking I was stubborn. I hoped she understood, though. I needed to fix everything that was off with my body. More strength and endurance, less hormones, a larger magic pool... Everything would help me fit in better. Maybe eventually, I wouldn't have to mooch off these wonderful mares anymore. She didn't look entirely convinced, however, and opened her mouth to say something further. Thankfully, she was interrupted by a sweet drawl coming from the direction of the nearby barn. "Howdy there, Twi! An' Mender came with too?" Applejack smiled warmly as she rounded the barn. I honestly don't think that I had ever been so happy to see the rough and tumble mare. Of course, we hadn't gotten the best start, with her being practical and down to earth, and me being, well, an idiot. Twilight smiled again in an instant while turning, giving a small wave. "Hiya, Applejack!" she shouted back to clear the distance. It was a little sharp to my poor, potion-addled eardrums, being right next to her and all, but I restrained my reaction to a wince. "Mender said he needed the exercise, plus I figured that he could put his skills to good use," Twilight continued, once the orange mare was within civil talking distance. It wasn't hard to pick out the light blush on her cheeks as she said it. She had asked me to come, in reality. Fluttershy might drop by later today and she had been hoping to talk to the elusive yellow pegasus. Plus, I saw it in her eyes when she had asked. She had wanted company. "Oh! Ah think ya might be on ta somethin'. He's pretty handy with the engineerin' if Ah recall," Applejack agreed, snapping me out of my daze. I suddenly realized that I actually had no idea what she needed help with. Well, not that me having no clue what’s going on was actually all that different from normal. I nodded regardless. “I need to get myself back in shape, but I think you knew that already. Um, I also didn’t exactly catch what you wanted help with in the first place,” I elaborated, tilting my head to the side. Her warm smile shifted into a slightly knowing one, but she nodded. Instead of answering immediately, she motioned behind her with a flick of her head before turning. Twilight and I caught the intent and followed after her as she headed back around the side of the barn. “As ya’ll know, tha last harvest of tha season’ll be ‘ere soon. It gits ah might busy ‘round ‘ere before then, an’ Big Mac an’ Ah usually have ta call in tha relatives from all around ta help,” she started to explain. We rounded the side of the barn and crossed into the opening. My eyes widened as I saw the mess that covered the ground. Several large crates were strewn about the floor of the barn, most opened with their contents spilled out. Gears, cogs, wooden planks, chains, and some sort of rail system appeared to have been packed in them, as far as I could tell. Twilight looked amused instead of surprised, but simply nodded. “She took my advice and is going to partially automate the packing process,” she tacked on, stopping next to AJ, who stayed in the barn doorway. I took a few steps further into the barn, and scanned over the piles of parts. Automation huh? My mind instantly shifted to that of an assembly line. I suddenly realized what the rails and chains were for. Each piece started fitting itself together in my head. There would be the wooden conveyor belt itself that would probably line up with the lift. The curved rail pieces indicated that they wanted to turn the boxes as they approached, so if convenience dictated... A glance at the wall behind me and to the right showed a lightly traced square on the wall. Bingo! A chute system to the outside, for pouring in the apples. They'd then travel along the line and be inspected before being dropped into the crates. I walked slowly alongside the wall, mentally structuring the raised platform the inspectors would stand on. After loading, the crate should be sealed. Nails were probably impractical for ponies. Glancing up, I saw another lightly traced square on the ceiling. Well, the floor of the loft, technically. So they were going to drop the crate lid on from the ceiling? Made sense. Then it would be latched and sent around the bend to the lift, either to go past and be stored on the ground floor, or hauled up to the loft. Storage was reasonable in this scenario, but the real perk was that it would only take a few ponies to operate the thing. I halted my self-tour in front of the lift. It would need a foundation for stability, but that wouldn't be too hard to... "Uh, Mender?" Applejack suddenly asked, sending a jolt through my system! I jumped in surprise before whipping my head over to look at her. Was I not supposed to have walked here?! Wham! My muzzle cracked off the side of the support beam to my left. I reeled, gasping as I stumbled sideways away from it. Son of a! My right side hit the nearest rope holding the lift up. I fell over sideways and landed on the lift platform frame. Huh. Guess they still haven't put the actual platform in. The force of my collision with the rope caused the entire frame to spin around with me still on it! I let out a dizzy wail as I went around in circles several times, the support ropes wrapping me up in an instant. In the space of a second later, the room finally stopped spinning and I let my head droop over the side of the frame. A painful stinging sensation beat with the rhythm of my heart against the side of my muzzle. Ow. Thank you, reality. I knew I hadn’t gotten my quota of pain yet today. "Oh fer cryin' out loud! Yer never gonna change, are ya, Mender?" Applejack asked, starting to chuckle as she walked back to where I was hanging. Twilight followed, looking slightly less amused. "Seeing you in action on a regular day, I'm suddenly not surprised that you managed a few bruises in the space of four hours," she tacked on. I sighed, trying to yank my back leg free from its midair suspension. "Thanks for rubbing it in. Uh, a little help here?" I begged, only managing to rotate myself a bit. "Whoa! Tha way yer displayin' yerself, Ah ain't rubbin' nothin'! Manners, Mender!" Applejack suddenly scolded, sending a deep spike of panic and embarrassment through my system. "Oh, sweet Celestia's Sun! Ah!" Twilight squealed instantly after Applejack seemingly brought it to her attention. I didn't react quickly enough to stop her from getting a healthy glimpse, but managed to roll up with my other leg and properly cover myself. "S-Sorry!" I apologized, wincing as I tried to pull myself up onto the frame. I saw Twilight go scarlet, seemingly unable to close her jaw again. Her reaction reflex had brought both hooves to her eyes, but I saw a little crack between them. Applejack just burst into a copious laughter. "Ah'm just teasin' ya. Ya didn't intend ta flash us tha goods, obviously. 'sides, it's not tha first time Ah saw that sorta thing. We don't exactly wear clothes ya know?" she pointed out, stopping in front of the lift. "Applejack! He... You shouldn't have looked!" Twilight whimpered, shrinking visibly as she gawked at her friend. She honestly looked traumatized. Applejack smirked and raised an eyebrow to her. "Ya caught ah big 'nough gander yerself, Ah think. Yer actin' ah tad strange there, Twi," the observant country mare pointed out, causing an even deeper blush. Admittedly, I was feeling a little warm as well. "Ah! Nothing! Rainbow accused us of that too, but nothing is going on between us!" the lavender unicorn defended, stomping her hoof against the ground. Her blush was still readily visible, of course. Ouch. As much as I enjoyed being reminded of how she viewed me, technically that was a suspiciously specific defense. As predicted, Applejack never lost the warm smile. "Ah never said ya were, but that explains ah whole lot." Twilight winced and shook her head rapidly. "No, no, no! I don't know what to feel yet, and until I do, no!" she adamantly declared. I couldn't help but think that it was a bad idea for Rainbow and Pinkie to be pushing her like this. She didn't cope with stress very well, and I didn't particularly feel like getting caught up in any bursts of rage she might fall into. Again. "Getting a little dizzy here," I reminded, hoping to derail the potential homicide. And maybe get somepony to help me down. Applejack laughed and turned back to me. "Impatient, ain't ya? Ah'll have ya down in ah sec," she assured, looking over the mess of ropes wrapped around me. Twilight remained anchored to where she was, staring down at her hooves with a faint blush still. I watched her quietly as the other mare tugged at various ropes, trying to loosen them up a bit. Twilight was so confusing. Well, she was a lot of things. Cute, adorable, intelligent, innocent, good natured, loyal, drop dead gorgeous... I stopped for a moment, realizing where this particular train of thought was going. Calm down! She was also indecisive, overly analytical, a perfectionist, stubborn, and somewhat insensitive. Switching back to my previous adjective, I simply went with 'confusing'. She seemed halfway between thinking of me as a friend or experiment, and as something more. My hormones weren't helping, of course. Had I thought it through properly, I probably shouldn't have let her kiss me. Thinking was what I definitely hadn't done, though. I should have considered Fluttershy first. Of course, all this was against my instincts anyway. Two mares held my interest. If anything, that should have set off enough warning flags to send me screaming into the forest as fast as possible. Probably involving a makeshift rocket. My thoughts were interrupted by ropes being garroted into my neck. I gasped and thrashed, causing Applejack to immediately release the vile things. "Whoops! Sorry. They're ah might bit tight," she apologized, stating the obvious. That snapped Twilight out of her daze, causing her to glance up again. A moment later, I finally managed to get the rope off my neck. Any and all proceedings were then interrupted by a knocking sound coming from the front of the barn. "Hello, anypony? I was told that I could find Applejack here," sounded out in a distinctive Rarity tone. "Oh, ya need somethin', Rare? Was tryin' ta untie Mender back 'ere," she explained, turning and walking towards the newest arrival. I could barely make out the white unicorn from between two of the large crates. Applejack headed through the gap between them, squeezing as needed. The lavender unicorn wasted no time at all in surprising me. Her lips pressed into mine rapidly, ignoring the awkward sideways angle we were at. I started in surprise, followed rapidly by blushing. I didn't even have time to close my eyes before she backed up an inch or two again, however. "Thank you, Mender. You could have caused me some serious stress by revealing too much, but you didn't. So thank you," she added to her oh so warm smile after the kiss. I blinked slowly, totally unsure of what I was being thanked for. "But, um, why would I intentionally add more stress to your life?" I asked. The idea was totally foreign to me. Why would somepony waste the effort in doing something unnecessarily cruel to somepony else? I understood that there were some extremely mean individuals in existence, but they didn't exactly get anything from the exchange. My confusion oddly seemed to make her more content. She smiled softly at me and shook her head. “Asking that must mean you’re being honest. I’m glad you’re taking my desires to wait well. I really do want to talk to Fluttershy about things first,” she assured weakly, frowning and seeming a little unsure. “You thought I wouldn’t understand, didn’t you?” I asked quietly, managing a smirk. It was a shot in the dark, but something told me that she was the cautious type. Just a hunch. She averted her eyes. I was right! “Well, you do have a tendency to jump to conclusions and come up with some fairly convoluted ideas. I was a little concerned as this is fairly important to me. I don’t want to screw it up by offending you.” Ouch. Well, she was still accurate. At least she was being straightforward and to the point. "I'm glad it's important to you. I admit that I'm a little concerned about what you think of me," I admitted. Twilight looked slightly confused before asking, "What do you mean? If I like you as more than a friend?" That seemed safe enough, so I simply nodded. She smiled and I felt relieved. "I think that much is safe to assume. Now the only question is if I'm ready for a relationship." She sounded nervous after she said it and I swallowed. If she decided that she didn’t want a relationship either... My thoughts derailed suddenly, plowing off the three hundred foot cliff and into the rocky ridges below. What the hell was I doing?! Twilight wasn't supposed to be treated as a last resort. Was I screwing up what it meant to like a mare? Fluttershy. She made me feel safe and calm. Twilight made me feel warm and wanted. I liked both of them quite a bit, but I needed to figure out my own feelings first. That was the truth. I was frustrated and let it direct itself at them. My feelings weren't their problem! It wasn't fair of me to take any action in regards to a relationship without properly thinking it through first. I'd been doing the opposite. I liked both of them, so I was just waiting for whichever made the first move, then? I berated myself for being so selfish. This would require quite a bit of thought. Feelings for Twilight felt murky and heated, gravitating towards thoughts of kissing her. That felt dangerous to think about, so I decided to consider Fluttershy first. "Equestria to Mender?! You still awake?" the now irritated sounding unicorn asked from right in front of me. I started abruptly and looked back up at her. Shock hit me hard as I realized that her eyes were starting to water. "Did that bother you? You went all quiet and sad looking and I didn't know what to do," she asked before I could say anything. Frowning, I managed to somehow shake my head through the ropes. "No, I just zoned out. I realized that you were right. It's not fair for me to jump into this without thinking it through. So I have a lot of thinking to do," I explained. Well, to the best of my abilities. Admittedly, I wasn't the best at getting my feelings across. Twilight surprised me by looking shocked, herself, before responding with, "Oh. But does that mean that you don't...? Ah! Sorry; you're right of course. If I can take time to think about it, you obviously have the right as well." "What's wrong, Twilight? Is there something bothering you?" I asked, more than a little concerned about her reaction. She had spent at least half of the reply backtracking. She swallowed timidly, but looked away. "Just, um, talk to Fluttershy soon, okay? I really would like to get back to my usual routine," she requested, confusing me even more. Somehow. Before I could ask for clarification, however, she simply extended her foreleg up and gave the bottom of the lift frame a solid shove. My eyes widened as I was spun around rapidly in the other direction as before. The ropes lost their tightness in an instant, letting centripetal force take over. With an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp, I was flung free of the frame and hurled towards the pile of nails, bolts, and gears next to us. Damn it. Putting my forelegs up to shield sensitive areas, I braced for impact. Gravity decided to take a coffee break instead, however. My body stopped a mere half a meter from the pile of sharp and pointy things. Thankfully I had an absurdly powerful unicorn on my side! She pulled me back over to herself, giving me a light smirk and pointing out, "The more I see of it, the more I think your level of bad luck is about on par with Pinkie's Pinkie Sense. I should run some tests." I rolled my eyes, getting a little tired of being upside down. "Fine. I really would like to get my dreams scanned again as well, speaking of tests," I reminded, closing my eyes to reduce the dizziness. Mercifully, she flipped me back over, before assuring, "I'll do the scan if you want me to, but I really don't think that you have anything to worry about. Princess Celestia said..." "I know what she said. I'd just feel safer if you took a peek at it yourself," I interrupted gently, looking down a bit. It wasn't that I didn't trust Celestia. She was a wise ruler. From what I'd seen of her, however, she was fallible. That wasn't a bad thing, but I trusted Twilight more. Twilight seemed truly surprised instead of mad, however. I suddenly hoped that I wouldn't have to explain all of that. She gave a warm smile a second later, though, and nodded in understanding. "I'm glad you trust me that much, Mender. You're a really good friend and, well, I'm glad," she muttered, suddenly seeming to mentally stumble over something. The light pink tint gracing her cheeks confused me, though. "What was all tha screamin' 'bout? Oh, ya got Mender free?" Applejack suddenly asked, walking up from the side of my vision. Twilight squealed in surprise and spun to face her two approaching friends, looking extremely guilty. I didn't have time to analyze further as the magic holding me up flickered away alongside her concentration. I landed unceremoniously on my butt, along with other sensitive things. Daggers of pain lanced through my navel and I winced, screaming out in an airy, soundless wail before falling forward and dropping flat like a bag of wet sand. Son of a bitch! Applejack chuckled somewhere above me. Mentally, I imagined stabbing her a few times to make myself feel better. "Oh dear!" Rarity added, sounding further behind me somewhere. "Uh, hi girls! Um, what brings you here, Rarity?" Twilight asked, oblivious. Instead of giving in to the pain and homicidal urges, I slowly and tenderly pulled my back legs up into a tucked position, gritting my teeth the whole time. Oh for the love of all things just and righteous, somepony please kill me now! Why did they have to be external?! "Uh, Rare here wanted ta’ try an' proposition me fer her fancy party comin' up," the only mare with a heavy accent explained, also ignoring me now. My entire body shivered and jolted as I felt two hooves slowly push into my back. They kneaded my lower muscles carefully, not applying too much pressure, but slowly massaging along my spine, relaxing me a bit. "Are you all right, dear?" Rarity asked softly, from barely a foot above me. I groaned miserably, trying my best to form a coherent thank you for her. "Er, he only dropped from half a meter or so," Twilight pointed out. I wished I could have glared up at her. Pity the raw ache prevented the rotation of my stomach. "An' right onta tha stallion parts! Ah've seen it happen ta Big Mac ah few times. Looks mighty painful, Ah'm guessin'," Applejack explained, earning a new level of respect in my mind. Twilight let out a sharp squeaking noise and I felt her move closer to me. "Oh no! I didn't mean to, Mender!" she assured. Thankfully that much was obvious. Had she intended to, it probably would have hurt quite a bit more. Slowly sitting up, I shook my head while keeping my eyes closed. “Ow. I’ll be okay,” I managed to get out, in between my voice cracking and the reverberations of agony as I moved. Twilight gently helped me up, supporting me with a foreleg. Rarity stopped her massage and lifted from the other side of my body by the shoulder, until I was sitting up again. I nodded and smiled at her as she brushed along my side, frowning. I glanced down and noticed I had collected a bit of dust from the floor in my coat. Mentally shrugging, I just let her go crazy and dust my coat off. Instead, I glanced back at Twilight instead. The lavender unicorn looked incredibly guilty, but didn’t say anything. Applejack interrupted before I could speak, regardless. “What were ya doin’, anyway? Ya almost looked like ya were in some sorta trance or somethin’,” she questioned, walking around to sit next to Twilight and be fully in my sight. I shook my head at her, still not feeling all that great in the lower stomach. “It wasn’t a trance. I was just figuring out the system for the conveyor you wanted to build to package up the apples,” I corrected quietly, looking back to my right at the front wall and the square traced on it. Applejack gave a start and tilted her head. “Wait ah minute. Ah never told ya that we were makin’ ah conveyor.” “I know. These parts are pieces of one, so it was fairly obvious. Then I saw the tracings you made in the wall and ceiling and figured out the direction you wanted it going. You want a system to drop the covers on the crates after sorting the apples, and then deliver them for easy storage, right?” I asked, mostly for clarification purposes. Twilight shifted to an amused smirk and looked over at the still surprised Applejack. “See? I told you there’s a good reason to have him help. Now we don’t need to try to buy the plans for the conveyor,” she rubbed in, me obviously missing a lot of information. I frowned but shook my head, asking, “Wait, there were plans to go off of?” Applejack sighed and lowered her head, looking exceedingly dejected. “Well there would’a been if Ah had bought ‘em. Twi ‘ere convinced me not ta spend tha extra bits an’ have ya look at it first ta see if ya could figure it out,” she explained. Twilight vouched for me? Wait, if I could pull this off, I could save Applejack bits! I could start paying her back for all of the hospitality so far! My delight couldn’t be contained and a warm smile crept up out of nowhere. I found I couldn’t nod my head fast enough. “Of course I’ll try to put it together. Anything to help you out,” I agreed. The farm pony gave me a warm smile, but Twilight displayed a knowing one instead. "You don't owe us anything, Mender. You do realize that she's going to pay you for this, right?" she asked coyly. My heart sank as I glanced back at Applejack and earned a still smiling nod. "Iffen ya can get tha thing workin', it would only be right ta pay ya fer yer work. Ah would've had ta bring in ah professional and Ah can't afford that an' keep tha project worth it," she explained gently. I frowned, this not sitting well with me at all. Then an idea struck me. I turned to Rarity instead, assuming she'd be closer to the heartbeat of the town. "Hey Rarity? Do you happen to know what the rate is for a hotel room in Ponyville?" I asked. She surprised me by gasping, and vehemently denying, "I'm not that type of mare!" This was accompanied by a rather pronounced blush. I blinked slowly, a little confused. "Uh, what? I just figured you'd have more out of town visitors than Applejack or Twilight. Nopony has mentioned prices to you?" I elaborated, unsure of what I had said wrong prior. She stared at me for a moment with a blatant expression. I tilted my head, and she exhaled softly, as if relieved. Twilight looked as weirded out as I felt, but Applejack started snickering. Rarity shot her an icy glare before looking back at me and continuing with, "That is true enough, I suppose. Last I'd heard, several weeks ago, mind you, the hotel prices were about thirty-five bits a night." My mind jumped on the math like a rabid ferret. "Okay, so at a twenty percent markdown, that would be twenty-eight bits. That is probably close to what rent would be. Applejack supplies the bed, and Twilight supplies the room it's in. Cutting that in half, that meant that I owed each of you fourteen bits a night for room and board," I reasoned, looking back and forth between the two of them. Applejack frowned, glaring at me suddenly. I'd never seen an expression shift so rapidly. Oh crap! Was that figure too low? I knew I should have researched pricing a little more before suggesting something like this. Wait, the way Rarity reacted led me to believe that I might have been wrong about the hotel thing. From what little I could remember, which thankfully included basic vocabulary from my old dimension, a hotel was a place of temporary lodging for those displaced from a more permanent living arrangement. What if it was a little different here, though? The way she reacted indicated some sort of ill reputation establishment. Had I just compared Applejack and Twilight to that?! "No, Mender! We're not going to...!" Twilight started to berate before stopping and giving a questioning look. At her yelling, I had dropped my belly to the floor and tucked my ears down as hard as I could. Oh no. No, no, no! I should have researched this way more. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to compare you two to anything! You're reputable mares, and I wasn't insinuating that you perform mating requests for monetary reimbursement. Please! I'm sorry..." I apologized as rapidly as I could, hopefully heading off any bouts of rage or homicidal thoughts. "Wait, what?!" Applejack suddenly exploded, expression shifting to shock even quicker. Twilight's cheeks went pink and she looked away rapidly. Rarity reacted the best and simply coughed lightly, however, admitting, "I do believe that little misunderstanding was my fault. But you really shouldn't jump to conclusions like that, Mender." Applejack rested a hoof on her forehead and shook her head weakly. "Again. Ah shouldn't be surprised by now, Ah guess. Ya didn't offend. Ah jus wanna pay ya somethin' fer yer work," she muttered, looking down at me after finishing explaining. Oh. "And I said I wasn't going to hurt you again!" Twilight yelled suddenly. I let out a yelp and dove sideways and away from her in surprise. Of course, I rolled right into the pile of sharp and pointy things that I had saw prior. Stupid nails. * * * * * Things always seemed to go in patterns for me. The unfortunate thing is that there always seems to be a quota for the amount of pain I'm required to go through. I gritted my teeth and winced as Applejack pulled out the twelfth and final nail. Speaking of that quota. "Disinfecting," Twilight reported instantly. A sizzling sensation hit the spot where the nail used to be embedded in my back. I gasped, but thankfully the merciful unicorn continued with, "... And healing." The pain faded instantly and I was finally able to slump forward to the ground. Rarity, who was at my side, patted my shoulder as I tried not to get grass up my nose. Wait, I was supposed to be trying to think positively. Well, at least I'm not allergic to the grass. Or iron. Or blood loss. I heard Applejack spit out the nail behind me. "That's some handy magic, Twi. How come ya never used that before?" she asked a moment later. There was an exasperated sigh before the unicorn returned, "That's because I learned it only a few days ago. At the rate he gets injured, it was all I could do to lessen the hospital fees." I let out a frustrated groan and looked back at her, just in time to see a wall of lavender descending towards my face. I winced as she lightly batted me on the end of my muzzle. "No. You're not going to pay for those either," she preemptively declared. Sighing, I turned back around and glared straight ahead again. They just didn't seem to get it. "You're a Gentlecolt for trying to make it up to us, don't worry. But you can't be expected to without any source of income and while injured still," Rarity soothed, bending down and trying to smile at me, eye level. I sighed weakly, staring at the root of the tree we were under. Applejack hadn't wanted to get blood in the barn, which was understandable. In frustration, I whacked the front of the root I'd been glaring at. It barely shook, which only served to irritate me further. A moment later, something reasonably solid skipped off of my head. I let out a stifled yelp, and then glared at the infuriating red object rolling away from me on the ground. Twilight sighed weakly and walked up next to me, lifting the apple up with her magic. "I'm definitely going to have to run a few tests on you at some point in the future. You have the absolute worst luck I've ever seen," she admitted, tossing the apple backwards. "Yer just noticin' this now? He only has good luck when it counts, ya know? Like givin' ah giant alien battleship tha ol' what fer!" she exclaimed. I blushed a little but didn't look up again. It was mostly because my head hurt, but I also wasn't sure if I was supposed to be honored or depressed by her viewpoint. Still, Twilight had a point. The white unicorn next to me sat up fully again, shaking her head slightly. "I personally don't feel his luck is too entirely bad. Sure, he's a bit clumsy from time to time, but he's only been in the physical form of a pony for all of three and a half weeks. Surely, he deserves a bit of a break due to that, no?" she suggested reasonably. Well, I thought it was reasonable, anyway. "She has a point. Honestly, his progress is astounding if you take into consideration the age of his body. He's technically been alive for less than a month," Twilight concurred, nodding. I glanced back and caught her smiling down at me. She blushed and looked away rapidly upon noticing my attention. Had she said that purely to make a case for me? She had to have realized it was different due to me being alive for much longer prior. "Indeed! To project an air of such sophistication while being so young! You're truly talented. It makes me wish Applejack was such as well," Rarity praised before glancing over at the now glaring farm mare. "Yer still pushin' fer that? Ah already told ya, Ah can't make it. The last harvest is comin' an' there’s no time ta be off prancin' about in fancy clothes," Applejack repeated. Well, technically it was the first time I had heard it, but I assume that they had been discussing it while Twilight and I had been talking. A light blush distracted me momentarily. Yeah, talking. Mostly. "It would just be for a few days, Applejack. Please?!" Rarity practically begged, edging a little closer to her friend. "Ah'm really sorry, Rare. Ah know yer desperate if yer askin' meh. Ah really wish I could help ya," she apologized, subtly putting herself down. Rarity sighed and nodded, to my surprise. Was there some sort of context that I wasn't aware of? "Yes. I didn't believe that you'd want to go. I'm just running out of options. Twilight's already going on behalf of the Princess. Fluttershy practically passed out when she realized how crowded it would be. You know she only accepts crowds when all of us are there to back her up," Rarity replied weakly. I'd guessed as much about Fluttershy, but Applejack and Rarity seemed to have a deeper understanding than I realized. They knew each other's tastes. Twilight nodded as well. "What about Rainbow and Pinkie? Surely they're not busy," she suggested, gesturing with a hoof towards Rarity. "No such luck, I'm afraid. Rainbow Dash unsurprisingly has the entire public appearance schedule of the Wonderbolts memorized. She was a little miffed at my attempt at trickery in trying to let her think they were attending. And Pinkie Pie is still banned, remember?" Rarity returned, looking a little stressed. Banned? I swallowed nervously, not entirely wanting to know how the friendly enough seeming pink party pony got banned from somewhere. "Oh yeah. Ah forgot they got real upset after tha Gala incident. Ah would've thought they'd be over that by now," Applejack muttered. Yup, definitely didn't want to know. Rarity sighed and nodded, brushing her mane back gently before noticing me watching her again. She gave a soft smile down towards me before shifting her attention back to Applejack. "What of Big Mac? I suppose he's needed for the harvest as well?" she asked after a moment's apparent thought. Applejack sighed as well, but nodded. "He does tha figures an' fancy mathematics. Ah don't think we'd have ah smooth time without him 'ere," she explained. Silent but smart, huh? I could definitely appreciate that. Rarity looked downright depressed for a moment and shook her head. "If I hadn't been asked to provide the dresses for the fashion show there, I wouldn't be nearly as upset. This could really make my career! If I were to show up without the guest attached to my invitation, why, it would be shameful! Outrageous! I'd be laughed out of the party," she lamented. Whoa. Rarity dealt with an entirely higher level of social performance than what I was used to! I can see why Fluttershy didn't want that kind of pressure. There was a quiet moment, followed by an awkwardly uncomfortable feeling. I glanced up at the white unicorn again, only to discover that she was staring intently at me. Er, did I have something in my mane? "Wait a moment. I suddenly recall that you are a personal friend of Princess Celestia herself! Everypony saw you having lunch with her," she reminded, for as of yet unknown reasons. I still didn't like where this was going. Twilight predictably blanched. "Wait, what? Just because he eats lunch with her once, doesn't mean that they're best friends. Is that why that rumor is spreading like wildfire?" she questioned, sounding more than a little irritated suddenly. What did I do?! "Um, not to interrupt, but what rumor are we talking about?" I interjected cautiously. If it was about me, I at least deserve to know what it is, right? "Ah heard it too, down in tha market this mornin'. It's mixed up more than Pinkie on fermented cider. Somewhere between ya bein' ah clandestine lover, an' ah secret agent," Applejack explained, looking back down at me. Damn it! This was all Rainbow Dash's fault. She had to go screaming at the top of her lungs that I had a date with the Princess. Twilight slapped a hoof to her forehead, sighing miserably. "Wonderful. Well at least there's no real harm in any of it, I suppose. If they want to be silly, then so be it," the lavender unicorn acquiesced weakly. She didn't sound convinced. Of course, saying "No real harm" and referencing me in the same sentence would probably make a lot of ponies uncomfortable. "Oh, but I intend to use it to my advantage, with Mender's support, of course," Rarity corrected, looking remarkably devious for such a refined mare. I swallowed timidly. Regardless, she continued before I could voice any opinions, further enlightening with, "Seeing that everypony seems to be busy, I'm tentatively considering asking Mender to go with me to the party instead, purely for appearances, of course. If they want to perpetuate the rumors, so be it. That assumed, Mender should be a very eligible 'date' for the evening." "Excuse me?" Twilight asked instantly, devoid of any tone fluctuation at all, expression deadpan. Uh oh. Wait, what?! Applejack nodded skeptically as well. "Admittedly, Ah get the point behind it. Yer usin' tha rumors ta puff up Mender's reputation an' make yerself look good fer yer designin' show. Ah just question how, well, wise that is. Mender's ain't exactly known fer his social graces," she pointed out. Ouch. My ego suddenly hurt a little. Although I sadly had to agree for the most part. "Oh relax, you two. It's not an actual date. He's coming as a friend, of course. I simply want to avoid any potential social stigma," Rarity explained carefully before sitting down again next to me. Giving a test shift of my muscles, I decided that they weren't quite ready to move yet and did absolutely nothing. It was surprisingly effective at making me feel better as well. Twilight's glare didn't relent, however, and I had to mentally stop myself from fidgeting. It wasn't even directed at me, yet I found myself trying not to shake. Still, what could I honestly say in her defense without giving away exactly what she told me not to? She seemed to realize this too, and kept it to a silent glare instead. Rarity looked a little flustered, however. "Twilight dear, what's wrong? You seem awfully upset at me. May I ask?" she requested politely. I'd never seen the white unicorn actually look unsure, admittedly. Twilight must mean a great deal to her. Finally, Twilight let out a huff and relaxed a little. "It's nothing. Just, well, don't let him wander off and maim himself or something," she warned pointedly. I suddenly got the impression that my choice had been made for me already. "Splendid! Then it's a date. This is in Canterlot, Mender, so pack warm! Oh, and we shall have to spend a night there, of course. It will simply be far too late by the time the event is over to catch a train back. I'll pay for the room, of course. Oh, and we absolutely must size you and get a wonderful suit made before the party! Oh, there's just so much to do," Rarity started rapidly explaining. Well, more suggesting. Wait, I didn't own any clothes, let alone warm things. Wait, I had to spend the night in a hotel room with Rarity?! Twilight started growling again, predictably this time. "Then you'd best go do it. And I'm sure I can work him into my old quarters at the palace, so you don't need to worry about a hotel!" she berated, tone sounding irritable. Rarity looked taken aback, but Applejack just chuckled. "No need ta get so defensive, Twi. She said it was just ah friendly thing. But we do have ah lot of work ta do, Rare," she excused politely, giving the white unicorn a gentle nod. Rarity coughed lightly, but nodded. "Of course. Do come by in a couple days to get measurements, Mender," she requested, doing a polite bow and recovering her smile as she looked over at me instead. The best I could come up with was returning an uncertain nod, trying my hardest to smile back. She departed slowly, with the elegant and drawn out gait of a true noble, of course. I exhaled weakly as she left, avoiding the burning sensation of Twilight's gaze on the back of my head. Applejack just gave another laugh and gestured towards the barn again, starting a pace towards it herself. Shaking my head, I sighed wearily. The day had already felt long enough, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it was far from over. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/DUBVQA2mr0Y Chapter 09Okay, so this was a mess. Carefully weaving between the piles, I moved another group of planks in with the rest. We were finally wrapping up the sorting of the parts into the various piles on the floor of the barn. Applejack had taken off already, leaving the finer points of the sorting to the ponies that could use magic, it would seem. Although she did have the harvest to take care of, so I didn't exactly blame her there. Smiling down at the last of the planks, I glanced back up at Twilight. At this point, I was growing a little concerned for the unicorn in question. She only got half as much done as me, mostly because she insisted that all of the nails and screws be aligned in the same direction. She was now smiling proudly down at her very exact, orderly piles. It was oddly kind of endearing, and I caught myself smiling softly at her. It was strange. The more I sorted out the feelings, the weirder I felt over the whole situation. Fluttershy had obviously distanced herself, which might have led to some of it, but surely not all. Spending so much time with Twilight had given me greater appreciation for the mare. She seemed honest in her desire to not hurt me anymore. Okay, that was a total lie. I blushed as I realized it. As much as I was trying to stay distant, I couldn't help but get giddy little butterflies in my stomach when I watched her. She was a scary individual when upset, sure, but that's just because I knew what she could do to me. When she was happy, such as now, staring at her gave an entirely different feeling. I wasn't naive. That warm feeling was new to me, but I realized what I wanted. It was maddening some days. How would males on my home dimension stand it? My eyes started to roam a little. All right, so it was really maddening. Her coat was well maintained, looking so soft in the barn light. Her form was sleek and streamlined. She lacked the muscle tone of Applejack, and the corded muscles of Rainbow Dash, but she was far from unhealthy looking. I blushed lightly as I traced gentle curves with my eyes. Her hips were particularly pleasant to take note of, and I saw her tail was well maintained, similar to her mane. My eyes drifted back that way, tracing along her mane that almost seemed to glow in the warm light of the Sun seeping through the barn's front door. It complimented the gorgeous shade of her eyes as they almost sparkled with energy when she was excited. It always made her look so cute. The light flush of her cheeks didn't help either, of course. Wait a second... Twilight was staring right at me at this point, blushing softly and fidgeting with her right front leg. My blush expanded significantly and I politely looked away, coughing. I hope she hadn't noticed too long ago and saw me ogling her flank. Again. Well in her mind, anyway. The first time had indeed been an accident. A light giggle. Her voice always caused me to melt a little, but I kept my hormones under control. No sense in getting her mad at me again. "Um, you don't need to look away, Mender. I don't mind you looking at me. It's just surprising, is all. I'm rather plain looking, honestly," she excused, looking down towards the floor of the barn instead. I blatantly recoiled, shocked. "Twilight! You're far from plain. You're... You're gorgeous. I mean, I do find a lot of mares cute or pretty, but you're by far the only one I'd say was truly beautiful," I corrected softly, frowning now. Twilight's eyes hit saucer size almost instantly. She looked shocked for a moment before her eyes softened and the blush in her cheeks magnified sharply. "M-Mender! I, well, I thank you, but I just don't know. I've never had a stallion think I was pretty." While she had barely choked out the first part of her statement, she calmed down a little and now looked reserved. Or was that a shy expression as she nervously looked at me. Smiling, I shook my head. "I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to, Twilight. It's not just because you'd rip me limb from limb either if I tried," I assured her, nodding. Her ears visibly drooped and she shook her head. "I told you that I'm not going to hurt you, Mender. I don't want you scared of me, okay?" she asked softly, walking towards me again. I hesitated and took a half step back, unsure of her intent. Was she mad at me for staring and only acting this way to get me to lower my guard? Her eyes softened, but she didn't stop walking. "What can I do to show you that I won't hurt you?" she asked a moment later, stopping a half-meter in front of me. I swallowed but stood my ground. She was serious. "I, uh, have no idea, Twilight," I answered, as truthfully as I could manage. Her eyes searched mine for a few seconds before she nodded. To my surprise, she started smiling. "It's a well-documented issue. Your situation is unique, but I bet I could figure out a way to let you have more confidence in dealing with me. Wanna give it a shot later?" she asked warmly, looking oddly excited. Oh well. I couldn't see any particular harm in it and agreed with, "Sure. I don't see why not." The lavender pony grinned instantly, instilling a sudden paranoia in me. Had that been the wrong choice? "Excellent! I'll study up on some of the techniques. Research and experimentation have never failed me in the past, so it will undoubtedly work here too!" she exclaimed excitedly. More experiments? Smiling, I agreed with, "Well, your last 'experimentation' was a lot of fun. I'm sure I'll like these too, right?" Her happy expression shifted to that of a shocked blush in a heartbeat, earning a grin from me. "Cool your jets, Lover Boy. We need to talk to Fluttershy first, don't forget," she reminded, playfully sticking her tongue out at me. I laughed, but nodded gently. She had already been more than adamant on me talking to Fluttershy about things. She didn't need to remind me any further. She continued before I could say anything else, however. "But I am serious. I'm, well, even if you don't end up picking me, you need to move slowly in the relationship. I'm a little worried that maybe kissing like that was too fast. It would be way too fast for Fluttershy," she voiced, an odd mixture of nervous yet sad sounding. Wait, slow? I'd never heard of that adjective being applied to mates before. Swallowing my pride, and possibly sense of self-preservation, I decided to throw caution to the wind and ask Twilight what she meant. "How does slow apply to a relationship?" She had started to turn around, but froze when I asked. Her initial expression seemed to be of surprise and curiosity, but she nodded quietly. "Well, to take your time dating and getting to know a pony before moving on to the more, uh, physical aspects of a relationship," she explained, causing even more confusion. Dating? This was another word that I'd not encountered before. Well, not in this context. To be 'dated' was to be old or out of place in your time period, if I recall correctly. "Uh, what's 'dating' mean in this context?" I inquired, deciding that if she answered the first without hesitation, she shouldn't have any problem with the second. I hoped. A large blush exploded over her cheeks almost instantly. Oops. Guess I was wrong, there. "What, um, what do you mean, Mender? Surely you've heard of dating before. What did your society do to pair up males and females for mating?" she questioned, sounding gravely embarrassed. Uh oh. It had something to do with mating rituals. Please don’t kill me, Twilight. Guessing that I had just made an idiot of myself again, I lowered my head and drooped my ears. "Sorry, Twilight. Honestly, I don't think I've heard that word in that context before. From what I've pieced together and remember, there were no direct mating rituals. Sure, sometimes females took in a male specifically for such in the higher circles, but most of our breeding was done through clinics," I explained quietly, formulating it at the same time. It wasn't as if I had anticipated having to explain this to anypony. Dreams and vague memories showed me the clinics and I knew the male concubine facts. Everything else was purely speculation on my part, of course. The lavender mare didn't look all that surprised. She did lose her smile and look away, however. "I expected as much. Dating is when a couple goes out and has fun together, with the purpose of testing compatibility and feelings for each other before anything more, um, intimate. Well, that's usually the case, anyway. There are exceptions, of course," she expanded upon, shifting back into analytical mode. That probably meant she was uncomfortable talking about this topic. "So that's what you wish to start with, right? Dating? It makes sense if you aren't sure of your feelings, although admittedly, I have no idea what's expected of me," I confessed, blushing again but managing a smile this time. For once, I wasn't irritated at making an idiot of myself, especially if it made her more comfortable. Both of us were interrupted by a sudden light fluttering sound above us. I glanced up for a moment until an impact sounded, and a light ruffling. What was that?! Twilight must have seen me glance up and giggled lightly. "Oh, don't worry about that. Uh, Applejack has a slight issue with, um, birds in the loft. I told her I'd look into it later after this," she explained, fidgeting a little. She seemed nervous for some reason. Uh oh. It dawned on me. Traumatic experiences in an individual's past could lead to painful phobias. Twilight must have had something happen to her involving birds and was too embarrassed to say anything to anypony! Applejack probably asked her to take care of the issue without even considering her feelings. How rude. Hmm. Well birds didn't sound too dangerous, so maybe I could help her with them? I wasn't as likely to get in the way or make her use more healing magic on me again. "Oh, I understand, Twilight! I'll help you take care of them after this, then," I assured, nodding and smiling warmly at her. She paled considerably. "You, um, you do? You don't need to do that!" she assured rapidly, shaking a little. Whoa! It was a nastier case than I had thought. But she was being so brave and trying to hide it. I wondered how long she had kept this pain inside. Blushing, I shook my head again and opened my mouth to insist that I could easily help her on the issue. She interrupted before I could, however. "What do you think of me, Mender?" she suddenly asked out of nowhere. My brain did a flip inside of my skull and I totally forgot what I had been about to say. "Er, wait, what?" Complete sentences eluded me as my brain shifted from sixth to reverse. "About me. I mean, I know you think I'm pretty. Somehow. And fun to be around despite our conflicts in the past. I wanted to know what you think we could be to each other, though," she elaborated carefully, intensely locking eyes with me. Swallowing, I shifted nervously off my left side. This wasn't expected at all. How did the conversation shift from birds to our future?! Although if she was insecure about things concerning her phobias and personality, that might have prompted this. She might have suddenly worried that I looked down upon her for having a phobia. Still, fear of birds wasn't that out of the normal range of things. Heck, I once met an Artificial Intelligence who was afraid of them. Well, she had a lot of problems other than that, but it still fit! "Well, I really do like you a lot. You feel very mature and stable to me, honestly. You're extremely intelligent and I look up to that. You're also scarily powerful, which admittedly terrifies me on occasion. I would like to..." I started before trailing off and frowning to myself. I'd gone over this a hundred times in my head, but always managed to hit a snag here. She felt almost untouchable. Like she existed in a reality apart from my own. Above me and impossibly real. It was hard for me to imagine myself 'with' her in any romantic regard. I didn't know why. Technically, her kissing me should have made it easier, but it didn't. Funny thing, that. She made an impossibly quiet sound a moment later, and I closed my eyes. Surely, if I couldn't see her, she couldn't see me, right? That somehow made the confession easier, and I started with, "I would like to be important to you like that, and have you let me care for you. I just have my doubts that I'd be able to, well, reach you. You're one of a kind in this world, and it feels like I, as an intruder here, shouldn't be considered for such good fortune." Every word was extremely carefully chosen, of course. I decided to leave out the extreme paranoia about her relationship with Celestia. Twilight predictably blushed. "Mender, I want to be important to you, too. Just trust that instead of worrying about if you're worthy or not," she returned, calling me out on my polite wording. I guess I did kind of consider myself unworthy of her, didn't I? "But thank you. That helps me quite a bit. How do you feel about Fluttershy, then?' she asked less than a second later. This one I'd seen coming, however. Sadly, that didn't make the answer any less complicated. "I'm not entirely sure. She makes me feel comfortable, which is amazing considering I'm an alien dumped into the middle of a new land with nothing to his name and who started off thinking that all of the natives wanted to kill and consume him," I groaned out, rubbing a hoof to my temple. At least I'd progressed a long way since then. Kind of. Oh fine; at least I knew they were vegetarians. Twilight giggled pleasantly and shook her head. "Fluttershy is really good at making ponies feel comfortable when she doesn't feel threatened herself. Although from what I've read, you need more than comfort in order to love somepony," she pointed out, sitting down in front of me. I thought about it a little more. Technically she was right. Fluttershy was adorable, very cute, and made me feel safe. Was that enough to base a relationship off, though? Was it fair, to her, for me to try to base a relationship off that only? Everything was new to me, and it was frustrating having no idea what I was doing. "I think you might be right. Now that I consider it, I'm not entirely sure my feelings for her were like that in the first place. I mean, she's cute and very, very kind, but I never intentionally looked at her in that way before." It was more pondering out loud than any direct statement. A light scraping came from above afterwards, along with more of the flapping noises, however. I raised an eyebrow and looked up again. Those sounded like destructive birds. Maybe we shouldn't be waiting to chase them away? Twilight interrupted with, "You mean when you accidentally looked at her flank, right?" My gaze burned back down to her instantly, cheeks flaring up again. Of course she wore a smirk. For a moment, I thought I heard Fluttershy gasp. Then I realized it had just echoed through my head and chuckled mentally. True, that's exactly what she would do had she been here. "Of course, given your wording, that would also indicate that you intentionally looked at mine," the mirthful lavender unicorn continued, giving a more playful smirk. Damn, she was a brat when she wanted to be! This was a whole new side of Twilight that I hadn't seen before, and I didn't particularly know how to deal with it. Well, what was that song? Fortune favors the bold. I nodded in return, smirking. "Of course I did. You're definitely not hard on the eyes," I managed to get out, suppressing the urge to wince and hide behind the crate next to me. Twilight's eyes widened drastically and her blush magnified tenfold. Her smile remained, however, and I eased up on my tense muscles. "You're a charmer when not cowering from me," she teased, slowly swaying closer to me. My pride made me hold my ground as she approached. If she was going to murder me, I could at least die with dignity. She leaned past me however, whispering into my ear, "I like it. Relax." My turn to blush. Had it been that obvious that I was tense? I let out a little sigh and did just as she had suggested. She smiled gently at me from inches away. A sudden urge came over me, and I slowly leaned forwards. Twilight turned away however at the last second and picked up a bunch of the wooden planks for the support structure. They drifted easily into the air around her so easily. I almost fell on my face, wobbling for a moment to recover my balance. "What about Applejack? She might be employing you," she asked instead, hauling the woodpile over to the corner of the barn. My mind whirled with the sudden topic change and I had to do an about face to catch up. "Wait, what?" I asked a moment later. Okay, try to catch up, anyway. She snickered, causing me to scowl but sigh. Was she intentionally throwing me off guard? "I've never really thought about it. Mostly I'm too preoccupied trying to make up for my terrible first impression. She's very kind though, and has been extremely hospitable since." I followed her over to where she was lining up the boards as I replied. She smiled, agreeing with, "Applejack would like that description. You don't think she's pretty?" I laughed, pointing a hoof over to the nails pile. "Nails. And don't get me wrong. Applejack is very pretty in her own unique way. She's not adorably cute like Fluttershy or subtly gorgeous like you; she holds a practical charm, in a down to earth kind of way," I tried to explain. Twilight didn't miss a beat and yanked a pile of nails over to where we were as I positioned two of the interlocking planks into a cross brace. "You always seem to compliment me the most," she groaned as we instinctively swapped roles. She snagged both planks in her telekinesis and I magnetically picked up three of the sturdy nails with my left, glowing hoof. "You're the one I like the most in that way, so isn't that normal?" I questioned, giving the nails a light kinetic burst of energy. They drove themselves into the board all at once an instant later. Twilight smiled at me for a moment before starting at the sound of the nails. She looked momentarily amused when she glanced down at my work. "Well, admittedly, that makes me more than a little happy. Maybe I've been, I dunno, over-thinking things?" she muttered, turning back to the board pile and lighting her horn with magic. Twilight, over-think things? I tried not to laugh as I realized I tended towards doing the same thing. I instinctively ducked as two more boards flew in over me and lined themselves up in a light magical aura. "I'm probably as nervous about things as you. Everything is going a little faster for me, and admittedly, it's a tad hard to keep up with mentally," I tried to assure. She smiled pleasantly and nodded, expression relaxing a little. "Then I guess it will be new to both of us. Uh, well, if you pick me, of course," she backtracked, eyes widening at the last part. This again? I sighed as I grabbed the next set of nails. "Twilight, we're pretty much assured that she's..." I stopped and frowned. Fluttershy didn't like me like that. I'd already figured that much out. Whether she did before she saw my memories, I'd probably never find out. For such a gentle soul, the prospect of war and death was probably grim indeed. I felt bad enough that she had to see what she did. "She just wants to be friends, Twilight. I don't blame her for that and frankly, I'm sad that she had to see what she did in the first place, regardless of it being the reason she changed her mind. I just want to be absolutely sure that's what she wants so I don't hurt her feelings, is all," I furthered after straightening out my mindset. There was a light, contented sigh that echoed out of nowhere and everywhere at once. Frowning, I glanced around again. Okay, that time I swore I heard the timid yellow mare in question. Was it just my imagination? Twilight smiled and nodded at me as if she'd heard nothing, so I decided to keep it to myself lest I sound even less sane than she already thought I was. "I understand. I'm sure she would as well if she heard that. Relax, Mender. I'm glad you like me like that. I think, um, I think I really do want to give it a try. Oh dear, I think I'll need to do some more reading on the topic," she groaned, shifting back and forth on her hooves. I lowered the hoof that had the nails and ducked again as her magic followed her swaying, whipping the boards back and forth in front of me, predictably. I just shook my head and chuckled. At least I didn't try to figure out everything by reading about it. Well, not that it was a bad way to do things, but she might be content with just experimenting more, too. I grinned to myself as I remembered her last one. "Twilight, relax. You have all the time in the world," I assured regardless. Well, it wasn't just assurance, I guess. Something still felt off about the whole situation. My instincts told me that she was more important than me, and I shouldn't be so lax and loose tongued around her, to be respectful and subservient instead. Not just because she was an Element of Harmony, one of the most important mares in Equestria, or could single-handedly tear the fabric of my being apart with her mind, but because she was female. The frustrating thing was not knowing where the instinct came from. What was my old culture like to instill such a nigh panic over the issue? "...but I should be fine as long as I experiment slowly. Oh, and get lots of research and notes taken!" she continued from a statement I was apparently missing the first part of. Oops. It was easy enough to gather what she had been saying, however. Not that I knew how to respond anyway. Further, not that it mattered, as she apparently wasn't looking for a response in the first place, and simply continued with, "Anyway, what about Rainbow Dash?" After Applejack, I had been anticipating being grilled on Dash as well, so it wasn't as much of a surprise. Thankfully, the boards stopped flailing and I was able to sit up again, proceeding with driving the next set of nails into them. "I trust her with my life after what we went through. She really pulled her own back in my dimension, and showed me how truly loyal she can be. She's amazing." Twilight smirked at my explanation, and I saw it coming. "Sounds like you like her too," she cooed a second later. I rolled my eyes. "Twilight, I came from a world with no females in day to day activities. Every mare here is going to be at least a little cute to me. So yes, Rainbow is very cute. But you know her heart is also taken, and so is mine," I reminded, giving her a skeptical glance. She nodded promptly, seemingly unfazed by my admission. "Rarity?" she asked without delay as we swapped plank sets again and moved further down the line. "Very elegant and beautiful in her own way. She really maintains herself. Maybe a little too much. She's really nice, however, and her heart is in the right spot. I'm glad she's my friend," I returned, drawing forth more nails. This was going faster than I thought it would. Although I should have known better, as Twilight was an extremely intelligent mare and learned fast. The mare in question snickered at the over-maintaining portion of my answer, but nodded. "Okay, a hard one. Pinkie Pie!" she launched, sounding a little amused. Okay, that was a hard one. I drove the nails into the board before frowning and thinking about it a bit. I barely remembered to duck as more planks flew in via her magic. "She's a really nice mare and super friendly. Way too much energy for me, however. I get tired just watching her. Still, I've seen her when she's not wound up like a spastic ferret on sugar, and know she has other gears. I like her, overall," I reasoned simply. Twilight started laughing by the time I was done. "Well, that's fairly accurate. Ha! Still, I think she'd be happy with that reply were she here," she agreed, nodding to me between snickers. There was another light thump from above us, and more flapping sounds. For crying out loud, what were those birds doing up there? I saw the ropes for the lift shiver back and forth slightly and widened my eyes. Uh oh! We're they pecking at the lift ropes? That wouldn't do at all. Twilight frowned as I stood up and trotted over to the lift. "I think those birds are on the lift ropes. I'm going to scare them off," I explained, smiling back at her. Oddly, a look of shock and terror suddenly spread across her face. "No, Mender! It's okay, I'll get them after we're done!" she shouted. I smiled further and shook my head. "It's okay, Twilight. You don't need to be brave. It's perfectly all right to be afraid of birds. I'll get rid of them," I assured. "Wait, what?" she asked suddenly, getting an odd look on her face. Shaking my head at the stubborn mare, I reached over with my left hoof and touched the rope, swinging it into the edge of the loft above. The shockwave shook the entire building, rippling and distorting across the loft floor. Nothing too strong, but that should be enough to scare the birds out of there. A trio of screams sounded through the air instantly, and my eyes widened a moment later. Applejack fell first, going sideways out of the lift hole. Rainbow Dash came next, looking more intentional as she dove after Applejack, her wings extended. What the hell?! A light squeak came from above a moment later, causing me to look up just in time to be greeted by a face full of yellow fur. Fluttershy landed on me with a force that was astounding for what I anticipated she weighed, and we became a pony pile on the floor in front of the lift. She gave another timid squeak upon landing on me, then rolled until she hit solid ground again. Dash caught Applejack out of the air and spun, skipping and sliding along the ground on her back while cushioning the mare she held. Both of them slid to a stop right into one of the larger boxes still in the room. The side snapped on the box and the entire top collapsed in on them. My eyes widened and I slammed my left hoof into the ground as it fell. The energy shot along the ground and up the side of the box as it broke, killing the inertia and gravity and letting the broken top float free instead, drifting a ways off to the side of them before running out of energy and falling. Everything slowly came to a stop. Fluttershy let out a pained "Ow" next to me, and Applejack slowly sat up on Rainbow. The cyan mare was blushing furiously as she looked up at the orange mare, who smirked down at her. Rainbow scoffed a second later, looking away before asking, "Comfy there?" The country mare let out a throaty clicking that sounded remarkably like laughter. "What if ah am?" she pointedly questioned, nudging a hoof into Dash's chest. Whoa! Well that sounded promising for her. If she caught it, she was obvious. "Just... I don't care. We didn't crash and die so it's all good," she muttered, scarlet color in her cheeks standing out heavily against the blue of her fur. She was kind of cute when embarrassed. Fluttershy sat up slowly next to me and looked around. Groaning, I decided she probably had the right idea, and sat up too. My neck hurt from being squashed into my shoulders when she landed on me, but at least it wasn't a direct blow to my head. I don't think I needed another concussion at this point to add to my collection. Then the situation dawned on me. Slowly turning, I shot an extremely irked glare back at Twilight. She swallowed and edged away from me, shifting nervously on her front hooves. That's why she was asking me about all of them. She knew that the three of them were eavesdropping! That meant the entire conversation was a set up to get me to admit things not to her, but to the three of them listening above. The unicorn shook her head rapidly, almost hearing my train of thought as I turned fully towards her. "Please let me explain, Mender. I can explain," she rapidly assured, shifting a little closer with her hoof reaching towards me. Backing away slowly, I frowned further at her. "You let them listen intentionally. Why?" I asked carefully. I'd just started giving her the benefit of the doubt again, and now this. For not spying on me for her mentor, she used some awfully underhanded tricks. Underhanded? Underhoofed? It didn't matter! "It was mah idea, actually. Ya don't be mad at her now," Applejack interrupted, turning around and climbing to her hooves again. Rainbow Dash looked momentarily stunned, but shook her head rapidly where the orange mare couldn't see. My ears went back and I glared over at her instead. "Why? Why did you... Why didn't you just ask me?" I growled, stamping my hoof to the ground. Applejack sighed wearily and nodded over towards the now shivering yellow ball of wings and fur on the floor. "Ah figured it would help Fluttershy ta hear yer thoughts indirectly first, ya know?" she explained slowly. The murky heat I hadn't realized was there to begin with slowly withdrew back down my neck, and I could suddenly hear quiet whispers coming from the yellow mare. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," was being released from her shivering form, seemingly ad infinitum. Sighing, I lowered my eyes. This wasn't a pleasant situation in the least. It made me feel unclean, I decided. But I couldn't stay angry at Fluttershy, anyway. She hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't her idea, nor had she tricked me and steered the conversation in ways to benefit herself. If anypony was innocent here, it would be her. Leaning down, I spoke directly to her instead, assuring, "Fluttershy, it's not your fault so don't worry. You most certainly didn't do anything wrong." The 'you' came out with particular venom. I didn't recall ever being truly mad at anypony before. Irritated, sure. Like when I was forced to dig for twenty minutes longer than what was needed. Or when a bag of apples descended onto my skull at high velocity. This felt different. I was angry. I'd just started to let go of the incident with Celestia and trust Twilight again. Then she did this! Fluttershy looked up at me, eyes softly wavering and mouth partially open. "Mender, we're sorry. I was just trying to help Fluttershy. You can see that, right?" Twilight tried to assure, taking a few steps closer again. My eyes narrowed and I backed up yet again, away from Fluttershy. "That's why you asked about everypony else too, right?" The lavender mare's eyes drastically widened and she shrank a little. Applejack let out an annoyed sounding snort before stamping her right hoof down with a dull thud. "Now wait just ah minute, you! Twilight 'ere wouldn't go an' lead ya on without good reason. Can't ya understand why we did it?!" she growled, eyes narrowing at me. Twilight finally shook her head and spoke up with, "No, Applejack. It was a bad idea. We should have just asked him." the orange mare turned and glared at her as well for a moment before rapidly shaking her head. My flank brushed past the forward ropes to the lift, and I frowned. I honestly just wanted to get away and clear my head for a while, but the door was past the two mares. I momentarily contemplated fleeing using the lift and my magic, then diving out one of the second story windows, but decided I'd probably just land on my head and wake up in the hospital. Besides, I was oddly getting a little tired of just running away. "It was not ah bad idea! Fluttershy 'ere benefited greatly from it," Applejack defended stubbornly, directing her irritation towards Twilight now instead, who was strangely shifting more towards me. Rainbow finally managed to recover enough to stand up again behind the country mare. Her gaze shifted past her however and at me instead. Ignoring all of them, I just walked forwards directly in-between Twilight and Applejack. Potentially lethal if either of them attacked me as I was setting up my own flanking position, but I was screwed if they did so anyway. The barn fell oddly quiet as I walked past both, keeping my eyes locked firmly on the exit. "Uh, where are you, um, going, Mender? Oh, if you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy requested politely, tilting her head at an angle that encouraged her mane to drift absently along her cheek. I stopped for a moment. Where was I going? "I'm taking a walk. I need to clear my head," I returned quietly, without looking back towards her. Twilight's ears drooped in my peripheral vision to the left, while Applejack's expression hardened on my other side. "What about mah barn?" she questioned, a bit of sharpness to her tone. Looking back over at her, I frowned. Why was she suddenly in such a bad mood? She was the one who'd decided to spy on me. "Build it yourself, then. At least there will be no need for spying without me here," I pointed out, admittedly a little on the bitter side. As expected, she looked significantly taken aback, eyes widening as she leaned her head away from me as if I burned her muzzle. Not waiting for a retort, I turned back and proceeded out of the barn, happy for the fresh air. * * * * * To their credit, they didn't give chase. Slowly, I trotted along at a moderate pace, much faster than my normal speeds but nowhere near hurrying. The sun was still high above, spreading its soft warmth over the fields of grass and apple trees. There was a certain amount of peace I felt as I watched the leaves sway to and fro around me. I could definitely appreciate the draw of a farmer's life. Compared to my old life, where it seemed like I only stopped moving after I was blown into three parts, this place was heaven. Slowly, I shifted from the path and walked down to the base of a small creek. The water ran clear and was chilled to the touch as I lightly dipped a forehoof into it. Maybe this really was heaven? My thoughts strayed back to the book, causing a slow sigh. They were trying to find me. It couldn't be just my imagination. Asking 'her' about it seemed pointless, however. She'd probably just say that it was all in my head again. Heh. That would give 'Tia' a real reason to spy on me again. Hell, Twilight would no doubt jump at the chance! Her mindset was practically geared towards clandestine operations. The bitterness flared up again as I splashed the water about in front of me with a hoof, realizing that I must have sat down at some point. This was kind of pathetic, really. Get upset at the cute ponies displaying interest in you, so you run away and sulk? Real mature, Mender. Angrily, I whipped my hoof out and hit the water, sending a somewhat satisfying spray away from me. Why didn't I trust them? Why was I so upset? I've been here for barely three weeks and have caused considerable problems in that time, not limited to accidentally dragging one of them to what could be considered hell in comparison. Rainbow Dash almost died with me in that desolate place. Of course they're not going to hold me in high regard. It snapped into place. Of course Fluttershy was going to lose interest after she saw the hell I came from. Such a view surely scarred a gentle and innocent soul such as hers. Of course Twilight would pick her teacher, mentor, longtime friend, and ruler of the entire country over me, the whelp that had barely even touched upon her life. It was logical. I wasn't important considering who I was trying to impress. Flicking a tiny rock along the creek, I wiped weakly at my eyes with the other hoof. This was so stupid. I gave a light groan and leaned down instead, pushing my muzzle and forehead into the modest flow of water. The gentle coolness shifting pleasantly over my fur and skin underneath felt amazing, and I relaxed my shoulders, letting my neck gently support my body. This was the first time I'd been alone in a while, and it was kind of nice. I just let the cool water drift past my coat for a moment, feeling the tension exit my body slowly. Sighing, I sat back up, eyes yet closed as the water dripped down off my face and forehead. Maybe I needed more time to myself like this? Shaking back and forth, I let the water spray off me before giving a faint smile and opening my eyes once more. I was greeted to the sight of a magenta pair of eyes staring back from all of a half meter away. Giving a rather embarrassing yelp, I hopped backwards to make some distance from the two pools of amused looking color. Given my natural levels of grace and foresight, I promptly tripped while going backwards and rolled. With all the finesse of a beached whale, I crashed into the loose dirt and mud to my right and slid a few inches before coming to a stop, dignity a long lost cause. Rainbow burst into laughter almost instantly, of course. "You're just too awesome, Mender! I've never seen anypony with such bad luck or total lack of dexterity. I don't even have to prank you to get a good laugh!" she praised, voice mirthful and energetic in between gasping for air from the hysterical laughter. Well, praised was probably the wrong word, even though she made it sound like they were stellar attributes of mine. I sat up again, glare returning and being blatantly aimed at the spunky cyan mare. "You could have said something. What do you want, Dash?" I asked, normal politeness decaying a little in my foul mood. Not that she normally cared about etiquette, of course. She returned without hesitation, "Relax. I'm here to make sure you're all right. Ya know, battle partners checking up on each other, right?" I couldn't help but blush a little. Looking away from her, I sighed wearily. "You don't need to remind me of how I put you in danger, Dash. But thank you," I muttered. It was ironic how I had just been thinking about that. Her expression shifted to a glare almost instantly, fast enough for me to do a double take. "I told you that I had wanted to stay even longer. Don't you get it? You're our friend, and constantly thinking otherwise is really hurting a few ponies. So knock it off already!" she requested. Well, more demanded. I'm not sure how prevalent radio was here, or if it even existed, but the effect was reasonably similar. If one rotates the dial through dead air long enough, and then finds a station that's barely managing to transmit to the area where the radio is, there's a light fade in of the sound mixed with the dead static. If one wasn't anticipating such a find, it was quite possible to zip right past the faint channel without quick enough mental reflexes. It was exactly like that, except the sound mixed in with the dead air was a very familiar voice, rather than any music or such. "...such is the nature... ...link faint, yet decidedly real... ...book leads to..." echoed through my skull. Oh hell. The mention of the book put my nerves on edge, and I glanced around while feeling the blood drain from my face. Sadly, as soon as it had appeared, it was gone again. I now found myself distinctly aware of the sense of static left behind by the 'station,' now nothing more than dead air. Damn it. They didn't even give me the courtesy of being asleep this time. "Hello? You awake there? As I said, your fillyfriend is going crazy thinking she screwed up, and Fluttershy won't stop apologizing to the dirt floor. Suck it up and go back and at least let them know you don't hate them," Dash continued, apparently repeating a large section of a conversation I zoned out again. Shaking off the panic, I glanced back at her and frowned. She wasn't going to leave me alone until I did, probably. Wait, fillyfriend?! My cheeks went scarlet this time, instead of settling for just a mediocre blush, and I voiced my surprise with, "Wait, fillyfriend?! We haven't really, uh, decided that we'd make it official or anything." The rainbow-maned mare smirked, and I knew that she knew that she'd gotten to me. Ug. Today just wasn't my day. Except for that kissing part. That was nice. "Mender, she's totally all for it. Which means, given Twi, she's probably thought about it and researched it until almost going crazy, so I'd take it as a compliment. Although you really wouldn't want to see her when she 'actually' goes crazy, so we should probably get back there," she warned a moment later, glancing back towards the barn. Uh oh. That was the distinct phrasing involved with past experience, I noticed. Which probably meant that I should listen to her advice. Then I considered it more. An impossibly strong magic user with an extremely orderly and focused personality totally going off the deep end and acting irrational or otherwise, as Rainbow indicated, crazy. It all suddenly clicked into place, violently disturbing my thought processes long enough to at least drive the annoying dead air sound out of my skull. Well then, prior worry about interstellar invaders coming to destroy all of Equestria and everypony I had come to know and love put behind me, I decided my colorful friend and battle partner was probably right. It was pointless to worry about future invasions if a certain, extremely powerful lavender unicorn made Equestria go away before they even got here. "Right indeed. I don't think I really want to see Twilight when she's crazy, given how she's acted before. Shall we go?" I offered, gesturing back towards the barn with a hesitant hoof. Rainbow snickered and nodded, taking to the air again and drifting over from the other side of the creek. "Exactly! And don't forget, she's totally your special somepony now," she reminded. Again. A spike of annoyance struck me. But her smirk indicated that's what she wanted, which oddly made it hard to stay angry at the exact same time. Paradoxical thoughts aside, I glared anyway, putting on a good show before pushing my hoof into the ground on my left side. This time she saw it and laughed, dodging out of the way as little orbs of water started shooting out of the creek at her. She flipped and swirled through the air, laughing as she avoided most of my barrages while dancing towards the barn again. Finally laughing, I ran after at my typical clutzy pace, firing more every time my left hoof touched down while managing to squeeze the happiness out of the few I managed to clip her with. She took it in playful jest as we headed towards our destination. Decidedly, I distracted myself wondering why I could never manage to stay mad at her. It was funny now that I thought about it. If she had gone there wanting to cheer me up and calm me down instead of just check up on me, she was an extremely clever filly. Suddenly, I had a lot more respect for the rainbow-maned mare that was frolicking through the air in front of me. 'Battle Partner’, huh? Smiling gently up at her, I stopped firing and just ran after as we rounded the barn. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: TBA Chapter 10"Uh, Twi?" Applejack asked cautiously, giving the shivering lavender lump a nudge with her right forehoof. It had been slightly awkward, but that was pretty much my modus operandi since coming here. Rainbow Dash and I had gotten back into the barn without issue or serious maiming, which is a positive mark on my part. Twilight was pacing around Fluttershy spouting worried statement after increasingly worried statement while practically wearing a groove in the dirt with her hooves. Her expression was a little scary, but snapped back to normal, if not slightly shocked, when I spoke her name. No, that wasn't the awkward part. The awkward part came as Twilight ceased to exist in her current location and then, for all intents and purposes, landed on me in a teleportation pounce technique. I would have been impressed had I not been rendered upside down and sideways. I never thought well when at other gravitational inclines. Rainbow continued laughing while Fluttershy approached from Applejack's other side, smiling softly down at me. I swallowed nervously and did my best to gently squeeze the ball of lavender fur embedded onto my chest. "I'm sorry! I knew it was a bad idea and that I never should have gone along with it, especially after reading pointers indicating exactly the opposite in 'A Mare's Guide to the Modern Stallion' in chapter eleven! Sabotaging trust in a relationship is a fatal mistake!" she quoted, probably perfectly. Averting my eyes, I tried really hard not to mention the whole spying on me for Celestia thing. Not that I had time to. "Wait now just ah sec. Relationship? Twi, are ya really datin' Mender?" Applejack asked suddenly, sounding surprised. Okay, I wasn't sure how to think about that reaction. Her surprise was probably justified, but her tone indicated it was because of me, not Twilight. Rainbow let out a mirthful snort instantly, causing Twilight to lock up on top of me. Of course, anypony who knew Rainbow and had more than five brain cells to rub together at the moment probably could see what was coming. "Ha! Dating? More like making kissy faces with each other in Mender's bed!" she corrected, proceeding to laugh even harder afterwards. To her credit, the orange farm mare didn't let her expression shift much past the surprise she held prior. Twilight was a different case, however. Her head whipped around and glared at Dash before I could even fully process the comment and formulate a blush in response. "Rainbow! You said you'd keep that a secret!" she reminded angrily, her left hoof jabbing painfully into my side. Suddenly I was a little bit concerned for my relative safety, being this close to a font of rage and magic. "Twi! That's not tha point. Ya shouldn't have tried ta keep it ah secret in tha first place! Think of poor Fluttershy's feelin's," Applejack lectured instead, interrupting the bout of anger while gesturing towards the now surprised yellow pegasus. "Oh! Oh, no, Applejack. I'm happy for them. I would, um, rather not be Mender's special somepony right now. I... Well..." Fluttershy started to deny rapidly, pink mane flailing as she rapidly shook her head back and forth. A light blush drifted into her cheeks, as timidly as she typically acted. It hurt, but at this point, it was a dull pain. Falling asleep with the thoughts since waking up a few days ago had taken the edge off it. "The images in my memories hurt you, and I'm really sorry for that, Fluttershy. I know you only want to be friends, so don't worry about that. If I could at least take away the images, I would in a heartbeat," I interrupted after I saw her explanation start to dwindle. Applejack closed her mouth slowly while watching me carefully, but the yellow mare just blushed even more before shaking her head. "No, it's not just that. Um, thank you though. I don't think I'm ready to be a special somepony yet as well," she whispered weakly, barely audible from my position, before adding, "Maybe, maybe one day I'll be ready. The images aren't you and won't bother me forever. Maybe then..." I smiled and nodded, but Rainbow let out what could only be described as a gleeful and diabolical squeaking noise as she suddenly grinned out of the corner of my eye. "Oooh, are you gonna share him then, Twi?" she asked, fluttering a little closer. The timid yellow pegasus let out a surprised squeaking sound, wings suddenly fluttering rapidly. Twilight groaned, right on time, but Applejack surprised me by giving a warm chuckle. "That sorta thing ain't done too often, RD. Let 'em git used to each other before Fluttershy joins in," she pointed out. Wait, polygamy actually happened here?! Well admittedly, I had a sneaking suspicion that it happened in the inverse in my past dimension too. Anywhere where there was a significant difference in gender ratios probably did similar. Still, something seemed different when it came in the context of myself. "Uh, hold on a second! I want some time with him myself before I even consider that, okay?!" Twilight warned, pushing me back a little bit and giving Fluttershy a skeptical glance. Wait, what happened to not being sure of her feelings? I winced as I was further squished up against the barn's main doorframe. Further, didn't I get a say in any of this? Fluttershy shook her head as fast as she could, eyes widening and assuring, "Oh my! No, it would be a very long time before, well, I was ready, I think." Her voice dwindled halfway through and I had to strain to hear the rest through the wheezing of my lungs struggling for air. Twilight's skeptical expression shifted to that of a soft smile instead, and she nodded to the now red and yellow pegasus. I would have smiled had my neck not been squished at an odd angle. Gasping in again, I tried to shift out from under the lavender mare on top of me. "Hoo boy! Well 'ere RD an' Ah were jus' teasin' ya'all, but it looks like ya had somethin' else in mind," Applejack suddenly spoke up, trailing it with a whistle and smirk. Twilight went from smiling to glaring in record time, tensing on top of me again. "Applejack! It's just, but..." she fussed, words suddenly failing her. They failed me as well, as she shifted to look fully at the country mare and squashed me further against the wall. Rainbow managed to keep it to a controlled snicker this time before pointing out, "I think AJ is supporting ya. Although neither of you are going to get him if Twi kills him." She accompanied it with a hoof gesture in my direction. The lavender mare in question gave a sharp start and whirled around to look at me again. I did my best assuring smile as my eyes watered and I tried to look relaxed rather than attempting to remain conscious. She let out a stifled squeaking noise regardless. The flash was rather on the blinding side, and I was left seeing a rather accurate after image of where she had been before. Twilight materialized back into existence several feet away in the same instant, right next to Applejack. She then proceeded to give me an exceedingly mortified stare. "Oh no! I'm sorry, Mender! I was just so excited to see you come back. Admittedly, I didn't expect that Rainbow would actually succeed in convincing you," she spewed out at an accelerated rate. Nowhere near the speeds that Pinkie Pie could achieve, but at this point, I couldn't expect the unicorn to keep up with a hole in physics. That was a bit unreasonable, even for one so powerful. "Hey!" Rainbow squawked, glaring at Twilight's new position as I flopped over on my side, both gasping for air and rubbing my eyes now. Dash reacted so easily to the teleportation. Would I ever get used to Twilight doing that? I doubted it; although it also made me significantly curious. There were so many properties that were interesting in it. How did it compare to 'blinking' from my dimension? Twilight flinched, catching my attention again as my breathing slowly returned to normal. Damn, I was out of shape. "Sorry, Dash. It was Mender being offended that I was worried about, not the fact that you were going to get him," she quickly amended, giving her cyan friend a sheepish grin. Rainbow straightened a little and almost visibly puffed up before bumping her right hoof into her chest. "Relax. I had it covered. Besides, Mender and I are Battle Partners, so we understand each other," she assured cockily. Twilight gave her an annoyed look while Applejack chuckled and Fluttershy gave her a soft smile and nod. I decided to finally speak up with, "If it makes you feel better, Dash, I really do trust you. With my life, actually. You really pulled your own when it mattered the most, and I'm never going to forget that." A warm blush drifted into Rainbow's cheeks and she smiled at me in an instant, posture relaxing a little. "Careful. Yer gonna swell her head even bigger with that kinda talk," Applejack warned a moment later with a smirk, tilting her surprisingly clean Stetson down a little. Hadn't she just finished falling off a loft and crashing into a large crate? "Well I think it's nice. That you, uh, trust her. I mean, we do kind of deserve..." Fluttershy timidly whispered, barely audible as usual and getting worse as the sentence neared its conclusion. Twilight interrupted, shaking her head rapidly to the yellow mare and correcting, "No, Fluttershy. You didn't do anything wrong. It was Applejack and I, well, mostly just me, who are in the wrong. I really screwed up, so if there's anything I can do." The second half of the sentence shifted not so subtly over to me, along with the unicorn's nervous gaze. I really didn't like situations like this. A faint blush shifted into my cheeks. Shaking my head again, I looked away from her. "I'll be fine. I just would rather you ask me up front next time." Applejack stomping her hoof down further scared me and I jumped, looking back up at her instead. “Now hold on just ah minute! Twi is right. Ah apologize too, fer bein’ downright stubborn on tha issue. Ah don’t think it was that great of ah’n idea after all,” she cut in, eyes softening. Wait, huh? Oh. That’s why she’d been defending it before. Fluttershy joined the team against me and nodded, adding a soft smile before amending, “Yes, we shouldn’t have, well, tricked you like that. I promise that I’ll be braver, um, if this happens again in the future. Really! So, I’m sorry.” She acquired a faint blush halfway through, and bowed her head towards the end, wings fluttering ever so slightly on her back. Admittedly, she was adorable. But what did I really feel towards her? It didn’t feel the same as Twilight, whom I just enjoyed being with. I wanted to protect Fluttershy, helping her when she needed it. She obviously didn’t really need my help, but it was a secret little selfish wish inside of me. I’d learned a lot more about myself today, in all honesty. I disliked dishonesty and tricking individuals when there was no obvious point besides greed. Forgiving the girls was reasonably easy to do, because there was a reason they did it that wasn’t for their own gain. They were trying to help Fluttershy, after all. It irritated me, but I realized that I could forgive it well enough. But it did get me thinking. It had been happening without me noticing it in the first place. Over the course of my stay here, I’d been reacting to external stimuli in ways that felt natural to me. Of course, I had started with nothing except for a large amount of technical knowledge and an indescribable panic at being lost in a new, unknown place. But now that I had been more accepted into their culture and adapted, I found myself seeing facets of myself that I wasn’t quite consciously aware of. What did I know about myself so far? I disliked dishonesty, but didn’t shy away from it when it would benefit someone’s feelings. Rainbow Dash, I noticed, was a good example. Further, I wasn’t very confident in my own capabilities. Possibly because of this, I tended to try to figure things out as fast as possible and might have a small tendency to jump to the incorrect conclusion a couple of times. Or a lot. I was further loathed to mentally admit that I might have a little bit of trust issues. Although that was at least partially justified on my part, as I had been spied on for the first week of my stay. Still, I couldn’t fault Celestia for wanting to keep her kingdom safe. If it was so easy for me to accept that, though, why the hell did it make me so irritated?! Then I realized I had been zoning out again. Snapping back to attention, fully expecting everyone’s attention to be directed angrily at me, I was pleasantly surprised to find them all staring at Rainbow Dash instead. She shifted back and forth between the stares, expression getting more and more negative with each switch. “What?! Hey, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m so not apologizing!” she defended, crossing her forelegs and looking away from them with closed eyes. "None of you had to in the first place," I muttered, ears drooping and trying my hardest to diminish the light blush I felt in my cheeks. If anything about my ideals and personality was certain, I wasn't cut out for this kind of attention. Twilight smacked her hoof lightly into her forehead before glaring over at me again, returning, "Mender! You need to stand up for yourself a little more. Right now. Tell all four of us what you want to make up for this." I blanched and backed up a little as all four mares shifted their attention to me instead. "Are ya sure this is ah good idea, Twi?" Applejack asked, sounding uncertain suddenly. Didn't I get a say in any of this?! Oh wait, technically that was the point of the 'exercise', I suddenly realized. "Scared he'll ask for a bit of loving, AJ?" Rainbow teased, bumping her flank up against her orange friend, jarring her a little. Fluttershy visibly wilted, cheeks going pink immediately. Oddly, I was close to mirroring her in posture, dropping to my haunches and staring in shock at Dash, a familiar heat sinking into my cheeks. Applejack smiled gently at my display and shook her head in reply. "Of course not. Ah should'a known better in regards ta Mender. In this case, Ah think Twi's idea was ah good one, then. Give us somethin' ta do fer ya. All four of us," Applejack requested politely, recovering her warm smile. Being around her was like walking on eggshells. She didn't fully trust me still, which admittedly was my own fault for making such a bad first impression. The 'almost eating her with extra-dimensional tentacles' thing probably didn't improve her opinion of me either. Oh, or almost getting her best friend killed in a space battle in an impossibly far away place. Honestly, I should be thankful she hasn't skinned and garroted me yet. Although this was also getting a bit frustrating. They probably expected me to make some deeply personal and selfish request for them all to fulfill, which I obviously wasn't at all comfortable with doing. I had already forgiven them and definitely didn't want any pity, so it was a little confusing as to why they sought punishment in the first place. My right hoof nervously scraped along the dirt floor as I rapidly tried to think of a way out of the situation, avoiding the gaze of all four intently watching mares. I was about to vote for panicking and fleeing into the forest when my hoof bumped into one of the screws on the floor. I stared at it for a second before a potential escape occurred to me. Smiling, I raised my head back up to them, earning a mixed response. I saw Applejack fidget minutely, but maintain her smile. Rainbow's smirk widened as she puffed up, awaiting my request. Fluttershy shrank down a little more, but maintained a standing position, barely. Twilight had the most amusing reaction of all, being no reaction whatsoever. A light blush adorned her cheeks and she almost looked as if she was staring past me, not really listening in the first place. Finally, I announced, "I got it! All four of you," I started, pausing momentarily for dramatic effect. Three of the four leaned closer, with the lavender mare still staring blankly at the floor to my right. "Help Twilight and I finish upgrading the barn!" I finished rapidly, nodding twice in confirmation. Applejack and Rainbow Dash shifted from anticipation and excitement to confusion a beat later. Fluttershy actually perked up a bit and recovered her smile, nodding to me. Twilight, hearing her name, snapped out of it and looked around rapidly, looking even more confused than her orange and cyan friends. "Uh, Mender... Isn't that more helping AJ than you?" Dash reasoned, perfectly logically, of course. Chuckling, I shook my head and walked past the four, the lavender unicorn now looking exceedingly flustered. "It might, but I just asked if of you four, so if you truly want to repay me, you'd better get to it," I reminded, not turning back as I headed gleefully towards the beginnings of the quality control platform. "What are we supposed to do again?" I heard Twilight ask in a whisper behind me. * * * * * The sun slowly drifted below the window of the barn, casting an orange tint along the dirt and wood. It was pleasantly warm today, and the soft glow simply added to the ambiance. It was getting late at this point, causing a soft tiredness to drift through my muscles. It felt so different from the overworked sensation in my memories. I guess fighting for your life in a hopeless war and upgrading a friend's barn weren't really all that comparable. Regardless of ducking another set of boards as they zipped in via telekinesis, I felt reasonably relaxed. Twilight's magic fit the wood softly along the frame we'd already made, setting up the outside of the conveyor belt. After she lined it up oh so expertly, I placed more nails against the pieces and sealed them together an instant later. I shook the wood once and smiled in satisfaction when it didn't budge. The lavender unicorn lagged in her next set of beams, however, and I glanced up and to the left automatically. Sure enough, Fluttershy drifted in with her apron held lightly, carrying a new supply of screws and nails in the cupped fabric. She gave me a warm smile as she lit softly upon the frame we'd just put together, and started pouring the tiny objects into Twilight's newly formed telekinetic tunnel. Working together, the girls made a neat pile of nails and screws directly to my left, earning a nod of approval from me. They were so adorable when they worked together like that. I felt myself blushing as I watched them nod to each other happily. Unsurprisingly, Dash zipped in a moment later from behind the two, nodding to me and throwing an over the top salute. "Rainbow Dash reporting, Boss! The hole is cut in the loft floor perfectly, and lines up with the conveyor frame underneath for the lid lowering!" she reported, hamming her voice up as much as possible. Predictably, I blushed at the performance, causing all three mares near me to grin. "Dash, you know you don't need to call me that. I'm just the engineer," I reminded, doubtlessly as futile as it was last time. Further predictably, her grin widened and she shook her head, returning instantly, "The only engineer here. We don't have any instructions, so we need ya to work your magic." Well, that was true, I suppose. I'd forgotten that they didn't technically have any instructions. Although something seriously struck a bad chord in me when I considered someone asking for more bits for the instructions, too. That didn't seem very fair to me. Of course, my gap in retort gave way to a stronger defense on their part. "Ah think it's an excellent idea. Yer savin' me a hefty 'mount o' bits already, Mender. Ah might be payin' ya fer the work, but in tha long run, it's ah lot cheaper than ah professional," Applejack chimed in as she dragged another pile of wooden beams into the barn, tied to her with a thick rope harness. Fluttershy and Rainbow nodded along in agreement, but Twilight flattened her ears back and glared at her orange friend. I tilted my head to her, confused. I didn't even know where to start guessing as to what was wrong. "Isn't he a professional anyway, Applejack? I didn't think about that before, but what is the going rate for a full-blown engineer?" she suddenly questioned, with a certain level of accusation to her voice. Oh crap. No longer needing to guess as to what was wrong, I started debating how to head off the argument. Much to my extreme surprise, however, there was no argument in the first place. Applejack stopped pulling the boards, her muscles gently going slack as she sat back on her haunches, ears lowering a little. "Ah know, Twi. Trust me, Ah know. Ah could barely afford ta hire a construction team fer the job. An engineer, which is what's needed fer this, is totally out ah the budget. Ah wish I could pay ya the full price fer the work but..." she started to slowly admit, turning and looking at me instead of Twilight. The unicorn's features softened as she absorbed what Applejack said. I looked away from her and over to the orange mare as well, smiling and shaking my head. "I already told you, I'm not accepting any bits for this. You're my friend, plus you've done a ton for me. Save the bits," I requested. I knew she was tight on funding before, so taking her bits had never sat well since she mentioned it. After this admission, I really couldn't accept anything from her, however. She had legitimate need for my skills, and I wasn't about to disappoint. "Mender," she groaned, her right hoof digging into the dirt in front of her as her eyes closed. I tensed, remembering what it felt like for those powerhouses to collide with my skull. She continued before I could react, though, eyes opening softly with a warmer smile on her face. "Yer ah mighty good stallion, ya know that? Why, ifin' Twi hadn't caught hold o' ya first, Ah might have tried my luck ta swoon ya." My expression froze in that of shock. In my peripheral vision, Rainbow locked up in midair and crashed into Fluttershy behind me, causing a loud thud and a squeak from the surprised yellow pegasus. Twilight also went rigid against my side, whipping her head up to look at her now grinning friend. Grinning? Applejack burst into a hearty laughter, stomping the dirt floor with her hoofs alternately. "Ha! Ya should see yer faces!" she squealed in-between gasps of air and laughing. "Oh thank Celestia, it was a joke," Twilight groaned out next to me, slumping visibly forwards as she exhaled. The mass of pegasi slowly untangled themselves and stood again, Fluttershy blushing but Rainbow looking significantly bewildered. "Haha. Good one, AJ," the cyan pegasus muttered, shaking her head back and forth with her eyes unfocused. Either the fall knocked her for a loop, or the joke did. She had probably geared up mentally to murder me the second the others weren't looking, I predicted. "Ya need ta be more careful there, RD. Yer gonna hurt somethin' if ya keep crashin' like that," Applejack lectured suddenly, eyes locked on Dash instead of me suddenly. "Yeah, Fluttershy," Twilight quipped instantly, rolling her eyes as she rotated to look at the two. Seeing as the crisis was averted and I wasn't going to imminently die or be hospitalized, I decided to get back to the task at hand while they were distracted. Carefully, I started counting out the wooden plates that would comprise of the conveyor belt surface as they lay there in stacks. Something seemed off. Rainbow huffed, shaking her head repeatedly. "I'd never hurt Fluttershy. We've been best buds for, like, forever," she assured, giving the yellow mare a light shake back and forth with her foreleg. Fluttershy smiled softly back at Rainbow, looking oddly appreciative for having just been flattened by her. I wasn't so distracted by the counting that I missed the odd look Applejack was giving them, either. I didn't know much about pony body language, however, and didn't have a clue as to what it indicated. Not that it immediately mattered, of course. There were larger issues at the moment, I decided. "I don't mean to interrupt and I apologize, but I just noticed your stacks of wooden planks to be used for the conveyor," I spoke up, causing all four of them to glance back at me instead. "Ah, yeah? It's no problem, Mender. Somethin' wrong with 'em?" Applejack inquired cautiously, looking a bit apprehensive instead. Although that was the right way to react, in this case. "Well, I did a rough estimate of the surface area of both the treadmill surface and that of the conveyor. By my calculations, you have just under half of the required wooden plates to put this together. Are there others you haven't unpacked yet?" I asked, fidgeting with my hooves a little. If she didn't have any more of them, this was very bad. Her expression deflated immediately. Damn it. She didn't have any more. I started trying to consider alternatives before she even replied with, "Dang it. That scoundrel said these would be plenty enough ta span tha distance ah needed!" Twilight looked back at the conveyor and frowned. "A little under half what's needed? Oh, it was wordplay. You do have enough to span the distance you wanted, but a conveyor belt requires extra for the sides and underneath to function," she deduced, shaking her head in what looked like annoyance. "That sneaky little jerk! I outta pound him into the ground!" Rainbow growled almost instantly, wings flaring up as she fluttered lightly off the ground, looking just about as pissed as I had ever seen her. Maybe more so. Applejack motioned her back, however, smiling softly. "Ah was dun tricked completely fer this whole project, Rainbow. Still, ya don't need ta hurt anypony fer it. But thank ya. Fer everythin'. Yer ah good mare," she thanked. Rainbow plopped back down on the floor, now blushing profusely and looking awkward. I tried really hard not to laugh. She was just so adorable when embarrassed! My mind snap-kicked me in the head, though, and I looked back at the wooden planks. Wood! "Applejack, do you happen to have any large logs of wood on hand? Or know where you can pick some up for cheap?" I asked quietly, trying not to interrupt abruptly. If I could still pull off that technique, I might be able to work with this still. "Mender, the planks need to be exact. Sure it would be way cheaper to make our own, but it would take forever to carve them out, and if they were off in measurements by even half an inch," Twilight warned, looking back up at me, eyes softening as her brow furrowed. Applejack looked intrigued, however, and smiled. "Ya think it's possible ta make more of 'em, Mender?" Returning her smile, I nodded quietly. That's all that was needed, though. "Well ah think it's about time ah gave ya ah lil' trust too. Rainbow, can ya zip up ta tha loft an' drag one o' those big logs off that side?" she requested, shifting her gaze to Dash. The pegasus perked up instantly and threw a sharp salute before zipping up and over the side of the loft in the space of a blink. I took a moment to admire her absurd speed before slipping over to the nearest pile of planks, taking one off the top with a slide of my hoof. It was an old technique, having been in use since my race had learned basic abjuration and compression magic. Still, for what I remember of our largely scavenger engineering style towards the end, it was invaluable still. My engraved hoof brushed against the surface of the plank. The energy spread, forming an impossibly thin layer over the entire surface of the piece of wood. It was a skilled work of craftsmanship. The way it was cut indicated that it was created using some sort of form press, which made sense. Replaceable parts were fundamental for widespread use of key technologies. My magic traced each curve: the subtle tension lines cut into the surface to allow flexibility, the holes along the ends to anchor it, and even the roughness of each edge. It was easy to feel the exact dimensions and shape using the magic, and I embedded the template in my mind. The room was dead silent as I focused, breaking the unspoken vigil only as the large log hit the dirt some four meters from me. Dash zipped down after it as I looked up again, propelling it slowly my direction by shoving it from one end. I laughed gently as she approached, holding my left hoof out and stopping the log as she came in. A wide smile adorned her face and she flopped over next to Applejack, both watching me carefully. Of course, I could almost feel Fluttershy and Twilight also staring. It was a little bit intimidating, but I pushed it out of my head and just focused on the technique. I'd done it a thousand times before. The magic seeped into the wood, taking the precise shape of the template in my mind from the tip of the log. Each edge took focus and an exercise of will, but the results were amazing. With one plank of wood lined up with faint magic in the log, I started to duplicate it right next to the other one, the top surface of the first forming the bottom of the next. It had gone unsaid that I wasn't to waste any space inside of the log. That just wouldn't do. After the second duplicate was completed, the third was started. Then the fourth. Finally, I managed to get six copies of the plank to line up back to back inside of the log, and smiled. Applejack and Rainbow wore an unsure look by then. Nothing was visually happening, so they were probably wondering what was going on. Twilight's eyes were glued to the log, however, her horn glowing softly as she no doubt watched the magic curiously. Fluttershy instead stared at me, which I found to be more than a little unnerving. I pushed down the blush and shifted all of the lines inside of the log into a barrier, not unlike the type I used to make my blade. This was my specialization, after all. Sure, I might be skilled at spatial manipulation and abjuration, but barriers were my true talent. The top of the board that I was in contact with made a sharp hissing noise, no doubt the result of the sudden burst of friction caused by the shield slicing through it effortlessly. A burst of smoke raised up as the log jerked lightly, causing all four mares to jump back. I smiled, however, watching bits of wood fall away from the end I was holding. Shifting the shields, I slid out six pristinely carved wooden plates, exactly like the one I had scanned. I doubted I could make any more of them out of what was left of the log; at least not without some serious structural integrity loss. Twilight made a squeaking noise, eyes widening as she watched me pull the plates out. Applejack seemed less surprised and just smiled warmly, nodding to me. The backlash hit a moment later, causing me to exhale quietly. That wasn’t too big of a job, but I was well out of shape, magic-wise. It reminded me that I had a long way to go before I was back to my old self, which was more than a little annoying. The wave of fatigue draped over me like a shawl. “Well, ah’ll be! That’s mighty useful there, Mender. If ah can get ya more pieces o’ tree like that, ya can make me tha rest o’ tha parts?” she questioned, visibly relaxing and looking like a sudden great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Smiling contently, I nodded to her, trying my best to ignore the light headache forming at the thought of more of the same. This was going to be a long day, I had a sneaking suspicion. “That’s amazing, Mender. Doesn’t it take a tremendous amount of focus to do that, though? Aren’t you tired?” Twilight asked, sounding a little shocked still. I swallowed weakly and purposefully avoided the lavender unicorn’s gaze. “Ah, well it does require quite a bit of focus, but I should be fine. Barrier magic is my specialty,” I tried to assure, hoping to not let show my own apprehension of the task. Applejack stared hard at me for several seconds, emerald eyes dragging over my features and seemingly staring into my very soul. I resisted shuddering. "Ah have ah sneakin' suspicion that yer lyin' ta us. But ah need them parts fer the machinery. Yer not gonna be able ta get away with not gettin' paid fer this anymore if'in it's that much work," she warned, eyes narrowing towards me. "Just don't push yourself, Mender. I'll keep following the directions you gave us while you work on making the parts," Twilight assured, nodding to me before turning to the elevated platform we had finished. "Why don't you do it, Twi? You're, like, crazy powerful with your magic, aren't you?" Rainbow asked curiously, bobbing through the air after the lavender unicorn as she walked. I bit my tongue, trying not to let the frustration that question caused get to me. I wanted to be able to help them somehow! "I can't make precise copies like he can. Honestly, I didn't think it was possible until he actually did it. I could cut out the pieces a lot faster and not get tired, but they wouldn't be all that detailed and we probably couldn't use most of them," she explained in a rather neutral manner. It bugged me when I couldn't even guess what she was thinking. Was she upset about it? Deciding not to take any risks, I offered, "I could probably show you the techniques needed. You could do it a lot better than me, and Applejack needs these parts." "Mender, yer goin' awfully far fer mah sake," Applejack muttered softly behind me. I swallowed quietly, but didn't turn around. Twilight didn't either and I watched her head slowly lower, her gaze shifting to the floor instead. I still couldn't see her face, and had no idea what she was feeling. Fluttershy walked past me slowly and placed a hoof gently on Twilight's shoulder upon coming up beside her. "You don't have to tell us, but, um, are you okay?" she asked quietly. "It's nothing, Fluttershy. Let's just focus on getting as much of this project done as possible before tonight," she spoke gently, finally looking over at her yellow and pink friend. Her eyes looked dull, giving a distinct sense of being sad. Frowning, I watched her turn back around and walk the rest of the way to the platform. A glance back at Applejack and Rainbow showed that they looked as confused as I felt. Dash gave me a weak shrug a moment later, and I sighed. I guess I'll just have to talk to her about it later. In no small amount of frustration, I swatted the pile of planks I had just made. The top one whipped up from the force of the blow, lightly skipping off the side of my head... Chapter 11My focus waned as I pulled yet another set of six planks out of a log. I'd long since lost count, but estimated that this was probably my fifteenth or sixteenth piece. It was getting harder and harder to maintain my concentration with my head feeling like someone had taken a splitting axe to it, however. Suddenly, that light tingling sensation danced along the edge of my nostrils, heading towards the bridge of my nose. Not again! Regardless of my desires, the sneeze exploded out of my nose: releasing a wet, gooey sensation across my mouth and extended left foreleg, and sprinkling the log with little dots of red. Damn it. The timid yellow pegasus sitting next to me jumped a little in surprise at my sudden outburst, but promptly extended the third towel up again to wipe at my muzzle. It was tinted red as she withdrew it, looking like it was dipped in paint. Obviously it was blood, but it was still nice to pretend. It made me at least able to blissfully remain inattentive to the large amounts of the red liquid I'd been losing out my nose and tear ducts in the last hour. It was such a pleasant sensation, honestly, to have that delightful metallic taste in your mouth as it crusted over on your cheeks and muzzle. There was a light twitch in my peripheral vision, but not from the source I was expecting. I looked up in time to see Applejack turn sharply from her position near the lift and glared at me. "Oh, that is so it! Yer done workin' fer tha day, Mister! Ah don't need this thingy done tonight, so we're callin' it quits right now," she announced abruptly. I frowned, wanting to just be done with it, but Fluttershy exhaled quietly to my right, adding, "Oh good. You need to rest after losing all this blood, Mender. At least take tomorrow off, if that's not too much trouble, of course." She looked at me with those brutal, pleading eyes that could melt a Grosh's heart, and I was forced to look away, blushing. Twilight stood up from her position of putting the actual belt together and walked back over to me, still looking dejected. Swallowing, I watched her carefully, trying my hardest to look past Fluttershy without catching her devastating gaze. The lavender mare looked extremely tired and a little on the sad side. It still bugged me that I couldn't figure out why she was sad, so a part of me was glad for the break. It meant that I could get her alone soon for questioning. Applejack walked up, looking a little surprised at my lack of protest at her decision, but traced my worried glance to Twilight and smiled, nodding to me. "Ya get ah good night's rest tonight, Mender. More mental exercisin' tomorrow would probably be healthy fer ya too, but don't push yerself. Ah'll get tha extra metal parts ordered fer delivery as well, don't worry," she spoke up, thankfully not saying anything about the focus of my attention she had caught me with. I nodded, of course, returning her warm smile. Actually, it probably just looked creepy with the stained orange tear streaks and muzzle. "I'm all right. I'll finish the rest of the planks tomorrow for sure, then we can finish the project as soon as possible. We'll get it done in time no problem, this way," I assured softly, feeling more than a little tired. "Thank ya kindly, Mender. Tha rest o' ya come back after yer daily routines are done ta give us ah hoof in finishin', okay?" she requested further, looking at Fluttershy beside me and the now landing cyan mare on my other side. "I'll be over after I finish my weather duties, no problem!" Dash assured, giving an abrupt and absolute nod. It felt like that might as well have been a blood oath of some sort. "I can come over after I feed all of the animals their breakfasts, well, if I'm really that much help, of course," Fluttershy added as well, bowing politely towards the orange country mare. Twilight brushed her left forehoof into Fluttershy's shoulder and rubbed softly, shaking her head before refuting, "Of course you're helpful, Fluttershy. Having another pony with wings is a huge help, plus you lined up a lot of the boards so perfectly. It really helps to have a gentle touch sometimes, Fluttershy." The shy yellow mare blushed but smiled at Twilight's kind words. The bookish unicorn continued before anypony could comment, however, with, "Even then, as an added bonus, you can help me put Mender back together again after he inevitably injures himself three or four times a day." My glare was matched only by Rainbow's laughter. Fluttershy seemed flustered, glancing between myself and the now smirking Twilight, while Applejack just chuckled and shook her head, wearing a smile. After a few moments' denial, I decided that technically she had a point. Plus it was nice to hear her joking again, even if it was at my expense. "True enough, I suppose. It really is a big help to have somepony who’s capable of lining," I started to agree with, before trailing off abruptly. The static came back, quietly and almost imperceptibly in the background. I glanced around again, just to make sure that I hadn't missed any speaker systems or something. "...ook testing number twenty-nine; commence," was suddenly spoken, much clearer than last time and in an oddly familiar voice. Uh oh. The girls were giving me odd looks by then. "Uh, are you okay, Mender?" Twilight asked curiously, angling her head while looking at me. I was about to answer when a tiny orb of light drifted out of my left shoulder, causing me to jump and stare at it. What the hell was that thing?! "Probe activated. Getting vague yet conscious energy readings," the voice noted, sounding very interested. It was that girl from my dream! Okay then; there were three possible reasons for this. One, I was high on truth serum again and having a seriously messed up dream. Two, I had used up too much magical energy and was having some vivid yet creative flashbacks from aforementioned dream. Three, it was real and we had some serious problems! Given priorities and threat levels, I was more inclined to believe the third option purely as a precaution. Given that decision, I reacted in the best way possible that I could think of. Giving out a yelp, I hopped backwards while lashing out with my left forehoof, smashing into the orb with my fully shielded magical limb. It shattered like my frail skull would have against Applejack's hoof, and a piercing yelp echoed through my skull. Ha! Eat that, girl whose name I couldn't remember! Rainbow hopped backwards as well to clear the sudden blow. Twilight looked momentarily surprised, as did Applejack who yelled, "Whoa nelly! What's goin' on, Mender?" "A ball of light! I think it might be some sort of probe from the other dimension. I... think it’s dead,” I declared, gleefully watching the shards drift down through the air. It was worth it to know I disrupted whatever she was doing. Twilight smacked her forehead with a hoof, sighing. "Mender, there was no source of magic or energy there. Plus, for the last time, Princess Celestia Herself said that the link was gone. You just used up too much energy and need to lie down, okay?" she offered, sounding a little exasperated. Shaking my head rapidly, I pointed down to the shards of the probe lying on the ground. "The pieces are right there! There has to be something you can pick up," I defended, wishing she'd just believe me for once. Fluttershy peeked out from behind Applejack, looking timidly at where I was pointing. The orange farmer herself seemed slightly more skeptical, raising an eyebrow to what she probably saw as empty dirt. Twilight muttered something sounding vaguely like "empirical doubt" before looking down at the spot I directed her to, horn lighting up. I held my breath as a wave of lavender light washed over the dirt gently. My eyes widened as I watched the energy pass right through the shards as if they weren't there. What the hell? "Mender, there's nothing there aside from dirt, a thin paint residue, and some ancient looking clay jar with heavily fermenting cider of some sorts buried about a foot and a half down," she reported dryly, glaring back up at me. So she couldn't scan it after all. Wait, what? Applejack coughed lightly and shook her head. "Just ignore that," she requested, blushing lightly and looking away from us. Rainbow shot her a knowing grin, and I just sighed. "Maybe there's something there you can't detect? Maybe it's only partially merged with this dimension?" I deduced, fishing for possibilities as best I could. That's really the only explanation for why Twilight couldn't pick it up, given her level of skill and sheer strength of magic. "Or maybe you're hallucinating from blood and magic loss and need to go lie down? Why can't you just trust Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked sharply, glaring at me instead. Maybe because she was fallible? Or maybe because I wanted to be cautious rather than regret it later? Why couldn't she just trust me?! I opened my mouth to retort just that, but the only answer feasible popped into my head before I could say anything. Why did I keep forgetting her relationship with Celestia? Of course she's going to think the Sun Princess was infallible. Who was I, a mere imperfect mortal, to challenge her perfect teacher's assurance? My mouth snapped shut a second later and I just closed my eyes. It was pointless trying to convince her otherwise, as she was never going to believe me. As bitter as that felt, I knew that there was nothing I could do to change it. I wasn't as important to her as Celestia was, and I'd just have to deal with that. My irritation dropped, and I exhaled wearily before opening my eyes once more, much softer this time. Twilight was still glaring, but Rainbow Dash looked at me with uncertainty over her right shoulder. No, causing more conflict didn't solve anything. It only served to make Twilight angry with me, which led to almost being squished by a bed last time. Not wanting to risk her aim being better this time around, I simply turned away from the lavender unicorn and walked out through the main barn door. Okay, so today had a few good points, but overall, I'd have to say that it was largely terrible. The kissing was nice, but mostly overshadowed by the discussion afterwards and what her intent seemed to be. I was an experiment; I had no idea if she liked me, or just liked the kissing and wanted to fool around. She'd said she was interested in me and I really did want to believe her, but she'd lied to me before, and certainly didn't trust me now, so it was extremely difficult. "Mender," I heard Fluttershy whisper, almost directly into my head it felt like. "Just let him go, Fluttershy," Twilight added a moment later. A spike of irritation shot through me, but I turned past the side of the barn and got out of sight as best I could. Frustration was an understatement in light of my current outlook. The second I got out of the light from the barn, I swallowed hard and burst into a run. Well, as fast as this body could manage, anyway. There was no destination in mind as I ran as hard as I could, the lump in my throat shifting painfully with each gallop. I just pretended the warmth running down my cheeks was blood again, and headed off into the rapidly darkening night. * * * * * The moon rose into the night's sky steadily, giving an ethereal glow to the world. It was quite beautiful, and I tried my hardest to relax to the sounds of the forest around me. The light gurgling of the stream meshed well with the chirping of unknown insects all around me. I didn't even know what forest it was, honestly. My head gave a sickening throb as the background static magnified again, twisting through my skull like a rusty screw. Damn it! "Test failed. Again. The book is somehow lashing out at my probes, as if it had a conscious awareness. In light of that information, I'm going out on a limb and trying to communicate with it," the annoying voice continued rambling on, as if talking into a recorder. Hell, she probably was. Keela. I'd like to say I had remembered her finally, but she simply mentioned her name about an hour ago. I had no idea how long I'd been here. "Just shut up," I groaned wearily, smacking my forehead into the rock in front of me again. I'd followed the stream here, it running quietly behind where I currently resided. I was tucked up safely against a rock ledge, between the solid material and the deeper flowing water. The static didn't cease, however, and yet another orb popped out of my body; this time out of my heavily bandaged flank. Not even hesitating, my magic danced out of my hoof, along my skin, and then lashed out with a barrier blade, neatly severing the probe in half. If it was even there, of course. Maybe Twilight was right and I was just hallucinating? Or maybe I was just finally slipping into a higher level of insanity and actually tied up in a mental institute somewhere? "Okay, I can safely assume verbal isn't working. Seeing as it's a book, I'll try writing," the voice continued, oblivious to my wishes of silence. Didn't she sleep? I really shouldn't have been surprised when the glowing sheet of paper and a single pen was spewed from my forehead. Rolling my eyes, I glared at the paper, doing my best 'burn and die' expression. Couldn't she at least have the common courtesy to be consistent with where she ejected foreign magical objects from my body? If I was going to be forced into the position of random portal device again, it would at least make things less awkward. "Are you sentient?" was written at the top of the page in a very neat, concise handwriting. Oh crap. She wrote like Twilight. If she were even half as persistent as the bookish unicorn, I might as well just give up now. That was a rather stupid question regardless. Picking up the 'pen' with my left hoof, I wrote, "No. Go away. Better yet, launch me into a star and forget I ever existed," right below the initial question. Okay, maybe that was a little on the sarcastic side. Still, it would be so much easier if she actually listened. There was a long pause at that. I almost started hoping that the shock of getting a reply had given her a heart attack. Alas, I was destined to be disappointed. "You're sentient then?! This is wonderful. But why do you seek self-destruction?" soon appeared questioningly directly under what I had written. She must have a similar page on her side. "I just want to be left alone. Please forget I ever existed," I requested again, in a steadier handwriting than last time, exhaling quietly. I used my other hoof to wipe the tears from my cheeks and silently shook my head. I'd had enough crap today without needing to be harassed by entities and energies from my old dimension. Or my own mind's avid hallucinations, I suppose was another theory. Of course, given that it was the only reality I knew, did it really matter if it was real or not? Of course, my bitterness just made me feel even more childish. All I was doing was whining. It was frustrating not fitting in anywhere. Still, what was I honestly expecting? I'd only been in this plane of existence for the grand total of three weeks. Not to mention having spent a good portion of that time unconscious through various machinations against my well-being. The ponies here didn't really know me all that well. Honestly, for Twilight to decide that she liked me after such a short time period was probably way out of the normal trend of things! "Who are you?" appeared on the page, interrupting my thoughts. Ah, she was changing the topic. Well, that much was easily answered. "Mender," I wrote vaguely, with no lead in or punctuation. Of course, now that I thought about it, this girl wasn't entitled to get any information out of me in the first place. If she could be appealed to, though, perhaps she'd just dispose of the book? I guess it wouldn't hurt to be civil. "A strange name. Or is that your species? Are you a construct in the book?" she asked next, elegant writing starting to slip a little. I imagined she was getting more and more excited. "It's my name. Can you please just destroy the book?" I requested again, noticing we'd slipped off track. There was a delay again, and I heard an airy sigh coming from around me. Or maybe it was coming from inside of my head. "The book is an Aegis Artifact. The amount of energy required to destroy a normal one is phenomenal, and this one appears to be geared towards defense," she explained carefully. Her writing was structured and slow this time, as if she was holding back bursting into scientific babbling. I caught myself finding it cute and mentally lectured myself. The last thing I needed at the moment was to think about Twilight. Why did that even remind me of her in the first place? Well, obviously it was something she would do, but why did my mind even insist on going through the exercises of making the comparison? "Regardless, why are you seeking self-destruction if you're still sentient? Although I can't help but notice that you said 'the book' as well." Her writing sped up after she passed the magic babble part. Oops. I hastily added, "I'm technically not the book. I'm just connected to it. Please, just get rid of it or sever the connection between us or something." She seemed nice enough. Although granted, I didn't know how important an Aegis Artifact was. Convincing her to destroy it might be a long shot, but it was worth a try. There was another hesitation. A lot was probably going through her mind, of course. More scribbling sounds came from the audio connection she didn't know we had, more writing appearing on the page. "Where are you? What are you? Are you a Keldarian?" That word. It sent a bolt of agony through my skull, but I couldn't seem to look away. More memories flashed through my mind. Needles and scalpels extending on robotic arms, a splash of blood on smooth metal, and even the sounds of someone screaming over and over again. The waiting. Mud and gore we had to wade through on our occupied worlds. Hatred that was so old that I couldn't remember a time when I didn't have it. Most of all, I remembered the rain. Why was that moment so important? * * * * * We stood around a partially collapsed convoy. The surrounding area was a scene from what I assumed hell would look like. There were various burning craters, plus the burnt, skeletal remains of what used to be the facility we had taken shelter in looked extremely foreboding. We knew that the Grosh wanted the planet for the resources on it, so we set up evacuation right on top of the reactor coils for the planetary shield. They were busted and the shield wasn't on anyway, but they didn't dare fire their big guns on us from orbit under risk of hitting the reactors instead and cracking the plate of the planet with the explosion. They hit us with invasion waves instead, but those could be fought back for a time. The weather controls busted too, of course. At this point, I was getting a little tired of the constant rain. Of course, the stupid thing would misread the flames and explosions as 'too high' of a temperature and cause constant rainfall. Although at this point, it didn't really matter all that much. Three squads guarded the West landing zone, trying their hardest not to die as they listened bleakly to the radio. It was that very same radio that gave us news of other squads failing at exactly that. The amount of Keldarians we were rescuing was almost exponentially proportional to those who didn't make it. So many lives were simply vanishing, being washed away in the rain. Why were we even here? The radio answered me by crackling to life again, exporting on the status of the covert op to recover the second branch of the research division. Oh yeah, that's why. We were here to rescue a group of four bitches that were so far beyond our station that we weren't permitted to glance upon their bare skin. Heavens forbid their uniforms get damaged in, I don't know, the war across the surface of the planet. The radio reminded us again that our eyes would be gouged out following the mission if we were to catch a glimpse. We weren't part of the special operatives division, so I guess we didn't need our eyes to delay the enemy while dying like Croesians in the rain. Anger and rage were natural reactions to events around us. An emotional effect paired with an unfettered form of applied, conditional insanity in most cases. The truly unhealthy aspect was to maintain this state for too long. Eventually the screaming rush of blood in your ears died down. The blood would cool again and tempers would settle. But the sanity never fully came back. Once you step outside of that comfortable zone of innocence and into hatred, there is no recovery. I fully believe that it's not within our natural state of mind to want to purposefully end the existence of another being. To destroy all that they are, could have been, and were prior is an atrocity. To wish that so fervently that you would give up your own life to end as many of theirs as possible has to be unnatural for us. It must be an insanity, or we're doomed from the start of our evolutionary track. How could any species that justified such insanity be considered a 'success,' after all? Yet here I was, with several dozen of my fellow soldiers, all huddled in the broken remains of a bunker near the landing pad in the rain. We listened to the radio repeatedly tell us how others have failed this morning, and how we were not allowed to. Meanwhile, the sounds of particle shots and explosions got ever closer and I double checked the state of the generator I'd just finished repairing, if only to avoid looking out the window. Yup. It wasn't quite the end of the world yet, but you could definitely see it from here... * * * * * Ow. If there were ever more distinctive and accurate thoughts to wake up to, I wasn't aware of them. Of course, there wasn't a whole lot that I was aware of at the moment anyway, apart from the demolition project at the base of my skull. My eyes slowly opened up, greeting the soft morning light with disdain. It only served to further confuse me as I watched water drift by in the strangely brown and gray sky, teasing my mane playfully. Well, falling asleep outside had distinctly different effects than I last remembered. When was that? Oh yeah. Falling asleep under a tree and getting blown up by an overly excited Rainbow Dash. Fun times. Under? Suddenly solving my strange physics issue, I inwardly blushed and rotated around until I was right side up again. In the process, my body slid off the rock I was unceremoniously splayed on top of and promptly fell right into the muddy creek. Yup, physics still worked! Or at least the heartless bitch known as gravity. My mind finally took stock of the situation more fully upon seeing the muddy piece of paper a few feet from me. There was no voice in my head, and the paper had lost its ethereal glow from last night as well. I could only surmise that she had 'hung up' after the connection was lost alongside my consciousness. My head hurt even more as I pulled myself up to the piece of paper and stared at it. The word 'Keldarian' stood out plainly, now being underlined several times in a dirty red and brown color. The same 'ink' had been used to scribble all over the remaining page with various faces, a small yet badly rendered doodle of a bunny, several alien-looking symbols, and the word 'Twilight' written a few dozen times in the spaces between. The throb in my head got worse, followed by the distinct sensation of a light tickle under my eyes and the lovely smell of peroxide and blood. I threw the paper sideways away from me, wincing momentarily at the dancing sensation of scalpels digging into my stomach. Panicking, I spastically leapt backwards, feeling my stomach instinctively. There was nothing to speak of involving sharp things embedded into me, of course. I took a moment to catch my breath, intentionally not looking at the blasted piece of paper. Well there goes showing it to Twilight as evidence. I don't think it would prove the exact thing I wanted it to. The words spewed all over the page in a psychotic manner were also too choice to assume coincidence. Okay, so maybe I had a thing for the lavender unicorn, even if she did scare me witless on occasion. Nopony was perfect, after all. I doubted this whole relationship thing was that inflexible. Then it dawned on me, so to speak. It was dawn, or at least early morning. The last thing I had recalled was fleeing from aforementioned lavender unicorn in the evening. Considering the time lapse, that meant that I had been out in the middle of the forest all night. I might not have a relationship with her depending on how pissed off she is at me now. Considering my options, I tried not to panic. Okay, first, I needed to assess where I was. Without panicking. Glancing about, I listened to the creek next to me, attempting to absorb some of the gentle flow. It was a bit disheartening to realize that it wasn't the same one that I lost sanity and consciousness next to last night. Okay, that meant that I either fell in at some point while raving mad and was carried away by the pitiful flow of water somehow, or more likely, I wandered quite far afield in my lunacy. Chances are high, though, that I lacked the finesse required to navigate the forest in the dark, especially when in the middle of a mental breakdown. So if I had any luck at all, a risky hope, I followed the stream in one direction or another. It wasn't really a clearing that I was in. In all honesty, I was probably lucky that I hadn't been eaten by some random forest creature that happened to stumble upon me. Maybe they didn't mess with the crazy ones either? The stream was clearly flowing to my right, and was much smaller than the one I had been by last night, so naturally I assumed that by following it to the left, I might happen across where I started. It was worth a shot. With nothing left to really think about apart from my own delusional paranoia, I started following the stream to the left. With no decisions left to make, naturally I then started to mentally panic while walking. The forest was peaceful around me, anyway, if not a bit on the gloomy side. It felt chilly and a cool wind blew through, signaling the upcoming season change, I was guessing. Thankfully it wasn't snowing yet, so at least I planned a good time to get lost. I chuckled in amusement at the oxymoron as I wobbled along, my legs feeling like lumps of wet noodles. It didn't help the comparison that I was actually wet and covered in mud, of course. I also noticed that I had various scratches and bruises covering myself. Wonderful. Maybe I had wandered through the forest for a ways? Still, thinking that wouldn't help me, really. I could only hope that this creek rejoined the larger stream or river that I was next to prior. Chances are, however, that I was now hopelessly lost and doomed to an either violent, bloody demise, or to starve to death under a rock somewhere. Several minutes passed reasonably uneventful, and I simply wandered, taking in the sounds, smells, and sights of nature around me. If I didn't feel and probably look like a drown rat, this would be a really nice place to relax. Sure it was a little dark, but I didn't necessarily mind that so much. Besides, relaxation was probably what I needed a lot more of. I felt like I was a thousand years old, both in body and mind. A rather loud squawking distracted me a moment later and I stopped, looking around for the source. It took me a couple of minutes, but I finally spotted the small, golden-yellow bird that was lying next to the base of a tree. It was looking around as if in a daze, and had probably fallen from a nest. Upon further examination, I spotted the little brown nest at the lower branches of the tree. Well, trees and I didn't particularly get along well, but the fellow was obviously in distress, so I decided to investigate further. Walking over slowly, I frowned and peeked at the little guy. It looked back at me, utterly unafraid in the slightest, and made an annoyed squawk towards me. Well, proportionally, if I had just fallen out of a four story building or so, I'd probably be a bit annoyed as well. Sympathetically nodding, I extended my hoof out cautiously to him and cupped him with a tiny force field. How should I go about this? I could connect it to the tree trunk but I couldn't see into the nest and didn't want to drop the little guy again. Well, there was nothing else for it. I touched him against the tree. The shield extended under me as well and I slowly lifted both of us upwards into the tree again. I was surprised at how complacent the little guy was, but he simply sat there watching me curiously as I lifted us upwards. We cleared the branches easily enough and I nodded to myself. Interestingly enough, there were two other little ones in the nest that chipped up at me when I popped my head up next to them. Leaving the shield detached under me, I raised the little guy up on my hoof and gently made to place him back in the nest. That's when the unholy scream from hell sounded out from in front of me. Uh oh. Looking up, my heart skipped a beat as a small blur of fury and hatred zipped in with wings extended. I barely managed to duck out of the way before the thing took my head off! The little guy in my hoof started chirping madly and I decided that I'd better get him back into the nest so he didn't fall again. After the winged death passed, I popped my head back up and quickly deposited the little guy back into the nest. Another furious screech sounded from behind me this time, and I quickly tried to duck out of the way. This time they weren't aiming for my head, however, and I ended up getting clipped across the side instead. I let out a yelp and winced sideways, dropping my hoof against the shield I was standing on in attempts to lower myself back to the safety of the ground. That's when the blur of feathers smashed into my face. There was a sharp, stabbing pain and I fell backwards, everything going black. * * * * * Ouch. This was the second time I woke up distinctly aware of how much agony my body was in. Groaning, I opened my eyes slowly, only to realize the left was caked with blood. Slowly and tenderly feeling my forehead with my left forehoof, I noted a rather nasty gash just above the eye. Damn it. I struggled to tuck my legs up, and then noticed I was on my left side. My right rear leg gave a flare of pain, and I was suddenly glad that I hadn't been conscious for the landing. Okay, assessment time. Expending a little bit of my own magic, I felt along my insides to attempt to figure out exactly how badly I was screwed. Now I was lost and badly injured, in the middle of a dark and dank forest with who knows what kind of creatures in it. The scan was rapid, giving rather vague results that I didn't fully know what to do with. Once again I found myself wishing that I had studied the healing arts. Damn it. The bone in my rear right leg was intact, but the muscles appeared to be badly strained. There were no rips in them, but a contusion covered the thigh and the muscles under and along the knee were stressed to their limit. Walking probably wasn't going to be pleasant. A light chirping noise sounded out and I froze immediately, trying my hardest not to panic and do anything potentially embarrassing. Those demons were still here?! I cursed myself silently for forgetting to check for hostiles before moving! A rather large bird, looking distinctly similar to the little one I put back in the nest, took that exact moment to land in front of me. My skeleton almost jumped backwards out of my skin. Thankfully, my fleshy parts are more durable than that, and it instead only had the effect of me going rigid while staring at it. Oddly, it made another chirping noise and fluttered in place, as if somewhat distressed. Being unable to speak Bird, I had no idea what it was attempting to communicate. I decided to count my blessings that it hadn't gouged out my eyes yet, however. "Um, please don't attack me?" I requested timidly, hoping for mercy. It seemed unlikely that the tiny bird could outright kill me, but I did have lots of sensitive squishy bits it could puncture repeatedly and bring about agony with. Actually, rather than take a chance, I just assumed that it could somehow distend its jaw like a snake and possibly eat me whole. If I didn't know better, I'd say it almost looked sad. Much to my further surprise, it actually shook its head. Wait, it could understand me?! Maybe I didn't know better. Tilting my head, I simply asked, "Do you understand what I'm saying?" I definitely didn't know better. The sad part was, in all honesty, I should have realized that the intelligence level of all of the creatures would be significantly greater than what I was used to dealing with. The bird finalized my guess by nodding its head up and down in the almost universal gesture of affirmation. "Oh! I'm terribly sorry for the incident earlier. I was trying to put him back in the nest, I swear!" I apologized, hoping to not offend the newly discovered intelligent creatures. Actually, they were probably more intelligent than me, seeing as I'm the one who just fell out of a tree. As if reading my mind, the bird gave me its best dumbfounded and exasperated gaze, as if specifically stating that I was an idiot in no few words. It shook its head again and made several more squawks, gesturing back towards the nest. Not entirely sure what it was attempting to convey, I looked back towards the nest regardless. A tiny little bird was sticking half of its body into view above the nest, and actually waved a wing at me. Further surprised, all I could manage to do was wave back with my left foreleg. Then what the bird was trying to say became clear. "You already knew that I was only putting him back because he told you, didn't he?" I questioned, glancing back at my new feathered friend. It gave another nod, before hopping over my two front legs and gently brushing a wing along my injured knee. I gave a wince and shuffled it a little, only to note that it was stiff and shaky. This wouldn't do at all for walking on. About the best thing I could do is make a makeshift brace, then hobble. Not that hobbling would impact my normal speeds all that much. The bird looked sad again and shook its head, looking back at me. Did it feel badly for attacking me? "It's all right. You were only protecting your young. I'd have done the same thing," I assured, trying to smile through the misery from my leg. Well, assuming that I'm ever going to have kids. Highly unlikely, I'm guessing. It's tricky to reproduce when dead. Not impossible, but I doubt this dimension had that sort of technology. Maybe there was magic for it instead? Doubtful, but I didn't want to assume. The bird shook its head even more rapidly, but I didn't know what that implied. It could mean quite a few different things, and I just tilted my head towards the small avian creature. "I'm not entirely sure what you mean. I'm terribly lost, however, and unfortunately need to get to work making a splint for my leg so I may attempt to find my way back to Ponyville before starving to death," I excused to the little one, attempting to shift myself to a standing position again. My back, right leg refused to support my weight, so I was forced to form a barrier along the outside of it to push it directly into the correct place. Okay, wasn't expecting that. The raw agony of moving the knee caused my breath to catch and ice water to shift up my veins, feeling like all of the blood drained out of my head at once. I made a silent wincing and gasp, shivering but managing to not scream like a little baby. While mostly for preserving my dignified appearance, it also had the side benefit of not alerting every predator within three miles to my location. My eyes had slammed shut during the process, but after several minutes that felt like an eternity, I slowly opened them as the pain ebbed back down. I held the shields rigid against my leg and locked them together before putting them into power saver mode and letting them be. Okay, that was probably the hard part. Now all I had to do was hobble along my merry way. Oh, and find which way that's supposed to be. Oh, and not get eaten in the process. At this point, I might as well tack on not starving to death to the end of that list, as a last resort. My friendly bird squawked again in protest as I wobbled and started trying to half walk, half hop along as I progressed back to the creek. I gave it a wary glance, but it just looked vaguely depressed again. Come to think of it, weren't there two of them earlier? I distinctly remembered being blitzed from two directions at once on that last attack. Either the one here was hellishly fast and being taught by Rainbow Dash, or there were two of them. Given that Rainbow didn't seem much like an 'Animal Pony', and the fact that there was a nest back there, I assumed the latter. At least if birds still reproduced sexually here. There has to be a law for serendipity somewhere. No sooner had I finished thinking it, I heard a faint but definitely chirping noise in the distance. Huh? My avian friend looked up towards the sky in an instant, and I watched him curiously as I hobbled along the river. Oddly, at this point I thought nothing of him stalking me. Wait, is it stalking if I know he's there? Further, is it stalking when the target is pitifully slow and wounded, barely able to hold their own in a fight against a chipmunk? Almost a minute passed before another barrage of chirps sounded off, much closer this time. My friend flitted a little higher into the air and started releasing an oddly loud counter salvo. Okay, the situation was getting a little strange now. He was obviously communicating with the other bird, but why? Taking the volume levels and distance into consideration, it suddenly dawned on me. The little bastard was giving away where I was located to the other bird! Why else would he follow me? Well, apart from an easy meal after I inevitably passed out. I further noticed that I seemed to consider him male for some reason. Seconds later, I almost had to duck again as a smaller but similarly colored bird dove in alongside the river. So there were two of them, then. I smiled politely at the newcomer, before literally having to not only duck, but also fall sideways into the creek to avoid a fur-covered bolt of cyan lightning. Sputtering, I slowly wobbled and got back up from the now extremely familiar source of water. Thank goodness for barrier magic. It was significantly more resilient, and waterproof, than normal stints. Upon regaining my footing, I rotated with tiny hops and glared at Rainbow Dash, mildly annoyed, even though I was technically saved now. She paid little heed to me, seemingly more interested in rapidly looking around the forest in a paranoid vigil. "What have you attracted so far? Wolves or bears? Both? Something more exotic like a manticore or cockatrice?" she asked rapidly, still not fully looking at me. I scowled at her before returning, "A couple of birds and a deadly blue comet." "Deadly blue," she started to ask, fully turning to me now, before shifting to that of a glare instead and finishing with a, "Hey!" I couldn't help but smirk, which caused her to grin in amusement as well. "Okay, okay. So your bad luck hasn't hit the situation yet. Let's get you out of here before it does. It's safe, Fluttershy!" Rainbow called out, looking up again. "Fluttershy?" I questioned, following her gaze up and to the small yellow mare that drifted into view a few dozen meters away. Rainbow snorted but nodded. "Well duh. I'm not gonna think to follow a random bird into the Everfree forest without a little initiative. Besides, it came to her first and she got me to help afterwards," she explained in a dismissive manner. Well it's not like it's every day that I get lost in the forest and they need to organize a search party for me. Thankfully. "Actually, Mrs. Bird is to thank. She was the one who thought of coming and getting me after the terrible misunderstanding and accident earlier," Fluttershy explained quietly as she hovered for a moment before gently touching down on the grass next to me. I blinked, then realized that she was talking about when I fell out of the tree. The birds had a much stronger grasp on reality than I realized. Hell, possibly more than I did. "They've been on, well, edge since last night," the gentle yellow mare continued in a soft, yet stable voice, giving me a warm smile. She looked happy for some reason. Wait, last night? I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that I was extremely lucky to have spent most of the night unconscious. "Oh, all those creepy noises that came from the forest? Yeah, that put me on edge too, and I don't even live here. Thankfully," Rainbow muttered in agreement, shivering and sitting down next to me. I couldn't help but notice that she was fully equipped with strapped on saddlebags. Fluttershy swallowed wearily but nodded. "Yeah. It's worse than that, even. Those poor creatures. Tons of trees were damaged or destroyed in a long path through the forest. With all of the roaring heard, Twilight suspects that one of the nearby Ursa's are acting up for some reason," she furthered, keeping herself busy by unpacking some medical supplies from her own saddlebags. I found it amusing for some reason that she didn't even question the fact that I was covered in lacerations and contusions. "What exactly is an Ursa?" I asked wearily, trying to ease out my muscles as Fluttershy approached with bandages. Rainbow sighed and shuddered again. "It's a massive bear that's all glowing and partially see through. Hugely strong; it could probably split a pony in half with one swing," she explained, fidgeting and looking around again. Yikes! If one of those was on the loose, I'm really glad they found me when they did. Given my spectacular luck, I was likely to blunder right into the thing. Then somehow subtly insult its mother without realizing it. "Oh dear. These bandages are filthy. How are you so clean, though? Um, if you don't mind me asking, of course," Fluttershy suddenly observed, giving me a once over before shaking her head. I sighed miserably before replying, "I actually spent a lot of time in the creek, sadly. I think I'm going to be wrinkly for quite a while." Rainbow grinned, but then tilted her head as Fluttershy started slowly peeling the bandages off me. I assumed she knew what she was doing and that there was skin under there. Gritting my teeth against the constant fur pulling sensation, I decided that was a good indication that she was right. Rainbow's confusion slowly shifted to amusement, then to holding back the laughter with her hooves as Fluttershy unwrapped me. Annoyed, I looked back behind me in order to figure out what was so funny. It only took me a couple seconds to notice that there was very little of my coat grown back under the bandages. It looked like I got in a fight with a razor and lost. Badly. I rolled my eyes and fought back the heat drifting into my cheeks as I just sat through it. Oddly enough, Dash stopped laughing shortly thereafter. Finding that even more odd, I looked back over at her curiously. Her expression held a frown instead and her eyes were locked firmly on my side. Uh oh. Was my skin missing there?! I whipped my head around to look, only to find nothing technically wrong with me. Fluttershy paused momentarily and looked up at me from her intense concentration and focus. She looked really adorable with the questioning expression and her mouth full of bandage roll. She then peeked at Rainbow, and traced her eyes back to me. "Dude, what happened to you? I've never seen so many scars," the cyan pegasus inquired quietly, still wearing the frown. Oh. "The scars are usually hidden by my fur. I'm guessing they transferred over from my old dimension when I came here. I was a soldier, sadly," I reminded, suddenly deciding against looking at Fluttershy. Unfortunately, she caught my intention before I even fully turned away. The shy yellow mare snatched my right foreleg, softly shaking her head. There was no force behind it at all, and I could have easily pulled away, but something about the way she was staring at me almost forced me not to. "Please. If it's okay with you, don't treat me any differently. Please? I want to see, um, all of you," she requested, almost a whisper. I felt something inside of me skip. Smiling again, I nodded silently to her. Rainbow made a gagging motion next to us, of course. "Ya don't have to get all sappy on me. I'm just glad we found you before a bear ate you or something. Then Twilight would really have freaked out," the rainbow-maned mare complained idly. "Why is Twilight freaking out?" I asked carefully, wincing again as Fluttershy got back to work, removing the last of the bandage around my hips and back, finally. I was surprised when Dash snorted and whacked me on the snout with her left hoof. Wincing, I looked back up at her questioningly, holding my muzzle with both of my hooves. "Don't be silly, Mender. She's totally into you whether you believe it or not. She's all worried that she went too far with the Princess thing and drove you away forever to be eaten by a bear in the woods or something. You two really do match pretty well, but I think she's a little more grounded in reality," Dash pointed out, snickering immediately after. I rolled my eyes and sighed. First she's pissed off at me, and now she's regretting it and freaking out over my well-being. I swear, I'm never going to understand that mare. "Well, it did hurt last night. I guess I just want to be taken seriously in her eyes," I confessed, sighing and letting my upper body deflate naturally as I exhaled. The tension was slowly leaving my system as Fluttershy expertly removed the bandages and gently massaged the growing fur down afterwards. My cyan battle partner smirked again, but nodded in seemingly understanding. "I hear ya there. She can get a tad unreasonable sometimes. You should have seen her the last time she was tardy with a letter to the Princess. Ponyville almost didn't survive," she groaned, resting her forehead on her hoof. She was joking, right? Right?! There was no smile, however, and she truly looked exasperated. I was suddenly more than a little frightened of the lavender unicorn again. "It was, um, really bad," Fluttershy suddenly spoke up in agreement, nodding her head twice. I was momentarily distracted by the bobbing of her mane as she did so, but rapidly snapped out of it and swallowed. "Admittedly, I'm a little scared of her. I really don't want to get on her bad side and end up magically turned into a coat rack or something. Or be squished by a flying bed," I admitted wearily, tensing as Fluttershy pulled the last of the bandages free. Rainbow snickered and shook her head at me. "Relax, Mender. She'd never outright hurt a pony if she didn't have to. Especially you, I have a feeling. Like I said, she's totally into you," she assured, holding up a hoof in almost congratulations. I rolled my eyes but smirked again and extended mine to lightly bounce it off hers. Both of us were interrupted by Fluttershy's sudden gasp of, "Oh my!" Rainbow looked past me to where her friend was looking, then widened her eyes drastically. Huh? Uh oh. Was my skin missing there instead?! My head spun around to assess the damage to my hips and butt. I wasn't at all prepared for what I saw, however. It was even worse than missing all of my flesh back there. Someone had tattooed my butt! Chapter 12I sighed wearily as Rainbow Dash got the leather harness on again with the help of Fluttershy. "So what exactly does it indicate that my special talent is?" I asked once again. Rainbow snickered as she raised her left wing to get the strap hooked under it. "Sometimes cutie marks are kind of vague. Guess I got lucky with mine," she admitted. I stared at the rainbow lightning bolt on her flank for a moment before nodding in agreement. "You're certainly the fastest pony I've ever seen," I agreed, smirking. As anticipated, she puffed up with pride and grinned at me. "Of course I am. Goddess of Flight, right?" she reminded, winking at me playfully. I felt a little bit of heat dance into my cheeks again but maintained my smile, adding a nod as she glanced back at me. Admittedly, she was cute when cocky. I had no idea as to why she was so attractive, but I certainly wasn't going to act on it. Fluttershy and Twilight would murder me, principles aside. Snapping out of my distraction, I looked back at my flank again. It was still there of course. The silver gear with eight, evenly spaced teeth took up a good portion of my flank, and oddly had a heart-shaped axis hole. Honestly, I didn't know what it meant. The gear was easy enough to figure out, but was the heart just for stylized effect? The concept of getting my own Cutie Mark had always been there in the back of my head, but I never truly thought I'd get it, being so different from a normal pony. Now that I suddenly had one, I was a little overwhelmed as to what it meant. I thought you were supposed to magically know or something. "Is it almost on, Fluttershy? We need to hurry up," Rainbow asked, having resumed her cautious vigil of the forest. My gut told me that there was something I was missing still. "Is there a reason we're in a hurry apart from getting proper medical attention?" I questioned carefully, glancing over at the yellow mare that was just securing the last side buckle. "Oh, um, yes. The mayor has declared a state of emergency. It's a little scary," she muttered, swallowing timidly while nodding to Rainbow. The aptly named rainbow pegasus sighed and nodded. "Something really freaked out the animals of the forest last night. Lots of roars, growls, and snarls. Wolves were spotted near the forest's edge and one pony even reported seeing a manticore. Until things settle down again, we really need to stay away from here," she added, far more calmly than her shivering friend. It was a compulsion, really. Almost everything the yellow and pink pegasus did gave me urges to guard and protect her. Shifting a little, I leaned up and gently extended my left forehoof. She watched me curiously, stopping in her shaking long enough to at least be interested in what I was doing. Her eyes widened further as I made contact with her back and gently rubbed the spot directly between her two wings. The effect was instantaneous, and more than a little surprising. She let out a soft gasp as I massaged along her coat, going in gentle, hopefully soothing circles. Her eyes lidded slightly, and she rested more heavily against her cyan friend as I worked. She was so adorable that I couldn't help but smile. Rainbow started momentarily as she felt the contact, then glanced back at me and her. Her surprise shifted to that of a warm grin as she saw me gently stroking the other mare. "Between the wings, and the wings themselves are sensitive for most pegasi. Especially the mares. A little on the nervous side, Fluttershy?" she pointed out knowingly. Wait, why were mares more sensitive? Fluttershy's cheeks tinted a light pink color, but she nodded subtly. Her eyes then shifted back to me, and a smile lit along her expression again. She surprised me further by turning and actually hugging me gently. "You're a good stallion. I promise that I'm going to get over this. You're never going to hurt me; I know that now," she muttered, almost as if hoping her cyan friend wouldn't hear. Obviously, she did. "Of course he's not going to hurt you. If anything, he'd rather let himself be hurt than let you come to harm. Remember the rock thingy? And even more recently, the couch?" Rainbow pointed out in a surprisingly gentle fashion. The more I saw them interact, the more I realized she had a special soft spot for Fluttershy. Not to say she wasn't spot on, of course. If I was protective of any of the mares, it was Fluttershy. The yellow mare retained her pink tinting to her cheeks, which magnified a little before she nodded. Regardless, she seemed content enough where she was, and just looked back over at me with surprisingly curious eyes. "I'm still glad Twilight is going to attempt to date you first, but maybe one day I'll work up the, well, courage to try as well. If you two allow it, of course! I mean, I don't want to offend either of you. That would be bad. Oh dear, I'm sorry if I just did," she suddenly started to ramble, looking more and more flustered. I placed a hoof gently to her muzzle to stop her before shaking my head. "It's a strange concept because it's reversed for me. In my culture, I believe that it was the females that used to take multiple male mates, but if it's sometimes done in reverse here, then I might be able to get adjusted to it. You don't need to apologize," I assured, keeping the evil glares and ear twitches restricted as much as I could when she mentioned Twilight. Rainbow shook her head wearily, turning around to fully face us before muttering, "That is so weird. You must have a lot of guys on your world." "Well, we did. If my dreams are of any indication, the situation is reversed now. I'm not sure why, but one of them mentioned they were looking for males and-" I started explaining before I suddenly realized what I was doing. Giving a sudden blank, dumbfounded look, I shut up and looked away from both of them. I forgot, they probably think I'm just insane too. Rainbow stared surprisingly intensely at me. Her expression neither shifted to amusement or scorn. Fluttershy surprised me a little more, however, by smiling fully and shaking her head. "Twilight has, um, trouble believing things that she can't see. It's a little scary, but if you think there's something truly wrong, then I believe you," she whispered softly, timid voice shivering a little towards the end. I'm not sure if it was the thought behind it, or her being literally right against me, but I felt myself soften and relax. I finally let myself genuinely smile towards her. Dash finally smiled as well, tossing in a nod for good measure. "If it's bothering ya that much, we'll try to talk to her about it. It's a little crazy, admittedly, but I don't think Princess Celestia is totally without error. She'd probably be the first to admit it, actually," my cyan friend offered, gesturing with her hoof lightly towards me. I nodded in agreement and stood up as gently as I could manage. Fluttershy broke off her hug and helped support me fully as I rose to my hooves again. I wobbled lightly, but slowly limped my way towards Dash, who turned around and lowered herself to the ground as best she could. "Thank you for not automatically assuming I was crazy. We should probably get out of here, however, before anything happens across us," I advised cautiously before stepping over the prismatic tail and gently making my way onto her back. "Oh, oh yes. The faster we can get out of this forest," Fluttershy murmured wearily as she took to the air again. Rainbow smirked as she stood up again, adding, "Don't let her fool you. The only reason she entered the forest in the first place was because she knew that you needed help." My eyes widened significantly. Fluttershy let out a tiny squeak, blush forming once more as she almost lost control of her hover. "Dash!" she reprimanded in a wavering voice. "Oh relax, Flutters. He already knows you technically like him like that. Now we just need to get you back to Twi before she turns Ponyville upside down with her freak out session," Rainbow followed up, shaking her head slightly. She abruptly halted and looked back at me, probably feeling me go rigid. "Do we absolutely have to go back to her? I kind of, well," I started trying to explain. Was there really any other choice, though? I didn't exactly have anywhere else to go. Dash looked surprised at first, apparently realizing that I wasn't joking. "Wait, seriously? We don't have to, I guess. But she's really worried about you," she professed in an uncharacteristically serious tone. I stared skeptically at her, unsure if she was joking this time. "So she not only thinks I'm crazy, but has decided that I can't survive a single night without her keeping an eye on me?" I asked sharply, sorting it in my head still. "Well you did kinda already hurt yourself," Dash pointed out, earning a burning glare. If she felt the same way, why was she here? Shouldn't she have just assumed that I was rocking back and forth in a corner somewhere, deranged yet fine? "Oh dear. No, Mender! She feels really bad for not going after you. She's really, really worried," Fluttershy tried to convince. I softened my features a little as my gaze shifted to her instead. Her eyes looked into mine with pleading gentleness, and I soon had to look away again. This yellow mare would always hold a soft spot with me, no matter how she considered me, I suppose. Rainbow shook her head, walking forward slightly and then turning around. "Maybe he's right. This is new to both of them, and until they get adjusted to it a bit, maybe they should spend some time apart," Rainbow suggested, looking back over her shoulder at me. I met her gaze for a moment before sighing and nodding. "I know she's new to this, and I don't have a clue how to act. Maybe I just want to be taken seriously by her? I'll never be as important to her as Celestia, but maybe one day she'll at least listen," I reasoned. Sometimes seeing her as a 'veteran' of this world made me forget that she wasn't of the same experience level with relationships. Fluttershy let out a tired sigh and lowered her head, looking reasonably glum as I turned back towards her. After a moment's consideration, she frowned and looked back up, assuring, "Princess Celestia is indeed important to her, but I think that once she realizes how much you mean to her, she'll open up quite a bit more. You two have so much in common. She's never had anypony that she was able to really talk to on her level here. That has to be valuable to her." Her voice was strong and stable, even if a little quiet, and her level of insight surprised me. She knew quite a bit about her friends, it would seem. At first I thought it was just a special connection with Rainbow, but now I noticed she was extremely empathic with others as well. It made me wonder what her thoughts on myself were. Maybe I didn't want to know? "You two have a lot in common too, don't forget. I can totally vouch for his loyalty and caring. Sure, he's not as brave and steadfast as me, but he'll stick with you through pretty much anything and has a really gentle touch!" Rainbow spoke up, vouching for me. Kind of. I blushed at her words, looking away from both of them this time. Fluttershy was tinted pink as well, but smiled shyly. "Oh, I know he can be really gentle. Plus, he's so good with foals; I really look up to that sort of thing. Eventually I'd love to have a family of my own, of course. Seeing him be so gentle with everypony, alongside how protective he can be to those he cares about, just makes me feel so, um, well..." She trailed off, eyes widening as the pink shifted past the shade of her hair and well into the red tints. Rainbow's jaw dropped down a little as she let out a quiet, "Whoa." My eyes felt like saucers before I rapidly looked away again, feeling the dull thud of my heartbeat in my ears as the blood firmly flooded into my head. Did she just insinuate what I thought she did?! "Does that mean, uh, you're looking at Mender for, well, that in the future?" Rainbow asked, probably without even thinking about what she was saying. Fluttershy looked beyond flustered, rocking back and forth between her left and right side rapidly. "Well, um, of course he'd make a good father! He's a very gentle and kind stallion and I um, really respect that. So uh, maybe?" she admitted finally, slamming her eyes shut afterwards and looking faint. She seemed to shrink down slightly as her legs buckled a little. My blush magnified and I suddenly felt light headed. I hadn't realized how serious she was, or how much she'd been thinking about it! Dash was momentarily speechless. After several exceedingly awkward moments passed, she shook her head to clear it before recovering her trademark smirk. "Well, you surprised me, but I can't say that I wouldn't support the decision. I told you that I vouch for Mender," she reiterated. "I am still here you know," I reminded, letting out a groan afterwards. Did she have to say all of these embarrassing things in my presence? I wasn't a hero by any means. All I did was react to what was thrown at me in the only way I could. I didn't want to, and certainly wish that somepony else would take care of it all, but if it had to be me, I wasn't about to let anypony I cared for get hurt because I abandoned my duties. "Of course. It's all true, though! Hehehe!" she defended in an extremely mirthful tone, letting out a giggle after. Fluttershy recovered slowly and smiled back at her friend, then up at me on Rainbow's back. "Well, what I said was true, too. I don't know what I'd do without either of you," she muttered, smile shifting from shy to warm slowly. Her soft blush remained, however. Dash took it in stride, giving the pink-maned pegasus a soft hug with her left foreleg. "We love you, too, Fluttershy. We'll always be there for you, don't worry," she promised needlessly. That much was second nature for me. I smiled again and nodded in agreement. Rainbow suddenly froze for a moment while Fluttershy blushed and smiled widely. "Wait, I never did get to ask you for my favor that time I walked in on you and Twi making out!" the cyan mare suddenly remembered out loud, in a voice that Twilight herself back in Ponyville might have been able to hear. Fluttershy let out a surprised yet embarrassed squeak, mane giving a little shiver as she almost lost control of her flight again. I would have slapped my forehead had it not required me to either punch or garrote the mare I was riding on. "What?! It surprised me so much that I forgot. Can I ask you now?" she requested, looking a little miffed at our reactions. "Yeah, you can ask. You didn't need to mention the making out thing, though. We were just kissing!" I defended profusely. Fluttershy seemed to almost shrink more, pink shifting to a solid red color across her cheeks. "Oh. Oh my," she muttered quietly into her hooves covering her mouth. "I could have sworn I saw tongue. Oh well," Dash debated to herself, smirking at me before continuing with, "Anyway, there's a race coming up soon to celebrate the end of fall, pegasus style. I really, really want your help for it!" I tilted my head against her shoulder, unsure of exactly what assistance I could be in preparation for a race. Fluttershy peeked over her hooves at her friend, however, looking a little surprised. Still embarrassed, but it looked like she was getting distracted now, anyway. "It's just the three of us. Is this about, um, Applejack?" she asked. No, it was more of a deduction than anything. Rainbow smirked wider and nodded. "I totally want you to give me those nifty wings again!" she revealed excitedly, hopping back and forth on her hooves. My surprise was impossible to contain, and I stared at her in shock before asking, "Wait, you want me to help you cheat?!" Rainbow lost the smirk instantly, looking both shocked and offended without missing a beat. "What?! No way! I could win the race flying backwards with my wings tied. I need your super wings for a trick I want to pull off on the winner's circle," she rapidly corrected. Fluttershy's comment suddenly hit home, and everything snapped together. "Your sky writing. You want to use the wings to pull off your message to Applejack after you win the race, because she'll be watching it," I suddenly realized out loud. "Ha! Exactly! That's my egghead partner!" Dash acknowledged, grinning back at me over her shoulder as I glared. Fluttershy gasped, however, gaining both our attentions at once. "Oh dear! But there are a lot of ponies there. Everypony at the race will see the message," she warned, sounding absolutely traumatized. Wow, she wasn't even involved and it freaked her out. Still, I couldn't help but find it adorable for some reason. "Oh, please. I'm not afraid of them seeing it. I'm proud to be going after Applejack! She's totally worthy of being with the most awesome pegasus in Equestria," the boisterous cyan mare declared, slapping her right hoof off her chest and nodding as if punctuating the declaration with her chin. The shy yellow pegasus shrank back a little, but shook her head. "I, um, meant Applejack. Do you think she'd want everypony knowing she might like other mares?" she asked quietly. Uh oh. I hadn't thought of that. Rainbow looked momentarily taken aback. She hesitated, and then shook her head rapidly. "Well, of course not. Applejack's the strongest mare I know. She's not going to care if other ponies know about us or not!" she assured, sounding almost as if she herself was her target. Red flags went off in my head. This seemed familiar. Oh yeah, it was something I'd probably assume; which meant it was probably an absolutely terrible idea! I opened my mouth to point this out when all three of us were interrupted by a rather sizable roar to our right, deeper off in the forest. Fluttershy whipped around in the air, looking fearfully in that direction while my airlift jumped a good foot and a half in surprise. "Oh, horseapples! I think that's our signal to get out of here!" Dash pointed out rapidly, taking to the air with a hard kick-start. Fluttershy nodded rapidly in agreement and started rising into the air, considerably faster than I had ever seen her move before. Well, there was something to be said about a healthy amount of motivation. Or was that unhealthy? Yeah, getting mauled and eaten by something rather large was definitely unhealthy. Rainbow shot into the air faster still, managing to snag hold of her yellow and pink friend as she went. I was amazed at the sheer strength to the cyan pegasus' flying as she managed to not only lift me entirely off the ground without effort, but haul her friend through the air even higher without any noticeable strain. Obviously not sticking around for ceremony, Rainbow got all three of us well into the clouds before I could even look back. * * * * * Peeking through the window yet again, I watched the spastic lavender mare pacing rapidly back and forth. Books were strewn here and there, most of them open and discarded where she finished with them. To my surprise, three larger log sections were displayed on stands around her work area; various stages of damage on each one. She seemed to be paying very little attention to them, however. Normally, I'd contribute that to the other guest of the room; a certain pearly unicorn with curled purple mane and tail, but due to how animate Twilight was, I had a sneaking suspicion that Rarity was only trying to calm her down. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked yet again, dropping down and turning to look at the two mares. Rainbow was already to the door, but Fluttershy stopped and nodded back at me. "I think it's for the best. Um, if it's okay with you, of course, Dash and I will go in first to try to, well, calm her down a little," she offered quietly. Why the hell would I say no to that?! Rarity hardly seemed to be having much luck, so let them go in and defuse the situation a little, or blunder in ahead of them and potentially be torn apart by telekinesis? Honestly, it wasn't much of a decision, barring any masochistic tendencies or suicidal urges I might be subconsciously hiding. I nodded rapidly and gestured them in, earning a giggle from the yellow mare. Rainbow took the cue and opened the door gently, letting herself and Fluttershy inside the excessively large tree-building. I propped up against the wall again and peeked in the window, feeling incredibly similar to a stalker. Twilight snapped to attention instantly, observing her friends with an almost calculated glare. I could have sworn I saw her eye twitch slightly, too. "You're back! Did you find him yet, Rainbow?! It's not easy to work like this. Not easy at all!" she asked instantly upon concluding her analytical observations. Actually, she sounded a little on the hysterical side. Rarity shook her head wearily and muttered something that was well outside of my ability to hear. "Whoa, calm down, Twi! I just wanted to know if you made any progress on the identification thing? I also have to tell the pegasus teams what to look out for, if you remember," Dash interrupted, pointedly derailing the outburst. Twilight stared at her with a rather anxious look for a few seconds before sighing and visibly exhaling slowly. "I'm worried like crazy, so it's kind of hard to focus. I finished the reconstruction of the print, though, but I hit a snag," she slowly replied, almost as if she had to keep a tight leash on her own thoughts. "Oh? Uh, what is it, then? If I can ask, of course," Fluttershy requested politely, recovering from her stiff shock at her friend's first outburst. "That's the snag. I've looked through every book I can think of and I can't find anything quite like this print. So I can only assume that I reconstructed it wrong and have been trying to correct and double check my results," the unicorn explained in a rather listless manner, suddenly looking extremely tired. "Spending a large amount of time worrying over Mender certainly hasn't helped in that regard. Truly, I kept telling her that he's fully capable of taking care of himself," Rarity assured pleasantly, shifting her bangs out of her face with a soft gesture of her head. Rainbow nodded grimly, but smiled a heartbeat later. "Well, if it will help your investigation, I suggest you relax a little bit more. Don't freak out on him or anything. We found Mender," she slowly revealed. Here we go. I dropped down from the window and walked around the side of the building towards the door. Might as well get in place for when they called me in and Twilight undoubtedly blasted me to smithereens. I could still hear them surprisingly well, so it didn't matter too much. Twilight should really do something about soundproofing these walls. There was a hesitation, and I could only imagine Twilight's face. Literally. "Wait, what?! Why didn't you say so sooner?" she demanded moments later. "Um, we didn't want you getting worked up. We're really sorry. He's a little hurt, but mostly okay. Please don't be mad," I heard Fluttershy report in response. My ears picked up a light whistling noise, but I ignored it. Fluttershy was always so polite. I definitely liked that about her. "But I've been so worried! Especially with the state of emergency being called by," she started protesting. The rest was washed out by that whistling noise from before. What the hell? Did somepony want my attention or something? Looking to the right afforded me several realizations. It wasn't a whistle, but a squeal. Further, Pinkie Pie was arcing through the air at high velocity towards me and was now a meter or so from my exceedingly squishy body. Given just enough time to react, I did the most logical thing. Letting out my best whimper, I cowered as the ball of pink energy that defied physics itself plowed me off the side of the steps. At this point, I was starting to rather enjoy that weightless sensation of drifting upside down after a large impact. It was a peaceful lull before the inevitable end. Oddly, that kind of fit my life, if I thought about it. Although it could be worse, I suppose. She could be a tiger: sharp pointy ends and all. "I finally found you! I've been looking absolutely everywhere all day. Nopony told me that you had woken up and I really, really needed to find you. But then I was all walking back home from Sweet Apple Acres and saw you hiding in the bushes outside of Twilight's window. At first I thought that it was totally weird, but then I realized that it was you and I was looking for you. Then I sprinted over here and pounced you before you could get away again! But you already knew that. I'm going to invite you to a party! I have to!" the pink blur of fuzziness and distortion said while standing over my limp, newly broken form. It all bled together and pooled into one long stream of something I couldn't exactly hear correctly, very similar to how the blood was probably pooling in my undoubtedly fractured skull now. Groaning, I shook my head rapidly in attempts to clear it and make sure she too wasn't a figment of my imagination, lest I be accused of insanity again. There was a sharp intake of breath almost instantly upon me doing so. "No, no, no! You absolutely have to come. I cannot accept 'no' as an answer! It's a party just for you, any way you want it," she protested, seemingly taking my head shaking as a negative answer. "W-What?" I managed to stutter out between the throbs my head was giving off, tacking on slowly, "I um, don't even know what you're talking about. Pinkie?" I winced momentarily as I shifted a rather sizable rock out from under my head. This was proving to be a fun day already, and I'd only been awake for a few hours! Well, at least the pain wasn't my fault this time. I was seriously starting to consider admitting myself permanently to a medical facility for the remainder of my undoubtedly short life. "Of course it's me, Silly! That's my name! I absolutely must throw you an 'I'm really sorry for accidentally poisoning you and almost killing you, but thankfully you're better now' party! I feel super duper bad and really, really need to make it up to you!" she announced in another burst of hyper, almost hysterical ranting. Her eyes got bigger and bigger the longer she talked, her face getting closer and closer to mine until she was glaring directly into my eyes. If I'd been lucid and not likely internally bleeding, I might have been considerably more freaked out and frightened than I currently was. "Pinkie? What are you doing?" I suddenly heard Rainbow ask. She must have come to investigate either the loud noise of my squishy impact, or my seeming absence from the doorstep. Salvation! Pinkie squeaked and hopped off me, bouncing around my fallen form like some violent, pre-culturally revolutionized tribal member would around their fallen prey as I cooked over a fire. "I found him out here and really had to invite him to my 'I'm really sorry for accidentally poisoning you and almost killing you, but thankfully you're better now' party! It's urgent!" she explained rapidly, skidding to a halt somewhere near my fallen tail. I heard hoofsteps and managed to glance over dizzily at the cyan pegasus as she approached. "Um, it kind of looks like you squished him a little. Are you sure he's okay?" she questioned wearily, giving me a visual once-over. "Of course! He's Mender; practically impossible to keep down!" the pink one assured, giving my back, right leg a solid whack with her hoof. Oh hell! I still felt things! Giving a yelp of intense agony, I curled over and tucked my poor, mangled leg up, intensifying the shield around it to try to protect it from any further torture. "Pinkie! That was the exact leg he injured..." Dash chewed out, honestly sounding slightly impressed. Either she was surprised I was still conscious, or shocked that Pinkie had managed to select exactly the right leg to hit to get the most reaction out of me. "Whoopsy! I'll add '... and hurting your leg' onto the party title!" Pinkie assured in a way only she could. Rainbow rolled her eyes before sarcastically asking, "Sure it will all fit?" "Better than trying to fit all the injuries you've given him on a banner," Twilight reminded as she walked up next to the now glaring cyan mare. My breathing snagged in a flurry of emotions and I forced myself to look away from the lavender mare. I momentarily saw a look of surprise drift into her expression before doing so. "Oh dear. Is he okay?" Fluttershy practically whispered as she drifted over and landed next to me, between the now guilty looking Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Glancing over towards her, I managed a gentle smile. She returned it instantly and fluttered closer, carefully drawing my leg back out from under me with a soft hoof motion. I had a fair amount of trust in her and allowed her to pull the leg out and examine it, which gave her an odd, dancing energy in her eyes, almost. I had no idea what the mare was thinking. Of course, during the whole time I spent gawking at Fluttershy, I totally failed to notice Rarity slip up next to Dash. When I glanced back at the prismatic pony, I started a little when I finally noticed the newcomer. There was a long moment where I stared at her, and she stared back at me with increasingly widening eyes. It was more than a little creepy, and I started edging backwards from her timidly. "Uh, is there, um, something wrong?" I inquired, doing my best Fluttershy impression. To my surprise, Pinkie let out a sharp yet excited gasp instead. "Oh my gosh! You have a Cutie Mark!" she squealed instantly thereafter. "Wait, what?!" Twilight asked, snapping out of her seeming stupor just in time to notice as well. Rarity interrupted all of us before I could be fatally molested by the pink one, regardless. She rapidly stomped her front hooves back and forth on the dirt in front of me, momentarily freaking out as she glared in what could only be described as unadulterated horror. "Forget the Cutie Mark for now! This is an absolute fashion disaster! This simply must be fixed, stat!" she declared zealously, glaring at my flank. Glancing backwards, I noticed that my fur was indeed still missing in large stripes along my back, flanks, and butt. Oh. Well it did indeed look kind of strange, but I'd hardly call it... I was enveloped in a blue aura before I even finished the thought and violently hauled into the air, a flustered and fussing Fluttershy following, wings flapping rapidly. "Rarity! He needs medical attention first," she tried to protest. "Nonsense! It will not do to have him be treated for such a superficial injury while looking like that. Inexcusable. Thankfully, I have just the thing at home to fix this terrible, terrible catastrophe," she assured vehemently, making me dizzy as she punctuated each point of her reply with a dip in her telekinesis. Oh crap. This day was about to get a lot worse, I had a sneaking suspicion. "I'll heal him once we get there," Twilight interrupted gently, glancing up at Fluttershy as she trotted after the quickly moving white unicorn. Rainbow let out a low snickering, a large grin adorning her face as she muttered, "Oh, this I gotta see. You coming, Pinks?" Pinkie gave an enthusiastic nod, seemingly recovering her spunky, happy go lucky demeanor before bouncing after the small group of ponies now violently escorting me to my probable doom. At least it wasn't apples or frogs... Chapter 13Well, I was definitely right about one thing. The day seemed to be destined to get worse and worse. Still, I tried to stay positive about things. I was in desperate need of a bath, so being forced into one was at least covering that aspect. The smells assaulted my poor nose from every conceivable angle, of course. They were deeply root smelling, but with a sharp, acidic after smell. Was that the proper term for that light stinging sensation that one frequently got after sniffing something? Well, I digress. The nature of the smell did absolutely nothing for the color and texture of the probable gallons of stuff Rarity dumped into the hot water in the middle of her seeming mental breakdown. A thick lather, pink bubbles and all, was drifting well up to my jaw at this point. Due to how slippery it was making my coat, I was having difficulty keeping my head above water at this angle. She was still fidgeting sporadically while zipping here and there in her bathroom around me, looking at labels and various other bottles of all shapes and sizes. I wasn't sure of the norms of society, but this seemed a little on the psychotic side. Still, she was generous enough to attempt to make me look nice at no charge whatsoever, so I really didn't have room to complain. Much. It still seemed like she was more doing this for herself than me. "I know that the stuff is here somewhere! I'd just gotten an extra-large supply from Zecora. It simply must be found! This is an emergency," Rarity declared as she sped around the bathroom. The gentle tugging at my back, right leg continued as she talked. I was positioned in a very unnatural manner, almost on my side with my leg sticking out over the side of the tub. This was all to give Twilight as easy access as possible, of course. Fluttershy at least was sympathetic and rested at the head of the tub with her forelegs wrapped around my chest, gently supporting my head and neck above the soap bubbles. I gave her another warm, thankful smile while further hoping that this stuff didn't dye me pink. Thinking about it more, I decided it would also be bad if it made the fur along my butt grow back pink as well. "So this is a potion? Are you sure it's safe, Rarity?" Twilight questioned somewhere near my injured leg. The gentle massage of heated, magical warmth didn't miss a beat, even though she wasn't exactly concentrating. I was more than a little impressed, honestly. Sure, I could do more precise maneuvers, but she was way more practiced than I was. Oh, and obviously considerably more powerful. Was I allowed to be impressed and irritated at somepony at the same time? Rarity waived her concerns with a gentle, nonchalant hoof motion. "It's more of a, how do we say, tonic than a crude potion. It simply stimulates hair re-growth in the most natural way possible. There's truly nothing to concern yourself with," the pearly white unicorn assured confidently. I idly wondered how many last words included that last part in the history of, well, everything. I started mentally preparing myself for a horrible, hair-induced demise. "I dunno. Pink really suits you, Mender. Are you sure we can't make it grow back pink?" Rainbow asked once more, snickering from her position near the end of the tub, across from Twilight. Sneezing lightly after inhaling an offensive soap bubble, I finally cleared enough of the froth to speak. "For the last time, no! I don't need pink stripes on my butt," I groaned out. This was exactly why I was concerned. Rainbow started snickering even harder, but Pinkie let out a sharp gasp. "Hey! Is there something wrong with pink?! I know it might be kind of hard to tell, but I happen to really like pink and take offense to that! Think of its feelings!" Pinkie berated loudly from my right, leaning over the side of the shiny, white tub and giving me her standard, bulging glare. Wait, was she being sarcastic about the pink thing? Deciding I couldn't tell, I figured that considering the color having feelings was probably even more absurd, making the whole thought process a moot point. Damn it. I hate it when I do that. "Weren't you supposed to be apologetic and supportive of him, Pinkie? We needn't add potential drowning and, even worse, fashion crime to your party banner," Rarity reminded gently, calming down visibly upon pulling a rather large keg of something out from under her sink with her magic. Uh, what was that? Wait, bad fashion was worse than death? Pinkie's eyes went from buggy to nervous as she blinked a few times before releasing an airy giggle. She then tactically retreated out of my field of vision, leaving me even further confused. Of course, it could just be lasting effects from the fresh head trauma. Rarity distracted me by hauling the keg over to the side of the tub. She then distracted herself by frowning and looking down at me, barely sticking out of the pink bubble ocean. "Although she does have a point. Pink goes very well with blue, and compliments you well. Perhaps you should consider it?" the seamstress reasoned, smiling at me. I gave her a rather deadpan stare, and she giggled merrily. "Really now. You males shouldn't be nearly so concerned about colors. I mean, really. Pink is a perfectly acceptable color and compliments many things. I see no reason to rule it out because of some brash stereotype that it adversely affects your masculinity. Haven't we progressed past that as a," she started lecturing, causing me to sink into the water a little. It wasn't that I myself didn't like the color. It was more a matter of what other ponies might do to me if I did add it to my wardrobe. I was runty enough already. Of course, there weren't a whole lot of males in town to mock the choice anyway. "Um, I don't mean to interrupt. Please don't be mad! The bath water is getting a little cool. May it be reheated?" Fluttershy asked carefully in her typical timid fashion. Rarity hardly looked offended, not that I thought she would be. She gave her timid friend a warm smile, but shook her head. "It shouldn't be necessary, although you're a very kind to be looking over him so well. He should be thoroughly clean now and ready for the application of the tonic," she explained, giving the intimidating looking keg next to her a soft pat. "I'm pretty much done with his leg, so it should be perfectly fine for him to stand now," Twilight reported, backing off my leg and sitting up again, suddenly reentering my view. She glanced over at me at the same time I turned to her. We locked eyes and I couldn't turn away suddenly. She seemed conflicted, then seemed to have the same problem as her eyes softened further while watching me. She was acting nice now to me, but I was still a little irritated over her not even considering my proposal. If there really was danger, wasn't it better to be cautious? Still... "Thank you for healing my leg, Twilight," I finally managed to get out. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly for a moment, but then softened with an accompanied smile. Rarity, of course, took that moment to distract me. "Okay then, Mender. Stand up and I'll start gently pouring this stuff on and applying it to the, um, disaster zones with my magic. Hold still while I do, Mender," she instructed politely, giving me a warm nod. I nodded in understanding as I struggled back onto my stomach. A light test of my leg told me that the lavender unicorn indeed knew exactly what she was doing, and had restored my limb to full working condition. I breathed a sigh of relief and shakily stood up in the bath, letting the pink foam drain off my back as I did so. "Perfect! Okay, I'm going to start applying it now. Do hold still," the white unicorn instructed, lifting the keg into the air above me. Slight apprehension drifted into my system, but I held it at bay. Just because the last potion, er, tonic from Zecora had ended in utter disaster, didn't mean this one was going to. Right? Fluttershy gave me an assuring nod, but I heard more giggles from behind me. "You look like a wet rat. I wish I could get a picture," Dash pointed out in an oh so loving fashion. Pinkie clamped both hooves over her muzzle, but I could see the barely restrained grin under them as I glared back at her cyan friend. All thoughts were interrupted as the cold slime hit my back. "Ah! That stuff is really cold!" I whined, shivering slightly despite my attempts to stay still. "Oh, you poor thing. You just got out of the warm water, too! I'm sorry," Fluttershy cooed softly, looking extremely sympathetic as she sat up in front of me. "Here, this might warm you up a little." Before I could even react, she leaned forward and buried my entire face in the crook of her neck, against her left shoulder. Warm, buttercup yellow fur flooded my vision, accompanied by a gentle flowery smell that was absolutely delightful. She herself pushed her muzzle into the mirrored location on me, folding her left wing over my head and ears. Well, she was right about it warming me up. I rapidly felt the blood flood into my cheeks as her mane shadowed out the ceiling light as well. "Is, um, is it helping?" she asked timidly, a few seconds later. Being pretty much rendered mute and paralyzed, I barely managed a nod of affirmation. Suddenly I was really happy I was facing away from Twilight. She was probably giving my flanks a death glare now. A bit paradoxical, but I'd given up trying to figure the mare out. Females were confusing. Thankfully the gel stuff started to rapidly warm up. Was there some sort of heating agent in it? "Oh, actually, it's getting nice and warm now. That feels kind of good," I informed quietly. It was a fully welcome, yet very much new sensation to feel Fluttershy smile against my neck. Although I was starting to feel a little guilty. I definitely didn't want to hurt Twilight's feelings. "Is it supposed to get warm, Rarity?" the aforementioned lavender unicorn asked, sounding intrigued. Well, curious meant Twilight wasn't angry. I'd never seen her both angry and curious at the same time! "I'm actually not sure. I've never had to use this new formula yet," Rarity returned, sounding interested. The gel got even warmer, and I wondered if it was supposed to compliment some sort of massage technique or similar. Rarity seemed to like that sort of thing, so she probably was interested in using it on herself later, I guessed. The only problem was that it didn't stop heating up. I frowned as it started to get a little on the uncomfortable side, and questioned, "Uh, is it supposed to stop heating up at some point?" "What do you mean?" Twilight questioned with a slightly confused sounding inflection behind me. "Well, uh," I started to voice, when my nose picked up an odd smell. Something was burning. The heat along my back magnified, and I finally risked a glance backwards, apparently just in time to see a light smoke start to come up off my fur. Oh. I was burning. My voice devolved into panicked whimpering as I locked up, completely unsure of what to do. "Water! Wash it off!" I managed to yelp, not wanting to leap out of the tub and spray the stuff all over my friends. Oh, and Rarity's floor. She'd probably murder me out of principle. Twilight looked surprised and started to open her mouth, horn lighting up. Pinkie beat everypony to the punch, however, yelling out "I know!" before violently kicking the side of the tub with both of her back hooves. Oh crap. Rarity barely managed to leap out of the way, and Fluttershy made a panicked squeak as I was torn sideways with the tipping of the tub. I hit the bathroom floor first, and was washed over momentarily by the soapy water before the tub flipped completely and landed on top of me. Unfortunately, Pinkie's violent kick had ensured that a great deal of water was still in the tub, and the slow leak around the edges of the tub and floor didn't prevent me from suddenly finding myself submerged in the water. The soap burned into my eyes instantly, causing a garbled scream as I slammed them shut in pain. Screaming underwater isn't the most effective. That's when I realized that the soap in the water was what was reacting to the tonic Rarity had put on me. The water started to heat up as well, bringing back a familiar sizzling sensation along all of my skin this time. Damn it. "Pinkie!" I heard both Rainbow and Rarity scream in an echoed fashion outside of my prison of agony. Rainbow? The tub was kicked off me a second later, allowing the water to release instantly across the entirety of the bathroom floor. I gasped for air, unable to see anything at all. The smells of burning fur and now identified acid hit my nose along with the sizzling sound. I heard somepony slam the bathroom window open a second later. My guesses were on Twilight, who probably realized the fumes were potentially poisonous. "Horse apples! Hang on, Mender!" Dash shouted from practically on top of me, it sounded like. Two hooves latched onto my sides and I was yanked backwards, giving a yelp. We hit open air suddenly, and I felt the breeze of outside along my burning skin. Then both of us landed in water, somehow. * * * * * That was how I became furless. At least I'm told that I have no fur. Rarity sounded hysterical when she had told me, so it was probably true. Although she could also be upset over her probably badly burned, stained bathroom floor. Both probably caused that reaction, I decided. "Ugh, hold still, Mender. I'm trying to fix your skin," Twilight reminded nonchalantly. Considering it was my skin and I very much felt it, I didn't think the reminder was needed. Still, her regenerative magic didn't exactly feel like a massage this time around. "I'm so going to need a bigger banner," Pinkie groaned from somewhere to my left. Rarity gave a weary sigh in front of me, but a few meters away. I think we were in her living room, although I only had their word for it. "I'm going to need a new bathroom floor after this. Zecora could have warned me that the new formula doesn't get along with conditioner well," the white unicorn complained. "Relax. I'm going to need new hooves after this! They're still orange," Dash griped from behind me, sounding closer than she was in the bathroom. A sting of sympathy went through me in that regard. "Thank you again, Rainbow," I muttered quietly, not bothering to move my head. It wasn't like I knew exactly where she was anyway. Looking in the wrong direction was liable to be embarrassing. There was a definite pause before a light sigh sounded out. "I wasn't gonna let you just lie there, burning. We're both lucky the rain barrel was right outside," she returned, sounding somber. "I thank you as well, Rainbow. That was very brave. You could have been hurt by the acid as well," Twilight chimed in, seemingly finishing my lower back and moving on to my flanks. At least I assumed she had finished it, as I could feel something apart from agony from the area, now. "Aww, stop it. No need to get all mushy on me," the cyan mare groaned, sounding embarrassed. I smirked lightly as I could almost feel her blush from here. Then I realized that Twilight thanked her for saving me. Twilight was slowly getting past what happened, it felt like. Pinkie let out another whine again, adding, "I'm going to throw both of you a really awesome party after this! I really don't like hurting my friends." "You had the best of intentions, dear. You simply didn't know the soap was what was causing it. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Rarity assured warmly. As much as I wished it hadn't happened in the first place, I had to nod in agreement. "She's right, Pinkie. You didn't know," I tacked on, ignoring the subtle stinging sensation. Something warm and with actual fur hugged me around the neck as I rested on my stomach. "You're just too nice, Mender! I promise that I'm going to really make this up to you," Pinkie insisted from a few inches away. I was cold without fur, so I wasn't about to protest her hugging me. That and I was more than a little fond of the pink mare. She really grew on me after awhile, even if she was a little on the hyper and clumsy side. "Mmm, you're warm," I muttered quietly and in a raspy tone, having not realized exactly how nice it was to have fur. My throat gave its complaints at my use, but I hardly cared. There was a momentary pause and I felt the pony hugging me tense slightly. I let out a tiny shiver as she withdrew slightly, the cold air silently assaulting my now hyper-sensitive skin. A light giggle, starting to sound like Pinkie as she got back to normal again. "Oh, without your fur, you're cold! Poor little guy," she swooned playfully. I couldn't argue with her, despite how the adjectives were vaguely undesirable. It must be hardwired into the male brain to dislike the word 'little', I realized. "Rainbow! We need to warm Mender up. Wanna help with your big, soft wings?" the mare asked a second later, leaning back down and holding my head again. "Aww, why can't Fluttershy-" Rainbow started, before hesitating and grinding to a halt before continuing, "Oh yeah, she left. Ugh. I guess I can, but it's kinda mushy." A soft, familiar feeling body rested into my back hesitantly a moment late. That was far faster than it should have taken Rainbow to get over to me, however. There was an almost tactile silence as the soft, warm fur slipped up my back and ended in two legs gently wrapping around my chest. The sensation felt familiar, somehow. "Whoa, Twilight?" Pinkie asked hesitantly after several awkward moments passed. Twilight?! I tensed up and tried to look behind me, before realizing how stupid that was. A pause. "Yes, Pinkie?" the lavender unicorn in question asked from directly next to my ear. Oh dear. It was indeed Twilight who was residing on my back. Mixed emotions assaulted me, but she was oh so warm and soft. "Weren't you two mad at each other? But now you're holding him!" the pink one pointed out in an extremely obvious yet self-aware manner. How she said it so we knew she was aware that it was obvious, I have no idea. A gentle cough sounded from behind Pinkie, followed by, "That is an extremely blunt question, Pinkie. Perhaps we shouldn't pry? Although certainly, if you require our aid to talk things out, we'll obviously be here for you." Rarity sounded thoughtful, but more than a little curious as well. I recalled that she did love to gossip, but doubted she'd let it overwhelm her sense of propriety. "I'm surprised she doesn't mind that he's all furless and diced up. With all of those scars, it looks like he got stuck in a blender," Rainbow chipped in, adding a light snicker after. "Rainbow! That's a little rude. I don't mind what he looks like. He'll always be Mender to me," Twilight defended, and I felt her hooves hook together under my chest, letting her squeeze me lightly from above. A light warmth shot through me, and I felt the telltale heat drifting into my cheeks. Pinkie started giggling merrily, and I realized that my blush was probably quite a bit more pronounced without any fur to hide it. "Oh, that's very noble of you, Twilight. I happen to agree as well. It doesn't hurt that scars are somewhat appealing to me, though. Each one says something about the pony they belong to, telling a strong history," Rarity agreed in her usual sophistication, but sounding a little strange. There was something to her tone that I couldn't place. "Yeah! Scars mean you're super tough and have lived through lots. They're kinda sexy, right Dashie?" Pinkie asked, causing me to blush even more. This conversation, regardless of my taking part in it in the first place, was getting more than a little embarrassing. Rainbow let out an awkward sounding, "Mmph" noise, and then remained silent. "Oooh, she thinks so too!" Pinkie cooed, sounding a little more pleased than she should, probably. "Pinkie!" Dash berated, sounding a little annoyed this time. It didn't matter as the conversation was thankfully interrupted before it could spiral out of control. A light squeaking noise, sounding remarkably like a certain timid pegasus I knew, sounded throughout my head as I heard a door open up. "I'm back. I have the two ointments, Twilight," Fluttershy announced from somewhere far behind me, sounding a little flustered. Probably the main entrance, if I remembered what the inside of the building looked like still. There was that strange sensation again. Focusing a little harder this time, I suddenly saw the faint image of an almost spilt bag of supplies and a buttercup yellow hoof extending out quickly to catch them, just in time. What was that?! "I, um, think I got everything. Hard and soft tissue treatment for both hooves and eyes, skin salve, throat syrup, and stain cleaner. Uh, for Rarity's bathroom of course. I hope it helps," the timid yellow pegasus informed, landing somewhere near me. I decided that yet again, this wasn't the best place to ask her about the effect. "Oh, you're a lifesaver, dear! I'll save the bathroom for later. Mender and Rainbow are the highest priority right now," Rarity decreed. Twilight nodded against me, gently explaining, “It would be a good idea to let the fumes clear out up there anyway. I’m not sure what they’d do to a pony if breathed in.” Oh, acid. I forgot about that. Actually, I was kind of lucky it wasn’t any more potent than it turned out to be. "It's just my hooves. Take care of Mender first. He hurts, can barely talk, and is blind as a bat," Rainbow requested gently as I heard Fluttershy start to unpack things next to my head. Fluttershy let out a soft giggle next to me that was extremely pleasing to the ears before commenting, "That's very kind of you, Rainbow. Still, getting yours set up while Mender's eyes heal won't be any trouble at all. You just need to soak your hooves in this stuff." Fluttershy always had everypony’s best interest in mind. She was so sweet like that. Although my anger was fading now and I was starting to also remember why I liked Twilight as well. Even though she could freak out big time and be a little unreasonable, she still cared deeply for her friends. "Mmm, take your time. He makes a decent pillow," Twilight murmured lazily right into my ear. I smirked. Of course, her caustic wit at this point was something of an endearment. She's grown on me, and we really do share a lot in common. "Is that what they call it now?" Rainbow teased, confusing me a little. Call what now? Twilight groaned and, in lieu of answering, buried her face into the nape of my neck. I blushed lightly but didn't move, simply letting her rest there. I heard movement in front of me at the same time. Pinkie's skin contact left and was replaced by nothing but the chilly air. I didn't have to wait long however, before somepony started gently removing the wrap around my eyes. A soft, flowery scent wafted into my nose and I smiled. "Fluttershy," I whispered, voice unable to go much higher due to increased pain. "Oh!" she spoke, sounding startled before asking, "How did you know it was me?" Pinkie gasped almost instantly before I could so much as think, questioning, "Did you get your sight back? Can you see what I'm doing?!" I then heard the distinct sound of her tongue sticking out, as if she were at the doctor's office or something. "Pinkie, his eyes are closed," Fluttershy pointed out weakly, probably not being heard over Pinkie's ridiculous 'Ah!' sound. "She's sticking her tongue out. Oh, and you're the only one who smells like fresh cut flowers," I explained simply, still smiling. "Oh, um, I see," Fluttershy whispered quietly, pausing again in the removal of my bandages. I didn't need to see to guess fairly accurately that she was blushing. Even just in my imagination, it was adorable! I smiled wider as she stopped. "You're such a sweet talker. The most charming part is, I don't suspect that you're aware of it," Twilight mumbled into my ear, earning a giggle from Fluttershy. Wait, sweet talker? Wasn't that somepony who uses false praise to get something? But Fluttershy really did smell like flowers! It wasn't like I was lying. "He's just honest, dear. Possibly too honest for his own good, in some cases. I'm honestly surprised Applejack hit it off the worst with him," Rarity continued as Fluttershy took my eye wrappings off. Blotches of light greeted me through my yet closed eyelids. I knew that it was significantly less than what it should be given Rarity's well-lit rooms. A quiet, yet sharp intake sounded from the mare right in front of me. I swallowed wearily. There was no feeling coming from my eyes, and I felt them almost glued shut by something. They probably didn't look all that healthy. I felt for Fluttershy. She was such a gentle soul, but she had to see some truly terrible injuries. The only reason I could see for her having the medicine in the first place is that she's had to deal with this in her animals before. "It's not good. The medicine will numb them and help heal, but without magic..." Fluttershy assessed softly. I felt a warm hoof brush along my left temple, probably cleaning the skin a little. Twilight leaned forwards on me and let out a giggle. "That's what I'm here for, Fluttershy. It's okay. I'm sure he'll recover fully," she assured gently. More for Fluttershy than myself, it sounded. There was no direct reply. She probably nodded or something. Regardless, I felt her tilt my head up and simply let her do whatever. "This might hurt, but I need you to open your eyes to get the medicine in them. The liquid will make them feel better, so it will only hurt for a couple seconds. I'm sorry..." Fluttershy requested timidly. "I understand," I managed to rasp out before gathering my legs under me. I didn't want to accidentally hit anypony if I jerked. Not that I was looking forward to the pain, but some things are just unavoidable. Gritting my teeth together as firmly as I could, I yanked open my eyes with as much speed as I could muster. The blotches of light immediately shifted to blotches of color. After that, all I saw was agony. I didn't even know one could see agony! My breathing snagged on the intake, making me dizzy when combined with the twin spears of pain that just smashed into my skull. The distinctive metallic taste drifted at the corners of my tongue at the same time that all the blood seemingly drained out of my head. Then Fluttershy hit me with the medicine. At first, all it did was make me give a raspy yelp and flinch away. Mere seconds later, however, it just stopped. The pain vanished possibly faster than it arrived. Then I realized that I actually couldn't feel my eyes at all. It was an exceedingly strange sensation, beaten only by the fact that I still could only see splotches of color, even though I knew my eyes were open. "Does it hurt now? I can put more in if you need it!" Fluttershy quickly offered, gently shifting me back into a lying position. After a momentary assessment, I decided that I actually couldn't feel a majority of my face, and shook my head softly to decline her offer. "I'll take over then, Fluttershy. Give him a little of the throat medicine, then help Rainbow?" Twilight suggested gently, probably more to assure her that I didn't need any more of the eye stuff. Twilight shifted in front of me then and switched with Fluttershy, from what I could feel. I was distracted shortly thereafter by a warm cup being pressed to my lip. A thermos? “I mixed it up while I was there. It’s best when mixed in tea, I discovered. Oh, um, if you don’t like tea, I can go back home and mix it into something else, of course! It’s just what I use for sore throats when I’m not feeling well and, um…” the shy pegasus started to explain before trailing off. I gave her my best warm smile before shaking my head and accepting the cup. It was surprisingly good, I decided after a few sips. I'd never had much tea before, but she could definitely give Rarity's a run for her bits. It was smooth and had a light minty aftertaste that covered up the normally bitter tang. If there was medicine in it, I certainly couldn't taste it. Moments later, I realized further that there was indeed medicine in it, as my throat went pleasantly numb. My expression must have been that of happiness, as Fluttershy let out a pleased squeak a moment later. I smiled again and nodded to the yellow mare. "That will help numb your throat, and contains a healing mixture to repair. Zecora is really good at making potions, despite, um, your bad experiences. Please don't be upset with her," she timidly requested. "Yeah! It was totally my fault that you got too much truth serum. Oh, and got coated in acid. Oh yeah, and the kicking your leg thing. I'm gonna need a bigger banner!" the energetic pink one suddenly declared, sounding as if making a mental note to herself. Oddly, even when sounding guilty, she didn't lose a drop of her normal energy. It kind of made me wonder when and how she actually recovered it all. Did she go home at night and crash in the most epic fashion I could ever witness? There was indeed something to be said about giving your all to everything, if so. It was a little depressing if you thought too hard about it. Kind of like my battalion's motto that I vaguely remembered. Translated, it was something akin to 'Live Free, Die Hard', if I recalled correctly. Although fairly accurate, as we were dumped on the front lines most of the time, if my most recent flashback was to be believed. The sudden magical current running through the front of my face snapped me out of my dour mental monologue almost instantly, thankfully. I blinked with neither sight nor feeling, a little concerned for what was happening. I assumed Twilight was the cause of the sudden, strange sensation, but then I remembered what usually happened when I assumed something. Thankfully, she explained it shortly after beginning. "I've never healed something as fragile or complex as eyes before, so I don't trust myself to do it properly the first time. Instead, I'm relying on the slow regeneration the potion Fluttershy gave you bestows, and then accelerating the process," the amazingly brilliant unicorn explained. Well, she'd deny that herself, probably, but I certainly thought so. It really meant something that she wasn't willing to reduce me to an experiment when it really mattered. What Dash had said earlier came to mind again. She really did seem to honestly care for me, even if both of us sometimes forget that. I suppose fights are inevitable, even in the best of relationships. Which means we should expect a lot of them. Rainbow snickered immediately. "Wow. You just said something that I actually could follow this time," she praised, with no small hinting of sarcasm. Pinkie giggled at the undertones before asking, "But he'll be super duper fine after this, right? He'll get his sight back? Seeing things is important!" There was the slightest hinting of hysteria at the back of her voice, which was actually kind of disturbing the longer I thought about it. I couldn't imagine Pinkie being serious to any degree without involving the destruction of the world, or something of similar effect. "Well, in theory. Restoration of chemical burns to tender skin has been done before, but I don't recall any cases where the eyes were involved. So far, the only notable cases involved horns, noses, a few examples of wing tissue, and in one unfortunate event, male genitalia." Twilight paused there, and I felt a shudder in her magical current that oddly matched the one going down my spine. I didn't even want to know how that happened. Pinkie continued, oblivious of course. "So it will work on his eyes?!" she asked again, a little more frantically this time. Twilight sighed and focused more energy into my skull. I hope I didn't get some sort of magical brain tumor or something. "I don't know, Pinkie. It should and has a high probability of working, but it's never been done before," she reiterated. "Relax, Pinks. Mender's one tough stallion. He'll be fine," Rainbow assured calmly, expressing a great deal of faith in me yet again. Well, she was definitely living up to her reputation. I'd never had somepony show such loyalty and faith in me. Well, to my knowledge anyway. I couldn't help but blush a little, somewhat unsure of how to handle such an expression. "Okay, Rainbow, here you go," Fluttershy suddenly whispered from a little ways behind me and to the left. Whoa! I hadn't even realized that she left. I guess there were perks to being quiet all the time. She'd make a wicked assassin. A heartbeat went by, then I reconsidered. No, she'd probably be the worst assassin in the universe. Followed very closely by myself. She'd decide to rehabilitate the target until they were a functioning member of society again, and I'd trip and fall on my weapon during my first mission. "Uh, and all I have to do is put my hooves in this? I really don't like my hooves touched!" Rainbow inquired, sounding a bit flustered. I was intrigued, but decided against saying anything. As defenseless as I was at the moment, tempting fate just seemed extra stupid in this case. I can't make it too easy. "I'm sure, Rainbow. This will heal the outer layer of your hooves that got burned, turning them the odd color," Fluttershy explained. It suddenly dawned on me that the timid yellow pegasus actually knew quite a bit about medicine and treating injuries. She explained things simply, however, so far showing no need to boast about the knowledge. I made a mental note to hopefully remember to ask her about her knowledge later. Idly, I wondered what Rarity and Pinkie were doing while I waited. I picked up snickering and a few whispers, but it seemingly moved to the other room. Her kitchen, if I recall? Knowing Rarity, they were gossiping or something. Ah well. The constant current of magic running through my face and head was starting to actually get a little relaxing, and I felt myself slowly getting sleepier and sleepier. It had been a long day, seeming as if the day before just bled into it in one long jumble. I doubted that the sleep I got last night was all that restful, if I was truly asleep in the first place. Coma, came to mind instead. A light humming noise from Twilight snapped me out of it. Instinctively, I looked up at her before remembering that I couldn’t see. Then I surprised the hell out of myself by seeing a fuzzy, lavender blur instead of almost nothing. “This is strange. It was supposed to speed up the recovery, but this is almost too fast. Plus the effected zones of the tonic are far too spread out to be standard deviation,” the unicorn muttered, almost to herself as I saw her lean in for closer examination, the purple, fuzzy glow from her horn flaring up. “That wasn’t in the other cases?” I asked quietly, voice already feeling better from the medicine. Of course, the other cases probably didn’t involve an extradimensional traveler. I really don’t like to consider it, but I’m probably a fairly unique case in Equestria. I think. She smiled, but shook her head. “Not exactly. I mean, the magical healing mixes well with the potion effects, but this is almost as if your eyes are taking advantage of the potion effects themselves and forcing the recovery even faster. They’re reacting very strangely.” “Maybe because I’m not originally from Equestria?” I suggested, delighted in the fact that I could see her now when I looked up. “It could be that your genetic makeup is different from ours, although this seems almost intentional on your body’s part. I take it you can see me again, as your pupils are tracking my motions?” she observed, peeking down at me again. I smiled wider and nodded. Hers became a grin, and then she surprised me by looking around carefully, to each side of herself. I glanced about too, wondering what she was looking for. Fluttershy was to my right now, smiling gently at me as well. Dash was close to her, looking back and forth between myself and her hooves that were stuck in a small, purple tub in front of her. That was undoubtedly the mixture Fluttershy brought. Seemingly nothing out of the ordinary in the situation that Twilight would be interested in, I decided. Well, nothing out of the ordinary apart from the various injuries we all had. Then I realized what Twilight was looking for when she nodded to herself and leaned down further. Oh, she was looking for observers. Specific observers it would seem. There was no further time for realizations before she lightly kissed me directly on the muzzle, pushing against me warmly but not forcefully. What had I done to deserve this?! “I’m glad you’re back as well,” she whispered, a few seconds later upon breaking the kiss. “Please don’t run away again?” Fluttershy now sported a light blush, and Dash was grinning at us. I smiled softly up at her, noticing a warm blush similar to the one I felt on my own cheeks. “Are Mender’s eyes about done, if I may ask?” Rarity inquired, sounding as if she was a mere few feet behind Twilight. Twilight leapt back and away as if burned, blush magnifying a few fold. It took her a few tries, but she nodded rapidly. “He’s definitely healing up. Uh, yeah, totally healing up nicely!” she assured, a little too abruptly for her own good. The white unicorn gave her a slightly skeptical glance, but nodded politely, seemingly deciding not to ask about it. “Well, regardless, I have retrieved the hair regrowth tonic from upstairs. The bathroom isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but I’d like to treat Mender’s condition first. He simply can’t go outside like he is!” Rarity declared, looking a little frightening again. I shrank down slightly, but reminded myself that Twilight would stop her short of killing me. I hoped. “Relax, Mender. You’re thoroughly cleansed of the soap that caused it before. It should work perfectly fine this time," Twilight assured, blush finally fading a little bit. Looking back over at Rarity, I saw that she was already putting away the vile jug again. Even though it was a little fuzzy still, I could tell that smell from anywhere now that it was thoroughly engrained in my memory. Sighing, I realized that I wasn't going to be given a choice in the matter. Rainbow's snickering sent a pulse of irritation down my back. "Come on, Mender. Worst case scenario, I have to dump you back into a rain barrel. Ya don't want to look all pink and fleshy until your fur grows back, do ya?" she reasoned bluntly. Shaking my head wearily, I finally gave in and sighed. "Fine. Just try to hurry, because that stuff is cold," I whined. I might as well get this over with. Rarity gave a somewhat overzealous grin before bringing the jug over my back. * * * * * That was how I became a four foot wide furball. With a deadpan, mildly annoyed expression, I sat there on my haunches as Rarity did her best to fend the fur away from my face and eyes with deft use of three pairs of scissors at once. I was a little apprehensive with that many sharp, moving objects drifting around my head, but I suppose it was better than suffocating. "The more I consider it, the more I think that I might have used slightly too much tonic," Rarity deduced dryly, giving the top of my head a shave again, only to have the bottom start to regrow into the spot she just cleared. "You don't say?" Twilight questioned sarcastically, watching the white unicorn work from a good two meters away, as if concerned the fur would lash out at any moment and attack her. Rainbow, of course, was still laughing. She had rolled off the couch a couple of minutes ago, but it didn't really faze her much. She continued laughing hysterically and occasionally getting another look at me. Pinkie was still on the couch, smiling warmly towards me. I was honestly surprised she hadn't had the same enthusiasm as her cyan friend. She'd laughed a little when I started rapidly becoming the world's largest duster, but simply seemed happy at this point. I kept occasionally glancing at her to make sure there were no surprises coming my way, but she only perked and gave me a nod each time I did so. Which meant she was continuously staring at me the entire time. I found that to be a little more unnerving than if she were laughing. Fluttershy was drifting around in the air above me still. She wielded the largest comb Rarity owned, and was continuously attempting to ensure that my newly acquired fur didn't become one massive knot. I was extremely thankful for that, as Rarity might be encouraged to attack it with extreme prejudice. Twilight shook her head again, giving me a light smile before going back to her strange construction project in front of her. I actually didn't know why she was still hanging around, having occasionally complained that she really should be working on the Everfree Forest Analysis job. She seemed absorbed in her current project, however. She'd taken two of the cardboard cores from Rarity's fabric rolls and merged them together using magic. They now formed a crude, upside down 'Y' shape. I had honestly no idea what she was planning on doing with it. "Oh thank Celestia. I think it's finally slowing down some. Now all we need to do is trim and style it, and you'll be right back to normal!" she assured, suddenly looking proud of herself. I remained healthily skeptical with an expression of stoic irritation. Technically, this was all her fault to begin with, for the most part. She was the one who went compulsive on my fur. I could hardly hold it against Pinkie, who was only trying to save me. "Oh, we're going to style it, too? Isn't that strange for a stallion?" Fluttershy asked timidly, halting momentarily over my head. It was? Wait, what were they going to 'style' it as?! Rarity gently scoffed at the idea, waving her hoof in the air as if to dismiss it. "Nonsense, my dear. There are many styles that a stallion may apply that can make them look simply dashing! Have you seen that kind Dr. Whooves walking about town? Such a sophisticated look could really help Mender impress the mares!" I gave her another glare before asking, "What if I don't want to impress the mares, Rarity?" Twilight would probably kill me if I even looked like I was vaguely considering it, after all. Rarity gave a blank look before smiling politely back at me. "Well, I'm sure the stallions would also appreciate an air of sophistication," she returned with no hesitation whatsoever. Rainbow laughed even harder. I sighed wearily and slapped my forehead with a hoof. Or tried too, until I realized I couldn't lift my foreleg up that far with all of the fur in the way. "Look, I already feel badly enough for all of your generosity. All of you have been treating me really well, and I don't have a single thing I can repay you with!" I protested, settling for stomping my hoof on the ground instead. "Really nice except for that whole acid thing, the potion poisoning, the leg kicking, the multiple concussions, lacerations, and general injuries..." Twilight started listing. I was about to protest further when I noticed she'd lined one end of the tube she made up with my face. My eyes widened instead. "Don't forget the mental trauma, dear," Rarity amended, a hinting of irritation in her voice before shaking her head. Twilight shot her a rather caustic glare. "Besides, Mender, I don't believe you fully understand exactly how much you're saving my career by agreeing to this little soiree. Potentially importing my designs to Canterlot via multiple important and wealthy ponies? For the price of one suit? I'm not even considering that I'm taking up your time for a day and a half to two days! Truly, I should be paying you, Mender!" she further explained, sounding just a little hysterical towards the end. I found it a little hard to believe that not arriving with the guest requested on her invitation would honestly make her look that bad, but she was the expert, not I. I suddenly tried not to chuckle. Yeah, Mender, you definitely aren't an expert at social situations! Whap! A small, rubber ball skipped off my muzzle and bounced across the floor. I was momentarily stunned before skeptically glancing back over at Twilight. She was oddly taking notes in a notepad that I hadn't seen her carrying prior. The tiny bouncy ball was caught out of the air with her magic as she lined it up in her slanted tube again. Wait, why was she doing this? I glanced at the 'Y' fork and raised an eyebrow. Okay, so it had a fifty-fifty chance of hitting me. "Oooh, it's long enough to braid, Rarity! He looks so cute," Fluttershy suddenly announced, snapping me out of my curiosity with a replaced sensation of dread. Glancing back as best as I could, I saw that she had stopped combing me now and was unfortunately braiding my fur along the side of my head. My ears drooped as I felt what little there was left of my dignity slipping away. "Oh, he looks simply darling! Maybe I won't trim his mane as much if you're going to do that instead," Rarity agreed in a whimsical tone. She totally ignored my death glare, of course. Fluttershy may have been off limits for my irritation, but I held nothing back for the others. Rarity gave me a knowing smile as Fluttershy squeaked and went to work braiding with a slightly surprising level of enthusiasm. Crap. Well, she seemed to really want to do it, so how was I supposed to say no? The adorable yellow mare hummed pleasingly as she flitted about above. Thankfully, the pearly white unicorn started to make headway as the tonic undoubtedly wore off. Another ball skipped off my face followed by more furious scribbling sounds, but I simply ignored it this time. Twilight seemed interested in the results as she peered at her notepad. Changing things up a bit, she shifted the contraption to the right so that the other end lined up with me instead. Whap. So far she was scoring a hundred percent, as the ball took the other path and managed to hit me yet again. She frowned and recorded the results before trying once again. Seeing a pattern forming, I was a little amused when she got frustrated and flipped it over to the other side. What, was she worried about defects in the cardboard? After six more tests with both ends, and twelve more collisions with my head, I saw her start to get a slightly crazed look in her eyes. "I don't understand! Why is this happening?!" she asked in obvious frustration. What part of the universe hating me did she not get? Rainbow, who had been watching the entire time, started to snicker before asking, "What are you doing, trying to find a measurement of how much gravity hates him?" I rolled my eyes, blaming her for secretly stealing my thought, no matter how true it might have been. Twilight didn't respond the way I thought she would, though. In fact, she didn't respond at all for a good ten seconds or so. Even Rainbow went from smirking to curious, to looking slightly worried. "Wait, gravity? You might just have something there, Rainbow!" she suddenly exclaimed, whipping back around to face me and launching the cardboard construction halfway through the spin. I gave her an uneasy grimace. "What do you mean, gravity? You're not going to throw me off a building or something, are you?" I questioned. It might have been a mildly paranoid guesstimate, but sometimes having a healthy air of caution was useful! She momentarily scowled before playfully batting me on the nose. "Relax, Mender. I told you that I wasn't going to hurt you anymore, and I meant it. Gravity isn't something I had considered, though. It's unlikely, as in order to have the required gravitational pull to manipulate something already containing inertia, you'd require a huge amount of mass, but it's worth a few tests, right?" she reasoned. Wait, was she seriously suggesting that I had a gravitational field strong enough to draw things towards me, to effect things that were not only inside of an atmosphere but already acting under its own inertia? The pure calculation escaped me at the moment, but even with some generous rounding, I doubted that was possible. Unless she was considering magical means, of course. Eh, what the heck? If the experiments were as mundane as bouncing a rubber ball off my head, I wasn't all that concerned. Yeah, I'd probably live to regret that thought. Maybe. I nodded nervously, and Twilight let out a squeal of delight. "Yes! I've been wanting to test the source of your seemingly insurmountable bad luck since meeting you! This is gonna be great! Hurry up, Rarity. Mender and I need to get back to the library for some experiments." She hopped lightly on her hooves while going on about it, and I sighed. Her version of 'great' seemed to significantly differ from mine. Sure, it would be nice to quantify so I knew what to avoid, but the process of getting there was liable to be painful, knowing the aspect of what we were testing. How else would one test 'bad luck' without subjecting the participant to events which could go horribly, horribly wrong? "Twilight dear, weren't you supposed to examine those things brought back from the forest? I hate to spoil your fun, of course, but you mustn't keep the Princesses waiting," Rarity reminded in a rather profoundly proper tone. It was probably to my benefit that she had. Twilight stopped bouncing and sighed wearily. "Yeah, I know. I'm just frustrated that I can't seem to properly identify the creature," she explained, energy seemingly leaking out of her at an alarming rate. "It might be a mutation. You should take potential variances into consideration," I suggested after a few seconds' consideration. My voice sounded strange to me for a moment, in a detached sort of way. There was the brief flickering of bodies strewn out before me, gaping burn holes seared into their flesh and horrible disfigurations present across their entire forms. The image was gone and instant later, and I realized once again that it was a memory. We had been familiar with mutations as well, it would seem. But the situation itself with no context didn't say much. Who was responsible for the mutations; us or the Grosh? Hopefully I would never find out. "I never thought two ponies could say so much, yet so little at the same time," Dash muttered, smirking again at the two of us. Twilight rolled her eyes again, but wore a smile this time. "Oh hush. You're probably right. I shouldn't doubt that I did the calculations wrong after I re-checked them all night. It could be a significant mutation to a manticore. The claws are very wrong, though," Twilight explained, agreeing with me for the first time in a while now. Rarity, who was down to my shoulders now with her trimming, smiled and nodded to her in assurance. "Of course, I have no doubt that you'll reach the right conclusion, Twilight. I have the utmost faith in you, and it's obvious that the town, and even the Princesses do as well. Even if you can't identify it exactly, giving a detailed explanation of what you have discovered would be invaluable, no?" Rarity reasoned calmly, which was a little surprising given the topic. One would think a resident in the town threatened would want a more definite solution to the state of emergency. Yet the white unicorn seemed the epitome of calmness and tranquility. Ironically, she threw more of a fuss over my traumatized fur than potential mortal danger in the forest. Twilight smiled pleasantly at her friend, giving a gentle nod in return. At this point, however, I really had to ask. "You seem really calm, Rarity. Shouldn't you be more concerned with the danger in the forest? That there might be danger to yourself or those you love? That, uh, I haven't seen Pinkie Pie for a good fifteen minutes?" I questioned, changing my flow halfway through as I looked around in realization. Wasn't the pink pony just on the couch next to me?! Glancing about, I confirmed my fears in that she was now entirely absent. Rarity banished all doubts with an amazingly feminine giggle. "Truly, you are a Gentlecolt to be concerned for my feelings, but a Lady simply must remain composed and dignified at all times. Sure, I'm concerned about the forest, but I must remain calm to deal with it. Oh, and Pinkie wandered back into the kitchen to say something, but left through the kitchen window a few seconds before I returned, parting not but with a sudden gasp," Rarity spoke softly, brushing her mane smoothly out of her eyes. Why the window?! Rainbow perked up from her hoof bath, both ears twitching slightly. "Ooh, something tells me another party is coming up, then. Finally! All this stress and work makes me really want to kick back and relax," she lazily exclaimed, drooping her head in a tired looking manner. "Regardless, I don't think anypony needs to worry about it. No matter what I can identify it as, it will only go as far as to let everypony know what to look for. The Princess will probably decide to send a group of hunters to try to capture the creature," Twilight furthered, nodding softly to herself while looking just as tired as before. Rarity nodded sympathetically before suggesting, "All the better to get it out of your mind sooner rather than later, Dear. We can make sure Mender gets returned to you after he's properly maintained." The whimsical, nonchalant manner in which she referenced me as an item was both shocking and depressing at the same time. Didn't I get a say in this? I distinctly remembered Rainbow's advice this morning about possibly not staying with Twilight anymore. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll see you later today, Mender. Try to arrive intact, this time," the lavender mare requested as she slowly stood up again and shook herself while stretching. Exhaling quietly after I realized I wasn't going to be spared from the braiding or humiliation, I slowly lowered myself into a lying position. Might as well be as comfortable as possible while being psychologically tormented. "Worry not. We'll make sure nothing happens to the dear," Rarity assured merrily, lightly trimming along my back now. Twilight gave a nod, then a final smile towards me before heading towards the door. Chapter 14In all honesty, I really didn't like daytime. There were numerous reasons, but a select few came to mind right away. Squinting from the glare, I slowly made my way towards the giant tree near the center of town. The Sun hadn't set yet and was at that frustratingly annoying angle where it partially blinded you when looking a certain direction. I certainly didn't need any help being blinded right now! The heat was stifling at the moment as well, given my longer than average coat. Rarity wasn't able to fully complete her trimming after Sweetie Belle and crew stormed into the place chirping about a slumber party. It had been a nightmare. "Why are you so fluffy?" "Aww, you're adorable!" "Yer lookin' ah little haggard there." All three fillies seemed to think something different about my look. Well, actually I think Apple Bloom was more commenting on my expression than anything. That didn't stop Sweetie Belle from pouncing on me and using me as a makeshift teddy bear. Apparently it was hard to cut my fur with her clinging to me, so now I was a little more, well, fuzzy than usual. Fluffy, if you would. Oh, and the part of my mane consisting of my bangs was braided, much to my dismay. Given my lack of a masculine build, I sincerely believed I could pass for a female at the moment, now. Not that current company seemed to mind. The timid yellow mare walked quietly to my right, in as much of a hurry to reach my destination as I was, which was to say, not at all. Fluttershy seemed withdrawn and distracted, but still maintained a smile on her face. She was quite pretty to look at, and I caught myself peeking over at her more than once. She'd insisted she had nothing further to do today until nighttime. I hadn't questioned her motives further than that. Our eyes met once again and we both blushed, looking away from each other. I suppose it was still a nice enough day, all things considered. I'd gotten my leg healed and my fur returned to some semblance of normalcy. I'd discovered I had my Cutie Mark, much to the disappointment of the three fillies. I hadn't escaped their wrath flawlessly, and had been forced to promise my time in helping them to acquire theirs as well. It wasn't a pretty memory, and I'd probably suppress it later today. Still, in comparison to my usual days, it was looking up. I hadn't been almost killed or suffered any blunt head trauma yet. The bouncy ball didn't count. I decided to only give credit if the impact was above a certain velocity. Honestly, it was the only way to keep a track record at all. Fluttershy shifted ever so slightly closer to me as she lowered her head again. I looked back at her hesitantly but she simply looked deep in thought. I kept walking alongside of her for a while longer before the concern finally got the better of me. If she was upset about something, I simply had to do something about it! To get her attention, I closed the half an inch distance between our shoulders and lightly brushed against her. She started slightly but looked over at me regardless, a light blush forming when she saw me looking back with lightly furrowed brows. "Are you all right, Fluttershy? You seem down," I asked softly. She momentarily looked surprised, but recovered quickly with a warm smile. "Oh, yes. Thank you for your concern, but I was just thinking," she returned softly after a moment's consideration. While I doubted this was anything out of the ordinary, I was still a little concerned for the already quiet and reserved pegasus. "About what, if I might ask? I don't like seeing you upset," I inquired as politely as I could manage. She blushed even further but kept her smile, adding a nod before furthering with, "I don't know why I'm so silly, but I keep thinking about what Twilight and I saw in your memories. It bothers me when I, um, think too much about it." Her revealed thoughts didn't surprise me all that much. I'd suspected that was what she was thinking about. "You don't have to deal with it all by yourself, you know. Don't be afraid to talk to me about it," I offered, slightly before my brain fully considered the implications of the statement, and I followed up with, "Or any of the girls of course. I'm sure any of them would gladly listen." The last thing I wanted was to have her think I was taking advantage of her or something! Was it too late already?! Fluttershy watched me carefully, neither suspicion nor true understanding in her eyes. It was unnerving after a second, and panicking after several. I fidgeted, wondering if she thought I was some sort of abuser or something. "Ah, I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't mean for it to sound like that, honest! All I want to do is help you. I'm not trying to take advantage of you or anything and I understand if you're not comfortable," I rapidly backpedaled, hoping it got to her before she jumped to conclusions and panicked. The buttermilk yellow pegasus momentarily looked surprised before, much to my shock, she started giggling merrily. It was an uncontrolled, pleasant sound to listen to as she shifted to snickering and swaying. "Oh Mender. You'll never change. That's a good thing of course! I wasn't mad at you and I wouldn't dare to consider you taking advantage of me. You're a very kind stallion, which is why I like you," she explained before leaning in and giving me a soft hug. As surprising as her trust in me was, I still felt relieved that she wasn't mad at me. Exhaling quietly, I rested my forehead against her shoulder. "Thank you again for worrying about me. I'm okay, though. It's just a bit hard to not think about what I saw when around you, still. You're so gentle, it's hard for me to understand how you could come from such a terrible place," she explained, voice rapidly losing confidence the longer she spoke. She shifted and looked down towards the dirt by the end, but still didn't make any attempt to move. "Just because I was there, didn't mean I agreed with the violence. A lot of soldiers justify the war like that, but others just want to protect those they care about, and the very place they call home," I justified, secretly calling upon the reasons I told myself that I had participated. She seemed confused and looked back up at me with a slightly tilted head. Her expression shifted to thoughtful a moment later when she asked, "So you joined the war to protect, right? I think I knew that already. What were you trying to protect?" That was, well, a very good question. I frowned and looked up at the radiant blue sky above us for a moment. Yeah, that was probably it. My eyes got lost in the azure shades and I relaxed, giving the yellow mare a gentle squeeze. "At first I thought it was for family, but I'm not sure I had any. Ultimately, it was the same reason I had when fighting the Grosh most recently. I wanted to protect those I cared for, and all the wonderful ponies that make this place special. The Equestrian way of life, I guess?" I reasoned, surprisingly enough for the first time. I'd not spent much time thinking about that day. Of course, it was kind of a miserable experience. I didn't know anything about this 'hero' thing, but if that was what it took, I'd rather leave the horrible pain and miserable death to somepony else. Of course, it was asked of me at the time so I didn't have a whole lot of choice. Fluttershy smiled in my silence and nodded, mirroring my earlier pose against my shoulder this time. "That makes me feel better. Even if you, um, hurt things, you did it for a reason you couldn't control, and to protect your way of life from the evil creatures. I just don't know. How did you make it through that and remain so nice?" she questioned again, pushing harder against me and shivering a little. I frowned, never liking to see her like this, and gave her another reassuring squeeze. "That level of... Well, let's just call it hatred, is definitely not normal. The emotions required to willingly end the life of something else doesn't sit well with me. It never has, I don't think. It's like it's a form of insanity, and I avoid it with all my might. Even on that ship when I was all alone, I still remembered why I was doing everything. It wasn't ever for me. I could only focus on what would happen if I let them figure out how to make a portal here. That was all that justified blowing up the ship. Stopping an evil and selfish creature from hurting everypony I loved. If there were any other way, Fluttershy, I would have taken it. I'm not a hero, and didn't even want to be there, but considering the alternatives..." My rambling died out slowly the tighter her hugging got. At some point, we'd switched places again, and she was back to hugging me. "Thank you. Just, thank you, Mender. That's what I'd been hoping all along. You aren't what those images hinted at, and that's all that matters. You, well, I'm just glad that you care so much about us. Thank you," she gushed, in her own soft and quiet way. A warm smile decorated her expression, and her gorgeous blue eyes shimmered in the sunlight. I couldn't help but smile as I gazed at her and gave a gentle nod. She was one of the mares I'd give my life to protect, hooves down. Hooves? I was suddenly amused by how I had started to adapt the vocabulary into my very thoughts. All amusement slipped and fell off the proverbial cliff as she leaned up suddenly and gave me a timid peck on my cheek. My eyes widened and I felt the fiery magma sensation explode into my face as I tried to suddenly process what she had just done. I must have looked silly, because she suddenly giggled and backed away a little, still smiling warmly but now mirroring my blush slightly. After several seconds, she lightly reached up again and closed the mouth I hadn't realized I'd let drop open. "That was for protecting us and being such a nice guy. Um, thank you. For putting up with me as well. I, uh, know I can be a bit, um, nervous sometimes and..." she started, looking back down at my hooves again. That fired up the thought processes once more! "Fluttershy!" I scolded lightly. She jumped with a start, eyes snapping open as she shuddered. "Oh! Uh, yes? I'm sorry!" she rapidly apologized, shrinking a little closer towards the ground. "No no. I just don't want you to think you're a burden. I like you, Fluttershy. You're a wonderful mare, and I'd say that even if I didn't think you were adorable, cute, beautiful, and have a massive crush on you. You're intelligent, interesting, kind, gentle, and care so much about everypony else. Honestly, I don't know how anypony could not like you," I pointed out, driving it as hard as I could towards her so she knew exactly how I felt. Predictably, her surprise and fear rapidly shifted to that of embarrassment and awkwardness. The color in her cheeks flared up even more, and oddly, I felt a little proud to have been the cause of her being absolutely adorable. She pawed at me with her right forehoof as if motioning that I had said too much and ponies might hear. "Oh you! I'm not, but... Thank you, but I just, well, oh my goodness, I can't even talk straight," she whispered, mostly to herself it seemed. She shook her head rapidly, causing her mane to shift side to side with a sway before rubbing her cheeks slowly. I smirked and took a bit of a chance. Leaning forward, I gently pecked her forehead before pulling back again. She was just too cute to resist! Besides, it was a show of affection more so than interest in anything else. The timid yellow mare locked up instantly, going absolutely rigid in surprise. Slowly, she lifted her head again to look back up at me, eyes widened to almost maximum size and shivering slightly as she stared. The blush in her cheeks held a shocking contrast to her blue eyes, and she was suddenly even more adorable than before. Her mouth was still open, having been in mid self-berating when I'd done it. Expanding my smirk, I reached up and gently closed her mouth with an odd sense of déjà vu. Her muzzle shifted to a smile instead, eyes softening as she watched me with her renewed blush still not lessening. The emotions behind it felt like they had changed, however. She gave me a quick, almost unnoticeable nod and stood up again, brushing against me with her shoulder before nudging her head towards the tree house library a few blocks in front of us. There was a definite feeling of elation as I returned her smile and nod. I'd made her feel better about something, and that felt even more awesome than figuring out an invention or equation, I suddenly realized. She was happy, and I had helped her get there. With a sudden burst of realization, I looked back at the silver gear adorning each of my flanks as Fluttershy moved ahead. At first I was irritated at it, but now that I think about it, the heart in the center made a little more sense. "Are you coming?" my gentle friend asked from a few meters ahead, her voice a little louder than usual, if not to only get the questioning over to me. Smiling more honestly this time, I turned back to her and nodded before trotting to catch up. This time I managed it with only a slight stumble... * * * * * Having armed guards posted outside of the door was concerning, I decided. At least I assumed they were guards, as they were dressed similarly to the ones I had seen with Celestia in my first encounter with the Princess. They were decked out in a quite different purple and blue color scheme; their chest plate held together by a large, impressive looking gemstone. Most striking, however, were their yellow eyes and bat-like wings instead of feathers. Wait, what in Equestria were they? I'd never heard of a pegasi with membrane wings instead! Of course, they were a little distorted and fuzzy, compliment of my less than stellar eyesight. Maybe they weren't ponies at all? Both guards to either side of the door gave me specifically a stern glare upon our approach. My usually timid companion seemed entirely undaunted, however. "Halt. We are to let nopony into the building without specific invitation. Exception is granted for you of course, Miss Fluttershy," the intimidating guard on the left hissed out upon my breaching spitting distance. I blinked but frowned, a little confused. "Uh, but I live here," I reasoned, unsure of what was going on. Both guards glared harder at me, but said absolutely nothing. "Oh dear. He really is telling the truth. Could you let him in, please?" Fluttershy asked quietly, looking back and forth between the guards and I. "I'm sorry, Miss Fluttershy. We have our orders. You may enter if you wish," the same guard reiterated, tone slightly less hostile this time. They had both visibly relaxed upon her vouching for me, I suddenly realized. Of course, Fluttershy was an Element of Harmony. That meant she was practically a living legend. For a moment, I was put back into perspective. How exactly had I met such wonderful ponies? Surely the odds were astronomically against me. "I'll go inside and talk to Twilight. Perhaps I can get permission for him to enter?" she suggested politely, oddly almost looking comfortable with the guard. I wondered what made her so relaxed. There was something I was definitely missing. Of course, I didn't have a clue as to why there were guards standing out here in the middle of the evening, or why the library would suddenly require armed security in the first place. Both guards nodded curtly and Fluttershy turned back to me, assuring, "I'll only be gone a moment. If you can't enter for some reason, I'll keep you company out here, okay?" I blushed but shook my head. "I can find something to do until I can enter. You don't have to keep me company." Fluttershy's eyes softened, her quiet exhale causing her mane to sway softly. That small smile flashed across her muzzle again and she shook her head. "Oh, you're just so cute and nice! I'll come back out and steal you away to my cottage if you can't enter for some reason," she added, eyes closing momentarily as she gave a cute little nod. Oh crap. Think innocent thoughts, Mender! She's Fluttershy, so she surely meant nothing by it. "We can have a perfectly good time without them if they want to be mean," she tacked on after I didn’t respond due to fighting back a blush. Damn it! The heat flooded into my cheeks and I coughed lightly, trying to dispel both the obviously inaccurate innuendos drifting into my head, and the urge to simply take her up on the offer right then and there. She'd been a lot nicer than Twilight had to me so far. I doubted staying in the same house with the stressed out unicorn was all that healthy for our relationship anyway. "I think I'd like that. Thank you, Fluttershy," I returned in an appreciative manner, trying my hardest not to sound creepy. Or let her figure out the thoughts I was trying to banish. If the timid pegasus was bothered, she was being amazingly stoic about it. Instead, she let out a little giggle and nodded. She surprised me yet again with a light nuzzle to my shoulder before fluttering backwards and rotating to land in front of the door. I watched her graceful movements compulsively, as if she had some sort of mesmerizing effect on me. Yeah, I definitely liked the cute yellow mare. Of course, I also liked the beautiful lavender unicorn who was somewhere inside. As much as she scared the crap out of me and was more than a little high strung, she gave me excited little butterflies in my stomach whenever she got too close. I got along the best with both of them, and each shared compatible yet varying traits with me. I frowned, realizing how badly I didn't want to choose between them. Well, for now, I wouldn't have to. I snapped out of it just in time to see the guard on the right give me a knowing, rather suggestive wink before gesturing towards the mare opening the door. The less than subtle reference was followed by an even more obvious double eyebrow flick, and I sighed. "I'll be right back, Mender," the mare in question assured, glancing back at me before giving a nod and walking inside. I watched the light dwindle to a mere crack before fading completely as she shut the door again. They wasted next to no time after the door shut. "Wow, what a mare! This guy is so lucky to have none other than the Element of Kindness hot for him!" the guard on the right exclaimed wistfully. What the...? "I am still here, you know?" I reminded irritably. If they heard me, they certainly didn't acknowledge it. "Ho! You don't know the half of it. I overheard the Princesses discussing the fact that he's already dating none other than Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic!" the left one shot back. The princesses shared gossip like that? Wait a minute. "You knew who I was all along!" I deduced out loud. For all the reaction I got, I might as well have been a ghost. "Whoa, Fluttershy would never help the jerk cheat on one of her best friends!" the right one denied, sounding appalled. I'm the jerk?! "That's just it, don't you see? They're cooperating, if ya get my drift," the other, hear by classified as Jerk One, pointed out. By reduction, the newly labeled Jerk Two suddenly got a look of dawning comprehension. "The lucky stud! A herd is kinda rare by itself, but one with two of the Elements of Harmony?!" Jerk Two exclaimed in shock. "I'm still here! And you knew who I was all along?!" I finally growled out in an irritated tone, stamping both hooves to the ground as emphasis. Jerk One snorted and looked back at me. "Of course we did," he confirmed, speaking as if I should already know that. Jerk Two, of course, nodded in agreement. "Think about it. We get to play the 'Just Following Orders' routine and watch you squirm. Then you get both mares inside to pity you and lay on the good stuff!" he explained, causing heat to shoot into my cheeks as I realized what he was insinuating. "What if I didn't want their pity? That seems kind of pathetic to me," I groaned out, shaking my head rapidly. It was mostly in disagreement, but it also helped clear it of that annoying heat. Jerk Two shook his head as well but in a slower, more disappointed looking fashion. "Clearly you've never tried it. Pity Sex is the best sex," he pointed out, gesturing empathically towards me with a hoof. My ears flattened back and I glared, a little irked at this point. "Uh, isn't that disrespectful to the mares? I care for them. Besides, there are more important things than just sex, you know. Both are truly amazing mares and frankly, I should be lucky that they like me back," I tried to explain. Both guards stared at me like I had sprouted mutant tentacles out my back or something. I blinked a couple times and resisted the urge to turn around and check. "That's single-handedly the most pansy thing I've ever heard. Let me guess, you haven't gotten any since you got here, right?" he inquired in a snide sort of curiosity. Oops, back to being mad. I grimaced before glaring at him again. What was wrong with these stallions?! Was that truly all they thought about? Sure, I admit to entertaining the idea a couple of times, too, but they seemed downright obsessed with it! "I've been a little too busy trying to stay alive, sorry! There are more important things, you know!" I shot back, suddenly finding myself oddly on the defensive. It wasn't that big of a deal! "Ha! Called it. See how far 'respecting' them has got you? Mares don't want to be respected. They want to be teased and toyed with! Be bad and daring, and they'll crawl all over you," Jerk One exclaimed, rearing slightly and 'punching' the air a bit with his hooves. My opinion of him plummeted. Jerk Two shook his head and raised an eyebrow over at his friend. "I was the one who called it, stupid. But he has a point," he concurred, looking back to me before continuing with, "Even the shy, reserved Fluttershy would probably put out if you pressured her a little bit and acted a little spunky. Heck, act masculine in general. You do kind of look like a mare." Now I didn't know which to be angrier with him for. He insulted both myself and Fluttershy in that statement. The heat got stuck in my cheeks, but for different reasons this time. "Don't talk that way about Fluttershy! She's not like that and deserves your respect," I admonished, voice low and struggling to keep it under control. It wasn't often that I got mad, I realized. I didn't know what to do with all of the anger. It wasn't exactly a feeling I was comfortable with. Still, these bastards deserved it if I just so happened to form a few barriers and knock their skulls around a bit, right? Jerk Two's vague image smirked. It was hard to see details when everything was fuzzy and out of focus, but I'm pretty sure he smirked. At least, that's what would have fit in context. "Or you'll what? Braid my mane?" he challenged. As funny as that would be, turning off his gravity for a few hours sounded infinitely more promising. "Teach you some proper manners, of course. Aren't you guards supposed to be stoic and polite?" I suddenly remembered, surprised at the noticeable difference. It was like night and… day? "Does it look like we're wearing gold to you?" Jerk One coughed lightly, drawing both of our attention to him before suggesting, "Uh, I really don't think that attacking him is such a good idea." My opinion of him increased a few notches. A guard attacking a pony in the street with little to no provocation didn't sound too legal. "Don't join him in Pansy-land. I'll just show him why we're guards real fast. Don't worry," the second guard assured, stomping the steps they were on with his front hooves as he slammed back down and glared at me. My eyes narrowed as I focused on him instantly. At least I would have, had a low but loud creaking noise not sounded from the wall behind him, expanding up the side of the tree. What the hell?! That didn't sound too good. Glancing up the tree, I tried to spot any noticeable structural integrity damage. Movement below my vision flickered forwards at that exact moment. Instinctively, I threw up my barrier across my chest, neck, and face at skin level just as he smashed into me as hard as he could. Sparks flew as his armor scraped harshly off my barrier and I slid backwards from the force of the impact, wincing a little. Well, that hadn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. "Ow, ponyfeathers! That felt like hitting a brick wall," the idiot exclaimed, sounding irritated as he glared back up at me. I started to get ready to rear, deciding that bucking him in the face with a shield-reinforced hoof wasn’t such a bad idea. Movement caught my eye first, however. My eyes widened and I maximized my shield as a full tree branch, a few dozen pounds of leaves, assorted bark, a few shingles, and a very pissed off squirrel landed on him an instant later. He let out a high-pitched scream at the top of his lungs as the seriously offended furry attacker seemingly latched onto his nose with an inspiring level of bloodlust. Hey, that would have landed on me had he not knocked me out of the way! Suddenly I was happy about his sudden attack. Jerk One sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s what I was talking about. He’s supposed to be, like, cursed with abysmal luck or something, which would probably rub off on you if you attacked him,” he explained. Well, there went all my respect for him. Anything further he was going to say was interrupted by the library’s door slamming open, assumingly flattening him into the side of the building. "Oh for crying out loud! First you guys decide to have a perverse shouting match out here, and then you destroy a section of my house in a fight?!" I suddenly heard Twilight yell from the doorway. Oh crap. Never mind; we were all dead. Well, more dead in the flattened guard's case. "I'm sorry!" I preemptively apologized, shrinking down as far as I could manage; mostly to show respect, but also to hide the sensitive bits that were in the back. More likely that she'd totally forget they were there than willingly attack them, but that was still probably just as bad. Twilight momentarily gave me a deadpan look before shaking her head and revealing, "Mender, I heard most of the conversation. You didn't do anything wrong." Oh. Wait, she heard that?! "I'm sorry!" I repeated a heartbeat later for the new reason this time, causing her to slap her hoof to her forehead, right under her horn. "Um, I'm sorry, too. We shouldn't have eavesdropped," Fluttershy spoke up a moment later, causing me to blush and start to smile at her as she peeked out from around the doorframe. Twilight sighed again and turned around to Fluttershy. "Oh for Celestia's sake! It's not eavesdropping if we can hear it through three walls, Fluttershy," she pointed out, making a very solid point. Were we really being that loud? "What does our sibling have to do with this situation?" I heard asked from somewhere inside suddenly. Was that Princess Luna? She had a very good question, however. For a moment, I could have sworn I saw Twilight twitch sporadically. "Okay, inside! Now!" she growled out. Suddenly, I found myself yanked off the ground in a light purple aura. Uh oh. My 'inescapable pain' alarm started going off like crazy. Jerk Two yelled as the furry avenger was torn from his face, taking a tiny bit of his nose with him, and he himself was similarly lifted into the air. I braced for impact and Fluttershy dove out of the way as the guard and I were tossed through the door of the library at high velocity... * * * * * Pleasantly, the couch broke my fall. I suddenly had a deep respect and love for this piece of furniture. Not only was it a nice bed, party instrument, and looked fashionable, but it was also an amazing landing pad. Truly a universally appreciated device! The guard wasn't quite so lucky, having the bookcase, end table, and shame to block his fall. Further, I was righted by an invisible force almost instantly and promptly had a pillow adjusted next to me. I blinked as I was gently set down on the cushion and pillow. Twilight walked up with a smile this time. Oddly, the gentle treatment kind of scared me, too. Was she just trying to lull me into a false sense of security? Regardless, I still managed to glance about the room, having gotten a less than satisfactory examination while flying through the air upside down. The tree samples were still organized in a vague half circle, with pieces of paper, notes, and tracing strewn about. Aside from the crackling fire, the room was devoid of lights and looked very soft, almost homely. It gave a warm sensation, which was welcome, as it was indeed getting a little nippy outside. Maybe I'd ask Rarity for a scarf or hat alongside the suit she was going to be forcing me to wear. I could ask for something in return for being hauled to a foreign city to be paraded about as a social accessory, right? I hoped a simple knit hat and scarf weren't too expensive. Movement caught my eye, however, and I glanced back to the fallen pile of books. The guard groaned as he crawled out from under it a moment later. Suddenly, the entire collection drifted into the air and sorted themselves neatly before returning to the shelf they came from. They were coated in a magical aura that was distinctly unfamiliar, I noticed. Seconds later, the guard himself was grabbed and hauled into the air as well. "SO, WHAT HAS THOU TO SAY IN THY DEFENSE?! THOUST MADE A MOCKERY OF THINE TRAINING ON THE FIRST MISSION OUTSIDE OF THE CASTLE! WE ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED!” was suddenly screamed out on a deafening level, causing me to wince and slam my face into the pillow to drown out the noise. What the hell was that?! The noise stopped, apparently waiting for a response. I took a risk and peeked out over my comfortable hiding spot at the now rigid and trembling guard drifting in the air. He'd slammed his eyes shut and was curled into a little defensive ball, looking remarkably like I probably have on occasion. My eyes shifted to the left to see an exceedingly large and imposing figure standing at the base of the stairs. Her wings were expanded fully and a radiating flow of what almost appeared to be space itself came from her mane. Unfortunately, the details were lost to me as she was still a rather fuzzy blob. A very imposing, scary blob, but still a fuzzy blob. Her size was a little less than that of Celestia, I noticed. Was she younger? Twilight coughed lightly. "Princess Luna, you're slipping," she suddenly reminded; of what I didn't know. The figure gave a gentle start and glanced at Twilight momentarily before coughing lightly as well. "Ah, I apologize. We, uh, I tend to get excited and forget," she apologized, voice dropping down to a much more manageable level. "I-I'm sorry, your highness! I shouldn't have attacked an unarmed, unprovoked target," the guard practically pleaded through his own trembling hooves he was using to cover his face now. Twilight went from smiling to glaring at him with frightening speed. "That's it? Don't forget we heard the entire conversation prior to that," she pointed out. "Indeed! You have insulted both our dear Fluttershy, and this kind mare with your words! Apologize to them as well," Princess Luna instructed. Mare? My cheeks lit up again and I looked over at the darkened, midnight blue blob. Was she referring to me? Fluttershy had closed the door and caught up with us by then. Idly, I wondered if she'd also scraped the other guard from the side of the building. "Oh, it's all right, Princess Luna. I don't need an, um, apology," she declined politely. "Nonsense. As a guard, no, as a proper stallion, he should learn to not speak to mares that way!" Luna vehemently declared with a surprising amount of passion. Of course, given her first outburst, I suppose I should just count myself lucky that I wasn't blown through the wall. As a further enlightenment, I realized she was indeed talking about me. Twilight looked over at me again before letting out a biting, knowing giggle and trying to correct, "Uh, Princess Luna? I don't think that you..." The Princess waived the statement with a hoof gesture, shaking the quivering ball of fur and armor with her magic. "Well?! Thou must apologize!" she ordered again, slipping back into that extremely archaic form of speech. It was hard to understand what she was saying, but I managed to grasp the context well enough. Kind of reminded me of something I had read a long time ago. Even if the words were a fabrication, one could still understand what was being said by their place in the sentence and the context involved. It was quite fascinating. A pity I couldn't remember the name of the book. "But, um, but that's a-" the guard started to mumble before another violent shake cut him off. Princess Luna gave him another stern glare, causing him to curl up again. "I'm sorry, Miss! I didn't mean to insult you and Fluttershy," he finally just gave in and apologized. As much as I disliked being called a female, how exactly did one correct what was considered essentially a physical Goddess? "Good. For now, go back to thy duties. We'll be having another chat in time for debriefing," the Princess assured before sliding him in the general direction of the door. He rolled once before scrambling to his hooves and moving almost as fast as I did when being chased by 'carnivorous' ponies. Once the door finally slammed shut, Twilight burst into copious amounts of giggling. Sighing, I glanced back at her, already knowing she was looking right at me. Princess Luna gave us a curious look, and the lavender unicorn burst into laughter, unable to contain it any further. "Pray tell, what is so funny?" the Princess of the night asked curiously, interestingly enough, not seeming mad in the slightest. At least, I think I vaguely recalled that was one of her formal titles from that book Twilight had given me back in the hospital. Twilight must be on really good terms with her, too. Wait, I think I read about this somewhere before. "Oh my. Well, this is Moon Mender, Princess. He, um, is kind of a stallion," Fluttershy chimed in with her usual quiet, soft voice. She slowly got up on the couch next to me and relaxed against the back of it, shifting her mane out of the way of her eyes as she got situated. Princess Luna stared quietly at me for a few seconds before leaning closer, apparently to get a better look. I was proven uncomfortably incorrect when she sniffed a few times, then leaned back. "Subtle, but yes. Oh dear. I seem to have committed a faux pas in front of a dear friend. Would you accept my apologies, thou with such a pleasing name?" the Princess requested, gently extending a forehoof towards me. Pleasing name? Oh yes, she was the Princess of the Moon as well. Gently tapping my hoof against hers, we cordially shook them up and down for a moment. "It's perfectly fine, Princess Luna. It's a pleasure to meet you," I spoke, mentally grinding through the list of possible polite and proper things I should be doing in this situation. The books I'd read a while ago had some, but my memory wasn't the greatest. The moon princess smiled warmly and nodded at my gesture, so I must have done well enough. Twilight snorted lightly, however, pointing out, "You seem perfectly content to give her formal titles." Oh, this was about Celestia again. I was about to glare at her once more when Princess Luna giggled lightly instead, cutting off hostilities. "Oh, if my memory serves and this is the correct Moon Mender, my sister gave him full permission to refer to her as either Celestia or Tia. She requested it, in fact," she pointed out a second later. Twilight visibly deflated, going from glaring at me to staring in surprise and horror at Princess Luna. I coughed lightly before the situation could be derailed further and corrected, "Technically, she was pretending to be a normal friend of Twilight at the time to get me to drop my guard, so I don't want to assume the offer still stands." Sure, I might assume that ponies were carnivorous or that they had selective breeding rituals and enslaved half their species, but calling a princess the wrong thing was just plain silly. "She, uh, she did what?" the now flustered lavender unicorn asked, surprisingly enough, directed at me instead. "He speaks the truth. Tia felt she had to catch him acting as his true self so she could be absolutely sure that he was no danger to her, well, our subjects. She has properly apologized and even enjoyed their lunch date, however. She doesn't get many opportunities to just be herself, you understand, and I believe she wished to preserve that relationship as real instead of acting," Princess Luna explained, bringing a shocking level of insight into play about her sister. Twilight gave one elongated, slow blink, before looking back at Princess Luna. "So she wants to be his friend?" she questioned with a light edge of skepticism that was slightly offending. I swallowed my irritation, not wanting to fight with the mare again. Well, not that it was really fighting. I seemed to do more running away than anything. That was kind of depressing, now that I thought about it further. The worst part was that I had nopony to blame except for myself. "Is that so hard to understand? My sister is an excellent judge of character, and has openly admitted that she trusts him and finds no direct danger in him whatsoever. If you recall, she should have explained that the reason she had you watching him was due to his link to danger, not what he directly represented himself," she reminded, unknowingly hitting a raging nerve in both of us. Exhaling quietly, I looked away from the Princess and down at the couch cushion again. This was exactly what I didn't want to think about right now. I already knew that Twilight had essentially been told to spy on me, but now I realized that a large extent of that had been from Twilight herself rather than Celestia. Twilight was the one who didn't necessarily trust me. After a moment's consideration, I decided that I technically had already known that. A lot of the anger slowly dissolved after that. Fluttershy coughed after almost five solid seconds of utter silence. "You know she's very sorry for that, Mender. She apologized already," she whispered softly into the back of my ear. I felt her gentle hooves massaging lightly into my back and sighed, shifting a little closer to her. She always managed to find a way to comfort ponies that were in distress, I noticed. The kindness she represented was one of the reasons I liked her so much. Risking a glance back up at Twilight, I saw her staring softly back at me. There were strange emotions in her eyes. A mixture of anger to some degree, but what almost looked like regret as well. I didn't want to jump to conclusions again, however. She gave a soft nod upon catching my eye and added, "I am sorry for spying on you, Mender. I know you'd never hurt us intentionally, and I guess I should focus on my own advice. If Princess Celestia says you're not a threat, I should really believe her." It was more than a little surprising to hear the stubborn unicorn say as much, but it made the butterflies come back as well. She smiled when I did and leaned in, giving me a light nuzzle along the side of my jaw. It was an extremely affectionate gesture, and I blushed lightly as she backed up a little again. "Oh, that's right. I forgot that Tia had said he was your mate now. I must compliment your choice. He's a kind soul," Princess Luna suddenly complimented politely. Twilight went from smiling to blindly lurching sideways in an instant. I caught her by the shoulder before she fell off the couch, thankfully! Fluttershy let out a timid squeak behind me; from either Twilight's almost falling or the word itself, I wasn't sure. "M-My what?!" Twilight demanded, suddenly acquiring an embarrassed stutter. I blushed deeper as well, but took it in stride considering the Princess thought I was a mare less than three minutes ago. At least that meant she had cemented my gender in her head, which I was thankful for. "Your mate? Did I misspeak? It has been a while and I'm unfortunately out of touch with more modern language," she admitted awkwardly. Oh yeah! She was locked away on the moon for a thousand years and just recently came back, saved by the Elements of Harmony themselves. That's why she was so friendly with them. Fluttershy shrank against my back, burying her face in my fur. Twilight groaned lightly, red furiously attempting to take over her cheeks, but managed to explain, "That title is usually reserved for a couple who have, um, actually been intimate with each other. Uh, Mender and I haven't gone that far." Her words were meticulously chosen as she seemingly struggled to maintain her voice. The blank stare she received from the Princess in return was less than helpful. "We've only been, um, dating for a couple days, technically," I tried to chip in, hoping that I had the terminology right. I was probably worse off than Princess Luna. Twilight squeaked in surprise and looked back at me in shock, face flaring up with a pink tint. "You technically never asked me out! We're kind of just experimenting, right?" she rapidly questioned, voice edged with a trace of hysteria. My smile dropped as fast as my thoughts. What did asking her to go somewhere have to do with dating? Did she actually like me or was it just one big experiment to her? "Well, that hardly seems proper. From the letters you wrote to my sister, I almost thought-" Princess Luna stated behind me, before being interrupted by a now flustered Twilight. "No! Those letters were personal. Um, please don't talk about them in front of everypony," she requested quickly. It was too suspicious to ignore, of course. She doubtlessly wanted to prevent me from hearing them. What had she sent to Celestia? Did she know something about the link between worlds that she hadn't told me? I was suddenly extremely suspicious, but didn't have much to go on. The timid yellow pegasus behind me spoke up instead. "Um, if it's not too impolite to say, I think you're letting yourself get too flustered. Mender surely isn't pushing you into anything, right?" she cautioned, sounding a little on the ironic side. Advice about staying calm coming from Fluttershy was interesting indeed. Although she probably did have more insight into it than most. Twilight frowned as she looked past me at her friend. Twice, she opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. Normally she wasn't one to mince words. I waited patiently, but Princess Luna seemingly lacked the virtue in this regard. "Don't be afraid to admit what you're actually feeling, Twilight Sparkle. It doesn't do either of you justice. You taught me to be true to myself," she suggested softly, looking solemn but maintaining a little smile. It made me wonder what it was like to be locked away for a thousand years. Surely she was a definition of stoic as she wasn't stark-raving mad as I'd probably be after that. I was both impressed and nervous as I caught the same weight of time behind her eyes that her sister possessed. To be that immensely old and have no risk of mortality with age was absolutely foreign. Twilight snapped me out of my thoughts by sighing suddenly. Actually, it probably wasn't suddenly as I hadn't been paying attention again. "You two are right, of course. I haven't been pushed into anything by Mender. Honestly, it's kind of been the opposite," she admitted quietly. Fluttershy let out a low gasp, but I headed her potential worry with a chuckle. The last thing I wanted was Fluttershy being mad at Twilight, so I decided to disrupt that chain of thoughts before it got anywhere. "We have a lot in common and I enjoy being around you. I get excited, flustered, and happy all at once when I'm with you, and honestly, it's a little scary. I definitely like it, though, and hope you feel the same," I explained slowly, feeling more and more awkward the longer I went on. I knew I was blushing, but it made me feel oddly better as I saw the lavender unicorn following suit. She nodded slowly before admitting, "At first, you were interesting: a mystery to be tested and solved. Then the mystery shifted as I learned more about you. It went from trying to figure out your past and magic, to trying to figure out why you were fun to be around and such. Then I started getting scared the longer I thought about it and the more I couldn't scientifically justify it. It got worse when I realized I couldn't stop thinking about it, either. I tried to say that you were just like my wonderful friends and that I liked hanging out with them, too, but I don't really want to kiss Rainbow Dash or cuddle with Rarity. It's not that they're female; you went from a mystery I wanted to solve to a truly interesting, kind, friendly odd ball that I just want to pounce on playfully and hug. It's compulsive! It's addictive! It's..." Her admission turned more into a rant the longer she went on. This was the first time she was actually explaining things from her perspective, however. It was as insightful as it was embarrassing, and I could hardly believe that I had caused such a reaction in her! Was this normal or had I done something wrong? Curiously, Princess Luna smiled instead. "...love? You like him, my friend. It may be scary, but there's nothing wrong with how you feel. Given the chance, your feelings could blossom into something truly beautiful. Take it slow and relax," the extremely wise Princess of the Moon suggested. Fluttershy's mood shifted completely as she murmured, "It's so cute. You two are really good for each other. Even without considering my place in things, I think you really have something special." The lavender unicorn finally smiled and looked back up fully with that said. There was a long pause as her bright, violet eyes seemed to almost bore into my very soul. A wave of apprehension spilled through me as I saw her slowly tense up the longer she stared. Her right hoof fidgeted visibly, and I could practically see the gears spinning madly in her mind. This was either going to be really good, or I would wake up a few days from now in the hospital. Well, it had been a little while since I'd seen Nurse Redheart, so it would be nice to catch up. The nervous unicorn looked down for a fraction of a second before nodding to nopony in particular and asking, "Moon Mender, will you be my coltfriend? Officially?" There was a long pause where I was all but certain that my heart had stopped. Was I dreaming? Did I die at some point and not notice? If this was the afterlife, it was off to a very nice start. "I, uh, yes, of course!" I assured, suddenly having trouble ordering my thoughts. The cute unicorn, my now fillyfriend, leaned forward and gently kissed me on the lips, a soft smile decorating her features. It was brief, her pulling back a moment later, but warmth spread through me uncontrollably regardless. "I thought you'd say yes, but I wanted to be sure this time. Now it's official," Twilight acknowledged after I opened my eyes again. "Aww!" Fluttershy squeaked from next to us now. I glanced over and saw her eyes were soft and watery, a large smile adorning her face. "More like gross," suddenly sounded from the back of the sofa, on my right. I started and turned to face the familiar, male voice. Spike sat on the top of the sofa, holding a large roll of paper in his arms. Twilight herself did an about-face, staring at her assistant in shock before turning sheepish, blush rising. "Spike! When did you get back?" she asked quickly, obviously attempting to change the subject. Spike rolled his eyes but held up the paper in his hands. "I got back, like, five minutes ago. This is the map you wanted from the mayor's office. She wasn't very pleased at being woken up until she found out that Princess Luna had requested the map," the tiny dragon expounded irritably. I was surprised at how easily he accepted the subject change, then decided he probably was too young to care. Princess Luna’s ears perked up. "Oh, thank you, dear Spike! These are the maps the scouts made of the discovery sites in the forest," Princess Luna enlightened, looking exceedingly pleased as she lifted the roll of paper out of his hands with her magic. I was suddenly extremely curious as she unrolled it. Now that I was back among the living and seemed to be staying that way for a reasonable amount of time, I figured it might be interesting to discover just how close to death I had come. If a massive, carnivorous beast had wandered through the forest the night before, I'd have to say I'm probably lucky this time. Twilight grinned as she noticed my sudden interest in the scroll. I tuned back towards her just in time to catch her pleased nod. "That's what we were doing before you got here. Princess Luna is here to take a look at what I've found so far, and figure out the best course of action in dealing with the situation," she explained, nodding towards the roll of paper. I glanced as the Princess rotated it, and saw a surprisingly detailed map. It showed elevations and terrain, and had three areas circled with several smaller marks inside of them. It looked almost like a tactics map, but I knew they were probably marking evidence. "What exactly do you think it is?" I asked, swallowing softly. I'd seen pictures of a manticore in the books I'd read so far, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. Those I knew to be in the forest, after all. Twilight frowned and shook her head, looking a little frustrated, I'd guess. "That's the problem. I don't know exactly what it is. From the claw markings, it's like nothing I've seen before. The impact angle makes the shape of the claws all wrong. They're formed into too harsh of a curve and far too honed to be a manticore, which has much smaller claws. Further, from the point of impact and depth of the cuts, the amount of force applied should have broken the claws. That indicates something tougher than what we're used to dealing with on, what I think, is a significantly larger body to generate that much strength," she deduced carefully. Fluttershy grew smaller the longer Twilight spoke, shrinking herself against my back until she was hiding fully behind me. Smiling to myself, my protective urges kicked in again and I pulled the blanket off the top of the sofa in as visible a manner as I could. The timid yellow mare watched me curiously, then blushed as I wrapped her up in the blanket and tucked her against my side. "Um, thank you, Mender," she whispered before burying her face in the blanket further. Twilight momentarily smiled at the scene, but Princess Luna interrupted with, "It's all right that you can't identify it completely. It might be something entirely new." She was examining the map instead of looking at us, however, and wore a contemplative expression. I frowned. Maybe not new, but a little bit different? "I'm not sure if it's applicable, but it might be a mutation. Manticore, maybe? It might be more helpful if you just say what's absolutely definite," I reasoned, bringing up my earlier thought. Twilight gave me a blank look before nodding. "A mutation would also make sense, although it's strange we've not seen the signs of genetic change sooner," she agreed, looking over at her diagrams that were near the log sections strewn about the main room. The sheets lifted into the air with her familiar aura, and shot over to where we were on the couch a moment later. Twilight cleared her throat lightly as she examined the notes again. "There's not a huge amount of data that could be gleaned from the samples, but here's what I have so far. With shape and size comparisons between all three, I concluded that the claws were over half a foot in length and curved at an almost thirty degree rotation. Further, the depth of the blow along with the fragmenting of the wood further down indicates at least five hundred pounds of pressure applied over an unknown, but assumed instant duration. That's over seventy-five percent more than what the strongest recorded manticore was capable of," she read quietly, scanning further along after she finished. Princess Luna sighed and put the map down. "While interesting and not really good news, that doesn't give us a lot of data," she returned, shaking her head slowly. "Without bite marks, too, any further information about sociology or diet would be only hypothetical," Twilight defended, looking displeased. I smiled to her and shook my head. "You've figured out a lot, Twilight. From what you explained, those don't sound like utility-based claws. It's just a hypothesis, but there's a very good chance that it's a hunter. That means it's either omnivorous or carnivorous," I reasoned, trying to further defend her work. I doubted I had to, but I truly wanted to, I discovered. Twilight furrowed her brow, but nodded. "That's true. It's more than likely," she agreed, before smiling again and gazing softly at me. "Wouldn't there be, uh, evidence of it being around other than just the claw marks? I mean, you know," Spike spoke up, sounding a little unnerved. Princess Luna sighed and shook her head in return. "Alas, it is not so. Aside from the destruction to the woodlands itself, there was no other evidence of its existence. Further, the path becomes extremely hard to track the further into the forest it goes. The hunters think it might have turned as it moved, but they were unable to track it due to the forest becoming extremely difficult to navigate," she answered, shooting down yet another lead. "What caused it to, um, be so angry at the trees though? Trees don't go out of their way to hurt anypony," Fluttershy questioned, sounding oddly like she was sympathetic to the trees' plight rather than simply curious. Although that wouldn't necessarily surprise me. Nopony said anything. Well, it was more because I didn't think there was a knowable answer at this point. Twilight finally shook her head a good ten seconds later. "I honestly don't know, Fluttershy. It might have been scared and panicking, or in a rage about something. There were no known casualties of animal life," she finally admitted, looking as bewildered as I felt. It sounded like a predator, but didn't do anything akin to such. It was weird to say the least. We were interrupted by Spike letting forth an inspiring yawn, however. "Is that all you need, Twilight? I'm getting kind of tired," he groaned quietly, eyes suddenly drooping. The lavender mare smiled and nodded gently to him before giving a light nuzzle to the small dragon. "Of course, Spike. You've been an amazing help and it's way past your bedtime. Go get some rest. You've earned it," she agreed, maintaining her warm smile towards him. He mirrored it a second later and nodded before hopping off the couch and wandering towards the stairs with a slight sway to his path. I watched him with certain envy, suddenly realizing how close he and Twilight were. He wasn't just her assistant, that was for sure. She treated him almost like a son or little brother, and it was very cute to watch. "The young one has a point. I have more than enough information to give the hunters. Hopefully, we'll at least be able to catch a glimpse of this thing soon. I should retire back to the forest, however. They're expecting my return soon," Princess Luna excused politely, standing up fully again. Even if she wasn't as large as Celestia, I still found myself a little intimidated as she became much larger upon righting herself. "Oh, of course, your highness. Thank you for stopping by. I'll certainly continue to look into this matter," Twilight assured, suddenly looking a little flustered by the sudden departure. Fluttershy was much more reserved and peeked out of her blankets at the Princess of the Moon. "It was nice seeing you again, Princess Luna. I hope you travel safely." I smiled down at the peeking mare, deciding that she was overwhelmingly adorable no matter what she did. Where Twilight inspired nervous butterflies and a certain level of similar tastes, Fluttershy instead made a heat wrap around my chest and gave me a huge urge to just hold her until she was afraid of nothing else ever again. Twilight's flank almost knocked me sideways off the couch as she bumped it against me. "Careful there, Casanova. She wants to wait, and I'm your only fillyfriend at the moment, remember?" she belted out, twinge of playfulness injected into her voice as she smirked at me. I blushed and coughed lightly as Fluttershy looked back at me, air of confusion present. Princess Luna just laughed, however, a true and hearty one that she seemed pleased with when it was done. "It was truly a pleasure, Moon Mender. Thou are very much to our tastes, and we hope to visit again soon. We are happy for Twilight in her, how do you young ponies say, 'catch'?" she asked, her request for assurance feeling extremely humorous. Laughing would have been bad, however, so I resisted to the best of my capabilities. Twilight snickered, having obviously more free reign then I did with the Princess. "Thank you, Princess Luna. He is indeed quite a catch, you're right," she surprisingly agreed, causing another burst of heat to enter my cheeks. She gave a gleeful grin, and I suddenly realized she was enjoying embarrassing me. "You're a horrible mare," I muttered, glancing away from her excessively mirthful expression and further earning a laugh from the lavender unicorn. "We shall return later, possibly tomorrow night! Try not to murder each other in the meantime," the Princess requested as she headed for the door, interrupting our charade. Fluttershy ducked back under the blanket as she left, and I idly wondered if she was going to come out long enough to go home tonight. Twilight waved goodbye politely until the door fully closed. She abruptly stopped at the same time I raised my eyebrow towards the sudden screaming outside. "THOU MIGHT YET GO BACK TO BASIC TRAINING IF A REPEAT OF THIS HAPPENS! WE WILL FULLY DEBRIEF THYSELF UPON ARRIVAL BACK TO THE CASTLE, AND PUNISHMENT SHALL BE DEALT OUT! DOES THOU UNDERSTAND?!" was screamed by a very pissed off Princess Luna the second the door closed. Twilight swallowed wearily, eyes still wide as she watched the door. Fluttershy burrowed deeper into the blankets and further against me instead, almost as if she was trying to slip under the cushion I sat on and hide completely. Oh dear. I kind of felt bad for the guy now. Kind of. "Um, Twilight? Can I, uh, maybe ask you a question, if it's not too much trouble?" Fluttershy whimpered from her hiding spot. Twilight snapped out of her horrified expression long enough to glance down at the shifting blanket that now resided partially under me. "Oh, of course, Fluttershy. I do have a request for you, though, as well," she returned, smiling finally. Curiosity must have gotten the better of her. Either that, or she truly trusted her friend, as the timid yellow mare soon poked her head out of the blankets and looked up at Twilight. "Oh?" she practically whispered. Ah, still not totally comfortable, I noticed. "With the state of emergency in effect, I don't really want you to fly home at eleven o'clock at night by yourself. Would you mind staying here for tonight?" she requested politely. A very good idea! Now that I thought about it, I really didn't want her flying back home either if there was something that nasty in the forest. If it came down to it, I'd walk her home myself, but this was a much better idea. "Oh thank goodness. I was going to ask to stay," Fluttershy admitted, slumping slightly and letting out a long exhale. "You can use my mattress if you want. I can take the couch for tonight," I offered, smiling reassuringly at her. I'd fallen asleep on this couch before, and almost considered it an old friend at this point. Fluttershy gasped as if burned and sat up, zipping around me with surprising speed and putting on a pleading gaze. "Oh no, Mender. I couldn't possibly do that! Please, uh, let me take the couch?" she requested, surprisingly adamant sounding. Twilight smiled softly at both of us before shaking her head in the background now. "Both of you are adorable, but I don't really want either of you sleeping down here separate from the others. Fluttershy can sleep with me in my bed. It's not a big deal," she reasoned. Oh! True. I'm guessing it was socially acceptable as they were both the same gender. Fluttershy froze, eyes shifting from warm and pleading to shocked and terrified. Despite the decidedly negative emotions displayed in them, her cheeks shifted to a rosy pink color as she swallowed lightly. Okay, so maybe not so socially acceptable? Had I missed something? "Are you sure, Twilight?" I inquired, attempting to ask for the now rigid mare between us. Twilight smiled and nodded earnestly, not seeming fazed in the slightest. "Of course. It's no big deal. My bed is plenty big enough." Well that indicated that it might just be Fluttershy. Somehow, that didn't really surprise me, but I couldn't fault her for it. Twilight got up off the couch and walked past us, heading for the stairs. I gave the shivering mare a light nudge, earning a squeak and sudden lap full of shaking Fluttershy. I frowned and tried to pat her gently on the shoulders before lifting her up again. "Oh no. What do I do? Twilight wants me to sleep with her! In the same bed!" she whispered shakily to me. "Um, I'm not really grasping the problem. Twilight's acting like there's no social stigma attached to it, but you're acting like there is," I complained, exceedingly confused at this point. Somepony was wrong in this case, or I was missing important information. Again. I was kinda getting adjusted to it at this point. Fluttershy looked down slowly, upper teeth nibbling on her lower lip before wearily explaining, "I, well, admire Twilight. Apart from concerning you, she always seems to know what she's doing and what she wants. She's amazing, confident, polite, gentle..." I grew more confused the longer she went on. If she respected Twilight so much, shouldn't she be happy Twilight trusts her? This didn’t make a lot of sense to me. "...athletic, brave, graceful, well-kept, beautiful," she continued, oblivious to my inner monologue. Oh. That actually explained a lot. I interrupted, if only to clarify. "You like Twilight as a little more than friends, don't you?" She stopped and slowly stared at me for several long seconds before releasing a gentle sigh and sinking back onto the couch cushion in front of me. "I've had a small crush on her for a while. I was hoping that, because she liked you as well, that you'd help me get closer to Twilight too, if we were together," she admitted. It was a sensation I wasn't entirely used to. Kind of like a sudden impact to the inside of my chest as it recoiled and tightened. The hoof I had been using to comfort her on the shoulder dropped in surprise. Had I misheard her? Did she really say what I thought she did? Was she really using me to get to Twilight? Every rational thought screamed no, but the sudden pain shooting through my chest was almost blinding. It was cold, as if a dagger made of ice had just stabbed through me. I noticed her questioning expression as I realized I was still staring at her. That confused me, but some part of me clung to the fact that she didn't realize what she'd said. That meant she hadn't meant it like that! That had to be the case. Innocent little Fluttershy wasn't capable of using somepony for her own gain. Her eyes suddenly shot open with realization and she rapidly shook her head. "No! No, no. I didn't mean that I only liked her. I, um, like you too like that. I like both of you. Uh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to, um, sound like that," she rapidly corrected, causing me to let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "I'm sorry. I tried to not jump to conclusions. I'm... glad you don't just like her," I muttered, completely unsure of what to say. Damn it. Even my heart jumped to conclusions on its own. My chest warmed a little, but I couldn’t shake the feeling from before. She shook her head weakly back and forth, mane dancing in the dim light. "No, I want to make sure you, um, believe me. That was a bad thing to say and I've never, well, done this before. I don't know what I'm doing," she murmured uneasily, looking down at the couch cushion again. I raised a hoof back up and gently ran it along her jaw, in an assuring motion. "That makes three of us. Relax, Fluttershy. Nothing bad happened and we figured it out right away. Why don't you go up and get ready for bed? I'll wait for you girls to use the bathroom first," I tried my best to comfort and distract. The yellow pegasus relaxed against the hoof and nodded, giving a faint smile finally. I nodded again to her and she stood up shakily before slowly making her way towards the stairs behind me. A solid five seconds passed after I could no longer hear the hoofsteps on the wooden stairs before I put my hoof back down. What was I doing? Did I even have a clue how to deal with all of these feelings? Was it right to tie mine to Twilight's before my issues were even sorted out? Nothing but the quiet flickering of the fire answered me, of course. It would be so easy if I'd still been there instead of here. Being a soldier was mentally simple. There weren't all of these feelings to get in the way. Emotions were outright discouraged by the higher ups, I remembered. Think, don't feel. I think that was on a poster. My hoof was still shaking, my chest following suit as I carefully breathed out. Why did the thought of her using me hurt so much? Surely it was nothing compared to getting a laser to the back or being smashed into rocks. My cheeks heated up again as I almost felt her light peck from earlier. I smiled and chuckled, the thought dancing and mingling with the sensation of Twilight's mouth against mine. The heat shifted to an almost burning sensation as I lowered my head. Being a soldier was simpler, but I wouldn't trade this for the world. Unless it meant protecting them, of course. Even if they didn't need it, a stirring urge deep inside told me to guard them against those who would cause pain. Maybe that was a part of this 'love' thing after all. "Coming, Mender?" I heard Twilight ask in a rather cheery voice from the top of the stairs, disrupting my thoughts in a rather pleasant way. I smiled and nodded to nopony in particular before standing up again. My back gave a rather mean spirited creak of discomfort, but I ignored it as I got off the couch. Twilight calling me upstairs; I could definitely get used to that. I grinned before trotting towards the light shining down from the second floor. Chapter 15It was subtle at first; that creeping madness as the hours went on. The dark was my friend after all, and I stared up into the blackness around the ceiling, currently lying wearily on my back. Or maybe it was the blackness in my head. This could all be some sort of vivid hallucination or fantasy as I'm locked away somewhere, still. Maybe after all the pressure, I finally snapped and decided my life needed more cute, colorful ponies? Or maybe, finally, I had died at some point and this was what heaven was like. Any of those sounded like acceptable answers. It hardly mattered, as I couldn't substitute this reality for anything else, so it was what I was stuck with. "Test number two hundred and fifty-seven; failure. I cannot seem to replicate the communication with the entity from before. All attempts have now been rejected. Perhaps I offended it the last we spoke? After well, what happened, I could hardly say for certain," the familiar voice of Keela continued to run through my mind. She was sounding less and less professional the longer she went on. From the way she spoke earlier, I could only guess that something extremely bad happened to her connection after I had my bout of insanity. From what I gathered, she got stuck connected to the book and experienced, well, something that had rather disturbed her. I sighed quietly, literally covered in cut up pieces of paper at this point as I stared blankly up at the ceiling. She was persistent, I'd give her that much! Every one she'd send through, I'd slice in half as it drifted through the air. That seemed to disrupt the magic instantly. Of course, explaining this mess in the morning was going to be a little trickier. I could only guess that she kept bizarre hours, or that our night and day cycles were reversed. Finally deciding I could use a bit of water, I got up out of bed, careful to slide the mountain of papers quietly to the floor. Both mares had fallen asleep hours ago, of course, and I definitely didn't want to wake them up. I glanced over as I fully stood, of course. It was hard to pass up an opportunity to gaze at them. It was like candy for my eyes! Twilight and Fluttershy were both tucked under the covers, face to face but several inches apart. I remembered Twilight had started with her back to her friend, so she must have rotated in her sleep. Nothing bad could possibly come from that, right? I decided to remain blissfully unaware and move on. I walked past the basket at the foot of the bed as quietly as I could, momentarily hearing the quiet snores of the baby lizard thing wrapped up in his sheets. Hmm. I should really ask Twilight about him in the future. I'm sure he was some sort of known creature, as I hadn't run into anything truly unknown yet. I smiled down at Spike for a second before slipping down the stairs. "What was the entity I spoke with, anyway? It announced its presence as 'Mender', which doesn't sound much like a name. It insisted that it was named that, however, so I'm inclined to believe so. Was it some sort of advanced artificial intelligence that existed inside of the book? Or is the book connecting to somewhere else and I'm talking to a true being?" Keela questioned as I walked down the stairs carefully. Ignoring her, I focused on putting one hoof in front of the other. I didn't trust myself to walk blindly down the stairs still, especially with everything blurry and distorted. I'd likely fall down the stairs if I tried that, even when my vision wasn't screwed up. After I ran into the bathroom doorframe before bed a few hours ago, Twilight assured me that my vision should be returning to normal in a day or so. Until then, I simply had to be careful. Especially around varying depth levels that were the same color. Like the bathroom doorframe and the floor of the loft. With a light boost, I raised my upper body and put both hooves on Twilight's counter. I nudged the tap for cold water and let a little stream go into the sink before cheating and forming a shielded 'straw' with my left hoof. It worked a lot like a drinking fountain at that point, and I sipped down a good amount before sighing and turning the water off again. "Thankfully, Nirru gave me a fascinating idea that I'd like to try before she gets down here with the data. If it was a book, it must have words in it, right? Well, if it's written in ink, I should be able to try scanning it with a particle projector on several varying levels to try to pick up the words!" she exclaimed, sounding excited. Uh oh. That didn't sound very healthy for me in the least. I debated what to do when a loud humming sound started echoing through my head. Wincing, I pushed both hooves to my ears and sunk to the floor, gritting my teeth. Oh hell. I had all new respect for those lead x-ray sheets. Our allies had been absolutely crazy to make this a regular part of their medical exams! Magic was so much safer. Then I realized in horror that it was simply warming up the generator. There was a sudden, bright flash as my body went through the strangest sensation of being turned inside out, boiled alive, put back together, then microwaved. All purely speculation as to how those felt, of course. I gasped as my flesh suddenly felt like it was on fire and smashed my forehead into the floor before throwing up. Everything spun after that and I fell sideways, thankfully missing the now external contents of my stomach by a few inches. Then, blissful nothingness. * * * * * Blissful nothingness, sadly, didn't last for very long. I drifted sideways gently, not really looking around, but effectively able to turn my viewpoint with my mind. Oh, this again. I glanced about curiously, and was gifted the rather amusing sight of Keela spraying down a machine with some sort of foam. The device in question looked like it had been hit by lightning, then cut into pieces. Damn. If I had done that, I was seriously impressed. Was it weird to be impressed by yourself? I guess not, as a lot of ponies and Keldarians alike probably were. Although looking at it from a third-person perspective was a little strange. Widening out my view a little, I noticed that my location was different from last time. I appeared to be in some sort of laboratory with various computer devices, scanners, and interestingly enough, a glassed in blast chamber in the corner. One of the scanners was now out of commission, it would appear. My 'eyes', so to speak, were drawn to a glowing book that rested on the floor a meter or so from the smoldering wreckage. Footsteps sounded rapidly in the hallway as I drifted closer to the book that was now lying neglected. I heard the powered door slide open, but paid little attention to it. The book was exactly as I last saw it with the new addition of a distorted energy shield that covered it entirely. It was an Aegis Barrier, in which the item shared its name. I'd never seen one on such a small scale before, however. I wasn't aware they could be compressed like that. Although from what I'd heard the last time, there was a significant amount we weren't aware of. "Keela! I heard an explosion. Are you all right?!" Nirru asked upon entering the lab, expression looking nervous and concerned. Keela sighed as she stood back up fully from the machine, smoke seemingly ceased for the moment. "Yeah. The idea to scan the book didn't work out very well. It apparently likes its privacy," she muttered in an annoyed tone. Her sister stopped for a moment before shifting to a smirk and snickering lightly, earning a frustrated glare from Keela. "Relax. At least it didn't set your fur on fire again. Besides, you needed the break. Check this out," Nirru offered, holding up what appeared to be an elongated crystal rod. Hmm. My mind gave a dull ache as I stared at it, but memories came back a moment later. Information. Those crystals stored a lot of information that could be read by a computer. Nirru walked right past the book and myself without notice, confirming that I was indeed undetectable again. I watched with interest matching the speculative look Keela wore as she took the crystal from her sister and slid it into the surface of the computer next to her. "You found something?" she inquired as she tapped a few buttons along the panel. The screen on the far wall of the lab lit up, and several menus were navigated with precise motions. Nirru nodded patiently, watching the screen as well. "Indeed. On a hunch, I looked through the soldier index we brought with us from the citadel. Every soldier was allowed one item of personal value to be carried with them. Command said it helped psychologically, but regardless, we kept a log of every object each soldier chose.” Keela shifted to a grin instead as her movements sped up. "You found the book," she deduced sharply. Of course she did, or she wouldn't have brought it up. That also meant that she found me, however. Or at least, my old self. As if on cue, a full profile popped up on the screen a heartbeat later. It had an extremely familiar looking profile picture, and a full readout of skills, basic background, and a psychological profiling. Overall, I was suddenly made extremely uncomfortable and wanted to look away. Did I really want to know all of this stuff right away? Of course, would I ever have another chance to learn it if I didn't look right now? "It's not terribly insightful, but does raise a few interesting questions," Nirru commented, sounding perturbed. It didn't feel like she liked the questions she was presented with, to me. Maybe it was just her body language. "No name listed, but I think that's normal. Just a serial number," Keela muttered, scanning over the beginning bio with rapid eye movements. Nirru just gave a light clicking noise, but I mentally snorted. We were just numbers all along. It was only a rumor that they didn't even bother to write down our names, but I guess it was actually true all along. The varying amounts of memories that seeing the display caused was exceedingly uncomfortable. Not to mention, it was starting to feel like my own mind was going by a 'need to know' basis and only feeding me information as it came up. It was a rather, well, helpless sensation. "Expert marks in barriers, abjuration, and transmutation. He could have been trained as a Master with these grades. What caused him not to be?" the younger sister asked a moment later. Ah, barriers did come easily for me. Forming them now was almost like second nature. Abjuration dealt with changing the metaphysical properties of an object such as gravity and inertia, while transmutation revolved around morphing the physical in its entirety. My choice of professions was fairly straightforward with that skill set. I was able to repair and jury-rig things on the fly, and adapt rapidly to changing battle scenarios. That's why I was elected both an engineer and field commander, if I recall correctly. "He was the reason. Quiet type, and never favored command. He also held dangerous opinions on the status quo," Nirru explained idly, shifting tone to seem a bit bored now. I watched her carefully as she skimmed over the page on the screen. Keela frowned and looked over at her sister. "A full out dissenter?" she asked skeptically, failing to mask the surprise in her voice. If I had ears, they would have perked at this. I rotated away from the book fully to pay more attention. I was at least a little interested in who my old self used to be. Nirru shook her head slowly, however. "Nothing that drastic. No concrete proof, anyway. He was the quiet type so it was hard to get evidence, but due to a few incidents during his growth period, he was flagged as high risk," she explained, confounding me even further. That was the problem with having only single events in your memory. The larger picture was extremely difficult to piece together. Keela's elongated ears lowered a little, making her momentarily look sad. "So no proof he held views contrary to the government. I see," she muttered softly, looking back over at the screen. Her sister snorted, crossing her arms fully. "You might not like the way we ran things, but you can't argue with the results. Did you manage to get any data before the, uh, unfortunate accident with the scanner?" she questioned, giving an appraising glance at the toasted machinery. Keela started, before shifting back to smiling. "Oh, I might have found something of a lead. The computer managed to pick up a few words! It reads something akin to a journal from what I've glanced at. It also references one 'Moon Mender' frequently," she informed. My nonexistent heart fell into my equally imaginary stomach instantly. Oh hell! That wasn't just a journal! Somehow, it had more recent data in it than since I left. That meant it might have important information on Equestria in there. My mind started whirling at a hundred meters a second, trying to think of a way I could get rid of the accursed thing. Sadly, I snapped out of it a second too late as Keela bent down and picked up the book from under me. My metaphorical eyes widened as the book was lifted up directly into my self-awareness. Thousands of images exploded all around me like a rampaging movie reel in an all night marathon, without the delight of concessions, of course. Further in line with my luck, it had to lag momentarily on a simply wonderful zoom shot of Fluttershy's posterior before zipping on. I tried not to throw up my meta-dimensional stomach contents as they spun about my consciousness with little respect for my sanity or consciousness. It all halted in a fraction of a moment later; barely a drop of time in an infinite expanse. My view was locked in a screaming hell-scape with my prior kind frozen in mid-destruction. The ground itself was torn asunder and flames colored the skies as the air started to burn. I saw the beam of light in the backdrop and knew that this was a mere second, with some generous rounding, before everyone in the image burned away. But then, like staring at a familiar image and suddenly discovering something mind-numbingly terrifying about it, my eyes were drawn up to the sky. It was monstrous; a black shadow of absolute nothingness with a web of similarly styled lines splintering from it at all angles. The blot on existence hung in the sky as if suspended by sheer physical defiance, urging a painful tugging in the front of my mind. The second I saw it, I couldn't look away. It was like staring into an abyss. The mind isn't capable of quantifying something that has no end. Looking into it was like seeing into forever, and my mind ached as reality was drawn in. I snapped back at the last second, hurtling my metaphysical camera off the surface of the planet in the frozen picture. I saw the beams hitting the planet's surface from the star's lit side. The atmosphere burned away and the plates themselves buckled and shattered under the force of the barrage. Some tore loose under the unimaginable power at play as gravity warped. It was a truly horrifying sight to behold, especially knowing that technically my last breath was but a moment later before my magic broke and trapped me in stasis. Further, I saw it fully. The massive thing in the atmosphere could be seen from space. It looked almost draconian in shape, and a web of burning ebony tendrils stretched across an unimaginable amount of the planet! A rough glance told me that it covered at least a hemisphere with the impossibly black manifestations. What was that?! I'd never heard of anything like it before, and I remembered almost everything about our most hated enemy. Was it something I couldn't remember, or something I didn't know about to begin with? A throaty scream tore my thoughts aside and I looked around as best I could. The image was gone a moment later, replaced by the laboratory once again. The power must have gone out; emergency lights flooded orange luminescence across the bleached floor, making for a rather brutal contrast that was unpleasant to the eyes. Well, if I had any. Oddly, I felt quite a bit different now as I looked about. Gravity was in full effect, yet I floated effortlessly in the air. There were no appendages, so I felt remarkably similar to my consciousness-only state, minus the fact that I felt immensely physical. The sensation was indescribable; like I was so physically there that I transcended normal reality. Everything tinted a light blue as I rotated and glanced at Keela, who was staring back at me in shock. Uh oh. That's when I noticed the literal aura of energy that radiated off me. Testing, I checked my magical energy levels and was literally washed out by the ocean of power I stumbled into. Aegis! This was the book. It had to be. But that meant... The realization hit me as if I'd tripped and rolled down a hill on my face. Again. The sensation was actually reasonably familiar, but I digress. I was in the book! The book's powers, whatever they were, had activated and pulled me in? Maybe. Or that intrinsic link I seemed to have with the artifact had something to do with it. Regardless, the effect was rather apparent as I rotated around to look at Nirru instead. She looked far more stunned than her sister and was instead reaching for her belt while rapidly backing away. She withdrew a small, metallic looking item with various, fundamentally obvious shaping, and pointed it at me. It was a standard issue officer sidearm. I searched my memory and oddly heard the sensation of a book page flipping. A heartbeat later, I suddenly 'remembered' the exact specifications of the weapon, revealing that it was an energy, pulse-based pistol with high rate of fire and a shield disruption effect. I was suddenly less worried about the gun, and more concerned for my own sanity. Was that an effect of the book? "Turn it off, Keela! Hurry!" she shouted as her back ran into one of the main support columns for the room. There was a hesitation before her sister returned, "I don't know what I did to turn it on in the first place!" Not taking my viewpoint off the firearm, I rotated awareness in time to see Keela rapidly digging through her notes, panic readily apparent. Well this was bad. I didn't know what would happen if they destroyed the book while I was residing inside of it. I did a rapid assessment of my defenses. I recalled that Keela had mentioned that this was a defensive artifact at the same time I discovered the seven layers of Aegis Barriers coated the outside of the book. The more I examined them, the weirder they got, however. From a practical standpoint, I knew next to nothing about how the magic behind the barriers actually functioned. Very little was explained directly to us it would seem. I shifted my awareness against them and realized the barrier I saw, the visible parts of the Aegis Shield, was actually holding the inside together, not blocking anything. I tried to scan deeper into the inside, but there was a mind-numbing absence that stretched on for far longer than existed inside the centimeter-thin layer. Everything suddenly clicked into place. It was an absence so resolute that it felt like it 'leaked' out a ways from the barriers themselves, preventing me from getting any sort of feel of them whatsoever. What was this magic that we had been using? It wasn't a barrier at all, but a thinly held in place sheet of void. A cleverly shaped hole in reality manifested by our magic, somehow! In truth, I forgot all about defending myself. Something was extremely wrong with how I perceived things. I suddenly realized that there were some things you simply couldn't un-think. This magic wasn't what I had thought it was all along. An Aegis Barrier was supposed to be just an extremely strong, layered shield. But the entire time I had been using them, I didn't understand what I was working with. Nirru fired three times in rapid succession. The shots didn't even reach the outer field before the absolute nothingness between the two barriers drew the energy into itself. Nothing was left of the blasts once it was done. It consumed the energy like it was a ravenous beast, and I mentally shuddered simply from witnessing the truth. "Damn it! It's definitely an Aegis. I can't disrupt the energy field around the book. Tell me you have something, Keela!" Nirru swore, slipping sideways away from the support pillar and backing up further, dropping the gun. I felt the book inside of me. There was no will; no awareness. But it still worked towards my goal with a limited intelligence, I noticed. There was a certain amount of anger that was somehow separate from me, but it was ruthless instead, requesting a quick and efficient solution. It gave me twelve known fatal points on Nirru's body, suggesting that if I hit at least seven of them at once, she was almost guaranteed to cease functioning almost instantly. Further, tendrils made of shielding shaped into rather sharp, twisted points popped out of various locations around the book, as if showing me a perfectly reasonable implement with which to attack. Okay then, so it was of questionable morality. I decided to ignore it in light of cutting the gun in half on the ground with a simple wave of a conveniently formed barrier tentacle. I had the sneaking suspicion that Fluttershy would have likely passed out from witnessing that, I idly mused. I probably looked like some sort of ancient eldritch abomination or something. Keela froze behind me, and I heard her lightly mutter, "It's intelligent." It was beyond weird to be aware of something I wasn't looking at. I shook myself out of it. No, this whole situation was weird. I needed to get rid of this book somehow. If I could figure out how to take it back with me, I could solve everything at once. They wouldn't have either the source of power, or the knowledge that the book contained! The practical ocean of power inside of the book was dizzying, and I fought to maintain coherent thinking. How the hell did Twilight manage to do this on a daily basis? My attention snapped back to Nirru as she lowered her hands again, both to the left side of her waist. The air itself seemed to distort and fold outwards from itself as she drew forth a hilt and full sheath. It was some sort of archaic bladed weapon, I noted, mentally frowning. No need to underestimate it if she felt it was more useful than the gun, I reminded myself. "Wait, Sis! Don't use that! If you damage the book," Keela started to scream out, just as Nirru stepped forward and whipped her right hand out in one fluid motion. My mind forced time to a crawl as she drew the blade. Regardless of my enhanced reaction speed, she had almost finished the cut by the time I became fully aware. Lines of energy danced from the shining white blade as it cut, extending its natural path through the air dozens of feet in front of it and aimed right at me. Along the path of the lines formed a familiar looking absence of matter. It was the same effect as what was between the Aegis layers! It wasn't even a vacuum, although it behaved similarly towards the edges. It was nothing; void. There was nothing at all existing along the path of the cut, leaving air and matter to scream back into place to fill the gap behind it. This wasn't a shield, however. The lines simply created the effect and then let it go. An Aegis Barrier wouldn't be able to block that, I suddenly realized. The book needlessly informed that it would slice through as if we were made of butter. My thoughts whirled. A moment later, I decided that I had a distinct advantage. There was a force of will and decision behind the energy in the book that was under intelligent control; namely, me. I whipped out a barrier with two tethers embedded in it just in time to watch the effect pass through as if it weren't there. I smiled however as the lines intermixed, connecting me for just a moment to the effect. The sword was massively powerful; possibly more than the book I was in. There was no will behind it, however. It was attacking using a preset pattern built into it. It was static, while I was dynamically adapting to the situation. I pulled out the energy. Like turning off a light bulb, the attack faded more than a foot before it got to me, dispersing as fast as a disrupted Aegis Barrier wouldn't after the support fields collapsed, as predicted. I exhaled in relief, deciding I really didn't want to find out what would happen if I got my consciousness cut in half. Nirru's jaw dropped as she backed up more, shaking her head slowly. "No. That's not possible. Nothing can withstand an attack from the Void Cutter," she rejected, right hand clenching down hard on the hilt of the still glowing blade. Void Cutter? Based on context, she must be referring to the blade. Aegis Artifacts had names, then. I felt a little like Twilight as I mentally took notes, trying to piece together the information I was missing. It was a pity she wasn't here. She'd think of a way to get the book back to Equestria, no problem. I blushed as I shook the heated thoughts from my mind. No, this was no time to be remembering the finer points of more recent events involving her. "It wasn't withstood. It nullified the attack before it connected," Keela corrected softly, standing up fully behind me. I suddenly wondered if there was a scripted maximum length for that effect. Had I not disrupted it, there was a significant probability that it would have not only went through me entirely, but continued and hit her sister. "We need to vent the lab," Nirru muttered, eyes narrowing as she risked a glance back towards the door. The book reminded me that it would be easier to just slice her in half as she lost focus, but I quelled the advice yet again. "No! Stop it, Nirru. M-Mender! Please, stop as well," she suddenly requested, causing me to do a double take and spin around to look at her. Her expression shifted from worry to a gentle smile as she saw my reaction. She had guessed that it was me inside of the book?! I watched her carefully, extremely wary suddenly. Had she predicted this would happen as some sort of contingency? What was she planning? "Wait, what? Who's Mender?" her sister asked in shock behind me. Both of us seemed to have forgotten what we were doing in light of what she just said, albeit for entirely different reasons, I assumed. As much as she seemed surprised, she stopped retreating as soon as Keela drew my attention. The book suggested she might try to attack while I was distracted, of course. I really hoped this thing wasn't some facet of me or something. Was I really that paranoid? Keela drew a blank look before snapping out of it and nodding rapidly to herself. "Oh! It's an AI that's controlling the book. I read some of the command words from the scan the machine made before being destroyed," she rapidly lied. Wait, why was she lying to her sister? I suddenly drew a blank and realized that there were a few pieces of the puzzle I was missing still. Keela gave me a stern look before glancing back at her sister for support. "Can you, um, control it? Is it dangerous still?" Nirru asked warily, sheathing the sword once more but keeping her eyes dead set on me. Similarly, I watched the blade carefully until the last of the glow disappeared into the leather sheath. That weapon was exceedingly dangerous, I noted. It took sharpness totally out of the equation by not needing to cut its target in the first place. It was kind of hard to defend against something that simply made everything in a long, spatial plane cease to exist. Keela nodded curtly, walking up fully next to me. She seemed shockingly unafraid, suddenly. "Yes. That command renders it neutral, it said. I'll have to read up more on it though," she continued, much more calmly this time. Well, there was nothing else for it, so I decided to play along to the best of my abilities and acted harmless, pulling the barrier tendrils back into the book's form. The young Keldarian girl smiled at my display and gently patted the spine of the book, causing a lightly colored ripple to drift down the surface of the outer Aegis Barrier with each touch. The book further reminded me that I could sever every nerve in her hand and interrupt her nervous system with a few deft barrier movements, but I ignored it. Again. "You're certain? I can leave Void Cutter with you if you think you might need to defend yourself, Keela," Nirru offered, shifting from suspicious back to her worried, surprisingly sisterly side. Said sister in question shook her head, however. "It's okay, Sis. I don't want to risk deactivating it, then not being able to turn it back on. Just let me study it for a little bit in its active form, okay?" she suggested, moving back over to where the equipment resided. Nirru let out a discontented sigh, but shrugged, finally giving in with, "If you think it will get us closer to figuring the thing out, go for it. Just be careful. Oh, and look at page three in the dossier. I think you'll find the information there quite interesting indeed." Keela gave her a questioning glance, but received only a wink in return before her sister gathered herself again and walked slowly towards the door. I watched it slowly slide shut again before noticing Keela shift her head towards me instead, looking a little confused. I shrugged until I remembered that I lacked shoulders, of course. Feeling a little stupid, I formed a vague shoulder image out of four barrier planes and repeated the motion, much more visibly this time. Keela cracked a smile suddenly and giggled, nodding to me in amusement. "So it is you, Mender. I think I recognize the biting sarcasm from last night," she muttered, looking a little less tense. I was surprised by her level of trust in the strange, floating, potentially alien entity with almost unlimited energy that resided less than a meter from her. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to try something. "This is a little new for me, but you did catch me at a bad time last night," I attempted to say. Lacking vocal cords, I distinctly placed my chances of that working at almost zero. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised when her eyes widened a little. Wait, I hadn't 'heard' anything when I said it, though. "Wow! You can use telepathy? That's definitely handy. Wait, you're male?" she suddenly questioned, tilting her head to the side while giving me a curious look. Oh. She heard it in her mind. Well, more likely, I manipulated the various nerve signals that allowed her mind to interpret what I said as verbal and in my distinct voice. I was suddenly extremely glad that I didn't have to manually do that. I decided to be diplomatic and returned, "Well, yes. I'm male. My full name is Moon Mender, but most just refer to me as Mender." Names were a show of politeness, right? I tried to remember any rules of etiquette I may have read about at any point. Damn it. I drew as big of a blank as when I tried the same with the Princesses. Keela smiled and nodded gently. "It's an interesting naming convention. Who are the 'others' you refer to?" she inquired curiously, now ignoring the machines and sitting down on the top of the lab table instead, all attention directed at me. It was a little flattering, and I felt myself mentally blush. "They're my friends, but I'd rather not go into detail. Is it at all possible to convince you to get rid of this book and forget it ever existed? Maybe, I don't know, launch it into a star or something?" I suggested hopefully. Keela looked surprisingly contemplative for a moment, before snickering and pointing out, "I don't think that would technically destroy the artifact. The book you're in is extremely defensive in nature. It would probably just get pulled into the star for a few billion years until the end of its life cycle." Okay, so she could be sarcastic too. I smirked, but decided it had at least cheered me up. There was something about leaving the colorful ponies once you knew them that was utterly depressing. "Well, that would be fine. By that point, any and all relevance the book has would be gone," I reasoned, mentally doing the calculations. I'd be dead by then, one way or another. The link to Equestria would die with me, so at the very most, the book would then simply be a colorful story, if anyone existed that could still read Universal Common at that point. Or if it was even found again. A cold, inert, pathetically small object drifting through space had an astronomically small chance of being found. Last I checked, space was a pretty big place. She smiled suddenly, looking a little too amused for comfort. "You're not actually in the book, are you? The book is a connection to somewhere else that you can act through, right?" she deduced, causing me to mentally twitch again. Why did she have to remind me of Twilight so much? She was definitely a sharp one, that was for sure. "Does it matter? I really just want to be left alone," I groaned, getting tired of the conversation already. Wait, was it still a conversation if it was purely one-sided in a verbal context? I snapped out of the distraction yet again, the dizzying ocean of energy weighing heavily behind my eyes like muddy, lukewarm swamp water. She lost some of her smile and nodded gently before scrolling the long forgotten computer screen down two pages. "If you can answer my questions, I promise that I'll try my hardest to help you. You seem like a really nice guy," she promised, scanning the page with her eyes. I glanced up at it as well. The document appeared to be only three pages long, with the last page detailing my old self's career. It was a list of combat operations for the most part, until one got down to the last three entries. "Led Rescue Operation EX6?!" Keela suddenly read out loud. Oh yeah, that must have been the extraction mission I had remembered earlier. It didn't seem entirely relevant, however. Immediately under it was, 'Selected by Doctor Kyliona As Punishment', followed by, 'Elevated to B11 Status'. Disturbingly, the entries simply ceased after that, being replaced by over a dozen 'Classified' labels. "He was the commander in charge of the rescue mission," she muttered again, sagging a little in posture. I frowned at her reaction but quietly mentally corrected, "Lieutenant." She snapped her head up and back at me rather rapidly, eyes surprisingly wide. "Do you know about him?! Where is he now?" she rapidly asked, borderline on demanding. I sensed a potentially deeper connection and backpedaled rapidly. "I, um, don't know. It just said he was a lieutenant in the promotions listed," I excused rapidly, not very good at the whole 'lying through my teeth' thing. At least, not with last second excuses, anyway. Keela's eyes narrowed momentarily before she sighed. "Please tell me? I'm partially responsible for him getting punished and I'd really like to know," she requested, expression softening. Uh oh. My potential landmine radar was flashing like crazy. I had been punished for something regarding whatever it was she did, and was then classified. Somewhere after that, I had somehow ended defending a vault on an extremely doomed planet, blown to crap, then transferred to another dimension full of colorful, talking ponies. I was missing a few pieces still... "The truth?" I asked hesitantly, to make absolutely sure she really wanted to know. There would obviously be things I couldn't tell her, but I could let her know ultimately what happened to the individual she apparently knew. She frowned, hesitating at my question as if not expecting it, but finally nodded. I sighed weakly before informing, "He's dead. He died on the final day of our last planet." She closed her eyes softly and slumped, bringing her hands to her knees for support. I watched the gentle movement of her throat as she fought to swallow before nodding. "I kind of knew, I guess. It's not like I really knew him that well, of course, but well, he saved my life and paid for it," she finally explained, shaking her head gently. I watched her soft pink mane, er, hair sway back and forth as she did so, bangs draping back in front of her eyes as she looked back up at me again. Her almost sapphire blue eyes seemed to stare into me and I was forced to look away. "Can you tell me how he died?" she asked quietly, apparently composing herself a little. What was her relationship to my old self? "He was charged with protecting one of the vaults. He gave his life to charge the Aegis Barrier but persisted as the Planet Busters hit," I furthered, unsure if I wanted to give her all of the details. Regardless, she didn't ask for them. She smiled gently and nodded, sitting back upright. "He always wanted to protect something, he said. I guess he got his way in the end. I was worried they'd execute him," she muttered, before chuckling wearily. My curiosity got the better of me, finally. "If I may ask, what did he do to get in trouble?" I couldn't help myself. If this was my past life, I wanted to know more about it. He wasn't me, I don't think, but it was still informative. She smiled fully now and raised an eyebrow up at me. "You'd laugh if I told you, probably. You must come from a totally different world," she warned, looking amused at my apparent expense. That was the problem with inside jokes. I rolled my metaphorical eyes before daring, "Try me?" Her expression of mirth was worth it, and I caught myself smiling too. "Oh fine, nosey. If you must know, high-ranking females in our culture have a very strict privacy and dress code. It's mostly a religious thing, and the males are punished for violating it. At the highest ranks, me being a council member as an example, the punishment for even seeing a patch of my fur is quite severe," she explained, covering what I had already knew of course. I feigned ignorance, however, to both cover my identity and speed the story along. "Anyway, needless to probably say now, he broke that. Well, that's not entirely accurate. I broke it for him, which is very well known," she finished, coughing lightly and looking away from me. Uh oh. I suddenly didn't like where this was going. "Uh, he saw your fur then?" I suggested, playing the idiot. It wasn't too hard for my usual self to pull off fairly convincingly. She laughed, a sharp and amused sound, before shaking her head and blushing. "Ah, a little bit more than just fur. But nothing too bad. He saved my life, so I might have, well, thanked him a little after his debriefing conveniently located in my room. Just a bit of kissing and such. Damned if my sister hadn't walked in on us," she groaned, putting a hand on her forehead. I tried to keep the mental convulsions to a minimum. I'd made out with her in her room after rescuing her?! Damn it all to hell! My mind whirled at potential implications of what that would mean. Did she have feelings for my old self? It was unlikely those would carry over to my new form, so I was probably safe. Still, if she found out about the relationship, working with her to fix the connection might become awkward. Or she might get pissed at me for lying about it and refuse to help me. Oh crap. But if I told her the truth, she might think I was lying anyway and then get mad regardless. What was I supposed to do?! In the midst of my panic, I failed to note her giving me an amused look. "I should warn you, I'm a detection and observation specialist. It's one of the reasons I'm the head scientist. Your inner aura just went crazy after I said that. What's wrong?" she suddenly asked, causing me to whirl and smack into the side of the desk as I momentarily lost control of my levitation. She put a hand to her mouth to hold in a giggle. I glared momentarily before sighing. I had figured she was a sensor specialist of some type. "I might not have told you the entire truth about him. Um, he actually lived for about a week after the destruction of the planet," I revealed, looking back up at her. Keela, for her credit, managed to limit her reaction to one of extreme surprise. "Wait, that was just shortly before we got here! How did he stay alive in space for that long? Could we have, um, saved him?" she asked, a little more eager than I had expected. "No. He was in a coma and had extensive physical damage. Saving him wasn't possible. We would have tried could it have been. He was in stasis, being kept alive by the dwindling Aegis Barrier that had shrunk down to barely three meters wide. Air was being pumped in by the Grosh that had moved into the area to study the event." It was easier to get out than I anticipated. If she was going to help me close the link, some things she'd have to know regardless. There was a long moment where she just stared at me, vacant expression of surprise and what appeared to be system shock. For a second, I thought I had accidentally broken her or something. Finally, she shook her head slowly and frowned again. "They really were here then. Wait, we? You were here and trying to save him?" she asked, catching on rapidly like I had hoped. "Yes. My friends and I tried to deal with the connection once already. We apparently weren't fully successful as we didn't anticipate the book, but we were responsible for the destruction of the Grosh laboratory vessel. It was a private operation that hadn't been reported yet, don't worry," I added, heading off that bout of panic before it could get out of control. Keela's frown didn't fade, and she immediately asked, "Wait a second. Your connection existed before the book, then? Are you and your friends connected to here somehow? And where is the other end of the connection?" Her thinking was speeding up and I could see an entirely new interest forming in her eyes. Still, this time I needed confirmation first, however. "Before I can tell you that, I need your absolute word that not only will it stay between us, but that you'll help me destroy the link to this place," I adamantly warned, drifting back up to be eye level with her again. She watched my carefully before suddenly smiling. "I can do better if you're asking for insurance. I trust you, which is strange. You feel familiar, so I'm going to go out on my gut feelings in this case. Here," she offered, raising her left hand up to me. My eyes widened, figuratively of course, as her palm started to glow. There was no prepared attack however, so I simply remained alert. A small orb drifted out of her palm and formed into a crystal in the air, bright purple in color. I momentarily wondered what it was for before she gave it a shove and let it drift over to me. I caught it with the innate field of telekinesis around the book and went to examine it. Unfortunately, it didn't give me a chance and promptly faded into light again before smacking into the book itself?! "Well, that explains a lot. You have a life signature. That was a soul bead. It's a little drop of my condensed life force that is attached to a promise. I promise that I will not share what you're about to tell me, and will help you close the link you refer to, to the best of my abilities," she promised in a surprisingly official tone of voice. Now I was really confused. "Where did it go? And what does it do?" I inquired curiously. I didn't feel anything particularly detrimental, so I assumed it wasn't malignant or anything. She snickered before explaining further, "It attaches to your life signature. You can use it to 'ping' me at any distance, so to speak. The real purpose of it, however, is to assure that I uphold my end of the bargain. If I don't follow through with my promise, the bead opens up to you and gives you full access to my end of the link." Oh. Whoa. If I had access to a link directly to her, I could cast any spell I wanted directly into her being. That much I knew already, as I vaguely recalled contracts involving them from time to time. It didn't take a genius to know that having an angry person with a direct link to your existence would be very bad. Then it dawned on me. She trusted me. It was probably something she felt inside of me that made her remember my past self, but regardless, she trusted me. Me, not him. I drifted gently before nodding my entire form. "Thank you for trusting me. There's a reason I probably seem familiar," I added, a little concerned with how she was going to take this. Her eyes flickered wider slightly, but she contained herself and just listened. Not able to hesitate any further, I gave up and just started talking. Or whatever it was that I was doing now. "The place this one is linked to is a different dimension. I traveled there by freak chance when my spell went haywire. As far as I can tell, the dimension 'passed' close to this one and a, well, rather powerful energy source on their side linked up with the energy of the shield I was using. I think that's what caused me to shift over to their side," I hypothesized. It was summarized, obviously, but that was about as close as I could come with the information I had. Of course, there wasn't any need to convolute the details by explaining what a Sonic Rainboom was. She couldn't quite contain herself this time. "You're a Keldarian, then?! Wait, shield? No. No, it couldn't possibly be..." she started to rapidly ask, suddenly looking conflicted and confused. Further, she didn't seem to know what to do with her hands, claws sporadically popping out as she flexed them. "He, well, I died a week after our planet blew up. My old body was too badly damaged to save, but that was what kept the link connected before the book took over. A new body was somehow formed for me on their side. I'm not a Keldarian anymore," I corrected softly, not exactly sure what to say after all that. "What are you now?" she asked quietly, staring at me with an incomprehensible expression, a light shiver in her pupils. That was a difficult one to answer. Instead, I focused and formed a shield in front of me. Slowly and surely it started to bend and curve, shaping into my now familiar form. It took a good thirty seconds to finish with the crude shape of my body, but I was pleased at the dimensions. I put on the finishing touches of the eyes and hair with a second shield plane to overlap with, keeping them somewhat visible as they hung in the air in front of me. She watched curiously as I finished the rough image, finalizing my rather unkempt mane and tail. The last thing I added was the silvery Cutie Mark that adorned both flanks. Shifting the visible light spectrum across the surface of the shields was rather elementary of a procedure, so color was quite possible. Complex pictures would take a great deal of concentration, but basic shapes such as what my symbol consisted of was rather easy. "You're an equine? Um, too small to be a horse. Isn't that one of the imported animals from our allies?" she questioned, tilting her head and seemingly getting distracted by her own natural curiosity. Regardless, I nodded softly to her, a full motion of the book simulating it. "A pony. There are many genetic differences, though. Different skull structure, larger eyes, shifted proportions, and altered hooves. Sapient levels of intelligence as well as a grasp of complex machinery, sciences, culture, and magic. Two different phenotypes as well, as to what they consider races," I explained as technically as I could to keep her distracted. Based on her expression, it more than worked. Her eyes were now glued to the diagram as I added the translucent horn and wing types to it in cascading style to show the different types. "Let me guess. Unicorn, pegasus, and normal types?" she inquired, peeking around the wings to get a better look as I cycled them. I chuckled and shook my book form. "They are based off legendary creatures, but they call the normal form 'Earth Ponies' in regards to their apparent natural affinity in magic," I corrected simply. She smirked and nodded, still looking amused as I drifted my little diagram closer to her to see. "I'm a normal type, but due to damage to my hoof in the destruction of the Grosh ship, I can perform my magic from when I was a Keldarian on things I touch," I added, erasing the extra parts and shifting the form back to just me again. "Earth Ponies can't use magic?" she inquired, drawing her hand along the flank of the image and lingering with curiosity on the Cutie Mark. "Watch it. That's technically my butt, you know," I reminded, coughing lightly. She snapped back as if burned and I started laughing as a visible blush danced up into her cheeks. I continued before she could complain, however. "Unicorns are the only ones to be able to actively use magic. The other two races use it in a passive way. Earth Ponies manifest it through heightened strength and constitution, as well as a natural connection with nature, making them excellent farmers. Pegasi manipulate clouds, fly far more capably than their wings should allow for, and can alter weather conditions." She was still glaring at me by the time I finished, but I had no doubt that she had heard most of that. "I didn't mean to touch your flank. I was just curious as to the obvious symbol," she defended, looking a little miffed. I was kind of glad she couldn't see the grin I'd be sporting if I had a mouth. "It's called a Cutie Mark. It symbolizes a special talent that we're particularly good at, but can be extremely vague sometimes. Normal ponies apparently get them close to puberty when they discover said talent, but mine appeared a few days ago." The mention of vagueness might have been influenced by my own frustration over mine, but I'm sure I wasn't the only pony out there with the mindset! That damnable heart confused me to no end. It must be symbolic, but the connection to the gear was rather baffling. She nodded, her blush finally dying down a little as she peeked closer. "A gear? Well, if your engineering skills carried over, that's very appropriate. Are you a male still? Do they have genders?" she continued her pattern of curious questioning while examining the model. It was a little annoying, as I didn't know how long I had before waking up, but I owed her politeness anyway. She trusted me, so the least I could do was show a little in return. "Yeah, I'm a male still. It's a little awkward as their gender ratios are flipped from what ours used to be, if I remember correctly. The transfer also gave me a lovely case of retrograde amnesia," I admitted, sighing wearily. It was an extremely selective amnesia as well, which was beyond weird. The book even only gave me information I specifically asked about, greatly limiting its usefulness. Well, it was automated when trying to get me to murder things, but that was hardly fair. "That actually makes sense. To be forcibly shifted into another dimension and have your body regrown into an alien shape probably put you into system shock. Is their culture reversed like ours too? Males rule or something?" she questioned lightly, seemingly calming down a little now. Or she noticed my unrest over the barrage of questions. That one was less awkward, anyway. "Their culture seems pretty even. The ratio seems to be about four to one in favor of female births, but both genders are treated as equal members of society. There's significantly less crime and violence as well," I answered wistfully, realizing honestly how lucky I was. If the dimension shift was truly random, I had amazingly good luck, contrary to what a lot of mares believed. Keela giggled lightly and nodded, eyes softening. "I can see why you don't want to come back here. Cutting the link is more to protect the place, isn't it?" she deduced simply, looking a lot more relaxed now. There was an odd whispering quality that echoed in her voice suddenly, and I glanced about. Wait, that seemed really familiar all of a sudden. I saw the Sun slowly rising on the inside of the ship, oddly. It was starting to bleed through the walls, almost as if a massive three-dimensional projection was inside the room itself. Uh oh. Keela glanced over at where I'd rotated to, but acted like nothing was out of the ordinary and shot me a questioning glance. Yup, it was dimensional bleed through. Damn it. "Crap. I'm waking up. If you have any other questions, best ask them now," I warned rapidly, rotating back to face her. Her eyes widened and she put both hands to her mouth in surprise. "Oh! You were sleeping? Our time cycles must be reversed. Um, I don't want to be a bother now that I definitely know you aren't an AI or anything. What should we do?" she questioned, an air of guilt leaking into her tone. "Oh, that thing you gave me. Right before I'm about to go to sleep, I'll ping you. Just feed the book energy and I'll probably be pulled through into it. It beats listening to you talk for five hours and getting paper dumped all over me," I groaned, suddenly remembering what I had to look forward to when I woke up. "Oh, and don't run the book through that thing anymore. It wasn't pleasant," I added, sighing wearily. Hopefully I hadn't rolled into my own vomit while sleeping. Well, unconscious. Keela nodded rapidly, looking a little sad suddenly before agreeing, "Yeah, that's no problem. I'm glad you're going to let me talk to you again. You're, well, fun." Well that was, um, actually, I didn't know how to respond to that at all. Thankfully I didn't have to. I felt the book suddenly turn off and fall, me falling with it. I kept going however, falling back into the dark recesses of my mind and crossing the infinite void once more. Chapter 16The fluid dimensional shift had been so poetic compared to the now jarring spasms that I awoke to. At first I was wondering if I'd inhaled vomit and was now having some sort of choking attack, but those don't normally talk to me, I'd hope. "Dude! Mender, wake up. Are you okay?" I heard in a quiet but sturdy male voice. My eyes opened up abruptly to stare right at his emerald ones. The little, purple lizard stood over me, an expression of seeming concern adorning his face. I winced and pushed my hoof against my right temple, trying to shove the splitting headache out of my skull. "Ow. Yeah, I'm all right, Spike. I think I passed out last night and fell," I excused, telling most of the truth. Well, it was enough of the truth to hurt like hell. I probably had hit my head when I fell over, but I vaguely recalled being on my knees to throw up anyway, so it probably wasn't too far of a drop. Spike looked momentarily unsure before smiling and nodding again. "Well, as long as you're not hurt or anything. You're nice and all, so it wouldn't be good if something were wrong. Oh, and Twilight would go totally spastic again. You should have just heard her yesterday!" he complained, rolling his eyes before walking back over to the counter where I had gotten my drink last night. He went under the counter, however, withdrawing what appeared to be a paper towel. "Are you sick, though? You should let her know when she gets up if so," he followed up before getting ready to clean up my rather large mess. "Those two are still asleep?" I questioned in earnest interest before tapping my left hoof to the wooden floor. The barrier formed almost instantly under the mess and I scooped it up using a bowl shape in one fell swoop. "Sorry about the mess, by the way. I think it was something I ate," I tacked on, gesturing to the bowl of rather disgusting smelling liquid. Well, it used to be liquid. I decided not to think about it, lest I make myself sick again. "Oh, sweet! I wish Twilight helped me clean up stuff! Thanks! I totally forgot you had that crazy magic, too. But yeah, I usually always get up before her. I usually make her breakfast, too," he informed as he walked over to a nook in the corner and slid a garbage can out. I winced as I dumped the contents into it, and he rapidly tied it off. "You cook? You seem more like a little brother to Twilight. Isn't she supposed to be the responsible one?" I asked, smirking as he tried to pull the now much heavier plastic bag out of the can. "Ha! You'd think so, but we actually do it this way for safety. You saw her cooking at the party! I thought Rainbow was going to die," he warned, sounding actually shocked. I felt the blood seep out of my head. Oh. "Yikes. I thought that was because it was just really old," I muttered, shuddering before lifting the bag out of the can with my teeth. Spike smiled as I helped him again and latched onto the bottom of the can, using his weight to help me pull it off. "Nah. Twilight's too orderly to let things sit in the fridge for that long. Pinkie made that up. She'd only cooked that up, like, three days before? It just wasn't exactly, um, edible by the time she was done. It was a total waste of potatoes and celery if you ask me." More blood dribbled away and I felt faint, suddenly glad my stomach was still empty. "Potatoes and celery?! I thought that was pancake batter!" I admitted, swallowing wearily. Note to self, if I ever felt suicidal, have Twilight cook for me. "Exactly!" he returned, winking at me before opening the door. We took the bag out the front and set it down next to the end of the walkway leading up to the library. Hoped nopony got too close. The smells alone might incapacitate an unlucky pony! "Thanks a ton, Mender! Having you living here is going to be awesome. Do you want some breakfast too?" he asked, running briefly to catch up as I walked back inside. "Well, if it's not too much trouble. I can try to help if you want," I offered, smiling over at the little guy. He was nice enough of a lizard-thing when it came down to it. His eyes widened a little and he asked, "For real? You'll actually help me cook?" Was it that much of a surprise? I paused, but nodded simply, wondering if I was missing something. "Woo!" he exclaimed before hopping into the air and raising his fist. I snickered momentarily before he rotated and landed on me during his second jump, almost knocking me over sideways. "You're awesome! Let's go make breakfast, then," he agreed from his newly discovered sitting position on my back. I raised an eyebrow back at him, but he only grinned. "Twilight must have you ride on her back, then?" I questioned before heading back inside the library. He wasn't heavy at all, honestly. If he hadn't been rather on the warm side, I probably wouldn't be able to tell he was riding on me. My hoof flashed with energy and the door slid shut after we entered. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't even ask if I could," he suddenly apologized. I glanced back at him with a smile again and shook my head. "You're not that heavy, so it's okay. I just wasn't expecting it," I explained as we entered the kitchen. Now that I peeked around a little more, I noticed that he was right. Everything was ordered, tidy, and practically immaculate. It struck me as almost compulsive, but I knew better than to say anything to the mare, or that wouldn't be the only thing that struck me, I figured. Then I suddenly got an idea as we entered the kitchen. "Hey Spike, why don't we make the mares breakfast in bed?" I suggested, looking back and up at the little fellow. He thought about it for a second before smirking. "Dang, I wish I'd thought of that before! You really know how to impress the ladies, Mender. I wonder if Rarity would like breakfast in bed," he mumbled, raising a clawed hand to his chin as he thought out loud. My brain did a flip. Wait, he liked Rarity? The total lack of comprehension shifted my brain into reverse as it rolled down a hill at maximum speed. "Whoa, you like Rarity?!" I asked before common sense or propriety could caution me otherwise. Spike let out a gasp of shock and stared at me, dumbfounded. "Ack! Don't tell anypony! That's supposed to be super secret!" he warned, looking at me with pleading eyes. Oh crap! Why could I not go a whole day without committing some sort of social atrocity? "Don't worry, Spike! I promise that I'm not going to tell anypony. I'll even help you make Rarity breakfast in bed too if you want to," I offered, hoping my attempt at blatantly bribing him wasn't too obvious. Wait, there was something odd about that logic. He seemed oblivious, though, and sighed in relief instead. "Thanks, Dude. You're a good stallion. Oh, and you're so lucky to have both of them after you!" he suddenly exclaimed, probably remembering what he heard last night. I blushed and coughed as he climbed up onto the counter wearing a smirk. "Well, Fluttershy hasn't made any promises and I'm happy enough to have Twilight. Both mares are amazing for their own reasons, so I am pretty lucky. Well, in that regard," I admitted, leaving a loophole for the blunt head trauma and injury quota I seemed to possess. "Oh yeah. I'm gonna do the cutting, okay? I know better than to let you near sharp objects," he agreed, taking my hint. I laughed and helped him get things out of the fridge that seemed breakfast-y. Was that a word? Oh well. Eggs and bread were good, solid choices. Potatoes would work too. I peeked around for the veggies as Spike started working with the eggs I had retrieved. It was strange. Every time I had one of those dreams, I felt so weird when I got back. It was a surreal, detached feeling that lingered for as long as I thought about it, which this time, was quite a while. What was Keela doing now? She would hopefully be less intrusive from now on, but maybe with her help, I'd be able to solve the link issue without talking to Twilight. A twinge of bitterness slipped in before I could stop it. She'd probably just think that I was nuts again, even if I did say anything. "Equestria to Mender? You okay?" Spike suddenly asked, snapping his fingers in front of my muzzle and knocking me out of my thoughts. "Oh! Oh yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something," I excused, attempting to act nonchalant and probably failing in an extremely epic manner. Spike gave me a skeptical eyebrow raise before muttering, "I noticed. The mares won't appreciate burnt breakfast nearly as much, however. Watch the toast for me while I handle the potatoes," he requested in a surprisingly professional tone. Well when someone spoke like that, one simply had to go along with it. I nodded politely and peeked over at the toaster. Now that I realized it, this was the first time I noticed that Equestria actually had working electricity. Although I think I should have known this before. I could have sworn I saw a hydroelectric dam up by the riverhead. Forcing myself not to get distracted again, I plugged the machine in with a burst of field manipulation around the cord, then stuck the entire stack of bread slices to my hoof with a simple magnetic shift. The little lizard watched in amusement as I took four slices and slid them over the top of the toaster, simply releasing them as they were over the slots in one fluid motion. I might as well get magical practice while doing mundane things, right? "Magic is so cool. Yours doesn't seem as convenient as Twilight's, though," Spike observed after another moment. Well, that much was true. "Yeah. I have to touch things I want to mess with. Having a horn must be amazing," I agreed wistfully. I could think of a few ways around the limitation, but walking around with a bunch of ribbons tied to my left ankle wouldn't do wonders for my already suffering image as a stallion. Maybe some sort of hoof-to-hand glove I could build with movable parts? That might go the other direction though and scare ponies. I gently reminded myself that I was supposed to be cooking when the toast popped up, arced through the air, and unerringly skipped off my nose. I let out a squeak before lashing out with a bunch of force fields from my hoof and catching all of the slices in a makeshift bowl! The little purple lizard started giggling in amusement at my quick recovery, then clapped as I managed to get all of the slices safely back onto the counter. "Your luck is still just as bad, but at least you're getting better at the recovery part," he complimented, pulling a flat, dull knife out and dipping it into the small tub of butter nearby. What interesting ways to prepare food. It made sense from what I had been subjected to so far in meals. They prepared things similarly to the exotic dishes I vaguely remember being 'imported' from our tentative treaty with those other aliens. They had such complex ways to prepare food. It was a little weird, but I guess I'd get used to it. Our species, when not subjected to preserved military meal rations, kept things simple and mixed; chopped, diced, or stringed meat mixed with light grains and maybe a bit of sauce for flavor. The sauce was typically made from either fruits or vegetables. I remember a lot of spicy peppers mixed in as well as the occasional fruity tang if the meat was sweet. My stomach growled as I put in the next set of four toast, and I whimpered. Spike smirked and nodded, complaining, "Yeah. I always get hungry when cooking, too. Seeing all this awesome food in front of me and not being able to touch it is like teasing. Even if it's not what I really want to eat." My attention focused on his mouth while he was talking, and I once again saw the rows of pointed teeth. Was he omnivorous? "Do you eat meat sometimes?" I questioned gently, having gotten too curious for my own good. To my own defense, I wasn't expecting the look of utter horror that the little guy displayed. "Ew! No way, Dude! I'd never eat any kind of meat," he denied instantly, taking a step backwards and away from me. Okay then! That hadn't been a reaction I was expecting. I chalked yet another social blunder onto my quota for today. Damn. I'd only been up a half an hour! "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to offend! I just saw your teeth and I didn't think they looked like something a pure herbivore would have," I explained hastily in attempts to calm the little guy down. He exhaled, and seemed to relax before sticking a finger into his mouth and running the claw along his teeth as if just having noticed them himself. "Well, I guess I see the mistake. These are for crushing and chewing gemstones, though, not meat," he corrected. What? My brain stalled as I blinked slowly at him. Gemstones? He eats crystalline mineral deposits that have been processed into faceted gems? "Uh, all dragons eat gems, I guess. They taste really, really good and make my tummy feel better if it's aching," he expanded upon, seeing my empty expression. Oh. He was a dragon then, not a lizard. My mind strained to remember anything I could about the word. The only place I had recalled seeing it was in an old book that was imported, once again, from our estranged allies. It was starting to make me a little paranoid now that I considered it. A lot of that alien culture seemed to be popping up around here. Although to them, even, dragons were a myth. Something fictitious that existed purely in imagination and fantasy; yet here was a living, breathing example of one. I think. I wondered how close the little guy matched to their myths. "So you're a dragon? I think I recall reading that they can breathe fire," I muttered a moment later, tilting my head towards him. He grinned in the same instant and exhaled, blasting a small plume of green flames dangerously close to my styled and braided mane. I stepped backwards with my eyes widening a little before coughing out, "Dragon it is, then!" He snickered and nodded with a big grin dancing across his face. "My fire isn't normal dragon fire, though. I'm extra magical and can use the fire to transport things to wherever I think about when using it," he added, swaying back and forth as if pleased with himself. I was confused, however. "Wait, so it makes some sort of portal or something?" I inquired curiously, suddenly finding the little guy fascinating. At least he didn't seem to mind the attention I was giving him. "Haha! No. It kind of burns up, then just appears somewhere else. Like magic!" he exclaimed. Yet again, my brain did a flailing nosedive down a cliff. A thousand questions came to mind, but I suddenly realized that assaulting him with them might seem kind of rude. The way he was explaining it, I decided he probably didn't know the answers any more than I did. I made a mental note to never willingly use it for transportation, however. If it didn't actually send the object, instead destroying it and making a copy at the location he considers, wouldn't that technically kill living things? If it didn't, were they really the same individual as the one who got teleported? If one couldn't tell, was that still a bad thing? The moral and ethical questions confused me deeply. Spike was oblivious to my inner turmoil, thankfully. "I mostly use it to send letters for Twilight," he added happily before starting to load up a tray I hadn't seen him pull out. Oh, the food! To my surprise however, the sets of toast were done to perfection and already placed on a large plate. "Ah! Sorry for zoning out so much, Spike. I didn't really help you much," I apologized, suddenly feeling badly about it. He had seemed so happy to be getting the help earlier, too. Spike snickered and waved a claw to me as he finished loading the tray. "It's fine, Mender. You had a rough night, so it doesn't surprise me you're a little out of it today. The company was totally worth it! Can you help me get this upstairs, though?" He glanced over at the tray, suddenly seeming to realize that it was several times his size. I smiled, teasing, "Don't want to use your flames to move it up there?" A faint blush appeared on his cheeks before he shook his head, admitting, "I can't exactly control how the objects come out. With our luck, the tray would flip over and land on them." That would indeed be bad. Eating breakfast is good. Being covered in it; not so much. I reached out and touched the tray with my left hoof. It was simple enough. The tray and contents lost gravity instantly, and I snapped a thin, contorted barrier over the food on top to prevent any unfortunate drifting that might happen. Spike gave a questioning look due to the effects being not exactly visible to the naked eye. It shifted to amusement and a rapid clapping as I slid the tray off the counter and drifted it through the air towards the stairs. Once the properties of an object were changed, the small symbols I put on them would remain 'charged' for quite a while after I broke contact. That was a basic technique I remember being taught. More advanced ones gave methods in which to place self-recharging 'batteries' onto the enchantments, allowing for significantly more permanent effects. They required a tremendous amount of focus and magic to start up, though, and that was currently well outside of my capacity. Spike snagged the tray out of the air and pulled it up the stairs, scooting himself backwards as he went. The anti-gravity enchantment seemed to amuse him to no end. Of course, I could hardly cancel the true effect of gravity on an object. That would take considerably more energy than my entire body possessed. Mass manipulation enchantments were extremely hard. Now a basic effect that provided omnidirectional counter-thrusting to match the force of gravity on the object; that was a lot easier! Spike gleefully made it to the top of the stairs and turned in the direction of Twilight's bed. I smiled at his youthful exuberance as I went up the stairs significantly slower. Up was far safer than down when traversing stairs in my current body, but I still didn't want to trip and plant my face into the steps. Idly, I wondered if the girls really would enjoy this little gift. My eyebrows raised questioningly, however, as I saw Spike freeze shortly after turning the corner, claws extending up to his mouth and his eyes widening. Uh oh... Sensing potential disaster, I sped up upon nearing the top of the stairs. Thankfully I only managed to trip once. Stumbling to a somewhat complete stop, I finally managed to turn just as Spike started to smirk instead. The girls must have heard my fumbling in some far off corner of their dreamland. Both stirred gently, still tucked under the warm embrace of the covers. A smile crept onto my mouth before I could stop it as the stirring made them snuggle closer into each other. Fluttershy's muzzle and cheek were lightly pressed into Twilight's chest as the lavender unicorn had both of her front legs wrapped around her friend. Honestly, it kind of looked like she thought she was holding some sort of stuffed animal. Actually, now that I thought about it, the yellow pegasus was probably going to have a small heart attack upon waking up. "Twilight? Fluttershy? Breakfast is ready," Spike gently called out before I could properly warn him. Both mares stirred gently after barely a second; Fluttershy opening her eyes up first. She looked disoriented in that brief moment where you have to cognitively register where you are after falling out of your dreams. The look of confusion rapidly slipped into surprise, and then panic as she looked up fully at Twilight. Twilight, for her part, didn't seem to notice at all anyway. She was busy releasing a planet-cracking yawn. I momentarily amused myself by watching the little thingy in the back of her mouth shiver back and forth before she finally stopped yawning and blinked sleepily. By then, Fluttershy had started shivering uncontrollably and couldn't seem to break eye contact. Twilight slowly looked down, eyes widening in surprise but not quite slipping into the panic her friend seemed to be displaying. "Oh! I'm sorry, Fluttershy. We must have moved in our sleep," she reasoned, probably dead on as per usual. Fluttershy was still mostly frozen, but I watched her eyes soften a little at the lavender unicorn's warm smile. Note to self, my fillyfriend is amazingly unfazed by waking up to cuddling with her best friend. Even in my head, that sounded really weird, and not because of the cuddling part. I decided I still was having problems considering myself as her coltfriend. Spike managed to remain smiling, even though I heard the suppressed, airy snickering from this close. "I'm sure you two are hungry as well. Mender had a really good idea, so here you go! Breakfast is served," he announced, giving a hammy bow before sliding the tray through the air. It drifted low before gently landing on, and sliding across the surface of the bed. Twilight looked more surprised by the tray than the fact that she woke up to holding Fluttershy, ironically. "Wait, did you guys make us breakfast in bed? Aww!" she cooed, smiling even wider now. Fluttershy snapped out of her system shock and glanced at the tray in front of her as well, as she sat up to equal Twilight's height. Spike wasted no time in hopping up on the other side of the tray and sitting across from Twilight. "Yup! He even helped me make it. I should have totally thought of this before!" he exclaimed, tone indicating he felt he was silly. "Hey, you did most of the cooking. Plus you would have had too hard of a time getting the food upstairs," I reasoned to try to redirect his self-chastisement, not to mention the credit. Fluttershy was now blushing furiously and looking down at the tray. I had the sneaking suspicion that it wasn't me who caused the tinted cheeks, however. "Thank you. You two are wonderful. You really know how to treat two mares!" Twilight spoke up, smirking over at Fluttershy before shifting to a more questioning expression. There was a long, awkward moment where Fluttershy continued to zone out while blushing and Twilight stared blankly at her. I was a little awkward, too, but for other reasons. I realized that I was rather hungry myself, having thrown up most of my supper last night. There was a problem, however. Breakfast was sitting on Twilight's bed. Her bed. Bed! I might be rather naive from time to time, but I knew what the favorite location of private time was. Due to a very informative conversation with Pinkie and Applejack a while back, I had a sneaking suspicion that the concept was fairly universal between our worlds. "Uh, are you okay, Fluttershy?" Twilight hesitantly asked, finally running out of patience, it would seem. The timid yellow pegasus snapped out of it with a start and nodded rapidly. "Oh yes, I'm, well, fine!" she assured, not sounding assuring in the least. Twilight's expression said she didn't buy it, but she sighed and nodded before gesturing towards the food again. "You should really eat something, Fluttershy. I'm sorry again about moving in my sleep," Twilight apologized softly, gently brushing Fluttershy's right shoulder. Fluttershy started to shake her head towards the tray before she stopped and gave me a questioning look. Damn it. I'd hoped they'd be too distracted with their food and awkward moment to notice mine. I carried forth with sitting down on the floor next to the bed and peeking over at my share of the food. Maybe Twilight wouldn't notice and I could... "Mender, what are you doing?" aforementioned lavender unicorn asked. Damn it! I swallowed and glanced over at the confused looking unicorn before trying a reassuring smile. "Uh, sitting down? I'm kinda hungry," I complained, trying not to be too snarky. I'd noticed that I'd been getting a little sardonic as of late. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but I didn't want to be rude. Twilight was deadly sharp of mind, I keep forgetting. She smirked instead, assuring, "It's okay if you sit on the bed, Mender. There's no stigma against it, and besides, you technically are my coltfriend now, remember?" Blushing at her implications, I gave in and slowly climbed up onto the bed. "I suppose. I just don't want to do something stupid by assuming and offend you," I admitted, settling into a comfortable spot across from Fluttershy and next to Spike. This still felt awkward, but I suppose knowing that the bed wouldn't be hurled at me for sitting on it was a good step in the right direction. Twilight frowned for a microscopic moment before smiling again and nodding. "It's not like we're being intimate. You're just eating with us," she reassured before taking a bite of her toast finally. Fluttershy, who had been reduced to a timid silence during the exchange, nodded to me as well. "Admittedly it is a, well, nice concept. It would make me feel so much better some nights if you were there to push up against. Sometimes I get really, um, scared in my house all alone," she furthered softly. She was looking down at her food, which oddly left me wondering which one of us she was addressing that to. She wore a light blush regardless and Twilight gave her a curious look. Somehow, I had a sneaking suspicion that she was refering to a more platonic cuddling than anything. My smile softened towards her. "I didn't realize you thought of Mender that much, Fluttershy. You really like him, don't you?" Twilight asked gently, smile not even flickering. I know, because I was watching it like a hawk. It was still hard to believe she was so open-minded about Fluttershy liking me too. Was their culture that different, or was it more of a Twilight thing? I discovered that I was looking for any indication of her secretly disliking it that I could find. Realizing that, I started questioning my own motives over the ordeal. I was afraid of offending the lavender mare, obviously, but some of the doubts stemmed from myself instead. I didn't really consider myself worthy of them both. Wait, did I consider myself worthy of either of them individually? That, of course, reminded me of the awkward conversation from last night. "That reminds me. What's a herd?" I blurted out before seriously considering what I was asking. I should really stop doing that, I decided in hindsight. Fluttershy seemingly forgot that she couldn't breathe while eating eggs and suddenly started coughing and hacking like mad. Spike started to laugh a split second before Twilight made a gagging noise and spit half the contents of her orange juice cup all over him. My eyes widened and I leaned forward to pat Fluttershy on the back as she leaned over the tray. At least my fillyfriend seemed in less immediate danger of choking to death. "Ew!" Spike complained immediately, looking down at himself with both arms indignantly spread and dripping orange juice. Fluttershy seemed to finally regain her composure and adopted a new, fiery red tint to her cheeks as she looked back up at me in surprise. Twilight's cheeks were similarly tinted, although noticeably less than her friend’s. Maybe it was a shading difference due to their extreme coat colorings? The lavender mare shook her head before sighing and asking, "You remember that from what the guard told you last night, right?" I nodded weakly, wondering if I should be worried for my safety now. She continued regardless, seemingly less upset and significantly more awkward. "A herd is an older tradition in Equestria. It stems all the way back to when we were still nomadic, but the legal and cultural aspects are still practiced today from time to time," she explained quietly, not making eye contact. In a slightly bizarre oddity, Fluttershy actually seemed a little more comfortable with the topic, continuing where Twilight left off with, "Yes. A lot of animals still use the concept, and it's obviously still important to us ponies too due to our slightly off balance gender ratios. A herd then is as simple as multiple mares and stallions in a family or relationship together." That was it? It seemed simple enough, but was more flexible than I anticipated. So it wasn't just one member of a gender sharing multiple opposite gendered partners, but simply a group of ponies in said situation with potentially multiple on each side. It made sense if it was originally for a nomadic lifestyle. Unity and protection would be significantly greater. "So the guard last night was insinuating that we were trying to form one?" I asked, largely for clarity. Well, not in so many words, as he chose a lot more that were significantly more degrading. That wouldn't do at all. The shy pegasus shot back to embarrassed in a heartbeat and shrank back down again. Twilight took her turn to recover and let forth a snicker of amusement before rubbing her friend on the back. "Well, for right now we're just a couple. If Fluttershy would like to join in the future, we'd tackle that then, but I read that it works a lot better if the members of a herd are friends before joining, so I could honestly see it going well," Twilight pointed out. At this point, her referencing the fact that she's read about this topic didn't surprise me in the least. Was there a topic she hadn't read about yet? Spike, who I totally forgot was there, gave a questioning glance over at the two mares after swallowing a large mouthful of toast. "Wait, doesn't that mean that you and Fluttershy would be in a relationship too?" he questioned curiously, taking a strange interest in the subject. Wait, he probably shouldn't have asked that! Fluttershy gave out an almost miserable sounding mix between a groan and squeak before sinking lower to her side of the tray. I resisted smiling as I went back to gently rubbing her shoulder to try to comfort her. Spike's studious mother surrogate raised an eyebrow to him but finally giggled nonchalantly. "Well, sometimes. I've never, well, considered being with a mare before, but I couldn't see any harm in it. I care deeply for Fluttershy as a dear friend, of course, but I can't speak for how she'd feel for that, Spike. Be gentle," she warned before turning to the now visibly shocked yellow mare next to her. "You really, um, mean it?!" Fluttershy asked in disbelief. I could see the muscles along her forelegs shivering as she asked, her wings twitching behind her lightly in what seemed to be a mix of panic and surprise. I suddenly realized that all three of us liking each other might actually have a possibility of working. That was a little scary, for some reason. My sense of self-established inferiority started to creep up again. Things were getting complicated and the urge to distance myself reared its head again. The more complex something got, the higher the probability of something going wrong. "Of course, Fluttershy. Now you'd best eat something before the wonderful meal the boys made us gets cold," Twilight reminded gently. The shy pegasus gave a start before turning back to the tray of food in front of her. "Ah, yeah! I'm sorry," she rapidly murmured, gaze shifting between Spike and me. I smiled softly to her, and my scaly friend gave a nonchalant wave of a claw while stuffing a frightening amount of hash browns into his mouth. Fluttershy simply giggled before resuming her own meal. My smile dropped away as I lost the focus of attention again. Why was I doubting this? I liked both mares; Twilight maybe just a little more, due to experience and proximity. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity then? It seemed almost too perfect. Admittedly, my natural sense of paranoia was a little cautious. It didn't help that I kept getting stuck on the fact that these mares were national, maybe worldly even, heroines! How did I deserve such amazing mares? Finally, like a shadow looming over the whole thing, I worried that things involving Keela and the other dimension would spill over at the worst possible time. So yeah, things were getting complex. Twilight drew her attention back up to me. I caught it this time and rapidly resumed eating as to not draw unwanted attention to myself. This was hopefully going to be an easy day, anyway. I hoped that thought wouldn't come back to bite me again... * * * * * The resounding vibrations drifted through my skull as my momentum slowed to a halt. The cold wood contrasted my now heated and pulsing skin just along the bridge of my nose and muzzle. Groaning, I slowly slid my head down the unmoving wood, eyes still closed. Damn it. Laughter danced along my hearing from somewhere in front of me. It was a hearty, carefree laugh with a familiar voice behind it. "Ah reckon yer eyesight still ain't fully recover'd?" Applejack inquired in an amused tone. At least I assumed it was the country flavored Earth Pony. If it wasn't, somepony was one heck of a voice actor. "I take it you found out about the incident yesterday?" Twilight asked softly as she helped me back to all four hooves without hesitating the slightest. She adjusted quickly to my penchant for hurting myself. At least I was expected to be fully recovered by tomorrow. Magic was amazing! Opening my eyes finally, I saw a slightly fuzzy version of Applejack nod earnestly. "Yup! Dash came by yesterday an' told all 'bout it. Yer one lucky stallion," she remarked, walking over to give Twilight a hoof in moving me into the room. "It usually doesn't feel that way," I muttered, giving out a stiff groan as I was forcefully moved next to the inside wall of the barn. My, as of yet hard to believe, fillyfriend snickered playfully before suggesting, "Well, just in case you're right and physics still hates you, you're just going to be telling us what to do today. No handling sharp and pointy objects when you're half blind." Applejack laughed as well, seemingly ignoring my eye roll. "That's probably ah good idea. Ah'm gonna keep workin' with tha supports until Dash an' Fluttershy get 'ere. Mah brother asked if ya could make some plans up fer tha design, too," she requested, turning to walk back in the direction of the half-done conveyor, but glancing back over her shoulder at us. Twilight perked up, probably noticing that this stage of the project could make full use of her talents. "Oh, certainly! Mender will explain the design and I'll draw it up as precisely as possible!" she assured, again promising my support without actually asking me. Well, it wasn't like I would have turned the farm mare down, but it still would have been nice to be at least consulted on what my workload would be. I chalked it up to her knowing me, though. "Thank ya kindly, Twi! An' you too, Mender. This would'a been downright impossible without yer talents," she thanked, sounding more sincere than I thought a pony could. Smiling, I nodded softly to her as I plopped down into a lying position with my butt to the wall. The lavender unicorn sat down next to me before giving a smirk and lighting her horn up with magic. Almost a dozen logs drifted over to my position from a new pile that had apparently appeared there overnight. Oh yeah, Applejack had been shorted by over half her required parts. Note to self; find out whom she bought the 'kit' from and blacklist him or her from any of my future business. "Hey Spike, are you coming?" Twilight called out a moment later, aiming for the door next to us, it sounded like. Oddly enough, I could still 'feel' what the part was shaped like from when I last scanned it. I didn't think my memory was that good, so I snagged the original again and started to re-scan it. That was the last thing I needed: to get through all of the parts only to discover that I made a noticeable error in the duplication process. Applejack would probably kill me for wasting that much wood, too. My thoughts were interrupted by the grumbling of the little dragon as he hauled a rather sizable saddlebag set in from outside of the barn. "Yeah, yeah. This isn't the lightest, ya know," he complained, causing me to smile over at him. He was an extremely hard worker. Of course, Twilight had been wearing the pack up until we got to the barn, so at least he didn't have to drag it far. Which was good. If Rarity were here, she'd probably kill us all for mistreating an accessory by dragging it through the dirt like that. "Oh, Ah ordered tha metal parts, too. They said they'd come sometime today," Applejack chimed in. Oh yeah, I'd forgotten she'd need more than just the wooden segments I was making. They were kind of pointless if there was nothing to attach them to. "I hope you didn't go through the same pony," I returned, shaking my head slightly. It still made me mad that somepony had taken advantage of my friend. Sure, we had gotten off to a rough start, but Applejack had been extremely nice to me ever since that had been patched up. "Ha! He ain't gonna get ah lick o' Apple business ever again, don't worry. These parts are from out o' town. Ah little more expensive, but Ah'm guaranteed ta get tha whole order, ya know?" she informed, sounding justifiably irked. "Good! I have half a mind to go visit him myself and discuss the definition of product fraud," Twilight grumbled as she pulled out several sheets of paper from the saddlebags that were now in front of her. Spike wobbled a little bit before dramatically falling over next to her. Oddly, it kind of reminded me of Rarity. "It ain't worth tha trouble. It'll hurt 'em enough ta lose all tha Apple business. 'sides, Ah might'a found somepony ta take over our construction needs," she returned with a playful tone to the last part. A little flag went off in my mind and I glanced up from my scanning work just in time to see the orange mare smiling at me from on top of the conveyor's main support. Wait, was she talking about me?! Heat drifted into my cheeks as my eyes widened. "I think that's a very good choice, Applejack. He's brilliant at engineering, from what we've seen so far," Twilight chimed in using a sweet tone and a nuzzle to my shoulder. I let out a weak groan and buried my head in my forelegs, feeling the heat radiating off it. Twilight let out a light giggle before I heard the papers rustling into position. "Yer too humble, Mender. Ya must realize how much this is helpin' us, right?" the farm mare questioned curiously, yet in what sounded to be a distracted tone. Curious again, I peeked up at her latching a hammer to her hoof using a simple leather strap. She lined up a couple more nails with her mouth and lightly held them up with her free hoof as she tapped them in. The act seemed so precise that it left me in awe for a moment. If I had tried that, Twilight would be re-attaching my hoof. I knew she was strong, but watching her reinforce the supports displayed a totally unrealized level of finesse from her. "No, don't try doing that, Mender," Twilight suddenly advocated cautiously, apparently practically reading my mind. She wore an amused smirk as I glanced over at her. "Yeah, no. I like my hoof in one solid chunk, thanks. Worse yet would be making extra work for you," I agreed, returning a much softer smile. She looked momentarily amused before softening as well, probably guessing that I was purposefully trying to appease her. What was the term for that? 'Sweet Talking'? The situation seemed similar to when Twilight had accused me of that before. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing? "Don't get distracted, Casanova. We have work to do," she murmured tenderly. Of course, she accompanied it with a tantalizing and agonizingly slow nuzzle along the side of my cheek, doing the exact opposite of keeping me focused. It was strange, but I had a strong compulsion to push her over onto her side and start kissing her. Still, that would probably get a bad reaction. Reminding myself that she could tie bows using my insides without touching me, I managed to resist. Somehow. The heat rushing to my head certainly didn't make it easy. "Oh come on! Last night wasn't enough smooching for you two?!" Spike suddenly groaned out, sounding appalled. Twilight snapped back instantly and looked over at the annoyed little dragon. Applejack, who had apparently stopped hammering at some point and was now watching with a surprised expression and slack jaw, shifting to that of amused and started chuckling. "Ah reckon ya would think ah little differently if'in it was Rare and yerself," she reasoned pointedly. Wait, she knew about Spike's crush? If she was okay with speaking of it so plainly, Twilight must know about it too. Spike grumbled something under his breath and crossed his arms. Applejack snickered but spun the hammer around with a flick of her hoof and resumed lining up nails. She continued to speak as she worked, with, "It was ah little surprisin' though. You finally decided ta admit feelin's an' bury the hatchet?" "It took a while, but I think he's finally more comfortable with me," Twilight agreed readily enough, missing my eye roll shortly after. It wasn't entirely my fault that I was terrified of making her mad. Disregarding the most obvious retort, I decided to just resume my scan. Amusingly enough, it turned out that my memory seemed to be spot on from the last one I did. Maybe there was some sort of intrinsic memory involved with imprinting the scan in my mind. Regardless, I locked down the shape and set the part aside. From my yet imperfect vision, I noted that the stack of logs was over to the left side of me. I reached up to touch one when the top log drifted free and landed softly in front of me. Smiling, I gave the unicorn a nod, even if she was currently looking down at her papers. It didn't surprise me in the least that she could manipulate the logs without looking. "Ah meant you, Twi," Applejack corrected a moment later. Uh oh. The farm mare had serious guts, I'll say that much. Well, she was also a good friend of Twilight's, so she could get away with saying a lot more than I could. I decided not to look up. Maybe if I didn't see the death coming, I'd survive? "Hey! I admit my feelings for him! Well, okay, fine. I might have been a little on the hesitant side, but I've never done this before!" the lavender unicorn protested, suddenly seeming extremely flustered. Well, that wasn't the anticipated reaction. I expected more yelling. And homicide. I kept my head down through the moment of silence, busying myself by making cutting patterns in the log in front of me. They hunted mainly through motion and terror, I had heard. If I remained absolutely still and avoided eye contact, they shouldn't be able to see me! The log was significantly larger than the one I worked with last time, I suddenly noticed. I managed to fit three full-length stacks inside of it, allowing for eighteen sections from one. That meant we should only need five or six, and still have plenty of spares left over! As pleasing as that aspect was, I realized that I had only done four stacks before causing my nose to explode in blood and the most distracting sensation of a nail being driven into my forehead. This wasn't going to be pretty. "Ah think yer both perfect fer each other, frankly. Ya share enough similarities ta get along, an' not enough ta murder each other," Applejack admitted, gaining a snicker from myself. The mare spoke truth. It made me realize that Rainbow and she actually were very similar to Twilight and me, minus the massive competitive streak they had going. They shared a lot of similarities and lacked the overlapping skill set. Twilight nodded in my peripheral vision before adding, "Agreed. It's nice to be able to talk about magical things to somepony. It helps that he's actually neat and tidy too. Well, when not bleeding all over things." I gave her a skeptical glance, only to receive a tantalizing one in return. She was such a brat sometimes. She continued her verbal rampage before I could retort, however. "Still, at least he has the sense of organization and cleanliness in the first place. Right, Spike?" she asked with a bit of a bite to her tone. Whoa, what did he do to get on her bad side? "Hey, what did I do?!" he asked instantly, apparently knowing just as much about his offense as I did. That didn't bode well. I had just started to become friends with him, too. The exasperated unicorn sighed wearily. "You filled up the bin under my drafting table with cut up pieces of paper, Spike. It was two inches over the top of the thing! Did you think I wouldn't notice?" she questioned bluntly. Cut up pieces of paper? I glanced up at the same time Applejack did apparently, her expression shifting to one of dubious curiosity rather than mirroring my merely interested one. "What? No, those were all over Mender's bed when I got up! All I did was pick them up," he defended adamantly. Wait, what? Oh. I knew I forgot something. Twilight slowly rotated around to give me a skeptical, yet confused look. Applejack's shifted even further to the disbelieving side of the spectrum as her eyebrow rose sharply on the left side. Well, crap. Chapter 17Magic. Using a broad definition, it was anything not clearly defined through science that still held definable effects that could be documented and controlled. Well, not always so much on the controlled part. To narrow that focus a little bit, our magic was a little bit more understood, anyway. We knew where the energy came from and how to manipulate it. It followed the most rudimentary laws of the physical world. You couldn't create or destroy matter at a fundamental level. Forces such as gravity and inertia could only be balanced out instead of changed completely. You had to obey the rules already in place. There were still variables missing, of course. How our bodies made the energy. Why the symbols worked the way they did to focus our efforts. Where the energy went after dissipating. Even the very nature of the 'soul' itself, if I was allowed to be dramatic. Back home, mentioning that in the wrong audience was liable to be disastrous, if I recalled correctly. I'd always been more interested in function and practicality, though. Magic did what I wanted it to, for the most part, making my life significantly easier than it was prior. Which was a good thing, considering that in most cases, if life had been any harder, I probably would be dead. A burst of focus. The ebb and flow; twists and bends of the energy through me. It was an elation to use it. The log in front of me shuddered gently and I released the energy in the same instant. With a light tug, three stacks of the plates slid out of the wood with the extra space between them turning into a light dust. "Oh, I'll never get tired of watching that. It's so efficient, Darling! I'd be simply delighted to see what you could do to fabric," Rarity assured from behind me. I smiled back at the relaxed unicorn, pleased that I could see a majority of her without distortion or fuzziness. It would seem that I couldn't be without at least one unicorn with me today. Twilight had burst into a small fit when she realized that she'd forgotten some of her drawing equipment, and immediately took off back towards the library to retrieve them. Spike had elected to stay here, giving her an exasperated look if I recalled correctly. That was about a half an hour ago, at this point. It wasn't five minutes later that Rarity showed up looking for me, believe it or not. Spike was then delighted that he decided to stay here! Not that I was complaining. Personally, I was just happy that they had bought, or at least partially bought, my blatant lie earlier. Thinking fast, I had informed both mares that I had simply been practicing 'precision magic' with the pieces of paper. They seemed skeptical, but I elaborated that I couldn't manage to fall asleep and was trying to tire my brain out quickly with the practice. Twilight shrugged and went back to sorting and labeling sheets of paper, but Applejack had given me a dirty look. It hardly mattered, though, as at least she could be as suspicious as she wanted without potentially involving powerful princesses on the case. I hoped. The measuring tape felt cool as the ever-gentle white unicorn pressed it up against the nape of my neck before running it down my spine. "How are the measurements coming?" I inquired curiously as she continued. She still insisted on making me a suit, but I realized that it would defeat the purpose of me going with her if I looked horrible. Plus, it was apparently good advertising for her to actually have an example of what she could design for stallions. "You'll need far less fabric than Big Mac, admittedly. Which is a good thing!" she rapidly assured before I even had a chance to think otherwise. Oh, she had accidentally insulted my body type the first time I had visited, now that I recalled. "I mean, honestly. There are many good builds for suits that I could make for you. You'd look simply ravishing in a dark blue. Maybe get some simple gemstones on the cuffs and buttons, and a nice bow tie to go along with the look. Hmm!" she continued, cooing contentedly as she paced around me, eying over every inch. I swallowed, blushing a little as her eyes almost hungrily scanned me. I knew she was just thinking up suit designs, but the intensity she was pursuing it with was a little on the scary side. "I'm so glad you didn't talk me into going! Total drag, those kinds of parties," Rainbow Dash complained from up near the ceiling. Rarity glared up at her ineffectively and was ignored completely as the rainbow mare drilled the support plates into the ceiling. Metal pads attaching in the four corners to spread out the support pressure as best as possible. Of course, they were only backups, really; something to give a bit more sturdiness to the ground platform and to buy time if something catastrophic happened. Dash had arrived a little after Rarity, primed and ready to help finish the job. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I managed to get through two more logs since she got here. I rubbed at my temples now, however. The headache was starting to flare up, and I knew if I tried a third log that things were going to get messy again. Still, this was already more than what I had managed the last time. Nowhere near what I could have done before coming to Equestria, but that was a different story completely. "Rest, Mender. It simply won't do if you get your nose bleeding again. Maybe stretch and get a bit of fresh air?" the kind unicorn next to me asked, giving a soft smile. "Ah agree completely! Ah'm not gonna let ya overwork yerself again. Get some fresh air, okay?" Applejack chimed in, popping her head out from under the main platform for the conveyor and giving me a stern glance. It lasted all of three seconds before she cracked a smile and winked at me, however. Sighing, I nodded to both of the insistent mares before slowly standing up. My legs were stiff from lying in one spot for over half an hour, but it felt good to stretch them out. Maybe they were right? A bit of fresh air would do me some good. As if reading my mind, Rarity nodded to me before suggesting, "Come then. I can always finish the measurements later. Let us take a stroll around the barn to clear our heads." Spike stood instantly as well, attentively watching Rarity with all of his focus. "Am I allowed to go with you two as well?" he asked pleasingly, sounding a little on the desperate side. I struggled not to smirk at the little guy. Applejack didn't hold back her eye roll, however. "Well o' course ya can, Spike. Ah'm not gonna force ya ta do heavy liftin' or nothin'," she assured before giving a warm chuckle. She seemed in good spirits today for some reason. "Yeah, that's what she has me for," Rainbow groaned, hauling the toolbox back down and shaking her wings off after she landed next to her orange friend. Applejack gave her a knowing, amused look, but shifted back to her warm smile when Dash looked over at her. Wait, what was that? "Ya know ya like it. Good exercise fer tha wings," she pointed out, brushing her hoof along the underside of the cyan mare's left one as if to emphasize. Rainbow flailed instantly to the side in surprise, her other wing blasting out to full extension in an instant. How it didn't lose half of its feathers, I didn't know! She glared back at the country mare, cheeks burning a bright crimson, now. Applejack seemed unfazed and instead winked over at me. "If ya'all are gonna date Flutters, that's ah good spot ta remember. Ah hear it drives ah pegasus wild," she explained, causing me to join Rainbow in blushing. "Why did you do it to me, then?!" the flustered cyan mare squealed, stomping her right hoof down into the dirt of the barn floor. Applejack laughed before ducking back under the platform again. "Ah needed an example, RD. Ya proved mah words well enough, right?" she reasoned, muffled a little by her new location. "You don't lie, Applejack. I would have just believed you," I assured, smirking now. Suddenly I realized that Rainbow wouldn't need to worry much about being turned down. Not only was the farm mare significantly more adventurous than I had pegged her for, she seemed extremely affectionate towards her cyan friend. Of course, I didn't know a whole lot about Equestrian relationships, but this seemed like a good sign. "Speaking of, where is the Dear? I thought Fluttershy was to help us today with the remainder of the barn?" Rarity questioned softly, glancing over at me instead. Wait, why would she think I knew? Even though I technically did... "What do ya mean, 'us'? All you've been doing today is measuring Mender," Rainbow pointed out, flushed cheeks finally calming down. I saw through her attempt to distract herself and smirked at her. Unsurprisingly, she avoided locking eyes with me. Rarity looked absolutely appalled by the suggestion, dramatically throwing her foreleg up to her forehead and seemingly looking woeful. "The shame at even suggesting such, Rainbow! Surely you realize that I will help just as soon as my measurements are done, right?" she asked in a dramatic tone. Dash slapped her forehead with her right forehoof before shaking her head. "I'll hold ya to that, then. Where is Fluttershy anyway, Mender?" she inquired, mirroring Rarity. Why was I suddenly the resident expert on the shy mare? "She said she had to catch up on feeding her animals this morning and would arrive afterwards," I revealed, if only to get them to stop asking. Without missing a beat, Rarity shifted from dramatically depressed to curiously asking, "Oh, you saw the Dear this morning?" "Uh, well, yeah," I admitted, suddenly unsure of how much I was supposed to give out. On one hoof, they probably wouldn't let up until I told them. On the other, Twilight might use me as a makeshift hammer for the conveyor if I gave out too much information. "Yeah! Mender and I made breakfast in bed for them this morning! It was a lot of fun," Spike suddenly admitted. Damn it. Well there goes that choice. I knew I was going to get blamed for this, too. "Oh my! Scandalous!" Rarity murmured, suddenly blushing faintly as she brought her left hoof up to her mouth. What?! No! Rainbow burst into laughter instantly and even Applejack peeked her head out again. "Our little Flutters decided ta spend tha night at Twi's place? Ah'm suitably impressed," she admitted, brushing a hoof through her bangs lightly. It was weird seeing her without her hat. The overly large Stetson couldn't fit through the support beams, though. Wait, that was beside the point! "She just spent the night! Nothing bad happened," I defended, not wanting the mare's reputation sullied, even if she wasn't here to see my defense. If you can't be proud of who you are in the dark, not much else matters. Rainbow grinned but Applejack beat her to the punch. "Ah know that, Mender. Everypony 'ere could agree that yer ah real gentlecolt," she assured with a curt nod and smile. Rarity averted her eyes and snickered before suggesting, "Well technically speaking, it doesn't have to involve Mender, of course." Wait, what? Was she suggesting...? Applejack blushed, the pink of her cheeks looking quite fetching when complimenting her orange coat and widening eyes. The cyan and rainbow pegasus couldn't contain herself any further and burst into laughter, rolling over onto her side. I averted my gaze and sighed. Sure it was good to have a healthy sense of humor, but when she spent most of her time laughing at other ponies' expenses, it was an entirely different story. "Well, I was simply suggesting. Anyways, if Mender is to get his fresh air in any timely fashion, we really should get to it," she excused politely, timing a tactical retreat just as Applejack's mouth started to open. She had either been about to protest the probable mental images flooding through her brain, or her mind was losing motor control. Dash grinned and slowly closed her mouth with a hoof, still lying on her back, now partially under her friend due to a particularly festive side roll. Spike scampered faster than I realized he could as Rarity exited the side of the barn. I watched him carefully as he caught up to his target of affection and began hopping excitedly next to her. Well, he certainly didn't try very hard to keep his interests a secret. I was beginning to have my doubts as to the validity of my prior promise to him. Was I the only pony who bothered to keep the secret? "Please, Rarity? It would be really, really awesome," I suddenly heard him plead as I approached. Oh, was he requesting favor already? Admittedly, I had no idea how this dating thing worked still beyond my girlfriend's rather vague explanation. "I'm truly sorry, Spike. I just brushed my coat down and styled it. I know it's not your fault, but your claws do terrible things to styled fur," she refused. Oh, was he asking for a ride? Wait, she combed and styled her coat before even leaving her house? I didn't think there was any special occasion today. Twilight barely ran a brush through her mane before we headed out this morning! Upon catching up to the slowly walking couple, I inquired, "Is something going on today for you to go to all that work?" Rarity hesitated for a moment, suddenly averting her eyes before shaking her head. "Why, of course not! A lady must strive to be presentable at all times. You never know when a simply wonderful stallion could be watching," she explained simply, adding a smooth wink onto the end. I laughed and blushed, careful to avert my eyes as she swished her tail in an extremely distracting fashion. "Well, I wouldn't know, not exactly looking to attract stallions' attention," I reminded, mostly to change the topic. Maybe it would work better the bigger an idiot I made of myself? Spike took to the distraction well, breaking out of his depressed expression and snickering. "Oh, that much is obvious. Twilight and Fluttershy both seem convinced enough. You have that subtle charm that only innocence, kindness, and a certain level of oblivious striving can produce." She smiled sweetly at me as she said as much, causing my blush to expand. Damn it. She hadn't fallen for the topic change. Spike struggled to run after us again, having finally snapped out of his momentary shock of watching her tail with so much focus. I let him save face and knelt down as he caught up. He caught my smile I directed his way and didn't miss a beat, hopping up and settling himself in the middle of my back. "Oh dear! You let Spike ride on top of you as well?" the pearly mare questioned, smiling politely at her now somewhat eye level dragon friend. I nodded before starting our walk yet again. "It'll be good weight training. I need to get back in shape," I excused, sighing wearily. "Hey! I don't weigh that much," my scaly passenger protested. I almost felt his irritated glare on the back of my head. "That's the point. I'd probably collapse if I tried to lift anything heavier," I groaned, wishing I could magically skip all of this and just get back to the same fitness level as my old self had been. Nothing like the active lifestyle of trying not to die horribly from murderous rampaging aliens to get one into shape. Rarity giggled along, regardless of it being a true statement. "See, Spike? Gentlecolt. Don't let those guards tell you otherwise. Being a nice stallion definitely makes you attractive," she assured nonchalantly. I came within half an inch of inhaling a large cluster of rocks as I stumbled in surprise. Rarity was either oblivious or intentionally ignoring my almost accident as she continued with, "Sure, you leave yourself open for attracting a definite type of mare, but isn't that the type you want? You know, the mare who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to pounce. Every mare reaches a point where she decides she'd rather settle down with a nice stallion with a responsible outlook on life. Well, some skip right to that step as well, as I imagine Fluttershy and Twilight have. Myself as well, of course!" She only added herself after a sudden look of dawning, and I tried not to snicker. I hadn't considered her the wild party type attracted to the 'bad' stallions anyway. Like those two guards... "I try my hardest to be really nice, too," Spike chipped in, sounding a little down over the entire conversation. Rarity didn't miss a beat with that one. "Of course! You're the nicest dragon I know. Any lady worth her salt would be happy to be with you, Spikey," she assured pleasantly. He perked up instantly, of course, and gave her a wide smile. It kind of made me wonder if it was socially 'acceptable' to be with a dragon when you're a pony. They're both sentient species capable of making their own decisions, so I saw nothing wrong with it. We'd gotten about halfway around the barn at that point, not traveling at all that impressive of a speed. Rarity seemed pleased with the slow pace and I wasn't going to argue. Walking was becoming second hand, but moving any faster would typically result in my face greeting the ground in short order, still. It was hard to make sure all of these hooves were going in the right direction! "Still, I can hardly imagine Twilight 'pouncing' me, per say. She's usually quite reserved," I admitted after a moment's consideration. It hadn't really bothered me, I decided. It was probably better for both of us that we take things slowly. Rarity let out a whimsical giggle as she listened. Spike, for the most part, seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal. Twilight was either his sister or mother, depending on how one looked at it. Normally, either of those would pose a negative reaction upon him should a guy start becoming involved with her, I would think. I mean, I don't even have proper breeding documentation or a certificate of authenticity! I vaguely recalled that those were important when trying to impress a female and her clan. Well at least they were in my prior world. Equestria was so weird, sometimes. "I doubt her education covered the finer points of intimate involvement, so I could hardly blame her. Are you two truly dating, then?" she inquired, shifting back to curious like someone flicked a light switch. There was that word again. I hesitated and stopped walking for a moment. "I, well, she said that I was officially her coltfriend, and her my fillyfriend. We haven't, um, gone anywhere to celebrate it or anything, if that's the right idea," I ventured carefully. Rarity's smile widened and I inwardly groaned. I screwed up somewhere, didn't I? "Dating does involve actually going on dates, but ironically, such events aren't necessary. If she says she's your fillyfriend, then you are dating," Rarity explained patiently, much to my surprise. I exhaled softly and nodded. "I'm still getting adjusted to Equestria's culture, really. This is way more complicated than my old life," I excused quietly, feeling a little tired still. Of course, I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night between the Keela-induced insomnia, then blacking out when she ran my brain through a microwave. "It's perfectly understandable, Mender! Relax. Has she informed you about herds yet, due to Fluttershy's interests?" she inquired, a bit of her mirth slipping as she tilted her head towards me. I nodded wearily, unsure if I should be talking about this or not. I suddenly realized that I had to be really careful with Rarity. She was on a totally different level from what I was used to dealing with, I realized. Something subtle like a tone change could mean quite a bit! "Yeah. This morning, anyway. I'd heard the guards last night reference it and was," I started to explain. All was interrupted by a spontaneous shout from high above. All three of us looked up instantly, just in time to see a wooden cube of some sort descending towards us at high velocity! Rarity went rigid, eyes widening as I panicked. Not again! Simply going on instinct, I leapt forwards into the white mare, hauling Spike along on my back still. All three of us fell sideways and rolled just in time for the falling object to crater itself into the ground where we were. It shattered noisily upon impact, splintering open and spilling what appeared to be metal rods all over the ground. They were long and thin things, each about five feet in length. Wait, the support rods for the conveyor belt in the barn? "Look out!" sounded from high above me in a lower, yet still distinctly feminine voice. Yelping, I shoved the now scrambling Rarity off to the side and tucked my legs up, narrowly avoiding three metal rods as they stabbed into the ground right where my groin had been located a mere second ago. Not cool! What, had the second crate exploded in midair or something?! Spike cried out as he fell off my back finally and landed on all fours. He wasted no time in tossing himself on top of Rarity and shielding her upper body with his entire form. That wouldn't do at all. Grabbing onto both of them, I pushed them over until they were both tucked up under me. The second we took up as little profile as possible, my barrier activated and unfurled into a pseudo-umbrella above me, covering all three of us. Rarity covered her eyes with both hooves as she tucked against Spike and my right foreleg. I balanced carefully with my left hoof in the air, supporting my weight on just my back legs and one foreleg. The shield held; sparks flew off at various angles as the high velocity metal rods skipped off it and fell around me in a loose pile. High above, a panicking gray pegasus with a blond mane attempted to control what appeared to be a floating cart of some sorts. For some reason, somehow, the cart was on fire. Another box fell off the back and exploded in midair from a haywire blast of magic the cart produced, sending yet another wave of flying spikes plummeting down towards me. Damn it. Tucking up again, I lowered my left hoof and focused purely on compacting the shield as hard as I could. The more compressed the energy, the stronger the barrier was. All three of us let out a panicked yelp as the sky darkened and metal rained about like a spring storm... * * * * * "I really do need you to sign for this," I heard through the hundreds of bars of metal. Why did Applejack even order so many?! This was easily three times the amount that she had needed. Was she just trying to kill me or something? "What tha hay?! Derpy! Ya made ah right mess o' the barn. Some o' these things are stickin' through the wall!" I heard Applejack complain. It was hard to hear anything through Rainbow's laughter, of course. Rarity and Spike stirred under me slowly. I doubt they lost consciousness, but they'd probably just now decided the end of the world wasn't going to take them with it. I raised myself to the edge of the shield as best I could to give them room. I was sweating a little bit now under the force of maintaining the stupid thing after so many collisions. Rarity glanced up at me and smiled momentarily before looking past me. Her smile faltered and her eyes widened as she realized why exactly it was so dark in here. There was a tired sigh, followed by, "I know, Applejack. I'm sorry. I just don't know what went wrong!" "I'm surprised they didn't arc towards Mender, wherever he is right now," Rainbow finally muttered, catching a breather between chortling. Gasping, I winced as another spike of pain went through my head. I didn't even dare speak and let my focus slip. "A little help under here?!" Rarity called out, noticing my dilemma. "Oh yeah. If Mender's that blue stallion, he is actually under there. Along with Miss Rarity and Spike," the mare named Derpy finally explained. Trying not to groan, I pushed back any comments about her priorities in light of not getting squished by metal rods. "What?!" I heard in two simultaneous voices. A sudden harsh galloping sound came from off to my right. I winced as a hard blow slammed into the side of my shield. It flickered and I was forced to slam my eyes shut as the strain put pressure on the inside of my eyes. Uh oh. That was never a good sign. "Hold on ya'all! Ah'll get ya outta there," Applejack assured before another slam hit the same side. I finally groaned under the pressure, the top of the barrier fading slightly. No! My eyes snapped open as I re-solidified it just in time. Well, almost just in time. One rod made it through just before I slammed the barrier around it. My right foreleg instinctively whipped to the side, snagging the rod as it stabbed downwards. I winced as I felt a light gash along the side of my leg, but the improvised weapon missed Spike by a few inches. He yelped and crawled closer to Rarity, both looking more than a little worried. A few drops of red descended from my nose as I looked down at Rarity. She watched them hit her coat and frowned before her horn lit up. Shakily, the rod slid upwards again from her magic as she strained to push it back out of the field. Seconds passed and I strained more. Finally she pushed the tip of it out again, and I closed the barrier back up instantly. The pressure on the top lessened as I realized that two or three of the rods were being lifted up off the shield. "Almost got rid of a few off the top!" Rainbow gasped, sounding like she was straining. Holy hell! These things must have weighed a good seventy or eighty pounds apiece. How was she lifting three of them at once with just her wings?! Her reply from Applejack was a furious scream of rage as one more blow hit the side of the pile. I almost choked on my gasp, but the shield held somehow as light suddenly breached through from my right. "Mender? Ya got ah barrier up?" she asked carefully as I saw her peek between the bars in my peripheral vision. I didn't dare so much as move, however. I was literally helping the roof hold up with my back now, drops of blood and sweat coming off me in various spots. My head was screaming at me, an invisible pressure inflating inside my skull like a balloon. "Get them out," I managed to say. Plead, really. Applejack frowned but nodded before slamming her shoulder into the side of the bar. It shook with the force of her muscles and she shoved five over and out of the way an instant later. The other side started moving by itself, seemingly, at the same time. It took me a moment due to the strain to realize that Rainbow must be yanking them from above. Finally, half a meter of clearance was made and I slid open that side of the barrier with all my focus. Why couldn't an accident like this have waited a few more days for me to get more practice in? The temporary slip in thoughts caused me to jolt to the side, another bar slipping through to my left this time. Spike thankfully managed to dodge the thing before pushing against Rarity rapidly, helping her squeeze herself sideways out of the hole that was made. Applejack grabbed her a second later and pulled rather forcefully. The pearly unicorn was out of the barrier and removed from danger before I could even manage to blink. Spike stumbled under the sudden loss of the individual he was shoving, but caught himself. He quickly looked back up at me and frowned. "Go," I managed to spit out, closing my eyes yet again as another bar slipped through, sliding hotly across my left flank before leaving a burning, then numb sensation. If I lived through this, my curiosity was going to force me to weigh these bloody things. I knew they were long, but what in Equestria were they made out of?! Spike brushed against my leg as he left, rapidly following Rarity. "Mender, you doing okay? Can ya slip out while keepin' tha barrier up?" Applejack asked in a worried tone. All I could manage was to shake my head to both questions. If I moved, I just knew the magic would snap and bad things would happen to my fragile body. Again. "Oh no. Oh no. I thought he was okay because of his magic thingy," I heard Derpy whine from behind the farm mare somewhere. "Whoa! What's going on now? Uh oh. Is this your delivery, Applejack?" I suddenly heard asked from an oh-so familiar sounding unicorn on the other side of the peppering of bars. She sounded surprised, but not entirely distressed. Okay, time to change that. Sorry, Twilight! "Help!" I managed to shout out weakly. It made me lose more of my concentration and the barrier flickered again. I shrank it instead of letting it collapse, falling to my belly as I lost ceiling height at the same time. "Mender's under these in a barrier!" Rainbow Dash added hastily. Some of the metal bars suddenly didn't follow the shield down. I counted five directly above me that stopped as I heard a frustrated groan from Dash. There was a beat of silence, followed by, "What?! Move, Rainbow!" It wasn't a question, and I swallowed nervously. What was she possibly going to- The bars didn't fall more than an inch when Dash let them go before snapping rigid suddenly. My eyes widened as I was bathed in a purple and scarlet glow. Every single one of the rods lit up like a light bulb and started shaking violently. The pressure was suddenly gone off the top of the shield as the magic tore the entire shipment of rods up out of the ground at the same time, lifting them all into the air before dropping them in a rough pile almost twenty feet away. There was a negative energy image as the barrier collapsed upon itself instantly with my sharp exhale. My eyes shifted to my left in time to see my fillyfriend standing there, a foot of energy radiating off her horn as she glared over at the pile of metal. Well, that marked a whole new level of awe and terror I had for the unicorn. I had momentarily forgotten that she was practically a physical goddess when it came to magic. Damn. I was starting to realize that she was actually stronger than the instructors back home, not only in sheer volume of magical energy, but raw talent as well. Moving was out of the question. My mind screamed as I gasped the air back into my lungs, tasting blood as my tongue rolled out. It was oozing from my nose in a healthy quantity, I felt. The light throb of my heartbeat reached my left flank and right foreleg at the same time and I winced. Oh well. Aside from my headache, this was probably the least I'd ever been hurt in an accident of that magnitude. Actually, it turned out kind of lucky for me! "Mender!" Twilight shouted as she rushed up to my left. I couldn't seem to catch my breath and simply panted there before opening my eyes again to the sound of her hooves on the grass. "You used too much magic, too soon! Here," she informed needlessly but in a worried voice. I wondered momentarily what she was going to do. Her forehead and full underside of her horn was shoved directly into my forehead a moment later. I gasped as the world momentarily disappeared, raw magical energy flooding directly into my skull from the emanations. It was distinctly Twilight in feeling, and extremely familiar at this point. I couldn't help but blush a little as I felt her push herself closer, shoving more of her own energy inside of me at the same time. Oddly, my breathing regulated as the pressure eased up inside of my mind. Her magic danced along inside of me with purpose, flicking along the sore parts of my body before gently restoring them from the inside this time. Further, her energy seemed to almost massage my being, promoting my own energy to stabilized and bolster itself on the inside. Thoughts surprised me as they danced along the surface of consciousness. They were the full spectrum of emotions. The warmth of her kiss, the nervousness as she looked down at me in bed, and even a pang of guilt as I swallowed nervously and looked away from her. Wait a second. The images weren't from my point of view, but hers. That made me pay even more attention to them as I realized that there was indeed a huge wave of affection pushing through, tainted with worry. A lot of worry, actually. The image flickered through for barely a second upon closer examination. Pieces of paper, hastily taped together, with written out words on it. "Mender, are you there?", "The book is important, right?", and "Tell me more about yours," were clearly written on the page in a familiar, fine handwriting. Oh hell. She must have sensed what I saw. The connection snapped shut in a heartbeat as she pulled her forehead back. I groaned lightly as I felt the connection fade, her energy withdrawing alongside it. My own rushed to fill me back up again, however, bringing the burning pain in my skull down to a dim sizzle. Now I had other things to worry about. I suddenly realized she hadn't gone back to the tree house to get tools. She averted her eyes as I looked up at her. I knew it. "Mender, we need to talk," she finally admitted, almost too quiet to hear. The tone made me inwardly groan. There was something about the way she said that which set off red flags in my head, and I didn't know why. Rarity pounced before I could further analyze how badly I was screwed. "Oh, thank you, Mender! You're simply amazing, I must say. You didn't even hesitate! You saved Spike and me from certain doom," she spoke rapidly, tone dripping with a surprising level of appreciation. "Yeah, dude! That was awesome the way you threw that shield up so fast! We would have been pancakes if you didn't. Although that does sound kinda good," Spike chipped in, derailing his own thought processes as he hummed, subconsciously rubbing his stomach, it would seem. I had to chuckle at that one. Twilight actually hesitated. Normally the single-minded mare would have hauled me off to lecture me on scribbling all over hundreds of sheets of paper in a crazed manner during the night, then cutting them up into dozens of pieces each. Well, some were only cut once or twice. Towards the end, I was getting really tired and lazy. "Um, not to say that I'm not thankful that he saved you two and was really brave and all, but I kinda need to talk with him for a moment, if you don't mind," Twilight interrupted, sounding vaguely uncertain for some reason. I sighed wearily. Rarity heard my sigh and looked up at Twilight, a frown shifting onto her face instantly. "Twilight! Mender not only totally exhausted himself saving the lives of both your best friend and assistant, but he is injured! Anything you need to say to him surely can wait until he gets healed, cleaned up a little, and a big glass of water into him!" she lectured, surprising me completely. It wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, the accident surely wouldn't have been lethal or anything. All I really did was save them the pain and Twilight having to heal the two of them. Hell, if I hadn't been there, I suspect the rods would have missed entirely. They did seem to cluster exceptionally well right on top of me. Although she’d already healed most of the inside wounds anyway. Twilight flinched and looked away, sitting down again and frowning. I saw the pieces of paper that she dropped from where I vaguely heard before. They were the same taped up pieces that I saw in her mind. Great. Should I try to lie and say they're nothing, play into the fact that she probably thinks I'm totally insane, or try to tell the truth and watch them really think I'm insane? Such great choices. Spike must have traced my sight as he asked almost immediately, "Hey, I threw those away! Why did you tape them back together? And what about the tools you went to get?" Heh. At least one of those questions should be obvious, but I don't think he's ever seen how readily Twilight can use espionage to her advantage. Or I'm just exceptionally paranoid. Or would it be 'properly paranoid' instead, seeing as it turned out to be true? "I lied. The tools are all here in my saddlebags. I went home to tape these back together on a hunch that proved right. This is why I need to talk to Mender," the lavender unicorn admitted, tossing yet another surprising twist onto my day. I would have expected her to try to hide it. "Uh, what? Are ya sure yer feelin' okay there, Twi? That seems kinda paranoid an' distrustin'," Applejack asked quietly. Okay, that's it. I give up trying to do the silly 'expectations' today. Now the mare who was usually first to suspect me, even for irrelevant things, was thinking Twilight was a bit overzealous. That should really give the unicorn pause for thought. Twilight scowled at her orange friend and shook her head rapidly. "I was right, though! Fine, look for yourself," she defended harshly, floating the papers over and tossing them in the general direction of the two mares and Spike. I didn't include myself, having neither the energy to interfere, or the desire at this point. No matter what I did or said, it was going to look bad. Tactical silence was for the best. Of course, one of the pieces of paper landed on my face and got stuck to a blood spot on my nose. I just lay there regardless, now enjoying the shade for my eyes. Why did using up a lot of magic make me physically sore? "What in Equestria? Did Mender write these thingies?" Applejack asked, complimenting the sound of rustling paper as I assumed she picked one up. At least after my prior experience, I was significantly more comfortable being blind. Twilight groaned and pointed out, "Of course he did? Why would Fluttershy or I get up in the middle of the night, write on hundreds of pieces of paper, cut them up, and throw them all over him while he slept? It's not even our handwriting!" Her irate tone let me appreciate not being able to see her. In my current state, I couldn't run away and hide somewhere. "Easy, Twi. Mender, can ya tell us what tha pieces o' paper are?" Applejack asked bluntly. Ignoring my first choice of dripping sarcasm, I went with a much more diplomatic approach. "Yeah, I could tell you. You wouldn't believe me if I did, however, so isn't it just easier to tack it up to ol' Mender being totally insane?" I reasoned calmly. Yeah, that was the diplomatic approach. I took note to try and tone down the bitterness in the future. Largely, it was just this topic, though. "I'll believe you, Mender. Please?" Rarity asked politely. I felt a hoof gently trace down my back and figured it was her. She followed up with, "If he answers truthfully, will you then heal him, Twilight?" Well that was a little pointed. Ouch. She also technically healed me already. At least a little bit. "Hey! I wasn't holding it for ransom or anything! I'll heal him regardless. Plus I already fixed up the inside of the wounds a bit," Twilight protested. Idly, I wondered why Rainbow wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear wing flaps either, so she either landed or left. Weird. "They're from last night. I couldn't sleep, like I said. It wasn't because of insomnia, however. Keela wouldn't shut up. Whenever she talks near a book that's on the other side, I hear it for some reason. I think I'm still linked to that book and I don't know why. Keela is a Keldarian scientist. That's the name of my old race." I actually surprised myself this time with the calm I managed to maintain. Although it probably didn't matter either way, so was that calmness or apathy? "What?" Applejack asked in about as flat a tone as possible. A low groan, sounding very akin to what frustration would be like if it made noise, emitted from my girlfriend. This was followed by a faint slapping noise, from her hoof and forehead in all likelihood. "Mender, this is getting ridiculous. You need to see somepony about this," she finally managed to voice a dozen seconds after the groan. "What's the book thing about?" Rainbow suddenly asked, indeed confirming that she was still present. Still present, and missing the point entirely, anyway. I shifted my legs under me fully, realizing that with her current level of distraction, Twilight wasn't going to heal the outer wounds right away. Not that I wanted her casting spells on me while distracted, exactly. "It's the journal my old self kept, I believe. They were allowed one personal item to carry with in the military. Keela stated that it's something called an Aegis Artifact. From what I've pieced together, it's some sort of pseudo-sentient item of extreme magical power. The book is dormant until I connect with it. For some reason, it's linked to me." All the talking was making me even more tired, but Dash deserved a proper answer. She had actually asked the question without the barest of hints that she thought I was nuts. "You really believe all of this, don't you?" Twilight asked, sounding genuinely surprised now. "Don't be rude, Twilight. I mean, honestly. You should trust your coltfriend more. Would it hurt things that much to have either yourself or Princess Celestia take another look? The three of us will be in Canterlot in three days' time, need I remind you," Rarity suggested reasonably, actually giving me the benefit of the doubt as well. Maybe it was a good idea to come clean after all! "Ugh. You too, Rarity? Can't you see how crazy this all sounds?! Princess Celestia herself said that there was no link to his dimension left. You all trust her as the leader of all Equestria. She's not going to screw up when the risks are this high!" Twilight defended, getting more irritated with each rebuttal. Rainbow sighed wearily and added, in an uncharacteristically serious tone, "I kinda agree with Rarity, Twilight. If it's as serious as you just said, I think we should have it looked at again. Princess Celestia would want that." I couldn't help but smile gently from under my piece of paper. Maybe I was wrong about all of them thinking I was crazy? Well, crazier, anyway. Pity the only pony arguing for my craziness was my fillyfriend. Twilight let out a stifled groan, but was interrupted almost instantly. "I agree with Rainbow Dash! If it's dangerous, you or Princess Celestia should definitely check it out!" exclaimed the gray mare from before. Derpy was it? Wait, why was she still here and listening to all of this?! "Ah! Derpy?! What are you still doing here?" Rainbow asked almost instantly, apparently thinking the same thing. "Oh. Well, I feel badly for what happened and wanted to apologize to Mr. Mender himself. Plus, you still haven't signed for these," she reminded. If I'd had the energy, I'd have hit my forehead myself. She was almost legendary in her persistence. Applejack sighed but nodded in my peripheral vision, being one of only two ponies I could actually see from around the paper. "Ah guess yer right. Still, could ya kindly not tell anypony 'bout this? It's kinda ah secret," she requested politely before accepting a feather of some sort from beyond my vision range. She held it carefully and signed a slip of paper that was held out for her, it would seem. "Ophf corph, Apphljahk!" Derpy agreed, I think. It sounded like her mouth was suddenly stuffed full of something. Oh, wait. She was holding the clipboard in her mouth while it was being signed. Twilight sighed wearily, reminding me that she was still there. "Fine. I'll do another scan tonight on him if it will make everypony feel better. What do we do if it comes up negative?" she questioned, sounding as if that was mostly assured. Still, at least she was considering the slim possibility that I might not be totally insane now. "That would probably be reasonably easy to deal with. I'm sure you have places in Equestria for ponies like that," I finally spoke up quietly. Maybe she was right after all? The possibility that all of this was just in my head hadn't been lost on me yet. Twilight went completely quiet, and I was almost curious enough to peek if it hadn't required so much energy. Applejack stopped looking over the page presented to her and softened her expression a little before setting the feather back down and glancing back over at me. What, was it taboo here to have ponies with mental illnesses? Uh oh. Was I going to be executed or something for being crazy? Surely they wouldn't have kept that large of a secret from me! "We do, but yer not gonna go to one o' those places. If'in it comes down ta that an' Twi can't do it, Ah'll take care o' ya mahself. Yer still ah hero, Mender," the orange mare returned softly, smiling again over at me before turning to face me fully. A cyan wing shot out into my vision a second later, startling me just as the blush had started to set in. "Heck yeah!" Dash exclaimed abruptly, making me suddenly realize the outstretched wing was part of a pose on her part. "The entire town will probably take care of ya! If nothing else, you have the full support of the six of us." I blushed further, tucking my ears down and trying to hide behind the paper. I could handle making an idiot of myself, but this was totally out of my comfort zones! "Seven!" Spike added, sounding a little irked that he needed to remind her that he was still here. I chuckled finally and extended my right hoof a little towards him as he slipped into my right-most viewing field. He grinned and nodded to me before bumping it with his claw. Derpy herself put her clipboard away, and then looked between everypony with a happy grin. “Eight!” she exclaimed a moment later with a little hop into the air. I held back a snicker. To my surprise, a light giggle sounded from Twilight. "It won't come down to that. If what you've shown so far is the extent of the issue, you'd still be considered a fully functioning member of society. The Princess would probably just want you watched to make sure you didn't hurt yourself if you had a spell. I'm keeping you, regardless," she explained, extremely clinical and detached until the last sentence. Her tone shifted to amused and teasing with that, and I smiled weakly. Well, it was nice to know she wouldn't let my potential delusions ruin our relationship. Applejack gave a stiff snort, amused but giving Twilight a skeptical glance. "That would be interestin' ta watch. But Ah think tha real problem 'ere would be if'in yer test comes up positive," she reminded, losing a bit of her smile. Twilight let out a quiet humming noise before it suddenly shifted way closer to my perspective. Her mouth latched onto the piece of paper and pulled it off abruptly, making me wince as it took a bit of drying blood with it. She spat the paper back out after it was clear of my nose and looked down at me with a troubled expression. Was that because of me? A pang of guilt went through me. "If it comes back positive, we have a lot of problems. It was either something the Princess couldn't detect; doubtful. Or it was something that happened after she did the scan. You said it was a book you felt connected to?" she reasoned out loud, repeating what I vaguely recalled saying to her already. I bit my tongue and nodded. If she was willing to actually inquire more about the issue, I should try to be as somber as possible. "It was my old self's journal. She said it was an Aegis Artifact. I'd not heard the term before that, and seriously doubt that my old self made it into one," I furthered, earning a frown from my fillyfriend. "Isn't that what you call your strongest barrier spell?" she pondered out loud, somehow making it sound like both a normal and rhetorical question. I nodded yet again before remembering the bits I'd learned in the meantime. "Oh, that's right! I also learned that there's something wrong with that spell. It doesn't behave like I originally thought it did," I warned, unsure of exactly how to explain what I had figured out. She seemed curious, but distracted at the same time. "Can you tell me about it inside the barn? I just remembered that I need to heal your outside nicks, and that Applejack probably wants to get back to work on her conveyor.” "An' fix tha holes in tha wall, now," the farm pony groaned as she looked at the marks from the metal rods. Oh yeah. A few had stuck into the side of her barn like a giant dartboard. Twilight must have torn those out, too. Then I remembered that I knew alteration magic. "Oh! If you'll let me use the bits of wood left over from the logs after I cut the boards out of them, I can use my magic to meld them into the holes and repair them, if it would save you time," I offered politely, perking up again and rotating my head ambitiously towards the mare. She surprised me by looking equally as surprised before smiling again and nodding. "Yer just full o' handy tricks, ain't ya? Ah suppose Ah'll just have ta add it ta mah huge debt Ah owe ya," she agreed, smirking mirthfully afterwards. I scowled at her, and the smirk became laughter. She knew that I didn't like the thought of her paying me and did that on purpose! "Oh relax, Mender. You deserve to get paid a little bit for your trouble so far. Besides, she's already getting the work of a professional engineer and free materials as well, all for the price of a construction pony. I think she already knows how lucky she is," Twilight pointed out before picking me up like a ragdoll using her magic. All retorts left my mind as it was lurched downwards and I redirected processing to attempt not throwing up. Spike hopped up onto Twilight's back immediately as the mare stood up again. She didn't even flinch, and I wondered briefly at just how used to him being there she was. Applejack walked further forward and shifted under my drifting position, looking up into my lowered face. "Trust me, Ah know how lucky it is. This project would'a been ah total bust had ya not been 'ere, Mender. Ah'm real happy ya wanted ta help outta tha kindness o' yer heart, you have no idea! But that just don't set right with mah conscience. Mah brother agrees fully. So yer gonna get paid as much as we can manage," she spoke, surprisingly serious as she watched my expression. I lowered my eyes, but nodded to her. Even though I felt bad accepting anything from her, I suddenly realized that she probably felt the same way in return if I did everything for free. I could understand that. Rarity coughed politely before asking, "Is this a bad time to inform you that I'm giving you the suit as compensation for your troubles as well? Oh, and I will cover all of our traveling expenses too, don't fret!" What?! But that was one of her newest designed suits for stallions! I didn't even want to think about how expensive that was. My ears drooped as I pouted towards her. Well, they rose, I suppose, considering my head was upside down. "Rarity! That's too expensive," I protested weakly, trying the cute eye expressions I saw Fluttershy pull off before. She didn't buy it, and simply grinned wider. Rainbow snapped me out of it, however, as she smacked her hoof into the grass. "Hey! Not fair, you guys! The weather captain position isn't the greatest paying job, ya know. How am I supposed to pay Mender, too, now that all of you are?!" she questioned in frustration, throwing me for a loop with her logic. Wait, was she seriously going to try to pay me for the silly wing thing she requested earlier? That was barely twenty minutes tops, if that. She was either overreacting, or had additional details planned that I hadn't been told about. There was dead silence for a good four seconds, which I discovered was ridiculously awkward regardless of the short amount of time. Why was everypony looking at her like that? "What, pray tell, service did you request from Mender? Further, I think you have that a little backwards," Rarity muttered, sounding decidedly perplexed yet equally awkward at the same time. Maybe she felt it, too? Glancing over at her, I noticed her brow was furrowed and she seemed to be thinking very intently as she stared at Rainbow. Twilight spun me around instantly and glared into my face from well within my comfort zone. "Yes, Mender. What's she paying you for again?" she questioned pointedly, irritation present in her voice. Wait, what?! What did they think it was, exactly? I swallowed nervously as Rainbow shuffled with her front legs. How did I say this without giving away sensitive information? I tried rapidly motioning towards Applejack with my eyes. All it served to do was shift Twilight's irritated glare into a confused one instead, sadly. "Uh, it wasn't anything bad. I wanted him to do that glowy thingy with my wings again to help me practice for the race that's coming up after the party Rarity's hauling him to. You know, to maybe get better at my, um, celebratory sky writing?" Rainbow offered nervously, being surprisingly vague. A look of dawning comprehension appeared on Twilight's face and she shifted to a smile in an instant, nodding to me. Whew! I got to live another day! I made a mental note to get one of those "days since last accident" counters for living with Twilight. It would put each day I woke up still breathing into perspective. "Oh, that might be lovely indeed. You're certainly getting into this sky writing technique!" Rarity chirped, sounding honestly interested. Wait, why was she, of all ponies, interested? I was suddenly highly suspicious. Rainbow apparently wasn't. "Yup! I can even add colors to them now! It's totally awesome, of course. I just need to work on the sharper turns now, which I was hoping to use those cool wing things for!" She seemed oblivious to the strangeness of her friend's sudden interest, so I just assumed it was a rather regular occurrence. Obviously, I only ever saw them interact while I was actually there. They've been friends for years, so who knows the depth of connection that I was missing? Twilight's mouth caught hold of my ear and tugged my head back up using it. Huh? She smirked as she captured my attention again before leaning up and lightly kissing me directly on the lips. My system jump-started as my eyes widened. Right in public?! Well, her close friends, but still! Spike made a groaning noise and rotated around on her back so he was facing away from me. Despite the awkwardness, I felt the familiar heat drifting into my cheeks as I pressed further into the kiss to the best of my abilities. It was kind of hard to get leverage when floating in the air, I realized. Still, this was a pleasant change of pace from what I was expecting for today. Letting out an obviously stifled groan, she gently lowered me as her magic wavered, pressing me lightly into herself as she did so. With my legs back firmly on the ground, I pushed forwards a little, nudging my forehead up under her horn and earning a giggle, followed by a gentle blush. The horn lit up with her energy a second later and I felt a little bit of her flow into me yet again, comforting rather than healing this time. It was like she was nuzzling me with her magic! "Whoa! Now that's ah surprise," Applejack muttered quietly, apparently finally noticing Twilight's display. The purple unicorn blushed harder but followed me back as I tried to break contact, assuming she wouldn't want her friends watching. Well, yet another incorrect assumption! Her neck and chest pressed against mine as she refused to let me break the kiss. She didn't make any attempt to deepen it, which the rising heat to my face thanked her for. I might have passed out had she done that! My right eye peeked sideways to see the slightly fuzzy image of Applejack smirking as she watched. Rainbow's eyes went wide behind her and she looked past Rarity to get a better view. This of course alerted Rarity, who turned around and dropped her jaw while watching. Oh crap. I shut my eyes quickly as the blush magnified. Why were they all watching?! I felt Twilight grin and smirk against my lips as she finally released mine in return. "That, well, was to say I was sorry. I don't mean to get mad about that. Princess Celestia just means a lot to me, is all," she explained, grin dropping to a warm smile instead. My ears and eyelids drooped a little, but I quickly caught them and forced a timid smile. That was 'just' to say she was sorry? I didn't like the aspect of her treating it like a reward or compensation. Still, I struggled to try not to jump to conclusions. She didn't specifically say that, after all. Still, it would be nice if she didn't think I was crazy in the first place. She frowned slightly, apparently having caught my momentary lapse in expression. Her eyes practically bore a hole through mine and I backed up a little bit. Rainbow, who was thankfully oblivious as to my look, interrupted with, "Wow! That's the first time you two have willingly kissed with an audience. Although the one I accidentally flew in on was much more interesting." Rarity did a double take and directed her slack-jawed stare to Rainbow instead. "What?! You simply must reveal the story! Right now," she effectively ordered. "Rainbow! You weren't supposed to tell!" Twilight lashed back, switching from concern about me to seething rage in a surprisingly short amount of time! Suddenly, I didn't feel nearly as comfortable being pressed up against the unicorn. "It's all perfectly normal, Twi. Everypony gets ah little worked up with their special somepony in private, Ah imagine," Applejack tried to sooth, playing the voice of reason. Of course, she was also taking a shot in the dark with what we had been caught doing. Risky, but she'd guessed right. I think. If my terminology was accurate, anyway. "Excuse me?! We were experimenting! It wasn't anything serious like that. Then she blundered in without even knocking!" Twilight growled, sounding even angrier. Oh crap! My terminology must not be accurate! I started slinking back a little bit at a time, trying to distance myself without drawing attention. If she spontaneously ignited or something, at least I wouldn't be incinerated instantly this way. She noticed. Pretty much immediately. Her glare was shifted to me almost instantly and I made a weak whimpering noise in the back of my throat, trying to hop away. She caught me out of midair and violently pulled me back next to her in a heartbeat. "And for the last time, I'm not going to hurt you! You don't have to run," she started to explain in an irritated tone. There was something wrong; a twinge in my head from the situation. My vision flashed as I was pulled, something ugly twisting itself through my skull. My posture in the air matched something dark in the back of my mind, suddenly feeling familiar. For the briefest moment, everything darkened as I was pulled towards a metal table, arms and legs strapped in place to something cold behind me. I tried to scream, but there was some sort of metal piece stuffed in my mouth. A slim girl stood in the shadows in front of me, partially concealed by a combination of there being only one light in the room and it being shined directly into my eyes. I could still make out the whites of her teeth as she grinned, and the glistening metal blades of the drill she held. My eyes widened. The clawed-shaped blades were stained red, I noticed, the closer I was inched towards the gleeful female. I knew those were the last things I was going to see. The horrible image was gone in less than a heartbeat, but it was far too late. With a guttural yelp, I curled up into a little ball in her magic. Apparently expecting me to remain upright, her magic missed its mark and dropped me the remaining foot to the ground in front of her feet. I didn't even feel the jar before her hoof extended to stop me from sliding. I tucked up further, attempting to hide the sensitive parts from her magic. She kept saying she wasn't going to hurt me, but she got so angry sometimes. Just like them. She was so absurdly powerful that her anger... There was a thousand ways she could make me wish for such a simple thing as death and I knew it. She could torture me for days with that level of power, slowly pulling me apart yet making sure every individual piece stayed alive to feel everything. Nopony would stop her, would they? She was too important. Just like them. She could do whatever she wanted. What was I doing? What was I thinking?! I couldn't stop the shaking as I tucked up further, remembering suddenly what I had seen the females from my dimension do. Could that really be considered a 'relationship' in any way? Who was I kidding? I'd just been pretending to be her equal, after all. Her hoof hesitated, and then drew back again. I felt her body follow suit, even though I couldn't feel her. What was she doing? A spike of paradoxical anger suddenly reared up inside of me, scaring me even further in its sudden, seemingly random appearance. I smashed it down before it could even get started. No! If I got angry with them, it would just give them more reason to punish me. What was wrong with me?! Where had that anger come from? "Whoa. Dude, are you okay?" I heard Spike ask softly. Why didn't he realize? He's been her 'assistant' for years now. Surely he saw what she could do. Why didn't it bother him?! My body told me to run while they were distracted. I tried to quiet it down further and pulled my legs up. No, if I ran, even if she didn't just catch me with magic, Rainbow could in a heartbeat with her speed. She was nice though, wasn't she? "Mender, I..." Twilight started to speak. Speak. Her hoof touched my shoulder again and I went rigid. No. No, it wasn't right. She was either like them, or she wasn't! What was real and what wasn't, though? Was the other world all in my head? Was Equestria all in my head and I actually lay dying somewhere? Was it a mixture; if so, which was real? She was real. She just touched me. I could practically feel the magic beating under her hoof. She was filled with it. The guttural instinct was still there, after all. The panic spiked and I screamed, "No! Get away!" at the top of my lungs before booking it for the barn as fast as my legs could carry me. I tripped over my hooves within seconds, crashing along the ground and sliding on my face. "You're pathetic. You can't even walk right. There's no way we want you on the breeding list," she continued after laughing at my spill. Her essence seemed to follow me, inescapable. The images of the scalpels returned, and I gasped, clutching my stomach with one leg before scrambling to my hooves again and aiming almost blindly for the barn door. "Mender!" I heard Rainbow shout before taking to the air with a loud flap of her wings. Oh hell! "Come back... You'll make such a good pet. Just accept it," the cyan pegasus continued, echoing into my skull as I screamed again. I smashed off the side of the barn door's frame and fell over once more. "You already failed the breeding exam. You failed what it meant to be a soldier, too. You failed to protect her from yourself. You touched her!" Twilight screamed after me, somehow feeling like she was right behind me now. I dove across the floor, sliding in the dirt before getting under the bars of the support platform. "I'm sorry!" I yelled towards nothing in particular, the inside of the room spinning violently. There was no other choice. Panicking, I did the only thing I could think of that would protect me from them all; the only thing I was good at. I slammed all six inside edges of the conveyor's platform with barrier spells before tethering it up to my vitality. Now they couldn't get me at all, even if they broke through... Chapter 18Goals and desires were a funny thing. It was scientifically proven, of course. Once all of your base needs were fulfilled, it was natural to move on to higher designs. Food, shelter, sleep, and a good book or similar were what my list of needs largely consisted of. Once those were satisfied, the wants moved in. But that was normal, right? What would most say their wants were? Every sentient organism would probably consider reproducing a good life goal at some point. The method didn't really matter, I suppose, but it was a basic biological drive. Success, in its broadest definition, was probably fairly popular for a goal, too. Well, I don't know of many that set out into the world to fail. I suppose friends and family would also count for many. It's that networking aspect that was appealing. Or maybe it was just that special somepony to ward away the loneliness while sharing all that success with? Company was nice, especially when it included passionate sex and a solution to that reproduction thing, I'd imagine. Not that I would know. Speaking of myself, what I wanted was rather simple. A normal day. Groaning, I held a forehoof to my left temple to push the noises away. My other side was squished into the bottom of my barrier, so I hardly cared. My other foreleg was busy clutching my stomach, just in case the scalpels decided to make themselves real and spill my squishy insides out everywhere. Something was wrong. After my rational mind rebooted itself, I at least managed to come to that conclusion. Images, barely noticeable and not really visually there were flickering through my imagination of their own free will, which was kind of frightening. They weren't something direct; just barely there on the edges of my thoughts for me to notice as my mind wandered. After I acknowledged them, they were gone an instant later, no doubt to reposition themselves for another ambush further down the line. My vision shifted and warped as I stared at my own barriers that surrounded me completely. They were partially transparent, and it was like watching a silent movie. The ponies outside were saying things, but no sound reached me. Vibrations couldn't get through the barriers, so that was an obvious side effect. The orange mare had reared back and slammed the side of the field a few times, too, of course. I didn't even feel it. I'm not really feeling much of anything, though. It just made me even more tired after her third hit. The lavender unicorn shouted something then and she stopped. I was kind of sleepy, but I didn't feel like dreaming, so I stayed awake. It was kind of hard to think, which probably meant that I was running out of air inside my little box. I couldn't escape, though. They'd capture me if I did. If they were real, of course. I couldn't decide. Still, if they were real, I had probably really offended them this time around. It seemed like all I could do was run away anymore. They were wrong about me being a hero. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to suffer. There hadn't been a choice back on the ship. It was either accept that I had to die, or let all of my friends die instead. The only friends I had ever made. That was worse than death. So there was no choice. I wasn't a hero. I was a coward. I curled up more as the pink one slowly scraped more on the barrier, holding up her piece of paper again. At least they figured out fairly fast that it was sound proof. The paper was the same, pleading with me to come out. I stared listlessly through it. What had broken to cause these images? It was hard to believe that Twilight was the only reason. My head cleared a little, surprisingly. I took advantage of it and reflected upon everything that had happened. Rarity and Twilight had gotten into some sort of shouting match, it had looked like. Twilight surprisingly lost and left in tears at full speed. Rarity didn't exactly act like she had won, however. Now she was lying in the corner by herself, watching Pinkie and Applejack try to get me out of the box. Pinkie had obviously gone with a pathos appeal. Applejack was a tad more creative, however. So far she had removed the back wall, the left wall, and the inside of the platform in testing the various angles of my barriers. She was extremely persistent, it would seem. Now she was starting to dig down into the dirt, looking like she was going to try to tunnel under me. I was lying on a barrier as well, so I already knew that wouldn't work. No, it couldn't work. I'd rather suffocate than subject myself to what they could do to me. So much power. I fought it further. Twilight said she wasn't going to use it to hurt me. But she had used it to hurt me before. I didn't know what to think. I wanted to believe her but I was scared. I saw what power like that did. I saw it with my own eyes, if the images flickering through my brain like a bad movie reel were to be believed. They hadn't just taken my squad's eyes when we all saw her; saw Keela. She was whom we had rescued. She was the one that had damned us in the same instant. She was different from them, and they blamed us for it instead of accepting her. No, blame was too weak for what they did. Taking our eyes would have been a mercy. Why was I the only one to make it out alive? Was I? The memories just weren't there, and my head started pounding again. The clarity continued until finally, the cloud that had sunk over me like a fever faded. Wait, what was I doing? That had obviously been a flashback, and while they were probably upset, I had no reason to think that they were like the females of my dimension. Twilight, while not exactly the fairest pony out there, definitely didn't deserve to be compared to... them. "Exactly! Relax. Come out then, Mender," I heard echoed all around me. Wait, what the hell?! A yellow distortion landed inside the barn a second later. "Sorry I'm, um, late. I got here as fast as I could after Rainbow found me. She told me what happened, and then went to catch up with Twilight," Fluttershy apologized, my head echoing in perfect clarity and timing to her moving lips. Oh. That again. I suddenly wondered how much of my thoughts clearing up were due to proximity to the yellow mare. Pinkie made several frantic motions and gestured towards the wall of the barrier, looking uncharacteristically concerned. "I know. But it sounds like he's, well, starting to realize that it was all a misunderstanding. Right, Mender?" the yellow pegasus replied, turning back to me through the barrier as she asked quietly. I sighed and nodded, testing a reply. "It was a flashback when she pulled me. Something, um, really bad happened in my prior life that it reminded me of unexpectedly." Fluttershy's expression fell a little and she nodded quietly. Applejack had stopped digging and was now staring in surprise at the mare. She mouthed something a second later, and Fluttershy gave her a quizzical glance. "What do you mean, Applejack? I can hear him fine, and he's answering me," she reasoned, blowing a blur of pink out of what I could only assume was her face. At least it was the barrier screwing my vision up this time instead of my actual eyes. They were on the way to recovery, thankfully. "The barrier is soundproof, Fluttershy. I think we need to, um, talk after this at some point," I finally admitted, frowning to myself. There was an abrupt spike of panic from the shy mare. "What? But, how could it be... That can't be right. How can I hear you if it's soundproofed?" she asked, losing more and more of her voice the longer she spoke. The rush of strength returning to me as I killed the barriers was actually on the pleasant side. I stepped out of the underside of the platform shakily, trying to keep my balance. "I heard it in my head. You're probably the same, right?" I inquired, more to try to distract myself from the wet noodle feeling in my legs than anything. Applejack surprised me by closing the gap almost instantly and catching me as I wobbled. "That's not important. Are ya alright there, Mender? What happened?" she asked quickly, sounding more concerned than anything. Rarity stood up the second I exited the underside of the conveyor, scampering over far faster than I had ever seen her move before. The little dragon I'd failed to spot from inside of the shield stood up as well, having been on the other side of her. His approach was much slower, however. "It was, well, a panic attack. I don't know what happened. The way she pulled me combined with the, um, anger involved... It caused more memories of my prior life to re-surface. They weren't exactly the most pleasant," I explained, sitting down roughly on my haunches. Dried blood stained two of my legs at this point, I noticed. I knew I forgot something. Rarity shook her head sadly before frowning. "She shouldn't get so defensive over being with you. It's obviously doing more harm than good. Still, I might have made things a tiny bit worse," she warned, looking incredibly guilty. "Ya spoke the truth, even if it could'a been more polite. Maybe it was what she needed, really. Ah think she'll be alright once all this calms down," Applejack assured softly, brushing a hoof down Rarity's shoulder. I noticed a deeper understanding of each other again. All six friends had roots extending far further than I had originally realized. Although now I was terribly curious as to what the argument was about. A wall of pink squished me into the floor a second later, causing me to flail my legs upwards in an ineffectual manner. "Okay, enough sadness then! Mender's gonna be okay, and that's all that matters! Twilight has a chance to fix things still, and I don't have to add more to my sign," Pinkie reasoned, in a roundabout yet perfectly logical way. Somehow. Spike nodded and smirked at the pink mare as he finally finished walking up next to Rarity. Pinkie grinned and helped me back into a sitting position, still refusing to let go, however. "Twilight's been more stressed than everypony realizes, between her feelings and the project the Princess assigned to her. I think it's starting to take its toll, so try to go easy on her, okay?" Spike asked, looking between Rarity and Applejack before settling on me again. I watched him weakly, giving my best nod. Not that it was up to me to go easy on her, but he looked like he needed assurance. "Ugh. This is all one big mess. Ah think we need ta finish this conveyor thingy as soon as we can. That way we can all work on helpin' Twi get her head straight again," Applejack pointed out, gesturing to the construction project around her. Admittedly, apart from the gearbox, lid lift, and tread to power the thing, it was mostly completed. "I'll help finish the plans in Twilight's stead," Rarity offered politely, walking over to the saddlebags Twilight seemingly left near the door. Applejack nodded curtly before looking over at the loft hole she'd cut earlier. "Ah'll try ta finish tha lid thing. It's gonna be hard without RD 'ere," she confessed, frowning. "I'll try to help with the flying parts, um, if you think it would be useful," Fluttershy murmured, soft eyes still locked onto me instead. She hadn't looked away since I revealed what I had been guessing at for a while. "I'll help too, Applejack! I finished picking up all the rods outside," came from high above an instant later. I glanced up just in time to see the gray mare from before, Derpy, coming in through an open window near the loft. A smaller version of the cart from earlier was attached to her, hauling a tied-up bundle of the blasted rods that almost killed three of us. Applejack smiled and nodded up at her. Spike disrupted my view, however, with a large sheet of paper. I recognized the gearbox assembly on it as he lowered it again. "This is supposed to connect the conveyor and tread, right? I can put this together. My small claws are good at doing this kinda thing!" he bragged, grinning over at the softly smiling Rarity still, who presumably gave him the sheet in the first place. I tried not to laugh, and managed a nod and smile instead. As unnerved as I was about what had happened, this was quite refreshing. They were being very understanding as to the situation, much to my surprise. I vowed to give them more credit in the future. A lot of the feelings were truly mine, however. I felt like a coward who always ran away. Was this who my old self was? If it wasn't, why was I different suddenly? "Okay then, that settles it! We'll all git back ta work an' finish this up as soon as we can. Mender, you try ta calm yer nerves ah bit an' just focus on tellin' us how ta build this thing," Applejack instructed, obviously trying to sound positive, but managing a smile regardless of her inner feelings. Still, her attempt was comforting, and I nodded back quietly. It made sense, regardless. I think the distraction would do me some good. There were a lot of complications and things were moving way too fast to be comfortable for me, but they'd already proven they were going to help me as best they could. Pinkie grinned and started rubbing my back gently after she helped me resituate myself next to Rarity. The white unicorn smiled politely and nodded as I sat down again. She had laid out the papers in front of her, and looked sideways at me expectantly. Yeah. It was going to be hard to focus on all of the complications. I suddenly realized exactly how much effort they were expecting from me, and began to wonder if maybe it had been a bad idea to drop those shields after all... * * * * * Why hadn't someone killed me yet? It would be a mercy blow at this point. I groaned as I dropped the last pile of planks that were needed for the tread. It was to be hooked up to the gearbox, which would transfer energy to the conveyor and make it move when somepony ran on it. A very basic setup that required a deceiving amount of planks. I was literally covered in leftover wood shavings. "Whaaa!" sounded out from in front of me. I almost didn't bother to look up again, but decided it might actually be important. An inquiring glance showed that Scootaloo was dangling from several ropes attached to the ceiling, now upside down and swaying back and forth as her tiny wings propelled her around in a circle. The red cape she wore had somehow gotten flipped over her eyes and she struggled against the air, unable to see anything. Derpy, floating conveniently nearby, suddenly looked extremely guilty and slowly drifted over to where Fluttershy was, apparently making to help her and Applejack line up the lid lift itself. Damn. She had worse luck than I did. Thankfully or not, as the case may be, at least mine only usually targeted myself. Well, nopony died, so all was yet good. I decided not to ask how she'd gotten tied up in the ropes in the first place. Sweetie Belle sat on the edge of the loft, looking nervous as she tried to tug her friend to a stop with her magic. It didn't look like she had very good control over it yet, however, as it appeared largely ineffectual. I stood up softly and stretched as my magic gathered up the wood shavings around me. Rarity paid little heed beyond a cursory glance as I moved from her side, instead focusing on 'perfecting' the drawing. Her extremely stylized border around the plans, excessive amount of measurements included, and potential decoration positions made me dizzy, so I hadn't been watching her work for a good two hours. I still had to repair Applejack's back wall, however. The mare in question smiled as she saw me gathering up the pieces and dumping them into Derpy's miniature cart. I imagine she anticipated that I'd forget about the repair job and was now pleasantly surprised. Fluttershy was helping her line up the chains for the lid lift at the moment, alongside Derpy doing most of the heavy lifting. It surprised me how readily they all got along when it came to a project like this. We'd been at this for a good five hours now, and it was finally starting to come together! I gave a nod to Spike as I walked past him. He grinned up at me, having almost finished with the gear assembly. It was looking surprisingly precise. The little guy had an amazing eye for details I hadn't anticipated; probably from living with Twilight for so long. The slowly dimming light of the barn was enough for me to navigate around the boxes, thankfully. It was also enough for me to make out the form of Apple Bloom as she readied herself to launch out and snag Scootaloo's rope as she swung past. Uh oh... Anticipating disaster, I sped up my passage a little bit in attempts to time the jump. As predicted, Apple Bloom hit the rope at high velocity, her own cape making her look momentarily like a superhero, and swung both Scootaloo and herself violently to the side. The rope snapped off the ring on the ceiling and dropped both of them from the level of the loft. I adjusted my momentum a little and peeked behind me as Apple Bloom landed in the soft wood shavings in the cart, as I'd hoped. Wait, where was Scootaloo? The buzzing of her wings sounded as she momentarily slowed herself, drifting to the side. I stepped sideways, rotating the cart as I went, and she landed rather abruptly on my back, face and stomach first. I winced, more for sympathy of her pain than any she had inflicted on me. "Ow. I don't think we're gonna get our Cutie Marks in barn design, girls," the orange filly groaned as she popped her face out from being wedged against my back. "Aww! But we were tryin' so hard!" Apple Bloom complained profusely, sounding a little on the irate side. Oops. Best placate them before their desire to help turns destructive instead. "You're being too hard on yourselves. You've been a huge help so far with the upper loft, and there are more things you three could assist with," I pointed out, amused at the skeptical look Scootaloo gave me as she just lay there. Sweetie Belle descended from out of nowhere a moment later and landed in the shavings next to Apple Bloom, who squeaked and burst into laughter as Sweetie's cape got flopped over her head. I smirked back at the two before continuing walking towards the back of the barn, ignoring the now swaying cart as the two wrestled to get off each other. Surprisingly, all three of them were rather on the light side, even together. Although if I recall, this little cart was enchanted similarly to the larger one. Er, I suddenly hoped that this one didn't catch fire too. Apparently, carts were frequently enchanted to drift free of gravity so Pegasi could pull them through the air with ease. I could see the potential in such an enchantment. Oddly, I saw Applejack give a light tug on the ropes next to her in my peripheral vision as I walked past. Fluttershy drifted down from the other end that was over the loft and looked questioningly at her friend. I passed them, however, and didn't want to look suspicious by turning to stare. What was the farm mare up to now? "Oh. Oh my... Um, you're right," I suddenly heard the shy mare echo in my head wistfully, almost gushing with embarrassment. Wait, what had Applejack said to cause this?! I couldn't help it anymore, and glanced back over my right shoulder at the two mares. Both were eyeing me as I walked with a rather soft expression that I had no way of placing or translating in the slightest. What did it mean when they looked at me like that? Scootaloo glanced back as well, now as curious as I was. Both girls in the cart saw our attention shift, and of course peeked back as well. The light pink in Fluttershy's cheeks turned to full out red as her eyes widened dramatically. "Oh, um, oops! I didn't mean to stare, Mender. I'm, uh, really sorry," came in another echoing yet familiar voice in my head. Fluttershy bowed her head politely as I heard it, and I realized it wasn't just in my head after all. This was going to get weird fast. It was the same kind of thing that I did to Keela, except it worked both ways for us. There were lots of questions regarding it, really. From observation, I only heard her when she was not trying, if she was under some sort of emotional imbalance. It's like a form of empathy, then. Now she had discovered that she could purposefully push words at me as well. I had no idea how she did it, and had yet to be able to respond similarly. Regardless, I shook my head softly towards her and returned a warm smile before turning back to the back wall. What those two had been staring at would just have to remain a mystery for now. "Fluttershy is acting really weird. Is she okay?" Sweetie Belle asked softly, looking to her fellow cart rider as she said so. Apple Bloom frowned but shook her head, returning, "Ah honestly haven't ah clue. Yer sister's actin' all weird, too." "She got in a fight with Twilight earlier. I don't think she feels too good about it," I informed gently as we slowed to a stop at the back wall. That got Scootaloo's attention, of course. "Whoa! Awesome! Was there blood? Did they use their magic? I bet Twilight kicked her flank and that's why she's so mopey," she asked all at once, suddenly rather excited. I peeked back at her with a smirk and shook my head. "It was a verbal fight, not a physical one. The barn hasn't been leveled, so magic wasn't involved, obviously," I pointed out. Instead of being disappointed, the orange filly with the purple mane started snickering instead and nodded. "I figured. That would have been cool to watch, though," she lamented a moment later, sitting up on my back and tucking her wings up again. "So long as we didn't get caught in it, yeah," I muttered, shuddering at the thought. All three fillies started giggling then. Sweetie Belle took the opportunity to launch herself out of the cart and land directly behind Scootaloo an instant later. "Hey! There's only room up here for one of us," Scootaloo complained, getting shoved up against my mane. I started and wobbled, spreading my hooves out so I didn't tip to either side as they readjusted on my back. Well, this was awkward. "Then get off. You got to ride back here on him. I haven't gotten to see him for a while," the little unicorn responded, sticking her tongue out at her friend. Apple Bloom sat up on the rim of the cart and rolled her eyes. "Sweetie, ya were the last one ta see him in tha first place," she pointed out skeptically. It was true. I had seen a lot more of Sweetie Belle than I had the other two fillies. "Yeah! We get to hang out with the new CMC member, too. Did you remember the thing?" Scootaloo asked vaguely, earning my attention again as I unhooked myself from the cart. Not an easy task to do when there are two fillies sitting on your back. "The what? Oh! Yeah!" Sweetie returned before reaching behind her own cape. Huh? "Rarity knew how to make a bigger one, like we thought!" she added before withdrawing a rather large roll of red fabric. It was the same color as their capes? Wait a second... Scootaloo grinned impishly before hopping off my back. Before I could so much as ask a question, Sweetie Belle pounced! I let out a squeak as she wrapped a cloth loop around my neck, sealing it with a brooch of some kind on the other side. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting it and had tried to shift sideways to avoid whatever she was doing. The much larger cape unfurled as we fell sideways. I tripped over two of my hooves in an instant and somehow managed to twist onto my back, wrapping myself up in the cape while spilling Sweetie Belle off to the side. Everything finally slowed to a stop. Sweetie Belle came out of her roll upside down, looking at me in a confused manner. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo started snickering in amusement as I struggled to free my legs from the frustrating fabric. To my surprise, however, Scootaloo stepped forwards and wrapped a forehoof around my front leg. Sweetie recovered quickly and shifted forwards, shoving at the same time Scootaloo yanked. This tipped me in the other direction and let me pull free of the cape. I smiled to both of them as they gathered themselves in front of me. Apple Bloom hopped out of the cart finally and straightened the cape on my back with a few gentle tugs before backing up to admire her work. "Ah think it looks darn good on ya! Yer an official member o' tha Cutie Mark Crusaders, now!" the little, red-maned filly exclaimed, smiling widely now. "Even if he already has his Cutie Mark," Scootaloo groaned a second later. I frowned and shook my head towards her. "I don't care if I have mine already or not. You three are the coolest fillies I know and have been nice to me, so I'm going to help you regardless," I assured. It was true. The three of them had been really kind to me so far. The chasing me into a rock on my first day in Equestria was totally my fault, after all. Scootaloo perked up at the 'cool' part and smirked back before nodding in agreement. Sweetie Belle perked through the whole thing, however, and gave my forelegs a gentle squeeze upon my finishing. "You're really cool, too, Mender! So much better than a lot of the adults," she admitted, smiling up at me. "Plus he has tha benefit o' already bein' one! Ah bet he could really help us out, especially with that magic o' his," Apple Bloom chipped in before bumping her right forehoof against my left one as a visual pointer. I snickered and nodded. "I'm just a big kid at heart anyway, so I hear ya there. Just, um, let's not try anywhere up high. I don't have the best track record with gravity," I warned, shuddering and checking above me for any large, heavy objects. "Oh yeah, Rainbow told me about the time she clocked ya with the apples! That must have been amazing aim," Scootaloo spoke up, sounding genuinely impressed. I scowled and shook my head to vanquish the phantom pain drifting into it. Sweetie interposed herself instantly between Scootaloo and me. "Not so amazing for him! Don't get any ideas," she warned in a surprisingly defensive manner. I smiled warmly at her back before wrapping my right foreleg around her and giving her an appreciative squeeze. "Thanks, Sweetie. It's okay, though. I forgave Rainbow already," I explained, warming as she gave me a happy smile in return, rotating to face me fully. Scootaloo made a gagging motion, though. "I wasn't gonna brain him with apples! You don't have to get all defensive. Ew," she protested profusely, wings fluttering a little as she crossed her forelegs. "Regardless, this is a really nice cape. Thank you, girls," I tossed in, hopefully redirecting the topic. I didn't mind a bit of bickering, but I didn't want the three of them out and out fighting over anything. Not if I could help it, anyway. I smiled to myself. If this really was in my head, this was the most adorable hallucination I could have asked for, however. "Well, o' course! Yer a member o' tha CMC, so ya get ta dress tha part, too! What are we doin' back 'ere, though?" Apple Bloom asked a moment later, peeking around at the multitude of holes in the back wall. Scootaloo followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow up before asking, "Yeah, and what happened to the wall? Did Pinkie find Applejack's hard cider again?" That um, brought horrifying mental images forth. I blinked and swallowed nervously. "Hey! I resent that! That stuff was good!" came from the other side of the wall before a bright pink blob oozed from one of the holes near us. What the hell?! Pinkie somehow managed to squeeze her entire head through the hole without further structural destruction and eyed the now freaked out pegasus filly with a menacing glare. "I haven't gotten any of that all year! So this totally wasn't me. Although it does sound really fun. Sometimes I wish I could just go around randomly knocking holes in things! It sounds so cool. I mean, there's that little tingle in the back of your head every time you see something go boomy! It would be like that all the time. As often as I wanted it!" she started, in a manner that I hadn’t heard in a while. Well, since the last time she did it. "Uh, Pinkie?" I tried to ask, to get her attention so we could get the wall fixed up before night fell. "I mean, my party cannon only does so good at the boomy thing. Plus, it takes forever to load the party into it! I can only use it so many times a day, so that's way too limited. Now if I had a hammer or something, I could totally do this all I wanted! That would be really fun, of course. Almost as fun as having some sort of tube that could push out a bunch of stuff really fast by using a blast of pressurized gas produced from something that burned really fast and," she continued, seemingly oblivious to our existences now. At this point, she was talking way too fast for me to fully comprehend what she was saying, but for some reason, it made me really nervous. "Pinkie..." I tried again. "But some stallions are just so ungrateful! I was taking time out of my busy schedule of tending to the counter and all he could complain about was that the hole was too small! The nerve! I mean, isn't it supposed to be better the smaller it is? I never figured out that part anyway, but still. Getting frustrated and shouting it out right in the middle of serving hours was just so embarrassing! So many ponies could have heard, and then my reputation would be ruined! I mean, honestly, I thought that the smaller the hole, the better the..." "Pinkie!" I shouted, finally aggravated. Wait, what?! "...donut? Yes?" she answered perkily, smiling politely at me as if nothing had happened at all. All three fillies looked half brain dead as they stared blankly at her. Oh, my poor, poor mind. I shuddered as it performed a manual reboot before looking back up at her. "Uh, yeah. I thought that you were supposed to be looking for Twilight and Rainbow Dash?" I finally asked, flushing everything else out of my head. "Of course, Silly Willy! I found them at the library already," she informed, as if it was the most logical conclusion in the world. A throb went through my left temple. Pinkie should come with a few general health warnings. I swore that I could practically feel my stroke and cardiac arrest risk increasing. "Uh, right. How were they doing?" I asked hesitantly, a little apprehensive as to the answer. Pinkie apparently sensed my tension and smiled softly. Oddly, the fact that she was squeezing just her head through the wall didn't matter so much anymore. I feared for my sanity. "Twilight felt a lot better when I told her that it wasn't her directly that you were afraid of. She's patching things up with Rarity right now!" she explained softly. Admittedly, I appreciated her attempts to reassure me. Pinkie really could be a sweetheart when she wanted to be. Wait, I thought Rarity was in the barn with us? A chill drifted down my spine as I slowly rotated my head around to glance back at the entrance. Sure enough, the lavender colored unicorn sat next to the entry, talking directly to a solemn looking Rarity. Oh. Well, that would have been nice to know a little bit ago. Rainbow Dash was apparently here as well, drifting about above Applejack and talking in a rather loud fashion. I made out bits and pieces about a race that was coming up. Probably the one she had requested I help her with. I abruptly turned back around as Twilight's gaze started to shift, and ran a string of profanities through my head. I wasn't prepared to talk to her so soon! I hadn't had any time to think about what happened at all, and tried hard not to panic. Calm down, Mender! You can think of a way to work through this. If Pinkie can fit through those holes, surely I could in the opposite direction! With my confidence reestablished, I stoically raised my head again, just in time to stare directly into two massive, blue eyes from less than a muzzle's length away. To my credit, I managed to muffle the surprised yelp by shoving my own forehoof into my mouth. Pinkie giggled merrily, somehow on this side of the wall now, having gotten there not only without making so much as a noise, but in less than the two seconds it took me to look back at Twilight. "Wow, you're not as easy to scare anymore! I'm impressed. What are ya doing all the way back here, though?" the bubbly mare asked, tilting her head. "We're gonna repair the wall! We're trying for our construction Cutie Marks!" Scootaloo answered almost immediately, pounding a hoof off her chest with a smirk on her face. All three somehow managed to think absolutely nothing of Pinkie's blatant disregard for physics, naturally. Was I honestly the only sane one left? That didn't speak too highly of Equestria's future. I managed to nod weakly. "Uh, yeah. What she said. The transmutation spell is touch based, obviously. They're gonna help me reach the higher holes, and keep the pieces of wood in them until the magic can finish the transformation," I explained, news to all four ponies present, I figured. "Oooh, we can help with that!" Sweetie Belle agreed, sounding excited now. I, of course, started to assure, "It's not dangerous or anything. I'm going to channel my magic through you as the three of you reach up to plug the holes and..." "Awesome! Let's do this!" Scootaloo exclaimed before hopping into the air excitedly. Okay then! Well, I guess they trusted me not to blow them up or something. "CMC Ladder Formation! Help us, Pinkie. Ya'all can be tha base!" Apple Bloom called out. Pinkie squealed with a characteristic level of energy before sliding into place in front of me. I took a step back as all three fillies hopped up onto her back. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and finally Scootaloo climbed on top of each other to make a makeshift pony ladder. Pinkie tossed a chunk of wood up next to her a second later, as if they had choreographed the entire thing. Scootaloo caught it as it sailed up and immediately jammed it hard into the hole! So hard that it popped through and shot out the other side at high velocity. I heard a crash, followed by the squawking of several distressed chickens and sighed. "Er, oops. Take two, Pinkie!" the little pegasus muttered a second later. Pinkie didn't miss a beat in launching a second chunk up. Suddenly, I remembered that the cart was still behind me, a good two meters from the pink mare. I stared down at the small pile of wooden chunks she had accumulated near her front hooves in confusion. When had she done that? Scootaloo was infinitely more careful this time around, lightly squishing the chunk of wood into the hole before nodding down at me. Well, this would work, regardless. I pulled the cart closer to Pinkie before peeking at her expectantly. She gave me an ecstatic grin and nod of confirmation. Ugh. Very well. I reached up with my left hoof and lightly nudged her in the shoulder, sending a wave of magic up through her body. "Wah!" she squeaked out, the second the energy made contact. I watched it arc through her like a bolt of lightning, rapidly expanding off her back and through all three fillies in an instant. The magic touched upon the wood chunk that Scootaloo still held and it instantly began to shift and squirm. Although I was hardly paying attention to it at that point. All three younger ponies squeaked as the energy shot through them and devolved into a massive fit of snickers and giggles. Scootaloo's wings shot out like static electricity against her fur and she flailed them rapidly, sending arcs of the transmutation magic off herself in her laughter. Fearing for their safety, I withdrew the energy an instant later and they all slumped against each other. "Whoa! That was like gittin' tickled all over! Ah wasn't expectin' that," Apple Bloom admitted upon shakily standing up again on Pinkie's back. "Yeah. That was so awesome!" Scootaloo agreed, still laughing a little. Sweetie Belle just smiled and nodded while squished between the two of them. I instead turned my attention in concern to Pinkie, who was just standing there, shivering a little. "Uh, how about you, Pinkie? Are you okay?" I inquired, unsure as to what her behavior meant. "Uh, yeah! I'm fine. Let's do another!" she exclaimed in a surprisingly excited tone, suddenly. Well, that was a little strange. Er, more strange, for Pinkie, anyway. I could have sworn I saw a red tint to her cheeks as well, but she looked away before I could do more than glance towards her face, prepping for the next position. Er, okay? "Well, okay. Shift down then, a bit. There are three more holes near the top that need to be filled, then we can move on to the lower ones. We probably won't need all three fillies for them," I reasoned, looking at the pattern of damage. Damn, I'm glad I put my barrier up in time, earlier. I didn't realize the wood was that thick. If those metal rods had hit us instead, they'd still be mopping the pieces up. Pinkie gave another strange shiver as I gave the instruction, but obediently took a couple steps forward, haphazardly aligning herself with the next hole. I bit my tongue, deciding not to mention it would probably be easier to align herself if she actually looked up to see where they were. No, I'd probably just say something stupid and put my hoof in my mouth again. It took four more holes, starting in on the second rough 'tier' down, before Applejack seemingly noticed progress being made and wandered over to investigate. "Well Ah'll be! It's like Derpy never put 'em there ta begin with!" she praised, touching one of the lower marks with her hoof, then giggling as she felt it still wiggling about and reshaping itself. "Oooh, that must have been fun to watch!" Pinkie exclaimed, absolutely giddy at this point. Her energy was going higher and higher with each hole, as if I was somehow feeding her with the magical bursts! I was retrieving all of my energy afterwards, however, so that couldn't be the case, right? I didn't feel all that convinced, and wondered idly if I was somehow contributing to the end of Equestria or something. "Ah don't imagine it was all that pleasant from Mender's perspective. We're gonna call it quits soon, though. How are ya managin', Mender?" she inquired. I was momentarily stuck on the simply delightful way in which she said 'perspective' before snapping myself out of it with a shudder. The memory of those rods of death descending towards us was all too fresh in my head still. "Uh, well. It should only take us a few more minutes to repair all of these. How's the rest of the barn looking?" I asked back, sending another jolt of energy absently through the four of them. Scootaloo hadn't been required at this point, but absolutely insisted on not missing out on the apparent joyous entertainment arcing magical energy through her body brought. Not that any of the other three disagreed with her, so maybe they were onto something? My eyes lingered past her momentarily as she smiled in response. Twilight had moved away from Rarity and was now talking to Fluttershy in quiet whispers. A slight nervousness echoed down that familiar link when I paid it heed. What were they talking about that was making Fluttershy nervous? "...but apart from ah few adjustments and tightenin's 'ere and there, all that's left ta tackle is hookin' tha tread up ta tha main belt an' givin' it ah trial run!" Applejack continued, looking well beyond pleased once I snapped out of my prior thoughts and began paying attention to her again. I really needed to stop zoning out like that. Still, it was enough to piece together what had been said. "Are we going to do that tonight, then?" I asked, ignoring the chorus of giggles and laughter from behind me. Applejack watched the four in amusement for a moment before looking back to me and shaking her head. "Nah. We need mah brother ta properly test out tha workin's. Ah figure that can wait 'til tomorrow. He's been sport enough ta handle all tha buckin' today," she reasoned, shrugging softly, which slowly devolved into a gentle roll of her shoulders and a light eye twitch. She'd worked just as hard as I did today. Probably more, in all honesty. I stared blankly at her shoulder for longer than I probably should have. Four seconds later, she frowned and glanced at her right shoulder as well. An awkward three additional seconds later, I coughed lightly and looked away, feeling like an idiot again. She just laughed and shook her head. "Ah'll be fine. Nothin' Ah haven't felt before," she assured, waving her other hoof absently at me. An idea popped into my head recklessly, like most of mine do, and was out my mouth before even pulling its parachute. "Actually, could you hold still for a second? I want to try something," I requested, extending my left hoof up to her shoulder. She hesitated, nervously looking at my hoof as it started to glow with energy, before she nodded and closed her eyes rapidly. She trusted me. The thought momentarily made me hesitate before I shook my head again. No, getting caught staring again would only lead to being accused of yet another mental degradation. Touching the hoof to her shoulder, I let a burst of soft heat and vibrating energy through the muscle in her shoulder. In the same instant, it shuddered once, seemed to clench of its own accord, then almost melted into a loose, relaxed position a moment later. Applejack gasped in surprise, and then let out a highly pleasing murmur as she promptly sat down roughly on her haunches right then and there. "Oh! Oh wow. What was that?" she asked, opening her eyes again and looking a little on the surprised side before glancing at her slightly reddened shoulder. "Oh, well I just figured you probably didn't get much out of a normal massage, with how strong you are and how much muscle is present. So I just used my energy to get as deep as possible and apply heat and a tense vibration," I attempted to explain, skipping over the technicalities behind the magic itself. Twilight might be interested, but Applejack was more likely to fall asleep during the explanation. It was awfully late out now. "Oh yeah! Magic hooves, I say. Get it? Magic?!" Pinkie tacked on before bursting into a fit of laughter and taking all three fillies with her. Oh dear. What have I done? Was I actually destroying their minds with the magic?! Applejack smirked and rolled her eyes at the display before looking right, and then left. I silently agreed with her assessment that nopony was watching, before she leaned closer to me and whispered, "Now look 'ere. Ah don't normally go for all that frou-frou stuff that Rarity likes, Ah hope ya understand. But if ya wanted ta do that ta all o' me next time, yer gonna get one heck o' ah tip, alright?" she offered, surprisingly me and earning a blush. Maybe it was reflex from talking to Rainbow so much, but I suddenly found myself totally taking that the wrong way. "Um, a-all of you?" I stuttered out weakly, literally feeling my eyes shiver as I carefully watched her. Of course, I realized she could potentially murder me for the comment a mere second after it left my mouth. She started for a heartbeat, and then grinned in amusement. "Got yerself ah special somepony fer less than ah day an' already yer startin' ta think like ah stallion. Ah'm actually kinda proud," she shot back, barbed tongue coming into play faster than I realized possible. She must train her quick wits by fencing with Rainbow all the time. She managed to relay amusement to detract from how nervous I probably sounded, reminded me that she knew I was taken and wouldn't do that to me, and implied that I hadn't been thinking like a stallion up until this point; all in one jab. Subtle. I was impressed. Sweetie Belle gasped loudly and left the center of the pile before anyone had even realized she was moving. Scootaloo gave a yelp and crashed into the other two before she could even pop her wings out. "You have a special somepony, Mender?! Who is it?" the little filly asked excitedly, somehow standing right in front of me now. I jumped and sat down abruptly from surprise, managing to at least make some room between us. "Oooh, I know! It's Twilight and Fluttershy!" Pinkie squealed excitedly, bouncing on her hooves a little bit and grinning ear to ear. Sweetie's eyes widened and she gasped before paraphrasing, "Two special someponies?!" Sighing, I gave Pinkie a moderately stern look she no doubt blatantly ignored. "Just Twilight for now. I think. Last I knew of, anyway." I'd never started backtracking from the very start of a statement before. Was this a new personal best? My ears drooped at the mere thought and I sighed. Sweetie Belle went from delighted to frowning in a heartbeat, but Applejack just shook her head. "She's still all yers, Mender. Ya just need ta do somethin' about this scared thing. Twi would never intentionally hurt ya; Ah vouch for her ah hundred percent!" the farm mare assured, giving a proper nod after as punctuation. I nodded gently, still not looking up. It wasn't that simple, but I did want to believe she was right. She was the Element of Honesty, so it was a good bet that I could trust what she was saying. "It's just hard. It's not just Twilight. She's scary powerful, yeah, but that more serves as a comparison to the females in my old life. They were scary powerful too, and definitely not benign with that fact. Even though I want to believe she's totally different, the comparison is still there, if that makes sense," I tried to explain as simply as I could. It was hellishly complex for myself, and I'd never tried to put it into words for somepony else before. Applejack actually smiled, which threw me off guard. She closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to consider things before continuing with, "That feels like tha honest truth ta me. Thank ya kindly fer bein' open. Ah understand that concept completely." Her open acceptance of my explanation further threw me for a loop, but it was a happy one this time. I cracked a smile timidly, looking up again fully. Things were looking up now, of course. I felt a little bit braver. "Yeah. If you were treated badly before and Twilight kinda sorta makes you remember that, it seems kinda normal. Like when my mom tries to feed me leeks," Scootaloo suddenly chipped in, drawing all attention towards her. She fidgeted in place and glared back an instant later. "What?! I threw up the first time I ate them, and now I just shudder every time I even see them," she defended sharply. I smiled and nodded to her, agreeing with, "That's actually the perfect example. They did really bad things to me and my friends. When Twilight looks or acts like them, even a little bit, I panic. It's really scary." Simplified, but still true. Scootaloo was starting to grow on me, I'd have to admit. The orange and purple filly perked up and nodded back, smiling at me again. Pinkie started a small fit of giggles at the same time, shifting the spotlight to herself instead. I gave her a questioning tilt of my head, and she nodded energetically. "After you're done working for AJ, I should totally hire you to help me babysit the Cake's foals! You're super-duper awesome with younger ponies," she suggested a moment later, glancing to Applejack for support. I detected a slight shift to her eyebrows as she did so, making her grin look almost knowing. I raised my eyebrow in return and glanced over at Applejack for some sort of reveal. Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the apparently mundane turn of events and flopped backwards onto her back. Sweetie and Apple Bloom still seemed curious, and glanced towards Applejack as well, however. The farm mare blushed lightly and coughed, looking away from the piercing gaze of the pink one. "Ya use yer Pinkie Sense fer that one? Yeah, ya caught us. Fluttershy an' Ah were watchin' Mender earlier. She actually thought he'd be ah pretty good father, though," she revealed weakly. I'm really glad I wasn't eating anything. I'd be taking another trip to the hospital if so, it then being lodged in my throat as I spasmed all over the place. Pinkie burst into snickers and wiggled back and forth on her haunches, seemingly unable to contain the level of energy inside of her body. Scootaloo snapped back up to a sitting position with wide eyes, however. It turns out she hadn't paid all that good of attention, sadly. "Wait, what?! Mender's gonna be a dad?!" she asked, rather on the loud side. Suddenly, I realized how absolutely quiet the barn was. Oh hell. I swallowed and started to turn and look out at the others before I heard a sharp inhalation, followed by, "What?!" Twilight almost screamed it, staring over at me with what could only be described as a mixture of shock, hostility, and murderous intent. My ears dropped instantly and I shrank back down to my stomach, hiding any essentials that I might yet need to continue the whole living and breathing thing. "Twilight! You have a better memory than Rainbow Dash and can recall further back than ten minutes. Control yourself!" Rarity chastised almost instantly, giving the lavender mare a stern look. "Hey!" Rainbow shot back a second later, glaring at Rarity instead. The two unicorns were too busy glaring at each other to notice, however. In the meantime, the bubbly gray pegasus drifted down from near the ceiling and over to me. "Oooh, congratulations! Who's the mommy?" she asked, causing me to look up at her in slight confusion. I don't know why, but I suddenly just noticed that her eyes drifted in different directions. She had Strabismus? Well she didn't seem to be bothered by it in the least, so I just mentally shrugged. Looking past her, I pointed my muzzle towards Twilight before replying with her name. Pinkie burst into more giggles again, predictably, while Twilight herself suddenly went from glaring at Rarity to staring back at me in surprise. Ha! That defused the situation, hopefully. "Wait, what?" the lavender mare asked, sounding exceedingly confused now. Derpy didn't miss a beat, however, and squealed happily. "Oooh, congratulations Twilight! Do you know if it's a filly or colt yet?" she asked, giving an excited flutter to her wings. Scootaloo just looked confused, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged giggles. Twilight finally blushed at that, stamping her hoof on the floor a couple times. "Hey! I'm not pregnant! What's going on?" she groaned out, looking back towards me for clarification. Fluttershy was still, and had been since the comment was shouted, blushing furiously next to Twilight. She nudged Twilight with her hoof however, then whispered into her ear when Twilight peeked sideways at her. Half a second later, a look of dawning comprehension graced the lavender mare's face, and she exhaled. "Scootaloo, you misheard. Mender isn't a daddy. They only said he'd make a good one," she explained slowly, standing and walking back towards us. She seemed in a better mood, but I didn't take any chances and kept my stomach to the ground. Basic artillery shell survival training. You kept a low profile to the ground to minimize fragmentation contact. It also helped reduce your target size in case you also happened to be getting shot at. I figured either could be applicable with an enraged Twilight Sparkle. Twilight stopped and gazed at me from a couple meters away before slowly sitting down where she was, ears lowering a little, alongside her eyebrows. Her mouth opened to say something, but no sound came out as she hesitated, lifting a hoof up in my direction. It almost looked like she was reaching out for me, and I felt a stirring in my stomach to obey. Regardless of her being scary and potentially dangerous, I still cared about her and really didn't like seeing her sad. That deadly silence crept into the barn again as I gradually sat back up; just a little bit. Her eyes opened a little more, as if she suddenly snapped back to full attention at my movement. She shifted her weight back onto her haunches and balanced upright before raising the other hoof as well, extending both to me. That gesture was common enough. She either was hoping that double the hoof pointing would cause further reaction in me, or she was making the gesture of desiring an embrace. Deciding to go with an assumption again, I settled on the latter and edged closer to her, fully sitting up now. Technically my assumptions hadn't explicitly gotten me killed yet, so that had to be worth something, right? The reaction was like a rubber band. Twilight closed the meter gap. In a rather stunning flash of light, she appeared practically on top of me. I gave a start of surprise, but no blow came. Instead, all I felt for a moment was warm fur intermingling against mine as she wrapped both forelegs around my body, pulling me against her chest. Her head rested on top of mine, as if she was suddenly desperate to make sure none of my fur was showing to the outside world. Pinkie's cooing 'Aww!' finally broke the silence. The heat I hadn't realized was coming from my face flared up even further as the soft unicorn placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head. My eyes widened, confusion flooding my senses. How could she go from being pissed off at me to embracing and kissing me so fast? This entire situation the last couple days had been bouncing up and down so quickly that I could barely follow it anymore. Mares were so confusing! "I know I said I was sorry before and I ended up scaring you again anyway, but please forgive me, Mender. You know I didn't mean to frighten you," the unicorn asked quietly. It was easy enough to hear by probably everypony present due to the silence, though. I shook my head against her chest, briefly causing her to lock up and her heartbeat to speed up. "I wasn't mad at you, Twilight. There's nothing to forgive. The problem is obviously with me and my memories," I pointed out tiredly. She relaxed after that. "I want to help you, Mender. You just have to realize how crazy this all sounds. I've already sent a letter out to Princess Celestia before coming here, asking for an audience the day after the party. Seeing as we're staying three days anyway, is that okay with you?" she asked, pulling me even tighter to her body, as if afraid I was going to run away again. On that account, I didn't blame her. "I, well, yes. That will work, of course. I'm glad you're giving me the benefit of the doubt," I managed to mutter. This time I wasn't going to let my coward-like behavior get in the way. No matter how scary Princess Celestia and Twilight could be, she was at least making an effort for me. Running away this time would only serve to spurn her attempt. She hesitated, left hoof tracing down my back gently and stopping just above the point where the brutal scar started. I guess I was kind of lucky. An inch to the right and the energy shot would have burned my spine in half instead of just scorching it. I shuddered as she touched the edge, remembering the horrible stabbing sensation followed by the cold numbness. I suddenly felt a little sick to my stomach. "I really, really do want to believe you, Mender," she finally added, drawing attention to the elephant in the room. Was she lying? My gut instinct told me she was, due too the order of her priorities, of course. Celestia was more important to her than I was. She wanted the problem to go away, in all likelihood. She probably felt my muscles tense as well as I felt her suddenly swallow. She knew that I doubted the validity of that statement; of that I had no doubt. Neither of us said anything. The silence became awkward again, but she only squeezed me tighter. What worried her so much? I pushed the bitterness back as best I could, biting my tongue instead. Fighting didn't really solve anything. "Well, can ya'll stay friendly long enough ta finish this 'ere job? After it’s done, we can all take ah nice break an' figure things out, then," Applejack suggested suddenly, approaching the two of us from the sidelines. Twilight's lips left my forehead as she glanced over at her orange friend. I shivered at the sudden loss of heat and buried my face a little closer into the fur on her chest. Her heart beat against my forehead soothingly. Why couldn't we just stay like this? I didn't like feeling like she didn't trust me or thought I was crazy. Wasn't she the one who said that trust was integral for a relationship? "Yeah. It's going to be nice to have a sort of vacation in a few days. It's only for three days, but getting away and just enjoying each other's company will be nice," Twilight agreed in a roundabout sense. Of course, 'enjoyment' was a relative term. I'd imagine it all depended on the results of Celestia's scan. Applejack nodded and gave us both a soft smile. Rarity approached at the same time, adding on, "I do apologize again for snapping at you earlier, Twilight Dear. I should have been gentler. The message is still there, though," she reminded, of what, I did not know. Twilight winced lightly, but nodded softly before looking up and over at Fluttershy instead, who was on the opposite side as Rarity. I felt a light burst of apprehension before mentally feeling the mare nod, even though I wasn't looking in her direction. At this close, I could start to visualize her without needing to look, it would seem. Distance must play a major part of the connection between us. "Heh, yeah! Going back home to piece the papers together was a little paranoid," Rainbow chimed in, sounding amused. She earned an annoyed glare from all three mares near me, but only snickered more. She had guts, I'll give her that. "She knows, Dash," Fluttershy whispered softly after hesitating a moment. Hearing was no problem, as the two pegasi were only a meter away from each other or so, I realized. It wasn't perfect, but I'd gotten a lot more comfortable with my sense of hearing ever since my eyes had gotten damaged. Even though they were significantly healed now, I still trusted my hearing more. Applejack coughed lightly before shaking her head. "There's ah lot ta talk about still, but it'll be easier after ah little time passes. Twi is real sorry fer her behavior and I'm sure lessons have been learned, but makin' ponies feel bad about things they already made amends with is just wrong. Let's just focus on tha project fer now, an' distract ourselves." Everypony nodded in agreement after a moment or so, the fillies probably more to just stay on Applejack's good side. Twilight waited another moment for attention to disperse back to the project before smiling down at me. "I know I've said this before and still haven't actually done anything yet, but I'll definitely make all of this up to you. I'll make you realize that I'm not going to hurt you if I have to," she promised, smile shifting to a smirk instead as I swallowed, suddenly nervous for entirely different reasons. The moment was interrupted by her expression melting to a curious confusion instead. Huh? She shifted her gaze past my face for a moment before asking, "Wait a second. Where'd you get this cape?" Chapter 19Staring out the barn window, I watched the overcast sky drifting overhead. It was peaceful, really. I kept a lookout for any rainbow specks, but there was no sign of her. Maybe she had today off? She probably handled the weather during the winter, too. I shifted myself in the hay, deciding that the loft was rather comfortable. My ears twitched and rotated around to face partially behind me as I heard the conveyor start up again. This was the third test, now. So far it had been working flawlessly, much to her enthusiastic delight. Even Big Mac seemed quietly impressed by it as his sister tried heavier and heavier loads. I didn't hear anything straining, so I took that to be a good sign. She was trying a full crate on it, filled with apples this time around. Twilight sat a good half-dozen meters away, ready to try operating the lid lift from the loft. Last night had been, well, awkward for all accounts. I'd ended up going home with Twilight again, at her insistence. I was going to stay with Rarity instead, but the lavender unicorn looked one part horrified, another guilty at my suggestion, and had specifically requested another 'chance', whatever that had fully implied. Mares were so complicated. Of course, once we got home, things were a little better for a while. She left me alone for the most part, and I just read up more on Equestrian history. Although she did ask me a few strange questions about Fluttershy. How was I supposed to know if she was acting overly strange or not? It made me wonder what they had talked about yesterday for so long. No, the real awkwardness came when it was time to go to bed... * * * * * It took a certain level of finesse to brush your teeth when all you had was a hoof. They made almost everything imaginable with loop attachments for proper use without magic, of course, but it took practice to use them. This was a nightly event, however, so even I was getting better at it. Twilight hummed as she wandered about the room outside of the bathroom. Several books were out still, and she had moved the wood samples upstairs, it had seemed. That meant the mess surrounding them had migrated alongside, and now she was busy putting books away, probably out of fear that I'd trip on them and break something. Spike snored quietly, curled up in a loose ball in his little bed, residing at the foot of Twilight's much larger bed. I smiled over at him as I brushed. Tonight had been more pleasant than anticipated. I had expected to be grilled by Twilight upon returning, but she was overly pleasant instead. Idly, I wondered exactly what Rarity had said to her earlier. It certainly wasn't anything I had done. Satisfied that every minute surface of my teeth was scrubbed down, I placed the toothbrush back in its spot and ran a little water into the sink to properly wash away any remnants. Twilight kept the bathroom immaculate, and I certainly wasn't going to be the one to break that trend. She gave me a warm smile upon my exit, sitting down oddly next to my makeshift bed. I hesitated slightly, wondering if I was yet to be questioned tonight after all. "How are you feeling?" she quietly inquired, smile not faltering. While a question, that was hardly the one I had expected. "I'm tired after today and a little sore still, but better. Or did you mean mentally?" I returned, restraining all snarkiness from my voice and trying to keep a calm, stoic expression. Her ears lowered slightly alongside her brow, but she shook her head carefully. A moment later, after seemingly considering her words, she answered, "No, I know you're not fully recovered from everything you've been through. That's to be expected, however. I, um, regret not taking your feelings into consideration over it. Rarity opened my eyes to that." "What did she say to you, exactly?" I finally asked, voice softening as I walked over towards the end of my bed and sat down next to the corner, a meter away from her. "It was a lot of shouting, but I think you've guessed the most of it. She fed me my own words back about how important trust is. I kinda forgot that in my defense of my teacher, I admit," she explained, unable to meet my eyes any longer and looking down instead. I chuckled weakly. Yeah, I really had guessed as much. Still, it wasn't entirely as predicted. "It's understandable. I mean, comparatively speaking, the amount of time spent with Celestia is an ocean to my bucket. It makes sense that she'd be a higher priority," I reasoned. That was a mistake, it would seem. Twilight's ears dropped all the way down, eyes starting to shiver as she looked back up at me again. "No, Mender. I'm just not used to this. Please, I know trust is important. Can I have another chance?" she requested, edging closer to me suddenly. Huh? Another chance? I didn't know what she was referring to, in all honesty. "Um, what do you mean, another chance?" I decided to just straight up ask instead of attempt to guess. A break from character for me, but there were way too many possibilities this time. "To keep your trust in me. I know it's asking a lot at this point, but I really want you to trust me; to know that I'm not going to hurt you," the lavender unicorn expanded upon. Her eyes locked onto mine solidly, and I couldn't look away for a moment. I wasn't so much talking about the physical pain, but the emotional when she didn't acknowledge my concerns and just passed it off as me being crazy. Still, she seemed extremely sincere, and I didn't want to mention that lest she be further hurt by the memory. Finally, I just decided on a nod. It earned a quiet exhale as she slumped sideways onto my bed. "Thank you, Mender. It's been bothering me all day," she muttered. I bit my tongue again, not wanting to sound bitter or anything. "You don't need to thank me, Twilight. Even if you're scary sometimes, and don't often believe me, I still really, really like you. You've done a lot for me and are really kind. I can't imagine where I'd be if it weren't for your help so far," I redirected, ending up thanking her instead, technically. I almost chuckled at her flustered reaction and pink cheeks. "Mender. I haven't done that much, plus I've been a terrible fillyfriend," she groaned, sitting up fully again and brushing her bangs aside with her right forehoof. I snickered before reaching forward and straightening the side of her mane for her. She watched me, expression softening before she smiled. "Well, I'd like to make it up to you, regardless. I also promised you some more experimentation earlier, if you're up for it," she suggested, surprising me by running her left hoof along the top of my bed while smirking. My brain did a flip inside of my skull as it suddenly became my turn to blush. Wait, what?! "What brought this on?" I asked, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice. She momentarily looked delighted in my reaction before shaking her head rapidly. "Again, I want to make it up to you. I was also reading up on a few kissing techniques that I would like to test. Thoroughly." There was a long, awkward moment as I broke eye contact with her, face now beat red as I stared at her hoof on the bed. Oh, how I wanted to, I suddenly realized. Warm, fluttering sensations were filling my stomach as I considered it. Still, something didn't feel right about accepting her offer. Then it suddenly dawned on me. "I don't think I'm comfortable with applying some part of the relationship as a reward or payment. It feels wrong, I guess," I tried to reason. I was paying her in forgiveness instead of bits. Her eyes widened significantly, and I realized she hadn't anticipated a negative answer. She hesitated, then gasped further and covered her mouth with her free hoof. "Oh! I hadn't even realized it could be taken like that! I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to buy your forgiveness as much as simply trying to say that I was sorry. But you're right, of course. It should probably be split into two separate aspects. Maybe we can experiment tomorrow night instead," she offered. I contemplated the fact that I'd just technically ruined my chances at what I had really wanted, but decided a moment later that it was indeed for the best. I wanted to embrace her because she wanted me there, not because she felt guilty. I managed a smile and nod, which seemed to relieve her further. "Honestly, I'm surprised. I saw the look you gave the bed right after I suggested it," she added before I could say anything. There was a certain amused tone to her voice that I didn't feel like placing. I averted my gaze as rapidly as possible, causing the mare to giggle in amusement. It was a whimsical, adorable noise that I decided I really should hear more often. "Ah, you caught me. Trust me, I just suggested exactly what I didn't want to do," I admitted, blushing again. Dang. The heat had just died down, too. Still, I had a feeling she'd appreciate the honesty. Instead of being annoyed, she looked further amused instead, with just a hinting of relief. "Well, I'm glad that you're definitely interested in me. I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject to try to improve myself, but this is really different from anything I've studied up on before. There's not exactly a lot of concrete data," she complained, sighing wearily and glaring over at her personal bookshelf on the other wall. I tried not to laugh. "Maybe you should just ask me instead? I know that I've never done this before, but if we're testing compatibilities, it would make sense that the best source of likes and dislikes would be the other pony," I pointed out, smiling gently towards her. She seemed to consider it for a moment before smirking again and nodding. "Interestingly enough, that's what most of the books said, too. I guess it really is a good idea, then," she agreed. I was suddenly glad the books supported me. Celestia forbid that the books suggest covering me in tar and feathers before lighting me on fire... "Well again, you can ask me anything you want. I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities," I promised before yawning tiredly. She stepped aside as I idly climbed up onto my bed before flopping over. Well, technically it was Applejack's bed, but that sounded wrong when I mentally said it. Rainbow would kill me if I climbed into the farm mare's bed! Actually, there was a long list of ponies that would kill me should that happen. I was in the same room as one of them, too. Twilight oddly didn't move away and just gave me a curious, thoughtful looking gaze as I settled myself in. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she pointed out instead, "You're technically my coltfriend now. That gives you obvious privileges, you know. You don't truly have to sleep there, alone, if you don't want to." Oh. * * * * * Like I said, last night had been intensely awkward. Regardless, she definitely got the point across that she was willing to open up more to me. I tried to gauge my own opinion on the aspect, but in all honesty, I didn't know what to think about it. I knew next to nothing about Equestrian 'Dating' or relationships, so I didn't know what to expect, or what was expected of me. It was a little frustrating. "It's a sound success, Mender! It has no problem with three full apple crates," Twilight suddenly announced, sounding as if projecting it in my direction. I snapped out of it and smiled back at her, nodding. I'd have felt like a total idiot if it had broken on the trial run, of course. If there was anything I had any confidence in, it was my engineering capacity. "Darn tootin', it worked! This is gonna be right nice come packagin' time. Fer once, we won't need ta recruit ah ton o' help, which is gonna save ah lotta bits!" I heard Applejack exclaim from under me somewhere. She sounded significantly pleased, so I took the job as completed to her satisfaction. The conveyor slowly came to a stop as the large, red stallion let out a sharp, "Eeyup!" I got to the edge of the loft in time to see him hop off the tread, not even looking winded. Damn. He just powered the conveyors for almost an hour and he wasn't even sweating. My ego plummeted as I realized just how out of shape I was. If Applejack or Twilight noticed my crestfallen expression, they didn't say anything. The farm mare stretched next to the side of the conveyor before giving a brisk nod as she examined it. "This is one nice piece o' equipment! We'll need ta get tha gals out 'ere again ta see what they helped create," she observed, sounding happy indeed. I couldn't stay glum knowing she was so happy with the results, and quietly smiled instead. "I think Mender deserves some credit, too," Twilight spoke up, giving me a start as I suddenly realized she was right next to me, sitting down. Applejack didn't even hesitate before looking up at us and nodding, still grinning from ear to ear. "Ah reckon yer right, Twi. If ya give me ah little bit, Ah can get his pay ready. Ah don't keep that much on hoof, ya know?" she offered, shifting to a simple smile instead. That, in turn, shifted to a raised eyebrow and head shake as she saw my ears drop again. "You can just give anything I earned after the rent for your cot to Twilight. I'm sure it isn't more than what room and board would be," I groaned, lowering my head again. It wasn't just awkwardness, but almost a sense of shame from leeching off these wonderful ponies so much. "Mender, you worked really hard for this. You deserve something in return," Twilight stubbornly protested, turning towards me more fully. Sighing, I shook my head before admitting, "I just wanted to be useful. I wanted to help, so maybe you and the others would think more highly of me." Or at least give me the benefit of the doubt, I suppose. I'd never had friends before, and was rapidly realizing how much it hurt when they thought you were totally off your rocker. Twilight bit her lower lip before gently pushing into me and wrapping her forehooves around my shoulders. She was quiet, however, and didn't appear to know what to say. "Ah know we got off on tha wrong hoof, Mender. Knowin' what Ah do now, Ah know why, o' course. After all this, an' yer right proper attitude all 'round, Ah do think highly o' ya," Applejack spoke up, wandering closer to the edge of the loft and looking up at me fully now. I sighed, but nodded. "Then keep your bits. Take all this as my honest apology for scaring you and acting so creepy when we first met. I want to be useful to you mares, and this is a good start for repaying all the kindness," I explained openly. It had been bugging me since she had insisted on paying me, and it was good to finally get it off my chest. The orange mare's ears flattened back and she frowned, however. Her mouth opened to say something when a red furred hoof rested down gently on her shoulder. "Let it be, AJ," Big Mac spoke simply, yet strongly. She glanced over at him, eyes darting back and forth in mild confusion before locking with his. A second passed before she gave a frustrated clicking sound and shook her head, glancing back up at me. "Yer right stubborn, you stallions! But Ah suppose Ah can be, too. Fine. Yer ah darn good guy, though, an' Ah'm gonna tell everypony Ah can about yer skills. Ah have ah feelin' yer gonna earn quite ah lot o' bits with yer talents! At least accept ah good meal fer yer time, though. Twi's invited too," Applejack finally gave in, gesturing towards Twilight as she did so. Twilight groaned, raising her head off my shoulder to look at her friend below. "I'm not sure, Applejack. I might pop if I try another one of your home cooked meals." Whoa. I suddenly got a mental image of Twilight swelled up like a balloon, barely able to move, and tried not to snicker. Snickering would lead to me having to explain what was funny, which in turn would probably get me a fast ticket down from the loft. Applejack grinned up at her before nodding. "Ah'm serious, though. On all accounts. Word o' mouth is real strong around these parts. Yer magic an' skills are real convenient, ya have ta admit," she repeated, shifting her gaze back to me instead. "Um, I'm not sure of what use other ponies would have for technical things, but I'll help where needed," I assured, trying my best to smile for the farm mare. She rolled her eyes of course. "Ah don't think yer gonna be so lucky as ta escape without pay again. That goes fer anymore work ya do fer me, too, Ah hope ya know," she warned, eyes dancing in amusement. "He's not going to escape getting rewarded, regardless, don't worry," Twilight assured, making me blatantly aware that she was still holding onto me. I blushed, but she just kissed my cheek and grinned, eyelids lowering a little. There was something about her expression that made my heartbeat suddenly pick up, and I swallowed. "Whoa! Ah reckon that's darn good incentive, regardless. Careful Rare don't gossip on ya'all, though," the country mare teased, tossing a wink to both of us. Twilight snickered and nodded before tipping us sideways off the loft. It caught me totally by surprise, and I just started to inhale in shock when her magic gently caught us both and we drifted to the floor. Neither Applejack nor Big Mac so much as batted an eye at the display, which probably shouldn't have surprised me. Magic really was commonplace in Equestria, after all. "Yer welcome ta help out on tha farm as well, when ya want. Ya mentioned wantin' ta get back inta shape, an' apple buckin' would do ya real good. Ah wouldn't turn down one o' them magic massages at tha end o' tha day, either," she added upon us fully settling on the ground. Oh yeah, I had wanted to get back into shape again. If it helped my magic improve, I was all for it. Twilight's ears perked at the admission, though. "Magic massage? What do you mean?" she asked curiously. "Hoo boy! Yer coltfriend is right good with his hooves! Adds magic ta tha touch, gettin' in real deep and tweakin' tha muscles with heat an' shakin'. It felt like ah slice o' paradise!" Applejack revealed, closing her eyes and releasing a pleased clicking sound as she seemingly remembered when I'd used it before. Twilight rose an eyebrow and glanced over at me, curiously. I swallowed and rapidly shook my head. "Her shoulder was sore after working on the conveyor last night, so I just gave it a little rub," I assured, just in case she was suspecting me of anything. She laughed instead, however. "I trust you, Mender. Actually, I was thinking of asking for a sample when we got back to the library," she informed, smiling warmly instead. My heart skipped a beat and I felt heat grow in my chest when she said that. Maybe things really were taking a turn for the better? "Darn tootin'. Ah know ya wouldn't cheat on yer mare. Or mares, as tha case may be," Applejack chipped in, voice dripping with mirth. I blushed and gave her a deadpan stare, causing her to burst out into hearty laughter. I couldn't keep up the stoic expression, and snickered myself at her rather contagious display. I started to notice that all six friends had different mannerisms to almost everything they did. Twilight was more prone to quiet giggles and smirks, whereas Applejack just openly and honestly laughed when she felt like it. Both were appealing in their own way, and I started to really appreciate all the differences between them. "Well, Mender and I will probably stop by tomorrow before the trip. We'll be gone for a few days, so we have to say our goodbyes before leaving. For now, however, we need to get back home and pack," Twilight reminded gently, nodding back to her friend who finally composed herself. Big Mac stretched in the background before swapping out yokes that hung on the side of the barn wall. There appeared to be a lot of variations of them, probably for different purposes. "You have to pack, anyway. I don't own anything yet, remember?" I added, giving her a skeptical yet amused glance. Twilight rolled her eyes and gave me a light shove before smirking again. "I'm still going to pack things for you. I figure the three of us will largely be hanging out together anyway once Rarity gets done with her show and socializing," Twilight reasoned, quickly catching me in her magic as I tipped over from her shove, unable to re-balance myself upright. "Iffin that don't take her all night, anyway. Ya know how she likes ta schmooze with tha frou-frou crowd," Applejack warned, rolling her eyes yet retaining the smile. Nopony batted an eye when I tipped over either, I noticed. Twilight didn't even glance my way before catching me. Did that technically mean that my blundering was more commonplace than magic? Twilight let out a light giggle before nodding and standing again. "I'll try to keep her on a tight leash. You two take care, of course. We'll see you tomorrow before we leave," she assured yet again. I took my cue to stand up again, shakily making sure I remained balanced this time. "Good. Ah'll hold ya ta yer word, o' course. Take it easy, then, an' have fun with that 'reward' later, ya'll," Applejack returned, throwing a wink in at me as I blushed once again. Twilight took it in stride this time and just smirked before hauling me back towards the barn door with a series of nudges. "Oh, we will. Don't worry," she tossed back as we left the barn. What had I gotten myself into? * * * * * Reality continued to surprise me, however. I stretched gently as I watched Twilight dance from shelf to shelf, peeking through each one's contents. Occasionally she'd levitate an item or two down into the third bag we'd packed. Regardless, I simply sat there, watching her while holding the bag open with my forehoof. The room was dimly lit by now, the sun having sunk below the horizon about an hour ago. Eight o'clock, maybe? Twilight had instead insisted on getting to work on the wood samples when we got back to the library, rather than any prior hinting of 'experimentation' she had mentioned. This caused mixed feelings of both relief and disappointment in me, surprisingly. I guess I always got so anxious when she started acting like that. I started second guessing my own actions. A pleasant aroma drifted into my nose from the kitchen as Twilight lightly hummed. Spike was making supper, I knew, and I had been relieved of my active kitchen duty by him at the moment. Well, when I refer to 'relieved', I actually meant conscripted by Twilight instead. Apparently she can't hold the bag open and still focus intently on fretting over what to pack. Of course, I just got a stiff glare when I mentioned she might be overdoing the whole preparation thing. Not that it mattered. The scenery was infinitely better in here, and I didn't have to be concerned about lopping off a hoof and adding it to the meal at any point. My eyes traced over Twilight as she worked, earning warm butterflies in the rest of my body at each movement they caught. She was absolutely gorgeous and she didn't even try to be. Maybe it was just my perspective, but I certainly didn't mind just watching her pack things. I might be a little biased, but at least I knew I wasn't the only one who would think that way. It was surprising to realize that Fluttershy definitely liked Twilight as well, but I saw her reasons easily enough. Not that feelings like these really needed a reason in the first place. The lavender unicorn glanced back at me again after dropping yet another item into the bag. Her gaze caught my own once more, and she immediately blushed; a light shade shift that was almost imperceptible in the dim light. She let out a light, groaning sound and looked away slightly. "I know I said that I don't mind you looking, but I think I'd actually find it easier if I caught you eyeing my flanks instead, or something, " she muttered in a somewhat pointed fashion. I chuckled in amusement. "Well, they're very nice flanks, I agree, but I like a whole lot more than just them," I reminded, sticking out my tongue afterwards. She smirked at my impish reply and expression and relaxed a little. "Your flattery only works because I know you're honest. Most would get a magical boot to their flanks instead if they'd said that," she warned, snickering a little herself. I coughed lightly, painfully aware of how popular she was and not needing the reminder. "Oh, I know. I'd be the first to wallop them," I agreed, keeping a close check on the wicked green monster that was busy snarling inside of me. Twilight's smile softened and she nodded, adding, "A little possessiveness is a good thing in a relationship, I feel. The books I've read on the matter warn to not let it go too far, but I don't think you're anywhere near that." The statement was accompanied by her shifting closer and softly brushing her cheeks against my own. The heat drifted into my face again, and I looked down. It still surprised me that Twilight herself wanted that kind of attention from me. She could probably have any stallion she wanted, too. Still, I was too close now to treat her as anything other than just Twilight. She'd been introduced to me not as a national hero and student of the practical goddess ruler, but just as a skilled magic user and kind mare. First impressions stuck hard. She didn't appear to mind, however. "I feel kind of badly that I have all of this packing to do, but you don't have anything," she muttered, breaking me out of my contemplation a few moments later. I raised an eyebrow before the impish smirk returned. "I'm telling you, you probably barely need half of this stuff." As predicted, she shot me a dirty looks before visibly scoffing. "I must be prepared, no matter what. I might be called upon to do practically anything, so it helps to be ready. I might need to help organize or set up for the party, even," she reasoned, flailing her forelegs up and about as if partially panicking already. I averted my eyes and coughed. Of course, I could practically feel her piercing glare bore a hole through my head. "So the telescope and orrery are going to help with that?" I inquired curiously, if not a little sardonic in tone. "Those are for entertainment after the party!" she defended sharply after a moment's hesitation. "Didn't you say that about the mortar, pestle, and alembic, too?" I reminded, raising an eyebrow towards her incredulously. Twilight gave me a frustrated, pouting stare before I started laughing and she flailed at me. "Oh, you! You're so frustrating sometimes. Fine, I'll leave the telescope and orrery here, but I absolutely cannot afford to leave behind my alchemical equipment," she insisted. I shielded my face from her flurry of playful swats with a foreleg while continuing to snicker. "All right, all right. Princess Twilight wins. Your loyal servant shall carry your alchemy supplies along as well," I conceded in as theatrical a manner as I could muster. Of course, it was just to poke a little more playful fun at her. Twilight gave me a curious raised eyebrow before a smile danced onto her expression. "That's Princess Twilight Sparkle, thou must remember. We must be addressed properly," she insisted a moment later, playing along with it and shifting to a strangely familiar speaking mannerism. I tried not to laugh, and continued along with, "Many apologies, my Princess. Is there anything this humble servant could do to earn forgiveness?" "Pending any further transgressions, we have already forgiven thou. However," she began, before her eyelids lowered a little and that grin returned. Uh oh. I found myself on my back before I could say anything. Apparently, one needs a certain threshold of air in one's lungs in order to properly formulate vocal noises! It was a fascinating discovery. Learned at the same time was the fact that for kissing, one definitely did not require that same threshold. Twilight broke contact a few seconds later, her lips still hovering over mine and a light flush on her cheeks still. "If thou keeps being so adorable, surely we can spare a pleasant reward," she followed up, assuming from her prior sentence. Okay, now she was just screwing with my head. I rolled my eyes while smiling still before reminding, "Surely, Princess Twilight Sparkle remembers that she shall be very busy with her duties all night and won't have time for such." Her eyes lit up with amusement as I continued. Suddenly, I started to question just how much she was enjoying this verbal exchange. It didn't help that she was pressed right up against me, chest to chest. Focus, Mender! "We shan't be busy all night, of course. Much, hmm, rewarding shall be done upon retiring for the evening with thou,”Twilight informed before slowly starting to inch closer. “All. Alone. Together." My breathing caught as I felt hers gently against my chin. She was just teasing me again! Why did she like doing this so much? Regardless, I kept forcing myself to remember that. I started to playfully scoff and resume the acting, regardless of how my blazing cheeks probably shifted me out of character. She interrupted further, however, by ducking down suddenly and pressing a heated kiss directly to the side of my neck. My eyes flew open in shock at the same time my body locked up at the new, entirely unexpected sensation! It was like a light switch got turned on, and I was suddenly all too aware of all the intermingling fur between our bodies. She was so soft and warm that I couldn't help but lift my forelegs up and wrap them around her back, pulling her closer against me. Her kiss pushed higher up my neck, and she added a light lick before lifting her head up again, smiling down at me with a victorious grin. "Oooh, someone has a sensitive neck. I'll have to remember that," she observed slyly, causing me to swallow. I couldn't manage to say anything as I just stared up at her in shock, cheeks feeling like they could fry eggs if given the chance. "I can still hear you, ya know!" was suddenly shouted from the direction of the kitchen. Twilight's mischievous grin melted into embarrassed shock in less than a heartbeat. I coughed lightly, seemingly reminding her that I was still here and currently underneath of her. She gave a guilty smile and awkwardly stumbled sideways off of me, trying to untangle her legs from mine. I fought down stirring feelings and managed to get onto my hooves again, unable to push back the blush. "Ah, we should probably keep packing up," she finally excused awkwardly almost ten seconds later. That might not seem like a lot, but when blushing furiously in a supposedly active conversation, it's an eternity! Sighing, I nodded weakly and stood up fully again, feeling my back legs crack in a somewhat pleasant manner. "We've almost got everything packed now. Can you get the drawings and notes I made about the wood samples as well? They're in the sample cabinet over there," she requested, gesturing with a hoof before peeking over the shelf in front of her, gathering up what appeared to be official papers. Oh yeah, she had wanted to present her findings to Princess Celestia the day after the party. She had indeed been working hard on it, not that I thought whatever it was in the forest was still around at this point. I wandered over to a series of three wooden cabinets, all in a row. She sure kept a lot of samples. Pity she didn't specify which one the wood notes were in. I mentally decided that was also on my list of things I'd never thought I'd be looking for. Notes on blocks of wood. Mentally shrugging, I just decided to metaphorically bite the bullet and opened the first cabinet closest to me. The moment of peace and tranquility before utter horror sets in just serves to make the effect worse. Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting to panic so suddenly, or maybe it was the mundane outer appearance of the cabinet that threw me into a false sense of security. Regardless, my eyes widened and almost popped free of my skull after I opened the first cabinet and came face to face with three hellish rocks straight out of my nightmares. My first distinct thought while stumbling backwards and falling away from the cabinet was wondering why she had kept them. After what they had almost done to both myself and two of her closest friends, the rational solution would have been to find a place that could obliterate them. A lava flow or tectonic shift came to mind almost immediately. So why were they here, in an unassuming cabinet all of thirty feet from where I slept at night?! "Mender?!" Twilight asked immediately upon hearing the crashing noise of me tripping over my own hooves and landing on my back. I rolled once and slid to my hooves again, carefully lowering myself against the direction of the rocks, ready to dodge in case any eldritch tentacle lashed out at me or something. There was no movement from them at all, however. I distinctly noticed that the shifting, distorting effect that had given me a headache when I looked at them the first time was also absent. Twilight moved into my vision and quietly closed the cabinet again, not meeting my gaze. She hastily opened the third cabinet instead and pulled out a stack of paper notes. That was it? She was just going to stash them away and pretend I hadn't seen them? She knew exactly what I'd seen in there. "Twilight," I warned, eyes narrowing a little as I stared at her. She halted, sighing before putting the papers into the folder she was still holding. "I know. I said I got rid of them," she admitted, lowering her head before looking back over at me in a guilty manner. It had been discussed prior, after they'd finally caught me up as to what happened after I lost consciousness. She told me they had deactivated after the explosion and she'd disposed of them. "Why?" I asked, relaxing a little bit. A part of me expected the cabinet to burst open again, pulling us all into the inky darkness no matter how much we screamed. She still refused to meet my gaze. "They're important, Mender. If something like that happens again, having samples might be the only thing that stops disaster," she defended, distinctly interested in her right forehoof. I exhaled quietly, finally deciding that she had only half lied. They certainly didn't look the same as they had, so maybe they truly were deactivated? The cold sensation slipped into me again as I remembered the feeling of having one of their tendrils attached to my chest. It was so cold that it burned, creeping into my body as it tore through tissue and wormed its way into my very being. The worst part was knowing what it actually was; a hole in reality going back through to the very place I so wanted to avoid. I doubted any living thing would survive the transfer via that method, however. Regardless, I finally gave up. Really, it wasn't that big of a deal, I guess. If they were deactivated, they were only rocks. Sighing, I nodded to her and lowered my head. There was nothing I could do, anyway. I could hardly force her to get rid of them. This was her house and they were technically her property, after all. My ears twitched and I frowned, remembering that I technically didn't have any property in the first place. "Mender, are you okay? I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth. I didn't think you'd understand my wanting to keep them," she apologized, edging closer to me carefully. I held my ground and didn't shrink back this time as best I could. Surprisingly, she smiled and edged closer yet before gently pecking me on the forehead. "Thank you, Mender. I'm not going to hurt you." She'd said it before, but I guess it was just a matter of convincing myself of it now. "I know, Twilight. It just surprised me, is all," I muttered slowly, looking back up at her again, unsure of what exactly I was supposed to say. Thankfully, Spike saved me the awkwardness. "Hey you two! Dinner is ready," the little dragon called out from the kitchen and dining room area. Twilight peeked past me towards the sound of his voice before nodding and smiling further. I took my cue and turned around, heading towards the glowing doorway that led to the fully lit kitchen. It was always so much more peaceful at night, I decided. Hoof steps slowly followed me, indicating my fillyfriend was coming along too. That still felt weird to even think about. Spike had produced a rather simplistic dinner obviously made for three ponies. Well, two ponies and a drake? I didn't exactly know what to call him. Regardless, it was more than pleasant, even if I was the last one to finish eating. It was a mistake to attempt to learn how to use the utensil loops for my hoof, I decided. Twilight's magic and Spike's opposable thumbs easily beat my clumsy attempts at eating using just my hooves. Twilight even choked back a couple giggles after I poked myself in the muzzle with the fork the second time. Who knew spaghetti could be so frustrating to eat?! By the time I finished, Twilight had migrated to finishing up the packing, and Spike was already washing the dishes. He was more than a little surprised when instead of just dropping my plate in with the rest, I set it in and proceeded to help him clean everything that was left. He was an earnest little guy, that much was for sure. I felt bad that he worked by himself all the time, though. It took us another ten minutes or so to finish drying the dishes, and I saw his eyes starting to slowly droop by the time he put the last one away. Admittedly, I had no idea where to put them once they were dried. "Getting a little sleepy there, Spike?" I asked in amusement, obviously already knowing the answer. He sighed and nodded before smiling warmly again. "Yeah. It's almost my bedtime. But thanks to you, I got that last chore done twenty minutes early and can get some extra sleep tonight!" he exclaimed, sounding as if he were a little kid in a candy factory. I snickered as he wobbled and tried to get off the counter. In order to reach the upper cabinets, he had to climb up and stand on the counter surface. Afraid he was going to fall, I walked up next to the counter, right where he was set to get down. He gave me a happy nod before stepping down onto my back instead and flopping forwards. He was still light as a feather, even after eating, so I proceeded out of the kitchen and towards the stairs up to the loft. Twilight, who was sitting on the couch and sorting her bags, smiled up at me escorting the sleepy dragon and nodded in approval. I perked and gave a single nod back before slowly making my way up the stairs, careful to watch where each of my hooves were going. Now that would have been ironic. I was worried he'd hurt himself so I carry him up the stairs, only to trip and fall down it myself; both of us ending up in the hospital. Thankfully I made it safely to the loft and deposited him near the bathroom door. "Thanks, Mender. You're so, uh, totally awesome. Yeah, that's it," he thanked sleepily, seeming to struggle with his words. "Don't worry about it, Spike. Just brush your teeth and enjoy the extra sleep time," I waived off, smiling pleasantly at him. I was kind of glad he was taking Twilight and I so well, actually. Making myself useful around the house was one way to ease any transition time as well. Plus, he seemed seriously overworked, and I liked helping the little guy. He grinned and saluted me before turning and promptly running straight into the yet closed door. I winced as the wood shook and he stumbled backwards slightly. "Ow! Uh, that was just a fluke. I'm fine!" he rapidly informed before quickly reaching up and turning the doorknob this time. I fought back any snickering as he rapidly ducked inside and closed the door again without making eye contact. Poor little guy. I decided to keep it my secret and headed back downstairs. Twilight sat the last bag down on the floor at the base of the couch before looking back up at me, smiling again. She seemed really happy tonight, which was definitely a good thing. After how awkward yesterday had been, I figured her transition to pleasant moods would have been a more involved process. "Spike getting ready for bed, then?" she inquired as I sat down on the other end of the couch from her, circling once on the cushion before flopping over onto my right flank. I stretched before giving another brief nod, adding, "Yeah, he's brushing his teeth, then turning in early. He did look really tired." "He works really hard on all of his chores. I'm really thankful for such a dutiful and proper assistant. That's why he's number one," she explained, closing her eyes and giving a cute head nod as if to agree with herself. She really did seem to appreciate him, plus he seemed more than happy with his position. With that, I decided all was indeed well. "Still, I'm really glad that you're helping him so much. I worry a lot that he tries to do too much by himself," she admitted a moment later, causing my chest to warm up a little bit. Yeah, she honestly did care about him. A lot. That made me feel a little better about things. "He really is like a little brother to you, isn't he?" I asked, smiling at her from across the middle cushion that separated us. The urge to slide over and hug her was still there, but I didn't want to take a risk and destroy her good mood. Twilight nodded pleasantly before looking over at the crackling fireplace instead. "I've been with him since he hatched. He knows I'm not his Mother, obviously, but I'm somewhere between his sister and surrogate mother instead. I'm glad you two have been getting along so well. You'll be spending a lot of time here, obviously, and I was a little nervous," she admitted, frowning. We thought fairly alike on that topic, then. "Well, things are working out all right. Does this mean I shouldn't plan on getting my own place in the future?" I questioned, smiling again. As predicted, that drew her attention back to me, wearing a frown. It disappeared when she saw my smirk, and she rolled her eyes, chuckling. "I wouldn't let you leave even if you wanted to. Now that I have the extra company, going back to just the two of us here would be really depressing," she informed, getting that impish grin again. I coughed and averted my eyes, earning a snicker. Twilight rolled her eyes before adding, "Oh relax. I just don't want you to leave. We can obviously keep separate beds. I suggest getting an actual one soon, however. Applejack will probably want her cot back eventually." "Heh, don't remind me. I really do want to earn things for myself, don't worry," I assured, lowering my ears are little. She didn't falter and scooted over a little, resting her forehead and horn against my right shoulder. "I know. You're a good stallion. Part of me was afraid of the relationship thing because I was worried about expectations and being controlled, not just because it's new and unfamiliar. I should have known better, of course," she revealed, pushing a little harder with her snout. Sighing, I wrapped a foreleg over her shoulder softly, needlessly assuring, "You know I'd never do that. I just want you to be happy. Fillyfriend is just a convenient label. It doesn't come with any particular duties or requirements apart from just being you." That much I didn't need to learn about dating. Sure, the terms were new, but my sense of integrity wasn't. She nodded against me gently before raising her head up again and pecking my cheek. "I know that now. I'm way more comfortable with this than I was before. It's just like being friends, only, um, closer," she tried to explain, tracing her free right hoof in a simple triangle on my chest. Of course. Most would use circle patterns to their movements. Twilight, however, uses perfectly formed, one hundred and eighty degree triangles. "A lot closer," I agreed before placing a kiss right above her horn. She made a murmur as her horn lit up to my touch, shuddering after I withdrew. Well that was an interesting reaction. Was her horn sensitive or something? I had assumed it was just bone with a light layer of skin over it. She swallowed and shivered slightly. "Mmm, easy there. I'm, uh, actually a little tired tonight. Do you think we could hold off on the 'reward' thing until tomorrow night?" she requested softly, opening her eyes finally and looking up at me. I raised an eyebrow, but shook my head, ignoring the sudden pang in my chest. "Twilight, I had figured you were just joking anyway. Of course we can just go to bed," I pointed out, unsure of why she was insisting on rewarding me to begin with. Her expression suddenly made me uncomfortable and I couldn't help but look away. I saw her ears flatten back out of the corner of my eye. "Of course I want to reward you for doing such an amazing job helping out my friends. It's kind of a reward for me, too. Um, I'm just, well, tired tonight," she furthered, lowering her head a little. I nodded absently, eyes drifting carefully to the cabinet again. "Come on, Mender. Let's go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow. We can enjoy each other's company tomorrow night when it's just us in my castle room," she reminded, standing up and sliding off the couch. My mind drifted back to her before I gave her another nod and stood as well. Ultimately, I wasn't looking forward to the crowds and stuffy suit Rarity had no doubt finished by now. I'd be happy when tomorrow night was over, I had a feeling. Dawdling slightly as I went after Twilight, I gave the cabinet one last uneasy stare before scampering up the stairs. Chapter 20Keela watched in amusement as I drew on the piece of paper in front of me, my hoof moving surprisingly deftly as it manipulated the pencil. Working with a hoof wasn't that different from holding something when you could stick things to the surface of it using magic, I found out. I'd never had any issues learning to manipulate things with my left appendage, either. Maybe I had always used the left one? We were in the lounge area of her lab. This vessel, I recently discovered, used to be a large research platform before it was refit with massive engines and used to escape from the Grosh. Now Keela was one of only three researchers who still used the lab section. We were entirely alone, so I felt reasonably comfortable being out and about. My transparent, barrier-body was in an almost perfect replica of my pony self due to the power of the book floating in my chest, and I was busy drawing while seated at a rather comfy table. As odd as the situation was, I'd been taking a bit of comfort out of the audacity lately. It surprised me a little when I realized that Keela wasn't much bigger than I was in pony form. One thing I didn't recall was that Keldarians were rather small in stature. Standing up, she was maybe a meter tall at best. "Oooh, she's pretty. You can definitely tell she's a female," my only companion commented finally, sliding closer to my energy body while peeking over my shoulder. I raised an eyebrow and peeked back at her questioningly. "It surprises me that you can say she's pretty, not being a pony yourself," I pointed out, watching her snicker. "Traits of attraction are surprisingly universal. I don't know if you recall, but some of our species took an interest in our allies too, even though they're practically hairless, gargantuan, and rather brutal. She's very pretty. I can see why you like her," Keela explained, catching me by surprise. No, I hadn't been aware of relations with our allies such as that. They seemed kind of gross to me, but I supposed everypony had their own tastes. Err, everyone. "I didn't know that. Or at least, I didn't remember it," I reasoned, staring down at my rather based drawing of the absolutely gorgeous lavender unicorn. She didn't look nearly as good on paper; let alone in monochrome. Vibrant colors had oddly grown on me for some totally unknown reason. My, dare I say, friend nodded politely, looking deeply amused. "I'm glad you patched things up with her, regardless. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I'll refrain from sending things through the book from now on," she promised, averting her eyes as a light blush danced onto her cheeks. "Eh, you know they already think I'm nuts. Maybe watching the paper pop out of me would convince them otherwise," I groaned out, trying my best to keep the bitterness limited. A sudden compulsion hit, and I followed it instantly without consideration. "Hey now! Don't be so hard on yourself," Keela protested a few seconds after my forehead smacked into the surface of the coffee table. I felt nothing and barely resisted sighing. "Look, I might not know much about love, but I know if she really likes you like that, she'll come around eventually. Trust takes time to build up and you haven't been there all that long, really," she added several seconds later, apparently upon deciding I wasn't going to move anymore without further stimuli. I shook my head against the hard surface, agreeing with, "I know I haven't been there that long. I'll be the first to admit that I don't compare in the slightest to Celestia. I'm just, I don't know, venting frustration at this point?" It was rather confusing to even me. Something told me that this was the first I had to deal with these kinds of feelings; they neither involved making something work or spontaneously making things no longer work, be it mechanical or organic. She giggled again. I impulsively decided that it wasn't as nice of a giggle as Twilight's or Fluttershy's. "Their culture is amazingly peaceful, so you're very lucky, honestly. All of your new friends seem really nice, so I don't think you have anything to worry about. Rarity might actually really help Twilight see what she's missing, from the sounds of it," she added, gently rubbing my back. Well, the shield told me she was rubbing it. It wasn't like I could actually feel anything. Still, the sentiment could be appreciated, which she probably knew. "See what she's missing?" I asked curiously, finally lifting my head off the table and looking back at her to my right. Keela only snickered; her short whiskers wiggled in amusement as she grinned at me. "Call it a woman's intuition. Rarity spending so much time with you will probably vastly improve your relationship with Twilight," she explained, nodding twice at the end. The concept was completely foreign to me. "How will hanging out with Rarity improve my relationship with Twilight?" I inquired incredulously, raising an eyebrow to my alien friend. She just shook her head, looking impish now. "You'll see. If it makes you feel better, I can see why she likes you as well. If she's unsure of herself, you probably make her feel really comfortable, actually." Okay, I give up. I was never going to understand females, and I was only wasting my time in the trying. Keela let out a humming noise and added more snickers, which started to annoy rather than placate at this point. I glared at her, but she just hummed a little more insistently. If we hadn't been talking for the past, like, four hours, I'd think she was suddenly nervous about talking to me. She gave me a questioning tilt of her head, causing me to realize that something was off. I shifted and turned away from her, but the tone and depth of the humming noise didn't change. Okay, that was weird. It wasn't coming from her, then. "What's wrong, Mender?" she asked, voice shifting a little lower and more serious. I glanced about, and realized the humming wasn't coming from anywhere. It was in my head, but exceedingly there. There! It was so real that it couldn't possibly be real. Oh crap. It reminded me of what that connection sounded like between the dimensions. "There's a humming sound coming from my mind. I think it's something to do with the dimensional link. Weird," I informed, glancing back at her in confusion. She frowned, and then shook her head. "I'm not doing anything differently. Perhaps you should try waking up real quick and seeing if it's not on that end?" she reasoned, shrugging her shoulders. I contemplated it for a moment before deciding she was probably right. If Twilight had my head in a pot and was smashing it off the wall trying to wake me up, I should at least humor her. "All right. I'll tug on our link if I can make it back to sleep," I accepted, standing up off the couch again. She nodded and smiled to me before everything went monochrome. I braced myself as I withdrew, keenly aware of the book hitting the couch cushion before everything fell backwards. It was kind of like falling and sliding at the same time, with a warm feeling of liquid running just along your skin. Rather peaceful once I stopped panicking the first time. Then there was the sensation of waking up... * * * * * The room was almost pitch black, the only light being the soft moonlight coming through the side window next to the small balcony. Even that was reduced significantly by the heavy leaf foliage in front of it. Sometimes I forget that I technically live in a tree. Remembering why I woke up, I perked my ears up for that strange humming noise. It didn't take me long to locate it in the relative quiet of the night. It was directed this time, clearly coming from downstairs. What was scary was that it was a familiar noise to me at this point. I'd not remembered much, but the humming noise advanced electronics made was still quite clear enough. I slowly slid off the side of my cot, careful to ease my hooves onto the hardwood floor. They were significantly harder than the rest of my skin and would undoubtedly make noise if I rushed. Easing along and cringing at every creaking noise, I peeked over at Twilight and Spike. My fillyfriend was completely under the covers at this point with just the tip of her head and horn sticking out. I smiled as I watched the blanket gently rising and falling with her slow breathing, a warm fluttering sensation drifting into my chest. I was glad we were on better terms now. Spike hadn't moved either apart from rotating onto his back. His light snores were rhythmic and gentle, occasionally accompanied by a twitch of his legs. I tried not to chuckle before slipping past both of them and heading down the stairs. Unfortunately, the first floor was far darker than the second, which only served to magnify my apprehension. I wasn't afraid of the dark by any means, but there was something absolutely terrifying about the unknown if you dwelled on it for too long. My eyes slowly got adjusted to the lack of light. Of course, they were drawn like a moth to a bonfire in the direction of the darkened corner. I knew that the cabinet was there, ominously hidden in the darkness. The happy feeling in my chest was gone in an instant, replaced by a nervous dread. My ears twisted around and I almost groaned when I realized that was exactly where the sound was coming from. A few choice expletives were muttered under my breath before I gritted my teeth and inched closer to the three cabinets. My initial instinct was to run back upstairs and wake Twilight up, but I somehow doubted that would be met with much success. My breathing became a controlled, stifled thing the closer I got to the cabinet as I tried my hardest to quiet any excess noise I might be making. Who knows what might be in the dark, listening intently for me to announce my presence. I hesitated, stopping a meter away from the object of concern. Shadows seemed to cling to it and I was unsure if that was a product of my imagination or some nefarious will inside. Damn it. I was distinctly aware of the darkness around me, suddenly not wanting to turn around lest I come face to face with some grinning demon or maddening abomination. My heart beat faster as I almost saw its glowing red eyes in the dark as it got closer, smiling with rows of razor sharp teeth. Wicked instruments of torture and misery were in her hands as the shadows hid all but her weapons, clawed arms, and glowing eyes. I could almost smell the fresh blood that dripped off the twisted, serrated drill she held; the blades on it were curved perfectly to slide under and around the eyeball before she turned it on... Shuddering, I snapped myself out of the darkening images and tried not to throw up. What the hell was I doing?! Glaring back up at the cabinet upon gathering my nerves again, my left hoof flared up with an inner light, bathing the entire lower floor with the intensity of a box of flares going off! I whipped around instantly, expecting to see things burning away or writhing in agony in the sudden light. I was both disappointed and relieved to see nothing out of place at all. Have some guts, Mender! Damn it. My imagination was going to give me a heart attack. Swallowing nervously after becoming satisfied that I wasn't going to be ambushed and torn apart, I slowly turned back around and glared at the cabinet. My flared up ball of light behind me split into multiple pieces and scattered about the main room, illuminating row after row of books along with the humble furniture, dwindling fireplace, shelves of instruments and scientific baubles, and entry to the kitchen. Nothing was out of the norm. My eyes locked back onto the first cabinet directly in front of me. The humming noise was gone, apparently having disappeared at some point during my minor freak out. Maybe it got scared and ran away from me instead. I chuckled airily before resting my hoof on the door handle to the cabinet. Guts, Mender. After a quick recollection of my breathing, I gritted my teeth again, threw up my forward barrier over my chest, neck, and face, and opened up the cabinet. The rocks were just sitting there, exactly where she had left them. My spike of apprehension and preparation to defend myself was actually met with a bit of disappointment, honestly. I glared at the three blasted things, wishing I knew of a volcano to toss them into. Of course, even if I knew where one was, walking all the way there just to toss something in seemed like a major pain in the butt. Of course, magic existed, so I suppose Twilight could just teleport me there. I shook off the distraction before sighing, a little tense still but with dwindling outlook on my mission. I hadn't managed to find the source of the noise after all. Why would rocks hum in the first place? Growing mildly frustrated, I reached out and nudged the left-most one with my hoof. I could have sworn I pulled something in my chest with how fast I inhaled. Shoving myself backwards with all three remaining hooves probably didn't help either. The stone actually lit up when I touched it, glowing with a soft blue light that almost perfectly matched my coat! Upon retreating back to my meter gap, I whipped up my full barrier in front of me again and watched the stone through it, unable to help but shiver as that noise came back. Damn it! I should have woken up Twilight after all! The stone wasn't very impressive for something potentially lethal. It glowed softly, barely managing the same strength as a candle. My eyes widened as its edges and cracks faded, however, revealing what I recognized as a wire frame design of blue lines. What the hell?! The blue light washed away the rock coloring completely before withdrawing deeper into the stone. That's when I realized that I could see inside of the thing. The outer rock became a finely detailed, shaped barrier. It wasn't a rock at all! The wire frame dissolved at the same time the image of a rock did, leaving the barrier to shrink down to that of a glowing sphere instead. I started and backed up another half a meter as the orb of light drifted lazily out of the cabinet and stopped right in front of me. Oh crap. Was it sentient? I instantly recognized the effect as a holographic display as it popped a 'box' up above it in the air. "Entity 002 Recognized" was displayed directly above it in darker blue, computerized print. Below that, slowly fading into existence, were smaller words as well. "DNA Scan Completed: Unlocking" Well, that seemed a little strange. Actually, this entire event was a little strange. The rather non-threatening little orb of light then spontaneously vanished without so much as an announcement of intent. Two lightly glowing disks, much smaller than the original ball, fell out of the air from where it had been and landed abruptly on the wood with a light chiming noise that was entirely unexpected. I blinked and tilted my head towards them before nudging the closest one with my shield. It mildly surprised me by doing absolutely nothing. Well that was anticlimactic. Still, I suppose I should be happy that I wasn't being hauled off into an alternate universe by eldritch physics tentacles only to die a horrible, squishy death in a void without a space suit. It could always get worse! I dropped the extra shields in favor of just the skintight ones and nudged the coin-sized disks with my hoof this time. They continued their pattern of doing nothing, producing further mixed feelings in me. Huh. Upon closer inspection, I noticed they were comprised of two separate glowing sections. The outer ring was slightly darker in coloring and took up maybe a fifth of the radius in width. They looked kind of like an alien bit, almost, if I was comparing them to Equestria. Finally relaxing a little, I picked one up with my magically enhanced hoof and stared at it. It was the same on both sides, as I kind of expected. This was strange. Why were these things inside of the rocks? Did they have anything to do with the effects from before with the tentacles and potential death? They felt warm to the touch and brought only more questions rather than answers; although it was safe to say that I had located the source of the noise after all. The second coin-shaped disk proved perfectly identical to its partner, and I set both of them down on the coffee table. Systematically, I reached out and poked another one of the rocks, entirely unsurprised when it started doing the same thing. They were some sort of encrypted storage devices, I decided. Maybe it wasn't an 'accident' that they were sent with me after all. I was obviously on their list of individuals to reveal themselves to, after all. Entity two, huh? "Mmph, what's with all the light down here?" I suddenly heard Twilight mutter from the stairs. Oh crap! Totally caught red-hooved, I didn't even try to hide the glowing orb of light drifting towards me from the cabinet as I slowly looked over at her, trying to smile innocently. She stared blankly at me for a moment before shifting to a questioning expression instead, eyes locking onto the orb of light instead. "What are you doing?" she asked a moment later, continuing down the stairs at a more rapid pace. She thought this was something that I was doing? "Uh, I heard a noise from the cabinet and went to check, and then, um..." I tried to explain before faltering. I realized I didn't exactly know how to explain what was going on in the first place. Thankfully, I didn't have to. Her eyes widened as the light receded and she recognized the wire frame shape of the rock drifting in the air. She rushed over, horn lighting up with magic as she scanned it rapidly. "That, is that one of the rocks?!" she asked almost instantly, suddenly significantly more awake than I had given her credit for prior. I nodded weakly before glancing back at it. "I touched it, and this happened with the first one, too. It says that it's unlocking for an entity zero, zero, two," I explained as best I could. She watched, eyes shivering with a mixture of what I could only pick up as nervous fascination as the holographic displays lit up with the exact same message as the first one. In the meantime, I picked up the two disks from behind me and offered them to Twilight, hoping she could make more sense of them. At first, she just frowned down at the two disks before snapping her attention back to the orb as it unceremoniously vanished. She watched the two coins fall to the floor before looking back at the two I held. "These came out of the first one I poked. I wanted to test if it would happen again, which you can see the results of," I offered. Twilight frowned at the two disks before levitating them off my hoof and closer to her face for examination. "The stones were containers, then," she deduced instantly, surprisingly me with her clarity yet again. I nodded weakly, adding, "They were locked, and for some reason, I was on the list of accepted individuals to open them." That made me nervous for some reason. "Maybe them following you here wasn't so accidental after all. Why didn't this happen the first time, however?" she questioned, flipping the two disks over and over as she peeked at them. I was amused at how fast she forgot about sleeping. That I couldn't answer, however. "The only thing I can think of is that I didn't technically touch the stones directly before; just the tentacle thingy that came out of it after Fluttershy poked it," I offered, tossing a shrug in for good measure after. Fluttershy apparently wasn't on the list that the rocks had. Did that mean that what happened was some sort of defensive mechanism or something? Scary. That was just a guess, however. "This is so weird. They're precisely shaped crystal disks of some sort with weird magic woven into them. There's some sort of scratching along the inner disk, but they're too tiny for me to pick up fully. Well, this definitely gives me something to study in the off time after the party," she muttered, suddenly looking bewildered and shaking her head at the two floating in the air in front of her. I sighed before looking down at the ones lying on the floor instead. Wait a second, something was different. One of the two disks on the floor was yellow in the center with a much brighter glowing blue ring around it. Something was in the yellow too that I couldn't make out. Curious, I picked it up and instantly drew Twilight's attention. She saw the difference too and frowned until I brought it closer to us. Both of our eyes widened drastically as the image in the center of the yellow came into view. Inside of the now familiar yellow center, the glowing alien disk had a crystal clear image of three butterflies; their cyan bodies and pink wings offsetting the soft yellow perfectly. No. This couldn't be possible, even! Why was that design on something that came from my world?! "Mender, do you know what these are?" Twilight asked quietly, nudging the coin-shaped artifact carefully. I shook my head, sadly. "I was just as surprised as you are. This shouldn't be possible. The rocks are from my world, so why is Fluttershy's Cutie Mark on this?" I questioned, staring hard at the brightly colored disk. Something was very wrong, and I didn't have a clue where to begin to guess what. "There's one more rock. You should open it and check the disks there as well. This is beyond weird. You're sure you didn't have anything like Cutie Marks in your world?" she questioned as I stepped over the coin on the floor to poke the last rock in the cabinet. "No, nothing like that. I'd never heard of them before coming here," I assured, giving her a nervous glance. She returned it and nodded, glancing over as the other rock activated, announced me as 'Entity 002' again, and opened up exactly the same as the other two. Both Twilight and I watched intently as the coins hit the floor, and I could tell right away that something was off again. One coin was blank, but the other had a light cyan inside. Oh crap. "Rainbow Dash's coat color," Twilight pointed out, picking up the coin. Her bringing it up so we could see it confirmed her suspicions. A tri-colored cloud and lightning bolt was in the center of the coin. What did the coins mean? "I'm curious. Do you have one of those links with Rainbow, too?" she questioned, bringing up a very good point. I shook my head, however, potentially ruining the theory. She peeked more intently at the coin, not seeming dissuaded in the least, however. "The outer ring isn't lit up like Fluttershy's. I wonder why that is? Here, try holding it," she offered a moment later, extending the coin over to where I was. Her expression made me frown. It was almost passive, with her voice abrupt and expecting. Did she think my touching the coin would cause something to happen? Uncertain, I hesitated as I extended my hoof to the coin, stopping barely a centimeter from the shiny surface. Shouldn't we be, like, experimenting on these first before going right to live tests? Of course, I didn't exactly know how to experiment on them, but still... Twilight decided for me by smiling gently while I hesitated and lifting her hoof up slightly, brushing the coin along the underside of my hoof. I jumped slightly at the sensation of a static jolt, but she pulled the coin back before I could react. It glowed angrily for a moment before the outer ring lit up as well, causing the light created by the coin to be magnified significantly. Both of our eyes widened as "Connection Established" faded into existence overtop of the coin. Well crap. "Fascinating! You have a link with all of the coins. I think they're responsible for the strange phenomenon between you and Fluttershy," she theorized, sounding a little too curious for her own good. I coughed lightly, pointing to the coin she was still holding. "You might have just created a connection with Rainbow Dash, too," I reasoned, staring blankly at it. What did the connections ultimately do? Twilight seemed momentarily unsure, hesitating as she looked down at the coin in her hoof. "It, well, it needed to be tested. Making the connection must be a two-stage process. Fluttershy touched the rock a while back during the first incident, and then you touched it immediately after to free her, which probably caused the connection. But why wasn't Rainbow affected fully, too?" Twilight pondered out loud. Both of us were suddenly distracted as my flare spell went out and we were plunged into the darkness. Well, we would have been if not for the two fully established coins, and one partially established coin glowing like tiny flares. Wait, partially established? I glanced down at the coin Twilight had set down and widened my eyes. "Oh crap. Twilight, the other coin you touched!" I pointed out, gesturing towards the coin with my hoof. She started, still trying to get over to the lamp and being apparently surprised by my sudden outburst. "Huh?!" she let out before glancing down at the coin in question. Her coat color and starburst shaped Cutie Mark was on the coin already, but with no lit up ring around the outer edge. "Ack! Don't touch it!" she exclaimed harshly before catching it in her magic and pulling it over to her. I gave her a skeptical glance, but she just frowned down at the coin and rapidly shook her head. "We don't know what the links truly do, so let's minimize the exposure until we can get more information," she added, looking away from my stare. My ears drooped a little and a light spike of bitterness shot through me. Sure, she thought experimenting with Rainbow's coin was fine, but when it came to hers, she decided it was too risky. Either that or she really didn't want to establish that kind of link with me. The reality of option two burned and I quietly winced, looking away from the unicorn. I couldn't really fault her for not wanting to jump into something like that, I guess. A little assurance that she was looking forward to extending our relationship at all, however, would be a rather nice thing. Even our kisses had devolved a little into just friendly pecks. I tried not to think of her saying she was tired or didn't feel like it just as an excuse, of course. I mean, I had said no on the one occasion, albeit for a slightly different reason. "Um, I'm sorry. That sounded, um, not the way I wanted it to," Twilight spoke up, bringing me back to attention. Looking back up at her, having not remembered lowering my head, I was a little surprised to see her staring right at me. Her expression was difficult to read; softened, yet her eyes darted quickly, searching my face like I was doing to her. Eventually I decided with taking the safe choice. "It's all right, Twilight. I know that kind of connection to me is a big commitment and can't be looked at from a purely scientific point of view. Further, if it turns out that the connection is bad or detrimental, we're going to need you to fix it. If you're being detrimental at the same time, that would be very difficult," I acknowledged gently, trying to give my most earnest looking smile towards her. I think she bought it, anyway. I mean, I was trying to do my best to stay positive and not worry anypony. Keela promised that she was actually making headway on closing the link permanently, which was definitely a good thing. If I could solve this issue without anypony else getting involved, it would be wonderful. Twilight's ears lowered at the same rate as her eyelids. Damn it. She didn't buy it. "Mender, I... Um. You're serious about all of this and I should have taken your word on how you felt at and least tried to be serious, too. I realize that, now. Not even considering how my viewpoint hurt you was also immature of me. I'm going to fix this, don't worry. I have to. Regardless of my apprehensions, I've never felt this strongly about anything not regarding academics and learning before. Ever. The more I think about it, the more everything points to this being exactly what I want. You're everything I want in a stallion, honestly, and are a ton of fun to be around. I'm going to fix this!" she adamantly declared, suddenly looking more than a little scary. I swallowed, trying to think of something to say, but quickly realized that technically she hadn't said any of that directly to me. It sounded more like she was saying that to herself. The gesture made me pleased, of course, but I wasn't entirely sure it was needed. She faltered after seeing me shrink slightly under her level of hot bloodedness. "No, no, no, Mender. I'm not going to hurt you. See?" she asked before slowly extending both of her forelegs out, smiling gently at me. My brain recognized it before my cognitive thoughts did as the universal 'want hugs' gesture. I relaxed a little and nodded before leaning forwards again. She took me against herself as gently as possible and just held me there. A moment passed, and I lowered my muzzle down to her neck, sleepily resting it there against her fur. To my surprise, Twilight let out a content sigh instead and pulled me tighter to herself. Her forelegs let out a shiver as she squeezed, slowly rubbing them up and down my back while clinging to me like a life raft at sea. If it had been any harder, it might have actually hurt. "It's okay, Twilight. I'm just happy you're going to have it looked into," I muttered, slowly breathing in her light scent. The raspberry scent of her shampoo from this morning drifted into my nostrils and I exhaled slowly, relaxing further against her as she took over supporting my entire weight. Not that it was a lot of weight to support at the moment. "More than just that. I believe you now. There's more to this than just your imagination. These coins prove that. But let's deal with this more in the morning. Well, later morning. It is four o'clock. Let's go back to bed for now, Mender," she suggested, slowly lifting my head up to stare directly into my eyes instead. Hers were soft and sleepy looking and I had to restrain a snicker. The smile got through, though. "Okay, Twilight. I'll trust you to keep the coins safe," I agreed before lowering my head again and resting. She was right, of course. Three and a half hours didn't feel like enough sleep at all. "Somepony likes my neck," Twilight cooed impishly while she lifted the coins back into the cabinet. I watched the doors close again before chuckling. While her statement was true, I further corrected, "It is a very nice neck and very tasty looking, but in all honesty, you smell good. It's making me relaxed and sleepy," I muttered tiredly. There was a momentary pause, and for a second, I worried that I'd said something wrong again. Twilight lowered her head down as well, however, and gently nuzzled my neck in return. "That's rather romantic, actually, and probably a good thing," she murmured quietly, exhaling against me. As probably intended, my curiosity spiked. "Why is it a good thing?" I inquired against her neck. "Ponies can pick up pheromones on other ponies. If you think I smell good, that probably means that your body is telling you we're biologically compatible with each other and an optimal choice for a mating pair. You smell good to me, too, by the way," she explained in a disturbingly casual manner, leaning back and smiling at me with lowered eyelids. Her choice of wording was a little creepy, however. I tried to toss up an assured smile, but I think it came off as nervous instead as I swallowed. Well, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else. "Does that mean you want kids in the future?" I asked, attempting to not only sound casual as well, but change the topic from 'optimal mating'. Her eyes widened again and she blushed, smiling shyly. "I've never really thought about it, honestly. I was pretty goal-oriented before moving here, in an academic sense. Sure, I've really opened up socially since then, but nowhere near enough to even realize that I might have the opportunity to become a mother in the future!" she exclaimed, looking oddly like she was somehow scaring herself. She didn't let me go and run screaming for the stairs, however, so I took it as a good sign. Heck, she actually squeezed tighter, which was actually kind of painful now that I thought about it. "Ah, um, my insides are still squishy and fragile, Twilight," I reminded, wincing slightly. She let out the cutest squeak I'd heard since last hanging around Fluttershy and promptly eased up the pressure, smiling with a slight embarrassed tint to her expression. "Ah, sorry. Are you okay, Mender?" she asked cautiously. "Eh, if I got to pick my preferred way to die, that would definitely be it. But I'll be fine," I teased, managing a grin to her finally. Hopefully she'd take the hint and lighten up a little. I felt bad that I had gotten her worked up, especially if she was going to try to go back to sleep soon. Her expression shifted back to warm mirth, and she nodded. After a light parting kiss to the forehead, she released me and stood fully again. "Let's go back to sleep, Mender. You need to get more rest and so do I. We have a lot to do tomorrow," she warned, gesturing towards the stairs with her head. Sighing, I nodded and stood back up again, definitely feeling the tiredness. Well, on the bright side, even since I'd been hopping over to the other world and telling Keela more about Equestria, it had obviously warded away any bad dreams. Might as well enjoy keeping my end of the bargain if I could. If it meant making Equestria safe again, permanently, it was definitely worth it. In my distraction, I failed to see Twilight duck in and give a gentle, yet extremely wet lick to the side of my cheek. The sly unicorn teleported at the same exact instant of contact, shifting both of us upstairs in a blinding flare of light. My stomach dropped back into my body and I was momentarily disoriented as I fell over onto something warm and soft, in an embarrassing heap of limbs and fur. Wait, these blankets were a lot higher quality than what I remembered them being all of a half an hour ago. Twilight giggled at my sprawled out form before tucking me in and... My mind froze, spitting out memory overflows and error messages as I felt the warm unicorn slip under the covers next to me. Twilight no doubt sensed my immediate rigid stupor, as she informed, "I'm lonely tonight and want to keep your bad dreams at bay. Don't worry, Mender. I won't even touch you if you don't want me to." Her whisper came out warmly and danced inside of my chest for a while, being carried by the butterflies. Well, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. I nudged forwards a little, lightly pressing myself into her chest. She let out a pleasantly surprised cooing noise, and I felt her forehead rest against mine. "Thank you for trusting me, Mender. It really means a lot to me, and I'm not going to ever betray that again. Let me prove it to you, even if it takes forever to do so," she requested. I felt a gentle warmth drift into my mind before lightly intermingling with my own magic. It was an amazing sensation and I couldn't help but kiss any of her skin that I could make contact with. The feelings distinctly belonging to Twilight were drifting into me, and it made me feel very secure indeed. "I'll give you another chance, Twilight. Don't worry about that. I just wish you trusted me a little more." It was the truth, of course. She probably knew it all along, but it felt good to get it out. She winced gently, but nodded against my forehead. "I do trust... Well, I'm going to start from now on. During my talk with Rarity earlier, she mentioned several techniques that could use to build trust in you and vice versa. A few are a little, um, embarrassing, but you're totally worth it," she assured. I felt her temperature rise a little bit, oddly. I didn't really understand what she was talking about, but nodded gently and just let the energy drift into me. My mind idly traced the magic back upwards and I saw where our energy pools were actually connecting. It was rather interesting, once I managed to think through the haze that was building up in my mind. "You said before not to push my energy back into you, right?" I inquired quietly. Twilight paused, and I felt her energy stir a little, but she surprisingly didn't withdraw. "Yeah. Please don't do that. It's not just from pushing your energy into me. It's only if I'm already moving mine into you at the same time. I can tell you more about it tomorrow, if you want," she offered softly. She already trusted me a little more, I realized. I stayed my ground, not about to try it and betray that newfound trust, of course. "I'm not going to, don't worry. I would like to know why eventually, though," I agreed, relaxing and simply enjoying the hazy sensation of her heat both against me and drifting into my mind. She smiled and I realized she picked up on my contented feelings. A general feeling of happiness drifted into me as she mirrored my earlier nod. "We have a long train ride tomorrow, so I'll explain it then. Rarity would already know, of course, but she'll probably be able to add far more onto the romantic and bonding aspects of it," Twilight relayed softly. Oh. With that admission, I suddenly understood the implications a little better. Twilight picked up on that too and released a gentle giggle before snuggling closer to me. Yeah, this was nice. The pressure and expectations weren't what I was expecting, which is to say, they were essentially non-existent. We were just enjoying each other's company, really. Eventually, I couldn't manage to form coherent thoughts anymore and drifted off to sleep, pulling a pleasantly murmuring Twilight Sparkle with me. * * * * * Another bump jarred my reasonably upset stomach yet again. I winced and curled up further, trying to keep the nausea under control as I lay on the nicely cushioned train car seat. The pearly white unicorn sitting across from me gave a look of sympathy as I double-checked the bucket was still at the base of the seat. Okay, I officially hated trains. "I didn't expect such a violent reaction. Why do you have no problem doing loops on Dash's back through zero gravity while being fired at, but a train going barely sixty kilometers per hour gets you sick?" Twilight asked skeptically from directly next to me. She sat nearest my head, and despite her rather venomous tongue, her tone was soft and she gently rubbed my neck and cheek at the same time. I swallowed dryly before wincing again, sticking my head over the seat just in case. "Rainbow didn't vibrate while feeling like a sack of worms against your legs," I protested, deciding the mental image just made it worse. "This is truly unfortunate. Were you able to grasp any of our explanation at all?" Rarity asked politely. Okay, so that conversation had been the last thing on my mind until now. "Kinda. She puts energy into me, I put energy into her, and then we absorb each other's energy and gain some sort of bond," I managed to summarize without barfing, amazingly enough. Rarity made a disappointed 'Tsk' noise with her mouth before shaking her head. "Well, I can see you missed the various romantic aspects of such a bond. Surely, given your apparent connection with Fluttershy, you can understand why such a link is sacred," she lectured idly, flicking her mane to the side in mild irritation. The motion made my stomach churn but, like a train wreck in slow motion, I couldn't look away for some reason. Okay, bad example given the context. "Oh leave him be, Rarity. As sick as he is, it's a wonder he got that much," Twilight defended, gently massaging my shoulders as I took deep breaths over the bucket. Damn. It was true, though. Given my connection to Fluttershy when in close range, I could appreciate the romantic undertones of such a bond. Frankly, I think she was the only reason I regained my composure at all after my vivid hallucination and panic attack. Once I got back from this silly trip, I was definitely going to thank her. We needed to talk a lot more about this thing anyway. Oh yeah, and maybe warn Rainbow before she freaks out from hearing 'voices' in her head sounding remarkably like me. "Oh yes, and you are suddenly the quintessential understanding mare, I know," Rarity muttered dryly. Twilight's hooves jolted against my shoulders before digging in a little. Uh oh. I suddenly regretted my compromising position next to the ungodly powerful unicorn. "So you remind me every chance you get. I know; I get it. I'm a horrible fillyfriend who doesn't deserve Mender. Let me guess, you feel you're better for him?" Twilight asked, seemingly forgetting my squishy muscles were there and pretending it was Rarity's neck instead of my own. Oh please help me live through this train ride, somepony! "What?! I am simply looking out on Mender's behalf! I cannot believe you'd stoop so low as to insinuate such under-hooved intentions. You really must get a grip on this terrible case of paranoia that has you! It is simply not befitting of a lady," Rarity warned back, looking truly offended for the brief moment my vision caught her before I started gasping for air. Note to self, make sure Twilight was fully aware of her body at all times. Further note to self, haunt the crap out of her if you don't live through this train ride. The lavender unicorn in question let out a low growl before pointing out, "Surely, you're not so perfect as to have never made a mistake before. There, I said it! I screwed up and lost the trust of my coltfriend! Does that make you happy?!" she asked dramatically, voice now loud enough to probably be heard through the walls. Well, glad this wasn't a private topic or anything. Oddly, however, having half of my windpipe pinched off was doing wonders for making me forget about the nausea. Still, dying wasn't a good motion sickness prevention method. Carrying through with my new concept of self-preservation, I began flailing my forelegs about to hopefully get my fillyfriend's attention while gasping like a fish out of water. As predicted, she glanced down quizzically at me before widening her eyes and instantly letting go. My lungs screamed in triumph, or perhaps whiplash, as I inhaled heavily and rolled over onto my back, panting. Wow. That wasn't awkward timing at all. "No! No, no, no! Why does this always happen?!" Twilight groaned, surprising me once more by flopping over sideways onto my upper half with herself at the same time. My yet gasping muzzle inhaled a few rogue strands of fur from her chest as the warmth washed all around me. Well, at least she wasn't a female of my species, or this position would be exceedingly awkward indeed. If I vaguely recalled correctly, which I wasn't going to bet any bits on, pony anatomy placed the female mammary glands significantly lower. Oh, and they retained almost no mass when the mare in question wasn't with foal. I supposed that it was actually more convenient that way, anyway. My cheeks grew hot as I squished my eyelids shut, trying to drive the thought chain out of my mind. Damn it; I hated it when this happened. "I didn't mean you're a horrible fillyfriend. I'm sorry for speaking too rashly. Will you forgive me?" Rarity asked softly, doing a surprisingly good job at attempting to defuse the situation. Well, at least I thought it was a good apology. Thankfully, it also served to distract me from images of a pregnant Twilight. Of course, as far as, um, attractive daydreams go; I guess that one's fairly evolutionarily justified. She would look incredibly gorgeous pregnant, in my opinion. Ugh. Why did I do this to myself? Twilight let out a low murmur into my stomach before nodding gently. "I know. Mender's very understanding, thankfully. I probably reek of being totally new at this." "I am still here, you know," I reminded politely upon realizing I could talk again. Curse that air threshold for speaking. It was very strange feeling of Twilight smiling against my stomach. She lifted off me a little and looked into my eyes instead from an upside down perspective. Feeling a bit brave and hoping it would make her realize it wasn't that big of a deal, I reached both of my hooves up and gently pulled her down into me. She let out a soft muttering of nothing in particular upon breaking the upside down kiss a few seconds later, and smiled more fully down at me. "Does that mean you forgive me?" she asked hopefully, eyes dancing a little in the light. I couldn't help myself. "About the overly enthusiastic neck rub? Of course," I assured, smirking now. Predictably, her ears flattened back and she gave me a barbed stare. "Careful, you might wish you hadn't said that once you find out how I plan to earn forgiveness for the rest of it," she warned, mirroring my expression in an instant. My ears drooped and I managed a timid swallow. "Uh, isn't that kind of defeating the purpose?" "Oh, simply no imagination. You'll thank me for giving her the ideas afterwards, I'm sure. Once you recover, of course," Rarity tossed in, sounding oddly devious. I glanced over at her with widening eyes, which caused her to burst out into copious amounts of laughter, followed promptly by Twilight. Well, I was doomed... The train hit a particularly jarring bump before I could properly formulate words and I groaned again, remembering why this bucket was lying in front of my spot on the seat. Damn it. I contemplated asking Twilight to strangle me again so I'd forget about the nausea. "Oh, you poor dear. I think it's almost worth sending a letter to Rainbow Dash upon our arrival, requesting that she pick him up for the return flight," Rarity suggested politely after my dry heaving was finished. I sighed weakly before shaking my head, protesting, "Rainbow shouldn't have to fly all that way and then haul me back just because the train makes me sick. That's not fair to her." "That's very kind, Mender, but she probably wouldn't have a problem with it. She thinks she owes you, anyway," Twilight reminded, earning a groan of lamentation from me. This was promptly followed by a groan of my stomach trying to crawl out of my body. I heard a light, almost imperceptible squeaking laugh from Rarity before she tacked on, "Or we could always talk to Princess Celestia about having the royal carriage and guards fly you home." After recovering from almost falling off my seat in a coughing fit, I finally managed to scramble back and glared up at her. "No! I'd rather walk than ride in a royal carriage. Ugh. It probably costs a few thousand an hour," I protested weakly, earning a giggle from Twilight. "It doesn't. That's what I first rode to Ponyville in. It's very comfortable. Although if you're uncomfortable with Princess Celestia, you could always ask Princess Luna. She seems to have taken a liking to you," Twilight suggested, sounding deeply amused at my expense. I glared back at her over my shoulder and saw only a grin in return. "Oh! Is that my Scandal Senses tingling?! Quickly, this calls for gossip!" Rarity exclaimed, suddenly from the seat right next to Twilight and leaning in closer to listen. The lavender mare in question seemed more freaked out than anything, starting in place before falling over onto me in surprise. Any rebuttal I had carefully selected was promptly drowned out by a second helping of Twilight's chest and stomach fur. "Rarity, it's not like that at all! She just likes his name because it has," Twilight started to rapidly explain. Well, she tried anyway. Her thoughts must have been fairly disrupted when I suddenly closed my eyes and licked gently along the fur of her tummy. "Whaaa!" she squealed before flailing off the side of the seat and crashing onto the floor, blushing furiously. Oh, payback was worth the probability of death that earned me. Quickly, I threw on my innocent facade. Rarity gave me a skeptical and extremely scrutinizing stare in the meantime as Twilight recovered on the floor. Several intentionally awkward seconds passed before Twilight restored her capacities enough to roll her eyes. "Try to limit kisses and licks to my face and head please. That felt a little weird," she managed to request, spoiling all of my current and future fun at once. "There's no fun in that, Twilight. Surely you can be more imaginative," Rarity concurred without needing my specific input. I snickered before lowering my head towards the bucket again. I'd hate to drop my guard and end up having yet another mess to clean up. "Shush. That's a bridge that can be crossed far, far, far, far in the future," the lavender mare shot back. Well, that boded well for me. Actually the ironic thing was that I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. Rarity made an amused sounding half snicker before adding, "I do suppose you intend to ship him away with the rest of the single stallions in a few weeks, then?" Okay, that caused my brain to stall out. There was a soft smacking noise as Twilight mushed her right forehoof into the spot directly under her horn. I gave her a curious yet observing stare. Apparently what Rarity said triggered some sort of memory in her that she seemingly forgot. Or broke her brain and that was how she rebooted it. "Great! How did I forget about the stupid heat cycles?! Um, yeah. That would probably be a wise idea," she finally muttered, sounding a little dejected. What did temperature have to do with sending away all of your males? Did the mares turn into bloodthirsty, ravenous monsters or something if the temperature increased too much? No, that sounded far-fetched, even for me. Rarity gasped, looking horrified. At this point I was getting used to her having that expression. "Oh my, Twilight! It's unheard of! A stallion who actually has a fillyfriend being sent to those horrible cabins!" she exclaimed. Her voice was strange, and I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. I knew she had a taste for dramatic flair, but it was often too subtle for me to separate from what might actually be a disaster. Frowning, I looked up and tried to pay attention just in case. "Oh come on! The cabins are quite nice and you know it. It's more of an inconvenience than anything. Talk about stalling out our entire economy for a good week," my fillyfriend reputed. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Um, not to sound stupid, but I need to sound stupid here. What are we talking about?" I asked curiously. Now that I thought about it, this was starting to sound vaguely familiar. "Heat, Dear. Are you unfamiliar with the word?" Rarity asked, causing Twilight to perk up out of her stupor and glance over at me instead. I nodded wearily, frowning slightly. Rarity gave me a smile instead and nodded as well in a more assuring manner. "It's perfectly understandable given your unique arrival here. Heat is a little complex, but I'm sure you'll understand it fine. Normally, when a filly enters into marehood, she..." Rarity started to explain. Wait. Oh, this was starting to sound familiar. "Estrus?" Twilight alternatively suggested, interrupting her friend. Oh hell! My eyes widened as my ears flattened back in an instant. "Wait, you ponies go through an estrus cycle?! How many times a year, and does it sync up?" I asked rapidly, suddenly realizing exactly what they had been talking about. Rarity momentarily looked totally flabbergasted, while Twilight just giggled and nodded, answering, "Yes, it does sync up with other mares so we mostly all go into heat at the same time if we live together long enough. That's cumbersome for tight knit communities like Ponyville. It occurs twice in a year; once in the spring, and a somewhat lighter one in the beginning of fall. You luckily showed up after the first one." Rarity coughed lightly and looked away again, nodding. "Indeed. You wouldn't have found any males at all, and probably would have actually been pursued had you shown up a mere week and a half earlier, just for a different reason other than food. I'm sure that would have worsened your opinion of us severely." Well, I guess I lucked out after all. "Well, if he'd arrived for the spring one, yeah. The fall variety isn't that bad. Regardless, we evacuate the males more for their comfort than anything. All of the pheromones drifting through the air makes them a little awkward," Twilight corrected in a rather proper manner. Well, they seemed to be extremely civilized about it. It was more like a biological annoyance than a true danger, then. "Eh, I don't mind being shipped off to some cabin for a week. You'll have to give me the specifics when it comes closer to being required," I requested, easing back down into my disaster prevention position, deciding that it wasn't really that dire a conversation after all. Rarity let out a huffing noise before rolling her eyes. "I personally think you're crazy not to go with him, and would hate to see the social stigma that will stir up, but as your friend, you have my support," she finally gave in, averting her eyes from my now slightly flustered looking fillyfriend. That was so weird to think about. "It's not that big of a social stigma! I mean, lots of mares decide to wait before, um, that," Twilight defended, probably needlessly, given what Rarity had just finished saying. That probably indicated something, but I was too lazy to think about it further. Plus I felt like crap. "Perhaps. I'm simply concerned for the stability of your relationship if you truly decide to wait as long as it sounds," Rarity pointed out. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think I heard an impish undertone to her voice. Weird. My stomach finally started to settle gently. Twilight looked suddenly like she might need the bucket instead, however. "W-What?! Um, but I haven't read anything about... Oh no, I didn't read the advanced relationship books yet, though! I didn't think I'd need those for a few years still!" she exclaimed, starting to shift into her telltale panic state. Uh oh. Wait, years?! "Years?! Oh, I truly feel for you, Mender," Rarity teased, letting out a light giggle as she looked over at me instead. Twilight practically spun in circles between looking at the two of us. Was Rarity doing this on purpose just to rile up Twilight? Wow, I hadn't realized pranks could get so ugly! "Stop teasing her, Rarity. You know I don't, um, mind waiting as long as she needs to," I reminded, carefully choosing my words to hopefully head off the panic session. Twilight dismantling the train while we were moving sounded like a bad thing, yet something she might do while freaking out. I shouldn't have hesitated in thinking up the proper wording, though. Twilight let out a soft whimpering noise before shrinking a little. Well, I guess we wouldn't be making it to the party after all. I braced for any potential magic catastrophes as best I could. Hey, at least my stomach felt better now! The train's forward momentum slammed to a halt in an instant, sending my stomach lurching upwards into my lungs, it felt like. I winced before almost sliding off my seat. Rarity merely leaned back slightly in surprise while Twilight slid from the center of the room into the base of the seat Rarity was on, eyes getting a little watery and appearing oblivious to the sudden shift of momentum. "This has been a successful test of the emergency brake system! If this had been a real emergency, it would have been accompanied by much more screaming. Thank you for your time!" I suddenly heard blaring over the speaker system in a male voice. I promptly threw up into the bucket. Chapter 21The sun bathed the entire area in light, shining brightly off the gentle cobblestones and worn brick. I winced and partially closed my eyes, the brightness just a little too much to be comfortable to me. My eyes hurt and my stomach still ached from throwing up on the stupid train. Still, as irritable as I felt, the city was quite impressive. I'd never seen such a grand city in Equestria. Row after row of buildings greeted my mostly healed eyes. The main street was practically alive with ponies; easily three times the traffic of Ponyville. The buildings I could see mainly appeared to be cafes, shops, and other entertainment establishments. The fanfare was quite a sight to take in! Of course, extra banners appeared to be up, advertising a formal dance and fashion show put on by one "Fancypants." Huh. I wondered if Rarity knew who that was. Speaking of, Rarity herself looked almost giddy as she sat next to me on the right. "Oooh, it's been too long since I've been here! I must see if there are any new supplementary fabrics before the show, Twilight," she quickly informed, looking past me to the left. My fillyfriend nodded absently while going over a list she held up in her magic. "I figured as much and planned accordingly. We have three hours before we're expected to be at the banquet hall to get ready. Meet us at the castle in two hours so we can dress, okay?" Twilight suggested, looking over at her overly exuberant friend. Rarity nodded pleasantly, neatly done mane bobbing with the motion. She then stood up and pranced off towards the rows of shops, a certain lightness to her step. I watched her go, trying to figure out where she got the energy. Ah well. I suppose this entire ordeal was her kind of thing. "She'll never change. Not like that's a bad thing, though," Twilight agreed unknowingly to my inner thoughts, shifting her attention back to me with a smile. I turned back to her and nodded pleasantly. "It's nice to watch somepony who really knows what they enjoy the most. Pinkie's the same way, to some degree," I observed idly, wondering if I'd ever show that level of excitement for something. Twilight let out a chuckle before warning, "I wouldn't mention that comparison to Rarity. She likes to hold herself above the spastic level of energy Pinkie Pie demonstrates." Above? There was nothing wrong with Pinkie's energy that would 'lower' it in the first place. "I must defend Pinkie, stating that her mannerisms are certainly admirable as well," I protested, frowning slightly. The lavender unicorn nodded without missing a beat, nor losing her smile. "Of course. They're just very different. But we're delaying too much. I need to go speak with the castle staff and arrange rooms for the three of us. You don't mind staying with me, right?" she asked, standing up again and carefully sliding her rolled up list into her saddle bag. "Of course not," I assured, sticking my tongue out at her before adding, "We slept together last night and it turned out nicely. It was amazing to have a night without nightmares, which I totally credit to the beautiful mare I got to cuddle with." I couldn't help but blush a little as I tried to emphasize exactly how much I appreciated her. Her cheeks flared up with a hot blush, but she only smiled wider. "Mender! You're just so... Ugh. I don't even know what to say," she complained, tone of voice betraying a completely different mood. Her eyes also softened, a warm feeling behind them that I couldn't quite place. "Just the truth, Twilight. Do you want me to come with?" I asked, pretty sure that I already knew the answer. She giggled, informing, "You can just call me 'Twi' if you want. It feels more intimate and informal. And no. I need you to make a brief detour and pick up some food to go before joining me. Rarity will be hungry as well when she gets back and we need to eat before the party." "Food?" I questioned, tilting my head at her. Wait, she wanted me to wander off by myself to run an errand in a totally unfamiliar city? Twilight nodded politely, oblivious to my nervousness. "Yup. It doesn't matter where, so long as it's edible. Enough for all three of us, of course. I'll give you some bits for it," she furthered, levitating a small, pink coin bag out of her saddlebags and hooking it onto mine. Great. Pink. "Um, okay. I just ask for it to go?" I asked, largely for clarity. This was going to go poorly. It was almost a foregone conclusion at this point, I had a feeling. She nodded excitedly before starting towards the massive castle that easily loomed above the rest of the town. Well, that was imposing. I wondered if Celestia was compensating for something or if she just inherited the place like that. "Yup! I'll put in the word with the gate guards to expect you, don't worry. Just hurry along so we can get situated into our rooms before the party!" she returned, adding a wink as she pranced in place. My thoughts tinted my cheeks and I coughed lightly, trying not to jump to conclusions about the implications. "All right. I'll try to go as fast as I can," I assured, nodding to her and smiling. "Awesome! See you in a bit!" she exclaimed excitedly before disappearing in a flash of light and a little hop. I watched her flicker in down the street a little ways, only to disappear again and repeat the short flickering in the direction of the palace. Damn. It must be nice to have a planet-sized pool of magic. Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the shops, looking for any restaurant-looking ones. An outdoor cafe probably wouldn't be too expensive, and would likely be able to get the food in a hurry. Spotting cozy eating chairs furnished with oversized umbrellas, I smiled and headed in that direction, sporting a moderate gait. Twilight being in a good mood lightened my spirits considerably. It was almost enough to let me forget about the sour look the stewardess gave me upon cleaning out the bucket earlier. I was careful of the crowds as best I could, making sure to stay clear of the clusters as I neared the cafe. It was a pleasant looking spot, simplistic in design yet looking very new and clean. I nodded to myself before approaching the entrance. Unfortunately, a couple appeared to be just leaving as I rounded from the sidewalk. I ground to a halt, starting to backtrack a little. The stallion looked large and imposing, yet very proper and worldly. The mare was lithe, legs extremely long and groomed, making her seem slender and taller than she actually was. Unfortunately for me, and probably her as well, she paid me no attention and did a little twirl to face the stallion as they exited, a happy smile on her face. Oh crap. She collided with me almost instantly, causing both of us to spill sideways and become a tangled heap on the ground. I winced as I hit first, my body becoming effectively a squishy pillow for her impact. Oh well. I'd rather it that way than the inverse. My eyes opened, then widened drastically as I was presented with a very detailed, up close view of her elegant, abstract Cutie Mark. "Ah! Hey!" she shouted, scrambling off me and glaring. I swallowed, ears lowering as her expression made me feel further pathetic. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to," I apologized profusely before slowly getting to my hooves. The stallion stepped forward instead, however. "I do say, what are your intentions, young one? That is most disrespectful behavior to force upon a mare! Explain yourself!" he demanded, frowning down at me as I shrunk further. His styled blue mane, nicely pressed suit, and radiant white coat made him look even more important. I knew this was a bad idea! His pink-maned mare leaned closer behind him, partially hiding herself from sight as I swallowed, tongue feeling like it was swelling in my mouth. Pink. My eyes widened as I caught another dot of pink below my vision, and glanced down at the stonework. Twilight's coin bag lay at my feet, having been knocked loose in the collision. I checked my side and sure enough, it was missing. "Um, I really didn't intend on landing like that. You surprised me!" I tried to explain, before carefully picking the coin pouch up with my mouth. It smelled like Twilight, which was a little distracting. Both of their eyes widened as they watched me pick up the bag. "M-My bits!" the mare exclaimed, looking shocked. Huh?! I glanced to her side and widened my eyes as well as I saw an almost exact duplicate of the tiny pink pouch tied to her saddlebag. "You scoundrel!" I heard the stallion declare before feeling a solid impact with the side of my head. Wincing, I stumbled sideways and cracked my head off the side of the entrance to the cafe before I could so much as explain otherwise. "Guards! Quickly!" was shouted in his echoing voice as stars exploded into my vision. Aaaah! My head throbbed as I curled up, holding both sides of it. My vision danced and blurred as I pulled my right hoof back, blotches of red covering it. Crap. "I didn't take anything. That's my fillyfriend's pouch..." I groaned, trying to sit up again. Suddenly, I was knocked sideways by something extremely solid, shoving me into the side of the wall. I saw an imposing looking guard standing over me with a glare when my eyes opened up again. Lacking the energy, I didn't resist as he shoved metal cuffs around my hooves. My eyes widened further as I watched the sharp metal lock around me, the chains going taunt and rattling in my ears. That rattling. Chains. Her smirk glittered through the haze from the dark, the blood dripping from her claws and blades as I was forced onto the table, screaming and missing an eye now. There was no healing from it. I watched her bite down on it and eat it myself. I screamed until I passed out, not realizing that's what actually happened. My world rapidly faded into the darkness that surrounded her. * * * * * The darkness was miserable, of course. I shivered as I sat in the furthest corner of my tiny, stone room; the looming metal bars cast an ominous shadow across the wall next to me. The wooden 'bed' chained to the wall partially blocked the light from my lower body as I sat there, absolutely freezing. A rough wrapping had been tied around my head to stop the bleeding but I hadn't been cleaned up. This place must be underground somewhere as well, because it was absolutely freezing. I had no idea where I was apart from a jail cell with a very silent guard. I was on the wooden slab when I woke up in cold sweat, thinking someone was ripping my muscles out one section at a time. I guess I had been arrested. This was an amazing attempt at getting food for Twilight and Rarity. The absolute silence was broken suddenly by solid, slow hoof steps from the left of my cell entry. My eyes widened as they matched up fairly well to the pounding inside of my skull, and I glanced back at the bars, shaking still. I must have lost a lot of blood as well. The hoof steps stopped, and I saw the front of a rather large stallion, another unicorn, standing in front of the guard. His mane was striped in light and dark shades of blue in such a way that, interestingly enough, reminded me of Twilight. His coat, however, was pure white, and he wore detailed, golden armor that was similar, but far more extravagant than the guard who saluted him. Uh oh. "I was told a prisoner needed my attention down here? I hope this is quick. I'm supposed to meet my sister at the palace," he questioned in a lighter tone that surprised me. I'd expected him to have such a deep voice that the stone would crack around me. Maybe that was my nerves talking. "Yes sir! Arrested in the markets near a cafe. An account of both petty theft and sexual harassment. Further, we think he's mentally unstable and possibly dangerous," the guard spoke up. My ears lowered with each word. Wow. Less than an hour in Canterlot and I'd already been declared crazy. I wonder if this was a record. The stallion sighed and nodded before sliding open the bars. He stepped easily inside, not an ounce of fear despite me being 'dangerous', and casually lit a lantern that hung on the wall. I winced at the light and further curled up into a little ball behind the wooden slab, shivering as it only reminded me of how nice heat was. I anticipated an interrogation was next on my schedule. "Why is this stallion not bandaged properly? He's obviously injured," the white unicorn questioned, looking incredulously towards the guard who stood at his left. "We dared not approach! Regardless, in the end, he came willingly," the guard assured. Willingly? Is that what they call blood loss and severe head trauma now? Unfortunately, I was more hurt at losing Twilight's pouch. I swallowed painfully and lowered my head to my hooves. I exaggerated, anyway. I doubted the little scratch to the side of my head did any more damage than apples from the stratosphere or Applejack's hoof. No, that was also an exaggeration. I doubted Rainbow Dash ever escaped the troposphere. The stallion shook his head above me and sat down. A light touch of magic surprised me, causing me to jump and shudder. The wound along the side of my head slowly healed in a gentle, cyan light. "I'm sorry for their rude behavior. I'd like to get the full story from you, however. Miss Fleur came to me, abashed, after you had been arrested with some interesting admission that I'd like to verify," he explained calmly, completing the healing magic in record time. I glanced up at him and nodded, rasping out, "I'll tell you anything. I'm sorry!" I wasn't quite prepared to speak and coughed afterwards, my vocal cords feeling like they had frost on them. "Relax. Just tell me what happened in your own words," he coaxed calmly, giving me a surprisingly assuring smile. In the light, I also noticed his Cutie Mark, which happened to be a shield and starburst, alongside three smaller stars above. The star shape looked remarkably similar to Twilight's as well, and I started to relax a little. "Yes, you might know me. My name is Shining Armor. I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard," he furthered, smiling as he noticed me peek at his mark. "I... Well, I'm kind of new here, so I didn't know. It just looked familiar. I'm Moon Mender," I muttered weakly, looking back at him fully. He frowned, seemingly thinking for a moment before exhaling. "That sounds familiar, too, but I can't remember where. Anyway, Miss Fleur found her bag after you had been arrested and admitted she had erred in accusing you of theft. I guess that pink pouch is popular!" he exclaimed, chuckling afterwards. The guard next to him widened his eyes, and then looked away from me a moment later. Admittedly, I was surprised by the lax interrogation technique, but took the break if it was offered. "Well, I'm thankful. The bag belongs to my fillyfriend. Um, can I have it back?" I asked, trying not to get my hopes up. Shining Armor smiled, however, and nodded. "Of course. You have very good tastes. I'm sure your mare will be delighted that you tried to protect it. In fact, I got a bag just like that for my sister last year. It's a wonderful gift," he assured, seemingly more amused at the coincidences than angry at my arrest. Well, if it was a popular enough bag, a lot of mares probably had it. Rarity probably had picked it up for Twilight. I smiled faintly and relaxed, still not feeling the best but happy that I hadn't lost Twilight's pouch. She trusted me with it, after all. "That little thing is really important to you, isn't it? You must really care for her," the guard captain observed, smiling warmly all of a sudden. I nodded weakly, looking back up at him as best I could. I was ravenous, having emptied out my stomach on the train and now missed lunch. What time was it, speaking of? Had I missed the party, too? "She trusted me with it and asked me to get food for her and a friend. I, um, care for her a lot and don't want to lose her trust," I explained, trying to be as honest as I could. Shining Armor nodded earnestly before seemingly thinking to himself. "I'm under the impression that the collision wasn't entirely your fault either. Still, now that I know more details, I should at least extend the courtesy of sending a message to her about what happened. What's the name of your mare, and where is she staying?" he inquired, smiling now as he looked back down at me. I felt a little safer now and nodded, sitting up fully. "Her name's-“ I started, before the once silent guard walked up next to Shining Armor. “Actually, I got his address in a statement prior. Here you go, Captain,” he interrupted, cutting me off. Oh yeah. He had questioned me when I was first arrested. Shining Armor picked up the clipboard offered with his magic and floated it in front of him. I fell silent and let the captain read it over carefully. I’d answered all the questions to the best I could manage, so I figured that would cut off a lot of any potential interrogation that was needed from me. “Oh, interesting. You’re staying in a castle suite? You must be here for the party tonight that Fancypants is throwing. Ironic. I’ve got to bring you to the castle anyway, so I’ll send a message ahead and we’ll meet your fillyfriend there,” he explained after a good minute of reading. I shifted uneasily. Twilight had given me Rarity’s room, but I had no idea what her own room number was. I’d hoped it wouldn’t complicate things that I’d given them Rarity’s instead. I nodded weakly, asking, “Are you letting me go, then?” This was all just one giant misunderstanding, and I was really glad he was so friendly! Ponies really were a lot different than Keldarians. At that point, I didn’t know why I was expecting otherwise. The worst part about this little experience so far had been the cold dungeon. “As part of regulation, I’ve got to get confirmation from the castle. Your fillyfriend shouldn’t be a problem, but I also need to sign off on your release. The office is over there, however. Paperwork, right?” he explained, smirking over at me. I snickered, feeling a lot better finally. His healing magic was top notch! “Thanks for being so understanding. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. What a day!” I groaned. He also said tonight, I noticed. That must mean I hadn’t missed the party yet! Twilight would be mildly irked that I’d not gotten them food, but at least it wasn’t a complete disaster. Shining Armor laughed and shook his head. “Relax. I understand what a bad day is like. You should have seen the Changeling invasion!” he exclaimed, signing off on the clipboard before passing it back to the guard. Changeling? I tilted my head, but then flattened my ears back as he fitted the manacles back onto my legs. My forelegs couldn’t stop shaking as he fastened them. Why was this…? “Mender, Relax. Nopony is going to hurt you. You only have to wear these until we get to the castle and verify your story. It’s just procedure, and I’ll stay with you the whole time, okay?” Shining Armor softly assured, patting me on the head. It probably mentioned my reaction to the chains on the clipboard. Shivering, I managed a weak nod as he helped me up and led me towards the door. At least this would all be over soon and I could go back to Twilight. * * * * * Groaning again, I tried my hardest to hide my face as best I could. The cart slowly moved along through the street, careful to let ponies move out of the way before passing. It was decided that I’d be transported to the castle via cart instead after I fell down two flights of stairs while wearing the manacles. Shining Armor was really, really good at healing magic! Still, this was more than a little embarrassing. Shining Armor himself sat at the front of the cart with the driver. I was in the back, trying my best to hide and wishing the sides of the thing were taller. The chains attached to me were easily visible, of course, and I saw dozens of ponies giving harsh whispers and giggles as I passed. Damn it. There goes the effect Rarity had been hoping for. She wasn’t going to want to use me for showing off her suit if everypony knew I was a criminal! Shining Armor did his best to not make a spectacle of it, taking a back street most of the way there before cutting out onto the main thoroughfare in order to get to the castle gates. The cart rolled through the gates and finally reached the sanctuary and privacy of the grounds, letting me exhale gently. Less ponies seeing me meant less rumors going around. Of course, three blocks of aristocratic looking ponies had already seen me regardless, and if they were anything like what I was used to dealing with back in my old world that I recall, rumors would explode anyway. “Okay then. Message was sent ahead via pegasi, so we should be expected. I’m going to escort you to the assembly hall where they’re waiting, and then once you’re spoken for, I’ll go upstairs and fill out your release paperwork,” Shining Armor said, making his way around to the back of the wagon and helping me down. Slowly, I nodded, putting most of my focus into not falling on my face. I’d fallen out of the wagon twice trying to get up onto the thing, but at least I’d landed on my butt then. Nose-diving would suck considerably more. At least they knew I wasn’t going to run away. Well, run away effectively, I appended to my thoughts a moment later. He smiled once I had all four hooves on the ground and carefully led me towards a side gate for the right wing of the massive looking castle. Shining Armor kept careful pace with me and kept his magic up to stabilize me as I wobbled, snagging my legs on the chains every half dozen meters or so. The guard that was in the back of the cart with me followed a little behind us, from the sounds of it. It wasn’t the same guard as at my cell, not that I could tell the difference, anyway. Why did all the guards look the same? Security measure? The heavy door opened with a creaking noise, and it was a lot dimmer inside, lit by the warm glow of wall sconces. Heavy looking marble tile decorated the floor, and a soft looking rug led from the entry all the way along the hallway. Fancy looking benches made of a rich oak of some sort lined the sides. This looked like a kind of waiting chamber or something. What did he call it? Assembly hall? To my absolute relief, both Twilight and Rarity were waiting at the far end of the hall. Rarity sat calmly on a chair, giving a soft if knowing smile to Twilight as she paced back and forth. I swallowed nervously. Even though I hadn’t been here for very long, I could kinda tell when my fillyfriend was frazzled. It wasn’t a good feeling to be the source of that discomfort. “Eh?! Twily!” Shining Armor suddenly exclaimed, steadying me from my start before trotting forward ahead of me towards the two mares. Twily? Wait, was he talking to Twilight?! I blinked and watched, surprised, as she looked over in response to the name, shock evident on her face. “Shiny?” she asked, eyes widening rapidly. Shiny?! What the hell?! They obviously knew each other, but why did they have pet names? Wait, no. That couldn’t be. Oh hell. No, Twilight would have told me! “What are you doing here, Twily? Wait, you heard I was bringing a pony over and intercepted, didn’t you? I sent a message to your room saying I was going to be a little late,” Shining Armor groaned out. Her room? Her room?! My right eye twitched, the spasm traveling all the way down my chest and right foreleg, giving the chains a jiggle. Twilight’s eyes didn’t shrink down, and she looked past Shining Armor and over at me. I glared in her direction, really hoping this wasn’t what it looked like. No, if she were already in a herd with this stallion, somepony would have told me! They wouldn’t have kept this a secret this long. They couldn’t have. Shining Armor followed her gaze and peeked back at me. I snapped the glare off my expression, not wanting for him to decide to throw me back in jail. “Oh, don’t mind him. I’m just dropping him off to his fillyfriend here at the castle. She should have been here already, though,” he muttered before looking around the hall. Oh hell. If he found out I was dating his herd member, I predicted a lot of complications. Twilight’s ears flattened back and she lowered her eyes, shifting them back and forth as if fighting violently with thoughts in her mind. Rarity looked utterly speechless as she glanced between Twilight and Shining Armor, who finally noticed her. “Wait, Rarity? Oh. Oh! Oh my. Is that why you two are here? Wow! I didn’t realize the guest you invited with you was your coltfriend, Rarity! Is that why you two are acting so weird?” he continued, seemingly a bit concerned that nopony was saying anything. Rarity?! Rarity let out a gasp of surprise, flush exploding over her cheeks as her eyes widened at him. Twilight shuddered and rapidly looked over at Rarity as well, as if burned for a moment. “Ah! R-Rarity? Of course! Yeah, thanks for dropping off Rarity’s coltfriend. You can go now, Shiny! I’ll talk to you back in my room, okay?” Twilight suddenly spewed out. Several icy hammers hit me in the chest as I stared at her. My forelegs started to shake and I couldn’t seem to stop them as I let out a sharp gasp. She was embarrassed about me and was pretending I was Rarity’s coltfriend?! My ears dropped completely. “Twilight Sparkle!” Rarity suddenly shouted, shifting from looking shocked to righteously pissed in half a second. Oh hell. Shining Armor must have thought the same thing as me, as he hopped backwards away from the unicorn, who was now standing up in her chair and glaring at Twilight. Twilight flinched and shrunk visibly away from Rarity, not meeting her eyes. The guard pony standing next to me made no motion to move any closer, just watching with wide eyes as the rather brutal and awkward scene unfolded. My head was still reeling from the implications mixed with what Twilight had just said. I could barely process what was going on. “I, um, I’m sorry. Uh, Shiny, meet Moon Mender. Um, he’s the stallion I wrote about in my letters,” Twilight finally admitted, shrinking down to the floor. She told him about me, but she didn’t want him to know that I was me? She was embarrassed I was arrested, then. I didn’t know how to feel about this. Her, well, a stallion close to her was the captain of the guard, so I could see why she was appalled that I’d been arrested. Shining Armor looked back at me, eyes widening rapidly. “Moon Mender! That’s where I heard his name before! This is your coltfriend?!” he asked sharply. “I was going to tell you! I just didn’t know what to say and he’d been arrested for something, so I panicked! I’m sorry,” Twilight continued, standing up again and prancing anxiously in front of the much larger stallion. Damn it. Who was he? Did she honestly keep this much from me? “I’m not the one you should apologize to! Fine. Stay here and I’ll go get the stupid paperwork filed and get him released. I’ll be back in a bit,” he snarled out, sounding rather angry as he stormed off and through a side door. The hallway fell silent, and I dropped my head. This had gone from getting better to rock bottom almost instantly. My head was swimming with what I’d just heard, and I didn’t know where to even start sorting everything out. It didn’t help that my eyes were getting watery and my chest hurt. The guard next to me gave me a soft nod and frown before undoing my restraints. I heard hoofsteps getting closer in front of me, but I refused to look up, staring at my hooves instead. “He was charged with an account of sexual harassment, and another of petty theft. Both charges have been acquitted, however, and he’s free to go. It was all a misunderstanding,” the guard explained next to me as the movement stopped. “M-Mender, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie about that. I panicked. This wasn’t how I wanted things to go,” Twilight muttered quietly. I shivered again, eyes softening. That much was obvious. Nothing today had gone as planned. Slowly, I looked up at Twilight, who sat in front of me about a meter away. Rarity was rapidly catching up, still glaring at Twilight’s back as she approached. “This is absolutely horrifying, Twilight. Even if embarrassed, consider Mender’s feelings! The charges are false and he is innocent regardless, so there’s no need to feel ashamed of him,” the white unicorn scolded harshly, sitting down next to Twilight. “I’m not ashamed! This just wasn’t how I wanted Mender to meet my brother, okay!” Twilight snapped back, too quick to be sincere. Brother?! My exhale was instant and excessive as I slumped slightly. Shining Armor was her brother! The relief washed through me instantly, and I couldn’t help but smile a little. Oh. Her brother had just escorted me as a prisoner to the castle. Okay, I could see why she freaked out now. It took me a moment to realize that both mares had stopped talking and were giving me questioning looks. “Er, sorry. I didn’t know he was her brother. Um, the way they addressed each other,” I tried to explain quietly. Rarity blinked, and then snorted, holding a hoof up to her lips instantly as if to hold back a sudden bout of laughter. Twilight simply shivered as a deep blush crept onto her face. I coughed politely and looked away again. Yeah, I was expecting that reaction. “No! No, no, no! He’s my brother, not… Oh Celestia. No! You’re my only coltfriend, Mender!” Twilight rapidly corrected, not that it was needed at this point. The guard next to me averted his eyes from all of us rapidly, and I could have sworn I saw a smirk starting to play at his lips. “Oh ho ho, that would be scandalous indeed. But no, Prince Shining Armor is Twilight’s brother, not lover. Still, that doesn’t excuse her for trying to do that!” Rarity reminded, shifting back to a stern glare at the lavender mare. Twilight sighed and nodded, not meeting my eyes still. I was just happy to know that I didn’t have competition, especially of that level. There was no way I could compete with the captain of the guard. “Come on, Mender. Let’s go back to Rarity’s room. There’s a comfy couch there you can lie down on,” Twilight finally muttered, shifting the topic as best she could while gesturing towards the door opposite of the one that Shining Armor used. My ears perked as I glanced over at the guard, who outright snickered before shaking his head. “I doubt it’s going to be a problem anymore. I’ll let the captain know where you’ve gone, and try to calm him down a little,” the guard said before I even opened my mouth. Admittedly, I was a bit surprised, but nodded hesitantly. Well, today was still crap, but maybe now it would look up? I mean, what more could possibly go wrong at this point? No, I’d better not say that. There was always falling off the side of the cliff the city was built into. “Why thank you, Dear! You’ve been extremely helpful, and I shall put in a good word with Shining Armor for you,” Rarity spoke politely before looking back at me and shifting to a quizzical expression before continuing with, “Wait, is that dried blood on your muzzle, Mender? Oh my. Let’s go get you lying down, okay?” I sighed and nodded wearily back to her. The day wasn’t over yet. “I’ll explain on the way there,” I excused, resigning myself to walking after Twilight, who had already turned and headed for the door she pointed out earlier. No, the day was still young, and probably going to get a lot longer… * * * * * "Seriously? Twenty minutes. In twenty minutes, you managed to not only get yourself beat up, but accused of sexual harassment and theft. Then arrested," Twilight groaned out, staring at me with what could only be described as a look of dumbfounded shock. I kept my head down and ears lowered as I looked up at her from the couch, and a royal nurse carefully tending to my forehead. It annoyed me that head wounds bled so much. My fur needed to be cleaned now, and there was less than an hour before the party! Rarity giggled merrily behind Twilight, lightly sipping tea at a rather elegant wooden table. They had gotten food somehow anyway, it would seem. At this point however, I was more worried about having made an idiot of myself, and ruined Twilight’s introduction of me to her brother. I had humiliated her, and further felt like crap because of it. "Relax, Twilight. The charges were falsified, we got room service anyway, and you got your bit pouch back," Rarity pointed out sagely after setting her cup down. I was both happy and sad that they so easily managed to get food without me. After being hauled up to the palace in chains, I'd lost all sense of hunger, only to find out that my duty hadn't really been needed in the first place. The stares were enough to make me want to curl into a ball and cry for a few hours. Pity that would make me feel like an even bigger wimp. At least Rarity had visibly calmed down now that she had gotten tea. "It's all so embarrassing, though! This isn't how I wanted to introduce him to my brother, for one. Plus, everypony saw him hauled through the streets and are going to think he's done something horrible," Twilight shouted, pacing back and forth in a tight circle. I shriveled further on the couch, making the nurse tisk as I flinched. Rarity gave her a speculative, questioning glance over her cup, but Twilight didn't seem to notice. Finally, I managed to suggest in a quiet voice, "She's right, Rarity. I don't think it's a good idea to bring me as your guest anymore." Rarity surprised me by smiling warmly. "Nonsense, Dear. If brought up, it shall simply make for an amusing story and correction. There's absolutely nothing negative to worry about," she assured, causing me to exhale quietly. Admittedly, her words put me a little at ease. She was willing to explain to ponies who asked and tell of my innocence. Twilight shook her head and resumed pacing. "I don't know how you can be so nonchalant about it. I mean, it's so embarrassing! Don't they have, like, privacy carriages or something?! The guards are supposed to be professional," she complained, moving the target of her wrath to prisoner transport, it would seem. It felt like she was just angry in general and lashing out at things. At least she wasn’t angry with me. Still, I think I’d rather have her angry with me than ashamed of me. Rarity frowned outright at this and set her cup down again, a little more forcefully this time. The noise snapped Twilight out of her spiral and caused both of us to look at the white unicorn. "That's enough, Twilight! You know as well as I do that he is innocent. If it concerns you, spread that fact around to any who question rather than worry about how it might influence your own reputation," she lectured, surprisingly harshly. The tone was strict and demanding, leaving an almost unspoken dare to challenge her and get trounced. In my reasonably shaken mentality, it was more than a little intimidating, and I shrank further. Twilight, for her part, looked more surprised than anything. "But, I wasn't worried about... I mean, he's my stallion and I care for him, is all. It's not like I was, well, okay, I was a little embarrassed over the ordeal but," she started to shakily protest, shifting back and forth on her hooves. Rarity's eyes narrowed slowly the longer Twilight went on. The lavender mare hesitated and slowed to a stop before sighing. "Okay, fine. I was utterly horrified," she finally admitted. It hurt, but it was the truth. I knew that it was because of me as well, which hurt the most. Come on! One normal day is all I ask. "You were ashamed. Ashamed of the stallion you claim to care about. This is not you, Twilight," Rarity spoke quietly, earning a wince from all three remaining ponies in the room; the nurse oddly included as she blatantly listened in. I didn't care at this point, though. Twilight stayed quiet for an agonizing half a minute, shifting her gaze between the floor and myself a couple times. I was ashamed as well; far too much to even look her in the eye at this point. What a mess. Why did it have to be me? Of course, I caught myself asking that quite often about various things. I wondered if that was just another way to run away. The nurse let out a yelp as I flailed about in panic from the sudden foreign set of lips on my forehead. Twilight thankfully backed up and simply observed until I stopped wiggling. I stared at her in surprise until she giggled and looked down again. "Um, are you okay, Mender? I should have asked you that a while ago. I’m sorry," she spoke softly, smiling weakly as her eyes caught mine again. My mouth was still open in shock. Becoming aware of it, I slowly closed it and exhaled wearily, having no idea how to answer. She suddenly decided to take Rarity's advice? My eyes lowered as I let myself slowly slide down onto the couch cushion again, letting the nurse resume her cleaning of the wound site. At least she said it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. Damn head wounds... "Did it, um, bring up any bad memories?" the decidedly warm and comfortable lavender unicorn asked instead as she gave my muzzle and nose a light kiss. It tickled a little and I smiled weakly. "When they put the hoof cuffs on me, it did. I think I passed out shortly after," I replied, feeling a little more relaxed but tired now. My body just wanted to sleep for a while and heal. Rarity perked up at the mention of my memories and listened intently. My fillyfriend just nodded against my nose before getting up fully onto the cushion in front of me. "She's right. You're innocent and I shouldn't be worried about myself. I'll stand by you too, Mender," she assured after a moment's hesitation. "Well, I'll be. I guess you were telling the truth and not just helping some stranger escape jail. I’m also glad to see you apologized," I suddenly heard spoken in a familiar voice, followed by an even more familiar laugh. His absence must have put him in a better mood. Twilight opened her eyes again and shifted them in the direction of the doorway to her chambers. I peeked as well, discovering Shining Armor slowly walking into the room, still in full armor but looking considerably more relaxed than he had been earlier. Maybe it was because it was warmer up here? Or he really liked filling out paperwork… "Of course, Shiny. A little late for this, but meet Moon Mender, my coltfriend. Mender, this is my brother, Shining Armor. But you already knew that," Twilight introduced, smiling gently now and seemingly feeling better. "It is good to meet you outside of the jail cell, Mender. Unfortunate series of events, that. But I have a feeling you're a good stallion after all, especially after what you said about the pouch," he welcomed, winking at me. I blushed weakly and looked away. If I had known he was Twilight's brother, I would have stayed quiet about the whole thing! "Huh? What do you mean?" the now exceedingly curious unicorn in front of me questioned. Shining Armor snickered before shaking his head, however. "Anonymity sometimes breeds honesty, Twily. I know he deeply cares for you, which is enough to make me accept him as your coltfriend," he assured with a smirk. I shook my head wearily. "Honestly, I'm just glad I got it back. That had me worried the most," I muttered, glancing back up at Twilight's brother with a newly discovered curiosity. Outside of his post, he wore a relaxed expression, even in his armor. He was a little smaller than Big Mac, but it looked like he had years of experience behind his eyes. He also had a horn, and if he came from the same family as Twilight, I could only hope to guess at how powerful he was. Twilight sighed and shook her head, however, drawing my attention back to her before adding, "As much as I'm happy to have the pouch back, I'm just happy that you're okay." I caught myself blushing and smiled weakly with what energy I had left, searching her eyes for truth to that. If she was going to make an effort to trust me, I should definitely make an effort to trust her back. Our relationship hadn’t been the smoothest so far, but maybe that would make it stronger overall? Her expression was earnest, however, and she returned a warm smile. "I'm still curious as to why you felt so strongly for the pouch, Mender," Rarity spoke up, smiling over her cup of tea at me a moment later. Her tail swished back and forth behind her in an oddly polite, sophisticated manner, as if on display with its fine curves. Chuckling, I shook my head again. "Besides the fact that it was Twi's and she trusted me with it? It also had her bits in it, which was important. But for the honest truth, I myself have nothing to my name. Even the saddlebag I hauled things here with is Twi's. So for her to give me something so dear to her and almost lose it might bother me a bit more than normal," I speculated quietly, having just considered it for the first time now. It was just a feeling that was there. The lavender unicorn smiled and kissed me softly on the top of the nose again before being shooed away by the nurse, who was now cleaning my fur along my cheek. "You're amazingly sweet, Mender. We need to have you start getting things of your own, however. You've honestly done a lot of hard work for me and my friends and deserve it," she added, not dissuaded by the nurse at all. Shining Armor chuckled, distracting me before I could protest. "She's right. The letters she writes back to us are practically glowing about you! I could have sworn from the letters that you were twice my size, made of coiled iron, and threw fire with a wave of your hoof," he tossed on, smirking. "Hey!" Twilight practically shouted, flushing red as she whipped her head back and glared at him menacingly. I held back a chuckle before nuzzling her cheeks gently. She made a squeaking noise, but held her ground and smiled again, features relaxing a little. "My, my. Normally I'd be chased halfway around the castle for that comment! He really has tamed you quite a bit," her brother teased further, dancing backwards away from her tiny electric shock blast. She growled and fired a second one at him as well. He started to dance backwards again when my hoof touched the sofa instead. A magic line arched along the floor faster than a lightning strike and the large barrier extended up in the same instant, totally blocking the small blast of electricity. He stopped and stared at it in surprise, before Twilight glared at me instead. "What, are you taking his side?" she questioned, eyes narrowing a little. Hastily, I nuzzled her again in assurance before explaining, "Just saving him from your wrath. I'm honored, Twilight. You don't need to be angry over it." She let out a soft sigh as I rested against her cheeks. A second ticked by and she finally smiled against me and relaxed again. "All right. But only because you asked so nicely," she agreed, earning a snicker from both myself and Shining Armor. "Interesting magic indeed. Physical contact creates it from the point of his left hoof, exactly like your letter stated. Your strength is in barriers?" he asked after a moment's thought. I nodded at the partial answer. "Barriers, transmutation, and alteration magic. I block things, change the physical forms of things, and change the metaphysical properties of things," I summarized, closing my eyes sleepily. Twilight was warm and felt good against my now freshly cleaned cheek. The nurse stood up again next to the couch and left contact with my side finally. "I've cleaned the site as best I could, but I suggest taking a shower to get the remainder of the blood out of your fur. It's just a surface wound and has already ceased bleeding. There's no further trauma that I can detect with my magic, so you should be all right," she reported in her quiet, rather soft voice. She sounded business-like but gentle. "Thank you, Nurse," Rarity spoke up courteously in the background before adding, "It's best if you go do that now, Mender. Twilight and I already cleaned up while you were, well, preoccupied, and I need to get you into your suit before the party." I had to admit she spoke wisdom. Shakily, I slowly stood up off the couch and wobbled before finding my balance. One would think that having four hooves instead of two feet would make me more stable, but that turned out to be false so far. More legs seemed to mean more ways to trip over myself, in my case. "Do you need help walking, Mender? You did take a rather nasty hit to the head still," Twilight asked, moving in gently to brace against my side. The image of her following me into the bathroom caused me to blush, and I rapidly shook my head. Twilight raised an eyebrow at my display, but I caught a knowing smirk from Rarity as if she practically read my mind. "Baby steps, Mender," the pearly, technically almost white unicorn reminded. I suddenly realized she wasn't talking about my walking issues at all, and nodded back to her. Twilight deserved baby steps, and I was less likely to make an idiot of myself if I didn't rush anything in the relationship. "Good idea, Rarity!" Twilight agreed, nodding enthusiastically to her friend and totally missing the underlying message, I suspected. "Oh, Twily. Never change," Shining Armor agreed, rubbing her on the top of the head and earning another questioning glance as I quietly slipped towards the bathroom while she was distracted. If she did indeed catch on, I had a feeling it would only be awkward... * * * * * Temporarily drowning out the panicking Rarity in the background, I glanced around the massive, multi-story ballroom with a sense of awe and scrutiny all at once. It was an extremely impressive structure, had it actually been fully intact, I imagined. Repairs from some practically apocalyptic disaster that had struck the room were still ongoing, it would seem, and I was mildly concerned about how structurally intact the entire room was. "This is why Pinkie was banned for two years from the room," Twilight whispered in my right ear from next to me. I shuddered, my having put two and two together a few minutes ago doing nothing to blunt the sheer horror of that statement. Hell, the stonework was completely shattered in a few spots! "Are you sure they've put enough of it back together for this party to be safe?" I asked, glancing skeptically over at the stage near the massive bay window overlooking the cliff outside. Twilight sighed wearily and nodded after a moment's consideration. "Well, they're professionals, I think. They wouldn't let Fancypants throw a party here if it wasn't safe, right? I think. Yeah, probably," she 'assured'. Crap. Her statement only making me more nervous, I stood up again and wandered along the wall, examining the support beams that had been put in place while they redid the inner masonry. They hadn't left any loose or jutting pieces of stone, so that was good. The wood they used also looked of high quality with proper supports. No, if there was any risk, it was probably in the ceiling near the two damaged areas. So the apparently newly replaced bay window by the stage and the front entrance to the room, both of which sported large wall craters. The parts furthest away from the support beams of the room were at risk of structural collapse if they hadn't been reinforced. Of course, lacking x-ray vision, I had no idea what the supports looked like inside of the ceiling. "Mender! I need your help!" I suddenly heard Rarity call out. I turned to my left just in time to see the frantic mare speeding towards me, gorgeous dress swishing out with each shift of her back hips. I waited for her to get within casual talking distance before politely asking, "What is it, Rarity? You know I'll help with anything." She paused, relaxing a little and giving me a softer smile. "You really are a dear. These incompetent workers have not yet finished my stage and catwalk, sadly! This just will not do. Their boss took sick leave, of all things! How can one be sick when there's a fashion show to prepare for?! I've informed them that I'm recruiting you to lead them in the finalization of the stage," she summarized rapidly. I went from assured to shocked, and finally to a little panicked by the time she finished, of course. "Uh, I don't think I'm qualified for construction like this. Besides, why would they even listen to me? I look like another party goer," I pointed out, gesturing towards the rather impeccable yet highly uncomfortable suit that I was currently wearing. Even my mane had been styled, which felt more than a little awkward. Well, re-styled. Embarrassingly enough, I had managed to accidentally punch myself in the head while trying to get the suit on, causing Rarity to have to go back and fix my mane up again. Thankfully, it was my left side that time, so I didn't reopen my wound. Rarity wasn't dissuaded in the least, however. "Why, they'll listen to you because I told them to. After the wonderful job I watched you do making Applejack's machine up from scratch, I have not even the slightest doubt this will be foal's play for you," she complimented, trapping me into doing it at the same time. My ears lowered and I sighed. The mare definitely had a way with words. "I'll try, Rarity. But only because it's you," I finally agreed, slowly heading back the way I came, towards the rather crude looking framework of a display tent. "Oh, you're an absolute doll! A true prince of a," Rarity started to coo, hoof steps sounding as if she were following me. Her walking and voice ground to a halt in an instant, however. Huh? Slowing to a stop, I glanced back at her questioningly, only to discover her staring blankly at me with her mouth still partially open, mid-word. Had I done something wrong? Uh oh. Did I tear the back of the suit or something somehow?! To my surprise however, a faint pink tint shifted into her cheeks rather than any expression of anger. She closed her mouth in a heartbeat and coughed lightly, looking away from me. This only served to leave my mind a further confused mess as I tried to figure out if I should be running away or not. "Ah, sorry. A momentary stray thought distracted me. We must make haste, though," she excused a moment later, smiling back up at me with no trace left in her expression of what had been before. Weird. When she didn't want to, she certainly didn't wear her emotions at all. Regardless, I nodded to her and continued towards the construction. The basic structure looked very elaborate with the curves and outcroppings, but that's all it appeared to be. There was nothing existing on the wood at all, which concerned me. Whatever the walls were supposed to be made of had better go up quickly, or there was no way it would be ready by eighteen hundred hours. If my guess was correct, it was probably a tent of some sort meant to hold fabric in place. Rarity zipped ahead of me and quickly pulled aside a tan pony in an orange vest, who was wearing a solid looking yellow construction helmet. Tufts of black mane stuck out from under the headgear, I noticed. She whispered to him for a moment before nodding. He returned the nod a second later and glanced up at me before walking over. The entire exchange took all of ten seconds, leaving me wondering what exactly she said. "The Boss says yer gonna help us with figuring out how ta put together the rest of the tent?" he asked dryly, sounding more than a little frustrated. Figure out? I nodded wearily, unsure of what to expect when he withdrew a rolled up piece of paper from his side bag. "Good! Ah'm not trained in these blasted plans and whatnot. Can you make sense of them?" he requested, offering me the roll. I couldn't place his accent, but that didn't surprise me, really. It was thick and the words almost felt 'slanted' somehow. It was hard to describe. I took the roll with my left hoof, and he raised an eyebrow as it stuck without further assistance. My magic traced along the paper and it unfurled under my manipulation, causing him to step backwards a few hoof lengths in surprise. Still, I needed to hurry, so there was no time for restraint. My eyes traced the lines on the paper, noting that it was the structure plans almost instantly. My frown lowered further when I noticed the units being used. Centimeters? Meters? Of course, the plan I'd made Applejack was in metric as well because that's what I had been used to using. I rarely, if ever, considered things in terms of the old fashioned Keldarian methods. Still, this wasn't made by me, but was still in metric units. There was starting to be a disturbing amount of coincidences involved for my liking, but I shook my head rapidly and tried to focus. "These are structural plans for the frame. You have most of it done already, but there's not enough structural support for the front curtain or the upper-back ceiling where it connects to the changing rooms, yet," I pointed out, gesturing to the same spots on their constructed framework. He momentarily looked surprised before nodding. "Ah thought it was a little light in the back. We don't want those poor mares having lumber fall on their heads! Ya heard him, team! Get on supporting the back, and get those front curtain rods up!" he shouted, gesturing towards the group of a dozen or so congregating near the front of the frame. Rarity smiled pleasantly at the seeming results, but I shook my head. "No, too slow. You're only going to need three or four ponies for both of those jobs. Have the remainder start putting up the fabric along the front of the building at the same time and we can get the job done even faster," I suggested, heading towards the rolls of fabric they had resting nearby. The head stallion seemed yet again surprised, but I ignored him and touched my hoof against the rolls. The top one exploded into movement as it unfurled itself, rapidly sliding along the floor before coating the right side of the 'tent' and rolling itself out over the frame. "Oh, you don't have to actually help, Mender! They were simply having trouble figuring out what the plans meant," Rarity informed, trotting up while wearing a gentle smile. I shook my head back at her, correcting, "Actually, the back reinforcement isn't on the plans. But without any attachment to the back wall above the changing room exits, it's a serious danger to anypony passing under the arc and through the doors. As for helping, I don't really have anything else to do until the party, so I might as well be useful." Twilight smirked off to my left and joined Rarity in front of me. "That's very productive of you, Mender. Honestly, you'll make a name for yourself without needing Applejack's help, although her word certainly wouldn't hurt," she added, giving me a happy nod. That I blushed at and smiled after lowering my head a little. I wasn't really used to praise, but I was glad she was happy with me. My eyes widened subtly as I realized that it was important to me. I wanted her to be proud of me. Her, specifically. Rarity gave a happy murmur and nod, agreeing with, "Indeed! You're very kind, Mender. I can see why Fluttershy also likes you." Well, I wasn't out specifically to be kind. Fluttershy absolutely oozed the virtue. In reality, I just wanted to be useful. I wanted to fit in and actually contribute; to help these amazing ponies as freely as they accepted me into their lives. "I'm going to be free as well, Mender. May I assist you in construction of the stage and tent?" Twilight suddenly asked, smiling politely with her eyes gently closed towards me. It was more than a little adorable. "Oh, that's a good idea. Please do prevent him from accidentally tearing his suit as well," Rarity requested, giving two nods towards Twi. I chuckled, realizing that it was indeed still Rarity talking. She must have recovered from whatever bothered her earlier. Twilight snickered and nodded, pointing out, "He's not going to tear his suit if he sticks to using magic anyway. I'll just help hold things in place." The same stallion from before dropped his jaw, however, as she followed me back to the construction site. "The Element of Magic herself is going to help put this together?!" he asked, watching her carefully lift up all three curtain rods at once. She smiled while focusing and nodded absently. "Of course. You're already taking orders from my coltfriend, after all. I might as well help, too," she reasoned, lingering and putting more than a little emphasis on 'coltfriend' as she said it. I blushed lightly, and the brat of a mare looked right at me after finishing the statement. She held a knowing grin, and I suddenly realized she was intentionally spreading it around! "Careful. It won't be secret for too much longer if you don't do some damage control," I warned, sticking my tongue out at her gently. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about it. Maybe I don't want it to be a secret? Rarity's right, you know? Honestly, it's totally normal and nopony is going to think any differently of me regardless," she reasoned, blowing a strand of her mane out of her face while two ponies to each side placed the curtain rods into their locking bars. Chuckling, I shrugged absently. I wasn't one to question the topic, having no idea myself. "If I had to guess, they'll probably treat you with more respect due to who you are, actually. I don't think you'll have anything to worry about," I reasoned. I was interrupted with a soft nudge to the shoulder, however. I glanced to my right only to see a smaller looking mare with a white coat and abruptly green mane. She was also decked out in the construction gear, so I assumed she was part of the team. "Excuse me, Mr. Moon Mender. We have the right side secured to the frame. Could you help us attach the left now?" she asked politely, oddly looking a little nervous for some reason. I hope she hadn't heard about what happened to the guard and thought my bad luck was contagious or something. Twilight had said Luna told her that the guard had been hospitalized upon returning to the barracks, it turns out. Something about a mild concussion, muscle strains, and potential infection in awkward places from small animal bites. I hadn't realized there was more than one squirrel! Or had it been a chipmunk? "Oh, sure!" I returned, suddenly catching myself zoning and snapping myself back to reality. She smiled innocently and nodded before gesturing to another roll of the heavy purple fabric. I released my minor barrier that was holding the right side up, tentatively at first. My smile widened upon realizing that it was indeed secured to the frame. Exhaling softly, I slid the other roll along the ground with my barrier again before unrolling it and hanging it up against the left side of the frame this time. "I think your magic is getting stronger," Twilight commented, walking along at my left as I went, having finished her job. Smiling, I nodded to her before she suddenly stopped and turned fully towards me, silently calling for my attention. I halted as well, making sure the fabric was solid against the frame before turning to look at her. "What did you mean, 'who I am'?" she asked a moment later, tilting her head gently. Huh? Oh! The last thing I had said to her, that's right. "You're Twilight Sparkle. That name, from what I hear, is synonymous with a mixture of Princess, Celebrity, and Superhero," I explained, winking at her. As predicted, her cheeks lit up pink almost instantly. "Mender! Ugh. I'm not that important; certainly not a princess," she complained, flattening her ears back and looking down from my gaze. "Oh, but technically you are, Twilight Dear. Your brother married a Princess, after all, which makes you royalty by relation," Rarity chimed in, making me jump a little. Looking behind me to the left, I saw her slowly trailing along, looking far more relaxed than earlier. "That's hardly qualification," Twilight denied, giving her friend a deadpan look. I decided to redirect her self-undercutting, correcting, "Well, even if you don't think you are, I do. You'll always be my princess." Twilight was important to me. At this point, I was determined to accept that. Sadly, the wrong mare squealed. "Oh, that is absolutely gushing with romantic undertones! You are such a Gentlecolt," Rarity chirped, hopping up lightly on her back hooves and flicking her forelegs back and forth rapidly, looking oddly excited. Twi, for her part, just shifted her blush to crimson and stared at me, mouth parted slightly. I couldn't read her expression in the slightest, however. My ears drooped a little. "Um, I'm sorry," I tentatively apologized, just in case. It was getting kind of instinctive at this point. Another trait I noticed I shared with Fluttershy. She snapped out of it, rapidly shaking her head. "Oh, no! No, no! You just surprised me, is all. I've never had a stallion say anything even remotely so nice to me before, apart from Shining Armor. I'm just starting to fully grasp all of this, I think. You really do care for me," she muttered. The way she said the last part made me think she didn't really believe herself, even. I nodded to her and lightly stepped forward, nuzzling the side of her cheek lightly. She was cute when she blushed, I decided. She pushed back into me at the same time, letting out a quiet sigh. Seconds drifted by contentedly, and I smiled. I could stay just like this for an eternity and be perfectly content. My ears twitched as I picked up a light scraping noise of hoof against the floor to my left, however. Breaking away and looking over, I saw Rarity slowly retreating via backing up, her eyes fixated largely on the tile below her instead of on us. "Rarity?" I questioned, a little concerned at this point. She was acting strange again. She jumped as if burned, however, looking back up at both of us just in time for Twilight to give her a confused look as well. "Are you okay?" the lavender unicorn inquired, sounding as concerned as I was. "Oh, of course, Dear! I was just going to, um, help myself to a bit of a snack before the party," she excused, settling her hooves again and seemingly puffing up, almost. I gave her a skeptical glance, and she looked away as predicted. Okay, that time she was obviously lying through her teeth. The fact that it was obvious only went to indicate how much whatever she was thinking about was bothering her. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a bit forlorn, is all. Don't mind me," she finally confessed, shifting to a warmer smile and looking back at us fully. "What's wrong, Rarity? You can tell us," Twilight pressed, shifting to face her fully instead. I let her do her thing, realizing she knew her friend a lot better than I did. Shifting as well, I simply idled next to her for support if needed. Rarity exhaled before thinking for a moment. I knew that look. It was the "choosing my words carefully" expression! "Well, looking upon you two being so absolutely amazing together indirectly reminds me of what I don't yet have myself. I'm simply wishing that I, too, had found my prince." She looked sullen after having admitted it and lowered her gaze again quietly. Twilight frowned, eyes softening before she walked forward and gently hugged the white unicorn. "I understand, Rarity. You'll find your prince soon, don't worry. Maybe he'll even be here at this party?" Twilight suggested, smiling confidently at Rarity. The white and purple mare chuckled and leaned into her friend before returning, "I wish I shared your confidence, but thank you. If he's half as polite and charming as yours, I should feel rightly delighted." Twilight's eyes widened for the briefest moment before she recovered her composure, adding a light frown. Huh? The frown was gone before I could so much as blink, however, replaced by a gentle yet assuring smile. "I'm sure he's out there, Rarity. Just keep your hopes up. I can even keep my eyes open for you and direct any potential stallions your way during the party," she offered, releasing Rarity and giving her a soft wink. Rarity laughed outright at that before making a 'tsk' noise towards her. "Oh that would hardly be proper. But thank you, Dear. You're a very good friend," Rarity replied, sounding genuinely better than before. I smiled too and nodded. If I knew what to look for, I'd try to help, too. I wasn't very good at judging character, though. Hell, half the time I couldn't even judge my own. I pondered it, however. Of course, if I had some thermal imaging cameras and photo scanning equipment, I could probably write up an algorithm that could scan the crowds for potential matches with physical characteristics that Rarity looked for. Some simple conversation monitoring with directional mics would probably give a brief summary of their personalities, too. It would hardly be accurate, but it could be done. It would be a lot more thorough than talking to every stallion at the party, that was for sure! "Um, are you listening, Mender?" Twilight asked, nudging me in the chest lightly. I started and flailed in surprise. "Huh? What?" I asked, suddenly feeling more than a little embarrassed. Twilight snickered and pointed out, "I know you're a stallion and I'm your fillyfriend, so I'm not going to be mad that you've been staring at my flank for the past thirty seconds. Normally one wouldn't be wearing a blank look while doing so, however, so I have a feeling your head was elsewhere." My blush magnified, earning another series of snickers from Twilight, who, to her own credit, looked more amused than angry. "Relax, Mender. I'm teasing you. I just wanted to let you know that Rarity and I are going to go get a snack before the party. You don't need me for anything else here, do you?" she asked after another moment. "Oh, no. I'll just finish helping them set up the tent, then," I answered, trying to keep any negative tones out of my voice. Admittedly, I was enjoying their presence, but I didn't want to get in the way of any talking they might want to do privately. Or their food, in case they were actually intending to get some. Given the reminder, my stomach let out a pained murmur, but I ignored it. I didn't have time to eat anything now. If I had let anything slip, Twilight either didn't notice or decided not to say anything. She gave a gentle nod, eyes closed in content before turning away. "We'll be back in a few minutes," she tossed out before heading after Rarity, who had already turned and redirected herself towards the rather impressive looking buffet table. This time I really did watch her as she walked away, not necessarily her flanks, of course. Not that they weren't something to look at. Still, I found myself enjoying her presence more and more as she became more relaxed around me. She was slowly becoming less scary. As the negative feelings were removed, there was less to get in the way of the shockingly positive ones that I hadn't even realized were there in such force. Still, I knew better and reminded myself to exercise restraint and move at her pace, even if that meant waiting until the next ice age before progressing any further. Well, if this planet had atmospheric shifts like that. I pondered it for a moment before I was nudged on the right shoulder again. Expecting her this time, I glanced over at the same mare as before, who was now smiling this time. "We got the left side secured. Could you help us with the roof now, Mr. Moon Mender?" she asked politely, perking a little after saying it. I chuckled and nodded, following her towards the back of the structure where the elevated construction platforms were. Well, at least this was going smoothly. Maybe I'd have a normal night at least, as a compromise. For some reason, I wasn't holding my breath. Chapter 22Wiping my forehead with a hoof, I glanced back up at the soft moonlight flowing through the sky dome above. The silver and blue light cascaded gently across the entrance to the tent, giving the purple fabric a complimentary glow. I waited for the cue yet again before straining back against the rope and pulling the curtain open for the next mare to walk out. How had I gotten suckered into doing this again? I had thought I was supposed to be just a moving mannequin for Rarity, not a stage hoof. Oh yeah. Half of them didn't show up and the party coordinator latched onto me in a panic, recruiting me as part of the crew. What the hell was with these ponies? I hope they weren't getting paid for this still. Of course, I didn't expect myself to get paid either. Keeping my bitterness in check, I slowly lowered the rope again and swallowed, sweating profusely under the stifling curtains. The models were lucky they only had to walk through this hellish environment between the changing rooms and the stage. Thankfully, I'd been very careful to not rip the suit I was wearing, which didn't make this job particularly easy. Not that Rarity had shown up again to grace my presence in the first place. For that matter, neither had my fillyfriend. Bitterness, Mender. Shaking my head, I lowered my ears and waited for the next cue. Another model was walking up in a rather cute, if not frilly, dress. It looked good on her lanky form, although she didn't seem to have any meat on her bones whatsoever. That didn't really appeal to my senses; not that I was in the market for a fillyfriend anyway. Still, I had to give credit to Rarity. The mare was seriously skilled. Something twitched in my mind and I frowned, suddenly taking a closer look at the mare. Wait a second! White coat with a pink mane, horn elegantly slipping up through the complimenting shade. It was her! She was the one who got me arrested. Her eyes glanced over a second later and she froze, apparently recognizing me instantly, aside from the suit. Her eyes slowly widened as mine narrowed, my hoof slowly squeezing the rope. Oh, it would be delicious to 'accidentally' drop the rope as she was walking under the curtain, flattening her onto the stage and ruining her pretty presentation. The temptation was there, and I swallowed wearily. She fidgeted, and actually edged closer to me, much to my surprise. "Fleur de Lis, get ready. You're on in thirty," the manager called in a quiet whisper from behind the secondary curtains to my left. So that was her name. She shifted closer and leaned her longer neck down, whispering to me instead, "Please don't ruin this! It was an accident, so let's not be rash. I'll pay you a hundred times what was in that pouch; just please don't do anything. Fancypants has another agent watching," she actually begged, further surprising me. I didn't know what kind of agent she was talking about, but I didn't particularly like the sentiment either. "You're trying to bribe me to shut up? You had me arrested for sexual assault and theft! I got paraded through the streets after being tossed in jail!" I growled, vaguely insulted that she was attempting to pay me off. Her ears flattened back and she put a hoof to her mouth, adding, "Shh! Look, I'm sorry! Please. My career could really take off here and Fancy would be really happy. Just please don't do anything?" she pleased, eyes looking desperate. I glared for a moment, locking eyes with her in silence. "Okay, go," the coordinator spoke in a hushed tone behind me. Fleur backed up weakly and swallowed, giving me a nervous look before heading towards the curtain. Damn it. Closing my eyes, I slowly pulled back on the rope and opened the curtains up for her. She nervously looked to either side of the curtains before beginning her slow, styled walk out. My hoof twitched. The mare had embarrassed Twilight immensely, too. If anything, I should be getting justice for her. Squeezing my eyes shut, I sighed and held back. The moment dragged out and was gone in an instant as the white unicorn strode confidently out onto the catwalk. No. I was better than that. Public humiliation was exactly what she did to me, so I wouldn't be proving myself any better a pony if I turned around and did the same back to her. Plus, it would only serve to add a smudge to Rarity's showing, which I was here to prevent. Almost a full minute passed before Fleur was on her way back inside. I opened the curtain up dutifully as she came in. She relaxed, seeing as I didn't drop it on her back on the way in, flattening her and providing a perfect frame for her butt to the entire crowd. She hesitated, glancing at me after the curtains slid shut. I looked away from her, a little hurt at letting the opportunity pass but just deciding to let it go. I'd probably never see her again after this, anyway. She quickly had to move aside as another model came up, and slipped away back towards the changing room. The rest of the show passed uneventfully, if not rather boring in my opinion. The mares, and to my surprise, a few stallions, simply blurred together as they walked past. After a while, I just listened to the cues for opening the curtains. It became mechanical as my thoughts drifted, mood lowered by the surprise encounter. Well, at least this wasn't that particularly bad of a night. Now, I was happy I had resisted flattening her in front of the crowds outside. Much to my surprise, the cues stopped and I looked up just in time to see the manager himself approach the curtains. He smiled and grinned to me before slipping through the cracks, not bothering to open them up or request that I do. "Thank you, Everypony! Tonight was truly amazing and I hope all of you enjoyed the look of fashion to come! Give a warm applause for our wonderfully talented fashion designer, Rarity!" he called out, voice muffled by the curtains. My eyes widened a little and I peeked out the hairline crack on the other side of the curtain, watching the pearly unicorn mare sashay onto the stage and give a delighted, energetic bow. I smirked as I noticed she looked right at home on the stage, as if a fish in the water. I'd be a traumatized, shivering ball in the corner with that many ponies looking at me and cheering, admittedly. She seemed almost energized by it. "Oh, thank you, fine ponies of the wonderful Canterlot. You are too kind," she politely added after her introduction. "She truly is wonderful, folks! Of course, have an amazing round of applause for Mr. Fancypants himself; without him, this would not have been possible!" the coordinator added. I raised an eyebrow as I watched, then widened it as the same stallion who punched me in the head this afternoon got up on stage and took a gentle, flowing bow. What? What?! Damn it. I should have known. "Thank you, Everypony! I am purely the provider here, however. This truly wouldn't be possible without my wonderful friend, Rarity's styles," he spoke up, surprising me a little. Well, he was more humble than I pegged him for. Rarity gave a show of waving her hoof gently towards him, acting abashed. "Oh, you surely jest, Fancy," she chided, looking clearly delighted at the same time. This was getting to be a bit much in my opinion, but I suppose this was the whole reason Rarity came. "Further, I'd like to say how proud I am of my wonderful mare, Fleur de Lis!" he added a moment later, causing my eye to twitch of its own accord. The mare in question came up on stage from the audience at the same time, still wearing Rarity's beautiful dress. She bowed alongside Fancypants, smiling for the crowd. A model, huh? Shaking my head, I released the rope and winced, feeling as if the skin had been worn off my hooves. That was a brutal forty-five minutes or so spent tugging on the same rope. I glanced about, but most of the stagehooves were either talking to themselves or finding a dark part of the curtains to peek out of at the proceedings. Sensing the opportunity for food, I slipped towards the back of the tent and exited through the curtain I knew was angled between the back of the wall and wooden frame, having put it up myself. My stomach growled once again, and I slipped my way through the crowd, heading towards the table I knew the food was kept at. Rarity was still up on stage, shining in the lights while Fancypants droned on and on. I didn't even pick up on what he was saying. Shifting away from the brightness of the stage lights, it wasn't that hard to pick out Twilight, either. She was sitting in the elevated stands set up for the show, surrounded by both guards and extremely posh looking ponies, amongst other things. One looked to be some sort of part lion, part eagle. I thought I spotted what looked like a donkey type individual too. She was here as a representative of Celestia, however, so perhaps they were dignitaries who caught up with her during her excursion with Rarity? Accepting it at face value, I continued on until I managed to locate the food in the dim lighting. It looked heavily picked through at this point, but I wasn't about to be picky. I decided to go 'heavy' for the occasion and made myself a rather hearty sandwich scrounged from various sources at the table. I wasn't expecting having to almost use my wilderness survival training to find food here! A quiet chuckle entered into my ears after I took my first, massive bite. It interrupted my savoring of the taste of food after so long, but didn't quite disrupt due to its melodious tone and softness. My right ear twitched lightly, and I turned my head in that direction. She was an unassuming, gray-coated mare with a softly flowing, black mane that was considerably longer than what I was used to. Further, she was dressed up in a simple, yet elegant black suit coat and had her mane tied back with a clip. My eyes trailed down, taking small note of the mark on her flank. I didn't know a lot about music in general, but the treble clef was a popular enough symbol. Hers appeared to be purple in hue. Not lingering, I shifted my gaze back up to meet hers. She looked amused, so I assumed she was the source of the chuckle. "Truly. No dainty bites or posh posture. You must be one of the ponies working here," she guessed, giving her glass on the table a swirl with her hoof but not breaking eye contact. I slowly swallowed, earning another giggle before giving her a questioning stare, unsure of what she was getting at. My guard was admittedly up ever since running into Fleur earlier. "Oh, no offense meant, of course," she excused, nodding once before smiling softer instead, continuing, "I'm actually a worker here too." With that mentioned, she gestured back behind her at the small group of ponies gathered on stage. They were chatting and seemingly taking a break while attention was focused on the show. "Oh, it's fine. What do you play?" I inquired politely, honestly the only question I could think of before shoving another large bite of sandwich in my mouth. My stomach wasn't out for hostages at the moment, that was for sure. She grinned at my enthusiasm before answering, "Cello. I'm first chair for the royal orchestra. We were asked to play tonight." That sounded important. I idly wondered what a mare of her stature was doing talking to me. I inquired as to just that as politely as I could between my second and third inhalations of sandwich. She surprised me by chuckling softly and shaking her head, oddly reserved. "I'm not that special. My name is Octavia, by the way. I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage yet," she finally introduced, taking another idle sip of the dark scarlet liquid in her glass while waiting for my reply. "Oh, sorry. I'm not used to these types of parties and, well, I'm a little hungry," I excused, coughing lightly and feeling my cheeks heat up. Here I was supposed to be making a pleasant image for Rarity, and this is what happened. "Regardless, I'm Moon Mender. It's a pleasure to meet you, Octavia," I introduced myself, bowing lightly. I maintained a firm grip on my food, however. I'd be damned if my bad luck quota stole my hard fought prize from me! Octavia momentarily smiled, nodding to me mid-sip before suddenly starting and trying really hard not to choke on her drink. My eyes widened and I gently leaned forward, patting her on the back as she coughed a couple times. "Wait, you're not 'the' Moon Mender, are you?" she questioned skeptically, staring at me in surprise. Oh hell. Was she there this afternoon to see me hauled through the streets? My ears flattened back and I glared. She shook her head rapidly, swaying a hoof in front of her. "No, I'm sorry if I mistook you for somepony else! It's just rumored that Miss Twilight Sparkle's mate is here at the party, and I thought that was his name. I didn't mean to insinuate," she excused rapidly, causing my glare to shift to embarrassment even faster. "Please don't let her hear you say that. She is totally not comfortable with 'mate', I should warn," I groaned, cringing at the prospect of her hearing that. Exhaling weakly, I shoved the last bite of sandwich in my mouth before rapidly chewing. I will digest you before anything can possibly take you away from me, my precious! Octavia tilted her head gently, giving me an inquiring expression. I honestly didn't know what to say. Twilight had said she might not mind spreading it around a bit, and I could always say that I hadn't said anything. She could have easily heard it from somewhere else, of course, but if she'd heard it in the first place, it must be getting a bit more widespread than I realized. "There's only one way you could know that," the black-maned mare pointed out a moment later. I nodded gently and smiled towards her. "I'm just me. Twilight is my fillyfriend, yes, but there's nothing specifically special about me," I explained, trying to form the correct impression. Her eyes widened even further, causing her to look almost like a statue. "Oh my gosh! You're so, well, normal! I figured you'd at least be like one of those guys she's sitting with over there," she reasoned, glancing past me and in the direction of the raised seats. I idly shook my head before pouring myself a glass of punch. It was labeled as raspberry punch, anyway. Seeing as it was practically untouched, I guessed that it was lacking alcohol. "I'm just me. Twilight isn't that kind of pony, either. I think you'd find her really normal as well, at least compared to your expectations," I reasoned, taking a sip and being pleasantly surprised in the truthful label. Octavia smiled pleasantly, looking actually happy for the first time since the conversation started. "That's actually rather refreshing. Seeing as Twilight is busy, I extend the offer to come listen to us until she gets done, if you want. Looks like our break is almost over," she offered, glancing over at the ponies starting to disperse from the stage. Given the amount of cheering, I'd say that Rarity's show was a success. The dignitary booth didn't look any closer to clearing out, however, so I figured Octavia's guess was accurate. Feeling a little more full as well, I shrugged before nodding. "Sure, if you don't mind me hanging around by the stage. I don't exactly have anyplace else to go," I muttered, again trying to hold back the bitterness. She seemed to pick up on it anyway, but apparently realized it wasn't for her and smirked, nodding. "No problem at all, of course. It would be a pleasure, honestly. My friends aren't ones to put on airs, ironic as that sounds for a party such as this," she assured, standing up fully and taking her glass back to the stage with her, lightly carrying it in her mouth. Unwilling to part with my punch, I refilled it back to full before attaching it, barrier and all, to the side of my shoulder, following after the grayish mare. Her friends up on stage greeted her as she approached, then shot a questioning glance past her at me as I wandered up. Being utterly exhausted, I flopped onto my haunches unceremoniously next to the stage. They seemed to almost exhale while watching me. Huh? "See? He's normal. This is 'the' Moon Mender, by the way," she introduced, causing more surprised reactions. They didn't tense up again, however. I glanced across them, noticing a good dozen or so ponies of varying colors, all equipped with classical orchestra instruments. Octavia's was the only cello, however, I noticed. I watched her hop up on stage, resuming a relaxed position behind her larger instrument before nodding down at me, smile still playing at her expression. I squinted my eyes at the change of light in this corner, momentarily glaring up at the rather impressive looking crystal chandelier hanging above the entire stage, radiating its light down upon the entire band. Ugh. It was still too bright, considering I was practically blundering through the dark looking for food a moment ago. Octavia watched the dispersing ponies carefully before giving a gentle nod and wave of her hoof in the air. The instruments came to life instantly, producing a gentle, harmonious sound that wafted over the speakers and across the entire room. I smiled, relaxing a little at the tones. This was definitely a pleasant sort of music, I must admit. The only thing I vaguely remembered from my old world was the stuff that blared out in the barracks all the time. A bunch of new, trendy sounds from our allies' ever pervasive culture. Now that I considered it, their influence was actually a more dangerous weapon than their vastly superior weapon technology had been. Pushing the unpleasant memories away, I relaxed gently against the stage, watching the crowds ebb and flow. * * * * * It was easy to zone in and out when nopony was really paying attention to me. It was even easier after I discovered Octavia's book stash in her cello case. She looked more amused than angry when I peeked inside. She had brought three books with her for the 'before and after' party, she explained. One was a rather, well, vivid romance novel that brought uncomfortable stirrings to myself after the fifth page. Subtle wasn't exactly my thing, so I decided to try another book before I ended up arrested again. The second didn't really interest me in the slightest, being about, oddly enough, vampire ponies. Sure, they were actually likely to exist given the massive level of supernatural and magical occurring in Equestria, but I didn't see the draw in romanticizing getting my blood drained from my body. I kind of needed that! So out of options, I had distracted myself by reading the third book for a good hour or so while listening to the gentle, lulling music. It didn't entirely fit the adventure genre, but it was pleasant enough. "Daring Do" was a fascinating character, admittedly. I wondered idly if Twilight ever read fiction. She seemed too analytical for that kind of thing. I could almost hear her ask, "Why write about something that's fake?!" I chuckled to myself before flipping another page, being treated to Daring haphazardly swinging over a pit of vicious, flesh eating beetles to get at the golden chalice in the center of the temple! "Ha! I heard you'd be here, Tavi!" was suddenly announced from practically right next to me. I let out a startled yelp before falling over sideways, barely managing to catch the book before it spilled to the floor. "Oh! Whoops! Sorry, I didn't see ya there!" the mare's voice apologized suddenly upon me regaining my composure. First glance showed me she had a rather gentle white coat; not pure white but a very bright gray. Her mane surprised me, however, by being a vibrant cyan and dark blue color, worn in a spiky, relaxed manner. I couldn't see her eyes at all through the dark rimmed, purple shades she wore shortly under her horn. Well, she was certainly different. I couldn't place the style, though. "Vinyl? What are you doing here?" Octavia inquired properly, taking a sip of water after. I looked between the two, realizing that they must be acquainted, obviously. Octavia didn't seem truly displeased to see the other mare, so maybe they were friends? Vinyl smirked and nodded to herself before returning, "I heard a certain gray cello player was going to be here and snuck in, of course." What?! I looked up and down at her, noticing she was oddly in a pressed vest and white coat. For sneaking in, she was dressed fairly formally. Of course, if she wanted to blend in, that was really the only way to go. Octavia smirked back and shook her head. "I'm sure you did. Why, I bet the bouncer even blushed and squealed like a little filly before he let the mighty 'Dj Pon-3' in," she reasoned, tone mirthful and amused. Dj? Oh! Disk Jockey! Now I knew what her style reminded me of! 'Dj Pon-3' must be her stage name. "And asked for an autograph, of course! Say, who's your new 'friend' here?" the eccentric Dj asked a moment later, suddenly shifting her attention to me instead. "Only 'the' Moon Mender, mooching off my book supply," she introduced, adding the emphasis yet again onto my name. My ears lowered and I gave Octavia a skeptical glance, asking, "I'm really not that important. Do you have to introduce me to everypony like that?" She just smiled and gave me an amused wink, earning a laugh from Vinyl. I glanced over at the newcomer in time to see her give me a once over, shifting her shades down to peek up and down myself. Her eyes were a soft Crimson, surprisingly, behind the headwear. "Well, it's nice to meet ya! I'm Vinyl Scratch, just in case you haven't heard of me. Dj Pon-3 might be more familiar, of course. I'd heard Twilight Sparkle got a coltfriend, but didn't have a face to put to the name. I have seen you around town, though," she admitted, smiling more warmly before raising her glasses back up. Wait, around town? "Oh, do you live in Ponyville?" I asked, tilting my head to her and closing the book I still held. Reading with the 'sun' right above me was causing serious eyestrain anyway. What was it about crystal chandeliers that made them so bright? Refraction? "Yup! Right on main street. Admittedly, I was impressed by your walking barrel platform," she complimented, snickering lightly. I blushed, earning a surprised yet confused stare from the mare onstage. "Ha. Not my best moment, admittedly. Seriously though, how is everypony finding out that Twilight and I are dating?" I asked, curiosity finally getting the better of me. I'd probably regret it, of course. Vinyl gave a hearty chuckle before shaking her head. "Dude, Twilight Sparkle herself finally finds a stallion to sleep with; that's huge news. She's practically royalty," she explained. My cheeks exploded into heat and I stepped back, lowering my ears slightly. "W-What? Wait, how does anypony know that we, uh," I started to ask before trailing off, realizing that I might have just stepped into a trap. The Dj grinned in impish delight, confirming that I did just step on a social landmine. "Oh ho ho! I wasn't expecting that. So you two have slept together!" she confirmed, dramatic evil laughter tying it in. Octavia slapped her forehead and put her water glass back down. "Vinyl, that's not very proper. And it is sort of assumed, Mender. That is an aspect of dating somepony," the gray mare pointed out gently, in a surprisingly calm manner. I exhaled and nodded, trying to convince myself of the same. "So, how is she in bed?" the mare next to me asked an instant later, causing me to blush again and sigh, giving her a skeptical look. Why did she want to know that? How is that even relevant in the first place? "Vinyl!" Octavia protested, looking utterly shocked. As predicted, she only received an impish smirk in reply. I just shrugged, however. "I don't really think it's that big of a deal, now that Octavia says that," I assured, ears drooping still as I wished for a different topic regardless. Vinyl, for what it was worth, looked delighted. "See?! That's an awesome attitude to have about things! Live and experience, I always say. So, about that question?" she reminded, winking to me. I rolled my eyes and decided to take a stab in the dark. "Well, she's relaxing, I suppose. Oh, and very warm. Oh, and she makes this cute little squeaking noise when she falls asleep," I tried to relay. She really was adorable, even when sleeping. Well, actually she was all kinds of different adorable while sleeping. The Dj's reaction was less than satisfactory, however. Her smirk fell away, replaced by a stunned, vaguely disbelieving look. "Wait, relaxing? She falls asleep?!" she asked, sounding like the concept was completely foreign for her. Well, maybe it was if she lived that much of a night life, but I assumed she'd be dead a long while ago if she never slept at all. I tilted my head towards her, inquiring, "Isn't that a good thing?" "Uh, no! I think you're doing something wrong, Dude. What are you doing, actually, if it's not too much to ask?" she asked, still sounding unsure and looking at me like I had grown a second head. I checked just to make sure while peeking back at Octavia for help. Nope, still just the one head. The cello player looked surprised as well, but with an oddly pink tint to her cheeks as she held her hooves up to her mouth. What the hell?! "Uh, do? Well, I mostly just lay there, like she does. Um, why?" I asked cautiously, starting to wonder if I was committing another strange faux pas. I swore I saw the cyan and dark blue maned mare twitch lightly. "What is wrong with you?! Do you honestly want her to dump you? Not that she's not partially to blame, but still!" Vinyl started to complain, stomping her hooves around while flailing about in a surprisingly active anger. I flinched and shrunk back, ears lowering significantly. I knew what 'dump' meant, and it brought an icy knife wound to my chest almost instantly. Oddly, a look of dawning comprehension flashed onto Octavia's face when I glanced back up at her, trying to get a second opinion before freaking out and rushing over to Twilight to beg for forgiveness. "Oh! Oh. Uh, Vinyl, I think you two may be talking about totally different things," she pointed out, causing me to freeze. We were?! Oh thank you! Maybe that meant that Twilight wasn't hiding anything from me that she might potentially dump me for. Vinyl stopped her rage-induced stomping and glanced over at her friend, somehow projecting a questioning look without us being able to see her eyes or eyebrows. If I remembered, I'd have to ask her how she did that later. "You know, you're supposed to relax in bed, right? It helps you get to sleep?" Octavia reminded, raising her eyebrow as well. Finally, logic! This I could work with. I exhaled quietly, waiting for the verdict. Vinyl gave a deadpan stare at both of us before shrinking a little. "Oh. Oh dang. Well, yeah. Okay, that makes me feel so much better. Dang, Dude. You seriously need to stop joking around like that! I thought you were serious for a second there!" she exclaimed, wobbling about as if her blood pressure was still spiked from her rant. Technically, I was serious, but I probably shouldn't mention that. Instead I just laughed awkwardly and agreed with, "Ha! Yeah, sorry." I'll probably never know what actually went wrong there, but at least Twilight wasn't going to dump me, I decided. "Well, might I suggest you let me get back to playing before this conversation gets any further awkward?" Octavia asked, directing her unsteady expression towards the Dj. Vinyl smirked and nodded, agreeing with, "It's all good. Oh, and look me up when you get back to town, Mender! You're definitely a cool stallion." I blushed and smiled, rubbing the back of my head with my right forehoof. "Nah. I'm just me. Nothing special, like I said earlier," I protested, not taking to this public awareness thing with much grace. Twilight was really popular! The almost white unicorn gave a hearty laugh before shaking her head. "You're too modest for this whole celebrity thing. You need to come visit me more often as well, Tavi!" she declared, slamming her hoof down on the stage next to Octavia and earning a slightly annoyed stare. I listened to the boards creak under the blow and sighed. It was indeed a cheap reconstruction job. They were either stingy or rushed, I decided. "I usually do visit you when I come to Ponyville, Vinyl. It's not my fault that I need to sift aside a veritable mountain of garbage from your decadent lifestyle to merely find a place to sit," she shot back, tongue rather barbed. I was impressed. Vinyl grinned wider, apparently taking the jab in stride. Her mouth opened, undoubtedly to return another venomous verbal volley, when the creaking echoed and reverberated through the wood I was leaning against. My frown hit instantly and I pushed my ear to the stage. There was a straining sound and a light vibration that got more distant, shooting into the back wall the stage was connected to. My eyes widened as I watched the line of dust shoot up the wall behind the stage, disappearing into the repaired ceiling in an instant. A split? But that meant that something heavy was being anchored to the... I looked up, swallowing as I saw the massive chandelier shiver suddenly before lowering barely half an inch. Son of a bitch. All of those lovely, sharp, pointy crystals were aimed downwards at a most unfortunate angle as the entire form gave another sway, crack visibly appearing in the wall. My right forehoof slid Octavia's book towards her cello while my left flared with energy as fast as I could manage to draw it. There was no way I could move the stage out of the way before it fell, so there was only two options. I could shield them all from the falling crystal monstrosity, of course, but the surface area involved was roughly seven or eight times what I tried before. I doubted the shield would hold for any significant amount of time. Alternatively, I could move the chandelier as it fell. This time I had the advantage of only one object descending towards me at high velocity, after all. I wasn't given time to think of anything else, sadly. Less than two seconds after I noticed the first sway, there was a brutal cracking noise from above the thing and it dropped. Aww hell. Simply acting at that point, I hopped up onto the stage as it dropped. Everypony looked up at almost the same time when the noise sounded out. Octavia's eyes widened and she screamed as I kicked off the chair next to her, using a barrier to boost my jump as best I could. The chair went flying as I snagged my hoof in it, but it was far too late to worry about clumsy reactions. My hoof extended out, reaching for the center extension of the chandelier as it descended. The rest of me braced for impact just in case I missed. Of course, a second later I realized I could have simply stepped back from the stage and avoided the chandelier entirely. Ah well. Instinct is a bitch sometimes. * * * * * Okay, this plan could have done with a little more thinking through before I implemented it. I rotated yet again as I flipped through the air, drifting two-dozen meters over the ballroom while clinging to a spiky, crystal disk of misfortune and death. And now it was flipping like a coin and threatening to rob me of my hard fought sandwich, of course. I clung to the side of it as best I could, wincing as I tried to think happy, non-spinning thoughts. Okay, so what had gone wrong? I reviewed what had led up to this disaster carefully in my mind. My hoof had touched the metal of the chandelier, of course, activating my magic, which first canceled its downward momentum, then used automatically adjusting micro-thrusters to apply an antigravity effect. That had worked perfectly fine. Mistake number one was to not account for getting caught in the burst of energy. I fired it off too fast, and got hit with the cast-off effect. Losing my gravity as well, I guess I was really lucky when I managed to only get a small nick to my suit when I slipped between the fields of sharp and pointy crystals, safely getting to the significantly less pointy top of the chandelier. Mistake number two. Failing to account for what my own forward momentum would do to the now stagnant lighting arrangement. Of course, upon smacking into the center of it, I knocked it upwards at a slight angle. I was momentarily stunned upon impact and failed to correct the velocity before it smacked into the wall behind the stage. That started the bloody flipping motion. Now I was too dizzy and unsure of my own timing to try counter-thrusting to push it in any given direction. Chances are, given my skills and luck, I'd send the spiked disk of misfortune and death directly down into the gasping crowds below me. Or are they above me now? I couldn't figure it out and just clung to the hot metal as best I could. Figures they'd use actual fire to light the stupid thing. I also singed one of my sleeves trying to avoid the perpetually burning magical candle things that were on this side. What a choice. Sharp and pointy or hot and burning? No, wait. Gotta look on the bright side, Mender. I had at least another five or six minutes of life left before my magic wore out and I crashed into the floor in a giant shrapnel fireball, undoubtedly killing myself instantly along with several dozen innocent bystanders. "Help!" I yelped again after completing yet another rotation. There were dozens of unicorns down there. This thing, even including myself, wouldn't take that much at all to stop the rotation. My spell would make it virtually weightless in regards of momentum. Hell, Twilight could do it while sleeping, I had no doubt. Still, I shouldn't rely on her to save me every time I get into trouble. I finally managed to rotate myself to line up with the direction the crystal chandelier kept flipping. I waited once again for the thing to be right-side up before killing the antigravity on myself and throwing my squishy body against the side that was raising into the air as hard as I could. I winced as one of the candles exploded against my side, singing my suit lightly, but the rotation managed to completely stop and even out. Scuttling backwards, I re-balanced myself in the center of the blasted thing and left my anti-gravity off. The spell on the chandelier only accounted for its own mass, so mine added to it was causing it to slowly lower in the direction of the ground now. I was still drifting to the side, however. Looking ahead of me now, I swallowed wearily as I saw the full size bay window rapidly approaching. If I broke through that before I touched down, this thing would drift off over the cliff edge. My magic would exhaust itself before I would be able to land then, and the remainder of my brief fall would have a very painful end to it, I imagined. I hoped for a pegasi in the crowd that might be able to recover me before being pancaked into the ground. "Mender!" I heard in Rarity's voice from beneath me somewhere. I peeked down below the chandelier as I sailed. The crowds below were clearing, making a painfully obvious path of potential destruction should my impromptu flying saucer crash and burn prior to hitting the window. I saw that no effort was given to providing cushions, of course. Joy. Rarity surprisingly ran along directly under me, however. She looked up with a shocked, yet attentive expression. Oh! "My spell is making the chandelier really light! You should be able to lower me with your magic. Please watch out for the spikes on the bottom, though!" I called down as loud as I could over the panicked murmurs and screams below. Rarity slowed, lagging behind the chandelier for a moment before her horn flared up with a light-blue energy. My eyes widened as a billowing aura surrounded the entire chandelier. The speed of my descent increased significantly and I heard a sudden yelp. Hmm, perhaps she would have expected the mass a little better if I had said weightless rather than really light? Rarity overcompensated. Badly. The chandelier hit the ground hard with the crystals digging in. Nopony was under it as far as I could tell, thankfully. Not so thankfully, the crystals shattered and fragmented, not only flipping the entire chandelier while I was still on it, but spraying the shards at high velocity in every conceivable direction. That adrenalin rush hit again and everything slowed down. I casually flipped through the air, flung free of the top of the chandelier and tossed like a rag doll. The spell came free when my hoof lost contact with the metal, and all the energy snapped back into myself. The chandelier, returning to full weight instantly, anticlimactically flopped along the floor on its top, spinning in a lazy rotation. The energy left me in the same instant as I fired it from my hoof as hard as I could. The cone-shaped barrier momentarily formed an exceedingly unorthodox long-jump pole as it cratered into the floor of the ballroom. The rogue shards from the chandelier were encapsulated instantly, however, smashing into the inside of my makeshift cone as I trapped them all. I smiled momentarily as my shield predictably failed a second later, letting a few thousand crystal shards fall to the floor rather harmlessly. If I were fast enough, hardly any would have gotten free of my barrier, though. That was all I could do. Going limp, I let myself rotate once more in the air before descending harshly towards the floor, ironically headed right for the slowing chandelier. It would seem I couldn't be rid of the damn thing. Unfortunately for me, the spiked side was pointed up now. My descent slowed significantly as I was caught in a light-blue aura. I went rigid as to not put any undue strain on her magic as she let out a gasp and grunt, straining against the force of the spell. Twilight ran up at high speed a moment later, shoving her way through the crowd before snagging me in her own purple and crimson light. Rarity let out a pained sigh before slumping over onto her stomach, mindful of the shards of crystal everywhere. Twilight had no issue carrying me over to her at all, of course. "Mender, are you okay?! What happened?" she asked rapidly, sounding worried, as usual. I seemed to bring out the best in her. "Several failed attempts at slowing down a stupid chandelier," I groaned, feeling exceedingly tired. That hadn't taken as much energy as the shield did earlier with Rarity, however, so I managed to stand on my own four hooves when set down. Rarity frowned, slowly sitting up again. "That was horrible. This is hardly becoming behavior for a gentlecolt, Mender! What were you doing surfing a chandelier across the room in the first place, I dare ask?" she questioned, looking a little miffed at me. I lowered my ears and opened my mouth to explain when I was cut off anyway. "Hey, isn't that the same stallion that was being moved through the streets in chains earlier this afternoon?" I heard asked from an unknown voice behind me somewhere. Spinning around, I saw nopony in particular talking, but a rush of murmurs and whispering spread out through the crowd almost instantly. I deflated, ears now dropping into negative angles in regards to my head. Oh crap. That was the last thing I wanted them to remember. Twilight surprised me by hauling me against herself a second later, wrapping both of her forelegs around me. The whispers picked up, but she glared over my head at the crowd as she hid me from sight using herself. Her ears flattened back as well, giving her a more hostile look than sad, however. Was she actually defending me?! Rarity shrunk a little under the overwhelming negative attention, and seemed unsure of herself and what to do for a moment. "Wait! Stop!" was suddenly called out to my left, Twilight's right. Octavia and Vinyl managed to squeeze through the growing crowd of ponies. "He saved Vinyl and I, along with the entire orchestra when the chandelier fell from the ceiling! If he hadn't intercepted it, I'd be dead," the gray earth mare defended, swiveling about and looking at the crowd as she spun. Vinyl nodded and ran over to me at the same time, sliding to a stop in front of Twilight. "Is he okay?" Vinyl asked a moment later, raising her glasses up to get a better look at me. I smiled to her and nodded gently. "I'm fine, Vinyl. A little worked up, but I'm just glad nopony got hurt," I muttered wearily. Twilight smiled down at me and nodded. "Making friends in high places while almost killing yourself is certainly better than just almost killing yourself," she pointed out, relaxing enough to stab me with her barbed wit, I noticed. Vinyl snickered and nonchalantly shook a hoof at her. "He's definitely a cool dude! That high flying ride was totally awesome, too! Uh, minus the almost dying and squishing a bunch of random ponies, of course," she corrected a moment later, letting her shades slide back down with a nod and raised hoof to the ceiling. "You have such a way with words, Vinyl," Octavia muttered, walking up much more slowly. The crowd shrunk in on us a little further now that the imminent threat of flying crystal shards appeared to be suppressed. I managed a soft snort, sitting up fully against Twilight. "Just about like me most of the time, don't worry. It wouldn't be a complete day if I didn't insert my hoof into my mouth at least once," I sympathized, hoping the expression wouldn't be lost on them. Vinyl grinned and nodded enthusiastically while Octavia just snickered. She had a soft expression on, however, and I almost swore she was giving me an exceedingly fonder expression, if that was indeed a word. Meanwhile, Rarity was recovering nicely. "Oh my! I should have known you wouldn't go sailing around like that purely for entertainment like a certain other mare we know. Now you're a hero!" she exclaimed, quite a bit louder than I would have liked. My blush magnified and I started rapidly shaking my head. Like I really wanted to leap up into a spiked disk. Again, if anypony else could have done the same thing or better, by all means I would have let them. A hero felt like they did things like that intentionally. It felt like it was something one attempted to represent. All I did was what I had to at any given moment to minimize grief to those around me. That didn't sound very heroic to me. The crowd actively parted as a large stallion I recognized as Fancypants approached. The lithe figure of Fleur was next to him, of course. Now that I saw him up close, I realized he wasn't as huge as I mistook him for the first time we met. Of course, I was quite a bit intimidated for other reasons back then. Now that I got a proper look, I realized that Big Mac was larger yet. Ironically, the red stallion didn't intimidate me nearly as much, given his gentle and passive outlook. "I dare say, we meet again, young one!" he declared, getting a closer look at me as he approached. I shrank a little bit, causing Twilight to frown and pull me closer again. He frowned a little as well and slowed in his approach, then drew to a complete halt when the lavender unicorn's horn started glowing softly while she watched him. "Twilight, this is Fancypants himself! What are you doing?" Rarity asked, intersecting herself between Twi and the well-dressed stallion. Twilight shook her head wearily, eyes not leaving Fancypants. "You were the one who had him arrested earlier, weren't you? The guard report didn't name anypony, but you just said this wasn't the first time you met," she deduced quietly, not letting me go. I looked up at her curiously, my cheeks heating up even more. What was she doing? Rarity shook with a start, pupils seeming to almost shrink as she suddenly looked back and forth between Fancypants and myself. "W-Wait, seriously?!" she asked in apparent disbelief. Fancypants smiled, however, and sat down at his current distance before nodding. "Yes, I was. I'll be the first to say that it was also a terrible misunderstanding and that Mender is truly innocent. No, I dare say he's a true knight after that rather bold rescue! I offer my deepest apologies. Moon Mender, correct?" I turned and looked at him in surprise, not having expected him to actually admit that I was innocent. Didn't that look negatively upon himself instead, then? Regardless, I nodded gently after a moment's consideration. "Yes sir. My name's Moon Mender. I live in Ponyville with Twilight," I informed nervously, trying to be as proper as I could think of. He smiled and chuckled at my reply. "Yes, I heard the rumors, but didn't connect you to said 'Moon Mender'. You have excellent tastes, Miss Sparkle," he complimented, standing up fully again. The murmuring picked up a lot louder than before, to the point where I could hear a few exclamations of shock. Then my ears deflated again as I heard whispers of a secret agent and rendezvous with Princess Celestia. Damn it. Twilight smiled finally and hugged me tighter regardless, seemingly happy that I was unhurt. "Is anypony injured from the crash?" I heard a guard start asking towards the back of the crowds. I exhaled softly and just rested against Twi. Rarity joined the three other mares surrounding me, smiling down at me in a pleased manner. "Knight, huh? I'd say that's definitely a livable title," she admitted, giving me an exaggerated wink. Her cheeks were a faint rosy color, however. I exhaled softly, glad that my original purpose for being here hadn't been ruined. Admittedly, I had no idea how everything had worked out and felt dizzy trying to remember what just happened, but it was more than enough to have arrived at a satisfactory outcome. Rarity fanned herself, however. Her cheeks were indeed a pink shade and she exhaled softly. "I might get a spot of air, however. I'm suddenly a bit, um, distraught. Too much excitement, I think," she excused softly. Twilight lost her smile and gave Rarity an inquiring glance. "Are you all right, Rarity? You strained your magic pretty good, there," the lavender mare asked. I picked up a definite trace of worry in her voice and suddenly remembered what it was like when I burned through too much energy. "I'll be fine, Dear! Thank you for your concern, but it's nothing a bit of fresh air won't fix," she assured before turning and heading towards the balcony near the main entry to the room. Glancing up at Twilight, she shot me a worried look back. "I'm afraid she used up too much of her magic. We should go with her to make sure she doesn't collapse or anything," she warned, looking back up and watching her friend disappear out onto the balcony. "Oh, good idea! Magic headaches are worse than hangovers!" Vinyl agreed, shuddering softly as she seemed to remember her own less than fond memories. Octavia gave her a playful shove, which only resulted in a grin being returned. "What she meant to say is, with the stage destroyed, we have nowhere else to play our music and have been relieved for the remainder of the evening. Would you two mind if we tagged along?" the gray mare asked politely, that soft accent that I couldn't seem to place rearing its head again. It was too subtle for me to put a comparison on it. Twilight smiled softly at her and shook her head, assuring, "Of course I don't mind. I'm not sure what's upsetting Rarity, however, so could you hang back for a moment until I make sure it's nothing private?" Octavia nodded politely to the request while Vinyl was busy looking a little distracted. "Actually, I think I'm going to take a detour anyway. I haven't eaten supper yet, and that food over there looks rather promising!" the Dj decided, sliding to a halt and glancing over at the banquet table where I was earlier. Twilight stopped as well, oddly, and frowned. "Actually, I just realized you're right. If Rarity is having magical exhaustion issues, sustenance is high up on the priority. I'm going to get some real quick sandwiches and tea for us all. Go on ahead, Mender," she requested. I nodded gently before turning and continuing to walk towards the balcony. Octavia trailed along after me, lingering back as promised once we neared. So, how was I supposed to go about making her feel better? Or figuring out what was ailing her in the first place? Yes, priorities, Mender. Why the hell did Twilight send me of all ponies in first?! I had about as much social graces as a rotting pineapple. Considering it wasn't sentient, that really said something. "Hey, Rarity. How are you feeling?" I asked softly, figuring the best bet would be to start by announcing my presence. Preferably in a way that didn't freak her out and send her careening off the balcony. She started lightly but turned her head to the side, smiling back at me. The moonlight did a nice job of accenting her purple, curled mane. The amount of effort she put into her appearance really came through for her. "Oh, hello, Mender. You didn't have to check up on me, you know," she assured, looking pleased that I had regardless. "You're my friend, Rarity. Of course I'm going to worry about you, especially after you exerted yourself to such an extent," I reminded, slowing and finally stopping next to her and peeking out at the night sky. It was gorgeous, honestly. I loved looking up and seeing the thousands of stars in the sky. The moon hung low as well, a gentle three fourths of the way full and spreading a milky blue illumination over the castle architecture. "You are truly a Dear. A knight or prince, even. Fancypants is right," she muttered, smiling to herself and chuckling at a quiet joke I didn't know. Frowning, I glared up at the stars. Were they the same stars that I would have seen in my other life? "I'm just me, Rarity. I'm not a knight or prince. I don't even know how to properly eat using utensils. I'm not a hero, either. Saving the ponies on the stage happened exactly the same way as destroying that ship in the other dimension," I refuted, putting my left hoof on the railing. The symbol on it glowed lightly in the moonlight, serving as a permanent reminder of that choice. "What do you mean, same way?" she inquired softly, looking over at me with a certain air of curiosity, brilliant blue eyes almost glowing in the light. I exhaled and shook my head again, looking down at the railing. "It's wrong, what everypony said. I'm not a hero. A hero strives to match those traits that define them. I was scared. Terrified even. If anypony else could have done it, I would have gladly let them, even. I didn't want to die. But the alternative, if I didn't do what I did in each situation, was to let others pay the price instead. I only did what I had to in order to minimize the suffering," I elaborated, scraping my left hoof along the smooth stone. I didn't feel a thing, of course. The right hoof was tactile and responsive. The nerves in my left were all but destroyed. Rarity looked sad for a moment. I wished Twilight would hurry up and get back with the food. I wasn't good at talking, and was prone to long tangents that didn't really help matters, it would seem. "Even if you didn't want to be a hero, you still are one, Mender. As frustrated as it probably makes you, you could have simply walked away so many times. You didn't, though. Because of that, just today alone, a dozen ponies are still alive. Even if you'd rather it not happen in the first place, it did. Fate is, well, strange like that," she muttered, looking far off towards the end, as if talking about something else. I looked back over at her, unsure of what to say. I suppose that if it had to happen, and nopony else was capable of fixing it, me doing so was a good thing. Well, that much was obvious. But necessity didn't make me feel heroic. Then it was just my duty. "A real knight; not just some fairytale fantasy. Polite and kind, yet flawed. That's why it's so hard. I don't know what to do anymore," she groaned, pressing the bottom of her horn gently into the railing. I sensed frustration, but didn't know what to do about it. "Rarity, what's really bothering you?" I asked, suddenly getting a suspicion she wasn't fatigued after all. She looked back up at me, eyes dancing lightly again. "Can I pretend, if only for a moment, Mender? Just one, selfish moment?" she asked; no, pleaded as she turned to face me more fully. I frowned, tilting my head towards her, unsure of what she was asking, let alone of how to fulfill it. Octavia's eyes widened in the very edge of my peripheral vision. Rarity shivered and winced, seemingly fighting amidst herself as a light pink tint lit along her cheeks again. She'd done this earlier, too. Idly, I wondered at the connection. I didn't get a chance to formulate the thought further, however. Time slammed on the breaks as she leaned up spontaneously and gently pressed her lips against mine. My mind froze, unable to process the information in the slightest. Floppy disk smashed into a USB port. She wasn't urgent or needy; just content in feeling the heat between us with the gentlest of pushing motions. Her body let out a shiver and a light hum, snapping time back into motion an instant later. I gasped and stepped back away from her, breaking contact as fast as I could. Wait, what the hell?! I stared at her in shock as she kept her eyes closed, head still angled gently where she'd left off. Slowly she lowered it and made a sniffing noise, shaking her head rapidly. The sound of a tray hitting stone, followed by a series of shattering noises sounded out to my right. Octavia let out a light squeaking noise in surprise, snapping to attention as I turned to look in that direction. She was staring in horror at Twilight, who in turn was staring in utter shock at Rarity. A tray of sandwiches, broken glass, and spilled tea rested at her hooves, a giveaway on the source of the sound. Vinyl stood to her right, actually raising her eyebrows above the rims of her shades this time. "Whoa!" she muttered a moment later. Rarity snapped back to attention and looked to her left at her friend. Her expression shifted between disbelief and horror in a heartbeat. "Oh! Oh no. No, no, no... I didn't mean to, um, do that. That was just, oh Celestia, what did I just do?!" she asked, more to herself than anything. My mind whirled, hauling me along with it as I suddenly felt dizzy. What just happened?! Tears built up in Rarity's eyes. She made a sound halfway between a sob and choking before taking off at full speed, galloping past the shocked looking Twilight and heading back into the crowded, deathly silent ballroom. Twilight slowly turned, several seconds too slow, and looked back at where Rarity had shot off to moments before. The white unicorn had made a beeline for the main exit, knocking aside several other ponies and drawing effectively the entire room's attention as she went. She was already gone, out the door now. My fillyfriend slowly turned back to me instead, mouth finally closing now and being replaced by a grimace instead. My ears lowered and I started shivering instantly. Oh hell. I was dead. I was so dead. She was going to launch me off the balcony with such force that I might break orbit. Her burning stare tore into my very soul for a long, five seconds. It felt like five years when her eyes finally softened. "I knew it. I just knew it. No. No, blaming you would be foolish," she sighed a moment later, lowering her gaze and shaking her head. I let out a whimpering noise and sunk to the floor, having literally no idea what to say or do in this situation. "You were just as surprised as I was, and pulled away. Relax, Mender. Stay put; I'm going to go look for Rarity. We apparently have quite a bit we need to talk about," she requested, straightening herself and glancing back towards the entrance of the room. "Twilight," I muttered weakly, unsure of if I should be saying something or not. What the hell was I supposed to do? She sighed and shook her head again, however. In a flash of light, she reappeared in an instant right in front of me. I panicked for a moment before she reached out and gently hugged me against herself. "It's all right, Mender. Just stay at the party. A lot is going through Rarity's head, from what I could tell. I need to find and talk to her. She has some explaining to do. I'll be back in a bit, hopefully," she instructed. My heart slowed its breakneck pace slightly and I managed to nod. She smiled momentarily before disappearing in another flash of light. This time, however, she didn't reappear. Octavia exhaled weakly, looking about as tired as I suddenly felt. It dawned slowly on me as I glanced back over at the two musicians. Rarity had kissed me. Rarity liked me, and I hadn't had the slightest clue before just now. Why? That was the true question. Neither mare in front of me seemed to know, their expressions simply serving to give me more questions than answers. Damn it all to hell. Well, there goes another potential 'ordinary' night. Chapter 25Twilight let out a yelp as her head cracked off the wall, temporarily stunning her. I wasn't entirely sure of her abilities, so I didn't want to take any chances. The blankets constricted further, going all the way up to the base of her neck and keeping a tight hold there. My barriers were primed and ready to go in a heartbeat if needed. My eyes narrowed as I glared at her a moment before spitting to the side, trying to get her taste out of my mouth. Ugh. "W-What are you doing, Mender?" she finally managed to stutter, gasping for air as she tried to raise her head up higher. I snorted, watching her carefully for any sudden moves. "Cute. Who are you really?" I asked cautiously. She stared down at me, eyes wide with shock before asking, "W-What are you talking about?" Her voice was timid, sounding exactly like the familiar lavender unicorn. Scarily similar. I was starting to get annoyed at this point. "It all fits. The static I heard before you got here. Not mentioning Rarity probably being at Fluttershy's and simply going to check there. Giving up on the search for Rarity in the first place. None of these things are something Twilight would do," I pointed out. Her eyes started to water and she opened her mouth, but I continued first. "Further, Twilight and I haven't progressed this far in our relationship. She would... She wouldn't have said that she loved me. Or tried to do what you just tried to do." "M-Mender, it really is," she started to protest before I hauled her closer, momentarily distracted by the slight bruise the right side of her face bore. "Lastly, Twilight's eyes are lavender, not pink," I finished, staring right into her bright pink eyes. Hers widened while mine narrowed. A quiet second passed by, and she suddenly smiled. It was that same saucy grin she wore before. "Clever. Is this better?" she asked casually. I watched, anger rising as her eyes shifted from pink to the purple I was used to. Damn it. Why hadn't I noticed sooner? Sure it was dark down there, but still, her behavior was ridiculous. "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked again, more slowly this time as my voice lowered. Twilight was probably at Rarity's still. Rarity was probably home after all with Spike there. I subdued this mare easily, so Twilight could have stomped her into the dirt without looking. No, Twilight was fine. "Aww, but I just want to have some no strings attached fun, Mender. I even went to all of this effort to look like your girlfriend. So, how about it? We have a juicy little romp, you pretend to have fallen asleep, and I'm gone and out of sight before anyone's the wiser," she offered pleasantly. Her voice shifted at the same time and I noted 'anyone' as if a flare was attached to it. Not that I needed the clue, as I recognized the voice anyway. "Nirru? What the hell?!" I asked, backing away from her a little. How? How was this even possible?! Everything pointed at Keela. I'd told her about Twilight, Spike, bits of Equestria, my friends... She grinned and smiled at me before nodding. "Of course. Keela attempting to contact you and warn you was probably what you heard earlier, but I blocked her from communicating. I only want one thing, Mender. Give it to me and I'll leave. You'll never have to deal with us ever again," she assured, eyes half-lidding as she licked her lips towards me. No, this didn't make sense. Why was she even doing this? "Why do you want to mate with me?" I asked carefully, shifting to my left a little as she floated in the air, not trying to resist in the slightest. Her eyes closed a moment later and she sighed. "You have something we need, and that's one of the fastest ways to get it. I don't give a shit if the council likes it or not. I'm going to save our species, one way or another." There it was. It clicked into place and I sighed again. "You think I have Keldarian DNA left that can be used to help repopulate," I muttered, losing the anger I had. It was hard to stay mad at somepony blatantly lying to themselves. "I know you have the DNA," she corrected, losing her smile and just watching me now. "You know that one Keldarian isn't going to be enough to jump start our species again, right? Even if this new form somehow didn't screw with my DNA, there's not enough diversity in just me for that to work," I warned, shuddering internally at the thousands of complications that would stem from that. Disease, mutation, genetic abnormality, and massive amounts of defects would probably cause them to die out in all of four or five generations if they were lucky. "That's my problem, not yours. All I'm asking is for you to just sit back and enjoy yourself for a bit. In return, I'll break the link myself and send you your stupid book back," she offered, shifting to a business approach instead, it would seem. I opened my mouth to protest when both of us were interrupted by the sound of the door opening downstairs. Uh oh. Had Twilight gotten impatient and come looking for me? Well this would be rather easy to explain if so, and she'd have her proof right here and now. "Twi, are ya up there? Applejack and I saw you hit the door on your way in and were worried," Rainbow called out from below, causing my heart to fall into my stomach. Damn it. Okay, this was going to be harder than I thought. "Work with me! We'll get them to leave, then we can mate and it'll be over. You won't have to worry about us any further," Nirru whispered, shifting back to Twilight's voice and causing me to shiver. The sensation of knowing who she actually was felt largely like nails on a chalkboard that was strapped to the back of my skull. Damn. If I got them to go away, maybe I could talk some sense into her? This was crazy. "Twi, are ya okay up there? Mender told us about tha disks, an’ Ah had ah few more questions if ya don’t mind. He up there with ya?" Applejack asked a second later, earning another annoyed groan from Nirru. I paced lightly in place, unsure of what I should do. If I let her go and had her help me get them to leave, they'd probably tell Twilight anyway and then I'd get in trouble for tricking them. But if I tried to convince them that this was some freaky space version of Twilight here trying to seduce me because she's off her rocker, I had a feeling that would go over as well as a barrel of rotten apples dumped over their heads. “Okay, just help me talk to them, Nirru. I’m sure we can explain things in a way that doesn’t make me sound cra… Any more crazy, and that will help both of us,” I suggested in a whisper, looking back up at her as she drifted. Nirru hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and adding, "Idiot." I glared at her before widening my eyes in shock as she yanked herself backwards. Her back and side crashed into the wall again and she let out a muffled yelp before adding in, "Ahh! H-Help!" What?! Oh. Oh hell. "Twi!" I heard Rainbow shout from the stairs, followed by a powerful flapping noise as she undoubtedly took to the air. I took a few steps back away from the bed, looking back and forth between Nirru and the stairs. A heartbeat passed and she was there. Dash took in the situation with rapidly widening eyes, mouth slowly dropping open as her orange friend cleared the top of the stairs and split second later. "What in Equestria are ya doin', Mender?" Applejack asked, eyes rapidly joining Rainbow's in size. Son of a... I rapidly tried to think of something; anything I could say to convince them of what was actually going on, but it all sounded so far-fetched that I didn't know what to go with. "H-He hit me, and then wrapped me up," Nirru whimpered in Twilight's voice, making sure to show the right side of her head where blood now trickled down. The shift was like watching a train looming towards me in slow motion. Applejack's eyes slowly narrowed and filled with an indescribable rage as she shifted her gaze towards me. I shuddered and backed away, panic drifting readily into me now. Oh crap. Uh, she appreciated the truth the most! "This isn't Twilight! This is Nirru, one of the people from my dimension," I rapidly explained, shifting closer to the bed in case I needed soft things for something. You never knew when you'd need something soft! "Mender, just let her go and we'll talk about this, okay?" Dash suggested, looking unsure of the situation rather than pissed, surprisingly. "Yer crazy. Yer absolutely crazy. Let her go, or Ah'm gonna buck ya so hard yer ancestors'll feel it!" she warned, slowly stepping closer to me, one hoof at a time. Oh hell! Shifting Nirru, I intersected her between the two of us to ward off any potential charges. "I'm telling the truth! She's the crazy one! She said she was here to try to seduce me or something," I defended, peeking out from around the blankets. "He's crazy! He said he was tired of waiting and he," Nirru 'sobbed', burying her face in the blankets surrounding her. What?! "He tried to do things to me!" she finally managed to yell out. I pulled the blankets tighter against her to shut her up, but it was probably a little too late at that point. Applejack looked livid and was actually shaking in rage while glaring at me. Rainbow was just frowning, looking a little upset but still seeming unsure. "Mender, calm down and just let her go. AJ and I aren't going to hurt you. Let's just talk about this," she reasoned. I paused, not realizing the hoof I was touching the blankets with was shivering uncontrollably. It felt like a ball of ice had settled in my stomach and I further retreated. Applejack looked like she was going to murder me, which kind of lowered the believability of the cyan pegasus' claim. "Twilight's at Rarity's! Go and check for yourself, Rainbow! Applejack can stay here until you get back," I reasoned, swallowing hard. I couldn't stop my stupid hoof from shaking, and I suddenly felt like crying. That wasn't possible, though. I couldn't let Nirru hurt my friends! "Oh no. Yer not gonna split us up. Let her go, Mender. Now," Applejack demanded yet again, voice dropping into a tone I'd never heard her hit before. Rainbow herself hesitated, though. She believed me? No, she felt the tension and utter horror coming off me through the empathy link. "Just put her down, Mender. Then I'll go check at Rarity's," she finally offered. Crap. Well, that was a lot better than not believing me at all. "Yer kiddin', right? Ya actually believe that hogwash, RD?" Applejack asked skeptically, glaring over at her friend instead for a moment. Rainbow surprised me by glaring back. "He at least deserves the benefit of the doubt! Sure, it's crazy, but so is me flying through space and him taking out a giant ship!" she pointed out, sounding a little irritated. I swallowed weakly, but peeked out from behind the blanketed mass again, hoping maybe that this could be resolved in a non-violent manner. Heck, Applejack could buck me all she wanted so long as Nirru wasn't allowed to be free. I'd certainly prefer she didn't, but given her expression, I decided that wasn't bloody likely. More static sensation resounded into my skull, but I ignored it entirely. Keela could wait. Applejack looked momentarily taken aback before scowling and returning her gaze to me. "Fine. But only after he lets Twi go," she finally acquiesced. I swallowed and shifted back a little, unsure of myself. "I just don't want her to hurt you. If I let her go, I'm not sure if I could defend you from her if needed," I explained uneasily, finally managing to get my hoof under control and force it to stop shivering. A few cold swallows later and I slowed my heartbeat as well. Rainbow momentarily looked surprised before narrowing her eyes slightly. Huh?! Her stance spread out along with her wings as she slowly started sidestepping, putting distance between herself and Applejack while remaining oriented on me. She was widening the flank I needed to defend. Crap. Why was she suddenly mad at me? Applejack lowered herself as well upon noticing her friend's reaction, staying her ground and blocking me off from the stairs. I swallowed, my heartbeat speeding back up again almost instantly. Damn it! A short scream of rage sounded off inside my head, and the static burst through, finally releasing a panting voice. "Nirru! What the hell are you doing?! This isn't what you said you'd do! You were supposed to talk to them and discuss the matter!" Keela suddenly demanded, sounding utterly pissed off. It seemed like everypony here was pissed except for me. "I'm doing what you're too afraid to do. Save our species," Nirru whispered under her breath into the blankets, sounding indignant instead. There was a huff, followed by, "You're hurting innocent bystanders. Stop this, Sis! Just tell them that he's not lying and talk it over!" Keela pleaded, calming down a little. She had helped her sister get here? Although their plan seemed to have deviated significantly, I noticed. My feelings were suddenly conflicted over her involvement and I frowned, looking up at Nirru as the Keldarian turned pony hesitated, frowning to herself. My mistake was noticed several hundredths of a second too late. To maintain the barrier over Nirru, I didn't have any on myself. Looking away from them was all the opening Dash had needed. She was in front of me before I could even widen my eyes, way faster than the guard had been. There was no chance for me to raise a barrier in the slightest before she plowed me over in a feral pounce. We slammed into the bed in an instant, sliding the entire thing across the floor as she pinned me to the mattress. Suddenly I was glad of my decision to get close to the soft things. Regardless, her actual impact had hurt like a bitch, and I yelped as my skin bruised under the force of her hooves holding me down. Contact with my hoof broken, the barriers collapsed, blanket and Nirru falling to the floor as Applejack rushed over. No! I fought against Rainbow, her being deceptively heavy as well as strong. It apparently wasn't just her wings that were powerful! "Twi! Are ya alright?" Applejack asked almost instantly, helping Nirru unwrap herself from the blanketed mess. I tried to look around Rainbow to see what was happening, but the pegasus just shoved me harder into the bed. "We do not need you to protect us, Mender," she hissed out a second later, glaring at point blank range into my eyes. I swallowed, backing up completely into Twilight's pillow, starting to shiver again. A pause between Nirru's fake sobbing let her relay, "He c-cracked my horn when he first hit me! I can't m-make my magic work!" Clever. Nirru's 'crying' resumed shortly thereafter, and I saw Applejack wrap her hooves around the 'shivering' mare and glare over her shoulder at me instead. Not good! At that range, I had no idea what Nirru was capable of. I struggled harder against Rainbow, trying not to panic as I saw the lavender forelegs gently wrapping around Applejack. The left hoof, as it extended around behind the farm mare's back, slowly shifted into a metallic hue, a long needle starting to form out of it. Shit! "I'm sorry, Rainbow," I managed to mutter, causing the prismatic pegasus to raise an eyebrow. My hoof touched her front elbow an instant later, however, removing all gravity from her at the price of more of my limited reserve of magic. Her eyes widened as she felt herself become weightless, but I had already shifted my back legs up and shoved against her chest. She yelped as she spun backwards, flailing and drifting towards the ceiling. I rolled and lunged after the kick, sending myself off the bed and bounding towards Nirru's back. She wouldn't hurt my friends! Applejack's eyes widened and she surprised me by shoving Nirru to her right, sending the lavender mare sprawling, her hoof rapidly shifting back to normal! Damn it! I slid slightly, shifting my course and launching myself towards her new position, as fast as my legs could take me. I hadn't wanted to hurt her, but if it came down to either that or letting her hurt anypony I cared for, there wasn't a choice! Smashing her into the wall earlier had revealed a problem, however. The vibration through her body had revealed to me that she was actually absurdly dense. I hadn't mentioned that to her, but that had confirmed my actions in an instant. Just a barrier wouldn't be able to even make a dent in her skin. I just wasn't strong enough, and there wasn't any weight behind them. In order to actually cut her, I needed to make a compressed blade like I had before. Without my past self's energy pool however, I was severely limited in both range and size. I'd have to get a lot closer if I was going to connect with this thing! Applejack was thrown off balance by her toss, rotating around practically backwards as she spun. My peripheral vision told me Rainbow had barely hit the ceiling and was still trying to recover as my burst of magic wore off her. This was my only chance! Two bounds passed. My heart hammered at my chest in the same instant that Nirru hit the floor, face first. Her flank was to me. I couldn't reach her neck, so I formed the energy blade aiming at her spine instead. It wasn't an assured kill, but she would be in too much pain to do anything, hopefully. This was assuming that her current body had some sort of central nervous system. The blade flared up, compressing down as best I could with my limited amount of energy and time to form it. It only extended half a meter or so. My third bound landed against the harsh wood of the library floor, and then I leapt. I angled my head down the best I could, aiming for her mid-back. Time slowed as my body flared with adrenalin. A nagging sensation hit my mind, as realization connected a second after. Wait, didn't Applejack buck with her... "No!" the orange mare screamed out, bracing like a coiled spring on her front legs. She had spun on purpose. It dawned on me as my eyes widened. There was no energy left in me to even try to form a barrier. Years of smashing her hooves into the solid trunks of trees had made Applejack an absurdly strong mare. Both of her legs unfurled with practiced precision and timing. I'd have been impressed, had both back hooves not connected with my right side a hundredth of a second later. Time ground to a halt at the call of the brutal cracking sound echoing out from my side. The air in my lungs was literally forced from my body from the impact, my midsection suddenly deciding to travel sideways instead of following the momentum of the rest of my body. My legs and head snapped sideways as the force of her double kick shattered my prior forward momentum almost as easily as it had undoubtedly just shattered a few ribs. Then the pain hit, catching up with the torn apart nerves throughout the flesh along my side. I let out a silent scream, having absolutely no air to actually make my vocal cords work. My side screamed in bloody agony for another heartbeat, mirroring the whiplash from all four limbs and my neck as I was tossed through the air like a high velocity ragdoll. The crushing pain was joined by an abrupt stabbing sensation in the same instant, it practically feeling like she had snapped me in half from the force of the impact. Then I hit the window. My momentum had carried me forward a little bit still, but her strength had rendered it a moot point. I rocketed sideways away from my intended target and smashed directly into Twilight's bay window near the balcony. The wooden frame shattered under the weight of my body, the glass fragmenting around me as I was forced through it. It didn't shatter in any uniform pattern, however, leaving long gashes along my skin as I was torn across it. I didn't even feel the sensation at that point. The explosion of raw agony from my side tore through my body like a ripple, leaving numb oblivion in its wake. My back hit the railing of the balcony with enough force to splinter the wood and snap the supports, from the sound of it. My instant stop was a harsh one as I momentarily caved my fragile body into the heavy rail before gravity outweighed my sideways momentum. My world blackened as I hit the floor of the balcony, not unlike a sack of wet sand. Ironically, that's the closest I could get to describing what my insides felt like. She was right. I swore I could hear an unknown ancestor crying as everything went black. * * * * * Consciousness flickered back into my skull; not as a stirring this time so much as a belly flop onto cement. I couldn't even manage a groan as I felt my body stiffen, points of agony dancing along my back, side, neck, and legs. It would be easier for me to list what didn't hurt, I noted. My eyes opened a second later as the realization of what had happened set in. Nirru was free with nopony to stop her! Speak of the devil, I saw she stood all of a meter from me on the balcony when my eyes opened. Applejack stood next to her, looking furious still down at my unmoving form. "Yer lucky we're even goin' fer ah doctor. Yer crazy an' we’re through as friends. Nopony tries ta hurt my friends like ya just did!" she growled upon noticing my eyes open up. I swallowed, eyes flickering back to Nirru's amused smirk behind the mare. "This is insane! Don't move him, AJ! I'll go get the doctor," Rainbow rapidly excused from behind me somewhere, apparently missing Nirru's expression entirely. Damn it. If she left, it would be even easier for the fake Twilight to ambush Applejack! "Don't," I managed to rasp out, my right foreleg shifting a bit as I tried to gain some sort of friction under it. There was almost no strength however, all attempts at applying pressure only causing it to scream out in agony as it connected with my side. "Shut it," Applejack warned coldly, kicking my leg away from them as she saw the movement. I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing when I felt nothing at all. "Don't do anything to him! I'll be back as soon as I can!" Rainbow ordered, surprisingly sounding concerned. The bitterness flared up inside of me, and I mentally snarled to myself. Was everything I tried to do that pointless? Applejack hadn't even hesitated for a second before deciding I was just crazy and a danger. I felt my eyes start to get wet as they lost focus. I tried and tried to fit in; to stay positive and persevere. Now what? Applejack didn't want to be my friend anymore, Rainbow no longer trusted me, and the one thing I tried to stop was free and gloating over the whole ordeal. I couldn't win. The tears just came, earning another glare from the orange mare. I didn't care. There was only one thing left that I could do, I decided. There was one secret I still hadn't revealed to Nirru. She had no idea how my magic functioned. Focusing as best I could, I tried to build up all that was left of my energy. The blade had been entirely disrupted after I was kicked, and all of that energy was lost before I could pull it back in. I doubted I had enough energy to move and still form the barrier. That left only one option. I focused on using the floor as a connector. If I couldn't bring the blade to her, or her to the blade, I'd simply form it on her and shoot it upwards. She'd probably die. Applejack's retaliation would probably kill me as well. I didn't have any other options, however. "Careful, Twi. Don't get too close. That weird, unnatural magic o' his might still be able ta work," Applejack warned, causing me to open my right eye again, not having realized I closed them. Heh. At least I knew what she really thought about my magic, now. My consciousness swam and I hadn't realized how hard it was to focus. I pulled in the energy faster, realizing I might have internal bleeding. The doctor might not even make it back in time at this rate. "You did a number on him! I don't think he'll be able to do much anymore," Nirru pointed out after giving me a prod with her hoof. "Are ya all right, though?" Applejack asked softly in reply. A pang of jealousy hit. Twilight had such amazing friends. I couldn't manage to let myself be angry at Applejack. She was defending her friend in her time of need. The principle was there, even if she herself was being tricked. Breathing became an uphill battle and I coughed, shocked suddenly by the wet sensation leaking out of my mouth as that cold numbness started to spread throughout my body. Lung damage. Probably shock. Nirru didn't answer, instead leaning down close and staring into my eyes. There was no emotion in hers. The only thing lighting them was cold, clinical precision as she stretched my eye open and looked into it. "Nirru, you need to... Don't do this!" I heard Keela beg, fading in and out between static. "Tch, the link is collapsing. Keep your eyes open, Mender," Nirru ordered, standing upright again. "Wha?" Applejack muttered, sounding confused. The fake lavender mare in front of me sighed and aimed her hoof backwards. My eyes widened as I heard a pressurized launching noise and Applejack jumped in surprise. "W-What tha?" My vision flickered down to the small dart buried in her chest. "Hmm? Oh, that? It's a tranquilizing agent I was going to use on Mender after I seduced him and mated. Then he would have just woken up after a while and thought it was all a dream. See? Aren't I nice?" she relayed, smiling back at Applejack. The country mare's eyes widened and she shook her head slowly. It didn't look like the words even registered with her. A moment later, her front legs started to shake and she slumped slightly, struggling to stay upright. I didn't have time to look anymore as I felt a sharp poke entered my neck and a second later. "And this is a mixture of proteins, mass enhancement, and adrenaline. It was for the mating itself if you weren't impressive enough," Nirru added with a wink, smirking down at me. I tried to roll my eyes but couldn't manage to feel where they were pointing in the first place. "They should keep you from shutting down before I get what I want from you, though," she continued, shifting me closer to the edge of the balcony with her hoof. Why wasn't anypony coming?! Surely we'd made enough noise for somepony to investigate! "Wait, yer not..." Applejack muttered, rapidly shaking her head and actually starting to stand upright again. Damn. Nirru sighed wearily and turned back around to face her. I sped my charging up as best I could. If I released my limiter, I just might be able to fire it off sooner, but in my current condition, it might just kill me instantly. "No, Applejack. My name is Nirru, like he said. He was telling the truth. I can see you're going to be a stubborn one," she replied before extending her hoof towards the orange mare again. No! Nothing shot out, however. Instead, a gentle barrier extended out and formed a shimmering, transparent cage around Applejack. It was a low end barrier and not every well focused, I noticed. Also, it was only pieced together from other barriers instead of being solid. Sloppy. "There. That'll hold you until I'm gone. Your friend is fast, but I imagine it will be difficult to find a doctor at this hour, no?" she reasoned, looking far too smug when she turned back around. Applejack stood in shock, mouth hanging limply as she shifted her gaze from Nirru's back to me as I watched her. "Why are you doing this, Sis?! You didn't have to do any of this!" Keela demanded over the static echoing through my head. Oddly, I felt my energy slowly returning with a tingling sensation as well. Unfortunately, with the return of my strength came the return of my feeling as well. Pain started to lance through my barrel, and I gave out a muffled groan, squishing my eyes tight. "Oooh, feeling coming back? That's good. The pain lets you know you're alive, am I right?" she asked, quoting an old soldier's sang. She continued before I could so much as give a sassy retort, however, "And I'm doing what you were too afraid to do, Keela. I already said that. Whether you believed me or not, he's worth a lot more than just one Keldarian. I know this. I will not let this opportunity pass in efforts at being 'nice' to him." What? How the hell was I worth more than one Keldarian? I wasn't even a Keldarian anymore! "Oh no. No, no, no!" Applejack finally started to speak up, snapping out of her shock and slamming into the front of the cage angrily. Nirru burst into a grin before turning around and watching the mare. "Ha! You're so hypocritical. You were the one who practically handed him over to me, and then when you find out the truth, you get all indignant over it? Please. Honestly, he's been here what, a month and a half? I figured it would be way harder to turn everyone against him like that," she pointed out. A sharp pang stabbed into my chest regardless of the agony everywhere else. As much as I wanted to stab her until she stopped moving, she was right. Maybe I really didn't belong here after all? I thought I was fitting in better but then something would happen that told me otherwise. This was just another one of those times. Applejack didn't answer. Instead, she just seemed to get angrier and let out a scream of rage, slamming into the front of the cage again. The floor started to crack and splinter under the force of her impacts and my eyes widened. I sensed Nirru's did as well. "My goodness! The tranquilizing agent doesn't appear to be affecting you at all. Either that or you really are just that stubborn. I really didn't want to have to take more extreme measures, but I don't have time for you potentially throwing a wrench into my plans," she muttered, sounding annoyed. Crap! Just pretend you're getting weaker, Applejack! My spell wasn't fully charged yet. If I fired it off now, it would only extend a half meter or so. That wouldn't be nearly enough to kill Nirru when I was forced to use the floor as the extension point. Damn it! I contemplated releasing the limiter again, but in all honesty, I was afraid that it would kill me before I could even release the spell. Applejack's eyes widened as Nirru drew her right foreleg backwards as if going to punch the cage. The hoof shifted, extending a long blade out of it and angling it back off her elbow. Oh hell. Her body was amorphous! "And now, you die knowing exactly how much you failed your friend," Nirru proclaimed, stabbing her foreleg forward an instant later. There was no choice. My hoof flared with energy and the barrier blade stabbed upwards from the floor in the same instant. Applejack's eyes widened and she pushed herself backwards away from the elongated blade, just as mine shot up under the extending foreleg itself. Nirru screamed as my blade stabbed into the underside of her hoof, forcing her blade to overshoot the top of the cage and imbed itself in the wall above. "You little bastard!" she screamed a second later, smashing me with her other forehoof as she tore her wrist off the blade. I winced but managed to pull back most of the energy from the attack. Preparing a second stab, I readied to release the limiter just as I launched the attack, hopefully allowing it to be enough to finish her off. Her body moved far faster than I realized it could, however. She whipped around before I had fully retreated the blade and stomped down hard on the still glowing hoof. I screamed as I felt something snap inside my leg and lost focus on the second attack, energy dispersing instead. "Ha! So it's your hoof that's doing it. This is just too rich! You gave away your only hope, just to save the very same mare that handed you over to me," she cooed suddenly, looking ecstatic. Shit! I drew in more energy from myself as best I could, but she was on to me at this point. "Mender!" Applejack called out at the same moment. Nirru smirked as her eyes flicked to the orange mare momentarily before whipping me forward, smashing my face into the slate bars of the barrier! I gasped as the thin sheets of energy cut into my cheek from the impact, and then I felt the hoof stomp down on the back of my left shoulder. Oh hell! No, no! "And this is what we get for being a little bastard!" Nirru called out in a rather sing-song voice. I screamed. She smashed my face harder into the bars, Applejack looking horrified a few centimeters away from. Nirru tore my foreleg backwards, causing a massive ripping sensation and multiple snapping noises along my shoulder. I tried to thrash away from her, accidentally running my face into the bars on the other cheek in the process. "No!" I heard Applejack scream out, squeezing herself closer to me. The pain was white hot and blinding. Gasping for my breath, all I could do was sob pathetically as she smashed me hard into the cage and tore. The pain shattered through me, followed by frigid nothing as I felt it tear free, blasting my neck, head, and chest with cold numbness. Applejack's eyes went wide in shock as blood hit against her face. "Heh. Here; a memento to remember him by," Nirru offered coldly before throwing the detached leg down next to the cage. It rolled twice before coming to a stop, blood pooling under it. All I could do was let out an airy gasp as I slid down the side of the cage on my face, pain echoing through my mind and causing darkness to swim through my vision. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. All I could manage to do was cry as Nirru's hoof flared up and she momentarily singed my shoulder, cauterizing the wound. "Now, now. No passing out. I need your stupid link in order to haul your DNA back. You're not allowed to stop functioning until after I'm gone," she ordered snidely. Applejack let out a guttural scream of rage, thrashing against the front of the box while putting more cracks in Twilight's floor. I could barely hear her until another stab went directly into my back, spreading more of the numb tingling sensation through me. "I had a backup, just in case you were really pathetic," Nirru pointed out absently, echoing in my skull. I couldn't think. My head was swimming, burning hot on the inside and freezing on the outside. I could barely even breathe, the wet sensation oozing out of my mouth. "You monster! This isn't what I wanted at all!" Keela screamed through the static, ironically causing a stirring as I tried to focus. Oddly, Nirru went rigid a second later, but I could barely manage to acknowledge her. She had... She tore off my leg! Completely. No magic escaped from my body anymore, and I knew it was over in that moment. My vision slowly shifted over to the limb discarded on the floor. My mind refused to register it as mine, no matter how hard I stared at it. Vaguely, I acknowledged shouting somewhere a ways off. Ponies were investigating finally. "Mender, stay awake!" Applejack urged softly, lowering herself down to the floor of the cage, to my head level. I stared blankly at the severed limb for a few more seconds before gently shifting my eyes to her instead. We stared at each other for a long moment before her eyes slowly started getting wet. "I'm sorry, Applejack. I don't have the energy left to stop her," I apologized, silently wondering if she'd take back her declaration of no longer being my friend. I decided I was too afraid to ask. A drop, followed by three more landed on the wood under her head as she watched me, eyes tearing up. A moment later however, she started and looked down slowly at the floor. I didn't have the strength to see what she was looking at, unfortunately. "Tch! Looks like we made too much noise," Nirru finally muttered, shivering and snapping herself out of the trance I hadn't realized she'd fallen into. The static flared up again, and Keela was silent. The fake Twilight paused for a moment before shaking her head irritably. "I'm going to have to move you, now. This is getting downright annoying." "Twitchy twitch! Applejack, are you okay?!" I heard suddenly from downstairs. Pinkie?! My memory snapped lazily back to her Pinkie Sense, and I realized she must have felt something was wrong. Still, this wasn't the best of timing. The clouds in my skull were beat back as I tried to shift myself around, looking past my errant limb and into the main loft. Nirru let out a groan of irritation before shifting her attention to the left, asking, "What now?! Are all these ponies crazy?" Pinkie hopped up over the stairs and gasped as she saw me lying on the balcony. Her eyes widened further than I'd ever seen; her mouth hanging partially open. "It's not Twi! Run, Pinkie!" Applejack shouted, shifting towards the back of her cage suddenly, away from me. Huh? Her hooves scraped gently along the bars of the barrier as she turned herself around, aiming her flank at me instead. "Annoyance!" Nirru yelled before whipping her yet bladed foreleg up. The blade detached, much to my surprise, and flung itself at high velocity across the room. No! There was no time for warning at all before it drove itself into Pinkie's head. At least, I thought that's what would happen. The spike embedded itself into the wall behind the pink mare, however, who turned and peeked at it in surprise. "Hey! That's sharp! What the hay are you doing?!" she demanded a second later, turning to glare at Nirru again. Nirru actually looked surprised momentarily. She blinked twice before peeking down at her blade again, seemingly just to make sure she'd properly fired it. "What the hell? Did the dimensional transfer throw off my targeting calibrations?" she questioned, hopefully to herself as assisting her was the last thing I was about to do. Pinkie slowly started walking towards her, nervously eyeing my leg on the floor while shifting her attention between that and Nirru herself. "If you're not Twilight, who are you? Are you a mean pony?" she inquired, sounding surprisingly reserved. I'd never heard that tone from Pinkie before. Even in my numbed state, it was a little scary. "I'm Nirru, not that it will matter after I put a spike through your damn head," the fake Twilight answered, glaring at Pinkie as she took aim again. Crap! Deciding she re-calibrated the 'gun' thing, I tried to shift myself up. There was almost no strength left in my legs at all, and I could barely feel anything. I considered my options, immediately deciding throwing myself in front of it wasn't going to be fast enough. Nirru fired regardless, aiming directly for between Pinkie's eyes this time. The spike slammed into the wood next to the stairs, missing entirely. Wait, no. I tried to focus, and then realized that the thing hadn't missed at all. Pinkie had shifted to the left a few inches! Her fluffy, cotton candy tail flicked back and forth behind her as she walked, twitching lightly. Nirru just looked pissed this time, rather than surprised. "How the hell can you dodge something moving almost at the speed of sound?!" she demanded, blade growing back and extending into a melee weapon this time. That was easy, but required information she didn't know. One simply moved out of the way before she even fired. I softly smiled, chuckling lightly amidst the cold numbness. The shot did almost nothing to remove it this time, and I realized I was probably in a moderate shock. That in itself was strange when I thought about it, when I realized I was capable of thinking enough to think about it in the first place. No, wait, that sounded like Pinkie logic... "I just moved out of the way, Silly!" Pinkie returned, earning a scream of rage and a downward cut from Nirru. My eyes widened again as I saw her slide past the slash while spinning, causing it to miss completely. Nirru blinked in surprise after embedding her foreleg blade into the wood of the library floor. I momentarily felt sorry for it, realizing Twilight was going to have to spend a lot of bits to fix all of this. "Meany!" Pinkie yelled, frowning outright at Nirru before whipping her flank forward instead, smashing into the fake Twilight's hip with her own! To my surprise, the blow actually sent Nirru sideways, cracking the railing of the balcony as her body smashed into it. Holy hell! How strong was Pinkie's flank?! "Hold onto Mender, Pinkie!" Applejack suddenly ordered, rearing back and up with her hind legs. What?! I shifted my attention down to the floor, realizing what she must have noticed a moment later. The barrier wasn't covering the floor! Pinkie felt amazingly warm when she wrapped her hooves around me. She rolled as she grabbed onto me, just as Applejack let out another scream of rage and brought both of her hind legs down onto the wood. My eyes widened as the entire balcony dislodged from the side of the tree with a splintering crack, the wood caving in and shattering around the two massively powerful orange legs. Pinkie rolled off the balcony with me as it hit a forty five degree angle. We momentarily hung in the air before she shifted and we landed in a rather sizable shrub near the base of the library. A heartbeat passed and the entire balcony smashed into the ground next to us, kick starting my heart into fully functioning again! Applejack landed on top of the balcony a moment later, rolling as she hit. Nirru landed last, directly onto her face as she practically belly flopped into the dirt. Ouch. I suddenly realized that she wasn't a physical fighter at all. Her body was powerful, but she moved with all the grace of, well, me. Groaning, she slowly stood up, wobbling on all four hooves as she shook the impact off. Her body was connected directly to her nervous system, then. She actually felt everything. Applejack was already standing however, and stepped in front of Pinkie and I as the pink mare pulled me out of the shrubs, keeping me pressed close to her body. She felt so warm that I was hardly going to complain, however. Nirru finally turned fully, glaring at both mares as she regained her composure. "You can't win, you know. This body is practically invulnerable. I'm going to enjoy killing both of you, though," she muttered, starting to walk forward again. Applejack shivered, similarly to how I'd seen her before, and looked downright furious as she stepped forward as well. The fake Twilight snorted and lunged, whipping her foreleg blade up into a quick stab. Applejack stopped moving as she approached, then stepped back at the last second, shifting to the left. The stab missed her head by a few dozen centimeters, and to my surprise, the orange mare 'grabbed' onto the hoof attached to the blade, using her forehooves to smash it into the ground, point first. In the same instant, she spun around and bunched herself backwards, gently brushing against Nirru's chest before springing, a vicious double buck. Both hooves embedded themselves into the lavender chest for a split second before I heard a snapping noise. Nirru hit a tree that had been a half dozen meters behind her, back first. The bark splintered at the impact, and she gasped, cracking into the trunk of the tree. Yup. I knew what that felt like. Her eyes remained wide as she slowly slid down the trunk, mouth partially hanging open in definite surprise. The majority of her hoof blade remained stuck in the ground next to Applejack, point first. "Ow," she muttered simply upon finally resting her haunches on the ground. I concurred. Shivering uncontrollably under Pinkie, I noticed I could barely feel the remaining limbs I had. Oddly, it kind of still felt like I should be able to move my left foreleg. The numb sensations were welcome, however, as my body hurt like a bitch without being able to fully feel it. Nirru finally fell forwards, glaring up at us after securing all four legs on the ground. Applejack stood fast, however; the muscles in her legs clenching and relaxing as she looked ready to pounce on a hair trigger. "Fine. I see I don't have any choice at this point. The game's over now," Nirru spoke, tone soft yet cold. Applejack snorted, but in the same instant, silvery wings expanded from Nirru's back, looking like the refraction of light through a strange, monochrome prism. My eyes widened a moment later, realizing the lines of the wings didn't necessarily adhere to Euclidean geometry, and hurt my eyes to stare at. That was a Slipstream emination. She was carrying a personal one on her?! The wings slipped through each other a moment later, coating her in a shimmering silver light. "W-What tha hay is that?!" Applejack demanded, taking a step back as air pressure started to blast away from Nirru in all directions. You weren't supposed to activate that on ground level! "Don't!" was halfway out of my mouth when Nirru disappeared. A twitch of my eye passed and she moved outside of my ability to see, due to the light simply not reaching my retinas fast enough. I winced as a hoof slammed into my side, the distorted non-Euclidean bubble expanding around me in an instant from the contact. The world melted away slowly, time seeming to fall apart as we folded ourselves across a field, through several trees, and into a forest; our movement not unlike that of a melting butterfly skipping through a mud puddle. Geometry and perspective also took a coffee break, allowing me a momentary glimpse of both the inside of my nose and the traffic along the main street of Canterlot. The bubble popped a moment later, unceremoniously dumping me onto the ground, steam wafting off my fur. Oddly, the energy field had done wonders to cauterize my various wounds. Oh, and wake me up. Although I wasn't considering that a good thing, as now I was more than a little nauseous. Idly, I distracted myself wondering if it had cauterized the internal wounds, too. Not that it mattered all that much. Without treatment, I was still going to die rather shortly. Nirru climbed out of a heap of trees that had followed us into the clearing and promptly landed on her. She apparently had the foresight to drop me out of FTL before stopping herself, thankfully. She fell into the large rut we had left in the ground, wincing and shuddering on her side. "Fuuuuuuu-," she groaned out upon falling out of my personal sight and smacking into the ground. As bad as I felt right now, I was extremely glad I didn't just get subjected to her experience. "...and that's why you don't fire off a Slipstream Drive while on a gravity bearing surface. It bends, usually taking a lot of debris with it," I muttered wearily, not bothering to move from my position. The orders to my limbs were only being followed in a halfhearted manner, almost no strength at all present. "Oh shut up. Ugh," she shot back, crawling out of the rut on my side. That was one of the problems with our variety of FTL travel. Not only was it highly susceptible to forces such as gravity, it also distorted most sensors upon entering, requiring careful calculations and a planned course prior to actual activation. The perks were it being far more accurate than our ally's version, which actually couldn't turn after being launched. Nirru's entire back was scorched badly, I noticed. She aimed it away from me before opening a slot in her skin. Three holes existed under the panel, one of them being already empty. Half a second later, the middle one ejected a cylinder shaped crystal canister filled with a glowing blue liquid. The grass caught fire around the canister when it hit, spreading out a good meter in each direction almost instantly. Oh yeah. That was another downside to our FTL Engine. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to use that. This body isn't meant for physical combat, though. Damn, that orange bitch is a brute," she groaned, sliding the plate shut again before standing upright fully. The static in my skull suddenly reared its ugly head again, reminding me of its presence. Nirru glared at nothing in particular before sighing. "Didn't you learn your lesson yet? Just shut up and stop interfering, Keela," she ordered a moment later. Whether not heard or ignored, I couldn't be sure as the static certainly didn't die down. "She disagrees with my methods for some reason," the fake Twilight explained a moment later, walking over to me. I glared up at her, deciding not saying anything was preferred. There wasn't exactly a point. Even if Pinkie and Applejack had rescued me, there was a high probability of my body not surviving the time it took a doctor to arrive anyway. The realization was a frozen, numbing one. I was going to die, and there was literally nothing I could do about it. "Psh, you're a mess. I guess I'd better do something if you're going to survive transferring the DNA over," she muttered absently to herself after giving me a good hoof prodding. That was such a medically sound evaluation. She obviously had extensive medical training. I was so screwed... "Do I really have to be alive for it?" I asked bitterly, closing my eyes instead. She snorted, asking, "What, giving up already?" I think my eye twitched. "You tore off my leg. You alienated me from my friends. There's no recovering from this! What's left to fight for?!" I demanded, opening my eyes again to glare at her harshly. There wasn't any force to the shout as I couldn't get enough air into my lungs to work my vocal cords properly. I degraded into a series of coughs and spasms immediately after. She lost her smile and shook her head slowly. "It's kind of sad seeing you after all, in a rather pathetic way. You're a mistake. You couldn't have fit in here even if you wanted to, yet you deluded yourself anyway. You don't even know what you are," she returned quietly, looking surprisingly solemn. My glare could have burned through her skull. "I know I'm not a Keldarian. You're a fool," I shot back in a whisper, not understanding why she was even doing this to me. What did she have to gain? "If you only had one sample of Keldarian DNA, then I'd agree with you fully and wouldn't be here. You don't remember a thing, do you?" she asked quietly, watching me with interest. A weak sigh later, I shook my head. She smiled and looked down. A soft wind blew, and I finally noticed the forest around us. It was familiar to me all at once. The Everfree. The moon above was a few stages from full still and spreading an ambient silver light over the entire clearing. Nirru's mane blew gently along with the wind, and she looked up again, eyes almost looking through me. "Unit Zero Zero Two; initialize second, third, and fourth CPU core reboot and repair sequences in failsafe mode," she ordered with precision. Wait, what? My eyes widened and my heart leapt into my throat as an analysis display screen popped up seemingly inside of my eyes themselves, reading, "Rebooting CPU Cores." Chapter 26No. This wasn't possible. My body shivered lightly as I watched the CPU Loading Bars go across the inside of my eyes. Nirru, looking like a beat up and burned version of my fillyfriend, smiled at me snidely through the displays. "Right unit projection. Display hard disks," she requested softly a moment later. My right eye's vision went white instantly, blurs and colors shining through it. My left noticed a holographic display of the CPU Bars pop up above me and shift in front of Nirru. No, it couldn't be. Why was my right eye a holographic projector?! The loading Bars finished and initialized all three additional CPUs a moment later. Displays popped up all over the inside of my eye and I swallowed, a frozen sensation being magnified by the numbness in my chest. Thousands of what I recognized as files spread out over the screen. What the hell was this?! No, she had to be just projecting something onto my eye. The fake Twilight knelt down a moment later and pushed her hoof against my bloodied chest. My remaining functional eye widened to maximum capacity as I saw a cornered off panel form out of my chest, various slots and holes in it with seemingly metal rims! This was a nightmare. A really bad, screwed up nightmare! It had to be. I was going to wake up next to Twilight at any moment and compulsively kiss her. Nirru plugged her hoof into my chest using a cord that 'melted' from her skin a moment later. "Transfer all DNA data after decrypting," she finally ordered, sitting down on her haunches after. A bar labeled 'decrypting' slowly started crawling across my left eye. Wait, DNA data? "It's kind of sad, really. You've been here for weeks and you don't even know what you are. Well, I'm nice, so I'll tell you the truth. You're an organic computer with the mind of a clone created from a soldier you're probably familiar with. Apparently, your job was to scout this dimension, get samples from six powerful energy sources, then return," she explained all at once in a bored tone. My head swam. What?! No, I was Moon Mender; a pony here that came from a different dimension! Nirru idly adjusted the wires running into her hoof before continuing with, "Doctor Kyliona was our foremost expert on FTL Travel and Quantum Physics. She came up with a supposed plan to escape the Grosh by actually jumping dimensions. Reacting reasonably, I of course assumed she was batshit insane. Guess I was wrong. Mostly.” Even addled as I was, that was an easy enough jump to make. She stumble upon six energy sources while experimenting, found Equestria, and sent a 'scout' to explore it. I sank a little further down into a lying position. What was I? Nirru sighed after looking back up at me, letting her cords drop again. "Frankly, I can't see her programming a scout with rogue emotions. Chances are, something got fried in the dimensional transfer. Whatever the hell you are, you're a mistake. Not that it matters much as you'll probably not function for long after I finish this transfer anyway," she reasoned idly, looking surprisingly bored. A mistake? The static picked up again after a few more seconds. I felt an angry pulse inside of my skull, followed by the white noise snapping back into an audio channel. "I'm not, ugh, done yet. This is wrong, Nirru!" Keela adamantly interrupted a moment later. I didn't pay much attention, remaining motionless on the ground. What did it matter anyway? I couldn't not see the proof right in front of my eyes. Well, eye. I was a machine; a fancy computer used for scouting Equestria. "It doesn't really matter anymore. I'm downloading the DNA data now. Mender's dying," she informed, starting to echo a little as my body grew colder. I shivered, but didn't move still. There was a low growl from Keela's end before, "It still matters. I called for help now. Four squads of soldiers are waiting for us when we exit the machine." Both of them were plugged into a machine on their end? That didn't help me much. Of course, the sad thing was, I couldn't really think of anything that could help me in the first place. Healing myself was all fine and good, but when I didn't have a life to go back to anyway, it was a moot point. Swallowing, I decided I could probably never even look at Twilight again. Was everything I felt, even now, fake? The only thing I could feel now was the tightness in my throat and chest, and my eyes starting to get watery. This was pathetic. If I really was a machine, why was I crying? "Who do you think the soldiers listen to, Keela?" the bitch across from me asked, rolling her eyes in seeming annoyance. She was so full of herself. How did those two honestly end up as sisters? Keela snorted, however. "Not you anymore. We took a vote and decided you're not fit to lead this ship. Something is wrong with you," she corrected sharply. A vote? Keldarians didn't vote, as far as I remembered. All our decisions were made by the elder council, who held lifetime, hereditary positions. Predictably, Nirru narrowed her eyes. "I'm the one saving our race. I've got the DNA data of two point four billion Keldarians downloading right now. Who do you think they're going to thank for that?" she questioned vehemently, glaring down at me. How did I have all that DNA?! "H-How?" I asked softly, looking fully back up at her. I couldn't seem to stop my shivering, but she didn't seem to notice. Nirru smirked suddenly and chuckled. "Finally, an intelligent conversation. Doctor Kyliona was a homicidal bitch; that's how. You really don't remember anything about what happened before Equestria, do you?" she inquired, voice softening again. My eyes lowered, and I tried to shake my head. The only thing I achieved was a miniscule nudge sideways into the mud under me. Nirru seemed to understand regardless, continuing, "Shortly after the planetary bombardment started, a huge energy spike was released from the surface. I was in a class two battleship above the surface, and managed to pick up this." She reached down and brushed her hoof again. A short uploading bar activated, and a movie started playing in my left eye. The eye in question widened as I saw a black, well, something. It drifted off the planet, clearly visible from orbit, before exploding into tendrils in every conceivable direction. It spread at an absurdly fast rate, considering the scale involved! "I had no idea what it was at the time," she continued, adding, "It spread to just over sixty three percent of the surface area of the atmosphere in an absurd sixteen and a half seconds, blotting out our star's light completely. It then proceeded to launch more tendrils at the surface, consuming and destroying everything in its path." The video showed over half of the planet covered in pure black mass. What could possibly do that?! "Wait, you said ‘at the time’! You know what it is now, and you never told me?" Keela demanded, leaving a sharp echo through my mind. True. I hadn't picked that up so readily. I relaxed slightly, feeling my head swimming as if I had a high fever. Maybe I did. Nirru snorted. "It was a little classified, Sister. Of course, our friend here actually has the clearance to hear about it, given that he's a type one classified artifact himself. I'll even let you listen." I tried to roll my eyes, probably only managing the left one. The right seemed to be no longer under my control, instead acting as some sort of holographic output. Knowing I could do that would have been ironically helpful a few days prior, if not a whole new level of disturbing. "Uh, I'm one of the highest council seats! There shouldn't be anything above me in rank," my psychically linked friend protested. Hmm. Was she my friend? After all of this, I wasn't so sure. I had only spoken with Keela, ever. She had promised me that she was keeping everything we talked about an absolute secret. Either that was a total lie, or Nirru had spied on her somehow. Regardless, it seemed obvious that Keela had at least started out helping her sister with this little excursion. I was having trouble focusing, though. I couldn't remember what she had said earlier as it bled into what was happening now. Nirru just smiled, apparently ignoring her sister's complaints. "It was an untested biological weapon of mass destruction. It had been developed in top secret and wasn't related at all to her research. I still have no idea how she got a hold of it, but she did. It was set off right on top of us, killing a little over two point four billion Keldarians in less than thirty seconds," she explained softly, actually looking somewhat remorseful after. I shuddered of my own violation this time. The image momentarily cut out, replaced by one of planet side. Keldarians ran screaming in the dark; flares of dark blue light burning through the skies. The tendrils lashed out from the heavens themselves to rend and murder, consuming and eating everything in their way. The smaller ones were about the size of a hovercar, and the largest could have rivaled the circumference of a mountain range. The Twilight doppelganger smiled wider as she watched. Wait, how the hell did I have that video feed?! "Exactly. I know you're seeing this, Sister. The tentacles consumed everything, organic and inorganic alike. In some spots, they ate as far as four kilometers into the ground. Everyone who was touched by them was consumed and added to the mass, alongside the raw minerals and matter. That's what it was meant to do." Keela groaned lightly, interrupting with, "Please clarify what this thing does? Why were we even working on something like this?" That was a good point, although the answer was fairly obvious. There were very few uses for something like what she was describing. Nirru seemed to agree and sighed, furthering, "It was an anti-Grosh weapon. A pseudo-sentient mass of matter capable of traveling through space independently by use of our FTL technology. It could spread out almost indefinitely, consuming any mass or energy source it found as it went. It wouldn't stop until it ran out of conceivable planets to jump to, which was rather limitless considering faster than light jumps were possible. The Grosh, and everything we didn't blacklist in the AI, would be eliminated entirely. Further, after they were absorbed, all their technological information would be ours, directly from their own brains." Oh. Well damn. On a scale of scientific atrocities, that was dang near the top. There was a stagnant pause, followed by a stifled groan from Keela. "That's monstrous! There's no way we could justify that. Who knows how many innocent species we would have wiped out without even knowing!" she growled, sounding about like I felt. My mind wasn't processing the concept of potentially dooming a nigh unlimited number of species just to defeat the Grosh. "They would have been wiped out by those monsters anyway. We deserve to be the true heirs of the universe, not them. Our pathetic allies said the same thing after we shared the data with their 'Earth Sphere Council'. They called it a Universal War Crime, if I recall. If it were up to me, I'd remove them from the blacklist and launch it anyway," she spit out, glaring up at the sky absently. The amount of hatred I could practically feel radiating from her was sad. "Well thankfully it's not up to you. Regardless, if it was supposed to keep spreading, something screwed up anyway," Keela corrected, explaining, "A tendril shot off about seven thousand kilometers to the East after it reached the widest visual diameter. I suppose you know about that, too?" Nirru actually laughed before shaking her head. I shuddered as I heard it, deciding that anyone like herself had no right to be happy. "Not a clue. It was supposed to keep going, but it stopped for some reason. My only guess is Doctor Kyliona changed its AI. The tendril shot over to the edge of the bombardment zone. Then, a short ten seconds later, the entirety of the massive hulk of destruction just vanished. I didn't know we could even move that much matter into Slipstream in the first place," she muttered. We shouldn't have been able to. All of that DNA. The biological weapon had something to do with the scout then. Me. It somehow got all of the DNA of everyone it killed to me. A stiff wind blew through the dark, unfriendly forest around us. I couldn't feel the motion, but I shivered at the temperature drop. Damn it. More sticky, wet sensations leaked from my mouth, and I let out an airy cough. That proved to be a mistake, as the cough decayed into a fit of hacking, spraying droplets of red and black liquid all over the grass in front of my mouth. Well, normally that was a bad sign. The broken ribs must have injured my lungs. Internal bleeding in my respiratory tract somewhere. Without professional aid... Nirru watched curiously, but otherwise did nothing before simply continuing her little tale. "Regardless, there's a large gap of information missing after that. Her scout landed here; the biological weapon compressing back down into the body right in front of me. Now I'm conveniently taking the information," Nirru finalized a moment later, smirking back down at me. What?! "Wait, you're saying Mender is not only the scout she sent, but also the carrier for that massive biological weapon?!" Keela asked, sounding shocked. She didn't know, then. I felt the surprise from her link she gave me. No, all of this was definitely Nirru's doing. Her sister nodded. "Yes. Mender has all of the video data from the device. He also has the DNA. Frankly, I should destroy him right now for killing almost two and a half billion Keldarians, but it turns out that only a few thousand of them were female, so I don't really care. Plus, now I have the biological weapon data too," she pointed out, standing back up again. I was a biological weapon. It rang through my head after she had said it. One that had killed billions of Keldarians. I couldn't process it. The aspect felt entirely foreign; divorced from reality. "No! Mender didn't do that. It doesn't matter what he is. What truly matters is who he is, and that's clear! Individuals love him, and he loves them in return. Fix this or you're going to pay, Sister," Keela spit out, startling me with the amount of anger I suddenly sensed. Who or what? Did it matter, really? Nirru snorted, muttering, "Wow, I never thought you'd grow a backbone at any point. I don't give a shit what happens to Mender or this backwater little place. He's not loved, nor does he love in return. You can't get love from a toaster or television, which is basically the equivalent. He's a machine." It burned. Everything I had felt and cared about over the weeks. What was it? An anger built up out of nowhere, my gaze locking onto the fake mare across from me. Keela growled back, lower this time in tone. "He's not like a television. He has emotions and wants, just like we do. His feelings are real!" I had trouble suddenly trying to decide who was right. If everything Nirru said was true, what was I really? An accident that happened to instill a personality inside of me via fluke? Or was I something else that Nirru didn't know about? I had a feeling that this Doctor Kyliona could tell me, for all the good that did. Nirru's eyes narrowed and she glared upwards, probably at what she considered akin to her sister before adding, "You know what? I'll show you exactly what real looks like. After I shove this data through the connection, I'm going to go straight back to that rat infested hole in the ground back there. How many creatures do you think live there? A few thousand? Well a few thousand females died when 'Mender' exploded on our world, so I guess reducing that filth pit to ash would be fair exchange." The words shot through me like a bolt of electricity, narrowing my eyes before I could even realize their true meaning. "Twilight would rip you apart before you even got a spell off," I warned in a whisper, taking the hint from her 'ash' comment. She was an evocation caster, in all likelihood. The ironically fake Twilight paused for a moment before smiling again, looking back down at me. My vision darkened a bit, but I maintained my threatening glare as best I could. I doubted it was quite as effective with the trail of red coming from my mouth and the beat to crap and back body, though. I wish I had the strength to talk louder. "Ha! I bet she could be a serious threat," Nirru agreed, before adding, "Of course, if I look like you, I also bet she'll hesitate just long enough for me to slice her head off. Nobody ever expects their precious television to try to kill them, after all." Hatred. I remembered it. I tasted it as my eyes burned into her. This was my fault. I should have killed the bitch when the book had suggested it. It had been right. The book almost realized that I was agreeing with it finally, wherever it happened to be at the moment. I felt it smile, then laugh. Mentally, I laughed alongside it. For a moment, felt an opinion form from it and sync up with mine. My eye's 'screen' flickered. I saw the lower corner of it light up, and a smiling, crudely drawn cat face popped up inside. A quick glance at the display floating in front of Nirru showed me that it was absent in hers. Well, that was interesting. The face made a winking motion at me before melting into what could only be described as a small button, labeled "Protocol 312." What was this, some sort of black box functionality? I heard Nirru and Keela bickering back and forth amidst static and echoes, but didn't really pay attention. I didn't have long left, it would seem. I closed my eye, frowning at the small button in the peace of the dark. The book silently urged me to press it. It had to be a way to make her pay. Well, what were the odds? It might make me blow up, which would solve all of the problems at once. Maybe it would just purge my memory and erase all of her precious data? Either way, it got revenge. I was hoping for the explosion option myself, of course. I smiled lightly. Twilight. Fluttershy. No, deep down, I could only trust what I knew. I knew that I couldn't let anything bad happen to anypony here. Yes, anypony. Maybe I could prove I was a pony by dying as one. I kept my eyes closed, a light drop of water slipping down my cheeks and into the mud below. It wasn't fair. None of it was. I hated her. Hatred. She ruined everything. Even if I could see them again, I could never look them in the eyes knowing what I actually was. That settled it; there was no choice. What she just promised to try was the final straw. It was unforgivable. My upper lip twitched as my smile twisted into a sneer. I wasn't about to be the one to forgive her. I made up my mind. I was all out of forgiveness. Mentally, I pushed the button. * * * * * Everything flickered. A thousand screams echoed through my mind. Each passing thought flickered to a new individual. Tentacles tore through everything, spraying blood and gore as they went. Hatred and fear were everywhere, but not alone. Sorrow, acceptance, shock, misery, hopelessness, rage... The miasma of emotions danced through my nerves like a thunderstorm. Everyone who died in that instant was screaming out in their own way, trying to be themselves in their last moments of life. They were all there. Everything they had been, from flesh to opinions to memories. I entertained the thought of it being a twisted form of purgatory. At some point, I was distinctly aware of how it was similar, and quite different from falling asleep with the book powered up. The book presented an inescapable suction; a draw across an unknowable, infinite distance that I couldn't hope to ignore. The second my mind shifted into its resting mode, I was yanked into the book an instant later. Normally a sense of vertigo would follow with a light nausea as a side dish. This time was different, yet familiar. There was that same pull and dropping sensation, although this felt more like I was falling into a pit I slipped into. My body shut down. I felt my breathing slow and my heart get weaker until it stopped. The dull ache was supplemented by a jolt, and I felt myself yanked inwards as if on a leash. Technically I should be dead, but I had a feeling if I were speaking of technicalities, my case was far more complicated. Everything after that felt exactly like the disembodied consciousness I had experienced before being unceremoniously crammed into the book. My eyes opened, even though they didn't really. That same woman I saw a while back on Keela's computer was sitting in an overstuffed, green armchair in front of me. 'Me' was subjective, as I decidedly didn't consider my body, so it wasn't there. Lines of data and loose information drifted all around in the otherwise pitch black ambience. Was this inside of the computer cores inside me; some convenient graphical representation for my conscious mind? The reality around the Keldarian in front of me flickered, showing hintings of a corrupted version of some sort of basement lab, almost. It was tiny, yet organized. A warm light shined across her features from a desk lamp on the end table next to her seat. Cozy. She looked up at me, or maybe the camera she was talking to, a moment later. Her face held a far older appearance than Keela or Nirru, age lines hinting at a much longer story. Her mouth was twisted into a wry smile, regardless of her pained expression and posture. Those calculating and calm eyes still burned out from behind the modest frames of her glasses. "I tried and," she started to speak before cutting out into static. I frowned, noticing my mental readout gave me a warning about fragmentation problems. Bits and pieces were picked up, however. "He was a monster. I tried... ...launched anyway but... ...cut the shielding. It will fry his personality core and... ...too late. After it eats me, it will be too late..." she continued, features twisting and flickering with each fragmented glitch. There was also a sense of movement; like the ground was shaking and a booming echo sounded off with each flicker. Was this video taken during the bombardment? It wasn't enough. I tried to fix it, but my 'mind', the voice of the book, reported that it would take too long. Pity. "You are you... ...never... ...they can't have you. Destroy..." she finished. My mental eyes widened as I saw the deep crimson stain pooling around her stomach as she held it lightly with her left hand, claws digging into the fabric of her shirt. The video died shortly thereafter. Doctor Kyliona... She was dead, wasn't she? I felt a twinge of sadness and closed my eyes again. They were all dead. All of them; dead, yet screaming in my head. They agreed. Vengeance. Destroy, huh? If it would protect Twilight, Fluttershy, my friends, and all the ponies I cared for; even if that feeling was fake, it was all I had! With a new sense of purpose, I focused on all I knew about neurological graphic interfaces. Oddly, the one in my skull almost felt familiar as I brought up menu after menu. Emergency systems kicked on, enabling backup subroutines. Electricity jolted through me, kick starting my systems as everything powered up, energy folding in around me. Yes. Vengeance and justice. I felt pain and stiffness as my heart struggled to start beating again; lungs slowly starting to labor in an agonizing fashion. Was I dead or alive? I decided it didn't really matter at this point. As my body started itself back up again, I searched through everything I could find to help me stop her. Artificial energy level readings started displaying, so I just started turning on anything I could find. Oddly, it sort of reminded me of having root access to a system. There were no prompts or security screens. I was the ultimate administrator, and what I commanded, happened to the utmost extent. I suppose, fundamentally, that made sense. My mind screamed to a halt when I finally stumbled upon a folder entitled "Project 312" in my spastic search. I opened it with no acknowledged decision being made. Written statistics, project descriptions, and thousands of pictures and diagrams met my 'eyes' an instant later. Flicking through to the diagrams, I immediately brought up schematics of myself. I had started out as a sort of egg-like device. My body was entirely amorphous, capable of taking form into practically anything and holding it indefinitely. I was meant to blend in and try to survive, regardless of the situation or natural environment. For a scout, that sounded ideal, honestly. Then my form shifted to that of a Keldarian. To be specific, the extremely talented engineer I was cloned from after his body was pieced back together. He was flagged for execution and thus, Doctor Kyliona apparently could do what she wanted with him. From the documents I discovered, she actually appeared to want him more for his mind than as punishment. She 'enlisted' his aid under admittance to his Barrier Magic skills. It appeared to have something to do with her latest experiment. I kept searching, not having time to read everything, obviously. Damn it. There had to be specs in here I could use or something. Surely they gave me a weapon to defend myself, right? I finally found a specification document, and rapidly skimmed through it, forming a summary in my database. As disheartening as it was, I was listed to have absolutely no weaponry of any kind. I flattened my non-existent ears back and sighed, flipping back through the folder again. Momentarily, it amused me that my mental aspect was more pony than Keldarian. After half a minute of searching, I managed to stumble upon a collection of executables as well. Perking up a little, I activated one with the descriptor of "scout package" out of sheer curiosity. Multiple screens popped up immediately, showing me a detailed readout of the area surrounding my body in a radar form, picking up data points from all five of my main senses, as well as a few built in sensor suites. That was handy. I tweaked the display a little and managed to find Nirru almost instantly through her heat signatures. I had been right about her body. It apparently was extremely similar to mine, albeit seemingly more simplistic. She had a hard set grouping of equipment and electronics inside of her, appearing to lack the 'organic' properties I possessed. My attention was drawn away from the radar output a moment later, however, as I picked up Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's Cutie Marks pop up on the right side of the display, taking up the first and second boxes of six. My eyes widened and I pulled the display out, shocking myself when I got emotional output data and recognition analysis. Fluttershy's pulse was low and in a resting state. My program stated she was most likely asleep. Rainbow Dash's heart rate was going crazy, however. Uh oh. Sensing my distress, the display focused on her and extended out, filling my 'screen' with her data. To surprise me yet again, audio started playing a minute later, cutting in apparently mid-sentence with, "...doing here?! Oh no. No, no, no! He was telling the truth. I knew it! Twi, we need to get back to the Library like, now!" It was spoken in a very surprised Rainbow Dash's voice. What? Was this live?! I tried to say something, and then remembered I technically didn't have vocal cords. Damn it. Attempt two had me try to mentally 'project' the words into her mind again. Anything to warn them of what was going on. Nothing. "Incorrect Relay Format," displayed itself under the audio readout a moment later. Thanks. That's really, um, helpful and descriptive. I made a mental note to figure out who programmed that and murder them later, if possible. Or at least harshly reprimand them. My inner Fluttershy nodded cutely in agreement, managing to make me smile. "W-What are you talking about? Did something happen?" I heard Twilight ask, sounding instantly worried. Well she'd left me alone again, so I imagine she was picturing her house burning down. There was a sniffling noise, followed by, "Oh dear. Is Mender all right?" It sounded like Rarity, but was a little off. Had she been crying? "No, he's not! It’s really bad! AJ’s probably in trouble too. Teleport us, now!" Rainbow rapidly spilled out, relaying frustratingly outdated information. I wished I could bash my metaphorical skull into the non-existent screen. Did Rainbow know Morse Code? Doubtful. How the hell was I even hearing all of this? "Wait, what?! You're not joking, are you? What happened?" my fillyfriend questioned, sounding both shocked and disturbed at the same time. I could almost picture her face, too. "No, I'm not! He was telling the truth the whole time. Somepony came from his world! We need to get there before she hurts somepony!" my cyan friend furthered, surprising me. She had checked out my story, even after I 'attacked' her friend. She trusted me. Further, while she sounded shocked and scared, there wasn't any sense of doubt coming from her words. She believed what she was saying! "Oh no. I was afraid of this. He was right! Princess Celestia warned me that this might happen, but didn't say why. Ugh. Let's go, Rainbow! Hang on," Twilight requested. What?! Celestia had warned her? Didn't she say that Celestia was the one who said there was no more link in the first place? An explosion rocked the audio a moment later, and I heard ponies screaming in the background. “W-What was that?!” Spike spoke up, apparently being there as well. The distorted ringing sound after it was all too familiar. That was the slipstream device. This wasn’t live, then? What was going on? “I, well, I want to come too!” Rarity spoke up, followed by what sounded like a table falling over. “No! Stay here with Spike. He’ll protect you if something happens, Rarity. Come on, Dash,” I heard Twilight order an instant later. It sounded like something bumped up against the microphone a moment later. “On it!” Spike declared, but everything else was cut off. The audio died an instant later with another flashing message overtop of the display, saying, "Audio Link Disrupted Due To High Energy Interference!" Twilight teleported them. I let the link drop and sighed in frustration. I couldn't figure out how to talk to them anyway, so it hadn't done me a huge amount of good. Plus, I wasted a lot of time listening. At least I knew Twilight was warned about a potential shapeshifter attack. She'd be suspicious now. I wondered idly if she'd dealt with them before. She certainly didn't seem as surprised as I expected when she heard that part. Peeking through the executable files again, I tried to find any that had to do with weaponry or defensive measures. If I was to survive in a potentially hostile environment, surely they'd give me something to do it with, right? There was unfortunately nothing of immediate direct interest, and I glared at the screen. A second later, I saw an upload date discrepancy in the files. "Waste_Disposal_Management.exe" was dated uploaded five days after all the others. Well, that was weird. Wait, why did I even have a program to manage my waste disposal? Where the hell was it when I encountered Lyra the first time?! Curious now, I activated that instead. The name changed instantly to "Protocol312.exe" instead. My smile widened as it activated. The change was instantaneous as I felt multiple things activate inside the core of my body and expand. Power flooded into my systems and woke up my tired body almost instantly. Maybe, just maybe, I had finally found what I needed. Thank you, whoever or whatever dropped this little black box into me. My eyes opened again, for real this time. * * * * * My vision momentarily swam before I focused the left on Nirru. She was looking moody and glaring absently at the loading screen that floated in front of me. My breathing started up again after my heart did, my muscles slowly following the lead. I felt dried out and rickety, and something was worming its way through me. It twisted inside my gut, spreading out over my skin and coiling around my insides silently. Nothing beyond the chilled numbing was added to the sensation, and I felt my stomach piecing itself back together again, organs that I suddenly discovered outside of my body being slowly pulled back in. The bitch had torn me open while unconscious? The hatred swelled, threatening to overwhelm. No Mender; patience. "Are you even listening to me, Nirru?! You have to get him aid! Don’t make me pull the plug!" I heard Keela demanded a moment after I had calmed myself down. Her sister just snorted however, absently watching the download bar as it hovered above me. "You’d die too. You don’t have the guts. Besides, he's ceased functioning; his body is only running on backup reserves it seems. Hopefully the bastard will stay alive until I can burn down his precious little town," she spit out, glaring at the bar as it moved. "Kill her! Rip her limb from limb!" was whispered inside of my skull. I ignored it, deciding to watch her carefully from my lying position, holding my reforming body as still as possible. Tiny movements slowly pulled my organs back inside of me and sealed the holes. They were stringy and almost tendril like. Tentacles? My mind flashed back to that… thing… in the sky in those videos. Oh. New systems that hadn't been presented before powered on. A generator grid lit up in a status display, and I tucked it away for future observation. How they fit all of this crap inside of me, I had no idea. My display showed multiple, highly compressed folded spaces inside of me, which probably answered that mystery. Then the biggest surprise came next. A weapon system display lit up next, giving me multiple dozen targeting reticles across the entirety of my vision. Moving them was beyond second nature, to my surprise. I felt myself start to think faster, moving them into position before I even realized I had acknowledged her as a threat. Wait. In an exercise of will, the targeting cursors that drifted over her various vital spots stayed a happy green color. Yes, green was good. Green meant wait. "You're a monster! No, Mender can't be dead. He can't. They'll be coming to rescue him. Hell, I'll pull him through the connection and heal him myself if I need to," Keela shouted. I shivered lightly. Why did she care that much? Surely she realized I was a robot at this point, organic or not. I had the mind of a clone, right? But she sounded like she was crying. Suddenly, my apparent software defenses kicked in. Nirru gave a start as her download screen went red a split second later. "What the hell? Huh?! How does the encryption protocol change halfway through a transfer?" she groaned, glaring at the screen I still projected. The impossibly strong twisting and worming sensation crawled up my throat, supporting my neck and pulling my vocal cords back into place with frightening precision. I felt heavy and thicker; my limbs were impossibly solid suddenly. "Aww, is your data not cooperating?" I asked, my tone both my own, and something darker at the same time, bleeding over each other in a strange duality. Two tones at once? I recognized it as the book, whom I was in full agreement with at the moment. She needed to die; preferably in the most excruciatingly painful way possible. Nirru's eyes widened a little and she looked back down at me instead of the screen as soon as I spoke. "No way. You were dead. Your heart stopped," she muttered, sounding like she didn't quite believe herself. My body didn't feel like a dead weight anymore, I suddenly realized. The coils were under my control, and I could move myself with them, I discovered. Further, they felt impossibly strong. I felt them slowly extending down each of my legs towards the hoof, as well as curling out around where my left foreleg used to be? "Mender?! Oh thank goodness! Just hold on. I'm going to try to help you through the link," I heard Keela chime in an instant later. No, she was irrelevant at this point. Just noise. The radius on the targeting indicators tightened and tracked each muscle shift in Nirru's body. Her hoof extended upwards slowly, activating her decryption program again. "Whatever. It'll just take me a few more minutes to crack it again," she nonchalantly returned, eyes calming down again as she ignored both her sister and I. My smile widened as I shut her process down remotely, leaving nothing but an "Access Denied" message in its stead. Her blink was a slow one, and her hoof hesitated before hitting the same button again. A very wise individual once said something about insanity that applied there... My right eye flickered, and her entire screen disappeared; the viewpoint in both of my eyes rapidly returning to my own. My thoughts raced, millions of voices screaming at me to tear her apart as all four main cores hummed to full capacity. This was empowering, but absolutely maddening at the same time! "No, I really don't think I want you in my databases anymore. Although you were right about something," I agreed softly, the lower voice barely there. The worming sensation stretched across my back, a heightened sense of awareness extending across each muscle as I felt the eight twitching points of contact. Further, it extended out all four hooves, including the newly formed one on my also newly created leg. The tips extended into wicked scythe-like claws; three forward and one backwards from each hoof. I was mildly surprised at the revelation, my internal sensors taking rapid measurements of each of them. Well, Twilight's claw marking mystery was solved then, even if she would never know. The fake Twilight swallowed before shifting her right forehoof metallic again, extending four large prongs from it. My newly discovered scanning and analysis software told me it was a brute force software cracker. Heh. "And what, pray tell, is that?" she asked in self-assurance before extending the hoof casually down towards my chest. A rush went through me as my heart beat powerfully once more. An intense thrill that sung along with the cacophony of madness in my head; a moment later I realized it was bloodlust. I liked it. The light shining over her from my eye displays shifted crimson instead of pale blue. One of the targeting reticles flickered red with a stray thought. The upper right point on my back lashed out faster than the eyes could track, metal blades making a sharp whistling noise through the air. Her entire right foreleg hit the tree to my left, hacking module shattering against the bark. Her eyes widened into a stunned look. "Nobody ever expects the television to try to kill them," I half quoted, mouth twisting into a vicious smirk. All of the targeting circles turned red. Chapter 27The moonlight pierced through the branches of the tree I found myself in. The soft, silvery blue light accentuated the deadly silence of the forest around me. Lower yet, the light died out almost completely at the forest floor. The cool breeze drifted through my fur, causing me to shiver as my nerves flared with each movement. A heightened sense of awareness was accompanied by a feral, rushed thinking. My pupils contracted, warding out the light from above and focusing on the prey I yet tracked. I couldn't keep my eyes focused as I excitedly darted them back and forth, taking in all movement. I could smell her on the breeze, a light string of saliva drifting out from the rows of razor-like teeth in my mouth at the sensation. Her breathing was irregular as she crouched beneath the overhang of a rocky outcropping. The stream that undoubtedly carved it eons ago was still flowing at her feet as she struggled to regrow the basic structure of her foreleg, if not for mere balance concerns. I shifted, a movement barely concerning my conscious effort as I slithered between three sets of trees, extending myself out and closer to her. My harsh claws scraped gently along the bark of the tree I landed in, silently watching from above. Holding onto the tree was easy when I had extra limbs! Eight extra appendages extended from my back, although the term must be used loosely. Each was almost twelve meters long at this point, flexing and twitching of their own accord like starving snakes as I watched her. They were repulsive things, I noted. The majority of their surface area had taken on the same texture as my flesh. Coiled, lumpy, lightly oiled, and gunmetal black. Dark red sores and ruptures covered them, occasionally squirting out a blast of pus as they shifted and flexed. The smells were hellish, and that was being generous. They were organic, yet I also saw corded metal and energy running down them. These were, without a doubt, exactly what a biological weapon would look like. Yet for all of their speed, flexibility, and striking power, there was something far more frightening about these tentacles. I watched a visual distortion drift lengthwise along a portion closed to my head; my sensors were unable to pick up the effect itself regardless of me knowing exactly what it was. A byproduct of the Slipstream technology was a 'folding' of spatial connectivity. That protected living organisms from the many complications of faster than light travel, of course. It had a few other applications, however. Out of the distortion came a partially liquid but rapidly solidifying blade, jagged in shape as it took form rapidly. They could pop out of me anywhere, just like the tentacles themselves, it would seem. Without a doubt, I was a monster. I was close enough to hear her blood rushing through her veins. At least, whatever passed for blood in that artificial body. I knew my body couldn't process it, but at the same time, I realized these things extending out of me could. Oh, and how they hungered too. Their wanton starved desires made me salivate as I slipped down the tree. A tentacle extended above me, rearing back like a snake as a spear-like head extended out of the maw on the tip. No sound. No warning. I wasn't about to delusion myself with giving her a sporting chance. No, I just lashed out when it was ready. Her eyes widened at the last possible second and she dove sideways, just barely missing the blade driving itself through her eye. I landed an instant later, propelled out of the tree at unnatural speeds by three additional tentacles. My right forehoof drew blood using the claws extending from it as she rolled out of the way, fresh series of wounds sliced into her cheek. She let out a blast of flames from her right forehoof as she flipped up to her feet, sending out three fireballs that blew away the base of the tree I was at prior, sending the entire thing crashing down to the earth. On second thought, it was no surprise it was dead quiet. If I was small, furry, and classified as a woodland creature, I would be running the hell away from here as fast as possible. I entertained the idea of classifying my prior self as exactly that as I landed silently in a tree some sixty meters away, cloaked once again in darkness. "Stop hiding, you chicken shit! Face me!" she screamed into the darkness, rapidly spinning in a sharp circle as she tried to find me in the dense forest. I resisted laughing, thankfully. Even had I been compelled by some strange form of honor or ego to do just that, this was far too much fun! Her heart rate skyrocketed as she listened to the silence for another second before shifting closer to the trees. Duking it out at point blank range was sporting and the gentlecolt thing to do. Did she forget already that I was a monster? Besides, I wanted her to taste the fear she'd forced down my throat earlier, preferably mixed with blood as I tore hers out. I wanted her to pay for the hell she just made Applejack watch. Even Twilight's floor and balcony deserved a few stabs of revenge! Oh yeah; she also killed me. My claws tightened at the thought as I flickered effortlessly closer. Personally, I could keep this up all night. She didn't look nearly as fortunate, however. Her strangely realistic looking blood dripped from dozens of wounds dotting her body. Honestly, I was surprised she managed to get the foreleg restored so fast. She was panting heavily and rested against a large tree, peeking around it rapidly before also looking up into it. Ah, she had caught on. Pity it was absurdly dark, and I was an equally dark shade of gray. After her body moved faster than I thought possible while avoiding my first barrage of tentacle attacks, I had been playing hit and run with her. My mind and newfound rage told me to lunge and not stop attacking until she was shredded mulch, but I managed to keep the bloodlust in check for the most part. Wearing her down and learning what she was capable of seemed more productive. I slipped into the branches of the tree next to hers, tentacles shooting down vertically along the trunk and lashing out from the base. Predictably, she saw them coming out of the darkness and lashed out with a slash of her hoof, releasing a surprisingly crescent shaped wave of flames. I was already out of the tree, however, flipping sideways with actually calculated precision. Two tentacles got singed before I moved them back up and away. Her eyes winced down the moment the trunk exploded from her attack, the light difference briefly stunning her. There! I noticed that her own attacks would blind her with the light they released. I landed behind her on all four legs, digging into the dirt before lunging as fast as I could manage. There was no time to raise a claw up, so instead, I improvised. With a feral cry, the top of my head rammed into her lower back as hard as I could manage. She let out a scream as I felt something snap against my forehead, both of us spilling over and smashing into the burning tree debris. She lashed out with a kick I didn't even feel upon landing, but it did serve to wedge it into my chest, preventing me from landing on top of her. She charged a blast of flames in her hoof, but two of my tentacles whipped down and smashed blades into both of her forelegs. She gritted her teeth, barely blocking my downward claw attack with her other back leg. With both back legs up now, she managed to shove hers out from under me, sparks flying from her shoulders as the blades scraped along them. Damn, her skin was tough! Sliding, she used both forelegs to launch another close range fire crescent. On instinct, my tongue lashed out from my mouth, extending two meters in front of me while covered in barriers. Nirru's eyes widened in surprise as I smashed it along the path of the slash she made, knocking the attack off into the forest. My tongue pulled back just as four tentacles lashed out instead, the remaining four balancing me again and raising me off the ground. Just like the first time, her body accelerated, launching her a good five meters backwards before she raised her head up fully again, landing on all four legs. Her horn lit up this time, launching a barrage of fireballs. Shit! I let her get too much distance on me. Thankfully that primal monster that directed my instincts reacted far quicker. The four limbs supporting me shifted, flinging me to the right and far clear of the incoming attack. My mind replayed the video of her movement as I landed quietly behind a tree, the entire left side of my body lighting up from series of explosions I'd avoided. It was fast, but definitely there. Her hooves had flared up for a split second, and she used them like some sort of primitive rocket to propel herself away from me, getting more distance to attack with. Leaping away from the tree again, I lunged along the clearing she landed in, using the cover of the trees to block her series of straight shot blasts. She was limited at close range and seemed to have an affinity for fire based attacks, then. "Activate the full tentacles. They'll eat her alive," I heard whispered in my inner ear in the voice of the book. No! I hadn't dropped their shielding when they activated, and I wasn't about to now. They'd consume everything, not just her! I paused an instant later, realizing what I just said... It was almost disastrous. A fire streak shot in, burning runes dancing around it. There were layers to the shot. The first was just a container. The second fueled the shell like a rocket. The third tore through a layer of shields before exploding. I recognized the setup, it would seem. She was skilled to rapid fire these things. There was just one problem with the technique; the outer layer was a barrier. With a bit of finesse, my tongue found the blast instead. It deftly curled around the thin barrier, strengthening it before crushing inwards. The blast became a marble sized orb of heat before I swallowed it and pulled out the energy inside of me, adding to my reserves. Nirru looked disgusted as I dove down and sprinted at her. "Monster!" she exclaimed, drawing forth another burning crescent wave at me. That was ironic, coming from her. I leapt over the wave of flames and landed within six meters of her. Do it! I lunged again while releasing a feral roar of rage, rather than lash out with my tentacles. She leapt backwards again and I watched the runes light up on her hooves. Right into my trap! Smiling, I whipped my upper left tentacle at her an instant later. She smirked back as it missed, passing right in front of her. That's when the shield around it disappeared, if only for half a second. The air itself was sucked into the void that my tentacle's tip became. Her eyes widened as the flames along her forelegs sputtered, being closest to the tentacles as it whipped past. The back legs burst out fire a moment later, unfortunately for her. I've never seen somepony plant their face into the ground in such a spectacular manner before. Her horn snapped off as she ran her head into the ground at high velocity before her back legs flipped out the other direction. Oh. Oh crap. I hadn't thought this through very well! My eyes widened as well as her direction suddenly reversed, sending her grinding along the ground on her face directly for me. At the last second, I managed to jump using my tentacles as a spring. Her body clipped my back legs still and ended up flipping me forwards regardless. Disoriented, I managed to spin in midair and land on all four legs again, rotating once before sliding to a stop. Thankfully my CPU cores kicked in and rapidly re-oriented me a moment later. Nirru flipped over and landed on her back, blood coming from a large gash along her forehead. Her horn had apparently shattered, leaving just the stump of it attached to her forehead. She let out a primal scream of pain and clutched both sides of her head after landing, shaking there while lying on the ground. Whoa! I forgot she had an empathy link with that body. Now that I looked closer, that probably hurt like a bitch. Regardless, my eyes narrowed and I raised all eight tentacles up into the air, popping blades out of every one of them. No, letting her recover wasn't on my agenda. All eight descended at once with the full intent of unceremoniously grinding her to a thick paste in an instant. She whipped her foreleg backwards at the same time however, instinctively lashing out. I could barely track the flash of light and searing arc before it smashed into my chest in a tight spiral. A light explosion knocked me flying backwards, causing my tentacles to miss entirely, smashing into the ground instead. I spread them out and drug them along the forest floor, anchoring my slide and slowing myself to a crawl until I could fully steady myself. Systems scanned and noticed light dermal damage to my chest and forelegs from the detonation, with primary and secondary armor systems unharmed. Ah; that attack was for speed and distance creation. Glaring, I rose my vision back up to meet hers as she stood, shaking visibly and bleeding heavily. "That's it! I don't care anymore. You're dead! You and this entire forest are going to burn, and I'll pick the DNA out of the ashes!" she screamed, flames starting to dance up around her as she practically trembled in rage. My eyes narrowed as the sensors in them picked up the temperature increases focusing into her hands rapidly. That amount of energy wasn't good! My first instinct was to dash away again and resume the hit and run tactics, but I realized that wasn't possible. If she got too destructive, the collateral damage to the forest would be phenomenal. My body shifted forwards, flicking itself into a vault in an instant instead. She screamed in fury this time as she whipped both forelegs forwards, standing up completely on her back hooves! A radiating orb of white and orange flames expanded instantly from her held out limbs, blanketing the entire burning clearing in a bright, white light. Damn it! I started to recognize the magic and didn't like where it was going. I'm pretty sure I'd only seen that particular attack performed once, but I remembered what it did well enough! She wanted to end this in one shot, and I wasn't entirely sure I'd persist through that. Processing power spiked as calculations ran through my mind. Time slowed again as a burst of adrenalin combined with the heightened mental capacity and slowed things to a crawl. All eight of my extra limbs spread out as far as they could, four to each side as I lashed them out forwards. There was only one option if I didn't want her to reduce everything in a ridiculously large cone in front of her to ash, and it wasn't going to be pleasant either way. My eyes widened as a true memory drifted into me from the individual I was created from... * * * * * The old geezer walked in front of our group, pace slow yet strutting. He was probably well over a hundred and forty, but the crazy bastard was still teaching. Jokes amidst the barracks said he'd invent a spell to reanimate himself after he croaked just to keep his position as head instructor. At this point, I wasn't so sure that it was a joke! He turned sharply, crossing both lightly furred arms over his chest. Patches were missing here and there, but he obviously took good care of himself despite his advancing age. "So recap! Restoration, Alteration, Transmutation, Enchantment, Conjuration, Illusion, Divination, and Evocation! Those are the eight primary schools of magic. Everyone here should have their tactics and summaries memorized, regardless of your actual profession! Knowing your enemy is the first step towards defeating them," he reiterated. I'd studied hard regardless, and knew the techniques of all of them by heart. Each was broken up into categories, but that much was irrelevant. I specialized in Alteration and Transmutation of course, being an Engineer. More specifically, I held a special fondness for Barrier Magic, which was a subset of Alteration. But that was for a different reason entirely. Heh. Regardless, I was a support type. While I knew of the techniques of the other categories, I couldn't actually cast any. My elongated ears perked as I listened, knowing where this was going anyway. I'd used Prudentia to take a 'peek' at his lesson plan last night, as usual. "Today, we cover basic balances between the categories! Right off the bat, we'll discuss the most likely cause of most of your death's in the future; evocation! It's classified as the manipulation of energy at a molecular level in order to transform it into a different effect in order to provoke a reaction. Fancy talk aside, it's used to blow shit up! If any of you survive your evocation training later this week, you'll know what I mean," he continued, glaring at each of us in turn before moving on. Evocation didn't frighten me. As a barrier user, the only classes of magic that I really had to worry about were divination and restoration. One was annoying to the point of mind numbing frustration, and the other was single handedly the most lethal class of magic in existence. Always stay on a healer's good side! Reversing the healing spells was not something pretty to see. "Those of you in Alteration or Transmutation specializations are probably laughing now, but you need to listen up! A good amount of caution never hurt anyone, and I'm gonna show you why. The upper most tiers of Evocation mess around with things you'd better damn well hope you never see comin' at you! This, for example," he warned. Wait, he wasn't seriously crazy enough to activate an Evocation inside of the gymnasium, was he?! Sure enough, flames exploded around him as he gathered up a massive orb of heat and energy directly in front of him, his fur lightly blowing as it gathered into the size of a beach ball, radiating orange and white light! What the hell was that?! "This, ya soggy hairballs, is called Gigaflare. An unoriginal name for a rather simple process. That's what's sick about it, really. It's too simple, in theory. Imagine making a magical rune array to produce energy. Then, you smash that energy together to cause a reaction to make even more energy. Using that extra energy, you then do it again! Pretty sweet deal, right?" he offered, gesturing with a nod towards the orb. The class nodded, mostly. I frowned. Exponential energy increases were fine and all, but the heat coming from what he was holding indicated something else entirely. "This is exactly what the 'medium' end magic in Evocation deals with. Turns out, most of their higher end stuff comes from apprentices like you screwing up and leveling a few city blocks by total accident. So, long story short, guess what happens when you get the hiccups and drop the energy tethers to this orb halfway through charging it?" he asked, looking amused. Hiccups? Seriously? Well, if you dropped the tethers, you'd lose control over the spell. The failsafe would kick in and disrupt it and, wait, unless the student forgot to apply the failsafe. Then the reaction would spiral out of control and... "Ah! I can see the look of horror on your face! You, up front! Got a guess?" the professor asked, gesturing towards me with a grin. I swallowed nervously and reasoned, "Well if they forgot the failsafe, the energy reaction would spiral out of control and explode in an exponentially larger detonation than what they put into it." The professor's grin widened and he nodded enthusiastically. "Bingo! Of course, the time it was discovered didn't go so well. Lost the entire class of two o' seven and our fifty sixth gymnasium, but we learned quite a bit! With a little bit of an adjustment, it turns out you can 'kick' the energy in a single direction. It makes for a nifty attack!" he explained. Oh hell. He wasn't seriously going to...?! He promptly turned around and aimed the ball into the corner of the gymnasium before releasing a pulse outwards from his hands. The energy in the blast magnified and slammed outwards. That little bump he gave it was all it needed once the fragile balance was lost! It exploded outwards from him, radius expanding to seven or eight times his body length in a pure oval shape of radiating flames. An actual corona formed around it of superheated energy before exploding into a cone-like wave of white and orange light and heat. The side of the gymnasium disappeared into a blackened shadow before blowing away to ash an instant later as what looked like the maw of hell itself smashing through it. The cone extended far past the gymnasium, and I saw one of the orbiting survey blimps explode in the distance. Those were over the fields of ore fourteen kilometers away, though! "What the hell are you doing down there?!" was suddenly screamed over the professor's belt communicator. He lowered his still smoking hands and just burst into copious amounts of laughter as he watched half the corner collapse upon itself. Yup; he was crazy. * * * * * My extra limbs smashed around the rapidly elongating oval of burning death as I leapt directly into it. There was no way to stop the reaction, as she already released it. That left only one possible solution and it wasn't going to be pretty. The professor said trying to block or absorb that kind of attack was foolish and pointless. The only defenses were to either not be there when the attack hit, or to redirect it as best you could. Dodging looked pretty good about now, but if I did, half the forest would probably be burnt to ash. I didn't know which direction Ponyville was in, either. That left only one choice... Barriers activated along all eight of my tentacles, expanding outwards as I slammed to a halt right in front of the energy buildup. Well, if this didn't work, I was almost assured a rather fast death. With that optimistic outlook cemented in my mind, I activated all eight barriers. Slowly, they started to expand outwards, forming an entire cage around the buildup of flames. Nirru made a scoffing noise and the orb flared with light just as my tentacles connected together behind her, sealing both of us inside with the blast. "Seriously? You prioritize those rats in this world above yourself? Wow, you're stupid!" she screamed a moment later. My eyes narrowed. Yeah, I probably was an idiot. But this was all I knew. Even if they didn't want me, they were all I had. The book itself seemed to dislike the thought too. I felt it; so close yet so far. Shifting, I felt that connection jingle and to my surprise, Keela's signal came alive again. I hadn't heard from her since Nirru and I had started fighting, and just assumed she was being blocked. After a light burst of static, she finally spoke up in a whisper with, "I'm sorry. I can't stop her. This wasn’t what I wanted. I couldn’t… But I can do this." My eyes widened. She sat in a chair with wires connected to her temples. A faint smile danced across her features as her hand reached out to the right, struggling and shaking as she moved it. I saw a twisted and torn leather strap on the chair and a thick, dark liquid ran down the armrest. Keela! Her hand finally landed on the counter next to her, dripping more of her blood down along the metal. The book! Her claws brushed against the cover before she latched onto it and, in one fluid motion, hauled it against her chest and hugged it to herself. The energy flared into me through her link an instant later, and it all suddenly made sense. Smirking, I drew upon the energy and my barriers exploded, expanding out exponentially and covering the entirety of her blast in a massive cylinder shape. Stopping the blast would be foolish. Giving it a top and bottom direction to leak out of however would be far easier. "What the hell?! You're not this powerful!" Nirru exclaimed, trying to break the reaction down instead before it went off. Ha! She had just expected it to punch through my shield with no problem at all, I realized. Her frantic clawing made it far worse. Instead of deactivating the massive chain reaction, she launched it straight downwards instead. Well, this was going to be fun... The explosion radiated outwards in an instant, shattering my entire world into bright white light. Nirru's scream sounded an instant later as the ground around my hooves gave away. * * * * * Coughing, I managed to crawl out of the crater. My skin tingled with an irritating amount of heat. Opening my eyes, I winced and gasped as I saw that I was literally glowing red, steam from the air temperature difference wafting amply off me as I drug myself back onto level terrain. The grass was missing. Actually, it appeared to be missing in most of the clearing. The ambient heat radiation from the explosion alone was enough to set fire to the vegetation around the center of the area for a good six meters. The newly formed crater itself fared far worse with the center of it literally crystallizing various minerals in the soil under the heat. If the shield hadn't been there, that probably would have done unspeakable levels of damage to the forest! A weary glance up showed a rather large cloud of smoke and sparks wafting into the air. I could only imagine what the column of flames had looked like a second ago. Well, if anypony was looking for us, they wouldn't have to look very hard! That display could probably easily be seen from Ponyville. Damn. Given the state of my ringing ears as well, I guessed nopony was asleep in Ponyville either, at this point. That explosion had been deafening! Nirru coughed weakly, crawling out of the crater on the other side. Her left foreleg, ironically, was gone, leaving only a burnt stump. Her back legs didn't look much better, but were rapidly reforming as she shakily tried to stand up. Her fur was gone along with a lot of her mane and tail, embers drifting off her skin as she stood. I sighed. Nothing could be easy, could it? Snapping my back right leg around to the proper angle, I pulled the cords together again and formed it solidly to my body, calmly noting the broken leg. After I steadied myself, I extended out all eight tentacles from my back once more. They were shells of their former selves, but rapidly lashed out with hundreds of miniature versions of themselves. I smiled as they sought out and 'ate' the remains of the old tentacles, rapidly reforming as well as I turned. No. I didn't have any forgiveness left. Oddly, what she just tried to do didn't really lower my opinion of her any further. Maybe she'd fallen as low as she could? I didn't have time to debate my opinion however, and just extended blades out of my extra limbs as I went. "Damn it. You're a monster," Nirru muttered after coughing again. She slowly started to back away, hobbling with each shift that should have went to the limb that no longer existed. I couldn't help but notice that she wasn't regenerating anymore. I shook my head as I rounded the crater, tentacles extending to either side of me and forming seamless if not distorted scythe blades. Finally, I spoke. "Of course I'm a monster. You killed me and turned me into this. What does that make you, I wonder?" I questioned, expression emotionless as I rapidly approached striking range. On three limbs and looking like she had been put through a blender and then an oven, she was far too slow to outpace me. I didn't really care about her answer of course. I was going to rip her apart no matter what she said. "No! I'm just trying to save my race! You're trying to kill us. You're just like the council members! You want the Keldarians to die," she denied, narrowing her eyes at me as she realized she couldn't get away. She flicked backwards instead, shakily balancing herself on her hind legs as best the awkward spinal structure would allow for. Her remaining right foreleg extended up again and caught fire, forming another fire blast. I just kept walking. The book was connected to me now. I was done screwing around. "The amusing thing was, if you'd just talked to me like your sister wanted, I probably would have just given you the data," I pointed out. Minus the information on the bioweapon of course. Although maybe that’s why she didn’t? "Bullshit!" she spat out before justifying with, "You males are all the same. You do whatever you want at any given time, screw everyone else that happens to be hurt by it! If we need anything from you, it has to be taken by force or you won't even acknowledge us!" For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her. Her fire blast launched off an instant later, reminding me of why that was foolish. It was bigger than the one that hit me in the chest, but slightly slower. My forward most left tentacle swatted it away and into the ground at few meters to my left with an Aegis Barrier, not even slowing me down. Anger built back up in me rapidly, eyes narrowing and focusing solidly on only her once more. My extra limbs began to twitch in anticipation of tasting her flesh again. I shook my head slowly. "I don't know what happened to you to make you think that, but it doesn't matter anymore. I'm not a Keldarian or a Pony. I'm a monster, just like you said. And now, I'm going to tear you apart for what you did," I quietly spoke, eyes softening as I stepped within range. She screamed in rage again, firing almost half a dozen more times. In an instant, my processors gave me the calculation and a target lit up each shot. She was tired now, and badly injured. None of the fireballs had much force behind them. I divided it up; a limb for each blast. Five shots were knocked away from me in the same moment. Three remaining tentacles lashed out at the same time. She let out a startled yelp as one swept low, knocking her unsteady legs out from under her, and the remaining two smashed her into the ground as hard as they could, blades now reinforced with Aegis Barriers. She screamed in pain as the elongated scythe blades pinned her physically to the ground via her right shoulder and inner left thigh. There was no hesitation and my body moved faster than I thought I could. With my other limbs recovered from their defensive maneuver, I whipped them backwards to throw me towards her and pounced the remaining five meters in an instant, landing on top of her prone form. She screamed, sounding absolutely pissed as she whipped her right foreleg up towards my head as fast as she could despite the flesh tearing around the blade in the same shoulder. I anticipated it a mile off this time, it being her only remaining defense. My left foreleg was already moving as I landed on her. I knocked her hoof aside, causing her flame whip technique to fail and burn out. She screamed again, in pain this time as the magic exploded, taking her hoof with it in a blast of light. My left claws smashed her limb into the ground and I systematically destroyed both the elbow and shoulder joint and instant later, rendering it immovable. My chest grew cold as she writhed under me, silently screaming after her lungs ran out of breath. No. I was all out of forgiveness. Nothing could undo what she did today. Still, the realism put into her body was strange indeed. Maybe it was specifically to try to seem as real as possible to trick me earlier? I thought she'd shift to a solid body, being as amorphous as she was. I tried to focus on the technical details as best I could, staving off the urge to tear into her more. It felt so good to cause her pain, and the bloodlust was delicious. To have this much control when I had none before was, well, addicting to say the least. I actually could feel her matter being pulled into me as I rendered her, my body itself feeding on hers before she even died. "M-Monster!" she spit out at me a moment later, glaring up in seething hatred. Even like this, she wasn't afraid. It was almost addicting as her screams! The urge to literally consume her reared its ugly head again. I wanted to keep lashing out until she stopped moving; the taste of her pain lingering long afterwards. She'd feel every last second of the agony until I was sure she deeply regretted coming here. I felt something twitch inside of me, and that cold feeling in my chest crushed inwards, twisting my expression into a glare. The revelation hit me with both shock and cold acknowledgement. I hated her. "Yes, I'm a monster! It takes one to destroy one! You ruined everything," I growled out, slamming her hard into the ground beneath her. I felt her collarbone snap under the pressure of my right hoof, but hardly cared. Instead, my claws dug in, drawing blood. It was surreal. I couldn't even see her as Twilight anymore. That was probably a good thing, though. Now she was just Nirru to me. A monster, just like I was. We were both monsters, out in the middle of the forest at night while dead set on murdering each other. It was oddly simple. She spat blood up into my face mid-glare. The liquid sizzled instantly and baked onto my cheek. I didn't really pay attention. "You're fake. You're a mistake and never could have had anything here. Maybe they all sensed that on some level and never really trusted you in the first place?" she suggested, tone venomous. A lump formed in my throat, and some part of me wondered if she was right in that regard, at least. It didn't matter now. "You have no right to judge me. You killed me, and now I'm going to kill you, even if to only protect everypony. Even if they don't trust me," I whispered softly, swallowing the lump painfully. Her head fell back against the ground and she closed her eyes. "Do what you want. You win. Tear this body apart if it makes you feel better. I have what I wanted for the most part anyway," she finally accepted. Oh. Her fearlessness all clicked together instantly. She was just a connection to here, and had already uploaded a lot of data to that connection. All she had to do was 'log out' and pull the data with her. Why would she care about what happened after that? Unless... I smiled, sharp teeth glittering in the heat-distorted moonlight. Her eyes widened and she let out a pitiful mewling noise as I slammed my left hoof, claws and all, directly into her stomach. It punched through all the way to her center in an instant. She gasped and whined in airless agony, and I felt it. She slammed on the release, undoubtedly guessing what I was doing. Too late. My smile twisted into a sneer as I sent the electrical pulse directly into her spine, halting her 'logging out' attempt. Her eyes widened in an instant as she gaped up at me. The reaction was immediate; that cold exterior melted into panic and fear. Lowering myself down to her, I asked softly, "I wonder what happens to your mind if you're torn apart before you can log out? Wouldn't it be a bitch if everything you did tonight actually had consequences for you?" Her eyes widened further and I realized my guess was dead on. They shivered and she slowly started shaking her head with what little strength she had left. "No. Please, no," she asked quietly, tone changing completely as what was left of her back legs tried in vain to push her away from me. Using my back claws, I destroyed her leg muscles a moment later, causing her to wince and silently scream in pain again. The reaction was dulled, however. She was probably going into shock. "M-Mender! What are you doing? Please, stop this. She'll be punished when she gets out of the machine. Please, she's my sister," Keela suddenly interrupted, apparently figuring out rather rapidly what I had done. I snorted, suddenly realizing she was exactly the same as the creature under me in that reasoning. Had she expected her sister to just waltz out of Equestria with all the data after what she did? The book was right. I should have murdered both of them and just taken it back with me when I first went there. "Yes, her getting a slap on the wrist after getting free with the data she wanted really helps me. It totally takes back her murdering me after torturing me in front of my friends and turning them against me," I muttered in response before glaring back down at the fake Twilight below me. My eyes were close enough to hers now that I could see the new, radiating blue color reflected as she gasped. They were kind of pretty; reminding me of my old coat color. Why couldn't everything have stayed how it was before? I slammed her back into the ground again, shaking now. She let out a pained yelp as I slammed her head into the rock below with another angry thrashing motion. Again and again I hit her, denting and breaking her fake body with each onslaught. She gave up fighting and simply cried there as I slowly destroyed her. Her heartbeat slowed in her chest as more and more blood spilled out of her. Soon... "This is all your fault. You killed me and destroyed everything! I don't care what I am. Maybe I could have been happy here, but now you took all of that for your own selfish reasons!" I growled, eyes narrowing as I actually felt them start to get wet. I hated her! I wanted her to suffer and die just like I had. She ruined my chance at having anything here and turned them all against me! Not that it had taken much, the book reminded. True. Then she killed me after taking everything! "I-I'm sorry. Please, Mender," she begged weakly, her own eyes starting to water too. They were dim and unfocused at this point, the blood slipping the left one. Sorry? She was sorry?! I smashed her legs again, removing the right one completely. "Oh yeah, that just makes everything better now doesn't it?! You murdered me! I'm a monster, remember? Mender died. You killed him! Do you honestly expect a 'monster' to forgive you?!" I screamed now, adding her left shoulder to the list of destroyed parts with another blow. To my surprise, she actually started crying even harder, her body locking up. My emotions tangled up and rage seeped through everything. She didn't have a right to beg for her life! She didn't let me beg for mine. She just took it! My right foreleg twisted upwards, pulling free from her body and raising into the air. I was done with this bullshit. "Mender! Please stop!" Keela begged in a shout over the connection. My hoof paused in midair, scythe-shaped claws twitching as I glared down at the crying, broken image of Twilight Sparkle. There was no recognition there. I fully knew it wasn't Twilight. I hated Nirru. Keela probably helped her, too! "Please. I'm deleting the data now. Just let her log out? She might be a complete monster, but she's my sister as well. Please?" Keela begged, softer this time. My foreleg froze. Why was she bothering to delete the data? She'd have that even if I killed Nirru. Why waste everything her sister did tonight? My eyes softened as my raised claws curled up gently. Keela had tried to help throughout all of this, honestly. I really don't think this was her intent at all, like she said. To think otherwise seemed a bit irrational, I noticed. The cloudy haze shifted a little and I became distinctly aware of the book's anger as it separated from my own. Urges to tear her apart became clear in my mind, and I shuddered. They weren't entirely mine, I realized. I'd wanted her to die for what she did to me, but this was... I lowered my hoof a little, emotions smashing together inside my chest. I hated her, but if I killed her like this, I'd hurt Keela as well. Suddenly, I was confused. There was a light, almost imperceptible growling noise followed by a hissed out, "No! Kill her now!" The book's hatred was all around me; there was a haze to my thoughts and vision as I stared down at Nirru under me, emotionless. With her wounds and my claws in her gut, I knew she'd die shortly anyway. Did Keela really deserve this, though? No, she didn't. I doubted she saw what her sister really was, but she had already made her decision. My lips curled up into a grimace as I glared down at the broken body below me. Nothing was ever fair it seemed. Why couldn't I just be happy? Why did something always have to try to take that from me? "HALT CREATURE! CEASE YOUR AGGRESSIONS!" suddenly exploded from in front of me in a voice about six decibels higher than the prior explosion, I estimated. Both Nirru and I let out a startled jump from the blast that caused my 'fur' to blow backwards. What the hell?! Wait; that voice... Both of us glanced up at the same time. Princess Luna herself stood a half dozen meters from me, wings spread out in an extremely threatening manner with a look of fury on her face. Oh. Oh hell. Well this complicated things a little! Almost a dozen ponies stood near her, all wearing a dark purple armor and wielding various sharp and pointy instruments in their teeth. "H-Help me!" Nirru groaned out, starting to cry again as she looked back at the Moon Princess. She had shifted back to Twilight's voice in an instant, I noticed. A light sigh escaped my throat as I extended my claws again on my raised hoof. Not this again... Well, she'd obviously try anything to live through the situation. That much I kind of respected in her. "T-Twilight Sparkle?! Let her go and once, creature! You shall face our wrath otherwise!" Princess Luna warned, eyes narrowing from her brief look of shock at seeing the bloodied body of 'Twilight' under me. As much as I really didn't want to face any wrath she could bring forth, I didn't particularly feel like letting Nirru go. Princess Luna's negotiating skills left something to be desired. Still, I had no doubt that the Princess of the Moon herself could very easily survive anything Nirru could attack her with, but I was more concerned about the far less imposing guards gathered around her. My head cleared now that I separated myself from the still pissed off book, and I focused as best I could. What were the choices, really? I couldn't let her go and risk untold amounts of complications. If I killed her outright right now it would cause Keela immense grief and instantly earn the wrath of one of the most powerful beings I'd ever known, undoubtedly leading to my destruction. That wasn't... It clicked and my eyes softened. Wasn't that ideal? What honestly did I have left, after all? I wasn't a Keldarian or a Pony. I didn't belong to either world, really. In truth, I was a biological weapon pretending to be the pony-morphed clone of a Keldarian soldier that had been dead for a while. A joke, really. I lowered my eyes away from Princess Luna, looking down at my bloodied limb imbedded into Nirru's stomach. If I was a joke though, it wasn't that funny. At least, I wasn't laughing. Knowing what I was; knowing what I'd done and how many innocent lives died directly due to me, there was no way I could bring myself to look any of them in the eyes again. So what was left? I had wanted it all along. I'd even achieved it once already. I've always wanted to protect these ponies. But what if I was the danger to them? It seemed like my vary nature all along was nothing but a threat to Equestria. Wasn't the solution obvious then? It was right here, presenting itself to me. I could eliminate every threat to Equestria at the same time, and still make Keela happy. All with one motion. Given my luck, I didn't dare ask for more. Maybe a bit of fortune smiled on me after all in a perverse sort of way. My data readout showed Keela had kept to her word and deleted all of Nirru's connected memory banks. I closed my eyes and raised my hoof back up to full extension, claws glistening in the moonlight. Nirru's eyes widened as I opened mine again and stared down at her. For a moment, we locked our gazes into each other. I almost saw something clashing in her eyes. There was sorrow there; a pain I recognized yet could do nothing for. Her eyes softened as well as she stared into mine. Did she recognize something there? Maybe, if things had been different, we could have been friends. Maybe we had in a different time. "DON"T YOU DARE, OR WE WILL DESTROY YOU!" the Princess screamed out once again, a pointless and ignored reminder. Heard it the first time. Maybe, after this played out, she'd realize maybe a more subtle tract would get better results in future negotiations? Finally, I swallowed painfully and shook my head. "I'm sorry Keela. I don't think I can talk to you anymore. Thank you for everything," I quietly spoke, knowing she could hear me. Nirru heard as well and quietly gasped, eyes widening as they grew watery again. I released. Her signal became unblocked again in an instant, earning another widening of her eyes. She hesitated, obviously not even fathoming that I'd let her go. My claws flexed. The realization sparked through her. A heartbeat later, she was gone. The fake corpse of Twilight Sparkle was all that remained under me, eyes glazing over. The image burned into my mind in an instant and I almost threw up then and there. Deciding it needed to be banished as fast as possible, I exhaled before whipping my clawed hoof down as hard as I could. Her skull was no match for my new strength and I crushed it. It felt like an icicle had imbedded itself in my chest at the same moment; a part of me died with my very blow, I think. Tendrils ripped free of my hoof a second later, starting to consume her body’s mass. Scanning activated and memories flashed to and fro in my mind as my twisted body pieced the information back together again that was inside of her. There probably wouldn't be much left, but I let it do whatever the hell it wanted. A glance upwards half a second later showed me an utterly horrified Princess Luna. The shock twisted into a look of absolute rage a moment later and she let out a scream. I swallowed painfully as her horn flared up and, faster than I could track, a black crescent wave of energy tore through the air. The ground under it ruptured and cracked as it passed. One spin later, it cleared the distance between us. There was nothing else. I closed my eyes and lifted my head up as best I was able, revealing the entirety of my neck as the attack came in. I'm sorry, Twilight. Fluttershy. I winced as I felt the blade of darkness slam into my throat... Chapter 28Darkness. A deep, inner peace. My muscles loosened and unwound; they were long overtaxed from two lives of never really being able to stop moving. It would be nice to rest finally. Sleep had always eluded me it seemed. I can recall my original self having to always sleep with one eye open in bunker after bunker. His memories seemed to translate into me for the most part. Now I was haunted by them and still hadn't slept well, even in Equestria. But they were fragmented. Even knowing what I was didn't give me all the details. Things were missing or lost; the transfer to Equestria was apparently a bit more violent than anticipated. Not that it mattered anymore. I could finally relax. After two lifetimes of conflict and stress, it would definitely feel good to be able to stop. It was finally over. The final act hadn't concluded on a happy note at all, and I turned out to be the roll of the jester, but at least it was finally over. To go through my entire life without really knowing my place, then to have it snatched away as soon as I found it felt immensely cruel still, but there was nothing I could do. Maybe something, somewhere, had at least been amused by the antics. I wouldn't be a very good jester if nopony got a laugh from it. Now, no matter what awaited me, I knew I could at least rest. That would be good. The darkness continued, and I paused. No, there was something off. Oh, wait. A moment later, an annoyed sensation drifted through me and I sighed, opening my eyes again. Nope. Not the afterlife. That was just the inside of my eyelids. Damn it. Princess Luna glared at me still. The burning sensation still pressed into my neck, but barely dug in a centimeter into my armor. What?! The level of energy there should have been able to slice right through me! Why had she stopped it? Sure enough, she held the energy back herself as her eyes narrowed. I took a step forward to try to complete the stroke, but she pulled the blade away entirely, her massive aura that practically darkened the sky itself seemingly retreating into her body again. "Thou shows extreme intelligence, yet wishes to die. CAN THOU SPEAK FOR THYSELF, BEAST?!" she asked a moment later, shifting back to whatever the hell that tone was and actually pushing me backwards with the force of her voice. Well hell; maybe my head would explode if I listened for long enough and she wouldn't even need to attack! After her voice receded, I wobbled on my legs for a second before shaking my head clear again. The reality set in a moment later. She was suspicious of me for some reason. My eyes narrowed as well as I glared back at her a moment later, requesting, "Just kill me. You have the power to. Destroy me." She had to! I wasn't sure what else would at this point, and I had no idea how to turn back to my other form. Not that I wanted to turn back in front of her. If she knew who I was, there'd be no end to the shame involved on my part. She relaxed rather than get angry, however. "Why?" she asked simply, causing me to twitch. "I just killed Twilight Sparkle! You should hate me! Plus, I'm a direct threat to Equestria. Open your eyes and look at me. You should be able to see what a monster I am," I reasoned. There were so many reasons why she should kill me that I was having difficulty grasping why she'd even question it! The guards looked confused at this point, keeping their weapons drawn but now looking back and forth between Princess Luna and I. She lost her glare and shifted to a more neutral expression, standing up straight again. "Thou has a startling visage, but we have seen far worse. You may speak however, and know of your supposed crimes. We are concerned that thou may be clever enough to abuse thus facts," she spoke plainly, much quieter again. My ears lowered. I should have just growled at her and attacked. Then she'd have no choice but to kill me. Wait, that was it! "Fine. If you won't kill me, I'll just have to kill all of you instead. How does that sound?!" I suggested, tentacles extending upwards into the air again, blades popping out menacingly. The reaction was both as expected and less than satisfactory at the same time. The guards snapped to attention instantly, backing away from me and lowering their weapons to cover the Moon Princess. Luna herself looked more amused than anything, sadly. Her left eyebrow rose momentarily before she nodded and stepped forwards, pushing a spear out of her way and narrowing the gap between us by a meter or so. "Very well, Creature. Thou has a deal. If you strike out at us with all your strength with intent to kill, we shall destroy you," she agreed, watching me carefully. What? My mind stalled as I stared at her in surprise. What the hell?! For a moment, I couldn't even manage to formulate a proper thought process in which to consider what she just said. In my delay, she actually shifted to a smile instead, moving her balance more to the side and giving me an impatient yet deeply amused look. Damn it. She was mocking me! All it needed to be was close, though. My tentacle on the upper right side whipped down in an instant, scythe blades moving in on her neck with calculated precision. "No!" one of the soldiers screamed from behind her as he started to rush forwards. She watched the blade come down an instant later, and... I stopped it less than a millimeter from the skin of her neck, glaring at her. The step of her dodging it and obliterating me was strangely absent as she just stood there, watching me. I swallowed, tentacle twitching as I couldn't bring myself to touch the blade against her fur. Damn it! "Thou hesitates? No such moment existed for Twilight earlier, yet thou claims her death was an atrocity. Where is the difference between her and us?" Princess Luna asked softly, calling me out on my bluff. I continued glaring at her before shivering and taking a few steps backwards, withdrawing my tentacles as all the soldiers stared in shock. "You wouldn't have struck me regardless, I suspect. The truth is rather obvious, as it doesn't exist in thou's prior statement. What is the truth then, pray tell?" she asked again a moment later, watching me curiously now. My ears flattened back and I scowled at her, still unable to bring myself to lash out and actually hit her. I sighed wearily and lowered my head. Well, there was more than one way to go about this. To my credit, she actually looked surprised when I dropped onto my forward knees, forming a polite and proper bow. "Please, Princess Luna. I represent a threat to Equestria, and you watched me kill your sister's faithful student. I need to be destroyed," I requested, voice softening and losing some of the harsh edge around the lower tone. She frowned but closed the gap to just a meter finally, standing almost right in front of me. I remained in my bowed posture. "We are now unsure of what it was we just saw. Anger clouded our judgment and we failed to notice a lack of our dear friend's magical residue in the area. If that was indeed Twilight, surely she would have resorted to magic for her defense, right?" she suggested logically, tilting her head. Crap. That was cheating! I hesitated, but shook my head. "I broke her horn off. She couldn't cast anything," I corrected, looking back up at her. If that excuse had worked on Rainbow and Applejack, surely there was some truth behind it. She just smiled however and shook her head. "Our skills are not that of a fundamental level. We need no spell cast to sense our friend's aura residue," she assured. Okay, that was definitely cheating! Before either of us could say more however, the sound of frantic flapping came to my attention. My ears perked up instantly and swiveled around to behind the Princess. A pegasus? Uh oh. Thankfully, a lightly armored guard drifted in instead of any hinting of rainbow or cyan coloring. I should have known. It sounded a little sloppy for Dash's flying. He wobbled as he landed, looking downright exhausted. "P-Princess Luna! I have a report from Ponyville! There's been an attack and," he started to relay before finally noticing me and letting out a sharp squeak. As much as I knew about the 'attack' from an intimate position, I was curious for new information. Princess Luna looked back at me carefully, her eyes shooting me a questioning glance. I hesitated for a moment before giving her a slow nod, lowering all of my extra appendages and retracting the sharp and pointy bits back into them. She watched for a moment before subtly nodding as well and shifting back to the messenger. "Worry not. Speak forth your information for us to hear. This one will not interfere," she assured confidently. I got a little paranoid at that point. She was highly intelligent, obviously. If she figured out who I was... The scout looked less than assured, but shakily turned back to her and bowed. "Ah, well there was an attack by a shape-changing entity. The Elements of Laughter and Honesty intercepted, but it got away and fled into the, um, forest. I think you might have found it already, though," he muttered, glancing back over at me nervously. The Princess of the Moon frowned and looked back to me as well. "We are unsure. What was the attacker to look like?" she inquired curiously. "T-That's the thing! Applejack, er, the Element of Honesty reported the creature appearing as Twilight Sparkle herself!" he exclaimed. Damn it. Well, at least I knew Applejack wasn't hurt in the explosion from the Slipstream emanation. Assuming as he didn't mention Pinkie, I figured she was probably perfectly fine. Hell, she was Pinkie Pie. I doubted physics would allow her to be hurt in the first place. Princess Luna smiled almost instantly and nodded. "That is very informative. We thank you, truly. Was anypony hurt?" Shouldn't she have asked that first? The scout seemed to finally relax a little before shaking his head, apparently deciding I really wasn't going to rip him in half and consume him. Oddly, the other guards behind her lowered their weapons a little as well, simply watching me instead. "No. The two Elements involved suffered only minor wounds. Moon Mender has been reported missing however! The Element of Magic herself has guessed that he was somehow captured before the creature fled. She sent me to report to you while she gathered the rest of the Elements," the scout reported further. I swallowed, ears lowering as I took a step back and away from them. All six of them were coming here? That didn't bode well for my cover remaining a secret. Princess Luna watched me carefully, seemingly analyzing my every move as she saw me step backwards. All the guards, including the scout with lighter armor, focused intently on me again as well, probably following Princess Luna's lead. The fact that they all looked so bloody similar just made it all the more unnerving. On that note, I decided I still had no idea what was wrong with their wings to be bat-like and membranous, but I was starting to bet that it had something to do with their similar appearance. "Thou seems uneasy over the news. Pray tell; what causes thy discomfort?" the Moon Princess asked, tone surprisingly pleasant as she smiled lightly. I just murdered her friend in front of her! No, she had already guessed that wasn't Twilight... I'd hoped she hadn't guessed my identity as well, but I had to attempt to maintain as if she hadn't. "The Elements of Harmony are powerful. I prefer to not be on the receiving end of that," I admitted in perfect honesty. The dark alicorn momentarily looked surprised before smirking again and actually giggling. "Worry not, young one. We had no intentions of directing their ire towards you. I'm more interested in the creature you defeated; the imposter who took our dear friend's likeness. If you fought her, surely thou must know about her?" she reasoned gently, gesturing absently towards the badly damaged corpse not two meters away. This was seemingly the first time the scout noticed it however, as he let out a stressed squeaking noise and shuffled away from it as the Princess gestured. Sighing, I nodded in agreement. "A little. She's not of this dimension. Her body was amorphous yet still allowed her to cast her spells. We fought after she threatened to destroy Ponyville," I explained, keeping my voice neutral as I glazed over everything I thought I could get away with. The Princess smiled as she listened, then upon completion, asked, "Thou heard the report. Has there been any signs of wayward Moon Mender in thy travels?" That one I saw coming and had an answer prepared for it. "The scrawny blue stallion? He was dead when I found the two of them, and I ate him first," I answered easily, chest feeling a little colder as I stared absently at her. Her smile wavered momentarily before she resumed it, looking oddly amused. Yeah, it didn't look like she bought it. Well, technically it was true in a metaphorical sense. "Interesting. Thou's magic twists just so when speaking fabrications, we notice. You try to steer towards thy own destruction, yet you say not why. You are curious indeed. Although are we wrong in considering that thou's magic also feels familiar?" she guessed, tilting her head towards me. My heart dropped into my stomach. I had been outclassed from the very beginning. My only true chance to get her to destroy me was to have taken advantage of her rage at the start. I was a fool to have not attacked her then. Now, I had the sneaking feeling that even though she didn't openly say anything, she knew exactly who I was. My racing thoughts must have been rather obvious, as her smile grew and her eyes shifted mirthful. For the second time however, we were interrupted. A low whistling noise with several calculated flaps mixed in sounded off to my left. That was indeed the sound of a pegasus, but far more precise and coming in much faster than the scout had. Son of a bitch... I turned just in time to see the bolt of cyan streak in at high velocity, sliding along the ground and knocking bits of ash and debris up as she slowed to a stop. The wind almost stroked her wings as she whipped them down in a final breaking motion, tail whipping wildly to the side as she leaned against her momentum. I watched her rather graceful landing with no small amount of appreciation as the rampant apprehension seeped into my veins. Now, ironically, she was one of the last ponies I had wanted to see at the moment. Well, to be more specific; who I wanted to see me. Interestingly enough, a rather beautiful necklace of a golden hue resided around her neck, center gem in the shape of her very own Cutie Mark. I had an uneasy suspicion that was more than a fashion accessory, apart from simply the mare who wore it hating fashion... Her gaze dragged across the surprised Princess Luna with a pleased yet excited smile adorning her expression. It all but shattering as her rose-colored eyes locked onto me instead. In an instant, her expression melted into one of shock and unabated horror as she scanned my form easily enough in the full moonlight. That look destroyed me in an instant, bringing forth far more misery than Nirru could ever hope to do. Shame and a raw sense of exposure set every nerve in my body on fire at the same moment. There was no conscious choice, as often the case in times of duress. The lukewarm sickening sensation overwhelmed me in an instant. All eight of my added limbs whipped forward in an instant, latching onto the ground as they went. "Wait!" Princess Luna call out as I flung myself backwards into the forest in less than the blink of an eye. It didn't register, as all I could see was Rainbow's look of disgust. * * * * * I let out a weary gasp as the flat of my upper right tentacle splattered against the back of my well armored neck, breaking open and reforming into me instantly, only to restore itself to its proper place a few seconds later. It was no good. The blades retracted an instant before touching my neck. Letting the blade fall using gravity didn't work either. I mentally checked it off my list, having failed in the fifth attempt to slice my own head off. I couldn't self-terminate. It was hard coded into whatever root program controlled me, it would seem. Shivering, I curled up tighter into a little ball, trying not to cry. My emotions were a jumbled mess. Honestly, I just wanted to scream and scream, lashing out and bashing apart anything near me until I felt better. My chest felt like a bubbling, pressurized soda bottle at this point, up to and including the dull, frozen ache I imagine being refrigerated would bring. I whimpered lightly, wishing something even nastier than myself would come along and tear into me. The forest shivered in the wind around me, the sound almost as if a low whimper of sympathy as the darkness consumed everything. I liked the darkness, honestly. Sure it meant I couldn't see as much, but it also meant that nopony could see me either. At the moment, that was a very comforting fact. I peeked out over the small rock I rested on and glanced into the ground pool under me. The moonlight shimmered through the upper cracks in the trees high above, giving me a crystal clear reflection of the night sky in the water. I watched the beautiful, white orb drift upwards into the sky, wondering what time it was. A pop up display appeared in the lower right corner of my eyes, displaying an accurately synced to the second clock based off the last time I looked at the clock in Twilight's living room. Ugh. Uh, thanks I guess? Regardless, I duly noted that it was twenty three, fifty eight. Almost a new day. I must have escaped from Princess Luna hours ago. Idly, I wondered what everypony was doing. It was a bitter thought. I couldn't go back now. Even if I could somehow keep it hidden from everypony; even if the Princess kept it a secret, I knew what I was. That's all I could consider. I wasn't real! I was some fake mash-up of living computer components and biological weaponry cleverly designed to look like a pony. Something like that didn't have a use here, in Equestria. Suddenly I remembered what Celestia had said a while ago. It wasn't fair, still. I had found my place here! It was where I wanted to be. I wanted to stay with Fluttershy, Twilight, and all of the wonderful ponies. The second I decided I wanted it however, then and only then did I lose it all. It was like a sick joke. She told me to make my place here and decide it for myself. Well now she saw where that got me! There is no place here for a monstrous biological weapon like me. Why couldn't I have just been normal? I glared at my own reflection in the water, the cold blue eyes staring back at me. I was a mockery of my old self at this point. At least, the tentacles having been out for a while now, they had healed up the sores and boils nicely. Maybe it had been a byproduct of trying to form them so fast? Regardless, it certainly smelled a few hundred degrees better! Gotta think positive, right? I might be a killing machine who's lost its entire purpose in all of existence that's been shunned by everypony and forced to live in a dark, ancient forest for the rest of my natural or unnatural lifespan, but at least I smelled better now. Yup. Positive. At least I managed to chuckle to myself. Still, for places to be stuck, at least it was pretty. I stared down at the water again. The wild and untamed forest drifted all around me in the current, the darkness only serving to cloak me as I hid. Slowly, I closed my eyes and just listened to the forest around me. The noises were back, and I heard all manner of wildlife around me from cicadas to owls. It was a pleasant, relaxing experience that I embraced like a starving pony to a pile of apples. Apples. I wondered how Applejack was doing. She had seen a lot of horrible things tonight. I hoped she was okay. Quietly, I curled up on the rock, feeling years’ worth of weariness crush down upon me. Maybe, if I was lucky, something would come along while I slept and eat me. Or just kill me out of pure terror. Or because I was an abomination of nature. Hell, I'd even take 'not notice and accidentally sit on me' at this point. I drifted in and out of fitful bursts of sleeping. Each bout was sprinkled with horrifying memories that were and weren't mine. Being strapped to a table and getting my eyes torn out, or oddly being shoved down onto a couch and screaming in fear as someone ripped the back of my skirt open, laughing in a low voice. There was a distinctly alien feeling involved with that one, but I didn't pay it much heed. Her grin. I recognized it now. The shadowy face and teeth glittering in the dark. Blood dripped from her bladed drill as she walked up to me strapped down on the table. Nirru. She hated me. She hated all males, but she really hated me. It was probably because of what my original self did with her sister. Right? Screaming. My claws slashed over and over again at them, being shoved away each time as they pushed me down into the cushions. No, there was nothing there. I stirred, sneezing as a leaf brushed against my muzzle. It drifted off again and gently landed in the water, sending a light ripple out across the surface. My eyes were still closed, but I 'heard' it touch down on the water. Shouts. I winced and cried, unable to do anything at all. The monster above me groaned out pleasantly, apparently not hearing the noise. A flash of metal. Blood splattered everywhere followed by a scream of rage as something wet and furry landed on my chest. Blood. It was always blood. We were covered in it. If it was inescapable, why not show it directly to all the monsters that deserved it? I agreed, of course. Fluttering pain. Lines of white hot agony danced through my body. "This will teach you to do that to my sister." It bridged to a heated groan, fur against fur. A dash of blue and a giggle bleeding into a moan from under me, mouths meeting again. A scream of rage. I twitched. * * * * * My eyes opened slowly, a sense of disorientation drifting through my mind. My body felt like it had gotten rung through a paper press. Groaning, I looked around, wondering what woke me up. Eventually, my eyes locked onto it. Or him? Maybe it was a her. A tiny bird rested lightly on one of my mixed up and entwined tentacles that lay idly around me. I watched it as it watched me back for a few moments, both of us curious of each other. Now that was a gutsy bird! I smiled to it a moment later, remembering to keep my lips sealed. Baring rows and rows of razor sharp teeth seemed like a bad idea. "You have some serious guts, Mr. Bird," I complimented softly, watching him. He let out an annoyed squack suddenly, causing me to start and move backwards a little. Heh. I realized a moment later that even when I was like this, I still remembered the pain of having my muzzle pecked open by the angry birds. "Uh, Miss? I'm sorry," I apologized softly. She looked pleased and nodded twice to me. Wait, yellow coat with a black underbelly? No, it couldn't be the same bird, could it? Suddenly I wished I had Fluttershy's knack for animal empathy. Not that the bird recognized me regardless, I bet. "Is there something you need? If I can help, let me know," I offered weakly, unsure of how she'd 'tell' me in the first place. Oddly, she hopped off my tentacles and landed right in front of my face. At first I was weary, but then she oddly gave me a gentle nuzzle. Shocked was an understatement. A moment later, another bird fluttered down and landed next to her, followed by three more much smaller ones. No way! I smiled gently to all of them before asking, "Um, do you know me from somewhere?" Part of me still didn't want ANYTHING knowing that Moon Mender was, well, whatever the hell this was. The male, now that I remember correctly, nodded gently before hopping up and landing on my side. Huh? Careful not to scare them, I sat up and watched him as he moved. Then he landed on my flank, and my eyes widened, no longer staring at him at all. But how?! That blasted silver gear with the heart-shaped axel hole resided on my flank, oblivious to the fact that I was a horrible monster. It was a little darker, but otherwise looked completely unchanged compared to its prior appearance. I wasn't even a pony! Why did I have a Cutie Mark in the first place? "Ha... I see. You um, recognized me then using the mark. Wonderful. Um, could you not tell anypony that it's me? This isn't exactly something I'd like to spread around," I requested quietly, looking away from my flank and crashing back down into my lying position. The birds didn't even flinch, but now I at least know why they were so trusting of me. That didn't make me feel any better. The lady bird chirped sharply and hopped up onto the hoof in front of my face. I watched her before shaking my head. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I am a monster now. I was never a pony it turns out. You don't need to stick around, or want anything to do with," I started to suggest. Whap! Her beak hit my nose before I could even finish and I yelped, wincing and holding it with my other hoof. She squawked in seeming annoyance at me before fluttering up and landing on my head, sitting down as I stared daggers back up at her. Well, I suppose that was one of the most effective counter-points I'd ever been given. The male gave an almost laughing chirp noise a moment later, and the three little ones joined in. The brightest yellow one shifted closer to me and rested against my muzzle. The markings on its underbelly were similar to the mother. A female, maybe? She gently rubbed the spot where her mom had whacked me and almost smiled up at me. Oh, it was her. It was the one I put back in the nest a while ago. "I'm glad you learned to fly. It must make it easier to get back up into the nest yourself now," I joked, smiling at her. They didn't notice, or care, when I forgot to hide my teeth. She gave a chirping laugh and nodded, resting against my gunmetal gray fur. "You are very good with animals as well as foals. We can see why Fluttershy likes you so much," was suddenly spoken quietly. I froze, eyes widening as I felt them almost pop out of my head. All five birds perked and looked to my right in the same instant. Slowly I turned my head, casting my nervous gaze upon the Princess of the Moon as she slowly walked up. She actually looked a little worse for wear now, her coat looked a little unkempt and spots of mud and dirt were on her legs. What was she still doing out here at... I popped up my decidedly useful internal clock and noticed it was oh one, twenty. Surely she had nightly duties or something to attend to. "We've been looking for you ever since you ran, Mender. We are alone now however, and you don't have to hide," she explained, catching me looking at her messy legs. I also noticed she switched to a less formal way of talking now. My ears lowered and I set my head back down on the rock, watching her. It didn't surprise me as much as I thought it would that she knew who I was. "Was my Cutie Mark visible back then and I was just stupid?" I asked softly, feeling annoyed at myself. She smiled and peeked past me at my flank a moment later. "Ah, your Cutie Mark did come back. I didn't think it would be suppressed for long. No magic can make them truly disappear," she noted, answering my question at the same time. I shook my head and closed my eyes again. "I'm not a pony. I shouldn't even have one and I don't know why it came back now," I muttered, wondering what she wanted but afraid to ask. Was she mad at how I acted earlier? "It's who you are, Mender. We felt your magic after our first attack. We're sorry for not recognizing you sooner," she apologized softly. My left eye opened again and I looked over at her, surprised at her priorities. Why was she treating me like normal? The five birds around me settled back in and seemed to rest in various locations on my body, taking advantage of my oddly branch-like tentacles. I didn't mind in the least. "Mender, we can hazard a guess as to what thou are thinking. We knew nothing about your current form, nor do we think of you any less. My sister probably knew about it the whole time, and she was the one who agreed that you were just like a pony," she furthered, seeing my hesitation. I tried not to openly laugh. "How am I just like a pony? I'm a biological weapon meant to cause genocide on a Universal scale. I'm fake," I questioned, looking at her skeptically. Princess Luna exhaled and sat down a few meters away, looking up towards the Moon she represented. A minute passed before she slowly shook her head again. "You are you, Mender. You told my sister that and it surprised her so much she still remembers it. Sure, it's simple, but the message is very powerful. Do you still feel like you, Mender?" she asked, looking back down at me curiously. I watched her, unsure of where she was going with the topic. "Not really. I feel powerful. Almost indestructible and fast. Yet I've never felt so vulnerable and alone at the same time," I muttered, almost staring past her as I let my eyes lose focus. I was still really tired, but sleeping didn't seem all that effective. She smiled and snickered lightly before shaking her head. "We speak not of your physical self. Do you feel like you?" she asked again, watching me carefully. Me? What was me? She almost seemed to feel my thoughts, and smiled. "You seem confused. Is it possible you didn't know who 'you' were to begin with?" she clarified with a hoof gesture. Finally, I sighed and shook my head in agreement. "No. I don't think anypony apart from maybe you or your sister truly knows who they are. I feel like I'm still me in that regard," I clarified, thinking about it for the first time. Princess Luna nodded curtly, placing her hoof back down again. "Exactly. If thou hasn't changed, then you're still you, no matter what you look like at the moment. We are sure you've read about us. Do you think we do not understand your pain?" My eyes widened. Nightmare Moon. I'd forgotten that the Princess I saw in front of me used to be far, far scarier. She smiled and nodded at my look of realization. There were no further points I could make. Finally I questioned, "What am I supposed to do, then? I know what I am now and I can't just escape that." She gave me a soft smile before fluttering up and landing on the rock next to me, sitting down as well and watching the birds resting against me. A moment passed as she just lay there. I shifted my attention to the birds too, more just thankful that she didn't appear to be scared of me. "Let us start with smaller steps. Can thou resume your prior form?" she asked politely. I paused. So far, I hadn't seen a point to but I suppose that would be the first step. "I'm not sure. I haven't tried yet," I admitted, digging back through the executable files for some form of return effect or something. No files were added and running Protocol312.exe again did nothing. My frustration spiked, but I exhaled quietly instead. "Relax, Mender. You are a clever pony and will find a way. We only suggest this so you can revert to your less intimidating form," she pointed out. It stung a little but she was right. Oddly, I also kind of respected her honesty. At least her admitting my current form was intimidating meant she was really looking at me. That was the other reaction I was worried about; the ponies I cared about pretending to simply not see the ugly side and ignoring me instead. Deciding on a different approach, I tore apart the executable in question and looked at everything it had done. A few seconds later, I was mildly surprised by the fact that it hadn't technically 'installed' anything on me. Everything was already there and it simply unlocked it. Fascinating. That meant I was built with the black box functionality in mind. Regardless, if it was just unlocked now, I should be able to control my form at will. A bit of menu tweaking later and I frowned, feeling my eight tentacles retreat backwards into my back. Princess Luna smiled as she watched, although the birds protested as their resting spots disappeared. "Very good! That's a start indeed," the Princess of the Moon praised, giving me a gentle smile. Blushing lightly, I nodded back but then paused before trying the rest. Uh oh. Bringing up a medical diagnostic, I noticed that my body was indeed under the armor and muscle structures. The only hiccup was that it hadn't had enough time to regenerate itself fully. Actually, it hadn't regenerated much at all apart from completely re-growing my left leg and hoof structure. Well, that was fairly impressive already, after I considered it for a moment. Most of my energy had gone into re-forming that and almost none to my ribs, lungs, and back legs. "Uh, how good are you at healing magic, Princess Luna?" I asked suddenly, unsure if this was a good idea. She momentarily looked surprised before shaking her head and returning, "Our sister is much better at it. We know some, but not enough to be of significant use. Oh, and please call us Luna. We would like the same treatment as our sister." I blinked, and then blushed a little before nodding. "Well, alright Luna. I'll call you that from now on. I was asking because under this armor, my body hasn't fully recovered yet. I'm a little worried that this form is technically all that's holding me together," I explained wearily. If I still had several holes in my lungs, turning back was an inexplicably bad idea. Luna shook her head and smiled back however. "Worry not! We are good at teleportation. If thou start bleeding all over after changing back, we shall teleport you to the hospital," she 'assured' a moment later, giving a happy nod. That actually wasn't very assuring at all! Swallowing, I decided against calling out the Princess of the Moon on her potentially flawed logic. Eh, what the hell? You only live once. Or twice, in my case. Closing my eyes, I toggled the rest of my body back to 'normal' and felt the muscles and armor start to melt back into me, shifting into a pseudo liquid form before being sucked into nothingness. There was a long pause, and then I opened my eyes and inhaled lightly. Inhaling fire might have been more comfortable. I let out a stifled, half scream as I buckled up instantly, the stabbing and burning sensations shattering across my barrel instantly. Luna gasped as she saw me spasm, then further looked on in horror at the rest of my body. I could barely see past the pain threatening to overwhelm me, but noticed my left foreleg, while existing now, was seriously messed up. The only skin to speak of on it was a light pink film that covered most of it. Otherwise, it was nothing but emaciated muscles and thin veins; maybe about half the circumference of my other legs. Why is it that being aware of a wound made it hurt so much worse? I gasped and ended up smashing my face into the rock as the pain tore through my leg. I was tempted to tear it off again just to make the pain stop! Further, I was absently aware of my back right leg hanging loosely at an odd angle, remembering that I had broken it in the explosion. The birds started squawking in distress a moment later. "Mender! Oh no! Here, hang on," Luna ordered as she pushed herself against me and lit up her horn with magic. Hold on with what?! Thankfully, her lack of specifics mattered very little, as she managed to teleport us anyway. On a related side note, teleporting when wounded and missing large chunks of skin really sucks. The pain tore through my mind like a school of angry piranhas. I don't remember the end of the teleport... * * * * * I woke up in a flurry of motion. Leather straps around me went taut and my eyes widened to their maximum degree. No! I was captured! The lights around me flickered as I felt the tube shoved down my throat, air flowing into it. Gasping sharply, I flailed against the straps, the lights in the room flickering. "Stop him! Why isn't the sedation working?!" I heard shouted from somewhere behind me. Everything hurt. The lights flashed again and I saw her teeth in the dark as she grinned at me, blades sliding under and alongside my left eyeball. I tried to scream into the tube, energy flailing out wildly as I saw a barrier warp out from my side and break through a window. I flailed it violently, tearing a jagged gash down the wall as I tried to kick backwards with my rear legs. The back right one wasn't moving at all however, and the left was strapped down as well. I saw a display pop up of an unknown agent in my bloodstream that was being filtered faster than they could inject it. Poison! My entire body screamed in agony as I darted my eyes back and forth, light burning into it. She grinned against me momentarily, tongue slipping out to lick along my cheek at the blood flowing down it. I lashed out at her, screaming in muffled rage as another barrier smashed into wear her neck should have been. A second later, a chair got obliterated as it sliced through and cut into the wall, cracking the plaster as I stabbed. "How do we stop his magic?! There's no horn to put a suppression ring on!' was called out a moment later. My eyes snapped onto a young looking stallion as he rounded into my viewpoint. Targets snapped into place all over him an instant later, highlighting vitals and giving me biorhythm data. No, she wouldn't have me. She should have died but she wasn't going to have me, even if it meant breaking free from here. My eyes narrowed as I felt the stirring along my back again. Yes. See through the pain and shred the entire room if I had to. A flurry of yellow entered my peripheral vision a moment later. "Miss, you can't come in," another doctor started to shout. At least they looked like doctors. I couldn't tell which was fake, though, and I wasn't about to take chances. He was caught up in a purple and red aura before he could complete the sentence however, and was shoved out of Fluttershy's way. Fluttershy! "Mender! Stop it!" I heard echo through my head at the same time it echoed through the building. My eyes widened as my vision became a blur of yellow warmth as she pushed up against me; a gentle kiss landing on my right temple. Her empathy was felt throughout me and even without the link, I knew it was her. She was here too? It was her. She wouldn't hurt me. She couldn't. My muscles went numb as I slumped against the surface I was strapped to. I didn't know which was real; the darkness or the hospital. But if she was here, it didn't matter. This had to be the hospital. I didn't trust my mind, but I trusted Fluttershy. "Thank you, Mender. Please, rest..." she requested, the absolute blue of her eyes flooding my right eye's vision. No! She'd know right away what I was if she saw me. She would just be able to tell! My eyes slammed shut and I hit the retreat function as fast as possible. With a stifled sob, I fell back inside of myself and all connection to my outside body was dropped. Everything was quiet an instant later. Slowly, I felt my motion stop; the mental construction of my pony body curling up against itself as I hung in absolutely nothing. I shivered against myself, gasping for air as I tucked myself up. She couldn't see it. I couldn't let her. I didn't even know what I was! My eyes opened again a second later, glaring at the hoof in front of my vision. I was a pony. I wanted to be a pony! But I wasn't a pony. I wasn't a Keldarian. I was a monster. Another spasm wracked my frame, a mental flash of teeth snapping out at me flickering through my head. Tentacles, blades, teeth, and death. What the hell was I?! 'Monster' was all I could manage to describe myself as, alongside assorted synonyms. I couldn't let them see that I was an abomination. Equestria didn't need my other self. It didn't need me. Tia was wrong. I didn't have a place here anymore. I gently closed my eyes, exhaling air that technically didn't exist. Warnings popped up around me, saying something about taking dermal damage along my barrel, but I ignored it. I was going into surgery, probably. If my ribs had fragmented, I imagine they'd have to get the shards of bone out of me somehow. My mind wandered as I lost track of time. There was something peaceful about just releasing your hold on your thoughts and letting them flow freely from topic to topic. I unfurled as I drifted, eventually finding myself floating flat inside of my mind, legs outstretched limply in various directions. There was no need to remain guarded. I was the only thing here and always would be. The concept struck me as extremely lonely, but I fought it down. Instead, I decided to be productive and brought up one for my file folders again. Two point four billion Keldarians were inside of me. The DNA was segmented already and compartmentalized, but was in desperate need of sorting and organizing. I devoted an entire processor to the job of going through it like a rampaging Twilight on her library shelves. That settled, I devoted yet another processor to the repair and reconstitution of Dr. Kyliona's last video message. In a weird way, she was sort of my 'mother' so I admitted she deserved at least that, as I couldn't do anything else for her. She made my original form and, from what I guessed, created the clone as well that was essentially me. I didn't even know what to classify myself as. If I was a pony with robotic parts, I'd be a cyborg. But I wasn't originally a pony or even a Keldarian. Are a clone's parts 'fabricated' then? If all of me was fabricated, then I'd be an android I guess. Then of course there was the consideration that I also housed a Universal-Class Weapon of Mass Destruction inside of me. After the tentacles had popped out, I was given the delightful options of unleashing that as well. At least that choice had been a simple one. It plagued me. I sought out file after file. All of them had various things to do with extra features, add-ons, and various utilities. It didn't take me long to find the operating system files for my organic computer parts either. But this left me frustrated. I searched everywhere. There weren't any files dictated to 'me'. There were no advanced AI subroutines or any form of organic mental structure anywhere. What was I if I wasn't an artificial intelligence? Then the idea hit. I'd trace where the 'orders' were coming from when I gave one out! Printing out garbage data to a pop-up window, I watched where the order came from specifically. It didn't help much. There was a small translation black box connected to an input and output lane. I frowned. The connection was massive; easily four times the size of the biggest hardwired connection I had thought possible. Beyond it, there was nothing to access. Either something was blocking my ping attempts, or beyond that uplink to the black box, there was something truly alien from a computer's standpoint. An actual mind, maybe? I remembered the translation error I'd gotten when trying to communicate with Rainbow a few hours ago. Mental communication didn't mesh well with computer communication. I didn't know if I should be happy or sad at the discovery. Was it just the clone mind that I consisted of? What was this consciousness that I was right now? If it was just the clone mind, shouldn't I be dead now after what Nirru had done to me? I floated there absently, some part of me wondering if any of these questions would ever be answered. Shivering again, mentally pictures of that thing that I could become danced through my mind. That thing wasn't needed here. Knowing what I was, how was I honestly supposed to face any of them again? I was fake. Were my feelings even real, honestly? Maybe they'd be offended that they'd put so much time and energy into a robot. Another flash of imagery. My claws tore her apart, destroying her head in an instant. Oh yeah. A violent, homicidal robot. I shuddered as I remembered the feeling of tearing through her flesh. What scared me the most was the feeling of actually liking the sensation. It wasn't because of the texture, or even the fact of what I was doing, really. It was finally not being the runt. Finally, I could do something when somepony hurt me and tried to take things from me by force. It felt so amazing to be able to say 'no'. Heh. I gave her one heck of a 'no', I suddenly realized. I'm me. It's what I told Celestia and now what Luna told me right back. I had at some point accepted it for other reasons. When dealing with my own delusions, it didn't really matter what was real and what wasn't. All I could do was act within the world I interacted with. It didn't matter if Equestria was in my head and I was locked up somewhere, or if I had always been a pony and was having nightmares about my original dimension instead. If I was me, then this reality was also this reality. In a roundabout way, it made sense. Given that as truth, did it matter that I couldn't classify exactly what 'I' was? Curling up again, I sighed. Classification was indeed pointless. Now I just had to somehow get around the fact that I directly murdered two point four billion Keldarians with my own hooves. Hands, at that point? Tentacles, maybe? Shaking my head, I chuckled to myself. I had an obsession to classify things. Knowing what I had done and what I was, I didn't have a clue how I could possibly look any of the ponies in the eyes again. They'd know almost instantly. Which led me to the next hurtle. How would they react? To say I had some explaining to do would be an understatement. Hell, I'd be lucky if the Elements of Harmony didn't activate and blow me away regardless. Although technically I had no idea how the Elements actually functioned. The book Twilight had given me had been wonderfully vague. Sighing, I decided to keep an eye on my external heat sensors to let me know when I was done being operated on. Assuming once everypony left the room, that would indicate that I was either dead or done with whatever surgery they were performing. Given my multiple redundant backup life support systems, my bet was on the latter. Of course, this probably left me several hours to kill with absolutely nothing to do. I didn't have any books or anything to read, so I did the next best thing that any somewhat sane individual would do in the given situation. Peeking back through the files I'd looked through earlier, I started up the Minesweeper.exe I'd found... Chapter 29Drifting in an out of sleep as if caught up on a free-floating raft on the currents had become the norm. It was so much worse than my first hospital visit in Equestria. Today was no different, as I'd barely spent two hours awake as of yet. Clocky, my affectionately named pop up display clock, appeared in the lower right corner of my vision again at my mental request. It was now decorated in yellows, pinks, purples, and indigos. I got really bored last night and those colors appealed to me for some reason. Mentally chuckling to myself, I resumed considering the flood of questions that drifted through my head as I floated in the pseudo empty space. Well, technically I was in my head anyway, but giving the questions a visual avatar sounded amazingly annoying. Unless, of course, I made them little versions of Twilight and Fluttershy. Although, then I'd spend more time watching them than actually thinking about the questions, I had a feeling. I digress. There were indeed all sorts of important questions revolving around everything that had just happened. I'd been focusing so far on the extremely obvious ones with no luck at all. What was I exactly? What did Nirru and Keela know about me? How was I to find a place to fit in anymore? There were no answers to some, and the rest I didn't have access to. Still, maybe I was being too obvious. Another good thing to find out would by why I was created in the first place. If I knew what purpose I served exactly, maybe that would make the 'how' and 'what' a little bit easier? Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure only Doctor Kyliona could answer that fully, so that was mostly out of the question. Maybe once the video finished repairing itself, I'd learn more. Finding out everything Keela knew would also help. She had obviously hidden things from me. Still, I hadn't heard a single extra-dimensional peep for a day and a half. There was this sneaking suspicion that she was avoiding me, too. Well, technically Rainbow and Applejack weren't avoiding me if they didn't realize I was awake and listening to anything that entered my room. Still, they hadn't visited even once. Pinkie hadn't either, but I truly had no idea as to why with her. Not that I was one to talk about avoidance. I'd spent the last thirty-six or so hours hiding inside of myself, barring all outside senses minus hearing. I just wasn't ready to face them. Hell, I wasn't ready to face me. Further, I refused to use the links to either Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash to listen in. It felt too much like eavesdropping and I respected their privacy. The only thing I allowed myself to listen to was what was within earshot of my still snoozing body. Speaking of, that brought me to the biggest and most important question of all... Where in the bloody hells was the King of Hearts?! I glared at the full cascade of cards I had going. If I could find the other red king, I could move the entire stack and get at the last unrevealed pile! Damn it. Knowing my luck, the card I needed was in the pile itself. This was an extremely frustrating game! Wasn’t it supposed to be easier than that blasted mine thing? After blowing myself up two hundred and thirty six consecutive times in a row, I had decided to switch to cards. "Are you sure the doctor said he was, um, healing up all right? I thought he was supposed to wake up like normal. Oh, not that I'm doubting the doctor's knowledge or anything! I'm sorry!" I suddenly heard murmured from the body's audio input. My mental ears twitched and I looked upwards, as if that would somehow help me hear it better. I caught myself a moment later and snickered. That voice sounded remarkably like Fluttershy. She was still here? There was a light sigh, followed by, "Yes. It's okay, Fluttershy. The doctor said that it was very much possible for him to spend several days asleep. His body took a huge shock." Twilight, who was apparently there with her, had also been visiting a lot. Fluttershy visited more in-between taking care of her plethora of animal friends and visiting with Rarity and Twilight, from what she'd told me so far. Well, she didn't really 'tell' me. When she was by herself here, she'd often talk to me as if I were awake. That I honestly tried not to listen to for her privacy, but some of it was really hard to not hear! I blushed lightly at the thought. While it was adorable that she was feeling safer around me, I hadn't realized exactly how nerve-wracking everything had been to her. She was scared, and I wish I knew what I could do to help her through it. "Does anypony know more about what happened yet? It's simply dreadful to think of what went on that night! I can't imagine what he felt like; actually getting foalnapped by that brute!" Rarity sympathized dramatically a moment later, although a little more solemn than I was used to. I was just glad to hear her talking to Twilight again after what had happened. "No. That's the frustrating thing. Neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna will tell me anything more than the public statement they released. They thanked me for my research into the creature that supposedly defeated my duplicate, but they still won't let me see the, uh, body of it," Twilight replied, sounding both perturbed and annoyed at the same time. Fluttershy let forth a low whimper, adding, "I still can't believe Princess Luna had to, um, kill it." I closed my nonexistent eyes gently, momentarily drifting in the darkness. There was nothing I could do for her, though. It would be so much worse if she knew that I was the creature instead. No, her believing that it was dead was ideal. A moment of silence passed, my ears picking up only a quiet rustling noise. Movement maybe, but I couldn't tell what it was with my eyes still closed. A murmur followed, and a knock at the door shortly after that. My ears perked at the new development. A split second later, I mentally winced as I realized my real ears had also twitched and rotated. If anypony had noticed, they were silent about it. "We are sorry to interrupt, girls, but my sister requests an audience with thy Elements of Magic and Generosity," was suddenly spoken in an elegant tone. Given the wording involved, I didn't need to really hear the voice in order to realize it was the Princess of the Moon. "Oh? Why just us, Princess?" Twilight asked, sounding curious, but with a certain level of excitement in her tone that she kept hidden carefully. Ah yes, of course she'd be excited to go see Celestia. My thoughts drifted back to that night and I inwardly sighed. After all of this time and everything she said to me, she had still kept things hidden. Princess Celestia had told her things involving myself, apparently, that Twilight had neglected to relay. From the sounds of it, it had been some sort of warning about me. I was a little bitter, admittedly. I didn't fully trust the lavender mare, or her alicorn tutor. If they would simply share with me everything that they knew, it would be perfect. I didn't even know why they felt they needed to keep it a secret in the first place. Still, at least she hadn't been ordered to spy on me again; at least not to my knowledge. Happy thoughts, Mender! "-worry. I can keep an eye on Mender. It shouldn't be too hard seeing as he's asleep, right?" Fluttershy timidly asked, me coming back in the middle of it. I smiled, wondering what she'd do if she knew I wasn't asleep. "Of course, Fluttershy. We have no doubt at all of your capabilities in watching over Mender, worry not. We shall return after our conversation with Princess Celestia has been concluded, of course," Rarity assured as I heard hoof steps heading towards where I knew the door to the room was located. Wait, was I in the same hospital room as before? "I just don't understand what more we can add. Didn't she already get the report from the ponies who cleaned up the chandelier?" I heard Twilight question, the position of her voice shifting out of the room alongside the hoof step noises. There was a faint giggle from Luna that made me a little suspicious. This suddenly felt like a set up. "Oh, of course. My sister trusts you very, very much and would like a full report from both of thou directly, however. She feels that some aspects may have been, well, glazed over." Well, it made sense that the construction team probably wanted to cover up the somewhat sloppy job they had done, but this seemed a little too convenient, timing-wise. Biting the bullet, I slid the solitaire game to the side and, for the first time in over a day, drew myself back to full consciousness. My real eyes opened after their voices disappeared down the hall. Fluttershy was perched up on one of the visitation chairs with her hind legs on the seat and her forelegs resting on the windowsill. She shyly peeked out through the blinds, her head tracking the large yet regal midnight blue wings outside as they stretched gently. Her tail swayed upwards and curled at the base of her back hooves as she did so, her ears lowering somewhat. I smiled lightly at her adorable display, and exhaled quietly to calm my nerves. The act of breathing out caused a mild ache along my torso and I frowned. No, it made sense that I was still sore. They'd been adding things to the IV that caused my regenerative capabilities to go into overdrive, but I still had to recover from an intrusive chest surgery and several broken ribs. My left foreleg was also beyond most of their medicines. From the mutters of a couple nurses yesterday, they sounded shocked that I even had the leg still in the first place. I glanced at the bandages around the leg while Fluttershy was distracted. Due to the nature of my newly discovered electronically supplemented body, I knew the state of my leg under the wrappings. I contemplated adding 'ugly as sin' to my status readout, honestly. The skin was rapidly regenerating and becoming thicker again, but the muscles would take a while to recover. The fancy computer bits in me stated a good three weeks at my current regeneration level. Of course, I also had the option of 'supplementing' the regenerative process with the massive amounts of, well, mass inside me, but I had so far refused. It didn't feel like 'my' mass. It had been forcibly taken from a few billion Keldarians. "Relax, Fluttershy! You're confident and he's already perfectly stable, right? It's not like you're going to have to worry about anything happening," Fluttershy suddenly muttered, dropping herself roughly back down to her haunches as she shook her head. I smiled again, for real this time, as I saw her ears twitched back and forth nervously. She was always so adorable. Some days it felt like I'd be perfectly content with just watching her little movements forever. Other days, I wanted to bound up and pounce on her, hugging her until she was lulled to sleep. Yet other days... My eyes drifted away from her tail and I blushed softly. Focus, Mender. Do you really want to do this? I had the sneaking suspicion that this was set up intentionally. Was it possible that Luna knew I was awake the whole time? Regardless of the truth, I did have an opportunity now, didn't I? After everything that had happened, I hadn't really wanted to talk to Twilight. Especially not the second I 'woke up', as she'd probably pepper me with questions. I was also a little wary after hearing about the Celestia thing. Fluttershy, however, presented another set of problems. Her link to me and natural empathy made it very difficult to hide things from her. Further, she was likely the last pony I wanted to find out about, well, what I was. Still, just her being here caused me to feel almost compelled to talk to her. Maybe that was what Celestia and Luna wanted? Fluttershy wobbled a bit, but slowly turned around on the cushion. She managed to keep her balance as she relaxed against the back of the chair, her wings fanning out and stretching with a little shiver. Those lovely teal eyes opened fully as she shifted them. I made my choice, keeping my eyes open as she looked over at me. Predictably, she froze an instant later. Her eyes slowly widened as I made sure not to meet them directly with my own. If she saw directly into my eyes, who knew what she'd be able to see. Maybe I was a little paranoid, but I heard an expression somewhere saying that the eyes were the 'window to the soul', if I remember correctly. "Hey, Fluttershy. How are you doing?" I asked, feeling both awkward and extremely lame. What exactly was I supposed to say? My voice came out in a raspy whisper anyway due to disuse, I guessed. A moment later, I realized that I had misjudged her overall reaction almost completely. Her wings flitted out and she hopped the distance between the chair and bed with a gentle gliding motion. I tilted my head as she hit the covers into a stumble, falling forward and lightly falling against my chest. My eyes widened and my cheeks got warm again as she gently squeezed me upon coming to a stop. Oddly, she felt practically weightless against my body, the collision almost non-existent. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried. Please, um, don't do that again! Uh, if you can help it, that is. Not that I'm saying it was your fault!" she rapidly started to request, then backpedal. Well, some things hadn't changed. I smiled and averted my eyes before she could look up, slipping my still functioning right foreleg around her back gently. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Fluttershy. Are you okay?" I asked softly, barely a whisper. Talking left a light stinging sensation in my throat so I kept the volume down. Fluttershy nodded against my chest before adding, "I'm okay. I was just worried about you. I, um, really, really like you, Mender." She had stiffened when I touched her back, but with a timid glance backwards at my leg, she smiled softly and relaxed against me. My blush picked up again, but I just rubbed her back a little bit more, continuing to look away. I didn't think there were any outward signs, but I didn't know if Fluttershy would just 'tell' that I wasn't a pony by empathy alone, so I avoided her eyes still. "Um, I'm a little behind on what happened after I lost consciousness. How is everypony else?" I inquired, wondering why I hadn't seen Pinkie yet. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were probably just avoiding me. "Oh! I'm sorry. I forgot you just woke up and probably have lots of questions!" the timid yellow pegasus squeaked out a moment later, holding a hoof to her mouth while her ears twitched in nervousness again. How could she forget that I'd just woken up that fast? I contemplated a deadpan look, but she was just too adorable to stay mad at for long. Smiling, I shook my head gently and assured, "It's okay, Fluttershy. I've been awake off and on, and just resting for the most part. I haven't seen Pinkie yet and was worried, was all." She momentarily looked surprised before smiling again and giving a shy nod. "Pinkie is okay. Well, actually she's going stir crazy, but she's in good health, I mean. She cracked a rib in the explosion because she knocked Applejack out of the way instead of dodging it. She's stuck with bed rest for four days while Zecora's potion heals her," Fluttershy explained quietly, watching me with interest. I didn't even try to fathom how Pinkie could manage to get Applejack out of the way of a point blank explosion and escape with almost no damage. Some things just weren't worth breaking your mind over. I exhaled and nodded. She was okay. "I'm glad she's all right," I muttered, closing my eyes again and resting back against the pillow. Fluttershy's light form followed me down, resting lightly against my chest as she pulled herself closer. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why didn't you ask about Rainbow and Applejack? Uh, you don't have to answer if you don't want to!" she asked a moment later before releasing a shiver against me. Her closeness was strange, but entirely welcome. I hadn't expected her to suddenly pounce like that. Normally she didn't get this physical with me. I shook my head, shifting my gaze down to the mixture of fur between us instead of off to the side. "I figured Applejack and Rainbow were avoiding me after what happened," I explained softly. Actually, I was glad she was this close. I didn't have to put as much effort into exercising my sore throat. Fluttershy watched me for a moment, her pink mane swaying lightly as she tilted her head, and then nodded. Her eyes were massive and seemed to almost draw mine in. I resisted as best I could, earning a frown. "Well, um, I'm not sure about Dash. Applejack's been, well, she hasn't been doing so great. Most of her time has been split between apple bucking for harvest and taking care of Pinkie as best she can. I tried to talk to her but, um, she only got quiet instead." I listened through the whole thing and sighed weakly afterwards. I was glad she was taking care of Pinkie, but part of me was sad over everything that had happened. "I'll talk to her today again, I think. Maybe she'll change her mind once she knows you're awake?" she continued a moment later, seeing my hesitation. I swallowed and nodded. "I wish none of it had happened. Seeing all of that must have been..." I furthered, trailing off as I decidedly couldn't find an adjective to apply to it. Fluttershy cut me off regardless, surprising me by raising her hoof up gently in front of my face. My eyes snapped to it, then widened as I realized hers were right on the other side of the hoof. She tricked me? "That's better," she whispered, slowly lowering her hoof as she kept her eyes locked dead center with mine. I froze in place, unable to look away in the slightest. She almost seemed to pull me out of myself with her gaze, the warm teal washing out my surroundings. "You're in a lot of pain, I know. But, um, please. Don't blame yourself, or Applejack. Please? She made a really, really bad mistake and I can tell she is hurting really badly for it. I don't want to see anypony I care about suffer like this," she continued after thoroughly locking me in place. I shivered and snapped out of it as she finally closed her eyes gently, letting out a soft hum from deep inside herself. Her wings expanded slightly, fluttering out around my leg and relaxing over my shoulder a moment later. "I'm, well, surprised though. I didn't think that... The way you're holding me..." she muttered, sounding unsure of herself. I realized I'd been gently rubbing her back in a small circle. My grip on her had strengthened a little while she was talking, I noticed. My eyes widened. Had I been too rough?! "I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't realize I'd held you too tight. Um, I'm sorry, " I rapidly apologized, easing up instantly and releasing her back as best I could. Her wing gently held my foreleg down against her fur, however. "No! I mean, um, please keep this up. I'd always heard that stallions were, well, rough. They’re stronger, which meant they were supposed to be less, um, gentle, I guess?" she explained, tilting her head at me. I frowned, contemplating pointing out that Applejack could probably break most stallions in half outright with little effort. Still, I had a feeling she was generalizing. "Not that I'm saying you're weak! Oh no. I'm sorry," she murmured a second later when I didn't say anything. Snickering quietly, I shook my head. "I guess I'm just a little unsure on if I'm in the right or wrong?" I reasoned, frowning slightly myself. It didn't help that neither of us were apparently very gifted in the speaking department. Fluttershy surprised me yet again by outright blushing. "You're so gentle with me. I was really worried that you'd be rough or insensitive, even if you didn't mean to be. This is, um, really different from what I was expecting, but in a very, very good way," she explained further, settling down against my chest again. Her blush remained, giving her a warm tint as she smiled up at me. Suddenly, my existential problems seemed a little further away. She didn't see anything in my eyes after all, so maybe, just maybe I could at least pretend to be a normal pony? I smiled finally and shook my head towards her after realizing I was hesitating. "I'd never be forceful with you, Fluttershy. I care about you a lot and would never hurt you on purpose," I assured. Any time I hurt the feelings of these ponies was definitely accidental. Her eyes widened slightly, the pink in her cheeks shifting to a light red instead. The smile gracing her features remained, however, as she asked, "Really? I trust you, Mender. No matter what anypony else says, you're a good stallion. I, um, really want to be your fillyfriend too, I think. I'm going to ask Twilight about it tonight." My eyes widened, earning another giggle from her as she watched my shocked reaction. I felt a familiar heat rush into my cheeks and knew I probably mirrored her blush now. The surprise only magnified as she gently slid forward, brushing a forehoof to each side of my face as she pulled herself upwards. My eyes extended to maximum size as her eyes softly closed, muzzle pressing timidly into mine with the utmost care not to jostle me. I couldn't help it really. My right foreleg pulled her closer against me as I kissed back. The feeling of her body's heat radiating into me mixed with the burst of happiness her empathic link betrayed. The combined effect was enough to bring a new wave of heat to my cheeks, even without the need to realize what exactly was happening. She was kissing me! On the lips! Seconds passed before she slowly eased up. I let her break away at her own pace, withdrawing a few centimeters but not quite retreating. Her heavier breathing teased my snout as she relaxed against me again with a shiver. "You meant it. You really are gentle, and want me to be at ease," she murmured a moment later, teal eyes opening softly as they re-focused on me. Oh. She felt me through the link, too. "Yes. I want you to be comfortable, Fluttershy. I..." The thought drew forth hesitation as I swallowed weakly. The shaking sensation drifted into my working forehoof again. I was scared. If she knew what I was, she wouldn't be here. It wasn't me attracting her, but the mask I'd thrown up to trick her. What did that make me, regardless of what I actually was? My eyes closed again and I looked away from her, no longer able to face her gaze. Tricking such an amazing, wonderful mare was shameful at best. Fluttershy noticed my shaking almost instantly, pulling herself a little closer to me as a result. "Mender, what's wrong? Are you, um, okay?" she inquired timidly, sounding unsure of herself again. I wanted her to be comfortable, but maybe I didn't want her to be comfortable around me? "Fluttershy, do you think you could wait to ask Twilight about being my fillyfriend? I don't want you to hastily make a decision that, well, you'll end up regretting." Annoyingly enough, I couldn't prevent my voice from shaking as I said it. I swallowed again, feeling myself get antsy. My eyes widened as a flickering image of claws tearing through Twilight's face flashed through my mind. I jumped as it passed, gone an instant later. No! That wasn't Twilight. I wasn't going to do that to my friends! A moment passed in disorientation before I glanced back at Fluttershy. My surprise spiked when I saw that she was pulling the sheets up over both of us, settling down against my front while I lay on my side still. Despite being careful of my damaged left foreleg, I winced a little as she settled in, pulling the bandaged limb back before giving her a questioning glance. When had she gotten under the covers? I felt out her connection and found it fully intact. I'd lost a couple of seconds, but it was still Fluttershy; she was no imposter. "I'm, um, staying here, Mender. I'm going to stay with you and help you through this any way I can, uh, if that's okay with you. Um, I really want you to get better!" she confessed, tucking her wings in and gently pressing her muzzle against my chest. I blushed again, my mind not fully processing this new predicament. It kept trying to tell me that Fluttershy was in bed with me and snuggling! Totally ridiculous. "F-Fluttershy, you don't need to worry about me. I just want you to be happy and, um, I'm not sure if I'd be the best stallion to do that for you. You can still be with Twilight, of course," I assured, wondering if that was the reason she was being so insistent. Hell, if I told them, Twilight probably wouldn't want to be with me like that anyway, which would solve any sort of jealousy issue that might be worrying Fluttershy in the first place. The thought hit me like a bag of apples at high velocity, and I swallowed the lump in my throat again. Why? Why couldn't I just be a normal pony?! Ultimately, I couldn't see a way out of this. If I kept everything a secret from everypony except those that knew already, I'd be living a lie, forever hiding what I really was behind a mask. They wouldn't love me, but some close resemblance of me instead; one with less flaws. But if I told them, they'd all see me for the abomination I actually was. Was it even possible for them to care about something that was fake? I was a scout, weapon, and key from another dimension that, at the very least, represented a passive threat to everything they held dear. Worst case scenario, I was a ticking time bomb waiting to destroy the universe as they knew it. How does anypony treat 'that' as an individual? How would they really see me as anything but a monstrosity? The warm lips kissing under each eye snapped me out of it again. Fluttershy kissed lightly, brushing away drops of liquid on my cheeks that I hadn't realized were there to begin with. "Just let it out, Mender. If you feel like talking about everything, I'm, um, here, of course. But you have me now, no matter what you say or do. Twilight too. I can feel it," she spoke softly, sounding surprisingly sure of herself. What did she mean? "Have you?" I asked softly, opening my eyes again and searching hers for emotions. A big, fancy computer in my head didn't help me figure ponies out any easier, I noticed. She smiled, expression softening as she relaxed against my pillow again. "No matter what you say and no matter what I say, you let me see who you are. I like what I, um, saw. I don't know why you want me to reconsider but, well, I'm sorry! I won't," she explained, closing her eyes after and wincing, acting as if I'd get mad at her for speaking her mind. I smiled, finding her adorable instead. Confusing, but very adorable. It lingered on the edge of my tongue. I tasted it; rolled it around in my mouth as my thoughts drifted. Instead, a compromise of sorts came out of me instead. "Even if I was a monster? The scariest monster you can think of?" I asked, my energy draining out with each word forced free of myself. Dash's horrified look flashed through my mind again and I shivered, pushing back the memory again. I already saw her answer. "If you were a big, scary monster, I'd probably panic for a moment. But you're still you, Mender. The you in here is what makes me feel safe, no matter what you look like," she explained further, resting her forehead on my chest before asking, "I know you'll be, um, gentle and care for me. Why be scared of that?" I paused, trying to fully grasp what she meant. "Is that what you meant what you said I have you?" I asked, wondering what this meant to her. She smiled fully and raised her head up again, actually looking somewhat emboldened. Well, emboldened for Fluttershy, anyway. "You're stuck with us. Twilight is smart. Neither of us are going to let you get away now that we know what you're like," she added, blushing afterwards. Her surprising amount of comfort with the declaration surprised me. Of course, she undoubtedly knew I didn't want to get away in the first place, but it was still a new level of trust she gave me. Smiling, I gave her a gentle squeeze. If she was speaking truthfully, which I was inclined to believe, that gave me a bit more hope for the future. Having a pony that cared about me was worlds better than being alone with the cacophony of madness in my skull. Even if I was a monster, I'd tolerate it for Fluttershy. "Thank you," I muttered into her ear as she let out a pleasant sounding sigh against me. Her eyes didn't open this time, but she smiled and nodded against me instead. "Rest a bit, Mender. We both need it," she whispered back. I blushed but couldn't make myself deny her request. She seemed to be truly okay with being here. I wanted her. Her warmth felt amazing and I wanted to just squeeze her and snuggle for all of eternity, honestly. It felt so simplistic, carefree, and absolutely amazing. Her wanting even just a drop of that was more than welcome. I decided I wasn't about to say no, anyway. For the first time since Luna found me, I willingly let myself drift to sleep. This time I wasn't lonely, and had a smile on my face. * * * * * “Fluttershy!” sounded out in a distinctly Twilight Sparkle voice in the echoes of my mind. Groggily, my systems restarted and I stirred as I felt the warm, furry body next to me give a violent start of surprise. I felt Fluttershy sit up rapidly and look towards the door of the room. Murmuring in a whisper, I wanted to just bury my face in her nearby tummy and go back to bed. Why was Twilight raising a fuss? Wait, something told me I should know this. “Ah! Um, hello Twilight! Rarity! Uh, this isn’t what it looks like,” my now fidgeting bed companion excused, making it extremely hard to lull myself back to sleep with her sporadic movements. There was a low sigh, followed by, “I know you do so enjoy Mender’s company and are obviously considering joining their herd, but you really should get permission before crawling into bed with him as he sleeps.” Rarity spoke calmly, a reasonable counterpart to the other unicorn in the room. Oh yeah, I should probably do something about that accusation. “Um, but he-“ Fluttershy started to profess, grinding to a halt instantly when I opened my eyes against her and gently raised my head, turning to look at the two newcomers. Both Twilight and Rarity shifted to startled shock almost instantly, but I held my tongue. Rarity was in a simple button vest, undoubtedly to fashionably combat the increased colder temperatures outside. Twilight looked far more frazzled with a bit of her mane misplaced here and there. I’d seen that before when she got stressed out over things. She was halfway through setting aside a scarf and promptly dropped it upon seeing me awake. Both wore a similar wide-eyed, mouth slightly agape expression however. After half a second of sleepy observation, I shook my head and sighed, looking down at the blankets again. Rarity and I had departed on somewhat awkward terms, and having personally murdered a doppelganger of Twilight no less than forty-eight hours prior, it felt a little awkward looking at her, too. Plus there was the whole 'lying to me' thing again, but sadly, I was getting used to that. A part of me blamed Celestia regardless. "I gave her permission. She was keeping me company," I elaborated, finally breaking the silence of the room. Rarity recovered first and closed her mouth again. I saw her form a hesitant smile out of the corner of my vision as she relaxed into a gentle sitting position again. "Well, that certainly makes it all right then. I'm very pleased to see you up, Mender," she agreed politely, letting Fluttershy finally relax against me again. I pushed my forehead into her chest and nodded against her softly, enjoying the feeling of her coat on my face. She squirmed for a moment as if tickled, but settled in and wrapped both forelegs over my shoulders. I wasn't about to start complaining about her newfound cuddly nature, that was for sure. Twilight hadn't said anything yet, however, so I glanced back over at her. Her gaze was locked onto Fluttershy, blank look adorning her face. She hesitated, noticing my attention a moment later and straightened her pose. "Um, yeah. I'm glad you're awake, too, Mender. Princess Celestia asked to be notified of when you woke up, so I'll run and get her real quick," she informed, turning towards the door again. "Twilight Sparkle!" Rarity exclaimed, the surprisingly harsh tone giving Fluttershy another spasm and causing me to widen my eyes slightly, shifting my attention over to the rather annoyed looking mare. Twilight froze and winced as if burned, but slowly shifted herself around. "What do you think you're doing? You know what you promised," the pearly unicorn continued a moment later, giving Twilight a harsh glare. She swallowed nervously and backed away from Rarity's gaze before rapidly shaking her head, "I... I will talk to him about it! Just, well, does it have to be right now?" she pleaded, eyes drooping as she looked away from her friend. "Yes. I shall go and talk to Princess Celestia instead. You're not backing out of this," Rarity spoke softly, but with a certain air of finality as she walked past the lavender unicorn and headed out the door in a brisk trot. "Rarity, please!" Twilight called after her, seconds before a light blue aura grabbed the door and pulled it shut right in front of the bookish mare. Fluttershy looked just as confused as I probably did at the moment as we both watched the proceedings. What was that about? Twilight shivered lightly and slowly rotated around, turning her gaze towards me again an instant later. Half a minute passed in awkward silence before she finally shook her head and sighed. "Um, I'm sorry about all that, Mender. You do really deserve the truth, though," she finally spoke. A sudden, horrible thought shifted into my mind an instant later, however. Fluttershy and I were alone in the room with her. No, I wasn't going to make the same mistake again. "Wait. What's Rainbow Dash's favorite book series?" I asked coldly, staring at her for any shift in posture at all. My back stirred as I prepared to take her head off in an instant if I had to. I knew this was Fluttershy against me, and nopony was going to hurt her while I was here. Twilight jumped at my interruption and widened her eyes. The mare against me gave out a squeak at my tone shift and looked at me curiously instead. A moment later, Twilight's distinctly lavender eyes softened and she answered, "Daring Do. I was the one who got her hooked on it." Oh. That was an interesting tidbit of information. I relaxed and nodded, calming my new back muscles again. Twilight liked fiction, too? "You are you, then. The only ponies she could have possibly copied would be you, Rainbow, and Applejack. Only you're in the room, though, so I had to be sure," I explained softly, feeling Fluttershy tense against me a moment later. Twilight nodded and looked down, brushing her hoof along the ground before finally sitting down. "Mender... Please don't worry about that anymore. The Princesses are here and have used magic to protect the town," Fluttershy assured, giving me an assuring squeeze. The lavender mare looked up again as well before nodding. "They're fully shielding us with my brother's help. He's in town as well. I don't think the dimensional shift they used before will work inside of the shield, so you're safe, Mender. I'm really me," she added, walking up and sitting back down right next to my bed. We locked eyes for a moment, and a pang of regret danced across hers a moment later. "I'm sorry, Mender. I should have just told you, but Princess Celestia warned me that your old existence might still be a threat." I took a moment to process that. It was more vague than I realized, but there was a possibility she was lying to me again. "Why didn't you just say something, Twi?" I asked softly, watching her as my body grew sleepy again. Her ears flattened down against her head and she looked away again. "I was... It was foolish of me. I was frustrated because I couldn't find anything wrong or detect anything with my magic. But you still kept insisting that there was something there. I didn't want to believe that there was something there that my magic couldn't pick up," she admitted slowly, seemingly considering each word with great care. "T-Twilight! Um, doesn't that mean we could have prevented this?" Fluttershy asked ahead of me, sounding surprised and oddly, a little upset. I'd never heard Fluttershy really angry over something, so the tone shift was surprising. "There was a lot I should have done. I know that and I, well, I really screwed up. All I could think of was that Mender was traumatized and simply having flashbacks," she furthered, still refusing to look up at me again. I closed my eyes softly. Well, it was just a confirmation of everything I'd already suspected had been going through her mind. She seemed to actually treat me better as of late, so I could only guess that this was what she thought before the change of heart. There was no sense in backtracking. I'd kept secrets too, and had a big one now. "If we're revealing secrets, I should probably let you know that I was in communication with one of my old race, the Keldarians. She was a research and development specialist called Keela," I revealed, resting my head back down on the pillow. Twilight's eyes shot open an instant later and she looked back up at me, startled. "Why were you-?" she started to ask before I raised my right forehoof to halt her. "I was working with her to get rid of the link forever. We found out what was causing it and were well on the way to making sure it never bothered us again," I added, curbing her question before she could ask. Her reaction surprised me however as her ears flattened back and she looked away. "Mender, why didn't you ask me to help you? I could have helped to get rid of the link, and this might not have happened," she asked softly. "Twilight..." Fluttershy muttered, but I shook my head. She really wanted to know. She probably knew already and just wanted somepony to say it. Fine, then. "You thought I was insane. Telling you wouldn't have done anything," I pointed out, possibly a little colder than I had intended. The lavender mare winced and lowered herself a little more, partially sinking below the level of the bed where I couldn't see her. Silence dominated, and the gentle forelegs quietly pulled me closer again from behind now, me having rotated around to face Twilight. Almost a full minute passed in dead quiet before a light sniffling noise sounded out. What? Finally, the lavender mare lifted her head back up again. "I know. I knew that before, and deserve everything you want to say about me. It's probably too late, but I'm sorry, Mender. I really am," Twilight apologized softly. Tears ran freely down her cheeks now, and she looked away, wiping at them with her left forehoof. I'd never seen Twilight cry before. The anger bit back at myself and I suddenly realized I might have been too harsh on her. Sighing, I shook my head and reached out with my right foreleg, hooking her left one and pulling it away from her cheek as she brushed her fur. Her eyes widened and she looked back at me as I wiped it off myself. "I'm sad that you don't trust me, yes, but I'm not going to stay mad forever, Twilight. Don't be so hard on yourself. I don't think any of us saw this coming; not even Keela," I spoke, trying to calm her down. It was partially my fault, too, regardless. I had given too much information to Keela, not even considering the lab might have been bugged. "That wasn't Keela that pretended to be Twilight?" Fluttershy asked softly against my neck, causing me to smile lightly as her breath tickled my fur. After regaining my composure, I shook my head and returned, "No. That was her older, and now revealed to be sociopathic, sister. Her name's Nirru. She tricked Keela into helping her get here to 'talk' to me." There was no point in lying about it anymore. Twilight's eyes narrowed as she watched me again, definitely looking irritated this time. I was confused until she asked, "Is it true then? Applejack said that you'd told her she tried to seduce you." "She what?!" Fluttershy squeaked out, sitting up again and looking over me, at her friend. I couldn't see her expression, but I felt the surprise drift through the link. She hadn't known about that, then? I nodded regardless. "Yeah. She wanted to mate with me to get at the Keldarian DNA inside of myself. That's why she made herself look like you, Twilight," I confirmed. The lavender mare blushed, surprisingly enough, and looked away. "But we haven't even done anything like that yet! Did she really think-" Twilight tried to protest. This, I'd seen coming, however. "That's what made me catch on to her so fast. She only got me upstairs before I started getting suspicious. She did manage to, well, kiss me once. I caught on after that," I admitted, wincing as I closed my eyes and looked away from Twilight. There was a long pause before she let out a quiet sigh. Fluttershy's forehooves massaged into my shoulder before she leaned down and gently nuzzled the side of my head with her snout. "Mender, it's okay," she assured from above me, giving me a gentle shoulder rub. I opened my eyes in time to see Twilight lean forward and gently kiss me on the nose. It surprised me, and also tickled a little. Both mares giggled as I crossed my eyes to stare at my nose, wiggling it around a little to hold back the sneeze. "Please give me another chance, Mender. I'm an open book now. Even if Princess Celestia tells me to, I'm not going to lie or hide anything from you anymore," she promised, actually surprising me with that one. I stared at her, undoubtedly looking shocked as I searched her eyes for feeling. She locked eyes again and confidently nodded before slipping into a familiar motion. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she recited, gently pressing her right hoof up against her closed eyelid to finalize it. Fluttershy stiffened but nodded vigorously a moment later. "Um, me too! I promise that I'm not going to be afraid of you anymore. There's no reason to be," she added, also tying herself to the surprisingly solemn promise. For such a nonsensical pledge, it certainly held a lot of meaning here. Still... The image of an enraged Pinkie Pie flashed through my mind and I shuddered. Okay, maybe there was merit to not wanting to break a Pinkie Promise. "Do you mean that, Twilight?" came from the doorway in a familiar, soft voice. Twilight went rigid, eyes widening in shock as Princess Celestia herself walked in through the doorway, two guards and Rarity trailing closely behind her. Fluttershy squeaked immediately and pulled herself up into a bowing motion on the bed next to me. I didn't quite know what to do myself. Twilight rapidly spun around and bowed as well. In my current position, I couldn't flex enough to bow in the first place with my hurt ribs. Still, she had told me to treat her like a normal pony, so maybe I should? Did she honestly deserve my allegiance, of course? She had saved me once, but only to lie to me and set Twilight and me against each other. At this point, I had no idea what her intentions ultimately were. Going with that, I decided to just watch. "W-What do you mean, Princess?" Twilight hesitantly asked, looking back up at her mentor a moment later. Celestia gestured to rise, and everypony in the room minus me did so immediately. Celestia smiled down at the unicorn before sitting down as well. "If I asked you specifically to keep something from Mender, or to watch him and report findings to me without his knowledge, would you?" she asked outright, eyes locked onto Twilight intently. I raised an eyebrow but stayed silent, unsure of what she was hoping to accomplish. Regardless, she didn't once direct her attention to Fluttershy or me. Admittedly, I'd never seen the lavender mare so flustered. She shivered, and then surprised me by looking over her shoulder at me instead. I looked back without much energy, keeping my expression as neutral as my insides felt. If she wanted to save face in front of her teacher, I wasn't about to stand in her way. She swallowed, and then rotated back around to look at Celestia. "Um... I'm sorry, Princess. I wouldn't. You'd need to find somepony else," Twilight muttered finally, causing my eyes to widen. Fluttershy murmured lightly to my left, holding a hoof up to her muzzle as she watched the scene unfold. Rarity looked far less surprised behind the Princess, however, a soft smile forming on her expression. The tension hung on the air for a long ten seconds as Celestia stared down at the sunken Twilight Sparkle, gaze almost burning through her in intensity. I exhaled softly, opening my mouth to finally interrupt; to say anything that might spare Twilight any further pain. Celestia giggled first, however, cracking into a smile and nodding, snapping the room back to life with just that simple motion and sound. "I'm pleased, Twilight. I have no desire, nor need to have anypony spy on Mender anymore, anyway. Regardless, I'm pleased that your feelings on the issue have drastically changed, and you now trust him," the Princess assured after everypony relaxed. Twilight smiled softly and looked back up at Celestia, but the white alicorn had already looked past her and up at me instead. "Good afternoon, Mender. It's been a while since we've gotten to talk," she spoke gently, gesturing with her hoof as she did so. Pleasantly surprised would be an understatement at that point. I formed a light smile and nodded to her as well. "Good afternoon, Tia. How are you doing?" I asked politely, a bit of amusement being sparked by the sudden memory of my ill-considered lunch date with her. Rarity gasped immediately, eyes bulging out, but 'Tia' just laughed, nodding to me as well. "You remembered! I'm quite pleased that you've decided to treat me like a normal pony. I do have quite a bit to talk to you about, of course. I'd like to believe that you're about the only pony that knows what happened a couple nights ago," she reasoned, probably fairly accurately. Everypony here had a piece or two about the night, and I'm sure she'd already talked to Dash and Applejack, but I did have not only pieces that nopony did, but the entire picture. However... "Didn't Luna give you the full report?" I questioned, watching her carefully. She had to have at this point. But Luna herself said that Celestia had warned her about me ahead of time. Had she even needed the Moon Princess' report? As expected, Celestia smiled towards me and nodded. The gesture was fleeting; barely a shift in posture and eye position as she watched me, but I saw it. She knew, indeed. "Yes, she did. I'll only ask a couple of questions, as you're undoubtedly tired," she returned a moment after. Questions? "Firstly, I'm told that you know specifically of the individual responsible for the violence. Only you have the information on her, however. May you share it?" she asked carefully, after seeming to consider it for a moment. Oh. She was intentionally avoiding asking questions about me. So far, anyway. "Her name's Nirru. She's the older, considerably more psychotic sister of Keela, the Keldarian I've been in contact with," I explained simply, trying to be as thorough in answering as I could. She had me in a bad position, knowing what she did, so staying on her good side would definitely help in the long run. Celestia nodded pleasantly, seemingly amused by something for a moment before continuing with, "I assume you were attempting to work with the Keldarian for a reason as well. I'd hazard a guess as to wanting to remove the link you still have?" Another simple question. Oddly, I kept waiting for the punch line. The question that would cause everypony in the room to suddenly hate me. "Yes. The link is connected to a book in their dimension. Her plans, before the incident, were to send the book here, thus severing the link forever," I elaborated, technically not giving much 'new' information on top of what she already had suggested. Twilight looked curious for a moment, but continued watching me from the side, shifting her attention between Celestia and myself. Fluttershy relaxed openly again, slumping before resting against my side in a lying position. Rarity still looked momentarily flustered, but I saw the interest starting to build again in her eyes as she sat next to the Princess instead. "I see. This is admirable; seeking aid yourself when you couldn't elsewhere. I approve, even though it turned out poorly. This was not Keela's fault, however, I'm guessing. What do you know of the creature that attacked Nirru in the forest?" she asked next, causing my heart to skip a beat. I stared at her, a bit of uneasiness settling into my chest as everypony shifted their attention back to me. She hadn't connected me to it. But she knew I'd know almost everything about it at the same time. Clever. But how much should I tell her? "Mender, um, are you okay?" Fluttershy whispered softly, brushing her wing up along my side in assurance as she rested there. I looked back over and smiled weakly at her, feeling tired suddenly. No matter what, I couldn't shake the exhausted sensation. It felt like my body was a shell; some sort of hollow moving statue pretending to be a pony. Pretending. I looked back at Celestia and noticed she was watching me with a more solemn expression, looking a little sad instead. "No, he's not, Fluttershy. My sister reported he was gravely injured, undoubtedly receiving some of the wounds from the creature itself. I apologize, of course. It can't be a pleasant memory," Tia interrupted quietly, not breaking eye contact. A lie? No, technically the 'creature' had injured me. The very knowledge of its existence hurt more than I could ever realize. I nodded softly before finally replying. "It was a little larger than a full size stallion; vaguely pony-shaped but with layered, chitinous armor. It didn't have a coat, but the armor was dark gray in color. It seemed to have a wire-like mane that twisted and lurched of its own volition. Its eyes were glowing blue, and eight elongated tentacles with various bladed parts extended off its back," I described carefully, staying vague. Fluttershy had brought up both forehooves to her mouth by the time I was done and timidly watched me with her eyes shivering. I could tell she was scared, and hardly blamed her. Rarity looked more horrified and disgusted than scared, reminding me of Rainbow's reaction to actually seeing me. The image flashed through my mind again and I winced, quickly looking away. Twilight seemed more curious than disgusted, however. "Did you manage to see its hooves or the tentacle weaponry? Did any of them have a curved, scythe-like blade shape?" Twilight asked me almost instantly, looking absolutely fascinated. Well, at least I wouldn't need to worry about her running away from me in a panic. Instead, I only had to be concerned that she might dissect me while I was still alive. "Its hoof claws matched your diagrams exactly, Twilight," Celestia answered instead, shifting her attention to the now excited looking unicorn. "Yes! I was right in the measurements then! But wait, how could a creature like that evolve so quickly and spontaneously? It's almost like it evolved from a pony by the description, but unless serious magic is involved, that shouldn't be possible. There's no way that could happen naturally!" Twilight continued, starting to shift her exceedingly sharp mind in the exact opposite direction I'd hoped she'd go in. Damn it. If she started asking questions like that, I had a sneaking suspicion that the clever unicorn might just uncover my secret on her own. Celestia shook her head, however, still smiling. "It matters little, my student. My sister dealt with the creature, and you don't need to worry about it any longer," she assured gently, not breaking her expression even for a moment. Suddenly, I kind of wondered what she'd be like playing cards. 'Poker' had been popular in the barracks, if I recalled correctly. I had a feeling she could win with a hand comprised entirely of Uno cards instead. I made the mental note to inquire later if those two games existed here as well. If they did, I was going to be seriously creeped out! Twilight looked less than pleased with the answer, but gently nodded to her teacher. That probably meant I'd be blasted with questions later, instead. "Excuse me, but now that the patient is awake, I need to go over a few things with him and get his medicine set up," I heard called out from the hallway a moment later, in a familiar sounding mare's voice. Oh! I hadn't told any of the medical staff that I was awake. Oops. Nurse Redheart slowly walked in seconds later, giving a gentle bow to Celestia before turning to me instead. Seeing her in this room again brought back memories of my first hospital visit in Equestria. Not that it was all that long ago. "I'd like to go over the details of your chart and get you some food. Can I have a moment of privacy with him?" the nurse requested politely. I was a little uneasy, but felt secure in my ability to defend myself if needed at this point. Besides, if she wasn't really Nurse Redheart, I'm sure Tia would have picked up on it immediately. "Oh, of course. I'll drop by tomorrow after you've rested up more, Mender. I have to go check on the reconstruction project at the library," Celestia excused, nodding to me with a smile. Reconstruction? Oh. Oh yeah, the FTL reaction. "Thanks. I am getting rather tired," I agreed, taking note of the sleepiness again. Regrowing your leg must take a lot of energy. "Um, can I come back afterwards?" Fluttershy asked politely, standing up on the mattress next to me. Twilight perked up and nodded along, adding, "Me too." Nurse Redheart glanced between them before snickering and turning to me instead. "Do you mind if your herd stays with you after visitation time?" she asked pleasantly. My cheeks warmed a little bit, but nowhere near as badly as Fluttershy's. Twilight's smile widened, much to my surprise. I shook my head regardless. "No, they can come back in." It was a little strange how everypony just assumed after the rumors had circulated. Although, oddly enough, neither mare involved denied it. Maybe rumors had a way of becoming real after a while? Of course, I doubt the rumors had much to do with it beyond simply making it easier to go with the flow. I snapped out of it a moment later, only to see the tip of Fluttershy's tail as it left. Shifting my attention back to Nurse Redheart, I saw she wore a gentle smile as she set a clipboard down on my bedside table from her side pouch. "All right then. I just want to inform you of the status of your health, and then talk to you about what we're going to do next to get you back on your hooves!" she exclaimed in an extremely cheerful manner. "Aww. I missed you too," I joked, smiling softly at her. She momentarily looked surprised before bursting into laughter. I followed soon after, probably earning a few questioning stares from the mares in the other room, but I hardly cared. After everything that I'd been through in the last few days, I didn't really care about a whole lot, I discovered. Did that make me happy or sad? "Yes, Mender. You know you can visit me without putting yourself in the hospital, though, right?" she pointed out, snickering as she poked me in the shoulder with her hoof. I simply stuck my tongue out, earning another grin before she peeked back at my chart. "Besides, after you hear all this, you get treated to hospital food and medication for desert. Isn't that awesome?" she offered, smirking at my elongated groan. Well, at least I got my wish. If you could call it such, spending days in the hospital was about as 'normal' as I could seem to manage. Some days, I really hated my life... "Stop flirting with my coltfriend!" Twilight suddenly shouted from the other room. Nurse Redheart paused for a moment in surprise before bursting into even more laughter. Chapter 30Yawning, I idly flipped another page, further expanding my understanding of Equestrian culture and customs. Since Twilight gave me the book yesterday, I had spent a vast amount of time reading it. Now, every chapter except for one was finished. I had skipped chapter nine, but finally doubled back to read it after finishing the book and instilling a bit more courage into myself. Herds. Apparently it was a time honored tradition dating all the way back to the 'foraging' days of Equestrian society. Of course, back then it was also used for protection and according to most researchers, the herds were significantly larger in size. Nowadays, a herd was formed almost exactly like a marriage in most cases, with a few more obvious technical differences. The most obvious apparently being involvement with more than two ponies. In Equestria's example, the legal limit was five individuals unless special permission was granted by either royalty or the courts for extraordinary circumstances. The book stated that, realistically, herds of three or four individuals were much more frequent, unless the herd contained multiple members of both sexes. It wasn't absorbing very well, honestly. I could get the technicalities easily enough, but application was drawing a huge blank in my mind. It wasn't the multiple mates aspect. I'd dealt with that before in my prior world. It definitely wasn't the practical applications. The skewed gender ratio here certainly justified alternative arrangements. No, I think what bothered me the most was that most herds were primarily mares. I just didn't get it. It wasn't that I couldn't see what was in front of me, but it was as if I couldn't believe it instead. This caused me to question myself further, of course. Lowering the book slightly, I glanced over at the gorgeous yellow mare that was spread out on the blankets beside me. Her eyes were closed as she lay on her side. Her wings would twitch on occasion, as did her legs as she made little stepping motions in her sleep. I smiled, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest, tracing the pleasant smile she wore with my eyes. She was beautiful. I closed my eyes, feeling the miasma of emotions flooding through me. What did I honestly do to deserve her? I wasn't a real pony. I wasn't a real anything, really. Was the care and affection I felt for her real even if I wasn't? Cares and wants slipped off my hooves like sand as I desperately tried to grab onto anything that could justify my existence. I was a murderer. No, that was too simple. I'd effectively committed genocide; our race was all but doomed thanks to what I directly did. Can anything justify me being happy at this point? Suddenly, it didn't feel like the universe was cruel enough to me. Fluttershy was far too kind, especially. Of course, that was her in a nutshell. Hell, it was even in her title. Beyond feeding her animals and checking up on Pinkie every day since I woke up, she had spent the entirety of her time right where she was now. Not only did I feel extremely guilty that I was eating up so much of her time, I was also completely baffled by her sudden change of heart. At first it felt like she was forcing herself to, but she'd always insist something about me being gentle, and that it was surprising to her, and then she'd get unbelievably cuddly. I wasn't complaining, exactly, but I did feel badly that she hadn't done much of anything besides that. I guess the most surprising aspect of all was the sheer level of her emotional and physical hunger. She acted almost desperate for cuddles, hugs, and, surprisingly enough, kisses. Nothing deep or long, but she was definitely kissing me on the mouth now. I stared in wonder at her as she slept. Truly, what had I done to deserve such an amazing mare, when in theory, I should have exactly the opposite. Fluttershy sneezed in her sleep, murmuring in mild dislike about something before pulling herself closer, shivering. It was a little chilly in the room. Smiling at her, I gently slid my covers down, bracing against the encroaching cold air before sliding it out from under her. She sighed, a soft and pleasing noise as she pressed herself up against my side and I covered her in the blanket. Whether she was awake or not hardly mattered as she soon returned to her rhythmic snoozing, this time at a much closer distance. Deciding not to fight it anymore, I chuckled to myself and set the book down on my bedside table, slipping my lavender bookmark into my spot before rotating to face Fluttershy directly. Her smile widened as I wrapped my right foreleg around her and gave her a gentle squeeze, closing my eyes. I felt my eyelids give in to the weight pressing down on them. A nap sounded really good, I decided. It would probably be around supper when we woke up, and that meant Twilight would be visiting after the library's public hours had ended. I looked forward to seeing my fillyfriend, which both did and didn't surprise me. Maybe things were looking up? It was hard for them to look down at this point, of course. Oh wait, I could think of a few ways... Snickering to myself, I let my thoughts drift away from the monster that I was and onto happier things, snoozing against the pegasus I shared my covers with. * * * * * Twilight lightly set the bag down, then smiled at Fluttershy as she looked up again. I paid little heed as I peeked inside of the bag, lifting the flap up with my right foreleg. More books were inside numbering at a half dozen or more, including the first book in the Daring Do series. I smiled at the goodies. "I brought the cultural basics books, as well as the stuff you requested on enchantment theory and energy dynamics," Twilight finally relayed, shifting her happy smile in my direction instead. My ears perked and I nodded to her, rather excited to have more reading material. Lying in bed for hours at a time was exceedingly boring, even with solitaire and minesweeper to keep me company. Fluttershy stretched out under the covers, yawning sleepily as she peeked out at Twilight a moment later. "Oh, um, hello, Twilight. How was your day since this morning?" she asked timidly, as if afraid of getting chastised for being where she was. You'd think she'd learn after the third time of being walked in on and nothing bad happening. "Quite well, Fluttershy! The library was surprisingly busy today. I actually had to be a librarian for a while! Unsurprisingly, all our public books on the Everfree forest are now rented out. It's silly, really. I'm all for public understanding, but learning about a risky area after something has already happened is a bit too late," she muttered, hopping up onto the bed and flopping over against my covered legs. Thankfully the snapped bone had healed already thanks to my regeneration, or that probably would have sucked. "It's still good that they're concerned. I'd don't want to see anypony hurt in the forest," Fluttershy spoke up, voice growing a little in strength as she got adjusted again. I noticed that she was always just a little awkward after she woke up, but gradually got better afterwards. I'd also noticed that the time it took her to 'recover' her comfort zone was gradually decreasing. I didn't understand it, but I was happy with the results, honestly. "The repairs must be going smoothly, then," I reasoned, honestly surprised that Twilight opened the library back up so soon after what happened. She had some serious dedication going. "They're done with the ground floor but the second story still needs a lot of work. Spike and I are still staying with Rarity in the meantime," she returned, smirk shifting to a knowing one instead. I chuckled, mentally picturing the little guy jumping for joy at that turn of events. "I'm guessing you didn't have to twist his arm?" Twilight snorted and rolled her eyes while Fluttershy let out a little giggle. "Please. He's like a little Casanova. I'd swear I caught Rarity flirting back a couple of times, too," she muttered, scrunching her eyebrows down a little in a look of hesitant amusement. "It's good though. It distracts him, doesn't it? All of my animals are so scared and admittedly, I'm worried myself being that close to the forest," Fluttershy murmured. Idly, I wondered if that was the cause of her sleeping here all the time. "We're safe in Ponyville, Fluttershy. My brother has a shield over the entire town, including your cottage. Plus, Princess Celestia has garrisoned guards here to patrol until the scouts finish combing the forest," Twilight assured. My hoof drew to a stop as I felt a shiver go through my torso. No, it was an isolated incident. Of course, I couldn't just tell her that. With a nudge of willpower, I stopped my leg from shaking and pushed away the memories of that night again. Rainbow's look of unadulterated horror was the hardest to drive away, reminding me that I was the monster they were worried about. “We’re lucky your brother was still in Canterlot and not in the Crystal Empire,” Fluttershy murmured, even though Twilight was locked onto me instead. Oh crap. Had she noticed that? Being an extremely skilled magic user and scientist, Twilight was nothing if not observant. I saw her at the top of my vision, expression slowly shifting to a frown as she watched me carefully. I didn't say anything, but guessed the damage had already been done. She hesitated, glancing slightly towards Fluttershy before explaining, “My brother’s the acting guard captain in Canterlot until the new one is trained and they finish moving all of their stuff to the Crystal Palace. He would have come regardless however because Princess Celestia asked him to raise the shield…” Fluttershy noticed her locked attention and shifted her head back towards me instead, however. I’d figured Twilight wouldn’t let it go. "Mender, I would like to talk to you. You've been distant the day and a half since you woke up. Please, tell me what's wrong. I care about you," she requested a moment later, causing me to release the breath I'd been holding, hoping she wouldn't say anything. Fluttershy stopped fidgeting with the nearby food tray the nurse had left, and looked over to me instead. I shook my head, however, still not looking up. "I'm just a little shaken up still. I don't think I've really, um, processed everything that happened that night," I excused, cringing with a visual tick as I stumbled over my own choice of wording. 'Processed' would probably never be the same now. The thought left me surprisingly empty feeling as I stared blankly at the bag. "Then, um, if it's not too painful, tell us Mender. Twilight's your fillyfriend and I'd like to be too so, well, we care about you and want to help!" Fluttershy added, slipping into a sitting position and leaning closer to me, supporting herself on her front hooves as her eyes softened. Twilight looked momentarily surprised at her interjection, but smiled and nodded to her a moment later. I shifted my vision between the two as they both expectantly stared at me, teaming up again. Ugh. How was I supposed to defend myself against being flanked by both of the beautiful mares? My ears lowered backwards and I felt myself blush under their intensely-focused gazes. Twilight twitched in my peripheral vision, but I didn't react in time. Her hoof snapped up and lifted my chin an instant later before I could react. My eyes widened as they locked firmly onto both of hers as she shifted less than half a meter away from me. "Please, Mender. Look at us again. You don't need to be afraid of us. We're both really us. My brother's shield magic will stop any invasion attempts and he can do so for an extremely long period of time, so you're perfectly safe," she whispered, voice no longer needing projection as she closed even closer. Was she... ? Fluttershy widened her eyes and openly blushed as Twilight gently kissed me, firmly ruining my carefully laid out response to her last point. My mind momentarily blanked as I felt her push me lightly backwards into my propped up pillows, her hoof running soothingly down my chest as she smiled into the kiss. There was no insistence or rushing; the kiss was a passion-filled one with an almost shy uptake as she tenderly slipped both forelegs around my neck. Both of us let out a squeak, however, a moment later when a rather abrupt wing movement smacked into the side of my head. There was no force behind it, but I glanced to the left in confusion, shifting my viewpoint past the yellow-feathered cluster. Fluttershy held both hooves up to her mouth as she stared at us in a mixture of surprise and extreme guilt, her cheeks a deep crimson color. I saw her muscles twitch as she tried to pull the wing down and away from us to no avail. Smiling as I realized what happened, I gently raised my right foreleg and held her stiffly extended wing against my chest. She gasped, eyes widening further but her muscles froze in place instead. I saw her almost cringe at the touch but she fought it adamantly as her eyes locked onto my foreleg. Twilight smiled and nodded softly to her, resting her right forehoof gently on Fluttershy's buckled-up leg as I softly massaged her wing, lightly feeling along the muscles in it as they shivered. Fluttershy's eyes softened gradually as she exhaled, watching my movement still but relaxing a little. "I think I see what you're doing now. You're staying near Mender on purpose, aren't you, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her friend, earning a raised eyebrow from me. Admittedly, I was curious as to her newfound affection and fondness, but I hadn't pressed my luck and asked about it. I continued gently rubbing her wings, causing her to release a soft murmur as her eyes lidded. Her wing muscles must be really sensitive if she could feel every little shift I did. "I... Yes. Rarity suggested it. She called it conditioning, I think," Fluttershy finally answered, extending her wing out instead of fighting against it and letting me have the whole thing. I went with the flow and started massaging closer to the base, causing her blush to deepen. Twilight rose an eyebrow to me, but I just shrugged. If this got Fluttershy to relax and trust that I wasn't going to hurt her, I certainly wasn't going to stop. Plus, a little part of me was happy to make her feel good. It went a long way towards me forgiving myself a little bit, I decided. "The anxiety over the dreams. Rarity told you to stay near Mender as often as you could to condition yourself into realizing he's safe, then?" the lavender unicorn inquired a moment later, shifting her attention back to Fluttershy. The now relaxing mare nodded slowly, adding, "He, um, surprised me. Every stallion I've met for the most part has been... Well, they've been really mean and rough with me. I guess I thought that was just how stallions are." She whimpered lightly after her admission, shivering as I gave her upper wing muscles another gentle massage. They were tense still, but far more relaxed than when I started. Twilight's expression gently softened as she smiled again. "Mender's the gentlest stallion I know. He'd never intentionally hurt you, Fluttershy. I'm glad you're realizing that now." The yellow pegasus smiled as well, finally lowering her hooves and just letting her blush radiate from her cheeks. I snickered at how adorable she was and gave the top of her wing a gentle peck. The reaction surprised me as she inhaled sharply, and then slowly let it out in a whistling, airy squeak. Her entire upper body shivered as I watched her flight muscles along her back spasm a little. Wow. This kind of sensitivity struck me as actually kind of detrimental to their ability to fly. Wouldn't moderate winds kind of hurt if they could feel all of this? Twilight burst into giggles, looking at my dumbfounded expression. "I can see you don't realize it. I told you the wing reaction was a secondary reaction, didn't I? Well, I did kind of forget to mention that it's also an erogenous zone with all of the nerve bundles in there," Twilight pointed out. Oh. Oh hell. That meant that I was just... My eyes widened as the heat rushed into my cheeks unimpeded. "Oh no! I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't realize that, uh," I rapidly started to apologize, trying to salvage what I could of the situation. Fluttershy looked more spaced out than upset, however, and slowly shook her head while smiling over at me. Her cheeks still kept up their flushed appearance, but it was in a more relaxed way now. "No, Mender. You didn't do it intentionally and were only trying to make me feel better. Thank you. Mmm, you're so nice," she muttered before slumping against my shoulder and giving me a soft nuzzle. Well, that certainly didn't help my blush any. "I agree. You didn't know and your intentions were purely good-natured. You are a nice stallion," Twilight agreed, flopping slightly more abruptly against my other shoulder instead. I swallowed, feeling them pressed into both sides of me. No, I'd probably never stand a chance when they teamed up like this, no matter what we were doing. Still, this gave me a bit of hope for the future. Just a little. "I just don't know what's going to happen anymore. Well, not that I knew usually before all of this. Not having much control in anything is so frustrating sometimes, you know?" I finally admitted, staring up at the ceiling as I rested back against the pillow mountain and two warm bodies against me. "I know something happened to you. Whenever you get comfortable with it, you know you can talk to us," Twilight assured quietly as she rested her horn on my shoulder. I assumed she meant something more than the obvious of what happened to me. She'd relayed the horror story of finding my torn apart leg already. Thankfully Applejack had been kind enough to warn her about it beforehand. Now I just wished one of the two wayward mares would visit me. Pinkie at least had a reason she was absent, although that would change by this time tomorrow, I heard. "Would you still like me if I looked scary, Twi? Like, the scariest monster you could imagine?" I asked carefully a moment later. Testing the waters might be a good idea. I couldn't keep lying to all the ponies I cared about. It would tear me apart inside. Fluttershy looked up slightly faster, to my surprise, asking, "Didn't you ask me that yesterday?" Twilight had perked at that point and raised her head as well, giving me a questioning glance. I swallowed, but she closed her eyes and frowned to herself before shaking her head. "No. You said if you 'looked' scary. That means that you're still you and only look different. If that was the case, there'd be no reason to be afraid of you," she reasoned, saying roughly the same thing Fluttershy had yesterday, albeit in a slightly more structured manner. Fluttershy smiled over me and nodded to Twilight, seemingly pleased with her choice of wording and answer. I closed my eyes and rested against my pillows, considering the odds. They were all I had, really. If I couldn't trust these two, I couldn't trust anypony. With that laid out, I decided they had to be telling the truth. I exhaled softly as both rested back into me, quietly. I had expected more questions and was more than a little surprised by Twilight's passive behavior. For some reason, I suspected Rarity's involvement in the change of demeanor. Adding to what she said to Celestia yesterday and it left me with a rapidly changing opinion of my first fillyfriend. Er, technically only fillyfriend still, although Fluttershy seemed rather adamant on joining as well. For some reason, I didn't really consider her officially joined yet, however. Maybe that was because Twilight was yet to say anything to me on the issue, for or against it. Ultimately, as much as I liked having my own opinion and choices, I noticed I defaulted to her approval and control in almost everything. It felt more 'comfortable' to me, for some reason. I resigned myself to my fate at this point. I opened my eyes again, cracking my mouth to ask if Twilight had considered the proposition since. My question was halted before it began, however, as I saw Twilight's eyes gently closed, her breathing having deepened and become passive and regular. A glance to my left showed that Fluttershy had also fallen back asleep. Well, this was unexpected. Although I began to wonder about Fluttershy a bit. Sure, she brought books and talked to me a lot, but she also spent a lot of her time snoozing around or against me while she was here. I was beginning to suspect that she wasn't sleeping very well at night. Regardless, I decided to let the two mares rest and slowly closed my eyes, leaning back again and slipping into a gentle snooze myself. * * * * * My arms ached with dull agony as I let them hang from the rusted, blood spotted manacles chained to the wall. My only company had been the metallic clinking in my ear for hours. Days, even. I hated them. All of them. All sense of time fell away, leaving me with nothing but an eternity of pain and suffering in which to consider just how much I hated them. Jovan had died right in front of me some time ago. He begged for his father for over an hour before his mind fell apart in fever-induced hallucinations. He was the sixth of my old squad to die like this. At least he didn't go out screaming into my face about how much he hated me. That had disappointed her. She eventually got bored and pulled out his drug-warped heart and tossed it onto the growing pile at my feet. I couldn't even manage to cry anymore out of the one eye I had left. "So, do you think you've learned your lesson for what you did to my sister?" was whispered into my ear an indeterminate amount of time later. Her voice haunted my sleeping and conscious hours. I didn't even turn to acknowledge her, eyes locked instead on the carcass in front of me. She unhooked the body, kicking it off the rack and throwing another struggling male into place, ignoring the mess that the thing was. It was absolutely coated with dried vital fluids at that point. I kinda wished she'd tear my nose off next. "P-Please! Don't do this. You promised me that you'd let me see my son one last time! You promised!" the older looking Keldarian soldier reminded after she tore off his gag. A cruel giggle. "Of course. I'm a female of my word, don't forget. He was a bitch to find, mind you," she muttered before tearing open the other bag she was carrying and dumping its contents on the floor. The mess only vaguely resembled a Keldarian at that point, but she had left most of the face intact. Considering the steam drifting off him in the chilled dungeon air, I'd say he'd only been dead for a few minutes at best, which made the state he was in have quite a bit of unfortunate implications. I shuddered silently, feeling eternally empty. "No. No..." Kevilin muttered, staring down at the remains, starting to shake. She was the biggest monster of all, so perfectly embodying everything I hated about Keldarians. She laughed, of course. "I gave you exactly what you asked for. Consider it a mercy compared to him," she pointed out, gesturing towards the mess on the floor. "He died knowing that his loving father sold him out. Did you know he screamed out how much he hated you just before he died? It was touching." Kevilin fell apart into roaring raging for what felt like hours. I drifted, my numb mind only occasionally hearing how it was all my fault and I didn't even deserve Hell. She just kept laughing as she pulled him apart like a wet doll. My claws dug into my own palms, shaking, as his heart was added to the pile. * * * * * My eyes opened as a jolt went through my system. There was a distinct echo going through my skull, the reverberating sounds of the rattling chains as it bounced around inside of my head. A cold sweat clung to my body, matting my fur down and making the blanket feel clammy and wet. I shivered and stared blankly up at the ceiling, slowing my racing heart down. Those memories were from a long time ago. They happened to somepony else, not me. I repeatedly told that to myself, despite how real they felt. I wasn't there. I was in Equestria now. Slowly, I rotated and peeked towards my curtains, wondering where all the light was coming from. What time was it? How long had I slept? It wasn’t a surprise to see my two companions gone at this point. My eyes widened a moment later as I saw that the curtains were partially open. No, I had closed them when I went to bed! A rapid glance around the room picked up nothing out of place that I could see. I frowned. I wasn't in my old room. That I'd found out yesterday from Nurse Redheart. This room was room 203, up on the second floor. It wouldn't be easy for somepony to use the window to get in with all the guards patrolling the hospital grounds, and my door was warded by Twilight herself. Taking a risk, my scanners activated, bathing the room in the cool blue light coming from my eyes as I glanced around. Measurements were taken on the fly. Nothing had been changed since I had gone to sleep, however. Weird. A little creeped out now, I rotated back around to get comfortable on my side instead, facing the window. I was halfway through the rotation, however, when something bumped into my chest under the covers. I froze, feeling the rather cold lumps moving against my stomach. Five seconds passed, and no movement was detected from them. Finally, I lifted the blanket and little to peek at the strange objects that were in bed with me. My eyes widened a little. Three large, pristine-looking apples rested gently against my stomach. My mind raced, and things clicked into place rapidly. The apples wouldn't be allowed as part of my diet here, and the nurse would probably disapprove of somepony bringing me food. Of course, the hospital food was lacking significantly, and that was an understatement. I caught myself starting to drool as I stared at the three apples. That meant somepony had smuggled these apples to me without using my door. There were very few candidates that could pull that off. Fluttershy had wings, but I doubt she'd evade the guards. Bribing them or acting adorable might get her past them because they know her, but she'd probably not want to risk it. Twilight could have just teleported into the room, but unless she had developed a 'stealth' teleport, that would have woken me up almost instantly. Further, she'd probably frown at altering my diet too. That left Dash. She hadn't visited me yet, which was a little depressing, but she probably felt bad over what happened so I wasn't going to hold it against her. Still, she was the only pony that could get these to me without being spotted. Wait. Apples. My eyes softened and I smiled to myself. Rainbow might have just been helping out as the delivery mare. I was worried that after what Applejack had seen, she wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore. She had said that to my face that night. Of course, that was under false pretenses, but I hadn't been able to ask her otherwise yet. My ears lowered as I stared at the apples, a certain wetness building up in my eyes. Damn it. Lying back down, I lifted one and examined it. They were larger than most and extremely red. Due to their size, I had a suspicion that these were picked out specifically, not just grabbed at random. Tentatively, I bit into the one I was holding and almost moaned as the wonderful taste flooded into my mouth. My sensors also came alive and started picking out all the various parts that made up the apple as I chewed. Of course, it had to report that there were no toxins in it. Thank goodness! Applejack hadn't gone crazy and decided I needed to die! Thank you for the information, sensors. Amused at my own self-snarking, I took another bite and wiggled back and forth at the taste. Of course, it wouldn't do to leave evidence, as Nurse Redheart changed my sheets daily. I guess that meant I had to eat all of it, even down to the core and stem. I smirked wider and swayed with the tasty treat. After eating what tasted like processed cardboard for two days, this was a delicacy. Of course, I remembered as I finished off the first apple that I could have just distended my jaw and eaten the thing whole. My 'upgraded' stomach didn't care what I threw into it and processed all matter and energy exactly the same way. Still, that struck me as a terrible waste of such a tasty treat. I nibbled intentionally, tasting the second apple as if a rare candy as I flopped back onto my back. Applejack grew these things! I had all new respect and adoration for the orange mare suddenly. Halfway through the second apple, I paused and looked at my left foreleg. It suddenly occurred to me that I was partially holding the apple up using it. Before, I could barely so much as twitch it due to how weak it felt. The strength was gradually returning to it, admittedly much faster than I or the hospital staff had predicted. Nurse Redheart said I'd be lucky to be walking on it again within the month. I hadn't told Twilight or Fluttershy yet, of course. Exhaling, I lightly chewed and swallowed the last of the second apple before lying back and thinking for a moment while my stomach cooed happily. They were going to notice something was up. Admittedly, however, I didn't exactly want to be stuck in the hospital for a month. With these apples I was surprised with tonight, my body suddenly got a lot more mass and energy to use for repairs. The doctors were going to notice I was healing a lot faster than I should be. Then Twilight and Fluttershy would notice as well, and I'd have a bit of explaining to do. They knew I didn't know any healing magic. I bit into the last apple and chewed lightly as I stared across the room at the wall. Honestly, I should probably just tell them. The longer I wait, the worse it's going to get. But what then? I couldn't possibly imagine any of them wanting anything to do with an alien abomination that killed billions of innocent individuals. I'd probably count myself lucky if they didn't just blast me with the Elements right then and there. But then there was... As if hearing my thoughts, the curtains rustled lightly. My eyes widened as I saw the light flood through out of the corner of my eye. I snapped to attention, looking rapidly to the left as the window slid open and a head squeezed through. For such a large body, she oddly had no problems fitting through my window and sliding it shut a moment later, politely drawing the curtains closed again with a burst of her magic. Her fur almost glowed white in the dimly lit room. I stared in shock at not only her abrupt arrival, but strange manner of entry. Still, there was no fooling the level of energy I picked up coming off her. Celestia smiled softly and nodded to me as she turned, sitting down lightly directly to the left of my bed. "I apologized for the strange time to visit. My sister alerted me that she felt a very disturbing dream from you, and that you had abruptly woken up. I wanted to talk to you in private anyway, however," she explained softly. Her magic coated the room a moment later, leaving a shimmering barrier around every wall. "There. We won't be bothering anypony with our talking, now," she added, smiling afterwards. I shook myself out of the daze and nodded to her before glancing down at the partially eaten apple in my lap. "I, uh, I'm honored that you'd want to visit me again. You probably have more direct questions to ask, I'm guessing," I reasoned, wondering if I should hide the apple or not. She snickered and shook her head. "The honor is mine, Mender. And please, keep eating. I know Rainbow dropped them off an hour ago. She may have avoided the guards, but I have my senses extended over the entire building as well," she revealed, looking deeply amused. I laughed at that. Well, a weak chuckle, anyway. "I'd figured Rainbow had dropped them off. I just wish she and Applejack would stop avoiding me," I lamented, looking back down at the apple before picking it up again. Celestia shook her head while I took a bite, further revealing, "Applejack's a stubborn mare. I do believe she extended those to sort of test the waters, so to speak. She's never quite had to deal with this before, and she isn't handling it well. Rainbow wants to visit you as well, but also thinks you'll be mad at her. It's a tender situation." That I could agree with, and nodded lightly while chewing. I swallowed lightly before shaking my head. "I'm not mad at either of them. They were protecting who they thought was Twilight. I'm not going to condemn them for defending their friend. I'm happy Twilight has such good friends," I corrected, staring at my lap instead of the Princess. She had surprised me by giving out information rather than just requesting it. I'd suspected I'd eventually get a visit from her in private, but my mind had pictured more of an interrogation at horn point than this. "They hurt you, Mender. Even if they didn't mean to, it was still because of their lack of trust, and I think they'd be the first to admit that at this point. You seem bitter still about something surrounding it, as well," she observed, watching me carefully. I froze, mid bite. Bitter? I swallowed the lump in my throat, shivering as the taste wasn't nearly as good suddenly. No, I accepted what they had done. They had reasons to do it, didn't they? Besides, I owed them the benefit of the doubt because of their hospitality and friendship they'd given me, right? I set the apple down again and sighed, shivering lightly again as the air left my lungs. "I don't like to think like that. It's easier to just accept it and not complicate things, isn't it?" I asked, looking back up at her finally. She wore a soft smile but shook her head. "That might work in your old world, but I think you might find these mares to be a bit more stubborn than that. Forgiving them is important, but helping them to forgive themselves is going to be the hard part. But your friendship will be much stronger if you do," she suggested softly, her horn lightly starting to glow. The apple lit up with her magic and gently pushed itself onto my right forehoof. At first, I was confused as to why she suddenly decided to help me eat, but then I saw her focus on my left foreleg and start to undo the bandages. Oh. It was so I could keep eating while she worked. Taking her less than subtle advice, I took another bite of the apple while watching her unwrap my bandages on the left foreleg. It stung a little, but eating was a good distraction as she got the last of them off. I glanced down at it as she lifted my foreleg to examine the progress of my healing. Ultimately, it looked a lot better than it did when I first changed back. The skin wasn't transparent anymore, and a light muscle growth had started along the various spots of the leg. The hoof had also fully reformed, along with a neatly cut pattern along the bottom of it that was similar to my first rune, but much cleaner looking. My body had mimicked it? "Amazing, Mender. Your regenerative abilities are quite impressive. While I ask a couple of questions, I'm going to try to use my magic to restore what I can to your leg and side, all right?" she offered, smiling politely at me. A light bulb popped up over my head, and I suddenly realized that I might have an excuse presented to me for my 'rapid' healing progress. As if reading my thoughts, Celestia winked to me and began to work. The stinging sensation went away instantly as her warm magic danced over my foreleg, gently coaxing nerves and muscle tissue to regrow into the proper spots. It felt like I was using the Princesses for all of the excuses lately. Princess Luna had used her advanced magic to ‘regrow’ my limb prior, too. "The first and most important question is rather obvious. What exactly happened with the Nirru incident? I only have fragmented pieces between Twilight and my sister," she asked first, being surprisingly open with her inquiries. "Well, that's kind of a long answer to that one. Nirru tricked her sister, Keela, into letting her come here under the guise of 'talking' to us about how I could help my old race. She apparently changed the plan and decided to try to seduce me instead by turning into Twilight. I don't know why exactly, but she was apparently under the impression that the Keldarian DNA I'm carrying would be released when... Er..." I trailed off, blinking a couple times before the heat crept into my face. Well, that got awkward fast. Celestia snickered and shook her head slowly towards me, however. "I'm far old enough to know how that works, worry not. Suffice to say, Applejack and Rainbow Dash interrupted, and she decided on a more direct route then, I take it?" she asked, seemingly not paying attention in the least to what her magic was doing. It felt amazing, however, so I wasn't about to question the capabilities of the extremely powerful alicorn sitting across from me. "Yeah. You know that part already. She then hauled me into the forest and tried to download the data directly, explaining what I was in the meantime. I, um, might have had a small breakdown. I'm not really sure. Honestly, I don't remember a lot of it, but I do recall figuring out a few things and finding a 'present' left behind by my creator, Doctor Kyliona," I summarized, trying to be as objective about things as I could. She surprised me by giving a warm smile and nod, however. "I understand what hearing that would be like. You of course have my support if I can do anything. What was this present you speak of?" she inquired gently, voice softer than before. I exhaled quietly, not entirely liking this part. Still, it would be easier to simply show her rather than explain it. The scanners activated in my eyes and I saw her suddenly bathed in the familiar blue light I loved so much. Something about the shade relaxed me. Honestly, it was probably the only part of all this that I liked. She looked momentarily surprised, but I kept going. My right foreleg shifted rapidly into heavy plate armor, twitching lightly as I felt the corded muscles shift through it and the claws form off the front of the hoof. The armor went up half of my face before I stopped it, feeling the right side of my head become heavier than the left as the chitin covered it. I only summoned two tentacles this time, elegantly sliding them off my back with no rush or speed. They fully formed this time, that unpleasant smell being absent as the mouths on the end of each opened and closed, tongues tasting the air. I noticed a moment later that I could actually smell through them. Celestia observed the changes calmly now, finally smiling and nodding again as I exhaled and relaxed inside the armor. The strength in this form was overwhelming, but disgusting at the same time. Blankly, I stared down at my now clawed hoof. Every time I saw this, whether in real life or in my mind, it served to make me remember how exactly not a pony I was. "The description my sister gave me was quite accurate, I see. I didn't know you could change only a part of you, but I thank you for not disrupting my work on your left foreleg," she added, smirking afterwards. I watched her carefully for a moment before finally chuckling. She wasn't nervous in the least. Since my eyes shifted, I'd only noticed her heartbeat spike once when I initially started the process. She wasn't afraid of me. Honestly, that was rather refreshing after the reaction I'd gotten from Dash. Deciding not to mention that, I popped my now greatly extended tongue out of my mouth and wrapped it around the remaining piece of apple. It deftly pulled it into my mouth and I swallowed it whole in an instant. My mood had soured their taste anyway, but I still should thank AJ the next time I saw her. "My, that's convenient! I wouldn't let Twilight or Fluttershy see that, though," she warned, looking mildly impressed. Huh? "Eh? Why? Is it that freaky looking?" I inquired, raising and eyebrow on my non-armored side towards her. She smirked. Uh oh. I knew that face. I'd walked into a... "Of course not. They might get ideas," she corrected, nodding twice to me with an amused expression. ... Trap. My cheeks flared up with heat again and I coughed, looking away from her. "I don't think that in particular will come up for a while. Our relationships haven't progressed to that point," I excused. I almost added 'yet' onto the end, but thought better of it at the last second. A light chill drifted into my chest. No, it might never progress to that point. I was going to show them this before that, and there was no guarantee that I'd have a relationship with either of them beyond that point. "Mender, I already warned you. Don't underestimate them. Anyway, do continue. I'm assuming you fought her after that?" she asked, changing the topic with surgical precision. Sighing, I nodded weakly. "It wasn't really her there. Her body was a doll she essentially controlled from my old dimension with her mind. It got violent fast and there were a few close calls, but I won. Your sister should have the rest," I finished, hoping that would sate her curiosity. I didn't particularly want to delve into what I became to win that fight, and honestly hoped she'd accept that. The hunger was still imbedded in my mind. Hatred. I had wanted her to suffer and die, just like she did to me. I saw her as prey, and pursued her until I crushed her skull under my hoof. I shivered before I could pull myself back and rapidly closed my eyes. Celestia waited patiently for me to re-open them before giving me a soft smile. "Relax Mender. That's all I wanted about what happened. Take a deep breath. There are only four more questions I wanted to ask," she revealed. That surprised me as well. Four questions and she had all the information she wanted? They must be seriously detailed questions! "After I finish asking them, you can ask anything you want. It's only fair that I answer all of your questions, too," she added after watching me shift my attention back to her. My eyes widened. I figured this was an interrogation all along, but so far, she had treated it like a social visit. And now she was going to let me ask things in return? Her pouting reaction further knocked me off balance. "That expression! I'm not cruel or heartless, Mender. I'm hurt that you think so!" she exclaimed softly, partially looking away from me. My tentacles and right foreleg flailed for a moment. "N-No! I didn't mean to imply that. You're just a busy mare, er, Princess, and..." I started to correct rapidly, trying not to offend. She burst into laughter, of course, leaving me feeling like an idiot a second later. "No need to be so formal, Mender. I'm just Tia, remember? Sometimes you're just too fun to tease," she revealed, smiling at me again. A certain softness danced in her eyes, however, and I realized she meant that first part. Maybe a part of her really did enjoy being treated like normal. Was it as refreshing to her as somepony not being afraid of me? I nodded and smiled lightly. "I know. You introduced yourself as that, and now I have trouble thinking of you as anything but," I agreed, sticking my tongue out at her playfully. Her smile shifted to a full on grin and she nodded, relaxing in her posture a little. "I'm glad, Mender. Contrary to popular belief, I don't have many close friends. It's relaxing to just talk normally and casually. My next question is purely academic, however. I'm curious as to what exactly you are, technically speaking. It matters very little, but I would still like to know," she requested, choosing her words carefully. It wasn't as offensive a question as she thought, however. I'd only asked myself the same thing a few hundred times over the past forty-eight hours. "You mean physically? I'm an organic computer that's taken on the form of a pony. My mind originally was that of a clone, but now I'm not so sure. Doctor Kyliona did a lot of splicing and tampering with my DNA specifically, by the looks of my project files. As far as I can tell, my personality was an accident, however. I was supposed to have preset information when I landed here but for some reason, that didn't happen," I started, frowning a moment afterwards. That was a true mystery, honestly. I'd seen the files in between getting my flank handed to me at solitaire. Everything should have worked perfectly fine. "You're not an accident, Mender. But I think you know that already. Please continue, however," Tia corrected a moment after I hesitated. I glanced up at her, only to be met with an inarguably stern expression that denied me all capability to refute her viewpoint. I swallowed and nodded carefully, suddenly feeling a little uneasy. "Well, I'm a scout, essentially. Or at least I was. Something happened and an extremely advanced weapon of mass destruction found its way into my core systems. It went off when I was activated at some point, and I killed a good percent of my old race before landing in Equestria and losing all of my memories. That's all I know," I finalized, deciding not to hide anything from her. Her frown was noticeable at that point, but she finally shook her head. "I assume you are in full control of this weapon, right? What does it do?" she inquired. I had a sneaking suspicion that question was in addition to the ones she already had planned. "I'm in full control of it and I already encrypted and sealed away the root access to it. I never intended to activate it, ever. It's a weapon of mass destruction, O-Class. Essentially the only one to exist, ever. Its purpose is to end all life on a Universal scale, minus the specific planets programmed into its blacklist," I explained. Even saying it left a bad taste in my mouth, I noticed. Omega class weapons were supposed to be purely theoretical, and for a very good reason, in my opinion. Celestia stared at me, not saying anything for a long moment. I couldn't even begin to read her absolutely blank expression, so I simply waited, idly wondering if she was going to erase me at this point. Eventually, however, she closed her eyes and smiled. I tilted my head, but she shook hers minutely to interject. "You've spoken the absolute truth, and I thank you for that. I believe you, of course. This eliminates one of my original questions as well," she explained, opening her eyes again and fully smiling. "Oh?" I asked curiously, unsure of what to make of the whole conversation at this point. She was both making me relax, and scaring the crap out of me at the same time somehow. She was very understanding, but at the same time, absolutely nothing fazed her in the slightest. She was capable of both rapid fire, emotionless calculation, and compassionate empathy. The scary part was how close she could squeeze those two together. Momentarily, her eyes pulled me in and she felt like an abyss of time, both ancient and absolute. "Indeed. My next question had been not 'what' you are, but 'who' you are instead. But I already see that you are the same Moon Mender I talked to before. You're shaken and unsure of yourself, but you are still you. I'm glad you haven't let it change you," she explained, pausing to snicker at my incredulous expression. "I'm not so sure about that. I know you said I wasn't an accident but, well, there was a lot that night to make me doubt." I wasn't even sure how to explain it, honestly. How was I to expect somepony else to understand when I didn't even understand it myself? "Everypony has darkness to them, Mender. My sister fully saw yours that night, and she still speaks kindly and encouragingly of you. Consider that instead, if you will. I trust her implicitly," the Sun Princess informed, watching me curiously. I looked down for a moment, conflicted. I'd obviously not spoken with Luna since that night, but I remembered a lot of what she said. I hadn't really considered the fact that she watched me kill Nirru. Hell, she was probably watching before that. But she still spent three hours chasing after me and finally talked to me openly and honestly. I hadn't fully realized the implications of that before. Luna didn't think I was a monster? She had... My eyes widened a little. She had asked to be my friend literally that night. But why? Celestia smiled, and I knew she had guessed what I just thought. "My sister knows what it's like to lose control of yourself and to become a 'monster', Mender. She's not a monster, of course. She's my sister and I love her dearly. A lot of ponies saw her as a monster, however, regardless of what she actually was. I believe she sees the kinship in you, realizing that in some ways, you're very much alike. Her intentions are purely honest, I know you realize," Celestia confirmed, flexing her left wing idly while talking. It took me a moment to realize she didn't have any of her jewelry on. She was just a normal looking pony, really. Albeit with both wings and a horn, not to mention an awesome mane, but she still looked rather normal without all her 'regal' accessories. "I realized that she knew how I felt when we talked that night. I'm just worried about, well, the Elements," I admitted slowly. She laughed, a light and amused sound that drifted lazily through the air. "They're the Elements of Harmony for a reason. They're not perfect, but they learn very quickly and I believe you've taught a few of them some valuable lessons. I'd hoped they'd grow by meeting you, and I was right. May I ask you to trust in them like I do, and eventually reveal yourself?" she requested, smiling politely now. I hesitated, but sighed. There was a lot I was unsure about when dealing with them, especially Loyalty, Honesty, and Magic... Still, she must have a reason for asking me to trust them. I sighed again and nodded, resigning myself to the choice. They deserved as much regardless. "Thank you, Mender. I'll be there to support you whenever you wish it, of course. May I ask my last two questions?" she reminded, tilting her head in mirror of my gesture earlier. I smiled inwardly and nodded, realizing that despite everything, Celestia was still capable of acting rather cute, in a whimsical sort of way. "Ah! Good. The last question involving the incident is if you've heard from Keela since," she inquired a moment later. Oh, well that one was easy. Still, I guess I could see why she'd want to know. "No, I haven't. There hasn't even been a stirring on the connection. If I had to guess, I'd say she was intentionally avoiding me," I reasoned, taking my best guess. Celestia smiled and nodded along as I explained. "It would make sense. I imagine Keela's going through a lot as well, her having enabled her sister to do all of those terrible things in the first place. Guilt, I imagine, is being rather rough on her," she deduced, frowning lightly before nodding to herself about something. She was probably right. I didn't directly blame Keela, of course. Sure, I wished she'd been a bit more cautious or kept her sister on a leash, but hindsight is always perfect, I reminded myself. I doubt she'd seen what her sister was truly capable of before this. "I still have the personal link to Keela inside of me. She gave me a way to get in contact with her. If she hasn't spoken to me by the time I'm released from the hospital, I'll try contacting her," I offered, also revealing the connection. Celestia seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding in agreement. "I would like to meet with this individual as well. Perhaps you can set up a way for us to communicate later once you've recovered," she suggested, adding extra emphasis to 'recovered' by a burst of energy added to the spell. I hummed lightly, feeling it massage into my leg muscles and relax them as she repaired things. She really was good at healing magic. This was far better than the practical magic the nurses had used on me when I was a captain! Err, well, when he was a captain. I reminded myself that they technically weren't my memories. "Regardless, my last question is merely for personal interest. What do you plan on doing now?" she inquired, shifting back to smiling politely at me. I stared blankly back, somewhat unsure of what she meant by that. "Err, what do you mean? Like, once I get out of the hospital?" Surely she didn't mean right this instant. That would just be silly, right? I tried my best to curb my conclusion jumping, however. Could I offend her by guessing the incorrect thing? She smiled and gave a single nod, however, assuring me that I had the right idea. I exhaled softly and shook my head. "I'm not entirely sure. Once I can break the link to my old world forever, I'd feel a lot better. Then I'd probably like to try and get some form of independence. Maybe start a repair or invention service of some sort? I could think of a lot of ways my magic could help improve ponies' lives," I elaborated, this sadly being the first time I'd really considered it as specifically as this. Nopony had ever asked me what I really wanted to do, now that I thought about it. She looked honestly surprised by my answer, however. I tilted my head, wondering what she had expected me to say, when she suddenly started giggling in amusement. My bewildered look must have been even funnier because as soon as she looked up and saw me watching her, she started outright laughing. My ears flattened back and I sighed, deciding once again that females were confusing. "I'm impressed. I hadn't expected you to even consider long term things. Plus, you didn't even consider alternatives like leaving Equestria or returning to your old dimension," she finally explained after recovering from her small fit of amusement. My ears drooped completely as I felt my eyes widen. "No! I'd, um, very much like to stay in Equestria if you'll have me. Please... Please don't make me go back there," I requested, a spike of fear shooting through me. After everything I had found here and one shot at being able to live in a place I felt like I really belonged to, I desperately didn't want to go back to that nightmare from before. Celestia sobered immediately, giving a faint and assuring shake of her head as I let out a shiver again. "Mender, I'm not ever going to force you to go back there. I've seen who you are and would gladly let you live here forever. I'm happy you want to stay here and hadn't even considered leaving. I say this because after what you've experienced, and after figuring out the truth behind yourself, most probably wouldn't be able to decide what they wanted to do," she assured, watching with a warm demeanor as I exhaled quietly. The truth behind myself, huh? That was a polite way of saying it. "I love it here. It's paradise and I don't ever want to leave. If you'll have, well, something like me here, I'd be eternally grateful," I murmured softly, lowering my eyes away from her. Being in her presence made me feel rather self-conscious. My focus snapped back to attention instantly as I saw the white glow shift closer. I looked up just in time to see Celestia stand and walk over to me. My body went into alert, unsure of what her intentions were until she gave me a gentle hug. I went rigid, having no idea in the least as to what was going on. "You're hurt, Mender. I know you're confused and unsure of what you really are. I'm not from your world so I can't answer that for you. But there are two things I can point out to you that are very, undeniably real," she spoke, leaning her head back to look at me as I swallowed nervously. Real? What did she mean? She smiled at my confused expression and extended her left forehoof over my blankets, touching down on the area directly over my flank a moment later. The momentary burst of embarrassment was washed away entirely as my Cutie Mark flared up with light, easily radiating through the blankets as a warm sensation danced through my chest. What was that?! "This is one thing I can assure you of. Only ponies get Cutie Marks. To be specific, only ponies belonging to Equestria get them. You are of this world, Mender. Even if you didn't start here," she continued quietly. I couldn't take my eyes off the soft blue light burning off my flank. It was beautiful; a cascade of slightly varying hues drifting along the gear, with the heart in the center of it all flaring the brightest. "Secondly, you dream. Not only dream, however, but my dear sister may visit you while you do so. She assured me of this when you first came here." My ears perked as I looked back to Celestia as she revealed that newest tidbit. Its relevance wasn't immediately known to me, but I suddenly realized she was being open with me regardless. She was outright telling me things instead of hiding anything. That alone was enough to make me feel a little better about the situation. "Um, if I can ask, what does that mean?" I questioned, assuming as I guessed she thought I would, given that she smiled immediately afterwards. "It means, combined with your Cutie Mark, your heart and mind are that of a pony. I tell you this hoping to give you some form of peace. No matter where you started or what extra parts you might have inside of you, you are still a pony accepted by and belonging to this world. You are always welcome here," she explained. That was... There was nothing I could possibly think of to say to that. I stared at her blankly, keenly aware that my mouth was partially open and not really caring. Things added? Extra parts? But I wasn't... I closed my mouth finally, letting myself relax lightly against the wing she still used to gently prop me up against her shoulder. She had accepted me regardless. Was it really just as easy as that? I knew deep down that I would rather die than hurt any of these amazing ponies, but she didn't know that. Right? Her eyes continued to capture mine, the weight of experience and time behind them almost as if staring into an abyss. No, maybe I was wrong. Maybe she could tell what I was feeling after all, somehow. It was so weird. She had never entered this room as a Princess, really. She felt more like a friend than ever. Maybe that's what she wanted, too? "You were right, back at that cafe," I finally spoke, exhaling and sitting upright of my own volition. Her eyes softened but she still inquired, "Oh?" I nodded once before continuing, "You were right. Even if I did have a reason for being sent here originally, that's gone now. I want to make my own reason for being here, I think. I just don't know how." Celestia considered it for a moment in silence. Feeling relaxed now, I simply watched her, wondering if the tentacles against her wing felt strange or not. She didn't seem to mind in the least. They weren't slimy or anything, however, so I didn't think there'd be any long-lasting detrimental effects of her doing so. "Honestly, your idea of inventing things feels like a good step in the right direction. Twilight and the other Element Bearers will undoubtedly have other ideas, too, and probably help out," she pointed out as her wing lowered away from me, seemingly relaxing as well. I frowned, but nodded. I'd figured she'd mention the Elements. She smirked before I could say anything, however, and tossed on, "I know you're unsure of them, but they're good mares. They know who you are for certain now; all of them do, I believe. Even if you openly reveal the extra parts inside of you, that's not going to change anything." I sighed, honestly not liking that she guessed exactly what I had been considering. In defiance, I returned, "Actually, I was worried about owing them even more. If they were more akin to loan sharks, my spleen would probably be on the Black Market already." That was a fun word to say, now that I thought about it. I kept my face as deathly serious as I could muster, of course. Celestia shifted to a blank expression for a moment until I smirked. A heartbeat passed and she smirked back before bursting into laughter again. I couldn't help but join a few seconds later. "Ho! You got me there, Mender! Heh. Still, I have a sneaking suspicion they're going to consider that debt thing you have stuck in your head a little reversed now," she warned, causing me to wince mid-laugh. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. She of course laughed harder. Ah, so it was paybacks, was it? "When it comes down to it, you're kind of a brat," I pointed out, averting my gaze away from her and coughing lightly. If anything, she took it amazingly well, giving me an exaggerated wink. "Okay, I do have to confess that it's extremely relaxing to just talk with you. Plus you're so fun to tease!" she admitted, eyes widening afterwards a moment later. I gave her a deadpan stare, which only seemed to fuel her amusement. "Oh, relax! You're adorable when you get embarrassed and blush. I doubt I'm the only one to notice, too. Hasn't anypony else expressed an, say, interest in making you blush?" she pointed out, nudging towards me with her right forehoof. I frowned, mind instantly shifting back to Lily, Rose, and Daisy. Well, that explained that, more than likely. "Ah, yeah. You're probably right," I groaned, feeling a little silly now. It made more sense that they were just teasing me, rather than genuinely interested. She nodded in agreement before standing up again and stretching. I watched her elegantly fold her wings back up onto her sides before glancing towards the window again. "Alas, my morning duties are unfortunately approaching quickly. Time waits for nopony. I know I promised to answer any of your questions, but do you mind holding off on that until tomorrow night? I shall return then and visit again," she offered politely, looking away from the slowly brightening day outside and back at me, a warm smile on her face. She'd already helped me a lot, so that was beyond reasonable. I nodded and snickered lightly, adding, "That's no problem at all, Tia. You've helped me a lot, and given me quite a bit to think about. Thank you for being my friend." Princess Celestia seemed genuinely happy with my answer, her impossibly deep eyes softening as her smile grew. She nodded again and shifted her attention towards the window once more, it sliding open softly with her meekest attention. "Then I shall take my leave for now. I'm happy that you've decided to stay, and pleased that you still consider me a friend. I'll be back upon my sister raising her night, and shall gladly answer anything you desire then," she promised, giving me one more smile before hopping through the window, ducking and dashing off into the air again. I watched her spell slowly fire off, and gently lower the window closed again before locking it and sliding the blinds shut. My room dimmed as the curtains finished closing. I felt considerably more relaxed than I had been when I woke up, and lowered myself backwards onto my pillows again. Accepted by Equestria as a pony, huh? My hoof brushed along the now normal Cutie Mark on my right side, and I smiled gently. The armor and tentacles drew themselves back inside of me as I relaxed, turning off my eye sensors again. Maybe the little marks weren't so annoying after all? I let myself gently drift back to sleep, smiling this time. Author's Note An extra three pages added, for your reading pleasure! Chapter 31I drifted in and out, a pleasant, warm sensation filling me. Nothing in the way of dreams, good or bad, bothered me after Celestia had left. That was perfectly all right with me. Eventually, I gently awoke, a light tingling sensation throughout me, as if static electricity had built up. The dim light shining through the window indicated that it was probably mid-morning. I shifted my eyes around and frowned lightly. They finally landed upon my left leg. I'd fallen asleep last night before I'd gotten a chance to look at it. Now that I could see it in the light as well, I noticed that the Sun Princess had done a very nice job of repairing it. The skin was a healthy color again and the entire leg appeared to be in the proper shape now with muscles under the surface yet again. It was still roughly half the size of what it should be, but at least somepony wouldn't get the urge to throw up upon seeing it. The tingling hit again, with accompanied static sensations in my head this time. Oh. Oh crap. I sat up and looked around, not immediately noticing anything out of place. My barriers shifted into place around me, pool of magic going into high alert as I got ready to shift form if need be. Could they get through the barrier after all? Was it just communication, or was something coming through this time? A half a minute came and went, leaving me a mixture of confused and mildly disappointed. False alarm, maybe? No. I could never be that lucky. I was about to hit the nurse's call button when motion caught my eye to the left. My attention snapped that direction, barriers rotating into place to guard me as I observed a rainbow-like prism expanding out of midair as if a butterfly opening its wings. It danced momentarily, twisting in upon itself and wobbling onto my bedside table before expanding a little ways. Slipstream! But that was far too small for a pony or Keldarian to fit through. A needle-like extension slid out of it a moment later, gently pushing through the dimensional barrier and compressing into a solid form for my eyes to lock onto. I frowned as it flared out at one end and then, much to my surprise, took the shape and coloration of a single, white tulip. It popped out of the Slipstream effect with its barrier rapidly disintegrating, steam coming off it as the super-cooled shield met the much warmer air. A flower? A thin note followed a moment later, sliding under the flower as both landed gently on my bedside table, conveniently next to the tray of food I had finished last night. Well, then. She was a hell of a lot more accurate than she had told me the last we talked about it. A sliver of bitterness slipped through me as I realized she had probably lied to me about that, too. The prismatic effect condensed upon itself, and I sighed. She'd activated a Slipstream effect just to give me a message and a flower? That seemed like kind of a waste of energy to me, when she could just speak into my mind. My ears perked half a second later, however, as I heard commotion down the hall. Uh oh. I didn't get a chance to fully process what was going on, however. The prismatic bubble twisted in upon itself and shot sideways in an instant. My shields flared up as I braced for any sort of impact, but none came. Instead, it flickered like a firefly over onto my blankets, settling a half-meter in front of me where my back hooves were under the covers. My eyes widened as it grew significantly larger, to roughly the size of a bowling ball, before radiating outwards and popping. The effect was gone instantly, having used up the last of its energy to do whatever it just did. A weight hit my rear legs, however, as the energy cleared in a puff of steam. My already wide eyes expanded further as the steam cleared. No. No way. I ignored the rapid hoofsteps rushing down the hallway towards my room. There it was. Sitting there, lightly cooling my hooves through the blanket was a small, blue book. No, it was 'the' book. I stared at it in shock as the key slowly slide off the cover of it and landed next to it on my bed. She actually gave it to me?! With my senses dulled, I only barely looked up as my door slammed open. Shining Armor himself almost broke it off its hinges as he stumbled in, horn flaring with magic. Oh! He sensed that. "Mender! Are you okay?!" he asked instantly, vigilant eyes scanning the room rapidly as a few flares came off his horn. I found my entire bed encased in a barrier in an instant and the room's personal shield flared into life and almost doubled in thickness. "Ah, um, yes!" I shot back, honestly startled by his rather impressive response time. Light blasting noises could be heard coming down the hallway rapidly at the same time, each sounding vaguely like a blast of air, and was accompanied by a light flash. Twilight appeared in the room an instant later before flickering out of existence again. She appeared inside of the bubble on the bed instead and crouched down against me, horn also flaring up. "What's going on, Mender?!" she asked, sounding significantly more confused than her brother seemed. Slowly, my heart stilled its furious beating and I relaxed, exhaling softly. "I got a delivery, it would seem," I finally spoke up, figuring it would be wise to calm them both down rapidly. Shining Armor's attention shot back to me in an instant, and both he and his sister followed my hoof gesture to the flower and note on the table. Twilight's eyes widened first and she peeked over to get a better look at it. "A note and flower? Oh, Keela?" she asked abruptly, horn lighting up as the note lifted into the air. "No, Twily! I'll get it," Shining Armor interrupted, pulling the note out of her telekinetic grasp and slamming it to the floor an instant later. My ears drooped as I watched him rapidly start to scan it with waves of magic, horn glowing furiously. Twilight smiled and nodded, apparently content with his thorough precautions as she shuffled closer to me. I turned and looked at her, earning a pleased smile instead. "All right. It's clear," he finally announced a moment later, relaxing visibly and standing up straight again. I almost didn't have the heart to show him the full sized book that was already inside the inner shield. "What's it say?" I inquired, suddenly enjoying the sensation of Twilight's fur against my own. Beyond the minor scare, this was starting to become a pretty good day. I kept my thoughts in careful check, however, just in case I jinxed myself by thinking that too strongly. He gave me a skeptical glance before levitating the slightly dirtier note up and through the barrier towards me. "Reading somepony else's correspondence would be rude," he corrected, smirking at me. I raised an eyebrow, suddenly seeing a bit of family resemblance as I accepted the paper from him. A cursory glance told me that it was a card and opened up. "Eh, what's this?" Twilight asked, suddenly noticing the book immediately to her right. I ignored her as I flipped the card over. "I'm Sorry," was printed on the front side, in elegant writing. Ah. It was going to be like that, then. I flicked it open with my left foreleg a moment later. "I know you probably don't believe me, but I didn't mean for any of this. I'll understand if you just cut the link. You have your book now, so the link between our dimensions is only being held by our connection. Removing it will cause the dimensions to drift apart in a week or two, forever separating us. I'm so very sorry for everything. I'd love to talk to you at least once more and await either a tug, or to feel the link fade away. Signed, Keela," was written in the letter. Twilight had noticed my lack of reply and shifted her attention to reading along with me. "She sounds really sad," she muttered a moment after I lifted my head up again. "She also sent a white tulip. Traditionally, that flower in particular means 'a sincere apology', if I remember correctly," Shining Armor added, lifting the flower up gently with his magic. I resisted rolling my eyes as he scanned it a couple times. Well, at least he was dedicated. "Shiny is really smart! And he protected my coltfriend!" Twilight complimented, snickering as she squeezed me gently. I blushed, predictably, which only caused her Cheshire grin to widen further. Okay, yeah. She was doing it on purpose. Her brother snorted and rolled his eyes. "You don't have to act cute, Twily. Mender's a good stallion, too. I'm not guarding him just because he's your coltfriend or Aunt Celestia asked me to. Although both of those are also good reasons," he informed, looking mildly amused as Twilight squeezed me. "What are you two doing here so early, anyway?" I asked, noticing Clocky telling me that it was barely oh nine hundred hours. Celestia's Sun had only been up a couple hours! Twilight shook her head before lightly letting me go again and sitting down next to me on her haunches. I took her momentary distraction to reach down and pull the book to me while I had the chance. She looked curious, but answered first with, "The construction team is reinforcing the balcony today and needed the lower floor cleared again, so I didn't open the library. Instead, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to visit my friends and coltfriend! I've already spent an hour with Pinkie." "I came here after finishing my rounds and observing the shield. Then I met Twily in the lobby and we got talking," Shining added, gesturing softly towards his sister with a hoof. She grinned and chimed in with, "It's nice to have you in Ponyville. I miss hanging out with you all the time." The shift away from me in the conversation left me distracted as I felt the tingling sensation coming off the book through my forelegs and chest. It practically radiated power! Feeling out into it, I was surprised when there was no resistance in the slightest. It knew me, I realized. Not only that, but I could feel the incredibly strong connection to it far clearer than in my dreams. A whisper resounded through my head, simply speaking, "Prudentia." It wasn't a word so much as a symbolic essence. It was the book, I realized. Its name was Prudentia. I acknowledged that, and more words drifted lazily into my mind, no longer whispered but simply deciding to float there. Focusing, I pulled them into conscious recognition a moment later. "You have her now. Please, take good care of my Prudentia. Our Prudentia. She is now yours." It was gone an instant later. Frowning, I realized there was nothing else. What was that? I stared at the book, the faded blue of the cover meshing well with the golden binding cuffs and lock. It looked so old, but I knew it was almost indestructible. It must have been old when it first became an Aegis Artifact. When my old self turned it into an Aegis Artifact? He had somehow used a technique that hadn't required his death, as well. "... Mender? Are you okay?" Twilight asked suddenly, snapping me back to attention with the mention of my name. "Huh? What was that?" I asked rapidly, giving a start as I squeezed the book a little tighter. Twilight frowned, giving me a skeptical yet disbelieving glance. Shining Armor was locked onto the book instead, however, his eyes rapidly expanding. "Holy horseapples! What is that?! Sis, do you pick up the same readings I do on that book?" he asked a moment later. Aww crap. Twilight's horn lit up almost instantly as she looked back down at the book I was holding and now trying to shield from her. Her eyes widened dramatically, exactly like those of her sibling. "The energy in that book is ridiculous! Mender, what is that thing?" she asked, slightly less startled sounding, but with hinting of concern instead. "This is the book I told you about; Prudentia. She sent it to me. With this here, the only link left to my old dimension is her," I revealed, hoping to head off any paranoid assaults on the book. Of course, I doubted Twilight would do something like that without provocation at this point. She'd been amazingly level-headed for the past couple days and I found myself relaxing easier around her. Maybe I was just trusting her more now? "What is it?" Shining Armor asked, cautiously shifting closer before sitting down next to the bed and staring at the object as if it violated his principles. He definitely looked more wary than Twilight did. I suddenly felt a little uneasy, but answered regardless. "It's what my old race called an Aegis Artifact. The males weren't given the specifics of what one is, but from what I've grasped so far, it appears to be a magical item created by using the unique properties of our Aegis Barrier, our FTL technology called Slipstream, and the life force or will of a Keldarian. This is the Aegis Artifact belonging to..." I started to explain before trailing off. I'd almost said the soldier I had been 'cloned' from. My eyes softened and I stared at the book again. Twilight gently squeezed my right shoulder with both forehooves, frowning towards me. "Are you okay, Mender?" she asked softly, sounding worried. I looked over at her, searching her eyes as she looked back. The lavender mare had changed quite a bit. She seemed like she'd added me to her list of determinations, honestly. It felt like she was prioritizing me, which was an amazing feeling, I admitted. "Yeah. I just remembered something Nirru said to me, is all. Anyway, this book belonged to my old self. Now I have a link to it instead," I finished, looking away from her a little. Yeah, it was worth the risk. I wasn't ever going to trust her if I didn't take the first step. Being honest was important, but the entire truth would have to wait until she was alone. I made the conscious decision then and there that Twilight was going to be the first to find out about what I really was. Not only was she most likely to accept and justify it, but I also had a feeling she'd appreciate being the first to know. Maybe I could extend it as a pseudo olive branch of sorts to start repairing our relationship? "What did she tell you? Was there anything important in regards to her plans or Equestria?" Shining Armor asked almost an instant later, startling me with the sudden question as I looked back towards him. "Brother! Give Mender time to rest. I know you can keep this barrier up for weeks at a time, so a day or two more isn't going to hurt you," Twilight headed off, glaring past me at her brother. To his credit, he looked extremely surprised for a moment, then apologetic towards me. "Ah, yeah. You're right of course, Twily. I just want to know if there's any more risk I should specifically keep my eyes peeled for," he explained, nodding towards her. Frowning, I nodded as well. I could understand the feeling. "As far as I know, Nirru was captured by the Keldarians after her body was destroyed here. I assume she's still being held captive. Further, she couldn't operate Keela's machinery alone, so it's fairly safe to say her threat is massively reduced," I deduced out loud a moment later, looking back over at Shining Armor. He gave me a blank look for a moment before smiling finally and nodding. "That's a definite plus. I guess talking to Keela would be recommended, then," he suggested, looking over at the flower he'd set down on the bedside stand again. I shook my head slowly. "Maybe later tonight. Although you should probably tell the guards to keep a look out for any prismatic glows or lights, especially in the shape of wings. That's what our FTL effect looks like," I warned. "FTL?" he questioned, tilting his head slightly in my direction. Oh, oh yeah. Their culture probably wasn't as big into acronyms as ours seemed to be. "Faster than light. It's a theoretical form of speed that's apparently been breached by their culture. From what I've picked up, that's how they send things to Equestria," Twilight cut in instead. Whoa. Her observations were scarily accurate. Her brother nodded promptly at that, returning with, "Ah, so look for the effect because it means something might be coming through. I'll head to the temporary barracks we have set up right now and spread the word." Whoa. I felt both honored and significantly awkward that he was taking me on my word and description, just like that. I wondered what I had done to earn his trust so readily! "That's an excellent idea. The more information we have to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, the better. I'm going to stay here with Mender. That's why I came here in the first place," Twilight excused, smiling over at her brother as he headed towards the door. He smirked back over his shoulder momentarily, warning, "I'd better not walk in on anything hanky panky when I get back, you two." Er, what? Twilight's blush flared up again and she glared back at him, however, so I assumed it was something either inappropriate or naughty. "Watch it, Shiny! I'll tell Cadence on you if you keep misbehaving," Twilight shot back, a smirk growing on her face. His wife? Yikes! As I figured, his eyes widened and he rapidly propelled himself out of the room at a decent trot, earning a giggle from my fillyfriend. "What's hanky panky mean?" I asked after a couple seconds, making sure he was out of earshot. Her eyes widened and the color in her cheeks flared up again, but she smiled back at me a moment later instead. "Oh yeah, cultural phrases that you're not used to yet. I keep forgetting. Hanky panky is doing something naughty that generally is done only when a couple is alone. Like if he walked in on us making out," she elaborated, smirking towards the end as my blush joined hers. "Um, oh," I managed to mutter, totally unsure of what I was supposed to say in this kind of situation. She surprised me, however, by shaking her head and lying down next to me instead. "I'm happy to explain things to you, Silly. I'm really going to try to turn over a new leaf! No more letting stupid ideas get the better of me," she promised, looking momentarily determined before I pecked her on the cheek again, causing it to fall apart. "I'll try not to jump to conclusions and trust you as well. If there's anything wrong though, just talk to me about it," I requested quietly, smiling at her. Maybe, just maybe this would work out. Twilight nodded, looking extremely pleased with the direction this was taking. A moment later, however, her eyes shifted downwards to the book I held in my forelegs again. I knew she'd have more questions about the book, of course. "I'm curious now. Would you mind explaining the properties of an Aegis Artifact or Barrier to me?" she inquired after a moment's hesitation. Heh, now she was curious? I bit my tongue, however. "If you go over the 'Principles of Enchantment' with me?" I offered, gesturing towards the top book she'd left me yesterday. I wasn't quite expecting her eyes to light up and widen in sudden surprise. "You really want to go over a book with me?" she asked, sounding shocked. I hesitated, unsure of what to make of the reaction, but I bravely nodded, regardless. Trust, Mender! Her confusion shifted instantly to a considerable smile as she hopped up, dancing back and forth on her hooves excitedly. I moved my right foreleg out of the way so it didn't get stepped on, almost immediately. "Yes, yes, yes! Of course I'll go over the book with you! I mean, I occasionally read alongside Rainbow, but those are all adventure novels and such. I've never gotten the opportunity to help somepony with actual academics!" she squealed, eyes now sparkling as she grinned down at me. Nervously, I backed away a little from her rather spastic exuberance. She tilted her head questioningly, so I informed, "Uh, sorry. I just don't want to get stepped on. I'm a little more squishy than normal at the moment." She giggled and nodded, calming down immediately before gently levitating the book over, apparently having forgotten all about the Aegis Barrier discussion. Not that I minded, because not only was she adorable when happy, I felt a certain warmth stir inside of me as I watched her. The cute giggle only served to send more sparks through me. After the hours of cold numbness, I clung to the feeling as best I could. "Of course, Mender. I'm just excited! I'm kinda surprised you didn't call me on the dancing, though," she muttered, laying back down slowly with a sudden blush evident on her face. I was a little confused, but waiting for her to set the book down on the bed before asking, "What about the dancing? It was cute to watch." She looked up at me for a moment before the blush brightened and her eyes widened a bit. "Wow. You're being honest, aren't you? You didn't think it looked silly? I know I can behave a little, uh, immature when I get excited. I just get so much energy inside me sometimes that I can't help but go on and on and I feel like I'm so silly looking sometimes when ponies stop and-" she resumed explaining, finally letting me in on what she was talking about. Snickering, I ducked forward and snatched up her lips with mine while she continued, shutting her up instantly and causing her eyes to bolt open to maximum size. I closed mine and momentarily pressed against her mouth tenderly, feeling her give a gentle sigh and pushed back a little. Not wanting to distract her, I broke off a moment later and smiled softly at her, giving a nod. "Shush. You're adorable and I don't mind you acting like that in the least, Twi," I corrected, watching her blush expand over most of her cheeks. She fidgeted a moment with her front legs before smiling up at me shyly and nodding. Her eyes were soft, however, and only partially open, giving a warm feeling that radiated from her almost. The emotion she displayed was new to me, however, and I couldn't quite place it. She looked very happy, though, so I was more than content with the shift in demeanor. "Um, thank you, Mender. I'm really, really glad you're giving me another chance," she finally spoke up. I nodded as she shifted closer and pulled the book into her lap, leaning against my pillows as she pushed into my right side. Smiling, I rested my head on her left shoulder as she opened up the book and propped it so we could both see. "We'll start from the beginning then. I'll read it to you and explain anything you want," she offered, earning a pleased nod from myself. I made a mental note to remind her about her wanting to learn about the Aegis later. Having the clever and highly intelligent unicorn on board with the Aegis Artifact study would be a huge boon as well. "Works for me," I agreed in a whisper directly into her ear, causing her to shiver lightly. I gave a gentle kiss to the side of her head shortly afterwards, more as thanks than anything. A momentary hesitation drifted through me as I did so, and I wondered if it was right for me to lead her on like this before she knew about me. I didn't feel like a machine, but if she didn't want to be with me anymore because I was fake, I honestly couldn't bring myself to hate her. It was justified, really. My thoughts were disrupted by her kissing my shoulder in return before starting up her reading in a low, quiet voice. Damn. The warmth drifted through me and I managed to pull back a bit of water from my eyes. If she really did decide she didn't want to be with me anymore, it was definitely going to hurt. I couldn't decide if that made me more or less pathetic, as far as robots went. With a bit of a repositioning and snuggle, she started in on the prelude. * * * * * It progressed from there. Papers were strewn about the bed as we subtly shifted from an Equestrian enchanting tutorial to full blown experimentation on the reaction between our two types of magic. Well, Twilight was experimenting; I was simply providing the magic to test against as she took notes. That was fine, though. It actually gave me more information than what was in the book, anyway, with her telling me all of the results. "Are you sure it's okay to have it out like that?" Fluttershy asked timidly from her position to me left. She'd arrived about twenty minutes ago and was simply lying on top of the covers this time, having set her book down to watch me 'cast' with my left foreleg. Technically, I could form the symbol on any part of my body, but that would involve explaining awkward things that I didn't quite want to talk about yet. "The nurse said it was quite fine," I assured, smiling softly over at the mare. Twilight paused in her magical manipulations and gave me an extremely skeptical glance. "Actually, if I remember right, she said that your recovery rate was phenomenal. Healing shattered ribs to just a hairline fracture in less than three days is unheard of," Twilight corrected, eyes watching me carefully. I swallowed an uneasy lump but Fluttershy cut in before I could say anything, with, "Twilight, isn't that a good thing? You sound, um, upset. Are you okay?" Twilight's gaze didn't budge for a moment, but eventually she sighed and nodded, shifting her attention back to the shielded, floating food tray in front of her. "Yeah, I'm all right. If you need to talk about anything, though, you know you can trust us, Mender. Right?" she asked, eyes shifting back over to me while she still pointed forwards. I thought about it. Did I trust them? It wasn't really that I didn't. My reservations were in how huge it was, not that I thought they were untrustworthy. Frankly, I thought anypony would have issues with the knowledge I was hiding no matter how loyal and honest they were. I closed my eyes gently, calming the storm of indecisiveness in my heart. What a mess. Idly, I wondered if there was some way I could become a normal pony. I doubted it, however. Surely, Celestia would have mentioned something along those lines already, even if only to eliminate the risk a monster like me posed to her kingdom. A warm and gentle nuzzle pushed against my shoulder, and I smiled softly. Her smell told me it was Fluttershy without even needing to open my eyes. "Mender, please. Remember what we said yesterday. We're not going anywhere, even if something scary happens. Um, of course, unless you tell us to, that is. Uh, well, if that's okay. I'm not sure entirely what you want us to do. Sorry," Fluttershy murmured before dwindling into a quiet whisper as she lost certainty in herself. "I know, Fluttershy. I'm just doing a lot of thinking lately. I'll tell both of you soon, though. Probably once I'm out of the hospital," I guessed. Just in case I had to run away in blind panic from a unicorn either thinking I'm an abomination, or wanting to dissect me while I was still alive, I should probably wait until I was fully recovered. Both mares smiled softly at me, and Twilight gave a nod. "I expected you were just thinking too much, but if there's anything else, Mender, let us know. If we're going to be a herd, we need to look out for each other," she reminded softly, resting back against the pillow gently. A herd, huh? My eyes closed lightly. Would she really think the same way after she knew my secret? I couldn't really see a happy ending to this, regardless. She'd probably be mad at me for lying to her as well, of course. Fluttershy would also be even more traumatized around me than she already was, so even at the happiest outcome I was looking at a huge setback in both relationships. Maybe I should just back off after I tell them and let things settle for a while? That would give Fluttershy time to recover, and maybe even pursue Twilight independently for a bit. I had no doubt that I could survive by myself if I just wandered into the Everfree. Ironic, considering my initial impressions of the ponies, I now found myself an extremely universal omnivore, rocks and dirt probably amidst the list of things I could consume for mass, anyway. Of course, they were probably fairly low on the vitamin scale. For a while, I imagined myself idly wandering through the forest. In my natural form, I doubt I'd be harassed much by the local wildlife. I couldn't even manage to kill myself, so I doubt anything else could in there. Still, I should probably read up on some of the wildlife before venturing forth. My thoughts drifted, and I lost sync with the rest of the world as I let my mind wander. The door opening again snapped me back to reality as I sleepily opened my eyes. Shining Armor wandered back in, giving the mares a smile and me a curt nod before turning and shutting the door again. He seemed a little bit 'colder' than earlier, I noticed. "Hey, Shiny. You were gone a while," Twilight greeted, raising an eyebrow up at him as he sat down in front of the bed. My warning flags went off and I armed my weapon system just in case, watching him carefully as the stirring extended to the surface of my back. He sighed wearily and shook his head before explaining, "It's a nightmare. Cadence sent me correspondence while I was visiting the barracks relaying that the attack is being talked about all the way in the Crystal Empire. The citizens are worried about their safety, of course. She's doing her best to console them, but is worried that other cities are having the same problems." Ah, so a really bad day, then. I'd take that over being replaced by a homicidal alien assassin any day. Although, now that I thought about it, wouldn't that be classified as a 'really' bad day, then? "Oh no. Those poor ponies. Is there anything we can do to help?" Fluttershy asked almost instantly, sounding a little distraught. Shining Armor shook his head before looking back to me and relaying, "We need information on how secure we are, of course. Mender's pointers so far have been invaluable in tightening security, but Aunt Celestia has requested that we try to get a hold of Keela herself and ascertain if Nirru has been captured or not." "I'd like to be there, too, Mender. Is there any way you can connect all of us to her?" Twilight asked, shifting her attention back to me. I shuddered lightly, instantly imagining Celestia smashing her massive amounts of energy into my skull in attempts to connect, too, and comparatively decided that I'd rather fling myself into the sun. Not to mention, who knows what Twilight would discover while connected to me after everything that happened? Shining Armor interrupted before I could say anything, however. "I want to be there, too. It's my job to guard the Princesses. That includes my sister now, as well," he announced, stomping his hoof down lightly and frowning at me, as if it were my fault she hadn't included him. "Shiny, it's okay. Mender will sever the link if anything bad happens. Besides, Princess Celestia herself will be there," Twilight assured gently, nodding twice afterwards. To my surprise, his eyes narrowed a little instead, shifting down to the book in my lap a moment later. I knew he didn't like the thing, but was he seriously thinking I'd purposefully hurt Twilight after everything I told him?! "There's just a lot of weird things happening, and I don't like it. I'd like to bring that book to Princess Celestia and have her take a look at it instead, honestly," he added, confirming my suspicions, anyway. "You can if you want. I promise you that it's not dangerous. It's an extension of me as much as my left foreleg is," I assured, trying to be as open as I could. The last thing I wanted was for anypony to think badly of me. I'd have enough trouble once they found out what I was! "Mender! No, that's not needed. He says the book is safe, brother! There's no need to take it away from him. Just relax," the lavender mare next to me defended, much to my surprise. I really didn't have a problem with him taking it. I felt its capabilities now that it was this close. If I really needed it back, I doubt anything could stop it from returning. Honestly, it kind of scared me. I didn't need its powers in the first place. He frowned over at her instead. "Twily, what's gotten into you, lately? I heard about what you said to the Princess, too. You're her faithful student, remember?" he reminded, looking both worried and perplexed. "Of course I am, Shiny! I'm not doing anything to be disloyal, am I? I told her I wouldn't spy on my coltfriend anymore, and she agreed with me! Before all of this, I made the mistake of not trusting Mender, too. You saw what happened because of that. Everything he said turned out to be true, so I'm not going to doubt him ever again," she fired back, chaining together my surprised reactions into a rather vicious combo. What exactly had I done to change her mind in the first place? Surely it was more than her just finding out I wasn't 'completely' crazy. Fluttershy shifted closer to me after wincing at the initial reactions. "S-Stop it, everypony. Please? There's no need to get mad at each other. Um, if you don't mind, Mender, maybe Shining Armor would feel better if you explained what the book does?" she suggested timidly, but in a surprisingly wise manner. Shining Armor froze for a moment before sighing and looking away. I recognized that expression instantly, and realized that he too was susceptible to the powers of Fluttershy. Although, the nature of her suggestion posed a problem. "I, uh, don't know much about it in the first place," I warned, before following up with, "It can float freely in the air using basic gravity manipulation. Uh, it can also generate barriers like mine and is practically indestructible." To illustrate my points, I let the book drift into the air of its own accord, a diamond-shaped barrier forming around it as it rotated. Twilight tilted her head as she watched it, interest shifting rapidly to that instead. "Indestructible?" she inquired, sounding curious. "Keela said that it could be ejected into a star and be totally fine, even after the thing explodes. It also survived the point blank explosion of the Grosh vessel, too," I elaborated, summarizing extensively. Shining Armor was rapidly shifting from hostile to interested, much like his sister. "What's inside of it? If it's a book, surely it has things written inside," he reasoned, extremely accurately this time. I nodded, explaining, "It's a journal. I'm assuming it has every bit of information all the way back from when my original self started it. I know that it magically updates itself based on everything I experience as well, but unfortunately, I can't get it open. The key requires, well, something else in order to fit into the lock." Twilight lifted the tiny bronze-colored key up before lightly pushing it against the lock on the front of the book. I saw the glowing of the barrier that covered the keyhole as it flared up a couple of times, completely resisting her jabs. "It's like there's a shield of some sort over the keyhole," she muttered a moment later, moving the key away and glaring at it. "Keela explained that it needs something else from whomever tries to open it. She said it could be most anything, from being a specific individual, to thinking key thoughts, to even a certain feeling held strongly while pushing the key into the hole. I don't even know where to begin to figure out how to open it," I elaborated, restraining the mild irritation in my voice. Admittedly, I did really want to see what was inside of it myself. "Huh. It doesn't seem as dangerous as I was afraid of. What do you plan on doing with it?" he inquired, ignoring the annoyed expression Twilight shot him a moment later. I shook my head, however, looking down at the book as it dropped back down to my lap. Just seeing it left me feeling rather hollow and empty. The things we all had to go through just for me to get the bloody thing... "Nothing, really. Well, beyond trying to open it. The only reason I wanted it here so badly was because it was holding the connection open to Equestria while it was on the other side," I muttered, unable to contain the bitter tone this time. The price to get it here wasn't exactly low, that was for sure. My left foreleg twitched lightly and I shivered, pulling it closer to myself to warm it from the sudden chill. I vividly remembered the feeling of having it snapped backwards and ripped from my body. "Mender, it's okay now," Fluttershy assured softly, instantly rotating around again and squeezing me with a light hug. Sighing, I rested my head against her shoulder as she squeezed me, giving her a weak nod. "I know. I just, well, remember what it felt like when she, um... Well, regardless, it wasn't easy getting this thing here," I tried to explain, suddenly finding myself extremely uncomfortable with even saying what happened. A light flash. The tearing sensation burned through me from my snapped shoulder. I couldn't remember screaming, but I must have as she smashed my skull into Applejack's cage over and over again just from the motions of her yanks. My foreleg hit the wood in front of me, a splatter of blood coming off it from the impact as I felt it running down my side, everything going numb. It didn't even register as mine. It couldn't be mine! Applejack's expression shifted into shock and horror a moment later as she stared at it, tears starting to come down her cheeks. No! I gasped, mind reeling as my body suddenly felt extremely cold. "Mender! Snap out of it. You're here, with us!" Twilight suddenly shouted, causing my eyes to open again in shock. Fluttershy was holding me tightly with her wings wrapped around my shivering body. Twilight herself was pressed into my right shoulder, giving it gentle nudges to get my attention again. Both looked extremely worried as I finally looked around, feeling the blood pool in my stomach. Damn it. Another stupid flashback. My head lowered lightly against Fluttershy's foreleg as I sighed. "I'm sorry, everypony. I, um, didn't mean for that to happen," I muttered, sad that I had worried them. Shining Armor looked downright shocked, now that I glanced up at him. Twilight laughed; a short and mildly amused barking noise, almost. "Obviously, Mender. I don't think you'd ever 'want' to have a flashback like that. Just relax, though, okay?" "Yes. Um, please relax. You're here with us and nothing bad is happening," Fluttershy chipped in, pulling me closer against her as she tucked herself partially under the blankets. "Dang. I, uh, didn't mean for that to happen. I'm sorry, Mender. I didn't realize," Shining Armor apologized, glancing between Twilight and me. Finally, I just shook my head wearily, looking back up at him. "It's fine. You want to protect everypony. I can definitely relate to that. I'm just a little shaken up over everything that happened still. It's not every day that I get my foreleg torn off," I excused, lowering my ears again. That must have been a pleasant thing for Twilight to discover upstairs, now that I thought about it. The mare in question smiled softly and gave my right foreleg a squeeze. "It's all right, Mender. I'm just happy you managed to get it back and are recovering," she assured. Her tone had a slight shift in it, and I glanced back up at her hesitantly. It was hard to place the emotion in her eyes as I stared at her. She specifically avoided saying the Princess got it back for me, I suddenly realized. She hesitated, then looked away from me a moment later, causing me to frown. Oh hell. Did one of the two Princesses say something to her?! "Yes. It's a miracle, honestly. I didn't know Princess Luna was so good at healing magic," Shining Armor furthered, smiling and nodding politely towards me. He hadn't meant anything by it, but it still sent a shiver down my spine. Fluttershy slid down my side and shifted her wing over me, her book now apparently having been forgotten. Still, I couldn't bring myself to remind her, as the warmth of her coat felt amazing against my still damaged left foreleg. I expected them to be queasy over it, so this was quite a surprise. It wasn't slimy or squishy or anything, but it certainly looked rather disgusting with its discoloration, bony protrusions, and fresh veins expanding out across it. It also itched like crazy as my fur started to lightly grow back across the surface, but that much I was expecting. None of the prior mentioned oddities seemed to bother the adorable yellow mare, however. She cradled the leg against her chest, smiling as it stopped shivering and warmed up under her body heat. Her wing expanded over me as well, further keeping the rest of me warm as she lightly dropped it across my chest. She trusted me with it now, I suddenly realized. Smiling, I gave it a light kiss along the top of it, earning a whimsical giggle from Fluttershy. "Okay, you're adorable, Mender. Applejack and Fluttershy are right. I suddenly realize that you'd make a wonderful father as well. You're so understanding and gentle," Twilight suddenly spoke up, making my eyes shoot to full size almost instantly as I looked over at her in surprise. "Whoa! Uh, is there something I should be telling Mom?" Shining Armor asked almost instantly, ironically looking as surprised as I felt. Twilight snorted, however, and stuck her tongue out at him. "Shiny, you're smarter than that. For one, you know that I'm a good girl and won't be starting a family until I'm sure I'm ready," she reminded, giving him a skeptical glance. Of course, what she didn't mention was that 'ready' wasn't likely to occur in the lifespan of say, the star in the sky. If her prior statement still held, I had a feeling the ball of burning gas would be on its last legs by the time she even decided to become intimate. "Yeah, I guess you're right about-" he started to agree before she raised a hoof and silenced him. "Further, and more importantly, Mender arrived in the middle of summer, 'after' the first estrus cycle. The second one hasn't come yet. Thus, it would be physically impossible for me to be pregnant," she pointed out. I choked back a snicker out of respect for her brother. Fluttershy giggled, however, and squeezed tighter to me while Shining Armor rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You're a real piece of work, Sis. Suddenly, I think I was wrong. Fluttershy is probably going to end up having foals first, isn't she?" he suggested, recovering his smile from before as Twilight shifted instantly into a blush. My cheeks lit up too due to me not considering Fluttershy like that before. Of all things to not make her squeak, however, this was apparently one of them. Fluttershy's smile simply widened as a light flush drifted into her cheeks. "I, um, don't think I'd mind. Probably not this year, but maybe next if, uh, Mender accepts me into the herd. It might be scary, but I'll have Mender and Twilight here to help me, along with all our other amazing friends," she murmured against my chest. My heart dropped into my stomach at about the same speed as my jaw dropping onto my chest. Twilight looked equally stunned for a moment, barely managing to get out, "Um, whoa. Uh, you do realize that means you have to, um," she tried to point out, causing me to blush at the implied direction of her question. Fluttershy opened an eye to peek at Twilight as she trailed off. Frankly, I was shocked we were even having this conversation, let alone it going so well, even if I was just listening, really. Fluttershy nodded gently against me, eyes only open a little ways and looking half asleep. Maybe that contributed to her mellow take on the conversation? "Yeah. It's, um, all right, though. I trust Mender and it's a natural thing, right?" she reasoned, her left hoof gesturing towards Twilight as she rested. Twilight momentarily looked surprised, but relaxed soon after, giving her friend an agreeable smile. "Well, yeah. You're right, of course. I think I'll let you become a mother first, though. That way I'll know what I'm getting into," she finally agreed. Wait, what?! My eyes widened as I looked back and forth between the two mares. "D-Don't I get a say in this?! Why are we even talking about this, anyway?" I finally managed to ask. Shining Armor, who had been doing so admirably with both forehooves pressed to his muzzle, finally caved and burst into laughter. My ears flattened back as Twilight joined in a moment later. I opened my mouth to say more, but Fluttershy slipped up and kissed me lightly on the chin, causing me to blush and momentarily lose control of my voice. She let out a giggle as I looked down at her. "Of course you get a say, Mender. You're going to be the daddy, after all. It still amazes me at how gentle you are with me. I had been wrong all along," she muttered, frowning a bit towards the end. "Wrong?" I questioned, wondering what the sudden shift in tone was about. The siblings' laughter finally dwindled as Fluttershy shook her head. "I know you aren't mean and you'd never intentionally hurt anypony. The images were just so scary though that I started to, um, doubt that in my mind. Now I'm, well, really, really upset with myself. Ooohh! I could just scream I'm so mad. I wasted a lot of time being silly and doubting you, and then I see you're really like this and I regret the whole thing," she explained, being remarkably quiet and soft spoken for being angry. Well, not that I expected her to actually start screaming or something. Twilight snickered and shook her head softly. "If Mender's fine with it, I have no problems with you being in the herd at all, Fluttershy. If you feel badly for it, just make up for lost time and be together with us now instead," she suggested, nodding twice afterwards with that satisfied smile she always gets when things are neat and orderly. I nodded along with a similar soft grin, discovering that I wasn't really needed for this to work out. All four of us were interrupted, however, as three bright blasts of pink flames and smoke appeared in the air around Shining Armor's head. He sighed as he caught the three scrolls in his magic and rotated them in front of himself. "Yup. All three are from Cadence. Well, you three seem to have everything covered, so I'm going to go for a while. I need to send another letter out to my wife, it would seem," Shining Armor excused after Fluttershy relaxed against me again. Twilight started giggling in amusement. He stopped a moment later, however, looking as if he suddenly remembered something. "I almost forgot. You never did answer, Mender. Is there a way to draw other ponies in to talk to Keela with you? Aunt Celestia was curious," he asked yet again. Oh! Oops. I'd forgotten I technically didn't answer that after our topic got derailed. "Oh, um, yeah, there is. Well, I think so, anyway. It feels extremely similar to when Twilight touches her horn to my head and slips into my mind. I think that if she does that when I transfer over to the other-" I started to explain. It got cut off most unexpectedly however. "What?!" he asked almost instantly, shifting to a mixture of what looked like shock and hostility as he looked over at his sister. I blinked, totally blindsided by the reaction as I looked towards Twilight as well. She was blushing furiously and averting her eyes from both of us, however. I suddenly got that familiar sensation that she was hiding something from me again and I just blundered into it accidentally. Fluttershy looked just as confused as me, however, before asking timidly, "Um, is that a bad thing? It doesn't sound bad. It sounds kind of romantic," she inquired, smiling towards the end and giving my chest another squeeze. I smirked down at her and held her closer, enjoying the sensation. Well, she was right. Honestly, I guess it was kind of romantic. "Ah, can we talk about this later, Shiny?" Twilight pleaded, looking back up at him and pushing her forehooves together. "Don't 'Shiny' me, Sis. Acting cute won't change the fact that you've been Mind Syncing outside of marriage! What would our parents think?" he lectured, sounding irritated. Uh oh. Outside of marriage? There was definitely something she hadn't told me, I had a sudden suspicion. "Oh! Oh, I remember now. It's part of the Unicorn marriage ritual, and needed to consummate the union," Fluttershy suddenly remembered out loud. Oh. My cheeks flared up with heat and I shivered lightly, looking back over to the lavender unicorn who still refused to meet my gaze. "Exactly. You were supposed to wait, Twilight. I just... I don't know. I don't have time for this right now. I'll see what Mom and Dad want to do about it," he finally decided out loud, shaking his head and turning towards the door again. No matter how many paths I followed in my mind, I couldn't foresee a good outcome to this. "Shiny, wait! You don't have to tell them at all!" Twilight shouted as he exited the room. She stood rapidly and was gone from the bed in a flash of light, reappearing in the hallway in an instant. "Wait, I said! Just listen to me!" she yelled after him. His hoofsteps further down the hallway didn't slow, however, and Twilight let out a low growl before chasing after. Fluttershy and I listened to her voice dwindle as they got further and further down the hallway. Well crap. "Oh dear," Fluttershy murmured, staring in surprise at the door. I still couldn't process what had just happened fully, and suddenly decided that maybe I should stop trying. I couldn't exactly run and catch up with them anyway. "I couldn't agree more," I returned before exhaling softly and flopping back into a lying position. You know what? Screw it. The world can wait. I had a warm bed, soft covers, and an amazing mare squeezed up against me. She shifted back to a smile as I pushed my muzzle into her tummy and drew her down into the covers again. "We can deal with it later," I assured, smiling up at her from the shadows of my blankets. This was an amazingly comfortable bed for being in a hospital. "That sounds, Mmm, nice. Yes," she agreed softly before slipping down next to me. I let out a pleased cooing noise before snuggling against her and closing my eyes again. Fluttershy felt nice and warm against me, and staying awake for so long had really tired me out. There was a hazy, sleepy sensation as we snuggled against each other under the covers. Honestly, I could be happy with this. Very happy. So very sleepy as well... I’ll see what’s going on later. Slowly, my body relaxed and everything drifted away. Chapter 32A flash of teeth in the dark snapped me awake in an instant. I found myself sitting upright with a cold sweat dotting my coat. I stared into the dark of the room, rapidly letting my heartbeat slow. I was alone again. Fluttershy had probably left after I fell asleep on her. I was just so tired lately. Teeth. They had been mine this time. Well, the teeth of my other form; the ones that were pointed, sharp, and angled for restraining prey while my jaws crushed them apart. I shivered, the moisture on my fur feeling even colder. There was no escaping the truth anymore, honestly. Twilight was right. I couldn't live like this; lying to everypony like that. Even if it meant that I lost their love in the process. Princess Celestia had said the same thing, hadn't she? Of course, she had also told me that it was up to me to find my own place in the world; my reason for being in Equestria. As if summoned, a light tapping noise sounded from the window to my left as my thoughts drifted. Sitting up, I glanced over at the window, noting immediately that there was a white glow emanating into the room. Celestia herself hovered just outside of the window, wings idly flapping as she looked in expectantly. I knew she had the capability to just open the window herself, so I assumed she was waiting for an invitation. My upper left most tentacle extended from my back and reached out, lightly wrapping around the window and unhooking the lock at the bottom. She smiled as I slid it open, and then retreated. "You're very gentle with those as well," she commented, flicking herself through the window with practiced grace. Beyond yesterday, I wondered if she'd done this before. "It was hard to do anything but break things at first, but after I got stuck in that form for a few hours, I learned to be gentle with them, too," I explained, watching passively as she landed at the side of my bed. Her smile widened as she nodded in agreement. "After Shining Armor's report, I must say that I'm fully accepting of you. Not that I wasn't honestly before, but it spoke most favorably on your behalf," she relayed. I raised my eyebrow, skeptical at best. "Even after what he found out about his sister and me? Not to mention the book," I asked, finding it hard to believe that he had anything good to say about me. She chuckled softly and shook her head before glancing over at my bedside table. "Ah yes, is this it?" she inquired, undoubtedly already knowing the answer as she levitated it gently off the wooden surface. I nodded once, watching her lift it with mild intrigue. Idly, I wondered if it was within her power to destroy the thing. "Prudentia. It's an Aegis Artifact. I'm sure Twilight reported that already, though," I added, feeling kind of silly. For some reason, however, I also liked saying the book's name. It felt, well, warm to me somehow. Celestia examined it for a few moments before shaking her head and setting it down on my mattress instead. "No, she hasn't reported anything to me since the last time I saw her. I do believe she's a bit uncomfortable with me at the moment," she revealed, looking back up at me with a soft expression. I frowned, having not expected that reply in the least. "I'm surprised. Honestly, I never expected her to say that in the first place, let alone actually follow through with it," I admitted quietly, unsure of my own voice suddenly. Celestia watched me carefully before closing her eyes and sighing. She took a moment before glancing back up at me with a weary smile. "I'm sorry, but that's a little sad to hear. I'm not blaming you, of course. You've lost your trust in a lot of ponies after all of this. Is there anypony you trust still?" she asked in almost a whisper. I wasn't used to seeing the white alicorn look sad. It was a little disarming. The question was easy enough, however. "Fluttershy," I returned a moment later. She watched me as I considered my own answer before nodding again, adding, "She's never really done anything to betray my trust apart from eavesdrop once. Plus, I have the direct link to her and can feel her when she gets close. It's relaxing and I feel comfortable around her." Celestia smiled gently at my mention of the link and looked down at the book in my lap yet again. "I confess to being unable to detect that connection. Twilight also hasn't spoken much about it. Or is it more a matter of nopony knowing?" she inquired. That tidbit surprised me, honestly. Well, not so much that she couldn't detect it but more the fact that she admitted it to me. "The last I discussed them with Twilight, neither of us knew much about them. I still don't know, as I haven't really looked into them. I've been trying to sort all the Keldarian DNA I have inside of myself into a database the last day or so," I excused, realizing I should probably look into it at some point. She nodded as if actually understanding what I just said, to my further surprise. "It might be a nice olive branch to offer to Keela if the need arises. Shining Armor told me of what you reasoned could be used to have a talk with her as well. Oh, and worry not. He is not angry at you at all and fully realizes that you didn't know what she was even doing," Celestia assured, as if suddenly remembering the finer points of the conversation. I blanched, then shook my head sadly. "I'm more worried about him being mad at Twilight. She's been, well, a lot more flexible and understanding the last few days and I find myself far more sympathetic," I admitted. Back when she still thought I was a crazy loon that couldn't manage breathing on my own, I might have thought otherwise. Celestia snickered at my explanation instead. "I agree that her progress in adjusting to having a coltfriend has significantly improved. Her parents are understanding, however, and this should only be a minor blunder. Normally such a thing is associated with, uh, more intimate interactions and some families hold it relative to consummation of a marriage," she explained in an extremely helpful, if not slightly awkward, manner. I swallowed, finding myself extremely uneasy now. "Uh, will it help if they know we haven't, um, mated yet?" I offered, unsure if this was a conversation I should be having with the Princess of the entire country. If it was a faux pas, she didn't bat an eye at it. Instead, she released a gentle giggle accompanying a shake of her head. "Nay. I think they'll guess that even if she doesn't tell them. Honestly, you have nothing to worry about. The worst thing they shall do is attempt to be a little pushy with you, looking for commitment. My niece described similar after they walked in on her and Shining Armor, I believe," Princess Celestia relayed, raising a ponderous hoof to her chin. My eyes widened a little bit. Was there such a thing as too much information? I shuddered and suppressed my gag reflex. "Uh, I didn't honestly need to know that," I managed to mutter, looking away from the alicorn. She grinned; it was a long and mirthful expression. "You are indeed fun to tease. You turn the most adorable shade of pink. Rose was speaking of such earlier," she pointed out. Ugh. She was doing it on purpose! "You can be downright evil, you know that, Tia?" I asked, giving her a dull, irked stare. She outright laughed, of course. Wait, Rose? Oh, one of those three mares. Well at least that confirmed my earlier suspicions. "They were teasing me the entire time, weren't they? Twilight and I thought they were serious," I groaned, smacking my right forehoof into my forehead and sighing. Tia grinned even more, somehow. "I should tell you something. A blushing stallion, much like a blushing mare, is adorable. If a mare finds an easy way to make a stallion blush, she's probably going to abuse it for the cuteness. A shy stallion like yourself is going to get a lot of playful flirting, I suspect," she explained, politely holding a hoof to her muzzle in order to contain the light snickers emerging from it. "So they were just teasing me in order to get me to blush?" My eye twitched slightly as I stared harder at the Sun Princess. "Oh, don't downgrade it. Rose and Daisy spoke highly of you when I talked to the two of them. They're not just teasing you, but feel genuinely friendly. In fact, almost everypony I've spoken with the last day or so has shown outright sympathy and caring for your condition. You've made a positive impression on them, even if you think otherwise," she assured. I stared at her in surprise, wondering when she'd grow the second head out of her tongue and eat me or something. It slowly shifted to a frown as I considered the cultural differences between here and my old dimension. I figured that they'd hold me in contempt after being indirectly responsible for the attack and disruption of the peace. Hell, if I were still a Keldarian, they would have held me as an 'indirect accomplice to the act of terror,' as I believe they worded it. That warranted incarceration or the death sentence if I was remembering correctly. "What, did you think they'd be angry with you? My little ponies are smart, Mender. They know that you're as much a victim, if not more so, than everypony in town. I shouldn't mention this, but they're putting together a care package to present at the party once you're released and Pinkie feels better," she revealed after a moment of my dumbfounded staring. If I wasn't dazed and confused before, she might as well have just walked up and clobbered me with a baseball bat to the side of the head. They were what?! She lost whatever ancient stoic reserve she typically called upon and started snickering again in amusement, undoubtedly at the expression I was currently sporting. "As big of a deal as the attack was, I just figured they'd have put more blame on me having indirectly caused it by, well, existing here?" I tried to reason, tilting my head up to consider it. Admittedly, it had sounded better in my head. "You're very silly, Mender. Regardless, I think you shall be pleasantly surprised. However, before I forget, I would indeed like to ask you when you'd like to bring us to meet Keela, if your method works. I'd like to do so soon, but I'm not sure what you need for the feat," she requested, locking eyes with me again. I frowned, but nodded a moment later. "The only thing needed really is enough room for yourself and three other ponies to be comfortable with touching horns. Um, also, can I request that Twilight lead, if possible?" I inquired, ears drooping a little. Instead of being irked, however, she simply smiled. "Of course, Mender. I was already planning on that. My horn is significantly longer than average, so I shall let Twilight's rest upon you, rest mine upon hers, and have Shining Armor place his upon mine. Would that be satisfactory?" she suggested calmly, going a step further than what I was going to risk requesting. I nodded twice, smiling gently at her again. She returned my gesture before settling into place in one of the side chairs that slid up in her aura to be closer to the bed. "Then I'm glad that's settled. Will you be fit enough to do so tomorrow? I don't mean to rush you, but I simply worry for my subjects. They are quite concerned over the state of things, and some definite answers would do well to placate them," she reasoned. I could definitely see the logic in her request. "Yes, I can do it tomorrow if the other two can manage it." It really wasn't that big of a deal in the first place. Taking a nap wasn't exactly stressful on my body, after all. "Then I'll get word out in the morning to have Twilight begin preparations. In the meantime, I do believe I offered to answer anything you wanted me to," she reminded gently, settling into her chair as if expecting to be there a while. Oh, oh yeah. Now that I thought about it, she had already answered quite a bit of my questions just in this informal conversation. It always amazed me that she insisted on approaching me like just another pony. Still, she'd helped me a lot and proven to be quite a bit more pleasant than I had started to see her as, so I wasn't about to complain. Of course, that didn't mean there weren't things I was curious about. "When did you discover I was a robot?" I asked a moment later, deciding that was foremost on my list and I didn't know how many she was going to let me ask. "Whoa. You certainly know how to get right to the heart of things. To be honest, at the cafe. Although, to correct you, I do believe the term for you would be cyborg. You are essentially a pony, but have many added parts and qualities," she answered, gesturing towards my chest with a hoof while doing so. I raised an eyebrow. Was it common for answers to raise more questions than actually answering? "Why didn't you say anything then?" I asked, deciding not to mention the fact that she knew what a cyborg was in the first place. She shook her head, however. "If you'd proved hostile to my little ponies, me informing you of what you were wouldn't have been needed anyway. If you didn't prove hostile, you obviously didn't know and had genuinely good intentions. If that were so, telling you would simply disrupt the life you wanted to form here and be exceptionally cruel. Of course, had I known this would happen, I might have acted differently," she explained simply, politely watching me with a neutral expression. It didn't strike me as fair for her to decide that for me, but I guess it was a moot point. "You really aren't going to have Twilight watch over me anymore?" I asked, deciding it was a little risky, but I needed to know the answer. She cracked a smile and shook her head, of course. I didn't sense any lies, but I had no doubt she had the world's greatest poker face. "No, I'm not. If she watches over you from this point on, it's for her own reasons. Most likely concern, I imagine. She's come a long way in learning about a more intimate level of relationship, and I personally think she cares for you very much. Please don't place any of the blame for those instances on her, however." That was an interesting request, but she'd made similar past, after lunch that time. "I have enough reasons to distrust Twilight without adding those, but I'm trying. She asked for another chance and I'm inclined to give it to her. She could just take what she wanted, but so far, she hasn't," I relayed, frowning a little bit. This was totally backwards compared to how I was used to things. In my dimension, if a female claimed you, you were property unless a different female laid claim as well. Then all hell broke loose. It was rare for the male in question to even survive. In some cases, the government stepped in and euthanized the male just to cease the hostilities. It's not like there weren't nine more of us to replace the one lost. Celestia's smile pushed through my thoughts, and she assured, "I have no doubt that she'll not allow herself to stray this time. I've seen her react like this before and I assure you, you'll get her utmost attention. I realize there's a significant contrast from your old culture. Equestria doesn't work like that, however. Have you considered explaining this to the girls? I believe they'd really like to know." "Normally, they aren't comfortable when I talk about my old world. I didn't think they'd want to know anything about it," I muttered, looking away from Tia. "This is important, however. I do believe this will explain a lot of things to them and probably improve their outlook on things," she added, shifting back to a soft smile afterwards. After a moment's consideration, I nodded. I'd tell Twilight when I could. If it was relevant information, she'd no doubt give it to the others. "I only have one more question. Do you know if Applejack and Rainbow Dash forgive me for what happened that night?" I asked last, largely because it hurt to say it. There were some questions I discovered that I didn't want to know the answer to. At the same time, this was one I couldn't not know either. It was more than a little inconvenient, honestly. "As they won't tell you themselves, it is truly only fair that you ask somepony else. Rainbow is conflicted between supporting her crush and trying to get her to talk to you again. She was the one who delivered the apples last night, and if I heard correctly, will try again tonight," she relayed, looking a little glum suddenly. "Try?" I asked, a little confused as to her meaning. I received a nod in return. "You ate the apples whole. Fluttershy reported that they were simply missing, and now the three of them think that the nurse confiscated the apples," Tia elaborated. "Fluttershy's involved too?" I asked, actually not all that surprised. Celestia nodded again, explaining, "She worries for Applejack, who is in much worse condition than Rainbow. It's more than just accidentally betraying the trust of a friend. She didn't believe you even when you tried so hard, which goes against her very Element. She wanted to see how you reacted to the apples to know if she even had a chance at forgiveness." The Sun Princess sighed afterwards and lowered her head a little, obviously not liking the progression either. After a moment's debate, I made up my mind. "When Rainbow comes tonight, I'll try to talk to her. Maybe I can get a message to Applejack," I pondered out loud. If I couldn't approach her myself, then I'd just have to ask somepony else to for me. Celestia nodded politely, agreeing with, "That's a wise and mature direction to go in. I'm pleased with that." She lingered after, watching me carefully. For an awkward moment, I suddenly didn't know what she wanted, her gaze locking with mine. An errant thought drifted through my mind, and I suddenly realized that she was probably waiting for me to ask more questions. "Oh, um, I don't really have anymore questions for you," I revealed softly, partially looking away from her rather unnerving gaze. Those eyes! I could almost feel the sensation of them burning into me as she focused her attention. Was it a product of her strength, or was it more her sheer force of experience she's lived through? She giggled a moment later, easing the pressure off immediately. "That I wasn't expecting, to be honest. Are you sure there's absolutely no more questions you want to ask?" I nodded gently in assurance, causing her to continue with, "Very well. I do have one final question for you for tonight, if you'll indulge me." Admittedly, when worded like that, it made me more than a little curious. Her tone had shifted formal, which she had intentionally avoided when talking to me, for the most part. I glanced back over at her, eyes curious. "Uh, of course I don't mind. Um, what is it that you wanted to ask?" I tried to inquire in as polite a manner possible. Her expression wavered momentarily, further surprising me and unnerving me at the same time. "Do you trust me?" she finally asked. The weight added to the question could have knocked the building down. I locked up momentarily, not really even processing the question. The shock slid into a mixture of sadness and apprehension, however, as I was suddenly conflicted. The obvious 'right' answer to the question was some variant of 'yes', of course. But that would be lying. To be honest with myself, no, I didn't fully trust her. Celestia's eyes softened and she looked away a moment later before nodding. "I understand. That much I predicted after all this. You have my honest word that I'll do nothing to betray your trust ever again, of course, for what it's worth," she assured a moment later. It didn't really surprise me that she saw my answer without my need to say anything. Giving a weak smile, I finally shook my head. "I want to believe you, Tia. Deep down, you're a good pony who's had to make some tough choices due to your position. I understand that, and still want to be your friend," I finally tried to explain, never having put it together in my mind before now. My feelings regarding Tia were mixed to begin with. She smiled, of course, and glanced back at me, head still tilted to the side. "You're a very kind stallion. After all this is over, I'm inviting you to Canterlot. My treat. I want to just be able to talk with you again, like normal, I believe," she finally announced, expression growing more mirthful as my expression shifted to surprise. This time I caught her ploy before she could fully engage it, however. I grinned and nodded in return, warning, "Only if the girls and Spike can come too." She laughed that time and turned to fully face me, agreeing with a soft nod of her head. "But of course. It's a plan, then. Although, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow, so I won't keep you further," she assured, standing upright again and shifting her wings out into a light stretch. The window slowly slid open without her turning to look at it. "Yeah. And tomorrow you get to use the door," I pointed out, gesturing towards the window with my right foreleg across my body. To my surprise, she winked instead before heading towards the window. "You'd be surprised how much fun it is to do things in an unorthodox manner from time to time, Mender. For that, I thank you. You let me get away," she explained, eyes momentarily softening as she looked down at the sill. I tilted my head, but she shook hers before I could ask anything. "Anyways, I shall see you tomorrow," she added, before slipping through the window. Hmm. Not nearly as graceful as Dash, but I'd give her a three point five. Chuckling to myself at my own lame sense of humor, I lay back against my pillows again as the window slowly slid shut. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. Here's just hoping Keela would answer in the first place. Of course, she wouldn't know I was bringing company along this time, so I saw no reason for her to refuse the connection specifically requested in her note. Telling myself to relax, I let my body slowly drift back away into my dreams. * * * * * A stirring drifted through me. Halfway mixed with a rather tasty dream involving Twilight and Fluttershy in the spa still, I felt an uncomfortable shiver go through me as my body suddenly felt a little colder. It clashed with the wonderful sensations the dream brought on, and I pulled myself awake with reluctance. What was going on? My sleepy eyes shifted around, not immediately catching anything out of place in the dark room. There were no movements or out of place shapes, and no static noises mixing with the silence of the night. Disoriented momentarily, I pulled up Clocky and discovered that it was oh three hundred hours. Damn. I shivered again and looked over at the window, instantly noticing it was partially cracked open. Oh! The air was leaking in from the outside, slowly lowering the temperature of the room. Had Celestia forgotten to shut it all the way? I thought I remembered her doing so. A moment later, I saw it shiver and worm it's way up a little more. The lock lowered a little more and slid a little further open. Huh? A moment later, I gave a startled jump as a little wire slipped in and hooked around the latch on the still partially closed lock. A bit of jiggling got it hooked around the knob, and the wielder pulled, popping the latch off. My eyes narrowed and I pulled the stirring inside of me to the surface of my back, shifting my dermal layer to armor just in case. This was a messy way to go about breaking in if they had Keldarian technology, but I wasn't about to extend the benefit of the doubt. The window slid up a little a second later, and a cyan hoof slipped under it and pulled it up slowly and silently. Dash! My mind flickered inside of me and I brought up her status link with myself. Sure enough, it displayed her as being less than three meters from me. It really was her, then? Of course, it didn't give me the direction she was in, but what were the odds she was, like, sleeping on the roof above me? After a moment's consideration of her lethargic tendencies, I kept my dermal armor up just in case. She slipped through the window upon getting it open wide enough, barely managing to get the saddlebag she wore inside as well. Further probability of it being actually Dash. A Keldarian assassin wouldn't have bothered with the saddlebag; their body is malleable enough to just keep their weapons inside of themselves. She straightened herself a bit and stood upright upon landing. I closed my eyes again and peeked through the barest sliver as she turned to look at me, pretending to be asleep again. This was the first time I'd seen the cyan mare since the incident, and a light lump grew in my throat as I watched her. A vivid memory drifted up of her angry face as she smashed me backwards, followed immediately by her horrified look as she saw me in the forest. Her eyes had said it all. She thought I was a horrifying, unspeakable monster. Her heart rate maintained a calm, if slightly elevated beat as she slowly got closer, slipping her muzzle into her side bag and rooting around in it. I waited patiently until she gently withdrew a rather sizable apple, the stem carefully held between her teeth. I felt myself blush lightly as I realized she was technically touching the top of the apple with her lips. Mentally berating myself a moment later, I realized I might still be a little hypersensitive from the dream she disrupted. Regardless, I put a tight leash on the stirrings instantly. She used her muzzle to lightly brush the blankets back before hesitantly and ever so gently setting the apple down against my chest. Once it was in place and she made sure it wasn't going to roll, she slipped her head back into her saddlebag again, no doubt to withdraw another of the tasty red morsels. This was my chance, I guessed. My eyes opened again as she slipped her head into the bag. I decided to be brave and just meet her face first and talk. She'd probably appreciate that more than beating around the bush. I waited patiently as she withdrew another apple and repeated the careful positioning. She had some extreme stealth skills if she did this last night and didn't wake me up. I suddenly wondered what she'd look like all dressed up in an operative outfit or something. She could probably pull it off if she covered up her more, well, vibrant qualities. Not much blended well with rainbow. To my surprise, she was completely oblivious to my eyes being open. Okay, so she had the moves but not the observational skills. A little rough around the edges, I guessed. She probably didn't have to use clandestine skills every day. She repeated the motion with the third apple, then carefully started to nudge the blanket back into place. I waited patiently and in slight amusement as she got it stuck in a tangle and released a whispered growl before finally resorting to her teeth to pull it up again. Okay, that was cute. Finally, her work completed, she exhaled quietly and glanced back up at my not so sleeping face. A heartbeat went by. Her expression shifted from a soft smile to a startled, shocked look after a second's lag. She gave a startled squeak and shuffled backwards a good half-meter or so, eyes hitting their maximum size as she stared at me. I couldn't help but smile lightly at her. "Hey, Rainbow. Thank you for the apples," I offered in a soft whisper, not wanting to startle the guard now posted outside of my door. Shining Armor had gotten a little paranoid after the incident with the book yesterday, it would seem. Her eyes softened and locked with mine. She flinched, but couldn't seem to budge the soft, rose-colored orbs away from mine. "M-Mender! I didn't realize that you were awake. Um, the apples are actually kinda from AJ, not me. I'm just dropping them off," she whispered back, uncharacteristically shaken a little. I must have really surprised her. Trying to calm her down, I gave her a gentle smile. "Well, can you thank Applejack for me as well? The last three were delicious, too," I added. To her credit, she honestly looked surprised. "Wha? I thought the nurse found 'em and took them away. There weren't even cores left in the morning," she exclaimed, apparently momentarily forgetting her caution and raising her voice in surprise a bit. Oh. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten the entire apple after all. I decided to be vague and return, "The hospital food is terrible. I was more than a little thankful to get the delicious apples and didn't want to waste any of them." Dash's eyes softened and she gave a nod after a moment's thought. "I hear ya, really. I've been here enough to know that the food is always terrible! But AJ will be glad to hear you liked them. They're kind of, well..." she started before hesitating. Again, this was a side of Rainbow I wasn't familiar with. I didn't think she'd ever be insecure about anything. Her usual confidence was dulled, however. "I'm not mad at her," I revealed in the light lull Dash left in her statement. She started, then looked back at me with a bit of a disbelieving look. "I'm not. Frankly, I'm jealous that Twi has such great friends who are willing to so adamantly stick up for her when they think she's hurt by somepony. I'm happy she has such amazing friends, though. Honest," I added, trying to convince her of what I felt. "Mender, you don't need to-" she started to interrupt before I lightly held a hoof up, stopping her. "All I'm trying to say is that I, well, I'm just hoping she'll take back what she said that night about not being my friend anymore," I finally admitted, probably majorly confusing her with the wording. My mental rehearsals usually ended a few minutes ago with her fleeing from the hospital in horror. Frankly, I was astounded that I'd gotten this far in the first place. Rainbow watched me for a few moments before smiling again, shifting back to her confident grin I was far more familiar with. "That I can assure she'll do. Heck, hearing this should help her a lot. She's been a mess the last couple days," she assured, giving a confident nod afterwards. I raised an eyebrow, unsure of her wording. "I thought Twilight said she was barely hurt?" I asked, a little worried now. Dash snorted and rolled her eyes playfully. "Relax. She got a few nicks. No, she just thinks she's screwed up bad. Well, she did, but she's never quite messed up like this before," she muttered, shaking her head. I gave her a skeptical glance, which earned a wince again. Dash lowered her head and sighed, adding, "Okay, yeah. I screwed up too. That's why both of us weren't coming in during visiting hours. We really, uh, didn't know what to say? What do you say to that? 'I'm sorry for not trusting you, almost killing you, and then almost getting you killed afterwards because of it?' Sounds like one of Pinkie's signs..." Okay, that I chuckled at. Did that mean she was seriously going to try to fit all that onto a banner? Joy. "It looked pretty bad on my part, you have to admit. Just assuming I was nuts was the far more realistic choice," I pointed out, resting back against my pillows again. Beats the alternative explanation, anyway. An alien from another dimension arrived, assumed the form of my fillyfriend, then tried to seduce me for my alien DNA to rebuild her race. Oh, and I was a robotic eldritch abomination capable of eating the planet. "She's going to want to do some serious apologizing regardless, Mender. I do, too, so let us? We want to make amends. I'll try to get her in here tomorrow, okay?" Rainbow requested, holding her head higher again but not recovering the smile. She was stubborn all right. "I forgive you already, of course. But yes, tomorrow will work for me so long as it's not during Celestia's meeting," I agreed. "Oooh, goin' on another date with the Princess, hot stuff?" she asked almost instantly. There was a light thudding noise from the other side of the door. The guard knew she was in here and was listening in?! Deciding to ignore the development, I rolled my eyes and gave her a flat stare. "You know it's not like that. Celestia, Shining Armor, and Twilight are all coming here tomorrow to have a face to face with Keela, the sister of the Keldarian who attacked us," I explained gently. Rainbow's grin shifted to a serious expression almost immediately, and she nodded twice, asking, "Do you think I could be here to watch? I probably can't help any but, I dunno, I guess I'd just feel better if I could be here for emotional support?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked at her a moment later, earning a scowl. "You avoid me for three days and now you want to participate?" I inquired playfully. I could tell immediately that she knew that I was teasing, given the smirk she shifted to as well. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Now that I know you forgive me, though, I want to start making it up to you," she explained, nodding sternly and finally. I gave her a curious look. "If you know I forgive you, why do you have to make it up to me? Aren't those kinda the same thing?" I reasoned, more than a little confused. Rainbow scoffed almost immediately, holding up her hoof to me and shaking her head. "No way! You forgave me, which means you'll accept my friendship back again. Now I have to actually make up for the damage I did to prove I really want to be your friend again!" she exclaimed, totally forgetting that it was nighttime and in a hospital, it would seem. If I didn't already know that the guard knew she was here and was listening in, I might have been a little concerned. Sighing, I settled back down into place, accepting that she wasn't going to change her mind. "You're silly, but I suppose if you want to do so, I won't stop you. It would mean a lot to me if you could talk to Applejack, though. Maybe have that be the thing you do for me?" I suggested hopefully. She smirked and my hopes sank. "Of course. But I was already going to do that as 'her' friend instead, so that totally doesn't count for making amends to you," she cooed, looking downright devious as I blushed and looked away. Okay, now she was just screwing with my head. "Fine. Just so long as you can talk to her for me. Oh, and tell her I'm sorry, please," I requested, suddenly frowning. Predictably, Rainbow widened her eyes at me. "Why are you sorry?!" she asked instantly. Sighing, I shook my head. "Sympathy, Dash. She saw a lot of ugly things that night, not limited to me getting my leg torn off. If she's beating herself up as much as you say she is, then I think she needs some support too, no? As her future lover, you should really be there for her," I suggested, dropping the last part down to barely a whisper directly to her face. Her blush flared up, coating her cheeks with a soft, pink shade which complimented her colors quite nicely. I mentally cooed at how adorable she looked when embarrassed. "I, well, yeah, you're right, of course. I'm gonna support her, don't worry. She acts tough and says it was nothing, but you're right. I think that's what it is: an act," she agreed finally, looking back up at me with a confident smile again. Now that's the Dashie I was familiar with! "Good idea. You should go get some rest now so you can focus on that tomorrow, then. Drop by later tomorrow so you can be filled in on what's going on," I suggested, returning her gentle smile. Hers expanded as she gave another single nod, perking up at me as her ears fluttered excitedly. "Will do, Boss! I'll talk to you tomorrow, then, and hopefully haul Applejack's flank in here with me," she repeated, giving me a sharp salute. I snorted and batted playfully at her with my right foreleg, causing her to grin and hop backwards away from me. Her tongue shot out a moment later, which I had anticipated this time. My barrier had already shifted along the floor as she hopped backwards. With a tweak of my left foreleg, the barrier shot up and wrapped around her tongue like a coiled snake in less than a blink of an eye. Her eyes widened and she flailed, trying to pull the shield off her tongue as I started giggling. "That's what you get for being a brat, Dashie," I muttered, winking at her as she scowled, calming down when she realized it was my doing. "Yah yah. Yah gock mhee," she mouthed, tongue twitching lightly against the shield as she failed at talking. It was easy enough to translate, of course. Snickering, I released her tongue, seemingly surprising her for some reason as she looked back at me. I tilted my head, but she just giggled instead. "I expected ya to keep that up for longer. Eh, you're too nice for your own good, Mender," she informed, snickering quietly to herself. I rolled my eyes again, but couldn't beat back the soft heat that drifted to my cheeks under her playful gaze. She gave me another gentle salute, however, before I could say anything contrary. "See ya tomorrow, Mender!" she assured, before launching sideways and shooting out the still open window in a heartbeat. I marveled once again at her speed and grace before sighing. She left the window open. Speed, grace, and forgetfulness. A shift of my left foreleg again slipped a barrier up along the wall and slid the window shut, slowly dialing the lock back into place. I admired my administrations before shivering at the chilled night air. It wasn't too hard to pull my blankets back up around me again. With my heat back in place, I looked back down at the tasty, tasty apples that had been delivered. It took conscious effort to retain the drool in my mouth. With a content sigh, I settled in and prepared for a nice nighttime snack... Chapter 33Carefully, I shifted my weight to properly balance myself. After a bit of concentration, I took another light step forward, putting light pressure on my left foreleg. It held, if a little shaky. A slight ache shifted through it in protest as I stepped past it and took another step. My wires and tubes followed as I slid the pole along with me. My back legs had made a full recovery at this point, thankfully, between the unicorn magic and my own brand of regeneration. My side was still a little tender, however. The doctor looked me over this morning and said that the ribs were healed but there was still some lung and muscle damage. Applejack has one hell of a kick! The rhythmic beating of the electrocardiogram lulled me as I edged closer to the other side of the room. I don't know why they still had me hooked up to one anyway. I was stabilized and there was nothing wrong with my heart. Sighing, I tried to remain focused as I touched against the opposite wall. A little burst of joy went off inside of me at my minor but encouraging victory. Of course, technically I wasn't supposed to be out of bed yet but nopony was around and I wanted to get on my legs again as soon as possible. Pinkie was lucky she got the all clear this morning! Being stuck in one spot for days at a time sucked. It was a good thing, though. My status reports fired off this morning informing me that I'd reached the limit of sheer 'regeneration' for my leg. It was as repaired as I could force it to be, which meant that the only thing lacking was the muscles. It of course gave me the suggestion of just supplementing the growth with the mass inside of me to recover almost instantly, but I'd refused that. It wasn't my mass to make that decision with in the first place. But if I ever wanted to use my left foreleg again for walking, I needed to exercise it. The mental distraction while turning around proved to be a mistake. I put too much weight down on the leg and winced, feeling it go limp as I tipped. I stumbled against the wall before slipping sideways from my body's weight and momentum. My armor flickered into place just before my head hit the floor, jarring me but doing very little in the way of pain or damage until I landed on the leg in question. I gasped sharply, inhaling rapidly afterwards as the pain flared up along my leg and I bit back choice expletives. I felt a tearing as I hit and for a moment, I froze as I heard the electrocardiogram flat line. A second passed and I realized I still felt totally fine. Well, apart from the agonizing throbs coming from my left foreleg, of course. Shifting myself rather uselessly along the floor, I managed to prop myself up against the wall and tuck my foreleg up, cradling it to my body. My other foreleg was shaking as I held it, partly out of pain and also out of disgust with my current state. This was pathetic, even for my standards. My ears perked as I heard scrambling coming from down the hall. Oh, wait. That machine probably wasn't hooked up to just me. Looking around, I noticed the wires coming from the machine lying on the floor a good meter from me. That must have been the ripping sensation. Oops. I tried to reach for them, but realized that I was probably busted at this point. Nurse Redheart practically took the door off its hinges as she skidded in, large defibrillator in her mouth. Her panicked eyes locked onto me for a split second before confusion took over instead. I gave her a sheepish smile, caught in the middle of trying to get the sticky things back on my chest in the right spots. A look of dawning realization mixed with relief set in as she set the defibrillator down and shot me a skeptical, annoyed glare. Oops? The guard looked past her from the doorway, looking both confused and mildly concerned as I heard more commotion from down the hallway. The nurse turned and stuck her head back out the door before shouting, "False Alarm!" Yelps resounded, along with a series of orders being barked as the commotion settled a little. She turned back around and gave me a stern look instead, however. "You're not supposed to be up and about yet, Mender. You fell, didn't you?" she asked, walking closer to me as the guard resumed his post. More than a little embarrassed at this point that my screw up had caused such a commotion, I looked away from her while lowering my eyes. No matter what excuse I gave her, it would just sound childish. Instead, I just nodded quietly. She exhaled softly and sat down in front of me, looking at my foreleg as I held it. After a moment, she spoke up with, "I know you're probably frustrated, just as much as I know you know that to heal, you have to take it easy. I know you're not stupid, Mender, so you must be getting a little stir crazy in here." Admittedly, that wasn't what I'd been expecting to hear. I looked back up at her again, a little surprised. "I'm not going to say anything about it. Frankly, I'm amazed you made it this far. Your healing capacity is phenomenal. Do you think you're ready to start getting the muscles back?" she asked, further disrupting my idea of how a hospital should operate. I frowned before asking, "Shouldn't you be the one telling me when I'm ready to begin physical therapy?" Admittedly, what I remembered of doctors from my old world had them pretty much lording their status over you and having absolute authority over your treatment. This was a bit outlandish in comparison. "By our calculations, you shouldn't have been able to get up out of bed for another three weeks. You're so much faster with your healing that I think I'm going to ask the doctor to speed things up for you." I felt a jolt of surprise go through me and it must have shown, as she shifted to a smirk a moment later before adding, "Further, my intuition tells me that it's not just what Princess Celestia did to you." My eyes widened a little. There was no question there. She had simply stated what her guess was, so anything I said for or against it would simply give more away. That sensation of walking over a minefield came back a moment later. "Why would you say that? I'm a normal pony," I reminded, careful to answer with an inquiry rather than give anything away. Her smirk didn't lose its edge as she shook her head. "You're an earth stallion who can use magic. You heal at an alarming rate; far faster than anything I've seen before. Further, the Princess herself stations guards around the hospital grounds and right outside your room door, not just throughout Ponyville. No, if I had to guess, there's quite a bit more about you that's being kept secret," she reasoned, shrugging her shoulders lightly and closing her eyes. I saw the guard look back into the room, giving her a frown. He would have been informed of some of the dangers I represented as well, no doubt. "The guards are more for your protection than mine. If one of those individuals comes back, it's better to have the event isolated and minimize the collateral damage, isn't it?" I pointed out softly, watching her as I slowly recovered feeling along my foreleg and sat up properly. Her eyes opened again a split second later and she frowned towards me, shaking her head. "Don't lessen yourself, Mender. You have many, many ponies who care about you. You might not think it, but I consider you a friend, too, you know." Her tone was stern yet soft, which only made her words confuse me even more. A light giggle cut my thinking off, however. It was rapidly followed by, "She's right, of course. Despite being a klutz and kind of thick sometimes, you make an amazingly good impression on everypony." Twilight followed her voice into the room, rounding the doorway with a smile on her face while her horn lit up. I was gently lifted into the air and drifted over my bed again before settling down against my pillows. They fluffed themselves as I landed, and my blankets slid up against me while enveloped in a soft glow. "Good impression?" I inquired, shifting back a little as I eyed her glowing horn with a little surge of paranoia. "Rainbow was already raving about how awesome you were and how you forgave her so readily," Twilight explained, sitting down in the middle of the room as Nurse Redheart picked up the wires from my electrocardiogram. I was a bit perplexed, but my side of caution got the better of me first. "Nurse Redheart. What room was I in when I was first hospitalized here? Twilight. What's your brother's name?" I asked rapidly. I never talked about my room here, and I hadn't talked to Keela after I discovered who Shining Armor was, so both questions were safe. Twilight halted in her tracks as her eyes softened again. Nurse Redheart answered, "Room one," instantly without even looking up, however. I think that was about the eighth question I'd asked her, now that I thought about it. "Mender, you really don't have to do this every time you see me," Twilight murmured. I narrowed my eyes while watching her carefully, my back starting to stir as I readied my armor just in case. Nurse Redheart chuckled as she stepped past Twilight with the cords straightened again. "He asks everypony questions except for Fluttershy. Relax, Twilight. Now hold still, Mender. I'll get these hooked back up," she instructed before lining the sticky ends up along my chest. I gave her room to work, ready to block for her if need be at the same time. If she really considered me a friend, I didn't want her to get hurt because of me. Actually, now that I considered it, I didn't really want anypony to get hurt because of me, friend or not. The lavender unicorn sighed a moment later, finally answering, "Shining Armor. It's because of the link, isn't it?" Nurse Redheart paused, but continued hooking the wires up a moment later. I relaxed and nodded gently, assuring her of what she already guessed. "I know it's Fluttershy from that, so I don't need to ask her anything," I furthered, looking away from Twilight. Even if she didn't like it, I didn't have a choice! I couldn't risk being surprised by an ambush again. Twilight shifted her gaze towards me, expression lightening a little from her sullen tone, surprisingly. "I figured that was the case. That's why I got Fluttershy to help me with some experiments last night," she revealed, smiling again suddenly at me. Experimenting? I rose an eyebrow to her, unable to contain a light blush. Twilight's eyes expanded and she mirrored my cheek shade. "Not that kind of experimenting!" she rapidly denied, coughing and looking away from me. Nurse Redheart smirked lightly as she plugged the last of the wires back onto my chest, but wisely stayed quiet. "Hey, I can't help it! You've ruined the term forever for me," I playfully refuted, earning a smirk and eye roll. Well, it beat depressed Twilight any day, even if I had to make an idiot of myself in order to cheer her up. Nurse Redheart backed up and double-checked the output from the electrocardiogram before nodding. "Okay, you're all hooked up again, Mender. Try to keep it that way this time so you don't give us another heart attack. No pun intended. I'll leave you two alone then," she added upon smiling back at me. Twilight giggled in my stead and nodded, adding, "I'll make sure he behaves and doesn't try hurtles or anything." I rolled my eyes and settled back into my pillows giving my best grumpy face. "I'm just getting stir crazy. I want to be back on my hooves again, not locked up inside a hospital room," I explained, exhaling softly. The nurse gave me a sympathetic nod before reminding, "Like I said, I'll talk to the doctor about starting your physical therapy. That will put you one step closer to leaving." I nodded and thanked her as she excused herself. Twilight idly watched her go before smiling and turning back to me again, an excited expression dancing across her face. Uh oh. Usually that only meant a few things with Twilight. "Anyways, like I said, I got Fluttershy to help me with more experiments. I wanted to test out the connection and if it truly did anything to her," Twilight furthered, hopping up on the bed and settling into a sitting position near my back legs. I idly noted her saddlebags and wondered if she had brought something. "Did you find out anything new?" I asked, making a mental note to peek into my 'documentation' myself to see if I could find anything on them. I'd not thought to look through that folder for anything about the disks. As if having waited for me to ask that, Twilight perked and nodded in a pleased manner. "Of course! There's a faint electromagnetic signature that fires off every time she attempts to contact you via the link! I'm starting to wonder if there's not something technological about it instead of magical," she enlightened. I swallowed, suddenly nervous about her getting closer to the truth of what the links were. Of course, did I know what the links were? It was an electronic signal that went both ways between the recipient and myself. It also picked up biorhythm information and various other bodily data. Wait, how did it pick up that stuff to begin with? "But the important thing is that there are no complications with her and she's perfectly healthy! The energy given off during the communication isn't harmful at all," my fillyfriend added upon seeing me hesitate. Okay, that I at least knew how to react to. I gave her a warm smile, of course. "I'd feel horrible if it was dangerous for her, so that's a good thing. Are you going to do any more tests with her?" I inquired, if only to keep the topic expanding. Okay, maybe I was fishing for a bit more data, too. Having her stumble into the truth would be disastrous. I'd much rather tell her myself and not let her think I was holding out on her. She grinned. That bolt of uneasiness went through me again. "Nope! No need. I decided that keeping myself as a control group was doing more, well, harm than good. It took a lot of consideration, but I decided that I wanted to be trusted by you as well," she further explained, closing her eyes lightly upon finishing. I frowned as she shivered, almost appearing to draw upon some inner strength to brace herself for something. Wait, what was she talking about? "I do trust you, Twilight. Making sure you're you every time doesn't mean I trust you less. It just means that I don't trust our ability to prepare for every possibility," I tried to explain, attempting to draw blame away from anypony involved. Her eyes opened softly, a gentle shine to them as I noticed they were a bit more watery than usual. She shook her head a moment later before smiling bravely up at me, causing a lump to form in my throat. "It hurts every time you ask me. I know I don't deserve your trust, but I just want you to be comfortable around me. I think that, um, I'm ready," she assured, momentarily confusing me before her horn lit up. I raised an eyebrow, but relaxed again as I saw her bags open up instead of any strange effect or other. The relaxation was shot to hell, however, when she pulled the glowing disk out of the bag, the center of which was painted lavender with her star-shaped Cutie Mark in it. The other disks followed rapidly, and to my surprise, Rarity's and Pinkie Pie's Cutie Marks were now amidst them. "I did a bit of experimenting. Pinkie touching it with her tail registered it. Rarity touching hers with her magic also worked. It seems that anything a pony touches the disks with that personally belongs to them will work," she theorized, laying the disks out in front of me. I stared at the two that had the brightened outer rings, then frowned and gave her a questioning glance. "Why did you bring them all here? Isn't that risky to get them near me? Further, do Rarity and Pinkie Pie know you got their readings?" I questioned, my mind swimming with an uneasy miasma of inquiries and situations that could explode from this. My eyes shifted in particular to the orange one with the trio of apples. "Of course they do. Rarity suggested hers, and Pinkie Pie was ecstatic at the chance," Twilight assured, expression stoic and unwavering. She said nothing else, however, so I guessed she was thinking intently about something. A nervous swallow from her a few moments later gave me a fairly certain confirmation. I decided to wait patiently for her to continue. After a good twenty seconds, she finally sighed and looked back down at the disks, explaining, "I talked to all the girls. Most think it's a good idea and want you to complete the links. If not just for the ability to tell if we're truly us, for the emotional support whenever you need it. Fluttershy says you can contact her, quote, 'Whenever you need it in the slightest,' of course." My eyes widened during, and remained quite large after she finished revealing those tidbits. More questions and extremely bad outcomes burst forth into my head, but I remained in control as best I could. That was amazingly good advice that I had read somewhere. 'Don't Panic!' "Uh, they 'want' me to form a link with them? Further, 'most' of them wanted to?" I inquired, her choice of wording not lost to me. Most did not equal all. Twilight sighed and nodded. "You probably already guessed that Applejack said no. I still present her disk here, however, due to the reason she said no. She tried to say that you'd never want to form that sort of connection with a 'horrible monster' like her," she relayed, chuckling weakly afterwards. I snorted. It came out before I even realized the true intent of my feelings about the matter. She thought that 'she' was the monster? No. She must not have gotten my message by the time Twilight had talked to her. "I'd hoped Rainbow had talked to her already and given her my message. I want to be friends with her again," I repeated, figuring I'd already said as much but I couldn't remember. That familiar tiredness crept up again and I suddenly fought the urge to just curl up and take a nap. I guess regenerating body parts really did take a lot out of me. This was easily the fourth time I distinctively had thoughts such as that. "I know. She just needs to forgive herself a little bit first. She'll come around, I'm sure. I'll try to talk to her if she's not better in a few days. I brought her disk anyway in the meantime, if you wanted," she muttered, nudging the incomplete disks towards me again. My eyes shifted to hers and I frowned, looking back up at her questioningly. She looked away in an instant, and I had the sneaking suspicion she wasn't as ready for this as she led me to believe. "Are any of the girls really ready for this? We don't even know the full extent of the capabilities of the links. I don't think any of you are thinking it through properly. You do realize I can't remove them, right?" I asked skeptically, suddenly more than a little paranoid. It was the truth. I had explored most of the options revolving around the two links I already had. They were called 'absolute' links for a reason, and there was no option to remove them. When I tried to 'uninstall' Rainbow's, it specifically warned me that the link was permanent and couldn't be disabled from either end. "The only two I'd worry about being unsure of it is Rarity and Applejack. Pinkie almost jumped down my throat at the opportunity, and I know I can speak for myself," she explained, still not looking at me. Sighing, I shook my head gently. Pinkie I understood. For some reason, I suddenly got the suspicion she knew exactly what she was getting into and truly had no fear of the link. I got the distinct mental image of her grinning and laughed softly to myself. Yeah. A moment later, I reached forwards and touched Pinkie's disk. To my surprise, an 'Are you sure?' prompt popped up in my mind, displaying across onto my eyes. Huh? Oh, so 'now' they were giving me the confirmation?! Of course, they might have given me one before and had it on a timer or something. Because I couldn't see it and wasn't aware of it, it just ran out of time and defaulted to yes. That was a really crappy system... Mentally, I hit the 'yes' option and watched the disk light up around the edge, displaying a 'Connection Established' above it via holographic letters. Twilight smiled gently as she watched until I withdrew my foreleg again. "That's the only one I'm going to establish," I added, closing my eyes and waiting for it. All it took was three seconds. Twilight let out a gasp before rapidly exclaiming, "No, Mender! I'm telling you, I'm ready! I don't want you to doubt me anymore and don't mind in the least." "Twilight, you already said you have a problem with the mind melding thing that your brother was so upset about. If you're not ready for that, how can you be ready for this? They're both equally permanent, from what I gather," I pointed out, frowning and opening my eyes to look at her again. Her expression practically killed me, of course. Both of her ears drooped almost flat against the sides of her head and her eyes were getting watery again as she edged closer to me, centimeter by centimeter. Damn it. Crying wasn't fair! "No, Mender. If you don't want the link, I'll, um, understand, of course. I mean, I don't think I'd trust me either. But the more I think about it, the more I realize how I really, really don't want you going anywhere away from my life," she muttered, eyes looking down as a faint streak slid down her right cheek. My right foreleg twitched in an effort to physically stop myself from raising it and wiping her eyes. I didn't think she was intentionally doing this... She continued after I didn't say anything. "It was a lot like friendship, really. I started off thinking I didn't need it and you made me uneasy because of what you 'forced' me to feel," she explained, adding the air quotes with a double shake of her hoof before following up with, "Eventually, I realized that I've never had anypony who I could seriously relate to with my academics and magical knowledge. My friends try to be interested but it's really not their thing. At first, I assumed it was just because of that, but everything about you just..." I watched her as she trailed off, shivering in what almost looked like frustration. Finally she let out an annoyed sounding sigh and tore her gaze back up at me with a pleading expression. "I just can't explain it! That's what frustrates me the most. Words have never failed me before. The more you're around me, the more I realize that I never want you to leave. I just want to hold you and kiss you and have wonderful discussions with you and, well, I want you to trust me. I trust you now, having learned my lesson. You're not here to hurt me or anypony I care about. You're hurt by all this the most, and if the link is what it takes for you to implicitly trust me, then I'm willing to do that," she explained in length, eyes locking back on mine towards the end. My chest felt full of both soda bubbles and ice cubes. On one hoof, I wanted to pull her against me and kiss her until she fell asleep. On the other, I was hiding a really huge secret from her now and definitely didn't think I deserved even half of how much she just said she cared. Still, she was opening herself totally and winced, watching me stare at her intently. She actually looked vulnerable. Her, a female. Vulnerable. I suddenly realized I'd never honestly seen that before. Fluttershy was timid and reserved, but always guarded, I noticed. Even with her opening herself up slowly over the last few days, she still held herself back. Twilight had just taken a flying leap off the proverbial cliff and was hoping I would catch her. Maybe she really did trust me? The lavender mare gave a start as I raised my right foreleg up, then relaxed a little as it simply brushed the tears from her cheeks. Those sparkling globes shifted back to my face a moment later, and I could have sworn I saw a glimmer of hope in those violet depths. Yeah, I didn't have a choice if I wanted this to work. "I, well, I believe you, Twilight. I want to be with you and Fluttershy, too. I don't think you 'need' to form the link with me to earn my trust back, but if you truly want to, then just tell me that. But think about it first and, um, wait a little bit before answering," I requested, earning both a happy and confused expression at the same time. Well, at least I got happy mixed in this time. Usually I was really good at just the confused part when interacting with other ponies. I sighed and shook my head quietly before she could ask. "You guessed right, from what I noticed. I'm hiding a rather big secret from you and have been trying to think of how to best tell you about it the past few days. I can't tell you quite yet, but after our meeting with Keela, I promise that I'll tell you everything in private," I promised, committing myself to biting the bullet later. I probably could have chosen a better time to do this, considering I couldn't even flee if I wanted to at the moment, but maybe that was part of the appeal? She looked surprisingly thoughtful for a moment before smiling and nodding. "I'm happy you're being honest with me. Admittedly, that's more than I've done for you in the past and I really, really apologize for that. I can wait until after the meeting, don't worry," she agreed, taking it amazingly well for what I had considered in my mind. I didn't even have to reattach any body parts! Smiling at her, I gently stroked her cheek while she relaxed again. A moment later, her horn lit up once more and opened her saddlebag. I tilted my head until she pulled out the enchantment notes she'd taken last time and gave me a guilty if not hopeful smile. Tossing a chuckle in, I nodded to her before drifting my bedside food tray into the air again. My fillyfriend gave a squeal of delight before flopping over next to me and tucking herself under my right foreleg, levitating her notepad in front of her. "Excellent! Based on what I discovered last time, Unicorn magic seems greatly magnified as you accelerate it through your own enchantment patching. From what I saw earlier from the burn marks, I think if we adjust your energy array, we can get it almost perfectly compatible!" she resumed, as if having never stopped in the first place. I snickered and added, “I was considering the problem. Perhaps if we drop a few of the circuits off the array, then lengthen each individual one?" I suggested, having considered the issue last night while munching apples. She gave a happy squeak and nodded, taking more notes rapidly. "Good idea! You try adjusting the left side, then I'll pump some energy into it and we'll hope it doesn't catch fire this time!" she requested, sounding absolutely gleeful. Snickering, I did as she asked and prepared a barrier for the two of us. This was going to be a long morning... * * * * * "Hey, mine can totally get bigger!" Shining Armor pointed out, smirking cockily at me as I shook my head. "It's not about how big it can get. Mine is way harder than yours, which is far more important," I refuted, a little frustrated and embarrassed over the conversation in general. Shining Armor shook his head and gave me a skeptical glance. "Honestly, if it's not big enough, it won't matter how hard it is, right? Have you actually gotten any real experience with using it?" he asked, sounding skeptical. I glared, shocked that he'd even ask that if Twilight told him as much as I thought she had. "Of course! Dozens if not hundreds of hours of experience!" I assured, a little indignant. Fluttershy gave out a timid giggle next to me, tucking further into the blankets as she listened in. Shining Armor ignored her entirely, of course. "Fine! You're obviously not going to be satisfied like this. Let's just smash them together repeatedly until one breaks," he finally suggested. He was joking, I assumed. There was a skidding sound in the hallway, and I suddenly saw Twilight burst back in. "What are you two talking about?!" she demanded, oddly beet red for some reason and looking absolutely horrified. I raised an eyebrow at the same time I lowered the barrier block I had formed in front of me. Her brother looked equally skeptical and lowered his shield-shaped barrier before turning to look at her. "Er, is something wrong, Twily?" he questioned, looking as perplexed as I felt. Fluttershy let out a pleased humming noise, informing, "They're comparing shield magic!" Well, at least she sounded amused by it. I was worried the technical discussion parts had bored her. Twilight gave us both a deadpan stare before exhaling and slapping her forehead with a forehoof. "Oh. Never mind, then. Uh, I brought lunch," she murmured, sliding a tray along after her. I gave her a questioning look, but decided it was probably best if I didn't ask. "Is Celestia almost set then?" I asked instead, watching as she shifted the tray in. There were all sorts of delightful sandwiches and salads on it, and my mouth started watering. Then she rotated the tray, turning the plate of processed cubes and slime towards me instead. My ears lowered as I stared at it, instantly losing my appetite. Ah yes, another reason to get out of the hospital as soon as possible. Twilight smiled gently and flopped over onto the bed next to me, the side opposite of Fluttershy. "Princess Celestia said that she'd be here in half an hour. She's sending a letter to Princess Luna," she explained. "Um, this isn't supposed to be dangerous, right?" Fluttershy questioned yet again, probably for the fifth time. Smiling, I pressed a little kiss into her right shoulder before shaking my head in assurance. She reddened but smiled towards me, eyes surprised but warm from my display of affection. "Me, too!" Twilight playfully reminded, tossing up a pouting face. I smirked as she pounced both of us, food momentarily forgotten. Fluttershy's blush expanded across her cheeks almost as fast as her eyes shot open, and for a moment, I was jealous of the reaction Twilight managed to get out of her. The shy yellow mare shifted her attention to Twilight instead, pulling her a little closer to the both of us. Shining Armor made a playful gagging motion over his sister's back and I managed a snicker. "You two should eat before your sandwiches get mushy," I suggested a moment later, both conscientious of her brother being in the room, and of Fluttershy's blood flow. Admittedly, it certainly wasn't for me. Having two adorable mares lying on top of me wasn't hard to take at all. The results hit as fast as I predicted. "Ah! The food!" Twilight squeaked, sitting up instantly and checking to see if she had jostled the tray with her pounce. Of course, if she had, it would have been far too late for that. Shining Armor smirked, pointing out, "Shouldn't you have checked that before launching yourself at him? If it was going to be upturned, you three would be wearing it at this point." No fair! He could get away with teasing her just because he was her brother. She stuck her tongue out at him before resting back against the pillows again, taking her plate into her lap. I still wasn't used to either of them sitting like that, but I suppose it wasn't that big of a deal. "Please eat, Mender. You'll need your strength for when Princess Celestia gets here," Fluttershy requested softly a moment after picking up her own plate. I sighed wearily as I looked down at mine. I'd eat if there were food present for me. The processed cubes and puddings on the plate didn't meet my specifications for edibility. Fluttershy gave me a frown and I caved instantly. She was far, far too adorable to refuse. Sighing in defeat, I lowered my head and picked up one of the bite-sized cubes before crunching into it in my mouth. It tasted grainy and somewhat burnt before shifting to a powdery prune aftertaste. I tried really hard not to gag, but I'm fairly certain that my grimace was enough to give away my opinion on it. Shining Armor apparently respected me enough to not burst into laughter as he watched, instead only holding a hoof up to his mouth politely as he grinned behind it. He then showed surprising understanding and distracted me with, "You did say that you had some sort of new spell you wanted to try that would show everypony else what was going on?" The question distracted me from the horrible misery in my mouth long enough to just swallow the thing whole and I nodded wearily. Of course, I could have swallowed it right off the bat, but that might have looked a little creepy to onlookers. I didn't think chewing something to maintain appearances would ever be a 'difficult' thing for me. "It's more a spell I remembered from before than anything new. I have no idea if it will work in this particular situation, but I figured it might be worth a shot," I explained, only lying a little bit of course. He nodded earnestly towards me, apparently pleased with my answer. Twilight gave me a quizzical look, however, so I decided it would be more effective to just show them. I closed my right eye and activated the projector effect in my left. All three ponies gasped as an image of Rainbow Dash soaring through the air came into existence drifting over the bed. She zipped easily through the air, my connection picking up the direction, speed, and muscle twitches accurately enough to recreate the image of her. The scenery was also reformed out of my basic memories of Ponyville, with a bit of guesswork on the computer's part for angles and such. I smiled as they all watched it. She zoomed down and headed for the hospital a moment later. Oh! Oops. "Wait, is this live?" Twilight asked instantly a moment later. I turned off the projector and coughed lightly just as Rainbow landed on my windowsill. "Hey, Mender, let me in!" she called out through the glass. Twilight and Shining Armor gave me a shocked look, but Fluttershy just smiled and drifted into the air, sliding the window open for her cyan friend. Dash zipped in instantly, landing lightly on the floor before stretching and flexing her wings out lazily. She'd probably been asleep before this. I didn't know specifically, as I kept the links off unless I wanted to do something with them out of respect for their privacy. "He can track us through the links if he focuses on it," Fluttershy explained upon settling on the bed again. "Isn't that a little, I dunno, creepy?" Twilight asked, metaphorically bowling me over with the bluntness. Wasn't that the same thing as calling me creepy?! Dash snorted, however, apparently picking up on what we were talking about. "It's not creepy. It's handy, honestly. If we get in trouble, he can contact somepony or come help himself. Plus, he keeps the links off when nothing’s happening," she reasoned, drifting into the air again and landing lightly on the bed to Fluttershy's left. It was getting a little crowded now, but Celestia said she was going to bring in another bed to give us a wider 'platform' to all lay on. "You believe him, I take it?" Shining Armor asked, not pointedly, but with an air of innocent inquiry instead. I sighed weakly, having anticipated the question coming. "Heck yeah! Everypony in this room probably does," Rainbow shot back without hesitation, shifting my expression to a blush in an instant. Twilight and Fluttershy both nodded in agreement, the lavender mare adding, "I'm fairly certain that he's more than proved his honesty. If anything, we should have started believing him long before now." Blushing even more now, I sunk a little lower into the blankets, earning another giggle from Fluttershy as she watched. "It's also really adorable when he doesn't know what to say," she pointed out, tucking her wing around my back and coaxing me upwards again as she gently nuzzled my left temple. Rainbow gave a sharp mix of snorting and laughter. "He just doesn't know how to take a compliment. I could totally help him get adjusted to that by getting help from my fan club!" she offered. At least, I think it was an offer. Wait, she had a fan club? "Yes, you'd certainly be the one to go to for ego training," Twilight muttered a moment later, smirking at Rainbow as she did so. This of course earned a glare of spite from the pegasus. "Hey, he needs to learn to at least stick up for himself, and I'm only trying to help!" she defended, earning a snicker from Twilight. I was more concerned that nopony was calling her on the fan club thing. She actually had a fan club?! "Oh, I know, I know. I'm just teasing you, Rainbow," she assured in a softer voice. Dash relaxed and smirked at her after recovering. All of us were interrupted, however, by the noise of something heavy rolling down the hallway outside. Wait, was that what I thought it was? Sure enough, half a minute later, a large bed got rolled in being pushed by a royal guard. Half a second after it cleared the doorway, Celestia herself followed them in and gave me a warm smile. I glanced at the guard as he started to rotate the mattress so it was horizontal, before turning and looking back to Celestia. "Good afternoon, my little ponies," she greeted warmly, sitting down at the foot of my bed. "Good afternoon, Auntie." "Good afternoon, Princess Celestia!" "Oh, um, good afternoon..." "Hiya, Princess Celestia!" "Hey Tia." I noticed we each had a different way in which to greet her. Mine earned a questioning glare from Shining Armor, however. Celestia seemed unaffected, though, and simply smiled and nodded to each of us in turn. "I'm glad everypony is well today. Do you mind Miss Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy watching as well?" she inquired after another moment. The guard gave her a polite bow upon rotating the bed completely and lining it up to the left of mine. "Nope. I even remembered an old spell that will let me hopefully project what we're seeing through one of my eyes for them," I returned. Her expression flickered to amusement for the barest split of a second before she nodded warmly. Heh. I figured she'd know the truth almost instantly. "Sweet! I wanted to see what Keela looked like, so I know who to buck into the stratosphere if we meet!" Rainbow spit out rather vehemently, to my surprise. Twilight shook her head rapidly, however, correcting, "Dash, it wasn't Keela who attacked Mender. It was her sister, Nirru. Keela was conned just as much as we were." Rainbow looked less than convinced, and I suddenly gathered she was more just looking for somepony to beat senseless to relieve some anger. "Let's wait and see how this meeting goes first. I have no idea what's going on or what's happened since the incident," I warned, earning a patient nod from Celestia. "He's right, of course. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions until we have more information. That's why we're going to talk to Keela," she reminded, drawing everypony's attention back towards her. In that split second lull, I took advantage of nopony looking at me. My tongue shot out half a meter, snagging three of the four remaining cubes and pulling them back into my mouth for me to swallow whole. Thank goodness for small blessings! Skipping the whole 'tasting' part of hospital food was definitely a perk. Celestia, the only pony who saw me, smirked and intentionally kept their attention as I swallowed. "Regardless, it doesn't hurt to be prepared. We don't know what's been going on while Mender's been hospitalized. Shining Armor, be prepared to shield us upon entry. Twilight, you get ready to use your magic to intervene as the situation demands it," Celestia requested, looking to each of them individually. They both nodded, leaving her to turn to me. Thankfully, I had finished swallowing the hospital food whole already. "You, Mender, will be our go-between and translator. You're the only one here who knows fully about the culture and technology we'll be seeing, so that's indispensable," she added, smiling towards me. I blushed, but nodded lightly, trying to stay calm. There was no guarantee that this was even going to work in the first place! Heck, I might end up going alone. The prospect of meeting Keela again after everything that happened was somewhat nerve wracking. 'Lunch', as they insisted on calling it, passed relatively uneventful after everypony settled down. Rainbow informed that she'd been by Rarity's earlier and told me to expect a visit from both her and the slightly slower, less energetic pink one later tonight. She also said the CMC would be visiting as well, having been asking about me left and right apparently. I doubted Scootaloo had been honestly, but it was easier to believe with Sweetie Belle. Positions shifted after we got rid of the food tray. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash moved to the chairs near the window across from the bed for prime watching location. Princess Celestia took up almost all of the bed she brought, being almost twice the size of a normal pony. Twilight stayed on my right and gently set her horn against my forehead as I lay down on my stomach. Shining Armor shot us a displeased look at the sight before settling in to her right and waiting. Celestia seemed oblivious to his annoyance, which I doubt was the truth, and settled her horn down on top of Twilight's, as planned. It was hard to see around all the horns at this point, but I saw Shining Armor finally lower his onto Celestia's, forming a 'chain' of horns. "You may begin when you're ready, Mender," Celestia relayed a moment after all four of us settled. Twilight frowned next to me, asking, "Don't you need to fall asleep for this to work?" Heh, normally yeah. That was a lot easier for me to do since discovering I was a cyborg, however. "I've gotten better at it in all my downtime. I'll get Keela's attention," I relayed before giving a firm, double tug on the inner connection to her. Twilight was already channeling energy into me and I knew she felt the sensation as well, going quiet instantly. A second passed before a burst of shock mixed with an incredibly distinct sense of fumbling a teacup into the side of a coffee table came into place. I felt Twilight restrain a giggle, and Celestia followed suit a moment later. I suddenly realized I could 'feel' all three of them there, seeing the reaction as well. "Just a minute, Mender! I'll power up the link so you can get a lock on me," Keela assured a moment later, sounding slightly scatterbrained. Well, I hadn't exactly given her any warning about this, so I guess I could sympathize. Twilight stiffened instantly next to me upon hearing the Keldarian's voice. Some part of her was probably in disbelief still that this was actually real. It was probably easier on her to believe that it was all a figment of my imagination. Not only had that been easier to treat, but it had far less implications involved. I understood why she did so. The power turned on, just as expected. I felt the connection strengthen and reached out to the book in the same instant. The ocean of power flooded into me and I slipped my mind down the link between us once more, turning off my consciousness on the way out the door, so to speak. Two of the three connected ponies gasped as they were dragged along with. Celestia followed with an almost practiced ease, however, which was more than a little disconcerting if I thought about it too hard. With a minor mental push, I shoved us into the other reality. * * * * * I stepped out first, beating out everypony else in the transition due to natural acclimation and due course for being half robot. My eyes widened, however, as I looked around, finding myself in a radically unfamiliar place. The room was exceedingly large, containing what appeared to be a full suite of living quarters. A large sofa sat across from several comfy looking recliners, a familiar looking and still dripping coffee table between them. A fireplace accented that corner and brought a warm light to the atmosphere. To the left of the seating arrangement was a large, sliding door installed in the middle of the wall. The corner to the left of that popped outwards and had a smaller door kitty corner to the main one. A restroom, maybe? I saw a full kitchen behind me upon shifting my perspective. It looked well stocked and had an island bar expanding a good two meters across it. Behind me on the other side was a nicely sized bedroom area that was partitioned off from the rest of the room via half-walls. A king-sized bed took up most of the area, but I also saw a cozy looking workstation. Snapping back to attention upon a mental nudge from Celestia, I snapped focus onto Keela, who stood next to the sofa I had originally noticed. She was waiting patiently and looking about the room, apparently for any signs of my being there. With a bit of focus, I touched upon the shielding capabilities of Prudentia and formed a barrier body for myself, coloring it with my natural colors. Keela's eyes locked onto me instantly and a warm smile flickered across her face. It shifted to a bit of confusion as I didn't return it, instead focusing on pulling forth all three separate individuals into full awareness and shifting them into their own bodies. It would probably be more comfortable for them that way. Twilight formed first, 'stepping' into place right next to me as her eyes widened and she looked around. My Keldarian friend gasped and nodded to her instantly, offering, "Oh, Twilight!" Shining Armor appeared to my left, also mid-step as he faded into place. He looked much calmer and slowly took in his surroundings with an air of calculated precision. He was extremely serious when he wanted to be, I noted. Celestia more pulled herself out, apparently having experience with dealing in a projected body already. She still borrowed my barrier capability to give herself a visible form, though, and stepped out behind me a little ways. Keela looked utterly shocked at this point, gaze flicking between the four of us rapidly. "Twilight, hold her. Shining Armor, throw a barrier over us and the door," Celestia ordered upon touching down. Huh? Both unicorns' horns lit up to either side of me. A barrier of energy went over the only two doors in the room a heartbeat later. Keela's eyes widened as her form went rigid at the same time, surrounded by a purple glow. I narrowed my eyes as I looked back at Celestia. "Don't hurt her. This wasn't part of the agreement," I reminded, ready to cut connection if need be. Celestia gave me a light shake of her head, explaining, "It's fine, Mender. I have no intention of hurting her. This is merely for both our safety, and to secure a private conversation with no interruptions." "It's okay, Mender. I should have realized you wouldn't be coming alone. Precautions are fine," Keela assured, smiling again regardless of her current state. I sighed and walked past her, earning a curious look from Twilight and Shining Armor. Fine, I might as well bite the bullet and cooperate then to speed things up. I stopped in front of the keypad to the right of the door. My barrier extended for a split second from my right shoulder, neatly slicing open the panel directly under the pad. A few tweaks later and I killed power to the surveillance circuit and the door. "There. Her internal surveillance system and door security are offline. They already sounded an alarm upon our entry, however," I warned, observing the energy flowing through the main circuit board. Of course, I 'cheated' a bit to analyze it, using my own processors. "We're in a detachable section of the ship with a self-contained life support system. I intentionally separated myself from the rest of the crew. They're only concerned for me and want to know what's going on," Keela explained gently, looking over her shoulder as I walked back up to the group. Celestia nodded gently, looking to Keela's left at me instead. "This is fair. Introductions are in order, Mender," she suggested softly. I walked past Keela and turned to face her again, once more in front of everypony else. "You already know who Twilight Sparkle is," I started, motioning to the lavender unicorn-shaped barrier in question. Keela nodded and smiled at her, affirming, "Yes, of course I've heard of Twilight. It's nice to finally meet you." Twilight looked momentarily surprised, but cracked a tiny smile and nodded back. "This is Twilight's brother, Prince Shining Armor. He's also Princess Celestia's nephew." I nodded towards him as I said as much, causing him to nod properly towards her in return. "Charmed. I can see the family resemblance," Keela noted, relaxing against the tight hold Twilight had on her. I noticed that it shifted her rather informal robes against her in a rather uncomfortable looking manner as well. "Last, but definitely not least, we have Princess Celestia herself, ruler of Equestria," I announced properly. Celestia smiled at my introduction, and Twilight actually perked up a little as she smirked at me. She was probably used to me chopping off the titles already. Keela’s eyes widened drastically and to my surprise, she actually dropped to one knee and bowed to Celestia. I gave a questioning glance at Twilight, who looked as surprised as I did and just shrugged. "She did it herself, and the expression seemed harmless," Twilight elaborated. "She's royalty. She deserves respect," Keela relayed, smiling gently but remaining eyes closed, head tilted down. Celestia flexed out her wings and nodded to her as well. "You may stand, of course. Twilight, you may relax the barrier to only restricting magic," she ordered, stepping past me slightly and sitting down to my left. "What about the windows?" Shining Armor inquired a moment later, glancing out the one to our left that showed a rather impressive view of nothing in particular. Honestly, that's all space was. A whole lot of nothing with pockets of burning gas and chunks of solids floating around them. Shaking myself out of the momentary distraction, I answered, "They're not actually windows, but parts of the wall that images of the outside are projected on. They're fine." To my surprise, he actually smiled at me and nodded. Well, these three were extremely talented. I guess I shouldn't have expected them to react poorly to the totally foreign environment. A mental image flicked by of him stomping my letter into the floor and I inwardly sighed. Well, for the most part, anyway. A muffled but abrupt pounding came to the door a moment later. Keela hesitated as she glanced over to it, but shifted her attention back to us. I saw Shining Armor thicken the barrier over the door, then go back to ignoring it. Celestia spoke up anyway, regardless. "Please forgive the surprise visit as well, Miss Keela. I'm sure you know why we're here, however," Celestia cut in, gesturing gently towards the Keldarian. Keela sighed and lost her smile, looking away from us before slowly nodding. "You're obviously here because of the attack from my sister a few days ago." That was indeed fairly obvious, and I wasn't quite sure why we were even starting there, if not purely for formalities. "Indeed. I wish to have the unpleasantness be as short as possible, of course. Where is Nirru now, and what is her status?" Celestia asked next, voice quiet but demanding all the same. Even totally out of her element, she seemed to hold an air of authority when she dropped into her serious demeanor. "My sister is under arrest and locked in a holding cell on this ship. A fight broke out after we were freed from the machine, and she had to be subdued by force. Thankfully, Mender took a lot of the fight out of her or it could have been a lot worse than it was," Keela explained instantly, no hesitation at all. Oh. Oh crap. "Wait, what?!" Twilight asked a moment later, shifting her gaze over to me in surprise. Keela's eyes shot open and she covered her mouth with her hands, suddenly realizing I hadn't told her yet. Celestia coughed, however, snapping Twilight's attention back up to her instead. "Now isn't the time for that, Twilight. I'm sure Mender will explain everything to you in due time," she assured, obviously not aware of my prior promise to Twilight in the first place. "I told you I'd tell you after this talk, Twilight. Please wait until after?" I requested, looking away from both Keela and Twilight as I said it. Given that reaction, I wasn't so sure this was going to go swimmingly anymore. Of course, what could I honestly expect, when I'm going to have to explain to her that I'm an abomination mixed with a weapon of mass destruction? There was a long pause before Twilight finally muttered, "Oh. Oh! It's what you wanted to talk to me about! Okay, I'll wait then, of course. I already promised to be patient." This surprised me. I hadn't anticipated her actually being understanding over this entire thing. As I turned, however, I could have sworn I saw her doing something with her hoof and deep breathing. Heh. She still had stress issues, I guessed. Remembering suddenly, I double-checked the feed to the hospital room as Celestia started talking to Keela again. It was kind of amazing how clear the images were given how theoretically far apart we were. Fluttershy was staring around the room in amazement as my eye projected a mostly completed version of us, Keela, and the room we were in. The timid pegasus oddly seemed more interested in the surroundings than Keela herself, unlike Rainbow. Dash's eyes were glued on the Keldarian, apparently interested in seeing what one's true form was. Well, true form that wasn't cut into three pieces and bleeding all over the place, anyway. I shuddered as I remembered the image of my original I was cloned from lying on that broken rock. He was me, wasn't he? If so, I wondered if he had been scared before he died. I probably would be. Hell, I was definitely terrified when the ship was about to explode. There was something more than that, though. A sense of calm and acceptance of everything. Now I didn't have that feeling anymore, oddly. Was that because I had more reasons to keep going on, now? Drawing myself back to reality, or as close as I got to it, anyway, I looked over at one of the main reasons I had for preserving myself. Twilight stared back and forth between Keela and Celestia with a certain sense of curiosity, of course. She usually held that look when she found new things to study or observe, I noticed. Frankly, it was rather adorable to watch. "The records we found in her study were more than a little disturbing. She'd known about Mender's original form the entire time, and only made the connection with who he was a day or so before everything fell apart. Worse yet, she got the council's approval for what she did. Well, for the most part," Keela continued, sounding rather grim for her usual standard. Celestia sighed, but nodded before inquiring, "What have you done about the information, may I ask?" The council confirmed her mission? No, that probably meant they just let her decide what to do. Keela shook her head, however, and looked away. It was a long minute before she finally spoke up. "I couldn't stand it anymore. The council has been nothing but a blight to our race for as long as I remember. Every choice they've made has been to preserve the status quo of the females and their own personal power, above and beyond the needs of our species itself. I took a vote," she revealed, looking back to Celestia with a stern yet sorrowful expression. A vote? I wasn't aware Keldarians knew the meaning of that. Mentally, I snickered at the aspect. "What were the results?" Twilight asked with more than a little interest. Heh, no unnecessary questions, I noticed. It didn't matter what they were voting on, I decided. Twilight was right. The only thing that mattered was what they did. Keela smiled weakly and answered, "We blew the FTL Communication Array off the side of this ship, then jumped into dark space where we currently are." What?! I choked out a cough, staring at Keela in shock. She looked startled for a moment before giggling at my reaction. Celestia raised an eyebrow to me, and I picked up her silent inquiry easily enough. "Dark space is empty space outside of a standard galaxy cluster. Nopony ever goes out that far and it's considered uncharted, for the most part. If you don't have specific coordinates for something, finding anything out here is pretty much impossible. As for the FTL Array; that means she cut off all contact with the council. They probably think the ship was discovered by the Grosh and destroyed," I explained quietly. Keela nodded gently, closing her eyes as she fell backwards onto the couch again, spilled tea momentarily forgotten. "He still knows his stuff. We voted to live out here on this ship for the rest of our lives, the first free Keldarians in three thousand years. There are only twenty-seven of us who either didn't join up with Nirru, or lived through her arrest." Keldarians died trying to arrest her? I frowned, but kept my mouth shut, biting back the hostility. No, she was Keela's sister. I made the right choice in letting her live. "That is a brave and very lonely decision. You're a strong individual, Keela. Is that the same reason you isolated yourself here?" Celestia inquired curiously. Wait, why did Keela isolate herself? The Keldarian looked shocked for a moment. That question had caught her by surprise, it would seem. "Oh, I locked myself in here to keep the rest of my crew safe if, well..." she admitted, trailing off as she glanced over at me. Celestia raised an eyebrow and the two unicorns turned to me instead. What? Oh. "In case I decided to use the link you gave me to take revenge?" I asked gently, staring right at her. Did she honestly think that I would do something like that? Her ears flattened back and she looked away, giving me all the answer I needed. There was no trust anymore. Nopony trusted me, did they? It was a bit ironic, but maybe everypony already thought I was a monster? I idly wondered, with a small amount of bitterness, if that would ease my transition into a literal monster for them. "Surely, you realize Mender would never do that!" Twilight exclaimed, snapping my attention back to her instead, eyes widening a little. My fillyfriend continued to surprise me more and more since the incident. There were too many differences for it to just be guilt, and she seemed genuinely intent on changing. Maybe I wasn't the only one who had an epiphany? Her outlook itself seemed to change about the relationship. "I believe it was a precaution, Twilight. It's similar to us using magic to lock the room down when we arrived," Shining Armor spoke up. He had a point. Her reaction indicated she felt bad for having to do it, so maybe she really did believe that I wasn't going to murder her and blow up half the ship with it? Keela sighed and sank further into the cushions of her couch. "I knew the Mender I had gotten to know wouldn't have, no. But my sister did a terrible, terrible thing and I didn't know what the price would be for that. I insisted that Mender spare her and took her out of his reach, so I was worried he'd take me as a substitute instead. If he were a normal Keldarian, it would have only been a question of when," she corrected, still not looking at me. "That's kind of sad, really. Why was that promoted in your culture?" Twilight asked, looking a little down suddenly. 'Why' was never something asked. Keela laughed, though. "Power and control. Females were in charge and had an ironclad grip over every aspect of society. Males were treated as expendable property and 'disposed' of at the most minor of inconveniences. We didn't even call it murder or execution. It disgusted me, but even holding a seat on the council, there was nothing I could do. Males usually were instilled with a deep-seated psychological fear of females at an early age and rarely spoke out, much less rebelled. If a male were to actually get some form of power after all that, it usually ended up in a gory or vindictive form of revenge," Keela continued, opening her eyes again, now looking miserable. The reactions were interesting, to say the least. Celestia just frowned, having a reserved yet saddened expression on. Shining Armor looked downright horrified, however, showing open disgust for the first time since I met him. Ultimately, I had to agree. Twilight was totally different, though. She snapped to a sudden look of dawning comprehension instead, and rapidly looked over at me. "That's why you're afraid of me, isn't it?! That's why you act that way around us!" she suddenly exclaimed. Well, yes, that was mostly true. It wasn't honestly because she was so powerful. Sure, it was scary, but it was also because she was female. "You girls are powerful and important females. On an unconscious level, Mender probably instinctively attempts to submit because of that," Keela observed, earning a glare from me. Even if that was true, she didn't have to say it out loud to the entire room. I suddenly noticed that Shining Armor was looking at me instead of Keela, upon looking back up at everypony. He looked away when our eyes met, and immediately reminded, "We're getting a little off track. What's going to be done with Nirru?" I stared intently at him for a moment, but he didn't look back at me. I knew he'd seen that I wasn't enjoying that last topic. Did he switch it for me, then? "She's already had her rights and powers striped from her. Her Aegis Artifact is in my keeping instead, and she'll probably be incarcerated indefinitely. At least until the link between our dimensions is permanently broken," Keela responded, looking momentarily glum over the aspect, but maintaining her stoic expression. I had sympathy for her, honestly. She'd been through a lot, and while it could have been prevented, expecting her not to make mistakes in hindsight was stupid. She was hurting, too. Celestia smiled and nodded with that. "I understand that this is hard for you, too, but I believe that to be the right choice. My primary concern is keeping my little ponies safe, of course. This seems satisfactory to do so. What of your relation with Mender?" she asked. Keela seemed hesitant for a moment before smiling over at me instead. I met her gaze with a curious expression, wondering what the change in demeanor was about. "I would really like to be his friend still, but I know keeping the link open would just be dangerous. The only thing holding it open now is the link I gave him to communicate with me. If he severs that, our dimensions should shift apart again in a couple weeks. That, um, would be the best course of action, probably," she suggested, doing a very bad job of sounding sure of herself. Her eyes stayed locked on mine until her voice trailed off. "You're hesitating," I pointed out, watching her carefully. That got her to snap her eye contact with me instantly, looking away and to the left instead. Twilight's eyebrow raised and she tilted her head as well, theorizing, "The only anchor firm enough to maintain a connection at this distance theoretically is your life force. You mentioned earlier that Mender could also use the link to retaliate against you. What would happen to you if he severed the link?" Oh. That was indeed a good question. Keela's ears flattened back even further, and I suddenly realized that I probably wasn't going to like the answer. "I, um, don't know? The link I gave him used to be taken from slaves in order to control them and show ownership. The only time I've ever seen one broken is when the slave is killed by their owner," she revealed. "What?!" was out my mouth before I could stop it. Why the hell did she give one of those connections to me?! Twilight looked as surprised as I did, making me feel a little better about my sudden outburst. "Mender's not even in your dimension. Why did you give him such a link?" she asked, mirroring my thoughts, apparently. "Well, for one, I wanted him to trust me. Even if he didn't know the significance of the link, giving him clear leverage over me was the easiest and fastest way I could think of. So, well, I took a gamble on his personality. I don't really mind the thought. It's not like he asks me to do anything I wasn't technically doing already," she reasoned, making my feelings twist up even more. "So severing the link could potentially kill you?" Celestia asked in a rather direct, blunt manner, earning a wince from me. Keela just nodded wearily, suddenly looking somewhat uneasy. "Twilight, I'd like you to start looking into the nature of the link and see if you can find a way to break it without hurting Keela. In the meantime, the link shall stay. I also need to talk to you after this, Mender," she requested after a moment's consideration. I swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling as uneasy as Keela looked a moment ago. Was I in trouble? Regardless, I nodded towards Celestia, who gave me a soft smile in return. "Then I believe we're done for now. I'll contact you through Mender again in the future when we have more information, and vice versa with any discoveries you make. Oh, and I'm sure you realize now, but you don't need to worry about retaliation, Keela," Celestia continued, politely smiling back towards the Keldarian. Keela blushed and coughed lightly before smiling back. It was a precaution, but it was rather silly. "I'm not going to attack you, Keela. What happened was out of your control," I agreed, giving her a smile as well. Keela's eyes softened as she looked at me before she gave a single nod. "I realize that now. Um, thank you for believing me, Mender. Do you want to keep talking during this whole ordeal?" she asked, looking hopeful. Twilight giggled instead, however, pointing out, "He kind of has to if he wants to deliver information back and forth. But if he doesn't have a problem with it, do you think I could visit, too? You seem like an interesting individual," Twilight asked, looking back and forth between us. Wait, she was asking me, too? Keela grinned and shook her head, adding, "I don't have a problem with it if Mender doesn't. It's him doing all the hard work." I snorted and shook my head. "It's not really that hard at all. I'm actually in the hospital right now, so honestly, it's kind of like resting anyway. Maybe I'll ask Fluttershy to meet you too, even?" I offered, shifting my focus into my left eye and peeking back into the other dimension again. Fluttershy gave a squeak as I referenced her name, and shrunk down in her chair, of course. I tried to resist the urge to cut the link, then run over and hug her again. That 'running' part would probably throw a wrench in things. "I'd like that. Every, um, pony seems really kind so far. Now that I can truly meet them, I feel a lot better," Keela agreed, somewhat cryptically. I let it slide, however, deciding to ask her about it later. Princess Celestia nodded in agreement. "I'm pleased that this has gone so smoothly, and will gladly welcome communication between yourself and Equestria. For now, however, I apologize, but I have much to consider," she apologized. "I suppose that means you're leaving now?" the Keldarian asked, hiding the smallest burst of melancholy that flashed across her face. Celestia nodded, of course, earning a soft sigh from Keela. "All right. Before you go, Mender, I do have something for you," she revealed, sliding over to the other end of the couch and fetching something from around the side. I felt Shining Armor's barrier strengthen almost instantly and smirked to myself, amused at how cautious he was. Still, I kind of envied him for it. If I'd been this cautious when Nirru tried to trick me, she never would have even made it upstairs. Shining Armor probably would have figured it out on the ground floor, tricked her back, then ambushed her instead. He relaxed when Keela withdrew a medium sized box instead. Papers and notebooks were literally overflowing from the top of it, and she slid the box across the table and closer to my view. A simple glance at the top few pages revealed many familiar topics. "Doctor Kyliona's notes. How did you get these?" I asked, surprised they even still existed. "They're not the originals. I printed off and bound everything I could find in our database before deleting it. Those are the only copies left. I want to send them over to you in Equestria," she explained, sounding remarkably final about it. I frowned, but before I or anypony else could say anything, she kneeled down to my head level and slid something out from under the sofa. Shining Armor's shield flared up again as his eyes widened. Mine did too, for just cause. The silver and black hilt and sheath of "Void Cutter" was displayed before me. "I know I don't have any right to ask favors of you, but can I please send you Ventosus Lacuna, too? It's Nirru's Artifact, and as such, she can pull it to herself from almost anywhere. Almost. I have reason to believe that she can't draw it from a different dimension. I don't want her getting it. I've had to forcefully stop several attempts already of her pulling it," she explained. Ventosus Lacuna? Windy Emptiness? Why did Nirru call it something different? I started to turn and look at Celestia instead, but the alicorn beat me to the punch by far. "That actually is in line with my thoughts exactly. Please accept the Artifact, Mender," Celestia requested, surprising me and making me suspicious at the same time. I nodded slowly, turning back to Keela instead. The Keldarian smiled and gave me a gentle hug, squeezing around my shoulders. Subconsciously, I patted her on the back using my right foreleg, avoiding my left entirely. "Then I'll see you later, Mender?" Keela asked, finally backing up and giving me a hopeful expression. I nodded softly to her, offering, "Probably tonight, depending on what Twilight's doing. I'll tug on the link when I'm set." Of course, I didn't mention that Twilight might be busy either directing me or blasting me to pieces. I held back a shiver of nervousness at the prospect of telling her. "Okay! I look forward to talking to both of you again, then," Keela confirmed, sounding a lot happier than she was earlier, admittedly. Nodding to her, I gave her a parting bow for politeness before pulling all four of us back out and through the dimensional transit. Twilight waited until everything started to run together before sliding sideways and pressing a firm kiss to my right cheek. I gave her a smirk and kissed hers back in return as everything melted into a singularity. Maybe, just maybe, things would work out after all? Chapter 34Slowly, my eyes opened again to greet the hospital room. The flickering projection of the other reality melted away as I shifted back here at the same time. Rainbow and Fluttershy were both facing the wall, having previously been looking out the 'window' that was projected there from inside the ship. Both turned around and smiled at us as the other three stirred, one by one. "That was surprisingly relaxing," Celestia commented, stretching her wings out upon lifting her head. I blinked my eye repeatedly, it having dried out a little while projecting the image for the girls. Twilight snickered before gently brushing her muzzle against my cheek. "Eye got a little dry, did it?" she observed, grinning. I nodded and gave a sheepish smile back. At least I found out that the transmission thing worked across the dimensional gap. That meant it should work in the other direction, too, if Keela wished to talk to us. I made a mental note to bring the topic up with her if I had time later. "That was very productive. She's very easy going," Shining Armor noted, pulling out a pad of paper from his saddlebag and jotting down a few notes on it. I figured he'd have to do a report on all of this. "She's doing better than I thought. At least she's taking it well," I muttered, idly looking down at my emaciated leg resting under me. Fluttershy landed to my left again shortly afterwards, brushing against my left side as she settled into the blanket. I gave her a warm smile, but frowned when I noticed the focused look on her face. Normally she only got that expression when she was trying to nerve herself up for something. "Um, do you think I can stay for, well, whatever it is that you're going to tell Twilight? I want to be part of the herd so, uh, I mean, if it's okay, of course. I don't want to be a burden or anything," she asked after another few seconds of silence. Oh. Oh hell. "Fluttershy, you're not a burden. If Mender doesn't have a problem with it, I most certainly don't mind," Twilight assured somewhere behind me. I almost didn't register it as panic shifted throughout. I had to tell Fluttershy, too?! This was going to go very, very poorly. Damn it! It was a stupid idea to have shared the feed with them. If she hadn't been watching, she wouldn't have even known about any of it! "Um, Mender?" Fluttershy asked, snapping me out of my panic, only to realize I'd been frozen in one spot since she asked me, staring wide-eyed at her foreleg. Well, that wasn't creepy at all... "Ah! Uh, yes?" I asked, shakily looking back up at her. She looked startled at my reaction, and I fought to regain control of my expression. A moment later, all three of us jolted as Shining Armor let out a frustrated groan from all of half a meter away. "No! I forgot to ask her about the creature that attacked her sister that night in the forest! I knew I was forgetting something!" he groaned, sounding a bit annoyed. The irony of his topic wasn't lost to me. My ears flattened back a little as I really hoped it would just be dropped. "It's okay, Shiny. We'll talk to her again sometime soon and ask then. Relax," Twilight assured in a calming tone, resting her forehoof on his left shoulder. He smiled up at her and shook his head wearily, shifting from annoyed looking to seemingly embarrassed over the whole ordeal. Rainbow landed slightly behind Fluttershy a second later and made a scoffing noise, however. "Why would you want to know about that thing in the first place? It's gone now, and that's all that's important!" she exclaimed. Thank you, Rainbow. I agreed fully with that sentiment. It's in the past, so they shouldn't need to ask about it. Awkward questions set me up for awkward answers, after all. "It was extremely dangerous, Rainbow. If there was more than one of them out there, ponies could get hurt," Shining Armor reasoned, shifting back into that defender role he was so fond of. I appreciated the outlook he had, but sometimes I wondered if he didn't stress himself out with it. He struck me as a little high-strung. Blinking, I glanced over at Twilight a moment later. Yeah, maybe it ran in the family? "It didn't look all that tough! Actually, it looked kinda shrimpy. Totally ugly too," Dash shot back, flaring her wings out. My ears flattened a little more as I suppressed a sigh. Her expression when looking at me that night looked more 'horrified' than 'disgusted'. Although there was probably a little of both in there. "Oh, I forgot that you actually saw the creature. Yes, I read your report on it. You actually said it was pony-like?" he inquired. I became more and more uncomfortable with the conversation. Celestia looked back and forth between them, her expression mostly neutral with a mix of concern blended in. "Yeah, that was the weird thing! I thought I saw a Cutie Mark, too, but it left way too quickly. It definitely wasn't a pony, though. There were totally gross looking tentacles coming from its back like an octopus, and it had creepy looking, glowing blue eyes!" Rainbow continued, sounding more excited than scared, oddly. I twitched at the 'gross' part. Fluttershy let out a squeak and shrunk down away from her cyan friend, while Twilight let out a sigh instead. "Rainbow, stop it. You're scaring Fluttershy, and making Mender uncomfortable," she requested, shooting her a skeptical glare. Rainbow deflated a little before looking over at me instead as I tried to rapidly shift back to a neutral face. She was nothing if not fast, however. "Oh, sorry, Mender. I forgot that those weren't the best memories. Sorry for scaring you as well, Fluttershy," she apologized, tone a bit lower than prior. She had no idea how close she just hit to the absolute truth. "We should let him rest now, speaking of. That probably took a lot out of him, and we have reports to file, Shining," Celestia reminded, subtly coming up with an excuse for me. I wasn't exactly tired, but I didn't mind pretending if it meant a topic change, and nodded over at her. "Oh yeah, I gotta go check on Pinkie anyway! She's supposed to be getting the bandages off at the end of the hour and I said I'd help her. I'll probably be by later with Pinkie in tow, Mender," Rainbow suddenly relayed, seemingly just now remembering. "Fluttershy and I will stay here with Mender for now. I'll see both of you then when Pinkie and you get here?" Twilight asked, smiling pleasantly at Dash. "Totally! Anyways, I'm actually a bit late, so I gotta go. See you in an hour or so!" she exclaimed, flapping backwards and latching onto the windowsill long enough to open the window again. Fluttershy smiled as well, finally recovering enough to nod towards Dash, who probably missed it entirely before zipping out the window. I guess I'd be getting a visit from Pinkie later, then. I smiled at the aspect. As tiring as she was, she somehow managed to cheer me up. I'd probably need it after this. Plus it was nice that Dash was finally relaxing around me again, of course. "I'll be back later today in order to get a few details on Keela and the Keldarians if you don't mind, Mender. I have a report to file, then a letter to send out to Cadence," Shining Armor requested, stopping by the door and glancing back at the three of us. Celestia got off the bed and stretched her legs as a guard spontaneously came in without call and started rotating the bed onto its side again. I couldn't tell if it was the same guard as before or a new one. Did she pick all of her guards based on color? That hardly seemed economical. I guessed an enchantment of some sort and wished I could scan him without my eyes glowing. I snapped out of it after catching myself again, and nodded to Shining Armor. "That's fine, Shining Armor. If I'm asleep, just smack me," I requested, sure I could easily take a whack or two at this point. He laughed immediately, smirking and assuring, "Just call me Shining. You'll probably be my brother-in-law soon enough, after all." I stared blankly at him for a moment, parts of that sentence simply not computing. "Aah! No! I'll tell him later. Shoo!" Twilight exclaimed, a gentle nudge of magic pushing him towards the door. She exhaled quietly as she turned around, and then promptly deflated as she saw me staring at her. I was vaguely aware of my mouth being open. "Well, I know when to take my leave. My sister is expecting me back soon. I'm going to shift that talk to a couple days from now. I need to make some arrangements first," Celestia interrupted, smirking gently towards me. Wait, what? What 'arrangements' was she talking about? My mind swirled in confusion at the bombardment of new questions raised. Celestia apparently intended to capitalize on my stunned state and beat a dignified yet hasty exit, nodding to her guard to follow her with the packed up bed. I watched the end of the bed disappear out the doorway before finally rectifying my slack-jawed expression and giving a wide-eyed stare back at Twilight, who was blushing furiously. "Ah, yeah. I was going to explain, of course. Um, Shining Armor kind of told our parents about the syncing thing. Dad wasn't entirely pleased with me," Twilight revealed after an incredibly awkward ten seconds of me staring blankly at her. Fluttershy fidgeted next to me, ears drooping as she muttered, "Oh. Oh my. Um, are you in trouble or anything?" My brain slowly rebooted, somewhat literally, and I frowned. It would help if I were fully aware of the implications of what was involved. "I deflected the anger away from Mender, and did manage to alleviate a great many of his concerns. If I'd been coerced somehow or blackmailed, and if it was both ways, which of course I assured him it was not. I even tried to get in that it was initially part of a magic examination, but he still wants to come visit and meet my 'future husband' as soon as possible," Twilight explained in length. Uh, I hadn't realized that Twilight wanted to marry me. This was, well, unexpected. My brain went blank again as I realized I couldn't tell how she'd prefer me to react to that revelation. If I was pleased, it might alleviate some of her stress, but that would also indicate quite a few other things that I somehow doubted she'd be happy with. What did I want, honestly? More importantly, what did she want me to want? My head started spinning again and I momentarily felt sick. "Oh dear. I didn't know that the binding ritual was so important! What's your mother think?" Fluttershy asked, sounding considerably worried, regardless of the fact that it didn't really affect her all that much. Twilight rolled her eyes, which I couldn't place as a good or bad sign. "She's a mixture between laughing hysterically at my father, and hoping for foals in the future. Ugh. She also mentioned something about getting me fertility tonics for this upcoming season, and I'm horrified to say that I couldn't tell if she was joking or not," Twilight groaned, deciding to bury her face in the blankets rather than risk looking at me. It suddenly dawned on me that this might make my own reveal after this all the more awkward. Yeah, by the way, Twilight, I hope you don't mind marrying an abomination of nature and physics. Further, I noticed no 'not getting married' clause anywhere in her information. Would her father hunt me down and personally execute me if she were to suddenly break up with me? "Um, it's a little sudden for foals, if you don't mind me saying so. Well, maybe next year, but the herd should really be official first, right?" Fluttershy reasoned, rather wisely. I didn't want any legality problems. Although I wondered if they had some sort of communal child centers or something. Sadly, I didn't know of any other methods off the top of my head, unless they were like our allies and used a sort of family based unit to raise the children. That might take some adjusting to, of course. Wait, why was I even thinking about this?! "W-What?!" Twilight asked, looking up at Fluttershy in shock and a slight mixture of horror thrown in. Well, there was further proof contrary to the idea! "You were serious about that earlier? Are you crazy?!" At this point, I decided my wisest course of action was to simply stay silent until addressed. Fluttershy tilted her head, seemingly not fully understanding the question. I frowned, wondering if there was something I was missing again in a social context. Which mare was the incorrect one?! "Well, I'm sure by then we'll be a lot more comfortable with each other. Undoubtedly we'll have, uh, progressed to, well..." She trailed off, leaving me at an extremely awkward cliffhanger. I realized it must have been something that was supposed to be implied, as Twilight immediately flushed a violent red shade. Was that healthy for her circulation? Probably not, I decided, as she immediately locked up, unmoving. Fluttershy frowned as well, but smiled a moment later and gently brushed her cheek against my shoulder while watching Twilight. "Well, that's almost a year. Surely you aren't, um, opposed to the idea, right?" she asked quietly, with what I almost labeled as a hinging of amusement if I didn't know better. This was Fluttershy, after all. She didn't tease others! Twilight started shivering, somehow getting more blood flow to the cheeks and starting to look a little faint. I was getting a little tired of not knowing what we were talking about or what to say, and sighed. "Twilight doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to, Fluttershy. Maybe we should just talk about something else?" I offered after a moment's consideration. That seemed a safe enough choice. It was difficult deciding what was the best course of action in social situations, for me. I knew the males were on more equal terms here, but I kept worrying about overstepping my bounds or something and getting reprimanded. How did family dynamics and child raising work in Equestria? Twilight jumped, startled to hear my voice speak up again and looked towards me, wide-eyed. Uh... "No! It's not that. I'm just, well, nervous. It's fine, Mender," Twilight assured, suspiciously without hesitation. I raised an eyebrow to her, but Fluttershy shook her head rapidly. "No, he is right. We should talk about something else. Rainbow and I did manage to hear one side of the conversation with Keela earlier. Did you say that you had something to talk to Twilight about?" Fluttershy reminded softly. Aww, hell. That wasn't a 'better' topic! Twilight perked up instantly with the reminder and nodded towards me. "Yeah! Do you mind if Fluttershy hears it, too?" she inquired, suddenly glancing towards the yellow mare uncertainly. I frowned, considering my words carefully. "Well, it's a little, um, scary. It involves the night of the incident," I admitted, hoping Fluttershy would bow out. Of course, would either of them really accept the truth all that well? I somehow doubted it. If I were an outsider, I'd probably find it hard to swallow too. Fluttershy shook her head, however. "I, well, I'll be okay if you don't mind sharing, that is. I want to be a part of this herd, and that means accepting and being connected to each member," she explained, closing her eyes while doing so as if to draw strength from somewhere inside. Oh boy. I swallowed nervously as both mares shifted their attention to me. I suddenly felt extremely exposed and tucked my legs up a little, guarding various soft and squishy parts along my stomach. This was bad. Fluttershy began to look concerned after I hesitated for a good half a minute, but Twilight nudged me ahead with, "It came up after Keela mentioned that you really did a number on Nirru. Did you actually manage to attack her before that creature came along?" She unknowingly gave me the perfect out if I had really wanted to take it. Still, I should tell them the truth at some point. It only felt right. Crap. I closed my eyes and shook my head softly. It would make it easier if I introduced this a bit slower to edge them into it. Looking around, I managed to spot my saddlebag under the bedside table. I gestured towards it with my right foreleg. Tilting her head, Twilight took my hint and levitated the bag over to me. Well, technically they were her old saddlebags, but she'd been letting me use them anyway. I dug around inside of it for a moment, knowing there were only books inside. While doing so, I formed one of my claws on my left forehoof before popping it off. I stared at it at the top of the bag for a moment before magically picking it up and pulling it out. Fluttershy gave it a curious stare, but Twilight's eyes practically shot out of her head. "That's one of the creature's claws, isn't it?" she asked almost instantly. Fluttershy's eye size joined hers for a totally different reason, and she shrunk down and away from the thing. I nodded gently and passed the claw over to Twilight, who took it up in her magic and examined it. "Oh wow. How is this even possible? This isn't bone at all. It's laced with organic metal of some sort, is the best I can describe. How did you get this, Mender?" she asked after rapidly analyzing it. Heh. I expected nothing less from the clever mare. "Celestia and Luna won't let you see the body because Luna didn't destroy or kill it," I continued, ignoring her prior inquiry. Fluttershy's eyes got even larger, killing me a little more inside. Would that expression change after I told her everything? "Wait, why would the Princesses lie to us?!" Twilight asked almost instantly, frowning and looking down at the claw again. To my mild surprise, she didn't seem distrustful of me in the slightest. I was expecting her to jump to their side at that point. "Because I told them to," I replied softly, eyes lowering to the sheets. That got the attention of both of them instantly, of course. "It would be better for them if they lied, but it also gave me, well, time to try to think of how to tell you two." "Tell us what, Mender?" Fluttershy whispered timidly. Yet another piece of me fell away as I swallowed, starting to shake a little bit. Please let her not hate me. Please! I closed my eyes again to try to gather my courage. There was no escape. I couldn't live with a mask to them, never letting them see the real me. I'd never know if it was me they cared for or the mask. "They didn't kill it because there was no monster. There never was. I was the one who killed Nirru," I finally got out. A feeling of finality set over me as I realized there was no turning back now. Fluttershy gasped, tearing free yet another chunk of me as I winced. Twilight's eyes shifted into calculating, however, with record speed. "There's no way you could have defeated Nirru in the state that Applejack described to me. You were critically injured before being taken away in the first place. But you say there was no monster, and Keela specifically said that you took a lot out of her sister. That's what you actually wanted to tell us, right?" she deduced, skipping a lot of parts and logic. I should have expected as much, honestly. I had a feeling Twilight was onto me before this, even. I nodded weakly. "I didn't defeat her. She killed me. Well, more specifically, she let me die from the wounds she and Applejack inflicted on me," I detailed, frowning as I corrected myself. Fluttershy shivered, tears forming in her eyes and Twilight gave me a blank, surprised look. There was nothing else for it. "She told me a lot of things before I died. Then, after my heart stopped, something else woke up. It was what killed her. It was what Luna found and talked to. I... I'm just..." I broke down and started crying as it all spilled out. I told them everything she'd said after hauling me away, and everything I'd found out about myself. The fact that I was a cyborg clone of a Keldarian that was turned into a pony to scout their dimension, then got damaged or something on the way over and developed whatever the hell personality I was. My consciousness was a mistake in and of itself. I was a mixture of scout and biological weapon. I told them about how something had happened that set me off on our old world and killed billions of Keldarians and how I had all their DNA in me. After all the information was released, I just kept blabbering, afraid my world would fall apart if I stopped. I told them that I didn't have a clue what I honestly was, as the sum of my parts didn't equal what I was now and something had obviously changed in my transition to Equestria. I went over everything that happened that night, up through tearing Nirru apart for what she threatened to do to everypony I cared for, trying to get Luna to kill me, running away from a horrified Rainbow Dash, and regenerating my foreleg. Finally, I quieted down when there was absolutely nothing left to tell. * * * * * Twilight still sat on the bed, absolutely motionless at this point. Her eyes were wide and she barely risked breathing. Fluttershy was tucked into a ball, looking more sad than shocked as she watched me quietly. I didn't know how to read either mare at this point and just slumped under my covers. It had taken almost forty minutes to relay the entire tale in between my small breakdowns. I didn't feel better like I thought I would. There was no sense of relief or weight being lifted off my chest. I just felt empty and cold now while waiting to see how alone I was going to be left. "Y-You killed Nirru?" Fluttershy asked again, barely audible after almost a minute of silence. Her entire form shook, and I expected her to run away at any moment. It wouldn’t surprise me, and I couldn’t blame her for it. It was pointless to hide the truth at this point, regardless. "I destroyed her. I tore her apart and made her feel it. It scares me now, but I hated her so much for what she did to me, and what she was threatening to do to you ponies," I reiterated, little emotion to my voice at this point. It felt like a giant icicle was impaling my chest. "But it was a fake body, though? She was remote controlling it from their dimension?" Twilight asked, sounding far less disturbed over the whole ordeal than I expected. I nodded softly, still staring straight ahead while not looking at either of them. "Yes. At first I wouldn't let her leave, but her sister begged me to spare her," I furthered, repeating in a little more detail what I'd already said. Fluttershy frowned but nodded before asking, "You did spare her, then? She really didn't die because you, um, let her go, and now she's being punished by her sister?" I nodded again, wondering where she was going with it. I’d said all that already. Why did she need confirmation on that part of all things? She frowned, however, seemingly considering something. I looked away again just in time for Twilight to continue instead. "I mostly understand what you are now. You're basically a genetic copy of the Keldarian we used to think you actually were, that was created to scout Equestria but then abandoned. They turned you into a cyborg, or cybernetic organism as you call it, which is essentially an organic individual like us with extra or replacement synthetic parts, right?" she inquired, sounding like she more wanted confirmation than anything. It was also amazingly astute, but I’d expected as much from Twilight. It wasn’t her understanding the situation that I was scared of. That was basically accurate and I nodded to her, wondering where she was confused if she was asking for confirmation. She picked up all of the details amazingly fast. "The only thing I don't understand is the biological weapon part. I know that your dimension's weapon technology far surpasses Equestria's, but I can't seem to grasp the concept," she explained, frowning. "That's probably a good thing. Frankly, it's horrifying and I wouldn't have even created such a thing had they asked me. It's a biological entity that consumes practically anything it touches, can take any shape it desires, and can warp bits of itself through space, connected via our FTL engine to move at hundreds of times the speed of light. It was like a living plague that consumed and destroyed everything on a universal scale, moving from planet to planet as a colossally large thing. It's impossible to describe and I wish it had never been created. But that's what I am. I don't know why it fired off on our planet, or why it stopped, or why I came to be after it moved here in the body of a scout, but that's what it was originally, and why I have over half our planet's population of DNA in me," I elaborated quietly. "You think it's, um, horrifying, then?" Fluttershy asked quietly, again slipping in with a strangely off topic question. I figured that much would have been obvious in the way I described it. Her shivering had stopped however, and she just stared at me with wide eyes. I’d expected her to be fleeing at this point, honestly. I nodded to her regardless, attempting to be as honest as possible. "Of course. It's, well, beyond bad. It's unspeakably horrifying that somepony could even think to create something like it," I muttered, shivering again. "You don't have any direct memories of the event because 'you' weren't the one doing it, I bet. You didn't lie to us at all, but really became 'you' when you landed here and thought you were the Keldarian," Twilight concluded, seemingly thinking that herself out loud. I watched her curiously, while Fluttershy also fell into thought. Well, they weren't running away screaming yet, which I should take as a good sign. "I didn't mean to lie to you. At that point, I didn't know any better myself. I've been struggling with how to tell you for days," I explained, sighing weakly. Twilight's ears flattened, snapping her out of her thoughts as she looked up at me sadly. "I've kept secrets a lot longer than that from you. Please, Mender, don't worry about that. If anything, this conversation only proves that you really are uniquely 'you', you know," she pointed out, causing me to raise an eyebrow. She explained however, taking my non-verbal hint. “You’re expressing doubt over the originality of your existence. Further, you show deep remorse for what happened and all events indicate that you only have ‘recordings’ of the weapon in question. This leads me to believe that you became ‘you’ in the transfer to Equestria. You’re not a robot, Mender. This ‘cyborg’ thing leads me to believe that you’re also a lot of pony too. So empirically, all evidence points at you being your own, unique self that was ‘born’ on the day you arrived in Equestria, but with memories from the individual you were cloned from,” she reasoned, being extremely level-headed about things and rather surprising me. Fluttershy perked up and nodded rapidly while listening, adding, “Yes! If you were just a machine, you wouldn’t think to ask if you’re a machine or not, right?” I blinked and raised an eyebrow over to her, causing her to blush and continue before I could say anything. “I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense and I’m not as good at, well, wording things as Twilight, but I know what my feelings are. The Mender I’m talking to right now is the same Mender that I like and want to be with, so that’s enough for me,” she appended. My eyes widened and I stared at her in surprise, causing her to shrink a little. Twilight gave me a skeptical glance as I looked away and down at the bed sheets. Was this real? Oh, please let this be real! If I was seconds from waking up from an amazing dream, I was going to be all kinds of pissed off. “I… Well, I didn’t think that either of you would really want to still be with me after you found out I’m not a pony. Especially because of what I actually am,” I muttered, frowning to myself. If I had fingers, I’d be attempting to pinch my foreleg now. Fluttershy relaxed again, and Twilight shook her head. “I’m not going to lie to you anymore, Mender. Remember? Both of us told you that we like you for who you are. I know that it’s hard for you to trust, well, anything anymore, but please make us an exception?” the unicorn requested softly, tipping her head around so she could look into my eyes. They shifted up to meet hers a moment later. “It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I guess that should tell me something. I just want to stay here with everypony in Equestria. I don’t want to be a part of anything my old race tries to do. I just want to be with you two,” I confessed, resting my head on my forelegs, mindful of my injury. Fluttershy tucked in against me to the left, and Twilight giggled lightly before resting against my right foreleg. “Nopony’s going to make you leave. We want you to stay, Mender. This proves that you’re still you as well, even if you have some extra parts,” Twilight agreed. I opened my eyes again in time to see her smile. My chest warmed up a little bit and I nuzzled against her cheek, earning a grin. “There! Now cheer up, Silly. You’re not scary if we know you’re still you,” she concluded. “Um, can I, uh, see it?” Fluttershy asked timidly a moment later. My mind blanked as I looked back at her questioningly. See what, exactly? Twilight frowned, however, asking, “Are you sure, Fluttershy? He did say it was scary.” I looked back and forth between them, a little concerned now. She wanted to see my other self? That was, well, going to be unpleasant if so. The yellow mare frowned and gave a stern look, however. “Yes! I took Rarity’s advice to heart. I’m not going to let anything involving Mender scare me anymore. I want to, well, get used to it,” she explained, pushing a little harder into my side for emphasis. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “If you’re sure, Fluttershy. Rainbow was right, though. Despite what she said, I can still remember… what she looked like that night,” I warned, lowering my eyes a little. She was horrified. Rainbow’s eyes told me she was looking at the most ugly, unnatural thing she’d ever seen and that I was an abomination. It tore me apart. My thoughts were obliterated when the pegasus pushed forwards instead, momentarily kissing me directly on the lips. My eyes opened up in an instant as I jumped, but she pulled away a moment later. “Stop it, Mender. Please? She didn’t know it was you, and wouldn’t have looked like that if she did.” My eyes closed again and I resisted snorting. That I wasn’t so sure about. My eyes opened again after I made up my mind, scanners activated in them. The blue light washed across the mares and Fluttershy gave a start. Twilight didn’t look nearly as surprised, however, blinking once then shifting to lean in closer and get a better look. “Wow! There are actually things rotating and moving inside the eye. What is this?” she asked, obviously noticing my display on the inside of my eyes. “I have a computer display on the inside of my eyes that gives me readouts and information. The blue light is actually scanning energy being projected from my eyes,” I explained simply, turning to look at Twilight instead. Fluttershy relaxed as she watched, apparently deciding that blue eyes weren’t all that intimidating. That I agreed with. Twilight nodded rapidly, her notepad sliding out of her bag along with a quill. I resisted groaning as she started taking notes rapidly without looking. Did she have to start studying me already? “Rainbow did report that your eyes were blue. She must have seen the light as well,” she deduced, sounding as if she were mostly talking to herself. “She also said that your skin was, um, black and beetle-like? So kind of like armor?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight wrote, seemingly curious, oddly. Oh, she did like animals, so relating it to something that insects had would make it seem less foreign, probably. I nodded and focused, shifting a bit of my armor back into place. The left side of my face shifted to the plating almost instantly, it merging out of my skin as it folded in segments down my neck and over my shoulders. “This is what she was talking about,” I explained, my voice splitting into two tones again as the armor covered my vocal cords. This time, Fluttershy didn’t even look surprised as she reached out and ran a hoof lightly along the smooth organic metal. “It’s warm,” she murmured, tilting her head at it. Twilight’s writing picked up speed as she stared even harder, looking more and more excited the more of me changed. Well, this was exactly the opposite reaction that I had been expecting. Either I had a few things fundamentally wrong in my outlook, or I had cracked from the pressure and was even more insane, rocking back and forth somewhere in isolation. Either case seemed likely at this point. “This is amazing! It’s made out of the same stuff as the claw. And it merges seamlessly out of your skin! You really are amorphic, then!” Twilight squealed, causing me to sigh. No, that hadn’t surprised me, I realized. Fluttershy rapidly shifted around me to give Twilight a concerned glance. “Twilight, he’s not an experiment. This is probably uncomfortable for him so, um, please don’t be insensitive,” she quietly requested before tucking up against me again. This time I blushed, pleasantly surprised at how well she was taking it. Twilight started not taking it so well as she flailed, releasing a series of murmurs while shaking her head rapidly. “No, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that! Everything’s just making sense now about the forest issue and I guess that makes me happy,” she explained, ears lowering before I shook my head to stop her. “No, it’s fine. I’m just not comfortable with this form. I don’t think it’s pleasant to look at in the first place, so I guess this just surprises me,” I explained, shifting to completely armored instead. Being covered in plate armor made me feel remarkably less exposed, even if it did nothing to block less tangible things like opinions and feelings. My ears flicked lightly, the metal shifting gently as they moved. Twilight smiled and nodded, relaxing back down against the covers and resting her quill on top of the pad instead. “I know. Thank you for showing us. It’s a bit unnerving to look at, admittedly, but knowing it’s you makes it far less scary,” she admitted, watching me carefully. That surprised me. I was expecting one extreme or another. Well, honestly, I had been expecting them to run screaming. Accepting me was amazing, but this was different. She just admitted that I was a little on the scary side, but that sort of made me feel better in a backwards sort of way. At least I knew she wasn’t lying to me and actually was looking. Fluttershy nodded in agreement as well on the other side. “You are scary, but seeing you change made it a lot less so. Even if it, well, is scary looking, I definitely know it’s you,” she agreed. Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Them seeing the transition also probably smoothed that aspect a little. Rainbow obviously hadn’t gotten that either. “This is most of the transformation, anyway. I can move really fast and take quite a beating in this form. I also regenerate while inside of it. That’s how I got my foreleg back,” I added, lifting it up and moving it around without problem now. Technically, it wasn’t doing the moving, of course, but it was nice to see regardless. “You also must be really strong in order to do that to the tree the first time you changed. I can see how you beat Nirru now, and I’m glad you did,” Twilight deduced, frowning towards the end. Fluttershy sighed and blew a stray piece of her bangs out of her face before looking down. “Um, yeah. That bothered me at first, but she wanted to do really bad things to us. You only got angry and hurt her after she threatened us, and that, um, kinda makes me happy in a way,” she tried to explain, tilting her head at herself after she said it. “She threatened both of you specifically. That’s what set me off. I just… I know you two are strong and can handle yourselves, but the thought of her even trying to hurt you just infuriated me. She was there because of me and I wasn’t about to let her hurt anypony,” I muttered, feeling that familiar anger coming back. The sad thing was that I probably wouldn't have cared nearly as much if she stopped at killing only me. Both mares quieted after that, and I settled again on my stomach. At least this was going better than I thought it would. Although, I had expected them to be afraid of me, not disappointed in me. My back clenched as I remembered absolutely hating Nirru. Hate. I wanted to murder her in the most painful manner possible. That raw rage scared me, to some degree. It didn't feel natural. "She deserved it. You should have done worse. You should have killed her outright. Eaten her corpse just to make sure," I heard whispered directly into my skull. I sighed, realizing it was stronger than before as I glanced over at the book lying on my bedside table. I just kept pretending it was its own entity rather than some aspect of myself. Unnatural, right? I resisted chuckling. "I'm..." Twilight started before trailing off. I glanced back up at her, surprised at her hesitation. She frowned to herself a moment later, eyes flicking lightly as she apparently fought intensely with something internal. Finally she shook her head and closed them, that familiar sensation of seeking peace inside of yourself showing on her face. As if the world wouldn't be able to see you if you couldn't see it in return. "I'm not as strong as you think sometimes, Mender," she continued after a moment's focus. I tilted my head to her, but she kept going before I could say anything. "I know now why you're afraid of me. It probably won't help much, but I wanted you to know that I'm not as strong as you think. I'm powerful with my magic but, well, I have insecurities just as much as you do. I'm unsure of a lot and I don't always know what to do in any situation. I'm okay if I can prepare ahead of time but you can still catch me by surprise. I bleed just like you do," she admitted, opening her eyes to half-mast before looking back up at me. I exhaled gently. What does one say to something like that? "What do you mean, Twilight? If it was something Keela said, I probably didn't hear it. All Dash and I could hear was things Mender said," Fluttershy reminded gently. "Females on my world held every aspect of political and social power. Males were treated as second-class citizens at best, slaves at worst. We were kept weak and plentiful because of the genetics magic exposure inflicted us with, so we were expendable. If we acted out or showed any signs of anything apart from submission, we were typically disposed of," I explained quietly for Twilight. As expected, Fluttershy's eyes were huge by the end of the explanation. "It's terrible, but it also explains why you were afraid of me. I showed strong magic and, well, quite a temper, I'll admit. Even if you didn't remember specifically why you should be afraid and submit, it was probably conditioned into your original self," Twilight deduced, resting her head down on the surface of the bed. I swallowed weakly, the knot feeling almost tender as it drifted into my stomach. The urges to apologize again for being an idiot hit me, but I clamped my mouth shut. Was that part of it, too? It just felt like, well, me. Twilight sighed at my silence and continued, "It wasn't just you, obviously. I was scared by my own feelings, which was rather silly now that I look back on it. It made me cranky and impatient with you when I shouldn't have been. That's another reason why I asked you to finalize the link. You'd understand I'm telling the absolute truth then when I say I'm not going to hurt you anymore," she revealed. Fluttershy let out a sudden squeak, looking surprised. "You tried to get him to finalize the link with you?" she questioned, apparently not processing it very well. I shot her a questioning glance. Why was that so surprising to her? "Yeah. I want him to trust me like he trusts you. All of the disks have our marks on them now, but he's only completed yours, Rainbow's, and Pinkie's," she returned. Fluttershy looked momentarily confused before smiling gently and looking down. I thought I saw just the slightest hint of sadness in her eyes. "Rarity suggested it, didn't she?" Fluttershy asked quietly, barely audible. I frowned further, getting a little concerned over her reaction. Twilight blinked, expression of surprise shifting over her face that told me that Fluttershy was right. "How did you know that?" she asked a moment later, mirroring my question exactly. Fluttershy shivered and squeezed her eyes shut, looking momentarily horrified. My eyes widened, but hers shot open a moment later, tears starting to form in them as she looked up at us. "I'm sorry! I just can't take it anymore. I'm so, so sorry! I've been trying to get you two together this entire time, and not just for, um, you two's sakes," she spilled out, almost as fast as the tears spilled forth from her eyes. Oh, oh hell. She liked both of us, I knew that much. Had she actually tried to get us together so it would be easier for her to be with both of us? Actually, that didn't exactly sound like it was detrimental to either Twilight or myself. I didn't exactly feel that 'used', considering she liked me, too. "Fluttershy! Calm down, please! What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, extending a forehoof towards the yellow mare, who shrank away from it and let out another choked whimper. "I wanted you two to be together so badly, but it wasn't just for you. I'm a horrible pony who doesn't deserve to join you two! I can't stand lying anymore. It hurts too much. I talked Rarity into having that talk with us after Mender fell into the coma. I wanted to be able to share Mender with you, um, not just because I liked him," she admitted, managing to look horrified and embarrassed at the same time. "Fluttershy, you don't have to do this," I offered, brushing my armored hoof along her shoulder, claws retracted. She froze, shivering again before shaking her head rapidly. I forgot how stubborn she could be sometimes. "Fluttershy, I don't understand. Being a herd isn't a bad thing, and you like Mender, so what's the problem? I don't understand," Twilight muttered, looking utterly confused. I would have thought it was obvious by now, but then I remembered that Twilight didn't specifically look for romantic cues from other ponies. She probably hadn't even considered it as an option. "Twilight, I... I-" Fluttershy started to squeak out. The door opened up an instant later, Pinkie Pie sliding in happily alongside Rainbow Dash hovering above her. "We're back! Turns out Pinkie was totally already on her... way..." Dash started before trailing off, look of horror growing on her face. Mine mirrored hers as my eyes widened and I rapidly looked towards her. My mind blanked, multiple of the worst possible outcomes shifting through it all at once. Fluttershy sprayed tears from her eyes as she whipped her head towards Rainbow, look of surprise matching Twilight's as the purple mare dropped her jaw. "Oooh, shiny!" Pinkie exclaimed happily. * * * * * What had gone wrong? Everything about my admittance had actually gone smoothly up until that point. Things had gotten a little rocky with Fluttershy's panic, but I was sure that could have turned out wonderfully as well. Why did everything seem to go as badly as possible at the worst possible moment? It was almost as if some higher being with a sadistic sense of amusement was writing out my life ahead of time. The air felt cool along the dulled sensation from my metal plates. I was thankful that Dash herself had left the window open when she slipped out earlier. My tendrils latched out, momentarily connecting with the side of the building before pushing backwards as hard as I could manage. Like a cannon, I was launched away from the window at high velocity, almost silently sailing through the air. Shame and embarrassment were fairly prevalent in my mind, but that face was right at the forefront. That expression from a friend I trusted with my life tore me apart. Rainbow's expression had shifted from shock to utter horror; it was the same expression she wore that night as well. She looked at me as if I were the ugliest, most horrifying thing she'd ever seen and practically willed me away from her friends. This time, anger had been mixed in with the look, too, and I could only guess as to what had shot through her head at that moment. I couldn't stand her looking at me like that. The shame made me want to throw up. So I did the only thing I seemed to be good at and ran away. My armored hooves hit the floor half a second after registering her look. Prudentia snapped to my left side like a magnet as I skidded and angled at the window. I heard Twilight shout something and the magic tried to form around me. It was all I could think of was to throw up a decoy body made of weak barrier magic before leaping forwards and clear of her spell. I came a hundredth of a second away from being grabbed by the magic anyway. She missed, however, and I was out the window before she had time to fire another effect off. I felt the magic subdue the barrier body an instant later with amazing precision and force. "Mender, wait!" Twilight called out in the same moment. It was scary how she managed the gentleness of a drifting feather yet the force of an avalanche at the same time. After that, I was sailing over Ponyville as fast as I could. If I'd made any noise at all, I doubt anypony could have even managed to look up in time to see me. Snapping back to attention, I angled myself to the right as I descended towards the trees below. I recognized the extremely familiar forest at this point and knew that hiding there for a couple hours was all I could manage. My mind was a blur and I was in full panic, not having a single clue how to fix this. Staying there and pretending it was a new spell or illusion would have gone over as well as somepony insulting AJ in front of Rainbow. She had recognized the form instantly, and most of my options had evaporated then and there. My mind adopted the only thing I could manage to process. Run away from the horrible shame that her expression burned into my head. My tentacles hit the tree first, easily shifting me past it and into a gentle landing in the forest, skidding to a halt over a good thirty-foot distance. I panted, watching the blades of grass fly every which way in the cloud I'd made from my impact. Damn it! What was I doing?! Frustration mixed with the disgust I felt in my chest and I felt like screaming after I calmed down a little. The forest around me was alive with the sounds of all sorts of animal life, and I looked around it, uncertain if I was far enough from the edge to not be spotted by anypony in town. This was all going to hell at an amazingly fast rate, I decided. No, I needed to hide myself away for a little bit and think about this! I needed to decide what I could do to fix this and get Rainbow to… To what? Accept my other form? That seemed unlikely, at best. It was an extremely short-lived calm, sadly. Something I hadn't expected in the least happened an instant later as the link’s sensors fired up. A cyan bolt exited the hospital window I had just escaped from, the proximity warning pinging off from my link to her giving me the visual. Oh. Oh shit! Why was she following me?! It dawned on me in the same instant. Twilight had called out my name! Rainbow knew it was me, which eliminated the remaining possibilities for keeping it a secret. I choked back the swell of frustration as I spun and took off further into the woods as fast as I could manage. Minutes passed as I ran, ducking deeper and deeper into the forest in random movement patterns, trying to slip into the thicker tree clusters. My scans stayed skyward and picked her up twice, following my general direction from high above. Somehow, her eyes were able to pick up and differentiate the movement at that distance, and she followed at an extreme height. She knew that if she dropped below the tree line, I could probably lose her fairly quickly. Damn it! Luckily, my bad luck kicked in before she could catch up fully. Glancing upwards again, my proximity sensor fired off just a half second too late. I tried to jump, but I snagged my hoof on a rather large root and went flipping out of control, spiraling through the air at a good hundred kilometers per hour. Tucking into a ball, I tried to use my tentacles to slow me down but I ended up hitting some sort of sinkhole instead. The way down was a spinning, tumbling mess. I stayed in a rough ball form as my armor strengthened and my tendrils sucked back into me. After almost twenty seconds of skipping off various rocks at untraceable angles, I finally smashed out onto flat ground and skidded along the rocks under me, sparks coming off the armor plating and barriers that surrounded me. Seconds passed after I came to a stop. Slowly, I opened my left armor plate over my eye and looked around. I was surprised to find myself in some sort of illuminated cave. Well, that could have gone much, much worse. Slowly, I looked around as I stepped forward. The cave was illuminated by glowing flowers of some sort. Given my reputation with 'alchemical' based reactions in Equestria, I kept my distance from the things. Various tunnels appeared to branch into the cave along the walls, most of which were angled upwards towards what I presumed to be the surface. What a strange cave. Reaching a main chamber of some sort, I immediately noticed a massive pool of water that prominently took up most of the floor. At least it looked like water. Walking over to it, I slowly peeked in, the metallic vibrations of my hooves sending ripples out from the edge I sat next to. It was disturbingly clear and mirrored the top of the cave, and my face, with a disturbing level of clarity. I couldn't seem to see into the water at all! Moments passed as I stared at my reflection in the water. The metallic edges of my armor combined with my gunmetal black shade and ominous glowing blue eyes made me look more demon than pony. I knew that if I pulled the tentacles out, it would only serve to compliment that appearance. My ears flattened downwards, the metal plates covering them making a sharp clank upon hitting the sides of my head. What was I doing? Ultimately, I should have asked that before running away. Again. It seemed to be all I was good at lately, especially when it came to Rainbow Dash. I couldn't blame her, though. Fluttershy and Twilight had gotten a monumental amount of warning and had seen me transform. For all I knew, Dash had thought Twilight and Fluttershy had been having a tea party with an eldritch abomination. Heh, tea would have been nice, of course, but that might have actually made that statement true. "They don't understand," was suddenly whispered into my skull. I started and looked around, noting myself alone in the mostly dark cave. I glared to my side again at the book I'd hauled along. Initial instinct was to protect it, or more specifically, the secrets inside of it that might involve me. The whispers seemed to echo from all around me, however. "They'll never understand you. They might eventually come to tolerate you, and maybe even appreciate you, but did you ever stop to consider why?" the whisper asked again, this time, outside of my head. My eyes widened as I whipped around, eyes searching the darkness and shadows at the edges of the cave. A broken visage stepped out of the dark, snapped and shattered horn draining blood down an all too familiar looking face. She smiled as she stepped out of the dark, watching me. My eyes expanded to maximum size as I lowered a little, barriers coming back on to full as tendrils expanded out my back. No, it couldn't be! She was dead. That body was destroyed. Well, its head was destroyed, anyway. Sure enough, tears and cracks displayed along her skull where I had crushed it. Her internal organs slid along the floor under her, leaving a wet red trail as she walked forwards with a limp, her back legs still twisted and broken. "I see everything you see, but for some reason, you refuse to accept it," she muttered, stopping a good six meters from me. I glared at her for a moment before straightening myself a little, hair trigger reflexes twitching gently. No, if she had wanted to attack me, she should have when I wasn't paying attention. "What do you mean? There's no way you could see what I see," I refuted, refusing to buy into her garbage. She snorted and laughed a moment later, looking completely relaxed even though she was very obviously beyond mortally wounded. "Oh, please. You're smart, Mender. There, I admitted it. You've seen Fluttershy's reactions to Twilight. I'm sure you've noticed the contrast between how she acts around her and how she acts around you," Nirru pointed out, sitting down in a pool of her own insides as absently as one would a comfy sofa. I ignored the wet, squishing noise. "She's comfortable around me. She doesn't have to panic because she knows I already know about her feelings," I explained, seeing where she was going with this instantly. The smile didn't waver, however. "Is that so? Yes, a gentle soul like Fluttershy would be absolutely devastated from using somepony! You're right! Why, she'd probably break down and cry, feeling absolutely horrible and thinking she had no right being with them," the fake, torn up Twilight agreed, amused grin dancing across her face. It snapped through me like a bolt of lightning. She had seen that. Somehow, she had seen that which happened only a few minutes ago! For a moment, I doubted. Fluttershy had assured me that she really did like both of us, and Nirru was a psychotic bitch that I honestly couldn't trust in the first place. She made an absent minded sighing noise a moment later before shaking her head and looking down. I raised an eyebrow at her exceptionally muted personality in comparison to what she was like before. Her eyes opened again, a somewhat sad look to them. "You saw what happened to me. I can feel it. It doesn't excuse what I do, but it was oh so easy to justify it after that. I'm not understood either; not even by my own sister. While different, both of us have monsters inside," she added, looking up again slowly. My eyes widened again as the whispering came back, louder this time but with so many tones and voices that I couldn't differentiate them. "How... Why do you know all this?" I asked, holding my left forehoof up to my temple and gritting my teeth, trying to shove the voices out of my head. "You took a little part of me that night. But don't worry, you proved that you are undeniably stronger than me. I'm not going to attack you, Mender," she assured, tone shifting to a softer one. My head rose again as she stood and slowly started walking towards me again. My tentacles extended their blades regardless as I swallowed. She looked heavily damaged, but I wasn't about to take chances and prepared to use full force if she got too close. "Stay away from me, Nirru," I warned, glaring again. She smiled softly this time, no upturned corner of the lips or sneering shift of expression. I somehow found it creepier. Her skin shifted around her hooves, metal forming out of them and linking together as she pressed them into contact. The metal separated from her skin around the ankles a moment later, becoming a solid metal band. What the hell?! Her forelegs firmly sealed together, she nodded and kneeled down in front of me, eyes closed. "Part of me is disgusted, but you've proven your undeniable strength. Plus, a part of me is infuriated by how easily you allow them to walk all over you, given that strength. At least allow me to... serve to release some tension," she suggested, voice shifting silkier as she shifted around. Wait, what was she doing?! My eyes shot open as she spread her back legs and eased her tail to the side. I almost stumbled backwards into the water before halting and rapidly looking away from her presentation, even further disturbed by the fact that bits of bone were sticking out of her back legs and her entrails still leaked along the ground. What the hell?! "You're stronger than me, Mender. By our oldest laws, that means you can have me. I'll have to do anything you say," she revealed, voice practically dancing heatedly upon 'anything'. I resisted throwing up. "I'm with Twilight, Nirru. I'll give you the data if that's what you still want. I already promised to give it to Keela anyway," I refused, feeling more awkward than angry at that point. Was the body she controlled practically immortal?! All she did was make a sighing sound, with a wet splattering accompanying it. Huh? Against my better judgment, I peeked back in her direction. An elongated face half torn apart and crushed greeted me from three inches away, long fangs dripping blood as steam from its hot breath exited between them. No noise. I gave a sharp intake of breath as I leaped backwards in an instant, clearing the entire underground pond as my tentacles tore through her form a moment later before I landed on the other edge. Nothing. The tentacles hit nothing. Her form was gone as the arms of the tentacles cleared my vision. What? A whispering laugh exploded all around me as my sensors came alive again. I was alone in the cave. "What are you?!" I demanded, heart still hammering in my chest. "I'm you," my reflection whispered, grinning at me with razor teeth from the reflection in the water. My breath caught as I took a step back and away from the pool, suddenly very much not liking this place. The creature stepped 'up' and out of the water, instead standing on the surface as it flowed smoothly, form seemingly made of moving liquid. "I'm the hatred inside of you given form. You hate how they treat you. You hate how your life has been dictated, removing every choice you ever could have made," it spoke, voice raspy and dripping with venom. I shook my head rapidly, holding a forehoof to each temple. "No, no I'm not! I don't hate anything!" I denied, glaring at it. It smirked, wide rows of teeth glittering in the glow of the cave. "You hated her. You hated her so much that you were ready to murder her. You heard the urgings to do so," it reminded, tilting its head unnaturally to the side as it watched me, snaps coming from its neck. I shook my head and took a few more steps back away from the forsaken water creature. What was the power of this pool?! "There is no power here. Only you. That's another thing you hate. Yourself," it pointed out, grin extending and continuing until its jaw snapped, a good foot and a half of grin now being displayed. "Shut up and get out of my head!" I screamed at it. I don't remember telling them to move, but my tentacles sliced its head off a moment later with a scissor motion. It formed back with a splash of liquid and laughed. "Temper, temper. To be expected from a monster, though. We're a monster, you know. Your true form is me, and you live to consume everything until all is as dark as your heart. Don't fight it. They see your true nature and either lie to you or use you!" it shouted back. I screamed, anger exploding as I tore its form apart with tentacles. It laughed as I sprayed the walls with the liquid it was made of and didn't stop until there was nothing left. My head felt like it was on fire as I stared at the pond, silent once more. It was time to do what I was really good at, I decided. I didn't recall ever having run so fast in my life. My imagination showed me images of that thing chasing me back up the tunnel that was behind me, laughing and twisting its jaw as it ran. In blind panic, I broke out into daylight an eternity later, tripping and rolling like a flailing hippo down an embankment and into a stream. My heart tried to beat its way out of my chest as my mind blanked. I whipped back around and extended tentacles out, smashing down bits of the cliff and burying the small exit I'd just came out of with a few metric tons of rock. To hell with that place! Shakily, I realized nothing was chasing me, and nothing was happening in general. I looked around, noting the rather sunny clearing was dead silent. Heh. That made sense. Again, if I were a small, woodland creature, I would have run away by now, too. The irony wasn't lost to me this time, either. I had technically just run away from 'myself', if the thing had spoken the truth. Still, it was something I was good at. At that point, I had no idea where I was, however. A glance about told me that I'd fallen into some sort of stream running along the base of a moderate rocky embankment. A long-collapsed wooden bridge was a few dozen meters downstream, and I wandered towards it. Sure enough, there was a faint path leading off through the forest. I knew Ponyville was back towards the southwest, so if I followed the path in that direction, I'd probably be okay. I couldn't be that far away, having not run from Rainbow for that long. My eyes picked up a partially broken wagon axel as I stepped out of the water next to the bridge's remains. It looked like it had taken a moderate blow to each end and snapped in the middle. Actually, that was probably the accident that had doomed the bridge. The wagon busted through and dropped a meter and a half into the riverbed, breaking the axel off. There was no wagon however, so I guessed that they had a spare one to fix the thing with. Wagon... An idea hitting me, I walked towards the axel and peeked about. Sure enough, in the grass nearby was a partially broken wagon wheel, the metal having dented at the impact. I smiled and felt along the rim. Like most wagon wheels, it had a heavy wooden frame that was layered with metal around the outside of the wheel to give it a bit of tenacity. It would last a lot longer than a solid wooden wheel this way. Nodding to myself, I noticed the metal was a bit rusted and not the greatest strength, but there was a lot of it. With a bit of focus, my energy activated and danced across the surface of the metal. It melted off the wheel as it was taken apart at a molecular level, oxidation and impurities being filtered as I pulled it towards me. It was iron, and I couldn't change its base mixture without having other, necessary materials, so it would have to do. A minute later, I was shifted out of my heavily armored form and was wearing an iron brace on my left leg, comfortably molded to fit perfectly, rotational hinges and all. I shuffled along at a moderate pace, the newly added metal implement allowing me to at least hold my weight with the injured leg. My barriers stayed active, however, just in case I either had to correct myself from a nasty spill or deter some animal or something from attacking me. For the first time in quite a while, I felt a sense of proud accomplishment as I looked down at the brace. I enjoyed it when I could think I was clever, I guessed. I'd walked for a good five minutes before I had the nagging sensation that I was forgetting something. I checked my side, but the book was still there. I hadn't taken anything else from the hospital room. What could I be forgetting? It puzzled me for a moment before I glanced upwards, mid-pondering. Oh. I was on a path. The path was cleared through the forest. If the path was cleared, that meant the trees were removed from it. Damn it. I stared blankly up at the open sky as I heard the telltale flapping noise arc in from behind me. I froze as I heard the thud and sliding motion in the dirt from a few meters back. Slowly, I peeked over my right shoulder, eyes locking onto Rainbow's as she sat there, watching me silently. Well crap. Chapter 35Reflecting upon things that had happened in the past usually gave me unique insight into the future. For example, for the entire duration of my stay in Equestria, rarely did I actually have a clue what was going on and for what reason. This brought the more recent events into disturbing light. For once, I wasn't entirely sure of what I myself was doing and why. I felt confused; the world was a more open and less controlled place. Further, my emotions were all over the place, it felt like. I stared at Rainbow for a few moments before sighing and turning around again. She said nothing as she stood and walked up to my left side, keeping pace with me as I slowly started walking back towards Ponyville. Why had I run away to begin with? Her expression was the catalyst, but why did I choose that course of action? Still, Dash said nothing as we continued walking. She knew already, so was there even a point in pretending? "Um, I'm sorry for running away," I apologized quietly as we walked. The forest around us was nippy now that my armor was gone, although I still had the heavier, fluffier look from the hair regrowth incident, so I was probably warmer than she was at the moment. Sadly, I still had the braids, too. As much as I disliked them, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them. Fluttershy had put them there, which made them something special. Rainbow let out a light scoffing noise and shook her head. "You ran away that night, too. I told Twilight I'd go get you before following. I'm not stupid, however. You ran away from me specifically," she deduced, looking back over at me with a frown. I swallowed nervously before explaining, "I know I did. Your expression when you look at, um, that side of me hurts, is all. I can't stand it." My voice was weak, as I felt both better and far, far worse by having this talk with Dash. Still, I had a sneaking suspicion that there were far nastier talks coming up in the future. "I, well, yeah. Okay, so you're a little creepy looking with the armor on, but I didn't know it was you, Mender. All I knew was that it was dark out, blood was everywhere, and there was this unknown creature covered in the stuff and looking monstrous. I actually feel better knowing that there isn't some terrible creature loose in the forest," she admitted, somewhat to herself rather than me as she looked momentarily ponderous. Better? "It's not armor exactly, Dash. I've been keeping a secret from you girls since I was hospitalized. You and Pinkie walked in on me finally explaining it to Twilight and Fluttershy," I corrected, shuffling a little as I tried to keep my balance with the new leg brace. It made a light squeaking noise every time I bent my knee, and I wondered if Twilight had some oil I could put on the hinges. "Hmm. Well, you're an alien, so is it some sort of secret form or something?" she asked in a rather relaxed manner. I raised an eyebrow to her and stopped walking, earning a skeptical glance before she turned around to face me again. "Kind of. I'm a cyborg. I'm a clone of a Keldarian, who was turned into a pony to scout Equestria, and then had a bunch of mechanical parts shoved inside of me. I’m not actually a pony," I summarized, risking it considering she was taking it well so far. Maybe she was like Applejack in the fact that she appreciated honesty? She stared at me for a moment before snickering lightly and shrugging. "Eh, not really a big deal. You're a pony with extra, metal parts. Clone though? I wonder if that's like the effect of the Mirror Pond?" she questioned tentatively, tilting her head up as she rubbed her chin with her right forehoof. "Mirror Pond?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her as my left ear twitched lightly. I didn't recall Twilight having mentioned anything like that before. "Yeah. It's an underground pond under the Everfree with a super crystal clear reflection. Turns out it's also magical and Pinkie Pie used it to make, like, dozens of herself," she explained, shuddering towards the end as if mentally violated by the memory. Well, I knew that feeling! Wait... My eyes widened drastically, shuddering myself. No, the coincidence was just too high. Surely there were, um, all sorts of underground ponds with crystal clear reflections and creepy supernatural manifestations, right? A moment passed. Damn it. Well, all I could do was hope for the best! "The clones weren't permanent, were they?" I inquired as subtly as possible. That would be absurdly strong magic if so. The level of energy required to support that level of permanency wouldn't have been feasible back in my old dimension. Rainbow snickered, letting me breathe a sigh of relief. "Nah. Twilight found a spell to get rid of them. She's kinda our go-to mare for remedying the supernatural. That many Pinkies were scary and did quite a bit of damage to the town. That was, what, the third time Aj's barn was destroyed?" she guessed, looking rather impish this time instead. Yikes. It had as bad of luck as I did! I finally continued walking again, Rainbow falling into place next to me in a far more relaxed manner this time. It was subtle, but I felt things shift more easily between us. I doubted that she grasped the full implications of what I told her, but at least she accepted it readily enough. It actually didn't appear to matter to her one way or another, which was both comforting and disheartening at the same time. Was I making too big of a deal out of it? I doubted it. It wasn't every day that I learned I was actually a cyborg. Rainbow’s laid back perspective was probably simply unique. Deciding to be responsible for once, I started mentally communicating while walking. "Fluttershy, can you hear me? I'm, well, I'm okay." Damn, I was lame sometimes. I hated those awkward moments where I had no clue how to break the uncomfortable silence. Rainbow perked next to me and glanced over, hearing it in her head as well as I broadcasted it. "Oh! Thank goodness! Did Rainbow find you, then?" the yellow mare questioned back, soft voice echoing in my mind. "Oooh, how do I talk back?! I wanna learn how to do that!" Dash suddenly spoke up, sounding excited as she grinned again. I raised an eyebrow but nodded to her, halting my walking yet again. My left foreleg gave a surprising ache of protest, momentarily distracting me. I looked down at it, noticing the ankle was swelling up a little. Wonderful. Rainbow turned around and grinned at me as I looked back up, and I rapidly masked my expression. "It's not that hard. Here," I offered out loud, stepping towards her. She momentarily looked unsure but held her ground as I approached. Heh. Was she a bit nervous after all? Her expression switched to a totally new kind of nervousness as I leaned in, her eyes widening drastically. My intentions were honest, however, and I gently pushed my forehead against hers, feeling the link directly. "Can you hear this?" I questioned into her mind, letting her feel the specific mental reverberation I used. Her eyes widened and she suddenly realized what I was doing. It was comforting on multiple levels to see her nervousness melt away. "Um, yes?" Fluttershy asked cautiously, accidentally eavesdropping without knowing it. Rainbow giggled in her mind, testing the technique before smiling wider. "This is so cool! That was to me, Flutters. He was teaching me how to do this," she added in her head a second later. I smirked at her before stepping around and continuing walking, this time with a slight limp. It felt like my left foreleg was getting heavy. Heat was pooling into it and I became very aware of the heartbeat as it throbbed through. Maybe it wasn't as 'recovered' as I had hoped? It by far wasn't a pleasant sensation, aching dully every time I moved it. "Oooh, are you guys talking with your minds?! So cool! Can we all communicate like this from now on?!" suddenly blasted out through my skull from all directions, somehow both spoken and 'thought' by Pinkie at the same time. Oddly, colors played across my vision as she spoke into my head, looking momentarily like psychedelic confetti oozing through the air. "Whoa! Pinkie?!" Rainbow asked, half in and out of mental communication while sounding like she was reeling from the same effect. I stumbled and shook my head rapidly, trying to clear it. "Yeah! Mender must have finished the link with me! Thank you so much! That means that just Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack need to do the link thingy," Pinkie continued, the mental speech this time significantly faster than her verbal, blurring ahead and causing colored streaks to rain through the area as I dove for cover. A moment later, I groaned and shook my head. No, the streaks weren't actually there. They shimmered and faded as thoughts, in the purest imaginative sense, of colored balloons drifted through my mind. My eyes widened as the images flickered through, covering dozens of moments and ideas at once. "Pinkie, stop!" I heard Fluttershy gasp, and 'felt' her slip and fall over. "Turn it off, Mender!" Rainbow groaned as she stumbled next to me, tripping over my collapsed form and falling into a heap on top of me. "Stop what? I can't stop yet! I totally have a ton of party things to plan. Mender's doing better and everypony's recovering so nicely. This calls for a party! The occasion is perfect for my best party yet!" Pinkie added, bouncing in place with afterimages across the trail in front of us, prismatic effects not unlike an aurora bleeding through the ground in large pieces. "This is going to take all of my party-rific planning to pull off! In fact, I might have to talk to-" Pinkie started to continue, cracking the area around her with a web of colors before I forced every single connection off at once, trying really hard not to throw up. Reality snapped back into place instantly, the quiet unnerving as my skull rang like a crate of culinary tools that fell off a bullet train going full speed. Damn! "Oh, thank you. It stopped," Rainbow murmured, shivering on top of me and rolling to the side. Her hooves clutched her temples as if she were trying to stop her head from vibrating, eyes slammed shut. "Okay, we're going to have to talk to Pinkie before I turn her connection back on," I noted out loud, earning a rapid nod of approval from Dash. "Yeah. Let's get back and do that before she gets absorbed into party planning, then. Ugh," she groaned a moment later, shakily getting to her hooves. I frowned and shifted into a sitting position, wincing as I moved my leg. "Um, Dash? I think my leg is swelling. I stood up on it for too long and it's not used to that yet," I warned, lifting it up to try to elevate it above my heart. Would it stop if I changed just the leg into my armored form? I never really tested what the effects of partial transformation were. "Uh, is that bad? Can you walk still?" Rainbow asked, frowning as she walked up to me again and looked at my leg. It felt better after I elevated it, but I could hardly walk like this. I frowned and tested moving it again with a little more success than before. "I can kinda walk, but we'll have to take frequent breaks," I deduced, setting it back on the ground, gently. My cyan friend looked less than amused by that. "Ugh. That's lame. Walking back is going to take forever at this rate," she protested, looking around the forest we resided in. Neither of us had a saddlebag, so that assured the lack of the harness we used before. I considered it for a moment before chuckling. "Well, if you're impatient, there is one other option," I offered hesitantly. Twilight probably wouldn't approve of this. If I ran out of focus or magic, I'd probably end up falling and making an impressive crater in the ground. To my own amusement, I wondered if that would actually kill me. Rainbow looked back at me with a skeptical glance, but I just reached out with my left forehoof and touched her chest. My magic expanded across her coat and made a makeshift 'harness' out of energy instead. She looked down at it, and then peeked over her shoulder to look at the straps forming out of barriers across her back. A smirk played across her expression as she turned back around. "Don't tell Twilight?" she inquired impishly. "Don't tell Twilight," I agreed, smiling and nodding to her. This should be educational... * * * * * "Whoooo!" Rainbow screamed, flipping us sideways as she slammed into another tight curve. Her wings expanded with rainbow light, dozens of tiny jets bursting in synchronization with every muscle movement she did. The scream shifted into laughter as she spun, me holding on for dear life on her back as my viewpoint momentarily went upside-down. This was interesting indeed! Her backwards-facing jets flared again as she burst forward, coming out of the tight turn like a rocket and skimming down through the clouds, shimmering rainbow trail far wider and more sporadic than she normally made. I grinned and enjoyed the rush as we shot downwards towards the ground at high velocity. I'd taken an interesting idea and plugged the wing jets directly into her own source of 'magic' that was inside of her. Ever since Twilight had told me that every pony, even pegasi and earth variants, had magic inside of them, I had wanted to see if Rainbow could support the jets by herself. I guess the answer was yes. A blast of indigo hit me in the face as she flicked her wings up, letting us skim down just above the treetops and angle towards Ponyville at high speed. Ah, there were a few minor differences, I noticed. Her magical 'color' was prismatic. I really shouldn't be surprised, but it definitely gave her wings a more vibrant look than when I powered them. Further, a much more predicted outcome, they were nowhere near as powerful inside an atmosphere. I'd already realized that air friction and gravity would limit their capabilities. Still, she seemed to be enjoying them! We skidded to a stop, Rainbow shifting to a dull trot as we landed outside of Ponyville proper. She panted and coughed once as I slid off her, and I was careful to land on specifically three of my four legs. "Wow, that was awesome! Normally a little flight like that wouldn't, wow, tire me out like this, though," Rainbow muttered between pants. I snickered and shook my head. "I told you that I plugged the jets into your own source of magic this time. You weren't just exercising your muscles, but your internal energy. I'm told it's directly linked to your vitality, so it would make sense that you'd get tired," I pointed out. Rainbow frowned and flexed her wings out again before looking back at the jets drifting across them and in the air spreading from their tips. "I kinda remember hearing that from school. Wait, does this mean that if I keep flying with the jets, that magical thingy inside of me will get stronger, too?" she asked, swirling back around to look at me, eyes widening. "Yeah. It's exactly what I'm trying to do with my magic. It's linked to my vitality and constitution as an Earth Pony, so if I exercise both my magic and body at the same time, both should benefit. The only difference is that I know how to manipulate the energy directly, whereas you require an enchantment," I explained, smirking as I knew where she was going with this. Her squeal surprised me still as she danced back and forth on her hooves, wings flapping lightly. "So awesome! This will so give me a one-up on making it into the Wonderbolts! Please, Mender! Can we practice with these jet thingies more often?" she pleaded, shuffling a little bit closer than I was comfortable with. I flushed lightly as I stumbled and fell backwards onto my rear while backing away from her advance. "Uh, sure, Dash. It's no problem. I might be able to hook you up with a permanent set later once I build up some more of my magic reserves," I suggested quietly. I'd prefer she get more comfortable with the jets first, though, before she tried solo flights. I could probably do the permanent enchantment now, but decided against mentioning that. If she exhausted herself in midair and passed out... No, I couldn't let my friend take that risk. Oblivious to my internal conflict, Dash nodded vigorously and hopped into the air, hovering in place as she spun in a quick circle. "Totally cool! Don't let anypony ever tell you that you're not awesome! I'll so buck them in the head if they do," Dash promised, grinning at me as I felt the heat get worse in my cheeks. Her expression shifted impish and I inwardly sighed. She enjoyed my reactions, too, I noted. What's with mares and liking to watch me blush? A tiny gasp interrupted both of us, and I raised an eyebrow as I peeked to the left. An extremely familiar looking orange filly stood there, staring wide-eyed at Rainbow. Scootaloo wore a helmet this time and was parked on a scooter about three or four meters away. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom bailed off the back of the scooter at the same instant, the white unicorn filly making a mad dash in my direction with no hesitation whatsoever. I smiled at her and moved my injured leg out of the way before she plowed into my chest, giving me a rather sizable hug. "Mender! You're out of the hospital! I really, really missed you," she squealed, looking up at me with huge eyes while wrapping her front legs around my right foreleg. Apple Bloom approached slightly slower, snickering at Sweetie before sitting down next to me. "Ah missed ya too. We didn't get ah single chance ta visit ya in tha hospital between stupid school an' Applejack bein' all fussy!" she protested, flattening her ears back for a moment and looking annoyed. "You really think he's awesome, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked rapidly, approaching Dash instead. I gave her a skeptical look, but decided I probably didn't want to know. "I missed you girls, too. I'd heard your sister was taking what happened rather roughly," I returned, frowning a little as I gently patted Apple Bloom on the head. She shook her head rapidly, looking more flustered than mad. "She's overworkin' herself again. She's in tha market today tryin' ta sell apples, actually," Apple Bloom informed, looking over at Sweetie Belle instead, who was trying her very hardest to assimilate with me. "Heck yeah! Mender's totally awesome. He and I totally kick flank while working together!" Dashie bragged, causing Scootaloo's eyes to light up. I groaned and warned, "You shouldn't go bragging about me like that. That's how rumors got started, remember?" The last thing I needed was for rumors to start about me and a little filly. Rainbow rolled her eyes, adding, "And he's so modest, too! You really need to admit how cool you are sometimes, Mender." I gave her a skeptical stare, but shifted my attention to the movement rapidly rounding the corner. "Are you sure Rainbow landed over here?" Twilight asked as she followed after the speeding pink bloodhound who was apparently on my trail. Oops. Heh. Pinkie zoomed right at me, looking up in time to get a happy expression as she started hopping instead. "The twitches never fail me! They're right over here!" she announced happily. I braced for another impact, but noticed her bounces weren't nearly as high or fast as usual. Further, she slowed this time before reaching me and slid to a stop, giving me a soft hug instead. I smiled, happy with her gentleness today. "Mender. I'm so, so happy you're okay!" Fluttershy whispered, drifting in and gently landing next to me, careful not to land on either filly. She then hugged my other side, squishing Apple Bloom up against my left foreleg as well. I blinked, starting to heat up for totally normal reasons as four ponies squished into me now. I'm glad I was trimmed down to only a 'fluffy' coat instead of 'two meter wide furball' like before. I'd probably melt. "Ooooh, group hug!" Pinkie chirped, hugging into my side again. Sweetie Belle was locked on Fluttershy instead, however. "You two are so cute together!" the white filly squealed, looking delighted and nodding up at me. Twilight approached next however and smiled at me as well. "Got room for a fifth?" she asked, slipping in between Pinkie and Fluttershy before I could fully answer. "Of course, Twi," I agreed, blushing lightly as she shifted and gave me a light peck on the mouth. Sweetie Belle gasped and squeaked somewhere below her, not that I could physically see the filly anymore. I chuckled, and then apologized with, "Sorry for running away back there. I kinda, well-" "I know why you ran. It's understandable after what you told us earlier. Nopony's mad at you," Twilight interrupted almost instantly, apparently having anticipated my attempt at apologizing. I coughed lightly and covered my mouth as I laughed. She knew me a little bit, I supposed. Part of me was glad that Pinkie wasn't asking any awkward questions in front of the fillies, of course. Although, I realized she was excitable and curious, I also noticed that she seemed to have proper discretion when she wanted, too. Regardless, I decided a change of pace was probably in order. "Do you think we could go to the market, by the way? Apple Bloom mentioned that Applejack was working the stand and, um, I'd like to try to talk to her," I asked gently, looking back up at Twilight upon giving up trying to find Sweetie Belle amidst all the colorful fur. "Oooh, that's ah real good idea! Maybe if Sis talks ta Mender, she'll realize that half tha stuff she's been worryin' about is total hogwash! Ah bet that'll fix her up ah bit," Apple Bloom agreed, standing up again and giving me a merry grin. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, before the timid pegasus gave a nod, adding, "It would probably be a good idea. She's been really, really stressed the last few days." I heard as much from Rainbow herself, of course. "She'll probably try to run away again. You might have to grab her with magic, Twi," Dash spoke up, cutting in between her and Pinkie as Twilight stepped back. "I don't really want to restrain her. She's just going through a bad spot and scared," Twilight muttered. I bit back on my tongue and looked away from the mare. Sure, she didn't want to restrain Applejack, but using her magic to grab at or lock up aliens was totally fine. Keela and I were easy targets to justify, I suppose. Although Applejack being able to buck a hole through me was fairly dangerous, too! Pinkie rapidly shook her head. "Using magic to hold anypony is wrong unless it's absolutely needed! I'll talk to her if she tries to run," Pinkie refuted, adding a hoof stomp as punctuation. I smiled at her, earning a beaming grin in return. Now there was a sensible opinion. It scared me that it came from Pinkie, but I had always seen maturity under the bubbly mare's exterior. "All right. I wanted to talk with her anyway, so this is as good a time as any. Is everypony coming?" Twilight asked, stepping back a little more and rotating to face the market area. "Heck yeah!" Rainbow agreed, taking to the air. I snickered until I felt a sudden weight impact my back. Raising an eyebrow, I looked back in time to see Sweetie Belle grinning at me from her new riding position. Fluttershy gasped next to me, raising a hoof to her mouth before chiding, "Sweetie! He's injured. You shouldn't add more weight he has to walk on." I shook my head and quieted her with a peck to the cheek. "It's okay. It's not too far, and sitting down for a bit has let me rest my leg. Thank you very much for worrying about me, though, Fluttershy," I thanked politely, giving the now flushed mare a soft smile. Twilight smiled as well at the display before turning and heading towards the market. Slowly and steadily, I started walking towards the market as well, careful to keep most of the weight off my leg. Sweetie Belle really wasn't that heavy, and I barely felt any noticeable difference, honestly. Pinkie burst ahead, following after Rainbow, who had gone ahead of Twilight. Fluttershy fell in next to me on the left, keeping suspiciously close to me while glancing down at my injured leg every few seconds. I smiled inwardly to myself. She really was worried that I'd fall, I guessed. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hung to my right and trotted along at a matching pace, breaking into talk about some break from school in a week. Idly, I wondered if there was a holiday coming up or something. I made a mental note to ask Twilight tonight. A holiday might be a fun way to forget everything for a while... * * * * * The markets were rather busy this time of day, I rapidly discovered. Ponies were hustling about with crisp conversation here and there. The day seemed a little darker with the light tint from the barrier over the entire town, and it meshed with the nip in the air to give the definite feel of winter approaching. School had started back up for the colts and fillies, too. They must have summers off, I noted. Keldarians broke their schooling up into trimesters with short, two week breaks between, then mandatory combat training in the off season. It was interesting having all sorts of memories that weren't mine. I remembered that I couldn't remember a time when there wasn't combat training, even though I knew it had existed a few centuries prior to my birth. We'd fought the Grosh for so long that we forgot who we used to be. My thoughts drifted as I watched Twilight approach the apple stand. Interestingly enough, Rarity was already there and appeared to be talking to Applejack when we walked up. My breath caught as I realized it was the first time I'd seen the orange mare since that night. Still, she looked far from dangerous at this point, which allowed my heart to slow down a little again. Stupid nerves. I knew she wasn't going to hurt me. I just wish I could up and tell my body that. Applejack looked like a mess. Her eyes were totally bloodshot with irritated puffs under them. Her mane didn't look combed in the least and she apparently forgot her tail tie today, letting it limply drape across the ground instead. Her trademark hat was even on crooked as she appeared to give Rarity an annoyed glare. Uh oh. "Applejack, I'm only trying to help you. You absolutely must take a rest and recover before you end up in the hospital, too!" Rarity continued, apparently from the conversation that had been going on before our arrival. As we got closer, I also noticed several nicks and cuts dotting the farm mare’s coat, only a few bandaged, and a wrap over her right shoulder. How much of that was from the explosion? The stubborn farm mare gave a huff and shook her head rapidly. "Ah'm just fine! Look, Ah know yer worried about me and all, and Ah really appreciate that, but it's not needed. This is no more than what's usually done by me in tha week before tha second cycle, and it's good fer me ta keep mah mind off things!" she protested, whacking the stand towards the end to prove her point. The precariously balanced apple baskets wobbled a little bit, and I guessed outright that they wouldn't survive the conversation to come. "She's right, Applejack. You're obviously exhausted. Remember the last time you refused to accept help?" Twilight warned, moving in next to Rarity upon approaching the stand. I idled closer, shifting off to the left as I watched. At some point while walking, all three fillies had ended up on my back. I really needed to work on that awareness thing. Apparently, I had this nasty tendency to drift off with my own thoughts and not pay attention to my surroundings. Given my luck and gravitational pull, that was probably one of my more stupid tendencies. Rainbow and Pinkie soon joined Twilight's intervention, while Fluttershy hung back with me, ever alert in case I tipped. At this point, however, I noticed her subtly brushing against me while walking as well. Did she have two sets of ulterior motives for hanging back? I smirked at the clever mare, causing her to flush and look away rapidly. Heh. She knew I'd noticed, now. My leg gave a light throb, however, distracting me from my mirthful entertainment. "Ah know. It won't happen this time. Look, Ah just have things ta think about, is all. Sleep's been ah little, well, lackin'," Applejack finally admitted, plopping back down behind her stand and staring at its wooden surface. I frowned as I watched her expression fall again, a haunted look momentarily flickering through her eyes. That I'd seen before. Well, the other me had seen it before, rather. Rainbow had that feel to her, too for a bit, after what happened on the Grosh ship. Regret and violence both had a way of decaying away at the inside of you, leaving behind a hollow, cold sensation over time. I couldn't do it justice, even when I considered it directly. War was hell. I'd imagine most ponies were totally unaccustomed to that level of violence, and she also probably felt like at least part of it was her fault. Fluttershy frowned in my peripheral vision as I started walking closer, flanking the stand to the left. "Applejack, you really need to go and talk to him. Things aren't as bad as you think," Pinkie pleaded, expression surprisingly solemn for her. Applejack frowned and shot her a dirty look before sighing and shaking her head. "Ah probably should, but he must hate me by now. He must! After everything Ah did ta him, there's just no other way ta consider it. Ah almost killed him. Where's tha honesty in that? He was tellin' tha truth all along and Ah..." Her voice trailed off as she shivered there, rapidly shaking her head and turning around. My frown deepened, and then I winced as she accidentally ran her face into the apple cart behind her. She let out a sharp yelp as apples spilled all over the place, rapidly backing away from the offending inanimate object. Some of those wounds did look more… recent. I started to guess as to how. In her haste of backing up, her rear cracked into the stand instead. The baskets spilled instantly, apples rolling off the surface and onto the dirt by the dozens. "Dang it!" Applejack growled, glaring in frustration at all the fallen fruit. I nodded back to my fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders, who returned the gesture before piling off my back. All three sprinted ahead of me and started helping Applejack to gather up the apples, while I righted the baskets for them to put them in. "Thanks, ya'all. Ah just haven't been feelin' too good," she muttered, smiling at Apple Bloom as she shot past, chasing down a rogue apple. She didn't even look up to see me, however. Rarity did see me, her eyes widening momentarily before shooting over towards Twilight, who gave her a smirk and nod. Heh. Tricky, tricky mares. It felt weird to be actually in on the plan this time, though. Pinkie and Dash split apart in almost choreographed precision, each slowing the expanding apple disaster as if herding cattle. Fluttershy sat down next to me and started holding the baskets steady as I created a funnel with my barriers for the fillies to dump the apples in, a split leading to all four baskets in question. Applejack actually smiled blankly over at us before turning and sighing, looking back to Twilight. Was she nearsighted or something while tired? "Look, Applejack. He accepted your apples. He knows you sent them, too, and thought they were delicious. The 'plan' to figure out if he forgave you worked perfectly, and you have your answer," Twilight reminded, doing that adorable air quote motion with her hooves again as she sat there. I mentally snickered, wishing I could rush over and pounce her again. That would disrupt the plan, however. "I don't believe he was ever upset with you in the first place, anyway. Why, he's not even upset with me, and I kissed him!" Rarity exclaimed, gasping afterwards and looking horrified. Applejack gave her a deadpan stare for a moment before shaking her head and closing her eyes again. "Ah wanna make it up ta him, but how do ya even start with somethin' like this? Even if he is willin' ta try it?" she asked, lightly swallowing while keeping her eyes closed. "Just talk to him! It's super easy, and I'm sure you could get him all cute and blushy and figure out a way to make him happy! It's easy! You could cook for him, or give him a massage, or do all his chores, or-" Pinkie started to rant, causing me to wince. I really was rather easy to get a blush out of, I realized. It was just so, well, hard! The more I thought about how silly I probably looked or acted to others, the more I got embarrassed. Out of frustration, I fought back a blush just from thinking about it. Dang it! "I think she gets it, Pinkie. She's right, of course. You'll never work out anything if you don't talk to him," Twilight interrupted, causing the unfazed Pinkie to nod rapidly in agreement, smiling again. Slowly, the baskets filled back up and Apple Bloom started loading the rest of them back into the cart instead. I nodded to her, getting a grin back before I lifted all four baskets back into the air, sliding them along my barrier and onto the stand. "Thank ya," Applejack muttered, still not looking at me as she lay her chin down on the wooden surface, hat shielding her eyes from the light. "Ah'm just scared he won't wanna be friends again. Ah told him that night that we couldn't be anymore, after all. Ah was so stupid!" she muttered a moment later, whacking her head into the wood intentionally this time. My barriers steadied the baskets, but I frowned. She wanted to be my friend again? Admittedly, that cleared up a lot of my own worries. I was happy she hadn't meant what she said that night, the words fresh in my heart as the chilliness crept back. Of course, I needed to tell them all the truth, or I couldn't expect them to truly be friends with me. All they knew was the mask, after all. Fluttershy and Twilight at least appeared to accept that I wasn't a psychotic murder machine, anyway. Still, I couldn't let this continue any longer. "You were protecting your friend, Applejack. As long as you didn't mean what you said now that you know the truth, that's enough!" I explained finally, bracing for the reaction. It was hard not to be mildly disappointed when she just snorted. "It doesn't change what Ah did ta him! Even if he accepts that Ah was just worried fer who Ah thought was Twi, that doesn't change tha fact that it was brutally cruel. Plus, it almost killed him," she murmured, apparently having slipped into her own dark world. Apple Bloom hopped up on the stand and pulled Applejack's hat down, ruffling it over the mare's head. "It does too matter! He forgives ya, Sis! He just said so! Now talk ta him!" she demanded, sounding surprisingly stern, but in a rather cute way. Applejack straightened her hat, then shot her little sister an annoyed glare, before it shifted to a questioning one. "She's right, Applejack. I do forgive you. I was never mad at you; just sad over everything that happened. Will you talk to me again?" I asked, earning the orange mare's attention finally. She froze, eyes widening to their full extent as she stared at me. Momentarily, based off her expression, I wondered if I'd accidentally changed into my bio form or something. "Ah... buh... wha... yer not in tha... but..." she started stammering a moment later, a telltale shiver starting to go up her upper body as she appeared rooted to the spot. I blinked, and tilted my head towards her. It all snapped to a head as she let out a piercing shriek instead and turned, falling into a bolting sprint from dead stop. I'd have been impressed had I not been busy slamming my eyes shut at the dirt flung up from her hooves. Dash had already swooped down by the time I opened my eyes an instant later, barely missing as the country mare dove sideways and made a break for the other side of the stand. The cyan pegasus recovered fast and was hot on her tail while Pinkie ran around the other end and cut her off. "Wait, Applejack! Just talk to him!" she shouted. Applejack slid, trying to move around Pinkie by diving to the side. She hadn't cleared the stand yet, however, and crashed into it with her shoulder. Our carefully stacked apples ate dust yet again, her flailing hooves launching several across the market at high velocity. Lily, who I recognized on the other side of the market, barely dodged an apple projectile as it hurtled past her position, splattering into the side of a house. "The horror! Apple attack! Run, everypony!" she screamed out before flailing and fleeing from the market. To my surprise, instead of questioning the sanity of such a statement, dozens of ponies started screaming as well, rapidly diminishing our attracted crowd as they fled in all directions. Well, that was silly. Applejack winced as she stumbled, then reared as Pinkie tried to intersect her. Rainbow landed on her back a moment later and tried to pin the strong earth pony down. It was a losing battle, however, as Applejack, despite her state of exhaustion, attempted to jump over Pinkie. She might have made it had she been rested and not carrying an additional mare. My eyes widened as both of them crashed down onto Pinkie in a large heap of multicolored fur. I heard Pinkie give out a sharp yelp from under the pile as Applejack rolled off her as fast as she could. I ran over, as did Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and the three CMC. The orange mare froze, looking up at me, but then swallowing and looking down at Pinkie lying on the ground. I smiled when Applejack sat down instead, concerned expression towards Pinkie. "Pinkie! Are you okay? Your ribs..." Twilight muttered, rushing up. I'd never seen the happy mare in pain before, but she held her eyes shut hard as she let out a silent but sharp gasp, breathing jerking in her chest. "Aah, y-yeah. I'll be okay. Owwie. Gimme a second," she murmured, tucking her legs up against her as she lay there. Applejack looked even worse now. "Ah'm sorry, Pinkie! Please, just rest," she apologized rapidly. Rainbow glared at her instead, however. "She wouldn't have gotten hurt if we didn't have to try to chase you down, AJ! You're better than this. Just talk to him instead of running away all the time!" she lectured, looking surprisingly angry. They were all good friends, and Pinkie was injured because of a fight. I could see why they'd be upset, regardless of how different it would have been handled in my dimension. Shaking out of it, I pushed past Rainbow and went up to Pinkie instead. Speaking of different, there was another chance to improve things right in front of me. To limit the attention drawn, I lowered my head directly to Pinkie's side, eyes almost pressing into the shakily breathing skin at her rib level. She gave me a pained but questioning look until my eyes momentarily lit up her side with blue light. "W-What was that?!" Applejack asked, but the light was gone an instant later. My scan complete, I rapidly looked it over. "Twilight, she needs healing magic. There are a few ruptured blood vessels to the left of the third rib down that need healing, or she's going to have some really bad bruising. Other than that, her ribs are still okay, but her chest muscles are going crazy," I relayed. Twilight perked before immediately leaning down as well and counting out the ribs before pressing her horn in with a burst of healing magic. Pinkie winced then gasped as the light washed over her, probably feeling better already. Her muscles were spasming due to pain, I guessed. The pink mare shivered as Twilight finally lifted her head again, the warm light fading. "I felt them repair. Thank you, Mender. Can you do something about the pain?" she asked shakily. Fluttershy landed on the other side of Twilight and dug into her saddlebag instantly. "Here, Pinkie. These are some of the numbing herbs I was going to give Mender. I can always pick some more," she revealed, pulling out several green leaves before lowering them down to Pinkie's now open mouth. Shifting forwards again, I lit both forehooves up and lightly pressed them into Pinkie's side, reaching out with my magic as I gently massaged her shivering muscles and smoothed out the bruising area. Pinkie cooed and practically melted into the ground as I continued massaging. She barely remembered to chew and swallow the leaves Fluttershy gave her. Applejack had walked around to Pinkie's face at that point and sat down again. "Ah'm really sorry, Pinkie. Ah didn't mean ta do this, obviously. Can ya forgive me?" she asked softly, looking down at her friend. Pinkie lay motionless for a few moments, a light smile starting to form at her mouth again as I continued gently massaging her side. Sweetie Belle slid into my left side and watched what I was doing with avid fascination, as did a few ponies from the crowd. Apple Bloom ran around and hugged her sister's side, looking up at her for support, while Scootaloo helped Rainbow dust herself off from her roll in the dirt. Pinkie finally opened her eyes and looked up at Applejack with a surprisingly melancholy expression. "No, Applejack. I can't be happy until all of my friends are getting along again. Please, just talk to Mender?" she asked softly, eyes shifting to pleading instead. I swallowed. Pinkie really did have a heart of gold under that bubbly exterior. Even when in pain, she put her friends first and foremost in her mind. I massaged more intently to try to help her, even forgiving her for the mind rape she injected all of us with earlier. Applejack swallowed uneasily, but Rarity drove the point home before she could say anything else with, "Relax, Applejack. We're all mature adults here and you have more than enough proof that he doesn't hate you, so please. For the sake of all of our efforts to show you otherwise, stop running away and simply talk to him." It felt a little harsh to me, but it was true. I didn't hate her. The orange mare's eyes softened and she looked up fully at me again. They were absolutely bloodshot and she looked like she hadn't slept in days, now that I saw her up close. She also looked miserable. Why would she feel all of this, and do this to herself, over me? It was a totally foreign concept to me. "Mender, um, Ah don't even know how ta start," she finally muttered, looking lost as her focus waned. She almost stared through me for a moment. I shook my head rapidly. "Please, start with what you said that night. Please, that wasn't true, right? You still want to be my friend?" I asked instead. That was first and foremost on my mind every time I thought about the orange mare recently. All I could see was her hateful face glaring down at me and stating our friendship was over. It was the same face looking at me now, which made me uneasy. But the expression was practically the mirror opposite. Her eyes widened in surprise at the same moment her ears flicked back. She frowned a heartbeat later. "O-Of course! Ah was totally wrong about tha whole situation and, well, Ah shoulda believed ya from tha start. Or at least givin' ya tha benefit of tha doubt. Everything that happened ta ya that night coulda been prevented had Ah just, gah..." she groaned, cutting herself off and smashing the dirt in front of her in frustration. Pinkie smiled softly and rolled finally, gently giving me a pleased squeeze with her neck and right shoulder before moving into a laying position. "I'm happy, Applejack. You're doing the right thing. You don't have to be embarrassed, though," she reasoned. I smiled, realizing she was probably right on some level. It was a strong form of embarrassment called shame. "Relax, Applejack. What I just asked you was the only part that bothered me. The more I thought about it, the more I was happy that you were so fiercely loyal to Twilight. You're a wonderful friend for her. Of course you'd pick her over me, and I don't blame you for that. It's not your fault you were tricked by Nirru, too," I explained, trying to assure her. Yet again I was reminded of how much I sucked at the whole social thing. Instead of looking assured, she looked more horrified than anything. "B-But that means ya don't think Ah'm friends with you instead! Yer tha one Ah hurt with all of this, Mender. Ah wanna be ah good friend ta you, too!" she protested, edging a little closer to me. I raised an eyebrow to her, but rapidly shook my head. "Applejack, I've only been here for, like, a month. You've known the others for years. I want to be friends with all of you, but I was the one who got off to a rocky start. I mean, even I thought I was crazy some of the time," I murmured, flushing slightly at that admission. Part of me wondered at our crowd, too. I intentionally was leaving things vague due to all of our onlookers. This town sure had a lot of nosey ponies. I barely looked up in time to see Applejack smush herself directly into my chest, almost bowling over Twilight to get over to me! My eyes widened, and then bulged as she practically crushed my torso with her strong forelegs. Holy hell! How strong was this mare?! She lifted her head back and finally lessened the pressure, letting me gasp for air as she snickered. "Thank ya, Mender. Ah really wanna be yer friend, too, still. Ah know ya said that Ah'm forgivin', but Ah ain't gonna let mahself off tha hook that easily. Please, help meh come up with ways ta make this up ta ya, okay?" she requested, giving me a look that felt as if she were staring into my soul through my eyes. I swallowed, and then suddenly remembered what Celestia said. The hardest pony to forgive is yourself. She recommended that to fix it, I try to help them to forgive themselves and feel better, if I recalled correctly. Taking the advice to heart, I smiled at Applejack and nodded lightly, internally beaming as she exhaled in relief. Then applause burst out from the crowd around us! Applejack actually blushed as she rapidly released me, looking around at the crowd that had gathered. Well, the ones that didn't flee in terror a bit ago, anyway. "Right on, Applejack! A totally righteous performance! You had quite a lot of ponies worried for ya, ya know?" suddenly sounded out from the crowd. I recognized the voice instantly and smiled as Vinyl Scratch shifted out of the mass of mostly unrecognized ponies and walked towards us. "Eh?! Vinyl?" Applejack started, looking surprised before Vinyl cut her off, hoof raising towards the farm mare. "Hiya, Applejack! I’m pleased ta see that you’re talking to Mender again," she spoke up, lowering her purple and black shades to peek over them at Applejack. I'd figured they'd met before, but she looked surprised to see her for some reason. Had they really never been introduced? Ponyville was a small town, but it wasn't 'that' small, I supposed. "Uh, it ain’t evenin’ yet. Why are ya-" Applejack started again, only to be cut off a second time. Evening? Vinyl held up a hoof and gestured behind her to the small swarm of panicking ponies Lily was leading, screaming something about invading apples. "As if anypony could sleep through that. 'sides, I'm a friend o' Mender's here and was going to visit him in the hospital today, but am equally delighted ta see he made it out in one piece!" she exclaimed, shifting her attention back to me. She eyed me over and frowned at my leg before shaking her head. "Sorry I couldn't visit sooner. You totally beat me back to Ponyville by at least three days. Then imagine my surprise when I got back to a state of emergency? Not only that, but then I find out my newest friend, the wicked lifesaver up at the party in Canterlot, kicked so much monster flank in the Everfree that he got himself hospitalized!" she cooed, sounding more and more amused as her 'summary' went on. Gasps and murmurs exploded amidst the crowd, of course. Well, the ones not panicking. Oh hell. Not again. My ears flattened back instantly and I whined, "Vinyl! All I did was stop the chandelier. Plus it was L- Er, Princess Luna who stopped the monster in the forest." Maybe I could head off some of these ridiculous rumors this time before they spiraled out of control. Again. Vinyl just laughed, however, smirking at me. "Modest as always! You are just so awesome, dude! You saved the entire royal orchestra and then try to shrug it off. Then you survive certain death and hold off a terrible monster until the Princess of the Moon, who you know personally, got there to stop it. Dang!" she cooed, only making it far, far worse. I glared at her, suddenly realizing she was doing it on purpose! Even the three CMC were staring at me in shock. Twilight, however, slapped her forehead. "Okay, that's it. Everypony back to the library. The apple stand is closed for now, as is my library! Back to your own business, everypony!" she called out, glaring at the crowd until they rapidly started to disperse. "Oh, I guess I'll see ya later, then?" Vinyl asked skeptically, giving Twilight a wide birth. Twilight stopped and looked back at her with a somewhat irritated expression. "I’m sorry, Vinyl. You can visit Mender in a little bit if you want, but we have some important things we need to discuss first," she apologized, nudging her head towards the tree looming over the rest of the buildings in town. Vinyl nodded and gave the universal backing off sign with her hooves towards Twilight. Applejack helped Pinkie up, and gently supported her on the side as she limped along, probably still a bit tender in spots. I trailed along after, Fluttershy shifting to my left and resuming her guardianship over my injured left foreleg. I didn't say anything at all when the three fillies hopped quietly up onto my back again. After everything that happened, I felt they deserved an explanation, too. Besides, I was actually beginning to feel like a CMC member at this point. One of my only other belongings after all was the CMC cape, which was carefully tucked away in the saddlebags I now wore. I was just glad Twilight had enough mind to bring them with her from the hospital room after telling Nurse Redheart about my impromptu checking out. I made a mental note to return to the hospital after this and talk to the doctor. Twilight didn't think they'd want me to stay any longer, however. Of course, it also turned out that I’d torn the window frame and part of the wall down when I’d fled, so they were probably a little mad at me anyway... Rarity followed along after as well, falling carefully into place at my right side instead. She gave me an uneasy smile, to which I countered with a real one and surprised her. Even though her outburst earlier had been rather silly in light of things, I realized that it probably really did bother her. The more I got to know her, the more I realized the depth of everything she didn't say. She was almost as stubborn as Applejack when it came to putting others first. Dash, however, shot me a pleased grin as she hovered in place above me momentarily before dancing forward towards the library. By the time we cleared the market, she was already at the door and opened it for all of us. Twilight flipped the sign on the door to 'closed' as she walked inside. Hey, I'd get to see Spike again, too! Finally feeling a little more relaxed about the situation, I followed everypony inside. There would be a hell of a lot of questions coming up, I had a feeling, but maybe, just maybe, it would turn out okay. My final thought before resigning myself to my fate and entering the library was of how much I sucked at keeping secrets from these mares. Chapter 36While the girls were settling and talking to each other, I took a good peek around the bottom of the library. It was familiar to me, yet not at the same time. The wood looked somewhat 'new' along almost a third of the wall behind the shelves, and there were temporary support struts that I saw organic parts of the tree actually growing around. Twilight explained that the tree was still alive and simply shaped to be a house. To repair it, she had to get Earth Ponies in to organically mend the hole. It would then 'age' to look exactly like the wood around it in a few weeks. Color me impressed, to be honest. I'm not sure what I thought the library was before, but it definitely wasn't something living in my mind. Pinkie slid back into the main room from the kitchen, balancing an entire tray of tea on her head with little effort whatsoever. She was moving a little slower than I remembered, but I suddenly had a feeling that if she were fully recovered, she could probably do a flip while balancing the thing. She set it down on the table in front of the couch, grinning at Rarity, who was its sole occupant at the moment. Spike was nearby, wielding some sort of fan and keeping Rarity cool with it. I rolled my eyes, my only regret being that I didn't see it sooner. Rainbow drifted back downstairs from the loft a moment later, followed shortly by Fluttershy, who looked a little flustered. There was a soft flush across her cheeks and her eyes darted from one side of the room to another as if looking for somepony. Strange. I further decided to not disrupt that either. Twilight was still in the kitchen with Applejack. She had insisted that we make this as civil and relaxing as possible, and warned me that she didn't really understand it fully yet, so she was going to let me do most of the talking. I was totally okay with that. For the most part. Okay, so I had a small heart attack and was mildly recovered now, and trying not to pass out. There was something unnerving about being the center of attention for me. Still, I wasn't about to enter that kitchen and protest. My paradoxically scary fillyfriend and the mare who'd just partially recovered from avoiding me were both in there at the same time. Yeah, no. That left only one option. Of course, it was actually a pretty good option, because I had to catch them up anyway. Making a series of clicks, I got Sweetie Belle's attention instantly. She alerted the other two, and soon all three fillies had wandered over to where I was located, next to the sofa in the living room. "Mender! Do ya need somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked happily upon wandering over. She'd cheered up considerably, I noticed, ever since her sister accepted being my friend again. I nodded and gave them a small smile. "I just wanted to catch you three up before I talk to everypony. I've been keeping a lot of secrets, and I'm not going to from you fillies anymore," I explained, giving them a nod. Scootaloo looked skeptical, but Apple Bloom gave me a larger smile and nod. Maybe some of her sister's appreciation for honesty had rubbed off on her? Sweetie Belle, however, almost swelled up as her eyes widened, raising both forehooves to her chin and suddenly giving me an uncomfortable level of focused attention. Her expression kind of made me feel like I was debriefing her on her mission to save all of Equestria. I blinked in confusion, and Apple Bloom started giggling. "Chill, Sweetie!" Scootaloo chided, giving her friend a skeptical look. The little unicorn filly rapidly shook her head, however, exclaiming, "This is important! Can't you see how the others are treating it? We need to take this seriously and with a proper, mature outlook!" Oddly, she kind of sounded like she was quoting something. Apple Bloom's giggling picked up a notch, and Scootaloo slapped her forehead. I coughed, however, and corrected, "She's actually right. This is a huge secret that absolutely cannot leave this room. You can't tell anypony else this, and only those present, and the Princesses, can know." The giggling stopped, Apple Bloom giving me a more wide-eyed look. Scootaloo looked surprised, but tilted her head towards me. "The Princesses know this?" she asked softly. I nodded affirmative. "Yes. It's about me, and the attack in the Everfree half a week ago," I revealed softly. All three gasped at that, and I held up a hoof to calm them down. "It's okay. You're not in danger and everything's fine. I just need you three to know this, too. I'm a Cutie Mark Crusader, even if I already have my Mark, right? That means you three need to be kept up to date on everything!" I reasoned, shifting to a smile instead. All three went from nervous to smiling, and I exhaled a quiet breath of relief. "Ah'm glad ya didn't give up bein' ah Crusader, Mender! Things are finally startin' ta look up," Apple Bloom admitted, glancing back behind her at her sister, who was just exiting the kitchen with a tray of what looked like miniature cakes. Uh oh. I hope these didn't require etiquette or anything to eat. Well, maybe making a total idiot of myself would lighten the mood? Gotta stay positive, Mender! "Yeah! Rainbow's obviously right, of course. You really are a pretty awesome stallion," Scootaloo chirped, fluttering her wings a little and smiling at me. I resisted laughing, noticing she seemed to have a bit of hero worship for Rainbow. Huh. I wonder if the similar goals made her get along with Spike? I nodded towards them, noticing Rarity watching me with a soft smile out of the corner of my eye. At least I'd gotten off to a better start with her and Sweetie Belle. "Anyways, what I'm about to tell you is going to be really hard to believe, but it's the absolute truth. Anypony in this room will say the same thing," I warned, shifting to a solemn expression instead. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shifted up straight instantly, almost rigid in posture as they paid close attention. Scootaloo, however, looked downright giddy and her grin got wider as she watched me. Well, at least I knew I had her attention, too. Summary time! "Equestria is sometimes connected to another dimension. It's a bit random, but every once in a while, your dimension will 'brush up' against another that's close to it. When that happens, there's a very tiny chance that things can pass between the two," I started, hoping it didn't go right over their heads. Three blank stares. Damn it. Rarity started snickering out of the corner of my eye. New idea! "Okay, think of Equestria as a bubble or ball floating in a pond. There are other bubbles in the same pond that are drifting around, right? Sometimes they bump into each other, however, and when that happens, things can go between the bubbles," I tried, relaxing a bit more as I lay down to drop myself down to their height. "Ooooh," Scootaloo muttered, holding a hoof up to her chin. Sweetie Belle was smiling now, however, and gave me rapid nods. Apple Bloom didn't look confused anymore, but instead seemed deep in thought. "Inside these bubbles are entire other worlds full of strange individuals and places. Some aren't even ponies. We use the term 'aliens' for them," I continued. Sweetie Belle made a quiet 'Oooh' noise, but Apple Bloom looked more shocked now than anything. Scootaloo surprised me, exclaiming almost instantly, "Oh wow! That's so cool! For true?" I nodded and put my left hoof over my heart in the almost universally accepted 'pledge' gesture. "Honest and true. None of what I'm going to say is a lie. I'm not joking in the slightest," I reiterated softly. All three fillies seemed to focus attention back on me, so I took that moment to continue. "Here's the absolute biggest secret. The reason I know all of this for a certain fact is because I'm one of those aliens," I tacked on, then counted to three. It only took until two. Apple Bloom's jaw dropped at the same time Sweetie Belle's eyes doubled in size. I held back a snicker, but Scootaloo beat me to the punch with, "No way! This is one of Pinkie's pranks, isn't it?!" "Sorry, Scoots. He's tellin' tha absolute truth. He really is an alien," was suddenly spoken by an extremely familiar voice. I glanced to my left, past the leg rest of the sofa, and beheld Applejack as she slowly walked up. Her emerald eyes keenly avoided mine as I sought them out, and she sat down hesitantly next to us. "Whoa," was all Scootaloo could mutter. I smiled back at the little filly, who had looked back to me instead. Sweetie Belle, however, got distracted really easily, I noticed. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why are you two upset with each other? Sis said something bad happened, but I'm not really sure what she meant," she asked, looking over at Applejack and apparently noticing the glum expression. Well, glad to see she was taking me being an alien okay! "Ah hurt Mender really bad tha night o' tha attack because of ah stupid misunderstandin'. It was all mah fault. If Ah had just given him ah drop o' trust an' looked inta things, he wouldn't have his leg like that," she explained softly. I watched her instead of them. She refused to raise her eyes from the floor, and I sighed. Remembering what Celestia pointed out, I asked the most obvious question I could think of. "What is it going to take for you to forgive yourself, Applejack?" She jerked, then looked up at me with a startled expression. "W-What? No, Mender. Ah need ta get ya ta forgive me," she 'corrected' after a minor hesitation. I smirked and nodded. "Okay. I forgive you. Now what?" I asked, a bit amused this time. Scootaloo snorted and started snickering, while Apple Bloom beamed at me. Applejack's next expression reminded me of all the many times my 'processor' shut down. It was that familiar state where you heard something so unfathomable that your mind simply refuses to consider what had been said. It happened to me more often than I would like. "No, it can't be that easy, Mender. Come on, ya gotta be at least ah little mad at me!" she exclaimed, at least looking at me now. "Well, I'm not. I was really sad when you said you didn't want to be my friend anymore, but you took that back, which meant a lot to me. Beyond that, you were protecting who you thought was Twilight. Why would I be angry with you for wanting to protect my fillyfriend?" I reasoned quietly. Again. The whole conversation reeked of déjà vu. Didn’t I just tell her this? She was extremely stubborn. "She's upset not for protecting me, but for not even considering trusting you, Mender. Does her not trusting you hurt?" Twilight herself suddenly asked. I started at her sudden appearance as she walked in from the right, but flattened my ears back at the topic. It wasn't that it didn't hurt exactly. I'd come to start expecting it, especially from Twilight herself and Applejack. My eyes softened a little. It had been a long and rocky road, but I was finally starting to think that Twilight was maybe trusting me a bit more. Applejack, however... The mare in question also drooped her ears. "That! That's what Ah wanna fix. Ah hate idlin' around and doin' nothing, an' RD's right. Ah ran away fer too long. So how can Ah make that hurt less?" she asked intently, locking gazes with me. I hesitated, not only unsure of what she was expecting me to say to that, but mildly wondering how my explanation had gotten derailed so badly. "This should wait till later, Applejack. What he's going to explain in a bit is going to make things a little more complex," Twilight warned. Confliction hit, as I was both happy she got me out of answering that right away, and somewhat flustered that it was almost time for me to talk in front of all of these potentially exceedingly judgmental mares. My head lowered and I sighed, nodding. "Yeah. I'm giving everypony here a 'get out of jail free' card on my friendship after I finish explaining everything today. I'm not so sure I'd want to be my friend either, if I’d known the truth," I warned, swallowing weakly. That was my biggest concern for today. Applejack looked startled, but Rarity gasped suddenly in my depth of vision behind her. "What are you even talking about, Mender?! I know I can speak for anypony in this room when I say that we're never going to not be your friend!" she reprimanded intensely, surprisingly vehement about it. I shivered, and then looked up at her again with my scanners fully activated. She stopped mid-rant and widened her eyes as mine undoubtedly shifted to glowing blue right in front of her. "Rarity, I lied to you all. Even myself. Nirru told me a lot of things that I didn't know about myself. I'm not a pony," I revealed gently. The room had shifted dead silent and it was extremely unnerving. Feeling awkward, I hopped up on the sofa next to me and sat down lightly on the cushion. Rarity was just gawking as if I'd turned into an octopus or something. I hadn't yet, so I figured she was just shocked. Pinkie looked more excited than nervous as she hopped up over the back of the couch and landed next to a still stunned Rarity. I was reasonably sure she'd still be my friend. Rainbow looked apprehensive, but fluttered down behind the surprised Applejack and pulled her back over to the couch. The orange mare looked startled, but nodded back to her and sat down on the couch cushion next to her. Maybe it was their more recent involvement, or a lack of having fully processed the last surprise, but the fillies seemed significantly less surprised. They looked at each other momentarily until Scootaloo shrugged, then all three nodded and turned back around, Apple Bloom raising her hoof up. Huh? "Er, yes Apple Bloom?" I questioned, wondering if their schooling techniques were similar to my own. "After a unanimous vote, we've decided that you're still a Crusader and that we don't mind whatever it is you are," she informed, smiling gently. I blinked. "Er, you haven't even seen it yet!" I exclaimed, my brain doing a belly flop. Impressive, considering it lacked the anatomy to do so. "So? You're still Mender. You're awesome and very nice! I wouldn't care if you were a scary looking dragon. I'd still totally... uh... we'd all be your friend still and well, you'd be a Crusader!" Sweetie Belle explained, jumbling her words halfway through and seemingly getting confused, a light blush on her face. Oh, I knew that feeling. Open mouth, insert hoof. I smiled at her and nodded, trying to make her feel better. Twilight, however, was giving me her best Cheshire grin, looking deeply impish and amused. I glared at her instantly, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Yes, I know. You told me that, too. Still, I'm going to give everypony the option. It's only fair after I accidentally lied to you all," I cut her off, far before she could start the 'I told you so' part. Regardless, she nodded happily to me. "I don't understand, Mender? Are you not a Keldarian?" Rarity asked, finally seemingly recovering from her system shock and settling herself on the couch, subconsciously combing her tail back down with her hoof while asking. Spike, who had dropped the fan when I revealed the prior information, apparently decided to give it up and sat down next to the object of his desires instead, watching me curiously. I shook my head, however. "I thought I was, but it turns out those memories aren't mine. I'm a clone of that individual. They took his DNA, created me from it, 'enhanced' me with mechanical parts, and then sent me to Equestria prematurely by accident. Something happened in the transfer and I lost my memories, becoming, well, me," I summarized weakly. More silence, but of a less profound variety this time. I took advantage of it and explained everything I could about what happened after I was taken that night, leaving out or smoothing over the nastier details, of course. * * * * * I'd told them everything I could about Nirru, Keela, Prudentia, and myself. It was difficult to explain what a biological weapon was, so I ended up simplifying it while still trying to get the point across that it was the most horrifying thing I'd ever seen. The expressions ranged from disbelief, to shock, to confusion throughout the explanation, as I'd anticipated. It took the better part of an hour, but finally I gave my dry throat a rest and sat back down, feeling empty and cold. No matter how big of a burden it was, letting ponies know always made me feel even emptier more than anything. I thought you were supposed to feel better after getting 'rid' of a secret? Fluttershy had migrated from the rug next to the table to squeeze in right next to me over the course of the explanation. She was the only solace I took at the moment. I was a little surprised, but not really. After I scooted over, there was enough room for both of us to sit on the meter-wide sofa cushion. Every time I hesitated, she'd shoot me a reassuring smile, and I'd feel better. Twilight also stayed positive throughout the entire thing, but remained on the couch with the rest of her friends. Silence prevailed in the room at this point. The fillies were quiet too, seemingly more out of respect than being disturbed. Rarity wore a passive smile, having apparently absorbed the information and relaxed again. Whatever I was to her now, it wasn't a threat, which at least made me feel a little better. Spike was looking back and forth between Rarity and me, looking uncertain but calm. Twilight gave us a gentle smile and nod, but Rainbow had a somewhat unsure expression. She wasn't looking at me, but at Applejack instead. The orange mare held a horrified expression, and had been wearing it since halfway through my story. I didn't know what to do about it, as it wasn't the part I had expected her to be horrified at. She practically melted down, interrupting with a startled 'What?!' when I got to the point where I'd technically died. Twilight attempted to assure her that it was only momentarily and only technically because my heart stopped. Now she wore a shell-shocked expression, which was only magnified by the bloodshot eyes and sullen look. Pinkie, however, was shivering sporadically with a massive grin on her face. "It's so cool! Can we see it?! Huh?" she asked, smashing the awkward silence with all the grace of an egg being hit by an avalanche. "Pinkie!" Rarity reprimanded instantly, switching from relaxed to horrified in an instant, also for a reason unexpected by me. I blinked, a little confused. "Aww. Come on. It's not that scary, and I wouldn't mind seeing it, either," Scootaloo cut in, also grinning now. I rolled my eyes. Now all that was left was for Rainbow to- "Yeah! It's totally awesome, Rarity. Gross looking tentacles and beetle-like carapace all with glowing blue eyes!" the rainbow maned mare chipped in, right on time. My ears flattened back at how she worded it, though. Everypony gave her a questioning look, and she lowered herself a little. I sighed and shook my head, vision activating a moment later with scanners. "If you're sure," I warned, voice splitting into two as the armor plating expanded across my neck, chest, and shoulders before moving on to the rest of my body, seamlessly merging out of my skin as if it were simply my flesh given new form. I closed my eyes momentarily as I felt the plates shift over my eyelids, then stretched my back as the armor finished popping out over my rump, my tail getting stiffer and more wiry as it momentarily sparked with electricity. I opened my eyes again with a light clinking noise of the 'metal' plates, and skimmed the expressions now. Rarity wore surprise, of course, but it didn't particularly hold any fear. Pinkie and Scootaloo looked more delighted than before, while Sweetie and Apple Bloom looked more curious than anything. Dash held a grin this time, which was infinitely relieving to see. Applejack shifted to a blank expression instead and simply passively watched. Huh. I was expecting a more violent reaction. Fluttershy simply shifted over as my plates popped out, then resumed lying up against me after I finished transforming and wouldn't pinch her with any of the shifting armor. Spike was the one who actually surprised me, however. He hopped off the couch a moment later and scampered towards me, stopping in front of the sofa and staring with focused intent at my right foreleg. "Whoa! This is cool. It's like big dragon scales!" he described, sliding a claw along the plate there. "Fascinating! I should do a consistency test at some point," Twilight muttered, suddenly looking more curious than supportive. Oh boy. Scootaloo squirmed, however. "This is awesome! You turned into this to kick the flank of that scary imposter?" she asked, hopping down and running over as well. This instantly prompted the other two fillies to join in, both smiling now. I raised an eyebrow, but nodded. That was, um, technically true, even if the wording was a tad colorful. "Yeah. I honestly thought you'd think it was scary," I explained. My back flexed as the eight tendrils slowly and carefully expanded from my back. I was in no hurry to form them, as I didn't think steaming pores and smelly ooze was a good first impression to make. Twilight's curiosity shifted instantly to the new appendages, and Fluttershy gave them an unsure but unwavering glance. "No way! Can you pick things up with those?!" the orange filly asked a moment later, hopping up and down in front of me. I laughed, extending my front left tendril down and gently wrapping it around her stomach. She squeaked, then cheered as I lifted her up and swayed her around. Fluttershy outright smiled at that, oddly. Despite the underlying creepiness, Scootaloo was adorable, I had to admit. "Oooh, me too!" Apple Bloom called out. "Um, be gentle?" Sweetie requested a moment later, also extending her hooves up like Apple Bloom. I resisted the spike in sugar levels just from watching them, and slipped three more tentacles down and lightly picked both fillies up. Spike grinned until I snatched him up too. He gave me a marginally annoyed look before laughing as I flipped him upside down. All four tentacles spiraled around in the air and tied up with each other as I spun them around, getting happy squeals. Well, this was a nice new use for my added attachments. I smiled up at them as I spun them back the other way, untangling my limbs again. Pinkie hopped off the couch after being able to no longer stand it. "Oooh, me too!" she squealed, smiling happily. Frowning, I put two more of the tentacles against the floor to brace myself before wrapping my second to last one around her. Carefully, I gave her a double wrap, making sure to avoid the area where she was hurt. I gently pushed energy down the tendrils as well, massaging into her side as I lifted her up and twirled her around. She cooed happily, and then started giggling as I rotated her. "How many can you grow?" Twilight asked, standing up now as well and hopping down to get a closer look. I frowned. That was a good question, actually. "I only tried eight because I'm only using one processor to control them and I didn't know what its upper limit is," I excused, focusing again. Another tendril popped out of each shoulder, giving me ten. I expanded two more off my back hips, another two from the side of my stomach on each side, and then two more from my chest. Frowning, I started to feel more like an urchin than a pony. That was twenty-two, then, given that each tentacle was mirrored. "Uh, whoa. That's enough, Mender. It's getting hard to see you," Twilight warned, pulling a tentacle down with her magic and peeking at it. "Twenty-two of them is running the one processor to about seventy percent, but it's giving me error readouts now, so I might not be able to control them fully," I explained, starting to pull the excess back into myself. The processors hadn't been repaired yet, however. I made a note to start running some repair diagnostics on them when I went to bed. Applejack edged off the couch and walked towards me as well, looking unsure, but somewhat curious. "Ooooh, hi, Applejack!" Pinkie squealed. I lowered her, upside-down, towards Applejack on her cue. The orange mare smiled and looked up at her as I extended her down. "Well, this ain't as bad as Ah was expectin'. So yer some sorta part pony, part machine?" she asked, giving a passing tentacle a skeptical examination. I nodded weakly. "An organic machine. My body is a shapeshifter, technically. Its natural form is a pony, but I can shift parts of it at will, as you can see," I summarized, flailing a tentacle about to my side. Sweetie Belle took that moment to untangle herself from one of the tendrils and slide down it, landing lightly on my back. Fluttershy started giggling. "Oooh, you're toasty warm," the little filly pointed out, slipping up closer to my head and lying down. I used the tentacle she was riding before and lightly coiled it over her, causing her to coo as I covered her up with the heat. Rarity perked up, trotting over as well. I also felt Rainbow take to the air and start batting at one of the free tendrils in the air. Apple Bloom started whooping as she spun around, and Scootaloo started trying to chase her, using her little wings as propellant. "Warm, you say? Honestly, up close, it doesn't look that bad. In the dark, this might be scary, but simply realizing that Mender is in control..." Rarity spoke up, running a hoof along the plate of my left shoulder. "I'm in full control right now. I was a lot scarier that night. Nirru made me so angry. I hated her. I completely destroyed her," I muttered hollowly, lowering myself into a lying position on the sofa. My tentacles stopped spinning and I gently set the two extremely dizzy fillies down on the floor, then pulled the tentacles back inside of myself, watching as Pinkie landed gently back on her hooves, swaying back and forth happily. Fluttershy brushed her muzzle along the plates on my neck gently, smiling at me. "She wanted to hurt all of us. You only got mad when she threatened Ponyville, right?" she asked softly, almost directly into my left ear. I couldn't manage to stay depressed when she was around, I noticed. Smiling, I glanced back over at her and nodded. "She threatened both you and Twilight, and then said she wanted to destroy Ponyville. I had to do something. I hated her. I couldn't let her do bad things to everypony, so I turned into this and stopped her," I reiterated. Of course, I clearly left out the part where 'stopping her' involved ripping her apart slowly so she felt every little motion. The older mares probably figured that out, however. Rainbow did for certain, as she coughed lightly and looked away. She'd been there and saw all the blood, of course. "Hum. I can't say that I like the new form. It's not very appealing to look at and it appears to be made for things not really needed in Equestria, in my opinion. Still, I'm not going to give up on being friends with you just because of this," Rarity finally spoke up, sounding unsure of her wording, but admitting her feelings finally, regardless. My eyes lowered, but I nodded tiredly. "I understand. Thank you. I know this form is disgusting and unnecessary here," I agreed quietly. She was being honest, at least. Applejack showed the same uncertainty, but was trying to hide it under a positive guise. That made for three neutrals, and three positives amidst the Elements. That was a better outcome than I predicted. The fillies seemed largely for it, even if Sweetie Belle was a little unsure. I had worried she especially wouldn't like me anymore. Spike seemed somewhere between interested and deciding it didn't affect anything. Ultimately, this was far better than I could have hoped. “I never said disgusting. Hmm. Maybe a touch up or two…” Rarity murmured a moment later, peeking over my armored plates before seemingly slipping into thought. I suddenly got the unexplainable sensation of dread. Still, it had snapped me out of my inner thoughts, and I was more than a little startled to find everypony in the room staring at me. Eh?! "Mender, are you okay? We never asked you what you thought about everything," Fluttershy reminded softly, sounding a little sad. My eyes softened, causing me to look away from her. I was suddenly distinctly aware of how many ponies were in the room. "It's fairly easy to tell what he thinks about all of this, given his last response. Mender, I never said you were disgusting," Rarity reminded gently, louder this time and stepping a little closer to me. Idly, I was quite interested in finding out what she’d been thinking about. Twilight stepped forward before I could respond, hopping up and placing her forelegs on the cushion with Fluttershy and me. Her nose bumped up against mine and she locked eyes with me. "You're still worried that this sudden discovery makes you fake, right?" she asked gently, watching me carefully. I stared back for a moment before lowering my head again. "Being a clone isn't that bad, I guess. I saw the information about my creation. Dr. Kyliona, the Keldarian who created me, changed so much of my genetics that I might as well be a totally different individual. I'm sad that the memories I have of my life and family aren't mine, but there are worse things," I explained before trailing off. A glance showed me that Twilight was giving me absolute attention, which was actually a little unnerving. I forced down the urge to hide from so many ponies, and made myself continue with, "I wish I could separate which memories are mine and which are his. Especially the really bad ones. But then, I also am uncomfortable with being part organic robot, too. I just want to be normal and stay here without causing problems all the time." I think this was the first time I'd really mentioned what I had wanted, or what was bothering me. Twilight's look of intense focus shifted to a smile instead, and she nodded gently. "We're here to help in any way we can, Mender. As your friends, we'll do whatever's needed. I might be able to help you with the memories thing. If you feel up to it, I'll start connecting to you with my magic each night and help you try to sort them out. I want you to be rested up first, though," she suggested. I blinked, then remembered what she did way back when we had first met a month or so ago. "Do you think we can really figure out where my memories start and his stop?" I asked, unsure of the whole process. The mare seriously knew what she was doing, though, so I trusted her. Twilight smirked and nodded confidently, shifting everypony else's expressions to smiles as well. "I think it's a splendid idea! Further, it might help you adjust more to being the pony that you are now if we got you a position in the neighborhood. A job you'd be particularly good at is your inventing and repairing," Rarity chipped in, suddenly seeming to forget that I was in my alternate form as she started rapidly considering. "Oh yeah! Ah can get word o' mouth goin' about yer skills. There's tons o' stuff around town that needs repair, an' Ah'm sure quite ah few ponies would be interested in yer inventin' skills," Applejack agreed, also shifting to seemingly thinking intently. A job, huh? Well having my own income to help support the library would certainly be nice. Plus, they seemed intent on treating me like a normal pony, which made me feel significantly better as well. Pinkie was vibrating at this point, grin looking like it might pop off her face if she expanded it any further. "Exactly! Oh, this is going to be so fun! I've already got a super duper party in the works. It's maybe my biggest yet! I'll introduce you to everypony I can manage in Ponyville, and you'll probably get lots of friends to help ya," the pink mare fired off in rapid salvo. "Uh, just don't hurt yourself, Pinkie. I'm worried about your sides," I reminded, gesturing to where she'd hurt her ribs earlier. It was really, really hard to tell, but I could have sworn I saw her blush for a moment before her grin shifted to a happy smile instead. "Aww! You're so nice, Mender. You don't have to worry about me. I know everypony is, so I'll be super careful," she promised, giving me a double nod. Fluttershy pushed harder into my left side suddenly, brushing her cheek along mine where they connected. I smiled over at her, and she added, "I'm not, well, exactly sure how I could help, but I’ll try my hardest for anything you and Twilight need." She flushed as well as she spoke, glancing to the left a little at the lavender mare, who was smiling happily at her. They really did get along quite well. "Enough of the mushy stuff, sheesh! We'll all help Mender in our own ways, so no worries. Just don't crowd him. I think he needs to feel surer of himself! More awesome! I'll try my absolute hardest in that regard," Rainbow interrupted suddenly, grinning and hovering into the air with a bold pose. I raised an eyebrow to her, but Applejack snorted and tugged her back down by the tail. "Careful ya don't drown him with yer ego. What, exactly, are ya gonna do ta help, then?" she questioned, giving her friend a skeptical glance. Rainbow momentarily looked annoyed at the tail tug, but thought for a moment. It didn't take long before she grinned again, sitting on the floor this time. "That's easy! He has that wing thingy he can enchant me with. We go out and practice each day with that. I fly around with him making my wings heavier instead. I get practice with my flying and build up that inner magic thing he explained, and he gets practice maintaining his magic, too. And if I remember, that means his earth pony body is gonna get bigger and stronger at the same time!" Rainbow explained a moment later. My eyes widened. I hadn't anticipated her giving a viable solution to help me with. Sure, it helped her, too, but that was actually a really good idea. Applejack looked impressed for a moment before hiding it and smirking. "Doesn't that help you more than him?" she pointed out a moment later. The cyan mare's retaliatory glare was instant, and scary. "She's right about it making him stronger. If I had to guess, it would also speed up his recovery time," Twilight muttered, drawing forth an appealing conclusion indeed. She seemed deep in thought, however, which mildly scared me if she managed to shoot that out as a mere afterthought. Applejack looked surprised again, but smiled. "Okay then, it's settled. Ah'm gonna whip up some solid meals fer Mender, too, ta boost tha recovery process. Rainbow an' him can use Sweet Apple Acres ta practice at tha same time!" she offered, directing it over at Rainbow as well. Rainbow Dash looked more than a little surprised before she gave her friend a grin and nod. Heh, like she'd refuse spending even more time at Applejack's place. The food sounded really appealing as well, after having hospital food for so long. "Oooh, I'll help you fix up some really good meals, AJ!" Spike suddenly chipped in, apparently wanting to help as well. Applejack's expression fell a moment later, however, as she glanced towards the little dragon. "Ah dunno, Spike. Remember last time?" she suddenly asked. Last time? Spike frowned and rapidly shook his head. "No, no, Applejack! Last time doesn't count. I was so out of it trying to impress you that I just wasn't myself," he tried to explain, looking rather devastated, actually. "He's a hard worker, and his cooking is top notch from what I've seen," I added, vouching for the little guy as best I could manage. He looked momentarily startled before smiling over at me warmly. "Really? Ya must've been really outta it then, last time! Well, Ah guess it wouldn't hurt ta give ya another chance. Go easy on tha kitchen this time, though," Applejack relented, giving Spike a smile and nod instead. He pumped his fist and did a little hop into the air before running forward and hugging the farm mare, who just chuckled. I snickered and turned back to Twilight, who was cooing happily but remaining silent over the whole ordeal. She seemed pleased that I spoke up for him instead, if I was reading her warm smile correctly. Her eyes stared into mine as she gave my nose another nuzzle as well. Fluttershy blushed next to me, but managed a timid smile as well. Twilight noticed instantly, however, and looked over to Fluttershy instead. Oh? The yellow mare perked and returned her attention, if not slightly more confused looking. My official fillyfriend smiled, though, and leaned forwards, giving Fluttershy a light nuzzle as well, directly across the cheek. My eyes widened, but nowhere near as fast as Fluttershy's as her cheeks exploded into a heated flush. A light and weak squeak managed to slip out of the surprised mare as she hunched backwards, staring at Twilight in shock. "Hee. You're so adorable, Fluttershy. I'm really glad you want to join us," Twilight finally spoke up, looking pleased by the reaction. Fluttershy's flush expanded as her eyes started shivering. "R-Really?" she whispered, voice barely there at all. "Of course! Taking vows as a herd means we get to be together forever. I, well, would really like that. I think the three of us being together for all time is very romantic, and I'm starting to like the thought more and more," Twilight admitted, giving me a confident grin too. She was starting to work through her apprehensions then and become more certain of her feelings? I smiled gently before hearing Fluttershy's quiet whimper. Glancing over at the yellow mare, I noticed that her face might as well have been pink rather than yellow, given how much her blush had expanded. Wait, I'd never thought about it before, but how was I able to notice her blushing through all that fur? I noticed the coat along the face seemed to tint red alongside the increased blood flow to the area, but why did it do that? Was there some biological reason for it to do so? I added it to my substantial list of questions I'd probably never end up remembering to ask Twilight. It's a pity I'd forgotten to get a look at my flank after it was shaved to see if my Cutie Mark was tattooed onto my skin or not. "Fluttershy! Are you okay?" Twilight asked, eyes expanding as she noticed the yellow and now excessively pink mare. It went well with her mane, anyway. Fluttershy nodded timidly and shrank down a little bit, burying her snout in the crook under my left shoulder. I smiled at her before my head was suddenly shoved downwards violently. I whacked into my armored forelegs, and then glanced upwards towards the source of the sudden weight added to my skull. Sweetie Belle smiled and waved down at me, apparently having landed there from the back of the sofa. "We want to help you, too, Mender. You need exercise to get walking right again, so what if your fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders help you do that? We could make sure you don't fall, and help you around town and stuff!" my new hat suggested hopefully, a soft grin playing at the edges of her mouth. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom gathered to the right of Twilight in my vision a moment later. "Seriously? What are we gonna do, be a pillow for him to land on or something?" Scootaloo asked skeptically, shooting Sweetie Belle a glare. "How about you help keep me company while Rainbow does her practicing? Being able to use my magic while holding a conversation would be a good challenge, plus company is always nice. You'll also get to watch Rainbow practice, Scootaloo," I suggested pointedly. Twilight gave me a skeptical glance this time instead, but my attempt to bribe the little filly probably was a little on the obvious side. Still, it worked like a charm. "R-Really? You'd let me, uh, well, I mean, of course. That would be fun and all. I wouldn't mind watching Rainbow practice," the orange filly said far too quickly, shifting to a more reserved and 'cool' tone halfway through. I smirked at her. She shot me a scowl, and I resisted laughing. Oh yeah, I was supposed to pretend not to notice. "That's the spirit, Kid! Maybe I'll even take ya flying while I practice! Added weight will help me, and the added experience will help you!" Rainbow herself tacked on, giving a sparkling smile to the young pegasus. Scootaloo's mental meltdown was rather amusing to watch and I couldn't seem to look away. It didn't help that she was absolutely adorable to me, like the rest of the fillies. "You're super nice, Mender. Of course we'll keep you company," Sweetie agreed, leaning forward on me again to peek down while saying it. Apple Bloom nodded in agreement before crawling up onto the right hoof rest next to me, sitting up once she got to the top as if it were a perch, and she a gargoyle of sorts. "Ah can come keep ya company after mah chores are done, o' course. We got ah lot ta do before tha break next week," she spoke up, once again referencing that. What was next week? Wait, didn't somepony just say something about that? I wracked my brain trying to think of what it was. "Thank you for all of your help, everypony. I don't want to be a burden, but so long as I can do something in return for all of you, I could probably use the help," I finally admitted, somehow without hiding or blushing profusely. Pinkie grinned and shook her head repeatedly, almost becoming a blur for a second. "It's totally fine, Mender. Now, onwards with the super important things! It's time to plan a party!" she declared loudly, rib damage apparently not hampering her lungs in the slightest. I chuckled while everypony else winced at the outburst. My armor plates folded up again when she was done, of course. A break would be nice, indeed. "I agree, Pinkie. I agree," I finally said. * * * * * Yawning, I gave a blank stare ahead while Nurse Redheart carefully unplugged wires from my foreleg. How long had we been here? Twilight sat to my right, reading over paperwork that was drifting in front of her via that oh so familiar purple aura. I peeked over at her, momentarily distracting myself from intently staring at the hospital room wall. "Well, you're recovering remarkably for the most part. According to the scans, it's about week seven of your recovery, even though it's technically only day three, by a normal pony standard. Princess Celestia's magic is powerful indeed. It's a pity she doesn't make exceptions for using it more often," Redheart muttered, turning away from me and looking over the notes in my rather impressive file. How I'd accumulated three inches of hospital paperwork in a month was beyond me. Twilight sighed and shook her head tiredly. Clocky told me that it was well past twenty-one hundred hours. We should really be sleeping about now. "I've answered that question way too frequently the last few days. Her intervention had nothing to do with him being my coltfriend. She's already revealed that this was a dimensional attacker at work that had been thwarted. She helped heal Mender due to the extraordinary situation," she explained rapidly. I detected a few potential slips in that explanation, but decided against saying anything. I suppose everypony would want her healing them if she didn't make it look like this was a special occasion. "Oh, I know. It was just wishful thinking," Nurse Redheart assured, smiling as she turned back around again. "But you know it wasn't just her. You're fully aware that Princess Celestia has a direct Seal of Silence order on all of Mender's medical records, right?" Twilight reminded, causing me to swallow uneasily. It felt like I was being hidden away when she said it like that. Was that for my protection or theirs? The nurse's smile remained unwavering, however, as she nodded. "Of course. It's the same as Spike's, after all. Only his primary doctor, surgeon, and myself know that Mender isn't exactly a pony," she confirmed. I shuddered quietly. Twilight didn't smile back, but simply nodded. "Are we clear to go for the night, then?" she asked, after a moment's hesitation. "Yes. I'll let the doctor know what's going on when he gets back in the morning. He'll probably want a follow up for Mender in a few weeks to check the leg, but other than that, you're all set," she replied in a rather cheerful manner. I smiled faintly at her. She was a remarkably resilient mare for having to put up with all of this. I'd have probably snapped under pressure by now. "Thank you, Nurse Redheart," I said, giving her a gentle bow of my head. Twilight smiled finally and nodded to the nurse as well, who looked somewhat flustered, but grinned back. "It's my job, Mender. You don't need to thank me for it," Redheart explained absently as she opened the door to the room for us. "More like a full time commitment for Mender. But thank you for helping us," Twilight added, following me as I slowly hobbled out the door, careful not to put too much weight on the lightly throbbing limb. Lying down in a few minutes was going to feel amazing, I had a feeling. Twilight moved up to my side as we wandered through the hospital. So many of the ponies recognized her instantly and gave her happy nods and waves. I was impressed at how well known she was, but realized it was probably a foregone conclusion. She had a lot of things going in her favor when it came to notoriety. Now 'Somewhat Psychotic Coltfriend' could be added to that list. I'd yet to decide if that was actually a good thing. "Whew. What a day," she muttered after we finally got our first breath of fresh air in what seemed like hours. Wait, it had been hours. Regardless, I nodded in sympathetic agreement. "Falling into my cot tonight is going to feel amazing. I'm exhausted," I murmured, peeking up at the night sky as I walked. The cool air and breeze that nipped past my leg felt wonderful against the superheated skin. The stars high above were gorgeous as well. I remembered that was one part of my old world that I had cherished up until the very end. The night sky had never lost its stars. A light twinge of bitterness shot through me. Was I even allowed to reminisce about memories that weren't mine? I resisted snorting. No, forget it. This memory was mine. This moment and every second hereafter was something I could distinctly claim as my own. My old universe could go to hell. "Thank you, Mender," Twilight suddenly said, piercing the silence floating around me. My awareness shifted back to myself instantly as I made sure none of the anger was visible. "Huh? For what?" I inquired, a little confused. Had I zoned out again and missed a part of her sentence? I really needed to break out of that habit. Twilight giggled, however, so I assumed she was teasing me with it again. "For still being you. I know it's silly and probably rather nonsensical, but I'm kind of glad you're a clone," she revealed, tossing the metaphorical penny onto the track of my train of thought. Apparently, my train of thought controlled my walking too, because I halted almost immediately. "Wait, what?" I questioned, maybe a little harsher than intended. She stopped walking as well and turned back around, looking at me carefully. "I meant no disrespect, of course. I'm just glad because it divorces you further from that dimension. There's so much pain and misery back there. I'm glad you're not a direct product of it, honestly. It also makes you uniquely you rather than an alien with tons and tons of prior history, if that makes sense," she explained quietly, watching me in the light of the moon. There was nopony around, but it was still an awkward topic. "So kinda like a blank slate?" I suggested, starting up my forward momentum again. She fell into place next to me as I continued towards the library. "Yup. It makes me feel more comfortable. Instead of a scary alien like you were before, you're just the familiar Mender I already feel safe around," she furthered, smiling again as she lined up our shoulders while moving. I blinked, and then gave her a skeptical glance. "You, afraid of something?" That didn't sound like Twilight, really. She laughed, and then shook her head. "Hardly. I'm not fearless, Mender. I know you probably think I'm some sort of 'master' of you or something because of your old culture, but that's far from the truth. I'm a scared mare who doesn't really know what to do with herself, and who's really far out of her comfort zone," she corrected, the last part sounding a little bitter instead. A familiar level of bitterness, actually. "You blame yourself for not being comfortable with it," I reasoned, not really asking anything. She sounded like I did sometimes when I wasn't pleased with the cards I'd been dealt. She slowly shook her head as we reached the door to the library, deciding to give it a blank stare instead. "Of course I blame me. I wasn't prepared for you, of all things. Almost everything about you caught me off guard, and that's not something I'm comfortable with. I care about you in quite a different way than I care about the girls, and that's scary. I'm not trying to control you, Mender. Although, I admit to manipulating things to be more... comforting to me," she whispered, seemingly more talking to the door than me. "Celestia gave me a lot of advice about that, too. We both have our faults, Twilight," I reminded, getting her instant attention when I dropped her mentor's name. "She talked about, um, us?" she asked hesitantly, eyes widening as she slowly turned to face me. I distracted her by opening up the door instead. "Yeah. She 'approves' of us, for what it's worth. She told me a lot of things that kinda gave me hope for the future again. I'd been worried that nopony would want to be my friend anymore after finding out what I am." That secret was probably obvious to her, but it felt good to get it off my chest. We both headed inside and into the darkened main floor. Only the fireplace was going and dimly lighting the room up. I smiled at the sight of Spike, who was asleep on the armrest of the couch, facing the door. He'd tried to stay awake for us after all. "I know it's hard, Mender, but you need to have more faith in us. Trust us. We're not Keldarians," Twilight whispered, hanging up her saddlebags and shaking herself lightly. I watched her coat fluff up, and then straighten again with a light dusting of magic. I just tipped myself backwards after sliding the fastener open on my stomach. My bags slid off my back and bumped onto the floor gently. I blinked as I felt similar magic ruffle through my coat along my back and straighten out the matting from my straps. The same magic then lifted my bag as well, hanging it on the hook next to hers as she glanced over at it. Leaning in, I gave her a warm peck on the cheek just as she turned back away from the wall. Her startled hop into the air made me smirk, and earned a playfully annoyed glare from her. "Mmm. Sorry. You were just too cute there," I apologized softly, just in case I had misread the 'playful' part of her expression. She grinned and stretched forwards, however, planting an encouraging, and extremely pleasant kiss directly on my lips instead. Smiling into her, I pushed forwards a bit more, causing the mare to release a pleased groan against my mouth. She finally sighed softly and backed up a bit, smiling warmly at me with slightly upturned eyes. For once, I didn't actually blush, although there was a light tint to both our cheeks. I wasn't embarrassed, I realized. That was the first time we'd kissed without that lingering feeling of awkwardness afterwards as I expected my lungs to be pulled out through my nose. All Twilight had ever really, truly done was throw a bed in my general direction. Why was I so afraid of her? Her especially. All the mares made me nervous, except for maybe Fluttershy, but Twilight had been absolutely terrifying. Twilight was oblivious to my internal interrogation, of course. She knocked me out of it when I felt her fur brush along my neck. There was nothing urgent as she leaned into me; there was no sensation of heat or burning passion. Her forelegs wrapped around me as her weight caused me to sit down, and she just held herself against me gently. I breathed in her scent, wrapping both of my forelegs around her as well as she shivered there. My magic activated, giving her a light jolt as it coursed through her, shot along the floor, and gently closed the door. Now onlookers couldn't peek in, and the chilly breeze wouldn't touch her fur. She leaned back and smiled at me again, eyelids lowering as a light blush danced across her cheeks. "Thank you, Mender. You thought I was cold, didn't you?" she asked softly. I tilted my head questioningly, asking, "Oh? You weren't?" I could have sworn I felt her shiver. "A little. The shiver was from inside me, however. Fluttering sensations tickling the inside of my chest," she explained. My eyes widened again, but she cut me off with another kiss. This one remained soft and gentle, however, her leaning back again a few seconds later, eyes much softer looking now. We didn't really say anything. She looked past me, and I watched her horn light up again. Spike drifted into the air and tucked himself up into a ball, wrapped up in Twilight's billowing aura. I knew how warm it felt to be coated in unicorn magic. It was like a warm breeze that lazily flowed around you, never really drifting away like a normal gust of wind. Or like a thin flow of water that you could breathe as easily as air. Her head gestured to the stairs as she stepped away from me, the sleeping dragon drifting after her in slow, rocking motions. I smiled as I watched her walk up the steps. She was lying to herself, I realized. She really did know how to be a good mother. She'd been doing it for years. Sure, he might do the cooking and chores around the library, but the love was there. Love. My eyes lowered a little. Why did I even know what that word meant, coming from the culture I did? Keldarians didn't love. Was I so divorced from what it meant to be a Keldarian that I was more Pony now instead? I wondered if it was part of the clone design that Dr. Kyliona intended. Apart from her looks and voice from the now fully repaired video, I didn't really know anything about her. I'd neglected to watch the repaired video out of fear of what I'd see. What other horrors would I learn about myself? Slowly, I stepped forwards, careful to keep my weight partially off my left foreleg. It gave a few throbs of protest that I pointedly ignored, alongside the swelled up sensation. Every fourth stair step was an exercise in caution as I readied my armor and barriers in case I took a tumble. My surprise doubled as I saw Twilight waiting at the top of the stairs for me, her eyes tracking every movement my left foreleg made. I smiled towards her, and she caught the movement, returning the expression a moment later. "Just making sure we won't have a surprise hospital visit yet again tonight," she teased, winking to me playfully. I chuckled, assuring, "I had my armor and barriers ready just in case. I'd be a little dizzy, but it wouldn't have hurt. It would give you an excuse to just toss me up here with your magic, too." Twilight's eyes widened at the last part, and I hesitated at the top of the stairs. Had I offended her, accidentally? "Mender, I'm not going to throw you around using my magic. I'll not lift you unless you're fully expecting it. I learned that lesson back at Applejack's barn," she said, lowering her head a little. I rested my forehead against the top of her head and sighed weakly. "You didn't know, Twilight. I, well, I have a lot wrong with my mind, you know. It's not just the amnesia. Things just sort of bleed through into reality if, um," I started trying to explain. It was a bit confusing to relay to an individual that didn't suffer from it, however. "You have external stimuli that triggers the memories, which partially overlap your waking consciousness. I figured that out after you told me what happened back then. What did I do to cause it?" she asked gently, looking back up with surprising focus and determination. Swallowing, I sat back down at the top of the stairs, wondering if I was going to fall down them yet tonight. "It was, um, my posture while being pulled forwards. Nirru tortured me after, uh, I was arrested. Well, the individual I was cloned from, anyway. It momentarily felt like I was strapped to a platform and being pushed back towards her, as she stood there ready with her tools..." I swallowed wearily, the images easily popping back into my mind as I suddenly felt a cold sweat form. It took everything I had to remember that it wasn't real and I was with Twilight in the library. The images flickered and snapped away an instant later, Twilight's face pushing through them and directly into another kiss. I felt myself relax a little, my breathing slowing as she pushed her chest into mine. "You're safe, Mender. She's not going to get you ever again. I'll personally teleport her to the moon if she even tries," she assured. I smiled and gently nuzzled her cheek, refraining from mentioning that tossing her into a zero atmosphere environment would probably be the same as just murdering her, if their outer space was the same as ours. Twilight had known what a void was, which would probably be a difficult concept to grasp if it didn't exist here, however. That made me slightly more inclined to think their outer space was similar to ours. Twilight turned away and finished tucking Spike in before giving me a smile over her shoulder. She hopped up onto her bed an instant later, leaving me slightly confused as to what the expression had been about. "Go brush your teeth and get ready for bed, Silly. You're probably exhausted," she reminded, peeking over the side of her bed at me. I chuckled and nodded before turning to do as I was told. Here was infinitely better than there. I realized that once more for probably the hundredth time as I stared at my reflection in the mirror, toothbrush coated in a barrier as it moved by itself. I had to keep telling myself how good it was here out of fear that I'd wake up and not be here anymore. It was like this was a fragile dream that I kept expecting to wake up from. Maybe that was why it was so easy for me to slip into memories? Things didn't feel 'real' here. Even staring at the stallion looking back at me, my mind couldn't fully process it. I peeked into the amber eyes, wondering if that was the same color my old ones had been. Keldarians all had blue fur, so there wasn't much to go off of, there. What about my mane? I looked up at the darker blue and silver streaked mess. It was shorter than I used to have it when I'd first come here, thanks to Rarity's uphill battle with the growth formula. The sides of my bangs were still braided however. They were simplistic weaves, going barely an eighth of a meter down and ending in a light tuff of hair. It kind of reminded me of the tribalistic styles I'd seen in books from when I was growing up. When he was growing up, I reminded a moment later. My 'youth' was the inside of a glass tube. I glared at the amber eyes, suddenly hoping they weren't his colors. I wanted them to be mine. This body was mine, not his. It had never been tortured, even if my mind said otherwise. The scars on it are from his past, not my own. I set the toothbrush back in the cup on the sink after thoroughly rinsing out. They were right. I'd feel better once I got my own source of income. I had to. It was part of building my identity as a pony here. Just thinking about having a purpose was comforting. I'd start by helping Rainbow with her wings. I'd already helped Applejack with her barn. That made me feel better. When I felt useful, it was a good sensation. My type of enchantment was new here, and would probably be useful to a lot of ponies, right? I was a little hesitant about putting myself out there, but I'm sure that my friends would help me get adjusted. My friends. They were still my friends. Sure, some didn't like the ugly monster I could turn into, but they were still my friends! Nopony had decided that I was bad or gross just because of what I actually was. Even knowing that was what I really looked like, they had accepted me still. I smiled gently and shook, waiting for the last couple drops to fall before reaching up and pushing the toilet's lever down. Carefully, I washed my hooves again with the still running faucet before turning off the water and drying them with a towel. Yes. Things were finally going to be okay. Even if they weren't, I could make it through because I didn't have to be alone anymore. That was ultimately what made this place so much better than my last universe. I had been all alone there, even in a crowded room. The only sense of companionship I'd ever gotten was from my squad mates. After they'd died... No, after they'd been murdered, there was nothing but that frozen cold core in my heart. I remembered now. It wasn't natural to hate. I don't think anypony, or anyone from any species had a natural tendency to hate something. We were taught it. It was trained insanity. A pure, cold form of anger that made one want to end the target of it, no matter the cost. That wasn't natural. I opened the door, only to be met with a softly smiling Twilight as she wandered past, undoubtedly to do what I just did. I returned her smile, albeit a bit more timidly, and let her pass before heading for my cozy bed. That would be purchase number one, I think. An actual bed so I could finally return this one to Applejack, and thank her profusely for allowing me to use it. She'd deny the thanks, of course, but at least she'd have it. I smiled as I lay down amidst the warm covers, glad the heat from the magical fireplace had drifted up and warmed the room. It was always comforting to know that physics still worked properly. Twilight was much faster than me in the bathroom. Either that or I had drifted off while she was in there, as I snapped back to attention at the sound of the toilet flushing again. I rotated around to give her a smile as she passed, but was momentarily startled when I kept going. At first, I had thought I'd misjudged my distance and rolled off my cot, but I rapidly felt the billowing magic as I lifted into the air. Hey! She gave me a knowing grin upon turning the lights out to the bathroom and walking back over to her bed, carrying me along with her. I realized her intent about halfway there and started blushing again. She had no trouble whatsoever with hopping up onto the bed and depositing me directly against her as she slid under the covers. "I think we'll return the cot to Applejack tomorrow," she added, making me shiver at her not so subtle implication. Her grin only made it worse, and I gave her a playful glare. It would only fuel her, of course. "What? I've gotten comfortable with sharing my bed with you at night. I might have even missed it, staying over with Rarity the past couple days. She makes for wonderful company, don't get me wrong. But there's something extremely pleasant about sharing a bed with somepony you know cares about you in a far, well, different manner," she extrapolated, and I could feel the heat coming from her even though we weren't touching. Heh. I tucked myself under the covers and settled gently into the lavender mare, who snuggled closer and made a light cooing noise. "I missed you, too, Twilight. I'm glad that you're not having second thoughts after everything I told you," I murmured, relaxing as I felt her breathing against me. "Quite the contrary. You, Fluttershy, and Rainbow made me really jealous today, although I was glad I didn't have to experience Pinkie's mental barrage," Twilight revealed, giving a shiver towards the end. I resisted laughing. It hadn't been pleasant at the time, but now I could certainly laugh at myself over the whole ordeal. "Still, I'd like to finalize the link to you. Not only would you know it was me all the time, but the communication over distances seems really useful," she added. As if reminding herself, she pushed her horn against my forehead and I felt the familiar and distinctly 'Twilight' energy drift into my mind. I'd had no doubt before that it was her, of course, technically having never been separated from her since this afternoon. Still, it was an amazing sensation that I wasn't about to complain over. "It's permanent, Twilight. I just want you to be absolutely sure," I reiterated quietly, letting my body slowly drift. Her thoughts mingled into mine, and I almost felt her kissing me again even though our muzzles weren't touching. I smiled into her mind and pulled her a little closer, feeling a burst of happiness drift through her at the sensation. She didn't have to say anything else. She'd made a totally valid argument with her feelings alone, and she knew it. Her heat drifted through me as she mirrored the sensation, actually kissing me for a moment this time. I felt myself slip, and she went with me willingly. Both of us fell into slumber, foreheads touching and entangled in each other's hooves. Chapter 37A cold breeze drifted through, causing my fur to puff up a little. Suddenly, I was thankful that I had neglected to return to Rarity and get the rest of my coat trimmed down again. Staring upwards, I watched the two earth stallions slowly put the undercarriage up for Twilight's balcony. Apparently, they used wooden frames, and then encouraged the branches to grow into and around them. My shoulders bunched up a little, pulling the warm scarf up further around my neck. I had a lot to thank Rarity for lately. She had dropped off this hoof-crafted blue and silver scarf earlier, its colors just a little darker than my mane. It took her ten minutes to decide if it was the right shade, but I didn't mind modeling it for her. Spike was totally fine with the process, too, of course, and Rarity got a free breakfast while she was here, whether she wanted it or not. Twilight seemed uneasy over the process, but sat and watched the fitting anyway. I had thought she'd have rather gotten a start on the report she was behind on, but I could also think of a few reasons why she didn't. A distinct sensation of Rarity being chaperoned during the entire ordeal was rather pervasive. It wasn't me she was worried about, I sensed. Still, the pearly unicorn was on her best behavior the entire time, apart from complaining about having to take back and shoulder measurements again. Apparently, I had gained a little definition since she last measured me. I didn't know why she only wanted those two readings, though. I glared up at the work they were doing. Even with no direct sun shining through the overcast sky, I could see a couple flaws. "Is the tree branch supposed to grow through the whole thing, or does it only follow the support struts?" I suddenly asked, standing and walking over to the construction director near the base of the library. "Eh? It mostly follows the struts. Why?" he questioned after a brief hesitation. Aww hell. Two struts for the entire balcony? I flattened my ears back and shook my head rapidly at him. "If that's going to be the new balcony, you need either a stronger undercarriage or a middle support strut to maintain and spread out the structural support. It would be really bad if it fell off the side of the library while somepony was on it," I warned. That somepony would probably be me, given my luck and lovely, busted gravity suppressors. He rapidly shook his head, however. "Relax. This isn't the complete work. We won't be able to add the extension until we get a secondary tree growing anyway, and that'll have supports on the other side of the bridge," he returned. I blinked. Wait, what?! "Uh, extension? Twilight's putting in an extension?" I questioned. Well, getting the old balcony torn off would be an ideal time to start a project like that, I guess. Applejack unknowingly allowed her to cut a corner then by providing free demolition work. "Look, I can't just discuss the private building plans of the Element of Magic herself with a civilian. It's good that you're concerned for her safety and are trying to help, but it's private," he explained in an exceedingly condescending manner. My expression drooped as I glared at him. Was it worth the time and trouble to bitch him out, or should I just ask Twilight later? Hmm. She might lie to me, but I didn't see a reason for her to. Plus, she'd been getting a lot better about that and seemed sincere in trusting me lately. I weighed it for a moment before sighing and shaking my head. "Eh, forget it. I'll just ask Twilight later," I said, officially giving up. Maybe I just didn't hold an air of authority or something? He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Sure ya will. Can I get back to work now?" he asked, earning another glare from me. The door of the library opened up before I could shoot back a witty and belittling retort that would crush his happiness for the rest of the day, sadly. To my surprise, Twilight herself pranced out and looked about for a second before locking onto me, expression shifting to a grin. I brightened my mood and gave her a smile as she trotted over, a bit of a spring to her step, interestingly enough. "Ah! Miss Sparkle! I was hoping you'd come to investigate soon. I wanted to let you know that the tree is going to be delivered by tomorrow, and we can start construction on your extension as soon as it gets here," the annoying construction stallion spoke up as she approached, cutting her off as she was about to open her mouth. She looked momentarily confused as she regarded him. "Oh. I forgot that was coming tomorrow. Well, that's good!" she exclaimed, giving him a polite smile and nod. He grinned back, but she immediately went back to being oblivious and rotated to face me instead. Only then did I notice she was wearing my saddlebags. "I was so hoping you were still out here! If you're still going to go for a walk, can you take these and drop off the measuring tape Rarity left here this morning? She'll probably be wondering where it is," Twilight requested. Oh! Well, it was a good thing that I got distracted by the crappy construction work, then. I nodded happily to her. "Of course! I was going to go see Pinkie, and that would be on the way anyway," I remembered, mentally running through my basic map of Ponyville. Then my short-term memory kicked back in. "Oh yeah. What's the extension you're having built?" I inquired a moment later. The stallion, now eavesdropping on us, made an indignant, shocked scoffing noise. Twilight ignored him. Again. "Aww. I was gonna keep it a surprise! Well, it's not a huge surprise, so surprise!" she added instead, giving a little hop into the air. I snickered at her. Sometimes she was so awkward, it was just adorable. "I figured Spike wouldn't mind a bit more privacy at night, and we probably wouldn't either, so I'm building us a bedroom off the side of the loft. Lots of privacy that way," she chirped, giving me a wink. Oh. Predictably, I felt the heat rush up into my cheeks. "Oh, uh, well if you're sure we need it. Spike probably would be more, um, comfortable if we're not... I mean, he doesn't seem very pleased when we..." The longer I talked, the more of a stumbling mess I became, of course. I was getting really good at that. Twilight giggled, however, a light flush appearing on her cheeks as well. "You're adorable. Let's just stick to all three of us needing privacy. Anyway, I'll tell you more about it when you get back. Better get going before Rarity sets the boutique on fire looking for the measuring tape," she reminded, giving me a light peck on the lips. I sighed gently and smiled back at her, nodding. She returned a single nod before prancing back inside again. Wow. She was in a really good mood today. I wonder if there was something going on? I wobbled for another second or two in the pleasant aftermath of her kiss before shaking myself out of it and scooping up the saddlebags she'd floated over to me. I managed to get them on, and then used a burst of magic to strap the underside with a barrier. Having magic made the task infinitely easier, I decided. It wasn't hard to remember my first clumsy attempt at getting saddlebags on after my first hospital visit. It took me a moment to notice the stupefied gawk that was aimed my direction from the construction stallion, however. I glanced back over at him questioningly, momentarily forgetting why he'd be giving me such a look. Oh. Wait. He didn't believe me that I knew Twilight. Now I remembered. "Er, sorry about the public display of affection. I kinda forgot you were there," I apologized, in place of Twilight, of course, since technically she'd initiated it. It was hard for me to believe that she was as oblivious as I was to the surroundings, though. Did she just not care? He started, and then shook his head rapidly. "Oh, no, no! It's all right. I just didn't know what you looked like, Mr. Moon Mender! I'm sorry!" he apologized in a rapid-fire voice. I deflated a little. "Seriously? How many ponies know that I'm dating Twilight? Is it really that big a deal?" I asked, somewhat saddened that yet another pony knew my name way ahead of time. I mean, what the hell? Were their fliers up and I just kept missing them or something? "Er, I'm pretty sure the entire town knows. The Element of Laughter was shouting it at the top of her lungs this morning while advertising the huge party coming up in celebration of that, amongst other things," he informed. My brain lagged for a moment as I stared blankly through him. It took almost five full seconds for me to fully process what he'd just said. My right forehoof hit my forehead a moment later. "Pinkie! Gah. I hope Twilight doesn't mind. Well, I'd better go talk to Pinkie. Uh, keep up the good work, I guess," I said, excusing myself and trying really hard not to choke on the 'good' part. He still looked a bit shell-shocked, but gave me a nod as I walked off slowly, metal brace on my left foreleg clinking with each step. I mean, seriously. If they really knew about me, I figured the battle damage would easily give me away. Not that I was pleased that everypony knew about me in the first place. Still, I'd rather have one extreme or the other! Either have nopony know who I was, or at least have them recognize me to the point where they wouldn't deny me information. Well, one thing at a time. Twilight wanted me to drop off the measuring tape, so that came first. Stewing still, I set out on my slow, limping pace towards the Carousel Boutique. * * * * * Of course, it had started raining by the time I made it over to Rarity's fine establishment. It was a cold rain that seemed somewhat more wet than usual, even though that didn't make much sense. Still, only my hooves felt it, so I wasn't complaining. I casually limped along with a hemispherical barrier above me, staying pleasantly dry. I'd never cease being thankful for my magic, I decided. Visibility was crap at this point, so I was almost within spitting distance of the boutique when I saw that I wasn't alone. Out front, somepony had their teeth locked firmly onto Rarity's mailbox handle, and looked like they were trying to tear the thing from the ground! My eyes widened as the wooden post shifted a little under the wet mud and wrenching motions. Why was somepony assaulting Rarity's mailbox? I picked up a bit more speed and got closer, ready to stop the individual if need be. To my surprise, a familiar gray pegasus with a blond mane came into view. She was tugging desperately at the front of the mailbox, which appeared very much stuck. To my surprise, she was also crying! "Derpy! What's wrong?" I asked as I walked up, slowing a bit. She probably was just attempting to deliver mail. She stopped her thrashing against the box and looked over at me, one eye focusing on my position. "M-Mender? I'm almost done with my deliveries but I can't get this box open. I wanna get out of the rain!" she yelped, looking downright miserable as her ears drooped. My barrier expanded above me, instantly covering her too as I gave her my best reassuring smile. "Let me take a peek at it," I offered, stepping up next to her. She looked up in surprise at the barrier, and then gave me an amazingly warm smile as she nodded. I felt better already, even though I hadn't solved the issue yet. Derpy's smile was definitely heartwarming to see. I wasn't used to seeing somepony who wore their feelings so close to the surface. I pretended to peek inside the slot, my left eye flashing with a scan real quick. The results surprised me. I frowned, and then examined the picture I'd taken a little closer. There was an extremely rudimentary spell inside of the box that was holding the door closed. There wasn't even a power source attached to it. Instead, a line of magic was extended from the mailbox, off to the far right somewhere. Worse yet, there appeared to be a tin of whip cream pressurized inside. This was a prank... "Somepony's trying to prank you. Or Rarity. Just a second," I informed, popping out another barrier a moment later and simply snipping the line of energy leading from the mailbox. I heard a light thud from inside and realized that the spell had collapsed, simply dropping the tin of whip cream to the floor of the mailbox instead. Derpy sighed, however. "They're probably pranking me. It's so fun to watch the wall-eyed pegasus soak out in the rain, after all," she muttered, ears lowering again. "It's okay. You're welcome to come into the Carousel Boutique with me to dry off. You did say it was the end of your shift, right?" I suggested, opening the mailbox and drawing the tin of whip cream out. She hesitated for a moment, giving it a questioning look before her expression shifted to that of recognition, followed by a glare. Oh. This wasn't the first time she'd encountered this particular prank. My eyes traced the direction of where the line went. There appeared to be a series of bushes near a tree that was just outside of the boutique. If the spell was that crude, it was probably an inexperienced unicorn. They'd have to be close, which meant... "Do you really think I can?" Derpy asked me, looking back up with a bit of hope glimmering in her eyes. She shifted to shock a moment later as I fired the tin with my hoof, launching it directly at the bushes. "Aaah!" was shouted out as I heard an audible splattering noise. A short yet extremely round unicorn dove blindly out of the bush, pie tin of whip cream attached to his face. I tilted my head as a brownish-looking, much lankier colt followed his bluish green friend in full retreat, running back towards town square. I shook my head, glaring after them. "Jerks. You could catch a cold being wet in this weather. Come on, Derpy. I'm sure Rarity has towels we can use to dry you off," I suggested a moment later. There was something about the vindictive and downright cruel prank that really irked me, I noticed. Of course, I knew I didn't like seeing others being treated badly by those 'stronger' than them, even though that didn't necessarily apply in this case. If Derpy had really wanted to, she could probably paddle those two with very little effort. The gray mare perked, however, and gave me another warm smile. "Thank you, Mender! It must be amazing being an earth pony with magic!" she exclaimed, following after me as I hobbled towards the door in front of us. "It's not all amazing. Some things I can't control. For example, I have a gravity field that likes to draw falling things towards me through the air. That's not very fun," I corrected, shuddering a little. Then I realized we were forgetting something. "Wait, didn't you have mail to deliver for Rarity?" I questioned, turning back to face her. She perked and nodded, pulling out a moderately sized package from her mailbag using her teeth. "Yuph. Ah'll jus dehlihver thish ooh er ihrecktly," she explained, beaming. "Er, what?" I asked, having no idea what she just said. She paused for a moment before turning and putting the package back in her bag. "I'll just give it to Rarity myself," she corrected, grinning as she looked back around at me. Ooooh! I nodded happily to her before resuming my moderate hobble. The boutique's door squeaked lightly as I opened it, and a little bell chimed. Both Derpy and I scurried inside and I shut the door so excessive rain wouldn't get in. Bleh. My shield slowly faded and I dried my hooves off on Rarity's welcome mat. "Oh my. Welcome to Rarity's Carousel Boutique. Dreadful weather we're hav-" Rarity's voice sounded out from the side hall. I glanced that way just in time to see her draw to a stop, eyes widening as she looked at me. "Oh, Mender! What a pleasant surprise! And Derpy?" she asked, finally noticing my soggy companion. "Do you have a towel Derpy can borrow, Rarity?" I asked politely, giving the unicorn a soft smile. Normally I tried to pay more attention to manners, but Derpy was probably cold. Rarity shifted to a small smile and nodded, however, not looking offended. I heard a door opening as she glanced to the right, horn lighting up. Hall closet? I vaguely recalled seeing one before. I wasn't nearly as familiar with this place as I was the library, for obvious reasons. A large beach blanket drifted over Rarity a moment later, and she gently wrapped the shivering pegasus in it. "T-Thank you, Rarity! I got stuck out in the rain while just finishing up my route, and Mender threw a shield over me to act like an umbrella. Oh, and he stopped a nasty prank that was being played on me," Derpy spoke up finally, shivering lightly as she wrapped the large blanket around herself more. "A prank?! In this weather? You could have caught a cold! How very inconsiderate. You two should come to the back. I'll serve us some hot tea," Rarity suggested. She had my attention instantly, every bit of focus remembering exactly how amazing her tea was. She gave me a knowing grin before trotting back through the hallway. Heh, my expression probably just gave away exactly what I thought about the tea. Derpy gave me an extremely pleased smile and I nodded to her, reaching over and helping her dry her hooves off first and foremost with the blanket before we slowly made our way to the back work room. Rarity was already sitting on her sofa when we arrived, Opal lying regally next to her as if queen of the house. I gave the feline a wide birth as I settled onto the couch across from Rarity. Derpy got up next to me, blanket first as to not get the cushion wet. Tea was already sitting out on the table between us, steam gently drifting from the large pot. I saw Rarity had a half-full cup, and surmised that she had actually already made it before we got here. She poured us both a cup with her magic. "Thank you, Rarity. I was actually on my way here to drop off the tape measure you accidentally left at the library," I explained, settling into the cushion and sighing contently as the warm and delicious liquid drifted down my throat. It was a little sip of heaven, especially after getting out of the crappy weather. Rarity halted for a moment and gave me a blank stare before she slapped her forehead with a free hoof. "That's where I left the thing! I had to get out another roll because I couldn't find it. It slowed me down significantly. Thank you for returning it," she said, watching passively as I pulled off the saddlebags and dug into the right side, looking for the measuring tape. "Admittedly, I thought you'd be busier than this with the orders you mentioned this morning," I added idly, perking as I finally found the tape at the bottom of the bag. This thing still had a bunch of random things from our Canterlot trip in it. After pulling the tape out and setting it on the table, I took another peek into the bags. Rarity snickered as she watched before finally explaining, "I was taking a brief break from the order, actually. The creative process cannot be rushed. Well, not with good results, anyway. Plus, it gives me time to fit your suit for your decidedly expanding build." I detected a bit of hesitation with that last part and smirked with my head still inside the bag. She'd been on edge about mentioning anything to do with my build after accidentally insulting me way back when we met, I noted. "I don't have to wear it to Pinkie's party, do I?" I asked wearily, popping my head out of the bag again and pulling an impressive looking abacus with me a moment later. This thing had to be made for a unicorn. The beads were way too small to be manipulated with hooves. Although it was Twilight's, so that kinda made sense. Rarity snickered merrily. "Of course not. Admittedly, I doubt it would be the right dress for what she was explaining. Unless you want its protective qualities. It does make you fire resistant, and I'm working on a complex feather fall enchantment to put on it, but admittedly, I've never used it before," she rambled. I stuck my head out of the bag again at the word 'enchantment', having tucked the abacus back into the bag while she was talking. "Feather fall?" I asked curiously. Was that as self-explanatory as it sounded? "Well, I've noticed how gravity seems to simply adore you, so I figured an enchantment that let you fall slower and significantly less painfully might be nice," she detailed, giving me that self-aware smirk again. I averted my eyes for a moment before nodding in agreement. "As much as I'd love to deny that, I honestly can't. In truth, after I'd seen Canterlot from a distance while on the train, I really thought I was going to end up falling off the cliff it's built into," I admitted, remembering the oh so graphic images easily. Rarity started laughing, and Derpy actually gave me a grin at that, snapping out of her shivering stupor a little more. I noticed the strength of the shaking seemed to be dropping, which hopefully meant the pegasus was warming up a little bit. "Oh dear. I believe that thought had crossed my mind as well, once or twice. But I'm glad it turned out so... ah..." I raised an eyebrow while turning, but stopped when I saw the frozen, wide-eyed mare. Eh?! Self-examination told me I hadn't accidentally turned into my armored form, sprouted tentacles, or grown a third head, so I gave her a questioning glance. She shivered, and then shook her head, losing her smile and looking away from me. "Sorry. I almost said it turned out well, which wouldn't have been entirely honest, would it?" she finally explained. Oh. The kiss. "Uh, what? From what I read in the papers, a really big disaster was averted. Isn't that good?" Derpy asked, now down to just her head peeking out of the comfy looking blanket. I sighed and lowered myself to my stomach, lying down on the cushion. However much Rarity wanted to say was entirely up to her. "Oh, disaster was averted, but I created some of a different sort afterwards," Rarity corrected, ears lowering a little as she watched me. A hesitation. Finally, she closed her eyes and seemed to try to pull up strength from deep within. "I was a complete foal. Watching Mender almost hurt himself without the slightest hesitation in order to save the orchestra... Well, it did something to me. A part of me realized that I'd been being silly," she continued, apparently gathering her courage up. Derpy remained silent, watching the mare respectfully with one eye, the other drifting sideways to peek at me. Idly, I wondered if she could control them individually or if the one was just a 'lazy' eye and did its own thing. Admittedly, I didn't know a whole lot about her specific condition. Asking would be rude, however. "I've always wanted a prince. Everypony in town probably knows that by now. Maybe, however, I was looking for the wrong kind of prince? After realizing that, I decided that I really just wanted a polite gentlecolt who would treat me with respect. Mender was more than that even. A humble if not somewhat clumsy hero!" I decided the longer Rarity talked, the more I couldn't tell if I should be insulted or embarrassed. I went with the latter and just let my cheeks flush without fighting it this time. The pearly unicorn had been watching me like a hawk, however. "Ooooh no. Not this time. I know you just happened to be there, and wouldn't have risked bodily harm if there were another choice, and were probably scared. Regardless of any of those things, you saved them, so you're a hero whether you like it or not!" she refuted before I had even said anything. I opened my mouth, and then realized she'd rebutted everything I usually say in this situation. Five seconds later, I just felt awkward and slowly closed my mouth again. Damn it. “Oooh. It almost sounds like you like Mender!” Derpy exclaimed, eyes widening as she looked back and forth between Rarity and me. Rarity hesitated, and then nodded. “I do like him. I went about it entirely the wrong way, however, and kissed him before even asking if I could. Twilight saw me do so and I panicked, running away. It wasn’t a pleasant night,” she finally finished, lowering her eyes away from me. Derpy gave out a small gasp, and I couldn’t tell if it was out of shock or worry. I sighed wearily. Admittedly, I knew this confrontation was coming. Part of me had prepared for it, at least subconsciously, so I somewhat knew what I wanted to say. It had to be said, obviously. “Rarity, I’m sorry. I mean, you’re an amazing mare and a true friend, but-“ I started to explain. Rarity held up a hoof, however, and gave me a soft, sad looking smile. “There’s no need to go through the motions, Mender. I knew you didn’t feel the same way the second I kissed you. My only intent with this was, well, to apologize for not simply asking. Twilight said she didn’t get mad at you. Was that the truth?” she asked quietly. My ears lowered a little, but I nodded. I hadn’t expected her to already know my feelings. The sad part was that I couldn’t tell if it was better or worse this way. Probably better. There was no chance for me to shove my hoof down my throat when trying to explain myself. “I’m sorry, too, Rarity. I wish there was something I could do for you,” I agreed. Oddly, Derpy looked about ready to cry as she continued following the conversation between us. Rarity smiled to herself as she looked downwards, nodding after a moment. “Ah, there is something you could do. I’d very much like to put the whole situation behind us and continue on with a wonderful friendship instead, if that’s possible at this point,” she requested. Okay, now she was just being silly. “Rarity, I never stopped being your friend. Of course I want to stay that way,” I revealed, smiling at her in hopefully an assuring manner. She stared blankly for a moment before that more confident smile returned. “I should have known you’d be a gentlecolt. That’s why I was so interested in you in the first place, I remind myself. Hmm. Although this leaves me with a quandary as I had worked out a bribe; well more of an incentive, to give friendship another try. Now what shall I do with it?” she questioned. My turn for the blank, confused stare, I guessed. She wore a playful smirk, however, so I was fairly certain she was just kidding. “Rarity, you didn’t have to get me anything!” I protested, really wishing I were dealing with somepony other than the Element of Generosity. There might actually be a chance that I could convince her otherwise if it weren’t for that. As if reading my mind, she simply shook her head. “Then it’s a good thing I didn’t get anything for you. I made it. It’s something I should have made you a while back, though,” she revealed, tossing a playful wink in for good measure. Derpy burst into snickering, but rapidly quieted as Rarity activated her magic and slid something out from under the sofa she resided on. For just the briefest of moments, I wondered why she’d put something under a sofa and have it get dusty. It passed rather rapidly once I reminded myself whose house I was at. Even her dust was probably clean. Then everything momentarily left my mind as she lifted up the wonderful article. A doubled up saddlebag set complete with harness attached to them. Two bags on each side appeared to be comprised of sturdy, dark leather with silver inlay around the borders. Each bag was completed with a beautiful, sapphire clasp to keep them closed. The clasps themselves appeared to be shaped as my Cutie Mark. This must have been a recent project of hers, then. The whole set looked surprisingly heavier than what I had on right now, as if it were built for function as well as appearance. My attention was snapped back to reality when Rarity’s confident smirk returned. “That, my dear, is an artist’s greatest reward. That look of awe you just displayed makes it worth every stitch,” she cooed, causing me to cough lightly and blush. “Rarity, uh, I don’t exactly have any bits yet. It’s only been a day since I decided to try working,” I reminded. Four sapphires of that size would have been absurdly expensive back in my old dimension, if I recalled correctly. I had no idea what their price was in Equestria, but the saddlebags looked amazing, so it couldn’t be cheap! Rarity gave me a skeptical, disbelieving look. Oh no. She wasn’t going to… “Mender, were you not paying attention when I said it was a gift?” Damn it. She was. She was just going to give it to me. For a moment, I’d forgotten whom I was dealing with. Derpy snickered again before adding, “Technically, you said it was a bribe or incentive.” Ha! That was true. I shouldn’t assume that it was still being offered as I already gave her what she was using them to bribe me for. She gave an exasperated stare to Derpy for a moment before chuckling herself. “Okay, I have to admit that I did indeed say that. They’re a gift now, however. You did mention liking saddlebags, if I recall,” she said. I twitched, looking back down at the amazing bags. “Like? I love those! They look absolutely beautiful. I didn’t know you cut gems yourself!” I corrected, eyes widening a little. The white mare flushed lightly, the coloration being extra noticeable against her coat. “Well, I’m very glad I made them for you, then! Gems are something of my specialty, so of course I know how to cut them myself. Also, given the nature of your luck, I made the entire set out of heavy-duty materials, and layered several protective enchantments onto them. I’d hate for them to get scratched or damaged,” she added, looking back down at them wistfully. “Heh. Are you sure you don’t want to keep them and use them yourself?” I asked impishly, noticing her longing expression. I bet it was hard to part with such masterful work. As predicted, Rarity recovered instantly upon me finishing saying such. Her grin returned, albeit slightly more mischievous this time. “Scandalous! Imagine what ponies would say if I started wearing articles of clothing with your Cutie Mark on them! Why, you’re liable to start even more absurd rumors,” she playfully observed. Okay, I choked a bit at that. “Aaaah! I meant you’d take the buttons off and replace them!” I rapidly appended, front legs flailing a little bit. Derpy burst into more laughter and rolled over in her blanket. Rarity didn’t falter in her smirk, which made me relax a little. Okay, she really was joking. “That was worth it just for the reaction. You’re too easy to tease, Mender. Although that does give me an idea,” she muttered, looking back down at the set. I really did have to stop second-guessing myself. These ponies had already proved a lot more easygoing than Keldarians. I followed her gaze, and watched as she peeked at each gemstone clasp. “Yes. Wouldn’t it be romantic if I replaced the back ones with Fluttershy’s and Twilight’s Cutie Marks? That would simply be adorable, and they’d probably love it!” she pondered in a hopefully rhetorical manner, as I myself had no idea if it was romantic or not. I’d just learned what ‘dating’ meant not even a week ago, after all. I tilted my head and watched her think. “Ooooh. That is kinda romantic. It’s almost like he’d be showing that they’ve claimed him or something!” Derpy squealed in agreement. She might have said more, but my mind froze at the ‘claimed’ part, a bolt of ice tearing down my spine and causing a full body shiver. My eyes widened of their own accord, as I was both disturbed and surprised by my own reaction. No, they weren’t like the Keldarians. They weren’t! I forced my eyes shut and took a couple deep breaths, feeling my spiked heartbeat slowly returning to normal as I reminded myself that I was in Equestria. To ‘claim’ somepony was probably entirely innocent. It wasn’t ownership over the individual, right? Slavery didn’t exist here. At least I didn’t think it did. “…okay, Mender?” Derpy suddenly cut back in. I snapped my attention back to my surroundings again and looked over at her. She was giving me a worried expression. I felt along my neck and noticed the cold sweat that had developed. Damn it. “It’s okay, Derpy. Just let him relax,” Rarity warned, also looking concerned. After another deep breath, I shook my head wearily. “Sorry about that. Just a momentarily bout of not feeling well,” I excused, carefully wording around a direct lie. Rarity gave me a skeptical glance, and I knew she probably had guessed as to what the problem was. Still, there wasn't a lot that I could do with Derpy here. After a few moments, I managed to calm myself down again. That was silly anyway. Equestria didn't have slavery. I'd read the sociological books myself. Ponies definitely didn't seem to promote the enslavement of individuals. Opening my eyes again finally, I decided that the best bet was to simply change the topic. "Well, I'll keep this set for now if you're going to add their Cutie Marks to the saddle bags. You're right, of course. Both mares would probably like it." Rarity's eyes narrowed slightly, and I knew that she knew that I was trying to change the topic. "Now I'm not so sure that it's a good idea after all. Are you sure that you're all right?" she asked, eyes giving me a once over. I nodded with only a slight hesitation. "Just a bad memory is all. I'll be fine, Rarity. Do you really think they'll like it, though? I'd hate for you to go through all the trouble of making additional buttons only to have them not like it, or be uncomfortable with me wearing it," I pointed out. The second option was far more likely, given the two mares involved. Rarity actually considered it for a moment before finally nodding. "Yes, I believe so. Your fears aren't entirely unjustified, of course. Fluttershy will probably be extremely embarrassed by the gesture at first, but once she recovers, I believe she will be delighted by the aspect. Twilight is a bit harder to predict, but I don't think she'll be nearly as embarrassed. Deep down, I think she has a very well-guarded romantic side to her," she speculated, somewhat surprising me with the in-depth character analysis. It was almost as if she'd done this before. I was just thankful for the distraction and opportunity to learn. "I think it's a wonderfully romantic idea. Most mares would be delighted that their stallion was even considering it!" Derpy chimed in softly. Rarity nodded along in agreement. Wait. Why was that? "Is it really that big of a deal?" I asked, suddenly somewhat worried about walking into a relationship minefield. Big deals struck me as a high risk, high reward sort of gamble. I'd be the first to admit that gambling for me was a seriously bad idea. Jumping off a balcony in Canterlot was probably better for my health. At least fate wouldn't take that as a personal challenge. Rarity snickered before giving a noncommittal shrug. "It's no secret that stallions are stereotyped as inconsiderate to their partners or outright unromantic sometimes. I'm pretty sure they already know that you're an exception, but more examples never hurt," she hesitantly explained after a moment's thought. Unromantic, huh? I could see why Rarity would prefer a gentlecolt, now. Her bias showed through, even with her trying to be professional. Finally, I nodded in agreement. "Alright then. I'll trust your judgment. Let's surprise them with it, though?" I suggested, smiling towards her. Plus, that way there'd be lots of ponies around and I was less likely to be murdered right away. I mentally chuckled to myself. At least with Rarity’s explanation, I was fairly certain I could put fears about ‘claiming’ to rest. She grinned and nodded, apparently approving of my idea. "A very good thought. I'll whip up some appropriate gems and have them ready in time for the party!" Rarity added, seeming pleased with the turn of events. Slowly, I stood up again and stretched, making sure to be careful of my injured leg and the brace attached to it. Derpy watched me with interest for a moment before snuggling further into her blanket. "Derpy, you should stay here. You're not warmed up yet and it's still raining outside. I'll get you some more tea," Rarity suggested. "Aww. But I wanted to go with Mender," the gray pegasus protested. She looked back over at me instead, eyes large and pleading, even while drifting in different directions. Rarity shook her head wearily, admitting, "I obviously can't stop you, but I would very much like for you to get warm and dry first. Maybe even borrow an umbrella? Besides, I'm sure Mender has things he needs to do." I blinked again, momentarily confused. "Actually, I figured that you were busy and I didn't want to get in the way. Everypony seems busy today, so I was just going to go bug Pinkie Pie for a while," I corrected, perplexed. I knew Applejack was busy with the harvest, and Twilight was preoccupied running energy sample tests in the basement. Spike was dutifully assisting her, of course. Rarity said that she had three orders to fill for Canterlot elite when she left this morning. I’m guessing the party had paid off for her already. Fluttershy was in a nigh panic over something to do with the animals and organizing something. I didn't dare try to help there, lest I just get in the way. Rainbow said she had to get a head start on next week's weather arrangements for some reason, and felt extremely grumpy when I asked her using the link this morning. Even my fellow CMC members were currently in school right now. "You're certainly not a bother, Mender. I do have a lot to do, but if you're bored, I can entertain you," Rarity offered almost immediately. That gave me pause. Was I bored? I'd never had a day to myself like this before. Everypony being busy did remind me how little a life I had here. Should I go out and try to get a job? Fitting in and making myself useful seemed close to one and the same. "Like I said, I'm done with my route and totally don't have anything to do," Derpy interrupted, breaking me out of my chain of thought. Rarity gave her an exasperated glance. "If you really want to, sure. I'm gonna wander over to Sugar Cube Corner if you want to come. Pinkie might not be too busy, and I wanted to ask her about the party coming up," I offered. Derpy lit up and grinned, fluttering into the air and spinning once, dislodging herself from the blanket. I snickered at her rather cute display. Rarity finally shook her head and recovered her smile. “I can see that I can’t dissuade you. At least try to stay dry, Derpy. You remember how hard it was to fly when you got that last cold,” she said, finally giving up. Derpy hovered closer and nodded rapidly to Rarity. “I’ll stay under Mender’s awesome umbrella spell thingy, don’t worry. I’ll come visit you later as well. I just haven’t gotten to hang out with Mender at all yet,” she explained, wobbling in the air and momentarily drifting sideways before righting herself. Actually, now that I thought about it, how did she fly with her eye condition? Wasn’t that a little dangerous? Rarity smirked but lifted up her left hoof gently. “It’s understandable. Just be safe, you two. I’ll probably see you later today or tomorrow, Mender,” Rarity assured gently. I nodded to her and slowly got off the couch, careful to step down with my right foreleg first. Both mares seemed momentarily drawn to the metal clink as my left foreleg touched down, but Rarity rapidly averted her gaze a split second later, avoiding looking at my leg. I watched her for a moment before looking away, trying not to sigh. The memories were still fresh and probably would be painful for everyone involved for a little while. “I’ll see you later, Rarity. Let me know how the commissions are going,” I spoke softly as I withdrew from the room, suddenly self-conscious of the noise my left hoof made on the wooden floor. “Well, of course. You did help get them for me. Do stay safe, Dear,” she called out, followed by the gentle sound of the teacup sliding along the saucer again as she lifted it. My ears swiveled back around and faced forwards again as I headed towards the exit of the building, Derpy hovering along above me in a happy bobbing motion. * * * * * Stepping to the side, a barrier held the door open for Derpy as she walked past and inside. I ducked after her, letting my umbrella barrier dissolve above me as I entered the building. It wasn’t like I was superstitious or anything, but I guess my luck didn’t need to get any worse. Although, did it actually count as an umbrella? "It's still a good idea. If you can help ponies with your enchantments, and make a job out of it, then I say you should go for it," Derpy continued from her prior point. A part of me already knew that much, but the larger parts questioned if I was truly up to the task. Could I pull off something like what I did for Applejack totally on my own initiative? All I could remember was building things that destroyed. That was the first time I'd ever made something that helped to create. The inside of the Sugarcube Corner was surprisingly busy today, with a small line of ponies at the counter and over half of the tables taken. What was going on? Derpy momentarily hesitated, giving a worried glance around the room. I walked past her, however, giving her a light bump to gain her attention before heading to the counter. To my surprise, there was a mature looking mare stationed there instead. I wracked my brain trying to remember her name. Mrs. Pie? No, it wasn't anything to do with Pinkie. Muffin? No, that was Derpy's favorite food. Salad? No, that didn't sound very 'Sugarcube' to me. Tea? Ack! No! Get your mind off the cup of tea you forgot to finish back at Rarity's! I was totally disrupted by Derpy flying past me in a sideways drift before crashing into the cupcake display on the counter. I blinked, noticing that up until the rather rough awakening, she had been focused solely on the muffin display on the other side of the line. Cupcake? Cupcake! Wait, no. Cake! Mrs. Cake! My barrier shot out as fast as possible and I scooped the cupcakes out of the air before they hit the floor, lifting them back up and into the tray again. The startled, and then panicked Mrs. Cake eyed the display for a moment before apparently deciding it was safe and rearranging all the cupcakes so they stayed upright again while I held them in place. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cake! I got looking at the muffins and wasn't watching where I was going," Derpy apologized upon recovering from the surprise. Mrs. Cake smiled, despite the rather annoyed looks from some of the costumers still in line. "Oh, it's okay, Derpy. The cupcakes were saved. Thank you as well, um?" she started, turning to me with an expectant stare. To my amusement, she frowned a moment later, probably starting to recognize me or something. "Moon Mender. It's nice to meet you. Mrs. Cake, right?" I introduced while I still could. As nice as it was to have bits of conversation skipped completely, it was awkward when it was purely one sided. She perked up, and then smiled, giving me a nod. "Oh yes. I thought you looked familiar!" she said excitedly. I knew it. "Pinkie talks about you all the time. I got an extremely detailed description of you." Oh. Okay, that I hadn't been expecting. Wait. Extremely detailed? "Wha! Mender! What are you doing here?" suddenly exploded out from behind Mrs. Cake as an excited looking Pinkie Pie slid out of the kitchen. A large tray of assorted baked goods balanced precariously on her back, and she somehow pulled off a happy bounce without jarring the thing. "Pinkie! Your side!" Mrs. Cake reminded, turning around just in time to see the energetic display. Pinkie grinned, however, and assured, "This 'is' taking it easy. Besides, I feel a hundred percent better today!" Less than a day after the accident in the market?! I doubted that. Did she really heal that fast? "Just take it slow, Pinkie. I don't want to see you hurt yourself again," I added, mentally shivering as I remembered her pained expression from yesterday. Maybe it was just me, but it didn't feel like that face belonged on Pinkie. She was one of those ponies who deserved to be eternally smiling. The smile she held now softened considerably as she nodded to me. "I'll try to be good. It's hard sometimes, though. I get so excited! Besides, you give yummy massages, which gives a mare incentives to get hurt around you," she pointed out. "He gives good massages?" Derpy asked quietly, landing beside us. Okay, the logic of this concept was starting to hurt my brain. "Pinkie, you're still on shift. It's really busy right now so can you please continue waiting tables?" Mrs. Cake reminded, interrupting the conversation anyway. Pinkie looked devastated almost instantly, but I considered the situation. Well, I did need practice. I smirked at her and activated my left foreleg again. It was weird that I always used my left one. Technically I could extend magic through any hoof now, but I guess it was just habit. Pinkie's eyes widened as I snatched up the tray, flicking on her link a second later. "Tables?" I whispered into the link. Her eyes danced in delight as she nodded and zipped off to take orders instead. Her memory was amazing, however, and I got the image of a pony for each treat on the tray. Smirking, my magic burst into action, expanding outwards in each direction and taking treats with the little barriers. Each drifted high above the surprised yet amused ponies before drifting down to the different tables on little strands of energy. It didn't take us long to get a pattern going. Pinkie took orders and dropped them off to Mr. Cake in the kitchen, removing the line completely. Derpy surprised me by joining in as well, snagging the finished goods from the kitchen and delivering them to me. I was surprised at how fast the little pegasus could move on her hooves! I'd then pull the treats into the air and shoot an image of each to Pinkie as they went. Pinkie was much better at using images in the link than actually talking, I quickly discovered. What happened the first time we tried made more sense now. She'd shoot back an image of the pony who ordered it, and I'd send it along the enchanted ceiling tracks I built to be delivered. Mrs. Cake watched in awe after the pace quickened and the line disappeared. She then only had to take payments. Things became fun really fast with Pinkie zooming between tables, Derpy's balancing act, and everypony laughing as the food zipped around and delivered itself. After getting the pattern down and making the tracks solid so they were way easier to maintain, I started adding twists, spins, and loops just for fun. More than once, the girls got distracted watching rather than doing what we were supposed to. I'd snicker every time I caught Pinkie trying to chase one of my deliveries. Then something unexpected happened. Apparently word of mouth traveled absurdly fast in Ponyville. Our amount of customers increased instead of lessening as lunch came and went. Some ponies appeared to order things just to watch them fly around through the air. I started to get a little tired from the exertion after a while, but kept it up regardless. Pinkie's job was easier this way while she was recovering from the injury. She'd gotten injured protecting me, so it wasn't asking much of me to just suck it up and help her out. Besides, it's what friends did for each other and I didn't have anything else to be doing right now. After the hour and a half mark passed, my head was starting to hurt. It would be so easy if the book were here. It held almost unlimited energy, it felt like. Still, it defeated the point of exercising my magic. Plus, a part of me just didn't like the thing. It felt like it was almost giving me suggestions sometimes. Really bad suggestions. I exhaled quietly and slid my heavy feeling saddlebags off, shivering as the cool air licked the newly revealed skin through the fur. The left bag popped open upon hitting the floor, however. Remembering that I hadn't opened that side at Rarity's, I peeked down to make sure nothing had spilled. Twilight would be upset if I accidentally lost her things. Time ground to a halt and I momentarily froze in place as I watched Prudentia slide out of the bag. No. That wasn't possible. I'd left it on Twilight's bedside table this morning! Why would she pack up the book before giving me the saddlebags? She didn't like to touch it anyway, saying it felt amazingly like 'mine'. So much so that she said she felt dirty even magically lifting it. Like it was chewing her out. I paused for a moment. Yeah, of course. That must have been it. She felt it was mine and wanted me to have it with me. That made sense. I doubted she wanted it around the library after all, right? I guess it kind of was my duty to take it. Just like it was my duty to guard the sword once Keela gathered enough solar energy to send it to me. Apparently, dimensional travel took a lot of power. Who'd have guessed? I snickered to myself, earning a curious smile from Derpy. Finally, things slowed down an hour later. All three of us took a much-needed breather on the sidelines while Mrs. Cake brought us some milk. "On the house, Mender. You two helped us serve more customers in three hours than we normally get all day!" she exclaimed instantly upon seeing me hesitate. Eh?! What, had Pinkie warned her about me or something? Pinkie gave me an innocent grin from my left, and I rolled my eyes. Eh, a glass of milk was fine. "It was a lot of fun. Plus I need the practice using my magic. I'm really rusty still," I excused simply, giving my temples a little rub as emphasis. Pinkie watched for a moment before leaning over and replacing my hooves with her own, gently massaging my head. "You should take your own advice and take it easy. You don't want to get a nosebleed again," Pinkie pointed out in a rather impish manner. I smirked, closing my eyes again, but wondering what to do with my head. "Oh dear. Most unicorns only get those if they really overexert themselves," Mrs. Cake added softly, sounding a little concerned. I shook my head as best I could with Pinkie there. "It happens a little faster with me. I'm out of practice, and I don't think Earth Ponies were meant for this kind of magic," I furthered, idly starting to really enjoy Pinkie's ministrations. "And they're a lot worse than a unicorn's!" Pinkie tacked on, pulling my head down against her chest before continuing the massage. I blushed a little but reminded myself that it was just Pinkie being Pinkie. She was a really nice mare who truly cared for her friends. “I’ll be fine,” I tried to return, if somewhat muffled by the pink fur in my face. It must have tickled, because Pinkie let out a squeak and giggle a moment later. I heard Mrs. Cake walk away for a second, and then come back and set something down in front of us. “Muffin!” Derpy exclaimed a second later. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I shifted to peek, opening my eyes again. A small tray of muffins and donuts were laid out in front of us. Eh? She was giving us lunch, too? “Before you ask, yes, it’s also on the house. A couple bits worth of food is the least I can do for all the help you ponies have been. I also heard you’re looking for commissions, Mender?” Mrs. Cake questioned after watching my expression. Somewhat caught off guard, I looked back up at her questioningly. She smiled softly and added, “Applejack dropped an apple shipment off this morning and told me that you were trying to apply your engineering skills and magic to others for bits.” My eyes widened and I flushed lightly. I hadn’t expected Applejack to start so quickly, and be so earnest about it. “Ah, I didn’t realize she was actually telling ponies. Yeah, I’m kinda hoping to get a bit of income coming in,” I said. Pinkie snickered and gave my shoulder a playful nudge. “This is Applejack we’re talking about; the most dependable of ponies! When she says she’s going to do something, she does it. Besides, she’s terrible at lying. Everypony would have known instantly if she weren’t going to do it,” Pinkie explained. I gave her a somewhat blank stare before chuckling. Yeah, I probably should have seen that coming. “Yes. She was very resolute in insisting that your skills were top notch. I’d asked her how her farm project was going, which is how we got on the topic. I was surprised, admittedly, when she said it was already done. Plus, your magic show there gave me a few really fun ideas!” Mrs. Cake continued, looking up along the ceiling as she spoke. “Ponies did seem to really like that! It would be super-awesome if we could do that all the time!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing in place slightly before wincing, and stopping. I shook my head and immediately pushed a hoof into each of her sides, gently massaging with magic starting to flow into her. Pinkie’s tongue lolled out almost instantly and she slumped against my shoulder this time, giving out a happy sigh. Derpy started snickering at the display, mouth completely jammed full of muffin. “Even though she insists on hurting herself, I do agree. If you could whip something up that was similar that didn’t need you here to manually control, it would be amazing,” Mrs. Cake agreed, gesturing absently towards the ceiling. I looked the ceiling itself over while massaging Pinkie. It was high enough to have something like that. If I used enchantments, I could save space, too. “If you didn’t mind wooden tracks being laid out, I think I could manage a few enchantments that would allow that, yeah. It might take a couple days to set up, though. And I’d need wood supplies,” I muttered absently, working out the design in my head while talking. Little rolling lifts would be cute. A square ceiling attached to the rolling pin, with four wooden posts going downwards. The floor of the lift would be made out of a barrier, and sides would have to be projected to keep the snacks in the lift, of course. Then when the little lift got to the tables, the bottom barrier would disappear and gently drop the food the remaining few centimeters onto the table’s surface. It would work! It was gimmicky, but also cute at the same time. It also removed the need for a line to order the food with Pinkie taking the orders herself. “Well, I’d offer you free run of the place with heat season coming up next week, but Pinkie stays here over the week or so and that might be uncomfortable for you,” Mrs. Cake returned, frowning and thinking to herself for a moment. My ears flattened back. That’s what I’d been forgetting! Damn it! “That’s next week? Um, this is my first time dealing with it, so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on,” I warned. Pinkie backed up a bit and smiled at me. “In smaller, closer knit towns, they usually come up with some means of sending the stallions off for a week or two during the two heat cycles in the summer,” she explained simply. I swallowed uneasily, the lump in my throat feeling a bit painful. Memories danced back of Keldarian estrus cycles, which were a nightmare. Our females didn’t sync with each other and had somewhat varied times every half a year or so, but the pheromones were a nightmare. “Uh, does that mean it’s really bad?” I asked uneasily. Mrs. Cake gave me a questioning glance, but Pinkie just giggled and shook her head. “Nah. The smells just make stallions a little dizzy and woozy so it’s harder for them to get work done. In close communities, all the mares kinda link together and all go into heat at the same time, so it’s worse than in cities, is all. We let them go to the cabins in the Whitetail Woods so they can be more comfortable during the week. Of course, it’s kinda hard for us to get work done, too, so I guess nopony gets much work done during the week! I think that’s why Applejack gets so grumpy, because she really likes to stay on schedule and things slow down a lot. Of course, in a couple years, Apple Bloom will be staying with her so maybe things will get done faster? I mean, two ponies are better than one and-“ Pinkie started rambling, shifting off topic rather rapidly. I chuckled and nodded, feeling a little better. It wasn’t anything overbearing then. Of course, they were a civilized society, so I guess their biological cycles were more of an inconvenience instead. I guess they could have a menstrual cycle instead and cut out the pheromones entirely, but always being fertile might also be inconvenient, at least for a few individuals. Pinkie’s rambling and my thought tangent were both cut short by Mrs. Cake starting to giggle. “You two are very silly. Regardless, do you think the weekend after heat’s officially over would be okay? We can obviously budget a little bit your way for the effort,” she asked softly. She seemed earnest in wanting the upgrade. Of course, if it was cute and popular, it would probably bring a lot of income their way too. “I don’t see why not, unless Twilight has something else she wants me doing. I’ll let you know if it doesn’t work,” I offered, returning her smile. She gave a happy nod before turning and heading back to the kitchen. Pinkie watched her go before turning and giving me a huge grin. “This is gonna be awesome! I’ll totally help you decorate it. Ponies are gonna love it!” she exclaimed excitedly. Heh. Leave it to Pinkie to instantly think of making it cuter. Of course, it subtly hinted at her focus on ponies enjoying it rather than it making the shop more bits. That made me happy, deep down. Derpy swallowed the muffin she was working on and lowered her hooves again, suddenly seeming a bit lost in thought as her eyes softened. I gave her a questioning glance, and she perked up upon catching the attention, smiling at me. “What’s wrong, Derpy?” I asked gently. Pinkie caught my words instantly and shifted attention to Derpy instead, switching from excitement to concern faster than I could follow. Dang. No wonder she had trouble ‘talking’ using the link. It was like her entire system was wired three times faster than normal. She was also extremely more image oriented than most. “I’m just a little worried. I know Prince Shining Armor lowered the barrier, and the mayor called off the state of emergency, but I’m still a little concerned about the cabins this year. The stallions and little foals off in the middle of the woods after what happened is a bit scary,” Derpy explained quietly, frowning down at the remaining muffins on the tray. Pinkie shook her head rapidly, of course. “It’s okay, Derpy! Princess Luna took care of the problem in the woods, so there’s nothing out there that could hurt them. Besides, that was in the Everfree Forest, not the Whitetail Woods where the cabins are!” she rapidly attempted to assure. I was somewhat pleased by her explanation of the ‘problem’ in the woods, admittedly. At least she avoided using ‘creature’ or ‘monster’ like I’d heard so often around town. Derpy nodded halfheartedly, and sighed again. “I know. I’m not the only pony who’s a little concerned this year, though. I know Miss Redheart is coming along too like usual, but she expressed a little concern over the potential risks too,” the gray mare countered, looking back up at us finally. Nurse Redheart went to the cabins as well? Well, it made sense that they’d want somepony with medical training there. “I’m apparently staying with Big Mac and Apple Bloom. From the way Twilight talked, our cabin is right next to the medical cabin, so I’ll help keep an eye on things too,” I promised, giving her my best reassuring smile. Of course, if Apple Bloom were there, I had the sneaking suspicion the unwritten statement was that all three Crusaders were staying with us. Unless, of course, they had their own parents or fathers there. I’d have to ask Apple Bloom later. Derpy smiled softly and nodded to me, looking back over at me after I finished. “It’s a little better knowing somepony with experience is with them all apart from just Miss Redheart. Sometimes it just makes me wish Ponyville had a standing guard force like the bigger cities,” she explained. That did make sense, of course. I nodded, unwavering. “Of course. I don’t have anypony to look after except for myself, really, so keeping an eye on things was something I was going to do anyway,” I assured. It was obviously a lie given the fact that I knew there was no danger in the first place, but I couldn’t exactly tell her that, so this was the best assurance I could offer. Pinkie grinned in my peripheral vision, however. “Yet. You don’t have anypony to look after ‘yet’. The way Fluttershy talks, that could totally change in a couple of years” she teased mirthfully. I blushed, catching her meaning and intent almost instantly and shooting her an awkward glare. The gray pegasus next to me grinned, however, and nodded. “Watching after all the little foals might be good practice for you, then,” Derpy pointed out, grinning before shoving another muffin into her mouth whole. That was… actually rather impressive. I knew I could distend my jaw to eat things, but she somehow managed it without injury. Wait, when had I become unofficial guardian of the camp? “Oh! I just remembered that I should probably talk to the Crusaders anyway. I think they wanted to get my help with Cutie Mark searching today.” Clocky informed me that school was almost done for the day. Pinkie grinned even wider, however, and rapidly shook her head. “Nuh uh! All four of you are totally helping me decorate after work today! I have a massive party to throw you tomorrow, if you recall,” Pinkie corrected rapidly, raising an eyebrow to me. Her exuberance threw me off and I swallowed, backing up from her a bit while nodding and hoping she didn’t pounce on me or something. “Oooh, I can probably help, too! Decorating sounds like a lot of fun,” Derpy offered behind me. “Settled then! Bring the Crusaders over if they’re interested, and Derpy can help as well!” Pinkie announced, pumping a hoof into the air excitedly, her mane bobbing with the motion. Snickering, I nodded in agreement. Well, I guess I didn’t have to worry about not having anything to do today after all! It was nice that it actually felt like I was in control of what I was doing, too. Sure, it was offered by somepony else, but I had actually wanted to do so, and agreed to it! Maybe, just maybe, things were starting to look up. Chapter 39My eyes slowly opened, somewhat dazed but reasonably okay. Smoke was clearing from inside the Aegis Barriers, and I saw that Twilight's coffee table was broken into three pieces. Twilight let out a light coughing noise behind me, waving the smoke from her face with her hoof. "Is everypony okay?" she asked a moment later. "Good gracious! That was violent. Was that supposed to happen?" Rarity asked, making no attempt to leave the couch and get closer to the table she was eyeing warily. The thinning of the smoke let me see that Pinkie and Applejack were also unharmed. A glance behind me showed all three fillies hiding in my shadow, shivering nervously but otherwise unhurt. "It's okay, Crusaders. I threw up an extra barrier to each side. You wouldn't have been hurt," I assured quietly. Not that I had anticipated it getting through the Aegis anyway, which it had not, but it was mostly for peace of mind. Applejack carefully looked around before nodding in agreement, my extra shields lowering as she sat up again. "Ah think we're all fine, Twi. Yer table ain't, though," she warned, gesturing towards the broken remains with her head. The connection re-established a few seconds later, and I activated my left eye's projector, popping Keela into the room. She was coughing slightly, and I saw the haze of similar smoke drifting past her occasionally, but she appeared unhurt. "Wow. That ate up both cells of energy that I had stored. Did the sword make it? Is everyone okay over there?" she asked. That was a good question. I peeked through the side of the barrier and saw that there indeed was a shape lying on the floor amidst the wreckage of Twilight's table. "We're all fine. Checking on the sword," I reported as I activated the end barrier, causing it to pulse and blow some of the smoke to one end of the containment area. My eyes widened drastically as I got a good look at the blade. The leather in the sheath had shifted to a light blue in color, while the cord wrap around the grip was a darker shade of the same tone. The metal portions of sheath and the patterned swirl along the leather were now a copper or amber in style. The pommel was a similar color, but now sported a shaped sapphire instead of a ruby. I could have sworn the blade had been black and silver before! "Oh! Mender! What did, but, that shouldn't be possible. You linked with it!" Keela exclaimed, seeing the same thing we all were now. "Linked?" Twilight questioned, hopping off the couch and walking closer to the blade. It didn't appear to be doing anything at all anymore, so I lowered the main Aegis Barriers. As predicted, it just sat there, now totally inert. Keela nodded and watched Applejack and Pinkie hop off the couch before continuing with, "Yes. In order to use an Aegis Artifact, you have to be linked to it. There are varying degrees of connection as well. Normally, however, you can only be linked to a single artifact. Mender's Prudentia should have stopped the link attempt." "Isn't it already linked with Nirru anyway?" I asked, leaning down and staring at the blade. The colors were remarkably similar to my coat. Although now that I thought about it, Prudentia's colors were extremely similar to mine as well. Why didn't it stop the link, though? Pinkie smiled down at the sword, seemingly fascinated by it for some reason. I also got a closer look. It was much how I remembered it, minus the color incident. The blade was small; it had been made for a Keldarian to use. The grip would be just enough for me to comfortably hold it in my mouth at this point. The guard was smaller than normal, being only twice the width of the grip itself, and the blade was straight, appearing to be just over half a meter long. Keela shook her head, however. "She was partially linked, but she could never manage to form a full connection with the artifact. The blade belonged to our mother before her, and has been passed through seventeen generations of our family now. She was the first eldest sister to not be able to connect with it. You're the only one to connect to it without being a family member. This is crazy." She stared at the sword, expression shifting sad for a moment before she carefully composed herself. "Why'd this thingy have ta be sent 'ere anyways?" Applejack asked, crouching down and getting a closer look at it from half a meter away or so. She seemed to relax a little when it didn't animate and lash out at her or anything. I was pretty sure I knew how it worked, so I figured a visual example would be better for the stubborn farm mare. Pulling Prudentia off my side, I tossed it sideways in a singular motion that got everypony's attention almost instantly. It landed on the floor with a dull thud, and I shifted my right foreleg against it, punting it a good three meters across Twilight's wooden floor. Huh. Aegis Barriers slid rather well, I noted. After Applejack gave me a questioning look, I extended my right foreleg back towards Prudentia. "Coming, Master. This is a good example," was suddenly whispered into my mind, and I gave a start. There was no time to consider it, however, as the book faded out of reality and flickered into existence against my right forehoof. "Whoa!" Applejack exclaimed, staring at the new position of the book in my hoof. "Yeah. That's what I'm trying to prevent my sister from doing. Ventosus Lacuna was her Aegis Artifact. She could teleport it to herself with just a mental command. After blocking three such attempts, I decided to try something new. My guess was that she couldn't call the sword if it was in another dimension," Keela explained, smiling softly at me. Something in her eyes caused me to shiver, however, and I rapidly looked away. Pinkie giggled and nodded rapidly. "Oooooh, so Mender is basically just keeping it safe and out of her hooves?" That I laughed at. "Really, I don't have a use for the blade. I'd rather return it to Keela as soon as possible, so hopefully this is just a temporary thing," I muttered, reaching down and lightly sliding the flat of my right hoof along the sheath. It hummed lightly under my touch, almost as if happy. 'Ventosus Lacuna' mentally came to mind, as if inserted of its own accord. I recognized the sensation as exactly the same as when I'd first touched Prudentia. For some reason, 'Windy Void' felt significantly less, well, real to me, for lack of better words. It didn't seem to have the sense of presence Prudentia had for me. I felt Keela smile at me before I even looked over at her. "I'm glad you're respectful of it. Even if it had belonged to my sister before this, it has been in our family for far longer. Hopefully I can take it back one day," she agreed softly. "It's to be expected. Mender is a gentlecolt, after all," was added in reply. I'd almost thought Rarity had said it, but she simply smirked as Sweetie Belle landed on my back again, wrapping her forelegs around my neck. I'd thought the voice was a little high for Rarity. "I'm glad to say we have similar tastes, Sister Dearest," Rarity agreed, snickering at Sweetie's impression of her. Apple Bloom simply groaned however. "Just don't start talkin' fancy on us. It ain't fun fer anypony involved," she warned, shuddering. Oddly, that almost sounded like she was talking from personal experience. Keela started to giggle, but jumped in surprise as a sudden pounding sounded out from somewhere on her end. "Miss Keela! We heard an explosion! Are you okay in there?" somepo- somebody asked, sounding concerned. "Oops. Uh, I'll start charging another energy cell to send the research materials to you, Mender. For now, however, I have to go and let them see I'm still alive," Keela excused, bowing lightly to me. Chuckling, I nodded gently to her and she flicked away in an instant. A few seconds passed and I let out the breath of tension I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Well, that was exciting! "What's with all the noise down here? A dragon's trying to sleep, ya know!" suddenly sounded from an agitated Spike on the stairs. He walked slowly down the steps and glared at the smoke and debris on the floor. "Oh no. Do I have to clean that up?" he asked weakly, side fin things drooping. Rarity winked over at Twilight and stood abruptly. "Nonsense, Spikey-wikey! You just head right back to bed. I'll even come and tuck you in," she said, hopping off the couch and sashaying towards the little dragon. His eyes bulged out as a flush spread across his cheeks almost instantly, his little jaw dropping in shock. "R-Rarity?! I didn't even know you were here! Wait, w-what?!" he asked, mental processing finally catching up with what she just said. It was a familiar enough facial expression for me to be able to identify it almost immediately. Scootaloo made a gagging noise behind me, but Sweetie just giggled and held tighter to my neck. She was actually rather warm, and it felt oddly good on my neck muscles. I reminded myself not to think of my friends as heating pads, however. The little dragon got no further protest out as he was shoved lightly upwards, and looked utterly shocked as he landed on Rarity's back. My eyes widened a little, surprised she was actually giving him a ride after she complained so heavily about his claws earlier. All of us watched in silence as he was hauled off into the darkness of the loft. Well, good luck, little buddy. "Well, that was unexpected. Hmm. Eh," Twilight finally muttered, breaking the silence with a noncommittal sound. Pinkie giggled merrily, but with slightly less energy than normal. I glanced over at her and noticed she had deflated a little bit, smiling over at me instead. "Spike's right, though! It's getting late and my medicine is making me a little sleepy. I've got a lot to do tomorrow before the party, so I think I'm gonna go home and go to sleep, okay?" Pinkie asked in a surprisingly hesitant manner. "Of course, Pinkie! Apple Bloom an' Ah should be headin' back anyway. We'll walk ya ta Sugarcube Corner," Applejack agreed heartily with no hesitation whatsoever. That made me feel better. Ponyville was a super safe community, but I still felt better if Pinkie had the tough farm mare as an escort. Especially with an injured side and medicine in her system. Pinkie nodded happily towards Applejack, and Twilight exhaled softly beside me. Did she have the same worry? If she did, it was apparently gone now as she slid sideways and rested her head on my shoulder. Sweetie Belle started playing with her mane almost immediately, but garnered no response from my fillyfriend. "Come on, Scootaloo. Ah'll drop you off, too," Applejack added, smiling as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hopped off the couch and trotted after her and Pinkie. Both fillies stopped halfway to her and turned around, looking at both Sweetie and me. "Good night, you two. We'll see ya tomorrow, okay?" Apple Bloom assured, giving two affirmative nods after. "Of course!" Sweetie replied. I added a smile and nod to the two. Seemingly pleased, they turned again and trotted up to the patiently waiting Applejack and Pinkie. Applejack hesitated before looking up again and locking eyes with me. Her mouth opened momentarily, but she didn't say anything. After an awkward three seconds of silence, she closed it again, simply settling with a nod towards me, and turned around rapidly. My eyes softened as I watched her go. Yeah. Things weren't going to be the same for a while with anypony, I had a feeling. Twilight watched me for another moment before shifting back to the retreating ponies. "Oh, let me at least show you to the door! I wanna know when you want us to show up tomorrow anyway!" Twilight called out, making a beeline to catch up with the four. I watched her go, somewhat curious but deciding it wasn't any of my business. She'd chosen to hide whatever her true topic was with them, so I guessed there was a reason for it. My gut told me it was Applejack, actually, but I dismissed it before I jumped to conclusions again. Left to my own devices, I glanced up at my warm, adorably cute hat. She smiled down at me and nodded, shifting slightly as I stood up. Ventosus Lacuna joined Prudentia 'magnetically' attached to my side as I slowly limped towards the stairs, my brace leaving a clinking noise with each step. "Let's go see how your sister's doing," I suggested. "I'll go anywhere you want to go, Mender!" Sweetie Belle assured, nestling herself further into my four supporting back tendrils. It felt a little weird, but I got used to it fairly fast. This also allowed me the added benefit of supporting her on my back as I headed up the stairs, kind of like a pony chariot for her. The loft was darkened, of course, but my glowing blue eyes could easily pick out Rarity and Spike. The dragon was snoring peacefully in his basket, looking extremely pleased. Rarity lay next to his bed, smiling softly at him as she gently rubbed his tummy scales with her left hoof. "Out like a light," she whispered softly to me as I slid up. My other four tendrils shifted under me and lifted me off the ground so my brace wouldn't make noise. "Aww! He's adorable," Sweetie Belle cooed quietly, peeking over my head at the snoozing drake. "As I said, we have similar tastes. He really is a charmer, isn't he? It's weird, but I never really fully acknowledged how kind Spike has been in trying to help everypony," Rarity muttered, watching the dragon sleep soundly. I nodded in agreement, deciding to throw some points in for Spike while I had the chance. "He really does try his hardest to make everypony happy. He cooked breakfast in bed for Fluttershy and Twilight practically single-handed. Single clawed? Regardless, I'm, uh, not very good with knives," I informed. Sweetie giggled in amusement on my head, but Rarity just smirked over at me. "Oh, you don't need to tell me that. I could have guessed. Still, he's a gentledrake, that's for sure..." she agreed, turning her attention back towards the sleeping Spike. She watched his chest rise and fall for a moment before smiling again, adding in a nigh whisper, "If only he were older..." My eyebrow rose up slowly. Rarity hesitated, then seemed to realize what she just said as both forehooves shot up to her muzzle. "Oh! Oh dear. Did I really just say that?" she questioned to nopony in particular. Sweetie Belle let out a gasping noise, but I held my hoof up to her, quieting her. "I certainly didn't hear anything. Although I should probably point out that he strikes me as rather mature already from our discussions so far. I'm curious if dragons age differently from ponies," I deduced softly. Rarity froze for a moment before shooting me a questioning stare. I fell silent, however, and decided to just leave that statement hanging there. Sweetie got a downright devious look however and smirked down at me in what could only be described as a, well, proud expression. Rarity wasn't paying attention, however, and shifted her gaze back to the sleeping dragon. I left her to her own devices and thoughts, heading over to Twilight's bed and setting Prudentia on the bedside table again. Ventosus Lacuna was leaned against the table's side as well a moment later. "Do you sleep with Twilight, Mender?" Sweetie Belle asked softly, glancing over at the bed. Why was everypony so interested in my unconscious habits? "We cuddle as we sleep, yeah. It's a more recent thing, however, and I haven't gotten to in a while due to being in the hospital," I answered, attempting to be as honest as I could. Sweetie made a cooing noise and nodded softly, smiling down at me again. "That's sweet. Did you miss it?" I hesitated. A light shifting sensation drifted through me as I remembered the touch of soft fur. Twilight smiled as she pressed into my chest, nuzzling along my neck lightly. A gentle heat drifted into my cheeks as I opened my eyes again and nodded. "Yeah. I missed it a lot," I admitted. To my surprise, Sweetie's forelegs wrapped around the back of my neck in a light hug a moment later. "Well, you're back now. You don't have to sound so sad," she said. Sad? Was I sad? My eyes closed again, and I shuddered lightly. For just a moment, I heard Nirru's final cry as my clawed hoof descended towards her head. My eyes opened an instant later and I realized I was shaking. "Ah, no. I'll be fine, Sweetie. I'm just a little shaken up over the whole ordeal still," I excused. Technically the truth. "You believed us when we said we didn't care if you weren't a pony, right?" she asked, voice surprisingly adamant for such a small filly. Blinking, I glanced up at her in surprise. She wore a somewhat dejected expression as she frowned down at me. I swallowed. "Well, it was shocking. I mean, I'm technically a monster-" I tried to explain. Sweetie Belle whacked me on the top of the head, however. "Ow! Well, I am. I'm some sort of abomination or-" I continued. Another whack. "I'm not sure what that is, but it doesn't sound like something you should be calling yourself," she warned, frowning more. Her eyes got larger, and I felt my heart crying in my chest as I tried to manifest any sort of defense against this unique kind of attack. Logic! That had to work, right? "Sweetie, I can grow tentacles and armor out of my skin, tear a tree apart with my hooves, and leap dozens of meters through the air. My eyes glow in the dark and my teeth and claws are absurdly sharp, too! That's not what I'd call a pony," I tried to reason. She smirked. Uh oh. "All those are part of what you look like and are capable of, though. What part of you is a monster, then?" she asked instead. What? I frowned at her, raising an eyebrow and hoping she'd elaborate. Thankfully, she asked, "What part of those makes you scary and mean? Do you want to hurt or eat ponies or anything?" Okay, now I saw where she was going. "Well, no. I'm still me, even when transformed. Doesn't my appearance scare you even a little, though?" I asked, finding it hard to believe she wasn't even the slightest bit uncertain. She thought for a moment, then nodded a second later. "You're a little scary, yeah. And when I first saw your back thingies. Tenmicals or something? They were a little scary. I'm fine with them now that I realized they're not really icky or anything. Plus, knowing that it's you, I know you'd never hurt me or anypony I care about," she elaborated, nodding twice when she was done. Fluttershy had said almost the same thing, and Twilight agreed too. Sweetie gave me a questioning glance as I pulled her off my back, but then gasped and giggled as I hugged her gently with my forelegs. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle. That's amazingly similar to what Twilight and Fluttershy said, and it really helps," I thanked, giving her another squeeze. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me, then she blushed lightly. "I said the same thing as your two fillyfriends did?" she asked. I blinked. Didn't I just say that? Regardless, I nodded gently towards her. She finally smiled and nodded back, pulling herself against me again. She was so adorable. A gentle cough sounded to my right, interrupting the hugging session. I glanced over in time to see Rarity with a gentle smile on her face, looking down at her little sister. Sweetie pulled her face back and glanced over at Rarity before flushing again. "Are you ready to go, Sweetie? We should head back to the Carousel Boutique and get some rest so we're fresh for the party tomorrow," Rarity quietly pointed out. Her little sister's eyes widened again. "I can go?!" she asked excitedly before pushing both forehooves to her mouth and peeking past Rarity. Spike gave an extra loud snore before continuing his unconscious adventures. Dang, he could sleep. "Well, of course. I dare say, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shall be there, and I can't let my very own sister fall behind socially," she added, mock pouting with her nose shifted slightly up. Sweetie Belle giggled and slipped away, giving Rarity a hug instead. I smirked at the extremely cute display before looking up at the older mare. "Do you need an escort back home, Rarity? It would be no problem for me," I offered. While injured, if we really did run into trouble, I had the utmost confidence that I could still manage to protect the two. The potential mugger or wild animal might need counseling or therapy after being released from the hospital, but it was truly their fault for attacking us to begin with. Rarity gave me a tender smile before shaking her head. "No, you need to rest up and heal. As Twilight isn't back yet, I'd hazard a guess that Applejack and company are still talking to her outside. I'm sure she'll have no trouble escorting us as well," she pointed out. True. I'd noticed Twilight was still gone. I glanced towards the stairs down momentarily before nodding back at her. "It's all right, Mender. I'll go down there and tell her that her coltfriend is getting lonely. I'm sure she'll be back up in the utmost haste," Rarity playfully added, understating intentionally, I think. I glared at her, and her grin widened, proving my suspicions. "Please don't. She's liable to resort to drastic measures," I warned, shivering lightly at the mental images. Unfortunately, the moment I considered it, I realized I wasn't quite sure what she'd do in order to protect me from loneliness. Industrial wire, stitching, and herself came to mind however. I decided that would probably be painful. "Well, I make no such promises. Still, I'm sure our appearance will remind her regardless. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, of course," Rarity agreed, bowing politely. "Me too!" Sweetie added quietly, smiling as she walked up alongside her sister. I returned a polite bow to both of them before agreeing with, "Of course, M'Ladies. I shall see you both tomorrow evening." Both seemed amused at my theatrics, as intended. Rarity slowly turned and headed towards the stairs a moment later. Sweetie hesitated a moment, then rapidly ran back and gave me a quick hug around the right foreleg before galloping after her sister. I couldn't help but grin as I watched her run. So much energy! I always wondered how children got all the energy. Foals appeared to have the same thing going for them. Slowly, I made my way downstairs after the two in order to wait for Twilight. I still heard talking outside the door when I got to the ground floor, so I shifted further away as to not accidentally eavesdrop. It was quiet downstairs now, and I glanced around, enjoying the flickering lights. Deciding to make myself useful, I slowly circled the room, putting out the wall sconces as I went. They were enchanted, of course, and Twilight had shown me that all I needed to do was tap the gem in the center to put them out. She could do them all at once with her magic, of course, but I managed. Finally making it to the last one, I smiled as I lowered myself back to the ground, nodding as the light dimmed to just the fireplace downstairs. That wasn't too hard. Plus, nothing fell on my head! I always counted that as one of my measures of success now. Mentally, I decided on one last double check to make sure I got them all, and turned to the left... I promptly came face to face with two extremely large, yellow eyes. My yelp of surprise was predictably high pitched as I flailed backwards, armor plating popping out on instinct. There was a dull clang as I landed on my back and frowned. Okay, so not so good. I fell on my head instead. Eh, close enough. Readying my attack protocols, I flipped back onto my hooves with a light roll and glared at where the eyes had been. To my surprise, I saw a moderately sized owl sitting on the hoof rest of the couch instead. Oh. Oh! Sighing, I folded my armor back up into me and rolled my eyes. Okay, Mender, you were still a chicken. That was just stupid, though. "Ah, sorry about that. You surprised me, is all. You must be Owlowiscious, right?" I asked, calming my rapidly pounding heart. "Who?" he questioned, in a modest tone. I detected depth behind those eyes, and was mildly impressed at his intelligence. Tilting my head, I inquired, "What, do they use a different name for you? Twilight said your name was Owlowiscious, I thought." Had I misheard her? That was always a possibility. "Who?" he asked, looking confused. "Er, Twilight? Your owner? Er, or is it friend?" I asked, suddenly starting to sweat a little bit. Was owner the wrong word? I didn't want to make a bad first impression. Although, I was starting to wonder if he had amnesia problems, too. "Who?" he repeated. Okay, yeah. He definitely had amnesia problems. Hmm. How best to explain this? I shook my head and sighed. "I didn't know you'd forget who Twilight was. She's the nice lavender unicorn who lives here? Of course, I guess I'll be living here as well. My name is Moon Mender! It's nice to meet you," I greeted, attempting to sound polite. "Who?" he questioned, giving me a skeptical yet oh so familiar look. Okay, so he either thought I was crazy, or was deeply confused by my statement. I sighed weakly. "Moon Mender. I didn't expect you to know who I was. Heck, I didn't even know you lived here until this afternoon. Apologies. Twilight was supposed to introduce us, but then the girls followed us back and we got distracted," I excused politely. Owlowiscious stared at me for a moment. I thought I could see a light twitch along the left side of his temple, and frowned. Was he okay? He suddenly took off from the couch, zipped along one of the shelves, and snagged a book with amazing precision. Oh wow! No wonder Twilight liked him. He flew back with the book a little slower, and then set it down in front of me with calculated efficiency. ‘The Owlpedia, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Owls'? "Oh, thank you! This would probably save a lot of time if you're tired of me asking questions," I pointed out, feeling mildly dejected but understanding if I was annoying him or something. "Uh, what are you doing, Mender?" Twilight asked suddenly from behind me. I gave a light jump, then turned around to look at her as she wandered back in, closing the door behind her with her magic. "Oh, I was having a discussion with Owlowiscious, whom I just met. I didn't realize he had severe amnesia, however, and that I was bothering him with my inquiries. He was nice enough to give me this book on owls, though, to save himself time," I explained, nodding and smiling to her. A familiar look of confusion graced her face. "You were having a discussion with him?" she asked hesitantly, looking over at Owlowiscious "Who?" he asked quietly. He almost sounded embarrassed or ashamed! "She's talking about you. It's okay if you have trouble remembering. I do, too," I assured, giving him a sympathetic look. A second passed before Twilight burst into copious amounts of giggles. "Oh, I suddenly get it! Mender, have you ever dealt with an owl before?" she inquired, sounding deeply amused by something. I flattened my ears back and gave her a stern glare before shaking my head. Why was she laughing at us? "I've read about them kinda, at least in passing. Well, my original did, anyway," I elaborated, sighing weakly. "Mender, owls can't talk. The 'who' noise is just the sound the male owl makes most often. Owlowiscious was probably trying to explain that to you with the book," Twilight explained. I stared at her for a moment before glancing back at Owlowiscious. He stared back, expression almost knowing and impish. Damn it! My head smacked into the closed cover of the book as I groaned. Twilight burst into giggles again before wrapping her forelegs around my chest. "It's okay, Mender. It's a simple mistake. I fell for it once, and Spike had a whole conversation like that, too," she assured softly. I sighed and nodded against the book, still feeling idiotic, but enjoying the feel of her pressed into my back. "Come on then. Let's go up and get ready for bed, okay?" she offered, pulling me off the couch hoof-rest and steadying me. "All right. I suppose it is going to be a long day tomorrow," I reminded myself. Getting enough sleep was important. "Yup! You go up the stairs first, then. I'll follow behind you," she requested. Smiling at her, I nodded and headed for the stairs. "Thank you for being so understanding. If I slip and fall, you can catch me this way," I said, realizing she must really care about me. This was a change from the troubles we used to have. "Of course! Plus, I have the added benefit of getting to stare at your butt as you walk up," she added, falling into step next to me. Thankfully her magic caught me as I almost planted my face into her floor... * * * * * Twilight and I walked along side by side through the overcast town square. A notebook with elaborate writing and figures in it drifted in front of her and she glared at it as if it were everything that was wrong with the world. I hobbled along at a slow pace, but she managed to unconsciously slow herself down to stay side by side with me, even though she was clearly distracted. I'd done my part and gotten her the analysis and measurements accurately. The rest was mostly for her to figure out. "This is absolutely horrible. Every part of this connection is engineered to be as disastrous to the recipient as possible! There's a feedback loop that causes them pain if the 'owner' tugs a certain way even. As far as I can tell, it's engineered to cause fatal damage to the nervous system upon being severed," she finally snapped, closing the notebook violently with her magic and shoving it back into her saddlebag. I winced and shifted away slightly at the violent motion, which earned a gentle softening of her eyes. "I'm not mad at you, Mender. I'm disgusted by whoever made that spell. They were a horrible individual," she assured, giving me a light nuzzle on the cheek. Relaxing a little, I nodded gently to her. "It was made to support slavery, so I'd imagine it's fairly disgusting. I don't remember a huge amount about the data surrounding the link. Tampering causes pain and potentially death if done from the target's end, and I heard it's almost impossible to escape from it," I relayed quietly. It was uncomfortable to talk about it, and I certainly didn't want anypony to hear the details. My fillyfriend shook her head and lowered it, looking disturbed. "The more I learn about your culture, the more I realize why you'd want to stay in Equestria," she murmured. That I could snicker to, and I did just that. "Apart from having amazing friends and two absolutely gorgeous mares, right?" It was thick, but I did love watching her blush. The red shade shifted onto her cheeks and she gave me a playful glare. "Flatterer. Still, I'm really glad you decided to stay with us," she agreed, bumping into my right side with her left. I smiled softly, but then became surprised when she didn't pull back. Instead she kept walking, slowly brushing along me side by side as we went. I guessed it was my turn to blush instead, a bit. Public displays of affection always got to me. "All I really want is to just live normally. That's why I'll be glad when all of this stuff involving the Keldarians is over with. I want to forget about all of it and just focus on rebuilding any semblance of a life that I can manage," I explained, shaking my head towards the ground as I walked. It was tiring. It still didn't feel like I could relax. A part of me was worried about my own sanity, while another was wishing I had a more definite solution to the other dimension's threat. My lavender walking companion glanced into the sky for a moment before a gentle smile played across her lips. "It kinda makes sense, now. Your reactions to everything. I'm doing a lot better now that everything is becoming clearer. I know how not to upset you far better, now. I'm thinking we can finally just be happy," she said finally after a good ten seconds of absent staring. My eyes closed and I nodded. "It's not just you, Twi. I'm better at dealing with things, too. It's easier to realize that you're not going to hurt me now," I assured. More whispering drifted to my ears as we walked past a larger group of ponies, but I ignored them. Of course, I was fairly recognizable with my mutilated leg. "I'm glad. I'm still going to want to do those trust exercises Rarity mentioned. She insists that doing some confidence building and trust activities between the two of us will help strengthen our relationship." It was a little strange considering the source of the suggestion. Rarity was helping Twilight get closer to me? Twilight saw my frown and shook her head rapidly, adding, "Rarity still likes you, yes. But we had a really long talk about it. She knows you don't feel the same and really just wants us to be happy. She's an amazing friend, Mender." My ears flattened back slightly and I sighed. My tail started to flick as I walked, and I mentally reeled it in again, calming myself. "It's just frustrating, is all. She really is a good friend and none of this seems fair, you know? I know I don't, well, feel the same way about her as I do you two, but do you think I should try, just for her sake? Doing nothing about it feels a lot like giving up." It had been digging at me for a while now. The more I thought about my friends not wanting to give up on me, the more I realized that I didn't want to give up on them, either. Twilight shook her head slowly, after a long half a minute of thought. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Mender. Really, I think you'd just be prolonging things. If you think there's some hope that you might actually feel the same once you got to know her, maybe. But you do sound pretty adamant on that not being the case," she pointed out, slowing as I stopped to catch my breath and lift my left leg up again. "I just want Rarity to be happy, too. I know I'm indecisive and probably fairly weak at making hard choices like this, but it's not something I'm used to. Feelings were never really considered in the army, from what I remember. Matters of consequence involved weighing loss of life verses probabilities of success," I elaborated, feeling a little better to get it all off my chest. Twilight smiled in a sad way before nodding. "You can ask me anything you need, and I'll listen whenever you need it, Mender. Don't keep things inside. I've read up on traumatic events and the best recoveries from them, and what I've found out so far say that it's really bad to not talk about things. Fluttershy and I are here for you," she assured, giving a stern and confident nod. Both of us were distracted by a sudden gasp. I turned to my right just in time to see a wide-eyed mare scurry backwards away from me before fleeing, eyes looking wide and panicked. Eh?! A shot of panic shifted through me as well and I double-checked my systems, peeking at my back in paranoia. There was nothing there, of course, and my readouts said I was in 'normal' mode. Why was she running away, then? "Well, that was weird. I'd heard everypony is still nervous over the Everfree accident, though. Maybe you remind them of it?" Twilight guessed hesitantly. My ears drooped and I sighed. "That's just perfect. I hope not. I'm not going to hurt anypony," I groaned, more than a little annoyed over the situation. Nirru had ruined everything. Part of me still regretted letting her go. I stopped for a moment, remembering the toothy grin and the sheer delight I'd felt from slowly slicing her apart. No. That 'part' of me didn't deserve to see light of day. My thoughts were derailed a split second later, and both Twilight and I shifted to look for the source of a loud 'Psst!' noise from the left. Oh! The sight of Sugarcube Corner greeted me. I hadn't realized we'd gotten so close already. Rarity was sticking partially out the front door and motioning urgently to us to come inside. Well, that didn't seem like a good sign. Twilight frowned and ducked into the building after Rarity slipped back inside. Inwardly, I groaned before following after the two mares. My bad luck sense was tingling again. Rarity slammed the door shut and locked it after we got inside. Oh yeah. In order to prepare for hosting the party, the Cakes had closed for today. I was kind of honored that they were doing all of this for me. Didn't that mean they were losing a lot of potential profit? "Big problems! This is a total disaster! Quick, over here," Rarity requested, motoring towards the nearest table and making sure the shades were closed tight on the windows nearby. Twilight frowned and trotted after before asking, "Rarity, calm down! What's going on?" That was a good question. Yes, we should ask that! Getting nervous now, I followed after with my systems on high alert. "You know how I get my subscriptions delivered from Canterlot, right?” the pearly unicorn asked, setting her saddlebags down on the table and rapidly opening them up. "Well, yeah. But that delivery doesn't come in until tomorrow," Twilight said, tilting her head at her friend. Subscription? Like a newspaper? I sat down and rested my foreleg, deciding to just keep my mouth shut and watch for now. Rarity rapidly shook her head. "Sapphire Shores was kind enough to send me hers early to tip me off. This is really bad!" she announced, tipping her bag over and spilling five different magazines out across the table. I frowned and hobbled a little closer, hopping up onto the chair to get a better peek. Twilight did the same on the other side of Rarity. "Rarity, what's so bad about magazines? Are they not hosting your styles like Fancypants promised?" Twilight inquired, shifting a magazine closer to herself with her magic. My eyes widened however. "Newest Ranked Princess Shows Dark Side with Cowed Coltfriend at Canterlot's Finest Party?" I read out loud, staring in shock at a crystal clear picture of me cowering on the balcony and Twilight facing away from the camera, broken glass littered about her hooves. "What?!" Twilight shouted instantly, yanking my magazine across the table and slamming a hoof down on each side of it before glaring at the cover. We were right on the front cover! While Twilight practically ripped the magazine apart to get at the page the story was on, I pulled a different one closer to me and peeked at the cover. A slightly scorched variant of me in Rarity's nice suit, blushing in front of the shattered chandelier with Twilight and Rarity to each side of me. Pleasant. I suddenly didn't like Canterlot so much. This one's title read, "New Scoop On a Future Prince? Dark Storm Clouds are Brewing!" That sounded, well, pleasant. Flattening my ears back, I flipped the pages gently using a burst of rapid-fire barriers. "I don't know what's going on! Most of the ponies at the party had been impressed. Well, a few certainly thought you were weird or uncouth, but most thought you were a hero!" Rarity exclaimed, pacing back and forth behind us. "Lies and slander! I do not keep Mender on a short leash! This reads like I'm some sort of monster who enjoys torturing him," Twilight growled. I glanced up at her enough to note her horn absolutely radiating magic as she glared down at the magazine, looking utterly pissed. I swallowed and decided that ignorance was bliss, shifting my eyes down to my own article instead. If we exploded, at least I wouldn't see it coming. My article here was filled with some fairly impressive photo manipulation. They'd taken the same image from the front cover, cropped it to just me, used a gradient of darkness from my hooves upwards, and then colored my eyes a glowing green for some reason. Was that significant? I silently read the start of the article, frowning. "The newest potential prince in the married-in royal line has been the talk of the town! From all reports, he's been called a Prince Charming, noble and kind, and even a hero after saving the entire Royal Canterlot Orchestra from a horrible chandelier accident!" Well, this didn't sound nearly as bad as I thought it was going to. Although I wasn't holding my breath. "What?! But, no! He had those scars when he got here!" Twilight squealed, sounding utterly livid. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew where that had come from, and went back to reading mine instead. "It's almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, it is. Our brave journalists risked their very lives to dig further into this mysterious stallion's past. Before he was Twilight Sparkle's coltfriend even, we traced all the way back using medical records. More recent information is heavily restricted, which is suspicious enough, but we managed to get our hooves on a single copy of a record from almost a month ago!" the report continued. A month ago? Uh oh. That would have been when I just arrived in Equestria. "No known parentage. No work history. No medical history. There's not even a name listed at this time! This stallion practically fell out of the sky one day, gaining identity and contacts overnight, and then, out of nowhere, drew the Elements of Harmony into his insidious trap!" I blinked a couple times. If I didn't realize they were serious, I probably would have started laughing. "Using my connections to keep the poor, timid stallion cowed while erasing his past?! This is insane!" Twilight growled a moment later, spasming and slamming her right forehoof down onto the table again. Rarity stopped pacing and sighed. "Well, it is the Canterlot Inquirer. It's slightly less believable than the others and does enjoy the odd rumor spreading here and there," she warned, walking up to us again. That one was the less credible one?! I glared down at the page in front of me and shook my head. It continued, of course, with, "After earning the trust of the Elements of Harmony, his connections spread. Now he's a whisper in the upper tiers of Canterlot itself, and has openly met with our own Princesses, even! His rise to power is unrivaled, but now we bravely report on his past. Our only hope now is to uncover his agenda and reveal what he truly is." My ears flattened back as I saw a picture of myself and Tia at that cafe a while back. Damn it! If they wanted to reveal what I actually was, I had a feeling they were in for one hell of a surprise. "Beat Mender while performing bizarre, sexual rituals to increase my own power?! I... I don't even know how to respond to this!" Twilight practically screamed. Rarity and I shifted to the other side of the table as the haze of aura started drifting off her. A few splinters started cracking out of the table. Uh oh. Feigning innocence, I went back to reading my own article again. We were probably about to die anyway, so at least I'd die amused. Rarity sighed and made a series of gentle clicks towards Twilight with her mouth. "Calm down, Dear. They're trying to get ponies riled up, and are very good at it. You're going to break the Cake's table," Rarity warned softly, voice shifting to a gentler tone. Twilight sighed and lowered her magical aura again before flopping down weakly into a sitting position on her chair. Her magic pushed the magazine away and pulled up the other she'd grabbed prior. That one, entitled "The Canterlot Shine," had Rarity on the front cover, posing in front of the broken chandelier. Interestingly enough, the pose looked like it was taken from when she was on stage with Fancypants. "Fashion Star Rarity Saves Evening?" Twilight read skeptically, raising an eyebrow to the cover. Rarity herself blushed and coughed lightly, shaking her head. "That one's simply bending the truth to make it look like the orchestra was saved by moi," she explained nonchalantly. I tilted my head, unsure of what 'muah' meant, but gathering enough from the statement to realize it wasn't that bad. Twilight shook her head and shrugged. "At least they're not slandering anypony, but taking all the credit away from Mender is still wrong," she elaborated. Eh, that I didn't really care about. The rest of my article struck me as scarily close to paranoid raving. They mentioned numerous times that I was a sleeper agent and going to topple the Princesses and let some mare take over that they called Chrysalis. There was a word sprinkled throughout that I wasn't sure of, however. "Hey, Twilight? What's a changeling?" I asked, finally giving up looking for an explanation or definition somewhere in the article. Twilight froze, causing my eyes to widen and look up at her. Her expression was of shock, slowly melting into that familiar seething rage. "No. Oh no. They didn't do what I think they did, did they?" she asked, snatching my magazine again with her magic and glaring at the page I had open. Rarity gasped at the picture, rapidly shaking her head. "That's horrible! They're calling Mender a changeling?! This is a new low!" she declared, looking actually disgusted. I'd never seen Rarity look angry before, and it was kind of scary. "A changeling is a creature capable of shapeshifting into specific pony forms and pretending to be that pony. Their queen, Chrysalis, brought a whole horde of them to Canterlot and destroyed my brother's first attempt at marrying Cadence. Queen Chrysalis even posed as Princess Cadence for a while, trying to destroy Equestria from the inside out so all her changelings could feed on our love," Twilight explained, her right hoof slowly dragging along the side of the table as she rapidly read the article while talking. Oh. It all snapped into place, even though I'd suspected from the name alone. They thought I was a spy for this Queen Chrysalis, then. "They have no honor at all! To call Mender one of those creatures that eats love is just horrible!" Rarity continued ranting, looking even angrier now. "How did they get one of the copies of the medical records?! Those should have been locked down by royal decree," my fillyfriend questioned, suddenly frowning as she read over what I already had. Shaking my head, I lifted the corner of the somewhat mangled magazine and peeked at the front cover again. "Equestria Weekly?" I read out loud, raising an eyebrow. Twilight frowned and flipped the cover over again before shivering. "This is the most popular and widespread magazine and newspaper series in Equestria. They're not known for their biased outlook. Why are they doing this, then?!" Twilight demanded to nopony in particular. Rarity sighed weakly and set her head down on the table. "As much as I hate to admit it, none of the three magazines are beyond manipulation. Somepony doesn't like Mender, and probably paid for the articles," she deduced wearily. Her mane was slightly more unkempt than normal, too, I noticed. This must be bothering her. "Well, if they don't release until tomorrow, officially, maybe we can make some calls and get the articles taken out or changed. I mean, this is practically slander!" Twilight suggested, voice shaky as she managed to maintain her volume. That didn't explain the weird reactions in town. I opened my mouth to remind Twilight when the door suddenly unlocked and blasted open a second later. Flailing, I almost fell sideways off my chair in shock, readying my guard. Twilight and Rarity whipped around as well, with the lavender mare lighting her horn up almost instantly. All three of us exhaled as Pinkie bounced in instead, looking significantly better than yesterday. "Ooooh! Hey everypony! I wasn't expecting ya for a few hours," she chirped happily before sliding the door shut behind her. Papers drifted in around her, some clinging to her mane and tail as she shook like a dog and sent them everywhere. "Oh, pardon us. We had much to discuss and needed a private spot to do so. My apologies, Pinkie dear," Rarity excused, holding her hoof up gently. The pink one just giggled and rapidly shook her head. "It's totally fine, Rarity! My closest friends can borrow the shop anytime!" she declared, not missing a beat. "Uh, what are these, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, levitating up one of the pieces of paper that had been liberally sprinkled about the floor now. I lifted one up as well. Pinkie shrugged and stared at the paper for a second before her eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! There's like, a half dozen pegasi outside that are dropping those all over the town!" A cold chill drifted up my spine with that all too familiar sensation of dread building inside of me. I tore the paper sleeve off the one I picked up and read the title. It was a news sample. Damn it. "Equestria Weekly Free News Sample? Subscription Coupons Inside?" Twilight read out loud, voice dropping as her eyes widened. Crap. The large image of me appeared on the front page right under the huge words, glowing green eyes prominent. The header under that was amazingly similar to the main article. Twilight started to shiver as she stared at the pamphlet she held in her magic. "Uh, Twilight?" Rarity hesitantly asked, frowning slightly. "I... ah ha ha... aaaahhhh..." Twilight muttered, face flushing lightly as the paper wavered. Uh, that struck me as a bad sign. A little strand of her mane popped up suddenly, slightly tweaked away from the rest. Another moment later, her coat bristled a little around her shoulders, looking ruffled. I swallowed painfully as Pinkie suddenly shrank down, losing her smile and scooting backwards away from Twilight, who still faced away from me. "Aaaaah.... AAAAAHHHHH! RAAAAAAAAH!" Twilight suddenly screamed, the slow shift from hysterical to completely pissed was rather terrifying to listen to. The paper in front of her hazed out, then momentarily exploded into flames before flaking away into ash as the superheated blast of air hit Rarity and me. My armor folded into place. Chapter 40Twilight never ceased to impress me, time and time again. "Oh no! This is bad. I mean, these thingies are really mean and it's supposed to be Mender's nice party day! Why would somepony drop these off everywhere when today is supposed to be a super fun day?" Pinkie asked quietly, staring at one of the remaining pamphlets in front of her. Dozens floated through the air around us, rapidly igniting and burning away as Twilight screamed out at the now terrified pegasi trying to fly away from the town square. She grabbed them all. All seven pegasi were snatched up in a purple and red glow before being hauled out of the sky. At this point, they were probably lucky they too weren't on fire. "What are you doing?!" Twilight screamed after depositing them in front of her in the air, literally holding them there, afloat. I blinked, then waved at Derpy who floated upside down on the end of the line. She smiled pleasantly at me and waved back, seeming unfazed. "Uh, our jobs? We were paid to drop these off," a pegasus mare towards the middle of the drifting cluster replied. I was amused by her light cyan mane that spiked upwards and back. It meshed well with her lavender coat. Actually, the pegasus right next to her looked remarkably similar in coat and mane colorings, but sported a more relaxed hairstyle and a large bow. Sisters? Twilight gritted her teeth, eyes narrowing again. "Who? Who is paying you to spread these?" she demanded. Uh, that sounded bad. "Twilight, calm down," I tried to plead, but only got a somewhat annoyed glare in return. "Admittedly, I agree with Twilight on this one. Did you girls even look at what you were spreading?!" Rarity asked harshly, pounding the negative feelings out like one would swing a sledgehammer. Why was I the only one not actively wanting to murder something? The other purple one swallowed and rapidly shook her head, while her sister sighed. "I just wanted this job to be done. No, we didn't bother reading them. That would have wasted time on a perfectly good day off for a Pinkie Party!" the spikey one explained. Wait, did the whole town stop working today?! "This is slander! Derogatory and blatant lies about Moon Mender! You know, the one the party is for in the first place?!" Twilight snapped, throwing one of the slightly less crispy pamphlets at the two. "What?! Oh no!" Derpy exclaimed, eyes widening as she snatched up another pamphlet and started reading it as well. The not so spikey mare on the left flailed in the air suddenly. "What?! You're a changeling?!" she asked in panic, pointing her hoof right at me. Gasps shot through the considerable crowd that Twilight had attracted. My ears flattened back and I rapidly shook my head, backing away from her. "No, of course he's not a changeling! I've done multiple scans on him for weeks. You really think I would have a changeling for a coltfriend?!" Twilight pointed out, moving rapidly in front of me. A somewhat older-looking mare's voice sounded out from the crowd, however. "The Equestria Weekly says you'd say that! You're corrupted already by his influence!" she shouted. What?! Oh hell. "No! That's just crazy. I'm Princess Celestia's student. She's seen me since! Don't you trust your Princess to pick up on something like that?!" Twilight tried to reason. Pinkie hopped over to the other side of me and covered that direction as well. "She's right, everypony! Princess Celestia likes him, so that must mean he's totally not a changeling!" she shouted out. "Be careful, Pinkie," I muttered, gesturing towards her side with my muzzle. She gave me a soft smile over her shoulder but shook her head. "I don't trust him, I know that much! Prove it! Prove he's not a changeling right now," a closer, dark blue stallion near the front row demanded. Murmurs shot through the crowd, and a few angry snarls joined his. This was insane! "First the attack, and now this! He's been nothing but trouble since he got here! I'm not going to let a monster like that near my foals," was screamed from the back. My eyes widened as that one hit me dead on. Monster. I really had been nothing but trouble to Ponyville since I got here. Even before I learned that I was a monster. All I'd ever done was break things and cause chaos and destruction. She was right... "Fine! I have a spell already that will reveal a changeling! I'll cast it on Mender, and then you'll see that everything is fine!" Twilight shouted, horn lighting up. "Lies! You're under his spell already. No! We need a better way!" the same blue stallion shouted. That sense of dread came up again. Would her spell reveal my other parts, though? Something small shot up over the crowd before flicking downwards and smashing into the wall behind me. I yelped as I lowered myself closer to the dirt, a still spinning rock coming to a slow rest. "Hit him! Changeling's can't keep their form up through pain! Hurt him so we can see!" screamed a pony from somewhere in the back of the crowd. Oddly, the voice was rather androgynous. "Stop this!" Twilight shouted, horn lighting up as two more rocks bounced off her magic in front of us. This couldn't be happening. They all thought I was a monster and were trying to stone me! "Move, Twilight! Get out of our way! One good hit and we'll have the truth," an orange mare with a golden mane shouted near the front of the closing-in crowd. More rocks flew in before Twilight could respond, and were haphazardly knocked in other directions. Pinkie yelped and dodged sideways as another rock almost hit her in the shoulder. Amidst her dodge, she smashed into me instead and we both almost hit the dirt. I helped her steady herself as best I could, forced to grit my teeth as I dropped my left foreleg down against the dirt to brace her. She was surprisingly heavy! Then I learned a very important weakness to my proximity sensors. I'd not thought about it before, as it really took a specific situation to take advantage of it, but my sensors could be shadowed out by other objects. Twilight, looking to the right as she knocked two rocks out of the path of Rarity's head, missed a rock to the left. Her body shadowed out the sensor just as she moved out from in front of the rock. My eyes widened as I sent the signal down my body to pop out a single plate. Pain exploded from my left foreleg as my command was a few hundredths of a second too slow. I actually screamed as the stabbing burst shot through my left elbow area and radiated in all directions. My foreleg gave out as I felt the metal of my brace dent into my skin and tear. Pushing with my back legs, I managed to hit the ground on my shoulder instead of my leg at the last second and tucked myself up into a ball as best I could. My mind reeled in pain as I let out a series of airy gasps. I shouldn't have hesitated to put up my barriers for us! Screw scaring ponies... damn it! "Mender!" Rarity called out, diving to the left towards me as I curled up. Twilight's eyes widened as she looked back at me. A half second was all it took. Her expression twisted into a grimace as her eyes disappeared into white light. She whipped around again and let out a scream of rage. The ball of magic radiated out from her horn like a small sun, tearing the wind backwards away from it as it washed over us. Her mane and tail literally ignited in the same instant, the stray papers that had been drifting around her being reduced to a fine dust in a shockwave of heat. She fired a second later at point blank range into the advancing crowd. My eyes widened in shock as she flattened every single pony in the town square, knocking them every which way as they fell over each other and were sent into market stalls. Dust and debris were kicked up into the air as the stalls themselves were ravaged as well, produce and smaller items being sent flying as my pissed off girlfriend radiated out raw energy. Only one stallion made it past. The blue one from earlier leapt forwards at the last second and managed to just barely get past Twilight's shot. He growled as he lunged, hooves extending back as he made to land on me! My eyes widened as his glowing brown ones narrowed. Wait, glowing? An orange mare came out of nowhere and shoulder checked him before he made contact. His direction was instantly changed as his eyes widened instead, spinning once and flipping before crashing into a fruit stand a half dozen meters away. My eyes shifted over to Applejack as she slowly stood up fully, glaring at the groaning stallion as he struggled to get out of the mess of broken wood. Twilight panted in rage as she rapidly looked around the square. Her eyes were burning like the surface of a star, and her horn absolutely radiated raw magical energy. Flames lapsed off where her mane and tail had been prior, moving as if billowing in the wind dancing off her. I'd seen that once before, I suddenly realized! That was my last sight before slipping into a coma after the ship exploded. "Twilight, that worked! Calm down," Rarity pleaded, rubbing her right forehoof down her friend's side to get her attention. Wait, how was flames coming off her head and butt even vaguely possible for an organic being?! Pinkie was silent as she tore a tablecloth from the wreck of a nearby corn stand and started pushing it into my left foreleg. I winced, and then finally looked down at it. The cloth rapidly turned red, and I shuddered, wishing I hadn't looked suddenly. My internal sensors flared up and I instead did a scan of the damage. "Ah! Pinkie, the brace is stabbing into my leg. I need to pull it off," I managed to whisper. She frowned but nodded with a surprisingly solemn expression. She pulled the tablecloth back, and I swallowed as I saw the dented metal had snapped before sliding cleanly into my flesh. "Oh no! Uh... here!" Pinkie squeaked as she pushed her right foreleg down on the very end of my brace. I nodded to her and closed my eyes, gritting my teeth before pulling my foreleg backwards. The pain was white hot and exploded as I yanked backwards. The wet and slick noise of the wire popping free told me it had worked, and Pinkie rapidly pushed the tablecloth back into my foreleg again. "There?! Are you all happy now?!" Twilight screamed out, voice sounding as if it were seething in anger. The wind around her picked up with her shout, flames lapsing and dancing chaotically like actual hair. But… how?! "What in tarnation is goin' on 'ere? Why was everypony attackin' you gals? Err, gals an' Mender," Applejack asked, correcting herself a moment later. Rarity turned her attention back to me as she massaged my other leg gently, and explained, "These pamphlets contain terrible slander of Mender from the Equestria Weekly magazine and newspaper. They're claiming he's a changeling!" Applejack stared at the papers for a moment before snorting to herself. A chorus of groans sounded out as dozens of rather confused looking ponies stood up and pulled themselves out of the wreckages of many a food stand. "What ah load o' hogwash if Ah ever saw one! Ah'm ashamed o' you ponies! Can't ya'all decide fer yerselves what's true an' what ain't?!" Applejack shouted out, turning to face them all instead of me. Twilight exhaled softly as she looked over at Applejack, the burning light slowly fading from her eyes with the deep breath. Oddly, the flames that had lapsed from her prior faded away, leaving totally unharmed mane and tail in its wake. No, just no. I wasn’t even going to ask. The orange and golden mare who just crawled out of a carrot stand suddenly gasped, looking past Twilight and right at me instead. Oh hell. Here we go again. This time I didn't care what they'd think of it. I was going to put my barriers up. "Oh no! W-What happened? What did we do?!" she asked, however, looking utterly horrified. What? Oh. Oh! "Ah... Twilight, that stallion's eyes were glowing before Applejack knocked him flying," I managed to say, wincing as I pushed my lower body into a better position. The pain reverberated through my entire foreleg and I clenched my jaw. It hadn't hit any of the main blood vessels in my leg, but the pain was intense. My scan showed damage to a sizable nerve bundle near my elbow, and millions of nanites were released to start internal repairs again. My natural and unnatural regeneration only went so far... Twilight gasped and immediately looked around for another flier. To my surprise, Derpy sat up on the other side of Pinkie, having apparently landed there after Twilight let the pegasi go to parry rocks. Oddly, only one of Derpy’s eyes was glowing lightly as she frowned. "T-Twilight. Here's one of the pamphlets; undamaged. I, um, I don't want to hurt Mender. No, I'm not going to," she denied to nopony in particular. Twilight pulled the piece of paper away from her instantly using telekinesis, and it was like someone turned off the light bulb. She frowned and looked around again before exhaling softly. Twilight glared at the pamphlet for a moment before tucking it into her saddlebag. "I'm going to bet that they're enchanted. But why?" she asked to herself. A second later, she gasped and spun around to me instead. "Ah, Mender!" "Oh no! I'll go get a nurse!" the orange and gold mare shouted, tearing off towards the hospital. The blue stallion stood up shakily again as well. "I'm going to need some food after this," I warned Twilight quietly. She looked momentarily confused before it dawned on her. I forced my eyes shut and manually shifted my body's energy flow. The nanites sped up at the same time my regeneration kicked into overdrive. Applejack's expression shifted to surprise next to me as she watched my wound start to sizzle and seal up. "Oooh, neato!" Pinkie exclaimed, watching the effect with fascination. Their show was cut short, however, as Twilight's magic washed over the affected area. To my surprise, she actually started using a healing spell rather than just covering up what I was doing. "It didn't hit in a critical spot," I assured, looking gently up at Twilight as I regenerated. As I lifted my head, my muzzle came directly into hers, however. I hadn't realized she was so close, but she went with it and grinned against my lips, kissing me lightly as her magic restored my outer skin. I smiled and lightly pushed back, feeling better already. My leg even hurt less! "Ah'm glad yer okay, Mender. Don't worry none about these ponies anymore. They learned their lesson, Ah think," Applejack spoke up, smiling at both of us after we broke apart. Her eyes rapidly shifted away from mine as I looked over at her, however. Mentally, I sighed. There was no time to say anything, however, as that blue stallion from earlier limped over. Now that I got a better look at him, as he was no longer trying to pound my face in, I noticed he had two musical notes on his flank, and his fur was a very rich blue color, far darker than mine. Applejack stepped up in front of me like a bodyguard, however. She puffed up and gave him a rather nasty looking glare. "Oh no. Yer gonna stay back if ya don't wanna go flyin' again," she warned, right forehoof digging into the dirt menacingly. Something about it made me blush lightly. It was similar to how she got with Twilight... "I'm sorry, Applejack! I really am. It's all a blur and I don't remember what happened. I'm so sorry!" he apologized rapidly, halting his advance right there. I took note of a nick along his forehead that was causing a small trail of blood to run down the side of his face. "Noteworthy! I'm ashamed of you! You're so polite and such a hard worker. What were you thinking attacking Mender like that?!" Rarity shot out angrily, stomping her hoof at him the second he finished talking. Twilight shook her head, however, turning slightly away from me. "No, I don't think this is their fault directly. It feels like the pamphlets were enchanted. Possibly to magnify doubt and anger?" she suggested, thinking to herself. "Why would somepony do that, though? And on such a fun day?" Pinkie asked, sounding almost heartbroken. Wait a second... Shifting slightly, I realized that the 'pillow' I was propped up against was in fact Pinkie's shoulder. Oh. Well, the proximity of her voice made sense now, anyways. "Magnified?" Applejack asked suspiciously, staring over at Twilight. Huh? The lavender unicorn hesitated before sighing weakly. "Only the most powerful spells can directly manipulate feelings to the point of instilling one that's not there. In order for it to have been this subtle, it would be restricted to only magnification," she revealed, looking down and away from me again. Oh. That I should have seen coming. Applejack stared at her for a moment before frowning. "Ah think Ah got most o' that. Yer sayin' they already had tha doubt an' fear?" "Yeah. It's to be expected, really. I'm a strange new pony who shows up out of nowhere with weird abilities, and then an attack happens in my vicinity," I pointed out, looking up at Applejack instead. "N-No! It's not, well, it's just that you make a lot of us a little nervous, is all. We see you doing weird things and acting a little off and, I dunno. I'm sorry, Moon Mender," Noteworthy apologized softly, lowering his head. The crowd had gathered back around at this point, albeit considerably more passive this time. Most wore new scratches and a few were bleeding, I noticed. The town square looked like a hurricane hit it, however. Twilight sighed and glanced back over at me, eyes dancing urgently. I recognized the stare and silently nodded back to her. She wanted permission. I wasn't sure on what, but I trusted that she had my best interest in mind. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to say anything and things would just smooth out without incident, but it's a bit late for that. Mender's had a rough life before moving to Ponyville, however, and he has severe retrograde amnesia. Further, he occasionally gets flashbacks which scare him and might lead to you seeing him 'acting weird'," Twilight explained gently. As vague as that was, technically it was all true. She was trying to get them calmed down, then. Noteworthy winced as he listened, then nodded silently. A mare stepped out of the crowd that I also recognized, however. She was with Lyra a while ago. Bon Bon, was it? "We're really sorry, Twilight. We haven't been told anything, really. What did Mender have to do with the attack a week or so ago?" she asked softly, giving my fillyfriend a pleading stare. Twilight stared back for a moment before shaking her head and closing her eyes. "That was exactly what the Princesses said it was. A creature from another dimension attacked my library. Mender happened to be there at the time and was taken into the Everfree. He held it off until Princess Luna arrived, but got badly hurt in the process. You know the rest," she explained. Twilight was amazingly good at saying something that was technically true but avoiding most of the details. That kind of scared me. "It was a monster. I tried to run away, but it told me what it wanted to do to Ponyville, and I got really angry. Unfortunately, that also made me a bit reckless," I added, shakily sitting up against Pinkie, who nudged me gently into a balanced position. Noteworthy's eyes widened as he processed my information. "That thing wanted to do something to Ponyville?" he asked uneasily, suddenly unsure. Applejack cut in instead with, "Yeah. It was really bad. Ponyville would'a been in real trouble, but it don't matter now because Princess Luna an' Mender stopped tha thing. Ya'all are safe now." "The shield was just a precaution while Mender healed in the hospital," Twilight agreed, giving a nod. Bon Bon tilted her head, however, shooting me a questioning gaze. "It was important to shield us while you were hospitalized?" she questioned. "Yes, it was, my little ponies. Mender could hardly perform his duties as our Chief of Dimensional Regulation while he was in the hospital, after all," was suddenly spoken up to our right. What?! Everypony, including me, turned to look at almost exactly the same time. Oddly, Princess Luna herself walked towards the crowd, a Night Guard to each side of her. I peeked at both of them, but they weren't familiar and I let out a sigh of relief. Wait, what was that about Chief of Dimensional Regulation?! "P-Princess Luna! What are you doing here?" Twilight asked almost immediately as the entire crowd, minus herself, Pinkie, and me, bowed to the Princess. Twilight never seemed to, and I was told not to. Pinkie could have, I suppose, but I would have toppled over if she did. Her suddenly standing up would probably hurt. "Oh, that one's easy! I invited both the Princesses to Mender's party!" Pinkie informed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Twilight didn't seem to think as much, however. "Oh. Oh! But, Sugarcube Corner isn't done yet! Oh no!" she squeaked before rapidly opening the door again and fleeing back inside the building. I raised an eyebrow as I watched the door slowly shut, really hoping we didn't need her to deflect anymore rocks. Luna snickered merrily as she approached, gesturing for all of us to stand up again. "Mender is, if he accepts, the head of the newly formed Dimensional Regulation Unit. It's a branch of the Royal Guard that my sister instated yesterday. Even given his amnesia, Mender is an expert on dimensional travel and magic involving it. We believe that's why he was targeted by the monster," she explained. My eyes widened dramatically as I looked up at her while Pinkie helped me stand up again. How much of that was just a cover story?! There was no way Celestia was going to make me chief of anything. Gasps and whispers exploded throughout the crowd, and Noteworthy actually shifted to a look of realization. "Oh! You really are a secret agent, then! This news story is so bogus about your past, then. Duh, of course they're going to hide the truth about you," he muttered, kicking one of the half burned pamphlets on the ground. "News?" Luna asked, looking over at me in minor confusion. "Long story. Wanna come inside to talk there?" I offered, trying to stabilize myself as I looked about for where my brace skidded off to. Pinkie gasped and hopped lightly, causing me to wobble. "Oooh, I'll go get you some snacks and tea!" My eyes widened as she zipped inside less than a second later. "Pinkie, wait!" I exclaimed. As anticipated, my left leg gave out the second weight fell back onto it fully. I yelped and stumbled, tipping sideways as I hadn't expected the sudden shift in balance. Rarity made a grab for me from the other side but didn't react in time. To my surprise, the ground never came, however. I gently opened my eyes, looking to the left in time to see Applejack had taken Pinkie's place and was gently propping me up. She shifted her gaze away awkwardly, but nodded to me. "Ah definitely ain't gonna let ya fall," she explained quietly. I stared at her for a moment. She felt bad, and wanted to make up for her perceived slights against me. That much I got. Part of me realized that nothing would really be the same again, but I wanted to at least smooth out this awkwardness. "Thanks, Applejack. Could you help me inside?" I requested gently. If she were just looking for things she could do for me, I guess it could work. The only thing was I had to make sure the requests were dignified. She'd probably do almost anything, but I had a deep respect for the mare and didn't want her doing anything degrading. She smiled lightly for just a split second, but every sense I had locked in on that and remembered it. She liked that. She liked any way she could think of to repay that. Me just telling her it was all fine was pointless if she didn't forgive herself. "Sure thing, Sugarcube," she said, gesturing Luna and Rarity inside as well with a move of her head. I watched the Moon Princess step through the doorway, then heard more commotion from behind us. Rarity, Applejack, and I turned back around to look as the orange and gold mare rushed back up finally, the oh-so familiar Nurse Redheart on her tail. Both looked rather panicked, but Redheart gave me a worried smile upon finally making it. "Twilight healed him a little bit, but it doesn't look like his leg is doing too good," Noteworthy explained, trotting up to the mares as they ran up. To my surprise, Bon Bon stepped out of the audience at the same time and held up my brace in her mouth. Rarity smiled towards her and nodded, picking it up with her magic and floating it over to us as well. "He had his leg forcibly removed. It's a miracle he's even walking, so that's probably normal. I still want to take a look at it, though," Nurse Redheart explained, walking up after us after glancing towards Sugarcube Corner. A series of gasps spread through the crowd at that, and I winced inwardly. Applejack, ignoring the reaction, nodded politely to her before requesting, "We're about ta head inside ta have ah talkin' with Princess Luna. Can ya come in an' take ah look at it there?" "Of course!" the nurse exclaimed, brushing past her and giving me a frustrated glare on her way into the building. I swallowed lightly, realizing I was giving her even more work now. "Oh, wait! My name is Golden Harvest, but my friends just call me Carrot Top," the golden-maned mare introduced, running up until she was about a meter away before bowing politely. Frowning, I gave her a nod in return before asking, "Why do your friends call you..." I trailed off as I glanced up to her rather curly, golden orange mane. "Oh." She giggled but nodded. "You got it! Anyway, I'm super sorry for what happened! If you ever need anything at all, just let me know. I'll jump right on it!" she apologized, eyes softening as she looked rather sincere. Slowly, I nodded back, starting to feel a little shy and honestly having no idea what to do with so many ponies staring at me. Carrot Top grinned happily and Noteworthy nodded in agreement. "Me, too, of course. I'm a good friend of the Apples and a hard worker. If you need anything, either personally or in the defense of Equestria, please let me know!" he declared. Wow, they were really taking this 'Chief' thing seriously! I started to cough weakly, but Applejack beat me to talking. "Ah can vouch fer him. He's strong an' ah good worker. O' course, ya also have mah family's support," she chipped in. Er, what? "Not you too, Applejack! I don't even know what this position is yet!" I reminded, shooting her an awkwardly frustrated stare. She actually started laughing! "We know what you're capable of, Mender. Stop being modest and realize you actually have skills in this area," Rarity lectured politely, giving my right shoulder a gentle rub with her forehoof. I sighed and looked over at her, but only received a half-lidded wink in return before she stood again and slowly walked inside. Coughing, I averted my gaze politely. So, she wasn't just going to give up, I noted. Either that or she was just being playful to make me squirm because it was humorous... Applejack snickered even more before gesturing and shoving me inside. She was surprisingly gentle from what I'd been expecting. Luna smiled politely as I slid indoors, then lifted a massive folder crammed full of papers using her magic. Redheart nodded and smirked to me as well, holding up a rather large needle at the same time. Oh dear. This was going to be a long day. * * * * * Even knowing they weren't going to publicly execute me, I still had worlds of trouble saying no to mares. One pointless tetanus shot later, I was sitting gingerly on a couch in the upper floors of Sugarcube Corner. The room was immensely pink, which didn't honestly surprise me. It was also extremely crammed with Princess Luna and Rarity on the bed, Twilight sitting next to me on the couch, and Applejack and Pinkie on the floor between the bed and said couch. I spent another good half a minute staring blankly at the papers in front of me. What was the natural reaction to something like this? Only the top three were meant to be signed by me. The rest were detailed information about the Everfree Incident, an exceedingly detailed table of goals in a suspiciously familiar writing, and oddly enough, portfolio information on a dozen individuals. "I'm sure you understand where my sister is coming from. This is a purely defensive aligned group meant to safeguard Equestria from any extradimensional risk," Luna explained again after my lengthy bout of silence had drawn on almost a minute. I nodded weakly. That much was crystal clear. She was forming a mixture of combat and extremely selective R&D to guard against any and all future extradimensional incidents, focusing on defensive measures. "I get that much. I'm just not sure where I fit in, and why you're labeling me the 'chief' of the branch," I elaborated, frowning as I flipped to the next page again. It outlined the goals of the agency and vaguely explained what they wanted me for, but I didn't see where the research and development of alien technologies translated into 'chief'... "You'll be monitoring and leading an expert team of unicorns in order to investigate and develop counters for any alien technology acquired," Luna informed. She gave a slight shift of her eyes when she said it, and I frowned. Twilight shivered lightly next to me, and I closed my eyes. She said she wouldn't. All I'd have to do is say something. Yes, that might be a better idea. "This is your writing, Twilight. If you're running overhead on the entire agency, why aren't you chief?" I inquired, looking over at her. She winced as if burned, then swallowed. A hesitation. Finally she rapidly shook her head, causing Applejack to give her a skeptical look. "I'm not going to lie to you. I'm your organizer and planner in the organization. But, um, I'm not the chief," she explained, not explaining much at all. I raised an eyebrow and she sighed again. "Twi, it can't be that bad. Just come out with it, Sugarcube," Applejack interrupted, frowning up at her. My fillyfriend's ears lowered and she shivered again before looking back up at me with a surprisingly determined stare. "No, I won’t lie! I, well, I don't have any actual combat experience. Actually, compared to you, the royal guards that dominate the personnel list don't either," she finally admitted. I froze, eyes widening slightly. "Wait, what?" Rarity asked, sounding somewhat startled. "You're expecting to need to use force against threats to Equestria, and want me to lead the guard into battle against them..." I muttered, eyes locked intently on Twilight's. She shivered again and tried to look away with her head, but her own eyes remained frozen on mine as she hesitated. "Yes, that's true. You're the only one here currently that has led troops into battle. The only other individual who still technically has guard capacity and has the same qualifications is Shining Armor," Luna added calmly, watching the exchange. I resisted snorting. "Yeah, and he's a prince. I get it. All I've ever led was a specialist squad, however. We didn't see much direct combat," I warned, voice softening. Only a little white lie. Just a tiny one. It took effort to resist shivering. "Please, Mender? You said you wanted to protect us, and I'll be there with you the entire time," Twilight reminded, edging forwards a little and nuzzling along my shoulder. Heat danced up me and I flushed lightly as she almost touched the base of my neck before stopping. Yeah, not the place for that... Still, that was cheating! I sighed and looked away from her, staring down at the floor. Technically, I wanted to protect them, yes. I didn't like placing myself under Celestia's orders, however. Further, I didn't want to give these ponies weapons of war. The 'threat' was almost over, unless Celestia knew things I didn't. The entire concept reeked of ulterior motives. Pinkie was surprisingly quiet during the entire conversation, and shifted herself to a more comfortable spot. I was a little irked that she'd given up her bed. Not only was it her room, but she was also the injured one here. At least I thought she was injured. The way she'd been acting today, I couldn't tell for sure. She must heal amazingly fast. Finally, she looked back up at me and softly asked, "What's wrong, Mender? Something about it must be bothering you if you didn't agree right away." The corner of my mouth turned up in amusement. Clever deduction, honestly. Above and beyond the others in the room, anyway. "It bugs me. What is Celestia so afraid of? I've been dealing with it and the threat is almost done with," I said, merely speaking my thoughts out loud. "It's a precaution, Mender. Plus, my sister worries for other dimensions getting involved due to the nature of the Elements here. It's not just your old dimension she's concerned for," Luna informed. Well, I suppose it was a small chance, but that was true. I was here, after all. If the Keldarians could figure out a way to get here, it stood to reason that others could, too. Nurse Redheart raised her hoof from the doorway, and everypony turned to look at her at the same time. "Uh, I don't mean to interrupt everypony, but, um, should I still be here?" she squeaked, looking a little uncertain now. Oh yeah, I forgot she was here! Wait a second... Frowning, I flipped through the paperwork again and came to her portfolio as well. Oh. I nodded to myself and looked back up at her. "Uh, actually you appear to have class-three agency clearance. Welcome aboard!" She widened her eyes, and then looked down at her own file in my hooves. "Oh. Well, um, okay! I definitely accept then! This is way more entertaining than hospital detail!" she exclaimed. "Actually, considering the agency shall be based out of Ponyville, I expect you'll probably continue the hospital detail until special request otherwise," Twilight pointed out, causing the nurse to deflate a little. "Darn. I was hoping I could try on some black spandex and learn martial arts," Redheart muttered wistfully. Er, what? What was she thinking of?! Luna continued, however, apparently deciding to ignore the comment. "Regardless, the agency is under my jurisdiction instead of my sister's. Further, any countermeasures we develop to defend Equestria shall remain strictly that. No copies and no prototypes are to be distributed anywhere else. We need not these advanced weapons except to defend ourselves from similar," she warned, looking grim. I exhaled quietly, relaxing a bit. Okay, that put aside a lot of my concern. She seemed to notice this and smirked. No, Luna was amazingly perceptive, if I remembered anything from my dealings with her before. She probably 'warned' me of that simply because she figured out that it was bothering me earlier. Twilight gave Luna a surprised glance for a second before also smiling and relaxing. "We understand, of course. I believe that is what Mender would prefer anyway," she assured, glancing back over at me with a soft smile. "Of course! We ponies would much rather party than hurt others!" Pinkie chimed in, nodding rapidly to Luna. The Princess of the Moon finally rolled her eyes and giggled lightly, revealing, "It wasn't an actual warning. Mender was just concerned about giving ponies weapons like that." I coughed and looked away, causing Rarity to smirk across the way. "What about tha Elements? Are we on defense, too?" Applejack inquired, looking over her shoulder to Luna. Luna nodded down to her before explaining, "Purely for defense, of course. It wouldn't be the same as before, however. Tia has requested we limit the Elements' exposure to other dimensions, so their use would be situational. Twilight and Mender should be able to judge when to use them." I glanced over at Twilight, who nodded and smiled to me. "I'm extremely familiar with the Elements of Harmony. If Mender chips in the extradimensional parts, I'm sure we can come up with information on it," she estimated. I was surprised by her confidence, honestly. If it were just me, there's no way I'd accept this position, I suddenly realized. "Then do I carry good news back to Tia?" Luna asked me politely. I hesitated, but finally nodded. Why not? I really did want to protect them, and it appeared that I wouldn't be able to escape being a soldier after all. Pinkie interrupted both my thoughts and my attempt to reply, however. "No! You're not bringing news back! That would mean that you left. And if you leave, you can't attend the party here, because it's not in Canterlot! If you can't make it to the party, I'll be really sad! So no, you can't deliver the news yet!" Pinkie ordered. Oddly, everything she said was the absolute truth. Luna stared at her for a moment before smirking and adding, "Of course, Pinkie. I've already cleared the whole day, and was planning on staying. It's wonderful for everypony to truly want me to stay." Oh yeah. Her banishment then return probably left some lingering negative feelings. Pinkie couldn't have looked more delighted. Well, maybe she could have, but I didn't want to think about that. That was kind of like just happily finishing your cup of ice cream, then somepony informing you that you have twenty seven more cups to finish, this time with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and brownies. Delicious, but overwhelming at the same time and almost guaranteed to make you throw up. Of course, now I was thinking about it. The pink one was gone when I snapped out of it again, and I was momentarily surprised. Uh oh. It was never a good thing if she got out of my sight that quickly. The door downstairs slammed open a second later and I heard, "Come on, everypony! Let's get this party started!" Oh. Luna gave out a deafening cheer before flapping up off the bed and trotting back downstairs rapidly. My head momentarily swam from the decibels, and Twilight leaned over again, giving me a gentle massage. "Just try to relax and enjoy yourself. I'm staying with you all day, so don't worry," she assured. I nodded weakly, then flattened my ears back as I heard the rampage of hooves downstairs. This was going to be a long night. * * * * * One startling, overwhelming conclusion I had come to over the last hour was that Pinkie Pie had absolutely no sense for numbers. Well, that might not be absolutely true. If she knew of them, she certainly ignored them. Lowering, I ducked under a flying disk before it took my head off, then barely stumbled forward to avoid getting run over by the mare chasing it. Town's square was absolutely flooded with ponies, and Vinyl had moved her sound stage out here instead. The deafening bass that radiated from that direction literally shook the ground I walked on. As fun as the music was, I couldn't manage to get any closer than ten meters. That meant visiting Vinyl was out, as I wouldn't be able to hear what we were saying anyway. Yeah. Pinkie had no sense for numbers. She invited roughly seven times the amount of ponies that Sugarcube Corner could hold by itself. The library opened itself up for mingling and a quieter scene in which to talk for most, as well. Rarity also surprised me by opening up the Boutique and serving tea for the easily upset ponies. I'd just come from there and was feeling delightfully sleepy, despite the loud noise and potentially fatal collision opportunities. Fluttershy was still there, and said she'd come to the library afterwards. Hopefully that's where Twilight still was. Seeing as I had been in good hooves at the Carousel Boutique, she'd taken off to open up the library and shift some things upstairs. As she was late returning, I finally decided to wander that way and see what had slowed her down. It could be anything, knowing my fillyfriend. To my surprise, an uncertain looking Spike sat just outside on the library's step. He shifted uneasily to look in my direction before smiling and waving. I returned a smirk and nod, dodging two mares as they danced past rather haphazardly. Frowning, I stared at the two for a minute, realizing they were the same pegasi from earlier with the lavender coats and blue manes. I oddly couldn't tell if they were dancing or fighting, so I decided to hurry past. Owlowiscious flew out the upstairs window with a flail, momentarily dropping like a rock before pulling out of the fall and giving a couple of flaps over to me. "No! This was supposed to be a calm and quiet place!" I heard Twilight shout from inside on the first floor. Uh oh. I ducked my head down while looking over at Owlowiscious. He took the hint and landed solidly on my back between my two shoulders, looking a bit frazzled but otherwise okay. It was amazing how much I noticed him now that I realized he existed! "Hey, Mender. Twilight's going crazy inside. Ya might want to hang here for a bit," Spike warned, shooting a nervous glance back inside. I peeked past him and saw Twilight chasing down a little pink-maned filly who had a book in her mouth. Seconds later, a table fell over and crashed in the corner as somepony slipped. Yikes. Twilight's feral scream of aggravation cemented Spike's suggestion into my head, and I sat down next to him. Owlowiscious fluttered off the incline and landed on my head instead, giving a tired hoot. "Agreed fully. When Pinkie decides to party, she really parties," I groaned, casting my eyes upwards at the owl. Spike snickered and nodded, looking back down at his claws before shaking his head. "It kinda sucks, really. Sure it's fun, but there's no organization to it," he complained idly. I raised an eyebrow to him before asking, "You're starting to sound like Twi. What do you mean?" He snorted, but smirked at least. "I just want to find some of our friends to hang out. That's why I'm so happy to see you as well. Sitting out here by myself was kinda lonely," he confided, looking a little glum. As depressing as it was, I was kinda happy he considered me a friend. I gave him a gentle nudge in the shoulder, and he smiled up at me. "Relax. I'm here now and you don't have to be by yourself, at least. I'm just surprised you're not with Rarity," I pointed out. "I don't even know where she is right now! That's what I was talking about," he protested, dropping his head down again. Ah, he hadn't heard yet. "Oh, that one's easy. She's at the Boutique. She opened up the first floor and is serving tea to ponies. She might even need your help to serve it," I revealed. His expression changed like I'd flicked a switch. "What?! Really? Oh! Oh! I should go help her! If she needs my help, it's my duty to..." he started before slowly trailing off. I gave him a skeptical glance, but he lowered his arms down again and stared at me. "But you just got here and were nice enough to tell me about her. It kinda feels like I'm ditching you now," he muttered, frowning a little. My smile widened. Those were some extremely complex feelings. I suddenly realized he might not be as much of a 'kid' as I originally thought. "Spike, it's okay. If she needs help, you should help her. Show her that you can be a white knight, too. She'll realize it soon enough," I suggested gently. Of course, I didn't say anything about the ideas I'd dropped on her the other night. He perked up and nodded. "Thanks, Mender. You're a good friend. I'll make this up to ya later, okay? Say hi to Twilight for me!" He ran off before I could say anything else, making a beeline for the boutique faster than I realized he could move. Right. Talk to Twilight. Turning around, I peeked back inside at the horrible mess. Twilight was nowhere to be seen, but ponies appeared to be behaving themselves more, anyway. At least, I didn't see as many little foals in there. Did that mean she was getting the situation under control? Owlowiscious let out a weak, hooting noise, as if reading my thoughts. Yeah. Better stay out here for a while longer, just in case. Rotating around, I plopped down onto the step and looked out at the crowd, listening to the reverberating beats of the nearby music. Celestia's Sun slowly drifted closer and closer to the horizon, and soon Luna would take over. Did it take her effort to raise the moon? It would seem like it should, but I'd never seen either Princess do it, so I tried not to jump to conclusions. Luna was somewhere in Ponyville enjoying herself, and I wondered what she'd do when she had to start her night. My drifting mind snapped back to focus as my eyes picked out two stragglers moving along the outskirts of the party, as I had a bit ago. My paranoia increased somewhat as I realized I didn't recognize either of them. The mare was cream colored with a long, striped mane of purple and white. The stallion was a darker blue color, with an even darker mane. At first I thought it was Noteworthy from earlier, but as he got closer, I noticed not only was he different in facial structure, but both were unicorns. They were making straight for the library and the stallion had an expression of purpose. My armor prepped inside of me as I watched them, and I felt my muscles tense and twitch. They halted maybe a half-dozen meters away and he started fidgeting with his bow tie. I noticed they were dressed rather formally for this sort of party. "Are you sure I look presentable? If he's indeed up to scruff, I want to make a good impression," the male asked, looking over at his partner. Mates? Dating? Married? My ears swiveled around to focus in on them, my hearing magnifying as I kicked on my scouting protocols. "Dear, for the fifth time, you look fine. You're not going to make a very good impression if you keep getting so excitable. Relax," the mare soothed, nudging his hoof away and straightening his tie with both of hers. As she turned sideways to do so, I got a good look at her Cutie Mark. Three simple purple stars, misaligned in a loose cluster. Interesting. Stars? Her eyes were also a brilliant blue color that went really well with her mane. They continued moving again before I could consider it further. His Cutie Mark was barely visible at this angle, but I thought I saw some sort of double crescent moon or something. As he got closer, I noticed his eyes were a lighter orange or brown. It was hard to tell as I lost my light. The mare took a step forwards ahead of the stallion and approached me with a smile. "Ah, hello! Do you know if Twilight Sparkle is in?" she asked gently, surprising me. They were after Twilight? "Well, yes, she is. She's a bit distracted right now, though. Do you want me to take you to her?" I offered after a moment's consideration. I didn't know these ponies, but if they wanted to hurt Twilight or were secretly spies or something, they were in for a world of hurt. The stallion scoffed, however, and shook his head rapidly. "I don't need an escort to see my own daughter! She's here, and that's all we needed to know," he shot back. My eyes widened drastically and I started to panic before he plowed past me and headed into the library. Oh, oh hell! That was her father?! The mare, presumably Twilight's mother at this point, sighed and shook her head as she watched. "I'm very sorry about that. He gets a little anxious about things," she apologized, sounding sincere as she gave me a light bow. "Ah! N-No, it's fine. He just surprised me, is all," I excused, suddenly having no clue whatsoever what to say. Oh hell. I should have prepared something for this! I knew they were coming tonight at some point. Why didn't I think about it before now?! She smiled, however, and shook her head. "It's no excuse for him to be so rude. Still, it's not every day that our daughter gets herself a coltfriend and potential marriage material, so I can see why he's worked up," she reasoned, turning and watching him hastily go upstairs. Twilight must not be on the first floor... Wait. "Marriage?!" I questioned, turning back to the mare with a surprised expression. I'd known her dad was big on that, but the way her mom talked, this sounded like something Twilight herself said! The mare giggled and nodded before correcting, "Not actually my idea. Twilight herself mentioned that she thinks he's 'the one' and all. It's so cute how she gushes! I'm surprised you didn't hear about him. I mean, she writes us all the time about him, so I figured... the news would..." She trailed off, but I wasn't paying attention. I felt a little dizzy as I sat back down again, head spinning. She wanted to marry me?! But it had only been a month or so! She was talking about marrying me already? Suddenly remembering that I was still present for a supposed conversation, I snapped out of it and focused back on the mare in front of me. She was giving me a questioning stare, however, and I swallowed, tilting my head back and away from her a bit. "Actually, her letters were very detailed and descriptive. I..." she started, before glancing down at my left leg instead. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she saw my newly repaired brace on it. Oh. Crap. Twilight probably told them about the injury. She shifted to a smile a moment later, however, and looked back up at me. "Oh, terribly sorry! Where are my manners? My name is Twilight Velvet. My impatient husband you met earlier is Night Light. I'm very surprised I didn't notice sooner, but you seem to have a way of disappearing into the background, even when I'm talking right to you. I guess I thought you'd be taller," she spoke, sounding almost as if she were talking to herself or taking notes on me. "Ah... ha ha... It's fine. It's very nice to meet you. Um, you probably guessed already, but I'm Moon Mender," I introduced, scratching my head with my brace and feeling kind of stupid. Well, this was still a better introduction than I gave Shining Armor. If the introduction had been awkward for her, she didn't let it show. Instead, she smiled softly at me and returned with, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I wondered what my future son-in-law would look like. You're very polite, just like she said." That tasty awkwardness returned and I coughed weakly. "Maybe a little too polite. I'll have to work on that," she continued a moment later before grinning. Somehow, I resisted hiding. "Ah, um, I'm sorry? I'm a little nervous," I apologized, shifting uncomfortably back and forth. "See? I'll break you out of your shell, however! For now, though, we should go stop my husband before things get out of-" she started to suggest. "Stop trying to subtly sniff my bed! I know what you think, but I was telling the truth!" I heard Twilight scream from upstairs. What? Twilight Velvet sighed, muttering, "Oh dear. Too late. He's being creepy-paranoid again." Sniffing her bed? Even I thought that was being a little weird. "I heard what your brother said! You need to wait to be respectably bonded via unicorn tradition! I mean, really! Not only mating, but joining energy outside of bond? I expected more from my daughter!" he shouted back. I thought she said that was cleared up?! "Shiny told you that was a misunderstanding! We haven't bonded yet!" Twilight shouted back. Her mother headed for the stairs. Hesitation struck me, but I decided a second or two later to follow her. Even if I couldn't help, I could at least support Twilight. At least I might be able to be a good punching bag as well if need be. There was more stomping upstairs. "You two were always close. You bribed him, didn't you? Tell me the truth, Twilight Sparkle! His smell is all over the place here. You're a mated pair already!" he rashly accused. "That's quite enough, Night Li-" Twilight Velvet started as she hit the top of the stairs. "GAH! FOR THE LAST TIME, MENDER AND I HAVEN'T MATED YET!" Twilight's voice exploded out from upstairs, causing me to wince under the volume of it. It matched what Luna could do. Everything went dead quiet. Time practically stood still as I momentarily heard only the ringing of my ears. How loud had she said that? I swallowed nervously and turned around at the base of the stairs, only to see that every single pony in the room was staring up at the loft, looking surprised. Damn it. Wait, something was missing. My ears twitched. Where the hell was the music outside?! A few seconds later, somepony coughed over the microphone. “Well, ‘that’ was awkward. Uh, right on. This next set o’ tracks is a remix I made at Tavi’s request. Some of her music meets some of mine! Let’s move those bodies, everypony!” Vinyl shouted out, recovering rapidly from the horribly timed track switch. The music blasted out most of the rumor spreading a second later, I imagined. A quiet snort came from the nearby table and I heard, “Well at least we know he’s not a changeling. He’d have starved to death by now!” My ears flattened back, regardless of me not getting the implication. But the way it was said was clear enough. I didn’t even turn to look at them before scurrying up the stairs. Damn it! I could have sworn I heard Rainbow laughing hysterically over our link… Chapter 41By the time I got up to the loft, Twilight had both hooves covering her mouth and looked like Celestia had just walked in and slapped her in the face. It was an amusing expression if one were to make fun of the situation. Oddly, that felt better than addressing reality. "Oh no. How loud did I say that?" she asked, looking over at her mother. "Oh, I'm sure a few ponies near the edges of town missed it. Don't worry!" her mom chirped back with a smile. I shot her a disbelieving stare. Twilight groaned, however, and lowered herself to the floor. I limped past Twilight Velvet and sat down next to my fillyfriend instead. "Relax, Twilight. It's not that big of a deal," I tried to assure. Sure, the inevitable rabid mocking over the next few days would be annoying, but there were worse things. "You again? I told you that I didn't need an escort! Who are you, anyway?" Night Light asked, shifting his glare to me instead. Eh? I looked up at him to respond, but hesitated when his eyes widened. "Wait, I recognize you!" he exclaimed. "Finally..." his wife said behind me. Here was that 'even worse' turn I'd been waiting for. "You're that changeling! You're trying to manipulate my daughter!" he declared. Yeah, I figured he'd figure out I was... Wait, what? Twilight blinked, and then gasped out loud. Huh? Oh! He had looked at the fliers, too, then. Her mother groaned behind me. "You said you didn't believe those bogus stories, Dear," she lectured. He didn't get a chance to reply. "I'm sorry, Dad!" Twilight yelled out. He gave her a split second look of confusion before she blasted him backwards onto her bed. Well, sticking with what worked before was a safe bet. Still, I would have at least given a bit of explanation first. "Twilight!" her mother yelped, shifting to a shocked expression before I turned away and limped up to the bed. Owlowiscious took that moment to fly off my head and roost on the bed corner instead. I gave him a light nod before propping myself up and holding out my right hoof to Twilight's father. "Are you all right, sir?" I asked uneasily as he groaned and hooked my foreleg, letting me pull him up into a sitting position. Wincing for a moment, he finally opened his eyes and looked over at Twilight instead. "Wait, what? What happened?" he asked uneasily. It seemed to impair their memory a little bit after they woke up. Twilight Velvet glared over at her daughter, but Twilight shook her head sadly. "You looked at one of those fake articles from earlier. They have a subtle enchantment on them, from what I guessed already. Hitting you with a magical, low density blast is the only way I currently know of to knock you out of it," she explained. Her mother's expression shifted instantly, and she frowned. "An enchantment? What's it supposed to do?" she inquired. "Magnify anger and doubt in a pony towards me, setting them up with the perfect mindset to read the article, would be my guess," I elaborated, wincing slightly as I slid back away from the bed. My leg still ached from the rock earlier, and had lessened my tolerance for standing. Taking the hint, I drew myself back and unceremoniously dropped to my stomach instead, sighing as the pressure was pulled off my leg. "Does it still hurt, Mender?" Twilight asked softly, walking up to me instead and sitting down. I shivered lightly, nodding after a moment's consideration. Her father looked dazed still, and gave us a confused look. "It feels like I just woke up. You're Moon Mender. The article said that much. That part was true, right? If so, that means you're my daughter's coltfriend," he deduced, it sounding like it was more for clarifying his own mindset than anything. I couldn't tell if it was from the enchantment or the blast Twilight gave him, though. "Yes, this is her coltfriend. Yes, I talked to him already and he's just as nice and polite as her letters said. Maybe too polite, really," Twilight Velvet explained, hopefully shifting away any potential wrath towards me. Although I didn't know what to expect of her saying I was 'too' polite. My Twilight shot her a skeptical glance before snickering, apparently knowing something I didn't. "He's not perfect, and can be a little dense sometimes, but I like him just the way he is," she assured, smirking down at me before giving a playful nuzzle. I rolled my eyes before sticking my tongue out at her, feeling a little more relaxed now. Her parents seemed more reasonable now, but I withheld judgment until her father snapped out of his daze. "What happened earlier with the fliers?" the stallion in question asked a moment later. He gave me a concerned stare, but looked far less malicious than earlier. "They were being dropped off all over town from the sky by a bunch of pegasi from the mail and weather teams. Private, paid job by the sounds of it. I'll be looking into that more later, for sure. Regardless, the enchantment on them almost caused a riot and they honestly thought Mender was a changeling, to the point of trying to stone him. I’ve already sent a full report to Princess Celestia." Twilight's elaboration brought back rather painful memories, but I let her continue unabated. She hesitated and gave me a soft nudge again before continuing with, "I shielded him to the best of my abilities, but one got through and hit him in his injured leg. It's been bothering him ever since." I started to open my mouth to assure that I'd be fine when I gasped in shock instead. Wait, no I didn't. It confused me for a moment as it echoed through my head alongside the open air at the same time. My gaze shifted past Twilight at the same time she turned around to face her window. Rainbow had just finished sliding it open, and Fluttershy was hovering in the air just inside the room. "Oh no! That's terrible! I knew I shouldn't have spent so long at Rarity's. Sure, I was upset that it had happened, but if I'd known it was still bothering you, I would have rushed home and gotten some of my pain creams and," she started rapidly rambling. "Fluttershy! Relax. He's a tough stallion, and you're freaking yourself out," Rainbow reminded, gently rubbing her hoof through the top of Fluttershy's mane. The yellow pegasus gave out a quiet squeak, but then nodded. Twilight smiled and stood, however, turning to face the two newcomers. I politely averted my gaze from her flank and tail as she did so, coughing lightly to myself to calm the jitters. The combination of physical aching and whatever it was she hit me with earlier was causing weird thoughts. Pheromones? Twilight seemed oblivious, of course. "I'll go get some topical anesthesia from the bathroom, if you wouldn't mind applying it, Fluttershy," she offered gently. Fluttershy nodded so rapidly that it started to destabilize her hovering. She landed a moment later looking somewhat sheepish. "Oh, that would be wonderful, Twilight. If it's not too much trouble, um, do you think you could also find a small bandage? I'd like to get some covering and antiseptic cream onto the injury site," she requested, landing and walking gently over to where I lay. Twilight Velvet giggled lightly, suddenly reminding me that they were still here. I really had to work on that paying attention thing. "You're always such a kind pony, Fluttershy. You certainly live up to your title," she complimented, earning a light blush from the yellow mare. "Oh, I only want to see Mender comfortable. I mean, why wouldn't somepony want to do what they can for an injured pony? Besides, I've been worried about Mender the entire time I was over there! Oh, I hope Rarity isn't upset that I was so distracted," Fluttershy worried, fidgeting slightly back and forth on her forehooves. Twilight giggled but rolled her eyes, offering, "Why don't we just bring Rarity and Spike back over here then? That way you don't have to worry about Rarity while here, and Mender while there." Fluttershy looked even more flustered as Twilight pointed out her circular logic, but I just smiled at how cute she looked. "I, um, I think I'd like to stay with Mender for now. It's been too long since I've seen him anyway," she finally excused, looking down at the floor instead. "Aww, don't get all sappy on me, Flutters! I should also report that Twilight's shout was heard all the way up at cloud layer where I was about to practice my writing," Rainbow informed impishly, tossing a wink in at the lavender unicorn. Twilight groaned instantly, almost as if she'd been expecting the jibe and set up the reaction ahead of time. "Rainbow! I really didn't need to think about that," she protested. My turn to avert my eyes from those involved with the topic. Fluttershy became much more interesting to look at suddenly. Well, not that she wasn't before, but that was beside the point. "Thank you, Fluttershy. I'm sorry for worrying you," I apologized quietly, as Twilight started ranting at Rainbow. I zoned it out to the best of my abilities. Fluttershy looked up at me and smiled softly before shaking her head. "I just care about you, Mender. A lot," she confessed, still a little pink from the earlier comments. She leaned down, however, and gently kissed me on the forehead, letting her soft mane drift over me. I smiled up at her until Twilight's mom let out a choking noise. Huh? "Uh... what are you, wait," her dad muttered behind me, sounding surprised. Wait a second. Did Twilight tell them about Fluttershy? "What the hell?! You're cheating on her while she's in the same room?!" her dad shouted out, immediately jumping to conclusions as fast as he jumped up into a hostile stance on the bed. I winced painfully as Fluttershy yelped in my ear and scurried backwards, giving him a shocked look. Twilight went rigid instantly, then slowly turned around to look at her parents. Rainbow promptly broke into laughter, however. "Ha! You totally didn't tell them about Fluttershy?" Dash asked, words drifting out haphazardly between her laughs and rolling on her back. Well, at least somepony was amused. "What?" Night Light asked, tone shifting low and pissed off sounding. There was a subtle difference between fury and simmering rage, I noticed. "Twilight?" her mother asked a moment later, giving my fillyfriend a skeptical look. Twilight twitched lightly, then swallowed, starting to look flustered. "Ah, well I kinda forgot to mention, um," she started, everypony in the room focusing on her instantly. I could almost see a couple beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she gave the guiltiest smile I'd ever seen. Seconds passed before she finally said, "Oh! I seem to have forgotten Mender's medical supplies. I'll be back!" "Twilight!" her dad barked, but it was too late. The lavender mare disappeared in a momentarily blinding flash of light. I'd almost forgotten she could teleport. I kinda wished I could, too, at this point. Her father sighed, however, and shook his head, looking back down at me instead from his higher position on the bed. Well, here we go. Time to take this like a stallion, if that was the proper term. "You weren't cheating, were you?" he asked softly instead, surprising me. I blinked once, but shook my head a moment later after I recovered. Huh. I'd expected more hitting. I kept my hopes up, and my armor prepped. "Oh, but that means my little Twilight is actually involved in a herd!" Twilight Velvet chipped in a moment later, sounding scarily okay with that aspect. Wait, were they going to beat me senseless or not? "Dear! You're supposed to be concerned!" Night Light professed, looking flustered now instead. "Why? That just means our family gets even bigger! And I'll get even more little foals to play with soon!" she exclaimed, shifting from surprised to rather gleeful. Okay, I moved fully into scared and started working on terrified. I'd been scared of the wrong pony all along! Fluttershy's cheeks, which had been recovering, now heated up again. Maybe I should start carrying a cold pack for her, too? "Ah, well we kind of decided to hold off on kids, at least for a year or so. Twilight will probably wait longer," I corrected, not wanting her to get the wrong idea and fluster Fluttershy. "What?! You're going to waste a perfectly good estrus period next week?" Twilight Velvet asked instead. Err, that was unexpected. A light slap sounded from behind me, and I turned to see Night Light grinding his right forehoof against his forehead. "Okay, okay. Before this gets out of hoof, can you answer some questions?" he asked, looking up at me instead. I rotated around and nodded to him, trying to adjust back into a comfortable position for my leg. "As long as you don't mind me lying down. When I stand up, the blood rushes into my leg and it hurts," I requested, lightly adjusting the brace. Fluttershy smiled, taking another step closer and lying down as well, pushing right into me with her side as she extended a wing over my shoulder. "Just relax, Mender. You'll feel a lot better once I can wrap it," Fluttershy chirped, apparently forgetting about the foal thing when she got the opportunity to take care of an injury instead. "That's fine. How many are in the herd?" Twilight's father asked after she settled in. "It's just those three. I think Rarity is interested too, but uh," Rainbow answered for us, apparently sobering somewhat. I sighed. "That's a bad topic. Rarity asked me, but I didn't feel the same way towards her. She seems to be taking it well, but I don't know. I feel bad," I elaborated, seeing Dash fall silent. "Aww. That's not the best situation for anypony involved. I'll have to send her my sympathies. ...and give Spike some encouragement," Twilight Velvet added after a moment's thought, seemingly contemplating to herself. What, did she just like playing matchmaker that much? Idly I wondered what her occupation was. Night Light sighed but nodded, seemingly assured by the honesty. "Waiting for kids is also an admirable and responsible position. You swear to not having bonded with Twilight yet? I'm a strong traditionalist, and it's considered improper for unicorns to engage in that before marriage," he explained, significantly more rationally than prior. Okay, so this was going better now. "To be honest, we have partially. Never at the same time, but she's used her energy to manipulate things inside of me for various purposes, and sometimes does it at night to calm me down," I admitted. Fluttershy gave me a reassuring nuzzle, but I was surprised when Rainbow suddenly looked sad. Eh? Her father looked curious at that information however, and before I could address Rainbow, asked, "If you don't mind, could you elaborate? I'm afraid nopony knows much about you." I frowned, unsure of exactly what I could and couldn't tell him suddenly. Thankfully, it was solved for me. "We may answer thy questions, if that will suffice," suddenly came from the stairs. I peeked over my shoulder at Luna as she wandered into the room from the lower floor, everypony bowing except for Fluttershy and me, who were kind of as low as we could go already. We instead dipped our heads to her. "Luna," I greeted her, giving a soft smile. Night Light gasped in offence, but Luna herself snickered and nodded to me. "Hello, Mender. I was looking for you, actually. However, I now see that all individuals present would do well to see this, too," she greeted back, smiling softly at me. I couldn't help but notice she dropped the formal speech instantly. To my surprise, as I turned to face Luna instead, there was a flash of light that appeared practically on top of her. She momentarily looked surprised before smiling as the glow bounced around against her form, then shot to the right a meter or so and flared up again. Twilight re-appeared there instead, and looked to her left in surprise. "Oh! Princess Luna! What are you doing here?" she asked, lowering a rather sizable medical kit to the floor. Fluttershy took the initiative and snatched it with her right wing tip, sliding it over to us with surprising dexterity. "My sister is about to start a press meeting, and requested I let Mender watch. I've decided to show everypony here, however. It will answer a few questions, along with shedding some light onto what happened with the fliers," she revealed. Oh! That was important indeed. All of this crap was probably why Celestia couldn't attend the party today, which was beyond cruel, honestly. Why did I always have to cause such problems for everypony? With that said, however, Luna lowered her head slightly and her horn lit up. I watched curiously, if not in a slightly apprehensive manner. The last time I'd seen Luna using her magic, I'd been almost turned inside out with a teleportation spell and dropped in the middle of a hospital. The time before that, she was attempting to sever my head. This time, however, nothing malicious occurred. Instead, a sort of field appeared in front of the Princess of the Moon, and expanded to about a meter wide by a half a meter tall. It shifted from transparent to black for a moment, before a crystal clear image of a large stage and podium appeared. Hundreds of ponies were gathered in the audience, I noticed, as the 'camera' swept over them to zoom in on the podium itself. Twilight perked up and trotted around the screen to get a better look, of course. Rainbow also looked curious as she took to the air and flew over the display, landing slightly behind me and to the left. At this point, I didn't even have a second thought as she flopped close to my back. I was starting to realize that, by their culture alone, ponies seemed to be a lot more easy-going about physical contact. It made sense, really. Fluttershy took the moment to unpack the medical supplies, however, and start to tend to my leg. I noticed her right ear swiveled towards the screen, though. All of us quieted as the sound cut in suddenly. * * * * * The day was rather clear looking in Canterlot. Rather fitting for the Princess of the Sun to talk to everypony. A burst of wind drifted across the crowd as they gathered near the stage. What appeared to be cameras of some sort were lined up facing the podium, and dozens of ponies with notepads were scattered throughout the front of the crowd. Oddly, the cameras appeared to be an extension on a still picture design rather than motion capture. Princess Celestia herself walked forwards half a minute later, drawing a hushed wave of silence to expand across the crowd. Was this entire meeting about what happened this morning? She halted in front of the podium and a gentle golden glow encompassed the microphones, gently adjusting them so they pointed slightly below the angle of her mouth. She didn't appear to be new to giving speeches, that's for sure. "Stallions and mares, I welcome you to the castle. To be honest, this situation was not one I had anticipated ever needing to be addressed, but I've come to the conclusion that there has been some doubt amidst the populous. I'm here today to see if I can clear up some of these lingering concerns and, hopefully, allow things to be put to rest. Any and all questions may be asked by members of the media after I've finished," she spoke calmly. Knowing her personally, it wasn't hard to pick out a certain level of boredom in her eyes. That introduction almost felt like it was routine for her. Of course, if ponies everywhere panicked as easily as they did at Ponyville, that wasn't really a surprise. Murmurs danced across the crowd, but she continued regardless. "To begin today, I'm going to give you a bit of background information. Many of you already know some of these, but it's worth repeating. Equestria has dealt with situations regarding other planes of existence before," she tossed out. She let the final sentence drop like a judge smashing a gavel, easily knocking the crowd into stunned silence. There was no easy smile on her face or sparkling eyes this time, however. Her stoic expression displayed nothing but a masterful and resolute seriousness. Celestia scanned the crowd for a moment before continuing with, "This might come as a shock to many of you, but this is the case. Search our history books and studies into magic. You'll find research and case studies into it at multiple points in our history. In all of my time ruling this fine land, never once has this become an issue, however. Until now." More murmurs exploded, but she silenced them all with a simple shake of her head, flowing mane drifting in the fading sunlight. "That's right. I gave the statement earlier, but there's been some confusion on the issue. My dear ponies in Ponyville were attacked by an entity that came from one of these neighboring dimensions. It was unprovoked and done with malicious intent." Gasps and murmurs again danced across the front row. The ponies began furiously writing, assuming to put every detail of what she said in the papers as soon as possible. Celestia's level of influence was incredible to watch. She never looked outwardly angry or upset, but held a level of absolute authority that impressed me. If she were a Keldarian, abuse of power would start up faster than the sun next to her set. To see a ruler actually act with benevolence and kindness was downright startling. "But this isn't the entirety of the truth. This much I openly acknowledge. Before this moment, there were things kept secret from the general public due to matters of security. The fact of the matter is that we have not been idle about our defense. Up until a month ago, I had a skilled research team in the field studying this very phenomenon. The goal of such a group was to find out the possible dangers other dimensions presented to us, and find ways to counter these threats. They remained low key and unobtrusive whenever possible under my direct orders," she started to explain. Now it was starting to get interesting. A whole strew of bio information on researchers came to mind, all located in that folder. Was that the team she was talking about? "I mention this team because the stallion that has been so brutally slandered this morning by a supposed leak in our very media outlets is from this group of researchers. Yes, I'm sure everypony here has heard about Moon Mender by this point. Rumors have spread like wildfire about him, but there's no more need for me to hide the truth. He was a private researcher before being enlisted by me specifically for this task almost three years ago now. He rapidly became the head of my dimensional research division, and his understanding of dimensional transit is second to none in Equestria, I believe," she continued. Oh. This entire conference was a setup to establish a cover story? That much seemed unlikely. But how much of what she was saying was the truth? Had she really had a group studying the dimensions? More whispers and furious writing ensued, but she carried on regardless. "Great progress was made up until a month ago. A very tragic accident occurred, and Moon Mender was badly injured in an experimental dimensional shift technique. When we finally recovered him, it was discovered that he'd developed complete retrograde amnesia, and didn't even remember his name. Unsure of what to do, I requested that my own student, a master of magical theory and concepts as you all know, to look after him and help him recover. I owed him the very best, after all," she went on. Oh, that was clever. Almost every single aspect of that statement was completely true. Celestia finally smiled after that, actually chuckling to herself. "Admittedly, those other rumors are indeed true. My student has certainly done more than look after him, and I'm pleased to officially announce that they are now very special someponies towards each other. It pleases me greatly, and I have great hope in their continued happiness," she added. Oh hell. Well, at least that would put a stop to some of the rumors traveling around. Happier sounding murmurs went through the crowd, and surprisingly, more notes were taken. Why did they need notes on that?! She lost her smile, however, a moment later. "Then, unfortunately, we were attacked last week. Out of sheer luck, the entity went after the library in Ponyville that night. I've little information about its ultimate intention, but Moon Mender happened to be there. I'll not lie to anypony. Combat broke out after Mender ascertained that the creature was a threat to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie and Applejack, two brave Elements of Harmony, assisted in stopping the creature, but the destruction was carried deep into the Everfree Forest. Moon Mender held off the invader by himself until my sister and her night guards arrived and ultimately vanquished the creature. As many of you know, Mender was brutally injured in this event and lost his foreleg in the attack," she recounted. That was mostly true, with a bit of embellishment here and there. It was a bit surprising how honest she was being. Or rather, how honest she could be while lying. "Circumstances being extremely warranted, my sister took exception for Mender and gave him his leg back with her magic, as he'd so bravely lost it in defense of Equestria. He's still recovering in Ponyville, and as many of you know, there's a party in his honor going on right now. He's watching this conference as I speak. Being unsure of how to handle the situation, however, I decided to maintain secrecy of Mender until today. Now, I reveal all of this to the ponies of Equestria in hopes to stem the tide of distrust and malevolence towards this stallion who has helped us so. It shocks and concerns me to see that a group of individuals would go so far as to use magically enhanced advertising to slander such a kind and polite individual. I wish to see nothing more like it happen again!" she finally declared, frowning out at the crowd. There must have been some unwritten clue in that final statement that told everypony that it was the end of the prepared speech, as the reporters in the front exploded into questions all at once, causing Celestia to get a soft smile on her face. "One at a time, my little ponies," she reminded a moment later, gesturing to one near the front row. "Is this Moon Mender going to take a role in Equestrian politics from now on?" the stallion asked instantly, pen at the ready. Celestia never lost her smile and simply shook her head. "Moon Mender has no interest in politics. I know him personally. His job at this point forward is as a researcher. I'll no longer idly stand by waiting for another attack," she explained, voice soft but full of conviction. It would be interesting to find out how far she was willing to take that. She gestured to another reporter, who immediately asked, "What are your plans to counter another attack, if one were to happen?" The reporter's voice was nervous sounding, and distinctly feminine. Were any of these reporters from the three magazines that wrote up all the slander? "A small yet highly specialized and trained team of ponies led by Moon Mender will be our defense against any further attacks. Both the Day and Night Guard are contributing members, and our best researchers are equipping them and researching tactics. This will be our only group with such equipment, however," Celestia replied. She shifted a little bit more towards relaxed with that statement, but maintained her absolute tone. Was she pleased with that question? It certainly leaned more towards Equestria's well-being, in a practical sense. Another stallion was up next, asking, "What information do we have on the leaks from Equestria Weekly?" Ah, here was the interesting part. Celestia closed her eyes for a moment before shifting her gaze off 'screen' to the right; her left. "I believe somepony else can better answer that question. If you would, Mister Fancypants?" she requested, moving to her right slightly. Eh? Fancypants himself walked up in his typical attire. The immaculately pressed suit looked good on him when added to the styled mane and elegant gait. "It would be my pleasure, Your Highness," he said, lining himself up with the podium before exhaling quietly. Despite his proper posture and groomed appearance, his eyes looked very tired indeed. "This matter is being thoroughly looked into on all levels of the company. So far as we can tell, a small group of unidentified ponies used our press equipment to create official looking facsimile early in the morning. They then delivered the fliers to various outlets both here and in Ponyville, enchanting them somewhere along the way," he explained, expression passive. Having a slight angle on the podium showed that his left hoof was shaking slightly, however. It didn't take long to find out why. "So you're saying the fliers were definitely not endorsed by Equestria Weekly?" the same reporter asked, a moment later. Fancypants' face flushed lightly as his eyes narrowed a little. "No! The proud company I own does not endorse this voracious and vindictive attempt at slandering a completely innocent stallion! To be honest, I find the very act absolutely disgusting and am ashamed that they chose our company to promote it. Equestria Weekly promotes the absolute truth in reporting at every opportunity. Given that statement, this act is a travesty. There will be a full, front page article in the very next release that denounces these claims and promotes the absolute truth," he assured. His tone didn't sound adamant as much as downright angry over the entire ordeal. He took a couple deep breaths before calming down and visibly relaxing again. He looked back up at the utterly silent crowd and added, "Furthermore, Mender and I met personally at that party that was so ill reported on. I assure everypony here that he is a good stallion and has Equestria's best interests at heart. These two eyes watched him save the entire Canterlot Orchestra that night despite risk of great bodily harm. He did so without asking for a reward or even hesitating. So ask yourselves; does that sound like a monster to you? Make up your own minds about it." Celestia was smiling openly at that point. Fancypants stepped back from the podium and walked away the same way he came, ignoring the outburst of questions from the reporters. * * * * * The screen became just so much light at that point. I sat there, partially in shock as I stared blankly at the darkening viewing window. He didn't even know me. Sure, his company was technically slandered, too, now that I realized he owned it, but that didn't mean he had to say that last part. Why had he stood up for me, a pony he barely knew? "There's a reason Rarity speaks so highly of Fancypants. He's a reasonable pony who does what's right," Fluttershy whispered softly, smiling at me in my peripheral vision. I looked over towards her, only to discover that it was an almost knowing expression. It was like she knew exactly what was going through my mind, which further surprised me. For just a moment, I realized that I'd never really understood how close I'd let the yellow mare get to me. Fluttershy leaned forwards and ever so gently kissed my forehead. I relaxed against her and closed my eyes. A moment later, I felt Twilight lightly rest herself against my back and wrap her forelegs around my shoulders. The heat expanded to all sides of me, and I smiled as I felt two very distinctive heartbeats against my body. Luna made a happy murmuring sound before giggling. "Celestia requested I stop the film after Fancypants finished speaking. She said you wouldn't likely be interested in the funding and organizational questions that would undoubtedly follow," she explained, stretching her wings out and letting the glow die down around her horn. My left eye opened to glance over at her and I lightly nodded into Fluttershy's neck. "I'm not so much interested in that as I was about the fliers. Fluttershy's right, though. I hadn't expected Fancypants to stand up for me like that," I agreed, lightly glancing up at the yellow mare. Her muzzle shifted to a slight smile as she rested her chin on my forehead. She looked so peaceful there. I felt Twilight resting her chin on the top of my head as well, almost mirroring Fluttershy from the other side. I had absolutely no complaints about this situation. Although... "So what Miss Octavia said in her statement was right, then. He really did save the orchestra?" I heard Twilight Velvet ask behind me somewhere. Night Light oddly perked up at that too, but I didn't pay much attention, however, as my mind whirled into motion. They mirrored each other and were very lax. I smiled impishly for a split second before lifting my left foreleg up. Luna raised an eyebrow barely a second in the corner of my eye. My foreleg extending up, I dipped my head down to pretend to itch my nose rather vehemently. Time practically ground to a halt as everything fell into place quite literally, and I tried to devote the image forever to memory. It might result in my death, after all. Both mares fell forward as my head dropped. Twilight's eyes zipped downwards in time to catch me scratching, but Fluttershy's just widened drastically. Neither reacted in time before their muzzles touched. Twilight froze in place almost instantly while Fluttershy's eyes started to shiver slightly. There was a hesitation for just a moment. I could have sworn I saw Fluttershy's eyes start to lower slightly as she continued forwards. Then the instant was over as both mares exploded away from me, Fluttershy's wings shooting out to full extension fast enough to almost knock Night Light into the wall next to the bed. "Whaaaaa! Oh no. Oh no! Um, I'm, uh, really sorry, Twilight! I, uh, oh dear," Fluttershy rapidly started to spew, the chain of 'oh dear's rapidly devolving into a long, drawn out squeak. Twilight sat there looking more dazed than anything, a blush expanding across both her cheeks. For the most part, I didn't have to act shocked in the slightest, given that Fluttershy accidentally put her knee into my gut on the way back. Giving out a weak wheeze, I couldn't even properly enjoy the fruits of my plan as I flopped sideways, clutching at my stomach with both forehooves. Okay, I probably deserved that. Rainbow, who had been watching the last of the image fading away, rapidly turned and looked over at us with a questioning expression, apparently having missed the whole thing. "Wait, what happened?!" she rapidly asked, rotating in place to look at the three of us. "W-Whoa. Fluttershy, calm down. Um, are you okay, Mender?" Twilight asked, finally recovering and restarting her brain as she looked down at me with concern. I winced and gasped momentarily before nodding, sweet air slowly coming back into my lungs. "Ah, yeah. She just knocked the air out of me accidentally," I assured, deciding to just rest there for a moment. Fluttershy squeaked louder when she heard that, however, and lowered herself flat to the floor. "Oh no! I'm so sorry to both of you! No. What a disaster!" she murmured, breathing rapidly and shivering. Okay, now I just felt like a jerk. Twilight edged over to her and gently placed her hoof against Fluttershy's shoulder before gently speaking, "Fluttershy, calm down. Mender's fine, and I'm not mad at you or anything." "But I k-kissed you!" the yellow pegasus stuttered out, looking horrified at herself. Of course, I knew the real reason as to why she was so shocked. Twilight didn't, however. My fillyfriend's ears lowered a little and she looked away. "Is it really that disgusting of a concept?" she asked gently. Twilight! Fluttershy inhaled so fast I thought she was trying to suck up Twilight. Hmm. I think I remembered seeing a video game or something based off that the younger recruits used to play, but I can't remember now. Seems like that comparison would better suit Pinkie anyway. "No! It's not that, Twilight. Um... oh dear," Fluttershy assured, closing her eyes tightly. No. Was she really going to tell her? Every ounce of support I could manage to push down the empathy link was injected into Fluttershy, who smiled softly when she felt it. "Thank you, Mender. You're right. I have to do this. Twilight, I, um, really like you!" she managed to squeak out, wincing afterwards as if expecting the world to promptly end. Twilight tilted her head, and I inwardly groaned. Oh no. She didn't think that... "I really like you too, Fluttershy. You already knew that, though," Twilight assured a moment later, shifting to a warm smile before nodding twice. Fluttershy deflated visibly and I sighed. Twilight Velvet slapped her forehead instead, interestingly enough. "Twilight, stop and think about it for a moment," she suggested in a frustrated tone. Ha! Okay, so her mother knew her a little bit. Gently, I sat up and earned a helping hoof from Fluttershy to stabilize myself again. Rainbow gave me a confused glance and pouted, still having no clue what had happened it would seem. Twilight froze suddenly, eyes slowly expanding as she looked back over at Fluttershy. The yellow mare blushed lightly and shrank away from the shocked gaze, but having her hooves still on my foreleg, I wrapped my limb up with hers and gave her an assuring smile. It was indescribable to feel her relax somewhat from the gesture. "You like me, um, more than friends?" Twilight finally asked quietly, eyes lessening in intensity a little as she exhaled. Was this okay to get into with her parents right here? Fluttershy timidly nodded and squeezed around my leg a little harder. I gave her another soft tug and she smiled lightly. Rainbow's eyes shot to the size of saucers instead, however, and she started looking back and forth between my two fillyfriends. Ugh. That sounded weird even in my head. "Huh. Well, actually that makes me feel a little bit better over the situation. A herd is supposed to have mutual attraction after all," Night Light pointed out idly, snapping his daughter out of her seeming shock enough to finally blush. Yeah, it was definitely time to invest in ice bags. The three of us got into the most awkward situations. The sad thing was, I only predicted it to get worse. "Um, please don't hate me. Please? I can keep it to myself and-" Fluttershy begged, squeezing my foreleg tighter than ever. I was suddenly happy it was my right one. She was cut off before she could even finish the request. "No! Fluttershy, I'm never going to hate you. You just surprised me. I had no idea you liked me like that. Um, when did you start thinking of me like that?" she asked, sounding shocked. Seriously? Even I noticed the odd behavior before she flat out told me. There had to be a record in there somewhere. Did Equestria even keep records? I should get myself qualified for a few of them if they did. Both as record holder in terms of fastest diagnostic of insanity, and as a measuring stick to see who could fool me the shortest amount of time. Fluttershy thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Oh, that's easy." I didn't expect her to actually recollect it, however. * * * * * The castle was dark and cold at this time of night. Honestly, I didn't know what I was doing here in the first place. It was a really bad idea for us to have run off into the forest, and kind of bad that we wandered into this old castle, too, even if it was for a really good cause. Why did the night have to be so dark?! It was just scary this way! At least the moon helped light things while we were still outside. The stairs kept going up in a tight spiral, and I was thankful to have the girls so close to me. Applejack was so strong for leading the way through the dark, and a part of me wished I could be that sure of myself. All I could do on the way here was run away and panic. Sure, I helped the manticore, but was that really all that useful to my friends? I tried not to whimper as we reached the top of the stairs. My mind froze and I tried not to scream as I saw the dark clouds and pure anger of the powerful Alicorn. But something was wrong. It only took me a second to notice the broken shards at Nightmare Moon's hooves. No. No! It couldn't be the Elements of Harmony! I stared in horror as the rest of the girls started forwards. If they were destroyed, we couldn't win. It was hopeless. No, the mare we ran up here to help was facing off against such power all by herself. Even if she was talented, how could she possibly win, though? Why did she keep trying? We should just run away! Twilight Sparkle. I looked over at her just as she turned around to look back at us. In that instant, her eyes swallowed me up. There was something in them that I couldn't even begin to fathom. Surprise, sure. But a deeper warmth. A happiness that we were here that I didn't understand. She smiled. Yeah, I didn't have to understand. Even if it didn't make any sense, I suddenly felt her energy tugging my heart forwards. She was so brave to stand up to Nightmare Moon all by herself. Her eyes widened and she gasped suddenly, before her expression turned to that of a smirk. Slowly, she turned around to face Nightmare Moon again. What was she doing? Suddenly, I didn't find myself as scared anymore. She was sure we'd be okay, and I believed her, didn't I? "You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here," Twilight assured, earning a surprised start from the powerful Alicorn in front of us. That was the first time I saw it. Nightmare Moon looked scared. "What?" she asked incredulously. Twilight then went on to point out how all of us had succeeded in representing the very Elements of Harmony we'd been searching for! They had been with us all along. Twilight gave me my destiny that day. Her words and feelings were responsible for me becoming the Element of Kindness, and in that moment, she truly understood me. In doing so, I helped give her the hope she needed to defeat Nightmare Moon with all our powers. She trusted in us at that darkest moment, and I realized that was the kind of confidence I wished I had. * * * * * Fluttershy finally finished her tale with a pleased nod towards me. I smiled back, of course. "It took me a day or so to realize that I respected the mare who gave that to me more than the confidence I yearned for. Another day or so made me realize that I didn't just respect her, but realized how amazing and gorgeous she was. Um, then I started to l-love her the longer time went on and the more adventures we had..." she continued. Her voice dwindled down below my capabilities to hear afterwards, however. It seemed directly connected to how pink her cheeks got, I noticed. Did that mean if I applied a cold pack, her voice would get louder? Twilight wasn't taking it nearly as well, it looked like. She sat there with her mouth open and a blank stare aimed directly at Fluttershy, who was starting to get flustered now. "Um, is that bad? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or bother you or make you uncomfortable," Fluttershy immediately apologized, of course. I gave her a skeptical look, but the lavender unicorn finally snapped out of it. "But, that was, you've liked me since we first met?! I..." Twilight managed to stutter out. Well, never mind. I thought she'd snapped out of it. "Everything she said made sense to me. I mean, all of you are really amazing, and that was the first time you all shined together," I reasoned, earning a soft smile from Fluttershy. Rainbow was grinning at this point, however. "Heck, that's awesome! You'd better not apologize, Fluttershy. I'm proud of you for saying all that!" she declared. The burst of energy surprised the yellow mare, and she gave a squeak before shrinking down a little. "Ah! I'm sorry, Rainbow! Should I have not apologized then?" she asked. Rainbow gave her a deadpan stare before slapping her forehead lightly. I snickered lightly and pulled Fluttershy closer, giving her a soft squeeze. She hesitated for a moment, but then relaxed against my chest as I lightly rubbed her back. Rainbow was right. She was awesome for having said all that. Of course, that just left Twilight to decide what to do with the information. Everypony in the room redirected their attention back to Twilight, who froze as she suddenly found herself in the spotlight again. "Er, yes?" she asked, looking hesitantly over at me instead. Luna cut me off, however. "My Equestrian culture may be a little rusty, but I believe this is the part where you either acknowledge and return said feelings, or deny them," she spoke up politely, but rather bluntly at the same time. I felt Fluttershy shiver, but I gave her another squeeze and she buried her left cheek into my collarbone for support, partially hiding her from Twilight. I understood, of course. Sometimes having 'cover' was an encouraging instinct when you're expecting 'incoming fire' from something. Given my level of armor, I actually didn't mind being used as a barricade as much as I thought I would. Twilight blinked, and then giggled to herself. "You remember what I said earlier, don't you? I'm all for love no matter the gender. Fluttershy's already a herd member once we finalize it, so why wouldn't I give her a chance with me, too? It only makes sense," she reasoned, being remarkably 'Twilight' about it. I started to laugh before being partially lurched backwards by the rapidly pouncing Fluttershy. She wasted no time in landing on Twilight a moment later and almost sending them both back into the wall. She then proceeded to give her the largest hug I'd ever seen. Admittedly, seeing that mixed with my sudden loss of attention left me just a tad jealous. Still, they were both with me, too, so I guess it evened out. Fluttershy had a lot of catching up to do anyway. Twilight did laugh after she recovered her balance, and hugged Fluttershy closer to herself, smiling as the yellow wings slipped around her in both directions. They were rather cute to watch. My serenity was shattered, however, as I heard my name shouted at the top of Pinkie's lungs from downstairs. Eh?! "Are you in here, Mender?!" she yelled again, sounding a bit closer this time. Why was she specifically looking for me? "Oh yeah! Fluttershy and I were supposed to tell you when we got here that Pinkie was looking for you," Dash suddenly remembered, drawing her attention away from the new couple and looking over at me instead. Eh?! My ears flattened back at her for a moment, and she shot me a sheepish smile while rubbing the side of her head absently. I sighed and turned away, propping myself up to peek over the balcony. Pinkie perked up the second she saw me and hopped over to the stairs in her usual energetic manner. I had no complaints, however. It was much nicer to see her like this then in pain like she had been. "There you are! I was looking all over for you. I'd have thought Dashie would get you first," she admitted, sliding to a stop and shifting to a guarded position as I wobbled and tried to make my way down the stairs. It was nice of my friends to be on the lookout for my inevitable stumbles and gravity-induced blunders. "They're here. They just got distracted. Fluttershy finally confessed to Twilight," I explained, sliding down to her level after slipping the last few steps. She had the courtesy to catch me and slow my fall at least before gasping and hopping unnaturally slowly into the air. I shivered as I watched her float for a second before landing and dancing around in a tight circle. "I missed it?! No! I'll have to go up there and ask them to do it again! Do you think they'd mind?" she asked, hopping impatiently in front of me. Snickering, I shook my head, reminding her, "They probably wouldn't mind telling you about it. Although, you never said why you were looking for me." She stopped for a moment before her eyes lit up again. "Oh yeah! Vinyl talked to Princess Luna and got her to air your fun movie thingy with Princess Celestia onto the sound stage out there! She thought it would be a good idea to clear your name, and then wanted to introduce you after the movie," she rapidly explained. What?! But that would mean getting up on stage in front of all those ponies! I'd be in the light with hundreds of ponies staring at me. Hundreds! My heart started racing just thinking about it, and I rapidly froze. No, that wouldn't work at all. I'd have to talk to Vinyl about doing something else. Why was she even trying to do this for me? Why did they think this would work in the first place? Why, um, why was I floating? Looking back behind me, I saw Rainbow lightly hooking her forelegs under mine and lifting me into the air. "Don't worry, Pinkie! I'll get him over to Vinyl. You go up and talk to Fluttershy and Twilight," Rainbow assured confidently. "Ah! No, this is a bad idea, Rainbow! I don't like crowds and-" I attempted to protest, flailing my back legs about trying to shake myself loose. She was absurdly strong, however. Oh yeah, I couldn't have weighed anywhere near what those poles back at the barn did. Well, I could if I wanted to, but that would also put me into Twilight's basement rather rapidly. It would be awkward explaining to everypony how I suddenly, temporarily gained three metric tons. "Okie Dokie Loki! Meet you there in a bit!" Pinkie declared, totally ignoring me just like Rainbow was. Rainbow gave a curt nod to Pinkie and a reassuring smile to me before launching both of us straight through the open door of the library, not even giving me enough time to properly whimper. This was a really bad idea... Chapter 42The sound was absurd as I got unceremoniously plopped onto the stage. Even though the music was turned down, the bass still was vibrating the wood I walked on. The cheering was incredible, and I did my absolute best to not look to the left at the ocean of ponies I knew was there. Oh hell. Oh crap. Please, please let me not trip. It was awkward enough limping with the clicking my brace made against the stage. Rainbow had shot me a knowing smile after setting me down and actually landing, not only sticking with me but walking along to my left, partially shielding me from all the ponies. She felt my panic through the link, no doubt. Still, I made sure to send as much 'thankfulness' to her as I could now. Her assured smile told me she understood. Vinyl absolutely beamed at us from the sound booth, sitting patiently on the steps with several glowing accessories on. Her glowing choker held her microphone, and I saw the wire running off it and to a flat, black box strapped to her hip. Interesting. "And here we have him! Good mares and stallions of the audience, Moon Mender!" she shouted out as we got closer. Oh hell. To my surprise, a massive level of cheering broke out to the left. Risking a glance, I saw the audience come alive with shouts of actual happiness, and interestingly enough, they all started rapidly stomping their hooves along the ground. The significance was lost entirely on me, but I took it as a good thing. Eyes. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were all watching me. I got a little dizzy and had to look away and back at Vinyl a moment later. The faint, partially transparent screen was easily visible floating high above the stage as well. To my surprise, it was still going and showed a very bored looking Celestia talking at the podium. The sound appeared to be muted. "There ya have it, Mender! Speaking from somepony who was there and saw it with my own two eyes, I could not, at all, let this continue. It just doesn't sit right, ya know? No matter who these mules are that happen to not like Twi and you, now you know that you have a whole town o' ponies that'll beg to disagree!" she declared confidently, smirking at me. Behind those dark purple shades, I knew her rose colored eyes were just dancing at the spectacle. Rainbow smirked, and I saw it coming without even needing to hear the squeal from the link. "Heck yeah! Even if you didn't want to, you sure as hay stepped up and helped when needed. That," she emphasized, nudging me in the chest with a forehoof before continuing, "That is what ponies can respect. You have guts and morals, dude." She stared at me only the entire time, and I knew that she hadn't said it for the crowd. Yet, it was different. I realized it a second later. She avoided using 'hero' completely. She knew that I didn't want any of it to happen, and after seeing what I became, I had no doubt she realized it was far from always a good thing. I was an abomination, and I could never be a normal, real pony. Ever. The very thought of that burned on the way down as I swallowed. Still, at the same time, she just said that I didn't have to be a pony. Guts and morals, huh? Vinyl grinned, then surprised me by asking, "Way to say it, Dash! Got any words for us then, dude?" Her magic lit up a second later and extended her mic out and right under my muzzle. My eyes widened a little and I looked out to the audience instead. Everything went silent almost instantly and their cheering ceased. For the undercurrent of the simple beats, it felt amazingly soundless in the center of that stage. For a moment, I had to fight back pure panic. Hundreds of them were all watching me. Half as many had almost stoned me this morning due to that bizarre and subtle attack. I remembered what Derpy had said in Sugarcube Corner. They were just normal ponies, just like I felt like before all this. They had hopes and fears, and this was even more terrifying to them. Closing my eyes, I nodded to myself. No, I could do this. I flicked them open a second later, and Vinyl's smile widened a little. "Thank you, everypony, for accepting me into this wonderful town and letting me call it home. Um, I know my stay has been trying for some and I didn't make the best of impressions, but everything Princess Celestia just said is true," I started. I saw the murmurs without needing to hear them as the motion picked up in the crowd. "I'm just a normal pony, honestly, and all of this is scary to me, too, but trust me when I say this then from that perspective. I'll do everything in my power to keep all of you safe, if only to return the hospitality you've shown me," I finished, nodding to Vinyl. I felt stupid after finishing and more than a little light headed, but the cheers surprised me by exploding out again. They either didn't mind it, or they were humoring me. Hospitality not including the angry mob and rock pelting, of course. I turned to look back at Vinyl again when a sudden shout came from towards the front of the audience with, "Show us your magic, Mender!" A mare's voice that I knew fairly well. I looked back to the left and shot a skeptical glance to Lyra Heartstrings, who sat right up next to the stage, one forehoof up on it now as she waved the other in the air. A horrified Bon Bon sat next to her, shrinking down slightly as ponies turned to look at them. I smiled and turned more fully towards her as she grinned. Focusing on just her, I tuned out the rest of the crowd and it made me feel a lot better at the same time. As traumatic a time as our introduction was, I guess she at least deserved that. "Whoa, are you gonna really do it, Dude?" Vinyl asked in amusement. I simply nodded without turning and walked slowly towards the front of the stage. The runes of pale blue light danced out of my left hoof, expanding in shimmering patterns up my leg as I walked. Soon, my right foreleg, then my back ones also joined in the display as I walked towards the audience. The light from my energy emanation danced as embers off each of my steps, my slower speed making my limp less pronounced and easier on my body. I closed my eyes and felt out in all directions with the magic, feeling the lines of light dance across the stage and show me what was there and what wasn't. It was true. If there was anything that I really loved and appreciated in my life, apart from two special mares, it was my magic. I'd tasted its loss, and that tore me apart on a fundamental level, not considering the physical ones. I stopped in the middle of the stage, my tail and mane starting to drift freely of their own accord as my magic came to life around me in lines and angles. It felt like a pool of light had expanded under me, and I knew it probably looked similar as the lines branched out from that, glyphs and ancient symbols dancing along them like butterflies. Gravity negation, propulsion, tethering, and barrier manipulation all flowed smoothly out of my thoughts, danced across my body, and became reality around me. In one smooth motion, I inhaled lightly as I lifted off the ground and drifted into the air. More gasps and cheering caused me to smile to myself as I let my barriers and senses expand out around me. My target was already located, but knowing the absolute area was a good precaution. Lyra gasped, then laughed as I caught her in ribbons of light. The light guided my mind to her, showing me every detail of where she existed so I knew where to manipulate. The barriers lifted her up off the ground and caused her to drift into the sky towards me. She giggled and spun herself, rotating in a front flip before I slowed her and opened my eyes again. She gave me a happy grin as I reached out and bumped hooves with her, but then she gasped as the tendrils of light flexed out from her hoof's contact. She watched the flares come off my hoof, dancing like ribbons through the air towards her, and I smiled at her as her eyes started to shimmer. She thought that was pretty? Nodding to her, I sent her back down slowly towards Bon Bon as I let myself drift towards the stage again. The back of my head ached lightly as I touched down, but I was happy overall. That was the most I'd done yet without tapping into the book, and I saw that my abilities were growing again. That was a good feeling, even if I was nowhere near what I had before yet. Baby steps. Magic danced around me like fireflies as my hooves touched down against the hard wood again. I opened my eyes and, if just for a split second, everything was quiet. A light mist drew across the dancing breeze. The crowd was still, frozen mid-cheer as the haze drifted through my head. The little blue filly smiled at me from the front row and nodded, eyes open this time. Whatever color they used to be was lost to nothing but milky white textures mixed with dull grays. "Remember. You have to remember. You're heading towards a bad outcome again. Will you do it? Remember." Her mouth didn't move as her voice danced in my ears. My eyes widened. The crowd exploded into cheers, far louder than before and I gave a start, looking around at anything that could have changed. "Whoa! That's some amazing stuff ya got, Mender! Even teleportation. High level magic indeed!" Vinyl exclaimed behind me in surprise. What? Wait, something was... My magic gently set Lyra down like I'd told it to already without my guidance and pulled back into me. I looked back at both of the mares and saw a surprised and somewhat confused Dash looking back and forth between me and where I used to be in the air. I gave her an equally confused expression back, which caused a spike of apprehension along the link. What had happened? I don't remember... "Let's get this party started again, then!" Vinyl cheered out, knocking my thoughts out of my head almost instantly. She'd made it back to the sound booth and the music exploded from all around me, volume similar to how I imagined the end of world would compare. Rainbow smirked and nodded to me before bursting forward again. She was such a wonderful mare. I didn't think I'd ever have sweeter thoughts about her as she got me a safer distance away from the stage with those wonderful wings. * * * * * "Seriously?" the gray mare asked yet again, lazily resting against one of the many food tables. It seemed to be a pattern for us to meet in similar backdrops. I sighed and nodded to Octavia. "Yeah. I don't exactly enjoy being so active, you know," I reminded softly. "A day after almost dying in Canterlot, you almost die in Ponyville instead? Then get hospitalized?" she asked incredulously. Glaring, I gestured down to my left foreleg, the very obvious brace still glittering over it. "Worst. Luck. Ever! It's kinda his 'other' special talent," Rainbow chipped in before shoving another graham cracker s’more into her mouth. Pinkie grinned across from us while making a few dozen more. There were uncomfortable amounts of ponies around us at this point. I was more than a little surprised when tons had followed from the concert and started asking me a bunch of questions. I remembered the papers Luna had given me and was able to answer almost everything. I sensed a lot of fear in everypony. They were scared, normal ponies who had taken my speech to heart. I did my best to assure that the danger had diminished and that Celestia was confident in that. "But you're sure it's safe enough to send the foals and stallions off to the campground next week? Sure, it's a bit uncomfortable if they stay, but..." Carrot Top asked timidly from her spot near the front of the group near us. I nodded towards her while shifting into a more comfortable position to sit in. My systems reported almost full repair of the damage from earlier, but my stomach was complaining profusely while urging Pinkie to hurry the next set of s’mores. Applejack, who had come out of the crowd earlier after Rainbow had landed, surprised me by scoffing instead. "Darn tootin'! Princess Luna an' Mender took care o' that thing, an' Mender already plans ta go with an' guard tha cabins," she assured, scrapping at the dirt with her hoof in a somewhat irritated looking manner. Smiling, I opened my mouth to agree when a high-pitched yelp sounded off behind me. My head perked up in surprise as something impacted the table I sat at and lurched it backwards. I rolled once, sensors picking up the three fillies as they bounced off the table and spilled over backwards. My barriers shot out as I flopped upside down against the tipped over table, and I caught them out of the air. A moment later, things slowed again, and my shield deposited all three next to me. Well, that was unexpected! Scootaloo got up first and dusted herself off before rapidly turning and looking at her flank. I peeked up at the now destroyed flag line they had apparently descended from. "Aww. I thought party entertainment Cutie Marks was gonna work!" Scootaloo murmured in frustration. Party entertainment? My view shifted to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as Octavia slid over and helped me to my hooves again. Both fillies were wearing a makeshift harness of some sort that had pinwheels and flags sticking out of it. I blinked slowly, then looked back up at the flag line, recognizing the rope in the harness immediately. Huh. Octavia gave me a deadpan expression after I steadied myself, and then nodded to herself, adding, “Never mind. I’m beginning to see why it’s not that unlikely after all. What’s the prognosis on your leg?” I sat down again, feeling a little dizzy from my roll still, but scooted away from the fallen table as it started to shift again. All three fillies followed after me as Applejack nudged it from the other side and slowly tipped it upright again with her shoulder. “Oh, Mender!” Sweetie Belle squealed after hopping up onto the other table. I lowered myself just in time for her to throw herself off the top of the table and land on the back of my neck a moment later. Saw that coming. “It will eventually recover on its own, but it needs lots of exercise to get the muscles built back up,” I explained, gesturing gently with it while the little unicorn shuffled around behind me, getting situated on my back. Applejack walked around the edge of the table by then and nudged her from behind, letting her stabilize herself and cling to my neck instead. Octavia gave out a smirk and nod towards her, and then the other two fillies. “Friends of yours, I imagine?” she suggested, a knowing smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. I coughed lightly and averted my eyes, but Apple Bloom was quick enough to pick up the welcome. “Howdy, Ma’am! Ah’m Apple Bloom, an’ this ‘ere is Scootaloo. Mender’s new scarf is Sweetie Belle!” she introduced, earning a rolling series of snickers from the small crowd. Some of them were starting to disperse anyway, I guess being bored at this point. Well, I actually preferred that more than anything. It wasn’t like I spent my day lit up like a lightbulb, exploding periodically, or dodging heavy objects descending from the clouds. As entertaining as that was, I’d much rather just be a normal abomination of nature and engineering. The bad luck was getting a tad much anyway. “Hey!” Sweetie Belle yelped, followed by, “Scarves are worn in the front! The back is more for capes!” I frowned, not entirely certain that was the point, but Octavia giggled and nodded regardless. “And a very fine cape you are, Miss Sweetie Belle. I’m sure Mender, Savior of the Canterlot Orchestra, is honored to have you,” the gray mare assured in a whimsical and rather theatric tone. It was my turn to give her a deadpan glare, but Sweetie disrupted my attempt with a sudden, surprised cooing noise before tightening her grip on my neck with a hug. “Whoa. Mender saved the orchestra?!” Scootaloo asked, perking to attention instantly at that. I slapped my forehead with a hoof. “O’ course! Don’t ya read, Scootaloo? It was all over in tha papers…” Apple Bloom chirped, giving her orange friend a nudge in the shoulder and getting a glare back. Well, it might have been a glare. It was slightly harder to see now that they’d systematically destroyed the line of lights above us with their ‘entertainment’ attempt. I coughed lightly to draw their attention again, and not at all to distract from the topic at hand with a timely diversion. “T-That’s not important! Anyway, this lovely mare is-“ I started to properly introduce. Pink exploded to my right before I could finish as the pink mare herself popped up between the seat and table of the picnic table, knocking the two seated fillies flying into me as she hopped onto the seat and bounced happily. Eh?! Turning, I caught Apple Bloom in my forelegs and tried to catch Scootaloo, but she made a fast buzzing noise and hovered up over my head, landing on it a second later. Sweetie Belle just giggled as she spun, and I frowned, suddenly finding myself ‘wearing’ three fillies. “Now you’re the scarf, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie chided in a playful tone from my back. “This is Octavia Melody, of the Grand Canterlot Orchestra! She’s the super duper amazing head cellist in it!” Pinkie announced, dramatically flailing her forelegs out at the startled gray mare. To my surprise, Octavia narrowed her eyes at Pinkie instead. “Ah yes. Pinkie Pie. I should have known you’d be here…” she muttered, glaring at my overly pink and excitable friend. Whoa! The hostility I suddenly detected was phenomenal. “Well of course I’d be here! Biggest party of the year, and I so totally came up with it. I mean, why wouldn’t I be here? My most awesome friend Mender is the guest of honor and everything after I kinda accidentally poisoned him and then spilled acid all over him and then injured his leg which was already injured from falling out of a tree while trying to save a little baby bird who’d stumbled out of the nest after it had problems flying and tried to prove that it could after its mommy left to go get another set of worms for them and ran into Fluttershy who was inquiring as to where Mender was in the first place!” Pinkie gasped out. There was dead silence as everyone stared blankly at her. Even Octavia had shifted from irritated to more bewildered at that point. "Pinkie... I think he forgave you for most of that stuff already..." Rainbow pointed out, holding her hoof to her forehead. I blinked, but nodded after my processor had caught up with the rambling. "Oh, I know that! But I promised him a super awesome party and I keep my promises!" she corrected, nodding twice before grinning at me again. I smiled at her and started to nod when a series of rapid fire flashes to my left startled me. My head turned just in time to see Twilight of all mares with her face literally an inch from mine. My totally natural reaction, of course, was to yelp in panic and flail backwards. "Sorry! Gotta borrow Mender real fast!" she squeaked out faster than I could fall over before grabbing me around the waist. The world rapidly disappeared into a wrinkle as reality seemed to fall in upon us and we were yanked sideways a hundredth of a second later. * * * * * After a few dozen compressions and expansions, I was feeling remarkably similar to how I imagined a slinky must feel. It was a fun spring toy I used to love playing with as a little Keldarian kitten and could have kept me entertained for hours, but it wasn't pleasant being treated like one. Well, technically it wasn't 'me' who played with the toy, but the memory felt fond regardless and served as a good example. My head spun as I fell out of probably the thirtieth expansion and the world finally stopped moving. I groaned as Twilight let me go, only for me to fall onto a soft bed with three fillies spilling out after me. Oh hell. She hauled them along, too? "Oh... oh wow. My stomach feels like it's upside down..." Scootaloo groaned, rolling over and flopping onto her back as her eyes spun. "Please make it stop. Ah wanna get off..." Apple Bloom groaned, sliding to her stomach and just lying there next to me. My sympathy extended to her, as my head spun, too. Only a light groan came from Sweetie, who still clung fiercely to my back with mastered conviction, refusing to let go. Twilight looked shocked suddenly, looking at all three fillies. "Eh?! Girls? Wait, why did you come along, too? I should have only grabbed Mender..." she muttered. "They were kinda holding on to me..." I informed in a low voice, lying in a still position on the covers. At least the landing had been soft. My sense of smell picked up Twilight all over the surface, and I realized this must be her bed. Why was I back at the library suddenly? A light giggle sounded to the right, and I recognized the tone as Twilight Velvet almost instantly. My head rotated to find both of Twilight's parents sitting there, watching me and the fillies. Well, this was weird. Had I forgotten about something again? My mind strained, and I pondered making a program to run that would keep track of important points I tossed into it. Surely a database was better than my crappy memory. "Don't mind us, Mender. Under proper unicorn tradition, we're simply here to make sure you properly consummate your relationship by observing," Twilight Velvet assured. My stomach lurched into the bottom of my lungs and I momentarily gagged, breaking into a coughing fit as I rolled to my side, gasping. What?! Night Light gave her a slightly annoyed glare, and Twilight shot out, "Mother!" Eh? Oh, wait. I was being teased again... Damn it. Twilight Velvet burst into snickering and I realized I'd been conned. "Consu-wha?" Sweetie Belle asked a moment later, looking up from my neck. Oh. Oh yeah. Oops. Well, it technically wasn't my fault, as I hadn't been the one to say that. "Don't care. Too dizzy..." Scootaloo groaned, eyes closed now as she held both sides of her head with her forehooves. Oh, that might have been particularly bad for a pegasus. Night Light sighed and shook his head, giving his wife a final irked glare before turning back to me and nodding. "Actually, we simply wanted to talk to you before we headed back to the hotel room. It's important, although I hadn't expected my overly excitable daughter to immediately retrieve you. I'd specified in a few minutes..." he explained, raising an eyebrow past me to the now lightly blushing Twilight, who looked away. Heh. I could agree with that description. Slowly, I managed to sit upright on the bed. Sweetie slowly slid down my back until she landed on my tail and walked over to help Apple Bloom up. A few seconds later, I felt a light impact on my head and peeked upwards in time to see Owlowiscious look down at me. He gave a 'hoo' noise a moment later, and I nodded. Eh, I made a good perch I guess. "I'll answer anything I can, of course. I, um, want to be as helpful as possible," I muttered, deciding to just ignore the owl sitting on my head. How had I missed him all this time?! "That's a good start. Why do you want to be as helpful as possible?" her father asked almost instantly, taking me aback. "Well, I'm not very good at first impressions and I really wanted to, um, make a good one on Twilight's parents? I mean, not that I ever want to make a bad impression per say, but I'm very good at being, uh, awkward I suppose?' I tried to explain. The longer I went on, the more her mother giggled, but her dad just raised an eyebrow up. "Why do you want to make a good impression on us, is more what I meant," he furthered skeptically. Aww, crap. I'd screwed up the very first question. Starting to sweat a little, I shook my head rapidly. "Ah, sorry. I really, really care about Twilight and her parents are obviously important to her, so I didn't want to goof up and upset anypony important to her?" The longer I talked, the more idiotic I thought I sounded, of course. More giggling came from Twilight Velvet, but Night Light just averted his eyes over at her with a questioning glance before looking back to me. He stared at me for an extremely uncomfortable thirty seconds or so before nodding and asking, "If things continue on this path, do you intend to marry my daughter?" My stomach flipped. What kind of question was that?! "Dad!" Twilight squeaked, as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started giggling. Scootaloo gave out a groan and slowly sat up again, looking around as if she didn't quite know where she was. "If she'll have me, yes," I admitted, blushing lightly at the thought. After everything I'd been through over the last month, all I could honestly be certain of were my feelings regarding the two mares. Nothing beyond them was stable in my life, and I had already realized a while ago that they were the ones I really, really wanted to protect. I cared for all of my friends, but... Twilight went from squeaking to a drawn out gasp as her head whipped around to look at me. "Yes! You two are so cute together… Plus, marriage is important for establishing a herd!" Sweetie Belle chipped in suddenly, hopping up into the air next to me and giving me a happy, blushing smile. I gave her an amused smirk, but she just grinned fully before hugging my left foreleg. Well, I knew her vote in the matter, anyway. Night Light seemed surprised for once. He stared at me for a moment before tilting his head. "Your other answers were hesitant. All except that one. Why are you so sure of that?" he asked, shifting to a more neutral look. Well, that answer was a lot easier to explain, anyway. "I've not had a wonderful life, but Twilight and Fluttershy are the best things to have happened to me since, well, ever. I'm not really sure about anything really, except for those two facts. I've already made that choice before, but I know I'd do anything to protect them. Anything," I answered, frowning down towards the floor. I remembered that exact feeling as I held my burning hoof up in an alien spaceship. I'd do anything I had to in order to make sure nothing hurt Twilight and Fluttershy. They were highest on my priority to guard, beyond even Equestria itself. My eyes widened slightly as I felt the warm fur push into my right side. I looked over in time to see purple as Twilight lightly kissed my cheek. "I agree," she murmured, smiling towards me before continuing. "I used to think I didn't need friendship, but the Elements of Harmony opened my eyes wide to that. I don't think I've ever closed them afterwards. Romance and a coltfriend was something I, well, never thought would be for me. Mender started as my friend and I don't think I really noticed the transition. He still is my friend, but so much more now. Now I can't, and don't want to imagine not having him here." One probably could have fried up an egg on my face at that point. She grinned at my reaction, and I finally saw Night Light smile towards us. "Yes, I can see that now. From your letters, I know it hasn't exactly been a painless ride so far, but the very fact that you're still together should be a good sign. I've also heard from others that you have morals and character. I'll accept you," he finally agreed. My eyes widened drastically, but her mother stepped up before I could say anything. "I already had accepted you. Stallions get a certain look in their eyes when they stare at a mare they truly care for and see a future with, and you have a shine to yours I haven't seen since I met my husband. Almost like you'd be lost without them," she cooed, smiling again. Heh. She had no idea how accurate that last part was. If it wasn't for Twilight and Fluttershy, I'd have gone crazy by now. I didn't know if this was the right choice, but I didn't want to lose her. Was it selfish to want something like that even when I wasn't entirely sure what I was? Twilight knew enough about me to make an educated choice, however. Still, I turned and looked at Twilight for confirmation. She was blushing noticeably, even in the dim light of the library loft. Her smile was definitely there, however, as she leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips. I joined in smiling after she pulled back, but a high-pitched, drawn out cooing noise distracted me. It didn't take long for me to locate the little white unicorn filly as the source. She wore a massive grin as she watched us, and I snickered, rubbing her on the top of the head. "Oooh, good with foals. He's a keeper, my daughter," Twilight Velvet added a moment later. I barely resisted groaning. "Why does everypony say that?!" I asked, turning around and giving a frustrated glance at her mother. Twilight caught me off guard by answering instead with, "Hmm, you're right. Applejack and Fluttershy already pointed it out, and now my mom, too, who has experience in such. Empirical Evidence thus points to you indeed being good with foals!" Slowly, my head turned to glare at her instead, noticing she sported a rather impish grin. She was teasing me! "But you are! We have a lot of fun around you, and you make me feel really safe," Sweetie added, leading to a light yet sugary stab into my chest. The filly gave me rather large eyes, almost begging for me to believe her. "Ah think she's right, o' course. Just based on what ya did fer us, yer ah dependable pony. Sis says dependable is ah darn good thing, so Ah guess that makes ya good in mah book," Apple Bloom agreed. Both turned and looked at Scootaloo, who looked like she was zoning out. A moment later, she perked and looked at both of them before apparently vaguely realizing that she was supposed to say something. "Oh, yeah, yeah. Uh, Rainbow Dash says he's cool, so he's cool," she tacked on. Sweetie kept staring blankly at her, and Apple Bloom smacked her forehead with a hoof. I couldn't help but snicker at their antics. "This is perfect! Well, I, for one, fully approve! Night Light does, too," Twilight Velvet started suddenly, snapping my attention back to her. Wait, what?! "Wait, I do?" Night Light questioned, looking over at her in shock. Oh yeah, he had only said he ‘accepted’ me, which was different from approval I suppose. She continued, however, as if he weren’t even in the room, with, "You may have our daughter's hoof in marriage, and give us lots of foals! See if you can beat Shining. He's being a slowpoke with Cadence." Oh hell. My mind jumped to a really terrible pun there and I blushed, but Twilight hopped up into the air and thankfully distracted me. "Thank you, Mom! I'm, well, I've never been so certain that I've wanted something before, and I'm really glad you both approve," she thanked, nodding to both of them in turn. "I do?" her father asked again, a bit more annoyed sounding this time. Uh oh. This wouldn't do. "Do you approve, Sir? I'd like your approval as well," I requested, interrupting them ignoring him and attempting to patch the damage. Night Light looked surprised, but stared at me for a good long second before sighing. His wife smiled softly over at him, looking curious as he nodded finally. "Fine. You're, well, your head is on properly. You have a good sense of morals and are far better than I feared, but you'd better not hurt my daughter!" he warned, shifting to a glare instead. Swallowing, I rapidly shook my head and held my hooves up in assurance. I didn't get a chance to respond, however, when movement caught my eye heading up the stairs instead. Unexpectedly, the entire crew wandered up, somehow having located us. "Twitchy twitch! See? He's even easier to locate using my Pinkie Sense!" the pink one announced upon beating everypony to the top of the stairs. Eh?! I was? "Darn Tootin'. It's ah good thing, too! Twi, ya know it's rude ta snatch somepony away in tha middle o' conversation," Applejack pointed out, following after Pinkie. Rainbow followed her, and last was both Vinyl and Octavia walking side by side. Wait, Vinyl? My ears perked up, but sure enough, I still heard the music playing outside. She smirked as she looked over at me, however, and shook her electric blue mane. "It's on record right now. I get breaks, too, ya know!" Vinyl explained, smirking at me. I snickered, but Night Light surprised me yet again by letting out a sharp gasp, having turned and looked at the new intruders. "N-No! It can't be... But you're famous..." he muttered, eyes expanding as he took a couple steps forward. Oh? Vinyl smirked and nodded to him, holding a hoof up. "Aw yeah! A fan! I got this, don't worry..." she assured. Night Light rushed past her a moment later. "Please, Miss Octavia, will you grant me a humble autograph? I own all of your records and simply love your performance over in Manehatten at the Golden Shell!" he gushed out, disrupting Vinyl's sentence completely. Vinyl slowly turned around and stared blankly at them, and I swore I heard Twilight's mother mutter, "Here we go..." Octavia almost gave a knowing smirk towards Vinyl before nodding pleasantly. "But of course! Any friend of Mender's definitely deserves my attention," she agreed, slipping a record out of her saddlebag and setting it down on the floor, pulling a pen out with her teeth. I watched her with fascination as she managed to deftly write her name across the front of the record sleeve before handing it up to Night Light. He was the last stallion on earth I ever thought I'd hear squeal. "A limited edition version of River Blossom Waltz?! No, no way! H-How much is...?!" he asked, starting to shake after his outburst was completed. "I can't take him anywhere..." Twilight Velvet groaned, rubbing a hoof to her forehead and shooting me a helpless glance. I shrugged and smiled towards her, kind of amused by the sudden shift in demeanor. Octavia shook her head and gave him the record regardless. "I've a few on commission, and like I said... Mender saved my life. Making the father of the mare he loves happy is nothing in comparison," she politely explained, smiling gently towards him. I hadn't expected him to move so fast. He zipped backwards and over to me an instant later, and I suddenly found myself in the most awkward and uncomfortable embrace of my life. "You saved the life of an irreplaceable pony! You're forgiven on all accounts. Please, I accept you into this family with open hooves!" he squeaked out, shivering against me. The cologne he was wearing made me want to sneeze, which would have been even more awkward. Twilight blinked, and then shot us a skeptical look after she was shoved partially out of the way. After an awkward ten seconds, in which Rainbow started to snicker, Twilight Velvet finally scoffed and hopped forwards, hauling him off me. "Leave the snuggling to Twilight, Dear. Don't forget you have me for that. Speaking of, we should get back to our hotel room," she reminded, tossing on multiple layers of awkward implication. He coughed lightly before nodding. "Ah, yes. Well, I imagine we'll see more of you tomorrow before heading back to Canterlot. I must talk with you more about what happened at the party!" he suggested before getting prodded into moving by his wife again. I smiled politely and nodded to him, of course, if only to be relieved of the awkward situation a second ago. "Oh, and, well," he started muttering again, stamping his hooves back and forth nervously as he was shoved closer towards Octavia, who had walked up next to Vinyl again. "Dear..." Twilight Velvet added, pushing him past the two mares rather rapidly with her shoulder, rolling her eyes. He started to protest when Octavia raised a hoof and silenced him instantly. "I'm a good friend of Mender's, so we'll undoubtedly see each other again, Mr. Night Light. Vinyl and I shall undoubtedly play at any occasion Mender hosts as well," she assured, causing his eyes to expand rapidly. "D-Did you hear that, Velvet?! She knows my name!" he squeaked, looking excited. Rainbow had both hooves in her mouth at this point, face shifting red as her whole body shook from trying so hard not to laugh. Pinkie simply swayed happily and nodded in agreement, probably having already decided to invite the two musicians to future parties. She already knew Vinyl, after all. Twilight's mother gave a sigh and nodded. "Of course, Dear. Now, um, well..." she started before averting her eyes and coughing lightly, nodding pleasantly towards me as a farewell. Then she shifted back to him and added, "Pre-Heat! Get moving! Hotel! Now!" He let out a yelp and booked down the stairs almost instantly. Twilight Velvet turned and winked to us on the bed before following slowly after him. Twilight herself looked more ready to shrink down and disappear, however. A long squeal came from Rainbow's direction, and she finally exploded into laughter, falling over onto her back as she rolled about. Pinkie joined in, of course, if not to simply roll next to her. "Well, that was awkward. Almost as awkward as Twilight shouting to the whole town that Mender hasn't gotten any..." Vinyl observed, scratching her temple while re-adjusting her glasses. Oh hell. I really needed to be reminded of that... Twilight let out a low groan and sank back down onto the bed. I felt myself tint a light pink and coughed as Rainbow's laughter got louder, adding leg flailing into the mix. Pinkie got kicked a second later and giggled merrily as she spun out across the loft's floor. A light fluttering came to my ears, however, alongside a distractingly happy sensation drifting up my spine. I felt her before turning, but looked and smiled back over my shoulder anyway. Fluttershy drifted up and over the balcony a moment later, looking about before nodding and smiling towards me, landing next to us on the bed. "I left before she went to get you. Um, I wanted to give her parents privacy..." the yellow mare whispered upon landing. Smiling, I nodded to her softly before kissing her on the cheek. She returned my expression while blushing lightly. Sweetie Belle made another happy giggle, finding herself cushioned between Fluttershy's and my hips. Applejack shook her head finally at Rainbow's antics before sticking a hoof out and stopping the cyan pegasus, mid-roll. "Don't ya think yer makin' Mender an' Twi feel bad, Dash?" she pointed out, gesturing towards the two of us. Apple Bloom perked up at that and peeked around Sweetie, as if checking on me to see how accurate that was. I gave her an assuring smile. Scootaloo finally sat up as well, looking more than a little groggy, but appeared to be recovering from her apparent first teleportation experience. Rainbow gave a jerk and sat up, staring over at both of us. Twilight still had her face buried in the sheets, and Fluttershy lightly massaged her back to try to calm her down. "W-What? No, I wasn't trying to rub it in or anything. It was just funny that she shouted it so loud," Dash tried to explain. "Ah think they got that much, Rainbow. How 'bout we just drop it?" Applejack suggested, tilting her head towards her cyan friend. There was a slight hesitation before Rainbow nodded again and sat up fully again. Octavia nodded before reasonably adding, "It's probably wise. I doubt anypony really paid it much attention, plus they've only been dating about four weeks now. It's totally within reason to go slowly." I blinked at her before considering it. Yeah, it really had only been four weeks or so. Plus, I spent at least half of that time either hospitalized or in a coma. Oh, and we'd only made it official about two weeks ago. Vinyl shook her head and gave a nonchalant hoof wave, however. "Psh, I was only teasing anyway. I'm actually pleasantly surprised that they aren't rushing inta things. Makes for a nice change of pace from what I normally see in the club scene," she corrected, sounding a bit annoyed for some reason. I detected a bad experience in the past in that regard, and decided it was best not to ask. At least not at this very moment. "Ah'd like ta point out that Ah have no idea what ya'all are talkin' 'bout," Apple Bloom suddenly declared, raising her hoof up to draw more attention to herself. Oh, oh yeah. Those three probably shouldn't know about things like that yet. Her big sister nodded, agreeing with, "That's ah darn good thing! Ah'm also thinkin' we should be headin' on back ta tha farm. We got ah long day tomorrow, gettin' ya set up ta go with yer big brother." Apple Bloom let out a stifled groan before sinking down onto the covers. I smiled down at her before nodding gently, my right hoof lighting up and lifting her into the air with a barrier. She giggled as the barrier extended, sliding her along it in a dip before flipping her into the air and onto her sister's back as she stood up. My surprise spiked as Applejack gave me the first open smile since the incident, adding a nod to me as she adjusted her snickering sister on her back. Rainbow yawned and stood as well, glancing towards us as Twilight finally looked up again. "Um, I'm gonna walk with AJ. My cloud house is in that direction anyway. Oh, and sorry if I upset ya," she apologized after a moment's hesitation. Twilight managed to smile weakly before shaking her head. "No, I just feel stupid for doing it. I let myself get too worked up trying to have Mender impress my parents," she explained, looking away from her two friends and averting her gaze in my direction instead. Octavia snickered and shook her head, interrupting with, "I believe he made a good impression regardless. I don't believe you had anything to worry about, Twilight." Well, that was to be excused. Octavia didn't know me very well, and didn't realize exactly how badly a situation involving me could turn out. A light 'hoo' came from my head in agreement, and I momentarily freaked out, realizing Owlowiscious was still sitting on my head. How did he do that?! It's like he just blended into nonexistence in the background whenever he wanted! Rainbow nodded, halting Applejack again as she headed for the stairs down. "Of course! I think that's the best first impression Mender's ever made! Don't forget, he met me when I blew him up," she reminded a moment later, earning a groan from me. Applejack smiled and nodded instead, suddenly perking up and looking straight at me. I got a little nervous before she smiled again, adding, "Almost forgot. Drop by tha farm before ya head out tomorrow, Mender. Mah brother'll show ya tha way an' walk with ya." Oh! That was indeed helpful. It would be nice having somepony I knew to walk with and assure me I was wandering vaguely in the right direction. Spike was set to come with as well. I nodded politely. "I'll head over after I'm done at Pinkie's. I'm going to take measurements of their main room so I can get some designs drawn up while I'm gone," I explained a moment later. Applejack momentarily looked surprised, but Pinkie hopped up again in an instant despite being on her back just a moment ago. Damn, she had recovered fast! "Oooh, you're going to be doing that neat job the Cake's wanted with their front room?! I can't wait! Not only will it be super fun to watch, but it saves us so much effort with running to each table!" the pink one squealed out excitedly. Twilight's ears perked about and she looked over at me curiously. I attempted to mouth 'later' to her, but she nodded, so I assumed she figured it out. Applejack gave Pinkie an unsure stare, however. "Are ya sure ya should be movin' like that, Pinkie? Ah don't want ya hurting yerself," she asked, sounding rather concerned. Pinkie rapidly shook her head, however. "I'm fine! I even went to the doctor's today before the party and they said I'm healing up, like, way faster than they've ever seen! So I'm good to go!" she exclaimed. Wait, what? That sounded a little, well, weird. Applejack's frown intensified, but Rainbow just shrugged and pointed out, "Hey, you've seen how much raw energy she puts out. She did slow down for a few days so all that energy had to go somewhere. Maybe she has super healing?" I rolled my eyes but mentally agreed. It was probably just Pinkie being... Pinkie. "Eh, Ah guess tha important thing is yer doin' better. We'll be headin' home then. See ya tomorrow, you two!" With that, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Rainbow Dash headed down the stairs. Pinkie stood there, grinning at me still as she almost vibrated in place. Was she that excited to see this thing built? Twilight watched her for a moment, almost in a daze before sighing herself. I shifted my attention over to her just in time to see her nod. "Applejack's right, of course. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and Mender even longer, so I suppose we should get some rest," she muttered after another moment. "Psh, where's the fun in that?" Vinyl asked almost instantly. Octavia rolled her eyes a moment later before reminding, "Not everypony is nocturnal like you are, Vinyl. Let's go and let Mender rest. We can say goodbye to him at the farewell tomorrow before I take off myself. You're sure you're okay with me staying at your, uh, pad, was it?" "Heck yeah! You're always welcome, Tavi! And trust me, we'll be there, Mender!" Vinyl Scratch assured before nodding to Octavia. After they reached the stairs, our group dwindled down to six. Well, seven if you counted my exotic headdress. Twilight watched them go as well for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Well, I'd better go get the Casanova from Rarity's. Come on, you two. Sweetie Belle can be dropped off there, and Scootaloo can be dropped off on the way," she decided. I smirked, almost able to watch her plan out the shortest possible route. "Aww, do we have to?" Sweetie asked, shuffling up further between Fluttershy and me and wrapping her forelegs around my hip. I lifted an eyebrow and peeked down at her, but she was more intent on shooting Twilight a brutal set of sad eyes. Unfortunately, it was super-ineffective, it would seem, as Twilight wasn't even looking. "Yup! You get to hang out with Mender for a week starting tomorrow, which will start a lot sooner the faster you go to bed, you realize?" Twilight reasoned. Well, that was technically a false statement. Tomorrow wouldn't get here any faster regardless of her sleeping or not, but I suppose it was all about perspective. Scootaloo nodded and managed to get back up into a sitting position a moment later. "Fine. Just so long as there's no more teleporting..." she groaned, clutching at her stomach again. I was suddenly glad I wasn't a pegasus. "I'll come with as well! Sugarcube Corner is on the way," Pinkie chirped, standing upright fully. Oh, I guess everypony was leaving then. That only left... My gaze shifted towards Fluttershy, who was staring off into space. She sat there with a blank expression for a moment before nodding gently. "Yes, I suppose I'd best get home, too," she finally admitted, smiling over at me. There was a hesitation as she glanced at me, and her expression flickered to a frown a moment later. Oh, the link. It was true to some extent, of course. A part of me just wanted the day to last forever. It wasn't just that I was enjoying the party. Part of me was enjoying a quiet night for once, and I didn't want to see all of the company leave. It took me a moment, but I realized loneliness was starting to creep up on me. Fluttershy started to open her muzzle to say something, but Twilight cut in with, "Oh, I'll walk with you then, Fluttershy. No sense in you walking by yourself in the dark," Twilight offered, not giving her much choice in the matter regardless as she spun around on the bed to look at both of us. The mare next to me hesitated, but I nodded softly to her. She frowned, but sighed before nodding back over at Twilight instead. Both mares got off the bed, and Twilight nodded back to me as soon as Pinkie caught up. "I'll be back in a few minutes, Mender. You don't need to stay up and wait for me if you're tired," she offered. Heh, I would anyway, but it was a kind gesture. She stopped for a moment again, then glanced back at Scootaloo with a raised eyebrow. Heh. Smirking now, I simply waited for it. "Sweetie, come on," Twilight called back, looking back over at me. Busted. My tail let out a dejected groan before Sweetie shuffled out from under it, revealing her hiding spot. My lavender fillyfriend rolled her eyes before lifting the filly up with magic and hauling her along. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mender!" Sweetie called out rapidly before being pulled down the stairs a moment later. Well, that was tiring. She really seemed to like me for some reason. Huh. Eh, I was probably thinking about it too hard. Closing my eyes slowly, I heard Twilight shout out downstairs that the library was closing, followed by a lot of ponies walking. That meant I was all alone again. Seconds passed as I listened to the silence in a paradoxical sense. I felt her before I opened my eyes, and sighed. "You're never really alone, Mender," she whispered into my left ear. At this point, I was too tired to bother. My tentacles didn't extend, but my mind sliced her head off with a thought. My mind. That's the only place she resided, so I had complete control over her in theory. An echoing giggle as her form burned away again. My eyes slowly opened, the blue glow shining across the room as I looked around. My hat let out a 'hoo' noise, but it was low and quiet. Almost depressed sounding. "Yeah. I'm lonely, too. But at least we have each other," I offered, standing up and walking towards the bathroom. Owlowiscious hopped off my head and took to the air ahead of me, fluttering into the bathroom and landing on the sink gently, seconds before I hopped up on it as well and extended a barrier towards the toothpaste. "There's something oddly comforting in just talking to you. Maybe I should get a friend like you to just hang out with every day," I muttered gently, manipulating the brush into scrubbing my teeth down. A pet. Was I responsible enough for one? Not really. I needed actual income if I were to be able to support anything, myself included. I was hesitant at best at the payment Celestia was offering me for this strange new position, after all. I'd at least have to figure out if she merely assigned it as an excuse to cover my public identity before coming to any decisions about it. The timing was very convenient indeed. Opening the door after I flushed the toilet, a tingling sensation greeted me again. A slight static across my vision drifted, for just a moment, and I sighed. Madness was persistent tonight, it would seem. She sat near Twilight's bed, smiling at me with her detached jaw and bleeding skull. I paused, remembering the lake and stepping forwards, apprehension instead of fear. Owlowiscious landed on my head again oddly, staying with me rather than flying into the room again. "Stupid bird. Doesn't it know it sits on a monster?" she questioned, eyes devoid of pupils as her body became more and more decayed with each visit. Technically not true, as she shouldn't have a head at all if that was her real corpse. No, she was only in my mind. "Shut up. The biggest monster is locked away on Keela's ship right now, rotting in a cell. You're just an aspect of my slowly slipping sanity," I whispered into my head, not giving her the satisfaction of a verbal response this time. She smirked wider, cracking noises sounding off as the right side of her mouth drooped. She heard me, which only further proved my statement that she was only in my head. "We're a monster, too, Mender. I'm you. The you who did this to her. Wasn't it so tasty to tear her apart? Why do you keep up this act?" she questioned. "Even if I'm not a real pony, I have at least two mares who lo- care for me as if I were. If pretending to be a real pony makes them happy, so be it. I'll do anything for them," I agreed, ignoring her entirely and hopping past, up onto Twilight's bed this time. Her head made a cracking noise as her neck twisted, face following my motions rather than tracking me with her sightless eyes. I'd only hesitated slightly, but I realized she probably picked up on that. "Oh? Do they care for you, or do they pity you? Maybe they just don't want their new toy to break or get too sad?" she suggested in a singsong voice. Yup, she picked up on it and was trying to play off my insecurities. "And maybe you're just a cute little boot program that is loaded on my hard drives somewhere that's about to get deleted?" I offered back, silently staring over at her as her grin widened. There was a slight flickering. Almost a graphical distortion along her image. A small whisper of blue. Yes, the sound blue makes drifted into my head. Okay, that was weird. I frowned as my hoof touched down on something hard while walking. Glancing down instead, I saw Prudentia lying on the covers of the bed. Oh. It was never far away, was it? "Please, don't forget. If you continue on this path, it will happen again. Don't forget," came in a whisper behind me. I saw her image before even turning to look. The little blue filly sat on the edge of the bed, a light haze suddenly having gathered in the room. Owlowiscious was frozen in place a little past the bed, sitting on nothingness suddenly. I moved again. Or did everything else move? "You! No. Get away from him. You're supposed to be dead!" the oh-so lovable Nirru-Twilight-thing suddenly shouted from my left side. Well, this just kept getting better and better. Now the voices in my head were arguing about something I had no clue on. The small filly turned to look at her instead, losing the seemingly perpetual smile she seemed to wear. "You've fallen. You have no voice anymore," she whispered, barely even audible. Her eyes looked so sad. The creature next to me screamed in annoyance and lunged a moment later. My tentacles tore into its side before it even cleared a meter. I'd gotten faster. Its body shattered, for lack of better words. It became a distortion of color before branching out into its separate prism components. Data could be seen inside the color, and my eyes widened before the creature screamed and winked out of existence. That was new. To my surprise, the young filly looked just as shocked as me. A moment passed and she turned back to me, slowly. Or maybe no time passed at all. "You protected me," she whispered, in a surprised tone. It wasn't a question, but I nodded regardless. "You feel kind to me. Call it gut instinct if you want, but you remind me of Fluttershy," I whispered back, purely in my mind. She paused before that soft smile returned, and I nodded to her. "You're Prudentia, aren't you?" I asked gently, off another gut instinct. "I'm me. Prudentia is me. I'm not Prudentia, however. You are, well, not him. The old master. You are... clear. Clean. I like you. Maybe the path can be changed," she suggested, saying the most she'd ever had to me, ever. "What path?" I questioned, tilting my head to her. There was a pause, and she smiled fully. "Soon." It was in my mind, not from her lips. Owlowiscious let out a panicked hooting noise as I blinked. My eyebrow raised up as he flailed in midair, flying again as he landed on the bedpost instead, looking startled and confused. Time had skipped backwards again, just a second or so. "Ah, sorry. Guess I'm more tired than I realized if I knocked you off. Accident. I'm very sorry," I apologized, blatantly lying through my teeth. Prudentia wasn't what I thought it was, that's for sure. Looking down, I noticed it in front of me again and smiled. It was never far away. Oddly, I took a strange sort of comfort in that fact. I touched the book and watched it float up, resting on the nightstand again. Yes. It was a good idea to keep it close. Settling in, I looked up at the ceiling and waited for Twilight to get back. Owlowiscious gave a displeased hoot before fluttering up and landing on his stand that I'd never noticed before near Twilight's writing desk. Yes, things were moving forwards. I didn't know why I felt that way, but it seemed right. Now I just needed to figure out where we were going... Chapter 43I wobbled slightly, and then took the fourth measurement, careful to keep my balance as I jotted the number down next to me on the pad of paper. My pad of paper. It was the first item I'd bought with my own bits. Well, I'd also bought several pencils alongside it. It was kinda embarrassing. Twilight had hauled me to Sofas and Quills in the morning after we'd gotten to the Cake's and realized I had nothing to write with. Mrs. Cake fought valiantly in attempts to give me a sizable down-payment towards the project, but I managed to negotiate it down to twenty bits after almost half an hour of arguing. It was almost like she wasn't used to haggling in the other direction before! Regardless, it was overly enough to buy some supplies for me. The saddlebag was a little overkill, however. Shaking my head, I peeked down at the crisscross navy blue straps across my barrel and stomach, firmly securing the saddlebags, which themselves were attached to rotating spindles sewn directly into the leather of the harness. If I hadn't realized Rarity made it and put gemstones on it, I'd have thought it was for military use. It didn't help that I could feel the durability enhancement and protection magic dancing through the leather. Well, it looked like leather. I was actually unsure of what they were made out of. I was rather thankful for the swiveling bags themselves, however. I could access them upside-down this way. Speaking of... I smiled up at Pinkie again, well, from my orientation. She was technically below me, gravity-wise. I rested on her back, lying on my back as well, and faced the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner. I had no idea where she got stilts or how she got them on, but there they were. Further, I was tied to her back, upside down as she walked along and I took measurements of the ceiling. Probably not the brightest or safest idea, but I had a feeling at least Scootaloo would be proud. Using a barrier, I slipped the pencil back into one of the many loops along the underside of Rarity's saddlebag harness, sliding my measuring tape off the seal on the other end of the room. "I've got enough measurements for the large part of the room now, Pinkie. We need to get the loading area next, which is over by the cash register," I relayed, examining my notes as I felt us start to rotate. "Roger, Boss!" she chirped, sounding like she was having way too much fun with this. Of course, she had looked delighted when I agreed to the idea, it being marginally better than Twilight trying to find a ladder in her basement. "I'm not your boss, Pinkie..." I reminded. Again. It was met by yet another giggle as she walked along, humming happily. "Oh, I know, Boss. I just don't have ponies accepting my plans very often, so I gotta make sure you're treated well, too!" she explained, making it difficult to hold back a sigh. Admittedly, this plan was a bit unorthodox, but it was getting the job done. Who was I to argue form over function? I was just an abomination of science, after all. Twilight scurried along under us, moving tables out of Pinkie's way, frantically trying to make sure she didn't trip on anything. I somehow actually doubted that would happen, even if we were walking over an oiled mud pit full of rampaging Kronkshaws. Pinkie's balance was unreal, and she seemed to function at maximum reaction speed even when humming along and swaying happily. For a moment, I kinda wondered if she was Unit 001 in actuality. I never did figure out where the first unit went. A mild dash of guilt slipped through me as I shifted my eyes to the fully repaired video in my inner screen. It had been repaired for a while now. Yet something made me not want to watch it. What was I afraid of? What could it possibly reveal to me that could be more painful than realizing that everything I was, was fake? Could it be worse than realizing that my ultimate goal of being accepted as a normal pony was impossible? I swallowed weakly as I stared at it, feeling that anger and frustration bubbling up inside of me again. Another giggle. "Mmm, you smell good," Pinkie complimented under me, shifting to a halt finally, directly under the corner of the cash register area connected to the kitchen. "Uh, thanks?" I offered back, unsure of what to make of the pink mare as I connected my measuring tape to the wall. Of course, she kinda smelled good, too. Kinda like a cake with frosting, but that could have been simply from her job here. A certain deeper, spicier scent also mixed in with it, but I didn't question the depth of what they made in the kitchen. Twilight groaned under us somewhere, whacking one of the firmly rooted stilts with her hoof, sending a light vibration up to us. "Pinkie! You said you could do this and behave," she reminded a moment later. I blinked, stopping after I finished the seal on the wall and peeking down at the lavender mare below. Behave? My thoughts caught up a moment later, and then hit a speed bump. Smells. Pinkie was more in tune with pheromones at the moment. I forgot that heat had started this morning. Why had I forgotten that? It had been a nightmare getting out of bed this morning with an extremely overly affectionate Twilight Sparkle having woken up ahead of me this time. Why had I overslept?! Memories of the party flooded into my mind, answering that question instantly. Ugh. Now I was glad that they sent the males away. It would be rather annoying working and operating daily things with this going on. Rather intelligent, honestly. "Hey, I am behaving. I haven't kissed him even once," Pinkie reminded, smiling down at Twilight while upside down. My fillyfriend didn't look amused, but I rotated around to finish the measurements. Uh, time to think of an excuse, Mender! "It would be a good idea to hurry this up anyways, Pinkie. The blood's starting to pool in my skull. Across the front of the cubby, please," I instructed, lying more than a little. I saw Twilight pause for a moment out of the corner of my eye, and then smile lightly. Figured she'd realize I was lying. As if my newly 'upgraded' systems wouldn't let the blood pool where it wasn't supposed to. There was a key segment of that statement, however, as I discovered this morning. It was perfectly fine letting it pool where it was supposed to, apparently. Damn, that was awkward. "Oooh, okay! That's definitely a bad thing. It happens to me if I stay in one spot for too long so I always try to keep moving whenever I possibly can, which is weird because it doesn't do it when I'm asleep which is for a really, really, super-duper long time each day. Shouldn't I wake up and be all, 'Arg, my blood hurts!', and stuff? Maybe I move around a lot in my sleep, which would explain why I sometimes fall out of bed. That wasn't much fun when I had my sides hurt like that, but thankfully I just started healing really, really well about two days into recovery and the doctor was all amazed that I was doing so well and..." I just started filtering her out as I continued taking measurements. I didn't mind her capability to endlessly ramble, and it was certainly better than her smelling me in rather creepy manners. "Wait, what? What do you mean two days in?" Twilight suddenly asked, snapping my attention back to the two as Pinkie kept walking. Err, wait... Seeing it coming, my armor snapped on just under my skin as I whacked into the side of the underhang with my head. It jiggled me a little, but no damage was sustained and I sighed, peeking down at Pinkie as she just kept walking and talking, stilts sliding along the floor now instead of pushing us forwards. "Oh, well the doctor came on the second day in and I was all horrified that he said it was going to take a full two weeks to heal my ribs! Can you imagine just lying in bed for two weeks?! It was horrifying. But after he checked up on me with his magic, he got so confused. It was kinda funny until he explained that somehow I'd started healing at almost four times the normal rate of a pony. Not that I'd know, as I'd never gotten that hurt before. Maybe I'm supposed to heal that fast?" Pinkie suggested, finally stopping her forward walking and nodding vigorously to Twilight. That's very strange. Well, for a normal pony, anyway. I'd imagine it's about on par for Pinkie. Twilight looked perplexed, however, and I already realized she wasn't going to be satisfied with that answer. Shifting away from the inevitable, I took the other measurement and ran it through my energy to magical mass calculation. We were still under par for what I could manage with my own magic as it currently was. This was good. This project was well within my reserves to do. "Did he figure out what was causing it?" my fillyfriend inquired, totally distracted now from what she'd been saying prior. I felt Pinkie shake her head beneath me, her curly mane tickling mine momentarily from the motion. "Nope! He thought it might be a strange reaction to the potion that Zecora made, because the reaction was coming from my blood or something. He took a sample, but I dunno after that," she explained, still sounding rather chipper. Well, at least she wasn't worried about it or anything. "Kiddy corner, Pinkie," I instructed softly after she finished. She started moving towards the back wall almost instantly, being careful of my head this time. Oh, she had noticed that after all? "Very interesting. Do you mind if I take a small sample as well, Pinkie?" Twilight asked politely a moment later. I felt us stop and pushed the tape measure into the other wall, carefully taking the measurement down. With this, I'd have all the information I needed, hopefully. Volume of the room was important, alongside table and chair height, and optimal height of a pony sitting in one of the chairs. Velvet was kind enough to provide me those measurements. A quick glance showed me that Twilight's parents were still at the corner table on the other side of the room. Twilight Velvet was talking excitedly about something and making rather wide gestures with her hooves in emphasis. In contrast, Night Light had his head down on the table and looked either passed out already, or really close to it. Note to self, the hotel in Ponyville must be terrible for getting proper sleep. Or he just had anxiety issues. Those definitely could keep me up at night. "Of course you can take a sample! That means I get to eat even more sugary things afterwards!" Pinkie chirped a moment later, wiggling excitedly. I frowned and shook my head while writing down the measurements. "I don't think she needs to draw that much blood, Pinkie," I assured, checking over the totals. Including the side room with just an estimate, I was pushing my magical capacity. This would probably make me tired, if only because of the detail needed to go into the enchantment. Thankfully it was low energy use once I got the initial enchantments laid down. "Of course not. A single vial is enough. I'm just, well, concerned about something, is all," Twilight muttered, suddenly sounding distracted. Uh oh. I'd been around Twilight to know that usually meant she'd thought of something potentially disastrous. "Ooohh?" Pinkie asked, not really sounding all that worried and instead smiling down at her friend. Oddly, her link felt more like amusement than concern. Again, I suddenly got that sensation that she was fully aware of what the problem was. Maybe I was just being paranoid, though. Interrupting slightly, I requested, "We're done here, Pinkie. Can you get us d-" She interrupted my interruption by slipping each of the hooks on her stilts at the same time and sliding us down to the ground as gently as a drifting feather, smiling back at me while giving me a visual 'wink' through the link. She sent images amazingly well through that thing. "Ah, thanks," I appended, telling the 'ropes' to unwind from around us. They'd only ever looked like ropes. Tentacles were actually amazingly handy, especially when they could shapeshift and disguise themselves... After I made sure nopony was looking apart from Twilight and Pinkie, I sucked them back into myself almost instantly. "Yeah. I'm worried about timing, is all. Do you recall what happened a couple days after the incident, Mender?" Twilight asked, looking over at me instead. I frowned, and then thought about it for a moment. "Well, I woke up a day and a half after my surgery. You and Fluttershy stayed with me that night, then the next day... uh..." I muttered in sync with my thinking, trying to remember specifics. Oh. No, it couldn't have anything to do with... I frowned, and Twilight smiled gently and nodded. "The, um, disks? You think it has something to do with me activating Pinkie's disk?" I asked quietly, making sure we couldn't be overheard. There were only a few other ponies in the shop, but it would be bad should they hear any of this. It didn't help that a few were still paying attention due to Pinkie's and my antics with the measurements. My fillyfriend nodded lightly, and explained, "Like I said, it's just a concern. Nothing concrete, hence the blood test." She looked a little nervous, but kept her voice down. Pinkie seemed unfazed by the revelation, of course, but I'd already anticipated as much. "But if it makes me heal faster, isn't it a good thing?" she pointed out, surprising me by also lowering her voice. Sometimes I forgot she could be subtle when she wanted to be. "Oh, no doubt. I'm just concerned there could be other side effects that we need to look out for. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, too," Twilight explained, nodding at the pink one instead. Ugh. If the links were dangerous, I was going to feel horrible. "I'll look more into my database files and see if I can get any information on the disks and the technology surrounding them," I offered, frowning lightly. Frankly, I didn't really want to think of myself like a cyborg. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I guessed I'd been procrastinating several key issues. With my processors fixed and my systems back in production mode, my insides had been expanding with new components without me really bothering to check what it was making. I suppose that was a bad thing. I'll just blame it all on denial. That fit the closest with my feelings regarding my less squishy insides. Further, was it too much to hope that there was an instruction manual or two in my files revolving around that whole "weapon of galactic extinction" and the disks? "That would be very helpful! Thank you, Mender. You're a sweetie..." Twilight cooed, smiling again and nuzzling against my shoulder gently. Oh boy. Here we go again. Pinkie burst into a fit of giggling, earning her a mildly annoyed glare from Twilight. "You'd better head towards Sweet Apple Acres, Mender! Quick, before Twi changes her mind and follows you to the cabins," the pink mare warned mirthfully, smirking at us. Twilight's cheeks flushed lightly and she hesitantly glanced back at me instead of looking angry. Uh oh. Pinkie was right! I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't want to be late. I'll see both of you at the parting, then," I excused, shifting past and trotting for the door. This wasn't the violent reaction I'd been worried about, but part of me decided this was actually a little worse. Trying to subdue me gave me full permission to flee as fast as I could manage. Twilight acting like this actually made me not want to flee in the first place, which I knew was a dangerous mindset that was being influenced by how absolutely delicious she smelled. Flushing lightly, I almost, almost ran into the still closed door as I headed in that direction, skidding to a halt half a meter before impact. "Ah, Mender! Wait, um..." Twilight started to call out behind me. I heard her hoofsteps nearing again and mentally sighed. Oh no. She was slipping again. "Uh, like I said earlier, um, maybe Rarity was right? I mean, maybe I'm just being silly and too hasty and it really isn't fair to you for me to not consider it," Twilight murmured behind me. Taking the slow turn for a distraction, I subtly opened the door as I rotated, to give myself a polite out later. "Twilight, I appreciate the thought and really wouldn't mind, but we both know that wouldn't be a wise idea," I reminded. This was the third time she had started to change her mind. She wouldn't like it now, but she'd thank me later for this. Her ears lowered a little as she looked down and away, looking just as sad as I expected. "Now I regret deciding that in the first place. Mender, I just don't want you to be lonely or looked down upon by any other stallions or anything. Plus, well, I don't really want to be lonely either. You're wonderful company," she complimented softly, peeking up again with just her eyes while shifting her front right hoof over the other. The gesture was like sticking my brain onto a frying pan and I resisted panting as she tried to look as winning as possible. Damn her! The heat hadn't reduced her cleverness in the slightest. Sweating a little, I rapidly shook my head, subtly disguising my attempt to clear it with a negative reply. "Twilight, it's only for a week or so. Plus, we can write each other, but you don't want kids this soon, do you?" I reminded, adding a bit of emphasis on the 'kids' part. Her reaction snapped back like I'd fired a rubber band into her face, and she coughed lightly. "Ah, well, not really. Um, I mean there are spells I could use to uh, avoid that outcome but... Wait, no, that's implying that I was going to... uh..." she started rapidly muttering, tinting pink in the cheeks again. Yes! It worked. I took the moment to further cement the negative with her by reassuringly rubbing her shoulder with my forehoof. "I understand, Twilight. Now do you see why it's better if I leave for a while?" I asked, attempting to clear her mind a bit more with a strong dose of logic. Hesitantly, she nodded again, while Pinkie was busy trying not to laugh behind her. Ugh. I think I would have preferred just running away. "Um, yeah. You're right. It's still not fair, though, and I'm going to make it up to you when you get back. Well, along with all the rest of the things I screwed up," Twilight promised suddenly, coughing and looking away from me. I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. Pinkie could nod in agreement with that one, however. "Yup! The party went well, but I still feel a little guilty over everything, so I'm gonna do some extra stuff for ya, too, Mender!" she added on, hopping over to where we stood. Resisting rolling my eyes, I shook my head to her instead. "You've more than made up for the acid and potion things, Pinkie. That party couldn't have been cheap," I reminded, ironically feeling guilty for my own reward party. Did that defeat the purpose? "Don't be silly, Silly! I didn't pay for much at all. My work was mostly in the planning for it! Princess Luna paid for almost everything!" she assured almost instantly. Wait, what?! "And told you to keep that a secret," Twilight reminded, giving a skeptical glance at the pink mare. Eh? Why did she want to remain anonymous? Why did she pay for it in the first place?! Oh, that answered that first question. She didn't want me asking why she wanted to pay for it in the first place, maybe? I rapidly confused myself. "Uh, oopsie! Um, have fun, Mender!" Pinkie squeaked out, covering her mouth with her hooves. I could have sworn I saw an extra set of legs momentarily that she used to shove me backwards. My mouth opened in protest, but the door slammed shut again and I went rolling backwards into the dirt, wincing as I clutched my nose with both hooves. Aaah! I needed warning to get my armor up! Groaning, my muzzle gave out throbs of protest as I shakily stood up, then sat back down properly and held it again. Scan showed blunt force trauma and vein injury, but nothing broken. I sneezed, a bit of pooling blood dripping out my nose before my nanites rapidly started to repair me again. At least I didn't need to worry about ponies noticing my fast regeneration on the inside of my nose. I toned down the nerve magnitudes to the area as I sighed and started walking towards the farm. This was going to be a long day. * * * * * Admittedly, I didn't mind the sun too much when it wasn't right in my eyes. The approach to Sweet Apple Acres was nice and shady, which meant I stayed cool and could properly see. Note to self, install an air conditioning system. Having no wind whatsoever made the heat all the worse, it seemed. The air kind of just hung there in a blistering haze, and I sort of imagined an oven would feel like this. Sniffing the air lightly, I noticed the strong fragrance of apples and decided I was probably on the right track. A moment later, a heavy smacking noise resounded through the air, causing me to smile. AJ was probably hard at work. My hoofsteps were more than audible with the metallic clinking noise with each set of movements, which admittedly was beyond annoying if I focused on it too hard. She must have heard it as well, because the repeating impacts ceased as I got closer. Sure enough, the hat peeked over the hill first, followed by a certain blonde mare. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, I noticed, before she regained control of her expression and shifted to a weak smile instead. Would things ever be the same between us? "Howdy, Mender! Ah thought plans had changed with how late ya are. Er, what happened ta yer nose?" she questioned, patiently waiting for me to get closer to her. I noticed she shivered lightly with each clink of my leg brace. I'd not expected that reaction, and intentionally stopped walking once I got within comfortable talking distance. "Pinkie happened. Which, not-so-coincidentally, is also why I'm late. I'm sorry. I dropped by there to get the measurements for the project the Cake's wanted me to do," I explained, skipping over the awkwardness of almost being tackled by Twilight on my way out. Applejack cracked her back with a fluid bend, and then slowly treaded down the hill, narrowing the distance to a mere meter as she peeked at my muzzle. At this distance, I could see the drops of sweat sliding down her coat, and suddenly realized how insane she was to work heavy physical labor in this heat. "Are you okay, Applejack? This isn't good weather to be bucking apples," I cautioned, frowning at the sheen on her coat. She momentarily looked confused before glancing back at her shoulder, then smiling gently. "Ah'm drinkin' lots o' water, so Ah'll be fine, Sugarcube. Ah appreciate tha concern, though. Yer nose is okay?" she returned, shifting her attention back to my muzzle with a frown. I nodded of course. "Yeah. My nanites made short work of the damage on the walk over here," I assured, smiling at her. I also started a processor on actually sorting out the data files that came with me, with a second one to govern the computations. Anything to do with the biological weapon or disks was getting flagged for reading later. It was frustrating that I couldn't just 'upload' it into my mind, but it seemed that my electronic parts and biological thinking capacity were two entirely separate systems. "Er, what're those?" she asked, tilting her head lightly at me. "They're small robots that float around inside of me and repair me rapidly from the inside. I have to eat a lot more if I use them heavily, but they mean I heal really fast," I summarized simply. She perked up at that, and smiled again. "That's right useful, then! Does that mean if Ah feed ya ah few dozen apple pies, that ya'll heal even faster?" she asked, smirking finally. She was starting to relax again, which was good. However, she was now considering overstuffing me, which wasn't so good. "Er, after I stopped looking like a balloon, probably. Um, I shouldn't eat that much of your food up, though. I'd feel-" I started. That one I should have thought through first. She pounced not unlike a feral tiger, but the impact with the ground in front of me almost made me think she was three times heavier than what she really was! I gulped and swallowed, backing up and shrinking a little as the top of her snout smashed into mine, pushing my head down as she glared into my eyes. "No! Don't even start thinkin' that way! Ah'm practically directly responsible fer yer leg bein' like that, plus Ah..." she started, before her voice faltered and she winced again. I frowned as she backed away and looked away from me again, shaking slightly. "Ah was ah horrible friend ta ya. So really, Mender. If simply feedin' yah can help, it's tha absolute least Ah can do. Trust me, Ah'm gonna think o' other things ta do, too," she assured, looking back towards me again. Her eyes widened slightly, but I'd already stepped forwards, and she didn't have time to react as I closed the gap again. Her breath caught as I gently wrapped my right foreleg around her, giving her a soft hug. "Applejack, I know you feel bad, and I admit that I'm sad you hadn't trusted me, but it's not the end of our friendship. You don't have to rush anything or push yourself to try to make amends. What would really make me happy is if you started to trust me," I explained, realizing I wasn't going to get her to swear off trying to appease me. She was more doing this for her than me at this point, I realized. She chuckled lightly finally before resting her head on my shoulder and hugging back. "Thank ya, Mender. Um, Ah think Ah needed that. Eventually things'll feel right again, o' course. Rainbow feels tha same. She was talkin' about bein' yer underlin' or somethin'," the farm mare muttered, breaking away after another moment and nodding to me. "Eh? My underling? What do you mean?" I asked, not liking the sound of that. Underling for what? That sounded remarkably 'evil overlord' to me. Applejack smirked and shook her head. "Ah suppose that does sound ah tad nefarious. Nah. Ah think she just said 'underlin'' because she ain't gonna accept pay fer tha position. She said somethin' about heavy liftin' an' helpin' with high up work," she elaborated. Oooh! Dash was talking about my new 'job' I was starting. That made more sense, now. "Well, it's up to her. You can also do anything you want, of course," I accepted, continuing down the path towards the barn where I assumed Big Mac was waiting with Spike. The little dragon had gotten a head start this morning on us. A big one. As in, he saw Twilight pushing me against the pillows amidst a rather deep kiss and fled far faster than I realized he could run. Of course, Twilight's embarrassment over being caught allowed me the distraction to slip out from under her, so I supposed I should thank him for that. "Do Ah detect ah change o' heart in regards ta us makin' amends?" Applejack inquired, falling into hoofstep alongside me. Okay, I rolled my eyes at that one. "Not really. Just accepting that it's easier to just say yes than fight against two stubborn mares like yourselves," I corrected, smiling as I caught her grin widen in my peripheral vision. "Guess yer wisin' up! Pity it ain't affected yer punctuality. Heh. Hate ta break it ta ya, but Big Mac an Spike left over an hour ago," she cooed in amusement. My motions ground to a halt as I locked up, processing the new information with no small amount of frustration. What?! "Seriously? Why? The departing thing isn't for an hour!" I whined, stomping my right forehoof down. Applejack had continued walking momentarily after I stopped but I saw her smile widen slightly due to the corner of her mouth. She was amused by this, wasn't she?! "Heh. Yer tha one who was late. Guess ya'll just have ta keep me company instead, 'til tha departin' announcement," she suggested, voice shifting a bit whimsical as she turned around. I froze instantly, eyes widening slightly at her. If this new, heightened awareness taught me anything, it was that body language was an extremely powerful thing. The flick of her tail, gentle sway of her hips as she turned, and half-open eyes set off so many red flags that I was hard pressed not to panic then and there. "Don't worry. Ah know yer injured so Ah'll be gentle so ya can keep up. Not that Ah imagine ya'll have trouble stayin' up, o' course," she assured, slowly swaying as she walked towards me. I made out a weak wheeze and stepped backwards slightly, legs not wanting to cooperate with me suddenly. Crap! Turn around and run, Mender! She watched me for a moment before the corners of her mouth twitched oddly. Huh? Her face scrunched a moment later and she burst into laughter, flopping over onto her side. Oh. Damn it! "Tha look on yer face! Ha! Oh, that was just awesome!" she squealed, laughing hysterically. My ears flattened down and I exhaled, glaring at her. I should have known she was joking. Gah. Come to think of it, she'd 'play flirted' with me before for her own amusement, too. I think she just got a kick out of making me blush. The heat faded slowly from my cheeks and I shook my head, a little miffed now. She's lucky I knew Nirru didn't have her image to clone, or that might have gone differently. Still, she knew what had happened to me, and this was a bit too soon for this! Her laughter made it really easy to mask the sound of my brace clinking as I walked past her and towards the barn, glaring at nothing in particular. That meant she had intentionally not looked at me until she knew she was done lying. Props for knowing your weakness, I suppose. Big Mac and Spike were probably still here, then. A few more meters of walking and Spike rounded the barn, peeking curiously towards the laughter behind me. He smiled when he saw me, then widened his eyes and lost it when he saw my glare. It wouldn't take a genius to guess who had irked me. The laughter dwindled to a snicker behind me as I heard her roll over. "Eh?!" she squeaked out, apparently just realizing I wasn't there anymore. Heck, I was almost to the barn. Maybe I made a better ninja than I gave myself credit for? There was a scrambling noise a moment later and rapid hoofsteps catching up behind me. "H-Hey! Wait up! Did Ah upset ya?" Applejack called out, closing the distance between us with record speed. I resisted the urge to dodge, realizing she probably wasn't going to plow me over like Pinkie or Dash might. "You're lucky I didn't think you were Nirru," I muttered, not turning to look at her when she finally fell into line at my side. "W-What? Oh! Oh shoot. Ah didn't even think o' that. Ah'm sorry, Mender. It was supposed ta be ah joke," she murmured, switching to sounding rather sullen almost instantly. I frowned, but an image flickered through my head an instant later. That aggressive kiss. Trying to pull me back and on top of her. Her tongue forcing its way into my mouth. I winced and suddenly held my right temple, stopping. Damn it. What was wrong with my head? The hoofsteps stopped instantly, and I felt her eyes on me as I sat down again. Scuffling came from ahead too as I closed my eyes, and I knew Spike had run up as well. "It's... I'll be fine. It's just a touchy topic for me. I wish I had been faster in realizing it was a fake, and not kissed her. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I remember it," I explained softly, relaxing my neck and letting my muscles unwind. The throb going through my skull slowly dwindled as I rested, and the images slipped from the back of my eyelids. "It's not like we were expecting it, dude! It wasn't your fault she kissed you," Spike tried to assure, finally coming to a stop in front of me. "Ah think he's more dislikin' tha memories. None o' us are holdin' anythin' that happened durin' that night against him. If anything, it was-" she started to elaborate. "Nirru's fault. Don't, Applejack," I warned, eyes opening again and looking right at her. She looked startled at my rather adamant interruption, but shut up instantly, looking away from me again. No, not this time. Feeling a little more guts than normal, I slid forwards a half meter and pulled her head back towards me with my left foreleg, mindful of the pointy parts of the brace. She didn't resist, eyes widening instead as she turned and looked at me again. "Enough, Applejack. You're a very smart mare, and know that almost everything that night was directly Nirru's fault. You apologized for not trusting me already, and we're working towards a way to get past that, but that's all you can do," I reasoned. She stared at me for a moment before sighing and nodding, emerald eyes still locked with mine. "Ah know that much. The conscience has ah way o' eatin' at ya, though. I'm sleepin' ah little better, but it's rough still. Please let me do somethin' fer ya, Mender. If ya think o' anything before Ah do, just let me know," she requested gently. Spike snickered and nodded to her as well. "Careful, you're starting to sound like I did, remember?" Eh? Wait, somepony had said something about that before. What was it? Applejack let out a chuckle and nodded towards him. "It's ah little different, mind ya. Gratitude is ah far stretch from guilt, Ah think. Ah... well technically Ah killed him. That's just stuck in mah head somethin' fierce," she elaborated, looking down towards the dirt. "I'm like a cat. Sure, you helped make it easier for Nirru to kill me, but I'm better now. Sometimes I think the universe just wants to keep me alive because I'm amusing," I muttered, looking up towards the sky. My life was far too long and drawn out in its misery to fit into a movie or show, but if this were a book, I'd so slap the author. Slap, not kill. If I killed them, I'd probably cease to exist. The farm mare gave a snort and a playful shove with her hoof. Being Applejack, the coiled muscles in her foreleg were enough to send me sideways into the grass, and she slapped her forehead as I rolled. After everything came to a stop, I stared up at the sky, my armor folding back in from my left side. Well, at least it hadn't hurt. I heard her start towards me again and decided to talk first, heading off another pointless apology. "This reminds me, is that offer to help me exercise still there? I'd really appreciate the help in getting some more muscles on these bones." It was true enough, I decided, as I rolled fully back onto my hooves again. She stopped, and I looked over at her, getting a puzzled look in return before she smiled. She must have realized I wasn't injured in the slightest. I knew better than to complain. I'd felt the full force of those hooves, and knew what it was like to have them almost break me in half. That little shove was literally nothing in comparison. Suddenly it didn't surprise me that her adrenaline flooded self could snap Twilight's balcony off. Wait, had it surprised me before? I decided a moment later that I'd lost too much blood back then for the reaction to be an accurate sample. Plus, it was ruined now that I already knew she could, so I guess I'd never find out if it would have surprised me or not. Darn. "That's easy enough ta do. We'll see how good ya can do with buckin', an' ya'll be in great shape in no time!" she assured, proudly stomping the dirt of the path while nodding in emphasis. I smirked and nodded to her before heading towards the barn again. Big Mac had the cart out and was carefully checking the undercarriage, it looked like. "I'll give it a try, but don't plan any profits on me. I'll be hit by more than a few apples, I imagine," I warned, knowing my gravity field a little bit. That was next up on my list of things to fix inside of me. The special control chip had been 'brewing' inside of me for a day or so now. My only issue was I had to unplug the old one to add the new one. Given my internal mass calculations, that could be, well, really bad for the environment around me. And by ‘around me’, I actually meant a radius of a few hundred kilometers. Applejack interrupted my attempt at calculations by snorting and shaking her head. "Ah reckon ya'll be fine. Heck, ya could even kill some time 'ere by practicin' if ya want ta. Once Big Mac gets done lookin' over tha wagon, he'll show ya tha moves," she offered, gesturing towards her brother. I raised an eyebrow and wandered in the direction of the wagon instead. "Er, what's wrong with the wagon?" I inquired, peeking under it as well once I got closer. "Nothin' yet. Hit ah pothole. Checkin' 'er out," Big Mac muttered softly, looking over at me from his side behind the wagon. I smiled and nodded before sitting down, shifting to a lying position, and kicking with my back legs so I slid under the wagon. A tendril shot out of my left shoulder and hooked around the other wheel, pulling me fully under the wagon almost instantly as I peeked it over. "Hey! Ah don't have tha bits ta be payin' ya yet, Mender! Tha new undercarriage put us back ah week or so ago," I heard Applejack warn from behind me somewhere. I rolled my eyes as I looked it over. It was functional, but bare minimum. This was an axle assembly made for a commercial wagon I bet, not a work wagon. There was only one attaching point for supporting the entire axle, with a support loop for each wheel. This wouldn't do at all for serious structural support. "Two things, Applejack. One, I never said I was doing this for bits. You're my friend and I love helping you. Two, this axle support is terrible. You need at least one more brace under here for this to be safe for heavy lifting. This looks commercial," I warned her, peeking it over again just to double check. "Oh, fer cryin' out loud. Well, it was a commercial order. Couldn't afford tha prices o' tha industrial one an' stay out o' tha red! Gah. How much ta upgrade, ya think?" she asked, sticking her head under the side behind me. I tucked my tail up instinctively to cover any awkward bits, and peeked back at her. "Do you have a couple bales of hay to prop the main body up with, and a couple decent sized logs?" I asked, smiling towards her. She raised an eyebrow to me, but nodded a moment later. * * * * * Whistling lightly, I smiled at my work as I screwed the last plate in, barrier rapidly spinning it up into the bottom of the wagon. Using the logs she gave me, I made two additional, functionally identical assemblies for the axle and fully replaced the partial loops they had towards each wheel. I also put in a proper support bar and, for kicks, used the old axle hinge from the busted axle to add a folding stand they could use to prop the wagon up when not in use! I aimed to please, of course. By the time I was done, I estimated the wagon's wheel system to be at least three point six times as sturdy as it was prior. Applejack made a happy whistling noise as she hopped into the back and realized the wagon didn't so much as jiggle. "Whoooeee! When ya say yer gonna do somethin', ya do it! Ah can definitely respect that," she chirped, walking around in the wagon bed as I finally slid out from under it. Big Mac had helped me move the parts into position thankfully, and gave me a slow but respecting nod as I pulled myself out. As he was nearby, he hooked my right foreleg and yanked me out the rest of the way once my torso was clear. Rolling, I got to my hooves and shook myself off. "I'm pleased with it. Barely used up any resources and it will last you a lot longer now, and carry about twice as much as before," I estimated, giving her a safe hauling weight to work with. Sure, it could probably handle a lot more than that, but it was better to be gentle on your tools. Her grin expanded as she turned to face me, nodding twice. Spike came back from inside a moment later with a tray of what looked like glasses of lemonade. All three Crusaders tagged along after him, of course. Nodding, I accepted a glass off the tray into my barrier and took a sip, sighing as I sat down again. Big Mac mimicked my motions, albeit with both hooves to hold the glass, and Spike sat down next to me after Applejack took over the tray with a smirk. It didn't take long for Sweetie to pile in next to me, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sitting down across from her. "This is going to be miserable walking in this weather! We'd better make sure our canteens are full before we start," Spike groaned, looking up at the sky overhead. The blue seemed almost infinite as I gazed up at it, not noticing a cloud in the sky. Rainbow had done her job well. "Rainbow apologized already. She said she can't give any cloud cover until evening, due to a mistake in the rainfall patterns handed down from Cloudsdale. Too wet, apparently," I muttered, remembering what she had said last night after getting me off the stage. That 'too wet' part really didn't help at all. I think I'd rather dry than wet heat. Spike sighed and nodded weakly, scraping the dirt under him with a claw. "I know. It's just not gonna be fun, is all." Applejack sat down next to her brother, completing the nice semicircle we made. "That's why ya ain't walkin'," she corrected, elaborating with, "Big Mac an' Noteworthy are gonna pull tha wagon, an' tha five o' ya are gonna ride instead. It's too dangerous ta march tha youngin's in this heat, an' Mender's leg is hurt." Well, this made me feel awkward. Spike frowned for a moment, staring at my leg before he got a look of comprehension. "Oh! Mender obviously can't change his leg without giving himself away," he said out loud, earning a nod from Applejack. I stared down at the metal brace before sighing and nodding. Admittedly, walking all that distance with that thing wasn't going to be easy otherwise. Just getting around the short distances of town left the leg absurdly sore, although it was getting easier. "Admittedly, it's still aching from the walk over here," I mumbled, glaring at the thing. Applejack shook her head towards me a moment later, pointing out, "Yer bein' too impatient, Mender. Please, just try ta take it easy while yer out there? Ah feel bad enough about tha leg without ya goin' an' bangin' it up some more." Her words were tough sounding, but her tone didn't manage to keep face with them. I looked up at her and saw her focus on my leg instead, her emerald eyes looking downright miserable. Sighing, I opened my mouth to assure her again when a low whistling noise came out instead. Wait, no, that wasn't right. My eyes widened drastically as my proximity detector fired off. My mind slammed on the panic button at the same time I heard Rainbow shout out, "Look out!" Tendrils fanned out with shields extending from them, covering all three fillies instantly with light loops. My armor folded on just as a green blur smashed into Sweetie Belle's barrier, skipped off like a pinball to Scootaloo's barrier, then whipped up and skipped off my forehead an instant later. Wincing at the jarring sensation, I watched sparks skip off my fully plated head as I flopped backwards with the motion. What the hell?! Rolling as I hit my back, I flipped back upright and extended the remainder of my tentacles, glaring at the slowly rotating green... turtle? I stopped and raised my head, giving the small tortoise an appraising examination. Definitely a tortoise, based off its legs. "No, don't hurt him! Tank just gets, uh, carried away!" Rainbow warned, landing in front of me gently and holding her hoof up to my chest. Oh! Her pet. My tentacles slowly withdrew back into me, earning a giggle from Sweetie Belle and a confused 'Uh...' from Scootaloo. Oddly, Apple Bloom seemed unfazed and continued sipping her lemonade, as if having fully expected me to block anything that was flung her way. Trusting little filly, but a bit gutsy. I watched the little tortoise float there on an obviously magical propeller as my armor slowly folded back into me. "Your pet? I'm not going to hurt him, Dash. He just surprised me," I explained, looking over to her instead. Her eyes softened and she nodded to me before puffing up again. "You'd have trouble hurting him anyway. He's real tough! He just gets worked up when trying to keep up with me, obviously," she detailed, strutting over to Tank as she talked. My last withdrawing tentacle blocked her tail before it hit me in the face as she walked away. Normally she kept it a bit more still than that, but maybe it was part of her usual strutting and I just hadn't noticed. That didn't surprise me. The accompanying smell of raspberries and light spices made me a bit dizzy, though. Applejack snickered at the strutting and shook her head. "Don't forget he's real strong, too! Lifted up tha boulder that almost flattened ya all by himself," she reminded. Err, what?! That sounded very unhealthy. Rainbow shot a scowl back at her, and I glanced skeptically over at Applejack, silently asking for more details. I could have sworn I saw Rainbow duck down suddenly towards the tortoise and nuzzle his nose, but she was standing upright and looking innocent again when I glanced back at the motion. Wow, maybe I really was dizzy? Did getting hit in the head jar me or something? I did feel a little woozy. I fired up my internal scanners just to double check for injuries. "Anyway, I was hoping to catch ya before the departing thingy!" Dash announced, snapping my attention back to reality. Who was she talking to? "Ah told ya, Dash! Ah got enough work ta do on tha farm. Ah can't take care o' Tank fer ya too. Ah'm sorry, but it's just too much," Applejack said almost instantly. Why was Rainbow looking for somepony to take care of Tank? The appropriately rainbow-maned mare shook her head rapidly, and then nodded towards me instead. "Not you, AJ. Mender. I, well, I'm a bit desperate, so I was hoping he'd accept. Uh, it's a learning experience! Builds character," Rainbow tried to sell, looking to me hopefully. I got more than a little confused. "Wait, why do you want me to take care of Tank? I'm going to the cabins, remember? Why can't you take care of him?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her. Her reaction was completely different than I had anticipated. Instead of snapping my face off or acting defensive, her cheeks exploded into a pink color, and she rapidly looked away. "Ah, well, I don't think I can properly take care of him while, uh, I'm in heat. Fluttershy took care of him this Spring, but he, well, destroyed some of her stuff and I really, really don't want to put her up to it again," the blushing mare explained. Oh. Was her heat different than normal, then? As if reading my mind, Applejack added, "Rainbow gets real nasty heats. Some mares do. Ah really do want ta help ya, Rainbow. It's just..." She trailed off and sighed, while Dash's pink turned to red as her eyes widened. I felt a flood of embarrassed shock down the link. Mentally whispering, I warned, "I don't think she meant like that, Dash." Carefully, I averted my eyes as Rainbow looked over at me, scared now instead before suddenly realizing I'd said that in her head and relaxing. I was kinda sad that she thought I was stupid or vindictive enough to say that out loud, but let it pass. Applejack probably would have just laughed anyway. "So you want me to bring him with me to the cabin?" I asked her, trying to pull her mind back to the topic at hand rather than steamy mental images of Applejack. I pulled back a moment after I thought it, and realized that I might be getting a little more snarky than normal. That wasn't the first time I'd noticed me reacting in a surprisingly sarcastic manner. Well, moreso than usual. Rainbow glanced over to me in mild confusion for a second before snapping her eyes fully open again and nodding rapidly. "Yeah! He's really easy to take care of and I've been telling him about you all morning. He seems okay with the idea, so please?" Rainbow asked abruptly, taking a step forward while eyeing me. It wasn't quite begging, but it was a little more needy sounding than a simple request. I'm guessing I was the last pony left that she could ask, apart from Fluttershy. Could I really take care of a tortoise, though? "I'll help ya take care of him, Dude. I've watched Tank before," Spike suddenly informed, smiling towards me. Oh! Well that made it a lot better, then. If I had somepony I could rely on to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid, I felt a lot better. "Oh, in that case, I don't mind as much. I'm just not sure how well I'd manage to take care of him. Does he have any special requirements?" I asked, glancing back at Rainbow. She rolled her eyes suddenly, snickering. "Nowhere near as many as Opal. Just make sure he has plenty of water in a dish big enough for him to rest in if he wants. He finds his own food for the most part, but will probably hang around you guys most of the time. He's almost as loyal as I am!" she boasted again. It was to cover up the massive blast of relief I felt down the link, however, I realized a moment later. I smiled gently at Rainbow, but didn't say anything about it. Despite bragging about how tough he was, she really had been worried about him. "All right then. Spike and I will watch him for you," I agreed, nodding to her. Her grin exploded a moment later. "Thank you! Oh, you're a real lifesaver, Mender. Honestly, I just knew you'd say yes," Rainbow cheered, her relief somewhat betraying that statement. She still hadn't fully realized I could also feel her general emotions at this range, drifting down the link. Scootaloo surprised me by shifting to look at me instead, fluttering slightly in excitement. "Can I help you take care of Tank, too, Mender? I promise I'll be super useful and do anything to help!" she asked, looking back over at the now amused looking Rainbow Dash while she asked. "I'm sure Mender would take your help, Scoots. You're a hard worker," Rainbow complimented, nodding to the little orange filly. Given her expression, I began to worry if it was possible for a filly to explode from being too excited. Sweetie Belle perked up a moment later and wrapped her forelegs around my leg brace. "We can help, too, Mender! Apple Bloom and I are useful, too!" she assured, slightly confusing me. I'd never said they weren't, but it would seem Rainbow got something started with the 'hard working' motion. "Settle down, ya'all. Ah'm sure Mender'll be happy ta get all yer help, but we need ta get ready ta set out," Applejack warned, standing up again and stretching gently. Ah, yeah. I had used up a lot of the extra time on upgrading the wagon. Turning, I headed back towards it myself, Sweetie hot on my trail. Double-checking as I walked, I made sure I had everything attached still. The saddlebags were definitely attached still. About three times as attached as a normal variant. Rarity definitely made sure they were sturdy. At this point, I was starting to wonder if she was trying to say something about me. Heh. Slipped inside the front, right pouch was Prudentia. I could feel her there. Feeling even weirder, I shifted to peek at the small dagger slipped between the straps on my left side as well. That had been quite the surprise this morning. I wanted to keep my promise and not let Ventosus Lacuna out of my sight, but it was proving more than a little difficult to find an easy way to carry the blasted thing. My final attempt had me attempting to shove it through the straps of my saddlebags while Twilight giggled hysterically at me, when the sword flared with light and the sheath, well, shrank. Twilight's reaction speed was amazing, I might add. The second the thing flared with light, she had blasted it out of my grip and teleported to me, putting a barrier up in front of both of us. I threw my own up over hers and both of us stared at it for a good three minutes before anypony moved. I drew it out of the sheath just to make sure it was still okay, and it oddly pulled out the full blade. Compressed space, maybe? It didn't surprise me, given the technology and magical levels of the society that created the weapon. Meh. Everything in place, I hopped up onto the wagon with a light burst from my back legs. The one was a little tender still, but at least I could manage simple movements. Sweetie curled up next to me, and her two fellow Crusaders piled practically on top of her. Rainbow surprised me a moment later by landing right next to me and snatching up Scootaloo, pulling the little filly next to her and extending a wing over her shoulders. Admittedly, she got no resistance at all. Big Mac finished strapping himself in and gently pulled the cart into motion, not waiting for ceremony. Applejack fell in line next to him and peeked back at us with a smile. Well, sort of a smile. It faltered a little when she saw me, but she managed to maintain it. "RD and Ah will obviously go with until town. Mayor ain't one for long goodbyes, but Ah hear she has somethin' special fer this one," she explained softly, giving a nod afterwards. "Eh, no sense in a long goodbye. Heat's only a week or so. They'll be back in no time!" Rainbow chipped in, waving her hoof dismissively in the air. She seemed relaxed, anyway, now. "How will we know when it's okay to return?" I asked curiously, wondering what sort of communication system they had. Rainbow grinned and bumped her hoof against her chest. "A pegasus, more than likely me, will fly over and let everypony know. Besides, Nurse Redheart'll be there, too, and she'll be able to tell when her own heat is over and give everypony the heads up. Well, I think she can feel it through the pills she takes to lessen the effects, anyway," she tried to explain, dwindling at the end when she confused herself and began thinking instead. Oh, my favorite nurse was coming, too? Applejack peeked back again and nodded, and for a moment, I thought she had somehow heard my mental question. "She can still feel it, but she's always been darn amazin' at controllin' herself. She's goin' along just in case medical attention is needed," she added, confirming Rainbow's story. "Probably wise if I'm going to be there. Heh. What's so different about this departure, though?" I asked, remembering suddenly that she'd never explained. I saw her smirk, but she didn't turn to look at us this time. Uh oh. "Take ah guess. He's blue, klutzy, an' tha talk o' tha town fer bein' ah secret agent." Oh. Well, this was going to be awkward. With a newly established sense of dread, I gulped weakly and settled back down in the wagon. Why was it that crowds made me so nervous, especially when they were all looking at me? So many ponies made me, well, dizzy. I wanted to run away and hide somewhere, but that would probably destroy the 'image' Tia was trying to turn me into. Without asking me, of course. Well, she'd done a lot to help me, regardless, so I guess I owed her this one. Sweetie Belle smiled reassuringly at me and nuzzled closer into my shoulder after I lay down again. Heh, even without a link, she could tell I was nervous. Silly filly. I don't know why she liked me so much, but I was happy for her company regardless. Sighing, I waited patiently and listened to the wheels slowly turn... Chapter 44The wagon was an amazingly smooth ride, albeit a bit on the slow side. Although I certainly wasn't going to make Big Mac run. Eh, Twilight was probably too distracted today to keep track of time properly anyway. ...and if she had, surely she'd forgive me in her current mood. Heh. Smiling gently to myself, I lay at the bottom of the wagon, feeling rather comfortable in the corner. There was leftover hay in the bottom of it, and it was nice to give my leg a rest, as frustrating as that was. Sweetie Belle gently massaged the shoulder after insisting loudly for a good five minutes, me trying to convince her that it wasn’t needed. Rainbow shot me a glare of death after the loud and annoying ‘debate’ had gone on too long, forcing me to relent and just let Sweetie do whatever. I guess she’d gotten tired of listening to us go back and forth? Apple Bloom had hopped out of the wagon and onto Big Mac's back instead, and was busy talking quietly with her siblings. Scootaloo was absolutely absorbed in Rainbow Dash's presence, which just left Tank and Spike. I stared quietly at the turtle, who stood a half-meter away from me. He stared back. We'd simply been watching each other the entire ride. He was a very wise looking tortoise, honestly. He seemed to actually understand the words spoken around him and carried out complex and detailed actions. I was used to animals being, well, animals. This was an interesting surprise. Of course, I'd seen a few other pets, too. Opal was almost snooty in her mannerisms, but I think that was more a cat thing. Still, I could have sworn I saw her roll her eyes at me before. Winona was more loyal and trustworthy from what I saw, but still quite intelligent. I watched Apple Bloom play with her for a while when I was helping build the conveyor system. Owlowiscious was obviously intelligent, and I noticed he understood several things I said to him. With that much evidence, it looked like all the animals of Equestria were quite a bit smarter than normal. I'd have to remember that in my dealings with them. I wouldn't want to accidentally offend. Zoning slightly, I gave a start as the cart slowed and Dash zipped into the air. Scootaloo rolled twice before I stopped her with my back leg, smiling at the dizzy filly for a moment before sitting up. Sweetie Belle gave me an endearing smile, and I patted her on the top of the head with my right forehoof. "Thank you for the massage, Sweetie," I added gently. She grinned and hugged the leg I was using to pat her, earning a chuckle from me. She was so adorable sometimes. Well, most of the time. Rainbow interrupted anything I could have said, however, by shouting out, "Over here!" My eyes widened and I peeked to the left just in time to see the entire gathered crowd of ponies turn around and stare at the cart. Aww, crap. Not again! Instincts made me crouch back down again, mostly shielding myself using the wall of the cart. A storm of giggling sounded almost instantly, and I groaned. "Ah, just the stallion I wanted to talk to! Moon Mender!" was called out from the stage. A tan looking mare with a white mane stood up at the podium, looking highly official. That must be 'Mayor Mare'? Oddly, her mane was white, not gray. She didn't look that old to me. Both of us were interrupted by a squeaking noise as a yellow pegasus suddenly bumped up above the crowd, flailing momentarily as she grabbed onto the pink head under her. Fluttershy? "Ah! No, Pinkie. Put me down!" I 'heard' her whisper rapidly, embarrassment flooding down the link as she blushed fiercely at all the ponies looking at her now. "Nope! Sorry, Fluttershy," Pinkie refused. My surprise doubled as the pink mare literally stood up and threw Fluttershy right at me! My eyes widened as Fluttershy let out a high-pitched squealing noise as she sailed through the air. Oddly, instead of just doing the logical thing and opening her wings up, taking to the sky, she instead went rigid. Her wings stuck out like an airplane and she sailed surprisingly well. I shook off being impressed and hopped up on the lip of the wagon, balancing carefully for that instant up on my two back legs as I caught Fluttershy out of the air, rolling backwards to cancel her momentum. My back armor skipped off the wagon as I rolled to a stop, cradling the now hiding Fluttershy, who was doing her best to cover herself with my body. "Wow, good catch!" the mayor complimented, totally missing the point. I didn't even know how to respond to that. Instead, I looked down at Fluttershy to see if she was okay. At this range, I could pick up her biorhythms, and noticed that, unsurprisingly, her heart rate was through the roof. Also at this range, I was bombarded by the wonderful smells of fresh cut flowers coming off the mare, along with a slight honey smell in addition to that, which was new. All mares seemed to be as varying in smell as they were in coat color! The discovery was rather fascinating to me in a somewhat uncouth way. I knew I probably shouldn’t be paying so much attention to their smells suddenly but it was far from unpleasant. She peeked up a moment later as she must have felt my concern. Her eyes softened and she smiled at me again before burying her face in my chest. Sweetie started 'aww'ing to my right. I sat up fully with Fluttershy again and the crowd started cheering. What was this all about?! "I imagine you're wondering what this is about," the mayor guessed, almost word for word. I tilted my head, but nodded towards her. She had a microphone setup. My voice wouldn't carry that far. Err, my 'normal' voice wouldn't carry that far. Heh, but my other would get the crowd to scatter rather fast. "It's quite simple. You've been here for weeks, drawn the attention of both Princesses, and fended off an attack on my town. Yet somehow, we haven't been officially introduced! Further, I wanted to extend my official thanks for everything you've done so far," she explained, nodding and gesturing towards me. The crowd started that hoof stomping thing again almost instantly as they all grinned at me. Perhaps it was akin to applause? I gave my best sheepish smile while wanting to run in the other direction. I suddenly felt a little lightheaded, and had to fight down the urge to flee. There were way too many ponies here, and it was daylight so I could see them all this time. It helped that there weren't stage lights in my eyes this time. Twilight teleported in next to the mayor suddenly and whispered something in her ear. I was momentarily curious again before the tan mare pulled the mic back up and nodded. "I'd almost forgotten that your leg is badly injured. Silly me, expecting you to come up here on stage! Ha! I must not pay enough attention to my secretary's memos as I should," she cooed, smiling out at the crowd. There was a polite wave of laughter, which confused me until I realized it was supposed to be a joke. Spike groaned next to me and sank below the wall of the cart. Was she always like this? "Well, worry not. You stay right there in the cart. I'll come to you!" she exclaimed, hanging the mic back up with an awkward squeaking noise from the speakers. I winced, and in that brief moment, Twilight was gone from the stage. I turned to my left in time to see her reappear, literally into a pouncing motion. Fluttershy gave a squeak as Twilight's forelegs wrapped around both of us. My eyes widened, then extended even more as Twilight wasted no time kissing me directly on the lips. Happy laughter and murmurs shot through the crowd as I gave a weak groan, getting pulled tighter against the mare. She pulled back almost five seconds later, licking a string of saliva away from her lips and leaving my head spinning. A certain tingle danced along my tongue as well, and I realized that she'd shot her magic into the kiss, too! It felt amazingly like Twilight, I decided. It was an odd sensation. Why had she-? Oh. She gave me a wink and then gave Fluttershy a more relaxed, chaste kiss, causing the mare to have about the same reaction as me, interestingly enough. I was busy staring at Twilight, however. She wanted to kiss me like that, but she didn't want me getting paranoid about her being that forward, I guessed. Shooting her magic into me was definitely a good way to prove that it was indeed her. My ears twitched a moment later, and I looked over at Fluttershy. She was still flushed, but she was whispering something rapidly, almost in chant as she looked down and over at my front, right leg. Eh? My ears swiveled around from their surprised, backwards position, and I picked up, "Be brave. Be brave. Be brave, Fluttershy. Assertive!" I tilted my head, but she looked up at the same moment with a look that could only be described as fierce resolve and focus. Then she leaned up as well and pushed her lips up against mine. I was vaguely aware of the crowd going crazy somewhere to my left, but I really didn't care. All I was aware of was Twilight grinning against both of us, and Fluttershy's warm muzzle against mine as she pushed into me. Her hooves drifted just around my waist as she leaned into the kiss, in a timid and subtle possessive gesture. I certainly wasn't about to deny her. Almost a full five seconds later, she finally pulled back, a bright red shade in her cheeks as she smiled shyly at me. More cheering hit, which was starting to get a bit annoying. Of course, I guess I shouldn't expect privacy up on a wagon in the middle of a large crowd of ponies. Wait, middle? Turning and confirming my peripheral concern, I noticed the wagon was indeed surrounded at this point. I got a bit flustered until I realized we were still moving. Big Mac pressed onwards, crowd or not, as he headed towards the southern exit of town. Noteworthy slipped out of the crowd a moment later and stepped in next to him, giving me a pleased nod before hooking himself up to the free harness, now that Applejack stepped out of it. "Mender," the mayor called out, getting my attention. Shifting, I rotated around and saw her walking slowly along after the wagon, following us as we went. A large amount of stallions and younger foals were also with us, I noted. Considerably more than what I'd normally see in an entire day in Ponyville. Walking to the back of the wagon, I lay down on the straw again and peeked down at her, giving a nod. "I'm glad I have a chance to talk with you before you go. Although I'd like to ask for a slightly longer audience once you get back. Official residence paperwork, and discussing what the future entails," she elaborated, giving me a patient smile. There was really only one way to translate that. "Concerned about Princess Celestia's initiative, and Ponyville's involvement in it?" I guessed, tilting my head towards her. She gave a smirk, and I realized I'd guessed right. "Mostly. I really do have residence paperwork for you to fill out, although I wouldn't say I'm concerned. It's an honor to have such a hero living here," she corrected. "I'm not a hero," I returned almost instantly, eyes lowering a bit. No, I wouldn't... couldn't accept that title anymore. Heroes weren't involved in the wholesale slaughter of a few billion innocent lives. Brave? Not really. I was more pragmatic, really. I did what I had to do at any given time, regardless of how bitter it tasted. That sounded more like a soldier to me. Duty. Yeah, that was mine, I suppose. She smiled but nodded, making me realize I'd just zoned out for a full ten seconds. Her eyes were softer than prior to my slip of awareness, and I wondered if I'd accidentally implied anything with my silence. Ah well. "I need to talk to Celestia more, but from what I've read so far, she's placing the research center of the initiative here. Given the, well, extent of what she wanted researched, I imagine a new facility is going to have to be built. I'd like to avoid any further damage to Ponyville if at all possible," I groaned, wondering how much the repairs to the library had cost. Nirru was an idiot. You don't fire off Slipstream in-atmosphere. Thankfully, hers was just a personal-sized engine. "Is the research that dangerous?" the mayor asked, looking a bit surprised. Twilight slipped up next to me, however, and nodded in my stead. "We're seeking defenses and counters against further extra-planar infiltrations. Given how powerful the last creature was, yes, any defenses we can muster will probably be rather dangerous before we finalize them," she warned, sounding professional yet a bit on the grim side. Fluttershy remained quiet on my other side. Well, technically on the other side of Sweetie Belle, who wormed her way in-between us, but the little filly hardly blocked all of Fluttershy, so I suppose it didn't matter. The mayor frowned for a moment before looking over at me instead. "You truly fought the creature, then? That wasn't an exaggeration from the Princesses, I'm guessing," she reasoned, expression neutral. "All I could manage was to contain it. It was extremely powerful. Luna was the one who removed it," I confirmed, technically telling the truth in an abstract way. Not that I was against lying if I had to, but it was easier to convince somepony if you could at least fall back on being truthful. "You must be strong as well, then," she deduced. It wasn't a question, but it was a little too vague to my liking. I shook my head weakly. "Twilight is far stronger than me. My strength is more in quick thinking, experience in combat, and just a bit of cleverness," I corrected, smiling finally afterwards. Twilight gave me a playful shove, and I didn't even need a connection to her to know what she implied with it. I know I tended to undervalue myself, but it felt more comfortable doing so. "Psh! I've totally seen you fight before, and it's downright scary!" Rainbow teased, smirking at me out of the corner of my eye. I gave her a skeptical glance, but the mayor surprised me by snickering softly. Glancing back over at her, I raised an eyebrow and she nodded, explaining, "I always find it a little bit scary when I see somepony do something they're really good at. Practiced motions that come naturally are pretty to watch, but knowing I'd never match up with them is a bit intimidating. I imagine combat is, due to its nature, even scarier." I absorbed her words for a moment before nodding again. Yeah, that made sense, I suppose. "Still, your mark implies creation, not destruction. Your strong suit is engineering, is it?" she added, somehow changing the entire tone of her prior statement. She was okay with me, then? I couldn't read her very well. She gave off an air of wisdom, but I wasn't sure if it was just for show, or if she was actually wise. It wasn't an absolute thing like when talking to one of the Princesses. "Engineering and enchantments is what I hope to make a living with. My specialty for magic is more defensive, however," I relayed, attention waning somewhat. Surely she'd heard as much already, though. What was she hoping to accomplish by asking me directly? Twilight, who had been watching me instead, frowned and shifted back to the mayor, asking, "Can't this wait until he gets back? He's getting tired, and Fluttershy and I would like to properly say goodbye before he rests." It surprised me, but there was a certain air of irritation in her voice, mixed in with a dash of possessiveness. I glanced over at her, but she simply gave a frown towards the mare trailing after us. "Oh! Yes, he's still healing. Certainly. I shall leave you all in peace, then," she agreed, bowing politely before turning around. The progression trailing the wagon had dwindled at this point, leaving only a handful of faces following that I recognized. Pinkie herself dashed up much faster than I realized, leaving both Vinyl and Octavia momentarily in the dust. "Don't forget about me, Mender! Spike! I'll miss both of you!" she squealed, hopping up and hanging off the back of the wagon long enough to pull both of us into a bone crushing hug. I gasped and wiggled against her, wondering how she'd grabbed Spike too. He was at the front of the wagon! "Aaaah, I'm not squishy, Pinkie, but I will be if you don't ease up..." Spike managed to whine, causing Twilight to giggle and light Pinkie up with magic, prying her off us. "I just can't help myself! I'm not gonna get to see you all for a week and a half or more! So I've gotta try to squeeze two weeks of hugging into an instant!" she declared. Yikes! With Pinkie, two weeks of hugs might be enough to compress diamond. The two musically inclined mares had caught up, and Octavia added, "I did say I'd be here to say goodbye to you. I'm not sure when we'll see each other again, but I do hope to visit quite a bit more often now. Vinyl has offered me a, uhm, what did you call those... things, again, Vinyl?" She hesitated and looked back at her DJ friend. Vinyl shook her head weakly and sighed. "They're futons, Tavi. Any good pad worth its weight in swag has them. You don't get a more righteous sleeping arrangement than that," she explained, pumping her hoof into the air to emphasis 'righteous'. What was a futon? Obviously something somepony slept on, I supposed, but there wasn't any visual reference in my memories for one. "Ah, yes. So long as I don't have to share it again. You should really get some, well, spray for your house, Vinyl. Or at least get rid of the empty pizza boxes. Those things are attracted to food in the first place, and if they get much bigger, you might need to burn them out instead..." Octavia warned, a hint of playful teasing in her voice. Even with the shades on, I 'felt' as if Vinyl rolled her eyes. I think it was that oh so subtle head motion. "Hey, the mice deserve room and board, too, just like everypony else. We have an arrangement. I let them stay rent free, and they clean up the stale stuff I leave out for too long," she explained. I blinked, and wondered if she really did have an arrangement with the rodents. Were they that smart? I added a note to ask Fluttershy about it later. Maybe it was just the mice? Could they talk, too? Heh, who knows? Maybe they were smarter than us, even? Twilight let out a weak, strained giggle, eyes shivering a little bit as she listened. Uh oh. "You really shouldn't live like that, Vinyl. As you're a friend of my coltfriend, I suppose I could, I don't know, help you clean it up a little? Make it more orderly?" the lavender mare offered after a moment. I sensed an obsessive-compulsive trait to her sometimes. The look she got in return was blank and far from amused. Lying there, I decided I'd rather not get involved at all, and shifted my attention to Fluttershy instead. The yellow pegasus was zoning out, and gave a small start of surprise when I shifted to look at her again. A gentle smile expanded upon her muzzle, her attention drifting back and being given entirely to me. That never ceased to amaze me. I wasn't used to somepony really, and I mean really, paying attention to me. Apart from the, well, problems I caused here so often, sometimes I felt like more a part of the background than anything. Everypony had jobs and duties while I just sort of drifted, making trouble for ponies. Closing my eyes softly, I decided to see what would happen if I initiated for once. A second later, I worked up my courage and gently leaned forwards, resting my forehead softly against hers. A peek showed she was momentarily surprised before smiling wider and leaning into me as well. "It's sad that I have my friends to take care of. Well, not sad as in I don't like taking care of them. That's not what I meant! I just, um, kinda wish I could go with you this week. Are you sure you won't be too lonely?" Fluttershy asked softly, the words barely transferring over the small distance between us, but I easily heard it all because of our deeper link. "I'll miss you two, but I'll have a lot of company. Spike, my fellow Crusaders, Big Mac, and now Tank," I pointed out. Spike hadn't been close enough to hear what we were talking about, but there was something about hearing your name being mentioned in a conversation that lets you pick it up a lot easier. His head snapped to full attention back to me, having only been passively listening to Vinyl, Octavia, and Twilight bicker about personal hygiene. If they kept this up, they were going to come to the camp with us regardless of their intention. I was also a bit surprised that Dash and Applejack had stuck around, too, the former still talking with Scootaloo and the latter walking with her brother and little sister up front. Although, now that I thought about it, I thought I heard Applejack mention she usually helped set up everypony at the cabins. Maybe Rainbow was sticking around because Applejack was, too? At least the mares didn't just toss us out to the cabins and leave it at that. Fluttershy flushed lightly but smiled, nodding to me. "Oh, I know. I just wish I could be with you at the cabins, too," Fluttershy elaborated. Spike smiled and nodded, now paying attention and probably guessing what had been said prior. "That would mean Mender and you would have to stay in a couple's cabin, though, wouldn't it? I was kinda looking forward to hanging out with him," he slipped in. Oh, they had couples' cabins? Well, I suppose that made sense. They were probably smaller and easier to make than the full size ones, and mates would want their privacy, especially during an estrus period, I'd imagine. Fluttershy appeared pleased and nodded to Spike, adding, "Of course. You'd be able to hang out with him during the day, as well, of course! I'm not going to monopolize his time, and, um, I'll lecture Twilight sternly if she tries to as well." There was mild weight and conviction behind her words, which only went to prove she was serious about it. It still surprised me a little. She seemed focused on my needs and wants above and beyond her own. I guess I'd have to try extra hard to get her to accept things that she wanted, too. "Wow, that's really kind of you, Fluttershy. I might have been, uh, a little worried about that. Twilight's been acting a little clingy lately," he whispered, looking past us at the now irate lavender unicorn. She wasn't even paying attention, so he didn't really have to worry. "Probably just the heat, Spike. She'll probably return to normal after a couple weeks," I explained, attempting to console him a bit. In reality, I had no idea how long it would take for the hormones to get out of her system completely after estrus was over. Fluttershy frowned and looked over at her as well. "Not so sure. Um, it's probably not my place to say, but I think she might be, well, figuring out what she wants more?" she tried to explain. Her peek showed a confused expression drifting over from me, and she squeaked, elaborating with, "Not that she didn't know before on some level. I think she's realizing how important you are to her, and your priority has gone up by a lot." "She told Princess Celestia no to her face for you. I'd say that much is accurate, anyway," Spike added, nodding enthusiastically. That had surprised me, admittedly. It was tempting to accept her offer for her disk to at least feel what her emotions really were, but that was a shallow reason. Sweetie Belle, who had been quiet throughout the entire conversation, finally stirred and looked up at Fluttershy. "Um, you seem really comfortable with Twilight, Fluttershy. Is being in a herd and sharing hard?" she asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Well, I saw where it came from, but didn't really know why she was curious. Fluttershy didn't seem to mind, however, and smiled down at her as well. "It was a little difficult at first. Wanting to be with the pony you love is natural, but eventually it starts to feel like a really close family," she tried to explain. My ears swerved around and my heard skipped as I stared at her. Did she just say that?! She... loved me? Wasn't it a bit too soon for that? "What if somepony wanted to join the herd? What would happen?" Sweetie asked next, only vaguely registering on my consciousness as I fought to decide if things were progressing too fast or slow. Sure, Fluttershy seemed worlds' more comfortable with being in a relationship, but love? Although, I had agreed to marry Twilight, now that I thought about it. Sure, it wasn't official yet, but the feelings and intent were there. Pinkie suddenly almost landed on me, squishing me over and causing me to yelp and roll slightly. Holy hell! I forgot she was even here! "That's a tricky one, Silly! Herds usually only let ponies join that they know really, really well and trust. Plus, you have to at least care for everypony in the herd! Even then, afterwards, all members have to approve of you joining," she explained while Fluttershy recovered from her sudden appearance. Sweetie Belle blinked up at her, and then slowly turned a pink color. Eh? Oh, Pinkie's use of second pony tense? Surely the little filly realized the 'you' was just a hypothetical example, right? "So even for you and me, it wouldn't be an easy in! If you wanted to join Mender's herd, you'd have to get all three of them to agree to it, obviously! I'd have to as well!" she continued a moment later with a happy chirp, ruining my hypothetical comment completely. Well, at least it was still just an example. An example that was probably really awkward for the little filly, but I suppose that couldn't be helped. Fluttershy gave a frown and muttered, "Um, Pinkie... Aren't you forgetting something?" Eh? Pinkie blinked slowly, then perked up and nodded rapidly. The tempo shift made me a little dizzy. "Oh, and you have to be at least fourteen. Forgot about that," she added, giving two nods afterwards. Fourteen? Was that when they were legally considered an adult in pony society? Usually it was a certain fraction of their lifespan, which kind of made me wonder how long a pony lived for, on average. Granny Smith appeared ancient by pony standards, and surely the Princesses were some sort of immortal. At least functionally and biologically immortal, anyway, although if Luna's exile to the moon was any indication, they might be fully immortal. Sweetie Belle looked more than a little flustered at this point, sitting up now as she shifted back and forth on her front hooves. "I didn't mean, um... but... wait. I have to wait two years to join a herd?!" she suddenly asked, eyes widening a little bit. Err, was that a bad thing? Oh, wait, she was twelve? Interesting. Now I wondered how old the others were. Late teens, early twenties maybe? I knew my old body, and thus, my mindset had been twenty-three before I was cloned. That didn't tell me much, however, as I didn't know how fast our years were in comparison to Equestria. I also didn't have a clue when my 'birthday' was at this point. Maybe it would be in Doctor Kyliona's notes when Keela sent them over? "Hey, relax. Ya got your whole life ahead of ya to find that special somepony, you know," Vinyl cut in a moment later. My ears perked and I suddenly realized their conversation had ground to a halt over the series of noises Pinkie had caused us to make in surprise. Plus, Sweetie Belle's outburst had been kinda loud. The little filly gave an embarrassed groan and scooted backwards using her front legs, burrowing under my tail and hiding in it a moment later. I snickered at her display, and Fluttershy simply smiled back at her. Rainbow smirked suddenly, and I inwardly groaned. I knew her well enough to see a 'hoof in mouth' statement coming a kilometer off. "Why the rush anyway, Sweetie Belle? It sounds like you might already have a colt you're interested in," she pointed out coyly a moment later. Yup, there it was. If Sweetie hadn't told us, she obviously didn't want to tell us. Surely, Rainbow could have deduced that. Scootaloo groaned weakly next to her and shook her head. "Don't remind me. She talks about him a lot!" she protested, shoulders sagging. Oh crap. Rainbow was rubbing off on her. Sweetie perked up and yelped out, "Scootaloo! You Pinkie Promised not to tell anypony!" My eyes widened and Pinkie gasped dramatically, suddenly right in the orange filly's very surprised looking face. "What?! You broke a Pinkie Promise?" she demanded, eyes narrowing at Scootaloo a moment later. "Whoa! N-No, Pinkie! I promised not to tell anypony who he was, not that she had a crush! Besides, they already guessed it," Scootaloo tried to defend. "It's not a crush! B-But please, don't say anything else?" Sweetie begged softly. That I had to nod in agreement with. "She's right, Scootaloo. If she'd wanted us knowing, she would have said so herself. She's your friend, so neither you or Rainbow should tease her about it," I chided, a little upset that they couldn't think of this themselves. Rainbow puffed up slightly and gave me an indignant stare. "Hey! It's all in good fun, Mender. I wasn't going to press her for names or anything. You need to relax," she defended. Octavia sighed and spoke up as well, adding, "I think I more agree with Mender. It's all in good fun... for you two, Rainbow. I'm sure you know what it's like to be teased and how 'not' fun it is." She pointed it out as if from personal experience, and I glanced back at her gently. She wore a neutral expression, but gave me a small nod and smile when she caught me looking. Rainbow shifted her glare to Octavia instead, and I recognized that expression. Her legs flexed as she moved to shove past me, but I extended my foreleg out to my left and blocked her. "Hey, let me through! She doesn't know anything about me and she's trying to judge me like that!" Dash demanded, glaring past me still. "Hey, come on. Let's all just get along!" Pinkie tried to plead, moving more to my right so she could direct it at everypony at once. "Dash, she's not judging you. She's just trying to give you Sweetie's perspe-" I started to explain. I'd forgotten how impatient the cyan mare could be sometimes. She took off at point blank range to me, her wing feathers slapping across my muzzle as she went up. She neglected to take into account the cart movement and wind speed, however. Gasping, I gave out a wince as her back left hoof clipped my left elbow, sending a moderate spike of pain up my leg. Okay, yeah. I should have turned around and blocked her with the other leg. I was an idiot. Why did I even consider that my injured leg would stop her in the first place? "Rainbow!" both Twilight and Applejack shouted out almost instantly. The pegasus must have felt the hoof clip me, because she spun around almost instantly before they even said anything. Her eyes widened before I looked down and away from her, focusing on lowering the nerve sensitivity in my leg with a bit of careful adjustments. Who needed pain medication when you were an unstable organic cyborg? Another perk! Gotta stay positive, Mender. "Ah! Oh no, no, I didn't mean to do that, Mender! I'm sorry!" Rainbow apologized almost instantly, looking surprisingly horrified for the rather low magnitude of the accident in question. I shook my head gently, cutting her off before it spiraled out of control, given the death glares she was getting from four different directions. "It was just an accident, Dash. Plus it wasn't even that bad of a nick. I'll be fine," I assured, nodding up towards her as I lightly set the hoof down. A gentle and warm numbness drifted through it, and it felt heavy as my internal medicine started working on both pain relief and regeneration. The damage was minimal at best. Rainbow didn't exactly look convinced and drifted down again to land behind Fluttershy, next to me. The yellow mare had hopped up again alongside Sweetie, and both were checking my left foreleg over carefully. Rainbow watched them, ears rapidly lowering. I didn't want her to feel badly over it. Wait, had that actually managed to defuse the situation? Huh. I didn't realize there were perks to being an idiot and getting myself injured! "Ya gotta cool yer jets, Rainbow! There's no need ta get so defensive. All Octavia meant was ta try ta see it from Sweetie's perspective," Applejack lectured, slowing so she was walking next to the wagon instead so she could give her cyan friend a stern glare. Wasn't that what I said? Unlike mine, Applejack's words looked like they hit Rainbow in the face with a sledgehammer. Huh. Either my defusing of the situation had gotten her to actually listen, or there was weight due to who was saying it. "I know. I'm sorry, Octavia. Sweetie Belle. It's perfectly fine that you have a crush, and there's nothing wrong with it," she admitted, crouching down closer to the little filly who was still partially hiding in my tail. It didn't seem that strange to me, but I was a little curious as to who it was. Still, I wasn't about to ask her. After everything I just tried to prove, that would be highly rude and inappropriate. Sweetie Belle looked entirely unsure of how to deal with Rainbow and just nodded twice before slipping back down into my tail a ways. She'd be traumatized after she hit a growth spurt and couldn't fit in there anymore. Fluttershy nodded twice a second later. Ever so gently, she leaned down and kissed the inside of my elbow between the brace lines, then smiled up at me. "It's not hurt at all," she added softly. Even having already known that, her happy tone, smile, and general affection made me feel even better regardless. I kissed the top of her head, causing a light pink tint with so many ponies watching. My mouth opened and I got half of the 'thank you' out before Vinyl suddenly started snickering. "Wow. I'm so gonna get diabetes just from watching you three. You're so adorable that it's a little sickening," she admitted blatantly. I raised my eyebrow over at her grinning form, but Octavia smirked next to her and shook her head. "Admit it, Vinyl. You're jealous. You just want an oh-so sweet coltfriend like Fluttershy and Twilight have," she chirped coyly, continuing to look straight ahead to make herself particularly immune to the death glare her friend resorted to. "Hey, I'm totally cool with being single! Don't forget our pact as the troublemaking bachelorettes of Canterlot Musical Academy!" Vinyl reminded. Wait, what?! That statement made my brain stall on so many levels. Twilight perked up and looked at the two of them curiously. "Wait, both of you went to the musical academy in Canterlot?" she asked, suddenly very interested. Well, I suppose she could relate academically. "Roommates for four years. Equestria forbid! Passed all my classes with an A- average? Wonderful. Granted highest honors in leading my own section in the orchestra? Quite nice. Hold no less than sixty-nine solos and duets for the Canterlot elite while founding a social club for musical study? Excellent. What does everypony remember of my academy days? That our room vibrated the entire fourth floor and I liked to occasionally relax with a glass of wine," she complained. I noticed there wasn't much actual bitterness to it deep down. At least a part of her was amused at that outcome, I decided. "A glass? You do remember that amazing swinging maneuver off the third story balcony in the recital room, don't you? Oh, wait. No, you probably wouldn't remember that," Vinyl chirped, grinning now. Octavia sighed and lowered her head, looking a bit exasperated. Pinkie was hopping up and down at this point, however. "Oh, oh, oh! I had no idea you were such an awesome party pony, Tavi! We should totally hang out and go dancing or listen to music or compare amazing maneuver notes or...!" Pinkie started offering, earning a wince from the gray mare. Rainbow started laughing again, and Vinyl's grin widened. Well, at least Dash wasn't feeling so bad now. Pity it appeared to all transfer to Octavia instead. "There's nothing wrong with that, Octavia. That's why I liked you in the first place. You were almost the most relaxed pony at the party," I offered, shifting to look at her fully. She perked up and met my gaze for a moment before smiling softly and nodding. "Admittedly, I don't much care for how posh the Canterlot Elite get. While I'm not against living with a bit of dignity, they shoot right past that into the egotistical levels," she muttered, giving a weak eye roll. I didn't think Vinyl could grin much wider without snapping her jaw. "Exactly! There's the Tavi I love! Besides, you don't need a stallion to complete your identity. Most of them are only after one thing, and then dump ya. You so don't need that. I know I don't!" she added, nodding twice. Wait, what? That I hadn't expected, and had to pick it apart in my head before I realized how actually bitter that had sounded. It screamed unfortunate experiences. I lost my small smile as I looked over at Vinyl instead. Octavia did as well, giving her friend a questioning glance. "Vinyl, don't tell me you still haven't moved on after-" she started to ask softly. "Don't! Don't even say it. It's in the past, and we promised not to talk about it anymore," Vinyl warned. Octavia dropped into a slightly more incredulous expression, looking somewhat annoyed instead. "I promised no such thing. You demanded I not, then wandered off to drink for six hours and cause three thousand seven hundred bits of property damage to the school!" she corrected. Err, should we be hearing this? "Psh, I so did not! I... err, wait. No, I remember the bill afterwards. Oh yeah, and his hospital fees. Dang it, Tavi! Just shush for a while," the DJ groaned out, exhaling weakly and adjusting her thick shades again. Hospital? Suddenly, I earned a healthy amount of fear-based respect for the mare. Everything had paused as we stared blankly at Vinyl. She bumped into the back of the wagon as it stopped moving, and that's when I realized that Big Mac and Noteworthy were staring around the side and back at her. She looked between all of us before flailing her hooves in the air a bit. "What?! He so deserved it! Almost every stallion is exactly the same way! All his friends stood up for him, too," she defended, showing a far less relaxed side of herself I wasn't used to. Despite her thick, nonchalant exterior, I realized that she was actually rather resentful deep down. That made me a little sad. "Vinyl, not every stallion is like that. Most in Ponyville are rather good-natured and kind. A lot of it is probably their upbringing and culture they're exposed to," Twilight reasoned softly, also adding a certain amount of theory into it, of course. Although, that wasn't entirely true, but she admitted that. If it was, shouldn't I be a complete monster? Vinyl scrunched her nose up at her, but Fluttershy nodded rapidly next to me, her eyes getting much larger. "Yes! I was surprised by the same thing. I, um, thought that all stallions were rough and, well, rather pushy. Of course, I'd never really gotten to know any of them," she admitted, pausing for a moment before smiling over at me and nodding. I smiled back, personally very happy I was the stallion she picked to get to know. "But Mender is oh-so gentle with me and so cuddly and polite and assuring and respectful and-" she started rapidly gushing next, swaying back and forth. Eh?! The barrage of compliments immediately caused me to shrink a little and blush again. Twilight giggled, interrupting with, "I think you've shown your point wonderfully, Fluttershy." The yellow mare looked momentarily sheepish before nodding slowly. "Oh, um, sorry. Yeah. I really, really care for Mender and am oh-so glad he proved me wrong. Now I feel silly for even thinking that way to begin with," she summarized quietly. I nodded, turning back to Vinyl and Octavia a second later. I started and tipped my neck back and away as I saw the DJ staring purposefully and intently at me. An exceedingly awkward ten seconds passed where she did nothing but stare before she roughly exhaled from her nose in a puff. "Okay, I admit, for everything I know about Mender, I realize he's significantly different than the type of stallion I was talking about. But he's a rarity! Definitely not the norm," she assured stubbornly. In all honesty, I didn't know if I should be happy she supported me, or sad that she thought so little of the others. Before I could say anything, however, Applejack surprisingly cut in. "What about mah brother? Or Noteworthy? Caramel? There are plenty o' good stallions in town that ain't tha 'love 'em an' leave 'em' type," she pointed out, sounding even more stubborn. Uh oh. Neither mare was likely to back down, which made me a bit concerned as to where this was going. The day was young, and I had plenty of opportunity left to meet my pain and accident quotas. "Hey, I'm totally a nice guy, too!" Spike cut in, crossing his arms over his chest and looking a bit offended. Smiling, I attempted to appease him as best I could. "She didn't list you too because you're not single, Spike. Aren't you already completely devoted to Rarity?" I pointed out calmly. Twilight smirked at me and Vinyl relaxed, smiling at the little dragon. "Totally, Spike. I already knew you were a great guy! She didn't even have to say anything," she assured, giving him an exaggerated winking motion. Well, actually it kinda had to be exaggerated when she wore those huge shades... "R-Really? Oh, I mean, of course my reputation precedes me," he muttered, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. Everypony grinned at that point. Heh, I just hoped Rarity had really considered my words that night. Regardless of the disruption, the wagon soon continued along the path, as we were lagging a bit behind everypony now. Pinkie, Octavia, and Vinyl headed back towards Ponyville, Pinkie herself departing with a promise to chew Rarity out for not being there. They'd said she had an order to fill and was too busy, but I had a sneaking suspicion she didn't trust herself under the effects of the estrus cycle around me. It was just strange thinking about her actually liking me like that. It definitely didn't have that same tingle that I got whenever I thought about Fluttershy and Twilight. The rest of the trip went uneventfully, Twilight and Fluttershy staying on as well to 'make sure I was comfortable,' as they so endearingly reasoned. To be honest, I didn't really want to leave them either. Not seeing either of them for two weeks was going to be hard. That was almost half the time I'd been in Equestria! Heck, that was an appreciable percentage of the time I'd been 'alive' in general. As myself anyway, rather than him. "Which cabin was yers again, Brother? Ah'll help ya haul tha things in," Applejack offered, once the wagon finally came to a stop. Things? I peeked at the rest of the contents of the wagon. Apart from the seven ponies and dragon, I noticed several general personal effects that must have been Big Mac's, and a ton of broken farming equipment. That confused me a bit, I wasn't going to lie. All three siblings treated it like normal, however, so I decided not to ask. Instead, I stood up and silently took in the surroundings from over the lip of the wagon. We were in a sizable meadow of sorts, with the taller grass cleared in a large area for a few dozen quaint structures. Most were rather large, easily able to fit half a dozen ponies comfortably. Smaller ones were towards the back of the area, and I guessed those were the couples' cabins. There was a small stream flowing through, slicing the field in half. Three wooden bridges were built over it and spread out for ease of access. It was far more set up than I thought it would be! The sunlight drifted down from overhead and the flowers speckled throughout the area gave a colorful, natural vibe to the place. Whitetail Woods was far more pleasant than the Everfree. "It's a nice place. Are you really sure you don't want me staying here with you, too? There are available couple cabins..." Twilight reminded softly, glancing over at me. Rainbow raised an eyebrow towards Twilight, who had no clue being pointed in the other direction. "Uh, that's so not a good idea, Twi. You kinda know that," she pointed out, noticing her visual cue wasn't getting attention. Twilight sighed, not turning back to look at her and instead just lowering her head. "I know. I just don't want Mender to be without both of us for two weeks," she muttered, not exactly sounding like she knew, honestly. I felt conflicted, because I kinda wanted her to stay too, but the consequences were too great. Something clicked a moment later in my head, and I felt my chest grow cold. Oh, oh hell. Could I even get either of them pregnant in the first place? Admittedly, I had no idea if my parts down there functioned properly, and if so, if I was compatible with them to begin with. Why hadn't I thought of that before?! Fluttershy had said that she really wanted foals... "Uh, are you okay, Mender?" Rainbow suddenly asked. I snapped out of it in time to notice all seven other cart occupants staring at me with concern. My cheeks felt cold, and I realized I must have paled considerably. Dang. I really should talk to Tia and see if she could give me poker face lessons. If even Rainbow noticed, who was the least observant of the Elements, I was in trouble! "Ah, sorry. I'm fine. Just was thinking too much," I attempted to assure. Twilight's eyes narrowed at me before I even finished the sentence, and I knew they weren't going to buy that. She didn't have to say anything, and I simply sighed, shaking my head. "Fine, I just suddenly realized that, um, I might not exactly be compatible with a normal pony. Everypony here knows I'm an alien. What if I, um, can't be the father of a pony in the first place?" I admitted. Twilight went from annoyed to curious looking; her ears twitched slightly as I practically saw her mentally jumping all over the new mystery. Fluttershy frowned instead and pulled my left foreleg against her chest in a re-assuring gesture. "We'll find a way, Mender. Even if you aren't compatible, you and Twilight are the smartest ponies I know. If you work together..." she suggested hopefully. I smiled gently at her. I'd expected to have to comfort her, not the other way around. "I'd have to run some tests and get samples to be sure. If you were still in the form of your old race, I'd probably immediately say no, but there's a possibility that your genes also changed with your new, pony form. If your chromosome count matches up with ours, that significantly improves the chances," Twilight explained quietly, mostly to herself, it would seem, as there was no request for input there. Rainbow suddenly perked up, eyes widening drastically. The three Crusaders shifted their attention to her in confusion at the motion. Well, more confusion, as they didn't appear to fully understand what we were talking about anyway. "Wait, are you saying that Mender can't get a mare pregnant?" she suddenly asked, ears perked into the air as she stared at me. Uh, isn't that what I just said? "What?! No!" Sweetie yelped, eyes widening at the same speed her ears fell, and she turned around rapidly to look at all three of us with rather sad eyes. "But, but, little foals are so cute and you really need to start your own family and, and," she started stuttering. Heh. She was such the matchmaker. "We're not sure yet, Sweetie Belle. Like I said, I'll need to run a few tests first. After estrus is over, of course," Twilight explained yet again, blushing a little at that last part. Really? I figured she'd want something to do during the couple weeks, and she usually liked experiments. Huh. Rainbow's ear twitched slightly and she looked back over at Twilight. "Wait, why are you waiting until after estrus to find out? If he can't get a mare pregnant, wouldn't that mean it's totally fine to stay here with him? Uh, you and Fluttershy, I mean, of course," she pointed out, flushing a little and looking away. Okay, something was up with her... Twilight looked less than amused at her, and Fluttershy quickly looked over at Rainbow instead. "Twilight wants to wait until she's ready to mate, and that wouldn't be possible if she stayed," I heard the yellow mare whisper through my mind, aimed at Rainbow of course. The cyan pegasus looked momentarily shocked before flattening her ears back. "She's crazy! Consequence-free sex during your heat? What mare wouldn't want that?!" Rainbow mentally shot back, looking exasperated now. The Crusaders, the reason I imagine this conversation had shifted to the mental plane, looked back and forth between the two pegasi. "They're talkin' in each other's heads, Ah bet," Apple Bloom deduced a moment later. Scootaloo looked less than pleased and immediately asked, "What? Why?! Why don't they just talk out loud?" Fluttershy lightly shook her head towards Dash, mentally adding, "Her heat isn't as bad as yours is, Dash." Oh, it wasn't? "Adult stuff," I warned, shaking my head to Scootaloo instead. They probably were used to hearing that, of course. Twilight raised an eyebrow to me. "Do I want to know?" she asked hesitantly a moment later. "So?! My heat is terrible! It's taken every ounce of willpower I have not to pounce him off the wagon, haul him up to a cloud, and rut his brains out," Rainbow mentally shot back, sounding upset now and... wait, what?! My eyes shot open wide, cheeks heating up to maximum temperature almost instantly. I probably matched a beet in color, now. It took no hesitation at all for me to shake my head to Twilight. "No, no you most definitely do not," I added, just to be sure. Rainbow looked perplexed and I rapidly looked away, earning a cough from Fluttershy. "Uhm, I probably shouldn't tell you this, and I'm sorry. Uh, Mender can kind of hear everything we say," Fluttershy mentally whispered back to her friend. Rainbow's eyes slowly expanded to the size of mine, her cheeks flaring up as well as her mouth dropping open. I'd never seen such a good look of shocked horror and embarrassment before. Twilight gave both of us a confused look and I inwardly groaned. This most certainly wasn't awkward as all hell. Depending on how long everypony decided to stay here with us, this was going to be a long day... * * * * * Quietly, I lay there relaxing. It was only the afternoon and I was already tired. That, and more than a little hungry. It had taken an agonizing ten full minutes to say goodbye to both Twilight and Fluttershy. I disliked saying goodbye at all, which didn't help matters. It reminded me too much of the times where I almost had to say goodbye forever, which weren't exactly pleasant memories. No! I refused to dwell on the details, and pushed it further out of my mind. Positive, Mender! Gotta think positive! Uh, Rainbow! She had been easy to deal with. She just freaked out for a good thirty seconds and flew away, leaving everypony apart from Fluttershy and I utterly confused. Twilight grilled me on that too for a while, but I refused to give any answers whatsoever and insisted she go ask Rainbow instead, of course. The answers wouldn't be pleasant for her, probably, and they technically weren't mine to give in the first place. The whole conversation had felt kinda like eavesdropping, which always left a bad taste in my mouth. Damn it! Stay positive, Mender! Hmm. Oh, I hadn't seen Spike or the Crusaders in about two hours! Wait, no, I was lonely, so that wasn't a good thing. I strained harder and realized just how lonely I really was. Movement danced around me as everypony went about their daily business. The stallions seemed to function perfectly fine without the mares around. Casual chatting, a couple games with strangely shaped balls, and the little foals being adorable and playing with each other gave me plenty to watch to shove away the boredom. Still, I didn't see anypony I knew, which lead me to believe that I really didn't know many ponies. Okay, I sucked at staying positive, it would seem. Even that statement there was negative, which was a little amusing to say the least. Heh. There's a positive! Kinda! I could laugh at myself when I was an idiot. Hmm. Weak, but it was the best I had. Oh, another positive! Ponies weren't currently throwing rocks at me. Giving up, I dropped my head down in the grass and zoned out again, peeking back inside of myself to see how things were doing. DNA was sorted out, everything except the gravity drive was repaired, and with my new calculations, that would be a disaster to turn off in order to fix. My new work-around was far gentler. I was in the process now of building an auxiliary slot to plug the fixed gravity dampener chip into. That would let me plug both of them in at once, and pull out the old one without interrupting the power supply. I really didn't want to kill anypony with tidal forces or sink into the ground like it was air. That just left the notes. A lot of them appeared to be from Doctor Kyliona herself, but I bet Keela had quite a bit more of them. It had been a couple days since I talked with her. Maybe I should do that later tonight? A dark part of me considered doing it right now and waking her up like she'd done to me so often, but I decided against it. That would be rude, my inner Fluttershy reminded. Staring at a couple stallions playing ball, I realized that honestly, I was kind of happy that not everything revolved around my problems and activities. I'd caused so much fuss lately that it was getting frustrating every time something fell into place that caused me to pull things out of the norm around here. I wanted to be a normal pony, cybernetics be damned. Although Clocky could stay. He was my friend. Smiling at the thought, I shakily stood up again and wandered a bit more. I'd been laying for a good half an hour, and my leg felt better again, so I guessed it was time for more exercise. Big Mac was sitting in front of our group's cabin still, working on reattaching the straps of a large plow, I noted. I'd offered to help him an hour ago, and it was about as productive as offering an apple to a brick wall. You couldn't get anywhere without throwing the thing. My example kind of broke down there, I decided. Still, I understood where he came from. He was like Applejack. This couple of weeks was irritating for him because he couldn't do anything, so he hauled a bunch of broken equipment along with him and repaired it while he was here, so he at least felt useful. I wasn't about to take that away from him, even if it made me feel about the opposite of useful. My somewhat brisk stroll led me down towards the river a few minutes later. Peeking in, I was amazed at how absolutely clear the water looked. I'd never seen water like this back in the other dimension. Everything had to be run through a purifier in order to get the gore, radiation, and bile out of it. Now that I thought about it, I was kind of happy to label those particular memories as his, and not mine. I shuddered while staring down at the water, being very glad I was here rather than there. As much as it was a problem for me to want to feel useful here, it was even worse over there. Literally, my only job had been coming up with more efficient ways to end the lives of others, preferably in mass. No, his job was that. I kept trying to remind myself of that. It was weird feeling like two entirely different individuals. His life was so bleak compared to this one. I kind of pitied him, which was weird considering he was kinda me. Nothing had ever gone my, err, his way there. No mate, no friends, no family, crap job, no respect, no anything really. The clinical, cold, unfeeling breeding programs even turned him down. It was no secret he thought of suicide a couple of times. There was no point in keeping it a secret. It was dealt with casually in the barracks. Saying goodbye forever was easy there. That felt the most hollow about it. Worse yet, there were perks for doing so. Sure, the voluntary breeding list was heavily regulated and screened. Even though it wasn't even a mate, it still meant that you could have a child if you were lucky. Some didn't even get on that. That led to another 'solution' the council thought up. Government sponsored euthanizing booths had been installed in quite a few locations in the city. Overpopulation for our planets had definitely been a problem, and there were already way too many males, so the solution? Offer the males who voluntarily offed themselves one free next of kin to be born, post-mortem. The booths did it all! It was as convenient as getting in and pushing a button. You didn't even need to waste the effort hitting yes for an 'are you sure' question. Clamps and a bit drill would pop up from the seat, take a sample and gore you at the same time, and then the booth would spray you down with acid until you dissolved. Rather clean, if not a bit on the noisy side. The smell wasn't exactly pleasant either. The benefit? One less male while the government got a small chance that the new Keldarian being born would be female instead. That was wining for them all around. You got assured that your legacy would go on, which was important to some males. Further, if you did have obscure family somewhere, the remaining members got entered into a lottery! Whoever won out of the few thousand contestants each month got a free upgrade one social status level! Yeah, a few families encouraged kids to use the booths in mass, too. That was pleasant. The first nine runners up at least got a twenty-credit gift card. I think the acid used to murder their loved one cost a little more than that, though. Snickering weakly, I stared down at the water, looking at my own morose reflection. Was it any surprise that I was so totally fine with being a pony? Of living in Equestria instead? I'd rather slice off all four of my legs than go back to the other dimension. Not that it would matter much, as they'd just grow back, but it's the thought that counts. Not that it further mattered. The Keldarians didn't exist as a species anymore. Just yet another mark on the massive list of species the Grosh wiped out, I'd imagine. That was the biggest mystery. Why? What were they so afraid of? Our strange, furless 'allies' weren’t much better. They weren't local. I knew that much. Galaxies, star clusters, star systems... Nothing from any of our scans. We thought we were alone until they came. They were a blight at first, honestly. They came with fast and aggressive traditions, advanced weaponry, faster than light travel, and a few thousand diseases we'd never even seen before. Eh. A few hundred thousand less males weren't that important, right? Our culture jumped up easily a thousand years after their arrival. If I had to honestly guess, they were what killed us. It had never been about the Grosh before then. We were magic users and tribesmen. Culture was everything. Sacred cleanliness was second only to divinity. We had no gods so much as we believed everything had a life force. Mana. Magic. Whatever you wanted to call it. Our allies called it animism. I never cared, learning about it in school. By the time 'I' was born, it was gone. Magic used to be sacred. It was practiced with moderation and used with respect for the betterment of all. Their culture warped us. Quick and easy instant gratification became prized above all else. The Grosh didn't kill us. We were dead long before that. Another reason I wanted none of that technology here in Equestria. Of course, we only found out later that our very magic had been dooming us with its overuse. Maybe something somewhere had a sense of humor? Or maybe it was just vindictive. The more we used and abused magic, the lower our female birth rates fell. By the time I was born, the ratio had been about thirty-seven to one on a good day. We were doomed and we knew it. But the council just kept pushing. Now I understood it. They were never out for preserving our race. They only wanted the most for themselves before everything went to hell. The Grosh following our allies to our system was just the last in a series of dominoes. And I'd thought it was weird that our allies showed up with their entire planet, warping it through space using amazing and massive wormhole technology. They were really fond of that planet. They started to help us fight them off, but the Grosh just kept coming. I remembered everything now. Generations had been spent fighting the Grosh. We were cannon fodder. What better way to cull the horrible male population than send ninety percent of them off to fight a hopeless war against abominations? It bought them time, I realized now. Three weeks before the end, the council vanished. No more contact or voices over the loudspeakers informing us of our 'sacred' duty to die for them. No more laws passed. No more judgments or courts. Most thought they were meeting in secret somewhere and planning a great counter-offensive. Idiots. They ran away. Our allies' planet disappeared the same day. Undoubtedly, they moved on to find a new race to use as fodder to hold off the Grosh for a while. If they gave us their technology, we could fight the Grosh for them and they wouldn't have to sacrifice much of anything. It was brilliant, if not monstrous. My eyes focused slowly back in again as I stared into the river. I snapped back to attention just in time to see the reflection of Carrot Top sitting directly next to me. I gave out a panicked yelp almost instantly and flailed sideways in surprise before falling into the very water I'd been watching. Sitting back up again, I looked back at her as she giggled in amusement, a soft smile on her face. "You looked too deep in thought for being on vacation, so I figured I'd come and cheer you up! I have laundry to do, so if you wanna join me to chat, you can," she offered, gesturing towards the baskets tied to each of her sides. I followed her nodding gesture a second later and saw two stallions and another mare down the stream a little ways further, also washing clothes. It only took me a moment to decide, already being mind-numbingly bored. I didn't want to return to my thoughts, that was for sure. "Um, okay. I was rather bored, you're right," I agreed, skipping over the darker answer in light of a white lie. Carrot Top nodded gently to me before helping me out of the stream. Both of us walked in relative silence towards the other three ponies. Maybe I really did need to stop thinking so much? Inner monologue tended to be bad for my health, I noticed. Deciding to try to relax for the rest of the day, I followed after my reasonably new friend. Chapter 45It was somewhat interesting watching them wash the clothing. Not because the process fascinated me, of course, but because they were so adept at manipulating things using just their hooves. It must take a lifetime of practice to get that skilled with your hooves! Carrot Top deftly folded another wet towel in half, and then hung it on the line to dry a moment later. Towels appeared to be the most used thing that required washing, I noticed. It made sense, ponies not normally wearing clothes. I still felt better in Rarity's saddlebags, though. Well, technically my saddlebags. It was hard to think of myself owning any property apart from the book. Ventosus Lacuna gave a pulse at my side, both reminding me of its existence, and further pointing out that I technically 'owned' it as well. It didn't make sense, as I wasn't part of the original creator's 'bloodline', but if the blade was intelligent, maybe it understood the situation? Prudentia seemed beyond intelligent, being capable of full on sapience. "It still astounds me. I saw what that, well, thing did to the library. To hold off such a creature while badly injured is amazing!" Carrot Top complimented, causing me to sigh. She had wanted to hear from the source what had happened that night, of course. That appeared to be the most popular topic for ponies to ask me about. I knew it wasn't every day that an alien attacks Equestria, but I still wish they'd branch out into another topic occasionally as well. I'd even take the weather at this point. I shook my head weakly, looking down into the stream. "I'm an inventor. Being able to fight isn't exactly what I'd consider a bragging point," I muttered, looking into my reflection's eyes. The area under them was darker, hinting at the stupid nightmares that were becoming more and more frequent when I actually bothered to sleep. That monster loved to come out during my sleeping hours and make sure the details of the torture, combat, murder, and loneliness were as detailed as possible. "I'm sorry for asking. It's just got everypony on edge still. We're used to having problems, but all of them until now have come from somewhere in Equestria, not from someplace beyond. It's scary, but you being good at fighting isn't the point," she explained, folding another towel up. I gave her a curious, if not tired, glance. I hadn't known her for very long, but there were definitely familiar vibes coming from her. Her attitude reminded me a lot of a more relaxed Applejack. She caught my questioning glance and nodded, hanging up another towel before explaining, "I know it's rude of us, but I know I'm not the only one. Having somepony capable of not only knowing about these things, but defending against them is a huge relief. Before I knew what you'd done, I wouldn't even let my little filly out of the house!" It took me a moment, but I finally nodded. It kinda made sense. "I understand that much. That's technically not why I'm in Ponyville, but I'm extremely dedicated to making sure nopony gets hurt by any malicious attack, be it from an alien or otherwise. That much I'm sure of," I assured, staring back at my reflection in the water. Once a soldier, always a soldier. If that was what I was going to be stuck as, I might as well face it with dignity. This cause was a hell of a lot better than my last one, regardless. "Yes, I sometimes forget about your amnesia. Twilight is helping you recover from it, isn't she?" Carrot asked in a much softer, more hesitant voice. There hadn't been any stigma I'd encountered over the amnesia aspect so far, but there was indeed an extreme desire to not be rude from most of the ponies I'd talked to. It felt like she was more not wanting to offend me rather than thinking less of me because of it. "That's what it started as. Now I'm staying in Ponyville because of Twilight and Fluttershy. And most of my friends are there, as well," I elaborated, smiling finally. That was a positive, that was for sure. I didn't even have to struggle to disguise that one with fake optimism. She smirked, and I saw it coming. "Yes, I'm pleased the rumors were true all around. A secret agent of the crown, and dating two of the Elements of Harmony!" she cooed, tone impish and amused. I rolled my eyes, but felt a little heat enter my cheeks anyway. It wasn't as bad this time due to having seen it coming, thankfully. "It's not exactly a secret agent if everypony knows. I'm just a friend of the princesses and in a position to be of use to Equestria," I corrected, giving her a skeptical glance. She laughed, to my surprise. "You try to play down everything. Sheesh. I would have expected Rainbow Dash to rub off on you by now," she chided playfully. My cheeks flushed even harder instantly and I winced, crushing my eyes closed tight. Maybe if I couldn't see her, she couldn't see me? Bad thoughts! It took her a second, but she burst into more laughter a moment later, followed by, "Ha! Not like that, Mender! Oh ho ho, you're a perverted one!" I groaned and shook my head rapidly. "It's just the situation, I swear. Ugh, and an awkward talk earlier. Sorry," I apologized, opening my eyes again but rapidly looking away from the mare. It was still easy to see her eyes widen in the sides of my vision. "Uh oh. Did she actually try it? I knew her heats were bad, but dang! Maybe she should rent out one of the love shacks here, too!" she suggested, sounding equally surprised and amused. "No! Just, I accidentally overheard her talking when I shouldn't have. It was, uh, awkward for both of us," I corrected, being as vague as possible. Wait, love shack? Oh, probably a cute nickname for the couples’ cabins. The meaning was kinda lost on me, though. She’d told me more about them earlier anyway, amidst explaining that she was here with her husband, Written Script. Some couples or herds just prefered to get away from the ‘pheromone cloud’ that was Ponyville, as she worded it. I suppose I could see her point. He probably couldn’t focus very well on anything there anyway. Carrot Top snorted and shook her head, going back to washing a moment later. "Come now, Mender. Everypony has fantasies. She didn't act on them, so you should cut her some slack. That's the important part," she pointed out rather sagely. Fantasies? I thought about it for a moment before realizing I'd indeed never thought about it before. Sure, I was attracted in that regard to both Fluttershy and Twilight, but there was nothing particularly specific I thought about habitually. I snapped out of it in time to notice her staring at me. "Oh, sorry. I just realized I'd never really thought about it before. I don't really have any fantasies that I can, well, remember, so I guess it's hard for me to put it in perspective," I admitted, frowning lightly. Rather than look amused as I expected, Carrot looked a little sad instead, but nodded. "I'd never realized how thorough your amnesia was. The list of what you can remember is a lot smaller than the list of what you can't, isn't it?" she murmured, going back to distracting herself with the washing. "Almost everything was gone from my mind when I woke up in the forest. I wasn't even sure what my name, gender, or species was. At this point, I've given up trying to guess what I was like before, and am just trying to start a new life for myself," I explained. It wasn't so bad because I didn't know him in the first place. He could have had any personality, honestly, from just the few bits of memory I have that are directly his. Does it matter? No, I think I like who I am now, rather than what I might have been like before. "I'm sorry, Mender. If there's anything any of us can do, just let us know. Most of Ponyville feels the same way," she reminded, smiling at me again. I gave her a weak one back and nodded, of course. "I know. Thank you, Carrot Top. I just wish I knew what I did to offend whoever made those fliers. It's obvious that not everypony likes me." It had bothered me off and on since the accident. The use of enchanted fliers and the pure timing involved led me to believe it wasn't done just as a smear story. Bad publicity is one thing. A violent mob is on a whole other level! She outright snorted, to my surprise. "Whoever came up with that idea is a miserable little creature that should crawl back under whatever rock they came from. Such underhooved tactics are disgusting! If they have a problem with you and Twilight, they should step up and show themselves. That way all of us could get a chance to buck them down a few pegs," she growled, sounding outright hostile this time. My eyes widened as I looked at her, and she flushed a moment later, suddenly looking sheepish. "Oh, sorry. Dirty tactics get me riled up, especially if they're being used against one of my friends. I do hope I can be your friend, Mender," she offered, smiling gently instead. That choice was easy, and I gave her a double nod and smile. Friendship was magic, as Twilight would say. "Of course, Carrot. It's not your fault about what happened with the fliers, that's for sure. I'm sure between Fancypants, Princess Celestia, and Twilight, they can find out who was responsible," I assured calmly. She smirked again and shook her head, lowering the next towel towards the water. "You even know Fancypants, and saved all those ponies at the party, too! You really are something," she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. I rolled my eyes. Of course, I couldn't just come out and say I was probably at least partially responsible for the chandelier falling without admitting that I have a mostly repressed density somewhere a few magnitudes above a white dwarf star. That would probably be awkward. Almost as awkward as her face a moment later, as she shoved the towel directly into the mud instead of the river. I frowned, and watched hesitantly as the river dwindled rapidly, becoming nothing more than a little trickle running through a muddy channel within seconds. Well, that probably wasn't a good sign. "Oh, you're kidding me... What's going on?" she asked, frowning as she looked to the other three questioningly. They looked as confused as she did, however. My mind whirled into action. It was a rather simple issue, I realized. "There's only one thing that could have happened. Something's blocked off the flow further up the river. I'll follow it back along its bank and check it out," I said, standing again and stretching gently. The Whitetail Woods were considerably safer than the Everfree, and I was perfectly confident that even there, I could walk through it in the middle of the night and be totally fine. I guess there were perks to being a scientific abomination after all. "Are you sure?! What if it's something dangerous?" Carrot asked, whirling back around with wide eyes as I finished talking. "Then I'll take care of that, too. Just stay here in case you're right. I'll hopefully be back in a few minutes," I instructed, not wanting witnesses in case I had to extend a few tentacles, after all. To my extremely honest surprise, she nodded obediently and sat back down, looking more than a little worried. I wasn't used to ponies actually doing what I said, and it was more than a little awkward for a moment before I forced it from my head. Giving her a nod, I turned around and headed upstream towards the edge of the woods where it entered. Hopefully it was just a rockslide or something. To my surprise, Big Mac was already at the edge of the forest and turned, looking over at me. We exchanged nods as I walked up, and he asked, "Goin' in ta investigate? Ah'll tag along if so. Plum curious happenin', honestly." He already knew about what I was, so that much didn't concern me. Seeing what he did to his door a while back when Applejack was in trouble also reminded me of what the excessively large stallion was capable of, and I nodded. "Yeah. It's probably just a few rocks that fell over or something, but we'd best be careful just in case," I warned absently, heading past him and into the forest. I heard his snicker of amusement behind me as he followed, surprisingly quietly for a stallion of his size. "Ah doubt we need ta worry too much. Whitetail is fairly tame," he reminded. I noticed his habit of lopping off any unneeded words from his statements. He really didn't like talking. Hopefully appealing to his personality, I just nodded back to him and started my silent tracking of the source of the problem, my weak leg shifting to armor after we got well away from the cabins... * * * * * It didn't take us more than ten minutes to find the source of the problem with the river. It's not like we were exactly rushing, but it was an extremely noisy problem that could be heard from considerable distance away. "Aaaah, no, row the other way! You're gonna flip us!" I heard Scootaloo shout in obvious distress upon getting close enough. Oh. I should have known, honestly, that it would have something to do with them. I gave a questioning glance back at Big Mac, but he just sighed and wearily shook his head. Yeah, he probably had that thought, too. "This ain't ah canoe, Dodo! Ah'm usin' mah hooves tha best Ah can, but we're goin' in circles!" I heard Apple Bloom yelp a moment later. What the hell did they do, make a lake? "But, I can't swim! Oh no, oh no..." Sweetie added. Aww, crap. My biomechanical parts took over in my leg as Big Mac nodded to me, and both of us burst into a sprint towards the direction of their voices. "Calm down, Sweetie. Grab hold o' me, an' Ah'll swim fer both o' us if we fall in," Apple Bloom tried to assure. That wouldn't be a good idea with a panicking filly! Apple Bloom probably knew how hard it would be to swim with Sweetie if the little unicorn was freaking out. Ten seconds later, Big Mac and I skidded to a halt in front of a somewhat sizable drop. To my surprise, the entire indent below us was flooded with a considerable amount of water, and the three fillies floated in the middle of it, stuck to a log that looked like it drifted free from the larger chunks. A makeshift dam had been constructed from mud, rocks, and branches, it looked like, and it was actually nicely put together. I didn't have time to admire the details, however, and scanned down into the water. Five meter drop, and at least three meters deep. Plenty. "I'm gonna go get an adult! We need help!" I suddenly heard. I looked back up and spotted, to my surprise, two other foals on the opposite edge of the shore from us. It was the young filly who said that. She was a raspberry color with a slightly darker mane and tail. The colt, who was smaller than her, was a light tan with darker brown for his. Further, he sported a camera?! Damn it! My leg shifted back to normal almost instantly as I looked over at Big Mac. "Got ah plan?" he asked softly, sharp eyes examining the situation and looking along the dam. There were plenty of loose logs we could snag them with, of course. There was still a current as the water had gone over the top of the dam at this point, but it didn't look that strong. I frowned, and considered the options. "Can you swim?" I asked him, walking further to the left and sliding down onto a lower ledge. "Eeyup. Work yer way down. Ah'll get ta tha dam an' head 'em off," he offered, going down the other direction. I noticed they were spinning in that direction, slowly getting pulled by the water flow. "No! Don't go get an adult! We're gonna be in enough trouble as is!" Scootaloo called back, halting the other filly in her tracks as she paced. Then her eyes widened as she spotted both of us sliding down the cliff. Sweetie perked at her expression and turned to look, gasping as well. "Mender! Big Mac! Help us! I can't swim!" she called out, waving towards me as the log spun. No, don't do- The waving motion was all they needed to go over sideways, Apple Bloom letting out a frantic yelp as the log spun. Scootaloo held on hard and rotated completely under the water, coming up the other side soaked and missing the two other passengers. Shit! "No! Hang on!" Big Mac shouted, running along the dam now and rapidly getting in front of the log. No, that would be too slow. They might not be able to get back onto it! Out of options, I jumped. Inhaling sharply, I kicked on my rebreather as I dropped the two and a half meters into the water, slipping into as best a dive as I could. The impact stung like crazy on my left leg, but I slipped under the water an instant later and looked around for any sign of the two fillies in the murky fluid. Damn it! Particles from the newly created ‘lake’ were stirred up everywhere, and I could barely see a meter in front of me! It took almost five seconds for me to get over to where they were when the log flipped, and I spotted somepony sinking slowly and kicking, righting themselves in the water. Apple Bloom knew how to swim, so I guessed that was her. I kicked sharply, redirecting my momentum and launching myself into her from underneath and a little bit behind. She flailed in surprise, but I propelled both of us back to the surface, pushing her against the log we'd come up next to. She burst into coughing and hacking, and then looked back at me with bewilderment. I didn't have time to answer anything, and kicked the log towards the now wading Big Mac before diving again. At least he was in a position to grab the thing before it went over the other side of the dam. Damn it, Sweetie! Why were you even doing this if you couldn't swim?! Ten seconds passed, then fifteen and I grew desperate. Clocky had shifted to a timer of how long it had been since Sweetie fell in. Twenty seconds was enough for somepony who actually inhaled before going under, but... My eyes flared up and I switched over to particle scanning through all the crap in the water, frustration taking hold as I couldn’t find the small filly. I made my way back to where the log had first spun again, but she was nowhere near where Apple Bloom had been. Damn it! Left and right I looked, the particle scanning barely able to pick up anything in the flurry of movement that was the dirt and wood particles in the water. I had plenty of air in my ‘tank’ from after depositing Apple Bloom, so I sank further down into the water. Thirty seconds had passed now, and I was starting to panic. Finally, after thirty five seconds, I managed to find her. Amazingly enough, she had sunk like an admirable rock, which actually took skill to do. She'd managed to sink down to the absolute deepest part of the lake, and I saw her mane tangled around a dead log wedged into the dirt. I carefully shifted my angle downwards before performing a couple calculated whips of my back legs and shooting myself down towards the thrashing filly. Sweetie Belle was upside down, and didn't seem to realize that as she flailed in blind panic, a flurry of bubbles coming from her. Her mane got wrapped around her foreleg however and whipped her sideways instead, ineffectively spinning in the water as I got closer. No bubbles came from her muzzle though, which was open in the water as her eyes were wide with panic. Shit! I hit against her a moment later and wrapped my hooves around her waist. Her eyes opened even wider and she struggled against me, flailing and hitting my left foreleg with her hoof, hard. I winced, but maintained my hold on her, deciding to attempt to get her pointed upright before breaking her free of the log. Her struggle weakened by the time I got her spun around, her eyes losing their focus as they started to roll up into her head. Forty five seconds. Her lungs were probably flooded with water at this point. Damn it, there wasn’t any choice! Adjusting my internal pressure, I inverted the value for the second and third airway on the rebreather, a vacuum forming in my lungs before I pushed my muzzle into hers, forming as tight a seal as I could. Her body spasmed weakly, but she didn't look coherent enough to even react, going limp against me. Come on, work! The pressure difference between us sucked the water from her lungs in a few seconds, and I resisted the choking sensation as it got shoved into the practical black hole that was my stomach a moment later. That was… unpleasant. The second the water stopped coming, I switched over to the rebreather instead, and felt the fresh oxygen flood into her body. At first, nothing happened apart from her lungs slowly inflating and her eyes gradually closing. Sweetie! My right hoof whipped around and whacked her in the side of the shoulder lightly. Her eyes shot open again and she gasped into an inhale against my muzzle, sudden focus shifting back into her eyes as they locked with mine. Yes! Thank you! Her eyes widened as she went rigid instead of limp, looking down at where our muzzles connected and drifting there against me with her mane and tail billowing about her in the mud. Slowly, her forelegs wrapped around my neck as I held her there, pushing as much air as I safely could into her. Seven or eight seconds later, I used my hooves to clamp her muzzle shut as I pulled back and nodded to her. It hardly took any time at all to smash apart the water-soaked log with my back hooves, and I kicked off the floor of their newly formed lake. She held on around my chest as hard as she could, and we broke through with two gasps, hers followed by coughing and hacking as she got the rest of the leftover water out of her lungs. Damn, that had been way too close! My left foreleg gave a powerful throb of protest as I winced. I turned, shoving her onto my back with my right foreleg instead, and drifted gently towards the recovering fillies and Big Mac on the dam. "Sweetie! Yer okay!" Apple Bloom called out, sitting up as she spotted us. All three of them looked like soaked rats, which I had no doubt Sweetie and I shared. She didn't reply, instead wrapping her forelegs around my neck and shivering there. It took me a second, but I heard her start to cry through the sloshing of the water in my ears. Damn it. I wished I'd been faster in finding her. Big Mac nodded towards me, then hooked my right foreleg with his and hauled me up and out of the water when we washed up at the dam. He was utterly soaked, and the sight of the log on top of the dam suddenly made me realize he'd dove in and hauled them both up along with it. Apple Bloom pounced on Sweetie instantly, but couldn't manage to dislodge her from my back. "Sweetie! It's okay. Yer safe now," she assured. Scootaloo sat up half a meter away and gave us a sad look as well. The little unicorn refused to move, however, shivering against my back and openly crying now. Frowning, I rotated her around to my front easily enough due to being soaked, and wrapped my right foreleg around her. She desperately buried her muzzle into my neck and just shivered, giving out soft sobs every few seconds. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both went quiet as they shifted forward to gently massage her back. Big Mack shook his mane a moment later, wringing some of the water from it before sitting down next to us and frowning at the little filly. He knew as much of what to do as the rest of us, it would seem. I'd seen it before, though. Almost dying was terrifying, as an understatement. Soldiers that are gravely wounded but survive went into shock sometimes, realizing exactly how close they came to dying. I'd imagine it was the same for accident survivors, like in this case. All you could do was offer comfort and support to them. I hugged her gently as the other two foals ran up as well. It didn't take long for me to be temporarily blinded by an intense flash of light. "Oh no, are you three okay?!" the pink filly asked, sliding to a stop right next to us. "I'm soaked, and freezing," Scootaloo complained, pushing harder against Sweetie and me for warmth as emphasis. Apple Bloom looked close to tears herself as she shook her head and hugged Sweetie's back. "No, we're not," she admitted weakly, pushing her nose into Sweetie’s neck as the little unicorn continued crying against me. I looked over at Big Mac and shook my head. "They need to dry off and warm up. Can you carry Apple Bloom and Scootaloo on your back?" I asked, gesturing back in the direction of camp. He nodded gently and lifted them both off me in an instant. His little sister looked like she was used to being carried, but Scootaloo looked even less pleased about the situation. "I can walk, you know," she complained weakly. "Yer in enough trouble," Big Mac warned, shutting her up instantly with the shortest sentence possible. I smiled to him as I stood up with Sweetie Belle, slipping her onto my back again before following Big Mac up the slope with a sharp limp. My left leg throbbed with each push of pressure I put on it, and I knew it would be swelled up by the time we got back to the cabins. Great. Stopping, I frowned as I turned around, looking back at the dam as the other two scampered past me. My left hoof tapped gently against the dirt and a flare of magic shot along the ground an instant later. I felt a little tired afterwards, but a small, circular hole was cleanly sliced into the bottom of the dam. The water started to pick up speed again and become like the river it was before as Big Mac and I stepped out onto the bank. "Ya sure yer gonna be able ta make it?" he asked, nodding towards my left foreleg. I glanced back at Sweetie, but she only winced and held onto me tighter, as if hearing my mental thought. Guess there was nothing else for it. I turned back to him and gave a small shrug, to which he actually smiled and nodded. "Come on, then. Ya can rest all ya want when we get back," he assured, turning and heading back towards the path. Another flash of light hit me as he moved out of the way, and I winced, blinking at the spots. "Featherweight! I know you want to put this in the paper, but stop blinding him!" the pinkish filly chastised irritably. I glanced back up at Featherweight a moment later, and he gave me a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I get excited sometimes! You're Moon Mender, right?" he asked in a rather soft and high voice, cutting in next to me as I continued walking. The second she said paper, a creeping sensation drifted into me. The last picture they got of me was manipulated into looking like some sort of monster. I sighed, but nodded. "Yes, I'm Moon Mender. You can just call me Mender, though. Featherweight, right? I'm guessing you're a reporter?" I inquired wearily, not looking at him as I focused more on not screaming every time I put my left forehoof down. Sweetie had quite a kick! Although, it would probably be hurting even if she hadn’t hit it while struggling. Glancing back to check on her again, I noticed she’d gone silent and was just shivering, clinging to my back now. She held on far tighter than she needed to, as if she’d be yanked away from me if she eased up even a little. My eyes softened as I watched her. Damn it. "Well, I want to be when I grow up! Right now I just report for the school newspaper, and give Ponyville's news a few pictures every once in a while for a bit of extra bits," Featherweight explained suddenly, snapping me out of my daze somewhat. "He doesn't give any pictures to the Canterlot papers, don't worry," the young filly said to the other side of me. Heh, she was a sharp one. I relaxed slightly, and nodded to her, getting a smile back. "I'm Berry Pinch, by the way! Just Pinch is fine. I don't think anyone from Ponyville will be giving the Canterlot newspapers much business for a while, don't worry," she added, smile widening as I snickered. "Admittedly, that wasn't a pleasant experience for me. I don't know what I did or who I upset..." I agreed, pulling up my positioning system to check where I was and how long until I could fall on my face and go to sleep for a while. I said I wanted exercise, but damn! The little filly snorted irritably and shook her head. Featherweight raised his hoof gently towards her before she could say anything, though. "Relax, Pinch. I'm gonna make sure the truth gets reported, at least in our school newspaper," he promised, noticing her irritation. She sighed at that and absently nodded as they both followed after me. It was strange, really. Honestly, I admitted that I just wanted to be a normal pony, but I guess I'd have to settle for working towards just a normal day instead. That would be tricky enough... * * * * * Admittedly, I fully surprised myself. I'd locked my jaw to prevent myself from having the urge to cry out and scream at the top of my lungs by the time we got back to the cabins. Ten minutes had expanded into almost thirty at the speed I was forced to go as the leg got worse and worse. Big Mac looked considerably concerned by the time we broke the clearing, as both my knee and ankle swelled to the point that the frame of my brace was pushing into the skin. The tissue underneath was inflamed, and I felt the blood pooling towards my hoof with every angry, hot throb. Thankfully the muscles themselves were mostly numb at this point. "Ah! You're back! You must have gotten the blockage fixed and, uh, oh no!" Carrot Top called out, grinding to a halt as she saw that five of the seven ponies walking towards her were miserably soaked. To my surprise, Nurse Redheart was not only outside, but standing by her cabin and watching the woods with a full medical supply? She perked up, then frowned as she saw us coming towards the camp, then snatched the supply saddlebags and galloped towards us. Heh. Somepony must have told her I went off into the woods, and she predicted this. Relief hit me, and my left foreleg stopped moving of its own accord. It was like I just hit a brick wall with it, and all the energy just left the muscles all at once. It refused to listen to anything more and gave out against me. Wincing, I wedged the hinge on my brace and used just the metal to support myself on that leg while I rebalanced, trying not to rouse the sleeping filly on my back. Carrot Top just turned and grabbed her entire towel basket, running over to us at the same time Nurse Redheart got there. "Lie down, Mender!" Redheart ordered, sliding to a stop in front of me. That I couldn't do. "No, Redheart. I'm sorry, but please check out Sweetie Belle first. She almost drowned," I requested, kneeling slightly to show her the soaked and unconscious filly who was still holding onto my neck. Her eyes shot open in surprise before she pulled the little unicorn off me. "Ah, no! Mender!" Sweetie screamed out practically as soon as she was lifted, snapping awake in an instant and lashing out for me in panic. W-What? "Sweetie, calm down! You're on land now, and I'm not going to take you away from Mender. I need to check you out for a moment, okay?" Nurse Redheart cooed in a gentle voice. I started to smile before the ground shook slightly and I heard a muffled yelp to my left. Eh? I hadn't been paying attention to Big Mac or the other two fillies at all. Both other Crusaders were wrapped up softly in towels, but I was surprised to discover that Big Mac had been solidly tackled to the ground by Carrot Top, who was literally making him dry off and wrap up in towels. "Y-You just cleaned these, Carrot!" he tried to protest weakly, struggling to rise again without hurting her. She smirked on top of him and rapidly shook her head, focusing her weight on awkward to turn locations on his hips and shoulders. "No problem, Macky! You need to dry off, and I won't take no for an answer," she stubbornly 'assured' in a playful tone. I snickered, realizing that Applejack's stubbornness had apparently rubbed off on Big Mac as well. They acted awfully familiar with each other, though, but I remembered that Big Mac was single. Family, maybe? In my distraction, I didn't realize my brace joint pop the other way. As it jarred me and I started to tip, I just sighed and resigned myself to the fate, attempting to land as flat as I could against my side. Spreading out the impact zone if you had to take a fall was a good way to reduce damage, I remembered. Both Nurse Redheart and Sweetie Belle yelped as I fell onto my side with a dull thud, wincing and sliding a few inches before coming to a rest. My side heaved with my breathing and I just let my whole body relax, the dull throbs dancing across my injured leg like a parade of hyper Pinkies wearing climbing spikes. Aaahh, damn! Regardless, not moving had never felt so good before. "No, Mender!" Sweetie called out, struggling against Nurse Redheart. The mare turned her over so she couldn't get traction with her hooves, and lightly pressed the stethoscope to a different location on the filly's chest. "We're almost done, Sweetie. Hang on. You've got a wheeze, but that's to be expected. No pressure damage, and it sounds like an amazing amount of water is already gone from your lungs. You're a very lucky filly," Redheart reported after another half a minute of listening. Sweetie's eyes slowly expanded more and more as she looked at me from an upside-down perspective. "Try not to think about it, Sweetie. Just rest and think of fun things," I whispered softly to her. She hesitated for a moment, but gave me a shaky nod, a soft pink tinting her cheeks a moment later. Eh? I honestly didn't want to ask what she'd suddenly decided to think about. Pinch and Featherweight attempted to circle around me, and tried to unhook the clasp on my leg brace with very little success. "Dang! How do you get this thing on and off by yourself?" Pinch asked after trying three times to get her hoof under the catch for it. "I use my magic," I shot back simply. It wasn't that far fetched for me to realize that a lot of ponies probably didn't immediately jump to the conclusion of an Earth Pony manipulating something with spells. It was probably fairly consistent in their culture that doing so was a Unicorn thing. "Mender! Big Mac!" I suddenly heard Spike call out from the direction of our cabin. A second later, I remembered that he had fingers. Wincing, I looked up at him and nodded, gesturing him towards me as he ran. His eyes widened as he saw my leg all puffed up, and he shifted his direction, skidding to a stop in front of me. "Ah! I'll get the brace off," he assured instantly, assessing the situation just as quickly as I expected from the number one assistant of Twilight. It took almost no time at all for him to snap the clasps open and unhook the brace with his claws. They were surprisingly dexterous, I realized. Sweetie embedded herself against my chest again as soon as Nurse Redheart let her go, almost running the little dragon over to get back to me. "Whoa! What happened?!" he asked after falling out of the way of the charging filly. I caught her and hugged her gently as she pushed her face into my fur again. This was starting to get a little disconcerting. "Mender s-saved my life," Sweetie Belle revealed, not moving an inch as Pinch wrapped a blanket around her from behind. Featherweight surprised me by covering me up with one as well while Redheart looked at my leg. She sighed a moment later and shook her head, giving me a skeptical look. "You walked all the way back here on it with Sweetie Belle, didn't you? Mender, you have to take it easy or you're going to damage your leg," she warned, surprising me with an uncharacteristic level of seriousness and concern. Apple Bloom yanked Spike back by the tail before he could say anything else, as I looked away from Nurse Redheart, wincing. I knew it was a bad idea, but I was worried about Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo sat next to us as well, silently watching Apple Bloom whisper into Spike's ear. She was undoubtedly relaying what happened in private so Sweetie didn't have to hear it again. At least I guessed as much, as his eyes got wider and wider the longer the filly whispered. Redheart pulled my attention back to her with a soft nudge to my shoulder a moment later. "Mender, I don't mean to sound harsh towards you. I'm just worried for you, is all. You're, well, you're not just technically my boss, but you're my friend, too. You don't take good enough care of yourself," she explained, eyes softening as she watched me. I was used to the teasing, joking Redheart, but I guessed she definitely had real aspects to herself as well that were more serious. It actually caused my respect for her to grow a bit more. I nodded to her and relaxed, gently letting my leg rest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be reckless. I couldn't let anything bad happen to anypony, but I guess I don't often consider myself in that regard," I admitted, flattening my ears back a bit, sheepishly blushing at my own silliness. My nurse giggled and nodded in return before glancing to the side. To my surprise, I hadn't seen Noteworthy walk up next to us. A stretcher rested on the ground next to me, and I saw it coming. "I'm going to keep an eye on your leg for a couple hours, to make sure the swelling goes down properly. The three fillies involved in the incident also should come along. I'd like to check everypony for injuries," the nurse explained, standing up again fully. Noteworthy smiled and nodded to me as he helped slide me over and onto the stretcher. I coughed lightly and looked away from him, a little embarrassed that I'd managed to injure myself yet again. Thankfully, he just snickered and shook his head. "You're really something, Mender," he noted. The way he said it, I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. A glance showed Nurse Redheart moving around behind me and hooking the other end of the stretcher as they lifted Sweetie and me up. For half a second, I could have sworn I saw her looking at my flank. She caught me looking at her, however and rapidly looked ahead, steering towards her cabin that doubled as the medical facility. Seriously? This was going to be a long two hours... * * * * * One hour, twelve minutes, and forty-five seconds later, I was checking the clock on every five-second mark. It had gone agonizingly slowly as I rested on a cot, the pain having long since passed in my foreleg. Sweetie Belle stayed tucked against my other foreleg, resting there and not paying much attention to the outside world. Apple Bloom sat on the cot next to us, switching repeatedly between concerned glances at Sweetie and annoyed stares at Scootaloo. Scootaloo, however, well... "Gah! This is sooooo boring! We won't go anywhere near the forest, Sweetie Belle. Let's just go out and do something! Anything!" Scootaloo continued to complain. It had been almost non-stop for the last twenty minutes, and I was starting to shiver from the blaring headache. I was tempted to flick my gravity 'just' enough to yank her tiny head into the bar of the cot and knock her out, but she was just too adorable, regardless of how annoying it was. Sure, I could just mention I had a headache and Nurse Redheart would have a dozen varying types of pain medication to me within seconds, but she was kind of scary at the moment. Even with my head down, I could hear her hooves on occasion. From the sounds of it, she was still hovering nearby, just waiting for me to request something or complain that something was hurting. I mean, dang. I thought she took medication to lessen this?! I made a mental note to never get near her when she was in full estrus. "You three can go outside if you want. I'm sure Spike wouldn't mind keeping you company," Nurse Redheart suggested softly. What, and leave me alone with her? I swallowed uneasily but didn't say anything. Sweetie Belle rapidly shook her head, however, making no effort whatsoever to even shift positions. Okay, this was starting to be a little on the strange and worrisome side. "Sweetie, are you okay? I know what you went through was scary, but you don't have to sew yourself to me, you know," I asked gently, trying to raise her head up with my hoof. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo perked up at my voice, and Scootaloo turned to look as well. Sweetie looked back up at me a moment later with absolutely massive eyes, fidgeting a little with her hooves. "B-But I don't, um, I don't feel... Does that mean you want me to leave?" she asked, eyes softening as they started to get watery instead. Aww, damn it! "Don't be silly, Sweetie Belle! He ain't gonna kick ya out. Yer just startin' ta worry us ah bit. Yer actin' weird," Apple Bloom assured to her friend, hopping off the cot and jumping up next to me, letting Sweetie Belle see her. The little unicorn's ears flattened back and she frowned, eyes starting to get more watery instead of less. I felt my chest tighten and I swallowed, really wishing she'd stop crying. "But he, um, Mender saved my life! Don't you understand? I would have... I would have drowned if it weren’t for him. I wouldn't be here!" she exclaimed, the anxiety skyrocketing in her voice as tears slipped down her cheeks again. "Now you're starting to sound like Spike did! You saw how awkward the two of them got. Do you want to freak out Mender like he did with Applejack?" Scootaloo asked, back to sounding irritated. The ears hit the back of Sweetie's head at that, and she started openly crying again. Gently, I wrapped my right foreleg around her again but she pushed it away and crawled forward instead, getting right into my face before asking, "Please, Mender! Anything. Is there anything I can do at all? I don't want to, um, be a burden and if you want me to leave, I'll go. Please!" I swallowed uneasily, trying to pull my head back into the pillow as far as it would go to keep space between us. Nurse Redheart intervened, however, walking up and sliding the little filly backwards and away from me. "No!" she squeaked out, grabbing onto my right foreleg and not letting go. "Sweetie, stop this. Relax. Did you know that Mender technically saved all of us?" Nurse Redheart asked softly. I froze for a moment before remembering that technically everypony in the room knew the majority of my secrets. The unicorn stopped struggling and gave her a questioning glance backwards. The nurse just smiled and nodded to her, making me relax a bit. She was helping? "Yup. If he hadn't stopped that female the night of the incident, she would have destroyed Ponyville. None of us would be here right now," she explained. Eh? Why was she telling her that? "Hey, yeah! We all should thank Mender!" Apple Bloom suddenly exclaimed, looking like she just realized that in the first place. What?! Nurse Redheart snickered and shook her head gently. "As much fun as that sounds, you three are about two years too young. But do you see anypony else trying so hard, Sweetie? I know it's more personal for you, but maybe you could truly pay him back by just being there for him and being friendly?" she suggested softly, giving her a soft smile. Despite being unsure of her intent with that first part, I smiled and nodded to the second. I saw what she was doing now by trying to remove the personalization. A bit backwards compared to the logic I was used to, but if it worked, who was I to argue? Sweetie Belle looked hesitant, then glanced back at me after a long few seconds. I gave her a gentle but assuring smile, hopefully. I was still uncertain of my expressions with a muzzle, despite having been here for a while now. It was the subtle things that were hard to grasp. "But, Mender-" Sweetie Belle tried to interrupt. Nurse Redheart shook her head, cutting the filly off with, "No, Sweetie Belle. You're not staying this close to Mender for Mender's sake, are you? This is for you." Eh?! Wait, why was she staying here with me if not for me? Was she still frightened over what happened? "What? Yes I am! It's just-" she tried to continue. Apple Bloom cut her off this time. "Sweetie, yer not bein' truthful. Ya know better than this. Tha rest o' us know why you're doin' this," she pointed out. Oh, they did? I weighed the social stigma around asking them why she was staying. Would that be rude? I couldn't decide, and didn't want to offend any of them. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and sighed, also adding, "After Rarity kissed him, you've been talking a lot about it, remember?" Sweetie Belle flattened her ears back further, backing away from them and back into my chest as she blushed lightly. Rarity? When she kissed me? "Wait, she what? Is Mender's herd 'open' in that regard?" Nurse Redheart asked suddenly, widening her eyes a little. Open? Eh, I was getting confused, so I just decided to ignore her for now. Sweetie Belle was having trouble with Rarity, then? What in Equestria did that have to do with me?! My brain wracked itself trying to think of anything at all I'd heard between Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Twilight had mentioned a really bad fight a while back where they almost stopped being sisters, but I thought that had been patched up. Oh! Oh... Oh no. I suddenly realized what she was talking about! "But I... he... under the lake he-" Sweetie started, before I interrupted her this time. "Sweetie, if you're having a fight with Rarity, you really need to patch it up. I know I don't have a little sister or anything, but that doesn't mean it's okay to declare me a big brother or something. Rarity is your actual sister, so you need to work things out. I can try talking to her if you want," I offered, attempting a reassuring but stern tone. Four blank looks greeted me, and I hesitated, coughing lightly a moment later. "Um, what?" Nurse Redheart asked awkwardly, tilting her head in confusion at me. Okay, had I gotten that wrong? "Ah! No! I don't want you as a big brother, Mender!" Sweetie Belle squeaked out in shock a moment later, before suddenly smashing both hooves into her muzzle and blushing rather impressively. Scootaloo started snickering in amusement, and I frowned. That was a rather… negative reaction to that. Was she…? "Oh, um, it's okay to tell me, Sweetie. If you don't like me, you don't have to keep doing this for appearances or anything," I explained, ears dropping back again. Was that what this was about? She appeared to really regret saying that. Apple Bloom slapped her forehead, and Scootaloo fell over sideways as she laughed hysterically. Ugh. Okay, I was just going to stop talking. I was just making an idiot of myself, I realized with a hint of bitterness. "No, Mender! I really like you! I really do... it... but under the lake you... you kissed me!" she squeaked, the blush getting worse suddenly. My eyes expanded rapidly, at the same time Scootaloo's laughter was disrupted by a choking, coughing noise instead. Apple Bloom's head shot up in a second, her eyes widening about as fast as mine. Redheart gave Sweetie a skeptical glance instead, however. "W-What?! Sweetie, that wasn't a kiss," I tried to explain, feeling myself pale a little. Oh hell. Was I in trouble for using the rebreather now?! "I'm guessing you suddenly found yourself able to breathe again at the same time?" Nurse Redheart asked, ignoring the ringing sound as Scootaloo sat up into the underside of the cot next to us and whacked herself in the forehead, yelping lightly. Apple Bloom relaxed on the mattress and nodded, eyes softening visibly. Sweetie nodded rapidly, however. "Yeah! He shared his air with me through a kiss! It was so romantic!" she exclaimed, eyes getting bigger again. I resisted slapping my forehead. Did she think I liked her 'like that' now? So she was staying close to me because she thought I liked it and owed me for saving her life? That didn't sit well with me at all. "Sweetie, I have a rebreather system built into me that can provide an air supply. You, um, weren't looking so good when I finally got to you and I didn't have a choice," I tried to explain gently, rubbing her on the shoulder with my right forehoof. Scootaloo was apparently just fine, as she started snickering again after Apple Bloom pulled her out from under the cot by hooking their tails. The little filly blushed even more and shook her head at me, edging closer. "No, I know it was needed. You saved me with it. I-I don't mind at all," she assured, the flush creeping up the bridge of her nose now, connecting the two tones on her cheeks. I suddenly wasn't entirely sure what the problem was, and got confused again. Nurse Redheart sighed and thankfully started talking before I could shove my hoof down my throat again. "Sweetie, it's a medical technique. It's not meant to be a kiss, and there are a lot of differences between the two. He was forming a seal with your muzzle so he could get you fresh air," she explained gently, pulling the little filly back and hugging her lightly around the shoulders. Sweetie's eyes widened a little and she shook her head rapidly. "No he... he meant it as a kiss, right?" she asked, suddenly sounding unsure. The blush faded and her eyes started to water again. My mind blanked for a second as I stared at her. Wait, she wanted it to be a kiss?! Wasn't she too young to want that sort of thing? It suddenly all snapped into place almost instantly. The reason she spent more time with me; the reason she stayed so close to me; it was all because she had a crush on me?! A little pang went through me as I realized that she hadn't been spending so much time with me exactly for the reason I thought she had been. "I, um, understand now. I'm flattered Sweetie, but," I started. Her ears drooped as she stopped fighting Nurse Redheart and sank lower. I swallowed painfully, but shook my head. "You're too young, Sweetie. You're a nice filly and I like hanging out with you, but I think you should wait a couple of years. Um, you shouldn't try to pursue just a crush anyway," I explained, struggling to find any wording I could to upset her the least. Her sudden frown told me distinctly that I had failed. "He's right, Sweets. Ah told ya that ya needed ta wait an' be sure, not ta mention it ain't legal anyway," Apple Bloom muttered, looking a little sad herself. Oh yeah, it wasn't legal, either. Yeah, that was important, too. I nodded in agreement. Sweetie looked downright angry now, glaring over at Apple Bloom before yelling, "It's not a crush, and I'm old enough! I, um, I love Mender! I'll share him with Fluttershy and Twilight and not get in their way! It can work..." I winced at the volume, while Scootaloo looked at her like she'd lost her mind. I chalked another day off the attempt at that whole 'normal' thing, and resigned myself to thinking of a way to appease the little filly. "Sweetie, you could get Mender in trouble by trying, and you don't want that, right? We understand you really do have feelings for Mender and, if you still feel the same in two years when you're old enough, I'm sure he'll talk to you about it then, okay?" Redheart suggested, sounding remarkably reasonable even with the awkward situation. I didn't know how true what she said was, however. I'd never even considered Sweetie Belle like that, as she was far too young in my eyes. Maybe if she were older, though. Sweetie hesitated, and then looked towards me again. I nodded, accepting the idea. It was just talking to her about it, and she was my friend. I didn't have any problem just talking to her and working through this. If I liked her then, well, I don't know. It was impossible for me to think of what I might do. Even two years older, she still felt a little on the young side, but I didn't know how much of that was me being biased due to her being really young right now. Did foals hit a growth spurt or something around this time? Sweetie Belle stared at me for a moment before her eyes softened and lowered. I hesitated, feeling like she just shoved a shard of ice into my chest. It looked like days of happiness wilted off of her in seconds before she managed a barely visible nod. My mind wracked itself trying to think of anything I could do or say to cheer her up. I saw another tear slip down her cheek and she suddenly winced as if burned by something. In one fluid motion, she spun around and dove off the other side of the cot. "Sweetie!" Scootaloo shouted out, leaping after her. Both fillies were gone out the door of the cabin in an instant, before I could even right myself into a stiff sitting position. My mouth remained hanging open as I blinked, then frowned at the sudden silence. Turning to look back at the other two, I saw both Apple Bloom and Nurse Redheart held a rather unsure look. Why did this keep happening to me?! With a frustrated groan, I fell forwards onto my face on the cot… Chapter 46Silence prevailed for a moment as my head spun, unable to quite comprehend just how fast that had escalated. Apple Bloom sighed softly, walking around to the other side of my cot before muttering, "That really got outta hoof." "Oh dear. You two stay here, okay? I'm going to go make sure she's all right," Nurse Redheart instructed, trotting towards the door. "Eh?! Ah can go check on her. Shouldn't ya stay with Mender in case his leg hurts or somethin'?" Apple Bloom questioned, tilting her head at Redheart. Uh oh. Even with my incredibly oblivious nature, that sounded like a bad idea. The nurse hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and admitting, "Uh, actually Mender is fine and could have left an hour ago. Um, sorry. I'll go talk to Sweetie.” I fell into a deadpan stare as she hastily retreated out the door as well. A certain awkward silence prevailed both in the room and in my head for a moment. "Yer popular with tha mares, lately. This is scary," Apple Bloom suddenly murmured, sitting down again and exhaling sharply. I stared at her briefly before falling forward onto my face. "Why?! What is going on?" I asked into the blankets, frustration swelling up in me. This didn't make any sense! I started to seriously consider if I was flat out cursed by something. It was a wonderful explanation for the boundless bad luck, too. "Mah brother guessed it was due ta ah negative backlash from tha public smear campaign. He said that sociology indicated that ponies would naturally be more inclined-like towards ah pony they believe 'suffered unjustly an' unduly'. Makes 'em somethin' of an underdog, whatever that means. Plus, yer real nice an' polite, an' try ta do good by other ponies. Oh, but that last part's mah own input," she explained, nodding twice and shooting me a smile when she was done. I gave her a blank stare for a moment before slowly blinking. Well, huh. Okay, that theory did make a lot of sense. So because those Canterlot Newspapers tried to lie about me, it made ponies angry, so they were more inclined to see me in a positive light? Reverse logic, it would seem. I hadn't of course considered Big Mac simple prior, but I definitely realized that he was just a stallion of few words. Behind those gentle eyes lay an extremely calculating intelligence. A moment passed, and I smiled at her, nodding again. "That's actually pretty smart. Your brother has a lot of sides he doesn't like showing to others, I notice," I deduced, tilting my head towards the little filly. She looked momentarily surprised before giggling and nodding. "Yup! Mah Big Brother is really smart! Nice and protective, too. He takes care o' tha fancy mathematics on tha farm, with tha bits an' all. Him an' AJ fight about that ah lot," she explained, flattening her ears back momentarily and shaking her head. I raised an eyebrow, and then sat up again, starting to feel a little better overall. Redheart was a responsible adult. Surely she could talk Sweetie into feeling better. I just hoped the little filly would still want to hang around me after all this. "Oh, nothin' serious. He just gets mad at her sometimes. Says somethin' 'bout her bein' ah... Oh, what did he call it? Ah 'spontaneous spender', Ah think. Somethin’ about needin’ ta think through deals better. Oh, he was right furious 'bout tha conveyor thingy, too!" the little filly exclaimed, shivering slightly in front of me. Oh, that? Heh. Honestly, her being spontaneous with the spending didn't surprise me. She didn't seem to have very good money instincts when it came to judging the honesty of a sales pitch, it would seem. "I'd imagine, but surely he realized that wasn't entirely Applejack's fault. That stallion scammed and tricked her," I pointed out. Apple Bloom smiled and nodded, of course. The door opened gently a moment later, and I looked past her, hopeful that I'd see Redheart walking back in with the two fillies. To my surprise, it was Spike instead, with Tank following after. After I'd gotten settled into the clinic, he told me he was going to take Tank out for some exercise, but I hadn't anticipated him back so soon. Apple Bloom paid no attention whatsoever and continued regardless. "Yeah, he knew that. Oh, was he angry with tha stallion, too! Granny tried ta stop him, but it was no use. He got Caramel, Noteworthy, an' Carrot together an' went ta confront tha stallion," she relayed, looking rather giddy at that outcome. Heh, I imagine she wanted to see the guy get punished for tricking her sister, too. "Oh, are you talking about that creep who tricked AJ?" Spike asked, walking up and hopping onto the end of the bed. Tank hovered down slowly and landed between the three of us on the cot, his weight shifting me slightly forwards. Thankfully, those blades stopped spinning almost instantly and folded up into the top of his shell before he sliced somepony's forelegs off. Apple Bloom nodded softly towards him, still grinning in amusement. "Yup! It was awesome! He told me not ta follow, o' course, but tha Crusaders just had ta see what was gonna happen! All three o' us an' Sis slipped out after them," she continued, deeply enjoying her story. I smiled, somewhat amused at the other perspective on the event I already knew about. "Applejack went, too?" Spike asked, tilting his head gently. Apple Bloom absently started playing with Tank's leg as she nodded. "Yeah, she was darn curious as ta what her brother was gonna do. We were rather impressed that all he did was talk ta tha jerk," she informed, looking a bit surprised. I raised an eyebrow, and she coughed and looked away slightly. "Okay, okay. Ah know. 'Talk' was ah bit o' an understatement. More yelled. Still!" she amended after a moment's hesitation. I snickered and nodded, having already predicted that due to her 'protective' statement earlier. She kept going, regardless, with, "O' course, tha slimy bugger started tryin' ta talk fancy with all sorts o' trick questions an' loopholes, sayin' she never 'asked' fer tha rest o' tha parts or tha manual, an' he ain't obligated ta look out on account fer her 'foolishness'. That made AJ mad! Oh boy..." My eyes widened, and scenes of horrible, awe-inspiring violence played out in my mind. "Yikes! Applejack didn't tell me that she attacked the guy," I muttered, looking a little surprised. She must have just avoided saying anything about it. She was terrible at lying, after all. Spike nodded in agreement at the same time. Apple Bloom snickered and scoffed, shaking her head. "She probably would'a, but she didn't get tha chance. Carrot bucked him out flat in an instant, an' then proceeded ta stomp him inta tha dirt. She gets right scary when somepony uses underhoofed tactics!" she chirped, giggling afterwards. Spike and I both paled a little, staring in surprise at the little filly, who only giggled harder at our reactions. Carrot...? She was the one who attacked first?! "What? For true! It took both Noteworthy an' mah brother ta haul her off him, an' he was ah bad sight by then! Thankfully, they patched him up at tha hospital fer free before runnin' him outta town fer not doin' honest business. That's an offense 'ere!" Apple Bloom assured, smirking at both of us. "Wow, that's, uh, a little scary, considering she seemed so nice earlier. Why did she even listen to me?" I thought, mostly to myself out loud, if that made sense. "She has ah lot o' respect fer ya, Mender! She was impressed by yer manners an' inta.. intey... morals! Ya forgave her right quick, she said, an' honestly meant it. Not some guilt drivin' or somethin'. She said she believes exactly who ya say ya are," she continued to explain, surprising me a little bit. Even though it wasn't the entire truth, even I didn't believe that Celestia had given me the position she had. It was a little surprising that a stranger did so readily. Spike thought for a moment before nodding and smiling. "You Apples are definitely a strong bunch. Even the distant relations. I wish more ponies were as honest and loyal," he muttered gently. Distant relations? "Oh, Golden Harvest must be a relative?" I inquired, jumping on the opportunity to ask now that somepony, or somedrake else had brought up the topic. The filly nodded and smiled towards me, informing, "Yup! Just call her Carrot Top or Carrot, though. She grows ah lot o' things, but Carrots are her specialty! Plus, she thinks tha nickname's cute 'cause o' her mane. She's mah cousin!" "Heh. I'll call her anything she wants so long as she doesn't buck me into the ground," Spike assured, causing Apple Bloom to burst into a fit of giggles and nods. Heh, her family really was something else. Of course, now I was glad that I had helped her with the loft and conveyor. "Did Big Mac forgive Applejack for the conveyor thing after we got it working, by the way? We kind of got sidetracked before you could finish that part," I suddenly reminded, hoping that the girls and I had relieved some of the tension amidst the Apple household. The little filly continued snickering for a bit before finally nodding twice. "He was right unsure about it really workin' fer ah while, but tha second we got done packin' up tha first o' tha apple shipments up fer delivery usin' it, he plum dropped tha subject! O' course, that might'a had somethin' ta do with tha fact that we finished it in two days instead o' tha week it usually takes us, an' didn't have ta bring in extra help," she informed, smiling happily towards the end. I grinned and nodded to her, feeling happy that we'd managed to make the thing work. It was an uphill battle for a good half dozen hours or so, but I guess it was worth it, then! "I hope the machine didn't take away anypony's jobs," I suddenly muttered, the fact that they'd not hired the usual help suddenly dawning on me. Spike snickered and shook his head instead, surprising me. "I wouldn't worry about that. I've heard Applejack talking about that at the 'Third Week of Fall, Start Talking About Getting Ready to Welcome Winter” party Pinky throws each year. She feels terrible about having to bring in family to help, hauling them away from their own shipment packaging, and usually pays them three times the normal rate," he relayed. Several aspects of that statement hurt my head, and I frowned, rubbing my temple. Okay, so not only did Applejack pay family to come here and help pack up apples with them, but she paid them three times more than a pony she could get from Ponyville and, I had no doubt at all in my mind, paid their traveling expenses and room and board. I was beginning to realize why Applejack was a little bad with bits. Also, more importantly, seriously, Pinkie?! "Yup! Spike's right. Feedin' all those ponies also takes ah lot o' work! Big Mac keeps tryin' ta find local ponies ta help, but apart from Carrot, Caramel, an' Noteworthy, not ah lot o' them are up fer tha heavy labor, usually. My brother finally admitted that this is good fer everypony, all around," Apple Bloom continued, frowning a bit while she thought deeply about something, it looked like. "Well, I'm glad that the machine helps that much. I hadn't realized what a big deal it was when I was helping put it together," I admitted, frowning a little, myself. Her trying to pay me for it kind of made a bit more sense in perspective, I suddenly realized. I just kind of assumed it was a silly side project that they didn't have much overhead sunk into. Dang. I hadn't even realized I was assuming that time! Apple Bloom surprised me by groaning instead, slapping her forehoof to her face a moment later. Both Spike and I gave her a questioning look, but Tank seemed indifferent. Or bored. Or plotting the noisy ponies' deaths. No, I was gonna go with indifferent. "Don't remind me! Ah really do love mah sister, but sometimes she gets downright aggravatin'-like! She went on an' on fer days about what she did ta ya, after ya did everything right an' helped us so much. She practically worked herself inta exhaustion every day over it, an' was too stubborn ta see sense in ya maybe, just maybe, not bein' as mad as she thought over it all," the little filly suddenly started ranting. My eyes widened the longer she went on. Twilight and Rainbow had said she was hard on herself, but I guess Apple Bloom had firsthoof account of it, living with her and all. It was unnerving, ultimately. I felt badly over making her worry that much, yes, but the truly unreal part I couldn't wrap my head around was the fact that she reacted like that to begin with. What made me so important as to cause a pony to do that to themselves? Maybe it wasn't me exactly, and more of a morals thing? That would make more sense. "Is she doing any better now that her and Mender are talking again?" Spike asked softly, snapping me out of my inner turmoil with a question I was very much interested in as well. Apple Bloom frowned, however, her eyes softening before she shrugged lightly. That wasn't a positive reaction... "She's sleepin' more normal hours now, but still gets up two hours before tha rest o' us an' is out workin' before Ah even wake up. Sometimes Ah get woken up ta her screamin' about Mender, too. Big Brother always rushes inta her room ta calm her down afterwards, but he won't tell me anything about it. Ah think she's dreamin' 'bout that night," she deduced, looking up at me gently. My eyes were even wider now, and I flattened my ears back before swallowing. That night was monstrous, for sure. But if she was having repeating nightmares about it, maybe she needed to talk to somepony? I shivered, but nodded a moment later, looking back down at the filly. "I think I'll talk to her when we get back. Maybe if we, well, talk about some of the things that happened that night, she'll feel better," I reasoned, not really sure if that was the case, but I had to do something. I was the reason that night even existed. I had been Nirru's target, and technically Applejack had just gotten caught up in all of it by accident. Apple Bloom looked momentarily stunned, but quickly started smiling again and nodded. "That would be amazin', Mender! Ya really are ah swell stallion. Even if things don't always work out, ya always try ta do tha right thing, an' that's what's important," she complimented, causing me to flush lightly. It wasn't as overblown a compliment as I'd gotten before, but something about who was saying it and the way she said it made it feel ultimately sincere in comparison. I couldn't think of anything to say in reply to that, but thankfully Spike beat me to it with an impish snicker. "Sheesh, AB, I could'a told ya that! Just look at whom he's dating. Fluttershy trusts him enough to fall asleep right up against him, and Twilight's actually giving dating a try in the first place! Nothing has ever gotten Twilight to move a priority up four hundred and ninety-three places before! So there has to be a lot of good about Mender," he deduced. My head couldn't wrap itself around that, either. That was, but, wait, she moved me up... She kept a list of almost five hundred priorities for herself?! No, wait, that part didn't surprise me anywhere as much as it should have. She moved me up that far in the list?! Suddenly, I couldn't get the heat to die down in my cheeks in the slightest, and I felt a little dizzy. She really cared about me that much?! Apple Bloom momentarily looked as shocked as I did, but then she looked over at me and burst into a fit of laughter. Spike glanced over at her reaction, and also started laughing as I flattened my ears back. "H-Hey! Stop it! It's just, honestly I didn't realize that she, um," I muttered, trying to defend myself before realizing I didn't exactly understand how I considered her before in the first place. "Of course she likes ya ah lot! That much is obvious. Ah lot o' ponies like ya once ya talk ta 'em. Even mah quiet brother has been talkin' 'bout ya ah little," Apple Bloom reminded, recovering from her laughing fit but still grinning. I coughed and rolled my eyes, finally fighting the heat down in my head. "Not everypony likes me, or there wouldn't have been that whole smear campaign and angry mob thing. Plus, a lot of ponies would change their minds amazingly fast if they knew what I actually was," I reasoned, relaxing slightly into a laying position. "Hey, those fliers were enchanted, right?" Spike asked, frowning at me as I lay down. I sighed and shook my head towards him, explaining, "They were, but they only encouraged the behavior. The distrust and anger had to at least be there a little bit for them to work as well as they did." Twilight had said as much after scanning the one. Why had I earned so much distrust and hatred in the first place? Did somepony figure out what I was? The little filly scoffed and shook her head rapidly. "No way! Ah bet that if tha stupid fliers were tried again now, they wouldn't have no effect at all!" she vehemently corrected. I stared at her for a moment before smiling and nodding. "I'm happy enough knowing that they wouldn't have any effect on you two, at the very least. Thank you," I added. Apple Bloom shifted into a warm smile at me, and Spike shot me a grin as he flopped over on top of Tank's shell. The tortoise seemed unfazed in the slightest by the sudden impact, and didn't appear to be straining at all. How strong was he? Dang. If anything, I could have sworn I saw him slowly start to smile back at Spike, but the movement was far too slow to be sure of. I guess he was only fast while flying. A lazy five seconds passed before Spike slid over the shell and landed gently on his back on the cot right in front of me, with both of us looking down at him, and Tank slowly turning to glance at the claw that flopped over near his head. "It's cool, Dude. We so have your back if they try anything again," he assured, earning a snicker of amusement from Apple Bloom. "Ya mean on his back as he runs away with us, right? Ah ain't anywhere as good ah fighter as mah Sis, yet, remember?" she reminded. I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head at her, and she smirked, ignoring Spike's scowl at the attack against his ego. "Ya didn't realize? Sis is ah really good fighter. Wrestlin' an' hoof combat are two o' tha events she always comes back with ah blue ribbon in! She can stand hoof ta hoof against mah brother 'cause o' that, despite him bein' so much bigger. He's ah lot better at tha fancy mathematics, though," she explained, shifting at the end as if suddenly realizing she should complement both of her siblings. Admittedly, I wasn't too surprised. I'd seen her extremely practiced stance and movements when she put Nirru through a tree, and I guess I'd never really thought about it after that. Of course, I'd been busy bleeding out at the time, so I might not have given it as much attention as I should have. Her not being good at the 'fancy mathematic' didn't surprise me, either. "It makes sense. She handed Nirru her flank that night after getting free. That's why she hauled me off into the forest in the first place. She was running away," I revealed, smiling at the two of them as their grins got even wider. I figured they'd like hearing that. "Sis is real tough! Ah'm not surprised Nirru ran away," the filly chirped proudly, smiling and nodding twice to me. Of course, we were also lucky that the target of her mission, me, was right next to Applejack. Nirru couldn't use her magic with me that close and risk reducing me to ash before she got what she wanted. I decided to change the topic before I got depressed again. "Big Mac does the bookkeeping on the farm if he's that good with mathematics, right? Why didn't he think of automating the process before now?" I inquired suddenly, tilting my head at the filly. There had to be a reason behind it, and it made me curious enough to pull my mind away from the bad memories again. Apple Bloom looked momentarily confused before shaking her head. "He did think o' that. He ain't good with tha' engineerin' part, though. Ponyville doesn't have an engineer pony ta help build complicated thingies, so he didn't even have anypony ta hire available," she explained, with Spike nodding along in agreement. I considered it for a bit before hesitantly nodding as well. "Maybe I'll get a lot of business, then, if demand's high enough. I don't see where a lot of ponies would need fancy machines, though, so I was kind of hoping my enchantments would make it a bit more lucrative," I muttered, mostly talking to myself again. It felt good to get it out of my head and into the open air again. Almost like it made the aspect clearer. What I needed to do, anyway. Apple Bloom smiled and nodded rapidly before assuring, "Heck yeah! Tha Cakes didn't even wait fer ya ta advertise, an' Big Mac was already talkin' about two other projects he wanted ta hire ya for after yer done with that an' all." Oh. Well then, that was more than a little surprising to me. She giggled, and I realized my expression must have blanked when I heard it. "Sorry. I just didn't expect him to want to hire me. It felt more like Applejack was the one pushing for it," I explained, frowning to myself. "Rarity, too," Spike suddenly spoke up, then explained, "She was talking about you to a lot of the ponies that visited the boutique during her 'open house' event. They were asking about the 'indestructible suit' you had been wearing in Canterlot, and she advertised your business specialty afterwards, as she put it." A part of me was a little saddened that they were impressed with the levels of shields she had to throw onto the suit to make it resist the epitome of bad luck that was myself. I slapped my forehead lightly, and he snickered. Apple Bloom just smiled, however, and nodded. "Ah told ya my brother is real smart. He saw what ya did fer us, an' was impressed by yer morals! He might not say so, but Ah can tell! He knows yer smart, too, an' good with tha machines an' stuff. Ah think he's been waitin' fer an opportunity like this fer ah while," she guessed, looking really happy about the prospect. I smiled and nodded towards her, taking a shot in the dark. "I'm guessing it'll make it easier on all four of you if he automates a few things?" She probably had a few chores she'd have no qualms with automating, too. Heh. She smiled but shook her head again. "It might, but that ain't tha important part. Ah bit more free time means Ah might get ta spend more time with mah brother an' sister. They're too busy usually durin' this time o' year ta play with me much, is all." Oh. I frowned lightly at her softening eyes, and she suddenly snapped back to attention, shaking her head rapidly and holding up a hoof. "Oh, no, it's not all bad. Ah mean, they're takin' care o' me by workin' so hard, plus we all get ta see each other an' talk durin lunch an' dinner. Oh, an' Applejack walks tha three o' us ta school each day, an' Big Mac helps me on mah math homework and.... such....." she started to append, before trailing off into a blank look, then deflating rapidly where she sat, flopping onto her stomach and chin. Well, I had been smiling at her up until that point. "Er, is something the matter, Apple Bloom?" I asked hesitantly, raising an eyebrow to her. She stayed like that for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Ya can just call me 'AB' if ya want ta. Ah just remembered Cheerilee gave us math homework over this vacation, an' Ah don't have it done yet," she murmured, sounding utterly depressed. As happy as I was at being upgraded to nickname status, I felt bad that she suddenly felt bad. I considered it for a moment before realizing I wasn't entirely sure what the problem was. "Why don't you just do it now, then?" I inquired, sitting upright again and cracking my back. As much as resting felt nice, staying in one position for too long reminded me of the hospital. Of course, that statement was a bit ironic when I considered the building I was sitting in right now. "Ah can't! It's almost an honored tradition fer tha three o' us ta wait until tha absolute last minute, panic, an' then do it all tha night before!" she explained. Both Spike and I gave her blank stares, and she coughed lightly. "Oh fine. Ah'm confused over it, an' Sweetie Belle an' Scootaloo are even further back in tha assignment. Ah was hopin' ta ask mah brother ta help, but he ain't done repairin' all tha farmin' tools yet," she added, that one making a bit more sense to me. Spike snickered and asked, "Wouldn't it be better to get all of the boring homework out of the way as fast as possible so you three could play all you wanted without having to worry?" Exactly! That made the most sense to me. Although both of us were starting to sound like Twilight now, prioritizing things. Wasn't he as old as they were? He should be slacking off, too, then. I guess he was raised far differently. Heh. Apple Bloom thought about it for almost thirty seconds. Honestly, I was a little saddened that she had to consider the logic involved for that long. She must really... value... procrastination? My head was starting to hurt again, so I just let her think in silence. Eventually, she hesitantly nodded and admitted, "Well, that would be awfully nice. If Ah could get mah brother ta help us, we could get it done real fast! Ah should talk ta them about it later after all this blows over," she pondered out loud. Oh yeah... Spike got a curious look, but I so didn't want to talk about that topic and rapidly changed the subject back again. "Why don't you go get the assignment right now? I'm assuming you brought it with you. You can get it done right now instead, and then prove how smart you are by helping Sweetie and Scootaloo figure out the problems later," I suggested, smiling softly at her. She perked up at that idea, and Spike snickered again, letting me breathe a sigh of relief in my mind. Apple Bloom frowned a moment later, however, and looked back up at me. "But Ah'm confused by it. That doesn't sound very smart ta me. How am Ah gonna figure it out by myself first?" she asked, eyes softening yet again. "Oh, that's easy. You won't have to figure it out by yourself, Silly. By being an engineer, I'm quite good with the 'fancy mathematics' as well. I'll help you figure it out if you want," I offered, giving her an assuring smile again. That would help her with her problem, and give Big Mac more time to work on the repairs in a stress-free environment! While the three of them were absolutely adorable, I realized how distracting they could be sometimes. Her eyes expanded considerably as she gasped. "You'd do that fer me? Fer true?" she asked in disbelief. Okay, speaking of adorable... I had to swallow weakly and close my eyes for a second before I could manage a nod. "Of course, Apple Bloom. You're my friend and fellow Crusader. I'd help you with anything," I assured. Especially if she looked at me like that. There wasn't even a choice. I'd have to, or my heart would explode out of my chest. She beamed at me before ducking forwards and hugging my uninjured foreleg tightly. "Oh, thank ya, thank ya, thank ya! Ah'll go git it right now!" she exclaimed. I didn't even have time for my eyes to focus again before she shot off the cot and bounded out the door, the wind from her passing blowing it shut again, impressively enough. Wow. Dang, that filly could run! I thought Sweetie had been fast. Maybe it was an Earth Pony thing, but they seemed almost unsurpassed in all things physical and ground based. "Wow, she gets really excited easily. I thought you were gonna melt if she looked at you too much harder!" Spike exclaimed, snickering at me. I rolled my eyes, giving him a playfully annoyed glare. "Oh shush. I imagine you'd do almost anything if Rarity asked you nicely," I reminded, causing him to grin and nod. Heh. While the motivations were different, as a fellow male, he could understand. He was swooning, and I was reeling from cuteness overload. Close enough. "Hey, it's cool. I understand. They've gotten me a couple times with their stares, too. They can be scary cute when they want to be!" he warned, shuddering lightly. We shared a moment of mutual silence and understanding before both of us nodded to each other. It was very much a common problem. In that moment, I sensed a true bond between us, as two fellow males having troubles resisting the various wiles of the females. It was truly a noble, elegant thing. He stared at me for a moment before suddenly averting his eyes a few seconds later. "So, what's up with Sweetie and Scootaloo?" he suddenly asked. ...damn it. * * * * * "Wheeee!" I absently watched as he sailed across the room, hanging upside down from Tank's feet. The tortoise looked rather entertained, given the soft smile, and seemed to genuinely enjoy carrying the dragon around. Maybe it was an ego thing? How many tortoises actually got to say that they carried a dragon? Through the sky, nonetheless. Apple Bloom smiled as she watched them as well for a moment before continuing to unpack her papers. The mathematics on the page were more than familiar enough to me. It looked like she had multiplication and division down, and was just starting on the very basic most algebra. "I'm surprised Sweetie Belle finally confessed, even if it was under misconceptions. I still don't fully get why you told her no," Spike muttered again as he drifted past. Neither of us looked up as I helped her organize her pages. Five sheets worth of algebra. That hopefully wouldn't take too long at all! "She's too young. He said that already, Spike. Ah understand it, really," Apple Bloom reminded, smiling at me as I set her last sheet down in order. Spike sighed as he rotated around in place, dangling his back legs down for a moment before haphazardly dropping down to the cot instead. I put my hoof down on the papers as the cot was jarred from the impact, and made sure they all stayed in one place. AB grinned and hopped up onto the bed as well, in a far smoother manner, of course. "I get that. But why didn't you just tell her to wait a couple years?" he asked, apparently confused at my wording earlier. "I did. Honestly, I tried to word it as nicely as I could and make sure she knew I didn't 'not' like her or anything. I've just, well, never considered her like that before. Again, she's too young for me to even think about like that," I explained, expanding it a bit more this time. Apple Bloom nodded twice at me and smiled yet again. "That's ah good thing! She's just hurt, is all. She'll come around," she assured me, settling into a sitting position. Exhaling, I managed to nod softly to her. "I know. It just makes me wish I could do something to make her feel better. Or at least that Redheart would get back and report in about them! She's been gone, like, half an hour," I complained, frowning as I consulted Clocky again. Apple Bloom started giggling and nodded, but Spike shrugged next to me. I ducked again absently as Tank drifted past overhead and landed in the sink I'd filled up with water a bit ago for him. "Maybe she had to use the bathroom after she found them?" the little dragon suggested absently. I raised an eyebrow to him and questioned, "For a half an hour?" I'd heard of taking your time, especially if you had good reading material, but dang. He nodded towards me and added, "Yeah, I think it's an estrus thing. Back in Canterlot, Twilight once stopped me just as we were about to go out and go shopping and ran into the bathroom. She was in there for, like, forty-five minutes! I was about to go find a nurse to go check on her in case she fell or something, but she finally came out." Whoa, seriously? "That's weird. I wonder why it takes them so long," I muttered, frowning. Honestly, I couldn't think of any sort of biological purpose for slowing down excrement release during an estrus cycle. "Seriously? Ah thought Sis was tha only one who did that! Ah was helpin' her gather up ah load o' apples fer harvest last year at tha beginnin' o' heat season, an' she suddenly snuck off ta tha west field's outhouse fer like, an hour! Ah was gonna go get help 'cause she took so long an' started groanin' in there, but she just told me everything was all right an' ta go wait by tha buckets..." Apple Bloom furthered, looking surprised. Groaning?! "Yeah, Twilight was making noises too! It must really hurt or something," Spike agreed, frowning to himself. Pain didn't seem normal. I frowned as well, and then swallowed. Did it cause some sort of inflammation or something? What purpose would that serve? Regardless, it didn't sound pleasant at all. Maybe I should ask Twilight about it when I got back? "Ah so don't wanna go inta heat. If even goin' ta tha bathroom is miserable, ah don't wanna know what it feels like, normally!" Apple Bloom whined, lowering herself to the cot and shivering as she probably imagined horrible agony. I set a hoof down on her head and rubbed gently, smiling down at her. "It's natural, AB. Part of growing up and becoming a mare. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it being painful, just as well as I'm sure there's something you can do to make it less so. I can't imagine nopony's thought of any way to lessen the effects," I pointed out, wishing I knew more about it so I could comfort her. She smiled at me and relaxed a little, shivering just once more against my hoof. Spike grinned and nodded, nudging my back thigh as I sat with his elbow. "He's right, ya know. If anypony knew how best to deal with it, it would be Twilight. She's really smart! We should go ask her when this estrus is over," he suggested, not realizing how close he was to what I had already planned to do. Apple Bloom perked up and nodded happily at both of us, seemingly relieved that she didn't have to face it alone, anyway. "Ah think that's ah wonderful idea. Both o' ya are right kind fer helpin' me. Thank ya, both," she agreed, giving us both a sincere looking smile. Spike returned it and I nodded to her before nudging the piles of papers her way. "Let us help you more, then. If you can get these out of the way, imagine how smart you'll feel when helping Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. I can't give you the answers, of course, but I can certainly help you figure them out for yourself. So long as you promise not to just give them the answers, either," I explained, raising an eyebrow to her. She sat upright again and placed a hoof over her chest, going into the all too familiar motions. "Cross mah heart an' hope ta fly, stick ah cupcake in mah eye! Ah promise truly not ta cheat in any way!" she promised. I was impressed by her honesty and nodded to her. She really did take after her sister. Well, they said imitation was the most sincere form of flattery. I didn't know who 'they' was in that regard, but it was correct. She must really look up to Applejack. "Good girl. Are we ready to begin then?" I asked pleasantly, kind of looking forward to helping her out. She grinned and nodded twice, sliding up the first paper as Spike and I settled in to help as best we could. * * * * * It took me a couple tries, but I figured out that Apple Bloom best learned through relation. If she could apply the question to something in the real world, she could wrap her head around it fairly quickly, I realized. That being said, I took up her namesake as an example and applied apples to every example I gave her. Addition and subtraction were as easy as giving and taking them away. Multiplication involved adding entire baskets of apples, each containing the same amount, and division involved splitting the apples up into the baskets in equal amounts. She figured out almost everything right away based on that. After I went through the basics with her again, applying apple examples to everything, it was an easy step up to throwing them into an equation. She was confused about mixing numbers and letters together until I explained to her that the letter was just a fancy way of saying a number was there that you could change the value of. There was always a proud feeling accompanying seeing that look of dawning comprehension on somepony's face when you're trying to explain something. She realized how valuable the equations could be once I explained why it was a good thing to be able to change the value the letter represented. Orders were a lot easier to fill out if you could just plug in the amount of barrels you sold to somepony and have the equation give you the exact amount of bits. Three of the five pages went by with that in mind. It was a little tricky, but Spike was amazingly creative and helped me come up with an applicable apple situation for each different type of problem she had. Overall, it wasn't a bad way to pass an hour, honestly. In the meantime, memories drifted back through me, surprisingly of my days as an engineer and Keldarian. I knew they weren't mine, technically, but it was so easy to forget that when I could see them clearly through his eyes. Still, those were some of the very few actual happy memories he had. We were similar in that regard for certain, as I loved working out the answers to things and making stuff. There was nothing more rewarding for me than putting something together with my own knowledge and skill and then seeing it work. Even if, by 'work', I meant that it was especially lethal when launched at high velocity towards our enemies, or particularly good at stopping the same from happening to us, I was still delighted that what I'd created served its purpose. A light twitch went through me, and I frowned lightly. What would I think if I'd created me? That was a tricky one. What purpose had I originally been intended to serve? Without Doctor Kyliona's notes, there was no way to be certain, I realized; I'd have to contact Keela tonight and see how the charging was doing. Regardless of what it was, however, I had a sneaking suspicion I'd failed epically in my original purpose. But, if I could watch my creation not only gain a life of its own, but true goals and desires, protecting those things important to it, would I still consider it a failure if it didn't do what I intended it for? I tried, but I couldn't manage to put it into perspective. Creating life like that felt amazingly similar to how I imagined a parent would feel. Would one be disappointed if their child didn't behave as intended or designed? I smiled gently, understanding that question, at least. No, I wouldn't be disappointed, because if it truly were my child, I wouldn't have an intention or design for it in the first place. I'd be happy if it was happy and making its own way. Could Doctor Kyliona say the same about me? That was a very good question. I didn't know anything about her or the circumstances of my 'birth' into this world, but I also found that I didn't particularly care, ironically. Ever since my talks with Tia, I realized that it didn't really matter. That was what she ultimately said, right? All that mattered was everything in front of me right now. Who I was and am, and what I've done as myself. Fluttershy and Twilight accepted that much, I thought. So, was I responsible for the deaths of billions of innocent Keldarians, then? The number alone was beyond me. It was empty. It was a twenty-four with eight zeroes after it. It didn't really mean anything beyond what could only be described as mind-numbingly horrifying. That numbing part was important in that definition. If I truly was responsible for that act, then did I deserve any happiness ever again? Definitely not. I could never forgive myself for that, if so. Heh. Forgiveness... Pending a complete memory wipe at that point, it wouldn't be possible. So what then? I couldn't remember if I was responsible. Did that mean one way or another? The scary part was, no, it didn't. My memory was partial at best, because the majority of it that wasn't recorded by my mechanical side was organic in nature. Organic wasn't the most reliable source of storage. I didn't trust my own memory, and that was that. "Uh, Mender, ya there?" Apple Bloom suddenly spoke up, causing me to start and snap back to reality. My eyes focused on her again, and she smiled, presenting me with the full sheet worked out. Whoa! How long had I been zoning out? Recovering fast, I nodded to her and picked up the sheet she presented with my mouth, setting it down in front of me to look over. I felt all right in telling her if she got a problem wrong and having her try again, as long as I didn't tell her how to get it right. The point of 'homework' was to practice doing the equations, not neededly to test your knowledge on the fly. I wasn't too worried about bumping her grade up a little bit with this. A minute and a half later, I assured her she had only missed one problem, and pointed out number four to her. She seemed pleased with that, but still took the paper back to re-do that one. It wasn't a huge mistake, as she'd just forgotten to flip the sign of a constant. Yawning, I rested my head on my hooves and watched her work, noticing her mistake from the first time and fixing it rapidly. After she finished, she looked back up at me silently, and I gave her a nod. To my surprise, the little filly squealed happily and gave my face a rather awkward hug, given the angle. I snickered as she backed off, grinning at me. "This is amazin'! Ah'm gonna get ah hundred percent on this assignment, an' it's all thanks ta yer new way o' explainin' things!" she exclaimed, perking upright and swaying as she hugged the paper to her chest. I continued smiling at her, but shook my head. "You're doing all the work, AB. You're the one figuring it all out. I've made sure not to directly help with anything," I reminded, causing her to blush as she realized the implications of my compliment. "That's nice o' ya, but ya really are helpin' me somethin' amazin'! Yer easily as smart as mah brother, an' that's sayin' something! He just... well, he don't have that much time ta help me, usually," she explained, her exuberance fading a bit as she switched to a soft smile instead. I considered it for a moment, before asking, "So if I help make things easier for everypony on the farm, would that mean that he can spend more time with you and Applejack?" The little filly nodded twice, slowly slipping back to a grin of approval. I snickered and nodded back. That settled it, then. Knowing there was a problem fully within my capabilities to fix, I couldn't just sit idly by while one or more of my friends suffered from it. "Very well. I'll help him set up anything he needs," I promised. It was worth it just to see her smiling face. Spike laughed and shook his head at the display between us. "Not to be harsh or anything, dude, but I should probably point out that you're a total sucker for the cute looks," he pointed out, smirking at me. I gave him a flat stare for a moment before chuckling as well. All three of us broke into snickers after another moment, Apple Bloom looking a little guilty, however. "Ah'm not tryin' ta get him ta work fer free, though. Ah agree with sis! He deserves ta be paid like everypony else," she reasoned, setting her paper down finally and shifting to the fifth and last page. Sighing as she brought up the stubborn mare, I realized that Applejack wasn't going to let me get out of it this time anyway. About the only way I could assure I didn't get paid is by sneaking the bits back to her somehow without her noticing, which felt a bit underhooved. Tricking the Element of Honesty seemed like a very bad idea. Even if she weren’t mad over it, the karmic retribution would probably be violent, given my track record. "Fine, but I'm not accepting anything over thirty percent overhead, no matter what the project is. Materials and supplies will be up to your family to acquire, obviously," I laid down, sure it would get back to one of her siblings sooner or later. She tilted her head and surprised me by asking, "What's overhead mean?" Heh, curious little filly, I noted. "Overhead for a big contract job is the amount of bits set aside for paying anything not to do directly with materials. Usually the salary of the workers, such as me, is paid out of it. As I'll probably be the only worker, I'll probably get most of it. If somepony helps me, I'll split the amount," I explained as simply as I could. There was no point in getting into the super-specific details of what did and didn't count as project overhead, the possibility of a supply fund, or joint holdings. Besides, it had been a while since my original had done public contract work. Most of his recent projects that I could vaguely recall were engineering projects for the war effort. He didn't get paid for those... Spike considered my words before nodding as well, asking, "So, thirty percent overhead means that, in addition to the supplies needed to make whatever Big Mac needs, you get paid thirty percent of the cost of it all?" He was fairly dead on, so I nodded to him and smiled. He just raised an eyebrow, however. "Uh, she's probably not going to be pleased with that number," he suggested a moment later, looking uncomfortable suddenly. I blinked, then frowned myself. "Is it too high?" I inquired, glad I'd mentioned it to them first, now! Note to self, always run my requested fee estimates by somepony not involved in the project and get an opinion on the values involved. He snorted, however, and shook his head rapidly. "Uh, not exactly. That means that on the conveyor project, which was a little over two hundred bits total, given that you supplied half the panels we needed, you'd only be getting paid sixty or seventy bits. How many hours did it take all of us working on it to finish?" he questioned, giving me a more than skeptical look. I stared back, seeing where he was going with this instantly, but biting anyway. He was quite sharp, I realized. No doubt his upbringing had made him very clever. "Uh, about eighteen to twenty hours," I threw out, taking an educated guess and generously truncating off the 'testing' hour and a half. "Oh! Oh! But ya have ta times that by how many ponies helped! It woulda taken ah lot longer otherwise," Apple Bloom chipped in, making me wince. Okay, that made the amount of hours significantly worse. Spike grinned at her and nodded, ignoring my sour look and flattened back ears. "Exactly! So even doubling his pay with the assumption he didn't supply any of the plates like he did, you're probably not even going to add up to a bit an hour at thirty percent," he pointed out, turning back to me. I gave him a death stare, of course, which only caused him to start snickering. Damn, I needed to work on that angry look... Apple Bloom nodded along, easily managing to follow the math as she grinned as well. "Sis so needs ta hear this! Ah think she'll be proud o' mah fancy mathematics, don't ya think?" she suggested. My glare shifted to her in less than a heartbeat. "Don't you dare! It's going to be hard enough arguing her down without figures to back up her opinion. Gah. She's my friend. There's no way I'm going to work for full price," I refused adamantly, abruptly shaking my head. It wasn't right to do that to somepony who actually wanted to be my friend. Friend! That word was unheard of in my original's dimension. There was no way I was going to sour it even in the least by being greedy. AB smiled, however, and shook her head before leaning forward and lightly hugging my snout again, causing me to swallow weakly. She didn't have to try to push the cuteness to get her way, I hope she realized. I valued her friendship, too, but admittedly, I enjoyed the hug. There was something simply so warm about the gentle affection she was displaying. It made me smile ever so slightly, my frustration and heartbeat lessening as she hugged me. Why was that? Mostly, it felt like just realizing she truly cared. "Ah know ya wanna be nice, but she'll like it, too, if ya don't fight it too much. As nice as ya think yer bein', Sis actually feels real bad every time she thinks she cheated ya out o' pay. Ya gotta promise ta accept somethin' ah bit more reasonable this time, okay?" the little filly asked, leaning back away from me and giving me a soft smile. Oh. That was true. I'd never actually considered it from her perspective. Given that she was so stubborn about paying me, why had I honestly thought that I was making her happy by refusing all payment? I considered it for a moment, and realized that I'd technically never wanted to make her happy. No, I'd wanted to do right by her. I could understand where Apple Bloom was coming from, however. "You're right, of course. As much as I don't want to charge your family for anything, I don't want to make Applejack sad either. I hadn't thought about it like that before. Thank you, Apple Bloom," I finally admitted, mentally promising to be a bit more 'fair' when it came time to negotiate for my cut. I suppose, with a bit more bits coming in, I could afford some nicer things, too. Maybe I could even get Twilight and Fluttershy presents! "I'm glad. Sis will be happy, too!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, then picked up the last sheet on the bed. I watched her for a minute, then smiled as she raised an eyebrow to it. "Uh, besides them addin' more letters in, Ah don't see how these problems are different," she muttered uneasily, that familiar hesitation in her voice. Ah, I've had that many a time, when I suspected a problem to be significantly harder than it appeared. "That's because they're not different. Just another letter tossed in to shove to one side or another," I revealed. She looked up in surprise for a moment, then smiled happily at me and ducked her head back down to pick up her pencil again. I smiled gently and lay back down. Spike yawned next to me a moment later and flopped over against my shoulder, laying the side of his head down against me. I just rested there, letting him get comfy before I let my thoughts drift off again. It sure was taking Nurse Redheart a while... * * * * * Despite the problems being similar, it still took Apple Bloom a bit longer to finish all of them, due to the additional steps involved. She surprised me, and at the same time, she didn't when she got every single question correct the first try. When I'd told her, though, she almost fell off the cot in the middle of her cheer. Spike winced as he hauled her back upright fully, and she gave him a sheepish grin. "Thanks, Spike! Ah wasn't payin' enough attention, Ah guess," she muttered quietly, embarrassed by the looks of it. I snickered and shook my head, pointing out, "If you had to pick a spot to get hurt, this would be the most ideal. Still, try to avoid that. Redheart isn't in at the moment." "Yeah, she's really, really late," Spike reminded, making sure the filly was stable and had ceased trying to throw herself off the cot before letting her foreleg go and backing up again to where I was. Frowning, I glanced towards the door, Clocky informing me that it had been an hour and forty minutes since Nurse Redheart had left. That was way, way too long. "I agree. Spike, you know first aid, right? Hold down the fort, would you? I'm going to go see if I can find her," I requested, sliding up and off the cot a moment later. Spike perked up, looking surprised at first, and then puffed up with what could only be described as pride as he threw me a salute. Heh. I figured he'd like me leaving him in charge. "Oh, can Ah go, too?! Ah'm ah little worried about Sweetie," Apple Bloom asked timidly. Eh? Why was she asking me? "Of course you can come, AB. Nothing's stopping you, really," I pointed out, smiling back at her. She perked up and bounded off the cot as well, galloping the short distance to catch up with me again. "I so got this covered! I'll keep everything together until somepony gets back!" Spike assured as we both headed towards the door. Turning, I gave him a regal salute before heading outside. Apple Bloom looked more than amused when she followed me out, but kept her mouth shut. Okay, now to find them. It wouldn't be easy, given the entire camp to search. Further, I had to take into account that they might be in the surrounding woods, too! It would be easiest to break up the terrain into quadrants and split up, covering a grid pattern. Asking individuals if they'd seen them as well would significantly narrow down the search zones. We should be able to find them before dark, hopefully. Provided they didn't go into the woods, of course. Then I'd have to set up some long term surveillance and look for signs of passing so we could- "Hey, there they are down by tha bridge over the river!" Apple Bloom squeaked out, grinning as she gestured down towards the rightmost bridge. Oh. Or there was that. "Good job, AB! Let's go," I congratulated, deciding it wasn't worth overthinking and heading directly towards the three ponies. Redheart was indeed with them, and seemed to be talking to Sweetie Belle on the bank while Scootaloo played in the water in front of them. The little orange filly perked up and stood on one of the rocks in the center of the stream when she saw us approach. Apple Bloom waved to her, but she bound off the rock almost instantly and shot towards us in a blur. My eyes widened as I braced myself just in case, but she skidded to a halt in front of us, shaking some of the water off before holding her hoof up. "Ah, just a sec. Wait until Nurse Redheart says it's okay. She's trying to talk to Sweetie and get her out of the funk, and no offense, but seeing you at the moment might be a bad idea," Scootaloo explained, giving me a sympathetic look. Oh. Well, um, at least they weren't in any danger or anything. My ears lowered, but I nodded slightly. "Ah, sorry. AB and I were just worried as you'd been gone a long time. I'll go back and keep Spike company, then," I apologized. Scootaloo winced slightly but glanced back at her friend down by the shore. "Mender," Apple Bloom muttered, frowning at me. All I could manage was a shrug in return. Staying here and accidentally being spotted was probably just as bad. "You can stay here, AB. I'll see you all later," I said, turning and heading back towards the medical cabin. I tried to remain hopeful, but it was kind of hard at this point if it had taken almost two hours of talking and she still wasn't sure about things. Would Sweetie still want to be my friend after all this? I closed my eyes and sighed, listening to the clinking of my brace as I walked. It was an ugly sound, and it reminded me of how useless my body was at the moment. Another part of me whispered in the darker corners of my mind that I was only fooling myself, and I might as well accept the other me as the real one. Then I wouldn't have to worry about my leg. I also wouldn't have to worry about anypony wanting something from me that I wasn't in a position to give, then. Nopony would want anything to do with me if I looked like a monster from their most horrible nightmare. Spike looked up questioningly from the table now as I walked back inside, but I strolled past him without saying anything and flopped back down onto my cot again. Well, my rented cot. I lay there with my eyes closed in the silence for a moment before the repeating sounds of light scratches came from the floor, getting closer. The telltale sounds of Spike's clawed feet on the wooden floor, I noted. "Uh, are you okay, Mender? You came back really fast. Did you find them?" he asked hesitantly. A part of me didn't feel like talking, as it used up a lot of energy, but Spike was my friend and had never let me down. After a moment of considering the questions, I finally replied with, "Yeah, they're down by the river near the bridge, talking. Sweetie Belle, um, didn't want to see me yet, so I came back here. Nurse Redheart's easily within view of the cabin, however, so we could probably go back to ours if you wanted," I suddenly realized, sitting up again slowly. "Oh. Well, if you want to. Tank's taking a bath, but we can run some water at our cabin instead," Spike informed quietly, looking suddenly unsure of what to say. I stared at him for a moment before swallowing and managing a nod. "The full beds are more comfortable. I'm going to take a nap over there, I think. You can stay here if you want," I offered, standing up again, careful not to accidentally step or sit on any of Apple Bloom's papers. Neatly, I shifted them back into a stack and slid them into the saddlebag she'd pulled them out of before getting off the cot. Spike frowned at me, but nodded of course. "Mender, I know what it looks like but... She's not going to not like you or anything... I don't think she'd, um, do that," he tried to comfort, not sounding comfortable with, or even that sure of his statement. I stared at him for a moment before my eyes softened and I shook my head. "It's up to her. I'll understand either way. I've hurt her feelings and turned her down, so it's acceptable, really," I pointed out. It was strange, but I wasn't quite sure whom I was pointing it out to. I was talking to Spike, but it felt more as if that had been addressed to myself instead. He frowned even more, but I walked past him and decided upon a strategic retreat before I confused myself even more. He started to turn, probably to try to talk to me about it even more, but I cheated a little. Two thin strands left my shoulders, hooked and stuck to the doorframe, and went taut with an elastic snap, whipping me over to the door about three times faster than I should have been able to manage as he turned. They pulled back into my shoulders as fast as I sailed at the door, and I slid, opening it in a fluid motion to avoid crashing. Spike looked surprised to see that I'd made it a full five meters by the time he finished rotating in place, but I didn't do more than glance before stepping outside and gently shutting the door again. Talking about it confused me, and I wasn't sure what to think. Really, I didn't want to think about losing a friend suddenly. After realizing how amazing it was to have friends in the first place, my chest shivered and my eyes watered at the thought of possibly losing one. My eyes stayed locked dead in front of me as I headed to the right after exiting. Our cabin was coincidentally, or very un-coincidentally as the case probably was, right next to the medical cabin. At least that made it a short walk, and a shorter duration I had to listen to the metallic clanking of my leg. Exhaling softly, I noticed Big Mac wasn't in his usual spot sitting out front with the repair jobs. I decided it probably wasn't any of my business where he was at the moment, and I headed rapidly inside the cabin without meeting anypony's eye contact. Sliding inside, I shakily closed the door, staring at the wood for a moment. My eyes slowly slid to the right, looking at my trembling hoof against the door. What was wrong with me?! Wincing, I held my left hoof to the tightness in my chest and felt something warm slide down my cheek. Damn it. "You're pathetic, that's what's wrong with you," she whispered from the corner, just slightly before I became aware of her. My eyes softened as I stared into the wood. "Why do you keep annoying me? Don't you have better things to do as a corpse?" I asked softly, barely a whisper as I refused to look over at her. She was only a figment of my own slipping sanity regardless. 'Looking' at her was kind of pointless. A giggle. "Sorry, but you're the best thing to do in this reality. Despite being pathetic and an idiot, you're worlds beyond the rest of the filth in this world," she explained, immediately making me regret asking in the first place. Exhaling softly, I slid my hoof down and turned, walking over to my bunk instead. I heard the sounds of wet dragging and weak hoofsteps, and assumed she was 'moving' towards me as I walked. At least my imagination was attempting to be realistic. Maybe her muscles would eventually fall apart then and she wouldn't be able to talk anymore. That would be a blessing. Then I'd only have to smell her. "That's not a nice thought. Good job! You're getting closer to embracing your inner monster," she complimented, sounding amused as she walked after me. Rolling my eyes, I clambered into bed and flopped over, ignoring her with my back turned. "Just shut up and let me sleep," I ordered, knowing she wouldn't listen anyway. "Aww, upset that the little baby filly might not want to be your friend anymore? Heh. Your priorities are so strange," she pointed out, sounding absolutely delighted. I didn't ask, or say anything in return, knowing she was going to elaborate regardless. And elaborate she did. "Honestly, you do everything you possibly can to ensure you're the most miserable you can possibly be. I didn't even have to do anything! It's ironic, really. You should have just accepted and mated with her like she wanted, of course. They're really impressionable when they're that young, so you probably could have turned her into your own little-" What was left of her head was torn off and crushed into the wall next to the door before she could even finish the sentence, my tentacles writhing in pure hatred as I glared at the rest of her body as it slumped over, the blue light from my eyes burning across her form as she faded away. The giggling laughter came from all around me, echoing softer and softer before finally disappearing as well. Panting, I shakily pulled my tentacle back, noticing a light gash along the wall where it had impacted. My entire body was trembling now, and I felt sweat start to dampen my fur. Damn it, what was wrong with me?! If I hadn't been so acutely aware of every minor detail at that moment, I would have never noticed the light static flickering in the corner of my vision. I froze, watching it before it disappeared a moment later. That wasn't in the room. That had been in my eye display. My expression shifted to a frown as one of my processors lit up, rapidly writing up the code I requested on the fly. It was silly, and I was being paranoid, of course. Regardless, I devoted the entire processor to running the program the second it was done about half a minute later. An extremely low-key, subliminal scanning program to hunt and destroy. On a hunch, I hooked it into my memory bank and remaining three processors, making sure to run it on the processor I hadn't had to repair. I was just being silly, probably, but no. Let them call me paranoid if they ever found out. I'd rather be accused of paranoia than wishing I had been properly so. Greeted with silence yet again, I relaxed against the mattress in our cabin. Apart from the newly acquired nick in the wall, it was a really nice place. The main room had four reasonably sized beds. Big Mac had one all to himself, of course, being almost the size of two ponies. I shared mine with Spike, and the Crusaders were set to take one of the others. Or both of the others. I suppose it didn't really matter. The main room was then cut off from two smaller sections. The bathroom had a full wall and door for privacy, while the kitchen unit had a half wall partition to let in light, and let out heat, I imagined. There was a working stove, fridge, and sink in the kitchen, and we were well stocked. This was a nice place, honestly. Sharing my bed didn't bother me. I closed my eyes and rested against the soft blue sheets. Due to the nature of my 'sleep', I didn't move around or snore during it. It had taken me only a single night to realize that when I was actively visiting Keela, or hiding inside of myself, I wasn't actually letting my mind 'rest' like it needed. I discovered after that, largely by accident, that I could still fall asleep like normal. It made sense, considering I'd been doing it all along before finding out I was a cyborg. Sleeping with Twilight's horn against me even let her join in with the interesting experience. Twilight had called it 'lucid dreaming', but it was essentially just being cognitively aware of my own consciousness while asleep. The dream realm was one of true fantasy, manipulations of anything being possible. Kind of like being in the most detailed video game ever, only with myself in full control. I was happy that Twilight could join in, and while she couldn't manipulate the world the same way I could, she seemed to honestly just enjoy being with me in there. I missed that. It had, well, ceased after she got in trouble with her parents. Still, she surprised me. I figured she'd want to conduct experiments and take advantage of a world where anything was possible, but she said it would sully the results because it wasn't potentially real. Regardless, she spent time with me instead while we both slept. Sometimes I just let things flow around us from event to event as we played, just laughing and running through the scenery. Other times I constructed more elaborate things and we played games. Showing her how to play 'Battleship' using an entire fleet in an actual ocean was a lot of fun. More warmth dripped down my cheeks as I curled up against myself. So what if I was pathetic? So what if I didn't embrace that other part of me and just wanted to be normal? I missed Twilight and Fluttershy already. I wanted to be able to dream with Twilight again, but my big mouth telling her brother had ruined that. I wanted to figure out a way to bring Fluttershy into the dreams, too, even! It would be amazing. I could show her anything she wanted to see. The old Abylith Gardens from my memories, which was sort of a 'zoo' and natural habitat for a ton of creatures we'd imported from our allies. The gardens were an entire moon we'd given an atmosphere, and it drifted along so close to our second planet that you could see the hue shifts as the atmospheres interacted. It was beautiful, spreading auroras across the entire sky at night. I wished she could see it. I was sad that such a wonderful place didn't exist anymore. Giving up and just letting the warmth stream down my cheeks, I let my mind drift away, pushing myself as hard as I could into my dreams. This time, I visited the empty gardens by myself... Chapter 47Everything was a blur as I ran. My left foreleg screamed in agony, but I kept going as the dark distortion followed after me. It paced itself, laughing every time I tripped over something and fell, tearing fur and skin on thorns and stray branches. Gasping, I rolled down a hill through the trees around me, sliding on the wet grass as I felt it land behind me, grinning. Everything slid to a stop as I drove my hooves into the ground, gasping as I giant chasm opened up in front of me. There was no noticeable bottom, and it looked like it was gouged out of the ground by a giant claw. Shit! Looking both left and right, I noticed it spanned a good sixty yards in both directions. Slowly swallowing, I instead turned to face my pursuer, willing my armor up as fast as I could. Nothing happened. No, why didn't it work?! "Because you're afraid. I scare you, just like I scare everypony else," it whispered, grinning at me with its distorted, black smile. I stared in horror at the wicked blades it called teeth. No, get away! I couldn't manage to even speak as it loomed ever closer. "There's one problem, however, Mender," it whispered, close enough now to lean in against my ear. My eyes widened as I felt its hot breath along my neck and the saliva sliding onto my fur. It wanted to tear me open and feed. To feast on my flesh and blood. I started trembling, which only caused it to snicker. "Everypony else can run away from me. You can't run away from yourself," it finished. No, this wasn't- "I am you!" it screamed into my ear suddenly. A bladed tentacle whipped forth, and the last thing I saw was the point of the serrated spikes on it going straight towards my eyes. Everything exploded into pain and darkness, and I barely managed to scream out as it threw me backwards into the chasm, three more tentacles slamming through my torso an instant later. The pain was beyond anything I'd ever felt for just that instant, and then it yanked in three different directions... * * * * * My scream echoed through the tiny room, devolving into a gasp of actual physical pain and a coughing fit. Then I fell out of bed and landed on my face on the floor. The wooden planks of the cabin's floor greeted me as I wheezed for breath, shaking throughout my very core. My hooves grasped at my chest, feeling it solid and whole again before I let myself sag down and collapse fully against the floor. My eyes could see still, and I opened them to look around the dim room. I was alone, which I was thankful for. That would have been awkward to explain. Weak sunlight drifted through the window shades next to the door, and I guessed it to be late evening without bringing Clocky up to specifically tell me. Nopony else was here though, so either before or after suppertime, and before bed. Gently, I brought my hooves up to rub at my temples, wincing at the throbbing sensation tearing through my skull. I didn't know what to do with myself, and just ended up curling up, a soaked mess as my own sweat smeared across the floorboards. I felt cold, as if instead of waking up, I'd been brought back from the dead. Hell, maybe I had? Was I even really alive with all that shoved inside of me? Hyper-sensitive at this point, I felt her 'appear' behind me next to the bed far before she announced her presence this time. Her grin echoed through my mind, and I pinpointed her location as soon as she landed. Her broken, decaying mouth opened, undoubtedly to spew more garbage out in the form of thinly veiled insults and passive-aggressive goading. No, I couldn't even think of a way I could deal with that right now. A tentacle replaced her face instead an instant later, both surprising her and tearing her in half before she could even get the parting chuckle out this time. Just to be sure, and hopefully to delay her regeneration in my mind, however she pulled it off, I stabbed her twice more through the chest as she fell, then ripped her into three more pieces with a sharp yank. I felt the heat through my head as the pieces burned away behind me. Go to hell. Minutes passed as I just lay there on my stomach, face pushed sideways as I lay limp against the floor. Half my blue blanket had followed me off the bed and tied my legs up, but I made no attempt to free my lower half. My eyes ached as I stared into the darkness under my bed, finding all sorts of delightful metaphors from the fact I could still see fine in it. 'Monster' echoed through my head and I felt a spike of nausea shoot through me. No, I couldn't deal with this right now. Everything was adding together and I needed to just get away for a while. There was, well, one solution, given what time it was in the day. My eyes closed again and I jumped at the chance for sanctuary. Inside of myself, I gave two gentle tugs to the connection to my mind. There was a pause, then a jolt of surprise, and I smiled, making sure to keep my eyes closed throughout. "Oh, Mender? Uh, do you need, wait, two tugs! Uh, just a sec. I'll go turn the quantum generator on!" Keela managed to squeak out, sounding both surprised and delighted by my sudden appearance. "Hurry," I whispered, no, more pleaded back at her through the link. My mind ached but I felt her pick up the pace, flat out running down what felt like a corridor before turning into a larger area. Her lab, I recognized. The machine turned on a moment later, and I wasted no time in activating Prudentia, whom I discovered was next to me now. At this point, I was used to suddenly finding it when I needed to, so I didn't pay any attention. Feeling the link expand enough for my mind to slip through, I flung myself as fast as I could. * * * * * Opening my 'eyes' much more gently and comfortably this time, I looked up at an upside-down and somewhat bewildered looking Keela. Eh? Oh. I rotated myself and slowly climbed back to my feet, having literally flung my mental image through the portal created and crashed into a sizable bookcase. Thankfully, they made the bookcases and covers for bookcases out of sterner stuff than wood and glass in this dimension, and I had bounced off it with a reverberating ringing sensation. "Eager to get through, were we? Err," Keela pointed out, then suddenly stopped as she tilted her head towards me. I looked up at her questioningly, earning a giggle. "Uh, not to sound crass or anything, but that's probably the best way to say this. You look like shit," she observed, snickering again and covering her mouth with both paws. My ears flattened back and I sighed, nodding. Free of physical constraints, my headache went away and I found myself in the cold comfort of my purely digital self again. It was weird knowing that this body was just a construct, but a bit of a happy thought at the same time. I didn't have to worry about pain in this form. "Sorry, but I've been having a rough day," I excused, sagging a little, but perking as she gestured behind her to the couch. "Well, lie down and rest for a bit. You can talk about anything you want with me, of course. I'm willing to do anything I can to make you feel better!" she chirped, looking pleased with herself before turning and heading for the very couch she pointed out. Aching a little, I limped over to the thing and hopped up on it, feeling content at the prospect of resting my tired mind. Sleep wasn't the issue so much as I felt heavily stressed. "Thanks for this, Keela. Sorry if I woke you up," I apologized, noticing suddenly that she was still in her morning robes. They were a secondary layer Keldarians used to cover up whatever they happened to sleep in, be it pajamas, underwear, or nothing. Mornings, when not under the covers, could get a little bit nippy. "Nah, I was sitting in the lounge nursing my 'breakfast'", she assured, holding up a clear mug of what looked like very, very black, unsweetened coffee. Scary! Snickering, I shook my head at her. "It's unproven, I know, but I hear that stuff stunts your growth. You should be careful," I teased playfully. She shrugged before grinning and suddenly shifting both paws towards herself, cupping her upper set of breasts through the robe. "Eh, I'm big enough already, so I don't mind," she added, mirthfully looking back up at me as my blush radiated through my colored barriers and I averted my gaze. "Keela!" I whined, trying my best to look upset and grumpy. She laughed and dropped her paws again, grinning at me before apologizing with, "Sorry, sorry! I know. I'm just teasing you. Figured you wouldn't mind a bit of visual stimulation after the pent up stress of the estrus season in Equestria." That didn't make it better! "That's not better! Anyway, that is kind of why I was so insistent on visiting this time," I chewed out, a little irked at her now. She shot me a sympathetic expression and held an open palm towards me, the universal sign of not having any weapons. Kind of pointless, as I was indestructible here and she had advanced magic that came out of that very palm, but it was still an ingrained gesture, I realized. "Relax, I was only teasing you. You know I'm not going to do anything. Rest, Silly," she suggested, patting the couch cushion next to her. Exhaling softly, I nodded to her before flopping onto the cushion in question. "I miss Twilight," I muttered almost immediately upon flopping over. Keela grinned and nodded, but didn't look over at me. "I understand, honestly. She's gone for estrus, right? That means you only have to wait a week or so. What about Fluttershy?" The Keldarian looked over at me expectantly, and I shook my head. "Of course I miss Fluttershy, too, but I actually meant that I miss sharing dreams with Twilight. It's hard to miss that with Fluttershy, seeing as I never had that to begin with," I explained, frowning down at the fabric of the cushion absently. Could you miss something you'd never experienced, or was there a different word for that? Longed for, maybe? Keela frowned for a moment, and I saw her keen mind whirl into motion. It was entertaining to me to watch ponies and other individuals think, I discovered, knowing I spurred it on. Well, except for Pinkie. Her 'thinking' looks never interested me as much, because I could never tell if she was thinking about what I'd just said or revealed, or if her mind had hopped off onto a totally different tangent. Heh, much like mine just did. "Because her brother found out, I'm guessing? There was some sort of meaningful symbolism or something surrounding the mutual sharing of energy, wasn't there?" she inquired a dozen seconds later. "Yup. Turns out, I discovered that it's extremely similar to being engaged. I snagged one of Twilight's culture books after I got out of the hospital, and it explained that it was a mostly permanent bond between two ponies, not necessarily unicorns, that linked both life force and empathy. It listed a surprising amount of side effects and cultural ramifications," I furthered, shuddering as I remembered the extremely detailed entry. Of course, if Shining hadn't made such a big fuss over accidentally assuming the wrong thing, I probably never would have looked it up. Keela let out a slow blink, and then snickered in amusement. "She must trust you if she placed you in a situation where you could potentially form a bond like that without her consent. The magic involved intrigues me, though," she admitted, perking her ears up and glancing back over and down at me again. I nodded, continuing with, "There wasn't much detail about the magic itself. Between two unicorns, or apparently magically enabled individuals, in my case, it's spontaneous and can be done at will. If one of the partners isn’t magically enabled, a ritual is used instead to momentarily 'open' the 'static' individual, or individuals. It's common, apparently." Despite not having the technical details of the ritual, Keela still looked interested enough. "That sounds rather romantic. And remarkably dangerous. I can guess at some of the side effects. That pool of energy that the magic inside of us comes from... you exchange part of yours for someone else’s? Considering most magic practitioners use that synonymously with 'soul' in most regards, I can see why it's a big deal," she agreed, softly shaking her head afterwards. Yeah, I'd thought about that already. "Empathy is just the start. It would create a bond similar to what the disks do, but more extensive. Physical constitution is partially linked, too, so when one partner gets sick, they usually both do. A perk being that it works in the other direction, too. If one partner is sick or hurt, the other one being healthy and pulling themselves above their peak will often drag the other back into healthiness. To the point that there are healing techniques specifically for linked individuals," I continued. I couldn't help but also find that much interesting. I'd never even considered such a practice, and the applications it could have to lifestyle and magic were amazing, honestly. Keela surprised me by blushing lightly and nodding, giving me a soft smile. "Very romantic indeed. Mostly permanent, though?" she inquired, shifting to a skeptical look a moment later. I shuddered, remember reading about that. "Yeah. There's an... extensive ritual to get one removed that requires the assistance of an external unicorn, regardless of being magically enabled or not. It takes a good six hours and is extremely risky. Permanent energy loss, complete destruction of emotions, and death are all side effects. Hence the 'mostly' part," I elaborated, coughing lightly. She stared at me for a second before breaking into giggles. "Yeah, I can see the incentive to not try to break one of the connections. What if one of the partners passes on?" "It's far gentler, but often described as a hollow sensation afterwards. There's surprisingly little information on it, with only a few actual experienced individuals explaining what it was like. They felt a constant tugging, and a longing to join their other half again, but other than that, refused to elaborate," I muttered, frowning slightly. Keela shivered before whispering, "That's a little scary, honestly. If you believe in ghosts, that's practically an assured haunting, there." I smiled at her, rather amused, honestly. First admitting to liking the romantic aspects of a relationship, and now hinting that she might believe in supernatural effects... Keela had surprised me today. She was more open-minded and positive than I thought Keldarians could manage. I opened my mouth to comment when I heard the door slide open behind me. Instinctively, I whipped around to see whom it was, the barriers getting ready to activate as an extension of the book that rested against my leg in Equestria. He stopped, looking honestly as surprised as I was. "Oh, I didn't realize you had company, Keela. My bad! Hahaha! Wait, you're Mender, aren't ya?" he asked. Keela smiled to him and nodded, offering, "This is indeed Moon Mender. He's visiting at the moment, nothing formal. Mender, this is-" "Instructor Tymiandius!" I managed to choke out, eyes widening even more. Damn, he was still alive?! Wait, no, that honestly didn't surprise me. Hell, rumor had it he could breathe void and was immortal, so long as there was something left in the universe he hadn't blown up yet... Keela looked bewildered, and Tym started laughing heartily. "I see! If you know my name, do you also know that I prefer-" "Captain Tym," I finished, smiling at him. He had been my instructor so long ago. Not just instructor, but mentor later after my schooling was over. Well, technically, he had been my original's instructor and mentor, but same difference, honestly. "Y-You know him? Wait, does your memory extend back as far as..." Keela started to ask, tilting her head towards me curiously. Tym frowned and walked forwards, scratching the thick braid of hair he kept from his chin as he examined me. Keela looked towards him instead as he moved, hesitating suddenly, as if remembering something she wasn’t supposed to tell him. He looked more interested in me, though. "Hmm. Scrawny and downright slacker posture. Insatiable curiosity and habit of interrupting when convenient. Oh, and Keela's fawning all over you. Yeah, ya kinda remind me of my last, and honestly, best apprentice," he commented, causing my ears to flatten back. "Hey, I've been exercising more! If Nirru hadn't injured my leg, I'd be doing worlds better by now! Wait..." Halting, I blushed lightly as I glanced back at Keela, who had averted her gaze. In my spontaneous and confusing urge to defend myself against his verbal barbs, I had only listened to part of what he'd said. Damn it! "I, um, think I understand. You were the mentor of his original self, then? The Keldarian he was cloned from? I’d not realized you two had known each other when-" she inquired, tilting her head. Tym snorted and rolled his eyes, waving his paw lazily towards her. "Eh, that was the official crap, anyway. He was a good kid, if not a bit of a smart-ass. Still, he's dead now, so as far as I'm concerned, this guy here is the real deal now, no? Are ya gonna start things up again?" he inquired, snickering. Keela glared at him, pink turning to crimson a moment later. "You jerk! Now you're just teasing me. No, I'd rather, um, really not think about that!" she squeaked, causing him to burst out into laughter again and me to get confused. I had the sneaking suspicion I was missing something again. "Ya know, for being such an inquisitive guy, I never understood how you could be so damn dense sometimes. It's downright contradictory, Mender!" Tym pointed out, resting a hand on his hip. It was a little strange, seeing the considerably larger Keldarian and having him act like he knew me perfectly fine. Although, did he know me? Technically, I had tons of memories of him that were rapidly popping into the forefront of my mind now, and it felt like I really knew him. "Um, I guess so. Twilight says I can be really dense sometimes, too," I muttered, frowning as I remembered her playfully teasing me about it. Captain Tym stared at me for a moment before snickering lightly. "Scratch that. You ain't entirely him after all. He would have gotten pissed at that. You're a bit more level-headed, and slightly more boring than he was," he deduced afterwards. I flattened my ears back and glared at him, earning another round of laughter from the large Keldarian. His fur was as blue as the rest, but patched somewhat by the lines of scars I knew resided under it. He was ancient, even in Keldarian standards, but his body just would not give up. He was as muscled and defined as I remembered him. His eyes were a bright green in color, somewhat uncommon for that light of a hue. The left ear was still missing its tip as well, and I realized he still refused to have it regenerated. He said something about it driving the girls crazy when asked. "Well, I think that's pure improvement, Captain," Keela defended, gently hugging me from behind almost protectively. Lying down like this, I was actually a little smaller than she was due to position of body mass. I tilted my head back questioningly at her, a little surprised she wanted to defend me in this regard. He smirked, and I suddenly had flashbacks from Rainbow Dash. Uh oh. "Careful, Keela. Are you sure you want to admit that this version is 'even better' than the last? Do I have to point out that you technically mated multiple times with the prior version?" he inquired in amusement. I wasn't entirely sure who reacted worse to that statement. Keela exploded into a flush across her entire face until I thought she'd die from blood loss to the rest of her. I spasmed and broke into a coughing fit as it felt like I accidentally inhaled a piece of my lung. Oh! So Nirru didn't walk in on our 'first' time, then! Of course, then all the memories had to come back. "Aaaaaah! Why did my brain pick now to suddenly remember all of that?!" I yelped, curling forward and grabbing my head with both hooves. "That's it! You're upsetting Mender! Out, Captain!" Keela commanded, pointing towards the door. I wasn't entirely sure he heard her through his copious amounts of laughter, though. It took him almost a fully thirty seconds to recover, as I remained tucked into my ball, refusing to look at anypony due to the absolutely rock bottom gutter thoughts flowing through my head. It wasn't even technically 'me' that did it! "Ha! Oh, you two are too much fun. I forgot how entertaining this was," he added, snickering. "You technically promised to keep that all a secret! Mender also technically isn't him, so you just broke your promise!" Keela squeaked, still blushing furiously but trying her best death glare at him. He snorted, proving hers was just as effective as mine. Well, we shared that in common, anyway. "Eh, he's close enough. Your face already says as much. Anywho, don't ya wanna know what my information was that I was looking for you for in the first place?" he pointed out, reminding me that he still hadn't gotten to, well, any points at all, except for embarrassing us. Keela growled and gave him an annoyed look before nodding once. "Speak then. And then you can leave!" she reminded, yelling the last part. I noticed two guards had popped into the room behind the captain, reminding me that Keela probably still had the highest seniority on the ship, even though they'd be pasted if they tried to apprehend Tym. He laughed even more before nodding, unfazed by her flustered state. "Sure thing, Princess! Your external sensor results came back finally from the test site. You should probably take a look at the readings, as they're more than a little interesting," he revealed, taking a short stack of papers from his side pack and handing them over to both of us, sliding them across the couch. I uncurled enough to reluctantly peek at them, as Keela leaned over me and shifted the top page closer to her to look. "Wait, what? The feedback isn't static?" she asked, sounding beyond shocked. I was also impressed with how fast she recovered after the topic change. "Er, what was the test?" I asked, not having anything to base the readings off. "Quantum wavelength tests in the area where our planet was, based on Equestria's samples. We decided to do a residual passive scan, but filter out any wavelengths that didn't specifically match Equestria's, just to see if there were any fluctuations," she explained. Ah. She was looking for 'weak spots' in the dimensional barrier where it would be potentially easier to pass through. The results were definitely, well, not what I'd expect them to be. My processor ran the field numbers almost instantly off her database. "Graphed out using spatial quadrants, this forms a concentrated sphere at a point very close to where the original portal was. Anything more than a kilometer away from the portal point has the readings dwindle away into almost nothing," I reported, giving Keela a start. "Er, wait, what? How did you figure out the shape so fa-" she started, before wincing and stopping the sentence instantly. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she giggled to herself and shook her head. "No, sorry. Forgot about the computer thing. So, instead of bleeding through on a universal scale like I had anticipated, it's actually only a very small effect at this specific point? That actually makes sense, honestly. I doubt that even the connection of an Aegis Artifact could manipulate quantum wavelengths in an entire universe. The energy requirements would be phenomenal!" I shrugged idly and relaxed into the cushion again, considering it. "Well, to be fair, we thought that it was a specific effect that adhered to the nature of the planes before, not something localized. That meant it would take very little effort at all to keep the planes 'linked' to each other. In reality, this means they're only linked over a very specific area," I corrected. In truth, I'd only been thinking out loud. This was a good thing overall. That meant that, even if something else repeated the exact effect that created a portal, unless they did so specifically within this two-kilometer wide area of space, they wouldn't get a portal to Equestria. Two kilometers compared to, well, all of space, was laughably pathetic. So pathetic that I couldn't even fathom how pathetic it was. Further, you couldn't even detect quantum wavelengths at greater than five kilometers. They'd have to literally know exactly where to look. Keela nodded, as if reading my mind. "This data is now classified as top secret. Nobody is to mention these results to anyone," she ordered. Reading between the lines, I realized she actually meant anyone involved with Nirru. Captain Tym nodded again and gave her a thumbs up before turning and promptly walking out without a single other word. I blinked and watched him go in slight confusion, and then looked over at Keela, who wore an annoyed face instead. "Smart-ass. He did say he'd leave right afterwards," she murmured, shaking her head a moment later. I gave her a perplexed shrug. Her stare continued for a moment before her cheeks tinted pink again and she looked away from me, coughing lightly. "Ah, sorry about all that, by the way. Uh, technically it wasn't you, if it makes you feel better," she reminded, tone shifting awkward instantly. I became keenly aware of the heat from her stomach that was pressed up against the back of my neck as I coughed as well. "Ah, it's not so much that I'm grossed out. I'm just, well, in a committed relationship with Twilight and Fluttershy. Any memory that goes against that feels, well, awkward, even if it wasn't me. I still get treated to, uh, every single recollected sensation," I explained, feeling my cheeks heat up as well. Keela groaned and buried her face in her paws, rapidly shaking her head. "I so didn't need to know that. Um, okay, this is getting really uncomfortable, in a mixed-feelings kind of way," she complained, peeking out over her fingers at me. Well, her claws were still retracted, so I took that as an awkward instead of annoyed frown. "Well, I suppose it really doesn't change anything apart from my knowledge. Honestly, to try to be positive about it, at least I have a lot of pointers that I can use for when, uh, wait, mixed?" I asked, suddenly confused by what she said. How did that word apply to this situation? She blushed even harder and looked away from me before explaining, "Well, there's the whole different species thing that makes it a little weird. Plus, the fact is that, honestly, you're not actually him. You just act a lot like he used to and have his memories." I stared at her blankly, and then watched her start to fidget a little under my scrutiny. Those were both negative. Where was the 'mixed' part of her prior statement? Thankfully, she knew what I was going to say. "Yes, I know. What makes the feelings mixed is, well, honestly, none of the prior mentioned things has technically stopped me from thinking about it?" she finished, giving me a hopeful smile. Oh hell. With a light groan, I fell forwards onto my face. Okay, she actually laughed at that. Regardless, 'thinking' about it was a far cry from actually considering, planning, or doing anything about it. I decided that I ultimately appreciated her honestly slightly more than how much I was weirded out by all of this. It was cutting a sharp contrast with me trying to realize in my head that all of these memories came from a dead guy I was cloned from. Her attempting to pretend that I was actually still him was a little weird for me. Especially since that 'pretending' part was about romance and sex. "I'm not going to do anything about it, relax. You're just, well, really kind to me, despite everything you've experienced and been through. He changed a lot after what my sister did to him, and it shocks me that technically you have all those memories yet you're not, well... You're a good guy, still," she explained, tone softening significantly. A couple warning bells were set off in my head. Duh! Of course she would have sought him out after the lovely torture events with Nirru! She talked to him afterwards then, and apparently he didn't choose to start the relationship up again? When I first mentioned him, she had no idea what had become of him or where he was. Generally those bits of info were fairly readily available if you were in a relationship with somepony, I suspected. I felt uneasy suddenly, but I couldn't figure out where the sensation was coming from. Keela kept rambling, however, starting to sound like she was afraid that if she stopped talking, I'd freak out and disconnect. "Look, I know this is weird. You're a really, really likeable clone of my ex, which sounds weird just saying it! I admit, openly and honestly, that a part of me was and is considering what it would be like to date a pony. That sounds even crazier, trust me. But the big part is that I'm not going to do anything about it! I don't want to scare you or make you angry with me and lose you as a friend, Mender, so unless you give the green light first, I'll be just your friend," she continued rapidly, allowing for no space large enough for a reply anywhere. Finally, she dwindled off and just watched me, cheeks pink and apparently waiting for some final verdict now, which kind of bewildered me, given the nature of her request. "Uh, you want me to decide on that now?" I inquired, confused at what she was waiting for. "Ah! No! Of course not! I mean, you could if you wanted, because I have no idea what I'm doing right now, and this wasn't in any of the research materials I've been looking over about xeno-dating, or even in their source material, which was a little frustrating. I'm sorry! Uh..." she resumed, noticeably panicking as she raised up both paws to give me a double 'relax' sign this time. Okay, Rainbow might have rubbed off on me a bit. I couldn't help it, and started laughing. "You have no idea how adorable and silly you're being right now. Relax, Keela!" I assured, giving her hands a gentle push downwards. She looked momentarily bewildered before smiling again and looking down at her knees sheepishly. I had a strong hunch at this point, however. Tilting my head at her, I softly asked, "Who exactly are your friends, apart from me?" It probably was being fairly intrusive, but I had the sneaking worry that- "Apart from you? Captain Tymiandius and, well, my sister, although that's more than a little soured after she, you know, tried to kill you and blow up Ponyville," Keela informed, exactly as I realized. Frowning, I looked at her for a moment. "That's why you don't want to lose me as a friend, then," I muttered after another moment's thought. "Mender! I wouldn't want to lose your friendship, even if I had a thousand friends. But you're right in the fact that I get, um, really, really lonely. It's mind-numbing sometimes," she agreed, coughing lightly and looking away from me. After her sister did all that and was now technically in their prison, I imagine her life got a lot lonelier. A half a minute passed as I considered everything. She patiently waited and watched me mull it over in my head until I nodded. "I'll talk to Twilight. She'll understand what you're going through, and the two of us can keep you company more often. In fact, all the girls are really nice and you'd probably have six new friends if you really wanted," I suggested. Keela widened her eyes, looking honestly surprised at my offer as her jaw sagged an inch or so. "I don't know about that. It feels kind of wrong to seek their friendship after what my sister did. I know that it wasn't me doing those things, but my naiveté and denial were what enabled her to go to Equestria in the first place. I've been trying to pretend she's a good individual for years," she murmured, eyes softening a little. Years? That surprised me a bit. It took me a moment to realize that losing her 'lover' was really fresh for her. My entire life was over the span of weeks she could count on one paw, but her perspective placed losing him a very short time ago. "Did you know what she did to him?" I asked, my tone a little colder than anticipated, but I felt a little colder on the inside, too. She winced and looked away, telling me the answer right there. "They wouldn't tell me anything directly but, um, I had educated guesses. Mender, I can't excuse anything she's done. I agree with you. She's a monster and is more than a little unbalanced. But she's my sister! I know it sounds weird to hear from a Keldarian, but she's my only family and I love her. She's taken care of me since I was old enough to realize I was being taken care of. After, well, what happened to her, her outlook on everyone else changed. And not for the better..." she explained, starting strong but ending in barely a whimper. "She was raped," I concluded, closing my eyes gently. Keela gave a start against my back, and I could only imagine her expression at that. But I didn't want to know, in truth. "H-How do you know that? She only ever talked to me and our mother about it!" she asked, sounding more shocked than offended. My eyes slid open and I peeked back at her as I explained, "Her memories were partially uploaded into the body she used to kill me. After I turned into that other... thing, I absorbed her memories and DNA when I killed that body." Her expression softened, and she looked sad at the memory for a moment before nodding. "I see. That explains it. Um, yeah, she was captured and held by two of her magic instructors after practice when she was twelve. They held her down and, um, took turns in one of the lounges. I don't have the full story, but it was said that they were trying to get back at our mother for her council chair decisions on magic tutelage. They probably fully expected what happened," she explained, flattening her ears down to the sides of her head. I stared at her for a long five seconds or so before nodding. "She killed both of them after she finally found her, right?" It was more for confirmation than any actual curiosity. From the broken and fragmented memories, I had gathered that they died on the spot. "Our mother was known for a lot of things. She was the war council chair, which Nirru took over after she died. She was also unmatched with a blade, and was known for her fiery temper and sense of duty and morals. No, they didn't even get to be arrested. She killed them both instantly. I don't think there was even a fight," she muttered, tone of voice mixed and hard to read. It seemed like she looked up to her mother. Wait, blade? "Ventosus Lacuna?" I asked, ears perking up. Finally, Keela smiled. "You're very clever, Mender. Yes, our mother wielded the blade. She was the last true owner of it. Our great, great, great, great grandmother was the one who created it almost a hundred and ninety years ago. Back then, the sword design was brand new, introduced by our new allies just a decade prior when they first appeared in our system," she confirmed. That was a really old blade. I wondered how old Prudentia was. Not very, considering my original 'made it' somehow. They keep telling me the creator has to die, but that obviously wasn't the case for him. It was 'Prudentia,' I knew for a fact, at least as far back as his schooling days. "Regardless, I'm not telling you any of this to try to redeem my sister. It's just so you understand why I can't just, well, kill her. I love her and she's my only family I have left. She's a complete monster, yes, but that doesn't change that she's my sister. I've been trying to talk to her, of course, and get her to realize the error of her ways," Keela continued explaining, snapping me out of my thoughts on Aegis Artifacts. I stared at her for a moment, expression blank. "How's that been going?" I asked a second later, trying my hardest to keep the ocean of bitterness from tainting that statement. My feelings were still very, very fresh regarding Nirru. I hated her. If it had just been me with a say in what happened and it wouldn't have affected anypony else, I wouldn't have hesitated in the slightest at ripping her head off. Call me soft and weak, but I didn't want to make Keela cry. "Awkwardly. She's mostly silent and, well, confused, for the lack of a better term. She doesn't understand why you didn't kill her. She doesn't seem to fully understand why I'm so angry with her and locked her up, either. She had resisted arrest and severely injured three Keldarians before Tymiandius got there and forced her to surrender," she explained, closing her eyes and relaxing backwards. Mine closed, too, and I just lay there for a moment, considering everything that happened. It had confused me at first, too. Why had I let her go? Keela was the only reason. At least, I was pretty sure she was. A part of me hadn't wanted to drop myself to her level, but that was just childish thinking. Somepony had to get their hooves dirty if they wanted to protect what was worth protecting, and as far as pure kill count went, mine was already pitch black. No amount of karma or happy thoughts would erase the fact that I outright murdered almost two and a half billion innocent individuals. I was fairly certain that put me down as the biggest mass murderer in the history of pretty much anything, as a singular, anyway. The Grosh as a race easily beat me, of course. They killed about three times as many Keldarians, given the population of our other, smaller colonies. "Thank you for sparing her, Mender. I know you only did it for me, and you very much didn't want to. I felt that much through our bond. But you spared her, all for me. So sincerely, thank you. If there's anything I can do to help you, ever, let me know," Keela suddenly spoke up, surprising me. Glancing back at her, I realized she was just giving me a soft smile. Hesitating, I nodded back a moment later, deciding it couldn't really do any harm. We were almost assured to have a long road ahead of us together in the future, given the permanency of the bond she gave me. With her newest confession, a part of me wondered if she did that on purpose. Was it just an excuse to be 'stuck' to me for longer? No, I doubted Keela would give up so much just for that. "I didn't want to, no. But you're my friend and I didn't want to make you cry. You sounded so desperate, and that was the only thing that stopped me. I apologize, but I hate Nirru. Not only did she kill me, but she outright threatened everypony I know and love. There's no forgiving that," I apologized, looking away from her. She was silent for a moment before nodding gently. "I understand, of course. Honestly, I agree with you. She went too far. I wonder, really. If you'd met her long ago, would you feel differently? She seems so absolutely bewildered by you sparing her, that I wonder if the her from back then isn't pointing things out. But no, she's staying locked up. She hasn't even tried to escape so far," Keela murmured, sounding more reflective than anything. I just let her talk, ears twitching a little as I lay on my side. It was rather peaceful after everypony had left us alone. Keela gently sighed and slid me sideways until my head rested gently in her lap, then gently massaged my shoulders while I relaxed. I guess I was real enough to her, even with my smooth and solid-colored body. I probably looked like a character from a videogame or something. My sensations were hooked into this form, however, and it gave the proper give to my muscles for her, apparently. I relaxed as she gently kneaded my neck and back, seemingly pleased to just be near me. Honestly, this was what I'd wanted from the start. Just time to relax with a friend and get my mind off everything for a while. Too much had started to happen, and I found myself losing pace with the rest of the world. A little rest and relaxation was what I needed. Future Mender could worry about Sweetie Belle, Keela, Rarity, Canterlot Newspapers, sanity loss, and strange graphical glitches. Not in that particular order. Oddly, being massaged like this kind of made me feel like her pet. It didn't bother me as much as I thought, probably because deep down, I knew I wasn't, but being pseudo-pampered was still rather relaxing. I understood Opal a little better now. Smiling, I just let myself relax and zone out as we rested there in the comfortable silence. This was a good break from my bad dreams after all... * * * * * Jolting awake rather roughly, I winced as the dawn light slipped into my eyes. Lifting my hoof up to rub at them, I realized that I was back on my bed and had a blanket tossed over me. Huh. I didn't remember doing it, but guessed that Big Mac might have tossed me back into the bed after he got back. Wait, dawn?! Looking back up through the sliver of sun rising up through the crack in the curtains, I noted that indeed it was in the opposite position that I remembered. I peeked at Clocky a moment later and noticed it was oh seven hundred hours. The days were getting shorter, it would seem. That meant I'd slept for about nine hours total, not including the time I had been awake but visiting with Keela. I fell asleep while she was massaging me at some point and ended up disconnecting, drifting back to my body as normal. Huh. Slowly, I sat up and looked around the room. Big Mac's bed was empty, of course. He was an early riser, I had heard. Spike was curled up into a little ball not unlike a cat, vaguely near the small of my back but not quite touching. His snoring was impressive as always, of course. At least Twilight and Fluttershy didn't snore... Shifting further to the left, I saw all three Crusaders still in bed as well, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to either side of Sweetie Belle, both holding her gently. She actually wore a smile, which made me happy, even if I knew it wasn't made by me. A slight twinge of regret shot through my chest, and I looked away from all three of them. No, staying here wouldn't work. Slowly slipping sideways, I slid out from under the covers and drifted to the floor. Silently, four tentacles shot out and braced against the wood instead, lifting me off the ground and shifting me towards the door like a silent snake. Stealth was a lot easier with eight extra appendages. The door opened with a light squeak, and I saw Scootaloo shift lightly in her sleep, so I held still. A second later, she smiled again and snuggled back into Sweetie's side, and I exhaled. Sharp senses on that one. I didn't lower my tension until I was outside, tentacles rapidly pulling back up into me before anypony who happened to be awake saw them. Making sure the door was closed and locked again, I slipped the key into the saddlebags I now wore, and stretched out, giving a happy groan as my back cracked in three different locations. I'm glad nopony noticed that I didn't have my saddlebags in the room. Smiling, I pulled Ventosus Lacuna and Prudentia out of my subspace pocket as well and hooked them both to my left side before looking around. The camp looked practically empty, of course. Including Big Mac down by the river, I counted only three ponies up and about, and one was questionable. For some reason, there was a dark brownish pegasus sporting a rather unique mohawk on the roof of one of the cabins. He was oddly hanging upside down from the chimney by his back leg, but was curled up very comfortably, looking like a bat, and appeared to be sound asleep. I decided I very much didn't want to ask. Shrugging, I trotted in the direction of the stream, angling to go down the flow of water this time. I slipped a small map out of my right front saddlebag and peeked at it, glad Twilight had insisted on giving it to me now. It showed the stream angling slightly northeast, east as it headed off and away from Ponyville. Smiling, I saw a small lake that was naturally formed this time, and decided to make a beeline for that. Big Mac saw me walking past, and we exchanged nods before I returned to my course. I could appreciate a stallion of few words. He appeared to trust me enough to leave me to my own devices while he washed up a few of his towels, anyway. Oddly, that made me feel rather good. At least somepony thought I was dependable enough to not accidentally kill myself, or anypony else if left alone for a few hours. The walk itself was amazingly peaceful, and I enjoyed the cooler air of the morning as I shuffled through the fog. The forest was still sleeping around me, and apart from a cranky squirrel and a startled but sleepy looking raccoon, I didn't see any other animals. Oddly, neither were scared of me, the squirrel in particular seeming more irate that I had tripped over the log he was sleeping in and sent us both tumbling down a decently sized hill. I apologized when we finally stopped spinning at the bottom, of course, but he didn't appear happy regardless. After a quarter of an hour or so, I finally made it to the lake, only slightly dirtier than I had been prior. I set my saddlebags and Aegis Artifacts down at the end of the river, where it met with the lake, and slipped down into the shallow water near the shore. Sighing, I let the cool liquid flow around my fur as I eased the brace off slowly. Wincing, I realized it had gotten a little stuck after my leg swelled up, which I had predicted. The water softened my skin and relaxed my muscles, however, and I slipped free of it after a moment's effort, letting it drift towards the shore. More muscles were growing back in my leg now, and I'd have to adjust the brace soon anyway to be wider in the straps. After I washed all of the dirt and grime off my fur, I just let myself drift on my back in the water. It was very relaxing, in all honesty, and it felt good to just let my left foreleg float freely, no strain or aching needed. I zoned out, shifting back inside of myself for a bit as I double-checked on my various passive projects. The DNA was fine and ready to send to Keela in our next visit. She just had to finish the adjustments to the scanner she'd built on her side to receive the data. My database-sorting project had also finished, and I had many folders now to separate everything neatly, including information on the weapon and disks. Those I would definitely peek at today. Even more interestingly enough, my silent scan had finished and set up hundreds of root access backdoors to almost every part of my systems, also informing me of several anomalies discovered. It looked like mild corruptions of code in a few of my drivers from all the damage I suffered coming into Equestria. I headed towards the auto-repair, but stopped myself suddenly. Wait, what? Frowning, my eyes opened again and I looked back towards the shore. The little blue filly stood there in the mist, mostly transparent but smiling at me. I watched her for a minute before she slowly shook her head and faded away. I stared at where she was, realizing she'd never done that before. Normally she hid behind something or only appeared in my peripheral vision, but she seemed to be getting less shy suddenly. Further, she felt like she was directly inputting into my action this time. My mental hoof shifted away from the auto-repair, and I decided to just leave it be for now. Eh, I was functioning just fine for the moment, and I should probably look into the repair algorithms before just giving it free reign. She was right. Smiling, I silently whispered "Thank you..." into my mind, feeling a light pulse from Prudentia before I shifted back to floating again without direction. I'd have to see if I could talk to her again soon. I wanted to learn more about her and the book. If I was going nuts, I might as well be cordial to my other personalities. I had a feeling cooperating would be much healthier in that situation. Smiling, I relaxed again and opened up the first file about the disks, settling in for a bit of reading. My proximity sensor went off less than a second later, of course. My eyes widened as my armor popped on, the water exploding around me in what could only be described as a very noisy Mach cone skipping across the lake at point blank range next to me! I swore I heard a 'Whooo!" as it shot past, momentarily tearing a 'tunnel' in the water and flinging me at least five meters into the air. Given my newly discovered velocity and falling distance, hitting the water again momentarily jarred me, the armor folding over my face as I went under, creating both functioning goggles and activating my rebreather system. Okay, what the hell? Glaring, I just let myself sink as my sensors activated, sending particle scans up through the water and spotting the UFO as it swerved around, coming in for another 'bombing' run. It was a little smaller than I was and had wings... Damn it, Rainbow! The 'U' having been removed from the UFO equation, I shifted my back legs a bit and surfaced again, considerably farther offshore now. My face armor folded back as I watched her skim the surface again, a ways from me this time. Ah, she wasn't attacking me so much as she probably didn't even notice I was there. Wait, why the hell was she here?! Mares weren't supposed to visit the camp during the estrus, even if this was somewhat away from the main area. Hmm. Did it still count as part of the camp? Further, why was she here this early in the morning?! From what I heard from Twilight, she was usually comatose until well past noon. Her skim slowed as she hopped higher into the air again, whipping into a tight corkscrew and spraying water off herself everywhere before shifting into a hover, shaking herself off in the air. Oh. She was doing the same thing I was. Washing herself. That was a, well, creative and violent way to do so. It fit her well. "You could have given me a heads up!" I shouted at her from across the lake. She gave out a startled yelp instantly and fell out of the air in surprise, falling right back into the water she just got out of. Err, oops. Should I go make sure she wasn't drowning, or should I beat a hasty retreat so she didn't try to drown me instead after she got out? Deciding I'd feel moderately bad if she drowned on my account, I snickered to myself and motored over to where she was, two tentacles shifting under me to form propellers under the water. She resurfaced a few seconds later, shooting me an annoyed glare as she rotated to face me. It only lasted half a second, however, before she shifted to surprised and wide-eyed instead, then blushing furiously as she fought to get out of the water again. "Ah, no! Wet wings!" she groaned, not being very successful in escaping the water with nothing to kick off. Apparently settling for plan B, she started rapidly paddling towards shore again. Smirking as I realized I caught her out of her element, I simply motored up next to her, my propulsion in the water being far superior to her hooves. A few seconds passed with me easily keeping pace with her frantic swimming while smiling at her, before she finally sighed and just stopped, idly floating while treading water. "Okay, I can't get away, I get it. Just get it over with," she groaned, wincing and slamming her eyes shut as I drifted next to her. My eyebrow raised, me having absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Uh, get what over with?" I inquired curiously, a bit lost and the conversation hadn't even started yet. A new record! She sighed and looked away, opening her eyes again while her flush shifted to just a light pink tint. "Ribbing on me for yesterday. I'm sure you have quite a few choice words after what I said to Fluttershy," she groaned, sinking her muzzle under the water and blowing bubbles in frustration after she finished talking. Snickering, I inhaled before sinking back under the water, shifting under her in the same instant. I saw her eyes widen and her body lock up, but I brushed her onto my back instead before extending out all eight tentacles in different directions, holding them straight. The maws on the ends peeked up above the water and purposefully inhaled sharply, shifting every tentacle into a rather buoyant floatation device. Like a rescue platform, I entirely lifted above the water, Rainbow sitting on my back trying to keep her balance as she looked around. Realization hit her a moment later and she fluttered her wings open, taking to the air again with a light spray of water. "Wait, you're just letting me go?" she asked, looking at me with a bit of surprise as I resumed my normal form, giving an airy burp as all the inhaled air flooded into me instead. Well, that felt funny. I nodded back up at her a moment later, shooting her a smile. "I'm not mad, Rainbow. Just a bit surprised that you thought about me like that. You don't need to avoid me," I explained, just drifting there while looking up at her. She blushed again and coughed lightly, looking away. "H-Hey! It's not like that! You were 'there' the entire ride, which was more than a little, um, distracting, so at 'that' moment, you were looking pretty good. Ugh. No, that was... well it's true, but it didn't sound very good," she groaned, smacking a forehoof into her forehead. I smiled at her, but just let her continue. "Trust me, I'm so after AJ. Although, if I wasn't after her for some reason, you're definitely cool enough to warrant a sharp second! I'd probably be all over you," she added with a nod, grinning again. Blinking, I rolled my eyes. Okay, that sounded like Rainbow again. "Second, huh? Well thanks, I guess," I returned, giving her a blank and somewhat skeptical stare. She snickered and sprayed a bit of water at me from her tail. The smells coating it were more than a little potent, and I coughed violently, sticking my nose back into the water and blowing bubbles. She, of course, started laughing. "Smell good, do I? Imagine what it was like before the dip! I told you I get bad heat cycles. Still, second place is way totally high up there on the list. That means you're more awesome than Soarin', from the Wonderbolts! He got knocked down to third," she explained, winking at me. I raised an eyebrow to her, but assumed who he was. At least I knew who the 'Wonderbolts' were. "Interesting. I'd ask why you rate me so high, but you probably don't want to say, so I'll respect that. Why are you even here, anyway? Isn't there a lake on the other side of Ponyville that you could use that wouldn't put you dangerously close to the stallion camp?" I inquired, tilting my head as I drifted in a slow circle, causing her to be upside down to me now. She blushed again and looked away, coughing. "Okay, so maybe I was hoping to find you at some point today and properly, um, explain myself! Yeah. Obviously, I don't need to apologize or anything because it's totally an amazing compliment for me to want to mate with you," she concluded. I smirked, reading easily between the lines and accepting her apology anyway. Silently, of course. "You don't have to be tough around me, Rainbow. I can feel your emotions at this range from the link, too. I'm not going to laugh at you," I assured, causing the light pink to shift red again as she squinted her eyes closed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm not used to this like Flutters is! Go easy on me, sheesh. I also was hoping to talk to you about the wing thing, too, for the upcoming race. I know you're cool, and not going to rat out me being here to anypony," she explained further, looking down at me with a smile again. A light warmth danced into my chest and I nodded up at her, returning a happier smile. "Of course not. Battle partners, remember? Should we get to more stable ground to talk, however?" I inquired, gesturing with my head back towards my saddlebags on the now opposite shore. Keeping up with the active pegasus had carried me quite a ways off course! She grinned and nodded, swooping down and hooking her forelegs with mine before using her wings to power us both towards the area I gestured to, her eyes perking up as she spotted my things in the grass. "Sure thing, Boss! Wait, what are you doing awake at this time of day?" she suddenly asked a moment later, remembering apparently that the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. Heh, that was a long story, but I guess we had time... Chapter 48Rainbow winced again as I laced another line of energy through the muscles in her left wing. It was apparently the more sensitive of the two. She had explained that for most pegasi, the wing opposite their favored hoof was the more sensitive of the two. I hadn't realized ponies had a favored hoof. Mine was easy to guess, however, being the one not covered in metal bracing. "Are you sure you want me to do this, Rainbow?" I asked again, watching her shift to panting and squirming as I went through each of her flight muscles with the lines of energy. She let out a weak groan and arched a little into my hoof's touch. I waited patiently, and she finally exhaled, shifting back under control of herself. "Hah, hah, yeah. Make them adjustable, remember. I want to be able to slowly increase the tension in them while practicing," she murmured. The lines were meant to either enhance or restrain her muscle movements. After I'd explained to her what I could do, and was further surprised by her extreme knowledge of flight muscle anatomy, she'd told me that there were lesser flight muscles that were really, really hard to work individually. A lot of pegasi had problems with it, apparently, and she wanted to know if I could specifically help her exercise those. It, well, evolved from there. "Just be careful with these. Not only are the wings going to get really tired, really quickly, but this enchantment is feeding off your own magic supply, so your fatigue will increase faster," I warned again. Rainbow smiled back at me, cheeks rosy, before nodding. "I know. I'll stay low and over the lake. Uh, thanks for worrying about me, of course. Can you keep watch for a water rescue if need be?" she asked, eyes softening a bit. I gave her a smile and nod, of course, and she grinned. At least by the shade of her cheeks, I was reminded that her squirms were from pleasure rather than pain. It was slightly awkward thinking I was the one giving it to her, but apparently it felt good when my magic went inside a pony's body. As in, really good, which made me feel even more awkward when I considered Pinkie's reaction a while back. At least it didn't seem to affect the Crusaders in the same fashion! Too young, maybe? "I'm so never using my magic on anypony unless I absolutely have to," I muttered a moment later, causing her to laugh between pants. "I dunno, Mender. You could just rake in the bits if you took up massaging. Oh, oh, ah, um, is there any way I could get you to keep going after you're done?" Rainbow asked, giving out another light groan as I tied off the line of energy into the main cluster on her back. Her wings were getting really complex now! I just kept layering the enchantments onto it, and tying them together. The jets from earlier were still technically there, but now I had wired muscle manipulation into them as well. Sighing, I shook my head lightly towards her. "Rainbow, you know that's a bad idea. This is getting a little weird, too. I didn't realize you even liked me like that before today," I warned, more than a little uncomfortable in her request. "I told you, Mender. I like both stallions and mares, but only because I happened to, well, start liking particular ponies of both genders, if that makes sense? Sexuality isn't as important as the individual that catches my interest. Soarin's more just a fantasy, honestly. I was kidding there. Applejack and you, so far, are the only ponies that, um, interest me," she admitted, her blush increasing slightly as she glanced back at me again. Oh. Well, that made more sense and made me feel a little better. She just looked back at me for another minute before relaxing again and continuing with, "I only tried dating once before. That was way back in flight school with a dude my friend, Gilda, set me up with. It, well, didn't go so well. He got pushy and I broke it off barely a week in after he tried to go too fast. I mean, I like fast and all, but I'm not gonna let myself get used like that! It left a bad taste in my mouth for a while." "That makes sense. I take it you started to get interested again after meeting Applejack?" I inquired, pleased to take her mind off the sensations during the last stretch as I wired up the central enchantment. She snickered and shook her head, however. "Nah. We were friendly with each other for the most part, but we were more rivals than anything at first. She's an amazing competitor, and really pushed me when we went head to head. I guess the tension built to admiration, and then I realized that, well, I loved the mare. I really do. I care for her and want to be with her as more than a friend. That revelation surprised me, and got me thinking about a relationship again." By the time she finished, I had completed the enchantment and sat back up again, slipping off her back and sitting beside her instead. The leaves crunched under my weight, and I adjusted myself as Rainbow sat up again, stretching. "Friendship first is a good way to do it, isn't it? I know I don't know much about relationships, but they seem more an upgrade to friendship than something that replaces it," I suggested, smiling as I watched the graceful mare stretch out her back legs, then each and every muscle in her wings. She grinned at me, of course. "Of course! I imagine it's a lot like friendship. Only a lot stronger. Oh, and with sex," she agreed, nodding twice. I chuckled and shook my head towards her, causing her to grin further. "To be honest, Twilight and Fluttershy probably wouldn't mind. It's not like I'm a stranger," she added, winking and causing me to blush again. "I'd say you had a one track mind, but the enchantment probably didn't help much," I admitted, averting my gaze. Hesitating for a moment, she finally nodded absently towards me. "Well, yeah, it did feel good and the wings are sensitive on a pegasus anyway, but a big part of it was who was doing it, too, to be honest. It's weird, but I kinda feel better now that I admitted to liking you," she corrected, tilting her head in consideration. It was strange how little it bothered me at this point. Sure, I was used to being 'new' and 'exotic' in Ponyville, which was probably why a lot of ponies were interested, but I assumed, and hoped, that would die down over time. This didn't bother me as much as normal, though, because she had real feelings behind it. It wasn’t just a shallow interest in something ‘new’. "Why do you like me in particular? Even though I know you've said it a couple times, I thought you were just being silly and didn't think I was 'cool' enough for you," I asked, tilting my head towards her as she rotated in place and stretched one wing out at a time. Warm-up exercises, maybe? "You're dependable and I can trust you to have my back, for one. That's super important to me and obviously a quality AJ has in spades! Sure, you're an egghead like Twilight, but I think she's cool, too! So, don't doubt me. I might not be Honesty, but I'm not lying." She puffed up while saying it, apparently having finished her stretches. A part of me was a little surprised when she gave that particular answer. She'd thought it through, I noted. Considering it for a moment, I nodded in agreement. "I've trusted you for a long time. If I hadn't offended your sensibilities that night, things probably would have gone better. Even though what I was saying sounded absolutely crazy, you still checked on my story after going to get the doctor. You believed in me at probably my lowest point ever, and that means a lot," I decided, my mouth following along with my thoughts. Her eyes got bigger as I went on, and she got another light pink tint when I smiled back up at her. "Well, my point is that I don't have a problem with how you feel, because I already feel close to you and relaxed when around you, so it doesn't faze me. I don't want to distract you from your goal, however," I summarized, a little frustrated that I wasn't better with words. Twilight probably could have summed up everything in a couple sentences. Her eyes shivered slightly and, just for a moment, she looked distinctly not Rainbow Dash. I'd never seen her features relax and soften in quite that manner before she peeked left, and then right over her shoulder. Eh? Apparently satisfied in what she did or didn't find near us, she nodded to herself and shifted closer to me suddenly. My eyes widened, but she simply leaned forwards and lightly brushed her muzzle along my jaw, her neck lightly resting against the side of mine. A second passed as I lightly reached up with my left foreleg and hugged her back, understanding her intention suddenly. I felt her smile and press a bit closer, sighing softly and losing the nervous tension she'd been holding onto. What, was she afraid I'd laugh at her, or accuse her of going soft or something? Her hugs were surprisingly feminine, displaying a good deal of affection as I rested my jaw against hers. We stayed like that for a surprisingly long time. Almost a minute passed before she gently backed up a bit, giving me a soft smile. "It's weird how easy it is for me to accept you, but I guess I see a part of me in you and can relate to your past. I know yours was far worse, but you're still here and trying to be positive, and I can respect that," Rainbow muttered, staring at me intently for a moment. "I'm glad. I know that not everypony in Equestria is sunshine and happiness, so if you want to talk about, I dunno, things, I guess, I'm available to listen," I offered. My more ideal viewpoints on Equestrian life were shattered with the rather vicious news stories. Yeah, not everypony was friendly, that was for sure! I wondered if Dash had encountered some of those not-so-friendly ponies in the past as well. She coughed and looked away for a moment. "Okay, starting to sound like some sort of therapy session or something. So not going there! If you wanna hear more about my amazingly awesome, super exciting past, you'll have to bribe me. The only way I'll confess is via pillow talk!" she declared, winking at me with her tail starting to whip back and forth. I gave a slow blink, my mind unable to keep up with the conversation suddenly. 'Therapy' confused me somewhat, as I didn't immediately associate any part of her being injured that I might have been attempting to fix. Normally, I applied that particular word to muscle correction after severe damage was accrued. Stepping back, I went back to the root of the word. To heal or restore something, usually after a successful diagnosis. Weird. Wait, could she have been talking about her feelings? There were official means in which to fix feelings here? The concept was totally foreign and I made an immediate mental note to ask Twilight about it later. 'Pillow Talk' sounded more like a social event or reference of some sort. I, well, mostly doubted she was referring to a literal interpretation. Talking about pillows would be amazingly dull, and talking with pillows seemed impractical, if not a choking hazard. Given it being a cultural thing, I decided I had a very low probability of figuring it out on my own. By the time I shifted back to reality, her smirk had faded, and she gave me a confused stare instead. "Oh, sorry. I was trying to figure that statement out," I apologized, followed by, "What exactly is 'Pillow Talk'? Is that where we pile up a bunch of pillows or something and lie on them while talking? Or is there some sort of ritualistic pillow combat I'm not aware of that decides the verbal victor and who gets to ask what to whom?" They were just guesses, of course. It had been a high probability from the moment I decided to ask her, so I mentally counted down from three. I only got to one before she burst into laughter and rolled over onto her back, and I sighed, just letting her get it out of her system. While she was busy, I pondered if it was a good thing that I decided it was just faster to make an idiot of myself than try to explain my reasoning behind it. It took her almost a full minute to calm down to just a few giggles and snorts. Sitting there, I kept my head averted, feeling a little dejected. Still, I was used to that feeling when sometimes dealing with Rainbow's verbal quips. While loyal to a fault and rather mirthful, she could be downright abrasive in personality sometimes. She finally noticed my posture and expression and sunk a bit, shaking her head. "Yeah, yeah. I know. You're new here. Um, sorry. Pillow talk is when you're relaxing in bed with your head on the pillows with your mate, enjoying the relaxing feeling you apparently get after mating and just talking," she explained simply. Oh. I blushed lightly, but nodded. Ah, she had been flirting again, then. "Apparently? You must not have ever mated before, then," I deduced, sitting upright again and out of my sullen pose. She froze, eyes widening drastically before she started awkwardly laughing. "Oh, slip of the tongue! Of course I've mated! Lots of times! So many times, I've lost count!" she exclaimed after recovering from her stunned expression. I just stared at her. Okay, I was dense, but if she had expected 'that' to work on me, I felt kind of insulted. She fidgeted slightly, then blushed and looked away from my gaze as if it burned her. "Oh fine. Just, um, don't tell anypony else! I'm kinda a virgin," she whispered, starting to sound like Fluttershy suddenly. I raised an eyebrow, a bit confused. "Uh, maybe I'm missing something because I'm new here, but is it really that big of a deal? You're young, so I would have thought, probability speaking-" I started, running my thoughts by her out of confusion. "Yes, it's a big deal! It's extremely uncool that I don't have any experience whatsoever with anypony! I'm the coolest pegasus in Ponyville, no, in Equestria! But I've never been with anypony?!" she interrupted, sinking a little in her spot. It was that big of a social event? I blinked, and then pointed out, "Uh, I might be wrong, but I don't think it's really a social thing. Shouldn't you be more focused on simply being with a pony you care about and sharing your experiences with them?" She stared at me for a second before sighing and sagging her wings down. "Well, yeah. I'm not going to mate with just anypony. It's just, I don't have any experience! When I finally do get with Applejack, I'm going to be horrible and that's just, well, not cool!" she continued. Ah, now that struck me as the real reason for her problem with it. "I'm not sure if that's the important part or not. I mean, sure, I assume that a healthy sex life is good for a relationship, but I doubt Applejack is going to be upset, given that it's totally new to you. It might even be new to her and turn into something you two can experiment with and work on together?" I offered, blushing lightly as I realized I'd accidentally slipped 'experiment' into the statement. Damn it, Twilight! That word was ruined forever for me now. Rainbow stared at me in surprise before thinking for a moment. "Um, I'd never thought about her not being experienced either. Now that I think about it, I've never, ever heard of her dating anypony, ever," she muttered, sounding more like she was talking to herself then realizing I was still here. "See? She might think it's even more special that you're a virgin, too," I pointed out, followed by, "That worried me for a while with Fluttershy and Twilight, but Fluttershy especially pointed out that no matter what happens in the future, it's not going to change how they feel about me. I suppose that probably applies to if I'm terrible or not as well." I'd expected to not be very good, even with a ton of memories of mating as a Keldarian. Not that, well, I wanted to remember those memories. That I was remembering right now. Damn it! Rainbow finally smiled and nodded to me, looking quite a bit more relieved than she had been prior. We both relaxed for a moment before she opened her wings again and looked up at the sky again. I glanced up, noting it clear, if not somewhat overcast. There was a cool nip to the air that made me glad I had thicker fur. Taking to the air again, Rainbow experimented by hovering for a little bit, then sent the 'feeling' of the number two down the link. As requested, I shifted an impulse back to her, and the tension in her wings doubled. She winced momentarily as she almost fell out of the air, but managed to maintain her flight and nodded. "Are you sure about this, Rainbow? You can just practice with the enchantment if you want," I pointed out, frowning at her faltering. "Psh, it's fine! You just surprised me, is all. Now you get to watch the amazing Rainbow Dash as she puts on a private air-show just for you!" she announced, puffing as she lifted into the air further. Smirking, I stuck my tongue out at her, wiggling the tip as it extended three feet from my body. Her eyes widened in surprise, then, half a second later, she blushed while staring at it. I didn't give her time to weird out and pulled it back into my mouth before gesturing towards the lake. Who knew what the silly mare was thinking? I'd rather distract her before she put her barbed tongue to use instead. She grinned and nodded before flitting backwards, still sporting a soft flush as she spun and took higher to the sky. Her movements were slightly more sluggish, but her wing muscles were operating under twice their normal friction and strain, so it was to be expected. Frankly, I thought she'd just fall out of the air, but then I remembered that she could technically comfortably carry up to two full-size ponies by herself, so she was probably fine. With that, her routine started, and I sat back to watch, smiling at the loops and darts and just admiring the mare's agility. Flight looked fun, but also so empowering. She could go anywhere, and there was something appealing to that. It took me a moment, but I accepted that I admired her in general, not just for her wings and skill, but her personality and mind. She had courage to fight through scary moments and get things done. It was a certain motivation that I lacked. Silently, I tried to take in as much of it as I could while watching her dance across the sky on prismatic wings... * * * * * Okay, Rarity was right. There was something to be said about a healthy air of paranoia and preparation. Installing the parachute enchantment into Rainbow's wings was definitely one of those. The stubborn mare had practiced for almost an hour under double tension, despite repeated suggestions for breaks. She was getting frustrated at my concern, but no more than three minutes after my most recent one, a bolt of pain shot through the link. Having been zoning, my head snapped into position in time to see her gasp in midair, her left wing locking up and buckling against her side. The link told me muscle cramp before my mind even identified it, and I felt her start to panic as she careened over the lake. My impulse fired down the link a moment later and a parachute of thin barrier magic popped out her back, slowing her to a swaying drift as I dove into the water again. Two minutes later, I set a soaked and gasping cyan pegasus onto the shore of the lake. I tried to detach the enchantment, but she swatted my hoof away a moment later and struggled to try to get back up to her hooves again. "I said I'd be fine! Why did you install a parachute?! Didn't you trust me?" she growled before gasping as her wing spasmed and she tripped, landing hard on her shoulder. "This isn't exactly giving me much reason to, Rainbow. You promised me you'd take it easy, and you just worked yourself into a wing cramp," I pointed out, giving her a skeptical glare as I followed. Her energy tried to flow back into the enchantment again to activate its jet functions, but I turned it off before she could power them up. "Gah! No! I want to keep practicing! This is nothing, Mender!" she groaned, lifting her torso off the ground before I physically pushed her back down again. "Hey!" she continued, shooting me a confused and slightly panicking look as I rolled her over. Shaking my head, I sighed and informed, "I'm not turning the enchantment back on until you recover. Now relax your left wing." My tone surprised me by shifting rather stern and commanding, more so than I thought I could. Rainbow's eyes widened slightly, and she surprised me even more by actually doing as I instructed and extending her left wing. "W-What are you going to do? You don't know healing magic, I thought," she asked hesitantly, accidentally admitting she injured her wing and not realizing it. Gently, I extended my left foreleg, sliding my rough brace off before touching the top of her wing with my hoof. "I don't. I'm fairly good at massages though, and this helped Pinkie get over her pain," I reasoned, wanting to help as best I could. Rainbow's eyes shot open and she looked back at me suddenly, which surprised me a bit more. "Ah! W-Wait, you don't need to-" she started to say before I rolled my eyes and shot a spike of my magic into her main wing muscle, combined with a gentle knead. "...to... oh. Oh.... Hah... oh, wow," she continued, stunned voice melting into a throaty pant as she immediately collapsed onto her stomach. Ha! Miss Tough Mare enjoyed massages, too, I noticed. Smirking, I decided to lay it on thick and push more energy into her muscles, heating along the tense and twitching area as I softly pushed the knots out, letting the sore and tender wing get some much needed rest and attention. She was surprisingly vocal about it, giving out a low and long groan as I ran my hoof along the full length of her wing, my energy dancing through her fur. "How's this, then? I've never tried massaging a wing before, but I think I'm familiar with the muscles in it. Do you want me to get the flight muscles in your back, too?" I asked, not wanting to linger too long on the wing itself. Twilight's mentioning of it being an erogenous zone was still fresh in my mind, and I only wanted to stay long enough to remove her pain. Her expression indicated that I had definitely managed that. "Oh... ah! You can do anything you want to me, just don't stop," she murmured, sinking a bit lower against her stomach as she shook next to me. I raised an eyebrow, but shrugged as I shifted to her back between the two wings instead. After a light moan, she relaxed a bit more, this spot seeming less intense and more calming to her. That's when I realized her back muscles were a mess of spasming twitches. Joy. It took me almost five minutes to get her relaxed to satisfaction. She lay in the grass, totally limp with both wings sticking stiffly out to each side of her. Her forelegs were spread out to each side of her head, and her back legs were pushed tightly together, her tail tip flicking back and forth as if fanning the hot air away from her. To my surprise, I was getting 'heat' through the feedback link somehow, my body temperature increasing the longer I worked on her. It was interesting to say the least, although I didn't know what was causing it. It was a bit electrifying, to be honest, but I stopped myself from continuing the massage past what was needed to get her feeling better. After stopping, I relaxed against the grass and let myself cool off idly, enjoying the sounds of her light snoring slowly picking up intensity. A few memories of a barracks danced into my head, and finding odd comfort in my snoring squad. It was a reminder that I wasn't alone. Of course, I didn't need her snores to tell me she was there. The link was ever present and I was always 'aware' of where the owners were. Fluttershy's feeling showed her in the town market right now, while Twilight's was in the basement of the Library, undoubtedly busying herself with experiments. Pinkie was harder to track, but I finally picked up on her over at Sweet Apple Acres for some reason. Of course, even if the link failed somehow, at this range, I could very easily smell the mare. She was normally accompanied by a sweetish smell of fruit that was hard to place. Something soft on the palette with a hinting of sweet, but not too potent. Now, however, there was also an underlying spicy smell to it, which I could only assume was because of her estrus pheromones. It wasn't unpleasant, exactly, but if I paid too much attention to it, I noticed my heartbeat picking up. Scary. Instead, I pulled up one of my data sheets on the disks and started reading instead, deciding to distract myself and be useful at the same time. Twilight would be so proud... * * * * * It was almost an hour before Rainbow's whining and whispering about Applejack ceased, her wings repeatedly twitching and moving in her sleep. I counted no less than four full expansions and retractions as she dreamed. Of course, I was happy she was apparently having good dreams, but just a tiny part of me was irked that even though I had been the one to so pleasantly usher her into them, she still dreamed about Applejack instead. It was strange, stepping back and looking at the feeling. When had I started putting more emphasis on my own ambitions? I knew I only really wanted Twilight and Fluttershy, but I suddenly realized that I wouldn't necessarily be bothered if Rainbow was telling the truth about liking me. A part of me had always liked her, and hadn't she already proven to be the epitome of trustworthy and loyal? A deep unease settled into my head as I frowned. This didn't feel like me, really. When had I become selfish, wanting more than what my station allowed? What did my station allow? I didn't really even deserve Fluttershy and Twilight. Suddenly I wanted Rainbow Dash, too?! Sighing weakly, I shook my head and flipped the page on the data sheets in my eye display. No, it wasn't right to think like that. All I needed were Twilight and Fluttershy. The reading was proving dry at best, unfortunately. Apart from operating ranges for a 'remote uplink', all I'd found so far was composition and creation information. Well, if I wanted to make more of them, I suppose, I was set. Snickering to myself, I peeked back at the uplink data and noted the ranges. Biorhythm and audio could be accessed at ranges of nine hundred 'Mm', it said. As I knew the range on it was significantly larger than nine hundred millimeters, I could only assume it was actually in 'megameters', which was a little scary. Suffice to say, it would operate undoubtedly anywhere in Equestria. From the surface of my old home planet to our first moon's orbit was a 'mere' three hundred and ninety megameters, I suddenly recalled. Regardless, the 'emotional composition' range was significantly shorter, listed at five meters. That must have been the empathy link I experienced. It was a little disconcerting that they labeled it as 'emotional'. That indicated they knew the sources of power were sapient. How much did Dr. Kyliona know about Equestria? I flipped through another page of specifications, starting to feel rather bored. None of this actually told me the purpose for these samples, or what the disks actually did to myself or the 'host creature', as they labeled it. That was a bit scary, too. I closed the file a moment later and moved onto the next, listed as 'LMNS Controls'. I had no idea what that was, but my search had flagged many listings of 'disk', 'crystal', and 'link' in the file, so it was next up on my reading priority. Maybe I'd get an official name for the bloody things and be able to refine my search a bit. Otherwise, looking through a few thousand data files was going to take a really, really long time. My eyes widened as the title expanded on the first page that it opened up. 'Link Monitor and Nanite Surveyor' was at the very top of page, followed by a subtitle of 'Control Listings'. A detailed picture of one of the disks was under the subtitle, and I couldn't look away from it. Nanite?! Oh. Oh hell. My eyes flicked down to note the first section was a summary of the controls for one 'LMNS Unit', and showed the parts of the disk and what would light up when links were registered. Jackpot, for better or worse. My hyper-alert mind jumped back to attention when I heard a thump and cracking noise in front of me. My ears snapped back around and I looked up into the woods near our clearing by the shore. A fast glance showed Rainbow was still sleeping, and an urge shot through me suddenly. No, she wasn't about to get ambushed by anything on my watch while she slept. Feeling protective, I stood up lightly and stared into the forest line, my barriers slowly lighting up along my legs and chest before sliding across the ground and forming a dome around her as well. Another light snap. Something small was moving through the brush close to the path used to get here. It couldn't have been bigger than a pony, by the sound of the movement. I remained alert as my ears swiveled, following the sound. It didn't take long for me to spot a flash of orange in the bushes. I raised an eyebrow as a small, purple tail slipped under one of the lower trees, barely noticed by me. Scootaloo? What was she doing off the beaten path and trying to stealth? I relaxed a little, but kept my barriers up, just in case it was a clever mimicry of my young filly friend. Better safe than sorry, in my case. My eyebrow rose even further as I watched the tail disappear from view, and silence resume from the bush. Was she hiding from me? A quick glance upwards showed me a still swaying branch, broken and hanging by a tiny strip of bark from a tree above the bush. Ah, she fell. Immediate concern drifted through me, and I sighed. Rainbow's barrier was left up as I walked past it, and headed for the bush. Distinctly, I noticed it shivering lightly as I approached, and I lowered myself to peek under it. Two magenta eyes stared back, and she gave a weak swallow after freezing for a moment. "You don't have to hide, Scootaloo. Are you okay? Did you hurt anything in the fall?" I asked softly, attempting to appear as non-threatening as I could. It probably didn't matter, given that she knew what I was capable of. "Ah, I'm sorry! I, um, I didn't mean to spy on you two! I was looking for you and I stumbled across you both and, um," she started rapidly apologizing. Holding my hoof up, I opened my mouth to interrupt her when I was cut off by a particularly loud snore from Rainbow. Sighing, I waited for her to quiet again before assuring, "I'm not mad, Scootaloo. I'm surprised and a bit concerned if you hurt anything." She stared up at me for a moment, as if gauging my sincerity before shaking her head. "Um, the bush broke my fall, so I'm fine. What are you doing out here with Rainbow?" she asked, easing up on her crouched down position and slowly sliding out from under the bush. Oh yeah, Rainbow wasn’t supposed to be here. "She officially requested that I help her with an enchantment to practice better for the race coming up. I was actually the one that walked in on her, so don't get her in trouble, okay?" I requested, frowning a bit down at the little filly. She seemed to not care too much for authority, one way or another, so I doubted I had to worry really. Oddly, I heard a light choke amidst the snore behind me a second later, and a wave of surprise and happiness drifted through me. Ah, the brat was awake then and faking it. I was impressed. Her fake snores were amazingly like her real ones! Scootaloo rapidly shook her head, eyes widening drastically. "No way! I'd never, ever get Rainbow Dash in trouble! I won't tell anypony else that she was here," Scootaloo promised instantly, causing me to smile again. Oh yeah, that was another good reason I didn't have to worry about Scootaloo telling on her. How had I almost forgotten about that? Dash sent a wave of what could only be described as pride at that. Heh. "It just surprised me a bit to see you two, um, together. I was maybe wondering, since you couldn't be my dad and all obviously, if I might luck out and get you as a brother instead," she explained. I gave a slow, confused blink, both at her suggestion out of seemingly nowhere, and the blast of shock and embarrassment from the link behind me, the snoring stopping instantly. Uh, okay, I was probably missing something again. "Uh, I didn't know ponies could adopt siblings, too. Is that, uh, common?" I asked, raising an ear up as I tilted my head at her. She snickered and nodded, surprisingly. "Kinda! I was just, it was so, well, I mean, it was absolutely awesome when Rainbow said I could be her little sister! Best. Day. Ever!" she squealed, causing me to snicker and nod. It must be a thing here, then. The haze of embarrassment shifted to warm instead behind me, and I inwardly grinned back at Rainbow through the link. A stutter followed, and then a blushing scowl and I resisted laughing. What, did she honestly think I wouldn't notice she was awake? "I noticed you seem to look up to her quite a bit. Although, she is an amazing mare," I agreed, nodding twice to the little filly. I got a massive grin back, and she nodded twice. "Totally! I figured you thought so, too. That's why I was wondering, when I saw you two here, um, together. I mean, she totally let me in on her crush over AJ, and I know you know about it, but seeing you two..." She trailed off, as another brief bout of confusion hit me. Wait, that meant... My eyes widened a little, and I stared back down at her in surprise. "How many ponies know about her crush, anyway?" I asked, undoubtedly adding the other two Crusaders to the list now, too. That was a lot of ponies! Scootaloo snickered and shook her head. "Don't tell her I said this, but sometimes I think the only pony who doesn't know is AJ herself," she pointed out, averting her eyes and getting a light blush again. Hmm. There was evidence I'd noticed contrary to even that, but I decided not to say anything, feeling the irked sensation coming from Rainbow now. A wise pony knew when to shut up in front of angry mares. "So kinda like Spike. Gotcha. Well, at least that means that it's widely accepted and she shouldn't have any problems when she finally tells her," I deduced, intentionally a few decibels higher in order to grind the point home. Instead I only got a bit of confusion, and sighed. She was almost as dense as I was. Almost. The orange filly snickered but shook her head again, standing fully and stretching her wings out a little. "Nah. She doesn't have anything to worry about, I don't think. Not the way AB talks. Uh, Rainbow's not supposed to hear that, either," she reminded, looking past me at the 'sleeping' Rainbow Dash. Uh... oops. Coughing lightly, I averted my eyes as the wave of shock hit through the link, and I felt her heartbeat skyrocket. The biorhythm readout also showed spikes of chemicals shoot into her bloodstream, and I felt her get a little 'wiggly', for lack of better words. Okay, this was awkward enough already. "Uh, don't do anything rash and get her in trouble, Rainbow," I warned finally, out loud. Scootaloo's eyes shot open fully and she looked past me again. Rainbow sat up instantly with an exasperated look, eyes wide. "But, but, did AJ say something about me or something?!" she asked rapidly. Maybe I was dense, and sure, I'd only been here for a month or so, but that still felt like a live minefield she was walking into. Considering I noticed it, that was really saying something! Scootaloo's eyes bugged out, both of her forehooves shooting up to her muzzle, as if to hold back the secret she'd just accidentally confessed. "Uh, you probably shouldn't ask that, Rainbow. Honestly, if you want to know how Applejack feels about you, you should probably just ask the mare," I suggested, covering for the now hiding Scootaloo, who was using me as cover. Rainbow shifted to a skeptical glare instead, adding, "Why are you giving out relationship advice? Didn't you almost get run over by a bed when you tried to ask Twilight out the first time?" Well, that had gotten altered in her head a bit! My ears flattened back an instant later and I shifted to a flat glare instead. "I didn't ask her out. You drew her attention to it in the worst possible way, and then ran off before helping to defuse the situation!" I reminded. She puffed a little, angling her wings down as her ears flattened, too. For just a moment, I found myself distracted, wondering why that was an instinctive reaction, before remembering that I was supposed to be mad. "She's your fillyfriend! You're supposed to be able to handle her yourself, not rely on somepony else to," she shot back, missing the point completely. Groaning, I reminded, "She wasn't at the time! She was your friend, too, and you created the problem in the first place." Scootaloo got her gumption up again and hopped out from behind me a moment later. "Stop it, you two! It was a super long time ago, so it's not worth fighting over. Besides, Twilight's your fillyfriend now, so it all worked out, right?" she questioned, little wings flittering as she tried her hardest to smile up at me. I noticed hesitation in her eyes, and wondered why she had to drive herself to being brave around me. Rainbow huffed and crossed her forelegs, nodding and agreeing with, "Totally! It all worked out, so you have no need to be angry with me!" My ears dropped again as my eyes narrowed at her, but Scootaloo hopped between us instead, rapidly shaking her head at Rainbow as well. "Rainbow! You always told me that if you cause a problem, you should be loyal first and foremost and fix it for your friends, right? I heard your prank did get Mender in a lot of trouble, and hurt his feelings, so shouldn't you fix that instead?" the little filly asked softly. Idly, I wondered if she kept a Rainbow Dash quote book or something, but the sentiment was still nice to hear. Yeah, that was actually good advice. I decided to take it to heart myself as well. Dash's expression softened into a frown instead, and she relaxed her tightly held forelegs a moment later. Seeing a potential opening, Scootaloo chose that moment to attack. "Besides, isn't he currently doing you an important favor in order for you to better win over Applejack? If you're mean to him, he might not help you train anymore," she reasoned. Ouch. That was a low blow, and I stared in surprise at the little filly, not realizing she could be so downright devious. Although, that was kind of defeating the point of her prior show of morality. Rainbow's face dropped into a look of stunned revelation and I inwardly groaned. It wasn't like I was going to ruin her chances with the race just because I was mad at her. She didn't really think I was that shallow, did she? "Ah! Um, uh, shoot! I didn't think of that! Um, I'm really sorry, Mender. You'll still help me practice, right?" she asked hesitantly, shifting a little closer and moving her forehooves together with a light begging gesture. Or she did think I was that shallow... Sighing, my ears drooped lower and I stared at her sadly. "Rainbow, even if I'm upset with you, you're still my friend. This race is super important to you, and I'm not going to lessen your chances with it by not helping," I assured. Her face fell as she probably picked up my intent through the link. There was a light, awkward silence between the three of us for almost a full ten seconds, a nervous Scootaloo looking back and forth between Rainbow and me, unsure of what to say, it looked like. Finally, Dash smiled lightly and opened her wings up fully. For a split second, I thought she was going to fly away. She lifted airborne in a fluid hop, easily drifting over Scootaloo's head with a single flap, and then glided downwards at an angle directly into me. My eyes widened, but I caught her and cushioned her impact as she fell into a gentle and relaxed hug against me. "Yeah, deep down, I knew that. You might not match Honesty all the time, but you're a pretty good example of Loyalty. I think that's what I like best about ya," she admitted, pulling herself tighter and squeezing over my shoulders. Smirking at the rare display of affection from the cyan mare, I wrapped my forelegs around her waist and gently squeezed, earning a sigh. Admittedly, I didn't hold myself to any standard in truth telling, but loyalty was something I felt strongly about. I'd never really thought about it before, though. Scootaloo made a light gagging motion with her hoof behind Rainbow, but remained silent. I couldn't help but notice she also wore a rather pronounced blush, and grinned at her. She glared back, of course. Rainbow cut in first, however. "Okay, enough mushy stuff. You're cool, and I admitted that, so there! Don't tell anypony," she finally requested, blushing lightly before letting go of me again. I let her slip backwards and away from me, still amused. "Aww, I'm hurt. I'm sure if it was Applejack, you'd hug her all day," I teased, actually finding her rare cases of carefully concealed affection rather endearing. Deep down, I realized she really was a nice mare, if not a bit stubborn and blustery. I wondered idly if there was a term for that. She kinda ran hot one moment, and cold the next. Rainbow predictably blinked, then tinted lightly pink with that, looking a bit flustered as Scootaloo snickered and nodded. "W-What?! Hey, you're no different than her. What, do you think I wouldn't?!" she asked, narrowing her eyes and puffing herself up a bit in defiance. A bit of confusion hit me, and then I realized she didn't know I was teasing. Hmm, note to self, I'm still not the best at getting my point across in a social situation. I decided to try to remedy the situation as best I could. "Uhm, well, actually I was-," I started to mutter, also suddenly realizing I still was bad at social situations and didn't know how to remedy it in the first place. With nothing else for it, I decided honesty was probably the best policy. It would probably get me bucked into a tree for teasing her, but she wouldn't be mad afterwards! I hoped. "Oh, that's so it! Scootaloo, time me!" Rainbow ordered suddenly. Huh? The little orange filly threw a salute and dove sideways to Rainbow's saddlebags, which she'd deposited next to mine before I layered her with the enchantment. She retrieved a stopwatch from the left one, as if knowing exactly where it was, and nodded to Dash. "Uh, time what, exactly? I don't-" I started to ask before Rainbow gave a short nod to Scootaloo and promptly pounced me. Oh. Oh hell! "Twenty-four hours! I'll show you!" she boasted, smirking before squeezing me a bit harder and burying her face in my fur. My turn to blush. Coughing, I tried to pry her off of me, but she just grinned at my attempt. "Ah, going to really make it a challenge, huh? Don't make me give you incentive to hold me," she warned, causing me to stop instantly. Ack! She didn't mean... "Rainbow, I was just teasing you! Uh, I appreciate the gusto, but you really do like Applejack more, so it's to be expected. It's not like I was really sad or-" I tried to explain. Scootaloo held up a hoof and shook her head to me. "You're not helping, Mender," she warned, causing Dash to snicker and resume her resting position. Suddenly, I realized that this wasn't so much about her wanting to 'win' anything as an excuse to snuggle with me. Frowning, I decided to go with the civil approach first. "So, this is your heat talking, right?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow towards her. Predictably, she blushed and looked away from me, but didn't directly answer. Scootaloo gasped, however. "Do you really like him like that, Rainbow?" she asked, looking surprised as that faint blush came back to her cheeks. For 'not being interested' in things like this, she was awfully inquisitive. Rainbow smirked and turned back to me, slowly edging forwards instead. "Yeah, he's a pretty cool stallion, like I said. Not to every mare's taste, but he definitely suits mine. I wonder if I could convince AJ to join his herd," she murmured, voice shifting lower as her eyes lidded slightly. I felt my entire body heat up, then realized that it was actually hers heating up instead. My eyes widened as that smell suddenly flooded the area, and I felt... No! Bad! My chest, hips, and shoulders exploded into tentacles, causing both Rainbow and Scootaloo to yelp. The mare on top of me didn't have time to react, however, as she was yanked off me and tangled up in the extra limbs, hauled into the air and away from me. Panting, I glared up at her, unable to get that smell off me or slow my heartbeat, it would seem. Damn it, Rainbow! "That's it! This is... no. You can't do this, Dash. This is why you're not supposed to be here!" I suddenly realized, announcing it out loud at the same time. She yanked lightly at the tentacle wrapped around her right forehoof before smirking and looking back down at me instead. "Oh, come on, Mender! I mean, if this is the way you want to play, too," she cooed. Okay, definitely her heat talking. Heat. Huh. Raising an eyebrow to her, I shrugged suddenly. "Fine. If your heat is this bad, time for a bit of cooling off," I suggested. Her eyes widened momentarily before I dropped the tentacles back down and dunked her into the lake. After making sure she went into the water, I simply let go and pulled my tentacles back in before anypony wandered into the clearing accidentally. That would be my luck, too. Scootaloo started laughing when Rainbow resurfaced and gave me a soggy glare. The cyan mare treaded water for a moment before yelling out, "Jerk!" I laughed finally before shakily standing up again. The throb of blood danced through my ears and that smell drifted all around me. Damn. Shaking my head to try to clear it, I ran at the lake on sudden impulse. Rainbow's eyes widened, but it was far too late even as she brought her hooves up. My cannonball formation hit the surface less than a meter away from her, and she gave out a shocked yelp as she got washed sideways, dunking under again. Surfacing, I gave a pleased groan when I realized I couldn't smell it anymore. She floated a good two meters away from me now, giving me that oh-so wonderful death glare. I shot my best one back as Scootaloo ran up to the shore we had just departed. "Don't give me that look. You know you were out of line," I warned, getting kind of tired of this. She didn't need to know, of course, but it was hard enough telling myself not to be selfish. I was with Fluttershy and Twilight, however, and Rainbow was definitely not a part of the herd. Sure, she was cute, dependable, and downright sexy sometimes, but I... I really cared for both of the mares I was already with, and it wasn't worth hurting them. I was better than that. She stared at me for a moment, undoubtedly tasting the flurry of emotions I just shot through. Finally, she relaxed and nodded while floating there. "Okay, yeah. That was underhooved of me. I knew my smell would get to you. Uh, I'm sorry, Mender. I Pinkie Promise that I'll be good for the rest of the cycle," she suddenly apologized, eyes softening a little. I was somewhat proud that our relationship had developed to the point where she rarely tried to hide her intentions and feelings from me anymore. Slowly, I nodded to her, accepting her promise. "Okay. It's a promise, then. I'll keep helping you with the wing thing, just ease off the flirting, okay? Even joking, it's a bit, um..." After I hesitated, I realized I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to say there. What was it, exactly? A temptation? No, that implied there was a chance I'd go for it. It was certainly stressful, but that wasn't quite what I was going for either. She nodded anyway. "Yeah, I'll lighten up on it. My heat just makes me do, uh, embarrassing things. Well, it doesn't make me, but it does make it seem like a pretty good idea. Cheating is bad, though, and you so don't have permission to be with me," she agreed, coughing lightly and totally missing the point. Wasn't she supposed to be after Applejack?! Also, it wasn’t ‘just’ about permission. She kinda had to get mine, too, which she seemed more intent on simply seducing out of me. Scootaloo, however, was far faster on the uptake than I was. "Hey, don't forget about Applejack! She's the whole reason you're doing this," the little filly reminded. Rainbow glanced her way for a moment before smirking lightly and nodding. "Of course! I've got to get her to say yes, first. Then, maybe with a bit of hard cider helping me out, I might be able to broach the subject of a herd. Heh," she murmured, eyes dancing mirthfully. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Your heat's getting to you again, Rainbow. Dip back under the water for a bit before we start practicing again," I suggested, paddling back towards the shore again. Eh, screw it. Dealing with this was getting to be a bit much for me right now. She muttered something quietly as I swam back, but I missed it as my head dipped under. Looking back, I saw her giving me a look of innocence as she slowly sank back under the water with a grin. Well, that was probably a bad sign. I hesitated for a moment before shaking my head. Eh, Future Mender could deal with it. Current Mender was going to take a nap, as I was now exhausted. Scootaloo smiled at me and helped me out of the water once I hit shore. I gave her a tired nod before flopping onto my side, not so interested in moving anymore. The swimming was starting to make my leg hurt from all the exercise, and I exhaled, just letting my body rest. "Are ya tired, Mender? Maybe you should sleep for a bit?" Scootaloo asked softly, actually giving a rare look of concern towards me. I smiled and nodded idly. "Yeah, I probably should. Hopefully Rainbow's going to be too busy practicing for a while and won't try anything while I'm unconscious," I muttered, closing my eyes softly. "She Pinkie Promised not to. You don't break a Pinkie Promise. Ever," Scootaloo explained, and I felt her shiver even without looking. Okay, she had me curious, but it sounded like one of those things I probably shouldn't ask about. I just assumed professional hit squad and left it at that. Resting, however, I suddenly realized that technically only my body was tired. In order to get just a bit more out of my time, wouldn't it be best to tire my magic out, too? If the theory was right and they were both 'plugged' into the same spot, then that would get me better even faster. But what to do in order to use up more magic? Smiling suddenly, I opened my eyes again and looked back up at Scootaloo, who gave me a curious look after realizing I was staring at her again. "I need to use up more magic and don't feel like moving too much to do so. But I have an idea. Could you turn around, Scootaloo?" I inquired politely, smiling at her. The orange filly tilted her head towards me, looking a little unsure, but she nodded and slowly rotated around in place, still sitting down. My eyes lit up and a particle scan shifted along her back to analyze the muscle structure. As I predicted, they were underdeveloped for her size, which was probably the reason foals couldn't fly until they were older. Their wings and muscles had to expand to fit their larger bodies. Still, if I could shrink the enchantment down, the results could be interesting! Plus, I wanted to practice my contraction techniques anyway. "Uh, w-what are you doing?" she asked, fidgeting a bit under my intense stare, then hesitating after nothing happened for several seconds, apparently. Frowning, I extended my left hoof out and traced along her spine, causing her to start as I fed a bit of energy into her. "Wah! That tickles, Mender!" she squeaked, blushing lightly as she looked back at me. "Oh, sorry. I wanted to use up more of my magic, and I was considering trying to shrink the enchantment down to fit you as well, just for practice," I explained, absently feeling along her flight muscles with the energy lines. Her body wasn't displaying the telltale shivers or flushing that Fluttershy and Rainbow got, but she did have the secondary twitching of the wings when I fed energy into the muscles. It should technically work still, and I was glad that it wouldn't affect her in, well, 'that' way. While I was just barely comfortable enough to help Rainbow, doing the same to Scootaloo was a huge no for me. The little filly frowned, but relaxed a little now that she had been told what I was up to, it would seem. A second later, a damp Rainbow Dash wandered back over, shivering a bit but looking considerably more coherent than before. She momentarily gave us a questioning look before shrugging and sitting down next to me again. "Sorry about that, by the way. I did warn that my heat is, like, really bad. I'm a lot better now," she assured, voice sounding a little tired and soft, but it struck me as honest again. I was glad she was leveling with me, and the relaxed attitude was definitely helping. I nodded to her while focusing. "It's okay, Rainbow. I understand. Just try to keep me in the loop with what your plans are involving me, okay? It's kinda scary sometimes when you get pushy," I asked, sighing weakly afterwards. It wasn't an ideal situation, but she was my friend and talking it through would help. Her ears shifted back a ways and she got a momentarily glum look about her before nodding. "I know. Uh, I'll be totally frank with you, then. I like you. You've got a lot of personality traits and stuff that I like, and you're easy on the eyes, if you catch my meaning. I'm partial to blue," she informed, smirking lightly as she nudged the fur up on my foreleg. I gave her an amused yet skeptical look, but nodded for her to continue while I layered on the basics for Scootaloo's wings. Interestingly enough, the little filly seemed content to just listen to Rainbow, smiling the entire time with her ears rotated to face her. "Still, I haven't known you anywhere near as long as AJ. Don't get me wrong. I definitely trust you. As much as I trust anypony, really. You've proved yourself and paid your dues, and I can totally respect that," she continued after collecting her thoughts for another half a minute. I shivered at that one. Dues? Is that what it was called? I tried not to be bitter, of course, but I realized that my thoughts had been getting darker lately. Slowly, I was shifting more and more negative, which only made me more irritated. She kept going this time, however, knocking me out of my self-reflection. "So yeah. You're a cool pony, got a lot of things I like, and are admittedly tasty to look at. The heat just makes that last part so much worse! But I still haven't known you as long as AJ. Honestly, I don't know you any better than most of the other girls do. Actually, I think only Twilight knows more than any of us. You're closer to her, I can tell. But..." Noticing the hesitation, I sighed and nodded while finishing lacing the flight muscles and beginning on the actual jets. "You don't like me as much. I get it," I assured, frowning as I realized the normal thrusters wouldn't fit on her wings. I'd have to make an energy extension just to add the normal amount of jets, rather than the extras like Rainbow had access to in an emergency. Rainbow's ears flattened back and she sighed a second later. "Well, yeah, but you don't have to sound so negative about it! Sheesh. I like you, like you. You're only the second pony for me to feel that way about. I mean, really feel that way about, not the stupid crushes I had when I was little." She tried to make me feel better, but I was a little confused as to where this was going. Scootaloo squirmed a little, and I couldn't tell if it was the conversation or my manipulation of her wing muscles. A moment later, she revealed it was the topic by asking, "Does that mean I might get Mender as a brother after all?!" She grinned over her shoulder at the same time, and I rolled my eyes. This time I was on to her cute little indirect reference. Rainbow snickered before I could say anything, though, shaking her head. Yeah, honestly, that's what was the most obvious outcome. I mean, Applejack didn't- "I've obviously gotta talk AJ into it. I can't be a member of two herds at once, so combining makes more sense," the cyan pegasus elaborated, a mirthful sparkle in her eyes. I almost, almost fell on top of Scootaloo in my shock. Thankfully, I recovered fast and glared back at her, having no way to tell if she was serious or pulling one on me. Again. She just smirked, telling me absolutely nothing to my frustration. "That's very much not a good idea. You'd better be joking," I warned, flat look of annoyance probably reflecting in my tone. Her eyebrow rose a bit, and she inquired, "Oh? Why is it a bad idea?" Seriously? "I didn't think I'd need to point out how much Applejack and I aren't exactly on good terms. Not just what happened that night, but ever since meeting her. I got off on the wrong hoof and never recovered. She'll never agree to it, and think less of you probably for even suggesting it," I reasoned, look of annoyance shifting to a softer, more neutral expression as I looked away from the two pegasi. Rainbow watched me for a moment before sighing weakly and stretching her wings out. "She wants to be your friend, Mender. You gave her another chance, and she sure isn't going to waste it like that. Don't underestimate her," she warned, sounding rather sure of herself. I gave a light sigh, then turned back to continue on Scootaloo's wings. She was giving me a rather sad frown, but looked away when I moved to look at her back again. Absently, I finalized the compression and started stringing the enchantments into her energy pools. It felt like I was starting to sink in negativity, honestly. Ever since I found out what I was, after Nirru ruined everything, it felt like I was stuck. I couldn't escape and as much as it tore me apart inside to admit it, I was forced to realize that I could never actually achieve what I really wanted all along. It really sank in, finally. I'd never be a normal pony. I'd never know what it was like to have my own existence outside the shadow of somepony else. To have memories that didn't bleed through into events that I never experienced. I didn't have parents. I didn't have family. My old race was dying rapidly, and my new one I just found out I wasn't a part of. I was the first and last of my kind, and there was no changing that, or looking away. Giving a light tug, I tied off the enchantment from myself and let the magic go. It felt like a part of me fell away with it, and I was suddenly hit by a good amount of fatigue, a throb going through my head. Scootaloo perked up, and then glanced backwards at her wings a second later, undoubtedly having realized that was what I was messing with, and feeling me stop. She looked almost disappointed when she saw they didn't look any different. Dash eyed us both cautiously, also looking for changes. "Visualize using them, and open them up," Rainbow suddenly suggested, going off the very correct hunch she undoubtedly got from her own enchantment. Scootaloo nodded to her before focusing and stretching her wings out. Orange and crimson light danced out from them, a web of energy expanding out in a much larger wing shape, lit up by glowing thruster disks and hundreds of balancing tabs, not unlike feathers. Her eyes widened as she took in the glow, and Rainbow smirked as she watched. "You gave her the jets?" she asked, a moment later, shifting her attention to me instead of the filly. I nodded absently, laying down on my side and feeling my whole body throb. My magic was definitely hooked into my vitality, I confirmed. It felt like I'd just run fifty laps after doing martial fall recovery practice. "Yeah. Not like yours. Just enough to balance out the thrust to weight ratio. Mmm. About like normal wings for an older pegasus," I explained in brevity, deciding that even talking sucked. Rainbow shifted to a concerned look, but gave a sudden start as Scootaloo let out a high-pitched squeak next to her. Both of us looked over again in time to see the little filly hovering a couple feet off the ground, gently trying to keep her balance while her body also tried to squirm in excitement. "R-Rainbow! I'm flying!" she almost screamed, eyes looking huge and dancing with energy. It brought a certain warmth to suddenly see her look so delighted, and even though I felt like crap, I felt her slowly hauling my mood back up again. Rainbow didn't need any help beaming at her, and nodded. "Heck yeah! I didn't expect ta have to teach ya for a year or so more, but with Mender's help, I guess we can get a jump on it! Want a flying lesson?" Rainbow asked, smile shifting to a knowing one instead. Uh oh. The light from the wings flared up as Scootaloo's emotions literally caused the wings to lift her even higher into the air, her whole body shivering in shock and excitement. "R-Really?! You mean it?! Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, spinning in a circle, and going totally off balance as she did so. Rainbow laughed as she hopped forward and caught Scootaloo, who was now upside-down and going into a nosedive. I snickered, not realizing that it would make the little filly so happy. The two hugged for a moment, Rainbow smirking down at Scootaloo before glancing over to me instead. I spoke up finally, giving the standard warning. "They're going to make you get tired far faster, Scootaloo. They're hooked into your energy supply. There's also an emergency parachute in them that will go off under several conditions. If it does, the wings will power down until it fills back up with enough energy to work again, so take breaks or the wings will turn off for a while." Rainbow's chute technically had the automatic safeguards, too, but I figured the wings going away would be considerable incentive for the little filly. Rainbow already knew her limits. She just willingly chose to disregard them... Scootaloo's eyes widened for a moment before she nodded rapidly towards me. She surprised me, however, by hopping off Rainbow and pouncing forwards, grabbing onto my chest and squeezing into an unreserved hug. My eyes widened, but I smiled gently a moment later and wrapped my right foreleg around her back, careful to not singe myself on her overactive wings that now refused to turn off. "Thank you, thank you, Mender! You really are an awesome stallion! Aaaah! I can't thank you enough," she murmured, backing up slightly and looking down at me with wide eyes. I snickered and shook my head. "Thank me by having fun and practicing well. I expect you to be showing me tricks Rainbow taught you by the end of the week. I'm, uh, I think I'm gonna take a nap, so don't mind me," I excused, getting really tired. Yup, I imagine this is what a unicorn felt like after using a lot of magic. Rainbow frowned, despite Scootaloo's oblivious laughing and spinning. "You sure you're okay, Mender?" she asked hesitantly, looking concerned. Weakly, I gave a nod and tucked myself up again after Scootaloo fluttered off. "Yeah. I wanted to get myself tired out using magic, and I guess it worked. I'm just going to take a nap while you two practice. Remember, be careful," I cautioned again, smiling at the mare. She gave a gentle grin back and nodded, taking to the air on just her normal wings. "Of course. I'll make sure nothing happens to her, or me. Thanks for worrying, Mender," she cooed, winking and turning away, zipping after the out of control Scootaloo, who was now doing barrel rolls along the tree line. I blushed, the way she said that having stirred many a thing inside of me. The tone she took saying my name especially was electrifying, and I suddenly realized it might take longer to fall asleep than I had initially counted on. Groaning, I flopped back onto my side, listening to the laughter and happy shouts. Not everything was negative. Life was slowly normalizing again, despite my penchant for ungodly horrible luck. Again, I drifted back to hoping Sweetie would talk to me again, and idly thought of ways I could try to appease her. I really had no idea what to do. My body slowly relaxed, as I tried to think back to everything she said. There had to be something, but I just couldn't think of anything that would make the situation better. Heh, plenty that could make it worse, of course. No, I wasn't going to let it get worse. Feeling tired again, I gave my last bit of mental resolve to promising to try harder when I woke up. It was about time I got a hold of my own life. I'd get back in control of things, and force myself to stay positive! I had to. Giving up wasn’t an option. With that declaration sapping the remainder of my fortitude, I relaxed and let myself slip into dreams. Chapter 49It's amazing how time sort of slipped together and blurred when nothing noteworthy or distinctive was happening. Further, the more awareness one gave to the actual process of time's passage, the slower it seemed to go. Yesterday had been one of those blurs after I woke back up and helped Rainbow get Scootaloo out of the tree she was hanging in via her parachute. They practiced for a surprisingly long time, honestly, so it was no surprise that her wings finally gave out. Rainbow bid me farewell for the night after securing the tired and sleeping Scootaloo to my back, and I headed back towards the cabins. By the time I'd arrived, of course, Spike, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom were sleeping. Big Mac gave a soft smile as he saw me walking up with the missing Crusader, apparently having anticipated her being with me. The two of us got her into bed, I gave Tank his supper and evening bath water, and then I, too, lost consciousness, leaving Big Mac as the only still functioning member of our little group. He'd been writing some sort of letter before bed, but I didn't pay much attention. Probably just to AJ as to update her. Now, time had ground the other way. Despite the rather interesting name for the disks, there wasn't a huge amount of data on them in that file. Well, their overall function was well documented, and so were various commands I could give them, but there was a surprising lack of the 'how' and ‘why’ parts of what they did present. The data they were passing to me, combined with 'nanites' in the title, didn't bode well. Tiny machines measured on the nano-scale were drifting through my bloodstream right now, actually. They were responsible for my hyperactive regeneration and immune system, along with most of the biorhythmic data I could take on myself. Given the rather similar comparison to what I could pick up on Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, I could only assume, really. Did the disks introduce nanites to their system? If so, what did they do? If they didn't stop at just taking readings, I had a feeling we'd have a bigger problem coming up. Out of pure paranoia, I kept a secure lockdown on my connections to the girls. Encryption and passkey, not to mention firewall and active scanning. At this point, until I figured out the extent of the connection, I didn't want anything passing through that line without my explicit permission. It only made matters worse in the fact that they didn't use conventional radio or psionic channels, as far as I could tell. There appeared to actually be my race's magic involved in supporting the link. Wonderful. Because a mixture of magic and technology never caused problems before. I rolled my eyes idly while flipping to the next page. At this point, the manual was projected out my right eye and I was reading it with my left, 'physically' flipping the pages. After the sixtieth page, I had started to get a bit of eyestrain reading it right off my display adapter, I discovered. This was far gentler for me. I wasn't exactly concerned with ponies finding me, regardless. Glancing up again, I took in my hidden view of the lake. The sky was somewhat clear today and actually had a bit of sun starting to peek over the horizon and across the water. A thin mist hung over the entire body of water as the air rapidly heated up, and I smiled at the early morning sensations. It was cooler this time of day, and I felt far more comfortable without the sun glaring down on me. No offense to Tia, of course. It was in my name, after all. I was more of a night pony. The hidden bluff I rested on was nicely covered by thick foliage and was partially into the tree canopy, so I couldn't be spotted from the air, and they'd be very hard pressed to see me from the lake. I could see them, though. Speaking of, my eyes locked onto the two foals playing in the water still. They'd come by a good twenty minutes earlier, and seemed to be enjoying the water. They were much too far away for me to see anything apart from their colors without bothering to magnify my vision, but one of them looked vaguely like the filly that was with the Crusaders during the accident. What was her name? Pinch? Also too lazy to peek into my database to verify that, I shifted my attention back down to my reading. I had a lot of data to weed through before I saw Twilight again, and she was expecting me to get this done. A part of me oddly felt better, however, knowing I had my sensors and occasional visual peek at the foals. They weren't accompanied by anypony, and after what happened the first day here, I realized that if I could make a difference, I definitely wanted to. If something did happen and they needed help, I was in a position to provide just that on extremely short notice. That, and get a message back to the other adult ponies quite quickly. Smirking, I glanced over at my only other companion again, remembering I wasn't technically alone. Tank was smiling gently while watching me read, seemingly perfectly content with lying in the shade and relaxing. I made sure he was nice and washed up this morning, and picked out some choice greens for him to eat alongside my surprisingly large breakfast. After the last two days of driving myself quite hard, I discovered my appetite had skyrocketed! The next page showed the start of chapter sixteen, entitled 'Root Commands'. Everything I grasped so far looked rather zealous for just information gathering. Sampling, I understood, but there was also mention of manipulation of both bodily processes and energy pools. In other words, manipulation of the magic and bodies of those that touched the disks. Who made these, and for what purpose?! Worse yet, what would happen if I registered all six of them? The code for their processing and sampling was open to me, and I'd already thoroughly examined it, but the root coding and signal manipulation was black boxed on me. Thankfully, it was just a partition, and I was in the process of breaking down its encryption right now, but I still didn't like things hidden from me. My eyes widened as I skimmed through the index of the chapter. Root commands appeared to be orders directly to that black box. It sent 'root' level commands to the disks themselves, instructing them to... do things to the hosts, as they put it. Basic things were there, such as localized sampling of tissue and biorhythm data, and reading different types of energy outputs, of course. It went beyond just scanning, however. My ears flattened backwards against my head and I glared at the page, rapidly flipping past the scans and going directly to the 'orders' I could give. It went into something about producing and storing various chemicals, and apparently one of the commands was introducing them in either localized or system-wide amounts. The chemicals were indexed separately, and listed, unfortunately, by their formula. I cursed myself for not knowing proper chemistry, apart from the basics of engineering. For probably the thousandth time, I caught myself wishing I'd taken medical training. The second of three direct manipulations listed was electric in source. That appeared to be physical nerve manipulation, and it actually appeared to have interface capacity. I was even less comfortable with the sounds of that, and didn't particularly agree with the idea of physically controlling the hosts' movements. Twilight was going to have a field day with this. The third was energy manipulation, the only non-physical variant. The amount of commands was staggering, however, and this appeared to be the 'main' purpose of the disks, I decided. The commands were focused on taking samples, and then mixing them across the disks to try to figure out how they interacted with each other, for some reason. I could only guess that Doctor Kyliona had found something to do with the way the Element Bearers interacted. Could it be hinting at the Elements of Harmony themselves? Honestly, I knew next to nothing about the actual titular power source. The fact that she called it our race's only hope kept running through my head, and I groaned, sighing as I read on. Once I got the black box cracked open, the first thing I was going to do was find a way to nuke all of these options and commands. Cracking sounds distracted me, and I perked my head up again, ears swiveling as I checked on Tank. He hadn't moved from his position, however, and was slowly turning his head in the direction of the offending noise as well. My scanners went active, and I easily picked out the two fillies wading through the underbrush at the bottom of the cliff. Outline profiles began running on them as I frowned and waited. "Are ya sure he's around 'ere somewhere? Why would he be way out 'ere in tha first place?!" I heard muttered in a distinctly Apple Bloom voice from the rear filly. I switched the profile to just matching for her and got a ninety-seven percent positive, which was the best I could hope for at this distance. On a hunch, I ran the other two fillies against the lead pony, and got a positive, ninety-four percent match on Scootaloo. There was a soft snort, followed by, "I'm not. It's just something I noticed yesterday. The wings he gave me have a disk on the front of my chest that holds my parachute in place like a harness. It glows slightly brighter the closer I get to him," she revealed. Oh, the harness brace I put in to cushion against g-shock. Clever filly! That doubled as the signal feedback to me, so it would get just slightly brighter the closer she got. I double-checked my magic signal, and it did indeed show her extremely close to me in that direction. "Really? So we could'a wandered out 'ere fer no reason whatsoever?" Apple Bloom asked, annoyance shifting into her tone. I smirked and stood up, slipping quietly towards the cliff edge to peek over at them. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and turned around at that, giving Apple Bloom a frustrated glare. "You're the one who agreed to find him. Got a better idea? I just hope this works, or all of this will be a waste of time," she groaned, looking to her left again towards the lake. "She's our friend, Scoots! Ya gotta trust her. She says she wants ta properly apologize-like, an' has ah way ta smooth things over, so she does. She ain't dumb," Apple Bloom defended, stomping her right forehoof down as emphasis afterwards. Heh, both of them being out here in the first place was a testament to their loyalty. They must be talking about Sweetie, then. Guessing they weren't going to ambush me or anything weird, I decided it was rude to further eavesdrop. Scootaloo sighed and nodded, looking a little glum for a moment. It was rapidly replaced with surprise and panic as I snagged her torso with a tentacle, wrapping it around her in an instant and yanking her upwards. Apple Bloom whipped back around at the surprised squeaking noise, then gave a start when she saw her friend no longer in front of her where she was a moment ago. The orange filly stopped struggling after I pulled her up to the cliff level. She stared at me for a moment before smirking and nodding, relaxing inside the tentacle wrap. A moment later, I grinned and launched another down, just as the filly on the ground looked upwards instead. Apple Bloom yelped but didn't dodge quick enough, being snatched up in my tentacle as well and hauled upwards. She didn't fight, however, pushing a tentacle away from her long enough to look at it, then smile. Heh, not only was she stronger than Scootaloo, I noticed a more level head about her. "Okay, Ah take it all back. Ya know yer stuff, Scoots," she admitted upon touching down on the cliff surface next to me. Snickering, I nodded to the little pegasus in question, setting her down as well. "Finding me like that was indeed clever. You're very observant, Scootaloo," I complimented gently. "Just Scoots, please! You're awesome in my book, especially after giving me these! That means I'll let you use my nickname," she decided, opening her wings up and displaying the radiating jet extensions with a grin. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. I smiled softly to her and nodded, happy that it made her happy, anyway. "You've been behaving with them, right?" I asked, a light stern tone to my question. She threw me a salute and nodded. "Apple Bloom can confirm, Boss! Short flights only with rests in-between. I've also stayed low to the ground, just in case!" she relayed. I peeked back at AB as well, who nodded twice and smirked at her friend. "Very good! I'm proud of you, Scoots. With your loyalty, you'd make Rainbow proud. I'll put in a good word later for you," I offered, smirking as she puffed up almost instantly and beamed. It was easy to make her happy, but she was oh so adorable when grinning. Apple Bloom snickered at her for a moment before nodding and shifting to face me again, sitting down gently on the rocks. "Ah'm ah bit jealous, honest. Ya think it would be possible ta work somethin' up like that fer me, too? Maybe runnin' faster, or kickin' stronger or somethin'?" she asked, sounding hopeful. I hesitated, and then tilted my head towards her, considering it. Earth Ponies had the same magic pools as everypony else, if I recall. Muscle enhancement for speed and strength would actually be easier than the wings, enchantment-wise. What made the wings insanely complex were the micro-jets hooked up into the muscle nervous control. Oh, and the backup emergency systems for the parachute and chest support. Plus, if Rainbow got any faster, I might have to install heat shielding... A moment later, I carefully nodded to her before explaining, "A lot of the same issues would be involved, but I could make an enchantment that enhances your muscles and dermal layer, yeah." "Dermal?" Scootaloo asked, tilting her head as well as she looked between us. Extending my right foreleg up, I nudged my skin lightly with my other hoof. "Dermal is your skin. I'd make you stronger, faster, and tougher. The only issue is, like Scootaloo, the only way I have to power it is your internal magic supply. You'll get tired a lot faster, and might pass out if you're stubborn and overuse it," I explained, warning her the same way I did Scootaloo. Apple Bloom didn't stop grinning, however, and nodded twice. "Yeah, Scoots was explainin' ta me! She said it gets easier tha more ya do it, or somethin'?" Smiling again, I nodded to her. "Yeah, training up your magic pool is like training any other muscle. The more you use it, the bigger your pool gets. Overuse will make your whole body sore, though, and it gives actual magic users nosebleeds and headaches from the tension," I elaborated. Both fillies were surprisingly interested, and I realized I might be onto something here. Still, it worried me a bit if this got out. "Oh, and don't tell anypony else about this, okay? Everypony is going to want this sort of thing if it becomes public knowledge," I deduced, frowning to myself. Apple Bloom looked momentarily bleak, but Scootaloo just nodded and waved her right forehoof towards me in assurance. The little filly opened her mouth to comment, when all of my focus was suddenly shifted directly to the right. My ears whipped around as I picked up a very, very light clicking noise, followed by a mechanical whirling sound from quite a distance to my right. Er, what was that?! Both fillies stopped and gave me a questioning stare as I turned my head to the right. The noise stopped instantly and I frowned. That sounded remarkably like a camera. That other colt's had sounded the same, except his had an additional flash noise. Hesitantly, I scanned the thicker clusters of greenery near where my little ledge joined the rest of the woods, eyes picking up a slight glimmer that rapidly moved out of view. A reflection of light. A lens? "We have company, and not of the nice sort, I don't think. Stay here," I ordered to the two fillies, lifting my left foreleg up and forming a barrier in a hemisphere around them. I doubted the glint was a rifle scope, but I wasn't about to risk their lives on an assumption. "Aaah, be careful, Mender!" Apple Bloom hissed, scanning the plants as well, a frantic light dancing in her eyes. Tank, whom I accidentally neglected to put in the barrier, took to the air a moment later, light buzzing noise only temporarily distracting me. Nodding to Apple Bloom, I slowly made my way towards the edge of the area before calling out, "I know you're out there. Do you want to talk?" It was a long shot, but being civil was preferred. I waited. Lightly, I heard a bee buzzing a few yards away. Quiet bird chirps joined somewhere behind me. Frowning, I scanned the area where the glimmer of light had come from again, widening my eyes as I picked up a hasty but subtle movement underneath the larger bush in the area. A shift, and something brown sliding along the dirt. Skin? No, it was a little shiny. Manufactured? My systems flared to full processing an instant later as something ducked out of the bush. The dark green colored pony shape whipped its foreleg sideways as it dove out of the hiding spot, and a blast of powdery smoke came up out of nowhere. My eyes narrowed, cybernetic muscles shooting down my legs in the same instant before I took off, avoiding the smoke and kicking off a tree to the other side of it, giving a wide berth. Something round glimmered where the smoke came from as I dove sideways, setting warning flags off in my head. Coming out of my hasty roll, I sliced with a thin energy blade up and out at a forty-five degree angle, tracing a line across the object in an instant before tearing after the pony. I heard the explosion behind me prematurely go off in the background, and a few chunks of shrapnel bounced off my flank armor as I ran. Low-grade shrapnel explosive using some sort of rock salt or something. It was meant to stun or slow me, probably. What the hell was with this pony?! By the time I righted myself and had gotten running, I saw the mysterious pony almost forty yards ahead of me, flowing golden brown mane whipping chaotically in the wind. Damn, they could run! No wings, I noticed instantly. Picking up speed, I sprinted after them to catch up, forcing sharp breathing from my mouth. My target must have heard me, and picked up speed a moment later, dodging between two trees and sliding down the embankment into the valley. The light sound of rotary blades came from behind me, signaling that Tank was following, but I ignored him in light of leaping past the two trees and just falling the entire way to the ground below. They glanced back a heartbeat later, and I noticed genuine surprise on their face when I smashed into the ground on all four hooves and didn't even stop, kicking up dirt before leaping towards them again. The sight of widened, light gold eyes greeted me, and more importantly, no horn. At this range, I noticed the body structure was light and slim, with only moderate muscles and definitely a focus of mass balanced between the front and back of the body. A mare? She dove sideways instead, rolling out of the way before bolting along the face of the embankment we'd just leapt off, going deeper into the woods. I slid before kicking sideways and rolling after her to keep my momentum, hot on her hooves and definitely not going to lose her in the woods. She had saddlebags as well, and I counted on them slowing her down. Something loose hung around her neck from a strap, but I couldn't tell what it was at this speed. She was damn fast, and it was all I could do to keep up without fully transforming my legs. That would definitely tell her something was up, however. I marked it down as a last resort in case I needed to prevent her escape. The woods opened out suddenly into a clearing, barely noticed at the speed we were running. She dropped suddenly out of viewpoint. I saw it coming and fell sideways, feeling the wind shoot over my fur as I rolled past both her lashing out back legs. She hopped away again as I spun to my legs, skidding to a stop as she made a sideways whipping motion with her head. Her posture righted itself into a spread out stance, and the glitter of metal was in her muzzle. Some sort of mouth handle attached to a quarter meter of blade. Interesting. I didn't realize they had weapons like that. The handle itself also looked strange, and I remained wary as she slowly paced sideways, keeping herself wide and ready to dodge. "Knock it off. I just want to talk to you. You don't have to run away or attack me," I growled, shifting my dermal armor up near the surface under my skin. Not exactly wanting to hurt her wasn't mutually exclusive to not wanting to get stabbed by a psychotic mare, so I was better safe than sorry. "Mhack ohf!" she snarled back a moment later, eyes narrowing at me. I blinked. "Uh, what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her. Her glare shifted to a deadpan expression instead, mixed with mild annoyance. Her jaw unclenched a moment later, and she shifted her tongue visibly over the handle of the blade. "I said, back off. Stop chasing me," she corrected, flicking the blade back into guard an instant later and slowly starting to shift backwards herself. Figured that's what she said. Frowning, I kept the same two-meter distance between us, slowly shifting forwards instead. "I'm not attacking you. You attacked me. But I can't let you run away either until I talk to you," I warned, sticking to the honest approach. I pretended Applejack was on the sidelines applauding. The mare gave a frustrated snarl through the blade instead of answering. Her rear legs snapped back at the same time. Widening my eyes, a flash of memory suddenly reared up. I was much, much too young. Day after day, it was all the same. It just got worse, of course. In order to eat, we had to grab and pull off a collar tag. It didn't matter from whom. If ours got pulled off instead, it was fifteen lashings with a studded paddle. I learned fast, and still felt the burning sensation of the red streaks across my lower back. My stomach rumbled as the targets dwindled. Barely any tags left. A flash of insight. Selfishness. Hatred. Maybe even a bit of defiance. A mock chase later past the instructor set everything up. I pounced. The fellow blue blur dodged, of course, which set it up perfect as our captain turned to watch. Spinning sideways, I lashed out at the instructor's tag instead. Captain Tym didn't let me even fully extend my arm. His left paw only flicked me sideways, sending me crashing through several training dummies. Of course, he thought it was hilarious. That night, I got supper. The next day, he started training me himself. My hoof hit the bundle of muscles in the corner of her jaw and kept going, hooking under the hilt and whipping the knife sideways as I rolled under her lunge. She hit hard on her shoulder and rolled with a startled yelp, me flipping back up to my hooves an instant later. She came out of the roll with another flick of her head. For a split second, I anticipated another knife, but rapidly tossed myself sideways just in case. I'd been wrong. Tiny and thin, like a pencil, the steel bolt flicked past my shoulder an instant later, and I kicked off the ground as I rotated to the left. My left shoulder now facing downwards, I checked her in the chest with my full weight before she could flick the second of three bolts down into the tiny mouth crossbow. She gasped as I landed on her, but rapidly rolled backwards, kicking me off at the same time. I landed, her crossbow latched firmly in my teeth before I bit down, snapping through the wood and tearing the string off an instant later with a low growl. She looked more than startled, and whipped something off the side of her saddlebag an instant later. My eyes widened, but I closed them an just before the blast of smoke hit me dead on. My proximity sensors flicked up a heartbeat later, just in time to see her book out of the clearing like her tail was on fire. Damn it! Okay, the straightforward approach wasn't working. My nanites came alive and started processing the smoke that now covered me. It wasn't just for covering things, I noticed, as several irritants and a light nerve agent were picked up in the residue. So, kinda like the tear gas we used to use in my old dimension. Shrugging, I set them to work sucking up the dust while I put a filter over my eyes and nose, hopping up again and flicking myself into the air with two fast tendrils. Instead of chasing her this time, I moved into the treetops, rapidly slipping from branch to branch and following behind her with quick and quiet tentacle flings. The last time I'd used this was against Nirru. Overkill for this mare, but she was really starting to annoy me. The irritation surprised me, but I just chalked it up to having a rather bad day since she showed up. Dirt flaking off me, I dashed to the side and kept a light distance, watching as she slowed down and looked over her shoulder again, cautiously cantering to the left as she looked. She was skilled, but not a professional. At least not according to my squad based tactics. I slipped closer, watching as she slowed to a halt and looked around rapidly, her chest heaving like crazy. No, she didn't hold herself like a soldier. A scout, maybe? It felt like her training was more revolving around not being detected than outright combat. Training. She worked for somepony, and had been watching me. Those fliers! My eyes narrowed as she dropped a few more points on my personal karma meter. If she worked for whoever was behind that, I definitely couldn't let her escape. "Ha... wow. Okay, his leg... must be injured still. Uh... transmission!" she suddenly whispered to herself, hastily tossing her saddlebags off and digging through the right one. Transmission? My ears perked up as my eyes zoomed in more. The crystal array she pulled out of the saddlebag was pretty looking, variants of green and light blue gems all woven together in a practical looking, silvery stand. It was compact, and looked vaguely like a satellite dish, honestly. A communication device? A moment later, the case around her neck hit the forest floor, too, hastily opened back up to reveal a similar device to what I saw when I got here. That must be a camera that ponies use! Damn it. She took pictures of me? Oh, the tentacles! My eyes narrowed as I slipped one tree closer, right above the clearing she was in now. She hesitated, looking the device over before giving a weak groan. "Uh, energy crystal! Uh, where did I put them?!" she muttered, rapidly checking the other bag. She was panicking still. Her mind probably was picturing my recovery and running after her again, and I smirked. I'd not felt this way since Nirru, and my long tongue licked out along my lips, tasting along my grin. I'd forgotten that it was fun, too. My body shifted the second she moved to the left, ducking into the bag. My tentacles braced out below me, not a single scrape sounding out upon landing, and I slipped them back inside of me in an eyeblink. My hoof reached out, lightly brushing the device of crystal and taking a quick scan. There was no energy in it at all. Good. A smirk twisting up at the corner of my lips, I tipped the device over and pushed my right forehoof against it, watching her curiously from less than half a meter away. She grinned as she pulled out a glowing crystal, and then rotated to face me. The expression faltered in less than a second, and I almost swore she'd accidentally swallow the thing as her eyes shot open. Her heartbeat skyrocketed, bursts of blood rushing through her veins as I watched her pupils slowly shrink. Fear. Panic. She reeked of it, and it was delicious. I grinned to her as my hoof pushed down, crushing her device in half in an instant and snapping the metal under my strength. "Injured leg, huh?" I inquired playfully a moment later. She yelped and spit out the energy crystal, lashing out with a hoof. It was pointless of course, and I just felt her blow hit the organic metal in my cheek. She screamed in pain as her hoof rebounded, barely jarring my head to the side. My smile didn't falter as I slowly walked forward still. A whimper sounded out, and then she glared up at me again and lashed out with the other hoof to my neck this time. There was a cracking noise, and it didn't come from me. She gasped and leaped backwards away from me, landing into a stumble as her left foreleg gave away under her weight. Now she was just being stupid. I snickered, a light whispering dancing through me that I barely acknowledged. She did smell really good. Making her pay a little for everything she just put me through wouldn't take too long, would it? "S-Stop! Please, no! Don't kill me, I give up!" she exclaimed, limping backwards as I continued slowly strutting forwards, that familiar stirring inside as her delicious words reached me. "Shouldn't you have thought of that before trying to kill me instead?" I suggested playfully, grinning wider as her look of horror set in and she fell backwards, trying to crawl away from me. It would be so easy to grab her with tentacles, but I held them in reserve with what little willpower I could muster. She smelled so good! I pounced instead, landing on her prone form as she screamed, trying to feebly shove me off. Her strength was shot, however, and I was much too heavy now that I'd released quite a bit of muscle from subspace into myself. Inhaling softly, I smelled along her collarbone, and she froze instantly, eyes shivering and widening as I held her there. "Oh... oh no, please. I, um..." she whispered, slowly looking back up at me instead. She really did smell good. She was in heat too, as expected. "What? You told me not to kill you," I pointed out softly, smile widening as she swallowed and nodded, rolling over onto her back, letting her forelegs drop to her chest and spreading her back legs. Submitting just like that? That wasn't any fun. My eyes narrowed, but something nagged at the back of my mind. No, I didn't want to be weak. I didn't want to keep being a pansy doormat that everypony walked all over! But wait. What? No, I didn't want to hurt her! My eyes snapped open an instant later and I inhaled sharply, sitting back up again. She scrambled up and out from under me immediately, shifting to a confused expression instead of anger. Wait, what was I just doing?! Why did I...?! Why had I even considered doing that to her?! "G-Get away from me! Wait, no... Y-Your eyes??" she asked, looking stunned as she shoved herself away from me, sliding into a sitting position again. I was jarred backwards, not really feeling it as confusion shot through me. No, I wasn't supposed to listen to that voice! I wasn't a monster like she said. The buzzing noise shifted loud enough for me to no longer be able to subconsciously ignore it at the same time my proximity sensors fired off. Oh. Oh hell. "Duck!" I shouted to her, head whipping to the left and lashing out just an instant too slow. "Hu-?" was all she got out before a tortoise came in at high velocity and rebounded off the side of her head. I saw her lurch sideways, head whipping painfully into her left shoulder as her eyes went vacant with shock, and she hit the ground on that side, unmoving. Uh oh. Slowly, I shook the murky feeling out of my skull and edged closer to her. "Uh, Miss? Are you okay?" I tried asking, noticing a bit of blood coming from the right side of her head. She didn't respond, or move, and I swallowed, scrambling forwards and feeling her neck. Exhaling softly, I relaxed as I felt the heartbeat, and noted the slow breathing. She was just knocked out, then. "Uh, thanks, Tank. I, um, really didn't know what to do there," I muttered, deciding the judgment call on his part was probably actually the wisest path. Sure, she'd wake up with a whopping headache, but at least I, um, stopped. I swallowed weakly and stared down at her for a second before slowly shaking my head. Damn it. My view shifted to the book connected to my left side still, tucked between saddlebags. What was wrong with me?! I felt the bubble I'd left the fillies in disrupted, but I didn't care at that point. All I could manage to do was sit there and stare down at her. There was nothing in my cybernetic programming to cause that. What did that mean? Slowly, that cold ache drifted back into my chest, and I crushed my eyes closed, staring at her having started to cause physical pain. All I could manage was a painful swallow, and it felt like the truth was sucked down with the lump in my throat. It reverberated through me, and I hated every ounce of it. It was me. Nirru had been right. Parts of me were monstrous after all. The admission left me with nothing but that oh so familiar hollow ache, and I suddenly felt lost again. Confused. For the first time since so long ago on Fluttershy's couch, I suddenly thought about it, and realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Everything had been a reaction, hadn't it? I'd been forced to just keep moving and reacting to things as they came up. My only 'plan' so far, if one could call it that, was to get a job as an engineer and enchanter. I heard them run into the clearing a little before the wind danced past and brought their smells to my nose. Still, I couldn't open my eyes yet. I'd see the monster I was turning out to be if I did. I had two mares interested in me even, yet that beast on the inside almost... I shivered, but halted myself soon after, scared to even move. Two mares. That thought should bring happiness and a warm elation, shouldn't it? Then why was I absolutely terrified?! It came down to the realization that I had no idea what I was doing. I'd found myself in a position of surprisingly unwanted authority, doing a job I hadn't wanted to begin with, and holding responsibilities for other ponies when I could barely ensure my own safety, let alone that of anypony else! What was I doing?! "M-Mender, are ya okay?" was asked, the soft yet uncertain drawl reverberating through me, having no consideration for my mindset. That... That was a good question. I decided she probably meant physically, which apart from dozens of cybernetic additions, was true. I was healthy, and my leg was healing still. I'd sustained no damage. The answer obvious now, I slowly shook my head negative, refusing to open my eyes. "No. I'm really not. Uh, I'm not hurt, it's fine..." I whispered, my own voice feeling foreign, and I coughed to suddenly clear the hoarseness gathered around my vocal cords. "Whoa! You so kicked her flank! What was she even doing out here?!" Scootaloo asked softly, apparently deciding that was all that mattered, and that the unconscious mare was more interesting. Her wording caused me to wince, regardless. After a moment, I shook my head and finally opened my eyes again, correcting her with, "Actually, I was trying really hard not to hurt her. I'm, well, I'm not a monster. I don't want to be a monster. Uh, Tank was technically the one that knocked her out." It felt like an excuse, and left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. My tongue recoiled, and I rubbed it against my teeth for a moment to drive the feeling away. Tank hovered in, breaking orbit around my head to land gently in front of me and start the extremely slow process of nodding in agreement. I smiled down at him and returned it preemptively, gently patting him on the head. My red-maned friend moved into my viewpoint and ducked down, face next to Tank so she could peek up and at my eyes, however. "Mender, yer not ah monster. Ya tried ta not hurt her, so relax. What was she doin' out 'ere?" she asked softly, shooting me an assuring smile. I swallowed, but couldn't manage to look away from her, forgetting how adorable she could be sometimes. As much as it burned in my chest, I realized that meeting her eyes was probably, well, better for me than avoiding them. "She was taking pictures of me in secret. From her extreme reaction, I'm guessing she either works for, or is an associate of the ponies who printed those smear fliers last week. I should, well, probably get her back to the camp and put her under arrest. Spike should be able to send a letter to Tia and let her know about what happened," I reasoned, my head clearing a bit to the point where I could finally consider what to do. Apple Bloom's gentle smile burned its way into my mind, and I felt myself relax a little. She trusted me. That must mean I wasn't a bad pony, right? I stopped, and that had to mean something! Even if the temptation was there and, uh, something seemed to take over, it didn't succeed. I didn't hurt the mare. That was the important part, wasn't it? Deciding Fluttershy would say yes and hug me, I smiled down at the little filly and nodded. Her grin widened and she returned it before trotting over to Scootaloo instead, finally letting me free of her subtle spell. I suddenly realized that I was a total sucker for adorable foals. What would it honestly be like with my own to take care of? I blushed lightly, thinking back to what Fluttershy said, and decided it was best to immediately drive it out of my mind for now. Heh. I sighed and turned back to the fallen mare, contemplating a way that we could actually get her back to the camp. Suddenly, I realized that this was almost a perfect use for alteration. Smiling, I gestured towards the woods, after walking up to the two fillies. "I have an idea for getting her back to the camp. Could both of you go gather as many sticks and branches as you can find? I'll start the enchantment," I requested. They both saluted, and I nodded back... * * * * * It was more than a little awkward wandering back into camp, admittedly. Many ponies were giving me strange stares, but that much I was used to. What I wasn't used to was being followed by a spider abomination made of wood, with a mare tied to the top. Still, it was easier than carrying her all this way myself. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both walked proudly to either side of me, chests puffed up as they assisted me in making my first ‘arrest’. I honestly didn't think it was that significant, but if they were pleased, I was happy. Nurse Redheart saw me coming before Spike did, who was talking to her. Tank pulled out of his usual orbit around me, and drifted over to the dragon as he turned around, wondering what Redheart was giving the shocked and disturbed stare to. His expression shifted to startled, but with a bit of jaded mixed in. I resisted snickering, but was cut off by Big Mac and Carrot Top just as I got over to where Spike and Redheart were. "Whoa, who's the mare, Mender? Heh, ya catch her off in the woods growing from a bush or something?" Carrot asked, smirking and winking to me. Coughing lightly, I muttered, "Actually, you don't know how accurate that was. But no, nothing like that. She's actually under arrest," I explained, glancing back at my captive to make sure she was still secured. All three ponies present widened their eyes a little, but to my surprise, Spike looked more amused instead as he perked up. "Whoa! Dude, I didn't think you were going to actually use that capacity! What did she do?" he asked, walking up closer and peeking up at her. Her coat was considerably dirtier now, and her mane was disheveled, sticks sticking out here and there. "Wait, you can make arrests?" Carrot asked, tilting her head towards me. I started to nod towards her, but Nurse Redheart cut me off and nodded as well, adding, "Yes, he technically holds the position of a secondary captain in the royal guard, but he's more a researcher. This must be a special case." Her observations were just as sharp as ever, I noticed. Smiling, I nodded to her. "Yeah, related to me in this case. We caught her taking pictures of me in the forest from hiding. She ran when confronted, then tried to use force to escape. Uh, Tank was actually the one to subdue her," I explained, stepping back as Redheart shifted up, lifting the mare's head, then wincing at the bruise on her temple. "Wait, there were paparazzi all the way out here?" Carrot asked, shifting to surprise instead as she too got a closer peek. Big Mac raised an eyebrow, however, and stayed back. "Eenope. If'in she used force, an' considerin' she was all tha way out 'ere, Ah'm guessin' she's workin' fer those ponies that made tha fliers last week, an'-" he started guessing, before suddenly widening his eyes and holding his right forehoof over his mouth. Huh? Carrot Top's demeanor changed instantly, and I literally watched her expression twist into one of rage instead. Her right ground into the dirt in a slow pawing motion before she grabbed the mare's nape with her teeth and yanked her off the top of my makeshift platform. Oh, oh hell. "Carrot, stop! I already subdued her, and she's going to be arrested," I spoke up, stepping past the rapidly retreating Nurse Redheart. The orange-maned earth mare shifted a glare back at me before spitting my captive back onto the grass. "Oh, I'm so not letting her off the hook that easy! They're nothing but a bunch of dirty rats, hiding in the shadows and trying to nip at you while you're not looking! They don't deserve sympathy!" she growled, surprisingly vehement as she turned her gaze back to the mare on the grass. My eyes widened as her hoof rose, and I hopped forwards. My right foreleg hooked around hers as she brought it down, and I stopped it a few centimeters short of smashing into the fallen mare's skull. Damn, she was strong! The muscles activated along my foreleg as Carrot attempted to yank her leg back, and I held it there, rigid. "Hey! Why are you stopping me from... How are you so strong?!" she asked, shifting from anger to surprise the second she realized she wasn't getting her leg back. "He's right, Carrot. Ya don't wanna drop yerself down ta their level. We gotta do things proper an' civilized, right? 'sides, ya shouldn't hit ah pony that can't fight back, anyways," Big Mac spoke up, walking to her other side and gently pulling her backwards a little. Seeing him with the situation under control, I relaxed and let her foreleg go. She looked a mixture of bitter and guilty before sighing and hesitantly withdrawing her hoof. There was a weak groan from the forest green mystery mare, and then she sighed, startling me as I looked back at her. Her light gold eyes stared back, not at me this time, but Carrot. "He's that strong because he's a monster that's going to destroy us all. He's just pretending to be a pony," she whispered, sounding rather raspy in tone. My eyes widened as the blood slipped from my head, letting a cool chill sink down my spine. Monster? How much did she know about me?! Carrot reacted far differently than I had anticipated, however. Instead of asking what she was talking about, she snapped back to attention at the mare with a snarl and glare before diving forwards again, both forehooves whipping into a stomp. I barely managed to extend a barrier across the mare before Carrot brought both forehooves solidly into it. I winced as it exploded into light and a distorted ripple. The farm mare only screamed in rage before laying into the barrier with a flurry of blows, actually causing the mare to widen her eyes and shrink back away from her. Big Mac wrapped both forelegs around Carrot Top's barrel a second later, however, physically lifting her up and away from the now terrified mare. A little dizzy, I withdrew my barrier and rubbed at my temples from the exertion. I'd not been prepared to defend against such a ruthless rage like that! "W-Why?! Why didn't you just let her hit me?" my captive asked, looking over at me with what appeared to be genuine shock. "Because he isn't a monster, Stupid!" Scootaloo spoke up instead, giving a little hop towards the mare and spreading her stance out, wings flaring up with light as the little filly narrowed her eyes. Apple Bloom nodded rapidly, also frowning at her before adding, "It's true! He tried ta talk with ya tha whole time! Ah saw it. You were tha one that attacked him an' wouldn't listen." Sighing, I nodded gently to her, looking up again and away from the filly to each side of me. "I'm placing you under arrest, of course. I've no intention of hurting you, or letting you get hurt, and I only want you to cooperate and answer our questions," I explained. Slowly, she closed her muzzle again and stared blankly at me for a long moment. I took that as the first sign of that whole cooperation thing, as she wasn't trying to stab me again. Turning, I looked over at Spike, who grinned and had already taken out a scroll from, well, somewhere. Efficient and overly prepared. I could definitely tell Twilight raised him! "I got it. I'll send the letter to Princess Celestia, explaining the situation. Anything extra I should add?" he asked, starting to write on the parchment. Frowning, I considered it. I had no idea how to actually make an arrest in this dimension, and didn't know how it differed from my old world. It was already different from being a ranked officer and dismissing soldiers, which would have been my only experience in the matter. "I'm not sure. You should mention she's injured and should be treated with care, probably. Uh, is it too much to ask if you could look her over, Redheart?" I asked, looking back at my white and pink friend. She smiled softly and perked up as I turned, shaking her head before walking over to the confused looking mare. "But, they said you were an alien, and would destroy everything we loved," my confused captive muttered, frowning at me and completely ignoring the nurse looking her head over. Another snarl came from the still pissed off looking Carrot Top. "Maybe if you stepped out of the shadows and gutters for long enough, you'd see that maybe, just maybe, you're an idiot!" she oh so politely pointed out. The darker colored mare shrunk down a little and flattened her ears back away from the seething farmer, which I honestly didn't blame her for. Even with her fighting skills, I had a fairly solid guess going that Carrot would stomp her flat into the dirt with pure rage. She was kinda like a berserker... I immediately decided to never, ever tell the mare herself that. "It's true. It's a smear campaign. I would have thought you'd understand as much, as you look like a fairly intelligent mare. Mender is a gentlecolt, for the most part," Redheart chirped, giving the mare a wink afterwards as she applied a soft rag to her forehead, dampened with water. To my surprise, the mare winced lightly but then blushed, looking back over at me with a more skeptical, appraising look instead. "I, well, admittedly a few things didn't add up, based on what they told me. I mean, aliens helping us? It was supposedly an alien that attacked that night. Why would another alien defend us at the same time?" the mare questioned, frowning to herself before wincing again as Redheart applied cleaning agent to the cut. Note to self, never get hit by Tank without my armor on. He apparently could generate a good amount of force behind that shell. Scootaloo rolled her eyes before adamantly defending with, "Mender's nice, no matter what anypony says! He's done so much for all of us, and really just wants to be treated like normal. Why do you want to hurt him for that?!" That was a good point, but the mare was lied to. Manipulated. I wanted to know who was behind that instead, and why they were so intent on destroying any life I tried to make for myself here. What had I done to deserve their ire? That was the question. Also, they seemed convinced I was an 'alien' as well, even if I wasn't entirely sure if they knew what they were talking about. "I, um, think I might have made a mistake. Look, I don't actually belong to whatever organization they do. I'm an independent scout and surveyor down on my luck, and they offered me a 'lot' of bits to get pictures of you doing, well, anything weird or potentially incriminating. Failing that, I was to get pictures that could be easily doctored to show those instead. I'm obviously not going to do that anymore, of course. Uh, I'm Snapshot, by the way," my newly identified captive explained. She shifted her saddlebags up along her flank at the same time, revealing a cutie mark of a camera with a flare of light coming from the flash. Interesting. Sighing, I nodded wearily. An organization was involved then, and apparently they were well funded. Wonderful. "Okay, Snapshot. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, then?" I asked softly, attempting to straighten my posture and appear polite. I heard a cracking along my lower back as I did so, and winced at the light throb that shot through me. Apple Bloom started snickering, and I shot her a glare. She returned her best 'innocent angel' expression before hopping around behind me. She was such a brat sometimes. It was funny how I was getting to know them quite a bit better due to this little 'vacation'. Actually, now that I thought about it, this was kind of a really crappy vacation so far. "Uh, of course! Um, could you answer something real fast first? Are you really an alien? Those tentacles looked really realistic and, um, that would be really cool!" Snapshot suddenly spouted out really quickly, eyes widening and dancing a little with a somewhat creepy level of energy. Er, what?! She sounded surprisingly excited about the prospect, seemingly coming out of nowhere with it. Carrot Top lifted a single eyebrow towards me for a moment as I swallowed nervously. She looked away a second later and back at Snapshot instead. "Does it matter if he is or not? He's proven he's nice, and way more forgiving than I am. He did stop me from beating your sorry flank into the dirt, then using you as a washboard," she pointed out, surprising me on so many counts that I just gave up keeping track. As a side note: ow. That sounded amazingly painful. Snapshot apparently agreed with me and paled significantly, shrinking down and away from the exceptionally hostile farmer. This vacation was now getting even worse. I sighed and prepared for the worst, asking Snapshot a few questions on the side while waiting for Spike to finish the letter. * * * * * Staring up at the sky watching the chariot fly off, I couldn't help but wonder why I couldn't just enjoy this little 'vacation,' so to speak. It was kind of unfair how nothing ever seemed to go exactly as planned, but at least I was getting used to it. The guards had shown up to pick up Snapshot only twenty minutes after Spike sent out the letter. Tia had written back a private letter, indicating that catching the mare would indeed help the investigation, and warned me that she desired to pull me away to Canterlot in the future to privately discuss the affairs, apparently deciding that Spike's flames could be intercepted or something. I didn't know anything about it, of course, so I just went along with it. "You always have such eventful days, Mender," Redheart added from her position next to me, a snicker following. I rolled my eyes, and then glanced back over at her as she tested my foreleg's range of motion. "The good news is, the exercise you gave your leg didn't do any harm whatsoever. Your other ability must protect it while active?" she guessed, slipping vague again because Big Mac and Carrot Top were still here. Big Mac knew, of course, but Redheart didn't know that he knew. Oddly, Carrot didn't seem to care one way or the other. She was either strangely easygoing, a seemingly popular Apple Family trait, or incredibly jaded from her life in Ponyville, which seemed to be hit with a disaster of insane proportions at least twice a season. "Trust me, I wish I didn't. I just wanted a proper vacation out of this. I'll be happy if the rest of it is uneventful, anyway-" I started to complain. Carrot Top's hoof found my muzzle a second later, stopping me in mid-sentence by pushing my jaw closed. I blinked at her, but she winced and shook her head. "Drat! I was hoping to stop you before you got it all out! Never, ever say anything like that, Mender! It's called tempting fate, which is a fickle mistress and loves to call your bluffs," she warned, nodding twice afterwards in a sagely manner. I raised an eyebrow to her, but snickered after my muzzle was released. "I didn't peg you as the superstitious type," I admitted, tilting my head a second afterwards. They technically had magic here, however, some of which apparently ran quite wild in nature. Maybe she was on to something? "Normally I'm not. I leave the superstitions to the flower mares. That one, however, is the only one I adhere to. Just pretend you're in a book or story. What happens to somepony in a story the second they say something like that?" she asked, eyes narrowing a little. Swallowing, I sighed and admitted, "Normally they doom themselves to exactly the opposite of what they want happening." That didn't always happen in real life, of course. Honestly, what I physically said had little to no bearing on what actually happens to me. I'd probably be just as screwed if I'd simply remained silent. Scootaloo started snickering, but Big Mac nodded as well, which surprised me a little bit. "Good advice, Ah reckon," he decided, followed by, "Even if ya don't believe in that sorta thing, keepin' ah positive mindset has ta subconsciously help ya do better an' relax more." That was, well, actually pretty good advice. Further, it just added to my case file about Big Mac actually being extremely intelligent behind all that stoic silence! Smiling towards him, I nodded confirmation. He certainly seemed to be a master at taking things as they came. It took me a moment to realize it, but I decided that I definitely admired the stallion. Strong of mind, body, and will, he was quite impressive, honestly. Then I wondered what would happen if I gave him the muscle and stamina enchantment I was considering giving to Apple Bloom, and shuddered. No, watching him uproot trees with a kick would be far too mentally scarring for me. He makes do just fine on his own, obviously. There was really nothing practical I could think of for him using such magic. I mean, maybe to haul an entire orchard worth of apples to Canterlot in an hour or less? "Well, I think I'm going to take a bit of a breather after all that excitement. A walk along the river, maybe," I muttered, standing up after Redheart released my foreleg. The nurse nodded to me and gestured at my shoulder, adding, "Your range of motion still isn't what it should be along your shoulder. I'm guessing there's damaged tissue along there still due to taking the brunt of the damage. Try doing light stretches with it once you find a spot to rest, and I'll look it over tomorrow for a bit of physical therapy." That was indeed the part where the 'tear' happened. It didn't really surprise me in the least that it was the slowest to recover. "We'll look after him, don't worry," Scootaloo assured, beating her right forehoof against her chest as she puffed up a bit in her sitting position. Apple Bloom started to snicker at her before suddenly gasping, eyes extending fully. "Oh no! Sweetie! We forgot about her. We were out lookin' fer Mender because she wanted ta smooth things over an' was settin' up somethin'," she suddenly exclaimed, causing Scootaloo's eyes to widen as well. Oh, well, that was only forty or fifty minutes ago, not including however long it took them to find me in the first place. "She probably thinks we ditched her! Come on, Mender! We gotta take you to her," Scootaloo requested, hopping up and gesturing the other direction from the lake, upriver this time, but further east of their 'dam' location. "Can I come, too? I've finished the letter back to Princess Celestia, and am kinda bored," Spike asked cautiously. Safety in numbers, so to speak. Normally not the case with me, and I probably shouldn't say that out loud, but being terrible at social interactions, having another pony, er, drake there as morale support even, would be nice. "Sure. Both you and Tank can come along," I agreed. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other somewhat skeptically, but Scootaloo shrugged a moment later, earning a nod from her friend. Having apparently reached some sort of silent conclusion, both fillies rotated and headed towards the direction indicated earlier. Spike gave them a curious stare as they trotted off at a brisk pace, and I mimicked the shrug to him before turning and crouching down for a moment. I felt his weight settle on my back before standing up again and following the fillies, running for a bit in order to catch up. The telltale sound of rotary blades followed me, of course. Oddly, I kinda felt 'better' with Spike and Tank there. I wasn't really sure why. Something about the entire thing seemed weird to me, but I couldn't place the source of the apprehension. Catching up to the two fillies, the five of us continued our hastened pace in hopefully the direction of Sweetie Belle. Now just watch them get us lost... Chapter 50Not having realized that the small river branched off from the direction towards the 'dam' from earlier, I was pleasantly surprised at the rather peaceful feeling of the woods as we trotted along. My leg was feeling better after I rested it up, and even though I felt a little guilty over it, I knew transforming it earlier had repaired some of the muscles in it. I really needed to look into a way to turn that off. All the matter that was crammed inside of me was totally unsorted, and I had no way of knowing if what I drew out was mineral and rock, or organic, post-Keldarian. It didn't feel right at all using somepony else's flesh and bone to repair myself, so I didn't want to use ANY of the mass on my own body, if I risked that. Even tiny amounts. Of course, I had needed the muscle, and wouldn't have been able to catch Snapshot without it. The tentacles were totally not me at all, so I didn't care what mass they used to form themselves, as I just tossed the matter back into the pool after I finished using them. They weren't 'permanent', so to speak. My passive daydreaming was rather rudely interrupted by a rock jutting out of the riverbank. Spike let out a surprised yelp as I suddenly lurched and planted my face into the ground, feeling him roll off me along my neck. Sighing, I popped my head up again from my fallen form, dirt flaking off my face as I slowly relaxed my under-armor. Having that stuff ready to pop out at an instant's notice was really handy, and I was able to keep the basic stuff just under the surface of my skin, so I looked 'normal' still. It wasn't the fancy, ablative stuff, but it was suitable for, well, my 'daily' needs. That was a little sad to word that way... Scootaloo burst into laughter upon turning around, but Apple Bloom just winced and trotted back, helping me up again. "Ya okay, Mender? We're almost there," she informed, using her right forehoof to wipe off some of the dirt on my chest. "Yeah, I'm fine. Dumb rock..." I muttered, glaring back at the offending chunk of hardened minerals. The orange pegasus rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Hard to be mad at something that didn't move into your way to begin with. Besides, what could you do to it in the first place? Scold it?" she pointed out, her wings popping out and stretching, the light distorting off them as the disks appeared around her due to the motion involved. I glared at her for a moment before my first CPU gave me a targeting analysis. The second CPU fired up and gave me an instant-based movement calculation, and I sent the go-ahead. A tentacle popped out of my right shoulder and lashed out behind me as I continued to glare at her, neatly whipping downwards with a massive slamming noise, and I felt it fragment the rock neatly in two before slipping back inside my body a heartbeat later. Scootaloo's eyes bugged out and I resisted chuckling until she surprised me with, "Whoa! Awesome!" Figures, she'd be less intimidated and more delighted... She really did take after Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom slipped around behind me and picked up the two halves of the rock, looking surprised before smirking at them. It was actually a rather pretty rock, tannish-white and surprisingly round, if not a little lopsided. For a moment, I felt bad that I'd hit it. The little filly then smiled and rotated the stone around, showing me the fractured insides. To my surprise, it was somewhat hollow and lined with a pretty yellow crystal. "A geode? What are the odds?" I asked, surprised at the pure probability of the rock I tripped over being such. "What's a geode?" Scootaloo asked, shifting closer and sitting down next to me. "A volcanic or sedimentary rock that forms with crystals inside of it. Oooh, that's a surprisingly clear quartz formation of the citrine variety!" Spike exclaimed, forgetting he ever fell and popping upright to peek. Whoa! He knew a lot about crystals. Apple Bloom gave him a skeptical look before shaking her head. "Ya can't eat it, Spike. Mah brother collects these an' uses 'em fer bookends, actually. If ya don't mind, Mender, could Ah give 'em ta him?" she asked politely, smiling up at me. Nodding happily, I decided to take it with good fortune after all. "Sure. I didn't realize he collected them, but if my little accident can benefit somepony, I'm all for it," I agreed, nodding twice more afterwards. "Weird. I didn't know Big Mac collected rocks, or read that much anyway," Scootaloo muttered, tilting her head towards Apple Bloom. It sounded more curious than degrading, and the little farm filly just smiled towards her. "He actually has ah whole collection 'o books in tha basement. Tha geodes make good bookends, an' somehow he gets 'em ta glow in tha dark an' make good lamps! It's pretty down there. He don't talk about it much, though, so don't go spreadin' it around, Scoots," Apple Bloom warned, frowning lightly at her friend. I shook my head gently at her caution. "There's nothing wrong with reading or having hobbies, Apple Bloom. Your brother is very intelligent, and I respect him for it," I assured, mentally vowing not to tell anypony either. Scootaloo perked and nodded at me, however. "Yeah, reading is awesome! The coolest ponies read, so there's obviously nothing wrong with it. Still, I won't blab," she promised. Her reaction surprised me a bit, but in a good way. She didn't strike me as having the patience for a good book, but I liked to keep an open mind until proven otherwise, lately. Beats, I don't know, thinking all mares were carnivorous or something, as a good example... Apple Bloom actually blushed lightly, but smiled between the three of us, obviously not able to see Tank without craning her head back high enough to view his slow orbit above. "Ah thank ya'all, o' course. Ah few ponies think mah brother is 'simple' is all, an' would be right surprised ta find out he's well learned an' good with math. Ah think it's because he works hard ta support tha family, they just think he's all muscle or somethin'," she muttered after considering it for a moment, eyes softening as her ears lowered a bit. "Well, that's their loss," I pointed out, gently rubbing her on the head with my right forehoof. It had never occurred to me to associate 'muscular' with 'simple' in the first place, but they might have a different culture here. Apple Bloom smiled softly towards me and nodded, nuzzling my forehoof with her snout momentarily before turning and continuing down the path. "Ah know. Brother always says ta tolerate other's differences an' try ta realize that Ah'm just as different ta them," she continued in a softer voice, Scootaloo falling in next to her. I smiled at that and nodded to myself before standing again. She was doing even more with 'my' differences. She wasn't just tolerating me, but seemed to truly enjoy being my friend, even though I was very, very different from her. Maybe there was a truth in her statement. With a pleasant smile on my face, I nodded to an extremely skeptical looking Spike, momentarily wondering why he was giving me that look before tripping over the two halves of the geode we had forgotten about and promptly falling sideways into the river... * * * * * It was fifteen minutes and forty meters down the hill before the two fillies and Spike managed to help me get out of the elongated underground stream I'd managed to break through into. Sighing, I stared at the makeshift waterfall I'd created in the ceiling from the riverbed, the entire small 'tunnel' of sorts lit up by dozens upon dozens of large, glowing crystals lining the walls. Okay, the probability of me finding that geode wasn't looking so low anymore. Sadly, it had taken another five minutes for me to finally calm Spike down. It turns out gems were something of a delicacy to him, and me blundering into a natural cavern literally layered with the things was kinda like walking into a sweets shop. At least I got him to focus more on pulling the ones out of me now, instead of going after the ones on the walls! "Hey, cheer up. At least it had a lower cave exit further down the hill. Plus, these are absolutely delicious," Spike pointed out, pulling another crystal shard out from under my armor ridges. There was occasionally a light crunching accompanying the bigger ones, and I only assumed he was getting a free snack as well. Falling into several crystal formations on the floor tucked amidst the water had gotten dozens wedged into the armor folds along my back. None of them were anywhere near tough enough to pierce my second or skin layer of armor, of course, but I couldn't directly absorb them from my plates. That, and I was a little hesitant in introducing anything that was glowing of its own accord into my body. The last time I did that, I was puking bubbles and frogs. "That an' it's really pretty in 'ere. Think we can bring mah brother 'ere later?" Apple Bloom asked, her voice leaking so much awe that I honestly couldn't stay pissed off at my luck. She was just too cute, and really ruining my bad mood. I gave a weak grunt before sighing and checking the map I'd been building of the area in my database. The location program was still running fine, and I had an exact spot for myself, so I simply flagged it on the map and nodded. "Yeah, I can find this spot again easily enough, so we can come back here," I assured, shifting the inner 'window' to the side before smiling at her again. I liked to keep my eye-space free and clear of clutter. I was oh so observant already, and didn't think it was a wise idea to add blind spots into the mix. Apple Bloom perked up and nodded to me, starting to smile before we both heard a grunt to the left. I glanced in time to see Scootaloo yanking backwards on one of the larger, prismatic crystals with all her body weight and wing power. I raised an eyebrow as she tore the crystal free, causing a fracture to shoot up the wall. My eyes widened and four tentacles shot forwards, catching three falling crystals while the fourth whipped rapidly around above her and knocked the smaller shards away. The little filly didn't even seem to notice as she gathered up the prismatic gem and trotted happily back towards us. Ugh. These fillies were going to be the death of me. If not in their defense, of a heart attack instead. "You should really be careful, Scootaloo," Spike chimed in as the filly drew back into our group and under my defensive umbrella barrier again. She already knew I was worried about the ceiling collapsing! The orange filly made a scoffing noise before presenting her rather large rainbow gem, roughly the size of my hoof in diameter before retorting, "This was so worth it! Besides, Mender's here, so nothing could have hurt me." My turn to scoff. "Scoots, I'm not perfect. I'll definitely try my hardest to protect all of you, but you shouldn't take risks like that. At least warn me next time so I can extend the barrier over you before you do that," I requested, frowning towards her. "Or just ask him ta get tha gem. Still, she's also right, Mender. You are really strong. Ya make us feel safe, regardless," Apple Bloom suggested gently, still sitting just in front of me. I stared at her for a moment before blushing lightly, unsure of how exactly to handle compliments and gifts still. I wasn't getting any better at dealing with them at all, so I had a feeling that this would always be an awkward point for myself. "Ha! You pasted those crystals super easy from a dozen feet away! You're too hard on yourself. Plus, I think you're the first adult to not actually tell me not to do the thing I'm in trouble for," she deduced, scratching her chin with a forehoof. Snickering, I shook my head towards her. "You're not in trouble. Besides, you wouldn't have listened anyway," I guessed, smirk growing on my muzzle. Apple Bloom matched my expression and gave her friend a knowing grin, while Spike just chuckled and yanked out another shard of crystal. At least I’d finally gotten him calmed down now. Scootaloo grinned back at us before shrugging and nodding. "Nothing can stop me from getting a present for Rainbow if I find one that's cool looking! But, uh, thanks for being cool, Mender. You're the first adult to look out for me and still actually listen to what I want, and that, well, means a lot," she thanked, grin melting into a warm smile instead. A bit of heat fluttered into my chest, and I ruffled the front of her hair with my right foreleg, earning a series of giggles. No, Scootaloo was different from Rainbow in quite a few ways, I realized. This just cemented it further. She wasn't as hardened up as Dash, which was probably a good thing. In some ways, she was braver. I don't think my cyan friend would have been able to admit what Scootaloo just did with an audience around her. "Hey, all of you crusaders are awesome in my book! Spike included, of course," I assured, resting again as I felt another tug at my back. Then more crunching. Okay, he was eating at least half of them... "You should meet tha fourth crusader, then!" Apple Bloom chirped, smiling and nodding twice at the two of us. That caused me to stop for a moment and consider it. Fourth? "Aren't I technically the fourth crusader?" I asked, tilting my head to her. "Nah. You're actually the fifth crusader for our local branch. Apple Bloom's cousin, Babs Seed, is the fourth. She's also started a Manehatten branch of crusaders!" Scootaloo chirped in response. Oh! That was interesting indeed. The farm filly did a happy bounce and spin in place before rotating around with a grin towards us. "Yeah! Babs is comin' fer tha harvest festival that marks tha end o' fall an' start o' winter! Ya can meet her then, an' watch tha Runnin' o' tha Leaves with us!" she excitedly offered. I started to smile before Scootaloo perked up and nodded as well. "Yeah, that's right! All of us can totally watch Rainbow win the Cloudy Sky Dash, too! She's been practicing super hard for it," she added. Oh, was that what the event was called? "Ya seem awfully sure o' her winnin', Scoots. She must really be practicin'," Apple Bloom admitted, giving her a skeptical glance. Scootaloo smirked and nodded, adding cryptically, "Yup! She's got a lot riding on this race! She has to win." "Oh, is this tha race she's plannin' on...?" Apple Bloom started to ask, perking up before her friend nodded to her. "Finally! Ah'm pretty sure Sis has ah thing fer her, too. Won't admit it fer nothin', though, but sure goes red when Ah ask her about it, an' changes tha topic right quick! Brother just grins when she does," she added after another moment, grinning widely again. Okay, I didn't know much about relationships, especially in Equestria, but it sounded like Rainbow was definitely going to get a positive outcome. I smiled along and nodded to both fillies involved. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to say anything else as my eyes locked onto the gem that Scootaloo had risked getting maimed for. In an instant, I couldn't move. Both my eyes locked onto the gem as symbols flickered on along the right side of my display, a targeting lock appearing on the thing. What the hell?! My eyes widened as my scans activated by themselves, running a deep analysis on the gem as the little filly carried it closer. "W-What?!" I suddenly managed to spit out, shaking as I fought against the lock that was trying to hold me there as the scans completed. "Huh?!" Apple Bloom asked, noting my tone, it would seem, and immediately shifting to a concerned one of her own. A second later, I ran a side script and managed to turn on my projection displays, showing a three dimensional view of the scan going across the gem and data readouts appearing as information was discovered. "It... It's forcing me to scan that gem. Try to-" I started to ask, hoping her moving it out of sight would make this stop! There wasn't a chance to finish, however. The scan displayed a full data readout, and I jerked in one spastic motion before falling on my face again from the sudden snap release of my muscles. "Mender!" Apple Bloom squawked, and I heard a rapid bound of hoofsteps before two forelegs wrapped around me and gently helped me up again as I shivered. My stomach swam and I felt a wave of nausea as I tried to relax again, opening my eyes into the status display. The text was written out in front of everypony, myself included. "Scan completed. Unknown Element 003 located, and sample scans saved to local drive. Scouting objective four successfully completed. Samples should be acquired. Scripting disabled." Everypony stared at it in mixed shades of surprise. The message devolved into code after that, which I recognized as an indexing number a second later. I ran the number into my file database and drew up a sheet on 'Element Three' instantly. I tossed that file up, too, and read its leading paragraph, frowning. "Trace samples of Element 003 discovered on subject. Alongside Blood Particle 001 and Hair Filament 002, this is the third unknown element this specimen has examples of. More might be located after a successful autopsy, but data analysis is given for now. High energy readout displays unusual properties when manipulated with aether energy, producing what can only be described as non-Euclidean energies! With this discovery, we might be able to replicate the element and produce all sorts of technological advances with-" I stopped reading, another wave of numbness and nausea shooting through me. No. Why would this be...? We already knew how to manipulate non-Euclidean space, and had known how since our allies showed up with the technology! Sure, we expanded upon it to make our FTL Slipstream Engine in ways they couldn't even realize, but we'd gotten the technology centuries back. Why was this document discussing the discovery of non-Euclidean energies from something in... My mind started spinning as I slowly shook my head. Specimen? "W-What is this, Mender?" Spike asked softly, frowning as he looked over the display before adding, "These look like the lab notes I help Twilight take sometimes. She talks formally like this while taking notes." Lab notes. "Mender, yer scarin' me. What is all this?" Apple Bloom asked, both fillies looking back at us as Spike's eyes got bigger and bigger in shock. "Really, really bad news. This is a document from a long time ago from my old dimension that's talking about some sort of specimen they found that supposedly had these crystals on it. Crystals from Equestria!" I groaned out, shaking my head rapidly. Calm down, Mender. Think. Okay, this didn't change too much. It actually explained some stuff. A new element was introduced and we figured out how to replicate it, discovering it could manipulate non-Euclidean space to form our FTL Drive. That's how we figured out folded space and FTL in the first place, both technologies extremely advanced compared to what our allies could do. That's why! The element didn't exist before it was introduced and replicated. "That means that a long time ago, something made the transfer over into my dimension from here. An experiment gone wrong? An accident? Gah. Um, okay, Princess Celestia probably knows about this. I need to get this data to her fast," I muttered, mostly talking to myself. Scootaloo started to look excited, while Apple Bloom had shifted to uncertain. "Aether is a fancy word for Magic, isn't it?" Spike asked, digging into his backpack and pulling out another parchment and quill. I stared at him for a moment as he started writing things down rapidly, then glanced back at the gem. Magic. Reaching out, I touched the gem lightly with my hoof, Scootaloo having dropped it to the floor when I started scanning it. Just a little drop of magic, and I focused on the simple image of the other corner of the cave. This would ultimately show us if this was true. Due to the short distance and low amounts of energy, the transfer was actually almost faster than I could see. Scootaloo gasped as her gem flared with light, the twin ribbons forming and wrapping around it in a blur, and the whole thing disappeared. No. No way. They were the catalyst for our FTL drive! "Hey, my gem!" she squeaked, eyes widening and staring sadly at where it used to be. Smiling to her, I shook my head and gestured over to the corner with my hoof, drawing her attention to the gem as it spun lightly in place, steaming. "Don't touch it for a couple minutes. It's really hot. This... is bad, but it doesn't change too much. After I tell Tia the discovery, I'm sure she'll know how it affects things," I muttered, staring at the steam coming off the gem. Calming down, I relaxed and started to think things through again. "Whoa. It teleported? Ah didn't think ya knew how ta teleport," Apple Bloom murmured, also staring at the thing as it slowly came to a stop. "Technically, it just moved over there really, really fast, but close enough, yeah. Those are the gems we use in our big spaceships to move really, really fast and travel through space," I explained, keeping it simple for all of our sakes. My brain might explode if I tried to fully register what was going on. Spike held up the letter a moment later, the page gently illuminated by the light of the crystals as I looked it over. If nothing else, he was more than professional with his writing skills, I noticed. Eyes softening, I wondered what Tia would want to do about all of this. I felt a little lost suddenly, but nodded to Spike with a light swallow. It was one of those moments where I felt very small and insignificant. The little dragon nodded and rolled the scroll gently up, sealing it before tossing it into the air and blasting it with a spout of green flames. It was gone when the blast cleared, and I suddenly snickered, realizing how silly this all was in perspective. If this had been my other self, he'd probably freak out at the fact that Spike just seemingly disintegrated the scroll. Well, no, he'd be too busy freaking out over the dragon and talking ponies, probably. "Come on, Mender. Let's get out o' this cave an' into tha warmth ah bit. Spike'll let ya know when Princess Celestia responds," Apple Bloom suggested, still looking significantly uncertain while staring at me. Hesitating, I glanced back over at Scootaloo's gem before extending a tentacle out and snatching it up with it. Three others zipped out and broke more samples off the cave walls, hauling them towards me and dropping them into my bag. Twilight needed to see these, too. Why hadn't the ponies discovered this already?! Swallowing, I nodded to everypony, noticing Scootaloo intently focusing on the gem still in my tentacles. Smiling, I shook my head and added, "It's hot. Let's dip it in the stream outside to get it cool again. Then you can have it back. I'm not going to take your gem, Scoots." She perked up at that and nodded, offering me a little smile and subtly informing me I was accurate with my guess of what she was worried about. With that settled, I gave in and the five of us headed outside, Tank hauling another crystal sample along with him, and Spike snapping off gems as we walked, apparently determined to bring half the cave’s supply with him as we left... * * * * * Sighing, I walked along with a small barrier floating off my chest, an entire folder resting on top of it and shifting about as I sorted through it all while we walked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were walking in front of me leading the way, and I only passively paid attention, following along after them instinctively. The folder was sizeable, and Tia had certainly surprised me with it. Of course, I felt extremely bad after Spike spent almost five minutes leaning over a rock and coughing it all up for me. I'd asked if there was anything I could do to make it up to him, but he assured me that Twilight had once insisted he transfer an entire encyclopedia set from her room in Canterlot, and that was much, much worse. My tentacles had snapped off large amounts of amethyst from the walls regardless, causing him to perk up in shock and delight as I dropped them all in front of him. "Mmm! They taste so good! It's like a crunchy cream soda," the little dragon murmured next to me, swaying as he walked along and crunched down another gem. I smiled absently, but kept my eyes glued to the documents. If they tasted that good, hopefully they washed out the taste of these things! Why was she so insistent about this? I stared at the paperwork documenting my official rank in the royal guard and status as Head Dimensional Researcher. Of course, apart from Twilight, I was really the only dimensional researcher. Alongside the documents was a Royal Guard Lieutenant badge with both neck cord and minor "Camouflage" enchantment, which I was now wearing, and a research clearance card for royal material, level four, whatever that meant. I slipped that into my saddlebag and shook my head. This had to be because of what was going on with the newspaper thing. This gave me credentials if I required them, of course, which further solidified what she told everypony at the conference thingy. Sighing, I read her letter over once more, just to make sure I got everything. She wanted not just me, but all eight of us to come to Canterlot two days after my return from the cabins. She explained that normally she'd request my presence immediately, but realized I wasn't in a position to return to town just yet. Further, Twilight was having issues with something and Tia predicted that she would need a few days to work through it. Mental images of the library exploding or burning down without Spike there to help her came to mind, and I shook my head sadly. Hopefully she hadn't tried cooking something! It further assured me not to worry about the gems and to just get samples, and that she'd fill me in during my stay there. The visit was for three days, so I assumed she had quite the itinerary for us. Still, why request the Element Bearers and Spike as well? They all had important things to do around town, and couldn't just drop everything because I had discovered yet another problem with my old dimension interfering with theirs. I was getting downright tired of it, frankly, and would be glad to sever the link in a more permanent fashion, if only to let everything return to normal here. Hopefully, Twilight was making progress with a way to do so without hurting Keela. Closing my eyes for a moment, I exhaled softly and felt my heart slow down again. Anger came easier for me lately, and even the frustration of being a burden to everypony had gotten me upset. What was wrong with me? Was I just getting too stressed out with all this stuff? I tried to relax, reminding myself that I didn't like being angry at anything or anypony, and that it really wasn't me. After a few deep breathes, I managed to ground myself again and really put into focus whom I felt I was. Barely remembering anything I could truly call my own, I wanted to be really careful with what I considered me, honestly. "Uh, Mender?" I heard Scootaloo ask, causing me to wince at the distraction before sighing. Wait, it sounded like she was right next to me when she said that. My eyes flicked open gently, just in time to see a very confused looking Sweetie Belle half a second before I crashed into her, tripping and purposefully falling to the side so I wouldn't land on top of her and squish the poor filly. Three seconds later, the world finally stopped spinning and the two of us were a pile of fur and legs, her ending up shoved under my left foreleg and stuck, apparently upside down. Carefully, I tipped over and set her back down on the ground before coughing, a light blush coming to my cheeks. "Uh, sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going while reading all this stuff," I apologized, gesturing towards my fallen folder with my right forehoof. The small unicorn sat upright again, also blushing lightly but giving me a soft smile and shake of her head, pawing at the dirt with her right forehoof awkwardly. "Ah, no, it's okay! I hesitated too long and didn't move like I should have. I'm sorry as well for tripping you, uh, Mender," she apologized, not looking me in the eye as her ears twitched about with little spasms. "Sweetie, calm down. Yer fine, an' he's fine, so everything's fine! What was this thingy ya wanted us out 'ere fer?" Apple Bloom inquired, tone of voice rather soothing as she trotted up and rubbed a hoof over her friend's left shoulder. The little white filly swallowed but nodded, seemingly bracing herself before looking up and meeting my eyes again. I just smiled and waited patiently for, well, whatever was going to happen. To be honest, I didn't know what to do or say in the first place, so I was really hoping she'd take the lead. "I'm sorry! I, well, I shouldn't have gotten so upset over you turning me down, and I should have realized that I'm much too young for you. I'm sorry for being so mean over it and, well, I made this as an apology!" she spit out all at once, sounding afraid we'd interrupt and tear her down if she stopped talking for more than a second. Raising an eyebrow, I glanced past her as she gestured, noticing a large blanket spread out on the grass in the clearing we'd made it to, and a rather cute looking wicker picnic basket resting on top of it. Oh, she made us lunch? Wait, there was something I was supposed to be remembering about this. Scootaloo tilted her head back and looked surprised more than anything before carefully asking, "Wait, you, uh, cooked something for us?" Her tone was rather biting, however, and I frowned. Hadn't I heard an offhooved comment somewhere about Sweetie's cooking? Apple Bloom shot a glare at Scootaloo, however, and whipped back to facing Sweetie, shaking her head. "It's ah very nice gesture, Sweetie! Ah think this is right nice o' ya. Are we invited, too?" she asked, smiling positively. I smiled as well, realizing that even if the food was indeed terrible, the little filly was trying to apologize and it meant a lot to her. It wasn't so much the apology that was important, or even needed really. I saw it for what it really was. She was trying to smooth things out between us again. The unicorn perked up at that, but then widened her eyes further as I sat up and rubbed the top of her head, hoof straightening her mane again with a few gentle brushes. "Thank you for this, Sweetie, but you don't need to apologize. This is a good way to get used to each other again, however. I actually meant what I said about simply waiting a couple years. When you turn the proper age, would you like to try going on a sort of test date with Twilight, Fluttershy, and myself?" I suggested for her, trying to drive the point home while also setting it up to not just be a one on one thing. Everypony would be more comfortable that way, I had a feeling. Of course, I'd have to talk to Fluttershy and Twilight about this. Sweetie's eyes were massive by the time I finished, a deep crimson flooding her cheeks. Scootaloo made another gagging motion, but wore a playful smile this time, while Apple Bloom just grinned at the two of us. "Y-You were serious? I thought that was, um, just something you were saying to be nice," she whispered, suddenly looking down and away from me, a pang of sadness dancing across her features. "I really meant it, Sweetie. I'll need to talk to the mares, of course, as they're involved, too, but I don't think they'll mind you. It's just, well, hard for me to say because you're too young right now. I have trouble picturing you as older, which is probably my fault, but I'm willing to give you a chance when the time comes," I explained. Her level of focus she was giving me was kind of a little intimidating, which was a strange sort of paradoxical sensation given it was coming from such a cute little filly. For a moment, she seemed deep in thought before slowly nodding to herself. "So, you're having trouble picturing me as an... adult then, right? I didn't think of that. Um, I might have, well, no, I definitely overreacted earlier. I really am sorry," she whispered, shrinking a little but nodding twice and galloping back to her picnic blanket. Scootaloo gave a sigh, a light bit of frustration showing through in it, but Apple Bloom just nodded to me before looking back over at Sweetie Belle. I hesitated, but the yellow filly nodded and added, "Yer doin' amazin'. She's super nervous obviously, but just keep bein' yerself an' she'll be back ta normal again in no time, Ah think." "I hope so. This is really awkward," Scootaloo muttered from my other side. I nodded to both fillies before walking forwards again, trying to put on my most reassuring smile as I headed towards the blanket, noticing the white filly sitting opposite of our approach. Given how absent-minded I'd been lately, it was no real surprise when Apple Bloom deposited my folder into my left saddlebag a second later. Oops. I forgot I'd dropped it when I tripped over a small unicorn. Never thought I'd say that sentence either, probably. It was getting amusing to keep thinking of all the things that would probably break my original self's brain. Her hoof rose up to point at the spot across from her, and she smiled weakly. "Mender's spot is there. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are to each side," she informed once we got within easy listening distance. She didn't want me sitting next to her? I swallowed lightly, but maintained my neutral smile as best I could. She might have been feeling awkward still, but maybe she just wanted me within the easiest viewpoint? I tried to stay positive as I nodded and sat down where she gestured. "What about Tank and me?" Spike inquired, smiling as he trotted up next to me, the aforementioned tortoise orbiting him instead. Pity. I had kind have grown affectionate of my orbiting body for a while there. Maybe it was bias, however. My inner mass was envious of the planet and its moon. Sweetie Belle momentarily blanked out after he spoke up. Heh. I figured that she hadn't taken five guests into account. Thankfully, I had stuffed the dragon full of gems before we got here! "Oh, you can sit next to Mender, of course! I packed plenty of food," our young hostess chirped a second later, gesturing dramatically towards the picnic basket. She recovered fast! I guessed that her social graces were developing rapidly from her sister. "Uh, I hope they didn't let you near an oven to make this stuff..." Scootaloo muttered, sitting down and giving the basket a suspicious stare. Eh? I didn't think most picnic food required baking. Did they do it differently in Equestria? I suddenly imagined all sorts of fried foods, brown and crisp as they steamed lightly in the cooler air. My stomach growled lightly, and I tried really hard not to drool. Sweetie Belle made a pouting gesture while crossing her forelegs. "Big Mac wouldn't let me use it! He carried me away from it really fast and told me that it was too hot for cooking. It's colder today than yesterday when he made those baked potatoes!" she protested irritably. Apple Bloom exhaled gently in what almost looked like relief. Oh yeah! Hadn't somepony mentioned that Sweetie Belle's cooking was terrible? "Eh, at least we won't choke and die on charcoal. What do we have instead, sandwiches?" Scootaloo asked bluntly, reaching towards the basket a moment later. I noticed she was picking up some of Rainbow Dash's less than stellar personality traits, too. "Scootaloo! Don't be rude! This 'ere is Sweetie's picnic. She serves tha food, and is treatin' us all, so be nice!" Apple Bloom cut in, swatting her friend's hoof away from the top of the basket at the same time. I nodded in agreement towards the little pegasus, lightly pushing her hoof back as she winced and rubbed at it. "Ow! Sorry! You didn't have to whack me," she whined, frowning down at her hoof. Her eyes widened slightly as I reached forwards again and took her hoof in mine. Her hesitation melted into a smile a moment later as a bit of magic danced into her hoof, spreading soothing heat along her nerves and ankle muscles. She gave a little shiver before smiling back up at me with a nod. "I'm sorry, Sweetie. I didn't mean to be rude," she apologized properly a moment later, settling back into a sitting position. Apple Bloom looked quite happy over the turn of events, but Sweetie simply gave a blank look, her cheeks blushing still as she watched us. She recovered fast and shook her head, smiling again a moment later. "Oh, no, it's no problem, Scootaloo. I'll get the sandwiches out for us if you're that hungry. I also brought some fresh grape juice!" she exclaimed, nodding twice and lighting up her horn. The lid of the basket shakily opened, her apparently not having a whole lot of power behind her magic yet. That got me thinking, as I watched her pull out the sandwiches. Could I use enchantments on her, too, in order to enhance her abilities? I knew Apple Bloom wanted something to enhance the physical skills, but maybe I could do something to magnify magic as well? Idly, I started working out the concept in my head as she pulled out three full thermos bottles full of purple liquid. Whoa. Okay, she brought a lot of juice! Smiling, I helped her steady my cup as she shakily poured the least full one first, giving me a grateful smile as I helped her. Her cup came next, and I suddenly realized the silly filly had given me priority. I tried not to snicker as I realized she really was worried and trying to smooth things over. The first thermos didn't survive both of our cups, and she screwed the cap back on and set it aside, having a lot more trouble lifting the heavier, full one. Gently, I reached out and stuck my hoof against it, another bit of my magic expanding through it. Her eyes widened, then she smiled as gravity stopped working on the thermos. Discovering it much easier to manipulate, she nodded and smiled to me again as she poured the remaining three cups for everypony else. It took her a moment, of course, to realize she needed to shake the bottle to push the juice free of the no-gravity field I'd put on it. She grinned once she finished and left it floating in the air over the basket, lightly spinning in a circle. Relaxing finally, I picked up one of the sandwiches with my hoof and sniffed it lightly. It smelled quite good, a spicy mixture of dandelion and alfalfa, if I guessed correctly. My pallet must be significantly different as a pony, as I never anticipated alfalfa to have a spicy flavor to it. A hard crunching noise came from my side as well, Spike resting against my hip as he continued munching on the amethysts. Idly, I wondered what they tasted like to him, having just been on the topic of racial taste buds. Sweetie started on a sandwich, too, while Scootaloo sniffed at her cup of juice and Apple Bloom smiled over at Sweetie instead. I took the momentary distraction to sate my curiosity, leaning over and asking, "I just realized alfalfa tastes different to me as a pony. What do those taste like to you?" Spike glanced up at me before smiling, light purple flakes in his teeth as he offered up a medium sized chunk of amethyst. "They taste kinda rooty, like a thick cream soda," he explained, adding, "Wanna try one?" He flattened the palm of his hand out, claws flexing out flat and offering the gem on it. Apple Bloom snickered at the two of us, warning, "Spike, Mender's ah pony. Ya know he can't eat ah-" Interrupting her, I bent down and snatched up the gem with my muzzle, crunching into it lightly with a couple of chewing motions and running it over my tongue to sample it. Sharp mineral taste, and the oh so familiar sensation of rock. Nope. Guess I wasn't going to luck out and acquire a dragon's taste buds. Darn. "Ah... uh..." Apple Bloom continued a second later, eyes wider than they had been as she just stared blankly at me. Spike just grinned at my expression and laughed. "Guessing it's not as good for you?" he asked, snickering as I sighed and shook my head. Crunching the rest of it into chunky dust in my mouth, I just shrugged before swallowing it down. Scootaloo started laughing hysterically, of course, having momentarily forgotten about her drink. "Wow! You can eat gems, too, Mender?" Sweetie asked, tilting her head towards me curiously. "I can eat pretty much anything I want. Alien robot, remember?" I returned, averting my eyes and blushing lightly. Apple Bloom finally recovered and snickered, shaking her head. "All tha same ta me. It don't matter none, honestly. Just surprised me!" she defended, raising her hooves up and waving them in front of her lightly. Smiling, I shook my head towards her. Scootaloo had recovered and returned to examining her drink, of course. "This smells really like grapes. Like, more than grape juice should. But oh well. I practiced flying a lot this morning, and I'm way too thirsty to be picky!" she chirped, finally smiling and taking up her cup, taking a big swig of it. Uh oh. I suddenly realized there was indeed something Sweetie could have made in our lunch. I realized I guessed right as Scootaloo's eyes bugged out, her whole body shivering. Sweetie gave her a curious glance, mouth still full of sandwich. A second later, she was blasted directly in the face with grape juice ejected from the little pegasus filly, who started hacking and coughing afterwards. Sweetie yelped and flailed, knocking her own cup over Apple Bloom, who rapidly ducked and shielded her sandwich from the flying refreshment, eyes wide now. I gave a little sigh. Never a dull moment. Sweetie gave Scootaloo a somewhat annoyed looking glare, purple liquid dripping off her face as her friend rolled onto her stomach, hacking and coughing. "Oh come on. It can't be that bad!" the unicorn protested, sounding annoyed. Apple Bloom, who had sat up and been just watching, frowned and picked her own cup up instead. "Ah'm sure it ain't that bad, Sweetie. Scoots is probably just bein' all, what's tha word? Mah sis calls yer sis it all tha time," she asked, raising her glass up. "Melodramatic?" Sweetie offered, glancing over at Apple Bloom, glare shifting to a smile instead, despite the fact that she was covered in grape juice. Rarity? Melodramatic? I averted my eyes and lightly bit my tongue. No, she had been kind to me almost, almost always, so I shouldn't speak ill of her. "Yeah, that's tha word!" the yellow filly agreed, nodding and taking a much smaller sip of her juice. She coughed and winced a moment later, looking back down at her glass. "Okay, ya might'a added ah mite too many grapes. This must be homemade?" she inquired, shivering lightly but looking much better than the face down pegasus across from her. Maybe Scootaloo just had more sensitive taste buds? Although she did practically inhale the stuff. I patted her lightly on the back between her wings, hoping to knock some of it loose or something. She peeked up and smiled at me, nodding. Heh. She really was starting to feel like a little sister, I noticed. So did Apple Bloom. I considered it for a moment, and suddenly realized Sweetie didn't. What did she feel like, then? I couldn't really place it. It wasn't the same as Twilight and Fluttershy either, that was for sure. The filly in question frowned and licked some of the grape juice off her face, shuddering a half a second later. "Ah! Oh no. I really did add too many grapes!" she suddenly muttered, eyes softening as her ears drooped down. I swallowed the lump in my throat, the urge to hop over and hug her growing rapidly. Leaving my spot would probably be rude, though. What was Equestrian table etiquette, now that I thought about it? I should probably find a book in the library about it at some point, if Rarity was going to keep hauling me to social functions. Being a lieutenant in the guard and eating by smashing my face repeatedly into the plate seemed kind of improper. "Hey, cheer up, Sweetie. It's the thought that counts, and I'm really happy you went to all of this trouble for all of us. So thank you," I tried to assure, giving her a soft smile. She blushed lightly and looked down again, shaking her head. "Ah! No, it's not that much trouble. Um, nopony obviously has to drink any more of it. I feel so stupid!" she murmured, ears flattening rather than just drooping as she glared at the basket. It was like she was personally wringing my heart out, however, and I frowned. "I'm sure it's not that bad. Mine even looks a little lighter than the other mix, so here. I'll give it a try," I offered, raising my cup up as well. Well, life, I'll miss you, but anything to appease the adorable little filly! She raised her head up instantly, looking surprised and uncertain at the same time. I almost saw a bit of guilt mixed in, too, but I just smiled to her and raised the cup up, deciding to just get my undoubtedly horrifying fate over with. "Mender." It echoed through my mind and I stopped, frowning as I opened my eyes again. Sweetie still looked at me with that expression of surprise, happiness, and apprehension. It looked a little weird with her just staring at me, frozen in place. Wait... My gaze shifted to Apple Bloom, who was also stuck in place, head in the middle of rotating over to look at me. A peek at Scootaloo showed that she, too, was unmoving, midway through extending her hooves out towards a sandwich. Apparently, she had decided the crisis was averted after expelling the juice all over Sweetie Belle's face. Regardless, it didn't surprise me when I noticed our clearing had fogged over considerably. Returning my gaze to Sweetie, I saw the dark blue filly with the clouded up eyes step out from behind her, looking over at me sadly. "Prudentia," I whispered, earning a soft nod from her, her whole face shifting down to look at the cup, empty eyes holding rigid in their sockets. She really was blind, then. "Don't drink it, Mender. Please," she warned suddenly, her voice a whisper as her eyes softened, giving her a sad look. Frowning, I inquired as to why as I looked down at the juice again. A sharp intake of breath later, I barely resisted throwing the cup away from me as I beheld the black ichor frozen inside, looking like diseased blood. Well, that wasn't what it looked like a moment ago! "That's its true form. It's poison, disguised as juice," she explained, shifting her blank eyes back up to me as she gestured to her right. I followed her hoof and locked my eyes on Sweetie's fallen cup, a meter or so away. She'd spilled it. It was poured from the same thermos. But it was an accident. She didn't mean to spill it! Why would Sweetie...? A pang went through my chest and I looked back at Prudentia, expression falling into a frown. "W-Why would Sweetie try to poison me, though?" I asked her, not entirely believing the mysterious filly. Prudentia looked even sadder before shaking her head weakly and correcting, "It's not a poison meant to kill. It's true purpose is to destroy aspiration, twisting your every desire and wish in life until you're an empty shell, only desiring one thing." I stared blankly at her, my mind unable to fully process that. How could Sweetie Belle attempt to do something so downright malicious? It literally refused to acknowledge itself as even a concept in my mind. Instead, I tried to understand it better. "Desire what?" I whispered, frowning at the sound of my own voice. Uncertainty made it feel like a sin to speak above a light murmur. No, Sweetie wouldn't do something like- "The first pony you look at after imbibing it," Prudentia furthered, turning her face towards the little filly next to her instead. Oh. Sweetie's expression still held the somewhat lukewarm happiness, but also contained a whole slew of other emotions, guilt and apprehension amidst them. Suddenly, I understood why she looked like that, and it snapped cleanly into place. "This is a love potion, then?" I asked, glancing back down at the disgusting black liquid. She wanted to force me into liking her? "A love poison is more accurate, and I believe it's the potion's true name. She is so very sad and it hurts to see," the little filly whispered, frowning at my frozen friend. Well, I used the term 'filly' loosely. It was hard to tell exactly what she was, aside from appearances. That went a ways towards answering the most obvious question, but still, I found it lacking. My small, mysterious friend smiled and nodded, as if somehow hearing my very interest. "She's sad, Mender. She's very much in pain. Perhaps this will clear your mind a little and let you understand?" she asked softly, smiling over at me instead. My eyes widened fully as I heard a click against my left side. I glanced down in time to see the lock on the book unhook itself, and crack open just the tiniest bit. Images drifted through me, expanding across the area as I gasped, suddenly realizing the full weight of what had just happened. It opened! The flickering image of Sweetie danced into a dozen places at once, each no more than a faint ghost of her real self. Each I looked at started to move, whining and actually crying as she repeatedly stomped about the clearing. What was all this? "No! It's not fair! Why am I even thinking of doing this to Mender?" "This isn't right. I can't just make him love me back. Look at what happened to Big Mac and Cheerilee!" Who was Cheerilee? "But if I don't do anything, I’m going to lose him. If I have to wait two years, his herd is going to be filled up at the rate things are going. I-I can't risk that!" Did she really think I was that... promiscuous? "He's my friend, though, even If he doesn't feel the same way! Can I really betray his trust and do this to him? But he lied to me. He just told me that to get me to stop pestering him!" Frowning, I watched each image as she stormed around the clearing, stomping her little hooves as she seemed to fight with herself over what she wanted to do. It was all to the backdrop of that mixed stare she was frozen in the middle of giving me, which only served to magnify everything her images were saying. If she really had thought I was lying when I told her to wait the two years, what she was trying to do wasn't really that unexpected. I didn't know she felt so strongly about this, to let herself get torn up to this degree. Exhaling softly, I felt my energy seep out of me and shook my head. "What is all of this, Prudentia?" I asked, unsure of where it had all come from in the first place. Could the book read minds or something? That seemed deeply disturbing, in all honesty. "What came before. It's hard for me to see the flow, but given your numbers, I think about an hour prior," Prudentia explained, keeping those milky white orbs locked onto Sweetie Belle. So it wasn't a journal, like I had initially guessed. The small blue filly turned to stare at me again instead, as if hearing my thought. No, she really had heard my thought. She continued with, “No, I am a journal. Your journal. My most basic use is simply recording what happens to you. I have other abilities, though. One most used by the other, previous you was to also record those that enter your story as characters. Insight may be given." Whoa. That was, well, a little scary, actually. It was more frightening by implication than anything. She was vague there, and I was fairly certain it was intentional. Anypony who entered as a ‘character’ into my 'story?' So what, proximity? Or did they have to interact with me? Or scarier yet, did I just have to be aware of them? "So, literally, your most used purpose is exposition?" I asked, feeling more than a little awkward. She nodded, elaborating with, "Exposition of what you may or may not be aware of, through connection to what you are aware of. As thus, I can report on events that you weren't there for, such as this." Her right foreleg swept wide, gesturing vaguely to all the Sweetie Belle images flickering around the clearing, all whispering into my mind in a strange, pseudo-chorus that was really distracting if I paid it too much attention. My ears flattened back and I shook my head weakly. "Um, thank you for helping me, but could you try to not use this capability unless I specifically ask? This seems, well, sort of like an invasion of privacy," I muttered, glancing about at the tortured looking images around me. For just a moment, Prudentia looked utterly blank, giving me a surprisingly amusing dumbfounded expression. Ever so slowly, it shifted to a genuine smile that softly danced across her muzzle. "You are definitely not him. He would have demanded I use it almost constantly and keep him informed of everything going on around him. You are, well, I don't mean to speak ill of him, but I'm very happy you're my new Master," she muttered, shifting tones to her voice in a more upbeat direction, instead of the flat monotone she rarely broke from. The only other time I had heard her voice change was when I stopped Nirru, or whatever that thing was, from attacking her, now that I thought about it. "I'm not really your master. Did you have to do everything he said?" I asked, a bit of apprehension drifting into me for some reason. What was I suddenly so tense over? She frowned but nodded twice. "Yes. You are my new Master, whether you wish to be or not. My link was passed to you when he died. Truly died, not when he lingered for days afterwards. I must do everything you tell me to, although I'm much happier to obey your wishes, I'll admit. You're very, um, kind to me." Smiling to her finally, I reached out and lightly patted her across the top of the head, causing her to give me a shy smile, momentarily leaning up into it. How anypony could be mean to her is beyond my reasoning. Maybe cute things really were my biggest weakness? "Yes, I'm glad. You wear your energy very close to the surface, and you feel so warm and nice. I'm happy that I'm yours now," she cooed, swaying as she tipped gently, then fell off balance and landed on my other foreleg. I raised an eyebrow as I realized I actually felt her there, and then helped her back into a sitting position. "What do you mean, close to the surface?" I asked gently, steadying her again as she sat back down and nodded. It had me curious, and I wondered if she held more insight on me instead. This was certainly the longest I'd talked to her. It was also a little strange that she was sitting in the middle of the picnic blanket now, the basket partially phasing through her left flank. She was only physical to me? "It's subtle, so nopony probably noticed yet. Twilight Sparkle will be the first to realize it, unless you inform somepony first. To use your magic, it must be close to the surface to escape your body. A side effect is that your life force, or soul if you will, is also highly visible. It gives you a warmth and gentleness about you. Haven’t you noticed a pattern from those more interested in you yet? More empathic ponies probably more easily pick up on it, such as Fluttershy, Nurse Redheart, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle, although the last took a while to acknowledge it. This little filly is also the most empathic of her friends," Prudentia explained, gesturing without looking towards Sweetie Belle again. My eyes widened, suddenly seeing the pattern she shoved down my throat. Oh. Wait, Rainbow? Empathic? The little filly pulled off her mind reading trick again, or just had a very accurate guess. "Rainbow Dash is far more empathic than she lets others see, or even admits to herself. For those that can see your aura, those with high empathy, you just happen to possess the traits they look for most in a mate. It’s a bit ironic, but very sweet. You truly are loyal, kind, and gentle,” she continued explaining, tossing in a bit of conjecture for good measure, I noticed. Well, if all that were true, that would go a long ways to explaining why aforementioned mares were interested in me so rapidly. Well, I'd rather have my magic than not, so I guess I was stuck like this? Prudentia, or whoever this little filly really was, also struck me as highly empathic. "I grow tired, however, and must rest soon. Until the book is properly opened, I'm limited in my time here," she finished, sighing weakly as she slipped into a laying position instead. Frowning, I asked, "Is it okay if I ask you two more questions before you go, Prudentia?" Well, not including that one, of course. She smiled up at me and nodded, a bit of lag to her movements now. I started immediately with, "Why are you helping me, for one?" The filly stared at me for a moment before giggling lightly and looking down again towards my hooves. "You're kind to me. At first I thought you were going to be a bad master and was worried. But you're so nice; I couldn't let you get hurt. I, um, I miss you,” she murmured. A light blush formed on my cheeks, but I kept up my smile and nodded again. "Then my last question is if it's okay to talk to you more. You, you. Maybe while in my dreams?" I inquired. It was the first time I'd seen the little filly blush, giving me that wide-eyed stare that didn't trace movements. Her recovery was fast afterwards, however, and she got a timid smile on her face. "I didn't realize you were interested in me. You really are different, Mender. I'll visit you in your private dreams, yes. Don't show me to anypony else yet, though, please,” she requested, bowing politely to me. I lifted the cup back up, moving it into the position I had it at before to account for the strange time shift she seemed to make every time she appeared. On cue, she gave me a soft little smile after straightening, and was gone an instant later. The fog imploded silently into where she was before, and sound rushed back in to fill the void of silence, suddenly sounding unnatural to me. "...much trouble. Um, nopony obviously has to drink any more of it. I feel so stupid!" Sweetie murmured yet again, ears flattening back against her head and glaring at the basket, just like she did before. I sat there, my cup in my hooves and staring down at it. She was giving me a way out if I wanted. She hoped I'd decide not to drink any, while also secretly hoping I would. She didn't screw up the grape juice. She'd tried to get it the same color as the potion... My eyes softened as I stared into the purple liquid, sighing finally and looking back up at her. Her eyes met mine with intensity as she tried to search my blank face. Apple Bloom looked somewhat weirded out in my peripheral vision, and Scootaloo tilted her head. "Mine looks lighter than theirs, so it must have been made from a different batch, right? I'm sure it will taste better, too," I finally said, eyes locked directly on Sweetie's as I raised the cup a little higher. Her eyes widened as I spoke, and I knew she knew that I knew. Heh. I continued lifting the glass, thin shield coating the inside of my mouth and throat, and a subspace pocket sliding open at the very top of my stomach, just in case she actually let me drink this stuff. "W-Wait! You don't have to drink that stuff, Mender. I'm sure it tastes terrible, like the other batch. It, um, wouldn't be good for you," she spoke up hesitantly, front forelegs starting to shiver a little. Close to what I needed, but not quite. "Are you sure, Sweetie? This probably took a while to make. I'd hate to waste it. It really does look lighter, doesn't it?" I offered, showing her the cup. She winced and backed away from it, as if afraid to even sniff the stuff. Apple Bloom frowned as she watched before observing, "That actually looks kinda like-” Oops. "Grape juice, of course!" I interrupted, smiling gently towards her. She gave me a confused look, but Sweetie shivered and snapped an instant later. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! This is wrong. I knew this was wrong. You know what it is, Mender. It's poison! It's Love Poison!" she exclaimed, smashing her eyes shut as tears flowed out instantly. My eyes widened, not anticipating this severe a reaction, and only having wanted her to admit the truth. Apple Bloom let out a sudden gasp, as if slapped, and shouted, "Sweetie!" The tone was sharp and shocked sounding, causing Sweetie to wince again. "What, are you crazy?! You remember what happened with Big Mac and Cheerilee, right?!" Scootaloo asked, staring in shocked disbelief at her friend as well. "Girls, stop it. She's hurt a lot more than she's telling, and needs support, not yelling," I warned, frowning towards the little unicorn. Sweetie looked up at me slowly, opening her now very red eyes, the tears not stopping as she slowly shook her head. "No, they're right. What I just tried to do... The problem is me, not you. I'm too young. I'm... I need to... No, I don't have a choice. I can't just give up," she muttered, her voice dropping to almost a whisper at the end. "Sweetie, it's not too late, and you're not going to lose me just by-" I tried to assure, reaching out towards her across the picnic table. She buckled down and away from my right forehoof, however, screaming out, "No! No lies! I'm too young. You said so yourself! So, there's no other choice!" What?! Her magic lit up again, pulling the top off the basket and pulling out a flower that was tucked into the weave under the cover. I'd never seen anything like it, the blossom on it sort of reminding me of a folded heart, with smaller little hearts off the sides. I took a shot in the dark and wondered if that was something used to make the potion. Scootaloo looked confused, but Apple Bloom's eyes opened up fully in surprise. "No, Sweetie! Those don't ever give ya-" she started to warn, standing up and leaping towards her friend. Sweetie swallowed the entire blossom however, getting a good part of the stem down as well before her friend bowled her over and tore what was left from her mouth. I stood as well, knocking Spike over as I hopped the basket and landed next to the now coughing and gasping Sweetie. "What is this, some sort of poison?" I asked, eyes lighting up to try scanning her. Apple Bloom slowly shook her head, spitting out the stem as Spike and Scootaloo ran up. "No, it ain't. It's called Heart's Desire, an' they're nothin' but trouble. Supposed ta give ya what ya desire tha most, but it almost never turns out right," she explained, glaring down at her friend. I noticed she appeared to have a more involved opinion, but decided not to ask. That concept of not talking when a mare was furious was rapidly applied to the miniature ones, too. Instead, my energies focused on turning Sweetie Belle over and trying to hit her back lightly, listening to her cough even more violently as a tiny, heart shaped petal drifted out of her mouth. "They ain't supposed ta be taken raw, Sweetie! Ah don't know what they're gonna do," Apple Bloom groaned, looking tense. Okay, this wasn't good. "Scootaloo, we're going to start heading back in the direction of the camp. Take your new wings and go ahead of us as fast as you can safely manage, and get word to Nurse Redheart about what's happened," I asked, looking over at my orange friend. Her eyes widened, but she puffed up and saluted me before bursting off the ground, the ribbons of orange light expanding from her back as she shot off towards the camp. "W-Whoa! Scoots can fly now?" Spike asked, staring in surprise at the little filly as she exited the clearing. Sighing, I extended my tentacles to attempt to lift Sweetie onto my back. I was about to get some serious exercise! Ready or not, it was time to try running with weight on my back. "Not a good time, Spike. I'll tell ya later," I explained rapidly. Sweetie Belle started to glow before I'd even touched her. Oh hell. Seriously? It was all those times I said things were looking up, wasn't it? I only had half a second to slam my eyes shut before the little filly went off like the light from a flash-bang right in front of me. Chapter 51Why?! Why couldn't I just have a normal day? One. One normal day was all I asked for! No potion poisoning, no alien attacks, no hospital visits, no pissed off, overly dramatic, judgmental ponies trying to stone me to death... We moved along at a moderate pace, both Spike and Apple Bloom able to keep up fairly easily due to my overly sensitive payload. There were key words there, and they were making this trip really awkward. Wincing, I kept my nose on filter mode, and tried not to pay attention to the new line of liquid as it slipped down my lower back and off my thighs. Well, it was shower time after this, again! Oh, and I made a note to upgrade the filter to properly block pheromones. Neurotoxins and acids were fine and all, but I needed practicality! Sweetie Belle lay twitching on my back, groaning occasionally if I hit a particularly nasty bump. Her fever was immense, and she barely qualified as 'conscious' at this point, but her newly acquired, significantly larger body didn't seem to care. Her plan had been flawed from the very start, not considering the ramifications of attempting this right in the middle of estrus cycle. Damn it! I mentally sighed as another slick streak of warm liquid ran off my back, but pressed onwards as fast as I could go. If the raw flower was poison or something, which the horrible fever might indicate, she needed immediate medical treatment! Spike let out a cough before blasting more flames out his nose and shaking his head as he ran after us. "Getting a little dizzy from the fumes. How much further is it?" he asked, panting as he tried to keep up while fighting off the crazy level of pheromones Sweetie's body was producing. Apparently, it had even started to affect him through his dragon resilience. Here I thought that the whole 'different species' thing would make him totally immune. "Ah can see tha cabins from 'ere. Another minute at most," Apple Bloom added between pants, purely from physically running for so long rather than being affected by the smells coming from her friend. In this regard, she was lucky to be female! Sighing, I nodded and inhaled slowly through my breathing system and filter. "Good. She's nowhere near what I'd define as light anymore!" I managed to complain, breaking the tree line in a run now. The muscles shifted through my legs, complaining but changing to a more streamline form as I broke away from the other two and shifted into a full out sprint. I saw the white mare outside of the medical building even from here, and was determined not to let anything bad happen to Sweetie Belle. The filly in question let out an almost continuous moan as I picked up speed, and I felt her growing hotter on top of me, especially towards my lower back. Damn it. Instead, I just focused on running even faster, blasting her with the wind and causing her longer mane to billow out behind me like some really strange cape. Heh, now she was my cape rather than a scarf or hat. Fillies made the best fashion accessories, after all. "Oh no. Get her inside, Mender!" Redheart yelled as I approached. She stepped aside just in time and I shot past her and through the open door. My hooves lost traction as I tried to slide to a stop, and I suddenly realized the back ones, which served as my brakes, were covered in slick liquid. Yup. Not my day at all. Wincing, I braced my right foreleg up and went directly into the wall, shifting my chest forwards so Sweetie simply crashed into my squishy back. Hitting first, then having a full sized mare crash into me an instant later wasn't pleasant, and I sort of bounced off the wall, only shielding my face as to cushion Sweetie's impact with my own body. Redheart was there in less than a second, helping me up and tipping me back to my legs as I gasped and winced from the sudden throbs that dominated my chest and right foreleg. Ow. That could have gone better. "She aged up?!" Nurse Redheart asked, staring in shock at Sweetie as she lay there in a slowly expanding pool of clear fluid of various sources, flooding the room with pheromones. "And promptly went right into estrus, skipping all the finer details. You shouldn't have to guess her motive," I muttered, unable to entirely stop the bitterness in my voice. I should have been faster and stopped her from eating the stupid thing in the first place! Managing to straighten myself, I panted heavily from the exertion of running so fast for such a long time. Damn it! Redheart sighed and stood fully, trying to lift Sweetie up and move her towards one of the cots. My magic activated instead, doing the work for her in all of five seconds. She gave me a weak smile, and then whacked me on top of the head a moment later. "No blaming yourself. I told her that you weren't lying, but she apparently didn't listen and didn't want to wait. Looks like we'll need to have another talk after all this," she explained, taking advantage of my momentary lapse in retorts as I rubbed my forehead. It probably hurt her hoof more, as she just punched me through armor. Still, I perked up at that. It was difficult to understand what the little filly had been thinking, but even if I did sort of empathize with her, there weren’t a whole lot of options that I had. "That means she's going to be okay?" I asked, hopeful and ignoring the sudden sound of the door blasting open behind me. That would probably be Apple Bloom and Spike catching up. As if on cue, the little yellow filly and accompanying dragon slid in, Spike slipping on the rather sizable puddle on the floor almost instantly. As my tentacles were still out and looking like 'rope' from carrying Sweetie over here, I lashed out with two of them and snagged him out of the air before he landed on his head. He gave me an upside down thumbs up, of course, and I snickered at him, still panting lightly. "She'll be fine once it works out of her system. I pulled a few books on Heart's Desire to figure out what eating it raw does. Turns out, it does the same thing the less concentrated potion achieves, but much stronger over a significantly shorter period of time. One flower is about four hours of effect," Redheart explained, sliding the book over on the table next to the cot Sweetie lay on. The white unicorn gave a rather miserable sounding groan a moment later, eyes opening in a dizzy looking sway and shifting her back legs together repeatedly. "H-Hot. It's so hot! H-Help me, Mender," she whispered, voice hoarse from coughing so much. Frowning, I tried extending a hoof out to her, but Redheart stopped me and pushed it back down, shaking her head. "Don't, Mender. You're linked to the effect of the Heart's Desire, and I don't want variables thrown into the mix. Her hormones are going crazy from what she wanted. I'm going to have to share some of my estrus suppressant with her, just to bring the fever down. Scootaloo should be back with some cold water sh-" she started to explain. The door blasted open again before she could finish, and I winced at the sound. If there was anything left of that door by the end of the day, I'd be surprised. "I'm back! Saw Mender and everypony enter. Here's the water from the stream!" Scootaloo informed rapidly, fluttering in and lowering herself to the ground, sliding the bucket forward that she had around her neck. It was impressively large, and I suddenly realized it had probably been faster to send it with Scootaloo to fill it at the stream than try to fill it with tap water. "Yikes. Ya don't look so good, Sweetie," Apple Bloom muttered, hopping up on the cot her friend was on and looking down at her. The flush appeared permanently fixed to Sweetie Belle's face, and she just kept her dizzy gaze locked onto me instead. "I'm not, um, feeling very good. Mender touching me would make me feel so much better," she whispered, extending her right foreleg towards me as she lay there. Scootaloo frowned and fluttered up to her as I helped Redheart with the bucket. She dipped the tip of her hoof into it and sighed before going towards a shelf with towels on it. "Not as cold as I would have liked, but it will have to do on short notice," she murmured as she left. Cold? Looking back down at the water, I touched the bucket with my left hoof, the runes forming in my mind and dancing across the surface. The molecular movement slowed as I held my focus, a layer of frost glazing the rim of the wood. Ah, that should be better. Smiling, I let go of the magic and innocently put my leg back down as Nurse Redheart turned back around. Anything to help Sweetie. Spike gave me an amused grin, suddenly reminding me that I still had his leg wrapped up and was dangling him upside down. Err, oops. I shot him a sheepish smile before lightly lowering him to the floor again. "Will any touch do?" Scootaloo asked suddenly, lowering and setting herself down against Sweetie's stomach. The newly formed mare groaned and rapidly shook her head, her tongue lightly hanging out of her mouth a moment later. Looking back over at the three, I saw Apple Bloom looking more than a little concerned, but Sweetie herself was staring unerringly at me instead, face flushed and eyes unfocused. "N-No, it has to be Mender. He smells so good, and he's the one who rescued me! I, um, I love him! He's so nice and gentle and brave and sweet and he saved my life and didn't even ask for anything for it. He never brags or boasts... Sis was so right about him," Sweetie started swooning out, a very strange mixture of sensual and delirious. It was somewhat unnerving to hear, but that might have been just the string of compliments causing my cheeks to tint pink. Nurse Redheart shook her head softly as she returned with the towel, warning, "You're too young to know what 'love' is, Sweetie. Rest and put this on your, uh..." She trailed off, staring down at the bucket before raising an eyebrow. Her cunning mind didn't take two seconds to snap her gaze back up to me, piercing suspicion in her eyes. I smiled a little wider and innocently averted my gaze, causing her to actually let out a soft giggle instead. "I forgot how downright useful your magic was, Mender. I should invite you over tonight to chill the cooler I have, too," she noted. I couldn't help but notice that her voice slipped a little softer on that last part, and I swallowed uneasily. How could somepony make something so innocent sound so... I didn't even know the word for it! My favorite nurse didn't give me a chance to wallow, however, dipping the towel and slipping past me, a light trail of subtle perfume and something a little sweeter mixed in following after her. Oh boy. It only took me half a second to remember to bring my filter up again, but the slip of awareness already let a tidal wave of Sweetie's scents through regardless, almost bowling me over with the haze. Damn it! At least Nurse Redheart appeared to be attempting to cover her smell. "No, don't f-flirt with him! He needs to leave a s-spot for me in his herd and-" Sweetie started to yelp, eyes big and pleading towards Redheart as she approached. My head was too busy spinning to properly formulate a response beyond a mental groan of frustration. It did, however, nicely process the solid whack Apple Bloom gave Sweetie's muzzle a second later. My eyes widened, and Spike snapped out of his haze long enough to stare in surprise at the yellow filly. Scootaloo almost dropped out of the air, matching her already dropped jaw. "Sweetie! That's enough! Yer bein' downright selfish ta everypony. Mender deserves yer respect, not yer attempts ta cheat ta get at his heart, regardless o' what he wants! We helped ya too after ya were downright foolish an' ate that no good flower, but ya haven't even said thanks ta anypony. This ain't you, Sweetie! Stop this," Apple Bloom almost ordered as Sweetie winced, holding both hooves to her muzzle. Nurse Redheart gave a weak sigh as she gently pressed the chilled towel to the now shivering mare's head. No, she still had the mindset of a filly. A very confused one at that. It didn't take long for her eyes to get wet again after she opened them, looking at her friend. "I'm so sorry, Apple Bloom. I'm just so scared. I don't want to be too late, but I'm just not good enough! It's like... It's like if you had a chance to miss out on getting your Cutie Mark if you didn't do something about it!" Her head tucked back into her hooves, specifically avoiding looking at anypony, as Apple Bloom's ears drooped a little. "Ya are good enough. Mender told me that he was speakin' true. He ain't lyin' ta ya, Sweets. Ya really do get ah chance!" she tried to reassure, her left foreleg rising up and gently rocking the white mare's shoulder. Tank took this moment to hover in through the window and resume his rotations around Spike and me, like before. I'd asked him to in the clearing, and it would appear he remembered. The pheromones were rapidly sucked up past the very much immune tortoise, and shot off towards the ceiling and away from us. I smiled up at him, almost seeing a slow wink in return. It was kinda hard to read his body language, it being ten times slower than normal. I caught myself getting distracted again, however. "She's right, Sweetie. You're good enough as is. You don't need to rush, Silly. To be honest, I have no intention of asking anypony else to join the herd unless both Twilight and Fluttershy agree or suggest it first. Even then, I'll refuse to fill the last slot, because I promised you that you'd get your chance," I explained, smiling softly towards her. Apple Bloom looked surprised to hear my voice, but smiled happily up at me almost right away. Sweetie herself looked more shocked than anything, her eyes slipping from her friend to glue themselves to me instead, her cheeks heating up even more. Redheart snickered at her reaction, but then glanced back at me instead, adding, "I guess some lucky mare is going to have to try really hard to fill that fourth and last spot then." Her voice was laced with amusement, and I barely resisted slapping my forehead. "Don't forget the part about Twilight and Fluttershy approving, too," I warned, giving her a skeptical expression. She was pretty persistent, but it could also be her heat dropping her reservations a bit. Plus, how much of it was that aura thing Prudentia pointed out? I considered it. Was my magical aura technically cheating? It wasn't really a form of manipulation, I deduced. All it did was let a sensitive, empathic individual get a feel of who I was far faster than normal, if I understood correctly. Technically, there was nothing manipulative about it. The moral debate was a bit of a moot point anyway, given that I couldn't exactly turn it off. Redheart simply grinned and shook her head a moment later, lifting the towel off and dipping it back into the chilled water again. "I know. I'm only teasing you. Mostly. Still, you have no need to make that promise to Sweetie. She should be content enough that you're going to consider her in two years, especially after she's been such a bad filly," she added, turning to give a pointed stare at her newest patient instead. Oh boy... Scootaloo, seemingly more interested in helping than the topic, shifted down the cot at the same moment, hauling the blanket with her teeth and sliding it out from under Sweetie, moving it to cover her instead. Sweetie's ears lowered at the same time her eyes softened and she looked away from us, swallowing weakly. "I'm... I'm really sorry, everypony. Thank you for taking care of me even though I don't deserve it. I'm especially sorry to you, Mender. Both for trying to use the Love Poison on you, and for, um, all this. I'm scared, is all..." she finally whispered, refusing to look up at me. "Love Poison?! Sweetie!" Redheart hissed, but then gave a surprised start when I rested my right forehoof on her shoulder, shaking my head to her. "Actually, it's all sort of coming together in my head. I at least understand why you did it, and I'm sorry for not realizing you felt this way, let alone how strongly. I Pinkie Promise that I'm telling the absolute truth, and you'll get your chance when you're old enough. But please, no more potions or magic or anything to try to cheat the system, Sweetie. I don't want you getting hurt, especially for me," I explained as best I could, probably using six times the words needed. Her soft blush and timid smile told me that I got my point across, however. She gave two nods and tucked herself a little more into the blankets, still just watching me. There was a certain hesitation before she finally sighed and nodded once more, agreeing with, "I promise I'll be good and wait. Thank you so much for being patient and kind, Mender. Um, can we still be friends until-" I raised a hoof up and shook my head towards her, cutting her off but keeping a gentle smile on my muzzle. "We're never going to not be friends, Sweetie. Even if you eventually become more than a friend to me, friendship stays, I think," I reasoned, remembering a remarkably similar prior conversation like this. It only took me a second to realize I was still really dizzy a moment later, and I realized my blood was starting to thud through my ears. Sweetie really did make for a rather pretty mare, and Redheart was starting to look downright ravishing. Yup, time to leave. "Ah, sorry though. I'm going to have to leave now. The pheromones are getting to me, I think. Come on, Spike. Let's leave the ladies in peace," I excused, glancing back towards my draconic friend. He sat somewhat limply to my right, eyes unfocused and staring blankly at a totally unaware Nurse Redheart. More specifically, her flank, I realized. Yup, he'd been here too long, too. "D-Do you have to?" Sweetie whispered softly, giving me a pleading look I refused to lock eyes with. I knew her power, and realized stallions lost their souls by looking into similar eyes. Instead, I wrapped Spike up again and lifted him onto my back, ignoring the smears his legs made from sitting in the puddle. Yeah, it was time to wash my coat out. "Yeah, Sweetie. I'm sorry. You're starting to smell too good, so I have to get out of here. Poor Spike can't take much more of this, so I'm bringing him with. Is there anything else, Redheart?" I asked, getting her attention again as she finished digging out more medical supplies, including a blood sample kit, from what I noticed. Oh yeah, hormones... She gave me a soft smile before shaking her head. "No, I'm set here for a while. Check back after a couple hours and I'll have her cleaned up by then. Go wash up, and, well, thank you for being, um, you. You've been a lot of help today," she thanked politely, perking a bit at me. Heh. She had already proved she could be cute if need be. There wasn't any reason to rub it in! "Okay. I'm heading to the lake then. I'll see you three later, okay?" I suggested, earning a nod from both fillies, and a pout from Sweetie Belle. At least she was smiling, I noticed. I had a feeling we'd be talking more about this later, but she appeared content for now, and not likely to blatantly poison herself again in the next few hours. Females were so confusing... Giving them both a nod, I headed out of the medical cabin yet again with Spike on my back. He seemed coherent enough to balance on his own, so I retracted my tentacles into myself as we walked. Tank followed loyally along after me, apparently content to just idle on my last request until I said otherwise. Rainbow had really gotten herself a loyal companion! To my surprise, Big Mac caught up with me by the time I reached the tree line again. He slowed from his faster pace after falling in next to me, and then sniffed a couple of times at my shoulder. I coughed lightly, cheeks tinting a light pink before he started chuckling, much to my relief. It was silly of me, but for a moment, I thought he might jump to conclusions and pummel me or something. "Ah saw Sweetie. Heart's Desire?" he asked upon recovering, still keeping pace easily with me. Of course, he wasn't fooling anypony. I'd already seen him move significantly faster than this when he wanted to. When his sister had been in trouble, I don't think Rainbow could have gotten into the living room any faster! Sighing, I nodded as best I could without jostling Spike. "Yeah. She seemed to think that I'd be perfectly okay with her aging herself two years to date me," I muttered, sagging a little but keeping my gentle pace. He mulled it over for a moment, but kept that gentle and relaxed smile on his face. "Ah shouldn't need ta warn ya now, but mah little sister an' her friends can be right impatient sometimes. Sweetie ain't so different, from what Ah saw. Mind if Ah tag along? Need ah washin' mahself," he asked, apparently not realizing he'd already pretty much started accompanying me. "Sure. I might need help rousing Spike anyway. He got blasted pretty good with pheromones," I muttered, peeking back at my rather dizzy looking passenger, earning a tired glare in return. "H-Hey! I'm okay, sheesh. Twilight's smells can get pretty potent, too, so I can handle myself," he tried to defend, only slurring a couple of the words, to give him credit. Big Mac nodded solemnly, also turning to look at the small dragon. "Right true. Ah'm more concerned fer tha magical nature involved. Ah can smell it on Mender, an' it's quite ah bit stronger than what it should be, given how she sped up tha process," he reasoned, surprising me with his insight. I hadn't thought about the possibility that the pheromones had also been magnified by the plant. Oh! If her only ‘desire’ had been to appear as appealing as possible to me, the entire instant magnified estrus thing might have been all part of it. Giving out a groan, I shook my head at the whole ordeal, deciding then and there to take the rest of the day off. "Ugh. Mares..." I managed to mutter finally. Spike gave out a snicker against the back of my neck, and Big Mac grinned over at me while walking, surprisingly animated for his usual self. "Hear ya there!" he agreed, giving his shoulders a roll while walking and making an audible cracking noise in the process. Maybe he was just getting used to me? Snickering, I inquired, "Cheerilee?" I was observant enough to notice a faint darkening in the tone of his cheeks, and a light twitching lift to the corner of his mouth. "Heh. Long story, that one. Ah'll tell ya at tha lake," he assured, making an amused clicking noise afterwards with his tongue. Giving a smirk in return, I just silently followed after him as our pace increased. I'd just be happy to get rid of the scents! * * * * * Relaxing, I let myself air-dry, my tired muscles feeling heavy against my frame as I lay in the sand along the shore of the lake. There were no more mare smells anywhere around, and I felt clean and fluffy again! Spike had his arms folded behind his head and lay against my stomach, as I was currently flopped onto my side. Tank munched on grass a meter from my head, and I heard the heavy movements of Big Mac wading somewhere behind me, not bothering to open my eyes to check. I tried my hardest to achieve inner peace without falling asleep, in the meantime. Big Mac's tale of how his little sister and the rest of the Crusaders had 'poisoned' Cheerilee and himself, and how he'd almost gotten married was all quite amusing and all. I'd especially liked the part where he'd unknowingly relocated Berry Punch's house, which was a bit scary considering how much raw Earth Pony power he must possess. Ruby Pinch's mother, it turns out, although I think I knew that already. I'd seen the beverage maker in the market a couple of times, and they definitely have similar color schemes. I'd make an apple and tree comparison, but present company might think I was trying to be clever. "Ah know, Ah know. It's silly. But all she ever said was that Ah was her friend. It was tha perfect opportunity, an' Ah blew it," I heard him mutter in his deep but low voice, kicking up a bit of water as well by the sounds of it. I stirred lightly, pulling back from my meditative relaxation and exhaling. Eh, the eyes could stay closed a bit longer. "It's a pity you don't have Rainbow around to insult her sensitivities in front of you. It was totally an ice breaker for Twilight and me, it would seem," I suggested, smirking lightly as I heard Spike chuckle against my stomach. Big Mac gave a snort and short laugh, adding, "While she ain't capable o' throwin' ah bed at me, Cheerilee has ah mean buck! Ah think Ah'd rather risk tha flowers." That amused me more than I would have liked to admit, and I snickered, shaking my head and finally opening my eyes towards him. "Should I ask how you know she has a mean buck?" I inquired, hopefully keeping any insinuations subtle. The big guy gave me a knowing grin, telling me he picked up on it anyway. "Ain't like that. She's ah proper mare, after all. Nah, she just got ah mite impatient with me in our schoolin' days. Ah worked with her on quite ah few projects, an' Ah was right lazy back then. Didn't know no better. She gave me ah few good whacks ta keep me goin'," he explained, surprising me instead. Raising an eyebrow, I admitted, "It's awfully hard to imagine you as lazy. You're an amazingly hard worker." His eyes softened a little, and I immediately regretted commenting on it. I'd blundered head first into a bad topic, I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion. "Ah wasn't always. Had ta step up ta meet tha challenges o' runnin' ah farm after Ma and Pa passed. Sis was still too young, an' Apple Bloom just ah little foal, so that left me with tha heavy labor. Ah think Applejack still feels bad about me workin' so hard sometimes, but what can ya do?" he muttered absently, rolling his shoulders in a tired looking shrug. My eyes softened and I nodded back at him despite my viewpoint being upside down. "I'm sorry for bringing it up. I'll try my hardest to make things easier for the Apple Family on the farm. My enchantments and inventions might not be much, but I did promise Apple Bloom," I apologized quietly. That got his attention, and he returned that ever-quiet gaze back to me, taking me in for a moment before frowning. "Apple Bloom asked ya ta help, too?" he asked, sounding uncertain for some reason. Smiling, I nodded back at him, deciding it wouldn't hurt to relay the message. It hadn't been a secret, after all. "She says she misses spending time with you two, and was hoping if I made the farm work faster and easier, she'd get to again," I explained. It was honestly a simple and clever idea on her part. Big Mac's eyes softened and he looked down at the water again before finally nodding slowly. "At first Ah was right hesitant o' ya, but Ah know yer tryin' yer hardest ta help, despite everything dealin' ya ah right awful hoof," he admitted, although that didn't sound like it was what was actually bothering him. Wait, that meant... Yes! Ponies did have cards! Maybe they did have Uno? Big Mac looked back up at me, however, snapping me out of my mental tangent. "Ah trust ya. Do ya think ya can help us out? We ain't got ah huge amount o' bits ta pay ya with, no matter what AJ wishes, but-" he started to warn. I held a hoof up, er, down I guess, towards him and shook my head. "I know that, and trust me, if I can manage to get her to not pay me, I would. I'll gladly accept a good meal as payment, of course. Hospital food has scarred me for life, and I deeply appreciate anything but, now!" I explained, shuddering as I remembered what could only have been processed cardboard they tried to get me to eat. After it was ground up, regurgitated, and formed into a limp cube, of course. Although, maybe it was a wise precaution? Given my knack for horribly injuring myself, having food ready to be injected through an IV was probably smart. Wait, then I wouldn't have to taste it! Note to self, the next time I get hospitalized, break my own jaw. The red stallion was grinning at this point, and nodded gently towards me. "Ah stallion o' simple tastes. Refreshin', honestly. Ah was ah bit worried ya were all fancy-like after ya went ta that party. That sorta thing makes me real tired, even though Ah would've gone had Rare asked me," he admitted, shaking his head slowly. Blinking, I frowned at that. "Uh, she said she did ask you, though," I muttered, raising an eyebrow back at him. He smirked, however, and it dawned on me at the same instant. "Nah. She just wanted ta bring you along instead," he shot back, only enlightening the thought further in my head. Figured. Damn it. Spike gave a start on my stomach and turned around, glancing back at us both with a frown. "Wait, why did Rarity want to bring Mender along?" he asked suddenly. Wonderful. Because this was exactly what I needed at the moment. Sighing, I sat up and rolled to my haunches again, realizing I wasn't going to get to nap. "I'm going to just be honest with you, Spike. Do you mind?" I asked, deciding the little guy might appreciate an up front, adult approach to the situation. He stared at me for a moment before slowly nodding, looking apprehensive but just watching me. Well, now or never. "Rarity thought she liked me as more than a friend before the Canterlot party," I tossed out, just getting the worst out of the way as soon as possible. Spike sat there, the only movement on him being a light swallowing in his throat after a second of letting it process. "You used past tense," he whispered a moment later, eyes softening as I was pretty sure he at least had some clue as to what happened. I nodded, continuing with, "She kissed me and Twilight caught her. That's what they were fighting about. Finally getting the chance after all of that Nirru stuff, I explained to her that I didn't feel that way about her. She's taken it surprisingly well, but seems more confused than anything. It's more the concept of a 'Prince' she wants, rather than the actual thing, and I think she's starting to realize that." I felt tired again afterwards like I always did when revealing things. Maybe it was just the fact of not 'having' the secret anymore that made me realize how heavy it was to deal with? Sighing, I just let it sink in and watched him as he frowned, almost staring through me for a moment. Big Mac nodded and sat down next to me a second later. "Eeyup. Miss Rarity needs ta realize that tha stallion in her mind don't exist. Ain't nopony that's perfect. Or dragon, Ah imagine," he added, smirking lightly afterwards. That Spike caught almost instantly, blushing lightly. I snickered and nodded towards Big Mac as well. Now I was really glad he was here! "He's right. That's almost exactly what I told Rarity when I pointed out you," I agreed, adding that little tidbit hoping to cheer him up some. His eyes widened drastically, mouth hanging loose a bit as he stared at me. "Y-You mentioned me?" he asked hesitantly, looking extremely confused more than anything now. I decided to stick to the truth, and nodded. "Yeah. Subtly, of course, if that's possible for me. She must have pulled at least something from it, because she sat there watching you sleep for a good half an hour," I reasoned, considering it for probably the first time. It really did seem like she'd started really considering Spike. Reminding myself not to zone out again in the midst of a conversation, I snapped back to attention to note Spike's blatantly wide-eyed stare, and exceptionally red face. Okay, that was adorable. He wobbled a bit before holding up his claws and staring at them as if he thought they'd gotten cut off, and was pleasantly surprised to find out not. "You told her no. You actually turned down Rarity... But then you suggested me?! That... Okay, I really don't know what to think about all this. I wish you'd told me sooner. I mean, she's been acting a bit different around me and I'm not sure if this is why or not, but honestly, I think I could use some help with-" he started rambling, apparently just spewing forth whatever came into his head in a long string. Well, he started to, anyway. My ears twitched at the whistling noise I picked up a few seconds into him talking. Wait, that sounded familiar. In fact, I'd heard that noise multiple times now. Oh. Damn it! I spun as fast as I could, my barriers activating and expanding past both Big Mac and Spike. The red stallion gave a start, looking at me with a surprised and confused expression as Spike's voice dwindled, him looking at the barrier instead. Neither got a chance to question my motives, however, as a cyan bolt shot in, looking like it 'bounced' off the lake an instant later. The refraction was accompanied by a brutal explosion in an instant, shattering the water out from the expanding prismatic ring. A heartbeat later, my barriers were blasted by millions of pellets of glowing, multi-colored water. The sizzling drops hit with the force of a heavy hail, and I winced under the massive barrage as everything was momentarily tinted in rainbow shades. Sound finally caught up two seconds later over the deafening roar of the blast, and the wave itself hit us at the same time as her voice did. "Woooo! Heads up, Mender!" was screamed along the blast, the wave of light smashing over us and washing out the area in light. What the hell was wrong with her?! She was insane! She fired off a Sonic Rainboom right on the surface of the lake?! My eyes flicked open a moment later, only to find Spike hiding under my tail and Big Mac sternly holding up his right foreleg to shield his eyes from the light. My barrier held, creating a small dome of 'not rainbow colored everything' in a two-meter radius. The sand itself was prismatic now, as the high energy seemingly bled into everything. Actually, my barrier was colored the same now, too, I noticed. Hmm. Was that healthy for me, or did her explosions have some sort of radiation to them? Probably not, or else she would have reduced the life expectancy of everypony in Ponyville to single digits by now... "Yes! Totally clean now. How was that, Mender?!" I heard Rainbow ask, landing behind me. Turning, I noticed a broad grin on her face as she landed, shaking herself lightly and whipping her mane from side to side. My eyes widened as I watched her prismatic locks flick, the spray of glowing light and color misting off her in almost an aura. For a moment, I was utterly shocked at how gorgeous she looked, a natural and almost raw elemental vibe coming from her. It was primal. Her grin widened as she noticed I must have looked rather dumbfounded towards her. "What's wrong? See something ya like?" she asked coyly. The expression faltered and vanished an instant later as her haze of rainbow colors withdrew a bit more, revealing both Spike and Big Mac to either side of me as well. Her cheeks instantly took on a noticeably contrasting pink shade as her eyes widened. Big Mac recovered rapidly, however, shooting her a skeptical look. "And 'ere Ah thought ya only had eyes fer AJ," he muttered, sounding more amused than anything. Heh, if he was looking for an answer to that, he was in for a confusing ride. Rainbow gave him an annoyed glare, which didn't faze him in the least, and shook her head rapidly. "I like stallions, too!" she defended, puffing up a bit. "Never said ya didn't," Big Mac pointed out idly, that unfaltering soft smile still on his muzzle. It was honestly a bit unnerving how stoic he was sometimes. He was starting to give me serious 'unliving doll' vibes now. As long as he didn't go evil and start stabbing us all in our sleep, I suppose it didn't matter. I was pretty close to that definition, too, now that I thought about it. Dash deflated a little bit, realizing her distraction defense was unsuccessful. Sighing, she looked away from him slightly before huffing in irritation and finally admitting, "Yes, I like Mender, too. He's got a lot of things I like in a pony. Dependable and good morals, humor, intelligence that I admire, but without the strict and rigid discipline Twilight has. Um, I haven't been around him as much as Applejack, but I definitely like him, too. Plus, uh, my heat is really bad, like usual. Makes it hard to resist being flirty." Damn. That was the most simplistic and honest I'd ever heard her be. Now why couldn't she just tell me that, of all ponies? If it bothered Big Mac in the least, he didn't show it. "Works fer me. Just don't hurt AJ, or we'll have words," he assured before gently rolling his shoulders with a light crack, and heading back to the lakeshore. I shivered, and noticed Rainbow visibly swallow and falter as she watched him go. That was a little scary! Big Mac voluntarily having words for any situation felt grave indeed. Spike, who had silently watched the whole time, slowly rotated towards me with a somewhat skeptical expression a moment later. "Okay, I've noticed a pattern. Spill. Why do mares like you?" he accused, narrowing his eyes slightly. Rainbow snapped out of her stunned state to raise a knowing eyebrow towards him, mouth opening for undoubtedly some horrible quip to flatten him with. I cut her off, however. "Because of this," I answered openly, holding my left hoof up. Both drew their attention to it before it flared up with light, expanding rapidly across my entire body with a warm blue glow, runes of focus and form patterning my body. "Magic?" Spike asked hesitantly, tilting his head. Rainbow looked momentarily surprised, however, the light from the glow reflecting greatly in her eyes as she took it all in. "Heh, it definitely looks cool! You have neat looking magic," Rainbow complimented, shifting to a soft smile instead. I sighed and nodded, turning off my temporary lamp mimicry a moment later. "My magic is apparently closer to the surface than most ponies. It's the only reason I can actually use magic as an Earth Pony. But with magic comes-" "Emotion. Feelings and personality often show through in magical auras, Twilight said. Magically sensitive ponies and creatures, and those that are really empathic would be able to pick up on who you are a lot faster than normal, I'm guessing?" Spike suddenly deduced, that clever glimmer showing through in his eyes that was oh so familiar. Twilight definitely raised him, and it seriously showed. Rainbow perked at that, looking a mixture of surprised and curious. I nodded, expanding his deduction with, "Yup. It lets ponies get a 'feel' for my personality just by looking and being near me, it would seem. If they like what they feel, they have a higher disposition towards me?" It was a little hard for me to summarize, and for probably the hundredth time this little 'vacation', I wished Twilight were here. She was so much better with this whole 'words' thing! "Oooh, so the feeling of safety and trust I normally get around you isn't just a gut feeling?" Rainbow asked, coughing lightly and averting her gaze a bit. Well, that was blunt, but I hadn't really expected anything less from her. "Yeah. That's a, well, big thing with me? It's one of the things I regret from my other self. I want to protect everypony I can, and make sure nopony gets hurt around me. It's really, really strong with those I deeply care for. It's safe to say you're one of those ponies. You, too, Spike. Uh, minus the pony thing. Yeah..." I muttered, verbally planting my face into a rock towards the end. Damn it... Rainbow blushed a little but tried to disguise it by rubbing lightly at her cheeks with a hoof. Naturally, I pretended not to notice and just shifted my attention to the now grinning Spike instead. "Okay, I forgive ya for the Rarity thing. Plus, you put in a good word for me so, yeah. We're good?" he asked, extending a claw towards me. Smirking, I nodded to him and raised my hoof up, letting him latch onto it and lightly shake it up and down. Rainbow finally grinned at that as well, giving a knowing and approving nod towards us both. Heh, at least that was settled. Now I indeed felt better about having told him. "Awesome! Can you help me practice with my wings then, now?" Rainbow suddenly spoke up, stepping up beside Spike and grinning at me. I shot her an amused expression, but nodded regardless. As blunt as she was suddenly pretending to be, I knew it was to cover for her probably feeling awkward over me caring about her. Heh, suddenly I realized she must have just as much trouble dealing with social feelings as I did. We just took different ways to deal with them in the end. "Yeah, I have a new challenge for you today, if you think you're up for it," I offered, waiting for it. Half a second before recognition, and then it was another second and a half before her eyes started sparkling and her whole face lit up in anticipation. The mare was seriously competitive, but at least that was predictable. "Oh, I'm so ready! What have you got today?!" she asked excitedly as I walked a little further away from the water and motioned for her to follow. I didn't know what getting the process wet would do, and didn't want to risk it. Her wings buzzing, she practically galloped after me, and I snickered, measuring out the distance before patting the ground next to me. After she zipped into position, I started to explain the exercise... * * * * * The grinding noise was a bit grating, but I just kept it pushed out of my mind as I skimmed through another flagged page. Everything about the disks was in front of me on about four-dozen glowing sheets of 'paper' drifting through the air from my eye projection. To conserve on resources, I only selected the absolutely most important documents, cutting and compressing pages together when I could. Looking to my left to check on the process, Big Mac nodded to me as he gently sat there, angling the entire tree in as the grinder ate it whole, shredding and mulching it inside the basin before breaking it down and converting it into basic paper. It was a good size tree, in its last stages of life, as he'd explained. They apparently did that to the apple trees, too. They'd break up the older trees to be used as materials, and plant new ones in their place. It sounded very organic and I was surprised at how eco-friendly the ponies were. But not too surprised. I was beginning to simply take anything I remembered from my culture and invert it to get a good guess at how ponies handled things. So far it had been working fairly well! "Ya sure yer only gonna need one? Ah saw two others that should probably come down in there," Big Mac asked, gesturing back towards the forest behind him. I rapidly shook my head, gesturing upwards with a hoof. No, it had been terrifying enough to watch him cut this one down. I didn't need another tree obliteration haunting my memory. Applejack was faster, sure, but damn was this stallion strong! A 'bucking blade' was truly fascinating, however, and I ran that through my head again. I'd wondered how Earth Ponies had cut down trees before, and now I knew. It was a crescent blade attached to a sturdy steel plate and a strap made out of their fake leather I saw everywhere. They put the blade against the tree, wrapped the strap around the trunk to hold it there, and then simply bucked the metal plate, driving the blade into the tree like a wedge. Quite clever! After they sliced in, they simply rotated the blade a bit and did it again until they had cut all the way through. Angles could be used to make a wedge and control the fall direction. It had been awesome to watch. Except for the part where he almost snapped the tree in half with one kick. Having been oh so familiar with Applejack's bucking, seeing his in action made my side hurt in sympathy. Or memory. Regardless, I double-checked the 'grinder' the tree was going into. It was barely big enough to fit the whole thing in, and definitely not deep enough, if it weren't for the fact that the inside fell away into subspace. A cord ran from the back and merged seamlessly with my left side, where I had spawned the device from. A cord popped out right next to it as well, this one being attached to a printer that was busy spitting out pages of documentation. Glancing at one of the finished products, I checked it for nozzle alignment, and then internally adjusted the printer a fourth of a millimeter or so. All the writing and diagrams were in red 'ink', but I was limited in my resources. I had to write it with something, and ink wasn't exactly in ready supply in the middle of the forest, so I improvised. My right hoof extended back into my pile next to me and I popped another tasty strawberry into my mouth, deciding I couldn't complain, honestly. It was one of the most delicious inconveniences I'd ever experienced. "Hey, Mender, could ya come 'ere fer ah sec?" Big Mac asked patiently to my left a moment later. Perking, I stood up slowly and made sure to shift my cords around their respective devices carefully before walking over to him, extending the lines as I went. Splashing momentarily distracted me as I walked, and I glanced over at Spike, who was still over in the lake, the extra loyal tortoise still hovering around his head, earning another laugh as he swooped down and blasted a wave of water at the little dragon. I smiled before getting hung up in my printer cord and smacking my armored face into the ground. Well, should have seen that one coming! Big Mac gave an amused chuckle as I sat back up, shaking my head rapidly and spraying dirt everywhere as my plate armor folded back into my skin. Thankfully, that inner layer pops out fast! It might not be as dense and defensive as the outer layer, but it was far faster to apply and helped with the everyday bad luck, clumsiness, and gravity related disasters. Big Mac gestured down towards a small hole he was starting to dig at the edge of the forest, and my ears perked up as I stared at it. A single acorn sat in the center of the hole, and the large stallion carefully shifted dirt up over it, burying it tenderly in the ground. For such a strong individual, he showed remarkable finesse. I supposed having lived with a pony body your whole life, one was far more comfortable moving around in it. "Seein' as yer technically an Earth Pony, Ah was curious if ya could do this, too," he explained, lightly pushing his hoof onto the top of the dirt mound. I watched with avid curiosity as he just let it rest there for a moment, nothing visibly happening. My right eye, however, which was still in projection mode, picked up stirrings of energy drifting around his hoof and into the ground. What was he doing? Wait, how was he doing that? The vibrations visible in his hoof slowly and carefully matched up with the ones suddenly visible in the ground, and he relaxed, his muscles easing up and slowly raising his hoof up. Following the rough surface up as if magnetically connected, a softly glowing, green sapling tasted the air for the first time, finally releasing itself and swaying pleasantly in the breeze once it reached about a hoof's width in height. Whoa! He grew the plant?! He chuckled, setting his hoof back down and sitting there idly watching me stare in shock at the tiny thing. "You try makin' it ah little bigger," he suggested, gesturing towards the small sapling. I swallowed nervously and gave him an uneasy glance, but he just nodded confidently towards me, and lightly bumped my left foreleg with his still gesturing hoof. Images of the sapling on fire and Big Mac beating me to a pulp rapidly came to mind, but I fought them back and slowly, carefully extended my hoof out and touched the tiny plant. It was kind of hard to believe this would be a tree one day. "Good. Just close yer eyes an' feel tha plant against yer hoof. Let it rest there until ya can feel every sensation o' it. Feel tha soil under tha rest o' yer skin, too, an' just let it touch ya," he instructed calmly, his voice surprisingly relaxing and without concern. He wasn't worried in the least that I was going to cause the horrible demise of this little plant, which was a bit comforting. Slowly, I felt the tiny little sapling. It brushed against my hoof and, even though I thought I would hardly be able to sense it against the harder roughness on the bottom of my leg, it was definitely there. More than I expected, I almost felt it willfully touching my hoof. It felt happy. The sensation of the moist soil expanded out from it, and I knew it was enjoying the water in the ground. Sunlight as well danced across it, and it had everything it needed. I smiled, sensing the old feeling of the ground, and the sturdy stability around me. It felt right, and I nodded to Big Mac. "Yer ah fast learner. Lean back inta yerself now, ever so gently. Ah'm sure ya can feel it. Ya like tha sensations. Feel that inside yerself and pull it out. Show tha plant that, an' push ah bit o' yerself forward," he explained softly. Pull myself out? Did he mean... Of course. Pull my energy out of myself alongside the sensation brought about by the plant, and push it into my hoof! It was like the act of finalizing a spell casting! My eyes widened, opening as the inner light activated again and cast a very light amber glow from my irises. It was like full body magic when I briefly recalled casting biorythm spells. Smiling, I felt the energy form in my hoof, gently swaying like the wind the little plant felt and told me about. It gurgled, flowing like the water through the soil and the plant was happy with me. It was happy. My eyes widened as it grew before my eyes, expanding and branching out while washed in the bright, cascading blue light from my hoof. Big Mac got a smirk on his face as he started laughing, then gestured my hoof away from the tiny plant. "Ah should'a known ya would take ta it naturally. That there is our own form o' magic. No Unicorn or Pegasi can do that. Ya might have yer own magic, but this belongs ta ya. Just like tha ground itself," he complimented, smiling softly down at the swaying and almost dancing tree sapling, now almost half a meter tall with tiny limbs extending from it. I frowned, staring at the sapling that was now impossible to ignore. I'd done that, and there was no doubt about that. But what exactly did it mean? "Ground?" I asked curiously, glancing back up at the red stallion questioningly. "There's ah reason we're called Earth Ponies. Simple answer is that we grow things. Most are just happy with that. Truth is more complex, o' course. We understand. Nature, that is. Ya felt it, right? It talked ta ya. Plant, animal, an' earth alike. Ya showed ya could listen, which means yer as much ah part o' Equestria as tha rest o' us, no matter where ya started," he deduced, nodding towards the plant again. I couldn't take my eyes off it as it swayed gently before brushing lightly against my chest. It was intangible, but all the more real because of it. Happy. A thank you. In the same instant, I felt it float through my chest and shivered lightly, earning another chuckle from my friend. "Any ol' Earth Pony can help tha lands prosper. Some o' us are better at certain things than others, o' course. Ah'm real good at growin' apples, specifically," he elaborated slowly, gesturing back at his Cutie Mark. I easily nodded, realizing that much. Wait, growing? The dawning expression must have been visible, as he smirked suddenly and nodded. "Ah'm good with apples, but Ah'm best at specifically growin' 'em. Sis is downright amazin' at harvestin' 'em. Ah swear she could just nuzzle tha trees an' all those apples would just drop inta her baskets. Granny is downright incredible at makin' stuff with 'em. She can tell tha best apples apart, too, 'cause o' that." That actually made a lot of sense, given what their Cutie Marks were. "My Cutie Mark doesn't seem much like an Earth Pony one," I muttered, glancing back at my flank, and the silver cog that adorned it. That blasted heart in the center had done nothing but infuriate me in its meaning since I got the thing. Big Mac stared at it for a second before nodding softly and looking back at me. "Ah swear yer half Unicorn, honestly, but Ah've seen weirder. Distant cousin had ah rollin' pin fer his. Fer ah long while, he was runnin' 'round tryin' ta whack ponies with one before Ah oh so gently pointed out ah dough recipe book. He was ah might thick, though," he muttered, thinking for a moment. I blinked, and then started snickering as the mental image of a pony chasing others around with a rolling pin popped up. Well, at least he wasn't around when I came to Equestria. I'd still be traumatized, probably! "Point is, there's lots o' different interpretations ta Cutie Marks. Ya gotta find yer own meanin', even though Ah think yer already doin' amazin'. That conveyor definitely has tha Earth Pony feel to it," he enlightened, smirking afterwards as I perked up. "What do you mean, Earth Pony feel?" I asked, suddenly curious now that a potential lead was being shown to me. He nodded, then stared up and off into the forest tree canopy for a moment. I followed his gaze, trying to figure out what he was looking at, but didn't see anything in particular. Accept for a fascinating looking squirrel that stared down at me from two trees away, looking at me like I was a strange curiosity of some sort. Of course, maybe I was to it. Heh, it hadn't seen anything yet, though. It would probably burrow into the tree if it saw me start popping tentacles out. "It's tha feel o' somethin' Ah get sometimes," Big Mac suddenly spoke up, causing me to jump in surprise. I'd forgotten I'd asked him something a minute back. "Sturdy an' practical. Ah felt our magic in it. Like it was ah natural part o' things rather than an invention. Sis felt it, too, an' was downright impressed," he elaborated, somehow still managing to be cryptic regardless. I stared at him for a moment before frowning and looking back down at the plant. I was an Earth Pony. We had our own magic, and I could use it. I could mix my magic with it, actually. It was compatible, which surprised me more than a little. What else was there hidden in the undercurrents of this amazing world? Maybe that's why Pinkie and Applejack seemed particularly affected by my magic? I smiled lightly in amusement. I could use Earth Pony magic. The little tree sapling in front of me suddenly felt strangely familiar to me. Like a small friend that sat there, smiling happily to me. It was the oddest sensation, but it didn't feel wrong. Quite the opposite. I wondered if it was the same for all Earth Ponies. For the first time in a very long while, since before Nirru came, I felt myself relax. I belonged to this world, and didn't have to be afraid of anything taking me from it. Earth Pony. That was why I was an Earth Pony. No matter how far away, I'd always be a part of Equestria... "Mender, my wings are stuck again!" Rainbow shouted from way back at the lake suddenly. Wincing from the abrupt blast of sound, I sighed and shook my head wearily, earning another knowing chuckle from Big Mac. This was going to be a long day... Chapter 52Slowly, I watched the fading light gently drifting across the grass. Celestia's sun slowly drifted out of sight along the horizon, and soon it would be time for Luna to take over and bring forth my more favorable times of day. I guess it was in my name, but I much preferred the cooler temperatures and darker atmospheres night brought about. Plus, the moon in Equestria was gorgeous. Luna had my full compliments. We weren't quite there yet, though. Raising an eyebrow, I looked to my left again at the straining and panting cyan pegasus, drops of sweat sliding off the oranges and reds she sported towards her bangs. Four layers of jets extended off her back, idle yet being supported with her own power entirely. The further out she got from her natural wings, the harder it became as it required more and more energy to expand the framework of the enchantment. She trained fast, but I could tell she was pushing herself. "Ha... Ha! When you say endurance training, you mean it!" Dash squeaked out a moment later, barely able to start the sentence as her focus wavered lightly. "You like fast, and this is the absolute fastest way to grow your energy pool. Once you rest up from this, you'll find yourself slower to tire and able to go for far longer with your jets activated," I reasoned, watching her intently while monitoring her inner fluctuations. Based off her inner energy network, she should have passed out three minutes ago. The only guess I had was that sheer stubbornness was keeping her conscious at this point. She grinned, eyes still dancing with energy despite how much sweat dripped off her face. "That... Totally what I wanted to hear!" she groaned out, legs shaking as her ragged breathing doubled in speed. Spike, who was just wandering back up from the lake with a familiar looking tortoise sitting on his head, gave her a surprised stare as he got closer. Yeah, she didn't exactly look like she should be standing. "She's still going?!" he questioned, eyes widening, and I gave him a hesitant nod in return. Well, if nothing else, the mare had tenacity, that was for- Her energy flickered at the same time her eyes widened a little, and I saw a shiver go through her. Dark crimson slipped from both nostrils at the same time, draining down her muzzle and across her lower lip as she panted. "Yup, that's it!" I called, mentally disabling her enchantment remotely. She gave a startled jerk as the wings were suddenly gone and stumbled. I moved in to her left and Spike dashed forwards at the same time, both of us steadying her as she suddenly just collapsed, gasping. Damn it! She pushed herself so hard she got a cranial pressure spike. Well, I guess anypony can have that happen, regardless of phenotype. She started coughing a moment later and spit some of the blood from her mouth before pulling her right foreleg up around mine and pushing it into her right temple. "Aaah! That... It hurts!" she gasped out, voice airy and barely there. Damn it, Rainbow! "Here, I don't know if this is going to work, but hold still!" I barked, bumping her right side with my flank, fairly easily knocking her over onto her side. Spike yelped and cushioned her with his chest, slowing her tumble and setting her on the ground as I ducked under her forelegs. Rainbow gave a startled squeak, eyes widening to full size as I slipped right through her forelegs and pushed my forehead solidly against hers, glowing eyes now open and staring into her own from barely a few millimeters away. Energy flowed through points in the body, like a complicated subway system. One of the main points was in the forehead, and everypony had it. I'm guessing it's where the horn would be, even if they weren't unicorns. Regardless, my body had it, too, and Twilight used it to inject her energy into me, so maybe... "W-What are you..." she whispered, cheeks going crimson as I held her there. "Twilight does this for me when I overuse my magic sometimes. Just hold still," I requested, feeling the mare relax gently on her side in the grass. My focus shot up again once I stopped talking, eyes scanning her internal pressure at the same time I shot my energy into my forehead. The sensation was there. That connection that Twilight had was in Rainbow, too! Smiling to myself, I pushed into it and felt Dash gasp, eyes widening as they started to glow a faint rose color a second later. "Whoa!" Spike muttered, staring in surprise at us as Tank finally landed next to him, having been knocked free when Spike lunged to catch Rainbow. I paid no attention as I felt the connection stabilize, and then my energy flooded into her. She shivered against me, but didn't move at all, as I requested. She couldn't keep from giving a low, elongated groan, however, as I washed over her mind with my own magic. Her reserves were badly depleted, and I just copied what I'd felt Twilight do, going from node to node and stirring Rainbow's inner magic back into production, boosting her recovery speed and removing the pain. She probably felt her headache melt away, if it was like what I'd experienced. Ten seconds passed as I felt her breathing stabilize and her eyes closed. Her shivering continued, however, as the muscles along her stomach danced against mine, my torso partially over hers so I wouldn't have to bend myself to get at her forehead. "You're copying Twilight, aren't you?" Spike suddenly noticed, smirking at us. I snickered and nodded, watching the pressure drop inside her head, magic balancing itself again. "Yeah. She told me in the hospital that all ponies have the main forehead connection, so I took a guess that this would work for Dash, too," I relayed, tasting a bit of Rainbow's blood from her nose, but ignoring it. Still, she shouldn't have pushed herself to this! Her drive to get ahead was putting her in a lot of danger! If not for herself, for everypony else that cared about her. "Aaah, the headache, it's... It went away. Mender..." she muttered, eyes opening again a moment later, staring into mine. I frowned, however, keeping the energy feed up but giving her a stern stare. "You should stop before you get to this point, Rainbow. Don't push yourself this hard. You'll end up hurting yourself. Even if you don't think it's a problem, a lot of ponies care about you, so do it for them," I voiced, watching her expression falter slightly. Spike started snickering again, nodding along in agreement as well. Her magic was stable again, but I noticed a particular stress along her back where her wing muscles were. After I was finished regulating her inner magic, I shot over to her back and focused on repairing the energy lines going into her wings. There was no outward reaction, so I assumed she probably didn't even feel it being done. Her eyes shivered lightly, as if she were fighting with something inside, I noticed. "I-I know. Um, I probably shouldn't ask, and it'll sound, well, really uncool, but, uh, are you one of those ponies?" she asked, voice dropping to almost a whisper as she searched my expression. Her direction came out of left field, and I suddenly had no idea why she was even asking me that. I rolled my eyes before giving her a weak smile, stringing her back energy lines back up fully and returning to check her head one last time. "I'd have thought that much would be obvious at this point. I wouldn't do this for just anypony, Rainbow. While it has medical uses, there are also intimate connotations with it, too," I warned, hoping she got the hint to not tell everypony about it. Twilight would understand and probably be fascinated that it even worked, but I didn't want random ponies starting rumors up again! Little warning flags went off in my mind as I felt her forelegs slowly snake up under mine and hook over my back, shaking there as she locked eyes with me. I froze, surprised at her sudden movement, but managing to get out, "Uh, Rainbow?" "Um," Spike muttered, eyes also widening as he watched, mouth dropping a little. Rainbow's mouth dropped a little, too, but for an entirely different reason. It was spontaneous, abrupt, and with little to no warning whatsoever, so it honestly kind of suited her entirely. Suddenly, she tipped her head down just a bit and fully pushed her muzzle into mine. With the most natural reaction possible, I froze as if I'd witnessed a nuclear warhead heading right at my face. The instant her lips connected, her inner mindset blanked completely, and I felt a tidal-like surge as her own energy started to shift back up the link. Uh oh. Oh no! That was bad! Her lower body shifted slightly to the left at the same time, neatly cupping against my left flank as she held me there. To my shock, I actually felt her tongue start to slip out, trying to brush against my lips. It snapped me out of it and I panicked, snapping the link free as I pulled away from her forehead, energy visibly dancing between us as I winced. Her inner light was indeed prismatic, dancing halfway up the link between our foreheads before I managed to pull it away and separate us. My back forelegs pushed off at the same instant, tossing me away from the mare and landing me on my back into a sideways roll before I crashed into a tree at the other side of the path leading up to the clearing we resided in, mind reeling in an almost fog. Was that what a mind link starting to form felt like?! "Mender, Mender... Mender," whispered all around me in Rainbow's voice, snap images of her crying into a cloud, extending a hoof down through the dark and reaching towards me. What was...? A deep sadness and sense of vulnerability stagnated around the darkness, and I felt intense fear that wasn't my own. Inside, I knew Rainbow wasn't as strong as she pretended to be, but what was causing so much doubt? Was this behind, well, whatever feelings drove her to do what she just did? She suddenly felt really lonely. No, she was lonely, as well as scared of remaining that way, I realized. My eyes snapped open again and I groaned, sliding off the base of the tree and looking over at Dash and Spike. He was staring back and forth between us with huge eyes, both claws covering his mouth as if to hold in a scream of shock. As if he could erase what he just saw if he didn't say anything. Rainbow still lay on her side, her right foreleg extended out towards me as her other was tucked back up, holding a hoof up against her muzzle. Her eyes held both surprise and wetness as she slowly started shaking her head. "I... I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that. It just kind of slipped out and...!" she started excusing roughly, voice shaking and barely managing to work for her as she pulled her right foreleg back in and closed her back legs together again. I had absolutely no idea what to say in the slightest, and just continued to stare at her in blank shock. She winced and struggled to stand up again, her wings opening and flailing to try to get a running start to what was undoubtedly her escape attempt. But her energy hadn't recovered enough to even get into her wings, I noticed. A numb sensation shot back through the empathy link and she gasped, flailing limply before hitting the ground hard on her chest. Damn it! That kicked me out of it and I got up again, limping over to where she lay, slowly pulling her legs back under her from the abrupt belly flop. That couldn't have felt good... "Rainbow, you can't fly. Don't try to-" I started to warn before she rolled over abruptly. Her right foreleg swatted my right one out of the way before she edged backwards, shuffling to get away from me. "N-No! Stop, I don't deserve you worrying about me after what I just-" she started to spit out. I guessed it was my turn to do the interrupting, and slammed down to either side of her, locking her in place on the ground. She froze in an instant, eyes wide as she stared up at me. "Stop it, Rainbow! Running away isn't the way to handle it. I've done it enough to know it never works, and you don't see me running, do you? I'm... I'm not angry with you, just really, really surprised and confused, okay? Don't hurt yourself, and let's just talk, okay?" I suggested, voice softening after I saw her relax and finally start to take in what I was saying. I had decided to just keep talking until she finally seemed to settle again. Slowly, she eased back and swallowed, nodding ever so slightly as I shifted off her, into a sitting position again. My left foreleg throbbed from my sudden use of it, but I just gritted my teeth and held it up for a second, shaking out the sudden numbness that oozed through it. Some things were worth a little pain for. "I'm sorry. Again. I, uh, had no intention of doing that before you answered like, well, the way you did. It's the l-link. I knew you meant all of it because of it and, well, I've never honestly had such a definite confirmation before that somepony really cared about me, especially a pony that, uh, means a lot to me already. Ugh. I sound so sappy," she groaned out, flattening her bangs back down in frustration as her forehooves rubbed each side of her head. She made no effort at all to so much as move, even enough to roll over again. Dirt covered her chest and stomach, and I saw a light scuff on her right foreleg that didn't look like it felt too good. Talking seemed to be making her feel better, though. Sitting there, I managed to nod as Spike caught back up with us, carrying a concerned looking Tank in his arms. The tortoise slipped off him into a hover, and lightly landed on Rainbow's stomach as she watched him, shifting to a smile. Her forelegs wrapped around his shell and she pulled him into a hug after he landed. I couldn't help but smile a little at the sight. "I think I understand, Rainbow. You don't have to apologize. You're worried about Applejack," I surmised, causing Spike to raise an eyebrow towards me in confusion. Rainbow's ears flattened back an instant later, however, and she looked away rapidly. "N-No! I'm not worried about that! I'm sure I can convince her to give it a try, and then it's just a matter of showing her how awesome I am! No sweat there," she corrected. I averted my gaze, realizing I didn't have that great of a grasp on Equestrian 'dating', but that still sounded a little off to me. "Then why don't you just fly over there tomorrow and ask her right away?" Spike questioned, tilting his head while oblivious to the fact that she had lied through her teeth, in all likelihood. Still, he had a point. Heh. "Well, uh, I gotta show her how awesome I am first, and the easiest way to do that is by winning a big race in her name! Then she'll go crazy over me and it'll be easy," she explained. I tilted my head, giving her an amused smirk before asking, "Didn't you already say it was going to be easy? It just seems like you're making it a lot riskier than it needs to be, is all." My expression fell and I sighed, getting an uneasy feeling about it all. Her demeanor shifted, the link feeling a slight twinge of panic instead as her face blanked. She stared at me for a second before quietly asking, "W-What do you mean, riskier?" The question was genuine, and I decided she'd probably not considered the ramifications of her plan. Well, no, this was Rainbow I was talking to, so in all likelihood, she was flying blind. So to speak, anyway. "It just seems way riskier. Applejack seems to be a more modest and reserved mare. The race is super important, right? Well, announcing your feelings in front of potentially hundreds of ponies and shoving her right into the spotlight with it, based on how you reacted earlier with me for liking another mare... Well, it just seems like Applejack might not take it too well, regardless of how she actually feels about you," I explained, resting my left foreleg down again. It was finally starting to feel better. Rainbow stared blankly at me for a good five seconds as I shifted back and forth on my hooves, unsure of what more to say. Finally, her eyes dropped and she frowned, softening her expression a little as she seemed to shift into a rather intense bout of thinking. "I, well, I didn't think about that. Um, I don't know what to do, now. It felt like such an awesome plan! But I don't want to screw up. Uh, not that I'd screw up or anything, of course, I mean-" she said rapidly, tone shifting to flustered as she continued. I cut her off with, "Dash! You don't have to try to act tough. It's okay, and totally normal to be nervous, and I'd actually think a lot higher of you if so. You're strong, but not impervious." Memories flashed back into my mind of soldiers who were exactly the same way. A unit functioned based off its members, and soldiers like that, who wanted to prove themselves, tended to not ask for assistance. We buried a lot of those kinds of soldiers. While Rainbow thankfully wasn't a soldier and didn't have those harsh risks, I didn't want to see her hurt. She blushed, staring at me intently as Spike nodded along. "Totally. We're you're friends, Dash. Neither of us are gonna tell another soul, and ya know Tank's not gonna think less of you," he chipped in, giving his best warm smile. I smirked but nodded at him, realizing he was a lot better at this whole 'talking' thing than I was. Rainbow sighed and looked down again before finally rolling weakly onto her side, wincing as she went. The overuse of her magic was probably catching up with her body now, assuming it was also tied into a pegasus' fortitude. Yeah, it was a rough day when your entire body felt like one giant bruise. Like being kicked through a window, getting your leg torn off, and then being flung through a forest at Slipstream speeds. Good times! "Okay, don't tell anypony else! I mean it! I have a serious reputation to keep. I'm worried, yeah. I mean, what if she doesn't, uh, swing that way? I've never even seen her date before, well, not that I have since moving to Ponyville either, but... What if she's just not interested in seeing anypony like that? So, it was a little weird when you showed up out of the blue and were so, well, appealing. At first I thought it was just nerves and me looking for alternatives, but serious feelings started to develop the more I hung out with you. After what happened with the Sonic Rainboom and the weird bunny and all that, I realized how, well, loyal and dependable you were. My title says it, but loyalty is kinda big with me," she started explaining, pausing to frown and collect her thoughts. I'd pretty much known all of this, but the 'alternatives' was new. What, in case Applejack said no? Being a runner up didn't really surprise me all that much, but a little ache drifted into my chest anyway. More because I'd never be able to make her as happy as if she'd gotten her 'first' choice. Noting I didn't say anything, and not realizing it was because of my thought processes, she continued anyway. "It didn't take me long to realize that I really did like you, and it started to make me conflicted with Applejack. I wasn't used to dividing my focus, and then I started getting vibes that you might like me, too! But you're already with Fluttershy and Twilight, and I knew they probably didn't like me like that, so I got frustrated. It seemed like both individuals I like might fall out of my reach, and I'd end up with nopony. It's stupid, I know, but I panicked, which was so not cool!" She glared at me for a moment before I realized she was staring pretty much right through me, and was angry with herself instead. Oh, the kiss. "So, you tried to secure a backup ahead of time in case Applejack said no for whatever reason?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her. Idly, I wondered what the plan would then be if her intended target said yes? Okay, 'now' I felt a little used, and was saddened because it felt like Applejack was being used, too. Further, this was all giving me a killer headache, and I really wished things could just go back to me being hit by apples. Things were so much simpler then. "Well, yes, I mean, no! That, ugh. You make it sound so horrible when you say it like that!" Rainbow accused, letting out a stiff groan as she raised her forehooves to her eyes, covering her face. Spike shut up instantly, looking like he really didn't want to get involved in that particular line of questioning. Tank, now released, curled a little, resting gently up against Rainbow as she lay there, pushing his head into her chest lightly. The little guy really loved her. Suddenly, I missed Fluttershy and Twilight again. Fluttershy gave amazingly similar hugs, and seemed to really like pushing her face into my chest for some reason. The sensation she gave made it feel like she felt safe like that. That alone made me want to hold her even tighter when she did it. Sighing, I shook my head through the sudden haze of melancholy, pushing the stiffness in my chest down away from my expression again. "Look, it just doesn't seem fair to Applejack that you're only giving her a part of your focus before you even asked her. So forget about me until after you do," I requested. No, it was more of an order. The cyan pegasus had taxed me the last couple days in the feelings department, and I was getting a little tired of it. Her head snapped back up and she stared at me for a moment, frown softening along with her eyes as she watched me. "M-Mender, no! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Please don't give up on me," she asked, several light twitches going through her left foreleg. My eyes narrowed at her totally missing the point, and I shook my head. It's not like I'd seriously considered her in the first place until this camp excursion! She wasn't exactly one to make her feelings known very easily. In fact, sometimes she did the exact opposite! "Rainbow, you're not being fair to Applejack far more than you're not being fair to me. Think about her instead, because she's been your focus for a lot longer. Until you ask her and get a definite response, I'm not even going to consider the possibility, and for her sake, you shouldn't either," I warned, not breaking eye contact with her. She froze after wincing, and finally looked away from me, throat swallowing stiffly as she lay there. I didn't need the link to tell me that she got it, that time. It wasn't my intent to hurt her, but to make sure she didn't hurt anypony else. Applejack had already been hurt quite a bit lately, and definitely didn't need this on top of it all. I admitted to myself that Rainbow really did appeal to me in many regards, but I wasn't about to hurt anypony else either, especially the two mares I was already with. "I get it! Um, I don't want to treat either of you as second place. Really, I don't! Honestly, I'm selfish and want both of you. I admit it! Is that what you wanted to hear?" she asked sternly, shifting to a light glare up at me but not trying to move away. It didn't take me long to realize she couldn't. My frown returned as I stared at her, then shook my head again. "What I want is for you to not hurt anypony's feelings. I'm not trying to hurt yours either!" I defended as best I could. She shivered lightly as Spike seemed to get smaller the louder we got. Tank was unfazed, as always. Either that or he'd panic sometime tomorrow afternoon. Dash went silent and puffed up a little, looking away from me again, staring at the ground this time instead. Slowly, her back legs tucked up against her stomach, and she nodded to nopony in particular, closing her eyes again. "I know. You're nice like that. I'm selfish, and probably don't deserve either of you. I'm sorry. I just don't want to be alone," she finally whispered, voice getting a little shaky. Even though I knew she didn't intend it, she got me right in the heart and I winced to myself, seeing her like that. Giving a little sigh, I leaned down again and gently rested my forehead against her right shoulder, feeling her give a start under me and raise her head again. "Rainbow, you're not alone and never will be, okay? You have a lot of ponies, including me, who will always be here for you and listen to anything. I'll help you however you need it, as long as you're not hurting anypony else. Applejack undoubtedly feels the same way as me," I assured, dropping a sizeable hint in there without trying to be too obvious. Sure, she could just assume I meant being there for her, but it was there if she thought about it. A moment later, I realized I'd just called myself a pony, and inwardly smiled. Big Mac, Fluttershy, Twilight, and even Tia had said as much. Maybe I was finally starting to believe them? Rainbow lowered her head to the grass again a moment later, her back legs curling up until she wrapped around Tank and gently pushed against my left, kneeling side. "Uh, thanks. Um, can you just keep me company for a bit?" she asked quietly, tense and slightly awkward, I noticed. I chuckled, and then glanced back at Spike, who coughed and averted his gaze, looking back towards camp. He noticed, too. "Rainbow, we're not going to leave you to just lie out here all night. I'll keep you company while walking," I suggested, nudging her right shoulder again with my nose. She squeaked at the sensation and gave me a surprised look before frowning at me. "Uh, I kinda can't get up. 'sides, I'm not allowed back at camp while in heat. This has already been a bad day. I kinda don't want to add getting arrested to it," she reminded. "I'm sure an exception can be made because you're hurt and it's far closer. Besides, I never said you were walking. If you disagree, feel free to stop me if you can," I 'reasoned', smirking at her as my tentacles extended again, shifting into their rope disguise. She let out a groan followed by, "So not fair." I noticed that wasn't exactly a complaint about the prospect, and snickered lightly as I hoisted her up onto my back. Well, Twilight was right about me getting my exercise during this excursion! It was kind of sad how it was starting to feel normal to have somepony or some dragon on my back while I walked. If Sweetie was feeling better, maybe I could convince her to be my cape for a while, as I was starting to feel naked if nopony was there. Oh, wait... Smiling at my stupid joke as I stood up fully, I nodded to Spike, who had gathered up all our things. He gave a surprised yelp as I pulled all of them into subspace for easier carrying a second later. Tank remained unfazed and hovered into the air, following after me as I headed back towards the camp. Or maybe he was following his mistress, who happened to be on my back? I decided it was a moot point. "Comfortable back there, Dashie?" I asked a moment later, peeking back over my shoulder at her playful scowl. "Jerk," she muttered back, rolling her eyes but smiling at me as she rested her chin against my shoulder. Heh, this was definitely weird. Normally I was the one riding her. Wait, that came out wrong. Blushing lightly, I decided to just stop thinking for a while. Spike started snickering as he caught up, probably quite amused by our antics. My leg gave a light throb of protest, and suddenly, I had no doubt I was going to sleep really well tonight, too... * * * * * "Would you believe me if I said I happened to stumble upon her, injured, in the forest?" I offered after a few minutes of hesitation while Redheart checked Rainbow over. "If you let me wear a secret agent outfit, I'll believe anything you ever say again, Boss," Nurse Redheart offered, winking back at me as she smirked, testing Rainbow's range of motion in her wings. Rainbow would probably be laughing if she weren’t so busy wincing with every movement, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Chuckling, I assured, "I'll ask Tia if it's in the dress code for us." Little did she realize, given her snickering afterwards, that I probably would, just to surprise the white mare with it. "I still don't, ah, get what exactly Mender's position is," Rainbow muttered, wincing between shifts again, then cringing as the nurse stretched her wing a bit more inwards, checking its folding capacity. "He's Chief of Dimensional Regulation, or DReg for short. Apparently, it's a new branch of government Princess Celestia has instated in order to provide research and defense against any and all dimensional intrusions, through diplomacy by design, and force if necessary," Redheart recited, frowning as she rubbed along the tendon of Rainbow's inner right wing. The cyan mare gasped and squished her eyes closed, a pained look on her face during the whole process. She backed off finally and let Rainbow rest a moment later, pushing a pillow up gently under the mare's head while she lay on the cot. "You seriously swelled up your wing muscles. The next time Mender tells you to not overdo it, listen to him," she warned sternly, shaking her head as she dug into a drawer and started pulling out multiple medicine bottles. Color me impressed, as I hadn't actually told her what had happened. Rainbow looked equally surprised, but Redheart just rolled her eyes. "I've seen enough unicorn injuries to know what magic strain looks like, with your reddened inner nose, tinted eyes, and tendon tension along your wings. Given that you're not a unicorn, and that the damage is along your wings instead, I took a guess that Mender was training you with some sort of magic to give you an edge in the upcoming race," she deduced, amazingly accurately. Damn! She wasn't just picked as my nurse due to proximity, I had a feeling. "That's really impressive! I'm glad you're in the agency. You even memorized the mission statement already," I complimented, smiling at her. She blushed faintly at me, but fluttered her eyelashes in amusement. "Oh come now. You knew I was more than just a pretty face and amazing body, Mender," she cooed teasingly. I started to roll my eyes as Rainbow made a gagging motion with her hoof, when all three of us jumped as the door slammed open behind me. Redheart shifted to a skeptically incredulous expression as she looked past me, and I sighed. Spike wouldn't slam the door like that, so I had a sneaking suspicion that was... "You made it back, Mender!" Sweetie Belle managed to squeak out, her voice a little raspy from the hundreds of changes she'd gone through over the course of the day. Turning, I noticed she was a little smaller than before, apparently starting to shrink again as the magic wore off. She was still enough to drag both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo along with her, however, despite them trying to stop her. Spike just shook his head and followed a few paces after the three of them, this apparently being the results of him going to let Big Mac know where I was. "Of course I did. What, did you think I'd fall off a cliff or someth-" I stopped and averted my eyes for a second before shaking my head and continuing with, "No, don't answer that. Anyway, weren't you supposed to be 'resting' at the cabin?" I doubted it almost as much as Nurse Redheart looked like she did when first telling me the news five minutes ago. None of what I said halted the part filly, part mare, and she smashed into my chest a moment later, hugging me tight. I was kind of glad I was sitting down, as she was still a bit on the big side. "I just, um, wanted to apologize more. And show you that I'm getting back to normal now. Oh, and thank you properly for saving my life finally. I don't think I, um, said that," she whispered, keeping her head down and refusing to look up at me. I sighed weakly and wrapped my left foreleg around her, careful of my leg brace on her back still. That was what changed everything, I had a sneaking suspicion. I, well, he saw quite a few individuals change after a near-death experience. Intense gratitude had a way of warping perspective on things, and I wondered if that pushed her to the extremes earlier. "Wait, you weren't joking about what happened with Sweetie?" Rainbow suddenly asked, blunt dumbfounded tone of voice causing me to wince. She had no tact whatsoever... The white mare and filly mix sighed and shook her head, sitting down right next to me, as close as she could get without burrowing into my chest cavity. "No, I was stupid. I thought that if I ate Heart's Desire and aged myself up a few years, Mender would accept me now rather than having to wait," she admitted, her ears flattening back. Not that the entire point of the Crusaders wasn't to rush to try to get what they want as soon as physically possible, I guessed. Maybe I should have expected this? "You need to wait, Sweetie. I can't let myself be interested in you until you're at least two years older, okay? It's only fair, and far safer for you if you don't keep trying unusual magic, obviously. I'd feel awful if you gave up your foalhood just to be with me," I pointed out, lightly rubbing the top of her head with my left foreleg, frowning as I suddenly remembered I was still wearing my brace and got a bit of her mane stuck in the wire. Uh, oops. She raised an eyebrow up to me, and then started giggling as I lifted the other hoof, trying to get the hair loose from the frame. Rainbow just gave us a smirk while slowly shaking her head, but Apple Bloom exhaled softly and slumped against Sweetie. "Please, Sweetie, just promise yer gonna think things through? Talk ta us before doin' anything crazy like this," she requested, sounding tired. It was late for them, and she had done a lot today trying to fix Sweetie's mess, I realized. "Seriously? Your aura thingy has this many mares interested in you? By the time I ask AJ, you're not gonna have any, er..." Rainbow cut herself off, slowly closing her muzzle again and averting her eyes. Nurse Redheart, who was peeking through pill bottles, shifted her gaze over to Rainbow for an amused moment before going back to searching. "Oh, you, too? Best join the club," she murmured absently. For a brief moment, I could have sworn I felt my right eye twitch a little of its own accord. "Oh, wait, you already did, I forgot. All the Element Bearers are in the agency, so I assume that gives them free access," she added after another moment's consideration, finally pulling a bottle out with her teeth afterwards. She wore a playful smirk, but I glared at her regardless. So the estrus just made her playful teasing even worse? "W-What?!" Rainbow asked, eyes widening fully as her blush magnified several fold. Sighing, I really did twitch that time before finally getting my hoof free from Sweetie Belle's hair. She wasn't paying attention anymore, instead looking very interested in the discussion about my supposed 'club'. "They do not, Redheart. I mean, they don't just get 'free access' to me because they're in the agency, too. Besides, a good percent of the agency are stallion guards!" I reminded, shuddering as I tried really hard not to think about what she was accidentally implying. The nurse peeked back over her shoulder and smirked as she tossed a pill over to Rainbow, who was just staring at her in surprise. The tiny object skipped off her muzzle, and she barely managed to catch it in her mouth before it fell again. "Oh? You don't swing both ways? Pity. That would have been amazing to watch," she cooed, snickering to herself as my jaw dropped. Rainbow made a low squeak, flush extending almost to her neck now as she almost stared through Redheart in shock. At least I wasn't alone in my surprise. Three seconds later, her cyan wings slowly started to extend as she zoned out, and I smacked my forehoof against my forehead. "Oh come on, Rainbow! You, too?! I don't like stallions!" I shouted, feeling the heat shoot into my face almost instantly. Redheart burst into a fit of giggling, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gave questioning looks back and forth between the two of them. Sweetie just edged closer, ignoring Rainbow trying to shrink down and make herself invisible. "I'm glad you only like mares, Mender," she assured, blushing lightly as she smiled up at me before continuing with, "I promise that if you let me be in the herd, I'll never, ever suggest that you be with any stallions!" I gave her a suspicious stare, realizing that promise was both ridiculously easy for her to keep and heavily weighted in her favor regardless. It was kinda obvious, even for somepony as dense as me, that she had only seen an opportunity to be more appealing than the other two. "Can I please just go to bed? It's way past my bedtime..." Spike requested weakly behind the two fillies, apparently the only one in the room who really didn't want to be here. "Nope! Sorry, Spike, but yer our escort! Ya gotta protect us little fillies from anything bad that could get us as we walk back ta tha cabin," Apple Bloom denied, smirking back at him and fluttering her eyelashes in his direction. Talk about knowing how to work the cuteness angle! He rolled his eyes, looking away from her but sporting a tiny blush as well. Rainbow's might have gone down by now, but I couldn't tell as the only thing I could see of due to her new hiding spot amidst her blankets were the two rigid wings sticking up into the air. Actually, it probably hadn't gone down if they hadn't yet. "Then let's go back! We can't haul Sweetie back by ourselves, and I have no point of being here, nothing needing a pair of claws and the conversation not pertaining to Rarity in even a little bit," he pointed out, looking frustrated. Scootaloo was giving questioning glances to Rainbow's wings at this point, but Apple Bloom fully rotated around to face the little dragon. "Ya got ah one track mind, that's fer sure. Fine, ya can go back ta tha cabin an' sleep! Ah'm sure Mender 'ere will be ah proper Knight in Shinin' Armor an' escort us back," she pointed out, gesturing back to me with a slightly annoyed expression on her face. Spike glared at her for a second as I lifted an eyebrow in her direction, not realizing how manipulative she could be. "Fine! I, um, guess you're right," he muttered, shifting to dejected a second later. "Thinking of others is indeed important, Spike. Don't be afraid to offer your services if you can, as it's the nice thing to do, she's right," I cut in, turning to both of them. Spike frowned but nodded, and Apple Bloom puffed up momentarily before I shook my head at her next. "You shouldn't take advantage of somepony's kindness though, Apple Bloom. Spike's your friend, and you should treat him better," I warned sternly, shifting to a blank expression. The little filly shrank down a little and got a guilty expression, glancing back over at the dragon. Spike smiled gently to her and shook his head, extending both arms up. Apple Bloom smiled and blushed lightly before hopping forwards and wrapping her forelegs over Spike's shoulders, letting him do the same with her waist. I smiled and glanced back at the others, raising my eyebrow as I apparently blundered into a debate I'd been ignoring. "But he promised me!" Sweetie insisted, stomping her right hoof down and glaring at the now revealed Rainbow. "Yeah, but I need two herd slots because of Applejack! There's no room!" the cyan mare pointed out. Aw hell. I suddenly wished I had continued ignoring it. Sweetie rapidly shook her head, however, arguing, "You already will have Applejack! Don't be greedy, like he said! I don't want to be alone!" Rainbow's eyes widened, her head backing up a little as the, uh, pony unknowingly stabbed her in a sensitive spot. Idly, I wondered if there was a pronoun used for somepony in-between a filly and a mare. Or colt and stallion, for that matter. "Oh, stop it, you two. He's with Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy," Nurse Redheart pointed out, causing me to smile towards her slowly. "Plus, he knows Princess Celestia personally. If anypony can get a legal herd extension to as many as he wants, it's obviously him," she continued a second later, smirking over at me. The smile shifted to an annoyed glare in less than a second. Never mind. My ears drooped as I glared at all three of them. Redheart was trying to help and lighten the mood, I think, anyway, but that didn't stop the entirety of the conversation from being so many different kinds of inappropriate that it wasn't funny! Actually, it wasn't funny, now that I considered it. They were forgetting the biggest part, and I decided that finally, finally I was tired of it. I should have done this ten minutes ago. "Actually, yeah. You know what? I'm done. Good night, all. Come on, Spike. We're out of here," I spat out, unable to stop my voice from dropping from the irritation. The tone caused all three instigators to snap to attention instantly, and I felt all eyes shift to me as I stood up and simply walked towards the door. "Awesome!" he chirped, hopping onto my back as I ducked low while passing him, not even slowing down. At least I knew I could always count on Spike. Tank didn't move, so I assumed he was going to stay with Rainbow, which made sense. He was cool and all, but let her take care of her own responsibilities for once. Apple Bloom looked more than a little surprised, glancing back at Scootaloo and Sweetie before shaking her head rapidly and scampering after me. "W-Wait, what?!" Sweetie asked in shock, spinning around probably to face me as I kept walking, if the sound was any indication. "Everyone was kinda ignoring him and not giving him a say in anything, even though it's really all up to him anyway. Uh, I was kinda wondering why you were, but it was mean, don't you think?" Scootaloo pointed out in a somewhat dejected sounding way. Eh? That stopped me, and I glanced back to look at her as she stood up, the other three staring at her in surprise now instead. "Um, I'm sorry, but I'll see you tomorrow, Rainbow," she muttered a second later before running after me instead. I smiled to her as she caught up before turning and exiting the medical cabin, ignoring the two surprised squawks from inside. Damn it. Please, please let an apple fly out of nowhere and smack into my head? That, I could deal with! "Ah'm sorry, Mender. Ah don't know what's gotten inta Sweetie Belle, let alone tha other two," Apple Bloom muttered, falling into position to my right. Scootaloo caught up to us and moved in next to Apple Bloom as well, shaking her head and looking deep in thought. Spike surprised me by speaking up instead. "Rainbow has bad estrus cycles, I know that much. Nurse Redheart gave me the vibe that she was actually just having fun teasing the other two," he observed, shifting to a more comfortable position on my back now that we were out of the poisonous atmosphere. Sighing, I nodded weakly as I walked. "Redheart was just screwing around. Rainbow and I already talked about it and I at least know where she's coming from, but her priorities are all screwed up. I think she needs time to think about what she really wants. Sweetie almost died in the lake, and that, well, changes how you think. I've almost died many times, and did die once, so I know that much first hoof. She's scared and only thinking about herself, I suspect," I relayed, giving it my best educated guess. It was difficult because I could at least sympathize with all three of them, but the whole situation was just wrong, especially how I got no input whatsoever. All I was interested in, especially now, was going back to Ponyville and being with Fluttershy and Twilight. They were all I needed and then some, I suddenly realized. I didn't think I deserved either of them, but I was going to try my hardest to change that and be something worthy of both. Screw anypony that thought otherwise. "They still were being mean. It's up to Mender who he's with, not them! I've only heard him talk about Fluttershy and Twilight like that," Scootaloo pointed out, sounding a bit upset. Actually, a bit more upset than I thought she'd be, I suddenly realized, giving her a curious glance. She was staring hard at the ground and frowning as she walked. Apple Bloom shook her head and leaned over, gently nuzzling the little pegasus' shoulder. "Ah know yer mad at Rainbow fer doin' that, but Ah'm sure she'll clear right up after tha season's done," she assured, suddenly making me realize why the little orange filly was so upset in the same instant. She groaned and shook her head, her left wing gently extending out over Apple Bloom's back as they walked side by side. "Thanks, AB. It just frustrates me when she tells me not to do something like make problems for your friends, and then just did so herself!" she explained, huffing again afterwards. I chuckled a little at that, understanding how frustrating hypocritical behavior could be, even if she didn't use the word itself. "I know the feeling. It's really hard to follow your own advice sometimes. But the most important thing is forgiveness, I think. Both in yourself, and helping somepony else with it. That's what Princess Celestia told me, anyway," I suggested, smiling over at the two fillies. Spike perked on my back, looking surprised, and both of them glanced over at me as well. "R-Really? Princess Celestia herself told you that?" Scootaloo asked, sounding a little surprised at the aspect. I nodded gently to her, giving a soft smile as best I could despite suddenly wanting to cry again at the memory. "Yeah. I have a lot of things in my memories that I'm not proud of, and I really don't like myself that much because of all that. But she told me that the hardest pony to forgive is yourself, so I'm still trying and taking what she said to heart. I suppose you don't live for thousands of years and not pick up good advice here and there," I muttered, keeping the bitterness choked back in my voice. How did one forgive a billion innocent lives taken away, though, let alone over double that like I actually did? Was there forgiveness for that? Maybe my horrible luck was part of the universe hating me, too, and wanting revenge for everything I destroyed. Snapping back to reality, I glanced down at the sudden warm sensation and saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both brushing closer against my legs as I slowly walked. The little yellow filly smiled up at me and nodded as she noticed my attention again. "Yer always gonna be just Mender ta us. Ah Crusader, forever an' always! Ya don't have ta worry about us not likin' ya," she assured warmly. Scootaloo snickered before adding, "A little corny, AB, but yeah. She's right. You're stuck with us." It came suddenly and without warning, and my eyes widened a little as I felt the warm streak slip down my left cheek. Wincing, I looked away from the two fillies and sat down, wiping it away with my left forehoof. I'd not realized how frustrated and tense I'd been, and how much I honestly just felt like screaming sometimes. I didn't understand why I was here or what I was supposed to do. I didn't understand mares and why some liked me while others didn't. The worst part was that I also didn't understand why somepony I never met hated me so much that they poured forth a lot of bits to cause problems for me. Then, right here when I least expected it, three young souls just said that everything was all right and that they'd help me. Maybe it was because I'd just hit the peak of frustration, but there was something so warm about the three of them. "Just let yerself, Mender," Apple Bloom whispered, and I felt both fillies suddenly against my right side as I just couldn't stop the warm liquid from escaping, my right hoof grinding into the dirt as I felt the tension ebb against my chest. It was so easy to imagine myself just screaming at the top of my lungs and running off and away from everything. There were only five ponies I'd bring with me, and we'd all live happily without any of this bullshit. There'd be no need for any of this guilt or hatred. Applejack would be way better without the constant reminder of that night. Rarity wouldn't be misled into thinking I was 'perfect' for her while she instead wanted what I represented. Rainbow could just focus on making Applejack happy then. Pinkie, uh, actually no. Pinkie could come, too, now that I thought about it. Leaning against the wall of our cabin, I just exhaled softly in a low whine, feeling the tightness crush my chest as the heat poured down my cheeks. There was no sobbing, just a cold, pained sensation all the way up to my throat as I shivered there. Scootaloo and Spike just sat against me while Apple Bloom gently massaged my closest, left shoulder. It all snapped at once. "I just want to be normal. I don't want to be special or unique or a weapon or a clone. I just want to be Moon Mender, a pony. I'm so sick of all of this. I'm tired of causing problems for everypony I care about, and I just want to live in peace with you all," I whispered, shrinking down against the foundation of the cabin as my right hoof tore into the dirt, my anger and frustration pouring into it as I made a large gouge, just to feel the sensation of damaging something. I couldn't hit what I actually wanted to, so this was the next best thing. None of them said anything as I just kept smacking the ground in frustration, letting my anger out with each impact. "I'm tired of flirty mares, too, and really only want to be with Twilight and Fluttershy! Sweetie Belle is too young for me to even consider like that, Rainbow is too confused to even know what she wants herself, and Nurse Redheart... I don't even know if she was being serious in the first place! I've never thought of her like that," I groaned, feeling my face twist into an angry grimace as I did another long gouge into the ground. I had a good half-meter long rut in the dirt now, and panted heatedly as I glared at it, feeling the even hotter liquid sensation coming down each cheek. Scootaloo surprised me by wrapping her forelegs around my right hoof and gently moving it away from the torn up area, softly smiling up at me. "I know this'll sound stupid probably, but I get frustrated a lot, too, like this. Homework, not being able to fly, not having my Cutie Mark, getting teased in school... It all kinda adds up. I know none of that is as scary or painful as what you said, but maybe you need to just get away from it for a while? Whenever I get really upset, I just ride off on my scooter and let myself relax and rest until I feel better, no matter how long it takes," she explained softly, tilting her head towards me slowly once she was done. I blinked, not having been expecting such a grounded approach from the little filly. "No way does that sound stupid! It's ah good idea, Ah think. All four o' us should take tha rest o' tha vacation off as an actual vacation. Scootaloo an' Ah will keep all three o' those crazy mares away from ya!" Apple Bloom offered, perking up as she nodded to my other side. "Hey, I'll help, too!" Spike agreed, nodding twice as well. I looked between all three of them before smiling and chuckling softly. "That, uh, actually sounds really amazing. Tomorrow, let's go out to the lake and just relax. Maybe have a real picnic this time? I'll help you with your wings more, Scoots, and I'll see what I can do about setting up an enchantment for you, too, Apple Bloom," I suggested, exhaling weakly and suddenly feeling really tired. They had done an amazing job of defusing my frustration, but there wasn't much energy left in me to actually replace it. Scootaloo fluttered her wings out, sending sparks of energy everywhere as she grinned and rapidly nodded, and Apple Bloom just smiled softly, agreeing with, "Eeyup! Ya got yerself ah deal." I smiled at the little fillies before I felt Spike give a start against my left side. A glance towards him showed he was staring past me and across to the other side of the cabin. My proximity sensors expanded faster than my head turned, showing a shape with body heat about sixteen meters away. A second later, my eyes locked onto her instead, and widened a little. I felt myself relax, glad it wasn't any horrible monster, and then I scolded myself for getting paranoid in the first place. Well, maybe properly so. Luna sat against the corner of our cabin, eyes gazing upwards into her rapidly rising night sky. To my surprise, her horn glowed faintly as she stared, although she held a relaxed expression and didn't appear to be focusing on anything in particular. Was she actually manipulating the heavens with that little amount of focus? I guess it made sense, given how much practice she must have gotten. Two little gasps joined a moment later, breaking the silence and causing the Princess of the Moon to glance over our way and smile. "We didn't want to intrude in your conversation. The young ones were handling themselves well enough," she excused gently, her voice barely a whisper but somehow managing to extend all the way to where we were. I nodded to her and stood up again, slowly walking forwards with a Crusader to each side of me now. Spike wasted no time in hopping up onto my back again as I stood, peeking out around the side of my head as we approached. "You're not intruding, Luna. What's the occasion?" I asked curiously, blinking a couple times as I walked in order to rinse my eyes a bit. That was a downside to crying. "We need an occasion in order to relax and watch our night, or wait to converse with a good friend?" she asked back, giving me an amused smile as I looked away and twitched my nose lightly. As nice as that simple of an answer would be, I highly doubted my luck was going to allow for that. "If that's all, then I'll be happy, but usually I'm not that lucky," I muttered, deciding I might as well sit down, as this probably wouldn't be pleasant. Spike slid off and slipped around next to Apple Bloom as I did so, frowning and looking a little concerned. Luna smirked but shook her head, rotating to face me fully. "We are alone. I'll drop formalities, of course. I assume these two young ones you're okay with?" she inquired, gesturing towards the Crusader to each side of me. Both perked up when they suddenly realized the topic had shifted to them. "Of course. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are both trustworthy fellow Crusaders, and relation to the Elements. They'll be discrete," I assured, adding a nod onto the end. "Ah, o' course! We ain't gonna tell anypony else, Princess Luna!" Apple Bloom agreed, her eyes about as big as they could get. Her friend nodded rapidly in agreement. Luna smirked and shook her head, holding a hoof up towards the two. "Relax, young ones. I fully know who you are and what you two know already. My inquiry was merely to see if Mender was comfortable around you, which is very much apparent now. I do have a bit of news for you, and a question, Mender," she informed softly, turning back to me. Smiling fully, I'd suspected that was her intent already, but it was pleasant to be right for a change. "I'm an open book, and will tell you anything I know, Luna. Although, I do hope you stay a while beyond just the formalities. You did look like you were enjoying the relaxation," I suggested, noticing she looked a little stressed, now that I was closer. Wait, did Alicorns get estrus cycles as well? Uh oh... The mare looked beyond pleased and nodded towards me again, relaxing. "I'd like that, yes. It has been an exhausting week. My Rangers have taken many samples from the forest where you did battle with Nirru, and have acquired numerous energy readings for you. Twilight's last letter as of yesterday informed that you might be able to use them," she started. My mind clicked into movement again and I frowned, considering the information. Slipstream was 'blockable' if you knew the energy signature involved, which depended on where the link was traveling from. The samples would give me that signature, and if they were all the same... "Actually, she's right, as usual. I just realized there might be a way to block future connection attempts. Having a look at those samples would be very useful, in particular where you saw her 'die' at, and where we landed after she activated her FTL ability," I muttered, still thinking to myself out loud. Both areas would carry residual signature energy from Nirru's FTL unit, which I assumed was used to move that remote body here. One canister had been missing, if I remembered right. Luna perked up and nodded, chirping, "Ah ha! That answers one of the questions and I didn't even have to ask. Very good! Twilight's faith in you is much deserved, although I'd already known that much. My sister will be pleased with this estimate. I'll get the samples to Twilight once communication is re-established." I raised an eyebrow to her, confused at that last part. "You lost communication with Twilight?" Spike gasped instantly, quickly asking, "Is she okay?!" Luna froze for a second before sighing and looking away. "Well, yes, unfortunately. She's perfectly fine, worry not. Rarity and Fluttershy both report her doing well. She's just having a bit of a, well, problem with this estrus cycle and had to cease her studies. Her letters stopped as well, which is merely what I meant," she hesitantly explained, causing me to frown. I hoped everything was okay, and considered it. Was there a complication or something with this cycle? Parts suddenly not working right didn't sound like a good thing, and I immediately regretted not forming the link with her yet. I'd be able to at least figure out what was happening then, beyond just her location. "But she's going to be okay? She's not sick or hurt or anything, right?" I asked, frowning as I realized I'd only start jumping to conclusions if I didn't find out. The Princess smiled softly and shook her head again. "Your concern is very touching. I'll pass on that you were worried. No, Twilight will be fine. Actually, my sister anticipated this happening, given her student's sudden, well, change in social status. This is Twilight's first Estrus cycle with a mate," she furthered, shifting to a sound smile afterwards, apparently having anticipated that to mean something to me. Her eyebrow rose at my blank stare. "Uh, is that important or somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked, beating me to the punch. Spike snickered and shook his head, sitting down again and relaxing on the grass. "Yeah. I heard Fluttershy telling Twilight specifically to find something important and time consuming to do so she wouldn't spend all her time thinking about Mender and her. I'm guessing that failed," he deduced idly, apparently relaxing now that he knew she wasn't setting the library on fire or something. Huh. Was there something wrong about thinking about me? It must have some sort of adverse effect during the estrus period. Let's see... Chemicals and hormones would be released in time with her egg as her body got ready for a potential pregnancy, and even though they undoubtedly evolved past quite a bit of the instincts, there was probably at least some physical urges involved to actually attempt to ensure impregnation. Further, I wasn't actually there regardless of her thinking about me. Uh oh. That meant she was probably stuck with rather annoying sensations and urges, and technically it was my fault that she had no way to get rid of them. Did her body realizing she was supposed to have a mate make it worse or something? My mind flashed back to her screaming with flames lapsing off her, wiping out the entire town square in an instant, and disintegrating everything around her to ash in her rage. Oh crap. I felt myself pale considerably, and then wondered if it might not be a good idea to move to a different city for a while. At least until she forgave me enough to not murder innocent bystanders in her rage. "Uh oh. That's really bad. Uh, she hasn't hurt anypony yet, has she? I know how powerful she is," I asked, flattening my ears back a little. Luna gave me a confused heat tilt, but shook out a negative a moment later and I exhaled softly. "Ah, good. So, she'll only be aiming for me, then. Hmm. Maybe I should move to Canterlot until she cools off. If she attacks me in the street when I get back, other ponies might get hurt," I muttered, trying to consider the best solution. Luna had apparently forgotten what she was capable of. The mare blinked lightly before starting to snicker. "Well, she might attack you when you get back, yes, but moving to Canterlot will only make things worse. She definitely won't 'cool off' then, as you stated," she warned, looking deeply amused. She was teasing me! Wait, trying to give her time to cool off would make things worse?! But how was I supposed to fix things then? If she attacked me when I got back, and attacked me even harder if I tried to give her space, it seemed like the only solution was to just let her attack me and hope she didn't blow anything else up that may or may not be important. "I don't know what to do, then! Uh, do you think either you or your sister could help? She likes both of you, too," I asked. Yes, that was it! She'd be so flustered that Celestia was visiting her, she wouldn't even look at me long enough to set me on fire! Luna's eyes widened drastically and a light flush danced across her cheeks. "Oh! Oh my! Um, I do not think that is the best of ideas, Mender. Even though I surely could and have much, much experience in the matter, I really feel you should handle Twilight yourself," she excused, coughing lightly and looking away from me. Seriously?! I gave her an annoyed stare for a moment before exhaling and just deciding to bite the bullet. "Fine. But if she blows me up, along with half of Ponyville, I'm personally coming back and haunting you for the rest of your life," I warned. "Whoa, that sounds awesome!" Scootaloo muttered, totally missing the part where I was reduced to the consistency of fine ash alongside most of her town. Luna smirked, however, apparently finding the aspect funny somehow. "You must be very confident in your abilities if you expect that impressive of a result," she cooed a moment later. What did it have anything to do with my abilities?! "I doubt I have the fortitude to do anything about it. You didn't see what she did to all of those ponies in the town square. Twilight has a scary amount of skill," I groaned, shivering as I remembered it all again. Wait, no, actually she had seen what Twilight did to the town square, now that I remembered properly. Spike snickered at that, of course. "Don't forget her power! I saw it afterwards, and it looked worse than after the parasprites wrecked it. A few ponies went to the hospital, too," he revealed, both making me question what a parasprite was, and why Twilight hadn't mentioned hospitalizations... Luna's eyes were massive at this point, and I think she was finally starting to consider just how bad it could be. "I, uh, had no idea Twilight would... Oh my. Hospitalizations?!" she asked, sounding beyond shocked. "Hey, Ah don't think she meant ta hurt anypony. She just don't know her own strength when she gets all worked up like that," Apple Bloom tried to defend, frowning at the aspect. I nodded in agreement, not wanting to get Twilight in trouble over defending me. "You speak as if this is almost a regular occurrence?!" the Princess of the Moon asked, staring down at the little filly in shock. Spike widened his eyes and rapidly shook his head, raising both arms up as he did so. "Oh, no! No, no. I mean, Twilight used to have, well, problems with it when she was younger, but she's gotten a lot more level-headed lately. Actually, after the thing with Pinkie, she's gotten a lot more relaxed about things," he excused. Thing with Pinkie? I didn't think I wanted to know, but I imagined Twilight could get fairly frustrated with the pink one's behavior. "She and Pinkie...?! But..." Luna asked, losing her cool a moment later and giving the small dragon a totally flabbergasted expression. What, didn't Pinkie's reputation usually proceed her? Even I knew she was tough to deal with sometimes. I tilted my head at Luna, asking, "Surely you know about Pinkie? She's a good mare most of the time, but she gets to everypony eventually, whether they like it or not. She's just, well, Pinkie sometimes. She has so much energy!" I groaned, shuddering at the memories. Spike started snickering as Luna looked downright disturbed. "So agree! Pinkie is really nice and all, but she's gotten under my scales so many times I lost count. She just never knows when to stop, and it gets 'really' hard sometimes, ya know? After she used the Mirror Pond to make dozens of herself, I thought all of Ponyville was screwed! Haha!" I started to smirk and nod when Luna gave another twitch. Huh? Before I could even turn my head to fully look at her, she exploded into a full on scream rivaling a rocket taking off! "What is wrong with you ponies?! This is rape! It's not funny in the slightest!" washed over us, physically knocking the two fillies over and sliding me backwards almost a meter. My ears rang as I winced, looking back up in shock at the seething Moon Princess. Her shout echoed out around us and through the trees as it expanded away with the volume of a bomb going off. W-What?! "W-What are you talking about? Pinkie frustrates us with her antics sometimes! Frustrates us!" I exclaimed, unable to hear myself talk very well and having no idea how loud I was. Luna went from pissed off to surprise in barely a second as I held both sides of my head, rubbing at my ears. "Uh, whoa. D-Dizzy. What happened?" Apple Bloom muttered, rolling over from her back and shaking her head rapidly. My small pegasus friend looked even worse for wear, being far lighter and having sensitive balance senses. She puffed up a little, both fur and feathers ruffling before rolling onto her stomach, holding at her head. The light suddenly clicked on in the window up above me, and my eyes widened. Had that woken up Big Mac? Wait, of course it had woken him up. It might have... I turned and looked towards the other cabins, watching lights start appearing in the dark rapidly by the dozens. Aww hell. No, wait, take care of Scootaloo first, and then start damage control. Luna was slightly pink at this point, holding both forehooves to her mouth as she stared out at all the lights coming on as ponies woke up. Finally, she managed an, "O-Oops." Scootaloo threw up all over the ground... Chapter 53"Yes, we assure everypony that there was no danger to be concerned of! It was a misunderstanding between ourselves and our friend, and there is nothing to be concerned about! We humbly apologize for this confusion and interruption of your slumber," Luna continued to announce, being lit up by a few magical unicorn light spells, and lanterns carried by those less magically adept. Exhaling, I remained leaned against a cabin wall a half-dozen meters away from her. My right foreleg hooked around and cradled a small, orange filly against my chest while my left slowly and gently rubbed her stomach. Scootaloo's wings were tucked up against her back and she seemed content enough to just lie there, letting the combination of the medicine and my energy-coated hoof work magic on her stomach. Nurse Redheart, sitting awkwardly a meter to my right, assured her, "Just rest, Scootaloo. A combination of being sensitive to the loud noise and the potent grape juice you had in your stomach set you off, but the medicine should start working in a few minutes." Aforementioned grape juice, diluted by the rest of her stomach contents and masked by the dim light, had looked amazingly like blood, and I had all but sprinted back to Redheart with her, easily putting aside my prior tiff. "Mmm, Mender's hoof is... Awesome! I'm gonna... If this keeps up, I'm gonna fall asleep..." Scootaloo murmured softly, causing me to smile gently down at her. She was even more adorable with that peaceful smile on her face, and her eyelids lightly fluttering every time she shifted a little in position. Urges stirred lightly in me, drawing an invisible line around myself where I wouldn't let anything hostile come within, willing to tear limbs off in order to make sure she was safe. I knew she wasn't my own, but that faint urge was present anyway. I guess I really was geared towards protection. Luna's talking droned on, independent ponies approaching to give her quiet whispers. She was probably lucky most of them hadn't even heard what she said, only concerned that there was an Alicorn blasting out Royal Canterlot Speech in fury at twenty three hundred hours. Redheart sighed and looked back up at me a few seconds later, again making me aware that the awkwardness had resumed now that I knew Scootaloo was going to be perfectly fine. "Um, like I said, uh, I'm sorry, Mender. That got out of hoof and, well-" she muttered, apologizing for the second time since also discovering Scootaloo would be fine. I shook my head, however, still looking down at the little filly in my forelegs. "As I said, I know you were only joking. Just please, I'd really like to just be with Twilight and Fluttershy for a good while before considering any other arrangements, okay? I'm sorry for snapping earlier, but I've been on edge for a bit and haven't had a chance to calm down yet," I explained quietly, keeping my voice low as Scootaloo's breathing softened, becoming more regular. Redheart nodded rapidly and pawed at the ground with a hoof for a moment, seeming like she wanted to say more about something. My peripheral vision picked up a large, red figure, however, and looked up and to the left as Big Mac wandered into our location. "They're all put ta bed now, but sleep'll be ah while, Ah think. Everything okay down 'ere still?" he asked calmly upon getting into range, right to the point, as usual. He'd gotten Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Spike back inside our cabin, telling Luna and I to go on ahead and explain things. I elected to keep Scootaloo with me, so I could use my technique on her tummy until the medicine started working. "Yeah. Between Mender's magic and my medicine, Scootaloo will be fine. They'll kick in after a few more minutes and keep her stomach settled through the night so she can get some sleep. She should be fine by morning," Redheart informed, smiling softly at the large stallion. He gave a polite nod before looking back over at me, the tired expression shifting to a soft smile after a moment. Noticing the attention, I glanced back up at him, raising an eyebrow. Most of my attention was focused on properly using my hoof and making sure I didn't use too little or too much magic. Had I missed something again? "Sorry. Ya just had ah familiar lookin' expression on yer face. Mah pa used ta get it all tha time when Ah saw him holdin' Apple Bloom. It was comfortin' ta see," he explained, apparently guessing at my confusion. "Comforting?" I asked, thinking I knew the expression he was referring to, but I wasn't entirely sure at his choice of wording. Big Mac nodded before considering his words for a moment, never one to place a careless statement out, I noted. "Well, o' course it's ah pleasant memory. Happier times an' all, even if tha present ain't all that bad. But seein' ya give it just reassures that yer just as much pony as tha rest o' us. Ta be honest, it was ah small concern Ah used ta have," he revealed, adding a nod onto the end afterwards. He knew it didn't need an apology as pretty much everypony had that thought, it would seem. I literally got dumped here from the sky apparently from nowhere. Frankly, their hospitality to such an individual was already beyond amazing. They'd have been totally justified in locking me up and studying me after I ran my head into a rock and knocked myself out like I did. "I'm not a pony, but I have every desire to be. So, um, thank you for just accepting me as close enough?" I returned, managing a smile up at him as he nodded. "Yer pony enough fer Equestria. It already decided that, proof bein' in yer mark an' tha plants listenin' ta ya. Simple 'nough ta decide after that. Who am Ah ta argue against such ah decision?" he pointed out simply, surprising me with such a direct outcome. He didn't have any convoluted reasoning involved, nor did he avoid the facts. It was refreshing to deal with, after all the drama of the last day or so. Nurse Redheart perked up at that, looking back towards the large stallion before inquiring, "You had him do Communal, and it worked?" Oh yeah, she was an Earth Pony, too. For some reason, her profession just seemed to lend itself better to that of a unicorn, which I guess I had subtly saw her as all along. It was kind of strange to consider. "Sure as tha sun risin'. He's ah natural, due ta his magic trainin', Ah suspect," Big Mac said after a moment's hesitation, closing his eyes and gently sitting down again. He looked tired, and I wondered if I should suggest he go back and try to get some sleep. Redheart smiled and nodded, looking more pleased than anything by the news. "I'm glad for that. You don't need to be concerned about it, Mender. Equestria itself has accepted you as a pony. Isn't that good enough?" she asked, still keeping her voice down even though Luna was doing an amazing job of totally drowning us out, even with her 'quiet' voice. Although I suppose in court, one had to have a loud voice in order to be heard throughout. "Everypony seems to have come to that conclusion, even the two Princesses. I'm... Well, I wouldn't say that I don't have doubts, but I'm a lot more accepting of it now than before. It will be awhile and there are still issues, but... I'm just happy that Tia and Luna are letting me stay here after all," I whispered, exhaling gently as I sagged backwards against the building again. If I had been forced to go back to that hell... I'd have found a way to kill myself first, even if I had to launch myself into the sun to do it. Redheart looked pleased, but Big Mac seemed to consider it all before slowly nodding. "Ah don't think we're quite in tha clear yet with everything, but yer ah stallion o' yer word. Ya really mean ta see this through, right?" he asked quietly, a certain amount of cryptic apprehension to his voice. I stared at him for a long moment before asking, "Gut feeling?" His nod answered well enough, and I swallowed lightly. Redheart looked nervous as well as she directed her attention to me again. I felt a little chilly suddenly, the filly in my forelegs suddenly seeming so distant. Carefully, I managed a slow nod, committing myself to the unspoken duty. "Even if I didn't feel like I belonged here, or consider this my real home... Even if I could leave and somehow find a better place, not only are those two here, but I also owe Equestria a debt," I whispered, suddenly afraid of my own voice. It was true. I didn’t think I would have found myself anywhere else. Maybe this was another chance? Of course, that also implied that I had been lost before, and wasn't anymore. No, I still felt lost, but maybe just a little closer now? Big Mac frowned lightly, and Redheart's stare felt awkward and uncertain, but I only shivered as I looked up again towards the large, red stallion. "You don't have to doubt me. To answer fully, I'll personally stop at nothing, and do anything it takes to make sure this land and all its inhabitants are safe. I promise that," I added, my free forehoof lightly scraping along the ground as I felt empty again, like every time I told a secret or revealed something. The scariest part was that I was getting used to the sensation, like the beast was getting closer and closer to the surface, and I didn't care. Maybe some things were worth it? If something like Nirru ever came here again, it would suffer for its transgressions. "We should get Scootaloo back to the cabin so she has a proper bed to rest in," I suggested after neither of them said anything for a good fifteen seconds. "Mender," Redheart muttered weakly. Ignoring her, I walked past after nudging Scootaloo onto my back, the newly disguised belt buckles helping pull her up and 'clasping' by themselves around the two of us as I walked. Luna was handling this, and I was tired. The rest of the night could go to hell. It was bedtime. This time I didn't hear hoofsteps following me as I trudged back towards the cabin up the hill with my small charge. If they didn't want to help, so be it. I had to do pretty much everything else major by myself, and I didn't see it changing anytime soon. Silently swallowing the lump in my throat, I headed off into the dark without them. * * * * * Staring up into the sky, I watched the clouds drift lazily overhead. It had been there for barely a hundredth of a second. There was a flickering and band of numeric data that shot across in the sky. Well, in all likelihood, it had been across my eye sensors instead. I stared intently at the spot for a good minute before lowering my gaze again. My passive scanner was still running in the background, and I felt the light tingling in my left hoof. I'd programmed it to do that when it found weird code to hook into in my list of running processes. Physical sensations didn't register on my sensors, skipping my computer parts and going straight to my brain if they weren't deemed 'painful' or 'threatening'. Lovely. Another thing to look into later. My body was a mess of black boxes, I noticed. The one for the control of the disks was finally cracked open, and I had full control over all of the root-level commands for them. For some reason, I hesitated when considering just deleting them all. Of course, logically I didn't know what the disks were capable of, so if they started doing something on their own, it would be a good idea to have those functions in me still. It's not like I was going to use them to control any of the ponies, of course. Beyond potential hardware errors, things were starting to look up a bit for me. Independence was always a good thing, and I was a step closer with my own income source. Hopefully, that would get a nice boost due to the newly completed schematics at my side. They detailed a lovely ceiling-based sweets delivery system and were tucked carefully into my notebook. The book I bought before leaving Ponyville, of course, not the unopened, finicky, extremely powerful, extra-dimensional one. It was weird thinking of myself owning things, honestly. I had a nice sketchbook for schematics, an extra-dimensional blade of almost infinite sharpness, a sturdy set of saddlebags, my Crusader cape, a powerful eldritch book of unknown origin and powers that came from my original self and seemed to be possessed by several distinct spirits, and a lovely box of wooden pencils. Oh, and the little white filly familiar that was seemingly hell bent on maintaining, at most, a three meter radius orbit from me at any given time. Sighing, I yet again reminded myself that living, sapient creatures weren't possessions. The urge to stake my claim on things was a bit new to me, and I contributed it to a falling out of my old social queues. Maybe I was overcompensating due to suddenly having all these freedoms? I shifted my gaze down to the little unicorn filly, who still lay barely a meter in front of me, eyes locked onto mine. Unlike how I was so used to seeing her before, her expression was blank now, and there was no glimmer in her eyes. Pain did that, I realized, and again I felt like this was one of the worst possible outcomes to all of this. She'd been lying there for an hour, insisting on silently floating any drawing tool I needed to me from my bag. Her small amounts of magic could barely lift the heavier tools, but she didn't hesitate, which disturbed me on many levels. It felt like it was all my fault that she was like this. "Sweetie, I don't need help anymore. Don't you want to go play with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Spike?" I offered yet again, gesturing to my left towards the lakeshore. After recovering and waking up early this morning, she had insisted on following us, not in an energetic manner as usual, but by simply trailing us wordlessly, no matter how much the other two fillies tried to get her to leave us alone for a day. She felt almost empty, and I regretted being so hostile to her last night. I shouldn't have let my temper slip. Her eyes listlessly drifted to her right, enough to glance over at the three playing in the water. Apple Bloom bobbed along the surface rather adeptly, already knowing how to swim. The energy danced along her limbs as she moved, flicking the water with ease and sending her jutting in rough bursts. The little orange filly, meanwhile, hovered about in a tight orbit, taking opportunities to dive bomb her friend. It became a strange game of cat and mouse, with Scootaloo hunting the only swimming target, and the flying dragon and tortoise combo trying to pounce Scootaloo. Spike had taken at least twelve dunks so far, leaping from his flying platform and missing the fast little filly in the air. He seemed to love it, though, so who was I to note otherwise? Their laughter was nice to hear, and almost a constant vibration to the air, a welcoming disruption to the otherwise quiet day. My small, forced familiar slowly looked back at me, looking more tired than before, as if the action of rotating her head had used up significant energy from her small body. I tried to add incentive to the mix, offering, "I'll give you a neat horn enchantment I've been thinking up. It should magnify your levitation ability." It had been an idea I'd been cooking up since Apple Bloom asked for her enchantment. Twilight and I had discussed the fundamental differences between our two styles of magic, which was the source for this little idea. "I'm fine here. I need to show you that I can behave," she whispered quietly, the first time she'd spoken in more than two and a half hours. A part of me got cold inside, and I decided I couldn't deal with this anymore. No, it was time for drastic measures. Sweetie Belle frowned ever so slightly as I stood up without warning. The frown deepened as I walked towards her with purpose, keeping my eyes locked firmly on hers. She slipped from her stomach to lying on her side as I got closer, probably a subconscious gesture of uncertainty. It revealed a good deal of her stomach, which would also be an act of submission, and I smirked, my target suddenly revealed in plain sight. Sweetie's eyes widened drastically as I lunged. All three of the others stopped their playful game and looked our way with confused expressions as Sweetie's squeals suddenly exploded into the air. Apple Bloom was the first to grin, I noticed. Sweetie thrashed violently, trying to swat at my forelegs with all four of her own as she burst into copious laughter. The lashes of energy coming off my hooves 'programmed' to dance along her skin like feathers and blades of grass, each a thousand times better than what I could do with my own hooves as I mercilessly assaulted her tummy with the tickling sensations! "Aaah! N-No! Haha! Stop, Mender! Ah! I give up! Eeeeeeeeee!" she managed to squeak out, trying to scoot away from me on the ground while laughing. Scootaloo came out of nowhere an instant later, bumping me sideways and snatching up Sweetie, hauling her a good three meters away from me with her wing jets. "I'll save ya, Sweetie!" she announced boldly, smirking up at me with a certain cocky expression on her face. The little white filly gasped for air, bursts of laughter still coming from her as she wiggled in her friend's grasp. "Ha... Ha! Thanks, Scoots! I can't... Ha... I can't breathe!" she giggled out. "Oh really? Then who will save you?" I asked to the orange filly. Her eyes widened as I slid past her, breaking from my sudden springing hop with my back legs as I rotated. She started to follow me to the side, wings opening to do another burst to escape with her friend, but my right forehoof connected with her side a split second faster. "Eeeeeeeeee! No! Ah, I'm sorry! Mercy!" Scootaloo squealed, flailing to get away as I pounced just her instead, pushing both glowing hooves into her stomach now as she desperately kicked, bursts of energy going across the ground in chaotic and haphazard directions, dirt and grass going with. Sweetie managed to hop back to her feet, her horn glowing again a moment later and wearing a smile this time, much to my delight. "I will, obviously! We fillies need to stick together!" she announced. Oh, is that how it was going to be? A very soggy Apple Bloom ran up at the same time, grinning at me and taking a stand next to her friend. "Heck yeah! Can ya handle all three o' us, Mender?" she asked, the energy from her new enchantments drifting up her legs and coating most of her chest at the same time. "Two of you. I guess boys get to stick together too, then!" Spike shouted from above. My eyes widened and I didn't get a chance to look up before he descended onto a very surprised looking Apple Bloom. And thus began a battle never seen before on the shores of that lake... * * * * * Okay, so bringing magic and enchantments into play was probably a terrible and irresponsible idea on my part. I'd be damned if it wasn't amazingly awesome, though! Of course, Spike and Sweetie had been totally outclassed from the start, and I ended up calling ceasefire for almost twenty minutes to give them both an enchantment as well. Sweetie got the horn modification to magnify her magic I'd already promised her. With Spike, I had to get a little creative, however. It turns out, dragons also have that internal magic, so my energy source was compatible from the start. His claws were really useful, however, and I ended up attaching energy threads to each of them, rear claws included. After a bit of practice, he could extend them about two meters and properly grab or tie things up using them, which was good enough for our purposes. Things got way out of hoof fast, of course. After getting carried away and flinging Apple Bloom a good sixty meters across the surface of the lake in a laughing ball of energy armor, I decided that maybe this was a bad idea. Thirty minutes later, we were an indistinct pile of wet fur and scales lumped a dozen meters from the lake, all panting in the shade. Well, most of us were wet. Sweetie managed to stay amazingly dry, given that she was responsible for shore bombardment, and her defenses were almost foolproof with her magic to help her. "So awesome..." Scootaloo muttered after a long break of silence. Her tiny wings were splayed across the right side of my barrel as she lay out on top of me. I barely felt her there as I rested tiredly on my left side. Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were curled up against my chest and stomach, respectively, and my right foreleg limply lay over Apple Bloom. So tired! Keeping up with foals took a tremendous amount of energy, but I was quite content. The ache was there in the left foreleg, but nowhere near as bad. Which was a bit of a good thing, as the small farm filly now used it as a pillow. "We so gotta do this more often," Spike muttered from behind me, still propped up against my back, it felt like. I didn't so much mind being a piece of furniture. I was kinda the biggest one here, so it wouldn't work nearly as well in reverse. "The lake's open all season, and is used for skating in the winter," Sweetie informed softly, as if hinting at a plan. It made sense that the cabins weren't just used during estrus. Skating, though? That rang a small bell, but I couldn't place it. My database opened up on the side and I tossed it into a search. The little filly carried on, though, voice shifting wistful instead with, "Oh, it's so pretty in the winter with all that ice on it! We should go skating then." My search results popped up a fraction of a second later. "Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including exercise, leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and rivers." Huh. I looked at the pictures of the skates, tail hooks, and tail anchors the Keldarians used in trick skating and shuddered. Me going across a plane of ice on thin blades at high speeds sounded like a remarkably poor idea. Scootaloo snickered happily, and I felt her nod against my side. "Yeah! I've been practicing, and I bet I can even beat AB now!" she boasted proudly. Apple Bloom was good at skating? The boast went unanswered for a good five seconds before I opened my eyes and looked down at the small filly on my leg. Scootaloo was peeking at the same time, and we both saw the filly sound asleep, very light snores coming from her. I smirked for a second before lying back down. "Eh, we'll run it past her when she wakes up..." Scootaloo acknowledged, a twinge of annoyance in her tone. "Has she tried getting her Cutie Mark in skating yet?" I asked, wondering if there was a reason for her being so skilled at it. Sweetie let out a momentary hum, but shook her head against my tummy after a moment's consideration. "We've been skating lots during the winter just for fun. We hang out even when not doing official Crusader stuff for our Cutie Marks. She hasn't gotten one yet," she explained softly. What were the odds she had a more specific Cutie Mark in skating, then? Doubtful. It was hard to imagine a pony who was only good at one specific type of spin or something. They seemed more general than that. "Nah. She's an Earth Pony, and most of them are really good at skating, for some reason," Scootaloo tossed on, sounding more wistful finally rather than annoyed. Snickering, I idly raised my right foreleg into the air, holding my hoof up. "Not this one. I can almost guarantee that I'd spend more time on my head than hooves should I try that," I concluded, without even needing to hesitate. Scoots started snickering in amusement, and I heard a light giggle from Sweetie as well. Spike just scoffed, though. "No worse than me, dude. Ponies are so not happy when you sneeze while skating and melt a big hole in the ice. I'm just glad they got Derpy out of the water before she got hurt. Felt real bad after that one," he muttered, sighing warily at the thought. Yikes! Derpy had really bad luck, which was starting to feel quite similar. "Derpy didn't even get sick! I swear she's half Earth Pony," Scootaloo muttered, finally lying back down against my side. Was that possible? I didn't think they could get 'half' phenotypes like that. At least, I hadn't seen any so far. Actually, now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen any sort of mutation or variation in genome anywhere, which was rather astounding. Ponies didn't even seem to mention any long established diseases or syndrome. Call me paranoid, but magical manipulation started to look more and more likely. "I still felt bad. She didn't even get angry with me! At least she let me help her with mail deliveries for a month," Spike protested, relaxing a little further against my back. Another giggle sounded from Sweetie, followed by, "Don't let anypony tell you that you're not a nice dragon, Spike. I'm sure Sis sees it, too." I almost felt his temperature shoot upwards after that, and smiled to myself at how cute he could be sometimes. Still, despite being a totally different species, I think he was the male I had the most in common with. We had similar outlooks on things. I'd have to ask him about this 'rampage' thing he mentioned earlier when I got him alone. Maybe I could draw more similarities yet. The conversation wound down as the breeze slowly drifted over us. Lightly, I heard Sweetie's breathing deepen as well after a minute or so, plus a light snoring started up behind me. I just smiled, staring up at the sky. It was peaceful, really. One day, I wouldn't mind having little ones of my own, I don't think. Although that brought up a good question. I had the 'parts' down there that were compatible, to my knowledge, but was it possible for me to actually impregnate a mare? It had come up before on the trip here, but I'd never looked into it, despite blundering across the manuals for my own body while looking for the disks. Well, they weren't so much manuals, but a bizarre sort of note journal that was flagged with biological functions in my filtering functions. Taking advantage of the down time, I clicked it open in my head and displayed the file in my eyes, taking a peek at it. Scootaloo stirred a little but remained staring up at the sky with her wings folded over my side, resting on her back. She didn't feel like she was asleep, but it felt like she wanted some time to think, which I was more than happy to allow. The series of notes read like a journal, detailing growth patterns, formation, and activity, each entry with a highly accurate date. From everything inside, it was insinuated that I was grown inside of a breeding tube rather than a Keldarian, which didn't necessarily surprise me. What did tweak my interest a bit was that it was specially made just for me, and a size category larger than the standard. Weird. Did they grow me to full adult all at once or something? A light cricket noise sounded off, and I snapped back to attention in an instant, double-checking all my proximity detectors and passive motion scanning. Nothing was tripped, and I exhaled softly. Hum. My focus shifted back to my reading and I turned the page, the document heavily detailing every formation of the embryo. Was there something unique about me? I didn't think they'd go to this length in order to document the growth unless they were anticipating something. My eyes widened a little of their own accord as the details got more and more separated from what I had been expecting. Tail extension, muzzle expansion, eye socket growth, hip joint displacement... None of it was in line with the basic Keldarian anatomy class I had taken as my other self. The next page caused my breath to snag. It went into great detail about hoof formation. Shit. Light laughter, and a smiling feline face as I ran unsteadily towards her, causing her to giggle in amusement. The loud noises my hooves made against the metal hurt my ears, but she looked so happy. I hopped upon reaching the end of the table and the female stood, grinning as she caught me into a hug and cheered. My eyes widened as I snapped out of the sudden, extremely vivid memory, mouth hanging open a little. They didn't... But... I had never been a Keldarian! They grew me as a Pony! The numb sensation receded across my skull and I suddenly found a light smile starting to expand across my muzzle. This was my body. I'd always been a pony. They just added things to me, was all. I was a pony! Only my ultimate respect for the foals and dragon sleeping around me stopped me from squeaking happily in elation, a perfect tribute to Fluttershy if I'd ever heard one. But despite the extremely pleasing news, it actually left a dozen questions in its wake, with 'why' and 'how' being among the highest. I had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with that 'specimen' mentioned earlier. But that face! That female. It dawned on me. I knew her. She was familiar! My eyes started to widen again when my proximity alarm went off for the disk tracking. I came so close to groaning in frustration, but just sighed instead and checked it. Not that I needed to, because I knew there was only one signal that would be approaching in the first place, let alone that quickly and in a straight line. Rainbow surprised me by gliding in over the other side of the lake, barely reaching proper flight speeds as she just let the currents take her. Further, her eyes were closed completely, which seemed a little risky given the fact that she was really close to the treetops. Wait... Popping my display up again, I noticed her heart rate was slowed, and her breathing regulated. Further, the link was displaying a feedback effect from the host. But that would only happen if she was... It clicked. She was actively 'pinging' my connection. She found me using the link. Her eyes opened again as she must have felt herself close, and they shifted downwards and locked onto us on the shore. Wonderful. What did she want now? Her heartbeat lost its focus and sped up as she saw me raise my head. Apprehension. I knew the effects of it before she even needed to get into empathy range. Scootaloo hadn't been sleeping after all, and glanced back at me as I raised my head. Following my line of sight, she saw Rainbow a second later and stiffened before suddenly flipping to her hooves again. Huh? "Crusaders! Wake up!" she announced out loud suddenly, causing me to wince at the sudden sound after so much silence. "Eh? Why wake them?" I asked as both fillies stirred and slowly looked up from their rests, looking a little bleary eyed. Unsurprisingly, Spike remained asleep, despite having been whacked by Scootaloo's wing as she spun. Now he tipped over and continued snoring lightly on his side, just rolling away from the noise a little. "Rainbow," Scootaloo explained as she got their attention, and I couldn't tell whom it was directed at. The effect was unquestionable, however. Sweetie Belle's eyes widened as she looked in the direction Scootaloo's wing gestured in, and Apple Bloom just groaned and rotated to her hooves again, standing upright in front of me. Rainbow looked slightly surprised as she drifted in and lightly landed about a half dozen meters away from the lakeshore. I sat up more fully and stared at her, unsure exactly what she wanted and not knowing what to say in the first place, but Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both stepped forwards instead, moving in-between Rainbow and me. "What are ya doin' 'ere, Dash? Didn't ya cause enough problems yesterday?" the yellow filly asked, sounding a bit hostile, honestly. "Uh, look, I just want to talk to him, okay?" the cyan pegasus explained, folding her wings back up lightly and taking a few steps in my direction. As she tucked her wings in, I noticed that, oddly, she was wearing a set of saddlebags. I'd never seen her with anything of the sort before, and it looked out of place on her. Scootaloo shook her head, however, extending her left wing out fully to block Rainbow's path, the energy expanding the wing several fold and almost touching Apple Bloom's side. Her friend didn't look so passive, however, and slammed the ground with her right hoof, causing a tremor to extend all the way over to where I was, the energy expanding up her foreleg and showing the intricate magic array along her skin. "No! We promised not ta let ya anywhere near Mender until he says so an' ya apologize proper like! Ah'm not gonna go back on mah word," Apple Bloom warned, spreading her stance out a bit. They were serious about that? "I'm sorry, Rainbow, but yeah. This isn't how I wanted things, but you're just not yourself," Scootaloo muttered softly afterwards, lowering her head a little bit, then shaking it. Dash looked more than a little surprised as she glanced at the two of them, then looked past over at me. Sweetie Belle slowly stood up, looking uncertain, but her horn started to glow regardless, disks of light expanding off it and sliding up along the line of light that came almost a meter off the tip of it, more repeatedly forming at the base as the old ones left. Rainbow stared at us for a moment before sighing, her eyes softening as her body sagged a little. Oddly, I couldn't smell her estrus from here, not really smelling much of anything, which was a big difference from yesterday. "That's, um, what I came to do, okay? I do want to apologize to Mender properly," she revealed, sounding a little on the stressed side. Her eyes were bloodshot as well, hinting that last night wasn't the most pleasant for either of us. Slowly, I managed to get to my hooves, simultaneously drawing everypony's attention in an instant. Rainbow hesitated as I limped a little bit closer to her, my left leg giving a weak throb of protest at its interrupted rest. Closer now, I saw that Rainbow's coat appeared to actually be brushed, startlingly enough. Further, her mane was combed lightly, managing to still be in her loose style, but definitely holding straighter than normal. A light, flowery scent drifted from her once I was within two meters, and I raised an eyebrow, causing a light blush to shift to her cheeks. Her eyes remained locked with mine, however, despite seeing mine roaming over her form. "Rarity?" I guessed, locking eyes with hers again. A light smirk shifted onto her muzzle and she nodded gently. "I was, uh, bothered by what happened yesterday. It was throwing off my practicing, of course, so I had to do something about it! I went to Rarity to ask for, well, professional advice on how to apologize to a stallion without any of the mushy stuff like flowers or chocolate," she explained quietly, rolling her eyes towards the practicing part. I tried really hard not to snicker, but she shot me a somewhat knowing glare a second later and continued with, "Well, I didn't want to admit why we'd had the fight! She guessed it was with you, anyway. If you want any of your secrets to remain secret, don't visit that mare! Regardless, she told me quite a few ideas, one of them being to make myself proper and presentable. This is the end result." I was surprised, regardless. She seemed sincere in her desire to apologize, if she let Rarity go this far. Another look showed me the normally boisterous mare definitely had a 'gorgeous' side to her, even if it was downright primal in appearance. This time she fussed as I looked her over, the pink in her cheeks turning red instead as she looked away, flattening her ears back a bit. "You don't have to stare!" she squawked, looking mildly annoyed. I saw something else in her eyes, however, complimenting the spike in her heartbeat. "If you didn't want me to stare, why did you bother getting 'presentable' in the first place?" I inquired in mild amusement, gesturing towards her coat with my left foreleg. Scootaloo started snickering, framed by a particularly loud snore behind me from Spike. Rainbow somehow got even redder, and I started to wonder if she should lie down before she passed out. "H-Hey! Rarity tried to do even more, but I fended her off with her own dress fitting! Look, this isn't easy for me and, um, I really just want to be forgiven, okay?" she squeaked out, causing me to sigh. There went the playful sensations. "Why? So you can feel better and get on with your practice for the race?" I inquired softly, my ears dropping a bit. At my tone shift, Scootaloo swallowed weakly and looked back to Rainbow, while Apple Bloom shifted back up to fully guarded, glaring at the mare. Rainbow's eyes widened rapidly as her head spun back to me, her back leg shifting backwards slightly as if to retreat. This was stupid, and I didn't even know why she had come in the first place. Her frown started to come back, but my eyes snapped to a glare instead. "No, be honest, Rainbow. Why are you here? You have your wings still. I didn't remotely disable them or anything out of spite, so your practicing should be fine. You have the safety guards in the wings still, as I'd never disable those. What more do you want? You don't need me for anything else, so why are you here?" I asked, cutting off whatever crap she was undoubtedly about to spill out, covering her every intention with excuse after excuse. At that, Rainbow's expression fell and she looked away, the blush leaving her cheeks. A pang of guilt went through me, but I smashed it down angrily. No, on some level, the fake Nirru was right. I did let ponies walk all over me. "I came to apologize, Mender. Not because I want something, but because I care about you and it hurts when you're angry with me," she muttered, staring hard at the ground instead. My expression softened a little and I sighed, not having expected her to actually admit her feelings. "Is it really so hard to just tell me that? You send a lot of mixed signals and it's, well, frustrating sometimes," I admitted, feeling myself cool a little with each exhale. Rainbow continued staring at the dirt for a moment before slowly nodding and sliding her head forwards. The saddlebags unhooked from her stomach and slid over her head, landing on the ground with a loud and unmistakable clinking noise of metal on metal in mass. Bits. "I brought as many as I could carry. All I could think about is what you said last night. Not just to me, but..." she whispered before looking up slightly at Apple Bloom as well. I frowned, but she shook her head and continued regardless with, "You were right. There, I said it. I was only thinking of myself instead of both you and AJ. Plus, I've done a whole lot of taking advantage of your friendship. Every plan I have to 'help' you seems to help me even more, and, well-" "Rainbow, look-" I started to interrupt. She held up her hoof, however, and rapidly shook her head. "N-No! I can't take advantage of you anymore. I don't even know where to begin guessing how much your special training would normally cost, but just, well, take these! If you need more, I'll have to go back and-" she cut me off, starting to look flustered as her eyes got watery. What she was doing suddenly dawned on me. Not because it was obvious, but because it was familiar. Value substitution. Well, I'd probably regret this later, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let her go down this path. Step one, get her to shut up. Yes, a part of me liked her like she wanted, but she was only trying to lie to herself. Paying me wouldn’t make her feel any better, as her feelings would still be there. Her rose colored eyes widened as I slipped forwards and wrapped both forelegs around her, cutting off her denial and making her freeze instantly. A few seconds passed before backed up a bit again and opened my eyes. Hers were wet now as she slowly closed her surprised muzzle, features softening rapidly. "W-Why? But this wasn't..." she whispered, not seeming to notice the tear slip down her right cheek. All the signs were there. I'd seen it a lot, and even fell victim to it myself. Well, my other self did, anyway. "Trying to pay me won’t make your feelings go away, Rainbow. It's just another form of running away. You can't run from any of us anymore, not just Applejack or myself. I'm going to tell Fluttershy and Twilight about both you and Sweetie, and about everything I've suggested to you two," I warned quietly, trying to sit as straight as I could. I had the indescribable sensation that if I slouched even slightly, I'd fall over and pass out from tiredness. It all seemed to suck into me all at once. She stared at me for a moment before lowering her head again and nodding weakly. "I'll accept any punishment they want to give, so long as we're still friends afterwards," she accepted, sagging a little. "They're not going to punish you for being true to your feelings, Dash. I won't let them. But you have to realize that being in a herd is an interwoven experience. I've discovered this. Every member cares for every other one. Could you honesty care for Twilight and Fluttershy like you care for me?" I suggested, if only to get her to consider the aspect of what she said she wanted, compared to what she actually wanted. So many soldiers did the same thing as a coping mechanism. If you attach value to something and pretend long enough, it becomes an excuse even for yourself. With her trying to pay me for my services, it distracted from the real reason she was feeling bad, and the reason I was helping her in the first place. But that didn't make either reason go away, no matter how much she tried to pay me. Buying off your conscience usually didn't work so well. Just like no amount of good notions and deeds would ever make up for the fact that I personally ended a few billion innocent lives. Pretending it was paying it off one at a time was idiotic. Rainbow just stood there, staring down at her saddlebags with her legs shivering lightly. Another tear slid down the other cheek and she winced at the sensation, suddenly turning around and away from us all. I actually heard Scootaloo swallow, but I walked forwards regardless, brushing my right hoof along the shivering mare's left shoulder. "No! Don't look at me! This is... It's so pathetic!" she spat out, shifting away and not letting me see her face. Her voice steadied itself once we couldn't see her expression anymore. "Rainbow, calm down," I muttered, trying to feed as much 'understanding' as I could through the link. She sagged a little, and then rapidly shook her head. "No... No! Get out of my head, Mender!" she shouted instead, whirling around and swatting my foreleg away hard enough to knock it back into my muzzle. I was more than a little surprised by the sudden movement, my head spinning as I tried to shake it clear. "You knew it wouldn't work all along, didn't you?! Why? Why did you set me up thinking you liked me back when you knew it wouldn't work?!" she screamed, stepping back into the water now and sending a spray out backwards from her hind leg. "Why would I do that, Rainbow? All I want is for everypony to get along," I muttered, holding my hoof to my muzzle and wincing as I looked back up at her, my armor folding into place under my skin, just in case. Pity it was too late for my lip. I sighed as I drew back blood on my hoof. The cyan mare glared at me, shaking still on her hooves as tears continued down her cheeks freely now. "You knew all along that this wasn't going to work. I can't have both of you! Why did you let me think that I could for so long?!" she demanded, voice breaking again as she stomped her foreleg down, imprinting the sand with a mold of her hoof. "I don't know that, Rainbow! It's not up to either of us, and you know that! You can't just make ponies feel a certain way," I reminded, voice rising finally as well. She was just looking for somepony to blame and targeting me for it. No, not this time. I wasn't going to let her walk all over me. The snoring had stopped behind me, and I heard a rather groggy sounding, "Huh? Wha? What's going on?" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo slipped to each side of me at the same time, looking furious and uncertain respectively. "S-Shut up! You're just trying to get my hopes up again! What is it, funny to you?! Talk to them all and get them to understand what's going on! You can make them understand!" There was a hint of desperation to her voice, and I suddenly felt sick. I wouldn't be making anypony do anything. Ever. Her trying to suggest it, no, order it... "Talk to them yourself, Rainbow. But if you try to bully anypony into anything, I'll stop you myself," I warned, feeling my anger rising again. All I could see was her trying to make Fluttershy agree to the idea. I felt my face heat up as Rainbow let out a frustrated shout, her wings bursting open. She ran into me a second later and bowled both of us into a sharp rotation, managing to momentarily land on top of me with a hoof to each of my shoulders. My armor was up now and I didn't feel a thing, this time. Red. It wasn't just symbolism, I realized, as I rarely got angry enough to notice it, but it flashed into my mind like an impulse. A bolt of rage as my back hit the sand. In a frustrated scream, through that haze of frustration and anger towards the mare, I hit her. It was instant. She was on top of me one second, and in the next, my right foreleg collided with her left side. Then she wasn't on top of me anymore, but instead sent flying into a loose roll off to my left somewhere. My eyes widened as I stared at the hoof in front of my vision, the anger falling away into an ocean of ice water in my mind a second later. I hit her. Nopony else seemed to even register it as Rainbow hit the sand with a weak yelp. Apple Bloom was over me in a heartbeat, clearing the distance in two bounds before landing on and physically holding the full sized mare to the ground with her front legs. "Stay away from him!" she shouted at point blank range down onto the fallen mare. Oh, oh hell. I tried to get to my feet as Scootaloo ran past after Rainbow. Sweetie was there a second later, a boost of magic helping me up as she hugged into my left side. "A-Are you okay, Mender?!" she asked, sounding scared. My scans lit up as I looked over to Rainbow instead, noticing her just lying there. She winced, however, at the sound of the shout, and then tried to limp up to her hooves again. Apple Bloom shoved her back over, however, moving her a little further away from me with a slide. "No, just stay there and stop attacking him!" she ordered, backing away from the mare. Rainbow's left side was swelling a little, and my scan showed a half dozen ruptured blood vessels under the surface. No internal damage apart from that, and I swallowed weakly. I hit her! My eyes watched the skin puff a little and discolor as she gasped and managed to sit up finally, tucking her left foreleg up against her side and looking back up at me instead. Her eyes burned into me like fiery lances and I shivered, wanting to run away myself. There was no anger there, however, only surprise. "I... Ugh. What am I doing?" she whispered suddenly, closing her eyes again and shaking her head. What? Her question confused me, but I was suddenly distracted as my scan fired off again. Every vein in her side started slowly shifting, slipping back together again and merging back into normal. Oh. At the same time, I saw the swelling start to actually reduce as the bio-signals from her reported medication being released into the affected tissue. There really were nanites inside of her. They were repairing her side. "I h-hit you. Are you okay, Rainbow?!" I asked, unsure of what was going on and even less sure of what was going through her head. A very confused looking Sweetie Belle followed after me as I slowly walked towards the mare and hostile looking Apple Bloom. She stopped, and then looked up at me with a slightly incredulous stare. "Well, it hurts, and you hit like a train, but yeah. I've had way worse injuries from crashes. I kinda hit you first, regardless," she muttered, exhaling weakly and brushing her right forehoof down her leg. "Can we please stop attacking each other now?" Scootaloo asked hesitantly, standing between the two of us with her wings fanning out, apparently ready to move in case that was a no. Slowly walking up, I folded my armor deeper into the surface again, relaxing as the stiffness it caused rolled off my muscles. "I'm sorry, Rainbow. I didn't mean to hit you. I just got mad," I murmured, looking down at her when I finally got within a meter or so. Apple Bloom looked less than understanding of the situation, however. "This is stupid! Ah've half ah mind ta go get mah sister right now an' have her fix all this in an instant," she growled, followed up with, "You've done nothin' but hound Mender an' cause all sorts o' problems fer him all week, an' now he's bleedin'!" The last part shot up in octave as her eyes widened, looking back to me. Huh? Oh, the lip. I lightly licked at the cut, tasted that oh so familiar metallic taste along my tongue, and sighed. It had run down my chin at this point, and about halfway down my neck in a red line. Rainbow's eyes bugged out, but I just shook my head towards her, wincing at the sudden yelp from the tiny unicorn next to me. "It's just a nick. Nothing major, really. I'll have it repaired in a minute or so," I assured, pretty much pointlessly, I decided. Sweetie Belle had already entered freak out mode, and galloped back towards our basket, grabbing some of the napkins we were going to use for lunch and running back with them. "This will help the bleeding stop!" she yelped, neatly folding the napkin and pushing the flat of it onto the cut. Sighing, I just smiled down at her and nodded, letting her do her thing if it made her feel better. "Please don't tell AJ. Um, I won't bug Mender again this vacation. I'm really sorry," Rainbow muttered, looking rather glum as she sat there in the sand. Apple Bloom, having migrated a little closer to me after the discovery of my superficial injury, shot a glare back over at her in a heartbeat. "Ya should be sorry! Just tell Sis about yer feelin's an' get it over with! Stewing over it like this can't be ah good thing," she oh so wisely pointed out. Well, it was extremely obvious that it wasn't a good thing, though. I noticed I started to use myself as a measuring stick of how skilled a pony was at observations. If they noticed more than I did, that at least put them beyond a blind and deaf pony who was actively distracted by a hive of bees landing on their head, anyway. Okay, it couldn't hurt to get a few more example thresholds in there. "I pick the worst times to go to sleep..." Spike muttered, finally walking up and sitting down next to Apple Bloom while giving me a questioning stare. Rainbow frowned and started to open her mouth again, doubt slipping down the link rather readily, when Tank drifted in and ever so lightly, almost lovingly in fact, skipped off her head. She blinked under the rocking sensation, and then smiled weakly as the tortoise landed next to her. I held my hoof up to Apple Bloom, however, shaking my head. Talking when an inexperienced unicorn used magic to push a wad of paper onto your mouth was tricky, I had discovered. "Just leave her be about it. She has a plan to confess after the race coming up, either publicly or in private later. She just has to steel herself for that point," I finally managed to say, almost getting the napkin shoved up my nose as Sweetie tried to keep up with my mouth moving. Her level of movement overcompensation was impressive. Rainbow stared at me for a moment before frowning and giving a slow but determined nod of her head. "Yeah. I promise to tell her then. I have to! You're right, I can't keep doing this. Freaking out is so uncool," she groaned, wracking her forehead with her left forehoof. Tank slowly edged his head forwards and gave her a soft nuzzle to her other foreleg, and I smiled at the two of them. "Then that's all you need to focus on. It's partially my problem, too, obviously, so I'll help you talk to them and explain things if you'd like. But before you can even begin that, you need to tell Applejack," I pointed out. Blatantly telling the farm mare that Rainbow had a problem because she wanted to have both of them join 'my' herd would be amazingly confusing for her if we reversed the order involved! Rainbow apparently realized as much and smirked at me, nodding. I relaxed a little, pleased to see happiness on the mare's face again. Well, happiness that didn't revolve around her punching me repeatedly in the face. Could you punch with a hoof? Or were they all called kicks? Bucking, maybe? "Yeah, having your help to explain things would really help. I doubt it'll work anyway, because you're right. I don't have feelings for Fluttershy and Twilight like you do. Just you, which isn't really what a herd should represent. I just don't know what to do about it, and I so don't want to hurt anypony's feelings!" she elaborated, relaxing a little and going into thought. Sweetie Belle relaxed a little as well after the bleeding stopped and withdrew the napkin, gently folding over the red spot. I watched her for a second before smiling and extending my right foreleg across the other side of her. Her eyes widened as I gently pulled her over in front of me and gave her a soft hug from behind. "I understand. We'll cross that bridge after you talk to Applejack, of course. Patience, Rainbow. I'll also need to talk to Twilight and Fluttershy about Sweetie as well," I listed, building the mental checklist even as I talked. Sweetie tilted her head back and smiled up at me with a soft blush on her cheeks. I nodded and smiled back, giving her a light squeeze and rubbing her shoulder with my forehoof. She looked beyond content, closing her eyes and just resting her cheek against my leg, letting herself be hugged. I still didn't know how exactly to consider her. She was too young for me to think of her like an eligible mare, and too old for me to consider her a foal or daughter. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were more like little sisters to me, but I didn't feel that with Sweetie Belle, either. It was rather confusing. Rainbow looked just as overwhelmed, really, and I suddenly realized that we were rather similar in problems. She was supposed to be an embodiment of loyalty itself, but now she was struggling with being loyal to her friends and being happy. She'd have to hurt somepony she cared for if she wanted to be with both of us. Potentially, it would end even worse and Applejack wouldn't forgive her for it. I was torn as well. I'd never assumed she was interested in me, just keeping the fact that she was more than a little attractive to myself, harmlessly. I was perfectly fine with Twilight and Fluttershy! Hell, more than fine. Shocked and equally delighted to be a part of such a loving herd, if they'd have me. Then my very thoughts betrayed me and strayed, deciding that wanting Rainbow, too, was totally fine. I sickened myself, but the damage had been done already and I absolutely had to explain things to Twilight and Fluttershy. I wondered idly if Rainbow was as torn up as me, or if she was more the type to hide it even from herself? The cyan mare looked curiously over at Apple Bloom instead, however. Her eyes traced the runes that shimmered along the filly's legs, and I raised an eyebrow towards her. "Oh, idea! Seeing as you gave them all enchantments, too, how about we all practice with them?" Rainbow offered suddenly, completely and totally off topic. Yup, definitely one of the 'hide it from herself' types, of the distraction variety, I noticed. "Hey, ya didn't get forgiven yet!" Apple Bloom cut in, shifting back to an annoyed glare. Spike lightly raised his claw up, drawing my attention over to him as I sighed. "Uh, yeah. Still no clue what's going on," he reminded weakly. Yup, this was going to be a long day... Again... 2013 Hearth's Warming ShortAuthor's Note As for how this relates to the rest of the story, I have no idea! Where it's positioned in the timeline, or even if all or any of it is canon is hard to say. Heee. Just enjoy it as is. Happy Hearth's Warming! -Kiro 2013 Hearth's Warming Short “Are you sure you’re okay with all those?” Twilight asked yet again, walking slowly alongside me through the light snow. I shivered and nodded, tucking my scarf a little closer as she brushed up against me for warmth, smiling now. “Of course, Twi. At least they’re good for something, right?” I teased, peeking back at my own back as we walked. They were smaller, but a good two dozen tentacles extended off my back, holding various wrapped gifts and presents. Fluttershy shifted up and around them, making sure each of the presents were secure and stable, looking a little concerned as well. Mares… Sheesh. Twilight smirked, and I saw it coming of course. “Oh, they’re good for lots, lots more than that,” she admitted, pushing particularly close to me and kissing my cheek. I blushed lightly and shook my head. Mares. Mmm. Yeah, wouldn’t give up either of them for the world. “Um, everything looks stable up here. We’re just bringing them to the library, right?” Fluttershy asked softly, drifting down on my other side and glancing at us. She got a confused look when she noticed my blush, but Twilight just nodded and smiled. “Yup. Everypony should be there already. But I suppose tactfully late in order to pick up more gifts is acceptable,” the lavender mare muttered, frowning to herself for a moment. Recovering from my flush, I smiled and returned a wave from Noteworthy as we walked past before shaking my head to Twilight. “We didn’t know your parents were coming, so don’t be hard on yourself,” I reminded, focusing my vision in front of me instead as we neared the other edge of the square. I always had to be careful around the edges, as that’s where the most activity took place, and my probability of tripping over something skyrocketed. The whole square was decorated festively at this point, with Hearth’s Warming being tomorrow. A celebration was being held at the library by Pinkie of course, for all our Ponyville friends, and then we were heading to Canterlot to celebrate with Twilight’s and Rarity’s parents, Tia, and Lulu. Or, well, that had been the plan as of two hours ago. Not so much now. “Yes, but did all of them have to come?! I know they didn’t want us to travel but… come on!” Twilight finally yelped, slowly shifting into her ‘freak out’ mode, I noticed, before continuing with, “I mean, what do you even get an Alicorn Princess?! How am I supposed to shop for them?!” Sighing, I kissed her behind the ear suddenly, snapping her out of the deranged look and earning a blush as she looked quickly back to me. Heh. That spot always got her. “Calm down, Twilight. You’ll be fine. I think the best gift is simply being treated like normal and part of the family by us. Hence, we got them a normal gift?” I reminded, lowering the two presents we’d gotten for the sisters, one a light orange and the other a dark blue. For amusement, the dark blue one was for Tia, while Lulu got the orange. Yes, just to confuse them. “Whaaaa, am I late?!” I heard somepony shout, coming in fast from behind us as we reached the door. Twilight’s link registered the voice as Derpy before even I did, and I extended three more tentacles as I turned, barely catching the dive bombing mare, both of us crashing into the door behind me now. The presents all wobbled about, but I managed to keep them all balanced while cushioning Derpy’s fall. “Ow. Ah, thanks, Mender!” she chirped a moment later as I helped her up. Twilight perked, not missing a beat before nodding and adding, “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Derpy. I’m glad you could make it to the party.” Fluttershy nodded and smiled as well as she helped stabilize me again. Eh, at least the presents hadn’t fallen. Oh, wait. Carrot had warned me about that. I counted it. A second and a half was all it took that time. The door slammed open behind me, whacking me in the butt and knocking Twilight off the step in surprise. “Mender!” was shouted by five unique female voices at once. Oh hell. Sweetie Belle and Purdue led the charge with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Babs shortly behind them. I tried bracing for impact, but all five little fillies hit at once, knocking me completely off the step and sending us all flailing into the snowbank, presents flying every which way! Then, everything was tentacles as I caught every single gift and wrapped one around each filly in question, snickering as I pulled them closer. “These things ah so cool! I wish I’d met yoo yeaah’s ago!” Babs muttered, wiggling upside down as she batted at one of the tips. Sweetie just squeaked happily, hugging hers to her, and Purdue giggled, climbing up hers partially and hugging my shoulder. “I knew you’d catch them all, so no harm done, right?” the little blue filly asked, smirking at me. Brat! She could have told them that this was a bad idea… but no. Twilight shook her head and lifted all of us up with a lavender and crimson aura, floating us and bits of the snowbank inside. It was like a totally different place on the inside. Warmer air, happy lights, festive music, and a few dozen ponies greeted me. Yup, it was definitely one of Pinkie Pie’s parties. The mare herself shot past a second later, a happy grin on her face while doing a cartwheel, somehow managing to keep the Hearth’s Warming hat on her head at the same time. I’d long since stopped trying to figure out the pink mare, however. “Everypony made it! Ooooh, and you brought snow in with you! Awesome idea! We can have a snowball fight on the inside, now!” she announced, then quickly was lifted off her hooves by Twilight, who was just entering. “No, Pinkie. So much no. Throwing balls of condensed, frozen water around in a room full of carefully preserved books is a bad idea. So no. Go outside if you want to throw snowballs,” the lavender mare rapidly shot down, heading off the idea before it even started. “Aww!” Pinkie whined as Twilight set her down. I shifted my attention to Fluttershy as she gathered the presents, my tentacles supporting them still, into a neat pile with the others. Every time she’d get one adjusted, I’d slip the tentacle away from it when she gave a mental nod down the link, until I only had five tentacles left out, one for each filly. Derpy trotted past me in the meantime, not seeming to mind that she was covered in powdered snow, as Twilight started after her instead, several towels floating into the air from near the door entry. Well, never a dull moment, I guessed. I set all five fillies down as Fluttershy trotted back over to me, smiling. Well, three of them down, anyway, as Sweetie and Purdue refused to let go, as anticipated. “No damage. Thank you, Mender,” Fluttershy whispered, smiling and nuzzling closer to me, kissing my forehead and managing to squish the two fillies between us. Not that I was one to complain, and they certainly didn’t either. I just hugged her back, nuzzling the side of her neck and taking in the warm ambience of the room. It had been a while since I’d gotten to celebrate something, and I was determined to enjoy every moment of it while I could. “Welcome ta tha party, Fluttershy. Mender. Glad ya made it, as it would be pretty sad ta miss one at yer own house,” I heard Applejack chime in from my right a few seconds later. Looking in that direction, I saw both her and Rainbow approaching from the center of the congregation of ponies in the room. I smiled and nodded to each of them, noticing they both wore a rather festive hat, like most of the ponies in the room. Wait… Peeking up, I saw I had one too, and idly wondered when Pinkie had put it on me. No, in that line of thinking lies madness, so I just accepted it and looked back down again. “I’m glad you two made it as well. Having fun so far?” I inquired, already knowing the answer from Dash’s light flush. The cyan mare grinned however and licked her lips. “Heck yeah! For one, it’s a Pinkie Pie party! But then, AJ busted out her cider reserves and mixed it into the eggnog! Woo!” she cheered, earning a round of celebratory shouts behind her. I blinked, momentarily surprised by the outburst, and swore I heard Fluttershy mutter “Oh dear…” under her breathe. Recovering quickly, I snickered and shook my head. “Let me guess, some of it’s the hard stuff?” I inquired, attention shifting to the farm mare instead. Applejack smirked and winked of course. “O’ course! Labeled clearly on tha table, so tha youngsters don’t get inta it. It’s tha one towards tha back if ya want ah sample,” she relayed mirthfully. I rolled my eyes, knowing that she knew I couldn’t get drunk anyways. “Even without the hard stuff, it’s so good!” Rainbow squealed, shivering and squeezing her own chest as she swayed there. Her eyes flicked open again a second later and she grinned, sliding her gaze up and down me as well. “Mmm, although, I dunno. You look kinda good, too,” she admitted, angling a bit closer. And here we go. I knew it was only a matter of time before she started teasing me again. “Oh no ya don’t. Yer off target, Dashie,” Applejack muttered, snagging the cyan mare around the shoulders as she slid forwards, and spinning her around, capturing her muzzle with her own instead. Oh! Well, guess I didn’t have to worry about it right now, then. If she was upset, Rainbow certainly didn’t show it, melting against the orange mare as she got pulled tighter. Snickering, I grabbed the blushing Fluttershy, and all five gawking fillies, hauling everypony further into the room and around the edge of the groupings of ponies. Those two could have their own alone time. The happy talking, soft music, and warm lights really helped me relax as Fluttershy shifted into walking under her own power. My parade of fillies followed behind as well, with Scootaloo talking excitedly about how awesome it was that Apple Bloom and her were ‘kinda like sisters’ now. It was adorable, and I didn’t have the heart to point out that their sisters, adopted or not, technically weren’t married yet. Although given how stubborn both were, I doubted it was anything short of an inevitability, as they weren’t going to give up on each other anytime soon, if ever. Finally, we got around to the other end of the room where I’d spotted my friends talking, moving around two more groups of ponies, and three very drunk flower mares trying to dance together. Good grief. Hadn’t the party only started twenty minutes ago?! Vinyl sat in the sofa next to Octavia, looking less than pleased while her friend sipped at some of the aforementioned eggnog. I gave her a questioning glance as we slipped past, and I hopped up onto the bigger couch next to them, angled to face the two sofas with a small tea table in-between. “Tavi pulled me away from the record player…” Vinyl finally muttered amidst her sulking. Octavia sighed and shook her head, elaborating with, “It’s a sixty year old masterpiece. This party doesn’t need that sort of music to liven it up and I’ll not have you destroying such a beautiful relic with your exuberance.” Oh, Twilight’s record player. “Oh, I could not agree more! It is truly a beautiful instrument. Why, I was the one that gave it to Twilight when she moved here, and it’s been in our family for decades,” Night Light spoke up, of course sitting on the side of the couch closest to Octavia’s spot. Velvet rolled her eyes next to him, but smirked over at us as we sat down, fillies piling around Fluttershy and I as we settled. As those two broke into a conversation about music players and Vinyl looked about ready to cry, Velvet turned to me instead and gave me a polite smile. “Why, good evening, Mender. It’s so good to see you again,” she greeted politely, followed by a very pleased looking nod towards Fluttershy as well. “Heh. You only saw me about an hour ago, Mom. Still, I’m glad to be back in where it’s warm,” I muttered, puffing my fur up a little as I sank against the warm couch. Velvet perked and shivered happily at my use of ‘Mom’ for her, like she did every time. Fluttershy grinned and snuggled into my left side, taking Purdue into her lap as well, as Sweetie clambered into mine instead. Babs and Apple Bloom stayed on the floor, now arguing over the semantics of calling somepony a ‘sister’ when it should be ‘sister-in-law’. Huh. Scootaloo hopped up onto the back of the couch instead over my head and relaxed, tucking up her legs and resting against the top of my head. Velvet shifted her attention to Fluttershy as well shortly afterwards. “I’m glad you’re both doing okay. Are you sure the cold isn’t too much for you, Dear? Do you need anything? You should try to take it easy in your condition, you know,” she spoke up. And here we go. Again… Fluttershy blushed and held her hoof up, rapidly shaking her head. “Oh, n-no, I’m fine. Um, it’s only been three months…” she whispered, looking away quickly. I smiled and nuzzled into her cheek as she hid behind me a little bit. The mare on the other side of me looked less than convinced however and shook her head. “I know, I know! It’s just exciting! And you have to take good care of yourself. You have to make sure she behaves as well, Mender! You are at least partially responsible, no?” she reminded. I guessed it was my turn to blush, as I coughed lightly and looked away from her. If Fluttershy was bothered by it, she didn’t show that time and instead hugged into my back instead, pushing Purdue into my hip as well. The little filly gave a squeak, and I smiled, rubbing her coppery mane with my left foreleg, while pulling Sweetie against my torso with my other. Sweetie smiled up at me, upside-down to me, but still happy. “I think it’s wonderful! Maybe, when I join the herd too, I’ll eventually get to have a little foal of my own with Mender!” she exclaimed. Okay, that time I coughed in surprise. “Ah, you’re way, way too young, Sweetie! Gah. Besides, we talked about this, remember?” I reminded, shooting her a skeptical glance instead. She pouted and sighed, crossing her forelegs before nodding ever so slightly. “I know, I know. You know I’m looking out for my future as well. Rarity told you all about that, I heard her. Even though it might mean I… I might have to be away from Ponyville for long periods of time, I still haven’t given up on being with you three either. At least let me have that,” she requested softly. Yes, that was spoken like a more mature mare. I smiled and nodded, feeling her relax and tuck her head under my chin. Of course, the way she acted sometimes with me left very little to be transitioned to if she did join the herd. Still, with her upcoming profession’s opportunities, we might want to hold off on that. “My little sister isn’t causing you any troubles now, is she? No poisons yet, right?” I heard eloquently asked from a familiar voice, behind me. Glancing back over the sofa and past the now preening Scootaloo, I saw Rarity calmly walking down the stairs in her Hearth’s Warming gown, looking very pretty indeed. A much wooed Spike followed after her, carefully lifting up the other end of her dress and keeping it off the stairs as she walked, making sure it stayed nice and clean. Sweetie gave out an annoyed groan, but I chuckled and shook my head. “Nope. She’s being a well behaved, extremely mature mare,” I corrected, catching her perk up and smile at me in my peripheral vision as I rotated around to note Rarity sitting down on the other side of Fluttershy. Spike carefully lifted her dress up onto the cushion behind her, smiling towards the pearly mare. “Why, Sweetie? Are we still talking about my sister?” she teased, looking amused at the filly, who shot her a glare back. It didn’t last however, and Rarity soon melted into a more pleased smile and nodded to her, causing her to relax again. “Spike, you don’t have to stay down there, of course. Hop up here,” the white unicorn suddenly spoke up, patting the cushion next to her. Spike perked and hopped up onto the cushion as well, needing no further convincing. There wasn’t really enough room between Rarity and Fluttershy for him, but the requesting mare pulled him a bit closer instead, squeezing him into her side as she relaxed. The little dragon looked like he’d died and gone to a particularly pleasant afterlife at that point, and I snickered. “Hello as well, Spike. I’d ask if you were enjoying the party, but…” I greeted, earning a snicker from both Sweetie and Velvet. “Oh, am I! O-Oh! Mender, uh, hey! We’re uh, cool about that little, um…” Spike suddenly spoke up, shifting to nervous instead. Snickering, I nodded to him before assuring, “Prudentia is an extremely powerful artifact. Sneezing on her, even if your sneezes involve fire, isn’t going to harm her.” Purdue shot me a mildly annoyed glare a second later, followed by, “It was disgusting, still! Burning and highly magical snot is still snot!” Spike deflated, and I gave a light glare to the little filly, who sighed and shrank back a bit. “I… yeah. Okay, it was fine. Besides, the book cleans itself automatically so, eh…” she muttered, turning back to Spike. “I’m sorry, Purdue. I said that…” he apologized, ear fins wiggling as the little filly shook her head. “No, it’s okay, Spike. I know you didn’t mean to,” she accepted finally, giving the dragon a hug. Rarity smiled as well and nodded, patting them both on the head. Woo. Another social disaster averted! I was never going to get used to this… * * * * * The party was dwindling down now, ponies leaving here and there to be with family in private. Some to be with ‘family’ in ‘private’. And even a few more being dragged out, very much unconscious at that point. Regardless, it was just me now, alongside my extended ‘family’ of amazing friends. The wonderful mares that were Element Bearers, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, and Big Mac. Cheerilee had gotten horribly sick about an hour in and he was kind enough to escort her back to her house anyways. It was a little weird that it had taken an hour and a half for him to get back, but meh. I wasn’t going to ask. Now we all rested around the fire, myself tucked down right next to it, with Fluttershy curled up against my chest as I held her. Pinkie rested to my other side in a surprisingly unenergetic manner, looking tired as she watched the flames flicker back and forth. Twilight and Rarity sat talking on the sofa, softly discussing the practical application of a new magic spell Twilight had made involving changing the colors of fabrics on the fly. Spike snored lightly next to Rarity. Rainbow, on the other hoof, snored loudly on the sofa on the other side of me, an amusing looking Applejack holding her close. I heard mention of a bet involving eggnog consumption, and could only assume from there. Sweetie sang softly next to the fire, a gentle sound that had her three other Crusaders enraptured as they swayed along to her voice. It was a happy song, light-hearted and very much feeling like Hearth’s Warming, despite there being no words. Lastly, Big Mac lay across from them, also close to the fire to warm up after he got back. He smiled however as he watched the four, looking relaxed. It reminded me of so long ago, when we all had relaxed by the fire after getting drenched in the rain. Spending time with those we loved was what Hearth’s Warming was really about. I pulled Fluttershy close, kissing the top of her head warmly and feeling her coo, snuggling a bit tighter against my chest. Yeah, that’s what was the most special to me now. Silently, I hoped that everypony, no matter where they were, was having an amazing Hearth’s Warming as well, also celebrating it with their loved ones. Even if they called it something else… Even if they found themselves alone… Deep down, I extended my heart out in silent hoping that they knew, at the very least, one soul was thinking about them all. Fluttershy silently agreed, feeling my intent and sending her love alongside it through my heart, and I smiled softly. It was nice to have a relaxing evening, regardless. Maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay and this would be a nice holiday… Wait, Carrot had said something about that whole ‘tempting fate’ thing… Eh, what could possibly go wrong in the mere hour we had left to the day? * * * * * “How did this happen again?!” I screamed out over the roar of battle, another massive giant of ice and snow crashing to the ground at my hooves, my tentacles tearing half its torso off. Twilight’s magic screamed through the night, a massive beam cutting three of them in half as sixteen full levels of my enchantment came off her horn, her eyes radiating white as she landed again next to me. “The mayor, being greedy, and stealing an ancient artifact from a long forgotten tribe of snow monsters!” Twilight yelled out, pushing us both aside as the one I’d sliced open grew back together and lashed out at us. “They look like giant snowmen to me!” Pinkie cheered, hopping sixteen feet in the air past us and whipping into a tight spin with her legs, the disk blades of light flaring out from each hoof as she went and slicing the offending arm from the creature that it used to attack. It looked momentarily surprised before she landed on its still reforming shoulder, smiled happily at it, and then flicked away again, slicing its head into three pieces as she left. I chuckled at her energy and nodded, bursting forwards again. Timing it right, I hopped over two more leading blasts from Twilight, which clipped the next monster off at the knees, then drove into its chest as I felt four hooves land lightly on my back. Clicking, I signaled to her, and Sweetie leapt off me, slicing the now downed snowman’s head off with her horn’s blazing light extension, rolling to a stop on the other side of it. As expected, its closest ally raged and charged towards us. I raised my hoof and gestured twice before bringing it down towards the creature as it ran. Perfect. Forward momentum. A filly shot past me on both sides, far faster than they should normally be able to run, and I instantly realized that he threw them. Babs and Apple Bloom, both radiating their own inner light from the runes covering them, smashed into a knee each with all four hooves first, snapping the creature’s legs off as it screamed, falling forwards. I ducked as Big Mac leapt over me, sporting his own burning green runes as he bound forwards, meeting the thing as it fell. It never stopped shocking me how absolutely terrifying he was, as he grunted out, smashing through the creature’s back as its entire chest shattered away from the force of the large stallion’s impact. Three titans temporarily down. That left the smaller ones to the town guard, and two more titans to deal with before we could retrieve the star from the top of the Hearth’s Warming tree and catapult it back into the mountains. Let them find it themselves in there somewhere! I’d thought the new ornament looked kinda weird, with its rotating tips and lines of eldritch light drifting out of it and glowing everywhere. Eh. I gave a light click, then a whistle as I booked it towards the next titan, tentacles extending and flinging me into the air. Scootaloo shot past at my signal an instant later, grabbing my extended tentacle loop above me and flinging me hard towards the creature. Rainbow shot past even faster at the whistle, her massive wings flaring with light easily four times her own body size as she zipped in, releasing Applejack from her grip as she went. I hit first, just as the creature turned, realizing its allies weren’t on the offensive on that side of town anymore. Three tentacles tore into its chest, two more ripped its arms off, and I saved the big one to send its head flying, my pure mass easily overwhelming it as I expanded myself slightly. Applejack hit the other one half a second later, letting out a scream of rage as she brought her massive, armored hooves down into the thing, caving its head in and crushing its torso down the middle before kicking off it, the force of her launching herself sending it into the ground in a crumpled heap. “Downed! Dust all five of them!” I shouted out, spinning as I hit the ground and barely managing to throw myself off the thing as the ribbons came in. On it, Dear!” I heard Rarity call out, the green and light blue glows dancing along the ribbons as they flicked around the battlefield like demented puppets, glittering in the dark. While quite pretty, I knew their true form. A few thousand razorblades attached to dozens of wires, the energy and cutting power of Spike’s claw lines mixed with the precision of Rarity’s magic. They found cracks and weak spots, and then sliced. Rarity trotted up while her focus reduced the five titans to nothing more than volleyball sized chunks, Spike still riding on her back with glowing green claws. “Fluttershy!” I tossed out next, noticing all the pieces start to glow purple instead. Every single chunk across the entire battlefield lit up as Twilight lifted them all. Several hundred tons of ice and snow, split into thousands of pieces, and she was still managing to raise them all up. It was moments like these that I realized how scary the mare was. Fluttershy shot up in the back, her wings expanding in yellow glow, soft and warm like the sun. Her lines weren’t harsh or sharp looking like Rainbow’s, but extended like a butterfly as she expanded her wings. She also wasn’t fast at all, but had something else entirely different. Then she flapped. One massive rush as the wings expanded together, with the surface area of a creature a thousand times her size. The wind blast had us all hunkering down just to stay rooted to the ground as snow and ice blasted away. The entire cluster of chunks were sent flying off into the mountains faster than the eye could see, however. Shaking the loose snow off, I stood up again and sighed, watching the titans trying to reform before they disappeared into the mountain range, undoubtedly smashing into more pieces. Heh, it would be a while before they were back. And by then… “Happy Hearth’s Warming!” Rainbow shouted after them before bursting into amused laughter above us. I smirked up at her, and she grinned back. Happy Hearth’s Warming indeed. “And to all, a good night!” Pinkie chipped in before slicing the ancient star off the top of the tree in the middle of the square with her left forehoof. Applejack smirked and hauled up her cannon, looking amused. Hopefully it would be a good night now. But I was done tempting fate, I decided, as Rainbow shot in and threw the star, and the top of the tree, into the massive, floating cannon as its firing anchors shot out into the ground. “Good night indeed, ya varmints!” Applejack agreed, charging the cannon up with her energy before firing the star directly at the mountainside, the explosion of light brightening the entire town up, like a secondary sun expanding on the horizon. Err… Twilight just sighed and rubbed at her temples with her hooves. “Oops…” Applejack muttered weakly, swallowing as we watched the heated cloud of flames expand up into the sky. What had I told her about firing strange ammunition out of that thing?! You’d think she’d have learned her lesson after the last time. “Uh… let’s just tell them that it was a fireworks accident gone wrong and call it a night…” I groaned, sighing and slumping as I watched. Yeah, I wasn’t even going to mention fate from now on… Wait… Damn it! * * * * * It was well into the night now, with all townsfolk accounted for and only minimal property damage. Well then, I guess it was all in a good day’s work. Well, night’s work. Eh. The seven meter tall ice and snow monstrosities stopped coming once we got rid of the five big ones, and shot their stupid star back. The mayor didn’t exactly like my report that I’d used her expensive and shiny star she’d bartered for as ammunition, but after I mentioned that it was what drew all the creatures, she dropped the matter entirely. And this is why you don’t try to barter with strange looking ponies wearing all black with large robes on. There’s usually a reason they want to stay anonymous. All of us slowly headed back to the library, our friends having left their stuff in there anyways when the first ice meteor came in and smashed the fountain. I couldn’t speak for them, but I was a bit sore, and had a few bruises here and there, alongside a nick across my forehead. Given how they looked and walked, I’d say the others were pretty much feeling the same. Well, except for Fluttershy, as I intentionally didn’t let her fight. Not that was too hard. The light was on when we got back, oddly. Eh? We’d just left it off as the fireplace was going. Twilight frowned as well, then walked in first, ears perked up. I readied my armor and weapons, just in case more of the smaller ones had somehow gotten inside. None of us were expecting what we did find, however. “Bu… I… what?! Where did you two go?! You said you were going to get more ‘cider’ for the party from the royal reserves, then never came back!” Twilight yelped as we came to a stop. Lulu sat on the sofa, politely sipping tea, and Tia was across from her, eating cake on the couch I had inhabited earlier. Oh yeah, they had been there before we left for the presents, and gone when we’d gotten back… with their presents… “Oh, we did. It’s right here, of course,” Tia explained, sliding two massive barrels over towards us with her magic. Two? I noticed they were different types. Luna sighed and shook her head, setting her tea down. “My sister here seemed to think our aged Apple Family Reserves was the finest cider we had. I might have disagreed, instead requesting some imported Draconic Firetree cider. My sister refused, and we wasted much time in debate about it,” she explained. I stared blankly at them. What? “No guards were injured during our disagreement,” Tia quickly assured. Wait, was that even needed to be said?! “Regardless, in the end, we brought both. So now, Mender gets to decide. I’m not entirely sure anypony else could drink the Draconic cider without blood filters,” Luna finished, gesturing towards me. I could have sworn I saw Twilight twitch. Rainbow flopped down tiredly on the other side of me, giving out a weak groan, while Applejack just slapped her forehead. “Uh, so ya were arguin’ about cider tha whole time we were battlin’ with tha giant ice thingies that attacked?” she asked in disbelief. True. You’d think they’d have known about that, seeing as a hundred and twenty their royal guard helped push back the invaders. Even though they reported to me, I’d imagine they still gave information to the two Princesses. “Oh, of course not. We came back towards the start of the fight, then rushed when we heard combat. Of course, everypony was doing admirably, and it didn’t look like you needed aid,” Tia assured. I stared in blank shock at her, feeling a spasm go through my left eye. Seriously? Lulu nodded pleasantly and picked up her tea again, adding, “Quite. It was wonderful exercise, too.” They were screwing with me, weren’t they? “Worry not, we at least kept the southern flank busy while you settled the disagreement,” Tia added, taking another slice of the Hearth’s Warming cake for herself. She paused for a second, then smiled warmly back towards us. “This is wonderful cake, by the way,” she complimented after another moment. Please, just let me pass out now… “Oh, thank you!” Pinkie chirped, sounding as if she had just woken up. Whatever demonic or eldritch energy fueled that pony, I wanted it… Twilight ceased responding, letting out a series of low groans as I watched her expression contort into mental ticks. Hmm. Actually, she sometimes sounded like that when… uh… no, stay focused, brain! I shook my head and sighed before asking, “Southern front? There wasn’t… But none of the monsters came from the Southern front…” “Does that mean we did a good job?” Lulu asked, smiling politely up at me while Tia started snickering uncontrollably, blushing. Was… Was she drunk? Okay, I just had to confirm this for myself. I didn’t care at this point. Turning, I looked up and mentally whistled lightly. “Hey, Keela, are you awake yet?” I reverberated through my mind. “Huh? Oh, yeah, of course. I was having breakfa-“ she started to relay, before squeaking suddenly and frantically continuing with, “Oh, oh no! I was supposed to come to your party and I totally forgot to set my alarm and-“ “No, that’s okay, Keela. Could you bring a satellite scan of Southern Ponyville, and then warp in here?” I requested gently, interrupting her. Rarity finally spoke up in my absence of talking, Spike sliding off her back as she cantered around the group. “Not to sound unthankful, but isn’t the party well, over now? This lovely cider is all going to have to be brought back and-“ she started to point out. “Never! We’re partying again tomorrow!” Pinkie adamantly declared, with no room whatsoever for disagreement. Oh, okay! A flickering distortion appeared, and Keela faded into the room a few seconds later, cup of coffee still in hand and yawning as she slid the pictures over to me. “Whoa, wild party, huh?” she asked, blinking as she looked past us and out the door, watching two guards trying to put a fire out on a wagon. I couldn’t bring myself to answer, my jaw dropped as I stared blankly at the pictures. Three kilometers to the south of Ponyville, in the fields before the forest, lay a scene of utter destruction. Ice titan chunks lay everywhere, amidst massive gouges sliced into the rock and earth alike. The destruction spanned almost a kilometer, all the way to the edge of the forest. It even looked like a couple of the titans had tried to drag themselves and their broken bodies away, only to be violently obliterated by high impacts to the head and back by something that blackened the very ice they were made out of. Some of the remains even looked like they’d been… played with or something. One was put back together again upside down and dressed up like a snowpony! Why?! I looked up in horror at the two princesses, but Tia just smiled back over at me. “Mmm, this is really good cake!” Chapter 54"Okay, and remember, if you start to get tired, it's perfectly fine to take a break," I repeated again for the third time. Rainbow would disregard it, of course. Scootaloo further looked like she was more ecstatic for training with aforementioned mare than actually listening. At least the other three were paying attention and nodded in understanding, even if Sweetie might have been paying a bit too much attention. All four ponies and dragon were lined up nicely along the shore of the lake, and I paced slowly in front of them. "We get that much, Mender. Can we just start now?" Rainbow asked, rocking back and forth on her hooves impatiently as if she had to use the bathroom really badly. I rolled my eyes and dropped my head, defeated. "If you wear yourself out to the point of exhaustion again, I'm launching you into the lake. If you're lucky, I'll even use the regeneration technique on you first," I warned her, glaring upwards as she grinned towards me. "Eh, more work for you having to fish me out all soggy-like, but okay! Race ya to unconsciousness, Scoots!" she announced. What?! Scootaloo grinned and nodded, flaring out her wings at the same instant that Rainbow did, both expanding three levels instantly. The little filly's eyes widened as Rainbow's kept going, however, extending out an additional two extensions past hers. "Whoa! You can get five?!" she asked in surprise. Okay, yeah. They weren't serious. Rolling my eyes, I just walked back to the other three, ignoring the excited discussion opening up behind me. Apple Bloom was already focusing intently, glowing runes expanding across her skin like armor as her legs in particular started to flare up with light. I smiled towards her as the ground started to shiver, realizing she already knew the basics and was following instructions. Stepping past her, I noticed Spike already focusing on the water in front of him, his arms raised out horizontally with the ground and his claws extended out. The lines of energy drifted easily from each sharp point, lightly stirring the water as he focused. Slowly, he closed his claws back up into a fist and frowned, two orbs starting to rise gently out of the water, lightly webbed with green and purple light. I was glad to see my experiment was successful on that end! Dragons had energy inside, just like ponies, and he was able to manipulate them similarly. It got me wondering about other races in Equestria, and how much magic they possessed. Dragons and Ponies at least appeared to inherently create their own magic, so much so that it literally leaked out into everything. Equestria was absolutely flooded with magic, and I wondered where it all came from. Surely it had to come from somewhere, right? Moving behind him so I didn't disrupt his focus, I turned and rounded the other side of the line to peek at Sweetie Belle as well. That, well, wasn't going so hot. I double-checked my enchantment, but noted that it was actually exactly the same tension values as Spike's, who had never really used his magic before, as far as I knew. Sweetie was fighting like crazy, however, to even expand past the first layer, and looked beyond frustrated. "This... It's just not working!" she whined, a few sparks shooting off the tip of the energy construction as her attention wavered. Hmm. "I'm not familiar with unicorn magic, obviously, but maybe it would help if I took a peek at what you were doing with your magic when trying to channel it?" I offered, not entirely sure what I could do to help her. She tilted her head curiously at me, but nodded a moment later. "You can do that?" she asked gently. "Yeah. I'm just going to lightly toss a couple magical probes into you and see what's going on with your energy lines while you focus. Just a second," I requested, starting the basic-most probe spell, the runes forming in my mind as I held my hoof up. Calculation and energy was bestowed a moment later, and I nodded, firing three tiny little strings of magic into her shoulder. She looked confused more than anything, but just stood there as I slipped the lines of energy into her own flows and traced them in various directions. She probably didn't even feel them due to the small amounts of energy there. I nodded to her a second later, and she looked back at the lake, giving a short nod in return before her horn lit up again and she squished her eyes shut in rather intense focus. I raised an eyebrow as her entire system went rigid with tension and pressurized, forming a sort of percolating effect. It was beyond weird as her magic just sort of 'bubbled' up under the pressure and leaked out of her horn into the effect she wanted. That was totally different from Twilight. Hers was kinda like a high-pressure tsunami directed through a fire hose. Intimidating to say the least when the 'end' of that hose was pushed into my forehead when I was watching it. "I think I see the problem. You're not really doing anything with your energy directly. Has anypony ever taught you how to use it?" I asked, trying to remember back to the culture books I'd read in the hospital. "No. Rarity's too busy most of the time for private lessons, and I'm too young for the official unicorn magic training yet," she explained, eyes softening a little as she looked down. A pang of sympathy shot through me and I smiled, lightly rubbing the top of her head. "Well, cheer up. Admittedly, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll try my best to give you lessons myself! I only know how I use my own magic, though, which I'm told is quite a bit different than what a unicorn does," I warned. Her eyes lit up and she looked back up at me with a tiny smile, nodding and blushing a moment later. "Please! Thank you, Mender!" she squeaked out after recovering for a moment. Chuckling, I nodded to her before asking, "Okay, let's try a few things. How do you normally start 'channeling' your magic to make it work? What do you focus on and how does it feel?" That would be a good start for comparison's sake, anyway. "Well, I just kinda try to stir it up inside and make it move around while I focus on what I want to do," she explained hesitantly, looking back over at me as I sat down next to her. Direction was her problem, then. "I see. I'm thinking I know where to start now, then," I returned, lightly closing my eyes. My magic leaked out of me from all sides as I pushed it to the surface and held it there, hearing a light squeak of surprise from the filly next to me. I just relaxed as the glow danced around me, shapeless and doing absolutely nothing, apart from turning me into an oddly shaped lamp. Slowly, I opened my eyes again and held up my left hoof, looking at it. "Shaking my magic up, I'll try to create an orb of light in my hoof," I explained, focusing on starting to ruffle up my magic without direction. It was pointless, of course, but I activated the spell anyway. It 'bubbled' there, for lack of better words, and slowly splashed up and about, weakly powering a flickering orb of light on my hoof. Sweetie frowned as she watched the flow of energy all around me shake about, probably noticing how similar it looked from what she had just done. "The easiest way to naturally understand channeling is to picture a river. The gentle bubbling flow as it drifts through you and cycles around endlessly," I explained gently, feeling the shaking stop and the light start to slip back into a flowing motion, following my natural mana links along my body. Her eyes widened as she watched curiously, and I smiled towards her. "This is what your body naturally looks like. Frothing your energy up inside of you might get a little to the surface, but it lacks direction, as you saw. So feel the river, the flow, inside of you and listen to it," I explained, closing my eyes again. It circled endlessly, like life itself. It was all mine, and the pool ran a lot deeper than it had even a week ago. I was growing stronger again, and it felt amazing. My eyes opened up again, alight with an amber glow instead, my natural eye color. The flow in my left hoof gradually shifted, ebbing forwards until it touched along my hoof. The energy flowed into my carefully constructed magical weave, and the orb of light formed almost instantly as I willed it. Normally it wasn't visible, of course, but the lights I'd stuck along my fur kept flowing with every drift of energy inside of me, and Sweetie saw it all. Her eyes were huge now as she stared at the little orb in front of me as it drifted free as programmed. "My magic isn't spontaneous. I need careful focus and calculation to use it. Unicorn magic is formed instead by 'aura', or an exercise of will over the energy itself. That's how Twilight explained it, anyway. Your magic is far faster than mine, and can grow quickly past any bounds you need for it. My strength is in stamina and conservation, using far less energy to do the same thing," I explained, letting the magic sink back inside of me. The orb broke apart a second later and was reabsorbed into my body as I released the framework. Of course, there was another reason I had given her this talk, showing her instead of having her try it. Watching me for a minute or so had stabilized her own flow again inside of her, I noticed through my little energy probes. She had relaxed now, which would make trying it easier. "Give it a shot. Just close your eyes and try to feel that perpetual flow inside of you. I'll put a little more energy into my probes so you can feel them moving around, too, and make it easier," I explained. Sweetie did as instructed and closed her eyes again, this time not shaking her entire system up instantly. My probes flared up like little dancing beacons along her system, and she shivered lightly as I felt her suddenly become aware of them. I smiled and just let them drift inside of her as I leaned closer. "Ebb and flow, Sweetie. It's a river constantly going in a soft circle. I know you can feel it, even as it dances past the base of your horn. You can see it now in your mind, right?" I asked quietly, trying to drown out the sound of Rainbow's 'advice' to Scootaloo a couple meters away. I wasn’t entirely sure ‘throwing yourself at the ground and missing’ was legit flying advice, but she was the expert, I guess. The small unicorn didn't seem to even hear them as she just nodded, and I suddenly 'felt' all of her focus on only me as she sat there with her eyes closed. She was aware of me, too, having felt back up the links through the probes, I noticed. Heh, fast learner. "Then just try to light up the tip of your horn. A soft, green light. Feel the color and flow as you lightly push it upwards on your forehead to touch the bottom of the horn inside your mind," I explained, keeping my voice low and calm for her. Her magic was green, so that would give her the easiest time with it. Slowly, almost cautiously, I saw the flow point in her forehead reach out with a line of energy as she exhaled quietly, an airy sigh as it brushed into her horn. She gave a start as it danced along the length of the extension suddenly, then smiled as she felt the light flare up instantly, giving a soft green tint to the sand under her. Her eyes opened and she looked up at the tip of her horn in surprise, staring at the glow as her eyes shivered, a smile forming on her muzzle. "That, Sweetie. That's how you channel magic as a unicorn. Pretty soon, it'll be like second nature to do it, I'm sure. Then you can do more complex stuff like-" I started to explain, grinning at the little filly. She interrupted me with a violent pounce to the chest, hugging me tight around as much of my torso as she could manage. "Thank you, Mender! Thank you, thank you! This is amazing! I've been doing it wrong this whole time!" she squeaked out, sliding back down and grinning up at me. A little surprised, I recovered quickly and nodded down to her, adding a wink as I reactivated her enchantment. That was probably one of the stupider things I've done so far, of course. The horn extension expanded off her forehead two sections instantly, putting it barely a sixth of a meter from my face before the magic caught up. A minute and a half later, I was still curled on the ground and holding my eyes, the bright dots still showing on the insides of my eyelids from the massive flare of light. Okay, that was idiotic! "Aaah, I'm still sorry, Mender!" Sweetie squeaked out from somewhere in front of me. Apple Bloom's hooves lightly rubbed my back from behind, and she snickered again in amusement. "As I said, that was kinda totally my fault. You didn't do anything, Sweetie," I groaned, finally starting to feel the wetness coming back to my eyes. It figured that it would generate heat, too. "Admittedly, it was kinda stupid," Rainbow added a second later, followed by a snicker. "Dash!" I heard Scootaloo yelp, apparently still a little on my side, even with her all-time favorite pony right there. I couldn't help but start to chuckle as well and nod, agreeing with, "You got me there. Let's just activate the magnification enchantment while she's casting a light spell a meter from my face! I've... Well, I've definitely had better ideas." Was it good that even I found it funny? Rainbow started outright snickering at that, and I heard a warm laugh from Apple Bloom behind me as she ruffled the top of my mane. "Y-You really aren't mad, then?" Sweetie asked hesitantly, sounding like she shifted a little closer, but I couldn't tell without looking. "Of course I'm not. I'm proud of you for managing your first full spell!" I chirped, feeling enough wetness to finally open my eyes up again. A couple persistent spots and a grinning Sweetie Belle greeted me immediately, and she slid forwards and gave me a hug on the foreleg. "You really helped me with that magic you did! Being able to see it like that..." she cooed, nodding twice as she swayed there. Her horn was still activated, interestingly enough, but the light spell had long since been halted. She probably turned it off after the incident. Rainbow exhaled gently from behind her and snickered again, shaking her head slowly towards me before raising it and giving me a smirk. "Well, now that I know you're fine, it's back to practicing for me! I've got a race coming up and I need to show them how awesome I am!" she reminded. It didn't take much effort to see through that statement, and I returned her smirk. "Thanks for worrying about me, Dashie. I'll help you train extra hard today," I thanked, making sure to really lay it on thick with her nickname. I'd only ever heard Pinkie call her that, but it was cute, so... Her cheeks tinted furiously and she scowled at me, but Scootaloo started grinning as she watched. "Hey, she's not going to have any problem winning. This is just to make her look even more awesome! Then maybe AJ will call her Dashie, too?" the little filly suggested, giving a rather impish smile. Oh, wow! I started to laugh when the extremely red Rainbow Dash squeaked and pounced at Scootaloo, who squealed and took off to the side, blasting off over the lake with her wing jets. Rainbow was after her like a bolt of lightning from hell itself, and I once again found myself admiring the mare's pure feral speed as the lake exploded out in blasts of water, rainbow light distorting across the small shock waves formed. Huh. Well, that happened. We stared after them for a moment as everything went silent, and I sighed. "Uh, you guys can keep practicing. I guess I'll go see if they're still alive," I muttered. A small chorus of laughs sounded off behind me as I walked towards the water... * * * * * Despite almost a half dozen accidents and them almost killing each other with enchantment-enhanced showing off a couple of times, I'd say the training session had gone fairly well so far! Relaxing on the blanket, I idly lifted and took another bite of my sandwich with my right hoof, the faint glow keeping the tasty morsel attached. Sweetie was tucked into my right side, and Apple Bloom had taken residence a half a meter to my left while we ate. Rainbow laid herself out across from me, crashing hard after the practice and only sipping a bit of water until she cooled off, while Scootaloo compulsively tended to her every need, like a real, worrying sister. Now she was munching lightly while keeping Rainbow's water bottle and straw balanced upright with her right foreleg, tucked into the cyan mare's stomach. It was rather adorable and I found myself idly wishing I had a foal of my own to cuddle and spoil rotten. The thought caused me to blush lightly as I realized that might be ahead somewhere in the future. Still, the process of 'getting there' still felt amazingly foreign. Even though I cared for both of them, it was really hard to see either Fluttershy or Twilight in that sort of light. "This was an amazing idea," Spike chipped in a few quiet moments later. I peeked over at him in time to watch him devour the rest of his sandwich, giving me a pleased smirk afterwards. I chuckled, but nodded as well, deciding this picnic was far better than our last attempt. Nopony had even been poisoned yet! Apple Bloom perked up and nodded to the little dragon who was to her left, comfortably using Tank's shell as a table. Following his normal pattern, the tortoise just didn't seem to care. I was impressed at how little actually fazed him. "Ah packed it up mahself. Ah'm glad ya like it, Spike!" the yellow filly chirped, sounding pleased. I was just glad they'd made up and were friends again, it would seem. His grin widened and he started to look like he was suddenly going to say something when his eyes widened and he froze. I gave him a questioning glance, considering he was staring at me, and double-checked my proximity sensors and status. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, so I tilted my head towards him curiously. A few seconds later, his cheeks puffed up and his pupils shrank a little bit. I started to get concerned for his health when he suddenly opened his mouth and blasted flames right at me! My eyes extended to full size as I backed my face up, barriers flickering up to block the attack that never landed. The flames solidified into a scroll instead halfway between us, and the rolled up message skipped off my barrier, landing on top of the picnic basket in front of me. Oh! Oh hell. He really needed a warning system or something for that! I almost wet myself... Apple Bloom didn't look surprised in the slightest, but instead looked at the scroll in awe. "Ah message from tha Princess?!" she asked, looking impressed. The lightly snoozing Sweetie Belle perked on the other side of me and opened her left eye, curiously staring at it. "Uh, I'm not sure. There are only, like, five ponies that can send me messages. The three Princesses, Twilight, and Shining," Spike informed, leaning over to pick up the rolled up scroll. It must be a spell or something they used, then? Did all dragons function as a long distance communication method? I watched curiously as he broke the seal with his claw and unrolled it gently. A long minute passed in silence, as he seemed to almost be counting to himself for some reason. Tilting my head, I finally asked, "Uh, who's it from and what are you doing?" "It says it's from Princess Celestia, but it's got a summation number, and I'm checking to make sure there's the right number of words, paragraphs, lines, and spaces," he explained absently, his eyes moving incredibly quickly, to my surprise. I peeked at the number printed at the very bottom, noticing it was an unlabeled series of letters and numbers, seemingly at random. Fascinating! So, to make sure the letter hasn't been tampered with, they make a complex, manual checksum at the bottom. Could dragon delivery service be intercepted or something? Apparently that was a yes, if Tia went to this much trouble to safeguard against it. "Uh, what's all that mean, again?" Apple Bloom asked curiously, looking more than a little skeptical. "That code on the bottom somehow tells Spike how many of each of those to expect in the letter. If his count shows up differently, it might mean the letter has been tampered with before it arrived here. That transfer must be able to be intercepted, then?" I guessed idly. I wasn't really surprised when the filly perked up in understanding, seemingly able to grasp my explanation. Spike nodded again before finishing counting out the letter. "Yeah. Powerful magic can intercept a letter for a few seconds, which is enough to use a different spell to change what it says. This really is from Princess Celestia, however. Also, it's for Mender," he elaborated before smiling and extending the sheet towards me. Blinking lightly in confusion, I reached out and touched it with a hoof, my magic locking onto it as I lifted it over to where I was. What did she want with me again? Rapidly, I started silently reading the letter. "Hello again, Mender. I hope this letter finds you well," it started, giving me a nice, informal feel. Plus, it was always a good idea to hope for my health, both physical and mental. It continued with, "I wanted to inform you that the guest that you sent to us is proving most cooperative. As per your warning, we gave her prompt medical attention and treatment for her injury, although it wasn't severe in the least." That was good. I'd feel terrible if I'd given her, or through inaction, let her get a concussion or something. "What's the letter about?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously, interrupting my flow. "You should let him read it first," Scootaloo chastised lightly, giving the unicorn an amused stare. Sweetie shot an annoyed glare her way, but I held my hoof up and shook my head. "It's fine. It's talking about that mare I had to arrest and send to Canterlot. She appears to have made a full recovery and is cooperating with them," I explained, hopefully heading off any arguments. Rainbow's lips curled up into a smirk, proving she was still awake. "At least Tank didn't cream her too hard. Way more restraint than me! I would have bucked her through a tree for trying to blow you up," she muttered tiredly, but managing to open her left eye up to give me a mirthful glance. I chuckled before correcting, "Low density explosive. Plus, it was rock salt fragmentation, so her goal wasn't to blow me up so much as just stunning me. It didn't even make my barrier flinch, so don't worry." Her amused look only doubled, and I braced for a barbed retort, but it never came. Sweetie instead beat her to the punch. "I agree! She shouldn't be treated nice, at least, if only because she tried to hurt Mender!" the little filly growled, in an uncharacteristically menacing tone. I gave her a surprised glance but Spike started laughing, distracting me. "You would have gotten your wish had Mender not stopped Carrot! The mare would still be in critical otherwise," he chipped in, apparently finding it infinitely amusing. Heh. Critical? She'd be lucky if the berserking mare stopped short of putting her six feet under! Seriously short temper on that one. Possibly shorter than Rainbow's, but that was a tough call to make. Also, I wasn't about to run empirical testing on it. I wouldn't survive the process. "Works for me. She kicks almost as much flank as AJ, and that's saying something, considering she's not trained for it," Rainbow tossed in, adding a low whistle afterwards that was almost universal for respectful awe. It also amused me that they used 'flank' rather than 'rump' or 'haunch', which would be the butt of a pony. I chalked it on to some sort of cultural significance and made a note to ask somepony later, who wouldn't laugh hysterically at me. Shifting back down to the letter, I continued reading where I left off. "She's given us insight as to what is going on, and I have a solid hunch I know of what is behind the slander and magical attack against you. It's not good news, however, and I must hold off and inform you in-person upon your arrival in Canterlot. In the meantime, we continue looking into the matter on this end." Well, Tia being negative about something was definitely cause for alarm. I sighed and then widened my eyes a little at the final paragraph. "Lastly, I must alert you immediately of current information. She also informed us that she may not have been the only operative in your current area, and that there might be an additional issue to contend with. Be vigilant, and protect those around you as best you're able. Stay safe until we meet again," the last paragraph read. I stared at the letter for another moment before sighing and folding it up again. It distorted across its surface and was gone an instant later, falling into the wrinkle of space inside of me, instantly dropping inside my saddlebags, which were in the same spot. Sweetie watched curiously where it had been on my hoof for a second before I shook my head. "It was just detailing what she'd said so far and informing me that they're investigating more using her information," I explained, entirely honestly. There was no sense in telling them about potential danger that may or may not even still be here. Whoever was here before might have run after the mare had gotten arrested. I kept my proximity sensors on, however, just in case. Spike perked up and nodded at that, smiling towards me gently. "That's good that they're getting closer to finding the ponies responsible. They can't get away with this," he said, closing his eyes lightly as if intently focusing on his own words. "They won't. This whole thing'll probably be resolved before winter even hits! Ya got ah lot o' ponies supportin' ya now," Apple Bloom predicted, making me frown towards her. I really, really hoped she was right, but there was something that suddenly made me uneasy about the whole thing. For just a second, her smile matched up with the one in my mind, and I saw her as a little blue filly instead. It was gone before I even grasped it existed, and I was forced to look away. Remember. Remember what? Giggling snapped me out of my focus, sounding far off yet. My proximity sensors picked up the location instantly and started passive distortion scans towards it as my ears twitched, my head turning to look in that direction. Three levels of magnification to my eyes later, I saw four small foals coming down the road. Two I recognized almost instantly as Featherweight and Pinch from the other day. The other two were unknown, however. My focus shifted to the unknown two as the three fillies around me perked up and rotated to look at where I was staring. Same size, mane length, and tail length. Related, maybe? The gray one sported a mane of two slightly different shades of silver, looking surprisingly grayscale in comparison to most ponies. The pink one further had a two toned mane of purple and white, to my mild surprise. I guess white was a legitimate mane or tail color for ponies, regardless of age. Maybe to offset her distinct lack of color, the gray one also sported a rather expensive looking, and in my opinion, ugly pair of blue glasses. Well, at least they were practical, which couldn't be said about the small tiara the filly next to her sported. I decided I was channeling too much inner Rarity, and set aside the opinions so it didn't poison my first meeting with them. Oddly, Featherweight and Berry Pinch were sporting two rather sizable saddlebags apiece, and didn't exactly look pleased about the situation. Huh. "Eh? Four ponies are headed our way. Small, so foals maybe?" Scootaloo guessed, impressing me significantly with her eyesight. "Yeah, four foals. Two earth ponies, a pegasi, and a unicorn," Rainbow added, squinting a little and impressing me even more. Damn, she had to have at least double the standard pony's vision! No, probably more if she could pick out enough shape to see Berry's horn. I decided to not say anything, and simply turned back towards Dash instead, complimenting her with, "Nice vision, Dash. I only was able to hear them." A small lie, but watching her grin and puff up was so worth it. "A pegasus has to have good vision if they travel as fast as I do! Gotta see what's ahead of me at all times," she explained, with no light amount of bragging. Scootaloo sucked up every word as if it were the ultimate training manual, and then got a determined look in her eyes before nodding vigorously. Smiling, I nodded happily towards the two of them, and then raised an eyebrow to my left as Apple Bloom disappeared into my peripheral vision. I felt two small hooves set down on my back a moment later, and looked over my right shoulder instead in time to see her peeking in the direction of the foals as they got closer. My distortion scans were within range enough to pick up their different types now, so I figured she could probably see them fairly well. "Ah! Pinch an' Featherweight! Wait... Aww, no. Also, Diamond Tiara an' Silver Spoon," the yellow filly groaned out a moment later. Oh? I didn't know which was which until I glanced back at them again curiously, and noticed they sported Cutie Marks remarkably similar to their names. Weird. What would I be then, Heart Gear? I shivered at the prospect, suddenly having the urge to vomit up the sandwich I'd just finished, which was a distinctly foreign sensation. Successfully eating without something destroying or removing my food was a challenge! I didn't want to expel it once it was already in my stomach. The other two fillies let out a groan, Rainbow looking between them with a vaguely skeptical expression. Spike sighed, however, adding, "What are they doing with those two? Diamond Tiara probably conned them into something or other." Diamond Tiara... Where had I heard that before? "Wait, wasn't she the one that was spreading rumors about me not going to make it after the hospitalization incident?" I inquired, frowning as I glanced back towards Sweetie Belle, who was the one who'd said it, if I recalled right. "W-What?!" Rainbow asked, sounding shocked as Sweetie nodded at the same time. "Yeah. She said that you were nothing but trouble and weren't going to make it. She said she had some sort of insider scoop from the hospital! It was really mean and I was already worried about you before she said that," Sweetie murmured, frowning weakly and shivering there. Giving her a gentle smile, I wrapped my right foreleg over her back and massaged her gently. She didn't look all that appeased, but sighed and finally gave me a light smile before burying her face into my chest. Rainbow let out a stiff groan, glaring down the road further. "She's the pink one with the stupid looking tiara on her head, right? Starting to not like her already, and we haven't even met," she spat out, her wings twitching lightly across her back. "She teases us all the time about not having our Cutie Marks yet," Scootaloo admitted, looking down towards the dirt a little, which further made me want to toss the pink filly into the lake. Uh, the mean pink filly, not Pinch. Pinch and Featherweight seemed nice, and were both spoken highly of by the others. Suddenly, the reason they seemed to be hauling all the beach equipment seemed a little more apparent. The group halted once they'd broken into the clearing, apparently not paying us much attention as Pinch suddenly stomped forwards. The two in front apparently heard and turned around to confront her before she got more than two steps. "Hey! We hauled your stupid equipment all the way here. Give back Featherweight's camera, like you promised!" she suddenly shouted out, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. After Diamond Tiara rotated around, I was able to see the familiar looking camera bag slung to the right of the filly's shoulder. She stole his camera?! As angry as that made me, it was even easier to pick out the burst of rage that shot down the empathy link from Rainbow. I watched her stand up fully, her wings starting to twitch as she glared daggers at the scene unfolding. "Oh? I do vaguely recall something about that, right, Silver? Hmm. However, I don't think I heard you respectfully address me as Mistress there," Diamond Tiara added, smirking over at the other two with a rather possessive looking glint in her eye. Featherweight stepped up next to Pinch a moment later, a far more apologetic look on his face. "Please, Mistress Tiara. Can I please have my camera back? It was a birthday gift from my parents," he begged, staring in apprehension mixed with horror as she flexed her shoulder, sliding the camera bag to her chest instead. The front of the bag folded open, revealing the camera itself and various reels of film in neat loops. Oh, the strap on it was actually connected to the camera, I realized. The leather part was just a case that fit around it, then? Featherweight's eyes widened as she took the protective leather case off it, then popped the cap off the lens and pretended to focus the camera on the small colt. "This? Ooooh, I'm a camera pony! Heh. I don't know why they got you such a stupid gift. You look dumb carrying this around everywhere," she muttered. "It's not 'camera pony', stupid. The proper term is a photographer! And he looks super cool carrying it," Pinch retorted, looking even angrier now as she tossed aside the equipment bag. "Please, this piece of junk? It was probably barely a couple dozen bits. Your parents must really not like you if they only got you this cheap thing. How much does it go for, Silver?" Tiara asked. Rainbow let out a growl and stomped towards the group. My mouth opened to say something, but I suddenly held my tongue, deciding that maybe, just maybe, I didn't want to stop her. A second later, I found myself slowly following after her, at a lesser pace, of course. Silver Spoon shook her head, however, adding, "Um, actually, it's fifty six bits for the base camera, and twenty more bits for that added lens." She hesitated after her friend gave her a confused glance, and then giggled lightly as if unsure of herself. Eh? She was either interested in cameras, too, or had amazing memory for prices. "Well, well. More expensive than I thought! Oh yeah, now I remember. Your parents are dirt poor and probably saved up a whole year just to afford this! Ha! I guess they must care about you after all," the annoying pink filly teased, after recovering from her apparent confusion. Parents that cared for him. I felt a light pang go through my chest, but frowned as his eyes started to tear up. Rainbow snapped, bursting the last ten feet before landing defiantly between the two groups of foals. Ah crap. As angry as I was, I really didn't want to see Rainbow cave their faces in over it. She probably had the restraint not to, but I broke into a jog just in case, at least getting within reasonable barrier-forming range. I heard a light growl from behind me as well, noting the four individual sets of steps alongside it, and the very distinct rotary blade sound. "Leave them alone! That camera isn't yours, so just give it back!" Rainbow shouted, stomping her right forehoof down again and kicking sand backwards as she scraped with it, wings jutting out angrily to each side of her. "W-What?" Tiara asked, momentarily looking surprised before glancing over to her right at us as we approached. "Oh, it's the three blank flanks and their loser friends. I'm not afraid of you, you g-garish freak! You shouldn't even be here!" she retorted a second later, taking an uneasy step away from the pissed off pegasus, kind of calling her own bluff. Garish freak?! Rainbow was amazing, and her colors were quite beautiful. My eyes narrowed as I slowed to a walk towards them. "Show Rainbow Dash proper respect. She saved all of you multiple times, and is an amazing, beautiful mare," I defended once I was within reasonable talking distance. Err, okay, my own feelings might have bled through a bit into that statement, but it hardly mattered. Rainbow blushed lightly, giving me a startled glance that seemed to distract her from the anger a bit, which was a good thing. Both bullies turned to me instead, however, which was a bad thing. "Oh? Is she joining your stupid fan club, too? What are you going to do about it, monster?” Diamond Tiara inquired pointedly, causing something inside me to twist up, that prior anger bubbling a little again. "Monster? Funny, coming from the one blackmailing an innocent colt using his birthday present!" Spike defended suddenly, walking up on my left with an angry expression as well. "I'm not a monster like him! I have secret information and know all about how monstrous he really is. Besides," she continued, raising her hoof to the camera on her chest again before lightly tapping it against the lens and continuing with, "What are you all going to do about it? Try to hurt me? I'll have you all arrested if you even touch me! Especially the freak, because she isn't even supposed to be here." The pink filly punctuated her threat with a much harder movement of her hoof. My eyes widened at the sudden snapping noise of breaking glass an instant later. "No!" Featherweight yelled out, accompanied by Rainbow's sudden snarl. His scream echoed through my head as he ran forward in almost slow motion, tears coming down each cheek. In that instant, as the throb went through my mind, he wasn't Featherweight. I saw a good friend, whose son's body was just dumped in front of him. Her grin matched almost perfectly, a twisted mirror holding a camera rather than a bloody body bag. It reared up again, escaping as a snarl from my throat. The magic was released before I even realized I'd formed it, shooting across the sand in less than a heartbeat. It slammed upwards, and I barely managed to restrain it from slicing her head off. Instead, the box of barriers formed around the camera and bag, knocking her hoof away from it in a second and hauling it upwards, strap and all. For a second, she was still attached to it and struggled against the leather band at the back of her neck. I yanked it off her, sending her stupid looking tiara flying as she fell sideways onto the ground from the force of it. "This does not belong to you! If you so much as say one more cruel word towards anypony here, I'll haul you back to your parents myself and see how much they'd be interested in their daughter potentially getting arrested for theft and harassment," I growled, slamming my right forehoof down as my magic carefully brought the camera back over to where I was. The little filly looked more than flustered, and her friend looked actually horrified as she backed away from both of us, apparently really not interested in being an accomplice, if her friend was getting arrested. "H-How dare you! You can't-" Diamond Tiara started to yelp. I cut her off in an instant by tapping my chest lightly, shooting magic into the pendant I knew was there. It activated instantly, revealing itself and, in turn, me to be a member of Princess Luna's Royal Night Guard. "I can. You said you know about me, but you didn't remember that I'm a full member of the royal guard? Further, Rainbow is here under my direct supervision and still on ground not associated with the cabins, so your threats count fully as harassment," I concluded, watching her eyes bug out as she stared at the 'badge' of sorts around my neck. There was a long five seconds of her just staring at me in shock before she swallowed uneasily and scrambled to her hooves again. "F-Fine! Uh, come on, Silver. We're leaving," she ordered, sounding shaken. I tentatively raised an eyebrow towards the gray and silver filly, who suddenly looked conflicted. "B-But, I thought we were gonna swim?" Silver Spoon whispered to her friend, a slight tone of disappointment sounding from her voice. "No w-way! I'm not staying another second around these-" she started before wincing and looking back at me as my eyes narrowed again. "Uh, ponies. Come on!" she finished after a slight hesitation, that time her 'order' not sounding nearly as convincing as a byproduct. She didn't stick around to let me say anything, however, scampering over to where her tiara lay and snatching it up in her muzzle before booking it surprisingly quickly back towards the trail they walked in on. Silver Spoon stood there with an open mouth and slightly bewildered look, her right forehoof extended towards where her friend was a moment ago still. She lowered it a second later and looked down at the fallen equipment bags before swallowing weakly. "B-But the bags. I can't lift them by myself and, uh, I really wanted to..." she whispered, almost to herself. "You should have thought of that before going along with Diamond Tiara and being mean," Scootaloo snapped, causing the gray filly to wince away from the sound. To my surprise, Rainbow wore a thoughtful expression on her face instead before shaking her head towards Scootaloo. "Ease up, Scoots. Silver Spoon, right? Just because that spoiled brat says something, doesn't mean you have to do it, right? I'm sure you really wanted to swim, and you still can, right? You can hang out with us instead as we enjoy the lake," she offered. My blood cooled a little and I felt a light smile form on my muzzle. That was unexpected from Rainbow Dash, but there was probably something I didn’t know about. Scootaloo looked surprised herself, and then hesitated as she glanced back, looking like she just noticed how distraught the gray filly looked. "I, uh, really? Even after I was mean, you'd let me, uh?" Silver questioned, glancing back at Rainbow with a shocked expression. Diamond Tiara was making amazing time meanwhile and I raised my eyebrow as the filly disappeared over the hill way up the path, apparently not even bothering to look back. I guess she didn't care about her beach equipment all that much. Featherweight ran over to me an instant later, giving an absolutely miserable look towards his camera, his cheeks wet and eyes tinted red. Pinch followed after him almost immediately, frowning towards it as well. I smiled gently to him and set the camera down on the leather case on the sand. Well, fake leather, I noticed, starting to be able to tell the difference from the seams. Snapping myself out of my tendency to go off on a tangent ahead of time, I examined the lens. It had a lovely fracture across the surface of it, splitting the main body into almost five chunks. The young colt's eyes started to water even more, and he sniffed weakly, sitting down in front of me while staring at it. I held a hoof up to him and shook my head, however. "Just a second, Featherweight. I wanna try something," I offered, lightly touching my left forehoof against the lens as I felt the magic stir into the glass. The fracture was bad, but I also specialized in Transmutation, which usually dealt with far worse damage in my engineering days. Er, my original's engineering days, anyway. "I'm sorry about the camera, Featherweight. Um, and I apologize for Diamond Tiara's behavior. I really would like to swim with everypony. You'd really let me?" Silver Spoon asked weakly, walking up towards us instead. I glanced up momentarily just in time to notice I'd gotten everypony's attention when I spoke, Featherweight giving me a surprised yet hopeful expression. "Of course you can swim with us. You don't have to hang around Diamond Tiara all the time, you know?" Sweetie offered, smiling as well and nodding towards the filly. Pinch sighed and reluctantly nodded as well, but shifted her attention back to what I was doing instead. The glow from my magic was readily visible under my hoof, but the lens wasn't due to me covering it from view completely. I felt the cracks as the heat began to form, distorting the arrangement of the material lightly as I shifted its shape and consistency. It was a nicely formed lens, and I was able to get the shape down rather easily. Professionally made, and I suddenly realized why it was a little expensive to purchase. I was impressed by the quality. Smiling, I felt it seal back together gently, and I made sure to adjust the gradient of the glass as well as carefully smooth out the surfaces for him. As an added touch, I also cleaned both sides of the lens before lifting my hoof up again, admiring my work. It looked like a complete lens again, and I relaxed lightly, sagging back to my haunches. Featherweight's eyes expanded significantly as he stared at the camera, as if expecting it to suddenly explode or something. My enchantment had been made smoothly and had the proper safeguards, so the risk of that was far less than point zero two percent! Carefully, I slid the case back over to him and nodded. A second passed, and he just stared at it, and then slowly looked back up at me. "Uh, I kinda saw a flier in town advertising your business before we left. Um, h-how much is it for that?" he inquired hesitantly. Er, what? Blanking for a second, I looked back down at the camera. Flier? "Ugh. Why did she do this? I'll cover whatever it costs, Mr. Mender. Um, normally she doesn't go out of her way to break things," Silver Spoon added, sitting down next to the rapidly growing group, Rainbow following her as well. Oh! She fished a small bag out from the discarded equipment bag, hooking the drawstring around her hoof and making a clinking noise as she pulled it out. Smiling, I placed my hoof over her gray one and shook my head. "No, I'm not charging for that little thing. The only thing I want in return is for both of you to smile again," I muttered, looking back to Featherweight specifically. His eyes softened and he nodded again, genuinely fulfilling my request with a warm smile. "Thank you, Mr. Mender! I'm definitely going to write up a good story for the school paper about you," he agreed. "Uh, just Mender, please. And you don't have to. Although, I am interested in where you saw the flier you mentioned," I admitted, having a sneaking suspicion Pinkie was involved. "I'm kinda interested in why you were hauling bits along to the lake, hidden in your equipment bag, too," Berry Pinch muttered, gesturing back to the gray filly next to me still. Perking, I glanced back over at Silver as well, noting she had suddenly become the center of attention again. Wait, why did she haul a large sum of bits with her to the lake? There weren't exactly any vendors around, even in the camp. Silver Spoon blushed lightly and looked down at her hooves, sighing to herself. "I always bring bits along when I'm with Diamond Tiara. Sometimes she, well, upsets ponies and I don't want her getting in trouble, so having a small amount of bits with to pay for any damages or smooth over hurt feelings is, well, useful. I was going to pay you two for hauling the equipment along, too," she explained, once again causing me to blank out. Did that honestly work that often? Rainbow thankfully was far ahead of me in the reaction department. Unfortunately, however, that also meant that Rainbow was far ahead of me in the talking department, too. "Wait, why are you the one to pay out bits for Diamond Tiara being a jerk?!" my cyan friend asked bluntly, with no small amount of irritation playing through in her voice. Silver winced lightly and looked away from Rainbow, her eyes softening down at the bit pouch. "She, um, she has reasons why she's like that. But she's the only one who'd talk to me my entire first year of school. She's my only friend and I don't want her getting in trouble and going away somewhere like her dad threatens her with sometimes," she revealed quietly. I swallowed uneasily, really wishing Prudentia would pop up and conveniently rewind things a bit so I could pounce Rainbow into the lake before she'd said that. "Wait, what?!" Scootaloo asked, tone similar to how I'd imagine a pony would respond to finding out the sky is actually purple. Apple Bloom frowned at the same time instead, and shook her head slowly. "Why didn't anypony talk ta ya, Silver? Ya could've come talk ta me, as well," she offered tentatively. I was all sorts of mixed feelings at this point. On one hoof, paying ponies off to look the other way really wasn't teaching Diamond Tiara anything. But on the other, if she was down to her last 'chance', so to speak, with her dad, I could see why Silver Spoon was doing what she was. Silver shook her head and gave a weak smile towards the sand before reaching up with both forehooves and lightly taking her glasses off. Rather pretty lavender eyes rested behind them, but they looked rather sad. "I was the only filly in our class to get glasses at that time. Almost everypony thought there was something wrong with me, and would just run away or call me a freak. Diamond Tiara not only talked to me, but she helped chase some of them away by threatening to sue them," she replied, giggling lightly towards the end as I saw more of a smile play across her muzzle. Rainbow slapped her forehead with a hoof, but I smiled a little, too. Seeing a little foal threatening bullies with legal action would have been kinda amusing. Silver continued, however, before anypony could say anything, and added, "Plus, I kinda was interested in talking to you, but that huge stallion would walk you to school every day and he was kinda scary." Apple Bloom giggled instead this time and shook her head. "Mah brother's super nice, Silly. He's real big an' strong, but wouldn't hurt ya," she assured confidently. Sweetie Belle looked lost in thought, but frowned to herself before gently speaking up. "Do you think we should try talking to her? I mean, I know she's never really been nice to us, but if her dad's really mean to her or something..." Going away somewhere sounded more like different schooling or some sort of etiquette school or something. Was he so busy that he didn’t want the responsibility of teaching his daughter manners himself? I frowned for a split second. Her father. Her taunt shot back into the forefront of my mind. Secret information. It was vague, and probably a bluff, as hearing the crowd call me a 'monster' during that incident wouldn't have been all that hard. Still, though, those newspaper thingies had 'secret information', too. I made a mental note to run it past Twilight when I got back. It was probably nothing, but I didn't particularly like taking chances, especially when a reasonable alternative presented itself. "I think we should try. She might really need friends, and I'm sure Silver Spoon wouldn't mind having more as well," Spike agreed, sitting down to Sweetie's right while holding onto Tank's shell lightly. I didn't see a head or legs anywhere, but two eyes peeked out from the darkness at the hole in the front of it, so I assumed he was okay. Silver Spoon sighed, but nodded weakly. "After everything we’ve done to you three and Spike, I didn't expect you to really even let me stay and swim. I'll, well, I'll try to get her to not pick on you so much if it doesn't work," she muttered, sounding as if she knew something we didn't. Something felt off still, and there was a bitter undertone to her statement. Nopony seemed to notice, however, as Apple Bloom just nodded back happily, so I decided to let it drop for now. "Speaking of, I think we're done eating and napping, so you lot can go and play in the lake again. I'll keep an eye on you," I offered, gesturing towards the body of water in question. Scootaloo was the first to perk up, nodding happily at me before bounding off towards the water without even a word. What, did she take that as an order or something? "Hey! Wait fer us!" Apple Bloom shouted after her before breaking into a sprint as well. Her legs powered up, however, and she burst ahead as Scootaloo laughed and took to the air. Aww, crap. They forgot already?! My ears flattened down as I watched them, and Rainbow gave me a questioning eyebrow raise. "Whoa! How are they doing that?!" Pinch asked, however, answering for me as I sighed. "Oh! Oops. We weren't supposed to use the enchantments with anypony watching," Rainbow suddenly muttered, lowering her ears and glancing back out at the two fillies chasing each other across the beach. "I gave them an enchantment that magnifies their abilities. Uh, please don't tell anypony, you three? It takes a lot of effort to make them and if everypony knows, they'll all want one," I requested, glancing back at Pinch, Featherweight, and Silver. To my surprise, Featherweight looked more horrified as he watched Apple Bloom take a nasty spill and skip almost twelve meters across the sand. Her armor was on and she was far from injured, of course, but- "Uh, I won't tell anypony so long as you don't put one on me. That looks kinda scary," he requested, flattening his ears down a bit. Berry Pinch rolled her eyes but snickered at him, lightly giving him a shove in the shoulder with her hoof. "You don't have to be such a chicken. Mender wouldn't give them out if they weren't safe, right?" she reasoned, smiling back at me as if asking for confirmation on that. Silver Spoon just watched the two enchanted fillies curiously instead. Spike grinned a moment later and ran out after Apple Bloom as she dashed past, lines of light coming off his claws and lashing out at the unsuspecting filly. Well, I guess now that the cover was blown, he might as well. "Kinda. They're prototypes at the moment. Mostly safe, but I'd like to work a few more precautions into them before they become public knowledge," I warned, shaking my head towards her. To my surprise, Silver Spoon smiled and nodded instead, looking back over at me. "That's for the best. It wouldn't be good business if somepony got hurt using your products. Still, the amount of bits you could rake in from this service would be amazing! Especially if you put in time limits to the magic or something, so they had to keep coming back to you for refills. I've never heard of magic being used to magnify a pony's abilities before, so you could probably even have a monopoly!" the little filly exclaimed, smiling fully at me. I stared back, eyes widening a little. That, well, was actually a little scary that a tiny little filly knew what a monopoly was in the first place, let alone knew tricks on how to start one up and abuse it. Suddenly I wondered what exactly a silver spoon Cutie Mark represented. "Uh, I'm kinda content with just making a little bit of bits. I don't need all that much," I muttered, suddenly feeling kind of awkward talking to her. She tilted her head, staring at me like I'd just grown a second head. Or tentacles. My scanners told me I hadn't, however, but I still caught myself checking in paranoia. "Why wouldn't you want more bits? You can get anything you want with them," she asked, looking utterly confused. Rainbow gave her a disbelieving glance, but just shook her head and went back to watching the three play in the sand. "I already have more than I need with Twilight and Fluttershy with me. I can't really think of anything I really want to buy in the first place, apart from just having enough to get some food and supplies for myself," I admitted, my ears drooping a little more. I'd never really considered anything that I 'wanted'. I just realized that I didn't really have any goals to work towards past just getting an income set up. This only seemed to confuse Silver Spoon more, who frowned at me but remained silent, her eyes shifting out of focus as she considered what I'd said. "There are some things you can't buy no matter how many bits you have, Silver. You can't buy true and honest love or friendship with them, and they won't make you truly happy," Rainbow muttered, still looking out at the lake, but softening her eyes a little. I felt a wave of unpleasantness slip down the link, and suddenly wondered if she was speaking from experience. "Do you, um, need those things?" Silver asked hesitantly a moment later. Rainbow glanced back at her, but I smiled and shook my head, looking down at my hoof, my eyes tracing the metal that was strapped to it. "No, you don't 'need' them. You can continue existing with very little, it turns out. But that's all it is without friendship, love, or happiness. Existing. In order to live, you need to be happy and content with yourself," I reasoned, already having known the answer to that one. The other me had 'existed' his entire life. Staying in Equestria had been the easiest choice I'd ever made, even now. No hesitation was needed at all. Silver looked surprised at that answer, but Rainbow smiled over at me. It was interesting, really. For that brief moment, I realized how valuable that sensation was. She was smiling genuinely at me. I felt the warmth through the link, and realized that in that moment, she wasn't hiding her feelings or trying to pretend she was 'cool' and detached. She was just genuinely happy, and I'd caused it. Sweetie Belle looked confused as Rainbow bumped into her other side, sandwiching the filly between us as the cyan mare leaned over and lightly rested her forehead against my shoulder. It 'felt' like a hug, even if it wasn't, and I smiled and nodded in understanding. I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion the mare didn't really 'need' her weather job, given the amount of bits she'd tried to deliver to me for payment, and the sheer size of her house I frequently saw floating over Ponyville. Her house she oh so rarely saw fit to actually sleep in, apparently deciding a passing cloud or tree was more comfortable. There was probably a reason for that, but I was content enough to just understand her a little more. "Are you okay, Rainbow?" Sweetie asked softly, shifting a bit to adjust to the new presence, but apparently deciding she was perfectly content with being sandwich filling now. Actually, she was a fairly easygoing filly. Sandwich filling, scarf, hat, cape... She didn't really care no matter what. "She seems more than okay against Mender," Pinch cooed, giving a smirk over at us. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she bumped Featherweight in the side with her hip instead of continuing to actually look my way. He gave a startled yelp, having been watching the lake instead, and fell into a lying position. She smiled contentedly and rotated around once before flopping down against his right side, earning a blush and questioning stare from him. Rainbow snorted, giving her a skeptical glance before rolling her eyes and returning her attention to the water. "I trust Mender. We've been through a lot together and he's one of my best friends," she explained, carefully avoiding that whole 'kissing' part, which even with Pony culture being rather cuddly, I was pretty sure was a breach of friendship. Sweetie must have thought the same thing as she snickered. The clever filly then slipped forwards and rolled onto her side instead, squeezing out from between us and landing across my forelegs. I didn't even have time to give her a questioning glance as Rainbow slipped the rest of the way sideways and the sensation of warm fur covered my entire right side. My missed skeptical stare was given to Rainbow instead, who made no attempt to move, just lightly blushing while lying against me. I saw the raw focus in her eyes, however, as she literally willed herself to keep looking out at the lake. Oh boy. Yeah, this was a bad idea. That lingering sensation of warmth drifted through me as well, and I felt the deepest sensation of frustration coming from the mare, mixed with a rampant hunger and the strange desire to locate and consume a juicy slice of watermelon. It was a little confusing. The longer I stared at her, the more I felt her becoming acutely aware of my gaze, and I felt the warmth start to get a little hotter. It was strange, though, as I'd never gotten appetite or specific sensations from the empathy link before. Normally it was just blanket sensations revolving around emotions. Weird. I'd focused so intently on Rainbow that I didn't notice Sweetie Belle staring at us. "What's that?" she asked curiously a second later, causing both Rainbow and me to jump at the sudden noise. Eh?! I looked back at her at the same time Rainbow did, and then traced where she was looking. There was very little, honestly, that gave me that 'blood freezing' sensation anymore. My eyes met Rainbow's, and perhaps from instinct or sudden compulsion, both of us looked up at the exact same time. Ever so thin, and so light you could barely see it, there was a tiny cord of prismatic and blue light running between our foreheads. Shit. Chapter 55The day was turning cooler now, with darkening skies overhead. My fur was warm, however, due to being significantly thicker than normal, and I simply stared out over the lake. Rainbow had explained that the clouds were made over at Cloudsdale, and then 'slid' over to the locations where they were supposed to be. For big storms, local pegasi were then called in to help, but the upcoming rain was supposed to be more a drizzle than anything. Sweetie had elected to stay near us instead, showing a reasonable distaste for going near the large body of water, which I attributed to her experience at the dam. She stayed carefully nestled into my left side with her head down on my foreleg. She'd gotten my brace off and was lightly massaging my leg, to my surprise. She didn't seem to think it was 'ugly' or 'gross', it would seem. Although the color was coming back to it now, and it felt stronger than it had in a while. I wasn't about to try it without the brace, though. Rainbow lay to my left with her head down on her forelegs, staring up at Scootaloo and Spike. The little dragon was being carried and they repeatedly swooped down to gather up little 'bombs' of water to let loose on the swimming fillies and colt, who'd take swipes at them as they shot past, trying to spray Scootaloo down with water and get them to crash into the lake. I could tell that wasn't where Rainbow's thoughts resided, however. "I'm so stupid. What are we gonna do?" she asked quietly after another moment. Sweetie frowned lightly, but didn't slow in her small massage, regardless of obviously listening in. After the initial shock, both of us realized almost instantly what it was, of course. The only one there to listen who was actually interested was Sweetie, of course, as I let them know it wasn't some weird spell effect from me. The others split off to go play at my request, but so far, Rainbow and I had been silent. Gently, I shook my head. That was an easy one, anyway. "Nothing has changed. I'm still going to tell the girls about both of you, and try to figure something out with them. I don't foresee a problem with my plan on waiting two years for Sweetie, but you know they'll insist that you see things through with Applejack before even considering our herd," I warned slowly, trying extra hard to think my words out ahead of time. This wasn't a good spot to insert a hoof into my mouth, which I knew I had a tendency to do. If I had to, I'd rather do so when the results could be laughed off. Heh. Rainbow nodded absently, that obviously not having been what she was talking about, but I already knew that, and she already knew that I knew that, if that made sense. Deciding that there were too many 'that's in my thought process, I moved on to what she really had asked. "As for the link, it appears to be visible at extreme levels of focus and attention between us, maybe at only close range as well, and transmits slightly more information than the crystal disk link does, minus the direct verbal communication bit," I analyzed, silently channeling my inner Twilight Sparkle, who would probably be proud of that assessment. Or kill me due to the topic, but that was irrelevant. The cyan mare gave me a blank look before snickering tiredly, still looking a bit worn out from all the exercise prior. "I can see why you and Twilight get along so well. It's good she can have somepony to be all 'egghead' with. Spike can only go so far with that, and he's already the closest she had before. Still, what does all that really mean?" she asked, frowning to herself as she finally looked back up at me from her resting position. "Everything I've read on the links, and everything Twilight told me about them, seems to indicate it takes a prolonged period of time to form one. We didn't have that, so my best guess is that only a small sliver of one was created. I don't know if it retains its 'permanent' qualities, or if it just means it's really short range or something, but I'm sure there's data out there on it. Surely, somewhere in all of Equestria's history, said ritual was interrupted at some point before completion," I reasoned absently, based on pure probability. The chances of it never having happened before we're astronomically low, honestly. Rainbow nodded at that and closed her eyes again, curling up a bit more for warmth, then smiling as my tail flicked up and flopped over her like a blanket. I think it was the first time I really noticed that she was a little bit smaller than me. Just a little. "So it might not be as big a deal as we thought? I really don't want it giving Applejack doubts either," she admitted, but again, I'd already suspected that particular worry had been going through her. "Even if we can't find a way to remove it, it's not all that different from the link we already shared before that she definitely knows about. Doubly so if it only works at short range. I don't think you have a single thing to worry about," I assured softly. It was true, really. "It's still really romantic. Besides, even if Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy don't go for the 'joining herds' thing, you're all really close already, so I'm sure you'll always have a special connection to each other," Sweetie suddenly spoke up, saying 'romantic' like one might describe a triple-layered fudge and milk chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles on top. Damn it. Now I was hungry again. Rainbow snickered, then slid the picnic basket over to us again with her wing, tipping it over easily enough and sliding a wrapped sandwich out towards me. Oh, she was amazing! She gave me a knowing smirk before adding, "Yeah, I can totally see that being awesome, too. Just not 'as' awesome, ya know? Although, if I can get them to agree to letting Mender provide 'heat relief' to all of us, I'll probably be okay with it." I shot her a mildly annoyed glare, but she already smirked at me and stuck her tongue out, so I quickly shifted to just rolling my eyes. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten about the little white filly's more recent experiences. "Ah! That horrible, burning heat that pools in your stomach and makes you really, really dizzy, giving you weird but really good feeling thoughts? If that's what it's like to be in heat, I so don't want to be! Wait, Mender can actually make that go away?" she asked, sounding a little on the curious side. Both Rainbow and I blushed lightly at the implications, but she recovered a little faster than me. "Yup! For one, he could just get us pregnant, but that would actually make for far more problems than it solved, for me, anyway. But that would get you free of heat for a whole year! ...and then you get a foal. So yeah, no," she chirped, dropping off as she somehow managed to horrify herself with her own statement. Sweetie Belle's eyes widened, a light blush forming across her cheeks as well, but she slowly nodded. "That, uh, doesn't sound totally bad, but I can see why it would, um, be a problem for you. Being all big and round like that would probably make flying kinda hard," she admitted, her eyes drifting over Rainbow's sleek yet muscular frame. "Exactly! Totally not cool for a future Wonderbolt! I'd have to train for, like, a year just to get all the weight off again. So not worth it if we're just talking avoiding the heat," she groaned, burying her head in her hooves again. I snickered at her description, but smiled back to Sweetie. "You also have to remember what Nurse Redheart said. That 'heat' was actually several times worse than what you'd normally go through due to the magical nature, so what you'll actually experience will only be a small fraction of that," I reminded, causing the little filly to exhale quietly and nod, looking back down at my leg idly. Her massaging movements had ceased during her inquiry, but she started up again a moment later. "Yeah, yours probably won't be as bad as mine. No, there are 'other' things Mender can do to at least temporarily get rid of the horrible heat feeling. Because he's, like, part robot or something, I think he can do it without risk of us having foals, too! Uh, I might be wrong there though. I kinda stopped paying attention after that," she admitted, snickering lightly and rubbing the back of her head with her right forehoof. At least I managed to resist slapping my forehead. The second she'd even heard it was a possibility, I bet all other thoughts just went right out the window. Sweetie stared at her for a moment, her cheeks burning a little brighter red before she gave a timid smile and nodded. "Um, you're talking about sex, right?" she asked quietly, momentarily reaching Fluttershy's levels of volume. Er, wait... Rainbow's eyes widened and she looked more than a bit surprised, but Sweetie just giggled and cut her off with, "I'm twelve. Miss Cheerilee has already taught us the, well, basics. I know what it is and that it's supposed to be good feeling, but not to do it with just anypony." Exhaling, I nodded down at her, honestly berating myself for not guessing as much. "Yeah. That's what she's talking about. I'm actually a little worried that I might not be able to have a foal with a mare, but things I discovered recently are making that a little bit more probable sounding. You should definitely hold off, though, Sweetie. Isn't there an age limit on that sort of thing, too?" I pointed out, idly reminding myself at the same time to peek back a ways in those research notes I'd found and see what they said about my 'creation'. If I was similar enough to a normal pony, chances are I could mate with one. Rainbow shrugged idly, relaxing a bit as the heat died down in her cheeks. "No, not really... We've never really 'needed' a law for that kinda thing. A more natural sort of approach is taken, only when it feels right with the right pony. The age limit on joining a herd is more to encourage a realistic amount of consideration before doing so, to cut down on spontaneous choices being regretted," she explained, shuddering lightly. Oh, well that made sense, too, having noticed enough about their culture to know they probably didn't have a problem with it to begin with. Sweetie smiled lightly and nodded twice, the slow motion rather timid almost. "Ah, yeah, I know. Um, I'm saving myself for Mender, of course, so you don't need to worry about that," she pointed out. I mentally sighed. Even seeing it coming hadn't really helped me cope with her answer all that well. My mouth opened in attempts to at least commend her on waiting in general, when my ears rotated around an instant later, a very light snap sounding out from the forest. My head rose and whipped around to look fully over Sweetie Belle, staring off into the woods in the direction the snap had come from. The little filly went silent as she turned rapidly to look as well, but I said nothing and continued scanning for any movement whatsoever. A full forty seconds passed before I exhaled and frowned. A fast flicker of my scanners masked by a blink revealed nothing but dirt, rock, and wood, based off density comparisons. "Mender?" Rainbow asked cautiously after seeing me relax a little. I shook my head idly while still watching the trees. "I guess I'm getting paranoid. I thought I heard something, is all," I explained, refusing to look away from the forest still, just in case. "Want me to do a flyover? I think I'm rested enough now," Rainbow offered idly. Sweetie looked away from the woods with a shiver and glanced back up at me curiously. "Nah. If you're rested up, you can go back to practicing if you'd like. We can talk about this later tonight or tomorrow, of course," I offered, finally looking back over at her instead. I guess I really was getting paranoid. Rainbow smiled upon getting my full attention again and nodded, relaxing a bit. "If you're sure. Keep an eye on me, too, just in case I take an unintended dip?" she requested, standing up fully and stretching out her lanky body. I watched the muscles shiver down her side, lightly tracing the curve of her hip and flank before looking back forward again to her now smirking face. "Of course. You know I always keep an eye, or at least a link, on all of you," I reminded, sticking the tip of my tongue out at her. She grinned and nodded before taking to the air and shooting out over the lake in an instant. Again, I was impressed by her speed. Watching her up close wasn't too bad either. I knew I was loyal to Twilight and Fluttershy, but Rainbow definitely wasn't hard on the eyes. But she was more like a work of art or something in a gallery somewhere, to me. The last thing I wanted to do was get in her way in pursuing Applejack. Sweetie smiled as she watched her go, then shifted her gaze down to her friends in the lake, eyes following their movements as they played. "You can go join them, if you want, on the shore. Don't worry. I'll be right here to help if anything happens," I assured softly, earning a start from the little filly. She turned and smiled back up at me before shaking her head. "N-No, I'm fine where I am. The water is still, well, it makes me uneasy. I feel at ease up here on the hill with you, as far from it as possible," she revealed, shivering lightly as she turned back and stared down at the lake. My eyes softened and I nodded, even though she probably didn't see me do so. I'd figured the memory wouldn't leave her for a long time. This was one case where I'd gladly find out I was wrong again. But that's not the nature of bad memories. "I had another nightmare about it last night. I was watching the lake from some sort of hill, all by myself this time. It was scary, but I couldn't look away." I watched her do oddly similar with the lake right now, and somewhat predicted where this was going. My left foreleg slipped out and lightly hugged the filly, but she didn't even react to it. "It was getting dark, and the sun was sinking into the lake with a lot of sizzling and bubbles. The lake twisted and turned, then started rapidly getting bigger and bigger! I panicked and tried to run higher up, but the hill was the highest point and I was already on it. The water surrounded me and circled around, splashing around like a scary river before eating the entire area," she continued, locking up and closing her eyes tight again. I pulled her against my chest and just rubbed her side as she shivered for a second. "It... It was terrifying. I screamed and screamed but the water just pulled me under and flooded into my mouth, hauling me lower and lower until I couldn't see. I yelled your name again and again to come and save me... A-Apple Bloom woke me up then," she finished, voice barely a whisper as I just kept rubbing her tummy lightly. "I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, Sweetie. If I'm anywhere at all near you, just call out my name and I'll be there in an instant to protect you," I promised, a sinking sensation making me realize I really meant that. It wasn't a bad thing until I realized how little would actually even slow me down in getting to her. Even if I had to tear a mountain apart to save the little filly. Sweetie Belle nodded and smiled up at me timidly, looking tired. Her eyes were red and I knew she probably hadn't been sleeping very well. A thought occurred to me a moment later. "If you want, for the rest of the time we're here, I won't leave early in the morning. That way, if you even whimper during one of your dreams, I'll be right there to wake you up out of it, if you wish," I offered, realizing that was probably the best I could do for her at the moment. Her eyes widened almost as fast as her mouth did, and she nodded twice. "Yes, please! I feel much safer when I'm near you, and knowing you'll be there to watch over my dreams, too, would be amazing. Thank you, Mender. Um, I really do love you," she added, blushing after and shyly looking down into my chest again. My heart stirred for other reasons and I smiled at the adorable little filly, giving her a gentle squeeze with my foreleg. "Careful. You're adorable right now, but if you keep this up two years from now, getting into our herd won't be a problem at all," I teased her, snickering to myself. Her eyes shot to full mast again as she looked back up at me in surprise, the pink turning to a heartier red to each side of her snout. "I, um, I really would like that, Mender! Of course, I'll try to be super nice to Fluttershy and Twilight, too," she spoke up, apparently remembering what I'd told Rainbow the other night. Snickering, I leaned down closer to her before pointing out, "Didn't you ever consider that you might be more than friends with them if you get your wish? If you're part of the herd, you're not 'just' with me, Sweetie." The red expanded even further across the entirety of her cheeks as her eyes somehow got wider. Half a second passed and she let out a tiny squeak and buried her face in my foreleg. "Aaah! Uh, but, I dunno! Twilight's super nice to me, but I've never thought about her like that before! Um, um," she started muttering, sounding like she was panicking a little as she fidgeted against me nervously. "Oh? What about Fluttershy?" I inquired, noting an absence of information there. She peeked back up at my amused yet skeptical stare before squeaking again and hiding her face against me, as if that would somehow make her disappear from my sight. Well, it did make her face disappear from my sight, but that hardly interrupted the conversation at this range. She must have realized that a moment later, or at least gathered her courage up a bit more. "Um, well, Fluttershy is really pretty. She's always been kind to me as well so, uh, maybe I wouldn't mind that as much? Aaah! Did I just say that out loud?!" Her admission was reduced to a series of squawks in less than three seconds, and I swore she was trying to tunnel under me and bury herself in the ground. I snickered at the sensation before hooking around her tummy and pulling her up against me again before she hauled both of us into the hole she was starting. "Relax, Sweetie. I obviously think Fluttershy is beautiful, too. If you want to be part of the herd, thinking that is definitely a plus!" I tried to explain. The little filly stopped fidgeting and looked back up at me shakily, as if she were expecting me to be mad or something. Yeah, she was definitely too young for the herd still. The wisdom behind the law made a lot more sense to me suddenly. "Y-You're not angry I think your mare is pretty?" she asked after carefully watching me for a moment. "Ha! Of course not. I know what you mean by it, and to be honest, it kind of makes me happy you think she's pretty. Not just because of the potential to join the herd in two years, but because I think she's pretty, too, and it reminds me of how lucky I am to be with her," I explained, honestly not having anticipated needing to tell anypony else that little thought that had danced through my mind off and on, but given who was listening, I didn't really mind. Sweetie Belle smiled softly and nodded twice, relaxing against my leg again as she lay back down. "Twilight is pretty, too, but she's kinda scary. I don't feel as comfortable around her, even though I know she'd never hurt me. But if you're there, Mender, I don't think I'll mind," she assured, her muzzle brushing against my left hoof as she gave it a light nuzzle, fully proving she had no issues whatsoever with the damaged limb. If anything, she seemed to like nurturing it even more than before. I'd noticed a few glances towards it from other ponies, of course. I knew it looked gross and was unpleasant to look at, so it was extra nice when I realized some ponies weren't disgusted by it. Of course, other ponies made up for that by being bothered in a totally different way by it. Rainbow and Applejack being first and foremost on my list there. Rainbow avoided looking at it as if it were a scary monster most of the time, but I caught her staring almost through it once or twice with a distant expression, a scary neutral anger usually settling into the empathy link around then. I could only begin to guess. Applejack's gaze was drawn to it every time she saw me, on the other hoof. Her feelings were more readily translated, her expression similar to it being an object straight out of a nightmare in hell. She was such a stubborn mare, I don't think she'd let herself forget anytime soon. All said, I'd be very pleased when it was looking normal and functioning fine again without needing metal covering it. Less reminders for all involved, really. I mentally made the choice at that point to speed the process up as much as I could through matter consumption. Minerals were fairly useless to me in their raw states, but plant matter I could manipulate to speed up my own regeneration. The sonic blast snapped me out of my own head, and I sighed. Sweetie gave a start, but I simply raised my barrier up over both of us without even bothering to look up. It was pelted by a few thousand drops of heated, multi-colored water a half second later. "That's cheating!" I heard Apple Bloom shout out, apparently having been on the receiving end of splash warfare's first seen nuclear attack. "Aaah! Rainbow, my wings are wet!" Scootaloo shouted a second later. I peeked up in time to see her and Spike careening to the side in a spin, and shook my head. Rainbow dove after them both after spinning around from her launch vector, but I simply triggered the mental firing in my mind. Scootaloo's jets disappeared in an instant, replaced by a parachute popping out. Note to self, put in a condition monitor for the surface of the pegasi wings, too, for yet another reason to pop the parachute. Scootaloo probably didn't know how to properly fly with wet wings. Rainbow skid to a stop in front of them, then started snickering as they drifted about in the breeze, the little orange filly not looking all that pleased. Her sister turned back towards me, however, before shouting out, "Good call, Mender!" I rolled my eyes before returning, in equal volume, "Stop blowing up the foals, Rainbow!" She burst into laughter, of course, and I chuckled. Sweetie looked more pleased than anything that she was dry, smiling back up at me before sliding over and resting against my left side again, partially snuggling under my coat for even more added warmth. It was a bit nippy without any sun to speak of. Time passed without event after the threat of water explosions ceased. With Sweetie falling asleep against me again, I simply brought up the notes inside of me and continued where I'd left off. It was amazingly dry material, listing genetic splicing that went into various parts, but for the most part, I was born, and always had been, a pony. The various biomechanical parts that made me a cyborg were largely added during my embryo stage, it would seem, manipulating into my own natural systems as I grew. They were meshed using my own DNA, so they were as much 'me' as the rest of me was. Tons of systems were added, with the focus being on survivability, as I was originally intended to be a scout. The subspace was added for storage ability, manufacturing hubs for creating things in the field, generators for powering it all, and advanced computer mainframes for managing it. So what was physically 'here' and in me all the time was just the external portion of the subspace manager, and my various physical manipulation components, in their basic levels. The subspace was always 'open', however, which lent itself to being really flexible, but also gave me the 'small' problem that the 'density' of everything inside me bled through into the real world. I stared at that issue for a while before sighing. I was never intended to get that experimental weapon shoved in me, then. They saw the gravity and density effect as a minor oversight and that I'd only weigh as much as the equipment inside of me. The gravity dampener system was wired into me along with the weapon at a later date, then. At the same time? That was the same change in coding that told my inner assembly labs to go crazy making redundant parts and such. Now I had six generators in me, four computer mainframes, and twelve manufacturing hubs. The subspace was without limit, as far as I knew, so my programming was to simply keep making the extra things until turned off, which I didn't know how to do. Time to crack that next, I guess. Considering one generator was enough to supply power to all of Ponyville indefinitely, it was already way overkill. What did they even run on? If they were nuclear, I was going to cry. After adding 'generator schematics' to the things to look up, I double-checked the 'other' issue that I was supposed to. All of my male parts appeared to grow as per normal for a pony, and there were no alterations to them except for muscle and 'expansion' controls, which kinda weirded me out a bit. Now, however, they were black boxed. That was beyond concerning, as it indicated something in the 'new' code I'd received at some point after being born had changed the function of my reproductive organs. Why?! Why was that even a feasible need for somepony to do? Hitting a dead end in that direction, I tried a different approach. Looking up a data log, it was fairly easy to find two main code injections that happened after I was out of the embryo stage. They were a year and a half, in universal star date system, from my birth point. That lined up amazingly close to the point in which was labeled as my transit out of dimension. They were both within five minutes of each other as well. The first one added a whole new massive layer on top of my system controls that seemed to act like a wrapper of some sort. The second landed on top of that and just made a bunch of holes in it, removing access protocols and reassigning them all to a 'feed 000'. That much I knew to be me. Control was taken away from me, then given back five minutes later? What the hell?! I stared at the last log for almost a full minute before a shiver danced down my spine. A small, drawn cat head, winking at me playfully. It was the same one that was on the root access I'd managed to get when Nirru hacked me. Nothing made sense, and I exhaled softly, rubbing my right temple with my hoof. I was missing pieces still, and I had a sneaking suspicion I knew where to find them. Her. But would I like the whole picture when I did find them? The video was still there, taunting me from my own memory banks, almost daring me to watch it. Would it reveal even more horrifying secrets about me, or would it answer what I needed it to? Regardless, the logs listed the access modules for all the holes the second injection made, so I recorded them all. It didn't take long to locate the one hooked up to my reproductive organs and open it up. What greeted me were a few dozen generically labeled, if not somewhat vague, boolean variables, and a whole ton of data output. DNA switching? Growth input control? Gender? It made me a bit concerned that there was a 0 next to the Gender, but I decided not to mess with that just yet. The DNA readout displayed source data, which indicated that my own was currently 'loaded' into me. Did that mean I could switch what DNA I was using to attempt to impregnate a female with? Weird. It was set to accept both native and Keldarian values, but was currently using native. That meant that, with my current configuration, I could get a mare pregnant in all likelihood. I exhaled softly and nodded to nopony in particular. Good news, I guessed? Another side link referenced me to the entire massive database of Keldarian DNA I had stored. Oh, oh hell. Nirru had been right. I really could 'eject' Keldarian based DNA. That was actually a little creepy, now that I thought about it. The code was put in place by the first code injection, not the second, but the second one gave me access to controlling it. Weird. I didn't know what the 'purpose' of it was. That meant the first injection knew I'd suddenly have access to a whole ton of DNA, and even set up the database link ahead of time. Further, it was already flagged to use the "Keldarian" configuration, automating the process. The second code injection had switched all the configuration data back to 'me' as well. After a moment's consideration, I decided I really liked the second code injection, and it wasn't just because of the cute cat face it used as an avatar. I saved the list of what each injection did and what the code links were before cracking my back and peeking at Clocky, noting it was kinda dark. Oh, well hell. Clocky noted that it was nineteen hundred hours, and past suppertime for all of us. I'd been reading for two hours?! Looking back up again, I noticed Pinch and Featherweight resting on the sand, Silver making a sand castle, Spike and Apple Bloom drifting on their backs in the lake next to each other and talking, and Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash chilling in a tree a half dozen meters away. Well then, I guess everypony had taken care of themselves while I was distracted, which was a good thing. "Hey, Rainbow, are you okay on your own now? We need to get back and get supper now, and should probably call it a day," I warned, directing my voice towards the two ponies in the tree. I wondered idly if ponies from my other dimension liked trees. Of course, they didn't exactly have wings that I knew of, so probably not, as hooves weren't spectacular climbing instruments. I really should have visited that zoo moon before the Grosh blew it up. She perked up, and then smiled back down at me, nodding. "Heck yeah. I've gotta get back soon anyway. I promised Pinkie that I'd have supper with her at eight. Can we practice some more tomorrow as well?" she inquired, sounding more than a little hopeful. I found myself wondering how she could tell what time it was without a clock, but guessed they got really good at using the position of the sun, which was probably amazingly accurate due to being controlled by a pony. "Of course. We gotta get you in even more than top form before the race," I agreed, playfully winking towards her. Of course she grinned and nodded, but suddenly dropped the smile and got a startled look on her face. I peeked in the direction she was looking but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary apart from my talking having woken Sweetie up again, allowing her to resume her snuggling into my left side. Heh. Glancing back at Dash, I saw her instead looking down at the base of the tree at her rather large saddlebags I'd totally forgotten about. Oh yeah, the metric ton of bits she'd tried to pay me earlier. "Aww, dang it! I forgot I hauled that huge thing here. This is why I don't like traveling with saddlebags," Rainbow groaned, looking down at it in disdain. "What are you gonna do with it? Still try to pay Mender?" Scootaloo asked curiously, fluttering down towards it and hooking a foreleg around it, wincing as she tried to lift the thing and couldn't. Rainbow snorted and rolled her eyes, dropping from the tree and hovering over Scootaloo. "As if. Mender's stubborn as a mule. He's not going to accept-" she started to remind, earning a smirk from me. My barrier hooked the saddlebags a second later, however, hauling them away from the two pegasi and right in front of me. Rainbow looked rather bewildered as she watched me with interest while Scootaloo spun in a light loop, righting herself after the thing she was hooked to was yanked away from her. It was easy at this point, as all of my practice was finally starting to catch up with me and show some results. A layer for reinforcement, a simple booster enchantment, and then a capacitor added to the top of the system. I smiled as I boosted the capacitor with my own energy, easily filling it, as it wasn't very big in the first place. The whole process was done in about forty seconds, and I nodded back up at Rainbow before flicking the bags back at her. She winced and held her forelegs up in front of her face as the bags whipped at her, assuming, like I had figured she would, that I'd used my enhanced strength to toss them. They harmlessly bounced off her side a moment later before lightly drifting off into the air away from her. Scootaloo snorted, and then started laughing at Rainbow's surprised expression, which was rapidly shifting to a scowl aimed in my direction. "It should last until sometime tomorrow, so hauling them back will be easy for you," I elaborated, giving her a warmer smile instead of the Cheshire grin. The cyan mare relaxed a little and blew out an exhale, puffing her bangs upwards a bit before tentatively smiling and nodding. "If you're sure I can't convince ya to take some of it. You really are doing me a huge favor here, Mender!" she offered yet again. Still smiling, I lightly shook my head. "Nah, it's fine, Rainbow. I'm just happy that you're happy. Get back over here bright and early tomorrow so you can practice more," I 'ordered', mostly to just get off the topic at hoof. Her grin shot back up and she gave me a salute, hooking the saddlebags over her barrel again. "Will do, Boss! I'll see you tomorrow, too, Squirt! We have more flying to do," she returned, the last part obviously aimed at Scootaloo, who perked up and grinned back. A light blush suddenly slipped into Rainbow's cheeks as she got a rather impish look on her face a second later. Uh oh. I braced for impact as she peeked back over at me, mirthful energy dancing in her rose-colored eyes. "Oh, and keep shooting down our ways of paying you back, I dare ya! AJ and I might just need to get, hmm, creative instead. I'll warn you now. She's amazingly good with rope," she warned. My eyes shot open almost as fast as the heat spiked in my face, but the mare shot off into the sky with a laugh before I could even fully consider the full implications of what she'd just suggested. At least I knew I didn't have to worry about Applejack going along with it, but damn. Still blushing, I lightly shook my head in disbelief at the mare's antics before looking back over to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Both were giving me rather amused smiles, and I stuck my tongue out instead. "Okay then, everypony! We're gonna head back to the cabins now for supper! Come on," I called out, specifically trying to extend my voice in the direction of the foals down by the lake. Spike, apparently hungry, was headed towards me within seconds, a very surprised looking Apple Bloom being physically dragged behind him by one of his claw tethers. "Yes! I've been hungry for a few minutes now!" he exclaimed, sliding up to a stop in front of me. The other three came at a slightly slower pace, with Featherweight and Pinch looking amused, and Silver bewildered. It only took me a moment of looking at her to remember her equipment bags. "Ah, yeah. Could you get one of your equipment bags, Silver Spoon?" I requested, nuzzling my head under the strap on her other one and flicking it lightly backwards onto my back. They'd taken a couple balls out from it earlier to play with, but at some point during my distraction, they must have cleaned up after themselves. I was rather impressed. "O-Oh! I, uh, well, you don't have to help me with them, Mender. They're my responsibility, after all," the gray filly muttered, slipping under hers and carefully lifting upwards, hooking it over her back. "Eh, I could use the exercise. Besides, it's what friends do, no?" I pointed out. It was kind of amusing watching her expression shift to looking like she'd just got blindsided by a runaway wagon, but I resisted snickering. My fellow Crusaders looked somewhat surprised as well, but recovered far faster than Silver. Apple Bloom chipped in first, suggesting, "O'course we'll be yer friend, Silver. Yer ah nice pony now that we got ta hang out with ya. Do ya have supper plans? If not, yer always welcome ta eat with us." Pinch finally relented and got a light smile on her face as well, nodding along. "Yeah, you're not the filly I thought you were. Just, well, you don't always have to go along with Diamond Tiara when she's being mean," she suggested, eyes softening at the now uncomfortable looking Silver. I shook my head lightly instead. "No, if anything, Diamond Tiara is really insecure about something, if I had to guess right. A lot of bullies act that way to try to get some form of control over their lives. I saw a lot of it, er, in my prior profession," I elaborated, suddenly remembering that not everypony present knew I was an alien from another dimension about halfway through. Silver smiled weakly at that and nodded. "Her dad puts a lot of pressure on her. But, um, thank you, everypony. Uh, I'm staying with her as well and we're kind of on our own for supper tonight. Would it be okay if I offered some food to her, too?" she asked hesitantly, swallowing and shrinking a bit almost automatically afterwards, as if expecting us to throw rocks at her or something. Heh. She'd probably seen the angry mob from earlier. "Sure. I'm sure Big Mac isn't going to turn down a hungry filly," I pointed out, smiling towards her in a hopefully reassuring manner. I wasn't so great at the whole body language thing, and sincerely hoped it didn't come across as creepy and uncanny valley instead. Her smile returned in the corner of my eye as I turned and started walking towards the path leaving the lake again. The group of foals rapidly caught back up with me, Sweetie perpetually to my left again as usual, but this time Silver slipped up to her left as well. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Spike came in on the right again, and I heard Featherweight and Pinch following closely behind me. The sound of the hovering tortoise somewhere above got me thinking a bit. It was a little weird that I was the only adult here, but that familiar urge to make sure absolutely nothing hurt any of them reared up again, somewhat comforting at this point. That was specifically my desire, I realized. My own, and it was good to cling to my own identity. Plus, being responsible for others and taking that seriously left a good feeling in my chest. "What did you used to do before coming to Ponyville?" Silver asked curiously after a moment of walking. Heh, speaking of identity, I guess I should stick as close to what was established as possible. While we walked, I went into detail about how I was a researcher before, and also served in the Royal Military as well. Technically it was true, minus the royal part. There was no royalty where I really did come from, but I guess arguing semantics was a rather moot point now that 'where I came from' was kind of blown to tiny bits. Eh. Details, details. Regardless, I made them up as I went... * * * * * It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, there would never be any escape from the pervasive awkwardness that seemed to haunt my life at regular intervals. I stared up at the ceiling of the darkened cabin, listening to both the rainfall on the roof and the light snoring from Spike, who was curled up near my back legs. I tried giving him a blanket, but he denied one, saying he was warm enough with just his inner temperature. It was downright nippy in the cabin now, but I believed him if the distortions in the air above him meant anything. He was warm indeed! Sadly, the relaxing atmosphere only made it easier to remember supper earlier. Diamond Tiara sat like a grumbling rock the entire time we ate, despite us trying to be as nice as we could to her. I figured she'd not be happy with me in particular, but her irritation seemed to extend to pretty much everypony, even Silver Spoon. It had been awkward, but she looked more depressed than anything by the end of supper. I stared up into the dark, taking an odd comfort in not turning on any enhanced vision. Even though I was just lying here, it was oddly peaceful. Another low rumble sounded in the distance, lightly shaking the windows. For a moment, I thought it was Scootaloo, who still snored blissfully unaware. The two squeaks in the same direction reminded me that I wasn't the only one awake. Another flash of light through the windows illuminated the entire room, and my eyes softened. Three seconds passed, and the loud boom shook the windows even further. Two weak yelps sounded out in different tones, and I heard the distinct sound of hooves hitting wood a second later. Oh? Big Mac stirred at the same time I rolled to my right, peeking as two panicking fillies shot past my bed, one yellow and one white. "B-Big Brother? Can we stay with ya, tonight?" Apple Bloom shakily whispered, hopping her front legs up onto the red stallion's bed. He was large enough to take up almost all of it by himself. I doubted his ability to compress himself that much, and eagerly watched to see if he'd try. Interestingly enough, Scootaloo's snores didn't even miss a beat. He sleepily stared down at the two fillies before sighing and nodding. "Ah only got room fer one, though. Go see Mender, Sweetie," he quietly returned. That bastard! He knew Sweetie 'liked' me at this point! It was pointless to glare at him, of course, as he wasn't even looking at me. Sweetie lowered her ears for a second but nodded slowly, shrinking a little before peeking back over at me in the dark. Her whole body shivered as another rumble sounded out, and a pang of guilt over being annoyed shot through me. Exhaling, I gave her my softest smile and nodded towards her, extending my right foreleg off the bed a bit. Timidly, her muzzle switched to a weak smile as she slipped over in my direction. The next flash and boom sent a white bolt of shivering fur right into my chest, burrowing into the blankets in blind panic. Trying not to snicker, I tucked her under the blankets and just held her against my chest while she shivered there. From my current position, I could also see Apple Bloom's head sticking out from under the edge of Big Mac's covers, hesitantly looking our way. My right hoof lit up gently with a soft blue light, and both fillies looked over at it, Sweetie peeking out from the top of my blanket. Big Mac looked tiredly towards me from the two-meter distance and gave a weak nod, eyes slowly closing again. "You two are fine now. Just try to get some sleep," I assured as best I could, giving Sweetie a squeeze around the chest. She smiled up at me as I turned off the glow, letting the light fade and the darkness resume once again. "Yeah, goodnight, Mender," Apple Bloom whispered, followed by an even quieter thank you to her brother. Sweetie puffed up a little before rotating around and sinking back down a bit, moving all but her face below my blankets as she timidly looked up at me. "Um, I'm sorry about this, Mender. T-Thank you," she finally whispered. I sighed, but smiled weakly before asking, "Bad dreams?" Her tired nod was all that was needed, and I decided upon something else instead. "I know a trick that will make sure you don't have a single bad dream tonight. Relax," I instructed softly. It didn't really surprise me this time when Sweetie exhaled and nodded, her muscles going limp against me. Pulling her up a little, I noticed a light pink shift on her cheeks as I pushed my forehead against hers. A second later, my energy danced through her head as I lightly held her close, her eyes widening a little at the sensation. "Dream syncing. But first, I'm going to take a bit of a trip. Don't be afraid, Sweetie, as I won't let anything bad happen to you," I muttered, barely audible into her ear, the tiny thread of my energy connecting our foreheads still. Fear appeared to be the last thing on her mind as she smiled up at me, gently nodding against my chest. Snickering lightly, I nodded to her, and then gave two little tugs on the inner connection. Ten seconds passed in silence before I 'felt' myself pulled a bit closer to my Keldarian friend. "Oh, just a second, Mender! You caught me in the middle of something," Keela informed, sounding a little distracted. Sweetie's eyes widened a bit as she heard the voice, too, and probably recognized it from before. She stiffened a little bit, but relaxed a moment later after catching herself. I gave her an assuring squeeze around her back, and her muzzle shifted back upwards ever so slightly into a smile again. A moment later, Keela's end of the link activated fully. Someday, I was going to have to ask her how she did that. I knew she was a divination specialist, but allowing me to project my energy across dimensions to where she was still impressed me a little. It didn't take long before I nodded absently and nuzzled Sweetie's forehead. As predicted, she blushed and closed her eyes during the sensation. In that instant, while her eyes were still closed, I pulled us across the dimensional gap in one fluid shift. * * * * * The step out was a bit more jarring this time, as I accidentally kicked a scrap of metal and sent it flying with my hoof as I materialized. Raising an eyebrow, I looked around at the rather messy lab, a far cry from how she normally kept it. What looked like wreckage and various scraps were positioned on the lab tables, probably for analysis. Keela herself stood up again and smiled back at me from a nearby workstation, her scanning device that was ceiling-mounted sliding across what looked like a burnt up satellite assembly. "Hiya, Mender! You caught me looking not my best, but you probably don't mind," she greeted, giggling lightly before turning around fully. Her fur was a bit matted in spots, and she had grease stains on the engineering uniform she was wearing, but other than that, she didn't look bad, really, her hair tied up in a ponytail like that. Heh. Probably another reason she didn’t get along with the council before. She wasn’t afraid to get her own paws dirty. "Psh, you're too hard on yourself. You look fine to me," I observed, causing her to flush lightly and grin. A moment later, I closed my eyes again and focused lightly on the confused, disoriented mind also connected to mine. Keela tilted her head towards me, but then widened her eyes as another form shifted out of me, and Sweetie Belle took immediate shape and coloring to my left. I felt her mind orient instantly as her eyes opened and she gave a start, looking around the large lab in sudden surprise. "Oh! Hello there," Keela suddenly added, snapping Sweetie's attention back to her in an instant. The Keldarian crouched down to make herself look smaller as she smiled warmly at the little filly, who looked more nervous than anything. "This is Keela, Sweetie. You already met her, remember?" I asked softly, sitting down next to the filly. Sweetie Belle snapped her attention back to me as well, suddenly realizing I was right there next to her, and visibly relaxed, exhaling gently before pushing into my side again. Heh. She acted like she was going to be by herself if she broke physical contact. "Um, hello. I'm Sweetie Belle, but you already, well, met me," she whispered, looking back up at Keela with rather large eyes, looking her over carefully. "Oh, you're just adorable! Are you staying with Mender, then?" Keela chirped, getting that expression she had before when she last saw the fillies. It was really hard to describe, but was kind of a mixture between super excited and gushing at the cuteness. The white filly relaxed a little more at the non-threatening question, and nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah. It's storming really bad at the cabin, and, well, I don't like thunder. Mender let me sleep in his bed, and then brought me here to get me away from the storm," she explained, looking back up at me and getting a larger smile on her face. Giving a gentle nod, I pulled her into a light hug and ruffled the top of her mane a bit, earning a giggle from the filly. Keela snickered at the display and tacked on, "Oh, I know. Mender's a sweetheart, and really likes you fillies. He's talked about you three before." I gave Keela a skeptical glance, but Sweetie perked up at that, her eyes widening a little. "R-Really? What does he say about me?" she asked a little too quickly to be an innocent question. Snickering, I playfully nudged her, earning a squeak as I reminded, "I'm right here, you know. I mostly tell her how adorable I think you three are." It was an easy enough admission, of course. No lie was needed, as Sweetie alone was potentially the most quintessential adorable being in existence. Add in three others, and Fluttershy as well, and you had world-ending levels of cuteness. My heart was straining just thinking about it! Keela got a coy smirk, however, and my eyes instantly narrowed in her direction, but it was far too late to say anything about it before she spoke up. "Oh, he talks about more than that. How Apple Bloom is always open and honest with him, and how he admires Scootaloo for her unwavering dedication and genuine attitude," she started, actually covering legit details I'd mentioned. Oh, well that wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Sweetie, who had perked up at her having started explaining things, just smiled and nodded along at all that. "He says they're kinda like the little sisters he never had, which is downright adorable to hear him say, I might add," she admitted, winking towards me. I felt a light heat enter my cheeks, but I rolled my eyes and waved a hoof towards her dismissively. "I'm not adorable. Now this little filly here is adorable!" I illustrated, lightly patting Sweetie on the head, who beamed up at me. Keela looked unfazed, to my slight horror. Was there such a thing as 'slight' horror? Could you be just a 'little' horrified? Regardless, she continued with, "But you confuse him oh so much. He tries to think of you like a little sister, but you just feel 'different ' to him in how you interact with him." Aww, damn it. She was hinting at that? Sweetie turned a light pink and shyly stared at her own hooves before nodding. "Um, I don't want to be his sister, so that's good. I want to be his. His, um, mate. A member of the herd!" she revealed, despite Keela already knowing all that. She'd been the one who had calmed me down, after all. I'd told her everything. The Keldarian smiled in an assured manner, complimenting, "Those are really mature thoughts for such a young filly. I'm impressed." Sweetie cracked a smile at that, and giggled, to my surprise. "I, um, learned a lot from Rarity. She talks about romance a lot, and taught me about values and stuff. She, um, sorta noticed that I liked Mender already, and talked to me about it. A lot. It was a little awkward, but she was helping me get the courage up to talk to Mender about it before we all left for second heat," she revealed. For all intents and purposes, I was flattened by the revelation. "W-Wait, what?! Your sister knows about this and said it was okay?" I asked almost instantly, unable to even fathom the reality of this. I was expecting Rarity to be first in line to grind me into pony paste when I got back and told her! Hmm. Actually, now that I thought about it, it really did say something about my intelligence if I knew she was going to smash my face in and I was going to tell her anyway. Keela looked bewildered at the sudden turn of events, looking back and forth between us, but Sweetie just swallowed and nodded, losing her smile a little. "Yeah. I almost think Rarity figured it out faster than I did. She wasn't happy at first. She said she was worried it was just a 'crush' and because she talked about you so much. She also told me more about what happened and, um, admitted that she had made a mistake," the little filly elaborated. "Mistake?" Keela asked hesitantly, apparently coping with this better than I was, being not technically involved. "Yeah. Something about her falling in love with what Mender represented, rather than, uh, himself? I think? It was kinda confusing, but she said she was happy Mender said no, and that she had to 'reevaluate what she looked for in a male', as she put it. Looking at the male himself rather than comparing him to her ideal?" Sweetie tried to explain, stumbling a bit and frowning at the end. It made sense. She hadn't even looked at the many, many flaws I have, only being interested in how I treated her and what she perceived as a 'flawless' match to her 'Knight in Shining Armor' image. She never really looked at 'me', as it was. She wanted 'a prince', and not 'Mender', and from the look in her eyes that night she kissed me, it felt like she was willing to lie to herself in order to get that. Keela smiled and nodded happily to the little filly. "That's very wise. Do you like Mender because he's always nice to you and acts compassionate, or is there something more?" Sweetie smiled at that but shook her head, letting her curls sway with the gentle motion. "Rarity asked me that, too. I really do think Mender is nice and friendly to everypony, or at least tries to be. I know he's not, well, perfect, but I made a lot of mistakes, too! I'm not saying that just to be mean or anything. I like talking to him and he makes me feel safe. That comes with a warm and dancing feeling in my chest that just makes me want to sing and tuck myself into Mender and kiss him and, um..." She trailed off a moment later, noticing Keela's surprised look, and my dropped jaw in comparison. It didn't take long for heat to creep back across her cheeks. "Uh, how long ago was this talk?" I asked, shaking myself out of it a good fifteen awkward seconds later. Keela exhaled softly and looked over at me instead, but all my attention was reserved for the little filly at this point. Well, okay, so she wasn't really 'little' so much as three-fourths the size of an adult, but still! She paused, then lifted her head up for a moment, tilting it to the right a little. "Uh, it was the day after she got back from Canterlot, and before you came back to Ponyville," she hesitantly answered. That long?! Why didn't she say anything to me?! Well, looking back at it now, as observant as Rarity had proven to be, I really shouldn't have been surprised that she figured it out that fast. Keela finally stood up again and looked back at the workstation behind her. "Well, I think it's amazing that she's supporting you, Sweetie Belle. In a couple years, I'm sure you'll be more than ready to join the herd," she assured upon turning back around. Sweetie perked up, but looked over at me instead. "Wait, you told her about the two years thing, too?" she asked, sounding more than a little surprised. My ears flattened back of their own accord, and I frowned. "Is that, um, a bad thing?" Technically, Keela was more a confidant than most of my friends. It helped that she had a truly outsider's perspective, but being from a totally different culture, and the same one most of my mindset had been from, I found her able to give a surprising amount of insight, not to mention being highly empathic of everything. Sweetie's shade shifted even further into the red tones as she rapidly shook her head, mane dancing back and forth with each motion. "No! Not at all. I'm glad, because that means you were definitely telling the truth when you said you'd give me a chance?" she tried to explain, insinuating something else on the side, undoubtedly by accident. I smirked, of course. "Oh? You didn't trust me before?" I teased, grin widening towards her as she scowled, faint smile still playing across her snout. "Of course I do, Mender. I trust you with my life! You did save it, so it's all yours now," she chirped in a singsong sort of manner, managing to fire back my teasing with a surprising level of finesse. I blushed and rolled my eyes as she grinned. Keela, who was still listening, surprisingly enough, perked her ears up and smirked back at us. "Careful, Sweetie. For a Keldarian, if they go through great trial and acquire honor while saving a female's life, they rise in station, with said female usually feeling obligated to 'reward' them," she tossed in, earning a flat look from me and a gasp from my filly friend. "So it's kinda like knighthood! How romantic!" Sweetie gushed, and I barely resisted slapping my forehead. Sure, you usually got an heir out of the 'arrangement', but were they really anything more than possessions of the female to show off with after that? Not my idea of romantic... Keela must have seen my sour face, and quickly corrected, "It's not all that romantic for all of them, Sweetie. But yes, they're sort of like 'knights'. Although our culture uses the term 'Honored Guardian' instead." Well, that was true. It was a rise in station, after all. Better pay, better hours, better living conditions, rising on the social ladder, and potentially getting to hang out more with your charge, if she had a small 'collection,' anyways. You only had to almost assuredly die a horrible, merciless death trying to 'save' them. The little filly looked deeply engrossed, as if trying to memorize every word, so I took the distraction while I could and changed the subject. "Uh, by the way, what are all these things?" I inquired, having actually been wondering that for a while now. Keela glanced back over at me questioningly, but I gestured around to the various destroyed parts on the tables. "Oh! These are samples that were in the best shape from the wreckage near the destruction of our home world. From what I can piece together, it's a Grosh research vessel, but there's almost nothing left of it. From what we could tell from the destruction, there wasn't any actual damage to it, so we were trying to figure out how it spontaneously blew up," she explained, smiling back towards her computer, which appeared to be analyzing ballistics of the hull piece laying there. Oh. Oops. Why had I never told her about that? I'd mentioning encountering the Grosh when trying to recover the original me, but not that I'd successfully blown up the ship. Staring at the analysis going on, I smiled and shook my head, remembering that particular run at the radar dish. "Depleted pellets fired from a rail launcher built into several scouting drones," I answered, an estimated three and a half hours before the computer narrowed it down to the same option. Keela gave a start, and then turned back around to give me a questioning glance. I coughed lightly and looked away. "I really should have told you about that part. That was from the first attack run when Dash and I sliced off their radar array. There were a negligible amount of scouts firing at us on our approach, but we outran them easily. Looks like they hit their own hull," I pointed out, gesturing towards the damaged plate. "You?! You attacked the Grosh ship?!" she asked, eyes widening in surprise as her paw slid along the plate next to her. It was a sizable sample, dull gray metals producing next to no shine despite the lab's overheads. "We didn't have a choice. The ship was already there investigating the portal. I couldn't take the chance that they had information on Equestria," I said, frowning afterwards. Sweetie's eyes softened a bit and she slid into my left side again, hugging my foreleg as I smiled down at her. "You blew them up, then? H-How?!" Keela asked weakly, turning off the scanner with an errant gesture now that she knew the answer already. "They pulled him and Rainbow inside the ship! He lit it on fire, then Twilight teleported them out with her magic!" Sweetie answered for me, with the 'close enough' version. I wasn't going to go into details, but Keela was a smart girl, and probably figured out what happened. She smiled, a sudden, knowing sort of tingle dancing in her eyes. "Ah, their ecosystem's gas. Clever. Well, I guess that solves this mystery, and you saved me quite a few hours, so thanks!" she chirped, turning around and starting to slide the sensors up. "I just wish we could have gleamed something from all this. Everything's so burnt up that it's almost unrecognizable," she added, sounding a little bit down and pausing with her paw on the handle of her scanner. Staring at it, I traced the sleek metals with my eyes, remembering the cold efficiency of it all quite intimately. That wasn't all his memories, either. For just a research vessel, it had a scary array of armaments. My hoof reached out and slid along the extended plate of the one propped up on Keela's table, feeling the lightly cooled metal as it curved towards the floor of the lab. It felt almost, well, sad. Sad? A little confusion shot through me at the same time the light pulse did, and I was suddenly 'aware' of the metal a bit more. My eyes widened as I realized how familiar the pulse had felt, and I subconsciously looked back towards my left side. Prudentia was there in barrier construct form, and I knew I hadn't formed it. Giving a questioning glance up at Sweetie, I noticed her frozen in mid-hop towards me, looking happy. Oh. Expecting it this time, I turned back to my right, only to find a small Keldarian kitten sitting on the edge of the plate wing. She was totally nude, but was so young that I would have had a hard time telling her gender had she been wearing clothes. Her shoulder-length hair was a mixture of dark gold and silver, while her cloudy, white eyes looked vaguely back in my general direction, yet slightly over my shoulder with the way she was sitting. Prudentia. She spoke up before I could address her this time. "But little did the hero know, how many untold eons that metal contained. Sadness and loss, betrayal and fear. Each anew shall rise up to the heavens, but only one shall attain the infinite. Which one?" she asked, confusing me more than a little. Sadness? "Fear drives all. The answer? Cut them down while they still ascend. If none rise up, then the prophecy falls upon deaf ears and idle hands. None shall question them again. Now, they hide behind a mask of their own making, full of great advances, but hating all equally," she continued, dropping into a whisper towards the end. The Grosh. It was speculated that they perceived us as threats somehow, and I knew they were at war with countless thousand other species at the same time usually, but nopony really knew why they were doing it all. Did they have some sort of prophecy telling them to? Prudentia smiled as I stared at her, looking amused. "Master is clever. I'm sure you'll eventually find out. In the meantime, you should make sure Keela doesn't think this was a waste," she suggested idly. It was odd, but she felt more substantial this time. Was she getting stronger, or was there something about being in this dimension? "How do I do that?" I inquired, tilting my head while looking at her. For a moment, a smile played at her lips as she reached her right paw down and brushed it against the metal she sat on. The metal glowed as she touched it, a faint light dancing across the surface and forming thin, perfectly spaced lines. The light aggressively expanded but didn't stop at the destroyed edges, continuing as if tracing some unknown design. Oh! "My power," Prudentia answered finally. Everything inside the part was shown as well, with layer after layer deepening as it went. It moved beyond sight, as I took the data right into my databases instead. "Oh, this is much more convenient than the last Master. He took time to absorb information and write things down." My eyes softened a little as I stared down at the almost completed diagram of the Grosh ship. Yeah, that was one way to look at it. I was definitely more convenient. Now that I considered it, I was rather convenient for the ponies, too. Wasn't that what I wanted, though? Prudentia surprised me with a sudden squeak, her eyes widening as she covered her mouth with both paws. "Ah! That's not what I meant, Master! You, um, that's the whole reason I'm here. You're so, well, different. I thought that revealing my other abilities would cause you to start, well, requesting a bunch of different things. But you haven't even asked once!" she rapidly explained, tripping over her own words like I'd never heard her do before. Of course, the second the rather strong thought entered my mind, a sharp blush shot across her cheeks. Heh. She was definitely a real individual, I noticed. Still, I was concerned about her statement. "Why would you even think I'd do that in the first place, Prudentia? I mean, it's your power to control, and even if I wanted to, it's not my place to tell you what to do with it." It didn't make sense to me, but at the same time, I had my suspicions. The little kitten blushed lightly and smiled, shaking her head and letting her hair dance about. "Master is really nice, but you're still my master. I really do have to do everything you request. I can do things on my own when you don't request anything, of course, which is why this is a gift! Something you can give Keela to help her defend her people," she reasoned, giving me a happy nod when she was done. Yeah, I'd suspected something 'bound' her to me like that. I'd no desire to actually take advantage of that, though. Although, the way she said Keela's name... "Well, I'm never going to order you to do anything for me, Prudentia. Although I am curious. Do you know Keela?" I inquired, tilting my head a little to the left. She momentarily looked startled, empty eyes widening as her ears perked up. "Oh, well, yes, I did while I was still alive. But she won't remember me, so it's probably pointless to mention it to her," she explained. A light pang hit me, several suspected bits of information coming to light at once. Prudentia was dead, and the way she'd said that had been absolute. Not 'she might not remember'... "I'm sorry. Um, is there anything you'd rather I call you than Prudentia? I remember you said you were Prudentia, but it wasn't you at the same time, so..." I offered quietly, hoping I hadn't brought up bad memories. If she was sad by the topic, she didn't show it. Instead, I got a sort of perplexed, blank stare for a moment before she hesitantly asked, "Uh, wait, you're asking me a personal preference? It doesn't have anything to do with you, though." I nodded and tried to give her a warm smile, but she shrank a little and gave a more pronounced blush. "Um, well, no, I'm not, well, I am, but I'm not Prudentia. I became Prudentia, but I'm still me, I guess?" she managed to squeak out, looking a bit flustered and reminding me of Fluttershy again. I snickered lightly but nodded to her, urging her to continue. After a bit more fidgeting, she finally whispered, "Um, you can call me Purdue if you want. That was my name before I was Prudentia." My ears perked up and I committed it to memory instantly. It was a rather pretty name. She blushed a bit more and smiled at me, looking happy regardless, if not a little tired. "I am getting tired, though. Showing you the schematics took a lot out of me," she admitted, voice a bit stronger afterwards, either happy I liked her name or trying to adamantly change the topic. "You were here for a lot longer this time, and did a ton of stuff. What was so different, if you don't mind me asking before you leave?" Glancing back into my database at the same time, I pulled up the completed schematics she'd given me as if to prove the point, knowing full well she could probably see what I saw, too. Her smile came back and she nodded. "It's easier for me to show up in just your mind than it is to form a physical body out of barriers so you can see me. So when you're asleep or in a purely mental state, it's easier for me to talk to you?" she explained, much as I'd already guessed. I perked and nodded at that, earning a light giggle from the kitten before she hopped up off the metal chunk. I watched her hesitate, a step or so away from me before I smiled and stepped forwards, lightly hugging her front while squeezing her with my right foreleg. She gave a start, but then wrapped her arms around my neck with a happy murmuring. She was rather silly if she thought I'd object to hugging her. A moment later, she backed her head away and nodded to me, looking very happy now. "I'll see you again soon, Master! Um, thank you!" Before I could tell her to just call me Mender, she was gone again and Sweetie Belle hopped point blank range into my rear. We both gave a startled yelp and fell into a rather tangled pony pile, giving Keela a start as she turned around again. It didn't take three seconds for the Keldarian to start giggling at us as I tried to fold my leg back around Sweetie and untangle her tail from my forehoof. Her eyes spun momentarily before she coughed and gave me a sheepish, apologetic look. I just snickered and patted her on the head, however, pulling her back to her hooves after disengaging from her. It was amazing how easy four legs could get all wound up with each other when multiple ponies were involved! Well, no, maybe it was just me... "Are you two okay?" Keela asked, a hint of mirth still in her voice as she walked back over to us. Sweetie Belle peeked back over at her and nodded, shoulders relaxing again and giving my alien friend a soft smile. It was nice to see her not afraid anymore. "Yeah, we're okay. Just a spill. It, uh, happens more than I'd like to admit. I'm still not the greatest at this whole four leg thing," I admitted, getting her to giggle and wiggle her whiskers for a moment before I added, "By the way, do you have a data jack in any of these consoles?" Sweetie tilted her head at me, and Keela gave me a curious stare for a second before nodding. I smiled and held my left forehoof up, a plug extension forming out of it and sliding out a few inches. I knew how they worked, and mimicking the electrical current in it to form the data signal would be rather easy. Peripheral support ho! My Keldarian friend stared at it for a moment, eyebrow raised, before she smirked and slid a panel open on the console next to her. "This better not be the DNA data, Mender. I told you I don't have the database ready for such a huge upload yet," she warned as I hopped up on the device, unable to reach it otherwise with my hoof and still be comfortable. Sweetie didn't seem to fully grasp what was going on, but followed me like a lost puppy regardless, jumping up right behind me and pushing into my back as she peeked around, curiously watching what I was doing as I got the plug inserted two tries later. For universal plugs, why did they make them have a specific up and down? It was just bad engineering! Plus, it seemed like I was 'fated' to always try to plug it in upside down the first time. "Nope! This is a present Prudentia gave me, for you," I revealed happily. Keela's eyes expanded rapidly, but I started the upload before she could say anything. Her eyes whipped to the screen instead, then got bigger and bigger as I transferred the full schematics to her. Okay, it was worth it just for that expression. "H-How did you...? You're just full of surprises, Mender," Keela whispered, looking on in awe at the display. "Magic?" I offered, giving her a playful smirk. She shot me a glare back, but I just shot her a wink before turning back and watching the upload into her computer's database... Chapter 56Dreaming was a pleasant pastime for me. Admittedly, I'd discovered it was way more fun with a friend, as special as that felt to say. When I was by myself, even when lucid dreaming, I had a tendency to fall prey to negatives. Bad thoughts would magnify and more base fears would manifest themselves until I lost control of the dream and it shifted into a nightmare. That wasn't pleasant, of course. With somepony else there, however, there was always something else for me to focus on rather than my negative tendencies. I really did try to stay positive, but a little bit of help from time to time was amazing. At this point, due to Twilight not really wanting to sync with me anymore, obviously before the Estrus, of course, I felt like it was a distant dream. As ironic as that sounds, it wasn't very pleasant after I'd gotten used to somepony helping me keep the memories at bay. So, despite Sweetie having infinite amounts of fun and no complaints whatsoever, it still felt like a slightly selfish, naughty indulgence to me. My eyes stayed closed, enjoying the sleepiness even though I was keenly aware of being awake now. Dreaming always had that surreal, misty feel to it, even when aware of it. Things flowed and shifted freely there, and it was a delight to show the little filly all the ways you could change the dreamscape. First a circus show, then an interesting air show with the 'Wonderbolts', and even an aquarium of some sort was on our list of stops. She led the way from her own memories, and was delighted to see them come back to life around her. Admittedly, I was equally delighted to see the new aspects of Equestria, obviously not getting away from Ponyville much. Apparently the little filly had been much more active with events and shows and such when she was living with her parents. After they moved to Canterlot a year or so back, she moved in with her sister to stay in her current school, but Rarity obviously didn't have as much time to take her places. She was more than happy to go sightseeing, that said. The last hour of our sleepy dream experience was on a breezy hill overlooking Ponyville from the south. I just enjoyed the sun on my side, and she rested against my chest in her prior adult form, saying she wanted to see what it was like without the monstrous, overbearing heat. Admittedly, far, far less hectic, I had to agree. We just lay there watching the sun slowly set, while its twin rose in reality. The wind and gently swaying grass let me just rest peacefully. It was a rare opportunity, and it surprised me that it had been Sweetie's idea. She was acting like normal again as well, just enjoying lying there lightly against me. Her adult form was exactly as I remembered it, and quite pretty, her lightly curled mane significantly longer and lightly resting down her shoulder and neck as I occasionally massaged her shoulder blades. Yeah, in a few years’ time, I doubted I'd have any issue with her. She was close to me already in other ways and felt familiar, which was definitely important. Either she was taking after her sister and an amazing mastermind to plan this relaxing last scene, or she really did mesh well with my interests and self. Was I just lazy? Eh. Not so much that as really, really tired. Maybe that's why I just lay there for a bit, enjoying the soft mattress under me before the day began once more. I knew she was awake, too, both of us having slipped out of the dream at the same time. The mind only rested while in the actual dreamscape. It only idled, and our body rested while we were over visiting Keela, so I could never stay with my Keldarian friend all night. No, we needed a full rest. The filly gave a soft sigh a moment later, her face pushing a little more into my chest as she relaxed in my forelegs. Even if we each had different potential reasons for the embrace, it was still pleasant. She was warm, soft, and adorable, and all three of those appealed to me on a base level, especially when put into one tiny little package. Well, again, she was pretty big, honestly, so maybe 'tiny' wasn't that great of a word to use, but eh, it wasn't like anypony else could see or hear my thoughts. "Heh, I can see you two are awake. Gonna get up so we can go play?" I heard whispered in a very Scootaloo-sounding voice from somewhere above my head. Smiling lightly, having already felt her end of the enchantment close, my left eye slipped open and rolled up to peek at the grinning filly. Sweetie Belle gave a soft murmur and ruffled her face against the fur on my chest for a moment before peeking up above my collarbone at her friend. Scootaloo couldn't tell, but I could feel the smile against my chest, even before the little unicorn nodded up at Scootaloo. "Mmm, yeah. We can. I was enjoying this, but, um, we really should get up. Can we, uh, maybe try the lake again today? I don't really like thinking about going to the water again, but I should really wash up," she whispered softly. "Relax, Sweetie. Nothin' is gonna happen ta ya this time. Scootaloo an' Ah should wash, too, an' we'll be right there ta help ya out," Apple Bloom cut in, sounding like she was over close to the door. My guess proved true as I looked over at the yellow filly, who smiled back at us earnestly. Sweetie peeked back at her, and AB gave a flex of her right foreleg as emphasis, the enchantment dancing along it still. Ah, yeah, I needed to add a bit to those today, too. A few more safety precautions added couldn't hurt. "Ah, yeah, I'm guessing you fillies want your privacy for that. Still, I'll be within earshot of all of you just in case," I promised, sitting up in bed again and earning both a happy smile from Apple Bloom and a warmer one from Sweetie. I saw nothing but a blur from Scoots, however, as she cheered and hopped down off the shelf at the top of my bed, bolting over to Apple Bloom as well. A stifled groan came from behind me, and I peeked down at the foot of the way-too-long bed and noticed Spike drag the other end of the covers more over himself. "Mmm, five more minutes, Twilight..." he whispered, earning a snicker from most of us. "Just rest, Spike. Bring Tank down to the lake once you two wake up some," I requested, noticing the tortoise's shell still tucked up over by the sink full of water in the kitchen. He stuck a sleepy head out at his name, but, apparently deciding he wasn't needed for epic suspect apprehension or dragon airlift service, he tucked it back in a second later, probably resuming his sleep. Being that awesome probably took a lot of energy! I felt a very awake Rainbow Dash snicker at the prospect and mental image I sent her way, and realized she must be really, really close for her emotions to be that clear. Heh. Sneaky Dashie. That one got a blushing scowl, and I grinned to myself before nodding back at Apple Bloom. "Let's head to the lake, then. I should probably wash up anyway, as well," I pondered out loud. The yellow filly grinned before playfully adding, "Ah'll say! Can smell ya from 'ere, as AJ would say." My surprise shifted to amusement in half a second, and I hopped down at her, my tail whipping sideways and snapping a half-meter away from her rump as she squeaked in surprise and laughed, bolting over to the door. Scootaloo grinned even more and ran after her friend as I gave chase, laughing at their antics. "Ah! Wait for me!" Sweetie chirped a second later, and I heard hoofsteps rapidly bolt after me and out the now open cabin door, hot on my tail. The sun was just rising, and Big Mac gave us a happy grin as we shot past, the two fillies ahead of me laughing now as we headed for the lake. The familiar cyan mare sat in the tree branches at the edge of the clearing and perked up as we approached at a breakneck speed, sitting up from her carefully chosen hiding spot. Her smile broadened as she took to the air when we passed under her, me smiling back up at her briefly after she dropped into a glide next to, and a little above me. "Race ya," she offered a moment later, her wings flaring with light and energy. Heh, this probably was a bad idea. "You're on," I agreed regardless a second later, my muscles activating in my legs, forming tight cords as we went. She looked momentarily surprised at my actual agreement, before I could no longer see her face anymore. I cleared the three fillies in front of me with one leap, landing three meters ahead of them and shifting my legs into a blur. Rainbow's gleeful laugh sounded from behind me as I felt her energy flare down the enchantment connection. The last thing I heard before everything behind us shot away was Scootaloo's surprised "Whoa!" * * * * * "That was so awesome!" the little orange filly shouted out again, flailing up into the air and almost dancing in place. I lay on my back, panting at this point as I felt the heat pour off me and drift skywards. Rainbow had won still by a significant amount, but there was this lingering suspicion that she'd intentionally stayed back for a while. She seemed to almost enjoy flying right next to me as I ran. It was an odd sensation I picked up from her when it happened, but it was over before I could properly figure it out. Now the cyan pegasus rested next to me, breathing hard but looking more exhilarated compared to my flat out exhausted. "I'll say! With that cyborg stuff, you're, like, the fastest Earth Pony alive! Well, maybe Pinkie's a little faster. She can keep up with me when I'm flying, too, but then again, that was before I had these babies!" Rainbow cooed, flexing her wings out and grinning back at her glowing jets that may as well have been a permanent attachment to her body at this point. She'd probably attack me if I tried to take them off. Catching my breath still, I wobbled as the oxygen adjusters in my bloodstream leveled off. Rolling to my left, I gave her an amused smirk once I was on my side again. "It was fun, admittedly. Also a test, to be honest. After everything I ate yesterday, my leg is feeling pretty good today. A little tender after that, but..." To illustrate the point, I lifted it up a little and looked it over. The fur was definitely coming back, giving it a healthier look, and the veins could only be seen in a few spots now due to the muscles developing along it. Sweetie edged closer and peeked it over as well, smiling lightly at it before nodding in agreement. "Yeah! I think it's looking good. It's wider now, too, so it looks healthier," she observed, obviously able to note the muscle mass in it now, which was a definite improvement. My face blanked and my eye twitched as a hoof slowly slid along my right flank, however. Rainbow snickered from behind me a second later, adding, "Hey, the leg isn't the only thing starting to look good. Mender with muscles!" I slowly rotated my head, surprise shifting into a slightly annoyed yet skeptical glare back at her, her left hoof still tracing the muscles in my flank. Eh, at least it wasn't my butt, I suppose. "Rainbow," Apple Bloom warned, frowning towards her and standing up again next to Scootaloo, who suddenly looked nervous. What could only be described as light 'hunger' rapidly dissipated at the yellow filly's tone, and Rainbow snapped her hoof away from me in an instant, blushing lightly. "H-Hey! It was only a compliment! Sheesh. I learned my lesson, promise," she assured, sliding the hoof from shoulder to shoulder in a half-baked Pinkie Swear. Oh so subtly, I noticed she sniffed lightly as it went past, then shivered. Ack! My magic burst a second later before flicking her casually over us like a catapult and into the lake, her surprised howl not unlike a siren the entire way. Apple Bloom burst into laughter in an instant as the cyan pegasus splashed down into the water, back first, slowing for a second as I enabled the parachute just before she hit. I wasn't cruel. "Cool your jets!" I called after her as her head resurfaced, glaring back at me. She let out a frustrated grumble, followed by, "Fine, I'm sorry, okay?!" Well, an indignant apology was better than nothing from the stubborn pegasus. I rolled my eyes, then nodded to the fillies, gesturing to the lake as well. "Yeah, yeah. Head on down, everypony. Wash up and make sure Rainbow scrubs herself down, too, especially her chest. I'll head around the small peninsula over there with all the trees on it and wash up as well. I'll be within shouting range, however, if you need me for anything at all," I elaborated, nodding to each of them individually. All three gave me varying affirmations back, Sweetie's a little too impish for my liking, but I decided it was close enough. Two splashes later, followed by an exasperated yelp from Rainbow, and I was slipping through the trees and into the water on the other side. It felt cool on my legs after all that exercise, and I sighed softly, sinking into it while I lightly washed over my left foreleg. It really was tender, and I turned my nerve receptors down a bit so I could properly clean it. It was still about three-fourths the width of my normal legs, which were already underdeveloped for an adult stallion, but that was better than being under half, and showing bone here and there. Smiling lightly, I washed along it and the flat of my hoof while listening to the splashing and laughing on the other side of the trees. Sweetie hadn't dove in like the other two, but I kind of wondered how much actual cleaning was getting done. "Ah, hey! I can wash myself, Scoots!" I heard Rainbow protest a moment later. "You're not getting your chest, and Mender told you to!" the filly shot back, followed by a large splash and more laughing from Apple Bloom. I snickered to myself and rolled my eyes. Rainbow ran hot and cold so fast it kind of made me dizzy trying to keep up sometimes. I definitely preferred her warmer sides, but sometimes she got a little too warm, admittedly. A second passed before the laughter stopped from AB's end. Eh? "Sweetie! What do ya think yer doin'? Get back 'ere," she suddenly warned. Uh oh. Was Sweetie having problems with the water after all? I frowned, and then lowered my ears a bit. "Ah, um, I was just checking to see if he was okay! He's not making any noise!" I heard Sweetie call back, sounding significantly closer to me than the others. Oh. I slapped my forehead and sighed. "I'm fine, Sweetie. Go clean!" I shouted through the trees, earning Dash's laughter this time instead. Grumbling followed, and I heard her hoofsteps moving away again, and sank back under the water. It wasn't like I was doing anything particularly enticing anyway. I mean, she saw me naked all the time. What was so different? I paused for a second and rolled my eyes, realizing I had slipped into a bit of paranoia instead. Erring on the side of caution, I decided to wash my more private bits next while I knew she wasn't watching. I was going to be so happy to have a normal bathroom again, where I didn't have to worry about underage fillies peeping on me. Well, kinda underage. Sure, there wasn't a specific law for it, but I still didn't feel comfortable given the Crusaders' current ages. Washing up didn't take long. Thankfully the equipment down there was similar to what was in my memories from my original self. The baculum, specifically, made it far easier to clean, the bone being able to extend whenever I needed it to. I knew enough about basic anatomy to know it would probably suck otherwise. A few minutes later, I had moved on to my back legs, checking over the right one again. It was still a little less muscled than the other due to the injury it had sustained, but doing significantly better. A broken bone, I guess, was far easier to recover from than getting your leg chopped off and biologically regrowing it from nothing. Heh. After carefully washing my legs up, I inhaled sharply and slipped sideways into the deeper part of the water, staring out into the lake as I slipped below the surface. My rebreather kicked in and I relaxed, sinking towards the bottom as I rested there. That was another downside of my broken suppressor letting the tiniest sliver of my density through. I naturally sank like a rock, because I kind of was of similar density to one. I had to work to stay floating and couldn't do so and truly relax. My eyes closed as I rested at the bottom of the water, ears rotating around and absorbing the muffled sounds from the lake. I couldn't go back over there until they said they were done, so there was nothing better to do. My right eye's readout activated and I flicked through all the notes I'd taken for Twilight on the disks and data about the link. Alongside notes I'd made on the weapon for myself, there were well over a hundred pages. I'm sure it was light reading for her, but at least I felt better understanding myself a bit more. Ironically, the majority of the disks were made from crystals found here, in Equestria. Idly, I considered the aspect that I could technically make more 'blank' disks that could be linked to anypony, and then I decided that was probably a bad idea until I fully understood them. Yeah. Besides, I didn't really have anypony else I trusted enough to give them to. Well, that could consent to it anyway. Spike and the Crusaders were a little young to be making huge choices like that. "I still can't believe there's an age limit to sign up! It's just not fair!" I heard the muffled Scootaloo yelp, stirring my attention again. Eh? Well, it wasn't screams of panic and terror, or a confirmation that I was to rejoin them, so I just idly listened. "Scoots, this isn't like the Running of the Leaves. This race is in the air and a lot more dangerous. You can't just sit down and take a rest if you get tired, obviously," Rainbow warned. Well, unless they found a cloud, I guess. Heh. Of course, my last experience with being on a cloud was less than wonderful. There was a weak sigh, followed by a long pause, and I opened my eyes again. A small, yellow fish drifted in front of me, giving two slow blinks as I caught sight of it. It didn't seem particularly concerned about me, probably being intelligent like all the rest of the creatures here. I smiled lightly to it, and then closed my eyes again, having decided there wasn't much interesting to look at. Less talking, more washing, girls! Gah. "I guess I just really wanted to be able to fly with you, is all. Now that I have these wings, there's so much I can do! It just feels, I dunno," Scootaloo continued, her quieter tone harder to hear through the water. Eh, this wouldn't work very well. I mean, what if they were screaming for help really quietly? My eyes opened again and I gave a start, noticing no less than seven, equally yellow fish in front of me now, all drifting there and watching me. Eh?! What was I, some sort of curiosity or something? The front-most fish, noticing it got my attention, swam in a small circle and looked down towards my right shoulder, which was pressed into the lake floor. Huh? Glancing down, my eyes widened as I saw a tiny, paler yellow fish stuck under my shoulder, wiggling about a bit. Oops! Moving up a little, I lifted my right shoulder up and let the tiny thing swim out from under me. It made several angry flicks towards me before wracking me lightly in the nose with its tail. Wincing, I managed to mouth, "I'm sorry," to it underwater, wondering if it could understand universal common or not. Eh, if it couldn't, at least I only made an idiot of myself. It stared at me for a moment, still looking angry. My eyes shifted to its side, where I noticed a few scratched and missing scales. Scales? Oh, that I could help with. It fidgeted in the water as I gently raised my left hoof towards it, and all the other fish started to swim forward in worry, but my magic lightly danced across its side, repairing the scales easily enough with very little effort. I watched, rather amused now, as the little fish took turns examining the work, then circled around me, lightly bumping into my forehead and muzzle in a rather affectionate gesture before shooting off into the lake again. My smile returned as I watched them all swim away. That was something that was entirely me. There was that warm sensation I got when I saw somepony was better off or happier because of me. It helped me feel like I was useful and contributing. A moment of hesitation later, I sighed underwater and watched the bubbles drift upwards. I followed them with a push of my shoulder, and broke the surface of the water again, thoroughly soaked at this point, but very much clean. Dark circles appeared along the sand as I waded out from the water, and I shivered lightly. Taking a page from several canines I'd seen, and Rainbow Dash earlier, I spread all four of my legs out for balance and shook my entire body as violently as I could. The spray was rather impressive, reaching a good four meters from me, and I smiled, feeling much better now that I was all washed up. With that, I sat down and wondered when they'd finish and call me back over. My ears and proximity scanners stayed on high alert, however, and I kept a close eye out into the woods to my immediate north. Maybe I was paranoid, but they weren't about to ambush my friends on my watch. Just in case, I stayed tucked in the foliage and out of sight as well. Five minutes passed, and I didn't know whether to be pleased or disappointed that nothing happened. Ah well. I'd never regret taking precautions. That much wasn't in my nature. Apple Bloom called out that they were done, however, and I stood up again and trotted carefully through the trees and back towards the main area. My eyes drank in the sight of four rather puffy looking females, and I smiled. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both perked up as they saw me, anyway. Scootaloo was busy pressing her tail along the sand, either to ring the water out of it or to reapply some quota of dirt she had. Rainbow was crouched a bit lower and tilted to the left instead, smacking the other side of her head with a forehoof while water popped out of her lowered ear. "Everypony does look really clean!" I complimented, smiling to the two fillies as I approached. Apple Bloom grinned, while Sweetie stood up more fully and rotated around in front of me, showing me multiple angles of her fluffy fur before striking a rather elegant pose, smiling at me warmly. I raised an eyebrow to her at the same time her yellow friend rolled her eyes at the display. She didn't have to show off for me, I hope she realized. "Yes, you look very pretty, Sweetie," I assured regardless, causing her to practically swell up she puffed her chest out so much, grin widening. "Ah'd say yer actin' like yer sister, but Ah'm gonna go an' guess that it's just fer Mender, am Ah right?" Apple Bloom inquired slyly, causing the little unicorn to blush in an instant and stumble out of her pose. I caught her with my magic while snickering, sitting down a half meter away from the two. "I don't mind. Again, I was honest when I said she gets full consideration in two years, so I'm actually rather flattered that she wants to look nice for me," I pointed out. AB tilted her head towards me, but Sweetie let out a little gasp, blush intensifying as she looked at me in surprise. Was it that strange of me to say? "Ah think Ah understand. It's not just 'cause she looks pretty, but because she took tha effort ta look pretty for ya spe-spa-er, just you?" Apple Bloom suggested, smiling at me finally. "Specifically?" Sweetie offered her, before her yellow friend gave her a shove again and a mildly irritated glare. Shaking my head, I finally interrupted with, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. I mean, I already kinda guessed how important it is to Sweetie, but it's still nice to see her efforts. That, and she really does look adorable." Apple Bloom gave me a happy nod at that, and Sweetie no longer even looked mad at being shoved! Instead, she squeaked and hopped forwards, embedding herself against my chest again in a somewhat damp hug. It would seem I did a better job of drying myself than she did... "Psh, you shouldn't be content with 'adorable', Sweetie! A mare should try to get her stallion to think she's 'gorgeous' or 'sexy'!" Rainbow 'warned' a moment later, apparently paying more attention to the conversation than I had given her credit for, prior. Both her and Scoots fluttered over the short distance towards us, landing all of a meter away while keeping the sand blast to a minimum, which I was thankful for. I'd hate to have to launch her into the lake again. Apple Bloom gave her a somewhat skeptical stare as Sweetie herself perked up and rotated around to face Rainbow instead, tilting her head but making absolutely zero effort to move away from me. AB beat her to the question, however. "Uh, ain't she still considered just ah filly, though?" That was a very good point. Rainbow didn't buy it, of course. "Hey, it's never too soon to start in order to woo your stallion! With so many straight mares out there, you have to keep in mind the competition! Especially if the stallion only wants a single mare," she warned, hoof gestures emphasizing that last part especially. "Doesn't Mender already have two mares? That kinda means he doesn't mind more than one, right?" Scootaloo asked, oddly sounding more confused than anything. Dash gave an exasperated eye roll and shook her head, rubbing the tip of her muzzle with a forehoof. "I wasn't specifically talking about Mender. This is more advice to you and AB. Sweetie kinda already has it in the bag," she corrected. My ears flattened back at that and I glared at her, causing Sweetie to squeak when she noticed. "Ah! Please don't be mad at me, Mender!" the little filly begged, turning back around towards me and putting both front hooves up imploringly on my chest. "You weren't the one who said it, Sweetie," I assured, petting the top of her head as I kept my glare locked on Dash instead, who was doing her best to look completely innocent. At least Sweetie's priorities appeared to be in the right place. Well, now, anyway. "'sides, mah sis says that sorta thing ya need ta wait fer, an' not rush into until yer sure it's love. 'Beautiful' or 'gorgeous' probably ain't bad, but 'sexy' ya should avoid fer now, Sweetie," Apple Bloom appended. That was far less risky sounding advice, and I nodded along to that, causing Sweetie to relax and smile up at me. Rainbow surprised me by looking shocked rather than annoyed at the correction. Oh, wait, no, it was probably the 'source' of the advice more than the advice itself. "W-Wait, AJ said that? Uh, does she, um, well, has she-" the cyan pegasus stuttered out, suddenly looking a little paler. A spike of apprehension shot down the empathy link, and I tried to return assuring sensations, earning a light blush as she suddenly glanced over at me instead. Apple Bloom nodded, then snickered, cutting the pegasus off. "Yeah. She ain't ever let anypony that close ta her, though. She listen's ta her own advice, don't worry," the clever filly answered, earning a smirk from me. If Rainbow had figured out the implications, it probably hadn't registered as I literally felt her slip into her own thoughts at this range. A light blush formed on her cheeks a moment later, giving me more than a small hint as to what she was thinking about. "Yeah, that means Applejack's probably just as experienced as you are," I whispered into her mind through the connection. That tiny pink tint flared up to a full red flush as her eyes widened and she looked up at me with a mixture of embarrassment and horror. Wow, she was never going to remember that whole link thing, was she? Could I honestly just keep pranking her with this every time? "Link?" I reminded down the very thing itself, causing her expression to fall to an irritated glare instead, ears drooping as she looked amused yet exasperated. "Uh..." Scootaloo voiced, looking back and forth between us. Apple Bloom snickered, however, and shook her head. "Don't forget, they have that link thingy. Ah have ah feelin' Mender just pranked her again," she reminded, causing Scootaloo to grin and Rainbow to direct her ire towards the little yellow filly instead. "Ooooh, are ya pranking each other?!" suddenly exploded over the mental link, causing both of us to wince at the pink one's sudden barrage. A light haze drifted with it, spiking the temperature at least three degrees, it felt like, while strange, distorted balloons and snow-like confetti fell around us. What the hell? It wasn't as, well, crisp as her normal mental pictures. "Ah, Pinkie! I told you to ease up on the link," Rainbow groaned out, ineffectively putting a hoof over each ear while speaking both through the link, and out loud. Apple Bloom perked up again, adding, "Oh, Ah forgot she had ah link, too!" Lucky her. I certainly didn't forget! Giggling sounded out from all around us, and what could only be described as hot breath across my neck drifted out later. "Oooh, I should have thought of this earlier! You two feel really, really good," she cooed out in amusement. Uh, what? My eyes widened as I felt the sensation of a warm nuzzle along my neck and flailed sideways, but nothing was there except distorted pink. Oh. Oh hell! They widened even further as I saw a pink distortion assaulting Rainbow's ear with playful nibbles as well, the cyan mare yelping and flailing away from it as the red flush shifted down her neck as well. "Pinkie, you know you're not supposed to contact me during estrus! We'll talk about this later!" I growled out, just as she started to pounce towards me again. She was gone an instant later as I flicked her link off. Estrus wasn't fun... Rainbow winced as she slowly got back up to her hooves, shaking her head slightly. She looked more than a little flustered, and I sighed. Scootaloo looked between us with wide eyes. "Whoa! What happened?!" she asked, Apple Bloom looking just as confused. Sweetie oddly didn't, and just sat calmly at my side, pushing me back up after I finished reeling. "Ugh, Pinkie can be a bit, um, overbearing in her mental communication sometimes, and apparently it's worse with Estrus," I explained, massaging my right temple with a hoof. "Thank you... You made it stop," Rainbow gasped out finally, after shaking her head so hard that her eyes wobbled back and forth for a moment. The little orange pegasus next to her looked less than dissuaded, however. "Actually, that sounds kinda awesome! I wish I could see that, too!" she admitted wistfully. "You really don't," Dashie groaned, mimicking me now and rubbing at her head. Snickering, I shook my head towards the filly as well. "At the moment, that's not possible. I figured out how to make the disks now, but I don't want to make more before fully knowing what they do," I explained. Okay, so I hadn't been expecting all four to perk up at that. "W-Wait, you can make more?!" Sweetie asked almost instantly. Err. "And ponies other than tha Elements o' Harmony can use 'em?" Apple Bloom added a heartbeat later. Rainbow started to grin at the same time, and Scootaloo just looked confused again. "Well, it's all conjecture right now, but as far as I can tell, yeah. The disks for the Elements were specially made. It would appear the full thing is more flexible. They're apparently called LMNS units," I revealed, attempting to filter out some of the awkwardness of the situation. I hadn't anticipated needing to explain the disks to anypony this soon. Scootaloo tilted her head at that. "Limins? What's that mean?" "Ah think it's one o' those acra... Acro... Uh, words made o' ah bunch o' first letters in ah phrase?" Apple Bloom suggested, tilting her head towards me for verification. "Acronym," Sweetie chirped a half second later. Apple Bloom perked up and nodded to her, adding, "Thanks!" I couldn't help it and just started snickering. Sometimes the fillies were just so cute. "She's right, though. It stands for Link Monitor and Nanite Surveyor," I confirmed. Rainbow raised an eye at that one before asking, "Nanites? I know what it means by link, but I'm not sure what a Nanite is." Admittedly, I had expected that much. "That's because Equestria doesn't have them. They're little machines smaller than what you can see with your eye that can do things in a really tiny area. Millions of them usually in this case," I extrapolated, feeling a little bump in nervousness as I saw the next part coming. Three confused frowns and a somewhat apprehensive stare greeted me, almost as I had anticipated. "Wait, what do tiny little machines have to do with the link thingy?" Scootaloo asked instead, probably beating Rainbow by a few seconds. I flattened my ears back and looked away from them, not so comfortable anymore. "I was going to wait to tell everypony until after I talked to Twilight about it, but as you're asking, I guess, well..." I muttered, unsure of how best to proceed. "The link isn't magical, is it?" Rainbow asked nervously, and I felt her apprehension bleeding through both links at this distance. I shook my head idly, wondering at the best way to explain it. "Well, they use magic to communicate with me, but they gather the information through technology. You have millions of tiny machines in your body now, Rainbow. All the Elements do, as it apparently happens when you touch one of the disks. They don't just monitor, either. How's your side feeling?" I asked quietly, now touching upon two tender topics at once. I was on a roll today! Rainbow's eyes widened further as she reached down and touched her left side where my hoof had impacted. There wasn't even a mark at this point, and she knew it. Her eyes stayed locked with mine as she swallowed weakly and nodded a second later. "Gone. I could have sworn it was going to bruise up but, um," she whispered, finally breaking away and looking down at it. In most cases, I'd think she'd think it would be 'cool', but I guess it was a little more nerve-wracking when it was real. "They healed your injury. I'm glad for it, but I need to find out more about it, and fast. I've locked down all the internal controls and put some heavy duty protection on the links inside of me so they won't do anything they're not already programmed to do, but it's better safe than sorry," I assured, looking down at my hooves. They were the same nanites that were inside of me, so I had a good idea of what they were capable of and supposed to do, which should be purely beneficial. Of course, theirs also had the specialized capabilities for whatever scouting project I was originally intended for. A yellow hoof lightly nudged me in the left leg, and I looked up at Apple Bloom again. "Uh, when ya say touched...?" she inquired hesitantly, eyes widening a bit. Touched? Oh! I smiled and shook my head towards her. "Oh, no. I'm pretty sure the nanites are only transferred on registration of the disk," I assured, causing her to smile again. Plus, I'd have to figure out how to get around the specialized nature of the disks for the Elements of Harmony. I definitely didn't want all those scanners and controls on anypony else. Scootaloo, who accidentally became the random target of my gaze after I turned from Apple Bloom, perked and nodded towards me as I assured them. "Awesome! Well, we can save that for later. I'm getting kinda bored. Do you think we could train again with enchantments and our abilities?" she asked eagerly, smile widening into a grin. "Oh, I don't know, Scootaloo. I mean, I'm not exactly a trainer or anything. What do I get out of it?" I asked her, tone shifting to mirthful and teasing instead as I leaned closer, winking to her. Her eyes started to widen a little when Rainbow leaned in as well instead. "Careful, Mender. You wouldn't let me pay you in bits before, so if you charge her, you'll have to accept tasty, delicious payment from me instead," she cooed out, winking towards me as I swallowed. Hey, she was ruining my prank! "Ah, n-no. I was just joking," I hastily appended, noting that I had set myself up almost perfectly for that one. "Psh, you’re no fun," Dash scoffed, smirking at me and trotting away again towards the lake. That brat! She was just teasing me that time, I suddenly realized. She changed demeanor rather rapidly, and it made me a little dizzy trying to keep up all the time. Scootaloo, for the most part, totally ignored the exchange, masterfully pulling out only the information she had wanted. "So, um, you'll help us train again?!" she inquired excitedly a second later, grin widening as she hopped in place. Rolling my eyes, I gave her a soft, if not tired, nod as I stood back up again. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get back down by the lake, just in case there are any accidents. Having water close by seems like a good idea," I instructed, walking past the filly and towards where Rainbow had stopped by the shore. "Hey, I said I was sorry! I didn't mean to set your tail on fire," Sweetie groaned from somewhere behind me. I sighed weakly as Apple Bloom started giggling, two sets of hoofsteps following along after me as Scoots took to the air. * * * * * The chaotic barrage was surprising to say the least. Despite the distractions, I managed to cushion the little filly's inner energy stores and get her balanced again. Slowly easing back and withdrawing, my eyes opened up again at the same time hers did, and she gave me a sleepy stare as I sat up again fully. "And what did we learn?" I asked, watching her wings spread back out. Scootaloo sighed and looked away from me but made no attempt to escape my grip. "Stop means stop, not 'just a little bit longer?'" she offered weakly, fidgeting with her forelegs. Rainbow turned light pink for some reason, and I gave her a questioning glance before deciding I probably didn't want to know. "Yeah. When I tell you that you need a break, it's not just because I'm trying to be mean. Overdoing your magic isn't pleasant, as you now know," I reminded, finally letting her go and watching her slip back up into a sitting position, the glow now gone from her wings due to me having turned off the enchantment. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both looked on, the unicorn blushing lightly as she watched me, oddly. It had only been an hour and a half, yet Apple Bloom had already bashed herself in the face with an out of control ball of sand, and Sweetie had set my mane on fire this time. Honestly, I didn't think it was a difficult concept to not aim her horn at me when casting. Now, Scootaloo burned out her entire magic supply trying to get five levels like Rainbow could, despite being far less experienced, smaller, younger, and not as in shape yet. Were they trying to kill themselves or others? Scootaloo sighed and nodded again, Rainbow smiling and putting a foreleg over the filly's shoulders. "Relax, Scoots. You'll get there eventually, but you gotta have patience. I know it's hard, but I've put a lot of work into getting to where I am today, so I know if you do the same, you'll get there. Just don't push yourself like that, okay? You getting hurt... That would be very uncool!" she exclaimed confidently, her wings fluttering out behind her a bit. The filly gave her a soft smile and I suddenly felt a pang of regret, wishing it didn't have to be me being mean to her and lecturing her on how to practice. She really did look up to Rainbow, and admittedly, that level of devotion was inspiring. It also made me question why I was getting jealous over it. I had ended up questioning myself a lot, lately. Why wasn't I content simply with what I had already, even knowing what I really deserved? I exhaled softly, wishing there was an easy answer over that. "T-That's what you do to, um, help somepony recover from magic exhaustion?!" I heard Sweetie ask suddenly, giving me a start and knocking me out of my stupor, thankfully. Rotating, I shot her a questioning glance over my shoulder, not entirely sure why she was so interested suddenly. The technique was supposed to be for a unicorn, sure, but she already knew I could use magic as well. Was it really so surprising, or was she interested in it from an academic standpoint? "Uh, why do ya wanna know, Sweetie?" Apple Bloom asked, beating me to the punch by a few seconds. She didn't get a direct reply. I kept rotating until I winced, deciding to spin around the other way as Sweetie shot past me to the right instead, headed for the lake. "So worth it!" she cheered a heartbeat later. Wait, what?! What was worth it? My eyes widened as my head snapped back around to lock onto her. I was momentarily blinded by the meter wide ball of raw magic expanding in front of her horn and I winced, holding up my left foreleg in front of my eyes before shouting, "What are you doing?! Don't put that much energy into a-" The flash fired off a second later, a pencil-thin beam of light arching off into the distance, a shock wave traveling underneath it along the water and the clouds parting a dozen kilometers or so off. Oh hell! Why?! "Whoa! Awesome!" I heard Scootaloo mutter behind me as I ran towards the unicorn filly, who looked lightly dazed and wobbled sideways on her hooves. "Ha... So, totally worth... It... Oh, ow. Ow! Aaaaaah! My head! Not worth it! So, not worth it!" she started screaming as she fell sideways and rolled onto her back, both forehooves clutching at her temples as a trickle of blood came down her snout. Damn it. It took almost forty seconds for Rainbow to get a good enough grip on her to hold her steady while I tried to form a connection, both other fillies looking on with varying levels of horror to their expressions. Sweetie's blood was peppered all over the sand at this point, as well as along Rainbow's forelegs and my chest in long smeared strokes. The mental fatigue caught up with the little unicorn faster than we could restrain her, however, and her struggling slowed along with her breathing as Dash finally pinned her to the ground. Groaning in frustration, I ducked in and pushed my forehead under her horn rather hard, earning another gasp from the little filly. She tried to move again, but it was far too late as the connection finally stabilized and my energy darted inside her. Nerves got doused first, me holding her rigid from inside her own mind as she gasped out, her own inner-self flailing in agony. The nerves went numb an instant later, shock setting into her mind as the pain turned to nothing at all, little tingles dancing along her extremities as I felt it, too. Her inner 'self' was pushed down lightly, my aura shifting around and through her, bolstering her magic as I felt her finally relax against me. Damn it, Sweetie! She was downright impulsive sometimes, having very little regard for her own safety. I felt her inner self swallow, as I knew my frustration and irritation over her actions were clearly felt, my energy actually inside her at this point. For just a moment, she had the empathy link that Fluttershy shared with me, even if it was just due to sheer proximity. Fatigue hit fast as I had to use a lot of energy up to repair her inner paths, her mind soothing alongside her energy pool. Twilight could have done this no problem, but I didn't have the inner energy to repair two ponies back to back like this, especially with Sweetie's being so severe. The frustration was palpable and I almost tasted it in my mouth, and I sighed, pushing onwards. I had to at least stabilize her. It was strange. I'd never really been truly frustrated with her before. With any of the fillies, really. But something about Sweetie could really try my patience sometimes. She was right there, and felt the thoughts enough to wince at them, but I mentally shook my head towards her. No, it wasn't that she bothered me like that. She frustrated me. It didn't take me long to realize that it was her total disregard for her own safety and health when it came to pursuing her feelings that really got under my skin. A guilty sensation drifted through her, but I brushed my magic along hers and earned a quiet sigh, her inner-self relaxing again. It was definitely because I cared about her and didn't want her getting hurt. But why did it get to me more than when Scootaloo did the same thing? Well, Sweetie's case was intentional instead of just being inexperienced and foolish, and directly because of her feelings for me. Was that it? Was it because it was technically 'my fault' that she did this? Panic danced through her mind as I felt her vigorously shaking her head, some even carrying through to result in light twitches to her real body. Heh. She didn't know how to talk yet in her mind. Still, I found it oddly adorable regardless. I cared about Sweetie. I'd spent the most amount of time with her out of the Crusaders, and she felt technically the closest to me. Still, if she truly felt that way about me, I felt at least a little responsible for her hurting herself while acting upon it. But no, that was only a half-truth, admittedly. Her eyes widened a little but I forced myself to relax, finishing the last of the stabilization inside her mind. Yeah. It was true. By the time she looked like she did in last night's dream, I'd probably have no problems liking her as more than a friend. It wasn't an aspect of what she looked like really, but she really did appeal to me. A certain mix of loyalty to her friends like Dash represented, while also maintaining flexibility and an appreciation of kindness like Fluttershy. Not too much of either, though. Plus, she held the regal airs and politeness from her sister, but really felt like she was looking at me rather than a storybook cutout parading around in silver armor. Oh, and her adult form being rather cute in a not-so-foalish way helped. Overall, comparisons didn't do her justice, as she was her own individual. Her carefree attitude appealed to me, but she retained dignity and compassion at the same time, which was nice. Honestly, she could probably be more open and ultimately comfortable about things than either Fluttershy or Twilight, I bet. Now, all that was left before I really, truly let myself consider it was to get to know her over the next few years. It was a timid sensation as it creeped back up, but a deep sense of regret danced from her, mixed with large amounts of thankfulness. I mentally questioned what she was exactly thankful for, and instead I got a drop of her memory projected towards me in a somewhat clumsy way. It was a messy blur of movement and I couldn't pick anything out, but felt what she knew to be 'me' under her and running. Ah, that was after she poisoned herself. To my surprise, I felt it. At that range, I felt it through her as it seeped off my skin. A very light, but very absolute empathic feeling. At that lowest point, she 'felt' my aura directly and figured out what she wanted from it. In that memory, I felt that she had picked up the fact that I was being honest with her. She really was going to get a chance when she was fourteen. Relief and thankfulness mixed with a pang of regret over doing everything she did, then. I smiled inside of her mind at the overblown lengths she’d gone to in order to show that to me, but also at her honesty at that point. That was her own memories she showed me freely, just to try to be open with me, and I really did appreciate that. That much I sent directly to her. The blush carried through to her real body unabated, of course, and I smiled to myself as I withdrew, relaxing and opening my eyes again as I lifted my head up. Hers were already open and quite wide, staring up at me with pleasant surprise, despite her matted fur that had streaks of blood caked in it. "Uh..." Rainbow questioned in an uncertain tone from in front of me. Neither Sweetie Belle or I said anything, however, as I just stared down at her. She knew I didn't approve of her stunt and I knew she was sorry for it. Oddly, it felt like I understood the little filly a bit better, and I felt closer to her, with her not being a little filly anymore, but a mare capable of her own decisions. The Crusaders really were starting to get old enough to be. She hesitantly nodded to me, and I returned it before shifting my muzzle in the direction of the lake with a light gesture. Shakily, she hooked onto my right foreleg and I lifted her onto my back, slowly walking past Rainbow and towards the lake again to clean us up. "She'll be okay now, Dash. Can you help get her washed up?" I asked glancing back over my left shoulder at the confused looking pegasus. She smiled finally at my acknowledgement and nodded, standing again and trotting after me, the other two following closely. Scootaloo looked downright worried over the whole ordeal and asked, "Are you sure she'll be okay? There's, um, blood everywhere." I hesitated at the way she said 'blood' and frowned. Sweetie had a lot more blood in her than this, and it wasn't really that much, I didn't think. I lost easily six or seven times this after I got my leg ripped off. Although, uh, I kinda died from it. Huh. Bad comparison. "Yeah. She'll need to rest after this, and no more practicing for today. Oh, and getting her something light to eat would be a good idea," I suggested, bringing up my limited first aid knowledge. I'd given up lamenting on not having learned healing magic. It was one of those things that would have been absolutely invaluable at this point, and thinking about it would just get me depressed. Apple Bloom skidded to a halt almost instantly, eyes perking up as I glanced back at the sand scuffing noise. "Oh! Ah'll go toss together ah sandwich fer her, then!" she offered, not even waiting for me to nod before spinning around and booking it back towards the picnic basket we'd left at the edge of the sand. Heh, she really was worried about Sweetie then, and just was trying to be tough. Smirking, I turned back around and walked lightly into the water before rotating and carefully lowering Sweetie in. She held onto my right foreleg tight and gave an apprehensive stare at the water as I set her down, but I kept hold of her and steadied her balance as Rainbow slipped up next to me and sat down. "You hold her upright, I'll do the washing, okay?" Rainbow suggested, before grinning and whipping her foreleg up. Sweetie gave a surprised squeak as the water blasted over her face, eyes barely closing in time, and I sighed. "Wash, not attack, Rainbow," I requested dryly. The mare rolled her eyes, replying with, "Yeah, yeah. She needed to get her face washed anyway!" Heh. Switching over to short-range mental communication, I warned, "Careful, or I'll pin you down and slowly lick your hooves." That said, I waited for it. Two seconds. I contributed it to system shock at first, considering it. Her eyes shot open and her cheeks went red in an instant, her head whipping towards me a heartbeat later. "W-What?! Wait, how do you know, er, I mean, why would you do that?!" she demanded, both in mental and verbal voice. She was never going to get the hang of that... "It was one of the several hundred thoughts you had running through your mind like an out of control train when you formed this," I explained out loud this time, pushing the tiny rainbow strand of energy out of my forehead as emphasis, peeking up at it as it swayed about. It had been extremely clear for one of the scrambled thoughts. 'I really hope he doesn't find out about the hooves. Why are mine so sensitive?! Oh, oh wow. If he kissed them...' Her face went scarlet as it crept down her neck the longer I played back the thought in her own voice down the mental link. "O-Okay! Please, just stop!" she whined before flailing about and dunking her head under the lake. Scootaloo looked more than bewildered at this point, but Sweetie just watched Dash while giggling lightly. "I'm guessing you found something that she doesn't want spread?" the little unicorn asked while Dash was busy soaking her head. I rolled my eyes and nodded to her before slipping my left foreleg under the water and pulling Rainbow back upright, pointing out, "Drowning isn't a viable exit strategy, Dash. It was a joke." She scowled at me for a moment, and I almost felt her trying to stab me in her mind before flopping over backwards. "Gah, I know that. Still, don't do that to a mare in heat!" she shouted a second later. I snickered before I just started washing Sweetie's face and chest by myself, the little filly relaxing to the side against my foreleg that was hooked behind her back. I had her totally supported and I knew she could feel that, but it still surprised me that she was so readily relaxing despite the water being around her, up to her hips. Grumbling, Rainbow finally rejoined me as Scootaloo waded into the water, too. The orange filly helped scoop up water with me to wash Sweetie's chest, and I wasn't about to complain about the extra help while Dash got her back. I was pretty much out of my magical energy apart from my life force, and I wasn't about to remove the seal on that if I didn't have to. It was resting time for me, too! * * * * * It took almost a quarter of an hour to get all the blood off us. Rainbow groaned up at the sky as we finished washing her cyan coat off as well. Light sprinkles were coming down around us at that point, ripples dancing across the surface of the lake. "Relax, Rainbow. We can't practice anymore anyway. I don't have any energy left to safely stabilize you if you run out of magic," I warned, tiredly watching Scootaloo clean every single inch of Rainbow's forelegs, almost obsessively. It had been a good idea to enlist her aid in the task, I now realized. She had more than enough energy to spare to help her hero out. Rainbow sighed but shook her head a second later. "I'm gonna just do some speed runs with my normal wings, then, before the rain picks up. It's not supposed to be as bad as last night, but I hate flying with wet wings," she groaned out, wiggling her wings about that were still under the water as emphasis. I nodded, checking again and only finding about twenty percent of my energy recovered. "Good. I'm, uh, really tired after all that," I muttered, eyes softening as I lost focus and relaxed again, lying on my side in the sand. Sweetie lay against my stomach, upright and lightly munching on a sandwich Apple Bloom had made for her. The yellow filly in question was nice enough to pop out our umbrella and had it stuck in the sand, holding it upright for us both to stay somewhat dry under. "Ya need ta rest, then, Mender. We could go over by that overhang ya were at when we went lookin' fer ya," she suggested, gesturing to my left, westward, to where I knew my prior hiding spot was. Under the cliff I'd been laying on was a good, three-meter under-cut in the rock, which would be good to stay dry in. I nodded back to her as Rainbow struggled out of the water, looking mildly like a soggy, unhappy rat. "I'll make a tiny fire under the rocks over there, then. Rest by it for a few minutes before going flying, Rainbow," I more ordered than anything. The cyan mare sighed but nodded towards me as she followed after us. * * * * * The fire swayed lightly back and forth over the dry sticks the Crusaders had found. I watched it flicker gently, relaxing as it made tinted imprints in my eyes because of the light. My body lay motionless; my head propped up to stare into the fire half a meter away. I thought of nothing in particular as I let the sound of the light rain drone through my ears, and the wet, earthy smells ebb around me. My mind tended not to focus on any one topic when I wasn't directing it, dancing between the frustration my newly discovered 'aura' brought me with mares, worry over what had happened with Snapshot and whatever organization had hired her, and ultimately what was going on with my own past. Nothing stuck, however, and eventually I just let my thoughts blank as I watched the dancing flames. To hell with it. This was supposed to be a 'vacation' for me, and so far it had been just about as bad, if not worse, than my normal routine. I think it owed me a bit of relaxation at this point. Sweetie Belle made a murmuring noise next to me, breathing speeding up just a little as she shifted, then resumed snoring lightly. I smiled down at her with a shift of my head, and then just watched her chest rise and fall for a few minutes. Sometimes, reality caught up with me, and the details suddenly became the only important thing. The little filly was alive and well, her torso moving with each breath, and a soft smile on her face. She was soft and warm against my stomach, and suddenly I found myself in awe, realizing such an expansive personality and mind was keeping me company. It was difficult to explain, even to myself, but she felt special, anyway. Like it was the first time I really 'saw' a will and ego behind another pony, apart from my own. Really, all I had were my own experiences and thoughts as comparison. She had her own as well, just like everypony else. I entertained the thought for a while, in all of its existential glory. It was certainly appealing to realize that I too had my own set of thoughts, further distancing me from the 'mechanical' parts. My ears perked up first at the sound of heavy hoofsteps heading down towards the beach area. Turning, I double-checked on everypony, noticing Scootaloo and Apple Bloom still playing in the shallow water by the shore, and Rainbow lazily drifting through the sky above, trying to pull off a backwards loop out of a glide for some reason. Oddly, I felt certain muscles tugging lightly in my back as the empathy link mirrored us, and decided she was probably trying to do something extremely specific with her flight muscles. Well, she was the expert. Shifting back to the right, I peeked at the intruder a second later. Big Mac slowly walked down the beach, slowing as he got about halfway down. I relaxed, watching him stretch out and look up at the sky for a moment. It wasn't an intruder after all. I didn't need a link to know it was really him. Somepony wouldn't dare impersonate him, as that was like signing off on your own death. Either Carrot or AJ would beat your bones to mush with their bare hooves for trying... He sniffed a moment later, and then perked his ears up as he glanced over to the left, locking eyes with me, and then shifting them down to the fire a second later. In just that instant, his normal relaxed look flickered to a more sharpened, analyzing one before he let it rest again, adopting a slight smile and walking over. Yeah, he was a lot sharper than he seemed to like to appear, either intentionally or out of a particularly laid back attitude. "Howdy, Mender. Ah'd say yer tha smart one, stayin' warm out 'ere. Sweetie okay?" he asked quietly upon reaching comfortable 'quiet voice' talking range. I peeked at her again before slowly nodding. "Yeah. She overdid her training and got a nosebleed. I told her to rest for the remainder of the day," I explained, equally quietly, notably not elaborating on exactly how horrible the bleeding had been. I was starting to feel scarily comfortable with the half-truths thing. Maybe I'd be okay working for the government after all? Sweetie didn't stir in the slightest, but still appeared to be breathing, so I relaxed. Deep sleeper? "Good call, there. It's nice ta know yer ah responsible stallion. How's things?" he inquired, again seeming to cut off all unneeded words from his sentences. I smiled, looking back to the fire as he sat down with a surprising level of gentleness for such a large stallion. "Quiet. I'm just enjoying the rare moment of peace while I can," I admitted, feeling the tiredness leak into my words, and I was forced to exhale lightly after. He stared into the fire himself for a moment before nodding ever so slightly. "Eeyup. Ah wouldn't envy yer position, fer sure. But ya got mah support, an' tha support o' tha Apple Family, that's fer sure." His tone was quiet, yet adamant. Somehow he could pull off that level of assurance without needing to raise his voice, and I was impressed. "Just knowing I have friends helps a lot. What are you doing over this far, anyway? I mean, if you want to tell me," I asked, curiosity finally getting the better of me, but still maintaining enough sense to be polite about it. He smirked and looked skywards again, scanning towards the north through the canopy. Eh? Was he expecting something from Ponyville? "Today's tha fifth day o' tha main bulk o' heat. Tha mayor usually sends ah pegasus that's already safe ta deliver news, either today or tomorrow. Tell how much longer an' if'in cleanup's started," he explained absently, eyes not leaving the sky. Oh. That actually made sense. "So, the bulk of estrus is five or six days for the town? The summer one's a little longer, right?" I asked, trying to get my days right. This was important to remember, now that I was a pony! "Eeyup! Worst o' tha scents are done and most o' tha mares are safe after five ta six days. Then they clean up an' we come back on tha sixth day. Sometimes seventh. Summer heat's longer, with eight ta nine days o' solid scents an' fertility. Then we come back on day ten, usually." He was amazingly patient with me, which I was rather thankful for. Being one of the few who actually knew not only my situation, but what I was, I appreciated him quite a bit! He perked up suddenly and finally took his gaze from the sky long enough to look over at me, a light frown playing across his face. A moment later, he relaxed and nodded, slipping his head back and into his left saddlebag, rooting around in it for a moment. I watched curiously until he pulled out a roll of paper and flicked it over in my direction. I let it land before my magic slipped out and unrolled it in front of me, assuming, despite his silence, that this must be meant to be read by me. He confirmed a second later with, "Forgot. Found that in tha wagon. Take a peek." Raising my eyebrow, I looked down at the mysterious slip of paper, and immediately noticed it was a flier. Three nicely drawn gears were spread across the center of it, slightly towards the top, and, to my surprise, the axel on the middle, largest gear was heart-shaped. What?! Wait, flier? Groaning, I smacked myself in the forehead, earning a confused glance from Big Mac. I'd forgotten to ask Featherweight more about that flier he mentioned! Was this one of them? Looking back at it, I noticed 'Announcement!' across the top of it in big lettering. Well, it got its point across. Under the gears was even more startling, however. "New business opportunities! Moon Mender, new to Ponyville, offers advanced skills in Engineering, Design, and Magical Enchantment. He's opening a personal business with reasonable pricing available for everypony. If interested, or in need of consultation, please speak with Moon Mender, Twilight Sparkle, or Applejack in Ponyville! Prices are negotiable with Twilight or Applejack. Questions welcome!" That little...! Given who the contact ponies were, it was really easy to figure out who was responsible for this. And the fact that they left me out of pricing arrangements stunk of Applejack's doing. If it was my business, shouldn't I be the one to decide prices?! They just thought I was going to work for practically nothing, didn't they? I sighed weakly as I read it over once more. Big Mac started chuckling lightly as he looked back skywards, a knowing smirk on his face. "Your sister, I assume?" I asked, sliding the paper back over to him with my right hoof. "Keep it. An' probably. She did say she was gonna advertise fer ya. Ah just didn't think it'd be so soon. Ah'm not one ta mince words, so Ah'll just say it. Ah approve, an' hope ya'll help me out after tha job with tha Cakes is done. Ah got ah few upgrades fer tha farm Ah've been hoping ta do at some point," he requested, slowly turning and looking back towards me. I watched him for a moment before smiling and nodding. That was an easy choice. "Of course. What do you have in mind?" I inquired curiously, tilting my head. His smirk came back, a little wider this time. Oh boy. I suddenly realized I was going to be really, really busy the next few weeks... Chapter 57The sheer amount of things he was hoping to do was a bit staggering. As we lay there in silence under the cliff, I stared into the fire and mulled it over to myself while he watched the sky. The farm was split into multiple 'fields', labeled by their cardinal directions, it would seem. That much made sense. They usually harvested and planted one field at a time, loaded up larger wagons with the produce, then moved it into the barns for storage until it shipped. I'd upgraded their smallest barn with the lift system and conveyor. It apparently cut their workload and time involved to barely a fifth of what it normally was, and it was so much better that he wanted the larger two barns equipped with them too. That alone was staggering, but he didn't stop there. Each of the fields was massive, and he was hoping for a better, faster, or easier way to move the produce to the central barn area. That meant a standard track system with larger rail wagons to carry the stuff. It wasn't too fancy, and setting up an enchantment on the wagons themselves, or developing a rune engine to pull and push them, would be reasonably easy. Overall, nothing he had asked for was any more complex than what I'd already done for him, but the sheer volume of work was going to take probably the better part of a summer if I had to do it by myself. That didn't leave much in the way of any time for any other jobs, of course. Maybe advertising my availability wasn't such a good idea? The only other thing was repairs to the watermill they had down by the large stream nearby. It at least was already made, and apparently powered a decent water pumping system they had used for the farm before, but it fell into disrepair and they switched to several pump wells instead, which were easier to maintain. Those were a lot more work and didn't supply the same volume of water, which made dryer months a lot harder. That much would be simple with the right equipment. All those things put together would free up a lot of time for the Apple Family. I smiled as I thought of Apple Bloom, and already decided I'd help them out, no matter the volume of work involved. Her being happy and able to spend time with the two would make it all worth it to me. Spike was right. I really did have a soft spot for cuteness. Still, she was an earnest and hardworking filly. She deserved to be happy. "Ah hah," Big Mac muttered, standing up suddenly next to me. I followed his gaze past the lightly dripping leaves overhead and spotted a dot off in the sky, coming in fast but drifting lightly as it headed towards the lake. It was gray in color, and my eyes rotated lightly as I zoomed my vision in, then smiled. Her blonde mane blew in the wind behind her as she lowered in altitude, that happy smile adorning her face again as she made a beeline for the beach. Regardless of one eye drifting off to the left, she was an amazingly skilled flier and handled herself gracefully. No doubt years of experience had honed her skills to the point where her eyes didn't bother her in the least. Big Mac slowly exited the tree line and headed over to the area where Derpy was coming in. Standing, I was careful not to disturb Sweetie Belle, who still slept peacefully next to where I lay before. Relaxing as she stirred lightly but didn't wake, I tucked the flier into my left saddlebag with my mouth, and then trotted out to join the two. Derpy sneezed a second later as she braced for landing. I winced as her forward momentum didn't halt properly and she flipped after touching down with her hooves. The oscillating sky blue and silver energy danced along the sand in front of me before I raised my left hoof upwards, a burst of the stuff following the motion. The gray mare squeaked lightly as the sand danced up around her and formed a soft cushion as she landed, gently drifting down to the ground as I lowered my hoof. Hey, controlling sand was surprisingly useful! "Ha ha ha! That was fun! Thanks for the save, Mender!" Derpy managed to squeak out, rolling forwards onto her haunches and wiggling her eyes around until at least one focused on us. The colors of my magic still danced lightly about the sand as I pulled it back into my body and gave her a warm smile and nod, pleased to see the familiar mare again. "Are ya okay, Miss Derpy?" Big Mac politely asked after the mare managed to recover. I walked up next to him the rest of the way, and then sat down, watching her. To my surprise, her right eye locked onto him, and both widened afterwards, a light flush dancing across her cheeks suddenly. Oh? She hesitated for a moment before rapidly nodding. "Ah, yeah! I'm okay, Big Mac. Um, I didn't know you'd be the one here meeting me," she muttered, getting a little quiet towards the end. I tilted my head towards her, but Big Mac just chuckled and shook his head. "Ah'm tha one ta wait 'ere every year, Derpy. Ah notice yer comin' rather than Wind Whistler," he pointed out, snapping her out of her daze. "Oh, yeah! She was supposed to come, but sprained her wing in a, well, accident. I'm here instead, so," she muttered, looking down towards Big Mac's large hooves and scraping at the sand a bit, the pink tint getting a little worse. Was she embarrassed? That hardly seemed reasonable, as she knew both of us didn't mind her being there. She had been super-nice to me so far, and Big Mac didn’t appear to have a problem with much at all. I perked up and tried to give her an assuring nod. "Well, I'm glad it's you, Derpy. I was sad I didn't get to see you too, before I left," I added. It was true, of course. She hadn't been anywhere to be seen at the going away event. The gray mare perked up, then smiled softly in my direction instead, the blush fading a bit. There we go! "Thanks, Mender. I missed you, too. We should hang out more when you get back. I wouldn't mind helping with deliveries for your work either, of course, when I'm not on duty," she offered, her ears popping up and twitching lightly as she gave me a happy nod. Heart of gold, that one. Still, that did get me thinking about getting help. "Well, I don't have the bits to pay for any extra help right away, of course, but it seems like I'll have a lot of business after all, so maybe hiring ponies to help me might not be such a bad idea," I considered, thinking out loud for the benefit of the two listening. Derpy seemed sufficiently distracted and much more relaxed now. Big Mac chuckled a little and glanced back over at me instead. "Ah really hope ya aren't gonna try ta do all o' what Ah asked by yerself. AJ and Ah will help, an' Ah already got ah few others, too. Tha small barn was ah risk, but now Ah see what ya can do, so we're goin' all out now," he explained, surprising me on multiple fronts. Oh! Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be as horrifying as I thought? Wait, how was I supposed to pay these ponies? "Uh, I'm really hoping you're paying them from the funds you were going to give to me," I suggested, averting my eyes from him weakly and bracing myself for heavy bartering if I needed to. "Oooh, are you upgrading the farm, then?!" Derpy asked excitedly instead, seemingly forgetting about her prior problem. Big Mac looked between us before snickering softly and nodding. "Yes, Ah am, Derpy. Ah'm also hopin' ta get yer help in movin' stuff around, too. Paid work, o' course," he answered, to her instead. Although that also partially answered me as well. He was assuring the payment, which probably meant he was paying the others as well. That meant they didn't work for me, but for him, and I was just the head designer. That I was okay with, and nodded to myself. Derpy's problem came back in spades at the same time her eyes widened and she shrunk down a bit. "M-Me? Of course! But, um, you don't have to, well, pay me," she whispered, looking rather intimidated. Eh, was she scared of Big Mac? Well, he was quite a bit larger than she was, so admittedly, I didn't blame her. "Heh, yer gonna get paid, Derpy. Just like Mender 'ere. Although, yer technically gonna be workin' fer him, just like AJ an' me. He's the boss an' brains. Two o' tha others wanna work directly fer ya, too, Mender. Maybe fer even after tha projects, if ya can pay 'em then." He glanced back towards me as he said it, and my eyes widened even more, my concern for Derpy getting violently switched out by surprise. Wait, what?! My ears flattened back and I exhaled, lowering myself ever so closer to the ground. "Why am I in charge of everypony? I'm not that great of a leader," I warned honestly, starting to really, really think this job thing was a bad idea. It wasn't too late to flee into the woods and live like a hermit, right? Big Mac chuckled and shook his head towards me instead, however. "Technically, yer workin' fer AJ and me, yeah. We don't got ah clue how ta make tha stuff, though. Yer more ah supervisor than ah boss, ta make sure it all goes smoothly," he explained. Oh. Well, that made more sense. Derpy perked up and nodded as well, appending, "Oh, except for after, if you hire other ponies to help you with different jobs! Then you'll be the supervisor and boss!" I gave her a skeptical glance, and she just grinned at me even more until I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Fine, but if I end up stapling myself to part of the conveyor or something..." I finally acquiesced, biting the bullet if I had to. "Your loyal helper, Derpy, shall rescue you!" Derpy assured, whipping her right hoof up into a sharp salute. I didn't get to see most of it, however. Sand stuck to the bottom of her hoof, and the arc she used to whip it upwards sprayed me right in the eyes. Derpy gave a panicked squeak as I yelped and flailed for a second before blindly running past her in the direction I knew the lake was in. "Aaah, water! Need water!" I managed to shout, the sand particles having literally peppered the surface of my eyeballs. Of course, I'd not realized that keeping my balance when I couldn't see anything and pain was beating down from my eyes was a lot harder than normal. Three meters later, I ended up wiping out and rolling with a magnificent nosedive, inhaling quite a bit of sand as it got into my nose and mouth. I started hacking and coughing to get it out and flailed sideways in my spasms, only to go into the water instead. Damn it. My eyes finally opened and relaxed against the water, despite hacking sand out of my lungs, water going the other way down my throat. It mixed into a lovely torrent of mud and I gagged instead, trying to get my rebreather to turn on. Then I threw up. * * * * * "Ya sure yer fine?" Big Mac asked softly once more, standing next to the larger fire now as he tossed more sticks onto it. Shivering, I managed to nod to him. "Y-Yeah. Just gotta warm up. Go deliver the stuff," I assured, stuttering as my tongue was still numb. Throwing up underwater wasn't anywhere near as pleasant as throwing up on land, and that really said something. Now my numbed tongue tasted like vomit and sand. "Fine. Ah'll be back after Ah give Derpy's information ta Nurse Redheart," he announced slowly, turning and heading towards the path back to camp again to the east. Derpy let out a weak, whimpering noise to my left, trying her hardest to rub the blanket over me more and dry me off. "I'm so sorry, Mender! That was so stupid. I didn't even think about sand in my hoof!" she apologized, far beyond sounding mortified even at this point. "Eh, Mender's kinda an accident magnet. Even if you accidentally injured him, it's kinda more his luck's fault than anything," Scootaloo muttered, stirring the fire with a stick across from me. I glared over at her, but her eyes widened as her stirring utensil caught fire, distracting her. She dropped it from her mouth rather fast and stepped back as the whole thing ignited ever so slowly. Apple Bloom bumped her to the side suddenly and kicked the stick back into the fire by the yet unburned end, shaking her head. "Don't be mean ta Mender, Scoots. Ya know he's ah nice stallion," she defended sternly. She took on the 'bodyguard' role really seriously. Still, it was nice to have ponies stick up for me. "I was just joking, sheesh. You're right. Derpy should feel terrible," she shot back, giving the redhead an equally biting glare. "Nopony's to blame, really. It was an accident," I corrected, giving both fillies a stern glance while Derpy sighed. Making her feel bad and fighting at the same time was even worse, of course. They shrunk down under my gaze, and Scoots nodded rapidly. My view was obstructed, however, by amber a second later. Shifting my gaze to the left, I saw Sweetie smiling down at me and holding a glass filled with amber liquid in it, straw included. "Apple juice to get the taste out of your mouth, and a sandwich to fill you back up a little!" she chirped, gesturing to the plate next to my hoof as well. I smiled at her and sat up slowly, Derpy hopping in to my left and helping me get into a sitting position. "Thank you, Sweetie. You're a little angel. Thanks, Derpy. Mmm, I'm feeling better," I said, glancing at both of them in turn. Sweetie blushed, of course, and gave a sheepish grin, but Derpy still looked amazingly guilty, rapidly averting her eyes from my gaze. This wouldn't do. My left hoof extended and raised her right ear up from its fallen position, causing it to perk slightly. She glanced curiously back at me, and I gave her a soft smile, shaking my head. "I'm not mad at you, Derpy. I'm also not hurt, and it was an accident. You're my friend and I prefer you smiling, so don't be hard on yourself," I requested softly. Her features slowly shifted to a timid smile, and she nodded, turning to face me more before leaning forwards and lightly hugging me around the shoulders. "I just don't like hurting the ponies closest to me. And I know what it's like to rarely have things go the way you want," she muttered, backing up again after a few seconds and lifting her head up to meet my gaze. Wow, did I ever know that feeling. "Yeah, that I know all about. It seems like I'm cursed with perpetually bad luck. It kinda makes me wonder what I did in a past life or something to deserve it. What, did I habitually kick puppies or something?" I reasoned, toying with the 'past life' idea in my head. Well, technically... "Ah should point out that not everything's goin' badly," Apple Bloom cut in, raising her hoof up to get my attention. I gave her a somewhat skeptical glance, but she just smirked instead and continued with, "Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Nurse Redheart, Sweetie Belle..." My blush got more and more pronounced the longer she went on, and Sweetie giggled after her name, lowering herself and nuzzling into my left shoulder. "I... Well... Rarity and I have decided not to pursue anything!" I tried to defend, definitely not mentioning anything Keela had said. Scootaloo retorted almost instantly with, "Rainbow is more than enough to be totally worth all the bad luck just by herself!" I raised an eyebrow at that, but Derpy chipped in before I could get a word in edgewise. Derpy started snickering and nodded. "You do have a lot of mares interested. At least it turns out that the flower mares were just teasing about adding you to their herd," she offered, giving me a grin. I blinked slowly. Herd? "Oh! Those three are, uh, together?" I asked, tilting my head towards her. She kept her smile and just nodded twice. My brain whirled into movement again as I considered the sudden new information. I wonder... "What'cha thinkin' 'bout, Mender?" Apple Bloom inquired curiously after I went quiet for a little bit. Frowning, I shook my head to myself before looking up at her again. "There's just, well, things I'm not quite sure about considering the whole 'herd' thing. Books don't really go into the dynamics all that well, and I was thinking, maybe, just maybe, I could ask them about how it works in theirs," I reasoned, left ear twitching lightly as I considered it. Assuming they didn't laugh hysterically, of course. Or try to flirt with me more. "I think it's a good idea. You're sweet for even wanting to do that for your mares," Derpy chirped, nodding twice in approval. I started to turn and smile at her when Sweetie sat up again instead, distracting me with the sudden movement in my peripheral vision. "Um, do you think I could come, too, Mender? I'm not really experienced with it either and I, well, wouldn't mind learning more. To be better for you, of course!" she asked, frowning to herself before seemingly steeling her resolve and giving me a hopeful smile. Watching her for a moment, I decided she was more than likely sure that was what she wanted, and nodded to her, earning a happy squeak and hop into the air. She hugged me almost instantly after, as anticipated, and I snickered, holding her closer with my left foreleg. Why did she even ask? She probably knew enough by now that I couldn't say no to her cuteness. My proximity sensors pinged before the conversation could continue, however. A glance showed me Rainbow's signal zeroing in, in direction and distance, and I sighed. Figures, she was coming in hot. The cyan mare dropped below the tree line like a bolt of lightning, shooting around three trees before touching down along the edge of the camp. Her front legs hit first and she grinned, going with the momentum into a gentle flip through the air, rolling twice before skidding to a soft stop right next to Scootaloo, of all fillies. She was showing off for her sister, I assumed. "Whoa! Awesome, Rainbow!" Scootaloo spoke up instantly, voice full of awe and eyes rather wide. Rainbow grinned and wrapped a wing around the little filly an instant later, pulling her tight again. "You know it! I'm feeling more in shape than ever! Tomorrow, I think we're gonna focus on just practicing your flying techniques instead," she revealed, sounding rather confident. Heh, she'd only been practicing the entire time Big Mac and I were talking, even after Derpy got here. I don't think she even noticed my frantic flight into the lake... Scootaloo's eyes got even bigger somehow, and she squealed happily, her little wings buzzing on her back and shooting little orange sparks everywhere, mixing with the fire. I raised an eyebrow as it momentarily turned the fire bright orange as well. That was interesting. "Do you mean it, Rainbow? Can we?!" she pleaded, her hooves propping up on Dash's chest as she gave her the nastiest level of 'filly eyes' I'd ever seen. Thankfully I wasn't on the receiving end of it, this time! Rainbow puffed up and nodded of course, sliding her saddlebag around her barrel a bit and digging into the right side of it. "Of course! But if we're gonna put in an intense amount of training, you'd better eat good! Oh, and healthy, of course," Rainbow added, retrieving a cluster of apples from her bags by the stems and pushing the three into Scootaloo's torso. Eh? Where did she get apples from? I didn't see her leave the lake area, so I doubted she'd shot all the way back to Applejack's farm... "Uh, isn't it almost supper? You shouldn't ruin your appetite for whatever Big Mac is fixing up, too! I wish I could stay and try it," Derpy pointed out, ears flattening a little. I smiled at her, noticing the light flush appear again, curiously enough. Wait, it was almost supper time. Where was Spike?! I suddenly realized he'd never shown up. Rainbow cut off my thoughts an instant later, though. "Hey, she needs to eat more anyway, so we might as well start now. Or she can bring them back and eat them after supper, instead!" the cyan pegasus suggested suddenly, perking up at the new idea. Sweetie tilted her head at the two of them curiously before suggesting, "Won't she be too full to sleep properly then? I know if I eat too much, it gets really uncomfortable on my tummy and I can't get to sleep." Okay, yeah, I just wanted to squeeze her now. "No way! Apples aren't gonna mess with my sleeping, relax. It's not like they're cafe... Can... Uh..." "Caffeinated?" Sweetie offered quietly, earning a glare from the orange filly. Caffeinated apples? Could you do that? I didn't think apples even had caffeine in them. Apple Bloom just sighed and shook her head. "If she wants ta overstuff herself, just let her," she cut in, looking a bit exasperated at this point. Scootaloo looked downright bristly at that, but Rainbow smirked and slipped both forelegs over the little filly's shoulders, hugging her rather affectionately, to my surprise. "Scoots can handle herself and stop eating when she's full. My little sis is tough like that, right?" Rainbow assured playfully, causing Scootaloo's eyes to widen drastically, a light blush dancing across her cheeks as her chest swelled up. It was easy enough to see that the mare really did have a soft spot for Scootaloo. Apple Bloom suddenly smirked a moment later, however. Uh oh. "Well, if yer gonna do all that tomorrow, ya better clear room fer it in yer schedule! Ah guess we'd best get at all our math homework tonight, then!" she chirped, giving me a knowing smile. Oh, low blow, AB! "Oh, how responsible!" Derpy admitted, smiling at her. Heh, she didn't know the half of it. "What?! Aww. We have to at least see if your brother will help us," Scootaloo reminded, looking a little dejected now. Well, her mood went downhill fast. Was math really that bad? "Psh, no we ain't. Ah'll help ya both! Mine's done already," the yellow filly informed, puffing up big and tall while announcing it. Huh, it was kinda like bragging with the way she said it, but I guess she deserved as much. Sweetie's turn to perk up. "What? Wait, how'd you figure it out, then?!" she asked abruptly, sounding surprised. Wait, there was something about this that was a bad idea again. What was it? Apple Bloom just grinned and nodded towards me, and I shifted quickly to a sheepish smile and waved at them. Sweetie pouted a moment later, crossing her forelegs together. "Aww! When did you do that, and why just help Apple Bloom?" she asked. Oh. Oh yeah! This was why it was a bad idea. Apple Bloom's face fell and she coughed lightly, looking away from the two of us. Damn it. Sweetie looked momentarily confused, while a sudden look of dawning shifted onto Scootaloo's expression. I finally just sighed and admitted, "It was when Redheart left me in charge of the clinic when she ran after you." A full three seconds went past with Sweetie staring blankly at me. "Oh," she finally whispered, ears drooping and sinking a bit down on her haunches. Damn it! Derpy looked between the two of us questioningly before asking, "Uh, what happened, if I can ask?" "It was just a mix-up. Sweetie just-" I started to explain before the little white filly suddenly lunged and wrapped her forelegs around my barrel. Eh? "N-No. It's okay, Mender. I was stupid and didn't believe him when I should have. He told me I had to wait to join his herd until I was fourteen, which, well, made sense. He said he'd give me a chance then and I didn't have to worry. But I didn't believe him and thought he was just turning me down, and I panicked. I ran away, and he got stuck watching the clinic while Nurse Redheart chased after me," she elaborated fully, voice low and sounding rather pained the whole time. Frowning, I suddenly realized I had no idea what to say to make her feel better. Instead, my right foreleg just wrapped around her and I gave her a light squeeze against my torso, causing her to exhale quietly and rest her left cheek against my fur. Derpy smiled, however, and laid down, head closer to Sweetie as she dropped to her level. "I know emotions are scary sometimes. I'm afraid of them, too, but you just have to trust in your heart, Sweetie. It's letting you know what you want, and Mender's willing to give it to you if you just wait. Trusting the ones you love is just as important," she spoke, surprising me with her level of insight. Admittedly, I didn't know much about 'love'. Everything my original had experienced was a rushed flurry of secret mating sessions and bursts of passion hot enough to scald, all in-between pretending not to know each other. Even as dense as I was, I had gathered it wasn't the best learning experience and that I probably shouldn't base much off it. This added a new perspective, however. Something I'd sort of known already, but never really saw from this angle before. Sure, I'd mentioned something like love being an 'upgrade' to friendship earlier... Also with sex, as Dash had so affectionately reminded. But Derpy just added another quality to it, hadn't she? Trust. You had to trust those you loved. Maybe that was why Twilight was hurting so badly over what had happened? Looking back upon all of my interactions with her, I realized there wasn't a lot of trust involved for either of us, which was probably why I felt just a little more strongly for Fluttershy instead. She made me feel comfortable because I trusted her fully. With Twilight, I always had that lingering doubt in the back of my head. What if she was spying on me again, or if this was a lengthy experiment of hers? I was, well, afraid of her for multiple reasons. Not just her magic, but also afraid of being used and discarded after the experiment was over. My eyes closed as I sighed internally. We had a long ways to go before Twilight and I had anything resembling an 'ideal' relationship. She'd mentioned trust exercises that Rarity had been talking to her about. Maybe the white unicorn was really on to something? Sweetie blew my inner speculation off its rails with her sudden reply an instant later. "I know that now. I was stupid, like I said! Mender saved my life, and has been super amazing and nice to me, and it feels like I can talk to him about anything. I love him, and now I know enough to trust everything he says! It's not just a crush, either. I'm interested in lots of what he does, and hopefully I can help him, too, in the future, like Twilight and Fluttershy do." I stayed quietly surprised throughout her small speech, and then smiled afterwards. She knew the pitfalls in front of her and was rather savvy going in, unlike her doubts told her earlier. Rarity must have really talked to her about this sort of thing. Derpy looked surprised at the admission, but I just shook my head and gave her another squeeze, drawing her gaze back up to my face instead. "For what it's worth, I believe you, Sweetie. It was the absolute truth. I promise that you'll get your chance when you're old enough," I promised yet again. Her blush came back a moment later, but she smiled happily up at me. Those eyes. Her eyes were soft and dancing with a happy light. It was downright adorable, and I just wanted to pick her up and squeeze her in my forelegs like a teddy bear. But, uh, that might be a little demeaning if I tried that... Plus she was a little big. Rainbow, however, could only take so much cuteness saturating the area. "You two lovebirds are hopeless! Scoots and I are gonna fly a few laps before supper and clear out from the mushy atmosphere," she suddenly cut in, giving an exaggerated gagging motion with her right forehoof before shooting into the air again. Scootaloo perked up faster than I thought possible and flew up after her, looking absolutely ecstatic. Actually, she looked like that every time she took off, it would seem. I watched both of them take off before exhaling and shaking my head. Moving Sweetie to the side again, I eased down and rested against the rock, facing the heat of the fire. Even after being moved, the little filly didn't go very far. Lying down as well, Sweetie simply scooted until her back rested against the front of my barrel, my left foreleg rising up until she settled herself before resting on her shoulder as I relaxed. At this point, I'd gotten rather accustomed to her being near me, or against me whenever I happened to notice. She was starting to get as consistent as Prudentia. "Well, I think things are looking up. Everything's getting back to normal finally and you chasing away those two mean colts has seriously cut down on the amount of pranks targeting me! Have you made any progress on either the fliers or preventing more attacks?" Derpy asked me curiously, once she settled down next to Sweetie. "Actually, yes on both. I can't really say much, but the Elements of Harmony, Spike, and I have a meeting with Princess Celestia a few days after I get back. She's made progress on the flier incident, and I think I might have had a breakthrough for defense," I relayed, trying to remain positive about it. Implementing a detection and blocking grid had never been done before over the area of an entire planet, or whatever it was we were on. In theory, it was possible with enough relays, but I had no idea how to go about it with the technology level Equestria had. It was fairly safe to say, as I hadn't even seen a rocket yet, that they were land-locked to this planet. That made an orbital relay system, well, a bit complicated. To my surprise, Derpy exhaled and visibly relaxed, nodding and smiling over at me. "That makes me feel a lot better! Uh, I didn't want to say anything, but the mayor also asked me to see if I could talk to you and find out if you had any progress. She's, well, I haven't seen her like this in a while. I think she's scared," she whispered, frowning afterwards. That made sense. A peace-loving race suddenly being introduced to concepts like a dimensional attack and monsters coming through would cause a huge ruckus. Now that I remembered, Shining Armor had mentioned something about other cities getting concerned, too. How widespread was this? "Well, I can't promise anything yet, but I think I might have an idea as to how to stop anypony from being able to access Equestria from anywhere else. The Princesses will have to help me make it work, but I have high hopes for it," I assured, realizing anything I told her was going to get back to the mayor directly, and thus, all of Ponyville. Derpy's smile widened, and Apple Bloom giggled as well, curling up half a meter from my head. "Ah'm not all that worried. Especially not right now. Somethin' 'bout Mender makes me relax around him. Ah know he wouldn't let anythin' bad happen to me," she murmured, sliding onto her side and tucking herself into a partial ball with her head aimed at me, still smiling. Despite cute-induced brain lag, I smiled back at her and nodded. "I wouldn't let anything bad happen to anypony in my charge. Hopefully this will make it so I can protect them without even being there. Oh, and you're probably seeing my aura again," I pointed out, gently closing my eyes and using the top of Sweetie's head as a soft chin pillow. "Aura?" I heard Derpy ask, reminding me that I hadn't exactly told very many individuals. Sweetie stirred against my foreleg before tucking herself further under my chin, up against my chest and neck. Thankfully she was careful with her horn this time. That had been awkward on the trip over here in the wagon. "Yeah. Mender's an Earth Pony, so he doesn't have a horn to let the magic out of himself. He uses magic by releasing it from all over instead," Sweetie explained softly, sounding half asleep already. "Oooh, so his whole body is like a horn?" Derpy asked, sounding even more curious, and oddly closer. What, was she looking to see if I had a spiral pattern in me or something? "Yeah. Uh, at some point I realized how to use magic without needing a horn. It kinda, well, broke me inside, however, and now it flows out everywhere, close to my skin level," I elaborated, leaving out the fact that it was actually a recent development. Something had happened. When did I remember how to pull the magic through my skin? I frowned against Sweetie, my eyes still closed as I realized it was more a mental thing all along. Had something in my mind changed after Nirru attacked me? That more, well, feral me was the one who discovered I didn't need my hoof carving to push the magic out, and use other body parts. Tongue casting would probably never catch on, however. Slowly, I relaxed as I let the magic ebb and shift into a basic light spell. I felt it flow gently off my coat and knew that my whole body was now glowing, without needing my other senses to tell me. I heard Derpy gasp, and I smiled gently. "It flows out from everywhere, even when I'm not casting any spells. It turns out that, well, empathic individuals can pick up on it, even if only on a subconscious level. My personality leaks through as well, and it gives them a 'feeling' of what I'm sorta like without even needing to talk to me. As if I were walking around with a giant poster over my head, telling about me," I tried to explain, as much as I understood it, anyway. Of course, I imagine it was rather dual-edged, however. Nothing was stopping perceptive ponies of less reputable intent from taking advantage of it, too. "That must make it really hard ta lie ta some ponies," Apple Bloom suddenly muttered, surprising me. Huh, I never thought about it maybe relaying, um, other things about me, too. Uh oh. She might be onto something. "I wasn't very good at lying in the first place, but probably," I muttered, feeling tired myself. Eh, I didn't have to worry about anypony here, anyways. A sneaking suspicion told me that even if Derpy knew about me, she probably wouldn't be fazed in the least. Speaking of Derpy, I heard her giggle a second later, followed by, "Ooh, my 'gut instinct' about Mender must be spot on, then! You really are a nice stallion." Hum. Sorta, I guess. A light smile came to my muzzle, and I opened my eyes to look up at her again. She was a lot closer, but smiling happily down at me regardless, her right eye locked on mine and the left drifting off towards the fire. "I really do try to give everypony the benefit of the doubt. I'm really happy to be where I am, and really adore all the ponies around me. But sometimes, something really does draw my ire, and that's when I'm not so nice anymore," I muttered, fighting back the light chill running up my spine suddenly. The other me was very much not so nice. Homicidal and sadistic were kinda the opposites, after all. Her smile didn't falter, not that I had expected it to. She struck me as the type of mare to stick with an opinion after her mind was made up, anyways. "Of course! I bet you were really, really not nice to that thing that attacked us. You did so much to protect Ponyville! I know you don't see a lot of it, being with Twilight and the Elements all day, but, um, I hear a lot about the other side of things," she spoke, drawing my attention rather well. Other side of things? My expression must have asked for me, as she giggled and shook her head. "Nothing bad. Ponies just got really scared, ya know? After hearing the amazing story of how you fought off the creature all by yourself until Princess Luna got there, it really gave a lot of ponies hope. I know you don't like it, but you're kinda like a superhero or something. I think, well, I think Ponyville needed something to make everypony feel safe," she explained, looking contemplative as she looked up into the darkening sky instead. I watched her for a second before my eyes softened a bit, my insides relaxing. Something to make them feel safe? I didn't want to be a hero. But maybe I could be okay with being sorta like the town's safety blanket. Being afraid wasn't fun, and I suddenly could relate to them all a lot more. Maybe when they said 'hero'... "It was kinda hard to believe at first. A lot of ponies didn't think it was true, but rumors of your magic shot everywhere, with that barrel incident backing it up," Derpy continued, talking upwards now and more relaxed. Barrel incident? Oh! When I was running away from Applejack, trying to protect Sweetie from a threat that wasn't real. Heh. Not my most stellar idea. Derpy continued regardless, however, with, "Then when Rainbow surprised you and you blew a hole in the side of the hospital, it became a lot easier to believe." Is that what they were saying happened? Heh. Well, I could go with that. Still, better not agree or disagree with it to remain truthful. "I'm not proud that I know how to fight, and have had to resort to violence before. I've seen a lot of things that I really, really would rather not have, and at the end of the day, I'd rather just enjoy the peace," I muttered, being absolutely honest. I saw more than enough hothead soldiers with battle lust to know that it never ended well. Fighting for 'entertainment' got so many of them killed, even if they were really nice individuals otherwise. No, I'd rather be bored and have things be peaceful, even if that thought did make me feel sorta like a grumpy old dude. My eyes snapped back to attention with Derpy's movement, me realizing a second later that I'd zoned out again. Sweetie gave a sleepy murmur as the gray pegasus gently hugged both of us, due to proximity. "I know I never said it, but thank you, Mender. Just for being here and protecting us," she whispered, giving me a light, affectionate nuzzle to the forehead before standing up again, smiling still. Being here so nopony else had to face things like Nirru by themselves. That I could stand behind. Smiling weakly, I gave her a nod back, and she grinned. "Good. Cheer up and take a nap. I've gotta get back with all this news. I see Big Mac coming back the trail anyway, so I'll go say goodbye to him, too," she added, a light whimsical tone drifting into her voice again. I raised my eyebrow to her as that light pink shade came back, but she wasn't looking at me anymore anyways. She shot up into the air and drifted back in the direction of the path a moment later, and I just mentally shrugged it off. It wasn't really my business anyway. Still, she'd given me a lot to think about. Sweetie breathed slowly and gently against my forelegs, and I watched her for a moment before looking up at the curled up Apple Bloom next to me. I could tell she was just resting, but it really did hit me all at once. Something to protect. It was definitely there that night with Nirru. I would have fought to the very last breath to make sure she didn't get anywhere near the ponies I cared about. It had burned through my veins at that point, becoming almost an armor of conviction. It was worse than that, however. My urge to protect them all had almost devolved into hatred that night. It had almost shifted to just wanting to kill her so badly that at times, I had tasted it. No, I wanted to protect them. I had to do my best to remember the reason that I had fought that night, lest I let it change into something else. But now, I realized it didn't just apply to that night. Wasn't my desire to protect them the reason I agreed to this, admittedly surprising, position Tia had tossed my way? I'd not wanted to at first, but if I could take advantage of my own knowledge and better protect them, I'd be crazy to turn down the chance. Plus, she'd set it up so I could just focus on the research aspect of it and not have to deal with publicity, my absolute worst skill. Nopony liked a leader who had to try his absolute hardest to not pee himself in front of large crowds. All I was thankful for was Vinyl's huge stage lights blinding me to the point where I couldn't see most of the audience apart from the first three rows... Smiling at the awkward memory, I relaxed and squeezed the sleeping filly a bit closer, hearing her give a content sigh. She really was sorta like a teddy bear. She'd probably dislike the comparison, though. Yeah, I knew what I wanted now. I'd never stopped wanting it; everything had just gotten a bit muddled in my head. Even my original had only wanted to protect what was important to him. The horror of realizing nothing really was important was just too much. Species only went so far, so I imagine Keela had made things a bit more personal for him. Heh, in more ways than one. But what about after? Why couldn't I remember...? My memories just stopped. It dawned on me a moment later. I was cloned. My memories stopped because I was cloned after he was released from Nirru's 'sessions' by Dr. Kyliona. I honestly should have realized that sooner. That's why I had next to no sensation as to what he was like after all that had happened. I don't even remember his release. Sadly, I guess I knew where Kyliona got the DNA samples from. Pushing that unpleasant thought away, I just focused on the gentle breathing of Sweetie against me. No, I was luckier than he was. I had lots of things that were important to me. I felt stronger than I had been, even a week ago. Even if my luck was horrible, I didn't care. Having things I cared about, and ponies who cared for me, made it worth it. I'd do anything I had to in order to protect them. Maybe that was the sensation Apple Bloom could feel? Relaxing, I slowly rotated my ears and listened to the dull hoofsteps of Big Mac approaching again. Maybe he could see it, too. Deep down, he struck me as a very observant stallion. He was highly intelligent, even if silent most of the time. But maybe that let him see more than most? He gave me a soft smile and nod, sitting down next to the fire, positioning his little sister between us. He ran on a lot of the same instincts. I saw it clearly in his eyes when he practically tore the wall down to rush to Applejack's aid. It takes dedication to go from dead sleep to raging defender in less than a half dozen seconds. I could appreciate that. We stared at each other for a moment before he snickered lightly towards me. I grinned and nodded back, no more really needing to be 'said' between us. With that conversation out of the way, he calmly asked, "Supper?" "Mmm... Supper," I agreed. Plus, that way I could ask Spike where he'd been all day... * * * * * Lying there silently, I enjoyed the warm blankets under me, and the pillow propping my head up as I watched the three Crusaders below me, on the floor. It had taken almost two hours so far, but they'd fought tooth and hoof through four and a half pages of math with very little input from me. Frankly, I thought Apple Bloom was doing an amazing job relaying her knowledge onto her fellow fillies. The soft sounds of the rain hitting the roof echoed through the room as I gave a halfhearted listen to the three squabble over the 'right' way to do the last three problems. The only other noises were the scratching of Spike's claws against shell as he tried to clean Tank up, and the squeaks Big Mac made occasionally as he adjusted the frame of what appeared to be a rolling platform of sorts. It looked big enough to support one of their apple crates, but its size and low-to-the-ground build indicated it was probably for moving them around inside the barn. There'd been half a dozen of them in the cart with us, and I guessed they all needed repair. Of course, my offer to help had yet again been met with just a silent shake of the head, so I'd given up. Watching Spike for a moment, I noticed he was still attempting to get the paint off Tank's shell using careful applications of solvent. I forgave him for never showing up, of course. It turns out he got ambushed by Carrot Top on his way out the door, and roped into helping her add new paint to several cabins. It would seem they ran basic maintenance while they were here, too, which did kinda make sense. Still, he should have kept Tank away from the paint. The tortoise himself looked less than fazed, languidly stretching and relaxing there, almost as if Spike were giving him a good massage. Growing bored, I rolled to my side again and flicked my right projector on, moving another page of data out in front of me to read. Big Mac momentarily looked up curiously at the new light added to the otherwise lamp-lit room, but looked down again a moment later upon discovering it was just me being all weird and cyborg again. Actually, he was just as stoic as Tank, now that I thought about it. Nothing seemed to bother either of them! Everything was in order still. Notes on every single one of the functions the disks could do, and the full chemical composition of all the things the nanites could inject were detailed. How to make the disks and their composition and enchantments were also there. Details on my nanites' programming were included, with what to expect from the healing capacity and body regulation. If the programming given to the nanites in the mares was similar, it was like a watered down version of my own healing and regeneration capacity. The only things I noticed were different about the specs from the nanite manual I found was that they didn't do blood filtering like mine did. Guess they still had to watch what they ate and drank. Heh. Everything was compiled into a 'meager' thirty pages of notes. Twilight was going to love this, especially as I had 'printed' them all out. I also had a ton of paper and ink left as well. It turns out an entire tree makes quite a bit of paper. Oh, and the strawberries were just too good to not finish the whole pile. All that was missing was sugar or cream to dip them in. Regardless, I'd gotten all the information about the nanites and the disks that I could get for her without direct testing and experimentation. I wasn't about to do that by myself, and it was a tad hard anyway without any of the actual subjects here, so I'd reached a dead end along this path. Instead, I shifted to the printouts and data that Keela had tossed me about the link between our two dimensions and how to go about opening a 'hole' through. If I knew how to make one, maybe I could figure out how to stop the process, too? If it was as easy as stopping our Slipstream, then I was set. Well, minus the whole getting into orbit and building massive relay structures around whatever Equestria happened to be. Planet? Dimensional bubble? Eh, I'd just ask Tia. Sadly, everything detailed in her notes were things I already knew. She activated the quantum field generator, created a static area inside of the field of 'hanging' molecules using an Aegis Barrier, then used a small Slipstream Engine to fire a marble sized crystal into the stuck open Aegis Barrier. With the crystal 'encoded' with Equestria's quantum signature, it popped through and created a small Slipstream 'bridge' between the two dimensions that things could go through. Well, non-organic things so far. If a living, organic creature tried to go through the Slipstream effect, it kinda microwaved them rather thoroughly. What came through the other side was somewhat crispier and significantly less living, usually. Very much unlike the 'hole' that Rainbow was capable of tearing in the weakened fabric. Ours was essentially an Einstein–Rosen Bridge that we used quantum energy to get through, avoiding that oh so lovely singularity squish that also tended to make things significantly less living, although quite smaller. Then the shield protected us from the quantum energy. Blah blah blah. Skimming, I noticed it was all things I was already aware of as an engineer. The only things I needed to pay attention to were the quantum signature in the crystal, and the effect it had on the Einstein-Rosen Bridge as it passed through the open Aegis Barrier. Everything I knew about the barriers indicated that, if you passed into an open one, the same thing would happen to you as what happened to the attacks hitting it. Nothing. No, literally nothingness. In theory, it should crush you into a singularity and then jut you away into unattached subspace. That lovely extra-dimensional area we passed through normally when using the Slipstream Engine. It also happened to be where I kept my extra stuff, and where I assumed Pinkie stored most of her party supplies somehow. If you lost the 'link' to your particular space, however, it was lost forever. So why did, instead of falling away into nothingness, passing through the Aegis Barrier in Slipstream using one of these strange Equestrian crystals make you travel between dimensions instead?! It shouldn't be possible, but it was happening and I couldn't just dismiss it. Damn it. No, all I needed to do was figure out how to stop it, not understand it. A bit of consideration later, I flipped to the last three pages of her notes instead, detailing the exiting of the object and closing of the link. The shield was dispelled, releasing the chilled object into normal space safely, then the energy was withdrawn from the link, causing the Einstein–Rosen Bridge to collapse back down into its singularity, and then the generation of it failed and it collapsed upon itself, disappearing and 'smoothing out' spacetime again. That was, well, exactly like our Slipstream. There was no difference in the effect. That meant if I knew what 'direction' the Slipstream was going in, which was the same as its destination, and I knew where it originated from, which was my other dimension in this case, I could flip the quantum wavelength at the exit point. The bridge would then double back upon itself, and the traveling party would end up exactly where they'd entered at, negating the effect. My head hurt a little and I sighed, staring at her calculations. She estimated that instead of spacetime coordinates being used as tracking for the bridge, dimensional ones took their place. That meant she just offset them in order to get the actual coordinates using the Slipstream Engine. The crystal picked what dimension, and the engine told it where at in that dimension. Both were traceable, but only if I knew the encoded coordinates from the crystal. The complexity was starting to make me dizzy, but in theory, my new idea would work. But it would require monitoring the quantum wavelengths of the entire planet. Or whatever Equestria was... Then, when I saw a distortion, I could zero in on it, read the crystal wavelength as it popped through, and flip it, turning them around before they could even exit the bridge. Simple, right? Heh. No, I wasn't that stupid. Testing first, then came crying, then hopefully a working prototype. Then more testing and more crying, then hopefully a solution! I finished typing up my own calculations and notes on the possible prototype, including a crystal array that could be stretched out theoretically as large as I needed, and the master idea. It was a large crystal 'engine' that was meant to pick up any number of incoming signals, calculate them and their natural inverse, then use an energy source to flip them as they came in. Okay! Now I just needed to work on that energy source, how to power the whole grid, and how to get the stupid things into orbit in the first place! Cake, right? Rolling my eyes, I was momentarily amused as the display flickered around with my eyeball motion, and then turned it off. It had taken me a good twenty minutes to draw up the diagram for it and finish my notes on the inverse calculation based off what I knew about stopping Slipstream in the first place. Everything always looked perfect on paper, though. Which scared me, because this didn't look good on paper. That meant it was much, much worse. I peeked back down again, and then raised my eyebrow at three expectant looking fillies presenting ten more pages of math for me to go over. My muzzle shifted into a smile instead and I nodded. "Done then?" I inquired, even though I already knew the answer. "Yeah! It was easy!" Scootaloo bragged almost instantly, earning an incredulous stare from Sweetie in the middle. "It wasn't that easy. But Apple Bloom explained it really, really good! That means you explained it to her really good, too!" Sweetie added whimsically, sounding surprisingly pleased over the whole ordeal. Maybe they were finally seeing the logic behind getting something done within a reasonable time before it was due? I wasn't holding my breath, but it would be nice. Taking their assignments, I peeked over both while making room for the three fillies on the bed. Spike shot an amused glance my way from the kitchen counter as all three piled up with me, Sweetie tucking into my stomach, Apple Bloom sitting by my head, and Scootaloo lazily flopped over my hip, watching me flip the pages with interest, my magic manipulating the pencil into checking or crossing each problem. "Scootaloo has two mistakes, one on page two, and another on page five. Sweetie just has one on page five to go over," I finally announced, smiling to both of them. Sweetie gave a happy cheer, while Scootaloo groaned and swatted her forehead with her left forehoof. "Hey, relax. It's only two wrong, and the first one is as simple as missing flipping a sign," I added, reaching down and rubbing the top of her head. She gave me a weak smile and nod before taking her papers back and sliding down from my side, joining Sweetie tucked in against my curled form. Call me lazy, but this bed was much more comfortable than the rocks earlier, even if Apple Bloom was moving my pillow around uncomfortably with her rump with each shift the filly did. It didn't take long for me to explain where the two had gone wrong, Apple Bloom feeling guilty that she'd forgotten to mention the silly details involved. Honestly, both of them had made very simple mistakes, probably due to trying to rush through the last page. It was always easier to use shortcuts and hurry when the end was in sight, I noticed. Resting, I just let my eyes relax, the inside of my eyelids shading them nicely from the harshness of reality. I hadn't done much today, comparatively speaking, but I still felt tired. I chalked it up to still not catching up on my rest from all the other horrible things that had happened. Carrot Top's words stuck with me, however, and I refused to make any predictions about how my rest tonight would go. Heh. Maybe she was on to something? Sweetie remained tucked lightly into my barrel long after her paper was corrected. That wasn't out of the norm at this point, really. Scootaloo surprised me, however, by staying as well, her face pushed into Sweetie's tummy while her legs tucked into mine. With Apple Bloom at my back with her forelegs lightly wrapped over my shoulders, that made us one big pony pile of laziness on the bed. Not that I was complaining, as they were soft and warm. That, and it would defeat the point of being lazy if I had enough energy to complain about the situation. Apple Bloom gave a giggle as Scootaloo started snoring, and I felt Sweetie smirk against my foreleg. "That tickles, Scoots," she muttered weakly, but not really trying to move away. "She practiced long and hard today. Just let her sleep, Miss 'part the clouds over Ponyville with a magic super ray'..." I warned playfully, pulling both fillies closer against my barrel. "Mmm, I said I was sorry. I just, um, really wanted to feel you in my head again. Last night was nice," she whispered softly. Yeah, that much I admitted to. Having a friend certainly kept my nightmares away. At that, Apple Bloom stirred a little. "Inside yer head?" she asked quietly, respecting the fact that my ears were practically touching her muzzle when she leaned over like that. Scootaloo shivered lightly as she scooted further up Sweetie, pushing her face into the little filly's neck for warmth. My tail curled around and, with a flick, I covered both of their lower bodies with the bulk of it like a makeshift blanket. "Yeah. That same thing he does when you run out of energy, but all warm and cozy while sleeping, and without the horrible pain. Plus, he can control his dreams, and you can play and do almost anything you want inside them," Sweetie relayed a moment later, looking up at me and smiling as she tucked my tail-blanket over the snoozing pegasus against her chest. "Oooh, that sounds neat! Ah wish Ah could try it out," my neck warmer muttered before huffing lightly and blowing my Fluttershy-bestowed braid away from her face. I'd gotten so used to the left part of my bangs being braided that I'd kind of forgotten about it. Not that I was going to remove it anytime soon! To my surprise, a heavier set of hoofsteps sounded from in front of me somewhere, cutting her off. "Ah-nope. Mender needs his sleep, so ya’all have ta leave him be. One filly per bed or ya all go back ta yer own," Big Mac warned suddenly, causing me to open my eyes and look over at him. He really was standing in front of me, looking a bit tired himself. True, it was almost bedtime now. Apple Bloom started to groan, but I shook my head wearily. "I'm not a unicorn. I can only do one connection at a time anyway, AB. But, well, it does help, admittedly. When I'm with somepony in my dreams, it does at least keep the nightmares away," I muttered, feeling myself grow a bit more tired with the admission. Big Mac looked at me for a moment before his eyes softened as well and he nodded. "Maybe Ah should hire ya ta keep AJ company fer ah few nights. She might be able ta get ah full night's rest, then," he muttered a moment later. Somehow, despite the situation and how badly it could have sounded, he managed to convey it in such an absolute manner that I solemnly knew exactly what he was talking about. It wasn't a teasing matter. "They're not pleasant. I wish she'd never been there to see the things she did, but I also have to thank her for saving me afterwards, when most ponies probably would have given up," I pointed out. It was a bit of a duality again. She'd gotten me into the situation, but she also got me out of it despite all odds. Apple Bloom giggled softly and sleepily against my back, however, before shaking her head. "Sis ain't one ta give up, Mender. She always does her best ta make things right again no matter what! That's why she's so torn up over it all," the little filly relayed. Yeah, that fit with everything I knew about Applejack so far. Big Mac sighed and nodded slightly, seeming to think to himself for a moment before adding, "She ain't used ta tha feelin's that night gave her. Betrayin' ah friend, even accidental-like, ain't somethin' that sets good with any Apple, her especially. Just holdin' her while she cries ain't fixin' anything, but it's all Ah can seem ta do. If ya could stop tha nightmares..." There was a pleading tone to his voice that didn't suit him at all, and I had to look away. "I don't even know how to stop my own," I admitted, but sighed a moment later and added, "But I've been meaning to talk to her more about it anyways. If I can figure out a way to help her, of course I'm going to." The big guy relaxed at that and gave me a smile again. "Yer definitely all right, Mender. Ya got mah support. But bedtime now, Ah think." Yeah, I felt rather tired at this point, so I wasn't going to argue. "Can I stay with you again tonight? It's the last night I can for a while," Sweetie Belle asked softly, looking back up at me as she edged a little more firmly into my chest. Raising an eyebrow, my ears perked and I listened to the rain for a second before shrugging. "It's probably not going to outright thunder tonight, but you just want to cuddle, don't you?" I asked her softly, a little uncertain of myself suddenly. Was it okay, even if I knew she considered me in more than a platonic manner? "Eh, just go fer it. It's her last day, like she said," Big Mac suggested as he crawled into his own bed. Wait, when had he gotten all the way over there?! For such a large fellow, he certainly moved amazingly silently. Add Snapshot to the mix, and I was starting to wonder if there was some secret Earth Pony Ninja School around here somewhere. Sweetie grinned and tucked herself into my chest fully, almost as if I'd already said yes. Neither extra filly was moving either, and I started to wonder if I was going to get all three of them tonight. Spike finally finished setting up Tank's water and hopped down from the kitchen counter a moment later, giving us a questioning glance as he walked over. "Uh, we getting lots of company tonight instead of just Sweetie?" he asked, hopping up onto the end of my bed as usual. Big Mac let out a stern coughing noise, and Apple Bloom sighed against my back. "Yer ah traitor, Spike," she muttered, before slowly getting back up to her hooves. I gave her an amused stare as she slipped over me, momentarily bounced off Sweetie's face with her rump, and grabbed Scootaloo as she slid past and off the bed. She was coordinated, anyway! "Ah! No! Warm!" Scootaloo yelped, grabbing onto my tail as she slid away, the combined weight yanking me sideways to the edge of my bed in an instant. Sweetie yelped at the sudden movement and rotated, grabbing onto me as I caught her, stopping her from falling over as well. Big Mac gave an even sterner glare towards our antics, me returning a rather helpless glance as best I could. "Hey, let go of Mender's tail! That's rude, Scoots," Spike warned, hopping forwards and trying to pry the little pegasus free. Unexpectedly, her ears perked up the second he touched her, and she let go, only to latch onto him an instant later. My eyes widened as he yelped, going off the side of the bed in an instant, both of them landing on Apple Bloom with a dull thud. Well, so much for coordinated. "Ow!" the yellow filly squeaked, suddenly finding herself flattened onto the floorboards. "Oooh, even warmer," Scootaloo chirped, wrapping her forelegs around Spike and nuzzling into his neck. Her eyes were still closed, but I kind of assumed she was awake at this point. Or extremely skilled at sleepwalking. Spike looked less pleased. "Ah, help, Mender!" he called out, popping his claw out from under Scootaloo's iron grasp and reaching out to me. Aww, darn. Now that he called out to me, I was obligated to help him somehow. Hmm, but how to get him away from her? Oh! "Mmm, now that's something you don't see everyday. Scoots being cute and affectionate. Could it be, she likes Spike?" I inquired to nopony in particular, a little louder than conversation volume. It had been a while since I'd seen the little filly move so quickly. Her flail away from him was almost instantaneous, and I winced as she stepped on Apple Bloom's back again and slipped over, crashing into the floor on the other side of her now air-less and gasping friend. "Ah! Ow! No, I don't have a crush on Spike! Ew!" she yelped, recovering rather fast for landing on her rump. I guess she only hurt her dignity. My magic slid Apple Bloom back over to me a moment later, a barrier being used as a makeshift scoop for both her and Spike, depositing them back on my bed. Spike rolled once and collected his wits, rubbing at his probably numb arms. My other recovered friend just flopped on her stomach and lay there, eyes swirling lightly. Sweetie hopped over to her, but I already had a plan in mind, slipping into a sitting position. Her massive inhale of air was accompanied by an abrupt squeak as I fired magic off through both hooves touching her back, shooting it straight through her and into the mattress, my fur tingling and standing on edge from the discharge. Cruel? Probably. Effective? Extremely! She coughed for a moment before rolling onto her side and looking back up at us in surprise. Spike, on the other side of her, helped her back up to her hooves, and she smiled back at him warmly. Oh sure, Sweetie and I get bewildered and he gets a smile. For doing nothing but flattening her, I might add! "What, do I have to sleep by myself again?" Scootaloo asked sharply, giving an annoyed stare at Apple Bloom's back. "Ya kinda deserve it after ya landed on me! But no, Ah'm ah nice friend," she returned, glaring back over her left shoulder at the pegasus. Really tired now, I decided to expedite the process a bit. The barrier still being up, I simply tipped it at a forty-five degree angle, sending the surprised Apple Bloom sliding down it and landing on Scootaloo instead. There! Bed cleared. "Ya better go ta sleep now, lil' sis. Scootaloo, too," Big Mac warned, starting to sound a little less easy going and a little more cranky. I guess he needed his sleep, too. "We're goin'!" Apple Bloom yelped, picking up the dizzy looking pegasus from under her and dragging her over to the left towards their bed on the other side of the doorway. Taking my subtle cue, I flicked my magic up again and bumped the crystals on the bottoms of all five lamps still lit in the room, sighing peacefully. Darkness hit an instant later, followed by a yelp and crash over by the fillies' bed. Oops. Maybe I'd turned off the lights a few seconds too soon? Eh, they were probably fine. Sweetie giggled in amusement and Spike shrugged before curling up at the end of my bed. Ugh. Oh, fine. Shifting my eye sensors on, I sent two spotlights of blue directly over both fillies recovering at the side of the bed. "Ow. We're okay," Apple Bloom groaned, struggling to get to her hooves next to her fallen friend. "Speak for yourself. I think I pulled a wing muscle. Ow," Scootaloo tacked on, sitting up and sliding to her haunches instead, stretching her left wing out and examining it in the light of my eyes. At this distance, it wasn't hard to shift to depth scanning and peek into her wing tissue. I did note one of her flight muscles swelling a little bit, and sighed, feeling somewhat responsible for her injury. "You have muscle swelling, Scoots. You also have been overworking them the last few days. Tuck it back up and rest without moving it too much, and it should be fine by morning," I suggested softly, causing the little filly to look up at me curiously. "You can see all that from there?" The thought seemed almost foreign to her, and I realized she must not fully grasp the concept of me having cybernetic parts. But that didn't really surprise me, considering her age and the general technology level of Equestria. "Yup. My eyes are fancy and high tech. Now go to bed, you two. Big Mac needs his beauty sleep," I reminded, smirking at the end. Both fillies grinned, and I heard a soft chuckle from his direction as well. Scootaloo tossed up a salute and Apple Bloom just nodded, returning, "Sure thing! We'll see ya tomorrow. Good night, everypony!" Big Mac gave a tired sounding confirmation muttering that I couldn't quite make out, but Sweetie added a fully formed, "Good night!" Spike only voiced snoring, which I assumed was similar and earned giggling as the two fillies climbed into their bed. I waited for them to settle before turning off my scanners and settling back down again. I grabbed my tedd- Er, Sweetie Belle, and pulled her back under the covers with me after he settled, tucking us both back in again. If she didn't want to, she gave little to no noticeable struggle, cooing softly as I pulled her against my torso. She was soft and warm and helped the nightmares stay away. Who was I to argue with hedonism's natural progression? Sure, 'indulging' in dreams with a friend helped me a ton, but she seemed to very much not mind either. So it was all good! Ignoring logic otherwise, I rested my forehead under her horn and pushed my energy gently into her a second later, hearing her mumble as it connected. "You feel so tired," she whispered a second later. All I could manage was nodding to her, already feeling myself slipping backwards. Sleep would come fast tonight, I realized. Sweetie fell silent as she slipped from my forehead, nuzzling under my neck instead as I pulled her along the connection. One of the greatest feelings in the world was letting yourself fall asleep after you got really, really tired. Even if the fatigue had suddenly snuck up on me out of nowhere, it still felt good. Relaxing, I just went with the flow and let us go. Chapter 58Author's Note Harsher language than usual in this one. Heads up ahead of time. Chapter 58 It didn't take me long to realize how amazingly little we'd ended up bringing, apart from the tools Big Mac wanted to repair while here. Those had been deposited back into the wagon when he had finished even, so all we had were some personal effects in a bag for each filly, my saddlebags, and Big Mac's saddlebags. Given the depressingly little amount of stuff we had to do, I made a humble suggestion that maybe we should walk around and help other ponies pack their things up, too. That had been both a blessing and a mistake at the same time. Still, Big Mac looked both honestly surprised, and then very pleased at my suggestion. With that, the seven of us set out to be as helpful as we could! Stretching my left leg out lightly, I watched as my magic rotated in place, planes of barriers drifting through the air via lines coming from my forehead. It drew less attention, I discovered, if I connected the magic there. Probably second nature to see and they didn't notice the lack of horn right away. The elderly couple, whose names I'd never gotten, watched in fascination as the three fillies and little dragon rushed about their cabin, snatching up suitcases and bags alike and depositing them onto the front step. There my magic snatched them up with a scooping motion and lifted them through the air in an arc, depositing them on the back of the wagon as gently as possible. Big Mac then slid them further in and arranged it in the back as sturdy and stable as possible. This was the sixth family we'd helped so far, and a small crowd was starting to follow us, if just to watch the performance. I was pleased, if nothing else, at the fact that the whispers and talking I kept hearing were generally pleased and kind in nature now. Even if it got me a bit tired, helping others made me feel warm and fuzzy, and seemed to be doing a good deal of repair for my reputation as an uncertainty. Every time the couple tried to help, of course, Apple Bloom would assure them that they could handle it no problem. The younger families and couples we'd let help haul things, but I had to agree with her assessment. Just let them have a break from having to haul all this stuff. Smiling, I lifted the last of the bags up and set them down for Big Mac, nodding to him as he gave me a smile back and picked the cluster up with his teeth, sliding them against the base of the grouping he'd made. "Well now, that was mighty nice o' ya! How much do Ah owe you fine ponies, for services rendered, o' course," the elder stallion asked gently, smiling as he stepped off the porch of the cabin and towards us. Smiling towards him, I shook my head softly. "Not a thing. We finished with our packing super-fast, so we decided to just go around and help others finish, too. Don't worry about it," I assured. It was far easier, I discovered, to turn down payment for an impromptu service than it was for an extended one planned ahead of time. I think it was that whole 'contracted ahead of time' thing. He looked impressed, but smiled as I nodded to the four younger members of our traveling help squad. Tank obviously couldn't do much heavy lifting, but proved invaluable regardless by hovering around me in low orbit, occasionally bumping and prodding bags that I hadn't gotten fully onto my barrier scoops as they went through the air. The others rushed back up, looking pleased at the large amount of bags in the wagon. Instead, I shifted back to Big Mac. "See anypony else in need of packing help from up there?" I inquired, adhering to the pattern we'd formed so far. Glancing about, he squinted, but then gave me a pleased smile and shook his head. Oh? "Ah-nope! Looks like almost everypony's ready ta set out!" he exclaimed, hopping down from the top of the wagon. Wow! That was fast. "Are we even allowed to set out this early?" Carrot asked, stepping out from the group following us and slowly walking towards Big Mac. A grayish unicorn stallion with darker purple mane and tail, and surprisingly bright green eyes followed after her. A parchment rested, unrolled, upon his flank, and I guessed that he must be Written Script, her husband. Trailing a bit slower was a little filly, also a unicorn, with a more purple coat and golden mane and tail. Oh, she had mentioned a daughter! Big Mac tilted his head, but nodded a moment later, adding, "Ah think so. Derpy said they were runnin' ah bit behind without tha help o' tha Town Organizer, but they should be ready by midday, which is right about now." Town Organizer? Was that even a position? I'd not heard of it, and wondered at the undoubtedly strange stallion or mare that would accept something like that. "Ah, is Twilight okay? I hope she is," Carrot asked almost immediately, frowning lightly. Oh. Okay, no, that didn't surprise me in the slightest. Not nearly as much as it should have, anyway. "She's having personal issues and not feeling well. She'll be fine," I answered for him, smiling gently at the mare, who relaxed and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I forgot that you'd undoubtedly know, being in her herd. Sorry, Mender," Carrot chirped, finally smiling towards me. I snickered and shook my head, but she perked up again and gestured back to the two now sitting behind her. "Oh! This is Written Script, my husband, and Dinky Doo, our daughter," she introduced, grinning back at them. I perked and nodded to each in turn as Big Mac joined me as well. "Um, nice to meet you," I offered, somewhat unsure of what to say. Carrot snickered in amusement before whacking me across the shoulder and almost tipping me over. "You don't have to be all awkward, Mender. Sheesh. You're already a good friend to the Apple Family, so you're totally fine by us carrot growers, too! Uh, well, at least I grow carrots." Her assurance derailed a little bit, but I still smiled and nodded to her. Written Script nodded as well, adding, "It is nice to meet you finally. Carrot, of course, assured me that the articles written about you were complete rubbish, but as you probably know, it's always nice to see something ring true with your own eyes." Well, that was indeed true. Despite 'knowing' all about somepony from countless interactions even, it was always a good feeling when you saw them doing something you knew to be completely in-character for them. That sensation of it being 'right' for them bled off onto me, leaving a content feeling. "Um, your magic is really cool," Dinky whispered a moment later, partially hiding behind Carrot, who smiled happily down at her. Okay, that I could sympathize with. Being nervous around new ponies and large crowds was also something I knew well. Relaxing, I lightly lifted my hoof up towards her, and watched it slowly start to glow a faint blue in color. Her eyes widened, but she made no attempt to move whatsoever. A slight flicker came from the left as a pretty lavender wildflower snapped off lightly and drifted into the air, the thin little line of light that connected it to my body being almost invisible. Sliding it along with the wire, I gently presented it to her, causing her to perk up and stare at it in surprise as it drifted there. A moment later, she smiled to me and her own horn lit up with a soft golden yellow color, the same as her eyes, and took the flower off the little platform I held it on. She drifted it there for a moment before perking up again and tucking it just above her left ear, looking pleased as it hung in her mane, incidentally matching her coat quite well. I'd picked it because it reminded me of Twilight, but it was a pleasant surprise. "See? I told you he was a gentlecolt, Script," Carrot suddenly cooed, sounding rather amused. Huh? Glancing up at her again, I noticed she was smirking at him with a rather knowing expression. Shaking his head, Written Script looked back to me for a moment before finally smiling again and nodding. "Yeah, fine. You were right. He's obviously not letting the newspapers get to him like I guessed, so you win," he finally admitted. Win what? Suddenly, I had the sneaking suspicion I was host to a bet or something. "Yes! I do love your private stories for me. Extra tasty this time?" Carrot requested, winking at him. He blushed and looked away, and I decided I probably shouldn't ask, or I'd regret it. Big Mac took my turning away from her as a hint, it would seem, and nodded to me. "Eeyup! Ah'm gonna go hook up ta tha wagon. Gimme ah few," he requested before trotting back towards our cabin. Relaxing, I smiled and nodded to the Crusaders, then gestured to Spike. He sprinted the distance to me and hopped up as I ducked, settling onto my back, facing away from my head this time. "That was a lot of fun, but I'm really tired now!" he exclaimed, flopping backwards and using my mane as a makeshift pillow. I just walked on as the three fillies fell in beside me, all of us heading back towards the cabin. "Yeah, but I really do enjoy helping others. It kind of gives you that warm feeling in your stomach," I tried to describe, considering it for a moment. No, actually that sounded kinda stupid, but I couldn't take it back now, I guessed. Snapping out of my daze, I noticed that we weren't the only ones on this path. Carrot and her family followed gently behind me, her having a soft discussion with her husband about something. Oddly, he was blushing lightly and keeping his eyes glued onto the path in front of him. Dinky Doo followed behind, not really paying attention as she watched a butterfly drift past. Further, at least a dozen others I didn't recognize were still following me, regardless that the 'show' had ceased. Weird. Averting my gaze, I tried not to feel self-conscious as I walked, starting to get nervous before I even realized it. Why were they still following me? Was I supposed to be leading them somewhere? What did they want?! "Uh, Mender?" Sweetie asked softly to my left. Ah! "Y-Yes?" I spoke up, snapping out of it and glancing to my left towards her. I turned my head just in time to see the path curve off to the left, just like I remembered it doing then. Wait... My legs went right into a rather sizable boulder and over I went, sliding over the thing face first in an arc as I flailed each leg out to its respective side. Aww, crap! Three seconds later, I had my face flat into the dirt on the other side of the stupid thing, limply lying across the top of it as Spike slid off, rolling onto the grass next to me. "Um, rock?" Sweetie pointed out hesitantly as she walked around it and peeked down at me. Why, thank you for that urgent warning. Sliding the rest of the way, I momentarily flipped forwards and fell onto my back instead with a little nudge off the thing. Upon righting myself, I could very easily make out laughter behind me, and flattened my ears back, heat rushing into my cheeks. Well, I'm sure that was inspiring! Written Script was snickering a bit as he looked around the rock at me, but his wife was laughing hysterically on her side in the grass, and added, "I've never seen a pony just sorta flop like that! Ha!" Damn it... The heat rushed further into my face, and I took a couple steps backwards hesitantly, looking back and forth between the amused ponies. They were laughing at me. I'd made an idiot of myself and they were all laughing. At me. The heat reached my ears and I felt them tingle, getting a bit dizzy as I flicked them around. Even Dinky was giggling, and a bit of nausea hit me. This is why I didn't make a good leader! Between chuckles, Written Script managed to walk up to me. "Heh, are you okay, anyway?" he asked, brushing my nose with his left hoof and knocking dirt loose. My voice caught as I looked past him at the others, Carrot wiping her eyes and wobbling to her hooves again. "Heh. Just whoop, and over he goes... Ha!" she whispered to herself, apparently finding it hysterical. The dizziness hit all at once and I couldn't stand it anymore. Spinning around, I scooped up the suddenly surprised Spike before quickly trotting in a straight path through the grass towards our cabin, dead set on not showing my face for at least the rest of the day. "Mender, wait up fer us!" Apple Bloom yelped, and I heard three sets of hoofsteps running up behind me. At least they weren't laughing at me. Why couldn't I even pay attention to where I was walking?! "Um, sorry," I muttered, not entirely sure as to what for, but it sounded right. I didn't look at any of them as we set a brisk pace, reaching the cabin as Big Mac was pulling the wagon out from the little side barn that was set up. He gave me a confused glance as I shot past him, went around the side of the wagon, and piled into the back of it. The tarp was still over the tools, and instinctively, I slipped under it and frustratingly whacked my muzzle into the corner panels. Two weights pushed into my right side as I hid there, and another practically burrowed under me, having no obvious concern for my personal space. Unsurprisingly, Sweetie popped out from under my chest a second later, smiling at me as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo slipped under the tarp to the right. "Oooh, are we hiding? From who?" Sweetie asked, surprisingly innocently. Her smile was very reassuring, however, and I guessed she realized I was actually upset and just trying to be nice. "Everypony but you five. Where's Spike and-" I started to ask, before a rather warm and fur-less form slipped in on the left, squeezing between my side and the wall. He really was warm! Tank was shoved ahead of him, tucked into his shell except for his head and neck as Spike shifted him into the corner in front of me now. I gave the turtle a somewhat confused stare, not expecting him to be so close, and distracting me somewhat from what just happened. To my surprise, he lowered his head and rested it lightly on the top of my muzzle, as if assuring me as well. Maybe tortoises were intelligent, too? "Shhhh," Spike whispered, putting a claw to his mouth and gesturing behind us as the wagon started moving again. I tucked my head back down and tried my best to project the image of a really lumpy bag of sand. They couldn't see me, because I couldn't see them, right? The two Crusaders to my right tucked into my side, wrapping their tails into the tarp as Sweetie hauled mine up with hers, burying her face in my chest. Ah, she subscribed to the same theory! Surely, she was invisible now. Rapid hoofsteps sounded from the other direction half a second later, followed by a bit of rough panting. "S-Stop! Not used to... I can't run like you, Carrot!" I heard from outside, in Written Script's voice. "Mackey, have you seen Mender? He was headed this way, but he got to the top of the hill first and we lost him. Wow, can he move when he wants to!" Carrot exclaimed, not even sounding winded. Maybe it was an Earth Pony thing, considering her husband was a Unicorn? Or maybe it was a berserker thing... "Eeyup," Big Mac answered slowly, not actually stopping the wagon. What?! No, Big Mac! You're my friend! "Uh, which way did he go, then? Is he in the cabin?" she asked hesitantly after a good five seconds of waiting for more information. "Saw him scoot past, but Ah didn't look ta see where he went. Ah gotta get this 'ere cart up ta tha gatherin' spot. Ya know that, Carrot," he explained slowly. Heh, that clever... Every part of that statement was true. Sure, he had 'heard' me get into the wagon and us talking, but he didn't 'see' it. There was a tired sigh, followed by, "All work and no play, Mackey... Fine. He must have gone into the cabin. Come on, Script!" Written Script gave a groan and pant as I heard a set of hooves take off back behind us. A moment later, his followed and I exhaled. "Um, thanks, Big Mac," I whispered quietly after another ten seconds or so, relaxing and tucking my back legs up under me. "Eh, just rest. She'll wise up soon 'nough, but ya at least got til we leave. Saw tha spill, an' there was nothin' ta be ashamed of, Mender," he returned, managing both assuring and easy going at the same time. I guess he didn't need conviction of tone to get his point across. "She probably just wants to apologize and make sure-" Sweetie started to reason. It devolved into a cute squeak as I curled a bit and pulled her against me, closing my eyes. I heard Apple Bloom giggle lightly, but nopony said anything for a good thirty seconds. "I know," I finally admitted, followed by, "It's more a sense of nervousness I get around others. Them laughing at me because I looked stupid was just part of it." It was fine if there was something constructive or involving problem solving for me to focus on, but purely social context absolutely terrified me. It was exceptionally weird because nowhere in my recollection of my original self did he have the same problem. Was this issue purely mine, then? Spike made a light clicking noise and then a humming sound. "So, you have a phobia for crowds, but only when a lot of focus is aimed at you?" he suggested. Phobia. Well, that was actually remarkably accurate. Frowning, I finally nodded gently while tracing a hoof along Sweetie's back absently. She cooed, and I smiled, taking notice and brushing a hoof along her cheek as she pushed her muzzle into my fur. "What's ah phobia?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head towards me curiously. Hmm, that was harder to explain. "It's like a really, really bad fear of something that you can't always explain why. Most of the time you can't control it, and it can get so bad that it practically paralyzes you," I answered after a moment's consideration. Scootaloo perked up at that. "Oh, so that's why you ran away! You got embarrassed, but you were also scared?" "Sort of, yeah. I was disgusted with myself and afraid of what they were thinking of me, so I had to escape," I elaborated, frowning as I considered it. I felt like I had to impress them. It felt like I was being judged for it all, honestly. Maybe those articles had affected me more than I thought? It felt like I needed to assure everypony that they had been wrong, in order to defend myself. The cart slowed a little, and I glanced towards the front panel, but nothing seemed different. I did hear hoofsteps starting to approach behind us, and wished Big Mac would move faster. That would probably be suspicious, though. I was really surprised when he spoke up again instead. "Ya need ta tell Carrot that. She ain't one ta judge ya, an' probably just got tickled by how it looked, is all. Don't mean she thinks less o' ya. She ain't one ta go lettin' ah problem she caused fester, either," he slowly warned. Ah, so she was the persistent type. Wonderful. Still, he was probably right. She'd been nothing but nice to me so far. "Carrot!" he called out suddenly a second later, making everypony in the wagon jump. Ah! No! Traitor! The hoofsteps caught up with the wagon rather rapidly, making a sharp turn as they'd been drifting off towards the camp square instead. "Oh, yeah, Mac? I'm still looking for Mender, so I can't be long," she warned, from right on the other side of the panel behind me. My breathing caught and I went rigid, listening carefully to every little sound. Sweetie's heart hammered against my chest as well, as she pulled herself a little closer. "Ah just wanted ta know why ya laughed at him like that. Ya tripped over things yerself, before," he asked rather calmly. Oh, he wasn't giving my position up. Why was he doing this for me, anyways? She sighed weakly and hesitated, momentarily falling silent before finally saying, "I didn't really laugh at him. It's just, well, how he flopped over like that. It just struck me as hilarious and I couldn't help it! He wasn't hurt or anything, and, well, okay, I just didn't think. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, and certainly don't think less of him for tripping, so don't even try to accuse me of that!" Her tone was rather defensive, which surprised me. She really did feel badly, then? "Nah. Ah knew that already. He just needed ta hear it fer himself," Big Mac assured. I wasn't really surprised at this point. Him being right helped in that regard. He seemed to almost know me better than I did, which said something about his wisdom. Smart and wise? Now that was a rare combination! Silence took over for a few seconds before Carrot finally questioned, "Wait, what? I thought you said-" Oops. My turn to defend him. "He said he didn't see where I went after I ran past him, which was true. He didn't turn and look. I'm sure he felt me enter the wagon, but he was, um, nice enough to talk to me about the situation while pretending I wasn't here," I corrected, lifting myself off Sweetie Belle's barrel and peeking up over the left side of the wagon, the tarp still covering my head like an exotic, oddly yellow hood. Carrot looked surprised more than anything as she shot her gaze up towards me. Written Script, who was following behind her and looking a little tired out, smirked, however and started chuckling. "Remind me never to try to pull a fast one on Big Mac," he muttered, sounding amused at the play on words the big stallion pulled off. He got a glare from his wife in return, instead. "Don't worry. If you ever forget, I'll buck you in the head a couple times to jog your memory," she warned. The scary part was, I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. If I recalled correctly, she took a really bad stance to anypony getting scammed. Oh, wait. Of course I recalled that correctly. She'd almost pummeled Snapshot for it in front of me. If Written Script was bothered by it, it didn't show. "Aww, but then who would you get to write the stories you so love?" he teased playfully, speeding up a little and catching up with her pace. She shifted from irritated to a playful scowl and stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh fine. A week on the couch instead, then," she appended. Was that really a penalty? Given my experiences so far, Equestrian couches were really, really comfy. Did they have an uncomfortable couch, then? Wait, what purpose did an uncomfortable couch serve? That seemed a bit counterintuitive. "That seems more a punishment for you, honestly," he pointed out, oddly wiggling his eyebrows at her. Wait, what did that expression mean? I'd never seen it used before, I suddenly realized. Carrot blushed and looked away from him before giving a weak shove to his right shoulder. He laughed as he stumbled slightly, and then stuck his own tongue out at her instead, mirroring her earlier gesture. That one I at least knew! Dinky Doo caught up to her parents at this point, but shifted a bit more to the right, approaching the wagon instead. "Um, don't mind them. They have weird fights sometimes," she whispered up at me. Weird? Snickering, I nodded down to her in understanding. Oddly, a weird fight sounded better than a normal one. Still, that left one thing I needed to do regardless. "Um, I'm sorry for running away, Carrot. I get self-conscious when I become the center of attention and everypony was laughing at me, so..." I managed to get out, trailing off towards the end. She lost her blush and turned, looking up at me instead while walking alongside the cart. For a moment, she just stared, eyes searching my face before a light smile played across her muzzle and she shook her head. "I'm sorry for laughing, again. You don't have anything to apologize for. We don't have a wagon or anything, and are all packed up already. Mind if we walk alongside for the way back?" she asked. "Isn't that more Big Mac's choice, him being the driver and all?" I reasoned, gesturing to the right at the stallion pulling the cart. Sweetie popped up to my right a moment later, hooking her forelegs over the cart wall as she peeked down at Carrot. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed suit on the other side of me, and I heard Spike smoothing the tarp out again behind somewhere. "Does that mean we're done hiding?" Sweetie chirped, smiling down at the recently spotted Dinky below her. Carrot Top giggled at that and shook her head. "Mackey doesn't mind. I'm only asking because you have to be okay putting up with us for that long. And no, Mender better not hide from me anymore," she returned, giving me a playful wink that sent a chill up my spine. That mare was scary! "Well, when you put it like that, of course you can walk alongside," I muttered, averting my gaze slightly and shivering. Images of her breaking me in half over her shoulder suddenly came to mind. Her expression flattened with a frustrated glare towards me. "It was a joke! You really are too sensitive!" Blinking, I kept my eyes averted and sighed to myself. Yeah, she was probably right. Spike hopped up to Sweetie's right side just as the little filly leaned over and pushed her muzzle into my neck as I shrank down a bit. "Relax, Mender. Carrot is really nice and not meaning anything by it," she assured quietly. Looking over at her for a moment, I exhaled before nodding and slumping against the wall, lowering my head a little. "Yeah, I know. Carrot has been really nice to me so far. It's just, well, it hasn't been a very good vacation and I'm kinda out of it. Really tired, honestly," I admitted, feeling significantly worse than when I left. Well, fatigue-wise, anyway. My leg felt surprisingly better, which was a positive point I clung to. "Yeah! With all tha craziness goin' on, ya barely had time ta sleep properly. Ya should take tha next few days an' rest up," Apple Bloom suggested after a moment of silence. Hmm. Well, it was a couple days or so until Tia wanted to see us, so that was probably feasible at least. I wondered how Twilight was doing, as I more than likely would be with her again shortly. Was it a problem where I'd have to take care of her? If so, I might have to enlist Fluttershy's aid, at least for any meal preparations. Of course, Spike would be an amazing help there, too! "Yeah, you're probably right. I hope Twilight's feeling better as well. Otherwise, I might end up taking care of her instead," I said, releasing my thoughts out loud. Carrot frowned for a moment before looking back up at me again and asking, "Do you know if she’s okay? Did she write? It would suck to get sick during heat!" "Actually, I think it's the estrus causing it. I can't remember exactly what happened, but something about doing something she wasn't supposed to, and it hitting her hard? I think Luna said it was something to do with being in a herd now or something," I tried to relate, frowning as I realized the details were a bit fuzzy. I should have written it down in my database somewhere. Carrot blinked once, and then widened her eyes a little, her pupils shrinking down a bit. Wait, was she...? "Oh. Oh! Twilight, of all mares, is... Uh, slight change of plans, Script! We may want to stop as close as the Apples’ farmhouse and spend a night there, okay?" she suddenly suggested, turning to him instead. Uh oh. A fear reaction from the berserker probably wasn't a good sign. He gave her a confused glance, having redirected his attention down to Dinky Doo instead, but Carrot rapidly shook her head and added, "Remember our honeymoon? First three days?" Eh? His eyes widened a little and he flushed in the cheeks before looking away. "Uh, well, yeah. You got just a little on the crazy side," he muttered, swallowing uneasily. I suddenly had the urge to as well. Carrot nodded at that. "Yeah, well now Twilight has it. I'm sure you remember the doll incident," she reminded. Okay, now I definitely didn't want to know. "Ah! Yeah, just to be safe, we should definitely stay out of town tonight!" he suddenly agreed, mimicking her reaction when I told her. Aww, damn it! Okay, so my likelihood for living through the night just dropped a few dozen percent. But what form would my death take? What problem exactly were they talking about? Would I be blasted apart by an enraged unicorn? Or maybe my cells would tear apart at a molecular level from some sort of radiation she was admitting. The possibilities! Carrot turned back to me after they unanimously decided upon their course of action and warned, "Just be careful that Fluttershy didn't goof and think about you too much as well! You don't want both of them after a piece of you, if you know what I mean. She might not be as powerful as Twilight, but don't look her in the eyes if she's acting weird!" Piece of me?! Oh, oh hell. Did that mean they actually did have carnivorous phases or something during this time of year?! Why didn't any of the books say anything about this? Not being eaten seemed kinda important! "Um, this seems bad! What should I do?!" I asked, eyes widening. "Play dead! Mares in that condition have their senses rattled, and she might not notice!" Carrot advised. "Run! Run until you can't run anymore!" Written Script added, looking kind of like he'd rather be doing that right now instead. But, no! Those were conflicting suggestions! Which one was I supposed to do? Apple Bloom coughed next to me lightly, almost causing me to yelp and flail off the side of the wagon. "Uh, why don't ya just check on 'em first? Ah know Twi can be scary sometimes, but it feels kinda like yer overreactin'," she suggested calmly, peeking down at those two as she said it. Well, yeah. If I could tell if they were dangerous or not via observation, it might stop me from making an awkward faux pas if they were fine. "Yeah, I'll try checking on them first. I mean, how bad could it be?" I seriously questioned. Written Script averted his eyes, and Carrot Top smacked herself in the forehead. Oh, wait, yeah. Wasn't there something she'd mentioned about that whole tempting fate thing? Well, even if I didn't tempt fate, given my luck, I was probably screwed anyway. Smiling, I nodded down to them and dropped back down to the bed of the wagon to at least relax for my last few minutes in Equestria. * * * * * The crowd was maybe even a little bigger than when we'd left. Significantly more unruly, too, as I heard cheers and, scarily enough, wolf whistles as we pulled into the final stretch before Ponyville. I should have just broken off with Carrot and Script, as he insisted I call him, and hid at Sweet Apple Acres instead. Even logically knowing that the attention wasn't focused on me, my apprehension still spiked going into such a high-energy atmosphere. If they were all welding weapons and trying to kill us, I'd be the first to rally the charge. With them presenting hugs and affection, I was hiding behind the lip of the wagon. I guess I was a bit backwards like that. She wasn't in the crowd, but I hadn't expected her to be, of course. Crowds I already knew to not exactly be her thing. To my surprise, however, she was waiting nonetheless. We turned into the outskirts of Ponyville's southern entry and she flitted into the air, my eyes drawn to her beautiful yellow and pink coloring before the empathy link even kicked in. Okay, never mind. Worth it. Smiling, I watched Fluttershy dance upwards from her vantage point waiting on the roof of a nearby house. Her eyes were alive with energy and happiness as she fluttered lazily into an arc, and then drifted right towards our wagon far faster than I had seen her go before. I beamed up at her, hopping up onto the edge of the rim, suddenly not caring who saw me. "Yay, Fluttershy!" Apple Bloom squeaked out, but the yellow mare didn't slow. Uh oh. Heh. Seeing it coming, I braced and hopped up as she flew in, catching her and going over backwards, cushioning her landing as I hit the hay on my back. Smiling, I opened my eyes again to greet her when she simply ducked in and pushed her lips against mine instead. Okay, this was a much better greeting! Closing my eyes again, I pulled her tight and closer to me, the heat coming from her body burning across my fur as she actually wrapped her forelegs around my neck. Despite the wanton 'need' in her kiss, she didn't try to deepen it, and backed up again after six or seven seconds, her mane falling around me and framing her blushing, but very happy looking face. "Mender, I missed you so much! Oh, I never knew how, um, hard it would be to not just fly over to the cabins and pounce on you! Oh, oh my. Um, did I say that out loud? Oh, but it was horrible!" she squeaked, voice drowned out by the sounds of rapid talking, kissing, and pounces going on around us in other wagons and groups. Yikes. It sounded like she led the 'charge', even if by accident. My attention also shifted momentarily to my fellow wagon riders as well. Scootaloo was turned away from me, wings twitching awkwardly and her forelegs crossed, while both Sweetie and Apple Bloom were unabashedly watching, the little unicorn sporting a pronounced blush. Spike we had almost landed on, and he was recovering from his sideways dive to get out of the way, Tank latching onto his arm and trying to lift him to his feet again. Oops. Heh. Fluttershy utterly demanded all my attention, however, reclaiming it by settling down on top of me fully. I blushed and smiled up at her, shaking my head. "I missed you, too, Fluttershy. I'm sorry it was so tough, but I'm here now," I tried to assure, brushing the right side of her mane out of her face. Her smile widened and she leaned in to give me a softer kiss to the lips again before snuggling into my chest, burying her face in the crook of my neck and nuzzling upwards. Holding her tight, I rubbed up and down her lower back, under her fluttering wings before they too settled, wrapping around me. "Aww, ya'all are adorable, ya know?" Apple Bloom suggested, smirking at the two of us. Sweetie Belle watched still, with silent yet avid fascination playing across her features. Heh, I knew she was imagining joining us, lovely images dancing through her mind. If Fluttershy was bothered, she certainly didn't reveal it. "That was terrible! Um, I don't, well, I don't care what other ponies think! Next time I'm coming with you to the cabins. Um, I want to be with you and keep you company. Being apart for this long was horrible," she whispered, pushing her face a little harder into my chin. My blush extended, but she just kept going, adding, "I'm not going to let you out of my sight all day! No, I won't even leave your side all day!" There were no complaints. She smelled amazing, felt warm, and oozed affection with every little word she released. I just squeezed her a little tighter and nodded, kissing her forehead as she cooed and tucked her back legs up, turning sideways so she was in my lap. The soft fur of her thigh slid along, then settled awkwardly along more sensitive areas and I blushed even more furiously. She made no move to, well, move, however, so I just fought myself back under control and squeezed her shoulders gently. Yeah, control. Definitely important in a wagon full of young fillies, an estimated teenage dragon, and a potentially naive and unaware mare. Big Mac pressed on, however, despite the flurry of 'battle' around him. I heard his name shouted out in a familiar accent as we pulled into the slightly less busy town square. Fluttershy's ears perked up curiously, so I slid over to the side, careful to avoid almost flattening Spike again, and boosted us up to the edge of the wagon to peek over the front. Applejack grinned at us from the direction of her market stall, trotting quickly towards us. To my mild surprise, Rarity was hot on her tail, albeit moving at a slower, more refined pace. The orange mare plowed right into Big Mac as he slowed to a stop, pulling him into a strong hug. Rarity shifted to the flank, however, slipping past the reunited siblings and up to the corner I resided on with Fluttershy. "Mender, welcome home, Dear! I must say, you are looking significantly better than when you left even. Your leg looks wonderful, and I see your saddlebags are still in one piece! Why, whomever made them for you must be a master seamstress if it survived all I heard you went through," she cooed playfully, fluttering her eyes up at me. I gave her a knowing smirk as Fluttershy suddenly moved back a little. I shot her a curious glance until I saw her take up my left foreleg instead, examining it with a timid smile on her face. Ah, she must have forgotten. Heh. "It wasn't the most relaxing 'vacation' ever, but yes, you make one heck of a saddlebag set," I complimented back at Rarity, enjoying how she puffed up at every word. "Oh, we absolutely must get caught up. All of us! You and Big Mac must recount the amazing tale of the water rescue, and the apprehension of that unscrupulous mare in the forest! But first, there was a reason I was glad your saddlebags survived in one piece," she teased, winking to me as her horn lit up. Oh? Wait, how did she know about all that-? Rainbow, I suddenly realized, a split second later. How much had she been telling them? Uh oh. Did they already know about what happened with Sweetie, and Rainbow herself? I didn’t think the mare would rat herself out but… Two buttons floated into the air, complete with fastening clasps. My eyes widened as the pinks, blues, purples, and whites glittered in the sun, distracting me out of my sudden burst of paranoia. A star burst right next to a butterfly, with matching colors for each, were carved somehow out of one, solid crystal! No wonder she hadn't had it ready by the time she gave the set to me. Fluttershy gasped as she saw them, and then blushed while Rarity lined them up, presenting them against the back set of saddlebags. "I think they'll go lovely, don't you, Fluttershy?" she inquired, peeking over with an impish grin to the blushing mare. Fluttershy had both hooves covering her muzzle, as if afraid of shattering every window in the town square with a high-pitched squeak if she dare let her jaw open. Instead, she nodded furiously, earning a grin from Rarity. Smiling, I opened my mouth to thank the mare, but she shot me a sudden playful scowl and clamped my muzzle shut with a burst of telekinesis. Eh?! "Don't you even try, Mister! These are already part of the saddlebag set, and as such, you are not- I repeat, not- going to pay for them!" she adamantly warned. A heartbeat passed, and I started snickering, shifting her scowl to a confused head tilt instead. "Rarity, I wasn't going to offer to pay for them. Trust me, I know better than that with you now, when you say gift. You're more stubborn than AJ sometimes!" I corrected. The confusion shifted into a grin instead. Hearing her nickname, Applejack perked and looked past her brother, giving Rarity a scowl instead. "Her, more stubborn than me? Yeah right! That ain't ah challenge, is it?!" she suggested, puffing up a bit herself and stepping around Big Mac fully. Oh boy. Well, it was good to see her being, well, herself. Actually, looking closer, I noticed her eyes were a healthier color, with significantly less bags under them. Hopefully that meant she was sleeping at least a little better now, but I still held true to deciding to have a chat with her about it. Rarity didn't miss a beat, however, turning and flicking her mane to the side slightly. "Surely, you don't think you can compete with moi in generosity, do you? Let us not fight on this most wonderful of days, after all," she returned rather coyly. Well, that wasn't going to go over well. Sure enough, Applejack stomped her hoof down and bristled a little, eyes narrowing. "Oh, Ah can be real generous when Ah want ta be! Name yer terms, an' Ah'll show ya!" she boasted. Huh. As strangely amusing as this was, it seemed a little self-defeating at this point. I raised my hoof up, drawing both their attention at once before carefully pointing out, "Is it really 'generosity' if the only reason you two are doing whatever it is you were going to do, is to win the competition? Normally I wouldn't consider something truly 'generous' if it's only in light of being self-serving." Both mares gave me a blank look, before Applejack averted her eyes and scratched the side of her head lightly. Rarity blushed faintly and coughed, nodding towards me instead. "Okay, you're right, Dear. Forgive us. We got a bit carried away," she apologized. Snickering, I shook my head and held a hoof up to her. "No, it's fine. I was just trying to make sure you two didn't fight. Especially over something I-" Over a hundred pounds of pink fur landed on both of us a second later, flattening both Fluttershy and me down sideways onto the hay covering the wagon's bed. Spike gave out a high-pitched squeal as he flipped into the air, knocked straight out of the wagon by the pink blur. I watched his claws flex, and ribbons of green light shot out and snatched the side of the wagon as he went over, causing me to relax knowing he was okay. Instead, I turned and looked right into Pinkie's eyes as she grinned down at me. "Mender! I totally missed you! Ever since I tried to snuggle you and you got all flustered at me and turned off my connection and then I got sad and lonely in my room, I couldn't stop wondering how you were doing so I baked lots and lots of food up for all of us and now we're going to have a ‘The Stallions Are Back, Again!’ party! Tonight! You're invited. Like now. I'm inviting you. Oh, and Fluttershy, too, of course!" she started rapidly firing off, mouth going almost faster than I could see. Fluttershy let out an airy squeak, followed by, "C-Can't breathe!" Ah! Pinkie gasped in surprise as she started to get off me at the same time I tried to push her back a bit. Neither of our efforts worked, however, as she suddenly vanished in a cyan blur. Well then! Most of the gang was here now, anyway! "Pinkie! I told you to be gentle when they got back! This, is not, gentle!" Rainbow lectured, her forelegs wrapped around the pink one while she held her upside-down from the closest tree. As expected, her change in orientation didn't appear to bother Pinkie in the slightest, who just grinned up at Dash, who held her there by her hips. "Oooh, Dashie! If you wanted me in this position, you could have just asked!" she chirped, winking up at the pegasus for a moment before Rainbow squeaked and dropped her. Pinkie laughed hysterically all the way into the bush at the base of the tree, leaving Dash glaring and beet red up above. Heh, it was good to see nopony had changed while I was away, anyway! I was a little sad that my other favorite mare wasn't around, though. She either forgot, which was next to zero in probability, got busy, which was slightly more probable, or wasn't feeling well, which was likely. Helping the dazed Fluttershy back up to her hooves, I peeked over the side at Applejack and Rarity again. "Do either of you know how Twilight is doing? She doesn't appear to be here," I asked, causing Rarity to glance back my way and Applejack to give a start, tearing her eyes from the tree bound pegasus. "Oh, she's well under the weather, I fear. Hasn't come out of her library for days, and has kept it locked up tight. Applejack and I were just discussing going over there to have a talk with her when you arrived. So timely, I might add," Rarity pointed out, smiling gently up at me. Spike was already next to her instead, apparently having recovered from his spill with record speed with her around. Apple Bloom hopped down from the wagon and trotted over to her sister now that Applejack's attention was directed our way again. The orange mare smiled at her, then nodded to me in agreement. "Yer welcome ta come along. Ah imagine she might actually open tha door if yer there," the farm mare reasoned. This was a lot more level headed than Carrot had made it out to be, which was reassuring. I nodded to her, when Sweetie popped up next to me as well. "Yeah! If Twilight's feeling sick, we should all go over there and try to help her out," the little filly suggested sagely. True! Not to mention there was safety in numbers! For the most part. Except of course when dealing with a being powerful enough to flatten all of town square with a single thought. But I was trying to stay positive! Rarity smiled for a moment, then shifted to a sharp glare almost instantly. Eh?! Sweetie's eyes widened as she started to sink back below the lip of the wagon, but Rarity's blue aura shot around her far faster and hauled her skywards. "Ah! Mender, save me!" she squeaked, lashing out towards me with her forelegs. I caught one of them, allowing her to hang on as she swayed there, Rarity giving her a light tug. "We are going to have serious words, young miss! About how it is absolutely not anywhere near okay to poison the subjects of our affection! Ever!" Rarity suddenly announced, causing the little filly to squeak and accidentally let go of my leg. Her wail was rather pitiful as Rarity hauled her in and spilled her to the ground in front of her. My eyes widened fully as the white unicorn actually flicked her hoof back about a foot and paddled Sweetie across the rump! "Whoa!" Scootaloo muttered as all attention was instantly drawn to the yelping filly and her furious looking sister. My eyes remained wide as I stared at the scene and Applejack sat down again, apparently far too bewildered to continue her arguing, be it playful or not. "Uh, right. Anywho, do ya mind comin' with us ta visit Twilight, Mender? Ah think ya'll help her recover faster. Or at least open tha door fer us," the orange farm mare inquired, muttering the last part with her eyes averted. I honestly didn't think anything would cause Twilight to lock herself inside the library, but I suppose I was still somewhat new here. Glancing over towards Fluttershy for confirmation on her own desires, I noticed she appeared to be just finishing up examination of my foreleg. She gave me a warm smile, me realizing she suddenly became aware I was looking at her. She hadn't been paying attention? "Oh, it's looking much, much better, Mender. The coloring is nice, and your muscles are recovering alongside the fur. I think it's simply wonderful," she cooed, nodding twice to me and gently lowering my leg back to the floor of the wagon. Spike managed to tear his attention from Rarity now, given she was preoccupied with a rather harsh whispering to a very sullen looking Sweetie Belle, and gave us a questioning glance. "Uh, I think he meant to ask if you were gonna come talk to Twi with us," he pointed out, amazingly having apparently paid more attention than Fluttershy had to my conversation. To my surprise, the mare shrank against me a little bit, eyes dancing quickly as she swallowed shakily. "O-Oh! Um, well, if Mender wants to go talk to her, of course! When are we, uh, going to talk to her?" she squeaked out hesitantly. Okay, something was very off. Applejack frowned, and Rarity glanced up from her scolding to give her friend a questioning glance. I probably more resembled Rarity, but at least AJ seemed to know something, asking, "Is this about what happened tha other night?" Other night? The mare in question shrank further against me, burying her face in my barrel and nodding against my fur. I gave Applejack a questioning glance instead as I pulled the pegasus closer against me. "What happened?" Big Mac asked, a rather stern tone to his question as he sat down gently while still hooked up to the wagon. Applejack sighed, but shook her head a moment later, scratching idly at the dirt near her hooves. "Ah don't fully know. Just saw Fluttershy fleein' tha library right quick two nights ago. Normally Ah don't consider Twi one ta give her much fret, so Ah was ah mite concerned, honest, and went ta talk with Fluttershy," she explained in a quieter volume. That was more than a little strange. Turning back and looking down again, I didn't get my head all the way down before I felt Fluttershy gently nuzzle into my neck again. "Um, thank you for helping me, Applejack. I was, well, flustered after my visit with Twi," she whispered softly, sliding down my collarbone and letting her head rest against my chest. The sensation was interesting, as I felt her listening intently to my own heartbeat. It was relaxing, and then I realized it wasn't me that was relaxing while listening to it, but her. "Aw, shucks, Sugarcube. Ya know Ah'd do ah heck of ah lot more fer ya, if ya wanted," the country mare offered, smiling honestly towards her. Rarity nodded in agreement, but looked significantly perplexed still, apparently having momentarily forgotten about her issues with Sweetie. The little filly slowly slid away from her while she was distracted, covering her butt and fidgeting. "What happened, Dear? Surely you can tell us. We are your most sincere friends, and obviously won't spread anything you don't wish discussed," Rarity pointed out, managing a gentle smile to the pegasus. Fluttershy swallowed again, shivering slightly as I pulled her a little closer, the urge to let her bury herself completely inside of me surprising me as it popped into my head. Heh. Maybe it was from her? "If she doesn't want to talk about it yet, we shouldn't push her, Rarity," I reminded quietly, kissing the top of her forehead until I felt her relax again. "It's, um, okay. Thank you, Mender. I feel safer with you here now, and don't mind talking about it," Fluttershy interrupted, giving a light peck to my shoulder before sitting up a little more. I smiled and nodded to her, pushing assurance down the link as best I could. My peripheral vision picked up Sweetie also having slunk far enough away from Rarity to get to the side of the wagon and look up again. Carefully hiding my actions, I pumped the side of the wagon with my right elbow, magic shooting into it, down the wood, and forming a flat barrier under the little filly. At this point, she more than understood it, and tapped lightly on the line connecting it. Rarity sat down finally, giving Sweetie a light scowl but simply rolling her eyes as the little filly was lifted up the side of the wagon like riding an elevator, and deposited behind me again a few seconds later. I felt her instantly cling to my left side, and smiled a little wider as my tail wrapped past her back, pulling her a bit closer. Given the patience and time to compose herself, Fluttershy took a couple deep and relaxing breaths before nodding to herself and opening her eyes again. "Um, I knew Twilight was having problems with her heat this year because of being in a herd for the first time, so I tried to visit her every day to keep her company and her mind off Mender not being here," she finally started explaining, not surprising me in the least. Heh. Not only was it in-character for her, but my passive 'tracking' system for the links also showed that. More than once a day, if those were right. "Well, it was okay until two days ago. She was getting a bit worse each day, looking more frazzled and I didn't think she was, um, taking care of herself as much as usual," Fluttershy continued a moment later, shuddering before sighing and adding, "Well, she couldn't resist thinking about Mender, as I figured was the case. Um, I just didn't realize she was also thinking about, well, me. Oh dear..." About her? I gave Fluttershy a curious glance, but then noticed Applejack starting to blush lightly, and a grin forming on Rarity's muzzle. Okay, there must be implications I was missing, then. Figured. "She didn't, well, try anythin', did she?" Applejack questioned slowly a moment later, a light frown playing across her expression now. Try anything? Oh. Oh! Rainbow's almost relentless flirting and teasing came to mind almost instantly, and I shot the cyan pegasus a sudden, knowing glare. From her tree perch, Rainbow widened her eyes a bit and blushed, looking rapidly away from me as I knew she caught the transition. Slight pink caught my eye on the other side of me, however, and I looked left, only to come face to face with Pinkie instead. "Ah!" I yelped, hitting the side of the wagon and causing Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo to start, the little pegasus almost falling off the edge of the wagon because of it. "What's 'that' look about, Mister?! I'm onto you!" Pinkie warned, tone not entirely serious, but eyes still bugging out slightly as she stared at me intently. Oh hell! But how could she even tell?! Er, apart from her being Pinkie Pie, of course. "Pinkie! Let Fluttershy finish her tale an' git down 'ere!" Applejack demanded, whacking the dirt next to her with her left foreleg. Pinkie gave an exaggerated sulking motion before hopping clear over all four of us and landing almost precisely where the newly formed hoof prints were. Heh, they definitely hadn't changed in my week-long absence, which was assuring. Well, most of them. Twilight was worrying me a little. Fluttershy exhaled, gathering her wits again before shaking her head. "Um, no, not exactly. B-But she, um, p-propositioned me!" she squeaked out nervously. Proposition? For what? Wait... "Oh, how interesting! Twilight moves faster than I would have thought. And to suggest it with Fluttershy first, even!" Rarity chirped, sounding far more entertained than she probably ought to at this point, but I wasn't one to argue. Applejack rolled her eyes, however, shooting the pearly mare a skeptical glare. "Order o' Consumption o' Herds is ah thing of tha past, Rarity. Ya know nopony pays attention ta that stuff anymore," she pointed out dryly. Er, what? Okay, I really should have finished that chapter on herd dynamics in the hospital. Why hadn't I again? Rarity scoffed and rolled her eyes, however. "I know that, yes! It's simply, hmm. Interesting," she finally admitted, smiling politely again before glancing back to Fluttershy. Looking back to the mare as well, I suddenly got an extreme sense of dread, mere seconds before Rarity asked, "So, don't keep us in suspense, Dear! Did you maybe, how do I say, accept this offer?" Uh, wasn't that a bit private?! "Rarity!" Applejack shot back almost instantly, outright glaring at the unicorn now as Fluttershy shrank down against me. Actually, this really did affect me significantly, I realized. What did this mean for a herd, though? Fluttershy caught my stare a moment later, and sank even more, burying her head into my coat again as a sinking sense of almost, well, shame drifted down the link. Uh oh. "What?! I'm merely curious if we are to congratulate our friend or not," Rarity pointed out, smiling politely at the glaring mare. Congratulate? At my confusion, Fluttershy shrank a little further, shivering again. She felt almost sick now through the link before weakly sighing. "It, um, it's okay, Applejack. I... She, well... She was desperate and she really did need help and company, and..." Fluttershy whispered rapidly, hesitating and swallowing a moment later. I tilted my head to her as Rarity perked up, watching us intently. Sweetie tilted her head as well, but more between us than anything, seemingly deep in thought. "Um, no. That's not entirely, well, true. Oh my. This isn't how it was supposed to happen! I really did want to be in Twilight's herd for a long time now and when she, well, asked me that... It was what I’d dreamed about for so long! Plus, I really did want to help her, too! It, well, wouldn't I be a bad herdmate if I said no?" she squeaked out, blushing lightly and slamming her eyes shut again. Oh. That meant that Twilight and her had... Applejack's eyes widened significantly, blush forming fully across her cheeks, while her brother looked more surprised than anything, abandoning his easygoing default expression to shift into a frown instead. Rarity, however, beamed and clapped her hooves together lightly. "Well, let me be the first to congratulate you two! Forming a proper herd is a marvelous step indeed. It’s, well, a bit surprising, but how about we go inside to talk about it," the unicorn suggested, smiling hesitantly towards the shrinking mare before also looking over at me, a bit uneasily. Wait, what?! Pinkie's eyes got massive as she started to almost swell up a moment later. "Eeeeeeee! Oh my! Oh! This calls for an even bigger party! Twilight and Fluttershy are in a herd together now! Oh, I've gotta go get prepared!" she squeaked. My jaw dropped a little as she smashed me in the face with the revelation, but she shot off towards Sugarcube Corner before I could so much as blink. "Can't say I didn't see that coming," Rarity muttered, staring awkwardly after the pink bolt of lightning speeding off. My brain barely processed it, still reeling over fully realizing the exact happenings here. "I didn't," Rainbow muttered a second later, staring with a light frown towards Fluttershy instead of Pinkie. I didn't see any of this coming, and fully agreed with Rainbow. They made a herd, then? I didn't even know what to begin to think about the whole ordeal. It felt like my head was swimming in lukewarm mud, which was slowly getting colder. Applejack finally shut her jaw again and looked up with Rainbow with a somewhat sad expression, but Rarity recovered faster, smiling back at Fluttershy. "Well, I'm happy for you. Now all that's left is to get Mender into the herd, too. But did you really just leave Twilight there afterwards?" she asked, frowning slightly. Ah, that's right. Why did she run away then, if she'd gotten what she wanted? She hadn't been turned down or anything. I swallowed lightly, but pushed it down as fast as I could, everything inside me flattening into nothing again. Fluttershy shivered, still not looking back up at me. After almost thirty seconds, she lightly shook her head, responding with, "Um, I had to run away. It was wrong. I shouldn't have, um... We didn't even wait for..." More ice got added to the pit my mind sank into. I resisted shivering, feeling the sadness shifting down Fluttershy's link instead. No. No, I was the male. Even if I didn't understand how it worked for Ponies, I remembered my other culture. Fluttershy was hurting, and I was pretty sure I was still her male. As such, her hurting was bad, and I was supposed to fix that. I smashed the twisting inside of me down and away as hard as I could, feeling my chest empty out again. It felt like my body dropped a few degrees in temperature as I pulled my lips up into the best smile I could think of. "Well, I'm happy for you, Fluttershy. But you shouldn't have just left Twilight there. We should go see if she's okay," I suggested, trying to bring her mind off it. Getting her near her herdmate again should also cheer her up, right? Fluttershy gave a start at my voice suddenly, as did Sweetie, and both looked over at me. The teal pools met my gaze, and I just maintained my smile for her. Warm and assuring was what I needed to aim for. She just stared at me, a light shiver going through her as she swallowed again. No, this wouldn't do. I didn't know enough about Equestria's social behaviors to really help her, or properly fake a smile, even. I never knew enough, so I'd better just get her to somepony who did. Giving her a nod, I hopped up and downwards from the wagon, landing on my hooves next to Rarity. The mare nodded to me, agreeing with, "This is a very good idea, I agree. I'm... well, glad you’re being understanding about this. Let’s just, everypony get inside and we can talk about this more then." Her voice was slightly hesitant, but vaguely positive sounding still. She always did like staying stately. I maintained the smile and nodded towards her, shifting it to acknowledging instead as best I could. Her expression faltered a little and she tilted her head towards me. "Admittedly, this is a bit surprising to me, too. I thought you'd be a little more shocked than this, honestly," she continued, adding a tiny, forced sounding giggle after. Oh just shut up already, cow. She pretended like she knew everything there was about her friends, but she was just as blind as the rest. A flicker, and I snickered, shaking my head. "It was surprising, but I'm just happy for them. Still, we should check on Twilight. I'm a little worried about her," I insisted. This was taking too long. Fluttershy needed to cheer up and leave, well... No. I turned away from Rarity in time to hide the light spasm I felt run through my right eye, and a headache form. Perfect time to get a headache. Wonderful. I ignored Big Mac's frown as my vision tightened, focusing only on what was in front of me as I stood fully again and walked towards the library. "Uh, Mender...?" Applejack asked softly as I passed her. No. Fuck off, AJ. You weren't important at the moment. All that mattered was cheering up Fluttershy, right? Yeah, that was it. It had to be. Another twist, but I lowered my head and pushed it down hard, making sure not a thing slipped back down the link to any of them, clutching at my right temple with a forehoof. Bitches. All of them. The fake white one, the hateful and backstabbing orange one, the ignorant and annoying pink one, and the selfish blue one. I hated this. What was I even doing here still? I'd never fit in, and they'd never let me. Why was I just letting everypony walk all over me? Fluttershy and Twilight were all I cared about, and they were happy together. Isn't that ideal? My chest twisted in upon itself, and for just a moment, I felt my smile warp into a bent snarl instead. I should just leave, and let them all be at peace. Who cares about what their 'Princesses' wanted for me? I wasn't theirs to command! Fuck 'em... But... No, that wasn't... My eyes opened again, as I hadn't realized I closed them. Warped targeting locks flickered around in my vision, selecting nothing in particular as they danced back and forth, flashing yellow and red. Pixels drifted off them, and a distortion bled across my right eye as I shivered for a second there, exhaling heavily and widening my eyes as I saw my breath in the air. Crap. I couldn’t make them stop targeting random things, and forced the process closed to turn them off a moment later. Shivering again, I felt my body heat back up to normal a moment later. My vision snapped back to normal in an instant, and I twisted my smile up again. Why had I...? I wasn't angry at anything. This wasn't like me. This wasn't... "Careful, Mender," she whispered, her soft smirk twisting up in my mind, tooth sticking out of the corner of her lip and playing over the bottom one before she continued with, "This is their culture, and is totally normal for them. You wouldn't want them to think you were a crazy monster or anything, right?" I glared at her in my head, but for the first time, she actually had a point. This was 'normal' for them, and still far nicer than anything I had before. I should be thankful. Her smile shifted to a more normal one, and I felt her nod. "Good. Just stay calm, okay?" she reminded. Yes, everything was… how it was supposed to be. Perfect. I nodded to her, which probably looked like I nodded to myself. Turning around, I continued smiling towards Applejack and nodded, as if acknowledging her calling out my name. "Are you coming?" I asked her, gesturing my head towards the library again. I had the sudden urge to start snickering as it all struck me as incredibly funny. Her frown didn't shift in the slightest, but she gave me a tiny nod. That would have to do. With that, I turned again and silently headed for the library, listening to their slower hoofsteps following after. Chapter 59For such a short distance, it was a long, achingly slow walk over to the library. Emotions waged violent war back and forth in my skull, with the twisting, cold sensation dominating my chest. Damn it. Part of me wanted to scream in violent fury, lashing out at everything even vaguely close to me until all was as broken as my chest felt. They had gone and specifically done the one thing I had left for the week in the first place for. They supposedly hadn't been 'ready' for sexual interactions yet, but then they turned around and rutted each other the moment I left! Guess that showed me where I stood with them. Probably screwed up the herd aspect, too, making me an unofficial 'third wheel' for who knows how long. Everything felt like it was done just to spite me. The other part of me acknowledged Fluttershy's sadness and realized she wasn't just using me to get at Twilight. It had probably been one of those 'heat of the moment' choices and maybe they both truly regretted it. I still came to the obvious realization, at least consciously, that I was far from the 'pivot point' of the herd. Heh. They made it without me, after all. You don't get much more non-essential than that. Part of me realized that me thinking otherwise, even subconsciously, was a bad thing. So that made this a good thing, considering. That logic kind of made my head hurt. Well, hurt more. Finally, a smaller, quieter part of me was glad it turned out this way. I wanted them both to be happy, and they most certainly were with each other. This was a natural part of their society. I was 'supposed' to just accept what the females wanted, and a certain sense of comfortable familiarity was involved. It felt 'safer' the less choices I was responsible for. I was less likely to screw up then. When not trying to repair, build, or destroy something, I was fairly hit or miss with making 'good' decisions. All three viewpoints battled fairly equally in my mind. Then I walked into the celery stand, smashing my muzzle into it and flailing to fix my trajectory. That worsened it, of course, and I drifted sideways into a pile of newspapers instead. Well, some things would never change. Blinking, I watched as several newspapers drifted around my fallen self, one landing on my face a moment later. Manehatten Monthly? "Hey, watch out yoo oaf! These ah’ sellin' bad enough without yoo knockin' a bunch over and gettin' ‘em dirty!" the mare next to the pile shouted at me in a rather strange accent. I winced and rubbed at my temple, then tried to pull myself to my hooves again. Applejack ran up and helped me to my hooves, frowning at the unicorn mare as she levitated her papers back into a neat pile. She had a minty coat, a little darker shade than what Lyra sported. Her mane was forest green instead, however, and quite a bit longer. I gave the mare a thankful nod, but was surprised when Applejack tossed out, "Ya should be more polite, Miss! It was an honest accident." "Gah. I don't need yoo whinin' at me, too! Ponies ah’ so rude here!" she spat out, glaring at Applejack. Another pony walked past at that point, sporting a rather calming purple coat and mulberry mane that matched her eyes. She squinted at the newspaper for a moment before the seller smiled and turned. "Ah! Would yoo like ta purchase one o' these fine papers?" she inquired, instantly turning on the cheery attitude. Joy. To my surprise, her potential customer frowned at the paper a moment later before glaring up at the mare. "Yer ah lyin' sack of hogwash, ya phony! Hogwash!" she managed to slur out, flushing lightly in the cheeks as she exhaled afterwards. Er, what? She hacked, and then spat at the unicorn mare's hooves before stomping off angrily. "See?! Ah've been gettin' that all day!" the now irate newspaper mare yelped, pointing after the departing mare with some sort of grapes and berries for a Cutie Mark, it looked like. That was weird. Glancing down at the newspaper, I read the main story's heading. Manehatten? Maybe that was a city in Equestria. Looking down further, I noticed the large print main headline read, "Huge Fiasco in Canterlot! Changeling Scare Makes Some Question Fancypants' Involvement!" Oh. Applejack snorted as well a moment later. "Manehatten, too?! That's 'cause it is ah load o' hogwash! Mender ain't no changelin'. He's ah hero ta this town, an' we don't take kindly ta slander," she pointed out, surprising me again. Honestly, I had no idea why I had called her backstabbing. My head hurt, though, and made it hard to think. "There ain't no bias here! Yoo're crazy! We're just reportin' what we saw, not takin' sides in it. This whole town is biased, ya know? Gah. Maybe this trip was a waste o' time," she groaned. Almost as big a waste of time as talking with her still was. Shaking my head, I just walked past the whiny mare and continued on my way to the library. It was barely past noon at this point and I already felt like crawling back into bed. Heh. Maybe I should just pick Sweetie instead and say screw it? The little filly in question outpaced all the others and was still hot on my hooves, which certainly showed loyalty where it mattered. Or misplaced obsession. I hadn't really decided yet. Of course, in the long run, did it matter? Staring at the wooden door for a moment, I hesitated finally. I hadn't seen Twilight for almost a full week now. She hadn't even bothered to come to the welcome back ceremony despite that fact. But I also knew she wasn't feeling well, which I could understand. Closing my eyes, I fought back the sudden, uncharacteristic irritation and short temper I found myself stuck with. Just calm down, Mender. The Nirru thing was right for once. Freaking out about things wasn't going to make things better. I should either just accept what happened and move on with the relationship, or not accept it and walk away. Getting pissed and bashing things apart wasn't the answer, no matter how I felt. My eyes softened as I opened them again. Who was I kidding? Like I was really going to 'walk away' at this point. It left a bad taste in my mouth and I sighed, looking up at the window again. The others caught up with me at that point, Rainbow looking uncharacteristically concerned instead. "Mender, are you okay? Well, I mean, I know you're not 'okay' really, but, uh, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked hesitantly. Crap. I had suppressed the link to them all as best I could, but I forgot about that 'something extra' she had linking to me, too. She knew I was an abysmal mess on the inside, I suddenly realized. Fluttershy gave a quiet whimper, and I sighed again, glancing over at the cyan mare and shaking my head. "Twilight's not feeling good, and that takes priority at the moment over pretty much everything else. We all want to help her, right? Plus, I think it would help if she and Fluttershy talked about things," I pointed out, carefully choosing my wording to avoid what I actually thought. As expected, she didn't look exactly pleased with my answer, but that much was irrelevant. Turning back towards the door, I stared at the wood for another second before extending a hoof out and knocking gently. Nothing happened. I waited for a good thirty seconds, my ears perking up and twitching lightly as I listened. "Huh. Maybe she's not home?" Rarity asked softly, looking a bit sad at the door. That was weird… Rainbow frowned as well and took to the air, zipping to the upstairs window and looking through. "Uh, she's not in her bedroom..." she reported a moment later. Bringing up the link controls again, I peeked at the GPS location of Twilight's signal. That was all I could access without a full link to the mare, but that was enough for now. "She's in the basement, the link says," I reported, glancing over at the tiny window at the base of the structure that led to there. "Being in the freezing basement all the time probably isn't helping," Rarity muttered, sounding a bit irritated now at her friend. Applejack trotted over to the window in the basement and knocked softly on it. I waited for a second before I saw the orange mare widen her eyes and reel back a bit, then swallow uneasily. "Uh oh. Uh, maybe we should just leave an' come back later?" she suggested, glancing back at us. "Uh, I don't like the sound of that," Spike admitted, earning a nod in agreement from me. Regardless, the door creaked open two seconds later, snapping everypony's attention back onto it in an instant. Oddly, as it slid open all the way, I noticed that there wasn't anypony actually there. Blinking, I peeked into the room from where I was at on the doorstep, not quite brave enough to actually go inside. The smell smashed into me in an instant, almost bowling me over with its potency as I suddenly coughed, gagging as it flooded my lungs. My blood riled up an instant later, pounding through me as my body reacted by itself. Holy hell! It was even worse than Sweetie Belle after the Heart's Desire! The pure amount of pheromones saturating the air actually made me sick to my stomach as my head swam, shooting way past ‘pleasant warmth’ and right into ‘oozing nausea’ territory. "Whoa! Ugh!" Rainbow gasped, reeling back at the same time as me, Spike starting to cough in-between us and plugging his nose. How the hell was I actually supposed to enter the building, even?! "Meeeeeender, you're back! Awwww, and Fluttershy! You came to seeeeeeee me again!" I suddenly heard Twilight sing out in a rather playful, if not slightly creepy voice. Eh?! My eyes widened as I watched Twilight slowly lower herself, upside-down, from the upper frame of the door. A large grin expanded across her muzzle, and her pupils had shrunk down to almost pinpoints as she regarded us both in particular. She didn't even seem to acknowledge any of the others. Further, stray tufts of hair stuck out of her coat in various places, and it didn't look like she'd combed her mane or tail all week. Uh, this was bad, right? "Uh oh," Fluttershy whispered, confirming my unspoken question a moment later. "Uh, calm down, Twi! Yer probably not feelin' too good, an' need ta take it easy," Applejack coaxed, plugging her nose as she stepped up onto the doorstep. "Mmm. I'm feeling amazing, especially now that my two favorite, sexiest ponies are back. I have such fuuuun things planned out! I made so many lovely potions for you, Mender! I’ll make this aaaall better!" she declared, snickering in a sort of crazed delight as her horn lit up, tentacles of purple and crimson energy snaking down from around her. Aww, hell. I tried to turn and hop away, but the tentacles snatched my back leg and I smashed my chin into the step instead, wincing as my vision got blasted into a haze. If Twilight noticed, she didn't seem to care and wrapped more tentacles around me, hauling me off the cement and up into the air as I flailed, leaving behind little strings of blood now. Damn it! I had to work on my armor reaction time… "T-Twilight, stop! Please, you don't want to, um, do this!" Fluttershy pleaded, slipping to my right and raising a hoof up to try to get her herd mate's attention. I got rotated around three or four times in midair before she decided to stick with 'upside-down' like herself, making me dizzy as the blood dripped from my nose and mouth. Being inside the building now, I couldn't think straight anyway as the smells soaked into me from all sides. Nose filter. I had to make a nose filter! Twilight purred, ignoring the light blue aura that grabbed me and futilely tried to haul me away from her. Rarity just wasn't strong enough to counter her magic. The purple mare grinned and nuzzled into my neck affectionately before tasting down my chest with licks and kisses, slowly going lower. I winced and tried to clear my mind, thinking of advanced rocketry functions and density lists as best I could. "Oh, I think I want this. Mmm. I'm never letting you go, Mender. Ah, and I promise I'll get better, Fluttershy, so please don't run away anymore," Twilight asked softly, momentary clarity in her eyes before they hazed over again and she grinned. Uh oh. "Twilight Sparkle! Stop this, right now!" Fluttershy demanded suddenly, snapping both of us out of the haze. Glancing towards her, I slipped away into solid teal, sucking away everything until I could barely breathe. I couldn't move, despite knowing the 'tentacles' had faded away instantly and dropped us both to the floor. I didn't even feel the impact as my eyes widened, almost feeling like they were swelling out of my skull as nothing but teal sank into my very being. Twin pools pulled me in and demanded I not move, listening intently to every suggestion given. What was...? I couldn't think long enough to yank myself away from them! Claws latched onto me and yanked me past Fluttershy before smacking me in the forehead. I winced, feeling my eyes pull back in as I gasped for air. What was that?! "Dude, don't look into Fluttershy's eyes right now! It's The Stare!" Spike warned as I glanced back towards the back view of the yellow mare. Twilight was lying on her back, totally rigid as her pupils expanded several fold, vision locked onto Fluttershy despite being upside-down. I instantly realized exactly what she was experiencing. "F-Fluttershy?" the unicorn managed to gasp out, surprising me that she managed enough willpower to even do that. "I'm ashamed of you, Twilight! You can't take advantage of anypony like that against their will! This isn't you, and you're not thinking clearly. I didn't want to use this, but you didn't leave me with a choice! Apologize to Mender right now!" Fluttershy flat out ordered, causing my jaw to drop. Wait, what?! Why, but, how was... Was this still Fluttershy?! A visible snap in Twilight's expression hit as her eyes started to get watery. Fluttershy had closed her eyes, I realized almost instantly. What was that ability, some sort of projected magical technique?! It even stopped Twilight! The lavender mare sniffed lightly, shaking her head as she just lay down instead. "I'm sorry, Mender. I just... I screwed up! I shouldn't have let you go to the cabins alone. I, um, I'm sorry to you as well, Fluttershy. I promise that I'll-" she started to whisper, looking down and away from us all. I didn't need a link with her to spot regret. A light burst of panic shot through Fluttershy, and she quickly interrupted. "No! Twilight, it wasn't that. You were, um... It was amazing," the pegasus quickly assured, a predictable blush expanding across her cheeks. Rainbow finally grinned at that admission, but I didn't really feel anything at all. Really, it was kind of immature to let this bother me. Rarity was right. I should be happy for them. My own feelings were just being selfish. Twilight gave Fluttershy a surprised stare before returning her blush. "Oh," the lavender mare muttered upon recovering. Heh, I knew that 'Oh' type. That lovely moment of dawning horror when you realized everything you had been acting on had been an incorrect assumption. That sensation I was intimately familiar with. "Oh, that means you were..." she added a moment later in a whisper, looking past Fluttershy and right at me instead. Eh? The yellow pegasus nodded, the gesturing so minute that I almost missed it. "We were wrong to. Mender isn't in, um..." She trailed off for a moment, and then Rarity finished rummaging around in her bag. Twilight let out a surprised squawk as a large blast of powder blue spray flew across her, whipping upwards into the air with a gesture of Rarity's horn. Eh?! She hummed pleasantly as she coated the entrance with the stuff, and then nodded to the bewildered Twilight. "The smells are potent, Dear. You simply must get this cleaned up. Yourself, too," she pointed out a moment later, steering the topic away from the subject in an instant. I stared at her, mildly surprised but realizing exactly what she was doing all the same. "B-But-" Twilight started, looking back towards me an instant later, a flurry of emotions dancing through her eyes so fast I could barely keep up with them all. Rarity coughed sharply, however, snapping a mask onto herself before shaking her head. Oddly, Spike was also wearing a mask and holding another large can of whatever that stuff was. Wait, the smell! It was gone! "No buts! Fluttershy, get Twilight upstairs and into a bath. Wash her thoroughly. This is no way to present yourself," the pearly unicorn ordered calmly, then looked over to the rest of us. "Spike has resistances, and can help me clean the loft and bedroom areas. Applejack and Rainbow, you're on the ground floor," the mare instructed. Applejack smiled lightly, her eyes getting a knowing look in them. I suddenly realized the unicorn hadn't fooled her even for an instant. Rainbow more looked towards me than Rarity, but hesitantly nodded a second later. That was a good question, though. "Where do you want me? Basement?" I inquired, deciding that was really the only floor nopony was cleaning yet. Rarity surprised me mildly by dramatically gasping, however. "Good heavens, no! She spent most of her time down there, and it's likely to be the worst! All of us shall storm its gates when we finish the rest of the library," she announced in her usual dramatic fashion, smirking afterwards. Heh. That made sense, but didn't answer my question. She dug back into her bag upon setting the can down, and also pulled out a few tissues. She shook her head a second later, probably guessing at my next question. "No, instead, I'd like you to go back to Fluttershy's cottage and wait for us to come and get you. I know for a fact that she keeps the place in pristine condition, even during this time of year," she added, using the tissues to gently clean my muzzle as well, the red striking a sharp contrast to her soft blue glows around them. "Oh Dear," Fluttershy whispered softly, eyes widening at Rarity's suggestion. "What?! Why are you sending just him away?!" Twilight asked, frowning instantly. That… that was a good question, but I think I understood. Sadly, Rarity pushed my jaw back up during her cleaning and stopped me from saying anything. The pearly frowned and glanced back towards her a moment later. Yeah, it was obvious, wasn’t it? To get me away from those two due to the, well, discomfort I was causing them. I was curious as to what her excuse was going to be, anyway. "You very well know that he is not only a pony, instead of a dragon, but also a stallion. He's the absolute most susceptible individual here to your smells, and you'd make him stay, no matter how sick he got?" Rarity inquired, a bit of a biting tone underlying in the question. Somehow, she also managed to keep up concentration enough to pull out another tissue and clean my nostrils as well, despite not looking in my direction. I was impressed. Regardless, yikes! She knew how to redirect things in her favor. Plus, if it weren’t for my nose filter and cyborg blood modifications, she'd be absolutely right. Of course, until I 'upgraded' the nose filter to include pheromones, I wasn't exactly 'immune' to them, instead functioning about on part with Spike. Twilight winced, looking down and away from us as she swallowed, definitely feeling that remark. Rarity sighed and softened her eyes, shaking her head towards the mare. "Relax, Twilight. You may talk to him again after cleaning yourself up, obviously. But not here. This is not a safe atmosphere for Mender," she added, resting her hoof lightly on Twilight's shoulder. Despite the manipulation, I realized she really was trying to help. Maybe I'd feel better with a bit of distance and time to think, too? Besides, I couldn't fault her for it. It was hard to argue with the results the mare could get. "Ah'm gonna drop by later, too, Mender. Big Mac wrote me an' said ya agreed ta tha projects. Plus, yer worryin' me ah bit," Applejack admitted gently, turning to me while Rarity was still assuring Twilight. I frowned, and then looked away from the bluntly honest mare, sighing. "If you want, of course. I'll be fine, Applejack," I tried to assure, nodding to her. She didn't look convinced, of course, but returned my nod. "Um, there's food in the kitchen, of course, if you get hungry! And you can wash up in my bathroom. Or sleep on my bed if you're tired. Uh, if you want to, anyway. Just, um, please try to make yourself at home," Fluttershy suddenly requested, turning around and fidgeting back and forth on her forelegs, an entirely different mare from the one who'd just ordered Twilight to apologize, I realized. I stared at her for a moment, noticing how downright flustered and panicked she looked. It was disheartening as much as it was adorable, and I smiled lightly to her, nodding. "You're okay, Fluttershy. Just make sure Twilight's okay for me, all right?" I requested. This wasn't how I thought things would go when I got here, but we didn't have a choice. She gave me a timid nod, relaxing a little, but her eyes still shimmered, a bit of wetness pooling in them. Swallowing, I turned away and started walking back into the town square. No, I couldn't look. I wouldn't want to leave if I saw any more of her. Damn it. Even if I was angry with them and let that side win, I still cared for both of them. Even if they treated me like dirt. I guess that said something about me, too. Either I was amazingly true to my feelings, or the biggest pansy Equestria had ever seen. Heh. "Ah! Where do you think you three are going?!" Rarity suddenly spoke up, giving me a start and knocking me out of my thoughts. Huh?! What was going on? Three sets of hoofsteps froze behind me in the same instant. "Uh, with Mender?" I heard Sweetie squeak out a moment later, sounding unsure. Oh. I stopped walking long enough to at least find out if I'd be alone or not. "No, you aren't, Sweetie. You've caused enough trouble for him and he deserves a break from that. You three can clean the kitchen up," Rarity corrected sternly, no room for debate from her tone, by the sounds of it. She wasn't that much trouble. At this point I was rather fond of the little filly. Although that was probably her hope all along. "Hey! What did we do?! We weren't the ones that tried to poison Mender," Scootaloo reminded, sounding miffed that she was being forced into cleaning as well. I resisted snickering. Apple Bloom sounded less amused, coughing lightly. "No way, Scootaloo! If Sweetie has ta clean, we're gonna help her. We're her friends," the little filly corrected. I heard a soft, pleased coo that sounded remarkably like Applejack an instant later, and smiled. Indeed. Good girl. "Ugh. Fine," Scootaloo relented, with no other struggle. I knew she knew that it was the right thing to do regardless. Hearing the three start back towards the library, surprisingly little argument from Sweetie, I pushed it all out of my head and walked into the town square, intentionally shifting my way into the crowd and out of sight. A dozen steps later, I stopped and exhaled, slumping on my legs and letting out a shiver. My body was fine, but my insides felt exhausted from the internal struggle. I realized I was angry, but felt like an idiot for it. Was I immature, or justified? Did it matter, even? Not really. All that mattered is what I did, not how I felt. I was selfish. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to be with them both. But I retained what I felt were my own morals. They told me that I shouldn't be selfish, and just be happy with what I already have. I didn't want to hurt either of them in the pursuit of my own wants and needs. Staring at the dirt, I momentarily noticed my forward proximity sensor flag a warning and sighed, looking up in time to get a newspaper pushed into my face. Huh? Raising an eyebrow, I glanced around it to find that mare from earlier holding it out with her magic, her horn softly glowing the same color as her eyes, a pale green. She frowned lightly and was looking away from me, not saying a word. Um, what exactly did she want? "Uh, do you need something, Miss?" I asked, somewhat confused as I pushed the newspaper backwards with a hoof. I'd already seen the front page, so if she wanted to show me something, she'd have to be more specific than that. "Jus' take it! Look, it's, well, on tha house, okay? Besides, yoo got it all dirty when ya tripped over it," she muttered, frowning a bit more and making a solid point in looking further away from me. I raised an eyebrow at the paper, noticing it was actually one of the clean ones that were in her sample area, sporting the same numbered corner in marker. She was... She was being nice to me, I realized. But she didn't want to admit that. I smiled lightly and walked past her, shifting my direction towards her shop instead. She scoffed for a moment until she realized I'd altered my course, and then ran after me. "W-Wait! Yoo ain't thinkin' o' goin' back ta my stand, ah’ ya?!" she demanded, catching up fairly easily with my right side. "It's fine. I'll be quiet. I just want to read the main story, if you don't mind, and figured I'd stay near your stand so you could make sure I wasn't stealing anything," I elaborated, wanting to see if the article was indeed unbiased. From the title, it sounded like it actually was and ponies were overreacting. Glancing back when she stopped, I noticed her giving me a confused stare, and smiled to her. She predictably scowled almost instantly and looked away, causing me to smile a little wider. Turning again, I headed back towards her shop, lying down next to one of the stacks of papers and sliding one off the shortest stack. "This one's free, ya dummy. Why didn't yoo want this one? I should charge ya fer that one instead," the strange unicorn muttered, walking up again and standing behind her multitude of piles, glaring at me. Well, I assumed she was glaring as my proximity sensor showed her looking at me, and that appeared to be her standard expression. Given that, I immediately pictured her grinning happily at me instead and tried not to burst into snickering. "That one's one of your samples. Don't you need to keep those? That's what the little number in the corner means, I'm guessing," I pointed out, not looking up from the front page. Generic reporting on what happened during the party in Canterlot, I noted so far. They didn't have the emphasis on Rarity rescuing anypony, or that Twilight was secretly molesting me to keep herself eternally young or anything. That was a good start. "Huh. Guess yoo ain't as dumb as I thought. Hum. Don't mistake that fer a compliment, though! Yer still a dummy," she insisted a moment later. I smiled to myself, nodding without looking up from the article. "Yup. Of course. I'm a complete and total idiot," I agreed. That was at least something I could honestly agree with. Now, if only I could figure out what part I thought was the stupid move. Where exactly had I gone wrong to start this terrible chain of events? To my surprise, they shifted right to reporting on me instead, however. They didn't mention any medical record, but did reveal that I had essentially just appeared in Equestria one day. They also honestly stated that some ponies accused me, and were under the suspicion that I was a Changeling. Then they just went on to report about the fiasco around that and the use of magical fliers to attempt to slander me and spread specific emotions. My eyes widened. They actually said that. The unicorn narrowed her eyes as she watched me. "I'm tellin' ya! They ain't biased!" she snapped preemptively. Well, yeah. Truth. "Yeah, they aren't biased," I agreed, nodding to myself as I closed the second page again, where I had been redirected to from the front. "No! I'm tellin' ya, they ain't... What?" she asked suddenly, shifting from irked looking to a blank expression instead. I simply nodded, setting the paper back down again on her pile. "You're right. The article isn't biased, now that I read it fully," I repeated. She stared at me with a deadpan expression still as I adjusted the pile to be neat and orderly before glancing around her little platform. She didn't have anyplace really for herself, the thing consisting of the bundles of newspapers lying on top of a folded apart box that I presumed she had used to carry them all. A tiny metal lockbox rested in the corner of it, open and containing six tiny, golden coins. Huh. At two bits apiece, that indicated she'd sold three papers. Yikes. My eyes spotted her marker, however. "Oh," she finally muttered, making me realize she was just as linguistically profound as myself. She followed up with "Uh?" as I snatched her marker with my mouth and clicked the cap off it with a flick of my tongue. This was all I could do, really. A few seconds later, I'd written my message across the front of the first sample paper. "Not Biased. -Mender" It was simple, of course, but hopefully ponies would believe it was actually me writing it. She stared blankly at the message, looking surprised. Ignoring her, I steeled my nerves and swallowed weakly, dropping the marker on top of the newly written message. My friends and I had caused her a few inconveniences, so it was only fair I do something for her. Still, I couldn’t believe I was going to do this… Turning, I shouted out at the top of my lungs, "This newspaper is actually really good, accurate reporting!" The mare's eyes bugged out as dozens upon dozens of ponies turned and looked at me all at the same time. I fought down the spike of panic that shot through me, and resisted the urge to run away suddenly. Swallowing the tight knot in my throat, I gestured down to the stacks of papers as at least two-dozen ponies approached. Oh hell. Why had I done that?! "Really, Mender? I saw them, but I guess I just assumed it was more garbage and slander," a stallion spoke up from the front of the crowd. My ears perked and rotated that way as I recognized the voice. Noteworthy gave me a friendly grin as he walked up, and I relaxed a little. "Yeah. Fancypants said he had locked down on the slander, plus this is actually from Manehatten, so I gave it a chance. The story is accurate and unbiased, giving quite a few details on the ongoing investigation," I reported to him, standing a little more upright. If I pretended I was talking only to him, it was easier. The entire crowd started talking all at once. Damn it! "Are they safe? There isn't any magic on them, right?" Rose asked to my right, edging out of the crowd and nudging the closest stack with her hoof at full extension. Heh. Instead of answering, I turned and walked up to the largest stack, my left foreleg and hoof rune flaring up with sky blue light. I could cast from anywhere on my body, but not only was it habit to use my left hoof, but the focus rune engraving pulled the magic even closer to the surface. I wanted to be as accurate as possible, after all! My hoof slid slowly down the stack as I did my best to ignore the dozens upon dozens of eyes on me. The magic danced out along the paper as thoroughly and intrusive as I could muster without literally setting them all on fire. Twenty seconds later, I reached the bottom of the pile, all of them glowing a faint blue now from my residual energy. Not a single thing. Before I literally saturated them, they had been totally devoid of energy. There was no way an enchantment could function and use no energy. It was against so many fundamental rules of physics that it made my head hurt to even consider it, and I was pretty sure Pinkie was on our side. That meant it was safe to assume that the organization operated within the bounds of physics. "They're totally clean. Just normal paper and ink. There's no paper that can do that naturally, right?" I asked, turning to look at Noteworthy. He grinned and shook his head. "Guess they're safe, then! Mind checking the other piles, too?" he requested politely, stepping aside as ponies started to move in, bits being produced. "Of course. Not going to risk anypony by not being thorough," I assured, having already planned on doing that anyway. I so didn't want a repeat of what happened last time! The minty green mare looked totally bewildered at this point as ponies came in from all sides of her, offering bits in exchange for the papers. I smiled at the scene for a second before slipping up and approaching the next pile. In all honesty, I was just happy I wasn't the focus of attention anymore. It took me a good five minutes, but every paper around the makeshift stand was glowing blue. I smiled at my work, having discovered all nine stacks to be totally spotless, as anticipated. It didn't look like Manehatten had anything to do with what happened that day. Three stacks were gone ten minutes later, with a bigger and bigger crowd moving in to see what the initial ponies were doing, and word started to spread without me needing to say a thing. The glowing papers rapidly became quite a hit, it seemed. I guessed my magic was still really weird for ponies. Unfortunately, I discovered a problem after I finished scanning the last one. The crowd was too thick for me to safely navigate out without some serious shoving. I decided to let my lazy side win instead, and simply lay down, reading one of the many papers from the closest pile, trying to learn more about my new home. The opportunity was there, after all. The two big races were coming up, of course, for the cities. The Running of the Leaves was more a holiday than an event, it would seem, with multiple towns each hosting their own race. While it did end up hauling quite a lot of leaves down, it would seem it was more ceremonial than anything. The Cloudy Sky Dash was, in comparison, more of a commercial event, then. The second they mentioned pegasi getting 'sponsored' to fly in it, I knew it took itself a little more seriously. Fancypants was hosting it as well, which interested me. Beyond that, it discussed the incoming patterns of weather that were 'ordered', various markets that were booming in the cities, new fashion trends from Manehatten and Canterlot, and popular celebrities and their lives. I was deeply amused at the image of Vinyl standing on top of a massive speaker system and holding her hoof up victoriously, tables and chairs being uprooted and flung away at the bottom of the picture from what I assumed to be pure vibration. Yikes! Reading the caption, it was from a fundraiser that I'd missed due to Estrus. Bigger cities really didn't shut down, it would seem. Flipping the page, I started to read about Cadance and Shining Armor, ruling in the newly revitalized Crystal Empire. The trade routes were re-established and new products flooded the markets under their rule, and nothing but praise was given, making me realize exactly how amazing their approval rating was. Idly, I wondered if Shining had finished moving all their stuff up there yet. Heh. The crowd started to thin out while I read about the crystal ponies. Peeking up again, I noticed several ponies lingering and chatting about the harsher winter coming up, and the newspaper seller looking very pleased towards me. Oh? She noticed me finally paying attention and hopped down from the platform, trotting over to me. "Okay, I was wrong about yoo. Although now I just gotta ask. What exactly do ya want?" she inquired, eyeing me with playful suspicion. Eh? Want? What did I want? That was a hard one. I thought for a moment, scratching my chin with my hoof before shrugging. "A nice job and income would be amazing. Hmm. Beyond that, just a normal life, but I doubt I'll be getting that for a while," I muttered idly. Kind of depressing, but I'd accepted that at this point. Once a soldier, always a soldier. It was more a lifestyle than a profession anyway. The answer apparently wasn't what she was looking for, if her blank stare meant anything. "Uh, I meant fer helpin' me so much? Um, yoo kinda saved my flank. If I had gone back with those sales, I probably would'a been canned real hard, like," she admitted, averting her eyes away from me and coughing lightly. Oh! Here I thought she was just being sociable. Well, no, I really didn't, but it was fun to pretend. I guess I really did like to avoid anything to do with being 'rewarded'. Maybe it was a psychological thing? That was a whole can of worms with me, though. I gave up around the 'conversing with corpses' part. "Oh, that. It was sort of my responsibility regardless to make sure the papers were safe. Putting out the good word afterwards was just the obvious thing to do. No need for ponies to be unnecessarily cautious if there's no need for it," I reasoned idly, trying to push it away from any potential reward again. It had been a nice distraction regardless. She exhaled quietly, but smiled. "I didn't recognize yoo before, but thank you, Mr. Moon Mender. I'm glad ta see that yoo really ah’ a good pony. Although I'd almost think ya were tryin' ta take advantage o' my post-heat hormones, ya know?" She added a wink on afterwards, and I rolled my eyes. At least she openly advertised that she was joking. "Right. No, I'm quite happy with..." I trailed off, losing my smile a second later. I'd almost said herd. We'd been using that term unofficially for a while, but I didn't realize before that there were 'formal' formations to them. I didn't have a herd. That was... She shifted to a frown and head tilt, but I rapidly shook my head. "I'm happy with my two fillyfriends. Really, I was just trying to be helpful," I finally continued. Happy. I wasn't happy, but close enough. I wasn't being tortured or shot at or blown up, so I had to be happy, right? I'd be a selfish idiot to not be, given the sheer difference in situation. Talk about taking things for granted! "I, um, know pain when I see it. Try ta take it easy, Mender. Yoo deserve ta be happy just as much, if not more than anypony else. If yoo need anythin', and find yerself in Manehatten, know yoo got ah friend," she assured, giving a soft smile before turning again and heading back to her platform. Looking down at the paper for a moment, I exhaled and nodded to nopony in particular. I didn't feel nearly as entitled as she claimed me to be. I rolled the paper up with magic and slipped it into my left saddlebag. Accessing the lower pouch, I used a tiny barrier to scoop out two bits and slide them across the platform to her. She perked and rotated at the sound, then scowled towards me, but I turned and headed towards Fluttershy's cabin before she could say anything. Helping somepony was a nice distraction, but I couldn't escape my own thoughts for very long, it would seem. That fact I at least welcomed. If anything, I think it made me even less a robot... I stopped walking a second later, blinking. Crap! I’d forgotten to get her name… * * * * * Fluttershy's cottage hadn't changed in the slightest since I'd last seen it. For her also being my fillyfriend, I suddenly realized I hadn't spent very much time here at all. Twilight really had sort of monopolized my time, at the very least. Well, no time like the present to even things out, I guessed. Assuming they were both still interested. I couldn't afford to not assume that at this point, and shook the stray thought from my head as I walked up the dirt path towards the cottage. Despite knowing it was empty, it felt full of life still. Birds sang around it, occupying many of the nearby trees, and the more timid natural wildlife seemed to thrive in this area. Further, the flora seemed to flourish, too, the trees looking healthier, the grass greener, and a plethora of flowers dotting the landscape in both natural and Fluttershy-designed clusters. It felt homey, and I warmed up a little inside despite my fur puffing out at the nippy air. To my surprise, absolutely nothing happened when I approached and entered her yard. The birds kept singing, squirrels still stocked up on nuts in the trees, and several rabbits hopped past, acting like I was just another shrub or rock, albeit a strangely colored and moving one. They must feel really safe here. Either that, or they were really conditioned towards ponies, who were largely peaceful and friendly in this town. Or Fluttershy told them about me and I had made it onto some sort of animal 'white list' or something. Huh. Deciding I was probably over-thinking things, I continued on, stopping twice for a flurry of squirrel movement, and another time as a kitten trotted past, momentarily rubbing my foreleg before moving on. Okay, yeah. I had a soft spot for cute things. Feeling a bit better, I finally reached the door to the cottage and slipped a forehoof up onto the handle. A burst of magic rotated it around, and the door gently slid open with a light creaking noise. Hmm. It needed oil. Watching it open, I also noticed its balance was a little off, and tossed up a mental note to fix that. Closing the door again, I froze as my ears rotated around towards her stairs. Singing drifted down them from above, alongside the sound of the shower running. Really bad singing, which was several keys out of tune. Edging closer to the stairs, I noticed that it was a masculine voice as well. Fluttershy had a stallion in her house? And he was using her shower?! I pushed conclusions out of my head as they pounced at me, and shuddered. No, maybe she had a brother or something? Besides, she liked Twilight as well, and definitely didn't seem the type for a one-night thing. Of course, I had also assumed that I was to be included in any herd developments as well, before today. No! Bad Mender. It was probably nothing to worry about! Rolling my eyes at my own thoughts, I straightened myself a bit and walked up the stairs. She probably had male family, too. She never talked about them before, so I couldn't assume she didn't. A burglar was also wildly unlikely to be using her shower, not to mention be in Ponyville in the first place. Actually, I just realized that Fluttershy's door had been totally unlocked. Huh. Eh, even if it was a burglar, I was probably the worst thing that could ever happen to him at this point. A royal guard was bad enough, but an eldritch abomination royal guard was even worse! Stretching out, I walked past the bathroom door and lay down on the couch facing it. No need to jump to conclusions. If it was family, I wanted to make a good impression, not be remembered as the coltfriend who attacked and bucked her brother Butterscotch through a wall, or something. That sounded like a pony name, right? The shower turned off a few minutes later, and my eyes flicked open again, focusing on the door. The singing sadly continued, followed by a scrubbing sound of what I assumed was a towel drying whomever it was off. Thirty seconds later, the door finally opened, and I lifted my head fully. What the hell was that?! Some sort of chimeric monster exited Fluttershy's bathroom. Its head looked sort of like a deformed pony, but it had a mismatched pair of horns sprouting from it, one being a deer antler and the other a goat horn. Actually, all of its body was like that. The arms appeared to be from some sort of large cat and equally big bird of prey. Its tail and right leg seemed to be lizard in nature, with the left leg cloven instead. To top off the weirdness, both a pegasus and bat wing grew from its back. My eyes widened as fast as its did, and it released a surprisingly high pitched scream, rapidly wrapping the towel around itself. Totally caught off guard, I mimicked its scream a heartbeat later, albeit lower in pitch. The cat paw made a snapping motion, and everything went black as something suddenly appeared over my head. My scanners discovered it was a paper bag a heartbeat later as I flipped backwards through the air, residual memory calculating where furniture was for my landing. Barrier blades flicked out of my skin, paper shreds drifted about as I hit and skidded across the floor, glaring at the creature. No attack had been launched after it tried to impede my vision. Despite evasive maneuvers not being needed, it still got distance between us, anyway. It had stopped screaming, and was looking at me with an oddly delighted expression now. Great. Of course, if it was some sort of genetic experiment or something, mental instability wasn't out of the question. "Ooooh! Finally, something interesting happens! Such a strange pony shows up out of nowhere, and nopony even tells me," he announced with a light pout, shifting back to a masculine voice and snapping again. The towel disappeared a moment later, him deciding he was apparently no longer modest. Yup, unstable... Further, he appeared to possess extremely fast spellcasting capacity. I couldn't afford to be discreet, my eyes shifting color and starting to glow as my scanners kicked in and started analyzing the energy fields around him. "Who are you and what are you doing in Fluttershy's cottage?!" I asked sharply, ignoring the gasp as he watched my eyes. The strange creature only grinned, however, standing up tall and proud. "Why, I could ask you the same thing! But opportunity presents itself, and it's been at least five hundred and sixty years since I've been 'scanned' by anything! Oh, and I was a statue then and couldn't even pose properly!" he lamented, holding the back of his cat paw to his forehead as he leaned backwards. Wait, what? He was aware I was scanning him? I didn't have time to contemplate that, sadly, as his short, bristly mane shifted into a long and oddly flowing one, despite there being no wind inside of the cottage obviously. Further, a two-piece swimsuit came out of nowhere onto him, and he started posing in rather seductive looking postures. Uh... Confusion was an understatement, but he spoke up a moment later with, "I'm the fabulous Discord, of course! I'm surprised you haven't heard of me, as I'm very good friends with Fluttershy and the other Elements of Harmony. Why, they changed my entire outlook!" he dramatically announced, flipping up to his feet again and gesturing upwards to the ceiling while in a kneeling posture. Okay, so he was kind of a weird combination of Rarity and Pinkie Pie, with a good lump of crazy mixed in. Wonderful! Wait, had I heard that name before? My mind flicked back to Twilight's 'appended' history lesson, considering the history books hadn't gotten updated to the newest events. She'd mentioned them reforming a 'Discord', who was basically a spirit of pure chaos. So this is what a 'draconequus' looked like. More Latin, I noted. Dragon horse? I guess it made sense. And hey, I was actually going into a situation knowing what it was about for once! "Oh, spirit of chaos, right?" I asked, relaxing and standing upright again. Twilight had put an emphasis on 'reformed', so I assumed that meant he was friendly and I didn't have to slice him into tiny ribbons, and toss the remains into subspace before detaching it and watching them float away into nothingness. Trespassing in Fluttershy's cottage was serious business, after all. He gave another gasp, and then smirked at me. "Why, you do know of me! Although this does appear to leave me at a disadvantage. You're still simply the strange pony invading my dear friend's house, after all," he reminded, gesturing towards me with the bird claw before standing more upright, back to a normal posture. I used the term 'normal' rather loosely with this one, though. "I'm not invading. Fluttershy knows I'm here, and Rarity was the one who sent me. I'm Moon Mender. Nice to meet you," I attempted to greet politely, raising my hoof up. Discord eyed it suspiciously for a moment before waddling over and giving it a shake. "So polite for somepony first meeting me! I'm used to colder welcomes, I guess," he admitted, giving a shiver and snapping a snowsuit onto himself. I raised an eyebrow before four hundred pounds of snow landed on top of me, flattening the entire upstairs with a heavy crash. Ow... Thankfully, this time I'd noticed a distortion effect to the energy grid just before the snow appeared! That gave my subdermal armor time to pop into place, and I stood up again through the snow, feeling significantly heavier with the added inner plating. "Uh, you just destroyed Fluttershy's bedroom!" I yelped, looking around at the damage before glaring back over at the snowman. Snowman? The distortion flicked in right on my left and I skidded out of the way, turning to face him as he re-appeared. "Oooh, good reflexes! But I'm hurt! I'd never damage any of Fluttershy's things, you know," he assured, snapping his fingers again. The snow was gone in an instant, and everything was exactly how it was before. Wait, what? There was no Alteration or Transmutation there, and he clearly snapped the couch into three pieces! How did he repair it without using any shifting magic?! It was almost like he was overwriting spacetime on a local level... He paused a second later, eyes suddenly starting to dance with a bit of energy, and an impish smile forming. Uh oh. "Ooooh, wait, you're 'the' Moon Mender? I have heard about you after all!" he cooed. Ugh. It had been a while since I heard somepony say my name like that. Canterlot, was it? Sadly, he continued talking regardless. "So you're Fluttershy's very, very special friend I hear so much about. Twilight, too?! Why, it's almost scandalous! I must ask..." I raised an eyebrow as he peeked left and right, as if checking to make sure we were still alone before hopping forwards a bit, comically large privacy screens appearing to each side of us. "How is she?" he asked in a quiet whisper, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. Er, what? Blinking, I felt a bit confused, but shook my head. "Uh, last I checked, fine. Well, a little sad, but she was hanging out with Twilight, so hopefully that will cheer her up," I reported. For somepony in her house, he didn't keep very good tabs on her condition, I decided. He gave me a raised eyebrow, instead. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but that will do nicely, and tells me a surprising amount, actually. Wait, sad?" he questioned, eyes narrowing a bit towards the end. My ears flattened back and I sighed, looking down towards my hooves again. "Yeah, I think she feels guilty about making a herd with Twilight without me," I elaborated quietly, really not wanting to remember all that so soon. "Ooooh, Fluttershy and Twilight?! Really?! Oooh, ho ho! I've so got to visit the little bookworm about this. In fact, I think I will!" he declared suddenly. What?! "Wait, they're-" I started to call out. I was cut off, however, as he disappeared in a flash of light, this time not reappearing... "-taking a bath..." I finished to nopony in particular, slapping my forehead with my right forehoof. Okay, that wasn't my fault. There was nothing I could do if the spirit of chaos was impulsive. Of course, I probably should have anticipated that, but eh. I'm sure it would be fine. Besides, if Twilight freaked out and nuked him with her magic, I wouldn't have to worry about it in the first place! As if on cue, Fluttershy's heart rate went through the roof, and I sighed. He really did it. Out of curiosity, I flipped on Fluttershy's audio feed. At first I thought it was broken until I identified the high-pitched squeak as her. "Discord?! What are you-" I heard Twilight start to shout. A dramatic gasp cut her off. "Why, it is true! You two are-" the crazy chimera started to loudly declare. He in turn was cut off by what sounded like several blasts of magic and a feminine scream. No, wait, that was his. Wincing, I turned the audio off again, deciding I'd rather not listen to his fate. Snickering again, I wandered into the bathroom myself a moment later. Actually, given that I hadn't been able to properly wash myself with soap and shampoo for a week, a shower didn't sound all that bad. Smiling, I started the water up as I shifted my bottle of shampoo out of subspace and onto the rim of Fluttershy's bathtub. Twilight had insisted I get my own soaps and whatnot two days after I had gotten out of the hospital for the second time. Or was it the third? Okay, yeah, third if you counted my first visit. Regardless, she declared that I needed a more 'masculine' scent to compliment my own natural smells. It was an awkward conversation, mostly due to her admitting to liking the way I smelled. Relaxing slightly, I slid the curtain over on the bathtub and flicked the shower on. The warm water running over my back felt amazing, and I just stood there letting it soak in. For the first time in over an hour, I just let the tension out of my muscles. They felt thick and tired, as if I'd been walking for days on them. The energy went out of me and I lowered myself to the floor of the tub, watching the water drip down around me. I was so tired, and I suddenly realized it wasn't entirely because my body was healing. No, it had done a fairly good job of that already. It just took so much effort suddenly to 'want' to move. Falling asleep for the better part of a week suddenly sounded really, really appetizing. I felt exhausted, and it seemed to hit me out of nowhere. I wished somepony else could go see Celestia in a few days, and deal with all this dimensional crap. Then I could just snooze in Fluttershy's shower and pretend to be a shower mat. I wouldn't even care if she stepped on me. Lying down felt too good, so I just scrubbed down my mane and tail with the shampoo from there, lazily blocking the water with a barrier when needed. The warm water hazed around me as I sighed wearily, rolling onto my side as I washed down my coat, using actual soap this time and feeling all the cleaner for it. Sadly, the fresher I felt, the more tired I got. By the time I was done scrubbing, it felt like I'd stayed up for three days straight. Was fatigue catching up with me, or was there a different reason for this? Admittedly, my mind was the most tired part of me, especially after the three-way mortal combat of emotions for the better part of an hour. My life was simpler when I just blew things up. It took a bit of effort, but I made a thin barrier up along the rim of the tub. It was so thin that it didn't actually stop anything as I slowly slipped up and through it. The filter kicked in properly, however, as it slowly slid along my fur, keeping all of the water on the other side and leaving me nice and dry. I smiled, then blinked and sighed as my fur shivered, then puffed up dramatically from the process. Damn it. I'd hoped it would avoid that effect. Oh well. At least it was faster. Stashing my cleaning supplies inside of me again, I trotted out into the bedroom and over to where I dropped all my stuff by the couch. It was kind of weird seeing two Aegis Artifacts just sort of lying there like discarded travel bags as I moved past them and hopped up on the couch. To hell with it. I hadn't caught up on my sleep yet anyway, and last night wasn't the greatest, so it was naptime. I crashed over sideways and snuggled into the cushions, enjoying how cozy it was. Minutes passed. Despite how tired I was, my mind just wouldn't turn itself off, bits of the last couple hours stuck on endless loop in my head. It was a pain not being able to decide how I even wanted to feel about everything, and the only thing I could uniformly agree to was that I didn't want to deal with it right now. Unfortunately, as feelings often go, my heart wasn't one to just give up on the issue. Finally, I just groaned and settled it for myself, pushing my face into the end of the couch. I didn't want to deal with it, so obviously the 'easiest' solution was the most practical. Just let them do whatever the hell they wanted and stop freaking out over it. I'd already established how absolutely terrible I was with anything involving social situations. Rarity, who was amazing at them, acted as if it were literally nothing, so maybe I should just follow her lead? I should have just done that from the start. I was the outsider to their relationships, so I should be the one to have to swallow my pride and adapt. Even if only subconsciously, they'd definitely told me of my place in things! Despite the decision actually making me feel worse, at least a decision had been made, and I whacked my face off the side cushion a couple of times before collapsing back onto my side, finally exhausted. To hell with it. I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to sleep. This time it didn't take long, and I let myself fall away backwards, a soft smirk forming in my mind. Just go away, world... Chapter 60Sleep was a dark and empty thing. It felt like I was barely out when whispers stirred in my head, as if from far away. My ears twitched lightly and my eyes opened over the course of a couple seconds. Dim light greeted me, the room having darkened significantly from my last memory of it, nothing but black outside the window across from me. Crap. How long had I slept? Ever faithful, Clocky reported that it was quarter after twenty-two hundred hours, which honestly explained the relative darkness of the room. The only light came from the stairs leading down to the first floor, and I looked towards it curiously. Somepony had come home and turned on the lights, obviously, but was it Fluttershy or that crazy bastard, Discord? My hoof snagged something lightly as I moved it upwards, however, and I frowned, looking down at my chest. A soft, woven blanket had been laid over me with great care, covering every little inch of myself all the way up to the shoulders. A light smile played at my mouth. Fluttershy. The voices that had stirred me from my sleep popped up again suddenly, and my ears flicked back towards the stairs. "I just don't know. What are we going to do about her?" I heard asked in a soft, concerned voice. I'd recognize it at almost any distance now as Twilight's. She was visiting? Her bath must have gone well after Discord's disruption. There was a pregnant pause before a very timid sigh was returned. "Um, I don't know. Her heats are really bad, and she seems like she's better now and thinking clearly," Fluttershy suggested. Bad heats? What, were they talking about Rainbow? "Yeah. Her apology was really earnest sounding. I can tell she feels horrible and that it's all her fault. Really, I don't think that I, well, I don't really feel angry about it," Twi returned hesitantly, as a rare moment of stumbling over her words. Rainbow was apologizing to her? Did something happen? "Rarity told her to stop going over there. The race is really, really important for her this year, if you remember," Fluttershy pointed out. Oh, oh crap. Did Rainbow tell them about what happened?! Wait, she wasn't supposed to take all the blame for that! Twilight chuckled for a moment, however, then added, "Yeah. It sounds like it was a complete accident, plus the link is barely a tenth of the way completed. As it is now, I doubt it's any stronger than the disks are." Tenth? Wait, this was only ten percent of the link?! Holy hell! No wonder it was a huge deal for Ponies. I'd probably be able to feel almost everything Dash did if it were ten times as strong when completed! There was a long pause, and I relaxed against the cushion again. It didn't sound like Dash was in trouble, anyway. I guess it turned out okay after all. Still, Twilight was probably here to try to talk to me. There wasn't really any point of them coming back here if that weren't the case. I'd kind of figured Fluttershy would be returning by herself after everything that happened, but lying up here in the dark wouldn't change anything. Regardless of my awareness of that, it was remarkably hard to will myself to move. I didn't want to face them yet, or deal with this now. Frankly, I just kind of wanted to run and hide somewhere, and engage in a therapeutic bout of wailing and mauling things. I openly admitted I was childish in that regard. Sometimes I was tired of trying to be a grown up. A sigh from downstairs snapped me out of my irritated stupor. "What are we going to do about the herd, then?" Twilight asked softly. I froze. Eavesdropping was bad, and I was a bad pony, but I listened regardless. Not that I should really care, because if Hell existed, I most certainly already had a very special spot reserved just for me. At first, I wondered if Fluttershy hadn't fallen asleep or something, but finally I picked up the barely audible whine, magnifying my hearing a couple times. Could Twilight even hear that? "I don't know. It's just, um, nothing is going the way it should," the yellow mare finally whispered. A light groan sounded from Twilight, and I winced, toning my audio level down a bit again. "That you don't need to say twice. Did he say anything at all about it?" she asked, sounding tired. Well, I didn't feel so badly about eavesdropping now that she was grilling Fluttershy on me. I guess even 'reformed', she was a rather natural spy. "No," Fluttershy muttered, making it officially the saddest sound in the world. A moment later, she elaborated with, "He just said that he was happy for us and smiled. But his eyes looked... They looked so dead. Oh dear." A knot formed in my throat and I swallowed. She was highly empathic. I should have known she'd notice. Suddenly, I didn't want to go down there after all. I heard a chair adjust itself down there, and hoofsteps on wood for a moment before Twilight let out a light groan. "This is bad. Really bad. Gah. I was so stupid! Why did I send out the herd form?! We need to think of something, Fluttershy. Anything to fix this. Do you think Princess Celestia could do an official appeal for the time limit? Wait, that would require me to actually tell her," she started rapidly muttering. Herd form? Time limit? Suddenly, I took a shot in the dark and guessed there was more lovely news I wasn't aware of yet. I figured there'd be a form for it. Governments run on paperwork, after all. Time limits, however, were usually not in my favor. Like waiting for your planet to explode, as a good example. "T-Twilight, calm down. You're, um, panicking again. Please sit down, if it's okay with you," Fluttershy spoke up, a little louder to get over Twilight's rambling. There was a delay, then a sigh and I heard the chair scrape across the floor again. The unicorn was tense, like earlier. I could tell she'd shifted into complete panic at some point over the week given the state she let herself fall into, but I hadn't realized she could go right off the deep end like that. The image of her grinning face burned into my mind again and I shuddered. My throat knotted up again as I heard crying instead. At least 'anger' wasn't a viable argument anymore. Either of them crying tended to really beat the crap out of that approach. This was a soft sobbing instead, as if trying to hold itself back from tumbling into full out misery. "I'm scared, Fluttershy. We're both going to be lucky if we're not dumped, and after everything we've been through, I really... He's special to me. I don't want one foolish, compulsive decision in the middle of estrus to ruin that for both of us!" Twilight admitted. She gave up on composure when her voice died down and the crying picked up fully. No answer came, and I heard another chair slide out again. Pushing my face into the back of the couch, I sighed weakly. I just wanted the three of us to be happy together. In the long run, did it matter if I had to wait a little bit to get into the herd? Sure, I was sad that they made it without me, but it sounded like they really felt badly about it, too. Plus, seeing how Rainbow got, I really did understand what Estrus could do a bit better. Even if it didn't dictate their every action like it might have their distant ancestors, it certainly made choices a lot 'easier', as Rainbow would have said. They cared deeply for each other, so was it really a surprise? Then what bothered me? I wasn't as important as I'd subconsciously hoped, was a good part of it, I admitted. It felt like a kick to the stomach to fully 'think' about finally, but I guess I deserved that. Equestria was already different enough from my old dimension to give me plenty to be thankful for. I didn't need to be the most important pony to them, and it was just conceited at this point to even think that way. When did I start thinking I was that entitled? "Shhhh. It's okay, Twilight. Just let it out," I heard Fluttershy whisper weakly. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Slowly, I sat up on the couch and let the blanket slide off me. My left forehoof lifted up and I brushed it along the single braid descending from my bangs on that side. "We'll be okay. Mender's a nice stallion, and if we explain ourselves, I'm sure he'll, um, well, I hope he'll listen," she added after thirty seconds passed with just the softer crying. "I-I know. We have to try. Do you think he'll also be, um, angry he was left out? Oh no. We sent him to the cabins to avoid this!" Twilight suddenly murmured, and my ears flattened back. She was just going to work herself into a panic again. I heard Fluttershy try to say something, but Twilight just continued, totally drowning her out. "Oh no. No, no! I'm not safe yet! If I ask him to wait another day or so, though, after everything we have to already tell him, it's going to sound really, really bad!" Okay, yeah, time to stop this. Her rambling ground to a halt a second after my hooves touched down on the floor, my own hoofsteps probably easily heard through the wood. I heard her gasp a second later, and a chair slid out rapidly again as I walked towards the stairs. Oddly, I heard the jingle of the front door's knob a second later before a light thud resounded through the air. Uh... Wait, no, I think I knew what happened. Reaching the bottom of the stairs confirmed it with Twilight flattened on her stomach in front of the door, and Fluttershy on top of her. She'd tried to escape. Heh, it was actually almost cute. Fluttershy gave out a weak squeak as she saw me, and Twilight looked up with an expression of horror. "T-This isn't what it looks like!" Twilight shouted abruptly, rolling and pushing Fluttershy off her back with a light thud. Eh? I raised my eyebrow, sitting down at the base of the stairs. "You weren't trying to escape, then, and got tackled by Fluttershy?" I inquired curiously. I was mildly amused by her dumbfounded expression before she rapidly shook her head. "N-No! I mean, yes! I, well, uh..." she whined, looking flustered suddenly before just groaning and flopping over onto her stomach again. That feeling I could sympathize with. Sadly, this wasn't very conducive to just talking. Standing again, I walked towards both mares as Fluttershy managed to get to her hooves again, looking rapidly back and forth between us. Oddly, Twilight stood fully upright and lowered her head towards me, not saying anything. What was she expecting, judgment or something? "Of course she is. They both fucked up, and now are at your mercy. This is your chance to take control and really get what you want out of the relationship," was whispered into my ear, and I felt her smile. My eyes narrowed, and I shot a mental snarl her way, earning a snicker. Fluttershy's eyes widened, however, and I suddenly realized that I'd narrowed mine in reality, too. "Please don't be m-mad, Mender. Please? We, um, we're really sorry for what happened and we want to fix it, but we j-just don't know how..." she whispered, unease shifting into her voice as she stepped further forwards, past Twilight now. Brave for Fluttershy, but it's not like I was going to hurt her anyway. "I know. I was listening for a while up there. Being a cyborg gives me really good ears," I admitted quietly. The yellow mare looked stunned, but Twilight looked up at me again with a frown. Her eyes searched mine for a second, and I realized she wasn't mad at my eavesdropping, but surprised at what I said for some reason. I further noticed that she still had a light smell to her from before, but had cleaned herself up nicely. Her features softened as she looked at me, and I realized I really had missed her quite a bit. Her eyes widened as I leaned over, but I pushed my lips into hers regardless. Her momentary tension melted instantly as she pushed back a heartbeat later, slipping closer into my forelegs. Fluttershy let out a surprised squeak, and then I saw her slowly smile as I opened my eyes again. Twilight was flushed by the time I pulled away and shivered lightly, mildly surprising me by ducking forward again and pushing into my torso. "I missed you, Twilight. You don't need to run away. I'm not, well, angry at either of you," I muttered quietly. "Y-You aren't?" Fluttershy squeaked, shifting a bit closer to both of us before I reached out and pulled her against Twilight's side instead, hugging both of them. Much more conducive to talking! "No. I'm, well, sad that you two made the herd and left me out of it, and I don't know what to think about you two suddenly jumping your relationship up to a sexual one, but I'm not going to just give up on both of you," I tried to explain. Well, as far as I got myself, anyway. Both shifted lovely shades of pink at that last part. Twilight shook her head against me, however. "The heat, estrus, doesn't control us, per se, but it does make it a lot easier to, well, 'justify' certain courses of action that you might know as not the best choice in the long run. I take full blame for that. My inhibitions were already lowered, and I was the one that solicited Fluttershy," she explained, pushing her face further into my chest before finishing with, "That means that really, the whole herd thing is my fault, too. I was so stupid and sent the form in without thinking!" There was that form again. I pulled both of them a bit closer and sighed. "You're not stupid, Twilight. What exactly is this form, though?" I asked softly. Remembering her when I first opened the door still frightened me a bit. That was about as far from 'proper state of mind' as I'd imagine Twilight to get. Yeah, it didn't honestly surprise me that she did something potentially without thinking about the future consequences. I'd be a hypocrite if I held that against her. "It's, um, a form you fill out when you, well, officially 'consummate' a herd. Well, it's more tradition for the, uh, consummation part. But really, it's for legal things. Um, I know you're supposed to fill one out before getting married, too, or for a herd marriage," Fluttershy explained in a wonderfully awkward manner. So, sort of like getting engaged, but for potentially more than two ponies. Twilight fidgeted against me, and I frowned, not entirely sure of the specifics with just that description. Thankfully, the unicorn was there to elaborate. "She's right. It's both for legal herd founding, and a pre-marital contract. Sometimes both at once. Write the names down on the form, have everypony sign it, then mail it to Canterlot for filing," she added, sighing afterwards and sitting more upright to glance over at Fluttershy instead. Er, well that did indeed get the point across that they were legal contracts, anyway. The little yellow mare only blushed and shrank down a bit, however, so Twilight smiled and continued instead. "Consummation of the herd is just tradition. It used to dictate herd 'ordering' and establish who the 'leader' is, but that's mostly ignored nowadays. We both felt, well, pretty badly about it afterwards and signed it, and I was going to leave it in wait for when you got back home so you could be added but, uh..." Mostly? "It got sent out instead, accidentally. I understand," I finished for her, eyes softening a bit. Now what did that mean for our 'herd' then? Twilight swallowed and nodded, then, as if reading my mind, added, "Normally you can add members to the herd after it's formed, obviously. Happens all the time. But, uh, in order to cut down on, well, hasty decisions being made and causing a lot of paperwork in Canterlot, they implemented a thirty day wait period between 'changes' made to the herd. At least a pre-marital herd, anyway." Oh. So I was stuck as a 'third wheel' for a month. Fluttershy squeaked and shook her head rapidly, causing me to realize that the link was enabled again after I woke up, and functioning quite well at this distance. "No, Mender! We're going to treat you just like you're part of the herd anyway, even if we have to wait to make it official!" she yelped, pushing further into me as she did so. "Ah! Of course! It's only the 'official' herd. I mean, I could try to talk to Princess Celestia and see about waiving the wait time, as it was obviously an accident but, uh, that would mean I'd have to tell her about, well," Twilight hastily added, then shrank a bit, her blush coming back. Sighing, I shook my head towards her and relaxed, releasing both of them. Neither moved, however, to my surprise. Regardless, I assured, "It's okay. Waiting a month isn't honestly that big a deal. It's not a very long time, and it's only a piece of paper, right?" I wasn't quite so good at social things still, and this whole 'reassuring' thing was rather hard, I decided, as both looked at each other with an uneasy glance. Fluttershy shook her head lightly towards Twilight before turning back to me. "This still doesn't feel very good. We shouldn't have, um, done what we did regardless of the herd form. It, well, it was so selfish! It's not just Twilight's fault. I normally have really light, um, heats. I thought I was in control of myself! I should have stopped her. I should have said no and to wait." Her voice got quieter and quieter as she went on, and she shivered lightly after falling silent. Twilight frowned towards her and wrapped her forelegs around the yellow mare, pulling her into a gentle hug. That was how things normally worked, regardless, I realized. Maybe I should just start 'planning' on everything falling apart in the worst possible way? Then, if anything short of complete disaster happened, I'd be pleasantly surprised! There was no easy answer or way to relay my feelings. I didn't even fully understand them myself. Sliding sideways, I rested my left temple against the door and exhaled. Both mares turned to me instead for a moment before I slowly closed my eyes. A few breaths later, I felt two warm and furry sensations push into my chest and smiled weakly. "I just don't know. I'm, well, sad, yes. Originally I was a bit mad, too. I mean, I left partly because both of you weren't ready for anything sexual in the relationship yet. At first I was angry because it goes directly against that, and made it seem more like, well, 'not ready for anything sexual with me', I guess," I started to explain, my eyes cracking open to look at them. It felt good being honest, anyway. That feeling was smashed and I regretted saying it almost instantly as Fluttershy suddenly looked like she just watched a kitten run over by a landslide. Twilight swallowed and shook her head rapidly, her mouth slightly open but no words seeming to escape. After a moment of awkward silence and Fluttershy's eyes starting to water, I closed mine again and shook my head. "I know it's also because I'm male, and neither of you want to risk getting pregnant, too. It's different with me, I know. Now I see that and don't blame you two," I added, not sure how to feel and suddenly being distinctly aware of that tightening in my chest. I was okay with it. Why did it hurt so much? "W-We're not going to do anything like 'that' again until we're really ready this time, so, um, we really goofed up and made some really bad decis-" Twilight started to rapidly defend. A light scraping sound interrupted all three of us, and I opened my eyes again questioningly. Twilight looked momentarily confused as Fluttershy turned and looked into her kitchen. My eyes widened as a full-sized bathtub 'slid' out and peeked around the doorframe. They widened even further as eyes opened up on the rim, and a smirk shifted against the ceramics. What the hell?! "Oh ho ho! If only bathtubs could talk, for what Twilight's saw earlier!" the bathtub revealed in a familiar voice. Oh. Twilight shot him a glare in an instant, her horn lighting up as her eyes narrowed. He made a yelping noise and the entire bathtub poofed away as fast as it had arrived. Shape-shifting? No, he could probably appear as whatever he wanted. 'Spirit' seemed only partially correct, as he had more properties of some sort of quantum entity. It was a little disturbing how he could kind of show up anywhere and seemed to like eavesdropping... "T-That was just, um, snuggling and kissing! Besides, I'm still technically in heat, so, well, it doesn't count!" Twilight defended adamantly, her cheeks shifting a bright pink as Fluttershy shrank a little. Heh. As cute as they were when awkward like this, I didn't see much sense in it. "You two don't have to lie about it, or stop being with each other that way. There's nothing wrong with it," I pointed out idly, looking back and forth between the two of them. Fluttershy wasn't handling the conversation well at all, maintaining a full-face blush at this point. Regardless, she actually managed to retort, with the utmost politeness, of course. "Well, yes, but it is wrong. It's wrong because you're not a part of it," she elaborated. Ah. I had immediate mixed feelings due to the simultaneous revelation that they were willing to abstain and wait for me, and the other revelation that they'd rather abstain and wait rather than just make me part of it. Did they know something I didn't? Suddenly, I started wondering exactly how desirable I appeared to be. This time I blocked out the link as best I could. It didn't take a second for Fluttershy to shift to a frown, however. "Um, please don't hide your feelings, Mender. At least not from us. We care about you very much," she whispered gently, leaning in and nuzzling my right shoulder. It was amazing how fast she could make me feel like a total jerk. I swallowed and looked down instead. "I just... I don't want you two to not be as close or anything because of me. I'm okay with waiting for you two to want me to join in," I muttered, slapping back the selfish jerk inside of me. I valued them both for so much more than that. To say otherwise suddenly felt insulting to them. Twilight smiled gently, and then looked over to her herdmate instead. Eh? Fluttershy simply blushed and nodded timidly, however, earning a smirk back. "I'm not safe yet, unfortunately. My hormone reading was four point five this morning when I took it, and it needs to be under four for me to be completely infertile. It'll be fine by tomorrow afternoon or so," Twilight informed suddenly. I, er, what?! Why was she suddenly telling me this? Fluttershy turned a bit pinker before nodding. "I'm safe already. We really want to be comfortable with you, too, Mender. In a few days, maybe the three of us should, um, try to take steps towards that? If it's okay with both of you, of course!" She barely squeaked out the last part before shrinking down again. I smiled towards how adorable she was before a light twinge went through my mind. A few days? Wasn't I supposed to be remembering something? "That's a good idea, Fluttershy. We want you to be comfortable, too. Also, can you stay here tonight, Mender?" Twilight asked softly, glancing over at me. Huh? I wasn't going to sleep at the library tonight? Fluttershy's eyes expanded to maximum size in half a second flat, but Twilight held her hoof up quickly. "Just for tonight. I'm not fully out of estrus yet, and the, um, pheromones are still all over the library," she muttered, blushing profusely. Oh yeah. Fluttershy wasn't producing pheromones anymore. "Oh. Well, of course. I don't want Mender to, um, be uncomfortable," the shy pegasus murmured, tone shifting to more relaxed as she seemed to realize the reason for it as I did. Twilight lost a bit of the blush, eyes softening as she slowly shook her head. "Not just that. I'm also afraid of not being able to control myself again," she admitted, tone quieter now. I smiled gently at her, leaning forwards and giving a soft kiss to her forehead. Yeah, no matter what, I made the right choice. I didn't like being angry, especially not with Twilight or Fluttershy. Not much really needed to be said, my feelings being fairly self-explanatory. Fluttershy smiled and nodded to her, too, before resting her head on Twilight's shoulder. The lavender mare blushed, but pushed into us a little more. This was really all I needed. All I... Oh. A few days! I should probably tell them about that meeting with Tia. "I suddenly remembered, did Princess Celestia send anything to you two over the week?" I asked, looking between them. Fluttershy looked momentarily curious, but Twilight smiled and nodded. "Yeah, she said she sent you a letter and requested all of our presence in Canterlot in a day or so. I already told the girls," she assured, causing me to relax. I'd figured Tia had sent a letter to them, too, but it was better safe than sorry. At that, the yellow mare perked and nodded to me as well, relaxing once more. "Yeah, it's a bit sudden, but we know why. Um, I was going to also ask, if you don't mind... Do you think you could tell us about everything that happened during the week, if it's not too much trouble? We heard about a lot from Dash but, well..." Twilight snickered softly to herself and nodded. "We'd like to hear it in your own words. She has a tendency to, well, embellish things a bit, and not pay attention to other spots," she added, coughing lightly and looking away, causing Fluttershy to fuss nervously. Chuckling, I nodded to them. "Of course I can, but it might, well, take a little bit. It's a little drafty here. Why don't we use the couch upstairs?" I suggested, not really wanting to relay the entire story while sitting on my rump in front of the door to the cottage. Twilight smiled and nodded, while Fluttershy just smiled, a tiny shade of pink dancing over her cheeks. Deciding we were in agreement, I smiled to both and turned, heading up the stairs. It was really, really hard not to trip when I suddenly picked up on Fluttershy staring at my butt, via the link... * * * * * So many questions! It had taken over an hour and a half to relay all the events that had happened while I was at the cabins to both mares. It had taken another half an hour at least to get through all the extra questions they had afterwards. Between Fluttershy panicking over my getting injured and Sweetie hurting and poisoning herself, and Twilight's avid curiosity about how linking with Rainbow and healing her mental fatigue went, it had taken us long past midnight and into the new day. Twilight almost didn't seem to even care that Rainbow had partially linked with me. I hadn't expected that, but her focus seemed almost entirely on my healing her having worked, and the various enchantments I gave all of them. Fluttershy's only concern was that Rainbow hadn't forced me into anything apart from surprising me with the kiss, which was a no, thankfully. Both agreed that she'd probably be a lot more levelheaded now that heat was over, and that we all should talk about it in Canterlot after the meeting. It made sense. Fluttershy's eight second long yawn had called the meeting to a close, Twilight saying she should go get some sleep after finishing giggling towards the yellow pegasus. Only then had the epic battle begun. "No, really, it's okay, Mender. Um, the couch is perfectly comfy, and you had a really, really hard week, so take my bed!" Fluttershy offered again, blushing lightly while she patted the couch cushion, as if emphasizing how soft it was. I resisted her cuteness as best I could! "Fluttershy, I've slept on tons of couches since I got here, and find them perfectly comfortable. This is your house, so you deserve the bed, Silly," I protested, nudging my hoof in the direction of her extra soft, comfy looking bed a half dozen meters away. She rapidly shook her head, however, and I sighed. We'd been at this for ten minutes now, and weren't going to sleep tonight at all if we didn't settle it. "You leave me no choice, then. I'll have to resort to drastic measures," I warned, standing up fully as her eyes widened a bit. "Um, w-what are those, if you don't mind me asking?" she squeaked out, edging backwards slightly as she watched me approach. She let out a gasp, however, as my tentacles extended instead, and I smiled happily towards her. "Nooooooooooo!" she squeaked out in protest, flailing about as I carried her over to the bed in a bundle of soft, warm tendrils. Snickering, I set her gently down on the mattress and watched her pout up at me. Giving me a timid smile, she hesitated for a moment, starting to open her mouth again. My proximity sensor went off before she could say anything, however. Wait, what?! Something very pissed off, furry, and white bounded out of nowhere and put two padded feet right into the side of my face. With its whole body, it provided enough force to kick my head sideways, tipping me. Flailing, I yelped as gravity took over and I went off the side of the bed with a crash. "Angel!" I heard Fluttershy yelp from somewhere above me as my head spun, giving me a very good, if not slightly dizzy view of the ceiling. What was an 'Angel', and why did it hurt so much? Wait, I'd heard that name before. Given the double vision and developing headache sadly, recollection wasn't the easiest for me. Eh, what's another concussion at this point? There was a rapid thumping from the bed, but I heard a huff instead. "No, that was a very bad bunny! Mender is Mommy's very special somepony, and would never hurt me, no matter what you think you saw! You are not to attack him," Fluttershy scolded suddenly. Bunny? Oh! Yeah, she had a special pet bunny named Angel. I'd forgotten. Crawling up and onto my hooves again, I stood and propped my forelegs up onto the bed. A very pissed off looking rabbit stared at me, its ears flattened back as Fluttershy chewed him out. My eyes softened a bit and I just watched. "You're going to have to behave, Mister! Apologize to Mender!" Fluttershy demanded, still glaring at him. The little bunny's front legs crossed, and he abruptly looked away from me instead, closing his eyes. That was a no, I was going to guess. "Angel!" my fillyfriend protested. It was too late, however. The bunny shot off in an instant, bounding off the bed and running downstairs faster than Fluttershy could grab him. Sighing, I hopped up the rest of the way onto the bed and helped Fluttershy up from her face first flop upon missing the speedy bunny. "Phooey. Um, are you okay, Mender? I didn't think he'd even come up here tonight," she whispered, gaze shifting to me as she straightened out her mane. "Yeah. I got my armor up before I hit the floor. That was your pet, then?" I asked, reaching out and helping her straighten back some of her mane. Actually, it looked rather adorable a bit messy, too, but I might be biased there. She gave me a timid smile and nod, returning, "Yeah. Um, normally I don't see much of him during, well, estrus week. Bunnies go into theirs during our second one and he has a female friend... Um." Smiling, I nodded in understanding of her, releasing her from the need to say anything further. She relaxed and nodded back, looking pleased to not have to finish that statement. "Anyway, he must have, well, heard me yelp when you picked me up. He's been my friend for a long time, and sometimes he gets protective of me. Um, he didn't mean anything by it," she excused, frowning and looking down at her hooves. "I figured that was the reason. He's got quite a kick! I'm leaving my armor on next time around him," I muttered, snickering and earning a soft smile. "He'll warm up to you, don't worry. Um, he has to. I know I'm not giving you up," she added, voice dropping off as she blushed. Feeling my chest warm up a bit, I smiled and leaned over to her, ignoring her widening eyes. She gave a slight shiver as I pushed my lips into hers, but slowly slid closer against me a moment later, relaxing into my hug. I brushed her mane back and cupped the side of her face as she leaned back, having gone from a soft smile to a full out happy one instead. The timing was perfect. "Sure you don't want me using the couch?" I offered one last time, my smile lifting up into a smirk instead. As empathic as she was, she picked up on it instantly and snickered, shaking her head at my teasing. "You'd better not. Mmm. Twilight's been with you while sleeping before tons of times, so, uh, if you don't mind, maybe I could be with you tonight? We don't, well, have to do that dream sharing thing, but I kind of want to cuddle, if it's not too much trouble?" she asked quietly. "Anything you're comfortable with, Fluttershy," I assured, squeezing her gently against me as her smile came back and she nodded. "Um, okay, then! I'm going to go get ready and brush my teeth, okay? I think there's an extra brush in my cabinet, so could you go get that for yourself while I go first?" she offered, standing up again and hopping down off the bed. Oh! I'd not been able to brush my teeth during the entire cabins excursion. My toothbrush was in the library, that's right. Smiling, I nodded and hopped down on the other side. "Right! Uh, I'm allowed to use your toothpaste?" I inquired, watching her trot over to her bathroom. She gave me a skeptical glance back over her shoulder before smiling and nodding happily. "Of course, Silly. I'll be out in a few minutes!" she chirped, in a good mood suddenly. She was the silly one. She should know by now that she didn't have to even ask when it came to cuddles. I adored every inch of her, and feeling her warm fur against me and snuggling up to her while sleeping would be amazing! A surprising burst of giddiness hit me as I swayed back and forth, smiling happily. Okay, Mender, don't weird her out! Toothbrush! Surely it wouldn't be that hard to find. She only had three cabinets up here. Three minutes later, I was eating those words. Toothbrush… Toothbrush… Why was it so hard to find a stupid toothbrush for me?! Glaring, I shifted to the side and opened cabinet number three. At this point, I was considering just forming one with magic for tonight. I only needed it once! My ears perked up, listening to her quiet but adorable humming as she brushed her own teeth behind the carefully closed door. Smiling, I sighed contentedly, actually rather enjoying staying with her. She had a totally different dynamic to her apart from Twilight. I felt more at ease and relaxed with Fluttershy. Looking through the third cabinet like an ancient explorer might peek into a trap filled tomb, I noticed nothing even vaguely shaped like the one I’d had at the library. Damn it! Mane curler, combs, a couple animal bowls, a few bags of powder-looking stuff labeled with bars of soap on them… Getting frustrated, I dropped back down to all fours and looked a bit lower. Maybe she’d meant one of the drawers! Perking up, I smiled as I hopped back over to the larger cabinet that had contained her clothes for special occasions. Admittedly, that dress I saw in there was really pretty, and if I guessed right, I’d have to compliment Rarity on it later! Smiling, I opened the first drawer that was right under the cabinet main doors, and then blinked in mild confusion. Uh, what were these thingies? There was some sort of molded form placed into the bottom of the drawer, shaped indentations that were all filled up with strange objects. They were elongated and very multi-colored, in quite a variety of shapes and sizes. Some looked like carrots, while others kinda more like wiggly pencils of some sort. One was even colored like a carrot! I tilted my head, glancing over them while sliding the drawer out more. Had I stumbled upon some sort of Equestrian culture that I had yet been aware of? Tentatively, my left hoof extended down and poked the closest, pink one. It was easy enough to pick up the enchantment on it, and I perked up. Oh, they were some sort of specialized device, then! Drawing that one out of the mold, I looked it over more closely. It didn’t really have any smell to it, and looked thoroughly and meticulously cleaned. Maybe it had to do with her vet practices? Although why it wasn’t with the other tools downstairs, I didn’t know. Scanning the enchantment over, I found the ‘on’ nub at the base of it a moment later. It only confused me further after I activated it, however, and it started vibrating around on my hoof. What purpose was that supposed to serve? My eyes widened and I let out a startled squeak as it accidentally fell off the side of my hoof and landed on the floor, despite me trying to catch it again twice. I stared as it bounced around on the floor, its function suddenly dawning on me! Ooooooh, these were animal toys! Snickering to myself and watching it bounce around, I created a little walled off section for it with small barriers and just stared for a second. It was quite an energetic little thing, and I pictured a kitty or something bounding about after it. Looking back in the drawer, I stared at the different shapes and tried to guess what animals they were for. Maybe each different animal liked a different color? I tilted my head and slid the drawer out a little more, to its maximum, then widened my eyes at the massive toy in the back. It was oddly reddish in color along the majority of it with a more mottled brown spot thing going, and the base where the activator was appeared to be made of gemstones, both blue and white in color. I tilted my head towards it, immediately thinking of Rarity with the colors and gemstone usage. Trying not to laugh, I imagined the pearly unicorn bounding around after the thing, trying to pounce on it like a cat would. Okay, that was adorable. Rarity would probably find it undignified, however, so I decided to definitely not tell her about that one. Besides, it was huge! Actually, it was almost Big Mac sized, being probably two thirds of a foreleg in length. The mental images of ‘him’ pouncing at it weren’t as cute, being more just strange, and I shuddered, banishing the mental images. Actually, now that I looked at it, its color was very similar to his coat. Staring a little harder, I noticed it also wasn’t as smooth and uniform as the others, looking like it actually had veins running through it. Creepy! Eh, actually it had a lot of dust on it, so maybe Fluttershy thought it was creepy, too? Deciding it was for a meat eater or something, I slid the drawer a bit further closed to banish it from sight, and peeked at some of the others. Heh, these were kinda fun! A minute later, I had five of them bouncing around inside of the open-topped box I had formed, snickering in amusement as I watched their ‘battle’ progress. So far, the wiggly and floppy one with the prong-thingy at the base of it was winning due to sheer mass, but the tiny pink one was really dodgy! Debating who’d win in the end, I suddenly realized why these thingies weren’t down with the other tools. “Oh, these things are for playtime instead, so they’re up here,” I muttered, perking at my realization. Equestrian society was getting easier for me to grasp! “Oh? What’s for playtime?” I heard Fluttershy ask in her usual happy yet soft, sing-song voice. Oops! In my attempts to figure out what the victory conditions would be for the animal toys, I hadn’t heard the water stop in the bathroom. Fluttershy stepped out, rotating around with a small towel in her mouth before immediately freezing in place, dropping it when she saw what I was doing. Swallowing, I snickered sheepishly and nodded. “Oh, sorry. I found your animal toys and was having a ‘battle’ with them. Uh, I’ll put them back,” I apologized quickly, shrinking the box to gather them up again. Fluttershy’s jaw dangled loosely, the pink tint in her cheeks shifting to a full-blown red color that expanded over her entire face in an instant. “An-Animal t-to… Ah… ha…..aaa,” she whispered, it slowly turning into an airy squeak as her eyes rolled up. Mine widened at the same time as she sagged and simply fell over sideways. Ah! Standing, I rapidly rushed over to where she was, panicking! What had I done this time?! * * * * * "Fluttershy, it's natural. I don't think any less of you," I assured weakly, faint blush still on my cheeks after she finally managed to get me to understand what they actually were for. Of course, it was nowhere near the pronounced, full-faced blush she still sported. I kept fanning her with a thin barrier to cool her off regardless. She looked less than assured, and continued shivering and hiding most of her body under the blankets. Okay, so I felt like a total asshole. Keldarian females didn't have toys like that. I thought it was only a male thing! The only accessories I knew existed for that sort of thing were the, well, holes for males and specialized clothing for the females that 'really' liked to exercise their dominant status... "I, um, I don't use them very often a-at, uh, no! I barely used any of th-them! And the big one is Rarity's!" the shivering mare protested. Huh. I had guessed right after all. Uh, wait, why was it the same color as... No, never mind. There were some places even my exuberant curiosity refused to tread. New tactic! "Fluttershy, I kinda already knew you were with Twilight in a significantly more than friendly way. I didn't think that was strange, did I?" I pointed out quietly. Heartbreaking and traumatic, yes, but definitely not strange. Fluttershy peeked up at me again, her left ear popping out and showing one of the only non-pink tinted areas of her fur that was visible. "R-Really? You don't think I'm, well, w-weird?" she hesitantly stuttered out, making me want to haul her out and hug her tight. That probably wouldn't go over well, though. Eh, I was just happy Angel hadn't bound up here upon hearing her collapse and kick my face in again. Smiling through my flush, I nodded lightly, averting my eyes slightly. Regardless of what she thought, the revelation of the toys' existence was an interesting one, to say the least. I decided it was more the stallion in me thinking that, though, and pushed it down. Fluttershy frowned, however, and shrank back into her blankets. Crap. Figured she’d pick up on that. "P-Please be honest, Mender. Um, you can tell me what, well, what you really think," she spoke, followed by a weak whimper. My flushed tint probably got a little darker as her question pulled what I 'really' thought of it right back to the forefront. No, that would just freak her out more! "I'm telling the truth, Flut-" I started to reassure, looking back down at her again. I froze when I saw the look in her eyes, coupled with them starting to look wetter. Ack! "F-Fluttershy, I don't think you want to, um, hear about that. I promise I absolutely don't think that, well, you're weird or anything," I muttered, looking away from her again awkwardly. No, I couldn't keep looking into those eyes. Even when she wasn't doing that potent technique from earlier, it still tore me apart inside. She rapidly shook her head, coming a little more out of the blankets in my peripheral vision. "Please? I really do want to, um, hear," she asked, almost pleading. I was going to be lucky if I ended up in a comfortable enough bush outside to sleep in tonight. Well, here goes. "I, well, I didn't know females had toys for that sort of thing before now. Um, honestly, thinking about you, uh, using them... Well, it's actually kind of hot," I admitted. A long second passed and the anticipated shriek of despair and assault didn't come. Had it happened so fast I hadn't realized I was dead yet? Deciding that was unlikely, I peeked back over at Fluttershy to see, awareness extending heavily towards my own flushed cheeks with the movement of my head. She stared at me in shock, her jaw hanging slightly open. Honestly, I couldn't tell if she was blushing any more than before or not, which was a little awkward in and of itself. My eyebrow rose slightly, however, as I saw two little bumps start to rise up a little in the blanket over her back. Was she...? The second she saw me look, she shrank down again, this time the blush flaring up even more as she squeaked, shaking under the blanket like a dog until it was all wrapped around her, significantly tighter than before. "Ah, I'm sorry! Um, that wasn't... I didn't expect that. It's really, um, h-hot?" I barely heard her ask as she dropped yet again in volume, and the blankets had been added to the barriers between my ears and her mouth. "Well, yeah. I'm really, really attracted to you. Um, in every way, Fluttershy. Thinking of you enjoying yourself is kinda nice," I reiterated, shrinking down a little into a lying position as I felt an awkward stirring. Could we please just go to bed?! I'd committed enough faux pas today! Oddly, she just watched me from under the blankets for a moment before the shivering stopped. I gazed back, noticing a timid lifting of the corners of her mouth. She was happy? I stayed perfectly still as she slowly slipped out of the blanket a little more and leaned over, pecking me lightly on the nose. She was still blushing enough to make me a tad concerned for her circulation, but she finally wore a tiny smile, which was an improvement in my opinion. "Thank you, Mender. Um, I wish I was as b-brave as you. I'm really, uh... What I mean is, you're really handsome and, well... Oh, I can't seem to say it!" she whined, clamping her eyes closed in obvious frustration. Well, it leaked down the link easily enough, anyways. Slipping forwards, I lay next to her instead, but on top of the blankets, of course. She gave me a surprised glance, but gently started to widen her smile a little more as I returned her nose-kiss. "Relax, Fluttershy. I promise. Absolutely promise that you can talk to me about anything you wish. I'm not going to judge you, or even think less of you in the slightest. I just, um, I want to help you, Fluttershy," I explained, resting my head on the mattress next to her. Her eyes shimmered again and she nodded twice, switching back to a shy smile before nuzzling against the side of my muzzle. "Thank you, Mender. I, um, understand. To be honest then, I... I'm attracted to you like that, too! At first I was super worried about still having the estrus hormones in my body and having my smells bother you. I check at least three times a day to see what my, um, level thingy is so I know how often I need to, well, wash up. But you actually staying here is..." she started rapidly explaining, and then froze for a moment, shivering again. Everything she'd said so far was perfectly understandable. Out of all of my friends, her home had the most 'occupants' apart from her, so she was undoubtedly more self-conscious of her pheromones. "It's scary. I want you to be happy and, um, you finding those made me think I screwed up and... I thought you'd think I was a weirdo or something, and you'd never want to come here again," she finally admitted, her ears lowering a bit as she looked down and away from me. Leaning in, I kissed her forehead instead before squeezing her with my left foreleg through the blanket. She relaxed against me a second later, and I shook my head. "Well, you didn't screw up, and I'm very, very happy to be here, Fluttershy. I was already considering talking to Twilight about that, actually," I admitted, honestly. This was as good a time as any to bring it up, I guessed. Her ears perked up and she gave me a curious glance, of course, her flush returning to normal Fluttershy-levels, finally. Elaborating, I explained, "Oh, I just thought that once we actually became a proper herd, maybe it would be a good idea to take turns sleeping at either the library or the cottage? That way you could keep a close eye on your animals and she could keep the library updated, but the three of us could get to snuggle each night." Her teal eyes were dancing by the time I finished, and she rapidly nodded, looking significantly happier at that idea. "Oh, yes! Very much, yes. I'd be delighted! Until we can figure out a more permanent arrangement, that's a really good compromise," she agreed. I could always tell her comfort level without even needing her link, based off how loud her voice was, I noticed. Kissing her on the lips this time, I felt her shiver once, then push into me a bit more. I smiled but kept it chaste, leaning back a moment later and nodding. "I'm glad you like it, and also happy you're not getting after yourself anymore about earlier. It's normal, and not only do I think you're perfectly fine in doing so, I also think it's rather appealing, so relax about it, okay?" She was still a little pink, but her smile stayed this time as she nodded. I resisted the urge to pounce her adorable self and kiss her more, and instead returned her nod, a pleased smile on my muzzle. I'd actually managed to help rectify a social situation! By myself! "Okay, well, you get ready for bed, okay? I'm going to go brush my teeth, and then I'll be back," I said, standing up again now that I was assured my body was a bit more relaxed than before. Fluttershy gave me another happy nod before sinking into her blankets more, giving a content sigh. It was enough for me that she was happy, and I hopped off my side of the bed before trotting around and over to the bathroom, giving a quick glance to the special drawer again as I passed by it. Maybe, just maybe, once we finally got comfortable with each other a ways down the road, she'd show me how they worked. Heh, that was undoubtedly a long ways off, but maybe I'd ask her one day. Snickering silently in my mind, I went into the bathroom, the image of a toothbrush forming from my magic... Chapter 61I don't know how she was able to do it, but Fluttershy held her link open specifically for me. It was a subconscious thing, it seemed, with me being lightly tugged through an area of her mind that appeared fully dedicated to me. I watched memories drifting past like faint video screens as I walked, surrounded by the haze of emotions danced around me. Her dream was happy, I knew that much. Further, it shocked me to realize that she devoted this much to me. A light flush drifted into my face as I continued towards the distant sunlight, through the mists and floating memories. Fluttershy was beautiful, and I had to fully admit that as I stepped out onto the grass. The pleasant smell of a warm summer day greeted me, with flowery fragrances both soft and vivid, and the smell of the pine she was under. Fluttershy lay happily on her side facing me, in the shade of a large tree, with her long mane drifting out so carefree, spread over the grass. A deer lay nearby, and she was surrounded by at least a dozen bunnies, one of whom was Angel. Predictably, none of the animals even looked concerned with my presence as I walked closer. Something beyond my senses must have told her of my approach, and her eyes opened up as I got closer. Shifting slightly, she gave me a soft smile and stretched her legs out languidly. Surprise shot through me, even though I knew this was a dream, as my eyes fell upon her swollen tummy as her leg no longer partially obscured it. Was this what a pregnant mare looked like? It was curious as to why she was dreaming about being pregnant. There was no need to say anything. The sky brightened around us, emphasizing the emotions I could already see in her eyes. Reaching out with a hoof, she pulled me gently down next to her, folding her tummy and chest against me as our legs entwined. This was a dream I could definitely get used to! Why was she pregnant, though? I knew she would be a good mother, and guessed that my help before she fell asleep spurred slightly more sexual thoughts, despite not going quite that far. My eyes widened a little more as I felt something move inside of her as she settled in. Was this… Was she dreaming that this was mine? Fluttershy gave me a little kiss, then tucked her head under my chin and simply rested against me. Even the bunnies relocated around me, a warm sensation of understanding coming to mind. Yeah, Fluttershy was my mate, and I was 'supposed' to be as close to her as possible. That was the way of things. Relaxing, both of us just let things drift around us... * * * * * My eyes stirred and opened after I felt Fluttershy drift out of the hazy dream world, pulling myself alongside her. The light sound of birds chirping and soft morning sun greeted me, as I stretched along my back, yawning. Both Fluttershy and her sheets smelled really good, and I turned to my right, wrapping my left foreleg around the soft mare next to me. She let out a tired murmur, before rolling and pushing her forehead into my chest, her right wing draping over me. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I felt a soft smile drift onto her muzzle against my chest. "You're still here. I really thought that yesterday might have been a dream," she whispered quietly after another moment. I smiled as well, even though I knew she couldn't see. "Your actual dream was beautiful, too. You make a gorgeous pregnant mare," I complimented, now that I knew she was lucid. In the dream, I knew that she wasn't fully in control, as I didn't go with her as she fell asleep, so I just contented myself with keeping her rest as pleasant as possible. Her teal eyes brightened as she pushed a little more into my fur. "That really was you! I, um, I somehow knew it." She didn't seem too surprised, which was a definite plus. Her empathy and awareness of that link between us was amazing! Her ears twitched a second later, however, and she looked back up at me, a light tint to her cheeks as she asked, "Wait, you thought I was... I was pretty, even pregnant?" "You held the way open just for me, so of course I was going to join you. And no, I said gorgeous, Fluttershy. You were beautiful and very motherly. I just wish I'd been able to fall asleep with you. You'd have been aware of everything, then," I lamented. Not that it had been a very 'bad' dream. Definitely not. Next time I'd have to show her around the dreamscape. I had so many things I wanted her to see! Unexpectedly, her blush deepened a bit and she shrank down against me, pushing her nose back into my fur. "Oh. Oh, my... Then that means, um, all of last night happened. You really..." she muttered, almost inaudibly. Oh. I nodded and held her closer, gently rubbing her back as she looked back up towards me, an intense mixture of different emotions in her eyes. I couldn't tell exactly which was winning as the chaotic thoughts bounced down the link, but I tried to assure her anyways. "I did it to try to help you, Fluttershy, and I won't do anything without your direct consent. I'm your mate, right? Making sure you're not in distress, and helping you when you need it is something I'd do regardless of that, but that makes it okay to take care of your other needs, too, right?" I questioned, both as assurance to her, and to make sure I fully understood the situation. This was the absolute last thing I wanted to get wrong! Her rushing emotions calmed a little, and a light smile played at her muzzle while she relaxed. Seeing her calmer relaxed me, too, of course, and I broached another important point. "Also, if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask me next time. That includes with your urges. I'd gladly help you out any way I can, including with my, well, mouth again," I reassured, unable to fully stop the blush at that last part, rapidly remembering last night. Oh dear... Fluttershy's blush didn't get better or worse at that, and she just shrank a bit more, timidly nodding. "Y-You really didn't mind? Um, I mean, stallions don't usually do that sort of, well... Oh my," she tried to say, stumbling over her own words before falling silent and pushing her face into my coat again. My smile widened as I wrapped my right foreleg around her too and just held her there. Finally, working a bit of courage up, I managed to admit, "Well, yes, Fluttershy. Um, I actually rather liked it, too. Not as much as it looked like you did, but just making you feel so good made me really, really happy." It was difficult to explain, mixing both affection and happiness with lust and attraction. The feelings were complex, I decided. Okay, that time her blush intensified. She gave me a smile, however, despite trying to burrow into me and hide herself as best she could. Then she scared the crap out of me by suddenly gasping and bringing booth hooves up to her muzzle, eyes expanding rapidly. What?! "Oh, oh no! I just, um, realized, I just fell asleep afterwards! B-But you were, well, r-right there when... You must have gotten pheromones all over you. Are you okay? I didn't mean to fall asleep before I could help y-you, too," she squeaked out a second later, surprising me in a different way instead. "Ah, no, it's okay, Fluttershy! I, well, had a few problems afterwards, but it was nothing a cold shower couldn't fix. Then I cleaned you up and changed your blanket, so you don't have to worry about, well, the mess, either," I assured, trying to distract her away from what seemed to be her main concern. It was for her, not for her to return the favor, too. Sadly, my mention of the shower appeared to have the opposite of desired effects as her face fell when I said it. "Oh no. No, this isn't... I'm a horrible fillyfriend to put you through all that and then not help you, too," she murmured, voice becoming more stable as her blush died down. Unfortunately, it was due to her being sad instead, so this wouldn't do at all. "Fluttershy, I did it for you, not for me. You got right to sleep afterwards, which was exactly why I asked if I could help you, remember? My momentary comfort comes very much last in that case," I tried to remind, earning a frown instead. "Mender, no! I, um, know what pheromones do to stallions. Really, I... I, um..." Her eyes widened a little as she trailed off, staring blankly into my chest as I could feel her mind going a mile a second. Uh oh. Did she think of something else traumatic? Her eyes snapped into focus again a second later as they slid down my chest, dropping past my stomach and into the shadows under our covers. Uh? Her blush came back in full force as her eyes shivered lightly, nodding to herself a moment later. "I could fix it. I could make it up to you! R-right now even. I, well, I have to! I'm not going to be a bad fillyfriend," she declared, seemingly to herself as she got a determined look in her eyes. Make it up to me? Why did I not like the sounds of that? "Fluttershy, you're not a bad fillyfriend. Is this actually about-" I started, putting two and two together. "N-No! It's not about, um... I want to make it up to you, but I also want to, well, I want to be with you like this, too. Just like Twilight. A stallion is a little scarier, but I trust you and want to be with you, too," she whispered, eyes softening as she eased against me softly. Fluttershy... She felt nervous through the link, but also honest, her heart fluttering against my chest. She really wanted this, and it wasn't just to 'fix' what happened over estrus? My hesitation spiked, but I felt her pick up on it through our link, and she released steady reassurance back. Relaxing, I gave a nervous swallow, and then nodded to her. That was all that was needed and I gave in, my body readily agreeing with my choice, to my mild disgust. “A-All right, Fluttershy. Just, um, stop immediately if you feel uncomfortable,” I requested, sighing hesitantly. Fluttershy smiled up at me timidly, flush hot across her cheeks as she kissed lightly against my chest, moving further down my stomach with each repeated peck. Oh hell. Was this really happening?! I mean, last night was crazy enough, but was she really going to do this?! The answer was fairly obvious as she ducked down under the blanket, mostly covered from the nippy room air, but easily visible to me as her wings tented out the cover over herself. If it bothered her, she didn't show it, and heated up even more, that familiar murky haze starting to drift down the link as her tongue got more involved in each little kiss, paying homage to a trail down my body. I shuddered, and just resolved myself to letting her do whatever she wanted… * * * * * "Um, are you sure you don't want any help?" Fluttershy whispered yet again, sitting down on my right, next to her toilet. Smiling absently, I shook my head again as all eight tentacles busied themselves, moving washing rags in the tub. "No, having eight extra limbs makes this rather efficient, don't worry. Besides, um, most of the mess was mine, after all," I reminded, my naughty mind replaying how our shower had gone. Fluttershy definitely surprised me, so far proving almost insatiable! As if she picked up on my thoughts, I felt Fluttershy blush furiously through the link, not even needing to turn and look at her. "O-Oh. No, um, I made a... Well, I know I'm, well, messier than most mares," she barely managed to get out, voice dying shortly after. I hesitated, then smiled softly and leaned over, finally turning my head enough to nuzzle into the side of her cheek and kiss her lightly. "It's perfectly fine. Natural, even. Regardless, it obviously doesn't change how I feel about you," I reminded. It also suddenly wasn't so hard to believe that she and Twilight had gotten intimate over the estrus break now, both because of seeing how the hormones affected her, and being much more intimate with her myself now. I wasn't as mad anymore, I decided. It was sad that they did that without me, yeah, but we technically just did the same without Twilight now. I was more concerned and distraught over them filling out the paperwork and forming the herd than anything else. Not that the mare next to me wasn't amazingly skilled at distracting me from my concerns, first with affection and now with downright seduction. Three times now and it wasn't even noon yet! Fluttershy smiled happily towards me, nuzzling back before giving a soft kiss on my lips. "I know, Mender. Thank you. I'm very, very happy that you're my special somepony. Well, my mate now. I'm still, um, a little worried about Twilight being upset, but I guess neither of us have much room to complain, and I'm sure she'll want to join in when she's safe again," she admitted. I didn't have the heart to remind her that was technically today. As much as I was sad that Twilight didn't get to be with us, she couldn't without risking other things. Further, Fluttershy had legitimate needs last night, due no small part to my own stupidity with her toys I discovered. "We'll make it up to her, don't worry. Let's head over there and see if she's up to eating breakfast with us?" I suggested, putting all seven rags together again and wincing at the light squishing noise they made. There had been a lot to clean up after all. Yikes. I wondered idly if that was a side effect of my cybernetics. Fluttershy let out a light squeak and rapidly shook her head as I gathered up the rags, however. "No! Um, I mean, I'll make it up to Twilight. Then both of us will continue to make it up to you! What happened with the herd is far, far worse than, well, this," she insisted, edging a bit closer to me again with a rather pleading gaze. I swallowed and edged back a bit, then noticed her cough lightly, wings rising up a little. It took me a moment, but I realized where the rags were and lifted them away from the side of her head with my tentacles. "Er, sorry. Um, hamper?" I suggested as she rapidly shook the dazed look out of her eyes. Another new thing I'd discovered! Mares were just as susceptible to stallion smells as we were to theirs. Well, I'd figured that out last night, but it was a good thing to commit to memory, I decided. "Ah, yeah. Same spot as the blanket, please. Um, and breakfast with Twilight is a good idea. We should talk to her as soon as possible," she agreed, stepping back as I moved past her and out into her bedroom again, trotting over to the large hamper next to the stairs down. It was almost twice the size of Twilight's, which made sense considering how many animals Fluttershy cleans up after. Fluttershy slipped up next to me as I closed the lid again, and shot me a warm smile regardless of the nervous sensations coming down her link from talking about Twilight. She was in a good mood, despite having the 'tiniest complaint' that she was 'just a little' sore, but insisted that I didn't have to worry at all. Of course, I'd pounced and hugged her immediately afterwards, which just made her squeak and seem even cuter. I swear, living here was going to give me diabetes in less than a week. She followed a step behind me as I walked down the stairs, then dashed past at the bottom and put out several dishes of animal food while I watched. Turns out, they get their breakfast in the morning, too. They literally came out of the walls in droves as she set the dishes out, each giving their own special good morning to Fluttershy in the form of chirps, squeaks, and purrs. Three cats, a dozen mice, four birds, and a strangely mutated squirrel all pounced on the dishes, amazingly enough, side by side. Uh, weren't some of those natural predators to the others? The yellow mare smiled happily as she turned back to me and ran back up, simultaneously answering my question as I remembered who their owner was. I smiled and nodded a second before she plowed into me, kissing me on the cheek before fluttering her wings out and swaying next to me, subtly energetic, if that was possible. Eh, I was just happy that she was happy. "Are you set, then?" I asked, nudging my head towards the door. She stopped swaying, then blushed lightly and nodded, earning a raised eyebrow from me. The link pulsed with sudden awkward embarrassment, and she looked away from me, giggling weakly. "Um, I know it's silly, but a part of me is, um, a little worried that others are suddenly going to know when they look at me. Um, you know," she muttered, both of us skipping the part where I try to get her to tell me the problem. She knew that I wasn't going to make fun of her as much as she knew I wasn't going to give up until she said what was wrong. "Know? What do you-" I started to ask before it suddenly dawned on me and I blushed, coughing lightly. "Oh, that. Um, you look exactly the same, Fluttershy, and we're both fresh out of the shower so I really don't think that's possible. Just relax, okay? Besides, it's normal. Does it matter if they find out? We're both consenting adults, and very much with each other," I reasoned, trying to give her a reassuring smile as I pulled her a little closer. It might be a little embarrassing when the Element Bearers found out, and I sensed an awkward conversation with Twilight coming up fast, but that didn't mean it was going to change anything about our relationships. Oddly, I decided the concept of them knowing was actually worse because they were closer to me. I didn't so much mind even the rest of Ponyville knowing. Well, unless they found out all at once through something horribly unfortunate happening, which was actually a possibility in this town. Note to self, stay away from Vinyl and Pinkie for the morning. Fluttershy still blushed lightly, but a smile came to her face and she nodded twice, kissing me lightly on the cheek before resting her forehead against my shoulder. I gestured towards the door again, and this time she gave a nod. I'd honestly never thought of them somehow figuring out that we'd upgraded our relationship. Idly, I wondered if there was some sort of body language or something that we'd give off indicating as such. I certainly didn't 'feel' particularly different, apart from being even closer to Fluttershy than before. Regardless, we finally made it out the door, and a flock of birds almost flew up my nose, singing greetings towards Fluttershy, me just being the unfortunate bystander. Her nervousness was forgotten as she greeted all her flying friends, saying pleasant tidings to each individually. I just smiled softly while watching her, a few birds seeing fit to use me as a perch while waiting their turn to say hello. This was a new sensation indeed, but I just stood there and let the feelings soak in. Being treated as non-threatening and normal was definitely something I could get used to! "Well, I'm glad you're all doing well and that nopony's sick or anything. Mender and I have to go visit Twilight now, so if you need anything, I'll be there. Oh, and he might be staying with us more often from now on, as he's part of my herd and I care very much for him. He's a very nice stallion, however, so you can trust him just as much as you trust me, okay?" Fluttershy informed, wrapping up and addressing all the birds at once. I blushed, staring at her in surprise as the birds let out a flood of chirps, several dozen circling me with a rather fast pace. I blinked a few times as a feather or two drifted down, and then lightly brushed my mane back, looking on in wonder as they shot off in every direction into the forest around us. "They'll spread the word," she spoke up, smiling softly towards me as I turned back to her. She'd done that for me? "Fluttershy, um, I'm really happy to hear you say those things. I mean-" I started to thank. She ducked in, however, and kissed me on the mouth shyly, giving a bashful smile as she backed up again a second later. "It's the truth, Silly. You'd never hurt any of these animals. In fact, I've heard several nice things about you from one family of birds in particular, and more recently, from a couple of fish!" she chirped, looking pleased at me. My eyes widened a little. Fish?! No, it couldn't be... "Um, from the lake? I didn't realize word would, uh, spread like that. How do you talk to the animals, anyways?" I asked, curious now. She was a pegasus, so it didn't make sense that she'd have Earth Pony powers. She sighed and shook her head, ears lowering a little as she tucked in against my chest. "I know it's weird. A pegasus on the ground and living with, and talking to a bunch of animals. I've just, well, I've always found empathy with them. I can feel them, just like I heard an Earth Pony can. Maybe that's a literal application of my special talent? I just love them all so much, and hearing them is just, well, normal for me," she whispered. It turned into a squeak as I pulled her tight against me and shook my head, smiling finally. "I didn't mean that, Fluttershy. I think it's amazing, not weird or unnatural. Plus, your relationship with them all is nothing short of beautiful. I'm even a little jealous," I pointed out, snickering afterwards. Fluttershy had an enormous heart, and a ton of love and caring to go around, I suddenly realized. Her being 'Kindness' made a lot of sense to me. Her eyes lowered a bit shyly and she blushed fully now rather than just a light tinting. "Mender, I care about you just as much. Um, you also have all of me, in every way. I'm a mom and friend to them but, well, you're my mate," she assured quietly, just to me. It made me feel happy that she was comfortable enough with me to say that, even if it was just for my ears. I nuzzled back and felt her give a content sigh, pushing a little harder into me as her warm fur slid across my shoulder. She was amazing, and I felt lighter. Like it was okay to just spend as long as I wanted with her for the rest of time. But that wouldn't do. We had another member of our herd to talk to, who was just as important. Gesturing back towards the direction of the library, I gave her a soft nod and smile. Fluttershy perked up and nodded back, following after me as I headed towards town. I enjoyed the sensation of her walking right next to me as I went, brushing against my side with every other step. We were a pair, and finally, it felt like I was supposed to be here. Things felt right, and I held that feeling as close as I could to my chest as we headed towards Twilight... * * * * * It was definitely chilly as we trotted through town square. Fall was upon us fully, and soon it would be winter. It made me rather thankful for my heavier coat. Fluttershy was thankful for it, too, pushing up against me as we walked side by side. Every few steps, I felt a light shiver go through her as the wind would hit us. It didn't take us long, however, to cross the square, which presented us with a new set of circumstances. "Oh! Fluttershy! Mender!" I heard Rarity call out as we walked. Both of us stopped and turned, watching the pearly unicorn trot up quickly from behind us, shopping bags drifting after her in a faint blue light. My nose picked up the smells of potent bases, and I wiggled it, trying not to sneeze. Soaps? "Oh, sorry for the smell. I had to pick up more cleaning supplies for day two of Operation Clean the Library. It's quite a mess," she informed, taking notice of my expression. "Ah. Well we're on our way to the library anyways. Is it, err, safe for me to enter today?" I inquired, my tail flicking slightly behind me in mild frustration. After everything that happened last night with Fluttershy, I completely forgot to tweak my filter to include pheromones. Rarity smiled, however, and nodded, adding, "Of course! It's pretty well cleaned now, and the only area we have left is the basement. Sadly, it was hit the hardest and will probably take most of our time today." Yikes! Well, Twilight had spent most of her time down in there, if the radar had been accurate. Wait... "We? Are the girls helping you again?" I inquired curiously, tilting my head as my ears twitched lightly. "Heck yeah! Of course we're helping!" I heard shouted out, my ping giving me a good three seconds warning. I ducked, pulling Fluttershy down with me as Rainbow shot overhead, spinning happily before whipping into a tight flip and landing next to us in a mostly graceful landing. Only 'mostly' because her saddlebags kept going with downwards inertia and hauled her off her hooves. My left foreleg shot out and actually managed to grab her, slowing her down and only earning a little ache in the process as I steadied her. Not that I usually encouraged live field-testing, but I think that meant the leg was healing nicely. Dash grinned and nodded up to me as she straightened herself out a bit. "Um, thanks. You so didn't see that. Did I hear that you're heading to Twilight's?" she asked curiously, gesturing towards the library. I nodded, and then glanced to Fluttershy on my right as she bumped into me, blushing quite a bit now and looking back and forth between Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Uh... Well, they wouldn’t know anything happened unless Fluttershy kept acting like this. "Um, are you okay, Fluttershy?" I asked softly, earning a start and rapid nod. "O-Of course! Um, I'm fine!" she quickly reassured, not sounding very reassuring at all. Of course, Rarity picked up on it instantly, giving a curious head tilt towards the yellow mare. "You're awfully flushed, Dear. Are you certain you don't have a fever?" she inquired, stepping forwards and lightly pushing an ankle into the now shivering mare's head. Rainbow shot her friend a skeptical look as she shrunk away from the touch. This was going, well, badly. Think, Mender! Lacking a reasonably formed plan, or a plan in the first place, I decided the next best thing was to simply draw fire, so to speak. "She's fine, just don't push her too hard. I did something stupid last night and embarrassed her, and she hasn't recovered yet," I spoke up, pushing Rarity's hoof away as the mare gasped. Predictably, Rainbow's eyes narrowed and I prepared my inner armor just in case things got out of hoof. "What?! What did you do to Fluttershy?" she asked almost instantly. Huh, she was actually inquiring first rather than just attacking me. I guess I really did get on her good side. Rarity frowned towards me, but more in a skeptical manner while Dash stalked closer, eyeing me up as I tried to think of something while remaining stoic towards the mare. I could tell them about the toy incident, but I didn't know if Rainbow knew about Fluttershy's 'collection', and that would be even worse. Blatant lie time, then. Fluttershy looked uncertain as she turned back to look at me, obviously not knowing which thing I was referring to, and Rarity glanced back at her instead, raising an eyebrow. Damn it. I couldn't give that devious mare time to think! "I accidentally walked in on Fluttershy while she was taking a shower and ended up staring for longer than I should have," I blurted out. Rainbow bristled, but Rarity outright smirked instead, seemingly looking right through me. She said absolutely nothing, however, which somehow scared me more. "You did what?!" Rainbow hissed, fury bubbling up in her eyes. Fluttershy freaked out and flailed before hopping between Rainbow and I instead. What was she doing?! Rainbow looked momentarily surprised, but Fluttershy rapidly shook her head. "N-No! He's lying! He's just trying to... This is all my fault. If I could have just acted like normal, this wouldn't have happened," the yellow mare squeaked, slumping down to the ground after getting it out. Sighing, I wrapped my forelegs around her from behind, feeling her sink back against me and hide her face using my limbs. "Er, wait, what?" Rainbow asked, shifting from surprise to confusion as Rarity started snickering. She walked up instead and bumped Rainbow into a relaxed sitting position, rather than frozen in her prior threatening stance with the blank look on her face. "Relax, Rainbow. It was a fabrication, his intent to take the focus away from Fluttershy, who I believe is embarrassed due to something else entirely. And given his blush and defensive stance towards her, and their closeness and body language, I believe I know what," she explained coyly, eyes shifting rather devious as they locked onto me instead. Damn it! "This is exactly what I promised Fluttershy I'd avoid today, so if you'd be so kind as to drop it and let us go into the library," I offered, narrowing my eyes towards Rarity instead, who shifted to a more startled expression. If I had to resort to bluntness, so be it. If I had to physically move them out of the way and escort Fluttershy inside, that would work, too. Fluttershy rested a hoof on my foreleg, causing me to look down at her again. She shook her head up at me, and then blushed before turning back to the girls. "This isn't your fault, Mender. I goofed up and, um, they were going to find out eventually anyway, so it might as well be now," she murmured, ears lowering a bit. Rarity shifted to a more concerned smile towards her friend, and Rainbow just looked confused. This definitely wasn't the ideal way to do this, but I guess we didn't have much choice. My eyes widened as I saw Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom approaching from the corner of my vision, suddenly. I turned to look at them, Applejack smiling and waving towards me as she saw me look over. Uh, that shouldn't... I started to open my mouth to tell Fluttershy when she blurted out, "Mender and I mated!" Never mind. I closed my mouth and just sighed, resigning to watching the fireball expand from the crashing train. Rarity looked momentarily happy before freezing, also having spotted the three Apple siblings. Rainbow went from confused, to shocked, to blushing furiously with wide eyes towards me instead. Okay, that didn't help much, but thanks for that, Dash. Applejack froze on the spot, mid step as her eyes widened, locking onto Fluttershy for half a heartbeat before they whipped to her brother instead? To my surprise, he looked actually stunned. I'd never seen Big Mac look surprised by anything, and had no idea what to think of it. Worse yet, Apple Bloom looked surprised as well, but then started blushing and looked away from the two of us really fast. Oh crap. She knew what that meant?! Rainbow saw my stare and looked to her right as well, then gave a start as she saw the three of them, blushing starting to become a downright pandemic. Big Mac slowly closed his jaw again as his eyes softened, shifting away from the shock to something else entirely as Fluttershy looked over towards them as well, seeing all of us shifting our attention. She froze when she saw them, her flush expanding over her entire face as she started to shiver there. Big Mac broke the silence like a sledgehammer to an ice sculpture. "Ah don't think we were supposed ta hear that," he muttered, voice far harder than I'd heard him use before. Okay, I was missing something. To my surprise, he hiked up his shoulders that were attached to the wagon supports and continued, walking right past us and on down the road towards the farm. Um... "Uh, Mac, Ah-" Applejack started, trotting to try to catch up with his sudden departure. "Cleanin', Ah know. Go fer it," he returned without turning around. I sensed overwhelming hostility suddenly, and shivered. Well, actually it wasn't that different from his usual behavior, so I couldn't tell. Applejack looked uncertain, her right foreleg in the air towards him still as if trying to will him back to talk. Apple Bloom rapidly shook her head and sprang forwards instead. "Ah'll go talk ta him, Sis. You go help Twi an' tha others," she said before booking after her brother and hopping up into the back of the wagon instead. "Oh dear," Rarity whispered, watching the large stallion leave, this time with Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I shifting to confused looks. "Okay, now I'm really confused. Why the hay is he acting mad?" Rainbow asked, gesturing in frustration towards Big Mac with both forelegs, the remains of her blush slowly fading on her cheeks. Well, this had certainly distracted from Fluttershy's dilemma, but potentially not in a good way. Applejack sighed and shook her head, looking a little sad instead. "Ah imagine he's upset with Mender an' didn't want ta say nothin'. Ah thought he'd gotten over tha anger but Ah wasn't expectin' this so soon. Probably happened 'cause o' Twi and Flutters durin' heat, right?" she asked, glancing towards Rarity instead. What?! Why was he mad at me?! Fluttershy swallowed, looking back and forth between the three mares as Rarity shook her head and returned, "I've no idea. You'd have to ask Fluttershy what happened, but you know how estrus is, Applejack. Do not blame her for this." Why did we have to blame anypony? Applejack flashed her ears back and rapidly shook her head, stomping the ground instead. "Ah ain't blamin' nopony! It's just frustratin' ta not have anypony ta punch when mah brother's hurtin' so much," she growled, looking a bit irate. Could these two talk without almost coming to blows each time? "I'm confused. Why is he upset in the first place?" Rainbow asked, bringing the topic back to what I was curious about. Wait... My mind flashed back to our 'detailed' talk about Cheerilee, and I suddenly remembered way back at the very beginning of that topic, Big Mac had mentioned a second mare, but dropped it almost instantly after I inquired. If he was acting like this... Applejack sighed and revealed, "It's because mah brother, fer years an' years before Mender even showed up, had ah crush on Fluttershy." Oh hell. I gave in right now and checked another day off my 'normal' wishlist. * * * * * Why, oh why was life never simple here? Well, not that I'd call my past existence simple, even though it technically really was. Fighting an almost omnipresent malevolent race of space bunnies hell-bent on driving all existing creatures of sapience into a violent, early extinction was honestly rather straightforward. You could generally assume that, when you saw one, the reaction was going to be it attempting to murder you. That left fairly little variance to interactions when my only purpose was to make sure they died first. Equestria, while indescribably more peaceful, also was beset by many problems revolving around not having a malevolent race attempting to make everything else extinct. No unified front, no objectified lifestyle set on specific goals, and no overarching structure to society in general. Oh, and most of the ponies appeared to be totally crazy, myself included. There was that, too. I was just a little more efficient at it, was all. Lying on my back, I batted up towards the ceiling with my forelegs out of moderate boredom. The couch was comfy, and I was at risk of falling asleep if I didn't keep moving. Listening to the rather earnest conversation of conviction that happened to be centered on me like a sword poised to fall on my head was only vaguely interesting. It wasn't that I didn't understand the details or felt I shouldn't be involved, honestly. No, it was more akin to thinking that they shouldn't be involved instead. "Ah know how it works. Fluttershy chose Mender, an' Ah ain't angry at her fer that! Fer cryin' out loud, Ah'm happy she's happy. Ah'm just worried fer mah brother, is all," Applejack reiterated for probably the sixth time. I honestly felt a little bad for her, given the fact that she tried to keep the conversation from spiraling out of control, kept smashing down blame when she could, and generally attempted to keep things civil and focused towards recommendations on how to cheer up Big Mac. Her not mentioning me in that non-angry list kept my pity a bit tempered with caution, armor ready in case I got bucked in the side or something. I doubted she'd do that at this point, but I was all for precautions. Rarity huffed, being less for moderation herself as much as attempting to imprint some sort of lesson upon us. "I warned you that this should have been addressed much sooner. Honestly, we should have talked things over with him and helped him over this a week ago. Why don't we all just march over there right now and simply talk with him in a calm and collected manner?" she suggested. Was I honestly the only one who thought everypony should just dip their heads in cold water for a few seconds and calm down? Frankly, what he wanted and decided to do really wasn't any of their business in the first place. Of course, mentioning that would get me murdered on several fronts. "Oh yeah, he wouldn't think that was suspicious or demeaning at all. Shouldn't we just give him some time to cool off?" Rainbow suggested irritably, the distinct sensation of impatience coming down her link that was quite contrary to her statement. Given Rainbow typically lacked the ability to be that subtle, that meant she was impatient about something else. Probably a change in topic, like me. "Oh no. Oh dear. This is bad. I didn't... I mean, I never knew that he... Oh, what am I supposed to do?" Fluttershy whispered quietly to herself. Despite being in severe inner turmoil, and me being what I thought to be the cause for that, she wedged herself as tightly as she could into my back legs, tangling her forelegs around my limbs and using my tail like some sort of comfort blanket. Not that I really minded, of course. Sighing, I gave her a gentle squeeze with my back legs before using them to tow her upwards and on top of me. She didn't resist in the slightest, and instead buried her face into my chest. Nopony noticed, of course, despite her technically being the subject of the conversation. I held her against me rather tightly, feeling those possessive urges drifting back up inside of me. She'd told me she was mine, and I hers, so I wasn't about to let anypony get in the way of that. Not even Big Mac. The most annoying thing is, he knew that. He knew that eventually, Fluttershy and I would mate. We were in a relationship, a herd. Twilight was as well, and I didn't see her freaking out over the whole ordeal. He wasn't stupid, and acting like he was kinda insulted him. Sure, Applejack was only worried about cheering him up a bit, but the others were acting like he was some sort of helpless emotional invalid, when honestly, it shouldn't even be their business. Twilight herself got our 'news' in the worst way possible thanks to all this, of course, but oddly seemed more happy about it than anything. Almost gleeful, in kind of a scary, 'please don't experiment on me' way. Of course, she started asking Fluttershy all sorts of questions about it, but that was sort of flattened by all the drama surrounding Big Mac suddenly. Now she lay on the other side of me, lightly holding my head in her forelegs while watching and listening to everything fall apart right next to us. Twilight turned and smiled as she saw me pull Fluttershy up and hug her. She herself leaned in and snuggled into the other side of my neck, bringing all three of our heads within touching distance as she gave Fluttershy a peck on the jaw. The mare momentarily blushed, smiling at both of us pleasantly. This. This was all that was really important. What she wanted. "You did nothing wrong, Fluttershy. None of this is your fault, and we'll get it straightened out. Wanna just go and talk to him real quick?" Twilight asked, both surprising me ever so slightly, and delighting me that she had decided on such a simplistic solution to the 'problem' that didn't require lengthy planning and parties. Rarity looked shocked and horrified at the suggestion, somehow hearing it despite being in the middle of a rant on ethics and courtesies in a relationship, despite that not applying to Big Mac in the first place. "W-What?! His cool down period isn't even up! You can't just go and 'talk' to him! You should at least let Apple Bloom-" Making a filly try to handle everything by herself didn't seem very responsible to me. That irritation that had been oh so familiar the last few days built up in my system again, and I sighed. "Watch us," I 'suggested', before looking back and nodding to Twilight. She grinned, and the world disappeared as her horn flared to life, reality itself seeming to suck inwards upon us and snap down into an almost impossible singularity that we drifted away from. An instant later, like a rubber band, it snapped out again. Just like that, the couch was gone. Instead, the three of us lay on the open grass with the overcast sky overhead. Fluttershy shivered, and then looked up and around before starting, seeing Big Mac and Apple Bloom all of three meters away from us. Three wagons full of apples rested on the dirt path next to them, and they sat next to a stump with what looked like a checkers board between them. Err... "Yer learnin' right quick! That was ah good move," he complimented, momentarily looking up at the flash of light and nodding to us before returning his attention to the board. "Ah learned from tha best! Hiya, Mender! Twilight! Fluttershy! What're ya doin' 'ere?" the little yellow filly asked, smiling over at us. Heh, thought as much. Twilight giggled lightly as Fluttershy looked more shocked than anything. The lavender unicorn walked up towards them, stretching her back legs a bit. "Getting away from a whole lot of drama and settling it at the same time, hopefully," she explained. Big Mac smirked as he slid another piece forwards, snapping Apple Bloom's attention back to the game instead. "They're still goin' on 'bout that? Ah said it was none o' our business," he asked softly, leaning back as his little sister ducked in to look at the game board instead. "Um, y-you're not upset or, um," Fluttershy asked quietly, taking a couple steps forwards and catching up with Twilight, despite moving like a scared deer. Big Mac stared at her for a moment before chuckling and shaking his head. "Ah should'a known ya'd worry yerself over me. Nah. Mah crush on ya was, well, ah long time ago. Sure, Ah wouldn't have turned ya down had ya suddenly gotten interested, but Ah ain't mad that ya found yerself ah right kind an' proper stallion," he assured, after a moment of thinking about it. Exhaling softly, I shook my head towards him. "All I can do is give everything I can. Everything always was, and always will be their choice to accept me or not," I reminded, agreeing with his implication fully. Twilight frowned and turned back towards me again a second later, shaking her head. "Mender, you need to accept us, too, you know. Our herd forms a triangle, and each bond has to be unbreakable for it to work," she reminded. I blushed slightly and looked away from her, unsure of what exactly to say to that. She was right, of course, but, well... There were still little nagging doubts in my mind. I doubt Fluttershy intended our experience specifically to counter those, but it had indeed helped. I wasn't where I wanted to be, though. "Sounds like ya'all got ah lot ta talk about, too. If ya want, ya could do it 'ere, away from all tha hubbub," Apple Bloom suggested, sliding another piece across the board and earning a grin from her brother. It being a particularly awesome move, or him agreeing with her suggestion, I'd never know. I didn't know how to play checkers, after all. A pop-up shot up a second later, offering its data entry, and I promptly hit the cancel button. Why it looked like a paperclip with eyes was beyond me, but it was bloody annoying! That was the third time it had bugged me about inane stuff. Snapping out of it, I suddenly became distinctly aware that Big Mac was staring right at me, unwavering. I perked, widening my eyes a bit as I instinctively shrank back. Eh?! His viewpoint didn't flinch, but a tiny smirk played across his muzzle. "Yer ah kind, strong stallion, an' ah good match fer Fluttershy an' Twilight. But yer not ah perfect match," he suddenly spoke up. I swallowed, unsure of how to take that or what he meant. Fluttershy's eyes widened and she squeaked in surprise, but Twilight frowned and turned back to him instead. "Isn't that up to us to decide?" she pointed out, voice calculated and level. Was she upset by that? "Ah-nope! Tha only one that can improve Mender is Mender, really. He has ta make the effort ta be better. More decisive an' focused on what he wants an' needs, in order ta better be with you two," he reasoned quietly. Oh. It wasn't about them thinking I was a good match for them, but the fact that I could make myself an even better match. Decisive, though? That didn't feel very comfortable at all, as thoughts went. Twilight didn't reason as far as I did, it would seem. "What does him being indecisive have to do with us liking him? Does it matter? Wait, decisive about what?" she asked, shifting from mildly irritated to simply confused as she looked back towards me with uneasy eyes. Fluttershy started to rapidly look between us, her heart rate gradually increasing the wider her eyes got. What was going on? Big Mac shifted to staring at Twilight instead, fully drawing her attention back to him with his stoic gaze. She backed up a little the same way I did, but he suddenly shook his head. "It don't matter at all," he admitted. Wait, what? Twilight started to relax, when he frowned suddenly and tacked on, "Ya don't need ta worry about what he wants ah bit if yer goal is ta just control an' lead tha herd by yerself." My eyes widened, and Twilight suddenly looked like she had been physically slapped by the stallion. Fluttershy outright panicked, letting out a low whimper as she rapidly shook her head. "N-No! We're not trying to, um, control Mender or anything! I'd never do that, and neither w-would Twilight," she defended hesitantly, her voice losing strength as her nervousness shot through the roof. Why was Big Mac doing this?! My first instinct was to be angry with him, but his tone wasn't accusing or even aggressive, and I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't one to simply provoke a situation. I held my tongue, looking back to the red stallion instead as he kept staring at Twilight. "Ah believe in accidents. Ah know that heat can make things seem like ah good idea when they ain't, but Ah also know that ah mare is still in full control o' herself. Ya both signed tha paperwork fer tha herd, or it wouldn't be official-like. Twilight 'ere even sent it out, despite knowin' on some level what it'd cause. Now she's 'head' o' tha herd, an' its official voice, an' Mender ain't even ah member. Ah don't judge, an' know mah sister can get right outta shape over things she don't like, but it still don't look too good from this perspective," he explained, doing a rather good job of highlighting the core of the issue. Applejack must have been upset after yesterday. Part of me wondered how much Rainbow told her. I felt a little colder, and didn't know what to do suddenly. That frigid doubt crept up into my chest again, and I closed the link before Fluttershy could feel it at this range. Predictably, the yellow mare gave a sudden start and looked over at me, but I stayed locked on Big Mac, frowning a little. He wanted to help us and felt it warranted a bit of direct interference. That much I got and understood. Maybe a part of him only wanted to help Fluttershy, but that seemed unlikely, as he'd included her in the accusation. But she had indeed signed the herd paperwork. Twilight said she didn't know about the waiting period, though. I trusted her, right? Apple Bloom looked up from the board and frowned up at Big Mac as Twilight fell to her haunches, shaking her head rapidly and sending out a sudden spray of tears. "No! It was a stupid accident and we weren't thinking of the consequences, but we didn't do any of it intentionally! If I could turn over the leadership position, I would in a heartbeat, but," she tried to reason. It wasn't really about the- "Ah doubt Mender cares 'bout bein' leader so much as he'd rather just be ah part o' tha herd in tha first place. Ah'm also not lookin' ta accuse ya o' nothin'. Ah'm only pointin' this out ta show ya that maybe, just maybe, ya don't know Mender so good. Yer not even sure what's really upsettin' him," he finalized, leaning back calmly against the tree behind him. Upsetting me. It reared up again, and I knew in that instant that it was still there. As much as I tried to bury it with logic and understanding, realization of how hard it was for them and what I 'should' do because they're females... I was angry. They'd hurt me, and I felt betrayed. But it was an accident, right? It's not like Twilight had ever shown lack of trust in me before, to the point of trying to circumvent my own wishes or anything. Especially not in regards to my feelings for pricing my own business practices. I tried really hard not to start laughing, a bit concerned that I'd start screaming at the same time. It all bubbled inside of my chest and I wanted to throw up, as if it would get it out of me. I wasn't built for anger. I didn't handle it well, nor was I comfortable with it, but it just kept building inside of me over the past few weeks. Twilight shivered and continued shaking her head before muttering, "Mender said he wasn't upset with us. We need to make it up to him somehow still but, well, we're trying and..." Fluttershy continued staring at me, her features starting to fall as her ears lowered. "Mender..." she whispered, causing Twilight's ears to perk up as she slowly turned to look at me instead. I could see them. I could see them and my eyes were closed! They were closed, weren't they? I snapped back to awareness as I noticed the graphical pixel distortions playing across my vision, my eyes fully open unlike what I remembered. Trying not to panic, I disabled the targeting reticles that were flicking across the large stallion I was locked onto. The system refused to respond to me, however, and I force closed the entire process as I shivered, feeling the pressure building behind my eyes as a headache reared up. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry and lash out, beating on the ground until it crumbled to dust around me in rage and frustration. But no, that was childish. That would get me in trouble and lose the trust of everypony close to me. I wasn't allowed to do that, and I definitely didn't want to hurt Big Mac! What the hell was wrong with me?! He wasn't angry with me, and I knew he wasn't trying to steal Fluttershy from me. I didn't even own her like that! I... Fluttershy landed on me hard as I tried to shakily back up into a retreat that I didn't realize I was doing. I exhaled sharply as she tackled me to the ground instead with her full weight before everything went to teal at point blank range. It was a totally new version of what I'd experienced yesterday as everything fell away, but this time, it wasn't disapproving but wanting instead, her muzzle locked with mine at the same time. My chest heated up, and everything became a jumble as she released me from the powerful spell a few seconds later. I was confused now, and really, I just wanted to take a nap and think about all of this later. Fatigue caught up with me hard, and my muscles sagged, just letting her lay on top of me, eyes unable to leave hers regardless. "Don't run, Mender. Please? We don't understand. You're, um, hurting a lot and we want to make it better, so talk to us. Y-You can rest first if you need to but, um, we have to talk about this! I can't l-lose you!" she outright pleaded, stunning me into inability to think again. "We, Fluttershy. We can't lose him. I... Rarity's right. There's just no trust here. We need to fix that, too. Fast. She told me a few ideas and exercises to help but, um, can we, Mender? I want this to work," Twilight requested softly, edging closer and looking surprisingly earnest. It was true. Yeah, Rarity is right. I didn't trust Twilight. Even if I wanted to, my mind still remembered everything she'd done. I wasn't as nice and forgiving a pony as I wanted to be, which horrified me. Trust. To have that, we needed truth first. I made up my mind for once. "Then I can't keep secrets if I want you to trust me. There are, um, things you should know about," I finally admitted. Twilight and Fluttershy both stared at me and nodded, one looking apprehensive and the other concerned, respectively. This wasn't going to be pleasant. After a moment's hesitation, I just started from the top... * * * * * I told them everything, feeling a remarkable sense of Deja Vu while doing so; almost like it wasn't the first time I spilled my guts to these two mares. Our friends caught up to us just after I finished talking about the incident and went into how frustrated I'd become. It wasn't just the missing Elements of Harmony, but also Spike and the other two Crusaders as well. I momentarily wondered what brought all of them, but Big Mac silenced them with a sharp stare, and I just kept talking, happy to avoid the tangent. It was hard enough to start the first time. Stress, frustration, betrayal, female attention, the disks, the Nirru thing, Purdue, the glitches, my being a real pony... I covered everything until there was nothing left and I felt beyond empty. There was nothing in me, leaving me with a cold, hollow sensation inside. And there I sat, staring blankly at the ground with nothing but dead silence from everypony. I didn't bother hiding the links, so at least three of the mares knew what I was feeling. Although, by the expressions, I guessed that more than that knew. The disks were a big enough shock, I imagined, but then to find out that a pony had made the transition across the dimensions before and apparently not survived the experience... Everything else about me was just icing on the cake, I felt. "There are little things inside us?" Rarity asked again, still looking at her forehooves with a shocked expression. I nodded without looking up. "Yeah. They're inactive until you finalize the link, and only do passive operations without," I summarized, that tired sensation coming back again. Rainbow tilted to her side and checked the spot where I'd hit her earlier. I winced from the memory, but nodded, them having already heard that story. Well, minus the parts about her liking Applejack, me just excusing it to only wanting to be with Fluttershy and Twilight at the moment. I got the strange sensation that effectively everypony listening knew I was lying, but nopony said anything. "Yeah, it speeds up regeneration, so you'll heal a lot faster. It also actively fights infection and disease, so you won't get sick again. I can also find your location with them. Then, after I finalize the link, it establishes the mental link for communication and activates a lot of functions that I haven't finished analyzing yet," I confirmed, feeling like I had to keep talking or everything was going to fall apart. A light clapping noise sounded out as Big Mac closed the checkers board up, it having been forgotten for twenty minutes anyway. Fluttershy looked uncertain, fidgeting a meter or so away from me where she'd sat down when I started talking. "Um, I'm more worried about you. If there's something wrong, how do we fix it? I don't want you to be stressed out so much anymore," she whispered, sliding forward and pushing her muzzle under mine, lifting my head up again so I was looking at her. Fix? "I'm running scans right now to see if there's anything wrong with my cybernetic parts, but I... I might simply be going crazy. I don't know what to think anymore." That concept was a lot scarier out loud, I suddenly realized. I shivered, but she shifted forwards again and lightly hugged herself to my chest. Twilight watched her for a moment, her eyes softening a little before she stood and walked towards me as well. She froze less than a meter away from me as I turned my head to look at her. Hesitating, her right forehoof scrapped the ground a couple times before she shook her head and swallowed. "Um, through all of that, you talked a lot about, well, how frustrated you'd gotten, and you never technically forgave us for what happened. At least not me," she pointed out quietly, earning a frown from me. "Twilight, I said I wasn't ang-" I started to remind. "Ya also lied 'bout that. Ah'm guessin' yer actually angrier than ah coon danglin' by its tail, given yer reaction while talkin' earlier," Applejack interrupted, sharp eyes locking onto me fully as I looked away. Damn it. I forgot she was kinda like a living lie detector. Twilight waited patiently, but I just shrugged, looking back over at Applejack instead. "Yeah, I was upset. Sad that they'd made the herd without me, and did the exact thing they said they weren't ready for after sending me away. I... Yeah, I was angry, too. To be honest, I felt betrayed, but none of that really matters anymore. We have bigger issues than my feelings, both in the glitches, and the disks," I reminded, frowning towards the end at her. She knew that. She even knew that the same machines floated around inside of her, too. Didn't that bother her at all?! The lavender unicorn rapidly shook her head in front of me, however, tricking my focus back to her with the movement before I remembered it was awkward looking at her. "No, your feelings are important, too, Mender. We can't do anything about the information about the other pony until we can talk to Princess Celestia, and I'll help you run all the experiments we need on the disks later, but not until all of us talk about everything that's been happening," she corrected. I swallowed uneasily. Everything? Pinkie exploded into movement before I could even gather my wits enough to muster a response to that, hopping up above her friends before landing a few meters away from me into a cartwheel, shouting, "Yes! We need to get you cheerful and happy again! I've got to throw a super, duper, awesome herd formation party, and you can't be sad for it. So really, tell us what we need to do to cheer you up!" A pang stabbed through my chest, and I looked away from her as fast as I could. She froze as I realized the links were still open, and Fluttershy pushed even harder against my fur. "P-Pinkie, please don't, um, throw a party for that until Mender joins, too? If it's not too much trouble and you don't have everything set up yet. It, um, it's only going to remind us of how we screwed up," Fluttershy requested, turning and looking at her friend. Turning down the party? I hadn't anticipated that from either of them, but realized I'd never considered it a possibility. Normally one didn't just turn down a Pinkie Pie Party. Pinkie slowly sat down normally again, looking surprised for a moment before her muzzle slowly closed into a soft smile. She nodded towards me instead, relaxing there. She'd felt my reaction to it, I realized. She was actually agreeing not to do it? I stared at her for a moment before slowly smiling a little myself. Twilight snickered a moment later, looking pleased at the outcome regardless. "Yeah, I don't want to have a party either until all of us can enjoy it. Everything you said was important, Mender. We just can't deal with a majority of it yet, however. The information about the pony that the reports talked about will have to wait until we can meet with Princess Celestia. The disks need a lot more testing, but it's up to Applejack and Rarity if they want to get their links finalized. I... Well, I made up my mind about it finally, yesterday," she suddenly revealed. My ears perked up and I turned back to her fully, surprised by that. Normally, Twilight was indecisive about things revolving around me, and that sounded rather final, in one direction or the other. The lavender mare watched me for a moment, all attention pulled to herself as I waited patiently. Big Mac finally walked up to join the three mares watching, Apple Bloom trotting up alongside him before joining the two other Crusaders, standing next to Rarity. Nopony had gotten upset or angry about the disks, and there hadn't been any panic or hostility about the other news from the report I'd found. That only proved to me that this was a far different place than what resided in my memories. If we recovered from this and stayed friends, we could make it past anything, really. Twilight nodded to herself a moment later, as if finalizing the conclusion in her head before snapping her focus onto me. "I want you to finalize my disk," she finally stated. I was surprised, but prepared for either answer and tilted my head to her. She rapidly shook hers, probably anticipating my doubt. "No, I've thought it through for more than enough time, Mender. Fluttershy's right, of course. I'm not ever going to be with anypony else apart from this herd, so there's no reason to be scared of you. I want to be a full member of the herd and join in on everything, even if the links turn out to be detrimental. You and Fluttershy already have to deal with that, so me being the same changes nothing," she explained, apparently having indeed thought about it a lot. It was her decision of course, and admittedly, a part of me loved the idea of her completing the link. It felt like commitment, and her saying she wanted to be connected to me forever, which did a lot to warm my chest up. There was nothing else for it. I nodded, and she exhaled softly, apparently having been holding her breath. Silly mare. My left eye lit up as my menus flicked to life, scanners activating and locating the connection inside of her, matching the registration on the disk database inside of me. She gave a start, and I smiled lightly, realizing I probably looked weird with one eye glowing blue. "What's that, Mender?" Fluttershy asked, not showing the concern Twilight had a second ago. There was no worry coming from her at all, and my smile widened, enjoying the sensation of her trusting me. "I saw something earlier that I wanted to see if it worked or not. A second," I explained, flicking Twilight's data readout into my left eye. Then I activated the mental ping to do a status update. It was something I couldn't do on an individual not with the full link. My smile shifted into a smirk as the 'are you sure' message from before popped up again, exactly like when I had activated Pinkie's disk. Guess I technically didn't have to be touching them after all. With no more ceremony, I hit yes and the link activated a second later, lighting up and registering Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic. I shifted back to a soft smile towards her, left eye going dark as I mentally greeted, "Welcome, Twilight." Her eyes widened drastically, easily seeing my mouth not moving as Pinkie burst into a fit of mental giggling, and Dash tossed in a mental snicker. "This... This is what your mental communication is like?" Twilight asked, both in her head and out loud as she looked back and forth between Pinkie and me. Fluttershy rested her cheek against my chest, but nodded gently with her eyes still closed, 'feeling' Twilight without needing to look over at her. "Yes. It's amazing for other reasons, though. Emotions can be felt through it, too," the yellow pegasus mentally whispered, a flare of affection and happiness drifting from her and aimed right at Twilight, who outright shuddered and blushed. "Oh, oh wow. It's sorta like how my mom described the soul linking," Twilight muttered, looking slightly dazed. Heh, Fluttershy's feelings were quite the inverse to her normal interactions, running strong and deep with enough force to overwhelm. Being used to it, however, I loved the sensation and missed the mare greatly over the last week! Rainbow coughed lightly, snapping everypony's attention to her in an instant after the reasonable silence. "Ah, no, that link is, well, considerably more intense," she admitted. I exhaled softly and looked away from her, awkwardly rubbing at my right temple. Everypony else shot her skeptical looks, and she flattened her ears back a second later. "What?! It's not a full link, I already said I was sorry, and it was an accident!" she protested an instant later, earning an eye roll from Applejack. I honestly hoped this wasn't detrimental to their relationship, especially if Rainbow ever actually asked her out. That thought earned me an annoyed glare as I pushed it towards the cyan mare in particular. I sighed as I thought of the additional complications involved therein, but then gave a start as I felt a burst of affection from Twilight instead. Eh?! The distinct feeling of being suddenly pleased about my honesty shot into my chest as she smiled and slipped in next to Fluttershy against me, leaning up and gently kissing me on the lips. The feedback loop took her by surprise an instant later as I kissed back, her undoubtedly feeling the hot sensations of herself kissing me as I did. She gave a stifled moan into the kiss instead of backing away, however, a newfound sense of trust dancing through her emotions. Now that she realized I had been honest about the situation involving Rainbow, I think she suddenly realized how honest I had been with her so far. Did that mean she was starting to trust me more? My mind blanked slightly as things distinctly 'more' drifted from her emotions, her wrapping her forelegs around my neck in order to pull me down into her fully, her body heating up against mine. Uh oh. Snapping out of it, everything around me came back into focus as I backed up a few millimeters, coughing lightly. Twilight looked dazed and slightly confused until I gestured to the side at all her friends, giving us a totally stunned look. Well, except for Big Mac, who just lightly smiled. Oh, and Rarity who looked coy. Pinkie looked delighted as well, but I'd anticipated that. The CMC were surprisingly blushing furiously, especially Scootaloo who had rotated around completely and was now pouting in the other direction. Okay, so maybe it was really just Applejack who looked shocked. I intentionally ignored Rainbow, of course, and the slowly rising wings on her back. "Ah! Err, sorry! Um, I'm still, uh... It's these post-estrus hormones!" Twilight whined, blushing furiously as she shrank down in my embrace. Fluttershy smiled and pulled her closer, hugging her softly while I held onto both mares. Rarity scoffed, however, walking over to us with an air of amusement, Spike tentatively following her, but keeping his eyes on Twilight instead, as if she might burst into flames in rage or something if he wasn't careful. Actually, she could technically do that, apparently... "Twilight, you simply must not be afraid of your emotions, Dear. You were romantically embracing a stallion whom you care very deeply for, and he for you. Feeling that and wanting more is natural, and you can't be ashamed of that!" she scolded in a lighthearted manner. Natural? Did she just use a sentence involving 'natural' in reference to me? Huh. That was new. "Regardless, these little things in our bodies don't change nothin'. It ain't like you knew 'bout' em, an' they certainly haven't hurt us yet! Ah say yer fine," Applejack suddenly cut in, thankfully snapping the topic out of the embarrassing directions it had been plummeting. I smiled softly towards her, and she tipped her hat to me. Well, this was turning out better than anticipated so far. Instead of relaxing, however, I turned to Rarity. Her expression was softer as she examined her right forehoof. I couldn't read her beyond that, deciding she looked either slightly relieved, or slightly shocked still. She hadn't taken it well at all. "It won't change me or make all my fur fall out or anything, right?" she asked without looking up, as if feeling my eyes on her. "Not a thing. They don't touch vitamins or minerals, only repairing tissue when needed and fighting foreign agents in your body, such as infection and sickness," I assured, trying to smile warmly towards her. I didn't even know if it was possible for me to make them remove fur in the first place, if I was trying! She stared at her hoof for another moment before sighing and nodding to herself, setting it back down onto the loose dirt that composed the path through the orchard. "Well, I suppose it will have to do, then. Not getting sick will be a boon, I believe," she muttered, giving me an uncertain gaze that made me feel distinctly sad that I couldn't make her happy. "Hey, you won't get behind on your work this winter if you don't get sick again! But then I won't get to cook you breakfast in bed or-" Sweetie suddenly started to lament. Wait, cook?! Oh hell! Rarity glared back over at the filly, shutting her up instantly and causing her to slip backwards a bit, shrinking. "That's quite enough, young lady. You're already in a lot of trouble, so don't press it," Rarity reminded pointedly, causing me to shiver. Yikes! "Aww, but you told me I cou-" the filly tried to retort. "I told you no such thing! My permission extended towards 'talking' to Mender about your future and seriously considering what his reply was. Nowhere in that is 'poisoning' him, you'll note!" the pearly unicorn shot back in a surprisingly hostile fashion. She was more than a little scary, but she had a point. Sweetie was a little, well, strange in that regard. Well, no, more desperate than anything. Now we just had to see if any feelings for me at all remained in two years’ time. A sudden thought danced into my head about Rarity, however, causing me to perk. Everypony looked over at me as my right eye lit up, projecting my data screens from it as I flicked through them with my free left hoof, the other busy hugging two mares to my barrel, of course. It didn't take me long to get back to the actual disk documentation, and slide down to the functions I could input into them. It took a decent amount of scrolling, but I finally found the function I remembered seeing earlier. "Ah, I forgot. This function actually controls the minerals and vitamins supplemented into, or removed from your system, if I had the full link to you. If you were truly worried, I could use this function to doubly make sure it doesn't mess with any delicate vitamin balances, and whatnot," I offered the mare, looking back to her as she stared in surprise at the writing explaining its use. "W-Wait, um, when you say supplemented, you mean it can add vitamins to my system? In specific spots?" she inquired, eyes locking onto the 'location' field in the arguments I could pass along. "Er, well yeah. I'm not a doctor, though, so I've no idea how much to add, or where to apply it, or even what to use, so I was just going to ignore that," I spoke, mostly to myself, I noticed, as Rarity got a faraway look before smiling softly. I raised my eyebrow towards her, but she suddenly focused back on me specifically, grinning this time. "I'll get you a full list! If you could add things directly to my coat and mane, I shall not only forgive this intrusion into my body, but reward you handsomely!" she assured, apparently totally forgetting about her disgust. Or at least she was giving me the benefit of the doubt now and trying to see the positives. Smiling, I gave her a steady nod, which she returned, now looking pleased and managing to make me feel significantly better. Applejack shot her a disbelieving glance, but snickered afterwards and shook her head. "Anywho, Big Mac an' Ah need ta get back ta work. If Ah'm leavin' fer ah few days tomorrow, we gotta catch up on tha farm work. Ah think these ponies have ah bit ta talk about, anyways," she deduced, gesturing towards the three of us as Fluttershy nodded rapidly. Rainbow finally grinned and nodded towards her friend, agreeing with, "Heck yeah! So leave 'em alone for a bit or I'll toss you into the lake! In the meantime, I'll be helping you catch up with the farm work, AJ." Ha! The lake was a ways from here now, but she probably could pull that off. Applejack probably had a lot of work, however, and I kinda doubted Rainbow could pay much attention to 'guarding' us after she got busy. "Thank ya, Sugar. We gotta work hard ta catch up an' make up fer lost time after Ah take off again, so yer help's much appreciated!" Applejack thanked, earning a soft blush and nod from her 'friend'. Although, I also noticed she knocked the 'cube' part off of Sugarcube, and wondered at its significance. "I agree. Let the rest of us depart and give them some privacy. Oh, and any one of us are here to talk if you need it, Big Mac," Rarity spoke up as she trotted past him on the way towards the exit. He nodded back, of course, and for a moment, I impishly wondered what he'd think of the 'toy' she'd had crafted in his likeness. No, I was nicer than that, though. Sweetie smiled happily and made a beeline towards me instead despite the questionable glances of her friends. Rarity made a harsh clearing of her throat, however, freezing the small filly in her tracks. "Aww! But I just wanted to hug him!" she whined, turning to face her sister again. "You're still grounded," Rarity returned simply before a blue aura lit up her horn. The white filly drifted into the air in a pout, slowly following her sister to the rhythm of Scootaloo's snickering. "We'll see ya tomorrow before you leave, Mender!" Scootaloo called out, waving to me happily before bursting off after Rainbow instead, leaving Apple Bloom to trot after her siblings at a slower pace, waving to me as she left. Well, huh. Only Spike remained, to my surprise. I would have thought he'd have left with Rarity, but instead he stood looking at Twilight. "Can I do anything, Twi? I know you've been, well, upset," he asked, looking a bit concerned for the mare. All three of us smiled at him in our own way, Twilight's looking downright grateful. "You've been a huge help, Spike. Go with Rarity and give her some help with the cleaning. Since AJ needs all the help she can get, too, you're very much needed back at the library," she assured, causing him to perk up and nod, smiling to the lavender mare. Heh. I could understand a desire to be useful and needed, that was for sure. "Okay, Twi! All three of you should come back when you're done. I'll get supper ready for everypony," he assured before turning and sprinting after the white unicorn. I smiled as he left before relaxing, letting myself slide sideways onto the grass next to the path and pulling both mares down with me. Fluttershy gave a surprised squeak, but Twilight started giggling as she pulled the yellow mare further down onto her, both of them pressing into my chest. It was just the three of us now. Like it should have been for Twilight to find out in the first place, but I guess that couldn't be helped. Relaxing, I went into the last little bit of my 'truth' session, the only other bits of information being just for them instead... Chapter 62It was rather peaceful, I decided. Things moving forward rather than stagnant like a lukewarm swamp. It felt like I was making progress, rather than just doing the same thing over and over again. Of course, if I had expected different results each time, I guess the joke was on me. We walked back through the town square side by side. Fluttershy was pushed tight into my right shoulder, affection levels at an all-time high, which I definitely wasn't complaining about. Twilight was close enough to my left side to feel her body heat on my fur, which was a good thing considering how nippy it was getting. Winter was coming. "So it's agreed? All of us try the trust exercises that Rarity told me about? In the meantime, we'll try to, well, get more comfortable with Mender during the trip to Canterlot?" Twilight asked, more for confirmation than anything. I could almost feel the 'checklist' being built in her mind, suddenly having a front row seat to the event. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the lavender mare and earning an eye twitch. "Y-Yeah, I know. Fine, I'll get more comfortable with Mender," she corrected a moment later, causing me to chuckle. Sure, it was awkward knowing exactly what she was talking about, but the exchange was amusing nonetheless. "You don't have to pressure yourself into anyth-" I started to remind, before the lavender mare quickly turned and pushed a hoof against the front of my muzzle, causing me to stop walking. Seriously? Were they really going to insist on this? "Yes, we're insisting on this. You told us the truth about being hurt, so we're going to act on it and make it up to you. A lot. Resisting will only make us try even harder until you feel like the most loved stallion in Equestria," Twilight retorted, smirking suddenly as I blushed. W-What?! Fluttershy's eyes widened a little, looking over at me with a faint flush to her cheeks as I blinked in surprise. "L-Love?" I asked, not quite sure I interpreted that correctly. Twilight's eyes shot open a bit as she suddenly realized where I'd gotten snagged up, and then all three of us were blushing. She looked away a moment later, and then nodded to herself. "Yeah. I think we're well on our way to that. Loving each other, that is. I... I'm not entirely sure what the signs to look for are or how to measure it, but..." She trailed off, and the yellow mare on the other side of me smiled softly through her pink tint, offering up, "You feel it?" Oh. Twilight smiled to her and nodded before leaning in and pushing into both of us, kissing Fluttershy's neck, then mine in the same spot on the other side. Love. That word terrified me. He had said he was in love with Keela, and look where that got him. They were pulled apart, and he was introduced to all new levels of agony because of it, just as bad as the torture itself. He'd set himself up for it, and knew that. It twisted and corrupted inside of him, blackening until he blamed her for it instead. If you never love, you never risk losing love. It's simple and straightforward. It's also lonely, cold, and empty. I was tired of being all three of those. It was spontaneous, but I pulled Twilight closer and moved her to the right. She looked confused until I pushed her muzzle right into line with Fluttershy's. Both mares blushed but tentatively pecked each other on the mouth. Feeling heated, I moved in at the same time and pushed into the sides of each of their muzzles, right where their lips connected. Twilight was surprised, but Fluttershy just melted into it, her muzzle pushing into both of ours at once in a wonderful, warm, happy triangle. Twilight gave in a moment later and relaxed into the shared kiss, just enjoying each other's warmth. A few seconds later, we parted, and I smiled to both of them before gesturing back towards the library again. Yes, moving forwards, even if it was out of my comfort zone. Them treating me was going to be awkward for a while. Twilight nodded and trotted back towards her house, while Fluttershy reapplied herself to my side, kissing my shoulder before following me towards the large tree, turned library. I exhaled softly, and idly wondered what the future would bring, not thinking of anything in particular... * * * * * Things seemed to be speeding up, it would seem. A while back, I was just itching to get out of the hospital, tired of being stuck in one place for days at a time. It felt like things were just going to go faster and faster until everything careened out of control and fell apart. Of course, that was just my gut feeling talking. I didn't know where things were headed, or what would happen, but at least I had a few clear goals. I had places and ponies to protect now! Speaking of, one was right here. Glancing back over my shoulder, I watched Fluttershy shift about and gently place a few more things in her suitcase. She was such a careful and relaxed packer compared to Twilight. It was nice to just watch the grace she moved with. Of course, I didn't mind watching other things either, as she swayed while she walked. Not that she'd complain, I realized, but we'd likely be late. I was a lot more comfortable with her now! How could I not be after yesterday morning? And the shower after, of course. Oh, then that 'supply run' that evening. Rarity certainly was amused when it took almost an hour. Oh, and of course when we got back home. Twilight's was still a mess, even after seven hours of cleaning, so she requested one more day to tidy up. I suspected Twilight was nervous about something else, but Fluttershy was very, very quick to offer her place again. Then there was this morning when we woke up, and again in the shower. Snickering quietly to myself, I slipped up next to her and gently kissed her shoulder. This time she didn't even jump, instead smiling peacefully over at me. It was beyond relaxing. "Did you get the first bag packed?" she asked quietly, to which I smiled and nodded towards her. It had been fairly straightforward. The 'just in case' winter clothing for two took up a good chunk of the bag, and I was surprised when she'd insisted packing a hat and scarf for me as well, but it was all tucked in nicely. Beyond that, her toothbrush, toothpaste, my newly retrieved toothbrush, and her brush and trimming scissors were all safe inside it. She'd mentioned wanting to trim up my coat and mane a bit while we were gone. "Yeah, it's all packed. Is there anything else you want to bring?" I asked, smiling towards her as she wobbled back and forth, thinking about it. "Hmm. Not that I can think of. I mean, I really don't need much, of course. This and my carry-on saddlebags are enough," she murmured, glancing down at them and checking once more what they contained. Normally I'd think it a bit overkill to bring a full first aid kit and trauma package, but knowing my luck, I'd actually go off the stupid cliff this time. Yes, I said it! Do it, I dare you! Fluttershy giggled, looking up long enough from her packing to catch my defiant thought. "You won't need to worry about that. You can't fall off the city. Princess Celestia has an enchantment under it that works like a nice, big safety net," she explained. Oh. Well, that was a perfectly good waste of anger and defiance. "Huh. Wish I would have known about that during the chandelier accident. I would have just ridden it outside and bailed..." I muttered, rolling my eyes slightly to the sound of more of her giggling. Oh well. I could listen to that in particular all day. I smiled and nuzzled her affectionately, earning more of the happy noises as I caught that little spot under her ears where she was ticklish. She shivered and stamped her hooves down twice before dancing away from me wearing a grin. I smiled back before she ducked forwards again and caught my mouth up in a soft kiss. Sighing into it, I pushed back, and she very eagerly deepened it without hesitation, groaning in contentment as I let her tongue slip into my mouth. Oh! Wait, was that ticklish or erogenous? I could never remember. Oh well. She was almost insatiable regardless! She backed up a moment later, flushed and with a string of saliva between our muzzles. "Oh, I wish we had more time. You're just so... Mmm. No, we can't be late. Um, maybe on the train. Yeah. Uh, anyway! I'll grab these saddlebags, and you get the suitcase!" she requested before scampering off, flustered and blushing. I tried not to snicker as I lifted her forgotten saddlebags up and slid them onto my back, hooking the rolling suitcase with a barrier as I followed after her. Hmm. Six seconds, this time. Eight and a half later, I heard her whimper, and watched her slip back inside, blushing furiously. I smiled politely to her and gestured back to her saddlebags as I walked up, earning a nervous smile and wobble. "Oh dear. I'm just a mess. This isn't like me at all, but... I kinda like it. I don't want to leave your side!" she exclaimed, falling into a walking position next to me and lifting her saddlebags off my back with her right hoof. I stopped walking long enough for her to situate them properly on herself. Normally I'd just carry them too, but my leg was bothering me after the surprising amount of exercise the last day or so. Cleaning, I mean, of course. Twilight's library was a horrible mess. How the mare could manage that in 'only' a week was astonishing. We still didn't clean up the entire basement, even after working on it for over three hours last night! "Relax, Fluttershy. You know I don't mind, and very much like you hanging around me," I reminded, winking towards her as we started walking again, me shutting her cottage door behind us. No flock of birds greeted us this time, having already been alerted to our departure for a few days. I turned back around only to be greeted by my blushing fillyfriend as she smiled happily at me, looking more composed. "Thank you, Mender. I've never felt this, well, relaxed around a stallion before. I think it's because I trust you so much. With my life," she suggested, those beautiful teal eyes softening as they looked at me. That did it. She set off the ravenous protection urges inside of me, and I felt my chest heat up as I walked towards her. It didn't help that I was bigger than her, and she so easily slipped into a more submissive role, being perfectly content deciding that she was 'mine'. It didn't set well with me until I realized she liked saying it for some reason, a heated jolt going through her and spiking her heart rate up every time she did. Then it became sort of like role-playing, which I could definitely do. I didn't know the intimate details about their culture, but a happy Fluttershy was easy enough for me to understand! The urge to guard her against the world set her off again in return, feeding a strange possessive to submissive feedback loop between us. The more I wanted to guard her and keep her safe, the safer she felt with me, and the happier I got. For once, the out of control spiral was in my favor with happiness instead. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you, Fluttershy. You know that," I returned, walking past her and letting her slip up next to me again. I don't know why she said she wanted to stay by my side. She already had been for the past twenty hours or so, so she shouldn't have a 'want' for it. If anything, I thought she'd be getting tired of me by now, but I guessed not. We walked in silent, self-assured comfort towards Ponyville's rather modest train station, with her tucked tight into my side as best she could while wearing the saddlebags. I was surprised at the amount of smiles we got towards us. They were the warm, pleased smiles, too. I think it was the first time I'd actually walked with Fluttershy like a coltfriend would. Maybe it was just me, but it felt like a warm bubble was around us, like everypony could 'see' that Fluttershy and I were together. A couple. Both of us made it to the station without trial, despite us both blushing a bit. The one drawback so far of sharing an empathy link was the feedback thing. Fluttershy picked up my rather 'possessive' thoughts halfway there, and instead of them driving her away, she actually pushed a little closer. I kinda felt sorry for her right saddlebag, now. "Ah, Fluttershy! Mender! You made it, and ten minutes early even," Rarity suddenly spoke out to our right as we rounded the station's back entry and arrived on the loading platform. We both gave a little jump before I smiled over at the pearly unicorn, who sat politely next to the train, waving at us. Spike was next to her, looking uncharacteristically happy for somepony who'd just hauled all the luggage that he was leaning against. I took a random guess that it was the purple tail oh so subtly brushed up against his as he rested there. "Yeah, we're here. It was weird having the attendant just wave us through," I muttered, glancing back towards the front of the building. Apart from Rarity, we were the first ones here? Seriously? I'd expected Twilight to be parked on top of, or in the train already with a sleeping roll or tent. This was a personal summons from Princess Celestia herself, after all. Rarity giggled, followed by, "Well, this is a personal summons from Princess Celestia herself. Besides, they know who you are now, Mender." Her accidental similar wording made me do a double take, and I momentarily was paranoid that the crafty unicorn had developed mind reading. "Mmm, yes. It's not a bad thing, you know. Being with, um, a hero is really kind of exciting," Fluttershy murmured. Err, wait a second... Smirking towards her, I nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is. Thank you for the honor, Fluttershy," I returned, bowing politely to her. Rarity smirked instantly while Spike started snickering. Predictably, Fluttershy's cheeks lit up as her eyes widened a little. "O-Oh, I meant you! Oh my... I'm not a hero, Mender!" she refuted. I'd prepared for this moment, and was thankful that I had the book in my saddlebags. Digging to my left, I pulled out my historical reference guide on legends and historical events of Equestria, and flipped through it to the recent appendage to the Elements of Harmony. Fluttershy pounced me and the book before I could get there, however, lightly closing it in my hooves and rapidly shaking her head, blushing furiously. "I don't care what they, um, say about it. I don't feel like a hero," she explained. That, I could associate with. But she was ruthless in squashing it with me, and paybacks were apparently a happy sugar-bowl of tasty goodness. "Oh, I don't care what they say either. Because you're hero enough for me already, Fluttershy," I pointed out, smiling and lightly kissing her on her now very red cheek. "Oh, you two are just adorable!" Rarity chirped, directing both of our attention back to her. Apparently, she'd grabbed the closest thing to her and squished it like a giant teddy at our display of affection. Spike definitely looked like the happiest asphyxiation victim I'd ever seen, however, as she hugged him to her chest. A moment later, she saw where we were looking and tinted ever so slightly pink, setting Spike down gently again and steadying him as he wobbled back and forth. I could have sworn I saw little hearts popping up in his eyes, too. "Oh, sorry, Spikey-wikey. I got exuberant," she apologized properly, brushing her mane to the side again and making sure it was back properly adjusted. "Oh, it's okay, Rarity! You can use me as a teddy any day," he assured, still sounding a bit dizzy. Maybe I should check him over for brain damage from the lack of oxygen? I snickered to myself while contemplating it. Of course, if it turned out he really did have brain damage or some sort of hemorrhaging later, I'd feel like a total jerk. A light groan in the distance stopped me, the tone and voice sounding oh so familiar. I rotated instantly towards the entry to the train station again in time to see Twilight round the corner, dragging not one, but four suitcases along behind her. Ah! A surprised Daisy barely managed to squeak and hop out of the way as I ran past again, shooting out the front of the building and sliding to a stop in front of a very startled Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes softened a moment later and she smiled as she almost instantly recognized me and eased up as I took three of the four suitcases from her. Her mane looked a bit frazzled, and I wondered if she'd slept very well last night. She hadn't even thought to use her magic to haul the suitcases, so I guessed that was a no. "Oh, hey, Mender. Am I glad to see you. Ugh. I... I'm a little scared to admit how badly I've slept with you gone," Twilight muttered, blushing lightly. The blush worsened as I kissed her cheek and gave her jaw a nuzzle as Fluttershy flew up, finally catching up to me. "Well, the three of us will be together tonight in, uh, wherever we're staying. So you won't have to worry about that. You also could have said something," I pointed out, getting a firm grip on the cluster of suitcases that she'd tied together. Yeah, she had to have been tired... "Oh dear. Have you not been sleeping well, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked gently as I hauled the suitcases up the ramp and back inside the building, Daisy smirking at me in amusement from the line now. She was remarkably easy to spot with her green mane and tail, with a light purple coat. Wait, there was something I was supposed to be remembering about- Oh! I shifted my path instead and made a beeline for her. Her eyes widened a bit as I smiled, and she ended up looking to either side of her to check to make sure she was my target. "Hey, Daisy, could I speak with you once you get through the line?" I asked gently. She tilted her head, looking a little startled but nodded. "Oh, of course. Actually, now that I think about it, I kinda wanted to talk to you, too," she suddenly spoke up. I raised an eyebrow towards her, and she giggled, adding, "I saw the fliers." Oh hell. "Well, I should probably warn you that the Apples have reserved my expertise for a few weeks after we get back from this trip," I cautioned, averting my gaze after. This was awkward. It would have been much better to wait to distribute those fliers. Another giggle. Eh? "Oh, I know that, Silly. I'm one of the ponies that are helping for some bits on the side. My whole herd is," she explained simply as she took another step forward in the line. I deftly avoided the pony who just left the ticket booth, then smiled and nodded to Twilight and Fluttershy, who slipped up next to me a moment later with two curious expressions. "Ah, that doesn't really surprise me. Actually, what I had wanted was to ask you about that later, if you didn't mind. Err, and of course, when you have the time. As you know, I'm in a herd now, and kinda, well, inexperienced in such things. You're already in an established herd, and I was kind of hoping to get a bit of advice on how to make it work smoother?" I explained. Fluttershy and Twilight might as well hear this, too. Speaking of, both mares perked up, Fluttershy starting to blush lightly, but Twilight simply smiled and nodded towards me. "That's a really good idea, Mender. Could we be there, too?" she asked quietly, looking over at Daisy as well. The flower mare was smiling happily at this point, and nodded twice. "Of course! I'll be back in Ponyville in time for the fall festivals, and then I'm working on the same project as Mender for the Apples, so any time then," she assured. "It's set, then. Thank you, Daisy," I agreed, giving her a happy nod before heading back towards the train platform. Just in time, too, as the mare ahead of her finished getting her ticket and Daisy moved up to talk to the teller. Rarity gave all three of us a pleased smile as we walked back out onto the loading platform, me feeling significantly better now that I had scheduled some 'herd tutoring' from an expert. My ears twitched a little as I heard Twilight whispering behind me, but I respected the two mares' privacy and shifted them back ahead. Spike slid off the pile of luggage and ran up, helping me with the suitcases as I got close. They weren't too heavy, but there were a lot of them, which surprised me. One also made a rustling noise like lots of papers as he got it hoisted up with the others. Well, Twilight knew what she was doing, so who was I to question? Well, most of the time she knew what she was doing. Hmm, well, at least when it came to non-relationship stuff. Otherwise, she was as clueless as I was, which really said something considering I came from a war-torn dystopia with a breeding problem. Giving a grunt, I pushed the last suitcase up onto the platform as Spike balanced it carefully, and then nodded to him, grinning. He shot me a grin back and lowered the palm of his claw, which I bumped my hoof into before rotating in place. His timing was amazing as he slipped off the stack of luggage and smoothly landed on my back as I walked back to the mares. "It's not that much! Besides, two of the suitcases are for the presentation I need to give to Princess Celestia about everything we've learned," Twilight continued, apparently having been in the middle of being grilled by Rarity when I rejoined. Ah, that explained the paper sounds. "It is important. I have the sneaking suspicion that the official reason we're all being called to Canterlot is to properly establish Dimensional Regulations," I interrupted, voicing my suspicion from the last couple days. Rarity seemed to ponder that for a moment before simply nodding politely. Twilight, however, looked significantly more flustered. "S-Seriously? I don't think I'm prepared enough for that!" she squeaked out. Fluttershy didn't miss a beat in leaning in and brushing lightly against her right side, earning a hesitant smile and exhale. "Well, we have a two hour train ride. Unfortunately. We could get prepared during it. Please tell me you still remember that anti-nausea spell?" I asked, shivering as I remembered my first introduction to train travel. That distracted Twilight, as I'd hoped, and she giggled at the memory before nodding. "Of course! I never forget a spell after I look it up. I'll cast it on you once we all get settled in a cabin. Speaking of, we appear to be missing three, still," she suddenly pointed out, looking back towards the station entrance. Oh yeah, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and- "Oooh, three?! Who else is coming?!" Pinkie asked exuberantly from my immediate right. I shot around in time to see her all of a third of a meter from me and yelped, almost stumbling sideways as I slid away from her now mirthful form. Twilight twitched, then slowly rotated back around to see Pinkie standing on top of the suitcase I'd set down next to Rarity. Oddly, the pearly unicorn herself didn't even look fazed, and Fluttershy just smiled and nodded towards the pink one, as if this were perfectly normal. Oh, wait, it was. Exhaling, I shook my head and whacked Pinkie in the shoulder with my tail, earning another burst of giggling from her. "Don't scare me like that! Sheesh. How you got that close without setting my proximity sensors off, I have no idea," I muttered, frowning at the concept. Twilight gave me a skeptical look as well, to which I just shrugged. "That's easy, Silly! Those are for scary threats and enemies. I'm the friendliest, nicest, happiest pony around, and they thought so, too, so they trust me!" she declared. I stared blankly at her, wondering if I should try to explain that they're not sentient in the first place, so couldn't make a character judgment like that. But then I realized that, given whom she was, she might be right, so I just dropped it to preserve my brain cells. "That just leaves Applejack and Rainbow, naturally. Fashionably late as usual, it would seem," Rarity chirped, sounding more amused than irritated. Snickering, I nodded as well. "Together, even. Why, you don't suppose...?" I let out, allowing it to just hang there between us all. Twilight shot me a knowing smirk, but Rarity gasped outright. "Oh, how scandalous! Why, you don't suppose they've been secretly seeing each other this whole time, do you?!" she asked, taking the bait and running with it, as anticipated. Twilight snickered but shook her head a moment later. "I doubt it. Both of them are too stubborn for that. Rainbow probably overslept after her morning exercises, and Applejack is probably being pried away from the closest apple tree by a crowbar, as we speak," she deduced, giving me rather amusing mental images. Not that Big Mac would need a crowbar when he was capable of uprooting the tree and just carrying her and it over here. "True. She's probably working up until the last minute. She felt horrible that she was leaving Big Mac for a few days to do all that work by himself! I bet she-" Fluttershy started to explain. My newly programmed Rainbow Proximity Alert went off a moment later, and I sighed. Prior to last week, I never imagined I'd have to make a proximity alarm for one of the links built to a tolerance window of a tenth of a second. My world spun as she smashed into me in full landing dive. We flipped once through the air, me lightly pushing Spike towards the luggage as we spun. Lazily, both of us hung at the top point of her arc, her upside down and wincing, and me simply glaring straight ahead before kicking sideways. I rotated and caught her carefully before we smashed into the platform again, six meters from where I started. I landed on my back, of course, and she landed on my stomach. Thankfully, the station was still rather empty. Being indirectly responsible for somepony else's fractured skull and concussion would have been a bad way to start this trip. "Woo! Hey, thanks for the awesome catch, Mender! I knew you'd make a good pillow," the cyan pegasus added, sitting up on top of me and smirking in amusement. She shifted to surprise a heartbeat later as a purple aura snagged her under the front legs and tossed her backwards into the luggage pile, Spike barely rolling out of the way in time. "Please refrain from using our coltfriend as a landing platform in the future, Dash. While I know it's tempting and he wouldn't be hurt from it, it's reckless and could injure a third party," Twilight warned, giving a firm stare back towards the pegasus as she crawled out from the now spilled luggage. She snapped back around to me a moment later, then smiled, sliding in where Rainbow was a moment before and resting against my barrel gently. I smiled down at her, and then widened my eyes as Fluttershy moved in and rested against my right side, tucking herself into us fully as well. Rainbow trotted back up, followed by a slower moving Rarity and an amused Pinkie Pie. "Hey! I don't get a hug, too?" the cyan mare asked, sticking her tongue out towards me before ruffling her mane back up again, making sure it was sufficiently 'messy' still. Hard to believe that the crash actually made it neater. "That's not a hug, Silly! They're snuggling. Like this!" Pinkie pointed out before promptly tackling Rainbow sideways. I didn't see where they went through Rarity, of course, who simply moved her tail out of the way and resumed politely smiling at me. Heh. With all of us together, this was going to be a fun trip... * * * * * It was an interesting sensation, being able to 'feel' Twilight's magic gently massaging and keeping my stomach steady, despite any motion the train would do. It was pleasant, and a little tingly, I decided. Twilight herself rested to my right, and Fluttershy to my left, all three of us on the bench on the left side of the door coming in. Rarity, Spike, and Applejack sat opposite of us, in that order. Despite there being extra room on both benches, Pinkie and Rainbow sat on the floor, looking perfectly content with their choice. What I was most surprised with was that, despite the fact that this was a presentation, everypony was listening perfectly intently to Twilight talk. I would have figured the two on the floor would have fallen asleep by now. Maybe they had and were just amazingly talented at faking it? Regardless, I blamed the subject matter. "That's everything we know so far. In summary, they're made out of natural crystals found here, magically enchanted, loaded up with nanites, and then synced with Mender. After that, if a pony touches them, they copy the pony's Cutie Mark and register them in Mender's database. If he confirms them for full connection, they're then shared with the rest of the 'network', so to speak. The nanites do a variety of things to the host, including regeneration and poison filtration from the bloodstream, and also allow us to talk to each other mentally. Further, they can do other things upon Mender's request, as detailed already," Twilight finished, relaxing after she let the last page slide over on her presentation board. I simply listened in, keeping my eyes closed as I relaxed between my two mares. It was everything I'd mentioned, but expanded in amazing levels of detail as she told them every function the disks had, and their composition. None of their heart rates betrayed anything, and I was uncertain how a few would respond. Fluttershy and Twilight, of course, were the image of perfect tranquility, having already known about it for one, and not really caring for another. I was also fairly certain Pinkie was aware and also didn't care. That just left Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow's heart rate indicated that she might yet be close to falling asleep if left to her own devices, so I assumed she was also in that 'don't care' list. That left just Rarity and Applejack, who I didn't have the capability to remotely read heart rate on... "So, basically yer sayin' that, if he wanted ta, Mender could essentially take complete control o' our bodies an' use us like ah bunch o' fancy puppets?" Applejack herself asked a moment later. I opened my eyes at that, noticing her just staring blankly at me from across the room, with a nervous looking Spike next to her and edging slowly closer to Rarity, who rested with her eyes closed. "Well, essentially, yeah," Twilight confirmed, blinking and looking away uneasily. Applejack stared at me for a bit longer before looking back at Twilight's chart. "Huh. Interestin'. What about you, Rarity? Ya had ah problem with it when he first told us," she inquired. Idly, I wondered what she was doing, but contented myself to just watch. Rarity smiled, however, still keeping her eyes relaxed and closed. "Yes, I did. I was very concerned that the nanites would do something to me automatically. I hold no such concerns of Mender doing anything intentionally, however," she assured. I blushed at that, admittedly surprised at her full-blown trust of me. Applejack smiled at that, to my further surprise. "Spoken as true as ya could get. Ah was just worried. Ah think everypony 'ere agrees we ain't in danger from Mender, o' all ponies," she assured gently. Eh, what's that supposed to mean?! There was a round of snickers, so apparently everypony knew except for me, and I blushed a little more. Twilight smiled after and nodded to everypony before replacing the large pad on the presentation board. Half an hour of travel and she already got through a full subject. She must be delighted. Heh. She situated the new notes before smiling and announcing, "Okay, the next topic is Mender's designs for a device capable of scanning for, analyzing, and blocking extradimensional travel, and what we're going to need to do to get one built and running!" She forgot to mention that 'theoretical' part in the title. Oh well. Settling in to watch the next presentation, I was suddenly distracted by a light pinging sensation. Eh? Keela? Switching my eyes over to record mode, I slipped inside myself and turned Keela's communication line on instead. "Um, Mender? Do you have a moment?" the Keldarian in question whispered, sounding both tired and sad at the same time. Uh oh. "Of course, Keela. Are you okay? What's wrong?" I asked, 'sitting down' inside of my head as I talked openly to her. Pity we didn't have mental video chat, too. She might have found that amusing. There was a slight delay before she sighed lightly and continued with, "I just, well, I need someone to, Err... Somepony to talk to for a little bit." Ah, so she was lonely? "Are you okay? I'm here to talk if you need me," I assured, relaxing and idly watching Twilight's presentation without audio while waiting for Keela's replies. Keela sighed softly again and hesitated for a moment before explaining, "I know this isn't the best topic and you probably don't care, but... It's my sister, Nirru." My eyes widened a bit, and then I frowned, a bit of a chill settling in my chest. What did she do now? Sensing my irritation in the silence, Keela quickly continued with, "I know, she's a complete monster. I can't lie to myself anymore, and... I'm an idiot for doing it in the first place. I love her, and she took care of me growing up. She was all I had, and protected me after our mother passed on and they wanted me to be a breeder... She..." I listened, for what it was worth, but sympathy just wasn't coming for her sister. The fact that, if it hadn't been for Keela, I would have crushed Nirru's skull and not lost a second of sleep over it weighed heavily into the decision. "Yeah. I'm sorry. She killed you, and tried to kill everyone you love. I know, she's a monster. Maybe I am, too, for trying to pretend she was normal? It doesn't matter anymore anyways. She's... She's crazy," Keela continued in a quieter whisper. "More so than before?" I asked idly, deciding that indeed was a most concerning bit of information. "Heh. Okay, yeah. More crazy. She's stopped eating, and she talks to herself almost constantly now. I tried talking to her, but she doesn't respond, talking about how she wanted revenge and that I was corrupted and not her sister anymore. That... That hurt a lot," Keela continued, and I heard a faint swallow afterwards. Sighing, I had to admit that I'd seen it coming. "She's delusional. She refuses to think that I'm anything resembling a nice pony, so you have to be the corrupted one," I suggested. My other self had seen it once before. One of the cloning vat soldiers got totally unhinged after watching his 'little brother' get his head blasted off in the middle of one of our more intense firefights. He totally lost it, refusing to consider the concept that maybe, just maybe, command really was sending us on suicide missions. Logically, he walked into command and inquired as to what part of the missions we were doing wrong that kept getting soldiers killed. Of course, they interpreted it as dissent and we had two funerals that night, but at least he meant well. "I know. It just hurts. She refuses to talk to me now. I don't know what to do. Tym is nice and I can still talk to him about things, but... You're all I have left and I want my sister to be normal again!" she whispered quickly. I heard her clothing bunch up and knew she'd tucked herself up, wherever she was. Normal. She wanted her sister to be normal again so everything would be just fine, and she wouldn't have to only have me to talk to. A spike of anger shot through me, and my teeth clenched lightly. "Normal? Nothing will ever be 'normal' again, Keela! The very individual you're wishing that for destroyed my chances at that very thing! At the same time she murdered me, caused massive amounts of collateral damage, shot panic across all of my country, and threatened everypony I've ever cared about!" I shouted, not quite realizing my volume until I heard myself echo back through feedback with her. Keela gave a sharp intake, then I heard her gasp and choke back a sudden sob, going quiet for a second until she whimpered lightly instead. "I'm... I'm so sorry, Mender. I'm sorry! I... There's no other way to look at it. Everything. It's all my fault. I stood by and let her do all those horrible things without even thinking... I... And now I'm crawling to the one I hurt the most and... Oh hell. I'm sorry. I'm..." she started whispering rapidly. A pang went through me and I sighed, realizing she had it a lot worse. At least I had... Well, I considered them friends, anyways. And Fluttershy. She honestly wanted to be 'with' me. At least, she seemed to. Or she just really liked sex. Twilight... I didn't know about. She seemed earnest, but she was right. Trust exercises were... They were definitely needed. "I shouldn't have snapped. I'm sorry, Keela," I apologized softly, in-between her crying and what sounded like a fist against a metal panel. Silence. Nothing but her quiet whines came over the audio, followed by another sharp intake of breath. "N-No. I see it now. Everything I've done has been for my own benefit. I'm as selfish and monstrous as the council I'm running away from. I ruined your life, and then begged you to help me fix my sister's, the one who did it! I'm... I caused all of this," she continued, shifting gradually to horrified instead. "Keela, stop it. You're nowhere near like them and you know it. Yeah, you made mistakes, but the fact that you love your sister is enough proof that-" I started to point out. "No! Mender, I can't let you... I even gave you that link for my own benefit! All because I was lonely and didn't want you to leave. What better way to keep you here than give you a link to my very soul? I secretly wanted you to take me with you. To haul me away from here and all this... I was hoping that you had enough of, well, him in you to care for me, too. I'm a monster!" she screamed out instead. Banging sounded through her audio link, followed by "Miss Keela, are you okay in there?!" She ignored both. Admittedly, I was at a loss. I knew she would have taken losing him hard, but to be so hurt by it that she was hoping I was magically like him was... I'd guessed she'd intentionally given me that link to her, but this was beyond what I'd realized completely. "Mender," she whispered softly, suddenly, despite the continued pounding. Eh? "Keela. Calm down, I-" I tried to assure. She was hurting badly. More than I'd realized before. I should have guessed this and tried to help her long before now. "Mender, cut the link," she requested. What? "Keela! No, I'm not going to kill you!" I yelped, shocked she'd even ask such a thing. Another sob, then a cough and dull scraping noise I recognized as claws on metal. "No! P-Pretend it was me who tried to kill you. Me who ruined your life. Me who threatened everypony! The link is putting Equestria in danger! Cut it and be free of this all forever. Please!" she begged suddenly. "Keela, stop it! Open the door and let in those who care about you. They all need you, and I'm not going to kill you, Keela. I'm not!" I shouted, glaring at nothing in particular. Damn it. I pinged her twice, requesting transfer, but as anticipated, she ignored me entirely. A giggle. Keela started giggling as I heard the sound of an energy cutter in the background. They were slicing her door open, but it would take a few minutes. She stopped crying entirely, and just started laughing. "You're crazy. You're totally, batshit crazy! I'm crazy, too! We're all crazy! Haha!" she exclaimed, starting to laugh hysterically and cry at the same time. Well, I was crazy, that much I'd give her. My mouth opened to talk again when I heard the light hum of a power cell activating. Eh? "You're crazy. You could save everypony you love and kill the one responsible for hurting you so badly all in one instant, but you won't do it," she whispered, adding another giggle after before choking back a sob. "That's because you're not the one who did it!" I pointed out. She was delusional, too! "But I am. I let her do all of that because I was too stupid to think badly of her. But no. I'm not going to do it again. I'll turn the link off for you," she continued. My eyes widened as I heard the hum increase in intensity with a clicking noise. Hand held pulse laser! Again, there was no conscious decision. Momentarily, my eyes opened in the real world again before lighting up with a burning amber color, swirls of cyan leaking into my vision as Prudentia activated at my side, causing everypony in the cabin to jump in surprise. Summoning enough energy, I 'felt' Purdue wake up and gasp before helping me shift it, and then, together, we slammed it into Keela's link. Keela gasped, probably feeling the wave of heat as my distorted image phased out of her chest. The pulse pistol was already lifted to her temple when my hoof lashed out in an instant. The barrier it was formed of snapped the weapon in half, sending a shower of sparks flying everywhere as the cell in it shorted out, permanently rendering the weapon nothing more than an oddly shaped paperweight before it was ejected. My weight landed on her entirely, and I smashed her to the floor and pinned her there with the barriers my 'body' was made out of. Purdue stepped out next to me and picked the two halves of the pistol up again, giving Keela a sad glance before tucking them into my non-existent saddlebags instead. "Enough!" I shouted, glaring down at Keela as I pinned her. Her eyes widened and she went limp in an instant as I held her there. The door burned open an instant later, a sudden flare of significantly magnified heat melting it away completely before two guards and Tym entered. "Killing yourself to get rid of the link is not the answer, Keela. Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe, I don't think any of those things about you and don't want to lose you either?" I pointed out, lowering my voice a bit but refusing to break eye contact with her. Her eyes were bloodshot, indicating many lost hours of sleep beyond just what the tears had caused, and they started getting watery again as she slowly shook her head. "Miss Keela, no! Don't kill yourself," one of the guards begged, sitting down beside her and setting her helmet down on the floor. "I thought you were smarter than this, Keela. You can come to me long before you get to this," Tym reminded a moment later, the message a little harsh but his tone rather soft and concerned. He sat down as well on the other side of her as she just lay there, looking up at me. It took a bit of effort, but I projected the two guards, Tym, and Keela through me entirely and into the cabin of the train, at the same time I projected the train and all six other ponies into Keela's room. I nodded down at her, adding, "Don't forget, you have six additional friends in Equestria that are willing to talk to you, too, Keela. Talk to us before you do any rash decisions again." Keela kept crying, even harder now as she saw six additional smiles and nods towards her, everypony seeming to at least understand something was wrong with her. Of course, they all knew about the nature of the link I had with the Keldarian. "See? Come to us the next time, too. Any eight of us will easily set you straight, Silly," I assured, trying to fight through the headache as my focus wavered, and everything flickered in and out slightly. Damn. Even though it wasn't my power I was using, it was still my concentration to hold everything together, and brute forcing my way through the link was harder than I realized. "Mender, disengage before you pass out. We got this," Tym ordered, smirking towards me. I looked over at him momentarily before chuckling lightly. He knew me well enough, even though I was technically somepony else. But I think he knew that, too, always referring to me as 'Mender' instead. "You'd better," I warned, smirking to him before nodding and letting the connection snap away to the image of his sudden grin. Momentary darkness followed, and then my eyes opened again on Equestria's side of things. "Ah, sorry about that, everypony," I muttered weakly, rubbing at my temples as the headache flared up a bit. "Mender, it's okay. Keela tried to hurt herself, didn't she?" Twilight asked softly, causing Fluttershy to gasp on the other side of me. I started to nod before I realized I was still channeling Prudentia, and frowned. Normally it turned itself off after I'd completed whatever task it had been directed towards. The glow was still there as well, as I looked away from Twilight. Glow? Sitting in the center of the cabin was Purdue. She looked a bit disoriented, and I realized that her current spot was vaguely where she'd been in the other dimension, in accordance to me. Oh, I'd shifted back while she was out! I smiled as she wobbled and stood up, and then widened my eyes as I realized time wasn't frozen. Twilight's eyes were huge as she stared at the little transparent filly in the center of the room as well. One by one, the mares turned and stared at her, varying levels of surprise on their faces. Oh. Oops. Chapter 63Oops. Well, things rarely went according to plan anyways. I just attributed it to my horrible luck. Pinkie extended her right foreleg towards the filly, phasing right through her transparent back, causing Purdue to yelp and spin around, backing away from her. "Oooh, who are you?" Pinkie quickly asked. Purdue shivered, looking vaguely in the direction of the mare and shrunk down a bit, pushing her tummy to the floor of the cab. "Pinkie, don't scare her!" Twilight ordered, frowning towards the little filly. "M-Master, are you here? Something went wrong. I can't see without the book being on," Purdue whimpered, looking around the room. And she had to call me that in front of everypony... Twilight gave me a questioning glance, and then looked back to the little filly with dawning understanding, but I slipped off my seat and onto the floor before she could say anything. "Purdue, I'm right here. Can you hear me?" I asked gently. Her ears perked up and she spun in my direction almost instantly, making two bounds before piling into my chest. "Purdue, it's okay. Something went weird with the dimensional transfer. They can all see you for some reason," I told her gently. "They... They shouldn't be able to see me! They can never see me..." she muttered, burying her face against my chest. She was so tiny compared to the others. Even the Crusaders were huge compared to her. "You're the filly that's in Prudentia, right? Purdue, was it?" Twilight asked gently, smiling down at her as she perked up and looked her way. I slid the book off my side and set it down next to Purdue, who seemed to suddenly become aware of it. I nodded for her, and explained, "Yeah, this is Purdue. Normally, when I talk with her, I experience a time dilation effect and nopony else can see her. This is definitely new." "Oh, she's adorable!" Fluttershy squealed, then promptly blushed and covered her mouth. Heh, it would be a tough battle to decide who was more adorable. Purdue, Fluttershy, or one of the Crusaders. Honestly, none of them would win because all the judges and onlookers would be dead by the end of the contest... Purdue busied herself feeling along the book, frowning as she traced its lock with her dark blue hooves. Her mane was also just as pretty as I remembered, me attempting to brush along it with my hoof to keep her calm. It was moderate in length and straight, her apparently having not aged a single day since I last saw her. Must save a fortune on mane trims. With them side-by-side like this, I saw that her colors really did match the book's almost perfectly. Her mane and tail were two-toned copper like the binding and lock, and her coat was the same blue as the body of the book. "This has never happened before. I shouldn't have been able to be closed out of the book! I'm a part of it!" she exclaimed a moment later, shrinking down and away from the world in general while hiding against my chest. "Purdue, calm down. We'll do anything we can to get you back in the book if that's what you want. You don't need to be scared," I assured, picking the book up again and examining the lock. I'd only ever seen it open that one time, and I didn't have a clue how I did it. Purdue exhaled softly for a moment before looking up at me instead. Her vision wasn't as focused as it normally was, and I realized she couldn't see me. Her milky eyes stared blankly in my direction before she slid forwards and just rested against my front. "I, um, I can open the book, Master. It would let me back in then, but... Can you promise me that neither you, nor anypony here will look inside of it?" she asked quietly a moment later. "Eh, why don't you want us looking inside? What are you hiding?!" Rainbow asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes towards the little filly. "Relax, Dash. Ah don't think she's hidin' anythin' dangerous. 'sides, it's not our book ta look through," Applejack reminded, smiling softly towards the little filly as she leaned back in her spot. Smiling, I chuckled to myself before shaking my head. No, my life was complicated enough without seeing what was inside that thing. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would make things a lot more complex... "It's okay, Purdue. I promise that nopony here is going to look in the book," I assured. To my surprise, she looked surprised instead and actually stopped as I set the book down next to her again. "Um, you didn't hesitate. Could I maybe ask, well, why? You aren't the least bit curious?" she inquired weakly, her own curiosity apparently getting the better of her. "You told me not to, so you must have a good reason for it. You've never given me bad or malicious information or advice in the past, and I trust you not to now," I explained. I didn't think it was that hard of a concept. When somepony acted in a consistently honest and helpful manner, they deserved the benefit of the doubt from time to time. The little filly stared at me for a moment longer before smiling and looking down towards her hooves. "Trust, huh? I... I guess I should trust you, too, then. Yeah, I think I do trust you. I'll be back later tonight after you go to sleep and visit you in your dreams. Um, I think I should finally tell you more. Twilight and Fluttershy can come, too," she offered. Oh, this should be interesting! Nodding slowly, I added, "That would be good. Hurry and reattach yourself to the book, though, before you run out of energy," I reminded, rotating it around to face her again. Of course, given what she mentioned to me before, that was just my best guess as to what would happen if she didn't get back inside the book. Smiling, Purdue lifted just the front cover of the book, the lock suddenly not being there anymore. I raised an eyebrow, but she hesitated for almost ten seconds while staring at the white page in front of her. Everypony watched her curiously as she slowly turned back to me instead. "Um, can I ask you one more thing, Master?" she timidly asked, eyes softening slightly. I sighed and shook my head, offering, "Only if you stop referring to me as Master. You know I don't like that." Purdue blushed and nodded lightly, explaining, "I, uh, I could do that. What I wanted to ask you is if I could call you something else? P-Please?" Something else? "Err, what do you want to call me instead?" I asked, unsure of this suddenly. This was a rather unorthodox request. The little filly closed her eyes softly before nodding to herself and exhaling. "Can I, well, pretend that you're my big brother? J-Just for today, even?!" she asked, looking back up at me with pleading eyes. Eh?! Her big brother? Why did she want that? Well, I suppose it didn't matter, as I kinda did think of her as a little sister already. Smiling, I nodded to her, adding, "That's not that hard to do, then, Sis. Just get back in the book and rest, okay?" Her eyes expanded to full size and a pink tint hit her cheeks again almost as fast as her grin. "Ah, thank you, Big Brother! I'll see you tonight!" she exclaimed, slipping her hoof under the cover. She was gone an instant later. Silence prevailed for a good thirty seconds as everyone stared at the book, the cover having closed after she faded away. The lock was slowly materializing back onto it, leaving quite a window of opportunity if one of us wanted to open it up again. She was capable of instantly unlocking it, but locking it again took time? Either that or she was testing me. Heh. Picking the book up, I simply hooked it back up to my side instead, ignoring the lock that was slowly appearing again. Twilight exhaled quietly, and then snickered to herself. "Admittedly, I trusted that you were telling the truth about the filly, but I never anticipated ever being able to actually meet her," she pondered, looking back over to me a moment later. "I somehow doubt she was expecting that either. She panicked easily enough after realizing something was wrong, but otherwise spoke and acted like an individual many years older than she looked," Rarity observed, frowning towards the book as the lock finally snapped on again. "I don't know how old she is, but she appears to be stuck permanently at that age, so you're undoubtedly right," I revealed, earning a pleased smile from the pearly mare. Pinkie looked a bit sad, however, edging back over to the book and sliding her hoof along it. "That's actually really sad. She's been stuck in this book for who knows how long. It must get so lonely in there! She should come out more often, and I'd throw a party for her!" she declared, slapping her right hoof down on top of her left and giving me her best determined look. Oh boy. "Uh, I'll ask her, but she's a bit antisocial, if you didn't notice. She doesn't trust anypony. Not even me," I pointed out. "Um, she seems to trust you at least a little bit. Especially now. She looked surprised when you said that," Fluttershy added, sliding right and pulling me back up and into the seat next to her. She promptly lay down fully and rested her head and upper body against my left hip. Smiling, I eased her further onto me and gently rubbed her left shoulder with my foreleg as she rested there. Spike looked distracted, however, and shook his head next to Rarity as he looked up towards me. "Honestly, she just looked scared. If I were suddenly dropped into a situation where I was blind and in a totally unknown area, I'd be scared, too," he defended. "That's just the thing. Normally she can, well, 'see' just fine. She's still blind, but it's as if she has some supernatural awareness or something. Maybe the book gives that to her?" I pondered out loud, scratching my chin. Twilight absently shrugged next to me before sliding over and mirroring my position with a smile. Ah. Heh. Pulling Fluttershy over, I rested myself against Twilight's hip while Fluttershy rested against mine, becoming a pony pile on the seat. Things were, well, improving, I admitted. Despite as painful as the last few days had been, maybe it would help us in the long run? "The itinerary is set, anyways. We check in with the castle first, and then move our things up to the guest rooms and my old bedroom. Then we'll need to meet with Princess Celestia in order to figure out what she has planned for us for the next three days, in order to sync what we wish to do with her plans," Twilight explained suddenly, closing her eyes as she relaxed into the soft cushion. "What exactly are our things ta do, anyways? Ah thought we were pretty much only 'ere ta meet with tha Princess?" Applejack asked softly. That. That was a very good question, as I had thought the same thing. Twilight sighed, however, and added, "It turns out Shining and Cadance are in town as well for some reason. Our mom and dad heard about us both being here, and asked us to come to supper on one of the days. You're all invited, of course." Oh, I didn't mind her parents, or Shining, but this was the first time I'd be meeting Princess Cadance. I wondered idly what she was like, and if she'd tease me as much as Velvet did. Her being the Princess of Love didn't bode well for that... "Oh, that ain't so bad, then. Ya got anything else planned?" Applejack inquired, sounding more pleased now. She'd definitely be one to support a family event, I realized. "Yes. Octavia Melody oddly sent the organization a letter, with regards to Mender, of course. I'm sure you all remember her. She heard we were coming to Canterlot and apparently didn't have my mailing address. I corrected that. Oh, and she wants to treat us to supper on one of the evenings as well. Desperate to, even," she revealed. Octavia? It mildly amused me that Twilight sounded more pleased about fixing the address issue, but I wondered why Octavia suddenly wanted to treat us. Wait, how did she find out about the trip? This was intentionally kept a secret... "She undoubtedly still feels indebted to Mender still for saving her life. As a high-class mare, I bet she knows many wonderful places to eat in Canterlot!" Rarity exclaimed excitedly. Okay, that didn't surprise me at all. Although she'd never actually 'talked' to Octavia, and I felt she'd probably be in for a bit of a surprise there. The gray mare was far more down to earth than she gave the immediate impression of. "Probably. I don't see why we couldn't, so long as nopony else wants a supper with us. We're running out of evenings. Anything else, Twi?" I asked, nuzzling her hip gently. The lavender unicorn blushed down towards me, lightly shivering at my touch before frowning and looking away again. Uh oh. "Uh, yeah. There's one more place. I wanted to stop by the Marriage and Herd Licensing Branch," she revealed. Oh... Fluttershy perked up, and Rainbow got a confused look on her face, but Rarity softly smiled towards the mare. "Ah, I see. Going to attempt to fix this unfortunate blunder?" she asked gently. Could it be 'fixed' as easy as that? I knew Twi was technically a princess now, but she wasn't one to abuse her title for things. Plus, she seemed to indicate that it was kind of embarrassing for her... Twilight swallowed uneasily but nodded a moment later. "Yeah. Mender is a part of our hearts, and it's only fair that he be a part of the herd, too. Surely I can do something about it, being a princess," she suggested, rotating until she was on her back. I slipped, of course, landing on her tummy instead with one of her back legs to each side of my waist. "Are you sure you want to do that? Given our penchant for media coverage, especially in Canterlot, it might get ugly," I warned. Last thing I wanted was a repeat of last time. Twilight frowned and looked away from me instead, considering it for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yes, I'm sure. This is more important than even another repeat of last time. I don't care what other ponies think about it. I, well, Fluttershy and I only care about what you think, Mender. And don't try to say otherwise, because we know you're upset over it," she answered, cutting me off preemptively as I opened my mouth to say just that. Damn. Was I getting predictable or something? Rarity smiled softly, and Applejack outright grinned a moment later, however. "Darn right! Ah fully support this decision. Do ya need some 'bodyguards', or do ya think it'll be fine?" the farm mare asked, smirking at us. Heh, her version of 'bodyguard' was liable to put the paparazzi in the hospital instead... Twilight giggled but shook her head, assuring her with, "I'm sure it'll be fine. These are just what-if sort of things. I don't plan on going there tonight either. All of today is just for getting Princess Celestia's itinerary and settling in." That made sense, for the most part. "Unless your parents find us. Then it will also include supper," Rarity reminded, earning an eye roll from Twi. Heh. Hopefully just supper. I don't think I could stomach another interrogation session. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just focus on the inevitable for now and deal with variables once we get there. Everypony okay with that?" Twilight finalized. After a round of agreements, we settled back in. It was strange, really. We were starting to feel closer than friends now. Like a team. I wondered idly if Twilight had felt this sort of thing to the others all along. The Elements of Harmony had been a team for a long while, really. Like superheroes, but without the weird costumes. Snickering to myself, I earned a strange glance from Twilight before settling back in myself, shooting the mental image to her and earning a squeak. I'd never tire of these links... * * * * * It was a new record! An hour and a half and I was already regretting coming to Canterlot. Nervously, I fidgeted lightly in the heavy armor that I wasn't used to wearing, feeling bulky and immobile in comparison to the natural stuff I could have popped out. Still, this armor was regal and polished, with gems laid into it. My armor was gunmetal gray with twisted ridges and rows of razor sharp teeth and tentacles. Yeah, for a 'press conference', this was probably ideal. The old wood creaked lightly as I shifted back and forth on my hooves while standing, trying to keep my left leg from shaking. I'd lied to the poor, flustered maid who had to help me get all this crap on and said that the bands weren't too tight on my leg. In reality, it ached something fierce already and I was eager to just get all of it off. Twilight stood to my immediate left, and further to her left was Shining, who was currently talking into the microphone. I tried my hardest to look anywhere but out into the crowd of ponies, noticing the overcast day and light wind chill. That was one good thing about the armor, anyway. Metal was never worn bare, as it would chaff the skin right off somepony over prolonged exposure. A soft leather was under the plates and straps, and was quite warm, if not a bit rubbery feeling. Oddly, the higher qualities of the fake leather felt stranger to me, being a little too polished and slippery to feel 'normal'. This armor was made specifically for me for my new 'role,' it turned out, so it was high quality, to my dismay. Tia laughed, of course. "Yes, again, this organization is a joint venture between three individual cities to lessen the burden all around. Princess Cadance and I personally escorted twenty-five guards of the Crystal Empire here to be part of this effort, and Manehatten has granted another twenty. Adding to the twenty-five royal guards already assigned, we plan to host seventy ponies as the main defense force. This is only a preliminary estimate, and subject to change depending on how things go," Shining Armor continued, answering the questions of reporters as the event went on. Sadly, this time I had to sit through the logistics aspects. Pony taxpayers liked being informed as to where their bits were being spent, go figure. Fluttershy kept sending me reassuring thoughts from the sidelines, thankfully, the rest of the elements sitting in chairs behind us on the low chance that somepony asked a question regarding one of them. But they were already well known, and that was undoubtedly unneeded. Lucky them. "What's the time span of this venture?" one of the reporters asked, raising a hoof in the front row. Ugh. You were supposed to raise the hoof first, and then be nodded to for question asking. Nopony listened, it would seem. Shining was apparently a veteran of many conferences, however, and didn't even give an annoyed sigh. "Indefinite. Although the guards themselves will be kept in reserve until actually needed, apart from training. Research and preventative safety measurements will be constant, however," he returned. Yup. Of course, he neglected to mention that I had intended to do that anyways. I sure as hell wasn't about to let somepony like Nirru back into Equestria, even if I had to personally murder them for trying. Let my status as resident abomination be good for something, anyways. That thought was a bit rougher than intended, earning a skeptical glance from Twilight and a chastising mental stare from Fluttershy. They were definitely not giving up this time! I didn't know whether to be honored or saddened. "What's the estimated influence this organization will have on society?" a mare asked upon being nodded to, standing up and showing her colored vest. Purple with blue stripes? My database activated, popping up the picture I'd snapped of the color reference guide that was put up at the entrance to the large, outside Plaza. Ah, 'Equestria's Society of Responsible Parenting'. They would indeed be worried about that. "If things go as intended, little to none. All technology discovered by this organization is only to be applied to the defense of the citizens against outside threats. Beyond that, we hope to directly influence nothing," the prince explained, without hesitation. His skills in dealing with social things made me jealous. Zoning out again, I returned to looking at the floorboards under my hooves. There were still thirty-seven small nicks in them, which hadn't changed from the last time I awkwardly counted them, both terrified and bored at the same time. It was an odd juxtaposition of emotions, honestly. It kind of gave me the urge to run away in blind panic, like most social events did. So in retrospect, just the norm for me? "Are there any safeguards in planning already?" was asked, catching my attention. Aww, crap. Shining sighed at that and nodded before looking sympathetically in my direction. Well, it was unavoidable, of course. Shivering lightly, I nodded oh so slightly, and he turned back to the crowd. "Yes, there is one in planning already. However, I'm not the best to ask about that. Our head researcher, Moon Mender, can answer that one," he assured. Damn it! Swallowing nervously, I heard the click of my mic turning on as I rotated and walked around the podium Shining relaxed at, going across the other side of the stage. Maybe it was my hypersensitivity at the moment, but I heard every creak of my armor, and every echoing step I made under the magnification of the microphone. Reaching the other end of the stage, I peeked up behind the first curtain row and saw the screen that was rolled up and attached to the stage overhead. Yeah, that would do for the projection system. It was some seriously fascinating crystal arrays they used to magically project things onto the screen, and admittedly, I was interested in seeing them work. My left hoof glowed, and I ignored the light muttering that started up as my energy danced upwards, forming a thin barrier line that hooked onto the pull down tab. Smiling to myself, I tugged it lightly so the screen would unroll and lower. Of course, nothing happened. Raising an eyebrow, I tugged again with my foreleg this time, tilting my head as it jarred, but didn't fall. What, was it stuck? I wondered when the last time they'd oiled it was. Great. I shot a frustrated glance towards Twilight, who walked over as well and looked up at it, tilting her head. "Apologies. We appear to be having technical issues with the display screen," Shining noted, addressing the crowd after watching us for a second. "It's not coming down?" Twilight asked, lighting her horn up and tugging on the ring as well. Huh. She either didn't trust me, or thought that it would have different results when she did it. Either way was probably bad for- I was interrupted a moment later when it was discovered she did indeed have different results. Frowning, I felt a twinge of frustration go down the link and she pulled again, just 'slightly' harder this time. I watched the support struts warp and stepped forwards, putting my shield up over the surprised unicorn a moment before the entire display crashed down on top of us, blowing my mic out with a thundering blast and bringing the support lights down as well. Ten seconds later, six guards had rushed up on stage and Twilight was giving them a very sheepish look as we stood amidst a series of sparking and twisted bits of metal and burning screen. Well, this was about on par with how I'd expected the day to go, so no surprises yet, I noted. Hell, this I could deal with! "May I suggest getting a chalkboard?" Rarity offered from the sidelines. * * * * * This turned out for the better, anyways. Having to draw all of my diagrams and information manually meant that I got to stare at the board for a majority of the time rather than the hundreds of ponies in the crowd! The few glances their way to answer questions about the details of my plan were spent staring over the crowd instead, and trying to not shake loud enough to have my rattling armor picked up in my replacement microphone. The drawing had intentionally been kept vague, as the workings weren't needed for the general public to know about. It was a huge, crystal strut on the ground that would link to a slightly smaller one put high in the sky. It needed to be as high as possible to cover as much of the planet as it could, and to minimize the energy requirements to keep it in place by lessening the gravity. It was easy to explain that part to the crowd by referencing them being able to see further from a really tall tower. Once the top of it was as high as I could get it, it expanded a matrix of crystals through the atmosphere, all tuned to each other to form a 'web' of detection magic. Any disruptions of a dimensional nature from within or below the web would be detected and broadcast to the main spire, and thus, us. We'd have the location the dimensional gate opened at, and be able to send a response team there to investigate almost instantly. Later on, I was hoping to upgrade the tower to be able to actively block the 'connections' to Equestria as well, flipping them back around on themselves to halt any intruders before they even set foot, claw, hoof, or whatever they had on our soil. To my surprise, not only did most of the ponies understand my concept, I appeared to have general approval. Being covered in a protective 'blanket' of magic seemed greatly appealing to them. I couldn't fault them, as everypony enjoyed feeling secure and protected. That same reporter in the front row, however, raised his hoof. "Do we have any guarantee that this will actually work and not just be a colossal waste of resources and time?" he asked, far before Shining even nodded to him. I felt myself twitch on the inside lightly, and a soothing nudge was sent down the link from Fluttershy. I exhaled, nodding gently to myself as I answered, "I've dealt with all of this before on a smaller scale and it worked then. Of course, we're going to build a smaller model first and run many tests on the design before committing any resources to the larger, full project." Duh. No, we were going to build a giant space construct out of expensive materials before even testing it to make sure it worked. They thought I was an idiot, didn't they? If it was one thing I knew how to do, it was engineering. "Not entirely what I meant. I mean, what proof do we have that you know what you're doing? Could we see your credentials, please? Maybe your place of learning and some letters of recommendation?" he continued, not even raising his hoof this time. Another twinge of irritation went through me. To my surprise, a lock-on target appeared on his head. I killed the process again and sighed, making a mental note to check on that stupid user interface program. It appeared to have a few errors in it, and was just a tad too touchy to my emotions. To my surprise, Fancypants stood up from his seat further down the front row instead. "Moon Mender's a graduate of Starswirl's University of Magical Aptitude, and holds a degree in both Engineering and Metamagical Application. On top of that, he's spent six successful years undercover in the field until a month ago. Nopony in Equestria is more qualified for this position, and all of this has been made public knowledge and posted in the castle. Further, I suggest you follow the rules if you wish to remain in this conference," he warned, in a surprisingly stern speech. He was personally standing up for me, and I smiled towards him, nodding gently as he sat back down, returning my polite nod. The reporter glared daggers at him, but with the equally stern stare from Shining, he slowly sat back down before making a statement of throwing aside his notes. Heh. Whatever you think, jerk. Thankfully, the rest of the questions were both uneventful and significantly more positive. I just held the conference as a success due to me neither passing out, nor having the stage collapse on me. Shining Armor continued the rest of the meeting by discussing the actual funding and materials for the spire, and the time frames involved as I sat back down between Twilight and Fluttershy, the former giving me a soft peck on the cheek as I relaxed. Smiling, I looked back at her and we locked eyes. It was hard to stay frustrated when these two lovely mares supported me like this. Fluttershy didn't even want to be here up on stage, but had insisted because she'd be closer to send 'stronger' support vibes down our link. I adored them both, despite the mistake. Sure, it had hurt and made me doubt myself, but we could get past it. I wasn't going to give up on the two of them for it, and that decision made me happy. I wasn't running away this time. Her eyes showed the same level of affection I felt for her, and I momentarily got lost in them until she released me from her subtle spell. I eased back against the rest behind me, our chairs effectively being cushions sitting on the stage and propped up behind us against a board for a backrest. Twilight and Fluttershy each rested their heads on my shoulders, and I relaxed, just listening to the rest of the event with only halfhearted interest. They didn't need me for this part. Now I could just let the stress out. * * * * * "I think you did amazing for not having anything prepared. And the stage trying to kill us," Twilight agreed, walking alongside us as we followed Shining Armor. He snickered ahead of us and looked back, grinning at his sister. "I thought you were gonna pass out from blushing after you destroyed the stage like that, Sis! Now that was hilarious!" he shot back, earning another blush and glare from my lavender fillyfriend. "I'm just glad neither of you were hurt! That was scary," Fluttershy spoke in a relieved tone, exhaling as she pushed with barely restrained possessiveness into my left side. She stuck with me all the way through the discussion with the other representatives as well, despite Twilight only maintaining a loose distance from me. Well, I knew she didn't like large crowds in ways similar to mine and assumed it was that, but I certainly didn't mind either way. Actually, she could be as 'clingy' as she wanted. She was beyond adorable and nopony would hear complaints from me. "Eh, if it's my sister, she can handle it. Although it's nice to see that her choice in coltfriend has skills, too. Oh, and that the ever lovely Fluttershy is with her, too," Shining continued, pouring on his 'court' charm, I'd imagine. Twilight saw right through it, of course, and rolled her eyes, but I noted the blush on her cheeks. Heh. "Yeah, yeah. When do Mom and Dad want us there tonight?" she asked as we turned the side of the stage and headed down towards the awaiting coaches. "Eight sharp. Don't be late, Sis. You know how Dad gets," he pointed out, making me shudder. Okay, so I hadn't had the best of introductions to Night Light. Still, we seemed to part on better standing thanks to Octavia. Oh, speaking of! "Oh, I was going to ask you, Shining. Do you want to go out to eat tomorrow night with us? Miss Octavia Melody wishes to treat us all to food at her favorite restaurant, and I figured I'd extend the offer," I spoke up. Twilight gave me a surprised glance, and then smiled warmly as a burst of happiness shot down the link. Eh? It's a pity the disk links weren't as accurate as the other ones, or I might be able to actually figure out what she was pleased over. Shining smirked towards me as he rotated around, walking backwards. "Oh, lead cellist in the Canterlot Royal Orchestra, right? The one you saved? Sure. Cadance will want to come, too. She's a fan of classical," he agreed, nodding towards me. I smirked back as I noted his attempt to earn brownie points. That I could respect, as it felt... Well, it felt really amazing to be able to treat ponies to things. Income would feel even better. The first amount of bits I earned, I was so taking Twilight and Fluttershy out to dinner. Our first real 'date', if that was the right word for it. Keldarians didn't exactly have it, so it would be a new experience for me. "Talking about me, Shiny?" a female voice suddenly spoke up. Shiny? Oh. My eyes widened as a pink mare stepped out from behind one of the multiple waiting stagecoaches in the street. Her coat was a little softer pink than Pinkie's, and she bore a very unique mane of violet, rose, and gold that flowed well past her shoulders. My eyes shifted up to her horn a second later, and then noticed wings on her side as well. Oh! "Ah, there you are! Are the guards settled into the barracks, then?" Shining asked gently, picking up his pace and trotting rapidly up to the mare. I'd guessed who she was already, but the kiss they shared upon him reaching her sealed the deal. She broke away from him with a grin and nodded, adding, "Getting along quite well, yes. I think the new accommodations are to their liking. We might have to upgrade our barracks back home so our guards aren't envious of the tales they tell about the grand Canterlot one." Shining grinned back towards her as we walked up, Twi running ahead and right up to the mare. "Cadance! I was hoping you'd be here. I'm excited to see you again!" she chirped, earning a softer smile in return. "Twi! I'm glad you're here, too. And what's this I hear from 'our' mother?" Princess Cadance teased, winking towards the lavender mare. Oh! Uh oh... I wondered idly if she'd approve of me, and if she was aware of those oh so lovely newspaper articles a while back. Twilight blushed and wiggled a little before grinning and nodding. "I'm in a herd now!" she announced. Oh. That. Never mind. Princess Cadance giggled and nodded, revealing, "Yup! It's the talk of the town! When they posted the new herd listing and it had both a princess and an Element Bearer on it, the newspaper reporters about flipped! I bet you're going to be getting some interviews while you're in town, too. Congratulations Twi! Fluttershy!" Oh hell. Yeah, time to find some place to lock myself up and hide for a while. I so didn't want to get anywhere near the level of awkward this was going to bring about. "They what?" Twilight asked, voice shifting deadpan as her eyes widened. Huh. Maybe it was a surprise to her as well that the herds were posted publicly. Okay, now I didn't feel so badly. Shining scratched his temple, looking a bit awkward as he coughed. "Ah, yeah, figured that was a mistake. So, should I ask what happened?" he inquired curiously. Twilight shifted a little on the pink side as Princess Cadance raised an eyebrow towards her husband. I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't told about me. Knowing Shining, he was probably being cautious... Or wanted to see if their dad killed me first. "Estrus happened. I was so stupid! We, uh, we were foolish and left out Mender," Twilight admitted, closing her eyes and lowering her head a bit. Rarity, who had stayed back with the other Elements when we approached the Princess, stepped forwards and coughed lightly. "Might I suggest we take this conversation to a more private area?" she offered, gesturing towards a few reporters looking towards us in surprise, one getting out a notebook. Damn it. "Oh, yes. Of course! Let's head back to the castle," Princess Cadance suggested, gesturing back towards the carriage she was next to. Well, this was going to get awkward indeed... * * * * * After the awkwardness of Princess Cadance questioning why I'd chosen their carriage to ride to the castle in, I didn't think the day could get any worse. Oh how wrong I'd been. Hauling our luggage through a swarm of reporters at the castle gates had been horrifying, and I think I got a pencil shoved up my nose at one point. Guards were dispatched as we arrived and had to physically clear a path to get into the castle. If I hadn't already known for sure, this firmly cemented the fact that I never, ever wanted to be a celebrity. "Well, that was unexpected," Rarity murmured, straightening her hair again after a crazed mare had tried to snort it. At least, that's what it looked like from my angle. I admit I might have been wrong, as Spike knocked her away far faster than I thought possible. He was seriously protective of her, that was for sure! "Darn tootin'! Ah mean, seriously. Ah think Ah saw some o' those reporters over at tha conference. How'd they beat us 'ere?!" Applejack asked, straightening her hat on her head. It had gotten jarred about after she shoulder-checked a stallion away from Fluttershy, after all. "Oh dear. Oh dear," Fluttershy murmured, shivering lightly. I smiled and pulled her against me, kissing the top of her head as Twilight turned around and smiled at us. We all relaxed in the first tower's common room now, away from prying eyes and the public in general, thankfully. Twilight slid over next to us and nuzzled Fluttershy softly, adding, "It'll be okay, Fluttershy. I think we should call our parents in here to eat rather than going out to supper. It's way too hectic out there with the conference just finishing." That. That was a really, really good idea. I was all for that. Fluttershy nodded twice, then buried her face into my chest as I held her. Cadance, as she requested I call her, smiled on and nodded. "I'm sorry if any of that was offensive, again. I'd only heard a tiny bit about another member, Shiny saying he wasn't supposed to talk about it yet, and when I saw only you and Fluttershy on the herd, I thought it had fallen through and didn't want to bring it up," she confessed. Twilight sighed and nodded, glancing back at her brother with a skeptical look. "I'd only told you not to tell anypony publicly, you know. You could have told Cadance," she assured. "Heh, it's better to be safe than sorry with you, Sis. Anyway, she knows now. I'm sure that you can fix the herd thing, too, if you just talk to the ponies in the herd and marriage office," he assured. Twilight twitched, and I felt her anxiety spike up again. "B-But now they're posted! Everypony is going to know that I screwed up, now!" she exclaimed, turning in a circle as she paced. A knot formed in my throat, but Fluttershy shook her head rapidly. "Twilight, I screwed up, too. We need to fix it, no matter what," she whispered quietly, pushing up against me again. I sighed and shook my head, interruptIng with, "Both of you, it's fine. It's only a month wait, and then nopony has to reveal anything." Honestly, they were both political figures now and had reputations to look out for as well. Sure, it was a stupid mistake, but honestly, if I had to take one for the team, that made the most sense rather than one of the Elements of Harmony, national heroes. Twilight scowled at that, but to my surprise, Cadance coughed instead, waving a hoof towards me. Eh? "Uh, actually, incorrect. It's a month until the hold on changes to the herd is lifted. Unfortunately, if they add you into the herd then, instead of a normal member, you're listed as an 'appended' member for a three year trial period, holding no actual standing in the herd during that time, and subject to termination if any other member flags a warning, settled in court," she corrected, as if quoting from a book. Oh. No, actually, Princess of Love. She probably knew how herds worked. I had no idea how to even process that last part. Well, three years wasn't too- "Nope. Yeah, no. That settles it. I'm going down there tomorrow and fixing this," Twilight suddenly decided. Ah! "Twilight, you have a reputation to-" I started to warn. She let out a feral scream and tackled me an instant later, causing Applejack to have to bail out of the way as we rolled past. My head finally stopped spinning to the lovely sensations of a mare on top of me, and giving me a rather intense kiss. Eh?! It didn't take but a moment for my brain to short again and I sighed softly, pulling her further down on top of me as she relaxed again. Okay, yeah. She could do whatever she wanted. I heard Cadance giggle a moment later and suggest, "Twi, you should take that to your room. Go. Servants will bring everypony's bags up." "Heh, are you sure you're not in heat still, Twi?" Rainbow asked, snickering in our general direction. "Mmm, just the hormones. Heh. And no, I'll be, um, fine. We need to report to Princess Celestia before doing anything else," Twilight assured in a surprisingly honest manner before standing up and sliding off me. Fluttershy slipped up to my left side a moment later and helped me roll over. Rainbow's grin only widened, and I inwardly groaned. Here it comes. "Especially each other," she agreed, nodding sagely. Ack! Twilight scowled, but Applejack beat her to the punch with a grin, asking, "Ya got plans fer somethin', lover girl?" I lifted an eyebrow towards the orange mare as she trotted past Rainbow and whacked her in the side with her back left flank, sending the smaller, cyan mare tumbling sideways. Not that she'd have been able to properly react with the shocked blush on her face anyway, I imagine. "N-No! I meant them!" Dash quickly protested, scrambling to her hooves again by kicking off the wall. I snickered, and Twilight outright grinned at the display, of course. "Ah, you've returned, and are quite energetic, I see," suddenly cut us all off, coming from the entrance. Tia came in casually, followed by two royal guards in flanking positions. Everypony bowed, except Shining, Cadance, and me, who simply lowered our heads in respect. I still remembered my promise to treat her like normal. "No, no. Rise. This is an informal meeting. I merely wished to talk to Twilight and Mender about what is planned," the sun princess explained, smiling to the bowed ponies. Twilight hopped up at that and nodded to her side, Spike digging a scroll out of her saddlebags, followed by a quill. As if expecting it, Tia just smiled and waited patiently for her student to get ready to take notes, Spike passing the stuff to Twilight. I just sat down next to Fluttershy, preparing to listen and opening a note database on the side, where I kept all my other important dates. Electronic memory was so much more reliable than my organic one... Tia waited for Twi to nod towards her before smiling and starting, "This is a very important series of events, and I wouldn't have called you here otherwise. I know this is close to Applejack's harvest time, and that prime business periods are after estrus for both Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Not to mention a race coming up for Rainbow, if I recall." Heh, yeah. Applejack complained about that for most of the trip. "Oh, banish the thought, your highness. We know this must be very important," Rarity assured, bowing her head politely again. Tia shook her head, however, gesturing behind her towards the guards. A smaller mare stood close to one, and walked forwards at the gesture, her soft lime horn glowing with magic as she lifted up a pad of paper. I raised an eyebrow, but Tia continued with, "Obviously this is important, but you shall not go without compensation for your lost profits. This is a royal accountant, who shall discuss such matters with you after this." Oooh. Well, yeah. That would go a ways towards making Applejack happier. Twilight seemed oblivious, of course, her funds technically from royal stipend already and unaffected by her physical location. "Admittedly, I am curious as to why it is you asked for us. Um, is the accountant..." she started, trailing off as she looked towards the mare. Her mane was an interesting forest green and gold, and she had a light lime or pea green coat, giving her a very green feel overall, making me dizzy if I stared too long. Oddly, her Cutie Mark was three coins growing off what appeared to be a sapling, like oddly smelted fruit. "Ah, yes. This is Ecoshine. She's one of my best accountants, and also in charge of the funding side of Dimensional Regulations. She's very skilled at budget growth, and takes a strong liking to eco-friendly awareness," the Princess explained. Ah. Both guards were also registering on my database as employed by DReg so I didn't even bother, there. "Mmm, hello!" the mare greeted, sounding more like a filly with her higher pitched voice and bubbly manner of enthusiasm. I smiled and nodded towards her, and then looked back to Tia, who looked pleased. Twilight nodded as well and sat down next to Fluttershy and me instead, relaxing. Celestia considered it for a moment before nodding to herself and starting with, "This is the preliminary setting up of Dimensional Regulation. It's to acquaint the four primary leaders of the organization with their respective duties, and get the organization started on its first two assignments." Oooh, she didn't waste any time! Twilight smiled but shook her head a moment later. "I don't imagine Princess Luna needs much explanation, considering she's just our main task director. I also know that I'm head secretarial position and will assist Mender and Shining with their duties. I've read the entire handbook," she assured, earning a snicker from Applejack and Rainbow behind her. "Oh, I suspected nothing less, my ever faithful student. This is more for Moon Mender and Shining Armor to get acquainted with the soldiers and their duties. I'm sure you'll help them both?" Tia elaborated, smiling towards Shining and me respectively. "Of course. My brother and my coltfriend? I'd help them even if I weren't head secretary," Twi pointed out, giggling to herself. Heh, sometimes I had to remind myself that she was my fillyfriend, but then she did things like this and made me feel like it would all work out in the end. Which was good, because given my general luck, we'd need all the help we could get. Shining Armor nodded slowly as well, me noticing out of the corner of my eye as I ogled his sister. Wait, that sounded wrong. "To clarify, I'm the commander and organizer of the soldiers, and Mender is strategic and tactical support, as well as research head?" he asked, smiling over towards me a second later. Tia nodded again, shifting into a more relaxed posture and smile now, apparently pleased that we all had our duties already explained. I knew mine, anyways. Make toys to make any invaders' lives hell, and make sure the troops knew how to best use them. Oh, and pointing out things in battle that I noticed while thrashing Equestria's enemies. I noticed I took a gleeful sense of enjoyment out of anything that made use of my cybernetics. Carefully avoiding any implication of deeply-ingrained bloodlust on my part, I imagined it had something to do with making them 'useful' in my mind. Them being actually valuable for something balanced out the hell they'd made my life so far, anyways. At least a little. Although, all that left an interesting question. As a leading member of Dimensional Regulation, how much did Shining know about me? Tia continued, however with, "Indeed. Everypony seems to know their duties. Of course, I remind you all needlessly that Dimensional Regulation's main goal is peaceful avoidance of dimensional incidents. We research forceful methods purely as defensive measures to ensure we ourselves are not caught unguarded by those, well, less inclined for peaceful relations." Oh, very diplomatically worded, Tia. "Regardless, if such an event does break out, Shining Armor shall shift to a position of commander, and Mender becomes both our tactician and, unfortunately, our trump card. You know the potential invaders' ways, and have the abilities to counter them. I sincerely apologize, Mender," she continued a second later. I swallowed, then noticed Shining Armor didn't even blink, and guessed he was informed fully about me. Slowly, I nodded towards her and offered a weak smile. "I'm used to being a soldier. At least... At least this makes what I am something useful for Equestria, even if it's just a precaution," I returned, acknowledging what I'd been already considering for a while. "Mender, you're already useful. Even without all of the extra parts. But, um, if I may say so, you're something far more important than useful. You're wanted," Fluttershy muttered quietly, nuzzling into my left side to punctuate it afterwards. I blushed lightly, my head whirling at her words. Wanted? I was wanted? Twilight giggled and saw the moment of weakness almost instantly, not wasting the opportunity to pounce. Well, metaphorically instead of literally this time. "Yes, you're wanted. You'd better not think you aren't. There's a reason both Fluttershy and I said specifically that we screwed up. That meant you not being with us forever in a herd was an 'accident', not 'intentional'. You're very, very wanted," she quickly assured, nuzzling my other shoulder and sandwiching me with mare. Okay, I could get used to that! "And don't forget, you're friends with everypony in the room! Well, maybe minus the two guards because I don't think you know their names, but I'm sure that'll change soon!" Pinkie reminded, flailing up behind us and using us as a landing platform, flattening me down instantly. Okay, maybe not so pleasant anymore. Still! "Aurora Bastion and Emerald Blaze," I muttered from under her, causing her eyes to widen significantly. Both guards looked surprised, too. Oddly, I wondered at their names. Emerald signified green, and Aurora could have been a feminine name, but both guards were white stallions with blue eyes. Kinda like some creepy form of clones. Ignoring imagining their Cutie Marks as bar codes or something under their armor, I wondered at the effect. Their flanks had their rank and number engraved on the armor where a Cutie Mark should be, which was the only way I identified them. "Somepony memorized the roster. Impressive!" Cadance chirped, looking on in amusement at our pony pile. Tia smiled and nodded pleasantly towards me, deducing, "Undoubtedly he copied the entire roster into those fancy cybernetic parts of his. I'm sure you have a way of doing that, right?" Heh, dead on, and showing an uncomfortable level of insight into how a computer functioned. "Yeah. I have the full database," I assured, flicking my left eye into projection mode and popping it up to float in the air in front of me, slowly scrolling through the rather long list. Shining looked on with widened eyes as I scrolled through them, but Tia just nodded at it. "Very good. I'll get the most basic matter of business out of the way first. All that's needed is for Twilight and Mender to oversee the construction of a headquarters, bunker, and research center on the outskirts of Ponyville. Construction begins underground after winter hits, and above ground this spring, due to urgency," she informed, losing her smile a bit as she looked back to me. I nodded, assuring her with, "That should be easy enough. I'm experienced in all forms of construction due to my other self, and can design it as well if needed." Figured I might as well offer my services, before somepony else did for me, anyways. It wasn't something I was used to. The other me just had things assigned to him, and then either succeeded or died trying. Literally. I guess he was rather successful! "Splendid! That speeds things up significantly. Ecoshine will give you the details after this. That leaves one more matter of business to attend to while you're here, which will be discussed in detail tomorrow instead, but... Well..." Tia trailed off, averting her eyes and nodding to the guards behind her. Aurora snickered and nodded, heading back towards the large doors. Eh? Twilight tilted her head towards Celestia, but the Princess just smiled and shook her own. "Let's just say, she was rather eager to meet you all, and, uh, one of you again," she revealed. Oh? Oh... The door was opened a moment later, and oh so familiar mare entered, smiling softly towards us all. I immediately noticed there were glowing bands around her hooves, but they didn't appear connected to each other or restraining her in the least. "Um, hello everypony! Heh. Hi, Mender," she called out, waving sheepishly in my direction. Twilight and Fluttershy gave me surprised and confused glances before I smiled and returned, "Hey, Snapshot." Chapter 65"I'm not sure. Prudentia's active and glowing, so he's probably talking with Keela. She was a mess this morning," I heard Twilight comment, as my consciousness shifted back into my world. My world. Yeah, this was home for me, I admitted. "Yeah. She must be really sad. I hope everything's okay and... Oh! I think he's waking up," Fluttershy pointed out as I stirred, feeling my muscles wake up again and my eyes open. It was always disorienting transferring myself when I wasn't sleeping. Turning my head, I saw Fluttershy lying next to me, and Twilight on the end of the bed, expression softening as my eyes locked onto her. Cracking my back, I rotated around so I was facing Fluttershy instead of the wall, and looked about. "Hey. Am I late for something?" I asked slowly, checking Clocky for the time. There wasn't any weird time delays or anything, and it was still quite late at night. "Just in time for bed?" Twilight offered, smiling weakly but not making any attempt at moving. Fluttershy glanced over at her, but she just nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. "I also wanted to apologize for freaking out earlier. I know it's silly, but I'm just, well, scared. I've only been with a mare once, and never with a stallion, so this is all really new to me," she apologized quietly. I shook my head slowly, considering it before pointing out, "We weren't trying to force you to do anything with either of us, Twilight. I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to, and you certainly don't have to or feel obligated to." She didn't exactly look convinced, however, frowning instead. "Mender, you have urges, too. I know you don't want to force us into doing anything, but you have to realize that you're not. Fluttershy admitted that she enjoyed it just as much, if not more than you. Us taking care of your urges, too, is... It's what lovers do, no?" she asked a bit louder, Fluttershy starting to blush now. She looked even more surprised when I shook my head. "No, lovers love each other. There are no conditions that I've put on that. You could go the next ten years and not do a single sexual thing with me, and I'd still care about you just as much. You told me that you don't think there's anything wrong with me and that you're just scared, so I've no reason to doubt you," I corrected, shifting a bit more against Fluttershy as I rested. Twilight's eyes softened and she looked down at the sheets again, but Fluttershy shook her head instead and kissed me on the forehead. "I think what she's trying to say is that she wants to trust you and do things with you like that because she cares. We just need to work on that trust part first," Fluttershy suggested quietly. I closed my eyes softly, biting back the first reply that came to mind, of course. She didn't have the slightest bit of trouble trusting Fluttershy with that sort of thing. Sure, they say it doesn't matter that I'm an alien or not quite entirely a pony, but they were plagued by just as many subconscious doubts as I was. "You're scared of me, then?" I asked gently, going with the far more diplomatic option. Twilight's eyes widened a bit and she quickly opened her mouth again, but froze as I looked up at her. Hesitation. A second later, she bit her lip instead and looked away from me before admitting, "A little." I had to resist laughing at the irony. She was scared of me just like I'd been scared of her. Well, a part of me still was scared of her. She'd have to try a lot harder to 'accidentally' annihilate me, of course, but I'd let her closer and she was capable of a much more intimate form of pain now. Just like she was causing now, it would seem. But no, I couldn't fault her for being scared of the monster she knew I could become. Still, I felt cold suddenly. I hadn't realized I'd been quiet until Fluttershy nudged me on the shoulder. "M-Mender, are you okay?" she asked, knowing otherwise by the link. She was polite, regardless. "I don't think anything's okay at the moment. Maybe... Maybe we should tone it down a bit until we trust each other a little more? I don't want you scared of me, so..." I offered, looking back up at Twilight, who snapped back to looking at me in an instant. "Um, tone it down?" she asked hesitantly, eyes searching mine rapidly. I looked away and towards the exit again before sighing and adding, "I think I should sleep on the couch." She stared at me, eyes slowly widening as they started to shiver, and she shook her head slowly. "A-Are you... Please, Mender. I want to be your fillyfriend still," Twilight whispered, sliding forwards instead as she shifted towards me. I winced at her getting closer and stood, moving back and away from her as Fluttershy looked back and forth between us. "I... I didn't say that, Twilight. We just need to get away from each other until... I don't know. Maybe the trust exercises will help?" I suggested, swallowing the lump in my throat. She was scared of me, just like I'd been scared of her. No, this wasn't irony. Something just had a sick sense of humor. We couldn't be 'with' each other if she was scared of me. I was a monster, but... "Mender, please. Please, just... I want to get closer, not further apart. I..." Twilight muttered, taking another step towards me. I shuddered, and then closed my eyes. In an odd sort of way, drawing upon my inner monster lent me strength. An inner resolve that I normally didn't feel. My eyes opened again a second later as blue instead, my legs sinking into the bed as the armor folded out and around me, sharp ridges sliding out and tentacles extending towards the ceiling. Fluttershy squeaked and took to the air, looking at me in surprise as I shuddered again and sighed, looking up at the startled looking, frozen Twilight. "This is inside of me, and both of you know that deep down. It's hideous and monstrous, right? How? How can you honestly say that you want to get closer to this?" I asked, dual voices twisting out as I flicked my tentacles back and forth above me. Twilight stared at me for a second before her eyes softened and relaxed again. She smiled a second later and shook her head, to my surprise. "That form being inside of you still hurts you, I know. But I can be easily honest about that. Neither Fluttershy nor I are scared of it. Startled or uneasy when you take that form, maybe. Scared? No. We know it's you in there regardless of what you look like, Mender," she assured. She stood there, unflinching no matter how hard I stared at her. She was... She was telling the truth. But she just said... "Twilight, we talked about this. You need to be honest and open so he understands you," Fluttershy softly reminded, slowing her wing flaps until she landed on the bed again. I looked between them momentarily until shifting my attention fully back to the lavender mare, pulling my armor and extra limbs back inside. So what was she afraid of, then? Twilight hesitated, frowning at nothing in particular on the sheets between her front hooves before nodding to herself. Looking back up at me then, she explained, "I'm scared of you. I'm scared of the power you have over my own feelings that snuck up on me before I could fully understand them. I'm scared of... I'm scared of disappointing you or making you upset. Most of all, I'm scared that, after me realizing that this is something I want, I'm going to drive you away. I don't want you to leave me." I stared at her, not quite processing what she just said. All I could think of was the same mare who told me to get out, and to keep away from her, and who got pissed off at one of her best friends for tricking her into kissing me. What changed? More importantly, why did that information suddenly make me feel vulnerable? She was giving me a lot of power over her, and I realized a moment later that I didn't think I was responsible enough for that. I wasn't 'worth' it. Closing my eyes, I slumped slightly, feeling exhausted suddenly. I already didn't deal well with social things, but all of this was just too much for me. There wasn't enough energy in my body to deal with all of this properly. Maybe Redheart would agree to putting me back in a coma for a few weeks? I might get some proper rest, then. "I'm so tired..." I muttered, feeling my legs start to shake under me. Fatigue would be a good word for it. It was making me feel old. Ancient even. "W-We can go to bed, Mender. It has been a long day," Fluttershy admitted, slipping up next to me, and then squeaking when I collapsed fully on my chest instead. "It's one thing after another. It feels like I haven't slept properly since I got to Equestria. Maybe sleeping for a week straight might get my energy back?" I muttered, shuddering as I lay there. Twilight let out a soft whine before moving forwards and lying down in front of me, nose to nose. "I'm sorry, Mender. You seriously need a vacation. Away from all the hectic stuff, fillies, mares, and maybe even Fluttershy and me..." she whispered, not smiling but looking into my eyes earnestly. I stared at her for a moment before shaking my head. "You two can come," I assured before leaning and lightly kissing her on the lips. Twilight's eyes widened for just a second before she relaxed and leaned forwards into the kiss, exhaling gently. I backed off a few seconds later and tilted onto my side instead. "I'm sad and frustrated that you didn't just tell me all of this, but it's not going to keep me angry for long. Let's just focus on the trust exercises tomorrow, okay?" I spoke, sticking to that whole 'truthful' thing. Twilight's horn lit up, and for just a moment, I was wary. She pulled the covers down under us, however, and slipped up next to me instead, also lying on her side but facing me this time. "I'm sorry, Mender. Again, I'm scared of disappointing you. Which, uh, I suppose I did by trying to not disappoint you. Guess that backfired," she pondered out loud, coughing and averting her gaze. Fluttershy drifted in and lightly stood behind Twilight for a moment before frowning. She stared for a few seconds before I looked up and raised an eyebrow towards her curiously, causing her to blush a bit and Twilight to look over her shoulder at her. "Um, what's wrong, Fluttershy?" she asked curiously a moment later. "Well, it's silly but, um, I realized I can't cuddle with both of you at once, and if I go between you two, you can't cuddle with each other," she explained softly. I blinked, and then looked at Twilight as well, realizing her quandary. She'd have to lie on top of us, which wouldn't be comfortable for anypony involved. "Uh, the only solution until somepony invents antigravity would be to take turns," I deduced, shrugging lightly. Twilight tilted her head, and then scratched under her chin in thought. Uh oh. She wasn't going to... "That's a really good idea! A bed enchantment that promotes antigravity or basic levitation magic over it. Then the individuals can float in perfect comfort at night rather than be subject to gravity! Herds would be able to sleep however they want, even..." she deduced a moment later. I sighed, realizing I probably had more experience with antigravity, and decided to point some things out. "Actually, that's a very problematic idea. Safety concerns are first, as you'd have to restrict the localized effect or risk ponies either drifting off, or drifting out of the area and falling. You'd also have to concern yourself with getting down safely. Turning off the effect and falling onto the bed is fine so long as nopony gets hurt, but otherwise, you might get stuck floating with nothing to create momentum. Further, that would cause ponies to spend at least a third of their time in zero gravity, which would have pronounced health issues, such as muscle atrophy, cardiovascular gradient shifts screwing with blood volume, and bone density problems over long term exposure," I warned. Twilight stared at me in surprise for a moment, and Fluttershy just looked confused as to how we'd gotten onto this topic. Actually, it was a rather off-topic tangent. I was good at those. "Uh, never mind. Let's just take turns. You two haven't seen each other for a few days, so why don't you be in the middle, Twilight? I'll hug your back," I offered, resting my head on the pillow again. Twilight got a smirk on her face instead, however. Uh oh. "Actually, how about we don't sleep at all?" she asked, lighting her horn up softly. That was hardly advisable. I'd be seriously cranky tomorrow, and I didn't even want to think about Twilight's mood if she... Oh. "You want to connect us together?" I inquired, earning a happy smile from Fluttershy and a nod from Twilight. "Oh, I was hoping we'd do that. It's so amazing!" Fluttershy squeaked out, swaying back and forth happily. True. Our positions hardly mattered if we could play together in our dreams all night. Twilight momentarily looked surprised before she squeaked, asking, "Oh yeah! You said that your forehead connection worked on Rainbow. You tried it with Fluttershy, too?" "Yeah. It worked just the same. I suspect I can form one without being a unicorn because of my spellcasting ability," I reasoned, yawning afterwards. Ugh. It was too late to discuss this stuff. Twilight seemed to read my feelings through the link and nodded, flopping over and snuggling into Fluttershy for a moment before touching her horn to the pegasus' forehead. I slid up behind them and watched as the link formed between the two mares, the soft lines of light connecting their foreheads in a yellow and lavender glow. Both opened their eyes at the same time, smiling towards each other. I relaxed a little, watching them now. We'd been through a lot together and it would take a lot more than just this to knock us apart. There was no sense in stressing out over all of it. Of course, a part of that was my tiredness talking, but it was good advice nonetheless. "We're all linked up, Mender. Your turn, and you guide us into a fully lucid dream?" Twilight requested, rotating to face me and leaning her face forwards, horn extended. I nodded and leaned in as well, kissing her instead of touching my forehead to it. She gave a start, and I felt Fluttershy squeak through both links a moment later as well as I pushed the kissing sensation to both of them at the same time, despite Twilight being the only one kissed. The lavender mare exhaled softly and relaxed, leaning into my lips with a slow nudge, giving no resistance as I gently hugged her to me. Her body was warm and her lips were oh so soft against my own and I felt her shudder as if a current was running between us. A few seconds later, I nudged up instead and bumped my forehead into the link fully, completing it and stabilizing it in my mind. "Mmm, that was a pleasant surprise," Twilight admitted, blushing softly as I gave her another squeeze. "Heh. Wanted to get a real kiss in before we slipped away into dreams. It's been a while since we've done this," I reminded, glancing up at the two different lines going into my forehead, one blue and lavender, and the other blue and yellow. She frowned and flattened her ears back before apologizing again. "I'm sorry, Mender. Shining told my parents about it and my dad threw a fit. Now that we're a herd, it's okay, but before..." I bit my tongue, but they both sensed it anyways through both links this time, and Twilight swallowed and rapidly shook her head. "Don't even say it. You are a part of this herd! It will be official tomorrow, even if I have to tear the entire office apart brick by brick until they change it," she assured, looking exceptionally determined. The scary part was, she could... "Relax, Twi. I'm not really that upset over it anymore. It seems like it's going to be an easy fix, regardless," I reasoned, silently hoping I was right. If it was anything like Keldarian bureaucracy, we were in for a world of hurt. She didn't exactly look as confident as I tried to sound, but nodded anyways. "I know it upset you, though, and even if it will be fixed by tomorrow, don't expect it to be the end of us fixing things! We have a lot of making up and apologizing to do, so expect pampering," she reminded. I groaned in mild frustration, earning a giggle from both mares before Twilight rotated around and settled against Fluttershy. I slipped forwards after and snuggled into her back, cushioning the lavender mare between both of us as she pulled the covers up again and draped us in warmth. I think it was one of the greatest pleasures in the world, to snuggle in a warm bed. Especially with the weather getting really nippy outside! "Are we ready, then?" I asked gently, just to make sure, of course. Fluttershy made a positive sounding hum, and Twilight nodded against her a second later, so I relaxed and closed my eyes. It was like they didn't close, of course. Both of them were right there, and I could 'feel' them just as easily as I could see them, all three of us pushed together gently. The links worked overtime at this distance, doubled with the energy links Twilight had set up. They drifted into me instead, both snuggling against my form as I let us sink deeper into sleep. Letting go finally, I pulled us down into a dream instead, keeping my focus sharp as we drifted into the haze and warmth. * * * * * With focus and clarity, lucid dreaming was possible. Both mare's 'woke up' inside the dream almost instantly, realizing it for what it was as my consciousness stirred them. Twilight grinned over at me, nodding as I did exactly as requested and got us into a fully conscious dream. I could control everything here with great precision, which was another perk of being a cyborg, I suppose. Heck, I could probably create a framework and server for the place and run it like a video game or something. But that was silly. Fluttershy peeked around, then smiled as she focused momentarily. The haze around us lifted, instead revealing a soft, sun-lit meadow with a nice, shady tree near us. No shadows existed here beyond that of the tree itself, I knew, and the meadow seemed to expand away forever in almost every direction. A giant mountain existed in one, however, showing the amazing spires of Canterlot off it and shining in the sun. We rested in the shade of the tree as the warm breeze drifted over us. "Nice location, Fluttershy. It's very relaxing," Twilight muttered, exhaling softly as she settled into the soft grass. "She had a similar spot on our first dream sojourn, but I didn't arrive in time to make it a lucid dream," I revealed, resting between the two as we formed a triangle of sorts in the shade. Fluttershy nodded and smiled, momentarily watching a butterfly drift past, bump her nose, then move on. I started adding details, animals, and sounds to the place, setting them to run on script and then ignoring it. A light giggle sounded out, from none of us and certainly not added by me. I smiled, looking to my right as Purdue, in her filly form, trotted out of the corner of my vision, slipping up to us a bit nervously. I eased onto my side and patted the ground next to me, and she took the invitation almost immediately, pouncing and piling into my right side for support. "Hey, little sis. How are you doing tonight?" I asked gently, remembering her request from earlier. She grinned, a light pink tint dancing along her darker blue fur, and nuzzled into me a bit. "Wonderfully, brother. I... I'm really happy that you let me call you that. Thank you," she whispered softly, looking quite happy. I smiled and nodded to her, and Twilight giggled. "Do you see Mender as sort of a big brother, then?" the lavender mare asked curiously, giving the little filly a start. She looked back to Twilight rather quickly, her copper mane flicking as she locked her faded, milky eyes onto my fillyfriend instead. "Oh, well, yes. Actually, he's everything I'd wish for in a big brother. I've wanted to call him that for a while now and only got up the guts to ask today. He's oh so kind to me, and he makes me feel comfortable and safe. It's been a really, really long time since I've felt that way," she replied, looking a bit uncertain, but relaxing again. Neither mare was at all hostile, and the relaxing atmosphere really magnified that. I could tell that this was a bit outside of Purdue's comfort zone. Fluttershy giggled a moment later before adding, "Feeling safe is a definite perk. Mender really likes to protect ponies, and knowing that, coupled with how strong he is, I know I feel really safe when I'm with him. With Twilight here, too, nothing could hurt us." I blushed lightly but couldn't deny that I liked protecting ponies. That extended infinitely more so towards the special ponies in my life. Sure, I'd fight to protect anypony, but I'd stop at absolutely nothing to ensure that my special ponies stayed safe. They all felt it at once, Twilight grinning at my thoughts at the same time Fluttershy blushed heatedly and smiled. Purdue looked surprised as she realized those thoughts extended to her, and then blushed as well, settling in against my side even more. "I'm special, too, then? It's weird. I'm supposed to be a tool. Something to provide functional utility, but so far, you've only ever used me for really important things, or when I offer help. Plus, you care about me, not just the book's powers. It's not something I've, um, experienced before. I'm glad I got to know you after all," the filly declared, relaxing again and settling onto my foreleg like a pillow, her copper locks slipping over my leg. "Of course I care about you, Purdue. As far and near as I can tell, you're a living being with thoughts, desires, and aspirations. Plus, you've been nice to me. You're a good pony," I assured. It was rather simple to me, honestly. She smiled and exhaled gently again, pushing her face into my shoulder before nodding to herself. "I... You're right. I'm not technically alive, but I'm a consciousness inside of the book. I used to be alive, but I died in order to empower the Aegis Artifact. No, that's not entirely accurate. I was, um, killed to power it," she explained uneasily, frowning as she undoubtedly remembered a very unpleasant memory. Fluttershy gasped out, almost immediately exclaiming, "That's terrible! Why would they do such a thing?!" It was still quiet, but quite a bit louder than she normally got. I'd also already suspected 'what' Purdue was, which led to the guess that she was sacrificed for the book. Purdue herself looked momentarily surprised at the outburst before smiling shyly towards the mare. "It was, um, a long time ago, so I'm not really that upset by it anymore. I was turned into an Aegis Artifact because of my powers, however," she revealed. "Oh? I would have suspected you'd have been quite important if you were one of the females born with a genetic power," I pointed out, tilting my head towards her. It wasn't often that a mutation worked in somepony's favor, exactly, but it wasn't unheard of for the genetic changes our magic bestowed to occasionally grant a boon to a newly born Keldarian rather than, say, a third arm. Although, if fully functional, a third arm was kinda cool, too... She smiled shyly but shook her head. "I never told anyone. Err, anypony? Yeah. I was born blind, so they assumed I was a runt and left it at that. But then it was eventually discovered that I had, um, powers. Then I was turned into Prudentia, which magnifies them all several thousand times over," she elaborated. "What exactly is your power, Purdue?" Twilight asked politely. To save the little filly some energy, I answered instead with, "So far, I've seen limited control over localized spacetime, and a sort of narrative clairvoyance of sorts. Err, plus audio." Yeah, I definitely heard Sweetie as well that one time. Twilight widened her eyes a little, and Purdue giggled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can 'pause' a few individuals in spacetime, but it's extremely localized and takes a lot of energy for me. Also, I have the power of 'Narrative', my first owner called it. Um, things show up in the pages of the book, centered on my owner. He's the protagonist, so to speak," she explained. Twilight looked uncertain at this point, and Fluttershy was confused at best. Blinking, I suggested, "Maybe an example, Purdue? They're both a big part of my life, so you should have something on one of them." She blinked towards me, then smiled and nodded, thinking for a moment as she held her small hoof to her chin. "Hmm. Oh, I know! Twilight got her favorite doll, Smarty Pants, from her brother when she was three. She's more upset than she lets on that she lost it when she used it for the Want It, Need It spell, and hopes it will turn up at some point," she revealed a heartbeat later. Uh... Twilight's eyes bulged out almost instantly, a light blush hitting her cheeks. "W-What?! How do you know that? Wait, I'm a part of Mender's life, so your power of 'Narrative' can... You can reveal 'exposition' about things in Mender's life that he might not know?" she asked, snapping onto Purdue's ability rather quickly. I smiled and nodded to Twilight, but Purdue looked a bit uncertain and frowned. "I... Yes, I can. He's never actually asked me to before, though, which is, well, weird. But, I should be, um, honest. Yeah, honest," she muttered a second later. I raised an eyebrow to her, and she rapidly looked away, expression a bit on the guilty side. Uh oh. "I don't just have the power of 'exposition'. Um, Big Mac has your doll, Twilight. He feels really guilty for taking it, but it reminds him of one he used to own as a foal that was lost in a bad fire. He repaired it for you, and intends to give it back to you for your birthday this year, but won't work up the courage because of what Fluttershy would think of him. Eighty seven percent probable," she revealed. Oh. Oh hell. Twilight's eyes widened further, as did Fluttershy's at that. Purdue frowned a second later, however, and added, "Now it's changed. Twilight wants her doll back and is going to go confront Big Mac on it when she returns from Canterlot. He'll attempt to explain that he was just trying to fix it properly and procrastinated, but both know it's a lie. Feelings are soured, and he works himself even harder than normal that evening, trying to forgive himself. Eighty three percent probable." "Purdue, stop," I requested softly, frowning towards her as Fluttershy squeaked, looking over towards Twilight, who softened her eyes a bit. Purdue looked confused before I smiled at her and shook my head. "You don't need to use your powers for us. And I think they'd prefer to not know the future," I explained softly, rubbing the top of her head as I did. She blushed a bit, looking more than a little surprised before softly nodding. "I thought you'd want me to use it more often, now that you realized that I also have 'Probability Foreshadowing'. Um, why don't you want me to use it?" she asked, looking confused now instead. That told me the ability's name, and also that she had to actively focus to use it, otherwise she'd know why I didn't want her to use it. "You're your own individual, Purdue. You may call me Master, but I'm not. You can use your powers how you want to, not how I direct. Just... Sometimes ponies don't like knowing the future. Helping Twilight find her doll was nice of you, but you should probably leave feelings and intentions out of it when you tell somepony from now on," I suggested. I didn't want her feeling badly as she obviously didn't understand, but reading somepony's mind wasn't a good thing. The little filly exhaled gently, resting up against me and nodding slowly. "I think I understand. It's more out of respect for Big Mac, right?" she confirmed, looking up at me after. "Exactly. What he thinks and feels is private. Unless he chooses to tell us, it's not our business to know about it," I explained gently. She stared at me for a long moment before smiling gently and nodding again. "Big brother is a lot different than a normal Keldarian. I, um, like this new perspective, I think," she admitted timidly, as if afraid I'd lash out and hit her for voicing an opinion. I realized at that moment that I wasn't the only one who had been scarred by a 'past life' of sorts. That existence truly was a screwed up place, and I suddenly really wanted to get Keela and her crew out of there. "That's because I'm not a Keldarian, Purdue. And right now, you aren't either," I pointed out, gesturing towards her pony body. She looked confused for a moment, and then started giggling and smiled up at me again. Fluttershy and Twilight joined in a second later, grinning when I shot them a questioning look. Twilight snickered once more before explaining, "Sorry. You two just look so adorable together! You're really amazing with foals, Mender." Oh? Fluttershy nodded rapidly, a warm look in her eyes that seemed familiar. I suddenly had the oddest sensation of Deja Vu, and frowned. I was supposed to be remembering something. Purdue perked up suddenly and looked up at me with a faint frown. "Oh, I just realized, I think I stayed here too long. I'm getting a little tired, so I'm going to leave you three to your dream," she excused quickly. "Oh, Purdue, wait!" I started to exclaim. She was gone before I could say her name, sadly, winking out of existence almost instantly. Damn it! "Whoa, what was with the sudden departure?" Twilight asked, sounding stunned as she looked to me instead. More questions than anything swirled in my head, a memory lingering just at the tip of awareness, but lacking enough substance for me to properly recall it. Both mares stared at me, shifting to confused as I realized I never answered. "Oh, uh, I don't know why she left. I think... I think I started to remember something else, and she was somehow causing that or something. There's a memory, but it's too faint..." I muttered, frowning afterwards. There was no point in hiding anything from them at this point. Twilight frowned, and then shifted over towards me a bit more, resting herself against my side. "Do you remember what you were thinking about when you started to remember? Sometimes it helps to mentally backtrack a bit," she suggested gently, licking my right cheek, just along the muzzle. I blushed, momentarily snapped out of my focus as Fluttershy smiled and nodded twice, slipping over to be in front of both of us, now that they didn't need to give Purdue personal space. Closing my eyes, Fluttershy's expression shot into my mind almost instantly, and I shivered. "You made the comment about foals, and Fluttershy gave me a look. It was warm, um, and I got a sense of Deja Vu from it which triggered the memory," I revealed, ears perking up as I looked up at the two of them. Twilight looked a bit confused still, but Fluttershy actually smiled and nodded. "Yes, I was thinking about what an amazing father you'd be, and, um, how I wouldn't mind having your foal," she admitted, shifting to a darker flush as she gave me a shy smile. I felt my face heat up as well, but smiled and nodded towards her. That was a warm thought indeed. It shot through my mind in an instant. She screamed at me to stop over and over again, tears flowing down her cheeks. I could barely see her. Flames rushed all around me, and the vision of two great wings expanding outwards filled everything with light. They snapped down into a single mighty flap, and then it was gone. I gave a start, Fluttershy's outburst ringing in my ear as I stared into the mare's eyes, her expression confused instead. What was...? I have to remember, huh? "Mender, are you okay?" Twilight asked, sounding rather concerned. The sky had darkened overhead, and I frowned, shifting it back to clear and sunny in an instant. "Ah, sorry. I think I'm starting to remember it a bit, but it's tiring," I excused softly, feeling fatigued from the simple memory, somehow. "You should stop straining yourself. Let's just enjoy the rest of our dream, okay? Um, do you think I could try something?" the lavender mare asked curiously. I raised my eyebrow to her, but nodded. She grinned almost instantly, and I suddenly doubted exactly how healthy that consent had been. Fluttershy looked just as apprehensive, but Twilight stood promptly and looked towards what felt suddenly like the 'north'. She'd oriented us, I realized. The ground blurred away as we suddenly shot up and along a mountain path at several hundred miles an hour. Fluttershy let out a squeak and hopped over the 'nothingness' and into me, and I smiled, stabilizing the image of a 'flying carpet' under us. It was just for show, of course, but Fluttershy relaxed and felt along it as we flew. Twilight was tracing her own memories, I realized, and from our angle through the mountains, this looked like a train route. My eyes widened as the sun shifted overhead and we exited out into a great valley, expanding off into the distance with its flatness, accented only by the mountains frozen beyond. Light snow fell around us, and Fluttershy instinctively pushed closer to me, even though it wasn't cold. I watched the sun glisten across the freshly fallen snow as we zoomed along, our target in the distance fairly obvious. It was a massive spire, made entirely of crystal, by the looks of it. Similar smaller structures expanded from its base a dozen miles out at least, and I knew immediately that this had to be the 'Crystal Empire', where Cadance and Shining ruled. "Oooh, you wanted to visit here?" Fluttershy asked, eyes dancing as she stuck her tongue out to catch one of the flakes of snow zipping past. She gave a start when I made it 'real' to her, the sensation of the snow hitting her tongue and slowly melting. "Heh. Yup! This is the Crystal Empire, as I'm sure you've already guessed," Twilight introduced, turning back to face me as we zipped along, rapidly heading towards the spire. I smiled and nodded to her, earning a grin. "How about Fluttershy and I give you the grand tour?" she offered next, sounding excited. Smiling, I returned her nod before asking, "Does it include an example of the consistency of the Crystal Palace?" Twilight blinked before widening her eyes and whipping around again, the side of the massive crystal spire blurring up faster than I could blink. Amidst a sigh, I put up an Aegis Barrier around us and took control again, just as we collided... * * * * * Smiling, we watched the sun slowly set, sitting on the very upper rim of the Crystal Palace. I took another lick from my frozen popsicle that obviously wasn't real, and enjoyed the sensation of Fluttershy snuggling into my right side. On the other side of her, Twilight sat as well, licking her own popsicle. The sky expanded out into a full orange miasma of hues, bathing us in light as we leaned against the tip of the spire. So far, the tour had been amazing, minus putting that new two-meter wide hole in the side of the palace, and Twilight acting sheepish for a while. Fluttershy was oddly more freaked out that we'd destroyed a section of the architecture rather than almost getting flattened into the consistency of pancake batter, but insisted that she knew she was safe when I was around. Personally, I think she just said it to make me blush, which worked in spades. Heh. "I kind of wish the dream would never end. But we have to wake up soon, don't we?" Fluttershy asked softly, her wings giving a light flutter behind her as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. I smiled, nodding softly as she rested against me. "It's a very peaceful dream, and the company is top notch, but our other friends would miss us," I pointed out. Twilight smiled softly at that before giving her popsicle a final lick and tossing it off the edge. Heh. She gave the sky a sad gaze for a moment before nodding oh so slowly. "It's true. With all the work coming up in the future, I don't know when we'll get to just have a vacation again. Mender needs one most of all, and I don't think starting all the things involved with the organization right away is a good idea. How about we just take a break when we get back to Ponyville?" Fluttershy stared at her in surprise for a moment before asking, "Um, are you feeling okay, Twilight? You've been awfully stressed and you might be coming down with a fever or-" "Heh. Yes, I'm fine, Fluttershy. I know, I know. It's not normal for me to condone not working, but..." she interrupted, trailing off with a frown. Fluttershy was right, of course. Normally she'd be in the position to argue just getting all the work over with, despite the crazy amount of it involved. The lavender mare hesitated for another long moment, scratching her hoof along the surface of the crystal we sat on, and then sighed. "Okay, I give. I'm not good with figuring out my feelings, so I'm just going to be honest. Those last two or three days of estrus, I kind of went nuts," she revealed. Uh... We both gave her a blank stare, and she rolled her eyes, blushing lightly before defending, "Don't look so surprised! Sheesh. Okay, yeah, that much was obvious, but I didn't explain why, now did I?" Well, that's true. I just kind of assumed, and hadn't heard it directly from her mouth. "Um, it was because I ran away, right? And because of the form being sent out?" Fluttershy guessed softly, tilting her head sideways as she regarded the mare. Yeah, that's what I had assumed. She was worried that I'd be angry, and that Fluttershy had been disappointed. Twilight frowned and exhaled softly before shaking her head, surprising me. "Not exactly. I mean, I was really sad that you were gone when I woke up, but I thought you had to go check on your animals early or something. Then I saw the form I'd left in the kitchen where we were talking about it and signed it, and stuck it in the envelope to be safe until Mender got back," she elaborated. Eh? "After I did that, I tried to focus on my experiments in the basement, but I couldn't focus. What I did with Fluttershy was weighing heavily on my mind, and I realized at some point that you might not approve of what we did. Then I realized that you probably wouldn't approve, as that was why we technically sent you to the cabins in the first place. Then, after I started to panic, I ran up and checked the herd contract again, noticing that it said it was based off consummation, which, while being a really old fashioned concept, still meant that I'd probably have to have sex with you before you could sign it. Fluttershy, too, of course," she continued, starting to fidget and actually working herself up with the story about her working herself up. It was kind of ironic, in a tragic sense. Fluttershy blushed lightly, but Twilight shook her head and raised her hoof towards us again before continuing with, "I didn't think I was ready to mate with a male, and the thought still terrifies me, but that's not the point or reason of me telling you this. I stewed on that little bit for the better part of that day, realizing that not only would you probably be upset and that I'd have to officially mate with you, but we already tore off the carbon copy of the paper. It was so tempting to just tear it up and request another copy, but I was worried Fluttershy would be sad or take it the wrong way because she already signed it, so I didn't know what to do. Things got a bit blurred as the hormones kicked in again, sadly. Keeping it in the envelope turned out to be a bad idea, as I must have sent it out on accident with the rest of the book return notices the next day. At that point I was out of it, but I take full responsibility for what happened." So it was an accident, then. Twilight's horrified and guilt-ridden expression probably could have told me that without the story, but it was nice to have the clarity. I opened my mouth to remind her that nothing drastic was going to happen, when she lifted her hoof again and shuddered, taking a few deep breathes. "Not done yet. I... I need to say this last part. I lost it. I totally lost it in blind panic. It took me two hours to find the rules and regulations for Herds, and when I saw that it took a full month to append somepony to one, I shot right into believing that it was all over. There was no way in my mind that you'd forgive either one of us for it, and I was going to get dumped. The prospect absolutely horrified me, and.... Well, I'm embarrassed to admit that I tried thinking up literally anything I could to convince you to give us another chance. Love potions, spells, and more mundane things like making myself into your slave for the rest of eternity. Uh, I kind of went crazy," she repeated. Blinking, I swallowed uneasily, remembering that she'd mentioned several potions she had ready for me from her upside down spot on the ceiling. She held up both hooves at Fluttershy's horrified look, and shook her head rapidly, adding, "I know! It was crazy, and he never would have agreed to that, and I wasn't going to give him the potions once I snapped out of it! I just... I panicked. Pure panic. But it's important, because looking back at it now, I realized I panicked." Oh...? That didn't seem like a good thing. Fluttershy relaxed a bit, and suddenly smiled, realizing something I didn't, apparently. Twilight's eyes softened at that and she stood again, moving past Fluttershy and snuggling into my front, lightly pushing me backwards until she slipped fully into my lap. This was a not entirely unwelcome change of tone, and it surprised me, but I kept my mouth shut as she finished with, "I panicked, just like I would have if Princess Celestia had told me that I failed and wasn't her student anymore. Looking back, I realized that was as honest with myself as I'd ever been. I care about you, Mender. You mean an amazing amount to me and now, I don't want to be without you. Ever. That's why I'm going to step up and fix this. Everything. I've been a horrible fillyfriend to you and Fluttershy, and I'm done with that. From now on, I'm going to treat you two right." Oh... I knew why she was panicking, but was it really to that extent? Fluttershy frowned almost instantly, and I saw it coming. "N-No, Twilight! You've been amazing to me so far. I'm sorry I got scared and ran away. It was just... I felt so guilty that we'd done that without him, and I felt sick because of it. You didn't do anything wrong to me, but neither of us should have signed that paper without Mender there. We weren't thinking clearly at all, and now we both need to fix it. P-Please don't try to take all the blame, Twilight," she pleaded softly, slipping up against my side and nuzzling Twilight's cheek for good measure. Those eyes! I knew I wouldn't be able to say no to Fluttershy like that, and wondered if Twilight had built up more of a tolerance to the- "F-Fluttershy... It, but, it wasn't you who sent... I... I know. Fine, let's both make it up to him, okay?" Twilight suggested, caving in before I could even finish the thought. Well, I guess that answered that. Shrugging, I decided to admit, "While I momentarily, during the height of my anger, entertained the thought of cutting off and just letting you two be with each other, I didn't stay angry for long and I'm not going to leave either of you unless you tell me to." She was being honest and deserved the same. Twilight swallowed uneasily and nodded to me, pushing herself more into my lap and exhaling softly. Her warm fur felt amazing against mine, and I held her close as Fluttershy snuggled into my right side, against both of us. She looked a bit sad, but nodded alongside Twilight, whispering, "I understand, Mender. I know you, well, think that it's your job to, but you don't need to hide things inside anymore. We talked about it for a while and realized how, um, angry you were with us. I can feel it still inside of you, Mender. Let us help you ease that." Ease it? I knew what she was talking about instantly, and it was a credit to her skills at reading ponies to be able to pick up on something even I barely noticed. Of course, they were both literally inside my mind at the moment, so maybe proximity made it easier? Still, how did one go about easing anger away? "I wouldn't call it anger exactly. It's frustration. A deeply rooted frustration and sadness over everything so far. A lot of things aren't exactly ideal for me, and undoubtedly for you two either. I get that accidents happen, which was why I'm willing to just swallow it and take the three years 'appended' status if I have to. I mean, it's just a title, right?" I explained hesitantly, earning the two negative bursts almost instantly, as I'd been anticipating. Still, their consistency made me happy, anyway. "No, Mender. We're going to fix this as soon as physically possible tomorrow. You know that even if it wasn't our fault directly, I don't like leaving things unsettled if I can help it," Twilight pointed out, backing up a bit so she could look into my eyes fully. I sighed and looked away from her, only to be greeted with a similar expression from Fluttershy as well. "She's right. Not only will it hopefully prove to you that we're serious, it will put us all on equal ground again. Then we can focus properly on working out that frustration," she added, smiling afterwards. Okay, I couldn't help myself any further. "Uh, how exactly does one work out anger? Um, we didn't have anything in my world to deal with psychological issues, so this is kind of new to me..." I warned, giving a sheepish look towards Twilight, who suddenly dropped her jaw. "S-Seriously? Wait, no, I should have anticipated that. It actually explains quite a bit," the lavender mare muttered a moment later before promptly slapping her forehead with a forehoof. Fluttershy giggled lightly and leaned into me a bit more before whispering, "With lots and lots of tender loving care, until you can't help but feel amazing and all your tension just drifts away. Oh, it'll be lovely, and I can't wait." That was followed by a blush and peck to my cheek, and I couldn't help but blush as well, sensing at least a 'part' of what she planned on doing already. I had no idea how to handle this sort of thing, as getting gifts or special treatment was a bit foreign to me. My entire stay in Equestria had been awkward like that, as I realized I'd always been 'different' from others. Not always in a good light, of course. "Uh, y-you probably won't need much. I don't hold onto a grudge or anything, and it-" I quickly started to correct. Twilight grinned before shutting me up with a kiss directly to the muzzle, and I squeaked before she backed away and shook her head. "Don't even try it, Mister! You'll be getting lots of affection whether you like it or not. Honestly, Fluttershy's right. Once I get over my initial fear of, um, mating with a male, it will probably be just as amazing as mating with a female is," she concluded, tone getting more and more flustered as she went, even reverting back to more formal terms. Heh. She'd never change. Fluttershy blushed furiously at that, of course, and fidgeted against me before I fully realized the implication of what Twilight just said. Oh! Ha! I raised a playful eyebrow towards the yellow mare, and she got even more flustered, looking away from both of us as I snickered. "She really is amazing, isn't she?" I agreed playfully. The lavender mare on my lap started giggling again, but Fluttershy outright squeaked finally and flailed her hooves lightly towards me, shaking her head rapidly. "I'm not t-that amazing! Um, you two are both amazing instead. That's why I really, uh, like it. Plus, these hormones are horrible this year. I think I'm being affected by being in a herd, too," she finally excused. Twilight smiled softly towards her and nodded, agreeing with, "It makes sense. I think it's more of a psychological thing than anything. Your body knows it has, uh, availability now, so you feel the urges even more strongly. Um, that's why tomorrow night I think, um, I think I want to experiment a little bit with Mender, too. Do you think you could help us, Fluttershy?" Eh?! Fluttershy looked just as surprised as me, as the suggestion totally blindsided me. "You want me to help? I, well, oh! I think I understand. I've been with, um, both of you, so yeah, I think I can help ease things a bit," she agreed, blushing lightly but smiling at the thought. Well then, this was a bit awkward. Suddenly, I realized that mentally I must have gotten a bit 'interested' in the aspect after all. Twilight started to smile towards Fluttershy and nod, but stopped a second later, frowning as she started to look down instead. I quickly shifted, moving the mare off my lap as I flipped over onto my stomach instead. My face felt like it could fry an egg and I shuddered, distinctly looking away from the confused looking Fluttershy and the now furiously blushing Twilight, who apparently realized what had happened. "Uh, yeah. I'm just going to wake us up now. It's oh nine hundred hours anyways," I suggested weakly. Twilight just nodded quickly, causing Fluttershy to frown at the both of us, but I didn't bother waiting. The less time I lingered, the less time the situation had to stew into further awkwardness. With no other delays, I focused momentarily and flicked myself back into consciousness, hauling both mares along with me. Please... Please have rolled over as I slept, body... Chapter 66Yawning sleepily, I sat on the rather uncomfortable wooden bench and leaned back against the wall, vacant stare aimed at the ceiling. Twenty-seven minutes and twelve seconds so far, wasted by just sitting here idly. The room was beyond packed, unfortunately, but at least nopony was paying a bit of attention to us at all. Fluttershy yawned sleepily, curled up against my left thigh while zoning in and out of unconsciousness. I fully agreed. It was far too early in the morning for this. Still, Twilight had insisted on 'beating the crowd' down here. That had gone poorly at best. The room was quite spacious, thankfully, having enough room along the west wall for six three meter long counters all connected together, with access granted to behind them via a door on the south wall. They were made of nice oak, by the looks of the wood, but only three of them actually had ponies behind them at the moment. That was probably contributing to the delay. A queue was formed in front of all three open ones, with an empty row next to the line of ponies. The signs were self-explanatory enough, but I'd also watched a few other herds already. The lead stallion or mare waited in line, then the rest of the herd was called up through the empty row when they reached the actual counter. Then, when whatever business was concluded, the herd left via the empty row and the process was repeated for the next in line. Good in theory, but it took upwards of fifteen to twenty minutes for some of the herds... They really needed to open the other three counters. Out of pure boredom, I looked about the rest of the room while waiting. Stone brick mostly, the dull color was a sharp contrast to the warmer reds and greens in the rugs and tapestries they'd selected, making it a bit better anyways. Benches largely filled the remainder of the main room, with bathrooms towards the back, next to what looked like private offices. I'd caught myself also marking the exits, sniping angles on the windows, and the structural supports to the place, formulating a solid guess as to the explosive yield required to slice through them with a shaped detonation. Keldarian Engineering Motto. Always have a plan to bring down any structure you lay eyes upon. Old habits die hard, it would seem. Regardless, I made sure that Fluttershy and I were well outside of the sniping angle of the two nearest windows, just in case. "Argh! This is so boring! Why are there so many herds here so early?!" Twilight groaned out along the link, shooting us a frustrated glance from her place, third in line. Two more herds and we'd finally get our turn. I tried smiling softly towards her while Fluttershy gave her a sympathetic expression, mentally suggesting, "There's usually always a lot of tension after the Fall estrus. Separation and hormones can cause bad decisions, and lots of stress in couples that are still together. Coupled with the colder weather and darker days, and it can cause a lot of problems." Heh, that was the truth there. It was a bad decision on their part that caused us to be here after all, but I'd just gotten done trying to cheer them up over that, so I was definitely not going to mention it again. Twilight sighed and nodded, looking a bit glum before adding in a whisper down the link, "I figured as much. It's probably worse in larger cities, especially with the taller buildings blocking even more light. Seasonal Mood Disorder aside, we all know what bad decisions can do. But we're definitely going to fix it now, even if I have to stand in line all day!" Heh, she was resolute about this, anyway. SMD sounded vaguely familiar, however. I'd seen a study on Seasonal Affective Disorder theories applied to prolonged exposure to the Keldarian 'Sky Scorching' phenomenon that was rather interesting, and wondered if SMD was similar, for a moment. Then I decided I must be extremely bored, to wander off on that tangent. "Um, do you think they'll give us any trouble with it, Twilight?" Fluttershy silently asked, expression softening as she looked down a little. I leaned down a bit and gently nuzzled the top of her forehead, giving her a little peck while I was down there. There were more than enough public displays of affection drifting around the room that I didn't feel I needed to worry about a minor one. The yellow mare gave me a timid but thankful looking smile, and I nodded to her calmly. Twilight seemed to consider it for a moment before answering with, "I doubt it. All the forms I've seen so far are simplistic enough, and the waiver releases require a royal signature, which I can provide myself, so..." That was a good line of reasoning, honestly. We had everything they'd require, in theory. And if they required a 'full blood' royal signature, Cadance had said she'd be more than willing to sign for me. The pink alicorn had caught up with us really fast this morning as we were heading out of the palace. She seemed quite intent on formally apologizing to me for the awkward question last night which had caused my small breakdown. I tried to explain that it wasn't her fault, and that I just had flashbacks sometimes if something reminded me of a bad 'memory', but she still insisted. She was definitely a kind mare, and explained that she hadn't meant to sound depreciating of what I'd undoubtedly gone through, which I thought was an amazingly diplomatic way to word it, but it was a nice thought anyway. Regardless, she said she would be at dinner tonight at Twilight's parents' house, so I'd be seeing her again then. Of course, that was a whole different can of worms that I didn't quite want to touch yet. Maybe I should invite Octavia along, too, just in case I need to smooth things over again? "At least there's a large amount of herds here, some of the appointments quite loud. Even if the waiting annoys you, at least consider that we blend in fairly well and shouldn't cause any media controversies this time," I pointed out mentally, pulling Fluttershy closer as she giggled lightly, out loud this time. Twilight smirked, and then admitted back, "That's a positive way to look at it, anyways. So, I guess suggesting that you cause a distraction to weed out the line a bit would be bad, then, right?" Ha! Snickering as well, I returned, "Well I could always go into the bathroom, pop out my throat armor, and roar at the top of my lungs. Bet that would clear the building out fairly fast." Fluttershy giggled lightly, but Twilight held a hoof over her mouth to stop herself from outright laughing. "Ha! The problem is, it would probably cause the workers to clear out, too, and then we'd be here a really long time," she pointed out a moment later, smirking back at me. The mare behind her was starting to give her rather strange looks given how animate Twilight was for not actually talking to anypony. I snickered softly to Fluttershy, happy I was way back here where there was already quiet talking and our motions looked more like we were talking to each other. "Heh, probably. Still, I'm sure you could fill out the paperwork yourself with no trouble. Careful, though. The mare behind you is getting suspicious," I warned, turning back towards Fluttershy instead, who tilted her head past me and at Twilight. "Gah! I can't help but make gestures while talking. Um, I'll try to be quieter so they don't think I'm crazy," Twilight suggested in a flustered a second later. Probably for the best, honestly. Fluttershy sighed and shifted further against me, a somewhat nervous yet bored sensation drifting from her. Ah, I knew that sensation well enough. She wanted to be done with all of this, yet she didn't want to go through with it because she was nervous. I suppose I should consider it a sign of how much she truly cared that she was braving doing this at all. She let out a light squeak and looked up at me as I leaned forwards and lightly kissed her on the forehead. I felt her move upwards and into me instead, oh so carefully lifting up and kissing me gently on the lips after I moved back. We kept it quick and chaste, of course, and she relaxed against my side instead, keeping her warm body up against mine as she relaxed there. Moments like this, however, made me want to stay here forever. The little yellow pegasus had quite proven her devotion to preserving the relationship already, and I was more than content being with her now. Twilight was also in the process of proving herself resolute in wanting to be with me. If this went through without a hitch, I'd also be an official member of the herd. That rang through my mind, and I smiled, holding Fluttershy close as her wings slipped around me. Yeah, sure they both had each other and had definitely shown that over estrus, but they were going to solid lengths to prove that they wanted me here, too, so did I really have anything to complain about? It was hard to stay mad when they seemed genuinely apologetic. But despite my reasoning, why was I uneasy over it still? "You're angry. It's as simple as that. They didn't bother thinking of you until it was too late over Estrus, and if they had, you wouldn't even have to be here," an oh so familiar voice reasoned to my left. My eyes narrowed, the smell of blood permeating the air suddenly. Blood and decay. Damn it. I hadn't heard from her since my tiny breakdown when we got back to Ponyville, and was hoping she'd given up on pestering me. Guess I was wrong. "Me, give up on you? Of course not. You're me, and I'm certainly not going to give up on myself. Besides, you can feel that I'm right, no?" she suggested. Her voice didn't have the edge it normally did, nor was she taunting me, which threw me a bit off guard. Her 'suggestion' the last time she showed herself was rather reasonable, too, which was a bit disconcerting, now that I considered it. Was she growing nicer, or was I growing colder? Holding my composure as best I could, I focused only on talking to her, thinking out, "Leave me alone, Nirru. You're either a figment of my imagination, or a computer error, both of which make you completely insignificant. I can figure things out without your input." Fluttershy shivered slightly, eyes opening again as she looked up at me. Figured. At this distance, and with her amazing levels of empathy, I realized she'd probably be able to tell something was different. The 'sensation' of Nirru smirked, me realizing that despite me not looking at her. All the more proof that she was just in my head, I realized. "How mean. I'm only trying to help you and you lash out so violently towards me. Heh. I like it. You really are an alpha male. I never should have tried to kill you after all, should I have? You'd be a much better mate," she suggested, voice dropping in what I could only describe as a sick attempt to be seductive, largely because of who the voice belonged to. Sadly, I had a feeling she was fully aware of how much the 'seduction' would piss me off instead. "Mender, what's that sensation?" Fluttershy asked quietly, starting to turn around in the direction of the rotting corpse behind her. I reached a hoof out instantly and stopped her rotation, pulling her back to face me. "Don't look, Fluttershy," I quickly warned. Twilight's awareness shifted to us in an instant, a bit of alarm playing at her link. I realized my own heartbeat had greatly sped up, apprehension and unease readily apparent through the two links. Pinkie's link activated a second later as she too became aware of something. Rainbow's followed after, me distinctly feeling Pinkie's alert the cyan mare. Damn it. "Mender, what is it? W-Who is this... I feel something really horrible b-behind..." Fluttershy started to whisper. Nirru slowly grinned, her jaw cracking with a wet snap as it expanded past its normal limits, the drops of blood flying out and towards... No! In an instant, I pulled Fluttershy close to me, snapping all her focus back onto me as I released that empty hunger inside of me at point blank range, aiming just around behind the pegasus as best I could. Nirru's eyes widened in an instant as she started to shout out, "Wai-" Her image was gone, so fast that reality seemed to distort and burn away to blackness where she was. The black nothing, so empty and freezing cold, was there for just a moment, then gone again before one could even fully process its existence. I knew it had been there, though, which was enough to chill me to the bone. Fluttershy gave a start, feeling the sudden emptiness flare up for that split second of existence, but it was gone before she could even complete her jerk. "Mender, what's wrong?!" Twilight quickly asked mentally a second later. Rainbow slid in through the door, to my surprise, less than three seconds later, followed by Applejack fast on her tail. They were supposed to be waiting outside! "It... It's nothing. Well, no, it was her again. But she's gone now. I'm sorry," I quickly apologized, pushing it down the link to all of them at once. Damn it. "I felt her, too! Oh dear. I-Is she always so scary? That was horrible," Fluttershy whimpered, shuddering as she slipped up next to me fully, her warm fur brushing up along mine and relaxing me. I wish she hadn't had to feel that at all however. "What did she even want?! Did she show up just to make us mad?" Rainbow growled, outright hostility evident in her tone of mental voice. Applejack apparently caught on to what happened rather fast, Rainbow saying a few more words after asking that. The orange mare narrowed her eyes dangerously, looking back towards me instead. I sighed softly, considering it for a second before answering with, "She shows up to taunt me about various insecurities, trying to give me 'advice' in how to deal with them." They already knew about her, so I might as well be honest. It had been working well for me so far. Rainbow slowly translated for Applejack as the two mares headed over towards us. "Oh? What kind of things does she suggest?" Twilight asked, sounding a little irritated, the target being her undead and potentially hallucinatory look-alike, to my surprise. It was nice knowing she didn't think I was crazy. "Um, and what was the insecurity this time, if you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy inquired softly, verbally only to my surprise. I glanced down at her, and she blushed, smiling gently at me. That was difficult to answer without hurting her feelings. Frowning, I looked over at the two rapidly approaching mares, and then sighed. No, I had insisted on the truth so far, so I was going to stick with it. "I was momentarily insecure about what happened with the herd to get us into this position to begin with. It wasn't anything major, Fluttershy," I finally admitted, voice still in a whisper. Fluttershy's eyes softened slightly, and I immediately regretted telling her, but she smiled instead a half a second later and pushed into my chest again, sighing softly. "Thank you for being honest, Mender," she whispered back, right into my chest fur as Applejack and Rainbow walked up. I held her gently and watched, somewhat uneasily, at the rather angry looking orange mare and concerned looking cyan one. Had I done something I wasn't supposed to? "Mender, Ah want ya ta link with me. Tha next time this happens, Ah wanna be able ta personally see her, if possible, just so Ah can buck her in tha face," she requested, not so subtle rage underlying her normal tone of voice. I swallowed uneasily and considered the request. Could they see her? That would be beyond horrific if so. Still, honesty. Sighing, I shook my head and explained, "Even if you link with me, I have no idea if you'd be able to see her. I might just be going crazy, Applejack." The orange mare looked less than dissuaded, but Fluttershy shook her head against my chest almost immediately. "N-No, Mender. I felt her behind me. That was horrible, but she's real. I've never felt someone so cold before. Not since King Sombra," she revealed. Eh? Who? My confusion went largely unanswered as Applejack frowned to herself, slowly nodding a moment later. "Ah made up mah mind regardless. Can ya complete tha link with me, Mender?" she finally requested, locking eyes with me but staying completely neutral in expression. This was a bit beyond sudden and I swallowed. "Applejack, we don't know all the effects of the links yet. Plus, you've heard already some of the horrible things they can do. Are you really sure you want to be connected to me of all ponies for the rest of your life?" I hastily asked. Of course, the unspoken accusation was there regardless. Was she just doing this because she thought she 'owed' me? "Ah'm certain. Ta be frank, Ah should'a asked fer this on tha train ride over, yesterday. We all know ya aren't gonna abuse tha connections. 'Sides, Dash 'ere is linked ta ya, an' she's tha element o' loyalty, so her approval means ah lot." I looked over at Rainbow, who stared at Applejack in stunned surprise, apparently having not expected that last statement in the least. Her conviction was solid, and I really didn't have any reason to doubt her. Sighing, I looked down at Fluttershy, who smiled and nodded against my chest. Well, if Fluttershy approved, how could it go wrong? Closing my eyes, I shifted the link displays back up and onto my inner 'desktop', hooking into Applejack's. One ping request later, and I hit the yes confirmation to establish the full link. "Welcome to our network, then, Applejack," I mentally greeted, earning a start from the orange mare, who was still looking right at me when I 'spoke'. Huh. That was amazingly similar to the reaction Twilight had. The lavender mare in question sent happy emotions down her link, while Rainbow grinned and nodded towards the still startled orange mare. "W-Whoa. This is gonna take ah bit o' gettin' used ta. Ah can feel all o' ya," Applejack muttered in a bit of awe, looking between the four of us with wide eyes. I nodded, of course, shooting some amused feelings down the link, and felt Fluttershy add warm happiness into it, too. Dash snickered, then nodded, adding, "Just be careful when Mender and Fluttershy get naughty. Those rather potent feelings can be felt quite a ways away." What?! Fluttershy started blushing almost instantly, and I felt my own cheeks heat up almost as fast as my eyes widened. Gah! Couldn't we get through even a single day without horribly awkward embarrassment?! Applejack smirked instead and looked over at Rainbow, asking, "Is that why ya bailed right fast out tha window last night, all flushed an' bothered?" Oh? Wait, last night...? Pinkie, whose presence was lingering nearby like a ghost might haunt me like one of my hundreds of failed aspirations, decided to finally bust into the conversation with, "Oooh, welcome, AJ! And yeah! Rainbow got flustered when Fluttershy and Mender started making out in bed." There were no words for that. Fluttershy apparently agreed, instead releasing a low yet long whine, her entire face turning red as Applejack started laughing. "Pinkie!" I hissed, trying to get the mare to realize that maybe this wasn't the best time for this. I'd much prefer 'never' for most of her reveals. "Psh, no need ta get all embarrassed-like on us. Ya both know it's natural," the orange mare assured, absently waving a hoof towards us both. Eh, at least I'd rather be talking about this than being insane and seeing corpses that looked like my fillyfriend. Speaking of, at mention of the incident last night, what could only be described as a 'wince' shot down the link from Twilight. Frowning, I shook my head towards Applejack and warned, "Not all of us enjoyed that moment, so perhaps we should discuss something else instead?" Applejack raised an eyebrow towards me, and then widened her eyes as she glanced back at Twilight instead. "Oh, right. Ah forgot that little detail. Ah'm sorry, Twi. Ya know Ah didn't mean anythin' by it," she apologized properly, focusing as she closed her eyes to send it mentally instead. "How come everypony seems better at the whole 'mind talking thing' than me?! It's not fair. I can't even talk using just mental communication yet and I've been doing it a lot longer than AJ!" Rainbow suddenly complained, looking a bit on the miffed side. I chuckled at the comment, and Fluttershy smiled happily towards her regardless. "You'll get the hang of it the more you use it, Rainbow. Just keep practicing," Twilight assured mentally, giving us a happy smile from her place in line. Oh! Which had shrunk, I suddenly noticed. It was true, I hadn't exactly been paying attention to it, but now I realized she was next up, and it looked like the single mare in front of her was wrapping things up rapidly. It was kind of depressing when I only saw one pony talking to them. They usually looked sad while doing so, and I realized a good chunk of them were herds that hadn't worked out for one reason or another. That made this a rather depressing building. Rainbow sighed and nodded along absently while Applejack looked backwards following my gaze, then smirked. "Looks like yer gonna be up next real soon, an' then ya'll be ah proper member o' tha herd. Ah'm happy fer ya, Mender," she observed out loud, turning and looking towards me for the last part. I was a bit nervous, admittedly, but this was hopefully a step in the right direction. The sharp intake of breath off to my left somewhere set off my 'bad news' alert flags. Gasps were usually never good. Looking that way, I saw a strawberry colored mare with light green hair that I didn't recognize. She stood a good three meters away from us, and had her eyes locked not on me, but Applejack instead. All four of us shifted our attention to her, the mares noticing my sudden distraction rather rapidly given that they were all linked to me now. "M-Miss Applejack?! The Element of Honesty herself?! W-Wait, that means..." she squeaked out, eyes shifting to the rest of us. Oh hell. It was worse than I'd thought. An assassin charging at me was much, much easier to deal with. Applejack herself looked more than a little confused, but the mare locked eyes with each of us in turn. "Miss Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash as well! Oh, what an honor it is to see the Elements of Kindness and Loyalty. Wow! C-Could you sign your autographs?" she asked quickly, hopping forwards and pulling a small tablet out of her bag before digging for a pen. Oh? I tilted my head at my lack of introduction, but stayed quiet. Rainbow grinned almost instantly and fluttered around to the other side of Applejack, puffing up a bit. "Sure thing! It's no trouble at all for us to give a signature, right?" she offered, shifting her overly exuberant smirk to the orange mare as well, who smiled but rolled her eyes. "Sure, Ah guess. It ain't worth much, but if ya really like us, then it ain't no trouble," she admitted, shrugging absently. She didn't seem nearly as interested, I noticed. "Aaah! I'm so happy! Wait, this means..." the still unknown mare suddenly muttered before looking forwards into the lines and tracing her eyes through them. It didn't take her long to spot Twilight, looking back at us in confusion, and she grinned even more. "Miss Twilight Sparkle is here! Oh, congratulations on your recent herd forming, Miss Fluttershy," she added less than a second later. That one hurt a bit, feeling somewhat like a kick to the gut, but I decided to just swallow the lump in my throat and remind myself that we were here to fix that little mistake. Fluttershy went from silent confusion to timid fluster even faster than the mare managed to talk, shrinking down and partially hiding behind me, eyes wide. I smiled down towards her and sent some assuring thoughts down the link, brushing her mane back with a hoof and rubbing the side of her muzzle gently. I felt her relax a bit against my left thigh and start to look up at me with a gentle smile, her eyes softening a bit as her link grew more relaxed. Of course, I hadn't noticed that the fan mare had rotated around in the meantime, so needless to say, it was a bit panic-inducing when she suddenly shouted out, "Hey, everypony! It's the Elements of Harmony!" Damn it. It took maybe half a second for them to process the information. Three seconds later, a surge of ponies were moving our way, and Fluttershy squeaked again, looking horrified as they neared. Admittedly, I agreed with her and pulled her back against me, contemplating throwing up a shield to protect us. "Hey! Who are you? What are you doing to Miss Fluttershy?!" the same mare asked as the crowd moved in. Eh?! Fluttershy herself shifted emotions again, moving from her horror as the crowd closed in, to distinct shock as she looked back to the mare instead, eyes widened as if she couldn't entirely believe what she just said. Applejack cut off the crowd, however, stamping her hoof down and calling out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Give us some space, ya'all! This 'ere stallion is just holdin' her, like he has every right ta. He's Moon Mender. Name ring any bells?" she tried to remind after halting the rapid advance of the many, many ponies. As much as I welcomed the anonymity, being stoned as a stalker or 'creep' was significantly lower on my list of things desired. Slightly above riding on a train, however. There was a collective overall 'no', with one stallion to the right of the group moving a bit closer to look at me. "Wait, you're that stallion that was at the press conference yesterday. Uh, I don't remember anything else about you, though," he admitted a moment later. Okay, that made me kind of want to cry. Hadn't Tia spent a good chunk of time explaining exactly who I was supposed to be? "I'm in a relationship with both Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle, who's up there in line right now. There was an... Well, it was a mistake on the form, and I didn't get added to the herd like I should have," I tried to explain, focusing on getting a barrier ready still just in case we needed it. We probably wouldn't, I realized, but I discovered that if I focused on something else, I didn't get quite as freaked out about the large amount of ponies staring at us right now. Fluttershy blushed against me, still not looking at anypony, but managing a gentle nod as well. Applejack smiled back at me instead, then repeated Fluttershy's gesture towards the crowd before adding, "Eeyup! Mender's ah part o' their herd, too. Just got goofed up in tha paperwork, which is why we're 'ere." Heh. Of course, she was the Element of Honesty, and they all knew she wouldn't lie to them. I shifted happy thanks towards Applejack, who just smiled and nodded at me. The stunned silence from the crowd was broken by bursts of rapid talking here and there. Had I said too much? A yelp shot down the link a second later, and I glanced to the right in time to see Twilight throw up a barrier around herself, the line having fallen apart into a cluster around her, all of them talking, too. Wonderful. How soon until the reporters got a hold of this one? I'd been intentionally vague as to not... "Sir? Mister Moon Mender? Might I have a statement, please?" was suddenly asked to my left. I gave a start and looked back, only to find a totally different, almost pure white mare all of a meter away, pad of paper in her hooves, quill floating nearby, and a 'Canterlot Inquirer' hat on her head. Her horn glowed a soft green, the same color as her eyes, and a forest green lock of mane slipped out from under the baseball cap she wore. Canterlot Inquirer? Wasn't that the newspaper that had slammed on Twilight? I blinked, however, uncertain as to what exactly she was asking. "A statement as to what?" I requested, hoping she'd elaborate that a bit more. I mean, if she just wanted any statement, I could start going on about the finer points of magical safeguard construction and the importance of energy stability in enchantments. "How does it feel to not only be abused daily for Princess Twilight's gain, but now to be betrayed by both her and Fluttershy, left out of the herd and any form of respectful standing? Do you feel like you can still call yourself a stallion?" she inquired politely. Err, what? My vacant, entirely confused stare did nothing to dissuade her as she continued giving me an expectant expression. "Uh..." I finally managed to get out. She immediately started writing, oddly. "Moon Mender is beyond traumatized by his situation, barely able to even speak properly to give a statement. We can only offer encouragement as his body heals from its grievous injuries; his left leg a withered husk of what it should be and scars covering every inch of his brutalized body. The Princess of Pain has left a terrible mark on his soul, easily visible through his haunted eyes," she spoke out loud while furiously writing in her notepad. Most of the crowd had started to slowly edge away from her at this point, Applejack giving her a totally blank look next to me, slowly tilting her head. Yeah, I had nothing. This one was in her own special little world, was all I could gather. "Enough!" suddenly exploded to my right, above the roar of the crowd at this point. Everypony fell silent as a manager of some sorts, by the looks of her attire, stood up on a box that she must have dragged over. She looked a bit stressed, and there were a few wrinkles in her otherwise well maintained suit vest, but the dark gray looked good against her cream-toned coat and dark red mane. Her horn lit up with a dark maroon color as she lifted a megaphone in front of her to shout out over the crowd. "This is not the time or place for gossip, fan frolicking, or anything apart from herd or marriage management! Form back into lines in your proper places now, or I'll be forced to ask everypony not complying to leave the premises! Further, would Miss Twilight Sparkle and Miss Fluttershy please come to the back offices instead?" the mare requested immediately upon everypony quieting down. There was grumbling, but I swallowed and nodded towards Twilight, who broke out of line and ran towards us rather quickly. "This is a nightmare! There are reporters here already!" Twilight yelped through the link as she ran up. Fluttershy shrank even further down, using her wings to hide herself as best she could. I moved in front of her protectively and rubbed her shoulder, sending calming thoughts as the lavender unicorn caught back up with us. Applejack glared at the crowd, causing them to rapidly disperse away from us as the unknown mare hopped down from her box and walked over, nodding towards Twilight. "Let's have your business taken care of in a far more private area, Miss Twilight. Not just for your own privacy, but for the sanctity of our daily operations as well," she suggested, rather calm despite everything that had just happened. Now that she was closer, however, I noticed a few stray strands of mane poking out of her otherwise tidy bun she had it tied back in. Twilight showed stress signs, too, with a few locks of mane rising up and away from her normally nicely combed self. "I agree fully. Come on, Fluttershy. Mender," Twilight agreed, looking over at us instead with a shiver. "You two should head back outside," I suggested, looking back over towards Applejack and Rainbow as well. Applejack nodded and smiled, but Dash decided to finish signing the autograph she was on before grinning and nodding. Gah. She was such a ham. Applejack snickered and turned, adding, "Come on, hot shot. We're gettin' out o' 'ere." She snatched a good amount of prismatic tail up in her mouth as she walked past and proceeded to haul Rainbow towards the exit, still signing pads of paper. "Hey! Yeah, yeah. Just two more. You don't want to disappoint the fans!" the cyan mare squeaked as she was drug across the floor, still managing to sign things even while sliding backwards. I was mildly impressed. The mare next to us cleared her throat, however, pulling attention back to herself again. "My name is Golden Band, I might add. I'm the head consultant here and in charge of operations in our Canterlot branch. You may call me Miss Band, if you wish. I assume that Mister Moon Mender is involved as well?" she suggested calmly, looking to me instead. I perked and looked back over at her fully, a bit confused. "Wait, you know who I am?" I asked, a bit surprised that she did when the crowd didn't appear to have a clue. She smiled and nodded politely towards me, adding, "The newest guard lieutenant, head of the newly formed Dimensional Regulation, a dimensional researcher, and if our Princess Celestia spoke true, also involved with Miss Twilight and Miss Fluttershy. If I had to guess, that's also why you three are here. I won't say more in public, however." Okay, now I was impressed. Wait a second... I pulled up the various snapshots that my electronic components had taken during that oh so horrible day. Public speaking definitely wasn't my thing. Regardless, I marked and analyzed all the visible faces in comparative identification, and picked up her three and two thirds of a second later. Ah, yes. She was there at that meeting yesterday. Being a government employee, she might have been mandated so. "Very astute! Yes, let's head into the back rooms," Twilight suggested, this time following after the mare as she led the way. I exhaled, not realizing how much tension was in my body until I realized I'd been holding my breath through a good portion of that little situation. Sadly, a glance towards Fluttershy showed her all but frozen, hiding under her own wings while pressed tightly into my side. Uh... With nothing else for it, I tucked myself down and nuzzled under her, lifting her onto my back as she clung there, heart racing against my back and inner emotions a mess of panic and fear. Sending more calm thoughts towards her, I quickly trotted after the two mares ahead of me, weaving around the ponies who hadn't scattered yet back into the lines and groupings. Yeah, the only thing I could do was get her into a calmer environment. Swallowing, I tried not to think about the newspaper headlines this time as I caught up with Twilight and followed her into a side room... * * * * * "This is a mess, admittedly. Thankfully, however, we know exactly what Estrus can bring, and hold all forms received during that time period for two weeks afterwards just in case things need to be appended or removed," Miss Band explained calmly, after a good five minutes of reviewing our paperwork folder. She'd pulled a pair of spectacles from her desk, floating them up to her eyes while peeking the paperwork over. Twilight almost fell out of her chair as she released a huge sigh before asking, "Oh thank you! Is it really as easy as that?!" The well-dressed mare frowned as she looked it over for another moment before gently setting it down and shaking her head. "Sadly, it's not. I'm not allowed, by law, to append a form that hasn't been entered into the system yet. Thus, a herd that hasn't actually been established legally yet. There are two ways you can go with this, however," she explained. Twilight frowned but settled again, locking onto the other mare hard with a more neutral expression now. My connection to her showed an intense amount of focus. Fluttershy was still slowly calming down from the small panic attack she'd gone through, and snuggled lightly into my side as we sat on the couch off on the right side of the room. Twilight, as potential 'head' of the herd, was the one who actually talked to Miss Band in official capacity, it would seem, and thus, sat in the chair in front of her desk. "The first route is to simply cancel this form submission. You'll be restricted to a month's delay before you can send for another one, but it will clear up the issue," she continued a second later. Twilight frowned but hesitantly nodded, asking, "And the other option?" Miss Band smiled and answered, "Leave this form submitted and simply sign the waiver to immediately add Mister Moon Mender as a full member of the herd. You're technically a member of royalty and can sign it yourself. After the review session in three days’ time, he'll be fully added." Review session? Twilight instantly picked up on my hesitation and nodded in agreement, asking, "What is the review session for?" She was getting better at the links, I noticed. "We've had... Well, to be frank, there have been attempts at forgery in the past with signatures, both of royalty and members of the herd. We know very well that you're part of the royal line, and I'd be watching you sign it today, if so. That reduces your review session to a formality only, but we don't convene until three days from now to actually go over them all. My apologies," our rather helpful branch manager explained almost instantly, as if anticipating us asking that. Err, Twilight asking that. She didn't know we were similar to a hive mind. No, that was creepy if I thought about it like that... There was a long pause before Twilight looked over at us instead, eyes softening gently as she decreed, "I can't make an important choice like that without my herd, of course." Miss Band nodded blankly, turning to look at us as well with professional neutrality. Fluttershy frowned, staring at Twilight for a moment before shaking her head. "No, Twilight. We promised we'd fix this today. 'Fixing' the herd means putting us all on equal ground. I think we should wait the month and just try again then," she spoke up softly, but with conviction. She was feeling better since we got away from the crowd, but her natural voice volume was actually rather low. I sighed and shook my head as well, adding, "It sounds like the review session is more for other herds and ours just can't be signed until then. Why wait a whole month to be a herd when we only have to wait three days if we do that? This is all just a formality, after all, and we're technically a herd already." Twilight's ears lowered as she looked back and forth between us before sighing. "I agree with both of you. Gah. But this..." she muttered before looking back over at the desk in front of Miss Band, staring at the paper on it. I 'felt' the gears spinning in her mind, and her eyes slowly narrowed. Eh? Miss Band cut in with, "Mister Moon Mender really is giving the most sensible choice. It's only three more days of waiting." Eh? Was she supposed to attempt to influence our choice like that? Twilight's eyes narrowed even further as they shifted up to the mare across the desk from her instead. "Wait... No, that's not right. I read up on the rulebook last night about this. There was supposed to be a form for bypassing the month waiting period, too. Why can't we just throw that form away, sign a new form with all three of us, and then just have me sign the waiting period waiver?" she reasoned out. Oh! I forgot about that part. Miss Band's eyes widened a little bit, then blinked as she backed up in her chair, away from the suddenly irritated sounding Twilight. Eh, I didn't blame her. I'd want to give an irritated Twilight space, too. Well, if she were irritated at me, anyway. "Oh, well, what version of our rulebook were you reading? If it was from last year, it probably wasn't updated with the new rule that abolished that form!" she announced, nodding twice afterwards, almost to herself. Twilight's eyebrow rose up slowly as she stared at the mare, but I just sighed and wondered how close pony psychology was to Keldarians. That little flick of her eye when she said that indicated 'creative' brain activity, further indicating that the information hadn't come from prior known information but was just now fabricated, my database informed me. Further, it warned that her backing up, and her back right hoof rotating to face the window indicated defensive posture and a desire to leave very quickly. I momentarily amused myself with the thought of her jumping out the window to escape. "So, what's the real reason you don't want us fixing the herd issue today?" I asked dryly, shooting her a skeptical expression instead. Fluttershy perked up at that and gave me a questioning glance, and then turned to look at the mare as well. She actively swallowed, a sign of nervousness I recognized from firsthoof experience. Twilight went back to outright angry in a fraction of a second after hearing me say that. Miss Band held both her hooves up to ward off Twilight, obviously not realizing that I was just as dangerous, if not more so due to that probability of her tripping my more hostile instincts. "L-Look, it wasn't my call. My boss personally flagged Moon Mender's herd eligibility as automatic denial. All I was trying to do was stop a scene out there," she quickly informed. That, well, didn't surprise me as much as it should have, honestly. Twilight's level of hostility spiked as I watched her teeth clench. To stop any potential fires from breaking out, Fluttershy started sending her calming thoughts a moment later, and the lavender mare took a deep breath instead before deducing, "So all of this, even so far as to recommend the two options you did, was all delaying tactics. Did he inform you as to 'why' Mender is to be denied?" Her tone was strained, and I felt myself getting a bit irked, too. I had a good guess and was really hoping I was wrong. The mare looked away and coughed lightly before nodding and answering with, "I think he's running a full background check on Moon Mender. He, uh, doesn't believe that the papers are real, I don't think." The papers establishing me as a citizen of Equestria? Well, he was right, but probably not for the reason he thought. Twilight slammed her hoof down on the surface of the desk, causing the mare to give a start and snap her attention quickly back to the lavender mare. "Those papers were confirmed by Princess Celestia herself! It's not his place to make a personal judgment on a legal issue because of what he thinks. I want to talk to him myself. Now, if at all possible," she growled out, not sounding at all pleased. Miss Band shivered again, then hesitantly looked back and forth between Twilight, and slightly past her at the door. My legs tightened as I sat there, ready to tip the chair forwards and spring if I needed to. Something was off with this whole ordeal, and I openly broadcasted that to both Fluttershy and Twilight down the link. "Uh, he's out for the day, but I'm sure I could leave a message in his-" the mare started to offer. Fluttershy looked a bit confused at my warning, and then even more confused at the statement, however. "Um, not to interrupt, but, uh, I think I saw his door open at the end of the hall. At least, it said ministry chairman on the wall. Is somepony substituting for him, then?" she asked softly, looking towards our suddenly not so helpful branch manager. Oh! A fascinating observation. Miss Band shifted her eyes over to her momentarily, mouth still open from her prior lie, and hesitated. No, he had nothing to do with this, did he? Further, she was outright lying. This wasn't about a background check at all, or even somepony not believing Tia's story! Her eyes locked with mine and widened even more as mine narrowed. That was all it took for her. Her chair spilled over backwards as she landed on her desk, then leapt completely over the very surprised looking Twilight. My rear legs flicked back before her chair even hit the floor, and I leapt as well, nailing her out of the air and smashing us both into the other corner with the carried momentum, my back legs locking around hers and my front ones trying to get a grip around her barrel. "No! Get off of me, Monster!" she shouted, struggling against my grip that went rigid with that, my eyes widening. Monster? She was one of-! Her horn flared up with a flash of light of rather intense proportions an inch from my face and I yelped, vision blackening and a sharp stab of pain blasting from my eyes, instinctively moving my right foreleg up towards them as a shield. The mare moved backwards at the same time, smashing me into the wall in attempts to dislodge my grip. She was probably surprised when it didn't work, my thick back armor popping out and making me not feel a thing. She tried to dive away, but my back right leg hooked around her knee and tripped her again, causing her face to go into the bottom of the door with a loud crash. She cried out as her horn punched into the wood from the impact, and then she was violently yanked backwards instead. Eh?! I could barely see anything, and momentarily lost where she'd gone once pulled out of my proximity sensor range. It was fairly easy enough to deduce, however, as Twilight growled, "Nopony hurts Mender!" Fluttershy was next to me a second later, helping me up as I rubbed my eyes with my right foreleg, the spots slowly disappearing as the nanites rapidly recovered my sight. Twilight had the struggling mare pinned to the floor with dozens of bands of purple magic locked around her legs, sealing them all together to the point of uselessness. More lines of energy tied the mare to the floor as well, ensuring she wasn't going anywhere at all. My eyes narrowed and I ignored the rapid hoofsteps coming down the hallway, undoubtedly to investigate the ruckus. My barrier activated instead, zipping along the floor before forming a rudimentary box around the mare, just in case she decided to retaliate again with any other magic, and further trapping her inside. The door rapidly opened a second later, hitting hard against the outside wall as what looked to be the ministry chairman and two guards slid into the doorway, shocked looks on their faces. The mare stopped struggling instantly and closed her eyes for a second before slowly opening them and looking over at me instead, with what could only be described as seething fury. "Fine. You win for now, creature. But you're a monster, and you'll never, ever fool any of us, no matter how hard you try," she declared before spitting towards me from inside the cage. My eyes widened a little as I fully processed who she really was. Or at least, whom she really worked for. Her horn flared up a second later and I strengthened my barrier, getting ready to extend more to protect Fluttershy or the three new ponies in the room. Twilight's eyes widened as she saw it, however, and she shouted out, "No! Open the barri-" It was far, far too late. The magic exploded from the mare's horn and whiplashed right back into her own face, snapping her head back in an instant as the flare of light caused her eyes to roll back in her head, and a burst of blood to come out her nose. Ah! My eyes widened as I dropped the barrier instantly and Twilight rushed forward, kneeling down next to the now limp mare. What was that?! Moving forward a bit, I realized that the mare was still breathing, but seemed to have knocked herself out completely. Twilight sighed a second later and shook her head, standing up again and looking over at me instead. "That wasn't an attack. She just shorted her own mind with a memory charm. She's probably not even going to remember whom she is when she wakes up. Not for a long while, anyway," she explained softly. "She didn't want to be interrogated, then. That's some serious devotion," I muttered, staring down at her. Sure, she didn't kill herself or something, but that was some seriously drastic measures to ensure she didn't say anything to the authorities. The stallion that came in with the guards groaned out in mild frustration before reminding, "If it's not too much trouble, can somepony please explain what's going on before I call the guards?" Oh, right. "I am a guard. And yes, but this might take a moment," I warned him, brushing the invisible amulet on my chest long enough for it to fade into sight for a few seconds. He stared at it before sighing and nodding, sitting down in the doorway and nodding to both guards to do the same. Well, this was turning out just amazingly. Twilight nodded as well and started to explain... Chapter 67"That's so awesome! He totally just signed off on the herd thing, then?!" Rainbow asked in vapid delight, flying backwards and a little in front of our group. Pinkie and Rarity had rejoined us after the appointment, and now we were supposed to head to the castle yet again to get a full status briefing and meet the guards assigned to the organization. This was going to be a really long day, I realized idly while walking. Twilight's parents came after this, of course, for supper. That was going to be a joyous occasion, I imagined. Playfully, I contemplated finding Octavia and hauling her along as a distraction. Twilight coughed lightly to my left, blushing a bit before answering with, "Actually, I think he was just trying to get rid of us at that point. But he accepted both waivers after I signed them, so at least we don't have to worry about Mender not being part of the herd anymore." There was definitely that! I was part of the herd now! Rarity, who walked to my immediate right, frowned, however. "This doesn't make sense, though. Whoever these deviants are, why would they seek to disrupt Mender's ability to join a herd?" she inquired. That was a good point. Unless Twilight's prior guess was correct and it technically had nothing to do with the herd. Twilight nodded to my mental reminder and spoke out loud, "I'm not sure it has anything to do with the herd so much as they were trying to force an official background check on him by a third party agency. They obviously feel that Princess Celestia has already 'succumb' to the 'alien menace' and can't be trusted." Her eye roll afterwards accentuated what she thought about that nicely, I decided. Of course, had the now amnesiac mare not attempted to flee at that given moment, Twilight herself might have acted to stop her instead. Images of fire and magical rays of death sprang into my mind, and I resisted shuddering while walking. The lavender mare gave me a mildly annoyed stare at that, and I remembered that to our 'network' as well. Heh. I smiled gently towards her and earned an eye roll as we kept walking, one of the guards stationed at the inner castle side entry nodding to us as we were let through. Fluttershy felt more saddened than anything, walking behind me and slightly to the left, between Twilight and me. "It's still horrible. Why do they think Mender's so mean like that?" she asked, frowning towards me. I could guess a few reasons, some of them more cynical and jaded than others. Instead, I went with a more neutral option. "They probably think there was no Nirru, and that I'm somehow responsible for the damage in Ponyville," I suggested, ducking as Rainbow almost smacked into my head as she swirled to avoid one of the suits of armor lining the corridor. She wasn't as graceful flying backwards, I noted. Applejack snorted from behind me, looking downright displeased as she walked next to Pinkie, who was on her left and behind Twilight. "They should just listen ta what Princess Celestia is sayin' 'bout Mender! This is ridiculous. If things keep gettin' out o' hoof like this, somepony is liable ta get hurt next time," she spat out in a sharp tone. I neglected to mention the mare's horn going through the door and her blasting her memory away. Even Snapshot had gotten laid out flat by Tank the first time... Still, I was thankful that Applejack and Rainbow had come with us now, even though I'd thought their offer to be 'guards' was a bit ridiculous at first. I should have known better at this point, however. Both of them had done an amazing job of holding back the crowds after the incident, even if Dash had used it to sign more autographs... "It's no fun when ponies get hurt! I'd have to throw them 'get well soon' parties then. I wonder what kind of cake they like?" Pinkie inquired while bouncing along behind us. That was a hard question. Twilight giggled at that one and suggested, "Why don't you just ask them after we catch and arrest them?" Okay, that was cute and I snickered. "That won't work, Twilight. They're too devious. They'd simply lie about what kind of cake they like," I pointed out, earning a grin from the lavender mare. Insulting the ponies she was so upset about hopefully cheered her up, anyway. Pinkie gasped, however, immediately asking, "What kind of monster would lie about cake?! They're even worse than we thought!" Okay, so her priorities were a little off, but she was going in the right direction with it, anyway. Well, she might be onto something regardless if Miss Band was willing to erase her own memories in order to avoid giving away any information. She should be in the hospital at this point, if I had to guess. Nasal hemorrhaging usually wasn't a good sign. Mine largely came from the spike of intracranial pressure that intense magic usage generated. Hers appeared to be more of a direct effect, however. The guards nodded us into the inner throne room, and I followed after Twilight, having to slip into single file in order to get through the side door. Only Tia appeared to be on duty, her sister probably asleep at this point. Oddly, Snapshot sat a couple of meters to the left of the throne, saluting again as we came in. It only took me a second to notice that her eyes were following me specifically. Great. I had the nagging feeling that it wasn't because she thought I was cute or something. "Ah, I'm glad you all made it back safely," Tia greeted informally, obviously not holding court at the moment. Canterlot wasn't exactly known for its mortal danger, so I took a wild guess that she'd heard about what happened already. Everypony bowed gently, and I suddenly felt a massive wave of peer pressure. Sighing to myself, I bowed as well, just to not stand out. The Princess of the Sun smiled but shook her head gently, gesturing everypony up less than a second later, however. "Relax, everypony. I'm not on official capacity, and this is an informal meeting. While there is much to discuss, we also must wait for Princess Cadance, and Prince Shining Armor to show up," she explained softly. Huh. I knew they were definitely up at this hour. Where could they have gone that would make them late to a- My thought was literally cut off by the sound of the other side door opening, and the exact two ponies we were considering walking through. Cadance looked more than a little amused, and Shining looked beyond stressed, so I guessed something bad had happened. "Okay, so why are there dozens of reporters in front of the castle? It took a royal escort for us to get through the main gate," he promptly asked, frowning towards Tia as they walked in. Oh. Oops. "Ooooh, that was us! That was us!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing up and down to my left. I inwardly sighed, and felt a giggle down Twilight's link. The lavender mare withheld her mirth, however, and elaborated with, "There was a complication at the Herd and Marriage Offices. The branch manager there turned out to be in league with those that want to smear Mender's reputation, and attempted to stop him from joining the herd." Their structuring was so strange, now that I thought about it. Why were there both a branch manager and a head chairman in the same building? I understood that she dealt with day to day operations, but wouldn't it be more efficient to have him deal with that, and the periodic executive choices? His job description seemed a bit lax for a pony of such high standing, I noted. That was a bit different from Keldarian culture, too. In my old dimension, the higher up the structure you went, the more obligations you had. When I was just a soldier, all I was supposed to do was the objective and try not to die. Becoming an officer meant I had my concerns as a soldier to worry about still, but I also had to keep track of an entire unit of other soldiers and make sure we were efficiently moving towards our objective. Keela was the same way. She was a scientist on top of being the lead scientist for an entire division, in charge of not only her own work, but the work of dozens of other researchers for the development branch. Err, well, she had been, anyway. Although now her job was significantly more stressful, as she was now responsible for their lives directly. I could see why she wasn't handling it well. I realized a second later that my tangent had me missing a part of the conversation. I had to be careful with that! "-was okay with signing the waiver, and he didn't know anything about her views?" Shining asked, looking surprised. Oh, the chairman? "That's just the thing. He said she'd worked there for fifteen years and had always been a respectable employee," Twilight muttered, looking concerned. That was the strange part. That meant that this organization was either extremely prepared and patient, or had some frightening magic techniques. Tia sighed at that and nodded, drawing everypony's attention to her in an instant. "There's no need to guess, my little ponies. I'm reasonably certain as to exactly the organization responsible for all of this. But in order to explain properly, first you must know a bit of history. This is a story that was intentionally left out of the history books," she admitted, frowning solemnly. Twilight perked up instantly, but I sat down, taking the hint that this was going to be a long one. Tia didn't wait, however, and just launched right into things. "It was roughly thre hundred and fifty years ago that the first of many incidents happened. At first they were small. Objects were reported missing, and petty theft was blamed, although no culprit could be found. Naturally, due to the volume of reports on it, I grew concerned. That's when reports of objects appearing instead started to surface. Normally I wouldn't consider that a bad thing, but these items were not of this plane of existence. The technology and even design involved was not native of Equus, this planet," she started to explain. The bombardment of new data was a bit overwhelming, but nothing was too taxing so far. Hey, at least I finally knew we were on a planet! Twilight tilted her head at that and nodded, adding, "Yes, that was during Princess Luna's banishment. Magical upheaval was blamed for the strange objects," she recited, undoubtedly from something she'd read. Tia smiled towards her and nodded, confirming, "That was indeed the official story. A part of it is even true, as a great magical upheaval was occurring. But it wasn't caused by any anniversary of my sister's banishment, or even by Discord attempting to free himself. It was because our sphere of existence was passing closer to another sphere, and the boundary between the multiverses was weakening." Oh. Wait, three hundred and fifty years? That was the date on the discovery of the 'specimen' by the Keldarians! Tia smiled at my expression and nodded. "Yes, Mender. It lines up perfectly with the date on your report. I was concerned, of course. In secret, as to not alarm my little ponies without proper cause, I set up the Bureau of Extra-dimensional Investigation and Defense. BEID for short. Their job was simple. I needed to know if this phenomenon was going to get worse, and what we could do about it," she continued, sitting down now and relaxing a bit. That was probably wise, given the ponies' tendencies to panic... Shining Armor tilted his head at that and frowned, his left ear twitching slightly in what looked like annoyance. "Wait, so this isn't the first organization that's existed to deal with the dimensional leaks? What was the goal of the first one?" he asked, a twinge of suspicion underlying the curiosity. I doubted Tia would be malicious, but if that organization wasn't around anymore, I had a sneaking suspicion something went wrong. If she was bothered by it, Tia didn't show any outward signs, and simply smiled towards him before informing, "It was quite simple. I needed to know what was happening, what it meant for Equestria, and ways I could keep ponies safe if need be. A team of ponies was formed, mostly out of researchers, and they studied the effect in order to get data on it. I still have all of their notes." As fascinating as that would be, there was a more pressing question instead. "What went wrong?" I asked softly. For the first time in all my dealings with the Princess of the Sun, it looked like I startled her for a moment. Her eyes shifted back to me instead and her smile faded. There was a long six seconds of hesitation, and Twilight started to frown as well, concluding, "They're not around anymore, so there must have been some reason to disband them." Tia finally nodded slowly, looking uncertain for a moment before shifting back to the more neutral expression. "You're right, of course. Both of you. Things went smoothly for about two months, and the data they brought in was absolutely amazing. They found out that this dimension is on a rotation of impossible to calculate complexity, and estimated that every three to four hundred years, we edge close enough to another rotating dimension to cause the leaks we'd been seeing. The information was invaluable, honestly, and I gave permission to attempt to draw information about the other dimension we were connected to..." she explained. Uh oh. She saw my look of apprehension and nodded towards me solemnly. "It went better than I could have hoped for. A viewing spell was established, and we were able to see all sorts of things about the other reality. We were horrified by it. To attempt to comprehend that there existed creatures of such cruelty was impossible for my little ponies. I immediately realized that this other place wasn't safe in the slightest, and suggested they find ways to seal us away from it instead, of which they immediately agreed. But..." She hesitated, looking directly at me with a downright sorrowful expression. She knew about the Grosh already, then. She'd asked me about my spells and potential weapons when we first met because she knew what that dimension was capable of. And now, I suddenly had the dawning comprehension that she knew even more about me than I did. "Aunt Celestia?" Princess Cadance whispered softly, sounding concerned as she stepped away from Shining's side and walked towards the Princess of the Sun. The white alicorn shivered slightly before shaking her head and continuing. "I'm sorry, Mender. I really am. There was an accident. In my haste, I told them to immediately disconnect the viewing link to that dimension. They severed the link without looking into the theory involved, and something horrible happened. For just half of a second, a jagged tear appeared in the lab, over top of the crystal structure we were using for viewing things. Gemstone Weave, the mare responsible for monitoring the connection, was pulled through the rift in that time frame. There was nothing I could do to save her, and the tear imploded on itself and destroyed our array a second later. We lost her..." I stared at her, searching her face for full acknowledgement of what happened. Gemstone Weave. I rolled the mare's name around in my mind, feeling it reverberate through me. She was the one mentioned in the report. That meant she was... Twilight looked confused for a second before her eyes slowly started to widen in realization at the same time that I looked back up to Tia and asked, "She was pregnant, wasn't she?" I already knew the answer, but I just wanted to hear it right from her. Celestia shivered for a moment before nodding, opening her eyes again to look sadly upon me. "Yes, Mender. She was pregnant. She's the one mentioned in the report you'd found. I had... I had hoped she'd survived, but it's clear now that she didn't. I'm sorry, Mender. It's my fault that the accident happened. If I'd been more patient and told them to take precautions, you might have been born here instead, and none of those horrible things would have happened to you," she finally revealed, earning a series of gasps as everypony else caught up to the full realization. For a moment, I felt exposed and vulnerable with everypony turning to look right at me, but in the same instant, I reminded myself that they were my friends. That was all there was to it, as well. Despite wishing I could have known her, I couldn't change what happened. I never had a mother, and didn't know anything about her. What happened to her was horrible, but there was no connection there to her beyond if it happened to a stranger. I shook my head slowly, considering my words before finally speaking. "It's horrifying to think about what happened to her, and I definitely feel sorry for her and her family she left behind. That doesn't change the fact that I never knew my mother, however, nor can anypony here change what already happened. Besides, if I had been born then, in Equestria, I never would have met all these amazing ponies that are in the room right now, and here. I... I don't want the alternative," I slowly admitted. In truth, my answer surprised me a little bit. I'd never considered that I could be somewhere else right now. That I could be somepony else. But the fact that I didn't want to be somepony else was important, I realized. Twilight smiled first and leaned over, nuzzling into me again before kissing under my ear in a soft gesture of affection. I think she realized what I was really saying there, especially about Fluttershy and her. The yellow mare also smiled happily and nodded twice, still glued to my right side, practically. Tia looked a bit surprised by the whole affair, but recovered rapidly and gave a gentle smile and nod before adding, "I'm glad you're taking it well. Even if I couldn't have known what would happen, I still feel responsible for the loss of a normal life and parents for you. If there's anything I can do, please let me know." I considered it for a moment before nodding. There was something, actually. "If it's at all possible, I'd like to know more about my parents. Knowing who they were and what they were like..." I requested, eyes softening a bit as I thought about it. Parents. That was something I never thought about, really. It was something somepony else had this whole time. Her smile faded a bit but she nodded. "Unfortunately, you'll learn everything about them and more in the case files for the investigation. Everything points to, beyond reasonable doubt, BEID not disbanding when I requested. The technology they would have to have access to in order to detect your arrival and your identity only belonged to that group, and it was decommissioned when they shut down, supposedly," Celestia revealed solemnly. Oh. That made a disturbing amount of sense. I guess I hadn't considered how they'd discovered I arrived in Equestria. "Wait, why wouldn't they disband when you requested?" Twilight asked suddenly, looking more than a little concerned over the events. To my surprise, Applejack chuckled and suggested, "Ah'm just ah simple farmer, but even Ah feel mah duty towards tha greater good an' Equestria's protection, Twi. If these ponies felt they needed ta protect tha innocent, Ah imagine they didn't think continuin' tha vigil would hurt nopony." What, they decided it was their 'duty' to do so, then? That seemed easily misplaced without proper guidance, but maybe I was biased given my memories? Pinkie deflated a little at that, however. "Aww, but why are they targeting Mender, now? Can't they tell he's a good pony?" She stopped bouncing next to Rarity, giving me a sympathetic look instead. Sighing, I shrugged rather helplessly to her, and Rarity nodded as well. "Even with the best of intentions, Pinkie, a pony can sometimes do harm while not meaning to. Maybe they truly believe he's tricking all of us and is a serious threat to their country?" the pearly mare reasoned, looking uncertain at that. I flattened my ears back instead. They had already been willing to use magical manipulation to try to turn public awareness against me. "I'm just worried, is all. How far are they willing to go in order to get their message out?" I asked, looking back towards Tia up at the throne. The white alicorn shook her head at that and corrected, "It matters not, Mender. They've already broken our laws and harmed innocent ponies in attempts to 'protect'. Regardless of their abilities or what they think, they were never beyond the law. They tried to assault you through hired agents, and broke into an established news facility to spread magical slander. I cannot tolerate this, even for the best of intentions." Ah, yeah, that was true. They were technically criminals already. Snapshot looked a little uneasy at the 'hired agent' bit, but snapped back to attention and saluting as Celestia turned to look her way. "Regardless, there is the matter of what to do with Miss Snapshot here. She assaulted an innocent pony, and unlawfully spied upon your privacy. This is a serious offense, especially given your recent upgrade to a Lieutenant of the Guard, Mender. I've already talked to her in length about this and come to a proper punishment," the Princess revealed. Uh oh. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was why she was saluting towards me throughout the last ten minutes or so. "Ah, I was wondering why she wasn't restrained and behaving so... Uh... Well, abnormal, even for her," Shining suggested, coughing lightly afterwards. Snapshot herself grinned at that, however, apparently finding it amusing rather than offensive. Strange might not be strong enough, but I had no room to judge in that regard, given that I was the only pony in the room with tentacles. Tia smirked at that and nodded, answering, "Indeed! She actually is wearing a simple magical restraint choker, but it bears similar enchantment to our undercover Guard amulets. Miss Snapshot seems earnest in her desire to repent for what she did, so I've placed her under supervised leave for being so forthcoming with information and cooperative. I sentence her to community service for as long as the case against BEID persists." Community service? Wow. Keldarians would have just executed her on the spot. This was a beyond pleasant surprise. "Uh, community service doing what?" Rainbow asked, giving Tia an incredulous stare before glancing back over at the strange ninja paparazzi herself. That coy smile returned to Tia's face, and I recognized her impish side stirring up again. Uh oh. "Why, an investigator of her talents could be invaluable to the case. So, I'm placing her under Mender's authority for the duration. I'm sure she'll help immensely," she tossed out. What? What?! My eyes widened as I looked back to Snapshot, who saluted extra hard and puffed up a bit at that. That explained her behavior last night, too... "Yup! You're my boss for the duration, Sir!" she announced. Damn it... * * * * * Okay, this was a normal day. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I hadn't been spied on by an agent of a rogue Black Ops squad that was still around from a few hundred years ago. I definitely hadn't been assigned my own guard contingent and researchers, or been placed under the authority of a Princess, read practically physical goddess, of the Moon. Even worse, my fillyfriend's brother most certainly wasn't the field commander for said forces and relied on me for technology and tactics. It was a mantra I kept running through my head as we walked along the darkening street, the magical lamps just starting to turn on as the orange hues danced across the horizon. The dry cobblestone under us made loud claps with each of our hoofsteps, almost a constant drone due to the sheer amount of ponies in our group. And out of the frying pan, right into the industrial oven. Now it was time for another meeting with Twilight's scary parents, this time with her brother and sister-in-law present. The same siblings I'd had a mental breakdown in front of last night. I was on a roll during this trip! Thankfully it wasn't a very long walk, despite my inner monologues running rampant and gleefully going over all the wonderful things that could go wrong. Being attacked by paparazzi, ninjas, or both thankfully didn't happen on the approach to the front door, defeating one of the many theories, it would seem. Still, Shining seemed awfully intent on shoving me to the front of the line next to Twilight, muttering something about the new herd being the one to knock. I smelled a trap, of course. Twilight stared skeptically at the two of us for a moment before making room next to Fluttershy on the doorstep, and gently knocking. Idly, I wondered if it was customary to knock on relatives' doors. Equestria, so far as I'd seen, seemed to keep a rather lax open door policy, with them not bothering to actually lock them half the time. Of course, I'd long since realized that Twilight herself wasn't always the best example to look to for 'standard' pony culture. Sadly, it all served to lull me into a false sense of security as the door actually opened. Turning and trying to put on my best winning smile had me ill prepared for the incoming sharp, pointy looking object! My eyes widened half a second before the wooden stick was shoved into my mouth, getting expertly tucked under my tongue via magical manipulation. Eh?! I quickly noted that Twilight and Fluttershy had been assaulted by similar techniques, as had Rainbow and Pinkie a bit behind me. What the hell?! The object was definitely wood, and reminiscent of an oddly shaped thermometer of sorts. Looking up, I gave a skeptical glance to the rather pleased looking Twilight Velvet standing in front of us, grinning. What, did she have a mandatory fever test before letting guests into her household or something? Twilight looked significantly less pleased, spitting hers out halfway through a red light popping up and a significant negative sound chiming through the air. No fever? "Mother, what are you doing?! This is... But... Okay, so it's been all of four days after estrus for one. Those devices take upwards of two weeks to tell if a mare's pregnant! Further, what are you doing?!" she yelped, pointing angrily down at the glowing red device. Oh. Well, this left me a bit confused as to why I got one as well. Fluttershy blushed lightly and sighed, but kept hers dutifully in her mouth until it too chimed negatively and lit up red. Mine lit up purple a second later, apparently just as confused as I was. Velvet absently shook her hoof, and then frowned at the two red lights as Fluttershy gently set hers down. "Darn. I guess you're going to be as slow as Shiny. And who knows! You had an estrus before this one, no?" she suggested, smiling again. Shining started to laugh behind us, but Twilight just growled out, "Mender wasn't here for last estrus! Plus, again, why are you so intent on this?!" Velvet didn't look all that dissuaded, of course, and instead peeked at mine, which was letting out confused sounding chirps. Did I break it? "Oh relax. I just want cute little foals to spoil and visit and get pictures of! Both of you are perfectly capable of supporting and caring for them. Hmm, what does purple mean?" she muttered to herself as she examined it. Ah, purple must not be the 'positive' color, so at least I knew I wasn't pregnant, then. Twilight just sighed and pulled the offending instrument from my mouth, setting it down next to the others. "It means you can't get a pregnancy reading on a male! Can we please go inside now, Mom?!" the lavender unicorn asked, exasperated now as her horn lit up again. Rainbow, who was glaring at the little red light at the end of hers, spat it back out into Twilight's aura, looking mildly offended. Pinkie however, looked absolutely delighted and amused by her purple one, the tester sticking out of her nose instead as she hopped up and down there. Ah, so Mrs. Velvet's aim wasn't as good for moving targets! Pinkie grinned as Twilight pulled the thing free and wiped it on the welcome mat a few times before setting it with the others. "Oh fine. You all can come in. What about you three, however?" she asked suspiciously as she eyed up Rarity, Applejack, and Cadance after we slipped past. Yikes! Well, at least she didn't seem to care about the loophole Pinkie found. Rarity gasped and blushed lightly, looking away from the unicorn with a huff, of course. "I must say, I'm saving myself for my wonderful Prince Charming. Such accusations are unneeded on my account," she quickly corrected. Applejack just rolled her eyes and walked past, adding, "Apples don't buck themselves. Ain't got time fer stallions." Velvet didn't appear to mind either answer, instead turning to Cadance and sighing. "I know it's hard for you two with Cadance being an Alicorn," she admitted, frowning slightly. Oh? That perked my curiosity a bit, but I waited patiently in the hall next to Twilight and Fluttershy. Cadance smiled gently and shook her head, carefully taking one of the extra two test sticks out of the air and holding it in her mouth. Velvet gave her a soft smile at that, but Shining rolled his eyes. "Sis already warned you it's too soon, Mom. Besides, you tested Mender and not me?" he teased, smirking at her for half a second before the last one got shoved in his mouth as well. He made a surprised squeak, giving a confused blink as Cadance giggled next to him. I tried really hard not to snicker, deciding he probably deserved that. After a moment's hesitation, Twilight just shook her head and walked down the hallway further, Fluttershy letting out a small squeak and following after quickly. Yeah, getting out of the line of fire was probably a good idea. Slowly, I slipped away and headed after the two mares, hearing the chatter between the other Elements dwindle as I turned the same corner they did. The room was apparently some sort of gathering spot for the family, with soft seating and pictures lining the walls. 'Living Room' was it? It was never something I'd gotten used to until arriving in Equestria, of course. Soldiers didn't get luxuries such as this, and in space, mass was conserved as best as possible. More mass meant more fuel needed to start and stop your craft, so rooms were made as multipurpose as possible. This was nice, however. Twilight smiled warmly towards me and patted the seat next to her on the large sofa, Fluttershy having already hopped up onto it on the other side of the lavender mare. Relaxing a bit, I trotted over and hopped up with them, lying down on the more than spacious cushions as Twilight leaned against me. "Regardless of how crazy everything is with this other group, I'm happy that you're part of the herd now, Mender. It doesn't make up for what we did, of course, but it's a solid step towards correcting it," she murmured after a restful few seconds. I frowned and considered that for a second before realizing it was almost exactly what I had going on internally, too. Maybe Twilight knew the answer, though? "Hey, Twilight? Um, something's been bothering me for a bit now. At what point would you consider what you did wrong, well, made up for? I'm sure you two attempting to fix the situation has to stop at some point, right? When do you consider yourselves forgiven, and the situation settled?" I asked, honestly concerned. Knowing what I did to the Keldarians was horrific as well, and if I could, I wanted to somehow make it up to them. The only issue was, what could I possibly do to amend for that? They were dead, and I couldn't undo that. Twilight looked mildly surprised by my question, eyes widening a bit before she really considered it. Fluttershy, however, answered first. "Um, I can't entirely speak for Twilight, apart from what we've actually talked about, but I would like to keep trying to make things up to you until you feel like an equal part of our herd. Plus, well, we both feel really badly about what we did and also need to feel you're an equal part of our herd. So it's really for all three of us," she explained softly, frowning a bit as she chose her words carefully. She acknowledged that it was for them, too, then. Twilight smiled at that and nodded before adding, "She's right, of course. We damaged your trust in us, which is especially harmful as your trust in me was probably a bit shaky before. So earning back that trust is goal one! Then, after we earn your trust back, we hope to treat you at least a little bit, hopefully to show we mean business." Okay, that I snickered at. "I think you two already proved that well enough by going through with that mess this morning. The papers will probably make all three of us pay, now," I warned, shuddering lightly. The lavender mare considered it for a moment before shaking her head in disagreement, however. "I don't think so this time, Mender. After what happened with the papers last time, they've started to get really careful about what they put in their articles, Princess Celestia noticed. I believe that incident hurt Fancypants' reputation, and he wasn't pleased about that at all. Plus, I think he likes you," she reasoned softly. Huh. I wouldn't have thought I'd left that lasting of an impression on him. Fluttershy nodded, however. "Yes, Rarity says they've been rather polite ever since, two covering a new story on what happened in a much more positive way towards you. Equestria Weekly also printed out a formal apology to you," she informed. Oh? That I hadn't heard about. Twilight rolled her eyes and nodded, horn lighting up and pulling a conveniently located Equestria Weekly out from right under the coffee table in front of us. Eh?! "It's a good thing, too. Dad reads this paper all the time, and quite closely. It's no surprise the magic was strong with him when they enchanted the pamphlets. I could tell he felt worlds better after Fancypants officially cleared the air, so to speak," she revealed, looking at the new front page. "Zoning Regulation Fiasco Wreaks Havoc on the Docks?" I read out loud, staring at the main headline. Fluttershy curled up slightly, apparently rapidly losing interest, but Twi at least game a cursory glance at the article in question. "Ah, yeah. That was a big frustration a week or so ago, I heard. It was in Mom's letter. Spices and a few elixirs in the market have jumped in price now because of an interruption in trade with both Zebrica and Prance. Somepony looked back in the records and found double ownership certificates for some of the warehouses on the dock, and there's quite a bit of confusion about who owns what property down there," she elaborated, setting the paper back down on top of the table. Ah, so trade outside of Equestria, then? As interesting as that thought was, the issues with the certificates were significantly less so, so I simply nodded at the paper after her magic released it. That was the problem with official paperwork and such. Whether electronic or managed manually, there was always risk of something screwing up somewhere. My contemplation was disrupted as Velvet came into the room via the same way we had, with everypony else except her husband following. Actually, I'd yet to see him, which was odd. "Make yourselves at home, everypony. I'm very pleased that all of you could make it after all. After we heard about that horrible affair down at the Herd and Marriage Offices, I was a bit concerned that you wouldn't be able to make it!" she exclaimed, looking over towards us on the couch. Twilight gave her a hoof wave and smiled assuredly, however. “While it was quite unexpected and not in the most positive way, we weren’t held up more than an hour or so with it. Still, it does show just how much power these ponies have,” she said, eyes losing focus as she considered that. Indeed, they appeared to have significantly more resources than I’d originally estimated. I’d have to read the reports fully that Tia gave me in order to get a better judge of what they were capable of, I guessed. Velvet frowned at that still and sat down as ponies filed around her and onto the seating locations, with Pinkie and Rarity joining on the other end of the couch from myself. “I just don’t understand why they’re targeting you, of all ponies. I mean, you’re a nice stallion. Possibly too nice. Is it just because of that incident a while back in the Everfree?” Velvet asked, looking between the three of us specifically on this end. Too nice? Wait, didn’t she say that before? “Ooooh, I know! It’s because they’re super jealous that Mender gets to hang out with all of us awesome ponies! Hmm. Do you think they’d stop if I threw them a really big party and promised to be friends with all of them, too?” Pinkie interrupted, hopping in place on the couch twice. Uh… Next to her, Rarity gave a warm smile and nod, suggesting, “While I’m sure that’s contributing to their obvious envy, I believe they have other reasons as well to wish to target Mender. You should perhaps save the party until after we deal with those?” If there were any ponies left after we dealt with those, yeah. No, that was my more negative side speaking. Pinkie appeared pleased with that answer regardless and grinned, earning a giggle from Twilight. “It’s true, anyway. It’s probably because of the incident, not to mention the one even before that which erased his memories. They seem to feel it’s suspicious, and warrants attempting to investigate Mender further via any means necessary,” the lavender mare appended, in a more serious tone. Velvet balked at that, looking horrified for a moment before incredulously asking, “They did all that just to try to get a background check on him?!” Heh. I could see where Twilight got her sharp wit. Idly, I wondered what her profession was. There was a rather derisive snort from the direction of Applejack, followed by, "Ya got that right! They don't believe ah bloomin' thing tha Princess says! Plus tha methods they've been usin' are downright dangerous! An' sneaky." Well, I'm not entirely sure if Snapshot's methods were condoned by them or not, but they'd obviously told her that I was absurdly dangerous, to the point where she anticipated me to outright kill her if she was discovered. That said something about their motive right there. "The Princess and Royal Guard are looking into this on all accounts regardless," Shining Armor interrupted, explaining, "We have multiple good leads and no intention of letting them get away with this. Even though I'm technically not captain of the guard anymore, they still tell me quite a bit, and I'm field commander of Mender's organization. I know we have good Intel." He glanced over at me afterwards, and I nodded to him easily enough. "It's just a matter of identifying their infrastructure. Every organization needs a means in which to communicate and pass resources. Once we find theirs, halting their activities should be within our grasp," I reasoned, remembering enough about what my other self had dealt with. The military wasn't just used against the Grosh, of course, but also to crush rebel factions. Shining smiled at that, with one corner of his mouth upturned in a confident sort of grin. Had that been a test to see if I knew what I was doing, or was he honestly looking for input and pleased with the results? Not that it mattered, as Velvet cut us off anyway, with, "Regardless, let's put all that doom and gloom behind us. This is our first chance to have dinner with both herds that involve our children, and it should be a merry occasion!" Twilight looked around at that with a look of mild confusion. "Uh, where is Dad, anyway?" she asked, raising an eyebrow up. Her brother snickered however and reminded, "This is a dinner, Twiley. If we agreed not to let Mom near anything hot in the kitchen, who do you think is cooking?" Oh? I wondered if ponies had stereotypical gender rolls as well. Last I knew, it was males that were supposed to do the cooking, but maybe it was different here? Although I'd remembered Keela was different in that regard. She actually liked cooking and experimenting with different dishes and flavors. She had served me quite a lot of different... Err. She had served him quite a lot of different dishes in the past. Being two different individuals was really confusing. Sadly, my internal musings once again sliced out a good chunk of reality. "-wasn't even that hot! I don't know why it exploded! It was water!" Velvet defended, stamping her hoof down and looking flustered as her two children laughed. Uh? It took Twilight a good twenty seconds to stop snickering enough to explain, "I told you, Mom. It was pressure that caused the explosion. You didn't make sure it was sealed properly before heating it up." Oooh, I did that before! Wait, no, he did that before. Hey, a negative memory that wasn't directly mine! "How was I supposed to know it would do that? Sheesh. It's easier just to let Night cook anyway. He likes to. Besides, don't tell him I said anything, but he really does want to impress our newest family members," she revealed, winking over towards Fluttershy and me. I smiled towards her and Fluttershy blushed lightly and nodded. Well, it was a good feeling to be included in that regardless. That's what I had wanted, when it came down to it. Inclusion. Shining shuddered at that and rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. "Sure he does. I still remember the absolute grilling he gave me about Cadance. Are you sure he didn't install a lie detector in the basement like he wanted?" he asked, giving his mom a questionable stare. She just sighed, however, and gave an exasperated expression back. Well, that was a good sign, I'm sure. Once more, I began to take note of likely escape routes, just in case. As if on cue, Night Light shouted from somewhere to our right on the other side of the hall. "Dinner's done!" The words rang out, hanging on the air for a second before Velvet attempted to smile and nodded towards Twilight. The prospect of food had never filled me with dread before, but I guessed there was a first time for everything! Twilight swallowed lightly but got up off the couch and headed for the hall again, Fluttershy in tow. Well, here we go. I followed after more slowly, mentally preparing myself. Two windows next to the door without reinforcements, and a weak structure for the main support by the stairs, within twelve yards run... * * * * * Shuddering oh so lightly, I tried to keep the tension in my muscles and neck from being too visible as I took another slow sip of the soup. I barely resisted cringing at the noise of the light slurp sounding out in the dead quiet dining room. Everypony at the table ate as quietly as possible, and not a word was spoken in potentially the most awkward event I had ever attended. Night Light had exited the kitchen in a full suit and tie, with his mane combed back carefully and leaking an air of sophistication. That effectively choked any further attempt at a casual dinner that his wife may have been aiming for. His then formal posture and manner of eating crushed any hope after, without him needing to say a word. It was masterfully done. Every few sips, he would look up again, specifically analyzing me with a steely gaze, as if dissecting my every move. Two minutes in, and I was already wishing I'd just pass out and get the humiliation over with. The others didn't fair all that well, either. Applejack looked back and forth between all the different utensils next to her plate, while her cyan friend smirked while watching next to her. Fluttershy could easily feel my tension and looked flustered herself to my right, fidgeting in her seat. Pinkie looked almost catatonic, staring blankly at her plate as if having shifted to 'Screensaver Mode' or something. Of course, inside she was a chaotic mess, and only the much calmer assurances from Fluttershy through the link were stopping, well, something. I wasn't entirely sure what would happen if that boiling point were crossed, but it would probably be wildly more entertaining than the alternative. Twilight, on my other side, stared up at the ceiling with a pronounced twitch, mental whispers to be calm running through her thoughts like a mantra. Rarity at least seemed to be handling it with little fuss, simply eating politely as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her. Shining was, too, but he was probably used to it. I couldn't see Cadance from my seat, sadly. Velvet, meanwhile, was giving less than pleased glares at her husband, and finally coughed lightly to relieve the tension. Sadly, he immediately picked it back up again with, "So, I heard there was a problem, and you initially weren't added to the herd." While his statement was neutral, the tone he used to utter it made it feel more akin to looking up to find a field of perilously dangling serrated icicles above my head. He left no doubt as to whom he felt was responsible. Twilight's inner mantra ground to a stop like somepony dropping a piano onto a record player, and she let out a cry of frustration. "For the last time, Dad, he had nothing to do with that! If you absolutely have to blame somepony, blame me!" she exclaimed loudly, entirely disrupting the prior silence of the room. Pinkie snapped out of her stupor almost instantly now that somepony else had exploded first. "Finally! I was so bored because we were all sitting here without saying anything and everypony was so tense! I mean, seriously, this is supposed to be a celebration, ya know? We need to cut loose and have lots of fun and stuff. We need some music and streamers and confetti and-" the pink mare exclaimed rapidly, like a high pressure container blasting out air. Rarity coughed and interrupted with, "Pinkie, Dear, I believe you're on the right track, but Twilight is upset at the moment and would probably benefit from being able to speak her mind." That was, uh, interesting. Regardless, between the two of them, they had managed to defuse the tension almost completely, which was impressive. Night Light didn't look pleased, but he was technically in the wrong anyway, so it probably didn't matter. "Oh, okay! But we party afterwards!" Pinkie relented, nodding twice towards a now smiling Twilight Sparkle. "Right, Pinkie. She is right, Dad. We're supposed to be celebrating, but this feels more like an interrogation for Mender, Fluttershy, and me. Why can't you accept my choice of herdmates?" Twilight asked firmly, but a lot calmer than I had anticipated. I kept my mouth shut tight, definitely not wanting to say anything to set this powder keg off! His displeased glare was something out of legend, of course. Thankfully, he had re-directed it in the direction of his daughter rather than me. Surely, she was better prepared to deal with his antics at this point than I was, I imagined. "Twilight, a herd is something honorable, showing a level of commitment to a pony that lasts a lifetime. I don't know what happened, but all I can plainly see is for some reason, you didn't include him in that commitment initially. Now, if he did something to make you doubt him or something, you don't need to protect him from me," he lectured sternly. That inner, more bitter side of me hissed outright at his mention of 'commitment', of course. For just half a second, I snapped back my emotion and pushed it back down, but it was enough of a sample to cause Twilight to wince. Fluttershy pushed lightly into my back on the other side, given that I was still rotated slightly towards Twilight and her father. "Mender, it's okay. Be mad at us. It's not healthy to push all that inside of you," she whispered inside my mind, drawing the attention of the other three linked mares who were too far away to feel my split-second irritation. Stubbornly, I held it regardless, shaking my head slightly, and then giving a start as I felt Twilight's frustration skyrocket. "Stop treating me like a foal! I know what the commitment means, and I was telling the truth! Fine, if you don't understand, I'll tell you, and make you get it. Fluttershy and I screwed up while Mender was away at the cabin and did something we regretted. After talking about it, we came up with a way to apologize to him, and show him we were ready for a bigger commitment with the herd. We signed the paper, and I stored it in the envelope for Mender to sign if he wished when he got back. Then, like an idiot, I spaced out during my Estrus and sent the stupid thing!" Twilight practically screamed, looking both seriously stressed out and pissed off at the same time. Well, technically it wasn't a secret, really. Regardless, at this point, I was more worried about things starting to catch fire again. Night Light lost the edge to his glare at some point during her outburst, slowly shifting from angry to guilty looking by the time she was done. "I... I see. I'm sorry, I... I didn't realize," he muttered, sounding uncertain of what to say now. He shouldn't have pressed her in the first place, but I could see he was originally worried about her. He doesn't really know me at all, obviously, and has probably heard a lot of conflicting things about me. The lavender mare shivered, and I leaned forward and hugged her lightly around the waist, Fluttershy still lightly holding mine. Twilight sighed and leaned back into me before continuing with, "We screwed up. Then we screwed up our apology. I thought he was going to dump us when he found out, and by all rights, he should have. Thinking about that for three days nonstop, I went totally crazy. I was willing to do pretty much anything to fix things and get his forgiveness that I overlooked how destructive the ideas were. I'm sorry, everypony." She'd already apologized for that much, which probably meant she felt guilty still... Sighing, I decided it was only right if I at least gave my assurances. "Relax, Twilight. We can work through what happened one day at a time. Also, I know you don't really know me at all, Mister Night Light, and my word probably doesn't mean anything to you, but I've nothing but respect for your amazing daughter, and I'm not going to do anything to hurt her," I attempted to assure. Hell, if I thought she needed it, I'd outright protect her. Pity I knew better. For a moment, he actually looked surprised before frowning again. "I don't need your assurances. You've proven you're at least a decent pony already, at least to the point where I'll allow you to be with my daughter. I've heard some iffy things about you here and there since our last meeting, but for now, I'll trust in her judgment. Do not make me regret my decision," he warned, giving me a scowl before returning to his plate of food. Well, that was better than kicking me out in a blind fury, I guess. Applejack’s annoyed sounding snort, however, indicated she thought otherwise. “Excuse me?! Ya barely know tha stallion, yet ya’d rather believe some hokey story from ah paper than look fer tha truth yerself?! Ah know him quite good, an’ ya know me, right? Well, Ah say he’s ah perfect gentlecolt an’ this was an honest mistake,” she argued, with fairly solid logic, I might add. She was the Element of Honesty. If you couldn’t trust her, who could you trust? Night Light pulled back a bit at that, shifting his frustrated glare towards Applejack instead, albeit with slight hesitation now. His wife saw the opening and moved in, however, adding, “Dear, you know you can be a bit stubborn sometimes, but you know she’s right. The only information we have on Mender is what the papers say, and that particular article is under serious investigation for unlawful slander, if you recall. Sure, the tabloids are still repeating it left and right, but Mr. Fancypants himself came out and made an official apology, denouncing it. You agree with him, too, right?” Oh yeah, he did, didn’t he? Twilight relaxed a bit at that and nodded in agreement, adding, “More importantly, you trust the judgment of Fluttershy and me. We made a mistake, and that’s the only reason he wasn’t in the herd as well. That’s how important he is to us, anyway. We want to be with him forever.” Okay, it was getting to be a bit much now. I couldn’t manage to stop the warm blush slowly bubbling up into my cheeks as I coughed lightly, looking away from her. Fluttershy giggled in amusement at my expression, and I playfully scowled towards her. “Hey, I just… I’m not used to anypony just giving me praise like that, okay? Both of you are far more amazing anyway, and I’m lucky… and very honored that you two are returning my feelings. So really, you don’t have to defend me. He’s rightful to be suspicious, especially of the stallion he hardly knows that’s dating his daughter, right?” I pointed out honestly. Admittedly, I had the ulterior motive of drawing Twilight away from the flattery angle so I could finally stop blushing, but it was the truth regardless. Twilight frowned back towards me, but Applejack sighed and nodded. “Ah guess that’s true. If somepony came outta nowhere an’ said they were datin’ mah little sis, Ah’d be ah mite suspicious, too,” the orange mare admitted, scratching under her chin thoughtfully with her right forehoof. The pearly unicorn further down the table took a polite sip of her tea, brushing her mane to the side and smirking ever so slightly. “That, and Apple Bloom is a couple years too young for that sort of thing. I imagine you’d be more than ‘suspicious’, no?” Rarity suggested playfully, directing her mirthful gaze towards the now flabbergasted Applejack. “That ain’t what Ah meant! O’ course Ah’d be suspicious if they tried that now! Ah’d probably buck ‘em through ah tree!” she adamantly admitted. True. Even Rarity had technically only given Sweetie permission to talk with me about considering it. I think that was lost in transition somewhere, though. Or the filly was just looking for an excuse to run with that ‘permission’ angle. Either way, I just sat back and watched the banter while taking another bite of my sandwich. Pinkie burst into a fit of snickering at that, wiggling about in her chair at Applejack’s flailing. The cyan pegasus gave a nonchalant wave of dismissal, however, looking amused yet significantly calmer than the apple farmer. “Relax, AJ. I don’t think she was saying you’d let your sister date at her age. I wouldn’t let Scoots either, and she’s not even technically related to me!” she agreed, undoubtedly trying to earn ‘brownie points’ with Applejack. Rarity took the comparison the wrong way, of course. “Wait a second, it’s not as if I gave Sweetie Belle permission to poison Mender! All I did was convince her she should talk with him. Talk!” she exclaimed, setting her cup down with probably a bit more force than intended. Tea sloshed over the side and onto the table, causing her to gasp out in utter horror, eyes locking onto the stain moving across the tablecloth. Sadly, I didn’t have a spell to fix that particular incident. That actually kind of surprised me, given how frequently things were stained when dealing with Keldarians… “Oh, it’s fine, Rarity. It’ll wash right out,” Twilight Velvet assured politely, smiling towards the mare and waving a hoof in her direction. “Don’t worry. I got this,” Shining Armor announced instead. Everypony directed attention to him as his horn lit up. I watched with mild interest, and then tried not to smirk as he lifted Rarity’s plate up and slid it over, covering the stain instead. Rarity stared blankly at her plate, apparently been made speechless by the act. Cadance looked less impressed, raising an eyebrow at it instead before commenting, “Well, the kitchen staff will be pleased to know how stains keep getting rubbed further into the tablecloths.” Hey, that wasn’t fair! It fixed the problem… kinda. “Hey, corners can be cut for the sake of appearance and functionality, no? It’s either visible now and easier to clean later, or invisible now and harder to clean later,” I pointed out, smirking towards him. He grinned back at me and nodded twice, agreeing. Sometimes you have to compromise! Night Light, for the most part, had shifted to mildly confused instead, probably wondering how the topic had derailed so badly. He obviously wasn’t used to dealing with these particular mares. Twilight rolled her eyes at that out of the corner of my vision, but I felt the twinge of exasperation from her link first. “Remind me never to let you cook at our place. You might cut corners and not actually cook things…” she muttered, shooting me a skeptical glance. Psh! Yeah right. I was more likely to literally cut corners. The last thing she wanted was bits of my hoof in her salad. “You’re one to talk, Twi,” came a joking voice from a ways to my right. Oh! Looking over, I was surprised to see Spike come wandering in from the hallway. Twilight looked surprised as well, apparently so much so that she totally missed the jab towards her cooking talent. “Spike?! Wait, you were supposed to be at the palace still. Didn’t Princess Celestia want to go over the new letter codes with you?” she asked, tilting her head towards her assistant. Letter codes? Oh! That checksum stuff that she put on the bottom of the letters to us now. I’d not really asked why Spike hadn’t left with us this morning to go to the herd offices. He snickered and nodded, hopping up in the empty seat between Shining Armor and Rarity before returning, “We did. Got it all memorized now. I was just gonna wait until you got back, but…” He trailed off before looking back towards the entryway. We all shifted to look at the same time, my eyes widening a little bit. Princess Luna stood in the entry, smiling politely towards us all, although looking a bit out of place as she waved slowly. She was in full regalia this time with shiny metal armor pieces and even shinier gems of dark blue hues, and for the first time, I noticed that her hair technically provided mild luminosity in the dark, the hallway behind her lighting up a bit from her ethereal mane and tail. Twilight’s father almost knocked the table over, he stood up so quickly. “Ah! Princess Luna! What a pleasant surprise. Welcome, of course! We have extra food to serve if you’d like to sit down and join us,” he welcomed rapidly, trotting around the table and bowing towards her. Well, at least he was too distracted to be hostile towards me, now. “Oh, if thou insist, we shall. We are actually here to discuss a matter with thy fellow members of Dimensional Regulation, but it is not of utmost urgency. We shall wait until after eating,” she agreed, standing up again and treading in our direction, looking warm and happy at the turn of events. Ah, Spike must have traveled here with her. And she looked pleased, which meant it was probably nothing bad. Or she just really liked eating, and Canterlot was burning down outside. Either way, I suppose I didn’t have to worry. After Luna was seated properly, even so much as getting slid in by Night Light, we resumed eating while Shining Armor got into a debate over trade relations with Cadance, which was only mildly interesting to me. I wouldn’t make a very good diplomat, I decided. Not that Equestria would likely ever choose me to represent it, of all ponies. The Crystal Empire was understandably getting its hooves back on the ground, as far as nations went. Trade was very important and for the most part, their exports were doing amazingly well. The new magical crystal products were a big hit, and admittedly, I was indeed interested in the application of crystal magic and how they interacted. But they didn’t go into details on that, and instead appeared to disagree over imports instead. More specifically, economic focus verses education focus. Twilight and I lost interest after that, with a minor note down the link from her to acquire some magical crystals to test later. I agreed wholeheartedly, earning a pleased giggle from my mare. That still sounded weird in my head… The rest of dinner went largely uneventful, thankfully. Honestly, it was starting to look like I’d get out of this event reasonably unscathed. Of course, I bit the thought back as soon as it slipped free of my inner mind, but it was too late at that point. As if on cue, Twilight Velvet stopped gathering up plates and suggested, “Oh, I know! We should have a big family game night!” Uh oh… Chapter 68"Uh, tell me again, what was the logic behind this? If he's that angry with me, maybe we should just give him some space," I suggested again, uncertain that this was a good idea. Twilight sighed, adjusting the simple silver tie I wore against the white dress 'shirt' Rarity gave me. This was more than a little uncomfortable, but I admitted to myself that it at least looked rather good, Twilight gesturing to my reflection in the full wall bathroom mirror. Lunch had gone a bit better than expected, at least. As in, it wasn't a complete disaster, nothing caught fire, and I hadn't been kicked out. Or was it supper? What did you call eating at three thirty in the afternoon? Regardless, it turns out he no longer held me in quite as favorable light after the media storm and press conferences. The lavender mare finished adjusting the angle carefully before explaining, "It's simple. Family game night has been an important ritual for us since I was old enough to actually play. By including everypony visiting in the festivities, yourself included, I hope to smooth over relations with my father and you. Oh, and give my mom a bit more exposure to you, so maybe she'll calm down and stop pressing the foals issue." Yeah, I grasped that much, but wasn't this a bit sudden for them? This sort of activity seemed to indicate a deeper connection that wasn't there yet. Twilight waved absently at my concerned pulse through her link and trotted back into the center of the living room, drawing everypony's eyes to her again as she moved. All of us were still here, the living room a bit crowded at this point. With the addition of Spike and Luna, that made a dozen ponies now. Spike and I had given up our seating and Twilight was standing, yet both couches were still full to bursting. Noting the room quieting down, Twilight smiled and nodded to herself before starting. "Okay then! We haven't done this for a very, very long time since Shiny and I moved out, but this used to be a weekly ritual for us. I think it would be really nice, and help celebrate two new herds in the family, if we could do a family gaming night!" she declared happily. Pinkie immediately raised her hoof from the other end of the couch, earning a pause from Twilight before the lavender mare hesitantly inquired, "Uh, yes Pinkie?" "How can it be a family game night if it's in the middle of the afternoon? Shouldn't it be family game afternoon, then?" she asked almost immediately. Huh. Well, technically true, I guessed. If one wanted to argue semantics, of course. Twilight apparently didn't, and gave the pink mare a mildly annoyed stare for a second before sighing and reasoning, "We can call it night because that's when we used to do it during our school days, and for the fact that we'll probably be here until late.” Oh? I hesitantly lifted my foreleg up a moment later, earning an ear twitch and surprised look from our lavender game organizer. She smiled, however, and nodded towards me, apparently assuming my interruption to be slightly more relevant. I hoped idly that I didn't disappoint her. "If we're staying here until late, am I to guess we'll also be eating supper here, and holding off for Miss Octavia's supper arrangements for tomorrow night?" I asked curiously. Night Light, who had looked rather bored and disinterested prior, perked up at that and looked over at me with wide eyes, of course. Twilight didn't appear to notice, and instead smiled and nodded towards me, adding, "Yeah. I figured we could wait until tomorrow to give us more time to donate to her, as she probably would feel cheated if we ate and ran. She is doing this to thank you for saving her life, after all." Ah. Yeah, that made sense, now that I considered it. We wouldn't have time to do any sort of game here and then meet with her afterwards. Part of me wondered at the strange request to dinner for all of us, and another part of me was seriously concerned about how she found out about us coming to Canterlot far enough beforehand to send a letter out to Twilight. Our arrival wasn't exactly announced or broadcasted anywhere. Twilight's father, however, wouldn't leave it at that, of course. "W-Wait, the Miss Octavia Melody invited you out to dinner tomorrow?!" he asked towards me a second later. Actually, it had a rather accusing tone to it, which confused me. Velvet slapped her forehead with a hoof, however. "Actually, she invited all of us, of course. 'Us' being the Element Bearers, Spike, and Mender, I believe," Rarity politely corrected, extending a rather disarming smile towards him as well. He hesitated, then frowned towards her, looking momentarily perplexed instead. Shining nodded, however, smirking before adding, "And then Mender invited Cadance and me! Even offered to pay for us, even though we're, uh, more than capable of buying supper, of course." Okay, now I just felt stupid. Why hadn't I remembered that they were royalty?! Wait, but then would it be rude to not offer, or rude to offer and potentially imply they couldn't afford it?! Fluttershy, sitting closest to me on the couch, started giggling at my inner turmoil through the link. Night Light looked shocked, however. "Wait, what?! Why didn't you invite us as well? We're technically going to be your parents soon," he asked, shifting his attention back to me instead. Uh, what? Uh! Twilight, and probably every mare with a link to me now, noted my sudden panic. She sighed, and then glared rather sharply at her father. "Mender didn't offer because we're eating with you two tonight. You can come if you'd like, but you'll have to pay for your own meals. We can't ask Miss Octavia to pay for ponies she didn't invite," she reasoned, wielding her logic like one might a blade on the battlefield. Her tone left no room for compromise, and her father edged back a bit in his seat, looking more surprised than anything. Twilight was definitely scary still! Thankfully her mother recovered far faster and agreed with, "Of course we can. It's only reasonable. I'd like to see Miss Octavia again as well, as she's a very charming young mare. She obviously feels quite appreciative towards Mender if she's willing to pay for so many meals." That was true, of course, even if her 'life' hadn't been guaranteed forfeit, regardless of me having caught the chandelier. Not to say it wouldn't have been indescribably painful, of course. Being stabbed by a few dozen magical crystals probably wouldn't have been the most pleasant experience, but she was an Earth Pony, and undoubtedly had a rather potent constitution. I still couldn't shake the weirdness of the situation, however. She knew we were coming, somehow. Rarity snapped me out of my internal musings with, "Oh, but of course. She's part of the Canterlot Orchestra! She simply drips with elegance and style, and surely has amazing taste in restaurants as well. Further, she understands and values what Mender did, refusing to let him go unrewarded for saving her so selflessly! She obviously has great personality as well." Uh, right. I had a sneaking suspicion Rarity might be mildly disappointed at how 'normal' Octavia seemed to be. Especially with what she told me about not liking to 'put on airs' or anything. Well, this should be interesting! "Yes, yes!" Twilight interrupted impatiently, following with, "We're set for tomorrow, then. However, we're three minutes late on starting our gaming time and won't get optimal amounts of entertainment out of it now. We should start before losing even more time." Considering I still didn't know what she was going to have us play, I didn't really think three minutes was all that big of a loss. Of course, I was probably biased, as I didn't exactly like board games or cards in the first place. I'd much rather read a book, work out engineering problems, or test new magic to entertain myself. There was a collective series of giggles from my many links, and Twilight glared over at Rainbow and Pinkie in particular, the cyan mare outright snickering and her friend holding both hooves over her mouth. Applejack just smiled in amusement, however, and suggested, "Maybe ya should let us know what we're gonna be doin', first?" Spike continued snickering on the other side of me, despite Twilight's irked demeanor. "I can answer that one!" Shining cut in. "We always do the same game. It's Dad's and Twiley's favorite! 'The Dark Castle'!" Wait, what? That didn't sound like a board game. Twilight grinned at that, however, and Night Light nodded in agreement. Luna, previously quiet, gasped at that and requested, "Surely?! We loved that game in our youth! Please, allow me to be the Stable Master?" Stable Master? Thankfully, the others looked about as confused as I felt. "Uh, how exactly do you play?" Rainbow asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow towards Twilight, who she apparently guessed would elaborate the best. She got a grin in return, and I inwardly relaxed my posture. Yup, we were going to be here a while, in instruction phase alone... * * * * * The wind blew harshly outside, making the rain pelt down like a thousand frozen tears of small foals. Fun times. Another crack of thunder sounded outside, momentarily illuminating the dank lab beyond the intensity that the flickering candles could manage. I grinned, magic swirling around me as I sat, waving my hooves over the crystal clear pool of water indented into the hewn stone floor. Soon. My grin shifted into a twisted smirk as I looked into the water, lit up from within by an unnatural green glow as it shifted, showing their forms storming the outer keep. It was almost too late, and I knew they'd never make it in time now. The sacrifice was almost ready, and once she was silenced forever, I'd be granted power over the darkness itself! The realm of the living would never be safe again. For every pony who yet lived, a hundred generations of dead existed. There was true power there. Of course, I'd have to find something more substantial than skeletons and zombies, I noticed. It was a bit problematic when one's undead minions didn't have brains, of course. The group of do-gooders blew my gate away with a mighty blast of fire from their wizard before storming the inner courtyard, thousands of skeletal and decomposing ponies rushing forth to swarm them. The prince himself led the charge, holy sword shining brightly in his tightly clenched jaws as he spun and slashed, cutting through my minions left and right. The orange one was right next to him, wielding her massive hammer and literally sending the heavier zombies flying away from the group. Hmm. Maybe I could try Diamond Dogs? At least they had more mass... The blue pegasus was just as annoying, I noticed, as she danced above the group with her double crossbows, raining arrows down into sensitive spots on my minions. Why did I even make undead with weak spots? As annoying as it was, it was a bit pointless to consider now. Their pink rogue slipped in and out of the fray as well, also targeting those same weak zones with what looked like a rubber chicken and a spork. Apart from her obviously, well, unique choice in weapons, I wondered at how effective her coloring was at stealth in the first place, but considering it gave me a headache, maybe she was going for a more subtle tactic? Their cleric and wizard, however, were absolutely stunning! The deadly spells of the lavender mare were matched almost equally by the healing powers of the potions dropped by the gorgeous yellow pegasus. Yes, they would become my dark brides after I inevitably dispatched all of their friends. Yes indeed! Grinning, I watched them slowly draw closer and closer to my dark spire. They were going to fall right into my trap, just as I'd hoped. A low hiss of amusement slipped past me, alongside a heated blast of dark green smoke, sparks of magic and sorcery dancing along it. "Mmm, may I be granted the gorgeous bard in the back, Master? She would make a lovely addition to my horde," my dark drake asked from my side, his massive and intimidating form accenting my throne well, if not dwarfing it with his size. His scales were obsidian black with wicked scythe-like spikes extending from his back and shoulders. His sadistic looking grin showed rows of razor-sharp fangs, and his glowing green eyes narrowed while looking at the pearly mare in my scrying pool. "Of course, Doom Fang the Magnificent. I've been meaning to get you a servant for a while now, and if she strikes your fancy, she'll do nicely," I promised, smirking back over my shoulder at him. His grin widened, of course, and at the same time, my current prisoner's thrashing intensified. "No! You'll never get your hooves on any of my friends! They'll make you pay for your evil ways, Moonlight the Vile!" shouted the pretty pink Princess Melodic Repose, or just 'Melody' to her do-gooder friends. I looked over to her before bursting into a mirthful round of crazed, rather therapeutic laughter. Her hope was delicious! It was a pity she was to be sacrificed to my dark Mistress for eternal power, but such was how things worked. "If it's okay with you, Master, I would also love to have the cute looking alchemist in the back, in dark blue. I believe his coat would be fetching against the drapes in my room, although his tacky clothing would have to go," I heard whispered in mirth from the other side of the pool. Smirking again, I nodded up at my sorceress, who looked to be eagerly awaiting our trap unfolding on the heroes. She'd get her prize as well, of course. I might be a total jerk, but keeping those under my employ pleased was merely the sensible thing to do. It cut down on needing replacements after their rebellions failed to thwart my genius and magical prowess. "Of course, Silk Nightshade. Leaving a few living is irrelevant, so long as the Princess is sacrificed," I assured. That said, I turned back to my viewing pool and smirked as the 'heroes' rushed on to their doom. Soon, it would be too late for all of- "Gah! Why do I keep rolling ones?! Twilight, I think these dice hate me!" Rainbow complained, slamming her hoof down on the kitchen table and glaring down at the latest set of ill-fated ones she'd rolled. I blinked, and then raised an eyebrow her way as Twi started giggling in amusement. "I told you to roll out the ones, Silly! That's how these things work. You have to get the ones over with in order to make sure they don't come back and be meany faces!" Pinkie explained yet again, downing another cup of punch in a single toss back of her head. Damn. I still had that theory that her powers worked on the pure levels of sugar she ingested. Night Light continued to glare down at his character sheet with disdain, adding, "And why did I get stuck as the alchemist?! I'm horrible with support roles!" Uh... Velvet, to my left, rolled her eyes and reminded, "You made Mender be the evil warlock, which is usually your role, remember? I at least kept my typical one." That oddly explained so much... Applejack raised an eyebrow at that before asking, "Why aren't Flutters an' Twi on Mender's side, then?" Fluttershy, play evil? I didn't think she could even manage pretending to be mean! Fluttershy perked up at that and surprised me with, "Oh, um, could I? I wouldn't mind changing to Mender's side. I, uh, really didn't want to be against him in the first place." My eyes widened just a little, and I felt my face heat up as I stared at her. Her eyes stayed locked with mine, and she blushed softly herself, offering me a timid smile. Twilight's ears twitched lightly and she frowned, considering it as well, it would seem. "I don't know. I'm most familiar with the wizard's abilities," the lavender unicorn admitted, tone rather hesitant. Velvet smirked next to me and shook her head, adding, "The sorceress' abilities are fairly similar. Although, if my husband were to simply trade places with Mender, this would all be solved." Alchemist, huh? Yeah, I didn't so much mind the sound of that. "No! Nopony's allowed to switch places after the game's started!" Night Light vehemently denied, instantly defeating the entire point in discussing it. His wife looked less than pleased, adding, "We're allowed to change the rules of the game if it's going to lead to upset feelings, Dear." Fluttershy, who was still partly cowering from his outburst, hastily added, "N-No, it's okay! Um, I don't want to cause problems or anything. I... I'll just bow out if we actually get to Mender." The heat came back to my cheeks as I looked back to the yellow pegasus, and she gave me another smile and nod. "Is that really in-character with the loyal healer of the group?" Night Light asked again, raising an eyebrow towards the now startled yellow pegasus. He himself jumped, however, as Rainbow's hoof hit the table next to him, her giving a stern glare to accompany it. "If Fluttershy says she wants to stop when we get to Mender, then she stops when we get to Mender. No questions asked," the cyan mare adamantly proclaimed, irritation more than evident down her link. I shifted a bit of pleased sensation towards her, and she inwardly smiled towards me while maintaining her flank-kicking expression. Night Light promptly backed off, which was probably the smart thing to do, given that Rainbow could probably turn him inside-out if pushed sufficiently. Chuckling, Shining Armor shook his head before suggesting, "How about we just get back to the game, then? Anyone wanting to step out when we get to Mender can, freely. This is supposed to be fun, not make ponies uncomfortable." That was a very good point. I was at least amusing myself by hamming it up to the maximum. I thought the stereotypical villain laugh was particularly effective. His sister smiled towards him and nodded, turning back towards the table again. "Very well. It's my turn anyway. I cast Gryphon's Sight on Prism Burst to improve her accuracy, and then..." * * * * * They were remarkably resourceful! My hooves pounced against the stone stairs as I ran down them, rolling under some sliding debris. Stupid ancient tower! Why did I put so much funding into creepy looking architecture and a gloomy looking location rather than, I don't know, a secret hideout that didn't collapse from a single fireball?! Even better, why did I go for a 'secret' hideout in the form of a sixty story tall, somewhat phallic looking spire that was literally the only structure for a hundred miles in any given direction? That kind of screamed 'evil overlord', it would seem. Oh, and compensating for something. Deciding that I was never going to make it to the bottom in time, and cursing my lack of foresight in installing an elevator, I decided the next best approach would simply be to bail out the window. I gave a shrill whistle as I dove out the closest portal to the outside, hoping that Doom Fang was close enough to hear it. The giant dragon swerved, attempting to cut close enough to the tower to catch me. Sadly, being the size of a humpback whale didn't exactly benefit him at this point, and with all the grace of said whale falling from the sky like a rock, he hit the side of the tower instead and neatly severed the already crumbling tower in two. Damn it... Now, instead of being rescued by my loyal drake, I was falling slightly above him as he panicked and shot fire everywhere, both of us being followed by a few thousand tons of brick and mortar that used to be my lovely base. I sighed and leaned into my dive, catching up with him in mid-air and easily healing him with a burst of negative energy from my evil, all-powerful soul. He recovered and spun, landing me on his back before shooting off and away from the falling tower. Then, an idea struck me! Turning back, I fired off a Shockwave spell out of my hoof, usually one of the most useless of my repertoire. It hit the already falling tower, however, and abruptly adjusted its trajectory as it dropped. My grin widened as the orange warrior, Stalwart Glade, panicked and tried to get away from the rapidly collapsing mountain of brick and wood. Sadly, Prism Burst shot out of the sky faster than I realized even she could go, and plowed into the orange warrior, sending both of them off to the side just a second before the tower hit. I watched in anticipation as the blast of massive dust and echoing crash sounded throughout the swamp, then frowned as I watched the two roll free, the dust settling around them. They were covered in wounds now, however, with Prism's wings and Glade's legs out of commission. Ha! I was lucky their cleric, Gentle Sunbeam, fled the fight at my display of pure awesomeness. We circled around, attempting to flank where Silk Nightshade was leading our elite forces on the ground and get a few fly by attacks off next. We'd win this yet, and then I'd make them pay for destroying my lovely tower and stealing the Princess from me. Well, I'd technically stolen her first, but that was hardly the point! Curse that bard! We'd barely gotten within a hundred meters when the pearly unicorn spun, dancing about with magic wrapping around her like ribbons. Amidst the ribbons of force, however, were a few thousand shards of crystal. I saw it coming and tried to raise a barrier up, but didn't quite extend my hoof in time. The first two waves of the razor sharp splinters got through, tearing into Doom's wings and the more sensitive membranes therein. I winced, the shards slashing across my magically treated fur in various places, shattering and fragmenting when it couldn't get through more than a sliver. Still, I felt the scrapes, and warm liquid coming down my cheek and forehead. Doom Fang wasn't so lucky, however, letting forth a great scream of pain alongside a huge billow of flames. Crap! I'd told him not to do that inside the barrier! The flames bouncing off the inside of my barrier, I screamed too, as they washed up over me instead and we crashed into the ground in a massive fireball, the world spinning and tumbling around me as we rolled like a glorified bowling ball through a line of my own forces before hitting the inner curtain wall of my fortress, Doom Fang thankfully hitting first. Shaking slightly, I stood as my faithful drake righted himself once more. No, wings would heal, and my coat would grow back. Now they'd done it. Now, it was on! Flares of necromantic energy swirled up around me as the ground ruptured, revealing my ultimate secret. I'd put most of my preparation into it, of course. Everything under my courtyard was layer after layer of compact crypts, perfectly designed by my rather engineer-oriented mind to squeeze as much dead bodies into as little space as possible. The magic swirled through the bones by the thousand, literally creating a tidal wave of energy as flesh and tendon awoke, obeying my every will. They worked as one, forming huge spikes and grasping claws to blast out of the ground, lashing up at the heroes from every side! "Stop! Wait, wait, wait, you spent almost all of your preparation points on layering the entire courtyard design with inner crypts?!" Twilight suddenly yelped, looking a mixture of shocked and horrified. Shining Armor nodded next to her, looking somewhat impressed at my arrangement. "Indeed. I didn't think you could even fit this many. I also never considered a strategy for or against, uh, this many undead constructs..." he admitted, staring at the map on the table as I smiled and nodded. Twilight twitched slightly again as she stared down at it as well, sharp eyes scanning every laid out room for anything that broke the rules, it looked like. No, I'd analyzed the rules rather intently, and applied a couple space conserving algorithms to the design scheme based on the requirements. It was one of the things I was trained for. "It's perfectly legit, Twilight. You're just upset that you're losing. Now it's your turn, Pinkie," Velvet reminded, smirking in amusement towards her daughter. Heh, it was the best way I could think of to counteract the heroes' absurd power levels. Spam them with so many attacks and minions that it literally filled every hexagon of the battle board. Regardless... I'd predicted it happening. They knew I'd try a fly by attack. Splendor had waited until the last second to counter me. They wanted me to crash by the wall. That pink mare, whose name I didn't even bother trying to remember, descended from the top of the wall a second later, twin blades extending from her forehooves, one tied securely to each gauntlet she wore. If I hadn't prepared for it by placing crypt guards in the walls, too, it might have even worked. Thankfully I had anticipated the heroes getting inside the keep. "Hold it! Wait, no, just no. You didn't spend any of your preparation points on your actual abilities, did you?!" Twilight asked once again, sounding irate now. I coughed lightly, looking away before shrugging. "I added the armored fur. And a lot of shield spells. But really, the synergies with the necromancer tree just fit together too well!" I admitted. Okay, so I was maximizing only one particular area of my build, but it was working! She glared intensely at me, and I could almost see the smoke coming out of her ears. I take it I wasn't supposed to play this way? Pinkie seemed oblivious to the tension and added, "By the way, I told you my name was Pink Wonder of the Dancing Ribbons, the Fifth, Mare of Mystery and Deception," she explained yet again. I blinked idly towards her, and Twilight stopped fuming long enough to turn and look at her questioningly. Yeah, I didn't know either. "Enough interruptions! I want to get to my turn at some point tonight!" Spike reminded, taking another annoyed sip of his juice before frowning back up at Twilight, who glared back and crossed her forelegs. Right... The three meter long blade slammed out of the wall seconds before... Pink Wonder of the Dancing Ribbons, the Fifth, Mare of Mystery and Deception, got to me. Her gasp was almost as long as her name itself as she spun, barely avoiding the upwards cut from the four meter tall giant that burst out of the wall behind Doom Fang and me, right on cue. The mare spun and dove backwards with surprising finesse, her ability to dodge being much better than her ability to surprise me, it would seem. I shrugged as a second layer of wall broke free above the first, revealing a few hundred skeletal archers as well. Casually, I sat down again on my haunches and waved my hoof up towards the rapidly overwhelmed heroes, and all the archers fired at once, releasing volley after volley of pointy death down towards them. Of course, I was careful to instruct them not to hit the lavender wizard. Marring her beauty would be a travesty. She would be my dark queen after watching all of her friends die, of course. She'd have no choice. Then I'd just have to catch her yellow friend, who was probably still flying South as fast as her wings would take her. As predicted, the lavender mare and her brother, the Prince, put up a joint shielding spell, struggling to maintain it under the waves of attacks from the arrows, massive skeletal arms, and razor bone spikes hitting them from all sides, pushing all but the cyan mare into a tight, defensive formation. They didn't have wings, of course, so I knew I could push them hard and make them fight defensively. Of course, it also clustered them all together, as I'd hoped. Smirking, I raised my hoof again and nodded towards Doom Fang, who grinned and let out a howl. His own necromancer abilities came forth, as he summoned his legion of bone dragons from the sky, and charged at the dome of shimmering light himself. Ah, right. Normally dragons wouldn't be anywhere near stupid, of course, but these ones purposefully didn't have a brain to work with. I'd given Doom Fang very specific instructions for this signal, and he commanded his fellow dragons perfectly. As he stormed across the battlefield, thunder blasting in the background and bones kicking up as he sprinted, all of his dragons swooped together, haphazardly smashing into each other and grappling themselves into what almost looked like a small moon of bone as they plummeted. Then, they all released a massive blast of fire as one, straight downwards as they dropped towards the barrier the heroes were in. Okay, so this might do a bit of damage to the lavender wizard, but I could always put her back together again... The flames lit the dragons on fire as well, of course, but I hardly cared. They had barely used up any of their flame reserve by the time they crashed into the shield, so all of that magic just exploded outwards. Doom Fang also released a point-blank range fire Shockwave into the explosion, sending shards of burning bone shrapnel through the miasma of dragon fire as it rose up in a burning mushroom cloud. There. That was how to use area of effect to your advantage. I'd seen the flash of light just before the ball hit, of course, and smiled. I had to appear confident that my combination attack was going to defeat them, or they'd suspect that I suspected that the lavender wizard had a teleport spell memorized. Well, I didn't know she had one memorized, but it was a distinct possibility that I had to prepare for, just in case. Thankfully I researched what wizards were capable of before designing my evil castle. Sure, it would have been nice if they'd just blown up with the dragon attack, but one never puts all of their bones in one crypt, so to speak. The only part of the courtyard that hadn't ruptured to pieces with the bone attacks was, of course, the area directly where I was standing. Hitting myself with my own attack motions was rather foolish, after all, and I knew I had to leave a full five-yard square to all sides of me to account for the actual crypt room, oddly. Given that a good amount of her group was melee oriented, teleporting practically on top of me was actually a really smart idea. The flash appeared all around me, her magic expanding out as the Prince landed next to me, the pink one whose name I forgot again behind me, and the recovering orange warrior to the other side of the Prince. All three attacked almost simultaneously, obviously having prepared this tactic ahead of time. I was impressed! Thankfully, having memorized almost nothing but shield magic, I aimed my hoof straight down and threw a barrier up under me instead. The lavender wizard, who I now recognized as the genius Glimmering Dusk, frowned for just a moment as she appeared as well, then widened her eyes and tried to shout a warning. Too late, of course. Doom Fang had charged forward, thus removing himself from my 'safe' square as designed. My shield blocked straight down and I activated the last remaining crypt right on top of myself. The huge blast of bone and zombie flesh was blocked, just barely, by my barrier. Instead, I was knocked clear of the magic as the thousands of claws lashed out, grabbing and holding onto the heroes all at the same time, even as I was sent flying away from the three way melee attack. Wow, that might have actually hurt had I not dodged it! Doom Fang caught me as he turned around, smirking at the heroes who struggled and fought to pull free of the grasping claws. Silk Velvet also wore a pleased smile as she exited the safe bunker under the main part of the tower. Her roll as distraction worked wonderfully, it would seem. I grinned as well and nodded to him, instructing, "Burn them alive as expediently as possible, except for the blue alchemist, the lavender wizard, and, of course, the mare you want. I don't care if they get singed a little, though, as I can fix that." Ah, sweet victory. "Wait, aren't ya even gonna do ah little bit o' gloatin'?!" Stalwart Glade suggested, looking horrified as she fought even more against the five claws that held her down. "Hmm, let me think about that... No," I returned, nodding towards Doom Fang again, who smirked before inhaling sharply and preparing his Line of Flame attack, for those precision burning needs. Of course, when making plans with others involved was always a risky gambit. One can't always be assured that the other individuals in one's plans are as dedicated or professional as oneself. Splendor, of course, took this opportunity to immediately stop struggling and shouted out, "Wait! Doom Fang the Magnificent! I've a secret to confess!" I raised an eyebrow and inwardly sighed, wondering if this was a distraction or a plea for mercy. Predictably, the fearsome drake actually stopped, instead listening to her. She smiled winningly towards him, blushing oh so faintly before continuing. "Admittedly, I didn't come here for the glory, or even for stopping evil, no matter how bad a fashion sense it has," she admitted, glancing momentarily over at my black cloak and vest with what could only be described as disdain. I glared at her in annoyance, but she turned back to Doom Fang, ignoring me again. "Wait, what?!" Glimmer asked, staring over at her friend in shock. I just waited idly for the punchline, while preparing 'Plan Three Beta'. It would be unfortunate, but if it came down to it, I'd really rather not die, even if I'd have to put my future dark queen back together again before marrying her. Splendor smirked and nodded to her friend before explaining, "I'm sorry, Glimmer, but it's true. I've been using you all along. I just wanted to get closer to Moonlight because I knew of his legendary drake, Doom Fang. Oh, how his scales glitter in the dark, and his powerful muscles flex. I simply had to meet him, in order to pledge my unending love to him." I continued staring at her, losing brain cells by the second. Did she honestly expect us to fall for- "R-Really?!" Doom Fang asked, voice slipping momentarily into a fit of eager shock instead of his usual intimidation and stoic power. Damn it. The pearly bard smiled and nodded towards him, earning an equally skeptical stare from her lavender friend, who either thought she was stupid or the worst liar ever. Regardless, the bard continued with, "Indeed! I'm oh so eager to do so, but alas, my conscience is getting the better of me now, at the last minute. I find myself unable to actually let the others die for me. Please, I'll go with you willingly and do every little thing you request, if you just let the others go and run away." Ah, it was a plea for mercy after all. Just a backwards and confusing one, I noted. Regardless, it was time to just murder them all, I guessed. Piecing Glimmer back together again afterwards would be much easier than dealing with all this. Sadly, Splendor was far faster and more cunning than I had previously given her credit for. The second I started to lift my hoof again, she shouted out, "Now!" Eh?! Her signal inspired a much faster reaction than normal from their group, Glimmer disappearing in a flash as she lunged sideways into her brother. Growling, I continued lashing down with the signal regardless, deciding that the rest of them could at least explode. My left foreleg continued moving down, however. And down. Until it landed limply on the ground, entirely separate from my own body as her brother reappeared to my left, mid-cut. Oh. Dick move. Glimmer herself hesitated after flashing in again from her teleport, staring in shock at the limb on the ground as I lashed out at her brother with a barrier blade, him barely dodging to the side. Silk lunged in as well, her left hoof glowing a sickly green color before smashing into the shoulder of the Prince, who wasn't paying attention due to barely dodging me. He gasped sharply and stumbled sideways away from her rather weak attack, the real damage spreading through his muscles already, a dark blotch expanding off his shoulder. Her corruption magic was second to none, after all. Way in the back of her friends, the pesky alchemist shouted out as I powered up another energy barrier with my only foreleg left. My eyes flicked his direction just in time to see him whip a potion right towards me instead. Crap! The Prince grinned as he watched the potion come in, and sliced it in midair with all the fortitude he could muster, just as I tried to lift my barrier to it and knock it aside. It shattered instead, of course, liberally spraying me down with the contents, which charged up instantly with a blue glow on me. Ah! Crap! Wait, blue? The Prince dove in, but stopped as he saw the blue glow instead. This wasn't the kinetic magnification I'd been anticipating... The alchemist grinned at my confusion before shouting out, "It's a conductive elixir! Hit him with lightning, Glimmer!" Eh?! Glimmer gave a start, looking over at him in confusion, as she obviously hadn't expected to be called upon to deal the potential deathblow. Damn it! I prepared my next shielding spell, hoping I could beat the lavender unicorn to the punch and- "Dad! I specifically said that I wasn't going to attack him directly! What are you doing?!" Twilight yelped, dropping character almost instantly. I blinked, and then remembered that she had said that before we started playing, slightly after I was forced to be the evil warlock due to being the 'guest of honor'... Of course, I thought she was just saying that to try to make me feel better. He scowled at her instead, pointing out, "It's just a game, Twilight. It isn't as if you're attacking him for real." It appeared to only serve to make her more pissed off, however. "That's not the point! He's my herdmate and coltfriend, plus I said that I wouldn't attack him directly. You have the kinetic potion prepared, too! Why didn't you throw that?" she demanded, shooting him a rather icy glare. I had a sneaking suspicion the whole thing was to cause tension between the mares and me anyway, and she probably had guessed that by now. She knew he didn't like me because of the articles, after all. At least, I hoped it was only because of the articles... "A melee attack might not do enough damage to kill him! Just cast the spell!" Night Light growled back, looking equally angry now. Shining looked back and forth between the two of them, edging away slightly in attempts to undoubtedly stay out of the fray. Velvet looked more than a little annoyed herself, however, and flicked her dice again on the table. The rolling noise alerted all of us, and we looked back curiously towards her rather high roll, giving two sixes and a four. "I'm burning a corruption point and adding myself to the initiative. I cast time lock on Glimmer, freezing her in time for a full two rounds," she coldly reported, looking up at her husband with a smirk. His glare returned a second later, along with an eye twitch. A second set of rattling sounded out a half a second later, however. I looked over at Spike, who was grinning down at his three sixes. Luna, our Stable Master, raised an eyebrow to him from over the top of her screen, and he nodded, stating, "I'm burning a corruption point, too, and made top of the initiative. That flame line attack I charged up? I'm releasing it all right into the alchemist." Ha! Night Light's eyes bulged out as Spike rolled all twelve damage dice onto his character instead of using it in a line attack. Luck holding out, he got absurdly high rolls and hit the alchemist for over ninety points of damage, practically obliterating him instantly. Twilight snorted, and then started actually outright laughing, as her dad got a bit red in the face, glaring at the baby dragon instead. Sighing, I decided to head off the hostility and announce, "My barrier has gotten enough time to charge up, then, given that nopony else can act this round, right, Luna?" "That's Princess Luna!" Night Light corrected almost instantly. Again. I'd slipped up during supper, too, and referenced her like that, and got chewed out despite trying to say she wanted me to call her that. He refused to believe me, of course, despite Applejack and Rainbow chipping in that it was true. Luna herself held a hoof up, however, and shook her head, smiling. "Mender is my dear friend, and is encouraged to use shortened names for my sister and me. Further, yes, Mender. Your barrier is charged," she revealed, nodding towards me instead. Night Light just stared at her with wide eyes, mouth slightly open in surprise. I just nodded towards Luna, however, and added, "Then I cast it, and cover Silk and Doom Fang as well, rejecting the Prince and Glimmer. Then I start casting my prepared escape portal." Idly, I wondered why Shining hadn't bothered to name his character, while he rolled his fortitude save. Sliding the results forward so Luna could see, he announced, "Sadly, I've failed my fortitude save and pass out from the magic affecting me." His tone didn't sound sad, I noted, and I raised an eyebrow over at him as he grinned back. His father looked even more irate, and I started to hope he didn't have blood pressure problems as he yelped towards Rainbow with, "Quick! Your arrows are the only things that can reach them! Disrupt his casting!" Dash raised an eyebrow to him, then grinned and looked to Luna instead, asking, "I don't know. My quiver is on my back, and my legs are held. I don't think I'd be able to reach any arrows, and I already failed my strength check, no?" Oh. They were letting me escape... Night Light saw that clearly at this point, shaking a bit as he glared at me instead, and I tilted my head back a little, wondering why he was angry with me specifically. Luna just giggled, however, and added, "I believe so. Normally that is a loophole, but thank you for playing within the bounds of being realistic, Rainbow Dash. I agree that you cannot reach your arrows." Velvet grinned at that ruling and nodded over at me a second later. "That means there's nopony left that can interrupt us! The warlock casts his portal magic uninterrupted, and the three main villains escape to a far away dimension," she announced. Heh. Twilight grinned at that, and Fluttershy, who was snuggling into my right hip still, let out a squeak as the lavender mare flashed away for real this time. I blinked, the spots still in my vision from the sudden burst of light, and realized she was right in front of us when my eyes opened again. I gave a start, but she pounced onto both Fluttershy and me and kissed me on the cheek. "Congratulations, Mender! You escaped. The heroes rescued the Princess, but evil got away. For once, I'm happy about that!" she exclaimed, smirking towards me from point blank range. Shining Armor snorted at that, adding, "Considering how much you used to rage when Mom and Dad won when we were little, that's really saying something!" She looked back over her shoulder and shot him a mildly irked looking glare, but Rarity shook her head whimsically as she walked back around the table. "Regardless, that's absolutely barbaric! Loping legs off and breathing fire on ponies is just horrible. Could we please play a more civilized game next time?" she requested, giving one of her 'dramatically distressed' looks towards Twilight's parents. I coughed lightly before appending, "While sometimes violence is necessary to protect what's important, you, uh, could have at least cut off the other leg..." My glance was directed towards Shining, who momentarily looked entirely clueless, blinking at me in vague confusion. Yeah, thought as much. He hadn't intended it as a jibe at me. Twilight rolled her eyes, however, and gently lifted my left foreleg with her right one, extending it slowly up and gesturing to the underside with her other hoof while staring expectantly at her brother. Oh, I'd forgotten that I had scars on the underside of my leg, against my barrel. Oddly enough, her gesture drew pretty much everypony's attention instantly, probably out of the pure oddity of it. Night Light's eyes widened a bit, and his wife put both forehooves to her mouth as she looked a bit on the sad side. Applejack paled, however, her eyes locked solidly on the three deep gashes that ran along my rib line where the skin literally tore off in ribbons along with my bone. I knew it had been bad, but... Oh. I also saw the slightly curved scar of where her hoof had slammed into my side, fracturing my ribs underneath into practically dust. Rainbow frowned a bit, looking over at Applejack instead before reaching up and lightly pushing the orange mare's jaw closed, giving her a start out of her daze as she looked over at her friend. Dash smiled, however, and hugged her instead, earning a light shiver before the normally strong mare buried her muzzle into Rainbow's shoulder, sinking against her slightly. I felt my eyelids sag a bit as I couldn't watch any longer and looked away, back towards Twilight. The horror and disgust raging down Applejack's empathy link was enough of a clear sign. Big Mac had been right in that she needed some more support. That night had traumatized more than just me. Twilight surprised me by glancing back towards her two silent parents and apologizing with, "I think we should get back to our rooms and rest up. Um, I'm sorry to just leave like this, but..." Her father shifted back to a much calmer expression before shaking his head. "No, we understand. Seeing how things are now, it's easy to realize the more, well, personal angle that all the newspapers missed, I now realize. Uh, for what it's worth, I'm sorry," he muttered, nodding first towards Applejack, and then towards me. I sighed and returned his nod, not sure what to say about anything anymore. My leg hurt suddenly, more out of the memory than anything. Was it possible for scars in the mind to physically hurt? Fluttershy snapped me out of my slow descent into another spiral with a peck to the cheek and warm smile. I returned it more freely this time, realizing she somehow managed to know exactly how to cheer me up and timed it perfectly. She grinned at my expression and nodded, pulling me gently by the other leg as her wings shifted her backwards towards the closest end to the table. Spike slid out of his chair and moved it out of the way for her, nodding to both of us as we passed before hopping up on Twilight's back as she slowly followed us, looking uncertain. "We're gonna stay here tonight, Sis. I have a bit more to talk about with Mom and Dad," Shining Armor gently explained as he and Cadance followed us towards the hallway. Rarity lingered over by Applejack and Rainbow instead, as Pinkie looked back and forth between the orange mare and myself, looking uncertain as her ears dropped a little. Okay, if there was anything I couldn't stand, it was a sad Pinkie Pie. Mentally focusing, I whispered down her link with, "It's okay, Pinkie. We'll be fine. Just make sure AJ is okay and let us know if there's anything we can do to help, okay?" Twilight's ears twitched as she was close enough to hear it as well, so I just assumed Fluttershy had picked it up, too, being easily three times more sensitive to such. Pinkie perked and glanced towards me for a second before realization fully kicked in and she smiled again, nodding twice and hopping back over towards her other three friends. Heh, that much I could understand. Being at a loss for what to do was never fun. Luna followed us out towards the entryway, her much longer legs easily clearing the distance and catching up as we walked. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry as well, Mender. We cannot change what happened that night, of course, but we can help those hurt by it cope and recover. That's the wisest course of action, I believe," she slowly suggested, gesturing back towards the light coming from the dining room. I knew she meant Applejack regardless. Cadance, who had also followed us, looked momentarily sad before looking at me as well. "I think I'm starting to really realize the gravity of the situation. I know Aunt Celestia already offered, but if there's anything Shiny or I can do as well, for any of you, just let me know," the pink alicorn offered. Tia had mentioned that, yes, but there was something more immediate, of course. "Of course. We need to stop it from ever happening again. I think that's going to be my goal for a good, long while," I returned, frowning at nothing in particular. It was at times like this when I just wanted some materials in front of me and to get to work building that testing prototype for the connection jammer. Of course, I knew myself better than that, and realized at least part of it was me just wanting to work with my hooves on something. Keeping busy and making stuff was a good way for me to vent. Cadance smiled at that and nodded, agreeing with, "Indeed. That's why we're here, and why your new organization has been formed. At first I didn't completely understand why you were put in charge of the research division. I had thought you needed more time to recover after what happened, but I think I see now. I'm glad you're okay and helping us, Mender." Oh? Now she had me curious as to what she saw. Of course, outright asking was probably rude... Luna giggled, however, earning my attention again. I suddenly realized at the same time how informal she'd been over the course of the evening. Twilight's family was a group she could 'relax' with, I suddenly noticed. "You have to admit, Mender, that you're very adamant about stopping and preventing danger to the ponies of Equestria. It's a very pleasant sensation, I mean to say. Not a surprise so much as somewhat unexpected that somepony such as yourself, who should have no allegiance at all to us, is so willing to help Equestria as you are. I believe Cadance is speaking of your conviction to the cause and sense of morality," the Moon Princess suggested, glancing over at the pink mare for confirmation. Cadance looked momentarily surprised by that, but smiled and nodded towards Luna, recovering quickly. Conviction? Morality? I had never really thought about it all that much. Of course, I hesitated using such words myself, as I usually considered them negatively, surprisingly. If I started thinking of myself as morally superior or of righteous conviction, it felt fake to me. It was like I was just pretending to gain popularity or act humble to impress ponies. I didn't want to be a hero. I'd murdered far too many for that title, even if I couldn't consider the Keldarians to be all that innocent in the first place. I'd rather somepony else was responsible for all of this, so I could just limp away and nap for a decade or so. Well, nap and passionately love my two mares, it would seem. Heh. My priorities had been complicated a little bit, I decided. But at the same time, there wasn't anypony else. If I just walked away, Shining, Luna, and Tia would try their best to keep everypony safe, of course, but due to what and who I was, I held knowledge and abilities that were fairly unique. I could teach somepony else about dimensional travel and the theories behind it, but I'd actually crossed the dimensions, and worked the magic to stop a teleport, like I'd talked about. Further, I didn't even know if other ponies were capable of using my particular flavor of magic in the first place, which was all I knew in regards to blocking a link like that. Teaching others anything would also take time, which I wasn't sure we had very much of. So no, if I walked away, it put truly innocent ponies at risk, which might as well be the same as me killing them myself. I couldn't let that happen. I had to protect them, because I was the only pony that could do those things. Was that a hero, however? I didn't have a choice. It was either this, or risk letting a bunch of ponies die. No, a hero was somepony who strived towards saving and helping others because it was the right thing to do. They didn't get lazy or frustrated or wish it were somepony else. That wasn't very 'heroic' at all. Twilight pushed into my forehead, lightly kissing it and startling me out of my heavy thinking in time to see that everypony was staring at me. Twilight and Fluttershy held softer looks, given their more intimate awareness of my thought processes, but the two Princesses just looked sad. Spike looked more confused than anything, but shook his head slowly after a long moment. "I don't know about all that, and I'm not entirely sure what you were thinking about there, but I do know what I've seen myself," Spike interrupted, followed by, "Sure, you can get frustrated from time to time, but even after somepony hurts or annoys you, you're still so kind towards them. So even if you don't agree with calling yourself those things, you can at least know that I think you're a nice pony." He grinned awkwardly at me afterwards, scratching at the back of his spines as Fluttershy giggled lightly next to me. Heh. That felt more real to me than anything. Yeah, I could get downright furious sometimes, and didn't handle my anger very well at all, but I really did want to get along with everypony. I didn't like fighting with others, either physically or verbally, and deep down, I wanted to leave a good impression on ponies. Why was that? Luna snorted and then chuckled at that. "Oh, that much I also agree with. After what Sweetie put you through, I thought you were going to yell at her! But no, you stayed her friend and remained kind to her regardless. That surprised me," she admitted, scratching her chin momentarily before nodding twice towards me. Sweetie was hard to stay mad at, both because she was dangerously adorable, and just a foal. A lot could be forgiven considering she was still learning. She might be considered a 'teen', but her behavior indicated there was a good reason she wasn't considered an adult for two more years. "Sweetie's still learning, so I couldn't stay mad at her. Besides, she's like a puppy. All she has to do is look sad towards you, and it's like you melt," I muttered, shuddering at the memory and earning a giggle from Twilight. "It's good to know for the future, I think. You're amazing with kids, but tend to spoil them, so watch out for that. Got it!" the lavender mare announced, as if taking a mental note on it then and there. I blushed lightly and rolled my eyes, not sure if I should be more bothered by her taking notes that far ahead in the relationship, or the implications therein. Cadance tilted her head for a moment in thought before nodding in agreement as well. "Yes, I believe Mender would make a good father. Are you going to work towards that in the future, then, Twilight?" the pink mare asked. Oh hell. Why did everypony say that?! It would seem it was Twilight's turn to blush, her eyes widening slightly as she froze on the spot. Fluttershy smiled gently and also flushed, apparently more out of sympathy for Twilight than actual embarrassment. I hoped. If not, Fluttershy really did get embarrassed much too easily. "Well, uh, eventually I guess. I mean, well... We haven't even, uh... No! What I meant was..." Twilight started to stammer, her composure slipping further as her cheeks flared up and Cadance started giggling. It was rather cute, her spilling intimate secrets aside... Actually, was it really a secret after what happened at the party a while back? Cadance grinned a second later, and I inwardly groaned. That expression was similar to Rainbow's mirthful one, when the cyan pegasus was about to say something horribly awkward and embarrassing for somepony as a tease. I recognized it instantly, as she'd fired more than one off at me in the past. "Oh, don't worry Twi. I can give you tons of pointers for pleasing a stallion for when you get that far. Trust me," she offered. My mind blanked at that as Twilight blushed even further, flailing her forelegs in the pink alicorn' direction. I so didn't need to think about her and Shining like that! Gah! Twilight gave Cadance a glare that might have been able to vaporize a lesser mare, but just got a wink instead. Her mouth opened to undoubtedly switch to a verbal attack, but her eyes shifted past the pink alicorn and down the hallway before she could say anything. Taking her cue, I glanced backwards at the approaching sensation of several mares that were linked to me, only to notice the others catching back up now. Applejack looked solemn but in control again, and gave us a soft smile as she approached. Rainbow didn’t look quite as convinced while walking next to her, but kept her mouth shut. Hmm. I wondered if there was honestly anything I could do to really make the situation any better? “Sorry ‘bout that, ya’all. Those memories ain’t too pleasant, but ya know that already. Anywho, are we ready ta head back ta tha castle, then?” she asked, catching up with the rest of us and slowing to a stop. Cadance turned and smiled at her, reiterating, “I already told them, Applejack, but it stands to be repeated. If there’s anything any of you need that can help cope or heal from that event, just let us know. You know both Shiny and I are perfectly willing to do anything we can to help.” Applejack momentarily looked surprised before smiling fully and nodding in return. “That’s mighty kind o’ ya, Cadance. Ah’ll be fine so long as Ah can find somethin’ else ta think about. Might pick up ah book back at tha castle,” she considered out loud, tilting her head in thought. Twilight perked at that, of course, and instantly offered to show her to the castle library and archives room, give her the guided tour, and personally recommend several good articles by her favorite academic minds. I had an inclination that Applejack wasn’t looking for scientific articles so much as a good story, but kept my mouth shut this time. A still giggling Cadance had led us to the door as Twilight was still going over the merits of their record keeping system. I was filtering it out at this point and peeked out into the darkening night instead. It was chilly, and I felt my fur puff up as the colder air drifted over me. To my surprise, Rarity slipped up next to me first, smiling back at the others before turning and sitting next to me. “Worry not. I’ll be sure to make you some warmer clothing when we get back to Ponyville. With winter well on its way, you’ll need something to keep warm,” she assured, digging into her side pouch as she talked. “Heh, at least I can pay you for them this time,” I muttered, feeling infinitely better with myself now that I could say that. She, of course, gave me a rather stern glare at that, but didn’t say anything as she pulled a measuring tape out of her saddlebag. Uh, did she seriously carry tailoring supplies with her wherever she… Actually, no, that didn’t honestly surprise me, given this crew. Twilight’s pack probably had an abacus and several notebooks in it, just in case. Who knew what party supplies Pinkie had in hers. Rainbow wasn’t carrying one, but if she were, it would probably have track equipment in it… Rarity carefully measured me around the neck this time, frowning as she peeked at the measurements, then pulled out a small notepad to write stuff down on. A scarf, I assumed? Applejack continued walking, explaining, “Ah told ya, Twi. Ah’m more lookin’ fer somethin’ fantasy. Knights an’ Princesses an’ fantasy stuff, ya know?” Oh, she liked fantasy? Rainbow perked at that, and got a rather impish smirk on her face similar to what Cadance sported a few minutes ago. Uh oh. “Oooh, Knights and Princesses, huh? Do you like romance, Applejack?!” Dash asked, grinning even more as AJ gave a start and looked over at her. It didn’t go as anticipated. “Sure do!” the farm mare answered in a totally honest tone, followed by, “Heck, Ah’ve been dreamin’ since Ah was ah little filly about somepony comin’ along an’ sweepin’ me off mah hooves.” She gave a ‘pleased as punch’ smirk back to Rainbow, who was taken completely by surprise by that answer, now blushing instead. Well, that backfired on her. Rarity smiled as she closed her notepad again and tucked it away alongside the measuring tape. “Well, I for one feel that’s a perfectly honest and admirable goal. There’s nothing wrong with seeking a special somepony to liven your life up. Even you’re looking for that, aren’t you, Rainbow?” the pearly unicorn reminded. Yes, reminded. Her tone wasn’t actually questioning so much as pointing out what she already knew perfectly well, and her smirk towards the cyan pegasus only rubbed that in further. Dash went crimson at that point, glaring daggers at the mare before standing again. “I… Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I?! It… It’s none of your business, however!” she managed to stutter out before quickly storming in the direction of the castle and earning a giggle from Rarity. Twilight held back her own snicker before turning back to Cadance and adding, “I guess we’ll talk more tomorrow. Rainbow is apparently leaving.” The pink alicorn smiled pleasantly and nodded to her sister-in-law, apparently totally unfazed by the antics of the mares at this point. Hum. Would I become that jaded one day, too? I couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing at this point. Did that mean I was already jaded to some degree? Crap! Of course, my debate over what my inner debate actually meant distracted me from the fact that everypony started off without me… Giving a yelp, I ran after them as best I could, Fluttershy smiling and lagging back to wait for me, her wing held gently out. I smiled to her as I paced myself to her speed, and she slipped her wing over my back, snuggling into my left side as we walked. Okay, it wasn’t such a bad thing… Jaded was really just another way of saying ‘gotten used to’, which was probably for the better. Kissing her cheek, I snuggled back as we walked, suddenly not so cold anymore… Chapter 69"Yes, yes I know, but do we really have to do this now of all times?!" I heard Twilight ask in a mildly annoyed tone somewhere in front of me and to the left. Heh, admittedly, this particular task I didn't exactly get the meaning of, but... "Twilight, you know what you said last night," Fluttershy reminded in return, softly but with a stern edge to her voice. Ah yeah, that had been exceedingly awkward. Fluttershy had been fine with trying to get Twilight to relax, of course, and watching those two kiss had certainly been, well, interesting for me. Sadly, the second I attempted to massage the lavender mare's shoulders during so, she freaked out bad enough to spin around and clock me in the side of the face with her hoof. I was fairly certain it was an accident, of course... Even after the horrified apology, it had effectively ended our 'experimentation' attempt about two and a half minutes in after we finally found the ice pack Fluttershy had brought along. I should practice pulling my armor up, even when I'm not expecting to be attacked. Actually, no, I should write a program that automatically did it for me based off incoming proximity momentum. Moving my left eye around a bit, I was pleased to note it completely restored. Thankfully, she'd ordered me a sizable bedtime snack afterwards, and I'd used the fuel and mass to rapidly regenerate myself. Another use of my cybernetics! Recovering me from my, uh, high-risk lifestyle... Yeah, that was it. Twilight groaned lightly and sighed before returning, "Yes, I remember. Try Rarity's trust building exercises, and then try again tonight, but at a much slower pace." Slower? What, we're we going to take a heated bath while discussing advanced magical theory and smiling at each other in a flirtatious manner for a few hours? Hmm. Actually, that didn't sound all that bad. Mares were fun to massage, too, I quickly realized. If I didn't apply my magic and just kept it low key, I just got to listen to their pleased murmurs and get the warm fuzzy feelings from making them feel better. Of course, mentioning that I'd technically gotten the training from my other self's combat medical training only needlessly complicated things, so that should be avoided. Hooves were harder to use than fingers, though! "Good! I just, um, don't want you giving up. Well, what I mean is, that wouldn't be the best for us as a herd, of course. I'm not trying to be bossy or, uh, tell you what to do! Um, I'm sorry if you think that," Fluttershy quickly apologized, apparently deciding to cover all of her bases. I resisted slapping my forehead and just stood there, polite and oblivious. It was easy enough to picture her expression, even if I couldn't see her through the thick blindfold I was wearing. Well, I could if I really wanted to, but Twilight made me promise not to cheat and use my scanners. She said I could cheat and use my armor, however, if I fell off anything on accident, however. "I don't think Twilight wants to give up, Fluttershy. She's just nervous. Although I'm not entirely sure how leading me around blindfolded is going to help," I admitted, scratching at the side of my head under the thick fabric. Why was it whenever you were denied access to an itch, it always felt so much worse? I 'felt' Twilight smile at that, as a tingle danced along the side of my head and her magic lightly scratched the spot instead, causing my tongue to hang out and my back leg to spasm a bit as I sighed contentedly, leaning into the motion. Oh, never mind! So much better... She giggled as I almost fell over when she stopped, and steadied me again. "It's simple. It's meant for you to boost your confidence and trust in me by having me navigate for you when you can't see. You'll realize I'm dependable and not going to let you get hurt!" she explained, and I could almost picture her nodding along to her own lecture, as if reciting it from a book. Or from Rarity, in this case. I frowned a bit at that, wondering what sort of obstacle course she had lined up for this. "Uh, and what do we do when I inevitably maim myself during this exercise?" I asked, hoping there was a trauma team standing by or something. Although Fluttershy was here, and she was close enough, I guessed. "That! That is what we need to fix! I'm not going to let you get hurt. You can trust in my abilities!" Twilight announced sharply, giving me a start. It wasn't neededly her abilities I didn't trust. That much I kept to myself, however. Just because she was capable of pulling apart- "Mender! Think fast!" I heard shouted in a distinctly Rainbow Dash voice from somewhere to my right. Huh?! Instinctively looking that way, I remembered very rapidly that I was technically entirely blind. Something light and rubbery impacted my face at extreme velocity a heartbeat later, however, with enough impact force to actually knock me back around and topple me over... Then I promptly fell down the flight of stairs we had been standing next to that went out into the inner Palace garden, thankfully popping my armor out as I went. Only my pride and dignity suffered damage by the time I crashed into the dirt just off the side of the path at the bottom of the stairs. "Rainbow! He's blindfolded!" Twilight screamed from somewhere below me. Err, above me? I felt like I was upside down, given the direction that gravity was going in. I tucked my tail up between my back legs for modesty and waited patiently for somepony to come and right me. There was a long pause, followed by, "Oh. Uh, my bad. Should I ask why he's blindfolded? I mean, I didn't think you two were into that sort of thing, especially not in the middle of the daylight in a public place." Uh, no. So much no. This was followed up with, "Ah! No, not the wings! Stop! I'm sorry!" Heh, I guess Twilight agreed with me. "Uh, I'm kinda upside down, I think. Could somepony at least turn me over before somepony gets a free glimpse of my unmentionable bits? Again?" I asked impatiently in the general direction I heard the horrified pleading coming from. The pleading stopped the second I asked of course, and I knew I instantly had Rainbow's attention, given the sudden interest that flicked down the link oh so momentarily. "You're not part of the herd, Rainbow. Thoughts to yourself... And on the mare you're after," Twilight reminded coyly before I heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and wiggled my legs in the air to draw any attention towards me, just in case I fell into a bush or something and was hard to see. Not that I felt any shrubbery or anything around me, apart from what felt like an unfortunate flower that I had landed on. I hoped it wasn't expensive or exotic. Rainbow snorted but didn't reply directly as I felt Fluttershy reach me first, hooking onto my foreleg and helping pull me up and onto my legs again. That familiar feeling energy danced around me a second later and helped me stabilize as the lavender mare caught up. "Are you okay, Mender? Rainbow's compulsive assault didn't hurt you, did it?" Twilight asked, pointedly directing that last part right down the link towards the cyan pegasus, who felt like she was shifting closer through the air. I heard her wings beating as well as she touched down, and then a spike of irritation shot from her towards Twilight, in the form of a glare I guessed. "I didn't mean to knock you down the stairs! I didn't see that you were blindfolded until, uh, after I had sent the beach ball hurtling at your head. Sorry. Speaking of, AJ and I wanted to know if any of you were up for a friendly game of volleyball?" she inquired, sounding hopeful as she quickly changed the topic the second after her apology. Wait, why were they using a beach ball to play volleyball? I knew you could technically do it, but the dynamics would probably be off by- "Why are you using a beach ball?" Twilight asked, cutting off my inner contemplation by just cheating and asking. That was hardly as fun! There was a long sigh after that, and Rainbow revealed, "Rarity won't let us play with a volleyball while on Palace grounds. She says a beach ball is much lighter and softer, and less likely to destroy something valuable when we inevitably get 'wild' with it." "Like my face?" I suggested, raising an eyebrow to the mare before remembering she wouldn't be able to see it anyway. Dash snorted at that before outright laughing and adding, "Nah, I said 'valuable'!" Oh, ouch! Heh, that was a good one, and I'd walked right into it. "Hey! His face is very valuable. I happen to think he's a very handsome stallion, and given your actions over Estrus, I think you do, too!" Twilight accused pointedly. Oh hell. Please, please don't start talking about Estrus week! Rainbow squeaked, and I could practically feel her blushing from here, but Fluttershy cut both of them off with, "Oh, I agree. Mender is oh so handsome, and I wouldn't want him getting hurt, no matter where it was he was injured at. He's very important to us, Rainbow." Her voice was in a whisper, and sounded remarkably close. Practically right in front of- Her lips gently touched mine mid-nuzzle, and I sighed, pushing back lightly as her chest fur brushed along and mixed with my own. Her fresh, flowery scents entered my nose from this close, and I inhaled softly as I felt the wet of her nose bump up against my own as she giggled into the kiss. This I'd never get tired of. I loved everything about her, if I was honest with myself. Her warmth, her cute and almost musical voice, the kindness that almost seeped off her, the lovely smells that reminded me of a warm, spring day... She broke off and smiled against my muzzle, kissing my cheek softly before just resting her head in the crook of my neck against my shoulder. I relaxed and just held her close, realizing my forelegs had slipped around the smaller mare as she kissed me. I couldn't stop smiling, which I was suddenly self-conscious of, but felt happiness coming from both nearby mares, instead. Huh? "Okay, normally that kinda thing grosses me out, but that was kinda cute. Of course, I think Fluttershy makes everything cute," Rainbow admitted, snickering at her own realization. I smiled a little wider into the top of Fluttershy's head, unable to resist. "Not everything..." I corrected, half a second later. It was one of those things I immediately regretted saying due to my impulsiveness, but it was rather worth it as all three mares present immediately picked up my implication. Fluttershy squeaked, Twilight suddenly felt startled, and then, if the signal from Dash was accurate, Twilight was hit by a rapidly expanding cyan wing and knocked over. All three were bombarding me down the link with embarrassment, however, and I barely resisted laughing as I squeezed the fidgeting Fluttershy a bit tighter. "It's natural, Fluttershy," I whispered, down the link, quietly this time. At point blank range, I knew she'd hear it if anypony could. She relaxed ever so slightly against me a second later, indicating she had. "Whoa, Mender making a dirty joke?!" Dash exclaimed in disbelief, her eyes wide and wings still loosely expanded to each side of her, a light flush dancing across her cheeks. Twilight rolled her eyes after climbing out of the flower bed I had just landed in previously. "He's getting more comfortable with us. It's to be expected, given that he came from a different dimension and originally thought we cannibalized our males like some mantis or something," she remarked pointedly. I groaned and rolled my eyes under the blindfold. They didn't have to see the gesture to feel my mild annoyance. "You had to remind me of that. I didn't even know what I was, let alone anything about your culture. Plus, my only prior memories weren’t even mine, of a galactic war that was more than a little mind horrifying and mind numbing. I think I've improved quite a bit," I defended, flattening my ears down lightly. Fluttershy pushed into my chest again and nuzzled me, and I sighed. Okay, it was hard to stay grumpy with her being affectionate. Twilight giggled in front of me again and agreed with, "You have indeed come a ways, Mender. I was reminding you of where you started to illustrate that. You flirting with us now isn't just okay, but totally amazing, all things considered." Huh. Well, that was a weird thing to apply it to, but I could see her point, I thought. It was always hard to tell with Twilight, however. "Uh, right. Sorry, but this is the first time I've even seen him flirt. I'm glad to report that he definitely didn't return any of the affection sent his way during Estrus, no matter how, uh, uncool I got... Sweetie, too, of course," Rainbow reported, voice dropping heavily at the 'uncool' part. There was a sense of deep frustration from her, mixed with utter embarrassment somewhere akin to disgust. She was mad at herself, I suddenly realized. I shook my head before any of the others could say anything and interjected, "I said it was fine, Dash. I'm pleased that you're sincere and apologetic about it and forgave you, but you shouldn't keep beating yourself up over having a few slips. You had a lot of hormones shooting through you, and a ton on your mind with the race and your own feelings." If she was like me, being reminded about things would help. Rainbow hesitated, but I 'felt' Fluttershy smile, which I probably would never get entirely used to. Not that it was an unpleasant sensation, by far. "He's right, Rainbow. We knew you liked Mender, too, and while we told you that trying to squeeze in practice during Estrus with him was a bad idea, nothing really bad happened. You're our friend, and we know you better than that," the yellow mare added softly. There was no hesitation to her voice at all, and I knew she meant every word of that. There was a bit of surprise before I felt Rainbow relax. She needed to focus on practice and Applejack for now. I didn't know what the future held for her in regards to me, and I didn't particularly dwell on it all that much. It didn't feel right to distract her or myself from what should be our focuses right now, which for me was Twilight and Fluttershy. Sure, the mare was cute and her personality was very appealing, but we both had obligations elsewhere at the moment. I'd be delighted if I could see her happy with Applejack. Uh, not that I could see anything with the blindfold on. Yeah, focus on the present, Mender! "Thanks, everypony. I was seriously worried that you two were going to be super mad at me. Um, and thank you, Mender, for not freaking out on me as well. I think I got off lucky with the few launches into the lake. I'm gonna go play with AJ and Pinkie for a bit. Call if you need anything and, uh, good luck with whatever it is exactly you're doing..." Dash muttered, another brief bout of confusion as I felt her glance over at me again, probably at my blindfold. A light spasm of irritation shot through Twilight, and I started to realize how exactly high strung she was on a regular basis. She wasn't very good at relaxing... "I told you, Rainbow. Trust exercises! I lead him around blindfolded so he can gain trust in my navigation abilities, and me in general for being his eyes!" she yelped out rapidly. Dash started snickering, of course, and then inquired, "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm guessing you switch places afterwards, or something?" Oh, we hadn't discussed it that far, yet. I felt Fluttershy turn towards Twilight questioningly, but there was a burst of hesitation from the lavender mare instead. "Oh, uh, wait, why would we do that? Um, I trust Mender a lot already!" she stated. She did? Fluttershy felt momentarily bewildered before it shifted to apprehension instead. "Twilight, um..." she whispered, sounding rather uncertain. Idly, I kind of wished I could actually see, as facial expressions still read better to my mind than these raw feelings. "What?! I do! I trust Mender a lot!" Twilight attempted to assure, kind of doing the exact opposite given her somewhat suspiciously specific denial. Rainbow coughed lightly to draw everypony's attention back her way, and giving me a verbal cue of where she was again so I had a direction to look in, before suggesting, "That sounds exactly the opposite. To be fair, Twilight, you should probably partake in the trust exercises as well. If you truly trust him, it will benefit him regardless because it would show him, no?" I suddenly suspected she'd only pretended to not know what the blindfold was for to get under Twilight's skin... That was indeed a good suggestion. Of course, it also had the effect of, if Twilight had been bluffing, calling her on it and putting her in an awkward position. All three of us shifted back to her instead. Well, I did, and assumed the uncomfortable silence and tension from Twilight meant the others did as well. After a prolonged period of tension, she finally groaned out and agreed, with, "All right, fine! I'll do the trust exercises as well. I already trust Mender, so it's kind of pointless, but if it makes him feel better, then I'll do it." I suddenly had the sneaking suspicion this was going to go very poorly... * * * * * Okay, so 'fate' couldn't be tricked out with reverse logic, it would seem. Sighing, I carefully balanced on the board I felt under me, a bit uncertain given that I knew it was balancing out the window with only the support of a large table and bookshelf from inside the hall. Twilight realized that, given my natural level of rather high punishment endurance now, I didn't gain much confidence in her from having her escort me around like normal. So, this being Twilight Sparkle, she decided to up the ante a little and try catching me as I fell instead. Of course, off the lower balcony was easy, so the gain wasn't that great. Expounding upon that, I could fairly easily figure out why I was now balancing on a wooden plank propped out a window in the tower that was six stories off the ground. Most would wonder if this was a suicide attempt at a glance. Nope! Trust building! Of course, I didn't have the heart to tell her that this still wasn't particularly dangerous to me, and the higher up she got me just increased the amount of collateral damage whatever I happened to land on endured. At least she remembered to warn the guards not to wander underneath... Sighing, I listened to the wind drift past, daylight rapidly dwindling to night as I stood there, waiting for Twilight to tell me to blindly jump forward into open air, under the assumption she would catch me using her magic. Instead, I was treated to the bickering of her and Rarity down below over the 'misinterpretation' of technique, heard quite clearly courtesy of my enhanced ear cybernetics. Of course, I had to admit to being a little insane myself. Here I was actually going through with this plan just because I knew it would make Twilight happy. If I'd had my way, I'd be inside now instead, in Twilight's toasty room, working on my design for the dimensional link interceptor. Sighing, I scraped my hoof idly against the wood, wondering at exactly how long I had before it inevitably gave out from my weight. This was technically attempt three, with attempt one having the board fall out of the window before we could get the counter weight on it, and attempt two being Twilight chickening out at the last second, refusing to shout out ‘Ready’ as agreed. This gave Rarity time to find us, attracted by the noise of the first board splintering into the ground below. Twilight had secured the board with magic this time, so I had no doubt that the base would at least be securely attached until I jumped. Of course, that didn't protect it from snapping under my weight. I frowned a second later, the odd creaking I'd originally heard a minute or so ago shifting into a lower, slightly spread out pace. That wasn't creaking... Turning, I listened carefully to the enchantment at the other end of the board instead, hearing it tick ever so quietly in a slower and slower manner. What was this? What possible function would there be for Twilight's magic to make noise? Nudging my blindfold up ever so slightly, I peeked at the anchor point she'd put against the heavy table, noting the slowly rotating disk that seemed to tie the magic together on the top. Every time it shifted, it made a tick noise, which was beyond weird. Tying in an audible enchantment into your magic was usually meant to serve some sort of purpose, but there were no markings at all on it, and it seemed to be... The disk exploded an instant later, earning a yelp in surprise from me as the blast disintegrated my blindfold and sent me, and the remainder of the board, out the window while on fire. Was she trying to murder me?! I flailed as I rotated twice in midair, trying to center my gyroscope sensor and figure out how I was rotating so I could at least land with some dignity. Sadly, the blast had charred the protective crystal lenses over my eyes, so I couldn't actually see a thing. As a precaution, I turned my inertia dampener on to avoid the inevitable impact the ground represented, and just sighed as I flipped once more before smashing into one of the royal flower gardens in a giant fireball. Landing back first had the added bonus of not landing on my bad leg, which probably would have hurt even through the shock absorbers. Bits of the board rained down around me, pinging off my armor and adding to the collateral damage in general. Twilight, who had been in the middle of loudly voicing the virtues of her exponential expansion of risk verses trust gain, let out a panicked yelp half a second after I crashed into the garden somewhere in front of her, if my calculation for descent trajectory was correct. Just because I had reinforced armor, back up biological functions, and inertia dampening systems now, didn't mean everypony had free reign to see how badly they could damage me! They probably plotted out sadistic methods to hurt me in private, even... I just lay there with my legs jutting into the air, swaying them back and forth in a listless manner until she caught up in a flash of light I could barely see. "Ah, Mender?! Are you okay?!" she shouted from somewhere above me now. I sniffed lightly, and note the burnt smell alongside the familiar crackling of flames. "Your explosives charred my eye lenses so I can't see anything. Also, I think I might be on fire," I warned, not entirely sure if it was me or the ground burning. Or the bits and pieces of the poor board. Wait, was the castle on fire now?! That table the explosive enchantment had been on was made of wood, after all. Why did she even put an explosive enchantment on it?! Rarity ran up a moment later, sounding less than happy with her immediately released indignant huff. "Are you satisfied that it was a bad idea now, Twilight?! Frankly, this has done practically the opposite of building trust with him!" she lectured almost instantly. Well, at least Fluttershy hadn't been here to see this, probably coming back with snacks about now. We could probably get the crater patched up before she got back this time. I was mildly surprised when it felt like half the contents of the nearest fountain was dumped over me, sizzling sounding from all around on my external metal plates. Ah! I was the one on fire after all. I rubbed at my eye lenses as the water got dumped over me, and cleaned them off eventually enough to see as I smiled back up at the horrified looking Twilight. Oh? Looking over, I instead saw that Rarity was the one levitating the water, and Twilight appeared to have encountered some sort of system error and locked up. Great. Thankfully, Fluttershy drifted in to my left, picnic basket of goodies attached to her left forehoof and a worried look on her face. "Oh dear. Did something backfire?" she asked softly upon landing and setting the basket down. I was kind of amused that me lying on my back in a sizzling crater provoked roughly the same level of reaction you'd expect from somepony spilling a glass of water. The inquiry snapped Twilight out of it in an instant, sending her right into panic mode instead. "Ah! Mender, I'm so sorry! I set the minor discharge rune up to knock the board out of the window and stop me from hesitating next time, but I didn't expect it to be that strong! Why was it so strong?! It was supposed to just push the board out of the window! Oh no, you must trust me even less, now," the mare groaned out in exasperation. Hmm. Would it help or make things worse if I admitted that it actually hadn't really changed my opinion of her in the slightest? Her 'minor' discharge rune had still blown me at least twelve meters clear of the side of the tower if I landed over here, so she was still scary powerful and prone to accidents involving that. I didn't quite know what this was supposed to accomplish regardless, as the parts I didn't trust about the mare were on a more personal level than just being at risk of blowing me up. That, I had a sneaking suspicion, was going to be a daily thing. "Actually, I'm fine, Twilight. I'm more concerned about the hole we put in the royal garden, and the fact that there are flames coming from the tower window," I pointed out, gesturing past her and to the orange lapsing flicks coming just above the sill. She spun around fast as the other two looked that direction as well, of course. Well, that lovely table had probably bitten the dust at this point. Twilight let out a piercing yelp and flashed away in a teleport again, another coming from the window on that floor. Sighing, I stood up again and shook the dirt off my back before extending two tentacles for utility purposes. Thankfully, the palace grounds were private, anyway... That thought out of the way, I used the two tentacles to fling myself up towards the burning window a half a second later, earning a squeak from Fluttershy as I shot past. I might as well help Twilight put out the fires. She seriously had to tone down her 'trust exercises'! * * * * * Rarity honestly worked wonders, given her resources. I went from being covered in soot, dirt, and mud, to brushed and dressed in my nice suit vest again in less than an hour. Which was good! The complications involving putting out the raging inferno on the third floor, repairing the table with my magic, and helping the servants scrub the smell out of everything had put us back a good two hours! It didn't help that Tia had laughed for at least five minutes... "Hmm. No, this won't do either. I'm going to try adding a bit more spray to the left side," Rarity muttered, seemingly more to herself than to anypony else. Then, there were times when she got a few kinks in her organization, I noticed. like now. I felt her shake the can before more spray hit my mane as she combed it down again. It already felt like I was wearing a stiff bowl on my head! Still, Fluttershy kept brushing gently along the other side, right along the fur on my neck and shoulders, occasionally getting my back right leg to twitch. It felt amazing, and as long as she kept that up, Rarity could take a blowtorch to my mane for all I cared. Twilight, however, seemed less than entertained. “Rarity, some ponies just have naturally spikey manes. Isn't it good enough yet?" she asked, an impatient edge to her voice. Rarity huffed at that, of course. "We are going to potentially one of the fanciest restaurants in town, Twilight! We cannot afford to relax our public image at such a place. Although admittedly, it would be easier to manage your style without the braids on each bang. Are you sure that-" she started to ask yet again. "No, I'm not going to get rid of them. Fluttershy gave them to me, and they're special!" I adamantly declared, getting a little bit impatient with the process. Fluttershy stopped brushing for just a moment, and I felt her blush through the link. Sadly, I missed the cute spectacle, as I had to keep my eyes closed. Well, I didn't have to, but I was told that getting hairspray in my eyes was a very unpleasant experience. I had enough of those to last several lifetimes now, and was in no hurry whatsoever to acquire more. Rarity let out a sigh, and probably would have continued her protest had Twilight not huffed and reminded, "We have to be at the place in less than thirty minutes! Rarity, I know you want his mane to look perfect, but isn't it even worse for our 'image' if we show up three hours late?" That was a rather good point! There was hesitation before my impromptu mane stylist sighed and I heard the can get set down. "Fine. But if his mane explodes out in his typical spikes and pokes somepony's eye out, you shall have to explain it to them!" she finally relented. Hey, my mane wasn't that spiky! It was more, well, 'messy' as I'd call it. I was rather lazy when it came to my own image, and didn't put much effort into maintaining it at all. That said, it usually just sort of rested wherever it happened to fall after I finished washing it. Oh, except for the twin braids, but I didn't technically do those, so I suppose that didn't count. Fluttershy giggled at the exchange and set her brush down as well as my eyes flickered open. I gave her a soft smile of assurance as I caught her eye again, and she returned an amazingly warm one back to me, looking outright happy. It was always nice to catch her in private like this, around ponies she was purely comfortable with. She was free to be herself then, and seemed so much more 'alive' with her warmth and happiness. Sadly, Twilight interrupted my musings and scenery gazing by shoving me in the rump with her shoulder, pushing me towards the door with a sliding motion. Oh, right, the time. I'd forgotten how punctual she strived to be... Of course, I tended to forget a lot of things for a bit when staring at Fluttershy. Her brother must have shared her punctuality, I decided. He was waiting patiently for us down by the front gate of the palace, Cadance sitting calmly next to him. Or maybe it was the alicorn that was the punctual one, and her babysitting had rubbed off on Twi? I mused upon the possibilities while moving rapidly towards the two, soaring oh so gracelessly through the air. The mares and Spike floated around me, in various stages of annoyance while Twilight sprinted underneath, floating us all along over her like so many oddly lumped balloons. I didn't particularly care one way or the other, and Fluttershy looked perfectly content resting against my chest regardless, but Applejack and Rainbow were less than pleased. Pinkie seemed to actually be having fun, which honestly didn't surprise me, and Rarity just looked mildly annoyed as she used her own magic to keep the wind speed from messing up her mane. Well, that answered a theory I had never been particularly interested in asking about. Unicorns could use their magic inside the effect of another unicorn's spell. "I'm going to hazard a guess that they were moving too slow, Sis?" Shining questioned, raising an eyebrow towards us as we approached. One of the gate guards actually broke his stoic posture long enough to slightly mimic the eyebrow raising, but quickly snapped it back down into the static, uninterested look they seemed to perpetually generate. Twilight slid to a stop, her brother raising his hoof to gently push against her chest as she slid in, halting her forward momentum. She panted for a few seconds before coughing out, "We were late! Oh no, are we late?!" She had announced, with horror, that we were a whole fourteen seconds past eighteen hundred hours when we'd reached the bottom of the tower, after all. That's when we all got picked up. Oddly, the field didn't dissipate when she stopped moving, and we remained lazily levitating above her. Her magic had nothing to do with her physical stamina, I realized. "Uh, by maybe a minute. Although, uh, did Miss Octavia Harmony tell you where she wanted to meet? I don't remember you telling us earlier," Cadance asked softly, straightening Twilight's frazzled mane with her hoof. Twilight froze instantly, and I took a guess at the answer as I watched her pupils shrink a little. Well, this was a lovely time to be actively caught in her magic. I activated my subdermal armor, and prepared to throw shields up around my floating friends just in case. The lavender mare's ears drooped almost instantly, and her magic flickered a second later. Oh. My shields activated, instead making crudely shaped cubes under us all as her magic gave out, and we all flopped a few inches onto those instead, Fluttershy and Spike landing on top of me with a yelp and a squeak. "Aaah! No! I forgot to ask her where she wanted us to meet her tonight in the letter! Now it's going to be too late, and I have no idea where we're even supposed to go, and-" Twilight started to rapidly spew out, flailing her forelegs into the air as she panicked. A soft, yet deeply amused laughter reached our ears, cutting her off. I looked past Shining and was greeted by the sight of Octavia herself sitting calmly over by the sidewalk. Her mane was impeccably styled, and she wore a sleek yet simple black dress that hugged her form, with a softer gray choker sporting a amethyst replica of her Cutie Mark as a clasp. The outfit was accented with a silver bangle on each ankle, and a simply massive cello case strapped heartily across her back. Wait, no, the case more clashed with her outfit than anything, given those heavy leather straps. Still, she was dressed a little more simply than the rest of the mares and myself, which made me feel a bit awkward. Even Spike was wearing a tux for the occasion, as Rarity had insisted on going all out. "I figured not having arranged a spot to meet, I'd just pick you ponies up instead. Oh my! Everypony's so finely dressed," the mare commented, looking us over a second later. Yeah, overkill. This was going to be an awkward evening. Well, not as awkward as last night's, probably, but- To my honest surprise, a taxi rolled up at what I could only assume was breaking land speed records for the stallion pulling the thing. Night Light, of all ponies, bailed out of it into a roll and almost crashed right into Octavia's massive cello case as he slid past her. He momentarily gasped at her rather bewildered look, but then really did crash into the street light instead, getting tripped and sent flying into the shrub next to the castle wall. Actually, I was kind of impressed at the distance he managed to get. Although I might have been able to catch him had I reacted a bit faster... Twilight Velvet stepped out of the taxi with a far more relaxed movement, shooting a skeptical glance towards the flailing bush before shaking her head and walking up to Octavia, who was now smirking. "I apologize, but my husband wished to meet you again, and I agreed that it would be nice to share another dinner with my kids and their new herds. We'll be paying for ourselves, so don't worry about it," Velvet explained politely, giving the gray mare a smile and getting a more knowing one back. Okay, scratch that. This was going to be even more awkward. "Wow, I didn't know you could even slide like that on the concrete! I wanna try!" Pinkie exclaimed a second later, diving off her box and bounding towards the taxi, who's 'driver' was panting and recovering still from his probably strenuous journey. Maybe it would be a new sport? Although pavement sliding didn't sound all that pleasant, honestly. Applejack climbed down off her cube with a much slower pace, while Rainbow simply took to the air, looking pleased to be flying under her own power again. Fluttershy just didn't care regardless and simply smiled again, shifting up next to me and sitting against my right thigh. Spike momentarily eluded me, having no link for me to shortcut towards finding him with. I turned and looked over my shoulder in time to see him on his hands and knees, acting like a stepping stool for Rarity as she moved down off her cube. Uh... "Thank you, dear Spike. You are most assuredly a Gentledrake," she oozed out smoothly, adding a giggle onto the end. It oddly gave me the sensation of watching somepony slowly pour creamy chocolate over a tasty looking cake, and I tried not to drool. Spike looked like he felt it, too, only significantly worse as he visibly swooned while ogling her. By the looks of it, however, she was eating the attention up and posed lightly for him, flicking her mane back. I made a mental note to carry him if he passed out due to forgetting to breath. Rarity, however, continued past him and trotted over to the taxi driver instead. Driver? Puller? It was essentially a yellow carriage with painted checkerboard stripes on the side of it. "Oh dear, this won't do at all. Here, sit down and take a rest, good stallion. You're clearly overworked," she cautioned, helping him sit down, then levitating a cloth out of her saddlebag to dab at his forehead. Spike followed after her, of course, still looking a bit dazed but hopping past to untangle the still taut cords that helped secure the undercarriage to the stallion. Yikes! How fast was he going?! He would have had to make one heck of a turn to twist them like that. Octavia drew my attention instead as she walked up towards Twilight, Fluttershy, and me. "Sorry about the short notice, Mender. When I heard that you and all your mares would be coming to Canterlot, I rushed rather quickly to arrange a nice dinner," she apologized softly, in that hanging accent I remembered. It was more pronounced now that she was closer. Wait, my mares?! "Uh, technically I'm only dating Twilight and Fluttershy!" I hastily corrected, feeling the soft heat enter my face. Curse my penchant for blushing! The gray mare in front of me smirked, and I knew in an instant that she had said that just to get under my skin! I didn't even need a link to realize that much. My surprise doubled when Applejack's foreleg hooked over my shoulders and she gave me a sideways squeeze, playfully retorting with, "Aww shucks, Sugarcube. We like ya just fine regardless." Fluttershy blinked as she was pushed into a lying position when AJ leaned over her, but she smiled up at her friend regardless. Eh?! What was that supposed to mean? Rainbow landed on my back an instant later, pinning Applejack's leg to my back and causing me to stumble slightly as I glanced over my shoulder at her smirking visage. "Yeah! You're our super awesome friend, and we aren't afraid to admit that. Plus, you know that I personally think you're fairly easy on the eyes on top of that," she reminded, causing me to blush slightly. Or I was just heating up from all of the bodies in fairly close proximity, Twilight still smiling lightly as she pushed into my left side. Gah! She instead took it upon herself to attempt to clarify, being easily close enough to catch my confusion over the link. "I think what Applejack is trying to say is that even if you're not dating them specifically, you're a good friend, Mender. All of us have friends outside of each other, as the Elements of Harmony. Sure, we each share something in common and are really good friends, but that doesn't prevent us from growing attached to others," she elaborated, nodding twice afterwards and not seeming to really care that Rainbow's left wing had lazily flopped over her back. Well that much I had, uh, kind of known. I wasn't entirely sure if I accepted it or not, of course, because I somehow couldn't see myself ever being as good of friends with them as they were with each other. That status was 'special', wasn't it? It gave them something in addition to just friendship that connected them. Plus, they were practically world heroines, weren't they? Comparatively, I really was just a normal Earth Pony in the eyes of outsiders. And in my own mind, I realized. Even though it was absolutely stupid, a part of me still longed to be 'normal'. "Oh! Oh! Me too!' Pinkie added an instant later, jarring me out of my thoughts as she hung on the last syllable while sliding across the concrete from the top of the cab. Ah! It was much too late as she crashed into me instead, almost running Octavia over, who was forced to dodge out of the way as she came in. As I was rather weighed down, she didn't move me in the slightest, only knocking the air out of me while flattening herself into my front like she hit a wall. Instead of pain, however, she started giggling hysterically, popping her face out of my chest fur and grinning up at me, legs still splayed out in each direction under her. "Hiya! Me too, Mender! I might be friends with absolutely everypony, but you're still super-duper special to me! You'd better not forget that. I'll remind you any time you ask," she offered, smiling rather honestly up at me, which surprised me a little. It was just a small shade of seriousness, but far more than the silly mare normally showed. Although now I was definitely warming up, and it wasn't from blushing at all so much as having five mares pushed into me from all sides. Okay, I might have been blushing a little bit... Octavia snickered at my obvious awkwardness as she slipped back up into my viewpoint. "As I'm sure you all know already, I was merely attempting to get a reaction out of him, which succeeded spectacularly. This is far more pleasant a reaction than I anticipated, however. How long has Mender been with you all?" she asked curiously, tilting her head towards us. A brief jerk of motion occurred from my left before I could even fully consider the question, Velvet finally prying her husband loose from the shrubs and tumbling over backwards with him, the stallion looking quite a bit more untidy than prior. Cadance and Shining moved over to help him pull twigs out of his mane while he stewed there, looking unhappy. I think that was the first time I'd seen him not directing that towards me! Twilight looked momentarily amused by his dilemma, but turned back towards Octavia a moment later, seeming not bothered in the least by the proximity of Pinkie, whose tail essentially covered her entire chest. "Mender and I have been unofficially dating for the better part of a month, with Fluttershy quickly following just a few days later. It's felt like a lot longer than that, however, and everything's really falling into place easily. Uh, minus a few snags and goof ups, of course," she elaborated, smiling after. Heh, snags? If them forming the herd without me wasn't bigger than a 'snag', surely me turning out to be an abomination of organic metal was. I guess, in comparison, things were going amazingly well. "Ah, right. I'd heard about the snag with the herd. I'm glad you're all making it through that in reasonably one piece," Octavia agreed, politely nodding after that as Rarity and Spike rejoined us, the dragon giving me an amused smirk. Applejack shook her head towards him before he could say anything, however, heading off any potential comments with, "He's ah proper gentlecolt fer all o' us tonight, as his savin' Octavia is why we're here. No reason why he can't get some hugs." I let out an airy puff and shot her a skeptical glance, pointing out, "Hugs are fine, but you mares are kind of squishing me..." I doubt I'd leave a good impression with Twilight's parents if I expired before getting to the restaurant. Fluttershy perked up at that from under Applejack and looked up at me hastily. "Oh my. Are you okay, Mender? I can move over a little if you can't breathe," she quickly offered, truly the only one who actually cared for my plight. Rainbow snickered impishly from my back before I could respond, assuring, "He's fine, Fluttershy. He's just embarrassed that so many smokin' hot mares are giving him attention." Okay, admittedly she got to me with that comment, and I felt my cheeks heat up a little bit. Two of them! I was dating two of them, and that was all! Why did she like to tease me so much about it?! I had a sneaking suspicion that the heat in my cheeks was the exact reason. Pinkie let out a burst of giggling before squeezing my chest a little tighter and wiggling back and forth, shifting the entire pile of mares with her as she swayed. "Mender's super nice, and isn't going to take advantage of any of us anyway. Shhh, don't tell anypony, Octavia, but Mender really, really likes protecting ponies. He's kinda like a superhero," Pinkie whispered after looking both directions down the street. Uh, what? The combination of the pink mare being uncharacteristically somber, whispering instead of making sure half the block hear her, and being genuinely gentle to me had confused me beyond reasonable understanding of the situation. Although, I had actually seen the mare calm and gentle before, so I guessed I shouldn't really be surprised. Octavia certainly didn't seem so. "Oh, I know, Pinkie. He didn't hesitate to put himself in a lot of danger, and quite a bit of awkwardness to save my life, remember? I'm aware that those articles on him were fake. Twilight's articles as well, as I highly doubt any of the Elements of Harmony would use dark magic, or anything even vaguely similar," she reasoned, averting her eyes and looking entirely unimpressed with the topic of the fake articles. I'd figured she'd be one of the ponies unaffected by them, but it was nice to hear it clarified. Still, superhero? I chalked it up to Pinkie just being... Pinkie. Luckily, everypony else seemed to as well. Applejack let out a soft sigh, pulling her foreleg out from under Rainbow and sitting down next to Fluttershy instead, looking a bit dejected. "Ah can't believe anypony believed any o' that trash. Sure, Mender is reasonably new ta tha public eye, but Twilight certainly ain't! And if her story was fake..." she reasoned. Octavia looked contemplative for a moment, and then shook her head, revealing, "I'm not so sure that many ponies did, exactly. The Inquirer is known for its fanciful stories and I think a good chunk of their readers get it largely for entertainment rather than news. I heard some mistrust towards both Twilight and Mender, but quite a bit more confusion. A lot of the ponies I talked to about it felt that Mender's story was discredited more due to their claims that Princess Celestia herself was 'corrupted' by him." Okay, that I chuckled towards, drawing everypony's attention again. "I'm sorry, but that's honestly funny. I do know Princess Celestia personally, and she's so far beyond my level of power that just thinking of me somehow managing to influence her is laughable. I don't think even Twilight could attempt that, and she's the strongest magic user I've ever seen," I explained, looking to my left. Twilight blinked twice in surprise before blushing softly, the hue barely visible against her lavender fur. A bolt of realization struck me suddenly from seemingly nowhere. Pinkie could blush all she wanted and nopony would be able to tell! To my surprise, Cadance giggled at that statement. I glanced over at her and she nodded to me, explaining herself with, "It's a largely true statement, but I can picture her face scowling if she'd heard it. Aunt Celestia doesn't like it when ponies consider her personal abilities, although it gives many comfort to realize she's so capable." Well yeah, having your ruler essentially being a physical goddess was probably comforting. Well, I didn't think she was quite to the level of being an actual deity yet, as even she admitted to mistakes and inability to know everything, but she was damn capable! Octavia made a light humming noise as she looked over at the extra four ponies, raising an eyebrow as I guessed she finally fully considered their existence. "Ah, we have additional guests coming to supper?" she inquired softly, with no noticeable hint of irritation. Whew. "Twilight's parents are paying for themselves, and I'm covering Shining and Cadance, don't worry. You only agreed to treat the Elements, Spike, and myself, I know," I assured quickly, before that came next. I received a nod from Twilight in agreement next to me. The gray musical mare waved her hoof absently, adding, "I wasn't worried about it. As you can see by my accessory, I just came from a gig and the, uh, paycheck is sizable in Canterlot at this level. I could get them as well if you-" "Nope! I've got them covered," I cut her off, smiling towards her as she smirked back. It felt kind of good to do that in return to somepony instead of it just happening to me all the time! Something about having bits was empowering, even if I didn't have very much. It felt good to be able to treat ponies instead of always being the one being treated. Uh, minus the fact that she was already treating me... Damn it. She giggled at my suddenly dejected face, as if knowing what was going on in my mind, before assuring, "Relax. I'll let you, then. I know how downright stubborn stallions can be, although I openly admit to you being one of the most geltlecoltly I've seen in a while. I should really get you hanging out around Vinyl more often. She might ease up on her opinion about stallions," she suggested, contemplating it while rubbing her chin softly with a forehoof. Rarity smiled and nodded back towards the now fully recovered and chipper looking cab 'driver' who was still parked in our location. "Not to rush us, but I was merely curious if we were walking to our destination, or if I needed to hail for a few more cabs," she pointed out politely, smiling at Octavia expectantly. The gray mare froze for a second, obviously not anticipating the question, but then quickly smiled and shook her head. "Oh, no. The spot is close to here and easily within walking distance," she revealed. Ah, good! I'd been against getting into a box that was meant to rapidly roll across pavement at high velocity with no discernable breaks or safety precautions. Rarity nodded at that and then returned the gesture back to the stallion, who grinned towards her and nodded as well before taking off. Heh, I guess it was easy to stand at attention when a pretty mare beckoned. Spike seemed oblivious to the stallion’s enthusiasm, however, as Rarity turned back and smiled back towards him instead. His focus was shot almost instantly and he got that swooning look again that I saw so frequently around her. Heh. He was so transparent with his feelings. I was kind of envious of that, honestly. He didn't really let it bother him. My own stomach grumbling interrupted my thoughts, and I blinked before looking down at it. Fluttershy started giggling softly at the noise and Octavia lifted an eyebrow before suggesting, "Well said! Perhaps we should head towards our destination sooner rather than later?" The burst of dust and sudden weight lifted off my back instantly told me that Dash fully agreed and had taken to the air again. She smiled down at us and nodded happily before adding, "Yeah! I'm hungry, too, so let's go! I hope this place offers some real food, though." Real food? As opposed to what? My mental image of a cardboard cutout sitting at a table was interrupted by Rarity scoffing violently and demanding, "Must you be such a ruffian?! Just because an establishment knows how to properly present its meals doesn't mean that it's not real. Show some class, Rainbow." Eh?! Dash glared down at her for a moment before Octavia raised a hoof, shaking her head towards her. "Ah, I don't believe you'll find yourself wanting, Rainbow Dash. This place serves what I feel is the most delicious food in Canterlot. I eat there quite often," she assured carefully. This caused Rarity to puff up and nod instantly, standing again. "Indeed, a mare of class! Well said. Let us not waste another minute, then. Mender deserves his sustenance," she cooed, sounding oddly as if she'd won some prize or something. I tried not to snicker, wondering if this place Octavia had picked would live up to the image undoubtedly running through her head. The gray earth pony smiled at her exuberance and nodded, standing fully now. "Yes, let's get going, then. I wanted to show you a couple spots afterwards, too, and that would be hard if we completely lose our light," she revealed, gesturing up towards the lowering sun as she headed to the right along the sidewalk. I, and essentially everypony else, stood as well and followed after, Fluttershy still pressed tightly to my right side, as if she'd drift away if she left physical contact with me. That seemed to be her new preference, of late. Octavia started going into details about the docks as we headed in their direction, giving interesting tidbits of information about imports and exports, and new music coming in from other countries while we walked. I listened to the gentle sounds of the wind as we walked, glancing over at the slowly drifting airships nearby with their large balloons and spinning propellers. The world always seemed so alive when I was watching others move about, doing their own thing. Idly, I wondered what other countries were like as we walked along, making a mental note to ask Twilight about them later. Oh, and to ask Octavia how she knew we were coming... Eh, maybe over supper. Chapter 70The day was starting to turn up now, as I decided I was equal parts amused and relieved at the same time. Obviously, I knew my own weaknesses and didn't exactly look forward to spending an agonizing dinner in a fancy, high priced restaurant. Tilting my head, I took in the sight of the quaint, cozy look ing street café instead. It was a clean looking place, with two eating areas separated into a higher and lower zone with a pleasant looking hedge barrier. Flower arrangements also added a dash of color along the side of the building that was probably their storage and cooking area. Each table seated either four or eight, with a few joined together with custom-designed fittings, it looked like. Each had a nice umbrella-like fixture over them that expanded out from the table at least a meter in each direction, which should provide adequate protection from lesser elements. Friendly looking waiters and waitresses walked about as well, seeming quite happy. The entire place was lit softly by garden lights extending off the hedge walls and candles resting on each table, giving almost a fairyland appearance that caused me to relax a bit. Rarity stared blankly at the place, mouth partially open from mid-sentence when she froze to look at the 'restaurant' instead. I tried really hard not to laugh, and Twilight shot me a smirk as she probably felt my mirth down the link. Octavia seemed knowingly oblivious to Rarity's inner struggle in an oddly paradoxical sense, and rotated to face us as we stopped in front of the entrance to the place. "Here it is. This place is nice and cozy, and I love to come here for supper after playing late at places. Eating here in the candlelight always relaxes me after a long day, and like I said, the food is amazing. Although I believe you're a bit overdressed for the occasion. That's my fault for not explaining, I imagine," she mused, seemingly more amused at that aspect than genuinely sorry. Heh. A little twitch shot through Rarity's demeanor, and she quickly shut her mouth before taking a deep breath and relaxing. "Yes, well, I imagine I might have jumped to conclusions. This... This will work, too. Improvise!" she declared, seemingly mostly to herself. Uh... Her horn flared up a second later, and I contemplated diving for cover when she lifted my outer suit jacket off and put it in her saddlebags. Applejack's and Twilight's dress coverings came next, leaving them in only their sleeker under-dresses that were beneath the cloak-like frilly pieces. Rainbow's fluffy, cloak-like frill was pulled off her dress, shortening it by quite a bit into more of a skirt than anything. She ironically looked more delighted in the new look than the old, but that didn't surprise me much. Fluttershy took her frilly 'shirt' piece off, leaving more of a strapped upper dress piece instead, and smiled as she gave it to Rarity, who nodded. Spike just removed his outer suit jacket like she had done with me, which just left Pinkie, who put the hat back in the saddlebag and gave back the oddly poofy yet strangely appropriate scarf accent. Wow, amazing! We looked far more casual suddenly. Which surprised me, as I noticed Cadance and Shining were already in more casual attire, as were Twilight's parents. Eh? Noticing my stare, Shining smirked and preemptively answered with, "We already knew where we were headed. Octavia's a regular here." The gray mare smiled pleasantly at that and added, "Oh my. To attract the attention of the royal family! Maybe my career is a bit more influential than I realized." "You're head cellist of the Canterlot Orchestra and lead mare of your own quartet. Plus, I know how in-demand your talents are at all the fancy Canterlot parties," Cadance teased, adding a more mirthful smile instead. Octavia grinned in return and nodded before turning and walking up towards the podium that sat near the entrance. A friendly looking waiter sat on a short stool behind it, and looked up at Octavia as we approached. His smile was immediate, then shifted to mild surprise as his eyes drifted past her and to all of us instead. "Oh my, Miss Octavia! You have quite a crowd tonight. New orchestra members?" he inquired softly. She really was a regular here. She released a quiet giggle before shaking her head no, however. "Not tonight. These are very important guests to me, Cufflink, including the one I told you about that saved my life?" she reminded, smile widening a little. I felt my face heat up slightly as I wished she'd used a less grand introduction. What if he recognized me as the 'nutcase' from the Herd and Marriage Offices? His gasp was almost immediate and I winced, feeling a spike of apprehension from each mare I was linked to. Oh hell. He'd recognized something. Was I the nutcase? A 'hero'? That would be arguably worse. "Princess Cadance! Prince Shining Armor! Oh wow!" he exclaimed, hooves extending to his mouth. Crap, I knew it would be the nutc- wait, what? Octavia gave a slow, mildly confused looking blink as she turned to look back and behind me to the left at the royal couple instead. Uh, right! Was 'totally ignored' better or worse, though? It honestly felt maybe a little closer to the 'better' end of the spectrum. Other ponies, both those already eating and those on the street behind us gasped, the ones not currently eating, turned from their tables to also look. Shining flattened back his ears and gave a concerned glance to the unfazed-looking Cadance before quickly looking back to the waiter. "Uh, I don't mean to be impolite, but my wife and I are actually part of Miss Octavia's group, as are the Elements of Harmony and their group. We were hoping to get a table," he corrected, giving a sheepish smile afterwards. My ears perked and I turned back to Octavia, who looked mildly surprised but smiled towards him and nodded. The waiter looked suitably horrified, however. "Oh my! I'm sorry, Miss Octavia. I should not have assumed, of course, that they were part of your group as you suggested. Please forgive me," he apologized, sounding surprisingly sincere. The gray mare giggled, however, and held her hoof up to stop him, assuring, "Cufflink, you know you can just call me Octavia. And it's fine. I'm a bit beyond my normal station, I realize. The Prince and Princess are actually guests of Mender's, not mine. He himself is my guest, however, as are the Elements of Harmony and Spike, the young dragon." Spike himself perked up at that title, seeming to puff up a little at being called 'young' rather than 'baby' or something. The waiter known as Cufflink looked us over momentarily, not really paying me much attention, which I was sort of thankful for. He appeared more fascinated by the Elements and royalty than anything, which honestly made sense. Spike at least was readily identifiable, I considered, much to my amusement. Fluttershy shrank away from the growing crowd from the street, and the rapid whispering coming from the gathering collection of ponies. I gently rubbed her left shoulder as she pushed against me again, hiding herself partially behind me and under my saddlebag. "Ah, yes! Come right with me, and we shall get your group seated in the elevated section. I'm honored that we can host such distinguished guests!" Cufflink exclaimed shortly thereafter, thankfully recovering quickly. There were a few disappointed murmurs from the crowd as we were led away from the street level, but Fluttershy relaxed as we walked, her heartbeat calming again, as I could feel it when she pushed against my side. Twilight slipped up on her other side and shot her a soft smile, more fully covering her from view as we moved and settled into a large, connected set of tables the waiter directed us towards. Yes, it was up to us to make sure our herdmate felt more secure. I took comfort in my newfound responsibility and what it meant, honestly. Seating arrangements were a tad on the tricky side, however. Even the connected tables only sat ten ponies, and we had twelve plus a dragon! I hadn't considered seating when I'd invited Shining and Cadance, of course. The waiter helped Shining and me move a small table over next to our larger one, however, giving us an additional four seats. Given their guest nature, it was decided, with no small amount of protest from Night Light, that Twilight's parents and the royalty would sit there. Velvet said she wanted to catch up anyway, and they were literally all of a meter from us, so I didn't really see what the fuss was apart from not getting to sit at Octavia's table. That said, Spike was to my left and Fluttershy to my right as we settled in. Twilight was to Fluttershy's right and to my surprise, Rarity sat to Spike's left, appearing to be really laying it on thick for the dragon, who was rapidly getting overwhelmed. Heh. Had she changed her mind then about him? I didn't want to ask, of course, so I simply looked across the table instead. Octavia was straight across from me, looking less than pleased that Pinkie was to her immediate right. I'd have to ask her about her frustration with Pinkie at some point. To her left was Applejack, and then Rainbow, who was already staring at the menu. Heh, she had been hungry. "Well then, now that we have seating out of the way, we can finally relax," Octavia muttered, leaning back in her chair as it tipped slightly, bumping up against the massive cello case behind it. There was something to be said about Earth Pony strength, given that the case was larger than her yet she easily moved about with it. She smoothed her black dress out again after getting situated, and exhaled softly. Glancing up, I sniffed the warm air, noting the pleasing smells coming from the kitchen, a far away and subtle smell of engine oil, and a stronger scent of leaves as they fell from the trees all around the city. It was warm, which surprised me, considering we were halfway up a mountain. The docks were also nearby with those interesting balloon ship things, which was probably the source of that faint oil smell. It was probably some sort of lubrication they used in their gearboxes, as I’d yet to see any sort of combustion-based engine. They had maintained the shape of a water vessel as well, despite being airborne with a large balloon and propeller attachments. I doubted that was an aesthetic choice, and considered the aspect of them making water landings as well. I'd have to ask Twilight about that later! "Equestria to Mender. You're spacing out again," Rainbow suddenly spoke up, giving me a start and snapping me out of my consideration for the engineering involved. Oops. Everypony at the table was looking at me now, as was Velvet from our neighboring group, and I blushed a little. Ugh! Twilight smirked, however, revealing, "He had his head on the airships he saw on our walk over. He is an engineer, don't forget." Of course, Rainbow knew that already, given the smirk she shifted into after Twilight said that. Most of them did, actually, given direct input from me when I popped out of my daydream. I also noticed that images were really hard to transmit over our links, but a particularly strong or detailed one could be managed. When I slipped back into my fully aware state, I had no doubt that lingering airship image was still at the forefront of my mind. Octavia, however, looked deeply curious at that. "Wait, do you mean that you've linked with him already, Miss Twilight?" she inquired almost instantly. Oh, err, whoops. Well, technically her vocabulary was accurate... Twilight blushed at that and coughed lightly, and I was suddenly keenly aware of both her parents' gaze on us, her father turning around to look back at her in surprise. Oh. Oh hell. Octavia blinked, then flattened her ears back slightly as her gaze wavered briefly over to her parents before snapping back to her, the mare suddenly looking uncertain. Still, the clever unicorn could recover this, if she just made up something convincing! "Ah... Hahaha! Of course not! I mean, Mender's an engineer and I know him well enough and, uh, saw him looking at the airships!" she quickly and loudly denied. Crap. There was an awkward tension at the table for a long five seconds, Rainbow's face going blank and Applejack giving the lavender unicorn a skeptical stare. Yeah, that was totally bogus, and even I would have been able to tell that much. That really said something, sadly. Regardless, I was so, so very screwed. "Twilight... We need to have words," Night Light spoke softly but adamantly behind her. Her ears dropped downwards as her pupils shrank a little. Damn it... * * * * * Okay, it didn't matter what I did. Everything would eventually devolve into a complete and total disaster. As strong and capable as my cybernetics were, they did absolutely nothing to help me against the problems I usually faced. What use were ten-meter long, bladed tendrils that could rip rock in half when my enemies hid out of sight and used politics to strike at me? Oh, and they didn't help much against Twilight's parents, either. I lay with my head on the table, trying really hard not to cry hysterically as they continued to scream at each other. Of course, for 'privacy', they had taken it away from the table and behind the shrub wall to the alley, but air was hardly effective soundproofing, let alone when the conversation degraded into screaming. "No, there is no redeeming factor for this, Twilight! I will not stand to see my daughter manipulated by some random colt!" her father continued to scream. Well, ironically, I kinda saw his point. I mean, the link he thought we had was essentially equivalent to getting engaged, if I understood it properly. Or was it married directly? I didn't really understand it properly. Regardless, I'd only known Twilight for the better part of a month and a week, which was rather soon to be asking her to marry me. Although that was probably inevitably to follow at this point. "He's not some random colt! He's a stallion, and... And I've never felt this connected to anypony before in my life, until the herd! Why can't you respect my own decision?!" my fillyfriend, herdmate, and equally best friend shouted back. I also agreed with Twilight. He, while wanting to protect her, was doing a fairly amazing job of trampling her own decision-making capacity. That wasn't exactly a show of trust. Her mother sighed wearily a moment later, adding, "I understand you care for both of them, Dear. But don't you think this is, well, a little sudden?" she reasoned, far more calmly than her husband. Shining Armor groaned as well, having followed Twilight over there with Cadance, apparently making it a whole 'family' occasion. "We can't avoid it, Sis. There are some things about the situation that they don't understand, and they deserve to at least be told that much," he suggested. Oh, goodie! Now they were voting to reveal my secret instead. This would go over so well. Sadly, Fluttershy had also gone over there to attempt to support Twilight, leaving me as the only one technically not part of the family. There was, unfortunately, only one of her. Really, I'm glad she was with Twilight anyway. I hid my eyes behind my own forelegs, trying to ignore the gossiping whispers of the random ponies near us who were probably getting quite a bit of free entertainment at my expense. Although that was probably a good thing, as they certainly weren't sitting there for the food anymore. I kind of wished that I could literally crawl entirely behind my own forelegs and hide for a few hours, maybe crying for a bit and getting a good nap in. Maybe that's what the chef had done when he barged out of the kitchen in a stressed state, spewing frustrations in a rather peculiar accent. Apparently he refused to work in such disruptive environments, which I honestly couldn't blame him at this point. Applejack let out an annoyed huff from the darkness somewhere in front of me, and to the left. "This is ridiculous. Mender's proven his worth on more than one occasion. They're actin' like he's some scary stranger!" she spat out, sounding irate. Rarity sighed towards that, now next to me and gently patting my right foreleg. "Well, to them, he is. Uh, a stranger, I mean, not scary. Still, they are most definitely following a 'guilty until proven innocent' model," she admitted, halting her pats for a moment as she thought her words out. "Ugh. That sounds familiar," Applejack murmured back, a bit of the spite leaving her tone. Octavia, however, let out a sorrowful sigh. It was maybe her sixth one in four minutes. "I'm terribly sorry about all of this again, Mender. Me and my big mouth started all of this when I was supposed to be using this time to thank you for saving my life," she apologized, sounding utterly miserable over it. Pinkie giggled lightly at that from the other side of me, adding, "Well, actually, injuring or humiliating him has sort of been an icebreaker for Mender ever since he arrived in Ponyville." Heh, at least she was trying to lighten the mood. I felt a twinge of annoyance from Applejack, but it shifted to confusion instead as I started snickering. "Actually, now that she said that, I think she might be right. It's like I have some hidden quota that has to be met before anypony can be my friend. Heh," I agreed, looking up again. Pinkie smiled happily towards me and nodded twice, pleased that I was at least smiling again, it would seem. Well, I thought she was happy, anyway. Her link worked more off images and colors than direct emotions and thoughts. Right now she was a dark pink, which meant happy, but fighting to maintain that, from prior experiences with the mare. Sadly, they must have at least gotten to the volatile point in the story, as my thoughts were interrupted by Night Light shouting, "You're kidding! You seriously expect us to believe that?!" Ooh, which part? I found myself curious, in a disturbed sort of way. Twilight let out an annoyed growl, shooting back with, "Yes, because it's true! Ask any of the girls, or even Princess Celestia herself if you don't believe me!" I thought I heard Cadance clear her throat after that and softly mutter something about it being a bit loud, and supposed to be secret, but I couldn't be sure. Not that it mattered, as Night Light drowned her out a moment later anyway. "This is ridiculous! If what you're saying about him is true, then he's actually a-" he started to shout back. It was cut off prematurely, however, as a light blue bubble popped up over the entire area around them, shielding them from sight completely and also seemingly soundproof. Oh, good! All of Canterlot wouldn't know my secrets now. Thank you, Shining! Flopping back over onto the table, I gave out a sigh and started contemplating if it was possible to ride out of the shield on one of those sky ships, and then leap off to my death. No, knowing my luck, I'd have some sort of emergency armor reaction from falling, and I'd just make a sizable, pony-shaped crater. Or maybe the ships had their own safety shielding? Rainbow surprised me by joining a second later from the other side, her forehead wracking down just above mine. "Ugh. I hear ya! We didn't even get a chance to order before this, and now we can't!" she complained, whacking her hoof on the surface of the table impatiently. Spike, who had been rather quiet until now, snickered at that and suddenly suggested, "Ya know, they might be in there a while. Mender and Rainbow were hungry before we even got here, and will be starving probably by the time they're finished. They'd probably understand if we just, I dunno, went back to the palace and ate there?" Uh... Huh. Well, honestly, I didn't see a huge amount wrong with the idea. Especially as Dash was really hungry, too. "Spike, what about them? Would it be polite to start eating without them?" Rarity asked, frowning towards the dragon. There was a light, yet visible twitch from Applejack before she pointed out, "Ah dunno. Is it polite o' them ta start this hogwash up before we could even order, fully knowin' that several of us are downright starvin'? Ya fully know he's just raisin' ah stink because he don't like Mender. He didn't say ah thing about Flutters! This is downright immature." It was kind of amazing, the things she had the guts to say. Sadly, she was also true to her nature and not lying. That implied that he simply hated my guts, however... "Oh, yeah! Fluttershy and Twilight would understand. Besides, we can at least tell them that we're, uh..." Pinkie started to suggest before dwindling off. I was suddenly keenly aware of her feeling the raw anger and hostility coming from Twilight. Uh? "...right. Um, Fluttershy! We can tell Fluttershy where we're going!" the pink mare appended, giving a hesitant giggle afterwards. Oh, yeah, right. Didn't want to indirectly become a target of Twilight's wrath. Octavia's ears flattened a little bit, but she nodded at that, saying, "I understand. I suppose I can treat you the next time you're in Canterlot. Might as well drop this case off at-" Shaking my head, I held up a hoof to stop her, earning a questioning expression from the gray mare. "No, no, Octavia. You can treat us the next time we're in Canterlot, yes. I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be back sooner, rather than later. For now, however, you get to come to the palace with us instead and eat there. We kind of ruined your plans, after all. I shouldn't have invited the others after all, it would seem," I corrected, frowning to myself as I glanced back over at the bubble. To have things degrade this far, I must have made some sort of faux pas at some point. Probably that moment when I offered for Shining and Cadance to come, too... Octavia's gasp drew my attention again, just in time to see her eyes get huge. "I couldn't... But... The palace?! I've only been inside on the rare occasion of a musical performance, and never as a royal guest!" she exclaimed, sounding utterly shocked. I blinked at that, not quite understanding her reaction. "Uh, technically you're just a normal guest of mine. I'm just a normal pony, after all. But I don't think Tia would mind either way, especially if we tell her what happened and she can laugh hysterically at it," I mused, that last part largely to myself. Applejack chuckled at that, nodding along before agreeing with, "Eeyup! Ah imagine bein' ah Princess can get mighty stiff sometimes. Cuttin' back an' havin' ah good laugh is good fer her." The ecstatic sensation from Pinkie caught me off guard for a moment, as she momentarily let images of the royal bakery products drift down the link. Heh, she had more than one reason for wanting to go back to the palace to eat, I realized. "Yes! Let Fluttershy know, and then we can get going! I'm starving," the pink mare ordered, hopping out of her seat instantly and abandoning any pretenses of sorrow over the ordeal. Heh. Never change, Pinkie. Closing my eyes, I focused on just Fluttershy and softly sent, "Fluttershy, several of us are hungry, and this situation has shut the restaurant down. We're going to head back to the palace in order to get food, hopefully before Rainbow passes out from hunger." It took her a moment of surprise to realize I was talking to her, and then she sent her characteristic innocent smile sensation back down the link. "Oh, um, I didn't realize we were being so loud! Oh no. I'm sorry. Uh, yes, you should get Rainbow Dash back to the palace to get some food quickly, then. I'll let the others know, uh, when things calm down a little," she assured back, sounding stressed out already, and this only adding to it. I tried my best to send assurance down the link before adding, "Keep us informed. The links will operate essentially anywhere. And hang in there. None of this is your fault." No, if anything, it was Twilight and her father who were oblivious to everything around them. I felt a bit of relief come from her, and a steadier smile as she 'nodded' back. Relaxing, I returned her nod, then opened my eyes again and smiled for real. "We're clear to go to the palace and get some food, then," I informed. It didn't even take two seconds. "Woo! Let's go!" Pinkie shouted before blasting off back in the direction of the Palace. I wasn't surprised in the slightest at this point, of course. Rainbow shot after her, grinning, a second later, while Rarity, Spike, and Applejack hung back with Octavia and me. Octavia was my guest now, so I should probably stick with her. Of course, Rarity was probably too dignified to race, the risk of getting her mane, coat, or dress dirty being too great. Spike was glued to her side as well, so yeah. Smiling, I realized I at least wouldn't have to walk alone... * * * * * We walked slowly down the cobbled path towards the main gate leaving the castle grounds. My stomach was pleasantly full at this point, having had at least four sandwiches, a nice salad, and these delicious slices of fried bread that were dipped in cheese and tomato sauce. Whoever first thought to squish tomatoes and mix them with bread and cheese was a genius! Undoubtedly one of Pinkie's ancestors. Given my link to the mare, I knew she was still enjoying them alongside Rainbow and Applejack. Heh. Rarity smiled pleasantly as she walked along to my left, a very full looking Spike curled up on her back, looking really sleepy. She'd insisted on only a salad and one of the slices that I insisted she try. I got her to admit that they were 'oh so wrong and right at the same time' anyway, and I assumed she meant for her figure. Heh. Regardless, she apparently forgave me enough to help me walk Octavia out. The gray mare in question ate what could only be twice her body weight while fitting into the common room 'scene' fairly well with the rest of us. Rarity finally relaxed around her, apparently realizing that she wasn't quite the 'fancy' pony she'd initially thought. No need to put on airs, so to speak. I think it was a good thing, overall. Octavia currently walked to my right, her impossibly large cello case still perfectly strapped to her back. She didn't even sag while walking! I saw her smirk out of the bottom of my eye, and shifted my gaze back down to her as we walked, curious now. She warned a moment later, "You can stare at me all you want, but a mare might think you mean something if you keep ogling her cello case." What?! Rarity started giggling in amusement for a few seconds before pointing out, "It is a rather large case, Octavia. You must admit, it stands out." The gray mare glanced up at the top of the case that swayed back and forth above her head as she walked, then smiled more honestly, nodding. "I don't normally carry it around, of course, but it does seem fairly obvious, doesn't it? I've had this one for a few years now, though, and I should probably replace it soon. The newer cases are so much lighter, though. It might throw my balance off!" she complained, going in the totally opposite direction I had anticipated. "Huh, normally lighter is better," I muttered, looking back up at the case. For something you had to carry, that was almost universally true, but she was right. Balance had to be taken into account. Adding dead weight to a design was for that reason, but that was usually for vehicles I'd made. Dead weight, of course, being defined as 'non-functioning'. Although was balance a function? That sort of separated it from armor, or a bulkhead. I suddenly realized that I was confusing myself. An odd creaking noise came to my attention as we neared the large gate, two guards opening it slowly for us at the same time. Eh? My ears perked a bit as I swiveled them around, looking for the source of the strange noise as I nodded to the two guards, who returned it. Heh, at least I was recognized here. It didn't take me too long to realize the creaking was coming from Octavia herself, who just started talking again with, "Normally lighter is better, yeah, but I'm so used to carrying this huge thing around that I might start over compensating my movement if-" The creaking noise became loud enough to stop her, mid-explanation as she frowned instead. Wait, that was the sound of leather... The strap buckle for her case came free a second later, and I sighed, bringing my subdermal armor up barely a second before forty pounds of musical instrument crushed me into the cobblestone. The guards rushed over surprisingly quickly as Octavia let out a startled squawk, followed by, "Ah, Mender, are you okay?!" Rarity looked significantly less concerned, smirking down at me in amusement, while Spike yawned and sat up again. "Eh, I'm fine," I muttered, not really having felt much of anything after my armor popped into place under my skin. Sure, it had less shock absorption than my full, ablative plates, but it was far subtler. The guards pulled the case off me easily enough and helped me get back to my hooves. Meanwhile, Octavia slipped around to the other side of me and started picking things up off the ground. Eh? It didn't take me long to notice that the entirety of my left two saddlebags had been spilled out. Damn it! I knew I should have just left them back in the room. It had been my subtle hope to meet Twilight and Fluttershy on their way back, and I was hoping the saddle clasps would cheer them up. "I'm still sorry, Mender! This is all one huge disaster! I didn’t think the strap would give out for at least another week yet…” she groaned, scrambling to pick my stuff up as fast as she could. Week? Oh. My gravity probably didn’t help matters there. The guards looked at each other speculatively, then back at me, slipping back into attention stances, oddly enough. “Octavia, relax. I have, uh, notoriously bad luck, and honestly, it didn’t hurt me,” I tried to assure, giving what I hoped was a calm and reasonable smile. I felt more like an idiot instead, of course. Eh, close enough. She gave me a concerned frown before shoving my map and Twilight’s coin purse back into my bag absently, then reached down again and froze, eyes widening a bit. Huh? I glanced down, and then stopped as I noticed she was staring down at Prudentia instead, which I just remembered had been in my left front bag. Ah! “Hmm?” Rarity hummed curiously, glancing around Octavia at the book. It was just as I remembered it, of course, with its dark blue cover and brass binding and accents. I didn’t fully understand why she was staring at it. Octavia’s eyes shivered a little as she slowly reached down and brushed a hoof across the worn book. “Oh my. This is gorgeous! Are you borrowing it from Twilight? It looks positively ancient!” she cooed, smiling finally as she lifted it up. Uh…? Purdue’s eyes opened in my mind an instant later with a sharp glare, surprising me. Octavia let out a startled squeak as the book flashed away an instant later, re-appearing at my side before sliding gently back into my saddlebag, my small friend’s image disappearing as fast as she woke up. That was… strange. “Ah, sorry. Uh, technically it’s my book. It’s one of the few belongings I woke up with, and it’s, uh, particular about who it lets hold it,” I explained, coughing lightly and shifting awkwardly on my hooves. Octavia looked more than a little surprised, and Rarity gave me a concerned eyebrow raise at the same time. “That’s not… normal. Is Twilight studying it, then?” the gray mare asked, sounding even more curious than before. Crap! Rarity smiled softly, however, and nodded to her, not missing a beat. “Why of course, Dear. She is our resident expert on all things magical, and also happens to love books, so it’s right up her alley. Mender’s a bit sensitive about it, however, it being one of his few possessions from before he lost his memory,” she explained, lying completely in an amazingly graceful and competent way. It was kind of frightening. The gray mare looked at her for a moment, almost sharply in her stare, before relaxing and smiling again, nodding. “I imagine. I’m sorry for bringing it up, Mender. Anyway, we appear to have reached the gate, so I guess this is where we part for tonight,” she reminded, nodding her head towards the large double gate as she talked. Oh, right. Thankfully, Rarity wasn’t as flustered as I was. “Oh, of course. We must wait for our friends to return here regardless, however. What shall you do about the case?” she inquired, looking back over to where it fell. Octavia shook her head as she walked over to it, threading the strap back through the buckle using her hoof and the ground before adjusting it carefully. “It looks like it just slipped loose. Weird, given that it’s meant to hold something a bit heavier than the case itself, just for safety. It should be fine, but I’ll hurry home just in case,” she muttered, sliding it back up onto her back before rotating to face us again. She seemed keenly aware of where the other end of it was, deftly avoiding the guards as she spun. The guards who were still sitting there in rigid stance in front of me… I was starting to get a bit creeped out. Regardless, I decided definitely against mentioning my gravity effect. “Well, if you’re sure you can make it home okay. We’ll look you up the next time we come to Canterlot?” I offered, smiling towards her finally. She grinned fully this time, nodding and adding, “Right! I’ll be fine, as I actually don’t live too far from here. Canterlot Heights apartment suite. I’ll mail Twilight the address for you. I still owe you dinner next time, my treat. And this time, let’s not invite the grumps.” Ha! Smirking back, I waved to her as she trotted off and turned to the right past the gate, waving back momentarily before trotting onwards, presumably towards her apartment. Rarity mused for a moment, watching her go with a soft smile on her face. “Interesting mare, she is,” she murmured, after Octavia got out of earshot. “She’s a lot more relaxed than I thought she’d be,” muttered Spike, who yawned again immediately afterwards and lightly pushed into the back of Rarity’s mane. I noted he was very, very careful not to part or mess up even a single hair, and she smiled back at him. “Oh, I agree fully. I expected her to be a bit more supercilious, given her high standing, audience for her music, and apparently where she lives. Canterlot Heights! My, my, what a prestigious place. She even noticed that I was lying,” Rarity pondered out loud, as if amused. Wait, what?! Rarity noticed my startled glance, then giggled, pointing out, “She didn’t push it, so it accomplished what we desired regardless, no? Anyway, I’m guessing you didn’t intend for Purdue to react that way?” Frowning, I looked back at the book in my bag before carefully closing the top again, making sure to firmly clasp it shut this time. “No, I didn’t. Although it’s rather, uh, partial to me,” I reminded. She momentarily raised an eyebrow to my use of ‘it’, but turned back to the guards a second later, suddenly remembering they were there, probably. Yeah, they weren’t members of DReg, so they didn’t know my secrets. “Uh, is there something you two need? I’m not entirely familiar with protocol here yet,” I warned, rubbing the back of my head slightly. The one on the left threw up a salute, still not moving, before asking, “Permission to speak freely?” Oh! Right. “Granted,” I assured, tilting my head towards him. The day guards were really serious compared to the night ones. He quickly explained, “Our protocol dictates that whenever there is an event needing direct intervention, such as your incident with the cello case, and there is a commanding officer of higher rank nearby, we are to wait on alert standby afterwards until being dismissed or receiving further orders.” Huh? Was there a higher ranked officer nearby? Oh. Oh! “Oh! Sometimes I forget that I’ve been granted ranking again. Apologies. You’re dismissed back to your posts, of course,” I assured, nodding to both of them. They both saluted sharply before heading back towards the gate with a confident strut. Yeah, they were way more serious. Oddly, I didn’t see where the discrepancy would have rested, given that Tia and Luna didn’t seem that different in their dealings. Rarity let out a soft cooing noise, which shifted into a faint snicker. “You handled that quite remarkably, Mender. You’ll indeed make a fine prince one day,” she complimented. Psh, I didn’t handle it that great. I mean, uh… Wait, what? For the second time in rather short order, I found myself giving the pearly mare a blank, dumbfounded stare. “P-Prince?!” I asked, suddenly totally uncertain of what she was talking about. Spike yawned sleepily again, rubbing his eyes before answering for her. “Any pony forming a bond through marriage with direct royalty, or the blood relative of direct royalty, shall be considered a Titled Prince or Princess, offering more direct influence in the workings of Equestria, and its citizens,” he quoted, as if from memory, while looking equal parts bored by it and sleepy. Rarity nodded along to it, of course. “Well said, Spike! Twilight’s taught you well. By marrying Twilight, who is a direct blood relation to Shining Armor, a full Prince, you will become a Titled Prince, just like she is a Titled Princess already. Fluttershy, I imagine, will also become a Titled Princess. It stops there, however, as you cannot grant that status to your foals,” she elaborated upon, looking pleased about the prospect. My head spun, not only with mention of me being a prince, but foals in the future. I wobbled a bit before sitting down again, blushing. “I… that can’t be a good idea. They don’t have any, uh, duties, do they?” I asked, dreading the answer even as I requested it. Rarity looked a bit exasperated at that, if nothing else. “Hardly. They’re merely looked to as outstanding members of society, which they usually adhere to. You, however, have nothing to worry about there. Oh, and as you’ve seen, their signature may also grant special rights and justifications,” she reminded. I wondered idly whom she was referring to with her exception she implied there, but she looked a bit irked by the statement, so I decided not to ask. One furiously pissed off mare was enough per day. Exhaling softly, I sat down again and straightened out my saddlebags. “I’m glad. I don’t think I’d be up to being full royalty. While I’m used to leading soldiers, I, uh… I’m not very good at leading anypony else,” I admitted, frowning but feeling a bit better for getting it off my chest. She puffed a bit of air upwards, making her curled bang sway momentarily before sitting down as well. Naturally, Spike slid off her back, but she lifted her tail up and cushioned him as he landed, gently moving him around to her side with it. He looked a bit surprised at his sudden repositioning, but quickly decided he so didn’t care, if his smile and blush said anything. If anything, Rarity didn’t appear to notice, which actually said something for their relationship, honestly. “I understand that it can be scary. I used to be terrified of what ponies would think of me. Making dresses uses a lot of my own sense of style directly, and really puts me out there, after all. It’s frightening, and I’m always nervous when others are reviewing my work,” she revealed, looking back up at me afterwards. Oh? She seemed so confident normally that I honestly didn’t think anything outright frightened her. Considering it, I decided to just be honest. “It’s strange to hear you say that. You always seem so confident on the outside that thinking about you worrying and nervous seems, I dunno. Against your character. I never realized how stressful it all can be,” I admitted, flicking my left ear a little as I chose my words carefully. Rarity looked momentarily surprised at my confession, and then smiled, a very faint red tint appearing on her cheeks before she shook her head. “You give me too much credit, Mender. I’m sure you’ll eventually see how I act when the stress gets to me. My friends have always been there to help me get through it, though, and I’m glad I can count you amongst them now,” she said, nodding to me afterwards as if confirming it. Spike shifted a little bit, then hugged the tip of her tail to himself before chipping in with, “I’ll do anything for you, too, Rarity. You can rely on me, too.” Heh. I think she knew that already, but him saying it was rather adorable, I had to admit. Especially the way he said her name, like he was trying to savor its taste as it left his tongue. She smiled down at him smoothly, with measured practice and no hesitation, nodding to him as well. “Of course, Spikey Wikey. You’ve been, uh…” she started to confirm. Oddly, she hesitated, momentarily losing her smile as her eyes opened again, looking more fully down at him. He stopped shifting about, looking up at her instead with a rather curious stare, a nervous twitch going into his tail as she faltered. Eh? It wasn’t a very long hesitation, before her smile came back, this time a bit warmer as her eyes softened. “What I mean is, you’ve always helped me out selflessly all along. Thank you, Spike. You mean a lot to me, and I know I will always have your support,” she thanked. For a moment, it almost looked like Spike was going to melt into the cobblestone, slipping between the cracks like so many drops of rain. He really did heat up a little, however, as I was able to feel the temperature shift from here. “O-Of course, Rarity! I’m never going anywhere. You and Twilight are best friends, so she doesn’t have any reason to go anywhere either! So I’m going to stay and help you with anything you need,” he reasoned on the fly, nodding furiously. Heh. Oddly, my mind ran over what she had said to him prior, feeling an odd sort of relief that I didn’t hear the word ‘friend’ from her anywhere in it. I didn’t quite understand my own concern, however. Was that from my other self, instead? Weird. I chuckled regardless and smiled to him, nodding as well. “She usually doesn’t listen to me, but if she tries to take you away, I’ll stop her, Spike,” I assured softly. It wasn’t going to happen anyway, but he still had youthful impulsive tendencies. Rarity huffed at that, however, giving me a soft scowl before asking, “She listens to you, Mender. Twilight just isn’t very skilled at picking up on things. When has she specifically not listened to you?” I gave her a blank, disbelieving stare for a moment. “Today, maybe? I tried telling her that those sorts of trust building exercises weren’t really what we needed. I’m not afraid of what she can do to me physically so much anymore. I’m… more afraid of what she can do to me emotionally…” I admitted, lowering my eyes a bit after I said it. It was true. It didn’t take a trained expert to see how screwed up I was on the inside. I was outright crazy in a few aspects. It hit me then fully, however. I didn’t realize how close I’d become to the mare, until I fully realized what she could do to me. There was a pause, and I glanced up again at Rarity, who was giving me a sad frown. “I… I admit to guessing as much. I recommended those more for her sake than yours, both to show her that she’s not going to break you by doing things with you without planning every waking second of the event, and to try to show her that you’re more forgiving towards her than she realizes,” she explained softly. I paused at that, and then considered it, closing my eyes. Twilight was a compulsive planner, and I doubted that much would ever change. Part of it was because she felt safe and in control when everything was planned out, I imagined. Still, sometimes I did just like doing spontaneous things. Like maybe just settling in and snuggling with her while we did our separate research and reading. Just having Fluttershy close to me felt warm and happy, and I had no doubt the same would apply to Twilight if she just tried it. Rarity suddenly perked up and glanced to the left. The sudden movement caught my attention, and my ears flicked up again, looking to my right to follow her gaze. Twilight stood across the street, ears dropped while she looked at me sadly, before slowly walking towards us. Fluttershy followed behind her, looking a bit tired and weary with her tail sliding along the concrete. Of course, Twilight looked rather worse for wear, too, stray hairs stuck here and there out of her mane, which usually indicated stress on her part. “Why didn’t you stop me, Mender? If they weren’t helping you at all, why did you go along with all that stupid stuff?” she asked softly as she reached our end of the sidewalk. I noticed the guard to my light look uneasy in my peripheral vision, subtly wincing. I sort of agreed with him as I rotated to face her. Fluttershy slipped up next to her instead, however, and pressed her right side into the lavender mare. Twilight stopped and glanced over towards her, uncertain, before widening her eyes a little. I felt my own heartbeat suddenly, gently being pushed through Fluttershy like a sort of empathy link, into Twilight. It was soft and warm, as I momentarily shared the sensation with the yellow pegasi, feeling the soft fur against mine. I instinctively nudged back, my earlier desire to just snuggle close to them both kicking in before I realized it. Both mares blushed, and Rarity tilted her head at the display they put on. Thankfully, the yellow mare explained a moment later. “Do you feel that, Twilight? That sensation he just had for us?” she asked quietly, leaning back and smiling up at the mare timidly. The lavender unicorn remained faintly rosy in the cheeks and managed to nod twice before looking back over at me in surprise. Fluttershy smiled fully at that and explained, “That means he really cares for us both. That’s why he went along with what you wanted. He wanted to make you happy, Twilight.” Heh. The pegasus was subtle when she wanted to be, yet amazingly observant. Maybe not quite as much as Rarity, but she definitely had an eye for body language and the empathy to match. “She’s right. I just wanted you to be happy. I just, uh, don’t know the best way to do that, sometimes,” I admitted, wondering how much she’d heard. Giving a start, I tried to look up as I felt her flick away again, appearing right in front of me. The same alert I made for Discord fired off whenever Twilight teleported, too. Instead of anything hostile, however, I just felt her push into me softly, moving in closer as I looked up. My eyes widened a little while hers closed, her lips gently pushed against mine as her forelegs slipped under mine. For a moment, I was startled, but slowly I relaxed and slipped mine over hers, pulling her closer as she lazily pressed against me, no sense of urgency at all. She broke the kiss a moment later, but kept her snout resting up against mine as she stayed there, soft heat dancing in her cheeks. “You’re right,” she finally whispered, her eyes shifting back to the smiling yellow mare who was walking up behind her and to the right before continuing with, “Just being close feels pretty good…” Oh, Fluttershy had felt what I ‘wanted’ earlier, too. Twilight felt just slightly surprised as I smiled against her muzzle and pulled her chest against mine. I slipped past her face more for comfort of our necks, and pushed my muzzle just under her jaw on the left side, kissing her lightly and rather enjoying her soft scent. She shivered and relaxed more against me, letting out a pleased murmur before resting her head against the side of mine. “I know. I like having you close,” I admitted, smiling to myself a little. Her smile came back slowly. “I understand that now. I’m never going to hurt you again, Mender. Never. Not physically, or emotionally,” she assured. Ah, she had heard that much. I didn’t say anything, as I really didn’t know what to say. Fluttershy slipped up against where we were connected, to my right, and snuggled in, too, looking happy regardless. Heh, that view I could live with forever. This moment was perfect enough. It was the simple things, really, that made it the best. We didn’t need complicated rules and statuses with each other like being in a herd or married or linked. Just this closeness made it worth it. Rarity smiled at us from my left, appearing pleased at the results as well, despite the slipup of the accidental eavesdropping. Spike would probably look disgusted if it didn’t appear that he’d fallen asleep sitting up next to Rarity, his head hanging low and his breathing deepened. Heh. We should at least get him back to the room. I sent that much to the mares against me, and Twilight perked up, looking back over at her assistant. It would seem the pearly unicorn was a step ahead of her, however, suggesting, “We should probably head back to the guest rooms. Spike needs his rest after working so hard with the new letter codes. Oh, I also have one last trust exercise you could try that’s a bit, well, different. It’s more tailored to your specific issues.” She glanced towards me when she said it, and my ears perked, twisting towards her as I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is it that thing you brought?” Twilight inquired, only serving to make me even more curious! Rarity looked more amused than anything, and nodded to her in return. “Quite. Shall I retrieve it once we get back to the tower?” she offered, regaining that impish expression I knew so well, and always dreaded when it was turned against me, like now. It just felt like I was in for quite a surprise. Twilight nodded twice, shifting over and extending her hoof towards Rarity as the unicorn walked closer to us, sliding Spike along with her tail. Oddly, he didn’t even appear to notice. “Yes. If it’s more tailored for us, I want to try it. Anything to help get us closer!” Twilight declared, shifting to her more determined expression. Blinking, I gave her a somewhat confused glance. “Uh, Twilight, I think we’ve gotten closer just with today. Really, we don’t have to rush-“ I started to explain. It was then that I learned how absolutely strange it felt to be in the middle of saying something while teleporting, as Rarity touched Twilight’s hoof with her own. The world imploded inwards and I momentarily heard my own voice doubling over itself for just a split second, moving faster than the sound waves that traveled outwards, before everything was sucked away. Chapter 71Rarity frowned towards Twilight once more before extending the carefully wrapped box to her. "You have all the details, right? I've put a lot of, well, effort into the creation of this. Be careful with it," the pearly unicorn warned once more as Twilight took the box with an apprehensive look. Spike, who sat sleepily at the base of the stairs, gave a mildly annoyed look instead, asking, "What exactly are we doing here, again?" "I have no idea," I admitted, sighing as I watched the package exchange. At least we were inside now where it was warmer. Maybe I could convince Twilight to set more furniture on fire to keep us warm? If this trust exercise went the same direction as the last ones, that might not be that far of an extreme. Twilight frowned over at Spike instead, apparently entirely ignoring my quip towards the process. "I told you, this is a trust exercise that's supposed to be geared more towards our specific problems, and I'm going to need your help to work with this thing. Mender, stay downstairs until I shoot you a mental message to come up," she instructed, glancing back over towards me with a nod. I nodded simply in return, giving her a questioning glance that was mirrored by Fluttershy, who lay at my side, looking confused. My inquiry sent down her link returned a negative, sadly, revealing she didn't know anything more about this than I did. Although the way Rarity smirked as Twilight turned around and headed upstairs made me extremely uneasy. "What exactly is this about, Rarity? Is this something you made?" I asked as Spike followed Twilight up the stairs towards her room. The white mare frowned at that, then thought to herself for a moment before nodding and explaining, "I made most of it, although some parts were special order. This particular trust exercise is more, how shall I say, custom tailored to your particular issue. I was skeptical on whether the normal exercises would work, regardless." She could have admitted that before we had done them, and saved us, the custodian, and the royal grounds' keeper a whole lot of stress. Sensing my frustration, Fluttershy sat up again and snuggled softly into my left side, earning a quiet exhale on my part. I closed my eyes and just let her nuzzle my jaw for a second before shivering and pecking her cheek, getting her to blush softly. Okay, yeah, staying in a bad mood with her around was really, really hard. I didn't particularly mind, however, and Rarity smirked at the image. "Now you two, thankfully, don't need the exercises at all!" she complimented, smiling towards us and nodding. I started to smile in return when Fluttershy gasped instead, rapidly shaking her head. "Oh no, I should probably do them as well. I hurt Mender not once, but twice! They were so terrible of me to do, and I have to make it up to him and get him to trust me again," she explained, entirely missing the point. Blinking, I raised an eyebrow to her before pointing out, "Fluttershy, I do trust you. Almost unconditionally. Uh, and I really only remember one time you've done something even remotely painful towards me. Oh, except for that time you flew us into the river, but that was partly my fault, too." I mean, I was the one who couldn't walk straight after falling down, like, sixteen hills on my way towards Ponyville. Plus, I think there are only ten or so between Ponyville and my lovely crater site. I was just that bad at directions at that point, and probably hit a few several times. She rapidly shook her head again, however, obviously disagreeing. "No! It was after you woke up as well. I let myself get so scared over what I saw in your memories that... I avoided you! That was horrible of me, and I know I don't deserve to be forgiven, but please, if there's anything I can do at all to help-" she continued quickly apologizing. Oh, that? She wasn't even dating me at that point, so 'avoiding' me wasn't really that big of a deal. At least I didn't think so, but I suppose I wasn't the leading expert on pony culture. "Fluttershy, that was hardly anything major. It just confused me more than anything. Plus, what you saw was really horrible and I don't blame you in the least for not wanting to deal with it," I reasoned, knowing for a pony like her, it would have been even worse. Rarity frowned and nodded in agreement, adding, "He's right, Dear. I know you had affection for him even then, but you were not actually 'with' him at that point, so hardly held to any social obligations. Plus, he's not angry with you, as you can see." I tried to nod at that, but the yellow mare pounced lightly into my chest with a squeak instead, holding herself to me as I wrapped my forelegs around her, giving an uncertain glance towards Rarity, who shrugged, looking uncertain at best. We waited a few more minutes in silence, with me looking around the bottom floor of the tower. It was very nicely built, to be honest. I mean, sure, the engineer in me noticed things like that really fast, but it was more than just the structure of the room. A part of me still stared in wonder at how downright visually pleasing the architecture the ponies made was. It kind of made me wonder what the Keldarians could have created had it not been for that lovely galactic war thing. I think the most pleasant work of art my other self had witnessed was one of the artillery specialists 'doodling' a little flower with a smiley face on it onto the burnt remains of our third moon with a laser battery. I smirked inwardly at that. He'd claimed it would confuse the Grosh, who would have to stop and decipher what a 'smile' was. Heh. We all laughed... I felt an ache in my chest as I slipped out of the memory and into the room again. The fireplace was warm against my fur, and I shivered, not realizing how cold I had become. I moved a bit closer to the fireplace, my hooves making light creaks as they pressed down upon the light-colored wood that the floor was made of. The fireplace itself was made out of the same cobbled stone bricks of the walls, making it look like it was just shaped out of the room via magic. Maybe it had been. The fire flicked back and forth in my gaze, and I just stared into it, blanking my mind as best I could. No, nothing was real apart from this moment. I was right here, and time moved onwards, with or without me. Fluttershy slipped up next to me again and tucked into my right side, sighing softly. To my mild surprise, Rarity also joined us, moving in on my other flank and lying down a little ways from me, also smiling into the flames. Smiling. I was smiling. As much as everything had hurt and how horrible things had been before, I was happy. This place made me happy. No, it was more than that. I felt their every wish now. Their last thoughts as their lives faded. I'd always felt that it was my fault. If I hadn't existed, maybe whoever had those malicious thoughts wouldn't have had a place to put that weapon. Maybe they'd still be alive, then. A part of me now wanted to spit on my older, naive self at the same time. No, the weapon was put into me and fired off during those five minutes of loss of control. That's why all the data from that exact time frame was so corrupted inside of me. There was nothing I could have done to prevent what happened, and definitely nothing I could do now to change it. Failing some sort of magical time machine or something, what was done was done. The weapon would have been fired off with or without me. All it did now was firmly root in my mind that everypony, and everyone, that could yet smile, or cry, or laugh... All who held onto their emotions and could feel equal in others; they all deserved a chance to be happy. Even those in BEID, who had tried so hard to hurt me. Only the ones who'd given up that, and tried to take the happiness away from others truly deserved their fate. The Keldarians might have been doomed, either from the Grosh or our own genetics, but that didn't mean they deserved it, or what happened to them. I wasn't the one who did it to them; I realized that now. But I could live for them, and honor their memories. Desperation, hope, sorrow, loss, pain, and fear... All their final thoughts were stored away inside of me, along with everything that had comprised of them and their genetic code itself. Plus, if I happened to ever find the individual who did do that to them... Well, that was one individual who'd need no hesitation on my part. A mental yelp from Twilight snapped me out of my darkening thoughts, and my ears twitched as if I'd actually heard it as I looked up in the vague direction of her room, suddenly on edge. Fluttershy perked up and followed my eyes as well, with a questioning expression instead of concern. "Ow! Spike, be careful! This is a lot tighter than I thought it was supposed to be. Use the buttons!" Twilight ordered, me turning my audio channel on just to make sure she was okay. "Are you okay, Twi? You yelped," I asked out loud, flicking my audio over to 'speaker' instead, which projected from somewhere below my own vocal cords. Twilight made a squeak, which was easily heard this time and caused Rarity to start, looking over at me in confusion. The lavender mare recovered fast, however, and answered, "Oh, Mender! Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I just got my leg snagged in this thing, and Spike's having trouble with it. Don't worry." Rarity smiled at that and nodded pleasantly, adding, "At least you know he's always looking out for you, Dear. And such useful abilities!" I coughed lightly at that, looking away as I felt my cheeks heat up a bit. Okay, so I might have been a little paranoid, immediately jumping to potential assassination attempts and getting ready to sprint up the stairs and all. This was Equestria, where that kind of thing was unheard of. Even the weapons that Snapshot had used caused quite a stir, with those kinds of things being heavily regulated. The mouth blade had been bought, but the miniature crossbow was apparently hoof-made by her. Which was amazing, considering she had hooves. If she was weirded out by it, Twilight didn't show it and just giggled instead. "I agree. Contrary to what he wants you to believe, he's actually a sweetheart. Now turn off the audio, Mender. This is supposed to be a surprise," she requested. I sighed and nodded to nothing in particular, disabling the speaker first. "And what a surprise it is..." Spike tossed out half a second before I turned off the audio channel as well. He had sounded rather negative with that, an odd mixture of disturbed and annoyed. Well, that surely was a good sign! Rarity giggled at that, not making me feel better in the least. So it was some sort of outfit or something that would help me build trust in Twilight, or help Twilight build trust in me. Sadly, I couldn't think of any particular piece of clothing that could even begin to facilitate that apart from the blindfold I wore earlier. Twilight was taking way too long for it to be a simple band of cloth, however, even if it tied in the back with a button for some unknown reason. Worse yet, she had magic! Why did she need Spike's help at all?! Decidedly giving up on the strange mystery that would be solved for me regardless in hopefully a few minutes, I returned to just staring at the flames as they gently danced. It took me a moment to realize suddenly that there wasn't any fuel in the flames. Huh. Well, I could only assume magic of some sort, although I was a bit concerned as to the fact that I didn't notice the fire simply extending out of the stone floor of the fireplace. I had the oddest compulsion to stick my hoof in it and see if it was actually hot, or if the fire was just some sort of illusion to cover a lesser heat generation spell. Twilight would probably scold me if it turned out to be real flames, though. It didn't take much time after that at all for the mental link to flick on again. "Um, okay. I think I'm set, Mender," Twilight revealed, my 'speaker' kicking in automatically as the connection activated. Rarity perked up at that, and Fluttershy smiled and nodded before the unicorn lifted up a hoof to her. "No, Fluttershy. You should let Mender go up by himself first. This is important," she warned, looking solemn. Oh boy. The only time I'd ever heard anypony suggest going first somewhere was when it was a massive trap. I gave the pearly unicorn a skeptical glance, but she just smiled and nodded towards the stairs instead of actually answering anything. I should have known. Looks like I would only get to know what poison I swallowed after it killed me. Well, no sense in delaying. "Uh, right. I'll go see what this is about, then. See you in a few minutes, Fluttershy," I muttered, managing a smile towards the confused looking pegasus. Rarity giggled at that and added, "Well, I certainly hope you put a bit more effort in than a few minutes. This has been a lot of work, and you wouldn't want to disappoint Twilight," she suggested, giving me that playful pout she was so good at. I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out at her playfully before standing again and heading up the stairs. Hopefully I'd live through whatever this was they had planned. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would undoubtedly prove far more painful than they'd like towards me. No, it didn't matter if I tempted fate towards it or not. Bad things happened regardless, and I'd just given up attaching any sort of superstition to them. Spike was coming down the stairs as I headed up, interestingly enough. Whatever he helped her set up must be done, and he was sent away as well. Strange. He also looked a bit, well, greener than usual. I tilted my head towards him, but he just shuddered as he looked up at me. "Ugh. Uh, good luck, dude. Oh and, um, have fun? So not sticking around to watch, and now I have a few... questions for Rarity..." explained before hurrying past me. Well then, that certainly instilled hope and confidence in me. Like being diagnosed with a rare blood disease, or finding out that you were actually a cybernetic abomination! Swallowing uneasily, I continued up the last spiraling flight of stairs before stopping in front of Twilight's room doors. They were still partially ajar, Spike having obviously not closed them entirely when he left, probably knowing I'd be up shortly anyway. A soft light came from inside, at least telling me that I'd be able to see my incoming demise. Although, it was odd because it was too dim for the main lights. Maybe that was just the fireplace? Deciding I wasn't going to get any further information by just standing outside the door, I swallowed uneasily and slipped inside, slowly shutting the door behind me. If I was going to die horribly, I at least had the courtesy of sealing whatever it was inside with me, while simultaneously limiting the amount of horrible sounds those surviving ponies heard. That was just common courtesy! Oh, that and trying to minimize your splattering after being wounded. I greatly respected the janitorial positions and tried to limit any gore I either created or produced myself. Their job was undoubtedly hard enough as it was. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw within. My jaw dropped practically to the floor as I spotted Twilight on the rug in front of the fireplace. She was indeed wearing a blindfold, but it hardly stopped there. A rather large ball gag was strapped into her mouth, and a series of haphazardly positioned leather straps tied her forelegs to her chest, tufts of her coat sticking out between them. Her back legs were somewhat mobile still, a metal bar with hoof cuffs on each end lying idle nearby that she must have decided not to put on. Lastly, a metal clasp locked around her tail base, and a larger ring was strapped down at the bottom of her horn. Oddly, the horn ring glowed a light blue in color. "Mmph?" she asked out loud, looking in the vague direction of my hoof steps. "Mender? Is that you?" she asked mentally instead. That costume couldn't be what I thought it was! "Ah, yeah. It's me, Twilight. Uh, what are you doing?" I asked out loud, edging a bit closer as I looked the costume over. Yeah, it was made of that fake leather, consisting of a black color and covered in studs made out of a bluish gemstone. It was such an accurate likeness to the special gear from my old dimension that it left little room to doubt. But that sort of thing was used in, well, sexual manners, which deeply confused me as to this situation. She relaxed somewhat and wiggled again, the straps tying her forelegs to her chest not looking the most comfortable. I saw that there were leg holes now that I was closer, as well as a collar with leash attached. The leash lay to the other side of her, seemingly ignored. "Good! Uh, surprise! I guess... I'm not entirely sure why Rarity thinks that this will bolster trust, but maybe it's just a more extensive version of the blindfold exercise?" she questioned, not sounding very sure of herself at all. Raising an eyebrow, I slid the metal leg strut over towards myself and peeked at it. Extendable, with a hoof cuff on each side. Was this one of those 'ordered' items? I didn't think Rarity was proficient in metal manipulation. "Oh, I'm not sure what that part is for," Twilight continued, obviously hearing the scraping noise, and followed with, "This outfit seems to be some sort of highly specialized restraint system meant for unicorns. The suppression ring stops magic from being used, too." She didn't know how right she was... It was also really strange having a conversation using both audio and telepathy. I frowned, however, doubting the validity of that last part she mentioned. "I somehow doubt it's capable of restraining you," I pointed out, sitting down slightly behind her and looking over at the glowing ring. Twilight hesitated for a moment before I saw the ring flare up again, but sputter a second later. "Ah, yeah. I could overwhelm the enchantment on it, but it would short the ring out and damage it. This is Rarity's outfit, and I don't exactly want to break it," she muttered, frowning behind her blindfold before turning back and looking in my general direction. "I don't know what the bar is for either. It's obviously to restrain a leg, but I'm not sure what to do with the other end, so I didn't put it on. Maybe it's to attach to something solid and sturdy?" she theorized mentally, her tongue rotating the ball gag around in her mouth as she 'spoke'. Smirking, I shook my head and corrected, "No, it's not for that. I'll show you what it's for. Move your back hooves apart a bit, Twi." She tilted her head curiously at that, but actually did so, slipping to her back hooves and raising her rump a bit to accommodate the shift. Curiosity killed the cat indeed, but I had a feeling that I was the doomed feline here instead. Unable to resist the amusement of seeing when she figured it out, I slid the bar into place anyway and pushed the cuff onto her leg just above the hoof. Imagine my surprise when both cuffs snapped shut an instant later. The bar extended at the same time, earning a squeak from Twilight as her back legs were pushed apart a good foot and a half. Magic danced along her spine at the same time as the buckles pulled tight, and she let out a panicked yelp as the tail ring yanked into the spine brace of the outfit, pulling her tail up and out of the way completely. Ah! I flailed sideways, looking away from her so fast that I ended up falling over, thankfully not even catching a glimpse of any private bits. Twilight was practically screaming into the ball gag by then, and I realized that falling over had been a mistake as her back left hoof flailed into my lower gut, smashing into me hard and knocking the air out of me. I rolled to clear some distance from her and started coughing on the ground as she managed to flip herself, roll once, and then get stuck in a standing position against the wall. The ring on her horn was going crazy as sparks and flares of magic were shooting off it, and I momentarily worried she was going to set the room on fire! "Twilight! Calm down! I'm not looking!" I managed to cough out, ducking a stray bolt of energy that radiated off her sparking horn. I felt my cheek singe as my armor folded up over my face, covering my eyes just in case. The unicorn froze, panting heavily into the gag and shaking there as her horn flickered and distorted the air around her. The panic I felt down her link lowered a little, and I slid forward as best I could while coughing. The smell of burnt fur in the air that flooded from under my face plate didn't make breathing any easier! Her level of panic continued dancing between moderate and set fire to the room, but I kept sending her as clear of 'yielding' thoughts as I could while edging closer to her. Being able to see would help her... The lavender unicorn gave a start as my mouth closed down on the tie on her blindfold, and I pulled it off instead, not caring as I tore through the fabric of it. Her sight restored, her eyes locked onto me instantly, suddenly seeming to realize that I was definitely in front of her rather than behind her sneaking a peek, or whatever she thought I was doing. I kept the armor up just in case as I bit down on the cord behind her ear next, snapping it and pulling the ball gag out of her mouth. "I don't know what Rarity was thinking, but relax, Twilight. You know me better than this. I'm not going to take advantage of you, or hurt you," I reminded, exhaling as I fell over again, giving out a few more coughs as I finally managed to take a full breath. To hell with this. Reactionary armor was getting programmed in as soon as I had a down moment. "I... Ah, w-what happened?! Why did you do that?!" Twilight asked hesitantly, glancing around behind her as she turned practically scarlet in the firelight. That one I could head off fast. "I didn't, Twilight. The suit is magical, it would seem. Rarity must have enchanted it, but I don't know why she's doing this. Uh, this is something for, um, bedroom activities, Twilight," I warned, glancing towards her back and looking for anything I could see that might disable it. Wait, there was something white sticking out of her tail ring, that wasn't there before... Twilight shivered and swallowed, looking back at me before rapidly shaking her head. She surprised me by instead begging, "Please, Mender. This isn't how I wanted, uh, our first time to go. Please don't look..." I just attributed it to the panic and shot her a stern glare. "Twilight, do you honestly think I'd do that? Seriously?" I asked her, actually a little insulted at the insinuation. She looked momentarily surprised at my reaction before her eyes softened and she looked away from be, losing a bit of her blush. I rolled my eyes under the armor and instructed, "Hold still. It looks like a piece of paper popped out of your tail ring. I'm going to grab it." She froze, eyes widening but holding still like I asked. Slipping forward, I leaned over her and carefully touched the piece of paper, pulling it out and rolling backwards away from her before she could do anything. She gave a start, and then looked over at me in confusion as I slowly eased out of my guarded stance and set the paper down on the floor. My entire stomach was still sore, and rolling hadn't felt very good, I realized as I rubbed the spot idly. "M-Mender, I wasn't going to hit you," she muttered, and then looked down at my stomach in confusion. "You accidentally kicked me when you panicked," I explained, folding the paper open that was still attached to my magic. Okay, Rarity, you had some explaining to do... The paper had a smiley face on it, followed by, "Surprise! I'd say this was a present, Mender, but I have a sneaking suspicion you'll just let her go anyway, being a perfect gentlecolt. Which should be exactly what she needs. You two can be mad at me if you wish, and I apologize ahead of time. The safe word is 'Elegance'." What? I stared blankly at the paper, ignoring Twilight's gasp. She continued with, "Oh no, Mender! Are you okay? I just panicked and didn't think about where you were. Ugh, I'm so stupid! Of course you're not going to-" I cut off her rambling by saying 'Elegance' out loud, getting a confused look from her. The bar snapped off a second later, however, folding back up and away from her legs as all the chest and back buckles came undone, the costume literally falling off her into two parts. She looked beyond surprised when the horn ring flared up and shot off her as if pressurized, looking slightly blackened from the whole ordeal as it rolled to a stop, free of the draw cords that had held it on, and spun for a few rotations in front of the fireplace. Seeing the ring off her, I realized she was back in full control of her magic and sighed, folding the armor off my face and wincing lightly as it brushed tenderly over my cheek. Burns never felt good, and I shivered, numbing the nerves in the area with my cybernetics. "Just like that?" Twilight asked, looking down at the note, and then back up at me before widening her eyes at the burn. I nodded, however, and pointed out, "This wasn't my idea, and I don't know what Rarity was thinking. She says this might be 'just what you needed', whatever that means. Where did she even get a-" Twilight pounced me, however, her horn lighting up as we momentarily fell out of reality. I was used to her teleporting at this point and just closed my eyes until everything pulsed back, and we found ourselves in a bathroom instead. Her bathroom connected to her bedroom, more specifically. She started levitating first aid supplies out from the cabinet while resting on top of me, pulling over ointment and a clean cloth. "I'm sorry, Mender. The flares of energy discharge when I panicked must have burned you. I'm so stupid! Rarity's right, I was so dense that I needed this to really prove the point. Fluttershy's right, too. I... I didn't think I was particularly nervous around stallions, but... No, you're not going to hurt me, are you? Why did I think you would?" she whispered while applying ointment to the cloth. I felt my cheek slowly regenerating but just relaxed while she tended to the burn regardless, watching her as she talked mostly to herself. Fluttershy? I remembered the yellow mare's issues with thinking males were scary, but I didn't think Twilight had any particular fear of them. Although, maybe Twilight's only extended to the sexuality of males instead? She seemed to only be particularly nervous or afraid when that topic was brought up... "It's natural to be afraid, Twilight. Especially when restrained like that. Rarity didn't have to go to that extreme to prove a point," I retorted, lifting up the paper I had been holding when she tackled and teleported us. She read it for a moment before sighing and shaking her head, resuming applying burn ointment. "I'm not sure, Mender. It's like what Fluttershy dealt with. I don't know why I'm scared of you, though. I mean, logically, I know you're not going to hurt me. You obviously care about me and... You just let me go. You didn't even peek," she muttered, slowing down her soft rubbing along my cheek. I opened my eyes again and looked up at her, tilting my head as I saw her frown down at me, hesitating. Noting her not continuing, I decided to add, "You didn't tell me to do anything to you. Any situation like that is supposed to be consensual, even with one of those outfits. That's why Rarity set up the safe word to unlock it so fast." I neglected to mention that Keldarian females didn't bother with that 'consent' part, but figured she probably could already guess as much. Instead of answering, Twilight blushed softly and smiled down at me. I started to give her a questioning glance again when she leaned down instead and softly kissed my lips, melting against my chest as she relaxed. Okay, this was unexpected, but I couldn't complain. My forelegs slipped up and I gently held her close to me, feeling her coo pleasantly into the kiss. I wasn't entirely sure how long we stayed like that, but it must have been at least a few minutes, as soon enough, Fluttershy spoke up through the link. "Um, I don't mean to intrude and I'm sorry. Uh, I just wanted to make sure that you two were all right," she asked quietly. Were we? A glance towards Twilight showed her smiling happily, and she nodded, answering with, “We're just fine, Fluttershy. You can come up now if you'd like. Oh, and Rarity, too. I think we have a bit to discuss." Uh oh. Her smile didn't fade, and I suddenly couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. "Oh, um, okay. We'll be right up in a moment," Fluttershy returned, the link going quiet after. Well, whatever happened next, at least I felt a little closer to Twilight after all that. The mare in question smirked and pounced me into a kiss again almost immediately, apparently determined to squeeze a few more in before they got up here. It would seem that she felt closer to me, too. Suddenly, I think I realized exactly what Rarity had been thinking... * * * * * Yawning, I lazily stretched out on the bed, feeling comfortable finally, and perhaps a bit more like myself now that I had a gauze bandage pad stuck to my right cheek. Twilight lay next to me with her legs tucked under her, eyes lightly closed as she rested there. Of course, on the inside, I was gently navigating her through the sensations required to 'feel' where the other link holders were. We didn't have time to get very far, though, as I realized that Fluttershy's link showed her rapidly approaching the main doors to Twilight's bedroom suite. Both of us opened our eyes at the same time, her glancing slightly to the left at the entrance to her bedroom, and me staring blankly at the wall in front of me. This was either going to go amazingly, or devolve into an awkward yell fest. Again. Twilight might need cough drops by the end of the night. The lavender mare stood up a moment later, hopping off the bed and wandering out into the main room. I hesitated for a moment before sighing and following after. Fluttershy was walking up to Twilight when I exited the bedroom, while Rarity herself lagged behind slightly near the main doorway, looking a bit hesitant herself. I locked eyes with her as I walked out, and she smiled oh so slightly. I returned it, and she relaxed just a little. It was gone a moment later, however, as Twilight's horn lit up instead, levitating the 'outfit' out of the bedroom as well, securely tucked back into its bag, which I had assumed it came out of. "Ah, yes. I imagine you're done using it now. Uh, any damages I should be aware of?" she inquired quietly. Twilight gave her a skeptical, slightly annoyed look before adding, "Just the magical suppression ring. It got a little singed after I panicked when it locked me in," she returned, a sharp tone to her voice that made the mare wince. "I also had to bite through the cord on both the ball gag and blindfold, but it didn't look like those were part of the set anyway," I added, remembering that they had been made of cloth, while the outfit itself was that fake leather stuff. Fluttershy was blushing rather heavily at this point, and glanced over at the bag with a somewhat neutral expression. Rarity sighed and nodded towards the two of us before adding, "If it helps, I fully apologize, of course. I stand by my idea, however, and truly believed it would help you." Twilight frowned and started to open her mouth again, but I cut her off with, "It did. Thank you, Rarity. While your execution wasn't well thought out, the idea worked and I think we both trust each other more." Twilight looked genuinely surprised by my statement, turning to look at me as it replaced her prior anger from the link. If she was surprised, however, Rarity was entirely bewildered. "Oh, um, it helped both of you? It was more geared towards Twilight realizing you weren't going to harm her," the pearly unicorn muttered, tilting her head ever so slightly towards me. "I think she knows that now, yes. But it also helped me realize that. I didn't think Twilight trusted me at all prior, and that... Well, it frustrated and hurt at the same time. But she trusted me to help her take the outfit off without panicking, so..." It was hard to explain what was going through my own mind sometimes, so I just said the words as they came out this time. All three mares were smiling by the end of it, and the tension faded between the two unicorns. Twilight exhaled and nodded, admitting, "Yes, it did help. I didn't even realize how nervous Mender made me prior to it, but not only did it make me aware of the issue, it also went a good ways to letting me realize how much he cares for me. Especially as he puts up with all of this." I smiled towards her, but she leaned sideways instead and lightly kissed me on the jaw, a pink tint shifting into her cheeks. I felt a few heated thoughts drift through the link, causing Fluttershy to blush as well, but the lavender unicorn quickly banished them and turned back to Rarity instead. "That out of the way, I guess all that's left is to apologize for damaging the outfit. Uh, specialty wear like that probably isn't cheap," Twilight spoke up. That was a political way to avoid asking why Rarity had gear like that in the first place. The pearly unicorn frowned, and then simply shook her head, explaining, "The blindfold was the one you used earlier, and thusly, yours. The ball gag was merely a three bit purchase from a, well, novelty store I knew about in town. I picked up a few other things there, too, and it was hardly a big ticket item." Oh. Well, apart from the uncomfortable levels of information she just provided, at least that meant we had only destroyed Tia's sleep mask. I really should have recognized it. Further, the present she gave Fluttershy that I'd found in her drawer didn't seem all that strange anymore. Twilight blinked in mild confusion, then totally ignored all the awkward information in light of instead asking, "What about the magic suppression ring?! I kind of burnt it up, and last I saw, magic suppression items go for easily a hundred bits, special order!" Oh yeah. Making an item that could slow or halt magical flow in such a magically saturated dimension like this one was probably no easy task... "Oh, no, Twilight, I made that one," Rarity answered plainly, in the same way one might comment on the cake they baked. Oh. Twilight blanked completely, her link reading about as surprised as I felt. To complete the finishing touches on the critical system errors we were experiencing, Fluttershy instead spoke up with, "Oh yes, Rarity is good with magic that requires lots of small details! I've watched her do it, and it's quite pretty." Rarity herself smiled and nodded towards the yellow mare. "I wouldn't say I at all compare to Twilight, who embodies the Element of Magic, but I am proficient in spells that require an eye for detail. Cloth enchantment especially. That's what I use the magical suppression spell for the most. Ponies like a mild version of it on their clothes to protect from, well, incidents. They're good at resisting the elements and fire as well," she elaborated, nodding twice before hesitantly glancing toward me instead. Ugh. I saw it coming and flattened my ears down before she appended, "I put several dozen more layers onto anything I make for Mender, of course." Eh?! At that, Twilight finally started to snicker a little, and Fluttershy coughed lightly, looking away from me. I twitched lightly before asking, "How many layers normally go into your outfits?" A number without any context didn't have much meaning. "Oh, why one, usually. Or two for expensive or work clothes," she answered simply. Twilight started laughing instead, of course. "Hee, you do have terrible luck, Mender. Even without the gravity thing," she reminded unnecessarily. Twitching in a slightly more pronounced way, I shot back with, "Some of it isn't luck so much as, I don't know, my fillyfriend planting magical explosives on the wooden plank she precariously balanced me on, six stories in the air?" Twilight looked momentarily horrified, but then it was Rarity's turn to burst into a fit of giggles, which rapidly shifted the lavender unicorn to an annoyed expression instead. Fluttershy looked up the stairs at that point, probably looking for escape routes. I sent her a mental image of the full tower layout I'd collected a second later, giving her a start. Ah, right. She wasn't as pragmatic as I was sometimes. "I said I was sorry, Mender! Ugh, I'll make it up to you, I promise," Twilight assured, quickly turning back towards me instead. I actually anticipated her reaction and stepped forward as she rotated, her eyes widening but her not being able to react in time before I cleared the distance and kissed her gently on the lips. Her startled reaction quickly melted into a soft sigh as she leaned into my mouth a bit, starting to return it. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Rarity slowly start to blush, looking away from the two of us once she realized what she was doing, fully. I smirked into the kiss and pulled the lavender mare against me, just holding her there as I enjoyed the sensation of her soft lips against mine. Of course, then the door opened... "I think I picked up all the food that you wanted. Was there anything else that, uh, whoa," Spike admitted, eyes widening a little as he looked up from his tray of food and saw Twilight and me. Knowingly, I released the mare in time for her to blush and quickly back off a little bit. What actually surprised me was that she didn't actually break away from my embrace, instead just turning her head to look at Spike and smile sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Spike. Mender was, uh, forgiving me," she apologized, giggling at her own coy joke. "Is that what they call it now? My, it certainly gives one incentive to be bad if that's the sort of forgiveness you can expect," Rarity mused, eyes oh so subtly shifting back to look at Spike as he was setting out the food from the tray, oblivious to her attention, ironically. Heh, at least she was warming up to the idea. Ooh, and he'd brought sandwiches! Twilight smiled at that, however, hauling my attention back to her with a gentle kiss to my jaw. "I agree. But for now, I think we're all hungry enough. Are Rainbow and Applejack joining us for a late night snack?" she asked, glancing back to Rarity instead. The pearly mare jumped slightly, as if startled out of some deep thoughts before quickly looking back to us, asking, "Oh, um, what was that, Dear? Terribly sorry." Oh? Fluttershy gave a soft giggle before reiterating, "Um, Twilight asked if Applejack and Rainbow were going to join us. Oh, and where's, um, Pinkie? Isn't she rooming with you?" Oh, that's a good question. Was she in their room already, sleeping? I kind of had her pegged as a night owl, which made that concept weird. Plus, I hadn't seen either of the other two mares since getting back from escorting Octavia out. Rarity smiled finally and shook her head at Fluttershy. "No, Pinkie and Rainbow are out exploring the castle, despite already staying here a dozen times prior. I believe that's actually code for them being bored and looking for some hapless guard to harass. Applejack, however, wasn't feeling very well and turned in early. I'm a bit worried about her," she revealed, frowning towards the end. Uh oh. I knew the night before had, well, bothered her. She hadn't quite acted the same since then. I hadn't anticipated her having such an adverse reaction to just seeing my scars. The yellow pegasus wilted a little at that, but Twilight shot her an assuring smile from my embrace, suggesting, "We can always check up on her later tonight after we're done eating. Maybe bring her something to eat if she's awake? I'm sure she wouldn't mind the company." Yeah, I'd feel better checking up on her as well. I knew what horrible dreams could do, which is why I absolutely detested sleeping by myself. Fluttershy smiled at that, as did Rarity who nodded twice. "Indeed. The poor dear is losing sleep again, I hear. I've been meaning to ask if there's anything you can think of to help her, Twilight?" the unicorn asked, looking uncertain again. The mare that snuggled against me scratched her chin momentarily, the gears revving up in her mind as she considered the question. It took her almost fifteen seconds, but she eventually answered with, "While Princess Luna is certainly the most proficient with dream magic, and can visit ponies innately due to her status as Moon Princess, there are techniques in which we can visit other ponies' dreams. Mender himself developed a definite technique for visiting dreams without needing a unicorn's assistance, and could also probably help." Oh! True. Why beat around the bush when we could just go directly to the source of the problem? Smiling, I nodded before adding something I'd been considering since sharing the dreams with Sweetie a while back. "One thing I'd been wondering about, actually, is if I could use the links to pull ponies into our dreams without being physically there? If so, it might be possible to help Applejack without needing to stay at the farm. But that's an experiment for another night, obviously," I reasoned, tilting my head towards Twilight for input. She perked at that answer, eyes brightening significantly as I saw her sharp mind immediately start to formulate information from that little suggestion. "Oh, I forgot about the links! Yes, it might very well be possible. Although from our experiences, in order to have a truly lucid dream for all, Mender would have to go to sleep first. He's the only pony apart from Princess Luna that I know of that can lucid dream without any sort of prior practice or training," she deduced. Yeah, I wasn't able to pull Fluttershy into a lucid state when she went to sleep before me. Everything was hazy, and I could tell she wasn't considering what was going on to be real. Rarity looked intrigued at all the new information and nodded slowly after a long ten seconds or so. "It would be possible, then, to interrupt whatever nightmare she's having and replace it with hanging out with us, instead?" she inquired, obviously trying to get a summary. I shook my head, however, smiling towards Spike, who slid a sandwich over towards me knowingly. "Interrupting it would be a good thing, but I hope that we can actually dissect the bad dream and show her that it's just that. Maybe, if we can do that, she won't have as many in the future and will be able to sleep better?" I suggested, snatching up the sandwich with a glowing hoof and immediately digging in. This would help my cheek repair itself, too! Rarity giggled at my exuberance before politely picking up a small cup of the tea she'd poured herself, floating it to her muzzle with grace. Twilight looked more lost in thought, and Spike frowned towards the tray as if staring past it. "Just, uh, go into her dream by yourself first?" he suggested slowly, looking back up at me with an uneasy expression. Huh? Oh. Twilight paled, immediately understanding the problem, but Rarity frowned, lowering her cup a little while Fluttershy tilted her head, giving Spike a confused look. To my surprise, the lavender mare shook her head as she settled back into a laying position next to me instead. "No, I think I can go in with him. I saw a lot that night, too," she whispered. We hadn't talked about it all that much. She'd found my leg lying in a smear of blood and gore on the second floor of the library and promptly ran into the bathroom to throw up. It had been blown in through the door to the balcony, I imagined, when Applejack smashed the entire thing free from the side of the tree. It hadn't looked good at all, but she organized a search party for me regardless with Princess Luna's help. She hadn't given up on me, even with overwhelming evidence against me being alive still. Rarity's eyes softened a little bit, and Fluttershy shrank down to my other side, suddenly realizing what we were talking about. She especially was not going in with me until I 'secured' the dream from all gory details that Applejack might be remembering. "You don't have to repeat that experience, Twilight. This is to help Applejack, not make you sick," I reminded, frowning down at the tray. I suddenly wasn't as hungry, but decided I should still make myself eat. I needed the energy to fuel my regeneration. It was kind of amusing how Twilight had started abusing that aspect now, getting me food whenever I got injured. Heh. "It's okay, Mender. I'll be expecting it this time, so, well, it won't be as bad. Still, only we should go in first. Nopony needs to see that sort of thing that doesn't have to," Twilight continued, stirring her tea while Spike poured it, the spoon glowing softly with the colors of her magic. It made sense, and I didn't question it that far. To be honest, I trusted Twilight to know what she was capable of managing. Spike finished pouring her cup and set the larger pitcher down again as I took another bite of my sandwich. He looked uncertain for a moment before speaking up. "Wouldn't Rainbow want to be there, too? Just a thought." Heh, and what a thought it was. Everypony smiled knowingly at that, and I found it amusing how certain things could be universally understood like that so quickly. Rarity smirked further a second later. "That's an astute observation, Spike. Rainbow would certainly gain 'points' with Applejack if she helped to take away the-" she started to deduce. She was cut off by my suddenly surprised expression, followed a second later by Fluttershy's and Twilight's. Rainbow herself popped in over our mental channels, her heart rate going through the roof. I flicked on my speaker just in case. "Ah, M-Mender, help! Pinkie and I just got back and... AJ is..." she started to quickly explain, panting tiredly. She still let what she was saying out loud bleed through into the mental connection, I noticed. "What's wrong with Applejack?!" I asked quickly, pulling up her status connection. Oddly, it showed all green and sleeping soundly. Rainbow centered herself, the sensation feeling a bit on the weird side through the link, and then explained, "She's having a nightmare again, yelping and rolling back and forth in bed. I can't wake her up!" Eh?! Frowning, I looked back at the normal display results, shifting that window over to my projector. Rarity gave it a blank stare as it popped up, but Twilight frowned at it, apparently recognizing the 'nominal' results of an electrocardiogram readout. Wait... I ran the active scan results through a pattern filter. It only took three cycles for it to pick up the fact that her breathing was alternating on a very specific pattern, as was her heart rate. An organic creature couldn't do that... Nopony could regulate their breathing that precisely. Narrowing my eyes, I fired a ping off instead, straight down her link. Three seconds passed, and then four. It should have only taken a hundredth of a second at best, at this range. That wasn't... No, that couldn't be possible. "We need to get up there, now," I warned, standing up immediately and abandoning the remainder of my sandwich, which I normally wouldn't do for the world. AJ held one of the special places in my heart, however, even if she could be a stubborn pain sometimes. Twilight nodded and lifted a hoof towards Rarity again, Fluttershy standing and flopping over my back to touch her hooves against Twilight's side. Spike barely managed to dive in time and grab Rarity as reality fell away, pulling us all inside the implosion in an instant, then yanking us upwards. Chapter 72It was always disorienting when first falling out of Twilight's teleportation effect. Well, I imagine I would be with all teleportation effects, but I didn't exactly have a lot of comparison. Fluttershy landed rather smoothly against us, Twilight bracing me up with her forelegs as we came to a halt. Rarity landed into a slight stumble as she was standing when we made the transition. Spike moved forward and grabbed her shoulder to steady her while the world slowly stopped moving. Okay, carpeting under me and warm temperatures meant I was inside and in one of the bedrooms, more than likely. Rainbow looked somewhat surprised as we suddenly appeared in the room as well, giving out a yelp as the flash illuminated the surroundings, dropping the wet towel she had in her mouth. The lights were fully on, to my surprise, and it wasn't hard to also make out the shifting orange hoofs up on the bed, despite not being able to see up there from this level. "Ah! That was fast! Uh, I can't get her to wake up, and I don't know what to do. She's having a nightmare," she quickly pointed out, gesturing to the bed from her spot near the bathroom door. Turning, I hopped up onto the bed at the same time as Twilight. She gave a squeak, however, and I moved my head out of the way just in time to avoid a flailing hoof to the face. Thankfully the mare wasn't moving very fast in her sleep, because her outright kicks hurt like hell. Slipping over her, I gently held her still as she rolled, muttering quietly while trying to move her forelegs. "Her eyes are moving fast and her heart rate is way higher than normal. Can we do a dream connection during the REM stage?" Twilight pondered, mostly to herself I assumed, because I certainly didn't have an answer to that. Spike and Rainbow hopped up next, the cyan mare slipping up next to me and taking over holding Applejack still while I tried to get a forehead connection. This was going to be the tricky part, I suspected. Twilight moved up next to me as well and got ready to get her horn into contact range. I tried lining up our foreheads while Dash tried to get a hold of her head. "Ah, wait, can I come in, too?!" Rainbow quickly asked when she saw me start to close my eyes. Eh?! She wanted to come in as well? I didn't have time to protest as a sudden jerk from the orange mare under me caused her to head butt my snout and stars momentarily exploded across my vision. I backed up and held my muzzle while Fluttershy moved in unexpectedly from my right and rubbed it for me. Ah, she had gotten up onto the bed, too. "If you're sure, Rainbow. It's, um, well it might be kinda scary and gross," Fluttershy warned, ears flattening down. Sighing, I finished massaging my snout, and then appended, "Yeah, if she's dreaming about what I imagine she is, I should remind everypony that I did get my foreleg torn off and it wasn't exactly a pleasant image, I imagine." My left shoulder gave a dull throb, remembering the event and causing me to flex it gently. Rainbow just snorted, however, before pushing into the orange mare's back, wrapping her legs around her to stop her from moving around again. "No way. I want to be there for AJ if I can be. I care about her, even not considering my other feelings about her. So bring me in, too!" she adamantly requested. Heh, right. Loyalty. She was also seriously gutsy. That would have been, at the very least, awkward had the mare she was holding woken up during that statement. I can't imagine going from vivid nightmare to romantic confession was advisable. "Fine. I'm going to try pulling you in using just the link first, but if that doesn't work, you two are going to have to use physical contact with my forehead. Just shift me over after I fall asleep," I instructed, glancing to the right at Twilight as well. She smiled at that and nodded promptly to me, probably eager to see if the links worked at distance, too. Rarity nodded curtly, sitting on the bed now. "Yes, Fluttershy and I shall try to keep her still and prevent her from kicking any of you in her sleep. Bruises are never fashionable, and we all know how strong the stubborn mare is. After she settles, and you stop the nightmare, can we join as well?" she requested softly. Seeing all of her friends so concerned for her left a warm sensation in my chest, and I smiled. "Oooh, me, too!" Pinkie squealed out of nowhere an instant later, however, almost giving me a heart attack as she bounced into the room suddenly from the outer walk. Gah! I was tempted to set up a proximity warning for her, too, but honestly, I was afraid of the results it would get. Pinkie had an uncanny ability to not entirely obey the laws of physics. Dash twitched lightly and looked back up at the pink one as she bounded up onto the mattress. "Where'd you go?! I thought you were right behind me when we got back to the tower. You could have helped me with AJ," she asked, looking a bit miffed. Heh. She was worried about Applejack and didn't want to admit it. "Bakery!" Pinkie announced as if it should be the most obvious answer in the world. She then presented her evidence by unloading several bags of baked treats onto the bedside stand from her two saddlebags. Huh. Yeah, I had no comment whatsoever. "Right. Uh, I'm going to start the operation, then. Twilight and Dash are coming in with me first, and then the rest of you follow after we 'secure' the dream. Spike can also join us then," I summarized, smiling over at the lonely looking dragon. He perked up at that and nodded, giving the distinct impression he thought he was going to be left out of the 'experiment'. Rarity giggled at his expression, assuring, "Why of course you can, Spike. Just touch your forehead to my horn when Mender goes to pull me in." Oh, how scandalous! Of course, he swooned at that, and I could practically see the hearts in his eyes as he nodded towards Rarity. In order to fight back my snicker, I instead rotated back to face the orange mare, who was still shaking and shivering. She'd waited too long already. Leaning down, I pushed my forehead into hers, my muzzle sliding along the side of hers to make room as I felt out with my energy. The connection was almost instantaneous, a flicker of light dancing between our foreheads as I closed my eyes. Slipping inside of myself first, I immediately felt the connection with her without even needing the forehead link. Using that instead, I tugged my awareness into her, feeling myself momentarily drifting before my focus snapped back in place. No, I couldn't let myself get sucked into her nightmare! Feeling my lucid state stabilize, I reached out to both Twilight and Rainbow and gave a warning tug. I felt them return it, and I pulled them in. To my pleasant surprise, I felt them both following as we fell into her nightmare... * * * * * There was always a problem with spatial details, I noticed. Ever since I had started becoming lucid in my dreams, I'd noticed that actually dreaming individuals didn't manifest much outside of the current 'scene' in the dream. Everything apart from the dream is a hazy absence, seen as a neutral dark gray by us, I imagine. The mind was amazingly complex, and had a way of making up information in order to protect itself. Like the color pink, which actually had no known light wavelength, so in theory, we just make up what it looks like. Actually, Pinkie made more sense, somehow, considering that. Regardless, Applejack's dream was no different. I stepped out into dark gray nothing, a thick haze or mist spreading as far as the eye could see. Both mares following me took form rapidly, projected into the dream through my own computer assistance. Rainbow's ears drooped as she got a good look around, but Twilight just frowned, an intense focus snapping into play across her expression. "Okay, we made it here, and entering the dream through your links actually works. Now, uh, where's the actual dream?" she inquired, looking around carefully. My eyes closed and I focused, feeling out the emptiness around us. Distance and space meant nothing here as we were actually inside Applejack's mind. It was just a matter of finding where her consciousness currently dwelled. Given the flurry of mental activity that her nightmare was generating, it didn't take me long at all to find just that. It took even less time for me to regret it. The smell hit us first as the mists parted in front of us with my focus. I knew it intimately as blood, in large quantities. I felt Rainbow swallow uneasily next to me, and Twilight's horn lit up with amazing speed, her eyes narrowing forward at the image slowly coming into view. "I found it. It's not pleasant," I warned immediately, just in case they had any last second votes for me to go on alone. Of course, at this 'distance' to me, that being literally inside my mind, neither had any trouble picking up my intended question. "No, Mender. I'm staying here with you this time. You're not facing this alone," Twilight assured with no hesitation whatsoever, stepping up next to me instead. Rainbow closed her eyes for just a second before nodding firmly and opening them again. I was surprised to note anger in them as she re-focused on straight ahead. "No, I'm staying. I have a feeling I'm going to want to kick some dream-pony flank, and no matter how horrible it is, Applejack needs me. Us," she confirmed. Figured that neither of them would want to back out, but it was only polite to ask. Nodding, I turned back to the image at hoof. The scene was barely over a half dozen meters in diameter, forming a 'bubble' of reality consisting largely of Twilight's balcony. I knew it would be here. This was ground zero for Applejack's regrets. Details snapped into focus as I walked towards it, a determined-feeling mare to each side of me. Applejack still didn't respond to my pings, even when I was right inside her mind, which was more than a little disconcerting. The smell was stronger, and the night backdrop of the scene blended seamlessly in with the darkness outside of it. The seething hatred and sorrow almost came alive as we stepped within a few meters, and I frowned. Hatred? Applejack was sealed to the wall of the library tree house, right next to the door out to the second floor balcony. The cage locking her there, and even the position it was stuck at was exactly the same as I remembered from that night, bringing a lump to my throat. No, it was fake. I had to keep her nightmare separate. Sound cut in all at once, giving us a combined start in surprise at Applejack's scream. It was that of misery rather than rage, however, further making the hatred I felt seem weird. She repeatedly struck at the bars of the glowing energy cage as she sobbed, trying to get free and somehow get to me. What was left of me lay on the floor of the balcony in a smear of my own blood, my severed left leg lying nearby but still within sight of Applejack, of course. Glass and wooden shards from the window stabbed into me in dozens and dozens of places, and a blade was actively being pushed, twisting under the bone of my right shoulder. That fake me made pitiful, weak gurgling noises as he struggled shakily, empty eyes staring right at Applejack while his hoof limply reached towards the cage. Twilight, or should I say the fake Twilight form that Nirru had taken, sat next to my fallen dream self, slowly pushing her hoof blade into me while grinning at Applejack. Twilight gasped as she saw herself, then squeaked out, "T-That's me!" Rainbow snarled instead, instantly correcting, "No. That's Nirru, who took your form. She's evil." Her words were laced with venom and far more hostility than I'd ever heard from the cyan mare. It didn't surprise me in the slightest, however, and I nodded as well. "She's right. That's Nirru, and vaguely what I looked like that night, although she never stabbed me again. Applejack's mind is making it worse," I warned, frowning as I shifted my attention away from the orange mare in question and at the surrounding bubble. Something was wrong, but I couldn't place what it was. Dash snapped into a crouch instantly, instead. "Well, let's kick her flank and get her away from AJ!" she snarled, shooting ahead in an instant with her trademark speed. "Rainbow, no!" I called out, far too late, of course. She smashed right into the bubble and stopped as if she hit a brick wall. I winced as she skipped off it and rolled, crashing back into the 'ground' we stood on at the base of the bubble. Twilight called out her name in surprise, then ran after her, sliding up and helping the wincing mare get back up to her hooves. I approached the bubble a bit slower, looking up at it as I closed the distance. "There's some sort of barrier that's surrounding her. I can't even get a ping through it, which isn't good. I don't even know how she managed to do this to herself, unless she's somehow subconsciously blocking us in trying to run away," I explained, glancing over to Twilight for ideas. Rainbow's readings were normal, and I knew she was okay, if not a little stunned. “I’ve never heard of something like this in a dream before. What’s causing it?” Twilight quickly asked, trotting along the side of the bubble after helping Dash back up. The cyan mare gave a frustrated groan, stomping her hooves before reaching out and swatting the barrier a couple of times. I knew that wouldn’t have mattered. The barrier technically wasn’t here, but was instead some sort of block against intruders into the dream. But why? Sitting down, I quickly started to examine it, looking past what we saw and at the connection inwards instead. There was indeed a block there, and a rather adamant one at that. Although Applejack was a stubborn mare, so that didn’t particularly surprise me. Was she really subconsciously blocking us, though? Twilight sat down a couple meters from me, also looking at the shield with a frown. I had no doubt she also knew it wasn’t technically there, and I saw her horn start to slowly glow as her energy felt against it curiously. Rainbow looked through it instead, watching the scene unfold. “You really are foolish, aren’t you, Applejack? You can’t even fully grasp the gravity of what you did, can you?” Nirru asked, her voice entirely different than Twilight’s, which made it seem really weird coming from a Twilight simulacrum. The orange mare struggled to pull herself upright again, bloodshot and wet eyes turning back to the fake Twilight. “Please… no. It… Ah understand! Ah told ya, Ah understand!” she begged. My frown heightened as I’d never seen her beg before, and it was disturbing on several levels. Nirru actually giggled at that and shook her head, adding, “I don’t think you do. Let’s recap! That sounds fun!” How long had this been going on?! A low growl came from Dash next to me as my eyes narrowed. My severed leg was lifted up next using Nirru’s hoof, the gravity distortion visible from her manipulation of it. She spun it around, however, and smashed it into the side of the cage in an instant, causing a spray of blood to go across Applejack’s face as fresh gashes were torn in it. The orange mare yelped and shrank away as if burned, backing into the other corner of the cage. “See?! He lost this leg for you. You were the one that was so pathetic that he had to use his magic to defend you, which directly led to him getting this torn off. Do you realize how much agony he was in? Oh, wait, you don’t, do you? You got away with just a little bruise on your shoulder… How lucky,” Nirru cooed, smirking as she tossed the leg aside and Applejack started sobbing again, smashing her hoof into the floor in frustration. What the hell?! Rainbow paled a little at the sight of the gore, but her anger fought through anything else and she snarled, slamming both hooves into the barrier. “Mender, open this thing! We need to get in there and flatten that mare!” she snarled, looking over to me rapidly. I nodded, explaining, “I’m trying to figure out how to get it open. This is stopping my pings, too, which I didn’t think was possible to do. It’s like…” It was strange. Familiar, but strange at the same time. I’d seen something similar to this, it felt like, but in a totally different situation. What was it?! Twilight stood up on her hind legs and felt up the barrier with her front ones, horn still glowing. It only took her a few seconds to report, “It’s weird. I don’t feel any magic coming from Applejack at all. Earth ponies have magic inside of them all the same, but it must all be locked inside the barrier with her consciousness.” They could do that? Nirru moved again, the wood of the balcony creaking as she slipped back over to my fallen form. A flick of her hoof later, she slammed it down on my neck and Applejack screamed out for her to stop at the top of her lungs. “Aww, you do seem to care about him. Maybe you aren’t lying? But then why did you not believe him at all that night? Why did you buck him through a window, shattering six of his ribs into his lungs? You know I didn’t actually do anything to him. He died from your wounds first,” she teased out, smirking. Wait, what?! I knew Applejack had seen the medical report, but there was no way she could have known about those wounds actually being the ones to kill me. Why was her subconscious even doing this to her?! The orange mare fell to her stomach, spasming once, then twice more. Wincing, I looked away as she threw up across the floorboards. Rainbow brought both hooves to her mouth as she watched, eyes wide and the color drifting out of her face. “Rainbow, look away until we get the shield down,” I warned, shifting to focusing on that instead. So her magic was inside of this thing, too? That meant that some part of the barrier had to be magic in and of itself, right? But that would mean that she was stopping her own magic flow inside of her body while stuck like this. “N-No! I have to help her. Please tell me we can get in there?” Dash asked, standing up again and slamming both hooves into the barrier. Again and again she hit it, but it didn’t so much as vibrate. Brute force wasn’t going to work. The Twilight look-alike smirked at the lack of answer and sat down on my body this time. “But we’ve been through all this already. You know what you did wrong. You betrayed an innocent pony and murdered them, all because of a misunderstanding. Somepony who you told was a friend before that. You’re the monster, no matter how scary he is. Oh, right. He is a monster now, isn’t he? Not only did you kill him, but you also ruined his only dream in life. Now he can never be normal,” she rubbed in. I froze, my eyes widening at the scene. No, I… I had never told Applejack about that. Intentionally, I’d never told her because it would only make her feel bad! There was no way she could have known about that. Oh, oh hell. Were my links somehow sending subliminal information to the mares connected to them?! Twilight frowned, too, looking over towards me as well, although I barely registered her. I shook my head slowly instead, defending with, “No, she shouldn’t know that. I never told anypony about that except for the two royal sisters, Fluttershy, and you! Why would I tell her something that would only make her feel bad?!” Twilight looked momentarily sad while Rainbow’s eyes softened towards me. “I… I didn’t know that either. Mender…” she muttered, looking uncertain what to say. Shaking my head, I looked down and away from her quickly, it suddenly hurting to make eye contact. I made no secret to myself that I found what I actually was to be disgusting. I was unnatural, and would never lead a normal life. I’d admitted that to myself, so why did it still hurt me to see others realize it? Applejack’s voice snapped me out of it a second later. “P-Please, just stop… Ah’m sorry. Ah… Ah’ll do anything ta….” she murmured, ears dropping down as she lay there, covered in my blood. She looked so tired and sick. It was disgusting to think of her like that. Why was she so hard on herself? “Oh, you’re sorry. Well, that makes it all better. I guess that means he can be happy being a freaky monster now and life can resume like normal!” Nirru chimed in, interrupting her in a singsong voice. Ugh. She was the monster, if nothing else. Applejack’s memory of her was spot on, it would seem. Sadly, she continued talking with, “Not! No, what you did can never be fixed. So the only option you have really is to just kill yourself. Of course, that would disappoint all those ponies relying on you, so I guess you’re stuck. Maybe if you beg him enough and do anything he asks, he might not hate you as much?” What the hell?! I didn’t hate her at all. How many times did I have to tell the mare that? Did she really not trust my word in the slightest?! Twilight sat upright fully again, however, glaring at the scene. “This can’t be possible. Are we really seeing only Applejack’s input on the event?” she asked, a certain underlying tension in her voice that betrayed her surprisingly calm demeanor. Only her input? I raised an eyebrow and looked back at Nirru instead. Something was… Applejack let out a groan and smashed the bottom of her cage with her hoof. “Ah already said Ah’d do anything! He… He doesn’t want anything, though. He…” She slumped again, sliding her cheek down the bar of her cage before choking back another sob, only to roughly cough instead. “Psh, he’s a stallion. There’s always something in particular they want. Hmm, you do have a nice, sturdy body, don’t you? So strong and healthy. Why, that’s probably the only use you could be to him anymore. Lift that pretty little rump up for him and give him a few healthy foals. Every stallion wants a legacy, no?” she suggested, standing up fully off the fake body. My eyes widened. That was… It echoed through my mind in a heartbeat. Her tone. It was the same tone I’d heard her use before! "You're stronger than me, Mender. By our oldest laws, that means you can have me. I'll have to do anything you say.” Over and over again, it repeated in my mind. Creeping cold came over me as my eyes narrowed further. “W-What?! Why is she dreaming…?!” Rainbow asked, eyes widening in surprise at the same time Twilight’s did. I ignored her and slipped into scanning mode again. No, it couldn’t be. Could it? Instead of trying to read for energy or traces of enchantment, I switched to code injection instead and did a ping reading on the barrier rather than Applejack. It came back this time, but with firewall details instead. Son of a bitch! It wasn’t a barrier at all! They both felt the spike of anger from me, Rainbow looking over suddenly in surprise as I smashed my hoof against the barrier. This was a firewall. It was being used to intercept my signal and send me a fake one back. But this wasn’t just any firewall. I ran the code exploit into it, and almost growled as I got a confirmation back and the administrator panel opened up for me. No, it was the firewall I made to protect the links inside of myself. I’d left myself a small backdoor, just in case. “That’s not a dream. That’s really Nirru inside Applejack’s nightmare,” I warned, pulling up the command console and switching it to debug. Once it gave me full administrative access, I ran the diagnostics for it. One ‘CPCOR’ was the administrator of it, which didn’t tell me much. It had been up for two hours now, which made sense. “W-What?! Wait, that Nirru that you see sometimes?!” Twilight asked quickly, eyes widening as she stood up again, looking back over at her double. Applejack looked utterly miserable. If that Nirru had been ‘visiting’ her every night, I had no doubts as to why anymore. She was intentionally torturing her. Why was she doing this?! The orange mare swallowed, lifting her muzzle up again with her own vomit dripping from her chin, shivering. “Ah’ll do anything fer him. Anything…” she repeated, her left hoof lifting up and touching against her navel, shakily. No. This was enough. “Rainbow, I’m going to disable the shield. She’ll know something’s wrong instantly. I want you to move as fast as you can and put a hoof into her face. After hitting her as hard as you can, grab Applejack and fly towards Twilight at top speed,” I ordered, forming the image for the maneuver in my head. She was way faster than me. I found the memory address for the cage that was holding Applejack and locked onto it. Rainbow’s surprised look shifted into a determined one instead and she nodded abruptly, turning back towards them and crouching down, her wings expanding out, then extending with jets. Twilight’s horn lit up as she crouched down next to Rainbow, ready to retaliate on anything Nirru came at us with. This was going to be fast… The cage got flagged for deletion a second later, and I rebooted the firewall, taking over complete administration in the same instant. Nirru’s eyes widened, but it was far too late as I flicked the entire thing off. Rainbow flickered, then was gone almost faster than I could trace. Nirru’s head whipped to the side to look over at us, then a fraction of a second later, the cyan hoof cratered into her muzzle and sent her reeling backwards and crashing into the balcony rail. I was moving an instant later, clearing the distance in a single leap, albeit not nearly as fast as Rainbow had. The cage disintegrated as I jumped and to my surprise, I passed Rainbow in midair. Holy hell could that mare move when motivated by something! Applejack was still in the middle of looking completely stunned as she was pulled sideways, wrapped in two blue forelegs. “You bi-“ was all Nirru got out of her mouth before I smashed into her, snapping her back through the railing and sending both of us toppling off the balcony. My processors revved up, expanding on Applejack’s memory and making ground under us as we crashed into it, her on the bottom. My armor was out just as the point of her blade tried to go into my chest half a second later. It snapped off completely on my plating, and all eight of my tentacles shot down and pinned her to the ground completely. “What are you doing here?!” I demanded instantly, glaring down at her close enough to spread the blue glow from my eyes out across her entire shocked expression. I felt my armored lips curl back, the serrated teeth glinting in the moonlight. She smirked a second later, although it lacked the conviction of her usual attitude. “You found me. It didn’t take you as long as I was hoping for. I should have known. Still, I think I got the idea fairly engrained in her. She’d make a good mate for-“ she started to explain. My upper right tendril whipped down into her head an instant later with a satisfying crunch. No, I didn’t even care why she was here, I suddenly realized. I’d look into ‘how’ she got here after this, and make sure she’d never bother Applejack ever again. Slowly, I got up off her body as it started to distort and fade away. I felt unclean just from touching her. Why was she trying to get Applejack to…? No, I didn’t even care. Twilight’s voice called out over our link a half a second later with, “Mender, are you okay? I can still feel you, but that presence that was here is gone…” Hopping backwards, I flicked myself back up to the balcony and landed carefully on the railing, rotating and balancing as I turned to face Twilight. The lavender mare walked up tentatively, shivering and quickly looking away from my fake body. I grabbed the link to that, too, and made it fade away for her. “I’m fine, Twilight. It really was her, turns out. That Nirru that’s inside my head, anyway. I don’t know how she got in here without me noticing, but I deleted her and cleaned the link,” I muttered, frowning at the mess that was left over. It looked exactly like the balcony did that night, with the shards of glass and wood I was lying on, and the cracks that Applejack’s hoof had caused under her cage. Those had later expanded to tear the entire balcony off the side of the tree, I remembered. It was fuzzy, and I was pretty sure I’d lost a lot of blood at that point, so the details were a bit vague. Rainbow herself flew back up after realizing we were in the clear. Applejack clung to her in surprise, her back legs dangling down as she was slowly lowered back to the wooden planks. “W-What? What is this? Ah’ve never been rescued before. Wait… this is ah dream!” she suddenly exclaimed, looking around in surprise. She was lucid! Nirru was intentionally keeping her lucid?! This was practically torture… “It was a nightmare, Applejack. We’re real, however. We connected to you in your mind through the link you have with me,” I revealed, frowning towards the mare. She stared at me for a long second before her eyes softened and she looked down and away. “Ya… Ya heard all that, then?” she asked, although it didn’t really sound like a question. Twilight’s ears flattened down and she frowned at that, looking back to me instead. “Mender, could you get us someplace more pleasant and bring the others in?” she asked, gesturing to the side with her foreleg at the balcony. Oh, right! Nodding, I focused and shifted the dreamscape entirely, now being in full control of it like Nirru had been prior. Things flickered around me rapidly, and then expanded out into broad daylight overhead, the smell of salt water hitting us instantly alongside the sound of crashing surf. The beach expanded out in two directions away from us, the warm sand under hoof as I detailed the area with some mountains in the distance and soft clouds overhead. A nice palm tree expanded next to us, clustering out with several of its fellows to provide shade. From what textbooks had told, the landscape I was forming was similar to what Keldar looked like before the Keldarian’s trashed it to fuel their war machine. It was originally a hot climate, and largely tropical except for the colder north and south areas, which were more temperate in nature. Sadly, the scenery was largely wasted for the moment on Applejack herself, who instead turned and promptly buried her face in Rainbow’s chest fur. Dash looked more surprised than anything, and then slowly frowned as she hugged the orange mare against her. Pinkie answered my ping almost immediately, which didn’t surprise me at all, honestly. “Oooh, AJ stopped shaking and stuff. Is everything okay?!” she asked without missing a beat. I was happy she was first curious as to her friend being okay. “Yeah, Pinkie. Applejack’s okay now. Is everypony set to come in?” I asked quietly. The orange mare heard it regardless, her ear twitching back slightly as her right eye opened, rotating to look at me instead. “E-Everypony?” she asked quietly, sounding surprised. “Of course, AJ! All your friends are here for you. You don’t have to go through this alone, Silly!” Pinkie announced, totally ignoring my question and pulling herself into the dream right then and there. AH! Okay then, I guess she was ready! I didn’t even try to guess how she did that without my help. Fluttershy gave out a soft giggle at her antics, slowly fading in as well, but also holding on to Rarity at the same time, whose horn was still glowing. The pearly mare moved back off Fluttershy and further surprised me, revealing Spike tucked in against her chest. His eyes slowly opened, and then widened as he looked around at the balmy, tropical setting he found himself in. “Oh, this is nice,” Fluttershy complimented, shaking her head lightly and letting the wind catch her mane, it flowing sideways on her as she smiled. Applejack had lifted her head at that point and looked around at the four newcomers, looking entirely surprised at the series of events, also having not quite recovered from the shock of our ‘rescue’. I smiled towards her regardless, deciding to elaborate with, “We’re linked through the disks, except for Rarity, who’s coming in off Fluttershy’s link. We’re all really here, Applejack. This is a dream and we’re all asleep on your bed in the outside world. Rainbow found you having a nightmare and alerted us all.” She looked at me in disbelief for a moment before exhaling and sitting up fully off Rainbow, although refusing to move further away from the cyan mare. “Ah… Ah can’t honestly believe this is happenin’. Ah’ve had that same nightmare every night since it happened…” she muttered, looking extremely tired still. That. That was very important! “Was Nirru there every night like that?” I asked quietly, frowning to myself. I had Twilight’s attention almost instantly, and Rainbow swallowed, obviously remembering what had happened. Applejack considered it for a long moment, frowning to herself before finally nodding. "Uh, yeah. Ah remember not havin' it tha first few nights after tha incident. Those were just black nights where Ah'd pass out an' not remember anything. Uh, Ah think it was two or three days later that Ah started havin' tha real nightmares," she muttered, her eyes getting a far away look to them. Crap. That lined up with when she was registered in the disks then, not when I activated her just this trip. Twilight nodded as well, obviously knowing what I was considering. "It's the disks. When I had Applejack register her Cutie Mark on one, that's when the dreams started. Nirru used the link to get inside and give Applejack nightmares," she voiced. I felt myself swallow uneasily as Rarity and Fluttershy both gasped. Applejack looked more shocked than anything, however. "W-Wait, that was tha real Nirru? Like, the same one that's in yer head and bugs ya from time ta time?" she asked instantly, eyes widening. Slowly, I nodded, afraid to admit it myself. Her nightmares had been my fault then. "I'm sorry, Applejack. I'm going to find out how she got in here first thing tomorrow, and make sure she never can again. Also, I think it would be a wise idea to start having joint dreams for everypony for a few nights, at least until I can sort out how she's doing this. I don't want her to target anypony else because we stopped her here," I warned. Twilight gave me a nod, but Rarity paled a little. It was hard to notice on her already rather pale fur, and I realized it must be a really bad one. Tentatively, I again wondered why the fur of ponies' faces matched their skin tones underneath, but now wasn't a good time to ask. "Um, you think she could target us, too? What exactly, um, was she doing?" the pearly mare asked uneasily, a healthy dose of concern readily apparent in her tone. I shook my head, however, assuring, "No, she can't target you anymore. I know about it now, and am not going to let her." I couldn't stop a bit of the hostility from slipping into my voice, but oddly, it appeared to actually comfort her more, and she gave me a soft smile instead. Maybe that's what Nirru had really been after? To get me upset. I noticed nothing pushed my buttons quite as hard as somepony messing with my friends. It had gotten her murdered the first time. Applejack let out a tired sigh and lay down next to Rainbow before speaking up with, "It ain't yer fault, Mender. Given what Ah know about ya, Ah have ah suspicion ya'd be 'ere tha first night, had ya known. Also, ya really don't wanna ask that, Rare." I blushed a little, realizing she was right regardless. Heh, probably towards Rarity, too. Rainbow didn't look anywhere near satisfied, however. "But... It doesn't make any sense! Why was she trying to convince Applejack to..." Her voice trailed off as she shuddered at the last minute. I amused myself considering if I should be proud of her or insulted. "Um, to what?" Fluttershy asked softly, looking concerned towards Rainbow. Well, she felt concerned as well, given we were close enough to easily pick up base emotions now. Sighing, I finished it for her with, "Mate with me. And I don't know. The first time I saw her, she tried the same thing with me, but more directly, obviously." Rarity let out a squeak, but to my surprise, Twilight only frowned. "It has to be something to do with that DNA thing in you. The real Nirru came here trying to get the DNA out of you to bring back to her dimension, right? But she barely had the patience to wait a few minutes for it. This Nirru not only seems intent on having you actually use the DNA to mate, but has lasted a whole lot longer, using subtlety to try to get her way. Honestly, I don't think she's actually Nirru," Twilight concluded, striking so many pointed statements that it made me want to groan and smack my face into the ground. I'd already tentatively considered that it wasn't actually Nirru, but I was more considering it a virus she put in me at this point. Twilight was right, though. Why the sudden change of motive? Applejack huffed weakly, asking, "So it wasn't who Ah was at all, but just because Ah'm ah sturdy Earth Mare?" Ah, true. She had the highest constitution out of all six of them, and was probably the healthiest, too. If looking only objectively at it, she was the best 'breeding' material. Ugh. Still, she was probably also picked because she had the guilt issue that could be singled out easily. "Aww! Why wasn't I picked, too?! I'm an Earthy Pony," Pinkie chirped, completely missing the point of it being something to not strive towards. To my surprise, Applejack shuddered, then immediately snapped with, "It ain't somethin' ya want, Pinkie! Night after night, tha nightmare just wouldn't stop! Ah don't even know how much longer I could have taken it. Please, somepony make it stop." It was a disturbing cross between pleading and anger in her voice, and Pinkie instantly dropped her ears down. "I'm sorry, AJ. Um, I didn't mean to..." she started to apologize with. Applejack let out a tired sigh and shook her head, cutting her off. “No, Ah ain’t mad at you, Pinkie. It’s just… Ah don’t want ta dream about it anymore. Ah’m so tired,” she muttered, slumping over again and sinking to her stomach against the warm sand. Spike scampered up to her right and rested one of his claws on her shoulder, nodding encouragingly to her. “Hey, relax, Applejack. We have this nice beach now, and a beautiful day, and none of the girls are going to let you dream about that anymore. You’re linked now, so Mender can pull you into here each night,” he justified. Yeah, that was the plan, anyway. I didn’t mention the copious amounts of scans I was doing on all of the systems revolving around the links, and the additional security measures I’d be installing once it was done. There was no way I’d let her do this again. A light cough later, I glanced back over at Rarity, along with everypony else. “Ah, this brings to light an issue. Um, Mender, do you think it would be too much trouble to link up with me as well, tomorrow? I’ve come to the conclusion that it will do me no harm, of course, and would feel much safer…” she requested softly, glancing towards me instead. I really doubted that Nirru was going to target her, given our, well, past history. “The odds of Nirru targeting you are fairly low, but if it would make you feel better, or you just want to join us in dreams each night, then sure,” I pointed out, tilting my head slightly. She returned a nod to me, but seemed unshaken in her desire. “Oh, I realize that. I’d simply feel safer. Plus, I truly wouldn’t mind sharing dreams with everypony, of course,” she furthered. The pink one jumped all over that like a rabbit on a sugar coated carrot cake, of course. “Oooh, you should totally make more disks, and then we could get other ponies in on it, too! If we invite Twilight’s parents, Shining Armor, and Cadance, too, we could have more games every night! That would be so awesome… But I’m totally being a bard next time instead. I think that would fit me so much more instead of-“ she immediately started. Uh… Twilight held up a hoof to her, giggling at that. “As much fun as that would be, I don’t believe that my dad, or Mender himself, would enjoy being linked. The stigma of that alone might give my dad a heart attack. But my brother and Cadance might be a nice idea,” she suggested. Okay, yeah, that I could handle much, much easier. “I’m not entirely sure how to go about making new disks yet. I know how to make the physical parts to it, but a lot goes into them apart from just what they’re made of. I’ll look into it more once we get back to Ponyville,” I offered, lying down in the sand as well. Fluttershy didn’t even hesitate before resting next to me as well. Rainbow looked longingly at the waves, probably wanting to go have fun in them, but turned back and flopped next to the uneasy looking Applejack regardless. To my surprise, everypony, and drake, of course, settled in instead of actually playing like Pinkie had suggested. Applejack perked up and looked around at us when she noted, her ears twitching lightly as a faint pink tint came to her cheeks. “Uh… W-Wait, what’s everypony doin’ lookin’ at me?” she asked, sounding uncertain for a rare moment. Fluttershy simply smiled softly towards her, and Rarity nodded in silent agreement before adding, “You don’t have to attempt to be stoic and unflinching all the time, Dear. You have friends who are here for you, and don’t have to do this alone.” I felt a bit warmer inside as I smiled, too, watching all of them interact. The yellow pegasus to my right perked up at Rarity's words, finally. "She's right. We're all here to help you, Applejack. You know we're not going to let you go through this by yourself. That would be horrible!" she managed to squeak out, eyes widening at the very prospect. Applejack actually let out a weak chuckle at that, relaxing again in her lying position. "Ah don't know what ta say, besides thankin' everypony. Suddenly findin' out that it wasn't just ah nightmare all along is... It's scary. She tried ta get me ta..." she started trying to explain, stumbling at the end. I frowned, watching the orange mare start to shiver again, then rub the sides of her head softly. Rainbow edged over and put a wing over her back, giving a confident smile towards her crush. This seemed to have an almost bolstering effect when Applejack glanced over at her, and she relaxed, nodding. "It's just hard ta make myself remember. But if'in it leads ta catchin' her, Ah'm more than happy ta provide tha information! Ah don't know why she was so sold on tha idea, but she repeatedly tried ta convince me that tha only way Mender was gonna really forgive me was... Well, she told me tha only way was if Ah submitted ta him like some sort o' slave or broodmare an' gave him lots o' little ones," she finished. More horrified gasps, and despite that momentary twinge in my chest that they might be horrified over the thought of being with me, I squashed that idea quite quickly. No, it was undoubtedly the 'slave' part they thought was horrific, in which I totally agreed. Thankfully Rainbow spoke up, giving me something else to focus on. "Eww! That's disgusting! Why would she even recommend that?! It doesn't seem to benefit her at all," Dash immediately pointed out. I momentarily felt like I had been bucked in the face but managed to limit my reaction to just a slow blink. Never mind that something else to focus on, then. Fluttershy almost gave me a heart attack when she suddenly leaned over and pecked my cheek, interrupting with, "They're not talking about the thought of being with you, Mender." It was barely a whisper, but there was hardly any other sound to mask it, and everypony looked over at me regardless. My affectionate mare blushed lightly, suddenly noticing she'd made us the center of attention with that action, and I felt my cheeks lightly following suit. Dash momentarily looked flabbergasted, flailing her forelegs up before remembering she was leaning on them and planting her face into the sand. Thankfully she spit it out and recovered rapidly with, "No way! Using AJ like that is the disgusting part, Mender!" Her adamant correction made me happy regardless, proving it was important to her. "Yeah, I know. It was just a momentary side thought. I'm okay," I quickly assured, not wanting it to devolve into a huge misunderstanding. Instead, Applejack looked back over at me with a slightly sadder expression, asking, "Are you? Ah know, Ah know. Ya always say ya are. Over an' over, there ain't nothin' Ah can do fer ya. She was totally crazy, but also right. Ah don't feel like Ah've paid ya back at all." She mentioned what the actual problem was this time, I noticed. Twilight smiled softly at that, further sliding into my left before exhaling quietly. "Mender asked us a rather important question regarding that a little while ago. You know what happened over Estrus, and both Fluttershy and I were in a panic, thinking we were going to be dumped and he'd leave the herd," she added, slowly narrating what had happened. I knew where she was going almost instantly, of course. "It was horrific. Of course, we tried everything we could when he got back. We had to fix it as fast as possible to prove we cared for him still! Of course, it all came to be pointless as he was willing to give us another chance anyway. Mender holds a lot of anger inside of his heart, and even if he doesn't specifically ask for anything, helping him out through friendship and love is super important. He started by asking us how long it would take to forgive ourselves, however," she revealed. I'd not expected her to mention that anger part, but at least Pinkie already knew of it, which meant the others might have, too. It didn't bother me, I decided. "Forgive mahself? But Ah ain't... Oh," she muttered, eyes widening a little bit. I nodded in agreement of course. "Tia told me that the hardest pony to forgive is yourself. I think that applies to almost everypony here," I appended. All seven expressions lowered a bit, making me realize that they themselves were each processing that. Of course, almost everypony here had some reason or another to be upset with themselves. Some were more justified in that than others, with the yellow mare to my right awkwardly being the least offensive, yet most apologetic. Finally, Applejack smiled at that and nodded slowly. "Ah understand. How about we help each other, then? Ya let me help ya out in any way Ah can, an' in turn, ya can help me forgive mah self, slowly..." she agreed finally. Chuckling, I managed to nod. The mare finally smiled fully at that and relaxed a bit, thankfully. Rainbow had either gotten really brave, or had totally forgotten about her wing that was still over Applejack’s back, but the orange mare apparently didn’t mind at all, so I wasn’t going to say anything. Pinkie hopped up a moment later, wearing a rather large grin. “Woo! We still have time left before we wake up, everypony! Who wants to take advantage of this super-duper awesome beach?!” she asked almost immediately. Applejack looked surprised at first, and then gave her a knowing smirk and a snicker. “Eh, why not? It’s amazin’ ta have ah pleasant dream after all this time, so yer right. Ah should enjoy it. Race ya into tha water, Dash,” she challenged, hopping up to her hooves. Rainbow perked at that, eyes widening as she turned to look at the orange mare, her wing getting moved out of the way when she stood suddenly. If she just realized the wing thing, or was just worried Applejack had noticed when she stood up, it didn’t matter. Pinkie squealed and took off towards the water after the farm mare, both taking advantage of Rainbow’s stunned state to get a head start. “Hey!” she finally yelped, scrambling up and shooting after them a heartbeat later. Smiling, I watched the three hit the waves at almost the same time, laughing and starting to immediately splash each other. This had gone better than I’d hoped, although it left more questions than answers. Spike moved back over to Rarity to my right a bit and sat down again a moment later, running a claw through the sand as he did. “This all seems so real. It’s hard to believe that it’s just a dream,” he muttered, lifting a clawed hand up and letting the sand pour out of it. Twilight frowned at that, and then sighed, resting more against me as she closed her eyes. “It was all too real for Applejack. What’s going on, Mender?” she asked softly, obviously not having dropped the real reason we were all here. Sadly, I didn’t know where to begin answering that one. “I don’t know. Somehow, that creature that calls herself Nirru in my head managed to subtly slip down the link to Applejack and promote her own agenda. I’d thought she was just a figment of my mind to torment myself at first, but now…” It was obvious she wasn’t, if she could use my systems to get at my friends. The full system scan hadn’t been enough apparently. It was time to scan those four processing units that I also had. Each of the large processors had a significant amount of physical memory attached to them. Could Nirru have uploaded a virus during her information retrieval that night? That would explain that thing’s preference for her image. “I think it’s a good idea regardless to start grouping together each night in dreams, if only to make sure she can’t target any of us individually. At least until Mender can fix this,” Twilight suggested, glancing back over at Rarity, who quickly nodded. Yeah, safety in numbers was a good idea, but further, I could guard them specifically if I was there. Although, I doubted she’d even try and risk exposing how she operated further if I was actually in the dream with them. Rarity wanted to be added tomorrow, and then I’d have everypony covered. “Yeah, it’s a good idea. There are still four spots that a virus might be hiding in my systems that I didn’t check yet. I think Nirru might have added that thing to my systems that night in the forest,” I revealed, not wanting to keep anything from the mares. Fluttershy fidgeted to my other side, shifting a bit closer before asking, “Um, do you think you can get rid of it if you find it? She’s really scary and mean, and I don’t want you getting hurt or anything.” I smiled and lightly kissed the top of her muzzle, earning a blush and soft smile from her instead, the worry melting off her expression. “Yes. If I can find her, I can get rid of her with no issue. And I want to, so she doesn’t hurt any of my friends again,” I assured, nodding towards her. A virus in my systems wasn’t a super big danger if she was stuck on one of my processing cores. It was just a matter of running external deletion commands, then. The yellow mare seemed pleased with that answer regardless and nodded. Twilight also relaxed and looked up at the sky instead, smiling at the sunshine drifting across the water and onto us. The line of light it made danced with the waves, a soft warm glow. Yeah, now that I knew about it, I could take steps to stop this. Letting myself relax, I slid down a bit and lay my head down against my forelegs, enjoying the sensation of the fur to each side of me as I closed my eyes. I felt Twilight smile from the link with her, and rest her head next to mine. “Yeah, I’m glad we were able to be there for Applejack tonight,” she added, in a quieter voice. Rarity smiled and rested her head down as well, shifting and letting Spike sit down in the sand against her forelegs. “Yes. I had started to get worried over her nightmares.” Oh, right. Big Mac had expressed concern over them, too. It was nice to see that Applejack had so many there to support her when she needed it. Still, I felt guilty, as this had technically been made far worse by my own lenience. No, I wasn’t going to be lax in my duties anymore. I wanted to protect everypony I could, and even if that meant from myself, I had to try. I started setting up the scans inside of myself while listening to them talk, and the splashing in the background. That fourth, damaged core was what bothered me. I didn’t think anything could even be uploaded to it, but no, it was going to get included in my scans, too. I wasn’t taking any chances at all, this time. With a new sense of purpose, I focused on getting the most thorough scan I could manage programmed in so I could start it up the first thing tomorrow. It would take a good chunk of that day and the next to complete due to the sheer size of the four cores, but the faster I started, the sooner we’d have answers. Answers… I’d been avoiding answers, I realized. I listened to Twilight talk about her own bad dreams after that night, nowhere near as malicious as the one we’d walked into. It was true. I had been intentionally avoiding watching that video, purely because I was afraid to. What if it showed me some other horrible thing about myself that I didn’t know yet? What if it just made everything worse? But no, I now realized that not looking for the answers myself could also put my friends in danger, too. I’d have to watch the thing soon. There was no more avoiding it… I listened to the three mares having fun, and the others closest to me chatting quietly as the sun drifted up on our pleasant scene. It was a new day finally, and I decided I was going to hit the ground running after rolling out of bed. Yeah, our last day in Canterlot, too. One more meeting with Tia, and then we’d be on our way back to Ponyville. It was time for new things, either way. I made the promise to be more responsible once more as I watched the sun gently lift into the sky. Chapter 73Ever so slowly, my eyes opened up to greet the warm morning light. At first I was concerned, of course. As the light had slipped through my previously closed e yelids, it was so much warmer than usual. It both felt comfortably warm, and looked far more earthy and vibrant. I woke up in a pleased mood, of course, which probably helped significantly. It had gone far better than my admittedly kind of dour imagination had predicted. Then, as my eyes focused, fully open again and ready to meet the outside world, everything went completely wrong. No, the sun had not inexplicably changed its hue and heat output! Of course, had I been more awake, I might have wondered at my logic there. No, the orange shade of light wasn't from the window at all, but reflecting off the very vibrant coat of Applejack, who lay mere centimeters in front of me, snout almost touching mine. They hadn't moved me at all?! To further compound my horror, I quickly observed that the heat wasn't from the sun at all, but instead came from the seven other bodies in remarkably close proximity to me. Fluttershy was practically on top of me, snuggled between Applejack and me, her head coming about halfway up my barrel. Thankfully she was on her back... Twilight's foreleg was draped over me, still hugging me from behind, and I saw the telling glimpses of Rainbow snuggled up behind Applejack, head also on the pillows. Rarity was curled up against Fluttershy's hip, still in physical contact from using the yellow mare as a relay into the dream. Spike must have used Rarity as a relay, then, as he was right up against her chest, being held gently by the mare with his face close to hers. Right, she had to use her horn to connect him, if I remembered correctly. Pinkie snuggled happily into Fluttershy's other side, and my back legs were tangled up in her fluffy, curly mane. Great! Wait, no, I was getting distracted! How was I going to get out of this pile of ponies before any of them, namely Applejack, Rainbow, or Rarity, woke up? Why hadn't Fluttershy or Rarity moved me prior to falling asleep?! They could have avoided this entire awkward scenario! A dozen horrible outcomes flashed through my mind, ranging from a group gang beating, to simply being arrested for some sort of 'Cuddling Without Consent' misdemeanor. In the process of having my small heart attack, the worst came to pass. As slowly and sleepily as I had, Applejack's eyes opened up, looking right into mine from point blank range. Crap. I considered raising my subdermal armor, but that might hurt her hoof as she beat on me. There was a touch of surprise that danced through her eyes, but I could almost feel the memories coming back into her at this range. The surprise was gone a moment later, replaced by a softer expression. Then it was my turn to be surprised! She instead slipped forward and under my chin, lightly pressing into my neck and resting there. Was she trying to lure me into a false sense of security? I doubted it at this point, not because I had the slightest clue what was going on, but from concluding that the Element of Honesty probably wasn't capable of such a devious trap. Instead, she quietly whispered into my mind. "Thank you, Mender." I waited for a second, but nothing else came from her. For fixing something that I had caused in the first place, that had ended up tormenting her? That didn't seem like something I should be thanked for. She snorted on the inside, pushing her muzzle into my shoulder and finally getting me to reluctantly wrap my forelegs around her. It felt strange hugging her in just a friendly manner, feeling the warmth of her fur along my chest, and the small shiver she gave out a second later. "No, Mender. Ah can feel yer real feelin's now more than ever, since ya activated tha link. Yer as lost an' confused as tha rest o' us dealin' with all this, ain't ya?" she inquired with a playful up-tone towards the end, again impressively softly for somepony who had been just introduced to the link communication. Wait, did she just call me ‘lost and confused’? I lifted up an eyebrow to that, but she just smirked. Ha! "You're a confusing mare, Applejack. Thanking me, then playfully insulting me in the next thought," I pointed out, smiling silently. Better than punching, though. Her punches hurt almost as much as her kicks! "Psh! Ah imagine all mares are confusin' 'til ya get ta know 'em. Ah'm rather simple, actually. Ah appreciate who ya are, an' what ya did fer me, is all. At least part o' what she said in tha dream was true, Mender. How do ya make up fer goin' against everythin' ya stand for, an' murderin' ah pony who didn't deserve it?" she asked, finally admitting what the real issue was. Frowning again, I relaxed as she settled against me again. "What do you mean, 'everything you stand for?’" I asked her, feeling Fluttershy stir lightly against my hip, but not wake. A hoof dragged softly down my chest, and she shivered yet again. "Ah'm tha Element of Honesty, but Ah let mah anger cloud mah judgment. Ah didn't believe ah single thing ya said, despite you actin' weird fer somepony caught doin' wrong. Plus yer story was crazy! Somepony tryin' ta lie wouldn't have even tried it," she pointed out. I barely resisted actually laughing at that one. Yeah, I had to admit, claiming Twilight was actually an alien from another dimension probably sounded totally crazy. She smiled a little bit at that, anyway, but quickly continued with, "Regardless, Ah couldn't tell that you were tellin' tha truth, an' she was lyin' through her teeth. She's right. Ah even disabled ya fer her. Ya died from mah wounds. Ah gave ya ta her on ah silver platter. What kind o' Element of Honesty am Ah?!" Her mental voice was getting strained, and I knew it wouldn't be long before it woke Fluttershy up. "You're the Element of Honesty who believed her friend over the crazy stallion with mental health issues whom you barely knew a month. The fact that I was telling the truth isn't important. You stood up for your friend in her perceived time of need," I tried to point out. She looked up at me, expression a tense frown rather than showing any kind of relief. "Ah killed ya! How can you just ignore that?! Plus, yer mah friend, too!" she stubbornly and adamantly reminded. Uh... It only took her half a second to shift into a guilty look, lifting both hooves to her muzzle as she realized she'd actually shouted that. The pony pile quickly jerked to life, Pinkie kicking twice before just rolling back over again, being probably the only still sleeping member. Fluttershy squeaked and sat up at the same time Rainbow sleepily looked over Applejack's form at me. Twilight slipped two hooves carefully around me from behind, not startled at all, however. I suddenly realized she'd been listening the whole time! Rarity thankfully didn't comment on Applejack's position, too busy blushing softly as she realized Spike was still snoozing in her forelegs from last night. Ah, scratch that. Two members who didn't wake up from that. Impressive! Rainbow sighed a moment later, flopping back down onto the pillow instead. Huh. I anticipated a significantly different reaction upon catching me hugging Applejack. “We just got you out of that nightmare, AJ. You don’t have to relive it now…” she muttered, sounding a bit disheartened. Applejack recovered quickly, frowning instead as she dropped her forehead back to my shoulder. "It ain't me tryin' ta relive any of it. Ah just don't want Mender thinkin' that it's his fault all that happened," she quickly corrected. Oh, right. She had already admitted to more needing to forgive herself than having me forgive her. Of course, Twilight had been right, too. I was angry about it all. I didn't know how much, but knew I didn't want to hurt any of them for it, regardless. Fluttershy definitely woke up at that, rotating around and moving more onto me instead. Rarity and Pinkie were forced to rapidly relocate as their pillows, Fluttershy's hips, moved away on their own. "Mender, it's not your fault at all. You couldn't have known what was happening," the yellow mare reminded, lightly kissing my stomach, just under my rib line. "I should have been more vigilant, Fluttershy. My lax behavior enabled the nightmares to happen in the first place," I tried to explain. Applejack instantly snorted at that, interrupting with, "If yer gonna try ta say that, Ah should first point out that mah downright horrifyin' behavior got ya kicked through ah window, yer leg torn off, an' then got ya killed. If ya gave me a few months o' nightmares fer it, Ah'd consider it maybe even fer tha window thing. But ya didn't even mean ta, an' it was barely ah fraction o' that time." Wait, what? It wasn't... No, this was totally different than what she did! I didn't hold any of that against her! Nopony would have believed me. Even Rainbow, the Element of Loyalty herself, doubted it. Although, she at least double-checked after getting a doctor. Twilight interrupted my jumbled thoughts with a sigh behind me, pushing her muzzle up into my mane for a moment before pulling me a bit closer to her. I went with the flow and just let her hold me from behind, Applejack relaxing as she watched us. Finally, the lavender mare added, “What happened isn’t as important as both parties coming to terms with it, and feeling like they’ve made amends. I can hardly see this as Mender’s fault apart from him maybe taking more precautions, but that’s easy to say in hindsight.” I exhaled weakly and lay my head back down on the pillow instead, unwilling to put more energy into thinking about it. Instead, my eyes shifted to the scanner I had running on the side, indicating twelve percent. Soon. To my amusement, Fluttershy slumped over following me, slipping down between Applejack and me. Pinkie crawled up next to us and flopped down across our hips, resuming her use as a pillow shortly after. Thankfully Rarity didn’t follow this time, instead sitting up and absently holding the still sleeping Spike to her chest as she stared off into space. This had gone from feeling scary, to just lazy if anything. Applejack stared down at me for a second before closing her eyes softly. “Ah wanna make this up ta ya. Everything Ah did wrong needs amends. If it eventually feels like Ah’ve done enough, than Ah think Ah can finally be at ease. It might never happen, but… Ah think we can go back ta normal after ah while. Even if Ah never feel like Ah’ve ‘fixed’ what Ah did, we can still at least heal,” she finally stated. It wasn’t a question so much as her finally admitting what she wanted from the start. She looked at me curiously, and I gave her a small nod in return. She immediately slumped her shoulders and flopped forward into my chest instead, giving out a tired sounding sigh as Rainbow readjusted, slipping back against AJ’s back rather easily. “So if I let you, you’ll let us help you heal, too? Twilight and Fluttershy, too, as they said they wanted to ‘make it up to me’ as well,” I suggested, just getting everything out into the open at once. Applejack hesitated, but nodded finally, watching me intently. I ‘felt’ Twilight smile faintly through the link before adding her nod in as well, then appending, “Yes, we do want to make up what happened over Estrus to you as well. But I think you also need to let out that anger, Mender.” I froze in an instant, eyes widening as I went rigid against the pillow. She… She wanted me to, right now? She just openly said that right here?! My breath must have caught, as I was suddenly distinctly aware of the ‘sensation’ of at least four other mares snapping onto that statement and my reaction at the same time. Applejack’s eyes shot back to fully open in an instant and snapped onto me mercilessly, her expression becoming more somber as she asked, “Anger? Mender…” Their stares were too harsh in just that instant, and I slipped down further into the pillows, covering my eyes with my front hooves. Why now? Why did she have to tell them that right now? Fluttershy slipped up me further and kissed my chest softly, and I shivered. I couldn’t retreat, even. She was reminding me that I was still here. “Mender, just tell them. Tell us again,” Twilight requested softly, from so close behind my head that I gave a start when she spoke. Tell them? Just like that? That cold anger frozen so far below the surface wasn’t a casual topic for tea and cakes. It was an exercise in illogical selfishness. It made me want to scream and cry and lash out and hit things in a pathetically childish manner until I got all that anger out of me. But that wasn’t how adults acted. If I stopped to figure it out, given how long I was frozen in a block of ice in another dimension, I was over two hundred years old. Acting like that would be a disgrace. But at the same time, I’d technically only been removed from the ice for… Actually, I didn’t know how long I’d been ‘awake’ prior to warping to Equestria. I only had memories of the last month and change at best. A light sigh from behind me snapped me back into reality. If I wasn’t moving fast enough for her, why didn’t she just tell them all herself? That’s what she wanted, right? The thought shot through me like a bolt of lightning, and I felt her wince, backing up slightly as I shivered again. Applejack swallowed uneasily in front of me, instead suggesting, “Twilight, if he doesn’t want ta talk about-“ No. I didn’t want this to be about me again. I was tired of this being me just running away again. “I’m angry. It’s there, and it’s disgusting,” I interrupted her with, sharper than I intended. She wanted me to say it, then fine, I’d say it. The silence was thick hanging over me, but I continued regardless with, “I’m angry at a lot of things. I’m angry at Twilight and Fluttershy for going behind my back and in an emotional fit, making such an important decision without me. Even in that small moment, it feels like they left me behind and I’m never going to be exactly equal. So many ponies know about it, given the herd and marriage office’s protocol of apparently posting each private hookup in a few hundred point font outside of their building like a giant gossip column.” I spit it out like the taste was disgusting, and felt Fluttershy recoil slightly off me. I didn’t move my hooves to look. No, she wanted this, and what Twilight wanted, Twilight got. I continued into the now toxic feeling of silence, filling it with my even more poisonous feelings in my words. “I’m angry at Applejack and Rainbow Dash, too, for thinking I was a monster capable of abusing the mare I said I cared so much about and not even giving me a hesitant second to try to explain myself, instead attacking me and putting all of us in danger. I’m angry that I lost my only hope of being normal there, and even further disgusted that it was all a lie anyway, even if it hadn’t happened. The pony I thought I’d finally started to become friends with, and the other that I’d been through all of that adventure with had abandoned me and gave me to her instead.” It just kept coming, bits of ice raining down in my mind. Yeah, I was weak. Yeah, it was all an excuse and pathetic. That was me, and I didn’t feel like hiding anymore. “I’m angry at Keela as well, for stopping me from at least getting what little revenge I could grab for myself. I wanted to make her sister hurt so badly for what she did to me. What she had said she was going to do to you all. It was revenge. I wanted her to suffer like I did. I wanted to hit her again and again and again and not stop screaming and crying until I passed out…” It just continued, my voice raising as I went on. My hooves were wet. No. Stopping now wasn’t possible. There were moments when I felt like there was a sword hanging over me. Normally it was that healthy air of caution that told me to stop, but at some points in your life, I guess you just have to laugh and keep charging. “I’m not angry at Nirru. I hate her. The only thing that stopped me from killing her that night was Keela begging me not to. Begging me. I wanted to so bad that I could taste it. She’d hurt me. She had destroyed everything I had wanted to be and hurt ponies I cared about. She threatened to kill you all. I wanted to destroy her. For revenge, and for threatening everypony,” I whispered, feeling like I was choking on ice at this point. I’d slipped past anger and shot right into hatred. It was something I didn’t think ponies even knew about. They wouldn’t understand or even grasp it. Because as much as I wanted to be, and dreamed of it, I wasn’t a normal pony. I could never be a normal pony. Even if it wasn’t for the cybernetics and that writhing monster inside of me, I was tainted. My very memories had things that a pony should never experience. Fluttershy showed me that much. Which brought me to the last one. I hoped Twilight was delighted by now. “And most of all, above and beyond all of this, I’m angry with myself. In every instance that I’m upset over, there are logical reasons for it happening. Keela just wanted to save her sister. Applejack and Rainbow Dash of course chose to believe who they thought was their friend over me, the crazy stallion babbling about aliens and doppelgangers. Twilight and Fluttershy love each other and just got carried away over an extremely hormonal period of time, and sent out the letter by accident. It’s all… There’s no reason for me to be angry at all, but even with the logic right there, I can’t just make it all go away. It disgusts me, and makes me realize that I probably couldn’t have been a normal pony, even without knowing what I do now. I don’t even deserve to be here…” With that, I hit a brick wall. There was just nothing else inside for me to say, despite that urge to just scream at the top of my lungs and smash the walls down until it passed. There were no guards up, and I knew they all realized exactly how I was feeling. Well, Rarity could probably make an educated guess anyway, and I didn’t know if my whining had woken Spike up or not. The dead silence certainly wasn’t giving me any hints. Maybe they’d all left in the middle and I’d been talking to myself? I smirked bitterly inside at that thought, but knew they were all still right here. There was nothing but the cold silence now, nopony daring to even breathe. I knew this would happen. What had she been trying to accomplish by unveiling all of this disgusting trash to them all when they were finally having a happy moment? It was a pointless pile of circular logic and seething, childish emotion. How did she expect to manage any of it? “Mender…” Applejack’s voice shot through the air like a bolt of lightning and I jerked at the sudden sound that wasn’t my own egotistical voice. I suddenly realized I was shaking and hadn’t noticed, keeping my eyes covered up and holding the wetness back as best I could. Maybe if I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see me? Sound logic, in comparison… She hesitated, of course, freezing the second she said something and realized she had no idea what she was going to continue with. Was there anything to say, really? The soundest answer was to simply say to hell with it and go get breakfast. Forget any of this ever happened. Why had she done this? To ‘help’ me? I felt her hoof touch against the back of my neck and bristled, moving away from it quickly. She pulled back in an instant and whispered, “I… Mender…” She didn’t have the slightest clue what to say. I pulled my back legs up, sliding into a ball as I shook my head. This was a waste of their time. “Just go. All of you, just leave. Go get breakfast or something…” I managed to get out, fighting to talk through what felt like my throat swelling up. “No, Mender, we need to-“ Twilight started to continue. No, I was done doing what she wanted for now. She got her way and got me to tell them all. Could she not be content with just that? “Just go!” I snapped out, shuddering again as I pulled myself into a tighter ball. Why wouldn’t my legs stop shaking?! There was another long moment of silence before I felt movement all around me, the bed shifting around. “Come on, Twi,” I heard Applejack order, before the last form right behind me was pulled off the bed forcibly. Good. Just leave. Everypony needed to leave. Soon, there was just nothing. The door was closed at some point, I thought. I couldn’t remember, but double-checked that each and every link from me was as off as I could get them. No more. They didn’t need to feel this from me. She got her way, so she should be happy. There was nopony close enough to hear me or see me or even know I was here. They were halfway to the dining room. I was alone. I just let it all go. Dark tentacles shot out of my body, whipping to the shades and closing each and every one around me. I barely plunged the room into darkness in time before I let out a wail. Over and over again I just screamed and shouted, kicking at the pillows and flinging them against the walls. I just let it go, and stopped caring as everything distorted and my targeting system went totally haywire. There was nothing here for me to murder, so what did it matter? Everything fell away into the blind, dark rage. I have no idea how long it all washed over me. Eventually, I just got tired and fell over against the carpet, panting and crying. I was a little foal again and throwing a tantrum was all I could do to stop from exploding. Finally, that stopped too as I just lay on my side, staring into the dark room. Not even she bothered to show up. Maybe it was self-evident enough to not need mocking this time? Or she just knew that I’d tear her apart almost instantly. For a long while, I just stared into the scarred cracks of my left hoof. Who was I, really…? * * * * * It was all such a mess. Sighing, I tucked the sheets back under the pillows and straightened them back out. Leave it to me to throw a tantrum like a foal, then immediately feel badly about it afterwards like a pansy instead. How I managed to muster up the balls to attack a Grosh ship head on was way beyond me. Having finished the bed, I looked around the room again. For having looked like a small tornado had hit it, everything was now in almost spotless condition. My tentacles had cleaned up the scattered items nicely, and my Alteration magic had repaired the actually broken stuff. Oh, and the gashes in the walls and bed. And the chandelier I tore off the ceiling. Getting it back up there had been a real pain! I tapped the crystal disk on the wall and smiled as it lit back up, scattering illumination throughout the room. Now success on an engineering job; that felt gratifying, however. Peeking both directions when I exited the tower, I was pleased to note that nopony was in the general vicinity. I was sort of worried that half the guard force would have investigated the sounds of the rampage. Of course, they probably would have gotten here minutes ago if that were the case. More likely, this area of the castle was merely quarantined until the royal exorcist got here. Regardless, I straightened up my saddlebags and headed towards the main entry hall. I was starting to wonder if my dry and slightly bitter sarcasm was accurate by the time I'd gotten to the main body of the castle and still not seen anypony. I didn't dare turn the links back on to see where everypony was. Even intentionally blanking my thoughts, Fluttershy or Pinkie were still capable of noticing me. I kind of wanted to find Fluttershy first to apologize for my rather disgusting behavior. Then came Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and I guess Twilight, in that order. Uh, assuming one of the first two didn't kill me. Again. No, wait, that was bitter again. I really needed to work on that. I peeked around the corner of the hallway leading around behind the huge room that served as the main dining room. Two guards were posted by the back doors, and I exhaled softly in relief. Okay, so I wasn't in some parallel, empty dimension or something. I think that might have been a worse hell than my old one. They turned and glanced at me for a moment before resuming staring straight ahead. Huh. Well, no warrant had been issued for me, then. I contemplated the merits of a hermit lifestyle in the Everfree while walking down to the two guards. "Uh, the halls seem kind of empty. Did I miss a memo or something?" I asked the closest one. Of course, would they actually tell a random pony that wandered up to them in the hall? "Yes, sir. While you were resting in the back tower, Princess Celestia called for a meeting with the Elements of Harmony prior to their breakfast. They're meeting behind us in the main dining room with a full contingent of guards," he promptly explained. Oh, right, I was a guard lieutenant now. Wait, they had more than one dining room here? Wait, no, that wasn't the important question. "Is there an emergency?" I asked quickly, powering up my internal generators just in case. He shook his head, however, assuring, "No, sir. All is well. I don't know the details, but I believe the Princess simply wishes to discuss the return trip. You are welcome to go in, if you wish." Oh. Well, that brought about an awkward option. Of course, I was significantly less likely to be murdered in front of the Princess. There was that. Plus, my curiosity was getting the better of me. "Thank you very much for the information. I think I will peek, at least." I spoke as I slipped past them, nodding to their salutes. Of course, leave it to me to walk in on a conversation. "But Discord has been behaving. Why do we need them, Princess?" I heard Twilight ask, sounding surprised. Need what? Thankfully I was hidden out of sight by one of the barriers the cooks usually organized food behind. Princess Celestia sounded much calmer as she explained, "The Elements of Harmony may be required in the future by DReg. This actually has nothing to do with Discord. I'll also be sending along a specific book from the Canterlot Archives in a few days for you, Twilight." Oh! She was sending the actual Elements back with us? Idly, I wondered what exactly they were stored in. Probably some sort of reinforced lockbox or something. I momentarily amused myself picturing them in some sort of ridiculously visible glass case like a museum piece and barely resisted chuckling out loud. "A book?!" Twilight asked, far too quickly to be merely curious. Heh. She'd never change, although that wasn't all bad. I decided eavesdropping was bad, however, and slipped forward around the barrier. Well, time for the fireworks. Tia was sitting facing away from the barrier and didn't see me at first, further explaining with, "Yes, it's an important book containing an unfinished spell towards its end. I'd like you, and possibly Mender to take a look at it and-" Twilight winced at my name seconds before I moved into sight around the barrier. Her eyes widened rapidly, causing Tia to trail off and glance my way instead. "Oh! Good morning, Mender. I trust you are feeling better from your bug?" she inquired politely. Bug? They must have told ponies I was just a little sick. Tia's warmer smile oddly told me she suspected otherwise, however. Their expressions were completely mixed as I glanced past. Rarity and Pinkie were unique, both smiling towards me, the former's sad while the latter was just warm. Fluttershy held just about as surprised an expression as Twilight, although the lavender unicorn was quickly shifting to horrified. Applejack and Rainbow looked incredibly guilty instead, which only served to frustrate me more. This was exactly why I hadn't wanted to tell them in the first place! My irrational and immature emotions were better off buried where nopony could ever see them. But no, she insisted that this was better. I didn't linger regardless, rotating to face Tia before nodding. "I'm a little better now, thank you. Don't let me interrupt," I excused, before slipping over and sitting a little bit behind Rarity on the right side of the group. I noticed Princess Cadance and Shining Armor to the left as I walked, Shining giving me an absent nod, but Cadance frowning towards me before glancing past towards Twilight instead. Tia waited patiently for me to sit down before continuing with, "It's largely decided regardless. The Elements of Harmony shall return to Ponyville with their Bearers. They may stay at the library with you, Twilight. The book will take longer to release, as it's currently being refurbished as we speak. I shall send it to you later, Twilight." Well it did make sense to keep the powerful magic artifacts near the ponies who could use them. Why were they even here to begin- I froze as I spotted the very artifacts in question to the right of Tia. They sat in a ridiculously visible glass case, proudly displayed like some sort of museum exhibit. There wasn't even a lock on the cover! From everything I had heard about them, these were supposed to be artifacts of nigh unlimited power! Even the Aegis Artifacts, which were, for the most part, several orders of magnitude less powerful than the Elements were kept in a vault on lockdown when not owned. Well, uh... Glancing to my left, I noted the book and sword strapped to my saddlebag harness. Was strapping your artifacts to an Eldritch Abomination better or worse than a vault? Twilight snapped out of it a second later, fully facing Tia again. "Ah, yes, your highness. I don't know if I'm capable of completing a spell that Starswirl the Bearded couldn't, but I'll try my very best!" she assured quickly. Who? Wait, if I asked that, we'd be here until tomorrow. The princess of the sun smiled warmly towards Twilight and nodded. “I have no doubt that you’ll manage just fine, my student. Now relax. I believe we’ve been neglecting breakfast until now, and should get to that,” she suggested with a bit of amusement to her voice, standing up from her slightly elevated area that contained the Elements and heading past the actual Element Bearers and towards the table behind me. Sweet! My stomach made a quiet gurgle of appreciation at her suggestion, and I rotated, following after her. Spike seemed of equal mindset and followed after me, giving me a nod and smile as he caught up to my left side. Oh, right. He’d slept through all that. Somehow… I nodded back, returning his smile as best I could. I had to apologize still, but it was better to wait until everypony sat down instead. Pinkie and Shining Armor joined me rapidly at the table as well, Spike to my immediate left, Shining to his, and Pinkie across from Spike. To my surprise, Tia sat down across from me instead, giving a pleased smile as she settled her much larger form at the table. It didn’t take a second for me to realize that, awkwardly enough, we were the only ones that had approached the table. Twilight hesitated, staring back at me, then looking over at Rarity as the pearly unicorn shrugged and walked towards the table as well. Applejack and Rainbow shot hissed whispers back and forth for a second before both turned and looked my way as well. Yeah, this wasn’t awkward at all. “Oh? Is something the matter, my little ponies?” Tia inquired in mild surprise before looking back towards me skeptically. I sighed and just turned to stare down at my plate instead. Cadance finally shifted off the wall and walked to the table as well to sit next to her husband. “Is something the matter, Mender? They’re all looking at you,” she inquired, sounding slightly suspicious. Of course, after my first meeting with her, I fully anticipated my impression on her to be ruined. Maybe I was right? Twilight gave me a start by hopping forward immediately, quickly yelping, “No! It… Don’t make him try to explain it. It was my fault! I pushed him into revealing a secret before he was ready, and he got angry with us.” That wasn’t entirely accurate, but I supposed it would do. To my left, Spike let out a snort, then snickered. “That’s a good one, Twi! Mender never gets angry at anypony, though,” he pointed out incorrectly. Rarity dropped her thankfully still empty cup, and the four remaining mares over to our right froze almost in unison. Whoops. Spike looked surprised by the reaction and shot them a questioning glance before asking, “Uh… right? Wait, did you really get mad at them?” “I… was more mad at myself. Also, I wanted to wait until everypony was sitting down, but… I’m sorry. I acted like an immature foal throwing a tantrum, and I apologize for the behavior,” I said instead, forcing myself to look over at the mares. I was a bit confused as Fluttershy’s eyes expanded in size a bit, including her pupils. She took a moment to cringe to herself before flat out sprinting towards the table. My eyes widened instead as she crashed into my chair, causing Spike to yelp as I landed on him, now carrying a very frantic Fluttershy. He then tipped and crashed into Shining, who flared his horn up and locked his chair to the floor, protecting the now snickering Cadance from also getting flattened. “No, Mender! You were angry with us for a good reason. We shouldn’t have made you tell your secrets. That was terrible! We… please, forgive us,” she quickly apologized, voice dwindling the longer it went on. Twilight disappeared in a flash of light, again abusing her apparent mastery of teleportation magic and winking across the room almost instantly, reappearing on the other side of the shivering ball of fur I now held. “Fluttershy, it wasn’t your fault. I was the one who decided to try to get him to tell, and blurted out the start of it,” she pointed out. I suppressed the tiny spike of annoyance in myself before remembering I hadn’t activated the links again anyway. After a moment of helping Spike tip our chairs back into position, Shining lifted an eyebrow towards the two mares next to me before asking, “Uh, should I ask what happened?” Heh. Why not? They at least weren’t even part of the secret that already got revealed to the ones it would hurt most. “Sure. Why not? They got me to admit to my illogical and absurdly immature anger that I keep buried inside of me, most of the time,” I explained idly, shifting my plate around on the table as a distraction while continuing with, “Even though I know they have their reasons and that they were honest and even justified mistakes, I still can’t just write off being angry with Applejack, Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy.” It was a summary, but it certainly sped up the process. Tia surprised me by smiling softly at that and lifting her cup up, sipping at the tea I hadn’t seen her pour. By the soft, rooty smell, I guessed it was something herbal. She set it down a brief moment later, somehow managing to draw all our attention at once with the rather simple motion. “Thank you for sharing that, Mender, even though you didn’t have to. I realize the sensation now. However, I believe you’re actually more confused about the anger, no?” she suggested, looking back to me again. Eh? Confused… I nodded a second later, gathering what she meant by that. “It seems immature. Applejack and Rainbow were justified in their suspicion of me, knowing me for very little time compared to their friend, Twilight. The fact that they were incorrect isn’t really relevant compared to them wanting to protect who they thought was their friend, as I told them before,” I explained, nodding over to them instead. Tia, of course, appeared to understand immediately, but Cadance frowned a bit. “Are you talking about the incident before your abduction? When that dimensional entity pretended to be Twilight?” she inquired tentatively. I was kind of impressed with her ability to avoid specifics and remain diplomatic. Applejack flattened her ears back at that but nodded, appending, “An’ where Ah kicked him through ah window an’ killed him. Might as well not mince yer words. Ah know what Ah did.” A familiar sounding bitterness was in her voice that I recognized from myself. Oddly, I felt a little better hearing it. If a normal pony could sound like that, too, maybe I was a step closer to that than I gave myself credit for? “We’ve gone over it before. You thought I was hurting Twilight, then I tried to attack her with a weapon. You were only defending her, and you know it,” I reminded, more to make sure Cadance knew the whole truth, rather than just AJ’s version of it. The orange mare scowled at me again, but knew the argument at this point. Both of us blamed ourselves rather than each other, and I knew she was stubborn enough to not change her mind. Actually, I was pretty stubborn about it, too. “Even though you can justify it, however, you do still feel hurt that she didn’t even try to hear you out, right?” Tia asked out of nowhere. My eyes widened a little, but I swallowed the sensation fast and glanced back towards her for a moment. She smiled pleasantly towards me, but I knew she’d already gotten her answer. There wasn’t much one could do when trying to trick out a few thousand year old physical goddess. Well, close enough to a goddess that I didn’t dare argue semantics. I sighed, admitting, “Yes. I understand ‘why’ she didn’t give me a chance, but that doesn’t stop me from being bitter that she didn’t. I haven’t been here in Equestria for long at all, and I get that I’m not that trustworthy yet. Everything is happening so fast that I can barely keep up, and I really just want the other dimension to leave me in peace… I don’t think that’s going to happen, though.” No, it wasn’t the last I’d seen of that dimension. Keela was still working on sealing the hole. Twilight was still working on finding a safe way to break Keela’s link. Until those two things were done, there wouldn’t be any relaxing for me. Rainbow puffed up at that, taking to the air again and hovering over next to Applejack as the orange mare walked over. “Admitting that is fine, Mender! We’re tougher than you think we are, and can take it. Now that we know there’s a definite problem there, we can meet it head on!” she declared quickly, smirking at me instead. Head on? I got a mental image of her firing herself towards me out of a giant slingshot into a massive head-butt, and my forehead gave a sympathy throb. That didn’t exactly sound pleasant. Twilight lifted an eyebrow up at her, but turned to look back at me instead a second later. “Uh, as violent as that sounds, she is right, Mender. You admitting to being angry gives us something to work towards. Helping you through the pain in this case and doing what we can to make it up to you. You’re helping us at the same time to equally forgive ourselves, right?” she pointed out, logic as sharp as usual. It was what Tia had already pointed out. She’d just neglected to clarify what I could do to help them forgive themselves. It was beyond weird, however, to consider me making them feel bad as helping. Shining glanced back and forth between the two of us before raising an eyebrow again. Huh? “I get that much, having read the report. Why are you angry with Twilight and Fluttershy, though?” he asked, tilting his head a bit. Uh… Fluttershy winced against me, and Twilight shot him a disbelieving stare. “Seriously?” she asked, immediately pointing out, “Didn’t you see the huge announcement at the herd office? What about the argument with Dad? Or the discussion at dinner the other night? I screwed up and kind of formed the herd with just Fluttershy and myself over Estrus, leaving Mender out of it! Why wouldn’t he be mad at us?!” Her voice got progressively louder until she was stomping her hooves back and forth in irritation. An errant spark of magic shot up her, and I watched one of her mane’s stray locks pop out to the side from the static electricity. Oh, so that’s how that happened. He backed up slightly with his head, and then frowned. “Twily, calm down! Seriously, I thought you three were already okay with that. I mean, isn’t he a part of the herd now? You fixed it,” he pointed out gently. I could have sworn I saw Twilight’s eye twitch slightly, but Cadance cleared her throat softly instead. “Dear, I believe that just correcting him being in the herd isn’t what she’s referring to when she says it isn’t resolved. It’s a blow to the trust he put into their relationship, which has to be built back up again. You know that’s a long process,” she softly reminded. His expression softened as well and he nodded gently. Oddly, that got Twilight to relax a little as well. “Ah, yes. A similar, although lighter in tone, situation. I believe Mender knows that hormones can cloud judgment, and realizes sending the letter out was an accident, right? However, it’s hard not to feel betrayed by the situation,” Tia pointed out, making an interesting comparison. I considered both situations to be ‘justified’, yes. But even if I found them so, I was upset that it hadn’t been different. Both situations ‘hurt’ me because I wasn’t as trusted or important as I’d thought I was prior. Trust, and importance. It took me a moment to notice they were all looking at me as I thought about it. Blinking, I blushed lightly and looked away, suddenly feeling self-conscious at all the focus. Still, my feelings were right there. “I guess. It makes sense now, however. Applejack didn’t trust me as much as I’d thought, or hoped she did. Neither did Rainbow. I also wasn’t as important to Fluttershy and Twilight as I’d thought. At least not enough for them to fully consider their actions. Both… of my issues stem from me thinking more of myself than what was actually correct,” I pointed out, realizing that during my stay in Equestria, I’d actually gotten somewhat egotistical. Was I ‘justified’ in expecting myself to be more trustworthy and important to the ponies I’d barely known a month at that point? As I anticipated, Twilight and Applejack both gave a start at that comment, but Tia lifted her hoof up and shook her head slowly. “He is right. It’s incredibly hard to figure out how important or trusted you are to others. There is a fine line between being optimistic, and assuming far too much credit for yourself. However, there are also problems with guessing you mean too little to ponies, Mender,” she warned me gently. Ah, well, yeah. If I just assumed they didn’t trust me at all, or thought I was a total loser, I’d be doing exactly what that fake Nirru wanted me to. Burning all my bridges and becoming obsessed with only looking out for myself. Twilight rested her head against my right hip, however, and nodded into me, her horn lightly poking me in the waist and feeling weird. “I’m sorry, Mender. We didn’t intend to make you feel less important to us. I panicked for two days straight after realizing the letter I’d left the form in was gone. Um, I don’t handle stress well, I know. I’d come up with all sorts of situations with you leaving us and never speaking to us again and that’s when I realized exactly how important you are to me. That made me even more panicked when I realized I’d screwed it up again. I thought that would be the final straw,” she admitted, pushing a bit more firmly into my hip. Fluttershy was almost synched up with her, pushing a bit harder into my chest at the same time as I held her against me on the chair. The image of Twilight grinning psychotically down at me from the ceiling when I opened the door popped back into my head, and sent a light shiver down my spine. Matching that up with what she just said, however… Applejack also nodded at that, and then snickered. I lifted an eyebrow towards her, but she quickly explained, "Ain't many things that makes Twilight freak out quite like that. Ah'd say yer pretty important ta her." Twilight's face heated up against my fur and she glanced back at AJ instead with a glare. Heh. Instead of going in a circle again, however, Rarity finally cut in, having been silent up until now. "Applejack and Rainbow Dash feel they've betrayed Mender's trust, as do Twilight and Fluttershy. Mender feels like he's magnifying the issues by overestimating his value to us. Pinkie, Spike, and myself desire to help smooth everypony's relationships again, and now that everything is out in the open finally, I feel we can each begin the process of healing. Going back and forth between the same issues and stubbornly refusing to accept things as they are, however, will get us nowhere," Rarity spoke, calmly and properly addressing each of us as she made a strange sort of third party observation. Well, it was true. Sometimes all this frustration and drama accumulated, and it felt like I was more beating my head into a wall repeating the same arguments while nopony bothered to listen. Of course, I didn't want them to blame themselves either. Ugh. It really was a vicious circle of trying to take the blame from each other. She wasn't done, however, continuing a moment later with, "Frankly speaking, I feel that this is a major step in the right direction. Fluttershy and Twilight have realized how important Mender is to them, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack have admitted to also needing to forgive themselves." "I did?" Rainbow asked, a mildly annoyed tint to her voice. Uh... Fluttershy timidly looked up from me before adding, "Um, not to disagree or anything, and especially not to argue but, um, Mender has always been really, really important to me. I, um, just wanted to let him know that." For a moment, she seemed to address the statement towards the now very confused looking Rarity, but perked up a second later and turned around to me again, smiling softly. I returned her smile hesitantly, not sure what to make of all that. I always sort of knew she felt closer to me than Twilight. Rarity coughed lightly again regardless, and continued with, "Anyway, Mender himself has admitted to his feelings now and is on his way to understanding them. All in all, this has been a good thing for us. We can help each other now, rather than continue going in circles trying to figure things out. That said, however, continuing on an empty stomach would be unwise. We should eat immediately to rectify this!" I suddenly got the sneaking suspicion that entire little speech, while quite pretty, was all an elaborate ploy to get breakfast served finally. Tia nodded towards her regardless with a smile and clapped her hooves together twice. I was a little surprised by three servants coming out of seemingly nowhere behind the barricade with three large trays of steaming goodness. They weren’t back there when I was there a few minutes ago! I hadn’t even heard the door open… Twilight blinked once, looking momentarily caught off guard before looking to her right and simply hopping into the chair there. To my further surprise, Fluttershy simply rotated around in front of me and rested her back and wings against my chest, apparently content to stay right where she was to eat. This would normally make eating nightmarish for me, but thankfully I had my own magic. I was simply glad she didn’t seem horribly upset at me for what I’d blurted out during my tantrum. There was a momentary jostle across the entire table as I turned on all the links again, and five mares all jumped in surprise, Fluttershy almost falling out of my lap. Tia lifted an eyebrow over at the right end of the table, and then apparently realized that all five had jumped at once, looking back to me instead. I averted my gaze from hers, and she smirked suddenly. What?! It might not have been me! “Oh, I could have so much fun with those links,” Tia lamented a moment later, giggling to herself. My turn to smirk then, although Twilight felt more surprised by the comment. Empathy started flowing back in, with Fluttershy first, then the further away mares mere heartbeats later. It was a disheartening sensation as I felt them all still various levels of tender or unnerved. Fluttershy leaned back further against me and rested her head sideways just under my chin, her right ear twitching from the contact against my fur. “We felt what you felt, Mender. Um, it was like feeling Applejack’s dream. It’ll take a little bit to recover from that, but I, well, we all really want to help you get through it, too,” she softly spoke, directly into my mind this time. “It’s more than just me suffering from everything that happened, but thank you, Fluttershy. Look after yourself, too, though,” I reminded softly into her psyche, squeezing her a bit tighter. I felt her blush and heat up as she pushed into my chin with her muzzle, as if afraid I’d let her go if she didn’t try her hardest to hug me. I felt Applejack smile weakly at that, then nod. “Tha promise still stands. Ya let us help with yer feelin’s an’ do stuff fer you, an’ we’ll let ya help with ours. Eventually, Ah think… thing’s will return ta normal, even if Ah doubt we’ll ever feel like we’ve done enough,” she reminded. I remembered what she’d said. Just because they found out that I had a ton of immature anger inside of myself didn’t change what I agreed to, and I nodded. “Us too, Mender,” Twilight reminded, followed with, “We don’t feel like we’ve done enough for you yet either. We didn’t experience what Applejack did, but we still want to help you.” Her inner voice sounded a little worried, and I watched her stare blankly at her plate in front of her on the table. Slowly, the closest food cart shifted around our end of the table, stopping behind Rainbow, who was to her right. Mentally shaking my head, I warned, “That’s just going to take time, Twi. I really do want to trust you two fully again, but… I can’t just force my subconscious to accept that. I get little, nagging doubts in the back of my mind sometimes…” Dash finished picking out what looked like several rather tasty pancakes with syrup and butter, then the cart moved on to Twilight, who turned to greet the nice looking mare who was pushing it. I relaxed, just holding Flutters against me and closing my eyes. That slow, ebbing headache was dissipating now, finally. I attributed it to the stress of all the drama, and Fluttershy was known to be excellent stress relief just to be around, so it made sense. With her, I also never felt like I was imposing, interestingly enough. Like right now, it felt like she was just sucking up the attention I was giving her like a sponge, basking in it almost. I partially attributed that to her feeling badly over what I’d said, although she had been getting closer and closer to me lately. “Aww. You two are adorable,” I suddenly heard from my right. A glance showed me that the cart mare had caught up with us and pushed her tasty smelling goodies behind my chair. Fluttershy perked and opened her eyes at that, blushing softly as she spotted the mare as well, which of course only made her more adorable. I smiled and nodded towards her, rotating in place to give Fluttershy more of a view of the cart’s contents to peruse while I peeked at the pancakes. Dash had a good idea, and I was already fairly certain I was going to go for them, but the omelets looked pretty appetizing, too! My train of thought was totally disrupted at the sound of a slamming door, and a somewhat high pitched, continuous squealing noise. Huh. That was either a very large pig getting sucked into one of the laundry ducts in the hallway, or… A very dirty looking Snapshot sprinted into the room a second later, flailing about and spreading bits of dirt everywhere while squealing loudly. Ah, yes, she was my second guess. Tia gave her a bewildered look as she finally skidded to a stop, and then crashed under the end of the table. Applejack jumped and Rainbow’s wings flailed as she squeaked, both mares backing away from the table as there was a light bump, then scampering noise. Uh… Twilight, who was starting to eat prior to this, lit her horn up and levitated the chair she was sitting on, moving it away from the table as I saw the blur of motion shoot past where she was. I tipped back as well, narrowly avoiding the dark green blur myself as I casually rested the back of the chair against the food cart. Spike yelped as Snapshot popped up right in front of him instead. Thankfully she grabbed his chair to stop him from falling over, and then shot him a wink before turning to me instead. “Ah! Sorry I’m late, Mender! Uh, I mean, Boss! I just spent, like, seven hours in a tree, and lost track of time. It was so worth it, though! You gotta see these,” she quickly explained, lifting her rather large camera bag up and setting it down on top of the table for me, next to my plate. Wait, she’d started working for me already? Wait, no, I had a better question first. “Uh, why were you squealing?” I asked, reaching up and pulling a decently sized twig out of her golden-brown mane, behind her right ear. “Huh? Oh, I turned my tail wrong and poked myself in the butt with a twig,” she muttered absently as she slipped the cover off the camera and popped open the development case. Aforementioned tail swished back and forth while she worked, dislodging the mentioned twig as well as smacking Spike twice in the face before he lifted his arms up to block it, looking a bit annoyed. Uh… Fluttershy moved her toast and bowl of cereal out of the cart, placing it on our plate carefully before smiling and nuzzling me, apparently totally ignoring Snapshot there. “Your turn, Mender. What do you want?” she asked softly, ears rotating to point at me as I smirked at her. “You’re adorable, you know that? Uh, right. Actually, those pancakes looked really good. Could I get a couple of those with some of the toast?” I asked politely, smiling back at the cart mare, who was still giving uncertain glances at the slightly crazy green mare behind me now, somewhere. She jumped slightly as I spoke to her, but smiled and nodded afterwards, her horn lighting up and lifting two pancakes and another set of toast out. I gave a happy nod and took them gently out of the air, my own edged blue fields of force expanding over them and securing them before I moved them over Fluttershy’s head and onto the plate next to her toast. The cart mare squeaked in surprise, then watched with fascination as I set the food down. “Oh, it’s true, then! You really do have your own magic,” she observed. Still smiling, I absently nodded towards her before rotating around with Fluttershy again, who giggled as I moved her into a better position. This was kind of silly, but I wasn’t going to complain. “Oh yes, he does! It’s quite fascinating, too! It seems to work off an entirely different principle than Unicorn Magic! It’s far more focused, with the effects and movements predetermined before he even casts the spell. I’m still studying how the two different types of magic interact, though,” Twilight chirped in, mind totally locking onto the topic and honing in like a predator to prey. I caught her smiling towards me, however, and glanced directly at her, raising an eyebrow. She blushed immediately and looked away again, wiggling her hooves as she suddenly realized what she was doing. The cart mare simply giggled, however, and trotted past us to meet up with the cart coming from the other way, having just served Shining Armor. Uh oh! Would they have a cart duel then to decide who would get to serve Spike? I suddenly pictured them both glaring at each other and moving in at ramming speed behind me. Tia, however, interrupted Twilight’s embarrassment and my imagined mortal tray combat with a giggle herself. “I admit, I’m very interested in the results of the magic comparison. I also wonder if Mender can teach other ponies to use his type of magic. It would be an interesting thing to find out at some point,” she reasoned. I’d never thought about that. Was it possible for somepony else to cast Keldarian spells? “Oh, that would be interesting indeed! We should test that next after we figure out the Keela thing, Mender!” Twilight agreed enthusiastically, ears perking up as she glanced quickly back over at me. I snickered at her eagerness and nodded, but Rarity coughed lightly, drawing our attention again to her position next to Tia. “That is indeed good, but I don’t suggest just giving up on the trust exercises. I really think they’ll help you, Twilight,” she reminded gently. The lavender unicorn sighed and looked away from her for a moment before slowly nodding, and I felt a momentary pang of guilt. She obviously didn’t like doing them, so if I could just figure out a way to get myself to trust her without… Tia perked at the mention of that, asking, “Oh, I forgot about that. Did my sleep mask help out with those?” I froze, eyes widening almost as fast as Twilight’s. Rarity got a light shade of pink in her cheeks before averting her eyes away from the Princess next to her, who was looking confused now instead. Oh, right! We hadn’t told Rarity where we had gotten the ‘blindfold’ from. “Oh, right… uh… Maybe I could, um, pay you for a new one?” I suggested politely, Fluttershy pausing mid bite of toast to look horrified, the sensation of suddenly realizing what we were talking about shooting down the link from her. Tia stared blankly at me for a moment, and I shifted awkwardly. “New one? But… that was a hoof woven sleep mask passed down through three generations of great rulers and made from the blessed fur given freely from the now extinct Jackalopes,” she murmured. My blood froze as my eyes widened at that. Oh… oh hell. I’d just cut through it with my magic! Okay, we’d tucked it back in the costume bag, so all I had to do was go and get it back, then use a bit of Alteration magic to repair the cord! It wouldn’t be- A spike of annoyance shot from Twilight, who gave Tia a skeptical stare. Fluttershy felt confused instead before murmuring, “Um, but Jackalopes aren’t extinct. I have a family living near my cottage.” Huh? Tia of course burst into a small fit of laughter, as did Rainbow and Pinkie from both sides of the table, who’d obviously been listening in. “Oh, wow. Your face was priceless, Mender. No, I picked it up last season at a clothing vender by the docks. Relax,” Tia admitted, still giggling. I glared at her for a moment as I felt the hammering of my heart slowly relax. Damn it! Snapshot, who had prior been digging through her case and totally ignoring us, gave out a squeal of happiness and slid three pictures onto the tablecloth next to our plate. Oh? “I found them! Princess Celestia gave me the idea of scouting out around the alley where they recruited me to see if I could find any activity. Yesterday I went to the area again, but it was still clean as a whistle. Of course, I then realized that they knew I’d been caught, so why would they use the same alley to try recruiting somepony else? Soooooo, I got onto the overlook for town square and hid in a big tree that went out over the cliff while nopony was looking! From there, I was able to keep an eye on not one, but four other potential alleys that were prime recruitment areas. It didn’t look like I’d have any luck at all, but look what happened this morning!” she rapidly explained, getting close to matching Pinkie for speed of speech. Fluttershy, Twilight, and I glanced at the pictures at the same time, the lavender mare leaning against me to peek over at them curiously. The first one showed just a slightly zoomed out shot of a dark alleyway between what looked like a pizza shop and a comic book store of some sort. Ah, she probably took a zoomed shot of each alley so we could place where they were. It was surprisingly clean given what I thought of when I imagined an ‘alley’ of a city. The second showed a darker shape towards the back of the alley, intentionally hiding in the shaded out area behind one of the larger dumpsters. The third picture was by far the most interesting, however. Snapshot had zoomed in the shot quite a bit, probably switching out her lens by the looks of the different number on the upper right. The darker shape had moved out slightly, and was very clearly giving a large envelope to a reasonably well-dressed stallion. The larger stallion in question wore what looked like a rugged variation of a climbing harness with protective layers under it, and the notes Snapshot had written on the edge of the photo actually identified the make and model of the equipment he was wearing. There was a closer magnification on the envelope as well, managing to clarify a large, circular symbol with a triangle inside, and impossible to make out writing around the circumference. Damn. Rotating that one around, I slid it over towards Tia instead. She set her tea down gently and floated the picture up off the table, giving it a good examination. I looked over at Spike and noticed he had a set of toast now, and none of the serving ponies were anywhere to be seen, their carts left carefully lined up a little ways from the left end of the table. Huh. They disappeared just as stealthily as they got here. I momentarily imagined grappling cables from the ceiling as they zipped back up while hanging upside down. Heh. “Confirmed. That’s BEID’s symbol. That proves it. They’re still active, and the ones behind recruiting Miss Snapshot…” Tia confirmed a moment later, floating the picture back over to me. I gestured over towards Shining instead, and she shifted it his way while Twilight frowned. “Who was the stallion in the picture with the BEID agent? Do we know yet?” she asked softly, looking back over at Snapshot, who was checking the rest of her pictures. The green mare frowned before lightly shaking her head. “I have a better shot of the stallion in here somewhere, but I didn’t identify him yet. His gear is climbing equipment with support harnesses, and there were zip flaps on his back for wings. The lumps under them indicated he’s probably a pegasus, which would normally have no use for climbing equipment unless it’s just a hobby. The only other reason would be grappling himself to the side of a cliff for a better viewpoint over a very specific area, probably with a high magnification telescopic lens,” she concluded, making an impressive series of deductions. She might have even been in a similar situation, I reminded myself. “Like the lower Dragon Mountains,” Twilight offered, narrowing her eyes at the pictures. Oh. That big range of mountains a dozen miles or so northwest of Ponyville? Tia absently nodded, adding, “Highly likely. A magically enhanced telescopic lens could see detailed images of Ponyville from there,” she reasoned. Damn. They might be able to spy on us without even being in town that way. Shining finally spoke up a moment later, however. “I’m going to run the stallion’s image past our record ponies. We might be able to get a positive match that way and keep an eye out for him. This is the alley near the Enchanted Comics shop, no? We should investigate it for clues…” he suggested. Ah! “No. Don’t send a full squad. Dress somepony up as a janitorial staff and have them investigate while picking up the garbage from the bins I saw in the picture. We don’t want to alert them that we’re potentially on to some of their recruitment areas. We might be able to get more information if we can keep watching from afar,” I warned, quickly remembering pointers from my other self’s black ops days. Sometimes it was better off not to immediately arrest a target and lock down an area. Valuable information could be learned by just tailing them for a while instead, usually. Snapshot perked at that and nodded rapidly. “Awesome idea! I volunteer to keep an eye on the alley while your agent peeks around. If I move over a tree, I should be able to see the whole thing with my strongest camera lens,” she offered, wiggling back and forth excitedly at the concept. Wow, she was really earnest in her desire to help! Tia smirked, however, and shook her head. “Not your strongest anymore, Miss Snapshot. I took the liberty of getting some specialized lenses for you to use, special order. These are purely for investigating things for Mender, mind you,” she warned, giving a powerful stare towards the now frozen green mare, who rapidly started nodding. I could see the faint glow from her collar at this point, and realized exactly how serious this all was. I doubted it was ‘standard’ procedure to recruit an agent and limit her normal freedoms as a citizen for the duration of an investigation. Although with the group we were dealing with… Snapshot seemed reasonably unshaken after Tia’s gaze left her, and smiled over at me instead. I returned a nod and added, “Good job, though, Snapshot. Could you stick around town then for a few more days until the local operation there is completed? Getting images of the area and any evidence found would be useful.” To my lack of surprise, she threw an immediate salute towards me, tossing in, “Yes sir, Boss! I’ll get lots of detailed pictures, then send word to you in Ponyville.” I noticed she puffed up when saying that, and wondered if she wasn’t exactly used to praise. Snickering, I nodded to her in a calmer manner, hoping it might rub off a bit. “Relax, Snapshot. And you can just call me Mender, really,” I offered, feeling actually ‘older’ when she called me ‘Boss’, oddly. It felt so stuffy. She giggled but nodded towards me, before perking again and digging back into her bag. “That’s right! I wrote down the full specs on that stallion’s gear, and the color gradient information my enchanted lens gave me. Never thought I’d need that enchantment, but I guess it was useful for this! Uh… lemme see…” she muttered, digging back into her bag. I moved out of the way of her tail before shrugging and trying a bite of my pancake that Fluttershy suddenly lifted to my mouth. Right! I should be eating… Fluttershy seemed more than pleased with the thought of personally feeding me each bite, which was strange, but I wasn’t about to deny her anything. She managed to get a bite of her toast in between each of mine, so it was all good. It took Snapshot a good three minutes to find the paper she wrote the information down on regardless, and she let out a low groan when she finally pulled it out. “No! I forgot to record the reference numbers for those saddlebags he was using! Wait, it should still be on the picture…” she muttered to herself, slipping back into her rather messy and chaotic pile of photos and digging out the one with the stallion turned to face the camera. Ah, that was a better shot of him! She had more notes written on that, and grinned at them. “Yup! Got it! Now where’d my pencil go…?” she asked to herself, looking back over at her camera bag. Oh hell. She was possibly the worst organizer I’d ever seen. “Don’t,” I told her before pulling my left saddlebag and explaining, “I have a pencil in here you can use. Twilight should really organize your stuff sometime.” Snapshot gave me a sheepish grin, while Twilight herself heard her name and looked over to see what I was talking about. Her eyes bugged out as she suddenly spotted the inside of Snapshot’s camera case, and unadulterated horror and disgust shot down her link to me. Ha! Thought as much. “How do you find anything with it like that?!” she rapidly asked, earning a confused glance from Snapshot as I popped my front left saddlebag open. The pencils were on the inside, along the back of the bag in the built-in loops, I already knew. They were jostled a little bit, and I momentarily raised an eyebrow before remembering I’d never re-sorted these two bags after I got horrifically squashed by the huge cello case. Right. I pulled a pencil out and tossed it onto the table regardless, snapping Snapshot out of it and earning a smile from her. I snickered, and then started to close the bag again when something white caught my eye. On top of the bag, folded carefully with a small clip over one corner, was a slip of paper. Lifting an eyebrow up at it, I floated it out of my bag and examined it carefully. I didn’t have anything like this in my bags. What was it? Flipping it over, I saw my name printed across the top of it in an obviously mechanical font. Typewriter? Larger printing press blocks? Twilight gave it a curious glance as I set it down on the table and used my magic to slide the clip off the corner. “What’s that, Mender?” she asked softly, watching as I folded it open. “I dunno. It was a piece of paper that was in my saddlebag,” I explained, quickly realizing that a typed message was on the inside. It was finely printed, definitely by some sort of typerwriter if I had to guess correctly. It read, “Investigate the bread loaf bakery, corner of third in the docks side of town. Watch it particularly during the hours of one and three in the morning. Their shipments randomize their deliveries between those time periods. Good luck.” It was signed as, “A Friend”, and that was that. I blinked and reread it twice, Twilight starting to frown at it. Tia gave me a curious glance over her tea cup on my third read-through, and I noticed everypony at the table was watching me, equally interested. Oh, right. “Uh, you might want to read this…” I suggested, sliding the mysterious note over to Tia instead… Chapter 74Slowly, I walked along with the cool, high altitude air of Canterlot blowing gently around me. The sky above me was gray and gloomy, heralding the rapid end of fall and quickly approaching cold weather. I guessed it was fitting that we would be returning just in time for the end of fall celebrations. It didn't mean a huge amount to me as I wasn't competing in anything. The Running of the Leaves was all I qualified for, and if I didn't use my cybernetics, I doubted I'd make the first twenty meters. Maybe my leg would be ready by next year? I didn't feel like cheating just to run in this one. Cheating in order to pull a four hundred pound, fully loaded luggage trolley, however, was totally worth it. It creaked along idly behind me, tied securely to a thick harness that fit over my saddlebags. I was rather amused that it easily was six times my body width, and three times my length, yet my enhanced muscles let me easily pull the thing without so much as straining. Sadly, I was pretty sure that most of this luggage was Rarity's. Still, I had seen the design board that had been set up in her room. It appeared that she brought her work with her, so I couldn't really fault her for having a lot of bags. Half of these were probably fabrics and materials. Slowing as I trotted, I inwardly groaned, spotting two ponies towards the main gate that I had definitely hoped to not see again on this particular trip to Canterlot. And of course Twilight was still in the castle talking to her brother, step-sister, and Tia. Damn it. Velvet spotted me first, of course, being undoubtedly the more observant of the two. Her sudden shift in focus drew Night Light's gaze, and both ponies turned from their spot by the main gate and looked towards me. Anypony with a pass was allowed within the main grounds, of course, and I had no doubt that both of them had one. The palace doubled as a university for unicorns and other ponies interested in learning about how their internal magic worked, and also had an extensive library on the grounds, if I remembered correctly. "Ah, Mender. We were hoping to talk to you before you left," Velvet explained as both of them closed in on me. Options, options... I could decouple myself and make a break for it, throwing up a few barrier doubles of myself to confuse any spells they shot my way. Alternatively, I could just charge through them and make a run for the train station. It was only two miles or so, and if I picked up enough speed, I could just ride the cart there. Although that would probably run over a few doubtlessly innocent ponies as it went. So lose the luggage, risk flattening ponies, or risk actually talking to them and getting stabbed? Tough choice. Velvet was indeed observant and spotted my ears flattening back, and maybe the fight or flight instincts kicking in. She halted and lifted both forelegs up to me, tipping back into a sitting position while waving her hooves back and forth. "Whoa, peace, Mender. I know we didn't exactly give the best impression yesterday, but hear us out?" she offered softly. Night Light sighed but sat down next to her, apparently cooperating for the time being. I wondered idly what she'd bribed him with that he even came. "For what? To explain why you feel the way you do? I heard most of it from Twi. I agree with you, of course," I finally admitted, slowing my extremely heavy load to a stop over the span of three or four meters. That would have been awkward had I not been able to stop and just run both of them over. Of course, I'd laugh later, but Twilight probably wouldn't be pleased. Night Light blinked slowly, then asked, "Wait, you do?" His tone was disbelieving, and I had a sneaking suspicion none of their mentally prepared score cards had covered that response from me. "Yeah. I'm brand new to things here," I started, keeping it vague due to the public setting before continuing with, "I just met your daughter all of a month and a half ago, and she's accepted me into her herd with a few bumps and mistakes. I know that's probably absurdly fast moving, and then with the mix up with the link, it pushed you over the edge. That's both understandable and even justified." He continued staring blankly at me as Velvet began to frown, so I just decided to finish it out. This was a subject I was at least comfortable with. It was easy to talk about how far short of the bar I fell from time to time. Comfortable and safe, even. Maybe because of whom I was instinctively, or maybe it was engraved from the memories I got from my DNA donor. Or maybe I was just really tired and fed up with everything? "Regardless, I know you don't think I'm worthy of Twilight. Fluttershy's been her friend for years prior to becoming a herd member, which is how it's supposed to work. I'd be the first to tell you that I probably don't deserve either one of them. I don't know why they want me to stay or like me so much, but I do know that I care for them with everything I have and would do anything for them. That's all I can do in response to the feelings they give me, readily," I explained quietly, just openly telling how I felt. If it hadn't been for both of them, I'd probably have simply gone batshit crazy when I discovered I was actually a biological eldritch abomination from another dimension. That was a bit tricky to swallow. He frowned towards me, both of our expectations probably ruined at this point. I wasn't the con artist trying to seduce his daughter, and he wasn't stabbing me in the eyes yet. I kept a healthy air of skepticism, however, as one of those could change in the next five minutes, and I definitely didn't fancy myself as a smooth talker. Instead of drawing a weapon, however, he instead inquired, "So, you really are a...?" There was really only one logical conclusion to that sentence, and I nodded gently. For just a brief moment, my eyes rotated around with their lens equipment and flashed blue, making an audible humming noise, me intentionally turning off their vibration control. In addition to the amusing effect of making my vision wobble about, it gave both ponies in front of me a start as they watched. The effect was gone a heartbeat later, and I blinked, my vision tint disappearing and knowing my eyes were back to amber in color instead of bright blue. "Everything they told you was more than likely accurate. Of course, after Shining Armor muted the area, I and the three dozen café goers couldn't hear any further, so the rest is just speculation on my part," I warned, unable to entirely control the flash of bitterness drifting through me. He sighed and looked away from me, but Velvet outright winced, ears lowering fully. "I know. My husband and I are well aware of the scene we made, and the fact that we probably sounded like foals throwing a tantrum," she muttered, surprising me a little, and giving me no small sense of irony with her word choices. It of course shot right through me, hauling my memories back to my own tantrum this morning and leaving me with a foul taste in my mouth. I shook my head slowly, interrupting with, "No, really, it's understandable. I'm sorry if I was bitter there. Sometimes if feels like I'm the foal instead. You want to protect your daughter because you love her, and I'm potentially the biggest risk to her wellbeing that she has. I mean, why wouldn't you want to confront me about it? It's what parents do, I think. At least, it's what I'd do if I had a daughter in her position." Of course, that was just a theory. I didn't have a daughter or son, and wasn't likely to for a very long time. Especially with how things had been going. "You think?" Velvet asked almost instantly, picking that out of everything I had said, of course. Yeah, she'd do that. Sighing, I quickly explained, "I don't know how a parent is supposed to act apart from speculation and observation. That sort of thing wasn't the norm where I came from, and I don't know who my father was. My mother died before I knew her." That was as close to the truth as they needed to hear to get the point across, and a sour expression came across her face, probably having expected similar. Cracking my back using the harness, I hoisted it again, remembering that I'd told Twilight I'd have these outside the gate by the time she came out with the other mares. Oh, and Spike, of course. Twilight Velvet shifted over next to her husband, making room as I hauled the heavy cart past them slowly. I heard her hiss something as I passed, but given her facing Night Light, and the fact it was whispered, I assumed it wasn't for me to hear. The creaking and groaning of the wagon drowned out anything they might have been whispering after that, and I headed steadily on my way towards the gates. Both guards to either side of the gate threw up a sharp salute as I walked up, and I returned a pleasant and courteous nod, allowing them to fall back into standing position. I was starting to pick up the regulations of the guards after all. Velvet scampered in to my left as I walked through the gate, and I cast her a tentative raised eyebrow before turning and positioning the cart sideways to the right of the gate so I didn't block anypony. She idled past on my left again after I parked, walking backwards as she looked up at the large pile of luggage. Flanking me on the other side, Night Light walked past, still with no weapons drawn. Huh. She let out a low whistle, finally looking back down at me with a timid smile. "You certainly are strong for your size. Oh, and I saw your presentation at the palace. You seemed to know what you were talking about," she complimented. At least, I thought it was a compliment. I supposed it could also be interpreted that I was an impressive enough brute to at least be acceptable, and didn't appear to have been conning the Princesses and her daughter. Night Light sighed again, having been amazingly quiet so far. It didn't last, however, as he finally explained, "Look, I don't like avoiding the issue, so... We came to apologize to you and Twilight. Clear the air and maybe start over, okay? It's obvious she's not going to change her mind about dating you, so we might as well attempt to act like proper adults." I stared blankly at him as Velvet smacked her forehead with her hoof. Well, at least I actively knew he was trying to convince her not to 'date' me now. Did they still call it that when I was in her herd? I didn't know, regardless, so I decided not to dwell on it. Velvet shifted to a glare, however, looking over at him instead. "Dear, you get to have the couch for the rest of the week," she informed, causing his ears to drop back as he glared over at her. Huh? That expression shot right over my head, and I didn't even know where to begin. Did they not both own their couch? No, it was probably something subtler than that. Did they take turns with the couch? Her displeased tone indicated it was some sort of negative thing, which I also didn't get. Some of my best memories were on couches, and they were truly a wonderful invention. Comfy enough to sit or sleep on, while able to stretch out and really just relax. Plus they could sit multiple ponies and give a warm sensation of companionship if desired! "What?! Oh, come on! I'm being civil, like you asked! I even apologized!" he quickly protested. So the threat of this couch was the reason he apologized? Damn. What, was it covered in serrated spikes that rotated around or something? Why would you even make a couch like that?! This only appeared to anger Velvet even more, however, as she yelped out, "No, you didn't! You told him that's why we were here, then proceeded to insult him! We talked about this." If anything, he just looked more frustrated at that. "You heard him! He agrees with me. He has no idea why Twilight likes him and doesn't think he deserves her! Why should we even have to apologize for doing our obvious parental duties?!" he yelled back. Uh, right. Getting a little loud now! I glanced to the left as two mares stopped across the street and started to giggle while pointing towards me and whispering. Damn it! I felt the heat come back to my cheeks as I glared back at him. Velvet's eyes narrowed further, and I bit my tongue, remembering that antagonizing pissed off mares usually led to direct misery on my part. "We're apologizing because I, especially now, think that we're wrong!" she growled out. Uh, what? Night Light looked as surprised as I was before weakly asking, "Wait, wrong? But he just-" She immediately interrupted again with, "He's wrong, too. I see exactly why my daughter likes him now, and frankly, I agree with her now instead. Yes, it was fast. Yes, it was surprising. But now, I think that he's good for her. And given everything he's admitted to today, I think both mares are very much needed for him." Her tone left absolutely no room for even denying any of it, so I decided to just continue watching instead of volunteering my neck for any literal or metaphorical chopping block. Night Light appeared to decide the same, and she continued glaring at him for a second before rotating around to me instead. Oh hell. I braced myself, but her eyes softened a bit and she shook her head quickly. "You have, at the very least, my sincerest apologies. If you find yourself in Canterlot again in the future, please stop by. We would be honored to have you, even if I wouldn't blame you in the slightest for never wanting to deal with either of us again," she offered, shortly before shooting a burning glare to the now fully defensive Night Light. She finished, however with, "You have my blessing to be with Twilight. Please, keep understanding her, and let her help you, too." She reached out and tapped lightly on my chest, right over where my heart was located, and I frowned, looking down at it. My heart? With that, she turned around and stormed off past me, heading back towards the gate to the palace with her tail violently flicking back and forth. I frowned and felt the spot where she'd touched with my hoof. Was my heart damaged? I knew the physical organ was fine without even needing to check my sensors, but it was also obvious she was referring to something else entirely. That bitterness in me was readily apparent, after all. Night Light remained standing there for a moment, looking like he'd been kicked in the face repeatedly. Huh. I recognized that look well enough. Finally, he kicked the stone plate we were standing on and flattened his ears back, staring at his hoof for a moment. "Look, I know you probably think I'm a total jerk and, well... Okay, yeah, I was. As a father, one of the hardest things to do is see your little filly grow up, and admittedly, I didn't handle that as well as I could have," he slowly admitted before looking up and over at me. I stared back towards him, uncertain of where he was going with this. It didn't take him long to find whatever he was looking for in my expression, and he nodded. "We really did get off to the wrong start. I... I apologize as well. Like my wife said, please stop in if you can the next time you're in Canterlot, even if it's not with my daughter. I'd like to get to know you better, too, instead of just complaining that you're a stranger," he finally stated. My eyes widened a bit in surprise, but he didn't leave any room for reply as he simply walked past me and followed after his wife. Huh. Well, guess I was the surprised one in that conversation after all. Or maybe he was, too. I decided it probably didn't matter and sat down again, relaxing in the harness and sighing softly. Maybe one of these days I wouldn't feel so lost coming out of a conversation. I didn't hold my breath, of course, and pulled up my new 'Spider Solitaire' app while waiting for the others. I'd have to thank Keela for transferring it over to me after breakfast... * * * * * I stretched lightly while leaning against the wall next to the door, politely letting the mares enter the cabin of the train first. Of course, my ulterior motive was probably readily apparent as I shivered, cracking my back against the wall. While I was easily strong enough to pull the luggage cart, that harness was murder on the back! I made a mental note to activate my spinal reinforcement augments whenever I did any heavy moving. "Need a massage, Mender? I heard that cracking noise from back there," Spike offered as he strolled up, slowly following behind Rarity. The pearly mare nodded in agreement while giving me a sympathetic look. "Indeed, Mender. I feel simply awful that you got hurt hauling primarily my things," she lamented, at least confirming my earlier suspicion. I smiled towards the two of them, however, shaking my head. "I just need to take proper precautions next time, is all. It was my fault. Although that massage might be nice," I suggested, deciding to see if he was serious about his offer. He started to smile, but Applejack spun around faster than I thought possible for the strong mare. "Did ya just agree ta ah massage? Why don't ya let me give it ah shot? Ah'll gladly help ya out!" she quickly offered, perhaps a bit too fast. I knew she was eager to try to do anything to make amends, but the image from the dream kept haunting my waking thoughts. She looked almost soulless when she had looked up and said that she'd literally do anything for me. That Nirru thing from my mind had been psychologically tormenting her for so long... Rarity lifted an eyebrow to her a second later before pointing out, "He requested a massage, Applejack, not to be broken in half. He isn't a tree in need of bucking." Aww, crap. I was still in melee distance when she said that. In a surprising show of patience, Applejack just gave her a mildly annoyed glare before uttering, "Ah'll pretend that wasn't implyin' Ah only know one thing. Ya want Spike ta do it, then?" She turned to me as she asked the question, her expression completely neutral. Right. "Okay. I'll let you," I agreed after a moment of thought. Rarity started to nod sagely when she suddenly gave a start, looking back at me again. Applejack also looked entirely surprised by the turn of events, but Rainbow recovered far faster. The impish looking mare trotted to the left bench instead, where Twilight and Fluttershy sat. Twi gave her a confused stare as the mare slid around after stopping in front of her, but Dash just patted the cushion right next to the lavender mare. Seriously? "Come on, Mender. Hop up here and relax against Twi. Applejack will get your back and I'll massage your legs. Your left one can't feel good after hauling that huge cart," she deduced. Hey, she actually remembered which side it was! Of course, she picked up on my amused thought and shot me a dirty glare, but I just smirked and hopped up past her, instead turning to face a very nervous looking Twilight Sparkle. Eh? It was a bit of a surprise to see her fidget as our eyes met, but it didn't take long for me to remember the rather horrible incidents we'd had prior to Operation Rescue Applejack. I sighed, but she immediately winced at the gesture, and I tried to instead send her an assuring smile. Touchy, much? Applejack wasted no time in hopping up behind me, of course. "Calm down, Twi. It's just Mender. Yer actin' like you two are new ta tha intimacy thing," she pointed out in a somewhat vague manner. That of course switched her to riled up and partially annoyed mode almost instantly. I couldn't decide which was better. "Excuse me?! What's that supposed to mean? Wait, what has Dash been telling you?!" Twilight demanded, looking rather agitated for a moment before I felt a rather sharp shove and was almost put up her nose, yelping as I collapsed into her chest instead and both of us flopped against the wall behind her. Rainbow didn't seem to pay any attention to her crush flattening both Twilight and I, instead puffing up and vehemently defending herself with, "Hey, why does it have to be me that told her?! I never told anypony about walking in on you two... Uh..." No, too late. Stopping there was actually worse... Applejack snorted, then quickly shot both hooves up to her muzzle as I managed to look back. I felt Twilight turn scarlet at this range, then promptly shout out, "Kissing! There, is everypony happy?! We were kissing!" Rarity lifted an eyebrow at the whole display, and Pinkie started giggling hysterically on the bench next to her, wobbling back and forth. If anything, Spike just looked bored while sitting on the floor next to where Rarity dangled her front hooves down from her lying posture. "So what? I mean, couples kiss all the time, right?" he pointed out, giving a cautious glance to his left at Pinkie as she just started laughing outright. Everypony gave her a confused glance, but she just held both hooves to her mouth for a second before seemingly composing herself slightly. "Hee, I know! It's so silly that Twilight's turning all pink and embarrassed over kissing Mender. If it wasn't so funny, I might think it was strange even! Heee! Oh, or if I was Mender, I'd probably be upset that she thought kissing me was so horrifying, of course, but-" she started to explain, shifting to rapid fire mode on the worst possible topic. Rarity coughed, flicking her luggage case, which conveniently sat next to her, open with her right hoof. In that same instant, a thigh high leg sock popped out in a sky blue aura and tied around Pinkie's muzzle in a cute little bow. If anything, the pink one more stopped to look at it in amusement than any sort of restriction it posed on her. I blinked, raising an eyebrow to the scene before two hooves went to each side of my face and rotated my head to face forward again. Eh?! A slightly guilty, slightly determined looking Twilight faced me, and I debated if I should be excited or getting ready to break through the side window and roll for cover. "No, I'm not letting this one get out of hoof. Here, Mender," she quickly assured, even though I wasn't entirely certain who she was talking to. This communication thing was so tricky and- My thoughts were disrupted as she pulled me down instead, halting just a whisker's distance from my muzzle. Her eyes were locked onto my lips, but flicked up to meet mine for just a second. This close, I could feel her asking for permission, and stunned, I gave her the slightest nod. Her lips touched against mine less than a heartbeat later, and she exhaled softly, pulling me more over top of her as I slid against her form. Her body heat felt a sharp contrast against my fur and I snuggled closer as our muzzles pushed together, rather enjoying her warmth. Dash smirked next to us in my peripheral vision, and I resisted groaning. It might be misconstrued for something else in this situation. "Surprising, but you two were totally using your tongues when I accidentally saw ya," the cyan mare chirped, sounding amused. Ah! Why did she have to try to get me murdered at every given opportunity?! She just harassed the potential nuclear weapon I was currently kissing! The heat picked up against my chest from Twilight, but to my total surprise, her tongue slipped out instead and licked at my lips. Wasn't there some sort of rule or something about making out in front of other ponies?! I opened my mouth regardless, feeling a sort of start of surprise from each connected mare, and all eyes on us. Twilight let out a soft yet pleasant hum as her mouth opened and her tongue licked along the tip of mine. It was almost a teasing gesture, and I tried pushing back against hers, but she danced away back into her mouth again. It took me two tries before I took a risk and decided to follow her back into her own mouth. Twilight let out an oh so timid and stifled groan as my tongue slipped into her, teasing along her as it dipped and tickled the underside of mine oh so lightly. She suddenly felt so much warmer to me as she hugged me more tightly and I pressed down more on top of her, close enough now to even pick up the faint smell of her shampoo. Slowly, I saw Rainbow's wings starting to rise as she stared in shock at us, and inwardly smirked. She probably hadn't anticipated Twilight actually going this far. I hadn't either, of course. That rather familiar sensation crept up slowly, no amount of consideration of physics equations slowing it down. Slowly, I slid my tongue back and parted with Twilight's muzzle, noting her shiver and deep blush. Instead, her lips formed a smile as I cleared my head a bit, taking a few steady breaths. The fire burned rather hot if I let it, Fluttershy certainly not encouraging otherwise. "They're right, of course. I shouldn't be afraid of showing you intimacy. Nothing bad happened there, and the sky isn't falling on our heads, right?" Twilight reasoned out. Of course, me actually looking up to check the ceiling just in case knocked Rainbow out of her stunned state, getting her to snicker. Pinkie let out a high-pitched giggle while wiggling back and forth on her cushion. "That was an awesome kiss! I can't wait for somepony to kiss me like that," she praised, although I wasn't entirely certain if I should feel 'proud' of that. Rarity smirked but rolled her eyes at the display, but Fluttershy nodded slowly behind me. "Twilight's right. Neither of us have a reason to be afraid of you. We'll work things out by helping each other. Oh, um, maybe even once we get back, if you two don't have any, um, problems with it, of course," the timid mare suggested, leaving an out-clause as usual. Of course, maybe only I knew specifically why she worded it like that, but I kept my thoughts guarded from the rest of the links just to preserve her secrecy. Fluttershy and I hadn't been, well, intimate since we left for Canterlot. Twilight tilted her head slightly at that, obviously not picking up the private undertones of the statement. Rarity smirked, of course, but I had no doubt she'd pick it up. There was no reaction from Applejack or Dash, and Pinkie just sent me an image of a balloon filled with cotton candy when I checked on her link. Right. The lavender mare nodded finally before agreeing with, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try some more trust exercises after we get unpacked. Um, I admit to having a problem now, so..." Spike nodded to that, appending, "That's really important! When I had my Dragon Hoarding Instincts, I had the same issue. I kept thinking, well, what's the harm in getting just one more birthday gift? Then it was another and another. Then I was a massive monster destroying Ponyville and kidnapping Rarity! It just kinda spiraled out of control after that..." Wait, up until that point it was still under control? Wait, what was that part about 'massive monster'?! Sadly, Rarity nodded pleasantly before I could actually ask. "Yes, you handled that with maturity afterwards, Spike. Helping rebuild was a very noble thing to do, and talking to us about the instincts and urges is important," she complimented softly, causing him to swell up almost instantly as he smiled up at her. Applejack finally just silently slid forward, a sense of amusement flicking through her for a moment as I felt two surprisingly soft hooves touch against my back. Rarity had been right, of course. Even though I had agreed to the massage because it was Applejack who asked, I had still been picturing her hooves feeling something akin to a flanged mace dragging across my back. Although I was equally terrified of telling her that her hooves felt 'soft'. Twilight relaxed finally and let me simply rest against her chest while Applejack dug in. I guessed that no matter how blunt and inappropriate Rainbow could be sometimes, she really did help disarm Twilight's apprehension, even if it did take a trial by fire, so to speak. Call me very pleasantly surprised, but Applejack worked down my spine like it was second nature to her, systematically cradling then popping each little segment of my back. She hit a particularly nasty snag barely six seconds after starting and I groaned at the pop, trying to keep it quiet but I felt her smirk anyway. She had finesse to know exactly where to press in and how to move her hooves, and an almost impossible strength backing it up for stubborn muscles, but had equal parts finesse to not snap me in two, which was admittedly a good bonus. Twilight hummed softly as Rainbow slipped in and carefully grabbed my left leg, starting at the ankle and gently rotating it, starting her end of the massage. Given her athletic nature, I imagined she also knew what she was doing, of course. After another moment, Twilight finally disrupted the silence. "At least we had an extremely productive visit to Canterlot, despite everything that happened. We're all set up as members of Dimensional Regulation now, the public is aware of our organization and the guards have been assigned, plans are made for further construction in Ponyville, we're bringing the Elements back with us, and we've learned to never let Mender play tabletop games," she summarized. Hey! I gave her a teasingly annoyed glare upwards, and she smirked down at me as Pinkie and Dash started snickering again. Applejack continued working on my lower spine now but muttered, "Ah'm just ah bit concerned about that message that got left in Mender's bags. We never figured out who it was from." Ah, right. That. Rarity frowned at that before verbally reviewing the topic. "Well, it was a typed letter with no magical auras on it, so completely anonymous. It was left in Mender's saddlebags, which he hadn't accessed for at least a dozen hours. During that window, Octavia, two guards, and the two maids that cleaned the room had windows of opportunity to place the note inside. Further, it contained a clue to be investigated that had not been considered prior," she spoke slowly, eyes unfocused as she considered all the points while speaking. That ruled out those immediately involved with the investigation, anyway. Snapshot had been another suspect but would have simply told me herself. There was no need for secrecy with her, given her position. That also meant that the pony who gave the note to me had very, very good sources, potentially within BEID itself. They might even be a member and suddenly decided to have a change of heart. Rainbow fluttered her wings for a second before asking, "We can't figure out anything until tonight, right? That's when the crazy stalker mare is supposed to scope out the place and find out if the note was right, no?" I winced as she popped my ankle, and then moved up my foreleg. Oh hell, why was she doing this to me?! Why had she even volunteered to help massage my leg? Did she just want to put me through misery?! Twilight coughed lightly at the comment before correcting, "Her name is Snapshot, and yes. She said she was going to keep an eye on the place in the note instead of the alley. Regardless, we should have a lot more information over the next few days, if the note is even accurate." Applejack gave a suspicious glance at Dash after my left leg gave out a rather sharp cracking noise and I winced. She didn't need an empathy link to figure out that it wasn't exactly feeling pleasant, of course. Which actually made me wonder why I was letting the cyan mare do it in the first place. Huh... Fluttershy made a low whine, snapping me out of my contemplation of my own sanity, and causing me to glance over my shoulder at her, as she was still on the other side of Applejack. "Isn't it dangerous to split up like that? Um, I know I don't really know that much about how things like this work, but what if these ponies are dangerous? Wouldn't it be risky for both the guard who's investigating the alley and Miss Snapshot if they split up?" she wondered, indeed sounding worried. Although the way she said 'Miss Snapshot' was adorable. Spike shook his head first, however, interrupting with, "Nah, I'm sure they'll be fine. The guard they pick for the undercover thing is probably going to be one of the best they have, plus Snapshot's actually pretty tough herself. Mender fought her, remember?" His tone indicated that he remembered it fondly, but I myself paled a bit. I'd thought Tank had killed her for a second! "Hey, I wasn't trying to fight her! She attacked me first. Tank was the one to knock her out!" I defended before anypony got the wrong idea. Twilight giggled at that and pulled me back down against her before I tensed up any more. "Calm down, Silly. Nopony is blaming you for what happened. Plus, you can attest that Snapshot knows how to defend herself, no? Just relax," she cooed softly, kissing me on the nose after. I blushed lightly but settled back down onto her chest with a little smile. Okay, thanks, Dash. Your brash taunting somehow backfired and got her to totally relax. As if acknowledging my thanks, the cyan mare sent another pulse of agony up my leg, causing me to immediately take my thoughts back as I winced again. Damn it! Applejack sighed and stopped massaging my back at that point, giving a pointed glare to Rainbow instead. "Dash, Ah can't make much progress if yer breakin' his foreleg ta pieces an' gettin' him all tense again!" she chewed out. Wait, that wasn't even the point! The cyan pegasus snorted, glaring right back before defending herself with, "His foreleg is a total mess! It's so stiff, I don't know how he even walks like this. All I'm doing is popping his joints and working them back and forth ta limber them up!" I glanced down at my now swelled and slightly purple foreleg as it shivered there uncontrollably, and flattened my ears back a bit. Fluttershy saw it, of course, before releasing a squeak of surprise mixed with horror. Wait, uh... I couldn't get my warning to even process in the direction of my throat before her hip smashed into Rainbow's side and knocked the pegasus flying into the side of the compartment door with a yelp. "Oh no! It's swelling now, and looks quite agitated. I think a few surface blood vessels got ruptured near the elbow joint, too! Thankfully, I have a full medical kit with me, with anti-inflammatory cream in it," she quickly analyzed. Oh. Well, that was indeed useful! Rainbow finally crawled out of the heap she'd made by the door and glared at Fluttershy, but Applejack tilted her head instead, asking, "Wait, why do ya have ah full trauma kit with ya? Uh, is that burn cream an' reaction shots?" Huh? I looked down at the full medical kit that Fluttershy had pulled out of her saddlebag, and widened my eyes a little at all the supplies. The yellow mare blushed and shifted her forelegs together before whispering, "Oh, um, well, these are for any sick animals I might find while traveling." The last part came way too fast. Was... Was Fluttershy trying to lie? Applejack's expression flattened out into an incredulous, blank stare, but Twilight started snickering instead as Fluttershy fidgeted even more. "All that's for Mender, right?" she asked instead, a second later. What?! Hey! Fluttershy blushed even more, but finally nodded ever so slightly. What was next, they started taking bets on how things would go horribly wrong? My ears twitched, then flattened back as I scowled, but Twilight ruined my attempt at being angry by leaning up again and kissing my cheek. I sighed softly and looked back at her, only to be kissed softly on the lips instead. I 'felt' Applejack smirk behind me, almost without needing the link as she slid forward and managed to continue massaging my back slowly and carefully while the lavender mare nuzzled and kissed my muzzle. Okay, now they were just trying to butter me up. "A proper amount of precaution is good for ya, Mender. You have to admit, your luck is kinda terrible," Rainbow reminded, sliding forward next to Fluttershy finally and reaching out to touch my foreleg again. I hesitated, but she just smiled up at me and I relaxed. No, I trusted Dash. This time, she just stuck to the muscles, softly massaging them along my main foreleg length just under my shoulder, and I sagged, relaxing into the sensation. Ugh, I hadn't realized how tense it had been. Spike snickered at that, cutting in by correcting, "His luck isn't 'terrible', Rainbow." Well I sort of disagreed, but I was pleased he was defending me, regardless. Sadly, he appended, "There are two types of luck. Good luck, and bad luck. He just happens to be really efficient with the bad." Or he was a jerk. That worked, too. There was a round of snickering at that, and I couldn't help but chuckle myself. Okay, yeah, it was true. Sometimes the universe really was out to get me, it would seem. Rarity coughed lightly a moment later, and I glanced towards her just in time to catch her fidgeting. Eh? It was further unnerving that she was staring right at me while looking concerned. When she realized she had my attention, she politely cleared her throat before speaking. "Um, as much as I try to remain at ease, I can't help but think that a bit of proper precaution might indeed be appropriate, Mender. I know that, well, that thing has very little motive to target me, but I remain the only one at risk still. I'm a bit worried that it might single me out purely due to not having any other targets," she finally reminded, looking more than a little uneasy at the thought. Oh, right! I told her that I'd link up with her on the train. It wasn't like I would have forgotten for long, however. Twilight smiled towards her and nodded, easing up on her hold on me as I closed my eyes. It was odd, but sometimes I sort of felt like one of the actors in those cheesy horror movies that Keela used to love watching with me. Er, him, really. He always thought it was just an excuse on her part to act the part of the scaredy-cat, pun intended, and bury herself in his fur while watching, but she really did seem to get into it. So much so that she'd shout out warnings to the actors about to die or get horribly mangled. Sometimes, I kinda felt like somepony was silently doing that for me. I got that distinct unease as the confirmation box popped up. Well, it wasn't like the world was going to explode when I pushed the button, right? Seconds passed, and I relaxed as the box faded away. Slowly, a surprised sensation slipped down the newly formed link, and I smirked, mentally adding, "Welcome to the network, Rarity." She looked and felt even more surprised, noting my mouth not moving. Pinkie promptly cheered, of course, blasting us all with mental prismatic confetti, and causing Rainbow to immediately wince from the not so fond memories of her first experience with Pinkie's mental communication. Of course, admittedly, almost throwing up all over the path we were on wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. A light beep disrupted my focus and caused me to glance to the right instead. Eh? Twilight gave me an odd look, but I didn't see anything in particular in the direction I'd heard it from. Well, that was strange. Then it happened again, to my right once more and twice in a row this time. Ah! Turning further, I rotated completely around and was greeted by a very confused looking Applejack, who realized she was no longer pointed towards my back. "Uh, do ya need somethin', Mender?" she asked after an uncertain yet awkward moment of staring at each other. Well, this was disconcerting. I frowned, instead asking, "Uh, did you beep by any chance? Twice?" It was a long shot, but who knew? Maybe she'd momentarily had a small mental breakdown and started beeping? It certainly wasn't happening to me! No, not at all! She gave me a concerned look, and I frowned again, hearing another double beep from my right. Crap. It was in my inner audio output. One of these days, I was going to program in a way for me to listen to those little voices telling me not to do things. Apparently the ones watching this disaster I called a life knew far more than I. Popping my display up on my eye projection, I was greeted to my command window having opened by itself. Mission parameters were listed across the top of the header with six 'completed' checkmarks. Wait, what? Code was rapidly cycling down the side, referencing some sort of thing inside my black box unit about coordinates and spatial jaunt calculations. Uh, what? Was I supposed to have some sort of FTL system I could plug into? “Eh? What’s that stuff, Mender?” Twilight asked, frowning as she sat up next to me to look at the display as well. “It just popped up after Rarity’s link was fully registered. I think there was some sort of trigger in my set to activate when I got all six ‘energy sources’ linked to me,” I muttered, looking the data over as best I could as it shot past. That's when the splash display for an Icarus System popped up, calculating wing expansion and projection of energy at ratings anticipating almost three hundred centimeters. Wow, it was a good thing I didn't have an FTL system. That was almost as tall as the cabin of the train we were in! What kind of Slipstream jump needed that much energy?! Normally the 'wings' were proportional to the vessel that was making the jump, and that was almost four times my own body length! Rainbow reached up and playfully pushed her hoof through the light projection a few times, but Applejack only tilted her head, staring at the image from my other side. “What’s an Icarus Control System?” she asked, glancing to me instead for an explanation. I pulled up a diagnostic of what it was doing in the background while answering, “Icarus Effect is the name given to the ‘wing’ looking things that precede one of our Slipstream jumps. The actual wings are more akin to energy ribbons that fold the space around us in a bubble, and-“ I almost bit my own tongue as my back started heating up. Oh. Oh shit! Twilight yelped as the heat suddenly started radiating off my back, causing her to lift her forelegs up to try to shield some of it. Reacting as fast as I could, I earned a shocked look from everypony else as I bailed off the cushion, over Fluttershy and Rainbow's heads, and crashed into the floor of the carriage on my stomach. Fluttershy squeaked in surprise and immediately followed, halting only when I shouted out, "No, get back!" I hadn't even finished the sentence before two brilliant arcs of energy shot out of my back, sliding up the entire distance to the ceiling before neatly slicing through, chopping our overhead light in half and raining sparks down on us! Whoops! Overestimated the ceiling height. Wait, no, this was bad regardless! Firing off an FTL launch that was capable of bridging star systems would cause this entire cabin to go off like a two-megaton detonation! Where was it even sending me?! Managing a break point in the code, I picked up enough to note that it had no focal point for the exit. What?! It was just going to toss me off into dark space until I ran out of energy?! Sliding back up along the code, I realized in horror exactly what it was doing, just as it started to build its own Aegis Barrier. "Mender, what’s happening?! What are-" Twilight started to rapidly ask, eyes wide. Naturally, she was cut off by my panicked yelps. "No, stop! No! They’re trying to send me back to my old dimension!" I shouted out over the loud hum of the energy lancing out from my back. The launch timer continued counting down regardless of my protests, with less than fifteen seconds remaining in Equestria. Worse yet, my departure would kill every single pony on the train, alongside decimating a good ten miles of... No. I couldn't let it kill anypony. Especially not these ponies! Pulling a ping code up, I tossed it into an unbound infinite loop and aimed it at the process for the Icarus Control, rapidly overwhelming its lock down attempt simply by assigning all three processors to the spam. It turns out that an Icarus operating system got bogged down if you went over several billion pings a second. Who knew? The timer started to glitch out as I interrupted the process and hacked into the memory allocation for it. Timer, timer... There had to be a way to stop the timer! The wings started to short out as their maintaining energy faltered under the slowdown, and I quickly found the energy ratio integer. I barely had time to turn it down to a negligible value as a crack of energy was spat out, blowing the window out to the cabin as everypony yelped and hit the floor, Rarity and Fluttershy covering their heads. Slowly, my wings sputtered and shrank down to about a meter in height, bits of the ceiling coming down on top of me as I winced, the pane of glass from the light shattering over my head. Damn it! The shorting out continued, and at this rate, the Wings of Icarus would fold back on themselves, imploding into my back. That would still have a detonation radius of several meters though! No, I couldn't let these ponies die, especially! Twilight frantically looked up again, eyes widening as she watched the wings flare up. "Mender! No, I won't let you go back!" she shouted over the loud humming of the energy extending from me. I... I knew she was powerful, but she didn't understand the physics behind it and I didn't think she could stop this. No, while there was a very small probability that I'd survive the implosion, it was far more unlikely that they would. I had to get them out of the radius! Wait… No, no I didn’t. Looking up slightly, I saw the glass shards still flaking away from the now open window, wind blasting around our damaged cabin. No, all I had to do was move the radius away from them, instead! The timer had gone up since I adjusted the power level on the wings, shifting rapidly upwards into the hours before it reversed, instead counting down until the energy crumpled inwards. I had twenty-five seconds. Applejack looked horrified, however, staring at the wings on my back in a much more understanding manner. "Ah saw those before! Nirru used them an' it made that explosion!" she called out quickly. There was nothing else for it. Nodding, I quickly explained, "These are called Wings of Icarus, and normally they're an intentional effect created to let something travel faster than light using Slipstream. I just shorted mine out, and in about fifteen seconds, they're going to implode into me instead, probably causing me to explode in a few meters radius. I... I'm sorry!" Twilight's eyes widened at that, but she fell for the exact same trick she had ages past. Her wave of telekinetic energy grabbed onto the fake, Mender-shaped barrier I threw up as I dove aside. She didn’t get a second chance, and less than a heartbeat later, I had launched myself right towards the window. It was simple, really. Tuck and roll as I exited the train, hit and probably break something, but roll a significant distance away, and then make a really big mess all over the ground, safely away from all of my favorite ponies. A lump slammed into my throat as I realized I didn't even have time to say goodbye. Tucking, I rotated sideways as I went through the window, taking the few remaining shards of glass with me as my momentum easily snapped them. All that anger had been totally useless. Life wasn't even fair enough to give me a chance to fix anything. Could I survive this? Dash was already moving, of course, as she screamed, "Mender, stop!" Too late. My mind whirled in a state of shock at the speed everything had just gone to hell. My wings sliced two lines of melting metal through the wall as I left the window and started to rotate into a ball. I blinked as I aimed towards the ground, however. Okay, slight change in plans, I guessed. I saw the level of the bridge the train was going over slip past a full second later, and glanced down the side of the mountain as I fell. Right. We had only just cleared Canterlot. There were a whole ton of bridges over the gaps that the train traveled over. What wonderful timing. I almost laughed to myself as I stretched my legs down, intentionally slimming my form to speed myself towards the ground, while angling my hooves away from the support strut for the bridge. Blowing up on the support and sending the entire train careening off the side of the cliff would utterly defeat the point, after all. Of course, my odds of living through this had just dropped to almost nothing. Bitterly, I hoped Rainbow had a mop and bucket with her. The overload estimate was at eight seconds when I heard the wings above me. A pair of beats? I rotated as I fell and glanced back for just a moment, noting Rainbow managing to close fast in a dive. Fluttershy had surprisingly dove after her, looking horrified as she tried to match speeds but fell quickly behind. Damn it. She wasn’t supposed to see this. There was nothing I could do though as I killed the links to the mares. They definitely didn't need to feel this. My eyes widened. Half a heartbeat before Twilight's link closed out, her ping hit me, just like I'd taught her. No, she wasn't going to...! Her flash of light appeared next to me in the same instant, and I tried to roll out of the way, but her forelegs wrapped tight around me, her face pushing into my chest with wet tears hitting my fur. "Stop it!" she screamed, her momentum carrying us sideways into the cliff face. Shit! My tentacles lashed out around her from all sides, hitting the rocks and springing us free as Twilight flared with energy. Her magic actually expanded out and grabbed the burning wings extending off my back! Was she crazy?! This was going to kill both of us! What could only be described as dumb shock flooded through me as her eyes opened up again as two white orbs, and her magic grabbed multiple points on the wings and literally forced them apart. My brain entirely refused to comprehend what was happening, it going against everything I knew of with how the ‘wings’ functioned. Was Twilight strong enough to pull apart reality at the seams?! The mare's horn disappeared in a blinding gout of light as my meltdown timer slowed to a crawl. No, this wasn't physically possible! Rainbow narrowed her eyes in a look of pure determination as her wings powered up further and became thin jets along her back, her form flattening out as she sped up. Somehow, a Mach cone started to form around her before she’d even hit supersonic speeds, as if it was physics itself starting to bend and warp under her magic. Was this what it looked like from the outside? The last time I'd seen her like that was when we were flying into hell with only the vaguest resemblance of a plan. Her hoof reached out towards us as her cone tightened around her, and I reminded myself that this was actually how Rainbow usually operated. The timer locked at three seconds, Twilight fighting with the wings as she growled out and the ground rapidly catching up to us. I wondered if this had been a wise idea after all. Had I doubted their intent on coming after me? Had I just assumed the 'lithobraking' would carry me too far back for them to reach within the time limit? Of course Twilight would teleport. Had I doubted her desire to save me? I realized I had, as I looked back at her. I'd anticipated she wouldn't even think to teleport outside of the train cabin and endanger herself. Rainbow had wings and could save herself if need be. She should have left the rescue to her. She still had Fluttershy, even if I didn't make it... No, I didn't want to die. I wanted to stay with them, but in a split second choice between dying and killing all of them instead, there wasn't even a need for me to contemplate. The only hesitation had been figuring out how to get away from them as fast as possible. But she followed me, and risked following me straight into death, too. When had I become so important to her? I missed it. I smiled, looking 'up' at her as we fell. Rainbow burned with energy behind us, her form outlined by the radiance coming off Twilight. At this range, I felt her connection with me for just a moment. That shouldn’t have been possible. I had turned the links off specifically to avoid them feeling anything. For that moment, I was suddenly distinctly aware of that massive well of power seething up next to me. My eyes widened as I looked into Twilight’s eyes, like twin abysses of magic. It was impossible. Her magic, for just a moment, didn’t have an end that I could observe. Her link with me wasn’t through my disks and magic, but hers! She screamed out in rage at my wings, her own magic becoming the light of a small star as she suddenly tore the wings in both directions, to each side of me. In just that moment, with a thin stream of blood slipping from her nose, I thought I saw a flare of light, and wings that weren’t mine. But no, the light almost blinded me before I could even blink. In that same instant, as energy combusted into flames to either side of us that started to crush inwards, Rainbow exploded behind us, that Mach cone snapping like a rubber band... Chapter 75There was an old saying I suddenly remembered, carried over from my genetic donor's 'Special Operations' days. It had gone something like, "Some days, you were the one holding the gun. Other days, you were the one bleeding all over the place. And yet others, you were the one mopping up the mess." I imagined it was told to impatient new recruits complaining about 'cover up' duty, but it had appreciable applications here. Right now, I felt like the mop... Groaning, I opened my eyes slowly to the voice of a very worried-sounding angel. A slightly blurry vision of Fluttershy hovering in towards where I lay greeted me, and I frowned. Oh, right. The memories of the last thirty seconds or so came rushing back to me all at once, alongside a pissed off throb along my skull, as if my body just tried to smack some sense into me. Damn! The Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow had saved both Twilight and me from the explosion with her sonic blast. The shock wave had easily overpowered the detonation of my Icarus Effect, and she had shot through the blast and caught both of us! Wait, no, something was wrong. My whole body gave a throb of protest as I rolled over onto my stomach, and I winced. Oh yeah. We crashed. Unfortunately, the prismatic blast had carried the plume of smoke from the exploding wings quite a ways with it. Under most circumstances, the huge cloud of multicolored smoke might have been quite pretty, but we had dropped out of the bottom of the cloud far too close to the ground. Rainbow had pulled up hard, and I gave her all the energy I could manage in the short amount of time, but it hadn't been enough. My tentacles braced us as we hit, rolled down an embankment, then crashed into a murky pond at the bottom of the hill. A quick glance showed Twilight wincing as she slowly sat up, leaning against a fallen tree trunk my tentacles had sliced through. Her forelegs had missing fur in spots, burn blisters showing across her skin from the heat the Icarus Effect had produced. Scarily, the inner parts of her forelegs held almost blackened skin, and she hissed through her clenched jaw, sliding back down into a lying position. Dash slowly pulled herself out of the shallow water a meter or so from Twilight, gritting her teeth. Slowly, she limped over to the bank and fell over, holding her back right leg with her forelegs as it shook gently. I saw a bruise on that hip where she’d hit on, and it was no doubt hurting. Still, they were both alive... "Twilight! Mender! Rainbow! Are you okay?!" Fluttershy called out as she settled into a fast glide and quickly closed the distance to us. The relief of knowing the two mares were alive joined with the effect Fluttershy’s voice usually had on me, and my adrenaline wore off as fatigue caught up to me. Giving her so much energy so quickly had really tired me out. Both mares also had a bit of blood coming from their nostrils, indicating they’d used up a lot of- My thoughts died as the pain came alongside the fatigue. It was instant, and I froze the second I rotated far enough to feel the two ribbons of pain burn into my back, slamming my teeth together to hold back the scream. The damn energy emitters had fired off while under the skin of my back?! I confirmed, in horror, that there were two blotches of blood in the grass next to me where I had rolled from, and my forelegs gave out, shaking under me. I fell onto my stomach again, wincing hard as I felt the fluid trickling down my sides. Shit! None of us were getting out of this one unscathed, it would seem. I rapidly equated moving with pain, so I just decided to lie there. There was a very faint screeching noise as well, sounding far off in the distance. A glance in that direction showed not only Fluttershy rapidly landing and running towards us, but the train way up on the cliff braking hard. Its emergency brakes? I couldn't manage to consider it any further as another wave of agony fired through my body and I clamped my eyes shut again. It felt like two burning nails had been driven into my back! No, it more felt like railroad spikes, to take inspiration from the train. Moving the fragmented remains of the Icarus OS aside, and shifting away all the error reports, I finally managed to pull up a damage report. The two wounds along my back had been partially cauterized by the heat, leaving two open holes, each about three centimeters wide, bleeding weakly just below my shoulder blades. Both were almost two centimeters deep, right down where the emitting ports had been before they folded back into subspace. Given the critical errors all over my systems and suggested fixes, I had a suspicion I was safe from unwanted dimensional movement now. Silver lining, anyway. "Oh no, I... I brought my kit! Just hold on, everypony!" Fluttershy assured, running somewhere in front of me before sounding like she quickly deposited her trauma kit down on the grass. The irony of the discussion we'd had about it just a few minutes prior wasn't lost to me. That was the last time I ever question a single thing Fluttershy did! Rainbow finally snorted dismissively, muttering, "I just landed hard on my leg. It'll be fine in a few minutes. Help Twilight with those burns." Heh, she was a tough one, that was for sure. Clearing more of the errors away, I put a permanent lock down on the Icarus OS after returning administrative rights to it to myself. That black box was getting cracked open tonight. It suddenly jumped to the very top of my priority list, because to hell with that. There was no way I was going back there! After it was locked down, I switched priority to my inner systems, managing to only shudder and grit my teeth again as another spike of pain stabbed into my back. Finally sure I wasn't dying, or about to be warped away into a vacuum against my will, priority shifted to pain control as I brought my systems up and dropped the nerves along my back to all of five percent of their normal functioning. The horrible burning sensation immediately fell away into a dull ache instead, and I exhaled softly, feeling a bit dizzy from the sudden contrast. Damn. I might complain, but there were definitely perks to being a cyborg! I heard Rainbow inhale sharply to my left and opened my eyes again. Her eyes were wide as she stared at me before pulling herself over, gritting her teeth as she limped on her back leg. It gave out after only four steps and she stumbled, landing next to me in a surprisingly soft manner. She was rather unexpectedly light, if I remembered correct. She winced still, and I moved my left foreleg to the side to help lift her up. "Mender, are you okay?" she immediately asked, drawing Twilight and Fluttershy's attention instantly, the yellow mare looking up from her trauma kit, and the unicorn widening her eyes towards me. Fluttershy gasped a second later, then rapidly looked back and forth between Twilight and me, hesitating as she grabbed the burn salve. Twilight shook her head and assured, "These are nothing. Mender's really bad. G-Get to his wounds first." The wince of pain she gave while saying it didn't make it look too convincing, and I rolled my eyes at the stubborn mare. "Rainbow, you tend to Twilight at Fluttershy's instruction. She can help me out," I suggested instead, my left foreleg glowing for a moment as I gestured out the magic. This time I wasn't just being lazy! A line of energy shot across the ground and earned a squeak from Twilight as another flexible, cushiony barrier appeared under her and rapidly slid her over towards me, setting her down just to my right. Setting her down in my blood probably wouldn't improve her mood... Dash smirked and nodded, using her forelegs to pull her across in front of me and over to Twilight instead, who just relaxed there in a lying position, looking towards me rather than Rainbow. To my mild surprise, I felt a shaky leg move over and drape over my back right one, letting Twilight pull herself against my side. Thankfully, Fluttershy had already retrieved several towels and a canteen of water from her kit. Wait, towels? "What happened, Mender? You said that, um, something triggered when you registered Rarity?" the ever curious lavender mare finally asked, snapping me out of my errant thought. I'd predicted questions would be coming, but I had also anticipated they'd be a bit more hostile, given my actions. She was full of surprises today. She winced slightly, however, as Fluttershy zipped up and helped Dash lift the two burned forelegs, sliding a soft towel under them as Rainbow started lightly cleaning the wounds after popping open the water canteen with her teeth.. Fluttershy made sure to mouth feed Twilight several herbs as well, for what I assumed was pain, before quickly moving over to me instead, hauling the whole kit with her. Instead of immediately answering, I glanced back at Fluttershy and gave her a soft smile. She stopped and hesitated at that for just a moment, seemingly not expecting me to be relaxed, but I watched her sag a little. She set the kit down a moment later, slower and more controlled this time. We didn't need the links to communicate at this point. I had assured her that I was okay and she could calm down now... Deciding she was less panicked now, I turned back to Twilight before explaining, "Yeah. It was some sort of trigger stuck in my black box to automatically try to return me to the prior dimension once I had 'registered' all six links. In hindsight, let's not do any further untested experiments while in a moving metal box a few hundred meters up a mountain." That one I kinda wished Purdue had warned me about, but no. I had told her to use her powers for herself. Rainbow snickered while gently wiping down Twilight's burns with the cream and a towel. Then the cyan pegasus gave a start as I reached out and slowly started massaging her injured back right leg. The momentary concern melted away almost immediately as my magic drifted into her muscles, and she sagged for a moment, shivering as I tried to identify the damaged areas. Twilight relaxed on the towel in the meanwhile, letting the cream slowly sink in. She stirred a second later, however. "Do you think you could re-enable the links, Mender? The others are probably worried, and we need to talk to the conductor," she requested quietly. Oh, right. I'd turned them all off in light of the horrible agony of the Icarus Effect being projected through my back, and when I potentially thought I would be violently imploding in the near future. Nopony needed an empathic link to somepony doing that! Nodding, I flicked the link system back on, having prior simply killed the entire communication process. Not standard procedure, of course, but I'd been in a hurry! Applejack and Pinkie activated almost instantly, the orange mare answering a bit faster, however. "Rainbow! Mender! Twi! Where are ya?!" she quickly asked, sounding a few steps past 'worried' at this point. Dash blushed lightly at the concern, but Twilight just smiled weakly as I pulled the ponies who were still up on the train into projection from my left eye while working on Rainbow's leg. Rarity looked momentarily dizzy as she looked around, apparently a bit weirded out at seeing two locations at once, but Applejack didn't even look fazed. Further strange, Rarity wasn't in the cabin of the train, and had to be projected onto a split view. Her surroundings sort of looked like a boiler room of sorts, and I saw an unknown pony near her with a conductor's hat on. Oh. Applejack's eyes widened, however, and she spoke instead before I could ask. "Ah! Oh, Ponyfeathers! What happened?!" she asked in surprise, quickly looking across our magnitude of wounds from the sojourn out of the cabin. Of course, she also probably didn't know what had happened in the first place. Before I could answer, my display further lit up with about nine different pings, all recorded from Keela apparently in the space that my connection device had been down. Whoa! Flicking her connection on as well, I assumed whatever she needed was dire and urgent, given her sudden frantic attempts to communicate. Twilight, meanwhile, answered, "We got pretty banged up on our way down. It was a rough ride." Fluttershy nodded in full agreement, of course, quickly cleaning my back, then applying pressure to stop the small amounts of bleeding I still had going on. Whatever she was using to clean was seriously stinging, too! Keela snapped into place halfway through, her eyes widening as her paws flew up to her mouth. "Mender! You're okay! Wait, rough ride?! What happened?" she quickly asked, drawing every mare's attention at the same time except for Rarity, who appeared to be talking to the conductor. "To summarize, I finally linked Rarity, too, and when I did, some sort of black box system activated and tried to send me back. I ended up shorting the Icarus Effect out, reversing the energy into myself, then dove out the window of the train and unintentionally over a cliff... Twilight and Rainbow managed to save me, though." Although, admittedly, the cliff saved me a lot of further pain. If my plan had gone smoothly, I would've smashed into the ground instead and probably been in a world of pain at the moment. Keela's eyes widened even further at that. "That's what happened, then! I suddenly got a huge energy reading from your link, then you didn't answer any of my pings for over five minutes, so naturally, I assumed the worst!" she exclaimed, exhaling softly before looking back over her right shoulder and adding, "You can switch to powering down the FTL drive now!" I blinked and unsuccessfully tried to resist twitching. Wait, she panicked after only five minutes, to the point of ordering the entire mining vessel to power up its jump drives?! Applejack got a smirk as she caught my stray thought, and I suddenly realized that I probably didn't want to know. Twilight looked curious, however, before inquiring, "Where were you going to go?" Oh, actually that was a good question. It wasn't like I was an afternoon stroll away. I didn't even want to think about the absurd energy requirements to make her entire vessel jump dimensions, let alone the phenomenal amount of collateral damage it would cause when it hit the ground. A spaceship of that size trying to operate in-atmosphere was sort of like pointing the cannon of a tank behind you and hoping it would let you fly. Keela blinked, then blushed slightly as she explained, “Well, I was going to warp back to the weak spot that links to Equestria and see if I could send a rescue ship through. Mender could have been under attack or in pain or something!” Wait, she was going to send Keldarians into Equestria just because she didn’t hear from me for five minutes after she detected high levels of energy? While I admittedly agree that the high levels of energy bit was rather suspicious from my end, that seemed really, really reckless. Applejack chuckled lightly, and then totally disregarded it and informed, “Rarity’s gone ta talk ta tha conductor after we pulled tha emergency brakes. Is there any way ya can get back up ta tha train?” Oh, that was a good question. It was, like, four hundred meters up the cliff… Twilight winced, and then slowly shook her head, however. “I used a lot of magic to stop Mender’s teleportation. I don’t think it would be wise for me to cast another spell for at least a few minutes. Mender’s hurt and in no shape to walk yet, and Rainbow and I both have hurt legs,” she warned. Keela almost choked on her tongue by the looks of it, however. “Wait, you stopped an FTL jump with just raw magic?!” she immediately asked, eyes still bugging out. Applejack cleared her throat sharply and shook her head, interrupting with, “Now ain’t the time ta talk about that. How are tha injuries, guys? Do ya need medical attention?” I smiled gently at the orange mare, kinda glad she was more intent on making sure we were all okay first. Fluttershy answered instead, thankfully. "Um, Rainbow's back right leg is injured. It looks like a pulled muscle from landing wrong on it. Twilight's forelegs got burned though from where she grabbed Mender. She's going to need medical attention, um, from an actual nurse. I'm better with animals, but I can apply ointment and wrap them. Mender has two really, really bad burns on his back. They're deep, and partially cauterized," she relayed, shifting to a low whine when she got to me. Oddly, I could almost hear Pinkie bounce once over the links, which shouldn't have been picked up. It didn't surprise me at all. "Oooh, but what about his nifty regeneration?! Oh, wait! Don't we all have super cool regeneration now, too?!" she quickly asked through her link, sounding very much not bothered by any of what just happened. I might be a bit miffed if I didn't just guess that she knew we were all fine so there was nothing to worry about. That sounded more like Pinkie logic. Regardless, I softly explained, "My regeneration, and probably yours, too, as it comes from the same source, works off energy consumption. The more I eat, the more it grabs the extra mass and energy from the food and uses it to repair me. Alternatively, I can just have it eat from my energy directly to repair, but that would make me really, really tired." I think I'd already explained it once to Twilight, but this was for the added benefit of everypony else here, as it technically involved all of them. Actually, now that I thought about it, I probably should have told them all a lot sooner... Rainbow perked at the information regardless, looking towards me before exclaiming, "Oh! That's why I totally slept for, like, ten hours and then woke up to eat three times my normal breakfast! That was the night after you punted me at the lake!" I glared at her for a moment for her wording, very much remembering that moment and the fight we'd had prior. Fluttershy looked momentarily confused, but Twilight simply nodded to that. "Yeah, to heal the damage his attack caused, the nanites probably resorted to taking your own personal energy reserves. It was 'nanites', right?" she inquired, glancing back over towards me for confirmation. I gave her a nod and soft smile, and she grinned. Heh, clever mare, as usual. Suddenly, I stopped and simply stared instead. Clever, but oh so foolish at the same time. Why had she done that? I hadn't really had a chance to consider it since the event. She had teleported outside of the safety of the train cabin and grabbed onto a falling pony with the effective equivalent of burning wings, then used up almost all of her magical stamina to break physics and stop my FTL jump. That left her with nothing left to actually teleport us away again. If Dash hadn't been right there to catch us, all she would have accomplished was killing both of us instead. Of course, if she hadn't, Dash would have caught me, and then both of us would have exploded. A similar scenario, I suppose, but still with less exploding on Twilight's part. But she was friends with Rainbow, too. If she knew I was going to explode, which was likely as I told them all before jumping, she might have acted in order to save Rainbow from that exact fate. But that didn't add up. If she was only worried about Rainbow, it would have been far easier to teleport next to her instead, grab her, and then simply teleport away. She had the added benefit of not even being on fire! But no, she targeted me instead and put the goal of keeping me here above and beyond us both dying, presumably relying on Rainbow to save us both afterwards. Conclusion: they were both crazy. I couldn't help but smile at that, at least. In retrospect, I was probably a little crazy, too, having spent the last thirty seconds blankly staring at Twilight in as creepily a manner as possible, and then suddenly starting to smile. She looked slightly concerned at this point, which was probably a fitting reaction. Still, that also came with another conclusion. She valued me a lot more than what I gave her credit for prior. She cared about me. Probably confusing her even more, I then leaned forwards gently and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes widened for a moment, then she relaxed a bit once her brain caught up with what was happening, then pushed back into my mouth, a hinting of affection in her nuzzle adding to what we shared. I broke it off a moment later, and then nuzzled her along the side of her muzzle, earning a soft blush. "Um, not that I'm complaining or anything, but what's this about?" she asked quietly. Rainbow and Keela also looked surprised, but I felt Fluttershy smile above me. She was both closer, and far better at reading the empathy links than the rest, so she probably knew exactly what conclusion I'd just gotten. Applejack also smiled softly through the link, and Pinkie started rapidly giggling. "Even I can answer that, Silly! You just totally went crazy and almost died trying to rescue him! That's his way of saying, ‘I Love You!’" she cheered instantly, with predictably little tact, as usual. L-Love?! Twilight blushed, too, then stammered out, "It... It wasn't that big of a deal! I was just going to teleport us back if Dash couldn't-" Rainbow held her hoof up at that and shook her head. "Twi, you can't teleport us now, even after resting for five minutes. Do you really think you could have pulled off teleporting us back then, immediately after doing that crazy stuff with Mender's wings?" the cyan pegasus pointed out skeptically. The lavender mare blinked after that and frowned, sliding a little closer against me while hesitating. The gesture almost seemed subconscious on her part. "Well, it might have... You caught us anyway! We were fine," she replied, switching tactics. "Um, Twilight... I don't mean to sound negative, and, um, definitely no offense to Rainbow, but she barely managed to pull up in time, and got hurt doing it. If it had been any other pegasus..." Fluttershy murmured, sounding worried anyway. I imagine that had been very stressful to watch, and I shot her soothing feelings down our link. She blushed softly at that, but smiled down at me and nodded. Twilight looked more fussed than assured, swallowing uneasily and looking back to me instead. Applejack interrupted her before she could even start talking this time, concluding, "Ya risked ah ton ta go get him, Twi. Maybe ya should consider that?" That oh so familiar panicked look started to dance through her eyes, and Twilight almost started to back away before I slipped forwards again and kissed her once more. She froze again, this time in hesitation before shivering and pushing back against my lips quite a bit harder. It was my turn to widen my eyes a bit as she slammed hers shut, actually moving me over sideways with her sudden affectionate press. Fluttershy helped stabilize me as Twilight broke off finally, eyes wet now before she buried her face in my neck. "It was horrible! Please, don't ever do that again, Mender!" the lavender mare shouted into my fur. Softening my expression, I wrapped my right foreleg around her neck and held her against me, not used to seeing Twilight cry. She didn't even seem to care about her own forelegs, which probably hurt quite a bit, too. Fluttershy slipped around and lightly hugged her back, placing a soft kiss onto her shoulder blades. The unicorn just continued to cry against me, and I lightly kissed the top of her head as I held her. Love? It was probably too soon to use that word. Or maybe I was just afraid to? He had said that to Keela after three times as much time as I had been with Fluttershy and Twilight, and look at what happened to him. Scared or not, however, this was the first time since the Estrus incident that I had felt like a part of the herd, rather than just some tag along. That sensation I held on to for all it was worth! There were so many instincts and memories from the Keldarian that donated DNA to me that I treasured any sensation I could call my own. This was mine. I belonged here... That meant being responsible for my own mistakes, however. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I wasn't trying to leave you. I thought we were over flat ground and was only trying to get away from the train and you guys before I exploded," I quietly apologized, realizing how weird that sounded a second after I said it. Twilight lifted her head for a moment to stare at me before nodding twice and resting on my chest again. “I… I know. Things will change now. Everything will be better, Mender. Just, well, please trust in us. Don’t try to do everything by yourself, okay?” she requested quietly, keeping her face buried. Smiling, I just nodded and held her against me, enjoying the sensation of her fur as Fluttershy smiled above me, kissing the top of my forehead before shifting to my back again. Keela smiled happily as well, looking like she was relaxing again finally. I turned towards her instead and nodded, exhaling softly. It felt like I could finally breathe less tensely since that whole incident. She nodded slowly to me, stretching gently in front of my ‘camera’ that drifted slowly next to her, which was actually just an extent of awareness around her body from the link. Beeping went off behind her an instant later, and I watched her ears perk up, her head turning to look back over her shoulder at the large array of consoles under the viewing screens. One of the male Keldarians frowned and pulled up a different display, tilting his head at it. “Weird. Um, Miss Keela? Our sensors are picking up additional FTL static, even though our engine has entered its first ten percent powered down state. Shouldn’t they be decreasing?” he suggested, looking up at her. Wait, FTL discharge was produced both by the engines themselves, and a ‘straight shot’ FTL tether’s other end. Our allies used their ‘Warp’ FTL, which produced that, if I remembered right. The only other race to use a point-to-point FTL system was… The small explosion of energy radiated out like a small starburst on the viewing screen, the dark purple and red ‘bloom’ of light expanding out into a rough circle as the dark object slid out almost effortlessly. Row after row of organic looking sleekness complimented the warp colors with the dark gray metals. My eyes widened at the rough triangle-shaped front of the ship as the rest of the body exited, easily larger than the broken moon Keela’s ship drifted next to, probably three times the size of the old mining rig. Oh. Oh shit. No hails were given as the screen blared up red and alarms went off, reporting twelve of the thirty banks of eight-cluster particle cannons warming up along the portside of the vessel. Twenty micro-missile slots opened up to compliment, and one of the Keldarians somewhere to the right screamed in panic. Rainbow’s eyes shot open as well, undoubtedly recognizing the ship as readily as I did. “Get the shields up! Move us around the moon for cover!” Keela shouted out over the blaring warnings. No, that wasn’t…! “No, drop the energy from the shields and leave just enough to block the alpha strike!” I warned instead, giving Keela a start. She looked back at me in surprise, eyes widening before they flicked to the side instead. I could see her mind whirling and she knew what I was going for. “He… He’s right! Do it! Put the energy into the empty ten percent of the FTL drives! Get us out of here fast!” she corrected, changing her order almost instantly. “R-Right! Where are our exit coordinates?!” the male within view asked quickly, vectoring the energy from the shield into the engines instead and getting the target trajectories of the cannons. “W-What’s that?!” Twilight shouted, eyes wide like the rest of us and drawing fully the attention of Pinkie and Applejack. Rainbow’s eyes narrow at the ship, though, and she hissed out, “Grosh!” There was no hesitation, and I knew she remembered exactly what those monsters were capable of. The lavender mare gasped at that, turning her attention back to my projection as Keela shouted out trajectory, then told the navigator to just pick a random straight line to go down. The readings popped up on the display a second later as fiery light expanded from each cannon barrel, and the rest of the cannon banks started to glow, too. There was more than enough energy to totally fill the FTL up again, if the readings were right. “Use the extra energy to burn retrograde! If you drop closer to the moon, the gravity will throw the missiles off!” I suggested, tensing as I sat up, even though I knew it wouldn’t actually do anything. I couldn’t do anything except for move, though! Hopefully the missiles were tuned for no-gravity conditions… “Do it!” Keela shouted instantly, and the ship rocked as they suddenly flared backwards, slowing their rotation around the shattered moon and lowering almost instantly, the huge Grosh ship sinking upwards towards the top left of the screen. “Ten seconds until Icarus Launch!” was shouted out to the right, as the cannons finally fired. Dozens of searing streaks shot across the thin atmosphere of the moon, sending expanding waves of flame along their wake. The shield flared up and focused into the points of impact, exploding out with burning blasts before fading entirely, just as the streaking clusters of missiles were released. It all happened far too fast. Keela shouted out, "Jump now! We can't be hit by those-" She was cut off as the clusters of missiles streaked out across the horizon, splitting into a dozen warheads each. Being small, they lacked the mass driven momentum and at least eighty percent of them fell far below the trajectory of the mining vessel. Half a dozen scored against the hull, however, and a scream sounded to Keela's left in panic as the command center shook. Another two-dozen missiles were fired off at a higher angle an instant later, followed by the second volley of particle shots. The hull distorted, however, as six massive wings of golden light expanded out and folded down over the ship. Yes! One wing lucked out and scraped across the incoming cluster of missiles, causing a chain of explosions that cascaded in front of the view screen. Keela braced for impact, then shouted out, "Now! Go!" Flak shots were fired from her ship, exploding into a miasma of sensor-disruptive heat and radiation as the ship flickered and melted away into distorted views and perspectives. In the last instant before the ship stretched out beyond the distant stars, a single particle shot whipped into the right side of the vessel's wing assembly. Everything jarred sideways as Keela hit the floor and red warnings lit up across the console. An instant later, the ship warped away, and the connection shut down... * * * * * We rode along quietly, the train slowly moving ever closer to Ponyville. I lay on my side in our newly assigned cabin, given that our first one was more than a little damaged. Turns out that superheated metal was a fire hazard and had seriously burned the floor and left bench before they got it put out. Thankfully the conductor had totally bought Rarity's quickly conceived excuse of the accident being an experimental wing spell gone terribly, terribly wrong. Well, it helped that the Elements of Harmony apparently had a reputation for disaster risk, and I did have brutal looking wounds on my back that matches precisely where wings would be connected. Twilight rested in front of me with her eyes closed and her two forelegs bandaged. Rainbow was lying on her side on the floor next to me, also with her eyes shut gently. I was carefully feeding both of them energy from my reserves and directing the nanites inside of them on the repairs they needed. Fluttershy was pressed tightly into my chest with her back, apparently deciding that I'd probably maim myself if she broke physical contact. Applejack rested on the other bench across from us, looking fatigued from having helped put the fire out. Rarity and Spike sat next to her, Spike trying to brush down Rarity's coat where stray tufts poked out, and the pearly mare herself looking beyond stressed. Pinkie chilled on the floor next to Rainbow, looking over the various pieces of Fluttershy's trauma kit and trying to put it back together again. Of course, it would need major re-supplying once we got back to Ponyville... Rarity fidgeted against her seat and I saw it coming, just like the last four times. "Um, is there any signal yet from Keela?" she inquired politely, but I could feel the tension in her voice as well as from the newly formed link. "Nothing yet, Rarity. Although they might have to do damage control first, and the actual link is still there, so Keela is okay," I assured tiredly. Fluttershy gave a tiny sigh and restated, "None of this is your fault, Rarity." That was true, but I didn't want to say any more than that. There were very select few ways the Grosh could have found their mining ship far into dark space around the remnants of a burnt-out star. Ignoring the astronomically low probability of the ship just happening to blunder into their location at random with weapons hot, that left either a very specific tracking beacon, or the patrol happening to be within a few hundred light-years in order to pick up the quantum flare of the FTL engine humming on standby. There were only a few beacons that could manage similar broadcasting distances, and those were really, really noticeable. Ruling out a magic spell to try to make contact with patrols, which the Grosh wouldn't be able to intercept anyway, that left them being close enough to see the quantum flare. Admittedly, it was Keela's fault for pulling the FTL engine out of standby before ready to use it, but I highly doubted Rarity would share that evaluation, probably concluding that Keela was only worried and doing so because of my little energy display, which was brought about by her 'insistence' on being linked. Although something still didn't add up. Why was Keela so panicked when she got quantum energy readings from me? Did she know something I didn't? Rarity fussed a bit more before sighing and dropping her head again, feeling unwilling to dance around the issue in circles. Pity. I was getting so good at it with Twilight. Resisting the snicker, I carefully kept that thought to myself as I relaxed there. It was almost impossible to stay disgruntled with Fluttershy there. The yellow mare positively ruined any hope of having a grumpy mood. Of course, Twilight had gone a long way in showing me what her true feelings were, and admitted to making a mistake by forcing me to tell everypony all that. Exhaling softly, I decided I didn't want to hold it against the mare any longer. At this point, Rainbow's repairs were done, the inflamed tendon and muscle bunching having been healed rather easily. Sadly, she was asleep, so I'd have to wait until later to get a confirmation on the 'no pain' status. Regardless, my slightly invasive code reported her having a dream about some sort of cloud race and blasting in between various cloud shapes, so I assumed Nirru was leaving her alone. Either that or she'd gotten wickedly subtle, which probably would have little to no effect on Dash of all mares. Twilight was a bit more complicated, having multiple layers of skin to heal and restore, then fur to grow back. I worked on her lowest layers first in order to avoid scarring while doing the same for me. My twin wounds were healed at this point, thankfully, but my back itself required extensive damage repair from the burns. Thankfully, blood loss was minimal, as the wounds had almost instantly cauterized most of the damaged area from the high heat level. I guess I'm lucky that my cybernetic skin was highly fire resistant, or I might have just burned up instead... The lavender mare was looking right at me when I opened my eyes again, mildly surprising me. I'd felt her attention from the link but hadn't expected her to open her own eyes again. "Remember, Mender. If you start getting tired, please stop. They're feeling a lot better already and I can wait to get the rest restored, okay?" she reminded quietly, earning a sigh as I averted my eyes. I knew how Applejack felt now, with wanting to 'fix' what I'd caused but getting constantly turned down for it. The orange mare smirked across the way, picking up on my inner plight as fast as Twilight did, who giggled. "I'm willing to let you help me, but even you have to admit that this was hardly your fault. The only thing you technically 'did' during the whole situation was jump out of the window. I'm not sure if that was the right call, and we'll never find out, but you didn't put that code in your black box," she quickly pointed out, picking up the terminology from my explanation earlier amazingly fast. I'd fully explained what had happened once she recovered enough to teleport the four of us back up to the train. The conductor and passengers had surprisingly agreed to wait there for fifteen minutes until we could get back inside, and were readily sympathetic when Applejack carried me through the two cabins to the end one. I still couldn't walk, which reminded me of the hospital and all the frustrations therein. Twilight, in turn, explained that she wasn't able to cast her healing spells on herself, which is why I volunteered to help restore her forelegs rather than her go through with the, well, somewhat risky plan of trying to teach Rarity the advanced healing magic to cast. Twi had furthered that most forms of magic and spells from a unicorn were really hard to cast on oneself, requiring an advanced understanding of the technique and a larger amount of energy. That did explain why I never saw any unicorns floating around with self-levitation. She'd only recently picked up healing magic for, uh, totally unknown reasons... She didn't know enough about them to risk trying to target herself, which I could understand. A spell created to manipulate your biological functions would be disastrous if miscast. That left me where I found myself now. Dash had been healed rather easily by Twilight, and had promptly fallen asleep during the procedure. Now I was healing Twilight, hopefully until I passed out. Of course, I had kept that last part to myself. In the meantime, all effort had been redirected to cracking the encryption protocols on that black box embedded into me. What was the point of having everything hooked up to me as the 'administrator' if there was an entire secondary system I didn't have access to?! Midway through my irate chain of thoughts, a light beep went off in my inner ear, and I just about had a heart attack before realizing that it was my own programmed-in ping system. Wait, ping?! I activated it instantly, switching it over to my external speaker as a bit of static shifted over the link and I fully patched Keela through, turning my projector on. In hindsight, I probably should have asked her before streaming the video, as she looked like a truck had run her over. There were three bands of wrapping around her head, a large bandage across her left cheek, and thick one doubled over her left shoulder. A female Keldarian I didn't recognize was casting what looked like a healing spell on her stomach as well, directly on the bloody fur there. To top it off, she was decorated in various smaller bruises and her left eye was blackened on one side. My analysis system pieced the damage together and predicted she'd suffered an upper body impact on the left side of significant velocity. Yikes. Everypony near me, as well as Spike, perked up at the sudden noise, then drew their attention to the projected image largely at the same time. Fluttershy gasped immediately after rolling around in my forelegs, holding her right hoof up to her muzzle as she took in all the wounds. I gave Keela a soft smile, sadly knowing exactly how she probably felt. To my amusement, she returned one as her eyes locked with mine and she relaxed visibly. "Uh, hey, Mender. We finally got stabilized enough where I could call you back. Sorry for not getting in touch faster," she apologized weakly, sounding as tired as I felt. Taking in her surroundings, I noted sparking damage all over the control room, with her leaning against the back of what looked like a rotating command chair. Tym, not visible in her immediately vicinity, snorted somewhere to the left. "Don't kid yourself, brat. We barely got life support back online, and you're still bleedin' in the gut. You were the one going on and on about getting back a hold of 'Mender'," he chirped, switching to a significantly higher octave to accentuate my name with and sounding far more amused than one should after surviving an encounter with the Grosh. Predictably, she flushed and glared over in the direction his voice came in, spitting out, "It's not like that, Tym! Gah!" Twilight blinked next to me, then raised a skeptical eyebrow towards the Keldarian, but surprisingly enough, Applejack rolled her eyes instead. "Are ya okay, Keela? What happened after we lost signal?" she asked a moment later, probably annoyed at the lack of a serious attitude from the older Keldarian. Sadly, I'd never seen Tym ever get serious, even in the thick of combat. That's just how he was, really. Keela sighed at that and slowly turned back to the 'camera' with a slight wince before looking up at me again and explaining, "Yeah. I'll live, and the ship is still functional. We took a colossal amount of damage, mainly from our own FTL jump. They grazed us just as we warped out with one absurdly lucky, or very well timed, hit. We're lucky we didn't disintegrate in transit, but they apparently make these mining vessels to take a beating." Well, they were, obviously. Given the nature of asteroid mining, it was expected that a few chunks here and there would blow off and smack into the hull. That's why they technically had military grade armor. At hearing the full explanation, Rarity finally breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness. I'm terribly sorry about everything, Miss Keela. It was at my insistence that Mender finished the final link, which is what caused all of this. We should have, I don't know, warned you first or something so you knew what to expect!" she quickly apologized. Twilight lifted an eyebrow towards her through the faintly translucent image of Keela. "Uh, Rarity, we didn't know what to expect. How would we have known to alert her that something might have happened?" she inquired skeptically. That was a very good point... The pearly mare shot her a frustrated glare back, but Keela snickered at that, surprising Rarity instead, with, "Just call me Keela, Rarity. It's true, though. It was my bad call to charge the FTL drive. That's probably how they found us to begin with. I shouldn't have tried acting with so little information to go off of, but all I knew was there was an FTL signature coming from Mender's side. If something was trying to get into Equestria again and I was only picking up the aftershocks... I wanted to get the ship over to the weak spot to try to interrupt anyone who was potentially attempting to get through." Oh! So that's why she immediately attempted to activate the FTL. Twilight frowned at that before interrupting with, "What are the odds of somepony actually managing to get through to Equus?" I noticed she must have totally smoothed over the 'anyone' nomenclature. Of course, they were similar enough, I guessed. Still, this I could answer. "The weak spot into Equus is ridiculously small. Compared to all of space around it, the odds of actually finding the exact spot without knowing ahead of time right where to look is... Actually, no, there's no probability I could even use to represent it, it's so small. Like finding a single marble in a cluster of identical marbles larger than the entire planet, and that's not even a noticeable fraction of the actual value," I reasoned. To even try to put odds to it was laughable. Twilight relaxed a bit at that and finally nodded, easing into my chest and Fluttershy's head. Keela smiled at the display, then perked and turned to her left as another female ran up and handed her a thin data pad. I waited patiently for her to finish looking it over, then watched as her expression fell, swallowing weakly. "Damage is immense. One of our males that was on engineering duty below deck got injured badly and is in Medical. We also... We lost segments seven and eight off the right wing, and six suffered critical levels of destruction. Oh no..." she whispered, lifting her paw up to her muzzle, her eyes getting wet. The room fell silent on my end, and I lowered my ears, taking a guess that one of those three segments hadn't been empty. Her crew was well past bare bones as it was. She stared at the data pad for another long second before tears actually slipped down her cheeks finally. She let out an angry sounding scream a second later, sounding almost feral as she whipped the data pad sideways and against the floor. The pain was tangible, and nopony said anything as we just watched. The green haired female next to Keela tried to put an assuring paw on her commander's shoulder, but it didn't even seem to register. Instead, Keela let out another howl and smashed the metal grating under her with her right paw, making it ring out and opening up her stomach wound again. "Keela, please! You're injured!" The other, teal haired medic warned, trying to hold her still again as she healed her stomach. Frowning, I finally whispered, "Keela, stop." She froze for a second before shakily looking up at me, her eyes searching mine as they tinted pink from her tears. Seconds passed, and she swallowed again and shook her head slowly, looking a mixture of horrified and hysterical. "I'm... I'm so, so stupid. I can't... I can't keep doing this! I'm not meant to be a leader and now, because of my own foolish, ill-considered, reckless decision... They're gone. They're all gone," she rapidly started spewing out, voice collapsing to barely a whisper before falling away completely, fresh tears joining the others. Keela... She just tucked her knees up and let herself cry, the healer slowly restoring her stomach now that she stopped moving. I wanted to ask, but couldn't at the same time. My memories from him seemed so fresh suddenly. He'd known this moment hundreds of times. Those friends and buddies he knew and lived with... So many died right in front of him. I knew this sensation, having lived through it a hundred times over in what felt like a past life. I barely realized she was talking again. "She... She's gone. She's d-dead. I know. I know, you probably don't care. You hated her, but... She was my sister and now I didn't even get to see her one last time before... Both of her guards, too. Three lives just... It happened so fast. It's not fair. It's not fair!" she cried out into her knees. I had already known on some level. Nirru. I didn't feel happy or sad, really. There was nothing there at all. If anything, realizing I felt nothing hearing about her death was sad enough on its own. But that's how it worked. "It's never fair. Sometimes it's some... Someone that you didn't like at all, and sometimes it was the guy you listened to snore for the past two years. It might be your best friend, or maybe you didn't even know their name. It's still the same regardless, though. It happens so fast, and in that instant, everything that they had been, were, or could be is gone. It's not fair and death takes everything, indiscriminately," I explained quietly, causing her eyes to drift up to me as she listened. The longer I spoke, the wetter hers got again, but I knew she couldn't look away. "Even if I hated her. Even if she did horrible things to me and wanted to hurt me and those I love... It's still the same. Everything she could have done, and everything she was is gone. The sensation of that loss is felt regardless, and I can feel it for you, too," I finished, trying to get her to realize that even if I hated Nirru, I didn't hate her. Keela stared at me for another long moment before getting a weak half smile and curling up again, resting her forehead against her knees. I felt my foreleg get wet as Fluttershy buried her face in my fur, not wanting to look anymore. She even cried for the ones she didn't know. I held her close and she relaxed again, easing me as well because of it. The Keldarian finally nodded against her knees and slowly spoke up with, "Mender, I can't do this anymore. You're so much better at leading soldiers than I am. P-Please. I just want to leave. If I could, I'd take the whole ship and haul us all to Equestria. Our race is doomed, so why bother having any regrets?" She hurt, and everypony could feel it just by looking at her. But she knew as much as we did that we didn't have anything capable of producing the energy required to haul that whole ship into Equestria. No object larger than bus-sized had been experimented with for crossing dimensions. If she had a drop ship with a powerful enough FTL drive, maybe. That would be pushing it, though. "Keela, you know I can't make that call. Even if we had the ability, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule here and obviously have the final say," I reminded softly. She shivered but nodded a second later, face still buried in her knees. "I... I know that! Please, Mender. I don't want to do this anymore. You're so much better at leading than I am. You actually have experience," she muttered, looking up at me again slowly. Her eyes were entirely red at that point, but I forced myself to look away. Twilight stared at me for a good five or six seconds before glancing back to Keela and answering, "That's not a good idea, Keela. While Mender does have experience with that sort of thing, these are your crew members we're talking about. You've done an admirable job so far anyway and-" She was interrupted by another shiver from Keela almost instantly. "Admirable?! I just got two members of my crew killed alongside my sister! All because I was an idiot!" she shouted. Even though she was staring right at Twilight, the words dripped with self-loathing rather than anger towards my fillyfriend. In a rather disturbing, twisted moment, I suddenly realized Keela was heading down the same path as Applejack had. "Keela, stop it. You know as well as any of us that you aren't to be blamed for the actions of the Grosh. Sure, you gave them a slight signal to look for, but they would have had to already be fairly close in order to pick up on even that. Trying to blame yourself for bad luck having gone terribly wrong is foolish. You can't take responsibility for somepony else's acts," I warned her, shifting to a frown as I stared at her. She looked surprised for a few seconds before hesitating and looking away from me instead. I exhaled softly, noticing Applejack's focus on me as well, probably having guessed at my dual meaning there. Both her and Keela were trying to blame themselves for horrible acts that somepony else did. Just being in a position to potentially have prevented the situation doesn't mean much, especially considering they didn't have the benefit of hindsight. We never know how things are going to turn out. I was a bit surprised when Tym suddenly leaned down next to Keela, fully shifting into the picture as the Keldarian looked over at him in surprise. He gave her a warm yet tense smile before patting her on the head slowly. "Relax, kiddo. This ain't over by a long shot. We're going to pull this ship back together again, then do an FTL jump right back to where we were before," he explained quickly. Her eyes widened, a bolt of fear shooting through them, and I quickly shook my head, adding in, "He's right, Keela. It would actually be fairly safe. That was a scouting patrol. They would have attempted to chase after you and pick up your trail. Going right back to where you were before isn't something they'd have anticipated, and they're probably a few hundred light-years away from that point now." Of course, they had no reason to go back there, but I had a sneaking suspicion Tym found something. "Oh dear. Why would you want to go back to that horrible place?" Rarity asked almost instantly, frowning in concern. Keela looked over at her before nodding and turning back to Tym, searching his eyes for answers. He smirked, of course, and slid the tablet back over towards Keela. "The Princess didn't read the entire report, did she?" he inquired pointedly yet in great amusement towards Keela. She tilted her head towards him for just a moment before reaching down and picking up the now slightly dented data pad. He rolled his eyes and continued with, "I'll save you some time. The damage report is severe, given that two sections are missing, and the third is destroyed. But this printout is done by a computer, Keela. Those sections are listed as one hundred percent destroyed because they're not there anymore, not because they actually got destroyed." Ah, right. If the section they were connected to got hit hard enough to total it completely, it probably fired off the safety decoupling. The other two sections probably suffered damage, but it would have been reduced if that happened, possibly keeping the two guards alive. Of course, that would mean Nirru lived, too, but I wasn't going to damn two innocent guards just so she wouldn't make it. Well, reasonably innocent? Eh, at least innocent until proven not so. "Oh, they could be alive, then?" Twilight asked, perking up at that bit of news, having eavesdropped on my little mental tangent as well. Keela's eyes widened and she stood almost immediately, causing her nurse to yelp again. "That... We have to hurry, then! If they're still alive, they're free-floating and need rescue immediately! They should have enough air to last at least a few hours, but we have to prepare, then get ready to move!" she ordered, switching quickly back to analytical mode. Tym smirked and nodded as he stood up next to her, and I exhaled gently. The odds were still not wonderful, but at least it gave her something to focus on. Still… “Keela…” I warned, locking eyes with her again as she turned back to me. The shaky look to her eyes softened, and I saw her relax somewhat. Composing herself, she nodded to me and assured, “I know. The probability is small, but… I’ll be careful regardless. We can’t screw up again like that. Um, thank you as well, Mender. You helped us out majorly back there and… you’re the anchor for my sanity sometimes. Heh.” Oh, well that I could understand. Smiling at that, I nodded to her and surprised Fluttershy into a squeak by hugging her softly under the forelegs. “My herd is mine, so I know how you feel,” I replied, kissing the back of the mare’s neck as she smiled back at me and blushed softly. Twilight grinned at that and nestled herself further into the top of my head. Now I didn’t feel that urge to just pass out so badly, I noticed. Keela smiled towards me, nodding, then nodding again to Tym, who still stood next to her. He turned and whistled, waving his arm around in a circle in the air, and everyone in the command area broke into movement, reinitializing the systems and quickly repairing crucial operations. The Keldarian turned back to me after watching for a moment and added, “I’ll contact you again as soon as we get there. For now, though, I’ll have to ‘hang up’, so to speak. The FTL jump will disconnect us for a moment anyway.” I nodded to her, and she smiled again before returning it, then vanishing in the same instant. Well, at least they were okay. Err, reasonably okay. Okay, so she was a little banged up and three Keldarians might have gotten blown up by the Grosh attack, but at least she was still alive, along with most of her crew. Rarity exhaled softly after the image flickered away, looking tense but a little better off than she had been. Settling back down into a lying position, I just relaxed against Fluttershy as the train rolled on. That made a good metaphor for life, really. Although at some point I wouldn’t mind hitting the emergency brakes for a while and taking a good week-long vacation at least. After a long moment, Twilight lay down against the back of my neck, too, gently kissing my shoulder before resting against me. Yeah, a vacation would be nice. She felt my sentiment through the link, and apparently decided that now wouldn’t be a bad time to start. Wait, could we do that? Was it okay to just say to hell with everything, I’m going on vacation? Relaxing, I decided I might as well give it a try. At least we could for the remainder of the train ride home, which would have to do… I listened to the vibrations through the seat and resumed healing Twilight while we headed ever closer to Ponyville again… Chapter 76There were at least fifteen or twenty ponies at the station when we pulled in. Several had traditional looking coats and name badges attached to them, and I guessed that quite a few newspapers of Equestria were interested in finding out more information about the Dimensional Regulation foundation Tia had set up. Of course, when three of us exited the train a little worse for wear, they suddenly had dozens of other questions instead. At least all Rainbow had was a limp. Both Twilight and I were totally incapable of walking under our own power, with both of her forelegs out of commission and me both dead tired and having extremely ravaged back muscles. Okay, so admittedly, going overboard with Twilight's regeneration while I was also injured as well was probably stupid of me. Thankfully we had amazing friends, two of which were impressively sturdy on their hooves. Lifting my foreleg up to shield my eyes from the flurry of camera flashes, I tried to keep from getting a headache from the reporters trying to shout over each other, each with a different question. I took full advantage of the extremely fluffy pink mane all around my head and used it to partially block the light anyway, Pinkie totally unfazed despite carrying me and my considerable weight. Well, actually I probably weighed about as much as a healthy earth pony stallion, given my stringy body shape still. Muscles were only just starting to build up again, but my, uh, added parts on the inside contributed to a bit of extra weight. Unexpectedly, a rather familiar looking nurse slipped through the crowd within seconds, medical saddlebags filled to the brim. Her normally tidy pink mane had a few stray locks here and there, and she looked tired as well. "Sorry, everypony! Questions will have to wait until after medical treatment!" she warned loudly, mercilessly shooing the nearest reporters away and clearing a route through the crowd for us. Three larger earth ponies were with her, dressed in guard uniforms and helping to make a path while further dissuading the reporters from pursuit, I imagined. Of course, I could be wrong. While they were admittedly loud, the pony reporters seemed far more considerate than what my Keldarian memories seemed to indicate. They hadn't mercilessly stalked me or my loved ones yet, and they seemed to listen to reason, given that we were injured. Not that it had mattered with the expert and almost practiced ease with which Redheart moved us through the crowd. Applejack followed sharply ahead of us, Twilight resting on her back and the crowd willingly parting for the mare. Within three minutes time, we had been ushered well within the confines of the hospital and headed into a private room. Given the bewildered expressions on everypony else’s faces, I'm guessing I wasn't the only one somewhat surprised by the expediency of the process. Twilight frowned as the nurse closed the room door. It didn't take half a second for the lavender mare to light her horn up. I activated my scanners to peek at what she was doing to the room, out of curiosity. The inside walls of the examination room were coated with a soft glow a moment later, and as suddenly as it appeared, my scanner display of everything outside the room vanished. Ah. That was a rather useful spell! To my very pleasant surprise, Pinkie was amazingly careful in sliding me off her back and into a lying position on one of the lowered medical mattresses, Fluttershy carefully guiding my descent. Given the smaller size of the room, Twilight was slid off Applejack onto the mattress next to me, Rarity helping her similarly with magic and hoof guidance. Nodding at the glowing walls in the meantime, Redheart turned to me instead and inquired, "The pegasus that flew ahead of the train said it was experimental wing magic, but I kind of doubted that. Is everything okay? You weren't attacked, were you?" Ah, right. The last time things got spontaneously obliterated in my vicinity, we had an alien infiltration. "No, we weren't attacked. I registered Rarity's link to the network I have, and it completed some black box mission set for all six Elements. Wings from the Icarus Effect expanded off my back, and it tried to send me back to my old dimension. A quick save from Twilight and Rainbow is the only reason I'm still here," I summarized quickly. After carefully landing on the raised medical bed, Dash grinned, of course. Twilight blushed softly at my words instead and shifted her eyes from me. Smirking, I leaned over and pecked her on the cheek instead, causing her rosy shade to magnify slightly. Redheart listened along rather neutrally as she moved over to Twilight and unwrapped the mare's leg bandages. I'd healed a good chunk of her damage already, but the fur and upper two skin layers were still not the greatest. At least Rarity had a tonic for that 'missing splotches of fur' thing! Rarity shivered, however, for reasons unrelated to my internal monologue, I guessed. Looking stressed still, she appended, "Keela was attacked by the Grosh while attempting to communicate with us to find out what happened, however. The damage to their vessel was quite severe, and we're waiting for them to contact us again." I'm surprised she left out how it was 'all her fault'... Had she actually listened to us finally in admitting she had next to nothing to do with it? Redheart stopped at that and glanced back at the pearly unicorn for an uncertain moment before frowning. "That's bad indeed. Is everypony on her ship okay?" she asked almost immediately, true to her profession's form. "No," I quickly answered, further explaining with, "An attack hit the ship as they were escaping. It blew off two segments on the side, one of which turned out to be their prisoner holding area. It detached, and they're going back to see if they can find it right now, but two guards and Nirru were in it." Redheart looked grim for a moment, the name of the female that attacked us known to her. Probably more so than most, actually, given that she was the one who had to treat both Pinkie and Applejack that night as well. "I hope they get back with you soon, then. These burns are moderate, Twilight. I'm guessing you regenerated?" the nurse inquired, quickly changing away from the unpleasant topic as she shifted her attention to the lavender mare next to me. Her forelegs were burned and missing fur, the skin red and blistered in spots. Admittedly, I didn't know how to diagnose burns, but my readings on the area for her showed only two 'layers' of skin damage now, which was significantly better than when we had started. Twilight looked down at the damage herself and nodded before explaining, "Mender directed the regeneration while we were on the train at the expense of his own energy. The energy coming off his back during that event had been really hot, but..." she muttered, frowning at her wounds. She trailed off, and then was further distracted by my lips gently pushing against her cheek again. The skin and fur heated up against my muzzle, and I didn't have to look to realize she was embarrassed again, but I felt her smile regardless. Quickly, I added, "Thank you, Twilight. You risked a lot to save me and keep me in Equestria. Possibly your life." Her eyes widened at that, as they had before when we tried to convince her of exactly how much risk she'd taken. Was she afraid to admit what she'd done to herself? I'd seen cases like that before as well, although they were rare. Well, he had seen them. Regardless, some soldiers felt more comfortable by never trying to come to terms with what they had to do on a daily basis. I guess sometimes ignorance really was bliss, especially when intentionally invoked. I'd seen it coming, and it was no surprise when Dash frowned and started to let out a huff as she turned to me. I caught her before she could even make a noise by spontaneously adding, "And thank you as well, Rainbow. If you hadn't been there to save the both of us, also risking quite a bit, I don't think today would have had a happy ending." Her jaw clamped down in an instant as her eyes widened, and she just stared at me for a moment before Redheart snickered, drawing everypony's attention to her instead, myself included. She shrugged a second later before adding, "It takes a special kind of pony to risk their life for another. You have a lot of ponies who legitimately care about you, Mender," she explained after a moment's consideration. That didn't match her reaction, and I gave her a confused head tilt instead. It took her a moment, but she smirked a second later and added, "I'm also pleased that Equestria is still as friendly as ever. It gives me faith in ponies as a whole to see such bonds formed so strongly, even with such a rocky start." Oh, so she though it was cute, rather than funny. Got it! Although, wasn't it a little sudden for such a strong bond? Fluttershy caught the question before it even made it to my tongue, and she giggled outright, nuzzling into my other side before shaking her head. "No, Silly. I don't know how things worked like that back in your old place, and I probably don't want to. Um, no offense, of course. Bonds here form within days sometimes, and last a lifetime. Ponies are very, um, social compared to the direction you considered," she tried to explain, that ever present hint of uncertainty shifting a bit stronger as she spoke. Still, with ponies of such high empathy around me, maybe I'd never have to say anything ever again? Pinkie giggled at that, adding a mirthful grin for good measure. "Fluttershy's right! We all became super best friends in less than a day! It's amazing," she pointed out, looking exceptionally pleased at the fact as she said it. Sadly, she was one of those ponies who got animated while talking, and I barely ducked a hoof in time as it passed over my head to the left. She predictably didn't notice. Rarity, who was now softly massaging Twilight's shoulders, coughed lightly at that before pointing out, "Not to dismiss your example, but we're something of a special case being bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Pinkie. Still, it is true, Mender. Normally ponies are very social and quite fast to become friendly." The little dragon next to her rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, however. "I only wish dragons were the same. They can be downright rude to newcomers!" he complained, sounding as if he was speaking from personal experience. Twilight smiled at that before speaking up with, "Don't forget, those were younger dragons, Spike. While probably close to your age, I'm not sure they've gotten as educated an upbringing as you." There was a certain level of pride in her tone and I barely resisted smirking. He gave a softer smile towards her, however, seemingly thankful for the compliment. Sadly, Nurse Redheart was forced to deflate the happier topic a moment later as she finished her analysis. "You're amazingly lucky that you regenerate, Miss Twilight Sparkle. I can imagine that this was a lot worse, and it's still pretty bad. This is a second-degree burn, and the heat damage has gone through multiple layers of flesh. I'm going to wash the areas down and bandage them up again with special cream, but you'll need to come back in after a few days and get looked at again," she warned, frowning down at them. I knew when she was serious, it was time to turn in the chips and just nod in agreement, of course. For once, it wasn't me she was getting serious with! Wait, didn't that have some other meaning? The lavender mare gave a bleak stare down at her own forelegs, swallowing again at their tender look and lack of fur. I nuzzled her gently on the cheek and she sighed a moment later, relaxing back against my shoulder before nodding. "I'm really lucky," she muttered in agreement, sounding tired. She didn't seem very 'lucky' to me, getting these rather nasty burns. Sure, they could have been worse, but she also could have not gotten them in the first place by, I don't know, not having a scientifically engineered eldritch abomination for a coltfriend? Just a thought. Fluttershy gave me a heart-wilting frown of vague, yet somehow also apologetic disapproval, and I averted my eyes from the mare, reminding myself that she was fully capable of reading my active thoughts at this range. She even beat Pinkie out in innate skill of using the links. Speaking of... "Wait a second. Isn't Mender really, really injured, too? Why are you treating Twilight ahead of him and not, I dunno, both at the same time?!" Pinkie herself asked, hopping forward a bit and wiggling her eyes, somehow, at Redheart in a vaguely accusing manner. My favorite nurse seemed more confused by it than anything, of course. While I was a little concerned for my own injury, it didn't hurt all that badly, and I wanted Twilight to get help. Redheart shook her head a moment later and explained, "Mender is going to be looked at, too. Doctor Horse is on his way right now, being the only other pony that has security clearance high enough to look at Mender's injuries." Oh, my doctor. Sometimes I forgot that I also had a doctor, as usually Redheart took care of most of my issues easily enough. His name was a bit weird, but he was a nice stallion, if not overly positive sometimes. That said, Redheart delayed no further in sliding her rolling tray over to her and moving the bin of water off it. I stayed resting against Twilight as she shivered, the warm, wet cloth gently washing the burned skin with soapy water. Despite it probably hurting, she didn't make any noise and just closed her eyes, head turning to the left and resting against my neck. I felt her focus on her breathing instead, and slipped further inside of myself, surprising her a little as I drew her in and away from the pain going through her legs. The yellow mare over me finished straightening my bandages carefully, then smiled as she felt what we were doing. A moment later, somewhat predictably, I felt her drift in towards me as well, snuggling into Twilight's back and finally getting the mare to smile. A tag team nuzzle actually managed to get her to relax a moment later, not even aware of the outside world anymore. To be honest, I have no idea how long we stayed resting like that, somewhere between awake and asleep. There was less awareness of time like this, and it felt like both hours and a few minutes before I felt nudges at my own back. I knew it wasn't hostile, as the sound of Applejack or Rainbow Dash knocking somepony through the wall would have alerted me to ill intent. All three of us opened our eyes almost immediately, Twilight outright surprised to note her forelegs were bandaged up again. The familiar looking unicorn doctor next to me perked up at my sudden awareness and lifted his hooves off me, holding them up instead in a rather universally accepted parley gesture. Admittedly, I wasn't as familiar with him as I was Redheart. Still, he naturally gave off a friendly air with his mannerisms and appearance. He slowly dropped his left hoof while adjusting his thin spectacles with his right, green eyes locking onto my wounded back. I suppose it helped that he was naturally neutral colored, with his orange-tan coat and dark brown mane and tail being rather disarming. The white doctor's coat added to the professional look, which perhaps was a bit misleading in his case. While he had moments of serious absent-minded tendencies and was a little eccentric, he was thankfully very levelheaded under pressure. Actually, that was probably why he was the one to do my surgery after the Nirru incident. I had been panicking prior to that and sliding large chunks from the walls, so he might have been the only doctor to risk it. Well, if he had even noticed. Maybe his Cutie Mark, an electrocardiogram monitor, was alluding to his ability to manage emergency situations? "Friend, of course. I know ponies can sometimes be startled coming out of the inner trance. Fascinating technique, that! You three are very close indeed to manage it in three different directions. Do your links help?" he inquired, sounding curious. Thankfully, despite my surprise over his sudden question, Twilight was far quicker of wit, explaining, "Actually, they totally supplement links with each other, and he has full control over them." Oh, those links! Here I momentarily thought he knew something I didn't! I started to smile and nod when I was yet again interrupted, this time by Applejack. "Uh, not ta change tha topic, but Ah'm kinda curious. What's with tha huge tray o' food?" she inquired, sounding intrigued. Tray of food? I looked around but didn't immediately find what I was looking for, which weirded me out a little. The doctor stared blankly at her for a moment before suddenly seeming to remember, and stepped sideways in my vision. Sure enough, a large tray of food had been entirely eclipsed by his much nearer in perspective chest while he examined my back. Oh, yes! I was beyond hungry. "Ah, right, right! Eat up, Mender! Please, allow me to observe and note the effects of your natural regeneration upon consuming things," he requested, nodding to me twice. I got the sudden inclination that this was a science experiment, but I was far too hungry to care. Not wasting energy with magic, my tongue shot out instead and latched onto the tray, sliding it over towards me before it rolled to a stop. Admittedly, the stallion knew me well enough. While most in the room undoubtedly knew now about my 'consumption-based' regeneration, not many would also pick out my favorites. Six sandwiches were on the tray with an assortment of fried hay patties, practically smothered in grease. Multiple bowls of dressing were also available, including one filled completely with sugar instead of anything cream-based. He also got me a few toasted slices of bread, the waves of heat still drifting up off them. Alongside were some very natural looking jellies, with added sugar sprinkled in. Oh. It took me a moment to note the different patterns in the variety present, but I quickly realized he was testing the effects of different food combinations on my healing. I already knew of course that it was twofold, requiring both mass to help repair things, and fuel to break down for energy. It was an interesting experiment, though, as I wasn't sure if raw sugar or the greasy fats of the patties were better for 'fuel' for me. I immediately made a sandwich out of one of the patties, some thick, tangy dressing, and sprayed a bit of sugar across it before slapping the other slice of toast onto it. Twilight utterly forgot about the pain in her forelegs as she watched on in clear horror. I layered another patty on top of that, ignoring her shudder completely. More dressing was tossed on after, along with a third layer of toast. Yes! Now this was a sandwich! "Um, n-not to interrupt but, uh, is that healthy for him, Doctor Horse?" Fluttershy asked politely a moment later as I squished the sandwich down and happily picked it up. Rainbow started laughing, of course, barely resisting herself while I was making this masterpiece. I think the squishing noise pushed her over the edge. Pinkie chipped in and started giggling next to her while they watched me take a huge bite out of the thing, shivering as the combined tastes danced happily in my mouth. My taste buds exploded into a happy state of bliss, and I barely managed to catch the doctor's reply. "...course! I'm a Doctor. Doctor Horse, of course! He's not quite a normal pony, however, so all of this will simply be processed by his body and converted directly. I merely wish to observe which affects him the best," he explained. Okay, so while he was a little, well, strange, he gave me this awesome thing, so I wasn't about to complain. Plus he seemed to actually understand the process of my body on a more fundamental level. Redheart, apparently far more used to dealing with him, utterly ignored his antics while gently wrapping bandages around Twilight's forelegs again. "Now remember, Twilight, leave these on for the next twenty-four hours, then clean them again with gentle soaps. Wrap afterwards, and then I want to see you back here in forty-eight hours for another checkup," she instructed, giving a rather impressive list of orders. I made a digital list as she went along, but Twilight gave an uncertain frown down at the bandages. The yellow mare still residing between us gained a timid smile before assuring, "I can help you re-wrap them, don't worry. Um, only if you want me to, though!" I smiled at that, but it wasn't noticeable around my sandwich as I kept munching on it. Sure, I could have eaten the thing in one bite, but it was far more pleasant to take my time and enjoy the wonderful blend of flavors. Twilight gave her a soft smile and nod, which got the yellow mare to relax anyway. I was about to point out that Fluttershy probably would have done that regardless, but a ping fired off in my link system before I could. Perking, I quickly swallowed the bite of sandwich I had been working on, flicked on my eye projector, switched the speaker system in my throat on, and activated Keela's connection. Everypony turned to look as the light flared into the room and a slightly transparent version of Keela faded in, about a meter to each side of her also visible from awareness bleed. She was bandaged up now, but still looked rather battered. I recognized the area she was in as the forward navigation bay. In most mobile starships, there was an area of the command room that was devoted to the actual movement and navigation of the craft, and it typically had very easily identifiable consoles and displays. In this case, I saw fully active scanners running. "Ah, Mender! I was hoping you wouldn't be too busy by now. Oh, did you make it to the hospital?" the Keldarian inquired, looking about the room I was in. The link went both ways and let her see within a good five or six meters of me. Nodding, I quickly explained, "We made it back to Ponyville in the time you were gone. Twilight and I are getting looked at right now." Only a slight fabrication, as I figured scientific observation counted as 'looking at me' for Doctor Horse, anyway. Redheart smiled at Keela, having been informed about that particular Keldarian before. "It's nice to finally meet you. Twilight should be fine in a day or two, but Mender's wounds are significantly worse. Doctor Horse is trying to boost Mender's accelerated regeneration using disgustingly unhealthy foods," she elaborated, earning a snicker from Keela and an eye roll from me. "Given that I have two large holes in my back, what I'm eating at the moment should be the least of my health concerns. Still, I'm directing all the intake towards regeneration anyway," I retorted rapidly, shooting a look towards the now smirking Redheart, who'd obviously done it just to get a rise out of me. Well it worked! Twilight, being far more observant than I as usual, instead pointed out, "You're smiling and in good spirits, Keela. Does that mean you have good news?" Oh, right. The whole reason for her cutting communications for a while was to try to find the separated parts of the ship. That had completely slipped my mind after getting the sandwich made... Keela stared over at her for a moment before sighing, sounding really tired. With a frustrated wrinkle to her brow, she lowered her eyes to the panel next to her before picking something up off it. As it came into the focus of the display, I saw that it was a data pad similar to the one she'd had earlier, although significantly less mangled. A report, then? Still, I assumed 'frustrated' was better than 'angry' or 'depressed'. "Uh, inconclusive," she finally managed to mutter, some sort of irritation present in her gaze, if only for seemingly the data pad itself. They lost more data pads that way, I bet... Still, 'inconclusive'? While better than an outright negative result, I was struggling to figure out what that meant in regards to the Grosh. Normally, their modus operandi left things fairly definite as to what happened. My, and everypony else’s confused expressions must have been readily apparent. She glanced up again, blinked once, then looked back down at the pad before elaborating with, "We found what was left of the two missing segments, and recovered their black boxes. They were hit with several category three particle blasts and reduced to less than four percent cohesiveness." Uh... That was fairly straightforward, so I simply waited for the 'but' clause. Twilight was slightly less patient, however. "Wait, so the Grosh blew them up?!" she asked almost immediately, looking beyond horrified. At her clarification of the statement, everypony else mimicked her expression as if it were shrapnel from her explosive outburst. "But?" I asked quickly, interrupting before anypony else could spiral with those thoughts. Instead, I managed to at least draw everypony's attention to myself instead, Redheart and Doctor Horse included. The doctor nodded a moment later before adding, "Quite, quite! The young Miss Keela stated the results as inconclusive prior to this, and that result is very much not. There must be more!" Keela raised an eyebrow to him, but nodded regardless. Hesitating, she looked back down at the sheet before furthering with, "The parts were significantly damaged prior to that, however. The separation shrapnel inflicted significant hull damage, and they were venting atmosphere at two percent a minute with no backup reserve. We would have made it in time to rescue them, but..." She trailed off at that, frowning at her pad instead. She looked about as confused as I felt. Why was that important? Wait... Tym started snickering, again outside of the 'picture' around her a ways. "It doesn't make any sense at all. The Grosh don't fight like that. They're logical to a fault. Why waste ammo and energy reserves when your target is already doomed, and you get a free show of watching them slowly suffer and maybe draw their allies back to 'rescue' them, to destroy them, too?" he pointed out in an odd mixture of amusement and bitterness. Oh. "That... That's horrifying!" Rarity immediately declared, with no hesitation whatsoever. I exhaled softly before agreeing with, "Yes, yes it is. One of the many reasons why I don't want them anywhere near Equestria." I'd figured that being willing to blow myself to bits in order to prevent just that would have left some lasting impression as to how horrible they were. No, wait, I was being bitter again. Keela looked guilty for a long moment before nodding. "I was... I was an idiot to make that link with you, Mender. I'm sorry again. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have had any further trouble. Our worlds would be long separated by now," she apologized. Twilight frowned for a moment while considering that before politely shaking her head and countering with, "No, I for one believe this is actually for the best." Ah, right, that made sense. Wait, no it didn't. Keela gave her a confused yet ultimately vacant stare, seemingly so unprepared by that statement that she didn't even have a proper facial expression ready. The lavender mare actually giggled for a moment at her expression before continuing with, "What? It's true. I've fully read Princess Celestia's case file from the last time. Everything points to these dimensional connections forming in a circular, repeating pattern. If so, I'd rather have the chance to start preparing for it now, and formulate a decent defense ahead of time than simply pass the event by and hope for the best with the next one." Ah. So she'd rather deal with the devil she knew, in other words. That way if an unknown one came, we'd be way more prepared. I never considered the situation as something to learn from, admittedly. Keela looked just as surprised until I winced, drawing everypony's attention back to me as the doctor apparently picked now to pull the bandages from my back. Of course, Fluttershy had worked with what she had, which unfortunately hadn't included stick-free wrappings. Redheart rolled her eyes absently at Doctor Horse's antics, but he totally ignored her, or was entirely oblivious. Instead, he checked the wounds over carefully before nodding twice, to nopony in particular. "Ah, right, right. I just remembered that I couldn't observe your healing if I couldn't see the wound. Hmm. Actually, I appear to have accidentally torn them open again. Oh dear. Nurse, could you get me some gauze and non-adhesive wrappings?" he inquired, surprisingly not sounding all that concerned. Damn it! My favorite nurse was already holding up the bandages when he looked up, shooting him an irate stare. "Mender is our boss, need I remind you. You should strive to not maim your patients regardless, however. Pay attention!" she lectured sharply, earning a pleased yet blissfully unaware nod from him. Ugh. Why was he my doctor again? Thirty seconds later, I was reminded of exactly why as he easily cleaned and re-bandaged my wound. His horn idly spread grayish blue ambiance across the room as he worked, his hooves doing the wrapping while his magic soothed nerves and healed my deeper tissue. It was absolutely second nature to him, given how effortless he pulled it all off. Twilight exhaled slowly a moment later before her horn lit up and a notepad drifted out of her left saddlebag, accompanying quill immediately starting to dance across the page in her neat, yet tightly formed script. "So Mender completed an 'objective' designated inside of his black box, presumably given by whomever put it inside of him, and it tried to automatically return him to his prior dimension. Keela was attacked in response to powering up the faster than light engines, presumably by the Grosh. They then behaved strangely by apparently destroying pointless targets, and showing no noticeable interest in giving chase." She narrated out loud as she took her notes, and I smirked at her extraordinarily scientific method of viewing things. Keela blinked in surprise before quickly pointing out, "Seemingly?! There are chunks of the ship segments floating around the moon in multiple orbits now! You don't get much more destroyed than that." Sighing, I came to Twilight's defense with, "Actually, you can, but apart from that, I believe Twi was referring to your sister and the other two Keldarians, not the ship itself." The lavender unicorn smiled at my intervention, but didn't lift her eyes from her notes, still rapidly writing alongside her now silent thoughts. Keela shook her head twice after that, and shuddered before asking, "But what alternative is there? She's either dead or captured, which is even worse! There's no sign of any escape, that's for sure. Besides, they don’t capture non-civilians! I… I don’t know what’s going on here.” Considering it for a moment, I finally nodded and suggested, “It’s true. They’re acting strange, and something is definitely off. You should get some scans and samples from the wreckage, and then probably get out of there, however.” They’d been lucky with the Grosh being gone when they got back, but that wasn’t something to rely on for any length of time. After considering it for a moment, Keela nodded and added, “Yeah, you’re right. More clues would help us out. We’re also idling in silent mode right now, holding on to our emissions for the time being, but no, I don’t want to endanger us any further. Okay then, everyone! We’re grabbing some scans and samples of the two destroyed sections, then jumping to a new random location in dark space to analyze them!” She ended on the two orders and gestured her hand out while talking to the Keldarians presumably near her on the deck. There was the sound of a flurry of motion, and I realized I’d guessed correctly. She turned back to me afterwards and finally gave a weak smile. “Um, thanks for being patient with me. I don’t think I’m entirely thinking clearly at the moment, and you and Tymandius have been a blessing. I’ll ping you again when we get back to safety with the analysis reports?” she offered in a quieter voice, torso sagging a little. I nodded and smiled back to her in attempts to be reassuring, of course. Fluttershy surprised me by timidly speaking up, however. “Um, I think you should get some rest after that, too, Keela. If it’s not too much trouble, just to, well, relax a little. You look really tired,” she suggested quietly. Keela looked momentarily surprised before closing her eyes and smiling a bit further, nodding slowly. She did look tired. “Yeah, you’re right. After I get the report to Mender, I might just take a cat nap for a few hours. We need to get to safety first, though.” Reasonable, at least. Either that or her inner fatigue was making the prospect sound too good to pass up. Fluttershy nodded at that and recovered her smile, having felt melancholy since the attack had hit our friends. With that, Keela gave a smiling nod and perk towards the ‘camera’ before the link went quiet again, and I felt myself relax a little. Today had kinda sucked, and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Not that I hadn’t gotten my lunch started early. Glancing down, I took note of my forgotten sandwich before picking it up again and taking another bite. Mmm, soggier than I remembered. Figures. Redheart finished adding the last of the wrapping to Twilight’s legs and nodded after, looking somber. “It sounds like everypony’s having a bad day today. Twilight’s recovery time is set to two days or so. No Running of the Leaves this year, however,” she warned, reminding me again of what time it was. Oh! The doctor nodded in agreement as well. “Yes, the burn treatment should have you healed and furred again in two days’ time, but try to limit your walking and activities with your forelegs until then. Mender’s regeneration from the food he consumed is already kicking in and the wounds are looking better already. Fascinating. That means both greasy and sugary fuels work with him. I wonder which is better. No, I’d best observe that later tonight. For now, I’m going to re-wrap his wounds. I suggest he stay with us overnight, however, to insure there are no complications,” the doctor explained, shifting in and out of addressing us and talking to himself. I’d been anticipating that, so it wasn’t really a surprise. “That’s probably for the best. I’ll settle back at the library for tonight, then come visit you later after everything’s unpacked,” Twilight offered, smiling softly towards me. Applejack looked less than pleased at that prospect, instead correcting, “Oh no ya don’t. Yer gonna be resting, an’ we’ll be doin’ tha unpackin’. Pinkie, Spike, an’ Ah got it covered. Ya should probably stay groundside fer tonight as well, Rainbow.” The cyan pegasus winced at that, looking unpleased at the aspect, then nodded reluctantly. Wow. Applejack could get her to do almost anything! “Oh! Right, right. I forgot to take a look at Miss Rainbow Dash’s leg. One moment,” the doctor suddenly excused, grabbing a very small hammer off the wall. Eh? What was that for, reflex testing? The cyan mare fidgeted at that and rapidly shook her head, protesting, “I’m fine, really! It doesn’t even hurt anymore!” That probably meant, given that it was Dash saying it, that it was slightly less than agonizing now. The tension that was drifting down the link from her didn’t make her statement any more believable, of course. The doctor held a hoof up before assuring, “I’ll only do the briefest of tests, worry not. While it’s not your wings this time, I believe you still find your legs quite useful, no?” Oh, had he treated Rainbow before? “Uh, no, really, it’s okay. I’m fine and I can walk by-“ she started to continue. She was interrupted, of course, when he floated the hammer out and lightly bopped her on the knee joint. Her leg shot out to full extension out of reflex and she winced, and then cried out, bending down and holding onto her leg carefully. Redheart finally growled and shot him an annoyed expression before ordering, “Okay, that’s it. I’m taking over from here. Move…” He backed off almost immediately, of course… * * * * * Gently, I relaxed while staring out the window. Crimson and dark orange light drifted over the clouds, day slowly sinking beneath the horizon. A single leaf snapped off its branch a moment later, drifting on the outside breeze as it fell towards the ground far below. I shifted a little bit, and the soft blue aura immediately took it as a cue, my pillows lifting slightly behind me and fluffing again before settling. "They were fine, you know. You're awfully stubborn," I muttered without turning back her way. I felt her smirk regardless, that coy and playful one she got sometimes when 'bantering' as she put it. The links were becoming second nature to me, anyway. "You should never call a lady stubborn, even when she is. To properly compliment, use 'determined'. It works much better," Rarity advised calmly, indeed sounding all too amused. Chuckling, I warned, "Careful. That's an adjective I've heard given to Rainbow. I didn't think you liked being compared like that." The white mare rolled her eyes at that, the smile not diminishing as I turned back to look at her. "Rainbow, while certainly brash and very spontaneous sometimes, is a very dear friend to me, and truly has very admirable qualities. I'm not afraid of the comparison," she assured politely, nodding twice to her own statement. She sat on the chair next to my hospital bed, of course, and had been for almost three hours now. Still, I had to admit to liking her methods a lot more. Applejack and Pinkie volunteered to help deliver the bags back to both Twilight's and Rarity's houses and make sure Twilight was settled in with Spike assisting her. All before moving on to drop their own luggage off, which was rather unsurprising at this point, given the mares involved. Rarity obviously couldn't manage getting her luggage back to her house and unloading it, having taken both Spike and two nearby stallions to haul it to the station in the first place. The mare knew how to use her charm, that was for sure. After unpacking, however, she surprised me by immediately turning around and coming back here instead. I tried to dissuade her, of course, predicting she was going to try to be like Applejack, but instead, it would seem she took her own words to heart. That was something that was really hard to do. She explained that she herself had felt guilty in regards to our injuries, and logically, mine was the most severe. Further, I had nopony 'personally' there to help me, Fluttershy staying with Twilight, and Rainbow rooming with Applejack until her leg recovered. Logically again, Rarity decided that I was in the most need of aid. So to take responsibility for what she felt was partially her fault, she would see that I was well tended to while I recovered. She had outlined a definite goal, and acknowledged what was wrong, so I could hardly fault her. Plus, well, she was good company and I was lonely. Redheart had a lot of other patients, and I wasn't about to 'order' her to tend to only me, regardless of if she offered or not. Twilight and Fluttershy were set to visit later, too, but until then... Rarity tilted her head lightly and smiled, inquiring, "A bit for your thoughts?" I stared at her for a moment before simply smiling and shaking my head slowly. For a moment, I considered what my thoughts actually were, and then instead replied, "Free for you, of course. And, well, thank you. Admittedly, I was rather lonely." Of course, she wasted no time in giggling at that, and I wondered if it was at my expense. "Oh, I noticed, yes. That longing look you gave Twilight and Fluttershy as they left was clear enough. Not the normal look of a stallion ogling two pretty mares either. You care deeply for their company, I know," she observed. None of it was a question, and we both knew that she didn't have to actually ask. As intangible and sometimes confusing as my feelings for the two mares were, I could very easily agree that I loved their company. Still... "That better not be alluding to your own worth. You know I also value your company," I reminded, just in case. She smiled at that, and then nodded more earnestly, the feel of our conversation slipping from playful and into somber and honest. "Yes, I know. Despite your faults, you always have been good at complimenting, you know that? But don't detract from our prior topic. Distraction and absent-mindedness are some of those faults of yours," she reminded. I was impressed with her ability to actively point out negative qualities of mine without actually insulting me. Still, she was right. Nodding, I shifted the larger book closer to me again, its pages still open with a soft felt bookmark within. There was no risk of accidental closure now, and I slid the bookmark to the side as I flipped one of the thick, browned pages. That was the color of most paper the ponies used, I noted. "I'm not sure," I finally muttered, looking over the book that now took over my entire lap. This spread of pages contained a full map of Equestria, cities marked and transit lanes highlighted. "You've already shared a lot, including bringing this in the first place. I'm always glad to learn everything I can about the things, but isn't your throat getting sore?" I asked instead, frowning over at the mare. She held a hoof up to me and chuckled lightly at that. "No, no. My throat is quite all right. Hmm,” she started before pausing and seemingly considering something. I waited patiently for a moment, ears twitching lightly in anticipation of her continuing her thought. Finally, she admitted, “Well, actually, the main problem is that I’m a bit fatigued from the long train ride. Would you be upset if I took a short rest?” Oh! Right, the train ride had taken an hour longer than anticipated. Smiling easily at that, I nodded to her before assuring, “It’s all right, Rarity. Take a nap if you need it. I’ll wake you if something happens or Twilight and Fluttershy get here.” She gave me a polite nod before settling a bit, then curling up on the chair’s cushion. I watched her relax there for a bit before turning and looking back at the large book in my lap. She really had been helpful, and bringing this with her when she came back was amazingly thoughtful. She knew I didn’t know much about pony customs and history. The founding from the three tribes, Tia’s and Luna’s surprisingly passive guidance over the decades, and the relation with the surrounding nations were all rather interesting to me. It was my duty now as a ‘pony’ to know this information. Smiling at that thought, I gently closed the book after slipping the mark back into it, and set it next to me. For now, however, there were other things that I wanted to look into. Rarity couldn’t help me with this, as it was something I had to do on my own. My saddlebags had been stashed next to me on the bed, thankfully, and I opened the clasp on the right one before sliding the large folder out of it. It was amazingly thick, and had a single symbol printed on the front of it. Of course, I now knew the symbol to be that of the Bureau of Extradimensional Investigation and Defense, or BEID. Staring at the folder, I was somewhat surprised in my hesitation. This was the collective knowledge of that organization, including its final reports before shutting down almost three hundred years ago, however. I guess it was just me being weird, but it was still the collective work and effort from quite a lot of ponies. How far from the original premise were the members of BEID today? Carefully, I unhooked the wrapping on it and slid open the vanilla colored folder. Having expected case files and documentation, I was a bit surprised when the first papers within held a note from Tia, a photo, and a small notebook. Oh? I quickly read over the note, quite curious now. “Mender. After a bit of consideration, I guessed that you’d probably be interested in more than just BEID itself, and gathered up a few additional things to give to you. Being their only foal, you should have them regardless. The photo was on your father’s desk, and the notebook is your mother’s journal that she kept for the duration of her stay in BEID, including meeting your father. The packet of information under them was everything I could find on your family. I’m sorry there’s not more, but those were bad memories for a lot of ponies, and loss is felt for many generations for us. I didn’t want to pry where I shouldn’t. Let me know if there’s anything I can answer for you, however. Signed, Tia.” I read the note twice before fully absorbing the information. My birth parents. Under the note was a single picture, showing a large and imposing earth stallion looking surprisingly gentle and happy, and the unicorn mare posing in the picture next to him smiling and waving at the camera while snuggling into his side. She held a surprisingly sharp contrast to him with her creamy white coat color to his much darker bronze. His mane and tail were kept neatly trimmed and styled, I noticed, and were charcoal black in color, slivers of silver mixed in. I reached up absently and slid my braid over from the right side of my muzzle, looking at the silver color mixed in with it, and smiled. My eyes shifted to her instead, seeing a much younger and wilder look to her, with her creamy blue mane and tail lying where it stayed whenever she got up in the morning. To my surprise, Bastion's eyes were my own, a rich amber gold in color as he stared at the camera. Gemstone's were a pretty soft blue tone, which matched well with her coat. I had no idea how long I stared at the picture, feeling very small. These were my parents, but I didn’t know them at all. I didn’t know what their voices sounded like, or how they acted, or what they would have thought of me now. At the same time, they looked so happy, and clearly cared for each other very much. Seeing them now, I wanted to know them. But that wasn’t possible, was it? Swallowing, I slid the picture to the side, putting it gently on top of the note from the princess. The notepad rested on the top, bound in old looking fabric-covered wood, surprisingly enough. The image of a pink gemstone with a ribbon wrapped around it was on the cover, hidden by the picture and note when I had opened the folder. I glanced back to the picture of the couple and saw the same marking on her left, visible flank. Neither of his was shown, however. The book was old but very carefully maintained and cared for. I was almost afraid to open it and risk damage, but the contents were important. I paused at that, considering what ‘important’ meant for a moment. Surely, the contents of the book had next to nothing to do with the case and current investigation of BEID. Neither did the picture. Tia knew I had a personal investment, however, and that made both important, if only to me. Smiling, I made a mental note to thank her when we next met. The larger file behind the book was still a bit smaller than the file itself, of course. Opening that up, I was a bit surprised that it appeared to contain a collection of information on the two ponies, gathered from both official bio information and what looked like letters that Tia had written to families. Had she done this recently, just to get the information for me? I remembered how she had helped me when I was struggling with myself in the hospital after what happened with Nirru, too. And how she’d given me good advice in regards to my memories and interest in Twilight, despite already knowing at that point that I was a cyborg. She was incredibly nice to everypony she met, and truly a good pony at heart, I realized. I appended my prior note to really, really thank her the next time we met, and chuckled at my own silliness. Rarity stirred slightly on the cushion nearby, and I held a hoof up to my mouth, holding still until she settled again, as if that would somehow make me less noticed. She didn’t wake, thankfully, and I relaxed again before looking over the generic information on them. My mother’s name was Gemstone Weave, and my father’s was Bronze Bastion. They were age twenty-two and twenty five, respectively. He was a technical engineer assigned the entirety of the building projects for the group, and she was a crystal resonance expert that apparently was assigned under him, to construct the actual crystal arrays they were using to build the portal device. Interesting. I skipped over the medical information and various bio tidbits and examined the director’s notes on them. He was selected for excellence in the field, specializing in extremely detailed construction on a fine scale, despite being an earth pony. His professional and courteous attitude extended into working well with others, and that got him the leadership position. My mother’s recommendation was less shining, it would seem. She was selected reluctantly due to her excellence in the field, and being one of the only crystal resonance experts with the advanced magic qualifications. Her personality was somewhat unpredictable, though, known for high energy and wavering levels of work ethic. ‘No Discipline’ was underlined three times, and I couldn’t help but smirk a bit. She sounded like a firecracker. Looking back at her journal, my curiosity piqued and I sighed softly. Okay, it couldn’t hurt, could it? I didn’t even know why I had hesitated before anyway. Sliding it back over, I slowly unwound the tie around the clasp of the notepad. On the front page, written in tightly formed but slightly sloppy script, was, “No Reading This! Property of Gemstone Weave!” I smirked at that, then widened into a full smile at the addition under it in slightly brighter pen color. “(This especially means you, Bastion!)” Maintaining the happy outlook, I carefully flipped the page… Chapter 77"Come on. You know you wanna. We pay you two bits apiece, and you ensure we pass the course. It's just homework," reached my ears, earning a light twitch as they swiveled to face the sound. Ugh. Not those jerks again! Sliding forward while adjusting my saddlebags, I made sure they didn't scrape the wall as I peeked around the corner. Sure enough, two larger mares and a stallion had a first year cornered against a wall. She was shaking, and obviously felt threatened, which was exactly what they wanted for their 'deal'. "B-But, that's against the rules! We could all get kicked out if..." she started to protest, shrinking down a little while stammering, the dust from the brick wall turning her whiter coat a dull gray. The larger mare grinned at that and slammed her hoof into the bricks right next to the smaller mare's head, earning a squeak and shiver. "We're not gonna get caught, so relax. Trust me, things won't be pleasant for you if you say no," she reminded. I'd heard enough. These punks were toast. Slipping my saddlebags off, I pushed them against the wall before sliding and breaking into a sprint around the corner, jaw clenching as I felt the magic surge forth. The big mare heard the sudden noise of my hooves as I flat out sprinted towards them and managed to look to the left, eyes widening. "Oh ponyfeathers! It's Gem! Run!" she managed to yelp out. The dark brown stallion to her left didn't even know what hit him as he turned. My horn lit up and blasted his left leg out from under him with a shot of telekinesis. As he fell, I jumped and used his face as a springboard, easily flattening him into the dirt as I leaped through the air. The bigger mare had started to run, but wasn't prepared for me body-checking her an instant later. I hit hard, but she hit a lot harder, and with me on top of her gut. The air exited her lungs in an instant and I rolled, sliding off her on the other side, pushing the rest of the air out of her with my body weight as she started coughing painfully. A flash of light danced across me an instant later, and I looked up just in time to feel the force of a mallet hit my face. My magic activated instinctively, knocking the blast of energy away from my head even as I spun from the impact, a bit of blood hitting the dirt under me. I managed to keep my balance as I slid and turned just as the third mare actually tried levitating me off the ground, trying to haul me up helplessly into the air and away from her 'buddy' I'd just flattened. Idiot! Never, ever try focusing on levitating a target in a fight. Especially not a unicorn who happened to be an expert at harmonization! Smirking as I wiped the blood from my mouth, my horn flared up just as she tried to haul me upwards. I fired the high intensity sonic vibration right into the channeling point for her spell an instant later. She screamed, clutching both sides of her skull with her forehooves, entirely forgetting that she was standing prior. She planted her face into the ground an instant later, collapsing like a bag of soggy carrots. Ha! I smiled over at the smaller mare, who sat there with a stunned expression on her face, jaw dropped at me. What? She never see a mare kick that much flank before? "You okay?" I asked her, turning to face her fully. Okay, yeah, I was awesome. That probably sounded totally cool. Hey, she was kinda cute, too. Her disheveled mane was a soft green in color and ran to about her shoulders. The color complimented her teal eyes quite well, too. "Gemstone Weave!" I heard shouted out in a very, very familiar voice, and everything sunk around me. Horseapples! Turning, I gave a sheepish smile to the older mare glaring at me and storming over, hauling my school saddlebags alongside her with her magic. Well, that would have been awesome, had I not gotten caught teaching the bullies a lesson. Again... The headmistress of the academy simply tossed my bags to me before ordering, "Nurse, then my office. Now, Gemstone." Gah! * * * * * "So? That's only like your... What? Third time? I think you get six offenses before you have to appeal to the board!" Ether Pulse chirped, being his usual wiseguy self. I rolled my eyes and shot him a glare around my cheek bandage. He knew me better than that, though, and only smirked down at me, brushing his silvery mane away from his cyan eyes. He had a dark blue coat and was a bit taller than I was, which didn't take much given that I had been the class runt. My father's martial teaching more than made up for it, and I knew he'd be proud of me regardless! He always said that sometimes it was worth getting into trouble if it meant doing the right thing. Sighing, I corrected, "Fourth time they caught me. Ninth time I've flattened some bullies. It's always the same thing. Some petty ponies picking on a smaller mare or stallion for some stupid reason. I'd love to see them try to pick on me!" I glared at nothing in particular until he started snickering and gave me a new target. Not that he ever felt threatened by me. "They did, remember? Your first offense was after you skipped their faces off a brick wall. After that, they started running from you," he pointed out skeptically. Heh. He did know how to cheer me up, regardless. Sadly, he continued with, "You're just lucky your grades are so high, or you probably would have been asked to appear before the board already. Seriously, Gem. I know it makes you angry, but you have to just report them. Scare them off if you want, but just let them run away!" He had a pleading undertone that always stung, and I huffed, looking away from him finally. Honestly, I knew he just had my best interest at heart. That made it impossible to actually get angry with him. It just felt like that was doing nothing! Sighing, I relented and nodded towards him a moment later. "Yeah, yeah. I'll give it a shot next time. At least they got suspended for trying to cheat, and put in front of the board. Mandatory therapy might teach them some proper manners," I muttered, getting him to nod and relax. A second passed, and he idly scratched his chin for a moment. Eh? "So, was she at least cute?" he asked a second later, grinning. "Ether!" I yelped, feeling the heat shoot up to my cheeks. It was one thing after another! * * * * * I ran into that mare again, of course. Hard to believe that she was in my advanced magic manipulation and theory class, despite being so young. She has to be at least a few years shy of myself, given her appearance. To my surprise, she actually remembered me and willingly came up to thank me for saving her three days ago. Of course, the bandage on my cheek might have jogged her memory, but I guess I couldn't expect everypony to be like me. As a rule of hoof, if I didn't write it down, it didn't get remembered for more than five minutes. It made classes really hard, but only made me try even harder! My dad believed in me! Her name was Auraprism, or just Aura for short. Her Cutie Mark was a glowing prism splitting a ray into three, which was rather fitting and quite pretty to boot. She was a light specialist, focusing on crystal manipulation to refract and reflect, so we hit it off big time. A lot of my own work was focused on crystal vibration and sound theory, so we literally were both working with the same materials. Now, of course, we were studying intensely for our final comprehension essays, which was our last chance to influence what our instructor thought of our learned abilities. It was three days from now, when we'd sit down in the classroom and get two hours to write up an exhaustive summary of the past semester and everything we learned. Thankfully we could bounce ideas off each other quite naturally. If he passed me, I'd only be one semester away from graduating with honors! Which was good. I had to graduate before they kicked me out for kicking flank first, and asking questions later. "Okay, so following his pattern, he always discusses the physical properties of Equus' various magical crystals. After that's covered for two weeks, their magical aura properties are detailed, alongside how they interact and can relay through each other. That said, we can both at least structure our essays the same. Isn't chronological ordering a good thing?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and watching me as she lay on my dorm bed. Lazily, I had flopped on my back across the carpet and continuously swayed my hooves back and forth in the air above me. Planning out the essay was good, yeah. That didn't stop it from being really, really boring, though. "I dunno, Aura. That sounds so predictable and boring. We should do something to make ours stand out more! He's got, like, twelve of these to read this year, and I don't want to bore him to tears," I groaned out, flailing a little faster in frustration. Aura smiled and giggled at that, her voice gentle and soft. I felt a fluttering sensation in my tummy and shivered lightly, managing to keep it to myself. Over the two months I'd known her, I'd been growing steadily more attached to her. It didn't take Ether's persistent teasing to make me realize I was falling for her. "Not everything needs to be exciting, Gem. Isn't it enough to impress him with your knowledge? This paper is only supposed to prove what we learned, not be a script for a play or something," she pointed out, ability to reason as sharp as usual. Arg! "I know, I know! It's just so boring to write like that! I'd rather be doing experiments or research, not writing about experiments and research. I don't even know what I'm going to be doing when I graduate!" I complained, kicking violently at the air as if I'd just caught it stealing candy from a foal. It was a pity that not every problem could be solved by kicking it in the face. To my surprise, Aura was quiet after that for an unusual amount of time. Slowing my assault on my invisible target, I glanced over at her, only to note her deep in thought. She must have seen the movement of my head, as she perked a second later, looking back up at me carefully. The light was surprisingly bad in my room as we'd been too lazy to light a candle yet, but I could have sworn I saw her blushing lightly. I didn't have time to think on it, however, before she asked, "Have you thought about next semester? Um, I know your roommate is graduating and you need one..." Oh, right. I was rooming with a gryphon from Prance who was studying rune crafting. She was headed back home during Hearths' Warming break and I needed to find another roommate. I'd forgotten all about it! "Gah! I totally forgot! Now I'm probably going to have to post on the searching board for a roommate. It's probably too late to ask around," I wondered out loud, annoyed at myself again. Of course! The moment I don't write something down... My friend rapidly shook her head, however, before suggesting, "I, um, I have a private room, if you remember. It's still got two beds in it, though, and a private bath. If you wanted, well... I mean, you could room with me!" The last part was rapidly spat out and I raised an eyebrow over at her curiously. Her eyes were closed and her cheeks were definitely flushed at this point. It was always easier to tell when a lighter coated pony was blushing. Although she was really, detrimentally shy, which was why she had the private room. No, Gem. Don't jump to conclusions. She was an amazing friend and maybe felt safe around me enough to offer. Trying to put on my best warm smile, I softly asked, "Are you sure, Aura? I don't want to impose, and I know you like a place where you can just escape to." It was true. We'd talked about her panic attacks, and I tried to be as supportive as I could for her. She only smiled and nodded twice, however, before quietly muttering, "If it's you, then yes. You really calm me down anyway." That I hadn't been expecting at all, and I felt a soft heat slip into my cheeks. She smiled as well and slid off the bed a moment later. I barely managed to dive forward before she planted her face into the carpet. Exhaling gently as the light unicorn landed on me, I blinked before she wrapped her forelegs around my torso and added, "Thank you! I was trying to figure out how to ask you for days and I was so scared that you'd actually remember about the room and ask somepony else before I could or that you'd say no or..." I held a hoof up to her muzzle to silence her before she made herself pass out from the run on statement. She just gave me a sheepish smile instead, and I squeezed her to me. "Relax. Ya know you don't have to worry about saying anything to me," I reminded softly. A long moment passed with her giving me a hesitant stare, and I slowly lifted an eyebrow to her. Her eyes slammed shut at that, and I gave a start at the movement. Instead, she pushed her face into my chest and just nodded into my hug. Finally, she managed to mumble a muffled, “Thank you… Um, can I ask you something?” * * * * * Yawning, I slipped back into the dorm room after my early morning energy wavelengths class. I was not a morning pony in the slightest, but thankfully it was my only class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I usually went right back to bed afterwards. Moving past our small kitchen and into the main part of the room, I noted that would be a little different today. Aura was exactly where I'd left her this morning, still snoring lightly. She didn't have classes until two in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, making me beyond jealous. Of course, she shared my first class every other weekday at noon, which was the earliest she had to get up for. I'd come to the conclusion that she was actually far smarter than me, purely based off that. Still, no complaints in the slightest. She was still lying on my bed, her legs and hooves twitching lightly in her dream and making her look even more adorable than usual. Last semester, after she asked me to move in with her for the remainder of the break as well, I'd quickly learned she was also deathly afraid of loud noises, such as the thunderstorm we had last night. A cute mare crawling into bed with me was beyond okay for me, but I thankfully had enough common sense, even when woken up at four in the morning, to not say that to her. She might not realize I was joking and I didn't know how she'd handle it. Hmm. Was I joking? Staring at her for a few more seconds, I smiled as I watched her messy locks slowly drift with her breathing against her muzzle. She was more than adorable, of course, but first and foremost, she was an amazing friend. I wanted to support her as best I could. Of course, Ether teased me mercilessly about the new development, but I'd expected as much. His ways were more than predictable to me after being friends with him for the better part of a decade. I just called him jealous, which he also agreed to, of course. Lying down near her on my bed and staring up at the underside of the upper bunk, I contemplated writing another journal entry before trying to sleep some more. I'd been writing a bit less in it since this semester began, which made me feel a little guilty somehow. I didn't know why, but it felt like I should try to get my thoughts down as much as I could. What was I afraid of? I couldn't answer that, of course, but grabbed my journal from my bedside stand anyway, lifting it with my magic. Might as well. At least it would relax me before trying to sleep more. I knew I was getting tenser, lately. Not having any job lined up for after I graduated was bothering me. I knew I should be focusing more on trying to look into it, but every time I tried, I got scared. Honestly, I didn't want this to be my last year in school. I didn't feel ready for being an adult yet. Aura made a soft humming noise in her sleep next to me, and I smiled again. She talked about it with me already, and didn't want me to leave her alone, even after I graduated. She'd said that ever since we became friends, the bullies had been leaving her be, too, which she thought was really weird. It honestly amused me, up until Ether mentioned to her that I had a 'reputation' for beating the tar out of mean bullies. Of course, she lectured me instead. Hum. Did I see myself staying with her, even after I graduated in two months? The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to throw caution to the wind and just say yes. She wanted to move into an apartment for her next year, and stay with me until she graduated. Of course, I asked her what her plans were for afterwards, curious at her extremely fast attachment to me, but she'd been vague and non-committal. Did she like me as more than just a friend? I blushed lightly and contemplated just asking her, but it would probably give the timid mare a heart attack. Of course, getting us both a few drinks first might help, but we couldn't bring alcoholic beverages back into the dorm and I didn't trust myself to get us back here while tipsy. Last time I'd apparently fired off a few gravity spells while wandering, and woke up to find myself halfway up the side of a four-story building with fireponies attempting to use a ladder to get me down. Dad had laughed for hours... Ugh. I made the mental note to try hinting at her feelings again later, once she was back from class for the day. Until then, I slipped my journal open to my bookmark halfway through, and recorded my thoughts dutifully. * * * * * Smiling towards Aura, both of us relaxed and put away our textbooks. It had been a very interesting class on interaction of energy in crystals, but the sheer volume of notes I had to take had given me a headache. Still, if I used anything other than my magic to write, it was useless as I could never read it later. This would be so worth it, though, as I'd have complete and legible information to study later for my mid and final essays. Just as we were standing up and slipping our saddlebags on, the professor called out with both our names, however. Ah! I jumped, almost scaring Aura half to death as she shivered, then quickly turned around to face the professor with me. "Hold a moment, you two. I'd like to speak with you both after class," he informed. What?! I hadn't been in trouble even once since that incident when I met my now roommate! We intentionally made sure we were writing original and different papers, doing individual research. There's no way we could be in trouble over that! Auraprism looked downright terrified as the ponies filtered out the door. Her legs shook under her and her eyes darted back and forth hesitantly until I bumped up next to her and rubbed the side of her right foreleg. "Relax. I don't think we're in trouble, Aura," I whispered in as self-assured voice as I could muster, considering I was doubting it myself. Our professor, a middle-aged stallion with chocolate brown fur and a black mane and tail, gave away no particular expression either way as he passively watched his students leave. That didn't tell me much, though, as he was rarely seen expressing much of any emotion at all. The doubt melted gently away a moment later, as the professor turned and smiled towards us as the last mare left the room. "Sorry about this, but I have to talk to you two in particular, due to a request from above that I received. You two are the absolute pinnacle of my students, so I've selected you to offer this to," he explained, carefully straightening out his dark blue tie against his suit coat. He was smiling at us! Aura let out a squeak, exhaling as I knew she was instantly relieved. She was thankfully much faster at reacting than I and quickly responded with, "T-Thank you, Professor Crystal Watch." She added a little bow of her head and slight bending of her forelegs to it, giving off an amazingly formal feel before he chuckled carefully and held a hoof up to us. "It's quite fine. You two have earned it. First, I have to ask, have either of you two considered what you're doing after graduation? Your fields match very well with each other, and there's a good chance you'll find yourselves working together," he pointed out, further confusing me. He knew we were roommates and got along well, but mentioning future jobs made me uneasy. Of course, I hadn't given a drop of thought towards it, being my usual procrastinating self, which probably didn't help much. A soft but surprisingly deep chuckle came from the door before either of us could answer, drawing both our gazes. My breath caught as I locked onto a medium sized stallion walking in. His coat was a dark brown in color, with an even darker black mane, contrasting with a silver streak that ran through it, slightly off center. Standing out completely, however, were his brilliantly golden-amber eyes, almost seeming like two small suns as they locked onto me. He studied me with a calculating coldness that his smile didn't convey, and the sensation mixed with the one produced by his immaculately preserved suit of dark blue, giving me an overall sensation of professionalism. To my more immediate surprise, however, was the Royal Guard insignia worn proudly against his right, muscled shoulder. Hello! "You don't need to frighten them by playing up the opportunity, Watch. What he's offering to you is a job, I believe. Oh, unless of course I have the wrong day?" the mysterious stallion spoke, glancing back over at our professor that he'd calmly referred to by a casual name. My jaw almost fell off when the professor openly laughed at that, then shook his head. "Hardly. Although you are late, Bastion. As usual. You're lucky you're not my student anymore, or I'd mark you down. It probably wouldn't hurt your grades, but I know you like everything at a hundred percent," he jabbed, actually joking with his now revealed prior student. Bastion? "Ha! I'm still your student, Watch. I have a hundred years to go before I catch up with your theories on crystal infusion. That's why you're already on the team, of course. Oh, but my manners are poor today," Bastion suddenly remembered, looking back to us instead. At least Aura looked as mesmerized as I did a moment ago. "I'm sorry for being rude, Ladies. My name is Bronze Bastion. I believe you two are the crystal researchers I've heard so much about?" he inquired, amazingly polite and well-spoken. Of course, I wasn't one to buy into traditional stereotypes for Earth Ponies, or anything really. Aura fidgeted and didn't say anything, so I stepped up instead and nodded for her. "I'm not sure what you've heard, and we're not graduated yet, but both of us are crystal researchers in training, essentially. I work with sonic, and she's light spectrum," I explained, gesturing to my roommate in reference. Finally snapping out of it, Aura bowed politely at my gesture and added in a formal tone, "Ah, yes! I'm Auraprism, and this is Gemstone Weave." Oh, right. Names. They were important, too. Bastion smiled and nodded, however, as if knowing them already. "Yup! You're the two most talented crystal engineers in the school, and work very well together as a team. I'm here representing a new... Well, let's call it an initiative from the Princess herself. She's gathering a team of ponies to work on something. It's a full job, and will start almost immediately. Allowances are made, of course, for your education. Your professor's already on the team, even," he explained in length. His left foreleg lifted up and snapped to the side, and a mechanical sound rang out as two folders were carefully shunted from the sleeve of his suit, and then fanned out in front of his hoof. Ah! Was he an inventor of some sort? The folders were extended to us, and we both took one with our magic. The mechanism holding them up let each go as we grabbed them, then folded back up into his sleeve with a whirling click noise. Our professor gave him a smirk, but he remained merely smiling, looking to us instead. "Bear in mind, those folders contain only the public disclosed information. This initiative, in its bulk, is secret. I can't tell you more until you agree to the job opportunity, of course," he warned a moment later. Ah, that made sense. I stared at the folder with a healthy air of reservation. There was a simple triangle with a circle around it at the top, and under that, written with simple text, was, "BEID Initiative". I had no idea what that stood for, and had never seen their logo before. Weird. Although he did say it was a new thing. Our professor nodded as Aura and I flipped the folders open. "Bronze Bastion here is one of my most talented pupils I've ever had the honor of teaching. He's the technical engineer that's in charge of the entire construction behind the project, which is over half of the main goal. All three of us would be working directly underneath him," he narrated as I looked over the first page. Heh, there was a naughty comment in there, but it wouldn't be appropriate for me to mention out loud. Still, I felt my cheeks heat up a little bit as I looked the information over, trying to distract myself. The first page did indeed have the royal seal on it, not that I doubted his word. Our names were also listed, proving that he did indeed know us prior, and giving me a sudden sinking sensation of how real this was. The rest of the members had been blacked out, minus Bronze Bastion and Crystal Watch, listed as Head Engineer and Lead Harmonization Researcher, respectively. Harmonization? When dealing with crystals, that was a generic phrase that referred to how they interacted with the air around them, and nearby crystals. "It's not even listing what it's about. There's also no end of term date for the initiative. This isn't a project, is it?" Aura asked a moment later, startling me. What? What else could it be? Bastion smirked and shook his head, however. "Clever mare. I'm technically not supposed to indulge this information, but I wish to clear the air. This isn't a short-term project. This is a new branch of government being formed, taking in the best ponies from very specific fields to achieve a long-term response plan. Princess Celestia herself has issued our charter, and obviously, this is not a decision to make li-" he started to explain. It reeked of awesomeness and adventure, however. Yeah, done deal. "Oh yes! We're so in. Where do we sign up?!" I promptly interrupted. Bastion blanked out his expression and stared at me, surprise dancing behind his eyes. "W-We are?!" Aura asked a heartbeat later, her tone that familiar mix of shock and horror I so loved. She was so adorable when scared witless! Still, this wouldn't do. Spinning, I pulled her closer and looked directly into her eyes, giving her a start. "Aura! Can't you smell it?!" I asked incredulously. Being adorable, she actually tried to sniff the air before I interrupted again with, "Adventure! This could be history in the making here, and we have a chance to be a part of it! Can't you feel your Cutie Mark singing at the chance? This is fate!" Logically, she stared at me like I was crazy, of course. Bastion promptly broke out into laughter... * * * * * Things hazed in and out as I groaned, lifting my left forehoof up to rub at my head. Disorientation hit me first, and I suddenly realized I wasn't entirely sure where I was, or how I'd gotten here. A throb went through my skull, and I momentarily wondered who'd smacked me with something heavy. "Finally! Looks like Gemstone, the destroyer of worlds, has awoken," Aura's voice sounded out behind me somewhere, causing another scream of agony to dance through my head alongside her volume. Aww, ponyfeathers... The party! Shuddering, I sat up as she slid into bed next to me with a clear glass of cold water. I managed to rasp out a thank you as I took it with my hooves and immediately downed half of it, earning an eye roll. She promptly continued with, "I can't believe you! First you sign us both up for this super important position, and then you get yourself totally hammered at the founding party! Why are you doing this to me?!" I hissed and winced as she started up again literally right next to my ear, then managed to shush her. She waited patiently for a moment as I finished letting my head spin and fell back down onto my mattress. "Look, I'm sorry, Aura. It was a tense midterms. You know that. We have a lot riding on these classes, not just our work for BEID. Besides, we already impressed all the big, uh, important ponies there. We solved the joint harmonization problem over last weekend, no?" I suggested, trying to remind her of the good stuff. She gave me a blank stare, and then reminded, "You drank over half of the apple cider they had at the party. I'm pretty sure you should be dead right now." Psh, details! Oww. My own mental voice was too loud, I quickly realized. "Hey, that wasn't just any apple cider. That was Apple Family Cider! It was totally worth it. I have a high alcohol tolerance. I think I got it from my dad," I corrected, waving off the result. There wasn't even any collateral damage! "Alcohol tolerance isn't... Ugh, no, never mind. You also rotated a half a dozen garden statues around and moved them about so it looked like they were, um, m-mating!" she squeaked out, halting as I held both hooves to my ears and shivered again. Heh, okay, now I wish I could remember that. That sounded awesome! Sadly, she cut me off again before I could ask for more details on it. "Then, you ran around calling me 'DewPrism' when I tried to catch you, claiming I was some sort of nefarious evil from another existence! I don't even know what a 'DewPrism' is!" she squeaked out. Huh. Neither did I, but it sounded awesome! "Hey, I know you're Aura, and I'm better now. Relax. From the sounds of it, I at least didn't cause any collateral-" I started to assure. Her eyes narrowed a little, and I froze. She only let her anger show around me, I noticed. Honestly, I kinda took it as a compliment. "Collateral damage? Oh, I wasn't done yet. Bastion tried to catch you after you set fire to the cider you couldn't manage to drink. Something about never sharing the glory? You ended up tripping him and kicking him in the face!" she continued. Ah! Aaahhhh! Oh no, oh no, oh horseapples! I'd hurt Bastion?! "Figured that would get you if nothing else. Somehow, he was still nice enough to escort both of us back to the dorm. I couldn't tell, but I think you tried to 'thank' him by licking his coat. Whatever you were trying to do, it didn't work and you ended up throwing up into his pocket. He's probably never going to talk to us again now," she tossed on, effectively body checking me while I was down. Oh Celestia, could it get any worse than this?! Shuddering, I swallowed before asking, "Um, please tell me that was it. I didn't destroy anything here, did I?" My damage deposit was already twice as high as normal! I didn't need this stress... Aura' eyes softened and she slowly shook her head before admitting, "No. You didn't destroy anything else. Although, um, I hadn't gotten to the kiss part yet." I froze, eyes widening at that bit of new information. Okay, so it did get worse. I kicked his flank, vomited on him, and then attempted to kiss him. Bastion really wasn't going to talk to me again.... "Please tell me he's just mad at me? This isn't your fault at all, Aura," I whispered, lowering my head down to the sheets. Ugh. Why did I have to get her involved, too?! There was a soft exhale before she giggled in amusement. Oh? "Actually, he took everything amazingly well. If anything, he thought it was hilarious. We still have our jobs," Aura assured as I looked back up at her. Oh thank you! Exhaling, I nodded towards her, but she quickly added, "And it wasn't him that you kissed. Um, it was me." My heart had just recovered, and back over into the ice water it went. I froze as I looked up at her, that faint smile still on her expression. Okay, she wasn't running away or screaming, so knowing Aura, she wasn't upset about it. "Um, I-I'm sorry, Aura. Uh, I..." Honestly, I suddenly realized I had no idea what to say. Was I really sorry? Only that I couldn't remember it. Her flush brightened substantially as she shook her head. "No, um, I didn't mind," she quickly assured, looking down and away from me as a bolt of heat danced into my own face. Oh...? "You didn't? Um, how was it?" I hesitantly asked, guessing that it had probably been her first kiss. Her expression shifted a little sour and she muttered, "It tasted awful. You should really brush your teeth. Especially after throwing up." I smirked, recognizing her attempt to switch the topic. Oh no she didn't. Nodding, I hopped up instead and headed towards our small bathroom that was connected to our bedroom. She gave me a curious glance as she rotated to watch me. "Uh, wait, what are you doing? Why are you brushing your teeth now? I almost have breakfast ready. You might as well wait until-" she started to ask. I held my hoof up to her and shook my head, smirking, however. "Breakfast can wait. Gotta brush my teeth so you can get a proper first kiss instead," I explained. Predictably, her eyes widened almost as fast as the pink shifted to red in her cheeks. Her mouth opened, but she suddenly hesitated, and I waited for a moment. No negative came, and she quickly closed her mouth again and somehow managed to blush even harder. I grinned and winked to her before trotting into the bathroom instead. Tonight should be an interesting journal entry! * * * * * Slowly, I shuffled along behind Aura and Ether, the smells and sights around me barely even registering to my senses as we walked. I hadn't expected him to get on the project as well, given he was an Aura Magic major and they had only recruited five students from our university. Although, now that I'd seen the full scope of the project that was spearheading the organization, it all fell so neatly into place. What had I gotten us into? Our tasks were two fold. Aura and I were to work in tandem to hook up a visual and audio 'receiver' to the massive, mother of all crystal computational engines that our professor was designing. With it, we could manage a controllable 'viewpoint' for our vision, and navigate around where the focal point for the machine was. Despite being senior level work, that was the easiest part. Professor Watch confided his honest speculation in us at that point, however, explaining our second task and what he estimated it would be. That was the real kicker. It turns out, our 'focal point' is far, far from being local. It's come to Princess Celestia's attention, through a pattern in a series of rather strange and mysterious events, that our dimension is drifting closer to some other dimension, and that we're getting close enough to actually have items and spaces 'bleed through' into ours, and vice versa. Our point for our strange machine is in that dimension instead. So yeah. This is crazy, but there wasn't any refuting the Princess of the Sun. Thus, the Bureau of Extradimensional Investigation and Defense was formed. 'BEID' for short. Our goal was twofold as well. Investigate into the nature of the dimensions, including the one we were rapidly linking with, and figure out if it was safe for all of Equus or not. If it wasn't, we were to come up with a way to defend ourselves or stop the process. Easy, right? The actual investigation part wasn't our responsibility, thankfully. Reading situations wasn't one of my strong suits. Aura and I were in charge of putting together the machine and crystal array that would interface with the Professor's and show the sound and images his gave us. Ether's additions to our machine were to give information back to the Professor's device and tell it where to move the 'viewpoint' on the other end. That would have been our introductory jobs had Professor Watch not included us in his end of the machine as well. For instructional reasons, of course. The theories he had casually explained totally blew me out of the water, but what everything came down to was surprisingly easy to grasp. He was essentially using a spike to punch through the barrier between our worlds and 'peek' through. It was nowhere near that easy, of course. His theories indicated that both light and sound would be required to fully 'meld' through the barrier, but only when encapsulated in some sort of aura subspace that Ether was rambling on about. I didn't get it that well, but the results were clear. Through the collection of light, sound, and energy inside of the pocket, we were simulating a pony! It took, what he theorized, was the 'mind' of a pony to be projected off into an inverted resonance field in order to reach the other dimension. As in, tossed off into a singularity, then flung into nothingness. Obviously, a normal pony couldn't live through that, which is why we were making a machine that could make a magical spell that could pretend to be a pony and let us see and hear what was on the other side. Honestly, it made my head spin just thinking about it. I couldn't even fathom why we needed a sapient will in order to push through the dimensional barrier in the first place. "Equus to Gem! The nice mare asked you what you wanted," Ether suddenly called out, snapping me back to attention as I looked up again. The lunch mare giggled and nodded to me as she gestured to her food trays again. Oh, right. Lunch. Giving a frown, I pushed my headache back, along with the free-floating computations and theories, and looked the food over. Nothing looked good, of course, as I had no appetite whatsoever. "Uh, give me a double-decker daisy sandwich, hold the onion. Oh, and maybe a side of pickles," I finally decided after a full ten seconds of staring. None of it looked good, but I knew I could seriously pack it in! I was a growing mare. Aura giggled at that, both of them having waited for me to get done ordering and getting my food before heading along after the line. These were nice, new facilities, and surprisingly well staffed for our first day here. We even got our own rooms, although Aura and I were using hers back at the university until this semester was completed. Then we both graduated, more than likely with honors. Yeah, the social deviant who picked fights and the mare who was two years younger than she should be. That'll teach 'em for holding stereotypes against us! Well, mostly me. Aura had been expected to excel the entire time. "You've been quiet all morning, Gem. Are you okay?" Aura asked timidly as I caught up with her again. She added a soft nuzzle into my cheek as I fell in next to her, and I smiled, exhaling softly. Ether gestured to us as we caught up, and had already found a table in the small dining hall the facility had, connected to the kitchen and lunch line. Both of us headed over to the table, and I frowned while walking. "This just... It's a lot to take in, is all. Plus, are we really going about this the right way?" I asked, swallowing the stiffness in my throat. "This again?" Ether asked skeptically, leaning back in his chair as we both sat down. He gestured absently upwards before reminding, "You know that what we're going to be doing is important, Gemstone. Plus, it's all according to Princess Celestia's wishes herself. How much more 'okay' do you need it to get?" I shook my head, knowing all that already. Having to intentionally lie to my Dad, right to his face, had sucked. Something that felt that terrible could never be 'right', even if the Princess herself walked up and said it right to me personally. Heh, I sort of wondered what she'd really do if she knew the doubts I harbored. "Lying to ponies is never right, Ether. This... I can't comprehend how pretending we're a new type of glasses manufacturer is going to help anypony," I groaned, smacking my nose into the table. The jarring sensation actually went a ways towards clearing my head. Aura frowned at that, then carefully lifted my head up and rubbed my snout with her hoof, as if silently telling me I should stop doing that. I resisted chuckling at her usual level of adorableness. Ether, of course, wasn't satisfied, though. "So what are we supposed to tell them? 'Oh, by the way, there's an alien dimension that's partially merging with our own that might contain unimaginable horrors that wish to eat us. We're trying to figure it out, but frankly, we don't have a clue.'? There would be mass panic!" he exclaimed, glaring at me. I glared back, and then retorted, "Yeah, if you word it like an idiot like that, there might be. Or you could actually tell them what we know. There might also be a friendly race on the other side looking for peaceful contact! Or there might be absolutely nothing in the other dimension and we're wasting our time! That's only one negative outcome and two not. You're the one who's panicking." His return glare was icy at best, and he shoved his food back in front of him, resuming eating and saying nothing. That was his usual defense when I was right. Cold shoulder, then pout until it blew over. Jerk. "Please stop fighting, you two. There's nothing we can do about it either way. Princess Celestia decided to keep it secret for now, probably until we get more information," Aura reasoned, logical as usual. Ugh. Couldn't she just take my side for once? Ether huffed lightly before rolling his eyes. "Finally, somepony sees the logic. We can't just-" he started to repeat. Aura rapidly shook her head, however, surprising him and drawing my curious glance up towards her. "N-No! You're wrong, too, Ether. Both of you are wrong. Princess Celestia's specific orders worded it as 'remaining secret for the time being'. Keeping it a secret forever is indeed bad. Revealing what we know before we can confirm anything is foolish. So, um, you're both wrong!" she explained, before slipping into a hesitant silence. Ether gave her a surprised yet vacant stare, and I blinked twice as she started to fidget under the awkward silence. I couldn't help it. I started laughing a moment later. That was the most assertive I'd seen her, and she was absolutely adorable doing so! I didn't even care that she called me foolish. Ether blinked once and looked over at me laughing before starting to chuckle himself, then join in. Yeah, that's just how we were, I guess. "W-What's so funny?!" Aura squeaked, blushing now as she rapidly looked back and forth between us. "Heh, us," Ether replied, smirking over at me for confirmation. Giving a rare giggle, I nodded and looked back towards Aura. "Oh, and you're adorable when you're assertive. You should do it more often," I tacked on, causing her to flail as her face shifted from pink to red. Deciding she couldn't blush anymore, I shrugged and leaned in, kissing her right on the snout in front of a now smirking Ether. It was stored away in the back of my mind, though. No, I didn't care. Even if nopony ever needed it or saw it, I was going to write down everything I could and put it into my journal. I had to, if only for my own conscience. Chapter 78I stared blankly at the door, kinda expecting it to melt out and eat me whole at any point now. It was possibly the most opposing door I'd ever seen, which was impressive, considering it was made of simple wood. It had nothing going for it that the half dozen other doors further down the hall to my right didn’t have. No, sometimes, anticipation was my own worst enemy. "Come on, Gem. He's our boss, and it's been two weeks since that incident. We're not fired yet, so he can't be that offended by it," Auraprism reasoned, calmly nuzzling against my left shoulder. I gave an uneasy sigh and looked down from the door, frowning. "I just made a really bad impression on him, and it feels like I need to fix it somehow. Showing up with a stupid progress report and pretending nothing happened just seems so... It feels empty!" I grumbled, gesturing towards the report that was sticking out of my saddlebag. Aura rolled her eyes. I could tell she did without looking at her at this point just by the way her foreleg moved. "You beat up bullies all the time and don't blink twice or lose a drop of sleep, Gem," she reminded patiently, knowing full well that this wasn't the same. She was just trying to get a rise out of me. And it was working... "You know this is different! He didn't deserve getting kicked in the face! Or barfed on! Ugh, I probably ruined that nice suit he was wearing," I groaned out, suddenly remembering I technically hadn't barfed on him, exactly. Was that better or worse? Hmm. Possibly dozens and dozens of bits worth of suit cleaning repairs, or getting covered in slimy mare puke? Tough call! My roommate and fillyfriend rolled her eyes, then pointed out, "It's also different because he just so happens to be a cute stallion, no? I know you better than that, Gemstone Weave. If it was just a normal pony, you'd feel bad but not be this torn up over it." Okay, calling me out on that totally wasn't fair! I glared at her for a moment, getting a smirk in return until I reminded, "Don't forget, you think he's cute, too. You're just trying to get me to go after him so you can get him by association." My tone was playful, of course, and I gave her shoulder a jab as she switched to blushing instead. Called it! "N-No... That would be employee fraternization. Um, I'm not sure if that's allowed. That would make things a lot worse than just puking on your boss," she weakly refuted, not sounding all that sure of herself in the first place. Rolling my eyes, I whacked my head against the door in frustration. "No, I don't think the situation could be much worse, Aura," I muttered, moments before realizing I'd technically accidentally knocked. Ah! Aura gave me a weird look as I stood up straight and proper, brushing my bangs back into place from where I'd just smacked my head. Oh no! Well, I didn't hear any hoofsteps, so maybe he wasn't in his office? Yes! A hope spot for the day! A deeper cough sounded from behind us, causing us both to jump with a start as I whipped around rapidly. Of course, I came face to face instead with the very last stallion I'd wanted to see at the moment, a faint blush on his cheeks. Well, that hope spot was short lived! Aura froze as well, eyes bugging out as she took in his presence as well. How had we both missed him?! How long had he been standing there?! "Um, you're kinda blocking the way into my office," Bastion pointed out a moment later, awkward tone of voice evident. Oh. Right. * * * * * "So, progress on the display devices is already out of the design phase?" Bronze Bastion inquired, sounding impressed. Aura nodded twice to him, finally having calmed down a little after his surprisingly professional obliviousness he'd granted our little faux pas in the hallway. "Yes! While both the visual and audio units are far more complex than what we use presently, enlarging the screen was rather straightforward, and Gem seems to have had no issues allowing the audio to be played back through multiple crystals instead of just the main unit. We're ready to move into testing, I believe," she assured, sounding rather confident of herself. Of course, her work was indeed one of the things she valued most, and seemed to know she was good at. The sound relay system had been cake, though. I could have done that in my sleep. Bastion smiled at that and looked over our results again. Meanwhile, I looked around his office with all the curiosity of a newborn kitten, taking in all of the wonderful gizmos and gadgets of various shapes and sizes. The only part of his 'office' that actually seemed as such was the desk he sat at, and the filing cabinet behind him. The large floor space had a few plastic sheets tossed down and lightly smeared in various organic oils, undoubtedly as lubricant for the weird machines sitting on top of them. Crystals jutted out at various angles, and I busied myself studying what they each were supposed to do. His mechanical work was masterful, and I had realized the first time I'd come in here that there was a definite reason he was picked to make sure the machine was put together properly. He was awesome! It was a pity he was always so polite and proper all the time. Actually, it was probably a good thing. If he wasn't a super nice pony, we might have been fired for that little stunt in the hallway... Note to self, I really needed to look up the rules for this group’s inter-employee relations. “It indeed looks like you’re ready to move into the design phase. All right, then. It shouldn’t take much effort to get a working prototype in two or three weeks’ time, right? That still leaves you a week in there to study up for the midterm essay,” he suggested with a wink. Aura gave a cute blush and wiggled her hooves together for added adorableness, which he, and admittedly myself as well, soaked up. It all crashed apart for me, however, as he continued with, “And honestly, about the party. I told you afterwards that it was okay, Gemstone. You don’t have to feel badly.” Aww, crap. I hesitated before turning to look at him again, blush reforming traitorously on my cheeks. “S-Seriously?” I stuttered out, annoyed at myself for not feeling more confident. Although I had kicked him in the face, then thrown up on him. Still! “I wasn’t exactly at my best there. Uh…” I managed to add before coughing and looking away. I could feel his stare on me, but then gave a start as he chuckled instead. His soft ‘amused yet politely quiet’ laugh always unnerved me, as it was different than his normal purely polite and proper feel he gave off. “Well, to be honest, you actually made the party a lot more entertaining than I’d anticipated it would be. I’m… glad you two came?” he attempted to explain, tilting his head in my peripheral vision. Blinking, I turned and looked at him fully, but found no trace of him lying. It was very unlike him to say, however. “Oh? Oh, right. Normally those things are pretty boring, right?” I suggested, testing the waters a bit. His shoulders lowered a bit and I watched him exhale before smirking and nodding. “Very. I’m not as old as you might think. Those kinds of events… they’re just not entertaining at all. The only reason I went was because it was being held at my house, and I’m the lead engineer for the project. Sends a negative message if I didn’t show…” he explained, coughing slightly, then snickering again. I felt my blood freeze a little bit. “Y-Your house? Those were your statues, then?” Aura asked hesitantly, sounding mortified as she nervously wiggled her hooves together again. Wait, that huge estate was his?! It was like a mansion! Bastion started actually laughing at that. “Yeah, my parents probably would have thrown a fit had they seen them like that! No, I thought it was hilarious. Still, I of course had to put them back afterwards. Got to keep up a collected and organized atmosphere, after all. Although it was a pain without magic. I should have gotten you out there to help me put them back after the party!” he playfully reprimanded, gesturing a hoof towards me. I relaxed a little and smirked at him before sticking my tongue out. Aura saw it a split second later and squeaked, looking back and forth between him and me. “Psh, they weren’t actually at the party? That surprises me. Did you get them moved back before they got back, then?” I asked, assuming they were his parent’s statues, if they would have been upset. Aura gave me a horrified look, then flailed and made ‘shut up’ gestures towards me randomly. Eh? He coughed lightly and looked away before exhaling again. “Ah, no. They left their entire estate to me, their only heir. They’ve been gone for a few years now,” he muttered awkwardly. The other horseshoe dropped, skipping off my head like a weight as I swallowed uneasily. Oh. Ponyfeathers! For a moment, I had no idea what to say, watching him just look to the side like that. Gah! “Ah, um… Look, I’m really dense sometimes, just… Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Um, how did it happen?” I asked, trying to at least sincerely apologize. Risky, yeah, and my fillyfriend looked like she was about to start picking awards up off the shelf and hurling them at me, but I had to at least try. To Aura’s apparent surprise, he smiled and turned back to look at me again, shaking his head. “No, it’s fine. It was a few years ago now. Engineering accident building the new shielding system under Canterlot. That accident where the one pylon snapped and dropped one of the construction baskets? They were in it,” he explained quietly. Aura exhaled softly and shook her head before softly muttering, “I’m sorry. You have our sympathies.” I nodded along, and he relaxed again into his chair. “No, like I said, it was a while ago. It was a terrible accident, but they wouldn’t want me sad, I don’t think. Plus, I think you gave quite a bit of life to the normally empty house, so really, don’t feel badly about the party,” he repeated. Ah! Jackpot! I sensed a possible way to make up for me being dense and potentially redirect the topic! Smiling, I shook my head, and then added, “It doesn’t have to be empty if you have more parties, ya know? It doesn’t have to be just you. Besides, I’m sure you’ve had plenty of cute mares over.” Sure, it was a suggestive statement, but it changed the topic, hopefully in a useful direction. His blush told me his answer before he did, but I let him talk anyway. “Ah, no. I don’t have a fillyfriend. Uh, not a lot of time for one, obviously, with all of this new work coming in. Plus, um, I probably wouldn’t even know what to do with a cute mare even if I did,” he admitted, surprisingly honest. Hmm. He didn’t have much of an ego at all. I suddenly felt kind of guilty for being so underhooved while he was being rather honest with us. I shook my head towards that, and then gave him a more open smile. “You’ve got good looks going for you, and a very honest and dependable personality. I don’t think you’d have any trouble at all. Plus, if a mare, or mares, really likes you, they’re going to be understanding about you still figuring things out, no?” I suggested, regretting adding that plural part on afterwards. Ugh. Too close to what I was actually trying to hint at! Aura even got it as she started blushing again, and looked back over at him uneasily. Bastion smirked slightly. Ah, ponyfeathers! He caught it. “You think I’m good looking, then? Although I think I heard something out in the hall about that. Are you talking about the understanding part from your perspective, then?” he inquired, sounding both curious and amused at the same time. Only me? Also, he wasn’t as shy as I thought at first. Having misread him twice now, I entirely gave up on subtleties. “I… Yeah, okay, you’re definitely alluring. Cute, even. I’m inexperienced, too, but learning fast, so obviously I’d be a huge hypocrite if I wasn’t understanding, which wouldn’t be very awesome at all,” I admitted bluntly, glancing over towards Aura, who looked about ready to pass out now. Could you pass out from blushing too hard? His eyes widened as he looked over at Aura as well, then blushed and coughed. “Oh! Oh, sorry. I, uh, didn’t realize you two were involved like that. There’s no group policy or anything against it, of course, so don’t worry about that. Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to, um…” He trailed off the longer his statement went on, getting quieter and quieter until he just stopped talking. Gah! Back to dense, then. Although now at least I knew about the fraternization rules. I looked over at Aura, but she was just staring at me with a horrified expression, frozen in place. He was looking away from us, probably reeling from what he suspected was us suddenly being unavailable. It was strange and the whole situation felt awkward more than anything. Wonderful. Still, he was only a couple years older than us, however, and didn’t have any experience dating, so his reaction was justified, if anything. Aura was my first ‘interest’ as well for either gender, so I didn’t have any room to talk. It was weird feeling like the one in control of the situation over my boss and usually very professional fillyfriend, though! Sighing, I slid off my chair and gestured for Aura to follow. Her eyes widened and I saw her visibly swallow, but actually do so. It was kind of shocking how much she trusted me, but it gave warm butterflies inside my chest at the same time, and I smiled to her. Bastion looked over at the sudden movement, frowning, and then realizing he hadn’t said anything for a few moments. Instead, he got a questioning look as I slipped around the side of the desk and over to him. “Um, sorry for hesitating. Uh, are you two okay?” he asked, starting to sound a little unsure of what was going on. Confusion? I could work with that! “Yes, we’re fine. More than fine, actually. Thank you for being understanding about the party thing, and for… surprising me about how you yourself reacted to it. But you’re off by one account,” I warned softly. He blinked, that uncertainty in his eyes shifting to more genuine confusion instead. He started to open his mouth, undoubtedly to ask what he was wrong about, when I instead leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips, right then and there. He froze, of course, eyes widening dramatically as I leaned into his muzzle. It was only a moment before he shivered and started to lean into the sensation, and I used my left hoof to cup his cheek softly. Aura sat next to me, jaw dropped as she watched the proceedings, and I opened my eyes again and pulled away. “W-Wha…?” he started to ask, and I only smirked. “See? I wouldn’t mind… trying a relationship out with you as well. But first, kiss her, too,” I suggested, nudging Aura forwards. She gave a squeak and looked back at me in shock a second later… * * * * * Time flew past quickly. It felt like our last semester at school had been a blur. I actually managed to graduate before they kicked me out even! Of course, Aura turned out to be the youngest graduate in the last hundred years, graduating with honors when most ponies were just getting out of grade school and getting their hooves firmly on the ground. Yeah, I was totally envious of her, of course, but I was the first one to admit that she deserved it. Plus it let me meet her, of course. So worth being slightly more stupid! Yes, she whacked my shoulder when I said that. Dad was happy for me regardless, my graduation ceremony coinciding with me telling him about the new herd. He of course thought that Aura was adorable, but had quickly decided that Bastion was too stuffy for me. I tried not to laugh at that, of course, and only assured that he'd grow on Dad. Afterwards, I took them both to the cemetery to formally introduce them to Mom. It was a far more somber affair and probably silly of me, but I felt like I had to. She would have wanted to meet them. Auraprism's parents were amazingly kind, which surprised me a little. I thought her desire to excel might have been partly due to their influence, but it turns out that she was just a hundred percent genius. They were happy for her graduation, of course, but downright ecstatic for the herd announcement, claiming that they knew I'd get her to open up more. It went downhill from there, with foal pictures, gushing hugs, and more than a few awkward hints aimed at Bastion that he needed to get to work on making us a family instead with spring coming. All three of us left with furious blushes two hours later. All of that was three weeks ago now. Mom would smack me for totally forgetting to write in my journal until now. Ironically, she was the one who first gave it to me, hoping it would slowly help with my memory problems. She even showed me personally how to add more pages into the book. The thinner book would go on top, covers and all as I just added a bigger binder to it each time with the pages starting anew behind it. She was a book binder, and I took her lessons to heart. I couldn't look at the original cover without crying, though. She had said she wanted to watch me add more and more pages. This was my fourth extension now, making the book look like a dictionary, practically. It had over a decade of my life in it, and I wasn't about to stop. I promised Mom that I'd record everything I could into it. Truth was important, especially to myself, she had said. That's what felt so wrong about all of this stuff at BEID. No, there were no regrets, as I'd done what I felt I had to in order to be true to myself. Faking a bad allergy day last week, I'd stayed home in bed. After my two herdmates left, I snuck into Bastion's study. Every single schematic and design revolving around BEID's operations was copied down directly into my journal over the course of four hours. This was a huge breach in security, of course, but I didn't care about that. The truth couldn't stay hidden forever. Eventually, somepony had to read this. I double-checked the binding again, and smiled as I saw it was dry enough to open once more. I figured that overnight would be long enough for the glue. Bastion knew how badly I felt over keeping everything a secret, and was at least understanding about my concerns. He'd probably be mad if he found out what I did, but it shouldn't come to that. That was one secret I'd have to keep from him for the time being, to make sure he didn't take away the main one. I made a note right in the journal to tell him about it after this project with BEID was done. We'd be starting a new chapter of our life at that point. Blushing lightly, I remembered yesterday's attempt to console me after our argument about it. Aura had chewed him out for being too insensitive, of course, and he tried to make me supper in my room, delivered to my door himself. Honestly, he should have let Aura cook it, as she was the only one with any real skill in that art between the three of us. Still, I understood a stallion's need to do what he felt was needed. Mares had that too, of course, but tended to show slightly less ego when concerned about it. Still, he was adorable when stammering and trying to apologize, so there was no way I could have stayed angry with him. Even if the food tasted like three-month-old leftovers... Snickering, I considered it again. I'd forgiven him, of course, but neither of us was thinking very clearly. He was upset over the argument and not in his best frame of mind, and I already was a given, due to timing. It certainly wasn't a bad thing in the least, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Aura's parents were going to be very happy in a few weeks. Were we ready for this? Probably not, but I didn't care. We'd talked it through fully, of course, and neither of us was going anywhere. Aura was actually completely understanding as well, which was a pleasant surprise. So understanding that she even joined in afterwards for a bit of stress relief after that rather tense conversation. Only with me, of course. Yesterday played through my mind over and over again, and I stared at my journal on the bed. The entries in this section were going to be quite a bit different, I had a feeling. Was I ready to be a mom? It was scary, but oddly, I didn't feel as frightened as I probably should. My herd was going to stick with me, of course, which definitely helped. But no, there was something else, honestly. I wanted to have a foal. It brought a warm spot into my chest when I thought about it, and I realized that it wasn't a bad thing at all. Given that sudden realization of previously subconscious desires, I contemplated if last night had honestly been as 'accidental' as I'd considered before. No, probably not. Admitting that brought me confidence, at least, and I smiled down at the journal before sliding it onto my bedside stand again. No, I would write more in it later tonight about this. For now, though... Smirking, I looked over at Bastion, who had fallen asleep next to me. It was something he'd promised not to do while Estrus was going full tilt, and had slept in his original bedroom this whole week prior. Big cities and towns like Canterlot couldn't manage to separate the stallions to a different location each Estrus due to logistics, so other precautions were frequently taken. Still, this was him being naughty, so I wasn't going to let him live it down. Aura came back from the bathroom a moment later, of course, and gave me a raised eyebrow as she caught my predatory grin. I winked at her, then slipped up next to Bastion instead and lightly started kissing down his barrel. He stirred lightly, and I smirked, mentally deciding to torment him with teasing for as long as I possibly could. Aura snickered, then slipped back into bed behind me... * * * * * “Wait, so let me get this straight. You three can set up a trans-dimensional viewpoint relay, but not a hot tub?” Ether pointed out in amusement, standing on the deck and obviously doing nothing to help. Popping my head up out of the hole I’d been digging, I spit the shovel out of my mouth and glared at him. “Fine, if you’re so smart, give us a hand, jerk face!” I growled. He only laughed, of course. Ugh, this was stupid! I understood that Bastion had a reputation to uphold as an engineer, but we could have just had somepony come out and help us do this! Somepony who, I don’t know, maybe had set up hundreds of these before? The store had even offered! I turned and looked back over my shoulder at him and Aura after giving up on trying to buck Ether with my mind. Yes, mind. Magic was too good for him. The three of us who were actually doing work were covered in dirt and mud, and Bastion glared down at an incredibly large sheet of paper in front of him, parts strewn everywhere over a good five meters around our hole. Aura frowned and rotated what looked like a pumping system around in the air in front of her, trying various angles to attempt to get a pipe to screw into it. “You know, I could have gotten parts and put my own together far easier than this. Why are these instructions so needlessly complex?! I can’t even tell what part they’re trying to show in this step!” Bastion growled, sounding more than a little frustrated as he stared down at the paper in an accusing manner. Wonderful. It didn’t help that it was smack in the middle of summer, either. Princess Celestia’s sun beat down mercilessly on us from above, seeming intent on making everything just that much more miserable. It had been two months now since we’d moved in, and one since we made the herd official. Things had finally begun to resemble normalcy, but no, I doubted we’d ever achieve that lofty goal. Each of us was weird enough by ourselves, so when you put us together… “Don’t they usually send out some sort of professional to help with this?” Ether inquired curiously, walking down the stairs of the deck and examining our large hole as he carefully walked along the side. Bastion twitched, then glared up at him instead, and he immediately sat down, waving his hooves up in front of him. “Ah, sorry! I know, I know. You three are totally capable of managing this by yourselves,” he assured, not quite sincere in tone. I always knew his mouth would get him either fired or killed one day. I just never realized it would be by me. “We have a hole already. Can I just… I don’t know, whack him a few times with my shovel and throw him in? Then we could call it a day and go inside where it’s cool!” I complained profusely, looking back at our stallion, who smirked at that. Aura gave a snicker at that but shook her head a second later, still not looking away from her confusing array of parts. “Better not. We’re already zoned as residential. I don’t think we’d be able to convince them to switch us to utilitarian,” she warned. Seriously? “Wait, cemeteries are zoned as ‘utilitarian’? That’s kinda morbid, no?” I muttered, not quite grasping how we’d gotten onto this topic, despite me being technically the one to do so. Bastion blinked at that, then pointed out, “Gem, it’s a cemetery. It’s not morbid just because it’s associated with death. By definition, it’s supposed to be involved with that process, but in a healthy and respectful way. Thus, not ‘morbid’.” I glared at him for that, remembering once again how annoying he could get when he shifted into talking about semantics. He totally missed my death glares, of course, having gone back to sending his own towards the instructions. Ether surprised me by lying down on the ridge next to my portion of the hole, however. “It is rather hot out here. Are you sure you should be out here working like this?” he inquired a moment later, the playful tone being dropped from his voice. Oh. Glancing back along my side at my slightly bumped out stomach, I shrugged idly. “I’m not some wilting flower, Ether. I’ll be fine doing physical work for a good eight or nine months still,” I assured, looking back to him instead. He stared at me, and I returned it for a few seconds before he relaxed and nodded, obviously not finding any traces of me lying in my expression. Apparently being friends with me for almost a decade meant that I was fairly easy to read. Who knew? Still… Sitting down, I exhaled tiredly and brushed some of the dirt off my forelegs. Pregnant or not, this was tiring work, and I was more than ready to go inside for a while. Apart from being heavier, I honestly didn’t feel all that different. Sure, my appetite had increased a little, and I was maybe a bit lazier sometimes, but I still felt like myself. Of course, that consideration had me questioning if I had anticipated to feel different just because I had a foal growing in me. I didn’t know what to expect, and it was honestly a little scary now. My herdmates were there for me, but obviously, neither of them quite knew what I was dealing with. Ether surprised me by sighing a moment later and shaking his head. I gave him a curious upwards glance, and he only chuckled sadly. “Hey, I’m just worried about you, Gem. You’re my best friend, you know?” he corrected after a second’s hesitation. I smiled softly at that, anyway. “Yeah, I know. This is just new to me, so I’m a bit edgy. Sorry,” I apologized before grabbing my fallen shovel with my magic. Might as well get back to work. The sooner we had this done, the sooner I could get back inside where it was cooler. Bastion sat up before I did, however, looking down at the instructions in mild surprise. Oh? “Oooohh, that makes more sense. This says that we need a pre-made foundation for it!” he suddenly exclaimed. What…? But that meant all our measurements for this hole were… Arg! * * * * * Everything was changing now. We were four months into development, and had a fully working prototype of our trans-dimensional viewpoint relay. Princess Celestia herself had come down this afternoon to see our progress, and was more than pleased with the results. She actually stood within a meter of me! She even told me ‘congratulations’ on noticing my stomach! Beyond my social shock at getting to actually meet the Princess of our nation, that’s where the actual good parts had stopped for the day. As it turned out, our machine worked. It worked far better than we could have anticipated. We also lucked out majorly, and it turns out the weak connecting point was right next to an inhabited planet on the other side. It was stuck in the geostationary orbital range of the planet, hovering above a rather large land mass on the surface below. It was beyond easy to slip our viewpoint downwards and reach the surface while the Princess was there. None of us were prepared for what we saw. I don’t think even the Princess fully anticipated the level of abhorrent violence and sheer desecration of natural values we saw that day. The tiny, cat-like things of that planet were beyond warlike, with advanced magic focused into violence and destruction, and a technology level far beyond ours. A good chunk of the researchers had to leave the room, falling physically ill from the sights and sounds. I still can’t bring myself to write about any of it in my journal. They were complete monsters. The females held complete domination over the much more numerous males of the species, doing anything they wished to them. Even torture and murder! They were also training absolutely huge armies for some reason, and the Princess feared they might be aware of the connection starting to form between our dimensions and preparing for invasion. The room grew cold at that announcement, and I honestly didn’t know what we could possibly do about it. Would the power of the Princess be enough to protect us if those things really did invade? She had other ideas, however. She said she couldn’t jump to conclusions and ordered us to instead focus on watching their war effort instead of their community and society. She wanted to know what their target was, which honestly made sense. Needless to say, the plan on announcing our findings to the public got pushed back again until we could ascertain the immediate threat level. I sat there, considering the future of our world while staring at the now darkened control panel I helped to make. Everything always seemed so simple when I was making something and getting my techniques to work. I wasn’t cut out for this high-level decision making. The fate of Equestria? Of Equus? Give me a break. Thank Celestia I wasn’t part of the actual research team! There was no way I could come to a conclusion like what she was asking for. The room felt as dark as my thoughts at the moment, with only the backlights on and the console gone dark. There were still a few researchers here, whispering in harsh and quiet tones to each other. We were still shaken up over what we’d seen, that much was obvious. It was so unlike our society that it was almost unfathomable. Like it had come from some dark dream that you woke up screaming from, then didn’t sleep well for a week afterwards for fear of it coming at you in the dark. How could they live that?! I felt them, and looked up and to my left. Bastion and Aura were slowly coming back towards me, with her braced heavily against his shoulder as he helped her along. She’d been one of the first to leave, and our shared sensations told me she’d thrown up multiple times in the staff bathroom. Bastion went back to get her while I stayed and operated the console for the Princess. I knew exactly where she was coming from, and felt kind of ill myself, to be honest. This wasn’t the idealistic ‘protecting the world’ project it used to be, anymore. “Hey. You okay, Aura?” I asked softly as she was lead back over to me. Instead of immediately answering, she first cleared the distance and pushed her face into my chest. I held her there, sitting down so I could wrap my forelegs around her. “Yeah. I am now. I… I don’t want to work on this project anymore, Gem. They have their machine. Can we leave, now?” she asked softly. I looked up to Bastion, but already guessed the answer as he shook his head. “Just a little longer, you two. One of you has to be here in order to use the console controls, at least. Once Watch gets up to speed with how to use it, you two don’t have to be anywhere near it when it’s on from that point on, okay?” he offered, smiling at us again. I relaxed and nodded to him, holding Aura tight as she pressed into my chest. Sighing, I nodded absently to that. “Yeah, I’ll take over the console controls until then, Aura. You don’t have to see anymore,” I assured. She only nodded softly into my fur, and I frowned, squeezing her close. Bastion slipped up and put his forelegs around both of us, and for a while, I just listened to their heartbeats. * * * * * “Yeah, things are getting complicated at work again. I’m still not supposed to tell anypony what we’re actually working on, so you’ll have to wait to hear more, of course,” I explained, resting my head sleepily on the grass. The wind danced over me softly, and I smiled. It was so pleasant here. Part of me always wished I didn’t have to leave, but no, there were things that always had to be done. Snickering for a moment, I slowly stood up and added, “Also, I have no idea how you managed to move like this. Lugging around this much extra weight is… really tiring.” Turning, I smiled gently at the coffin resting up on the rock incline, the golden sun shining down on it. The forest around me swayed in the soft wind as I trotted up and put my forehead on the hard wood, feeling my horn slide along it. She’d been gone for so long, but I still found myself coming here a lot. Maybe I couldn’t let go, like Ether said. No, I couldn’t stay here any longer. I lifted my head and smiled at the soft cloth that covered the glass top to the coffin, and bowed one last time in respect before waddling my way back down the rocks. Range of motion suffered the greatest, especially in my back legs. What really sucked was I was only seven months in! I’d really be ready to have this foal when the time came around, that was for sure! It only took a little bit of waddling for me to make it back to the Long Road, and then head back towards the way we came in. Morning Dove was waiting on the path for me, snoozing lightly in the grass until I got closer. The older mare smiled and lifted her head as I approached, the haze and lights of the ethereal forest dancing around us. “Ready to go back, Dear?” she asked softly, voice rattling a little bit as I helped her stand up again. She was the caretaker for the Canterlot Cemetary, and the head Necromancer here. She said she liked taking me to see Mom so often, and I was one of her most dedicated visitors. Smiling, I nodded to her and followed along after through the parting mist. It always felt like no time at all passed until we stepped out in front of the grand mirror that marked the entrance to the Long Road. I didn’t pretend to fully understand what was behind it all, but I’m not sure anypony did. This was the Ether. I stood in a place that was between worlds, where all of Equus buried their dead. The great forest was theoretically infinite, as nopony had ever found the end. Maybe the Princess knew? The mist kept going forever, too, parting only as you walked along the road. It always felt like the same time passed, no matter whose coffin or burial area you were visiting. Only a trained Necromancer could perform the ethereal jaunt required to pull both of you here. The huge forest also extended off to both sides, a perpetual stream running along its left, where the coffins were. Well, where a Necromancer placed them after the ceremony and memorial was complete. I smiled as we walked up the steps to the huge mirror, the warm breeze drifting around us. This place always calmed me down. If you looked closely off into the forest, you could see the faint images of ponies playing. The ones near the coffins were always those resting within. I learned a long time ago that it wasn’t actually them. Morning Dove explained to me that the hearts and thoughts of our loved ones often travel back to their descendants, even from the Ether. That causes the faint image of them to be seen in the forest. They were usually too far out to be reached, however. That was the only rule of this place. Never, ever go too far into the forest. If you lost sight of the road… Both of us stepped through the surface of the mirror. I could see us resting on the other side, bodies asleep as our minds went into the Ether. Those who left the road would never return to their bodies, and never wake up. They’d pass quietly in their sleep here, in front of the mirror on the other side. The transition was instant, and I gently opened my eyes, adjusting to the dim light as Dove yawned and stretched next to me. “Always a pleasant nap, regardless. Did you get everything you wanted, Dear?” she asked pleasantly, smiling over at me. Necromancers were the guides of the spirits of ponies. They handled visitation into the Long Road for those wanting to pay respects, and also coaxed lost and confused spirits into the Ether where they could rest and be with their families gone before. After a pony dies, they leave behind the magic inside of them, and the essence and sentience behind who they are. Sometimes, the event can be sudden however, and confuses the spirit left behind, to the point where they can’t move on. That’s the second duty of a Necromancer. To talk to them and explain, then help them along to the Ether. The third duty is taking the coffins to the Long Road after the memorial, of course. My father had suggested I become a Necromancer, and I spent a year learning a lot about them. Of course, he also trained me martially for possibly the guard at the same time. But then I got the request to attend University due to my performance in grade school. Mother was ecstatic and begged me to take it. She passed away before I made up my mind, and for me, that sealed the deal. Dad understood, of course. Maybe I really couldn’t let go? “Yeah, I think I did. This is going to be the last time I’m going to come for a little while. Work is getting crazy, and it’ll probably be a good month before it calms down again,” I warned, staring back at the mirror. The mists expanded on the other side, and again, I felt that hollowness after leaving that place. I could see why some Necromancers didn’t come back. She smiled and nodded to me, adding, “It will always be here for you. Peace on your travels, young one.” Bowing to her, I turned and headed up the stairs out of our family mausoleum. Yes, each one had a mirror, even though they lead to the same spot. I guessed it was so each family could have a small tribute on this side, too. The cemetery itself was surprisingly small, only holding a single building for each major family in Canterlot. To my surprise, Bastion was waiting for me when I stepped out of the mausoleum. He smiled softly towards me and nodded as I approached, welcoming with, “Hey, Gem. Aura told me you came here after work, and I wanted to be here when you got out.” I blushed softly, a bit taken by his gesture before nodding and trotting fully up to him, kissing him gently on the lips. He pushed back for a moment before breaking off and nodding back, grinning now. “Heh, I missed you, too. I’m okay, really. You don’t have to worry about me. I just, uh… Well, I come visit my mom a lot,” I explained, probably unneeded at this point. That warm smile didn’t leave his face, and he simply shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. I visited both of my folks before picking you up as well. I just… wanted to show support for you,” he furthered. At my lift of an eyebrow, he quickly tacked on, “No, no. Don’t even start. I know you can handle things on your own, but… Well, it’s the herd’s foal growing in you. We’re here for you as well. You don’t have to do everything yourself, you know.” Sighing, I nodded and joined him as he turned and headed for the main gate. “I know. I’m sorry if I’ve been… prickly, of late. I’m just under a lot of stress,” I apologized. He’d assume it was just from our repeated ventures into the other dimension and seeing all of the horrible stuff there. He’d be partly right, of course. But it was also due to me stealing an abundant amount of data from BEID at this point. That’s really what it was. I was stealing in order to be honest. Kind of ironic. “I know. I think we’re almost done now. Princess Celestia got the full report today, after we finally managed to slip through their barriers over that master library we found. She has the full details on the Grosh now,” he informed. I flattened my ears back but managed to nod as we walked. For as bad as these ‘Keldarians’ were, the ‘Grosh’ that they were fighting were even worse. I guess the abyss really does stare back. I shook my head before asking, “What do you think she’s going to do?” He was quiet for a long moment before finally speaking again. “To be honest, pull the plug on the project. We’ve already proved they don’t even know we exist, and the longer we keep spying, the more chance there is for them to notice something. The window of opportunity for full transit is only five years wide,” he reasoned. Yeah, that would make the most sense. It was curious, to be honest. I had to ask, of course. “Is that the end of the organization, then?” Chuckling, he shrugged as we sat on the corner, waiting for a taxi to pass the street walkway. “I’ve no idea. We’ll need to wait to see what Princess Celestia says after she reads our full report. What will you do after, if so?” he asked in return, glancing back over towards me. I saw a bit of unease in his eyes, and smiled, taking a guess as to his concern. “Well, I think I’ll be a mother for a while, and spend time with my wonderful herd,” I softly assured, adding a bit of teasing emphasis to that ‘herd’ part before nuzzling him. He grinned and nuzzled back, kissing my forehead under my horn afterwards. My herd… * * * * * Ponyfeathers! What a total and complete mess! Slipping my labcoat on, I managed to tie it with only the first cord. The second and third wouldn’t fit due to my swollen belly. In the haste to get ready, only having a half an hour or so, I didn’t have any time to grab breakfast either. Today sucked. Aura smiled hesitantly at me as she helped me straighten the back portion of my coat out, then nodded. “Bastion’s already taken off to meet Princess Celestia. Are we almost ready? They’ll be expecting us soon,” she asked, sounding almost as nervous as I felt. Sighing, I nodded to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Yes, I’ll be right there. Run the console through its runtime tests first, just to make sure everything is running smoothly. I just need to settle my stomach, then I’ll be right there,” I assured, smiling confidently at her. She nodded and gave me another kiss before heading for the entry hall, and I closed my eyes. It felt like I was always rushing lately. After I heard the door close, I pulled out my journal and started to put one last entry into it before I left. Hopefully it would have a much happier one following it by next week, once the stress died down. I hesitated for a moment, however, and touched my swollen tummy. My foal was inside. We knew it was a colt now, and I smiled at that. My little colt. I was starting to wonder what I’d name him, which was probably a bit silly this soon. He still had a few months to go before he saw his first light, after all. Humming gently to myself, I cradled my stomach with both forelegs and just smiled. On quiet nights, I could hear his tiny little heartbeat if I focused inside me long enough. To be honest, I wasn’t scared anymore. This was probably the best decision I’d ever made. It was almost to the point where I was getting impatient now. I wanted to meet him so badly. Maybe, one day, I’ll give him this journal, and he can continue from where I left off. Yes, he should be the one to read it in the future. That decided, I flipped to the very inside of the original cover. I’d not written in this section for years now, and it immediately brought back memories again. Slowly, I wrote on that first page. “Hopefully we’ve shared thousands of conversations by the time you read this message, but I want you to continue with this journal. Then maybe give it to your foals, and then theirs. I just want to let you know that I love you, and am proud of you, no matter what. This shall become our family heritage.” I made the handwriting as neat as I could. It would be embarrassing if he couldn’t even read it, after all. Chuckling to myself, I suddenly remembered Morning Dove’s words to me, and smiled as I added them afterwards. “May you have peace on your travels; always.” Pleased with the results, I nodded to nopony in particular and flipped back to where I was writing before. Yes, that would be enough, I hoped. The last of the secrets of BEID that I could get, plus a bit of stress relief venting. Quickly then, I finished up the latest entry before heading out the door. My little colt… * * * * * “Cause of death?” “Severe blunt force trauma to the skull and upper three spinal disks. We believe she fell from several meters up, wherever the tear appeared at.” “…she would have died instantly. The size of the brain indicates these could be sapient creatures. She didn’t get a chance to rotate in the air from that height?” “Apparently not. Either she was unconscious when she came through the tear, or she willingly chose not to. The interesting thing is that it’s practically the only reason that the offspring in her body survived at all. She took all of the force from the impact using her entire upper body. Almost perfectly.” “You? Admire a specimen? That seems surprising, Doctor Kyliona.” “No, of course not! I’m merely noting that it indicates advanced training. Possibly martial, to know how to fall like that. Besides, it would have been better off had she herself survived to be frozen. We might have been able to reproduce the creature, then. The child is male.” “You’re very right there. Very well. You have full release over the child and the remains of the mother. Both are frozen and shall be delivered to your laboratory later this afternoon. Let’s hope they truly contain that strange energy you feel can save us all.” “Oh they do. Trust me… they do.” Chapter 79Carefully, I flipped to another page and scanned in the well-drawn pictures. The details were exact, taken by a mare who definitely had a mind for the scientific and knew exactly what to record. There were easily a hundred diagrams in the journal in between her actual entries, plus contact details of every single founding member. She wasn't kidding when she said she was going to record everything. Of course, I was really just moving through the motions of scanning to keep my mind busy. I'd not been prepared for reading that in the least. It pulled me in, and now it was four in the morning, and there was no way I could sleep. The sheer weight of what I hadn't realized I'd lost was staggering now. It never really registered before this. Mother. My mom. I felt my eyes getting wet again and quickly pushed it back out of my mind. No, there was nothing I could do for her. Still, I'd never felt so alone before. The light flickered softly in the gas lamp next to me, and I shivered, drawing the covers up a little bit closer to me. Her journal sat in my lap, having not been opened again since that day. Tia had kept it in pristine condition and hadn't even looked in it. At least according to her. Which means she probably had no idea as to the extent of the information in it, including how the dimensional tunneling device functioned. My eyes drifted to the picture next to me. Gemstone Weave. She looked so happy nuzzling up against my dad, Bronze Bastion. He was grinning, too, and now I realized it was Auraprism who had taken the shot. There was another of the three of them together standing in front of a new hot tub, presumably taken by Ether Burst. The second, almost identical one had him slipping into the shot from the side, horn glowing as he held the camera up and dove to try to make it into the picture. Heh. My eyes drifted to my mom again, and I exhaled weakly. She was torn away from her herd, cast into an impossibly faraway place, and she died there, alone. Coupled with the medical reports on the 'specimen' I also had, it looked like she fell from quite a distance and intentionally shielded me using her body. She died so I would live. The impulsive mare who didn't even know what she wanted to do after graduating made that choice. Damn it. I wiped my eyes again, and then snarled to myself in frustration. It was difficult to manage that anger mixed with loss. Like the other anger I suffered from, there was nothing to attack. Celestia was partially to blame, but she wasn't omniscient. There was no way I'd attribute it to her. That left the only ones possible to blame being the Keldarians and Grosh. I hated most of them already, and couldn't do much with that. I couldn't go back and pull her back through the tear. That was the only way I could fix it now, and it was impossible. So all of that anger just balled up inside of me with no place to go, and made me feel even worse. Maybe a part of me was just being a spoiled little foal screaming how it wasn't fair at all and something like that shouldn't be allowed to happen to good ponies. Even Equestria could be harsh and unforgiving, it would seem. Wiping the moisture from my eyes again, I stared blankly at the journal in my lap. I felt like I knew her personally after reading it, but I didn't know her at all. She'd wanted to meet me, and the feeling now was very mutual. It didn't even stop there, either. I'd never meet my father or other mother either. Both had passed away of old age long before I returned to Equus. They never knew I had survived, and had gone their entire lives severed from my mom and me. There was no closure there, and at this point, it was impossible to get. Softly, I closed the book and slipped it back into the plastic wrapper I'd fabricated for it. This was all I had of her. Of all of them. I had to preserve it. These were the only bits and pieces I knew of that involved my parents at all. And insight into the original BEID project, of course. And Ether Pulse. It was a bit strange that after her talking about him helping build the hot tub in the journal, he just ceased being mentioned at all. He was my mom's best friend, but suddenly he just stops being a part of her life, and she doesn't even mention why. No, it was beyond strange... A gentle knock came to my door, and I frowned, sensors lighting up as my eyes shifted towards it. An assassin probably wouldn't bother knocking, but who knew? Nurse Redheart didn't wait for permission, and slowly opened the door a moment later to peek in. Oh, right. If I was in the hospital, she was mandated to be on duty at all times. I felt kinda bad about it, but she said it got her away from her lonely apartment, and assured me that the staff rooms here were 'swanky', whatever that meant. The way she said it, I assumed it to be positive. "Ah, you are awake, then," she muttered, mostly to herself. At least, there wasn't any question in there anyway. "You could have waited for permission. I might not have been decent," I warned, placing the book on my nightstand on top of Prudentia. Purdue sent an inner confirmation that bad things would happen to anything attempting to hurt the book, and I smiled. Good girl! Redheart smirked at that, of course, before reminding, "We're usually naked, Mender. In fact, you're nude right now. So am I, except for this hat." She gestured up to it at the same time, letting herself into the room fully and shutting the door. If this were a soldier's holovid, I so knew where it was going. Wait, no, I would have known from the second she opened the door, actually. "Stallions have needs, Redheart. I've been away from my herd a full twenty hours now, after all!" I retorted in faux shock and surprise. She gave a slight blush to that one, but continued grinning as she hopped up, then sat down on the end of my bed. That idly made me wonder why ponies had such large beds. Did they just like having the space? Lying flat as I was, my hooves didn't even reach where she was sitting! Well, actually, that was probably a good thing. Her sitting on my hooves via that bouncing flop she just did might have broken my ankles, and extended my hospital stay. Maybe that was her goal, though? "True! But that only gives me incentive to not even knock next time," she pointed out, giving me a playfully lewd wink. Okay, I laughed at that one. "Ah, there's the shameless flirt I know and adore. Although, uh, sorry. I got carried away reading and, well, didn't pay attention to the time," I continued, just getting the inevitable over with. Surely the real reason she was visiting was to lecture me on the health benefits of a good night's sleep. She sighed instead, and I felt uncertain as she looked over at the book. Her eyes slowly shifted back to me, and softened slightly as she reached forward with her left hoof, leaning over me. Eh? I felt her brush along my left cheek and frown before pulling her hoof back and looking at it. Oh. "I figured you'd lost track of time. But you don't have to hide your emotions, Mender. You read the whole thing, cover to cover, didn't you?" she inquired knowingly, looking back up at me fully. She looked honestly tired in the faint orange light of the lamp next to the two books. Something was a bit sad about the whole situation, but a twinge of irony settled in my chest. "I... Don't know what to do with the feelings. But it's okay, Redheart. I know you have a lot on your plate, too, especially with being forced to stay at the hospital when I'm here," I redirected, admittedly still feeling bad about that whole situation. The nurse stared at me for a moment before a soft smile played across her lips and she lowered her head. "You're still stuck on that. You know, that's the fastest way to tell a real gentlecolt from a stallion who's just acting to try to get some attention. You're really torn up over something you did to 'inconvenience' me. You wouldn't keep bringing it up if you weren't," she pointed out. I gave her a blank stare for a moment before sighing and averting my eyes. It was only the… fourth time I’d mentioned it! Damn her. She didn't have to just bluntly point out how much of a pansy I was like that, though. Not that I thought it was 'weak' to care about others, but I'm sure some of the others out there did. She continued a moment later after my hesitation, with, "There's a solution, however. You feel bad, I feel bad, and neither of us wants to 'burden' the other by venting. The obvious solution is to either bottle it up, which helps neither of us, or both let it out at once, which helps both of us. I'll go first." "Can you really just decide something like that by yourself?!" I asked, but she only smirked and kept right on going anyway. She was really hard to deal with sometimes. "I'm a twenty-four year old mare who works in a very demanding occupation. I'm essentially married to my job, which was okay while I went through extra schooling, but... Admittedly, I'm really lonely these days. Cheerilee tried setting me up with a few stallions and mares, but nothing has really 'clicked' so far, you know? That's one of my biggest fears. It's more than just romance. Being alone is scary. Kinda silly and foolish thing to worry about, but..." She trailed off with that and I frowned. This was one of those moments where I knew I was supposed to say something, but I drew a blank. There wasn't much that I could say within the realms of 'mostly sane' that would make her feel better. A painfully slow three seconds passed with me tensing sharply before she started giggling faintly. "You're so much fun to watch awkwardly shift about," she admitted, grinning towards me in a decidedly impish manner. I reeled, but she quickly elaborated a moment later. "I wasn't lying about any of that, though. I'm not as 'grown up' as ponies believe. That unsure little foal in me who was scared to sleep through a thunderstorm without her big brother or parents never quite went away," she spoke, softer this time and sounding fully tired rather than amused. I relaxed at that, at least knowing what she was talking about now. "I don't think anypony is as grown up as they let on, Redheart. Being alone is scary, I know. I've actually not been alone practically the entire time I've been here, so I've gathered that ponies are far more, well... They're a lot more social than the race I used to identify with, I'll leave it at that. But with that in mind, being alone is all the more scarier," I pointed out, at least using my observations so far. That and the touching. Ponies were a lot more comfortable with just friendly touching and hugging. That was a bit strange, too. She smiled softly at me afterwards, and then mildly surprised me by lying down on her right side at the foot of my mattress, closing her eyes tiredly for a moment. Had I woken her up with my light? I knew I was in the special observation room just so she could have the bed that was in the other, attached room. She hesitated, opening her mouth for just a moment before smiling again, as if suddenly thinking of something funny. "So that's the reason. No, I can't believe that's the only thing. Seeing you by yourself in here when I first looked in reminded me so much of my brother. He's the loner type, but always seemed so sure of absolutely everything he did. Maybe it takes the foreign memories and experiences, but no, I like to think that it's just part of your character, Mender. If I were in your position, I'd be freaking out so badly that they'd put me in the hospital just for that," she admitted, snickering after that last part. I blinked, not entirely sure if that was a compliment or not, but I shrugged it off nonetheless. "Being crazy helps. At least, it makes things more interesting," I commented, earning a more cheerful laugh that time. "You're not crazy. That's an ugly word. Let's call you... Unique. You're unique," she declared, earning a raised eyebrow from me before she smirked and shook her head, then brushed the rogue pink bang out of her eyes. "No, no, let me finish. You're a unique stallion. Yes, a stallion. All of the important bits are pure pony, and what's added in can be useful, but it doesn't define you. Further, you're suffering from what we call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Retroactive Amnesia, and Social Anxiety Disorder. Bad experiences can leave lasting scars in the mind, too, Mender. Those heal, especially for you, far slower than the rest of your body." I felt calmer throughout her explanation, and sighed after she stopped talking. Well, she was right there. I healed really, really fast. Momentarily, I reached back and touched my shoulder, indicating no pain at all. Second to Third Degree Burns had covered a good chunk of my back, and now I was fine. Less than twelve hours later, fine. She smiled and nodded at my recognition, then tilted her head as I turned around and closed my eyes again. It took me a moment to formulate, but slowly, I opened them again, letting soft blue light spill out over the bed instead. She relaxed quickly, but my sensors picked up her momentary surprise prior, even pointing out exactly how many centimeters away she was, her heart rate as it lowered slowly, and the fact that there were stress lines along her hooves, likely from too much standing and walking. "I don't really understand, Redheart. I mean, well, I don't get why you're so comfortable around me, especially when I think you have a better actual understanding of exactly what I am than most ponies who know about me. You even told me all of that about you," I reasoned. She was lying next to a mobile planet blender, for crying out loud. I understood that she could justify that I was in control of it and generally tried to be a good pony, but I also had a record for horrific accidents happening around me, alien attacks, and things exploding! I just blew out the side of a train earlier totally on accident, almost slicing my friends into pieces with superheated wings. That had to give somepony even the slightest pause and consideration for their personal safety, didn't it? She chuckled, only serving to confuse me entirely. "Mender, you don't understand, and I don't blame you for that. I just told you all of that because you're my friend and you actually make me feel safe. It's not some magical effect from you that you talked about earlier, or some techno babble from another world. It's simple. You do what you say you're going to do. You try your very hardest to protect those you care about. You show very real remorse when you can't. And the most important part, you really do strive to just be kind and friendly," she pointed out. My blank stare towards her must have been funny, because she snickered again and smiled fully this time. "See? You think none of that adds up to what you could 'potentially' do to us, but that's not really how ponies operate. Your potential can explain a lot, yeah, but it's just a whisper. Your actions and what's important to you, now that's a scream to most ponies. That said, you're a very easy pony to trust and feel safe around, just based on personality," she elaborated. It barely registered as I just stared at her further. How was that a good idea at all?! A reaction based off only somepony's actions without considering their potential at all seemed so haphazard and careless that... She interrupted my thoughts a moment later by adding, "Also, I said you were my friend. You can just call me 'Red', like my other friends do." Oh. That was the problem. It was because she assigned trust before running the logic behind it through her mind. She based it off who I was, which was so radically different from what I was used to. Trust was a value. It came in levels that were assigned based on what you knew, how capable you were, and how dangerous you were. My other self was all three at once, but managed to hold himself slightly more useful than dangerous, so he wore a badge that proclaimed his trust level as seven out of nine. Clearance level seven, to be specific. Based on that bit of recollection, I realized that the concept she just explained laughed in the face of all that. But... Why did it feel better? I knew it wasn't logical. It was less safe. Riskier. But it felt better all around. More fair to the person being judged. Yeah, that was it. "Sometimes I think the problem is me. If we're actually talking about trust, then, I don't think I really trust myself in the slightest. Not to understand pony concepts, and definitely not to fit into the culture here. But I want to so badly. I just want to go back to not remembering who or what I was, and live like a normal pony. Getting my memories back has never been worth it so far. Ever," I whispered, holding my hooves up to look at the underside of them. That cracked pattern was still there on my left one, having regenerated to how it was before she tore it off. The damage even regenerated perfectly, although the scars remained down at the base of my limb, especially along my chest and barrel where it tore. Red spoke calmly and reminded, "I did say we'd both vent. I told you a lot about myself, and you've helped me feel better. You let me feel not alone when I'm around you, which is exactly what I need. So let me help you, too, Mender. You can vent a little as well, you know." Ah, right. That was part of the original 'deal', but it didn't exactly feel like a 'payment' anymore. She'd somehow flipped it around during her talking. Now it really did feel like she wanted to help me instead. Was telling me her issues just to help me relax about it? Lying back a bit, my eyes drifted to the left at the book resting on top of Prudentia, slight plastic shine across the side of it from my lamp. It was easy enough to see where I was looking, and she smiled softly, closing her eyes again. Yeah. Still, it needed to be said, I guessed. “It’s my parents, mostly. I guess I just… I feel some loss as to never getting to meet them. And what happened to them was terrible. There’s nothing I can ever do to make that any better, and that frustrates and saddens me. Reading about all of that stuff involving the Ether in her journal made me hope that, well, maybe they’ve gotten to be together again since then, but…” I wasn’t good with words, especially when I didn’t have time to prepare. “I understand that. They’re your mom and dad, so of course you’re going to want to meet them. That’s one of the most tragic things about everything that’s happened to you. You were pulled out of your own time and left behind really. You have every right to be upset about that,” she pointed out, guessing that I’d been playing it down, even in my own mind. Sighing, I averted my eyes again and then felt her smile, knowing she was right. Yeah, I guess that crying over the situation wasn’t that big of a sin. If it were me looking at somebody else, I’d feel they were justified, too, after all. “Yeah, I guess that I’m not a big wuss for feeling sad about it all. I just don’t know what to really do about it, either. I wish they could have gotten some closure,” I said, turning to look at her again as she reached a hoof forward and slid the pile of pictures closer to her. “Heee. They look happy regardless. You can see the start of her tummy in this picture,” Red cooed, earning a snicker from me anyway. Fluttershy had noticed that, too. Was it some sort of female thing here to notice pregnancies? I didn’t even want to hazard a guess as to the social implications of a pregnant mare, and all things surrounding it. All I knew was that gestation was eleven months, which was three months longer than a Keldarian. That must be brutal! I opened my mouth to ask how rough pregnancies actually were, but she frowned a moment later and pointed back to the picture. “Hey, who’s this other mare?” she inquired, gesturing towards the second shot I had of Auraprism. “That’s Auraprism, my other mom. Her and my dad were left behind after Gemstone got pulled through the rift,” I explained. Redheart got a sad expression for a moment before it shifted to thoughtful instead. Oh? After a moment, she hesitantly asked, “Do you know if you have any brothers or sisters? You were gone roughly three hundred and forty years, which is about… four or five pony generations? That gets confusing after two generations or so.” Brothers or…? Oh! That’s right, Aura and Bastion might have gone on to have foals of their own! She smirked at my blank expression, and nodded. Hesitating, I looked back at the bio information, and then frowned when I realized that it was from the time they were recruited. It wouldn’t be able to tell me anything about their life afterwards. Finally, I just asked, “Is there any way that ponies keep track of this sort of stuff? Uh, I don’t know how important it is to you as a culture, but, uh… Genealogy! That’s the name for it.” Red rolled her eyes and gave me a skeptical smirk, earning a sigh from me before she went on to say, “Yes, Mender, of course we keep track of Genealogy. They’re a Canterlot family, however, so in order to get the records to look at, you’ll need to go visit Canterlot City Hall, which is next to the palace.” Ah. Damn it! I could have used this information just yesterday, even. Now I’d have to wait until we took another trip there, which was in two weeks if I remembered right. Yeah, that’s when Shining said that they’d have the soldiers ready for the first prep training session, which should be a load of fun. I somehow doubted I was going to get much respect, but at least I could properly handle soldiers. That thankfully wasn’t a social situation! “Well, I’ll have to look into it when I go back to Canterlot. Although I don’t know what I’m going to use the information for exactly,” I admitted, suddenly stumbling into a rather awkward point I’d neglected. She tilted her head at that, obviously not having thought of it either. “What do you mean, Mender? Isn’t it obvious? You should look them up and introduce yourself,” she suggested, totally missing the point. “Introduce myself as what? The leader of DReg who just happens to be coincidentally interested in their family’s wellbeing? Oh, and happens to have some genetic traits that look amazingly similar to their own line? It would be even worse if I were actually allowed to tell them the truth. ‘Oh, by the way, I’m actually your great great great granduncle who got sucked away to another dimension before he was born, got frozen for several hundred years, and recently returned and brought a whole dimension’s worth of trouble back with him. Nice to meet you!’ That would be perfect,” I pointed out. Okay, that might have been a little too sarcastic, but I think she got the point, anyway. She blinked at that, then actually snickered, seemingly unfazed by my reaction. “Okay, admittedly I forgot that you were supposed to keep it a secret. Still, you should run it past Princess Celestia. She’s sure to understand you wanting to meet and know about your family,” she reasoned. Exhaling softly, I nodded and rested back against the pillows again. Yeah, that was probably true. “I’ll ask her what she thinks about it, then. I don’t even know if they exist yet, though, so I shouldn’t focus too hard on it yet,” I reminded myself out loud. Red gave me a soft smile and then nodded towards me as I noticed my body finally relaxing. Huh. “You should get some sleep, Mender. Staying up all night isn’t good for you,” she lectured softly. Heh. Smiling at that, I nodded with my eyes closed before adding, “Thank you, Red. You really did help quite a bit.” They opened again rapidly in surprise when I felt fur-to-fur contact. Redheart had gently leaned forward and now hugged my chest softly. I relaxed a moment later and smiled down at her as she gave me a squeeze. I hugged her back and exhaled across the top of her mane, causing her to shiver lightly. Finally, she spoke up with, “It’s fine, Mender. You really do help me a lot, too. More often than you realize. Thank you for being my friend.” She relaxed after saying it, and I chuckled softly towards her, causing her to look up at me with an amused grin. Whatever she was about to say or do next was interrupted, however, by a slow, low creaking noise. Eh? She shifted to a confused look and frowned before asking, “Uh, what’s that?” My ears perked up and I rotated them around, trying to find out exactly where the noise was coming from. It sounded like it was under my bed? Wait, no… “Uh, Red, is this one of those folding-“ The bed latch snapped a moment later under our combined weight, and the foot of my bed came up to greet us with record speed… * * * * * Twilight raised an eyebrow, and then tilted her head at me as I gathered my things up and put them back in my saddlebags. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly at me, but… She reached her hoof out and poked lightly at one of the metal chains strapped around the corners of the bed, which were strapped to various large objects around the room. I said absolutely nothing at all as I finished packing Prudentia and my mother’s journal into the bag and slipped it on over my shoulder. Red looked even more annoyed than me before finally simply warning, “Don’t ask…” She winced lightly, the bandage on her cheek shifting as she said that. They needed to run upkeep on their furniture more often! The latch had almost disintegrated due to disuse, it turned out. I guessed that we just pushed it over the edge with our combined weight on one point of the bed. Or my bad luck was phenomenal, which was practically scientific fact at this point. “Uh, right. I’ll just chalk it up to Mender being Mender. I hope you’re okay, Nurse Redheart,” Twilight finally muttered, turning her attention to the bandaged nurse. Thankfully, it was neglected to be mentioned that I technically bit her in the cheek, more due to our heads literally being slammed together. That wasn’t pleasant at all. Sighing, I reminded, “I said I was sorry. Um, is there anything I can do to fix it?” I’d said it before but it had been met with negative results the first time. The nurse sighed and hesitated a moment before finally admitting, “No, not really. Unless you can give me some of those fancy regeneration nanite things. This really wasn’t your fault anyway.” My marefriend shivered at that for a moment. “I don’t think he should be making any more of those disks until we fully monitor and record exactly what they’re doing to their hosts, and what happened with the incident on the train,” she reasoned, which was actually a really wise course of action. Red snorted, then chuckled at that before shrugging. “I was just kidding. I’ll leave the scary testing to your mares, then maybe get a finished product once all the kinks are worked out of it,” she agreed, sitting back down again on the floor next to my bed, then helping me get down as I slipped towards the floor. Heh. My mares? “Here I thought you liked kinks,” I jibbed as she finally got me stabilized on my hooves again. That much I’d learned fast. Get required assistance from somepony before playfully teasing them. It always worked out so much better. Her smirk was instant, and Twilight’s blush was almost as fast. “Only if I get to wear hoof socks. Now get out of here, you two, before I change my mind about the disk,” she warned playfully. Chuckling, I slipped up next to Twilight, who relaxed and smiled towards me. “Glad to see you’re getting more and more adjusted. Now if only you’d flirt with me like that,” Twilight teased, snickering and nuzzling under my chin. Okay, she walked right into that one, possibly intentionally. “Well, if you’d like to wear socks instead for me, feel free,” I suggested, nuzzling her back. I almost literally felt her heat up, and for a moment, images of me on fire and diving out my room window came to mind. To her credit, however, she didn’t run away this time, instead just glaring playfully up at me with crimson cheeks. “Let’s stick to normal first,” she jabbed, poking me in the chest with her hoof. Uh! I coughed lightly and looked over at Red, who was busy giggling hysterically as Twilight realized what she just said and went rigid against me, the flushed color traveling up across her entire snout and almost to her ears on each side. “Ahhaha… Let’s just pretend you didn’t hear that, Red. Anyway, we’ll see you later,” I excused, earning more laughter now as I pushed Twilight out the door, the lavender mare emitting a low whine the entire way… Thankfully she had recovered by the time we got to the hospital stairs, or we might have had a problem. Sighing hesitantly, she followed me down them slowly, remarkably quiet now before catching up to me on the first floor. She was a little slower than normal, too, both of her forelegs still bandaged lightly due to the burns. For once, I was actually thankful for my cybernetics, granting her the regeneration nanites. My pace slowed once I cleared the ‘safety zone’ and decided we wouldn’t be able to hear any embarrassing laughter from Red anymore, no matter how loud the nurse got. Twilight walked gently along next to me, shifting up close and pushing into my side as we moved around the ponies in the lobby. It was amazingly nice to feel her warm fur again, though, especially after being so lonely last night. I leaned closer into her and kissed the side of her cheek, earning a start and much lighter flush this time. “Mmm, somepony’s feeling snuggly. Are you okay, Mender?” she asked softly, her horn lighting up to open the door for us. I hesitated, and then halted completely with a questioning look as I saw two other remarkably familiar ponies approaching. Eh?! Twilight saw my surprise and followed my gaze, easily spotting their approach. Applejack was flush alongside her brother, leaning heavily into him as he was kept propped upright by her strength. To my surprise, a rather thick bandage was wrapped around his back right thigh, and she was supporting him walking on that side. What happened?! I knew he had taken over farm chores when she was gone, but enough to get injured?! I didn’t think the super heavy physical labor started until a few days from now with Applebuck Season. At least, I thought that started up at roughly the same time as the Running of the Leaves. “Uh, should I ask?” Twilight inquired curiously, causing the siblings to look up at us as they got within a couple meters. Tiredly, I sat down next to Twilight as I watched, still low on energy from the healing process. “Ahnope,” Big Mac groaned almost immediately, promptly looking away again as I raised my eyebrow. Applejack scoffed at his reply before adding, “What tha big lug meant ta say is, he got himself hurt while we were up in Canterlot. Ah suspect ya tried ta start tha harvestin’ early, didn’t ya?” Her inquiry was paired with two jabs to his chest, but the stoic stallion didn’t even budge, stubbornly starting to move forward again towards the steps up into the lobby. “Ah thought ya’d learn yer lesson after tha first time! Gah. Anywho, Ah’ll talk ta ya more later, Twi. Gotta get him checked in first,” the orange mare groaned before nodding to us and following him up the steps. She barely got there before he tipped sideways, and managed to catch him again. Yikes! What in Equus could injure the huge stallion like that?! We watched them go before Twilight snickered and nudged me. Oh, right. Walking. I sometimes forgot about that. Standing up again, I followed after her, catching up as she lagged back, then resting against her side again immediately. She sighed contently at that and nuzzled my neck before reminding, “You never did say why you were so snuggly. Not that I’m complaining, of course.” Oh yeah… “I just missed you while I was in the hospital. Fluttershy, too, of course. Reading the entire journal last night also didn’t help much,” I admitted, remembering Red’s advice that venting was okay. It still made me a bit uncomfortable to bring up, but I stuck to my ground anyway. “Mender… I’m sorry. I forgot that you’d gotten that. You should have said something sooner,” Twilight suggested, voice softening as she stopped walking and pushed into me. Relaxing, I let her slip up and wrap her forelegs fully around my chest. Her squeeze was light, not really jostling the bandage I still wore around my mostly healed back, thankfully. Pulling her against me, I just enjoyed her scents and warmth for a moment. I was still tired from the little sleep, and it felt like I could almost pass out right here and now if I let myself. But no. I kept myself awake and peeked over Twilight’s back while relaxing. The chilly day was getting downright cold now, and her body heat felt nice. All the hustle around town square also made the day feel warmer, a bunch of ponies setting up decorations and festivities. Winter was coming, and ponies were going to welcome it with open forelegs. I even saw a massive stage set up in the center of town square. The next few days were going to be interesting. “Mmm, you’re cold, Mender. Oh! I almost forgot. Here,” Twilight whispered, carefully opening her left saddlebag with her magic. To my surprise, a darker blue scarf made out of a warm knit material floated out of her bag, looking almost three meters in length. The end of it had a silver yarn used instead to make a gear with a heart in it, definitely giving it that customized look. Twilight continued a moment later after placing the middle of the scarf over my neck. “Rarity felt badly for not being able to be here to help pick you up from the hospital, but I assured her it was fine. She still made this for you, however. She knows you’re going to need some winter clothes soon, after all,” the lavender mare explained, smiling as she helped me wrap it properly. The custom Cutie Mark on the bottom hung down my chest when we were done, and I smiled at the design. “I’ll have to thank her later for it,” I admitted, feeling significantly warmer already. Although that might have been from blushing lightly. Being in Twilight’s pack, it smelled remarkably like her wrapped all around my neck. It also had faint traces of Rarity smells on it still, and that soft perfume she used. Twilight nodded happily towards me, looking pleased with her wrapping job for a moment before her ears poked up and twitched lightly. Oh? We both turned and looked towards the stage, where a small construction zone appeared to be going on. By the looks of it, they were making and painting the finish line for the race later. To my surprise, a very familiar draconequus was up on stage as well, looking like he was ‘overseeing’ the construction project. Uh oh. “I’m not so sure. Does it honestly look centered to you?” Discord inquired curiously. The very frustrated forest green mare that was working on it just glared at him, the ‘Finish Line’ text somehow extending off the end of the sign and hanging in the air now. Twilight sighed and broke off from my hug, trotting more briskly up to the stage. Uh, right! After a moment’s hesitation, I took off after her, slightly faster in order to catch up. “Discord! What are you doing? Why are you harassing the ponies trying to set up for the race?” Twilight asked as she walked up, her tone sharper than what I was used to hearing, although not really on the angry side. I couldn’t really do much against Discord given his unique abilities, but I decided I could at least support her, and slipped up next to her to listen. Discord himself perked up and turned around, suddenly smiling widely down at us. Ugh. “Twilight! What a pleasure to see you here! Oh, and Gear Butt! It’s a pleasure to see you, too,” he spoke in a flamboyant tone. Gear Butt?! Twilight growled at that, but the draconequus didn’t exactly look scared. Instead, he continued with, “Oh don’t get upset. I’m hardly ‘harrassing’ these ponies. Can’t you see I’m helping them design their decorations? They’re so much better this way, don’t you think?” Eh? Turning and looking past the stage, I noticed a number of other decorations that Discord had ‘improved’ as well, with Apple Bloom trying to continue selling apples stuck to the ceiling of her sideways stall, and Carrot Top also nearby, trying to pull a massive carrot out of the ground that apparently used to be one of the support stakes that held her stall steady. It crushed it down into the ground now, pulling the entire stall over sideways with it and spilling carrots everywhere. A few gravity defying apples also drifted past, and she slipped on one while pulling upwards, falling on her rump on the ground. Wow, what a mess. “This isn’t helping them, Discord! You’re interfering with their ability to work, and ruining products! Wait, aren't you supposed to be with Fluttershy right now, anyway?” Twilight snapped, starting to get angry now. Sighing, I slipped away from her and ran over to Apple Bloom’s stand, which still seemed to be spilling an almost infinite amount of apples into the air as the filly tried to hold the baskets down. “Ah! Mender, help!” she squeaked, flailing about as the gravity shifted again and stuck her to the ceiling. Yikes! Observing it for a moment, I noticed the rather powerful levels of magic that was spread all over the stand. It was a weird form of enchantment that I’d never seen before, seemingly designed to overwrite the local rules of reality. I assumed it was on a quantum level, but that was with my own understanding of things, so who knew for certain in this case? Still, the core enchantments were rather simplistic, probably due to the speed he created them with. I grabbed the support strand for the enchantment powering it all and yanked it out a moment later. Gravity turned back to normal immediately for the suddenly perfectly upright stand, and Apple Bloom fell from the ceiling. My barrier caught her, quickly extending across like a pillow when I tapped the counter, and she lay there on her back, eyes spinning around and apples spilled everywhere. “Uuugh, Ah’m gonna be sick,” she muttered, looking more than a little dizzy. Well, this wouldn’t do. Rotating, I slid her onto my back gently, stomach down, and closed my eyes. My inner magic projected upwards and danced along my back where she was touching, and I used that to form the link to her instead, giving her stomach a little massage while she rested. I hoped AJ would be back soon in order to help her with this mess. In the meantime… AB just lay there as I trotted towards Carrot instead, who was lying there and rubbing her slightly red right flank. I averted my eyes from her apparently tender private spots and looked up at the giant carrot. Transmutation magic reeked from it, and I guessed its nature without even having to feel out with my own energy. Twilight, in the meantime, had continued arguing with Discord about his interference, the draconequus quickly explaining, “My good friend Fluttershy is quite busy at the moment. She seems to have been gone for a few days, and now her dear animal friends need a lot of attention to make up for that. Further, I’m saddened, Twilight! We’re good friends, yet you seem to want to get rid of me.” The hammy tone never left his voice, and I shuddered. Ah, so he was difficult with everypony, then. I felt marginally better that it hadn’t been just me. “Mender? I heard you got back but what happened? You’re hurt,” Carrot asked, suddenly noticing me. She was remarkably calm for having her market stall flattened by a giant carrot. Maybe she was used to dealing with Discord? “Yeah, there was an accident on the train,” I explained, looking down towards the base of the carrot as I felt the filly stir on my back. Touching the base, I found the original form of the stake stored within. While he wreaked havoc on everything he saw, he also put in ways to easily undo all of his effects, I noticed. Huh. I guess he wasn’t really that bad of a guy, apart from annoying everypony. Pulling the power thread off the base enchantment again, I watched the carrot pop away into a stake again, and a secondary spell go off that righted the fallen stand. Interesting. “Oh! Thank you, Mender! Discord can be downright frustrating sometimes,” Carrot muttered, rolling her eyes before smiling more sincerely towards me instead. I nodded, and then glanced back at Apple Bloom as she raised her head up. “Hoowee… Ah think tha ground finally stopped spinnin’. Thanks, Mender. Wait, is yer back okay fer this?” the little filly suddenly asked, raising herself off my bandage and looking down at it from between her forelegs. Shifting my back muscles under her, I nodded and gave her an assuring smile. “Yeah. You’re light as a feather. Plus, I heal rather quickly,” I reminded. I hesitated a moment later as Carrot gave me questioning expression, then I added, “Uh, they gave me a potion for it at the hospital, of course.” The orange farming mare stared intently at me for a long moment before smirking lightly and nodding back. “Of course. Thank you again for helping me, though,” she finally spoke, sounding like she didn’t believe me for even a second, but oddly, that it didn’t matter really. I didn’t know what to say or do, so I just bowed politely to her, then turned and trotted back over to Apple Bloom’s stall. “Discord, this is ridiculous. You can’t expect anypony to manage to get ready for the celebration if you’re changing things they’re working on without asking! If you really want to help, you need to use your powers to help us decorate. Or I guess you can come with Moon Mender and myself, if you’re this desperate for entertainment,” Twilight shouted, putting particular emphasis on my name while simultaneously sounding like she might throw up with that last offer. Discord perked at that, as if hearing magical words from that offer. Ah crap. Still, he snapped his fingers and reset everything else in an instant, at least saving me a ton of effort. How he managed to control and place all of these effects seemingly at will was totally beyond my understanding. “Ah! Yes, that was his name. You’ll have to excuse me, as I was never formally introduced to him. We had a… chilly first meeting,” he excused, bowing politely to Twilight. Chilly? I shuddered, remembering the small mountain of snow that he flooded Fluttershy’s living room with. Despite my reservations, the rest of the ponies working on the stage looked quite pleased with the turn of events. Setting Apple Bloom down, I helped her start gathering up all the spilled apples and placing them into the water bin she had under the stand, apparently just for this cause. Something told me we were going to almost fill it up… Thankfully the huge bins of apples behind the stand weren’t touched, so we just had to wash off the display apples. “Thanks fer all this, Mender,” she chirped, sounding none the worse for wear despite spending who knows how long in a gravity blender with apples bouncing off her from every direction. “It’s fine, AB. Watching the shop while AJ takes Big Mac into the hospital?” I inquired, more to make pleasant small talk with the filly than anything. She grinned at that and nodded, puffing up slightly. “You bet! Ah’m totally old enough ta sell apples fer tha family! Ah even made five sales before Discord got ‘ere an’ made everything go all topsy-turvey! It was ah mite hard sellin’ apples after that,” she admitted, which was definitely an understatement. “Oh, I’m truly sorry, Apple Bloom!” the apple I was lifting up suddenly exclaimed in a somewhat exaggerated dramatic tone. I yelped and panicked, flailing backwards away from it. Holy hell! The apple had Discord’s face on it, of course, complete with his over the top goatee. “I didn’t realize this was your first time selling apples by yourself! I shouldn’t have been so careless,” he continued onwards, totally ignoring the fact that he scared the crap out of me. It was hard to get a lock on how sincere he was, but maybe that was just because an apple doesn’t have much body language? Apple Bloom slid a few more apples over towards me from where they spilled next to the path and sighed. “It’s okay. Ah mean, AJ probably won’t be too mad. Just tha display apples got dirty,” she reasoned, looking at them lying on the ground as I held my chest. Okay, hadn’t expected my apple to start talking… Speaking of my apple, it gasped momentarily then flashed away in a burst of light. All of the apples were gone, actually. I glanced around until I noticed they were all back, stacked in the bins on the stall… in an oddly pyramid-like shape each. Well, at least they looked clean again. Apple Bloom perked, then hopped sideways and hugged the re-materialized draconequus, actually getting him to look momentarily surprised. “Thanks, Discord! Ah know yer bored, but yer ah good pony,” she thanked, further surprising the chaos spirit. Twilight snickered as she approached, obviously amused at the hesitation from Discord, who seemingly had a soft spot for young foals. Although Apple Bloom was sickeningly cute, and I had a hard time saying no to her as well, so I understood where he was coming from. “Thank you, Discord. That was helpful,” she pointed out, making an example of the event. Discord pouted at this point, crossing his arms and huffing while looking away from her, but I knew he got the hint. There was no reason to be defensive otherwise. Heh. A low whistling noise interrupted my thoughts a few seconds later, however, and I frowned. What was it now?! Wait, where had I heard that sort of noise before? “Memder, lomk oot!” resounded a second later. Uh, what? It struck me a moment after she struck me that it had been a while since I heard aerodynamic wind flow, and that familiar whistling noise it did. My vision was filled with gray for a moment as I got smashed into from the left side, somepony yelping above me as we rolled. She was surprisingly heavy as she bashed into my chest, but despite the impact, I still managed to grab her and pull her wings in during the violent roll to stop her from breaking anything. We came to a sliding stop about two or three meters from where we began, my ribs and left leg kind of hurting from the impact of something quite large and distinctly not soft and furry. Derpy popped up a moment later, sitting up next to me with her eyes spinning for a moment before gasping and nudging me with her right forehoof. “Mender, are you okay?!” she asked softly as the world finally stopped spinning. Oww. For various levels of ‘okay’, I guessed. The large package she was carrying via foreleg and mouth grip spun and slid to a stop next to us, presumably what impacted my ribs and leg. It looked larger than she was, which seriously surprised me that she was able to get off the ground with that thing! “Ah! Mender!” Twilight yelped, running up as well a moment later, followed by Apple Bloom right behind her. Discord trailed a little bit behind, looking remarkably like Rainbow Dash in trying to hold back his laughter. Okay, so he was back to being a jerk. “Wow, I forget how often you ponies don’t even need me to cause chaos!” he chimed in, earning a glare from Twilight and a sheepish glance from Derpy. Wincing, I managed to slowly get up to my hooves again, suddenly gaining a gentle lift from two hooves from behind. Eh? Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Carrot smiling softly at me as she helped me get back up into a sitting position. “Ah, thanks, Carrot. Yeah, I’m okay. That package kinda hurt, though. Wow, that’s big,” I admitted, looking back to the sizable thing. It was in a wrapped, brown paper, which seemed to be typical for any delivery system. Why brown? I suppose they just didn’t bother to dye the natural paper color to keep things cheap to make. “Whoa, that is huge, Derpy! Wait, why is only one pegasus delivering such a huge parcel? You should have had some help…” Twilight pointed out, nudging the large box with her left forehoof. Derpy surprisingly blushed softly and looked away before mentioning, “Oh, Cloudchaser and Flitter were supposed to deliver it, but, um… They had a really bad night last night at the raffle drawing and couldn’t. I didn’t want it to be late, though, and I’m strong enough to carry it! …mostly!” While technically true, she did need to work on that landing part. Although now that I looked at it, her wings really did seem rather powerful, being a bit larger than the average pegasus, and rippling with muscles down her back. Wait, what?! How did a raffle put two ponies out of commission like that? I suddenly got the horrific mental image of the raffle machine exploding and falling over on top of them as they helped run it… Discord looked delighted regardless, and started to slowly clap. “Oh, I concur. You did an amazing job of transporting it, Miss Derpy. Number one in entertainment! Five out of five stars, would definitely order from you again! Why, you even ‘delivered’ it to the right pony!” he chirped, snapping his finger afterwards. A five-pointed crown landed on her head, with a colorful gem for each of the five star points on it. Interestingly enough, she actually smiled at his words, and then grinned up at the crown sitting on her head. It was actually quite pretty. Wait a second… “Don’t tease her, Discord! She was carrying a pretty big package, and did amazingly for that. Wait, right pony…?” Carrot railed off and raised an eyebrow up at the draconequus, but Derpy nodded enthusiastically first. “Yeah, it’s for Mender!” she exclaimed, sounding more than a little happy for that fact more than anything. For me? Slipping forward again, I approached the box with a bit more healthy skepticism than before. The box itself was unmarked on the wrapping, and had no return address at all. “Moon Mender, Golden Oak Library, Ponyville, Equestria” was written in extremely neat script for the address, on three lines. I was more than a little suspicious, suddenly. Large box, almost the size of a pony, delivered anonymously to me, the head of Dimensional Regulation. Frowning, I warned, “Get back, everypony. I’m going to open it. At least five meters of distance and behind Twilight, please.” Derpy and Apple Bloom gave a confused expression, but Carrot squeaked and pushed them behind Twilight, who backed up to six meters. Discord looked more intrigued than anything and remained next to me. I decided I really didn’t care, and doubted normal ordinances would harm him anyway. Twilight got the hint and put up a shield as I put four barriers up around the outer sides of the box. Well, here goes. I prepared to welcome yet another hospital visit just in case. Removing the paper from the top of the box, I braced for impact and pulled it open. After a slow three seconds with no earth shattering detonation, I opened my eyes again and blinked. Okay, so maybe not a bomb. Images of a severed head or something instead hopped into my mind, and I shivered. Snapshot had better not have gotten herself caught! Swallowing, I instead peeked into the box to finally investigate its contents. Instead, I was met with a horror far beyond what I’d prepared for. Discord gasped next to me before adding, “Packing peanuts?! Those monsters! Don’t they realize those get everywhere when you’re trying to dig through them?” I looked over at him, and he momentarily held a blank expression before grinning. Aww crap. A snap of his finger set off an air blast on the surface of the box, and suddenly everything was covered in packing peanuts. There was a moment of silence as everypony nearby was suddenly extremely surprised, then a chorus of groans and complaints started sounding out as they tried to get the vile material out of their fur. Of course, they were all statically charged and stuck to everypony, which definitely didn’t help. Spitting two out of my mouth, I glared momentarily over at the now hysterically laughing Discord before looking back at Twilight and asking, “Are these things at least biodegradable?” I was a bit surprised to see a wall of them instead, where her shield used to be. She peeked around the side of it and raised an eyebrow before trotting over. “Yeah, they’re organic and disintegrate into compost friendly dust in about three days. No bomb, I take it?” the lavender mare asked, trotting up towards me. Oh! Right. The package contents. “No bomb,” I agreed, finally propping my forelegs up on the box and peeking in, ignoring the scrunching noise of the dozens of peanuts stuck to my chest. No rotting smell either, which was also a good thing. Instead, I lifted an eyebrow up at the actual contents. There appeared to be a large jewelry box inside, taking up most of the inside of the box. It was made of a dark wood, both well taken care of and treated, by the looks of it. It had five drawers going down the front, each with a single knob in the center that looked like it rotated. To my surprise, there was also a key lock on every single drawer, just to the right of the knob. The metal appeared to be some sort of sturdy brass, and there were golden inlays patterning the top and front of it. It was a very pretty jewelry box, but I’m not sure who would give me something like it, or why. On top of the box, however, was a slip of paper and a single brass key, resting on top of the note. At least, I assumed it was a note. Hopefully it would explain this a bit better, anyway. Reaching down, I slid the note out from under the key, keeping it on top of the jewelry box as I lifted the piece of paper up. Twilight had gotten close enough to look inside, and was now giving the box and paper an equally puzzled look. I flipped the single folded paper over, and indeed found writing in a script remarkably similar to the address on the package itself. “Dear Moon Mender,” the salutation started, and then went into an actual letter format continuing with, “Enclosed with this letter is a jewelry box and brass key that unlocks the drawers. They’ve remained locked for over two hundred years. As far as I’m concerned, this rightfully belongs to you. The box itself, and all the jewelry and items within belonged directly to your parents, Bronze Bastion and Auraprism. I recently came to observe you myself, and verified with my own eyes that you are indeed that little foal that disappeared so long ago. That said, I feel this rightfully belongs to you, especially seeing as you now have your mother’s journal.” “You are undoubtedly confused as to my identity and how I know of you, but none of that matters in particular. I can say with an honest and open heart that I mean you no ill fortune or harm. Your parents were amazing ponies, and what happened to them and Gemstone Weave was the most tragic incident that, I feel, has befallen ponykind in the last thousand years. They are missed dearly, but would want you to have these things. You have your father’s strong eyes, and your mother’s powerful aura. Carry on and have heart, Mender. I know you’ll make the right choices. You already have. I saw you investigated like I asked, but intentionally chose not to actively bring violence to the scene. You’re honorable, like your mother was. Thank you, Mender.” “Signed, A Friend” I stared blankly at the letter, eyes shaking a little in a way I couldn’t stop. My parents? No, specifically my dad and second mom. Twilight frowned and gave me a questioning look, but I couldn’t make my voice work. Instead, I just slid the note over to her across the open flap of the box and reached in, carefully lifting the heavy jewelry box out of it. It was definitely old, and looked amazingly sturdy. I felt magic almost humming from it, and suddenly realized I could have flung it against a brick wall and saw it bounce off unharmed. This was important. But no, I shouldn’t open it here. The key was slipped into my folded space in an instant, not wanting to lose it. A thought occurred to me a moment later, however. Looking over at Twilight, I saw her eyes getting wider and wider as she read the note, and I wiped my right eye free of the sudden wetness in it. Why now, suddenly? Why was I suddenly getting all this information about my parents? Was it because of this pony who keeps sending stuff to me? Digging into my left saddlebag, I pulled the other note out and opened it up again, setting it next to Twilight, who snapped her focus back to reality. She looked to me once, then glanced at the note as well and frowned before widening her eyes. “The same ‘friend’, then?” she asked softly, taking a guess as to my thinking as I nodded. “What is it?” Derpy asked quietly, somehow sensing that things weren’t entirely happy as she slipped up with Carrot and Apple Bloom. “It’s a jewelry box that used to belong to my mom and dad,” I answered truthfully, turning to stare at it once more. Things just kept getting more and more complicated… Chapter 80I was so very, very tired. I rested my head on the table I sat at and slid the brass key around with my left hoof. This was utterly pointless. Around me were various jewelry and baubles that were all pretty in their own right, but no questions were answered, and nothing was solved. The only thing I had concluded was this individual had sent me the jewelry box either purely for sentimental value, or I was missing something very fundamental. There was no magical energy here on anything, nor was there any alteration to any of the crystals that were probably Aura’s. I even checked the box over and found nothing in the way of hidden compartments. Everything seemed to match. The key slid idly along the wood, and I frowned. Okay, so maybe the problem was with my expectations. I sat up again and looked over all of the items, determined to at least make one more attempt at gleaning some sort of information out of them before assigning them all over to pure sentimental value in my mind. Three necklaces, assumed to be Aura’s, each of varying shapes and crystal colors. They each had a silver chain, and were very pretty. They also looked hoofmade, which didn’t surprise me given her profession and capabilities. The crystals in them didn’t even register when we used magical scans, however, indicating they’d never even been touched. The chains had a very light enchantment to keep them strong and clean, which they did pass on to the crystals, but didn’t really prove anything. Twilight had explained that a lot of jewelry had that type of enchantment, but suggested I show them to Rarity later, given her talents. After the necklaces came two simple hoof bangles. They were silvery in color, and adorned with a gentle vine pattern along them with a basic clasp. Derpy had pointed out earlier that they were wedding bangles, worn by ponies who were married in official capacity. The fact that there were only two of them really depressed me after that, and I slid them aside. That left only a mane tie, which was a woven golden band and a crystal clasp meant to hold up the mane in a certain way. Aura really didn’t have much in the way of jewelry. Everything else I assumed was my father’s. There were only two other items in the box, both being curious but not very enlightening. A rather beautiful copper toned pocket watch with matching chain was present, although not functioning. It was mechanical, and I assumed there wasn’t chance at all that it would still be ticking after a few hundred years. There was no cover on it, and it had run down on sixteen hundred hours sharp, surprising me by being in military time. The knob at the top remained unturned, and I didn’t touch it beyond that. I didn’t need a watch, and would rather preserve his as it was. Besides, Clocky might get jealous. The last item, or set of items, I guessed, were two forearm bracers that were very, very much customized. They were made out of some sort of hybrid metal, and latched together with leather straps. Attached to the bands were dizzying amounts of mechanical parts, fully adjustable and looking like they could extend a variety of tools and such straight out of the sleeve of whatever coat one happened to be wearing, up to and including several documents stored against the shoulders. They were very impressive, and I recognized them from the description in my mother’s journal. They didn’t really answer anything in particular, but I could definitely see myself wanting to copy the schematics down and try to make my own. That left me at a dead end. There were no unaccounted or secret drawers in the box, and they were all opened now. All of the items were removed and set apart, and there was nothing informational or revealing about any of them in particular. Sitting on the stool, I glared hard at the idle watch on the table before sliding it away from me. My head gave a throb at the noise it made while moving, and I winced. I'd been up here for too long. It didn't help that I got very little sleep last night, either. Still, my urge to just start smashing things was surprisingly high, and I had to will myself to keep my feelings in check. I guess it was stupid to imagine a few clues would be in every strange box sent to me by an anonymous individual bearing items of my parents that they somehow kept away from the rest of my family for the last few hundred years. I was silly like that. More yelling came from downstairs a moment later, making my head ring painfully. "Discord! Rearranging just the titles of all my books is not helping me re-shelf them!" Twilight screamed out loud, probably with enough decibels to get it to Fluttershy's cottage on the edge of town. "What was that?! I couldn't hear you over the sound of my ringing ears from the last time you yelled!" Discord retorted. This was followed by what sounded like a set of cowbells going off, and I sighed. If I caught him unaware, I bet I could slice his head off with a tentacle before he had a chance to teleport! Just one slice! Gah. My body must have heard me, as my vision distorted a moment later and targeting reticles lit up and highlighted several inanimate objects in the room that looked like they'd be really cool to slice into a few pieces. I sort of agreed, but just killed the process for it. That system was inside the black box where my cybernetic controls were all shoved, so I couldn't get at it yet to actually fix the stupid interface errors. A glance showed my decryption at forty percent, which was fairly good given that I only started it a day or so ago. Still, slow! My tentacles extended a moment later, and I rapidly started placing the items back into the drawers where I found them. Once the jewelry box was locked up good and tight again, I slid back in the stool to get up again. The stool's back leg was immediately caught on a slightly bent nail head, and my eyes widened as I slipped backwards. Thankfully my armor popped up fast, but I still bashed my head into the corner of the smaller bookcase behind me, and felt my entire skull vibrate. Wincing, I cursed a few times under my breath as I held both sides of my head with my hooves, curling up into a ball. Damn it! This is why you make sure to flatten or cut off nail heads! Snarling, I kicked the stool across the room, then slammed my hoof down onto the nail, trying to flatten it. I realized that my foreleg had augmented itself a heartbeat later as the whole tree shook under the force of the impact, and a fracture line shot across the board. Oh. Oops. "Discord! Knock it off! What did you do this time?!" Twilight screamed within seconds. Double oops. There was an amused chuckle, followed by, "Such hostility! Why do you always assume that any disruption to the peace is I?" Well, actually... There was no answer from Twilight, and I could only imagine the delightfully skeptical, disbelieving stare she was giving him. After a brief pause, he appended, "Oh, right. Well, this time, I assure you it was not I. It came from upstairs, undoubtedly from your very, very interesting robot coltfriend.” Well, technically I wasn't a robot. Double-checking that I'd flattened the nail, I activated my Alteration magic to seal up the fracture in the wood. Twilight let out a squeak a moment later, and predictably, I heard hoofsteps on the stairs not long after. It sort of amused me how sometimes she forgot she could teleport. Regardless, the plank was sealed up again and the glow fading by the time she got to the top and slid into place a couple meters away from me. It was a bit harder to see her in the now bad light, but still not dark enough to switch over to my optical scanners. I'd been up here long enough to make it to dusk, and the room was bathed in a dim orange light, coming from the last sliver of the Sun as it sank beneath the horizon. It was enough to make out her panicked expression, not that I needed my eyes to realize that. At this range, I could use the link to get information on her heart rate and nervous twitches, even. "Mender, are you okay?!" she quickly asked, her horn lighting up and flooding me with purple light, flaring up my headache again. Slightly less okay, now! "Um, yeah, I'm okay. My stool slipped when I got up," I excused. Her frown told me she didn't buy it, but I supposed that I had to try. Given that the link worked both ways, it was only going through the motions at this point, though. It was really, really hard to lie to them. She lifted her eyebrow before deducing, "That was a bit loud for just a fall. Your hoof is still glowing with symbols, too, which probably means you just finished repairing my floor, right?" Aww, damn it! Mentally noting my obvious slip, I quickly dismissed the channeling effect into my hoof. Yeah, I'd given the floor time to stop glowing, but totally forgot to turn the stupid effect off on me! Elementary mistake. "I... I'm sorry, Twilight. I got angry after I slipped and hit my head. I repaired the damage," I muttered, looking down at the floor to make sure I really had. It was smooth again, as I'd left it. I'm glad I didn't pull the hoof back now, or I might have broken through the floor... She exhaled softly and slipped closer, momentarily blinding me with the horn light before dimming it to just a soft glow. I rubbed my eyes and looked back up at her just in time to get a soft kiss on the lips before she embraced me against her chest. "It's fine, Mender. I'm just glad you're not hurt. I'm getting a bit worried about these anger issues, though. Do you need to talk to somepony about them? If you don't feel comfortable with Fluttershy or me, there is a professional-" I cut her off by rapidly averting my head, then shaking it. "It's... No, it's nothing to worry about, Twilight. I didn't sleep good last night, and I have a bad headache now," I excused tiredly. She gave me another squeeze and nuzzled into my neck before nodding. "Just relax, Mender. Stop trying to examine the jewelry box for now and take a break. I'll run you some bath water in a bit and help wash your back. Fluttershy's also coming over in a little bit to stay with us tonight, and help bandage you up again. Maybe we'll even get you a massage...?" she cooed softly, earning a little blush from me just because of how she said it. Coughing lightly, I pointed out, "That sounds good, but the water will probably be cold by the time you finish reading up on massage techniques." She got a smirk at that, and I grinned back, feeling a little better, admittedly. "Joke’s on you. I'll just have Fluttershy show me her techniques. I heard you love getting massages from her," she shot back. Eh? Wait, Fluttershy had never given me a... Oh. My cheeks felt hot as my eyes widened when I realized Twilight had actually told a dirty joke! Her cheeks lit up too as she averted her eyes, and I smiled. But she got herself with it, too, I noted. "I'm not sure a beginner should start with that sort of massage. Plus, I'm not sure I trust you with the hot wax and horseshoes," I retorted. She snorted, of course. "Ha! Well, I'm confident enough in my abilities to at least- Wait... What?!" she asked, losing her train of thought midway through as her brain finally processed my statement. I started laughing, and she switched to annoyed rather fast. "Normally, I'd be miffed, but it actually feels kinda nice to be flirting with you again," she added after another moment, relaxing as her smile returned. I was suddenly keenly aware of her holding me against her so closely still, and she blushed, undoubtedly picking up the awareness as it flashed through my mind. Instead of letting me go, however, she smiled further, in a soft manner as her eyes timidly closed and she pushed into another kiss. I closed mine as my right foreleg slid up her back, squeezing gently around her and against her shoulder. Shivering, she slid forward and pushed me back against the very bookshelf I'd just brained myself on, my new contact with it far more pleasant than the last. Everything was more pleasant with a warm mare in your arms, being affectionate. The tip of her tongue tasted my lips, and I let her inside with a shiver running the full length of my back, kind of enjoying the new, more confident Twilight. Maybe the kiss on the train had given her a bit of assurance after all? I heard her groan, feeling the vibrations against my mouth as I gave her back another squeeze and slid my left foreleg down, rubbing along the more sensitive area her Cutie Mark was on. While not an erogenous zone, I had learned that the area of the mark was a very potent link to the body's inner magic system, much like the forehead. Shooting a bit of energy out of my hoof had predictable and oh so awesome results of getting her to groan fully, shivering so hard she almost crawled into my lap. The moment felt perfect. I was confident in myself for once, and the heat in my chest surged forth. Twilight was amazing, and I wanted to just hold her and squeeze her forever. It was just us now, and I could feel her feelings burning down the link and into my chest at this range. She wanted to stay with me forever, too, and knew that I felt the same way at the same time. Her knowing that I knew also fired off, and we reverberated back and forth with our emotions, forming a cascading happiness that even overshot the physical sensations of her caressing my tongue, pushing her muzzle against mine as if she were starving. Nothing else mattered. Everything faded away until I was just holding her and pushing back, my own tongue dancing with hers as she pulled me back into her mouth instead, heat stirring through her body as she pushed against me harder, fully in my lap now. Her soft squeaks and gasps were like music dancing along through the wind, like petals of fallen flowers and... Wait. A petal landed on my nose and I blinked, backing away from her and looking at it. Her breathing was heavy and her cheeks flushed now as she looked momentarily confused, and then frowned at the petal as well. Everything around us really was dark, and it was as if we were in a spotlight, with soft music playing in the background. When did...? Oh hell. I gave an irritated look up at the spotlight above, and saw Discord's face grinning down at me. Damn it! "Aww, were the flower petals too much? I was trying to help!" he quickly pointed out. He had a rather lecherous smirk on for trying to 'help'... "Pervert!" Twilight yelped, firing off a large blast of magic at almost point blank range to him. I yelped and dove to the side as the heat radiated against my fur, and Discord promptly screamed like a little girl and disappeared. The blast smashed into the ceiling instead, discharging into some sort of electric miasma that blackened the wood along the area of effect. Were 'stun' spells supposed to produce that much heat?! Of course, Discord was made of rather stern stuff, I imagined. "I shouldn't have offered to entertain him, I guess. I didn't think that sort of thing was entertainment to him. Now I'm never going to feel comfortable in my privacy ever again," Twilight groaned, glaring up at her crispy ceiling now. Shrugging, I pointed out, "I guess if you spend hundreds of years as a lawn ornament, a lot of things are entertaining. Although I imagine intimacy is entertaining to watch for a lot of ponies. Rainbow seems to enjoy it..." My fillyfriend blushed at that, and then nodded absently, looking back down at me. "Yeah, although part of that is just because it's you. Through observation, I've noticed that both her and Pinkie are very selective in their affections, to specific ponies rather than a particular gender," she revealed. I'd normally find such information a bit creepy, but Twilight studied everything, usually with little consideration for social implication, which suddenly made her spying on me make a lot more sense, I quickly realized. Suddenly, I wondered if Tia had even asked her to spy on me, or if she mistook a more benign instruction for something far more serious. It would be interesting to know. Maybe. "Rainbow explained why she liked me, yeah. We had a good, long talk about it, though, and she should be totally focused on Applejack now," I reiterated, having already explained the horrible details of what happened at the camp to her. The lavender mare smiled at that and nodded. "It's Rainbow. She's my best friend, and Loyalty. She's not going to take you from Fluttershy or me, even if she loves you, too. You don't have to keep reminding me," she assured, giving an amused smirk afterwards. I felt my cheeks heat up and I sighed, shrugging. "If you remember the atmosphere of things in my memories, you'd realize why I'm so careful and paranoid about it," I reminded, trying not to feel a little discouraged. This place was still reasonably new to me, and I was at a dangerous point in my adaptation, I realized. I was in between getting the basics down, and having true experience in Equus, which meant my confidence might start outpacing my actual knowledge. The last thing I wanted to do was start jumping to awkward conclusions again. Twilight nodded gently, relaxing a bit before flopping over against me. "Yes, I know. Ponies are quite a bit different than your average Keldarian, though. I'm sure you noticed," she retorted lazily, sounding like the frustration of dealing with Discord was starting to get to her. Nodding, I squeezed her again and rested my chin on the top of her head before agreeing with, "Yeah, your entire culture is different. No hate, no suffering, no bitterness and war torn fatigue. Instead, you try to help each other, support tolerance and fairness, and honestly try to make the planet a better place. Polar opposites. Although the polyamory thing is still the hardest to grasp for me, that also being sort of flipped for Keldarians." "I suspect that's due to our different gender ratios. With about three mares to every stallion here, it's really just probability. There are some herds with all mares, like the Flower Trio, for example. I've also heard of a few with all stallions. Love is the important part," she explained. Most of that I'd already known or guessed, but 'Love' always made me a little nervous. At this range, she had to sense that, but probably didn't grasp the finer details of why it did. That raw agony of that meeting with Keela after his torture. It was fresh, being the 'last' memory I technically had of my Keldarian DNA donator. I assumed it was shortly after that, that Kyliona retrieved the DNA sample that was spliced into me. His pain at being 'betrayed' by Keela, who he thought loved him... Loved... Twilight's soft nuzzle snapped me out of it, and I smiled weakly at her, only to earn a soft head shake. "It's okay to be sad or angry, Mender. Just be open with me. With us," she assured softly. Instead of answering, I just squeezed her closer to me, and she smiled again. "Just his memories sometimes getting mixed up with my own. I'll be fine, Twi. I'm glad you're not upset about Rainbow, though, even if this culture is different." Partly, I wanted to summarize. A larger part wanted to change the topic, however, in order to not talk about that Keldarian, and saw bringing up the last topic again as a much better alternative. The lavender mare snickered at that before admitting, "Well, we are polyamorous, theoretically carried over from evolutionary 'herd' tendencies. I imagine it was important for survival of the whole herd then, but less so now. Our 'herds' are usually small, like you already know, but of course that never stopped me from, well... I'm naturally a curious mare." Uh, did I want to know how that applied? Maybe this wasn't a better topic after all. My raised eyebrow gave her pause, and she blushed lightly before averting her eyes. "I love all of my friends, Mender. I doubt I'm the only one out of us Element Bearers that entertained the idea of forming one big herd with all of us. Even just as friends, we're very close. So while I make the excuse that our culture makes it easier, that's only a half-truth. It's because it's Rainbow, my very close friend, that it’s easier to accept her having feelings for you," she elaborated. Oh. The image of all six of them quickly rushed into my mind, and she scowled before I could catch it and gave me a whack on the shoulder. "Sorry! You should have known what reaction I'd have to that, though!" I defended adamantly, rubbing my shoulder over where she hit it. She smirked at that, and then whispered, "Looks like somepony else is a bit of a pervert, too." The tone shift made me look back over at her, just in time for her to lean in and kiss me again. Heh. Me, or her? I decided not to voice that thought as I just pulled her against me again, totally okay with the evening now! “Twilight! There are library visitors down here! Should you really be upstairs trying to mate with your boyfriend when you’re the only librarian on duty?!” Discord shouted from somewhere downstairs. Oh hell. Twilight’s scream of rage was almost as intense as her blush as she winked away an instant later in a blinding flash of light at point blank range. Wincing, I rubbed at my eyes to get the lingering, Twilight-shaped spot out of them. Discord’s trademark girlish scream came from downstairs a moment later, followed by a couple small explosion sounds and flashes of light coming up the stairs. If he hadn’t been lying about having visitors, they certainly weren’t making much ruckus given the small skirmish happening right in front of them, undoubtedly. I was beginning to see now why everypony in Ponyville was so jaded to practically everything… Giving up on the intimacy at the moment, I instead headed tentatively towards the stairs, ears flicking forward and listening to two more explosions, then a door slamming open and rapid hoofsteps following the undoubtedly fleeing draconequus. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I was surprised to instead see Lyra with a book, giving a bewildered look towards the door that was still rocking back and forth. “Get back here, Discord!” Twilight shouted from somewhere outside, followed by another explosion. Trying to murder him seemed counter-productive to trying to convince him to come back, but I decided not to voice that one either. “Um, hey, Lyra. I can help you check out or return a book if you wish,” I spoke up, slipping up towards the main desk of the library that held the record books. She perked up, then smiled at me as she turned around, blushing just slightly. Eh? She headed up to the desk with the book floating next to her, then set it down on the surface and brushed her mint mane out of the way. “Uh, actually, the book was just a distraction while Twilight was here. I was actually hoping to talk to you,” she explained quickly, giving a sheepish smile. Uh oh. “Uh, wait, why do you want to talk to me, exactly?” I asked, raising an eyebrow towards her. Her sudden grin put me on edge, and I swallowed uneasily. “Iwanttocommissionyouforsomething!” she quickly spat out, dancing back and forth on her hooves. My brain faltered, and I blinked unsteadily at her. “Uh… What?” I managed to ask. * * * * * Carefully, I inspected each piece of wood present, each to the exact size and shape I had specified. Ponies did quality work! Still, I had to make sure that there weren’t any flaws in any of the pieces. It was always a good precaution before you put everything together. That's one I'd learned from experience, sadly. Mrs. Cake stopped for a moment and smiled over the counter she was washing, curiously watching me work. It was late enough in the evening that I knew they'd closed up for the day now, but I didn't realize they were staying closed tomorrow too in preparation for the events the following day. Pinkie had dropped in after her shift to tell me that the wood shipment had arrived with the rest of the things they'd ordered for preparation. Business must be amazing during the Fall festivities! "Are you certain you can get the entire thing set up by opening? That's less than a day away, technically!" she asked, tilting her head as I rotated yet another dowel piece around. I'd come over right away, of course, both to inspect the materials I'd be using, and to ask if they wanted it done ahead of time for their holiday opening. "Yeah, so long as I don't get interrupted too many times," I assured, confident that it was a reasonably small project. Truthfully, it would probably only take me three hours at most with my magic, but I'd gotten into the habit of overestimating the amount of time I'd need when I told others, to give myself a bit of leeway should something go horribly wrong. Of course, this happened more than half the time, so I considered it justifiable paranoia. Mr. Cake smirked while putting a huge bag of flour away under one of the counters in the back, not needing to look at me before remarking, "Barely a month living in Ponyville and you're already starting to get used to things! I'm impressed. Usually it takes newcomers at least three months." Ha! I took that as a compliment, anyway, even if it technically meant I was horribly jaded by things. "Mender works super fast anyway! You should have seen him put Applejack's wagon back together! He was all whoosh, zip, zoom! It even worked afterwards!" Pinkie chirped, still sitting next to me and as energetic as ever. Her order of priority was a bit off there, but at least she was speaking up for me. Still... "That was a makeshift repair job, Pinkie. I only tossed it together so it could make it back to the house before we got washed away in the rain," I reminded, not taking my eyes off the iron latch I slid in front of me. Their metal wasn't as professional as their wood. The impurities were still present in the iron, but it was still of good quality and shape. Looks like the issue was with their refinement process, not the smithing itself. Hmm. Still, it was strong and in a dry location, so it should last at least fifty to sixty years, which was probably acceptable. Mrs. Cake smiled further and nodded at that, however. “Even so, getting it done so quickly is quite amazing. Are you sure you don’t need any rush bonus or anything?” she inquired. That got my attention, and I lifted my eyes up giving her a warning glare, which caused her to start snickering softly, of course. “I know, I know. It was hard enough getting you to accept any bits for this already. Just don’t overwork yourself, dear. Perhaps I could get you some extra payment in food instead?” she offered, gesturing to a tray of donuts they hadn’t sold. She wasn’t going to let this go, I sensed… “Oooh, let’s have a snack, Mender!” Pinkie chirped, hopping up almost immediately and trotting over to the tray. Well, Pinkie deciding for me definitely made my choice easier. Exhaling softly, I looked back at all of the materials with a bit of lackluster tiredness drifting through me. My lack of sleep the night before had caught up with me earlier, and now it was starting to shift from fatigue to exhaustion. The dimmed lights of their front area, warmth of the shop, and food smells all over the place only made me sleepier. Still, I only had a dozen or so more parts to check and I’d be done for the day. Pinkie slid the large tray of donuts up next to me a moment later, flopping down on her stomach and looking over the baked goods remaining. I watched her for a moment, giving a knowing grin as she merrily sniffed over the treats. The mare did enjoy the simpler things, which I had to admit was a virtue. Mrs. Cake finished wiping down the counter after about six more inspections and Pinkie trying to shove a donut down my throat. I finally just accepted one as her boss slipped over. “How goes inspection? They assured me that all of the parts were all right, but the delivery pony from Manehatten is making rounds today and tomorrow. If there are any problems, we’d be able to talk to him directly,” she assured. “So far, it doesn’t look like there are any noticeable splits or fractures. These parts should definitely work to make your delivery system. Did you have a chance to look over the designs?” I inquired, curious if I had made it to their standards. I fully admitted to not being very good at ‘artistic’ design, so I’d provided them with a couple different styles that used up the same amount of resources to make the track for. She considered it for a moment before trotting back to the counter and looking at the three design schemes that were resting there when I arrived. Given the flour, sprinkles, and sugar that had been dusted across them, they were probably there for most of the day. I hadn’t looked very closely at them, but it looked like there were a series of red marks along the bottom of each one that I definitely hadn’t put there. “Actually, we’ve been having ponies vote on them that came in for the last two days. So far, it seems that the two more fanciful and bendy ones are significantly more popular! There’s a slightly higher vote towards the one that’s a straight shot over the counter and has all six tracks ‘race’ towards the bending point. Quite a few younger ponies were interested in ‘racing’ their treats, it would seem. Heh,” she elaborated, sliding into chuckles after. Figures nopony would like the simplicity that was the first design. Secretly, however, I’d only made the first one to get a general layout of the tables and track I’d need. The second two were when I started playing with a Z axis to the track. Still, both of the other layouts were easy enough to manage, as only the track positions changed. Compared to the commission that Lyra had requested, this would be a cakewalk. Still, racing? “Actually, that’s a pretty good idea. When I make the enchantments, I’ll put a slightly randomized variation in speed for each track, decided when they’re launched each time. That way there will actually be ‘winners’,” I offered, smiling up at a now slightly surprised looking Cup Cake. “Oh, that would be awesome! You so have to do that, and then make a little finish line at the end of the first bend, and maybe a little flag that pops up for which track wins! We could even hold special prizes when everypony fills up each track! Like, an extra cupcake or donut to the winner!” Pinkie immediately exclaimed, hopping up next to me and bouncing as she talked. Blinking, I started taking notes on the side for the things getting rapidly added to the project. Sometimes I forgot what actual customers could be like. I’d also need more resources for this, as a flag system and finish line would need cloth and additional mechanical parts. Was there a smith in town? Carrot Cake started laughing behind the counter and trotted up, shaking his head. “I think we should focus on one thing at a time, Pinkie. I’m not even sure if Mender can do all that, let alone get the extra parts needed,” he pointed out pragmatically. The pink mare deflated a little, but nodded. “Oh. Uh, yeah! Sorry, I got a little excited there…” she apologized quietly, sitting down again and wiggling her front hooves together. Okay, yeah, a sad Pinkie Pie was one of the most disheartening things that could ever exist in Equus. Sighing, I bit the bullet and asked, “Is there a smith or parts seller in Ponyville? Doing something like a finish line with just enchantments and wooden cogs would be difficult. Some actual mechanical parts would be useful. I’ll also tackle it only under the condition that Pinkie helps decorate the whole track, and flags.” Pinkie gasped and spun to look at me almost instantly, her smile dancing back onto her muzzle faster than it took me to actually look at her. “Really?! I can help decorate it?!” she asked, starting to shiver again in what I could only assume was a miniature nuclear fusion reaction inside of her that powered her immense amounts of energy. Cup looked amused, but nodded at that. “There is a general parts store in town, next to Quills and Sofas, named Bargain Bin Replacements. They specialize in replacing mechanical parts in already built things, but I imagine you could find some parts there if you talk to them,” she suggested a moment later. Ah! That might be exactly what I needed. “Okay, I’ll go talk to them tomorrow. I assume they’re closed now. If they have the parts I need, though, I should be able to whip up a finish line and flag system for you with a bit of cloth,” I agreed, committing myself to at least trying, anyway. I didn’t like seeing Pinkie sad. The pink mare wiggled about and nodded before adding, “I have lots of arts and crafts upstairs, too! I’ll make the flags and finish line tonight, so they’ll be ready for tomorrow!” Oh, that was helpful indeed! I started to smile to her when my eyes widened instead as she ducked forward and gently pecked my cheek. Minor shows of affection shouldn’t really surprise me from the mare, but there was something about her smile that felt like it said ‘thank you’ instead. Had she picked up me not liking to see her sad from the link? I didn’t get a chance to ask her as she happily bounded away, announcing, “I’ll get started on them now!” I snickered at her energy until she stepped on the now forgotten treat tray and slipped. Her legs went out from under her and she rolled, sliding across the floor as the tray got shot into my legs at what felt like an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound. I winced as the blast of pain shot up my forelegs and they were knocked out from under me. Floor, meet my face. I’m sure you’re well acquainted now. It only took me a few seconds to realize I’d landed on the tray of cupcakes, and the squishy sensation was now stuck to various parts of my chest and barrel. Ugh… * * * * * “Don’t ask…” I muttered, noting Twilight’s confused stare as I walked back into the library at twenty-three hundred hours with cupcake frosting all over my fur. Pinkie had offered to clean me up, of course, but the way she had been eyeing the frosting had unnerved me. The last thing I needed was the mare trying to ‘clean’ me with her tongue. That could only lead to uncomfortable and awkward situations, I imagined. The lavender mare snickered instead and nodded, gesturing towards the stairs. “Fluttershy made it back while you were gone, and is running a bath for herself. She probably wouldn’t mind sharing, so long as you wiped most of the frosting off first,” she suggested with a smirk down at my chest again. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Sighing, I flattened my ears back and nodded weakly. “Will you be joining us, too?” I asked while slowly walking towards the stairs. My ankles hurt from where the tray bashed into them still, and I contemplated turning the nerve reaction down on them. Was it worth the tickling, tingling sensation when I turned them back on? Twilight blushed for a moment, considering it hesitantly before nodding. “Yeah, I’ll come up in a few minutes. I just have to finish washing out the scorch marks I made when chasing Discord. Two left to clean…” she finally agreed, pointing her head towards the one across the floor next to the main desk. I contemplated warning her about using heat-inducing elements inside of a house made from a tree, but decided against it and simply nodded. “Okay. We’ll keep the water warm for you,” I added, finally smiling and heading up the stairs. I felt her eyes lingering on me as I headed up, and then felt a few chunks of the now dry frosting fall off me, and she started giggling again. Rolling my eyes, I hopped up the rest of the stairs and slid to a stop in front of the bathroom door, catching a few more flakes of frosting with a barrier under me as I stopped moving. This stuff tasted great, but was disgusting to wear. Fur was really hard to clean, I noted. Listening at the door for a moment, I heard the water running in the tub, but no other sound of movement. Huh. Discord had better not be waiting on the other side of the door to grin at me or something when I opened it. Trying not to sigh again, I instead knocked lightly. Waiting several seconds, I frowned at the lack of reply and knocked a little harder. A long moment went past before I got a bit concerned and felt out the link. Fluttershy was inside the bathroom all right, but her pulse and breathing were really weak. Cracking the door open, I peeked inside a moment later, then relaxed and smiled again as I saw the yellow mare resting on the side of the tub. Her rump was on the carpet and her forelegs and head resided on the rim of the tub, eyes closed and her mane flowing about, framing her peaceful looking face. It looked like she’d been testing the water temperature when she fell asleep. Heading inside, I lightly closed the door behind me and slipped over next to the snoozing yellow mare. She did indeed have dirt stuck to her in a few spots. Her chest and tummy were especially dirty, as were her hooves and ankles. She probably had a lot of outdoor animals, too, though, and would have to get down on the ground and into the forest to get at some of them. I gently nudged her cheek with my muzzle, kissing her softly until she stirred. The yellow mare’s eyes opened slowly, and she looked up at me, feeling my link close to her as soon as she woke up. A smile danced across her muzzle, her having gotten used to waking up next to me at this point, and she leaned up and nuzzled me lightly before sniffing. Her smile shifted to a questioning look as she sniffed again, then glanced down at me and the sugary coating I’d recently acquired. Sighing, I explained, “Pinkie had an accident, and I was the victim.” Fluttershy’s smile returned and she giggled before nodding and sitting up off the bathtub a moment later. “Um, you shouldn’t get in with all that on you. The water would get really icky. I was going to wash off most of the dirt first, too. I think Twilight keeps extra towels under the sink…” she advised, slipping down past me and opening the cupboard under the sink to my left. Sure enough, there were a few dozen towels stacked neatly according to size and color underneath, indicating both parts of Fluttershy’s guess were correct. The towels were indeed kept under the sink, and Twilight had indeed put them there. “Here,” Fluttershy offered, sliding one out for me to use. I nodded and dipped it in the small amount of water that was in the bottom of the tub before using it to do a hard wipe down my chest. The frosting stuck to my fur like crazy, and I winced, probably taking a few hairs with it as I wiped myself down. At least, when I finally looked, the fur wasn’t missing in clumps or something. I didn’t want to give Zecora’s hair tonic another try, that was for sure. “Did you get tired out taking care of all of the animals, Fluttershy? I can take over getting the bath ready if you want to rest,” I offered to her as she cleaned her forelegs off with her towel. She blushed lightly but nodded and gave me a warmer smile after. “Yes. Some of them didn’t understand where I went for so long, and I had a lot to take care of. Quite a few of the families are getting ready for winter, too, and either migrating or stocking food up. It’s my job in Ponyville to help the nearby woodland critters get ready during Fall, and wake them up during Spring,” she explained quietly. Her eyes were drooping again, and I quickly finished cleaning my own frosting off before I took her towel from her. She gave me a slightly surprised look before smiling as I started to wipe her chest down and clean her fur as gently as I could. It took us almost five minutes to wipe ourselves down of a majority of the dirt and frosting. Carefully, I helped her up into the tub, careful not to stare at any naughty bits as she balanced and stepped down into it. She probably wouldn’t have cared, but noticing that through the link might have flustered her, and I didn’t want her falling. After she slipped into the water, I climbed over the lip myself and eased into the warm liquid. It was hot, but not hot enough to burn or hurt. Just enough to get that warm aching sensation through my cold forelegs. I shivered, and Fluttershy giggled suddenly. Opening my eyes, I gave her a curious glance, and she only giggled more. Finally, she explained, “You’re adorable when you’re relaxing…” I blushed gently, but she slid forward in the water and into my lap instead. I felt her fur against my chest and sighed as she closed her eyes again and laid out on my upper body with hers, her back legs tucked to the left side of me as she got comfortable. I was always surprised by how light she was, and I held her against me, smiling as she nuzzled under my chin and against my neck. “I missed you today, too. I wish there were more hours in the day so I could take care of all my animals and still get to hang out with you and Twilight,” she murmured. I squeezed her close before chuckling gently. “Careful. Twilight might have a time manipulation spell to test if she heard that…” I warned playfully, earning a giggle into my neck, which even felt adorable. “She’s already played with time once. It didn’t go well, so we should be safe,” she assured. Okay, yeah, I was curious, but I really, really didn’t want to ask. It was one of those things that you really wanted to do, but knew ahead of time that it would end horribly. “Well, I missed you, too, Fluttershy,” I finally answered, slipping back to her actual statement before I had gotten snarky. It was accompanied by a soft squeeze to her upper body that made her coo lightly and unfurl her wings a little, stretching them before pushing even harder against my chest. She really had missed me. I could almost feel how urgent her affections were. We sat like that for what felt like quite a while before we heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs. I felt her curiosity bubble up, and I gently nuzzled her ear before whispering, “Twilight’s coming up to join us.” The link had confirmed it was her, and I felt her stop in front of the door, hesitating for a moment. “Um, you can come in, Twilight!” Fluttershy called out, rotating partially on top of me so she could see the door. Twilight gave a start on the other side before slowly opening it and peeking in at us. “I… Well, I know I didn’t feel anything or… Well, yeah. I just didn’t know if you two needed, um, privacy or…” she started to excuse, blushing faintly. Heh. While this was the first time I’d been able to be with Fluttershy alone since actually before we left for Canterlot, I’d like to think we had more self-control than that. Snickering, I shook my head before assuring, “We’re just snuggling. Besides, Fluttershy’s really tired after her long day.” I felt the mare I was holding heat up slightly, but she managed a weak nod. “Um, not t-that tired, but… yes. We’re just snuggling, Twilight,” she agreed. She was always adorable when she tried to cover up things she thought would bother you. Still, for the mare that was literally sleeping on the rim of the bathtub when I came in… Twilight finally smiled and nodded, slipping forward and up to the tub. “Well, if you don’t mind me joining you, then…” she offered, giving us one last time to tell her ‘no’, it would seem. Shaking my head, I instead gestured for her to get in, and she exhaled softly before nodding and rising up over the lip. Getting into the tub was one thing. I didn’t expect her to simply roll, however, and fall into the water right next to Fluttershy! There were slight waves and the yellow mare squeaked in surprise. I tilted my head as I watched Twilight resurface, wet and straight now as she grinned up at me. I felt a little flare of heat enter my cheeks as she crawled forwards again and snuggled against the other side of my chest instead. Both of them?! “Snuggling looked amazing, and I decided I wanted some, too,” she chirped, getting a warmer smile from Fluttershy, who leaned over and kissed her lightly on the forehead, right under her horn. “Of course you can snuggle with us. It’s a big bathtub, and, um, I think we need some together time,” Fluttershy assured, smiling gently as she backed away. Twilight hesitated again, but nodded and relaxed against me, resting her head on my chest a few inches from Fluttershy’s. “Yeah. I think we need to spend a lot more time together. Um, my hesitation is proof enough from me, I guess. I should be comfortable with you two,” she admitted, sounding a tiny bit frustrated. I squeezed both of them and shook my head. “Relax, Twilight. I might not be an expert on relationships, but from my own feelings, I know it takes a while to get used to things. It doesn’t just happen instantly,” I pointed out. She gave me a soft nod before kissing my collarbone. “I know. This is good. This is a good start for us to really build up trust. We’re finally doing good, I think,” the lavender mare whispered, burying her face into the area between my chest and Fluttershy’s muzzle. Fluttershy slipped her forelegs forward and wrapped them around Twilight, holding her gently as I tried to hold both of them at once. My forelegs didn’t quite make it around the two of them, but it was enough to give them both a squeeze together. Again, I lost track of time as the two girls snuggled together against my chest, our wet fur intermingling back and forth as they occasionally nuzzled and kissed. It was beyond adorable, and I suddenly decided that I could probably watch them interact for hours without losing interest. Of course, the more they seemed to exchange affection, the longer and more drawn out each event became. The water was getting a bit cool, but I totally wasn’t going to say anything as both mares kissed rather heatedly while still resting on top of me. I could be really dense sometimes, but I wasn’t stupid! Unfortunately for the continuation of their fun, I was also a male. Focusing became more difficult, and I slid my hips back away from them just in case. Twilight snapped out of it and broke the kiss a moment later, giving me a curious look as I had broken away from them. Fluttershy knew, however, and only blushed furiously before coughing lightly. “Um, maybe the bath isn’t a good spot to… um…” she whispered. Twilight caught on and joined her in blushing before nodding weakly. “Oh! Uh, right… Um, sorry, Mender. We got a little carried away. We haven’t been alone together since we left for Canterlot either, so…” Twilight started to excuse, blush magnifying. Despite her pink cheeks, Fluttershy slipped up on the rim of the tub and grabbed her towel instead. “Why don’t we, um, move to the bed? It might be more comfortable for cuddling…” she suggested timidly. Wait, what?! Was she really…? Twilight’s eyes widened as much as mine did, and her pink turned to scarlet as it danced up the base of her muzzle, too. “W-Wait… today?! Right now?!” she asked, horror starting to slip back into her voice. To my surprise, Fluttershy leaned over and kissed Twilight instead. The lavender mare’s eyes widened, but she relaxed a little and nuzzled back into it before Fluttershy pulled back again. “Calm down, Twilight. Um, just a little bit at a time, right? It’ll be slow, with lots of time to think about everything,” she assured softly. Twilight blushed furiously, but stayed relaxed this time, slowly nodding as she looked over at me. I tried to give her an assuring nod, but also felt my own cheeks flaring up with heat. This was going to be an interesting experience, no matter what happened. I sat in the tub and let them get out first, watching the two dry each other off between more kisses from Fluttershy. There really wasn’t enough room for three ponies between the wall and the sink anyway, so I waited my turn to get out and dry off. Fluttershy turned back to look at me as they finished, her face flushed red in a very familiar way. “Um, pull the plug after you get out, Mender. We’ll wait for you on Twilight’s bed. I’m going to make her more comfortable,” she suddenly shot directly into my mind in a faint whisper, barely audible. Twilight wouldn’t have heard that, and still stared in a mixture of horror and eagerness at Fluttershy’s neck. I gave a light nod, and Fluttershy smiled before standing again and leading Twilight to her hooves. “Come on, Twilight. Let’s, um, give Mender a bit of room to dry off,” she suggested, leading the lavender mare to the door. “Um, y-yeah. Can I, um, talk to you, Fluttershy?” Twilight quickly spat out as they exited the bathroom. Fluttershy gave a soft nod before shutting the bathroom door, and I was left sitting alone in the bathtub, a torrent of mixed feelings running through my mind. This was either going to be really amazing or really disastrous. I didn’t have a single clue as to which way it was leaning. Swallowing uncomfortably, I stiffly stood back up in the tub and stepped over the lip carefully. Using up a second towel for the evening, I slowly dried myself off, hopefully giving them time to talk. Of course, it also calmed me down, too, just in case they backed out of it when I got out there, which also wouldn’t surprise me. With a sense of dread and anticipation, I slowly waited for what was to come while absently wiping myself down… Chapter 81Sighing, I slowly opened the door and peeked out into the room, not sure what to expect in the slightest. I was dry and the tub was fully drained now, so I really couldn't delay any longer, even for a panic attack. Would there be panic, excitement, something in between, or would both mares be gone, entirely changing their minds and abandoning ship to find a more private spot? Given the myriad of thoughts and feelings rushing through me, I didn't know if I was disappointed or delighted to find both mares watching me from the bed. Maybe Fluttershy springing our first time on me by total surprise was a more merciful method, given that I had no time to think. An awkward four seconds passed with us just staring at each other. There were no new, Twilight-shaped holes in the wall afterwards, so I assumed we were off to a good start. The lavender mare herself appeared to be utterly frozen in place, but Fluttershy smiled softly and gestured for me to approach. I ran through a nervous checklist in my head while carefully approaching, sensations somewhere between eager and horrified bouncing in my chest. Tub draining? Check. Every inch of me clean and dry? Check. Subdermal armor operating at peak performance? Double check! The yellow mare smiled to me as I climbed up onto the bed like I had a half dozen times prior. This time it was nerve wracking, however. Twilight's head rotated in time with my movements as she watched me, eyes massive. She looked as if she were watching some huge tiger stalking up towards her, which was actually kind of sad. My heart sunk a little, but Fluttershy slipped between the two of us and smiled softly at me. "Did you remember to drain the tub?" she asked quietly, momentarily distracting me as my mind was forced to process something other than the sheer horror of the situation. Blinking once, I gathered my wits and nodded. "Yes, it should be draining right now," I informed, earning a pleased nod as she relaxed. To my surprise, she laid down on the blankets instead, partially in-between Twilight and me before settling into a relaxed posture. Wait, what? Twilight looked just as surprised as I felt, and I wondered idly if I had misread her statement as innuendo when it actually wasn't. She really wanted to just cuddle? "I missed this last night," Fluttershy murmured wistfully as she looked over at the lavender mare next to her instead. "Um, don't get me wrong! I love being with you and snuggling and everything, Twilight. I don't mean to imply I don't. It's just... I like it when all three of us are together. We should spend more time as a herd," she quickly elaborated, eyes flashing apologetic as she quickly corrected herself. Twilight visibly relaxed a bit and smiled finally, nodding to her. "I knew what you meant, Fluttershy. But you're right, of course. We should strive to be together at least a few hours each day, not including sleep. We also owe it to Mender to make him feel welcome," she agreed, looking over at me as she added the last part. Relaxing, I smiled and nodded to her. "Thank you, girls. Still, don't neglect your own relationship in order to do so," I warned. That was the last thing I wanted to see! Both mares looked at each other, then Fluttershy smiled and shook her head, sliding up further and snuggling into Twilight’s side. I found myself smiling a bit wider at the adorable display, and Twilight obviously couldn’t help but slide her forelegs around Fluttershy, who nuzzled up into her chest. Yeah, I could watch Fluttershy all day, honestly… Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Twilight’s as they rested together, then her left one extended out to gesture to me with a smile. Ha! Now she wanted snuggles from both of us. Sliding forward, I hugged the yellow mare as well, and Twilight sighed and leaned forward, resting her forehead against mine as we sandwiched Fluttershy between us. Yeah, we definitely needed to spend more time like this. The pegasus gave a content murmur as she wiggled to rotate and snuggle into both of us about equally. I let her adjust, then smirked as she leaned up and kissed Twilight under the chin. She was staying true to her other little secret, anyway. I think I was one of the only ponies in Equestria who knew that baths made Fluttershy really, really affectionate. I decided to potentially reevaluate my conclusion, however, as Twilight sighed and leaned down instead, capturing Fluttershy’s kiss with her own. Maybe it just made mares more affectionate in general? Wait… I watched them kiss for a bit as Fluttershy sighed into it and gave Twilight a squeeze, then felt a familiar twitch. Ah. Fluttershy had managed to defuse that situation expertly. Despite suddenly realizing this, I still felt rather relaxed seeing Twilight happy over it all, so I just rested there, gently rubbing Fluttershy’s back as her wings slowly shivered. Yup, she was still turned on. As the kiss got more involved, and the familiar flush crept up onto each of their chests and cheeks, I suddenly got the random urge to look away in order to give them ‘privacy’. It was kind of silly, really, now that I considered it fully. I was supposed to be here, and that was the entire point of this, well, whatever you’d call it. Exercise in gaining familiarity? Yeah, that was a polite way to phrase it. I felt a little Rarity in my head nodding back to me, and smirked. It was almost thirty seconds later when Fluttershy finally shivered and broke away, her wings shifting back and forth as I slowly massaged around their base. A little strand of saliva connected the two mares, and Twilight was blushing softly as well, and gave an almost hungry grin towards the yellow pegasus, who winked and looked back over at me as well. “We can’t leave Mender out either, though. He deserves a little attention now,” she reminded, causing Twilight’s eyes to flick to the side and lock onto me as well. She hesitated, but Fluttershy shifted around and slipped out of her lap, moving into mine instead as she pushed me gently to the side, into the pillows. Oh? She had a plan, then? “Just to get Twilight more used to you, she’s going to instead watch us, okay?” Fluttershy suggested softly, smiling down at me from over my chest now, blush getting a bit stronger as she searched my expression for affirmation. This might go well after all… * * * * * “And what did we learn?” Fluttershy asked, sounding more than a little annoyed and frustrated over the whole thing. Sighing, I lay carefully on my side on the hospital bed, more IVs put into my foreleg to do pain management along my spine and back, where the spell had shot once it got done ravaging my far more sensitive areas. I still couldn’t feel anything in it, which I was both thankful for, and a little concerned over. That was perfect. Just perfect. “Stop being stupid…?” Twilight groaned, face still buried in my thigh as she wrapped her forelegs around my waist. That was… rather generic, and untrue in her case. If anything, she desperately lacked common sense, not intelligence. Fluttershy kissed the back of my neck softly, snuggling into my back instead as we relaxed there and waited for the full diagnostic to be read out loud. Nurse Redheart looked over the paper in front of her on my bedside table with a healthy expression of skepticism before flipping to the second page. “Admittedly, I didn’t expect you back so soon, or to be assigned yet another night in the hospital, this time for pain management…” she muttered, scanning over the second page much faster. Twilight gave another frustrated groan into my hip, still not looking up at anypony. Exhaling, I leaned back against the two of them a bit more, kind of disappointed that it had all turned out so poorly. “I’m going to be here for a while. You two should at least go home and get some sleep,” I pointed out, checking Clocky only to note it was twenty-three hundred hours. “Mender… Please, I’m sorry. I’m going to make it up to you tomorrow for sure,” Twilight promised yet again, still not looking up from my hip. “It was a mistake, Twilight. They happen. Relax and go get some rest with Fluttershy. It’s late,” I suggested to both of them. Fluttershy kissed the back of my neck once more before slowly standing again. Behind me on the bed, the lavender mare attached to my hip didn’t move, however. I’d be concerned if I didn’t still feel her breath tickling the fur on my Cutie Mark. It was even well past ‘visiting’ hours, but Red wasn’t about to kick them out, obviously. Fluttershy slipped up next to her and nudged her in the side until she at least rolled over. She looked up at the yellow mare with red eyes, still looking rather miserable, despite not being the one that got their spine vibrated. Okay, so maybe I was a little miffed still. But it was hard to stay angry at her when she was so good at beating herself up over it. Wait, that sounded familiar. Oh yeah, it was exactly what Applejack and I were also good at. “Come on, Twilight. Let’s go get some sleep and let Mender do the same. We’ll hold you to your promise for tomorrow instead,” the yellow mare spoke, still sounding more than a little upset. She of course had mentioned that she had missed me the night before when I was stuck in the hospital. This was almost as if the universe was rubbing it in her face now. Twilight nodded and stood at that, exhaling quietly before reiterating, “Again, tomorrow. I will make it up to you.” I gave her a weak smile and she just winced and quickly looked away for a moment before reaching up and brushing her hoof against Fluttershy’s shoulder. They were gone in a flash of illumination to the room. Red shook her head as she turned back to the first page and slid it idly around on the table for a moment, looking tired still. “I definitely need a break soon, so try not to let her maim you tomorrow while ‘making it up’ to you, okay?” the nurse requested weakly, sliding sideways and resting her head on my mattress close to my forelegs. Smiling at that, I offered, “Once you get me set up here, just go rest, Red. I’ve got, what, four hours of pain meds in the bags?” She smiled as well towards me and nodded at that. “You’re a sweetheart. Yeah, I might go take a nap once you get settled. Still, the call button works if you need anything,” she agreed, relaxing a little as she slid the paper onto her clipboard instead. It was amazing how good she was at balancing that thing on her forelegs… I nodded to her and closed my eyes, relaxing against the pillows as I felt her slide the sheets up over me and suggest, “Try to get some sleep, Mender. We’ll make sure you’re okay in the morning, then get you on your way.” Well, with any luck, I should still be able to do the job for the Cakes tomorrow. That I had been worried about, admittedly. “Good night, Red,” I muttered, and the lights turned out as I heard her hoofsteps heading out the door of the room… * * * * * Ugh. What a day. Resting on my back, upside down and looking up at the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner, I stretched out and slid my plans up in front of me again. One master support for both ends of the ‘racing’ stretch would cover the weight of the entire thing, plus an extra forty pounds, so I assumed I was covered there. If the Cakes started making twenty pound donuts, they’d have to come talk to me first… The smaller brackets that held the individual track pieces up were a fourth of the size of the master supports, but I’d need a whole heck of a lot more of them. I also needed four trolleys for the treats themselves, one for each track. They were already built now, and the enchantments were put on them. It was rather simple really. Four spots on the counter where the little baskets would sit. A treat put on the baskets would initiate the tiny side barriers to hold it in place. Once they were ready for delivery, with any number of the baskets filled, a gem under the counter could be tapped and it would form a thin barrier line up to the rail connectors on the ceiling. That would lift all four up, or however many were filled, and start the race. Each treat basket had two possible delivery points to cover the eight tables the Cakes had set up, toggle-able with levers under the counter. The solar rechargeable battery that powered the whole thing was sitting in the window charging right now, and I’d made two replacement gem batteries for them, with the resources already purchased. These gems were really useful for storing energy! So far, I’d gotten the counter set up, the four baskets made, and the complicated starting line finished. Oh, and the three batteries, of course. Which was another issue. If I knew more about the gems and how they worked, I could probably have set up my device to use the universal ‘batteries’ that I saw already being produced, but as it stood so far, I had to modify the battery in order to get it to work with my design. So if they wanted more batteries, for now, they’d have to get them from me instead. Maybe I could upgrade that later down the road once I figure out how the gems functioned. Mrs. Cake was more than understanding, thankfully. She acted like it was already a shock that I’d made them two extra batteries from the resources, which was kind of weird, honestly. Now I was working on the tracks themselves. I’d already had most of the track rails made now, but it was getting on supper time, and I was running out of day to finish all of this in. This was going to take a while to make the entire tracks as well. My barriers held nicely, connected into the ceiling and holding all of my tools while giving me a spot to lay on as I worked. These I worked into enchantments so I could detach them from my energy supply, which was a good thing or I’d be dead tired by now. They also had a solar feed that was stuck out two different windows now, which should be workable for a few more hours anyway. I was running out of sunlight, too, which was another reason to finish this part of the project now, while I still had the barriers. My stomach growled, and I growled back, then proceeded to ignore it. Spike had been the only one at the library when I’d gotten myself checked out of the hospital. Interestingly enough, he refrained from admitting where he’d been the night before. Regardless, Fluttershy had left early before breakfast even, excusing herself over some sort of animal problem to look into. I had the sneaking suspicion it was more than that, given how uneasy Spike had looked over it. Twilight had left as well, apparently for a meeting with Mayor Mare over the upcoming events tomorrow and scheduling things. She’d skipped breakfast, too, and left abruptly, which also sounded bad. So between the two, he hadn’t cooked breakfast. He offered to for just me, but I couldn’t make him whip up an entire meal for one pony. Sheesh. So I’d skipped breakfast, too. And lunch, because I was working. And now supper, because I was still working. Attaching the third bracket, I slid further down the barrier, taking my tools with me as I moved to the next track location. I heard laughter echo out from behind the closed door of the kitchen and tried not to grumble to myself. Not having eaten anything all day caused the lovely smells coming from the kitchen to be agonizing. No, focus! Intentionally speeding up, I went through three more brackets rather mindlessly, following the instructions I’d made myself for position and how far down they needed to be. Working and keeping myself busy was a good way to keep my mind off all of the usual troubles I was having. Of course, I had been worried about what happened to cause everypony to behave so strangely. “Are ya sure he’s in ‘ere somewhere? Ain’t Sugarcube Corner closed anyway?” I suddenly heard in a very familiar sounding dialect. Freezing, my eyes widened as I still stuck to the ceiling, screwing in the fifth bracket for the track. Oh no. Those three could potentially eat up a tremendous amount of my time, and then I wouldn’t finish by tonight! “Of course! Totally saw him go in this morning. I think he’s setting up that cool track thing for the Cakes!” Scootaloo chirped, sounding excited. Figured she’d be interested in ‘anything’ racing. It sounded almost like they were just outside. Looking to my left, down through the window below me, I saw just the tip of a purple tail, which confirmed that all three were looking right at the door. Crap. There was a soft sigh, then Sweetie’s voice added, “Aww, come on. I really wanted to see him today. I haven’t gotten to see him since he got back! Stupid hospital…” It was hardly the hospital’s fault that Twilight blasted me in the… no, no, I was trying to calm down and stay relaxed. Calm, peaceful thoughts! “Uh, ah yah suah? If it’s closed, I don’t wanna get in trawble,” came a very unfamiliar voice, in a hard to place dialect. I remembered back to that interesting newspaper mare, and took a guess at Manehatten. This was a much younger voice, however. Scootaloo assured whomever it was with a, “Yeah! Pinkie Pie’s cool, and so are the Cakes, so I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if we just went in to see Mender. Like we told ya, he’s super cool!” Sighing, I decided it was probably inevitable that they’d be coming in, and quickly got back to work to finish as much as I could before getting interrupted. “So ya say. I guess he must be, given haw much ya tawk ahbout him. Sweetie’s crushin awn him hawd, too,” the new foal pointed out. It sounded like a filly, however. Sweetie giggled at that as she opened the door, explaining, “Of course I do! He even knows about it! He says I have to wait a few years, and if I still have feelings for him then, I can talk to him seriously about it.” I blinked at that, finishing adjusting the bracket I was working on while listening. Admittedly, that was a lot more level-headed than I’d last heard her talk about it. Maybe Rarity had indeed calmed her down a bit. “Aww. Ah thought ya said he was ‘ere, Scoots!” Apple Bloom whined, walking into the room further and practically right under me. Nopony ever looked up… Peeking over my barrier, I saw the three of them slip into the shop, followed by a filly looking to be roughly the same age. She was an Earth Pony, and sported a darker orange coat, short cropped strawberry mane and tail, pretty green eyes, and also no Cutie Mark. She ‘felt’ like a member of the Apple Family just by looking. I assumed it was the colors. Eh. Rolling off my platform, I fell the three meters or so to the floor. All four fillies squeaked and jumped at the same time as I landed, a loud thump and shake going through the floorboards. That wouldn’t have been fun had the floor given away. I was glad I wasn’t in any of my armor. Apple Bloom recovered first, despite being the closest to me when I landed, and smirked at me as I stood up fully again. “Hey, girls. Is there something you needed?” I asked politely, giving the three of them a warm smile, and peeking curiously over at the newcomer. Her wide eyes were shrinking a little, and she looked up at my glowing platform for a moment before returning her gaze to me, looking surprised now but not utterly shocked. “Mender!” Sweetie chirped, running past Apple Bloom in an instant and lightly pouncing my left foreleg, smiling up at me as she hugged it to herself. I smiled down at her and rubbed the top of her head, earning a giggle and a nuzzle to my shoulder. Scootaloo recovered next and smirked, nodding in amusement to me. “I knew you’d be in here working on the Cake’s race thingy! We wanted to introduce ya to the fourth Cutie Mark Crusader!” she cheered, causing me to look back at the new filly, who was now suddenly blushing under the spotlight of the situation. Ah, she had a shy streak in her… AB, however, puffed up and properly introduced, “This ‘ere’s mah cousin, Babs Seed. She’s from Manehatten! She’s visitin’ all o’ us fer tha Fall Festivities. Ah told ya you’d meet her.” Smiling towards the filly, I lifted my right forehoof up towards her. She shrank back slightly and stared at it for a moment before hesitantly stepping up and touching her much smaller hoof to mine, shaking it up and down slowly. “I thawt ya told me he has tentahcles,” Babs inquired a moment later, lifting an eyebrow at me. I raised an eyebrow as well, but shifted to the now sheepish looking Apple Bloom. The yellow filly chuckled weakly, looking back over at Babs before hastily reminding, “Ah told ya! He can pop ‘em in an’ out!” Uh… Sweetie winced at that, and then hissed, “I told you it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell her before getting permission from Mender.” Rolling my eyes, I nodded to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, then instructed, “Close the shades.” They both grinned and shot off to the various windows as Sweetie sat down next to me, in the same instant I sat down. Babs watched them with slight amusement before looking back at me and giving me the appraising eye. I just sat there and let her check me over. It was interesting that she took a short cropped mane and tail approach, giving her a bit less feminine appearance. Still, her build and muzzle structure gave her gender away readily enough. I wondered if the longer styles for mares were just a thing here in Canterlot and Ponyville. The room slowly lessened in light until it was getting hard to see the others. Once the last curtain was pulled, I inquired, “How much did they tell you? And you do realize this is technically a national secret at the moment, right?” Her eyes widened a little and she swallowed before nodding. “Dey said it wos ah big, impawtant secret, yah. That you’re an alien, and some sawt of mechanicol pony?” she explained, tilting her head to me as I nodded. “Yeah, Ti… err… Princess Celestia doesn’t want the secret spread around yet, and neither do I, really. It’s hard enough thinking of myself as a normal pony when I don’t have… large amounts of attention drawn to it. Regardless..." I started, deciding that I might as well get this over with. I closed my eyes and flicked on my full scanners, opening them a second later and spreading blue light across the fillies, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo catching up again. Babs perked up as she saw the sudden color shift and now light being produced by my eyes, the mechanical whirling noise plainly audible in the quiet room as I knew the zoom lenses were rotating around in them, focusing in slowly on Babs as all my eye displays lit up. Her eyes widened as she peeked closer into my actual pupils where she could see the moving images. Smiling at her curiosity, I wondered if she’d be the same once she saw the armor. It folded out as I thought about it, her eyes widening even further as she stepped backwards half a step, shifting to an uncertain look as the ridges of my blackened gray armor appeared. The layers of it folded over my shoulders, torso, back, and down my legs as I left the helmet off intentionally, stepping up as it finished plating over my hooves as well. Now I was taller, larger, and significantly heavier by a good hundred and twenty pounds. “Whoa…” was all she managed to say as she stood her ground and looked me over, her cousin slipped up next to her. “Told ya it was cool! Show her tha tentacles!” the yellow filly chirped, smiling up in the blue light coming off me. Smirking, I nodded as my armor folded over my head, and felt them spasm along my back before slowly extending out. The filly’s eyes got bigger and bigger as the cluster of tentacles extended off my back, going skywards while wiggling slightly as I stretched them out. It had been a while since I used them, but thankfully they weren’t all that stiff. Lowering them to generally drift around me, I extended my right shoulder one, one of the larger ones by a small degree, in front of her slowly. Apple Bloom bumped up against her side and nodded as she calmed down a little, then turned and looked down at the tentacle gently displayed for her. Hesitantly, she reached out and nudged it with her hoof for just a moment before tilting her head to the side. It didn’t move any when she poked it, so she then reached out with both forehooves and squished them around it, letting them poke to each side of it. After a few seconds of this, she smiled again and relaxed, wiggling it about a little. Apple Bloom lifted both hooves up to me and grinned, hopping lightly until my other tentacle slipped down and wrapped around her torso. Apple Bloom cheered happily, earning a surprised stare from Babs as she watched her cousin lifted up with her legs out, pretending she was flying. Scootaloo grinned and leapt over Babs with a flap of energy from her wings, and was snatched out of the air by another of my tentacles. She grinned, then ‘chased’ after Apple Bloom, directing where my tentacle went by which way her torso was turned. Sweetie was content to just smile up at me, two of my tentacles sliding down to wrap around her and gently squish her against my left side, giving her an excuse to nuzzle my shoulder again. “Wow. Ya con control dem awll at once, den?” Babs asked, watching her friend and cousin get spun around in the air laughing, then looking down at Sweetie, who was playing with one of the ones wrapped over her shoulder. Nodding, I added, “Yeah, I can control each one separately. They’re also really strong, but obviously I have to be careful that nopony sees me with all of this stuff-“ As if I’d summoned it myself, the door into the kitchen took that exact moment to open up. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom dropped, landing on my back thankfully after my armor collapsed into me at frighteningly quick speeds, and I sucked tentacles in left and right. By the time Mrs. Cake turned and looked over at me, I was back to my normal self, amber-gold eyes included as I returned her gaze. She raised an eyebrow as she looked around again, looking at the darkened room. For a tense moment, I realized Babs was still holding the one tentacle that was outside of my body, and I didn’t want to just rip it away from her and hurt her. Instead, however, she shifted to the side and covered the tentacle from sight with her body as I rotated it down my foreleg to extend from my elbow instead. Cup Cake looked back to me finally before asking, “Why is it so dark in here, Mender? Surely you could work better with the shades up?” Thinking fast, I simply explained, “I was just showing the fillies magic tricks.” My hoof extended up to form a fun pyramid shape made out of simple barriers above it in the dark, glowing and illuminating the area with the silvery blue light. She perked at the mention of fillies, then looked up at my back as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo waved innocently at her. That brought out a smile and she nodded happily to them. “Ah, distracting him, are you? Well, it’s probably about time for supper anyway, so why don’t you all come in here to get some food?” she chirped, totally buying my blatant lie. Wait, food? My stomach rumbled loud enough to echo in the quiet house and I, and apparently every other pony in the room, turned to look at it. Oh, right. Food. “Um, I’d love to but I didn’t bring any bits with me,” I explained, giving a sheepish look up at Cup’s knowing smirk. “Really, Mender? You’re doing a ton of work for us, and have almost completed it after working for most of the day non-stop. The least we can do is give you a bonus and feed you. Get in here,” she ordered, leaving no room for denial. Shrinking a bit, I nodded to her and earned giggles from my spontaneous passengers. Babs puffed up and smirked at me, nodding as well. “Yah, get in dere and eat wit us!” she echoed. “Oh, now you’re tough stuff, huh?” I asked playfully as I pounced at her, the other two on my back squeaking, then laughing as Babs squealed and slipped under the table, running for the kitchen. Grinning, I continued, “Hang on!” With that, to the surprise of both fillies and Mrs. Cake, I turned once and then leapt sideways. We cleared the top of the table as I tucked my legs up, then descended over the other side. Babs laughed and yelped as we hit right behind her, and we all shot into the kitchen, Sweetie giggling and running under the table after us… * * * * * Over the course of the really nice meal the Cakes and Pinkie had provided, I’d actually learned quite a bit about Babs. Bullying was definitely something I could relate to, of course. It driving her to be the bully was something I’d seen a lot, and admittedly, my donor Keldarian fell victim to, at least in how he handled Keela after the incident. It was all understandable, and she seemed relieved to some extent anyway that I thought as much. She also talked about her life in Manehatten to some extent. Large cities didn’t really bother me, but the other three crusaders seemed almost captivated by it. I didn’t particularly care where I was living at, so long as the ponies I cared about were there. And given that they were all here in Ponyville for the most part, this is where I lived, of course. Rather simple, and I really liked things simple. Babs’ life was a fairly stable one as well. She went to school in Manehatten, but was planning on potentially moving to Ponyville here after graduating. She and Apple Bloom had really hit it off. She even started her own ‘chapter’ of the CMC. It was exceptionally cute. "So yoah really ah membah of the CMC? Yah already gaht yoah Cutie Mark, dough," she pointed out, gesturing to the mark on my hip. Smiling as I ate another piece of the extremely tasty banana bread, I looked over at Pinkie, who grinned and nodded twice, happy to explain it for me. "He totally lost his memory, and apparently forgot what his Cutie Mark was, too! When he showed up in the hospital here about a month or so ago, he was a blank flank, too!" she chirped. Mr. Cake smirked behind her while wiping the kitchen counter down, probably having heard a lot about it already. "Noh way! Fer reahl?" Babs asked, eyes widening as she looked over at me yet again, from my left. Pinkie was across from me, having just plowed through four slices of the bread herself. Sweetie was to my immediate right, Apple Bloom to Babs' left, and Scootaloo across from her, next to Pinkie. The Cakes had given us an entire tray of banana bread slices, which they'd technically run out of frosting for. Without the super sweet layer, however, they made a rather decent 'normal' meal. The fillies were disappointed, but I was pleased just to have the sustenance. Scootaloo smirked and shot back, "Of course! We were the ones who found him hurt near the stream and went to get Applejack. He was closer to the farm by the time he finished washing down the stream," she added. I inwardly sighed as I swallowed my current bite, kinda wishing she'd left choice bits of that out. Aiming to switch the topic back to the intended one, I quickly added, "It's true. I didn't have a Cutie Mark when I got here, and your cousin swore me into the Crusaders before I got it back. I've only had it for about two weeks now. I'm still going to help the Crusaders regardless, though. Friendship is even deeper than finding your Cutie Marks, no?" I had a sneaking suspicion these fillies would remain friends long, long after they all had their marks, after all. Sweetie giggled, then spoke up from the other side of me with, “Once a Crusader, always a Crusader! We’re stuck with each other.” She jutted her hoof into the air as she said it, making it sound more like a rallying cry. The other three smiled and did the same, however, so maybe it was? Snickering, I set my sandwich down and mimicked them, earning a squeak and hug from my right from the little unicorn. Scootaloo frowned for a moment, however, lowering her hoof and scratching at her chin before asking, “What’s going to happen to the Cutie Mark Crusaders after we all get our Cutie Marks, though?” Hmm? Oh. “Yah mean the club, roit?” Babs asked, tilting her head to the pegasus. To my surprise, Mrs. Cake smiled softly as she set another tray of bread down, this time cooked just for us. “It doesn’t have to stop with you fillies. I imagine that, in all of Equestria, there’s quite a lot of fillies and colts that are frustrated over not having their Cutie Marks. Instead of it being something to be put down, however, you could help them to instead see that it’s something that brings them together, just like you girls,” she pointed out, smiling at them all as their eyes widened. “Ya think we could, I dunno, help out fillies an’ colts in other cities? Or even after we get our marks?” Apple Bloom asked, instead looking to her fellow Crusaders. They all hesitated, unsure of that answer, but it seemed fairly obvious to me, anyway. “Sounds like a youth group to me. That said, yeah, I think you could do it. Maybe even register it officially as an Equestrian club?” I suggested. Mrs. Cake was right. The Crusaders were definitely a good thing, and encouraging good things to continue was something I definitely could stand for. “Oh, hey, that’s right! Mender knows Princess Celestia and Princess Luna personally! Could you maybe put in a good word for us?” Scoots asked hopefully, her wings fluttering behind her as she smiled. Heh, I wouldn’t have told her no anyway, so acting absurdly cute was just overkill. I’d expected that when I suggested it, though. Snickering, I responded with, “I’ll tell them if you four want, but I have a feeling they’d think it was a good idea even without me saying anything. Why don’t you ask Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about it yourselves? I think they’d be very happy to hear about it.” Scootaloo gasped at that, but Apple Bloom grinned and nodded rapidly, whacking her hoof against the table. “It’s settled, then! Ah think we should talk ta tha Princesses about maybe makin’ tha Cutie Mark Crusaders official! Think o’ all tha fillies an’ colts like us that we could help find their Cutie Marks fer!” she announced wistfully. I just smiled at that, not saying anything as I munched down another slice of bread, and Mrs. Cake snickered quietly. All four were in agreement with that, of course, and I had a feeling we might be bringing them with our next excursion to Canterlot. Wait, actually, that was a fairly good idea. Perking, I turned and looked to my left at the majority of the Crusaders and revealed, “Actually, I’m headed back to Canterlot for a day or so in a week or two from now. DReg has its first established meeting, and I’ll be meeting with the Princesses then. What would you say to coming along with, if Babs is sticking around that long?” All three perked up as well, then Sweetie leaned over from my right. “Really? You’d take us to Canterlot with you just for the Cutie Mark Crusaders?!” she asked, stabbing me in the face again with the cute levels. I was going to get diabetes yet, at this rate… Rubbing her on the head, I reminded, “I told you, I’m a Crusader, too, and I’m going to help you all as much as I can. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow are coming along anyway, so I doubt they’d mind if their little sisters come, too. Although…” Turning and looking at Babs, she smirked and shook her head. “I won’t be stayin in Ponyville dat long, but I dawt my folks will have any prawblems lettin me come bock fer somethin so important. Could I meet yah, like, the day befoah?” she asked hopefully. Apple Bloom quickly answered, “O’ course! Tha Apple Family don’t turn its back on anypony, especially family!” They smiled at each other, and I nodded in agreement. “Same. I don’t think the Crusaders should do it without you, so we’ll wait,” I assured. All four smiled at me and nodded in unison, and I was pleased to make them happy, even if it did mean delaying my own work. Eh, I’d just stay late if I had to. There was a quiet moment as the fillies dug into the next tray of bread, and I relaxed, finishing the piece I was currently working on. Mrs. Cake sat down to finish a piece herself, then smiled softly at me before commenting, “I’m probably not the first to tell you this, but you’d make a really good father, I suspect.” I felt my cheeks heat a bit as I looked away, and she started snickering, of course. “Ah, I knew I wasn’t the first to tell you that,” she added, somehow magically reading my mind. Or at least my body language. Why did so many mares think that?! I liked foals, yeah, but I didn’t think I was particularly responsible, or amazingly good at taking care of them. Sweetie grinned, of course, then spoke up with, “I think Fluttershy will be the first to have a foal with him!” Ah! I gave her an annoyed shove just under her horn, but she only grinned up at me as she rocked playfully in her chair. “Enough of that. Sheesh. Anyway, I really do need to get back to work, you four. I’ve got to finish this by tonight,” I reminded, gesturing back towards the still open door to the main room. Pinkie giggled at that and hopped up from her chair, nodding. “I know! Why don’t we all help you out?! I mean, I’m done cooking for the night in here and we have all the treats ready for tomorrow, so why don’t we make sure the track is all super decorated and awesome looking! Plus, you’ll get it done much faster!” she cheered. Oh hell. I had a feeling that exactly the opposite of that would prove true, but it was too late now as all of the fillies cheered, minus Babs who looked surprised at the sudden turn of events more than anything. Trying not to sigh out loud, I weakly smiled and nodded to the bouncing mare, then hoped for the best. No, no I didn’t. I was going to be here well into the night at this rate… * * * * * Sliding along my barrier platform, I hooked up the last bracket into the ceiling in its proper location, making sure to get it nice and secure. Pinkie giggled, her back hooves resting on my shoulders as she ‘followed’ me along my sliding motion, laying the track for the treat gondolas right behind me laying the brackets down. I was eating my own words, admittedly, as Pinkie proved quite dedicated as a worker when she put her mind to it, and somehow managed to still have fun while doing so. “This is the last of the track. After this, we just have the start and finish line, then trial runs,” I confirmed, looking up at her before remembering her tail was literally sitting on top of my head, and saw nothing but pink. I did hear a giggle, however, and she chirped, “I can’t wait for the testing! Plus, I got the start and finish lines done last night, so we just have to hook them up! They’re exactly the length you told me to make them.” She seemed proud of that, and I smiled up into her tail, causing her to snicker. No, I didn’t even try to consider if she could ‘feel’ me smiling through her tail. Some things weren’t meant for mortal minds to ponder. Spinning to my hooves, I rotated and caught Pinkie’s as she giggled and slid down to where I just was, then hooked up the last section of the track into the bracket I just placed. “And done!” she announced in a singsong tone as she clipped it firmly into its spot. Smirking, I nodded to her, then lowered our platform segment towards the floor as Babs trotted up with the full tray of tools still balanced on her back, a smile on her face. “This looks reahlly awesome. Ahr we gonna git to see it wohrk tonight?” she asked, sounding more than a little excited, despite her attempts to play the stoic, collected, and mature filly. I was starting to get to know her a little bit, anyway. “Yup. That’s what the test runs are for. To make sure it runs smoothly and nothing catches on fire!” I assured, smirking towards her as her eyes widened a little bit. Scootaloo snickered in amusement before tacking on, “He’s joking. Probably.” She zipped up with her energy wings on, hooking the wire up along the track that Pinkie just laid, not needing the platform obviously to reach it. Flying must be so amazing. Although the other phenotypes had their perks, too. Sweetie sat on the counter, humming a tune to herself as her horn glowed softly. Tiny felt flags that Pinkie had made drifted in the air around her, lifting towards the ceiling and sliding into place along the brackets. Only a single extension of my enchantment came off her horn to power it, indicating she’d gotten better at controlling her magic since I gave it to her. Apple Bloom was also abusing her enchantment, her legs glowing softly and sliding up her back as she lifted the entire parts box, which was significantly larger than she was, and rested it on her back while following Sweetie around the top of the counter, extra decorations drifting out of it with magic. They were all a good team, that was for sure. Mr. and Mrs. Cake also were working around the room, cleaning and wiping things down carefully to prepare for tomorrow. Well, at least when there weren’t cries coming from upstairs that would send one of them running towards it. Little foals seemed a lot harder to take care of. To my surprise, the door opened as Pinkie and I were headed back to the counter to get the actual ‘racing’ components. The setting sun illuminated the pearly unicorn, who gave us a rather radiant smile as she trotted in, looking quite pleased with life in general at the moment. “Good evening, Pinkie Pie. Hello again, Mender. Ah, and Sweetie. How’d I guess I’d find you here?” Rarity chirped, not missing a beat as she swished her mane out of her face and headed over to us. Sweetie blushed softly and fidgeted, but I quickly assured, “She’s actually been quite good. And very helpful.” This only made her hue shift from pink to red, but Rarity smiled more warmly towards me. “I’m glad to hear that. We had many a talking about what she did, and I think she understands now. I’m quite pleased to see her behaving like a proper filly,” she complimented, nodding towards her little sister, who exhaled softly and looked away from us. Heh, she’d probably been expecting a lecture. Nodding, I changed the topic with, “You seem in a good mood, Rarity. Did you catch up on those orders?” I remembered she was worried about being behind after our trip to Canterlot. The mare perked at that, and nodded back with a pleased smile. “Why yes, I did. A wave of inspiration hit me this afternoon, and I just found myself blurring effortlessly through them all. I’m quite pleased. So much so, I decided to visit some friends for the rest of the day and check on how everypony is doing!” she revealed, definitely in good spirits. I wondered at how much of her ‘inspiration’ was shipping Sweetie out of the house for a while, but refrained from commenting on that. “Did ya visit mah sister an’ brother?” the moving box asked, confusing Rarity for a brief moment before she giggled and shook her head, despite the filly obviously not able to see her body language from under there. “Why no, I didn’t have to. Your dear sister delivered food supplies to me that I had ordered earlier this month. She stayed for a good hour talking about the farm, harvest, and preparations for winter. I believe this year is the first in three that she’s actually pleased with the progress,” Rarity admitted, making me wonder what exactly had changed apart from the new lift and conveyor. Still, I doubted they’d make THAT much difference. She continued, however, with, “Afterwards, I visited Fluttershy for a while. Then I tried to visit Mender and Twilight, but remembered that Twilight was at the town hall laying out plans, and Mender was here working for the Cakes!” Her being here led me to assume that this was the next place she visited, but I had to ask anyway. “Did you visit Twilight at town hall?” I inquired, moving the large box off Apple Bloom and setting it down beside the filly, who smiled up at me and stopped glowing a moment later. “Ah, no. Twilight usually doesn’t like getting distracted while trying to plan,” Rarity excused, earning a raised eyebrow from me. The pearly mare hesitated and coughed lightly before adding, “And I heard from a reliable source that she’s in a foul mood. Fluttershy wasn’t doing well either, despite her animal friends trying to cheer her. I believe they got into a nasty fight last night.” Ah. Well, that would explain it. “Oh no! I’m gonna have to go around and cheer them up after this!” Pinkie gasped out, eyes widening as she held her hooves to her mouth while sitting next to me. Well, she didn’t have to, but… Well, okay, actually she might. I momentarily forgot who I was considering. Rarity gave a somber nod to that, then guessed, “I have a feeling it had something to do with you arriving in the hospital last night?” Ah, right, I forgot she was a very observant mare. Sighing, I nodded and added, “You could say that. I, uh… shouldn’t talk about it here, though.” My eye flicked ever so slightly towards the fillies, and a burst of realization shot down Rarity’s link as I realized she caught my hint. “Oh, oh dear. Okay. Do stop by after you’re finished with this, however. Oh, and if you could be a dear and deliver the girls as well? I believe we’re having a slumber party tonight,” she requested, smiling down at the fillies as they gathered closer, Babs catching up from the other side of the room. They gave happy nods, and I snickered before adding to it. “Sure. I’ll walk them over when we finish testing the tracks, then. It should only be another twenty minutes or so,” I estimated, looking up at the starting line directly above me. There was a big asterisk attached to that, of course, as I always planned for the worst of the whole thing just catching on fire, and then me having to rush everypony outside of the blazing building, then battle the flames back and try to save as much of the establishment as I could, hopefully as the fireponies arrived. “You’re a doll, Mender. I’ll see you in a half an hour or so, then,” Rarity agreed, giving me a warm smile before heading towards the door. The short visit led me to believe she planned on continuing our discussion at her place. She probably wanted to know all the dirty gossip, heh. Well, I trusted her enough as a close friend to give her the details, anyway. I wondered idly if she’d laugh. Pinkie nodded enthusiastically at that, however. “Good idea! I’ll walk with you to Rarity’s, then split off to go see Fluttershy! She’ll need the cheering up more, I think,” the pink mare deduced empathically. I nodded, then whispered a short summary of the ‘issue’ into the mare through the link. Her pink cheeks lit up a little and she gave me a sheepish grin before nodding. “Yeah, um, that would probably bother Fluttershy. I’ll go visit her and calm her down, then,” she assured in an uncharacteristically calm manner. Returning her smile, I looked back up at the starting line again. Oh boy. Well, might as well bite the bullet and see if we can get the flag systems to work, then test it. Here’s hoping the fire department had a fast response time… Chapter 82I felt vaguely like what I felt a zombie must feel like. Shambling along Rarity's nice hardwood floor, I reached the area where she did consultations, and promptly collapsed onto her couch. Lying there, I listened to my own soft breathing and relaxed as Rarity brought in tea, floating alongside her in a pretty, light blue aura. My eyes wouldn't stay open and I was tired of fighting it. "You look utterly exhausted, Dear. Has it been a long day?" Rarity asked politely from somewhere to my left. My eyes refused to open again to check as I formulated a proper reply. Slowly, I nodded, unsure of where to even begin. "I never sleep well by myself," I started. Might as well lead with the most mundane and largest understatement. She smiled as she placed the tea down. I felt it through the link at this distance. "And by that, you mean with a pony to share your dream with. I do recall you having terrible nightmares," she deduced, as clever as usual. Sighing, I gave her a polite nod before carefully picking up my cup and taking a sip of delicious air. Wait... Opening my eyes again, I confirmed that the cup was indeed empty. "I believe we're both past the age of pretend tea parties. That said, let me pour you some first," she suggested with a playful smirk, then giggling at my pout upon setting the cup down again. She could be such a brat sometimes, I noticed. "Oh don't make that face. It was cute!" she assured me, before pointing out, "Besides, eagerness is a very sincere form of flattery. You must really enjoy my tea." Okay, that I could agree with. "Yeah. It's tasty and soothing at the same time. Gives me a little energy back, too, after such a long day," I replied, watching the liquid fill the cup up nicely. I tried really hard not to drool while watching. Now all I needed were sandwiches, and I'd be set. "Oh, I agree. You must be looking forward to going home and getting a good night's sleep, then?" the pearly unicorn inquired politely. I winced at that, barely able to imagine something that could cause Twilight and Fluttershy of all ponies to get in an argument. If it was about me, I'd feel horrible. Sadly, there was a high probability that it was indeed about me. Rarity watched me for a moment, quietly filling my glass with actual tea before giving a softer smile and correcting, “Or I could be wrong. Hmm. If I had to guess, that look is about the news I gave you earlier involving their fight.” Astute as ever. Not smiling back, I flicked my ears lightly as I took my first sip, shivering as the soft blend of flavors slid down my throat. Hum. “Yeah. I kind of knew after last night, things were going to get a little bumpy. There were complications, but I’m guessing you already knew that, given I spent the night at the hospital,” I finally spoke, feeling even more tired after finishing. “Ah, yes, I imagine ‘bumpy’ is definitely one way to put it. Well, you’re in adult company now, so if you wish to discuss what happened, you know you have a sympathetic ear,” she offered, giving a polite smile. Relaxing a little, I nodded slowly at that before just diving in with, “Fluttershy was helping us grow more comfortable with each other in certain intimate ways. Unfortunately for me, and Fluttershy, too, Twilight found out I have a baculum.” Rarity gave me a blank look at that before warning, “Most of that I understood. I’m not very up to speed, however, with anatomy and such.” “Uh, well, a baculum is a bone that runs up through the core of a penis. Mine, like the rest of my bones, is made of organic metal,” I explained, feeling awkward already. Rarity flushed a little at that, but still looked confused. Frowning, she slowly inquired, “Am I to assume this is unusual? I don’t recall seeing such a thing in anatomy lessons, although that was a while ago and my memory could be hazy in that regard.” Nodding, I furthered with, “Fluttershy explained that ponies evolved out their baculum a long time ago, and that I shouldn’t have one. Regardless, Twilight was very interested suddenly.” I shuddered again, and Rarity winced this time. “I believe I can see where this is going. Her ‘tests’ were painful enough to hospitalize you, however? Hopefully with no lasting damage…” Her expression was one of sympathetic pain, and I was thankful that she hadn’t thought my irregular anatomy was bizarre as well. Both Twilight and Fluttershy thinking it was weird was more than enough. Then again, Red hadn’t said anything about it either. I had a sneaking suspicion she already knew, however. I shook my head more slowly before setting my cup down again and answering, “No, no lasting damage. She did some sort of core scan on me right then and there. I’m not a medical professional, but as far as I’ve been told, it shot vibrations down the bone which caused pain. Well, no, that’s an understatement…” I added a groan after that last part and flopped sideways again. To my mild surprise, Rarity huffed instead. “Honestly, there’s a time and a place for scientific study. Your first intimate attempt with your herd is not one of them. I can see why poor Fluttershy was so upset! She was trying so hard to help you two, and then Twilight goes and does that! This is just unacceptable,” the white mare exclaimed, unexpectedly vehement in tone. I’d expected sympathy, but not quite so potent feelings about it. Resting my head on the couch, I exhaled softly and closed my eyes again, wishing I could just sleep right here tonight. “Twilight tends not to think about consequences when she does things, at least socially. I’ve no room to talk there, being quite socially inept myself, but to be honest, she felt horrible about it as well after she realized that it hurt me. I think she expected it to be painless, and I was something of an abnormal case,” I reasoned, trying to at least defend the mare a little, as she wasn’t here to defend herself. “Twilight needs to start considering these things, especially in the event of something so important. I understand that she’s rather inexperienced and has had a rather reclusive upbringing before moving to Ponyville, but that simply means that unexperienced situations should be approached with a healthy air of caution, not brazenly charged into while hoping apologies afterwards will suffice!” Rarity returned, sounding a little upset now, and I suddenly realized she must take intimacy rather seriously. Both of us were interrupted by the bell over the front door going off. I raised an eyebrow, opening that eye at least to look over at her as she frowned in slight confusion. Ah, not expecting guests. They were unlikely to use the front door, but I readied my armor just in case we got a surprise assassin attack or something. “Rarity, are you home?” Twilight called out a little above normal talking volume from the front room. Oh. Oh hell. Rarity’s eyes widened a little, but she quickly held a hoof up to me, shaking her head. I didn’t understand what she wanted, but she ‘felt’ like she was urging me to just stay put. She then stood up and hopped off the couch instead. “Yes, I’m behind the partition,” she returned in a more normal tone, considering the lavender unicorn was technically all of three meters away. Partition? Technically, it was two different rooms, but I guess there wasn’t exactly a door in the archway that separated them, so she could get away with calling it a partition, then. Wait, no, I was distracting myself again… Hoofsteps sounded out heading towards Rarity rather quickly, wet splatting with each one. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m so glad you’re here!” Twilight quickly spouted, making it into the room we were in with record speed. Both my eyes were open at this point, but because the couch back faced the ‘partition’ entry, I couldn’t see the panicked sounding unicorn yet. Uh oh. What now? Rarity momentarily ignored the statement in light of an observation instead. “Twilight, you’re soaked! Did you walk all the way here from town hall without putting up a shield against the rain?” she asked, sounding surprised and slightly skeptical. There was an awkward pause before the lavender unicorn laughed uneasily and muttered, “Oh, heh. I kinda forgot. Getting here was more important!” I was starting to not even want to know. “You won’t be thinking that when you catch a cold. Here, dry off a little and sit down. I have some tea prepared,” Rarity offered. Wait, sit down?! But that would mean… The pearly unicorn’s horn lit up, and there was a door opening noise in the hallway. Two towels floated in half a second later, one shooting over to the couch and getting tossed over the back and cushion next to me, and the other launching itself towards Twilight, who let out a surprised squeak. Rarity’s magic hauled her forward, stumbling about as the towel covered most of her head and back as she got pushed onto the other cushion right next to me. I froze, eyes widening at the mare as I looked back and forth between her and Rarity in horror. What was she doing?! “Stay on and in the towels please while you dry off. For warmth, and protecting my couch and blanket,” Rarity requested politely as Twilight’s horn lit up, at least freeing her head from the towel to glare over at the pearly unicorn. “Blanket? What do you me-“ she started to ask before the blanket too got dumped over her entire form, covering her head again. The incredibly sly craftiness of Rarity continued to astound me as I realized Twilight hadn’t had a chance to even notice me lying here. She finally managed to get her snout at least free of the blanket, and I imagined she looked something like a cowled wizard of some sort, which was kind of amusing given her skills. Rarity smiled politely at her as she sat down as well, sliding an unused cup over and gently filling it with tea. Twilight shifted slightly to the right, her muzzle aiming at the other cup for a moment before she asked, “There’s another cup? Oh, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” “Nothing at all, no. That was for another guest, don’t worry. That’s why I have the tea out, after all. Anyway, you seem terribly distressed, my dear…” Rarity redirected, frowning at her. Twilight exhaled violently as I watched her blanketed head sink. “You probably heard about Mender being in the hospital by now. His bags weren’t in the library, so he’s probably at Fluttershy’s, hiding from me right now…” she groaned out. I lifted an eyebrow and looked to the saddlebag I was still wearing, trying hard not to laugh, as that would be really inappropriate. Rarity smiled assuredly at her and shook her head. “I highly doubt he’s hiding from you, Twilight. I spoke with Fluttershy earlier while you were in with the mayor regardless, and she was also rather worked up about it all. From what she told me, however, she seems to be in a position to forgive and mend the situation,” the mare revealed, not really surprising me with the news. Fluttershy was fast to forgive, after all. The lavender mare relaxed slightly and lowered her head a little ways before nodding. “I shouldn’t have gotten snippy with her. I was the one that ruined the night. It seems like I have to learn every little mistake anew each time, and… Ugh. I love both of them, but some days I think they’d be better off without me. They deserve better,” she murmured weakly, voice dying afterwards. Loved? Closing my eyes again, I felt it bounce around inside of me, and just let it, feeling out my own opinion as best I could. Was I angry with her? A little, but… It wasn’t anywhere near enough to just give up on her. I didn’t foresee myself ever reaching that point. The pearly mare across from us frowned at that, looking like she was about to put in a protest. Instead, I decided we’d been deceitful for long enough. Me technically eavesdropping on the conversation was bad enough, but doing so while Twilight wasn’t in a right frame of mind was even worse. She hadn’t even checked our link yet. Instead, I announced my presence and assured her otherwise in the same instant by sliding her blanket over with my forehoof and leaning over, gently pecking her on the right cheek. Her fur felt damp, and there was a very faint salty sensation barely there. She’d been crying. Her eyes widened and snapped to the right, locking with me instantly as she shifted to a look of distinct horror. Rarity giggled at my display, then shook her head wearily. “As you can see, I don’t think he’s too terribly mad at you anymore. Or he wished to be allowed to partake of his tea again,” she deduced, sounding amused. “Can’t it be both?” I pointed out, backing away as Twilight spun her head to face me fully, eyes still huge. “M-Mender?! But you… What are you doing here?! Wait, how could you forgive me just like that for-“ she started to ask. I cheated and slipped forwards instead, taking advantage of her new facing and kissing her gently on the lips. The lavender mare shivered, then closed her eyes and leaned into me a little as I rested my right hoof over her left. Nothing too pressing. Gentle and calm was what I was going for, and I felt my intent seep into her through our link at this range. Nothing scary. She blushed and parted from me slightly, eyes slowly opening before she hesitated. A moment later, she smiled weakly and shook her head, assuring, “No, Mender. I want to be with you properly. I was foolish. Stupid, even. But no, I want to try again tonight, after we talk to Fluttershy. Um, please?” Her asking permission surprised me a little, but I smiled anyway and gave her another little nuzzle, earning a more contented sigh from the mare. “If you and Fluttershy are sure of it, then it should be okay. Just simple things, though. We need to start even slower this time, plus I’m kinda tired from working with the Cakes’ treat track for a good nine hours…” I warned, trying my best not to yawn again as I suddenly reminded my body that I was indeed rather tired. Rarity snickered at that, of course. “I must admit, it looks quite lovely, Mender. I’m surprised you got it all done in less than a day’s time. Now I feel bad for having you look after the little fillies on top of that,” she said, frowning to herself slightly. Shrugging, I confided, “Actually, they were very well behaved, and helped me out quite a bit. Sweetie was on her best behavior as well, especially compared to before. Please don’t get mad at her.” If I’d known she technically wasn’t supposed to be ‘bugging’ me yet, I might have told her to play it safe and not get her sister mad. Regardless, her sister didn’t look angry, instead smiling and shaking her head towards me. “No, it’s about time I eased up on that. She seems to have learned her lesson, and while I didn’t give her the go ahead, she proved it today. She’s no longer grounded,” she confirmed. I almost expected to hear some gleeful shout of celebration from upstairs, but the thumping and laughter continued undiminished, and I smiled at the thought. She deserved it regardless. Twilight slid to the side a moment later, snapping me out of my consideration as I felt her tuck her muzzle into my neck, and her shoulder rest up against mine. “Mmm, not that I’m complaining, but I’m still curious what you’re doing here. I would have expected you’d head to Fluttershy’s after work,” she inquired, voice sounding slightly stronger. “Oh, I believe I can answer that,” Rarity cut in, before quickly explaining, “I’d asked him to drop the Crusaders off here after he was done working. I’d also hoped to talk with him more about the incident, so in that regard, he’s here for the same reason you are, Twilight.” Well, that was true. I'd hoped to get some advice on some level on how to fix things, but maybe this was actually for the better? Nodding, I idly agreed before adding, "I felt like I needed some advice about things, but didn't want to add more stress to Fluttershy. Plus, Rarity is a lot more skilled than I am with socializing, not having memories from another dimension constantly interfering with things." The white mare smirked at that, but Twilight just rolled her eyes playfully at my typical commentation. What?! My sense of dry humor was a coping mechanism, honest! "Well, despite it being surprising, I'm glad you're not still angry. I could tell you were a bit miffed at me last night, which is totally justified! But I'd like to make it up to you, again," the lavender mare assured, looking up into my eyes as if searching for something. I couldn't be sure if she found it or not, as Rarity interrupted first. "Making it up to him is all well and good, but you must also be sure to learn from the mistake, dear. Part of being truly sorry is the desire to not repeat the offense that landed you in that state. Further, I believe a bit more making up in the other direction is a good idea," she suggested, keeping her tone soft. Twilight shuddered at her words regardless, however, and looked back over at her, eyes softening a little. There was a moment's hesitation before Twilight asked, "What should I do to make it up to him, then, if just trying again tonight isn't enough?" I frowned at that, not liking the wording there at all. "Isn't it up to me how much she needs to make up for? Making her do extra stuff just seems unfair, and like it's only prolonging the bad feelings," I reasoned, also looking to Rarity. The mare across from us sighed before explaining, "Generally the best way to go about learning something in a more lasting fashion is to engrain it into your mind. Repetition is a good way to do that, as is unpleasant sensations, but we don't want the latter getting associated with intimacy. That's just inviting trouble." Well, I guess that made sense. Twilight nodded at that as well. "Not to mention, all three of us put forth effort last night, but due to my mistake, we fell short. Just offering on my part to try again isn't really enough, I suddenly realize. It was my fault that we need to repeat it in the first place, after all. So I should do extra for both of you in order to even it out," she reasoned, nodding twice afterwards. Uh... Was treating it like an equation that needed balancing really a good strategy? Last time I checked, applying math to intimacy didn't exactly work all that great. Rarity gave her a blank stare before snickering and shrugging. "Not quite the reason I had given, but if it helps you see why it's important, I suppose it works. Just remember, your goal is for all three of you to get past this and become more comfortable with each other. Just repeating the same problems over and over again isn't getting anypony anywhere," she reasoned, sounding rather sagely. Now that I thought about it, where did Rarity get all the experience? Wait, no, that was probably rude to ask. I started to open my mouth to agree when a light beep went off in my inner ear. At first, I almost didn't recognize it as it gave me another startled jump, and I quickly checked the still broken FTL program. Seeing nothing changed, I realized a moment later that it was a ping I hadn't heard in a little while! Oh! Twilight and Rarity 'heard' the noise as well through the links, both looking over at me curiously as I switched my left eye to Projection Mode and toggled my voice box speakers on before answering the ping with, "Keela?" She flickered into existence over the tea pot, reminding me that my cup was still sitting on the table. While reaching for it and picking it up, I took in her appearance this time as Twilight and Rarity looked towards her instead. She was honestly looking a lot better than the last time I'd seen her, just a single medical wrap around her torso, and a small bandage on her forehead. She wore a more relaxed looking pair of elastic gym pants, and a thin strapped tank top that was rolled up at the bottom to bare her midriff, keeping the fabric away from the injured area. She appeared to be back standing on the captain's platform overlooking the sensor and piloting suite, and nothing was sparking or on fire today, which was a definite improvement! This time, she wore her pink hair up in a casual ponytail, and greeted us with a soft smile. "Hiya, Mender. Oh, and Twilight and Rarity!" she greeted, nodding to both mares as she noticed them. They both smiled towards her and returned her nod, and I relaxed a little. I'd been a bit anxious before she answered, worried for more bad news. "Hey, Keela. How are repairs coming along?" I inquired, curious if they'd gotten a lot of the damage fixed. Rarity gasped suddenly an instant later, causing all three of us to jump slightly as attention shot back to her. She gave me a scowl, however, and chastised, "Mender! That's not the proper way to begin a conversation with a good friend who's obviously injured! Please, Keela, how are you feeling? That looks remarkably painful." Ah! Really?! I didn't know there was a correct order to pursue information in! The Keldarian snickered at that before correcting, "He's an engineer, Rarity. Him prioritizing the station's status just means he's a good one. But thank you. It's not too painful, as I have some medicine in me to help with that. It's healing nicely. Nowhere near the military grade regenerative nanites that Mender has, but I'm doing okay." I averted my eyes at that, sort of wishing I could share them with her, but that was a bit logistically daunting given the 'distance' between us. "Sorry regardless. Uh, not very good at socializing still. I'm glad you're doing better, though," I agreed, trying to backpedal as best I could. She snickered and absently waved her paw at me, smiling more now. "Again, it's fine, Mender. I'm glad you care. Plus, the vessel's doing a lot better, too, so two positives, no? We finished searching the debris field about three hours ago, actually, and just navigated to a safer spot a few hundred light years away from where they attacked us, back out in dark space. We found some sort of dislodged moon to orbit for a little while, so we have time to process all of the data," Keela revealed, leaning back against the railing of the darkened command center. I noticed there was hardly any activity, then remembered their time was synced intentionally to Equus' rotation now, her wanting to keep the same hours as we did. That meant it was probably the end of their day and everypony was getting ready to turn in for the night. "Did you find anything else out?" Twilight inquired, frowning at that. Figuring out what actually happened would be a good thing, but another spike of apprehension shifted through me. I kind of didn't want to know, but knew it was for the best to find out as soon as possible. Keela frowned at that before nodding, expression shifting to a grim one instead, and I swallowed. Bad news after all, then. "We found out a lot more, yeah. It all became clear once we found the actual destroyed restraining area where Nirru was being held. Security was obviously extra tight there, including the monitoring network we had installed in the area. The data recordings were badly damaged, but the black box survived the destruction and gave us a working log of the entire system up to the point of destruction," she furthered. My eyes widened at that, not having realized they'd had a redundant security network built into the area. She was serious about holding her sister, then. Still... "Log?" Twilight asked, looking over to me instead before requesting clarification. "The written kind that tracks progress or data, I assume?” Nodding, I confirmed, "Yeah. This type is a list of events that are automatically compiled by a computer and stored in a really safe, hard to destroy box, just for an event like this.” Twilight smiled and nodded, understanding it perfectly after that, and I gave a softer smile in return before she leaned over and pecked my cheek. Heh. She was adorable when being all smart like that. She blushed at my inner thoughts, but Keela giggled while watching us, complimenting with, "You two are just adorable. Feels like I'm going to get a blood sugar spike just watching you." Heh. That must be what I felt like after watching the Crusaders for too long... Still, it was rude to change the topic like that. "Heh. What did you find out from the logs, anyway?" I asked, redirecting us back onto undoubtedly the reason she called us, especially so late. Keela lost her smile again, leaning more heavily back against the railing behind her as she looked up towards the ceiling for a moment. Hesitating, she finally explained, “We found two badly burned Keldarian bodies as well. The burns weren’t from the explosion, however. Closer examination indicates cause of death by kinetic slugs.” Oh. Twilight and Rarity both looked horrified, but I frowned at the implication. “Small arms fire from Grosh mech forces. They boarded the segment before blowing it up?” I asked hesitantly. The only race to use kinetic non-ship-class weaponry were the Grosh. Due to their unique atmospheric gasses, using laser or plasma weaponry would cause a huge amount of collateral damage in the resulting explosion. Thus, all of their kinetic ammo was focused on heat reduction from firing and impacts as well. It had the added bonus of going through our armor rather easily, although they did almost nothing against our shields. For that, they used anti-ship plasma shells… Keela nodded grimly to that. “Unfortunately, that’s the only thing I can think of. These were actual slugs, not fragmentation from the explosion. We don’t have any kinetic weapons on the ship,” she confirmed. Crap. “Only two…?” I asked, looking back up at her and right into her eyes. She froze for a moment before shakily nodding. She only said Keldarian bodies. Her guards. “They captured Nirru…? That was the whole point of their boarding,” I deduced. They boarded the segment after it had already been blown loose, shot Nirru’s guards as they were undoubtedly attempting damage control, and took her. They then blew up the segment. Hiding the evidence? Doubtful. Ugh. This raised more questions than it answered, which was usually the case for things. “Yeah. We couldn’t find any trace of her in the immediate wreckage, or with any of the debris that passed into the gravitational fields nearby. Why would they take her, though…?! She’s military. They never take military targets alive!” she groaned, sounding more than a little frustrated herself. That was usually the case, yeah. Civilian targets were usually deemed ‘easier’ to handle. This didn’t make sense, especially with them undoubtedly knowing that she was a high ranking member of the council, and thus, exceptionally dangerous. Twilight frowned at that, being the first to recover from the rather gruesome earlier part. “Mender told me that you were an expert at divination magic, right? If that’s the same as us ponies, that’s for communicating and detecting things at a distance. What’s the maximum range of detection for you, then?” she inquired, shifting to that other awkward topic. Keela exhaled weakly at that and shook her head. “That’s another one of those mysteries. Less about ‘why’ this time and more about ‘how’. They jumped in towards us from outside of my four dozen or so lightyear range on the detection enchantments. In one jump. They knew precisely where we were in dark space without using any known sensors,” she revealed. Either they had technology never before even hinted at to us, or they used some other means to locate her specifically. Both of those options were bad news. “Are you sure that Nirru wasn’t communicating externally?” I asked, the possibility of an insider informant not lost to me. “Positive,” Keela guaranteed, exhaling quietly again and returning her look ‘upwards’, as if some higher understanding would come to her if she continued. Hum. Frowning, I concluded, “That means that the only possibilities are that they have technology we’re not aware of, Nirru was a lot more accomplished a divination expert than any of us gave her credit for or had a sneaky way set up already, or one of the other Keldarians on board had been in communication instead.” That was the only real three possibilities. Of course, that also meant the Grosh were willingly communicating with a non-Grosh race, which was unheard of prior to them surprising me as well, back on the ship. That Grosh did indeed offer me substantial ‘reward’ for cooperating with him, which he would undoubtedly have not followed through on. Still, he talked coherently to me without mass attempts to murder or torture me. That was a definite change. Of course, it also marked how desperate he’d been to not let such an amazing opportunity slip through his fingers. A whole race of sapient, highly intelligent and peaceful creatures that hadn’t been murdered or enslaved yet! For shame! Curbing my negative ramblings, I noted that Keela was still silent, staring up at the dim lights above her. Twilight slid over on the couch and snuggled into my chest, letting me rest my head on the back of her neck and bury my muzzle in her mane. Her natural scents mixed with the soft floral smells of her shampoo from this morning, and I relaxed, feeling her smile against my inner shoulder. Yeah. As bad as all of it was, and despite Keela being forced to live it every day, I couldn’t stop myself from being happy that I was here instead of over there. Regardless of me complaining from time to time, dealing with squabbles between ponies and little mix-ups here and there was infinitely preferred to intergalactic war. It really put a perspective on things. Rarity finally cleared her throat softly and asked, “Keela, are you okay? I know this is all troubling, but if there’s some way we can help…” Actually helping was the hard part. The Keldarian closed her eyes and smiled softly at that, her expression somehow coming off as a little sad still. “No. I just really don’t want to be here anymore. My species might as well be dead, our home is gone, my only remaining family is dead, captured, or worse right now, and everyone is looking to me for answers I just don’t have. I want nothing more than to just forget about all of it and open a portal to Equestria right now. I’d never look back…” she muttered, eyes still closed but a certain amount of pain persisted in her voice. That was a sensation I was familiar with. Fatigue like that was hard to beat. “You should get some quality rest, Keela. Hopefully that’ll make you feel better,” I suggested, remembering that was how I usually beat stress. Smiling at that, she nodded before standing up more fully again. “Yeah, hopefully you’re right. I’m going to get some good food, then go to bed. Thinking can wait until tomorrow,” she agreed, starting to walk towards the large door behind the captain’s platform. I idly watched it slide open automatically for her before relaxing again. “Feel free to talk to us again whenever you need it. Tomorrow too about anything you find out,” I offered, trying to be as understanding as possible. She was in a bad position, and it was even starting to make me tired. Well, more tired. My bipedal friend smiled at that before pointing out, “You look downright exhausted as well, Mender. We should both get some sleep.” “We have to go get Fluttershy first, but I’m sure she’ll let us rest up afterwards. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow with all of the Fall celebrations. They’ll last a good three days after that, so we need to get good and rested up!” Twilight exclaimed, sounding noticeably more enthusiastic now. I wasn’t as readily swayed and only nodded to her, noting my lower back kind of hurt from laying upside down on that flat platform for hours. “Maybe we can just stay at her cabin tonight. We’d better go now, however, as it’s getting harder and harder to move,” I warned, taking my last sip of tea from my cup. This time I wasn’t going to let it go to waste! * * * * * Twilight walked alongside me as we headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage, the gentle night air dancing around us as we walked. There was a bit of a nip to the air, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been earlier today. Twilight also warned me that I might be getting a bit ‘fluffier’ in the future as winter set in. Turns out, ponies get winter coats! I learned something new every day. Learning was awesome, so I wasn’t about to complain! Actually, today in general was rapidly becoming awesome, as everything slid back into place and there wasn’t any fighting anymore. Awesome! “I can’t believe you drank two more cups of the tea before we left. You’re going to crash hard when the caffeine rush wears off, you realize?” Twilight reminded, smirking as she walked next to me. A bit jittery at this point, I realized my hooves were twitching every time I stepped down and glared down at them, as if to silence their subtle mutiny against me. “Hey, I needed to wake up at least enough to make it to Fluttershy’s cottage. Otherwise I would have simply passed out halfway there and you would have had to drag me. Wait, it is called a cottage, right? I’m never certain on my terminology compared to pony language,” I inquired, earning more giggling from the mare. She finally managed to get it out of her system with one last snicker, then confirmed, “Yes, it’s called a cottage. If you’re so curious about things, you know you can ask me anything. Getting you adapted to pony culture would be a pleasure, Mender.” She probably signed her own death warrant with that one, but that would undoubtedly help me out in the long run. If she didn’t mind the barrage of questions from time to time. “Oooh, okay! Well, a good start would be learning about this winter fur thing. How long are we talking here? Does it leave on its own or do we have to cut it? What about maintaining it in the middle of winter? If it leaves on its own, does it all just fall out at once leaving me practically naked in the middle of wherever I happen to be at the given time, or is it a more gradual thing?” I started, looking back over at her curiously as she started laughing again. What?! After recovering from that bout of giggling, Twilight answered with, “About three to five centimeters at most, although most ponies trim it in the winter, too, in order to keep it thinner. It leaves on its own but gradually! Plus, aren’t you already naked? I think the term you were looking for is ‘bald’…” Psh, she was no fun. “I know, I know. Ponies are naked most of the time. Hey, that took me a while to get used to, you know! For that first few days, I kept feeling all drafty all the time back there. Plus, it didn’t help that there were other naked ponies all around and I kept, uh… No, correction, I’ll stop there…” I trailed off, feeling another flush of heat come to my cheeks that wasn’t a caffeine rush this time. Twilight smirked and blushed a bit at that, too, then bumped into my flank, rocking me sideways a little as I twitched and scrambled back onto four solid hooves. “Heh, you should overdose on caffeine more often. It makes your mouth outpace your mind and I actually learn things about you before you censor yourself,” she teased, looking back over at me as I scowled at her. To my surprise, however, she had a more sincere smile, and I was forced to blush more and look away from her as we stopped on the bridge leading to Fluttershy’s cottage. “Relax, Mender. I just want to learn more about you, is all. It’s never come up before, which surprises me. Surely you have likes and dislikes. Needs, wants, desires… Maybe even dreams and a future you want to aim towards?” she suggested, giving a more earnest smile as she sat down on the cobbled bridge. The street lights had already come on all across Ponyville, illuminating us with a soft light against the backdrop of the rising moon. Ack, no! She wasn’t asking about anything like that! Focus, Mender! I fidgeted back and forth for a moment before taking a deeper breath and calming myself again, forcing my hind legs to bend and set my butt down on the cobblestone. “Well, long term things like dreams and a future is kind of… Uh, I don’t think I’ve slowed down long enough to really consider all of that. All of you amazing ponies are in it, though, especially you and Fluttershy. That I can… I can see that easily,” I started. Her blush shifted a more rosy shade as she dipped her head down a little but kept eye contact, smiling shyly. It was rather adorable, and I had to lean over and kiss her softly on the nose, earning another giggle. She was really happy tonight… “I’m glad that we’re in it. Things are looking brighter and brighter for us, and I don’t think I want to ever give this up for anything. That’s why I want us to get past this…” she explained, reaching out and resting her right forehoof against my chest. I took each side of it with my own and held it there as she closed her eyes. “I know. You’re honest, and I can see that. Giving you another chance and being patient is easy because of that. As for my wants and desires… that’s kinda tricky, too. Right now, I’d love a place to relax and snuggle with the two of you, my twitches and vibrations keeping you both warm with the extra heat from the kinetic energy it generates…” I furthered. She started giggling again, then slid forwards into my chest, relaxing further. After a moment of just nuzzling my neck, she smiled against my fur and added, “I think that’s doable. We have to comfort Fluttershy first, though. It sounds like she’s had a bad day, too.” Oh, right. Yeah, Rarity had said that she was downright miserable when the mare visited her earlier. Both of us were interrupted by a squeak, almost inaudible to the naked ear. If one of us had happened to be talking at that moment, we would have probably missed it entirely. Looking to my right, I saw the very mare we’d been looking for outside of her cottage. The little crystal in her mouth was still glowing, and I saw the lantern on the path to her house now lit. She was frozen now, however, looking up the bridge towards us with surprised looking eyes. “Oh, Fluttershy! Just the mare we were looking for,” Twilight chirped, standing upright again and heading towards her slowly. The yellow mare popped the crystal out of her mouth and onto her hoof before tossing it backwards into her left saddlebag, giving Twilight a gentle smile back. “You seem much happier now. And you’re together?” she asked softly, sounding a bit surprised at that fact. I stood as well and trailed slightly behind Twilight, eager enough to simply let her do the talking for now. Plus, the view was better back here. The lavender mare smiled before sitting down next to Fluttershy and looking back at me as I approached. “Yeah. We bumped into each other at Rarity’s, and she, well, helped us through a calm talk. Things are… Well, we’re better now,” she tried to explain. Fluttershy smiled and nodded tiredly, looking like she hadn’t had a very good day at all. She was probably overworking herself to keep the stress levels down, which I could understand. Her eyes widened a little as I didn’t slow down, instead slipping right up and pulling her into a soft hug against me. Slowly, her muscles relaxed as her forelegs slipped up and draped themselves over my shoulders, her releasing a soft exhale. “Mmm, I’m glad. I need you two tonight. I missed you both,” she murmured, pushing her muzzle into my neck. “Oh?” I inquired, smiling as I squeezed her, then rubbed up along her back muscles and working out a soft groan for my efforts. Twilight started snickering again and warned, “Careful. He’s got three cups of Rarity’s tea in him, and I think it makes him frisky.” Hey! I shot a mildly annoyed glare over at Twilight again, but Fluttershy just started giggling. The sound of her being happy made it remarkably difficult to stay mad, as usual, and I relaxed, just holding her tight. That’s when the yellow mare utterly and completely surprised me. “Mmm, that’s okay. If we don’t end up trying anything tonight, I think I’m going to have to borrow him for a little bit and take him out into the woods for an hour or so… Um, if that’s okay with him, of course,” she playfully remarked. Okay, so not a complete surprise, but very daring for a Fluttershy statement. Wait, hour?! Twilight grinned at that before nodding. “I’d already planned on attempt two, this time with less hospital visits, I hope. If not for Mender, for Nurse Redheart, who really needs a day off,” she reminded, getting two nods in agreement. Yeah, Red really needed some time off by the look of it. The last time I saw her, she was almost falling asleep standing up. Now that would just be silly. “Just don’t push yourself, Twilight. I’d suggest the same to Fluttershy, but due to that last comment…” I teased, earning a gentle blush and smile from Fluttershy, and a more relaxed nod from Twilight. “No, I think I’m a lot better off this time around. Do you think we could take a bath or shower first, though? I kind of like being clean, especially if we’re going to be doing anything more intimate later,” she requested. I looked to Fluttershy as well, but she instead perked her ears up and rotated them around, listening behind her for a moment. Finally, seemingly content, she rotated her ears back around and shook her head. “I don’t hear Discord singing in the shower, so it should be okay. Just, um, check the faucet and shower head first. He sometimes likes to hide in there unexpectedly,” she warned. Ah, right. Him being a shapeshifter was sometimes more trouble than it was worth. Well, to us, anyway. He was probably having a blast with it. Twilight looked less than pleased with the news. “Wait, what does he do, spy on you while you’re trying to clean up? Ew!” she exclaimed, making a gagging motion with her hoof. The yellow mare held up two hooves in exchange away from me, making a subtle assuring motion towards Twilight. “Oh, no, no! He more likes to startle me by being found in or jumping out of unexpected spots, is all. He’s actually very proper acting most of the time, don’t worry,” she assured, clearing up my other question at the same time. I guessed he was just a jerk to non-Fluttershys, then. I wondered if there was a way to start cloning her. The world would benefit from that, no? Twilight exhaled softly and walked past us then towards the cottage. “Well, so long as he doesn’t do that while we’re actually in there washing up, I won’t have to try stun blasting him again,” she warned, voice a little louder than needed, probably in hopes he was near enough to hear it. There wasn’t an answer, so all we could do was hope for the best. Fluttershy smiled and pecked me on the cheek before standing again and gesturing me to follow with her head. Relaxing, I stretched out before standing up again and trotting after them, almost feeling like running towards the door instead. No, keep it in check, Mender. You know you’re not good at that ‘sprinting’ thing yet. Keeping my hooves going the right way was sometimes challenging for me still, but at least I could do so without constantly thinking about it now! I was tempted to cheat and write a program to do it for me, but the last thing I needed was it glitching out and walking me off a cliff or something. If that stupid targeting program was misbehaving, I didn’t put much faith in the other codes being executed properly. Walking, thankfully, I headed towards Fluttershy again, who stood in her doorway holding it open for me with a happy smile. I ducked in and kissed her softly on the lips, earning a squeak as I pushed us both inside, the door closing behind us… Chapter 83Stretching slowly, I yawned and cracked my eyes open. Mmm, that had been an interesting dream adventure. Awareness slowly focused back into place, and I smiled gently as I realized the lavender unicorn was still snuggling softly into my forelegs, muzzle pressed into my chest and a soft smile apparent on her face. She had gotten a lot closer to both of us last night, it felt like. Plus, it was the start of a celebration today! Oh, and my jaw hadn't been impaled on a horn as I slept! The possibility of that happening hadn't eluded me, but hers was kind of rounded, so it probably wouldn't hurt too badly. Regardless, a good day overall! Fluttershy was snuggled into my back at the same time. I chalked up tomorrow night as when both of us snuggled Twilight, if I had my rotations right. Twilight had made a rather easy to follow schedule which fit rather easily into every month having thirty days, which was divisible by three, of course. She really liked that part. Then each of us would get exactly ten nights getting pancaked between the other two. Secretly, I didn't mind regardless. Watching them snuggle together was beyond adorable as well. The only thing that changed was who I happened to be holding. She started going into a more elaborate formula to figure out which direction the center pony would be facing, but we stopped her there, thankfully. The yellow mare stirred behind me first, leaning forward and pushing her face into my mane with a pleased murmur, nuzzling the back of my neck softly. Twilight's ears twitched against my chin as she heard the soft noise, and she started moving as well. Both were the gentle sort of wake ups, not that cold sweat jerking awake halfway through a terrified scream as something murdered you. As Redheart had found out, I was no stranger to those either. Ironically, it was usually me that was killing me. Well, maybe it was just my armor. Either way, I was really scary. Twilight's eyes slowly opened, the two pretty, violet orbs lifted upwards to look at me, her smile widening a little. Ducking her horn, I kissed between them gently, causing her to close them for a second and giggle. I felt Fluttershy smile through our link before she spoke, "I'm glad you two are getting along much better." Her voice was a bit softer than normal with a slight sleepy slur to it that she always had when just waking up. The lavender mare giggled more at that, seeming in fine spirits indeed. "I think that's an understatement after... Well, after all that,” she murmured, a light blush coming back to her cheeks as she buried her muzzle in my neck again, as if to hide herself. As cute as it was, it wouldn't do. Feeling Fluttershy think the same thing and urge me forwards, I nodded and used my right forehoof to slip up Twilight's back, raising her head up gently from the side. Fluttershy peeked around my head at the same time and instead spoke for me. "We really love you, Twilight. Um, you don't need to get embarrassed about showing affection and enjoying each other's company, especially when it's just us here," she assured softly. Twilight watched us for a moment before her eyes softened a little and she nodded, the flushed cheeks still there regardless. "I know. This'll just take me some time to get used to, is all. Um," she started, before hesitating and frowning slightly. I felt her shift around a little under the blankets, and then her cheeks went from pink to red again. "Um, do you think we could take another shower before breakfast?" she asked hesitantly. Gasping, I pretended to be shocked before pointing out, "Twilight! We just took a shower last night! Why do we need to take another one so soon?" I felt light amusement come from Fluttershy, but Twilight squeaked and held her hooves up to me. "But... But after all that..." she tried to protest. I started snickering, unable to keep my poker face at that. She gave me a scowl, instantly realizing I'd been screwing with her, and Fluttershy giggled. "We usually take a morning shower, too, Twilight. Don't worry. We can go get cleaned up,” she assured, letting the mare relax against my chest again. Twilight exhaled softly in relief, then smirked up at me. "Then what are we waiting for? We have a rather big day ahead of us, after all, and the shower takes at least forty-five minutes!" she reminded, hopping out of bed in an instant and bringing that horrible, dreaded cold in from beyond. Arg! Wait, what? "Wait, forty-five minutes? For a shower?" I asked, trying to sit up at least as my body screamed in protest. Fluttershy giggled at that, then kissed my cheek and fluttered past. I gave her a confused look until she glanced back over her left shoulder and winked at me, her tail lightly flicking up and smacking me in the nose. Oh. Oh... Finding motivation from somewhere, I hopped up in bed and stretched. Right. Long showers were cool, too! This day was starting to turn out awesome! * * * * * Sort of. I sighed, staring at the rather significant crowds of ponies practically everywhere along town square and the paths leading to and from it. The direction heading towards the Southeast field was particularly crowded, and I knew that was both the starting line for the Running of the Leaves, and the main cloud bank they'd set up for the Cloudy Sky Dash afterwards. Several friends were in the first race, with both Applejack and Rainbow Dash competing against each other in it, and Pinkie Pie and Spike doing their annual announcing. They also announced for the second race, too, which I heard was quite a bit rougher. I was a bit concerned for Rainbow, hoping she didn't tire herself out in the first race before even getting to the second. Normally she was fine with pacing, but if she got into her 'hot blooded' mode, that might go out the window. Still, there wasn't a lot I could do about it. For now, I had a specific list of things I needed to get done, of course. Twilight had given me a lot to do, and I'd only managed a few of them so far. The mass against my back moved again, and I glanced back at Spike as he readjusted himself on top of me, still reading over a checklist. "Okay, so we picked up the blanket and picnic basket from the library. We got some veggies from both Applejack and Carrot Top. Now we just need to get some sandwich materials from Lily and Daisy, then pick up some refreshments at Sugarcube Corner. Mmm, they do sell those soda bottles there," he read off, checking things off as we finished them. He was looking rather lonely at the library when I arrived with Twilight's list, having spent the night there by himself, so I asked if he wanted to come with and help me get things done. He agreed surprisingly quickly. "The flower trio’s stand is closer, so we'll head there next," I suggested idly, spotting it in the corner of the market. It turns out they don't just offer flowers for decoration, but also ground and snipped flower product for food purposes, in many tasty and varied types. Given that was one of my favorite sandwich stuffers, I was more than pleased to hear this. Plus, they typically had freshly baked bread there as well, more as a matter of convenience than anything. Sugarcube Corner didn't just make sugary treats, ironically, but also baked a lot of more normal bread products. They shared a bit of the profit with the flower trio for selling at their shop, it would seem. Spike snickered at that, then pointed out in an amused voice, "You just want to get the sandwich materials!" I rolled my eyes at that. Admittedly, they were my favorite food, but this was just practical! "Hey, they're closer. Besides, if you behave, we'll pick up Rarity after we get done at Sugarcube Corner," I offered. He froze momentarily, eyes widening before he rapidly nodded and grinned at me. Heh. Predictable, but that wasn't necesarily a bad thing. Squeezing through the crowd, I slipped closer towards the stand, only to note Rose sitting at it instead, surprising me a little. Normally she tended to their stocks instead behind their stand, conveniently where their house was. Lily and Daisy were nowhere to be seen, however. The cream colored mare smiled at me and waved as I approached, and I gave a less enthusiastic one in return, nodding. Crowds made me uneasy, especially when there were so many ponies I didn't know in it. Lots of visitors had come in from practically the entire nation, with Ponyville's wide open expanse of fields and winding country roads being ideal for the Running of the Leaves. The Cloudy Sky Dash was slightly newer, it would seem, having only become tradition about ten or twelve years ago. It was also more commercial, and seemed to take advantage of the large crowds gathered by the older race to get some nice, sky high advertising going on. It sort of made me wonder what kind of economy Equestria had. I'd never paid that much attention. "Glad to see a friendly, familiar face!" Rose chirped as I slipped up in front of the stand, Spike leaning over my head to wave at her as well. I snickered at that, still a bit skittish as my proximity sensors kept pinging against passing ponies. I carefully checked each and every one of them, too, not too keen to be surprised by BEID or something amidst the crowd. "It's strange to hear that, given that I only moved here a month or so back," I admitted, relaxing a little as I turned to look at her again. She gave me a warm smile as she snickered, then assured, "We make friends fast in Ponyville. You're old hat by now, and a nice stallion to boot, so that's grade A in my book." There were a lot of different phrases in there that I didn't quite get, but she kept going before I could inquire, and instead asked, "You're looking a bit... uneasy, though. Any national emergencies we should know about?" Heh. "Haha, no, thankfully. I just don't like crowds, is all," I assured, remembering how easily panicked ponies could get sometimes. She visibly relaxed, then grinned, and I winced. That reaction was usually never good for me. "Aww! You're shy, then! That's really adorable. I thought an important pony like yourself would have been the opposite, but that's just fine regardless! Anyway, are you here for something in particular?" she inquired, perking up afterwards. Whew. I only blushed slightly, having expected something far worse to come out of her mouth. Maybe I was just used to dealing with Rainbow too much? "Yeah, we're here to pick up sandwich supplies for the events later! We're having a picnic after the first race," Spike cut in, slipping the list down over my face and letting it unfurl, completely blocking my sight of Rose as he pointed out the ingredients Twi had written down. Well, this worked, too... The cream colored mare giggled again before starting to move about behind her stand. "Ah, Twilight sent you, then. I'd recognize her writing anywhere. Where's she at, then?" she asked, shifting to a 'polite conversation' tone while grabbing what I assumed was the ingredients on the list. I hoped. "She's the organizer for the events, so she had to go and help them set up about two hours ago. Fluttershy's at Rarity's and awaiting my arrival," I explained idly, shifting about as I stared at the back of the list paper, still keeping an eye on my proximity sensors. Thankfully I didn't need to be able to see in order to detect threats. Rose let out a wistful sigh as she started putting things in the basket for me. "I guess all of us know what it's like to be stuck working during the festivities. Lily and Daisy are down at the field, getting the decorations set up right now. Sometimes, I kinda wish I was a tourist instead, so I could just enjoy the show," she revealed, sounding a bit sad at that. I shook my head, then suggested, "Can't you close up shop after the festival starts?" Of course, the Cakes weren't either, as ponies came in all during the day to get food and drinks. It was unfortunate that Equestria didn't have some sort of broadcasting ability for situations like this. She let out another, softer giggle before hesitating. "No, I really shouldn't. I have morning shift, and ponies are going to be coming all day for food. We're taking turns with watching the shop so the other two can watch the races. They get to see the first race, then I get to see the second with Daisy," she explained, putting the last of the ingredients into the basket. Spike rolled the scroll up again and put it into my saddlebag as I set the pink coin purse on the stand and slid six bits out of it. Spike shook his head at that as I counted out the tiny coins. This was harder than it looked with hooves, but I didn't want to draw undue attention using my magic. "So Daisy gets to see both races? That doesn't seem fair," the dragon pointed out, sounding surprisingly irate about it, despite it technically not being any of our business. Rose blushed lightly at that, then snickered and shook her head. "Oh, well, uh, no, Daisy's paying us both back for it later," she assured vaguely. Huh. "Oh? Okay! I guess it's really none of my business. You're all my friends though and yeah..." he excused, scratching the back spines behind his head in a sort of awkward manner. That I could relate to. My special talent should have been the faux pas. Although what would that Cutie Mark look like? Two ponies in one of those awkward hugs that lasted two seconds too long? My proximity alert going off again snapped me out of it, triggering right behind me and almost making me freak out and fall into a guard stance. Almost, thankfully, or I might have caused another one of those situations. A glance over my shoulder, however, only showed another mare slipping into the queue behind me, looking up at the 'menu' that was hung under the "Three Flower's Delights" sign. Okay, Fluttershy was right. Maybe I should release some tranquilizers into my system. I moved out of the way as I slid my bits forward, Rose taking them and nodding, sliding my basket to me in return with a smile. "I understand, Spike. I know you're just concerned," she returned, giving him a happy expression before, without missing a beat, turning to the mare and adding, "Hello, Miss! How may I help you?" Okay, she'd definitely done this before. I glanced over at the white mare as she trotted up, still looking up at the menu as she brushed a bit of her dark green mane out of her lighter green eyes. Something about her seemed strange, but I was probably being paranoid again. "Um, I'm still looking. Give me a moment," she requested in a gentle sounding voice. Rose gave her a pleasant nod before looking back to me instead. Scratch that. It was probably her vacant, spaced out looking stare as she looked at the board that gave me the strange vibes. "Don't think we forgot what you requested, either! We wanted to let you know that the day after the festivities, we're open for talking a bit about herds, if you're still interested. Lots of ponies have herd troubles," she reminded. Oh! Admittedly, between everything that happened in Canterlot, then falling out of a train while on fire, I'd totally forgotten that I'd requested to talk to them about that. Still, it wasn't too bad of an idea. Nodding, I agreed with, "I should be fine for then. We do have to go back to Canterlot a few days after the festival, but I should still have plenty of time." Assuming nothing disastrous happened, of course. Given my luck, I could be anywhere at that point. The moon, swimming away from sharks in the ocean, Pony Hell if it existed, or far more likely, in the hospital. Again. Motion out of the corner of my eye drew my attention again, snapping me out of my various imagined scenarios of differing degrees of doom. Proximity scans had nothing new, and I turned to note the white mare now staring up at Spike instead of the menu. Oh, I guessed it was a little weird to be walking around with a small dragon on my back. He didn't notice her attention until she spoke, however. "Uhm, I don't mean to intrude, but did you say your name was Spike?" she inquired softly, in a polite but curious tone. The lack of energy behind her words made me a little tired just hearing her talk, but I kept a smile on all the same. Shining Armor had said I needed to at least attempt to appear confident and assured of myself, even when I was totally the opposite. It hadn't been really applicable until now, however. The dragon perked and looked over at her curiously, but I saw no dawning recognition on his face. So he didn't know her, then. "Oh, yes, I am. Heh. Ponyville's resident dragon," he confirmed, giving a somewhat awkward smile. There was a long, even more awkward pause as she just blankly stared at him for almost five seconds. Even Rose blinked slowly and frowned towards the mare after it started to get strange. "Oh. As in, Element Bearer Twilight Sparkle's assistant? A dragon?" she inquired next, still not blinking towards him as she took in details of his form, then slowly lowered her eyes to me instead. They were a pretty bluish green in color, and held surprisingly more warmth than her general presentation betrayed. I got those strange vibes again. "Uh, yeah. I live with Twilight at the library. Um, and yeah, I'm a dragon," Spike answered, shifting to a more confused expression, probably also wondering where this was going. My subdermal armor folded up just in case. Even more startling, she frowned the second my armor went up. Before I could even tilt my head, she asked, "Are you all right, Sir? Your life force just significantly deminished." What?! Alert flags went off in my head and I frowned at her. She could see my life force? She had training of some sort. Lately, 'training' was a bad sign for me, I noted. I couldn't do a scan of her with my eyes while she was looking right at me, but I could use my magic instead. My energy drifted up into my eyes for just a moment, giving me a flickering image of her inner energy paths. That instant was all my computer side needed to get a snapshot, and I examined it while staring at her. To my surprise, while she had a normal web of energy running through her body like a standard unicorn, a huge amount of pooling was behind her eyes, forming two additional 'pockets' of reserved energy that I normally only saw in the chest and head of a pony. Even weirder, instead of 'veins' of energy extending up into her horn, her head reservoir bulged upwards and pushed right up against the base of it. What that would do to her magic, I couldn't really guess. She smiled, however, a heartbeat later, in a disarmingly warm manner. "You don't have to scan me. I'm really a pony. I'm just a necromancer. We train our eyes to be able to see things more readily missed by others. I was only concerned for your wellbeing, but you appear unharmed. And an Earth Pony with the ability to perform magical scans?" she asked, a bit of energy shifting into her voice, coming off as what I could only assume was excitement. A necromancer? Yet again, I had to banish the image left behind by the Keldarian version of that profession, it definitely clashing violently with the Equus varient, it would seem. They almost reminded me more of seers than some 'raising of undead' variety. "Uh, I'm not exactly a normal stallion. Is there a reason you were interested in Spike?" I asked, trying to focus her back on the prior event. Wait, I didn't even know her name. She paused, expression blanking out for a moment as she was apparently caught completely off guard. Rose continued giving her a questioning stare, looking a little creeped out herself. Finally, she seemed to remember with a small start, then smiled again. "Oh, right. I was looking for the library, and knew Twilight Sparkle lived there. I was looking for Twilight Sparkle so I could find the library, and knew Spike was her assistant. Could you please show me where the library is, Mister Spike?" she requested politely, drawing that series of connections out about three times more than needed. He stared blankly at her still, then frowned, looking down at me instead. "Do you think we have time, Mender?" he asked, sounding beyond unnerved by this entire encounter. Admittedly, I sort of agreed with him. My mouth started to open again when the white mare let out a little gasp, eyes widening as she locked onto me instead. There was a surprisingly intense amount of focus in them, as if she was memorizing exactly what I looked like. Okay, I was tempted to see if I could just arrest her right now on account of highly suspicious behavior. I didn't feel comfortable leading her to the library at all. "Did you say his name was Mender?" she asked quickly, her speed belaying a certain eagerness to her. Okay, that made it even worse. Was she trying to be as creepy as possible? "Uh, yeah. Moon Mender. Why do you want to find the library so-" I started to ask. All of my proximity alerts kicked on less than an instant later, and my eyes widened as I started to shift to the left in order to brace, a fast moving object coming in from my right. "Mender!" the cyan mare called out as she dove in. That was all the warning I got to throw a shield up over the surprised Spike, locking him to my back. She hit us with a surprisingly soft thud and kept going, wings a blazing flare of rainbow light as she arced sharply upwards, taking us with her. Slipping my forelegs around her shoulders, I just held on as she grabbed me, and we rocketed upwards and away from Ponyville at about a forty degree angle and at least a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. Damn it! * * * * * I really didn't know why her house had a door. Rainbow shot right in through the open window, and before I even had a chance to ask her where we were going, Spike and I were spilled out onto a rather soft surface, coming to a stop abruptly as we hit a stack of pillows. Ah, she had a convenient landing platform. That's why she didn't use the door. The 'landing platform' turned out to be a bed when I finally got my face out of the distinctly Rainbow smelling pile of pillows. The room was smaller in size, housing only the bed, a dresser and mirror combo, and a bookshelf filled to the brim with Daring Do novels. Rainbow herself stood up slowly on the bed, flexing her wings a bit before tucking them up again. I helped Spike out of the overly fluffy pile, and both of us gave an inquiring stare at the mare that had delivered us here. Well, he had a stare. Mine was more of a glare. "Don't mares usually ask for a date first?" I asked, shifting to a more skeptical expression once my irritation died down. Dash and Spike both flushed lightly, and the mare flailed her hooves at me. "No teasing! I need your help, Mender! Really, really bad! Can you please, please help me?! I'll do anything!" she requested, oddly enough tossing a 'blank check' into my lap, so to speak. Whatever it was, it must have been really important. "I kinda need to know what it is before agreeing to it, Dash. Are you okay?" I asked, frowning as I took in more of her appearance. She had darker circles under her eyes and her coat and mane were slightly more disheveled than usual. She also had a strange scent about her that definitely wasn't from the shower. This was more feminine, yet smelled distinctly like Rainbow. Weird... She huffed momentarily before tossing out, "Okay, so I didn't really sleep more than a few hours last night. No, I'm too freaked out over the races today! Especially the second one! I need more practice, Mender. Bad! You need to help me practice with my wings more! Please? I'll do literally anything you want if you do!" Admittedly, the 'begging' tone didn't fit her very well. Spike frowned finally, looking around the room while doing so. "Uh, why'd ya have to bring us up here just to ask for practice?" he asked, rubbing the side of his head with a claw. Rainbow's ears drooped a little as she sat up fully on the bed, averting her eyes and hesitating. "Look, I... I'm not comfortable with other ponies seeing me like this. You and Mender I trust, and I know you aren't gonna laugh at me or anything. I'm a mess right now. I need to win the race today, big time, but..." she muttered, sounding just as freaked out as she looked. “But…?” I encouraged, tilting my head as I leaned back against the pillows instead. This was still better than crashing us into hay, I supposed, although she could have had better timing. I was still a bit concerned about the ‘necromancer’ mare who so badly wanted to find the library. It explained her abilities to see life force, but she was still a bit strange. Rainbow fidgeted back and forth for a moment before rapidly spitting out, “I just found out that the Wonderbolts are going to be there, too! They might even be competing in the race! If they're going to be there, I'll need a serious edge to win. Plus, both you and Fluttershy seem to think that confessing with the sky writing thing is a bad idea! Now I'm starting to have second thoughts about that, too, and I don't know what I'm going to do about it." Taking a moment to process all of that, I exhaled softly and stood. Wobbling a little on the unstable surface, I walked over to Rainbow instead, who gave me a confused look. She didn't move, however, as I shifted behind her instead and brushed down her twitching wings, kneading my hooves gently into her back. She got the hint and relaxed a little, shivering as I massaged her flight muscles and lower back. She was a mess of knots and spasms, of course, hinting at the stress that lay beneath, even if I couldn't feel it directly at this range. "Rainbow, calm down. In my honest opinion, you've staked too much on this one event. Putting all of your hope in one maneuver or tactic is never a very sound strategy unless you're confident of its outcome. You're not, so maybe you should consider confessing to Applejack at some later time?" I suggested, massaging along her lower back. She groaned, then huffed at that, starting to open her mouth to probably refute that, but I pushed a knot down at the same time and turned it into a stifled moan instead, causing her to shiver. I was kind of surprised she was even able to fly us up here with her muscles like this... Spike nodded at my words before pointing out, "Yeah, Applejack's not going anywhere, and seems to really value your relationship already, so you can honestly tell her any time, can't you? I mean, it might not be as flashy as a huge air show, but maybe she'd appreciate 'subtle' a little more?" Surprisingly wise words for somepony who didn't know the meaning of subtle in his own infatuation. Still, I wasn't one to give good relationship advice either. Rainbow exhaled wearily, then fell forward onto her stomach, letting me follow her back down and get more leverage against her as she relaxed and closed her eyes. "Mmm. I just wanted it to be 'awesome', ya know? She deserves my best, but... I suppose if I scare her off with it, it's definitely not sending the right message. Arg! Feelings and relationships are so complicated!" the mare groaned out, whacking her forehead into her thankfully soft sheets. "I hear you there. I'm sure you heard all about the little event two nights ago by now," I pointed out, deciding that was probably a perfect example of 'complicated' as far as relationships go. Rainbow started snickering at that, and I knew I'd guessed right, a little flush coming to my cheeks. She assured, however, "Don't worry. We made Pinkie swear to not tell anypony else. Rarity doesn't normally gossip either, but there's no secrets between us Elements. That sounded seriously painful." Her tone was surprisingly sympathetic rather than teasing, and I relaxed a little and nodded. 'Painful' was one word for it. I'd have used 'Mind-numbingly Agonizing and Traumatic', but that was just me. "Aww, nopony told me," Spike complained, frowning at the sudden realization of being left out. Exhaling softly, I debated it for a moment before shrugging. "Don't spread it around. It was kind of traumatic for me. Twilight made a discovery about my anatomy and ended up blasting me with an unexpectedly horrendously agonizing spell in a very sensitive and private area," I summarized. Sonic vibrations sent up something with a metal core didn't feel the greatest, it turns out. The dragon winced almost instantly, lowering himself a little closer to the bed and pushing his legs together. "Oh... That's horrible! Why did she do that?!" he demanded, voice strained with sympathetic empathy pain. Dash rolled her eyes at that one before reminding, "It's Twilight. When it comes to 'science', she doesn't exactly pull punches. That's already gotten her in trouble before. This time just caused somepony else to get hurt instead of just her." Ah. Honestly, that didn't surprise me either. Shaking my head, I felt compelled to at least defend the mare, as she wasn't here to represent herself. "She felt truly bad for it already. She made it up to Fluttershy and me," I assured, only realizing the implications of that statement after I'd said it. Unfortunately, the implications in this case were true, which Rainbow undoubtedly knew already. It didn't stop her from grinning, however. "Oooh, you'll have to give me the juicy details later!" she cooed, eyes opening again as she looked back up at me. Shooting her a mildly annoyed glare, I leaned in more and cracked her back in three spots, earning a wince and sharp exhale from her due to my weight. She went right back to smirking after, however, and I just rolled my eyes. "Uh, ew. She's kinda like my sister. I don't wanna hear about it," Spike groaned, covering those fins along the side of his head that I assumed aided his hearing in some way. "Aww, are ya sure? Sometimes sisters and brothers do kinda-" Rainbow started to tease before Spike let out a pained yelp and squeezed his head harder. "Nope! Definitely not! Helping her into the bondage outfit back in Canterlot was bad enough!" he exclaimed, quickly denying her as I chuckled. Ah, right. That was an experience. First time I learned about those anti-magic horn ring thingies. And learned that they violently combust and explode if the unicorn overpowers them with a pure ocean of magic. All in the same evening! I should start keeping a quota for explosions. It might help me make more sense of my life, giving a bit of organization. Rainbow almost choked on her tongue, however. "What?! Why didn't I hear about this?! I have to hear about this!" she exclaimed, sounding absolutely gleeful. I suspected it was less to do with gossip and more to do with laughing hysterically at the story... “As much as I hate to remind you, we’re kind of on a time limit right now, Rainbow. Are you sure you should be practicing this soon before the race, though?” I reminded, not really knowing much about competition events like this. Also, it got me out of having to tell that story, which was always a good thing. Dash groaned, then buried her face back into the sheets instead. “No, it’s a bad idea. I’ll probably get ‘dead wings’ and not even be able to fly up to the starting line,” she admitted, scraping her right forehoof along the mattress. I shifted up to working with her upper back muscles, and she switched to a soft sigh, relaxing against my hooves. “Mmm, I probably shouldn’t even run in the Running of the Leaves, but the two races are four hours apart, so I should be able to rest up between,” she tacked on, starting to plan out things better already. Smiling, I nodded to that, feeling her relax a little already. “I’ll give you a long massage between races, too, don’t worry. We’ll get you back in top shape for the second one,” I assured. She blushed a little at that, a warmer smile on her face as she rested on her tummy. “Mmm, that sounds awesome. Gotta make sure I’m nice and rested up. Might even take a nap right now…” she contemplated, sighing contentedly. Spike lifted an eyebrow at that before inquiring, “Uh, how are we gonna get down then? We kind of need to get our basket back. We accidentally left it at the flower stand.” Oh, oops. He was right. Well, I’m sure Rose would hold onto it for us… Cue snickering. Ugh. “Even if I have a reputation to keep, there’s nopony to see us all the way up here, so I can afford to get a bit of snuggle time in with the two cute boys I got hostage,” she deduced, rose colored eyes opening again to smirk back up at me. I rolled my eyes at that. “Suck up. You just want more massaging. You owe us for the kidnapping, though,” I warned her, smirking right back. She outright grinned, then giggled as she relaxed again. “I’m cute?” Spike asked, sounding genuinely perplexed by that concept, which was kind of sad now that I thought about it. Not losing a beat, Rainbow immediately answered, “Of course! Of course, I’m not going to get in the way of you and Rarity. Looks like she’s finally starting ta get the hots for ya, after all!” Oh, that wasn’t fair! The little dragon blushed furiously as his eyes widened quite a bit. Of course, maybe the encouragement was justified. I thought Rarity was still in the ‘tentative consideration’ stage, but considering there were no secrets between the Elements of Harmony, maybe she knew something I didn’t? “R-Really?! She is?!” he quickly asked, earning an even wider grin from the cyan mare. Sighing, I cut him off and asked, “Do you need anything else, Rainbow? If not, we really do need to finish getting the food for the picnic later tonight after the races.” It was interesting having a ‘picnic’ in the evening, honestly. I always thought they were more an afternoon sort of thing, but I guess that wasn’t completely true. She paused for a moment, and I knew there was something else. “Uh, yeah, actually. I have sort of a… Well, it’s a problem of mine,” she started to explain, hesitating and frowning for a moment. A problem? Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long while coming up with dreadful possibilities for what it could be, as she immediately continued with, “Right. I’ll just say it. I like using my wings. Like, a lot. I have to physically tie them down in order to run hoof races now, as it’s just second nature for me to open them and take to the sky. I’m a bit… Well, I’m worried that it’s going to take a bit more than hemp rope to tie them down after you put the rockets in them.” Oh. Right, those. “Ah, yeah, that’s a legitimate problem. Do you want me to build a kill switch into them?” I offered, that being really the only solution that I could think of. Rainbow blinked, then swallowed at that. “A w-what?!” she asked almost immediately. Oh, right. They weren’t really familiar with electronics here at all. That being so, that undoubtedly sounded horrible. “Ah, no, not like that!” I quickly assured, nudging her back down into a more relaxed position before continuing with, “A kill switch is something that ‘kills’ the functioning of something else. In this case, it’s a switch that I’ll give you that will manually turn off your wing jets. It’ll take me a little bit, though. I have the basic one set up, but I’m going to have to give you control over it.” She nodded back at me, then let me spread her wings out as I brought up the linked node system that was connected to each jet. It wouldn’t be too complicated, but would take a bit of time. Making an actual energy interrupter at the base of the system would be fastest, but the fraction of a second lag that would introduce into the system each time she gave her wings an ‘order’ would be bad. Instead, I used the ones that reworked the base jets themselves, to also get around having to re-calibrate them all to her movements and nerves again. Besides, they were already basically in place, and I was really lazy. Of course, at this point, her ‘enchantment’ was practically cybernetics themselves, given that they were ‘wired’ up to her nervous system. So yeah, a kill switch was strangely appropriate. This one would just turn the jets off. The energy coating on the wings when they powered up was more than likely harmless and gave no speed benefits, so that could stay. I hoped… The process itself took about twenty minutes or so. Showing her how to access the newly implemented toggle switch took a little longer. Given that I knew she had nanites in her body at this point, I simply broke down and took the easy way out, having them project an image onto the inside of her eye, like they do with mine. That showed her the status of her wings and let her toggle them with her mind, which unsurprisingly, she found all sorts of awesome. Heh. “This should let me do the races without being tempted to cheat, then!” she chirped as she flexed her wings out to each side of her, stretching the now relaxed muscles to full extension. I smiled and nodded in return as Spike watched the whole process with a certain curiosity. “Does it feel weird to have tiny little things floating around inside of you?” he asked a moment later, surprising me somewhat. That was one of those awkward questions, considering Rainbow technically didn’t give her consent to have them implanted. If she was bothered by it, it didn’t show, however. “Nope! I feel exactly like my old self still. Actually, so far, they’ve only made me even more awesome! Totally clipped my wing on my window earlier. Uh, I don’t always fly the greatest when I’m stressed out. Got a really fun bruise on my left wing tip, but it healed up and went away in, like, thirty seconds! Totally awesome. The talking in our heads is kinda cool, too, at least when Pinkie doesn’t go all out and make everything go crazy…” Ugh. She had to remind me of that. “Crazy?” Spike asked, looking a little uncertain over it suddenly. Wait, was he…? “Yeah! She’s so hyperactive, and the faster she starts thinking, the faster things start happening from her link and all sorts of images and stuff start appearing everywhere. To be honest, I kinda felt like throwing up,” Rainbow admitted. Smirking, I inquired, “You were thinking about asking for them, too, weren’t you?” His eyes widened a little, followed by his cheeks tinting pink again as he wiggled his claws together. Yup. Thought as much. “Well, um, yeah! They sounded really cool and everything, and… Being able to talk to Rarity and the others in my head would be really nice,” he admitted, turning even redder as Rainbow got a knowing grin on her face. “Careful there, lover boy. If she can hear things from your mind, what if she hears things you don’t want her to hear?” Rainbow teased, having had that exact problem herself, if I remembered properly. Well, it was a valid concern, but she didn’t mention to him that it usually takes a conscious effort to send actual words along. Empathy was the only thing transferred automatically, with no real decision on the pony’s part. Oh, and biological information, but that was only sent to me. His eyes widened a little, a look of dawning horror on his face, of course. I sighed and shook my head, bonking Rainbow on hers and earning a snicker from the mare. “Don’t scare him, Dash. The links don’t transmit actual words unless you consciously tell them to, so relax. It’s a moot point, however, as I’m still not entirely sure how to make more of the disks. In theory, I know how, but I’ve never actually tried to before, so you’ll have to wait for a little bit,” I warned. Adding him to the list of ponies that wanted it so far, which was four and counting. Could the Crusaders technically give their own consent, though? Babs had wanted one, too, after learning about the ones from the others. I hadn’t had time to give her an enchantment yet, however, but had already explained that I wasn’t comfortable with her being so far away from me, just in case something went wrong with it. Relaxing a bit at that, Spike sighed and flopped back against the pillows. “Eh, I can wait a bit. We should get going, however, and get our basket back. Twilight won’t be happy that we’re late as is,” he reminded after a moment’s thought. Ah, right. The cyan mare rolled her eyes at that and hopped to her hooves. “Eh, Twilight plans too much. She needs to be more spontaneous. Don’t worry, I’ll let her know that I was the one who distracted you two. It was important, though! I was seriously freaking out. Uh… don’t tell anypony else that,” she assured, adding the last thought as a suddenly realized afterthought, by the sounds of it. It was kind of sweet that she trusted us enough to not remember until afterwards to tack on the nondisclosure request. Heh. “You didn’t have to worry about us gossiping in the first place, Rainbow. Anyway, can we get a ride back down? Preferably close to the market if you can,” I requested, gesturing towards her window. She gave us a warmer smile before stretching her back out and fluttering her wings a little. “Heck, after an awesome massage like that, I’ll fly ya both to Canterlot and back. Probably safer than the train for you anyway,” she suggested, winking as she hopped off her bed and trotted over to the window. I just snickered, unable to actually disagree with that assessment. She was probably right! Pointedly ignoring the mare’s sudden blush as I climbed up onto her back, I nodded at Spike, who scrambled off the bed and hopped onto mine as well. Grinning, Dash hopped into the air almost effortlessly, despite having the huge amount of extra weight on her back. With a flick of her wings and a burst of energy, we cleared the window in a fraction of a second, and Equestria opened up underneath of us, expanding off into the distance… Chapter 84While she had gotten us down from her home, true to her word, I hadn't expected Rainbow to stick with us afterwards. Of course, she wasn't needed at the competition until half an hour before they were ready to start, same as the rest of the ponies running. Applejack saw us gliding down from Dash's house as well and met us when we landed. Together, the four of us grabbed our wayward picnic basket and headed towards Sugarcube Corner to pick up refreshments and the pink one. "Whaaa, hey everypony! You made it!" Pinkie cheered enthusiastically, greeting us at the door. Thankfully, Applejack and Rainbow were in the front with me just tagging along. The sound was a little less at this distance, I hoped. "O' course we did, Sugarcube. Are ya all set ta head fer tha race?" Applejack asked, bringing our little group to a halt on the front step. Laughter could be heard inside, and I flicked my ears forward, picking up the sounds of the trolleys moving along the track I'd built yesterday. Heh, sounds like it was a hit. Pinkie bounced in place for a second, probably venting off extra energy to keep herself below safety thresholds. "Yup! But first, you have to see this! It's awesome!" she exclaimed, hopping back inside in a single backwards bound. If I ever tried that blind like she just did, I'd probably flip over and faceplant... Applejack gave Rainbow a confused look before shrugging and heading inside, the snickering cyan mare following. I glanced back over my shoulder to give my passenger a glance, but he only nodded somewhat apprehensively. "We need the drinks. Plus, it's better if she works off some of the energy before I get tossed into the balloon with her. Last time it was... interesting," he whispered. Ah, good point. Cooling her jets before confined to a small space with him was probably for the best. Walking inside, I was more than a little surprised to see the place utterly packed. Only offhoofedly recognizing about a fifth of them, I took a guess that most of these ponies were incoming tourists for the race. Them wanting the track set up for today suddenly made so much more sense. I was probably being silly, but I'd somehow not really considered the fact that ponies were coming here from all over Equestria. It was kind of terrifying, and I was glad I wasn't in the spotlight again. "Look, it's the engineer who made it!" Pinkie screamed as I stepped in through the door. Damn it. At least three-dozen foals, crammed under tables, on tables, running about in the rows, and even a few sitting properly, all looked towards me at once. Damn, there was no choice! "Sorry, Spike," I apologized, getting a suddenly confused look from the dragon before I turned sideways and presented him to the crowd, smiling. Pinkie made the mistake of not naming me specifically... Cheers broke out almost immediately, and they flooded forward as he yelped. "No way, a dragon?!" "Wow, he must be an amazing engineer for one so young!" "Uh, I thought that Moon Mender was the engineer." "Aww, a baby dragon!" I listened to some of the adult ponies commenting as the flood of foals rushed forward and washed Spike back into the crowd, lifting him up to crowd surf as they all cheered. Dang. The younger they got, the more excitable they were! "Mender!" Spike yelped before he was drowned out by the laughter and praise and hauled off into the center of the room. Pinkie was busy laughing hysterically, of course, and Rainbow and Applejack smirked towards me. What?! It was cuter if he was the engineer anyway, rather than a bunch of foals mobbing an adult stallion. "That was kinda mean..." Applejack pointed out, wearing an amused expression regardless as I trotted up around the crowd. "...But totally awesome, too! Seriously, you should go pranking with Pinkie and me next time!" Dash added, grinning as she watched Spike flail and roll while being carried back to the start of the race and the two Cakes, smirking as they watched the proceedings. The farm mare gave her a skeptical look before chuckling and warning, "Careful, prank me an' Ah might tie up more than yer wings before tha race." Huh. Well, she wouldn't be winning like that, I imagined. Rainbow blushed regardless, and I saw a somewhat pointed smirk of amusement on Applejack before she carefully hid the expression. Regardless, the cyan mare rebutted with, "Ha! If you think that's the only way you'll win, go for it. Although getting beat by me crawling along might be awfully embarrassing." The farm mare grinned back, and I saw their back and forth banter starting up a mile away. Walking past them, I headed back towards Pinkie instead, just as I heard Applejack comment something about "Tying her to Berry Punch's house instead." Huh. Pinkie had finally recovered from her bout of laughter, and gave me a large grin as I moved up. "Sneaky, sneaky, Mender! But you left your bro out there!" Pinkie pointed out, nudging a hoof towards Spike bouncing in the air. Bro? Well, he was sort of like a little brother to me, so I suppose that was probably kind of mean, now that I thought about it. Was it okay for big brothers to use their little brothers as bait? Eh. Deciding it had gone on long enough and distracted them already, I nodded to Pinkie, and then tapped the floor with my right hoof. The barrier line popped into the air right next to me, took a ninety degree turn towards Spike, and wrapped around his waist as he was flipped into the air. The cheering momentarily stopped as he failed to fall back down, then turned into surprised gasps as he floated there in the air above them. Spike blinked once before getting pulled towards me, and then dropped onto my back as he sailed in. "Whaa! Oof!" he huffed as he landed on me at moderate speeds, wrapping his arms around my neck to steady himself. "Sorry about that, Spike. I'm still sore from the hospital, however, so you're in a better position to get crowd surfed," I apologized tactfully, ignoring the fact that they probably wouldn't have been able to lift me anyway. Getting out of the spotlight had been a definite bonus, too. Sadly, a couple foals followed him over, apparently interested in the glowing lines that had picked him up and deposited him over here. One I recognized, however. "Hello, Pinch," I greeted as the rose-colored unicorn filly trotted up, lime eyes locked on me rather intently. "Oh, you remember me!" she exclaimed in mild surprise, perking up as she came to a stop with two other foals next to her. An adult mare was following after her as well, with remarkably similar color patterns. She actually had a Cutie Mark, however, being a strawberry next to a bunch of grapes. She was a little darker in coloring, though. Nodding, I agreed with, "Of course. We met at the cabins." She smiled at that, and perked up before glancing over at the adult mare slipping up next to her. "Ah, so you've met my little Pinchy, hmm? I'm Berry Punch, her mother. You must be Moon Mender, the actual engineer behind this fascinating device," the mare introduced, gesturing up to the track that was starting up again, this time with a collection of donuts. Smiling sheepishly, I nodded as Spike started snickering on my back. "Ah, well, yeah. I just figured Spike would enjoy the attention more. I'm not really one for it myself," I admitted, awkwardly scratching the back of my head. My ears twitched lightly as I picked up a smaller voice, with a rather interesting accent that I couldn't place. "Oh, you know him?" the smaller colt next to Pinch asked, looking up at her curiously. I glanced down at him, noticing his very unique looking multi-colored coat. I'd never seen two colors in the coat before for a pony, his being primarily white but having brown splotches on it. His accent made me wonder if he was from a different area, and possibly genetic background. "Yup," Pinch confirmed, doing a little hop before smiling and continuing with, "He was the one who helped Big Mac save Sweetie, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo in the lake." I blushed lightly, and sadly, Berry immediately smirked. "Ah, an inventor, hero, and gentlecolt. Easy to tease, too. Rarity was right," the mare cooed, snickering as I blushed even more from that. Trying to give her my best skeptical stare, I asked, "Rarity's been talking about me?" Pinkie, who I admittedly forgot was there for a moment, started hopping up and down at that, grinning. "Oooh, me too! I've told everypony today about you! Applejack had the idea that word of mouth was way better than advertising for your talent," the pink mare chirped. Oh boy. "Wow, I've never seen anything like this before. It's like something ya would see from Ah special order!" the smaller colt exclaimed, looking up and about at the track again. Snickering, I had to admit that maybe Applejack was right on that account, especially in a smaller town like Ponyville. Leaning down, I lightly held my hoof out. He momentarily looked surprised before smiling again and bumping it with his own, shaking it up and down. "Hello. I'm Mender. I don't think we've met before," I properly introduced, earning a full grin from him. Berry nudged her daughter, however, who squeaked instead. "Oh, that's right! I'm sorry. I should have introduced you two. Mender, meet Pipsqueak. Pipsqueak, Mender," Pinch introduced, gesturing to each of us as she said our names. I nodded to him, but Berry smiled and scratched under her chin thoughtfully for a moment. Uh oh. "Actually, speaking of advertising for you, I do have something I was hoping to talk to you about," she revealed. Okay, yeah, Applejack was right... * * * * * Stretching out, I felt my back crack lightly and shivered. The simple pleasures in life were often the easiest to achieve. More complex pleasures were definitely worth it, too, however. Smiling to myself, I nuzzled into Fluttershy's cheek and earned a soft smile back. She rolled over onto her right side, tucking her wings up and resting against my chest as we relaxed on the blanket. We'd picked a nice spot on a big hill near the start of the race and not that far from the actual finish line, given that it made a lazy circle through a good fourteen kilometers worth of woods and surrounding countryside. I could see most of the track this high up, although probably not as well as the announcers' balloon. The only downside was that the day was heavily overcast, and being this high up exposed us to a lot of winds. My fur puffed up a little, and I pulled the second blanket further up and over us, earning a smile from Fluttershy as she snuggled in. Rarity didn't notice, being wrapped up in the other end of the large blanket almost as well as her mind was wrapped up in the book in front of her. Today was a rather relaxing day, regardless of the stress earlier. At least Berry had only wanted a mechanically assisted fruit crusher. Way easier than the ‘rail’ system that Big Mac had requested… Twilight was nowhere to be seen at the moment, although she greeted us alongside the mayor when we got here. Fluttershy stuck with me after, but Twilight apologized, stating she had a few last minute things to set up before the race. "Whee!" Pinkie continued squealing over the loudspeakers at the same time. Looking up again, I saw the balloon still spinning in a rather fast circle as it drifted about over the starting line. I sent a sympathetic thought towards Spike before glancing down at the ponies milling about near the starting banner. Rainbow was easy to spot given her color schemes. The orange farm mare was behind her at this point, looking like she was trying to murder her at this distance. She had several coils of rope tied around Dash's chest, and had lifted her onto her back legs completely in an effort to tug them even tighter. Smirking, my link flicked open and I warned, "Applejack, killing Rainbow before the race doesn't mean you win by default." I felt the mare smirk as Rainbow flailed away from her and sat down, clutching at her sides and glaring at her. "He has a point!" she yelped, giving an extra annoyed stare. "Ha! Ah gotta make sure ya don't cheat again an' use yer wings. Sure ya were fine last year, but ya remember tha year before that, don't ya?" she reminded. Oh? Rainbow gave a skeptical, blank stare at that. "Yeah, we both tied for last place that year. That really helped me, didn't it?" she pointed out. Last place? That didn't sound like those two at all. Fluttershy felt my confusion and giggled. "They were so busy trying to outdo each other and slow each other down that they finished last," she revealed. Oooh, okay, that sounded more like them! "Don't tell him that!" Rainbow yelped, flailing in our general direction and getting some strange looks from the ponies around her. Applejack started laughing outright at that, however. "Uh, Rainbow, yer supposed ta talk in yer head instead, remember?" the orange mare reminded, nudging her and winking after. Wait, she said that out loud herself! The confused ponies near the two suddenly gave understanding smiles and nods, a few looking over at Fluttershy and me in the direction Rainbow was pointing, the cyan mare now sporting a rosy blush to her cheeks as she dropped her legs to each side of her. Well, now they'd think that we were involved with Rainbow and Applejack like that, but I suppose that was slightly better than just thinking Dash was crazy instead. To my surprise, Twilight cut in a moment later over our links with, "How's the lineup look down at the starting line, by the way? We have the finish line set up now, despite a few goofs, and now it's even facing the right direction." She sounded dripping with sarcasm, and I took a guess that her day had gone downhill since this morning. "We got almost everypony 'ere in tha lineup now. Still missin' Thunderlane an' Cloudchaser, but we were expectin' that. They should be 'ere by race time. Cheerilee's ah no show, though," Applejack reported back. So many ponies I didn't know yet... I almost felt Twilight frown, however. "Cheerilee? She was looking forward to the run, though. What happened?" she asked, sounding concerned. Wait, no, I'd heard that name before. Oh! Right, that was the mare that Big Mac was crushing on. A... schoolteacher was it? "Yeah, she's in the clinic. Pulled her back, right ankle real bad, and sprained her knee on the other side," Rainbow explained. Ouch. Given that my back leg was broken not all that long ago, I could definitely sympathize. Maybe she and Big Mac could share a hospital room and strike up a conversation? I thought back to the extremely quiet stallion, then immediately dismissed that idea. Pinkie snickered madly over the link at that, and I instinctively looked up at the balloon, as if it was somehow polite to look at the pony 'speaking' despite her being several dozen meters away. "Oooh, both back legs at once? She must have had a lot of fun recently!" she chirped, sounding excited. Rarity, who had prior been ignoring the conversation, flushed a little at that nearby on the blanket, which left no mystery as to what Pinkie was referring to. I felt Twilight blush a little too at that, then stammer, "She... No, it's probably just a coincidence! Maybe she fell?" Rainbow grinned almost instantly. "That's exactly what she said when we checked in on her. Huh," the cyan mare pointedly commented, starting to snicker alongside Pinkie. Better not let Big Mac know that. Although, actually... Chuckling, I added, "Hey, Big Mac's in the clinic, too, with a hurt barrel, isn't he?" If Applejack had been drinking something, it would have been ejected out her nose as Rainbow switched from snickers to outright laughing. "No way! That was this mornin' durin' his chores. He said he... uh, fell," Applejack started, and then fell silent as I felt her blush, too. Okay, that was awesome. Pinkie also burst into laughter, this time it coming over the loudspeakers as ponies looked up at the balloon curiously. Heh. Might have to ask him about that later. Twilight, feeling flustered, assured, "It's probably just a coincidence. We shouldn't jump to conclusions!" Rarity finally sighed a little and looked up from her book. "No, it's honestly none of our business at all, even Applejack's. They are both adult ponies and fully capable of making their own choices. If your brother has found a mare to be happy with, you should be happy with him," she corrected, sounding more annoyed at being interrupted than anything. Actually, that looked remarkably like one of those sappy vampony paranormal romance books that Octavia had in her instrument case. "Ah'm not sayin' it's bad! Just, well, maybe they should wait before doin' that sort o' thing!" Applejack fussed. A touch of annoyance shot through Twilight, and admittedly I had to agree. What happened to not assuming? Instead, I gently hugged the still quiet Fluttershy, who perked up and snuggled back into me. The sensation was fired through the link right to Twilight, who relaxed and smiled towards us, even from so far away. "Mmm, I'm going to finish up here, then come join you two. I'm kind of glad I'm not running this year after all," Twilight murmured, sounding more relaxed already. Nodding gently, I relaxed against Fluttershy, and Rarity smiled towards the two of us, also looking like she was calming a bit. Heck, more power to them. It wasn't our business, and I knew how horrifying those lovely estrus hormones could be, just how the smells affected me. Maybe Cheerilee needed some help, too? Meh. Fluttershy and I continued resting, and Rarity went back to reading until Twilight walked back, heading up the hill slowly. Her forelegs were still wrapped and she winced while moving them, proving they were still bothering her a little despite the pain medicine. Hooking her hoof as she stepped onto the blanket, she let out a yelp before falling sideways and into my chest instead. She got her bearings again, then smiled to me before kissing me softly on the muzzle, Fluttershy wrapping her forelegs around Twilight's waist as she sat there. She was quickly assimilated into the blanket nest we'd made. "If you wanted to snuggle, all you had to do was ask, Mender," she murmured, settling against both of us as we slumped back into a slightly larger pony pile now, mostly hidden from the world. Snuggling was one of my favorite pastimes! "Wanna snuggle?" I asked, smirking as she giggled and pushed closer into Fluttershy and me. We rested for a moment before Twilight casually inquired, "By the way, do you know a white unicorn with a green mane and tail, Mender? She came to the practice fields earlier today while you were out getting the picnic supplies." I froze, eyes widening a little at that. Noting my reaction, both Twilight and Fluttershy opened their eyes again and looked towards me curiously. "Green eyes, necromancer, spaced out demeanor? I met a really weird mare while at the flower stand like that. She said she was looking for the library, but suddenly seemed really interested in Spike and me once she started talking to us," I inquired, frowning at that. What the hell?! Twilight frowned, too, then shook her head. "No, she seemed to recognize me instantly, and asked specifically for you when she got there. I thought she might be a DReg contact, but I didn't see her in the roster. Weird. I told her you were still off getting supplies, and she said she'd check in at the Inn and come find us later," she revealed, slipping deeper into her own thoughts. "Do you know anypony else other than us and the DReg ponies?" Fluttershy asked, tilting her head at that. I idly shook my head, remembering who I had and hadn't met before, and honestly, I'd never seen her before at all. Which was weird, as she did seem... sort of familiar. I couldn't place how, though. Rainbow hesitated before mentally adding, "Maybe she's not DReg? Maybe she's one of those other creepy ponies instead!" BEID? Hmm. She didn't seem like their usual type of employee, but... Rarity frowned at that, eyes no longer tracing the text of her book and seemingly focused almost through it now. "That might be the case, but it doesn't feel like their usual approach. This seems a bit too... Hmm. Direct? They're either trying something new, or she's not one of them," the mare considered out loud, earning a nod from Twilight. Shrugging, I reminded, "She did say she'd be back later, so we'll just have to wait and see. If she is a BEID agent, I have confidence that both Twilight and I together can counter just about anything she could possibly try. If we capture her before she can mind wipe herself, we might be able to get more information this time around. If she's not a BEID agent, then there's something else she wants and we don't have to worry nearly as much." Honestly, I wasn't that worried to begin with. Even a direct agent meant to earn the trust of your target shouldn't act so... strange in front of them. It was unlikely she was a member at all. But what did she want, then? As if reading my thoughts, Pinkie giggled hysterically before suggesting, "Oooh, what if she wants your heart instead?! You are a big, important, handsome, strong stallion with lots of connections! If you curled your mane down and started talking in a suave, deep voice and-" Rainbow started laughing, but Twilight cut the chain of devolving commentary off with a clearing of her throat. "Pinkie, this isn't one of those cliché paranormal romance books with the 'perfect but misunderstood' lead male cast. Mender's a 'real' stallion and doesn't need all of those superficial qualities in order to be perfectly acceptable and attractive in his own right," she corrected, eyes shifting towards me as she spoke, a smile dancing onto her face after. Snickering, I leaned over and gently kissed her nose, earning a giggle from the mare. Rarity blushed slightly and slipped her bookmark into the book, closing it softly and stashing it away in her saddlebag. Heh. "I agree wholeheartedly, actually. I'll be the first to admit that I held Mender to a... slightly unreasonable standard when we first met. This caused some feelings that weren't entirely genuine on my part, so I fully acknowledge that such a thing can happen when you're only looking at a stallion superficially, like that," she explained, losing her blush as she gave me a warmer smile. Yeah, that had... Well, it happened. I didn't know what to think of it beyond that. Rainbow nodded along over at the starting line as Applejack sat down next to her. "Totally! I mean, sure, Mender's cute and he blundered into being allowed to be friends with a bunch of totally awesome mares, but he's obviously nothing like that otherwise. Sure, he tries to be kind and gentle, but he's totally socially awkward, puts his hoof in his mouth all the time, trips over his hooves when not putting them in his mouth, and spends most of his free time in the hospital as a hobby. He's obviously not perfect!" she chirped, attempting, by the sounds of it, to further add to the helpful examples. I thought. Maybe. Uh, ouch. "Rainbow!" Applejack hissed, flattening her ears back as she glared over at her friend and Pinkie started laughing again, earning more strange upwards stares. Well, she was technically right. I became friends with these ponies and one dragon purely by coincidence. I was past, however, believing that I met them just out of chance. After dozens of coincidences start to connect together, the bigger picture starts to show something else entirely. Fate? Doubt it. More like design. Fluttershy sighed and leaned into my shoulder a bit more before reasoning, "We don't need to focus on how or why we all met. We of all ponies know how coincidental and fast it can all seem. But the only thing that's important is how we feel now, not what we felt before." Hmm. I really should get the full story of how they met one of these days. I knew the rundown of it, but the details often made the difference. I pulled her a bit closer as Twilight relaxed and sunk into me again. Rainbow held her hooves up and shook them defensively in Applejack's direction. "Whoa! Relax, I wasn't really trying to say he's a bad pony or anything. Sheesh. Just that he wasn't like one of those characters from those stupid books!" she quickly defended, slipping into partly verbal again, which she tended to do when flustered, I noticed. I didn't know if it was better or worse that the nearby ponies were ignoring her at this point. Applejack just sighed and rotated to face the starting line again instead of immediately answering. After a hesitant six or seven seconds, she admitted, "Ah know. It's just... Ah did tha same exact thing ta him, but in tha other direction. Ah judged him off shallow appearances an' demeanor just 'cause he happened ta get too close ta mah little sis. Now Ah regret it, like ah lot o' things, an' Ah ain't gonna let anypony else treat him like that either." Applejack... She sounded downright tired when she said that, and I kind of wanted to trot over there and give her a big hug. "AJ..." Rainbow muttered, frowning as she started to reach out for the mare that refused to look at her. She was interrupted by the race stands announcer first, however. "It's time to line up and get ready, folks! It's time for our annual Running of the Leaves, a deep rooted tradition from the very founding of Ponyville!" Mayor Mare started to speak. Oh, right. She had a speech lined up. Twilight had warned us... Applejack shook her head and stood again, heading for the starting line instead. "Ah'll be fine, Dash. Thanks, though. May tha best mare win," she assured. This might be a long day after all. * * * * * Okay, so it turned out that the two of them were really scary when they paced themselves. They'd stayed close to the back of the herd for almost the entire run. Then, as they rounded the last bend and fell within seventy yards of the finish line, everypony started to speed up. The two of them just sped up more. It really showed me how highly conditioned they were, honestly. In all of five seconds, they were three or four pony lengths ahead of the leader. The next five doubled that gap and it was like the others were moving in slow motion, Applejack's and Rainbow's legs blurring under them as they both gritted their teeth and blazed side by side towards the finish line. It took the snapshot photo to decide which of them had won at the end. Applejack sighed softly as she lay next to us, watching Rainbow and me sort of wistfully. The cyan mare let out a soft groan under me as I pushed down with my hooves, hearing a quiet crack come from just under her wings. She shivered with her entire body and relaxed further against the blanket, my energy heating her muscles and softening the tension as it seeped into her back. Twilight watched my technique with avid curiosity as well, starting to faintly blush while watching my hooves work. I had a feeling she'd be asking for one, too. I understood the appeal of a good deep muscle massage and rub down, but these mares confused me with their level of interest in it. "Are ya sure yer okay, Rainbow? Ah'm not just talkin' yer body, either," Applejack asked once more. Dash cracked open one eye to look over at her, then rolled it shortly thereafter. "I've lost lots of times, Applejack. You ran a better race than me. There's nothing wrong with that, although I'll still try my hardest to take you down the next time, no offense," she warned, turning her annoyed look into a smirk instead. Well, they did say you couldn't win unless you were ready to risk losing. That did make sense on some level. The orange mare relaxed a bit at that, then smirked. Fluttershy carefully dried Applejack's forelegs, just like she had for her cyan friend prior. Rarity had insisted on getting a bucket of water and cleaning them up a bit when they finally limped back up here. It was beyond strange being the one to do the helping when it came to assisted walking. "And yer body?" Applejack inquired, eyes drifting down to Rainbow's lightly bruised right foreleg and scuffed right shoulder. They were far better than when Twilight teleported us over to help them, actually having a bit of bleeding from both mares after the spectacular wipe out they both rolled into after crossing the finish line. Applejack's ankle had snagged in the mud as she tried to turn, and it sent her rolling instead as she went right into her still sprinting friend. Both had done a complete flip, Applejack still bearing the bruise from where the flailing Rainbow had accidentally punched her in the face before they crashed violently into the dirt. Given our proximity and links, Fluttershy and I had stood at the same time, coordinating with Twilight just as her horn flared up. Twilight and I hit the ground running as Fluttershy took to the air and grabbed an emergency medical kit from the sidelines. We'd gotten them mostly untangled from their own legs by the time she got back over to us, thankfully. Dash smiled weakly at that and shook her head. "I'm not dropping out of the second race. I'll be fine, AJ. There's... There's just too much riding on it," she warned, closing her eyes again. The farm mare frowned, but remained silent as she just watched her resting companion. She was tense, but I had already worked a good amount of the bunched up muscles down. Now it was a matter of relaxing her, which would be tricky given how nervous she was. "What's so important about the next race, anyway?" Spike asked, apparently completely forgetting what Rainbow had told us over Estrus break. I gave him a skeptical glance, and his eyes widened immediately, both claws rising up and covering his mouth an instant later. Applejack's eyes locked onto him suspiciously even faster, and I contemplated causing a distraction to get her off the trail, but she still didn't say anything. Pinkie giggled in amusement as she rolled over onto her back, her legs peddling for a moment in the open air. "Relax, you two. You need to rest to recover from that roll! At least those tiny little thingies inside of you-" she started. "Nanites," Twilight interrupted with, still not looking up from the notes she was taking while watching me work. It was a little unnerving. "Right, those! At least they let you heal super-duper fast. Otherwise, Rainbow might really have to drop out of the race, which would be really sad because then she couldn't-" Pinkie started again. Rainbow interrupted her this time. "Pinkie! You relax, too. You're distracting me from the amazing massage," Dash chided, frowning momentarily afterwards. My hoof cracked her lower back, however, and she slipped into a groan instead, shuddering as the heat and soft massaging energy danced into her spine, too. Her wings instinctively fluttered lightly, still resting out to both sides of herself and stretched to full length. Nice cover up for interrupting Pinkie, still. Applejack huffed and went back to just sitting there, watching the cleanup of the finish line area. Sighing, I decided to appease her and offered, "After Rainbow's massage is done, let me get your back, too, Applejack. We can't have you throwing a muscle out cheering for Dash, now can we?" Her ears twitched lightly and I saw a smirk play on her face as Rainbow blushed softly under me. "Well, Ah can't rightly turn down an offer like that. Yer too nice ta me, Sugarcube," the farm mare murmured, glancing back over at me with a softer smile. Twilight perked at that. Uh oh. "Oh, do you think you could give me one, too? I'm intrigued as to how your interesting magical injection technique feels," she requested softly. Well, it wasn't an order, I noted. She really had been changing quite a bit, and hopefully the level of 'crazy' had been detoured a little. I started to nod to her when Pinkie gasped out loud. "Oooh, they totally feel like, guuuuuuh. I'm sure you know that feeling. That nice, heated-" she started. Rainbow cut her off with a sharp growl. "Pinkie! Please... Please stop," the cyan mare begged instead, blushing heatedly now as her wings twitched lightly and she looked up at the mare. Whoa. She got a giggle in return, which only seemed to agitate her further. "It's okay, Rainbow. I'll let you keep enjoying it. I just wanted to ask for one afterwards, too!" the pink enigma chirped, swaying slightly. Uh... Rarity tilted her head at that, then nodded, looking curious. "Admittedly, I've been quite intrigued by the tales from the others already. If it's not too much trouble, might I sample one as well?" she requested properly. Oh Celestia. Was there such a thing as hoof cramps? I really hoped there wasn't such a thing as hoof cramps... Blinking, I slowly nodded to all of them at once, earning varying smiles all around before I turned and glanced at Fluttershy as well. The yellow mare perked up under my attention, then immediately blushed, however. "Oh, no. After everypony else, you're going to be far too tired, Mender. I couldn't possibly ask you to give me a massage, too," she squeaked out, shrinking a little under the sudden focus of attention. My heart did a little skip and I inwardly winced. Okay, maybe she'd intended it, but after that, there was no way I wasn't going to give her a massage, too, even if my hooves were bloody stumps by then. "Fine. Fluttershy gets a massage, too. Everypony does," I muttered, already feeling tired. I never should have offered it to Applejack, but I had to live up to my promises now. "Everypony?" I suddenly heard from a distinctly Apple Bloom voice from the right. I looked over just in time to see the four Crusaders coming up the hill from the other direction, Sweetie now looking excessively eager. Damn it... * * * * * Oh, why?! Why did I have to have nerves in my ankles?! Hoof cramps definitely existed! Wincing, I relaxed a little finally as Fluttershy finished wrapping the bandages around my two ankles. Wrists? Eh, it didn’t matter. I’d look up pony anatomically correct names later. The yellow mare relaxed against me, both of us sinking back a little further into my chair. They were rather comfortable chairs, honestly, which surprised me a little given we were technically in a blimp. A few thousand castings of a cloudwalking spell was apparently out of the question for a large event like this. Ours was one of the smaller ones, but also surprisingly private. I hadn’t realized that a whole bunch of ponies were willing to practically bend over backwards to do favors for ‘Princess’ Twilight Sparkle, despite it being a title only. I really didn’t want to see what they’d act like if she were an actual Alicorn. My mind flashed back to the incident again, like so many before it. It was always easier to remember the horrifically traumatic and mentally scarring events, I noticed. Our minds worked kind of annoyingly like that. That horror I felt when I realized she’d teleported after me while I fell. Dash chased us as fast as she could as we skipped off the cliff, my tentacles forming a makeshift roll cage. Then, beyond everything I knew should and shouldn’t be possible, Twilight Sparkle broke physics and tore the energy from the Wings of Icarus off my back using raw magic. Her eyes were like two stars burning as clear as day right in front of me, and for just that instant, I know I saw wings of energy coming off her back. But there was no proof. None of it showed up on my electronic capturing hardware. The only thing my video feed picked up was that her eyes were glowing, which Fluttershy informed me happened quite often when Twilight went into overdrive mode. I didn’t tell anypony else about what I saw, of course. The event was a bad enough memory for us without me bringing things up at random intervals. The chair cushions felt nice against my back regardless, and I felt myself relax more. The room we were in was small and elongated, three raised rows of six comfy padded chairs each, all facing to the left side, if you entered from the back stairs. The room technically was built right into the side of the blimp, and the wall the chairs faced was glass, giving us all the perfect view of the tracks and the much larger, full-size blimps orbiting nearby. Of course, with Fluttershy and me sharing a chair, Pinkie and Spike gone announcing, and Rainbow actually in the race itself, we weren’t exactly stretching the capacity of the cabin. Twilight was to my left, Applejack to my right, Rarity past her, and the four Crusaders lay on the carpet in front of us. To my surprise, Sweetie and Apple Bloom were still out for the count after the massage and we carried them up here instead. Scootaloo gave a little yawn, looking out over the rather large racetrack. Giving her wings a little flutter, she stretched before shifting her attention to the clock that was on the wall to our left. “How long until the race starts, again?” she asked a moment later, glancing back at us. “Only five minutes now. Better wake the other two up so they don’t miss it,” Twilight pointed out, smiling down at the filly as she suddenly hopped up excitedly and nodded. Her enthusiasm probably wasn’t as adorable to Apple Bloom, who then got pounced on and tickled out of sleep into a squealing, writhing mess of legs getting tangled up with Scootaloo’s. Babs started laughing at the display, and the sheer amount of noise made Sweetie open her eyes again and sleepily look over at what was going on. Closing my eyes, I shifted my focus over towards Rainbow instead, not having to go very far towards the starting lineup, practically right under us. “This is a private line. How’s Rainbow doing?” I asked mentally, opening them again as the image of her pacing back and forth and rapidly stomping her hooves snapped into my mind. “G-Great. Just perfect. Everything is falling apart! How do you think I’m doing?!” she yelped, barely keeping herself mental only as she hopped and did a little flail in the air. Okay then. “If I had to guess, stressed,” I muttered through the link, giving her a blank stare. She glared at nothing in particular and exhaled wearily, halting her pacing. Instead, she turned and nodded towards the side of the viewpoint, letting it rotate around her until it was looking at where she was pointing. There was a collection of ponies doing stretches near the actual starting line that were all wearing similar looking jumpsuits. The blue base with yellow lightning bolt patterns was rather identifiable, and I knew they were all Wonderbolts. At my frown, she flailed again and explained, “Misty Fly, Fleetfoot, Soarin, and Spitfire herself! All four are flying in the race. They’re all professionals and some of the best fliers in Equestria! How am I supposed to win the race now?!” Raising an eyebrow at that, I reminded, “Aren’t you a Wonderbolt, too, Dash?” “I’m a reserve! They’re part of the active team! Plus, three of them are renowned as the best fliers in all of Equus…” she whined. Shaking my head, I continued with, “And you’re the Goddess of Flight. If you recall, we tore into an alien cruiser while dodging heavy weapons’ fire. I’m pretty sure that’s an experience that they don’t have, Rainbow. You’re the fastest pegasus in Equus.” She stared at them, eyes shivering as she listened to me, then swallowed uncertainly. I knew she felt my honesty sure enough through the link, and also knew that I believed it, but she needed to believe it instead. A lot was riding on this race, and I knew she was going to do her best. “Rainbow, you are the fastest flyer in all of Equus. You moved so fast that you bucked physics in the teeth and broke through into another dimension, all while carrying an extra hundred and ten pounds on your back. Another experience I really doubt they have,” I added. A smile played at Fluttershy’s face, her sensing what I was doing without even having access to the private line. Rainbow’s eyes widened as she stared at them, her surprise tempered carefully as her eyes narrowed soon after. “I… No, you’re right. I’m not just a reserve. I’m the reserve that’s going to show them all what she can really do. I do have experience that nopony else in Equus has, and yeah. I’m going to make them see it,” she finally agreed, a grin playing across her lips as she slowly strode towards the starting line. Nodding, I reminded, “We’re all right here with you, cheering you on, Dash. I know you can feel us all.” The pegasus exhaled softly, muscles relaxing and wings slipping downwards and folding again as she headed up to the starting line. Stopping maybe two meters from it, she stretched out and cracked her back, starting her own warm up routine. “Rainbow Dash, we figured we’d see you here! Gonna race alongside us today, huh?” I suddenly heard from a female voice near Rainbow. Eh? Rainbow turned and watched the flame-maned mare walk up, smirking at her as she trotted in. Dash’s grin came back as well as she stood back up again. “Of course I’m here. Sorry, though, Captain. I’ll be racing in front of you instead today,” she warned, that hot-blooded feeling coming back into her. Heh. That must be Spitfire, then. The mare took the boast in stride, just grinning more. “Excellent attitude. We’ll see who crosses the finish line first, though!” Both mares stomped their hooves down, eyes barely an inch apart as they smirked at each other. The stallion behind then snickered, but the white-maned mare behind them instead coughed to get their attention. “As hot as it is to see you and the rookie almost kiss, Captain, we need to finish our stretches before the race,” she reminded, wearing a smirk. Spitfire turned and glared back at her, but Rainbow just grinned wider and spun around to face the race again. “Psh, she wishes. Only two ponies can kiss me, and I’ll be aiming right for one of them alongside the finish line,” she promised down our link, all focus now locked back on the race. Smirking myself, I let the link go into standby again and relaxed. She was in her game zone now, aiming for what she wanted. All she needed was a bump, and reminder that we were all here for her. “-to Mender? Ya there?” Applejack asked, waving her hoof in front of me. I blinked, then looked over at her before Fluttershy smiled, slipping up off me and walking towards the window. “He was talking to Rainbow and getting her ready for the race,” Fluttershy answered for me, looking out and down towards the finish line as the ponies started to line up. I saw the cyan shape wave up at her, and she grinned, waving back. Applejack smirked and nodded at that before sitting back down in her chair. “She’s up against some mighty fine fliers, so she should really be challenged this time,” she admitted. Oh? Her wording there was interesting. Twilight must have caught it, too, as she looked towards Applejack a moment later and asked, “A challenge? What are her chances of winning, do you think?” That was hard to predict, and Twilight should know that already. The orange mare shook her head, however, chuckling. “Ya know Dash better than that. She don’t give up until she’s got what she wants. This ain’t no different, no?” she reminded simply. Well, if it was just a matter for hot-blooded determination, then yeah, this race was already in the bag for her. Apple Bloom rotated and hooked her back legs under Scootaloo before tossing her off and flipping up to her hooves with the force of the kick. She’d really been practicing with the enchantments, I noticed. It was subtle, but I also saw that her abilities without the enchantments on were slowly, steadily increasing. I wondered if it was a sign of her growing up more, or something the magic was doing to her. Scootaloo managed to spin into a hover in midair and grin down at her, wings now strong enough to at least let her hover for a bit without needing the jets. She pointed out the glass window, then excitedly squealed, “They’re lining up! This is gonna be so awesome! Rainbow’s going to blow them all out of the sky and be the best!” The three other Crusaders moved up as she slowly landed and we all watched the ponies lining up down at the start of the race. The track itself was surprisingly complex actually, now that I looked at it. It wasn’t just a race, and included elements of an obstacle course as well. There was a long stretch and turn after the start of the race, which led into a longer stretch of track that started to do spirals lazily through the sky, marked with large cloud rings. Going too far up or down on that portion of the track away from the rings would disqualify you, and you also had to go through each ring ‘at least once’ for it to count. I’d been a bit confused by that in the guidebook, but they knew their racing better than I did, no doubt. After the weird swirly track came another sharper turn. The outer part of the turn was wider, allowing pegasi to just use that if they wished. The inner turn would obviously be the faster option, but a bunch of cloud ‘pillars’ were set up there to dodge around, requiring much faster reaction speed. Following that sharp turn came the long straight stretch back towards the starting line, which would double as the finishing line on the other side. The entire transit was roughly five kilometers, which, while quite large, was probably not much compared to flight speeds. This would be a fast race. The first pegasus to cross the finish line after three rotations around the track would win, which seemed simple enough. Of course, the best laid plans… A group of what appeared to be cheerleader pegasi moved into position on the cloud bed below, starting to get the right and left sides of the stadium fired up as the announcing balloon moved up and into position. Scootaloo was almost vibrating now as she watched out the window, head bobbing every which way as she attempted to look at everything at once. Yup. This booth didn’t need a cheerleader squad to boost excitement, that was for sure. “And they’re lining up, folks! This is the eleventh annual Cloudy Sky Dash, a new tradition meant to mark the official end of Fall and usher in Winter!” Spike’s voice suddenly announced over the loudspeakers. Pinkie’s followed a second later with, “Oooh, look at all the awesome racers this year! We have a surprise celebrity appearance of the Wonderbolts at the track, including their three best fliers, Fleetfoot, Soarin, and Spitfire herself! Does anypony really stand a chance up against that?!” I raised an eyebrow looking up at the balloon, but she continued regardless. “Of course they do! Because Dashie’s down there and she’s going to kick all their flanks!” Pinkie cheered happily. “Pinkie! We’re the announcers, we’re supposed to remain impartial!” Spike hissed, and I heard a light thud from the balloon sounding remarkably like somepony dropping a microphone. “Ow! Hey… wait, what’s ‘impartial’ mean? Does that mean we’re supposed to be really thirsty? Then why did they give us all this cider to take with us?!” Pinkie yelped back. Spike groaned, then whispered, “That’s ‘parched’! No, it means we’re not supposed to pick favorites. Pinkie, are you listening?!” He seemingly didn’t realize how accurate the mics were, and this was all caught by the loudspeaker anyway as Twilight slapped herself on the forehead with a hoof. “I just remembered we had cider up here! This stuff is awesome,” Pinkie chirped in reply, earning another groan from the dragon and laughter from the rest of the crowd. “Anyway! It’s truly anypony’s race this year, because straight up speed won’t win this one. Changing things up this time, we have some obstacle course elements added to the track. I’d like to remind everypony of the rules before we get started,” Spike continued, plowing ahead over the sound of Pinkie guzzling cider. I settled into my seat as he went over the rules I’d already looked at myself. Rainbow was looking pumped down there, having heard Pinkie’s cheer regardless and obviously approved. Although despite Rainbow’s prior reservations, I kinda felt bad for Misty Fly, too, being totally overshadowed by her three ‘star’ teammates. She didn’t look bothered, though, if she was. She was a butterscotch yellow mare, similar in coat color to Fluttershy, but bearing a striking, multi-colored blue mane swept back by natural wind, by the looks of it. She was smiling softly while standing next to Fleetfoot, not seeming to mind at all. Huh. Twilight pulled out a last minute checklist and started going over it. I glanced momentarily and saw drawn images of drinks, snacks, seating, and then one for each pony here at the moment, and resisted sighing as she double-checked each entry. Wait, why did mine have three check boxes next to it? I lifted an eyebrow as she actually checked three times while going through the list to make sure I was indeed still here. She smirked as she felt my glare and stuck her tongue out at me playfully. “With you, you can never be too careful,” she reminded, finally satisfied and rolling up the checklist again, pulling out her soda instead. Rolling my eyes, I playfully bopped her on the shoulder, earning another smirk as she just kept drinking. Things had been surprisingly less hectic and more relaxed with her. Finally, after all this time, I was starting to feel more confident in my life here. Despite the rough start I got, things were finally starting to even out a little bit. Now my only real task left was to crack open the black box in me and permanently rip out any and all coding to do with FTL warping. Reminded of it suddenly, I double-checked its progress as Spike finished up reading about the disqualification rules. The bar slowly ticked up, having decompressed almost eighty-five percent of the black box now. I’d successfully found the encryption key for it, and now it was just a matter of running it through the rather sizable block of data inside me. It didn’t help that it was a literally separated server inside of me, and I got bottlenecked by the wire transmission as well. It should be done in the next day and a half or so, given its current speed. Sighing, I felt content with the progress. Soon, I’d be rid of the other dimension forever. Then, after Keela’s situation was resolved, the link would close again for another three hundred years or so. Given the average pony lifespan, I wouldn’t be around for its reconnection. Hum. I made a promise regardless to make sure that Tia was as prepared as possible by then. “And that’s everything, ponies! Are we ready to race, then?!” Pinkie cheered as Spike concluded the last rule for the event. The crowd exploded into cheering, and in a wave motion, the racers opened their wings up heading towards the back of the cluster. Dash was in the second row of racers, and had a number seven taped to her flank now over her Cutie Mark on both sides. She held a confident pose, but I felt the excitement building up inside of her down the link. It felt like it was contagious with the whole crowd as everypony burst into cheers and outcries in the stands. I saw Spike grin as the balloon rotated around past us again, him giving a nod to Twilight as it did so. “Everypony ready, then!” he warned an instant later. Tension spiked as the lines of pegasi fell into a crouched position, shoulders down, neck out, and back legs geared up like springs. Pinkie grinned and added, “Set!” The second she said the word, their wings shot up in unison, primed to do that first, powerful downflap that would send them flying off the platform in an instant. Rainbow grinned and licked across her lips, her heart rate skyrocketing. “Go!” both mare and drake shouted in unison, the yellow glow lights to each side turning green as they did so. Close to forty pairs of wings exploded downwards all at once. The cloud they had been standing on, despite being some of the ‘stiffened’ type, exploded apart from the force of the wind on it suddenly, and they shot upwards like a multicolored explosion through the front starting line. My eyes shifted blue as they took off, the rotation of lenses audible as I zoomed in and tracked Rainbow in the crowd, locking onto her to keep watch. I tagged the other four Wonderbolts as well, just out of curiosity, and watched as she kept closer to the center of the pack. That close together, she appeared to be more focusing on not clipping her wings with anypony as she slowly pushed upwards and out away from the crowd. The four Wonderbolts in the front also paced themselves, leading the pack easily enough as they kept precision control over their speed. Yeah, saving energy for bursts was a good idea. By the time the grouping hit the first bend, they’d ‘narrowed’ significantly, falling into a much looser cluster to give everypony more wing space as the passing and vying for position started. Rainbow totally ignored it, hanging a little higher than the main cluster, a tactic that Spitfire and Fleetfoot also appeared to be doing. Soarin was in the lead, his larger stallion form plowing through the winds like a battering ram, and I realized that his two teammates were riding his trail to ease their own passage. Rainbow had slipped upwards and into a thermal, also riding the current left behind by the other pegasi as she reserved her own energy. The crowd did the work for her as they moved through the rings, her simply turning a little with each bend to stay in the track they were making as she edged along the pack, speeding up more and more as they moved towards the next turn. The entire group shot out of the last ring almost as one, Spike and Pinkie calling out the leaders. Misty Fly had fallen back and up a little, no longer number four in position, but it almost looked intentional on her part, a soft smile still on her face. What were they up to? Wait, why would the race officials even let a military branch run in the civilian race to begin with? To my surprise, absolutely nopony dared to take the inner track as they hit the second turn. They shot loosely around the bend instead, barely avoiding clipping the pillars as they moved into the wider home stretch. Spreading out a bit into a loose ‘V’ as they shot in, they were still led by Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Spitfire as they shot past and through the finish line for the first time. “Whooo! Lap one is done! Two more to go!” Pinkie squealed, earning another cheer from the crowds. “Rainbow’s in twelfth place!” Apple Bloom groaned, sounding a bit dejected. Scootaloo continued vibrating next to her, however, before correcting, “Duh. She’s conserving her energy for the last lap! That’s how you win a race like this!” She wasn’t wrong. Rainbow almost looked relaxed, focused on something else entirely as they all shot through the finish line for the first time. Lap two went closely to the same, but with the field narrowing even more, and the passing becoming more brazen. Rainbow shifted tactics after the first bend, slipping back down into the pack and folding her legs up even more, becoming more streamlined. Her wind tunnel had probably narrowed significantly, slipping up into fifth place now as she effortlessly neared the front of the pack. They somehow took the second turn even sharper this time, the leaders of the pack rotating almost completely sideways as they arced around the outer most pillars. Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie grinned as Rainbow shifted up to fourth place as they all shot through the second lap’s finish line with her almost able to touch Soarin’s tail. Predictably, that’s when everything went to hell. The cluster elongated even further as they started losing out the jet stream left and right with the aggressive attempts to pass and intercept, actually slowing the whole group down a little. Rainbow dodged two attempts to bump her out of the way easily enough, then hit the first turn right on Spitfire’s tail. What was she doing? To my surprise, Rainbow hit the individual turns of the squiggle rather wide, extending herself a little and moving up right alongside Spitfire, who grinned as her eyes darted to the side to spot her new competition. “Ready for the real thing?!” Spitfire shouted over the extreme winds. “Ask yourself that!” Rainbow shot back, grinning a bit more as she caught up ahead of Spitfire a little, and moved into third place instead. Well, she was placing now, and would get her chance with the spotlight in the victory circle. Somehow, I doubted she’d be happy with that, however. Applejack hopped out of her seat, joining Fluttershy next to the glass in watching as well. Scootaloo looked like coiled snake, her whole body shivering as she pushed her face up into the glass. That’s when their actual plan came to light. Misty shot down into the tighter cluster of the group, suddenly banking as she went along the rings towards the final bend, making a new jet stream that a few of the leaders behind her immediately jumped into in order to make the turn. That’s when Soarin’s wings exploded into movement, him spinning tightly before blasting them forward instead. As if he applied the brakes, his forward momentum plummeted as he fell back to eighth in an instant. Both Fleetfoot and Spitfire hooked the huge current he just made, however, and both shot ahead almost five meters from the pack. The air shockwave hit Dash hard and she winced, her left wing going sideways in the sudden current as she swerved to avoid running straight into Soarin as he shot backwards. Rainbow was forced to cut tight to avoid the collision. Three others had to fall after her, one mare actually clipped by him and sent spiraling. Holy hell! That was more than a little dangerous! The crowd half cheered, half gasped as the two Wondebolts blasted ahead of the pack, and Misty shot up between them, leading six or seven other racers behind her. Rainbow’s eyes shot open in surprise and she shot into the field of pillars instead. She did three sharp turns to avoid pillars, the mare on her tail smashing into the second and coming to a dead stop. I watched Rainbow’s eyes flick upwards as Fleetfoot and Spitfire shot around the bend, Misty Fly and six others barely two meters behind them as they rocketed into the straight. Rainbow fell back to sixteenth place in an instant after the stunt that Soarin had pulled! To my surprise, however, he dropped off the track completely, catching the mare that he spun out and setting her back in the right direction instead, albeit a little dizzy looking. He didn’t follow, however, instead flying up above the track and not bothering to go through the last ring, flying more lazily towards the finish line. For a brief moment, Rainbow panicked, dodging two more pillars and coming up on the last for the turn, her speed still there but far behind the pack now. Her eyes narrowed, and I smiled, realizing that Applejack was right. The mare refused to give up. She intentionally clipped the last pillar instead, scrapping along it with her forelegs and using it to whip sideways into a spin. It completely changed her trajectory and she shot upwards at an angle instead, launching herself a ways above the track. “No! Rainbow!” Scootaloo shouted, watching in horror as Dash fell back in placing, the mare following her letting out a cheer as she passed her position. Wait, upwards…? She wasn’t going to… “Oh no! Rainbow Dash spun out now and has fallen all the way back to seventeenth place! It doesn’t look like the top contender will be placing this year after all!” Spike called out, an actual tinge of disappointment in his voice. The cyan mare grinned an instant later as she hit the apex of her spin and let gravity take over. The spin got her through the turn completely, and put her almost three-dozen meters above the rest of the racers. It looked like she lost control, but she’d done it intentionally. Normally there’d be no way she’d place, but she’d wanted a gravity boost and used her own momentum to get it. There was only one reason I could think of for her wanting gravity on her side. Half of the final stretch was done, and Fleetfoot and Spitfire were neck and neck heading towards the finish line. Misty had fallen back and down, dropping off the track entirely and leaving them the only two Wonderbolts still in the race. The other racers were surprisingly close to them, barely a meter back as the three leading mares fought to get into third place. That’s when Rainbow came in like a bat out of hell. Her gravity assisted swoop was sharp, hitting the track level at a seventy degree angle as the cone of air formed around her from her huge speed boost. She corrected it as she dipped ‘under’ the level of the other racers, turning sharp in what I recognized to be part of the “C” formation from the end of Applejack’s name when she’d been practicing the air writing. Hah, that was clever! The cone stayed, however, energy crackling along it as her eyes narrowed and she sped up even more, her wings a blur. Her thoughts were wild. They danced along the switch to her energy wings, and I frowned. No, she’d promised she wouldn’t use them, even if it meant not winning. She swallowed, pushing her hooves together as I felt her energy flood into her wings instead. A hesitant moment later, she slammed her eyes shut again and pushed the switch away from her instead in her mind. Her eyes opened into a glare instead and her wings folded up, the energy cooking along the sides of her hooves as she burned towards the leading five mares. “Rainbow?!” Spitfire yelped, suddenly catching her sight on the back glance. Dash said nothing as her wings snapped in and she instead pushed right through the tip of the cone. I’d never seen it from a distant perspective before. There was almost an orb of prismatic colors as the air lit up with the energy and light. It was an actual explosion, and she timed it to be at least five meters behind the leading mares, and six in front of the ones behind her. I flicked on my adrenaline and tracking suite as she tripled her speed in an instant, leaving a huge expanding ring of color and a flare of light burning across the clouds near the detonation point. A dozen ponies were forced to go right through the flash, spiraling as they exited and looking a bit on the blinded side. The crowd exploded into cheering and excitement. Fleetfoot’s eyes widened for a brief instant as Rainbow was suddenly just there next to her, forelegs and wings tucked up and shooting past like a bullet. To my surprise, Spitfire reacted a little faster, whipping sideways just as Rainbow shot past and getting yanked into her long, prismatic trail. Scootaloo screamed out a cheer as she leapt into the air alongside the surprisingly loud and animate Fluttershy. My eyes widened as Spitfire brushed past Rainbow’s tail, barely able to ride the current from the Sonic Rainboom as they blurred in towards the finish line. “Rainbow!” the Wonderbolt mouthed, voice being pulled away behind her far faster than it could reach Rainbow, eyes narrowing as she caught up with Rainbow’s flanks. The cyan mare’s eyes narrowed, her wings starting to almost glow as she streaked along like a rocket. Her back legs and most of Spitfire disappeared into a brilliant blazing trail of color behind her, but she somehow started to speed up even more. Spitfire went into a bullet shape as well, one hoof extending up to try to reach past Rainbow’s chest as they came in. I felt an uncertainty from Dash suddenly, and then she steeled herself for something. Uh oh. “In front of you, Captain,” Dash whispered against the wind, her wings suddenly flaring open in an explosion of light. My eyes widened. What?! There were no jets. There was no activation of her enchantment. Her wings expanded, looking briefly almost twice the size of normal as they flared into two massive jets of prismatic light. Spitfire’s eyes widened as Rainbow crossed the finish line three meters ahead of her a heartbeat later… Chapter 85Just like Rainbow usually liked it, everything was rapidly devolving into a rushed, chaotic situation. Turns out that a pony suddenly finding herself going almost six hundred meters per second wasn't entirely without consequences. I never thought I'd actually consider the physics involved in accelerating a living creature to supersonic speeds without any vehicle until I saw her Sonic Rainboom. This was a whole other issue entirely. In all theory, she should technically be dead, but given that I was no longer surprised to be surrounded by colorful talking ponies, I suppose I had no right to question this either. As I hadn't gotten a measurement prior to her sudden acceleration, I assumed it was about her usual three hundred and forty to three hundred and fifty meters per second top speed. That meant she accelerated an additional two hundred and fifty meters per second in about a tenth of a second. And lived. Oh, right, those consequences. My barrier was still up as I blinked, uncertain of entirely what had just happened. The glass in front of the barrier was fractured inwards by about an inch, held together by a now discovered thin meshing of magical wires. Huh. They had safety glass. Well, learn something new every day. Apart from learning that a pony can break physics. Again. I learned that almost every day, too, though. Rainbow had simply disappeared. Well, it looked like she disappeared. The finish line at least registered her as the winner of the race while the magic sensor was still up. The entire finishing line, flag system, sensors, and winner's circle had exploded a second later in an air burst shockwave that fractured every window on the blimps on this side of the tracks. The one next to us was slowly rotating out of position from the force of the blast, and I felt us swaying as well as all four fillies screamed at once. Theirs was accompanied by dozens more outside from surprised ponies all around. It was far worse off for Spitfire, however. She was at almost point blank range when Rainbow had suddenly sped up like that. Having her tagged, I easily tracked her as her forward momentum was knocked sideways instead, her mouth looking like she was screaming before being sent through the side of the cloud next to the remains of the finish line. Soarin thankfully came out of nowhere and nabbed her out of the air a fraction of a second later. "Help me!" Rainbow wailed through our link, my positioning detection showing her traveling away from us in a somewhat coherent straight line at a little over six hundred meters per second now. She wasn't stopping, so I assumed she couldn't safely, or didn't know how. "Rainbow, can you turn off your wing jets?!" Twilight shouted down the link. "They're not on. This is all her," I corrected an instant later, earning a shocked look from Twilight. Wait. Oh hell. I quickly added, "Don't turn them on, Rainbow!" They were based off her wings' output, but I'd not tested them anywhere near those speeds. Best case scenario, she'd go a lot faster. Worst case scenario, they'd explode. No, wait, there was always a worse worst case scenario. Tear a hole in the fabric of space time and implode all of our existence into a singularity, killing us all instantly? Better... Or was it worse? Meh. There was a moment of hesitation before Rainbow spoke again with, "W-What am I supposed to do?! I can't slow down or stop, and I'm... I'm starting to get really tired!" Great. "Turn around in a wide loop, Dash. Head back towards the track, and I'm going to see what I can do from here," I assured, keeping my voice even as I pulled up my root command and turned her connection on fully. We didn't have time to go for the finesse route at this point. An intense panic bombarded us all instantly as I felt Dash slowly turning, heading back towards the track. Alongside it, however, I felt the intense flow of her body's magic supply. She'd somehow caused some sort of chain reaction that was centered right on her mid-back. It was like the magic was continuously exploding and producing more and more energy while slowly draining her reserves as fuel. Brute force, however. I didn't process it, instead passing the sensations right through the other link and into Twilight instead, who widened her eyes. "Wait, this is an Ether Furnace reaction! How did... what?!" the lavender mare asked in disbelief. "Ah fix, Twi! Hurry!" Applejack reminded, getting Twilight to shake her head rapidly and snap out of it. Frowning for a split second, she quickly shot out, "It's not an out of control reaction. The base amount of fuel is still Rainbow's magic supply. If she cuts the link to that, it'll run out of fuel and burn out harmlessly!" Oh, well that was a far better prognosis than I'd anticipated. I wasn't holding my breath, though. It probably wouldn't be that easy. As anticipated, Rainbow blanked completely. "Uh, what? Just tell me how to turn it off!" she begged, desperation sounding in her voice. I felt her closing in on the track again at record speed and expanded my shield around us completely, getting ready for another potential bombing run. "No, I'll show you!" Twilight relayed, closing her eyes suddenly. She pushed her mind down the link, and I just let her through me entirely like a weird mental relay station. Broadcasting her to Dash instead, I felt the cyan mare's eyes widen even more as Twilight was suddenly felt all around her. The platform burned into view through our empathy camera, but Twilight went calm suddenly. "Land," she instructed carefully. Dash started to protest, but her new co-pilot just glared at her and she swallowed, nodding. Trying something new, I turned my processor core on and pulled part of Rainbow's connection through her link as well, making a strange, tangled web of empathy that linked back to me again. I pushed the pedal down on her already heightened adrenalin levels, and pushed all my processing into her sensory input. Everything slowed down as I suddenly saw through her eyes instead. Rainbow gasped as she suddenly felt like she was moving in hyper slow motion, her heart rate almost doubling. I stayed focused, switching her nanites over to emergency maintenance mode and prepared repairs on standby for a rough landing. Twilight centered herself at the same time, and then both Dash and I felt it. The lavender mare focused and felt out the link leading to what felt like a condensed pocket of energy right under Rainbow's back, hooked right into her wings. In horror, I recognized the location instantly as where I'd wired up the control core for her wing jets. Her magic flow had adapted. The river had adjusted to the new direction it needed to flow in and improvised. Rainbow had 'grown' another pocket of magic in her, looking like it was made purely for high compression of energy. Then Twilight unplugged it. The reaction was almost instant as the energy was cut from her 'reactor' core. It slowed down. The reactions started dropping off rapidly, reducing exponentially as it slowed and ran out of energy. Twilight held it there, all of her focus feeling out carefully into the energy reactions firing off. They dwindled until the whole core stopped processing. That's when Twilight reconnected it, and opened her eyes again. Was that it? Did that simple thing actually work? "It... The jets stopped! I'm gonna try landing!" the pegasus announced, flicking energy back into the wings and burning backwards as she came in at a little over mach one. Still too fast! She pulled a turn that looked almost impossible, gritting her teeth against the g-forces as she went almost at a ninety degree angle. She came in spinning and puffed lightly into the cloud, sliding a few meters on her rump while slowly rotating. Finally she came to a complete stop and blinked twice, looking back at her still lightly glowing wings. Exhaling softly, I killed the connection and Twilight slumped in the chair. "Twi!" Applejack yelped, hopping forward to catch her as I stabilized her from the side. She shivered, then smiled weakly before muttering, "Well, at least I know what it feels like to have wings now. Not something I really want to repeat. No offense, Dash. Are you okay?" Despite the glass having fractured violently, the pieces got larger the further from the center of the pane they got, so I moved over to the left side of the window in order to see properly. Looking back out it, I blinked, then widened my eyes in surprise. Now that nothing was exploding anymore, and the victorious pegasus had landed after her insane burst of speed, the crowd was recovering rapidly... Further, they started cheering hysterically. Rainbow looked sheepish for a moment, a pink tint coming on to her cheeks before she awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, waving out to the crowd of ponies. Spitfire held her head carefully, rubbing the right temple before wiping a bit of blood from her nose. Soarin said something, but she just swatted him away with a hoof and shook her head again, then winced. Well, she was alive, anyway. To my curiosity, she pushed something up on her collar area, and suddenly a mic turned on. "Wow, that was kinda intense. Ow. My fault, though. I shouldn't have followed that closely behind the mare who's known for moving fast enough to make things explode. Anyway, awesome race, everypony!" Spitfire shouted out loud, waving both hooves into the air. I saw a bit of blood coming out of her ears as well, however. She should really see a doctor... Everypony recovered surprisingly rapidly for there just being a large explosion. Quite a few pegasi had already pushed what was left of the victory circle back together again, with its three sort of raised platforms denoting first, second, and third place. Third looked a bit lopsided, though. Spitfire continued with that, announcing, "By the way, none of the Wonderbolts were actually taking part in the race! None of us registered, and I'm actually the presenter of the trophies. Everypony here raced amazingly, whether they made top three or not, and our goal was to make sure everypony did their best. Well, sometimes you work your hardest by having great adversity. We weren't disappointed!" Heh. Well, that explained them just dropping out left and right as the race neared conclusion. Rainbow, the link feeling more stable now, looked like she'd already recovered from her sheer panic and was grinning as she trotted up towards the victory circle. Seriously? She was just going to act like all of that was intentional? Upon nearing Spitfire, she instead surprised me by apologizing. "Sorry about the damage, Captain. I wasn't expecting that to happen. I've never used that technique close to things," she admitted, 'technically' telling the truth. "Does that mean she's done that before?" Twilight asked skeptically, earning a snort from Applejack. "She ain't lying, but leavin' ah lot o' stuff out. If she tested it before, ya think she'd know how ta turn it off," the orange mare pointed out, rolling her eyes at Rainbow's casual reaction to it all. Shaking my head, I quickly confessed regardless. "We need to talk after this. I... I think that happened due to prolonged exposure to my enchantment." Applejack looked surprised, but Twilight just smiled and nodded. "I saw as much. I think I know what happened, too. The only unexplained thing is how she formed an Ether Furnace reaction that small," she revealed, drawing my attention to that term again. I was kind of afraid to ask, as it sounded rather violent. Scootaloo continued vibrating in place, however. "Who cares?! Did you see how fast she went?! It was like, zoom!" she shouted, wings bursting out with energy as she zipped excitedly into the air. My tentacle shot out and caught her, yanking her back down in an instant just slightly before she hit the ceiling face first. "No concussions, Scootaloo. You promised," I reminded, giving her a squeeze around the waist as she grinned up at me and rapidly nodded. In the meantime, three pegasi had already taken their spots up on the winning platforms. My eyes widened and I barely resisted hacking up my lung in surprise when I saw the second place winner was none other than Derpy! Wait, why hadn't I noticed her in the race before?! "-was quite a good move. Next time, however, you shouldn't fly so aggressively. Getting too close to your fellow racers, while bumping is allowed, can still be risky for both you and them," Spitfire finished explaining to the brownish stallion who sat on the third place pedestal. I recognized him as being one of the group leaders that Misty had helped lead into the final stretch. He rapidly nodded, eyes wide as he stared at Spitfire with what could only be described as creepy adoration. The yellowish Wonderbolt, now having her hood down, coughed lightly and moved on to Derpy instead. "You flew quite amazingly today, Derpy. Thankfully, nothing in the rulebook says anything against going through the pillars instead, however. Gotta work on that reaction time still, especially when you get excited," Spitfire reminded, giggling as the gray pegasus grinned and nodded to her. "I know. I just wanted to see the winner as they went across the finish line, so I hurried! I wasn't expecting to place, but so many ponies got blinded by Rainbow's Sonic Rainboom..." she explained, sounding reasonably unfazed by the explosion, too. Huh. Maybe it was a Ponyville thing? Wait, she wasn't blinded? Spitfire smirked then pointed out, "That's almost cheating, but hey, more power to ya!" Derpy winked to her, her other eye swaying slightly off center as she did. Oh. Wow, that was kind of cheating. But eh, in war, that's called an advantage! With that, Spitfire moved up to Rainbow, and gave her a long, pointed glare. Dash rubbed the back of her head and gave a sheepish sort of laugh for an awkward three seconds or so before her captain explained, "For future reference, Rainbow, blowing up the finish line so nopony else can cross it isn't a valid tactic." I blinked, and laughter broke out along the crowd before she continued with, "We have ponies with cameras for just that event. Regardless, astounding use of a gravity assisted crash recovery! And your Rainboom was just as impressive as usual, although a moot point since it's unique to you." I almost detected just a tiny bit of jealousy in her statement, but she winked and turned it playful instead. "I'm sorry! I didn't expect it to do that!" Dash defended, gesturing towards the crater in the cloud now and the bits of flag debris lying about where the finish line had been. Also true. Spitfire laughed at that, then shook her head as she drifted back down to the now vibrating brown stallion with slightly darker brown mane and tail. "Anyway, as tradition stands, each of the placed winners get a moment with the mic to say anything they wish. Just keep it foal friendly. You're up first... Cresent, uh, Moon, was it?" she asked, face blanking for a moment as she struggled with his name. "Close enough!" he announced, earning a laugh through the crowd again before he rapidly shot into, "Willyoubeinmyherd?!" Uh... Spitfire blinked, then asked, "Uh, what was that?" One of those types, huh? Dash rolled her eyes, having gotten the translation through my own link and reaction to it instead. "Will you be in my herd?!" he repeated, only managing slightly slower than the first time. Rainbow kept a straight face, but I was surprised when Spitfire didn't even miss a beat. "Nope. Already in one, sorry. But hey, Fleetfoot's single! Bet if you asked nicely, she'll give you her hotel room number," the Wonderbolt captain pointed out, gesturing to the right at Fleetfoot, who flared her wings up, look of surprise on her face. The brown stallion perked, blinked once, then shrugged before trotting over to her instead, and Spitfire exhaled softly. "Captain!" Fleetfoot hissed, running and hiding behind Soarin instead as the other stallion trotted towards her. Wait, why was she named Fleetfoot if she had hooves? Eh. More laughter regardless from the crowd. "Derpy! Your turn. What would you like to say? Please don't let it be a proposition," Spitfire half begged as she drifted up to her instead, directing her hoof mic to the pegasus. The gray mare snickered before assuring, "Nope! Got my eyes on somepony already. I just wanted to thank all of my wonderful friends and family for supporting me through the years! Also, I wanted to officially welcome my newest friend to his new home! Go visit Moon Mender in Ponyville for all your engineering needs, everypony!" What?! I blanched, and Scootaloo immediately started laughing against my forelegs. Applejack grinned, however, adding, "Bless her heart. She's gettin' at least two dozen apple muffins fer that." Why was she encouraging that?! Wait, I already knew the answer there. Spitfire momentarily looked surprised before snickering and assuring, "Actually, I already saw the posters up. He's got quite an advertisement campaign going. Might have to drop by myself, actually. On representation of the Wonderbolts, of course. We need a new centrifuge, actually, after Dash blew it up last month." Rainbow huffed at that, then defended, "I told you, the weather balloon landed on it and exploded! Why do you think I had something to do with it just because I reported the accident?!" A centrifuge? That wouldn't be too hard to make, provided they didn't want a ton of bells and whistles on it. But was it for ponies or scientific research? I was guessing ponies, but was also deathly afraid of assuming. Soarin loudly cleared his throat, and Spitfire twitched, still glaring at Rainbow. Well, this had gotten awkward. A moment later, the Wonderbolt captain sighed and hovered up to the first place pedestal instead, extending her hoof mic. "Fine. You're still the winner of the race, so you still get your victory announcement. Got anything to say to the crowd, Rainbow?" she asked, quieter with the mic further from her mouth. To my surprise, Rainbow Dash widened her eyes just a little, then froze completely. Oh! This was the whole reason she wanted to win so badly and practiced for so long! Looking to the right, I saw everypony watching her, including Applejack, who raised an eyebrow at the cyan mare's reaction. Slowly, the pegasus looked up at our booth, her keen eyes undoubtedly able to pick up the individual ponies looking down at her with ease at this distance. Uh oh. I just realized, she burned a ton of energy with that final burst. Did she even have anything left for the sky message? Instead of frustration that I imagined that would cause, a wave of indecision and panic shot down the link from the mare. Fluttershy frowned as she slipped up next to me and whispered, "She's having second thoughts." Oh. Quite a lot of ponies had told her it was a bad idea. But she hadn't backed down even after all that. If she was that determined, she could probably make it work regardless. Spitfire frowned, expression shifting to concern after seven or eight seconds passed. "Rainbow, are you okay?" she asked a moment later, giving Dash a start as her eyes snapped down to her captain instead. She hesitated, then looked down towards her hooves for a moment, wings folding lightly against her sides. No, she wasn't. I watched her lips form a smile, even though I couldn't see her expression at this angle. Panic fell away to a lingering sense of sadness almost before she forced her head back up and smiled to the crowd. "Yeah, sorry. Was just thinking. I want to thank my parents for being so supportive of me all the time, even though they couldn't make it to this race. I also wanted to thank my amazing friends who helped me save the world. You've been there for me every time, and I couldn't do this without your support," she spoke, steadily but a little softly into the mic. So that was that, then, huh? The yellow mare in front of her just watched her for a long moment before asking, "Anything else?" Sharp mare, if she realized Dash hadn't said what she wanted. Rainbow stared at her for a moment before nodding once and adding, "Thank you for being here as well, Wonderbolts. Encouraging ponies to chase their dreams is something you've done since I was just a filly, and that's why I'm here. Proof that you really can get what you wish for, if you just set your mind to it and keep trying. Thank you." It was kind of ironic for her to say that, admittedly. "Rainbow!" Scootaloo hissed, frowning in annoyance at her 'big sister' down there. Applejack shook her head, however. "What was so important 'bout that? Encouragin' tha foals is good an' all, but tha way she talked earlier..." the orange mare asked, raising both hooves up in the direction of Dash while wearing a skeptical expression. I stood up as the crowd started to cheer, Spitfire shrugging and hovering around, holding both hooves into the air with a smile again. She really knew how to work a crowd. Still... "I'm going to go tell the captain to land at the edge of the cloud. Rainbow shouldn't risk flying to the ground to meet us," I suggested, turning to head for the stairs. Twilight nodded, looking back over to me with a smile. I started to return it when a flare of pain shot through us all an instant later. My eyes widened and snapped to Rainbow past Twilight's head, the cyan mare wincing and holding a hoof up to her right temple. Each connected mare turned as well afterwards, surprised at the sudden sensation. Pinkie even looked over the rim of the balloon. Dash's eyes widened as she touched her snout with the other hoof, and drew it back covered in blood. Aw, crap. Another spike of pain hit an instant later, this one intense enough for me to wince and grit my teeth at the sensation. Rainbow gasped, holding both her hooves to her head for a moment as the blinding sensation burned white down the connection. She held it for three full seconds before shuddering once, and then it was gone. Her eyes lost their focus a moment later and she slumped, falling over sideways off the platform, Soarin's eyes widening as he burst past the surprised Spitfire to try to catch her... * * * * * There was never a dull moment. If not me, somepony else was almost killing themselves. At least that was an overstatement here. This time. Rainbow rested with her stomach on the gurney, her back legs splayed out to either side of my thighs and her tail haphazardly flopped in my lap as I kneeled behind her, pushing my front hooves down against her back. More energy danced into her tired body and she shivered, eyes fluttering under the deep purple light. Twilight's horn bathed the entire room in a vibrant glow as she kept it solid against Rainbow's forehead, energy seeping into the stubborn mare. Another shudder, and Dash smiled suddenly. "Getting my body and brain massaged at once feels kinda awesome," she muttered, sounding amused but uncharacteristically worn out. "This is kinda serious, Dash. We do exercises for this at the academy. Risking your life to win a race that you were going to win anyway was foolish! What if you'd passed out over open sky moving at that speed?!" Spitfire asked, having personally helped haul her into our cabin as it landed, Twilight waving her over. She was followed by the entire medic team, who rode with us all the way down to the ground again, to one of the ground clinics. The IV was still in her arm, replenishing her fluid levels. She also had a few wires connected to her now, running up to the metal frame of monitors next to her. Those I was also interested in, as they appeared to be more of those interesting crystal display things I’d seen before. "It... It wasn't that bad!" the cyan mare tried to deny, earning a frown from Twilight's focused face. The lavender mare quickly corrected that statement with, "You drained your energy reserves so badly that it strained your life force, Rainbow. If you pushed much harder to sustain that speed, you'd be in the hospital right now rather than just needing some rest." It was just Twilight and I here with the medical team and Spitfire now, both of us directly able to apply aid to the pegasus and thus, allowed to stay. As team captain, Spitfire also had supervision over her fellow Wonderbolt, reserve status or not, and also stayed, much to Dash's chagrin. Rainbow fell silent at that for a moment, hesitating before whispering, "You know why it was important to me. And after all that, I didn't even have the guts to go through with it." Sighing, I pointed out, "Sky writing your message wouldn't have gone very well anyway, Rainbow. You'd have passed out halfway through your name." She shifted to a blank expression for a moment at that, and I almost slapped my forehead, her seriously just now realizing that. Spitfire smirked, however. "So there was more you were going to say. Ooooh, a long standing secret? A confession?" she asked, switching her mood almost instantly as I blinked in surprise. Rainbow blushed at that, looking away from her now grinning captain. "Ah ha! It was a confession! Well, I hate to say it, but your friend is right. You probably wouldn't have been able to fly again if you were that low on energy. How you were even still standing was beyond me," Spitfire continued, shifting to a confused sort of frown afterwards. Uh... The nurse didn't miss a beat, however. "Primarily endorphins and adrenaline, actually. Speaking of, her body has restored its natural energy balance now. Your techniques are quite useful," she complimented, nodding to both Twilight and me. Twilight had been working on her mental state while I was injecting energy into key points along her body's natural flow to 'kickstart' it. Sighing, I nodded and leaned back, having put a bit more energy into that than my normal massages. And by a bit, I meant it felt like I'd gone two days without sleep. Twilight was lucky that she somehow had a small ocean of magical energy to draw upon. Rainbow shifted to a sheepish, weak smile back at me as she undoubtedly felt my tiredness, but Twilight sat up as well, looking none the worse for wear. "Are we okay to go, then?" Twilight asked, looking to the head nurse who was taking readings still. She peeked at a few more of her monitors, then at her clipboard floating next to her before smiling and nodding to us. Admittedly, it was weird seeing somepony in the medical profession that wasn't my all time favorite nurse, Red. This mare had a white coat, too, but her mane and tail were blue instead, and she had a pair of thick looking glasses on that made it hard to see her eyes. Teal, maybe? "Her levels are stable again, and her wings show amazing levels of durability and healing. She should be fine to go, but no flying for at least twelve hours," the nurse reported, causing Dash's smile to fall away almost instantly. "What?! How am I supposed to get back to my home tonight?!" she asked sharply, turning to look at the nurse almost instantly. She then winced as the nurse timed it almost perfectly to slide the intravenous needle out of her foreleg, applying a gauze pad instead with her other hoof. Twilight rolled her eyes however. "Rainbow, do you honestly think that you can't stay with one of us for the night? Relax," she assured, smiling softly at her friend. Dash relaxed her shoulders slightly, but kept her ears drooped as she absently nodded. At least she was okay. Focusing, I momentarily slipped inside myself and sent out, "She's going to be fine. She needs to rest for tonight, and needs somepony to stay with." Even though she knew it was just a mental communication, I saw Rainbow's eyes flicker towards me, watching with interest. Applejack's mental voice came in first. "Whew. Ah'm glad yer doin' okay. Ya can stay with me if ya want, Dash," she offered almost instantly. Predictably, the pegasus blushed lightly at that, but Twilight had started talking verbally again. "We'll go meet up with the rest of our friends again, then. Stay between us in case you stumble, Rainbow," Twilight suggested, hopping down off the gurney and steadying it with her magic while we got off. "I told you, I'm fi-" Dash started to repeat before she touched down onto the floor. Her front legs went out from under her, and I ducked down as she yelped. My forelegs caught her under the chest, and I slowed her down, holding her there for a moment as she caught her balance again. Twilight giggled and helped her stand again before pushing into the other side of her. "Relax. It's okay to get help every once in a while," she assured. The nurse frowned while watching before asking, "Do you need a wheelchair, Miss Dash?" Further predictably, the cyan mare recoiled at that, rapidly shaking her head. "No! No, I should be..." she started to assure, trailing off as I rolled my eyes and tucked my head under her right foreleg. She gave a squeak, but let me slip her up onto my back instead. After a moment, she steadied herself and relaxed as I lifted her up fully and she slid her other leg over my back. "You carried me quite a bit already. Let me do the same in return," I assured. She exhaled quietly, then finally nodded and relaxed, resting her head to the side of my own as I turned to Twilight instead. She gave me a warm smile and turned to the nurse, who nodded towards the door. She slipped a side sheet of paper out from behind the clipboard, and drifted it over to Twilight. A brief glance showed a number two followed by a rather interesting looking circular symbol that I hadn't seen before yet. It was too wide to be a zero. Maybe it was-? My thought process was interrupted when Twilight nodded and floated her bag open, withdrawing two shiny coins and setting it on the only table this small field medic tent had. Oh! The circle thingy was a bit symbol, then. Wait, how had I been here a month and a half and never noticed that? It had been on Carrot Top's sign, now that I recalled. At a glance, I thought that twenty bits was too high for three carrots. Exiting the medical tent, I was mildly surprised to see Spitfire following us. Well, continuing to follow us after exiting, rather than, I don't know, take to the sky or something. "Sure you're holding up okay, Rainbow? The team could get you to Ponyville's hospital in short order," she offered, still sounding a little concerned. Well, she was the team captain, so I suppose all of the Wonderbolts, even the reserves, were under her list of responsibilities, too. She seemed to honestly like Dash, though. "Mmph, everything but my dignity. No offense, Mender," my feathery backpack murmured, sounding disheartened. "None taken," I assured, used to her blunt, in your face statements at this point. Spitfire blinked, then perked up a bit. "Oooh, so you're Moon Mender?" she asked. Twilight's expression dropped into a disbelieving one as she glanced past me to the Wonderbolt on the other side. "Seriously? We were in there the whole time, and said his name while talking to the nurse and confirming he could stay. You didn't hear it then?" she asked, sounding incredulous. Dash smirked, but Spitfire just flicked her bang to the side and huffed. "I was a bit busy chewing out the reserve for almost flying herself into an early visit to the Ether. I have a lot on my mind!" she defended, turning Rainbow's smirk into an ear flattened scowl. Thankfully she couldn't stew for long. "Rainbow Dash! You're okay!" came a familiar sounding voice. I turned my head and smiled as Derpy ran in from our front, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie fast on her tail. Rarity was tactfully hanging back, smiling as she watched with a very, very happy looking Spike riding on her back. Oooh, scandalous! Wait, no, that would be snarky. To my slight confusion, a strange brown stallion ran alongside the slowest of the faster approaching ponies, Fluttershy. Who was he? Wait, had I seen him before? "Ha! The second place winner herself! Oh, and... Uh, you!" Spitfire chirped, frowning as she turned to look at the brown stallion as well. Huh? Oh, right, I had seen him before. Third place winner. He was actually sort of forgettable. Maybe it was his color scheme? His ears flattened back as he skidded to a stop, now next to Derpy in the front, who gave him a puzzled look as if she'd never seen him before. "Uh, my name is Crescent-" he started to repeat. "Wait! No, I got this! Crescent... Crescent Mooning?" Spitfire guessed, blinking once in uncertainty. Rainbow shifted a light red hue, her sharp snort barely containing the laughter from blasting across my ear, and Pinkie started giggling regardless. Crescent Mooning's ears flattened somehow even more, almost straight down against his skull before he corrected, "Crescent Star... Crescent Moon is my brother." Wait, what? But 'Crescent' was a descriptor for a shape and several stages of a moon transition. Stars didn't come in that shape, nor did they have transitions like that. Hmm. Maybe it was a matter of perspective? A star could be eclipsed in various stages by another celestial body, so from the surface of a nearby planet, it could... He turned slightly sideways and gestured at his flank, showing a Cutie Mark of a crescent moon and three stars near it. Oh. Or that. What did that even mean? Spitfire stared at it for a moment before recovering quickly with, "Right! Star! That was my second guess. Uh, anyway, what are you doing here? Weren't you and Fleetfoot going to-" "She turned me down. I didn't even realize that hotel hot tubs needed lifeguards!" he exclaimed, blinking once more. They did? Spitfire stared vacantly at him before snapping out of it and asking in horror, "Oh, of course they do! Ponies can get seriously overheated and pass out in one! Who's going to dive in after them if there's no lifeguard?!" Oh! I hadn't thought about that. Seriously, did they run their hot tubs that hot in Equestria?! "Ooooh, that does totally make sense! Well, thankfully I remembered Rainbow was hurt soon after and went to see how she was doing, and I was going to ask if she was single before I remembered how horribly scary she is, but then I met Fluttershy here!" he explained, nudging his head towards the yellow mare next to him. Wait, what? It was Rainbow's turn to glare at him, adding yet another to his 'Definitely Not Friends' list. "Seriously? How am I scarier than Spitfire?! Wait, why are you hitting on Fluttershy?!" my backpack demanded to know. My eyes narrowed sharply at the reminder. That was an extremely important question. One that would potentially get him a high velocity trip off the top of the hill if he answered poorly. He swallowed before hesitantly glancing between us and finally answering, "Uh, because she's hot? And an ex-model?" Yeah, wrong answer. Wait, Fluttershy used to be a model? The yellow mare, pink from the prior question, now turned red and squeaked, hopping rapidly away from him and scampering forward to hide behind Twilight, who was slightly closer. That lined him up for punting anyway, so I didn't mind. There was a long, stagnant pause with everypony except Fluttershy and Pinkie viciously staring daggers at him. Understandably, he twitched and started sweating, looking back and forth between us. "Oooh, awkward!" Pinkie chirped gently, now swaying back and forth next to Derpy. "Seriously bad idea, Dude. You're informed enough to know Fluttershy used to be a model, but not enough to know she's in a herd already with Princess Twilight Sparkle?!" Spitfire asked, gesturing to the now annoyed looking mare to the other side of me. I hesitated and waited for the 'and' to follow Spitfire's query, but predictably, it never came. Ugh. Twilight shifted to awkward looking instead, apparently also waiting for that non-existent 'and' part. Crescent Stupid Name flailed at that, however. "W-whoa! I didn't realize! Sorry! Ugh. This just isn't my day," he quickly apologized, drooping down a little and almost, just almost, making me feel sorry for him. Sighing, Applejack rolled her eyes before stepping past the still confused looking Derpy. "Look, Ah see that yer ah little, uh, lonely? Ah can understand that, Ah really do. But well, yer comin' on just ah mite too strong, don't ya think? There's ah real nice mare lookin' fer ya out there, without doubt. Ya just gotta calm down ah little an' try not ta scare ponies, ya know?" she suggested, putting on a rather assuring smile. Yeah, that was quite a solid bit of advice, given his performance so far. I'd add a few suggestions to that, by my inner Rarity suggested it would be too crass. He blushed lightly, then thoughtfully scratched his chin before nodding to her, causing her to perk and nod back. "Thank you, Applejack. You're, um, a really nice mare. I can see why you're an Element Bearer and-" he started. Twilight promptly slapped her forehead, and Applejack herself coughed slightly. "Uh, that's better! Seriously. But, uh, no," Applejack answered without even an instant of hesitation. He drooped his ears again, and Twilight twitched. Before I could even process it, he was enveloped in a magical aura and literally launched at a fraction of the speed of sound off over the track, flailing and screaming. Everypony stared blankly at her for a moment before she gave an exasperated eye roll. "What?! He has wings, he'll be fine! Probably," she assured, waving her hoof towards me. I shuddered, reminding myself to yet again not make her angry. Landing from that would probably be mildly painful for me, and I'd cause a lot of collateral damage. "Psh, she's a softy. Featherfall spell on him, too?" Spitfire inquired, holding a hoof over her eyes as she looked off into the distance in the direction he got flung. Twilight sighed wearily before reminding, "While it might be satisfying to entertain in my head, I'm not going to murder somepony for tactless flirting." Oh, right. She continued a hesitant moment later with, "Plus, the Featherfall spell disrupts the thermals around a pegasus' wings, so he has no choice but to float slowly to the ground. Buys us at least five minutes of peace in case he decides to return." Ooooh! Smart! Fluttershy shivered before quietly chipping in with, "Oh, and, um, Moon Mender's in our herd, too." I smiled back at her, causing her to blush faintly again and give me a timid one back. Spitfire perked up at that, then rubbed the back of her head before spinning and looking at Twilight instead. "Wait, seriously? I could have sworn I saw that huge, like, three hundred point newspaper headline about you forming a herd with Fluttershy!" she asked. Ugh. Damn it, Fancypants! My ears drooped again as I was suddenly blatantly reminded of that whole dramatic fiasco. Twilight momentarily looked like Spitfire had just turned and bucked her in the face instead, however. Spitfire reacted a bit faster this time, scraping the ground with her right front hoof before awkwardly rotating slightly to face me instead. Okay, I really didn't care anymore, and just wanted to stop talking about this... "Okay, sorry, sorry! I'm not batting a thousand tonight, that much is obvious. The paper was out of date, got it!" she deduced correctly, rapidly recovering her composure before continuing with, "So I officially apologize, on behalf of myself and the Wonderbolts, as an organization, and congratulate you! I mean, getting to join a herd full of two smokin' hot mares already, serious props!" I stared blankly at her for a long moment, and her grin faltered a little, but to her credit, she kept up the pose, right foreleg extended out in attempts to get me to shake her hoof. Derpy finally frowned, then warned, "Um, I might be wrong, but I think Mender was supposed to join the herd at the same time, and the paperwork got messed up." I looked past Spitfire to Derpy and nodded, giving her a weak smile I barely managed to muster. Spitfire's pose didn't change, but her jaw clenched a little as her eyes shifted over to Twilight, who swallowed nervously and nodded. A long, agonizing six seconds later, her eyes slowly shifted back to me, the sound of crickets chirping in the numb silence around us. Huh. Wait... I looked to my left, where Spitfire had been before violently shoving her hoof down her throat. Pinkie stood there instead, lips pressed together as she made a cricket chirping noise with her mouth, amazingly accurately. She should really show me how she did that, at some point. She stopped and looked at me for a moment after I spotted her, then slowly commented, "Really awkward!" Yes, yes it was. "Uh, yeah. Thank you, Pinkie," I thanked, shifting to a smile and nod towards her. Somehow, she managed to make me feel just a little better. I chalked it up to that strange Pinkie magic she pulled off all the time. Spitfire finally managed to snap herself out of that frozen grin, coughing lightly into her hoof she'd retracted now. "Ah, yeah, yeah it was. Possibly the most awkward moment I've had this year. And I'd bet Soarin ten bits that I could get through the event without putting my hoof in my mouth, too! Ah well. Uh, right. Not leaving Cloudsdale without my PR Cheatsheet ever again," she muttered weakly, finally looking away from me. Shrugging, I admitted, "Awkward moments are something I'm familiar with. To your credit, I would have run away and hid by now." Also the truth, sadly. She smirked at that and turned back to look at me before shrugging. "Nah. A Wonderbolt never shows their back to a problem. Even if the problem is me making a complete fool of myself! Right, I repeat those formal apologies, with additional from me again. Yeah, definitely going to drop by your place later with some generous commission requests," she apologized yet again. As luck would have it, she blundered into my one weakness, and I twitched. Well, one of my weaknesses, next to mares crying, adorableness, pleading foals, static cling in my fur, conveyor belts, loft lifts, apples, rocks, water, trees, and Rainbow Dash. "Ah, uh, no, it's okay! We all goof from time to time, and you're right, you do have a lot on your mind! So how about we just start over? I'm Moon Mender," I introduced rapidly, holding my hoof out to her instead. She gave me a suspicious raised eyebrow before slowly reaching forward and taking it with her opposite, shaking softly. Dash started snickering before explaining, "You tried to pay him. That gets him to give up immediately." Damn it! Spitfire smirked, of course, and I knew it was too late now, so instead, I directed a glare back at my now frustrating feathered backpack. Actually, she was surprisingly light for a full grown pony. How she'd managed to carry me... Applejack just chuckled softly, then shook her head. "As much as Ah enjoy teasin' Mender an' watchin' him squirm, we should get Dash somewhere where she can relax," she pointed out. I rolled my eyes but just stayed quiet. My mouth had already gotten me in enough trouble. "I know Pinkie had her heart set on a picnic under the stars, I do believe this time, a soft resting spot would do Rainbow more justice. I doubt Mender will volunteer for the remainder of the evening, so might I suggest returning to the library? You have that lovely couch in the main room near the fire," Rarity directed, turning to look at Twilight instead. I suppose gathering there wasn't that bad of an idea. Wait, where were the Crusaders? They hadn't come to greet us. Pinkie held her hoof up absently, shaking it back and forth as she smiled. "It's okay! We can always have a nice picnic next spring instead. It is getting a little on the chilly side now," she assured, in a surprisingly calm tone for her. "Oooh, can I come, too, Twilight? I'll be really good and not bother anypony," Derpy asked, suddenly snapping out of her quiet trance over the course of the last conversation. Spitfire snickered at that and added, "Sorry, but I have to call it quits at that. Soarin's waiting for my report back at our hotel, and we have an early practice tomorrow before the next day's festivities, so I gotta run." Oh, right! There were festivities running for almost four days. I wondered idly if I'd get to see any tomorrow. Twilight nodded to both of them, regardless. "It was nice seeing you again, Spitfire," she started, wincing then as the mare blasted off with a sharp grin. After a weaker sigh, she smiled again and turned back to Derpy, with, "Of course you can come. You know you can celebrate with us anytime you want. Uh, where are the Crusaders, though?" Applejack snickered at that before explaining, "Sent 'em back ta town. We didn't know how long Dash would be in there, so they went back ta pick up some medical supplies from tha market." Twilight lifted an eyebrow at that, earning a cough from the orange mare before she appended, “Yeah, Ah know. Ya have supplies in there. Scootaloo wouldn’t stop talkin’ about what she could do ta help Dash, though.” Aww, that was rather adorable. Rainbow blushed lightly, but Pinkie nodded and bounced once before furthering, "Yup! We knew the town has lots of medical and repair supplies stockpiled anyway! The mayor was all sighs and complaining about annual injury reports when Twilight gave her the awesome idea of stockpiling things ahead of time!" Oh, that was rather smart. Wait, annual injuries? The lavender unicorn looked a bit perplexed, however. "Wait, you weren't at the meeting, Pinkie. How did you even... Wait, why am I even asking that? Never mind. Let's just get going back to town. Maybe we can catch the Crusaders and save them a return trip," she reasoned, sighing and starting back down the path off the hill. Hey, I would have liked to hear that explanation. Of course, would Pinkie have even answered? Probably not. Cracking my back lightly, I shifted to make sure Rainbow was still on my back safely, then started after Twilight and the others, resuming my place towards the back of our group. My newfound favorite position held many benefits, greatest of which was them catching any potential attention first and foremost, be it media ponies or otherwise. I ultimately preferred being in the background if at all possible. Some days, it felt like something was conspiring against that. It was almost as if some invisible or impossible to realize camera was following me around wherever I went. Shaking off the surreal sensation, I was reminded of the other reason I liked this placement, eyes locking on to Twilight's swaying hips as she walked down the path, the subtle muscles shifting underneath as she braced against the hill so she didn't fall victim to gravity and slip, bonking her head off the ground and rolling into a crumpled heap at the bottom or... Nope, sexy thoughts gone. Damn it! It was only because I did exactly that before, too! Sadly, I forgot how close Rainbow was in link proximity until I felt her grin against the back of my neck. "Oooh, I hate it when that happens. Nice, tasty thought, and then bam, totally derailed," she mused back into my mind, barely a whisper as she pushed it only to me. Hey, she'd realized how to do that! Finally... "Shush. I think I fell down this hill before on my way to Ponyville the day I landed," I warned, right back into her head. She smirked regardless, and I saw it coming. Well, 'felt' it more so at this range. "Still, good reasons to stay in the rear. To check out the other rears, ya know? Twilight's is nice, but Applejack's is so much, mmm, fuller!" she pointed out, gesturing towards the orange rump with blond tail thankfully hiding more choice bits. I blushed, then she outright grinned. "Ah ah! Eyes only, Mister! She's so mine," she mentally reminded, earning a still blushing glare from me. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow finally, glancing back as she probably felt my flood of embarrassment. Too late. The pegasus was going to pay now. "Oh? Here I thought you'd more want us to share you?" I inquired, as deep into her mind as I could launch it, supplemented with pictures. Rainbow's wings shot to full extension almost as fast as her eyes did. Her cheeks did their best attempt to quickly follow, at least matching her eye color, until she winced. Oh, right, her wings hurt. Fluttershy tilted her head as Rainbow glared at me, still flushed. Heh. Oops... * * * * * Admittedly, this was a lot better than out in the chilly winds for the picnic, and we already had the food all packed! Now everypony had settled in to the lounge at the bottom of the library, with Rainbow resting on the couch, of course. It was rather large, however, and Applejack was resting to her left, and Rarity to her right. Spike sat at the bottom of the couch, right underneath Rarity, of course, and looking quite pleased as to his spot. Fluttershy sat in the large sofa behind me. Well, she was more lying down in it. Her head was tucked up against my cheek as I leaned back on it. Twilight sat to my right, looking more interested in her book than the events in front of us, despite doing so well herself. Pinkie sat to my left, wiggling in excitement every time a new turn came up. It was kind of cute, honestly. To her left sat all four Crusaders, frequently changing places in order to gain what they hoped was an edge, it would seem. Derpy was to Twilight's right, completing the circle on the other side. Pinkie giggled in amusement as her turn came up again, having completed the task of somehow juggling three tennis balls with just her tongue. She reached out and gave the bottle in the center a healthy spin. Rarity had requested a simple, low key game so we all could continue eating while playing, which certainly hadn't hurt my feelings. Pinkie looked a bit disappointed, however, as she put away the volleyball. How she expected us to play that in Twilight's library was beyond me, but at least she had a backup option with Twilight's enchanted bottle. It was simple magic to detect various biological functions keyed in to somepony potentially lying. I said potentially, due to the fact that somepony simply freaking out in panic would also probably set it off, hence special precautions were taken with Fluttershy's turns. So far, it had been a significantly less painful experience than the last time we'd played Truth or Dare. There were no frogs this time, either, thankfully. Apart from the tongue juggling experience, Twilight had also proved she could balance one of the tennis balls perfectly fine on the tip of her horn without using magic, which was also impressive. Rarity had further revealed that she sometimes slept with a coat of beauty cream on in order to prevent 'wrinkles', despite being only twenty. Derpy had shown us her ability to uncannily fly upside down for extended periods of time, which seemed practically impossible, and Applejack openly admitted to getting the cider supplies from Big Mac's stash, with explicit permission. Rainbow was a bit disappointed in that answer, apparently having hoped to get the secret location of Applejack's stash instead. Although at this point, aforementioned cider already had everypony a little flushed, being of the 'hard' variety. Minus me, of course. Yet another thing being a cyborg took away from me... Although maybe that was for the better, lest I go into some horrible downward spiral of alcoholism in order to forget being a planet eating abomination. Heh. Regardless, on my only turn so far, I'd been dared rather strangely by Rarity to use my rather prehensile tongue to try to tie together two ribbons she pulled out of her bag. Derpy didn't even seem to blink at mention that my tongue was different, so I didn't really mind. She wouldn't spread around that I was a 'mutant' or anything, so it wasn't that worrying. Far more worrying was the surprising amount of attention such a simple dare got me, as everypony stared intently at my long tongue curling around to tie a nice bow in the two ribbons. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow also started blushing, and I didn't even want to ask. Probably some secret culture thing I was missing. Slowly, the bottle slipped back around and headed right back towards Pinkie again. What happened if you spun yourself? Eh, there was probably just a rule in place to spin again. Regardless, it slipped past Pinkie herself, slowly crawled just past Fluttershy, and came up right to the edge of my back hoof, which I kept intentionally extended to minimize Fluttershy's hit zone. "Ha! Your leg's out again, Mender! Your turn!" Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly, pointing towards my back leg. She hadn't caught on yet. "Oh, oops. It's hard to keep it under me sometimes. Look at that," I muttered, glancing down at it. Fluttershy blushed lightly, and Pinkie just giggled before asking her question. "So, truth or dare?!" she asked, grinning in amusement. Well, I'd taken a dare before and it had gone rather weirdly, so maybe it was a truth time? Sighing, I answered with, "Truth, this time." This would come back to bite me, I just knew it. Pinkie grinned, and I braced for impact before Twilight coughed sharply. Eh? The lavender mare quickly reminded, “Young ears, Pinkie. Keep it clean.” Huh? A glance showed three of the four Crusaders all leaning in closer. Spotted, they toppled over each other to go back to sitting normal, failing miserably and ending up a big pile of multi-colored limbs. The pink one pouted for a moment before continuing with, “Oh fine. Truth, then. What’s the time where you’ve had the most fun here in Ponyville so far? I gotta take notes!” That one caught me off guard, as I was expecting something embarrassing or horrifying, and I momentarily hesitated. Most fun? It didn’t surprise me when Pinkie actually reached over into Twilight’s saddlebag and grabbed a notepad. “To be honest, times like these are my favorite. When we can all just relax as a group, let things slow down, and just enjoy each other’s company. Emphasis on the ‘slow down’ part,” I answered a moment later, knowing exactly what I’d wanted before she asked. That made being honest rather easy, in this case. “Aww!” Derpy chirped, smiling at me warmly. Rainbow rolled her eyes and made a gagging motion, but I just stuck my tongue out at her. I had the right to want to slow down, having thwarted an alien invasion, built two upgrades to a barn, gotten blown up, having fought off an alien invader, having found out I was a cyborg, finding out who my real parents were, and falling for two amazing and lovely mares, all in the space of a month and a half. Damn. Just listing all that tired me out. Pinkie blinked, then grinned at that. “Likes cuddles and snuggle time. That’s super easy to remember! I didn’t need this after all…” she confirmed before shoving the pad of paper back in Twilight’s bag. I was a bit surprised that the lavender mare didn’t even seem to care. Less surprised when Pinkie slid over and pounced me from the side, tackling both Twilight and me while burying her face under my chin. “Cuddles I can do anytime! We don’t even need a party for that,” she proclaimed, as if it was some astounding and miraculous revelation. Oh Pinkie… Applejack snickered at her antics before pointing out at the glowing green bottle. “Honest it would seem, not that Ah doubted him. But he can’t exactly spin tha bottle with ya flattenin’ him inta tha floor,” she pointed out, grinning at us. Instead of doing the easy thing and just sitting up again, Pinkie instead nodded twice and shuffled a little to the side, moving our pile closer to the middle of the area and near the bottle. Of course… With the scents of freshly baked cookies wafting up into my nose from the pink mare’s mane, I shifted to the right and flailed my right foreleg out a bit, missing twice before whacking the nozzle of the bottle on my third flick. Pinkie giggled from my chest while Twilight rolled her eyes to my vague right side, still smiling, however, as she wrapped her forelegs around both of us instead. The bottle spun rapidly, drifting a bit off center due to my inaccurate, flailing impact on it. Not too much thankfully, and it rotated slowly around, heading for Applejack. Oh boy. The farm mare grinned, sitting up as she prepared undoubtedly for another dare, when the glass rolled over slightly. The raised writing on it must have tipped over at just the perfect time, and the nozzle shifted another inch to the right instead. Rainbow’s eyes widened, the nozzle directed at her right foreleg now. I looked at her, and she looked at me, a sudden frown of annoyance shifting onto her face. In her two turns so far, she’d gleefully indicated that she had wanted revenge for the wing thing on our way over here, but had spun me on neither turn. This was ironic… “Psh, fine. Do your worst. Dare,” Dash announced, smirking confidently at me. Brat… Narrowing my eyes at her, I reminded, “Fine. I’ll get revenge for your last dare against me, then. Getting my stomach pumped wasn’t pleasant.” Or seeing frogs. Or blathering on about all of my secrets in front of the whole party. Her eyes shot open in surprise, and I felt Pinkie’s face heat up, her front hooves rubbing together weakly. “Um, that was kinda my fault, too,” she reminded quietly, sounding like she still felt bad about it. Although to be honest, somepony would have had to get their stomach pumped, so at least it was the cyborg who didn’t realize he was a cyborg at that time. It might have made somepony else really sick. “It’s okay, Pinkie. I’ll get you back later. For now, it’s Rainbow’s turn!” I declared, earning a giggle and nod surprisingly from the pink mare against my chest. Dash puffed up, eyes narrowing as she partially sat up again. “Bring it! I’m feeling a lot better now, and can handle any dare you throw at me!” she assured, starting to grin. Derpy leaned over to Twilight instead, however, and asked, “Stomach pump?” Despite being upside down to Derpy, Twilight snickered and shook her head up at her. “Long story. It was an accident on Pinkie’s part for the ‘punishment’ of backing down from the dare to kiss Fluttershy, which was technically against the rules anyway. He really shouldn’t have been punished…” she explained. “Oh yeah. That was ah lot o’ vomitin’…” Apple Bloom suddenly commented, earning a shudder from Sweetie next to her. I had no luck with potions at all. Still! I smirked, and Rainbow hesitated, but it was far too late. There was a line that nopony could back down from, and I’d crossed it. “Fine. I dare you to kiss Applejack,” I finally ordered. Pinkie gasped against me, putting both hooves to her mouth as she looked over at the couch. For just a second, it didn’t register, and then Rainbow’s confident smirk fell away into a thousand pieces, her eyes widening drastically almost as fast as the flush of color entered her cheeks. Applejack froze next to her as well, cup partially to her mouth for another drink of cider. Her eyebrow lifted at that, but her expression remained neutral as her eyes shifted to look at Dash instead. “W-What?!” Rainbow asked, red coloring flushing up her whole face as her eyes glanced just slightly over at the orange mare, suddenly afraid of eye contact as I felt her heart try to pound through her chest down the link. Okay, maybe that had been unfair… Smirking, Twilight flipped three pages and looked at ‘Truth or Dare Rules’ listing. Figured she’d have a book for having a party. “Mmm, technically any dare including another pony needs to have their express consent, and no acts of intimacy are allowed unless that’s the setting… Although, she DID attempt to do that to you last time, so I’d have to rule this one time as fair game,” the lavender mare concluded, which was impressive for reading sideways. “But that was different! That was… uh…” Dash tried to defend, flailing her forelegs before hesitantly glancing over at the orange mare next to her, who was smiling gently now. “Ah consent,” she assured, taking a big swig of her cider before setting it down and shivering. She sounded more amused than anything as Rainbow’s ears dropped down, somehow getting the red flush all the way to them, now. Apple Bloom was watching her sister in surprise now, both forehooves up on her muzzle. The little orange filly next to her was slightly less reserved, her wings buzzing quietly on her back as she looked back and forth between the two of them. Rarity blushed just slightly as well, stirring her cider a bit while smirking. “You did say anything he could throw at you,” she murmured, sounding far too entertained by this to be healthy. It looked more like Rainbow found herself backed into a corner, her wings twitching behind her as she looked around at the group of mirthful looking ponies all staring at her. Even Scootaloo was grinning as she sat up, watching her sister like a hawk now. Applejack buried the hatchet, however, an instant later. “Ya don’t have ta, o’ course. If yer chicken, ya can just give up instead an’ go fer whatever Pinkie has planned,” the orange mare reminded, gesturing towards the sack Pinkie had next to her. Whatever she had in it was leaking something green out the side of the bag, which was actually rather disgusting. Pinkie gasped at that and sat up, grinning as she reached for the bag. The shift in Rainbow’s expression was instant, eyes flicking down into a narrow glare as she looked over at Applejack instead. “What?! No way am I backing down from this! It just… It surprised me, is all! Ugh, fine!” she rapidly denied, shakily sitting up again. Her orange friend smirked at that and sat up as well, turning to watch Rainbow with tentative curiosity. Oh boy. Was she really going to do it? Admittedly, I had no idea what Dash was going to do when I’d dared her. “Yer hesitatin’…” Applejack chirped, blushing a little herself and smirking, after three seconds went past. I couldn’t tell if she was blushing, though, or just flushed from the alcohol she’d been consuming most of the night. Rainbow let out a growling noise before closing her eyes and shivering, then lunging forward like a cobra. Applejack’s eyes widened and she backed away a little, fearing a head butt instead of a kiss by the looks of it, but Dash slowed and shifted to the side, putting a light peck on the surprised mare’s left cheek. “T-There! Ha!” Dash announced, pointing her hoof and grinning at me, entire face almost matching her eyes, although slowly receding now. The orange mare next to her shifted to a slightly annoyed look instead, however. I blinked, then smiled and nodded at her. “Not quite what I meant, but I was vague, so that counts,” I admitted, causing her to visibly relax and smirk. Twilight started to nod, but Applejack actually snorted and started snickering outright. It was interesting to watch Rainbow’s right ear twitch in the direction of the snickering, followed by her head as she shifted back to a glare. Thankfully, the orange mare explained her mirth a moment later. “Ya called that ah kiss? Ah’ve gotten better smooches on mah cheek from Apple Bloom! Haha! It was kinda cute, actually. Still, that was kinda pathetic, too,” she pointed out, smashing Rainbow in the face with the rather harsh statement. I winced, and Rainbow’s eyes widened drastically, the red shooting back into her face. Twilight looked a bit surprised at that, and Fluttershy shook her head quickly. “It, um, technically counts, Applejack. You shouldn’t be so mean, though. I mean, Mender didn’t specifically ask for-“ Fluttershy started to defend. Applejack shook her head and sat up fully, holding a hoof out to Fluttershy to stop. She over-corrected a little, but focused more, then smirked up at Rainbow instead. “Nah, Ah’m sorry. That was mean, Ah know. Hmm. Maybe Rainbow doesn’t know what ah real kiss is like? Ah’m sorry, Dash. Ah didn’t mean ta tease ya,” she assured, nodding twice and looking amused again. Was she… Was that mocking? I couldn’t tell! I’d never seen such a sly way of doing it if it was... A little frown came from Rainbow, and it looked like she couldn’t decide which it was either. Thankfully she didn’t need to wait long. “But ya ain’t off tha hook fer that pathetic little smooch. Here’s how ya kiss somepony fer real,” Applejack warned. Uh, what? Applejack moved in and closed the gap instead, and almost everypony’s eyes widened at the same time, including Rainbow’s as her muzzle came into contact with the orange mare’s. Pinkie let out a squeak, hooves still on both sides of her muzzle as she blushed, watching the two tentatively kiss for a moment before Applejack’s eyes shifted more hungry than anything and she pushed Rainbow back against the side of the sofa. Rarity’s eyes widened as her cider spilled, and she slid off the side of her cushion and off the sofa completely in order to avoid being landed on as the cyan pegasus was pinned to the fabric. The pegasus’ look of intense shock slowly melting into a bubbly heat coming from down her link, that flush expanding across her cheeks as her eyes closed as well. Holy hell! All four fillies slipped into a shocked blush as they remained glued to staring. I could clearly see tongues moving now as Applejack let out a weak groan, Rainbow shivering under her as her wings seemed permanently stuck rigid to either side of her. Twilight had her jaw dropped, staring at the two as they made out on her sofa. Her surprise didn’t last long, however, as she shifted to looking at the spilled cider with a slight frown instead. Figured. Spike had been even more surprised as the cup almost landed on him, but now slid away from the sofa and was grinning as he watched the two of them. Okay, color me surprised! After a long twenty seconds, Applejack raised her head up again, smirking down at the blissed out yet stunned pegasus, now staring wide eyed up at her. “That’s how ya kiss somepony, Dashie. Ya better practice some,” she muttered, earning a wider flush from Rainbow. There was slight hesitation before a sudden smirk shifted up onto Rainbow, and I felt a mixture of intense relief and searing happiness come from her. It was rather infectious as I started smiling, too. She nodded, then said, “Okay. You’ll have to let me get more practice in, then.” Applejack smirked once before Dash pulled her back down, kissing her again. This one was much shorter lived, however, as Twilight huffed. “Take it upstairs if you two are going to continue. Plus, you’re getting your mane in the cider that Rarity just spilled on my sofa,” she pointed out, gesturing to the expanding puddle of fluid coming from the mug on the floor. I’d be more at ease if the only comfortable piece of furniture upstairs hadn’t been our bed. Both mares blushed this time, but reluctantly broke apart as Applejack helped the still sore pegasus up. Rainbow hesitated, however, before asking, “Uh, not to be uncool or anything but, well, does this mean…?” Oooo. Her newly minted fillyfriend just smirked, however, and nodded before tacking on, “Ah was just waitin’ fer ya ta ask, Silly. Ya were kinda obvious about it.” Ha! Okay, it was true, though. Rainbow must have known it was true, too, and just blushed a little, looking away for a second before smirking outright again, unable to stop the happiness from swelling up in her. “Okay, then! I guess I shall let you be my totally awesome fillyfriend,” she assured, earning a skeptical grin from Applejack, who then hauled her over next to her as Rarity levitated, then flipped her cushion over with her magic. “Yes!” Scootaloo instantly cheered, hopping up and down with her forehooves up in the air. Oddly, Sweetie gave her a pointed glare at that. Twilight exhaled a moment later, horn lighting up as a smaller side closet opened nearby, showing cleaning supplies in it. Spike stood, however, and shook his head in her direction. “It’s okay, Twi. I got it,” he assured, walking over towards the closet instead and grabbing a mop out of it. I sat up off Twilight finally, who smiled warmly up at me and lifted her hoof. Hooking it, I pulled her to her haunches, and was surprised as she kept going and kissed me softly on the cheek. “Well, I’m happy for you two. Knowing what I know now, I know it’s nice not to be lonely,” the lavender unicorn congratulated, surprising me a little further. I was about to open my mouth and mirror her congratulations when we were all interrupted instead by three loudish knocks to the front door. Eh? Twilight frowned, everypony turning to look at the front door. The knocks didn’t repeat, and I couldn’t see anything through the window next to it, mostly because it was night now. “Wait, who could that be? It’s almost midnight now…” she muttered, standing and walking towards the door. Frowning as well, I stood and followed after her. “Twi, wait,” I warned quickly, causing her to stop and look back at me. Her eyes widened at my expression, but then she nodded as I moved past her, guard going up as her horn started to glow. Even lightly buzzed from the cider, I was more than confident in her prowess as I felt her following behind me. Derpy looked more confused by our cautious demeanor than anything, but I couldn’t afford to take chances. My inner armor folded up as well, just in case. Reaching the door, I hesitated as I touched the door knob. I was facing away from Derpy, the only one in the room who didn’t know, so I took a moment to flash an ion scan through the door, my eyes flickering blue for just a moment. The readings showed only a single, smaller sized pony standing on the other side, more slender form probably belonging to a mare. Huh. Bracing, I simply opened the door up, Twilight standing to my right with her horn glowing subtly. In front of me was an oh so familiar looking white unicorn, dressed in a more casual looking button up vest and tiny pair of ear muffs over her ears. She was sitting on the step to the library, and perked and smiled upon seeing me, brushing her light green mane out of her face. “Oh, it’s you again. Is there something you need?” Twilight asked, looking surprised. I suddenly noticed that her new outfit didn’t hide her Cutie Mark, like the last one did. It was a golden framed oval mirror, with the actual glass made out of a yellow and green shading. The mare nodded softly, then apologized with, “I’m terribly sorry it’s so late. After the races, I couldn’t find where you ponies went, and looked everywhere for you until I asked a nice green mare where you’d gone. She said over here, so I went back to the hotel to freshen up a bit, then came over here! I mean, it’s better to catch you now rather than wait until tomorrow and risk you having left again to some of the other festivities and me missing my chance to meet you officially yet again. That would just be downright-“ “Ah, uh, right! Um, would you like to come in?” Twilight asked, cutting her off before she rambled until morning. Backed up with our new conclusion that the slightly crazy unicorn probably wasn’t BEID, I relaxed a little and stepped backwards, letting the mare come inside. The only active danger with her so far seemed to be her slightly slow rambling draining all the energy out of a pony as they tried to listen to it… She stepped inside momentarily, then shivered before lighting her horn up with soft green energy and lifting her ear muffs off her head. Huh. Her magic was the same color as her eyes, just like Rarity’s. But Twilight had a bit more red in hers. No, focus! “Brr. It’s already so chilly this time of year. Canterlot’s usually much warmer, surprisingly,” she murmured, relaxing a little from her tense posture on the step. She was nervous? Although now that I thought about it, her speaking was a little bit faster than it was earlier at the shop. “Oh, the barrier that’s under Canterlot and most of the energy the city uses runs on geothermal power from the mountain, which lightly magnifies the temperature, keeping it a little warmer than the surrounding area due to the heat output of the generators,” Twilight explained, easily shifting into her familiar scientific mode. The mare giggled and smiled to her before nervously glancing at me instead. Spike trotted over to us as well, mop still in hand, and I saw everypony in the lounge area now watching and listening. Right. “Twilight said you were looking for me? Uh, if you don’t mind me asking, why is that?” I inquired, trying to get to the point of the visit so I could at least ascertain her goal. To my surprise, the mare fidgeted, looking suddenly extremely nervous. “I… uh… oh Celestia, this probably going to sound completely nuts…” she muttered, not giving me much faith in how this was going to go. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as the mare composed herself and lifted a hoof up to me. Hesitantly, I took her hoof and shook it, and she smiled again, then introduced in a surprisingly perky tone, “My name is Auramirror. I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to come right out and say it. I’m sorta your great, great, great grandniece. It’s nice to finally meet you, Mister Moon Mender.” Twilight’s eyes widened, and my mind blanked completely. What? Chapter 86Everything was a blur, as per usual. Although at least it was a neutral to happy blur this time instead of raw panic, rage, or adrenaline. Or even worse, all three. Looking down at the tons of papers, I was a bit overwhelmed by the complete clinical display of identification for the mare sitting across the table from me. Birth certificate, picture identification, graduation paperwork, a DNA analysis writeup, an Ether Spectrogram, whatever that was, a written letter from Tia with instructions to Spike to deliver it when we got a 'strange visitor', and even Auramirror's library card. Well, at least I knew that Tia was feeling impish today... "It all checks through, multiple times over," Twilight muttered, sounding a little exasperated as she glared at the letter once again, explaining that the young necromancer had visited her personally about a week prior to this. Apparently she'd become 'suspect' to my identity before coming forward with it, and Tia knew she was related to me already. Of course, the logical conclusion was to tell her pretty much everything about my situation, apparently. Who needed security protocols, after all?! Auramirror stared vacantly at me for a moment before slowly blinking, back to her more relaxed state now. "I really thought she'd send word ahead of time that I was coming. I made my intentions clear to her that I wished to find you after learning your true identity," she defended softly, without much conviction at all. It was already late at night, and just listening to her made me even more tired. Then there was the other issue, of course... "Hee, it's still hard to believe Mender's, like, three hundred years old! He looks so young!" Derpy chirped happily, sitting in a chair directly to my left and largely unfazed by the revelation that had been literally dropped right in front of her, openly. Again, those security protocols... As if to get us back on track, Owlowiscious let out a ‘hoo’ noise while sitting on our table, sliding forth the books he’d retrieved for Twilight. There was a book there on pony family genealogy and another on necromancers, Twilight’s magic enveloping them both and passing me the genealogy one. Right, my family… Completely ignoring the owl, Rainbow flared her wings out a bit behind me as she sat on the floor, a bit to my left. "Seriously, it doesn't faze you at all that he's, like, an alien?!" she asked, sounding a little annoyed. It was probably because she hadn't found out about it on the best of terms, literally walking in on me transformed. She whacked my back an instant later and I got the hint, sighing as one of my tentacles slid out and wiggled above her in the air. Thankfully, Twilight had put four separate wards up on the library already and I didn’t have to worry about any more surprises. The lavender mare in question narrowed her eyes surprisingly rapidly at that, however. "He's not an alien! He's an cybernetically augmented Earth Pony! Legitimate Earth Pony who was born three hundred years ago, then frozen until about a month and a half ago, when he returned from another dimension," Twilight corrected with a scary amount of conviction. Although it actually made me feel better to hear her defend me like that. Her glare was aimed over her shoulder at Rainbow, who held her hooves up defensively and slide behind me for protection, ironically. Derpy, of course, paid no heed whatsoever, instead watching the tentacle with what could only be described as avid fascination. "Oooh, that's so cool!" she finally squeaked, confusing me even more. Scootaloo made a flying pounce into the air, catching it and hanging by it as I gently swung her around. The gray pegasus continued after with, “And no, it doesn’t bother me. Sure, he’s really old, but the Princesses are way older and look young, too. Tentacles also aren’t the weirdest thing in Equestria.” That… Okay, that was a very good point. "I know, right?! It's awesome! But he's totally an Earth Pony, Rainbow. Big Mac said so, right AB?" Scootaloo reminded. Eh?! Apple Bloom smirked and nodded happily, Applejack also grinning and rubbing the top of her head with no small amount of affection. Her cheek flush had faded over the half an hour surprise with Auramirror so far, the alcohol having a surprisingly short effect on her. How much of that were the nanites, and how much was her absurd constitution? She sat right next to Dash, however, literally touching the pegasus with her side, so I only assumed that their shared kiss earlier had 'upgraded' their relationship a little. At least, that was the sensation coming from both of them as she reached over and pulled Rainbow back against her. "Relax. Dash says things she regrets before thinkin' all tha time. Ya know she definitely appreciates Mender," Applejack reminded, looking at Twilight when she said it. Rainbow still blushed furiously, easily reading the hidden and not so hidden context. Oh, right. I had said that we'd deal with that after she dealt with her feelings for Applejack. I just hadn't expected her to pull that off quite so fast. Well, actually no, that's my fault. She is the 'fastest pony in Equestria' after all. Twilight looked vaguely annoyed at the mention until I swung Scootaloo around into her face. The little filly squeaked, then laughed as she planted herself like some sort of strange alien on my fillyfriend's face, Twilight momentarily flailing before recovering and just sighing into the orange filly's stomach. "Was that really necessary, Mender?" she asked, voice muffled by the fur up against her face. Scootaloo started giggling as her fur puffed out around Twilight's breathe. "Of course. You need to relax a bit, and the best way to do that is to have a cute filly land on your face," I assured. Sweetie perked up, almost hitting her head under the table directly in front of me. "Really?!" she asked, sounding all too eager. Well, she had been holding it back all night, and it was late. "Sweetie, behave," Rarity reminded, sipping at her glass again from the rug, the warm light from the fire playing across her back as she kept herself toasty. Fluttershy sat with her and giggled lightly, watching me pry Scootaloo off Twilight, then just haul her onto my chest instead. Although she was almost too big for that, and I had to hold her on her back in my forelegs to support her. She didn't mind regardless, just grinning up at me before turning her attention back to the tentacle, snatching it as it drifted past again. She was sort of like a cat... Auramirror watched the tentacle as well, her eyes almost twinkling as she slowly revealed, "They have your life force in them. They're entirely natural as a part of you, but your overall energy internally matches an Earth Stallion. Except it's extremely close to the surface, creating a billowing cloud around you that looks like your internal self. It's quite fascinating." Oh. Wait, Red had mentioned something about that too. That my magic was close to the surface. Twilight really did relax, however, before sliding over and resting her head on my shoulder. "I don't care how strange he is, or even if he's not a pony at all, even though I know he is. After a couple close calls with our relationship, I re-evaluated my feelings and decided I want to be with him no matter what," she admitted, getting me to widen my eyes a little as I felt heat drift into my cheeks. That I hadn't been expecting. The unicorn mare across from us just giggled at that before also admitting, "I felt he was in love earlier, too, at the town square. Ponies always have a warm flow around their heart when thinking about somepony like that." L-Love?! I blushed even more as I felt Twilight smile against my shoulder before kissing it. How could I know something like that?! Was I in...? I hesitated, realizing that it made Twilight happy to hear it, and I relaxed. Even if I... Even if I might be in love with her, she appeared to truly want it and reacted favorably. I felt Fluttershy's warmth from here without even needing to turn and look, as well. Of course, my feelings for her felt sharper, and more focused. Her too, then... It scared me when I realized it hadn't been a question. Pinkie, who sat next to Apple Bloom and Spike on the other side of Applejack, surprised me by giggling merrily and interrupting my scary, self-tormenting thoughts. "There's nothing wrong with any of that, Mender. It's not scary, relax," she cooed, startling me as I suddenly realized I'd been broadcasting my empathy there. Ah crap. The lavender mare only smiled a little more and nuzzled my shoulder before looking up at me, eyes soft and curious rather than hard and accusing. Well, that was a vague improvement over my nearest imagined outcome to that revelation. Auramirror giggled before remarking, "Admittedly, I didn't know what to expect when I first heard about you. You've been through so much. I thought that would leave permanent scars on most ponies, but you seem remarkably better than it could have been. Your relationships, I think, are helping a lot." That I definitely agreed with. Without my friends, I'm fairly certain I would have gone totally off my rocker by now. Fluttershy especially. Looking back up at her, Spike gave a questioning frown at that, however. "Wait, how exactly did you figure out who Mender was, anyway?" he asked, sounding a bit confused. That was a very, very good question. Her entire visit so far had more been proving who she was, not how she found out. She must have had some pretty compelling evidence for Tia to just tell her everything. I hoped... She blanked for a moment, which is to say, didn't change her expression immediately. After, she smiled and nodded. "I figured you'd ask that. Like I said, I'm a necromancer. Well, more a necromancer in training. I'm actually only sixteen, but I'm almost done with my preliminary studies with my senior necromancer, and ready to move on to independent study! I think there's only a year of that, but I might be wrong. After I graduate, I also wanted to extend the offer to take you to visit the Ether-" she started. Spike coughed lightly, and she blinked once before lightly blushing. "Oh, right. I'm a necromancer. A standard part of my training has me regularly projecting myself into the Ether and tending to our family line. We leave the paper notes on the coffins to try 'talking' to their spirits, of course, sending messages along from the family. We also care for the coffins themselves and keep them cleansed and pristine. It, well... This is going to sound bad probably, but your mother, Gemstone Weave, has never shown up in the Ether," she explained. Oh. She didn't die in Equestria. Right... Twilight frowned, a sad expression grazing her before asking, "Doesn't that only happen with ghosts?" Wait, what? Applejack smiled weakly and nodded to me instead. "Sometimes, when death comes suddenly or traumatically, tha spirit left behind is confused or lost. Tha other job fer usually more experienced necromancers is ta come an' talk ta tha spirit, an' convince 'em ta move on. That's what happened with mah parents after tha accident..." she explained solemnly. Oh. A sudden pang went through my chest, mostly for Applejack who I just discovered a rather horrible fact about. Did that mean my mother's spirit was in the other dimension then as a ghost, however? Auramirror nodded at that, eyes softening a little as she turned to Applejack instead. "That's almost always the case. I’m also sorry about your parents, Applejack. I know about what happened. I’m sorry,” she apologized, showing sympathy as Applejack simply smiled and nodded to her once. I wanted to ask, but it wouldn’t really be appropriate at the moment. The necromancer turned back to me regardless a moment later and continued talking. “Gemstone, however, was missing, with none of the letters left for her even moved, let alone responded to. No sign of her anywhere in the Long Road, or forests surrounding it. We definitely looked. Uh, just to mention, your coffin is there too, smaller and next to your mother's. You never showed up either, but that's sort of explained now. Um, you're not dead," she explained blankly, momentarily flustering herself again. Uh, yes, I was indeed alive. I think. Yeah, going with alive. Thankfully she continued before I confused myself. "Regardless, it was assumed she was a ghost somewhere, along with you, and we sent out word to other towns to keep a look out for you both. Bronze Bastion and Auraprism completely refused to comment on what happened at all, which I now know was an order from Princess Celestia. They also cut off all contact with the Princess completely after that. I, um, think they blamed her for what happened. The Princess didn't tell me about the incident, only that Gemstone Weave had transfered over to another dimension and not returned, assumed dead," she continued. That was... They blamed her. Tia had some say in what happened, but it really was an accident, by the sounds of it. They must have been hurt beyond imagining, and I couldn't even guess at how much Tia beat herself up over all of it. She lost two friends that were close to the crown, including my father's family which had been connected to the crown closely before that, according to the dossier. Worse yet, she blamed herself for my mother's death. And mine, up until a month and a half ago. "That's... horrifying. Does that mean that my mother's spirit is still in the other dimension? Is there a way we can somehow help her come back to-" I started to ask, frowning as I looked up at Auramirror. "No, she's not," she corrected, cutting me off. Eh?! I felt my eyes widen, Twilight perking up next to me, also looking surprised. The necromancer continued by explaining, "That's what cued me in to you. One day, about three weeks ago, I moved into a trance and did my rounds along the Long Road. Everything was normal until I got to her coffin, and yours. Your letters and pictures were still there on top of the coffin, but all of hers were missing. At first I thought a trickster spirit might be playing a prank on me and hiding them from sight. Only the pony in question may remove the letters from their coffin. I tried dispelling any illusions, but there were none. They were really gone. Shocked, I looked out into the forest to try to see if somehow another spirit had taken them, and that was the first time I'd ever seen my great, great, great, great grandmother, apart from pictures... Her spirit was there, in the forest, talking with the spirit of Auraprism. They both... looked so happy." My mind blanked. Three weeks ago...? That was two weeks after I came back, give or take. But what had happened?! I was numb, and almost missed her continuing to talk. "-so I tried to call out to her. Just a basic 'attention' spell. Actual communication spells are immensely draining for the necromancer, and I don't even know any yet. She turned and smiled towards me, and, uh, stuck out her tongue in my direction. Um..." I blanked for a different reason, then coughed lightly and averted my eyes. Actually, that sounded remarkably like her. "She just spontaneously came back?!" Twilight asked, sounding surprised more than anything, and apparently completely ignoring that last comment. Auramirror nodded regardless, smiling a little. "She just came back. My mentor was shocked as well, and initiated a small communication with her. We'd received no letters from any other necromancers to explain that they found her somewhere, and we also wanted to know where you were. All she said, however, is that she was gone for a long time, looking over somepony with everything she could muster, and that if we wanted to know everything, seek out a 'Moon Mender' and ask him," she revealed. Strike three, and my brain blanked completely, finally. Everything snapped into place in an instant, and I realized that she never came back because she had stayed with me. During my entire three hundred year span as a block of ice. She was watching over me. She... It caught me off guard and I winced, snapping my hoof up to wipe the moisture from my cheek. Damn it. Nopony said anything, the unspoken truth readily apparent as Twilight slipped over and wrapped her forelegs around my stomach, kissing me on the shoulder. Relaxing, I pushed the knee jerk reaction back down to hide it, remembering that essentially everypony here was supportive and good ponies. Derpy gave a soft smile and lightly rubbed my other shoulder with her forehoof as well, looking understanding. A moment later, Applejack just chuckled and smiled, though. “She loves ya, Mender. She’s yer mother, an’ yer obviously tha most important thing fer her, bein’ that she stayed with ya that whole time. Now she’s come back with ya, and is happy with her herd again. Although she’s still lookin’ out fer ya, Ah imagine,” she assured, giving a soft smile. She was right, of course. Despite being sad that she had to sacrifice so much for me, I was happy as well. That her long vigil was finally over, and maybe both of us finally could have peace. Rainbow reached over and lightly rubbed Applejack’s knee. “Your parents, too, AJ. You know they’re looking out for ya,” she reminded, smiling at her new marefriend and looking surprisingly confident in that fact, for potentially the first time tonight. Applejack just smiled softly to her before leaning over and resting on her side instead, her head tucked up against Rainbow’s back left leg. The orange mare looked rather tired, actually, and a glance showed me that all four crusaders looked almost asleep already. No, wait, I think Babs actually was sleeping. Of course, it was well past midnight now, and everything was supposed to have wound down for the night an hour ago, all that halted by my niece’s arrival. Glancing back at her, I noticed she nodded and smiled at me more fully. “Yeah, it is getting rather late. I just wanted to try to catch you and introduce myself before I lost my chance again. There are festivities going for a few days, and I’m staying in town for the duration, so if it’s at all possible, could we talk more tomorrow?” she asked, smile remaining as her eyes shivered while watching me, obviously hoping for a yes. “Of course. I would like to get to know you better. Um, before you go for the night, though, Auramirror, do I have any other family? I know you’re probably the only one that actually knows about, well, who I really am. I was just curious…” I asked, suddenly feeling amazingly awkward. If she felt the same way, she didn’t show it, of course, and only giggled merrily. “Just Aura, for you. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to meet you, Mender. I wanted to let you know that you did have family, and that you’re not alone here. Although it looks like I didn’t have to worry about that,” she mused, eyes drifting over to Twilight, who grinned at her rather impishly. That wasn’t a face I saw very often on Twilight! Smiling to Aura, I nodded and gave Twilight a squeeze before also gesturing over at Fluttershy, who perked up while sitting next to Rarity. “Fluttershy’s with us, too,” I informed, earning another whispy snicker from the mare across from us. “Oh, I know. I do read the headlines, especially after Mister Fancypants himself corrected them to include you in it. That’s actually how I found out who you were. Uh, actually, don’t tell anypony that, as my mentor told me not to look for the name. She said that Miss Gemstone Weave obviously didn’t feel comfortable telling us yet, and would in due time, but I got really curious! I mean, she said that she was watching over somepony far away, and that somepony had to have been her foal. I mean, who else would it be if she wasn’t with her mates? But then she gave a name specifically, and looking up all the news about you showed that you’d ‘suddenly appeared’ and that Princess Celestia herself had vouched for you so I thought that maybe she-“ Aura started to ramble. Again. This time her pace quickened as she realized she might be in trouble for going against her mentor’s wishes, and it was kind of cute. Coughing, she dwindled and stopped as she locked her eyes back onto me, holding my hoof up. “Relax, Aura. We’re not going to tell anypony. Although my past is supposed to be a secret for now, so please don’t tell anypony else,” I warned. She relaxed and just nodded, moving back to her usual smile as her shoulders sagged a little. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I brought so much identification. I know you’re head of that new agency thingy, so I wanted to be sure I proved who I was. Coming here, then getting arrested or something wouldn’t have been fun,” she murmured, scratching her chin as she thought about it out loud, and earned more confused looks from around the room. I… I doubt I would have arrested her just for not proving her identity, but okay. Maybe jumping to conclusions ran in our family? Derpy surprised me by raising her hoof frantically. I looked over at her, confused, as she suddenly looked rather nervous. “I promise not to tell anypony either, Mender! Please don’t arrest me, either,” she requested, making Twilight slap her forehead next to me. Or maybe ponies just jumped to conclusions a lot? “I’m not going to arrest either of you, relax. It doesn’t matter if you’re family or not, ponies don’t deserve to be arrested for something so silly. Besides, you’re my friend already, and I know who you are, Derpy,” I pointed out, giving Derpy a skeptical glance as she happily started smiling again. Rolling my eyes at the silly mares, I finally remembered the book in front of me and opened up to the master index in the genealogy listing. Owlowiscious gave a ‘hoo’ of appreciation for the first pony to use his hard work, regardless. Wait, how did ponies list their genealogy if they didn’t have common names? Aura perked an instant later as she saw me open the book, however, snapping back to happy again as she suddenly revealed, “Oh, I almost forgot about that family question! You do have a really, really huge family. There’s dozens and dozens of us, really. Auraprism and Bronze Bastion had two foals themselves, and the family just exploded from there. You even have another great, great, great, grandniece here in Ponyville!” My ears twitched at that, unable to keep my eyes from widening a little. Oh. Well that would be a lot easier than trying to figure this out, probably. “Oh, I do?” I asked, more than a little curious. Had I seen any mares around that looked like me? Not that I remembered… Although color palettes could probably change dramatically over that many generations. She nodded, of course, before revealing, “She’s got the family’s more dominant eye color like you, actually, although I’ve not met her myself. Bad at faces… wait… What did you say your name was?” She halted suddenly, looking over at Derpy instead. Huh? Derpy blinked, looking a little surprised before glancing over at me as well with… those golden yellow eyes. “Um, what…?” she asked, looking more than a little surprised. Oh… * * * * * The day was much cooler than yesterday. My fur puffed up as I looked out over the overcast sky. The sounds of a lot of laughter and excitement drifted up into my ears, but I wasn't connected to that. It was far away down in the actual fairgrounds area, and I was way up on a hill overlooking it. My magnified sight could easily sweep over the fair itself while I rested on the blanket, another on top of me. Even though I knew where they all were, it was still nice to see them visually. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack were all in the same spot over by a booth clearly labeled The Dunk Tank. The mayor was sitting on the collapsible platform over a pool of some sort of unidentified purple liquid. I assumed it was non-toxic and non-acidic, but I could be wrong if she'd gotten on somepony's bad side or something. The objective appeared to be to stand behind the line and somehow hit the small panel sticking out to the side of the tank with enough force to release the trigger and dunk her for a prize. The catch was that you had to use a baseball to do it, and only got three tries. Applejack had only hit once, using her spin around and buck technique. Rainbow also only hit once with her cup in wing and catapult technique. Pinkie, however, was going on three for three with her lethal inhale and fire out like a cannon from the mouth technique. I was impressed. Twilight had only momentarily left, having seen somepony running one of the fair games that she recognized and apparently wanted to talk to. Zooming in on her instead, I saw her chatting with a solid blue unicorn mare, wearing a rather fanciful cape and apparently running some sort of card magic show or something along the midway, in her own booth. Spike was sitting on her back, looking at some sort of unrolled scroll for her. Interesting. Shifting my attention along the midway, my eyes locked on to inner Ponyville instead. The fair had been extended off the edge of the town, technically, and I could also see most of Ponyville from the hill. The spa was a rather nice looking building, and I momentarily zoomed in on it, but saw nothing particularly of interest. Fluttershy and Rarity were inside, the pearly unicorn managing to convince the surprisingly, well, clingy pegasus to take a moment to get a relaxing spa trip in. Not that I was complaining about Fluttershy wanting to spend time with me, of course. Heh. With all of the Elements and Spike accounted for, I checked up on the Crusaders next. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were easy to find, being with the other three mares at the Dunk Tank and apparently getting treated to prizes. Scootaloo appeared to be wearing a Wonderbolts costume now, and Apple Bloom had a stuffed cow sitting next to her that was almost bigger than she was. Sweetie and Babs were together, too, but harder to spot. Not having a link to them, I had to actually use effort to scan the crowd heading down the midway. My tracking program picked them both out, chatting to each other and heading further east at a slower pace, in the general direction of the other Crusaders. They both had a stuffed animal on their backs, Babs having a puppy and Sweetie having what looked like a bird of some sort. With everypony yet again accounted for, I relaxed inside my comfy blanket, enjoying the warmth and escape from the winds. It was a little silly to like to keep checking on them, but who was I to argue with my inner urges to guard over the ponies I cared about? Still, I was back to being alone now, and I laid my head down on my forelegs, relaxing. I didn’t get very many times when I was really left to my own devices, minus all those hospital stays, of course. I didn’t count those, though. My mind drifted as I relaxed, not really sticking on any one topic and me not really trying to at the same time. Aura said she’d come find me later today to talk more, and I wasn’t really worried about that. There were a lot of things I wanted to ask her, including if she knew about whomever this ‘friend’ was that had sent me my parents’ private items. She might know more about the state of things after my parents passed away, too. Although finding out that Derpy was my niece was more than a little startling. Why hadn’t Aura even noticed what she looked like?! Wait, that didn’t surprise me that much after what happened at the flower stand. The black box was almost decrypted, too, and I was ready to be rid of the stupid thing at this point. Once fully decrypted, I could unpack its contents and then see literally every one of my functioning systems inside of myself. I’d finally have absolute control over everything artificial in my body, which was a good ninety percent of myself, I now realized. Well, the line between natural and artificial was a bit hazy when it came to organic metals and various wetware electronics. Most of my artificial components, such as my power generators and CPU cores, were actually held in subspace compartments attached to me. My bones were organic metal with nanite fabrication in the center. Organs were similar to that of a normal pony but laced with woven composites to be resistant to piercing and sheering forces. Muscles had woven organic metal fibers in them to heavily increase their durability and strength. Nanites filled my bloodstream to saturation level, and heavy military ones were embedded in my muscles, bones, and skin to do fast repairs and reinforcements. Overall, I was heavier than a normal pony of my size by a bit, but not too much. The average stallion was usually between ninety and a hundred and ten pounds, and I was a hundred and twenty five, despite being a little bit smaller than average for stallions. Keela also sent me a ping extremely early this morning that was just in text form, stating they’d gathered all the rest of what they could from the wreckage around the attack area and were getting out of there before their luck ran out. It was probably for the best, given my luck could potentially rub off on them. They’d successfully relocated into dark space, however, rotating slowly around in a drifting asteroid thicket. Now she had the detailed analysis to do for all the samples they gathered, and she said she’d hopefully get results by tonight or tomorrow morning on the location they warped out to as well. I doubted a ‘rescue’ was possible, as there’d never been a successful one against the Grosh yet, but I didn’t want to discourage her from at least doing the research. Regardless, it was back to waiting for me. The sun was slowly rising towards the middle of the sky by now, cloud cover barely letting it shine through as I peeked up at it. I was still tired today, but feeling better, especially along my back. I think it was finally getting fully healed at this point. It still made me lazy, though. Closing my eyes, I withdrew further into the big blanket, it being about fifteen times too large for me alone. The one under me was plaid with all sorts of what looked like Cutie Marks in the squares. The one I was wrapped up in like some sort of amazing pony cocoon was just a simple brown in color, but I was fine either way. It was thick and wool and felt amazing. Midway through snuggling into the blankets, I felt a light ping go off in my mind. It couldn’t be Keela this soon, unless she forgot to tell me something. Chances were, it was one of the mares. A second later, I was proven completely wrong when I pulled my notification panel down. Oh! I hadn’t heard from her in a while. “Yes, Purdue?” I inquired politely and calmly after opening up her link. I got the direct sense of being startled, like she hadn’t anticipated me actually noticing her tiny little ping, but she recovered quickly. “Um, h-hey, Mender. I know it’s been, uh, a really long time,” she greeted, sounding a tad nervous as it whispered inside my mind. Smiling, I relaxed again and let her feel how snuggly the blankets felt. She blushed lightly a moment later and fidgeted, but calmed down a little. I instead offered, “You can manifest if you’d like. No need to stop time or anything.” It was another long moment of hesitation before I felt the energy well up inside of me from the connection to the book. I manifested the book out of sub-space and let it sit next to me on the blanket to make it easier for her. A second later, the energy swelled out of my chest, and I released it, seeing the little slightly glowing, slightly translucent filly fade in on the blanket next to me. She looked around the covered area before looking up at me instead, a look of wide-eyed surprise on her expression. Smiling, I just pulled her against me, ignoring her squeak, and gave her a soft hug. “Relax, ‘Sis’. You’re fine and you know it,” I reminded, putting emphasis on her nickname to also remind her of her other request she’d already made. She flushed lightly, then buried her face in my chest instead as I just held her there. Neither of us said anything for a long time. I was curious as to what she’d been doing, but that could wait. To actually feel her just resting and enjoying lying next to me was good enough, my intuition telling me that the little filly didn’t quite know the concept of taking a break. I just let her relax and enjoy herself. I didn’t stir or open my eyes again until I felt one of the links drawing closer, and heard the hoofsteps. My eyes opened to look up at Twilight, curiously sans Spike, as she walked back up over the top of the hill and smiled towards me, heading over. “Sorry that took so long, Mender. I didn’t mean to leave you up here alone for so long,” she apologized, giving a tenderer smile as she approached the blanket. “I’m not alone,” I corrected. She halted for a moment, tilting her head before I lifted up the blanket against my chest, revealing the glowing filly as she sleepily perked and looked up at me. Her eyes traced where I was looking and locked on to Twilight for a moment before she smiled and rested back against me. Twilight’s confusion snapped to a warm smile instead. “Oh! Purdue, it’s been a while,” Twilight greeted, closing the distance between us and sliding down into the blankets as well. Purdue just nestled into me a bit more to get away from the chilly outside air until Twilight got settled, dropping the blanket back down over us as she slid forward and rested right behind the filly, not actually able to touch her. Then an idea hit me. Accessing the energy of Prudentia, which was conveniently right there, I pushed it into Purdue and formed a shaped barrier inside of her image. The technique was what I used with Keela when projecting over there, so she could physically touch me. Purdue obviously didn’t remember and frowned, poking her own hoof against my chest experimentally. Of course, she wasn’t going to discovery anything like that, given that I could already touch her for some reason. Instead, I gestured to Twilight, who looked surprised before tentatively sliding a little closer, then widening her eyes as she pushed up against the little filly from behind. Purdue squeaked and looked back over her shoulder as she suddenly felt a pony other than me able to touch her. Twilight just smiled, however, and slid in fully, hugging her from behind instead as she rested against my chest. I started adding details to the barrier a moment later, letting the energy colors compliment her bronze mane and tail and the darker blues of her coat until she wasn’t see-through anymore, looking like any other normal foal out there. Well, minus the misty gray eyes, but I imagine there might be a few blind foals in Equus as well, so maybe? Regardless, I added ‘body heat’ and tactile fur sensation to the shield after. Twilight smiled as she felt the changes fall into place on the filly against her chest. “Mmm, if Mender’s my big brother, does that make you sort of like my sister-in-law?” Purdue asked quietly a moment later, immediately smacking us with the awkward questions. Twilight blushed, getting what she was asking and the insinuation that came with it easily enough. She took it well however, with a smile and nod. “Mender and I are together, and in an official herd, so yes. However, we don’t distinguish between relatives by blood and relatives by marriage, so you’re just my sister,” she explained, coincidentally to both of us, actually. Interesting! Purdue smiled happily before slowly rotating and turning around so her back was against me instead. “Um, with our connection, I can feel what my big brother looks like but, uh, I’m still actually blind. I can see your energy, but I… I don’t know what you look like. Could I, um…?” the little filly asked, reaching her hooves up gently. Twilight giggled to her, then leaned in closer and let the two tiny hooves touch against her muzzle. Smiling, I simply watched as the filly closed her eyes and gently felt out around Twilight’s muzzle. I could almost feel her forming the mental image in her own mind as her hooves traced the contours and details of the lavender unicorn’s face. Twilight just patiently kept her eyes closed, smiling softly as her mouth was traced, and then the hooves slipped up around her eyes and felt her cheeks out before moving up to her eyebrows. Ever so gently, Purdue reached up and brushed her hooves along the horn coming from Twilight’s forehead. Her mouth opened a little in surprise, but she carefully felt up and along it, as if it were some wonderful new discovery that she’d never noticed before. Twilight lightly giggled as she felt up along the horn, the sensation possibly tickling a little bit, although I remembered that there wasn’t much feeling in it if they weren’t using magic. I just let her keep going, because it was too adorable not to. After finally tracing her ears, Purdue smiled and leaned back again, looking satisfied finally with the basic three dimensional feeling she had in her mind. I felt it, and suddenly realized it would work in reverse, too. My connection to Twilight opened fully, and the unicorn mare tilted her head towards me curiously as I tugged her into our own mindscape. Purdue gasped, colors exploding around her for a moment as I pulled her in, too. She looked around, eyes glowing softly until they turned a bright golden amber instead, and I gave her my eye color. She turned and looked at me, eyes running all the way down my form before looking over to Twilight, too, seeing her for the first time completely. Twilight caught the eyes, and suddenly smirked, realizing exactly what I’d done. “You’re giving her the input directly from what her avatar should get in the simulation, aren’t you?” she asked, walking towards me through the grid of ground as it formed, growing rapidly into grass. Purdue just gasped, looking around her as the sky exploded into bright blues, with puffy white clouds expanding out. Grass shifted green under us, instead of the dots of life force she was so used to seeing, the individual blades sliding up out of the ground as a tree expanded next to us for shade. The warm sun beat down, and rapidly, I completely reconstructed our hill, but in my mindscape instead, giving the little filly all five senses of input from it. Twilight lay down next to me, snuggling back into the blanket as we watched the filly trot around, looking at everything with a sudden level of interest and excitement. Why I hadn’t thought to do this for her before, I didn’t know, but I’m glad I did now. She scraped at the grass for a moment, getting a bit of dirt on her hoof before whispering to herself. “Grass is green. Dirt is, um, brown. This is what green and brown look like? I don’t… I don’t understand but it’s pretty!” she squeaked, then shifted skywards instead. I smiled while watching her. “The sky is blue. All the clouds you see are shades of white. Celestia’s sun you see glowing in the sky is yellow,” I continued for her. She started to beam as she looked up at all the colors, trotting backwards slightly now until she tripped and fell over, rolling once in the grass before plopping her rump into the dirt again, blinking twice. Heh. Too excited now. It didn’t dissuade her for long, and she hopped back up with a grin and trotted over to the tree I’d made. Looking it over, I saw her flash an access point to my information core, then grin. “Acer glabrum? It’s a maple tree! The leaves are green, like the grass. Trunks of trees are, uh…” she announced before looking down it. “Browns, with dashes of gray, which is just a darker shade of white,” Twilight informed, watching her with amusement as she felt along the bark of the tree. A moment later, a butterfly heeded my request and flitted past her, drawing her attention instantly as she bound after it, watching it wave through the air on its colorful wings. She almost looked stunned, trying to take it all in at once. Finally, she just gave up and spun in a circle, grinning at me before charging back over and pouncing on my chest again, making me slide into Twilight slightly. “Whaaa, thank you, Big Brother! This is amazing! So this is what your world looks like?” Purdue asked, glancing back up from my chest as she looked around again, and I nodded. “Yes, this is Equestria. I’m sure you can see why I want to stay here,” I pointed out, earning a softer smile from my lavender companion. “She probably hasn’t noticed that you gave her your eye color yet, either,” Twilight pointed out, causing the filly to snap to attention at her instead. Chuckling, I reasoned, “Well, she is my sister. It was fitting, I thought.” Lifting my right foreleg up, I let a small standing mirror materialize on the grass, turned to face Purdue instead. Slowly, her eyes widened as she cautiously approached the mirror, looking herself over. She touched her coat first, feeling it along her arm as she saw it in the mirror. The dark blue fur parted as she ran her hoof up to her shoulder, then brushed some of the locks of her soft mane out of her face, examining the strands of bronze against her hoof instead of in the mirror. Finally, she looked back down at the reflective surface, staring right into her own eyes for a moment before blinking once, then twice, then alternating her eyes closed, back and forth. Watching her was rather cute, but when she started shivering, a smile forming on her as she hopped up and down on her right and left legs, back and forth, it skyrocketed right into deadly adorable levels. “It’s me! That’s what I look like… and the eyes are perfect!” she squeaked before turning and pouncing me again. I smiled as I simply held her, feeling her happiness leaking all around me. Interestingly enough, I was kind of reminded of Scootaloo’s first time flying. “This is all so amazing! This makes… oh! This makes the reason I bugged you even more important. I’m sure of it now!” Purdue suddenly announced, snapping back into focus. Twilight tilted her head at that before asking, “Oh? You came here for a reason, then?” Admittedly, it was amusing to see Purdue look at her like she was completely insane. “Uh, well, of course. I need to have a reason to manifest, don’t I?” she asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Ah, less amusing now. “Nope,” I quickly answered, before assuring, “You can show up just to talk or have fun with us if you’re lonely, Purdue. I meant it when I honored your request, and a little sister is welcome any time she wants to be.” The little filly blushed at that, fidgeting for a moment before leaning forward and pecking me on the forehead. I just smiled at her, and she relaxed, nodding twice to herself. “I’m sorry I was gone so long. I’ll visit a lot more often now, but I had a lot of thinking I needed to do. Um, I finally came to an answer, however,” Purdue explained, sitting down in front of me again and giving me her full focus. Oh? Sitting up, I reached the level of her eyes before settling and just listening to her. She nodded for a moment, then continued with, “You told me not to use my powers because you said so, but to use them how I want to. Nopony has ever, um, just given me permission like that. You’re… You’re far nicer than I realized you could be, and genuinely care about me. Even before I told you this, you did all of this for me!” Her gesture was towards around us in general, and I realized she’d valued being able to see all of this more than I could ever imagine. She just kept going, however. “Well, I came to a conclusion. I trust you. Completely. You really are the first owner that cares about me as an individual. Um, I want to use my powers to help you. I’ll warn you if something bad is going to happen that you need to prepare for or avoid from now on, and I’ll also get any information you ask for,” she finally promised, surprisingly me significantly. Frowning, I shook my head, momentarily earning a look of disappointment before I corrected her thought with, “Just warn me about the bad things if that’s what you want, Purdue. You don’t need to worry about me asking you for any extra information. That’s… It isn’t information that I should know about anyway.” Nopony should know the future, and I was kind of sad that she got stuck seeing it all the time. Books must be really boring to read if you already know what’s going to happen. Her frown shifted into surprise instead, then she blushed lightly and smiled, nodding. “I will! I try to keep you safe already as much as I can. But if there’s anything I can’t stop, I’ll let you know immediately!” she chirped, looking relieved instead. Wait, what? Tilting my head, I instead asked, “What do you mean you keep me safe?” Twilight perked at that, picking up what I had already as well, but looking to me instead. Purdue froze. Instantly, as if a sudden spotlight came down on her and revealed she was surrounded by monsters. Oh. That had been a slip up on her part. To her credit, she recovered amazingly fast by fidgeting rapidly again. “O-Oh! Right, I never, uh, told you! Well, you sort of have this… thing. It’s, well, I named it ‘Malice’. It’s an extremely angry… something… that is following you around and constantly trying to cause misfortunes to you. Anything, ranging from something falling on your head, to bigger things, like Nirru stumbling onto where the other prototype pony chassis was in the science lab and using it to come to Equus,” she explained. What? Twilight stared at her like she’d just grown tentacles herself, which I could sympathize with. But still, what the hell?! “Prototype pony chassis?” I asked, raising an eyebrow to the filly. She froze again before wincing and smacking herself on the forehead with a hoof. “Right! I didn’t tell you about that either! Uh, you’re Unit Two. Or Zero Zero Two, I think. The organic mechanical chassis that she was in when you encountered her was Unit One. That was the prototype that Doctor Kyliona had been making to attempt to bridge the gap between the dimensions before she stumbled upon your information,” Purdue explained, looking slightly calmer but still more than a little uneasy. Nodding, I added, “That was the body she was in that I destroyed. It was made out of organic cybernetics just like me. I thought she’d made it, but… well, that answers that, then.” The disks were then only appended with my data afterwards, then. Which means I already destroyed and ate ‘Unit Zero Zero One’, and definitely didn’t have to worry about any access issues with the disks, now. “What’s Malice, then? Wait, how does it affect Mender like that? How do you protect him from something like that?!” Twilight asked, frowning and acting like she definitely didn’t like the sound of that as she got more and more irate. Reaching over, I set a hoof down on her shoulder, and she relaxed a little, exhaling as Purdue went back to fidgeting. Looking back to the tiny filly, I assured her with, “Relax, Purdue. You’re not in trouble. Just tell us about it.” She exhaled as well, a bit more shakily than Twilight, then nodded twice, closing her eyes for a moment to focus. Then she went in to explaining, “Everything works off probabilities. The odds of something happening are usually fairly hard to just guess, but sometimes things happen that a sentient creature doesn’t directly control. These events are events that don’t have a will behind them. Well if you’re, um, aware of these events before they happen, you can potentially attach a will to them and, well, tip them in one direction or another. Doing that, you can influence how things happen, given enough energy.” Uh oh. This was sounding remarkably like quantum theories. I hated quantum mechanics. “So this… whatever it is… is following Mender around and trying to bring him extreme misfortune by influencing events that don’t have a sentient will behind them? Why? What does it want?! What is it?” Twilight asked, shifting from the irritation to a questioning frown, her sensation shifting to more curiosity coming from her empathy link. Purdue shook her head, then continued, “It wants him to suffer. Suffer, not die. It’s, um, sort of like this scary… thing that feels, um…” She started fidgeting again. Four blinks, a fidget, breaking eye contact away and to the right, and an increased amount of breathing, I noted. Sighing, I coughed lightly, snapping her attention back to me before slowly reminding her, “Truth, Purdue. We’re not mad at you and we’re not going to be, so just relax. You trust me, right? I trust you, too.” Her tense look softened, along with her eyes as she stared at me, then nodded. She was beyond nervous, and almost instinctively tried to hide details from answers. What had she been through? Did I even want to know? She focused for a moment before opening her eyes again directly at me instead. “Malice is an amalgamation of billions of Keldarian souls that got eaten by a Weapon of Universal Destruction on the surface of the Keldarian’s home planet. They unite purely through their own hatred over being so suddenly and violently killed, and single-mindedly want their murderer to suffer for the rest of eternity. They, um, think that’s you, Brother,” she fully explained. Suddenly, it felt like she just hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer… Chapter 87What did you say to that? Was there anything I could say? My focus had waned, ejecting all three of us back to the real world alongside a flood of scripting errors and fatal exceptions. A gesture of my thoughts closed them all, me at least maintaining enough mental faculties to manage basic user interface controls. Everything else was numb as I shivered, suddenly feeling like the blanket around me did nothing to stop the cold wind from cutting through my fur. "Mender!" Twilight squeaked, looking over to me almost immediately. Purdue was still between us, and wavered ever so lightly in opacity before snapping back to completely solid as I refocused the effect. No, no matter how I felt, letting her down wasn't an option. Sure, she could have told me all of this a whole hell of a lot sooner, but she'd said herself that she only recently had started to trust me. I couldn't even begin to guess what the reserved little filly had been through, so who was I to judge if that was fair or not? She herself also looked surprised to still be in physical existence, looking down at her own hooves carefully before poking the blanket with her left one. Slowly, I looked up at Twilight instead, who froze mid exclamation when she locked eyes with me. Something in them caused her to lock up completely for just a moment, but she snapped out of it fast. "No, just no! I don't care what a few billion confused and crazy spirits think. We know you have little to no memories of the event, and from your logs, you weren't in control anyway! Do not blame this on yourself," she almost ordered, suddenly looking quite stern. My words died on my lips before I could formulate them, and I realized that's exactly what I felt was going through my head. They were actually there when I tore them all apart. They saw everything, and had labeled me their killer. Could billions of witnesses all coming to the same conclusion actually be wrong? "Brother, stop," Purdue whispered, looking up at me with her milky eyes. This time I let their color be, knowing I couldn't make her see in this world quite yet. The frozen nail through my chest wouldn't let me manage to focus long enough to change their color anywa. "How can so many spirits be wrong in what they saw themselves, though?" I asked, frowning to myself. Two billion... They were all literally right here. Just thinking about that mass of hostile energy looming over me was enough to turn my blood cold, and for a brief second, I was suddenly scared to risk glancing over my shoulder. The little filly shook her head, to my surprise. "It was you. You did kill them," she answered slowly. I froze, eyes slowly widening as Twilight gasped sharply. I... I almost didn't catch her talking again. "You did kill them, but it wasn't you who was controlling your body at that point. But Malice can't understand that. Its rage and hatred is too much, and clouds its perspective," she explained. The tone of her voice left no room for doubt, and I realized almost instantly that she'd witnessed the event herself, personally. Twilight locked onto that, too. "What happened?" the lavender mare inquired, frowning as well as she pulled the blanket back up over me. I barely felt it, my body now just feeling numb more than anything. I gave a start as she leaned over Purdue a moment later before gently nuzzling into my neck, further sandwiching the little filly between us. If the blue and bronze filly cared, she didn't mention so. "There was a monster inside of you. A great evil. Then someone helped to force it out of you at the last minute. It was almost too late, but you managed to get your body back under your own control, and that's when you made the journey to Equus," she explained softly, sliding in against my right shoulder as the three of us rested there. Honestly, did I even want to know? It seemed like every time I found out more about myself, it only led to me hating myself a little bit more. That was the main reason behind my adamant refusal so far to watch the full tape that I'd repaired. What else could I possibly discover about myself that would be horrifying and destroy my view of what little 'normality' to my life I could scrounge up? One could almost take bets on it. That nagging sensation of horror stirred within me every time I even stared at the file, like some dark beast in the far corners of my mind ready to pounce on me and consume me entirely. But things were getting dangerous already if this 'Malice' could physically manipulate the events around me still. I was fairly certain that I myself could survive its wrath, but that wouldn't be the easiest way to make me suffer, would it? No, something happening to another pony I cared for would be beyond horrible. Malice. Was that what that 'fake Nirru' was in my mind? She'd been absent for a surprisingly long duration, and I had sort of assumed she'd either given up or taken a new approach somewhere else. My thoughts drifted in a controlled sort of chaos as I stared up at the sky, enjoying the soft silence and sensation of Twilight's gentle breathing across my neck. I could feel her relax into me, and my own panic seemed further away. No, I would deal with this, too. My niece, whom I'd given up attempting to apply all of the 'great's to her title, was a necromancer, after all, and might have more insight into how to deal with a few billion hostile spirits. Maybe with the help of fifty or sixty other necromancers, we could just perform some sort of mass-exorcism of a sort and shunt them all off into the Ether? That sounded kind of disrespectful, even when it only bounced around in my own head, though. Although I wondered how much of that was just the deep pity and guilt resounding from my responsibility for their situation. I sent a silent thanks to whatever might be listening that Fluttershy was too far away to pick up on the raw empathy at the moment. The faint sound of wings almost gave me a heart attack, however. It was a slow but moderately powerful sounding wing stroke, which didn't fit either Fluttershy's lighter, or Rainbow's faster flying ambiance. My eyes flicked open to find not one, but six familiar looking incoming ponies, to my surprise. "Look who we found?" Derpy asked, smiling happily as she drifted in alongside the mare I was just thinking about, Aura. She was assumingly the 'we' that Derpy had referenced, meaning the four Crusaders prancing around them were the 'found' entities. I felt Purdue freeze next to me, and I smiled. Well, this would be interesting. The smaller filly slid tighter against me, hiding herself behind my right foreleg, with only enough room for her right eye to pointlessly peek out between Twilight's left one. Well, maybe it wasn't pointless, as I honestly had no idea how the sight of the filly normally functioned. Aura didn't notice her, however, instead sitting down a meter or so away in front of me in the grass. Derpy started to glide in to find a landing spot, but the fillies weren't nearly as reserved, rushing around the necromancer instead on both sides. She let out a squeak, and so did Purdue as two fillies jumped over us, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle collided with me instead. Sweetie just snuggled under my left foreleg, but Apple Bloom froze almost instantly, having flailed and fallen to her left, then come face to face with a surprised looking Purdue, who was reaching behind her with her back left leg for her book, probably looking for an escape route. Figured she'd do that. "Purdue, relax. I'm right here," I assured, causing the smaller filly to freeze again, then slowly look up at me. My talking to a completely new sounding individual snapped everypony's attention right to her, of course, minus Twilight, who just smiled and slid a bit closer on the other side. Sweetie slipped out from under my leg again to peek at the surprise that Apple Bloom had discovered, of course, and over my shoulder, I saw both Scootaloo and Babs come to a screeching stop as they turned to look at the new arrival. Well, new arrival for them, anyway. "Aww, she's adorable," Aura immediately chimed in, not missing a beat, but promptly causing Purdue's cheeks to flush pink. Heh. "Be gentle with her. She's shy, okay? This is Purdue. She's my little sister," I explained, causing the filly's cheeks to go red instead as she snapped up to looking at me, immediately forgetting momentarily about her predicament. Sweetie's eyes got huge as she immediately took in every detail she could about the small filly. "W-Whoa! I didn't know you had a sister!" she squeaked immediately, shifting to a big smile towards her. Purdue shrunk down a little, then hid under my right foreleg again, earning a giggle from Twilight. "Seeing as everypony here knows about Mender, I can safely say that she's actually from his dimension. She's a spirit inside of Prudentia, Mender's big book he carries everywhere. So she's an adopted little sister," Twilight explained, nudging Prudentia as it lay against her left hip. I noticed that the 'book' stopped having problems with Twilight touching it as well, leading me to believe that was actually Purdue inside of the book that had initially avoided contact with her. Despite everypony else's surprise, Aura wasn't fazed, which also didn't surprise me. She only smiled and nodded to that. Derpy lowered herself fully, still smiling as she edged up to Purdue. The filly looked more surprised by her behavior than anything, tilting her head until Derpy leaned forward and bumped her nose into hers. They both blinked once, then Derpy backed off and simply smiled happily again, leaving me a little confused, too. Purdue actually smiled at her, however, so I relaxed and let her do whatever. She was good with foals, too, it would seem. "She looks so normal for being a ghost," Scootaloo muttered, slipping up behind and looking over Twilight's back at Purdue as well, who turned to look at her when she talked. The orange filly then asked, "Why are her eyes all white like that?" Oh... Babs frowned to Scootaloo for a moment before replying with, "It's becawse she's blind." Oh, so ponies did know about blindness, then. Well, admittedly, I had no reason to suspect they didn't. "Wait, what?! Fer real?" Apple Bloom murmured, looking horrified. Purdue frowned at that, her eyes softening as she got a tiny smile on her face and shook her head. "It's not, um, that bad. I've never known what it's like to see anyway, but, well, my powers sort of let me see regardless. I can see vague shapes where ponies are," she explained, causing me to perk my ears up. Oh, that was definitely interesting. Was she seeing some sort of energy, then? Aura scratched her chin for a moment, then inquired, "Shapeless flowing masses around everypony, subtle shades of difference that tells you things about them, and maybe even other colors mixed in?" I looked to Purdue, who looked more than a little surprised before nodding rapidly. The mare giggled at that before continuing with, "You're seeing the magic in everypony. We're comprised of it, and each pony has their own unique 'pattern' of energy that's inside of them that's incredibly complex. The colors, shapes, and other traits can tell you more about the pony." Oh, that was what she saw in me earlier, then. It must be special training that necromancers pick up. Regardless, Purdue nodded again, momentarily forgetting her situation once more and looking towards me instead. "Yeah, Mender's is really light blue with streaks of silver, yellow, and a pretty rose color mixed in. Then it goes deeper, and the blue turns darker and darker until it's almost black," she whispered. I'm not entirely sure why, but I shivered hearing her explanation. Aura got a sadder expression on her face before she nodded and smiled weakly at me instead. Huh? "The streaks represent individuals who've touched upon his soul and left a mark. The silver I'm already familiar with. Gemstone Weave is a part of you, and your link with her will never fade," the necromancer assured, shifting to a more confident smile. The cold sensation faded slowly along my back, and I smiled at that. No problems at all there. If anything, I wanted to get to know my mother all the more. Derpy giggled a moment later, then took a shot in the dark with, "I'm guessing the yellow is Fluttershy, right?!" Heh, I felt the little yellow pegasus all the way from here, and barely resisted smirking. Yeah, that was a good guess. Another giggle sounded from Aura and she nodded, adding, "Having met the mare, yes, I can firmly say that it is indeed Fluttershy. I'm quite astounded at how strong their link is for having known each other such a short amount of time." Fast friends indeed, then upgraded to coltfriend and fillyfriend, and then lovers shortly after. The yellow mare was a very loving pony, and I wasn't about to change her for the world. Sweetie looked curious, however, before pointing out, "Wait, so who's the rose color, then? Fluttershy's coat is yellow, so that makes sense, but..." Rose? Uh oh... "Oh, no, little one. The color of the streak doesn't need to have anything to do with their colors," Aura corrected before explaining, "The color comes from the color of their heart. That's separate from their physical colors, and even their magic color. Yellow is the color of compassion and kindness in its most pure sense. Red however is the color of passionate and unwavering trust and loyalty. The only pony I saw last night with that color was Miss Rainbow Dash." Damn it. Twilight blushed lightly at that, coughing as she averted her eyes. Derpy blinked as well, then looked up at me, of course, curious now. Yes, it was totally my fault. “Uh, accidental encounter with Rainbow gave us a bit more of a connection than intended?” I attempted to explain, unsure of exactly what to say. Aura only snickered and waved a forehoof at me, though. “I imagine you already had a strong connection with her, you also being the same color around your heart. It doesn’t matter how dark the blue becomes, as I imagine ‘loyalty’ to also be closer to your most focused upon virtue?” she pointed out curiously. Loyalty? Well, did a desire to guard and protect count? That’s what I typically felt the most, even if it sometimes got in the way of things. Twilight appeared amused, however. “That I never considered before. Yeah, that probably only helps Rainbow like you even more. You’re closest to her element, after all,” she agreed, examining me even closer, as if that would help. Was any pony really just one virtue? Even Rainbow had elements from the other virtues, particularly the laughter one. They were all kind, although none of them could beat out Fluttershy in that regard. Honest, too, although Applejack also took that to an extreme. Aura was probably right. The Elements were their particular Element not because that was their only virtue, but because they had that particular virtue so well established that it could almost be considered a vice instead. Applejack had difficulty with any lie whatsoever, even those meant to promote kindness and good feelings. Fluttershy was almost too kind, letting herself get abused because of it. Rainbow was extremely defensive of her friends and so loyal that she can come off as almost brash and hostile to others. Pinkie loved laughter and happiness, but sometimes had difficulty understanding emotions that weren’t encompassed by those. Even Rarity had difficulty with her generosity from time to time, putting ‘value’ in inappropriate or materialistic things. If I was ‘Loyalty’, did I go overboard with that defensive thing, just like Rainbow did from time to time? So I had no problem lying if I needed to. I liked being nice to ponies but, uh, okay, so I wasn’t always the nicest pony. I could sort of call myself generous, but even I knew that it was because I had difficulty accepting things for myself. I’m not sure if that ‘counted’ as generosity in that event. Laughter? Uh, no. I wasn’t the happiest or most mirthful pony out there. Magic I could definitely do, and I had some weird styles in comparison to most Earth Ponies, but it wasn’t really my defining trait. So yeah, I’d have to say that they were right. “Okay, yeah, I’ll agree with that. I’m definitely more partial to ‘Loyalty’, then. I’m not sure if that helps me understand ‘me’ any better, though,” I finally admitted, looking to Aura instead. What was the point of all this, again? Maybe it was to warn me against being too protective? It had ended rather tragically for my other ‘self’ and DNA donor, after all. She shook her head, however. “No, the only reason I brought it up at all was to maybe help you find your place a little easier. You’ve been through a lot, and I figured that maybe a better sense of who you are would help you settle into yourself better,” she explained, a surprising amount of wisdom in her soft, slow tone. Despite it taking about forty to fifty percent longer for her to say it, it still made me feel better to hear. She was right, there. Ever since I’d gotten to Equus, I’d been at least a little lost and confused. Anything that helped against that was welcome, even if it took me by surprise. Maybe sensing my hesitation, Babs perked up behind me at sat up fully again. “Maybe ya should go daown there an’ try ta have some fun? Fohget abouwd all this foh ah while?” she suggested. I must have really looked like I was stewing on it… Derpy perked up and nodded at that, revealing, “Oooh, good idea. The mayor said she wanted to talk to you still anyway.” Mayor…? Glancing towards the dunk pit, I noticed a very soggy mare there still, and the memory of before that Estrus week snapped back. Oh, right! She’d wanted to talk to me and I totally forgot! Slapping my forehead with my right forehoof, I nodded at that. “I’d forgotten that she wanted to talk to me. Uh, right. Well, dropping by probably could at least let me set up an appointment,” I suggested, glancing to Twilight, who rolled her eyes at me. “Maybe you should let me do your schedule for you from now on, Mender. Your virtue definitely isn’t memory,” she pointed out. Coughing, I averted my eyes slightly, and Purdue giggled next to me, finally having relaxed a little amidst all the other ponies… * * * * * Okay, I admit to this being my fault. Why had I assumed anything in this town was going to be ‘normal’? Maybe I had expected some sort of government official to be, I don’t know, somewhat saner compared to most of the rest of the populace? Like I said, probably my fault. “Just for the record, this isn’t what I meant when I said to have a meeting with the mayor,” Twilight pointed out yet again, her magic activating to crank the sitting platform back up as we both shifted onto it. Swimming in this stuff wasn’t exactly pleasant or easy, it having more the consistency of maple syrup than water. I could practically feel it staining my fur, too, and sticking to everything in uncomfortable ways. The mayor appeared to take it in stride, however, resuming her ‘proper’ posture as we were lifted back up above the fluid. It was a bit embarrassing to see nothing but glass all around me, and ponies able to see me from all sides now covered in the goo. “Nonsense! Authority figures need to take a good dose of humility from time to time, no matter the position. It keeps ponies realizing that they’re just ponies like them, after all,” she pointed out. Well, I suppose that made sense, but weren’t there better ways to achieve that? I wondered idly how long I’d be green for, and how big of a heart attack Rarity would have when she saw me. Rainbow was still rolling and laughing off to my left, having thrown the ball that dunked us both, after all. It turned out that she and Applejack had been trying to see who could dunk the mayor the most times and I had ‘ruined it’ according to Rainbow, by getting into the tank too in order to talk to the mayor. Applejack refused to play after that… Instead, the orange mare glared at her fillyfriend rather pointedly as she continued laughing at my misfortune. I’m sure that would be awkward later, regardless. The mayor coughed lightly, however, and somehow shifted back to serious, despite being covered in splotches of green slime and wearing a clown costume with a giant rainbow afro. Well, it had a lot of green in it now, but I think it was originally rainbow colored. Her acting serious was kind of a creepy juxtaposition. “Regardless, as you’re now the co-founder of a new branch of government, and responsible for several new constructions coming to Ponyville this fall, I wished to obviously speak to you about some of the details. At least, what you can answer about them,” she revealed. Oh, right. Tia had wanted to construct the research and development facility under Ponyville. I pulled up my scans of the paperwork about it that I had in my database, ignoring Scootaloo gleefully taking up position with a new ball. She, Babs, and Apple Bloom had no problem at all dunking me, which I was both thankful for, and a bit put off by, but ah well. It was all for fun anyway. Sweetie joined Applejack in glaring from the sidelines. Nodding to the mayor regardless, I explained, “Yes, Princess Celestia wishes to establish the Research and Development branch of the Dimensional Regulations here in Ponyville, as both Twilight and I live here. She also wanted to set up a small barracks for the guards that are training in the new developments.” That was the gist of what I understood, anyway. The information I’d scanned in backed that up, minus the exact details of the guards and training they’d be doing, of course. I imagined that was more up to me once we actually started developing stuff, but that wouldn’t be too difficult. At least, I assumed they’d be sending me already trained guards. That might be a dangerous assumption to make, however. I momentarily shuddered at the mental image of a new recruit accidentally blowing his hoof off with a laser rifle, and quickly pushed it out of mind. “Ah, yes. I’d heard-“ the mayor started to say before both of us winced. The baseball instead skipped up over the glass rim, fell down inside with us, and splatted into the green goo, joining a dozen or so that were already down there. Well, at least Scootaloo’s aim was terrible. The mayor coughed before continuing with, “Yes, I’d heard that she wished to set up Research and Development here. You must realize, as a pony responsible for the welfare and health of this community, I’m simply concerned as to the safety that research and development of alien technologies might entail.” Oh, right. Smiling, I shook my head to that before assuring, “Princess Celestia’s actually already fully considered that. The actual facility is going to be set up in a large, underground bunker that we’ll be constructing first. I’m still going over the plans and designs for it to make sure it’s fully up to my own safety standards, but it’s more for keeping things in than out, just in case. I don’t imagine we’re going to have any accidents, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Oops, that was another thing I carried that ‘protection’ thing over to. All of my projects I wanted to be as safe as possible. The mayor tilted her head slightly at that, then asked, “Now, when you say ‘underground bunker’, this is some sort of facility that-“ We both paused as a ball went sailing past the target by a good two meters, crashing into something behind the tank and causing a massive squawk from what sounded like a series of chickens. Uh… Glancing back, I saw Derpy flailing and trying to catch three chickens that appeared to be having panic attacks. They apparently didn’t like the new addition of a baseball embedded into the side of their coop. Well, her aim was terrible, but that filly could put some serious power behind her throws! “Ooooh, looks like your special talent won’t be in ball throwing, blank flank!” I heard squealed from a rather familiar sounding filly in the other direction. Ugh. Glancing back, I saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon trot up, the pink filly in the lead giving a rather malicious smirk to Scootaloo, who glared back at her. They both sat down behind the group of fillies and Rainbow, sipping what looked like milkshakes of some sort. Silver Spoon perked as she saw who was in the tank, then to my surprise, smiled and waved towards me, ignoring Diamond’s annoyed stare at her. Of course, I smiled and waved back to her, remembering what she’d said about her friend from before. It was kind of sad, really. Rainbow bristled at the intrusion and name calling, sitting up from her laughing rather abruptly and glaring at the little pink filly as well. “What, you think you’re an expert at ball throwing now?” she demanded, then rolled her eyes as the filly just giggled. “Please, you wouldn’t catch me touching any of these ugly balls if my life depended on it. Coattail, if you would!” she called out instead. A larger stallion walked up from behind them, his coat gray in coloring and oddly having no mane or tail whatsoever, only the fuzzy gray base of his tail resting over his rump. Further, he sported an immaculate black suit that covered him almost completely, and equally black shades over his eyes. He nodded to her, and picked up one of the baseballs instead. Psh. So, she had to resort to cheating to win, huh? Then she’d encounter cheating to lose instead. My left hoof activated, the magic slipping along the goo stained platform and then under it. Shooting along the underside, it traced the release mechanism as I manipulated the barrier. It didn’t take long for me to find the bar extension to the target pad, and my barrier slipped along the bar behind it, holding it rigidly in place instead while being completely hidden from the front. Derpy, who was behind the tank and now sitting happily with three chickens in her lap, grinned as she watched the energy extend, then smirked over at me, nodding. The stallion’s first throw was strong, and highly accurate. It smashed into the second ring of the target pad with enough force to shake the entire dunking pool, surprising me a little. I felt the energy radiating off the ball, and realized the Earth Pony was using some sort of technique to throw it, a moment later. Was it possible to use empathy magic and sync with a baseball, too? Regardless, my barrier wasn’t going to be defeated by anything less than a Mach two or so impact, and there was only one pony in that crowd capable of that. The target didn’t even budge, and all of the trigger mechanisms were equally held fast. The mayor lifted an eyebrow up, but didn’t say anything as she continued watching the spectacle. “Pff, what?! Are you cheating or something?!” Diamond Tiara demanded to know, glaring over at Rainbow instead, as if she were the one doing it. Dash just grinned, however. “Says the one ordering somepony else to throw for her? Maybe you should step up and try it for yourself? Or at the very least, use one of your own tickets instead of throwing somepony else’s ball,” the cyan pegasus pointed out, gesturing to Scootaloo. Hey! That had been Scootaloo’s last ball! The game manager trotted up as well a moment later, dropping a new ball down for Scootaloo. “She’s right. You’re disqualified from this game for taking somepony else’s ball. This isn’t how we play nicely,” the older looking mare declared. Scootaloo smiled down at the ball, then nodded, picking it up gently in her mouth. Diamond Tiara looked absolutely furious, however, snarling and stomping off, the larger stallion slowly following after her. Silver Spoon took a few more sips from her shake, remaining sitting as she watched, however. After another moment, she lifted her muzzle again and said, “You can do it, Scootaloo. Just relax.” Scootaloo looked surprised by it, too, glancing back at her with a start before smiling and nodding. The ball left her mouth with surprising speed during her flip, and she kicked it with her back legs after spinning around at the same time. My magic dispelled as I released it, watching the ball rotate in the air three times before crashing into the center of the bulls-eye. Smiling, I felt the snap, and both the Mayor and I dropped yet again into the goo with a rather loud splash. This time, I definitely didn’t mind, however. Surfacing again to the sound of Rainbow’s laughter once more, I peeked back in the direction of the grinning Scootaloo, who hopped into the air and buzzed her wings repeated. Heck, if she was throwing the ball like that, I was amazed it was even going in the same direction as the tank. Apple Bloom smirked over her shoulder in time to see Silver Spoon walking away, heading in the direction that Diamond Tiara left in. “Hey, Silver Spoon. Ya can hang out with us if ya really want ta,” the farm filly called out as she left. The little gray filly stopped and hesitated for a moment before smiling back over her shoulder as well and shaking her head. “Thanks, but no. I’m going to keep Diamond Tiara company. Maybe tomorrow,” she returned. The two fillies exchanged nods, then Silver Spoon ran after her friend, who was already almost thirty meters ahead now. Guess she was loyal, too. The mayor and I were slowly lifted out of the slime once again, and she smiled over at me, somehow looking like everything was normal and perfectly well despite being covered from head to hoof in green goop. “Normally I wouldn’t condone unlawful behavior, such as rigging a game, especially with you being a guard of all things. But that was clearly in defense against other unlawful behavior, so I believe you were justified,” she pointedly assured a moment later, earning a grin from me as I realized she’d caught my manipulation. She did know about my magic, after all. “He didn’t have a ticket, so I couldn’t let him play,” I reasoned, shrugging. Rainbow gave me a smirk, overhearing easily as Scoots started giggling at the information. The mayor gave an assured nod, a few strands of slime dripping off her bang as she rotated fully towards me yet again. “Regardless, this is going to be an underground facility, then? With defensive measures in place?” she inquired. Oh, right, I didn’t know how prevalent the term ‘bunker’ was in standard pony society. “Yes, it’s going to be a ways underground, and the walls are constructed out of concrete and reinforced with steel. It also operates with its own environment and is air sealed to prevent any gas leaks, if that much is needed. I can give you the tour of the place during construction and after it’s built, if you wish further assurance,” I explained. Princess Celestia’s policy for almost everything was complete transparency anyway, after what happened with BEID. The exact number of guards released to this program would be reported, just their identities kept secret, as per usual. Our project summaries and goals were also reported, with just the details being restricted. For the most part, unless our discoveries yielded something of immediate and crucial civilian use, we weren’t to release any new technology or information in that regard. That I agreed with. Ponies, for the most part, didn’t need weapons on the scale of what I’d be researching. The mayor visibly relaxed before nodding twice at that, more distracting strands of goo spraying off her mane. It was really hard to take this conversation seriously… “That would be a relief, yes. I’d also like the newspapers to run a story on it if that’s at all possible. The more exposure ponies have to something, the more comfortable they usually feel about-“ Apple Bloom’s now glowing, rune covered hoof bashed the ball directly into the target center with considerable speed, spinning our entire tank around as the trigger gave way and we both yelped, falling into the goo once again. Damn it! I told her not to use that… * * * * * “See ya later, Uncle Mender!” Derpy chirped as she hovered off away from us, earning weird glances and a blush from me. Arg! She was clearly enjoying that way too much. She laughed as I made a pouncing motion at her, and sailed even higher into the air, waving backwards at us as she moved away from the Library. Having talked with the mayor for a good hour and a half about construction specifics, location, and safety precautions, I’d gotten a healthy feel for how pony zoning and building construction worked now. She was also amazingly open about how things worked for Ponyville and what I was to expect during the construction. I didn’t understand quite why she was so eager to be as accommodating and helpful as possible until Twilight pointed out that this is going to bring a huge boost to the town’s economy, having such a large project draw national attention to us. Well, more national attention than the typical slew of disasters and destruction that typically befell the area at least twice a year. Yeah, a bunker was a good idea… We’d also been dunked sixty-seven times, by what I assume was half the population of Ponyville and dozens of tourists here for the fall festival. Trotting into the library ahead of Twilight, I immediately slipped upstairs and into the bathroom to look into the large mirror. Sighing, I noted that my coat was indeed a teal-green color now, with darker green splotches all over it. I’d been assured that it would likely stay this way for the better part of a week until it washed out naturally. I wouldn’t have been so eager to get into the tank if I’d known this much, although Rarity’s horrified gasp, wobble, and collapse onto a couch that almost ran Rainbow over as it sailed in out of nowhere was rather amusing. “I must say, I really like your library, Twilight,” Aura commented politely from downstairs. She’d followed us back at my request. Fluttershy and Rarity had met us on our way back from the tank, the yellow mare looking more perplexed at my new color than horrified. I was just thankful it didn’t smell. Ponies have really good noses, and this would be horrifying if it did. Which was probably why it didn’t. Double-checking I didn’t miss any errant goo spots, I confirmed that all of the splotches on me were indeed just darker splotches now, and headed back downstairs. Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow were already sitting at the main table downstairs, while Twilight was showing the lower shelves to Aura. Spike and Fluttershy came out of the kitchen as I was descending, a tray balanced on her back with tea on it, while Spike followed behind her and steadied the tray, also being careful not to step on her tail. The tray made it to the table without any disasters, and I came up alongside and pecked Fluttershy on the cheek as she let Spike unload the refreshments. Her light blush was worth it, and she gave me a gentle smile, eyes trailing over my coat again before she giggled, not used to me being vaguely the color of her eyes. Still, her coat looked amazing and felt silky against my muzzle, and I saw that she’d gotten her hooves polished and fetlocks trimmed while she was there. She looked amazing, which made me cringe at my own appearance all the more. In fact, Rarity should be- My own thought was interrupted as the door opened abruptly again, Rarity coming in at a brisk pace carrying an entire bag of cleaning supplies with her magic. “I’m back!” she called out in a pleased, sing-song voice as she closed the door again. She’d rushed back home to get ‘products’ to aid me in my ‘natural disaster’ that my coat had become. She wasted no time at all in setting down a large sheet of plastic from her bag, at the end of the main table. Oh, joy. We were to do this literally right now, and in front of everypony. She hummed as she unpacked what seemed to be dozens of bottles of strange fluid, and at least a dozen varying combs of different shapes, sizes, and thicknesses. I was reminded of a torturer gleefully getting out their implements of pain and misery. “I’ll go get you a tub of water,” Twilight assured, giving me a wink as she trotted past and headed upstairs, leaving my niece to her own devices. She didn’t stray far, however, instead wandering over and sitting down next to me, making sure she was at least clear of the meter distance the plastic extended out to. She giggled at my annoyed expression a second later, watching me curiously as I prepared for the horror that was beauty treatment. Rarity looked me over more carefully before requesting, “Fluttershy, dear, you’ll have to help me with this. Plus, as he insists on wearing your braid, you’re going to have to redo it after this. Might I suggest only one side, however? I think that would look far more fetching on a stallion.” Oh? Only one side of my bangs braided? I nodded at that, and Fluttershy smiled happily, drifting up with a light flap of her wings to land next to me instead. Oh, right, the reason I asked Aura to come back with us. I looked over at her momentarily, noting I still had her attention before tapping the floor with my left forehoof. The line of magic shot across the floor, zipped over to the closet, and opened it in one fluid motion. I redirected it afterwards, and flattened it out into a platform as I gently scooped up the box and slid it across my barrier and back towards us. Aura’s eyes widened as she watched the fancy, ornate jewelry box move into her view. I moved it over to me in about ten seconds or so, taking my time and being careful with it as I lifted the barrier platform up and seamlessly slid it onto the table. Applejack’s debate about using magic enhancements while playing sports dwindled as the three mares already seated turned and watched the box with a certain amount of fascination, despite having seen it before. The jewelry box always seemed to invoke this reaction, I noted. “It’s very pretty! And you said this was from Bronze Bastion and Auraprism?” Auramirror asked quietly, reaching out to touch her hoof against the dark wood. “Well, it supposedly belonged to them, anyway. I’m not sure who it’s from. It was sent anonymously, with the signer being ‘A Friend’,” I corrected, nose twitching as that old wood scent came back due to proximity to the box. There were still too many mysteries for me, personally. I’d decided that was one of my pet peeves. I liked clear, presented problems that I could apply an immediate solution to. These ponies that skulked around in shadows and refused to just speak with me upfront about their concerns only frustrated me. Of course, if I thought my government had been compromised by some horrific alien entity… Okay, so I could at least see their point. But that didn’t stop it from being frustrating. Was it one of them that sent this to me? And if so, why? It wasn’t trapped, and the things in it were actually rather valuable, both resource-wise, and for me, personally. And it was just freely given. Were they hoping for a favor or something later out of thanks? Or was this just pity? Dozens of questions zipped around in my mind as I watched Aura slide open the shelves one at a time, peering at the jewelry and equipment inside. “This is indeed their wedding bangles. I’ve seen pictures of them, and items worn frequently by ponies pick up some of their auras permanently. This is grandpa and grandma’s aura, alright,” she confirmed, sliding a hoof over the simple golden metal. Heh, even she’d given up on attaching four or five ‘greats’ before each title. Still, I figured she’d be able to pick up stuff on them that others wouldn’t, and that definitely confirmed the legitimacy of the jewelry. But it also only brought more questions. “What happened to all of this stuff after they passed away?” I asked softly, ears tweaking back as I heard Twilight humming as she came back down the stairs behind me, accompanied by the light sloshing of water. Aura frowned for a moment, and I could almost see the gears and memories turning in her mind as she stared at the box. “Bronze Bastion passed on first, about four months before Auraprism. All of the stuff went to her after he passed, and she had most of his stuff moved back into their home. He owned his family manor still, and they lived there while they were both alive, but he kept a lot of stuff at the various work sites he had to visit,” she explained softly and slowly, looking back over at me as I did my best to absorb the information. Only four months? I remembered about the links and how sad they could make ponies after their lovers pass on. Maybe that lessened their remaining time? “She passed away not long after, a lot of the family saying she just sort of gave up the will to keep going. All of their research and breakthroughs are public and kept in the Canterlot library. The family was spread out after that, and none of us could really justify taking up the space of an entire manor to ourselves, so we gave it back to Princess Celestia a month later,” she continued, detailing out things as she remembered them. Ponies technically only owned furniture and items, I remembered. The land of Equestria belonged to everypony equally for the most part, and buildings and the land itself was publically maintained and cooperatively worked on. That meant that Tia was free to give the manor to a different family if she saw fit and they asked. I wondered what happened to it. My niece must have seen my curiosity, and smiled at that. “I think Princess Celestia still holds a deep sadness over what happened. She simply preserved the manor and kept it unoccupied, which it is to this very day. She told my… well, our family that if we ever wanted it back, we just had to ask. All the personal effects were removed and mostly split up amongst the family members, but quite a bit of it was oddly never found. The wedding jewelry they frequently wore, your father’s personal projects, and their research from the last twenty years of their life just vanished. Now I at least know where the wedding jewelry is, but I don’t know where it was prior. I’m sorry, Uncle,” she murmured, looking over at the box again. Just disappeared? Was it BEID, then? Twilight’s keen mind snapped to attention after she set the water down next to Rarity. “Disappeared? That’s a lot of stuff to just disappear. Did anypony ever look?” she asked, frowning in concern. Oh, yeah, that was a lot of stuff to just go missing. I hadn’t realized how much that probably was, given that my father probably continued his personal projects his entire life. For all of that to just ‘vanish’ was crazy, especially with nopony anywhere seeing what happened. “Yeah. Literally. Silver Sheen, their first foal and a grown stallion by then, was helping to clean the house up. In between him closing the doors one night, and opening them the next morning to get back to work, the projects were just gone. Completely. A lot of the family looked, yeah. Quite a few of his projects were quite valuable to the advancement of many sciences, after all. A lot of his later research, I heard, hinged around the basis of quantum field theory about ether fields around crystals, which, of course, his wife could easily help him with. If they’d had all that data!” Aura gushed, shifting back into her more excited tone that kind of reminded me a little of Twilight. It also had the side-product of having her talk at about normal speed for a pony. Still, that reeked of either a whole lot of ponies moving stuff, or some scary advanced magic… Heh. Or Discord, but he was a lawn ornament at that time. The warm water touching upon my fur snapped me out of my thoughts, and I smiled back at Rarity, who gave me a nod as she slid a brush down my coat. “This is simply dreadful. There’s nothing I can do about the color. It shall have to wash its way out unless you wish to use even worse intervention methods, which I would not recommend. I can, however, restore the shine and feel, removing these nasty clumps,” she assured me elegantly, while managing to frown in disapproval at the very thing she was talking about. “It’s fine, Rarity. It was my fault, but admittedly, watching all the little foals having fun was worth it,” I returned. That was one of the highlights to the otherwise oddly ‘normal’ conversation with Mayor Mare. Aura smirked at that, then complimented, “Mmm, you’d probably make a good father, Uncle.” Damn it! Now I was glad the Crusaders were still at the fair and not here to hear that. My ears flattened back and I frowned at that, glancing to Aura, who still looked absorbed in the jewelry box despite her soft smile. “Why does everypony keep saying that?!” I asked, having gotten that similar comment from at least four sources now. Rarity lifted an eyebrow in my peripheral vision while scrubbing my shoulder down. “Perhaps because it’s true?” she suggested, earning a series of snickers from the other end of the table. Ugh. Sure, they could say that, but that didn’t make me understand the ‘why’ of it any better. “It’s ah compliment, Mender. Ya should take it easy. It means yer trustworthy, good at lookin’ after tha little ones, an’ kind. Any mare would be happy ta have ya father their foals, Ah imagine,” Applejack commented, tossing an amused wink at me afterwards as my face flushed with heat. And then there were those ones that did it on purpose! Rainbow shot her a smirk with a questioning, raised eyebrow, and Pinkie burst into copious amounts of laughter and promptly fell backwards out of her chair. My concern for her safety was never triggered regardless as she simply bounced when she landed and started rolling about, laughter unabated. Even Twilight giggled in amusement again, relaxing as she slid up against my back instead and kissed me between my shoulder blades. The pearly mare to my left just rolled her eyes, and Fluttershy scrubbed a little harder to my right, flush in her cheeks as well. She’d admitted she wouldn’t mind being a mother, and had ‘hinted’ towards next summer’s Estrus, if I remembered correctly. My mind buzzed, and I fought to beat back all of the terrible mental images that flooded in. Damn them all! The resident necromancer seemed mostly oblivious, however. She instead perked up, slowly lifting the box curiously, and peeking under it, oddly. Eh? Well, technically I just called it a jewelry ‘box’. It was actually hexagonal, but that was hardly the point. Jewelry container? “Hmm? What’s this, Mender?” she inquired a moment later, snapping me out of my momentary lapse in attention. Everypony’s attention was simultaneously pulled back to reality as she gently tipped the box back, her horn glowing softly with magic as she lay it on its back. I heard the jewelry gently shift inside of it, but then widened my eyes at the underside. Why hadn’t I noticed that?! Along the underside of the box was a bronze disk, making an almost perfect circle that was three or four centimeters away from each side of the hexagon. It was inlaid with a beautiful pattern of intricate weaves like the vines extending off a flower across the entire thing, the flower itself being in the center. Only it wasn’t a flower. It was an actual gemstone with a woven bronze over the top of it and flower petals expanding off in each direction. The vine weave on the disk was an enlarged copy of the weave over the gem, I suddenly realized. What was this?! Twilight peeked curiously over my shoulders at it, then frowned. “That flower! A flower blooming with a gem in the center and vines going over it… That was Gemstone Weave’s Cutie Mark!” Twilight announced, gesturing past me at the center of the disk. My mother? Why did Bastion and Auraprism’s jewelry box have my mother’s Cutie Mark on the bottom of it? She’d never written about her own mark, so I had no idea… Aura frowned before revealing, “It had subtle life energy in the gem. I could see it because of my necromancer training, but it wouldn’t have been picked up if you were only looking for magic instead.” Wait, it had energy in it still? “Is it dangerous?” I asked, suddenly reevaluating if this was a trap or not. If they knew about Twilight, they wouldn’t have tried to slip a magical trap in, that was for sure. My niece shook her head, however before explaining, “It’s just a keystone. They’re used because they can react to certain things, like a certain type of magic, or even a certain life force.” A keystone? Where had I read about that before… Spike, who had been silent up until now, perked up while sitting on the corner of the table. “Wait, wasn’t that like what Sombra used? His thingy in the throne room only reacted to that dark magic stuff!” he suddenly exclaimed. Sombra? Oh, King Sombra! The Elements of Harmony had defeated him when his kingdom reappeared recently. “Yes, Spike. He used it to hide a spell that created the portal to that other dimension he was hiding in, but that contained magic and I was able to see it,” Twilight confirmed, glancing over at Aura instead. So this contained life force instead of magic? That would mean that it detected life force instead of magic, too, right? Aura nodded, then hesitantly reached out and poked the gemstone in the center of the disk. My eyes widened, and to my surprise, everypony backed rapidly away from the table and the gem itself. Aura, Rainbow, and Spike even dove for cover, a table getting flipped over as a makeshift cover a second later. What did they think it was going to do, explode or something?! Twilight remained behind me, however, horn glowing softly as her eyes narrowed, and we all waited in tense anticipation. The gem glowed softly a couple of times with a faint inner light, then faded dark again. It was almost ten full, tense seconds before everypony stood up fully again from their various covers. A nearby pile of books presented Spike’s head a moment later, and he asked, “Is it done? Did it explode?” Ah, so they really did think it was going to explode. Aura walked up again, then frowned and shook her head. “No, it didn’t activate. Mine wasn’t the right life force, it would seem. I figured it might be keyed in to detect our family’s life force, but I guess not,” she suggested, looking a bit shaken from her flailing dash to hide behind the other table. They can do that? Wait… On a guess, I extended my hoof and touched the gem next. Spike yelped and ducked down beneath the books again, and Aura skidded backwards, looking for her table barrier to return to, as predicted. I didn’t know what I’d expected to happen. Maybe I was hoping to be disappointed by the same results. No, not really. A part of me realized then why this was sent to me. It wasn’t keyed in for our family. It was keyed in for Gemstone Weave. The gem glowed softly, a golden light bathing me that was much brighter than its last reaction. Slowly, the plate rotated around on the bottom of the box, and I felt Twilight tense against my back, her own horn’s glow picking up to almost match the light from the gem, defensive magic undoubtedly getting prepared just in case. I didn’t ‘feel’ any malice, however, when I touched the gem. Instead, I got the sensation of a deep, immovable sorrow. It was a sadness so consuming that it almost made me choke on it all. The gem’s light ‘felt’ like that sadness, and I wondered who these emotions had belonged to. The rotation continued until the gem was upside down. Then the outer ‘disk’ of the bronze disks stopped, and only the next inner one rotated after. It wasn’t a solid disk at all, and instead, held a series of bronze rings. My surprise only compounded as I watched the next ring in raise out slowly with those vine engravings, the vines themselves apparently movable too as they extended out on hard looking bronze spokes. It kept going, stopping every few centimeters and freezing another ring one at a time, going closer and closer to the center. Finally, the main Cutie Mark in the center rotated to facing upright again, and extended out on a long, bronze pole. Several smaller poles extended out the sides of it in uneven angles, and the disks formed a ‘cone’ along the bottom with all of the vines extended out in no real pattern either. Then it stopped. The glow faded, and the box just sat there, not moving. The pole extended from the bottom was twice as tall as the container itself, yet had no discernable extension lines on it. How could it have even fit inside?! But its shape seemed so familiar… Oh. “Uh, what is it?” Applejack asked, edging closer and frowning as she stared at the elongated end. Everypony slowly took in the sight, Spike popping out of the books again as well. I frowned as I brushed a hoof along the rod, bumping the hard metal studs that had folded out the sides of it. They didn’t budge in the slightest, and I smiled, suddenly realizing it all. It had been sent to me intentionally because I was one of only three ponies who could ever open it, and two of those other ponies were dead. Whoever sealed it knew that, and intended it only for me. I also imagine that they knew I’d hear about the other stuff disappearing, too. Putting two and two together, I realized that this was sent to me as both a gift, and an enticement to find the rest of the things that went missing. And they just gave me the ability to do so. “It’s a giant key,” I answered, simply enough. But where was the lock? Chapter 88It had taken a little bit of work, but we got it to re-activate itself, and it folded back up into its usual jewelry box shape afterwards. There were no bends or folds or anything at all in the main rod of the 'key', however, which could only mean that there was some seriously weird folding space thing going on with it. This didn't add up, however, as Twilight didn't detect any magic whatsoever coming from the box, and that sort of enchantment would apparently be very noticeable. That only meant one thing. It was folded space that wasn't using magic to create it. My parents' research... I stared at the box still sitting on the table, a light frown across my features. It was a key, but I had no idea where the lock was. An awkward problem to have, admittedly. I felt Twilight nuzzle me in the cheek, however, standing to my right still. "Relax, Mender. Staring a hole into the side of it isn't going to solve the mystery any faster," she reminded, earning a nose twitch on my account. Maybe if I put a hole in it, I'd figure out how it worked and solve it, though! But no, I didn't want to break my parents’ jewelry box. Everypony was still there, of course. It was starting to become evening, and the Crusaders should be back in a little bit as well, probably with a huge amount of loot from the fair. Twilight and Fluttershy had stuck surprisingly close to me, for reasons I didn't entirely grasp, but wasn't going to complain about. The yellow mare sat at the table to my left, sipping tea and chatting something about a migration or something with Rarity. Well, it was Fall, so creatures probably would be migrating soon. She was essentially Ponyville's resident 'Woodland Caretaker', I think they called the position. It seemed sort of like a forest Ranger to me, but they might not have had those. Applejack and Rainbow were together, of course, snickering about something over by the fire. I really didn't want to know. I had no idea where Pinkie was, just assuming she was within earshot should I say her name out loud. That was probably how you summoned her, as far as those things worked. That left just my niece and her library guide. Glancing to my right, I looked past Twilight and watched Spike show off another collection of books to Aura, who appeared enraptured by both them and the baby dragon himself. She acted like she'd never met a dragon before, which did kind of make sense, especially given her reaction to him earlier, when we first met. Still, he appeared to be enjoying the attention, showing her book collections she was interested in at Twilight's request. Rarity shot them glances occasionally, which was kind of creepy if I thought about it for too long. Of course, thinking of the mare as my niece was weird enough as it was, even after we decided to drop the tiring amount of 'Greats' before our titles. "I know. I just really wish things could be simpler. Why can't this 'friend' just talk to me like normal?" I muttered, looking away from Aura and back towards Twilight instead. She pondered that for a moment, then shrugged. "It's hard to say. They're probably the same pony, the one that left you that lead on the cafe also signing the letter as 'a friend'. There might be some sort of danger in them revealing themselves, not to you but from somepony else who might find the letters. Or maybe they want to gauge your reaction first?" she suggested, tilting her head to me. That last one would imply they were watching me, which honestly wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Still... "Oooh, or they like games and are being all mysterious on purpose!" Pinkie chirped suddenly, hopping in from the kitchen while balancing another tray of tea on her head. Uh... I watched her bounce, the tray of tea rocking back and forth and up and down precariously as she moved over to the table. My urge to dive for it as it wobbled around was almost overwhelming, and I saw Twilight smirk as she watched me. "Trust me, it's best to just not watch. I've never actually seen Pinkie spill anything before, if it makes you feel better," she pointed out, gesturing back towards the scene. I almost had a heart attack as Pinkie flicked her head back, the tray launching itself violently into the air and actually flipping as it went over the table. Rarity moved her own cup back slightly, still talking with Fluttershy and not actually looking as the tray flipped once fully and landed flat on the table with a smack. The cups vibrated slightly, but all of the liquid in them 'landed' back inside without the slightest spill onto the tray. Witchcraft! Pinkie was somehow using magic! She had to be! No, just no! Feeling my eye twitch, I stomped my forehooves twice, huffing repeatedly as Pinkie looked back and grinned at me. Rarity's horn glowed softly, and the pot of tea lifted off the tray and refilled her own cup, her still not breaking conversation. They... They all ignored it. Probably for their own sanity, I suddenly realized. They were the smart ones here... Ugh. "Nope. I give up," I admitted, exhaling softly and just shaking my head. Twilight scrunched her muzzle up a moment later, then exhaled, her horn lighting up instead. I watched curiously as her saddlebag by the door glowed lightly, and two bits drifted out of it and over to Pinkie's bag instead. Eh?! "You were right. He just accepted it without questioning," Twilight agreed, earning a giggle from Pinkie in amusement. Oh, they were betting on me. Of course. Pinkie just smiled warmly after that, then shook her head. "I wasn't serious! But I did know that Mender would accept it. We've talked together before, and he's my super-duper best friend, just like you all are!" she chirped, somehow getting me to blush, even though it technically had nothing to do with me accepting it or not. Being her friend was entirely different from watching somepony break physics, attend its funeral, then reveal it was still alive by dancing the tango with it in front of the coffin. She broke my brain so hard that even my metaphors stopped making sense! Twilight only smiled, however, looking happy at the results regardless. I nodded, then admitted, "Eh, with Pinkie, I stopped questioning most things. You're definitely one of a kind." I said it with a smile, and she picked up seamlessly that it was a compliment. At least, I assumed she did as she promptly started smiling herself and nodded to me. After a moment, I decided that one of these days, I should probably get to know the mare better. All of them, actually. I knew about them all fairly well, but I'd never really sat down one on one with practically half of them. Pinkie and Applejack especially, in regards to how little I'd spent with them individually. I was the most curious about Pinkie, but Applejack would probably benefit more from that sort of thing. We... We really should talk more about what happened as well, instead of just letting it hang over our heads like this. Just us, this time, with no peer pressure on either of us. A light popping up in the corner of my vision snapped me out of my thoughts. A glance surprised me; a status readout in my right eye display showed that the decryption on my black box had just finished, and a file check was being run to confirm that there was nothing corrupted. That wouldn't take long at all, and I realized I'd get to look over it all tonight. That would give me some peace of mind, regardless. Mysteries inside me were even worse! "The black box just finished decrypting," I informed, snapping Twilight back to attention again almost immediately. "Oh! Excellent. Can I still be there to go over it all with you? I'd really like to know more about it, too," she requested, smiling hopefully towards me, and generally looking cute. Chuckling, I nodded to her, and she did a tiny little hop, looking quite pleased. My heart felt like it flipped in my chest with her, and the urge to just pounce and snuggle her was almost overwhelming. "Excellent! I'll go get a new cup from the kitchen, then we can have tea while we peek!" she chirped, trotting energetically off into the kitchen instead. Her trot in particular caused quite a sway to her posterior, and I found myself staring before I even realized what I'd been looking at. Ah! No, that sort of thing could wait until later! Yikes. Seriously, body? Turning, I instead saw a smirking Pinkie looking right at me. She wiggled her eyebrows, then winked at me before hopping back over to the table and leaving me with what felt like a small sun in each cheek. Crap. Busted. Wait, Twilight was with me like that, so did it even matter?! Wasn't it my right to stare and admire when I felt like it?! I pouted for a moment before rolling my eyes and deciding to help her with the tea, needing a new cup myself regardless. Both of ours, as well as Aura's and Rainbow's, had met with misfortune, having been sent flying in the mad dash to get away from the potential 'bomb' on the table earlier. Twilight was amazing with transmutation magic, putting them back together again from the fragments seamlessly. She still insisted they be washed, however. Never a dull moment... A distortion flickered across my vision, and I sighed. Nope, spoke too soon. It had been far too long since my eye interfaces had screwed up. Was it her again? Looking about, I didn't notice anything unusual, and frowned. No chill going up my spine, or sensation of some horrible abomination smiling widely at me from behind, or even a shadow moving by itself in a corner. I was mildly disappointed, in truth. Another flicker hit a moment later, this time with me alert and waiting for it. My eyes locked on to an image of Purdue instead, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Twilight sluggishly lifting up a cup in the background as things slowed down. The little filly was shouting something to me, but no sound came out. Her eyes opened midway through and I gave a start, seeing two inky pools of black darkness instead of eyes. She flickered, then vanished again a moment later. Huh. Okay, so that was the first time that had happened. "Persistent little bitch, I'll give her that. Careful, though. She'll stab you in the back eventually, just like all females do," came from my right. Ah, and here I was hoping she'd crawled off somewhere and died. Glancing to my right, I was surprised to find an almost pristine image of Twilight walking up and standing not facing me, but looking at the spot where Purdue was in the kitchen. There was no damage at all on her this time, even her horn restored to its original shape. It was off, however, her eyes the most vibrant blue I'd ever seen, instantly drawing my attention to them. Even weirder were the wings extending off her back, tucked lightly to her sides. What, did she have allusions of being a powerful Alicorn now? Time was frozen again, which was normally Purdue's domain, but I anticipated something was different this time. "Long time no see. What do you want this time? Apart from reminding me that I should trust nopony, and that they'll all inevitably betray me," I inquired, turning to face her fully instead. She just smiled, however, a rather disarmingly happy one at that. "Nah. Pretty sure you have the yellow one hooked on you by now. She'd probably side with you if you decided to take your rightful place. This time, though, I'm here in celebration, and to share my honest happiness with you," she chirped, turning to face me instead, that proud smile still on her face. Uh huh. New angle, undoubtedly same old tricks. Although she'd at least gotten me to automatically mistrust her. Still, she'd been getting more and more helpful with each visit, which if anything, was a cause for concern. I preferred my enemies in front of me. She stared at me for a moment before smirking and snickering. "So distrustful. Here I am trying to be helpful even. Today, a celebration! A celebration of me finally being able to show you everything that you could have. Trust me, it was a bitch keeping this a secret from that traitor bitch you seem to like so much," she pointed out, gesturing to the right again, towards the doorframe. It didn't take a genius to figure out whom she was referring to. "Being rude isn't going to earn you brownie points with me," I murmured, idly wondering what she'd been keeping secret from Purdue. The Twilight doppelganger smirked. Fully and outright smirked. I was suddenly struck with unease as I frowned, another distorted image of the black eyed Purdue shouting from behind her. She glanced back over her shoulder with just her eyes, then giggled again and looked back to me. "She's a book. Her powers are extreme, but predictable. A mystery is just that, and maybe it was safe because of the allure of its mysterious nature, or maybe something about the black box itself hid from her powers of exposition. Regardless, with much stealth and a backdoor access point, through a whole lot of patience, I did manage to toss quite a few injectors into the thing, just waiting for you to open your present," she revealed. My blood froze as I snapped to the output window for the copy, in time to note it frozen at eighty-nine percent, errors popping up and warnings about hostile code injection into the mainframe. Aww hell. My vision snapped back to her as I activated the firewall on the entire CPU Core. That left me with only two CPUs, with one now quarantined and the other malfunctioning. She grinned wider, and my eyes expanded in sudden realization. Her grin was right there. I'd seen it so many times but I'd never paid any attention. Probably because I hadn't expected to see anything weird there. Now I did. She had two incisors, to each side of her smirk. They were barely enough to hang over her bottom lip, but now that I saw them, they were extremely obvious. "You're not a female, are you?" I asked, looking back up into her eyes. She laughed at that, sounding outright mirthful. My mind searched for any male Keldarians I knew who might be responsible for this, but the only one I knew who could even vaguely pull this off would be Tym, and he honestly lacked the motivation. "Yeah, I'm not. Sorry. Makes all that flirting awkward as hell, doesn't it? Trust me, I didn't like it either, but this image was convenient, no? Plus, keeping you interested in mares is all part of the plan," 'she' pointed out, suddenly making me want to throw up. That had been intentional, not just to get under my skin?! My mind flicked into action and I dispelled her image, turning and focusing on blocking all incoming connections from the CPU while attempting to get my OS to initiate a lock down on it. I had no idea where the processes were for it, unfortunately, having not foreseen a need to terminate one of my own CPU cores before. More flickering, as my targeting system engaged again and started freaking out, making a little smiled face with all the target locks. I ignored it, distortions so bad now that I couldn't see through all the pixel garbage in my eyes. "Oh come now, pay attention to me, Mender!" the fake Twilight's voice sounded out, immediately from my left. I ignored it and kept focusing on the flurry of command line instructions I executed. "Would you, um, prefer me instead?" a Fluttershy voice asked softly. Bastard! I ignored her, too, frantically looking through the root access of the OS for command executables. It would be ugly, but if all else failed... I prepared a file list that was located on that core, and readied a batch wipe of the entire CPU Core. It would probably terminate my OS, but that might be able to be rebooted. I didn't know where 'he' was, though, which was the problem. Was the CPU just a distraction?! More voices. Seductive whispers, heated groans, laughter. It was coming from all of them. Everypony I knew, including the Crusaders, and I felt sick. He knew them all, too, and had been watching. Damn it! I terminated all of the sound processes I could find, holding my hooves to my head. Damn him! More laughter, as he flickered in right in front of me, wearing Fluttershy's image. I glared, and shattered it away from me, the real Fluttershy not deserving the mockery. He just laughed more, in Pinkie's voice this time as he reappeared to my right. I spun, whipping my hoof out and shattering that image, too. A glance showed me that my root scan of all processes was at seventy percent. Almost! The hooks from the malicious code had obviously hijacked my vision and hearing input already. More laughter, this time in Applejack's voice to my right. No, he didn't deserve to mimic her after what he did. My tail flicked out and shattered that image, too, as two more appeared to my left, of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gently singing. It was distorted, and I could only make out something about roses and rings. I ignored them. A glance around showed distortions around the library. Everypony was turned to me, laughing and frozen in time as their faces distorted and warped. Taking a moment to appreciate his assuming lack of sanity, I growled as I heard him giggle again, switching back to Twilight and behind me again. All I needed was the shutdown command for the CPU Core, and this would be over! "Mmm, I suggest taking the orange one first. She'll get dependent on you fast, and has a nice sturdy body to make lots of foals," the 'Twilight' whispered from behind me. I shivered, and then snarled as I whipped around, shattering that illusion, too. My eyes widened. No, I hadn't told them to... A display popped up on my right eye, showing 'Aggression Sensitivity' set to several thousand percent. No... My eyes looked up again, my tentacle having extended as I spun all of its own accord, forming one of those long scythe blades out of frosted metal, fresh out of subspace. The image was so realistic, Twilight's eyes widening in an instant. Time was frozen, almost for the image too it looked like, a sharp splatter of blood going across her back from the half a meter of metal sticking out the back of her neck. Strands of her mane fluttered to the side, severed abruptly by my blade. My breath caught, her lavender eyes locking with mine, pain and confusion abruptly dancing through them as her body shivered lightly. Red flowed freely down her chest, staining her fur as her right leg gave a spasm. Everything grew cold as she fell, her own weight enough to pull the blade out of her neck as she just dropped to the floor, eyes looking panicked as her legs continued twitching, a sharp gurgling noise coming from her mouth as blood flowed out of there as well. There was a sharp gasp behind me, and I realized everything was moving again, suddenly. Oh. No. No, no, no! "Ooooh, oops! Well, what's one less mare for our harem?" the voice whispered in my ear. I didn't even hear it, taking a shaky step towards Twilight. My body like ice, I ducked forward and held my hoof to the hole in her neck, eyes wide as she didn't focus on me anymore, mouth moving but no sound coming out except for the choking splatters and more blood. No, no, no, this wasn't... this couldn't... The numb, frozen chill consumed me, her body giving one more spasm before going limp. Her eyes stopped shivering finally, and she just lay there, a pool of her own blood expanding under her head. Hoofsteps to my left. Applejack stared in shock down at Twilight, eyes wide with horror as she took in the sight. No. No, this wasn't... I felt like throwing up, but I couldn't feel my chest, or anything for that matter. I just stared down at her unmoving eyes, unable to look away. My hoof was stained with her blood, and I lifted it, looking at the carved in rune as it pooled in the cracks. I had... No. This wasn't happening. I shook her shoulder, trying to dispel whatever trick this was. She didn't respond, eyes still staring forward as a bit more blood oozed out of the wound in the middle of her neck. The smell of blood was everywhere now, and I choked back a spasm through me, my vision getting blurry. I shook her harder, trying to will her awake. There was nothing. It wasn't... "Mender, w-what... What did you do?!" Rainbow asked, her voice sounding echoing and distant, flying in fast to my left. What did I do? What... No, this couldn’t be… I didn’t… "Mender!" she shouted again, and I shivered. I'd heard her the first time. But... "Mender!" It came again, this time right against my ear and in Purdue's voice. Crying out, I clutched at both sides of my head and screamed, the throb going through me as I felt like ice water filled the core of my body. My eyes opened as I clutched at my sides, the distorted image of Purdue fading from in front of me, in the doorway again. Twilight wasn't there. What? Twilight wasn't... Rainbow shook my harder, and I shivered, snapping my attention to the left at her, looking more than a little concerned. Huh? "Mender, are you okay?!" she asked, worry in her voice. Was I okay?! No, she was supposed to be worried about... My eyes shifted back to the right. There was no smell, and no blood. There was no Twilight. They widened as I looked up instead, seeing a very much moving and concerned looking Twilight coming in from the kitchen, two cups of tea dropped on the floor behind her as she ran up. Oh. Oh thank you. Thank you. No, she was... okay... She wasn't... She wasn’t not moving! "Mender, what's going on?!" she asked, rushing up. They were all approaching, and I realized I really had screamed. But that meant... It was fake. It was a distraction. He had wanted me distracted, and knew the perfect way to do it. My eyes looked back to the search progress. It showed completed, and highlighted the shutdown executable I'd been looking for. The user interface showed non-responsive, however. The process had crashed, and dumped the results. Damn it! Other windows had popped up of their own accord, showing a decrypting process running on my own encryption of the links to the Element Bearers. No. No! "Twilight, I'm being hijacked. Get yourself and the Elements of Harmony as far away from me as possible. All the way to Canterlot if you can teleport that far. Hurry!" I hissed out, realizing I couldn't move anything below my neck. The cold was him shutting off my nervous system! Her eyes widened, surprise meeting confusion as she asked, "Hijacked?! By what?!" No, no time for questions! I was still reeling from the image of her lying on the floor, but there was no time to even look up at her. "There's no time! Run! Teleport as far as you can with the Elements of Harmony!" I hissed, feeling the paralysis creeping up my neck. I quarantined off the remaining two cores, hoping he hadn't gotten to them yet, and started using them to slow down his progress on the encryption, spamming his core with garbage data and slowing the connection speed down. He was attacking each link separately, and I tried to quickly bring up the individual statuses as more fake pop-ups displayed in my eyes. "I c-can't!" Fluttershy whined, standing slightly behind me and to the right. Damn it. "Fluttershy, leave me. You have to," I pleaded, trying to force my eyes as far to the right as I could, only managing to make out a yellow shape in my peripheral vision. Twilight gasped, however, and my blood chilled yet again. "I can't... I can't move!" she repeated instead. A sunken feeling entered my chest as I forced all the windows closed except for the status panel. Fluttershy and Rarity were already reading red. Damn it! Thinking quickly, I instead ordered, "Pinkie, Applejack! Grab Rarity and Fluttershy and carry them." Could Twilight teleport them all, and far enough away to get out of my control range?! I didn't know if I could control them at the limit of my broadcast range, but I was banking on not being able to. I gave a start instead as my left eye flicked on, projector activating. The strange Alicorn Twilight appeared in my projector, smirking in amusement. I tried to turn him off, but my eye wasn't listening. A horrific realization later showed me that my tentacles were extending, too. "Oh dear. It looks like I can remotely turn off her heart right now if I wanted to. Did you know he had such power over you all? I wouldn't be going anywhere, if you want your two friends to live for any great lengths of time," he pointed out, sitting down in the image. Fluttershy let out a soft whimper, and I heard Rarity give out a weak, choked groan somewhere behind me. Damn it. Damn it! I switched one CPU off interception, realizing it was already too late, and instead sent the other looking for the prior process list of the third CPU. Affecting my entire OS was impossible now, but I could halt his ability to give commands if I hijacked the only working CPU that he had. Them being completely independent data storage and processing was rather inconvenient for me, now. Twilight snarled, eyes narrowing at the image before demanding, "What do you want from us? Don't you just want to kill us anyway?" That... That was a good point. The fake Twilight laughed, spreading her wings out a little before shaking her head. "Of course not! That would be a horrible waste of genetic material. But I will be forced to kill whomever tries to run. But still, is being a slave to this particular stallion really that bad?" he inquired. Uh... What? My mind blanked, any and all motivation I'd given the fake Nirru prior flying out the window. I'd thought that whole flirting thing, and all the crap she was feeding Applejack, was all just to mess with us. "S-Slave?!" Rainbow asked, flattening her ears back before gasping and squeaking. Her body went rigid, and I watched her link go red. Tch! It was too late. I switched both processors to directly attacking his processor instead. He saw me do it, but just laughed and focused on taking over the Elements instead. Damn him. Wait, no... A memory flashed through me a moment later. It wasn't mine. It was my DNA donor's, and it surprised me. He had been special operations, that much I knew. He was the captain of his own special operations squad, for all the good it had done him. His training, however, was put to excellent use. These CPU cores were a new thing. Combining storage capacity with individual processors hadn't been done before. We'd only been using them for maybe a year prior to the bombardment. They were still experimental, though, and not in mass production! These were the default, prototype models, I guessed. His memories of them came back to me, and in my surprise, I realized he'd studied them for some reason. Weird. Regardless... I now knew there was a factory override still built in, due to their 'beta' status. A diagnostics console could be very, very useful about now. Focusing on that memory, I typed in the command prompt and ran the main CPU executable with a few additional runtime flags instead. Sure enough, instead of trying to reboot the CPU, which I knew would fail, it opened up the command window again, but in diagnostic mode. Ha! "Of course. It's all part of the plan. We were hunted by an obviously superior enemy, and without some sort of coherent plan, the only result would have been our extinction," he deduced. It sounded beyond disturbing hearing it in Twilight's voice. The real Twilight hissed, her link going red, but her horn starting to glow fiercely, energy gathering around her throat instead. "You're the one responsible for the bioweapon going off! You intentionally wanted to kill all of those Keldarians, because you wanted their DNA!" she deduced, her voice echoing out into the air without her mouth moving. Her magic still worked?! It didn't matter, though, so long as he held the others hostage. Although... If she killed me, my control over them all would end. I swallowed uneasily, realizing I didn't exactly want to die. Last resort, then. The fake Twilight giggled and nodded at that, and I inwardly groaned. Well, I had a target, as soon as I figured out who exactly he was. A stirring came from inside of me, and I felt my own anger starting to build. In front of me was more a monster than I ever estimated, and I couldn't do anything to him. Yet. "Of course. We couldn't win. We were going to die regardless. But what if I could make those deaths mean something? What if instead of dying, I could give every one of those Keldarians a second chance? Isn't that for the greater good? That's why I so heavily modified this subject's reproductive systems, both to make pregnancy almost assured, and to make sure that he could switch out the DNA he was using for such. We might not be Keldarians anymore, but we'll have escaped to a place those monsters can never follow. You six will be the first mares to start producing the new Keldarians, of course," he explained. My mind blanked again. He was totally insane! They couldn't escape death, so he let them 'escape' by murdering them all himself, instead?! All to 'protect' his race?! "Yer completely insane. Ah kinda knew that already, though," Applejack admitted, walking up next to me instead and glaring at the image. Her right foreleg was twitching, but she shook it off and ignored it instead. Her anger could be felt through her link without even needing my displays, and I could almost taste how badly she wanted to buck his face off. The corners of the fake Twilight’s mouth turned up slowly at that. “Fighting off the paralysis order. I’m impressed!” he chirped, then followed it up with, “But out of every ‘pony’ here that has dark, hidden little fantasies and secrets, I don’t think you have room to talk about my goals.” Her ears flattened back as she glared at him, but I just wanted to tear him in half even more. He didn’t deserve to know her secrets in the first place. Shaking my head slowly, as best I could, I instead asked, “What, you expect me to just agree with you and go along with turning them all into slaves or something? Seriously? You’ve been inside of my head for weeks now. You should know that’s about the exact opposite of what I’d do.” I felt them all still around me, all six links red now. He knew all I had to do was keep him talking, so he was on a time limit. What would he do, then? If his plan really was what he just said it was, he had to find a way to remove my ability to use my two CPU cores, which to my understanding, wasn’t possible now that the firewall was up. He couldn’t honestly be expecting me to actually agree to his plan. Just in case, I started a smaller scan on the two cores I controlled, just to make sure there weren’t any backdoor links to them. Uh, like the one I’d just used to secure and take them over. His hoof lifted, and he brushed the digital mane away from his eyes before smiling again, that grin looking downright creepy on Twilight’s expression, especially because he forgot to change the teeth. Ponies with canines were disturbing. Actually, that meant that what I was seeing was a residual self-image. That’s the only way the tooth incident would have happened. Like the real Nirru before him, she didn’t ‘think’ to consciously change her eye color, and her illusion ‘defaulted’ to what her real colors were. But that meant that he had a consciousness behind him that could make that mistake. A psyche that was actually controlling his efforts. An AI couldn’t do that. But how did he transfer his actual psyche into some sort of digital form? Or did he…? “Oh, come now. Surely the more… Mmm, base parts of you sees the benefit,” he pointed out, gesturing instead to Rainbow on the other side of me. Huh? I couldn’t exactly turn to look at her, and he blinked for a moment before coughing to himself. “Oh, right. Sorry,” he oddly apologized, then clapped his hooves together once. Rainbow let out a low whine, then stood up shakily, not of her own accord it would seem. She stumbled forwards a few steps, then almost fell on her face as her body started fighting against the movements again. He only chuckled at that, however, and let her stumble, falling onto her chest with a dull thud and wince, her back legs going rigid. She looked rather silly until he smirked yet again and gestured to her. My head rotated by itself to look at her just as her tail flicked up and out of the way. AH! Rainbow let out a sharp squeak, and thankfully I didn’t see much for very long before slamming my eyes shut, him not yet having control over that much. What the hell?! I heard him start to laugh instead, which probably seemed weird to everypony else as he disappeared completely, his projector getting covered suddenly. “Such the gentlecolt! See what I mean, though? Surely you can feel the stirring. The primal urges. The want to claim such a lovely mare as your own, like you have with two already? You could have all the mares you ever want. Nothing in this entire universe could stand up to you at your full potential! You could have it all, yet you deny it. For what? The passing favor of two mares only? If they feel like it?” he asked, obviously not getting it at all. Twilight snorted at that, however, slightly further to my right. “You’d never understand. He’s not like you, and doesn’t need all of that! He’s a good pony,” she defended. Uh oh. I really did feel ‘stirrings’, and realized that he was triggering other things in me too. My body started attempting to shakily stand up, and I winced as I fought against my own muscles, the tentacles expanding from my back. No, no, I wasn’t going to let him do this to me. The fake Twilight just chuckled darkly, however, as I stood up, wobbling then almost falling sideways from my own inner struggle, one of my tentacles managing to brace against the ground on that side. “We’ll see how much he likes this, first. I’m sure she will, too, of course,” he assured. I felt myself shakily step forward, reaching out and placing a hoof on something soft and furred. No! This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening! “Yer ah monster! Let her go!” Applejack snarled, and I felt her tense to my left, fighting to leap forward and tackle Rainbow away from me. She wasn’t moving, so I could only assume she had lost her battle against the nanites already. Growling, I pushed against the movements as much as I could, freezing in place for a moment as he chuckled again, voice deeper this time. Rainbow whimpered, and I felt my tentacles extending without my consent in a downwards direction. I felt them wrap around her waist, pulling her forward instead as I refused to move. Damn it! One of the lower tentacles slid forward as well, and I froze, mind going blank as it reached towards her with darker intents. Then it stopped. Huh? I heard them first. Very light hoofsteps and the creaking of the front door knob starting to turn. But nopony should have been able to mo… Aura and Spike! “Hello! I forgot you two were here still!” the fake Twilight suddenly exclaimed, suddenly in a very unfamiliar male voice. Three of my tentacles whipped out sideways, and flicked over to the door in an instant! No! I couldn’t pull them back, and instead I heard Aura scream as they caught and wrapped around her waist, then smacked into Spike an instant later, knocking him flying into the bookshelf to the right. I heard my niece start to cry as she got dragged back over to where I was by the tentacle, the second one staying to push the door shut again. “Ah, never mind this bitch. Let’s have you mate with this mare instead!” he chirped. I froze, processing that slowly. No. He wasn’t going to do this. Even if he lost later and all I had to do was wait it out, he wasn’t going to get away with hurting them like this. He was using me, and using my… He was using the fact that I was a monster to make me even more of a monster. It didn’t surprise me when I felt that raw anger and hatred inside of me. I was never going to be an ideal pony. I gave up. I hated him. Admitting it felt liberating, and I felt my eyes snap open again instead, my vision running red as I gritted my teeth. He almost looked surprised that I had opened my eyes again, his projection snapping back into place and rapidly looking over at me, smirk shifting to a questioning glance instead. I didn’t care anymore. My muscles screamed, and I almost laughed as I literally forced myself backwards. I heard a snap from my left shoulder, but I kicked off the floor and flung myself away from both Aura and Rainbow in one fluid motion. The monster’s eyes widened, but I was already a bigger monster. It boiled up from inside me, and everything in my mind drenched with the color of blood as I snarled and lashed out directly at the psyche in front of my vision. He was an actual thinking entity, and something I could attack directly! His scream of surprise was satisfying, and I just let them come. I realized it now. That other me was me, but it wasn’t at the same time. I felt them, and knew that deep down, it was also Malice. Focusing up every ounce of willpower I had, I screamed in rage and tore into him, gashing and ripping at every ounce of mental substance I could find with claws made of burning hatred in my mind. He switched to blind, instinctive panic in an instant, and I followed him. We kept attacking until he barely managed to get a mental barrier up, falling back several more steps. Clarity burned through my hatred, and I snapped back to attention as I again used that backdoor access I had found and pulled the control links for the various command prompts right out of his psyche. There was no time. I felt his eyes widen as he lost control, but it was already too late. I ran a lockdown command through all six links and on myself. I felt my entire throbbing body go rigid, the tentacles freezing in their blind flailing as I crashed into the table and broke it in half. The Element Bearers froze up, too, and I felt him struggle to try to get control back. No. I ran a new re-encryption on all seven command prompts, locking them down completely, and then turned to face him in my mind again. The formless image of him started to recover, but I was already moving. No, I could finally do something, and I was going to take him with me. Leaping at him yet again, I focused, then pulled us both deep into my own mind, shutting off my consciousness as we fell into the dark. * * * * * The landing was abrupt. He hit in his back, glowing armor making a dull crashing noise as the air left him, the rocks breaking as we hit. I landed on him with all my weight, cracking his now humanoid chest plate before rolling and sliding along the dirt and rock under us. Rock? The sky was inverted while I was upside down, but was golden orange in color, filled with turmoil and clouds, flares of fire escaping between them. The ground under me as I came up to my hooves was broken and barren, cracks running through the stone and dirt that looked bleached with age. The sky ended where the ground began some two hundred meters from in front of me, and I guessed we were on some sort of rocky plateau. Wait, energy armor...? Abjuration?! Fights between two Abjuration users were typically over in the first three seconds, given our usual attack methods of extending planes of force through our targets at brutal speed. I came out of my roll into a spin, whipping an energy blade up from my left forehoof and parrying the stabbing spear attack up and away from my chest. This wasn't going to be one of those fights... He stood now, having rolled backwards and to his feet just as fast. He'd not fully caught his breath yet, panting bringing attention to the glowing silver, broken-to-hell chest shield as it fell away, then snapped back to reformed an instant later. He also pulled up a few arm and leg plates, and a groin shield, given he was naked apart from those. He was a male Keldarian, looking just shy of a hundred centimeters and covered in moderate amounts of blue fur. I probably outweighed him by a factor of two, but the speed of his attack put me on guard. He was no amateur. The spear yanked back into his left hand as his right whipped down instead a second later, a follow up attack incoming. My tentacle had already shot out when I rolled. It tugging against my left shoulder, I yanked myself sideways as the ground where I was shattered upwards from the force of the massive hammer impact, made entirely from barrier energy, and actually launched me into the air. Acting fast, my right shoulder's tentacle whipped around the hammer an instant later as he pulled it back, too. Using the momentum, I released my still pulling left tentacle, firing myself in an arc like a slingshot, using his own weapon. His eyes widened as he saw the tentacle on his hammer, and he barely twisted to the side as my blade smashed into the hilt of his hammer grip instead, the edge sliding through the pummel like butter and cutting an inch into his shoulder plate before he rolled away. His right arm flicked back as he came out of the roll, and I kicked the pole of the hammer back up and into his cut, simultaneously rolling back out and under the slash as sparks of magic fell around me. He cried out, his other hand holding his head from the feedback of cutting through his own handle, where he'd been controlling the hammer from. Rolling twice more, but leaving my tentacle hooked into the ground, I shot myself at him yet again. This time he realized what I could do and dove sideways, a few strands of his ear fur drifting up and catching fire as he barely managed to bring a leg up into my chest. I went over backwards as he kicked me into the air with his plating re-enforced leg, then spun around with the force, bringing his left hand up with another blade, trying to cut me in half. Doing something I forgot I could do, my left back hoof generated a blade as well, smashing into his in midair as I kicked off it, whipping a tentacle right at his face, gleam of the metal blade reflecting his widening eyes. He dodged it a fraction of a second later, then rolled as I embedded the energy blade into the ground right where he'd been, throwing myself downwards again using the tentacle. I instinctively whipped my left forehoof blade up, driving the tip of it into the very point of his newly formed spear that had been heading right at my face. My other hoof swung around at the same time, but he snapped the shaft of the spear in half, swinging his other hand up to parry the second blade, gritting his teeth as my Earth Pony strength brought it within an inch of his neck. He wasn't an amateur at all! "Tch, it would seem we're evenly matched," he admitted, before tacking on, "Which I expected, from a creature who's using my memories." My eyes widened, and in my instant of hesitation, he spun away from my left blade attack, using my stabbing momentum to pull me off balance and lash backwards with the other end of the broken off piece of spear. The point whipped into my face, and I violently bit down at the same time. Everything halted for a moment, him raising an eyebrow to me, and me grinning, now sharp teeth glowing with barrier energy as I held the point of his spear between them. It was him. It was him all along. He killed all of those Keldarians in some messed up Knight's Templar attempt at 'saving' them. Was he that broken by what he went through and the imagined slights he'd gotten from Keela? Did I even care? That anger boiled in me, and my jaw tensed, cracks going down the tip of his barrier spear as I slowly started to crush it. "I told you, you're me. It's ironic that it's come down to this," he muttered, smirking again as he pulled his spear away and backed up. "You're not me. You're not even you anymore. You used to actually want to save them all," I returned, landing on all four hooves again now that the spear wasn't propping me up. To hell with it. He didn't deserve my pity, just because I suddenly knew who he was. I didn't know how he'd gotten here, but it was really his mind, and I was going to kill him, even if it killed me to do it. If he died here, in our minds, he died in real life, too. So did I, but like hell I was going to go down without hauling him to hell with me. "I am saving them!" he screamed out, snarling before spinning and lashing out with his spear in a long sweep. The tentacle I'd snuck along the ground while he was talking went taut, and I fell backwards, passing under his sweep before yanking myself into a slide and twisting. My right flank raised as I crashed into his legs, directly into his knees as hard as I could. He cried out in agony as I felt them snap against my weight, me taking him off his feet in an instant with my sheer mass. I grappled another tentacle out to my right side as I came out of the slide into a roll. He hit and rolled to the side as I swung around on my tentacle, building up more momentum as I slingshot around. The air left me as we brutally collided, and I winced as I felt the blade bite into my left cheek. It only stung, however, just the base of his blade remaining as the majority of it spun away to my right, cut clean through. My blade fractured instead, shattering along my hoof in long, bleeding smears as both my back knees went into his gut, right between the two plates of armor. My weight carried us backwards, and everything jarred as we smashed into the broken, raised section of rock, made by his earlier hammer attack. My teeth gritted as the blade formed out of my mouth and cut into his left cheek, mirroring my own wound as he barely moved his head out of the way in time. My own blade dug into the solid rock behind him and stuck, of course. Tch. He let go of the blade in his right hand, whipping it up into a palm strike towards my head instead. My bleeding left hoof knocked his hand up and out of the way as I kneed him again in the gut. He winced, then his face suddenly got a lot closer to me! The smash in my teeth was jarring, but I still had the barrier up over them, and he came back with a bleeding forehead, before his other, good leg kicked my hip downwards. Instinctively, I brought my left foreleg down as I fell, belting him in the side of the head and hauling him down next to me. I knew what he was trying, and blocked his right hand's bashing motion with my left foreleg, which was still hooked over his shoulder. I felt it twist, and winced as he tried to wrap around it to grab at my face, but it was too late as I braced my thigh against the ground. His eyes widened. He hadn't noticed that as we fell, my left shoulder's tentacle had latched onto the rock we'd been up against. He tried to bring his left hand up, manifesting a blade to slice my tentacle, but I'd already torn myself backwards, spinning with the force of my own pull, and whipped him sideways with all my strength... Sadly, the force of my own throw unbalanced me drastically. Landing, I winced and rolled as I hit hard, moving backwards until I flipped to my hooves again, magic churning from overuse alongside the throb in my skull. He hit almost ten meters from me, landing hard on his side but rolling out of it and stumbling up to his feet just the same. I spat out blood from his head butt, and he wiped some away from his left eye as he glared at me. The energy had tightened up around his shattered left knee, forming a makeshift brace as he stood fully. I felt warmth coming down my cheek as I steadied myself, my left leg still hurting from that throw. We were fairly evenly matched, but from the looks of it, I was coming out slightly ahead. Maybe I'd win this and be able to return victorious? Spitting blood out of his mouth, he chuckled as he formed another spear of force in his left hand, his right rapidly bruising from my throw. "Looks like your pure, monstrous ferocity gives you an edge on me, Mender. I'll definitely give you that mu-" he started to admit. My eyes widened, and so did his, as the massive ball of radiating purple and red energy crashed into his back. He was taken completely off his feet, the ball wobbling and pulsating for a moment against his armor before exploding, chunks of rock shattering out around the blast as he was flung like a rag doll through the air. Holy hell! Bits of his armor and shattered spear drifted around him, mixing with prismatic energy that had come out of nowhere. My eyes couldn't track it as the cyan mare flickered in out of nowhere, look of absolute rage on her face. The pink blur she was carrying was casually tossed into his falling form like one might deliver a bomb at point blank range. Of course, that description wasn't that far from the truth as the mare flipped once, pile driving him into the ground hard enough to break the stone before giggling and hooking his armor with her hooves, kicking off him in a roll and knocking him into the air again. What was left of his armor shattered completely as an orange blur shot past her, spinning and driving two back hooves into his chest, 'serving' him like a high speed volleyball off to my left. Rainbow appeared behind him again less than a heartbeat later, her wings blazing with rainbow light as she drove all four hooves into his back. I watched the spray of blood come out his mouth almost in slow motion as she whipped him upwards and right towards me, completing their 'pass' between each other. They'd followed me here... I didn't have time to consider that, however. My body felt cold as I took two bounds, then whipped the elongated blade downwards from my mouth. He managed to rotate in the air, but not enough. He hit hard behind me, a sharp and wet crack sounding out, screaming and thrashing as his armor failed him across the remainder of his body and his right leg went limp at the knee. His left arm, shoulder down, landed at my hooves, and I smirked, that hatred twisting inside me at the fitting bit of ironic revenge. Malice was still with me, even here. He writhed, screaming again before clutching the stump of his left shoulder, no real shoulder there at all anymore. I looked up and saw all of them there, Twilight looking utterly pissed with her horn radiating with light. Fluttershy looked horrified over at him for a brief moment before it melted into a look of worry instead, her snapping to me. She started in my direction, but Rarity held her left leg up and stopped her, shaking her head. Right. First things first... Turning, I extended my mouth blade again as I walked in his direction. Flickering barriers held his leg together as he stumbled to his feet, another tight barrier going over what was left of his shoulder to hold those important bodily fluids in. I embraced the cold hatred, and stopped caring how he'd managed to get here. I didn't care what his plan was or if he really thought he was 'helping' those Keldarians. I didn't even care about what Keela would think of me after this point. He'd hurt my friends. He tried to hurt me. He tried to make me hurt my friends. He threatened to kill Fluttershy. He did kill billions of Keldarians, and probably Doctor Kyliona. I was going to end him, and I doubted I'd lose a wink of sleep over it. Applejack and Pinkie caught up fast as I walked towards him, flanking on the left and right, respectively. My 'other' link with Rainbow warned me ahead of time before she even landed, off to Applejack's left, looking equally pissed. I wasn't sure if any of them had the intent to actually kill him, but that wasn't going to save him from me, unfortunately. "Heh. You're all monsters. I try to do the right thing... I was the only one trying to save our race. She wanted to sacrifice us all, just so a furry rat could live. And I'm the crazy one?!" he asked, his right arm forming a shorter, flickering blade as he struggled to keep his footing. It was an act, of course, and I prepared my full defenses as I took another bound forward and full out sprinted at him. He smirked, recognition of me calling his bluff flashing through his eyes. My own widened as he whipped his arm upwards, and I prepared to roll to the side. The blade wasn't in his hand when it completed its arc, however. I spun, turning to the left as the blade rotated in the air past me, shooting off in slow motion. It had made it three meters before I completed my spin, Applejack's eyes widening as she swerved to avoid me. It was six meters by the time I came to a complete stop, tentacles anchoring me into the ground. Fluttershy's eyes widened as she looked back up, the point of the blade a meter from her head. Images of head whipping back, blood spraying upwards with the energy blade sticking out of it echoed all around me. It felt like my soul screamed out. A hundred tentacles descended, tearing through chests and flinging broken bodies through walls. A Keldarian's head was torn free as another tentacle ate his body into a smear of gore. Some attacked, their spells and weapons shattering or reflecting away from the horrible darkness before it consumed them. A thousand souls screamed out in pain, all at once, mirroring my own as the blade closed a few centimeters with her face, me in mid-sprint. Everything fell apart, the world seemingly collapsing around me as my vision focused only on the blade and making my legs move faster. My left foreleg extended, a massive claw of pure darkness grabbing the shard of energy out of the air, stopping it a centimeter from her left eye. Both eyes widened and she looked at the blade, then up at me, look of shock evident in her expression. Rarity gasped next to her, also looking up at me. My vision was hazy and red tinted as I slowly turned and looked back at the monster who'd thrown the blade. It was so hard to think, a thousand voices a second screaming out in my mind, baying for his blood. He was staring at me, eyes wide, just like my three friends were a half a dozen yards in front of him. I didn't know how I'd gotten over here to catch the blade, but I didn't care as I crushed it in my 'claw'. Part of me knew something was wrong, but the rest of me was only focused on making him suffer. I knew what this was... Malice. They were pissed off, and through all of this, they'd thought I was the one who'd killed them. They saw through my eyes, however, and he'd completely admitted to being the one who turned me into a weapon against my will. I felt their hatred, and for the first time, it wasn't directed at me. They felt my pain in that instant Fluttershy was attacked, and for this moment, they agreed with me completely. He needed to die. We'd work together towards that goal. A hundred eyes slowly opened on my left foreleg, the inky, pitch black darkness surrounding it completely. They all locked on to him, the form starting to leak away from my leg as a few mouths with bared fangs, and arms with claws extended, 'melted' out of my form. I felt powerful, and much bigger than I was before. I felt strong enough to shatter the stone with a flick of my claw. Most of all, I really wanted to kill him. Maybe even take a few bites out of his chest as he lay there screaming in his own blood. Slow bites. Had to savor the taste of his failure, of course. So did he, I decided. He leapt forward, only remaining arm extending to grab at Rainbow's back as she looked at me in shock. A hostage? This only worsened the anger in my mind. I felt myself flow like blood, and in between my blinks, I was next to him, his body sprawled out in midair. His eyes widened, sensing my presence just slightly before I whipped my right foreleg to the side, bitch slapping his body away from Rainbow. He hit against the same rock as before, almost thirty meters to my right now, his newly reformed full body barrier shattering on impact as he silently screamed, blood coming from his mouth. Momentarily surprised, I realized his hand was missing on his only remaining arm now, then looked downwards in time to see a fanged mouth biting into it and swallowing the mangled limb. It burned away into black flames as it absorbed into my body, and I added its mass to my own. Five or six more of my eyes opened, and I smiled at him as I turned, suddenly finding myself over in front of him while he tried to stand up. "Well? You're obviously superior to me, the monstrous furred rat. Heal yourself. Stand up, recoup, and fight. Oh wait, you never learned any healing magic," I reminded, not really surprised when my voice came out in about sixteen different tones. The same reason I was 'standing' on my back legs for now. "G-Go to hell, you monster..." he coughed out, rolling over to look up at me. I smirked and lifted my huge, left arm up, the eyes on it all narrowing as additional clawed hands, and one clawed foot, extended out around my main claw. Foot? Eh, whatever. I felt nothing at all as I brought it down into his chest. It smashed through and into rock that was under him. I raised an eyebrow, noting no gore at all as he suddenly wasn't there anymore. That was interesting. Teleportation? A new technique? No, he would have used teleportation to save his arm had he had that all along. Standing up fully again, I crushed the bits of rock my claw took with it. Looking about, I saw him at the far end of the stone plateau we were on, now floating in the air and locked in what looked like some sort of crystal with raw lines of data running through it. Aww, hell. A spike of anger had me in front of the crystal, my eyes staying open this time to note the distorted warping that hauled me over to him. My large claw sunk into the surface of it and passed completely through the other side in an instant, unfortunately. He smirked as it kept going, me hitting nothing but air as I stood fully upright again. Illusion? No, it felt like he was there, by his psyche, but he wasn't there at the same time. Clearing my head trying to think, I winced and felt the darkness fall away from me, landing on all four hooves again. They were powerful, but how any of them could think at all with that thick, heady rage they felt constantly was beyond me. But I knew their pain. I died once, too. Twilight flashed in next to me in a teleport an instant later, with the others running up almost as fast. Rainbow, of course, beat them all there, followed very shortly by Pinkie and Applejack. The captain, whose name I'd never learned, smirked down at me, looking like he'd been put through a blender. "You're right. Your friends are dangerous enough, but you're a complete monster. There's no way I could win against all of you in a straight fight,” he admitted, relaxing in the strange, red crystal, the data access pointers looking almost like an exotic set of runes as they drifted over the surface of it. What was this? As if hearing my question, he nodded to me, then continued with, "This was the only card I had left to play, if I couldn't just kill you and take your body. Instead, I'll ignore you and take your body. You might have re-encrypted all of the access points but I'll have access to them again in, uh... Four and a half hours? Damn, I forgot how long that took," he muttered a moment later, checking his side screen. Wow. I’m so glad I re-encrypted everything. So he was just going to sit in whatever this was until he finished hacking back into me? Well, admittedly it was probably the smart course of action. We couldn't mock him on his lack of bravery if he won and we were all dead. "You coward! You just don't want to fight us because you were losing!" Rainbow shouted, fur raising up with the newly revealed information. Well, I guess we could try to mock him. Just a little. It was rather therapeutic. He stared at her for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah, that's about it. Why should I get myself killed fighting you and your monster coltfriend when I can win just by waiting in here for the time to run out?" he pointed out. I was a bit surprised when Rainbow bothered blushing at his comment, still glaring at him regardless. "What exactly is 'here'?" Twilight asked, looking more annoyed as her horn lit up, a small beam of energy passing cleanly through the crystal, and his neck in the same instant. I kind of wondered what she would have done if that had worked and she'd taken his head off... He averted his eyes until her light show was done, then shook his head. "I'm kind of glad now that Mender never repaired the fourth core. If he did, it might have been reattached at this point and you'd be able to get to me. As it stands, I just have to wait it out in here for the third core to slowly break the encryptions. Again," he answered, smirking down at Twilight once more. Fourth core? But it was broken! In its current state, it wouldn't be able to store an AI on it, much less an actual... Psyche... My eyes widened, and the captain smirked knowingly at me through the red tint. I looked up at him in surprise. "You're not in the core... you are the core! You're... You turned yourself into an Aegis Artifact?!" I asked, eyes widening. How?! Wait, no, when?! Twilight perked up next to me, then looked back up to him in equal surprise. He chuckled in amusement before nodding. "You caught me. Not actually entirely sure what I am at this point, or even how much of me got transferred in that instant. It was either this or let you leave me, stranded and dying on that hellhole of a planet. I mean, damn. What would you have done? So I used the shards of what was left of my Aegis Barrier, and lashed out with my soul link as you started to power up the FTL jump, aiming for whatever part I could reach. Pity that bitch that was helping you realized it and turned the shielding off to my core..." he revealed. My head spun, and I frowned, trying to remember what he was talking about. Everything was a haze, and it was suddenly hard for me to remember what memories were my own. Something seemed so... It was distant, like it was far off and in a fog. Bitch? Who was he talking about? The tiny cat face came to mind, and I took an educated guess that it belonged to Doctor Kyliona. Had she included some sort of Aegis detection code in that final upload to me? I didn't even think that was possible, so maybe I was wrong about whom he was referring to. It didn't matter, though, as I had to figure out a way to access my fourth core in the next four hours or so, despite it not being physically plugged into my systems. Him being able to cheat and connect using just a soul connection was completely unfair. Wait... "Why did all of you follow me?" I asked, looking over to Twilight an instant later. She snapped back to attention, previously being deep in thought by the looks of it, and glanced over at me. Her eyes softened, and she shook her head sadly after a moment's hesitation. "You were acting weird, then talking about being hijacked before this monster pops out and gives us death threats. Why would we make you face him alone after we felt you haul him inside yourself?" she asked, sounding like she thought the very notion was completely crazy. I frowned, not understanding her question fully. Rainbow huffed, however, stomping her right forehoof against the rocks while glaring at me. "You have to stop trying to do things by yourself! We can handle ourselves and help you. You're our friend, too, Mender, and we're not going to let you face things alone," she declared, chest puffing up after she said it. But now all six of them were stuck in here with me. We were all comatose now, instead of them simply being 'slaves' if I'd lost to the captain. I couldn't decide if their fate was better or worse, actually, all things considered. Either way, Equestria was denied the use of the Elements of Harmony at the same time. Exhaling softly, I nodded slowly to Rainbow, looking back up at her as she momentarily looked surprised I didn't try to disagree, then softened in her stance and smiled at me, nodding as well. Yeah, they were my friends, and there wasn't really a point for them not following me this time, I admitted. "You all are so disgustingly sappy. Seriously? Females always want something, so why don't you just do him the favor of telling him outright instead of trying to make him buy all of this love and friendship crap. That's what I hated most about females," the captain spat out, glaring at Rainbow in particular. I couldn't honestly tell if he was just trying to get under our skin, or honestly believed his own garbage. I also didn't care, and frowned, looking up at the gem again. Could I use the same soul link technique to 'connect' to his core, or was it just an Aegis Artifact trick? I kind of wished that Purdue was here to give me some advice on it, but we hadn't gotten around to introducing her into my dreams yet, so I doubted she knew how to follow me anyway. Damn it! "We ain't tryin' ta use him, despite how much ya think otherwise. Ya must o' had some real bad experiences with mares if yer sayin' stuff like that," Applejack murmured, sounding more sad than angry over his comment. He just glared at her, of course. "I don't need your pity, bitch. You're not fooling me, and I know precisely what you want from him! So take your self-righteousness and go screw yourself," he spat out, actually spitting at her a moment later. It passed through the crystal and faded long before it got to us, making me realize that the intangible effect went both ways. The orange mare still instinctively stepped back to avoid its original trajectory, though. Dash bristled again, glaring at him before pointedly gesturing to her fillyfriend. "Applejack isn't a dog, so stop calling her that!" she ‘corrected’, making me blink once. This is why I had avoided all swearing! That way I didn’t have to explain those sorts of words. Twilight coughed lightly at that, probably understanding it a bit better. "Uh, based on the context, it’s probably derogatory in nature. 'Bitch' appears to represent an individual whom he dislikes, potentially a female only, whom he feels is being dishonest or similar, from what I gather." she started to deduce, switching into her scientific mode and making me cringe outright. Bristling, I finally exclaimed, "Stop saying that! It sounds horrible coming from your mouths. Please stop." Twilight blinked at me, then snickered in sudden realization. "Oh, you know what it means, then! Um..." she stated, then paused, looking more fully at me in an almost expectant way. Sighing, I rolled my eyes before giving in. "Bitch is still a female dog, but it's also derogatory for either a female who's cruel or traitorous, mostly, or a male who's particularly 'wimpy' or a pushover," I explained, sighing. How had it come to me having to explain swear words to them?! "Can we just get back ta figurin’ this out?" the orange mare pleaded, gesturing back to the captain. Yup, this conversation had gone completely downhill, and off on a huge tangent away from, I don't know, actually stopping him from taking over my body and screwing us all over?! Twilight wasn't paying attention anymore, however, and frowned instead, looking back up at the gem. Eh? "I kind of wish we had the Elements of Harmony here. I bet they'd work against the crystal," she wistfully murmured. I'm sure she knew the crystal was just a graphical representation of the fact that he'd retreated behind a physical separation from us, so I assumed she was actually referring to the CPU core he resided in. Would the Elements affect electronics like that, though? I somehow doubted the concept of bit wiping or electromagnetic disruption existed here. They didn't appear to have electricity, instead using something called 'Ether Energy'. Huh. Fluttershy suddenly gasped, however, giving me a start. I turned sharply to look at her, only for her to push up against me instead, lifting my left leg up for examination. Oh. “You’re hurt!” she squeaked, carefully brushing the fur over the now bruising area. It would probably cause mild sympathetic damage to my real body, but unlike here, that one had nanites and cybernetics to repair itself. “I’ll be fine,” I murmured to her, only getting half of the last word out before she kissed me gently. I leaned into it, and she shivered, smiling against my muzzle before releasing me. She’d been surprised by my form earlier when I caught the blade, I realized, but it felt like she was refusing to let it get to her this time. I felt warm inside at that, before Twilight frowned in my background vision, past Fluttershy’s head. Fluttershy saw me glancing past her, and turned to look back at Twilight, who was feeling her chest with her own hoof. Oh no. What now? It didn’t look like a pained expression, though, so I relaxed a little. Fluttershy gasped a moment later, and reached down, touching the same spot on her chest as well. Eh?! “I… I feel it! Why can I feel the Element on my chest?” she asked quietly, touching the spot where the jewel should normally hang. I lifted my eyebrow up, then looked as the others each did the same. Rarity shook her head absently, then deduced, “That shouldn’t be possible, should it? We weren’t wearing the Elements when we fell in here. Did somepony put them on us?” They couldn’t use the Elements unless the jewels themselves were on them? For empathic weaponry, that was sort of a weird limitation, admittedly. Twilight nodded to her, regardless. “Spike and Aura were fine before we followed Mender in here. I used my magic and the bits of the table to scratch them a message to get help and send a letter to Princess Celestia. Maybe they put them on us?” she suggested, a very sound idea at that. Well, if they knew where the key to the cabinet was. It was admittedly the only thing I’d seen locked in a while. Not that it mattered, with the big display made out of glass, of course. I tried not to twitch as I considered Equestria’s security measures. Fluttershy closed her eyes a moment later, drawing my attention back to her as a soft, pink glow started emanating from her chest. She surprised me by questioning, “Do we need the necklaces to use the Elements of Harmony?” Oh? A gemstone butterfly, made out of a similar shade as her hair, faded in on her chest, radiating a soft pink light. My eyes widened as no necklace appeared with it, and she smiled, turning to look at Twilight with the glowing jewel just resting against her chest and utterly ignoring gravity. Eh, it wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d seen in my time so far in Equus. Twilight’s eyes widened, and she focused next, an equally soft, rosy hue appearing on her chest as well, in the shape of a starburst. One by one, they each closed their eyes, radiance expanding into the ambiance of the area with six different, vibrant colors now. This finally snapped the captain out of his code work, turning to frown as they all stood around me, covering the area in a soft glow. With all six gems there, they all magnified, and Twilight suddenly smiled. “We can feel them! It doesn’t matter where they are. The only thing that matters is that this is working! We can use the Elements of Harmony here!” she squeaked, trotting happily back and forth on her legs. My mind wavered, and I tried really hard not to suddenly picture that image of her lying on the floor of the kitchen. I suddenly didn’t feel so good… “Uh, hate ta ruin anythin’, but where exactly is ‘ere? If we’re inside Mender’s mind, what happens if we fire off tha Elements ‘ere?” Applejack asked, snapping me out of my thoughts, thankfully. Oh. Oh, right. Would I be targeted by the Elements, too, due to pure proximity? Everypony froze at that, Pinkie blinking twice before reasoning, “But Mender’s not a bad pony. The Elements would ignore him, right?” If only I could be so idealistic to that theory. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have any other options to use at the moment. I suggest using the Elements of Harmony regardless,” I pointed out, taking a few steps back and away from the crystal, suddenly realizing I had no idea on the radius of those gems. Wait, did the radius even matter? He was technically embedded inside my chest in real life. You couldn’t get much ‘closer’ in proximity there. Twilight looked just as unsure as I did, either worried about the proximity as well, or wondering how ‘picky’ the Elements really were. Princess Luna was a good pony, too, but because she was ‘infected’ with the evil that was Nightmare Moon, the Elements banished her completely the first time for a thousand years! If I had to sit for a thousand years on the moon, I wouldn’t be a happy individual either. They all looked doubtful still, and I stomped my hoof down onto the rocks, immediately regretting picking my left one for the task. I recovered my ‘stern’ look after the wince fairly quickly, then proceeded to append, “We don’t have a choice! It’s either use the Elements or just sit here and wait to lose. You six are too important regardless. You have to use them!” The captain snorted at that, however. “And what, pray tell, are these ‘Elements of Harmony’? What, are you going to love and friendship me to death?” he inquired, not looking impressed by the gems in the slightest. Twilight didn’t pay attention to him, instead turning to the rest of the girls. “He’s right. We don’t have any other options other than just waiting to lose. If that happens, it’s not only a problem for us, but we’ll be leaving all of Equus in danger!” she exclaimed, looking back and forth between them all, searching expressions hopefully. It was a long and painful five seconds before Applejack slowly nodded and stood up again, her orange and green apple gem starting to pulse with light. Rainbow didn’t look pleased, but she sighed and made hers start pulsing as well. “This better not hurt Mender, or I’m going to be really upset,” she warned. Well, I’d probably be ‘upset’, too. Big footnote there, depending on what state it left me in, of course. It was hard to be upset when I was dead, I imagine. Or maybe not, ‘ghosts’ being a thing in Equus. Soon, all six gems were pulsing with their individual colors as the girls backed up and away from the captain, who was looking a little concerned now as the area started to fill with the ambient energy coming off them. I’d be concerned for how much this was irradiating my soul or something, but we didn’t have a whole lot of options. “Guess you’re about to find out what the Elements of Harmony are. This is the first time I’ve seen them fired as well, so I guess we’ll both see something new,” I admitted, finally addressing the captain as I sat down a few meters away from him. “Fired?” he immediately asked, ‘standing up’ again in his gem as he looked at the six mares some distance behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to note the glow had picked up tremendously, sympathetic ambiance and energy drifting past me now on the air, like flakes of stardust. Well, if I did die, at least this was possibly the prettiest way I could imagine. Rarity coughed lightly, then added, “You may wish to back up a little, Mender. I know you don’t think it matters, but it might.” I blinked at that, then sighed. Okay, yeah, she was right. It might matter. Standing again, I trotted back a ways to stand off to the side of the six mares instead, watching all of them focus on the huge, radiating glows coming from their chests. The light was soft, and warm, and I found it hard to be scared of it, though. A part of me wondered what it would feel like to be hit with it, but the rest of me realized how crazy that sounded an instant later. Maybe I was more suicidal than I realized? The calming effect was apparently lost on the captain, however, who looked more ‘horrified’ than anything. “Wait, that level of energy… It shouldn’t be possible to bring that much energy into a mindscape! You’re going to kill both of us!” he warned. Fluttershy paused first, but I just snorted. “He’s bluffing. He’ll say anything to save himself,” I assured. Maybe I was the one bluffing instead? Regardless, it had the desired effect, and they all focused again, the radiance burning around them now as the air almost lit on colored fire. It was rather pretty, the swirls of light and energy around them. Then they started drifting into the air, and I realized things were probably going to get weird. Reality itself, for what it was worth in here, started to twist and warp away from them as the energy focused into a single point, being ‘aimed’ towards the captain by Twilight. I realized a moment later that I’d never asked him what his name was. Eh, it didn’t matter, really. The ball of rainbow colored whirling energy expanded slowly, until it was larger than they were and I couldn’t see their forms anymore through the massive glow of the energy. Well, my choice was made. I was glad I didn’t mention my plan to try to copy what he did and make an empathy link in order to connect to the CPU Core. It probably wouldn’t have worked and just gotten us all stuck here anyway. Wait, he was able to bring up interfaces here… It took a few tries, but I finally got it to respond to my will. Bringing up my command prompt using that back door again, I noted that the defenses were still in place, and logged into my own systems from where I was. Everything was on lockdown, tied to the operation of my OS, like I requested. I queued a lockdown removal for the paralysis effects on each of the girls, scheduled to be appended to their nanites in about three hundred seconds. One way or another, his control over them would be gone by then. Apart from the instructions to undo what I did already, however, there was nothing more I could do in my systems, all of them still in lockdown. My attention was drawn back upwards with the blinding flash of light, and I flicked the command prompt closed again. The captain’s breath caught as he took a step back in his crystal, bumping into the other edge of it and not passing through. Oh, he was stuck there. That’s why he hadn’t just used it to avoid attacks earlier. Well, that didn’t work out well for him. There was no time for him to formulate plans or make an attempt to escape. The huge ‘wave’ of light washed out his entire crystal in an instant, a scream of panic sounding off and cut short as the entire thing was washed away in the radiance. I winced, shielding my eyes from the intense light as it arced upwards, as if it had a mind of its own, crashing into the burning sky and exploding into a prismatic ring of color, expanding outwards like one of Rainbow’s Sonic Rainbooms. Huh. Well, I’m sure that wouldn’t have consequences at all! Reality itself shook violently a moment later, the sky warping and twisting into white clouds with blasts of prismatic fire falling from the heavens. The ground around me warped and shattered, crystals jutting out of it in various spots and splotches of grass and a few trees ruptured out of the ground. Holy hell! It was like an inverse apocalypse was happening with me right in the center of it! What did you even call that?! I flailed, then squeaked as a tree erupted under me and carried me up about five meters a moment later, and I decided that I had mixed feelings on this sort of apocalypse. The captain and his gem were nowhere to be seen, and with the lake of colors under me like a thick fog, I couldn’t see the girls either. The sky exploded into white as the backdrop fell away into a huge, bright blue and a golden sun somewhere above. My eyes widened, staring up at the huge, crystal blue abyss above me, clouds swirling out from the beacon of prismatic light going straight up into the blue. It was the calmest I’d ever felt, as a soft and warm rain started to fall all around me. My operating system was less happy. Errors spanned the entire network, showing critical information failure on two of my CPU Cores, being the broken one and the third one that he’d hijacked. Generic exceptions were coming from CPU Core Three, which I contributed to suddenly losing all of the hooks he’d placed into it. Violently. Through whatever the hell energy the Elements of Harmony used. CPU Core Four was simply gone, showing up as one giant null pointer reference. I had no clue what that meant in the slightest, but imagined the captain wasn’t the happiest individual at the moment. It didn’t matter, though. The structure of this ‘virtual’ empathic world I’d created on the fly was falling apart, my OS rebooting itself to try to recover from the catastrophic amount of damage it had just suffered. The Element Bearers got ‘disconnected’ a moment later, only Rainbow’s and Fluttershy’s sensations remained lingering for a moment, Fluttershy crying out and reaching for me, and Rainbow looking shocked. They were gone a moment later, and everything was suddenly quiet. I was scared to move for a while, glancing down at the grass beneath me, hazy mist having risen up all around. There was no operating system. This had become just my mindscape, with no computer calculations or control whatsoever. I dropped down out of the spontaneous tree a second later and looked around through the sun-lit haze. It was a weird place to be, with a haphazardly thrown together mixture of different elements from a lot of different areas, including a grassland and forest at least. The prismatic fog didn’t help make the area feel any more normal, especially with the sun shining down in the blue sky above. I wasn’t waking up, and couldn’t will myself awake. Further, my OS wasn’t coming back, and I idly wondered if there was physical damage it had to repair first. Or maybe something had gone wrong and I’d been nonchalantly tossed into the afterlife with no transition at all? Walking over to where the gem was, I was surprised to see the captain there. He shakily stood up off the ground, bits of his damaged leg and shoulder burning away around him in prismatic light. He was translucent now, and I wasn’t even certain he was fully there as crystal fragments jutted out from him in various spots. “You bastard. They infected me! They infected me with this pathetic sugar-bowl fantasy crap that’s all around us… You should have just killed me! It would have been more pleasant!” he groaned out, voice elevating as he glared up at me, eyes empty and white. His colors were fading, being drawn out by the prismatic ‘leaking’ coming from around the crystals and his damaged areas. He was dying. Sort of. Maybe. I sat down in front of him, no real feelings at all coming up as I watched him shakily stumble towards me. There was so much hate in him. The sun was gone now above, with gray winter clouds returning as it started to snow. The temperature dropped around us, and I realized something was indeed wrong, the colors starting to leave everything, not just him. We might be dying, instead. “You really do hate everything, don’t you?” I asked quietly, watching him slip and fall into the snow that was rapidly gathering around us, landing messily on his chest, having only the stump of one forearm to catch him. He glared up at me for a long moment before simply answering with, “Go to hell.” That was really all the answer I needed. This wasn’t him. This was some sad shard of his prior form. Just a remnant of the captain who hadn’t died with him on that far away planet. Killing this sad creature would be more a mercy than anything. It was like it was some sort of twisted mockery of what he used to be, and what he’d originally wanted. I suddenly felt sick just looking at the image in front of me. Smiling softly at him, I whispered, “Goodbye, then.” He only glared before shakily standing up defiantly once more. “I may be dying, but you’re going out with me, you monster! You’re not going to beat me so easily that-“ he started to deny. I knew where they were now. Feeling them there was as simple as breathing. Still smiling, I just focused and completely opened the connection to Malice. The harsh blackness exploded out of me, not even hesitating for a second. The captain screamed, whipping an energy blade up in panic. He cut off one of the six hundred or so limbs that expanded out of the miasma of hate in front of him. I looked away as his screaming ceased, being replaced by a constant tearing sound. Their rage turned white hot and blinding, me pushing it away just so it didn’t consume myself as well. He apparently wasn’t incorporeal enough to avoid their wrath, and dark crimson lined the snow, spraying past me in long lines. The warm dots hitting my fur were the only warmth left in the area, and I sighed softly. That was that, then. I hoped it bought them some measure of peace. Almost a minute later, the sounds finally stopped. I turned and looked back at the mass of concentrated black nothing as it turned slowly, almost looking disappointed at the five meter wide spray of gore in front of it. It moved like a singular entity, despite thousands of eyes opening up all over its form as it turned to look at me. Mmm. Was I next, then? The creature just stared at me, however, the eyes suddenly softening all over it and almost looking sad. I felt so cold, the drops of red spotting my coat rapidly cooling in the air around me. I shivered, then winced as another flare of light came down out of the sky, a blast parting the clouds in an instant. What?! Malice made a hissing sound, suddenly looking up as the prismatic column of light crashed down into it before it could even move. They weren’t done yet?! My eyes widened as the deafening thunder of a billion souls all screaming at once shattered through the air all around me, the sound vibrations actually blasting the snow away from both of us as I screamed, holding a hoof to each ear. I didn’t hear the explosion, but I felt it as the force shadowed me out, suddenly. The heat flashed my fur back, my silent scream getting sucked away behind me as I was flung like a ragdoll backwards. I felt nothing as I crashed into the snow covered ground two dozen meters away. I skipped once, then twice more before rolling and coming to a crashed rest in the silent snow, the world going cold and empty again a heartbeat later. My body refused to move as I lay on my side, the snow coming down in full force once more, slowly erasing the long path my body had made. Crimson red expanded across it moving away from my vision, and I shivered, just closing my eyes and letting the numbness take me. After everything I’d been through, the last month just piled up all at once. I was so tired. I’d been almost killed so many times, fought tooth and nail literally for what I wanted to protect, and all of it was pointless in the end, wasn’t it? Would I even be around to enjoy what I worked so hard for? Or was it to be my legacy to just clear the way for better ponies who were less broken? The energy faded from my body, and I no longer had the will to even shiver as the cold disappeared, too, falling away to numbness and a vast emptiness. No, I wasn’t going to fight any longer. There was nothing left in me at all, and I felt so very, very tired. The rest of them could have the future. For now, I think I needed a little rest… Everything faded away completely. Chapter 89Slowly, thoughts stirred. Just the barest hinting of awareness. It crept slowly along my being, a tingling sensation starting at my core and spreading. After a long moment came the sensation of movement. A dull, unfamiliar pulse from my core, steadily beating over and over again. Afterwards, the slow expanding and contracting along what felt like the top of my form. What was going on? For the longest moment, I only knew the interesting new sensations. I was me, and these strange things were happening to me. Then, a whole new level of experience drifted into my awareness. At first, it was a far away whispering. It was something else in me, coming from the top of me, it felt like! It took a long time for me to fully figure out that it wasn't coming from inside of me at all. This was a new experience, and I had no idea what was going on. "Attempt three. This is the most stable results yet. No sign of cardiac arrest this time, and mental activities are off the charts! I think the cybernetics are being accepted, finally!" "I told you. All it took was testing out the new organic models, grown using its own DNA. It's the easiest way to trick the body into thinking it belongs." The sensations were strange, and I didn't understand what was happening. It was all a bit overwhelming until an infinitely soft murmur drifted through me. It was like a wave, and my entire form shivered, feeling something gently wrap around me. "Shh. It's okay, little one. It's called talking. They're talking to each other, using sounds. That's what you're hearing," the gentle voice whispered, right into my left ear. Ear! Her instructions came less verbally and more as understanding, as the definition of hearing and talking drifted into my being. She was also a she, I realized. That was somehow important. She was sharing her understanding of the concepts with me, and I suddenly really wanted to listen to her more. "Pulse is stable. Mental activity is fully stimulated. It's alive, and appears to be fully functioning again," that first voice spoke once more. My newfound understanding told me that it was a male voice, so 'he' should be used. I wasn't entirely sure what that indicated, but it seemed exciting to find out! "A miracle, really. The way those barbarians froze the remains of Subject Zero Zero, without even realizing the subject was pregnant... We're lucky the offspring hadn't degraded even more," the second voice added, sounding faster and somehow agitated. That whisper returned, adding, "She's angry. Anger is hostility. It's a feeling, or an emotion. Those are things we feel." Feel! At that, I was almost overwhelmed at the information drifting into me. Overwhelmed! New understanding took hold in my mind, with hundreds of different feelings described in but an instant. Emotions were something foreign, and a little scary, I suddenly realized. Scary, I now understood directly! "Well, with what little was left of Subject Zero Zero, I doubt they even suspected anything could be alive in there. Regardless, the test was a success. Should I shut it down now?" the first voice asked. Shut it down? There was a moment of silence, a new concept for me, as the two voices had been exchanging words constantly before now. Anger spiked inside of me, and I suddenly realized it was from that gentle entity holding me. "Shut it down? Why would we do that?" the second voice asked, sounding a bit 'surprised'. I was getting good at this! "Well, it was successful. And we can always bring it back to life later, right?" the first voice asked. That inner feeling around me boiled up, anger spiking as she hissed, "No, you can't!" "No, you can't! I mean, you can't just kill him now. He's alive, and let's keep him this way. It will be more useful for the experiment," the second voice theorized. There was hesitation after her first outburst, and I realized she'd felt that sudden anger, too. Another long pause, and then the first voice asked, "Um, he?" The skeptical tone was short lived as the female sharply answered, "Yes, 'he'! The subject is male, so it's proper terminology to refer to him as he. We use proper terms here, understand?" There was a sudden sensation of authority, and I felt a spike of panic from the other entity. Their feelings drifted through the air like subtle waves, and the being that was holding me showed me how to feel them at the same time. "Ah! Y-Yes, sorry, Doctor Kyliona! Um, I meant no offense. Please forgive me," he quickly intoned, shifting to terrified halfway through. Another pause, before this Doctor Kyliona sighed and returned, "Forgiven this time. Now release the anesthesia. We'll let him rest for now." That gentle inner voice explained to me what 'sleep' was as we slowly drifted backwards, everything darkening around me. Mmm, I liked sleep! I decided that sleep felt really nice, shortly before fading away... * * * * * We were in the dark, me understanding what that was suddenly. That nice female moved in gently, then I felt something press against me. Two nudges, and a plethora of new sensations hit me as I felt two things she called eyelids open up. Her own being snapped into focus, and I realized I was getting yet another new sensation bombarding me. Understanding followed, her forehead touching to mine. Vision, or sight! Colors, shapes, light, dark... There were so many things to learn! I quickly took in everything about her, her own knowledge drifting to me with each piece I examined. I took her image in, that soft smile towards me as her sky blue eyes shivered with light. Mane and tail drifted messily around her, the light blue locks seemingly shifting about on an unseen breeze. Her coat drifted, too, almost white in color but with a bit of cream mixed in. She was beautiful, and I felt her hold me gently to her as I suddenly got 'knowledge' of every part of her I looked at. "No need to be scared, little one. You're dreaming, but I can be with you here. I'm still at your side when you're awake, too, but you just can't see me," she promised softly. I knew her. It was instinctive, almost. Wincing at the new lights all around me, I lifted one of my own, much smaller hooves to shield my eyes for a moment before timidly smiling back. "M-Mother?" I asked quietly, afraid that I'd be wrong. She giggled, however, and nodded almost immediately, a gentle calmness drifting through me. I was right! "I'm right here with you, my son. I've been with you for a long time now," she explained, her eyes softening a little, although that eagerness remained. I felt it. She'd wanted to 'meet' me for a really long time now, and was enjoying this. What 'this' was, I didn't quite know. Glowing blue swirls drifted around us in a much darker blue nothingness, us being the only light present here. Hazy clouds drifted about before fading off to black in the distance, and I grew uneasy, looking out into the dark. My mother smiled, turning my head to face her again a moment later. "No need to be scared. I'm right here with you, and always will be. There's no Ether in this very sad place, so we're the only light here. If things go badly, I'll carry you back to our Ether myself, don't worry. Then you can meet your father and other mom, okay?" she assured softly, smiling more earnestly at me. Go badly? It didn't really matter, and I snuggled more into her fur, earning a shiver from her. I trusted her, knowing she really was my mom. She'd take me home if we needed to go. "What's going on?" I asked, my own small voice muffled by her fur. She held me close for a long moment before kissing the top of my head and whispering, "You just woke up. You're with a race known as 'Keldarians'. They're a bad, bad race for the most part, but I've been 'speaking' to this Kyliona. Her heart is repairing itself, through both my influence and the energy we carry with us. You can trust her." Bad race? I instinctively knew I shouldn't ask. We drifted like that for who knows how long, with her just holding me. I had more questions, but I could almost taste her loneliness. She needed this a lot more than I did, and I was happy to just nuzzle into her chest, her tears drifting away around us, both happy and sad energy coming from her. My mother... * * * * * She'd told me what to do. I could hear her in my mind, even if I couldn't see or feel her when awake. Even though I knew how, I wasn't supposed to talk yet. Foal steps at a time, she'd said. Still, eager to test out what I could, this time my eyes opened as I felt myself drifting. Everything was tinted a rather weak green color, and I could feel the plastic tubes attached to the mask over my muzzle, the seal solid and giving me air to breath. The liquid felt strange against my eyes, but I adjusted fairly easily, then looked down at the wires plugged into me in various spots. Plates of organic metal extended out of my skin, just like Mom had warned me about. They'd made me part 'machine' in order to save my life, but she assured me that my essence was completely intact, and one hundred percent pony. I trusted her completely. Past the liquid, I caught my first glimpse of the Keldarians, about six present. They were a small race, about a meter or so tall, and had blue fur as a norm, it looked like. Despite their uniform coat color, they had different hues of color to their manes. Mom corrected me a moment later, revealing that they called the tufts specifically on their heads 'hair'. Some were in the pink hues, and others appeared to be in the blue range. One had dark purple. All of them wore 'clothing' over their forms, and had four additional bumps off their chests, which Mom also explained meant they were female. Weird. "Oh, he's fully awake this time! The cybernetics must be doing their job and advancing his age slightly faster than normal. Nanites are at ninety percent ideal saturation levels as well. With luck, we might be able to remove him from life support in a few days," the one in the back stated, in an all too familiar voice. Kyliona! My eyes locked onto her, taking in her form with interest. She was the one with the purple hair. Given that she looked to be the oldest in the room, maybe it was an age thing? She adjusted the spectacles against her nose, two long bangs framing each side of the glasses, and a tied up bun in the back, looking to keep her longer hair out of the way with as little effort given to it as possible. Our eyes locked, her darker red ones widening a little. The closest female to my tube perked as well, observing, "Oh, he's aware enough to note us talking. I wonder how accurate your theories are about their sapience?" Her voice was soft, and she smiled up at me as I looked down at her as well. She had much shorter hair of the soft pink variety, and sapphire blue eyes. She looked downright young in comparison, although her being closer, I noticed they were only mostly like a cat. Their faces were a bit wider, almost holding a 'bear' look to them. She was pretty. "Their brains are large enough to sustain sapience, I believe, based on his body ratios. If Specimen Zero Zero's upper body had been in better shape, we might have been able to figure more out, but I suppose time will tell," Kyliona muttered, picking her pad of paper up again. There was that 'Subject Zero Zero' again. They had talked about that the last time I was awake, too. The female behind the cute, pink haired one rolled her eyes, however. "There's nothing yet proving sapient thoughts. Given that Subject Zero Zero materialized an estimated fifty meters in the air, yet somehow didn't manage to right itself away from its head before it hit the ground provides evidence to the opposite, self-preservation instincts what they are," she pointed out. Huh? The closest Keldarian looked annoyed at the comment, turning with a glare. "Subject Zero Zero is a 'she', not 'it'. And the only reason Subject Zero One is alive right now is because her upper body shielded the impact. Maybe, if she was sapient, she knew that would happen and intentionally wanted to save her offspring?" the female pointed out. There was a gentle burst of acknowledgement from inside of me at that. "You're the most important thing to me, Little One. I had to give you as much a chance as I could!" Mom whined inside of me. I understood. She'd sacrificed a lot for me. Her body was already gone, but even afterwards, her spirit had stayed with me, ready to guide me back home if my body gave out. I understood that now, and Mom suddenly realized that I already felt 'older' inside. I was growing far faster than normal. "Enough!" Kyliona hissed, glaring down at both of them before continuing with, "This is speculation until we prove otherwise, so keep your theories to yourselves. Also, Keela, I'd like to talk to you after this battery of tests is concluded." Keela? The Keldarian closest to me perked at that, then smiled and nodded, seeming unfazed at the request. Ah, so she was 'Keela', then? I jerked, however, as a little metal prod extended out of the metal bank to my right, then poked me in the side. Nothing happened, however, and I saw the machines start to print things off out near Kyliona instead. After a long moment of studying the paper, she shook her head. "The energy the creature emits is already several times what it was prior. We're getting amazing readings, but the radiation values are high enough to punch through the reinforced crystaline tubing of the life support. We may have to consider additional shielding," she muttered, adjusting her glasses again as she read down lower on the print out. "Taking a few more samples, Doctor Kyliona," Keela reported, typing at the holographic console in front of her. Two more rods extended out, and I flailed as they poked me three more times in the side, a little squeak escaping from me as they actually tickled my tummy. Keela let out a little giggle while watching me, then slapped her paws over her mouth an instant later. The female behind her gave her a skeptical look, but just rolled her eyes instead, typing at her console as well. Okay, I liked Keela a lot more, I decided. After two more rods popped out and started poking at my other side, too, I realized that this was going to be a long awake period, this time... * * * * * Mom giggled, watching me drift about in front of her, flailing. She caught me again, and I clung to her chest instead, earning a laugh as she held me closer. "You're growing up so fast, Little One. I just wish your Dad, Mom, and I had talked more about a name for you. It's been almost three hundred years, though. They're both probably in the Ether by now. I lost everything with them," she whispered, eyes softening a little. Sensing her sadness, I leaned up and nuzzled her under the chin, earning a smile again. "No, I made the right choice, of course. I'm never going to leave you. One way or another, I'm taking you back home with me when I go. I'll not leave my little colt here by himself in some strange dimension. Bastion and Aura would agree. I know they would!" she exclaimed, sounding like she was trying to assure herself of that very fact. "They love you, Mom. Of course they'll understand," I chirped, trying to give her the 'cute eyes' I knew she liked so much. She smirked, and I knew it had worked as she squeezed me closer again. "You're adorable. If we do manage to get back to Equestria, I have a feeling you're going to be a little heartthrob when you grow up," she cooed, grinning rather impishly at me. I understood most of what she said, but that word was weird. Tilting my head to her, I asked, "What's a 'heartthrob'?" She so rarely had to give me more 'knowledge' of things, me being able to think far more clearly, it felt like. She said it was because I was growing up. She grinned, and my mind screamed 'It's a trap!' before she even said anything. "Oooh, it means the mares will be falling all over you to try to get you in a herd. Maybe I'll even get grandfoals one day!" she explained. Oh. Blushing, I scratched the right side of my head with a hoof, then shrugged. "Um, I'm not entirely certain what you mean by 'grandfoals', but I'm not so sure anypony would like me. Um, aren't I partially made of metal now?" I pointed out, hesitating at that. Females were kinda weird, and I wasn't sure if I wanted them falling on me. Mom giggled again, then corrected, "Actually, it appears to be a form of organic metal that's been synthetically grown using your own DNA structure in order to promote the highest possible compatibility ratio and also get it to scan as normal bone and skin structures. It's... uh... wait, no, that's not the important part!" I blinked slowly at that, but she rapidly appended, "No, it doesn't matter. You're a hundred percent Earth Pony inside, and any mare who actually deserves you will be able to see that! If one can't, I'll buck her in the face so hard her actual body will feel it!" I shrank back from her angrily wracking her two forehooves together, and she grinned. "Relax, I'm on your side, my little one. I've just gotta screen any mare after your heart, first! I can't let you get hurt by a mare who doesn't have your best interests in mind," she assured, reaching forward again and squeezing me afterwards. "Do mares really do that?" I asked, tilting my head curiously. She was a mare, but I didn't feel unsafe or unsure of anything while around her. She thought about it for a moment, then explained, "Not usually, no. Your biggest danger is the mare herself not knowing how she truly feels. Trust in your instincts, though, and you'll be fine. Oh, and of course listen to your mother. She has your best interests in her heart, and will always fight at your side!" I smiled at that and nodded twice to her, her returning a single nod back as she relaxed. It wasn't hard to feel her close indeed. She'd attached herself to me, and I didn't think there was anything that could remove that link now. We snuggled for a while longer, with her just smiling and holding me. She’d wanted to do that for a long time, too, I realized… * * * * * Memories flickered by. My head hurt a little bit. The light was too bright outside of the tube, and I winced, lying there on the table and keeping my eyes half lidded. Not being constantly covered in fluids was also weird, but there wasn’t much I could do. There were only three Keldarians with me this time, all wearing heavy yellow suits that looked really weird on them, a big blocky hood over their heads that had glass in front of their faces. I wasn’t entirely sure why they were wearing them, but it seemed important as Kyliona had gone over suit safety instructions before they came into the room. My hearing was really good now! “His medical examination is perfect. One hundred percent ideal saturation levels for the nanites as well, and his cybernetics are fully integrated. I think he’s doing wonderfully,” Kyliona noted, lifting my foreleg up with a gloved paw while I watched her. They were all extremely careful in my treatment, and I felt relaxed. None of them had hurt me, and seemed almost happy around me this time. I wasn’t going to complain. “Are we sure that we got everything right? We don’t have a male example, and I’m not sure how good an idea it was to look to our Allies for ‘equine’ animal structures. This is an alien, after all,” the unknown female pointed out. She nudged me between my back legs again, and I raised an eyebrow back at her. Keela shrugged at that, being the third Keldarian in the room. I also noticed that she appeared to be second in charge, despite her youth. “Sheaths for an extending penis seemed ideal, and a lot of species have a baculum in order to help with mating,” she pointed out. Oh, that was that thing back there that they were referring to. Colts apparently had them. Kyliona nodded at that, assuring, “Don’t doubt Keela, Litta. She’s done a lot of research on all of the gaps to his body structure we had to fill in, and they should be fairly accurate, even if maybe not precise as to his species.” Oooh, so Keela had been responsible for helping heal me, then. I looked back over at the Keldarian, and she smiled warmly at me through the glass faceplate. “I’m not doubting her,” Litta assured, then appended, “I’m more concerned about these suits. Outside of the tube, his radiation levels are twice as extreme as before, and for every day under the accelerated growth, they triple anyway. Are we sure that these will protect us from the energy?” For a long moment, Kyliona said nothing, her paw coming to rest on top of my head as I turned to look up at her. Her eyes softened, and she chuckled a moment later. “Actually no, I’m not. How such a small creature emits this level of radiation is completely beyond our comprehension. We’re also not entirely sure what the energy even is yet, nor what effects it has on our bodies. So far, not a single mutation or malignant change has occurred in anyone, even Keela who was most heavily dosed in the last experiment,” she revealed. Litta seemed surprised by that answer, looking back down at me curiously with her lemony yellow eyes. Keela shrugged to the other side of me, however, drawing my attention back to her as she explained, “The way it seems to exist outside of physicality, it’s amazingly hard to stop it from permeating everything. Only specific materials block it at all. Given that the energy is ignoring organic material completely, we actually have reason to believe that it’s incapable of affecting us. Regardless, I still suggest a lockdown and quarantine on the lab until we can further study its effects.” “I already requested that, and they’re installing the full system locks this afternoon. We’re already in a bunker, so they’re fine with sealing us in, of course. I also have blood tests running on us in the lab,” Kyliona assured, adjusting her heavy glove so that her fingers fit better into it. Keela smiled further, however, looking down at me. Huh? “We still need a better example of how it affects us. A volunteer would be for the best,” she suggested. Volunteer for what? Litta pondered that before shrugging. “We could always request a low rung male be sent in for experimentation. It’s not like the council hasn’t offered, like, fifty of them. I think they may be starting to think we’re weird, not having any live experiments at all,” she suggested, giggling afterwards. The hiss and pop of pressure made everyone jump, including me as I snapped back to looking at Keela. The other Keldarian’s eyes widened as she finished popping the seals on her hood, and folded it back over her head a moment later, fur now fully exposed to the air. “Nah. I’ll do it. I’ll give better reports as to the effects anyway,” she volunteered, smirking over at Kyliona, who dropped into a somewhat disbelieving, if not amused expression. “Uh, no offense, but you’re kinda crazy, Keela,” Litta muttered, looking shocked still. Was the air that bad to breathe in here? I felt normal, anyway. “She just wants to pet him,” Kyliona teased, looking purely amused as Keela grinned, taking off her gloves as well. Pet? My eyes widened as she felt along my coat with her paws instead, dancing up to my shoulders. Then she scratched behind my ears and I shivered, leaning into her touch. It felt really good! She giggled at my behavior, then pointed out, “Come on. You know he’s cute. Do you really blame me?” To my surprise, she lowered her face right down to me, and bumped into my nose with her own, grinning at me. “If you grow a third arm, you’re responsible. Anyway, Litta, go wash down. I’ll clean the tools, and now Keela gets to stay in here for a little bit while I figure out if she’s going to die or not,” Kyliona ordered, gesturing to the other Keldarian. Litta nodded and snickered, waddling over to the contamination lock in her big suit while Kyliona started gathering up all the doctoring tools they’d poked and prodded me with for the last hour. Stepping out of her suit fully, Keela stripped down to just a few articles of clothing covering her, including a sheet or something over her upper chest to cover those bumpy things, and a cloth that tucked up between her two legs, tying back around her long tail. It was the first time I noticed that she had metal thingies too, but they looked significantly less involved than mine were. Hers was a single metal band going through her left ear, and another just under the tuft of her tail, also looking like a ring. I wondered idly what they were supposed to do while she pulled a plastic stick out of the back of her hair and let it fall down into the two relaxed pigtails she had earlier. “Heh. Watching me, huh? You’re certainly curious, little guy,” Keela chirped, looking down at me in amusement before she sat down next to me instead. I turned to watch her curiously, wondering what she was going to do next. My mother smiled inside of me, then stated, “She likes you, and didn’t need any healing on the inside at all, apart from the physical. She already won’t be affected by the ‘radiation’ they’re so worried about, because she doesn’t have any corruption anyway. Both her and Kyliona are safe.” Oh? Did that mean…? She nodded inside my mind, and I smiled, Keela giving a start in front of me. “Wow, it almost looks like you’re…” she murmured, looking down at my mouth curiously. “Um, y-you’re nice,” I finally admitted, voice a bit raspy for never having been used. Keela’s eyes shot open to full mast, and Kyliona dropped three tools she’d been carrying, whipping around to look over at me in surprise. I tried really hard not to snicker, instead just blushing and smiling a bit more at their startled reactions. It was like a fun practical joke that had gone off perfectly! Keela recovered fast, however, then grinned. “Okay, we’re definitely going to have to name you now…” she admitted. * * * * * “Easy. Steady, Azure. You can do this,” Keela chirped, paw braced on my shoulder as I carefully walked along, legs shaky under me. It felt so weird to be trying to move all four of them at once and somehow keep myself upright! It had been two days since I first spoke, and Keela had named me based off my coat color, she said. It was a pretty name, so I didn’t exactly have a problem with it. Mom said it wasn’t very ‘pony’, but it was a good name for now. Kyliona walked alongside us, notepad at the ready as she scribbled a few more notes down. She was in her normal lab suit today, all six of them having given up on the ‘irradiated’ thingy. I understood now that they’d thought I was contaminated or something, and had instead just locked the entire bunker down to ‘protect other Keldarians’ from me and my energy. Kyliona said it was a lie, however, and was to protect me from them instead. They ‘wouldn’t understand’ that I was a living, breathing creature, and might hurt me. All six of them seemed really nice, but Mom said that was because my energy had already ‘changed’ them without them even noticing… “So you say your mother is inside of you, and speaking to you about us?” Kyliona inquired, taking a few more notes before smiling up at me as I stumbled. “Oh, um, yes! She gave me permission to speak to you two finally, and, um, to talk about her,” I explained, recovering my balance carefully with Keela’s help. Kyliona looked back down at her notes, then smiled, looking surprisingly gentle as her eyes relaxed. “I’m not even sure how that would be possible if it were true, but given the strange energy readings from you, I can’t rule out anything,” she admitted. The faint image of my mom faded in behind her, sticking her tongue out at the back of the doctor’s head. “Not like you’re just a soulless husk either, doctor!” she hissed, playfully swatting at the back of her head with her right forehoof. I snickered at the image, and then wobbled and fell over completely. This time, Keela caught me as she giggled merrily. I’d already fallen a couple of times, and had several bandages on myself from the nicks and scrapes. “You’re just so adorable!” she gushed, sliding me over and pulling me into her lap instead. I blushed as she just hugged me close, and enjoyed her warmth and smells. Females smelled good, as I realized a little while ago. She was wearing a simple orange outfit today, most of the scientists starting to dress ‘casually’ since getting locked inside the vault. It was a darker orange sweatpants for her today, and a lighter yellowish orange sweater. It let me really feel how warm she was as she held me against her chest. I looked up at her curiously, then smiled as she squeaked again and held me tighter. She was by far the nicest. Kyliona was nice, too, but felt more formal, as she still wore her partial lab outfit. She chuckled softly, then sat down in a nearby chair instead, looking her notes over. “Well, seeing as we seem to have given up on the ‘learning to walk’ thing for now, we’ll ask you a few more questions instead,” she suggested, flipping forward a few pages in her notes. Oooh, more of this! Keela pecked the top of my forehead, then started braiding the left side of my bangs while Kyliona summarized. “So far, you’ve told us that you come from a dimension called Equus, and your race is actually called ‘ponies’. Although not the only race in this dimension, you’re the most numerous. These six energy signatures that I’ve detected that started this whole project are what you call the ‘Elements of Harmony’, based on six core virtues that are greatly celebrated in your culture. And all of this you learned from your mother, who’s been with you the past three hundred years while you slept in cryo-stasis?” she inquired, probably seeking confirmation again. I nodded at that, then tried to explain, “Yeah. Mom shares her knowledge with me. It’s not really like talking, but more… she just gives me her own understanding of things.” I wasn’t the greatest with my words yet, but Mom said I was making wonderful progress, obviously worlds beyond the normal three day old foal. Just not so much on that walking part. Being inside a tube filled with liquid for my first two days apparently slowed down my progress there… Mm, Keela called that ‘sarcasm’ as well, and apparently I picked that up all on my own, instead. “Oooh, what’s your mom’s name?” Keela asked, causing the image of my Mom to snicker as she drifted back into me. “Gemstone Weave,” I revealed, looking back up at the Keldarian holding me as she finished the braid, then giggled again. “That’s a really pretty name. Do you know who your father was?” she asked almost immediately. She was more curious about the other things, I noticed. Kyliona just smiled and let her talk, taking down other notes while listening. I thought about it for a bit, and Mom nodded inside of me, granting silent permission. “Uh, his name’s Bronze Bastion. My other Mom’s name is Auraprism,” I informed, remembering their names and all the stuff that Mom had told me about them. “Other mom?” Kyliona asked, Keela looking like she’d beaten her to the punch by barely a second. I nodded, then explained, “We have herds. They’re groups of ponies who all love each other. She was the other female in the herd, and not my birth mother, but still loved by the two of them.” It seemed logical enough for me. Keela giggled, then admitted, “It must be weird having so many females and not as many males. Their culture must be completely different from ours!” “Possibly in a very good way. I’m sure you’re well aware of how far we’ve fallen,” Kyliona pointed out, frowning down at her notes again. Oh, that’s right. The goal of this project had gradually shifted over the last few days. It had gone from physically saving them from the Grosh, to saving their ‘souls’ as well from their own corruption. She hadn’t mentioned that in her reports… The Keldarian holding me shivered lightly, then nodded. "Yeah, I know," she admitted, eyes closing as she kissed the top of my forehead again. Kyliona sighed a moment later. "What happened with him and your sister wasn't your fault, Keela. It was his choice to leave the project, and you. You can't control how he feels," she tried to reason. Oh. Keela had talked about a male a few times in our conversations. He was someone she cared deeply for, and didn't like talking about what happened. I think she was 'with' him a while back, and it hadn't ended well. She'd fully given her time and energy to the project, after that. "I know. I just wish things could be different. That he hadn't been hurt, and that my sister wasn't so far gone she couldn't realize love for what it was. But I'm the broken one?" Keela asked, sounding frustrated instead. I could feel it coming off her at this range, Mom teaching me how soul vibrations worked. Kyliona shook her head, setting her notebook aside before reminding, “Your sister hasn’t been the same since that incident. You know she doesn’t trust males.” I suddenly had the sensation of not really wanting to meet this sister of Keela’s. My mom smiled as I let Keela hug me, sort of like a giant teddy bear. It was the same lonely, aching sensation that she had when she held me like this, and I just let it inside. Keela needed to let it out, and I let her cry against the top of my head. * * * * * It really did feel like I was growing up fast, at this point. Hopping off a cube of force I made and up on the table, I looked down at the papers that Keela was writing on, noticing that they were more lab reports. She smiled as I watched her work. Kyliona was in the lab with the crystal samples today, and I was completely bored out of my mind. The older Keldarian felt like another ‘mom’ to me, and Keela felt like a big sister as well. Knowledge was starting to come from somewhere else now, almost exactly like the knowledge that Mom gave me a lot. This was colder, though, and more rigid. It felt calculated and directed, and Keela explained that it was from the DNA they’d rebuilt my own with during those three months or so that I was being operated on in nano-surgery. They’d appended the knowledge from my donor right into my instinctive layer, attempting to give me all of his memories and training as well. The original point of the project had been to send me through into Equus as a sort of ‘scout’, and to do that, they needed somepony who could use and make an Aegis Barrier. The rest of the survival, stealth, and combat training might be useful, too, as they had no idea what it was like in the other dimension. That goal had largely been abandoned, them now knowing what it was like there for the most part. Now they learned about the energy inside of me and Mom, and hoped to send me back some day with her body as well, for proper burial rites. If a few of them could follow as well, the better. Their race was dying, and I couldn’t even grasp the pure horror that must be in that concept. The six Keldarians with me here just wanted to live out the rest of their lives peacefully at this point. “Bored, Azure?” Keela finally asked, watching me start to bat her spare pen around with my two forehooves. My nose twitched lightly as my left ear rotated around to face her by itself with a flick. “A little. Think we can upload some more games to my entertainment suite? I’ve beaten the three we got so far,” I asked, voice hopeful as I turned to smile at her, giving her those ‘cute’ eyes. The ‘first person shooter’ game was okay, but finished fast and wasn’t as deeply entertaining. Plus it was kinda bloody for my tastes, and I didn’t really get the whole ‘undead’ thing. If they had to bite people to spread the disease, you’d think after the first couple of cases, people would wise up and just start preemptively shooting anyone attempting to bite others. I enjoyed the ‘Role Playing Game’ far more, even though it was kinda bloody, too. Still, having a whole party of characters to talk to each other was fun, and I was the stalwart Keldarian hero saving the land from the flood of monsters that came from underground, far to the south! Racing was amazingly boring, however, and I technically hadn’t beaten that one, but didn’t want to play it anymore either after I obliterated my hovercar’s engines by not ‘shifting’ properly. Whatever that meant. She grinned at that and nodded, setting her pen down. “Oooh, only if I get to play it with you! I have just the one I’ve been meaning to try!” she chirped, hopping up out of her chair. “Yay!” I cheered, taking two bounds before leaping onto her chest. She grinned, almost falling backwards from my weight before catching me and supporting me against her. I was a lot bigger now, and getting quite heavy. She told me that based on my mom’s adult body, I was going to be bigger than a Keldarian was, length-wise. Probably heavier, too. I found that hard to believe, but Mom assured me it was true, and said that stallions were even larger than mares in most cases, so I’d be even heavier! “What’s it about?!” I asked, excited to try a new game as she hauled me into the lounge instead, both of us flopping down on the sofa in there. Their individual beds were connected to it, and the sofa was where I usually slept, although sometimes Keela hauled me into her room to stay with her. I didn’t mind, as I knew she was really sad sometimes, still, and she was also warm and smelled good. Being a good listener and teddy bear was easy to do. Helping her by holding her legs down, I watched as her tail bobbed in the air, her upper body hanging off the sofa as she opened the left drawer built into the underside of it and rummaged around inside. Her tail was kind of hypnotic as it bobbed and weaved excitedly in the air, especially with the shiny ring attached to the end of it. It was actually two halves of a ring clipped together, I’d come to realize later when she showed her piercing collection to me. The very tip of a Keldarian’s tail puffed out into a tuft of fur. Under that tuft was just more skin, however, before it got near the end of their spine, which ran the full length of their prehensile tail. She had that skin there pierced, so she could wear clip on rings on it. It had healed to form the hole now, which was there even when she didn’t have a ring on. Her left ear was pierced similarly along the top of it, a tight ring going over the upper ridge. They were just for looks, it seemed, which I suppose made sense, given how much I liked looking at them. They went well with her favorite color of orange, too, which was on her shorts and tank top today. “Heh, you really like my tail,” she teased, earning a blush as I looked away from her, her body dexterously sliding back up and rotating to face me as she resumed sitting normally on the couch. Oh, and Keldarians were rather flexible! Litta came out of the shower area a moment later, wearing only her underwear and idly tying her darker pink hair back in a ponytail. That hairstyle infinitely amused me, especially its name, and I smiled over at her as she caught my eye. She perked, seeing the drawer open, then grinned, trotting over to where we were and flopping onto my back, a light purr starting in her throat. “Loading up a new game onto him?” she asked, yellow eyes locking with mine as I lifted my head up to look at her resting on my forehead. She was nice to me, too, although a little bit shy at first. She’d warmed up fast, especially as that purring sound meant they were content or happy! “Yup! Rocket science, this time! Let’s see how good Azure is at engineering. Wanna play with us too, Litta?” Keela asked, smirking over at her. Oh, engineering? I did enjoy building things, so maybe this would be a fun new game, too? Litta grinned, however, then warned, “Just so long as we don’t use your rocket designs. Azure can build the rockets for us, this time.” Keela huffed at that, crossing her arms over her chest in a pout. “Hey, thirty rockets on the first stage is a totally legit tactic! We’d already decoupled them by the time they exploded,” she reasoned. Uh, exploded? I gave Keela a skeptical look, and Litta burst out into laughter at that. “You know it’s bad when Azure thinks you’re crazy. Ha!” the Keldarian on top of me declared, also earning a skeptical look from me. I wasn’t that bad a judge of character! Keela rolled her eyes at that, then held up a crystal rod to me. Nodding, I sat up more fully and extended a metal plate out of my chest, the crystal tray extending out of it. She set the crystal down onto the tray, and I pulled it back into my chest and started the upload into my storage. “Two and a half minutes!” I reported, perking up and letting my ears pop up. Games were fun, especially when I had others to play them with! Keela pulled out two controllers next, and I nodded, forming two slots in the plate below the crystal rod reader. Having cybernetics was rather useful, too… * * * * * It was so cold. Flashes of memory, and a blinding blast of heat and light. I fell through the dark, cold swirling around me like snowflakes. Everything was falling away, when two soft forelegs wrapped around me, a smile pushing into the back of my neck. I warmed up, the world feeling soft and safe again. Mom held me there in the dark, swaying softly back and forth with me as our light came back into the world around us. “Just a nightmare, Azure. Calm down,” she whispered softly into my ear. It felt so real, but distant at the same time. There was something I was supposed to be… “Just rest. Your body is growing still, and fast, too. It’s taking a lot out of you, but I’m here for you always, my little colt. Rest,” she continued, giving me another squeeze. It wasn’t time to wake up yet, so I just relaxed against her fur. For a long time, we just rested against each other. It was peaceful, really. But there had to be more than just this. We couldn’t stay here forever. “What’s Equus like, Mom?” I asked softly, a moment later. My mind opened up as I felt her hold me a bit tighter. Thousands of images of ponies and places. The sky opening up into golden hues before me, it expanded out to all sides showing the incredible view off a balcony from a mountainside. The house was huge, built right into the upper cliffs next to a massive, towering castle. One of the biggest houses, with a large garden extending out behind it, complete with a pool and oddly constructed hot tub. The mountain overlooked all of Equestria, I realized, the view spanning hundreds of miles in each direction. I saw other towns, train tracks, the sprawling countryside, and even an apple orchard far off in the distance. The sun was just coming up and bathing everything in a soft, warm light, and I smiled, feeling its heat. It was beautiful. Memories sailed on, images of Auraprism and Bronze Bastion flashing past. One was gentle and compassionate, and the other was strong and reserved. Both had immense will, and truly wanted to protect those they loved and cared about. Mom did, too. Suddenly, I realized that’s what I wanted to do as well. Skill and power was pointless if there was no goal to strive for. I’d never really considered anything past my immediate situation, but all of this really got me thinking. “Equus is beautiful. I can’t describe it in words, really. They don’t do it justice,” she murmured, nuzzling the top of my head as she held me. She was sad, and I knew I shouldn’t have asked, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to know where I came from and who I was so badly. I almost didn’t catch her continuing, however. “The four of us were so idealistic and full of hope. We wanted to save our wonderful world and protect everypony in it. But we were foolish, too. The multiverse is a big place. Protecting it all was beyond us, and we ended up sacrificing so much…” Four? She smiled, and flashes of a new stallion appeared, who I didn’t immediately recognize. His mane and tail were longer, and a silvery color. He didn’t upkeep them very well, apparently just letting them rest where they fell in the morning. The color contrasted heavily with his darker blue coat, but his eyes were a rather piercing cyan color. His Cutie Mark was an equally cyan circle with a blast of light rays coming out of the center, like some sort of lens flare. She’d never spoken about any other ponies before, and I didn’t recognize him at all. “Ether Pulse. He was my friend for most of school and into university studies. A year older than me, and I sort of looked up to him like a big brother,” she revealed. I frowned, then looked up at her carefully, but she was only resting her forehead against mine. I shouldn’t ask, but my curiosity burned bright in my mind. I felt her smile against my forehead at that, knowing the question before I even voiced it. “No, I never talked about him. We got in a huge fight about halfway through my last project. We had… Well, it was a difference of opinion on how best to protect ponies. I wanted transparency, and he was under the impression that some things were meant to be kept a secret. Plus, he never got along with Bastion all that well,” she explained, looking a bit sad again. Why didn’t he get along with Dad? From everything Mom said, he was a pretty good pony, and seemed likable enough. “But Dad sounds like such an amazing pony. I didn’t think anypony wouldn’t like him,” I muttered, frowning at the implications. She giggled, however, surprising me. “Oh, no, I realize now that he was jealous. Not just of how skilled Bastion was, but because he had me. All those years of being his friend, and I didn’t once notice that Ether had a massive crush on me. I’ve had a… Well, a really long time to think back on things, and hindsight is almost perfect,” Mom revealed, rubbing her right forehoof up and down my back. Oh, he liked Mom, too. She relaxed against me as we drifted, then smiled softly. “I wonder how he took my disappearance. If I could, I’d apologize to him for not even noticing. But it’s probably too late for that, too. Maybe we’ll see them all again one day soon,” she added wistfully. Ah, in the Ether. If I died in this dimension, she could pull me through into ours and take me with her. Those spirits that belonged to Equus returned to Equus regardless of where they were, she said. She’d felt the tug and resisted it, staying with me instead. “You’ll see him again one day, Mom. Then you can apologize,” I assured. She smiled a little wider at that and nodded, giving me another peck on the head. If my mom was happy, then I was happy! Snuggling against her chest, we relaxed and drifted in the empty nothingness, two dots of light in the vast darkness… Chapter 90The hum of the machines was rather comforting as I relaxed in the padded examination chair, idly watching Kyliona move about setting up the equipment and double checking everything. Her hair was down today, the dark purple swishing about as she rapidly went over the checklist. Her level of compulsive orderliness had become comforting as well. "Everything seems to be in order. This will be the third attempt of Experiment Sixteen, Section C. Keela, are you ready on your end?" she asked, looking into the monitor that bridged the two active labs at the moment. We were in Lab A, which was rather spacious and mostly dealt with the scanning equipment and analysis servers. Things had progressed quickly over the last two and a half months, and not just in my growth department. After the partial success of the last experiment, I was really, really excited to see how this one was going to turn out! The darker ambiance served to highlight the glowing screen in front of me, three orbs of light drifting about and projecting the image into the air itself. Relaxing, I listened to my internal hum, too, smiling as I felt the computer parts process the data Kyliona was feeding into me. Keela nodded in the side screen to my right, also being projected by one of my hovering orbs. They'd installed this system only last week, and it had not ceased to delight me since. Twenty-four 'self-extension' orbs, for projecting images, playing sounds, or casting my magic through. They told me it would be useful when I did the full jump to 'Equus'. "I'm ready. Scrying is prepared, and I've locked onto the coordinates from last time. All we need is Azure to engage," the Keldarian confirmed, typing into her side computer while her other hand operated the complex spell engine in front of her. They taught me how to do this, and I nodded, feeling the link inside of me churn. It was immensely powerful, and almost immutable to me. It felt like a vastly tall pillar of pure, absolute rock anchoring down into an incomprehensible ocean. The water failed to even shake it, and touching upon it drew me specifically to its location, so I could never, ever be lost. Mom told me it was proof I was a pony, and that I belonged in Equus. I'd grown comfortable with that link since then. Kyliona nodded to that, then gave the go ahead with, “Begin experiment now, Azure.” My eyes started to glow with my own amber light, inner magic activating and grabbing onto all of the links that Keela gave me. Her spell was indeed ready, and I pulled my focus along my link again, feeling it open up before me as easily as drawing a curtain. It went far more smoothly than even our last attempt. My screen lit up, and for a moment, I was disoriented as usual, seeing through two sets of eyes instead of one. The extra set didn't exist, however, I remembered... The dark ambiance was gone, the new vision impossible to ignore as the sky exploded into light and warmth. An orange cascade of a new dawn opened upwards and the horizon expanded out in front of me. We fell, the blast of wind dancing across my mind as I rushed downwards, following the beads of light that Keela's magic showed me in my head. We were a good team. I spun, shooting in an intangible stab through the clouds and rushing down through the Spring air. 'Spring' was something new I'd learned, along with the rest of the seasons. The ground spiraled under me, and I closed my eyes for a moment, just ‘feeling’ the breeze around me as we shot downwards. I heard Keela giggle a moment later, and remembered that I certainly wasn’t the only one here as I shot to the ground instead. The dark ocean of greens and browns flew up faster than I could fathom, and suddenly a thick forest was all around me as I burst down close to the ground and reaching the team’s observation point. I saw a softer smile come from Kyliona as I settled into place, shifting back to my actual vision with one eye. The older Keldarian examined the screen for a long moment before nodding mostly to herself. “No changes since last time appear to be present. Insect and flora are within three percent of their genetic equivalence. Astounding for a dimension that’s, in theory, developed completely separately from this one,” she observed as we reached our usual clearing in the woods. This was the lighter forested area in this region, both less dense of trees and having different types entirely. It was hard for Mom to remember properly as she said she didn’t live in this area, but she thought this place was called the ‘Whitetail Woods.’ “Not entirely no changes,” Keela warned, giving me a mental arrow, and I turned to look in the direction she indicated. On the other side of the clearing, across the gently gurgling stream, there looked to be equipment of sorts set up. There was a fancy box on a tripod with crystals sticking out of it by the looks of it. Wires connected it to a smaller machine that had a paper feed in it, and a few sheets sticking out the bottom. My ears perked up, and I drifted over closer to the machines. I gave a squeak as it started beeping, however. Had I done something wrong?! A prior unnoticed tent opened up just a bit further back into the woods, and to my utter shock, another pony stepped out of it, giving a tired looking yawn and heading over to the equipment. It was a mare, I instinctively knew, and she was rather pretty. Her mane and tail were a golden brown in color, almost matching her lighter gold eyes. Interestingly enough, her coat color was a darker green instead, although it complimented her eyes quite well. Her mane was rather messy, though, and it looked like she’d just woken up. “Oh! This is interesting. I don’t think we’re ready to observe others in this dimension yet, but I suppose this is a prime opportunity. This appears to be another ‘pony’,” Kyliona noted, looking interested as she shifted her glasses up on her nose and examined the mare. I did as well, more for never having seen another pony before now. “It’s a mare. A female,” I informed, and was then nudged in the side by the only other Keldarian in the room. Huh? Glancing back towards Mirin, I saw her grinning again, and inwardly groaned. She was the second youngest member of the team, if you only counted the twins once, and Litta’s little sister, sharing her yellow eyes. Her hair was a light blue instead, however, and done up in pigtails in the back. She didn’t have her older sister’s restraint, sadly. “Is she cute?” she chirped, causing my cheeks to heat up and I swatted at her with my tail, earning a laugh as she flailed and dodged out of the way. There was a snort, then Litta cut in over Keela’s line. “Stop distracting him, Mirin. Wait till later when we’re off duty,” she reminded. Uh… thanks, I think. Keela rolled her eyes in the video feed, then suggested, “Or you could just, you know, not at all?” Heh, Keela was always sticking up for me, which made me happy. Plus, she was one of the highest ranking members here apart from Kyliona, so they all sorta had to listen to her. Her magic was really, really powerful, too! Illusions were fun, and Keela let me play with them quite a bit. Of course, we also used them for more practical uses, too, like that time she linked her mind up with me and helped me make an illusionary image of my Mom so they all could see what she looked like. “Hey, you’ve only claimed him as a glorified teddy bear! Besides, it’s Kyliona’s fault for not letting any boys into the contamination area!” Mirin complained, huffing afterwards, then tacking on, “If he thought Keldarians were attractive, too, we could totally…” Her statement ended abruptly as she put her paw on my back flank and I squealed, flailing away from her as she broke into giggles again. No! Not that again! Ever since the bath incident that made me start washing myself from then on, I’d never heard the end of their teasing! Her giggles ended just as abruptly as a clipboard collided with the side of her head and knocked her over. “Enough! This is important research data, so stop screwing around while working!” Kyliona reminded, glaring at Mirin on the floor, who rapidly held her paws up with an apologetic face. “S-Sorry! Right! I’ll get back to monitoring the video feed!” the smaller Keldarian quickly apologized, scrambling back up to her feet again. Blushing lightly, I got control of the link again and refocused it, snapping the picture back into focus and also adding, “I’m sorry, Kyliona.” The older Keldarian relaxed and smiled at me before brushing her paw gently through my mane, causing me to relax. “Calm down, Azure. It wasn’t your fault, and you’re doing marvelously. We’re getting lots of data, but it would seem we’ve been discovered,” she responded, gesturing back to the screen. Instead, I shifted my attention back down the link and noticed the mare hastily checking the readings, then squeaking as she pulled out another strange machine with an array of crystals on long spokes. It looked sort of like an orrery, but where the planets were replaced by carved crystal spires. To all of our surprise, a voice came out of it a moment later, as all the spires lit up and a hazy image of a pony wearing a dark hood faded in amidst all of the crystals. “Ah, I was hoping you’d call soon. Do you have a report, Snapshot?” the pony asked, voice deeper and definitely male. Snapshot? For some reason, Mom froze up inside of me as well, eyes widening radically. Ah! Wait, did she know Snapshot?! “Yes! You were right. The location of the last two energy readings is activating again! I’m not sure what all these numbers mean, but the last address is three hundred and twelve, like you said to look out for,” the mare, assumingly ‘Snapshot’ announced into the crystal. The hooded stallion was quiet for a moment before exhaling softly. “It’s the same location, then. The same dimension that they connected to before. It’s bleeding through again, but specifically at that location. Why?” he asked, sounding like he was talking to himself. The mare frowned, then glanced back at the readings as the machine took a few more. I shifted closer, trying to peek around and look at what the machine was spitting out. There were lots of numbers on the sheet with labels to the left of them, and I felt Mirin’s display zoom in and start recording all of them as I watched. They could all see this, after all. “Um, am I supposed to do anything, or just keep getting data? Also, are you sure you should keep this from the others?” Snapshot asked, glancing back at the floating projected head with the black cowl over himself. He didn’t answer immediately, and she instead turned back to look into the clearing, then froze. Her eyes locked right onto me, and I gave a start, momentarily locking eyes with her as well before I looked down and saw my now glowing hoof stepping on one of the power cord thingies leading up to the scanning device. Ah! Oh no! “G-Ghost?!” Snapshot squeaked, taking a step back before frantically looking around her, then reaching for a brown bag with a strap that was left near the scanning device. “Camera!” Mirin identified almost instantly, as the dark figure in the crystals turned to look abruptly at me. For a long, scary moment, I saw two glowing blue eyes looking out from under the darkness of the hood, like frozen embers from some horrible underworld. They widened as they saw me, and Kyliona cut in instantly. “Cut the connection, Keela!” she ordered. The image was gone in an instant as I felt the steering magic fall out from under me, and I shivered, flopping onto my stomach from the sudden loss of energy. That was the longest run we’d done yet, and certainly the liveliest. I’d felt rather lightheaded afterwards, as the energy ebbed around inside of me from the exertion. Mirin was there almost instantly, back to looking serious as she got a glass of water up to my muzzle, and massaged my upper back and along my neck where the tension had started to build. She was our healer, after all. She held the glass for me as I took a long drink, then shivered, relaxing against the table. “Are you okay, Azure? There was a lot of magic involved with that equipment, and whomever that other individual was,” Kyliona asked, frowning as she turned the lights back up in the lab. Glancing inside of me, I saw Mom slowly massaging my energy back into working flows, then smile at me, shaking her head. “No, I… I think it was just my imagination. Don’t mind me,” she assured to the unspoken question as to her reaction earlier. There were lingering doubts around her, however, and I raised an eyebrow, but she merely averted her eyes. I knew I wouldn’t get anything more out of her when she did that, and exhaled, shifting my attention back to reality. “I’ll be okay. That was just taxing, is all. I don’t think my inner energy was meant for this sort of thing,” I assured, feeling a bit of the tiredness ebb out of me. Keela smirked at that, then asked, “Which? Projecting yourself across a spatial dimensional gap using applied quantum fields, or doing so while simultaneously letting six others piggyback along your connection to watch?” Uh… “Yes?” I answered, earning a giggle from Mirin, who wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a squeeze. “You’re adorable, Azure,” she pointed out, earning an eye roll from both Keela and Kyliona. Coughing, the doctor rapidly got us all back on track with, “We’ll need to abandon that spot, unfortunately. Despite its close proximity to these ‘Elements of Harmony’, it’s obviously no longer secure. The ponies have higher technology than we thought.” Mom remained silent, but I could tell she was bothered by what had happened far more than she was letting on. Our link worked both directions, and despite her being really, really good at blocking it, I could still feel a bit of her feelings. Kyliona continued a moment later, however, knocking me out of my thoughts. “Keela, get me the readings and metrics from your spell output. Mirin should do another mental check on Azure to ensure he’s okay. Litta, get me an analysis on those number readings from the machine we saw. The twins should get me an analysis of both devices from the output we got,” she ordered, gesturing between the two windows as she addressed the other members of the team. The twins, also in Keela’s viewing window, silently nodded both at once and headed into the engineering lab. They were the last two members of the team and something of engineering geniuses, Amre and Kyre. Both had pink eyes and darker blue hair. Really, the only way I could tell them apart was that Amre always wore her ponytail on the right side of her head, and Kyre on the left. They were also really quiet and shy, although they seemed to like petting me. I’d fallen asleep to them on either side of me like bookends, massaging along my coat. It was rather nice, actually. Mirin grinned at that, and then tacked on, “I’ll give you a full scrubdown and physical, too, just to be sure!” Ack! “He can wash himself, Mirin!” Keela reminded almost instantly, only earning a giggle and nod from the younger Keldarian before she pulled me off the table. Thankfully, I was used to having four legs now, and casually landed on all four hooves before getting hauled towards the decontamination airlock. This was going to be a long day… * * * * * We stood over the silent embankment, fires and death blazing below us equally. The images no longer bothered me, having come into a majority of my DNA Donor’s memories now. Keela sat next to me, legs dangling off the cliff and staff still glowing, her protection and healing magic having enabled us to win the day. The evil, dark creatures had been driven back underground, and we won back the keep they’d overrun earlier in the storyline. Smirking, I glanced back over at Litta and Mirin as they continued arguing. “No, the grunts only count for one point, otherwise your stupid area attacks would obviously get you more! The three captains I took out were obviously worth more than one point, so yes, I win!” Litta argued, gesturing at her gore covered longsword with her other arm, and almost bashing Mirin in the face with the shield strapped to it at the same time, if accidentally. Mirin stepped back away from the shield and glared at her sister irritably, then gesturing with her staff as well. “Hardly! Even if the grunts only count for one point, I killed thirty-eight of them! Even if we make the captains count as five points each, I still totally beat you!” she yelled back, earning another giggle from Keela, who was just amused by it all. They both glared over at her, but she was unfazed as she pointed out, “Azure killed five captains, and took down the dragon boss. Doesn’t that mean he wins?” I blushed, remembering flicking up and catching onto the dragon’s head, then riding it as it flailed around and I drove hoof blades into its neck… It was quite exhilarating, honestly. Mirin huffed, then pointed out, “No! He cheats. He’s, like, trained spec ops or something with those memories!” I averted my eyes, and Keela lost her smirk instantly, shifting to a death glare at the younger Keldarian. “We were the ones who put those memories in him. Yeah, we know he doesn’t need them for when he goes to Equus now, and yeah, we were different people back when making those decisions, but that doesn’t change that we did it to him. Showing blatant disrespect for that is not tolerated!” she warned sharply, causing Mirin to widen her eyes and hold up her paws in front of her, dropping her staff at the same time. “Ah, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean it like that!” she quickly apologized, looking sheepish and uncertain if she was going to be gutted on the spot or something. If these were normal Keldarians, she might have been, however, so I think I understood. Litta shook her head slowly at that, however, sheathing her sword after flicking it clean. It didn’t actually work like that in real life, but I assume some breaks from reality were acceptable. Heh. I wondered idly if there would ever be a videogame about following behind the ‘hero’ and cleaning up the messes they left behind. “I think all of us regret who we used to be to some extent. Getting irradiated was probably the best thing that’s ever happened to us, now that we understand what it was really doing. It’s like someone lifted a dark cloud from our eyes now, and… Well, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Litta pointed out, looking solemn again as Keela relaxed and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I was too big to fully hold anymore, but I could still be an oversized teddy bear if they needed me to. “Yeah. Silly high level energy that ignores physicality. That does explain why those heavy, lead layered, magically woven contamination suits didn’t do a thing to stop it, though…” Mirin muttered, blinking at that. I think she was more upset by the fact that her fancy suits hadn’t stopped it than that it had actually changed her. Keela exhaled into me, hugging me tighter as she buried her shorter muzzle into my mane. “I regret who I used to be, too, if only for it poisoning my memories,” she murmured, arms shaking a little. Mirin’s eyes softened at that, and Litta gave a weak smile as she sat down next to me and slid up against Keela, too. “We know you miss him still. You’re a smart girl, and you know he’s not coming back. We’re here to help you move on past it, though,” she reminded. Keela had tried three times to talk to that male since I knew her. Those were her first attempts after getting locked inside the facility with the rest of the team, to my knowledge. They’d gone, well, poorly. He blamed her for what her sister did to him, on account of not being able to rescue him sooner, or tell her sister to stop. From what I knew of ‘Nirru’, she was a complete monster, however, even if Keela couldn’t or refused to acknowledge that. I don’t think anything Nirru did was Keela’s fault, even if Keela’s lover couldn’t figure that out. Keela just nodded weakly, face still buried in the top of my head, and I rested against her neck, letting her hold me close. Even if I couldn’t really do anything, my mom had explained that just being there for somepony was often a huge help. Being an ear to listen to them, and a shoulder to cry on was what friends did. All six Keldarians here were my friends, I realized, and thanks to our energy affecting them, all six had changed. Keela had changed least of all, already being ‘purified’ of the negative energy that using their magic had built up in them. Mom had explained that it was a critical flaw in how they cast their spells that caused ‘buildup’ inside of them. It slowly corroded their own genetic code over the generations, causing the number of female births to dwindle drastically, and also lead to a ‘cloud’ of negative emotions to hamper their choices, built up over dozens of generations of hatred over their own situation. The energy inside of us pulled that tangling of energy apart at its source, and healed them. Litta nodded to me, then requested, “Unhook us, Azure. It’s getting late anyway, and we can keep gaming tomorrow.” Oh, right! I pulled up my inner clock program and noted that it was already twenty-two hundred hours. Yeah… We tended to lose track of time while playing inside my entertainment suite, especially on weekends. Nodding once, I unhooked all of their psyches from my network, and opened my eyes at the same time as them. Physical contact was required to hook into my psyche, and all three of them were still against me. Keela didn’t move at all, blinking once then snuggling into my chest as my right foreleg draped over her. Litta continued her yawn that she’d started as I disconnected them, this time for real as she stretched against my back. Mirin sat up from my waist after untangling her arms, and smirked down at Keela instead. “You know, you already use Azure like a big teddy bear, so it wouldn’t be a huge jump to-“ she started to suggest. “Finish that and you’ll be thinking you’re a frog for the next hour,” Keela warned, her left eye opening and giving Mirin a dangerously pointed glare. The blue haired Keldarian clamped her mouth shut, awkwardly looking away again as her sister started laughing. Sitting up off me, she grabbed Mirin, then pointed out, “Your mouth is going to get you in trouble one of these days, Sis. Let’s get you back to our room before you’re croaking.” I lifted an eyebrow, but Litta hauled her off us and out the door all of a meter away before I could ask. Looking to Keela, I noticed her having closed her eyes and buried her face into my chest fur again. Eh, she probably wouldn’t be upset. “Croaking?” I inquired, causing both her ears to perk up. She giggled, a soft and tickling vibration into my chest that made me squirm lightly. “The sound a frog makes,” she explained, eyes opening as she looked up at me in amusement. I was as big as they were now, but she liked curling up so she could rest against my barrel instead, and tuck my legs around her. She said it made her feel safe, and I understood that much, feeling the same way when Mom hugged me. Although Mom just gave me a smirk and snicker when I tried asking her about it instead. Ugh. Females were frustrating sometimes. “Good night, you two!” Litta called out behind us somewhere, as I heard their door shut. The main room’s lights dimmed anyway, the light coming through our door lessening as Keela relaxed further. They all had their ‘pajamas’ as they called them, which I guess made it easier to sleep. It was a bit confusing to me, really, given that I didn’t normally wear clothes and didn’t really understand the point. Litta’s pajamas were just a double slip of cloth that covered her chest and then a third between her legs, so I really didn’t know why she didn’t just take them off completely to sleep. They didn’t really look all that comfortable. Her sister, Mirin, wore her undershirt for a top, and also had a little slip between her legs that looked like a bigger version of what Litta wore, but seemed a bit looser and more comfortable. That was reasonable, I thought. Keela had a big, comfy looking overshirt on that typically went down to almost her knees, but also wore an even wider and looser slip thingy between her legs that covered her rump completely, too. She didn’t wear anything on her chest under the shirt though, so I decided hers was probably the most comfortable out of all of them. Mom had explained what a ‘teat’ was on females, and I didn’t really get why they felt the need to cover them up in the first place. Although frankly, the twins probably wore the least comfortable, as they went to bed in full bodied suits, it looked like! How they didn’t overheat was beyond me. “I really should get up and brush my teeth before bed,” she murmured a moment later. Despite that, she didn’t move, however. Huh. Deciding I should still probably ask, I started, “Um, do you still want me in here with-“ “Of course. You’ve been staying in here for a month and a half now. Why would it change tonight?” Keela inquired playfully, eyes opening again as she smiled up at me. Blushing, I shrugged weakly. She already knew that! Coughing, I reminded, “You know I have to ask. It feels like it’s a bad idea to get in the habit of assuming things. Assuming feels dangerous.” Normally she snickered at that, but this time her expression blanked, and I wondered what was on her mind. Was she still bothered over that last turn of conversation from the game? Her eyes softened, then she asked, “Um, you’re right, Azure. I shouldn’t assume either. Do you, um, mind staying in here with me at night? I don’t mean to use you like a teddy bear or something. You know that, right?” Oh. That. Smiling, I nodded to her. “Of course. I know that you’re hurting a lot and that I can at least listen and let you vent. That’s no problem at all. Staying in here, um, also helps me sleep. I can hear your heartbeat, and you smell good. Both relax me, so, well, thank you,” I assured, blushing a little at that. They always got all awkward and changed colors when I mentioned smells, despite Kyliona explaining that my nose was a few times better than theirs, apparently. Predictably, Keela turned pink in the cheeks, too, and I realized I’d made her feel awkward again. She stared into my eyes for a long moment before smiling softly, the blush still not fading. “You’re a lot like he used to be, which reminds me that everyone can have good qualities, too,” she commented finally, causing me to blink. How he used to be? Her smile widened, however, and she tacked on, “But you’re also enough not like him to make me realize that he’s no longer the boy I fell in love with. They’re right. I really do need to let what happened go.” I relaxed, realizing that’s what they’d been telling her all along. I didn’t know what she saw in me that caused her to come to that conclusion, but it was enough that she did, really. Did I care how it came about? If I was able to help her… My eyes widened and my brain completely shut down as her mouth pressed into mine. She leaned up into me, reaching up and cupping my head with both her paws as she kissed me softly. Instincts flared, and I let my forelegs slide up and hold her tighter, and she shivered against me, pressing fully into my chest with her eyes squeezed shut. Her smells were all around me, and I felt relaxed yet wound tight as she stayed against me for another long moment before leaning back again, face flushed and eyes still closed. Oh… Wow… Hers finally opened, but she didn’t look up into mine, and for a moment, she just lay there. I knew what a kiss was, and all the things they could mean after Mom’s ‘birds and bees’ talk with me earlier. After… other memories from Keela’s lover had started surfacing alongside the strange feelings and awkward washing incident with Litta, she’d said it was kind of needed. I’d not expected to actually kiss a female, though! “I… T-Thank you, Azure. You might have been, um, too young for that, but… you’ve helped me start to heal my heart, so thank you,” she whispered softly. She stood up before I could reply, hastily turning away from me, the tip of her tail flicking as she smoothed out her big overshirt again. My eyes traced up her form for a moment before locking on her twitching ears, wondering which of the torrent of emotions in my chest I should try to lock onto first. Her twitchy tail and ears indicated she had a lot on her mind, too, by the looks of it. “Keela…” I murmured, causing her to freeze suddenly. I hesitated, and she turned and looked back at me, her left eye locking with mine for the first time over her shoulder. She searched mine for a long moment, apparently not finding what she was looking for so nervously. She relaxed a second later, and I saw the corner of her mouth turn up into a softer smile. She looked back towards the bathroom a moment later, then snickered lightly to herself. “I’m not leaving. I just, um, want to brush my teeth before bed. Then I’ll be back,” she assured quietly. Her ears relaxed, and her tail twitches turned into sways instead, and I found myself easing back a bit more against the mattress before nodding. “Okay. See you in a bit,” I agreed, watching her head for the bathroom. Her scent was all around me still, and I closed my eyes. That was… new. I felt Mother smirk inside of me and shifted my attention there instead. My mom was relaxing there inside of me, then gave me a wink as I materialized. I suddenly felt kind of awkward, but she only grinned. “Relax. I was just wondering when she was going to admit to it. As much as I wouldn’t mind grandfoals, I do just want you to be happy, my son,” she pointed out, making my cheeks go scarlet. “I don’t think she’s going to do that with me. Sheesh. Maybe, um, it might have been just a thank you for being there for her, too,” I pointed out, plopping down in the emptiness in the room of light that we had constructed over the weeks. She rested on the sofa within, and lay back down before giggling. “If it makes you feel safer to think about it like that, go for it. Just don’t be surprised, or worse, break her heart, if she says otherwise,” she pointed out, earning a pause from me. Her heart. I cared about all of them. I’d grown to know all six of the Keldarians here. Kyliona was like a second mother or aunt. Litta and Mirin were like sisters, really. That made Kyre and Amre feel like little sisters. That was cemented further the few times they fell asleep while petting me, and I had to carry them back to their room and tuck them in. They were adorable… Keela used to feel like an older sister to me. She’d always been there to stick up for me, and give me advice and make sure I was taking care of myself, especially when I was younger. But now… My feelings blurred. I’d always thought she was cute. Was it… Was it wrong to be attracted to a species that wasn’t your own? Today reminded me, with that ‘Snapshot’, that I was fully capable of finding mares attractive, too, but… Keela was far more than just attractive, and not just in looks. It was because I felt so attached to her. But my feelings were all jumbled up. The only thing I could really make sense of was that I definitely didn’t mind kissing her. My Mom was obviously still there of course, and smirked. “That’s a good and important start. There’s nothing wrong with liking to kiss a pretty girl, mare or not. Especially if you share powerful feelings with her. There are at least three major species in our Equus. They don’t usually discriminate between race either, there. Love is love, and should be celebrated, no matter who is involved,” she reasoned, smiling softly at me. I relaxed and nodded back to her, feeling better already. Was it weird for a pony and Keldarian to be together? Not really. Both of us were sapient, and she seemed to fully know what she was doing. I think. Okay, I should ask her that… Mom giggled, then nodded to me as I shifted my attention back outside, noting the lights dimming. I briefly saw Keela’s silhouette against the bathroom light as she shut it off then turned, letting her over shirt drop from her right paw to the floor. My eyes widened as her darkened form sashayed back over, then she snickered and kneeled down on the edge of the bed next to me. “Relax, Azure. You don’t have an issue with clothing, and it’s more comfortable for me to sleep like this, so I was hoping you wouldn’t mind. If it does bother you, I can put it back on,” she whispered gently. I relaxed a little, looking up at her softly glowing eyes, her own inner magic shining through them. Slowly, I shook my head and locked onto what could easily be agreed to. “No, if you’re more comfortable without, then you’re obviously fine,” I assured. My uneasy confidence melted completely as she smiled, and then snuggled in, her chest pressing up against me instead as her magic lifted the blankets up and over us. She was doing this and didn’t really care! Why didn’t she care?! Why did I suddenly care?! I should be fine with nudity! “The kiss, Azure,” I heard my Mother helpfully remind inside of me. I snapped to focus immediately, then looked back to Keela, swallowing nervously. Her smile turned to a smirk almost instantly, and I wondered if this was one of those “It’s A Trap!” moments. “Um, w-what about that, um…” I whispered, swallowing after to try to get a hold on my nervousness. Keela pressed me backwards, seeming unfazed to the point where I swore I felt her smile against my chest fur. Swallowing, I uneasily looked back down at her as she snuggled into me and the mattress, letting the blankets settle around her form before answering regardless of my inability to ask. “It can mean anything you want it to mean, Azure. If you want it to be a thank you, I’ll leave it exactly at that. If you want it to be more than a thank you…” she started, then leaned up a little more and nuzzled me under the chin, getting me to shiver. Ah! That was cheating! “I don’t think I’d mind. You’ve started to capture my heart as well… even if I might have to share you if we escape to your Equus together,” she assured softly. My face couldn’t get much hotter without catching fire, I decided, and I swallowed nervously yet again. What I wanted? Wasn’t that selfish, though? But she said… No, was that a trick? Was she just telling me that to try to get me to say what I really wanted, or was she trying to honestly not influence me? My head spun with feelings, and I knew what I wanted, but ironically didn’t know if I was supposed to want it. Keela grinned, her furred body pressing gently against my chest as she relaxed there, feeling pleased with me holding her. Slowly, and hesitantly, I nodded to her, then leaned down just a little. She met me halfway, gently pressing her lips to mine again, giving another soft sigh before breaking away and smirking. “That’s as good an answer as any. We can talk more tomorrow, though. Try to get some rest, Azure,” she warned, tucking her head against my shoulder blades. Only three months here, and things had already started to get weird. Why did that sound familiar? * * * * * Another shockwave hit the building, dust falling down from the ceiling as it rumbled past. It was hard to believe those shells were hitting over a thousand kilometers away! I swallowed nervously, unable to even imagine the absurd explosion and destruction that was happening elsewhere. “Come on, Kyliona! We need to get going!” Keela shouted, tossing the last of the hard paperwork into the incinerator as we got everything packed up. “We need to finish this upload! It’s almost done, and with it, we’ll have everything we need to make a portal to Equus elsewhere in space,” Kyliona returned, watching the last of the papers scan into the machine, it transferring the data into the database so it was ready to be carried to the ship. Keela frowned, looking over to Litta, who was throwing on her jacket and nodded in return. “Let’s go, Keela. Kyliona and Azure will be evacuated to us before we can leave regardless. She’s team leader,” she reasoned. The pink haired Keldarian frowned still and hesitantly looked over at me, and I gave her my best assuring smile and nod. We locked eyes for a hesitant moment, and she stormed over and glared at me from an inch away. “You’d better make it up there, Mister. I’m not losing you, too, okay?” she ordered at an undeniable, point blank range. Not that I was planning on denying it, but… “I’m not going to leave you, Keela. Nothing will stop me from seeing you again, don’t worry,” I assured, smiling softly at her. She relaxed, eyes softening for a moment before she pulled me up against her and kissed me right on the lips. I smiled into her kiss, and she returned that, too, her tongue lingering against mine for just a moment before she backed off and grinned at me. “You’ll get that and a lot more if you make it onto the ship. Now hurry up,” she ordered, winking at me before turning and heading after Litta, who was also smirking now. Kyliona gave her a skeptical smirk as well, adding, “I still don’t know why I let you do this. It’s either fraternizing with an employee or tampering with a specimen.” Litta grinned at that, then suggested, “Why can’t it be wooing a friend? They didn’t actually mate yet, so I don’t think you can call that ‘tampering’ with the-“ My blush was rather apparent, but Keela’s was almost full faced as she flailed at Litta, who only laughed and danced away from her, then stuck her tongue out. “Careful. You’re sitting next to me on the launch shuttle. Now come on. Catch up fast, you two!” Keela reminded. Kyliona gave an absent nod, then smiled at them as she turned back to typing rapidly at her computer. Both Keldarians nodded back, and then they were gone, the door closing behind them. I watched the door slide shut, then swallowed again, feeling that apprehension build back up now that Keela was gone. I wanted my promise to be true, but being a ‘specimen’, I couldn’t just walk out of here on my own. I needed to be escorted out by the lab director, and pretend to be a dumb animal as to not raise suspicions. She’d already made some bogus story about finding out she was wrong about the radiation. Then we sail out on an escape ship, use my Mom and my energy radiation to ‘infect’ the entire ship, and then take all the willing Keldarians with us to Equus and try to start a new life, far away from war, hatred, and all of this pain. I’d be taking Keela and all the others with me. I smiled at that thought, then realized it rather abruptly. “Half a year ago, wouldn’t it be strange to see them play fighting like that?” I pointed out, looking at where they had been in the lab just a minute before. Kyliona smiled softly as she burned up the last of the paperwork, then checked the upload bar on her laptop again. “Yeah, I agree fully. It’s a welcome sight, isn’t it, Azure? If only all of us could be like that. I think your energy is the key to saving our whole race,” she agreed, turning and smiling at me fully. I nodded in return, and she walked up and rubbed me on the nose, that soft and warm smile on her muzzle. I watched her for a moment, curious, as she shook her head again. “I was still considering staying behind to spread the energy to the rest of the council, but… I think you might be right. I’m starting to feel too old for all this, and with the latest reports…” she murmured, looking back to her laptop. The siege had started two days ago. The Grosh fleet had warped in practically out of nowhere. Intel from our ‘allies’ had warned that they might have developed a new long range warp drive technology that could deliver ships to fixed points with little to no warning, but the council had ignored the threat. Our ‘allies’ had prepared, and warped out less than two hours after the Grosh had arrived, and well before the warships had gotten anywhere near their defensive lines. We were stuck almost as sacrificial bait as the council and important dignitaries were evacuated first. Now it was our turn, still almost a full day in estimate before the siege would hit this part of the planet. The planet was lost, and the death count staggering now. Shaking my head, I pointed out, “You have the energy sample data drops ready, and the council is evacuating potentially with enough Keldarians to restart the race elsewhere. There’s no need for you to personally deliver the samples and data, Kyliona. Come live with us.” She smiled softly at me and nodded her head, indeed looking tired. Her laptop beeping snapped her out of it a moment later, and she glanced over at it. “Ah, the upload is done. Initiating transfer into your cybernetics for safe keeping,” she announced. Her computer beeped again, accepting the instructions and starting the transfer. “That’ll take another four minutes, then we’ll leave. And you can get back to your sweetheart all the sooner,” she teased, winking at me as I blushed again. “You think we’re weird, don’t you?” I asked, never having gotten a straight answer out of her yet. She paused for a moment, then gave me a soft smile, shaking her head. “Azure, I’ll always love you, no matter what choices you make. I also love Keela, like she were a daughter. You two being happy is more than enough for me. Your mom’s right. Love in any form should be celebrated,” she assured, rubbing a paw across my cheek at the same time. I smiled to her, then both of us gave a start as the door opened a moment later. Her eyes looked to me knowingly, and she nodded as she finished closing up the plastic casing on my container, me sniffing idly through one of the air holes at the new individual entering. “Are you sure you should be that close to the specimen, Doctor? It might not have the radiation like you suspected, but it could still be dangerous,” the male voice suggested. I didn’t recognize the Keldarian standing there, but he gave me a look of utter annoyance, and I immediately didn’t like him. He didn’t look much bigger than me, and his hair was a boring, slightly darker shade of blue from his coat. He kept it short cropped on top of his head in a military-looking cut. Kyliona gave a start, then turned to look at the well armored officer standing before her. “You? What are you doing here?” she asked, giving him a frown. He rolled his eyes, then gave a shrug in return before answering, “I was stupid enough to take back my position at special operations, and now they ordered me to make sure you were out and on a drop ship. You may not like it, and I know I don’t like it, but you’ll have to be escorted out by me.” Did Kyliona know him? She exhaled, then nodded, gesturing at her computer. “It’s got three minutes left on the transfer, then we can go. The specimen is invaluable, however, and is coming on board with me. It’s also without danger. Herbivore, as you should know, and docile as a lamb,” she revealed, sounding bored instead and shifting back to her neutral tone I hadn’t heard in a long time. She was good at acting… The nameless Keldarian nodded absently to her before wandering over and staring at me like I was an animal in a zoo or something. He didn’t even look interested really, and I saw nothing but a cold calculation in his eyes. He almost looked through me before exhaling softly and shaking his head. “Just to clear the air, I never had anything against any of your research, Doctor. You’re an amazing scientist, and are really on to something. It was Keela that made me leave…” he spoke up, looking almost remorseful for a moment while he frowned and looked over his shoulder at the doctor. My eyes widened a little as he looked away. Wait, he was the dick that had dumped Keela?! Now I just wanted to buck him in the face for all the pain he’d put her through. Of course, if he were still with Keela, she wouldn’t have wanted to be with me. Huh… Okay, now I was conflicted. I didn’t want her to have been hurt, but I also really didn’t want to share her or not have her. Mom started giggling in my head at my predicament, and I inwardly scowled at her. “I know that. I’m pretty sure all of us knew the reason you left the project,” Kyliona assured, turning back around to lean on the table the laptop was on and look at the two of us. It was a bit weird to think that this was the donor of my own augmented DNA. That meant I could technically pass as him with security checks and various other electronic- His hand whipped up a moment later. I almost didn’t track it as a spike of barrier energy flicked up and smashed right through Kyliona’s stomach, momentarily impaling her to the table before the energy dissipated an instant later. My eyes widened, as did hers as she reached down to touch at the hole in her stomach, her shirt running crimson suddenly. “Then for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. Your lab is in the opportune area for the bomb’s release system, and the cybernetics in your specimen has the optimal operating system for it,” he apologized softly, watching her slide down the table and fall to the floor. I felt frozen, my vision running red an instant later. The shards of reinforced plastic went into the side of his head as my hoof cratered the left portion of his face in, my scream of rage echoing through the lab as I sent him flying almost four meters and crashing into the leftover supply crates. He smashed through them and rolled, coming up to his feet and whipping his hand up, the spear of energy expanding towards me, only to crash to the side as the barrier coating my hoof parried it, knowing exactly what he was going to do. There was nothing left to the front of my container, and I quickly hopped out of it, whipping my other hoof downwards as I dropped. He looked somewhat surprised at my use of magic before falling into a roll and barely dodging the crash of my hammer impact, it rupturing the floor apart with energy as he cleared the distance, yanking a dagger out of his belt. I didn’t care. His expression shifted to actual surprise when I caught his arm with my own foreleg, and he couldn’t push my leg away enough to stab me. There was no way a Keldarian was going to overpower an Earth Pony. Snarling, I instead head butted him in the face, hearing his nose crunch under my forehead. Images of Kyliona falling burned into my mind and before he could even fully stumble back, I screamed again and drove both of my forehooves right into his stomach. There was nothing to cushion his impact that time, and he slammed hard enough into the door to dent it with his armor, him falling to the floor a moment later. No, not enough. Glancing to Kyliona, I saw her not moving still, and bit back the knot in my throat with rage instead. Looking back to the Keldarian, I ran at him again, fully intending to stomp on his skull until it crushed under my hooves like a watermelon. He coughed once, and gasped out, “Override P12z!” My eyes widened as my hoof froze all of four centimeters from his head, my muscles suddenly refusing to move. What?! Gasping and coughing, he struggled out from under me, barely managing to sit up against the door. Blood was smeared all over his face, and his stomach armor that I hadn’t noticed prior was dented inwards and snapped across the front plate. “Holy hell! You’re a complete monster!” he groaned out, staring at me in shock. I wanted to break his face in, and strained against my own muscles. Why wouldn’t they move?! “I’m the monster?!” I hissed out, him widening his eyes a little more. “Calm down. Focus. You can’t move, but you’re not helpless,” I heard Mother whisper in my mind suddenly. Her own focus drifted into me, and my eyes narrowed. His reaction speed was impressive. Most of his right ear landed at the base of the door, my energy blade expanding out from my own face to impale his head. He screamed in pain, clutching the bloody side of his head before reaching for something else at his side. My second attack, pulling the energy blade to the right to decapitate him, smashed into something hard, the energy fracturing as my eyes widened. He held a book out in front of him. It was black and dark orange in color, and it generated an immensely powerful shield that halted my attack. I strained against it, but it suddenly felt like I was pushing against a mountain! What the hell?! “Aaah! Damn it! No, I’m done with this! I only need your body, after all. Prudentia, activate. Use the remaining power we gathered and completely erase that monster’s mind! Oh, and erase all memory of it from the scientists. They’re probably in orbit already, and I don’t need them blabbing on me to the council if I don’t rescue their precious experiment,” he suddenly spoke out loud. My eyes widened, as I suddenly recognized what that was. An Aegis Artifact?! “No!” Mom screamed, leaping in front of me in my own mind, dozens of barriers expanding out and around us. I winced, trying to pull her back, but she snarled and refused to move, holding the barriers tight. Half a second passed, and the male frowned suddenly, looking down at his book instead. Another long three seconds passed as he turned and opened it instead. “Wait, what? Not allowed to target myself with any effects? But that’s not… wait… you’re the monster they gave my DNA to, aren’t you?” he asked quietly, wincing as he looked up at me again with frustration flashing into his eyes. He didn’t look nearly so dignified with his head almost nothing but blood, and I only growled low at him. I wanted him to die so badly that I could taste it. I couldn’t see Kyliona from my current position either. Was she okay? She knew some healing magic, but wasn’t nearly as good at it as Mirin was! “Tch, I can’t erase you, and I don’t think I could kill you in a one on one fight, so time for the next best thing. Ignoring you,” he finally decided, hauling his own backpack off and tearing it open with his claws. My mind raced. I had verbal computer commands that I apparently didn’t know about. Was it possible for me to figure them out and activate them myself? He obviously didn’t know I could talk before this, so he might not have prepared for that… I tried to bring up my access console, but found myself locked out instead. Mentally trying to remember my own passwords, I started inputting them rapidly while disrupting the failure exceptions it kept throwing. No locking me out this time. My eyes flicked back to him as he pulled out a black suitcase and opened it up, withdrawing what looked like a large timer, data console, and wiring connected to a plastic case filled with black goo. He kept his barrier up the entire time, and carefully shaped it as he kicked the case towards me, the console activating. “Damage it at all and it goes off, ending all life in the universe. Wait for it to finish and sacrifice yourself, and it kills only the Grosh, saving those you love who are in orbit right now. Your choice, Monster. Activation code R35a,” he explained, finishing with another release code for me. My chest panel opened up, and one of my cable releases popped out of it, extending out of my chest. Damn it! Passwords flicked through my display as Mom started to bring up her own console. She was about as trained as I was at this dimension’s technology, having been very curious about how it all worked, and started helping me by directly digging into the code behind the prompt, trying to pick up response cues. My screen went haywire behind my eyes as whatever it was connected to my chest and code started spewing across it, injecting itself into my operating system. How did he have so much access to me?! He stood a moment later, sliding through the sparking, partially opened door and stumbling into the darkened hallway as he held his head again, coughing. I think I broke a few of his ribs, too. To my surprise, he hesitated and glanced back for a brief moment before adding, “I didn’t want to have to kill her, but she shouldn’t have still been here. This is for the greater good. You’ll understand eventually.” The anger spiked in me again and I wanted to scream, my vocal cords locking up too as I fought against my own body. That monster! That complete monster! I could barely think, a flare of pain shooting through my shoulder as I felt something pop as I strained against myself. I winced, tears coming to my eyes both in pain and frustration, but he was gone by the time I blinked them away. Damn it! No, this couldn’t be happening… My mind whirled, eyes forcing themselves to the left as far as they could go, but still unable to see Kyliona. I wanted to run to her and make sure she was okay. Heal her somehow, or patch up her wound! No, she was tough and a powerful mage! There was no way a stupid attack like that would kill her! The chair in my peripheral vision moved a little, and my eyes widened. The lights flickered and dimmed as the entire room shook again, almost tipping me over from the shockwave. An idea flicked through me, and I used the movement to rock myself to the left, slowly turning in place with stifled hopping motions. This would have looked stupidly silly if I was in any mood to laugh, my right foreleg raised up still from trying to stomp his skull in as I hopped about in place. Kyliona crawled up slowly to the chair, bumping it a bit before crying out and clutching her stomach. My eyes widened, and I thrashed against my own body, fighting to get it to move. She panted for a second, her hand glowing under her body before she hauled herself up and into the chair, shaking there for a moment. The wound on her stomach was bad, her fur stained red, but there was an orange glow from it now, as a small barrier covered the wound. “Knew I should have… Ha. Picking up some healing techniques seems like a good idea now. Hindsight and all,” she muttered, giving a weak smile as she looked down at me. My eyes felt watery as I tried to tell her to stop talking, but couldn’t move my throat or mouth. She stared blankly at me for a moment before looking down at the device plugged into my chest. To my surprise, she continued, in a surprisingly stronger tone, "I should have known that would come back to haunt me. There's no running from your past, Azure. I've... I'm the real monster. I wanted a second chance so bad, but some things you have to pay for." I looked down at the thing, not understanding what it was in the first place, let alone how it could really do what that monster had suggested. I wanted to pull the plug out of me, but that might set it off, too. Instead, I returned my attention to attempting to hack into my own systems. Kyliona smiled weakly, then glanced over at her laptop, now splattered red across the left side of the screen. I'd seen her use it before, but didn't know why she pulled the cord up out of the side of her neck and brought it down to plug into the computer. She had cerebral implants at the base of her head that were used for processing and data storage. Mom was a few steps ahead of me already, and smiled as she dismissed the command prompt, getting us past the lockdown and into root access. The bomb had already wired into my systems, however. It was a bomb. A surprisingly small bomb, that had a very weird chemical mixture for its explosive formula. I didn't understand the composition at all, and neither did Mom by the looks of her frown. "It's a weapon of mass destruction. Biological in nature. I helped make it, and it’s one of my biggest regrets. I engineered that thing to be able to move at faster than light speeds. It’s… No, all of that isn’t important. It has a flaw,” Kyliona whispered, starting to rapidly type into her computer. Everything was locked down still, and I couldn’t figure out a way to gain access to the bomb. It was heavily encrypted and had an actual firewall installed that was filtering out anything sent to it. The timer was set for ten minutes, and there was no way that I could possibly break through it in time. Wait, a flaw? Looking back up at her, I saw her smile as she typed rapidly at her computer. “I’m setting up… Ah! Tch… I’m setting up a code injection for it. It’s plugged into you now and I can see everything he’s set it up to change. I can’t stop the changes, as he’s already started them… but I can change a few things back afterwards. This will give you back… control…” she murmured, looking tired for a moment, then wincing again as more blood spilled into her lap. I strained against my own muscles, eyes widening as I wanted to rush over and help her instead of me! Mom surprised me by accessing my command prompt instead and typing into it. “You need medical attention,” appeared in the upper corner of Kyliona’s display a moment later. The Keldarian smiled at that, then murmured, “That’s not how Azure talks. I… No, I really did believe you existed the whole time, Gem. We’ll meet soon enough, I think. No, my injury may or may not be fatal, but it doesn’t matter. I… I tried to stop it. But no. I can’t believe it, but… He was a monster. I tried, but the bomb’s already activated. There’s no way that I could even get into orbit before it explodes, so I’m dead anyway, even if I wanted to just abandon your son. Which I won’t…” What?! “Is it too late, then?” my Mom typed into her display. Kyliona relaxed, then added a few more lines of coding to the injection before looking at me fully. With some level of finality, she hit the enter button on the laptop, and I watched an ‘uploading’ bar start. “It will be launched anyway, but… there’s a weakness. A split second code injection into the firewall protocols themselves when they’re scanning a new, incoming link can overwrite them if its less than four hundred milliseconds transfer time. With that, I can use the security hole to inject this code directly into the changes that he plugged into the bomb,” she explained, surprisingly calmly as she turned to look at me fully, crossing her hands in her lap to also cover up the hole through her stomach. Four hundred…? But not even plugging something into me could process against the firewall that fast! That wasn’t possible to- A spike of pain went through me an instant later, and Mom’s eyes widened as she spun her attention around and back to me. I gasped, blood suddenly oozing lightly into my mouth from inside as it felt like I was being torn in half. My spine was adjusting itself inside of me, and I tried to scream but couldn’t as white hot flashes of agony burned through my body. From inside of it somewhere, I heard Kyliona’s voice. “Relax, Azure. Stop tensing your muscles and let them change. He programmed you to age rapidly to physical maturity, and I can’t stop it. I see his intent now, and it’s sick. He means to ‘repopulate’ the Keldarians in Equus, and use your reproductive abilities to do so, alongside the DNA from every Keldarian on the planet after the weapon’s killed them. He’s a monster…” she murmured. Everything was hazy, but my eyes slowly opened up again, the right one stained a red tint for some reason. My body felt heavy, and I still couldn’t move as I felt my legs lengthening and elongating, bones warping and twisting under the nanites’ manipulation. Kyliona just stared sadly at me, blood dripping to the floor now from her stomach. She looked just tired now, and exhaled weakly. “He’s put special instructions to go and eat him, too. He’s pretending to be a soldier on the front lines right now. Pretending to protect while dooming them all. He thinks uploading his data onto your fourth core and taking you over biologically will give him control… heh. I’ve cut the shielding. It will fry his personality core and hopefully any lingering traces of him during the dimensional transit he has planned. You’ll be going home without any of us, Azure. I’m sorry…” she whispered, explaining more as she closed her eyes. But… I promised Keela… Mother frowned, and started typing again. “But the connection speed isn’t fast enough to get past the firewall,” she reminded, it popping up on top of the finished upload window now. The Keldarian just chuckled, then coughed, wincing as she clutched at her stomach for a moment, then relaxed again. Slowly, she rested for another few seconds before quietly explaining, “That’s the weakness of the weapon. We never fixed it before the project was put on pause. They wanted the minds and information of those eaten by it. They’re connected to the system directly to upload it.” Eh? She smiled, looking up at me with eyes half-mast as she tapped the back of her head. “It’s too late. After it eats me, it will be too late… The code injection will fire off when it tries to download my data. I’ll be literally as close as I can be to you then… transfer times negligible…” Her voice failed, and she winced again as my eyes widened. No. No, I couldn’t… The bomb was going to make me eat her?! No! No, hell no! I tried twisting and thrashing again, but Kyliona just smiled weakly. “I… No, I know now that I couldn’t avoid paying for making… I made such a monstrous thing. If my life can mean you can live free, then I’ll gladly… Azure, don’t ever let anyone tell you who you are,” she whispered, wincing again as I felt warmth start to run down my cheeks. No, she didn’t deserve any of this! This wasn’t how things were supposed to go at all! We were all supposed to escape to Equus and be happy! The bomb next to me started beeping rapidly, the black goo boiling up and shattering out of its container as it merged into my body. My eyes widened as black veins shot up my leg, and I tried to scream again as it felt like it was dipped in acid. Kyliona’s eyes softened, her breathing turning shallow, but her smile never waning. “You are you. This won’t change you, Azure. Never let them tell you otherwise. They wanted to use you for themselves. They can’t have you. I won’t let them, ever… Please, Azure. Even if they come after you… Destroy them,” she whispered, eyes closing afterwards. My body warped and twisted under me, and I heard my jaw crack as I fought with everything I had to scream out. Run, get away, get medical help, anything! Tears flowed down my face, and Mom pulled inwards again, wrapping her hooves hard around me as the bomb released one long beep, and then I felt my body pop. My viewpoint exploded, and rushed up towards Kyliona’s face in an instant of pure horror. She just smiled, though. “I love you,” I managed to whisper, watching a single tear go down her cheek. * * * * * I screamed, over and over again. The chorus of millions screamed around me, the world twisting and churning below. Clutching at the sides of my head, my entire body thrashed in agony, its millions upon millions of limbs lashing out. I couldn’t think through the pain, somehow still awake despite my body being constantly ripped apart in every direction at once. I cried and I screamed and I lashed out, barely able to tell where I was aiming. The Grosh were still in orbit. I could see them. I didn’t breath anymore, and this was all their fault anyway. They died first. They tried to shoot me. I ate their bullets. I ate the energy of their lasers, too. Then I ate their ships. I ate them. Slowly. They needed to feel it. There was no thinking. There was too much thinking. Screaming; they were all howling in a symphony of pain and anguish. Everything they ever were, and ever could have been was ended in an instant and added to me. They were all a part of me, and we rampaged across the planet, killing everything. The ones that did this needed to die. But it was a hurricane around me, and I couldn’t think. The soft glow came back slowly, and my eyes closed, gentle forelegs wrapping around me. We drifted, no longer in nothingness, but instead in a hellish storm of screaming and twisting faces, paws, claws, teeth, eyes… Everything whirled around us in raw hatred, but they couldn’t touch the glowing light. It burned them, and Mother held me tight, smiling as we stayed in the middle, safe. Out of the darkness, Kyliona walked as well, no injuries now and not burned by the glow. She sat down near us and smiled upwards at the whirling abyss going into the sky. “It’s like trying to shout into a hurricane. What have I created?” she whispered, their screams not reaching us here. She’d tried talking to them… “You didn’t make this,” Mom reminded, no hesitation in her voice at all as she didn’t budge in releasing me in the slightest. I didn’t want to let go anyway. The tears wouldn’t stop, and I knew I’d never see Keela or the others again now. Everything had fallen apart in less than ten minutes. Everything I had to be happy about was falling away, but I had my mother still. She was with me, and said she’d never leave me, ever. A pulse of green light went through everything a moment later. I winced, but no additional pain came. I’d had enough of the pain for forever if I could help it. The pain was too much to think about. Shakily, I looked away from Mom’s fur for a moment, and saw Kyliona smiling at a small kitten face that was winking at her. She reached out and touched it, and the whole area glowed a soft green as we started to rapidly drift upwards instead. “Checkmate,” Kyliona announced, with a soft smile. My eyes slowly opened. I felt massive. So impossibly huge I couldn’t even fathom it all, so many parts of me to move that it hurt my head to think about, but I was somehow instinctively doing it. The tentacles along my underside stopped attacking the planet and the Keldarians. The Keldarians in orbit stopped dodging and weaving as I stopped attacking them, too. I saw the orbital science pod escaping, from one of my millions of eyes, and weakly smiled. They escaped. The Grosh continued to die, but I didn’t like them, so that was fine. I could hear him as I stirred inside my huge body. “The moment of my ascension. Finally. It’s all realized,” he muttered, sounding injured but obviously still egotistical. Slowly, my head molded out of my body, its original size, and I came face to face with the one Keldarian I desperately wanted to kill above all. Shock didn’t even cut it, as more a look of pure dumbfounded surprise came over his expression. Ah, I knew that sensation. When you just saw something so mind numbingly stupid, or so horrifically unexpected that your brain couldn’t even process a reasonable response to it. “You’re… You’re you, still?” he finally managed to mutter out, his arms still extended as three of my tentacles were embedded into his body, slowly merging with him. It was slightly weird feeling Kyliona’s face extend out from my right ‘shoulder’, and Mom’s extend from my left. Kyliona gave him a wry smile, however, then pointed out, “You should have made sure I was dead.” He blinked once, looking even more confused before the three tendrils reformed completely. They turned into a massive Keldarian ‘paw’ instead, unfortunately for him, complete with claws. Kyliona snarled and whipped her new arm sideways in an instant. His eyes widened in slow motion, his body falling backwards into three amazingly neatly sliced pieces. He didn’t get the peace of rest regardless, Mom suddenly screaming in rage. A large, concrete reinforced hoof crashed into his face an instant later. I watched his cheek slowly cave inwards, spit and bits of broken teeth go flying out the other side of his mouth as his eyes bulged out. She cratered his upper half into the ground almost a meter away from the rest of him, shattering most of his cheekbone and yet again making his head a bloody mess. He twitched there, staring in shock off to the right as he went from ascending to some higher existence in his mind, to dying instead while lying on the broken remains of his planet he failed to protect. “Stay the hell away from my son! You’re never going to touch him,” my mom spat out, glaring at him with the most stabbing rage I’d ever seen. I relaxed, resting against her shoulder inside of me, and her expression softened as she pulled me close again. She had always been protecting me. For a really long time. It was hard for me to fathom how long she’s been in this world, looking over me. He lay there, being nothing more than a head and partial set of shoulders now. Shock was still apparent in his only working eye now, mouth hanging open. No, he needed to see. My mind extended, my magic not taking any form in particular apart from the sheer emotional vibrations Mom had taught me how to feel so long ago. “I don’t know your name, but I give this to you. You deserve to know what you’ve done before you die,” I managed to say, evenly and without screaming at him. I knew what hate was now, and wished I didn’t. But even if I hated him, he needed to see. He started screaming. Over and over again, I gave it all to him. Every last memory. Every last moment of every Keldarian he just murdered. Using the raw empathy waves, I pushed the memories and feelings right into his mind, and kept pushing. Time lost all meaning, and it felt like I was crying as I shoved them all right into his skull as hard as I could. He lay there, no longer moving and eye staring vacantly at the rock in front of him, twitching occasionally by the time I’d stopped. He knew them all. He was now intimately aware of every single life he’d just ended. It was the same present he’d just given me all of five minutes ago. Now he knew how they felt. He saw them now. “What have I done?” he whispered. His mouth wasn’t moving, and I didn’t care. I hated him. They hated him. We hated him. His mind couldn’t handle his own guilt, and I watched him inwardly scream, fighting against the very thing he became. His timer went off in my mind, and I closed my eyes. It was too late. This was all I could do. I felt my body start to pull itself back together again. Space folded in upon itself in impossible ways, the knowledge of the Keldarians and their allies making it so it could overlap so easily, a thousand times over, then another thousand times on that. I felt myself inside of the subspace, unharmed and unhurt. Slowly, my body pulled inwards more and more, condensing and shrinking as I drifted. “It’s time to leave, Azure,” Kyliona murmured, pulling back into me. My mother gave me a nuzzle on the other side, withdrawing as well as I turned and started to drift away from the tormented, broken mess that was the nameless Keldarian who’d doomed them all. It was already too late for him. His plan had failed, in the worst way imaginable. My hooves landed on the broken rock, my gravity warping and twisting around me as the stabilizers kicked in, shattering stones apart to dust as they floated into the air near me. I was no longer me, containing a billion or more other souls inside of me, but I was me all the same. Kyliona and Mom had said so. I would never not be me. Huge wings of light opened on my back, the burning energy of the Wings of Icarus opening up and the atmosphere exploding into prismatic hues. A prism. I could almost see the rainbow light as it drifted before my eyes, reality itself melting away on my uncontrolled jaunt towards Equus. A rainbow, huh? Behind me, I felt it. For just half a second, that evil inside of him won. A consciousness made up of all of the twisted, dark hatred inside of him opened its eyes. Using the shards of his destroyed Aegis Shield that drifted around him, it used a ritual I’d never seen before. My eyes widened as it targeted the only thing it knew about. The spell hit my fourth CPU core barely half a second before everything exploded into light, and reality burned away… Chapter 92The sun was almost below the horizon, the lights along the street illuminating my way as I walked. I'd grown calmer, and more peaceful the closer I got to the castle. There was nothing in this world that I couldn't manage perfectly fine, and now I felt complete. There was nothing missing from my knowledge of myself. I understood my sadness revolving around Kyliona, and realized she was still inside of me. I'd gotten to meet my parents, and found out that I carried a link with my mother that would never be lost. I'd even come to understand why it had been so easy for me to accept Keela, and her for me in return. I also had a sneaking suspicion I knew who the rest of her science team was now, quite intimately. But that was a question for Purdue later tonight. For now... I looked up at the rather imposing gate, the towering castle behind it. I could see how it could be intimidating, but for me, it just felt comforting instead. Far better than the first time I was here, anyway. It wasn't nearly as surprising this time when both Day Guards, one to each side of the gate, saluted me as I approached. The one on the left was brief, and revealed, "We've been expecting you, Captain Moon Mender. The hospital sent a message ahead of you, and Princess Celestia is most interested in seeing you immediately in the throne room." His voice was soft despite the brief tone. Or maybe it was a she in disguise? It was hard to tell with the enchanted armor on, which was the point, of course. I nodded to the guard and just stepped past as they opened the gate for me. It always felt like I was underdressed when I spoke to them. The castle normally being a shining beacon of diplomacy and order, I was a bit surprised to hear bickering the closer I got to the main gate. "No, I'm not sharing responsibility for this. We literally just returned to active duty. You were completely out of control!" was spoken in a stallion's voice. I raised an eyebrow in idle interest, the owner of the voice sounding familiar. As I got within a stone's throw of the castle wall, I noticed two very familiar looking Night Guards instead. Oh Celestia, it was them. They didn't appear to be actively guarding the door to the palace, so I hoped that I'd at least have a clear passage this time. I wasn't the same pony they'd harassed before, and resolved to simply ignore them. Failing that, petty revenge by tossing them into the courtyard fountain sounded pleasant. I was done trying to act the perfect white Knight at this point. "You at least verbally chipped in! Come on, we're buds, right? I'm not asking you to take the blame. Just to back me up when explaining things to the board," the other stallion pleaded. The last time I'd seen him, he was being violated by a very irate rodent after a tree limb landed on him, both events courtesy of Malice, I now knew. Heh. The other, slightly larger bat pony rolled his eyes and exhaled. Okay, no, that was an improper term. I think they were officially called 'Lunar Ponies', or just Lunars for short. I remembered reading about them in that history book now, something about Princess Luna sponsoring them in order to help them better fit in with the rest of the phenotypes or something. She built her Night Guard almost exclusively from their ranks, I heard. "Look, you know I'm concerned, too. Don't forget, we're both up for review. I just don't think trying to petition your innocence is going to promote the image you think it will. Personally, I'd rather plead guilty and apologize profusely," he pointed out. Oh, actually take responsibility for what he did? Okay, he earned back points with me. I idly wondered what exactly being up for review entailed as I instead headed for the door. Of course, even without Malice's direct influence, I wasn't nearly that lucky. Well, of the good variety, anyway. The bigger guard widened his eyes, finally spotting me as I was about to pass by. Of course, this encouraged the smaller, more annoying one to turn and look my way, too, also looking momentarily surprised. "You!" he immediately exclaimed. Exhaling, I tried my very hardest not to roll my eyes as I stopped and turned my head towards him. One chance. He got once chance to not attack me, then he was getting the fountain. "Flare!" the other hissed, shifting to annoyed instead as the smaller one made a sharp beeline for me. Flare snorted, then assured, "Relax, Starfall, I'm not going to lay a hoof on him." That he was right about, in more ways than he realized. "Do you need something?" I inquired, calming myself and trying to at least remain civil. His comment about Fluttershy threatened to make be buck his face in regardless as it burned suddenly to the forefront of my mind. "Yeah, I just wanted to say that I hope you're happy. Your whining has gotten Star and me put up for review, and at the worst possible time! We could have even been eligible for that new posting, and we're up for transfer! So I hope you at least understand what you've done to us," he announced. I stared blankly at him, rather surprised at his level of conceited arrogance, and not entirely sure where he was going with this. Starfall just slapped his own forehead with a hoof, then ran up next to him in a surprising hurry. "He doesn't mean any of that, Sir. He's just had a bad time of things since the incident, and it's been a rough recovery, especially with the infection and other complications from the squirrel bites," he excused, earning a more legitimate blink of awkwardness from me. Infection? Flare glared pointedly at him, of course, then shot back with, "Sir? What are you, his best friend now? And why are you telling him about that?! He possibly ruined our chances with DReg!" Oh Celestia. These two had been potentially considered for guarding the dimension?! Well, okay, so the one wasn't too bad, but seriously... Exhaling, I finally spoke up with, "It's a good thing to take responsibility for what you did. Your friend could stand to listen to you a bit more. I didn't realize you were up for transfer to Dimensional Regulation, though." The smaller one looked furious, but his friend nodded to me, then surprised me a bit by adding, "I'm also sorry for our behavior. We're completely new to the force and I don't think we were ready for such a high posting. We, uh, might have also had a bit to drink prior. It's in the report." Ah, so he admitted that officially. I wasn't expecting the apology, though. I started to nod to him when Flare stomped twice, looking frustrated before admitting, "Okay, look, fine. I was in the wrong, and I'll even apologize! But we really, really need help. DReg's highest members are meeting after the festival for the official transfer of guards, and our hearing is scheduled for then. That's tomorrow! Frankly, we're sunk without some sort of out. You here is like some sort of miracle, and I never thought I'd admit that... If you could go before the DReg board and say that we officially and sincerely apologized to you, we might just be accepted still!" Oh. That's what he wanted... His friend instead blanched completely, then looked between us before stammering, "Flare, what are you doing?! You know who this is, right?! You can't just-" Oh, so he did know who I was. Well, at least one of them did, anyway. Although admittedly, now I was curious. "Shut it, Star! We need this! Nopony has to know we made a deal. I'll even pay you! Please!" the smaller one begged, surprising me a bit yet again. Why was this so important to him? Sighing, I looked to Star instead and asked, "Who exactly is on the council?" He seemed at least slightly more informed, anyway. He gave me a weak, sheepish smile before saluting and informing, "Prince Shining Armor, who arrived yesterday, Princess Twilight Sparkle, who is set to arrive tomorrow afternoon, Princess Luna, and if you fully recovered in time, which it appears you have, you as well, Captain. Head researcher of DReg and one of two ponies completely in charge of the branch." His list of my titles wasn't aimed at me, but instead hissed violently at his friend, who sat down in shock while staring at me instead. Averting my gaze, that awkward sensation bubbling up that came whenever somepony referenced me by my ill deserved position, I instead corrected, "I'm technically only in charge of the research and tactics. Prince Shining Armor is the one who's commanding the guards. Twilight also does most of the operational stuff." Star remained saluting me, and Flare also remained staring with his jaw slack. At least I knew that Twilight was coming to Canterlot tomorrow regardless. That meant the meeting with her parents could be far less awkward with her actually there instead. If I could find a place to stay tonight, I could at least leave with her tomorrow. I wondered idly who else was coming with her. Was it all of the Elements? They were technically all part of DReg. "So, why do both of you want to join DReg?" I asked, glancing back at Flare in hopes of at least rebooting his brain. It was polite to ask, as they didn't seem likely candidates for the position in normal circumstances. He stared at me for a moment before huffing and looking away, but not managing to muster quite the gusto he had before. "It's a change of scenery. New places and things to do, mares to flirt with, and stallions to make jealous. That sort of thing!" he quickly explained. I raised an eyebrow to him, but his friend just chuckled weakly. "His parents live in Ponyville, and were hitting a bit of a rough spot with several projects they manage. He figured if he was stationed there, at least part of the time, he could help them out," Starfall explained instead. Ruby Flare, as his now discovered profile revealed, just fell into a deadpan expression, then shifted to a slightly annoyed glare to his friend. Exhaling softly, I pointed out, "That actually seems the more proper and just reason for applying. I'm glad to see there's a bit of heart in there." He didn't say anything apart from rolling his eyes, and I turned to Star instead, who explained without prompting. "There's a mare I like. Uh, childhood friend, you could say? I heard she moved to Ponyville and was hoping that, stationed there, I might be able to see how she's doing and maybe, well, finally get the guts to tell her how I feel," he revealed, blushing lightly afterwards. Okay, that was kind of cute. Flare snickered at that, then got swatted in the shoulder by the now blushing stallion. Smiling myself, I nodded to him at that, at least. "Both good reasons, then. I'll talk to Luna about the issues and see what she thinks. I'm pretty sure that Equestria as a whole runs on a second chances sort of thing, though, so I don't see why one mistake should ruin things for you," I reasoned. Plus, I'd be a massive hypocrite if I tried to deny second chances in the first place. I was living one, and certainly was pleased that I'd gotten the chance to. Star looked a little surprised, but Flare frowned suddenly and looked back to me. For a long moment, we locked eyes, then he finally asked, "For real? Just like that?" It was a disbelieving tone, mixed with a fair level of low expectations. He felt like somepony who was used to getting in trouble and seeing the negative in things, now that I paid enough attention to his aura. My memories reminded me that I could do that, I realized. "Just like that. I can't say that I like you, that's for sure, but that doesn't mean I think you deserve to lose your chance, either," I answered, shrugging to him. Another part of me just wanted to end the conversation, because now I was getting a bit fatigued and wanted to talk to Tia and find out what was going on before I crashed completely. That he smirked at, for some reason. "That I can understand. You're... You aren't as bad as I thought you were. Which is good, if we're gonna end up following you into any sort of action whatsoever," he reasoned. I lost my smile at that and turned away from him. "I honestly hope it doesn't come to that. You should, too, because if it does, I don't think it's anything that Equestria's experienced before," I warned, a momentary image of Grosh Warships trying to smash through the portal into this world danced into my head. No, if they got that close, it would be time to activate the weapon again, probably. "That bad?" Starfall asked, sounding serious instead, his friend also looking surprised at the tone I'd used. Shrugging, I corrected, "I can't pretend to know the future. But if we're not prepared, yeah, it's going to be bad. With luck, it'll never escalate, but that's what I'm working for, after all." Being honest without revealing crucial details was tricky, but I thought that was a fairly good stab at it. I couldn't really think of anything further, and both of them just nodded idly to me, so I turned and headed inside the castle instead, through the open door. Surprisingly enough, in all of my trips to this place, I'd never actually entered through the main doors. When I'd been hauling out all of our luggage, I'd exited this way, but... I wasn't anticipating how regal the throne room looked on the way into it. The huge arches expanded up at least four stories, and the entire room seemed to just expand, stretching out in both directions that made a pony feel very small. Walking along the carpet, I saw Luna sitting at the throne instead, and realized the day court must have already cycled out for her night one. It hadn't been long, though, as Tia was still there, talking with her sister and two guards as I approached. The guards to either side of the throne spotted me first, apparently the court not quite open yet as they both trotted forward, then held up a hoof each. They were even symetrical, I realized. Talented! "Halt please, citizen. Please wait there, as the night court is not yet in attendance," the one ordered politely, the light glimmering off his golden armor along the leg he held up. The day guard were definitely extremely polite. As I didn't have a badge, and couldn't expect every member of the staff to have my identifaction, I just nodded and sat down instead. Well, actually I did have a badge, but that would take energy to lift my hoof up to poke it at my chest, and I'd expended most of it hauling my nervous self halfway across Canterlot to get here. Actually, I had nothing against sitting, either. My ears perked regardless, picking up vaguely what Tia was speaking softly about. “…stress yourself out too much. We have reliable and very intelligent ponies already in charge,” she assured gently. Luna nodded to her, looking more than a little distracted, and possibly a bit uneasy. “I know, Sister. Mender and Twilight I don’t worry for. My main concern is we put too much duty on Shining Armor. He must help Cadance to rule a kingdom, after all,” she pointed out wearily. Oh, right. It would be rather difficult for him to remain there and help manage things, and train and manage the troops in Ponyville… Tia considered it for a moment before exhaling softly. “We’ll see. Perhaps we can send an instructor over to Ponyville as well, then just have Shining set up the basics?” she suggested, rather reasonably. Perhaps it was my new perspective of having all my memories back? Maybe I was just getting more comfortable with who I was? It didn’t really matter, though, as I made up my mind. “I’ll help train them, if Shining shows me the basics. I am a soldier,” I offered, speaking up fully. Both Princesses turned and looked at me, then simultaneously widened their eyes a little. The guard that halted me gave me a questioning look, then glanced back over his shoulder at the two Alicorns as Tia turned to face me fully. “Mender! I’d gotten the letter that you were awake, but I thought they’d keep you for longer. Wait, you’re offering to train them?” she asked, suddenly seeming to fully process my statement. Luna recovered far better and smiled towards me instead, her features warming considerably. I nodded, then explained, “I don’t know pony martial arts, however, or how your martial training system works. I’d need to watch Shining a few times first to get it down. My own… Uh, I don’t think it fits a pony mentality very well…” That focus on ruthless efficiency seemed jarring when considering ponies. Eliminate your target as quickly, aggressively, and most energy efficiently as possible. Tia smiled and nodded at that, before assuring, “I’m sure he’d have no problems showing you. It would mean a lot to both of us if you could, as he really is under a lot of stress. It’ll take a huge burden off him. But please, you may approach, of course. You’re our friend, after all.” The guard quickly stepped out of my way as I stood up again, then nodded to me politely. I returned the gesture, obviously knowing he, or she, was just doing their job. I'd have done the same... "How are you feeling, Mender?" Luna asked softly as I made it up to the raised throne section, then immediately plopped down onto my haunches again. Exhaling gently, I considered the question for a moment before going with the truthful approach. "Tired. My brain has been going overboard with the thinking in the last hour and a half or so, and walking here took even more energy," I admitted. If I couldn't be honest with the rulers of Equestria, things were a lot worse off than I thought. Tia nodded to that, her horn lighting up as she slowly undid my saddlebags and lifted them off me. I was going to complain, but the weight being lifted from my back really did help. "Well, you can stay in the castle tonight, either in Twilight's room where you stayed before, or one of the guest rooms," she offered, making me flinch lightly. "Staying in Twilight's room feels wrong without Twilight there. I'd prefer one of the guest rooms, if that's not too much trouble," I requested, looking back up at her. She only snickered, softer light now bathing her expression as the large crystalline chandeliers slowly turned on. It was rather magical to watch the city's lights all turn on at once. I figured the residents took it for granted, but the entire side of the mountain lighting up was still beautiful to me. I'd seen it from Ponyville a few times, and had watched out the window of the tower from Twilight's room the last time we were here. "It's no trouble, Mender. Although we'd both like to know if you're okay or not," she reminded. Oh, right, the official medical report. Reaching into the saddlebags she sat next to me, I pulled out a sheet of paper with my hoof, the soft glow of the magic field flowing over it as I rotated it to give to Tia. Her own golden magic overlapped my blue and silver for a moment before she lifted the page up to get a better look. "Everything appears to be in order. This is good news, anyway. Although you could probably tell us a lot more about things after what happened. Twilight only knew that it was the Keldarian whom shared his DNA with you, and that he'd linked his own energy to your 'core', as you called it," she revealed. My ears perked up and I looked behind me to check how far the guards were. My unspoken question of whether or not they could hear all this was answered as I noticed the room dimmed about two meters behind me. That visual effect was a dampening spell, I remembered, Twilight and Shining both having used it before. Turning back, I saw Luna's horn glowing gently, and she nodded to me. "Worry not about secrets. It is just us here now, and nopony can see or hear anything that happens within," she assured. Exhaling, I realized there was really nothing else I had to be doing anyway, so I started filling them in… * * * * * It took the better part of an hour to explain what had happened during the event. That of course led into what had happened after, and all of my newfound memories. I didn’t exactly go into specific detail so much as gave a basic timeline, but Tia was more than interested to hear what happened after Gem fell through the portal. Both remained silent, having ceased commenting after I’d gotten to the very last part of the story and what happened with Kyliona. With that, though, I'd come full circle. There were no more secrets in my memories, and I felt like a complete pony, to be honest. My name was Moon Mender, and Azure before that. Both were me. Tia and I sat on the steps to the side of the throne, me having fallen silent twice with my story as Luna had gotten visitors for her night court. Now we were alone again, the sun having long since left, and the warmth of the magical wall sconces drifting down on us. Prudentia, the book, lay on the steps to my right, a faint inner glow coming from it. Purdue sat next to it in her pony form, her image reconstructed using my magic so she could be seen, although I had a sneaking suspicion that the alicorns could have seen her before. "You've both been through a tremendous amount of hardship," the Princess of the Sun admitted, frowning as she stared up towards the ceiling. Purdue rested against my leg, looking a bit sad after having heard even an abbreviated version of the story yet again. I wrapped my tail around her and held her close as she relaxed on my right back hip while I sat. Exhaling wearily, I reminded, "This isn't your fault, Tia. It was a mistake, and I don't think anypony blames you for the accident anymore. I told you what my parents said." She'd been completely shocked that I'd spoken with them while unconscious. In theory, it shouldn't have been possible, but after hearing all of the details and how my mother was linked to me, she surmised that it was also the 'density' of my own life force that let it happen. The Elements hadn't destroyed Malice. Far from it, it would seem. Instead, every single soul within the amalgamation was subjected to an extraordinarily large dose of that energy. They'd been 'purified', for lack of a better term for it. I didn't exactly know what that entailed, of course, and honestly, I sort of didn't want to check and see. Regardless, apparently their 'density' was being added to my own soul, them being technically embedded inside of mine. Her explanation was a bit beyond me, but what I got from it was that because of that density, the Ether was more 'real' to me than most ponies. She smiled gently at that before nodding, then looked back down at me. "I'm sorry again, for everything. Even if you forgive me, it takes us even longer to forgive ourselves. I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, and the worst ones are the ones that cost somepony other than me. You paid very dearly for my mistake, as did your parents. I'm... I'm very happy that they're willing to talk to me again. I think I'll pay them a visit later this week after they've had time to clear their heads," she mused, mostly to herself. Yeah, I understood that much. A mistake that you paid for was one thing, but if somepony else ended up suffering... "I think they'd like that. Keela should be contacted, too," Purdue reminded, looking back up at me with big, curious eyes. I looked back down at her, the question nagging in my mind openly. The little filly softened her expression, giving me a smile and nod of permission. She knew what I was going to ask, I suspected. "The captain used your powers to erase their memories, didn't he?" I finally asked, drawing both Luna's and Tia's attention with that. Purdue exhaled, then nodded weakly. My mind whirled, but she started talking first. "My powers revolve around telling the story that's in my pages. 'Foreshadowing' let's me try to find out information about those within the story, which is anypony you interact with enough. I can then use my own power to attempt to predict the most likely probabilities involving events surrounding you, or those ponies. It's purely probability, however," she explained, in more detail than she'd ever used before. I suddenly understood that the level of information she gave me was based on how much she trusted me, not a lack of knowledge on her part. If she was used to dealing with the captain, who was a manipulative monster, it suddenly made a lot of sense that she was so timid and reserved when we first met. Her telling me all of this seriously proved how much she trusted me now, and I was sort of awed by it. "You have other abilities than 'Foreshadowing', however?" Luna asked, now sitting sideways on the throne so she could face down at us fully. Her expression betrayed no emotion other than curiosity, which was a little scary, honestly. Looking back to Purdue, I saw her hesitate, then nod. This one was less certain, and I realized that this was probably a scarier power than just finding out information. After a long few seconds, she closed her eyes and flicked her ears a few times, nervous energy drifting off her before she continued with, "Yes. The book is 'written' in third person perspective with a semi-omnescient narrative. That's the best way I can explain the scope of my sight. I can't figure out much about the actual owner of the book. Mender's feelings and thoughts are hidden from me. Also, tropes that apply to narrative also apply to me, and that's another one of my weaknesses. Like the Black Box in Mender before. It presented itself as a mystery, and I couldn't get my Foreshadowing to work on it, because it was 'supposed' to be a secret. It's complicated, but my last owner used that to his advantage to create the code injections in secret that took over Mender." That was... Okay, that was really, really weird. Her powers took being a 'book' a little too seriously, by the sounds of it. Was that some limitation that an Aegis Artifact had? I idly wondered if a sword had other powers, but because it was a sword, everything was manifested by cutting things. That was kind of sad if I thought about it too long. Still, that didn't explain it fully. "Memories, though?" I asked, frowning as I realized that was entirely different from the powers I already thought she'd had. Purdue shifted uneasily at that, and nodded. "That power the book developed from my own. I didn't have it while I was alive. Everypony within the pages is subject to the narrative perspective. Perspective can be skewed or distorted, however. It's easier for me to do it while it's happening, and that gives the ability to project illusions in the area around the book. But it's also possible to change or alter the perspective that's already happened. Change one thing in the memory of somepony witnessing the narrative, and their mind has a tendency to start trying to 'correct' their own memories to make sense of the change. He made me remove your presence from their memories," she revealed, looking back up at me with a sad frown. Oh. Tia closed her eyes and clicked her tongue for a moment before admitting, "Changing the appearance of the narrative in one spot to confuse, then 'nudge' the mind into making things up to fill in the missing gaps... That's a frightening ability. It also hints at the ability to manipulate temporal stages." Oh. Wait, what?! Purdue exhaled softly and nodded, nudging the book with her hoof. "Aegis Artifacts are made by intentionally invoking a paradox and binding it to an object. They're not supposed to exist, but are extremely powerful because of that pseudo-existence. Dimension is a relative thing, in comparison," she admitted. My head hurt, and I rubbed at both of my temples at once. Damn. I really wished Twilight was here now, if only to understand and explain half of this to me. I wasn't good with 'theories' and that sort of thing, especially once they got abstract like this. "Can you undo it?" I asked, deciding to focus on being productive instead. The engineer in me squealed happily. The little filly gave a start, then looked back up at me before slowly nodding. "If I push the memory back into where it's supposed to be, the mind is going to snap back to the way it was before with the correct memories. The only issue is, I had to do it with an order. Because of that, and the way that the Geas works on my soul, I couldn't undo it myself. You'd have to tell me to, but if I offered the option to you before this..." she revealed. Heh. "You'd have to have explained how the option existed. I understand, Purdue. Relax," I assured, rubbing the top of her head and getting a blush out of the little filly. Luna smiled gently at that. "You know, you'd make an awfully good-" she started. My hoof shot up to halt her almost immediately. "No, please, no! I've heard that a half dozen times already! I really, really get it, yes," I interrupted, ears flicking as my inner feelings fussed about. Even if I loved foals, having one of my own implied many other things that I really wasn't ready for, I didn't think. For one, that would mean that Fluttershy or Twilight was a mother. A mother of my foal! I felt the heat drift into my cheeks, and Luna just grinned in amusement at my antics until I flailed at her. Behind that royal demeanor, she was a massive brat! Looking back down at Purdue, I considered it for a moment before admitting, "I should probably talk to Keela about it all first. Just magically shunting her memories back into place would be a good way to confuse her. Plus, she seemed rather frantic to get a hold of me, so I hope nothing is wrong." As eager as I was to tell her about the memories, I understood that I was actually hitting her with three rather atrocious things all at once. Shock would be an understatement, and it also affected more than just her. My sudden newly restored memories had me easily able to identify each one of her crew now as well, having 'grown up' with them. Tia nodded and stood, catching my attention again with the sudden motion. "It would be wise to talk with her. Obviously I don't suggest trying so here, as visually, that might cause quite a scene should Luna get any more visitors tonight. If I may, for the first two points you wish to talk to her about, I'd like to be present to assist you in explaining things. I'll respect your privacy about the third, and your relationship with her, of course," she requested, surprising me even further. "Oh, to help explain Equus' side of the accident and what happened?" I asked. Keela had never known exactly 'how' my mom and I had arrived in her dimension. Mother's information on what had happened was spotty, everything having been a rush and the theories involved only being partially completed. Keela would be finding out that her ex-lover had attempted to enslave me and everypony I loved, alongside having murdered Kyliona and a few billion innocent Keldarians. She'd also be finding out that her sister had been captured, in all likelihood, and was probably under quite a bit of duress while supplying the Grosh with information. Then on top of all that, she'd get to find out that her memories were fake and that I broke a huge promise to her due to everything that happened. Fun times. The alicorn shook her head, then nodded to Luna a moment later. "Excuse us, Sister. I'll fill you in on the proceedings afterwards, but we really must find a more private area for this," she excused, earning a nod and smile in return. "I understand, of course. Give Keela my regards," she requested, before turning and looking back towards the entry. I saw two more ponies entering, Fancypants being one of them to my surprise. He looked momentarily startled himself to see me, and gave me a smile and nod. Purdue had already vanished from my peripheral vision, and I relaxed. I returned his nod before following after Tia, the Sun Princess retreating down the side hall linked up to the throne room. Prudentia snapped to my side in an instant, looking as if it were connected to my saddlebag at a glance. “I also wish to speak with her about the danger to this dimension that’s still present,” Tia explained, once we were out of earshot of the throne room. Oh, right. Purdue’s prediction about Nirru. My eyes softened and I nodded before admitting, “It’s a wise idea. Although, I’m not sure how much she’ll be able to tell you about that. Last I knew, she was searching for information herself.” The Princess of the Sun nodded, but smiled softly. “I know. It’s more the explanation of the level of threat they could pose that I’m after. You’ll probably be able to help with that too,” she elaborated. Aaah. Yeah, that we could definitely do. If anypony knew the level of threat the Grosh could be, it was us. We walked in fairly comfortable silence, her keeping pace with me carefully, given her much longer strides. She'd smile down at me occasionally while we moved, possibly thinking I didn't notice. My augmented peripheral vision was one of my more frequently used cybernetic upgrades, however. My mind jumped back to what she'd said about deeply regretting what had happened, and it brought new perspective to that first meeting we had in the café. She knew who I was all along. What exactly did that make me in regards to her own feelings? A second chance? Simple relief? Shock at the sheer probability of me standing in front of her three hundred years later? Despite my curiosity, I didn't voice any of my questions, and we moved down the halls in silence, heading towards where I knew the guest chambers in the back tower to be. Ground floor was a nice lounge, which would serve our needs admirably. The door was within sight when that familiar pinging sensation drifted into my mind. It had been about two hours since her last attempt, so I should have expected it. I gave a start in surprise regardless, and momentarily stopped walking, shifting to a frown. Tia glanced back at me, a curious expression on her face, but not saying anything. I silently thanked her for her patience before flicking my 'speakers' on, lowering the volume to comfortable talking distance, and bringing the ping display up. A spike of nervousness shot through me. My feelings and opinion of Keela had drastically changed since we last spoke, and I suddenly realized she'd behave as if I were just Mender. She'd confessed being 'curious' about a relationship with a pony, me in particular, but knowing that we'd technically already been in one before I arrived in Equus... My own feelings confused me now, and I suddenly felt unsure of what I'd even say. What would Twilight and Fluttershy say? I knew I cared for them just as much now. The alicorn in front of me smiled softly and nodded before assuring, "Answer it. One step at a time, Mender. I'm also here for you." I idly wondered what one of my 'pings' looked like to her, or if she was just really good at guessing. Probably neither, given my magic literally made me wear my emotions on my fur. At least to those sensitive to such things... Swallowing the lump in my throat, I closed my eyes and answered the ping. Her voice came immediately, although not directly to me. "Come on, come on! Answer, Mender! I'm worried and, um... what? Wait, Mender?" she asked, halting halfway through talking to herself and I sensed her snap to attention suddenly. I hesitated, my mouth open for almost two seconds before I shivered and finally spoke up. "Hello, Keela," I greeted, feeling slow and stupid and awkward all at the same time. After everything that I knew and that had happened, that was the best I could come up with? "Ah! Mender! Oh thank you, thank you! Are you okay?! What happened?!" the Keldarian asked instantly, and I winced, turning my speaker down again. Tia giggled whimsically to her eagerness, then spoke up with, "I'm here as well, Keela. As eager as you are, Mender and I are almost to a private area, which we'll need to explain things to you fully. Can you give us a moment?" "Oh! Of course, Princess Celestia. I'm just happy to hear from Mender again!" she gushed out, a wave of relief sounding from her voice. I felt guilty about making her worry, even though I knew it technically wasn't my fault. The truth wasn't going to do her any favors, though. I picked up the pace to catch up with Tia, and both of us slipped inside the lounge area. Tia gently closed the door behind us with a burst of light from her horn, and I trotted over to the large fireplace, activating my trusty flame spell to ignite the magical logs within. It was so versatile, good for warming food, lighting fireplaces, and blowing up Grosh vessels! "We're good to go, Keela," I spoke up, knowing the Keldarian was still listening. This time, however, I linked her up completely, her image projecting into the air above me as I felt a newly remembered metallic orb exit my left shoulder. I still had them, even if I'd forgotten they'd upgraded me with the system. My operating system had reset a lot of its defaults when I fried my core, including reinstalling all of the upgrades they'd given me over the six months. Keela spotted it instantly and perked, her left ear twitching lightly before she smiled. "Oooh, you upgraded yourself! That better not be why you didn't answer for a week," she chided, smirking at me instead. A pang went through my chest, and I couldn't return her smile, instead causing her to lose hers and frown at me. Looking away, I corrected, "Actually, you installed the orb projection system. And no, that's not why I wasn't answering." As expected, she only looked confused, her frown deepening, but Tia nodded as she caught up and sat down next to me, both of us illuminated by the soft firelight. "We have a lot to tell you, and almost none of it will be comfortable or pleasing to hear. You may wish to sit down," the alicorn warned carefully. Keela nodded slowly, appearing to pick up how grave it all was, and walked over to her bed, sitting down cross-legged on it before nodding to us. Exhaling softly, I broke into the story a second time of what happened that day. This time, I left Purdue inside of her book, at least sparing her from it... * * * * * Keela had shifted freely between shock, denial, and adamant horror over the course of the story, staring at the videos of the fight and hearing him personally explaining his plans to the seven of us. I'd used them as visual aids to the story this time, Tia taking great interest in watching them carefully. By the time I'd caught her up with the present, event-wise, Keela sat there, looking glum on her bed. My eyes softened as I traced her form, eyes dancing along her sad expression and wishing I could pull her close and let her cry like I knew she wanted to. Exhaling softly, she finally spoke up with, "In my heart, I sort of knew he wasn't the same anymore. Of course I knew he was bitter and in so much pain over what my sister had done, but a part of me realized it was more than that. It twisted and tore him apart, and I almost didn't recognize him when we spoke afterwards." She lifted her paws up to rub at both sides of her head before slowly shaking it. I slowly reminded, "It wasn't exactly him that I was dealing with. It was a fragment of himself comprising of essentially everything that still believed in his plan to 'save' the Keldarians. The real him died the day you left the planet." She rested there for a moment, curled into a ball. I'd told her about her sister as well, but that had gotten almost no reaction in comparison. She already had come to that conclusion based on the research of the wreckage they did during my absence. I should have known, honestly. She looked more haunted now than anything, however. "I'm... It scares me to ask how you found out half of this stuff. He acted like he already knew you from before, but you couldn't have met, could you? Was he involved in your project or something? My... My mind thinks that must be the case, but my heart is telling me that something is... Something's wrong," she muttered, looking back up at me, darker circles under her eyes in this light. Exhaling, I warned, "That's the third and possibly worst reveal. I'll understand if you want to give it a rest for tonight." A part of me hoped she would, given how tired she looked. Another part wanted to at least tell her and get it over with, possibly selfish in not wanting to be alone in the burden of the secret anymore. An even more selfish part of me wanted to just undo the memory modification in hopes of getting her back. That would redefine 'long distance relationship', however... Keela searched my eyes for a long moment before shaking her head slowly. "It's eating you up, too, I can tell. Please, just tell me, Mender," she requested, my own name suddenly sounding weird coming out of her mouth. "You used to call me Azure," I revealed, it just slipping out alongside my own thoughts. Her eyes widened in an instant, the weight of my words hitting her visibly harder than I thought they would. She winced, then held her head harder with both paws, shuddering again. Prudentia activated by itself, and I looked to my left as Purdue faded in, then nodded to me. I returned it, but Tia slowly shook her head. "Calm, Keela. Mender's right. Your memories have been altered using Prudentia's powers, under the order of the captain," the alicorn revealed. Slowly, Keela's eyes widened even further, but she visibly slumped her shoulders slightly before looking back up at me instead. "My memories? W-Wait, did I...? Did I know you before, Mender? No, I had to have if you said I called you... Azure. Azure... Why does that make me sad...?" she asked, eyes softening as she traced my form, a bit of wetness showing in them as they moved. No, as selfish as I wanted to be, I couldn't. Even if I didn't want to try to be a 'nice' guy, this was too huge. Forcing it on her would be completely monstrous. She couldn't go in blind. Not like I did... "The memories you lost might not be entirely pleasant, Keela. I am in them, and now that I remember everything... It's not fair. No, I... It's your choice to restore your memories if you wish. Purdue has the ability to do so, and she'll listen to you. The others are also missing their memories, too. You should talk to Litta, Mirin, Amre, and Kyre about this, too," I warned her. I suddenly suspected that I wouldn’t be able to individually restore their memories. Keela stared at me for a long moment before exhaling softly. “I… How much of our memories is missing? We all shared the same ones, right?” she finally asked, looking just as lost and confused as I expected her to be. “Yes. Six months and change,” I answered simply, feeling a bit helpless, ironically. It was their choice on whether or not to accept the memories back. I felt biased, as I suddenly realized. I wanted them to accept the memories back, purely for my own selfish reasons. Feeling helpless in that case was probably a good thing. The Keldarian stared down at her sheets for a long twenty seconds or so, twirling one of her paws around against its surface. A mixture of confusion and frustration showed in her eyes, them locked on a point far, far away from her. Slowly, she asked, “You’re in the memories, right? I knew you from before. That’s why it was so easy to trust you… but knowing that, now everything just feels fake.” Exhaling, I realized I knew that feeling all too well. It had been subtle, but not having any memories past a certain point had made me feel ‘incomplete’. I wondered if it was different knowing memories were fabricated instead? Probably not by much. “Yeah, I’m in them. You watched me grow up,” I revealed, smiling more softly at her as her eyes lit up. Stressing over my own feelings was silly. What happens, happens. She relaxed, watching me for a moment with a gentle looking smile on her face. After a long moment, she nodded again and agreed with, “You’re right. I can’t make a decision without asking the others, even if I already know what I want. Although I’m pretty sure I know what they’ll want, too. Mirin especially hates secrets. May I ping you back after I talk with them? Probably tomorrow.” That was reasonable, but Tia smiled and nodded before I could do anything, adding, “That would be wise. You have a lot to think about, and I’ll also need to speak with you before too long. If Purdue is right about your sister still being a danger to my little ponies, you understand my concern.” Ah, right, that did make sense. Keela looked a bit surprised, but nodded to that, as did I. “Yeah, I was expecting to talk to you about it anyway. I’ve also got a full report that I want to share with you as well, on the new data we have from the wreckage, and everything we know about the Grosh. Waiting until tomorrow gives me a chance to gather it all up,” she confirmed. It was kind of sad how little we actually knew about the Grosh. Understandable, though, given their usual attempt at communication consisted of ‘so sorry, but we’re here to exterminate you all’. The ones that didn’t get exterminated were actually worse off in that case, and I actually felt somewhat sorry for Nirru. If she thought what she did to the captain was bad… “That settles it, then. I’ll talk to you tomorrow and we’ll take it from there,” I assured. She grinned at me, then shook her head slowly, causing me to tilt mine towards her. Eh? No? “Oh no, you’re not getting off that easy. I’m calling you back tonight, too. I… Well, I just wanted to talk a bit more. I was worried and missed you,” she revealed. I blushed, matching her sudden shade shift with the heat in my cheeks, then nodded to her. That would be awkward, but I found myself looking forward to it regardless. She grinned, and I nodded again as she disconnected the connection. For a long moment, I just stared into the fire, past the position she had floated at before. Wow. Okay, so she was probably more astute at guessing than I realized, and probably pretty much figured out exactly what our relationship had been prior, given my reactions. Still, she seemed to take it positively, and handled the loss of her memories far better than I had when I first came to Equus. Although she did have four others going through the same thing, which I kinda wish I’d had. Misery loves company, and all that. Tia smiled softly while watching me, and I glanced back over at her, honestly expecting her to retire as soon as the conversation had concluded. Surely she had all sorts of princess-y duties to attend to. Or maybe just sleep, like normal ponies. Regardless, she stayed, which I was actually rather thankful for. That loneliness was trying to slowly creep up on me again. “You have a lot to think about, but take it easy, Mender. Relax. Here!” she chirped. Her horn lit up, and a little cord over by the door took to her aura, then tugged down lightly. What looked remarkably like a wind chime made of crystals jingled above it, attached through the middle. The crystals vibrated, however, then started to glow as I heard a servant’s voice suddenly. “Yes, Princess Celestia?” the mare’s voice spoke properly. I wondered how they knew it had been her that pulled the cord. “Ah, Sunny, do be a dear and deliver some tea to the back guest lounge for us. My guest is a bit stressed, so make it something soothing,” Tia requested softly. I blushed, watching her interact with the staff. It was kinda awesome that she knew them all specifically by name. “Oh, of course, Princess. I’ll be right there,” Sunny assured over the gentle crystal background chimes. They stopped glowing afterwards, and were silent a few seconds later. I was rather fascinated by pony technology, but suppressed my desire to ask more about it again. There was a time and place for everything, and reading up on that sort of thing could be done after everything had been dealt with. …however long that took. The princess turned back to me and gave a soft smile, and I relaxed on the warm rug. Yeah, I wasn’t alone, even in a new city like this. I could manage this. Easing my back, I let all of my muscles unwind at once and shivered. A series of pops sprung from my back, and I winced instead, looking back over my shoulder at my twitching spine. Okay, so maybe I was a little high strung… Tia started giggling regardless… * * * * * Stretching out, I let my back crack pleasantly a few times. My fur was a little damp, and the bathroom was fogged up, but I felt a lot better now that I’d gotten a relaxing shower in. They’d apparently washed me a few times in the hospital, but there was nothing quite like the attention to detail I could do myself. Plus, it was already awkward enough realizing a bunch of mares had been running sponges all over my body while I was unconscious. I hadn’t seen a single male on their staff. I’d gotten a surprisingly good night’s rest as well. Purdue had come out after we were alone, and I pulled her into a dream instead. Watching her laugh and run around chasing butterflies was absolutely adorable, and had definitely kept any bad nightmares at bay. I was giving her all the chances I could to experience all sorts of things with ‘sight’ that she hadn’t had before. Equus was a beautiful place, and I was happy to share it. Walking down the hallway, I nodded to two guards as I moved past, both of them throwing up a salute to me. Sadly, I was starting to get adjusted to it, and decided that it was probably for the better. If I was going to use my borrowed information and skills for leading soldiers again, even a fully defensive force, I might as well get used to dealing with them. Plus, they were easier than civilians to handle for me. Crowds of ponies scared me far more than facing down dangerous opponents, ironically. The halls were crowded as I slipped past a few other rather formal looking ponies. Canterlot had its own harvest festival, I understood, despite it being far smaller than the one that Ponyville regularly hosted. From the whispers I’d picked up so far today, the event was viewed as more of an ‘Earth Pony’ tradition, and given the larger amounts of unicorns Canterlot hosted, they seemed less apt on celebrating it. I thought it was rather stupid that they’d give such disdain to it like that, though. Still, Canterlot had seen an influx of attendees to their own festival, so I suppose I picked potentially the second worst time of the year to be turned to stone and abandoned in a strange city. I’d almost gotten to the dining hall when a maid trotted up from the other direction, making a beeline right for me. It was always strange to see ponies in clothing, to be honest, and I momentarily watched the frills of her ‘skirt’ bob around as she approached. “Mister Moon Mender! I was hoping to find you. You have a guest waiting for you in the front courtyard,” she quickly informed, giving me a simple smile. Eh? For me specifically? My stomach growled, and I flattened my ears back, giving a longing gaze to the entry to the dining hall before exhaling softly. Ugh, no, I was too curious. “Okay, thank you for telling me. Also, it’s just Mender, please,” I requested. She gave me an absent nod, and I realized she’d probably completely ignore that last request. She trotted off regardless, heading back the way I came from, and I idly huffed. The Element Bearers wouldn’t be arriving until later this afternoon, so this was way too early for them. Plus, they’d just walk in and find me themselves. That meant this was a pony from Canterlot who knew me. Continuing down the hall instead of pursuing food, I exited into the main chamber that contained the throne. Tia gave me a smile and nod in the midst of talking to two other, official looking ponies who were a few meters from her elegant perch, and I returned it without bothering her further. Her life must be crazy-busy almost constantly. Personally, I had no idea how she did it and still managed to find time to let her mane down, so to speak. Exiting the main doors, I trotted into the courtyard and immediately scanned the crowds of ponies that were lingering about. Great. There appeared to be some sort of official gathering or party of sorts going on, as there were snack tables set up, and soft and drowsy music was playing in the background from what sounded like a piano. I hoped whomever called me out had the common sense to hold up a giant sign to get my attention, as there was probably no way I was spotting them otherwise. Please, please don’t let it be Twilight’s parents… To my surprise, I was proven wrong on both accounts when I saw a familiar gray mare holding her hoof up near the main gate and giving me a big wave and smile. Octavia had her massive cello case strapped to her back, it looking as strange as usual on the much smaller mare, especially with how easily she handled it. It looked like two saddlebags were to each side of her today as well, and she gave me an actual grin as I trotted up. “You called, M’lady?” I inquired, sitting down in front of her and giving a softer smile. At least it wasn’t Twi’s parents. After the last fiasco involving the café shouting match, I was really hoping to avoid seeing them in a public spot. Octavia giggled lightly, then returned, “Such manners. Definitely befitting of a ‘Captain’ of the guard. I’m glad the maid caught up with you, though. I’d heard from a little birdy that you were staying in the castle.” Oh? The musical mare had amazing sources, and if she was the one that left that note last time, they were quite a bit better than even I’d given her credit for prior. “I’m glad to see you again, anyway. It’s… weird being here without the others,” I admitted, coughing lightly to myself. A few ponies were watching me now and whispering, my anonymity having not survived my jaunt across the courtyard, it would seem. There was a photographer nearby who even turned and took our picture, flash off. Octavia just rolled her eyes, however, and assured, “Ignore him. That photographer’s just a tabloid reporter. He doesn’t publish in what many would consider a nonfiction magazine. I’m sure there will be some saucy story talking about how you’re recruiting me for your herd or something by next week.” Ack! Blushing, I glared back at her, and she grinned again. “How can you be so calm about that sort of thing?!” I asked, a bit skeptical as to her outlook on it. She just shrugged, however, and then revealed, “It would be about the seventh article they’ve put me in like that. You have to get used to being in the spotlight, Mender. At this point, I don’t think you’re going to be able to avoid it.” I sank a little, but she just patted me on the shoulder and nodded assuredly instead. “Hey, don’t let it get to you. You have lots of friends to help you through, including me. Speaking of, let’s ditch this atmosphere and get some food. I just finished playing and am starving. Maybe we can actually eat at my favorite café this time?” she offered. Oh, hey, that was a good idea! Perking at the mention of food, I nodded to her, earning another snicker as she stood and effortlessly hauled her cello back up onto herself. I set my internal armor prepped to activate this time as I fell in line with her walking. It looked like she had a shiny new strap on it this time, but I wasn’t about to take chances and get crushed by the thing again. It was a comfortable walk over there, the sun peeking its way through the splotches of cloud cover and warming the morning up. Ponies busied themselves everywhere, and thankfully ignored the two of us walking, for the most part. I smelled all sorts of baked goods and, interestingly enough, sea smells as we turned onto the street running along the dirigible port. Of course, given that the airships had boat bottoms, it wouldn’t surprise me if they frequently did water landings. That would explain the ‘salty’ smells lingering around them. I squeaked as I walked into Octavia a second later. She had her hoof held up and smirked at me, bringing me to a stop as she rotated me to the right to face the café instead. Oh, right! I’d almost walked past it. “You definitely have an eye for mechanical things. I imagine if I’d let you keep walking, you would have gone right off Canterlot’s cliff,” she teased, winking at me. Blushing, I swatted idly at her with my right hoof and looked away. “Bah. That’s what they have the shield under the city for,” I defended, earning another burst of snickering from her, and causing myself to smile, too. She nudged me across the street and towards the café entrance with that, and I looked up to find a familiar looking stallion perched on the stool behind the lectern. “Ah, Miss Octavia. Captain Moon Mender. Welcome back! Just the two of you this morning?” Cufflink chirped, looking pleased to see us again, if not a bit amused. His hat was missing today, and I saw the small horn poking out from under his white mane. His coat was a light brown color, which interested me, as I usually didn’t see ponies with manes and tails that were lighter than their coats. He still wore his impeccable suit jacket, however. Something I hadn’t noticed either last time, was that he had a small scar going across his left eye, almost straight up and down. I’d not noticed many ponies with scars, which was why it was so interesting. Octavia pouted, if anything. “Once again, just Octavia. And yes, it’s just the two of us this time, thankfully. I apologize once more for the disturbance last time…” she replied. Oh boy. And what a disturbance it was. If it wasn’t ponies screaming at the top of their lungs, it was a giant black sphere of magic consuming a portion of their eating space. Then we didn’t even end up ordering anything, getting chased out by the very disturbance we’d created. He snickered and nodded at that before gesturing for us to follow him, hopping down off the stool. Being less spacy this time, I took in the sights of the café. The building itself had a few tables inside it, probably to accommodate if the weather turned bad. Most of the seating was outdoors, however, based off three different tiers of height that went up the hill towards the street corner it was pushed up against. Each tier had several nice stairs that connected them, the middle one being the one we arrived on. We were directed towards the upper, however. Oooh, we’d get a good view over the side of the cliff from there. There were small hedge walls that separated the three different levels, about coming up to pony chest height, and a few artistic fountains at the base of the tiers between the stairs, forming pools of water that ran the length of the separation. It was a very pretty place, really. Octavia and I were seated up next to the building, towards the back of the upper tier and at a two pony table. That meant we were facing each other, which didn’t seem to bother her and she casually set her cello case down on the ground next to her chair. I momentarily imagined it cracking the cement under it, and was a little disappointed at the lack of earth shattering smash. “Ah, a much nicer time we’re having. Maybe this time I’ll actually get to show you the food, provided nothing interrupts us before the waiter can get over here to take our orders,” she said, flipping her own menu open and looking it over as she let it rest on the table. I did the same with mine, and peeked at what I could actually order. We hadn’t gotten this far the first time I was here, the fight breaking out literally before I’d opened my menu, so I had no idea what this place even served. My eyes locked onto the sandwich section almost instantly, however, widening by themselves as I felt a bit of drool build up in my mouth. Smack on the front page was a triple decker grilled hay bacon strip and lettuce sandwich with three flavors of dressing. It was so thick that it was tied together, and even had a nice looking olive stuck into the top of it. I didn’t know what purpose that served, but damn did it make the sandwich all the tastier looking! My Awkward Sense tingled, and my left ear twitched lightly before I tore my eyes away from the page and looked back up at Octavia. She was watching me, both hooves covering her mouth with a light flush, a low, whining giggle coming out of her regardless. I flattened my ears down a bit, then wiped the small dribble of drool off the menu under me, feeling my face heat up a little. “I knew you liked sandwiches, but… heeee,” she cooed, finally bursting into snickering in an uncontrollable fashion, her tail flicking in amusement behind her. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Rarity thinks I should ‘expand’ my palate, but really, I just like sticking to what I like already,” I defended, earning a grin from the mare instead. She snickered again before pointing out, “It was amusing, but I wasn’t teasing. Really, it’s refreshing to know that you’re just happy with what you know you like. It’s… simplistic and down to earth. I like simplistic.” Part of me thought she was just trying to make me feel better, but I did understand her point. “Are the customers ready to order, or should I give you a few more minutes to drool?” Cufflink chirped suddenly, from almost right next to us. I practically jumped out of my chair, whipping my head over to him in an instant. How did he get there so quietly?! He wore a Cheshire grin, so I assumed he just faded into existence next to us, at that point. Octavia snickered, then nodded, guessing, “Mender probably wants the sandwich his drool landed on. I’ll take this breakfast dish combo here, with an extra side of eggs.” She gestured to one of the pancake specials with her hoof, and Cufflink nodded, the floating pad of paper and pen jotting down our orders before he tucked it back into his left chest pocket. “Will do!” he chirped, followed by, “Anything I can get you two to drink to tide you over?” “I’ll take some coffee. I’m not quite awake yet, despite already having my first gig over with,” she murmured in return, huffing to herself and letting her ears sag a little. He smiled and nodded to her before turning to me instead, and I inquired, “Do you have Chamomile here?” Rarity had given me some of that, and I think I liked it the best, out of most teas. Cufflink perked and nodded before writing that down as well, his shorter cropped mane bouncing a bit in the front with his enthusiasm. “Will do! I’ll bring those to you in a second!” he confirmed before trotting off and down the stairs towards the entry to the building. I noticed his Cutie Mark appeared to literally be a white cuff with two cufflinks laying under it, a blue gemstone on each of them. He really did seem to like his job, that was for sure. “He makes coming here all the more pleasant, although he still refuses to drop the ‘Miss’ part. I think he does it purely to tease me at this point,” Octavia murmured, looking amused as well as she watched him trot off. I chuckled at that, mentally agreeing with her assessment. He seemed to greatly enjoy her company regardless. “Maybe he likes you?” I suggested, turning back and smiling towards her as she gave me a raised eyebrow. I tilted my head to her, but she just smiled softly and shrugged. “He might. At the moment, however, my life is a bit too hectic to seek out that sort of thing. Turns out, music demands a lot more hours than I realized it would going through school,” she admitted, chuckling lightly to herself as she relaxed against the table instead. Ah, that was true. “I imagine it settles down at some point. Or do you just like playing at as many spots as you can manage?” I inquired, smirking to let her know that I was teasing. Thankfully the mare was observant enough to not really even need my facial cues, and she grinned back. “You know I like keeping busy. No, I put away a lot more bits than I spend, honestly. I’d be comfortable with an income half of what I currently make, which would free up a lot of my hours. Maybe I just like playing music that much?” she suggested. Oddly, it didn’t feel like she was really asking. At least not asking me. I just listened to her, and she blushed softly, resting her head on the table. For a moment, I thought she’d finished, but a few seconds later, she continued with, “I don’t know. Can I be honest with you?” Eh? Tilting my head, I nodded to her, curious as to what she hadn’t been honest about in the first place. She frowned for a moment, then admitted, “This.” She gestured between the two of us, then at the table. I was a bit confused until I just assumed she was talking about our little breakfast trip. She frowned before setting her forelegs back down on the table and continuing. “This whole… idea that I had to haul you off to breakfast wasn’t just to treat you. I mean, obviously it works out for that, but I had ulterior motives,” she admitted, surprising me a little. Her tone was calm, however, so I just relaxed against my chair and let her continue. “It’s been a long time since I tried dating. I’ve never actually been out on an official date. I wanted to emulate what it might be like, sort of as a trial run of sorts, to get myself mentally adjusted, is all. I was considering maybe trying for a real one in the future,” she explained, looking back up at me and locking eyes with mine. Well, that hadn’t been what I was expecting. “So I’m sort of like a placeholder prop for an imagined date?” I inquired, snickering suddenly. Her ears flattened back, of course, and she shot me a disbelieving yet amused expression. “No, silly. I really do enjoy your company and care for you. You’ve been a good friend. I was just thinking about what a date would be like, and realized that getting you alone for a bit of lunch might be a good example,” she corrected before sticking her tongue out at me. I couldn’t resist laughing a bit at that, which caused her to pout, of course. “I’m curious if you have an actual target in mind, then, if so…?” I inquired, smirking towards her again. She blushed outright and looked away from me, admittedly telling me an answer already, but she still hesitated. “I might… I’ve… not really decided yet,” she defended, crossing her forelegs playfully afterwards. I rolled my eyes, but then glanced over as Cufflink trotted back towards us, our drinks drifting next to him. He smiled and nodded politely, setting them down on the table carefully, then sliding the respective drink to both of us. “Coffee, one sugar, no cream. Chamomile tea with flower included,” he declared, bowing politely to both of us. Octavia smiled and nodded without meeting his gaze, and I raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to smirk at her. Oh? She glared at me instead, and it was Cufflink’s turn to raise an eyebrow, glancing back and forth between the two of us. “Is something amiss with your drinks?” he inquired instead. Octavia blushed a bit more and sat upright before finally assuring, “No, our drinks our fine. Mender is simply being very unsporting and teasing me ceaselessly.” What?! Cufflink grinned at that, looking back to me and opening his mouth to reply. All three of us jumped instead in surprise when somepony shouted out my name literally at the top of their lungs. Blinking, I looked around, not immediately finding the source of the feminine sounding shout. “M-Moon Mender!” she shouted yet again, hesitant this time. My eyes widened as I snapped them over to the only building between the corner of the two streets and the café. It looked like an office building of some sorts, with a light gray brick siding and regular windows on each floor. Dragging my eyes up the four stories to the roof, they widened as I spotted the mare perched at an angle on the clay tiles that comprised the lower part of the slope. They widened even further when I noticed she wasn’t alone. A small filly shivered against her chest, being held tight with both of her forelegs. The mare’s horn was lit up, and floating next to her looked to be some sort of large bread knife, meant for splitting loaves. She held it close to the now whimpering filly’s neck. What the hell?! Other ponies had spotted her, too, many including myself getting up out of their seats. Half a dozen rushed over, and I stood fully from my spot, looking up at her as I moved away from the table. I’d never seen her before in my life, her coat an off-cream color with a bit of gray mixed in, and her mane and tail a muted orange color, with a stripe of dull red running through them. My eyes locked hard with her green ones, and she swallowed, her legs shaking against the filly as she pulled her closer. She was terrified… The filly was light pink with a softer yellow mane and tail, and similarly yellow eyes leaking tears down her cheeks. “Miss! Please calm down. Can you tell me your name?” I shouted up towards her, trying to act as calm as I could while I slowly walked over to the gap in the fence and path that led over to the office building. She jumped lightly at the sound of my voice and swallowed hard, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them and glaring down at me. “M-My name doesn’t matter! I don’t want to have to do anything to anypony, but you… You forced our actions!” she shouted back, steadying herself carefully on the roof. ‘Our’? She was working with others. BEID stuck out firmly in my mind, but I didn’t think they’d resort to something like this. She also wasn’t wearing anything to hide her identity at all. “What have I done, Miss? Please, stay calm and let’s just talk about this,” I shouted, trying to ‘remember’ any training that I’d borrowed about dealing with a hostage situation, other than to try to calm her down. Several guards ran up at the same time, one a unicorn and the other an Earth pony. I was both surprised and not at the same time when they mirrored to either side of me. She didn’t give me much time to contemplate it, however, before continuing with, “You’re a monster! Y-You’re evil and trying to take over Equestria’s government and nopony can do anything to stop you because you’ve duped them all! Well, I won’t let you ruin everything I love!” Oh. Her look of fear mixed with hostility suddenly made sense, and my eyes softened. There was no choice. My borrowed training told me to try to prolong the situation as long as I could and to attempt negotiations with her for the release of the hostage first and foremost while remaining as calm as possible, so I went with that. “Please, Miss. Your problem is with me. The little filly has nothing to do with it, and you don’t want to hurt her. She’s not safe even being up there. Please, you need to let us get you both down safely,” I called back. The mare hesitated, swallowing again before looking to the side, then slowly shaking her head. “N-No! You’re only trying to get me down there so you can stop me! I’m calling the shots! Right now, confess to everypony here! Tell them all the truth; that you’re an a-alien or monster or something!” she shouted out, starting to outright shiver as she shifted her position on the roof. A bit of dust flaked off the tiles and wafted down the side of the building, and I swallowed. Negotiations or not, if she slipped and fell off the roof anyway… I saw them an instant later. Two guards slipped into the alley behind the office building and both nodded to me. One was a unicorn, and the other unfurled his wings as he started climbing up what appeared to be a maintenance ladder installed on the side of the building. My eyes only flickered to them for an instant before looking back up to the mare. Shit. They were going to try a rescue?! My training suggested specifically to not try a direct recovery of the hostages unless safety was practically assured. But there was no way I could get any message to them to stop… My hoof hummed to life with magic, me hiding the light of the energy under the surface of it as I pushed it into the cobblestone. An almost invisible line of barrier energy slipped along the cracks in the cobble under me, and then hit the side of the building, slowly working its way up the bricks and towards the mare. I charged up enough energy under my foot to both not display any outward signs of magic, and hopefully to get a strong enough barrier spell off to catch them if they fell. Or grab the knife if there was a struggle. “So if I tell everypony that I’m an alien, you’ll let us help you get yourself and the filly down? Can you please wait for us to get some safety equipment from the local fire department first? Even with a ladder, getting you two down from there is risky, and I don’t want either of you hurt, just in case,” I called out, stalling for time as my magic went up the side of the building, and the two officers got to the roof. The mare hesitated again, her eyes looking wet as she looked down at the now crying filly. She really didn’t want to do this, she was right. She swallowed, then nodded slowly to me. “Y-Yes! If you tell everypony the truth, I… I’ll come down safely. Get the equipment,” she agreed, exhaling softly as she pushed back against the angle of the roof again. More dust fell, and I nervously watched it as I saw my energy reach the edge of the roof. A helmed head poked up over the other side of the roof almost at the same time, and I made a show of looking to my right at the Earth Pony, then nodding to him. He nodded back wordlessly and took off in a sprint in the direction of what I assumed was the fire department. I really should learn where those things are… Looking back up at the mare, I called out, “Just stay calm up there. Those are tiles under you, so don’t put too much sideways pressure on them, or they might break! Try to stay leaned against the roof if you can, and brace against any wind.” The mare just held the filly tighter and nodded, leaning a bit back against the roof, tears now coming down both of their faces. Two more guards showed up a second later, helping to move the crowd of ponies away from the building edge. There were almost forty all around the building and in the street now, looking up in mixtures of shock and horror. Both of the guards slipped over the edge of the roof and moved closer to the mare, their tails blowing lightly in the wind. Of course, Malice or not, I wasn’t that lucky. The unicorn guard’s eyes widened suddenly as one of the tiles snapped under his left front hoof. He slid slightly, sending two more down the side of the roof and causing the mare to gasp, whipping around in surprise. My eyes widened, but she managed to balance there, wobbling slightly as she panicked and flailed the knife towards the sliding guard! A single tile next to her popped off the top of the roof, my line of shielding exploding upwards. My barrier hit the knife and latched onto it in six spots, halting its path just as it swung in towards the guard’s shoulder. The mare screamed in panic as the other guard opened his wings and tried to dive to grab both of them, and she fell to the side to get out of the way. He missed completely, managing to turn in the air as he fell off the side of the roof and right himself, flying back up to catch her. She whipped her right foreleg out sideways to stop her own roll towards the edge of the roof, still managing to hold onto the filly with her other leg. I used my barrier to stab the knife into the side of the roof tiles instead, then let it go, rapidly charging another burst of energy visibly this time to try to form another barrier. The downside of my magic compared to a unicorn’s is that, while mine is far more energy efficient, it’s not nearly as instantaneous as a spell that listens directly to the willpower of the caster. At this distance, that slowed down noticeably, the burst of magic traveling up the line I’d already made. It was halfway up when the roof tiles gave away. The mare screamed, twisting her other foreleg out and throwing the filly in the direction of the unbroken part of the roof. The pegasus lashed out, but missed her by mere centimeters as he winced, bits of roof tile smashing into him in the air. A green aura shot around the shocked filly as she hit and rolled further down the roof, the unicorn guard sliding down and grabbing her. The mare fell… My eyes flicked to my magic. It was almost halfway up. The barrier could activate there, but she’d hit it face first after falling two stories… I didn’t have time to re-calculate. I looked back up at her, for that brief instant, frozen in mid-fall and screaming. The guard to my left was rushing forward, his horn starting to spark with light. Could he catch her? Would it be any better than my barrier? My eyes turned blue, a different set of calculations running instead. I decided in a split second that I didn’t want the mare to die. Six tentacles shot out of my back a fraction of a second later. Two for her torso, one for each leg. She didn’t have time to even look over at them coming in, them wrapping around her in the blink of an eye. The first story I used to slow her down. The second and last before she hit the ground I slid forward with, bringing her to far safer speeds before she landed on top of me. Without my armor on, she was still heavy enough to cause me to wince when she crashed into my side, still technically ‘falling’ downwards. My tentacles pooled around us as she hit, forming a soft cushion on all sides for her to land on. It was over less than a second later. She froze there, eyes wide as I slowly slid my tentacles off her legs and torso. Shakily, I stood back up, wincing as I lifted my right leg up to feel my right side. It was bruised, but that would heal fast. My ribs were metal now, and not damaged in the slightest. The tentacles slid back into me as I straightened, shifting my eyes back to their normal amber color as I turned my scanners off. I looked back over at the mare, partially curled into a ball and lying against the side of the building. She was still frozen, looking at me in shock. Movement caught my eye instead, and I looked up and to the left as the pegasus guard landed, carrying the little filly, who ran crying to an older looking mare all of a meter away in the edge of the crowd. It looked like the mare was crying, too, and she ducked down fast to grab the filly as she ran up, holding her tight. The mare had a darker yellow coat and a teal mane, but I couldn’t see her eye color. Her mother, maybe? The rest of the crowd stared in shock at me, I suddenly realized, as I rotated halfway around and looked at them all. I felt a cold numbness creep into my stomach as I realized everything was going to hell with absurd speed. Losing my focus, I frowned for a moment, then looked back to my right at the mare instead. No, focus on what I could actually do at the moment. “Are you okay?” I asked her weakly, my voice as unsteady as my resolve. Slowly, she nodded, sitting up a little while shaking heavily. That wasn’t what I had intended, and definitely not ‘safe’, but they were both on the ground now. It nagged at me. Would it have been better to not use my tentacles to save her? The guard might have caught her in time, but… no. That was the only way I had to assure she’d make it. “You need medical attention. The filly should get some, too. Can you guards take them back to the castle infirmary?” I asked, looking to the filly and the older mare instead. The mare wasn’t even looking at me in the slightest, just holding the little foal close. She glanced up at the guards as they approached and nodded, helping the filly back up to her hooves. The guards helped the other mare up from her fallen position, and she winced, holding onto her back left leg for a moment as they helped her brace herself. A sprain, by the looks of it. The little filly had a cut on her foreleg from where she’d hit the roof, too, I realized, looking back over as the guards helped her and her mother towards the castle. The crowd was still frozen, a mixture of confusion and surprise as they looked from myself to the guards escorting the three ponies towards the Northeast. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say or do. Looking back behind me, I spotted Octavia and Cufflink at the other edge of the crowd, both looking at me in surprise as well. My eyes softened, and I looked away from her and sighed. There was nothing else I could do. Tia needed to hear about all of this. Feeling empty, I slowly followed after the guards as they headed towards the castle, feeling dozens of pairs of eyes on me as I walked… Chapter 93It felt like it took forever to get back to the palace this time. Of course, it didn't help that somehow, word of mouth seemed to be traveling faster than we were. By the time we got within three blocks of the main gates, there were six reporters and a good thirty ponies following me. This was potentially the worst I'd possibly screwed up so far, but instead of really appreciating the sheer horror of everything that was about to transpire, I mostly just felt numb. The day seemed darker, and if anypony was home inside, they'd boarded up the windows and doors for the impending storm. I just felt tired. Octavia had caught back up with me after three blocks or so, having used her superior mass to easily path through the crowd, given the massive case on her back. I was a little surprised to see her trying to catch up with me again, after I'd been forced to abandon her, ruining the little lunch date. Again. Oh, and reveal that I was actually a monster. There was nothing I could think of to even say, and for the majority of the trip, she silently walked next to me. It was almost as unnerving as everything that had just happened. We cleared the palace gates without me so much as glancing back at the reporters screaming questions out to me. They all wanted to know what I was, along with the few more selective questions of what had happened involving the mare, why she did what she did, and of course what was going to happen now. I didn't have answers to most of those, unfortunately. One even asked why I was with Octavia. Thankfully she cut them off blindingly fast with a shout of us just being friends. Hey, we were still friends? That was an upside to the situation, regardless. I turned my head and looked at her as we cleared the castle gate. Four more guards had rushed up upon seeing the commotion and abruptly closed the path off behind us, closing the gate on the storm of reporters following. The party that was still on the lawn ground to a screeching halt as all heads turned to look at my entourage, and I was a bit surprised that the lead guards stopped with all three ponies that had been involved in the situation at the café. I gave them a nod, and all four of them saluted, heading towards the castle with me and Octavia following. The injured mare fell halfway across the yard, giving a yelp as she stepped down wrong on her left foreleg. After hitting that leg against the concrete, I was surprised she’d walked this far, even with the guards’ help. I ducked forward and braced her, causing her to go rigid as she looked back up at me in surprise with mixtures of fear in her eyes. I probably deserved that. Instead, I focused on her leg, lifting it gently, and then frowned. Bruising was going up from her ankle almost all the way to her elbow. My eyes flashed blue for a second, causing her to start, but my scan ran almost instantly along her leg. The surface blood vessels were, as best described, mangled. She'd rotated slightly in the air to not quite land on her face, and was instead heading for a lovely shoulder impact when she hit me instead. Unfortunately for her, a leg went past me and hit the ground, still going an appreciable fraction of terminal velocity. Of bigger concern was the muscles, and how they appeared to be partially torn at the connection with her ankle. "She has a torn muscle. Could one of you carry her on your back to the infirmary first? A second guard can go with to keep her calm. She needs that leg looked at," I requested, glancing to the unicorn and earth pony to my right, who'd been helping her along prior. They were the same two that ran up next to me when the event started, I realized. Both nodded, and the unicorn helped her uneasily up onto the earth pony's back. I nodded to them, then looked to the mother and little filly. "You two should go to the infirmary as well. Can you follow these two guards?" I requested, gesturing my right foreleg towards the filly, who had a little bit of blood running down from her right shoulder. She'd hit the broken roof tiles on that side after the mare threw her. Ultimately better than falling off the roof, but it still needed tending to. The older mare nodded, looking uneasily towards me before suddenly stepping forward. I hesitantly leaned back, unsure of her intent, and the closer pegasus stepped forward towards her, but she surprised me by suddenly hugging me instead. "I... I'm sorry I didn't say anything before now. Everything was a rush, but... Thank you! I don't care how you did it. You saved my little Morning Joy, and that's all that matters," she suddenly thanked. The pegasus relaxed, smiling a little as he sat back down with a dull thunk of his armor. She turned to him as well and grinned. I raised an eyebrow as she pounced on him as well, having carried the filly back down from the rooftops himself. "It's okay, ma'am. I'm just happy that nopony got hurt," the guard admitted. Ah, right! I was supposed to respond to that! "Yeah, it turned out surprisingly well for how it started. I'll probably be down to talk to you again after a little bit, but try to stay calm," I assured her. Assuming they didn't arrest me for creating a huge public disturbance and breaking the little Masquerade we had going. I kinda doubted that was outlined in law anywhere, but so far I had proved something of an exception, so why not? The mare relaxed a little before nodding to me, releasing the captive guard and picking her filly up instead, depositing her lightly between her two saddlebags. Oh, that was clever. I made a note of using saddlebag straps to help carry foals, if I ever ended up with one myself. I watched her catch up with the other two guards before turning back and heading for the castle entrance. Octavia gave a chuckle, catching up quickly on my right. The two remaining guards framed us to either side as we walked, making us look more official than I would have preferred. That's when I realized that I wasn't exactly 'numb' so much as my insides felt like I'd eaten several buckets of ice cubes. My nerves felt fried, and I realized I was oh so slightly shivering as I walked. Damn. Looking to Octavia, I watched her for a moment as we neared the gates. Her eyes flicked to the left at me for half a second before looking back in front of her, her left ear flicking twice. "Don't even say it. No, this changes nothing for me. If anything gives a strong enough witness of character, it's saving my life while asking for nothing in return and at great risk of your own. So regardless of what you may be, I know 'who' you are, and that's all that matters. So don't start," she suddenly spoke up. I blinked, almost tripping on my forelegs as I slowed, staring at her in surprise. She smirked, probably predicting my reaction, and I flattened my ears back a little. Well, I guess she'd made up her mind already. She was a very strange mare. "No room for argument, hmm?" I asked, catching back up to her side. For hauling an extra hundred pounds, she moved with surprising ease. She didn't miss a beat before smiling a bit wider and shooting back, "Of course not. I'm never wrong when it comes to judgement of character. I even knew you'd ask me that." That... That was true, yes. She'd predicted that I was feeling insecure, which probably wouldn't have taken a great leap of logic given what she'd witnessed earlier, but it did imply she at least knew me a little bit. Still... "So how does a musician, even an immensely talented one such as yourself, pick up skills for reading ponies so well?" I asked, raising an eyebrow towards the gray mare. The two guards slipped ahead of us and each opened one of the double doors heading into the palace. Crap, my time was about up. I'd hoped to hear her answer. She smirked, which was interesting enough when it came to reactions. "Oh my. Flattery will get you everywhere. Still, that's an honest enough question. Suffice it to say that I get invited all sorts of places, and have gotten very good at listening. You'd be surprised what you can hear if you just stop to listen in unique spots," she revealed, glancing back towards me with a coy smirk. Unique spots? The things that could be implied from that answer made my head spin, but I knew I didn't have time to consider it. I smiled more earnestly, and for just a brief moment, she looked mildly surprised. That was my opening, I realized. Fortune sometimes favored the suicidal brazen, I think the phrase went. "Thank you, Octavia. I'm glad that you're my friend," I returned. For just a split second, I saw her eyelids flick upwards ever so slightly, a micro-reaction that definitely registered. She controlled her expression with surprising precision, however, and shifted to a milder look of surprise, melting it into a warmer smile afterwards as she nodded. That was definitely an interesting reaction, but it didn't tell me anything specific. Turning, I headed through the small entry chamber and towards the inner doors instead, wiping my hooves absently on the thicker, rougher rug across the floor here. Octavia recovered in negligible time and repeated my gesture, as did the guards as they followed after, then opened the inner doors. "Thanks," I muttered to both of them, earning a nod from the pegasus and a soft smile from the unicorn. I'd have to thank them in more detail later, for their help at the cafe. Pulling my notepad program up, I tacked on all of their guard numbers to the bottom of it. Not thinking I was a monster right on the spot and still actually listening to my orders had to mean something. The inside of the throne room felt even bigger as I stepped through the inner doorway, my hooves making light padding noises on the softer carpet that ran all the way up the center of the room to the elevated throne. I swallowed a lump in my throat upon spotting Princess Celestia. She sat up on her throne, speaking with two ponies that stood at the base of it. I didn't recognize either of them, but from their fancy suit and dress, I assumed they were attending the party outside. The magical torches were already on as we walked up the straight path, and I did everything I could to try to distract myself. It was darker outside, summer light waning already, so I assumed they used artificial lighting more frequently. It made the room feel warmer, however, the sconces projecting a warmer orange ambiance through the air. My insides were thankful for it. To her credit, the Princess was remarkably perceptive. Her eyes locked with mine as we neared the throne, then flicked to Octavia, then the guard to each side of me. She smiled softly a second later, then looked back down at the two ponies in front of her. "You'll have to excuse me. Urgent matters appear to be at hoof, and I must take a private council," she excused. Both stallion and mare bowed politely to her before turning and heading back towards the exit, without another word. The mare looked us over as she walked past, frowning ever so slightly as she hurried to catch up with the stallion. Maybe it was that inner magic of mine giving away my mood? "Ah, Mender. You're back remarkably quickly from lunch, have your rumored lunch date in tow, and are accompanied by two of our guards. This bodes quite poorly," she deduced, giving me a skeptical if somewhat amused smile. "You have no idea..." I groaned, not even sure where to begin... * * * * * Tia exhaled softly, for perhaps the fourth time as she considered everything. I gave her a glance, then turned back to the mare lying in the hospital cot with a heavily bandaged foreleg. Miss Dusk Star was significantly more familiar to me now. She had a grayish tan coat, a strange color to describe. Obviously a unicorn, her mane and tail were dull orange with a few stripes of equally dull red running through them, giving her a very muted color scheme. The only bright color to her was her surprisingly vivid green eyes. Not every pony apparently had complimentary color schemes. She was currently on light pain medication, and was looking rather sleepy as she quietly regarded me. "So far, we know you work for BEID, but that plan wasn't an official scheme of theirs. You joined them three years ago, back when they were only monitoring dimensional activity, predicting the 'cycle' of dimensional movement would re-connect Equus in the near future. Right?" I summarized, looking to Tia, who only frowned further. Star shivered lightly, then slowly nodded. "I... I was acting without consent from the group with two others. One took the filly and hauled her to the roof where I was waiting. The other kept an eye on you and coordinated," she explained, swallowing uneasily. Glancing to my right, I saw the very filly in question sitting up in the hospital cot next to us. Her shoulder was bandaged on the right side, which really stood out on her pink coat. Her yellow mane, tail, and eyes matched nicely, though, and she sort of reminded me of a flower blossom. Morning Joy was a rather pretty name, in that case. Regardless, she was remarkably recovered from the event, now giving a soft smile as she watched me talk to the mare. She’d already forgiven the mare for taking her hostage, which genuinely surprised me... Her mother, an Earth Pony just like she was, sat next to the cot with her upper torso leaning up on the mattress, both forelegs around her filly. She hadn't let her go the entire time I was here, and I suspected before I got here as well. Her coat was a slightly darker yellow compared to the filly's mane and tail. Her own were a softer teal color, managing to mesh well with the yellow, but only because both were darker colors. Her eyes were a brighter version of her mane color, and frequently moved between me and her daughter. Miss Banana Swirl, or just Swirl for short. A local purveyor of all sorts of ice cream treats. I'd already been offered a lifetime supply... Octavia leaned up against her own cello case, piercing lavender eyes locked carefully on the mare as she took it all in. A moment later, she closed them and slowly nodded before furthering, "It fits. A little bird in the pub a few nights ago revealed that BEID was seriously locking down on its members due to a sudden rash of doubt and reconsideration. More than likely, Miss Snapshot is to blame." Eh? "What do you mean?" I asked her, looking over at the gray mare. Bringing up Snapshot out of the blue was a curious deduction. "It's simple. Temporary or not, she was a known BEID affiliate. During her 'mission' against you, whatever that was, she failed. I'm guessing she failed in a way that made them realize she failed, either by lack of a return report, or her somehow telling them," she pointed out. Yeah, when I broke the crystal, it probably disrupted whatever link it had with the other end, I realized, now that I understood how they functioned a little better. She continued regardless with, "Given their opinion of you, at least back then with what those bogus fliers had to say, they probably assumed her dead. Rather gruesome, but their opinion of you appears to be abysmal at best, no offense." I averted my eyes, and she gave me a soft smile, holding a hoof up as her ear flicked. I slowly shook my head, and she exhaled softly, relaxing a bit. To my surprise, Tia cut in instead, however. "But she didn't die. She showed up here a day later, arrested instead. I made no attempt at hiding that fact, and you believe that due to her being not only unharmed, but suddenly changing her opinion on Mender entirely, that it caused doubts," she deduced softly, eyes looking remarkably focused for her more relaxed posture. Ah, right. I hadn't hurt her at all, and she was technically free now, but working for me. That was a far cry from the rape, murder, and cannibalism she herself had proclaimed, I suddenly realized. "It... It's true!" Star exclaimed, then added, "We all got top priority correspondence that, um, essentially said that it would be the complete end of Equus as we knew it if Mender continued to roam free! I... I'd already believed them, but they sent all that out and I got scared. Nopony was doing anything, and no plans were being made to stop him. The three of us got together and decided to try to stop him ourselves..." So it worked a little too well on her and her friends. Although BEID had gotten its wish and got me to reveal myself regardless, ironically, through a complete fluke. The mare herself was absolutely terrified when I'd seen her up on the roof, and it made a painful knot in my throat when I realized it was in regards to me. How many ponies thought I was a complete monster hell bent on destroying their world? Tia exhaled softly, looking up at the ceiling before shaking her head. "We don't have a choice, Mender. The exposure is already too great. I'm going to call a press conference. I'd like you to be there. You don't have to say anything, but having a visual will help," she requested, looking back down and over at me. That. That was precisely what I'd been afraid of for a good hour now. I gave a sigh myself before nodding to her. "I understand. Am I coming as a captain, or just Mender this time?" I asked. Ironically, that heavy ceremonial armor would probably make me feel a bit more comfortable this time, putting another physical barrier between myself and the crowd. The alicorn shook her head, however, replying with, "It might give the wrong message, especially to a bunch of very uncertain ponies. Not wearing the armor will help you look more humble and down to earth. I'm going to go make the arrangements. Meet me back in the throne room in fifteen minutes or so." I nodded to her again, and watched her stand and leave, a bit of a rush to her step. The longer we let the ponies worry, the worse it would be, of course. Slowly, I turned and looked back at Octavia, who stretched against her cello case, then sat more upright instead of leaning on it. She looked at me for a moment, but I couldn't manage to keep her gaze and closed my eyes, settling on at least the truth. "I'm sort of an alien. Techically, anyway," I revealed, opening them again to look at her unchanged expression. She shrugged instead. "So am I whenever I visit Vinyl in Ponyville, 'technically' speaking. You'll have to be more specific," she pointed out, a slightly coy smile coming to her expression. At least her humor hadn't failed yet, which I was thankful for. "My mother and father are ponies. They were from here, Equus. An accident happened and pulled my mother into another dimension. I was frozen there in cryostasis for three hundred years before being crammed full of artifical parts to keep me alive, grown to maturity, then accidentally sent back here to Equus a little over a month ago. I completely lost my memory on arrival and started over as 'Moon Mender' instead. I only remembered everything that happened as of yesterday evening," I summarized, mostly for Octavia. To be honest, I was a little proud of actually getting the gray mare to look dumbfounded for a few seconds, surprise washing over her face. Of course, if she was reacting... A glance to my right showed both Dusk Star and Banana Swirl staring at me with bewildered, wide-eyed expressions. Yup. Joy, however, simply gasped before loudly professing, "Cool!" I looked at the little filly for a moment before smiling a little and nodding to her. Okay, she was adorable, and it was hard to brood around foals. Her mother relaxed a little and smiled as well, but Star frowned. "Artificial?" she asked quietly, looking my body over. I nodded to her, then wordlessly lifted one of my forelegs, letting a couple of tentacles extend out of it. I stared at them as they wiggled for a moment, my eyes shifting blue as I adjusted my scanners over my extra limbs. They weren't 'normal' in the slightest, not technically being flesh so much as a mass of fully functional, completely independent cells all lumped together and networked into acting as one. They formed an organic metal core for strength, and sinew and muscle connecting to it, allowing complete prehensile movement. They could also manipulate the moon-sized folded sub-space that was connected to me at a molecular level, to both pull more matter if I told them to grow, or poke out sharp and pointy things if I really wanted to whack something. They also got 'armored' the same way as I did, if I went into full combat mode. The best part was, apart from acting as a prehensile extra limb, they were entirely useless in the primarily peaceful daily life in Equestria. They mostly just alienated me, especially now. I sort of wanted to just rip them out, but I had no idea where I'd hide a small moon's worth of random matter. Maybe Pinkie would have ideas? "Fake parts. I wasn't ready to be born when they thawed me. In order to save my life, they replaced parts of me with fake versions. I'm partially mechanical. That's how I can make tentacles," I elaborated, gesturing to them. She watched them in more confusion than anything. Octavia reached out with her right foreleg and casually poked one, watching it gently wrap around her hoof. "Seems remarkably harmless, although I'm guessing you can do other things. Admittedly, I wasn't about to guess you were some sort of synthetic pony. We're geared more towards the, well, supernatural here," she explained, looking back up at me curiously. I nodded to her, having expected that much. I unhooked her hoof and withdrew the tentacles before shaking my head. "Nothing really supernatural about me. Apart from all of the artifical enhancements, I'm a normal Earth Pony. It's more complicated, of course, but I'm summarizing. Big Mac showed me that I could do Earth Pony magic, too, and that really proved it to myself, most of all," I said, staring at my own hoof. Now I knew for certain exactly what I was. Reliving my time as 'Azure' had completed my missing memories, and only made me realize what I'd sort of known all along. I was a pony, through and through. The memories I'd started with of another being and another world were the artificial ones. "I'm sorry," Star suddenly murmured, eyes going watery as she reached up and covered them with her hooves. "I'm so, so sorry. You... You weren't keeping any stupid secrets. You were just trying to be normal, and... I ruined all of that. I believed every word they spoon fed us, and I ruined your chance at a normal life," she whined, choking back a sob after as I saw tears slip out from behind her hooves. She had completely changed her mind before I even got down here. Apparently the 'monster' revealing himself willingly to save her life was completely beyond her reasoning before. Admittedly, a part of me realized she was right. Tactically speaking, what I had done was an amazingly poor choice. The unicorn guard might have been able to catch her safely, but even if he hadn't, I could have simply let her hit the ground. As an Earth Pony, nopony would have even batted an eye, acknowledging that there was no way I could have saved her after she fell. My secret would have been safe, and I could have been justified in that she 'deserved' it for what she tried to do to me and the innocent filly. That was only tactically, however. Even reasoning all of that out in my head felt like it rang false, and I was glad for it. It sounded more like something he would have done, and the further from him that I made myself, the better I felt. No, even if there was a chance the unicorn could have caught her, I wasn't about to risk a mare's life on uncertain odds. I was in a position to do something, and any life felt more precious than a stupid secret, even if it made my day a living hell. "No, I made the choice. Your life is more important than me keeping my identity a secret. I don't regret saving you," I finally spoke up. She stared at me, a certain level of emptiness to her expression, like I’d said something not in her native tongue. Octavia fully stood, however, drawing my attention back to her. “And that’s why you’re not a monster,” she declared, in a rather final way. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she hoisted her case back up on herself, focusing on that instead of immediately looking at me. When she did turn back, she instead added, “Now come on. We’re going to borrow the bathroom down the hall. I may be more relaxed than the noble types around town, but you’re still not going out like that on my watch.” Huh? Looking down at myself, I noticed my coat was rather frayed looking, and sticking out oddly in a few places. Some of it was from where I’d slept, but others I couldn’t place. At least not until I remembered Twilight’s last two day freak out session. Exhaling, I nodded to her and stood up as well. Might as well get this over with. Maybe if I just plunged into the proverbial ice water all at once, face first, it wouldn’t be as bad? “Okay, yeah. I should have probably tidied up before I left this morning, after the shower,” I admitted, looking my other, equally messy foreleg over. Apparently brushing was a useful thing for both genders of ponies… Octavia perked and gave a nod, surprising me with a smile instead. “Good! You’re significantly less stubborn than Vinyl. She would have fussed for at least an hour. Let’s go,” she declared before trotting rather perkily out the door of the clinic. Yup. I was never, ever going to understand mares. Slowly shaking my head, I headed towards the door to follow after her, regardless. “Mender, wait,” I heard behind me, from Swirl instead. I turned and looked back her way, noting she’d stepped away from the bed and was now standing at the foot of Star’s. Seeing she had my focus again, she quickly requested, “I really meant it about treating you at my ice cream shop. You saved my little filly’s life, and I don’t want to just leave it like this. Please, I don’t care what time of day or what day of the week. Could you please drop by the shop?” My mind immediately flashed to Pinkie for some reason, enthusiastically bouncing next to me and nodding. Smiling at the thought, I nodded to her, then added, “Sure, so long as I can bring some friends. Pinkie loves ice cream.” The mare dramatically gasped, and I tilted my head to her as she wobbled her legs. “You’re bringing the Elements of Harmony?! Oh, oh, I’ll have to get ready for this, then! Please, um, give me a bit of heads up before coming over, and I’ll have lots of treats for you all!” she exclaimed, clapping her hooves together happily. Huh. Pinkie was well known over here. “I’ll send you a note ahead of time, don’t worry,” I assured, nodding to her as I turned again. This time I got as far as the door before my name was called out. Looking back, I watched Star sit up in bed, frowning. “I’m… No, Snapshot is right. This is just… so stupid. They’re lashing out at you out of fear. I don’t want to work for BEID anymore,” she announced. She was probably right on their motives, anyway. I was pretty sure fear of the unknown was one of those ‘primal’ ones. Although for the scientifically inclined such as Twilight or myself, the unknown was more a driving force. “That’s probably wise. I’m not saying they’re bad ponies. They just seem misguided,” I muttered. It was the first time I’d really thought about ‘why’ BEID was doing what it was doing, but it seemed to make sense. Realizing that they were normal ponies with normal wants and fears was also sort of pushed upon me by all of this. Although that was probably a good thing, rather than imagining them as some nameless entity in the darkness that wanted me gone. She hesitated for a moment, and I admittedly saw it coming. “So, does Dimensional Regulations have need for a typist?” she asked hesitantly, a few moments later. Oh boy… * * * * * “This is a surprisingly big mess…” Shining Armor muttered, sitting next to me and staring blankly out at the stage. My ears flicked, and I glanced over at him before asking, “Which? My run in with BEID, or… this?” I gestured out to the projection screen sticking partially out of the wooden floor of the stage, a bit of smoke coming up from the basic wind up motor it had on the one end. The magic projection system had also been knocked over, scattering a few dozen crystals across the front of the platform and ground in front of the stage. Tia sat at the podium, intentionally not turning around to even watch, letting her head rest on her forehooves as she stared out above the crowd of ponies already gathered. “Uh… yes?” Shining offered, shrugging his shoulders before asking again, “Are you sure you don’t want help with-“ He was cut off as Snapshot shouted, “Yes! I’m fine, and this is all under control! Just give me a moment.” I lifted an eyebrow as she strained, slowly yanking the smoldering display screen out of its crater on the stage. It looked kind of the opposite of under control, but she was very adamant on doing it all herself. It didn’t help that she’d heard about what happened and immediately came to the same conclusion as Octavia. So now she decided that she absolutely had to help correct the situation. A few ponies in the crowd had started to chuckle. A good chunk were still watching me with mixtures of anxiety and curiosity. I was pretty sure the news had gone everywhere by now, for better or worse. They were surprisingly quiet, however, and just waiting patiently for Tia to begin talking. Looking out into the crowd, I was met with so many pairs of eyes looking back at me that I was almost instantly struck with a sort of vertigo. The attention was choking, and I wanted to slowly slink backwards until I fell off the back of the stage, then run and hide somewhere. Having the girls here to help would have been amazing, but they weren’t due in by train for another hour yet, the trip here taking about three. Tia had sent Twilight a letter last night stating that I’d woken up, and apparently the mare had tried to pack up and leave on the hour. I blushed a little considering it, but was glad that Tia had talked her out of it. She was still needed for the last day of the festival that I had mostly completely missed. Rolling my eyes, I stood and walked forward finally, just as Snapshot yanked the projector screen out of the flooring. “Mender, I said-“ she started. “Shush. You’re getting help,” I ordered, causing her to look surprised for a moment until I bumped into her and moved her backwards, then whacked the motor casing on the end of the screen. Friction burn had literally burnt the edges of the rotation axel, and the rope had gotten hung up behind the gear after it had slipped out of the spindle, by the looks of it. Of course, finding this out before she yanked the whole thing off the back wall would have been better, but the damage was done already. She watched curiously as I hooked the other end of the rope and pulled it out of the threading feed, then lifted it up until it popped out from behind the gear assembly. After, I just put it back into the feed and lined it up again, pushing the gears back down into place. A check of the bolt and washer that had secured them showed that it was stripped bare, probably since the last time that Twilight and I had caused it to crash to the floor. Exhaling, I pulled the bolt out with a magnetic spell on my hoof and held it up to the light. This wouldn’t do at all… “Oh, that’s what broke?” Snapshot asked, looking the bolt over after snatching it out of my hoof. “It popped loose, let the gears pull away from the back cover, which let the rope slip off the spool and get stuck in them. Then you pulled on it so hard that the friction caught the rope partially on fire, and the bolts securing it to the wall pulled free…” I pointed out, gesturing to the bits of the wall that were still on the bolts at the back of the screen. Wait, bolts…? She scowled at me, then tossed the ruined bolt haphazardly backwards and crossed her forelegs. “That doesn’t fix it, though! We need this for the presentation!” she whined, energetically flailing her hooves a moment later. Glancing at the back of the screen, I eyed up the bolts there instead. An eye scan showed me the exact same measurements, and I smiled. Universal parts really did make engineering easier! Pulling one of the bolts out of the back of the panel, I instead slid it into the gear assembly and tightened it with my magic. Snapshot squeaked, then did a small dance happily as she watched, her energy and enthusiasm rather infectious, really. Admittedly, focusing on engineering issues instead was helping me calm down, too. Octavia had spent a good fifteen minutes with me in the bathroom. I didn’t question why she had a brush packed into her cello case, and further ignored that it smelled lightly of instrument oil. Still, she’d done wonders working on my coat, and explained that stress tended to cause hormone releases into the bloodstream, and the nerves along our skin reacted with that, sometimes causing our fur to get messed up. I imagine that originally it was used to ‘puff’ us up to make us look bigger and scarier when we were nervous, but it hardly had a place in a more modern setting. I knew nothing about evolution, but was kind of irked that was still a thing. Eh, at least male ponies didn’t have nipples. Keldarians did, which also made me question things. Alas, I couldn’t keep myself distracted forever. After the screen was levitated back up on the wall courtesy of Shining, Tia didn’t have any reason to further delay the press conference. Of course, there was a lot more ponies than just the press in the crowd, them backed all the way out the side gate, as well as spilling out onto the lawn to either side of the assembly area. My neatly groomed fur was threatening to pop loose again, and I closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm that twitchy sensation in my chest. I wondered idly if they made pony ‘hair spray’ for this sort of situation. A momentarily amusing image came to mind of a spastic pony shaking so much that suddenly all their fur popped out at once, sending hardened chunks of spray out into the audience like shrapnel, and I had to resist laughing. Yeah, that would be my luck. Maybe. Maybe Malice was going to play nice from now on? Tia started speaking, however, interrupting my train of thought as I snapped back to reality. “Ah, now that our technical difficulties have been resolved, and as long as I remember not to step backwards into the hole in the stage behind me now, things may begin,” she started, earning a few chuckles and giggles from the crowd. The air was tense and nervous still, however, and I swallowed that lump in my throat that had been building up. I was nervous, too, but for other reasons. “Most of you have already heard about the incident that happened an hour or so ago, I imagine. I’m not certain of the exact timing involved,” she started, shifting to a softer tone while carefully choosing her words. She didn’t have any script and was doing this right off the top of her head, which scared me even to think about. Talking at all in front of crowds was horrifying enough, but to do so without any planned material and about a rather nasty disaster? There were a lot of nods, and Tia added one herself before continuing with, “For those of you who haven’t, I’ll give a brief summary. Moon Mender, one of my guard captains, was having an early lunch with a friend of his at the Green Tea Café downtown. Before they’d gotten their orders, a mare called out to him from the roof of the shipping manifest office next door.” She had to remind me that I hadn’t eaten… I closed my eyes and tried to quiet the sudden sympathy rumble in my stomach, my left ear twitching in annoyance. “This mare had hauled a seven year old filly up with her, and was threatening bodily harm to the young foal if Mender didn’t reveal to the gathering crowd that he was an alien or monster trying to destroy our world,” the princess continued. There was a significant amount of gasps from the crowd, and I wondered at how many actually had heard the whole story. She continued before anypony could interrupt, however. “This mare was scared witless and truly believed Mender to have nothing but ill will towards our nation and world. Mender reacted admirably by attempting to calm her, and get equipment from the nearby fire station to get both of them down safely. Two guards attempted a rescue in the meantime,” she explained, summarizing surprisingly accurately minus the ‘admirably’ part. The Keldarians hadn’t really been big on teaching what to do in a hostage situation, so I hadn’t had much to work with there, fake memories included. Tia exhaled softly after that, lowering her head a little before giving the next part. “The rescue went poorly, and the mare slipped and fell off the top of the roof. She managed to throw the filly to safety even as she fell, and one of the guards caught her carefully. The mare, however, fell four stories,” she revealed, letting that last part hang for a moment. Several more gasps, and somepony in the front managed to call out. “Is she okay?!” a mare asked in the front row, scratching furiously on a notepad in front of her with a pencil. She popped it back into her mouth immediately after asking, with practiced precision. Huh. “Yes, she’s doing quite well. Moon Mender saved her life by catching her. However, he used his tentacles to do so, his magic not charged up enough at the time,” the princess answered. It was as if somepony had hit a big ‘pause’ button on the entire crowd, everypony freezing at the exact same time and locking eyes with me instead. I closed mine, unable to stop my legs from shaking, even as I struggled to maintain my normal breathing. It was like their stares were tangible, able to be felt over my skin and burn like acid. I wanted to crawl away and hide, but… No, Tia had asked me to stay here, so I was going to stay here. There was a long pause that felt like an eternity crept past before she finally spoke again. “I’ve not been entirely truthful to my little ponies, and I apologize profusely for it. There are many reasons for why I did not tell the truth about Mender’s existence. For one, he himself started with no memories of who or what he was. I recognized him, having known his parents, and was desperately hoping that I could give him a normal life,” she revealed, emotion leaking out into her tone, even though she tried to keep her voice even. My eyes opened and I looked to her again, only to see her staring momentarily at the top of the podium as she fought to formulate her words. Something in her eyes made me pause, as I’d never seen her look like that before. She seemed almost… haunted. Finally, she shook her head slowly, then shifted to a different part of the story instead. “Three hundred years ago, there was a rash of disappearances all around Equestria. All sorts of objects simply disappearing from their spots seemingly for no reason whatsoever. My first instinct was a string of burglaries and petty thefts, but the phenomenon quickly grew too widespread. Worse yet, sometimes items were put back in their place instead. Items that were definitely not of Equus origin,” she summarized. Oh, right, the dimensional bleeding effect. There were whispers, but ponies mostly kept silent, so she continued. “Growing concerned, I assembled a team of ponies from several fields of study to look into what was causing this strangeness, and if it was a danger to anypony directly. What they found was… It was startling, to say the least. We are not alone in this, well, let’s call it multiverse. Our universe is one of many in reality, and they travel in ‘cycles’ in time, sometimes getting closer or farther away from us. One such is matching up almost flawlessly with Equus, and when it passed close, areas that had intense pockets of magic caused a reaction, letting smaller items be swapped back and forth between our dimensions.” Gasps. Everypony started talking at once, but Tia held up a hoof in the air, causing them to slowly fall silent once more. Anxiety spiked, in both the audience and myself, it felt like. The princess shook her head, however, and then admitted, “I kept this a secret. I didn’t want anypony to panic. In the meantime, I had the team I’d already created formalized into a government branch called the Bureau of Extradimensional Investigation and Defense, or BEID for short. I then instructed them to look in-depth into this other dimension. The results were horrific, to say the least.” I’d never know if she intended to hang on that point, but the crowd exploded into more talking, questions being screamed towards the stage, and a flurry of restless motion. I felt my own heart thudding harder inside my chest and swallowed, closing my eyes again and pretending I wasn’t up on stage right now. At least they weren’t specifically paying attention to me anymore. “Quiet!” Shining barked suddenly, almost scaring me out of my skin due to being literally right next to me again. Even not being right at the microphone, his voice carried out over the crowd and caused a very familiar looking freezing effect throughout. He continued with, “Let Princess Celestia finish explaining before orderly asking questions, one at a time.” His order was level and even, and I saw many ponies relax visibly below us. Oh boy. Tia nodded at that, replying momentarily with a thank you to him before looking back out over the crowd. “The other dimension is not a pleasant place, and is nothing like our Equus. Everything from their reports are on file, and I’m now making them available to the general public, although I caution a strong heart and stomach if you’re going to go and look at them,” she warned, gesturing behind her as the screen finally lit up, showing data and measurements from familiar looking reports. Dimensional ‘density’ testing, I recognized, showing that how thin the barrier was between our dimensions varied depending on physical location. It was interesting results and actually implied that the bleeding was a ‘localized’ occurrence, mostly over the planet known as Equus, actually. It couldn’t have been coincidental, however. All eyes were drawn up to the huge projection screen instead, and she took advantage of their temporary distraction to continue talking. “However, I was foolish. This dimension had proven dangerous, so I immediately decided to stop the experiments to investigate it and try to seal it off as best I could. This turned out to be a mistake that has haunted me for the last three hundred years. In simply unplugging the experimental device they were using to look into the other dimension, it ruptured, causing a massive tear to momentarily appear connected to that other reality.” Her voice dwindled, most eyes shifting down to look at her instead as her eyes softened. I saw her left forehoof scrape slowly across the podium, but she closed her eyes and focused again before continuing. “We lost one of our own, pulled through the tear into that other dimension. Miss Gemstone Weave didn’t go missing in a hiking incident. She was one of the researchers for the team, and fell into the other dimension,” Tia muttered, a rare moment where the conviction was lost in her voice. Shining frowned towards her, and I saw confusion dance in the crowd, alongside several more shocked looks. Nopony said a single word, however, either too shocked to manage, or not wanting to interrupt. I didn’t know what to say at all, not used to seeing her like this. After a long moment, she looked up again and instead apologized with, “I’m sorry to have lied about it. I was concerned news of the other dimension would bring panic. I officially apologize to her friends and family as well, who missed her dearly. She was survived by her fellow partners in both the lab, and life, Bronze Bastion and Auraprism. Far worse, she was pregnant with a foal on the way when the incident happened.” Ah. And here we go. That brought full on gasps. Several audience members looked to me instead, sharply catching on almost immediately. She didn’t give them time to interrupt, however, instead glancing to the left and looking right at me as well. There was a certain tiredness to her eyes that I could sympathize with, and I nodded to her. She smiled softly and returned my nod before pushing the surprisingly oversized button on the podium, switching the flickering slide behind her again. My eyes widened at what came up. On the image was my full bio instead, done up with profile information and, to my surprise, something called ‘energy signature readings’. Two other signatures were lined up under that, appended onto the bottom with a paperclip, by the looks of it. Combined together, it looked remarkably close to mine, I realized. “This is the hospital’s write up on Moon Mender when he was first taken in. As you can see, they found him to have almost complete retrograde amnesia, retaining only motor functions and rudimentary basic knowledge. He revealed more specific understanding later on, but the important aspect that you can see are his energy signatures at the bottom. As most of you know, the magic inside a pony is entirely unique. Combining the signature from two parents, you can guess within a discrepancy of five percent or so what the foal’s signature is going to be. This is the comparison of Gemstone Weave and Bronze Bastion’s signatures that I ran on a hunch after I spoke for the first time with Mender himself,” she revealed, to me as well as she gestured back at the screen. She then dropped the big proverbial bomb on the crowd with, “They match within three percent. It surprised me at the time as well, but Moon Mender is the foal that Gemstone was carrying when she was pulled through the dimension.” The questions came flooding towards us, non-stop after that. Shining Armor slammed his hoof down hard on the stage, causing pretty much everypony to jump, including Tia and me. “One at a time! Raise your hooves and calm down, everypony!” he shouted out, giving a stern glare to several in the front row, who shifted sheepish instead. One lowered a megaphone, and I had to resist slapping my forehoof to my forehead. The same mare as before raised her hoof patiently in the front row. Shining nodded to her, and she immediately looked to me instead. “If this event happened over three hundred years ago, how is it that you’re still alive, even if you were successfully born in the other dimension?” she asked quietly. I blinked, not anticipating the question to be directed specifically to me instead. Tia frowned, starting to open her mouth, but I shook my head and closed my eyes again. I’d never be able to muster my voice if I had to look at them all staring at me. After a long moment of settling my insides, I finally spoke up with, “I wasn’t born in the other dimension. She was only seven or eight months into the pregnancy. She… My mother didn’t survive her arrival into the other dimension. I only know this all second hoof, but one of the races of that dimension, called Keldarians, found us shortly after she fell through. She was already gone, but they preserved her body, and incidentally me inside of her, with cryostasis. That was a technique they used to freeze us, keeping us in the exact state they found us in. I was like that up until about seven months ago.” Once I started, I knew I couldn’t risk stopping or I’d probably never get going again. My eyes remained closed, and I tried my hardest to stop my legs from shaking, hearing the very light rattling of my hooves on the wood of the stage, getting picked up by the microphone. It took a long moment, but the voice of that same reporter spoke up again, less urgently and more gently this time, to my surprise. “What happened seven months ago, then?” she asked. I opened my eyes again, and she gave me a gentler smile. I hadn’t been expecting that, but I relaxed nonetheless and nodded weakly. “A stronger, far nastier race had been hunting them for over a hundred years. The Keldarians were at the brink of extinction due to these horrible creatures. In order to find other ways to escape, and find somewhere else to flee to where the monsters couldn’t follow them, they launched a bunch of experimental projects. For one of them, led by a genius dimensional researcher called Kyliona, I was unthawed. She’d found unique energy on me and my mother, that she didn’t think originated from their own dimension,” I explained, topic shifting a little more ‘comfortable’ for me, anyway. The reporter looked surprised for a moment, then scribbled more notes down on her pad, and Tia nodded, giving me a smile and gesturing at me with her head. Right, I was supposed to keep talking. Ugh. She said I wouldn’t have to do this! Regardless, I guess I had chosen to speak up so it was sort of my own fault. I swallowed uneasily and shifted how I was sitting, noting a small puddle of my own sweat under me now. Calm down, Mender! Exhaling softly, I closed my eyes again and tried to focus on what was next. Oh, right. “When my mother was unthawed, I was discovered still inside of her. It was much too soon for me to be born, and they had to remove me from her and give me artificial parts in order to save my life. They also meshed my DNA with a few other sources, mostly my mother, to complete missing pieces of it from being frozen for three hundred years. The results is that I’m a ‘cybernetic’ pony, as they called it,” I explained. Tia hit her excessively large slide changing button again, and I looked back behind me as an amazingly large picture of Snapshot’s face came up, sticking her tongue out at her own camera. Uh… The mare off to the side near the projector squeaked in panic almost instantly, diving for the projector and manually flipping to the next slide. Instead, a picture of my profile came up, showing hundreds of artificial parts inside of me in various locations. Well, now I knew who prepared the slideshow, anyway… The small chorus of laughter halted as expressions shifted to curious instead, all eyes focused on the flickering image of light on the screen. Tia smiled at that and nodded, explaining, “Mender was saved by the advanced technology of these Keldarians. He has roughly eighty-five percent of his body augmented by something mechanical at this point. The project that unthawed him was originally going to use him as a scout, to send to Equestria and then report his findings back. Due to the… unique energy that he and his mother radiated, however, the Keldarians themselves that were working on him changed.” I didn’t know if she wanted to mention how technically atrocious they were as well, even if that made the Grosh complete monsters in comparison, but I just let her decide how much to reveal, as I looked back to her. She instead hit her giant button again, and the slide flicked forward once more. This time, Snapshot watched it like a hawk, her hoof over the slide change lever just in case. She was… a very strange mare… To my honest surprise, I was instead greeted by a five meter wide, four meter tall image of Keela instead. It was from the picture we’d made projecting her using my eye augments after they’d met for the first time. She was in her captain’s uniform, and on the bridge of the mining ship, I recognized. Gasps shot up from the crowd again, but Tia cut them off by immediately starting talking again. “This is a Keldarian. Her name is Keela, and she’s one of the researchers that worked with Mender, named Azure at that time, I’m told. They were changed by the residual embodiment of the virtues of harmony inside of Mender and his mother. They quickly were healed of the magical ailment that’s been plaguing their race for hundreds of years, and their dispositions softened towards the then young colt. They did artificially age Mender, but she was one of the ones there to help raise him. All were quite nice to him indeed,” she quickly summarized, smoothing over a lot of the more awkward parts of that story with surprising, practiced ease. A few ponies smiled at the image. A few others just looked surprised or confused. I glanced up at her, feeling a light heat enter my cheeks as I realized her image was being shown to easily over two thousand ponies suddenly. She herself would probably squeak and try to hide under her bed if she knew. Idly, I wondered when she’d be calling me back with an answer on her memory concerns. She said today at some point… A stallion wearing a ridiculously oversized journalist’s cap, next to the nice reporter mare from earlier, raised his hoof next, and Shining nodded to him a moment later. He stood up fully, making himself a little taller before asking, “If Moon Mender has recovered his memories now, is he somehow still in contact with these ‘Keldarians’? If so, what happened to send him back to Equus?” Ah, that was an astute question indeed. Tia must have thought so too, as she smiled at that. “Ah, yes, actually, we are still in contact with them. Mender has let me speak to them directly using his augmentations. They’re quite intelligent and very considerate individuals, I found. Their home planet was attacked by those monsters that Mender told you about already. This picture was taken from a ship they’re actually traveling in, no longer on their planet at all, but in space,” she explained, more carefully this time. I wasn’t sure how familiar ponies were with the concept of outer space, and quite a few gave confused expressions at that, I noticed at a glance. Oddly, I felt a little more comfortable now that my silly subconscious worries about them throwing pitchforks at me was proving unfounded. I didn’t realize it, but somehow, Tia managed to completely smooth over the explanation of what I was, although I doubted they were done asking about it. Exhaling softly, I added, “There was an accident during the attack. The Keldarians who had become my friends tried to get me off the planet with them. Doctor Kyliona, who’d saved my life, didn’t make it, unfortunately. In the panic and confusion, my augmentations activated and I ‘jumped’ to Equestria completely by accident. Somehow, it left me with retrograde amnesia, and I landed in the Whitetail Woods, near Ponyville.” And with that, minus the details about being a weapon of mass destruction, I’d completed the full circle details of my arrival. And I’d just told essentially all of Equestria. It felt like somepony had lifted a huge harness off my back that had been holding me down for quite a while, but at the same time, had bucked me in the gut and made me throw up all over the place. Thankfully without actually throwing up. Although there was still time left in the day for that… Nopony spoke, to my surprise. I didn’t look up, but I saw the mare reporter from before frown at that. Looking across the crowd, Tia frowned as well, then relaxed a bit more. “It’s not a pleasant set of memories, certainly,” she admitted, then continued with, “Mender hasn’t exactly had the best life, forced to grow up in six short months, then thrown into Equestria with no memories whatsoever. Since then, his prior life hasn’t exactly let him rest in peace, either. I found out who he was and tried to not even let him know in hopes he could live like a normal pony. That didn’t work out, however, and he was attacked by another creature from the other dimension. I’m sure you all know the details about that incident already. That’s when he found out himself that he wasn’t a normal pony.” They all heard about that? Some might not have known! We only set about five kilometers of the Everfree Forest on fire, caused a couple earth shattering explosions, and got Ponyville locked down in a state of emergency for a few days… Surely that couldn’t have been that noticeable. This time, most of the crowd didn’t look surprised, instead looking up as the projector changed slides again. I watched it switch instead to a picture of the swath of fire and destruction through the forest, then the mostly obliterated clearing we’d fought over. Oh boy. A few more murmurs sounded out, but Shining Armor surprised me by summarizing instead. “A creature disguising itself as my sister, Twilight Sparkle, attempted to infiltrate Ponyville and use the ruse to get Mender to let his guard down. It almost worked, but Mender noticed discrepancies in her appearance. As most of you know, he’s rather familiar with my sister,” he explained, glancing to me. A bolt of shock went through me and I felt the heat skyrocket into my cheeks as I turned to note his rather impish grin. Ah! Laughter broke out fully at that, but Shining just chuckled and kept talking. Sure, they could laugh now that it was safely in the past! “It saw that it was compromised, and attacked instead. There was an explosion at the library where they were, and the creature kidnapped Mender and retreated deep into the Everfree Forest. Princess Luna herself gave the rest of the account, revealing that Mender had realized fully that he was augmented, and actually did battle with the creature right in that clearing there. You can see the extensive damage to the surrounding area. The creature’s intentions were to destroy Moon Mender and any evidence of his existence, including Ponyville. Realizing this, Mender fought to protect everypony he’d come to know and love, and won. He defeated the creature,” Shining continued, looking back to me instead of the slide. I stared at him, eyes softening a little. He knew what her intent had been? I’d told Twilight about that, so she had to have been the one to tell him. But he praised my actions as rather positive there. Did that mean he really approved of me? After what happened with their dad, and mother to some extent, I had started to question how he felt about me dating his sister, too. Oblivious to our exchange, several of the journalists raised their hooves again. Snapping out of it, Shining looked back and nodded to a female unicorn that was a bit further to the left. She put her hoof down and quickly asked, “If you were able to fight that creature and defeat it, does that mean your, um, augmentations, I believe they were called, enable you to be, well…” She hesitated, and I closed my eyes again, exhaling. I’d seen this one coming. Tia looked to me, but I just nodded before relaxing myself again. “Yes. My augmentations make me physically stronger, tougher, and faster than I normally could be by a significant degree. On top of that, they let me create the tentacles I used earlier to save the mare. All of that is what I used that night to defeat the creature. Originally, when they were going to use me as a scout, they had no idea what Equus was actually like. That’s when they installed all of the combat functions and knowledge of how to use them, because they were worried that Equus might be an extremely dangerous place,” I explained. That I’d prepared ahead of time, having predicted they’d be a bit concerned with the more combat-oriented augments. Smiling, the princess nodded again to me before suggesting, “Perhaps a demonstration would be in order, Mender? Show them the tentacles up on stage, and your armor that you use.” Oh, yeah, that would probably be easier. Relaxing, I nodded to her and closed my eyes again. I felt them stir in my back, and I expanded them, eight long points extending from me and reaching upwards into the air. After I expanded them to a good three meters, I relaxed them and let them lower, pooling around my legs and gently swaying as I stretched the kinks out of them. They were always a little stiff if I didn’t use them for a little bit, I noticed, which was kind of weird. As predicted, everypony started talking at once, in a flurry of slower questions, not quite as panicked as before, at least. Predictably, there was also an explosion of camera flashes across the entire crowd. I felt heavy as I pulled my armor out at the same time, feeling the plates ‘melt’ out of my skin. My legs lifted one at a time as I snapped the huge plated ‘boots’ over my hooves, elevating me by a dozen centimeters or so more than normal. I also gained a good seventy-five pounds in pure plating, and easily heard my hoofsteps on the wood now. My muscles expanded and I felt that flow of power again as I cracked my back, then stood, opening my eyes finally. Everything was lightly tinted blue as my scanners took over completely, and I had a slight ‘letterbox’ effect going from seeing through the reinforced crystal lenses and armor plates over my eyes. Everypony had fallen silent, watching me now as I stood there in full armor, the plates going up my tentacles as well now. Exhaling, I walked slowly in a circle, turning each side of me to the audience, hoping familiarity would breed comfort in this case. In my rotation, I was a bit surprised to see Tia and Shining also staring at me, looking a bit shocked. Huh?! Did I forget the ‘pants’ or something?! Another wave of camera flashes hit me a moment later. Oh, that was just perfect… “Mender, when did your armor change colors?” Tia asked, sounding quite surprised. Huh?! Tilting my head to her, I sat down again and folded my helmet off. After I had full neck movement again, I looked down at my raised foreleg, then widened my eyes as I saw the solid white color instead. Eh?! Each individual plate was white, but there was an engrained overlay of a silvery blue color in a ‘branching’ pattern across the surface of each plate, which definitely wasn’t there before. My dumbfounded expression must have been fairly obvious, Tia frowning after a moment and rotating more towards me. “It must have subconsciously changed without you realizing it. Maybe when you got your full memories back?” she suggested. I was at a loss, realizing I technically didn’t know what had made it ‘black’ before that. It was never really something I’d considered before. Did the Elements of Harmony do something? It snapped into focus inside of me a moment later. A stirring, then a thousand eyes and then some opened up inside of me. My eyes widened a bit as I looked down at my own hoof. I braced, but they only watched me. There was nothing accompanying them this time, I realized. That usual flood of screams and hatred that flowed freely under their presence was absent. Instead, they smiled to me. It was an indistinct feeling, billions of smiles at once. Almost in one unified thought, I felt a ‘thank you’ drift into me, then the focus switched to the armored plate in front of me. Oh. They had done it. I let them get their revenge on who really killed them, and then the Elements of Harmony had purified them all. They were just like Keela and Kyliona now, I realized. Their anger was gone. I imagined that made a more concentrated form of thinking a lot easier. They had thanked me by changing the color of my armor and giving me these designs? Looking more closely at them now, I realized they were a very ‘nature’ feel, and wondered how intimately they knew and understood my inner Earth Pony side. I smiled gently, then thanked them back instead. Shining Armor smiled, too, looking me over. “It doesn’t really matter. I think it looks quite good on you, Mender. Much more fitting than the black stuff you had before,” he admitted as I stood up again to look back at my hips. My Cutie Mark was proudly displayed on the large back hip plates, and glowing a silver color, even visible in the sunlight. I smiled back at it and nodded quietly, taking in the details of the etched gear and heart. The inside of the heart was blue instead, and shining brightly in comparison. Hell, I could probably use my butt as a flashlight in this state. Tia watched us, too, looking relaxed before she softly sighed and turned back to the podium. Oh? She looked lost in thought for a moment before she continued talking instead to the crowd. “There you have it. Everything that I’ve been keeping secret from everypony. I apologize again, and would like to remind that it’s all available for public viewing now. It was a mistake to hide it, and I deeply regret everything that happened,” she started, frowning for a moment before glancing back at me. I saw that pain in her eyes again, and she quickly snapped back to looking out at the crowd instead. “Mender coming back was like an impossible hope of mine. Even more, it turns out that Gemstone Weave has been watching over him the entire time. Her soul has returned to Equus alongside Mender, and she’s now safely in the Ether. She’s been seen on the Long Road now, and is answering communications again, if anypony wishes to welcome her home. All of this… has felt personally like a second chance for me. That’s why I made Dimensional Regulation,” she explained. Oh, right! I figured she was going to talk about DReg, too. The reporters perked up at the mention of that, our big announcement conference having only been about a week ago. The princess continued, however, with, “Due to his experience with dimensional travel, his extensive training in engineering, technology, and combat, and his absolute desire to protect everypony he encounters, I made Moon Mender both a guard captain, and the official head of Dimensional Regulation. Shining Armor is in charge of the guard details in training and the field, and Twilight Sparkle is in charge of everyday management and utilities. Their duty, unlike BEID, is transparent this time. Mender is to research into the other dimension and come up with active defensive measures to protect Equus from any possible dangers it could entail. Every town in Equestria is donating guards to this cause, and due to the centralized location and ease of access, Ponyville is going to be the new seat of governing for Dimensional Regulations. Construction starts up immediately on a house of operations and labs, both of which will be tour-ready when not in active use. We are hiding nothing except for the actual research results, which could be possibly dangerous and subject to extensive filtering.” Murmurs went through the crowd at that, probably due to most of it already being announced last week. It was a good idea to iterate it again, however, in new light. I nodded to her, relaxing as I eased my muscles inside my armor, my tentacles coiling neatly into pools behind me. It was rather weird to have them out in public like this. Tia sighed at that, however, and hit her oversized button once more, switching to the last slide which showed the initial findings of BEID. Oh? She looked a bit sad suddenly when she announced, “Unfortunately, I’ve recently discovered that BEID did not disband when I instructed them to, after the accident. Some apparently felt the need to continue monitoring dimensional activity. They’re responsible for the events of today, the breaking and entering on Equestria Weekly’s printing press, and the distribution of the dangerous magical fliers. I can only conclude at this point that they will no longer listen to reason, and only see Moon Mender as a dangerous threat to Equus itself.” Oh. There was absolutely dead silence as everypony stopped, slowly looking at each other, and then back up at Tia herself. She didn’t look pleased in the slightest, expression grim as she continued. “I officially ask you one last time, BEID. Your agents are undoubtedly in the crowd right now, listening. Disband yourself. You have my word as a ruler of Equestria that this stallion is every bit a pony, just like everypony else here, and no threat to anypony. He only wants to protect his new home, and what you’re doing, whether you intend it to be or not, is a danger to innocent ponies everywhere. Today could have ended in tragedy. I think we all can see that. You got your wish, and forced Mender to reveal himself. So please, stop this foolishness before anypony gets hurt,” she pleaded, looking back and forth across the crowd of ponies. Murmurs went up as ponies looked to each other, probably hoping any ‘agents’ would be readily visible, which I knew wouldn’t be the case. I glanced along the crowd, too, and then raised my view up towards the back gates. My eyes widened. Twilight stood far back towards the gates, luggage strapped to her in a few spots. Her eyes were locked on me and about as wide as they could get, probably due to the fact that I was sitting up here in my fully transformed armor. Oops. Well, I could have thought of numerous better ways to break the news to her. Fluttershy rounded the corner a moment later, looking unnerved by the ponies all around before accidentally running into Twilight. After rubbing her forehead, she followed Twilight's gaze and also locked onto me. Her squeak was suddenly heard over a very welcome link as it reconnected, and she covered her mouth with her hooves, despite there being literally no way anypony could have even heard her over the crowd. Seeing the other four and Spike walking along the side of the fence towards the gate, I took a shot in the dark, guessing I'd be going into the story yet again, soon enough... Chapter 94I wasn't entirely sure what was worse. The absolutely excessive amount of questions after the press release, or the fact that Fluttershy and Twilight were literally right in the front row and I couldn't just bail off the side of the stage and hug them. Twilight appeared to catch on fast as to what had happened, and I saw her start talking to the other six. Spike still looked a little bewildered by it all, but the longer she talked, the more irate Rainbow and Applejack looked. At least half of the questions were directed at me. Princess Celestia tackled the rest, with Shining Armor slipping down to speak to his sister and friends halfway through. I stood there, silently gritting my teeth as each question shot in, my forelegs shaking quietly, my magic keeping the hooves sealed to the wood so they wouldn't rattle. My armor was hot now at this point, the fur along my face and head damp and matting. With my helmet off, I couldn't do temperature regulation, which was going to be something I'd have to fix in the future. All ranges of topics were covered. How dangerous I was, my moral integrity, if I was still going to be head of DReg, my relationship with the Element Bearers, what my relationship was with the royal sisters, my legality as an Equestrian Citizen, my legal status as a member of a herd, and even how old I should be classified. Most of the questions I felt they didn't have any need to know, but unfortunately, I was the scary alien creature trying to prove that it was a pony. The age thing even I couldn't answer, being mentally about twenty, biologically seven months, and technically three hundred and seven. After a surprisingly long three minute debate, ending with Twilight looking like she wanted to both cry and beat somepony's head in, Snapshot finally just flicked back to my bio page slide and doodled a smiley face and question mark in my age entry. Eh, good enough. The stallion stood up again, his coat tan with slightly darker mane and tail, and surprisingly piercing orange eyes. His horn glowed fiercely as he continued writing, even while grilling me for information. I inwardly winced, him being the one to ask the most brutal questions so far. "What exactly is your intent towards Equestria, and Equus as a whole? The nation, and our planet itself." I stared at him, biting back my immediate answer of 'to live on it'. Princess Celestia had told me to try to stay as direct as possible, and to answer everything with as much honesty as I could muster. Dry sarcasm probably wouldn't be well received. Exhaling, I thought about it for a moment before just starting from the top. "At first, having no memories, I had no intentions one way or another. It was sort of... I took things one day at a time while trying to figure everything out. Once my memories started coming back, I was confused. I didn't understand most of it, and most of my intention was attempting to figure myself out. There were no large scale goals towards such things, at least not until a little while after the attack," I explained, fighting to remember back that far. It felt like ages ago now. He frowned and started to open his mouth again, but the mare next to him glared and cut him off first, surprising me by instead asking, "What happened after the attack?" Her voice was softer, and she gave me another one of her encouraging smiles. She wore her lavender mane up in a bun with two longer bangs framing her face. Two darker purple eyes hid behind a small pair of spectacles, her coat a very pale green color. Exhaling again, feeling the nervous energy dancing around in my chest, I focused and put my thoughts back together again. "I found out that I was cybernetic. That was a big shock to me, along with all of the publicity and high tension around the event. Everything happened at once, and I lost my sense of self. It became a struggle to identify with myself and figure out who I was, if I wasn't a pony," I tried to explain, frowning afterwards. Ugh, why couldn't I just write all this down and have somepony else read it?! Shivering, I continued, "Around that time, after I fully explained at least what I was to Princess Celestia, she broached me with the job for Dimensional Regulations. The main reason, of course, was my knowledge of dimensions, technology, and engineering, but she also helped me to try to figure out who I was. She had wanted me to live a normal life, and tried convincing me that even with the extra parts, I was still a pony. I..." Swallowing, I closed my eyes, unable to look at any of them anymore. All I could feel was everypony's attention on me, judging me and ridiculing me. I could almost hear all of their voices in my head, laughing or throwing insults. The feeling of the stage started to twist around me, and I fought to keep my balance until a hoof touched down on my shoulder, almost scaring me out of my armor. Reality snapped back into place when Tia gently reminded, "Breathe, Mender. Relax." I exhaled, not having realized I'd been holding my breath. My heart slammed in my chest and I swallowed a painful lump, willing my limbs to stop trembling. "Oh come on, he's obviously faking it!" the tan stallion shouted out, not looking pleased at all. I winced, then flicked my ears at the hostile snarl further to the left. "That's so it! This whole thing is a joke!" Rainbow snarled, taking to the air and glaring burning holes into the stallion's face. He took the sane option, nervously backing away from the pegasus and shrinking a little, but she turned her general wrath to the rest of the gathering ponies instead. "Yeah, I get it. You're scared about what happened and the new pony who has extra, mechanical parts! Totally understandable, as I was a little weirded out at first by it all, too. But this isn't understandable! You've sat here for the last hour ripping into a worked up, nervous, and really vulnerable pony just to sate your own curiosities! This is disgusting!" she screamed, definitely not needing a microphone. My ears lowered as I watched her, not knowing if she was really helping or hurting. I looked over to Tia, but she was just calmly watching the flying pegasus, no expression whatsoever, really, but definitely not interrupting. The stage vibrated lightly as Applejack landed on it, too, trotting along the edge while looking out under Rainbow, into the crowd. "Ya'all know us. We're tha mares who've worked real hard ta save Equestria, an' even Equus itself multiple times now. Ah'm hopin' ya trust us ah bit when we say that this 'ere pony is exactly who he says he is. Ah was right there mahself durin' tha attack, an' personally witnessed almost all o' his story! Ya wanna know what his 'intent' fer ya'all is?!" she shouted out, tone more level than Rainbow's, but still sounding a bit upset. I frowned while watching her, but she suddenly slammed both of her forehooves down into the stage hard enough to fracture the wood, the noise echoing out through the crowd as everypony glued their eyes right to her. "Exactly what he's been doin'! He saved Ponyville from that creature! He stopped ah crazy alien plot ta get access ta Equestria! He saved Octavia Melody an' her whole group from ah horrible accident! He saved three foals from drownin' durin' Estrus break! Even without all that, he's been helpin' ceaselessly all around Ponyville... He thinks most o' that is his fault, an' has been workin' ta protect everypony as best he can! His intent is ta protect all o' ya, an' Ah bet he wouldn't hesitate, even though ya'all have been makin' him feel right unwelcome fer hours," she finished, gesturing back to me as I shrunk a little away from her as well. She frowned back at me, looking both concerned, and surprisingly relieved to see me up close at the same time. Tia exhaled softly, surprisingly loud due to the microphone right next to her. Straightening herself, she cleared her throat, then spoke up with, "I trust each and every one of the Element Bearers personally with my own life. They're right, even if I can't always agree with their wordings. I think Mender's about reached his limit for public presentations." I swallowed, wondering if I'd done something wrong or screwed up when I panicked like that. I should have just answered, then the others wouldn't have had to get involved. My head spun as I watched a dozen more hooves raise into the air. Tia frowned, but gestured to one of the mares off to the right, who instead looked over at me. "What are your actual qualifications for leading a national branch of our government?" she asked, lifting her pad of paper up. Tia interrupted instead, almost instantly. "I chose him to lead it personally based on his experience with dimensions, the information they gave him when augmenting him, and his own knack for engineering and technical expertise. Also, I'll be answering all of the questions from now on, so direct them towards me, please. Mender is under a lot of stress, which is rather understandable given the situation," she pointed out. I hadn't heard her be so curt before, and the mare shrank a little, quickly noddfing, then writing more down on her pad. I watched until orange filled my vision. Applejack sat down almost in front of me, giving me a careful look over, while simultaneously blocking a good eighty percent of me from the audience. I raised an eyebrow, but she quickly defended, "They've gawked enough fer one day. Relax, Mender. Ya just woke up last night, didn't ya?" Ah, right, they might not have all the details still. Rainbow landed to my other side a moment later, looking my armor up and down before giving an appreciative whistle, blatantly ignoring the fact that Tia was still answering questions. Probably intentionally, to make her earlier statement all the louder. "Lookin' good with your new armor, Mender," she chirped, playfully reaching out and giving my shoulder plate a solid whack with her right hoof. My balance was still shot to hell and back from my 'almost' panic attack, and it actually tipped me over, unfortunately. She looked surprised as I fell over sideways with a rather loud thud, Tia stopping and frowning over at me as I exhaled while lying on the stage in front of Applejack. Figures. "Sorry, a bit dizzy, and this armor is really hot. Uh, could I get some water?" I asked timidly, giving Tia an awkward, pleading smile. After a moment, she just smiled and shook her head before letting out a chuckle. "Go get some food and something to drink, Mender. The incident did interrupt your lunch," she reminded, immediately causing my stomach to growl weakly. There were a few chuckles from the crowd, but to my surprise, Octavia stood up in the first row. Huh? She gave me a winning smirk before asking, "So, third time's the charm?" * * * * * It was actually rather refreshing when nopony really shied away from me while we trotted down the isle between the crowds. There were lots of stares, but the majority appeared to be of curiosity now rather than fear or apprehension. Maybe the press conference really had helped? Regardless, I put my tentacles and armor away as to not draw excessive amounts of attention, if I could help it. "And she seems okay to you?" Twilight asked gently while sitting across from me at the table. I felt her back left leg gently rubbing mine as we rested, and relaxed. Fluttershy pressed into my left side about as close as she could, gently massaging my shoulder while we waited for food. Shaking my head, I repeated, "She was absolutely terrified. I think they actually got her to believe the world was going to end if she didn't do something about me." Octavia snorted to my other side, still reading over a flash press release from Equestria Weekly, huge picture of me in my armor standing up on stage right above it. "They're absolutely foolish. All they seem to really be good at is scare tactics and trying to sling baseless accusations around. Now look what it got them? This is going to backfire amazingly on them, ponies fully aware now that the whole situation was them endangering an innocent filly to try to force Mender to reveal himself," she pointed out, flipping to the other page and gesturing to the image of the filly and mare on the roof. Rarity smiled softly, even as my ears flicked back, seeing that picture again. "You did a wonderful thing, and made the right choice to save the mare. You revealed your secret saving the very pony trying to slander you, when it would have served you far more to not save her at all. Ponies already see that much," she reasoned out, closing the small news pamphlet with her magic, Octavia nodding to her. Fluttershy pushed a bit closer into my side, rapidly shaking her head, however. I glanced to her, and she instead asked, "Um, how are you doing, though? You had to go through all of that, stand up on that stage in front of all those ponies, and we haven't even heard about how you've been since you woke up!" Oh, right. Everypony at the table blanked except for Octavia, who glanced back and forth before settling on me instead. "Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure how you ended up in the hospital in the first place. If you're so heavily augmented, wouldn't it be really hard to-" she started to inquire. Twilight coughed lightly, covering her mouth with her hoof for a moment before quickly explaining, "He was turned to stone by the Elements of Harmony. Long story, the summary being that we weren't technically aiming at him, but due to circumstances, he just happen to get in the way, too." The gray mare blanked at that momentarily, matching most of the rest of the table for a moment before Rarity instead turned to me, gently leaning over and placing her forelegs on Spike's head to lean over him. He looked momentarily surprised, then shifted to his traditional look of swooning, apparently totally fine with being a temporary table. "Regardless, you should indeed tell us how things have been since you woke up. We were extremely worried for you," she repeated, blatantly changing the topic. Exhaling weakly, I nodded once before assuring, "I know you were. Thanks to my parents, I was able to see what happened while I was a statue." As expected, the theme of confused, 'not quite processing the information' stares continued, and Applejack topped it off with, "Uh, what?" Well, this was going to be a long story. I'd lost track of how many times it had been told at this point, but I broke into the recount once more, this time sparing no details... * * * * * I crunched down on the lightly toasted bread, tasting the mix of crisp hay, tomato, lettuce, and mayonnaise between the slices. It was cooked to perfection, and I had to admit, Octavia was quite right. This restaurant was amazing. There was a light air of presentation to the meal in both delivery and form on the plate, but it wasn't overly stylized or gaudy, and the helpings were extremely plentiful. I was impressed! Octavia was also eating, having been reasonably unfazed by the story, although she had listened with interest throughout. We appeared to be the only two not tremendously affected, however. Fluttershy had descended into a funk, expression looking downtrodden when she realized exactly what they'd all meant to me. Twilight was simply frowning, sliding a fry around on her plate absently with her hoof. The fries were quite good as well, lightly seasoned with both salt, spicy peppers, and a light undertone of garlic. The orange mare was the most stoic, a gentle frown adorning her expression while managing to look slightly angry over the whole ordeal. The ending had gotten to her, with the final actions of the captain and Kyliona. Dash looked miserable instead, sliding her fry plate back and forth next to her in an idle annoyance motion. It was complimented by Pinkie across from her, who refused to halt the nervous fidgeting. She looked back and forth between her friends, uncertain but looking like she desperately wanted a musical instrument suddenly. No, wait, that was coming from her link, not her expression... Actually, Spike just looked hungry, now that I noticed. He was munching on a fry, dipping it in a small blob of ketchup in-between while glancing at me every other bite. Rarity sat next to him, looking a bit distracted instead, her eyes staring at some far away point beyond the wall of the restaurant behind our table. The mood had soured tremendously. "So Purdue, or at least Prudentia, possesses the power to manipulate the memories of perceived events of those already in the 'story', connected to the 'protagonist'," Twilight confirmed a moment later, snapping right to possibly the most pressing concern the story brought up. Apart from Keela's impending decision to get her memories back or not, everything else in my story was just that. In the past. Due to the captain being beyond dead, in an extreme overkill sense, there were no other pressing matters to attend to from that. You don't get much more dead than cut into three pieces, mentally tortured, soul schismed, blown up, beat to hell, purified by the Elements of Harmony, torn apart and eaten by a billion-soul amalgamation, and then purified again by the Elements. Almost any one of those would have done the trick for a normal individual... Octavia shook her head to that, inquiring, "For such a powerful item, doesn't its powers seem awfully, I don't know, specific? What placed all of these 'rules' onto it in the first place?" A very good question, and one that nopony here could properly answer. Twilight exhaled softly, looking a tad frustrated before shaking her head. "I have no idea. All of these limitations are based off invented concepts by sapient individuals. That said, I doubt any natural force of the universe would abide by such limitations," she admitted. Ah, right. Artificially limiting things was definitely a mortal concept. Sighing, I warned, "That would mean that instead, there's a 'who' behind it. So who put all of the rules in place?" The lavender mare locked eyes with me for a moment before nodding absently, looking down at her half eaten salad. Her fork floated up to gather another bite up while she considered it. After chewing and swallowing, she finally theorized, "The most likely candidate is Purdue herself. Her powers artificially limited themselves before she was turned into the book, I speculate. Her mind most likely couldn't handle the sheer scope of what she could see, so it made up limitations as to ease the strain on her. If she carried that concept over to her book form, she might have taken the limitations of a book's narration and applied them subconsciously to her own powers." That would be... interesting. "Or it could be something put in place by whomever made her," Rarity finally suggested, glancing back up at Twilight finally. Ah, right. Purdue never told me who her first master had been. If she behaved like a normal Aegis Artifact, then the one who created her would have been herself, but she acted like that wasn't the case. Plus, all artifacts were very carefully monitored by our society. The sheer levels of energy to make one, and effort involved... It baffled me how one could be made without being detected. Or maybe it was, and she used her memory powers to eliminate the evidence? Fluttershy let out a low whine, however. "Um, what about Keela though? Now that you remember everything that happened..." she murmured, tilting to the left in order to see my face. Slowly, I nodded in her direction, still wondering what the Keldarian would say about it, if she even wanted the memories back. Twilight surprised me by snickering before I could formulate a proper answer. "That's simple enough, no? If she gets her memories back, she's probably going to want to pursue a relationship with Mender again. I have a suspicion that Equestria is going to become a lot more familiar with Keldarians now, and seeing one that's in love with a pony might go a long way towards smoothing that transition," she reasoned. My eyes widened a little, not having expected that answer at all, and by the looks of the rest of the ponies at the table as they turned to look at her, I wasn't alone. Twilight looked back and forth between us before rolling her eyes and leaning back in her chair a little. "Seriously? We're dealing with possible alien threats and alternate dimensions, and the thing that's the most worrying is if it's okay for Keela to join our herd?" she asked skeptically a moment later. Uh... Huh. Rarity coughed lightly, then admitted, "Well, when you put it like that..." Frowning, I instead glanced towards Fluttershy, who caught the motion out of the corner of her eye and turned back to me rapidly, ears perking up. Fighting back the wave of cuteness, I hesitated, then asked, "What do you think, Fluttershy?" Every member of the herd should be consulted, of course. As anticipated, she momentarily looked like I was heading at her on an out of control train. "I, uh, w-what? Um, you grew up with her, and she seems to really, uh, like you, so why wouldn't I approve?" she inquired softly, recovering from the surprise fairly fast. Applejack smiled at that on the right of Twilight. "Yer ah part o' tha herd, Flutters. You an' Twi get ah say in who gets ta join as much as Mender does," she reminded. I nodded to that, as did Twilight, and the yellow mare shrank down again, wiggling her hooves together. Rarity shook her head before reminding, "You should wait to go over this once you actually get an answer from Miss Keela, right?" Of course. Deciding everything ahead of time was probably a bit silly. I took another bite of my sandwich, thinking about everything I'd seen so far in no particular order. It was going to take me a while to really let myself relax, it felt like. My entire life so far had happened in the space of seven and a half months, and looking at the whole thing, everything was a blur moving faster than I could track. I felt eyes on me, and looked up in time to note Applejack staring at me rather intently from across the table. Our eyes locked for a moment before she suggested, "Ya know, Ah think tha best thing fer ya at this point would be ah real long vacation." Heh. That I had to agree with. "Twiley!" I suddenly heard in a rather familiar voice. Everypony perked, Twilight herself glancing behind me to my right. I looked back in time to see Shining trotting up. Several other ponies were at the restaurant gate behind him, gasping and whispering in this direction, and I was kind of pleased that it was him getting the attention rather than the hijinks surrounding the earlier event. "Shining! I was hoping I'd get a chance to see you before we had to leave," Twilight admitted, perking up as she sat up in her chair. Being technically in another kingdom, even if it was still part of Equestria as a whole, undoubtedly made things difficult on their close relationship. Although, I was pretty sure I trumped that with Keela and the other Keldarians at the moment, distance-wise. He sat down just behind me to the right and nodded in my direction before looking back to his sister. "Mom and Dad also asked to see you, Fluttershy, and Mender before you left town. This incident has everypony in a fuss, not to mention they already knew about you being in the hospital before this," he reminded, looking back to me. Ah right, the card. "Yeah, I got their card. How did the rest of the press conference go?" I asked, rotating towards him slightly in the chair. Chuckling, he shook his head for a moment before admitting, "Better than anticipated, but Princess Celestia has a way with words so I'm actually not sure what I was anticipating now. Regardless of how it turns out, though, you did the right thing. I already talked to the Bastion guard, and he admits to not thinking he was going to be able to slow her down enough, in time. It was the right decision." I sighed and nodded to that. I'd already committed myself to that outlook, but it was interesting to hear the input on the guard, too. Fluttershy pushed into my other side, quickly asking, "We never heard about the mare and filly. Are both of them okay?" Oh, right! The ice cream offer. I perked at that, then nodded. "Yeah, they're all fine. The filly and her mother are Morning Joy and Banana Swirl. The other mare is Dusk Star. I got all three of them to the castle's clinic after the incident. Pretty sure the filly is fine with just a superficial cut, but Star has a torn muscle in her foreleg," I explained. Shining nodded to that, and Twilight got a glum look on her face as I spoke. "I used to get ice cream from Banana Swirl a lot. I didn't know it was her filly that it happened to," Twilight murmured. Smiling to her, I slowly shook my head and explained, "They were in good spirits when I left. In fact, Banana Swirl asked me to bring all of you by for ice cream treats, on the house." Pinkie did a hop directly out of her seat, flailing once in the air before landing perfectly again. "Oooh! So done, let's go!" she cheered. Rainbow lifted an eyebrow to her, ducking under the flailing hoof as it shot in. "Uh, Pinkie, we're literally still eating lunch. Relax," she pointed out, putting both hooves on the mare to hold her in the seat for a minute while she vibrated back and forth. Oh boy. So called it. Chuckling, I warned, "She also asked that I said a warning ahead of time, once she found out I wanted to bring you all, too. She wants to prepare." Shining nodded, but Rainbow got a coy grin on her face a moment later. Actually, I almost could even guess what she was going to say, this time. "Oooh, she originally just invited you, huh? Well, I imagine she is grateful," the cyan mare teased. Applejack's expression didn't even shift as she munched on her sandwich. She just moved her left back leg over and shoved Rainbow out of her chair, causing her to land in the still overly excited pink mare's lap. Pinkie just grabbed onto her and grinned down into her shocked expression for a moment before adding, "Free! Ice cream! No teasing, or he might not bring us! Ice cream!" Rainbow just nodded slowly, looking a bit uncertain with a few beads of sweat going down her forehead. I just mentally shrugged and looked back to Twilight, who smiled and nodded. "We can go, of course. We were actually considering staying tonight anyway. The train station just sent a letter in with us, warning that construction of the temporary barracks is going to take another day," she revealed. Oh, right, we were bringing a dozen or so guards back with us. I should talk to Shining and Luna about those two guards, then. Shining smiled and nodded to that before suggesting, "We could head over to our parents after you finish eating, if you want. I... I'm not entirely sure, but I think Dad wants to officially apologize. I know Mom's been on him awfully hard about the last time we were here." Oh hell. That disaster. It surprised me when I heard Spike chuckle softly at that, swallowing the fry he was working on. "Knowing Twilight's dad, that means he's finally stopped being stubborn. Better go before he changes his mind again," he warned, smiling up at Twilight, who giggled in amusement. Oh, right, he grew up with Twilight. "Do you want something to eat, Shining?" I offered, sliding the empty chair out next to me regardless. He considered the seat for a moment before shrugging and nodding, finally. "Eh, why not. I am getting rather hungry, and this place serves amazing food," he agreed. Octavia smiled and nodded in concurrence, and Shining slipped up and sat down next to me. My eyes widened a little as he sat down, Cufflink on the other side of him as he moved past in my vision. The suited stallion gave a perky smile, then asked, "Can I get you any food or drink, Prince Shining Armor?" Shining gave a start, too, and I felt better about him sneaking up on me, too. What, did he moonlight as a ninja or something?! "Gah! Don't sneak up on me like that, Cufflink. And you know it's been just Shining…" he shot back, smirking over at the stallion, who was still grinning. Yeah, he was doing that on purpose, I realized. Octavia was right. The gray mare just rolled her eyes at that. "He uses titles just to get under your skin, don't worry,” Octavia chirped, earning a chuckle from Cufflink, who resumed standing at attention, waiting for order details. Shining scratched under his chin for a moment, considering probably what to get, and I glanced to the left, noticing the crowd of ponies watching us getting a bit bigger. Oh, right. If he was here, that meant the press event was over and news about what happened was probably spreading like wildfire. “Eh, I think I’ll take a toasted hay sandwich on wheat, with lettuce and mayo. Oh, and just a glass of water to drink,” he finally decided, turning to the waiter stallion again. Cufflink nodded, then turned and trotted off with no further fanfare, heading for inside the building again. Shining turned back to us instead, relaxing a little more before revealing, “Overall, though, I think it went well. Nopony was hurt, and explaining who you were and what happened three hundred years ago went a long way towards earning trust of the press and crowd. Fancypants stopped me as I was leaving, though.” “Oh?” I asked, glancing towards him curiously at that. He nodded, then revealed, “Yeah, he’d like to get an interview in with you for Equestria Weekly. He wants to get the truth out before rumors started cropping up.” Ah, right, I figured that ‘all’ the details would be requested of me soon enough. It would take more than just the conference to fix this. I fully anticipated it would be awhile before I was trusted again, anyway. It made me curious as to how Ponyville was taking the news. “When does he want to talk to me, then?” I asked, trying to bring up a schedule in my head. Oh, wait, I had a program for that. A little calendar popped up in my inner eye, and I sorted down to today’s date and brought up my to-do list, which only included catching the girls up, and potentially visiting Twilight’s parents. I shifted possibly visiting the ice cream parlor to tomorrow, provided Pinkie didn’t consider that a mortal sin. Keela calling back was a bit of a large question mark still. “He suggested tomorrow, after I told him you were probably all spending the night. He also suggested that you take the rest of the day off, as you need it,” he returned, smirking afterwards. My ears flicked down, and Fluttershy giggled to my left before leaning over against me again. I felt her soft breath across my left shoulder and relaxed a little, absently nodding to the advice. My body was still recovering from apparently having its insides nuked by an absurdly powerful cosmic force, of sorts, so I guess taking a day off was fine. Pinkie was having none of that, of course. “Oooh, after this, can we go get ice cream?!” she asked yet again, wiggling in her chair. Shining raised an eyebrow, but I cut him off with the simple explanation. “Banana Swirl offered free ice cream in thanks for saving her filly.” It was the cleanest explanation I could think of, and he seemed to accept it, a dawning look of recognition spreading across his face. Twilight shook her head, however, then suggested, “How about after this, we go drop by my parents’ place. After we visit with them for a while, we can go get ice cream after we leave. That sound okay?” The pink one gave her a long, squinted eye look for several seconds. Twilight blinked once before slowly easing back away from her. Half a second later, Pinkie perked up perfectly fine again and smiled. “Okay! That sounds good,” she chirped, and I exhaled, not realizing I’d been holding my breath. Applejack smirked and nodded next to her, declaring, “Ah guess that settles it, then. We’d best eat up if we’re gonna.” Nodding easily to that statement, no hesitation needed whatsoever, I plowed back into my sandwich with much enthusiasm, earning a smirk from Twilight across the table. Hey! There were few things I got to enjoy without repercussions, so I was damn well going to enjoy this… * * * * * Could parents of your mates be considered a repercussion of having mates in the first place? I debated the morality involved as we slowly walked along the sidewalks heading into the more suburban area of Canterlot. The city itself was mostly built right into the mountain, and curved lightly to follow the natural contours of the rock. This included various elevation shifts, and the lower density residential areas spanned slightly lower than the bulk of the town, shifting along the west side of the mountain. The lower altitude made the air a little warmer and thicker, so breathing was just slightly easier. The dirigible docks were further up the mountain above this area, and I idly watched the floating balloon ships go in and out of the ‘ports’, looking mostly for cargo. “I’m not sure. He honestly sounded like he wanted to apologize,” Shining assured, still carrying on a conversation with his sister while we walked. “Ugh. After the mess he made at the café, apologizing to Mender is only the start,” she grumbled back, sounding miffed again. Heh. He should probably apologize to the actual café, too, if he hadn’t already. That was probably quite embarrassing for them, too. Rarity sighed wearily, then added, “Personally, I feel he should apologize to Twilight as well. I mean, she’s quite old enough to be making her own decisions. Love should be celebrated, not buried under old-fashioned nonsense.” Applejack chuckled next to her while we walked, idly pointing out, “Aren’t ya tha one talkin’ about all those ‘prince’ an’ ‘shinin’ armor’ types from those old fairy tales, though? That seems pretty ol’ fashioned ta me. Err, no offense, Shinin’.” He smirked, then shook his head at that before assuring, “None taken.” I wondered idly at how often his name had come up like that in normal conversations… The pearly unicorn huffed, looking away from the orange mare before defending with, “Hardly! Their methods may not be in social circles anymore, but the aspect of a chivalrous, noble soul standing up for what’s right and winning the love of fair damsels is timeless!” While it felt a little overblown, I could at least understand the basic concept there. Heh. Spike nodded along, of course, perched carefully on her back. That was becoming a regular occurrence, I noticed. Rainbow made a gagging gesture while trotting next to me, and I smirked, giving her a playful nudge in the shoulder. She grinned over at me, her amusement transferring down the link in an instant at this range. It felt wonderful to have those back again. At this point, I couldn’t imagine being around my closest friends without them. And now, thanks to me no longer sharing my body with any hostile intruders from another dimension, it was safe again to have them present. The yellow mare to my left perked a little, then chipped in herself with, “Um, personality is good, but you really should consider more how a mate is going to mesh with your own, too, right? Compatibility seems really important.” Well, this conversation had taken a sudden, veering turn off course. “Well, of course,” Rarity assured, then started to explain, “Compatibility is the most important bit. I was merely pointing out-“ She was interrupted by Applejack, who snickered, then finished her sentence for her with, “Tha type o’ male ya like tha most, we know. Yer lucky tha little guy on yer back matches that so well.” Oh Celestia… Rarity was pink before she even whipped her head into a glare, and I saw Spike squeak out loud on her back, then move both of his hands up to his mouth. Twilight averted her eyes, then coughed quickly. “Oh look, we’re almost there!” she loudly announced, drawing everypony’s attention back up towards the incoming house, in possibly the least subtle distraction I’d ever seen, given how forced her tone sounded. Regardless of obviousness of the distraction, it at least worked, and the remaining four meters of the walk was instead done in awkward, looming apprehension. I couldn’t stop worrying, admittedly, if the discomfort from the restaurant was going to carry over into this little visit. Our group spread out when we reached the front steps, and I exhaled uneasily as Twilight and Shining took the lead, and the lavender mare knocked. She looked a bit apprehensive herself as she looked back towards me and smiled weakly. I nodded, trying to look more confident than I felt on the inside, but I don’t think it worked very well, especially considering that at this range, she might be able to feel my individual panicked thoughts. A long and awkward ten seconds went by before hoofsteps could be heard heading towards the door. It had probably been unlocked, and certainly either Twilight or Shining could have just walked right in, but I figured it was more just common courtesy. Plus, there were a lot of us here. There was a bit of rustling, and I lifted an eyebrow for a moment. A long couple of seconds later, the door swung open again quite abruptly, and I suddenly remembered something in the foggy distant memories inside of me. It was too late, however, and I got a stick shoved into my mouth in an instant. Shining had stepped sideways off the porch, cleanly avoiding the stabbing attack of the test stick. Instead, it hit Applejack, who was right behind him at the time. Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy were also simultaneously attacked, and Twilight Velvet stood there just inside the door, smiling in amusement. “Anypony else want one?!” she cheered, sounding entirely too happy for the situation. Once more, my test stick acted extremely confused to be found in a male, turning purple almost immediately. Dutifully, I pulled it out of my mouth and handed it back to her, earning a snicker from the mare. “I’m sorry, Mender. You’re not pregnant,” Velvet announced, and I shuddered lightly. That wasn’t bad news at all. If I somehow was, something had gone very, very wrong somewhere along the line. Twilight looked less than pleased, just spitting her stick out immediately and making it squawk and turn orange on the tip, probably a warning for not long enough to take accurate readings. “Mother! Why are you still doing this?! I told you last time that we didn’t do anything during estrus, and Mender wasn’t here for the first one!” she growled out. “I’m more interested in why she keeps targeting the others, too,” Shining admitted, nudging his head in the direction of Applejack and Rarity. The farm mare didn’t look like she really cared one way or another, making crossed eyes as she looked down at the tip of her own stick. Okay, that was kinda cute. Velvet just rolled her eyes, though, still smiling playfully before assuring, “It’s just a joke, relax. And hey, they might want to know, too. It’s valid information.” This only seemed to make Twilight all the more irked, of course. She hopped once in place, making a surprisingly cute ‘irritated’ noise, and I reached over to pat her gingerly on the shoulder. She exhaled, then looked over at me before relaxing a little. She started to smile, when the oddest little cutesy bell chime fired off, rather loudly. I raised my eyebrow and tried to figure out what that was, but to my surprise, Rarity gave a little jump and quickly looked down at her stick tip. I saw Applejack do the same, but both were met with a glowing red lights. Huh? Oh, had that come from one of the sticks? Wait… All of us slowly turned and looked to the only remaining stick. Fluttershy stood there, both of her eyes wide, pupils shrunk down as they locked onto the bright green end of her test stick. Twilight’s jaw dropped, followed slowly by everypony else’s as the silence dominated. A second passed, then another, and then Velvet suddenly let out a high-pitched squeal of happiness, hopping in place, back and forth on her hooves. I looked back to Fluttershy, and she slowly looked over at me, utter shock mixed with dawning realization mixing in her eyes. Did that… She was…?! My own eyes widened, and hers slowly crept upwards. In slow motion, she wobbled, the stick falling out of her mouth before she limply collapsed sideways, a low squeak escaping from her muzzle as she fell over… Chapter 95“And… Twilight’s not…?” Night Light asked once again. Twilight herself let out a lower growl before repeating, “For the last time, Dad, no, I’m not pregnant! It’s Fluttershy who is!” She’d said it before, but the still hit me like a flying chunk of bricks. Fluttershy was pregnant. I turned and looked down at the yellow mare resting on the couch, still quite unconscious from her little spill a minute or so ago. I’d caught her before she fell off the side of the steps, but she was out cold before I even got there. It didn’t take long to get her inside, and by then, Night Light had come sprinting. Apparently he had some inclination as to his wife’s tendencies and favorite way of greeting her daughter and friends at the door. When he heard her squeal and start giggling happily, it was like a red alert had gone off through the house. Fluttershy rested on the couch, eyes still closed and mane pooling around her shoulders. I sat next to her resting spot, looking down at the yellow mare. My mind couldn't really even wrap around the concept yet, and I just stared down at her peaceful looking expression. My eyes drifted down to her stomach, and I swallowed, my entire world feeling like it was spiraling out of control like a blimp being piloted by a drunk penguin in a hurricane. While on fire. And laughing hysterically. Now I just needed to decide if it was the penguin or blimp laughing... "Uh, Mender, breathin' might help," Applejack suggested next to me. I gave a start, then inhaled a little, not having realized I'd stopped while staring at the mare on the couch. "I just don't understand. Fluttershy said she was safe the morning I spoke to her before Mender returned," Rarity informed, frowning and looking a little confused. Twilight slowly shook her head, pacing around the center of the room and looking a mixture of frustrated and shocked. "This doesn't make sense. Fluttershy tests herself the most out of all of us due to working with her animals. There's no way she didn't know she was still at risk," the lavender mare pointed out, turning to look back at me instead. There was more 'helplessness' there than anger or frustration. Spike shrugged, sitting towards the recliner that Night Light sat in. "Maybe she read the thingy wrong, or it broke or something?" he suggested. Actually, it breaking was a reasonable guess. Fluttershy wasn't technical savvy, and may not have realized it was malfunctioning. "The stick lit up and stuff when she put it in her mouth to show me," I revealed, wondering if it wasn't supposed to work at all when busted. Twilight frowned at that, considering it for a moment. "What was the exact number? Do you remember?" she asked, looking back up at me. Nodding, I answered, "Zero. It read rock bottom, glowing red." Her ears flattened back almost as soon as I said it, and she frowned. Eh? Was that bad?! Rainbow coughed lightly, then answered for her instead. "Uh, that means dead battery. Every mare knows that. And, uh, most stallions," she revealed. Oh... Pinkie flailed and hopped into the air before I could even process that, however. "Oooh, except for a stallion who grew up in another dimension! He wouldn't know, right?!" she asked, about six decibels too loud. She had a point, however. Velvet made a sigh as she came back in with refreshments balanced on her back, immediately floating a glass of tea over for me. I relaxed a little after I took a long drink, and she smiled and nodded towards me before passing the rest out. “Honestly, the truly important thing to ask is how the parents feel about this,” she pointed out, looking towards Twilight, who huffed instead. Applejack coughed softly to that, adding, “Ah think it’s ah bit soon fer that question.” She was looking at me when she said it, and I exhaled quietly, nodding. My head felt like a blender had bounced through it, and I reached out, slowly brushing Fluttershy’s mane back. “I… think I’m a bit, well… This is a big shock,” I finally admitted, my own voice sounding weird. The orange mare next to me gave a confident smile and nod towards me, and I relaxed a little bit more. At least everypony wasn’t completely freaking out over it. That was a step up from what I’d briefly anticipated in the wake of catching Fluttershy. Twilight slipped up next to me on the other side, sitting down and looking at Fluttershy with a rather empty expression. I gave her a curious look, and she frowned, shaking her head slowly. “It doesn’t make sense, is all. Fluttershy knows how to work one of those and should have known the battery was dead. She also knows how to take her own readings and should have known she wasn’t safe yet. Anything over a forty percent of optimal hormone level in the blood still has some slight risk involved of a mare getting pregnant,” she pointed out. It didn’t matter too much, because my link stirred first. Perking, I immediately looked back to Fluttershy, my ears rising up to catch the faintest sounds of her giving a little sigh. Twilight caught my movement and immediately drew her attention back to Fluttershy, which caused Applejack and Rainbow Dash to as well. Slowly, her eyes opened up, lashes sliding across her fur and teal pupils looking hazed out for a moment before focusing as she slowly looked up. They locked right on me first, and stayed there for a good ten seconds before drifting over to Twilight and blinking once. I leaned down and kissed her muzzle, earning another blink and shiver, then asked, “Are you okay, Fluttershy?” She slowly looked around as the other ponies gathered near the couch, minus Night Light and Shining who watched from their chairs. It was getting a tad crowded now. For a long moment, the pegasus frowned and looked to all of us. Her face flushed a few heartbeats later, eyes widening as they snapped back to me in an instant. I nodded slowly to her, and she seemed to almost shrink, her wings flattening down as her legs tucked up, pupils shivering as they stayed locked with mine. “Fluttershy, shh, it’s okay,” I assured, resting a hoof against her right foreleg and gently rubbing up and down her coat. She froze for a moment before swallowing and slowly nodding towards me. I settled more into the couch, and she instead crawled forward, burying her face into my chest an instant later. Eh?! “I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she quickly started apologizing. My eyes widened, and Twilight gave a surprised look as well, but Applejack just frowned, slowly placing a hoof on her left shoulder. “Fluttershy, hon, you don’t need ta apologize. This is surprisin’, sure, but Ah don’t think-“ she started to assure. The yellow pegasus cut her off with an outright sob, shaking against my fur as her hoof reached up, running down my chest. I let her pull closer, holding her gently as she cried. Twilight frowned and slid closer, massaging her right side. Something was… wrong. “No, I… I lied. I’m so sorry! I thought it would be, um, okay,” she quickly explains, burying her face into my fur even harder, as if she could crawl against me and hide from everything. Frowning, I pulled her whole body a bit closer to me, letting her tuck her back legs up against my stomach as well, her tail curling and partially falling over my back left hip. “Fluttershy, calm down. What’s wrong? Lied?” I asked softly. She winced at the word, then slowly looked up into my face with those expansive teal eyes, giving a tiny nod. I waited patiently, and she finally admitted, “I, um… Before I showed you the testing stick, I pulled the battery out of it!” It came out all at once, and I widened my eyes in surprise. She intentionally sabotaged the stick? Applejack frowned at that, but Twilight just looked more confused, slowly shaking her head to the mare. “W-Why, Fluttershy? I don’t understand,” she asked, causing the pegasus to look over at her, giving a frustrated look. “After what w-we did… Mender felt completely left out. I could feel it. Um, but I was only down to thirty-two percent, and I knew that even if I wanted to try to, well, fix it…” she explained. My mind flashed back to those lovely events surrounding the estrus week, all awkwardness included. Oh… Rarity was the first to admit, “No, I don’t imagine he would have been too inclined to be with you, had he realized you were at any risk at all. Still…” Twilight completed the sentence for her with a frown. “Thirty-two percent should have been safe. Assuming that, you decided to make it read as zero to better convince him that it was all okay,” she deduced rather sharply. Fluttershy slipped back to her prior position of burrowing her face into my fur before just nodding, blushing fully again now. Averting her eyes, Applejack gave a sigh before pointing out, “Even that don’t sound all that bad, Flutters. Ya technically didn’t lie when ya said ya were safe. Just in showin’ him tha stick.” Very true. I probably would have been a lot more cautious had she said she was that high of percent, but how had that worked in the first place? As if reading my mind, Shining coughed lightly before interrupting. “Ah, how exactly did she get pregnant, then, being significantly under the absolute rock bottom percentage of hormones? Towards forty percent, it’s supposed to get exponentially harder and harder to do…” he asked, raising his left eyebrow up curiously. Twilight thought about it for a moment before perking and looking back to me. “Mender, what about your augments? You have cybernetic augments that modify those parts, too, don’t you?” she reminded, tilting her head. Rainbow and Applejack blushed to my right, but Velvet turned and gave me a skeptical look instead. “Oh really, now? So those fancy parts they put into you also boost your virility?” she asked almost instantly, with surprisingly acute interest. Uh… I tilted my head back away from her a bit, and Twilight slapped herself in the forehead, looking annoyed. To my surprise, Shining gave her an even more annoyed look, glaring at her out of her peripheral vision, which only made her smirk more. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know. “Uh, yeah. Long story, but another of my ‘missions’ here was apparently, uh, breeding. Obviously I’m not actually following any of those orders, though, so you don’t need to-“ I tried to assure, She cut me off, edging a bit closer as her cheeks flushed and her grin widened a little. “Breeding, hmm? Well, if you’re potent enough to give Fluttershy a foal at thirty-two percent, which should have been impossible… Can you give those enhancements to others…?” she chirped out, fluttering her eyes at me. My eyes widened a bit, but Shining hissed out, “Mother!” She smiled innocently back to him, and everything immediately fell into place. Oh Celestia, what have I gotten myself into? * * * * * It was just the four of us now in Shining’s old room. Fluttershy rested next to me, still looking guilty. My left foreleg was around her, and she snuggled into my chest while we listened, but she wouldn’t let it go, even after I said that she didn’t do anything wrong. Twilight sat to my right, a little further away while frowning, listening to Shining talk more. “Over and over again. We’ve tried every Estrus for the last two years,” he repeated, frowning down at his own bedspread. It was a rather interesting design, with a bunch of masked and suited ponies who looked like they were using powers or something. Super ponies, maybe? Twilight looked a bit awkward talking about this, but hesitantly asked, “Have either of you, uh, gotten tested? It’s rare, but…” Okay, seeing as this was her brother, I could see where it might be a little awkward, but for once, I wasn’t really feeling it. Memories gave me a lot more awkward things that my DNA donor walked in on in the barracks’ locker rooms. “Yes,” Shining quickly interrupted, sighing wearily before explaining, “Both of us got tested. Both of us are absolutely a hundred percent functioning and working.” Well, that was strange. “So it’s more than likely something incompatible with her being an Alicorn then. Hmm. I’m not sure that Mender’s enhancements could help with that. We don’t exactly know a huge amount about Alicorn genomes,” Twilight deduced, frowning then scratching under her chin. Leave it to a mystery to make her feel more comfortable about the situation. Shining exhaled, flopping backwards onto his old bed before rolling onto his side. “We’re pretty sure it is. I’m willing to try just about anything at this point. I really would love to start a family with Cadance. It’s just… frustrating,” he admitted, slowly frowning. Raising up my left foreleg, I let an orb merge out of it and float into the air instead. It started glowing a soft blue color, and I let a projection pop up on the screen displaying my own more… personal anatomy. The individual upgrades were highlighted, however, and I listed the specifications on all of them to the side, which would be a good indication of what he’d be in for… He perked up, then widened his eyes at the display before sitting up and moving closer to it. It was all there, and I let him read the finer details himself. Fluttershy blushed as she looked up at it, shrinking down a little as she slid into my side further. “I… I really did think it was safe, Mender,” she whispered a moment later, pressing the side of her face up to my left hip as she closed her eyes. Turning, I lightly massaged her shoulders, giving her a softer smile. “While I wish you’d been honest with me, it’s not your fault that we didn’t take, uh, this into account,” I reminded, gesturing towards the glowing display with my head. She nodded, looking a bit sad still, but I leaned in and lifted her head up, kissing her softly. She shivered, then smiled again and leaned into it. For the first time since we’d found out, I felt her relax down the link as we kissed softly. Parting, she gave me a warm smile, a little flushed now, and I nuzzled her nose softly, earning a little giggle from the mare. My ears perked, however, my right one rotating over before I raised an eyebrow and looked to both Twilight and Shining watching us. Eh? “Wow, that’s amazingly adorable,” Shining admitted. Twilight broke down and started giggling, smiling as she looked up, and I felt my cheeks heat up, almost as much as it looked like Fluttershy’s were. Pulling Fluttershy further against me, I relaxed and felt her slowly unwind despite the attention, smiling up at me again. Sighing, I decided to fully assure her with, “I’m not angry with you, Fluttershy. This… It’s a surprise. A huge surprise. Probably to both of us, but…” She gave me a curious look, as did Twilight, but Shining smiled instead as I continued with, “Even if it is a huge surprise, it’s a good surprise. We’re still a herd, and it doesn’t really change anything other than knowing we have quite a bit to prepare for coming up. I’m not going anywhere.” Her eyes softened through my little speech, but she smiled afterwards and nodded, leaning up to kiss my softly on the mouth again. I returned it, letting her fold against my chest and relax as I pushed against her lips. No, this didn’t really change much. If anything, it would probably make our relationship all the stronger. Shining just chuckled at that, however, and I lifted an eyebrow to him curiously. He shook his head, and then shrugged, explaining, “I don’t think anypony really expected this, but you three have a strong relationship already. So she probably already knows just about all of that.” His sister rolled her eyes and swatted him a moment later, causing him to flail and fall over dramatically. She huffed before shaking her head and admitting, “Even if we knew it already, it’s still nice to hear once in a while!” Fluttershy and I just relaxed against the bed until he sat up fully again. I nodded to the projection, and he sighed, looking it over once more before nodding. “Okay, so what’s the rundown on how to get it?” he finally asked, looking back to me. “Unpleasant, if I read the specs right in the documentation. I’m glad I was unconscious as a little colt when they gave them to me, that’s for sure,” I warned, earning another exhale from the stallion. He nodded, though, so I elaborated with, “Three localized nanite injections. They’d have to be rather big needles, but I think ponies make them that large. After, there’s one stabilization injection. I should warn you, that one I’m not sure how to do without it being military grade. I don’t have any other designs built into me, so if you wanted it in time for next summer’s estrus, I probably couldn’t absolutely guarantee it.” He shuddered at my explanation, then gave a skeptical stare at the glowing screen again. “Military grade? Should I be concerned about that?” he inquired a moment later. Oh, right. Nanites were a new concept to them. “It means that the nanites I’m injecting are going to be more aggressive, shielded, and less concerned probably for personal comfort until they get settled,” I summarized, looking back to the projection myself as I highlighted the areas they’d be setting up in. He gave me a frown, and I nodded, appending, "I don't think I can undo this once I give it to you, and I can't guarantee that it's going to limit itself only to the parts that I apply them to." Twilight swallowed uneasily at that, glancing back to him, but he was staring at the projection instead, silently. We waited for almost fifteen seconds before he exhaled and nodded towards the projection. "If it were my call, I'd say yes. But I'm going to have to talk to Cadance about this, first," he confirmed, looking back to me. Having already anticipated at least that much, I nodded to him and looked back to Twilight instead. "I can make the nanites inside of myself, and give the exact insertion locations, but we're probably going to need anesthetics for this, and an expert that actually knows how to give an injection," I warned, not at all interested in performing a minor surgery myself. Given my level of dexterity and natural grace, Shining probably wouldn't want that either. "That's fine. I'll run the procedure past Princess Celestia, and she'll probably get one of the royal physicians to do it," the lavender mare guessed off the top of her head. She frowned a moment later and instead asked, "What will the nanites do if they don't limit themselves to one area?" Ah, right. Shaking my head, I assured, "The same thing your nanites do. Generally sustain your health, keep your system clear of dangerous materials, and regenerate your tissue." It was just a step under what mine did, but I didn't have the schematics for my particular brand of the tiny things. "That actually sounds rather useful," he admitted, shrugging absently at the thought. I started to nod to him when Fluttershy frowned a moment later. "Um, I... I'm pregnant," she suddenly declared. I blinked at her, a bit confused by the seemingly non sequitur. Twilight apparently thought the same thing, lifting her eyebrow up, but Fluttershy just rapidly shook her head, then continued with, "I... I have the nanites in me, too, right? Um, what do they do to a foal growing in me?" Oh! My ears perked as I turned towards her again, flicking her link on and switching the projection on the orb over to her analytics. General biological information popped up, showing good blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, and other such things. I played with the display for a moment, then frowned, bringing up an actual interface for pregnancy information. They had that built in? It indeed showed her listed as 'pregnant' by twenty-three days, listing a green status on the offspring. I widened my eyes a little bit, surprised at this turn of events. "That's surprisingly accurate information," Twilight admitted, looking the display over herself as both Fluttershy and Shining frowned. I nodded, finally admitting, "Good news, bad news time." The yellow pegasus widened her eyes, immediately snapping her attention to me again, and I continued explaining quickly. "It turns out, there's a built in system for pregnancies in the subjects. I really should have already predicted that, given all the other virility stuff they shoved in me," I admitted, flattening my ears back as I gave a momentary glare towards the display. "So it's safe for the foal?" Shining guessed, looking back to the glowing projection himself, although he was trying to see it backwards. I nodded, and Fluttershy visibly relaxed, exhaling softly before Twilight frowned. "And the bad news?" she inquired, looking back towards the screen. The yellow mare's peace was short lived, her attention snapping back to me with that, and I nodded to her. Considering it, I decided it probably wasn't too terrible in and of itself. "The nanites have a lot of readings on the foal already, and I have reason to believe the amount of data will increase as it grows. That means, with very high probability, that the foal will have nanites in it right from the start," I deduced, gesturing to the display screen. Fluttershy stared at the display, frown shifting as she watched. “Um, what does that mean, exactly? The regeneration and stuff that they’d give Shining Armor?” she asked quietly, her eyes sliding back over to look at me instead. I reached out and bumped the floating orb, it giving a brighter flash of light before turning off completely and sinking seamlessly into the hoof that poked it. Having subspace inside of me would probably always feel weird… “Yeah, pretty much. It’s because you yourself have them, so they’re going to be automatically passed on to the foal. If I’d known about this ahead of time, I might have been able to write up a patch so that they wouldn’t do that, but… I’m still not entirely sure it’s possible to remove them once they’re inside a living creature,” I admitted, frowning and thinking about it. If I could make a program for turning them all off at once and relayed that through the system, it might work, but there was no ‘off’ switch built into the nanites themselves. About as ‘off’ as I could tell them to do would be to violently attack and dismantle each other, but that would probably set off a rather horrible immune system reaction inside of the individual. The yellow mare nodded to me, sagging a bit and letting out a soft breath, faint smile returning to her muzzle. “That’s not nearly as bad as I imagined. As long as they won’t hurt the foal…” she murmured, lowering her head and resting it against my upper thigh again. This time, I slid down into a lying position as well, resting up against her side and earning a bigger smile from the cute mare. Twilight was busy planning, however, scratching under her chin for a moment before nodding. “It shouldn’t take too long, then. I’ll talk to Princess Celestia about the details of the procedure. You talk to Cadance in the meantime and see what she thinks. I’ll need Mender to help give the details to the Princess, though,” she requested, shifting her focus back to me. I nodded absently, mind not really on the conversation, but instead the mare next to me. Swallowing this would take a lot of effort. I was going to be a dad. Personally, I wasn’t even fully comfortable with being a pony, but this left me no choice but to accept that life probably wasn’t going to slow down and brake, instead intent on turning me into a speedbump. I absently found my head drifting into hers, and she smiled, nuzzling against my muzzle until our fur intermingled. Shining just chuckled, then headed Twilight off with, “He has enough on his mind, and I’m sure Fluttershy could stand for a bit of attention, too, so let’s plan this out fully later.” The lavender mare pouted, but I simply nodded slowly. “I have a lot of thinking to do, and I’m sure the others are probably waiting on us. Pinkie, for one, wants to get to the ice cream part,” I reminded, glancing to Twilight, who gave a short snicker. It sort of made it sound like a nicker. She shook her head after, and hopped down off Shining’s bed. “Well, we should head back downstairs, then. Our parents probably would like an actual visit before we take off, even if we’re not leaving until tomorrow,” she suggested. Oh, right. The visit had so far been obliterated by the sudden news when we got here, then the consultation with Shining. Exhaling, I looked back to Fluttershy, but she smiled and nodded to me. Ah well. I wasn’t looking forward to being back down with everypony just yet. It still felt… It was awkward, it seemed. They all knew already, and didn’t seem to care, but Fluttershy being pregnant just sort of snapped everything in place that we were together. Together, together. As in, serious. I was suddenly self-conscious as it added a new ‘layer’ of visibility onto the relationship. My thoughts were interrupted by her lightly kissing me, then giving a timid smile and nod. I relaxed, nuzzling her back and hearing her giggle at point blank range, it vibrating through me from two links at once. Yeah, Shining was right. I don’t think we’d be anything but even closer after this. “Okay, okay, come on, lovebirds. Let’s go back downstairs,” Twilight jibed with a smirk. I detected just the tiniest trace of jealousy from her link, though, and raised an eyebrow in her direction. She’d already headed into the hall, however. Fluttershy looked to me, a light frown on her face that matched my own feelings, and I shrugged to her, seeing Shining walk past us in my peripheral vision. Eh, I’d ask her later. Gesturing to Fluttershy, I smiled as she slid off the bed then followed me out, walking directly to my right as we followed Shining down the hallway… * * * * * Her fur was rather soft, and she gave a content sigh as my hooves worked along her back. She smiled back at me while I massaged her, her wings fluttering out a little as I continued. Fluttershy was unsurprisingly tense, and I did my best to ease knots out of her muscles, especially if she was going to be doing any sort of flying later. We were on the couch, with Spike immediately behind me, and Rarity sitting next to him, to his delight. Applejack and Rainbow were squished together into a sofa, and Shining was sitting across from them, looking towards his parents. Twilight sat on the other couch opposite from us with Night Light and Pinkie. Velvet was just coming in with snacks and drinks. “Having our children home regardless is cause for celebration, Dear,” she assured, walking past Night Light, who had prior been concerned that maybe celebrating me getting released from the hospital was too similar to celebrating me getting maimed and blasted in the first place. I could see his point, but he underestimated Pinkie Pie and her love of celebrations. Regardless, I took no offense. “I suppose. The whole town was abuzz before regarding this Dimensional Regulation thing regardless, so the formal moving of guards is rather exciting,” Night Light admitted, taking a sip of his coffee after pulling the cup off the tray. Shining nodded to that, explaining, “Yeah, I’ll be heading down to Ponyville as well to see that they get set up in the temporary barracks. I assume Mender and my sister can handle their transfer to the full on barracks once the testing facility is completed. Oh, I also heard an interesting little blurb from a little birdy that Mender wants to help train the guards?” Oh, I totally forgot that I’d volunteered myself to do that. “Oooh, a birdy told you that?! Can you talk to them, like Flutters?!” Pinkie asked, gasping after as she turned to face Shining. He blinked slowly, then chuckled to himself before shaking his head. “Well, this birdy was about a hundred and fifty kilograms and sporting a rather dark blue color tone, so…” he admitted. “Birds can get that big?!” Pinkie asked further, without missing her cue even slightly. I coughed lightly, averting my eyes as she turned to look at me, before suggesting, “Uh, he’s probably talking about Princess Luna, who is indeed, not a bird.” Pinkie started giggling and snickering while wobbling back and forth, causing Night Light to look mildly annoyed as his cushion was shifted and tilted everywhere. I took a cup of tea from Velvet as she trotted past, giving me a warm smile, and nod. She was in amazingly good spirits today, and this time, I knew exactly why. Regardless, I agreed, explaining, “Yeah, I heard they needed a trainer, and I do have military experience in the memories put into me, so I thought, why not? It seems far more practical than you making regular trips all the way from the Crystal Empire just to train troops, or bringing somepony in from elsewhere to do the same thing, given that I’m already in Ponyville.” “Yeah, that’s probably for the best all around, if you’re sure you can manage. I’ll give you a basic run down of pony training techniques tomorrow, but you should pick them up fairly fast given prior experience. Are you familiar with any martial arts?” he asked, shifting serious as he rotated to face me. Coughing lightly, I admitted, “Uh, probably none that’s suitable for a pony. Or at least a defensive outlook.” The only style I knew was to use the least amount of effort to ‘remove’ threats as quickly as possible. This usually resulted in grievous injuries up to and including death. He raised an eyebrow, but appeared to not want to ask, nodding after. "It's not that big of a deal. Most of them already know the fundamentals. They just need somepony to run them through the daily morning regime, and clean up any sloppiness you see. Your main goal will be training them to use whatever fancy toys research and development makes," he reasoned. Wasn't I in charge of re- Ooh, right. Okay, that made sense. Twilight nodded along, assuring, "It should be fine, as I'm pretty sure these are all well trained guards already. Plus, as much as I don't like to admit it, your reputation as an 'alien' will probably garner quite a bit of respect from them." Well, that was one way to look at it... So they'd either be absolutely terrified of me, or think I was a freak. Eh, close enough to respect, so long as they followed orders. Fluttershy gave me a rather stern nudge with her hoof, and I smiled without needing to even look at her. Yeah, I knew I was too hard on myself. Living out the first six months of my life gave me a fresh outlook on almost everything, including that. "I know. Sorry," I added, causing her to smile and relax again. Afterwards, Twilight started talking about that book again that she was going to be getting from Princess Celestia. Something about it made me think it was more important than just whom she was getting it from, but it went well off my comfortable edge of metamagical understanding. Fluttershy felt warm against me, and I slowly let myself zone out, pressing my muzzle gently into her side. She just smiled, tucking her head around mine as we relaxed at the end of the couch. It was enough for me to just relax for a while, letting my worries and thoughts drift about lazily. Twilight was excited to have the chance to look at the book, from what I vaguely heard while zoning out. Apparently it was written by somepony really important a while ago, and was fairly classified as far as reading material went. Not being the most updated on Equestrian history yet, I of course probably didn’t grasp the true weight of it. At first, I almost didn’t notice. The light ding noise sounded inside my GUI a second time, however, and my eyes opened again. Twilight was still talking, and nothing appeared to be amiss. Pulling my interface out inside myself, I glanced at the display and noticed that the incoming ping was lit up. Aww crap. Looking up, I glanced around the room, biting my lower lip. Applejack looked over to me, raising an eyebrow, but Rainbow looked mostly relaxed, curled up near her hooves in the chair. Everyone was still talking, and I didn’t want to just interrupt, but answering Keela was rather important. Slowly, I decided to take a chance and slide off the front of the couch. Nope. All eyes shifted to me instantly, conversation grinding to a halt. Out of instinct, I froze for a moment, blinking and looking at all the eyes on me before coughing lightly. “Ah, sorry. Carry on. I’m just getting a ping,” I excused, voice a bit on the quiet side as I was suddenly self-conscious without the background talking. Twilight perked at that, of course not just leaving it at that. “Oh, from Keela? Ooooh, then she probably has an answer for you,” she deduced. Suspiciously, Velvet perked very quickly at that. “Oh? That’s that, mmm, what were they called? The kitty in the presentation earlier. That female?” she asked curiously. I fought back the heat to my cheeks and sighed. “Yeah, that’s Keela. Although a few others are probably there, too. I was talking to them about giving them their memories back that were taken away by Prudentia. Loooong story,” I warned, giving Twilight a mildly annoyed look. She only returned a sheepish one, raising her front hooves to give a guarded gesture. Night Light gave a momentary confused look before asking, “Why wouldn’t they want their memories back? Seems like a kind of important thing to me.” Shifting awkwardly, I didn’t honestly know how to respond to that. Thankfully, Rarity answered from behind me instead with, “These memories perhaps aren’t the… greatest. I believe they contain both extreme violence and a rather brutal emotional burden, so remaining ignorant of them might actually be more pleasant.” Spike snickered next to her, then added, “Yeah, it turns out Keela had a relationship with Mender before-“ My tail hit him as I flicked it up into his face, causing him to flail, then fall over sideways onto Rarity, who smirked and caught him. It was too late, though, and Velvet squealed again. Okay, now all she needed was a little bow with heart-shaped arrows or something. “Ooooh, that’s super romantic! You must devise a way to pull her over to Equus, Mender,” the mare declared with finality. Oh boy. Ignoring the logistics of that request, I sighed and shook my head. “She has to get her memories back of even knowing me before, first. Then there are… a few other complications we’d need to take care of, and finally, we’d need to generate a massive, massive amount of energy to perform the transfer. But regardless, I need to answer her ping, so,” I excused, gesturing vaguely to upstairs, where there could be some more privacy. Shining smiled, and I tried really hard not to groan instead. “Well, it’s not like any of it’s a secret anymore. I’m sure that Keela wouldn’t mind meeting our parents, too,” he suggested. Damn it! My ears flattened back, and Pinkie started giggling, hopping around on the couch to face me again and accidentally jarring Night Light sideways into her on the couch, hitting his cushion too and almost flipping it. “Oooh, yeah! Answer it here,” she chirped, sounding excited. Twilight frowned, starting to open her mouth towards Pinkie when I just sighed and flicked the ping on instead. Four orbs melted out of me, causing me to shiver as the static energy danced along my fur from the subspace release. They rotated into the air before all lighting up, projecting a blank, three dimensional box into the center of the room rather abruptly, colored in cyan. The ping flicked on fully a few seconds later, and I shifted my audio output to speakers as Keela squeaked, answering with a start. “Oh! I didn’t anticipate you’d get back with me so fast,” she answered, the cube flickering and rapidly reforming into a slightly transparent version of her. She was in her casual wear, a comfortable looking t-shirt and sweatpants. She perked immediately after the projection completed, slowly looking around inside of her own image bubble, I imagined, at all of the ponies around her. “Ah, sorry for the lack of explanation,” I apologized with, before revealing, “We were in the middle of a, well, family gathering. The two new ponies are Twilight Velvet, and Night Light. They’re Twilight Sparkle’s and Shining Armor’s parents.” I gestured to both of them as they were introduced, and she took them in quietly for a moment before smiling. “Oh, very nice to meet you. Wait, they’re aware of my existence?” she asked suddenly, looking back to me. Oh, right. “Ooooh, awkward!” Pinkie immediately announced, earning a raised eyebrow from the Keldarian. Thanks for that. Although it was true. Shining coughed lightly, drawing Keela’s attention to him before admitting, “Actually, about that… Now all of Equus does, effectively. There was an… incident. It forced Mender to reveal himself in order to save somepony’s life. The truth spread rather fast after that.” She stared at him for a long moment, eyes a bit wide before looking back to me. I nodded to her, and she slowly crossed her arms before returning it. “I see. Are you okay, then, Mender? I’d like to hear about it,” she requested softly, eyes scanning over my form, undoubtedly looking for yet more bandages. Smiling, I nodded to her, assuring, “I’m fine. But it’s a bit of a long story. Got time?” She grinned, and I raised my eyebrow, a warning flag firing off in my head. “Of course! I’ll… refrain from giving you your other answer until you finish, though. Incentive,” she teased. Gah! Pouting, I rolled my eyes and deflated a little. She was as much a brat as I remembered from my time as Azure. Considering it, I smirked a moment later and nodded to her, sitting upright more. “All right. If you have the time, I’ll relay the story again. You could bring the others in to hear it, too,” I suggested. She smiled sweetly and nodded, reaching over and hitting a few more buttons to bring up what looked like a paging system. Twilight raised an eyebrow at me as I watched her like a hawk, but Rainbow, who had suddenly started paying attention again during the ping announcement, slowly started to grin. She felt that familiar feeling from me, I imagined… Keela lifted up her left hand while typing out her message on the screen with her right. She picked up her cup of what looked like some sort of juice next to her, and I slowly grinned. She sipped, eyes locked onto the display screen to the right, and time seemed to slow down as I saw the opportunity and pounced all over it. “Oh, I almost forgot. Fluttershy’s pregnant,” I revealed, hearing a surprised squeak behind me. Keela gave out a gasp mixed with a gurgle, then coughed, spraying blue fluid all over the console behind her projection, and straight down her shirt. Rainbow and I both started laughing at once… Chapter 96It had ultimately gotten surprisingly cozy. Relaxing there on the floor, Fluttershy rested against my left side, and Twilight was against hers, sandwiching the yellow mare between us. She looked extraordinarily pleased by the turn of events, giving a little smile to both of us every minute or so. Everypony else had pretty much stayed in their spots, minus the new 'additions' to the room. All five of them were here now, Keela flopped on her stomach in the center of the room next to me, in a completely new dark blue and purple pajama set. Honestly, I hadn't thought about that issue when she'd coughed and soaked her front in juice. It was at least partially her fault for wearing materials that turn transparent when wet. Litta sat next to her, in a dark yellow tank top and even darker yellow pajama bottoms. Her darker pink hair was done up in a ponytail as usual, and she lounged lazily on her back. Her little sister, Mirin, had hers done up in a twin ponytail of sorts, looking almost like light blue 'ears' that folded off the back of her head. She was in a rather cute pink t-shirt and surprisingly short set of red shorts. Her yellow eyes, the color shared by her sister, were locked on the twins who sat next to her, the three of them just a meter or so from Litta. The twins themselves, Amre on the left and Kyre on the right, were in matching outfits, as they loved to do, both in full body purple pajama suits. They looked a little older than when I last saw them, but not by very much. Their dark blue hair was worn on opposite sides, purely for identification purposes I was pretty sure. Sitting side by side, it was actually a little creepy, as they had the tendency to look at the same things, too. They both had pink eyes. It was nice to see them all together still, and fond memories danced to the surface from my time as Azure. This was… a little different, though. Looking down to my left, I saw the small filly sitting there, on our side of the universe. Dark blue coat, bronze mane and tail, and bright amber eyes, she smiled up at me gently, sitting next to her book. Purdue, sitting next to Prudentia. I wasn’t about to consider them the same thing ever again, that was for certain. She needed to hear all this, too, however. Keela grinned, still staring at Fluttershy’s tummy before assuring, “Well, congratulations again. Despite the fiasco at the café, this is a welcome bit of good news.” The yellow mare blushed softly, but remained smiling as she gave a gentle nod. “Mmm, yes, I think it’s, well, good news, now that I know nopony is upset over it,” she murmured, yawning slowly, then resting against my shoulder with her cheek. Chuckling to that, I just shook my head. "Fluttershy, I'm not going to be upset over you being pregnant. Not even about the estrus stick. Relax," I assured softly, nuzzling into her forehead. She gave a happy little nicker, then returned my nuzzle under my chin, then giggled. Mirin grinned while watching us, admitting, "Okay, ponies are adorable. Keela, can we go to Equus instead? There’s really no point in us sticking around here any longer, right?” Uh, actually I had no idea what they were even doing, now that I thought about it. Keela rolled her eyes, then reminded, “For one, we need to get a bigger generator to even think about making a stable portal to Equus. For two… I’d like to at least find out what happened to my sister to get some closure before permanently leaving this dimension.” She sighed after, and I brushed my right hoof along her shoulder, earning a smile as my image did so on her end. She couldn’t feel it, of course, but the intention was still apparent. Giving out a murmur of apology, Mirin looked away from us, and her sister exhaled, holding her paw up towards the ceiling. “That’s a discussion for another time, by the sounds of it. Keela’s told us about the fact that our memories are fake, and personally, that seriously bugs me,” she admitted, sitting up and looking directly at me instead. Her eyes looked down towards Purdue, who caught her gaze. There wasn’t any malice, however, and the little filly relaxed, nodding. “I didn’t mean to do it. I was ordered to, by my master at the time. Mender’s now my master, and with his permission, I can undo what was taken,” she explained, nodding to Keela as well. To my surprise, Amre spoke up next, with, “We’re curious…” “What’s the extent of the missing memories?” Kyre finished for her, both of them looking expectantly at me. I saw Rainbow flatten her ears back and shiver while staring at them, but I just smiled and nodded. Eh, it was just how they did things. “Extensive. Six months of memories were modified. As you’ve probably already guessed, this isn’t the first time we’ve all met,” I explained. They both looked to each other, but Keela nodded at that. I glanced back to her, but she frowned, shaking her head for a moment before admitting, “Even if I didn’t know that it was an important six months, half a year’s worth of lost memories is too much for me to ignore. I don’t care if I was tortured the whole time, Mender. My vote is to have them back.” I raised an eyebrow, but Litta immediately tacked on with, “Yup. I don’t care what the memories were. Personally, I don’t like the very thought of that d… uh, jerk having forced me to remember something wrong.” Knee jerk censoring aside, I could also understand that much. I couldn’t pretend to be so pure as to not know what spite was. Mirin exhaled quietly, looking over to me instead before hesitantly asking, “Um, t-there are no, like, huge amounts of physical pain or anything in these memories, are there?” I blinked once, but Litta smirked an instant later. “Pansy,” she shot at her sister, who glared back at her. Surprisingly, however, she continued reasoning with, “Does it even matter? Even if it was something that hurt, we’re alive and still here. It’s just going to be a memory.” Well, that was one way to look at it. Applejack shook her head, however, drawing the attention back to her. “Ah wouldn’t worry about physical pains so much as emotional ones. Sometimes, those can last longer, an’ hurt far worse than anythin’ else,” she warned. A certain emptiness flashed through her eyes, and Rainbow set her hoof down on the mare’s shoulder, shaking her head. The orange mare exhaled, then rested back against the chair, but her point had already set, and Keela tucked her legs up gently instead, pressing her knees to her breasts before shaking her head. “Even if it hurts, emotionally or physically, I’d rather know than not know. The only other option is running from it,” she pointed out, looking back to Mirin, who sighed and nodded. The twins nodded at the same time, however. “We agree,” Kyre added, looking to Amre, who finished the statement in the next breath. “It’s too large of a time period. We’d regret not knowing the truth,” her sister decided. That was all of them, really. Twilight noticed, too, nodding on the other side of Fluttershy. “Then you want the memories back?” she asked, looking to Keela specifically, who nodded. Slowly, the other four repeated her gesture, and I exhaled. That selfish little voice inside of me had gotten its way, and I didn’t have to go on from this point being the only one who remembered the truth of what had happened. Keela nodded, before finally stating, “Yes, we do. What do we have to do in order to go about it?” She looked to Purdue, who instead turned and looked to me. Right… Sighing, I officially stated, “Purdue, use Prudentia to undo what he did to their memories, please.” She smirked, and I averted my eyes. Yes, the ‘please’ was required. I didn't even need a link with her to know what she was thinking in that regard. She nodded regardless, then looked back to Keela specifically. "Are you ready, then?" she asked, a certain air of finality to her question. I couldn't help but feel that certain unease in my stomach. My eyes traced over Keela as she watched me, and I caught myself looking at her in a different light. I quickly looked away as she nodded, to me rather than Purdue. "Do it, then," she agreed. I wasn't entirely sure what I expected. A flashy show of energy and power? The universe rending itself asunder and rebuilding around me? Of course, what did that even look like? Regardless of what I expected, it wasn't what I got. Absolutely nothing happened, and then all five of them jerked at the same time. Keela lifted up both paws to the sides of her head, teeth clenched rather hard. Purdue watched them all for a moment, then frowned and added, “Stay calm. Don’t fight the new memories. Just let them rebuild themselves.” That probably would have been amazing advice before she started the process. I kept my mouth shut, though, and just watched. Keela relaxed, eyes blanking for a moment as she focused on deep breathing. Litta watched her, then followed suit, and the twins turned and lightly put their foreheads together, breathing heavier. They’d always been like that, and my personal guess was some sort of high capacity shared telepathic link, but I could be mistaken. Mirin was the only stubborn one that continued shuddering and rolling on her back, holding her head. Seconds passed slowly, and I counted out to almost twenty before Mirin finally stopped shuddering. All five of them opened their eyes at once, Litta immediately gasping out. “Oh… No, no, no… Kyliona. Wait, Keela…” she muttered, looking towards her friend. Keela just looked at me, dazed for a moment, jaw lowering a little. I turned and looked back to her, and felt the yellow mare against my side tense as she noticed. It felt like forever, with her stuck just looking at me, eyes locked with mine. Thirty seconds passed, and she made a little choking noise, covering her muzzle with both paws. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. It didn’t stop her eyes from getting wet, and a streak going down the fur on her left cheek. Nopony said anything. I didn’t know what to say, or do, or feel, really. It was like dozens of realizations had come crashing down on her all at once, and I was effectively powerless to stop it or help her in any way. Eventually, a tear joined on the other side of her cheek, and I sighed softly, reaching my hoof out to her. She raised her left paw, lightly touching it against the image of my hoof. It was all that it took, and the tears started sliding down. Litta shivered and took that moment to slide over, wrapping both of her arms over Keela’s shoulders. Keela’s thumb moved, stroking slowly around under the image before she gave a little whimper. “It’s… just like I suspected it would be, and now it’s as if it all really happened up until the point the memories become normal again,” she whispered, shaking a little as she looked at me. “Azure…” Mirin muttered, sitting up again finally and also looking towards me. Litta smiled weakly at that, then shook her head to her sister. “He’s ‘Mender’ now, remember? Moon Mender…” she reminded, testing the name out for herself. Fluttershy wiggled against me, then slowly nodded. “Um, yes. His parents actually picked it for him,” she explained, smiling gently towards Keela. The Keldarian smiled towards her and relaxed a little, nodding finally. “He said that much. I like the new name, really. Azure was pretty, but not very pony like,” Keela admitted quietly, wiping her eyes. “Keela…” I muttered, earning a little shiver from her. She quickly shook her head, however, and then stopped me by raising her paw up. “No, I know. This is similar to what I thought it would be, but the scale is… far more than I had anticipated. You… No, you didn’t break any promises to me, Mender. You getting transferred over to Equus alone… it wasn’t under your own power or control, I know that. You know that, too,” she quickly reminded. “Promise?” Rarity asked curiously, less than a heartbeat later. Ah, her romance sense must be tingling. Sighing, I explained, “I promised her when we were leaving that day that Kyliona and I would definitely meet them on the ship. We, uh, didn’t make it.” It was a lot worse admitting it out loud, I suddenly realized. Keela’s paw passed through me an instant later, and she shivered, then slid a little closer. “Mender, it’s okay. None of us could have predicted what happened. It… was a horrible accident. I’m just glad that… at least you made it,” she quietly admitted, eyes still locked with mine. I sighed, shaking my head slowly at that. Not entirely accurate… “I… Kyliona is inside of me. I never told you the reason why my code malfunctioned. She uploaded the backdoor access code to her own cerebral storage, then was the first one that was eaten. She’s inside me with the rest of them…” I muttered, eyes softening a little. Litta and Keela both widened their eyes at that, but Mirin shuddered and added, “Uh, that’s actually kinda really creepy. What exactly can you do with all of them?” Thanks, Mirin… “At the moment, not much,” I admitted, shrugging before explaining, “The bioweapon recorded all their DNA, too, which I can convert into usable gametes for reproduction purposes, or if you wanted to clone them all. Otherwise, nothing, really…” Well, apart from asking them all to help me really murder the hell out of something, but I didn’t particularly foresee a need to do that again in the near future. Rarity huffed behind me, however, causing me to glance back as she defended, “He doesn’t need a use for them. Mender fits in here perfectly fine, and even after everything that happened, as you can see, the ponies of Equus still accept you perfectly fine. If anything, what happened here will only cause those disagreeing to lose even further credit.” Sighing, I shook my head, then turned back to Keela instead, who was still looking at me. “Regardless, I’m sorry, Keela. I did technically break a promise to you, even if I didn’t have any control over what happened. So let me make it up to you? We can… talk more about other things later if you wish, too,” I assured, giving a softer smile to her. The pink one hopped up and down in my peripheral vision before sending an approving shout of, “Yes! I’m big on keeping promises, and that one definitely, definitely, positively wasn’t his fault! But making it up to her is still really important.” Heh, I remembered that much, I was pretty sure. In my stay here, I’d heard a few horror stories involving a Pinkie Promise. Velvet grinned, however, and I braced myself as she assured, “There’s no harm in discussing the relationship you had, and all the possibilities of it continuing and possibly thriving, especially once you all manage to get to Equus.” Uh… An awkward moment later, Litta raised an eyebrow and asked, “Uh, are you always like this?” Night Light just sighed next to her and answered, “Yup.” There was no hesitation, and his wife just grinned at him, looking amused. I glanced back to Keela, and she just bit her lip, eyes trailing over to Twilight and Fluttershy as well. The lavender mare just chuckled, however, and shook her head. “We already talked about it. Fluttershy and I are both fine with you trying to be with Mender and possibly joining our herd, don’t worry,” she assured. Keela’s cheeks were pink by the time she was done, eyes wide as she looked back at me. Velvet started just snickering over on the couch, of course. “I-I… But I’d need Mender’s approval even if I did manage to…” she stammered, eyes locking with mine and searching my face. I just chuckled, however, and nodded to her. “Keela, I cared about all of you, and… I really did like you. Our time got cut short due to things conspiring against us behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean that it’s automatically too late,” I assured her softly. Both paws were back up to her mouth by then, and it felt like the tears coming down were quite a bit different now, a smile playing against her mouth, from the bits of it I could see. She nodded rapidly to me, but Mirin smirked behind her, then suddenly asked, “So, did making that portal to Equus get jumped up a bit in priority?” I blinked, but Keela suddenly smiled and giggled. “Mmm, we’re finding what happened with Nirru, then leaving, I think…” she agreed, giving me a grin as she wiped her eyes with a paw. I blinked again, then blushed a little as Mirin started snickering… * * * * * “You could have given me a little more warning than ten minutes!” Banana Swirl whined as she flailed about in the kitchen behind the counter. I coughed lightly, but Pinkie, bouncing in place to my immediate left, just squealed happily. “You can’t rush awesomeness! Ice cream is soooooo worth waiting for!” she chirped, wiggling all her hooves into the air in the next bounce. I ducked under the flailing hoof instinctively, then sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you more time. I honestly entirely forgot. It’s been… a rather long day,” I admitted, lowering my forehead until I whacked my subdermal armor against the counter with a reverberating ‘tonk’ noise. Nope, didn’t feel a thing. Rainbow snickered at the table behind us, then reminded, “I dunno, Pinkie. I can put quite a rush on my awesomeness. Fastest flier in Equestria!” I looked back at her with a skeptical glance, earning a raised eyebrow until I smirked and pointed out, “Dash, you technically moved fast enough to go through a compressed spatial bridge between dimensions. I think you’re the fastest anything in Equus at the moment.” A technically true statement, as I was pretty sure Twilight’s teleportation technique didn’t involve actual velocity. It appeared to actually cancel it completely during the transition. Predictably, the cyan mare puffed up unbelievably at that, turning a little pink in the cheeks. Applejack, to her right, rolled her eyes, then chuckled to herself. “Eeyup, it went right to her head,” she deduced. The cyan mare stuck her tongue out at her fillyfriend, and I just snickered. That much had been intended when I said it. Still, it was a true statement! “Ooooh, question!” Pinkie murmured, halting her bouncing long enough to shoot it right into my ear and freak me out. Sliding away from her a bit, I shuddered before asking, “Uh, what is it, Pinkie?” She just grinned a little wider at me, of course, before asking, “If she has our orders and knows we’re here, why are we still standing up by the counter while everypony else is over there sitting down? Not that I mind, of course, because standing up is really awesome and fun and I get to bounce this way, plus you’re my friend and I don’t mind being next to you.” I stared blankly at her through the long string of statements, then fidgeted. I actually didn't have an answer for that. I'd gotten so distracted staring at interesting freezers behind the counter and trying to figure out how they functioned that I hadn't actually noticed everypony sitting down already. "Ah, right, we should go join them," I stated blankly, wiggling a little before turning and walking over to the others. My face felt hot, and I knew I was probably blushing. That was the one issue with having a light fur color. It was really easy to see the blushes. Twilight snickered as I came back before asking, "So, figured out the freezers yet?" Gah! Sitting two chairs down, I glared at her, and she just grinned before revealing, "Ice in a certain shape around one of our magnification crystals was discovered to stay at perpetually one temperature if a low amount of Ether is pumped into it. There are coils of ice in the top of the freezers that keep everything inside the glass cool. More intense ones are used in her kitchen area to make the ice cream in the first place." I blinked once, not suspecting the coy mare to actually be helpful. Still, I nodded, thanking her with, "Ah, yes, you guessed right via my link and direction I was staring. I really should look into figuring out these crystals more, however. They seem interesting." Rainbow gave me a skeptical stare, then asked, "Wait, wait, you were seriously trying to figure out the freezers?" I felt my face heat up, but Spike interrupted instead. "Why does that surprise you? He's almost as curious as Twi is, and if she didn't know, you know she'd be tearing it apart to figure it out," he pointed out, shooting a skeptical look at Dash instead. The cyan mare snickered, and Twilight gave a sheepish smile and blush. "Yeah, yeah. I didn't say it was a bad thing! Besides, we should also take it as our responsibility to answer any and all questions and curiosities that Mender has. He's not even been here two months yet, and we should be accommodating," she suggested, more than likely to distract and change the topic. Still, that brought up another thing I was going to ask. "That reminds me, once we get back to Ponyville, could I talk to you, Applejack?" I asked, looking towards the orange mare. She perked, looking over at me with a bit of curiosity and surprise in her green eyes. "Oh? Ya got somethin' in mind, Sugarcube, or just ah social visit?" she asked, tilting her hat up out of her eyes a little. I gave a nod, then explained, "Big Mac taught me something over estrus break, and it recently came up again. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you or him about learning more things about my Earth Pony magic." Her eyes widened for a moment before a warmer smile drifted onto her expression. "Aww, well shucks, that ain't no problem at all, Mender. Although Ah should warn ya, our specialties are actually ah little bit different. He's really good at tha growin', an' Ah'm better at tha knockin' down. Tap tha tree just right, an' get it ta drop all o' tha good stuff," she revealed, grinning to me. Oh, actually... His sounded easier. Doing a burst of magic in a single instant to specifically target all objects connected to the target and dislodge them on impact sounded hellish... Smiling, I nodded to her, then elaborated with, "It's an entirely untapped area of magic for me, and seeing as I'm an Earth Pony, I at least wanted to be able to manage Earth Pony magic. What do you think I'd be best at, then?" I really hoped she'd say growing. Raising an eyebrow to me, she slowly looked around the side of the table at my flanks for a moment. "Uh, if Ah had ta guess, not apples," she warned a second later, grinning at me. Okay, walked into that... My scowl towards her was interrupted a moment later by a very small and very timid poke to my left foreleg. Raising an eyebrow, I turned to my left and looked down, only to be greeted by a surprising amount of pinks and yellows. Morning Joy, who had prior been upstairs, I was told, was shyly smiling up at me, wearing a darker yellow frilled dress, and had her mane done up in two small pigtails behind her ears. Well, that totally defeated my look of annoyance. I rotated in my seat to face her, giving a smaller smile down to the little filly, who returned it rather readily. To my surprise, both of her hooves lifted up towards me, in the almost universal gesture of wanting a lift. I gave a blink, then leaned down and hooked my forehooves under her upraised legs, easily lifting her up and into the air. She was surprisingly light, and I found myself idly wondering what it would be like with my own foal. Upon reaching face-level, she giggled and leaned forward, very lightly bumping her nose against mine before straightening again. I chuckled to her, then gently rested her on the edge of the table, looking at me. My left hoof reached up and carefully moved back the right shoulder of her dress a little ways, revealing white wrapped bandage behind it still. “How are you feeling? Does it hurt?” I asked, shifting back to Joy’s eyes as she grinned for a moment, then shook her head. “Nope! The nurse was really good, and it doesn’t hurt at all anymore. Well, it did a little when I was trying to get my leg through the dress, but I took it easy like Mom said to,” she assured, settling into a partial sit as I supported her against the edge of the table. Fluttershy leaned forward next to me, touching the bandage with her right forehoof and giving the small filly a little frown. “This is a pretty big bandage. You’re a very brave filly for coming through all of that,” she praised, moving the dress back over the wrap and smiling to her, her other forehoof giving the filly a pat on the head. Banana Swirl came out of the kitchen at about that time, then gave a raised eyebrow to her filly. She balanced a large tray of treats on her back, easily half of our orders already, then walked gently towards our table. “Joy, I warned you not to bother our guests too much. Sitting on them might be bothering our guests too much,” she warned, giving a playfully skeptical smirk to her daughter, who flailed instead. “I’m not sitting on him! I’m sitting on the table! Uh, which you also tell me not to do, but, um, he put me up here!” she quickly defended, and I started to chuckle. “She’s not being a bother. If anything, I call this practice for my own foal. Uh, if it turns out to be a filly, of course. Not that that would really matter for just sitting on a table. Wait, no, I wouldn’t want them sitting on the table either, so I guess this isn’t very good practice at all, actually,” I started to explain, promptly walking myself right off the proverbial cliff. Rainbow started snickering the longer I trailed on, but Pinkie actually nodded along as if following my rambling string of thoughts perfectly. I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad for that. Joy perked then suddenly gasped, instead. “Oh, you’re going to be a daddy?!” she asked, zeroing in on that almost immediately. Fluttershy turned lightly pink, shrinking down a little in her chair, but Swirl perked up as she set the tray down. One glance later towards Fluttershy, and she started to grin instead. “Ooooh, are you expecting, Miss Fluttershy?” she asked gently. Despite the rather reserved way of asking, the yellow mare still squeaked. Reaching over, I gently rubbed her shoulder, giving her a warmer smile and nod as she looked over at me. Her blush didn’t fade that much, but she smiled and nodded after, relaxing a little. “Um, yes. We just found out today, actually. I’m sorry. It’s just a bit overwhelming still,” she admitted, exhaling gently and blowing her bangs up a little with her breath. Joy perked even more, a wide smile popping up on her expression as she clapped her forehooves together. I quickly caught her as she unbalanced herself, falling into my lap with a squeak a moment later. Her mother seemed unconcerned with the tumble, instead grinning towards Fluttershy and doing a little hop. “Oh! Congratulations! I know what you mean when you say overwhelming. He’s not here at the moment, but my herdmate can definitely tell you, as he was even more worked up than I was! You get adjusted to it after a while, thankfully, and given how strong your relationship already seems to be, I have a feeling it will get even stronger,” she assured, rubbing Fluttershy’s other shoulder, which seemed to let the mare relax even more. Oddly, a spike of irritation shot down Twilight's link instead, but it was gone in the same instant when I turned to look at her. She gave me a small smile instead as I raised my eyebrow, and I sighed, giving up for now. Smiling down at Joy instead, I helped her stabilize herself, and she gave me a peppy smile upwards. “Hee, good catch. Earlier, too. You’re good at catching ponies!” she admitted, snickering after. Her mother smirked at her, before turning to Fluttershy instead and assuring, “You two are going to be great parents regardless! You’re the kind and nurturing type, I can tell. Not that your reputation hasn’t preceded you of course. Your mate is also very protective and obviously cares about you a lot. I bet he’d be a great father, too, given how good he is with foals.” Gah! I twitched visibly, then asked, “Why does everypony keep saying that?!” The most obvious answer they could give is ‘because it’s true’, but even if it was, that didn’t mean every pony who saw me interacting with a foal had to make the observation! Applejack started snickering at that, then pointed out, “Mender, ya’d need ta be blind ta miss it when yer bein’ downright adorable with a cute little filly like ya are. Plus, we all know ya got tha protective instincts, an’ ya obviously don’t mind foals, given yer toleratin’ one in yer lap. It’s ah compliment.” I blinked, then looked down at Joy again, who just grinned up at me before nodding. “Being around adults that get annoyed easily isn’t fun, no. Oooh, and another thing! If you have tentacle thingies, that’s like a built in playground!” she exclaimed a moment later, surprising me even further. Then, of course, she asked, “Oh, can I see them?” “Morning Joy!” her mother scolded, looking momentarily horrified. I finally managed to chuckle at that, however, the conversation at least falling back into a topic that I could fully digest. My shoulders wiggled slightly before two tentacles slipped out of them from each side. The filly spotted them immediately, eyes widening as they slipped out and wiggled their tips lightly in front of her face. Both she and her mother just stared at them for a moment, and I raised an eyebrow, at least until the filly lifted her hoof up and poked at it. Shifting it slightly, I gently wrapped it around her hoof, giving it a little squeeze, and she smiled at it. After a long moment, she giggled, then reached out to touch her other hoof to it as it wrapped around her first. “Huh. It’s furred, just like your coat,” she murmured, apparently surprised at this revelation. I raised an eyebrow to her, then snuck the other over her dress, wrapping around her lower chest. She gave a surprised squeak as I lifted her up into the air, gently drifting over the table before slowly starting to rotate her around in place. The other slid off her hoof and supported her waist, helping her balance, and she started to grin, laughing as she flapped her hooves like wings. Swirl relaxed, giggling as she watched her daughter ‘fly’ around over the table, then drift down in close. She moved her head to the side as Joy slipped past, then I carefully deposited the filly onto her mother’s back instead, her muzzle going into her mom’s mane. “Eeee, that’s awesome!” she declared a moment later, followed by, “They’re surprisingly soft!” “Really?” Spike asked all of a sudden, looking over at me while raising a claw. “Can I feel?” he asked curiously a moment later. I nodded towards him, moving the right over around Twilight for him to grab with both of his claws. It was strange feeling him poking and prodding at it, but eh. “What are they, exactly?” Swirl asked, reaching out and bumping her hoof against the tentacle I’d forgotten was still near her. I held it out for her after she poked it, and she used a hoof to brush along some of the fur. I looked at them for a moment before explaining, “Honestly, they’re almost exactly like additional legs, except instead of ending in a hoof, they end in a tapered point. There are no bones or anything inside of them, just an organic metal core that controls their movements.” Joy perked at that, asking, “Metal? That’s not something that’s in somepony, though.” Technically true. Twilight just giggled though and shook her head. “That’s why he’s a ‘cyborg’. It’s short for ‘cybernetic organism’, or a normal pony who has artificial parts put inside of him. It’s way beyond our technology, but he got them in the other dimension, where they were put in to save his life,” she explained, keeping her vocabulary intentionally small by the sounds of her tentatively searching for words. Rarity giggled in amusement at that, and I raised my eyebrow over at her, then winced lightly as Spike poked his claw into the side of my tentacle. I pulled it away from him and gave him a frown, earning a sheepish, apologetic smile in return. The pearly mare shook her head at our display, then elaborated with, “I find it fascinating that originally we thought that you were a Keldarian just like Keela. It just amuses me how completely incorrect we were, but pleases me at the same time to discover you were a pony all along.” My eyes softened towards her, and I smiled, giving her a nod in return. Her eyes widened slightly as she felt the ‘thanks’ from it flowing down between our empathy links, but she recovered remarkably fast, and gave me a gentle smile and nod. Fluttershy nuzzled into my shoulder from the left a moment later, then gave my cheek a little lick before agreeing with, “Quite. Now Mender doesn’t have to doubt himself anymore. Having all his memories back should help with that.” I let my right tentacle slide back into my shoulder, then lifted my right foreleg instead, staring at the hoof. It was my hoof, grown like a normal pony hoof, regardless of it being accelerated or regenerated or morphic. Giving a little sigh, I admitted, “My time as ‘Azure’, remembering the first six months of my life, has definitely helped me out a lot.” Grinning happily, Pinkie nodded twice before shoving an entire ice cream sandwich bar into her mouth at once, bits of vanilla ice cream and chocolate crumbs spraying out everywhere. Rarity floated a napkin up ahead of time, opening it up like a makeshift umbrella as the spray hit, but Rainbow on the other side of her took it directly. She gave Pinkie a mildly annoyed glance. Rarity took another sip of her shake as a second napkin floated up from next to her, and offered itself to Dash. I was rather amused at the unicorn’s nonchalant handling of Pinkie’s antics. Tilting her head, Swirl asked, "First six months? Isn't that oddly speci-" "I'm technically only seven and a half months old," I reminded, cutting her off with the explanation I knew it was leading to. She faltered, then blanched at me instead, eyes hitting maximum size within seconds. I nodded regardless before continuing with, "I was aged by the machines they put into me to be about twenty or twenty-one, both physically and mentally. Oh, and technically I'm from Equestria of about three hundred and twelve years ago, which would be my theoretical age. I was frozen for most of that, though, and have only been 'born' for those seven and a half months." I was starting to think that Snapshot was right, and a smiley face was an easier answer. Twilight smacked herself on the forehead, then rolled her eyes before elaborating, "His legal age is three hundred and twelve. His mental and physical age is about twenty-two or twenty-three. His amount of actual experience is seven and a half months. Prior, when he first got here, he had complete retroactive amnesia. Up until about two days ago, he was operating with only a month and a half of experience." I raised my eyebrow again and looked over at her questioningly. "You couldn't have just explained that at the press conference and saved us twenty minutes of debate?" I asked, continuing my skeptical stare after. She huffed, then defended herself with, "I wasn't a part of the conference! I couldn't just get up on stage and-" "We did," Rainbow reminded, giving a mildly annoyed look to Twilight, who widened her eyes a little. The pegasus continued with, "I wasn't about to just let them continue ripping into him mercilessly like that. Asking questions is one thing! What they were doing was just... just..." "Leading," Rarity finished for her, causing the pegasus to blink and give her a curious look. She shrugged and appended, "They were using blatantly leading questions to attempt to steer the conference in a way that negatively reflected Mender's public relations. Chances are, one or more of them were members of BEID." Ah, she'd noticed. Rainbow looked actually surprised by that, but Applejack just snorted. "Ah figured as much. Them varmints just don't know when ta quit. What good would it do ta ask such obvious questions aimin' ta implicate Mender?" she asked, looking annoyed. I sighed and shook my head, however. "To distract is my best guess. Everything that happened today with Joy," I started, nodding over to the filly, who was paying very close attention to me now, before I finished, "wasn't an actual BEID plan. It wasn't thought out. It was a few BEID agents acting out of pure fear due to the propaganda that they were fed. Octavia was right. It looks pretty terrible for BEID's own public relations. So if they can disrupt the press conference about it and try to shove attention back onto me instead, it benefits them." "So they used you as a distraction to try to lesson the blow to their own reputation?" Swirl asked, frowning as she stared towards the center of the table. "Usin' Joy as ah hostage like that is disgustin'," Applejack spat out, followed by, "Ah'm not tha only one who thinks so. Mender gave up his own disguise willingly in order ta save tha BEID agent who did it. Then it turns out she did it 'cause she was so terrified o' tha lies that they spoon fed her that she panicked? Yeah, that don't look too good." Okay, yeah, that was a good perspective on it. Heh. I shook my head, then defended, "I didn't do it for that reason. The unicorn might have been able to catch her, but even he wasn't sure, it turns out. My own magic hadn't pulled back from blocking her knife, so it was literally I take a risk of her possibly dying, or I catch her with my tentacles. If I'd just let her have that risk, I don't think I could have lived with myself." Maybe I was weak and had the inability to make the hard decisions. Sure, politically it would have been infinitely more adventagious for me to simply do nothing. But I would have torn myself apart with the guilt. Rarity smiled at that. "That's called being a pony, Mender. We work together and look out for each other as best we can," she said softly, eyes locking onto mine. I exhaled gently, feeling the tension go out of my back. Being a pony, huh? Pinkie finished licking around her hoof, then smiled and nodded over to Rarity. "Yup! She's right, of course! Some ponies just lose sight of that. Then it's up to other ponies to remind them of what we're supposed to be like. That's all BEID is! A bunch of really scared ponies who've lost sight of what it's like to be a pony, and can't see it in you properly," she chirped. I stared at her for a moment, not having expected the level of depth that answer struck upon. She grinned to me, then promptly shoved another ice cream sandwich into her mouth, of course. I smiled and just gave her a chuckle instead, sliding my tentacles back into my shoulders. Hooking the glass with my hoof, I pulled my own sundae over. I sniffed it twice, the scent of nuts, vanilla, and caramel coming to my nose. Shivering, I licked my lips as I felt an extra wave of saliva come in, and smiled. The spoon on the napkin next to me got hooked to my hoof via the strap, and I teased some of the cream off the top first, sampling it. Swirl slowly grinned, waiting oddly in anticipation as I tasted it. It was whipped cream, sugar mixed in and quite feathery in texture. Sweet but not too sweet, seeming to just melt in my mouth. I shivered, then nodded twice to her, and she danced happily in place. “Eee, I always love seeing my customer’s expressions and reactions when they eat my treats. So I knew I just had to make sure you liked it, especially,” she revealed, giggling after. Instead of answering, I took a bigger spoonful, getting some of the caramel and ice cream this time as well. She grinned, then gently set Joy down, who simply plopped down onto her haunches next to her and gave Fluttershy more curious looks, mostly towards her tummy. I felt my cheeks flush lightly when I considered what was inside of her, but the ice cream cooled at the same time, giving a strange contrast between my mouth and cheeks. I gave a little shiver, then relaxed as I simply enjoyed the dish. Swirl went back to get a second tray after grinning to me again, Rainbow slid her malt over to herself, and Applejack pulled her banana sundae in, too. I was sort of amused at the image of her eating something not apple related, but didn’t want to say anything. After the second tray was delivered, we sat in peace, the only sounds being spoons scraping against glass, munching, and the occasional, “Mmmm!” I let myself wind down as the sun slowly set through the window outside. It had been one hell of a day, with the press conference after all that fiasco, finding out Fluttershy was pregnant with my foal, and Keela getting her memories back along with the rest of the Keldarians. She still wanted me to call her again tonight after we got back into the rooms for the night. She said that she just wanted to talk to me about the things she found regarding her sister, but I had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to it than that. I wasn’t about to deny her, however, rather pleased she’d wanted to spend more time talking with me. A part of me had worried that the memories she got back would be so traumatizing that she’d break off contact, but I acknowledged that as a bit pessimistic anyway. Slowly, the sun set as our snacking went on, and I just closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, feeling Fluttershy’s warmth to my left as she rested against my side. It didn’t take too terribly long for Twilight to slide her chair over and rest against my right, but I just stayed unwinding, doing my best to let the stresses of my day drift away. Here’s to hoping tomorrow would be bet- An image of Carrot Top flicked into my mind, and I ground the thought to a halt before it cumulated. Ah, right, no, wasn’t going to even say it this time. Instead, I just exhaled, resting with my two mares and idly wondering what tomorrow would bring… Chapter 97Yawning, I stretched my legs out as I walked, moving along at a fairly brisk pace. My fur was damp still, but I smelled quite fresh and vaguely of lavender. Twilight's choice in shampoo didn't surprise me in the slightest, although it was infinitely better than alternative smells I could be sporting. Given how active yesterday had been, even after we got back to Twilight's suite, I was perfectly content to be smelling like flowers. It also shed light onto the reason that I was able to untangle myself from two sleeping mares without waking either of them. Bonus points for distracting them in our dream enough to also slip away even there. I smiled at a maid as I walked past, returning her nod as well. She looked like the same one from yesterday who'd informed me about Octavia. Turning the corner, I instead exited out into a large courtyard, surrounded by an overhang on all sides with carved arches for walls. Shining Armor was standing in the center of it, as I'd been informed, and gave me a nod as I approached. Thirty guards, a mixture of day and night variants, stood in front of him, most not even moving to look at me as I approached. "Sorry I'm a bit late. Took longer in the shower than I anticipated," I apologized. He smiled towards me, then took a sniff and grinned. "And you still didn't get all the smell out. Heh. Regardless, it's fine. You probably beat my sleepy head sister by a good three hours. Who doesn't get up at five?! Sheesh," he muttered. I felt my cheeks heat up a little, but he didn't even seem fazed, so I just mentally shrugged. Chuckling instead, I turned to look at the guards. "I see a few dozen standing here with more practical wake up times," I complimented, getting him to smirk outright and nod, also turning to face them. "Yup! You have the full roster by now, I assume, including your two strange suggestions last night. They've been granted temporary permits under your jurisdiction for the time being. I'm curious, though," he admitted, looking back over at me. Shaking my head, I explained, "I'm a firm believer in second chances. I don't think I'd be here without them. I've a feeling that those two will work extra hard to prove me right, regardless." Luna hadn't taken any effort at all to convince last night, listening to my explanation and just signing off on it immediately while maintaining that coy grin. Of course, she understood second chances, too. I got two immediate grins from the front row, giving away two identities right off the bat. I was amused that the group was split almost perfectly into Night and Day guards, actually. All of the Lunars had wings, of course, and the traditional slit pupils, and all of their coats were the same gray purple hue, although that I knew varied from Lunar to Lunar. The Day guards were more distributed, with at least six Bastion units, a surprisingly few Air Force, numbering only three that I saw, and all the rest being the actual Guard. Were there different types of Lunars, too? Shining gave a smirk to me and nodded, looking back into the crowd again before speaking up, in a more official and significantly louder tone of voice. "Attention!" he barked, causing everypony there to immediately lift both left legs, front and back, and then clap them back into their right ones, standing up straight after. He continued immediately with, "For those of you who don't already know, this is Captain Moon Mender, standing head of Dimensional Regulation and Lead of Research and Design. He'll also be the standing Knight Captain in the field during active duty when I'm not around. This includes training you in the use of the new toys R&D comes up with. All that said, he deserves the utmost of respect!" My mind really wasn't on it, and instead I wondered why they appended the 'Knight' in front of the usual 'Captain' rank. It was probably a temporary title or something to designate which of the Captains was in charge of the others in a given situation. All of them immediately did the hoof motion again, which I realized was probably akin to a salute. I looked them all over, then repeated their motion, solidifying the armor under my skin as I brought my legs together. It made a rather rough clang, remarkably similar to them in armor, despite being a bit more quiet. A couple looked mildly surprised, but they were a remarkably stoic group. Still... One in the front row lifted a foreleg up. Shining raised an eyebrow, but I mentally shrugged and nodded towards them. Royal Air Force B47 did another hoof salute before shouting, "Permission to ask a question, Sir!" "Granted," I muttered, a sort of grim curiosity as to where this was going. The guard did another salute before asking, "I know I speak for a lot of us here when I ask, but... What is the level of threat Dimensional Regulation is dealing with?" Ah, a serious question, then. That I could deal with, but first... Looking over to Shining, I asked, "Is everypony here cleared through security?" Given BEID, it was a valid concern. The full scale of the threat hadn't exactly been disclosed to the general public yet, if I recalled correctly. Of course, I had just gotten Snapshot's report of the rest of the press conference, given that I hadn't stuck around for the remainder. "As much as they can be," he assured, then lifted his head up. His horn glowed, and in a flash, a cubic outline had been drawn around all of us, vision beyond it suddenly dimming somewhat. He held the energy for a second before nodding to me, and I turned back to the rest of the guards. Looking at them for a moment, I exhaled quietly, unsure of exactly how to convey the scale. "Best case scenario, nothing. If everything goes according to the plan we've got laid out so far, Equus won't see a peep of danger, and everything goes on as if nothing's wrong," I started, shrugging after, then continuing with, "Worst case scenario, an ancient race in the other dimension called the Grosh manage to create a stable portal to Equus, and we see an invasion force the likes of which has never been witnessed, ever. They have the technological advancements to literally reduce this entire planet to a fine dust in a dozen hours or so, and are ruthless enough to kill every single creature on the face of the planet just to get at its resources." To be honest, that was speculation. While it was known that the Grosh stripped planets bare of resources, they didn't always. Sometimes they came in and just murdered everything that was murder-able by definition, set fire to everything that wasn't, then left as if they were doing it for the entertainment value. Their expressions were mixed at best, some remaining stoic, and the majority looking a mixture of uncertain and shaken. There was no panic, and I was pleased that at least their intestinal fortitude was on par with the soldiers my memories recalled training. Shining gave a softer smile and nodded towards me before looking back to the guards and saying, "That is why we're actively pursuing our plan, with every intent on getting a grip on the situation before it gets to worst case scenario. This isn't a roll of a die. We can actively control the situation before us, and I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let these monsters anywhere near my loved ones." Their resolve snapped back almost instantly, and I smiled to myself. He was used to talking to guards, that was for sure. As far as I knew, each and every guard here was here specifically because they volunteered, which usually indicated they had a strong desire to actually guard. Nodding in agreement, I continued with, "We're currently at an advantage. We know our enemy, they don't know us, and they currently aren't even aware of our existence. With luck, it stays that way. We also have amazingly bright minds working on our actual plan as to keep things that way. We have the support of all of Equestria, and I have every bit of confidence in our ability to resolve this situation without a single pony getting hurt, which is what we're aiming for. There are also allies in the other dimension that are safeguarding us on that end as well. With luck again on our side, the window of opportunity for any serious threat against Equus is about two weeks duration, already starting. The risk for smaller scale issues persists for a few years after that, but for now, we're focusing on that two week window. That said, I look forward to working with you all." That was the maximum window that Keela gave me for her upgrades and investigation into the wreckage of the wing of the ship. She assured me that they weren't totally insane and going to attempt a rescue, if her sister was even still alive. No rescue had ever succeeded against the Grosh. It only ever resulted in failure and possibly more lives lost. During the investigation, they were also working on upgrading the engine components of the vessel. The area they blind-jumped to had been an old asteroid mining complex. It was a creative way to get materials. Using a fast vessel, they zipped around and 'tagged' asteroids in the thicket, which, contrary to common belief, are actually not all that dense. Quite a bit of distance can be between each rock, but once tagged, the mining complex itself used a low magnitude attraction pulse to slowly pull all of the tags to itself, an inertia shield slowing them as they came in to drift around it. The useful bit was that the field generator that was also responsible for the pulling could be 'flipped' in its output. This was an engineering nightmare that typically created impressive disasters on a large scale, given the field would attempt to then crush a small area into the finest singularity it could muster. It usually failed to crush it down dense enough and only ended up causing a fusion reaction with the materials in question and a nice sized explosion. Of course, if you captured the energy from said explosion after dumping a few more potent sources of matter into the area... It was a long shot, but Keela had scavenged the reactor and a ton of extra parts from the facility. The fuel rods in the core were almost spent, but there was enough left to fire it off at least one more time. The extras would be tossed into the core to add to the explosion umph. Keela's idea was to haul the core to the weak spot leading to Equus, create a sizable localized barrier, encode the jump drive with the destination coordinates of Equus, and then launch the destabilized core into the barrier. The explosion would go through the first side of the Aegis Barrier as if it were tissue paper, her intentionally phasing it into real space in order for it to be ruptured. That's how it worked, of course. The absurd explosion would tear into the void behind the first layer of the barrier and punch through the dimensional separation using the released energy. After the area was 'weakened' by making a sizable hole in it, you fired off the Slipstream right into the area. The computer took over afterwards, the Slipstream shielding isolating you from the effects of the transit, with luck, and then dropped you off at the desired point in Equus. In this case, she was hoping to toss the entire vessel into a safe orbit around the moon. Teleportation magic was well within that range, and the Keldarians would be in Equus... The only issue was if the explosion wasn't big enough. The amount of energy put into the burst that made the hole dictated the amount of 'mass' the hole would support before collapsing in upon itself. Her initial experiments had yielded an impressive array of utterly destroyed test objects she'd attempted to send through. So far, the largest object she'd successfully sent, that wasn't an absurdly powerful Aegis Artifact, was an apple. It was iced over from the transit while being baked on the inside, but their shield should take care of those issues, in theory. The real danger was the hole simply collapsing into a singularity while they were only halfway through it. No amount of shielding protected against that... I snapped out of it a moment later, realizing I'd been zoning out. Shining Armor was still talking, having dropped the barrier now and was apparently discussing the logistics involved with the guards’ soon-to-be transit to Ponyville. Ah, I hadn't missed anything important, then. Well, at least not relevant to myself, given I didn't have a small armory of equipment to transfer, and all the paperwork involved in relocating this many ponies. I'd gotten the vague sensation that ponies didn't actually move around very often. "So, is everything clear on our plans for the rest of the week?" he asked, looking over the gathered guards. They all did the hoof solute again before shouting out affirmatives. He looked over at me, and I nodded in return, earning a smile from the stallion before he addressed them all again with, "All right, then. From this point on, command is transferred to Captain Moon Mender. You're all dismissed to pack and get ready for the train ride in two hours." They all saluted for a final time before dispersing rapidly, heading in all different directions in quite a hurry, which didn't surprise me. He smirked, then nodded to me instead. "You're probably already packed, but you should go wake up my sleepy head little sister, and Fluttershy. They'll probably need a shower before the train ride, too," he pointed out. I scowled at him, feeling a bit of heat in my cheeks again, but he just laughed and trotted in the direction of the throne room. Rolling my eyes, I sulked as I headed back the direction I came. Ugh... * * * * * The seat under me was rather comfortable, and I continued looking through the glass on my right at the countryside as it zipped past. Now that we were lowered out to sea level again, trees rushed past mixed with open fields, and I relaxed, feeling more at home closer to the ground rather than on the side of a mountain. Maybe it was just because I was used to Ponyville? Or it was some deeply ingrained Earth Pony values. Two forelegs rested on my head, and had been for a while now. Looking up with my eyes, I saw the pink mass above me, and she gave a giggle and pointed out things outside again, this time a mountain range in the distance. “Ooooh, that’s the Unicorn Mountains,” she explained, her voice wobbling as she tried to apply an ethereal, ‘mystical’ sound to it before appending, “Probably named because a few of the peaks totally look like unicorn horns!” Twilight scowled across from us, rapidly correcting, “It is not! They’re called that because the original founding group of unicorns were-“ Pinkie cut her off a moment later, blatantly whispering into my ear with, “It’s totally because they’re shaped like unicorn horns…” Twilight just slapped her forehead with a hoof, and I started to chuckle. Adding a light giggle, Rarity nodded next to Fluttershy, who was next to Twilight. “Ah, yes. Vanhoover is on the other side of those mountains. Lovely in the summer, with nice imported fashions from Zebrica. Not so pleasant in the winter, though. Quite a bit chillier than Ponyville,” she informed. I tilted my head to her, a bit curious, and she smiled pleasantly towards me. The train ride had gone well so far, and was almost over now. Admittedly, my apprehension was spiking the closer we got to Ponyville. They’d undoubtedly already heard about the news and knew all about me, given how fast word seemed to travel. I exhaled quietly, and Pinkie slid down my back a little more, instead hugging me around the shoulders. I smiled back at her, and she gave me a little nuzzle on the cheek. “Relax, Silly. You’re getting all tense and nervous!” she chirped, giving me another squeeze. Rainbow gave a snicker from the other side of her, and I glared over at her in time to see Applejack subtly rolling her eyes as well. Huffing, I assured, “I’m just a little worried about their reactions, is all. I’m not that tense!” Pouting, I looked back towards the window and came face to face with a gray pony head in the window. I let out a stifled yelp, flailing backwards and causing Pinkie to laugh as we both tumbled off the seat. Somehow, I landed on my legs, Pinkie having flipped us rather easily into a roll as we went through the air and corrected our descent. No, I wasn’t even going to ask. Looking back up to the window, I saw my now grinning distant niece flying next to the train and looking through the window. Pinkie hopped up and opened the window a moment later, blasting the cabin with air, but Derpy hooked the sill and rolled inside, down Pinkie’s back, and landed with a little plop in front of me, still looking happy. “Uncle! I don’t have to not call you that anymore!” she chirped, sounding delighted. Well, that at least revealed that the news had indeed spread fast. Coughing lightly, I nodded to her, but couldn’t resist smiling. “Yeah, now you can. I didn’t exactly expect this to happen, but here it is. How is Ponyville taking it…?” I asked, not really wanting to know, but knowing that I should know in the first place. My own wording confused myself, and I hadn’t even said it out loud. She giggled. Giggled. Shaking her head after, she assured, “I wouldn’t worry too much about that, Uncle. Although I’m not supposed to tell you anything else, sorry!” What…? What?! My eye twitched a little, but Twilight raised a skeptical eyebrow behind her, looking as confused as my insides felt. “Wait, you’re not allowed to tell us how Ponyville is reacting? Why not?!” she asked almost immediately. Applejack shrugged, however, then pointed out, “She did say not ta worry, which usually indicates ah good reaction. Or at least ah neutral one. Ain’t that enough?” Sighing, I gave a nod and just let it drop. If it was drastically important, I had a feeling Derpy would have just gone through and told me. “I just came to check on you and make sure you were okay! The story was officially told by the news updates released by Equestria Weekly. I helped deliver them! This time I read it over real good first, though!” she assured, huffing afterwards. Rarity smiled and nodded to her, assuring, “We don’t doubt you, dear. You’ve shown unwavering loyalty to your uncle, and don’t need to worry about that. Further, I highly doubt that, after the last time, BEID would attempt to use Equestria Weekly again. It wouldn’t be nearly as effective now that everypony knows about their first scandal.” That was probably true. They’d more than likely try for something other than newspapers now. Derpy blushed a little but stayed grinning at me, then nodded to Rarity. “I still wanted to be careful! Even without knowing he’s my uncle, I felt super bad for falling for that! But no, the article this time around was really specific and neutral about things. It covered the press conference that Princess Celestia put on, and what happened at the cafe,” she explained. Rainbow landed next to me a moment later, giving a smirk and hoof bump with Derpy before nodding over at me. “Sweet. So what are you doing meeting us early?” she reminded, tilting her head to the gray pegasus. Perking at that, Derpy nodded and explained, “Well, the articles were very thorough about what happened, and what the press conference covered, but they didn’t touch upon what Mender’s feelings were at all. Seeing everything just blown open like that and visible to everypony, I’d be terrified… That wasn’t covered anywhere, though,” she explained quietly. I stared at her for a moment, surprise being an understatement. Fluttershy gave an encouraging nod, however, and I exhaled softly, nodding back to the gray pegasus. “It’s been a whirlwind, really. It would be great if I could take a vacation, but that’s not likely for at least a few more weeks, by the sounds of it,” I muttered, and then chuckled dryly after. I then added, “It was more than just the reveal of my identity, though. I also got all of my memories back as well, including a lot of not so great ones of the other dimension… It’s all just a blur.” Derpy gave a little whine, then leaned forward and hugged me gently. Smiling, I gave her a hug in return, relaxing there for a moment. She smelled lightly of a fresh rain, interestingly enough, mixed in with a paper smell, which made more sense given her profession. She smiled again and nodded up at me, and was about to open her mouth to say something further, when the speaker system for the train kicked on. “We’re five minutes out o’ Ponyville now. Expect no delays in arrival. Weather is fair, an’ tha time will be quarter after eleven upon arrival. Ah hope you’ve all had ah pleasant ride!” an older sounding voice exclaimed over the intercom. I recognized the voice as the same one that spoke when we first started, and belonging to the older stallion in the engine room. Given that we were in the first car, I wasn’t too surprised when I saw the door open after the announcement, and aforementioned stallion step out. He had a charcoal gray coat and, interestingly enough, a ‘mustache’ of sorts off his muzzle, graying like his mane was, leaving it just slightly lighter than his actual coat. “Howdy there, folks! Ah’m sure ya’all heard that there message just fine. Need ta talk ta Captain Moon Mender,” he admitted, walking towards me. He gave a long smirk to Derpy as he approached. “Ah, yes, saw ya circlin’ an’ headin’ inside, Miss. Do ya got yerself ah ticket?” he asked suddenly. Derpy gave him a sheepish grin, and I frowned. The ticket for the train seemed more like a formality, given it was only two bits for the trip. I was about to offer to just pay the two bits when he started laughing. “Nah, Ah vouch fer ya, Derpy. ‘sides, yer his niece, so it makes sense,” he cut off, letting me relax a bit. Heh, yeah, I didn’t think they’d care. I stood regardless, turning to face the stallion fully, and he gave me a nod. Curious now, I asked him, “What’s going on?” I had a feeling I knew, but… He didn’t beat around the bush, immediately continuing with, “We’re unloadin’ tha civilians first. All tha guards, an’ their equipment, are in tha last three cars. After we unload tha civilians, Ah’m gonna move tha train up so tha last three cars are right over tha station an’ ya can exit directly. Do they know we’re unloadin’?” Yup, figured. I nodded to him, of course. “Yeah, I sent a message ahead an hour before we left. They already got back with me as I was boarding that there were three carriages waiting to haul the equipment when we got in. I’m going to have the guards help move it once we unload,” I explained, sitting down again while facing him. He considered it for a moment, his right forehoof scratching under his chin. He finally nodded however. “Definitely good then. ‘cuse my concern. Some government things can just be mighty… disorganized sometimes. Once, Ah got stuck waitin’ fer three days up in tha mountains fer another train Ah was supposed ta switch cargo with. Turns out they scheduled me wrong. Disaster…” he finally admitted, slowly shaking his head after. Heh, well mix-ups could happen in any dimension, it would seem. Twilight shook her head, leaning against the wall for a moment before warning, “This is only the first shipment of many, I imagine. With construction picking up now, there’s going to be a huge influx of equipment, workers, and supplies coming in soon.” He nodded to that, chuckling after and assuring, “We can handle regular shipments, worry not. Looks like ol’ Ponyville might be gettin’ ah bit bigger in tha future. Heh.” He nodded to all of us before turning and walking back into the engine room, probably to prepare for the approach. I looked back to Derpy, and she grinned, nodding at me as she stood. “I’m staying with you. Taking off from a train is a lot harder than landing on it, and I think you need all the company you can get for a while…” she admitted, lifting her left foreleg and lightly resting it on my back. Nodding, I shifted on my hooves as the train started to slow, the ever so light vibrations of the breaks being felt through the floor by my rather delicate sensors. I closed my eyes, the vibrations synching up around me and rebuilding the cabin for a moment through sound scans alone, shifting outside to show the tracks zipping by. I ‘looked’ ahead of myself, my positioning software giving me the estimated distance to Ponyville, then calculating out visually where it was, mapping the track under us. I smiled, feeling it mapped out around me. There was no need for me to hide it anymore, now. Plus, with my new sensations and memories from my time as Azure, I felt more in tune with my less organic parts. More comfortable with them. My eyes opened again, blue this time as the two orbs melted out of my shoulders. The projections expanded to the walls, and my scans overlapped the area to seventy percent opacity, washing the walls out and showing the wireframe terrain moving past us as my particle scans picked up as well. Dash grinned instantly, turning around and rotating to look around at the terrain as it zipped past. The others looked about, too, Spike hopping down to the floor and spinning in a fast circle, looking surprised. I relaxed, giving a smaller smile before nodding. “I… It doesn’t matter so much anymore. I feel more like me, regardless of the mechanical parts inside of me…” I finally admitted, looking around as the projections flowed around us. The display held no useful value apart from blatantly displaying my own cybernetic existence, and it felt oddly good to just declare it finally. Applejack, who prior looked around with a frown, glanced over at me, then shifted to a smaller smile. "Ah think Ah understand. It's all about figurin' out who ya are, then bein' happy with it. It's ah lot harder than it sounds," she admitted, giving a soft chuckle afterwards. It sounded remarkably like she was speaking from experience, which surprised me a little. She always felt like the one who knew exactly what she wanted and was doing. I nodded to myself, closing my eyes again as I turned the projection off. The train slowed more, the vibrations lessening around us. I felt her get closer without needing to look, and she gave a warm giggle, nuzzling into my neck. “Mmm, it’ll be okay. We’re right with you now,” Fluttershy assured, her breath on my fur. I relaxed a little, not realizing I had been holding my legs taut, and opened my eyes again, giving the yellow mare a gentle smile. Rarity was on the other side of her, and gave a little giggle at that. “I’m not sure, Fluttershy. He’s not the only one with a bit of news to share,” she reminded playfully, causing a flash of pink to go through the pegasus’ cheeks. Chuckling at that, I repeated, “It’ll be okay. I’ll be there for you, too.” She gave me a softer smile and nod as the train slowed to a stop. Twilight caught up to my right as Rainbow and Pinkie shot towards the side door to the car we were in. Giving a final little sigh, I walked up towards them as they each opened one of the doors. My eyes widened, and to my utter surprise, the sounds of cheering blasted me first, then flurries of motion reaching my eyes. There were at least four dozen ponies on the train platform, most of them cheering happily. Cameras flashed, and balloons drifted over the crowd. To my surprise, banners were strewn over in a slew of colors, loudly pronouncing, “Welcome to Ponyville, DReg!” Oh… * * * * * Slowly backing up, I lined up the two carts with the metal poles stuck into the ground. The tent was a temporary one, but covered essentially the entire foundation of the barracks as it was under construction. I gave a nod, and both Big Mac and Noteworthy started slowly backing them into place inside the tent. It wouldn’t do for the armor and equipment to get rained on. The six or seven guards already inside started unloading, and I walked forward again, helping the two stallions unhook themselves from each cart. Ponies were everywhere, which unnerved me a little, admittedly, a few members of the crowd having just followed us back to the unloading point. Mayor Mare still stood near, smiling pleasantly as she continued to talk. “I fully encourage this, of course, both for the prosperity of Ponyville due to the sudden influx of new faces, and the level of safety it presents. It’s an assurance that brings a lot of peace of mind, especially over the events of the last few weeks,” she assured gently, the newspaper reporter standing right next to her and eagerly writing things down on the notepad floating next to her. Smiling as Mac gave me a grin and nod, I let him step out of the harness before moving over to help Noteworthy with his last chest strap. “It’s not just Ponyville that we’re securing, obviously, but yes, it goes without saying that our response time if anything does happen, mundane or otherwise, is going to be much greater here,” I assured, carefully selecting my words to try to remain as diplomatic as possible. The press conference yesterday still had me on edge. The mayor giggled instead, and nodded. “Of course. I’m sure you’re aware of how morale functions, though, even on a large civilian populous. It’s peace of mind, seeing something visually being done,” she assured, nodding twice to me. Lyra, standing a few meters behind her, coughed lightly. “Uh, actually, a good chunk of us weren’t that bothered. Sure, the Everfree Forest is kinda creepy, and we don’t get lockdowns like that very often, but really, it was only a single explosion and a few roars. How many times has the town suffered massive collateral damage in the last few years?” she suggested, raising a skeptical eye towards the mayor, who suddenly sighed wearily. Uh, what…? “Regardless,” the mayor quickly interrupted, then continued, “As you can plainly see, nopony here has the slightest problem with who you are. Princess Celestia herself has entrusted you with the responsibilities, and she’s an excellent judge of character, so I fully trust you with it. I’m also fairly sure I speak for everypony here with that.” I relaxed a little, then smiled and nodded to her. Lyra nodded as well behind her, then gave me a grin, surprising me a little. She must have finally forgiven me for that whole ‘urine’ incident. Of course, knowing my backstory might have put it into better perspective, anyway. Bon Bon nodded along next to her, then added, “I agree. We already had a certain view of you around town, and instead of forming opinions about you based off the information, it really just added to it.” I blinked, a little uncertain to that, and Lyra gave her a skeptical glance, then assured, “Adding to the already positive opinions of you, she means.” Ooooh. “Well, yeah, that’s what I said,” Bon Bon assured, earning a light glare from the mare next to her, then an eye roll. Twilight snickered as she looked over the checklist she’d started, still standing on top of Big Mac’s cart and taking inventory of it. “Regardless, we’re well on track with DReg itself. Supplies are in order, and everything is actually ahead of schedule. The barracks should be finished within the week, and then we start construction on the laboratory vault that’s going to go under it…” she revealed, looking her list over again. I glanced to my right a little ways, noting we were about halfway between Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres now. The farm was about three kilometers from town, so this was a safe distance away, if something really did go wrong in the lab, which was doubtful. And ‘under’ the barracks was also relative, given it would be quite a ways under, and larger than the barracks itself. Plus the entrance was actually going to be on the other side of the path we were on. Well, road really, despite being dirt. I supposed it would need to have nice upkeep if heavy apple carts were heading up and down it. Speaking of Apples, Applejack slid a rather large crate across the path, pushing it into the area where the other hole was starting to get dug. “Eeyup! Ah wouldn’t mind havin’ ah better road into town, that’s fer sure,” she admitted, pushing the box along with her head. Mayor Mare nodded, assuring, “This road will be upgraded to cobble next summer, all the way to the farm. It’ll need it for the heavier supplies, regardless.” I didn’t have the heart to mention that the road would probably be obliterated by then anyway, due to the construction supplies already set to travel down it. Especially in the winter. Applejack snickered at the news a moment later. “Ha! That’ll be somethin’, that’s fer sure. Things are definitely changin’ around here,” she admitted, trotting back up to us before looking towards me instead. “Ah think, even if ya don’t think yer deservin’ o’ tha title, yer good fer it regardless. Ya just don’t have confidence in yerself…” she pointed out, frowning finally. My first instinct was to agree, which might have said something about her statement by itself. I shrugged lightly, and Twilight snickered again. I kind of wished that Fluttershy was here now. Rarity had taken her back to the Boutique about twenty minutes ago, along with Pinkie, who I more understood was just walking with them. I looked up at Rainbow, who was still here and helping the guards adjust the tent canvas. Surprisingly, Spike was still here, too, holding another list while sitting on top of Noteworthy’s cart instead. I would have figured he’d have left with Rarity, but apparently he was still loyal to Twilight, too. I tried not to snicker out loud… Applejack scratched her chin lightly while looking around, however, drawing my attention back to her. After a moment, she noticed my stare and gave me a soft grin. "Ah, Ah was just thinkin'..." she started. "Uh oh..." Big Mac murmured, smiling gently as he trotted up next to me. She shot him a scowl, then added, "Shush you!" I personally didn't think she should be encouraging him to say even less than he normally did. It didn't take her long to recover, and she continued instead with, "Ah was thinkin', maybe if ya dabble ah bit more inta yer Earth Pony roots, ya might feel more at home an' comfortable with yerself." I raised an eyebrow, but she lifted her hoof and gestured past me, pointing across the path to one of the wild apple trees that was growing in the cleared out area where they started the other construction site. The ‘wild’ trees dotted the area close to Sweet Apple Acres, and were sprinkled liberally throughout Whitetail Woods, if I remembered correctly. It was one of those that I'd gotten my first meal in Equus from. I looked back at her, but she stepped past me and trotted over to the tree instead. Unsure of where she was going with this, I shrugged and followed after her, both of us also earning interested stares from the mayor and Twilight. Applejack looked up into the tree a moment later, then smiled upwards before turning and facing me again. I slowed as I approached, then blinked as she flicked her leg back and whacked the base of the tree. It shook momentarily, then I was surprised as a single apple detached and fell. She held her right hoof up, and it landed in it a moment later, causing her to grin. "It ain't luck. Ah'm real good at harvestin'. Sync with tha tree an' ya can make tha vibrations go right where ya want it. Simplest step is ta knock as many apples down as ya can," she suggested, stepping aside and sitting down, gesturing towards the tree with her other hoof. Oh. My mind did the calculations, and suddenly started reeling as I realized how absurd it was to 'cast' a magical effect in the very instant of physically bashing something. Not only did the timing of the energy release have to be flawless, but you needed amazing focus in order to pull it off that quickly. She gave me a nod as I walked up next to her, then slowly turned around. "Good. Yer not used ta it, so fer now, back up an' keep testin' how far back yer legs extend. Ya wanna be able ta mostly extend yer leg, but just shy o' fully extendin' it, with yer hoof just ah little higher up tha tree than yer back reaches," she explained. I looked behind me, trying to gauge it, and she smiled, then whipped the apple over towards her brother, who surprisingly, caught it in his teeth rather expertly. With both hooves free, Applejack slid closer to me and set them against my hip and shin at the same time, carefully lifting my leg back while helping me keep my balance. "Right 'ere,” she announced, touching my hoof against the rough bark before nodding and explaining, “Just enough fer maximum impact without ah full extension, which can hurt yer joints.” Oh, right. I nodded to her, lowering it and then raising it up a few times while watching, the hoof pushing into the bark of the tree. She watched for a moment, then gave a smile and nod, leaning back again and sitting normally. “Just try whackin’ it ah few times ta get the feel fer it,” she suggested. Big Mac slowly walked over as well, still carrying the apple before sitting down to watch. His hoof lifted up to support the red fruit before taking a crunching bite out of the side of it. Leaning back a bit, I lashed my leg out and whacked the tree lightly with my hoof. As anticipated, there was no give at all, and I felt the vibration go through my ankle and down my shin bone instead. Applejack gave a nod, then appended, “Eeyup. Double kicks apply more vibrations fer ya ta use. Try one o’ those. Ya basically end up with yer hooves restin’ against tha tree, then ya ease yerself back inta a standin’ position.” Giving her a nod, I reared back instead with both back legs and extended out, whacking my hooves into the tree. It gave over double the amount of impact by the feel of it, but it wasn’t enough to actually knock any apples down. I blinked, then realized I was still propped against the tree and stretched out rather unsteadily. Tipping, I tried to lower my hooves to the ground, then squeaked as I slipped. The world rolled over for me, and I landed on my back instead in a dull thud, having done a complete front roll. Applejack’s face slipped into my vision, giving me a warmer smile as she looked down at me, despite the hysterical laughing in the background coming from Rainbow. “Okay, that was mah fault. Ah shoulda warned ya ta get ah little closer ta tha tree first. Probably ah silly question, but ya all right?” she asked, tilting her head a little. “Mmm, I think I dropped my pride somewhere in the roll. Could you pick it up and put it back in for me?” I asked, giving a sheepish smile upwards. She snickered, then hooked my foreleg with hers, pulling me back up to my hooves. “Ah think Twi or Flutters are better equipped with helpin’ put yer ego back in. Let’s try that again, only with ya closer this time,” she suggested, giving a nod as I moved closer to the tree again. I felt my cheeks heat a little, but I just rolled my eyes and backed up a little closer this time. With a little huff, I defended, “I’m not only about romance. I enjoy your friendships, too, you know.” Lining up again, I reared once more, making sure I was closer to the tree this time. Applejack’s eyes widened, and she shouted, “Wait, you’re too-“ I gave a startled jump at her outburst, then widened my eyes as my hooves hit the tree before my legs even fully extended. Missing their mark, a hoof went to either side of the tree instead, and I unfortunately kept going. Everything exploded into a flurry of agony and fireworks, and I vaguely remembered falling forward and onto my side, tucking up into a ball. It felt like someone had driven a railroad spike through my navel with a sledgehammer. Sounds were echoing for a moment, my ears ringing as I gritted my teeth, sort of feeling like throwing up now. “….close ta tha tree…” Applejack finished, a slow ten seconds later before shivering. “An’ right in tha apples,” she appended, wince visible on her face through my eyes’ sudden blurriness. Big Mac nodded next to her with an, “Eeyup.” I vaguely heard distant hysterical laughter from Rainbow somewhere, and both Spike and Twilight ran up into my vision a few seconds later, both looking worried. I stayed curled up, though, guarding my poor, sensitive bits from any additional trauma. Okay, I was going to look into ways of armoring that part of me as well with the dermal layers! Twilight slipped around behind me, gently starting to rub at my flank next to my back right thigh. I shivered, her working along where it hurt the most, interestingly enough, as if she actually knew where- No, wait. I halted that thought immediately, realizing it was Twilight I was talking about, and chances are, she’d already researched it somehow at some point. “No… pretty sure that was my fault,” I admitted, voice a little raspy as I winced. Slowly, I shakily got back up to my hooves, then glared up at the tree instead. My fault, and those damn apples! Ever since arriving here, they in particular had had it out for me! Personally, I was under the opinion that the fruit was evil now. It cut Applejack’s next statement off, however, and she huffed, crossing her forelegs. “Fine, ya caught me before Ah could apologize. Still, Ah shoulda warned ya!” she defended, giving me a little glare. I smirked over at her, and it melted, causing her to start snickering instead. Looking back up at the tree, I sighed and shook my head. “I think I’m going to have to get better at not maiming myself during the kicks before I can even try to mix in Earth Pony magic…” I admitted, exhaling softly as the still snickering Rainbow flew in, with Mayor Mare and the press reporter following. This better not end up in the newspaper! “Ya okay, Mender?” Dash asked, landing lightly to my other side. I gave her a soft nod, then looked back up at the tree, my eyes narrowing again. Applejack raised an eyebrow up, but I touched my left hoof against the bark of the tree. A magical barrier formed, sliding up the bark and growing in a line all the way up to level off with the apples. “Yup, but my pride refuses to leave without getting at least one of the apples down,” I admitted, earning a snicker from the orange mare behind me. Twilight just smiled and looked up as well, watching my magic with as much curiosity as she normally gave it, especially knowing that it was a ‘different’ way of casting from what she was used to. I knew what it was like to be fascinated by anything ‘new’. I’d been getting that particular feeling a lot in the last month or so. Rainbow started giggling after, and pointed out, “Hey, you’ve got the Earth Pony stubbornness down already.” I raised an eyebrow to her, but Applejack snickered, trotting to the other side of me to where Dash was. “Ah dunno, Dashie. Stubbornness is kind of a pegasus thing, too, ain’t it?” she pointedly asked, smirking at the mare. She got a mildly annoyed glare in return before Rainbow stuck her tongue out. Applejack pounced in that instant, pressing her muzzle right up against Rainbow’s, and I was fairly certain I saw her take the entire tongue into her mouth at the same time. The pegasus flushed instantly, eyes widening, and I snickered and turned away, trying not to lose my focus on my magic. Extending the shield out after regaining my attention, I slipped it forward and circled it around the stem of the apple that was lowest hanging. Smiling, I held my other hoof up under it, and closed the circle off, giving it a little snip and letting the apple fall… Or at least, that’s what my intention was. The shield closed entirely, becoming a solid plane of force, and the apple just sat there, not caring at all. I blinked once, staring at the strangely defiant fruit. The hell? Opening the barrier up again, I closed it once more, again feeling it connect through the center, but nothing actually happened. Twilight raised an eyebrow, then looked over at me curiously. I glared at it. It was mocking me. I just knew it! Getting a bit upset now, I withdrew the barrier a third of a meter or so, then instead swung it sideways into the apple’s stem like a sword. It passed through entirely, going out the other side, and yet, the apple just sat there. Giving a little growl, I swung again at it, then again, this time passing it through the apple itself. The apple simply didn’t care, laughing silently at me from its high perch as the barrier seemed to just pass right through it. Arg! Twilight watched, eyes suddenly starting to widen. Huh?! I looked back up at the apple, noticing that its inner red color was starting to get… brighter almost. I frowned until I noted the red tint spreading over the branch as well, as ambient light. The apple was glowing? Well, that had never happened befo- The lavender unicorn smashed into my shoulder a moment later. My eyes widened as I in turn hit Rainbow and Applejack, and then our world imploded inwards, falling away momentarily as the air was pulled away from us. We popped like a bubble a second later, landing in a heap way over by the tent for the barracks instead. I blinked, watching the mayor and reporter landing behind Twilight, the unicorn’s tail brushed up against them, and I frowned, looking questioningly at her. Her shield went up a moment later, covering us. My eyes widened, and I instinctively tossed mine up, too, just as the entire tree across the street exploded into a giant fireball, wood splinters raining across both our barriers as the wave of heat actually raised the temperature around us. My eyes widened and jaw dropped, looking at the huge cloud of dirt and debris, as a miasma of flame and bits of tree rained from the sky. W-What?! How?! But… why?! The ringing in my ears finally died down, and I blinked twice, still holding my shield up as flakes of dirt and burnt wood fell down around us. Applejack sat up slowly, still holding an equally stunned looking Rainbow, and stared at the new crater, dumbfounded. I didn’t even know where to begin understanding what just happened. Spike blinked twice, looking up from his spot on Twilight’s back and raised an eyebrow to the massive hole. “Huh,” he finally muttered, breaking the stunned silence of the group. Everypony looked over to him, and he just shrugged idly. “Eh, at least you blew up the right spot. Now they don’t have to dig the rest of the hole down,” he pointed out a moment later. Twilight slapped herself in the forehead with her hoof… Chapter 99All the lights were now on, and the sleepy atmosphere of the room had been effectively obliterated. Except for Fluttershy, who was still unconscious. I'd checked over the scorch mark a half a dozen times already, and it was discovered to be a blackened char on the wood of the floor, remarkably shaped exactly like Twilight's Cutie Mark. Besides obviously screaming of magic, there was no additional ash or soot anywhere. If a pony had, well, disintegrated in a flash of heat, there should be at least some remains left. I ran the idea through my mind already that it might have been blown away when I tried to expel the smoke from the building, but there was no trace whatsoever of anything. I paced, pinging the link once again as I bit my lower lip. The ping timed out after thirty seconds on its way to Twilight. This was beyond strange, because that meant it had started to try to go 'somewhere'. If the link were simply gone, it would have just reported failure. But if it timed out trying to get somewhere, reporting successful departure, that meant she was outside of the range of my communication array. I... What? If I wanted to, I could bounce my signal off the moon in orbit. So all I could gather was that she was alive 'somewhere' but not on Equus. What did that even mean?! Rarity lifted a hoof up, resting it against my chest as I paced past her. "Okay, calm down. We can still feel her link. Mender's found many inconsistencies with her disappearance. The magic probably teleported her somewhere," she reasoned. Probably accurate, but I refrained from mentioning my range. Could my signal be blocked by something? Rainbow gave a huff at that before reminding, "Weren't you the one who screamed?" The pearly unicorn looked away from her, closing her eyes and looking indignant for a moment. "It was surprising! And don't be insensitive. Poor Fluttershy fainted, after all!" she defended. My hoof traced the edge of the black star on the floor, and I frowned. I looked to Spike after, and got an uncertain expression and shrug. The letter had already been sent to Tia. No reply back yet, of course. I doubted she was sleeping, but she might have been doing something directly to fix the situation. I gave a weak sigh, and Derpy drifted in behind me and started to massage my shoulders. "Relax, uncle. We're all here for you," she assured gently, giving me a softer smile from over my shoulder. I gave her a smaller smile in return, then nodded. Wait... Uncle. Turning to my other niece, I asked, "Did you see anything out of the ordinary, Aura?" How I'd failed to ask the necromancer already present was beyond me. I blamed overwhelming stress. And the panic. Definitely the panic. Her frown didn't diminish, as she'd been staring at the spot the whole time. She looked to me, then raised an eyebrow. "You mean... ordinary in comparison to what everypony else saw, right? Because watching the Elements of Harmony fire off, and whatever that was, is already quite a bit outside of my usual realm of experience," she admitted, looking back to the scorch mark. She was surprisingly calm for the situation, which didn't honestly surprise me, now that I thought about it. I chuckled lightly and nodded to her, the relaxing presence she seemed to exude being contagious. She slowly shook her head, however, and then explained, "It happened fast, so I can't be sure apart from it being 'weird'. Her spirit is not here, one way or another, but given the unexpected and shocking nature of this incident, if she'd been killed by whatever that was, there would most assuredly be a ghost here. Well, unless she was a very relaxed and easy going pony. Um, was she?" Rainbow started laughing, as did Pinkie and Applejack. Heh. Okay, yeah, that was pretty divorced from Twilight's personality. Rarity giggled even, then corrected, "I think she's serious, but no, in that case. Twilight's known for being, well, fairly high strung." Aura nodded to that, then smiled, slipping back into her slower speech patterns with, "Then I can guess with most certainty that she is not dead." That hesitation again. I raised an eyebrow, and she looked away from me before coughing lightly. After another moment of hesitation, she appended, "That was exceedingly strange, however. The orb of light around her reached into her very being, seeping into her like water into the soil. Her link to the Ether simply... It's hard to describe. It's like it expanded, growing exponentially larger than normal before becoming the whole size of the bubble. Then it pulled inwards and exploded. She disappeared at the same time." I stared blankly at her, and she slowly blinked back in return. "Uh, so... she got pulled through her own link to the Ether? Can... Can that even happen?" I asked, frowning at the thought. She shook her head a moment later, frowning again. "When a pony passes on, their spirit gets pulled through like that into the Ether, where it joins the Ether permanently. But, um, I've never known anyone to physically go into the Ether with their body, too. That would be remarkably unhealthy. Only Ancients are known to be able to do that," she murmured, tilting her head to me afterwards. Ancients? Oh. Oh hell. My ears lowered, and I stared for another moment before asking, "Like... an Alicorn?" The spell was supposed to guide a pony through the steps to doing what happened with Cadance. It only worked on ponies with both the potential to become an Ancient and the specific genetics. Tia had already mentioned that Twilight had the genetics. If she had the potential already as well... Ugh. I suddenly realized that Tia had probably sent her the damn book with this outcome fully expected. "Uh, you suddenly look kinda annoyed," Rainbow muttered, shooting me a skeptical look. Sighing, I shook my head and looked back at the Cutie Mark shaped scorch mark. "Too many coincidences are adding up. If my educated guess is accurate, Twilight's fine, and Tia's not responding because she's actually with her right now. Probably in the Ether," I guessed, shaking my head slowly at the whole situation. A bit of forewarning ahead of time would have been great if that was the case. Aura perked up at that, eyes widening slowly. "Cadance...?" she asked, searching my expression until I nodded, causing her to squeak. I opened my mouth to elaborate when a sudden knock came to the library's door. Everypony looked at each other after a long moment's hesitation, and I sighed, walking over in the direction of the door. With Twilight missing and Fluttershy unconscious, that meant that Spike and I were the only ones left that actually lived here, and I doubted he wanted to see who it was. Opening the door, I lifted my eyebrow slowly as I came face to face with Luna instead. She smiled and gave me a little wave before explaining, "Sorry I'm late. I don't get out of the castle very often, and I found a lovely pastry shop in Canterlot that's open all hours." She slid a large bag from her side and opened it to show off at least thirty wrapped donuts. I blinked, and she giggled, then added, "It's going to be a long night, so I brought treats. We'll probably need drinks, too. May I come in?" I gave a sigh, then nodded, letting her pass me, followed by four night guards, before glancing outside. Sure enough, the sky chariot was parked right in front of the library. If I remembered right, catching the proper thermals and on a good day, a pegasus could glide down to Ponyville in a mere twenty minutes from all the way up on Mount Celestia. Eh, at least she brought donuts... Shutting the door, I followed after them into the main room, where everypony was already bowing. * * * * * "So, um, Twilight's okay?" Fluttershy asked quietly, tucked gently into my side and peeking over my back. She'd felt the link herself and it disappearing off into the Ether, which I apparently didn't get signal to. Regardless, confirmation was nice and all that. Luna snickered, then nodded while taking another sip of her tea. "Quite. Our sister predicted that this outcome would happen, but not nearly this soon. We are surprised as well, but nonetheless, Twilight Sparkle was shunted into the Ether by her spell. Tia went to meet her, and is undoubtedly residing with her still," she assured, giving a comforting smile towards the yellow mare. Dash, further down the couch, gave an excited wing flutter after. "So the explosion pushed her into the Ether?! I didn't know an explosion could do that!" she asked, grinning at the concept. She then gasped after, and tacked on, “Ah! She’s getting wings! I’ll have a new flying buddy!” Oh boy. I shook my head, however, and then corrected the explosion bit, "It can't. She was teleported into the Ether by the spell. The spell just happened to explode afterwards." It was a subtle distinction, but one I was very happy for regardless. Applejack still looked less than thrilled, however. "Is it supposed ta do that, though?" she asked flatly, sounding frustrated. Luna nodded again, then furthered, "Yes, it is. If the individual contains both the proper genetics within their body, and the correct conditioning to their magic." The orange mare looked surprised by that, but I just lightly massaged my temples. "Yeah, Element of Magic. Prone to absurd levels of magical power inside of her body. Capable of extreme feats of magic when pressed, to the point where it almost looks like she's a force of nature," I muttered, noting I'd personally witnessed it at least once, when she hyper-charged her teleportation spell and literally hauled me through a dimensional barrier without it being fully locked onto me. Just slightly scary. Oh, and generating enough raw magic to break the Wings of Icarus, which were technically not even physical, being a visual effect created by a quantum reaction. So essentially she just laughed and broke physics because she said so, somehow... Not that I wasn't grateful, as she also saved my bacon there, but it still frustrated my inner engineer. Things were supposed to be consistent! Drop an apple and it heads towards the closest gravitational force. It's a rule you can rely on! That was like... like... Dropping the apple and having it turn into a cat! Rarity gave me a gentle nudge, then revealed, "Mender, you're doing that thing where you stare off into space with an angry expression again." I blinked, then exhaled and nodded to her. "Uh, thanks! Um, what was I-" I started to ask. Thankfully, Pinkie landed on my back from the stairwell a moment later, with a friendly reminder. "You were letting us know why it was important that she's really awesome at magic! Not that her being really awesome at magic isn't an important thing by itself! That would be kinda contradictory to the art of magic, in both science and culture, having both instrumental and intrinsic values when adhering to the larger-" she started to ramble. Rarity coughed, causing the confusing pink one to perk and look over at her before nodding happily. "Right! So why is it important in this situation?!" Pinkie asked, instead summarizing without getting into the theoretical debate. I nodded, explaining, "She has both the genetics, and the conditioning. She's probably been using that 'hole' in her Ether network her whole life, if I could hazard a guess. I assume she's always shown bouts of extreme magical releases, especially sporadically and when pressed?" Applejack and Rainbow gave each other a sheepish stare, and Rarity coughed again, giving me all the answers I needed. "Well, turns out, that was probably intentional on Tia's part. Probably for this. Chances are, Twilight will be coming back with a couple new limbs," I muttered, giving a tired sigh. Pinkie immediately gasped while lying on top of me, and I regretted my choice in vagueness almost as quickly. "Is she gonna have six legs?! That would be awesome!" she asked almost instantly. I sighed. Twilight probably wouldn't think it was quite so amazing. Luna gave a giggle instead, then corrected, "We believe he means wings. And he would be correct. Like Cadance, we believe Twilight is currently becoming a new Alicorn. An Ancient." The gasps resounded around the room, and I sagged a little on the couch. It was weird, having all of the implications and hints but without any final confirmation. With it confirmed right in front of me, my mind sort of settled finally, it sinking in slowly. So apart from Twilight becoming a non-ancient Ancient, what exactly did that mean? Deciding that was my most pressing question, I voiced it with, "How exactly is this going to change things?" Everypony, minus Luna who already had been, turned to look at me at the same time. I raised my eyebrow up, looking between them all. "Uh, what?" I asked, starting to wonder if I'd blundered into one of those social taboo things again. Rarity frowned, then spoke up. "You seem remarkably unfazed by this turn of events, is all. Well, unfazed or very pragmatic," she explained, then looked to Luna after. The Alicorn shook her head, however. "We believe he came to the conclusion of what was actually happening far before anypony else here. Further, he has had significant amounts of things happen that are out of the ordinary, and is reasonably new to this world still. All those combined probably gives him a fairly dampened perspective on Twilight merely gaining a pair of wings," Luna explained, looking to me for confirmation. Eh? So her explanation was that I was decidedly jaded, and had a lack of association for what it meant to be an Alicorn? Well, okay, that's not too far from the truth. Shrugging, I explained, "I don't fully grasp what exactly an Ancient is, so yeah, it's probably not as big a deal for me. Does anypony care to enlighten me?" I gave a confused look to Luna, and she chuckled softly, then opened her mouth again. An excessively large flash of light hit outside before she could say anything, however. And by 'flash of light', I actually meant it looked like a new sun had suddenly formed on the surface of the planet right outside the library. I winced, shielding my eyes from the window as a chorus of surprised yelps and squeaks sounded out around me. A few seconds later, the link came back online. I was moving before I fully acknowledged it, barely getting the door's knob turned before the rest of me hit it and I was outside a heartbeat later. Applejack followed me mid-leap off the step, and Rainbow shot over us with a single flap. My eyes searched skyward, showing not one but two burning disks in the sky. They shed light out over the entire area like it was the middle of the day, waves of heat and energy coming off them. The center started to sort of 'sag' out of the middle a moment later as they bubbled downwards. What the hell?! Splashes of color came through a moment later, swirling out from the center. The first disk shifted a bright golden color, and the other went dark with deep indigo and mulberry swirls. Oh... It didn't take long for the disks to sink entirely into orbs, falling through the air and descending down towards the area like fiery comets. My eyes widened as they came in fast, and I skidded to a halt along the ground. Dash squeaked, dropping and doubling back, landing behind me as I lifted both my forehooves upwards, a flare of energy coming out in front of me. We got too close! Applejack barely rolled behind the barrier as I suddenly shadowed out a surprisingly large shockwave, two impacts of what felt like raw magic blasting out over the ground. Most of the energy was released in a pressure wave, dirt and grass blasting up around us and against the shield. The bubbles squished then bellowed out in the blast, energy contained within them radiating out into the area itself and leaving a faint luminescence to the air. Light pollution clearing slowly, it didn't take much effort at all to make out the two shapes standing in the radiance. Tia stepped forward, horn radiating as she pulled the energy back into herself suddenly, dimming the area except for the light of the library behind us and the glow of her horn. Twilight stood next to her, eyes closed as she gave a full body shiver, her horn glowing with energy and, both expected and entirely disbelieved, two large wings expanding off her back. Crap... I could only imagine how her becoming an Ancient was going to affect our relationship, now. I felt him first. Looking to my left, Discord stood next to us, looking about as amused as I'd ever seen him look. Yeah, that show of energy was like a sun on the surface of Equus, so he undoubtedly felt it from wherever he found himself most of the time. "Very, very interesting..." he murmured, grinning after as he stroked the tuft coming off his chin. Twilight's eyes opened a moment later, locking on to us instantly as they widened to full size. Yeah, 'interesting' was one word for it. Suddenly, I suspected that Fluttershy was the only one that was going to get any rest tonight... * * * * * I was convinced now. Things in Equus never, ever slowed down. Instead, I took my naps where I could get them. In this case, I was half asleep while lying on my side on one of the lounge couches. The palace staff buzzed around us in and out, half in a panic. I sympathized, anyway. My eyes stayed closed, and I relaxed with Fluttershy while listening to the others talk around me. "I'm just not sure why we have to have a full coronation so soon. What are your active duties as a princess even?" Rarity asked, sounding a little annoyed. She felt it, too, from the link. Everything was a rush. We hadn't slept at all last night after Twilight got back, and I felt dead tired now. We'd all been rushed back to Canterlot via royal carriage, and now Rarity was taking measurements on Twilight with her new appendages for making a ceremonial dress. Given my choice, I'd take the slower train any day over that. Maybe it was my subtle Earth Pony preferences coming through, or a natural sense of self-preservation of wanting to stay near the ground, or as close to it as possible, at least. The train could slow to a stop and get repaired if need be. A flying chariot couldn't exactly stop and pull over if something broke. Twilight herself gave a frustrated sigh, shaking her head slowly. "I... don't know. This is all happening so fast. Ah, I... I have wings now. I'm an Alicorn. This is just too... ugh," she muttered, sagging a little. Rarity coughed lightly, causing the newly created Alicorn to groan and stand up straight again. Repeating her sigh, I nodded in sympathy. "Fully agree, there. We're going to really, really need a vacation after this. And do I have any any 'duties' as a 'Prince' now?" I asked, dreading the answer I'd get. I understood that Ancients were generally seen as, well, ancient, and usually quite wise and powerful. Twilight had that 'powerful' bit down, but she was immensely young compared to the par. So was Cadance, though, and she ruled over an entire empire. This was just crazy... Applejack huffed at that, crossing her forelegs over her chest before pointing out, "Ah think ya have enough on yer plate with tha DReg stuff. Ah don't see why they'd dump new duties on either o' you." I really, really hoped she was right. "Oh dear. Does, um, that mean I'll be a Princess, too?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly, wiggling a little back and forth while against my side. I gave her a softer smile and kissed her cheek, earning a little blush and soft smile from her. Twilight smiled too, relaxing as she watched Fluttershy. "Yeah, but don't worry. I'm not going to have you do any public speaking or presentations or the like," she assured. Oh, joy, so she was going to make me do them, then. She grinned towards me as I gave her an annoyed look, and Rarity snickered. "I believe this is just for official capacity, and to publicly recognize Twilight's status as an Alicorn now. I cannot see them having official responsibilities for any of us this soon. However, Fluttershy has another perk, now being a Princess and in a herd with a Prince and Alicorn," Rarity pointed out. Oh? My mind strained to think of another advantage, but Fluttershy's ears suddenly dropped almost instantly, drooping down as she physically shrank. Uh... "R-Rarity!" she whined, followed by, "N-Not here." Uh oh. My 'bad news' sense started tingling rather abruptly, and I frowned down at the yellow mare, causing her to wince again and rapidly shake her head. The pearly mare frowned after, then asked, "Oh dear. You didn't tell them, did you?" My ears lowered as I looked to Fluttershy as she rapidly shook her head. Twilight frowned as well, looking to Fluttershy, and then over at Rarity. "We have an hour to get ready. We should talk about it if it's a problem," the lavender mare suggested, glancing back to Fluttershy after. The yellow pegasus gave a weak sigh, then nodded. "I... Okay. Just, um, somewhere more private?" she asked quietly. Twilight gave a smile and nod to her, closing her eyes a moment later. I started to raise an eyebrow, but a beam of light hit all of us, then yanked us into a singularity a moment later, everything collapsing around us and streaking away. Okay, she was just showing off now... Our world fell back into place with a padded flop, the bed shaking and dipping with its mattress as seven ponies and a dragon landed on it all at once. Rarity balanced herself carefully, then shrugged and continued to take Twilight’s measurements after the lavender Alicorn had stood back up again. I wobbled a bit on the large bed, then looked around, discovering us in Twilight’s old room in the tower. Huh. Wait… she just teleported me onto a bed… The temptation spiked in me suddenly, and I barely resisted just falling over sideways and passing out. No, I had to hear Fluttershy’s information first! Pinkie shifted up and started to lightly massage Fluttershy’s back as she rested against me again, and I nodded to the yellow mare. She gave a nervous swallow, and then returned my nod before closing her eyes. It was almost ten seconds before she admitted, “Um, I got a letter from my parents, is all…” Oh? I’d never seen or heard anything about Fluttershy’s parents, which, admittedly, was a little strange now that I thought about it. Twilight had talked about her parents quite a bit, despite failing to, well, warn me about their various eccentric behaviors. Rainbow told me about her mother and father, and her mother being a past Wonderbolt. Rarity had mentioned hers, especially in regards to her sister deciding to stay with her to finish out school here in Ponyville, despite them moving to Canterlot. Pinkie had told me all about her family and rock farming, which was surprisingly more interesting than I’d anticipated with the alchemical condensing of raw Ether into rocks. Applejack had even mentioned her parents, although I never asked what happened there. I simply knew that they’d passed on already, rather unfortunately, it would seem. Fluttershy, the mare I was probably the closest to, had never, ever even mentioned her parents, however. Rainbow went from smiling to a grimace instantly, slapping a hoof to her forehead before groaning out, “Oh no. What did they want this time?” Or maybe there was a reason Fluttershy had never mentioned her parents… Fluttershy shrank down against me, and Rarity shot Rainbow a stern look. “Dash! Do try to have some tact. This obviously is bothering Fluttershy,” she pointed out. Rainbow flattened her ears down a little, then gave a huff. “Of course it is! Her mother’s a complete monster of a controlling noble prune, and her father’s a spineless doormat! What did she say this time, Fluttershy? Do I need to fly over there and give her a piece of my mind again?!” she asked, turning back to the shrunken and shivering pegasus. Again? Sighing, I requested, “Rainbow, calm down. You’re scaring Fluttershy, which obviously isn’t your intent. Being upset is okay, but don’t go overboard.” The pegasus gave a tired sigh after, then relaxed a little and nodded to me. I returned it, then looked to Fluttershy, who had buried her face in my shoulder fur. Ah, the ol’ ‘if I can’t see them, they can’t see me’ trick. Fluttershy took a few more deep breaths before letting out a low, pained sounding whine. Sagging for a long moment, she explained, “My, um… well, my mom wants to try to get a court denouncement of me as family lineage. She, uh, doesn’t like the fact that I’m with a unicorn and earth pony.” What. Applejack’s jaw dropped, eyes widening as she stared at Fluttershy. Rarity shook her head sadly at it, and I could almost see the blood vessels in Rainbow’s head flooding with undiluted rage. Giving a small sigh, Rarity appended, “They, well, I really should say she since it’s obvious it came from only her mother, also oh so untactfully sent along a packet of Silphium. Disgusting, really.” Huh? “Silphium… That’s an herbal contraceptive, right?” I muttered, frowning at the implications therein. Rarity nodded to me before sighing weakly again. “It implies just as poorly as you’d expect. She’s giving a tactless hint that Fluttershy should not have any foals with either of you. Rather disgusting, if you ask me,” she murmured, sounding rather offended. Well, that was awkward. Idly, I wondered how horribly they’d flip out if they found out about Fluttershy actually being pregnant. “Augh!” Twilight growled out before huffing twice. Shaking, she finally managed to reveal, “No court system has done a family denouncement in over seven hundred years! No court in Equus would pass that request! What is wrong with her?! That sort of thing only happens in cheap drama serials.” Rarity nodded to that, then agreed with, “And even then, it’s treated as abhorrent and a major disgrace to the issuing party.” That I could see. Applejack shot her a raised eyebrow a moment later, and the pearly unicorn huffed, then defended, “I get bored sometimes, and they’re entertaining!” I put two and two together from her earlier comment suddenly. “And you’re anticipating a sudden change in heart now that she’s instead in a herd with a crowned Princess and a Prince?” I asked skeptically, looking over at Rarity again, who perked up. Dash snorted, however, rolling her eyes before answering instead with, “They value that kinda stuff. Well, Fluttershy’s mother does. Her father comes from one of the ‘older’ and ‘noble’ pegasi families, too, but isn’t nearly as, uh, devoted to the bloodline, so to speak. They might have even done an arranged herd or something, which would be about right up their alley…” Oh, that sort of politics I was well aware of. Keldarians did that crap, too, and I thought it was stupid then, as well. Fluttershy whined, then protested with, "He... He isn't a bad pony! I love both of them, and he tried his hardest. Mother just..." Her eyes softened a little, and I frowned before resting my muzzle against her shoulder. She relaxed a little and swallowed before looking back at me. After a moment's hesitation, her focus came back and she closed her eyes before continuing with, "She's not a bad pony either. She grew up the same way, and doesn't know anything else." Ah. It was weird, knowing that somepony didn't approve of me despite having never met me, but I suppose that was BEID's whole operational standpoint, so it didn't really surprise me, so to speak. That didn't make it set very well, regardless. "Well, I suppose we should wait and see what their standpoint is after the news gets out," I suggested, then tacked on, "Preferably before going over to have a talk with them." A glance at Dash caused her to roll her eyes and huff for a moment, crossing her forelegs over her chest as she hovered there next to the bed. Applejack gave a snort, then hooked her tail with her right foreleg, dragging it down with her ankle and pulling Rainbow next to her on the bed, flopping onto her stomach. "Don't worry. She ain't gonna do anything rash. Ah'm plenty mad, too, but Mender's right. Ain't no point in jumpin' inta action without seein' how they react. If their opinion is unchanged, then we go talk ta 'em," she suggested, giving a pointed glance down at the cyan pegasus, who glared up at her over her left shoulder. Coughing lightly, Spike drew our attention back to him before suggesting, "What about extending an olive branch?" Oh? "Oooh, good idea! Olives are delicious!" Pinkie declared. I, uh, what? Honestly, I couldn't tell if she was confused, or hiding a suspiciously deep statement in that. Rarity simply giggled, then asked, "What did you have in mind, Spike?" He was momentarily distracted by swooning in her general direction before Twilight grinned and coughed, snapping him out of it. "Ah, right! Well, the front row seating in the outdoor auditorium is reserved space, right? For press representatives, court, and dignitaries. But we know that only, like, a third of the court is even here due to the suddenness of this, and there are no visiting dignitaries! That means only five ponies, one from each of the major press organizations, is using it. What if we convinced Princess Celestia to give Twilight's and Fluttershy's families dignitary seating during the coronation? Huge honor, right? And a front row seat for the show!" he suggested. Oh. Twilight looked momentarily surprised before she suddenly nodded and grinned. "Spike, I love you. That's perfect!" she declared, floating him up and pulling him into a huge hug. He wiggled a little, blushing lightly before just relaxing and letting her hug him. "Aww, shucks, Twilight. It only came to me because you had me write down the entire coronation's itinerary," he defended, his modesty starting to show. He immediately shut up when he realized Rarity was literally right next to him, and gave him a fluttering eyelash look. Oh, she was pulling out the big guns! Well, whatever was the appropriate term in Equestria, given they didn't have firearms. "Nonsense, Spikey Wikey. That was a brilliant idea! Why should we wait for them to make up their minds, when we can influence their opinion ahead of time with a show of tact and grace? Plus, it will blow her ugly display clear out of the water, and truly give her something to think about!" she declared, potentially implying an ulterior motive on her part. Not that I was touching that statement with a ten foot pole. Despite being amazingly polite and passive, Rarity scared the hell out of me. Always make peace and friendship with the ones with the silver tongues. Twilight grinned, then nodded again, handing Spike over to Rarity instead and standing upright. "Okay, then! I'll go ask Princess Celestia right now. Plus, they're probably wondering where we are at this point, so we shouldn't keep them waiting. Mender, you're on stage setup this time. With luck, we won't end up with the floor being impaled by the projection screen. Again. Rarity, costume work. Fluttershy, stage prop setup. Think pretty flowers. Dash, synchronize with the weather team and try to push back any bad weather for a few hours if there's any planned. Any leftover time, help the pegasi deliver the announcements. Pinkie, concessions. Work with the castle staff, please. Applejack, help the guard keep the reporters at bay until we're set," she quickly shot out, nodding to each pony in return. We saluted back, and she grinned until Spike raised his hand up. "What do you want me to do?!" he asked, giving a pleading expression. The lavender mare grinned, not missing a beat before pointing out, "Absolute number one assistant, Spike. You're with me on organization detail. Let's go, ponies!" He grinned at that, and Twilight's horn flared up again. Giving a weary sigh, I felt the world implode in against us, once more sucking us away to another place. Guess there wasn't any rest in store for us anytime soon. * * * * * Giving a grunt, I rotated the final bolt into place, then gave a nod down to the two burly construction ponies supporting my ladder and tossing up tools and parts. The projection screen was now fully repaired and placed back up on the standing wall, and now very, very firmly rooted in place. Proper leverage support was everything, and you couldn't afford to skip out on details when you were dealing with a three hundred pound projection screen hanging two stories in the air above a stage that ponies walked on. That was just an accident waiting to happen. That had already happened. Twice. They were lucky the only thing broken so far was floorboards and a few screws. They nodded to me, the one moving back and the second gripping the ladder with both forelegs. I turned and slid down the front of it step by step, dropping onto the stage again. "Secured and sturdy, and the gearbox is repaired. The projector is set up as well. How's the slide presentation of Twilight's spell research, Snapshot?" I asked, looking towards the forest green mare who was loading the projector up. She giggled, then admitted, "We're lucky she numbered the slides. I have literally no idea what she's talking about on half of them. All loaded in regardless, Sir! We're set!" She hopped around to face me with a large grin, then threw a salute up that I returned. "Excellent work. Power up the big slide button on the podium, and let's get out of the way," I ordered. She slid forward and flicked on the podium, making the giant button on the front of it glow a soft cream color. At least it wasn't red. We nodded once more to each other before heading towards the side of the stage again, ponies starting to file in already. I caught a shot of both Applejack and Rainbow Dash in shiny guard armor, sans-enchantment, helping direct ponies into the auditorium area and looking like they were having fun doing it. Smiles?! Very unprofessional for guards, which was probably a good thing given that they weren't. Chuckling to myself, I promptly almost ran into Fluttershy as I turned back around. She gave me a pleased nod, pointing to the last spot to move the pretty flower arrangements into. She had an almost curtain of complimentary violets and indigoes which matched Twilight's colors rather nicely and was rather clever on her part. Using her special brand of Fluttershy charm, there was also a full chorus of birds relaxing along the upper stage, all doing sound tests on a rather pretty song they were working on. I didn't ask how she managed that. "Everything looks splendid!" Rarity chirped, putting the finishing touches on Fluttershy's mane before gesturing me over. I saw the full tux she held up in her magic, and sighed. Damn it. The two construction stallions gave a chuckle towards it as they walked past, the tan one on the right giving me a sympathetic smile before they headed off the stage. Ugh. Wait... Frowning, I looked closer at it, and she grinned. This wasn't the suit I'd worn before. Straight up black fabric, it looked like it almost hummed with enchanted energy. This one was a full three piece, with a double-breasted, notched lapel jacket, four button black waistcoat, and white undershirt. She then had accessorized it with black tie, a silver and sapphire tie bar, and matching cufflinks. It was tailored to my measurements by the looks of it, and I suspected she hadn't just pulled that off one of the back shelves in the castle storage. "I was working on this already for you, and this is reason enough to have finished it. Inspiration taken from a very specific source, I might add," she revealed, opening up the jacket on the right side. My eyes widened as I saw a large series of adjustable straps on the inside, neatly sewn into the jacket itself. It was set up to mount the mechanical workings that my father had designed for his suit! Snapshot, suddenly standing next to me, immediately chirped, “Ooo, it looks awesome!” I gave a start, looking over at her in surprise for a moment before exhaling softly. She only grinned at me however, and I rolled my eyes before turning back to Rarity. "You modeled it after my father's suit?" I asked, causing her grin to widen a little. She giggled, nudging me into turning around before answering with, "Yes, I did. It's designed off his original diagrams, but I added my own touches. The harness straps on the inside are reinforced, and should manage sizes three times what he used. I also made them adjustable with multiple loop slots, in case you tweak his designs on the mechanics themselves. Oh, and it's loaded down with durability treatments for temperature and physical force. Almost as solid as the armor the guards wear, I believe." Credit given where credit was due, I admitted she'd earned the bragging rights for this one. Smiling now, I gave a nod as she helped me into the suit. Her magic made the task rather easy, with buttons hooking themselves up and tugs being made here and there to straighten the fabric against my body. Something was a bit off, though… Raising my eyebrow after a moment, I asked, “Is this magically vented or something?” I kept waiting for my temperature to take a hike, but for some reason, it felt like the air just flowed right through it. The mare giggled, then assured, “I know the discomforts wearing elegant clothing can bring, so yes, there are many spells in the industry to help alleviate those issues.” Okay, this was awesome. I loved magic. “You’ve really outdone yourself with this one, Rarity. This is amazing,” I complimented, watching her perk up and grin again. Snapshot, still eyeing up the suit, nodded rapidly to Rarity as well, asking, “That is awesome! Could I, um, maybe commission you for a dress later? Spy gear included, please!” I raised an eyebrow at her specific request, then chuckled. “I’m pleased you like it, Mender,” Rarity admitted, then appended, “I always get concerned when I make clothing for ponies who don’t know they’re getting the article, or haven’t put any specifications into it. It can be risky.” Ah, that made sense. She also lifted a skeptical eyebrow to Snapshot after, then snickered. “The commission would be a bit more expensive than my normal works, but certainly, Snapshot. I do believe I can consider you a friend of Mender’s at this point, right?” she inquired, tilting her head a little. The green mare perked at that and nodded rapidly. “Certainly! I mean, I got completely conned into almost doing something really bad to Mender when he totally didn’t deserve it! I started out just wanting to make that up to him, but… He’s a really kind stallion, and I’d be happy to call him my friend at this point,” she explained, giving me a softer smile. I blushed a little at that, then returned it with a nod. “Of course, Snapshot. It’s not like I’m going to turn down your friendship,” I explained, then looked back to Rarity again. “Well, I’m grateful, worry not. Thank you, Rarity,” I assured, giving her a warmer smile as she finished tying my tie up and adjusting it. She gave a pleased murmur, but the three of us were interrupted by a flash of light violently blasting in to our left. Wincing, I held a hoof up to block it for a moment before frowning towards the newly appeared Twilight. She hopped back and forth on her left and right legs for a moment before quickly asking, “How’s everything on this end?! Is the stage ready and not on fire? Everypony dressed?!” Giving a roll of my eyes, I assured, “The stage is fine and set up properly. We’re all dressed now, and things are going smoothly.” I’d been tempted to tell her that it wasn’t on fire but exploded instead, but she probably wouldn’t have appreciated the joke. “Oooh, I got the projector set up! Oh, and all the slides are right this time,” Snapshot tacked on. Twilight raised an eyebrow to her at the ‘this time’ part, but relaxed regardless, giving a sigh of relief. Her shoulders sagged ever so slightly, which caused the fabric of her dress to shift and flow. Rarity gave a giggle, then added, “Calm down, Twilight. Take deep breaths and relax. Everything is going smoothly.” The lavender mare nodded to that, setting her hoof her chest before exhaling softly and moving it away again. After a few of these, she relaxed and nodded to both of us. “Yeah, sorry. Just, well, a bit nervous! All ponies know is that there’s a coronation of some kind, and not what’s happening or anything. What is everypony even going to think?” she asked nervously. Heh, I was more fascinated that word hadn’t spread faster than this, given quite a few ponies in Ponyville had woken up during that sizable flash of light and display of raw power. I chuckled, and Fluttershy gave a soft smile, nuzzling up against Twilight and massaging her side. “Twilight, they’re going to think it’s lovely. Why would anypony have a problem with you becoming an Alicorn? You’re still you,” she murmured softly, nuzzling into her neck. Twilight relaxed a bit more and nodded to her, closing her eyes and nuzzling back. “I… no, you’re right, Fluttershy. I was just being silly. I’m still me,” she agreed, snuggling in closer to the mare. I smiled as I watched both of them for a moment until my eyes caught movement behind them. Looking past, I spotted Tia moving up onto the stage and taking her place at the podium, and took a stab in the dark that we were about to begin. Looking back to Twilight, I assured, “Relax, Twilight. We’re all here for you. It looks like we’re about to start.” She perked at that, then turned around and looked back at the stage. Fidgeting for a moment, she then nodded and glanced back at us. Rarity smirked next to me and gave her a wink. “You’ll be fine. I’m going to go join Pinkie in the front row, then. The five of us shall be cheering you on!” she assured, giving her a warm smile before heading down the steps and out the side door to the stage. Snapshot grinned, then nodded to me as well before adding, “I’ll be there too, getting lots of flattering pictures of you guys! Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll get your best angles!” Uh, was that really necessary? She took off after Rarity before I could ask, and I just shrugged. We watched them go, leaving just Fluttershy, Twilight and myself on the stage. Oh boy. I controlled my own nervousness as I waited for Tia to start speaking. “We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary things since she's lived in Ponyville…” she started, the crowd falling silent instantly. Okay, Twilight goes out first by herself, then we come out some time later when our new ‘status’ is revealed. Of course, at that exact moment, a ping came in. Crap. Twilight perked, feeling my spike in irritation, and looked backwards at me. Fluttershy glanced to me as well, as did all four mares in the front row. Honestly, I don’t think I’d ever get used to the shared empathy thing. I nodded to her, then warned, “Ping from Keela. Go on as normal. I’ll see what she wants.” Twilight nodded to me, and I slipped backwards, moving further into the dark of the backstage before flicking up my inner eye displays. I knew the ambient light made my eyes glow, which would probably be a bit ‘weird’ if ponies were to see it. That went against the whole ‘making a good impression’ thing we were trying for, I imagined. Keela popped up instantly in the display, and immediately declared, “Mender! Thank you, thank you! I was hoping you’d pick up. We need to talk.” Well, that sounded positive! Her dire expression didn’t help matters much either. I frowned, then asked, “What’s going on? We’re kinda in the middle of a coronation here.” She swallowed, then rapidly shook her head. “This is important. Really, really important. Ten minutes ago, while we were finishing up our analysis runs on the wreckage and about to pack up our bags, an FTL signature was detected,” she revealed. Eh?! Okay, that was probably bad. “The odds of an FTL signature being a friendly at this point are astronomically slim. You should get out of there as fast as you can,” I warned, frowning towards her. She swallowed, then rapidly shook her head. “I know that. But it was tiny, and not giving off any other energy signatures. We… already looked at it,” she explained, then softened her eyes as she pulled up another screen. My eyes locked onto it, and I recognized it almost instantly, my database bringing up the exact model. “It’s a Grosh probe. Deactivated? They FTL jumped a deactivated probe into your sector? There’s no visible damage on it at all, unless something inside it is-“ I started to theorize. Keela sighed and shook her head. “It’s just deactivated. Intentionally. All its hardware is gutted except its database and short range broadcasting antenna, which was set to go online and start indiscriminately pinging the area fifteen minutes after warping in, but we disabled that,” she further explained. What? Frowning, I considered that for a long moment. The Grosh had never done that before, to my knowledge. There was no strategic benefit to doing this, unless… “What was on the hard drive? The only reason I can see for anyone to do that is to leave a message behind…” I asked, looking back up at Keela. And if everything else was intentionally gutted, it wasn’t an emergency message. It was intentionally sent out like that. The Keldarian swallowed, slowly nodding her head before admitting, “We… have a problem.” She hit a few more buttons, pulling up yet another screen, this time with an audio wavelength display and analyzer up. She hit play on it immediately. A voice I wished I’d never have to hear again came through the link an instant later. “This is a message to my sister, Keela. I’m sorry for probably worrying you. You’ve undoubtedly already figured out I’ve been captured by the Grosh. I’d gotten to thinking, really. Your new male confuses me. He made me think about a lot of things. Honestly, I never realized how selfish I was before now. I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t want to kill me, despite having every reason to, personally. Until I realized he wasn’t thinking about himself there. He didn’t kill me because he wanted to make you happy,” came through in what sounded to be Nirru’s voice. I frowned, but it continued. “So, after thinking about it, I realized that I could still at least help out our race, or even other races that are being attacked by the Grosh. Further, I could still get my revenge against that little rat that put me in this state. So I contacted the Grosh using low density pinging magic to get it around your wards, while you were unconscious and wouldn’t pick them up yourself. Almost screwed up when you changed the entire ship’s sleep schedule to sync up with those rats, but thankfully I picked up the guard shift change. So I called them, told them where we were in exchange for a service and information,” she explained. Oh hell. Keela gritted her teeth on the other screen, but said nothing as it continued. “Now I’ve been taken in by them, and I’m going to lead them into a brand new dimension. A dimension of easy pickings and all new worlds to conquer, without a single thing to challenge them. They’ve promised, in return, to let me command their preliminary invasion force, and to leave this dimension for the new one instead. So I both get my revenge, and single handedly save our entire race. I’m sorry that it’s had to come to this. Also, I don’t forget my debts. Any of the rats you take in and let onboard your ship will be spared. He spared my life, so I’ll spare his. Destroying everything he loves is enough of revenge for me. See? Selfless. Anyway, two days time, eighteen hundred hours, our time. You know where I’ll be. I want you there to watch the start of the invasion. You won’t be fired upon, don’t worry.” I sat there, body numb now as I listened to the recording. Keela searched my expression, eyes wet as a tear slid down her cheek. I looked back to Twilight, who was out on stage already, and frozen in mid-walk now, looking back at me with a frown. Fluttershy looked my way, too, both obviously sensing the distress. Nirru was heading for area with the weakened dimensional barrier. She was coming alongside a full preliminary invasion force of Grosh. We had two days to prepare. Well, so much for that vacation… Chapter 100I gritted my teeth, nerve endings down my spine feeling like they were shot. My stomach churned and that acid taste was in my mouth as I took deep breaths. Shit. Looking upwards again and to the left, I saw I'd already had their full attention. Fluttershy had frozen, turned mostly towards me with an uncertain frown on her face, knowing something was wrong but not what. Twilight stopped mid walk out onto the stage, her wings still tucked beneath the tailored flaps of her dress, hidden from view. She was looking over her shoulder at me instead, however, eyes uncertainly searching mine. My friends in the front row looked this way as well, and all I had was bad news now. Keela shivered in the image tucked to the corner of my eye, rapidly shaking her head. "No, Mender. I... I love you, but you can't consider anything else. I'm not worth Equus. C-Cut the link!" she repeated, swallowing painfully. Confusion went through the audience as Twilight just stopped walking and looked behind her. Tia frowned, looking towards me as well. What was I supposed to do? My right hoof lifted up and I shook my head, then waved it back and forth in a hopefully ‘desist’ motion as I stared at the white alicorn. Her eyes widened just slightly, then she turned and looked back to the audience instead. "Ah, I apologize, my little ponies. I have to attend to something for a moment. My sister, Princess Luna, will continue speaking in my stead," she quickly excused. Luna frowned, then nodded to her as she stepped up, Tia slipping to the side and trotting towards me. Twilight watched her go past, and Tia leaned down for a moment, whispering something to the new alicorn before straightening and heading for me. Twilight nodded at that, then headed for the podium again, sitting down next to Luna, who had continued the speech I wasn't paying attention to anymore. A glance to the left showed me the rest of the Elements, Spike, and Snapshot gone from the front row, and I sighed. The side door opened again as Tia finally reached me. Her questioning look said enough, and I shook my head, taking another step back as Spike, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, and Snapshot slid in to the left a moment later, the orange mare immediately asking, "Okay, that felt absolutely rotten. What's goin' on, Mender?" I exhaled, using the distance I'd made to project the image of Keela, the probe, and the soundtrack instead, adjusting the speaker volume down to low. It didn't matter, though, as the second Tia saw the sound wave pattern, she frowned and lit her horn up. A small golden bubble coated us all a second later, and I nodded, recognizing the spell instantly as sound nullification. "You didn't have to-" Keela started to protest. Snapshot's eyes widened as she looked the Keldarian over, but I interrupted Keela's words with a shake of my head. "No, Keela. I'm not going to jump to any decision without talking about this. Enough," I interrupted, giving her a frustrated glare before hitting the play button. I went quiet as Nirru's voice started up again, repeating her hateful message to everypony inside the bubble... * * * * * To say things moved quickly with threat of a possible dimensional invasion would be an understatement. Regardless, I couldn't help but think that things had been soured a bit, converting the announcement conference into both an announcement of a new Alicorn and a declaration of a national emergency. Honestly, I hadn't anticipated Princess Celestia to actually remain transparent about what was happening. I also hadn't anticipated the decided lack of panic present in the mass populace of ponies at large. For a race that was naturally on the skidish side, they had become remarkably jaded to world-threatening catastrophes, it would seem. That was three hours ago. Giving a tired sigh, I looked out at the expansive field. It was a familiar place by now, large ocean of grass and flowers with the rather peaceful and gentle Whitetail Woods framing along its side. An even more familiar, if not intimately so, crater was all of a dozen meters from me. The memories it brought upon me, both good and bad, were at least of comfort. A stability. Something that had already happened and was cast in stone. That was where the comfort of the field ended. My attention instead shifted to the five hundred plus ponies that now inhabited it. Dozens of tents were already constructed, and I saw another six at least going up. A large training field had been set up, with literally hundreds of guards practicing surprisingly sophisticated formations within. Shining Armor was easily spotted in full regalia at the head, and I could hear his distant orders from here, without needing any audio magnification. Color me impressed. My discomfort was further accelerated by the focus on me, suddenly throwing me headlong into my role as head researcher of Dimensional Regulations, now the leading organization of defense for this hostile threat heading at us. It was my duty to come up with solutions on how to deal with that. All of it. A hoof lightly lifted my chin, then pulled my head to the side. Looking to my left, I managed to get a slight glimpse of lavender before Twilight pulled me into a soft kiss. Shivering, I pushed back into it for a moment before relaxing and nodding. Breaking off, she gave me a grin and returned my gesture, assuring, "Relax, Mender. We're going to deal with this, and we're going to protect everypony. You're doing fine, and you have lots of help. Nopony expects you to do this by yourself..." At this range, she'd picked up exactly what I'd started to panic about, of course. I was both happy and sad for that... Swallowing, I looked back to the massive cluster of holographic notes projected in front of me, having been all I was focusing on for the last hour. The diagrams for the armor, shield, and lance modifications had already been sent to the lead researchers that had been allotted to the operation. Supplies were already being delivered, including almost eight thousand kilograms of the phase crystals. I double-checked the notes delivered about them in paper, behind the hologram, then looked to my right display screen. "How are the calculations running, Keela?" I asked, trying to stay on focus. The Keldarian looked up to the display again, giving a sigh. "This is crazy, and you're completely insane. Beyond that, they're almost done. I can't believe that this is compiling at all, but... There's no doubt about it," she admitted, looking into the center of the lab space again. Notes were scattered everywhere, and all five of them were working at different stations, and the crystal that I'd sent over was floating in the analysis column in the middle of the room. She stared at it for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "This is a surprisingly colorful phase crystal, but it's also the purist I've ever seen. There's no doubt at all. This crystal is exactly like the samples that we've been using to make our own phase crystals for the last hundred years or so. That means that Equus is the reason we developed our own variant of Faster Than Light travel..." she admitted, exhaling softly. Twilight's ears perked up at that, and she asked, "Does that mean they're pure enough to work?" That was the ultimate question. Keela's refinery process for the phase crystals was top notch, but it turned out that the original crystals were about seven to nine hundred percent more pure, which allowed for a much more efficient energy transfer, it would seem. Kyre turned and nodded towards the display, reporting, "With this pure of a crystal, energy transfer reaches less than three percent average loss." Her twin continued less than a second later with, "This efficient of a transfer will allow dimensional phasing of phased matter with a one to one temporal sync ratio." Sighing, Keela snickered after, and appended, "That means yes. This part of your plan is green lit, via two Keldarian genius twins." Chuckling, I gave a nod to that and looked back at my notes. That just left things on our end to set up. Looking over my shoulder to the left, I spotted Aura still sipping her tea, barely a meter away. She was reading her book still, something about ponies in space or such. It was an amusing concept, but I didn't have time to grill her on it. Either using peripheral vision, or her heavily altered senses, she noticed my attention and looked up with a smile. "Need contact again?" she asked gently. I gave a nod in confirmation, causing her smile to widen a little, and her horn lit up. The effect was instantaneous. Colors bled partially away from the world, mist drifting in all around me with my awareness as everything took on a soft blue hue. The ambient light started to spread gently off objects around me, as if a bloom effect had been applied to my perception. The three of them faded in, visible now that my view was overlaid with the local Ether. They’d been there the entire time, of course. Dad looked up and smiled as he watched Aura start using her spell again. “Ah, welcome back. I see the rest of the plans appear to be falling smoothly into place. How are things on Keela’s end?” he asked, causing my two moms to look up as well, Gem starting to smile immediately. “She’s finished the calculations. Less than three percent average loss of energy transfer. It’ll work on their side,” I assured, giving a nod to him. Auraprism finally smiled at that, relaxing a little. “Thank Celestia. It’s… been a while since I’ve said that, but… at this point, I think we’re past that. We all need to pull together regardless to make it through this,” she murmured, exhaling softly. My mother giggled on the other side of Dad, then shook her head. “It was never Princess Celestia’s fault anyway, and you two knew it the whole time. We’re going to make up for it by helping our son kick some seriously invader flank as well!” she chirped, pounding her right hoof into her left with a grin towards me. Bastion lifted one of his eyebrows up, tilting his head towards her before pointing out, “You didn’t do anything to Princess Celestia. You don’t have anything make up for…” Auraprism frowned and nodded behind him. Chuckling, I shook my head then explained, “She just wants to watch the fireworks…” Both he and my other mother got a dawning look of realization and nodded, but Mom stuck out her tongue at me instead, still grinning. “Hey, you heard that monster’s message. I want to see her eat those words just as much as you do. Literally, if possible,” she growled. My turn to tilt my head towards her, and this time Auraprism snickered instead. “Just write it out on a letter and force feed her the paper after winning. That should make her happy,” she suggested, earning a laugh from dad. I slapped myself in the forehead, but Gem started laughing at that. “Awesome idea! I’d pay good bits to watch that!” she agreed, grinning towards Auraprism instead. Dad finally just sighed and shook his head, chuckling tiredly before looking back to me instead. “Things are almost ready on this end regardless. With the complete diagrams of our prior device, this has been a breeze. The new layout is both far more simplistic with new technologies available, and far stronger with the new focus on this shielding technique of yours. Could you trace this diagram, please, Auramirror?” he asked gently, sliding the hazy sheet of paper over past me, to my niece instead. His very distant granddaughter… She smiled and nodded rapidly to him, moving the paper in front of her and looking it over before her magic started to function, translating the image onto the page underneath of it, which was real outside of the ether. I nodded to her, and all three of them waved, giving me smiles. I nodded, adding, "See you all tonight, then." They were gone after that. Of course, if this went badly, I'd be seeing them permanently in a few days. As would a lot of other ponies, I imagined. But no, I wouldn't let it come to that. Closing my eyes, I steeled my resolve again. No, the plan had come together nicely so far. Now it was on to the hard parts... Looking over to Twilight again, I saw her get a momentary look of recognition, and nod. She instead turned to look out into the field, and then mentally called out, "Girls! It's time..." Five other perks of mental activity shot in, and I swallowed. This should be entertaining, at the very least... * * * * * "Are ya sure this is essential? Ain't Ah strong enough?" Applejack asked hesitantly, looking to her left and down at me as I adjusted more enchantment runes on her side. Twilight gave a sigh, looking up at the counter-weight she lifted with her hooves, standing on her back ones as she wedged herself upwards between the ground and the weight. The counter-weight was attached to a pulley system, which was attached to, so far, twelve thousand kilograms of random objects that we tossed into the large wagon we were using as a 'tray' of sorts. She had the entire thing lifted almost a meter off the ground... Shaking her head, Twilight explained, "This isn't about the weight, Applejack. You're lifting this much by syncing your energy with the bar. Mender is making sure that the energy feedback throughout your entire body is perfectly in sync with your output. He's not making you 'stronger'. He's making you use a hundred percent of your strength." The enchantment magnified that by a bit, but the goal was the same. I estimated that, horrifically, she actually was strong enough to lift at least six thousand kilograms unassisted, which was just disgusting. That put her lift to weight ratio into absurd levels. I didn't even want to try this with Big Mac. But no, the syncing was the important part. "Okay, so this ain't ta lift tha gun thingy, which is actually rather light. This is ta sync with it, right?" she confirmed, furrowing her brow as she looked to Twilight instead, who nodded. I made three more adjustments and watched everything sync up again with a smirk. Applejack widened her eyes a little as she suddenly stretched out entirely, shoving the bar upwards and lifting the entire wagon over two meters off the ground. Giving a nod, I moved to the other side of her stomach, then gently rested against it, starting to push her slowly backwards as she readjusted herself and let the wagon back down without breaking anything, either herself or our equipment. "We're set for test four, now. The sync should be just about perfect," I ordered, nodding towards her then gesturing to the harness we'd left a few meters away. She gave a smile to me and trotted past, slipping back into it and raising it up with her forelegs after she sat down. It wasn't that heavy, barely fifteen kilograms. She felt its weight for a moment, and then focused, syncing with the harness, even though her strength was overkill. The enchantment on the harness mirrored it, and she stood again, the harness floating free of her body this time as she literally lifted it with her aura alone. Earth Pony Empathy Magic at its finest. Her eyes opened again after, and she examined it with surprise yet again. It had drifted around a bit on the second attempt, and the last one had it hovering lopsided near her. Now, it floated perfectly and she looked even more amazed. She was levitating something, so I imagined it was special, yes. Well, even if it was specifically made to be levitated like that. It was still special! The large floating gun lifted up next to her, exactly matching her harness movements, and she nodded to me, her strength of aura lifting it, too. "Ready then, Mender. This thing's loaded with safe stuff, right?" she asked again, giving a frown. Twilight giggled, then nodded, assuring, "Water balloons, courtesy of Pinkie." Because only she could think of using a magical rail cannon to launch water balloons... Smirking, I nodded, then looked out into the field towards the pink one in question. "Pull!" I called out. I heard her excited cheer from here, and she grabbed one of the garbage can lids near her. The flare of pink from her own enchantment activated, the disk on her back right hoof touching the can. It stuck a moment later, and she suddenly did a complete back flip at surprisingly high velocity, whipping the can lid up with her back legs, then launching it almost straight up into the air. Applejack watched it go up. The harness and the cannon followed her eye movement. My own empathy link with her let me 'feel' that she synced with her own vision. She saw the lid, and it was locked on hard now. It reached the apex of its forward momentum, and Twilight called out, "Fire!" So it turned out that Applejack’s special talents were in apples. It made sense to me. More specifically, she was particularly practiced at harvesting the apples, which involved very specific targeting of her synced magic to the apples as she hit the tree. We discovered that if you made a cannon sync with her as she targeted, she could also aim it through the same principle! In theory, she could then ‘harvest’ pieces off the enemy ship. At range. With cannons. The water balloon hit it dead center, before the sound of the gun firing even reached my ears. The small shockwave hit next, like the sound of a whip cracking, as the partially shielded balloon momentarily broke the speed of sound. Well, technically it was moving at a little over five thousand meters per second, so closer to fifteen times the speed of sound, but same difference. Of course, I realized that 'safe' was a subjective term. Applejack winced as the shockwave from the balloon impact reached us, then looked more than a little horrified at the broken remains of the lid as it fell out of the sky at the other end of the field, a good seven kilometers from where Pinkie had tossed it up. Twilight looked to me, and I nodded. “Target testing is a success. Move on to phase two with Applejack. Rarity’s next,” I reported, standing up again. Sending out the call towards her, I got a very distinct ‘one moment, dear’ back down the link. She was currently outfitting the guard armors, so I imagined she was pretty busy, yeah. Applejack perked up at that, then asked, “Phase two? We saw Pinkie’s an’ Rainbow’s upgrades, but Ah don’t think there’s exactly ah ‘safe’ way ta test mine out further…” Twilight gave a giggle and waved her hoof towards the mare instead. “Relax, we kept the prototype cannon,” she revealed, sliding a rather small gun over that wasn’t much larger than the harness Applejack was in. Getting the shield layering and magical acceleration to work had been a serious pain, having taken over an hour, and several cases of ‘almost swearing’ accidents. To work with just the physics involved, we had it firing little orbs of water instead, at a much lower velocity, thankfully. Nodding, I called Pinkie as well, who came bounding over within seconds, looking ecstatic. “Yeah, getting hit by those things might sting a little, but it won’t do any lasting damage that taking a shower wouldn’t. Regardless, phase two is live fire. Pinkie, your system is entering phase three at the same time. You’re up…” I announced, nodding over to Applejack. “Yes!” the pink one shouted, then flipped backwards, balanced for a moment entirely upright while standing on her forelegs, then flipped back off them with a small push, landing on all fours again. “So ready for this! You’re on, Applejack!” she dared instead, a moment later. The orange mare looked momentarily surprised before smirking and narrowing her eyes, the prototype gun floating into the air next to her and locking on. “Fine. Ya wanna do this this way, Ah won’t disappoint ya,” she almost growled, grin widening as Pinkie’s did. They stared at each other for several seconds before the cannon suddenly whipped in and fired right at Pinkie! The mare was already turning, however, her back right hoof lashing out and hitting the orb of water in the air. The glowing disk that coated the underside of her hoof flared with energy as the blast of charged water smashed off to the side, spraying glowing water. Oh boy… * * * * * Fluttershy gave a little shiver as I adjusted the wing enchantments on her back. “Mmm, that tickles. I, um… I’m not sure if I can do this, though, Mender,” she murmured, looking uncertain as she glanced back over her right shoulder at me. Pinkie’s hysterical laughter nearby made it hard to consider her statement. The pink one flipped, spinning as she blocked two more shots, then knocked aside a faint energy ball sent from Rarity as well. Everything that was shot or thrown at her, she was deflecting with her hooves as she flipped and spun, rolled, and jumped. It was quite amazing to watch, her own enchantments maximizing her speed and agility, while attaching the disks to each of her hooves. Rarity’s ‘ribbon network’ enchantment took advantage of her extreme magical precision, allowing her to control a flowing ribbon of individual attacking units that grew as long as she desired it to be. Setting up complex attack patterns were a lot easier with that. The surprising part was that Pinkie was taking attacks from both her and Applejack’s guns, and still hadn’t even been grazed. She was sweating now, but so were they as they continued the running, gunning, and blasting that they’d been doing for the last twenty minutes. My focus shifted back to Fluttershy after, and I gave her an assuring smile. “Fluttershy, we talked about this. You did get passing grades and excellent marks in the normal flight school courses after first year. You also got notes of excelling in midair stability,” I reminded, sliding my hooves up off the enchantment to instead softly massage her shoulders. She gave a little exhale, closing her eyes again as she leaned back against me fully. “I just… you know what I’m like, Mender. Um, I panic. It…” she muttered, feelings of frustration drifting down the link towards me. Giving her a gentle nuzzle, I reminded, “You also don’t stay behind when things you love are in danger, I recall. I have every ounce of faith in you that you can pull this off, flawlessly. All of Equus is in danger now, and I know you’re not going to stand for that. You also know the safety tethers that Twilight and I have set up. I’m not going to put any of you in danger over this…” If I had my way, nopony would be put in danger. While having the six of them there with me also gave access to the Elements of Harmony, I was somewhat reluctant to actually suggest firing it. Picking up on just the residual energy from the Elements was how the other dimension found Equus in the first place. I didn’t want to even think about the residual energy left behind from actually firing them off in the other dimension entirely… Her soft nuzzle under my chin snapped me out of it, and I relaxed against Fluttershy again. She murmured softly, then licked the underside of my neck before admitting, “After you’re done with our upgrades, we should all get some rest. We didn’t end up sleeping last night.” I swallowed weakly, then nodded. The plans were in motion, and their upgrades were my last steps for it. I looked over at the three of them fighting still, and slowly agreed with, “All right. Once Twilight’s enchantment is completed, I’ll rest. You guys can go rest now, of course.” Applejack stopped shooting and instead glared over at me, shaking her head rapidly. “No way! We gotta practice as much as we can with these new thingies, an’ if yer still workin’, so are we!” she declared stubbornly, stomping her hoof down in front of her. The vibrations were felt over here from the impact, and she gave a jump of surprise, sheepishly looking down at the ground in front of her with a soft blush appearing. Okay, that was adorable. My proximity alert went off before I could fully open my mouth to reply. I didn't have time to fully turn and look before a distorted after image of a cyan pegasus shot in, her own inertia field causing a full color spectrum that washed off from the two massive jet streaks her wings had become. The distortion settled, sliding in next to me as she spun in the dirt, the field around her lessening before fading entirely and letting her connect to the ground again. She wore a huge smirk, of course. "This, is, awesome! We're going to kick their flanks all over space!" she declared, excitedly hopping back and forth on her left and right sides. Well, some of us were tired, anyway. How she wasn’t was beyond me. I’d upgraded her after learning that pegasi had an inertia shield to help them with g-force dampening, boosting it as well as hooking her effects directly into her Ether Furnace that had developed in her back. That may have been a bad idea, but the full effects would prove or disprove that in the near future, I imagined. She was… Well, she was quite a bit faster now, and much better at turning and managing her own speed. "That's the general idea. The more overwhelming advantages we have over them, the better. Them thinking we're 'defenseless' is a nice advantage right from the start," I agreed. In theory, overkill was actually a very good thing. Use your best weapons and techniques right out of the gate, before your enemy even realizes you're attacking yet, and crush them without mercy. It was the best way to ensure victory and safety in this case. Twilight listened to me for a moment before looking more fully at me, eyes locked upon mine. "I... Be truthful, Mender. You know these creatures. What opposition are we really looking at?" she asked cautiously, sounding uncertain. I considered it for a moment, well aware of their tactics and strategies, but missing a crucial piece of information. Sighing, I explained, "It depends. If they treat this as a standard invasion, we're looking at what they call a 'Preliminary Invasion Force'. They're methodical to a fault in their tactics. The PIF consists of a flagship, three supporting bombardment warships, and a support fleet for all four vessels that ranges between forty to seventy fighters and bombers each. It's the same force that destroyed the Keldarian's home planet with the 'Planet Buster' beams from the bombardment warships." "Planet Buster?" Rarity asked, stepping back towards the group with her two sparring mates following her. Slowly, I nodded to them as they approached. They were all sweaty now, Rarity and Pinkie breathing hard. Applejack less so, but I imagined she was more adjusted to physical labor. “It’s a particle beam, basically. It fires a stream of high density tachyons at the planet they’re targeting. That’s a quantum particle that moves faster than light. They collide violently with the atmosphere once pulled into real-space, causing molecules to literally fuse with them. The process is called fusion, and it releases an immense amount of energy from the impact. But the stream just keeps going, punching a large hole down through the atmosphere and blazing a trail downwards. It ignites localized parts of the atmosphere, then just crashes through the crust of the planet. They use it when they want to make sure there’s nothing really left of the planet in question,” I explained. We didn’t have the secret of their tachyon generators. In the small handful of skirmishes won, the ships always activated self-destruct mechanisms to obliterate all the vital technology before we could even get close. Rarity looked suitably horrified before asking, “How barbaric! So they basically just blow everything up until the planet rips apart?!” Err, well, yeah, actually. That was about the sum of it. Dash’s nose twitched. “That… sounds kinda cool, but kinda bad at the same time. So, uh, how do we stop that?” she asked after, looking over to me again expectantly. I nodded, then revealed, “Tachyons are weird. We don’t know much about them at all. I think our allies knew more, but they never shared the secrets of their FTL engines, so I don’t know. The Keldarians developed their own FTL drives using fabricated crystals made from these crystals taken from Equus…” I gestured down to one of the many scattered prismatic shards near me. Twilight picked one up and examined it again before appending, “They built the display device using these. When it exploded and tore open the temporary hole, some of the crystals fell through alongside Gemstone Weave…” Looking at her, I swallowed lightly, then gave a single nod to that. “Yes. That was the event that did it. But the point originally was that we only know the very, very basics of how tachyons function. Apparently they chill in subspace for most of their existence, and have some sort of intrinsic link with it. When weaponizing them, we’ve discovered that they have to be within a certain gradient of gravity with their target before they can fire. We’ve seen them try to do desperation shots from outside of that gradient. The tachyons never enter real-space, however, and the beam passes right through the planet instead, entirely harmless,” I revealed after, nodding back over at Dash. Her ears perked, and she gave me a nod, causing her colorful mane to flick to the other shoulder. “Got it! So don’t let them get close to Equus…” she assured, smirking again now. I smiled too and decided to add the last bit. “That, and the charging coils for the cannons produce so much heat that they’re mounted externally. We can also blow them up before they even think about getting in range…” I tacked on. Her grin widened, of course. Yeah, I figured she’d like that option. Twilight was taking notes, of course, looking them over as she examined the rough drawings she’d made of the ships I described. I gave her the dimensions, too, of course, and where all the parts were that were important on it. Knowing what to smash was a vital bit of a successful battle strategy. She looked them over again, then glanced back to the large map that Keela had passed over of the area in question, marked off with quadrants. “So what’s the overall plan, then, so far? Not the actual tactics stuff we already went over, but the strategy,” she asked a moment later. I flicked the projection overlay down with a thought, setting up the strategy so far. The area that contained the proper sync ratio with Equus was highlighted in red a moment later. “This area we have to keep the enemy out of at all cost. Major defensive perimeter. Chances are, the support vessels are going to be too small to initiate a dimensional transfer. That would be impractical, so our goal is to prevent one of the four larger ships from reaching that zone,” I explained. “And if they get through…” Fluttershy asked, sounding uneasy at the thought. I slowly shook my head to that, though. “Our strategy is to halt them on their side, but we have plans in effect for if that fails. It will become a lot harder, however. Once they’re through the bottleneck that’s the portal area, we’re not going to be able to focus on one kill zone anymore. We’d be at a strategic disadvantage then, but hardly defenseless,” I assured. Princess Celestia had also made reference to a last ditch effort strategy she was working on, but I hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with her about it yet, so I left it off the table for now. Applejack gave a firm nod regardless. “Then, they won’t get through. What’s our strategy, assumin’ they don’t?” she asked after, leaning down and looking the map over. Nodding to her, I gestured back to the map again. “Extensive. They assume we’re defenseless. They’ll expect, us having been warned about it, to set up some sort of defense on this side of the portal and attempt to use the gate itself as a kill zone, probably. That’s the best defensive measure I myself could come up with at first. Which is why our current strategy is going to be deployed,” I explained. Rainbow nodded, then summarized with, “They expect us to roll over and try to fend them off, not fly down their throat and tear them apart on the other side of the portal…” I activated to overlay with that, showing a directional arrow, then circling several of the larger planet chunks around the battlefield. “We have significant speed and mobility with our main attack force. Abusing that will carry us quite a ways. Shielding also doesn’t work statistically well with smaller ships versus objects of significant mass. These planet bits can be detonated with primary weapon fire, creating temporary clouds of high density debris around the field of operations,” I pointed out, then animated one to ‘detonate’ on the display, showing it turning into multiple smaller shards. Twilight looked it over for a moment, frowning at that. “You’re… ooooh, it’s denying them from entering those areas for a while, splitting up their forces,” she deduced, causing me to smirk and nod. “Defeat in Detail,” I explained, followed by, “Split up the enemy’s force so we can engage them in smaller chunks at a time and defeat them with overwhelming firepower with minimal risk to ourselves. They won’t be anticipating a defenseless species to try this strategy at all. My intent is to cause significant if not catastrophic damage to their forces before they even realize we’re attacking. Further, the debris from the explosions, and Keela’s own magical prowess, will help significantly limit their detection, causing mass confusion, ideally.” I didn’t like Keela saying she was going to help, but it was pretty much the only way I’d calmed her down enough to not just shoot herself and cut the link regardless. Pinkie nodded rapidly as she looked over the map. “Riiight, because our goal isn’t really to even beat them, right? We just gotta make them give up and run away, which gives us time to bring Keela over here and remove the link!” she reminded. True. We were technically only responding to them to buy time. Keela was almost ready with her generator on that side as well. With the new crystal supply we’d be bringing with us, she’d be able to upgrade the generator in probably less than an hour and create a stable portal for the ship to use. I switched the map over again to show the detonation paths of all the major chunks, then nodded. “She magically covers us, if possible, then we move in from the flanks, separate out large chunks of their forces and systematically destroy them as fast and decisively as we can. The main force holds the defensive line of course, which they’ll either try to rush or use bombardment tactics against. We have counters for both options, especially a rush, which they’ll pay heavily for. I’m also hoping our flank attack will push them into such a strategy,” I revealed, gesturing to the map again and showing the arrow displays of the enemies moving forward into our defensive position. Twilight smiled, nodding at the plan overall. “This… is far more than anyone on Equus I think could come up with. War and battles on this scale is something, well, that was theoretical before this. It was a concept. Something to be avoided at all costs. So, well, we’re lucky to have you, Mender. Thank you,” she suddenly spoke up, causing me to widen my eyes a little. Rarity snickered and cut me off before I could fully register what she said, however. “And no, she isn’t implying that your usefulness is in your ability to plan out this war bit. We value you for you, with your skills simply compounding upon that,” she assured, winking and causing Twilight to give a sheepish smile. “Of course!” she assured, then coughed lightly and nuzzled into my side. I blushed a little, feeling her fur on mine and the heat it generated. Fluttershy giggled, and the pearly unicorn now next to me on the other side smirked at that. “Oooh, a decent effort, Twilight. Covering up a mistake by wooing your mate is definitely a viable tactic,” Rarity purred in compliment, causing the lavender Alicorn to flail at her, turning almost red in the cheeks. After a moment of fluster, she pouted, then yelped, “Rarity! That wasn’t what I was trying to… ugh, just, never mind. It’s, uh, my turn, right?” She looked to me after asking, still looking a bit flustered, but I just chuckled and nodded. “Fluttershy’s about as synced up as I can get her for her enchantment, so yeah, you’re up next. Then we’re calling it a break…” I warned, giving a tired yawn. I’d started running on fumes over two hours ago. Looking up, I noted the sun was slowly sinking on the horizon, and sighed. Tents were set up all over the field now, lights blazing in the dark from the fires. I still heard ponies talking left and right, too. It was a ‘charged’ situation, of sorts, and sleep would be fitful until we were past it, I suspected, for better or worse. Twilight nodded, giving me a smile as she slid forward and settled in front of me as well, right next to Fluttershy. “I agree. Let’s get my enchantment done with and then rest up for tomorrow!” she assured, resting against Fluttershy as my hooves lit up again. “All right. More practice tomorrow, then, and resting up before that night,” I confirmed, and then started working on her enchantment… * * * * * I gave an uneasy sigh, my eyes watching as a few leaves drifted past. I stood on the small wooden platform overlooking three hundred and fifteen stoic looking guards. My armor was fully extended as well, silvers and blues shining in the dawn light. We were almost out of time. If things went poorly, this would be the last sunset that Equestria saw. Refocusing my attention, I turned and looked back out on the crowd, watching them as Shining Armor stood a few meters to my right, going over our strategy and pointing to various areas on the large chalkboard map we had set up on the platform. To my other side stood all six Element Bearers, including the newly crowned princess. That would take some getting used to as well, I imagined. And suddenly, I was a prince. Someone shoot me. Wait, no, never wish for that before going into battle… Looking past Shining, I saw all three other princesses, watching the presentation carefully. They would be staying here, with Tia and Luna managing overhead and strategy on this side, and Cadance bringing in a huge amount of relief effort for all of the guards. Both food and medical supplies were being managed by Cadance during the event, on this side. Unlikely, but we also had medical tents set up, just in case they were needed. So far, our only injury had been misuse of training equipment. I think the training dummy fell on him. I never got the story straight… Everything matched, regardless. Looking up at the board and lines of chalk, I realized I felt perfectly confident in my plan, and our tactics. Our equipment and enchantments were tested and proven. I’d gotten some sleep with Fluttershy’s and Twilight’s help, and a full breakfast courtesy of Applejack. Rarity had even combed me and straightened my mane, to make me ‘look presentable for the guards.’ Now I felt strong, and ready, standing up here on stage in my armor. Maybe it helped that a light coursing of adrenaline hummed through me. Hanging on to the positive feelings, I kept it close to my heart as I watched him finish up the strategic briefing. “So, all that said, you all understand our goal, the plan, and the risks involved. I’m going to be absolutely blunt with you all…” Shining continued, stomping his hoof down before stepping forward towards the edge of the stage and looking out at the sea of guards. A few reporters were there, too, solemnly taking notes as they watched. Snapshot was in the front row, taking pictures of us and Shining as he spoke, of course. Spike sat next to her, looking significantly less sure of himself than the rest of the guards present. He’d be helping Cadance on this side with organization and taking care of the guards. Admittedly, he looked quite imposing and professional in his full armor, helmet at his side. He nodded out at them once more after a long moment of scanning the crowd. “To be completely honest, if we fail here, this is the last day that Equus will see. If we fail here, it will mean the end of our history and culture. If we fail here… We will be erased from history, and every single one of our loved ones, and the very planet that we care for so much, will follow us,” he warned, stoic eyes burning out over the crowd. I saw hesitation in a few, but not a single guard dared even flinch with him watching. He nodded to them all, going silent as he paced to the right. “If we fail here, it will be the end, and the last day this planet sees. If we fail here, it will be exactly the same as if Discord had won. If we fail here, it would be like Nightmare Moon had won,” he continued, finally slowing and turning in the other direction again, walking back towards the setting sun as a smirk built up on his muzzle. Ears perked. I could see guards draw curious, and I smiled. “But Discord didn’t win. King Sombra didn’t win. Nightmare Moon was banished, returning our beloved Princess Luna to our sides. We stood fast through all of those events, again and again. When they first appeared, and when they returned and were defeated by our very own Element Bearers. The Elements of Harmony, which are the embodiments of everything true and just in this great world!” he declared, stamping his hoof down in the same instant. The stomp echoed out through the entire crowd in a wave, each guard shifting more determined as they repeated the gesture. He nodded curtly towards them all, then turned again, walking back into the darker part of the stage. “They did not win. The very spirit of our land has touched upon these mares and magnified their virtues. They’re standing next to us even now, but I will not let them walk into the dark alone. Those enemies of old did not win. They made us stronger, and we’re going to show that to this new enemy. We’re going to march directly into the storm itself, and they will not win!” he shouted, stomping down again. It echoed twice through the crowd of guards this time, their modified armor glowing in the dark as a shout went up to match his. Shining Armor smiled again, turning back into the light and walking forwards once again, his armor almost blazing now in the glowing sunset. He walked along, smiling for a moment only, then called out, “We’re marching out now, right into the storm of their hatred, anger, and greed. Each and every one of you is making new history for our great world. Something to protect and hold dear. We will not back down and let them destroy that. We will not let them hurt what we love. We’re going to show them exactly what Equus’ light looks like, then burn them with it. By tomorrow’s daybreak, they will learn to run at the sight of our light!” They exploded into shouts and cheers, drowning out everything as Shining stomped down with both his front hooves. I felt the tingling in my chest myself, and smirked to him as he looked back at me, returning it. He nodded, and I mimicked his gesture, looking to the right after at the surprised looking Keela in my view screen. “Open the nexus…” I ordered, looking right at her. She hesitated, then gave me a smile instead as she reached down and hit three more keystrokes. “Nexus is opening. T-Minus twenty seconds and counting. Links establishing,” she confirmed, giving me a nod as the sky above us distorted, a purple, scintillating miasma of light shining down over the entire field. My energy readings picked up the distortion, and synced it with the outputs Keela was sending me. It was building just as anticipated. I looked back to Shining Armor and nodded once again. He turned, then shouted out over all of their stomping with only two words. “We march!” It echoed, and they all exploded with another deafening cheer. I swallowed, my own adrenaline riding high as I looked up into the dark and swirling purple. No, nobody threatened those I loved. We’re coming for you, Nirru, and this time, you didn’t have the ability to log out… Ending 1It's really difficult to grasp exactly how large space is. The easiest way to fully understand it was actually through the opposite, by realizing exactly how small you were. Slowly, I stepped out of the distortion, feeling reality 'roll' me out into this place and my hooves finding purchase on the rock beneath me. And all around me, really. Some were the size of a car, and other floating chunks were as big as moons. Reality was slightly tinted now, my eyes covered in the crystal lenses that folded seamlessly out of my skin. My dermal layer made me immune to the effects of atmospheric differences up to a few thousand atmospheres anyway, so as long as I didn't fall into a black hole... or turn into a black hole... I should be fine. I'd been here before, of course. This was the same spot we'd entered into the last time Rainbow and I had skipped through dimensions. The long cold, broken remains of ship parts drifted around me as well, evidence that the Grosh hadn't bothered returning for the wreckage of their fallen comrade. It only added to the miasma of debris that was in the localized space, thin atmosphere still present causing an eerie effect of being able to hear faint echoing sounds in the otherwise silence. Heavily muted, given that it was probably dozens of tons of rock crashing into each other somewhere in this mess. Given a few million years or so, assuming our star didn't go supernova or something otherwise drastic, this would probably be a planet again. Gravity had a way of attracting things together like that. It didn't bring the inhabitants back, of course, but they were in a better place now. Marginally. Well, about a third of them, anyway. I didn't think the afterlife was quite as clear cut here as it was in Equus. Keela's ship rested amongst the debris. This was as close as I'd gotten to her since leaving this dimension, I suddenly realized. I looked the ship over, noting it was heavily repaired since it was attacked by the Grosh. The missing wing had been simply welded over, converting the usual 'C' shape of the mining vessel to more of a banana shape instead. It would have to do, though. It didn't comfort me in the slightest to see the rudimentary missile pods and lasers strapped to it either. Instead, I looked out through the debris. My eyes zoomed in, telescopic lenses rotating into place as I magnified several hundred times across the open space. My stomach felt cold as I saw them. It was a full preliminary invasion force. I counted three main siege ships, about four times larger than the science vessel Rainbow and I had taken out. That put them at about eight kilometers long, and about one wide. They were armed to the teeth with standard armaments, and each carried two planet buster particle cannons. Worse yet, there was a flagship present. It was easily twelve kilometers long, and two wide. Three times the firepower and probably just as impressive shielding and armor. Accompanying the four giants were around two hundred support vessels, varying in size between a kilometer long to the seven meters or so. This wasn't going to be easy. Thankfully, I already assumed it wouldn't be and prepared accordingly. Keela flicked onto my display on the right side, picture absurdly crystal clear. She looked tense, which was understandable, but gave me a nod and weak smile. "Seeing you right here is... There are a lot of emotions running through me right now..." she admitted, sighing a little. I smirked to her and nodded. "Don't worry. We can talk face to face once you're safely in Equus and we've kicked their flanks all over space..." I assured, 'looking' right at her. She relaxed a little, then smirked back, which was exactly what I was trying for. If I was stuck being a 'leader' here, I had to at least appear confident. I was confident, but clear-headed. That familiar cold sensation had already set in, making everything seem crisp and focused. Emotions lessened, and my head got very active as I embraced the sensations. Thinking during combat, especially when I was also the tactician, was a must. The amused snort over short feed communications to my right alerted me that they'd also made it through. Rainbow walked up next to me, wearing a coy grin as she looked out right at the target fleet instead. "Psh, ha! Seriously? That's all they brought?! I was expecting three times that number. We'll have this wrapped up before supper!" she chirped, snickering afterwards. Not that I really needed to act confident when I was entirely overshadowed by my companions anyway. But they were way more used to the spotlight than I, so they were welcome to it. All six of them were in emergency harnesses similar to mine, the leather bands wrapping over their backs to secure the air tanks, then down and around their stomach to lock together. There were a half a dozen extra straps, however, including one that slid back behind their rumps and under them there, and another two that went around their shoulders, one going under their forelegs along their chests, and the other forming a sort of collar around their necks. Once padded, I’m told the harness of sorts formed the bases for what a construction pony wore for protection, and what the guard’s armor locked onto as a support frame. Theirs was just the strappings, however, for it was lined with strands of silver that the Ether flowed through, supplying energy for the enchantment covering them in a thin layer of pressure-resisting barrier energy. All of it was supplied by the heavy crystals on their chest, also enchanted with an emergency teleportation spell, just in case. I was proud of throwing all that together on such short notice! "Rarity?" I asked, but she gave me a smooth nod before I could even continue my train of thoughts. "Feed back to Equestria is loud and clear, it says. Further, our 'selfie' cams are working properly. That's such a cute name, by the way! I don't imagine you came up with it yourself, did you?" she reported, smirking after as I gave her an annoyed look back. Applejack snickered, causing her smirk to instantly falter into a glare as well, aimed at the orange mare. She shot a wink back to the unicorn in return, then reminded, "Mender can be plenty cute when he wants ta be. Ah admit, when he's serious-like, Ah doubt he'd have come up with tha name, so yer probably right. But Ah know ya know about that cute bit..." Oh hell. Nope, changed my mind. Didn't care. Shoot me now. That left both Rarity and me blushing furiously, but Fluttershy just giggled as she caught up with me, Pinkie doing long, slow hops next to her in the 'almost' zero gravity. I nodded to all of them, just as Twi brought up the rear, wings flicking lightly as she looked over the glowing display that floated after her. Rarity had control points floating all around us in her own custom system, of course, controlled by her ribbon effect. Some acted as cameras for the ponies back in Equestria, while the others displayed small holographic information panels on barrier surfaces. Same tech my orb system worked on, and it was all networked into me. "I'm seeing several larger chunks that are suitable for our needs, as well as several hundred smaller pieces, also useful," Twilight reported, straight to business as I'd expected. My cheeks calmed down and I gave her a nod, looking out and around at the bits of planet around us. Useful indeed. Nodding, I inquired, "And how's thing's Equus-side?" Rarity gave me a pleased, toothy smile and nod a moment later, after checking her own data screens. It had been fairly simple yesterday to use their already existing nanites to install small 'display' upgrades in their eyes. Now they could get computer projections like I could, all linked through my computer systems. "Connection loud and clear. Patching us through to Cadance," she reported, yet another window opening in my vision. I looked to it, immediately spotting Cadance in the image, mid-shout. "No, move the first aid supplies over there! I want easy access for all of the doctors and nurses, just in case!" she shouted, then perked as she spotted the orb drifting around her. Twilight grinned to her, and she winked back before assuring, "I know it's on your checklist, Dear, but everything is running smoothly here. We have Equus' best assistant on the case, remember?" Spike, who was all of three meters from her, wasn't quite out of earshot and blushed, smirking back in her direction. "Of course! Just double checked, and all readings from the generator are nominal. I'll report any strange readings immediately! All of the three hundred guard stations are also online and displaying ready status!" he assured, gesturing to the large display in front of him that was hooked into the main systems. Cadance was in charge of the staff directly tending to the guards, as well as all the medical staff that was there. Spike, meanwhile, was in direct contact with Twilight and keeping a close eye on the magical and technological equipment in Equus for us. Given his vast experience with being Twilight's number one assistant, there was literally nopony more qualified. The lavender alicorn gave a relaxed sigh, then nodded to the dragon. "I'm glad. Keep an eye on things and page me immediately if there are any abnormalities. And good work, Cadance. We're counting on you to keep everything in order there..." she confirmed, smiling more softly again. The Princess of Love snickered, then gave a hoof motion and exhale towards Twi, who nodded and repeated it, visibly calming down. Cadance gave a nod in return finally after, then assured, "I'm on it. I've got to go check on the engineering team to make sure they're ready for the activation then. Once things start, I'll be right here with Spike, don't worry." I nodded to her, smiling as well as the screen flicked off again with a little static, then blip noise. There were several beeps after that, and our Keldarian ally on this end gave an annoyed growl. Raising my eyebrow to her through the viewscreen again, she noticed my attention and nodded. If it was what I figured it would be... Keela sighed, then warned, "We're being hailed. I'm patching it through..." Of course. If we could see them... "You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Nirru asked, sounding a mixture of surprised and amused over the intercom. She then continued with, "The deal was that they go onto the vessel, Sister. That's the only way I'm sparing them. Not that I really care that much about seven tiny ponies out on the rocks in space, but it was indeed part of my very reasonable and remarkably charitable-" Ugh. That offer to shoot me still stood. "Oh, shut up," I finally interrupted, giving an annoyed stare in the direction of the ship, then added, "I think you just like to hear the sound of your own voice. Nopony here cares about anything you have to offer, unless it's a surrender. You have one... single... chance. Turn around now. You can't log out this time." Her image on the data display as it finally patched through was priceless, expression shifting from smug to outright surprised. Then there was a flicker of hesitation in her eyes before they narrowed. She didn't look so great actually, now that I looked her over more in the camera shot Keela’s magic offered. She had a deep gash that looked barely patched shut running into the collar of her space suit, and multiple scars across her neck and face. The lines were jagged, definitely not made by anything all that sharp, and I immediately guessed shrapnel. Guess her pick-up by her 'saviors' hadn't been as gentle as she'd anticipated. "You little bastard. You're taking my offer and just throwing it away, huh? I guess your ego isn't going to let you just step aside," she spat out, hitting a few keys on her dash. The ships started moving into position, and I nodded once. Twilight's eyes softened slightly at the sign, and I saw the energy shift in her horn ever so slightly. The data panel lit up, and I felt the massive energy engines that were constructed just on the other side of reality hum to life. Thanks, Dad. I'll blow up a Grosh warship for you. Keela glared at her at that. "I was wrong, Sister. There's nothing good in you left at all, is there? This isn't ego. Compassion, honor, and duty are all I see. They're willing to stand against you to protect their loved ones, which is something you can't even understand, can you? And they're right..." she declared. I smirked, and Nirru's eyes widened as Keela stood up in her display, the camera panning back to catch all of her as she stepped back from the console. Her controls folded away, data displays shifting purely holographic as they expanded around her from multiple floating orbs. The lights in the command center dimmed entirely, then shifted red as the entire vessel went into battle mode, weapons activating over the entire thing as her crew turned and faced their stations all around her. Her outfit was finally revealed, and I was surprised she'd brought one with her. Segmented plates covered her vital areas, with skin-tight synthetic rubber underneath covering her whole body. Blue lines, glowing with fiery energy, ran the full length of the armor. An Amplification Battle Armor. Keldarians invented it a half a dozen years ago in order to magnify their natural spellcasting abilities. They were rare, though, due to the expensive materials that formed the magnification lines. She'd found two in the supplies they'd acquired when they first appropriated the mining vessel. We found no trace of them in the logs of the ship, and still had no idea what they were even doing there. Tym stood in the background wearing the second one, which scared me just about as much. He was disgustingly powerful, but sometimes I forget that Keela was a full council member, which actually put her magic abilities a rank above his. "You're... going to fight me, too, Sister?" Nirru asked, frowning in the display, a look of momentary sadness almost rapidly passing through her expression. Keela's scans finally came through, showing her as indeed the only living entity on the entire flagship. The other three siege ships had three Grosh each, which was standard. They didn't like sacrificing their own, so most of their vessel designs were heavily automated. Their life support was also immensely expensive, logistically, to maintain, so it made sense. Keela shook her head slowly, her suit flaring up with energy. I was surprised Nirru hadn't noticed the lines were already glowing, which would have indicated that her sister had been using her magic already the entire time. "No, Sister. You're going to leave, surrender, or we're going to destroy you. I cannot forgive you this time, and I'm not going to lie to myself any longer..." she muttered, swallowing weakly and blinking away the water forming in her eyes before glaring upwards again. Her hand moved. "Fire," Nirru growled, on edge already apparently. Space lit up in the direction of the enemy fleet. Seven intense beams of energy streaked across the distance in less than a hundredth of a second, shattering through the mining vessel in multiple places and almost blowing it in half. Parts of it exploded violently, ripping apart and sending bits of debris into space. Nirru frowned, but I just turned and looked back to the enemy fleet instead, not all that surprised. She was willing to attempt to kill her sister to achieve her goals. That told me all I needed to know. "It's too late, Sister," Keela warned calmly. The almost destroyed mining vessel warped and faded away in a distortion of light, eight copies of it warping back into place randomly in the five kilometer radius of space we were guarding. She'd never been there to begin with, and her magic was strong enough to fool organic and electronic senses alike. Nirru snorted at that, shaking her head before finally shooting back with, "It doesn't matter. Your illusion and clairvoyance magic isn't going to win this fight. And seven ponies aren't going to be enough to-" "Not just seven," I assured, then gave another nod. We'd stalled long enough now. The rocks were fully tagged and the engine was charged entirely. Further, we had two full charges of magic ready now, and the plan was set. Time to trigger it and take full advantage of her blinding overconfidence. Keela's magic had been in effect the entire time. The spell was maintained over the entire area, and she manipulated the senses everywhere within. The rocks were already warping around us as my master enchantment fired off. The echoing creaks and groans shattered the peace of space, absurdly loud even through the thin, almost non-existent atmosphere around us. My eyes widened, feeling the energy surge through me from our Ether Engine back in Equus. My magic flooded out in all directions, warping the fabric of the rocks nearby in my already pre-determined pattern. All I needed to do was channel it. For a moment, I knew what Twilight felt like for most of her life. An ocean of magic passed through me, directed by my pattern and spell. For that brief moment, my blue and silver energy cascaded outwards like a small sun on the surface of the rock we were on. Except it wasn't a rock anymore. I tore the mineral deposits from the very chunks of planet around us. Stepping forward, my hooves made clanging noises on metal suddenly, a full sized command center forming around me out of the rocks. It came together blindingly fast, etched from the pattern and flowing like water until it solidified. Impossibly huge, I directed five pieces of the actual continental shelf under us to break apart, drawing in literally billions of kilograms of matter. It was beyond intense, and I gritted my teeth as it flowed through me with the force of a waterfall from space. All of my training aided in simply letting it slide through me, and a bead of blood still slid from my nose, spikes of pain shooting through my skull. The blueprints were all ready to go in the mechanical parts of my mind. Metal, mechanics, instruments, generators... A mixture of technology and magic to form the universe's first hybrid space vessel, all in about twenty seconds. My eyes opened again, wafting energy radiating off my body as I stood in the fully formed command center of our flagship. Six kilometers long, and one and a half wide, we fit the mass specifications of a 'dreadnought' class warship, the second largest classification of space vessels the Keldarians had. "Rest, Mender. We have it from here..." Twilight assured, stepping past me. Inside the vessel, Keela's illusion had been dropped, and I smirked as I saw her literally radiating with lavender and darker red energy, her eyes two beacons of light. Her horn was expanded from her head by my enchantment, and I counted over seventy increments as it split itself eight times, branching off her horn like a single, exotic antler instead. Magnification. I'd taken her enchantment concept from Sweetie's design, and ran with it. Twilight's was unbound, causing branching 'horns' the more energy she channeled, and magnifying her natural energy levels by a factor of five. It scared the hell out of me, and I was rather glad she was on our side. Dash grinned from her spot in the back and nodded. "Oh yeah! Engines, on!" she announced. I 'felt' the back part of the ship light up, looking like six large 'wings' expanding backwards, and based off Rainbow's own enchantment. She was in full control over it, and it was wired right into our main engine clusters. She controlled our speed completely. "S-Stabilization, on!" Fluttershy added, giving a nod and a surprisingly focused look as her wings lit up as well, expanding ten fold off her back in lines of energy. She stood slightly in front of Rainbow, behind me still, and the cyan mare grinned at her as she activated her enchantment. The two massive stabilization planes to either side of our ship lit up, radiating energy from the thrusters that were spread out along them. This vessel had easily twenty times the maneuverability of its weight class, and Fluttershy was in direct control of our movements, synced to Rainbow's reaction speed. Rarity smirked to my right, swishing her mane once to the side before declaring, "Subsystem and Ribbon Array, on." Thousands of spires activated and detached across our hull, floating free as hundreds of screens appeared around her. Her horn lit up, thousands of lines of energy expanding off it instead in a completely different enchantment than Twilight's. Multitasking and precision control, and every single spire reacted to her magic around our entire vessel. Of course, each spire also had a micromissile system and laser array for attacking purposes. Our main guns couldn't be expected to handle swarms of smaller craft accurately, after all. "Heee, main shields, so totally on!" Pinkie chipped in, hopping in place to my left inside of a sphere of energy. A spring platform sat in the center of the sphere where she stood, and four disks activated along the surface of the bubble, tracking the location of her hooves at all times. She grinned and did a rapid, effortless flip, causing our projection shields to expand around the vessel at the same time, the four concentrated Aegis Barriers following her hoof movements along the outside of our ship. Her own senses were hooked directly into the computer's as well, and it was already tested. Her Pinkie Sense worked at whatever range she experienced things at. This also scared me. I nodded, standing up straight again and wiping my nose off. "Data center and tactical overlay, on," I announced, my processing cores all activating at once, including the one I'd replaced to make up for the petrified one I'd lost. Sensor arrays activated across the entire ship, and I took over management of all of the electronic and computer systems therein. Maps opened up in front of me, and I nodded, just as we burst forward out of the illusion. To finalize it, I called out, "Royal Equestrian Spaceforce, RES Celestia reporting for duty." Tia had been saddened by the name, insisting that naming a mountain after her was already overkill, but Shining refused to listen. Heh. Nirru's eyes widened as a massive dreadnought with thirty times the speed and twenty times the maneuverability of the norm shot forward into space, seemingly out of ‘nothingness’, thanks to Keela’s illusion magic. No, she wouldn't even get time to react. "Applejack!" I called out. The orange mare was already at her station in front of us all, smirking. "Main batteries, on!" she declared. A hundred rail cannons folded out of our hull, her forelegs raising and causing them all to extend as her armor folded over her body. The harness activated, and I gave her the data stream of all of the rocks around the enemy fleet. "Openin’ fire," she announced, eyes flashing green for a moment. Faster than any targeting computer could manage, she 'felt' out each and every rock I'd selected. They were locked onto in half a second, and every single cannon fired at once. A hundred bright red apples sailed off into space, each moving at about fifty thousand meters a second, give or take. Even at that immense speed, it still took about four seconds for the barrage to reach the enemy fleet. "Apples?" Nirru managed to ask skeptically, a second before the now glowing fruit collided with the rocks and debris around them. "Shi-" she added, but it was drown out as the entire area lit up in massive explosions, undoubtedly erasing that skeptical look entirely, much to my satisfaction. Of course, the apples had been accelerated through about ten of my barriers on their way out of the cannons, which effectively put the energy they contained equal to about three hundred times what we were using in the tests earlier. The only thing that prevented them from exploding instantly was the sheer acceleration they'd been hit with before going through the barriers. "Now!" I shouted. Fluttershy gave a shout, whipping her wings downwards in an instant, just as Rainbow almost screamed as her own wings flared with energy. Then, for the first time ever, a six kilometer long dreadnought pulled a ninety degree 'backflip', blasting in reverse as hard as it could manage. Twilight smiled, her magic releasing the two hundred kilometer wide chunk of planet we'd been hauling, it passing under us at almost forty thousand meters a second. We rotated, and the lavender alicorn stepped into her station just in front of me. "Ether Furnace Main Cannon, on!" Twilight shouted, her horn radiating out light as it split momentarily into hundreds of branches. Damn. The entire bow of our ship opened up, just as we completed our 'flip'. A massive lock targeted the chunk of planet as it sailed right into the enemy fleet, and Twilight let out a loud bellow at the top of her lungs, her magic momentarily washing out my sight of the cabin around us. It all flooded right down the main barrel, twisted into as tight a corkscrew as she could manage. The beam of pure Ether still expanded out to almost a kilometer wide, tearing out of the front of the ship like a vast solar flare. There was no registered passage of time before it struck the chunk of planet in front of us, the explosion of energy ruptured across the mantle of the plate, and it fragmented, shattering into thousands of superheated chunks that blasted across the entire enemy fleet like a shotgun from Tartarus. My sensors were disrupted from the levels of heat and debris, and I nodded. "Move in for the kill from the right flank," I ordered. No mercy or hesitation now. I closed my eyes, feeling inside of myself at the same time. Smiling, I felt them, billions of eyes all opening at once at the same time as mine did again, feeling the stirring all around me. Twilight nodded, turning back and focusing on recharging the Ether Core while Fluttershy and Rainbow shot us around to the side, bits of burning planet fragments skipping off our shields as we moved... I sighed, and then swallowed before bracing myself. "Malice, awaken..." I finally announced. It was simple, really. We were surrounded by billions of kilograms of matter. We ultimately needed more than one ship to defend this large of an area. Ships needed pilots and crew. Solution! They formed ten at a time, less than two seconds per 'ship'. A base structure of my enchantment carried to a suitably sized rock by a few dozen Malice spirits. They pushed my magic into the rock, my awareness traveling with them all the way back to where we first entered. I could see through their eyes, which was a bit strange at first, just like when we tested this back in Equus. Together, they controlled the transmutation and animated the mechanisms. The crystal warped into its core a moment later, and the clear glass at the top lit up, the image of one of the three hundred guards back home. One by one, they powered up, mechanized ponies made out of bits of planet, each about seven meters tall, and piloted by a guard. Shields and lances formed, carried to each side of their shoulders, both enhanced with Aegis Barriers. The jets were the last to form, and I saw hundreds of trails light up behind us, spreading out over the entire area, then forming a massive Aegis Barrier all interlinked between the points on their shields like a great net. Well, a great net with sharp and pointy things sticking out everywhere, that were actually a combination of lance and cannon. Pony training was amazing fighting in phalanx, I'd discovered. "New technique, Aegis Net established," Twilight confirmed, looking over her data panel before looking back at me. Perfect. Nodding to her, I ordered, "Surprise advantage is ours. Move in for the kill, ponies!" No hesitation. Fluttershy whipped her wings to the side, and Rainbow flared hers with energy behind her. We were gone in an instant, rocketing through space and far to the right of the panicked enemy vessels. Shots were being fired almost randomly through the debris, which was actually doing an amazing job at making it worse, given they were hitting and exploding more of the chunks of planet, and incandescent plasma was drifting everywhere now. Of course, it was also making it kind of hard for us to get target acquisitions, but that didn't really matter. "Twilight?" I asked, checking my system displays. "Twenty seconds," she reported back, and I nodded. No time, then. "Applejack, can you feel them?" I asked instead. Several stray beams flew in while we skidded to the right, and I could have sworn I heard 'twitchy twitch' before three Aegis clusters whipped around and parried them. I saw her focus for a moment, then smirk. "Lively little buggers. Ah can see 'em clear as day with all tha movements they're doin'," she murmured, which was ironic given her eyes were closed. Not that she needed them to ‘see’ her targets, given that they were made out of metal in a complete void. A highly pure grade of metal, which apparently a skilled Earth Pony hooked up to a magical empathy amplifier could ‘feel’ instead. "Open fire, full barrage," I returned, flicking my display over to scans instead. The image feed showed Big Mac grin, then give a shove to the trough feed in Equus. Thousands of apples flooded down the troughs and right into the portal, my displays suddenly picking up on six thousand two hundred and fifty-three 'ammunition' quantities loaded into us. She got the green light and grinned, her magic feeling them out as the cannons opened fire. Each of them targeted individually with brutal precision, as she 'harvested' the enemy fleet with her magic. Apples sailed in-between rocks and timed to arc around minor gravity flows, each smashing almost dead on with their targets. The entire area in front of us suddenly was ablaze in burning orange orbs of flame. A few dozen ships shot through the fire, of course, flying towards us fast. Some were hit, but most of the second wave of apples missed due to evasive maneuvers. "Rarity, you're up. Applejack, switch to the frigates!" I ordered quickly. Rarity's horn lit up just as the fighters swarmed in... Most of them didn't swarm out. Spikes of crystal came alive like a thousand swords floating around our massive vessel, even as we charged through the cloud of fighters at thirty thousand meters per second. Her ribbons came alive, and her precision was absurd as she sliced and cut, ground and ripped. Some were cut in half entirely. More lost wings and thirds of their vessel. Every single one of them exploded violently when hit, leaving single digits left to the swarm as we carried through. "Twilight!" I called out, just as Fluttershy gave a sharp left and spun us away from one of the large planet bits. Pinkie was a blur, shields bouncing around the front of the vessel and parrying bits of rock as we shot into the cloud. "Ninety-eight percent!" she shouted back, her entire body burning with lavender energy as it flicked off the massive crystal orb in front of her. Almost! The third volley from our batteries fired, this time centered in clusters on the larger of the support ships as they turned to try to position guns on us. Flames lit up space in large orbs as dozens of them shattered away, and I heard a chorus of squeaky screams over the intercom from the first Grosh siege ship as they suddenly realized we were literally right there, practically within ramming distance. Missiles fired from the massive ship as we tore through their support like leaves to a shredder. As predicted, they opened up with every port they had, thousands of missiles flying free into space and homing in on us. I smiled. Right into the trap... "Flak," I ordered rather easily. Hundreds of pointed blades zipped around to the front of our ship as we sailed in, not slowing down even slightly. The missiles clustered in to get at our smaller vessel, and Rarity fired. Their barrage of missiles was met with thousands of shards of flickering energy, cascading like snow through space. Every one of her spires was capable of firing off a cluster of raw Ether shards for anti-missile protection. The waves of explosions removed all visibility in a heartbeat, washing away both visual and thermal sensors in a sea of fire. Fluttershy had her cue already rehearsed. She gave a surprisingly loud shout, at least for her, and whipped to the side, and we dipped into a barrel roll under the wave of flames. They didn't track us. Their bottom defenses didn't even come online by the time we shifted under them. At the speed we had been moving, any other ship in our size class would have been limited to just plowing through the flames. "Fire," I ordered, and Twilight smirked. My scans showed the inside of the ship through already established information. We had lined up with their formation perfectly with that roll, though, and I directed the angle upwards. We whipped out of our spin under them, the front of our bow already open and burning with energy. The lance of power ripped through space, smashing hard into the underside of the ship and punching right up through the space that I knew their main coil generator was located at. Being less dense than normal to account for the heat sinks, our main cannon ripped through it like wet tissue paper, punching straight out the other side of their ship at an angle upwards. They all screamed, and the entire center of the ship suddenly erupted into flames and shattering metal. The beam kept going, shattering into the other area of their formation and blowing right into the side of siege ship two, tearing into the exposed coil generator on the side that powered the left planet buster. The explosion was massive, rocking the entire ship to the side as it lurched, catering through several more parts of planet before hitting the third siege ship. The impact was immense, and another huge explosion rocked out from between them as the second siege ship shattered the coil generator on its other side as well, blowing the bottom out of the third ship. We shot past the first one in a heartbeat, Dash opening us up again to full speed. It exploded behind us, tearing itself into three pieces as it disintegrated under the heat of its own generator output going nova. Thirty seconds on the clock, one siege ship down, one incapacitated, and another reeling. Every support ship connected to the first siege ship had also disabled, as anticipated. We were ahead of schedule! Nirru knew we were behind her at this point. "You little bastards!" she screamed out, now seething with rage as she tried to rotate the flagship. We outclassed it about fifty times in speed, however, and our two pegasi worked in tandem, dropping us beneath the range of the upper guns and under the cluster of forces now above us. The bottom cannons opened fire, of course, but Pinkie was already moving before we even turned. Shields parried the five beams, instead sending them lancing across the scrambling support ships. "Charging?" Twilight asked, but I shook my head this time. "No time. Keep the second shot in reserve and power the batteries instead. Full cannon support," I ordered, just as we whipped under the two struggling siege ships as they tried to disengage from each other's hulls without destroying the third ship's planet busters. Heh. "Ah see tha soft spots!" Applejack murmured, looking up as all the batteries followed her gaze. I smirked. Pinkie giggled gleefully, flipping onto her front hooves as her two back ones parried another three beams. "Oooh, tickle their tummies, AJ!" she called out. I nodded to that, trying not to laugh. The cannons opened up again, this time the apples leaving burning streaks through space as Twilight flooded our attack systems with more power. Something was being screamed from the second siege vessel, my translator activating through Keela's relay with it. The Grosh native tongue was translated a moment later, coming up as, "You said the small equines were defenseless, feline whore!" Okay, I laughed. My eyes widened a moment later as the third ship did something mildly unexpected. It rotated instead. The cloud of apples that were incoming instead had the entire second ship 'flung' sideways into them. Dozens scored across the bottom of the second ship, blowing bits of paneling away and tearing off most of the lower armor, but none of them struck true to actually hit the generator as the ship rotated. Over half of them instead crashed into the badly damaged side, exploding mostly harmlessly off the ablative surfaces. Tch. "Evasive maneuvers, roll and get some distance. Twilight, start charging again," I ordered. No, save the other shot... charge again. Plus, our cannon probably couldn't survive the stored shot. At the angle of their rotation, we could dodge their ship, but that would bring us into line with their upper guns, which would hurt. No, better to go into the range of their smaller front bottom guns and get some distance. "Wait!" Applejack shouted, then called out, "One more burst under, everypony! Big Mac, load it!" Wait, what? Load what? Rainbow grinned, and suddenly I got a really bad feeling about this. But no, I trusted them, so I nodded and we lurched forward, rolling and flipping under the rotating ship again. Big Mac looked surprised on the viewscreen and swallowed uncomfortably, which really made me nervous, but then he tossed a single apple down the chutes a second later. I frowned, having never seen an apple like that before at all. It was surprisingly... colorful. "Load it, Twilight, an' charge just that cannon!" Applejack ordered, taking aim as we spun out under them and they opened fire with missiles instead. The alicorn flared with magic, radiating out power that shot right into only one cannon, smack in the middle of our upper deck. Applejack cried out, aiming as her eyes almost glowed with her magic, and the cannon roared to life, firing the apple at almost six times normal speed. Despite being well within the energy levels of the coils, the cannon literally tore itself apart as it fired. Uh... What... What had we just launched? The energy radiated out of the apple as it passed by the swarm of missiles as if they were standing still. They exploded in a long trail following the shot, and my eyes widened at the sheer level of energy put out by the fruit. "Full shields! Evade!" I shouted, Applejack squeaking as we rocked to the side and Pinkie landed on her back, slamming all four hooves together towards the departing apple's direction. There was no traditional explosion. Instead, it almost looked like space 'distorted' for a moment in a huge wave away from the ship. The missiles all exploded instantly, and for a brief second, everything was still. Then the single apple hit the underside of the ship's hull, briefly registering an impact of around a hundred petajoules, hitting with pure kinetic damage as it shattered out into the armor. The shockwave exploded outwards, blasting across our shields in a massive wave of debris and kinetic energy in a fraction of a second. My eyes widened as it didn't stop. The siege ship's armor folded away, almost as if it was just dust being blown by a stiff breeze. It kept going, and going, until I saw clear space on the other side, the ship bending as the shockwave and blast tore it into two halves. Bits of ship drifted for just a moment in a miasma of damage as it buckled to the side from the impact. The clean tear was replaced by fire a second later, and more screaming as the ship suddenly exploded violently. Well hell, we didn't really have to bother targeting the weak spot with that thing! "That woulda made such ah nice pie," Applejack lamented, and I raised my eyebrow over at her skeptically. She just winked at me, though, and suddenly I was terrified. Whatever that apple was, ponies ate it?! They put that inside of their bodies?! I didn't have time to ask, sadly. "Damn it!" Nirru shouted out, blasting all three primary engines off from the back of her flagship. Ah! Instead of attacking us as I thought she would, she instead made a break right for the portal zone with the entire flagship. Okay, so that attack might have been a little too intimidating. "Tch, after her!" I called out, causing Fluttershy to flip us right-side up, and Dash opened us up again. We were faster than her for the first six seconds of her acceleration, I knew, and we reached top speed in ten seconds instead. My vision expanded out, aware of hundreds of different perspectives as I looked 'ahead' of the flagship, to the other end of the battle. As I'd anticipated, she'd sent the smaller ships that were able to navigate through the barrage of rocks forward, almost half of the support fleet attacking our fortification. It looked like it was going very, very poorly for them. Pony mechs were everywhere, floating to and fro, on and between bits of the planet as they shifted and moved the massive net of energy around, entirely blocking off entrance into the weakened area. Shining Armor was right at the front, and gave another bark of orders as he smashed his Barrier Lance right through an incoming ship, kicking off them and drifting back into the main net. Oh! He was leading sallying forces to smash at support ships out of range from the flanks while the bulk of the guard defended the area. I watched him and his assault squad twist and warp away as they retreated again, and realized he was also coordinating with Keela for illusion support. To my surprise, Tym had joined the sortie himself as well. A full exo-suit was attached to his armor, looking like it was an old mining getup. It provided both air and multi-directional boosting power as he nimbly shot in-between enemy ships, pushing their line back almost by himself on the other side. Each flick and movement of his hands caused precise blasts of energy to tear through space in sharp crescents, searing ships in half with ease no matter their size. He zipped away long before they exploded, moving on to more and leaving a wide swath of destruction. I was honestly surprised he wasn't on heavy siege, as his strongest spells could easily level a good chunk of the support fleet. Although that would come at the cost of announcing his immediate presence as he charged the spell, too. No, he was a professional, so there was no sense in doubting him. Keela trusted him as well to do what he was best at. Speaking of Keela, her mining ship still distorted in multiple spots, one occasionally moving and causing the support ships to try to attack it as it charged forward, only to waste a lot of ammo into open space. Flash rewind display in my computer database showed her actually using missile pods deployed all around the battlefield now to fire off ordinances from some of her 'images', lending credibility to her illusions and drawing more fire. Drawing my focus back to the flagship, I winced, watching it bash its way out of the rubble field that we'd scattered, all shields flicking to the front of the ship to absorb damage from the huge chunks of planet it just rammed out of the way. I gestured us down, following into its wake instead just in time to avoid broken bits of the ship's satellite array that had been bashed free. I didn't even want to see the front of her ship at this point, even with full frontal barriers. It would make the engineer in me cry. Still, all shielding focus was now on the front of her ship... "Fire into her engines. Aim for those three main clusters in the back there, Applejack," I ordered, highlighting the area in her display. I then added, "Switch back to charging, Twilight." Without shielding, our batteries weren't going to need the full powered umph to tear up the engines. The ship was unorthodox for Grosh standards. It had two long 'fins' that jutted from the sides of the ship, both mounting a long tube of sorts that ran horizontal to the back engine. Both had thrusters on them, so I assumed they were for assistance and stabilization of the three powerful hybrid engines in the center. Those, forming a triangle, were used for traditional jumping, and as the primary hyperspace propulsion as well, by their shape. Grosh ships didn't use slipstream, like we did, instead using a surprisingly rudimentary hyperspace borehole effect. Powerful and fast, but no ability to turn whatsoever, and unlike our allies, once they went in, they couldn't go out again except for at their destination determined ahead of time. Well, okay, they could, but their ship would come out in pieces and on fire. Applejack needed less than a second to lock onto the engines, opening fire immediately. Dozens of explosions tore through the metal and supplemental shielding almost as if it wasn't there, shredding the exhaust and propulsion emitters in an instant, and even blowing the hell out of the heat sinks further along the sides. The energy overloaded along the right, causing a surprisingly large blast of flames and radiation off into space, and I gestured to the left, our two expert fliers having us swerving in that direction just to be on the safe side. Predictably, the remains of the engine spontaneously vented and performed a rapid, unplanned disassembly mere moments later. The ship rocked, jutting at an angle almost immediately from the force of the explosion. To my surprise, the shield emitters didn't slide backwards into the normal position, however. I raised an eyebrow, then heard a rather pissed off sounding, "Tch!" over the feed through Keela’s magic. "Damn you, rodents! Okay, you surprised me. I'll definitely give you that. But you're going to die horribly regardless," she warned, smirking has she flicked her hand downwards, shattering through a glass panel and smashing down on a button that was apparently on her dash. My eyes widened as the four shield emitters suddenly slid forward instead, powering up to about six times the strength they were before then... No. No! The curving wings of energy formed off them, even as the decoupling discharges tore the back of the ship off. What I thought were the thruster fins slid downwards to each side as the entire ship suddenly accelerated, a hybrid Keldarian engine hidden behind the remains. She had Slipstream and Aegis Barriers! "Full speed!" I shouted out, even before she suddenly lurched forward at three times her prior speed. Rainbow fired her wings up again and we shot after her, both massive ships streaking towards the weakened area. Of course! She gave us way longer than the Grosh would have needed to prepare... because they had to build the flagship! Her plan had never been to assault and capture the area... Twilight looked to me in surprise, but I growled suddenly. "She's going to make a portal here and now. That's not a flagship. It's a giant makeshift portal engine!" I warned. Keela gasped over the feed, looking towards me in surprise, then checking her scanners just in time to see our two ships hurtling towards her area. "What's the plan?!" Shining asked sharply less than a second later, his location reporting as to the left flank of the field of operations again, locking onto the massive ship instead. My eyes looked over the new shape of the ship, with the primary thrusters not actually running, and the entire thrust being provided by the two fin boosters. That was... "Twilight, Keela, can you get me scans and a readout of the output from the main engines? Fast!" I requested instead. Twilight flicked the data screen up instantly, just as Keela started feeding the data into it. "It looks like she's keeping them in standby mode. Oh hell," Keela groaned out. I nodded, seeing the power spikes further inside. Shaking my head, I instead ordered, "Not standby. She's powering up an FTL jump. Twilight, load the backup charge and switch to powering the batteries. Applejack, tear the right fin off. Hard. She'll veer to the right, opening her whole flank to Shining. Shining, there's power couplings behind the two massive shield emitters on that side. Giving you the data display now. Slice one, or both of them if you can..." Shining nodded, slamming his shield onto the mech's flank, then using his forelegs to both grip the massive blade, all energy switching to that instead. "Understood. I'm guessing it'll be a tough cut?" he inquired, narrowing his eyes as we came in. "Like steel cutting through a brick," I warned, then nodded as Twilight switched the two main plugs into the crystal orb in front of her, then flared with energy again. "Full power to batteries. Backup charge allocated," she declared, smirking as all of our guns radiated the same purple energy as the alicorn. The 'backup' charge kicked in, and I smiled. Keela raised an eyebrow, however, then added, "You never mentioned a 'backup' charge in the plan..." Shaking my head, I explained, "There were a few last minute additions. Sorry. Are you ready then, 'backup charge'?" Glancing to my right, I smiled as the second viewscreen opened up. Tia smiled back, nodding through massively glowing eyes. I couldn't see any of her surroundings at all, the entire area looking like the inside of a star, ten large crystal orbs floating around her and radiating with pure Ether. Wait, ten? "Backup charge is very, very fully charged. I added a few more crystals because I was bored," she warned, winking towards me. Oh hell. Sighing, I activated the extra shielding around the cannon and nodded. There definitely wouldn't be a main cannon after this. "Locked and loaded. Open fire, AJ," I ordered, nodding as she glared at the right fin. Flak cannons in the back opened up even as she fired. Rarity fired, too, however, hundreds of mini-missiles swarming into the field of view between the target and us, shooting every which way. Missiles that tiny had limited use in space battles, but I packed most of their mass into the propulsion system for just this use. They lacked the 'punch' the apples obviously had, but ninety percent of the cannons picked up on their much larger heat sources, opening fire on the missiles instead of the apples. Most of the apples streaked through the flames of the detonations everywhere, smashing into their targets with precision. Being hidden primary thrusters, I wasn't surprised in the least when the strut connecting the right thruster literally exploded when the apples tore through the top of it. All that energy shattered out through the side of the ship, sending a flare of power that tore the engine to pieces as it was flung from the ship. Everything happened so fast. Shining and six other guards burst forward, rocketing towards the side of the ship even as the explosion lit up space around us, all prepped for killing blows as their back legs folded up into full thrusters. The explosion rocked the entire flagship's rear to the left, exposing its entire side, just as two charged particle cannons lanced across our stern, tearing half of our engine off as Rainbow screamed. I winced as we rocked from the impact, Pinkie still rolling, her hoof blocking four more as her eyes widened in surprise. She was surprised?! No, wait... Pinkie looked back forward instead, eyes still wide. No, something else had her attention. "No, it didn't work!" she screamed out as well, just as Nirru growled through her comm, Keela’s magic giving us a perfect image of her whipping a stick to the left while pulling another straight down. The left fin booster decoupled instead, exploding out to the side as it detonated. Shining shouted, veering hard to the left as the massive blast of debris scattered through his formation, sparks and smaller explosions raining amongst them. He spun, shield activating instead as he blocked the remaining debris from his troops, but their momentum was gone. The main engines of the flagship went into full burn a second later, and she shot forward, already starting her Slipstream jaunt as the Wings of Icarus expanded from her four engine clusters. The entire ship momentarily looked like an arrow as it started to blur and distort. Everything slowed. I felt myself exhale slowly as I looked back at our display. Engines damaged down to thirty percent. We weren't going to catch up. I looked back up, watching Applejack switch over her display and reload the batteries. Too slow. Rarity looked at a loss, and Twilight was turning back to me, gesturing to the readings that showed the damaged siege warship approaching behind us. "The Elements!" she shouted, nudging her hoof towards the display. On the Grosh ship?! I was suddenly torn, in that instant, as I looked towards the energy output display. Twenty seconds until enemy ship entered Slipstream. Damn it. Doubt hit me a moment later almost out of nowhere, but I realized it was right. No, it was a bad idea. "No, decouple, Dash!" I ordered instead, Twilight giving me an intense frown even as I pulled my harness off and ran past her. Rainbow didn't hesitate, even for a second, as she yanked a cord to her left. Our engines decoupled instantly, launching backwards in a blast of power that sent it flinging towards the huge warship. I watched them veer to try to avoid the huge chunk of our ship, their main guns momentarily moving off course. The cyan mare ran after me, knowing what was next but arguing, "The Elements can hit that thing! It might stop it entirely, and we'll still have plenty of time!" "Then we might ruin our whole point of doing this, if they can get data readings from the Elements themselves! It's not worth the risk! Keela, mining laser on the underside of the hull as they veer. Rainbow, we're launching!" I ordered, looking back at her as she ran up. She frowned but nodded, ducking low into a slide a second later. I jumped, landing on her back as she went under me instead, and she opened her wings up, bursting while in the ship as we flew right for the nose instead. Keela only had two charges ready for the mining laser, but with the way the ship was swerving to avoid impact with our engine, she had a clear shot. The second blast door partition snapped shut behind us, shooting the nose of the command center out like a missile in front of the ship. Rainbow kept her balance, and I grabbed the pull cord on the right, nodding into the left viewscreen. "Twilight, fire!" I ordered. Her eyes widened, starting to open her mouth, but I shook my head, interrupting her with, "We'll be fine! Fire!" She swallowed but nodded, then hit the other button. I looked down through the lower viewing port, watching the massive main gun under us flare up with golden light. It looked like a star itself being loaded into the chamber, flashing out like a spotlight onto Nirru's ship. Well, that wasn't entirely inaccurate, I admitted. Prudentia started to glow at my side, and Purdue nodded in my mind, the Aegis Barrier forming under us just as the massive shockwave hit. Our mech soldiers had scattered already. I had lined up the trajectory. The angle was perfect. None of it prepared me in the slightest for seeing a raw magnified release from the Princess of the Sun, however. Our main cannon magnified it by a factor of ten, and then burned away under the force of the raw power. The front of our ship ruptured from the heat stress, and it was like watching a supernova open up and radiate out under us. My eyes widened, the corona of energy swallowing us up entirely and flinging us along like a spec of dust caught up in a hurricane. We were nothing to the raw power, and Rainbow silently screamed, her voice drown out by the raw noise of the shockwave smashing through our tiny escape pod cabin. Pushing hard and fast, I shoved the barrier straight down, the cabin blowing apart around us. The barrier was shaped, however, and we rode it out of the wave of raw energy like a surfer would on actual water. Getting flung out of the huge beam, I could only stare in shock as it lanced off into dark space, stretching out beyond my sensors, even. It was over two kilometers wide, actually dwarfing the flagship as it crashed along its side, violently shoving it out of its initial path, even as the two left Aegis Barrier emitters turned to so much ash. Nirru's image disappeared into the light as she silently screamed, the flagship spinning as flames burned off its side, explosions and sparks following the debris into space. If I had anticipated even half of that power, I would have just targeted it directly. Who cared about the Slipstream explosion if the wave of energy you were using sent it all into the next star system anyway?! The engines exploded into light behind her, the ship managing to lurch forward on its side as the two remaining emitters warped and distorted reality around the bow. Damn it! The tear through reality never stabilized, however, opening a jagged sideways hole as the ship started to push its way through. "Rainbow, after them!" I shouted as we came out of our spin. Her wings were already fully expanded, and this time, it was just us again in open space. Her wings flared with energy as we shot forward and after the ship. "Follow its draft," I warned a second later, watching as the wings snapped inwards and the entire flagship vanished in a distorted warp. No, even if she didn't have siege weapons, there was no way I was going to let that crazy bitch get through to Equus unchecked. She had traditional weapons and her magic, which was dangerous enough as is. I'd promised that not a single pony would be injured, and I meant it. Looking back to Twilight, I saw my screen split between her and Shining on the left. "Are you two okay?" I quickly asked as Dash leveled us off with the tear that was slowly starting to collapse on itself. "We're recovered, and running interception for The Celestia," Shining assured. I watched him spin and easily dodge support ship fire as he impaled a missile cruiser with his massive lance. Twilight smirked to me and nodded, adding, "We're just blockading at this point. We don't have engines, so you and Rainbow are best at going after Nirru. So get going!" "Roger!" Rainbow confirmed, wings opening up to full burst. We were through the tear in reality before I could even register her answer. Going through Slipstream without a ship was always an interesting experience. It was actually less disorienting using it to hop dimensions, it turns out, due to lack of normal geometric input. As far as I could tell, the space 'between' dimensions was entirely empty. Or at least, it appeared that way through standard visual observation. Slipstream normally screwed with optical sensors because it started translating the optics into non-euclidean geometry. Perspective was shot at that point, almost impossible to predict, so we used spatial location software to navigate instead. Having no geometric inputs at all meant there was, thus, nothing to translate into non-euclidean geometries. It looked like a mostly black 'tunnel', with distorted prismatic light forming the walls that held back the darkness on the other side. I so didn't want to try to punch through those... The flagship was a ways ahead of us, but we were closing fast, Rainbow squeaking in surprise as she dodged some burning, distorted debris. "Careful, Dash! Her ship is heavily damaged..." I warned, earning a nod from her as she zipped over to the other side of the tunnel, and the side of the flagship that hadn't been pulverized by a massive solar blast of death. Rainbow gritted her teeth, her wings opening up to full tilt as we burned after the ship that was rapidly getting larger again in the tunnel. I nodded, leaning as far into her back as I could as I switched through my internal data panels. "We're catching up now. Fifty seconds until interception. Ninety seconds until exit into Equus. You need to get me onto the hull, on the top preferably," I instructed. She nodded, determination shooting through her expression as her eyes narrowed down. The hull had small sentry lasers, but my shielding would be more than enough to guard us as we went past. It wasn't time to play around, and I fully intended to just get up to the control center and tear the entire thing apart. No more Nirru, no more threat. Marking the cockpit for Rainbow, I sent the schematic down her link, then accessed the comm feeds again. "What's happening?" I asked, video feed taking a moment to link up. It popped on a moment later with Keela looking frantic. Great. "We only scored an indirect hit with the mining laser! I didn't expect it, but they ejected the entire remaining planet buster array into the path of the beam as we lined up the lower hull shot!" she reported an instant later. Ah, crap. They realized they weren't going to get through the portal to use them at this point, then. Twilight gritted her teeth in the other screen, then shouted out, "I can't charge the main gun. It's destroyed, and we lost four clusters of the battery cannons when we fired that last shot! We're down to sixty battery cannons for attack, and are relying on flak and Pinkie's shielding for defense." …crap. "Keela, start charging the cannon's second shot, then stealth around for a sneak attack. Shining, take your skirmish force and try to guard them with a small Aegis Net. Twilight, start charging up the teleport escapes," I called back. The lavender mare hesitated for only a moment before nodding and unhooking her own secondary harness. Applejack growled, then got one more volley off before kicking her own harness off, pushing herself out of it. I watched Rarity unhook hers, then run over and help Fluttershy start to undo her own, but Pinkie’s eyes widened instead, still in her spot. I looked over at the enemy ship again, just as she whispered, “Uh oh… We… We should run!” Three large pods ejected off the top of the ship, even as the front of it opened up and folded out. Oh. No! Twilight’s eyes widened as she watched their engines flare to full speed, looking back to the massive, full bow length armored ‘blade’ folded into place. Tym distorted back into reality as he looked back at the ship as well, muttering, “Tch, hell, it’s ramming!” He rotated away from the now exploding and burning remains of the three escape pods and burst towards the side of the ship at full speed, which wasn’t that great for his mining suit. Oh, well at least the Grosh weren’t going to be escaping to warn the others… “Evacuate, now!” Shining screamed out, already in front of the massive ship with his full shields up. There was no way he could stop that! “My… My wing’s stuck!” Fluttershy yelped, fighting with her harness to get the stabilization sensors off her wing. Rarity frowned, tugging at the harness as well to try to rip it out of the wall instead, as Applejack ran over towards her station. No, she couldn’t teleport with that extra mass attached to her. The emergency teleports were built for speed of charge and that would burn out the charge in it! “Fluttershy! Applejack, get her free!” Rainbow shouted out, getting the audio feed at the same time as me. Applejack spun as she ran in, then shouted out, “Ah’m sorry, Flutters! Ah broken wing is better than dyin’, though!” The yellow mare’s eyes widened, but it was too late for her to even react as her friend smashed both of her back hooves straight into the release clamps. She screamed out, her left wing twisting with a snap as the release clamp tore off, metal shattering under the impact of Applejack’s enhanced legs. Rarity winced, tears sliding down her face, but immediately reached out and hit the gem on Fluttershy’s chest as she collapsed, unmoving. My breath caught, and I looked to her monitor, which displayed low pulse rate. Unconscious… Damn. I couldn’t take this… The orange mare gritted her teeth, wiping tears from her own eyes as she hit her chest gem, too. Rarity, Pinkie, and Twilight followed suit, all five gems starting to glow. “Ah… Ah’m sorry, Sugar. Forgive me later…?” Applejack asked softly to the now unconscious pegasus. “Ten seconds until teleportation…” Twilight announced, looking down at her own gem, then biting her lip and looking up at the massive ship approaching, filling up the entire viewscreen on that side. No… It was too close. Her breath caught, and her brother gritted his teeth in the display, activating full speed on his mech. His entire squad smashed into the side of the warship as it came in. Abandoning weapons, they all hit the armor plating in front of the ship, crashing hard into it and holding on as their mechs switched to full thrust mode instead. Hull lasers opened fire on them, but they just kept pushing, slowly starting to turn the massive ship, ever so slightly. “We have to turn around!” Rainbow screamed, looking back at me frantically as she watched. “We can’t!” I shouted back, knowing it wasn’t possible now that we were already in the slipstream and being pulled along in the flagship’s wake at full speed. Twilight gave a whimper, backing up against the wall of the command center, the four other mares pushed into her as her horn started to glow. A barrier went up around them, and she reported, “F-Five seconds!” My breath caught, the ship barely two seconds from impact, the blade coming in that was three times the width of the entire command center. Pinkie cried out, turning to the side and exiting the shield as she ran for her harness. “Pinkie!” Twilight screamed, left foreleg reaching out for her. The signals in Shining’s squad were disconnecting rapidly as the mechs were destroyed. Tym gave out a growl, still four kilometers out as he charged a massive orb of energy from his right hand. No. No! Pinkie’s eyes widened to full, tears sliding down them as she looked to her right, mid-sprint. Time ground to a halt as a distortion hit the side of the ship, and then exploded. Shattering metal and rupturing armor sounded out, deafening at point blank range just as the ship smashed into the side of The Celestia. My jaw dropped as I watched, almost in slow motion, as the entire mining vessel came out of nowhere and blindsided the siege ship. Its armor wasn’t even a comparison, the metal of the mining vessel caving and crumpling under the huge impact. Its sheer mass, however… It almost completely nullified the forward momentum of the siege ship, smashing into its armored side and blowing through plating like a massive wrecking ball. The huge blade smashed into the side of The Celestia at the same time, and the viewpoint for my camera rocked violently as all four mares screamed out, sparks falling down everywhere as the lights died and they were jarred from their hooves. Twilight’s shield flickered as the four of them were smashed up against the wall behind her, but Pinkie hit the side of her station hard, giving a pained yelp as she fell onto her stomach instead. The siege ship and Keela’s mining vessel ‘rolled’ along the side of The Celestia, violent explosions rupturing from both of them, the huge mining laser underneath starting to flare up and burn with sixty percent charge in it still. She’d… “No, Keela!” Tym screamed, staring in shock at the massive collision, even as he slowed down. Rainbow and I looked to Keela’s monitor at the same time, it having gone dark when she’d slipped into hiding to line up the shot. She winced in it, on the floor of her command station with nothing but red light flickering overhead. Litta was in the image, too, lying on the floor a few meters away with blood pooling under her. Blood was on Keela, too, flowing down the left side of her head, but she smiled up at me and rapidly shook her head. “No, this… It’s payment, Mender. I was so stupid for believing my sister and enabling her all this time to do all this evil. This was always our mess to clean up, not yours. We couldn’t let anypony die for our mess! S-Stop her. For me!” she ordered. I clenched my teeth as she gasped, another rock going through the command center that knocked her to the floor again. “No! No, I can still telepo-“ Twilight started to shout out. She was gone a second later, communication feed interrupted with all five of them as they winked out of existence, one by one. Swallowing, I felt my eyes start to get wet as I shook my head rapidly. “You… You need to get out of there!” I called out, feeling my legs start to shiver against Rainbow. Keela smiled, pushing her upper torso off the floor again before shaking her head slowly. “No time. Can’t… walk…” she whispered, then shivered again, wincing. I widened my eyes, looking to her right, and saw the broken railing of the captain’s platform. She’d fallen off it… Her legs were okay, but the way her waist was twisted… She instead looked up at me, then slowly shook her head again. “Stop her. For me. Mender, I love y-“ Her viewscreen disappeared in a sudden radiance of flame and energy, then cut to static. My breath caught, and I watched the mining laser explode. It consumed the entirety of her ship in an instant, and blew the Grosh siege ship in half, sending its parts scattering across what was left of The Celestia. The last of the enemy ships halted all at once, and suddenly, the entire battlefield just stopped, much like my heart did. No. No, it couldn’t have… “Did… Is she…” Rainbow whispered, staring in shock at the snow on the monitor. I shuddered, swallowing as I tore my eyes from it. Swallowing, I refused to process any of it and instead looked at our own data panels. The link to her… It was gone. I watched the connection redline, and the pony mechs started turning off, dozens at a time as their connections severed. That meant Tym… Then I saw that our time until intercept was well past, and my eyes widened drastically. “Dash, we’re behind! Three seconds until exit!” I warned, looking back at her, then up ahead of us, just as she gasped and looked forward again as well. My eyes widened as we were almost on top of the ship, just as it exited the other side of the tunnel and caught the burnt remains of the left wing engine on the lip. Rainbow swerved hard, me bringing my shields up to bare against the huge cloud of debris as it came in. She cried out an instant later, and I winced as well as a large strut smashed off my left shoulder. We were flung sideways into a spiral out into real space again alongside the broken-to-bits flagship. Blood. I gasped as I watched it drift up, some escaping from the thin barrier around her before it sealed back up again. Her left eye… was a mess, looking like a sheet of metal had lacerated it open, and there was a three centimeter wide bar of metal sticking out from the top of her left shoulder. The other end passed out under her foreleg, and she grit her teeth, that leg shaking violently now. Damn it! “Rainbow, evac!” I ordered, turning myself as we drifted so her front faced me, reaching for her crystal. “N-No! I can… Hah… I can still get you to the front of the ship!” she assured, trying to weakly push my arm away. More blood flowed down from both her eye and shoulder, sliding across her torso now. No, she needed medical attention. Shaking my head, I leaned forward and lightly kissed the bridge of her muzzle, causing her other eye to widen just a bit. My hoof contacted her crystal at the same time, and she yelped when she realized what I was doing. “Hey, no, I can still-!” she started to protest, but I lightly pushed off of her and drifted towards the badly damaged flagship. The spell that… Keela had been using to talk to Nirru was gone. I didn’t know if it would have worked between dimensions anyway, but regardless, I had no idea what she was doing. The engine read as powered down, probably having baked itself in the Slipstream transfer, but slowly powering up again. It was only at forty percent output, however, and flames and bits of debris drifted aimlessly off into space. “Mender! You jerk! You’d better be okay! You’re going to be a dad soon!” Rainbow shouted after me, over our short range comm. I turned again, then nodded to her, not having the energy to smile. Maybe I’d smile after the mission was done, and I had that bitch’s head launched into the sun. Firing my tentacles backwards, I latched onto the armor of the ship and yanked myself forward towards the front of the thing just as Rainbow winked away. I exhaled. She was safe now, and they could help her no problem. Pony medical care was amazing… They’d put me back together again after I’d burned my skin off, essentially, plus she had the nanites… Assuring myself that she’d be fine, I flipped as I came in against the hull, hard. My legs didn’t even bend as I hit and slid, skidding across the metal armor as the magnets engaged in my hooves. The armor around me expanded as I slowly walked forward, tentacles fully extended around me as I watched her hull defenses come online. Yup, figured she’d know I was here. Three were sliced in half before they even fired. I parried a laser as it came in, slicing that turret in half, too, as I disengaged the magnets and jumped. A vast majority of the guns went utterly ignored as I used my tentacles to whip myself in the direction of her cockpit instead. Trajectory in place, I threw shields up over myself and curled into a ball as I shot the full length of the ship. Lasers bounced off me rapidly as I moved, and I flung out another tentacle, hooking the bow plating on the side and swinging myself around, only to crater into the metal directly over the command center. Looking down, I saw one of the dozens of cameras focusing on me, and glared down with it, even as my hud lit up with a short range comm communication. Against my better judgement, I patched her through as I stood upright on her hull. “Figures you’d follow me even here. It really is your destiny to try to get in the way of my-“ she started to declare. I interrupted immediately with a low growl of, “Shut up.” Keela’s smile flashed through my head, and I gritted my teeth, my hoof cratering hard into the metal. The fracture shattered through the plating, and I pulled back and smashed into it again even harder. The ablative charge fired off, launching the plate into me, but I swatted it away in an instant and launched it sideways off into space. Turning to face the ship again, I pulled my hoof back, then momentarily raised an eyebrow as I saw the golden glow over the hull instead. “You… You’re not getting inside through that. You don’t have anything that can destroy an Aegis Barrier, and soon, I’ll have the engines back on and be able to…” she started to warn. She trailed off, and I frowned, suddenly noticing the same thing. We were… drifting. She had kept her forward momentum a little as we’d exited the slipstream, but now… we were going sideways? Gravity… Looking to our left in the direction we were being pulled slowly in, I widened my eyes a little. Oh. It was coming up from under the bottom of the ship, from my perspective, which is why I hadn’t seen it before. We were rotating slowly, however, while drifting forward, and now I could readily see the massive wall of gray moving in at frightening speeds. My eyes drifted to the edges of the moon, picking up a purple and blue tint, and confirmed it as I saw the silhouette. There was the glow of magic around the entire thing. Luna was moving it. No, she was swinging the entire moon at the flagship like it was a giant mace. The surface was coming at us at a good dozen meters per second, which, due to the pure mass, would be enough to paste this entire flagship and flatten it into one of the craters. I ran the calculation, and came up with about a hundred and eighty seconds until impact. “What…. the hell? It’s steering towards me?!” Nirru asked, mostly to herself, over the audio. I snorted, then pointed out, “You pissed off one of the two physical goddesses that lead us all, I guess. Oh, you didn’t know about that? Oops. Pity…” Not that I was going to let the moon kill her. Instead, I pulled my data panel open and accessed my subspace storage. “It… It doesn’t matter! Nothing matters anymore. It’s too late. If I’m going to die, I’m going to take all of you little rats with me. Try to stop me, I dare you. It’s too late, and you can’t-“ she started to retort. She hesitated as I drew Ventosus Lacuna out of subspace, the sheath locking to my side with the straps tying around my barrel automatically. “That… You can’t use my own sword against me. Hell, it barely listened to me and I’m a family member. It’s not even going to turn on for-“ she started to point out, apparently failing to notice its changed color schemes. I drew it directly from the sheath and right into the barrier and metal plating behind it with a flick of my neck, holding it in my teeth. It sliced through like butter, flaring with light as it sliced ahead in measured precision. One flick backwards, and there was a nice 'V’ shape in the hull, that I immediately stomped inwards before dropping through into the command center. She stared at me as I stood fully upright, her mouth hanging open. The hull sealed itself up behind me, the atmosphere loss only causing papers to go flying everywhere. Sparks came down from the ceiling light I accidentally cut through, but I walked through them as I got closer to her. She shifted to a glare a moment later, spitting at me as she stood up from her console. “Why?! Why does the sword listen to you and not me?!” she screamed out as I slid it back into its sheath. That was an easy question, anyway. “Probably because you’re a psychotic, egotistical bitch. Just a thought,” I explained, earning a more pointed glare as I looked around the control room. My systems had already hacked into her data stream, and I saw outputs powering up, which would probably be her engines again. But they were drawing in way too much energy to be that alone. I glanced to the side, and saw her corrective navigational course simply switching our orientation to point at the planet. Ah. “Yeah, you can see it. If I’m going to die one way or another, I’m dying on my terms. Ever wonder what happens when a dreadnaught class flagship crashes into a planet at several hundred times the speed of light? We’re about to find out…” she confirmed. My eyes narrowed inside my helmet as she smirked. “You have one chance. Turn it off, and I won’t show you how a real black ops tortures someone. Not for information, of course. Just to see how long it takes before you’re begging me to kill you, like so many others you did the same to,” I spat out, starting to walk towards her again. Her eyes narrowed and she backed up until she bumped into the rear wall. She snorted at that, standing straighter finally. “I… I’m not afraid of you, Mender. Plus I’m in my real body now, with my full magical powers. Do you honestly think you’re capable of winning? Besides, even if I could turn it off at this point, why would I? You’re a pathetic little pony. I don’t think you’re even capable of cold-blooded torture…” she reminded. I shivered lightly. She couldn’t turn it off. That told me everything I needed to know. I watched the flames spark into both of her palms and she smirked, dropping down into a magical combat stance. I simply stood there, however. “You killed her. For you, I’ll gladly make an exception. But, unfortunately, I don’t have time for this now,” I lamented. She frowned, a look of confusion dancing across her expression. “Killed her? Who’s her?” she started to ask. She’d join her in a second, and know then, I supposed. The second she hesitated, I flicked my shoulders back. There was a big downside to a combat style largely encompassing the use of fire. Two tentacles moved up and back behind me as fast as I could whip them. She gasped, but didn’t have time for anything else as I sliced a truly massive ‘V’ cut right across the top of the entire command center. Several explosions later with the air and energy lines being cut, the armor ruptured and blew around us and the entire room was vented into space. Her flame magic went out before it even left her hand as both of us went with most of the room. I rotated once, standing on the ceiling for support as we spiraled out into space amidst a sea of loose papers. Seven orbs of energy were charged along my leg as I spun, and after righting myself, I watched her rotate in a tight circle, fighting and thrashing to pull her helmet up over her head. She was in a Keldarian spacesuit, model at least three hundred or more. A trained military professional could deploy the helmet hood in four and a half seconds. I’d given myself three and took aim while focusing. She finally pulled it over her head, grinning triumphantly at me from upside down as she rotated around to face me again. There was no emotion at all as I fired, putting seven spears of barrier energy through her body an instant later. She stared at me in shock, the thin beams of energy going through both lungs, her heart, her stomach, both kidneys, and right between her eyes. Holding her there for a moment, I shifted all of the poles to blades instead, and yanked them all in separate directions. “Ask her when you see her again. I’m sure she’ll have words for you…” I spoke gently, finally. There wasn’t an answer, of course. What was left of her drifted off into space, and I watched it for a moment before turning and dropping down into the remains of the command center again. Hope she wasn’t expecting an epic magic duel or something. That’s not how reality worked. The navigation computer was still running perfectly fine, not caring at all that the whole room was depressurized. The automatic repair plating couldn’t do much about missing most of the roof. The computer reported full charge of the Slipstream engines in twenty five seconds, however. It also reported that the actual folding engine had been turned off. This came with a whole slew of warnings about the fact that we could hit something in the middle of the jump, of course. The engine read as locked out, which meant I’d have to manually go down there and disable the Slipstream countdown in less than twenty five seconds… It would take me longer to just reach the panel at this point. The moon was still forty seconds away from impact. Did the sisters have a way to block a ship hitting the planet at hundreds of times the speed of light? There just wasn’t any time. I racked my brain as my processors tried to brute force their way past the locks, but the system just disconnected itself fully. Damn it! Options… I couldn’t stop the drive, so that left only two solutions. Slow the jump down long enough for the moon to hit us, or make sure the ship didn’t hit the planet. If I started screwing with the gravity effects from myself, it would force the computer to repeatedly recalculate the pathing, but not slow it down a tremendous amount. Not the dozen seconds or so I needed for it to fall into the moon. I grew cold, swallowing again before detaching my magnetic locks and floating into space. My tentacles guided me as I latched onto the nose of the ship and pulled myself to it. Engaging them again after, I snapped my legs down to the surface of the nose, the very peak of the bow. Equus expanded out in front of me. It was a beautiful blue planet, mattings of greens and browns for the continents. I recognized Equestria, still on the dark side of the planet. They would have slept through it all. I closed my eyes, smiling finally as my whole body shivered. I felt the water in my eyes, pressing up against the crystal plates now. Keela… I wanted to enable the long range antenna and talk to them again. They were probably wondering what was going on. Smiling, I closed my eyes and just let the light of the sun dance over me. My back opened up again, folds of my armor coming out as the Wings of Icarus spread wide. My own FTL software, badly gutted out and only rudimentarily operational at this point, would still suffice. No, calling them would soothe me, but it would only bring them additional pain. There wasn’t any other choice I could think of! The concept was simple. The only issue was, my own FTL drive didn’t have any charge. I set it to charging immediately, but what energy it would be able to gather in the few seconds I had would only power a jump that was all of a fraction of a nanosecond. I calculated that, if I synced my field with the ship’s as it formed, I could use its own field to move in my slipstream effect. But with my calculations, I could only move the ship thirty thousand meters or so before running out of power. That wasn’t enough to even get it a full percent away from hitting the planet. So instead, I was only going to use mine to form the initial Slipstream tunnel. I had enough power to turn the ship. Just barely. Unfortunately, that meant that the ship would take over after I finished turning and just go straight until it ran out of power in the capacitor. About five seconds or so. With me stuck on it. I ran the calculation based on the speed of FTL Slipstream movement, and that would only take me about a hundred and sixty million kilometers away from Equus… I’d hit the shield the ancients set up long, long before that. Which meant I just had to be clever with my aim. I set the coordinates for the sun instead. Looking forward again, I stared down at the planet once more, clenching my teeth. It wasn’t fair. I wanted to scream that at the top of my lungs, but even if I did, it wouldn’t reach anypony that would care. The multi-verse is a rather cruel one. But maybe I was pony enough to make it to the Ether? I smiled at that, then laughed to myself. Prudentia, or should I say Purdue, pinged urgently at my side, almost desperately. No, she deserved another chance, too. Detaching the book, I gave her a smile as I saw her reflection in the gem on the cover. Then I put it into a tentacle and whipped it at the planet as hard as I could, aiming a bit above Equestria. They’d find her rather fast, given the energy the book put out. I detached Ventosus Lacuna, staring at it for a long moment before nodding and instead turning around, releasing it in the direction of what was left of Nirru’s body. Seven seconds until the flagship activated Slipstream. I turned and looked back towards Equus, no longer smiling. There was nothing left now. I wasn’t brave, or fearless, or even honorable. I clenched my teeth again, feeling tears sliding down my cheeks as I shook my head. I wished it was somepony else here. I didn’t want to die. I wished there were other options. But… no, I didn’t want somepony else to die for me either. The energy around the flagship finished radiating out, forming the field of quantum energy. My field synced into it as it started its countdown to engagement at five seconds. That was that, then. Was it a good life? Did I make a difference? I nodded to nothing in particular, shivering as I closed my eyes for the last time. Two seconds left, as the engines started to fire up far behind me. I started to tremble, but I suddenly felt it. Two warm forelegs slid around my shoulders, holding me tight. I smiled. “I love you, Mom. See you guys soon…” I whispered. My drive activated, and reality warped away… Epilogue Twilight gave a sigh, walking down the path through the royal gardens. Left, then right, she glanced both ways after clearing the hedge wall, finally spotting her two wayward companions. Walking up, she gave a soft smile to Fluttershy and Rarity, who turned their heads to look her direction. The unicorn returned her smile, but Fluttershy faltered for a moment before managing a weaker one of her own. She had three flowers fixed to her mane now, matching her eyes and coat. Her flowing dress matched the flowers, of course. Rarity was good at what she did, even if the white bandaging around the left wing stood out a little. "Hey, girls. How are you doing?" the alicorn asked, swallowing lightly and looking back and forth between them. Rarity shook her head gently, suggesting, "My injuries are superficial. The numbing spell is hardly ideal for Fluttershy, however, and only had a few hours duration at most, I should remind. Couldn't this have waited a few more-" "No!" Fluttershy exclaimed, and then coughed lightly, correcting her tone and adding, "I'm not going to wait. He doesn't deserve to have to wait for me. He deserves to be honored." Her voice was strong, with uncharacteristic levels of conviction to it. Twilight had already talked to her, of course, and smiled. "The wing is healing, and she can manage a few hours. This is important to her, and me, Rarity," she reminded, nodding to the unicorn, who managed a soft chuckle. "I know, Dear. I only worry. Mender would be very much against, and insist on waiting, but I do understand, you know. It's important to me, too. How are preparations?" Rarity asked, moving back to adjusting the flowers in Fluttershy's mane, tucked behind her right ear. "Everypony's already started to file in. It's... more than accounted for. We started adding seating in the street outside the garden theatre, and expanded the speakers and screen. Well, second screen. Snapshot started crying hysterically while setting the first one up and put it through the stage floorboards..." Twilight reported, giving a small sigh after. Rarity smiled, and Fluttershy looked down, but the alicorn shook her head after and continued with, "After everypony is seated, it's just you two..." Fluttershy finally nodded, standing again with a light wince. Rarity helped her stabilize, but she just shook her head and straightened herself. "How... How's Pinkie and Rainbow?" she asked quietly, looking back to Twilight instead. The lavender mare gave a soft sigh, then shook her head weakly. "Insisting on not missing anything, of course. I helped Pinkie get comfortable, and Applejack was helping Rainbow into the front row when I left. Dash can't stay for very long, though..." she revealed. "We'd best get going then," Rarity agreed, looking to the pegasus, who only nodded. Together, the three of them headed back the way Twilight came from. After clearing the hedge wall and heading along the side of the stage, Rarity and Fluttershy moved to take their seats as the alicorn turned up the incline and onto the platform instead. Princess Celestia smiled softly to Twilight, who nodded in return, then looked out into the ocean of ponies, a soft smile playing at her lips... * * * * * "We are gathered here today to honor the memory of a fallen hero. A hero that sacrificed his life in order to save not just his friends... Not just his town... Not even his country... He sacrificed everything in order to save all of Equus. There are no words I could possibly give to honor this magnitude of service to our world," Princess Celestia spoke, staring out into the massive crowd. Thousands of ponies watched, gathered from all corners of Equestria and beyond. Hundreds of griffons attended, as well as a few dozen dragons, an entire honor guard of Zebra, and an assortment of others. They spilled out of the garden auditorium and five blocks down the streets of Canterlot, view screens set up to project sound and images from the stage. Most had never even met the stallion, but they had all heard of what he had done. And what it had cost. The Princess of the Sun smiled after that, then gave a weak chuckle. "Yet, reality is sometimes cruel indeed. Despite his unrivaled sense of duty and honor, he was forced to sacrifice everything in order to protect us all. Our only recourse is to do everything in our power to honor our fallen hero, and give him our absolute best. For he might have died to ensure all of us could live, but we can make him live forever by remembering his deeds. That's how legends are born," she continued. Rainbow watched from the front row, no expression to her face whatsoever. The wheelchair looked unnatural with her, as did the heavy bandaging around her torso and shoulder. Bandaging wrapped over her left eye as well, now dead and glass underneath. Applejack sat next to her, staring blankly alongside her marefriend, both just watching the picture that sat on top of the empty coffin, as if looking through it. There weren't any words left to say that would matter to them. The Princess gave them both a smile before looking back out onto the crowd. The silence almost ached as it hung on the air, before a small chuckle escaped her lips. "Of course, if you'd known the stallion himself, becoming a 'legend' would be more terrifying than appealing, but he also knew that sometimes, things happened that we didn't have any say over. He was fast to forgive like that. Just like that..." she admitted, ending it in a whisper before slowly shaking her head, letting a tear slide down her left cheek. Pinkie held no such reservations. Rarity gently massaged her shoulders as she silently sobbed, staring at his picture on top of the coffin the entire time. Spike sat on the other side of the pink mare, frowning as he stared at the grass under his chair instead. He'd not said a word all day. Celestia shook her head slowly, still smiling yet staring down at the blank podium. "It was probably his defining virtue, if I were to be honest," she admitted finally, then went on to reveal, "Due to my oversight and mistake, I ruined his entire life. I cost him and his family the life of his mother, a very brave mare who was loyal to the end and beyond. I cost him his chance to live like a normal pony, displacing him three hundred years into the future in a cybernetic body." A rare show of frustration danced across her features, and her right foreleg started to tremble gently as she closed her eyes. Twilight and Cadance frowned to her right, then looked to each other as she undoubtedly departed any script she might have had. Her sister on the other side just smiled, however, finally speaking up with, "Our sister is right. Forgiveness came so simply to him that it wasn't even a thought. He forgave her... us... for everything. It was just that easy. Yet it was something he himself struggled with in return. He blamed himself for everything that had happened. As if it were somehow his fault that the other dimension had discovered Equestria. That a monster, the very one he personally defeated, was willing to sacrifice innumerable lives to get what they wanted." Celestia smiled at that and shook her head. "I told it to him first, but he summarized it the best. The hardest pony to forgive is yourself. But... It doesn't matter now. I think he has the forgiveness he so desperately sought. Now, I have to try to abide by the lesson I taught him myself, because that same mistake that I made cost him everything. So much that it's now costing the loved ones he left behind, including a foal who no longer has a father, and two mares who have lost their stallion," she continued, losing her smile yet again as she looked to the right. Twilight gave her a more sympathetic look instead, frowning, then looking down to her left at the yellow pegasus that was resting against her legs. Fluttershy stared at the floorboards of the stage still, expression blank minus the tears that wet her entire face. Her left forehoof strayed over her stomach, and she shivered at the Princess' words. Turning away again, the Princess of the Sun looked out at the crowd, eyes tracing amongst the thousands of faces. Finally, she concluded with, "Open talking shall commence for anypony who wishes to speak. But first, let us bow our heads in a moment of silence for our departed hero." Thousands of heads lowered, like a great wave in the silence. The gesture showed countless thanks, personal and impersonal alike. Eyes closed to the sun, the large and golden orb slowly sinking below the horizon in the distance, soft hues of light dancing across the clouds above. The event was scheduled for long into the night regardless, and it would be quite a few hours before sleep for many a pony even after that, tonight… * * * * * "Was all this really needed?" I finally asked, staring across the thousands of golden orbs that lit up the night air. Ponies mingled all around, a long line leading up to the coffin in the distance. Everything was through a thick haze, of course. It seemed to settle down like a blanket over reality. Tia smiled softly, sitting next to me on the hill I relaxed on. It overlooked the small pond in the royal gardens, and had served as quite a scenic spot to watch the funeral from. "I didn't send out invites, Mender. The initial advertisement is all I did. I'm sorry, but these ponies are here of their own accord," she assured, of course. I sighed, my voice echoing lightly in the soft mist. It was a superfluous gesture, given that I didn't have lungs. I shook my head. "It's only hurting them. Why didn't you tell everypony my wishes?" I asked, still upset with her. She stared, watching Fluttershy sitting next to the coffin, Twilight and Spike next to her giving gentle comforts, even as the lavender mare herself cried. We both just watched for a moment before she shook her head. "Grieving is important. For you as well, Mender. Even for me. Why did you forgive me for everything...?" she asked quietly, still not looking my way despite being one of the very few here that could see me. I sat there, the warm mists drifting around me before I closed my eyes. Forgiveness. "You're not that different from a normal pony, Tia. Life here has slowed you down so you match their pace now. You cry and laugh with your little ponies, too. That means you're subject to the exact same mistakes," I explained as simply as I could. She watched me for a moment, then closed her eyes as well, resting there. It took a while, but she finally asked, "Do you think it's worth it?" "Without a doubt," I assured, no consideration needed. She deserved to be as 'normal' as she could muster. She smiled softly, and we sat there in silence for a long while. Ponies came and went. Everything was a haze, the world only partially in focus for me. Everything felt detached and cold inside as I watched all of my friends move on without me. That was how it was supposed to work, wasn't it? It happened to everypony eventually, right? Except it didn't. Tia stirred again, then smiled back at me. There were only a few ponies left at the viewing, and slowly, I stood up. My limbs almost ached from the cold, and I knew if I focused on it too much, it could be maddening. The longer I stayed here, the worse it would get. She nodded, then suggested, "Everything is about concluded, Mender. You should rest now." I knew what she was talking about. I'd felt the 'draw' already, and ignored it. The funeral felt important to me, but I knew I wasn't satisfied. Was that it, then? I was dead and gone now, just like that? Now I knew how my father had felt, undoubtedly. "Rest," I muttered, then chuckled weakly and shook my head, admitting, "I feel restless instead. I don't think I'm ready quite yet." She lost her smile, of course, and gave a small sigh. "Should I talk to Aura and see if she can aid you? Some ghosts do find it difficult to-" she started to offer. My vision flickered, and for the briefest of moments, a few thousand memories flashed past me at the speed of light. Millions of different lives, all wound up with mine now. My eyes locked with hers, a billion other pairs mirroring the gesture within, and she looked surprised as she trailed off to me shaking my head. "No, what I meant was, I'm not going. I'm staying here," I corrected, just getting it over with and fully embracing the cold. They were all still attached to me, woven through my soul itself. Billions of souls all tied into mine, and I knew they gave me an immense energy density to me. Any necromancer in Equus would require my direct cooperation to 'send' me into the Ether. That meant they couldn't make me, even if they'd wanted to. Tia frowned at that, slowly turning to face me fully. "Mender, this can't be ideal. What... What's holding you here? A ghost needs a reason to not move on..." she asked, searching my expression before I turned and looked towards my coffin again. They were still there, all seven of them seemingly standing out through the mists. Twilight especially. She followed my vision, but I answered anyway. "Them. Twilight could take years before she's as attuned to the Ether as you. At least enough to interact with me. Fluttershy can't at all. I... no. I won't accept being apart from them. I'm staying here, and I'm going to continue research on the techniques my father started. It may take me a hundred years or more, but I'm going to find a way back..." I spoke with conviction, looking back at her. She momentarily looked horrified at the mention of that particular line of research. "M-Mender! No, you can't be serious. This happens to everypony, and you need to accept that. Twilight will become attuned enough to even touch you again soon enough, and eventually, Fluttershy will-" she tried to point out. No. She didn’t get it yet. She didn’t realize… I shook my head again, then turned and walked slowly away, letting the mists drift around me as I went. "I’ve already decided," I muttered as I walked. She didn't understand, and it wasn't going to work like that. Not now. It was too late. "I... can't accept being apart from them forever. My mind is made up. I guess misbehaving runs in my family..." I mused, almost to myself. I felt sad eyes on my back as I walked off into the dark night, that crushing cold all around me... * * * * * “No. No, this won’t do at all…” Ending 2Wincing, I felt the two impacts as they lanced across our stern, tearing our engine to shreds. Pinkie gasped as well, whipping fast and blocking four more with her right forehoof in a sweep as she spun. She completed the turn, looking back at the broken remains of the flagship in front of us, nervousness flashing through her eyes. "It didn't work!" she shouted. My double-check of the flagship's engine showed it was indeed still online, and Nirru pushed all power to the remaining two Aegis Barrier Emitters. She was still going to try to make the jump, even with her ship half blown to hell?! Twilight gestured to her viewscreen, showing the only remaining siege ship heading up fast behind us. Damn it. Instinct told me they were probably going for a ramming attack now that we didn't have engines. "We need to use the Elements of Harmony! If we hit them with it, we should still have plenty of time to go after Nirru!" she shouted. I frowned at that, warning, "But if they can pick up on the Element's energy signatures like Kyliona did..." I didn't feel comfortable with it, even leaving the husk of a ship floating here with those energy signatures on it. "We don't have a choice! We can't leave that thing behind us, and we don't have our main gun anymore!" she shot back. I hesitated, but my gut told me that she was probably right. Kyliona had detected the energy signatures in a pony in order to get the full reading. I had no proof at all that the signature would linger from a flash exposure. I looked back once more before I nodded. "All right. Everypony detach! Use the Elements on the siege ship, then you're with me, Rainbow. We're going after Nirru directly," I ordered. All six nodded, starting to detach as I decoupled myself from the deck. One good part about having magnetic hooves, anyway. While they unhooked their harnesses, I booked towards the front of the command center, sliding in next to the release hatch, and started getting the escape pod ready. The familiar bursts of light started to glow behind me, flooding the entire cabin with rainbow ambiance. Priming the energy release that launched the pod, I glanced back at them, watching all six radiating out their own colors as they lifted into the air. The Elements of Harmony. According to the stories, it was the spirit of Equus itself reaching out to ponies that embodied its natural virtues. Generosity, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, and Magic, working together to attempt to instill hope when all was lost. I think this was definitely a situation that called for that. For a moment, I was lost myself. I looked back inside and realized that, honestly, I was just a spectator. I was seven months old. Ultimately, I'd adopted Equus and the pony's plights as my own, because that's what I was. A pony. But they were the ones fighting for their world. They were the ones that had lived in it for their entire lives. It was them that were the embodiments of those virtues, and despite bringing my own skills and abilities to play, they were actual heroines. Stuff of legend. Ponies would pass on their names until the end of time. Of course, when talking about legendary things, normally I reserved a certain level of skepticism. In this case, however, getting hit by the Elements of Harmony I knew to be very much not a pleasant thing. In a 'sugar-coated apocalypse' sort of way. The energy spiraled around them in a corkscrew, then shot out in shattering prismatic energy. Admittedly, a part of me flinched before it turned away from me entirely and smashed through the wall of the command center. The siege ship didn't even have time to turn to avoid it. Further, the 'beam' of prismatic energy hit open space and exponentially expanded. By the time it hit the ship, it was big enough to encompass the entire thing. It didn't stop, crashing over them like a massive wave before actually doubling back. My eyes widened as I saw it hit and smash through eight or nine times, making sharp loops before all the coils crushed down upon themselves and compacted before exploding in a prismatic blast. I blinked once, and then twice as my eyes cleared. The siege ship drifted towards us still, but their engines were off. Apart from that, it didn't look like anything had happened. "Uh, Keela...?" I asked, looking towards the equally confused looking Keldarian on my right viewscreen. "Uh, life signs are still functioning on board. Weapon systems are on but no longer active. Same with engines. What did it do...?" she asked, focusing her magic towards it. I'd noticed all of the support ships halted as well, leaving our side the only moving thing on the battlefield. Shining frowned, drifting nearby our viewscreens as he looked around the field. "Did it... Did it work?" Twilight asked, landing gently on her hooves and running towards me. I switched Keela up to the projection display, just in time for her to patch us magically into the enemy ship. Neither she nor I were prepared for what we saw. The command center was three major banks of electronic panels and viewscreens, with the central life support column between them, sort of forming a three leaf clover shape of sorts. All three Grosh were plainly visible, a twisted form of a sort of anthropomorphic rabbit mixed with metal cybernetics. Only... They were huddling together near the central column. A quick glance showed life support still functioning, and I raised an eyebrow until the one pointed. The speech was almost so fast that the translator on Keela's station didn't pick up on it. "Feline magic! Please!" it shouted out, all three of them bounding for the orb of magic that undoubtedly showed up inside their command station. Wait, were they...? All three piled on top of each other, looking up into the orb. They were sobbing hysterically. I didn't even know Grosh could cry. "Oh great Gods of the Green Pastures! Please, we're sorry! We're so, so sorry. What... What have we done?!" the one in the middle screamed out. Uh... what? "Is... Is your translator working, Keela?" I asked uncertainly. She slowly nodded, looking just about as floored, but the other Grosh piped up first. "Please! Kind ponies and felines! You have liberated us from seventeen millenia of hatred! Please, we must do something to fix all of this!" he screamed out, almost hysterical as he started shaking there. Oh. Oh hell. The Elements gave them a conscience?! That was a crueler fate than just murdering the hell out of them. Shaking my head rapidly, I finally just muttered, "You deal with them, Keela. Try talking, for once. Never thought I'd say that..." Turning back to the escape pod, I realized that still left us with one psychotic bitch to deal with, who had already slipped through a non-stable portal to Equus. "Rainbow, with me. Everypony else, Evac. Shining, stick with Keela and help defend her if this is some elaborate, absurd trap," I continued, nodding to him as he returned it in his viewing screen. Applejack stepped up before anypony else could react, however. "No. Ah'm comin', too. Shift some o' those gun thingies over onto tha escape pod. Dashie has enough umph ta pull it like ah sled, easy!" she declared. I frowned, then looked to Rainbow a split second later, who nodded in return. Tch. "Fine, just hurry!" I ordered. Thankfully, at the speed that the flagship had limped through the tear into Equus, we were sure to catch up fairly fast. I'm not sure entirely what compelled me to fire Tia's charge directly against the side of the flagship. It would have been far more tactical to target the Aegis Barrier emitters on the front directly, but I wasn't regretting it. The shot was absurdly larger than I could have ever imagined, and we scored an almost direct hit against the side of the flagship. Most of its engine now lay on this side of space, and it barely fired off the FTL jump to activate the tear. Pulling four of the guns and two ammo pods up into the escape pod, I nodded to Rainbow, who had already slipped onto the outside of the hull. AJ and I closed the door to the pod, then ejected the entire thing, just as I saw the other four elements wink out of existence. They were safe. Smiling, I gave a nod again to Dash as she latched onto the energy tethers and locked them into her harness. "Going!" she declared before blasting forward as fast as she could go. I saw the massive jets fire off on her wings, then go prismatic a moment later as we suddenly lurched and were rocketing across space at absurd speeds. Applejack slipped, sliding sideways before I caught her, both of us getting pushed back against the back wall from the pure acceleration. We were through the tear before I even had a chance to look up again, and the eerie distortions of the Slipstream tunnel greeted me outside of the windows. Looking to my left with my eyes, I saw Keela's viewscreen go slightly static, and she nodded to me, smiling again. "Tear is closed on this end. We should be secure for the moment. The Grosh have ejected all of their weapon energy cells and have powered down all non-vital areas of the ship, claiming they wish to cooperate fully. Orders, Mender?" she asked curiously, looking down at her own display as she took in the data. "Is Tym back inside of the ship?" I asked, feeling inside of myself for a moment. They were following me. I felt Malice getting pulled along with us, which meant all of the pony mechs had probably gone inert on that side, nothing remaining to direct the synced movement. "Right here," he answered for her, walking up and ducking down inside the viewing screen with a curt nod. Apart from a light sheen of sweat, I didn't see any further evidence that he'd just been in pitched battle. My display showed his 'kill' count up to a hundred and sixteen support vessels, which scarily meant he took out more than the Celestia had while geared up in a makeshift mining rig by himself. I nodded in return, then ordered, "That means it's safe to power down the relay system. Conserve the power in it, and take all of the energy cells they ejected. That'll stop them from readily reactivating their weapons." "You want DReg's forces pulling back for now? All we can do is watch now anyway…" Shining asked, flicking online on my left viewscreen and giving me a curious look. Keela nodded towards him instead, hitting a few more keys. "Yes, you'll have to once the relay is powered down. But Mender's right. It'll conserve on our power, at least until we can acquire all of the Grosh energy cells. Plus, I think you're more needed on Equus' side to intercept my sister, now," she reasoned. He considered it for a moment before agreeing with, "Done. Log out, everypony. We're going back to Equus and continuing the campaign there. I'll see you there, Mender." He gave me a smirk, and I returned it before his screen flicked away. Keela adjusted more of her consoles, and I watched the lights all flick red on the pony mechs, almost all at once. After they were all red, the relay itself powered down, and Keela looked back up to me, expression going a little grim. "She has only basic weaponry left that can't do bombardment, and a crippled ship. You shouldn't have a problem stopping her at this point, but be careful. She's still got her magic that she can engage you with on a personal level. I... I don't think you're going to be able to capture her. It's too dangerous to try to, Mender..." she warned, swallowing uneasily. I knew that much already, but it was a bit surprising hearing it from her. I nodded slowly before asking, "Are you sure you're okay with this?" It was her sister, after all. Even if she was a complete sociopathic monster hell-bent on committing genocide, family was family. The Keldarian gave a sigh in return. Tym nodded slowly, looking towards her as she hesitated, but Litta slipped up out of seemingly nowhere a second later, wrapping both of her arms over Keela's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Keela. You knew it would come to this when you heard her message, though. We've talked about it," she reminded softly, giving her friend's left cheek a soft nuzzle. Keela's shoulders sagged a little, and she nodded slowly after. "I... know. Make it fast, Mender. Please? I know you have every right to get revenge on her, but... for me, make it fast and painless?" she requested, ears lowering. Applejack looked hesitantly to me, but I nodded slowly after a moment's consideration. I'd not really thought about drawing out her death, actually. I was angry with her, but to be honest, I'd rather just make sure she was out of the picture as fast as possible. Drawing out her end might have been fitting for her, but it was also illogical, giving her more opportunities to act herself. I guess I more associated myself with the 'assassin' mindset than anything. It's what my magic was geared towards. "She won't feel a thing," I assured, nodding towards my friend. She slowly returned my gesture, then closed the comm feed a moment later, shifting to radio silence once more. Would she really forgive me for this? She understood what was at stake, but... Applejack gave a little smirk, sidetracking me for a moment as my eyes snapped to the movement of her lips. Wait... "Ah don't mean ta distract, but are ya at least comfortable?" she asked, sounding coy instead. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what she intended to do, and it worked. My cheeks felt hot as I realized I'd not paid even the slightest bit of attention to my physical body after switching over to communicating with the other dimension. Applejack had still been 'caught' by me, although now I was more 'holding' her instead as she remained tucked against my chest, both of us resting against the back wall. Rainbow smirked at the two of us and gave a wink, causing a light pink tint to go over her fillyfriend's cheeks as well. Flailing lightly, I quickly let go of the mare, feeling like my cheeks were practically burning. "S-Sorry! I got distracted dealing with-" I started to excuse. She giggled, sounding more than a little amused, but interrupted with, "Ah know, Mender. Relax. Yer display thingy says forty seconds ta arrival, though..." Oh! Looking forward again, I saw Dash dodge another cluster of debris as we closed in on the large flagship. The end of the tunnel was closing fast, however, and I estimated that we'd have just exited before catching up with the thing. Eh, it was safer that way anyway. Engaging in a firefight in the middle of a Slipstream transfer was usually reserved for the desperate or suicidal. Or both. Our ability to drop out of FTL at any point came at a price. If a shot disrupted enough of the Slipstream tunnel, it could 'collapse' instead, dropping all of the ships out into subspace rather than real space. There was generally no returning from there after the link was lost on both ends, and all unlucky ships were doomed to drift in absolute void between points of existence until the end of time itself, essentially. Of course, starvation and loss of life support usually struck first, I reasoned. Not that we could 'prove' that. Examining her flagship, I saw that she'd shifted her Aegis Barriers backwards now, covering her rear and single remaining engine. Heh, she probably didn't trust us to not shoot at her in transfer. "Her barriers are up in the back now instead. When she exits, we're going to accelerate and try to get around to the front of the flagship instead. When we do, unload everything you can right into the highlighted part of the command center, Applejack. With luck, we'll just blow away the entire command center with her still in it," I ordered, getting a nod back from the orange mare as she slipped up into the center of the pod again and activated her harness. All four cannons synced with her a moment later, starting to move while tracking where she willed them. "Batteries, activated. Ammunition is kinda low, but we should have enough ta wipe her out..." Applejack announced, engaging her systems with the command phrase. I stood next to her, Prudentia slipping out of subspace at my side, with the image of Purdue flickering in next to me as I walked. "Um, I'm ready with shielding, big brother. Just focus on the strategic highlights," she assured, giving me a soft smile even under the glowing eyes. The book started to radiate a gentle blue ambiance as well, the deep reserve of almost impossibly large energy swelling up. Similar to Twilight, when I 'felt' the book, it was like looking into an impossibly deep abyss. I didn't know how she managed it, to be honest, knowing that ocean of raw energy was inside of her. Of course, she wasn't the only one holding something monstrous within. My eyes lit up just as we snapped out of the other end of the rip, the flagship falling into real space right next to us. The transition was smooth, Rainbow swerving to dodge the last bit of debris as the huge thing cleared the jagged end and snapped the burnt up strut of what used to be the side engine off. My scanners swept the surface as we shot up to it, moving suddenly far faster than it could muster. Turrets slid out everywhere, and my eyes widened. Mentally, I started highlighting them all as I shot a warning to Dash with, "Turrets, Rainbow! Incoming fire!" She winced, watching a blast skip off one of our barriers, the plane of force showing ripples and distortions along its surface before fading back into invisibility. She tucked into a tight roll, sending us further from the ship as we spun to avoid three more shots, arching around to the side. My eyes and electronic suites worked in tandem to highlight the turrets, check their energy output, predict when they were firing, then give the shot angle before they did, the lines displaying in dangerous red in the pegasus' vision overlay. They'd get brighter as they were about to fire, and she started dodging them before they even did, weaving through shots with expert precision as we rocketed along the side of the ship now. To my mild surprise, Nirru didn't shift the Aegis Barrier Emitters up further to match our pace, instead leaving them back by the engines to protect what was left of them. Was she seriously thinking that she was still going to get away? A nagging sensation drifted into me, but I had to focus on highlighting threats for Dash as we shot along. We swerved around the main bridge, starting to make our descent towards the command area around the side in a big swoop, spinning and darting to avoid the incoming blasts of what looked like plasma cartridges. It was a bit strange given the Grosh used largely flash laser and physical shells in order to avoid any extra heat emission that might set off their rather sensitive life support systems. That meant this ship was constructed with a mixture of Grosh and Keldarian tech. The Slipstream FTL didn't seem so odd anymore. Wait... Rainbow was panting hard now, her wings still burning at full strength. The energy fluctuated in them, and I frowned. She was getting tired. That risked the Ether Furnace reaction in her body going out of control again, I realized. I looked back to the fully shielded engines still. No, that would be crazy. But... Nirru was crazy. If that was the case, we didn't have time for a bombardment. Suddenly, Dash hesitated and I frowned, looking back at her. She was looking off to her left instead, however. "Uh, is... is the moon supposed to be, uh... so big?" she asked hesitantly, sounding a little concerned. Eh? I checked my gravity readings, then noticed we were indeed being drawn to the left at a small fraction of Equus gravity. Oh hell. Almost afraid to, I forced myself to look where she was looking. Sure enough, almost forty percent of my vision in that direction was now filled up with rapidly approaching gray moon surface. It was moving quite a bit faster than its usual rotation, and I did a rough speed calculation based off perspective, realizing it would go through our exact location in space in less than two minutes. Well, damn... The dark purple glow coming off the surface, visible easiest at the outline of the giant celestial body, indicated it was more than a little intentional. Luna was swinging the moon at the flagship like a massive, planetary mace. Wow... "Change of plans. Rainbow, slow down and keep us close instead. Applejack, target all forward battery turrets and eliminate incoming attacks. We're a lot shorter on time, I think," I ordered suddenly. Both mares perked at that, Applejack giving me a frown towards my back that I 'felt' through our link regardless. "No bombardment?" she asked cautiously a moment later. Shaking my head, I reported, "No. It could take us almost a minute to get through her armor. I suddenly realized why she's guarding her engines. One strategy open to her still is to just Slipstream the entire flagship into the planet..." I wasn't sure without more detailed readings, but she might be able to pull that off before the moon splattered the ship into a glorified lunar monument to her troubles. I heard an audible swallow from Rainbow as she swerved in, then asked, "That... That's bad, right?" Oh, redefineable for the term. My eyes highlighted all the forward facing turrets within our angle of the command center, and I nodded, moving towards the front of the escape pod. "Applejack, target those turrets. Annihilate them," I ordered, readying the release of the pod's front panel. Rainbow drifted backwards, having slowed to a stop as whisks of her sweat escaped from the one way vents in her 'spacesuit'. Our shields shifted to full frontal protection, hundreds of shots bouncing off us to the sides as the farm mare took aim. Her blitz of glowing apples took several seconds, three dozen that I counted whipping into the hull at high velocity. The apples alone might have been enough to put large holes into it, but the series of explosions literally scoured the surface of the hull near the command center, sending millions of shards of superheated metal off into space around Equus. Probably the first artificial satellites the planet had ever seen, if I broadened my definition a little. After Applejack was done firing, I popped the front of the escape pod, my tentacles already out to the sides and whipping me forward like a slingshot right at the command center, my thoughts searching through my subspace database for another useful item. “If she were to fire off the FTL, it would get up to just around one point three times the speed of light in relative motion as it passed into the location of the planet. But if she disabled the barrier that caused her to pass into subspace, she'd literally hit the planet with the flagship. It looks to be at least four and a half million metric tons. I don't want to stop to do the calculation, but all life on the planet would be eliminated at the very least, if there's much of the planet left, physically. At that speed, it would probably be a very fine dust, to be honest,” I warned, causing the orange mare to pale a little. She was crazy to even consider this. Normal drives had limiters fundamentally built into them to not only prevent the subspace phasing drive from being disabled, but to physically disable the Slipstream drive if it was. This was a custom flagship, though, so I couldn't make that assumption. That sort of attack was... It didn't have a lot of applicable use. Space wasn't exactly 'empty', but actually contained very thin traces of gas in most spots, especially where you saw a lot of activity like planets and solar systems. A ship, or anything really, traveling at hundreds of times the speed of light without having phased into subspace would hit those gaseous molecules as if they were literally bullets shredding the moving object to bits probably before it made it more than a light year or so. But... her ship didn't need to make it a light year, if she only intended to turn it into a glorified superluminal 'bullet' at this distance. I kinda doubted Equus had early warning subspace disruption systems in place. I made a mental note to suggest that to Tia, assuming we were all alive within the hour. "That's bad. Really bad. Let's go!" Applejack agreed, kicking off the back wall and shooting herself after me. Rainbow followed with a gentle burst of her wing's energy, at least looking better than she was half a minute ago. Mentally sighing, I inquired, "I imagine asking you two to teleport out would be out of the question?" Applejack smirked, but Rainbow answered for both of them with, "Of course! I think you're starting ta get us a little. We're not abandoning you at this point!" She grinned after, and I really did sigh finally. The orange mare snorted, smashing into the metal of the hull next to me, denting it inwards as her legs glowed a fiery orange color. I watched the kinetic energy from her impact distort back up her legs, rippling around over her back as it flooded through the magnification coils, and she huffed, her own energy pushing in and kicking it back down her legs in a distorted rush. I hopped for a moment, and Rainbow flapped once to slow her descent for a split second as she came in behind us. My hooves detached from the hull just as Applejack's magic washed into it, along with the huge impact vibration, and I felt her energy 'flex' itself as the metal surface tore itself apart under us. She shredded the plating downwards almost a meter, disintegrating through the ablative layer in an instant as it became nothing more than a fine sand drifting off into space, blown away from the point where the mare stood. Dash landed next to me at the same instant I touched down from my hop. Scary! Applejack gave a nod, and I looked back down to note the glowing energy protecting the inner bulkhead. Aegis, personally created by Nirru. Her close range comm hailed me, and I patched her through as I finished finding the object I had been looking for. "It's too late! You'll never get through the barrier before-" she started to gloat. "-before ya smash yer ship thingy inta tha planet with tha FTL thingy, we know. Shut yer pie hole, if all yer gonna do is listen ta yerself talk," Applejack cut her off, her giving a surprised look over the video feed, even as I withdrew Ventosus Lacuna. The Keldarian frowned as she saw it, her mouth starting to open, undoubtedly to point out that it wouldn't listen to me, when I drew the blade directly into the hull. It seared with energy, momentarily folding time and space around it as it 'melted' through the void and sliced the magic that was supporting it. That was the issue with Aegis Barriers, apart from the other drawbacks. Sure, they were energy expensive to maintain, dangerous to practice and use, and didn't let anything through, including air, but a fundamental flaw in their design meant that if you got someone crazy enough to use an unbound one in an attack... The Aegis Barrier folded along the unbound blade, and just became another extension of it as it sliced through her bulkhead like butter. I made a sharp 'V' shaped cut, then kicked downwards, snapping the sparking metal down into the room below. Sparks showered around it as I realized I had incidentally sliced through a ceiling light, but it hardly mattered, the three of us diving through the rapidly sealing hole. Ah, nanite regenerative bulkheads. Nirru surprisingly wasn't smiling, hitting a button on her console before standing up, then just leaning back against the wall, her arms crossed. "Didn't expect to see you three face to face when I woke up today, but a lot of unexpected things happened, it would seem. And here we are, at the end of everything, face to face again..." she muttered, a rare moment of clarity in her eyes by the looks of it. My localized quantum network had already cracked into her operating system, and I saw the disconnected Slipstream system in countdown to full charge already. It was physically removed now from the network, and I sighed. "It seems that way, yeah. Last resort ramming, hmm?" I replied, looking around the command area. There weren't any further networks that I could make use of, the system already having disconnected from the engines of the ship. Weapons were offline, looking to be battle damage rather than intentional sabotage. Life support had failed, but there was enough auxiliary left over to live until it didn't matter anymore, and it wouldn't have stopped the ship anyway. "Yup. No other choice really. No weapons left, no backup, and a mostly crippled ship. I'll admit, damn can you rats fight when backed into a corner. You've impressed me, and at least earned my respect," she admitted, then pushed off the wall, her hands igniting in flames. My barriers slid over myself like armor, me focusing on dumping energy into them as I shifted into a sitting position. I drew Ventosus Lacuna again, this time holding it level in front of me as Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed my cue, lowering into combat positions. She snorted at that, then warned, "At this range, even if my traitorous sword won't listen to me, I can still suppress its abilities. It won't activate for you anymore." To be honest, I wasn't trained as a fighter. My entire repertoire of moves and techniques were all geared towards avoiding or ending a fight before it really began. At best, neutralization. At worst, assassination. In this case, I sure as hell wasn't going to try to take her alive. Normally, I also prepared barriers to attack with in the form of orbs. However, that was only a habit, and I was in no way, shape, or form limited to using them as such. Reaching full charge, my 'armor' activated, not actually being armor at all. The foreleg barriers expanded like two huge pistons towards Nirru. Her eyes widened in the briefest fraction of an instant before the huge blocks of force crushed both of her shoulders into the wall behind her. My hoof barriers activated next, attached to the two points in her shoulders now and momentarily becoming a really huge slingshot, with the end point on the handle of the sword. She was in the middle of starting to scream in raw agony from the pain from her shoulders, when I let go of her sword and it rubber-banded right at her. The point went a little off course, missing her nose and instead going through her left eye. It stabbed a good seven or eight centimeters into the metal bulkhead behind her, and she went limp and hung there. Both mares jumped to either side of me almost half a second too late, Dash letting out a surprised yelp. I shook my head to the corpse after, then spoke up with, "Disabled or not, it's still a sword. Good luck, wherever you end up..." Applejack gave her a grim stare, then swallowed as she looked back at me instead. "Guess ya really did have it covered. Wow..." she muttered, looking to the cyan pegasus past me. Dash had turned around quickly, fanning her face and looking a little more pale as she swallowed uneasily, but didn't say anything. Sighing, I explained, "Something threatens everypony I know and love, and the planet I care for with everything I am, and I will stop it. No matter what I have to do..." The orange mare nodded slowly to that, then stood again and walked over to Rainbow instead. I looked up at the slowly healing ceiling, then flicked my tentacles out in an instant, smashing it open again. Her barrier was gone now, having dropped a few seconds after we breached the hull, undoubtedly at her whim to conserve her strength. I looked back to Nirru one last time, her body now burning as her own magic went out of control on her arms. The flames flickered, starting to die as the air was vented out of the cabin, and for a moment, I pitied her. If I could go back in time, would it be possible to find the point where it had all gone wrong? That question would take a far wiser pony than myself, and I dismissed it, quickly running out of time. "How long until tha moon hits?" Applejack asked, stuck to the floor of the command center by her own magic as she held Rainbow, the pegasus suddenly weightless. The gravity systems for the room failed, and I kicked off the floor and headed back into space following the ceiling and bits of hull. The scans in my eyes picked up the new distance from the ship, then ran the velocity calculations as I drifted upwards. "Looks to be... forty to forty-two seconds. The FTL jump fires off in thirty one. Gravity isn't going to be strong enough by then to intercept it. We need to do something about the ship still..." I reported, starting to rotate to grapple back down to the hull. Dash caught me instead first, jetting us back downwards as I relaxed. "Blow tha engine?" Applejack suggested, looking over at the two of us as the cyan mare set us back down against the hull next to her. Swallowing, I warned, "It's got a charge already. It'll explode..." "Ain't that tha... oh. We'd get caught in it, too..." she realized, halfway through asking as her ears lowered. I nodded, and Rainbow frowned to my left, looking between us both. "If... If that's what it takes to save all of Equus, do we really have a choice?" she asked a second later. I stood, then chuckled and shook my head. "You two do," I reminded, gesturing to their gemstones before looking back at the engine. There was an alternative, but... Applejack scowled at that, but I was busy running other calculations as I switched to looking at the front of the ship instead. My own gem sat heavy on my chest, and the temptation was there. Mine took over twice as long as theirs did and generated six times the energy output in order to teleport me, due to complications thanks to my excessive amount of folded subspace around me. "There's got to be another way!" Dash exclaimed, looking towards the front of the ship with me. Nodding, I started into a run before adding, "There is. I open my own Slipstream effect in front of the ship as it's about to launch, and use my wake to turn the jump into the sun instead. Launch the ship out into the raw Ether to be burned up." Faster than destroying the engine, no damage to Luna's moon, and more chance of actual success. The explosion still had a chance of just propelling a good chunk of the ship down to the planet instead. Nowhere near as destructive, but it would still leave a rather big hole. "Wait, you can do that...?" Dash asked, running along with me almost immediately. Applejack hesitated, then frowned and took off after us. Nodding as I ran, I explained, "Yeah, it's a tunnel that it opens. Like the 'wake' of an object moving through the air, but in spatial movement instead. That's how Slipstream tunnels wo-" She cut me off with, "Like a bird moving through the air, leading a flock!" I blinked slowly once, then nodded to her, sliding to a stop as she suddenly ground to a halt, widening her eyes. Eh?! "Like... Like that sensation transferring dimensions?" she continued, looking back towards the front of the vessel. It felt like she was getting a plan, but I questioned the validity of whether it was actually being applicable. She took off running again a moment later, far faster this time. Applejack sprinted after her, and I had to activate my leg boosters to keep up. She quickly explained, "Activate it on top of me like you did before! I'm way better at maneuvering than you are." What?! "Rainbow, we won't have time to get off the ship! It'll be going too fast and-" I started to protest. "Horseapples! Just trust me, Mender! You have to trust me for this!" she shouted. But... Applejack bound forward, leaping a warped chunk of metal and landing back in my vision as we sprinted. "Listen ta her! Element o' loyalty, remember? Ya have ta trust us, Mender," she called out. Tch. If they died pointlessly for this, I was haunting the hell out of their ghosts. "Fine, activating Slipstream Icarus drive!" I shouted back, relenting as the energy flared up off my back. My surprise spiked when Rainbow left the hull, wings flaring with energy again as she gritted her teeth. Wait, no, we had to stay connected to the ship to... Her wings expanded out to almost three times what was needed, but she slowed down instead, then looked back at me. I heard her voice in my mind rather than out loud, her breathing already labored against her chest. Jump. Trust her, huh? Applejack took two more full strides before bounding upwards, arching through the air while reaching towards Dash. Swallowing, I pushed back the thousand nagging thoughts and leapt. For a brief second, Rainbow flicked her wings sideways and slowed. That was all it took, and I landed on her back in a fraction of an instant. Applejack went under her instead, and she snatched the mare up with all four legs before her wings flared out again. I draped my forelegs over her shoulders and held on as I tucked myself as close to her body as I could for ease of energy flow. We were gone in an instant. I timed it, then called out, "Seven seconds until the ship jumps! We need to jump before it!" Rainbow's eyes narrowed, the front of the ship looming in front of us and approaching fast. Determination flooded off her, and her form straightened out, profile going trim and sleek as she picked up even more speed. Five seconds and we crossed over the nose of the ship. Three seconds until jump, and we tucked into a spin off the nose of the vessel, her mentally screaming out, "Hit it!" The Wings of Icarus opened up behind me, folding along Rainbow's as she spread them fully. I synced them with her blast of raw magic, and reality folded away in front of us. There was no hesitation, and she was through the distortion in the flick of an eye. She turned hard, whipping us in the direction of the sun, everything distorting and twisting as I projected the movement vector into her eye display. She followed it perfectly, ignoring the warped viewpoints all around us, and we were past the moon entirely a second later. We sped up, and the moon became a spec in the next instant. The ship lurched up, and was suddenly right behind us, burning along the tunnel we were paving for it. I glanced back at it, and felt Rainbow tense as the very tip started to brush against her tail. She screamed, and her wings flared out even more as we shot forward, the sun looming in front of us. My speedometer hit just over 20c, way outside of relative space now. At this speed, we'd hit the sun in less than twenty seconds. Damn. Her plan worked and redirected the ship but... My hoof hit her chest gem, and nothing happened. I hit it twice more, then growled, but shook my head. "The emergency teleport gems aren't working!" I warned in a mental growl. The magic must not function at superluminous speeds. That's just... great. "I'm gonna turn out of the way!" she called out mentally. Uh, w-what?! But if she turned, it would follow us! "Dash, you're paving a path for-" I started to warn. She cut me off with a low growl an instant later. "No, just trust me!" she reminded, pushing faster and faster. Ah! The sun expanded in front of us, impossibly large now as the tunnel started to wobble and shake. The ship behind us twisted and shook as it ground along after us. Rainbow's Ether Furnace was the only thing holding our FTL tunnel open at this point, which meant she was 'naturally' moving at twenty times the speed of light, under her own power, technically. If we lived, I'd have to mention that to her and really stroke her ego. She deserved it after this one, though! The tunnel was starting to come apart under the intensity of the Ether flowing against us. And then Rainbow turned... My eyes widened drastically as she twisted sideways, and then we spun. Her wings folded over us, blurring and distorting, and with a scream of what sounded like pure rage, she smashed straight into the side of the tunnel we were just making! Everything tumbled forward as the wall distorted and warped around her hooves. Her wings folded, remarkably like the Wings of Icarus, and the ship shot up in an instant. Everything ground to a halt as my breath caught. Her hoof touched the nose of the ship and she pushed off, kicking sideways as we flipped backwards. Thousands and thousands of tons of metal passed barely a centimeter in front of my muzzle, and my eyes widened as I watched the engine of the ship disappearing into the sun a heartbeat later as she came out of her tight back flip. We shot sideways out of the tunnel... in a totally new tunnel instead. Her wings warped through space itself as she manually made a new Slipstream tunnel after punching sideways out of our last one. But... But how?! She didn't seem to care as space seemed to fall away from us, flames and energy lashing out behind as we were driven forward down her new tunnel, it rapidly collapsing inwards behind us. The huge ship hadn't made it to the sun hole. The raw Ether output had torn it apart before it could reach, and it had exploded... inside the Slipstream tunnel while ours was still connected to it! She went faster and faster, teeth gritting as her wings became massive pillars of energy cascading out behind us. I looked away from the wall of flames giving chase, instead reaching down and grabbing on to Applejack who was still hanging on to the cyan mare's stomach for dear life. All three of us yelped as the tunnel fell away less than ten seconds later and dumped us out into space, a huge blast of flame exiting behind us as Dash burst to the side instead. My eyes widened as I watched the burning, gaping maw of a dimensional tear slowly close. Wait, that was a dimensional shift... Sitting up on her, a shot of ice rushed through my blood as I saw Keela's ship looming next to us. Oh... Oh hell. We were in the other dimension and our only link just went up in flames... Keela gave me a surprised stare as she patched through to my comm, obviously already realizing the same thing. Epilogue My hooves made light clanking noises against the steel floors of the long corridor. My eyes closed, I simply listened to my hoofsteps on the metal and the gentle hum of the air units along the walls. The metallic clang would echo out with each press, the entire hallway feeling empty. Add the light chill to the air that electronics kept best at, and it was a rather clinical sensation. The atmosphere was more geared for our equipment to survive than us. That wasn't very 'pony', I didn't think. Of course, I wasn't very 'pony' either. My eyes opened, scans sweeping ahead from them in spiraling, mechanical precision. The door slid open in front of me with enough time for me to not have to interrupt my walking speed, and I stepped out into a massive room. Hundreds of holographic displays lined the walls as it expanded forwards into a partial cone shape, shrinking slightly in width as it neared the nose of our vessel. Keela's right ear slowly rotated to point in my direction, and I saw a slight smile play at the corner of her lips on this side. "Welcome to the bridge, Captain," she greeted, turning to look at me with a full smile. Her face showed off her youth, not having aged a single day since we'd met. The mechanical rotation I saw in her pupil for a moment revealed the reason why before my full sensor readings of her body even needed to remind me. "Psh, you know it's Mender to you," I reminded, hopping up and standing on the raised command platform next to the rail she leaned against. She gave a gentle giggle, but a more amused scoff sounded further ahead of me. Dash rotated around in her seat, wry smile on her expression before chastising with, "Flirting while on duty! What a terrible example you set for the crew!" Her voice was lighthearted, and I knew better than to take that seriously. With a snort, Applejack shook her head, then chuckled in the seat next to hers. Both were elevated from the main floor and literally right in front of me, normally positioning them back to back as they worked. They liked it that way, of course, and they got their way being our main gunner and pilot. "Ya only know ta say that 'cause he's had ta tell us tha same tease so often..." she chirped a second later, winking back over her right shoulder at her lover. The cyan mare huffed at that, glaring back at her long time friend, and I chuckled watching the two of them. It warmed me up from the perpetual chilled air, it seemed. Keela gave me a softer, knowing smile, then nodded to me as she relaxed again. She knew most of all. This had been a long journey indeed. "What's the status of the fifth colony?" I asked her, more gently as I glanced back towards the Keldarian. Her smile flicked back to a brighter one, and she nodded to me before replying. "Significantly better than the second, if that's what you're worried about. Our new habitat technology is taking well, and we've managed to colonize four bubbles now, with minimal changes to the outside planet, as you requested. Four hundred Keldarians and growing..." she revealed. I exhaled, then nodded. They got their second chance, given all of the genetic data I'd saved. Rescuing survivors and providing raw genetic data let them spread and grow yet again. Yeah, survivors. Heh. The Keldarians got their second chance at the cost of the last chance for the Grosh. My eyes felt heavy as I looked back up at the scanners, then asked, "How are our friends?" Her smile twisted up lightly at the corner of her mouth. She knew what it was like to hate, too. It was an ugly sensation, but this was an ugly place and we needed it to survive. It made her love a bit more raw and feral, but that was okay, too. "Terrified and in pure defense, just the way you like them. Are we set, then...?" she asked, a bit of excitement building in her eyes. Our real friends had changed everything. Three Grosh turned traitor, and that was all it had taken. They'd given us everything out of pure penance for the atrocity that was their race. We suddenly knew everything about them and their technology. I'd capitalized on that for everything it was worth, of course. Blending our technology together, ours had advanced a thousand years or more. Maybe this is what they'd been afraid of the entire time? Fear. Deep down, they were small little rabbits in a very large universe. A big and scary universe that had treated them like crap in their formative years. I guess if your environment is filled with hatred and death, in order to survive, you transcend. Now, karma turned out to be a harsh mistress, and we were her bloody sword. I nodded to the Keldarian finally. "Yes, we're in position. RES Celestia and Luna, you're on flanking duties as usual. RES Cadance, stay back with fire support and communications. We'll take up point in the RES Twilight. Is munitions ready, Tym?" I asked, glancing to my right viewport. He nodded to me, surrounded by monitors and status displays, most of them with various targeting lock systems. His demeanor shifted serious for a moment as he looked over the master display, then he smirked and it faded just as fast. "Locked on and ready to rip them apart. Communications go first, of course, then engine weak points. No escapes or survivors..." he assured, nodding in my direction again. We'd done this... a lot. We sent a message to each system one week ahead of time. A warning, listing their crimes as a race and our intent to attack. The first three times we did this, they reinforced. The first time their effort was minimal and they laughed it off. We took them apart. There was no call for help, no sound of battle, and no wounded survivors limping home. Their colony went dark, fading into the black abyss of space like so many stars. We destroy communication first, cripple their ships, and then systematically destroy weak spots and defenses. Hit and run tactics out of subspace maneuvers we'd only dreamed of prior. We were 'ghosts' that they didn't even detect until they were already amidst the destruction. Azure's Ghosts is what they called the fleet. Our fleet. Personally, I thought it was the paint job, but it was rather poignant. We were four capital ships strong, beyond bleeding edge technology. Hundreds of support ships backed us up, traveling along our 'wake' and taking advantage of our ability to ghost in and out of subspace. It left only a fraction of a second attack window open for both us and them. The difference is that we had our alpha strikes ready and targets locked, and they didn't even know we were there. Then they died. The only thing we ever left behind was our original message and the utterly hollow husks of their civilizations, with everything burnt to a charred dust as it drifted through space. No messages out. No survivors. They just faded away and we were gone by the time they investigated. Their second and third warnings, they sent the whole fleet. With our tactics, overwhelming maneuverability and firepower superiority, and an immense knowledge of their own tactics, we won. They didn't get any outward communication of us even arriving apart from sudden radio silence. They only repeated this once, however. Now, we were the boogeyman. Our messages arriving was a sign for full scale evacuation. We picked strategic targets, removing power bases and separating their escape paths one by one. It was a long war, and we'd fought it for a very long time. This was our two hundred and sixteenth year since becoming trapped in this dimension. That meant it was another eighty-four years at least before Equus lined back up with us. We had the technology to make the jump right now if we could. I even had their coordinates. So if we were stuck here, we might as well make a difference in the meantime. "Forces?" I asked, staring at the screen of our scans in front of me. Litta shook her head from the second row down. "One siege fleet and one defensive fleet. They're not even going to have time to scream..." she revealed. Shaking my head, I ordered, "No chance at all. No mercy. Communications with overwhelming firepower, then weak points. Cripple then destroy them outright. No escapes..." She sighed at that, but nodded, repeating my words to the other ships. I wasn't going to ever take a chance. These creatures were going to systematically be wiped out or 'converted', one way or another. Applejack sighed, and I saw it coming. Again. "Mender, we've been doin' this fer ah long time. Are ya sure ya really want ta-" she started to ask. I let my nostrils flare for a moment, that chill coming over me again before nodding. "Yup. They had their chance to surrender or run. Now they face justice and get erased," I cut off, staring at her intently. Justice, revenge, war crimes... Whatever you wanted to call it at this point. She looked away, and I knew she'd given up. She lacked the conviction of trying to be my moral compass these days. Even if my own actions damned me in the long run, someone had to do this. The universe wasn't going to give out any freebies at this point, and if someone didn't step up and do something unsavory, we'd all be wiped out by these monsters. When it came down to hospital ships or residential areas, I made sure to do the shooting myself, of course. Tym smirked again. He'd been with me the whole time. He agreed with every word I'd said, of course, and had seen exactly what these creatures were with his own eyes. "If we're done with the traditional pussy-footing around morality up there, we have some monsters to destroy before the day's out. We ready, Mender?" he asked, shifting his full attention to only me finally. "Of course. Fangs out, and move in for the kill," I ordered, gesturing my hoof downwards towards the lock-on displays in the main screen. We shuddered all at once as the ship lurched forward. The orange mare sighed and turned away fully, her blue lover giving her an assuring smile. They'd talk to me later tonight, of course, when the four of us were alone. I... They were my lovers, too, of course. They were all I had left apart from Keela, and it had been... a very long time. For a brief moment, the shimmering yellow mare smiled in my memories, hazy now as all I'd felt of her were pictures over the hundreds of years. Lavender danced amidst, and I smiled, fighting back that spike of pain inside. It had been so very long since I'd seen them. The machines in my blood made me immortal, just like Applejack and Rainbow. They regenerated my biological structure, refreshing my DNA and cells with each cycle. That meant the others would be immortal, too. At least I knew that Twilight and Fluttershy would be waiting when I got back. If we got back. At this point, I'd promised myself to get the two of them home. The three of us included Keela now, and she'd made her own promises. She sought to follow me wherever I go, and got a blood transfer from me to facilitate just that. Then they all promised to follow me, including Tym. Although I suspected he didn't age anyway, with or without nanite assistance. We'd fought relentlessly for this. The monsters had been beat back mercilessly again and again. We'd severed them, cut them off, starved them, and utterly defeated them for two hundred years. Now they had six systems left. They had started with over three thousand. By the time we saw Equus again, they would be gone. I went cold again as our engines hummed, and we flickered out of existence once more... * * * * * We were making a difference. We had found Keldarian survivors and aided them. With the DNA I had, they had started to pick up the pieces of their race. Of course, there was a price. Getting the DNA from me brought my energy with it, and permanently changed them. It corroded the blockages and energy buildup in their magic system. It healed their DNA, and slowly brought them peace. They were returning, day by day, back to the people they used to be before. Happy again, and peaceful. Gentle. Males were treated with respect and equality again, despite being more numerous. That was a price the council had been unwilling to pay, seeing my energy as corrupting and evil, ironically. Our victories carried through and bolstered hope and morale, of course. But it was the technology to survive and thrive that helped them grow. We had multiple colonies now, thousands strong, and they were well on their way to a stable DNA base without needing my input. Almost. They easily would be by the time Equus matched up with us again. And the differences we were making for life here was what kept them going. Applejack and Rainbow saw we were helping, and thus, they allowed me to keep going, too. Allowed it, but definitely didn't like it one bit. "Yer losin' yerself, Mender. Ya need ta stop this. They're almost gone now, and ya know them other aliens could finish 'em off," Applejack murmured gently, resting next to me in bed with her nose against mine. Slowly, I sighed, then shook my head towards her. "You know you'd never leave a job to somepony else, unfinished. It's too risky. We have to make sure that no other race has to deal with these monsters..." I reminded. Her eyes softened a little, and she nuzzled me again. For a moment, we just listened to the sounds of teeth being brushed, and an idle, quiet conversation from the bathroom between the other two. Probably talking about our victory today... "If... that's really why ya do it, then okay. We can see this through ta tha end... but is it really why yer doin' this?" she asked, almost a whisper as her eyes met mine again. I swallowed, then sighed, but all she did was lean in and give me a softer kiss. I returned it, feeling that ice in my chest lessen just a little, and she smiled, breaking away again. "Ah know. Ya miss 'em. Ah do, too. Just... don't lose yerself before we can see 'em again..." she continued gently. She'd lost far more than I. I'd see Fluttershy and Twilight again. But by the time we got back, her sister, brother, and grandma... They were already gone. Guaranteed. We might get to see their foals if they had any, but... Softly, I massaged her chest, and she smiled at my touch. The mattress got weighed down slightly, and a cyan mare flopped onto us an instant later, grinning. "Getting started without me, huh?!" she asked, shooting me a wink as I felt my face flush. Two hundred years and she could still make me turn red. Ugh. "Heh, talkin', Dashie. But Ah think ya knew that..." Applejack shot back, earning a giggle from the other mare. I smiled 'up' at her, then turned and looked in time to see Keela exit the bathroom, entirely nude. It was a rather welcome sight, and she winked to me before sliding in behind me, shorter muzzle nuzzling into the back of my neck. No matter what we faced, we stuck together, and that... That was the important part. * * * * * "No. This just... I can't do this. This isn't right. Not yet. Not just for him anymore..." Ending 3I looked up at the slowly repairing ceiling, and then flicked my tentacles out in an instant, smashing it open again. Her barrier was gone now, having dropped a few seconds after we breached the hull, undoubtedly at her whim to conserve her strength. I looked back to Nirru one last time, her body now burning as her own magic went out of control on her arms. The flames flickered, starting to die as the air was vented out of the cabin, and for a moment, I pitied her. If I could go back in time, would it be possible to find the point where it had all gone wrong? That question would take a far wiser pony than myself, and I dismissed it, quickly running out of time. "How long until tha moon hits?" Applejack asked, stuck to the floor of the command center by her own magic as she held Rainbow, the pegasus suddenly weightless. The gravity systems for the room failed, and I kicked off the floor and headed back into space following the ceiling and bits of hull. Everything seemed to slow down, and I frowned as I rotated upside down, touching back onto the bits of ceiling drifting upwards. A glance to my left showed Prudentia glowing a fiery blue color on my side, the rest of the color draining out of the world, even as Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed me. This time, their colors stayed, too, however, them not noticing, or be affected by the sudden grinding halt of temporal movement. At least until they got out here with me and spotted the debris stuck in time. "Eh? W-Wait, what's goin' on...?" Applejack asked, noting the ceiling not budge when they hit it, then further discovering the bits of hull frozen in time around us. Nodding, I released Prudentia, letting it float off my side as Purdue slowly manifested on the front of the book, the main gem glowing with energy and projecting her image above it. I explained after, "This is her doing. She's halted time just for the three of us. What's going on, Purdue?" The little filly's soft blue ears lowered, and she momentarily looked uncertain before swallowing intensely. "B-Bro... n-no, Mender... I... I need to talk to you. Bad! I have to warn you!" she suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere. Eh? Her timing indicated that this was probably vital. "Warn? About what?" Rainbow asked, flipping and landing gently next to me, still holding Applejack and helping her latch onto the ceiling. Now we were all 'upside down' compared to the command center above us, but perspective was funny like that. The filly gave a little whine before fidgeting and adding, "I'm almost out of energy. I've... stressed my personal energy through this entire battle repeatedly, but I c-can never make it last long enough! I... I don't know what to do, Mender! I... I can't save you and I'm out of options!" Eh?! My mind was already trying to process what she was saying, but it was reaching blanks. What did she mean, 'can never'? Frowning, I corrected, "It's still Brother, Little Sis. And save me from what?" I tried to keep my voice level and calm for her. She flinched regardless, shifting back and forth on her hooves. It took her a few seconds, but she looked back up at me, tears in her amber eyes. "This. No matter what I do, I can't save you. I've tried over and over and over again. You get the idea to redirect the shuttle after this with your own Slipstream effect, but to escape dying, you have to dimension warp. You get stuck in the other dimension with Keela! All three of you!" she suddenly said outright. Well, there went that calm bit... as that was the plan I had indeed started to form. I knew Purdue had that 'probability profiling' ability, but that was crazy! My eyes widened, both mares next to me following almost instantly. "W-What?! How did you know that.... wait..." I started to mutter before my brain skipped a few gears again. Trying.... to save me? Over and over again...? She could stop time, at least from the perspective of an individual, which was self evident in this situation. But... She winced, as if expecting to be slapped for a moment, but when nothing came, she instead broke into tears. "I lied! I've been lying to you over and over again! Telling y-you never helps! You just sacrifice yourself instead and try to let me free of the Geas... I don't want to be free! I've repeated this same month and a half over and over and over again, trying to find a way to come out without losing anything..." Purdue revealed instead. Oh. Well damn. "Uh... what?" Applejack asked, giving her a bewildered stare before looking over at me. I couldn't process it fully, however, and fought my own mind to pull it all back together. It all snapped into place a moment later. "Your powers... Are literally everything to do with a book, aren't they? That includes flipping back to the beginning and starting to read it again... doesn't it?" I asked quietly. She swallowed, then slowly nodded to me instead, looking down and away. She had been... But that meant... My eyes widened a little, and I continued with, "Oh... Your power... Does that include 'writing' in the book, too?" Her wince told me yes before her mouth needed to. "Y-Yeah. It costs me a lot of energy, but I can 'write' tiny things into the book, changing things each time I start over. I've... been doing this for a long time, trying to find the right combination of things that will save you. This is as far as I can get, though. There's just... no energy left to change anything else, and... I don't know what to do," she finished explaining, slumping against the gem on the front of the book. Then... why tell me directly? Why now, of all times? Both mares with me looked more than a little stunned, Rainbow looking between Purdue and myself before finally settling her gaze on the small filly. "So you're... Well, you're a time traveler? You're a time traveler from Mender's dimension who's linked to him in the form of a strange spirit bound to a book that's been trying to save him from... whatever this is that's going to happen...? This is... what?!" she asked, freaking out halfway through and flailing her forelegs to either side of her. I raised an eyebrow at the pegasus, but Applejack actually chuckled and rubbed her hoof along Rainbow's muzzle, calming the mare. "It's... surprisin', but if that's what she says she is, that's what she is. She ain't lyin'. So, maybe we can put our noggins together an' come up with somethin'? What exactly is tha problem, Sugar?" she asked instead, accepting it all rather easily. It took me a moment, but I pieced all of it back together again. "I... It doesn't matter, no. Nothing's changed in how I consider you, Little Sis. You say the plan works, but in order to avoid getting caught on the ship as it goes into the sun, we have to do a dimensional transfer... which gets us stuck on the other side?" I summarized. Considering everything at once made my head spin, so I just focused on the current problem instead. Purdue looked stunned for a moment, but then nodded, looking to her left. The book projected an image next to her in the same moment, and my eyes widened. There we were, a brilliant miasma of energy washed around us in thick torrents, Dash gritting her teeth as her wings turned into flares behind her. They were two long ribbons of prismatic light dancing off into the dark of space behind us, splashing along the sides of the massive vessel following us. My mind tingled as I watched, and suddenly I started to remember alongside the image. That... It happened. That really happened! I was riding on Rainbow's back, and she was carrying Applejack in her legs. I looked over to the two of them and saw the same look of realization starting to show across their expressions. Slowly, Dash's jaw lowered, and she exclaimed, "I remember this! This is... I did this! Oh my gosh, this is so awesome!" Uh, dramatically missing the point, but yes, she did! Turning, I looked back at the image, remembering three or four different ways suddenly that it could have gone. Frowning, the image felt strange, and I reached forward with my left forehoof and touched it softly. Branches. Every decision made a branch as to how it could have gone. Not just our choices, but how our choices made other choices, and even the inanimate objects we affected. Applejack frowned, watching me as the image started to split and schism. It slowly became a great tree of images, each one varying just a little as it branched out and out. She hesitated, then asked, "Mender, what are ya doin'?" Purdue just watched, eyes softening a little as I spread the image out into three-dozen others. "I've... I've done this before," I muttered, surprised at my own memories. They weren't coming 'back', but were instead appending to the memories I already had. They were there, but I distinctly understood that they were also from alternative timelines. Did that mean that, somehow, I was able to 'remember' all of these branches? Is that how this worked? The little translucent filly shook her head slowly, explaining, "Those are my memories. I've done it... for a very long time. I get the branches of you, master of the book, and anyone you interact with in your 'story'." Oh, that meant... She nodded, and suddenly time seemed to stretch backwards. It was no longer an image just being projected to her left, but all around us in thousands of branches. It curled backwards, some branches joining with others and some spiraling away and into the distance. No, not away. We were going backwards, so that was when they joined, not separated. Images all over, of not just my own memories, but... Rushing through an ancient castle with the others. Constructing a barn. Harvesting apples from the entire orchard. Winning so many races. Flying around in a giant tornado. Helping move massive thunderclouds over the town. It showed all of our memories, not just my own. Spiraling backwards, it went further and further, but... I went the other direction, following the fourth spiraling thread connected to our group. It struck me almost instantly, and I just had to know. There were literally millions of branches. I could see every adjustment she'd made. Over and over, she'd repeated everything. I wanted to tell her to stop, to rest and stop doing this to herself. I followed that thread instead. "M-Mender, stop, what are you...?" Purdue started to ask. I had to know. It was important! Something about how all of this mess actually began was important. It was too late to stop me, and I hauled all four of us down the thread and into a completely foreign set of memories... * * * * * Dancing. Her first memory was dancing. She looked so happy as she laughed and spun, arms extended. It was the sensation of the air on her fur, the weight of her arms pulling at her body, and even her own balance as she moved that attracted her. She'd never seen anything her entire life, after all, cloudy gray pupils looking empty and distant, yet she actually saw forever. She'd been born a mutation. A genetically deformed child. They were getting more and more frequent, and it was always a 'tragedy' when it happened to a female kitten. She'd been born not only a runt, but blind as well. If she were a male, she wouldn't have lasted the night, but because females were important even without sight and strength of body, she was kept alive and simply slotted for breeding instead. Of course, that didn't mean her childhood was much different... The memories flickered like a candle in the wind. So long ago. Something else, too. It didn't exist. Somehow, it felt like the memories didn't exist. Not that they weren't real, but that they were no longer real, somehow. He'd found her. He was a veteran soldier by then, and held a good chunk of rank. He was up for review for both the special forces, and slotted for work as a training instructor. Alongside his magical aptitude and generally acknowledged cleverness, he held quite a lot of prestige. A male such as him was 'allowed' to enter themselves into the breeding programs. Encouraged even. Genetics were valuable, it would seem. It could have been blind luck, or maybe it was some sort of skill or training on his part. Maybe you could even call it 'providence'. But he found her less than two years before she was slotted to begin the breeding program. She was nine at the time, a rather sickly child who seemed naturally scared of everything. He saw past that, however, and realized it was more than fear. She giggled then, sitting down next to me as the events flickered around us, through both vision and memory. Applejack looked horrified by the thoughts and images, but Rainbow purely focused on the small Keldarian in front of us. Purdue smiled, however, and explained, "I was completely blind, but they didn't understand. My mutation was a burden, but also a boon. My dead eyes saw past reality to the temporal streams beyond. It started just a few seconds displaced in any direction. That's forward or back in time, that is. Or maybe it was up and down. It doesn't matter..." The small kitten was curled up on her bed, uniform on and wet moisture dampening the fur of her cheeks. She was waiting for the male who'd 'ordered' her to come pick her up. Males of status were allowed to select personal breeders, after all, and despite being too young, she was volunteered. Largely because they saw her as broken and useless anyway. She wasn't expecting him to smile at her. Or to sit next to her bed for over an hour just talking with her. She didn't expect her first meal to be actual food, and for him to have a room prepared for her. He even had education books ready, and while he was a very busy male, he spent a surprising amount of time with her. Purdue sighed at that, lowering her head and ears as she rested her cheek against my leg. "He started off a lot like you are, Mender. My big brother. He told me that he saw me for what I was, a little girl who wasn't broken and damaged like they thought, who needed to be rescued. Ordering me as a breeder was just his excuse to get me out of there..." she explained, closing her eyes again. Pulling her over, I felt her relax in my forelegs, a smile playing back at her muzzle. The memories jumped and spun, fluttering like a hundred moths around a flame. Hard to track and follow just one. We fell out of focus, a memory of learning here, reading together on a garden moon there, learning how to properly dance even. The little kitten was happy, and she'd found her big brother to protect her. That perverse sense of wrongness still invaded the memories. Like they didn't exist, but did at the same time. Another thing I noticed was that there were no branches here. Just one long line. Three years. I, no, she, remembered it as the third anniversary of the day he'd picked her up. Her big brother, who'd proven time and time again to love and care for her. She even helped him celebrate when he found another female who liked spending time with him. Things were tense, though, and going badly with the war effort against the Grosh, which was putting a lot of stress on him. Purdue nodded along, watching the older looking female Keldarian waiting patiently in a modern apartment hallway, staring at the door curiously yet with empty eyes, seeing through it. She'd been taught to 'look' at things she was addressing or examining, if only to keep up the appearance of being active and aware. One of the many things he taught her, of course. "He met Keela after he saved her from one of the world's under siege. She was a shy girl, who was always second most important to her sister. She fell for the dashing rogue who'd saved her life in the middle of live combat, and started meeting him in secret. She hadn't been ready to tell her sister yet about her relationship, but she was nice to me, and treated me like a little sister when she watched over me. Even started teaching me magic and how to use my powers, seeing as she was a clairvoyance specialist," she explained. A lot of that I'd already known from Keela, but... The little kitten girl sighed, resting with her back to the wall now as she sat on the floor. It had been hours since he'd left, and still, he wasn't back. His dates with Keela usually only ran a few hours, but it had been six now. Keela came in instead, looking a mess and in a panic. There'd been a misunderstanding. This much I knew, too. They'd been caught together, Nirru jumped to conclusions, and he'd been arrested. Keela went to her mentor, Kyliona, for help, but it took time. And in the meantime, he was busy being tortured. It didn't do his sanity any favors... We watched the blur, and after sighing, Purdue narrated with, "She took me to the lab for a few days. It took two and a half days for Kyliona to clear him with the council and essentially draft him into her service. He was in rough shape by then, and blamed Keela for not standing up to her sister, breaking off their relationship. It was... bad. He didn't even talk to me, and he usually told me about everything..." Images of her being pulled through a blurred and stormy street, barely avoiding people as he hauled her along. He was frustrated and angry, and probably more than a little crazy at that point. He had been forced to aid Kyliona in her project as part of the excuse for freeing him. They'd replaced the missing body parts with cybernetics, but couldn't do much for his mind. I knew now that his DNA had gone into me to stabilize my missing bits resulting from the three hundred years of cryostasis and being removed from my mother exceptionally early. As a result, I had his memories and training, intentionally given, from what I understood. They were originally using me as a scout, and didn't know what they'd be sending me into, after all. None of them predicted that it would also transfer Purdue's magical Geas to me as well, after he died... "Raaaah! That's it!" he screamed out, violently kicking his dresser and smashing the front of its drawers open. Purdue sat on the bed, large ears lowered as she kept herself shrunk down, despite him only taking his anger out on inanimate objects. "B-Brother, calm down. I know a lot happened to you, but let me help you! I'll do anything to help you, you know that!" the young kitten pleaded in a low whine. He slowed, breathing hard as he sunk to his knees and leaned against the bed. Purdue slid over to where he rested, putting a paw on his arm, which caused him to start shivering. This wasn't how I anticipated it at all. He was... crying? I frowned, but filly Purdue shook her head. "He was a completely different person originally. Driven, and wanting to make a difference. He only became the individual you knew after having decided that difference was worth any cost. That's when he decided that only he could adequately 'judge' individuals for their 'sins', at least as he put it..." she explained, closing her eyes and sagging against my forelegs. I held her closer, watching her other self trying to comfort the crying Keldarian. Slowly, he looked up at her and shook his head. "It's too late, Purdue. They're all dead... That... monster... She killed my entire team right in front of me. Even if I was set free, I'm stripped of my ranks and titles, and we're probably mere days away from losing this war..." he whispered, shuddering again. His eyes let streams of tears down his cheeks, but within, I saw an even deeper pain stirring. That level of darkness gave way to madness fairly fast, I knew... It was a pity he couldn't see his own eyes. "I'm still here, Big Brother," Purdue tried to whisper, leaning in and nuzzling him gently. He relaxed a little, giving her a shaky smile before closing his eyes again. "You are... If only your powers were stronger. We might be able to save the Keldarians... But we're almost entirely out of time..." he muttered. His hand clenched, his claws digging into his blanket as he gave a half-hysterical snarl of frustration. Purdue persisted, giving soft and gentle nuzzles the whole time, until he relaxed again. Slowly, his ears perked up, and he suddenly widened his eyes. "Wait... no... There's... It's a long shot, but there is one more hope. Only one. But if we're all going to die anyway..." he muttered, shakily looking up at her again. They stared at each other for a surprisingly intense dozen seconds or so, his eyes searching hers as she slowly tilted her head. Instead, he asked, "You said you'd do anything, right? And you trust me?" Oh hell... She momentarily looked confused, but nodded a second later, smiling again. "Of course, Big Brother. I trust you with my life..." she assured. A knot formed in my throat, and I felt the little filly start to shake against me. No, these were memories. It was all over already, right? The real her wasn't what we were watching, but the one snuggling against my legs. I held her tighter, only now starting to grasp just how desperately she needed a hug. The Keldarian in the image nodded, and then stood rapidly. "This is our last chance, then. We can still save them all, but we literally need more time. Of course, it's all just pure theory, but we don't really have a choice, or the time to run comprehensive tests. Stay here. I'll be right back..." he instructed. Purdue nodded, still looking a little confused, but he took off out of the room rapidly, leaving her resting on the bed instead. Time stepped forward again, and a sense of dread hit me. For reasons not entirely known to me, I pulled Purdue closer and rotated her around so her face was pressed into my chest. She shivered, and I felt the barest hint of a smile. "I don't need to see it to know what happened. I lived it..." she reminded, although there was a hinting of affection in her voice. Snorting lightly, I assured her, "Real big brothers don't listen to logic like that. They just guard you anyway..." There was a surprising emphasis on 'real' that I used, but she smiled fully anyway, pushing her muzzle in a bit closer to my chest and letting it brush over my fur. Applejack smirked at my statement and nodded in agreement, then slid over closer and pressed into my side. Her face buried into my shoulder, she helped me snuggle Purdue, then muttered, "Big Mac ain't 'ere, so ya can guard me, too. Ah don't have no desire ta see this either..." Chuckling, I looked over to Dash, too, and then lifted an eyebrow as she stayed staring at the images, ears flicking lightly. She flinched as I turned towards her, and I knew she knew I was watching. "Nope. Not gonna make you watch this alone, Mender..." she suddenly defended, crossing her forelegs over her chest and giving a stubborn huff after. She'd probably been anticipating me to talk her out of it. She wasn't expecting me to just grab her right shoulder and spin her around, pulling her against me, too, instead. She gave a squeak, but I cut her off with, "Good, because I don't want to watch it either. Plus, we have a little filly here who's in desperate need of snuggles." My head lowered, too, resting on top of both of theirs, and then none of us were watching. Not that I needed to. I'd touched the stream, and that told me exactly what had happened. I 'felt' it in my memories. She trusted him absolutely, and he took that and used it to betray her just as completely. There was that sense of surprise at being grabbed, but it was fine, of course. It was her big brother. Muscles relaxed, and she smiled up at him, even as he rested her down on the bed again. Blind eyes sought out his essence, but she'd never been able to read him properly. He always held everything inside as much as possible. But for just that instant, she was surprised to feel a single thing sliding out of his mind. An apology. It was too late to ask him, however. The biting sting slid into her chest, white hot and tearing. She screamed silently, but no sound came out as her strength failed her completely. The heavy blade parted through her, smashing deep into the very beating sensation at her center, then cut away. The pain became blinding, white hot dissolving into numb cold instead as all feeling fell away. Weak thrashing turned into spasms, liquid heat rushing out of her center and leaving her cold and empty inside. He tore the pulsing free of her chest completely, letting the hot fluid splatter over her as he pulled it free of her body. She was left alone, laying there in the cold darkness as it sank around her. He wanted more, however. Her heart was just the catalyst, of course. Out of that cold, freezing abyss, he reached out of nowhere and drove a thousand fish hooks right into her essence itself. The link between them turned absolute, and the Geas tore into her soul, even as he completed the ritual with her lifeblood against the Aegis Barrier. Then it was activated... I held Purdue close, even as she shivered and cried. The other Purdue did the same, but without anyone there to hug her. Instead, she was bound into the barrier itself, which was sealed inside the book in a massive explosion of energy. An Aegis Artifact was born, her life unbound to fuel its energy and creation. The power of the essence, or a 'soul' was used, unshackled by a corporeal form and left to grow upon itself without limit. Hers was unique, however. It was the first Artifact created where the caster didn't sacrifice themself to make it. The trick was in the Geas spell itself... All three of us snuggled Purdue, blocking out the visions entirely. It was a long moment, and minutes passed in silence, the memories having bled off to blissful nothingness instead. I just let her rest, no questions asked, and we formed a furry cocoon around her of warm bodies. She shivered again, snuggling into my chest even as the two mares pushed closer. Applejack felt utmost concern for the filly we held, but Rainbow's thoughts stayed focused entirely on the sensation of my foreleg over her, an uncomfortable feeling shifting through her from our link. She, nor Applejack, had felt any of Purdue’s memories about getting sacrificed, I knew. Left to her own devices, she'd instead been thinking about the other timeline. Purdue had shown us what would happen if we’d gotten trapped in the other dimension. All of our memories, at least of that particular thread of time, had returned fully. I knew all about the Grosh, the technology that we'd recovered from them and where I'd advanced with it, and what I'd fallen into in order to annihilate them from the universe. At the same time, I also felt the connection to Keela and the two mares magnify dozens of times. They'd both been my lovers for hundreds of years, and it was rather hard to ignore that sensation. Things were... getting complicated now. No, we needed to focus on the present. Things could be dealt with in time after. There was only one more piece missing, then. "We're almost there. What did he do, Purdue? I think that's the important part..." I muttered, working off gut instinct now. Or maybe it wasn't gut instinct at all, given how crazy this was all getting. The beginning of this. It was more than just curiosity. It had to hold the key... She sighed, and then nodded slowly. "After turning me into an Aegis Artifact using the ritual, he had to act fast. My awakening released an energy pulse that could be felt hundreds of miles away, like all Aegis Artifacts. It set off alarms everywhere, and special operations squads were already on their way towards our apartment..." she explained. How on earth did he get out of that?! And get reinstated as an agent somehow...? Wait... No, they didn't know about her being an Artifact either! Purdue swallowed, her empty eyes looking up towards me pointlessly for a long moment. Or maybe she really did see something, but it wasn't likely to be something I could comprehend. Her eyes seemed to soften, ears lowering as they closed slowly. "I asked myself a lot over the years, why he was the only individual that my vision didn't work on. At first I thought he was just too powerful, but things didn't add up. I realize now why my vision didn't work on him. It's because he broke everything, and to save me from the madness, my mind blocked him out completely..." she revealed, voice dull and without variation. Broke...? "Broke." Her voice answered it, but didn't at the same time as it echoed around us instead. I was treated to the sensation of the sound 'tearing', and a pang shot through my skull in an instant. No, that wasn't a tearing sound. I watched the sound tear inside of my brain, and it refused to process it. The image was distorted now. Fragmented, I realize. Like the memory was literally coming apart at the seams with warped, blank 'nothing' filling the gaps. He smiled, a distorted grin with bladed teeth warping around and out his face as perspective melted like heated butter. Wait, no, that was the smile he’d given me as ‘Nirru’. My own memories were bleeding in now? "You belong to me now, Purdue. You are now Prudentia. Foresight, in all aspects. Bound to a book, and thus acting as one," he declared. It wrote itself inside of the cover of the book, like absolute law, even as the hooks into her soul twisted and tore. She spoke, even without wanting to. "Yes, Master. What is your command?" she asked, voice empty and hollow, her life's essence held up overlaying the book like some twisted marionette on rusted, bloody chains. Her actual blood drifted around them, still pooling from her discarded physical form, and drifted free of gravity in long strands as the energy exploded out. For that instant, frozen in time, he was at the center of a great explosion of life and power, realized in the exact moment of her death. He lost his grin, causing a chill to go down my spine. "Take my energy, too. All of it. I have only one order," he continued. What...? His eyes closed, even though I could no longer see them, and I simply 'knew' what was happening now. No... this wasn't... He finally ordered, "Erase Purdue from existence entirely..." My mind blanked, reality starting to froth into a boil around us as I heard Rainbow silently screaming, her voice dancing forward like streams of water into the air rather than producing sound. Applejack clutched at her head, body warping partly through mine as we started to burn away. "Yes, Master." With those words, we were undone, and torn asunder. Purdue existed. But then she suddenly didn't exist. But then her power left with her, removing the very force that had removed her. Suddenly she existed again. But then time repeated in an instant and she was forced to erase herself in the same moment. Again and again and again. The thread of continuity frayed, and he wielded a paradox as if it were a weapon, striking one single, very precise blow into the thread itself using his very existence. Reality and causality, however, wasn't such a stable thing. It buckled under the weight of the twisting, infinite repetition in that same moment. There were safeguards, of course. That was the moment I realized that reality strove for balance. It had the ability to fix itself. It wasn't due to some magical contrived plot device from within the paradox loop, but time itself stepping back and mentioning, "Wow, that got messed up." Purdue smiled, guiding us through the abyss with practiced precision. "That's why I didn't want you going back. Watching that..." she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks. It was the worst moment, and last, of her life, and her soul had been used to destroy all of existence. Purdue's mother smiled, giving a nuzzle to her father, but fragmentation stripped their identities away already. Nothing but the 'knowing' of the roles they played was left. Well, more accurately, the roles they no longer played. Purdue herself was erased. Instead, their love didn't bear a child, but a power. At that exact moment... He was past the checkpoints now. It had been a long week of security clearances, and he was on to basic training. So young. He rested on his mattress and gave a tired sigh, closing his eyes for a moment before he remembered. His mother's journal. He smiled, innocent and pure as he pulled it out of his bag to write a new entry in it... and his eyes widened. She had awoken, in the only form she could to both satisfy her destruction and existence at the same time. She was the book. Past security, and fully awoken as an Aegis Artifact, subtly, in that instant of her birth. That brilliant bastard. And he didn't even know... Time flew by, showing him experimenting with the strange new powers of the book, seemingly coming out of nowhere and being served by an obedient soul that was forced to obey him. Laws inside of the cover instructed her to always obey, never tell, and to be a book. He didn't care, of course, not even knowing her real name, and used the book to its full advantage... and that's how everything snapped into place. He'd achieved a rank similar to Tym in a tenth of the timeframe, and set up everything so he was exactly where he needed to be with exactly the resources he wanted. How? By writing it in and reading ahead! I hated him all over again. He hadn't even tried to understand the nature of the sudden change to the book. He hadn't even tried to free her. It was a 'her' and he hated females anyway. At least until Keela. He could be as innocent and idealistic as possible, and it was still all his fault for being a complete idiot instead! I gritted my teeth, even as Applejack slumped against me, and Rainbow shivered at my hooves holding her head. They'd seen everything, too. Everything in that timeline, and everything in the timeline right before us where we were stuck for hundreds of years. I had all of my knowledge of that event, but still... That was the answer, but I didn't know how to actually utilize it. It was right in front of me, and I understood what had to be done, but I didn't know how to get to that point. We were back in that instant, having never departed, of course. All three of us stood on the surface of the ship, having just stopped running. It was pointless. We'd just get stuck again, or die trying. "I don't have anything left. The reserves are empty, even if you ordered me to try to change something..." Purdue whispered, closing her eyes as she slumped against my leg. I didn't feel any weight at all now, and knew we were outside of her mind. But the book was still open, and I could feel it. The massive tree of probability anchored around us, impossibly huge yet all of it fit inside my perspective, even in detail. My own mind gave up trying to figure that one out, and I refused to try. Now I knew she didn't stop time, however. She'd only ever stopped reading, and left our perspectives out of it. Time wasn't stopped at all. We were. Frowning, I immediately asked, "What about my own energy? I saw you took his in the flashback." Applejack recovered fast and immediately shot me a glare, but Purdue's ears just lowered. "Even if I wanted to risk that, he was the one that gave me his energy, not the other way around. I... I couldn't see him. Even then. Especially then. I was never able to see him. He used a spell effect, but I have no idea how he did it, so I couldn't even begin to tell you..." she whispered, starting to shiver lightly. Damn it! Giving a frustrated grunt, I slid my left forehoof across the metal of the deck. No energy left in the tanks, can't access the backup tanks, can't slow the ship down enough, can't redirect it... There was really only one outcome that we could possibly do. There was no choice but to just let it happen and get trapped in the other dimension... I felt him before I noticed him, my senses ablaze and tuned directly into the hundreds of thousands of threads running around me. A new thread just 'appearing' as a single point out of nowhere was definitely unexpected, and caught my full attention. A moment later, I watched a very, very small Draconequus 'slide' down the thread closest to my head, as if it were a fire pony's pole or something. "Ooooh, is this a secret club?! I find ponies in the strangest places sometime, but I do wish they'd inform me when we got a new extradimensional club outside of the chronological flow of space itself... And, of course, it's, uh..." he started before suddenly blanking and staring at me for a long moment. Seriously? Again? My mouth opened, but he held up his paw. It suddenly felt like my lips were all sticky and gummed up! I flailed, but he continued with, "No, no, don't tell me. Uh... bandaid flank? No, wait... that's what you used to be... Gear Butt? Wait, no, I guessed that last time... it had something to do with butt, right?" I force regenerated my lips, but just glared at him. Applejack gave him a skeptical stare, but to my surprise, Dash didn't laugh, rolling her eyes instead. "You're not fooling anypony, Discord. You know Mender's name. Now why are you here?" she asked instead, looking tired as she sized him up. He took it literally, of course, immediately growing back to his normal size. Purdue seemed concerned for a moment before asking, "And how are you here?! This is my own domain outside of time itself! You shouldn't even be aware this instant exists, let alone be able to interact with it!" Applejack raised an eyebrow to her, and then finally smiled at that. "Long story, don't ask. Short story, he's basically ah physical god o' chaos an' has done far stranger..." she explained. Discord, of course, snickered merrily, lounging back on several threads of time like a giant hammock. "Good answer! As to why, well, do I ever need a reason? I mean, really, Rainbow. You know what I'm like when bored, and then you wonderful ponies go out and have a full on battle in space without me! It's like the showing of all time, one night only, and nopony bothered to get me a ticket. I'm truly upset!" he revealed, waving his clawed appendage over his forehead in a surprisingly dramatic tone and gesture. "You're supposed to use a couch, not a hammock," I reminded, relaxing again and deciding I really didn't care why he was here in the first place. He blinked once, looking momentarily surprised before grinning and snapping his fingers. It didn't surprise me in the least, however, when the strands of light reshaped themselves into the exact replica of Rarity's couch, him still on them. Rainbow finally smirked and laughed lightly. "Why thank you! I believe I get to ask 'why' now, right? What's this gathering about?!" he asked, sounding more than a little pleased. Mostly with himself, of course. He used his pawed hand to rub at his goatee while waiting. Applejack sighed, and then quickly explained, "About tha same as usual, Ah reckon. We're stuck 'ere with no way ta get back ta Equus while still divertin' tha ship. Ah don't imagine ya got any fancy powers that'll teleport us back ta tha surface, do ya?" Oh! He was indeed an Ancient. Shouldn't he have the ability to teleport, too? He looked momentarily amused at that, throwing his paw up to his forehead dramatically again before replying, "Oh my! I so wish I could, but truthfully, my magic doesn't function like that. I mean, I could certainly try to move you three such a vast distance, but there'd be no promises that you'd arrive... in one piece..." His body shivered for a moment, then his fingers and arm fell off on the side against his forehead, and he gasped in faux shock. Uh… That probably wouldn't be nearly as pleasant looking if it happened to us. "Uh... that's bad. Is there anything you can do to help us or...?" Rainbow started to ask, shifting to looking mildly annoyed. Predictably, she was ignored as he began blowing on the thumb of his other hand until his arm 'inflated' out of the shoulder, regenerating instantly. After he wiggled his fingers tentatively, he shifted back to dramatic lamenting, continuing with, "Why, it could be even worse! You might end up switching body parts! Or somepony might end up with foal!" Weren't those just generic 'teleportation' myths and superstitions? Despite flushing lightly, Dash glared at him regardless, shaking her head after and turning back to Applejack, Purdue and me instead. "...yup. He's just here to be annoying and useless. So, back to the drawing board?" she offered. Discord frowned, looking a bit annoyed, but I cut him off before he could continue. Sighing, I glanced back to Purdue before asking, "How long can you keep time paused like this?" "About ten more minutes or so before it starts wearing me down. After, I don't know..." she admitted, frowning again at that as her left ear flicked lightly. Applejack recovered next, sighing and glaring back over at the laughing chimera. "Can ya help us at all, or was Dashie right an' yer just here ta be annoyin'?" she asked, a hint of needling in her tone. Discord looked even more peeved before gasping, suddenly standing as his 'couch' vanished as if it had never been there, the strings returned to their prior imagery. "Me? Annoying?! Well, fine! If you truly find my presence such an inconvenience, I shall depart. How very rude, especially treating a friend," he declared, looking offended instead. I still couldn't tell if he was serious or not, sadly. As hammy as he acted most of the time, it was just that, an act, and him shifting to a more normal expression after threw me off completely. He was... remarkably hard to read. The orange mare flattened her ears down, and then sighed before hastily correcting, "Sorry! We're sorry. Yer right, o' course. So we apologize. We'll ask ya more polite-like. Do ya think that ya could help us out, Discord? We're in ah bit o' ah jam..." She lowered her head in a slight bow towards him at the same time, and I almost caught a light bristling to Dash before she whipped her head around to look at Discord again. The draconequus smirked at that, and I repressed a groan. "That's more like it! Hmm, and I'd maybe consider helping you, yes. It's what such good friends do, of course... Plus, it would be a tragedy if something were to happen to Mender. Poor Fluttershy would be heartbroken and have nopony to turn to at all! Except, of course, for her friends, including me, banish the thought..." he assured, suddenly shifting topics in a significantly concerning way. I lifted an eyebrow as his eyes locked onto me instead, a hint of something in them, regardless. I got the sensation before that he didn't like me, but if he really was as 'redeemed' as they claimed, would he really resort to letting us all be 'banished' for hundreds of years, just to get rid of me? Wait... Fluttershy specifically? What was he to her...? He watched me carefully, a smirk playing at his mouth as some sort of acknowledgement undoubtedly flickered onto my expression. He knew exactly what was going on when he arrived, as he'd already acknowledged being aware of the temporal tree that Purdue was manifesting. But he'd benefit somehow from me going away...? Rainbow's ears lowered, and she quickly retorted, "You're not making any sense! If you were our 'friend', you would just help us! This is a serious situation we're in, and you're playing games!" He never flinched for a second, continuing to smirk. "Why, everypony loves games, Rainbow! They're such an enjoyable way to pass the time... oh! I know! Seeing as you won't do something as simple as begging, how about we settle things with a game instead? If you beat me, I'll help you all," he chirped, grinning as he snapped his fingers again, a game board appearing between him and Dash, looking remarkably like checkers. Oh hell... We didn't have time to do that! The cyan mare glared back at him, but everything suddenly felt colder. My eyes widened a little as I glanced down and to the left again, noting Applejack also looking at the small filly in surprise. Her eyes had shifted from the empty gray to a brightly glowing white, focused on the draconequus like two bright spotlights. He froze for a second, looking back over at us with confusion before... His eyes slowly started to widen as he regarded the little filly instead. Slowly, Purdue warned, "You regard Mender, my master, as a rival for Fluttershy's attention now. With that, you've entered into his story. ...I can see you now, Discord." What...? Oh. Uh oh... He hesitated, starting to frown at that. Rainbow perked, losing her glare as she shot a questioning glance back at us instead. Discord quickly defended with, "A... rival? I most certainly do not! I'm far more mature than-" Purdue smirked instead, causing him to freeze again as she continued with, "I see you now. Even you cast threads of choice and thought, Ancient. You wish to selfishly hoard all of Fluttershy's time because she's the only one who acknowledged you without asking for a single thing in return. Who forgave you without hesitation. She lets you forgive yourself, just a little. But in trying to be selfish, you're falling right back into your old ways, Discord. You came here to see if there was a way to subtly make sure at least Mender was lost to the other dimension, so you could see her link with him fade away. This isn't who you want to be, is it?" My eyes widened, and I looked back at the Ancient as he glared towards her, taking two steps slowly back away from us. The mare to each side of me rapidly returned his glare twofold, and I sighed. The game was just to buy time until Purdue ran out of energy for the time stop effect, then. Interestingly enough, a momentary guilty look flickered across his expression. "I... was going to do no such thing!" he quickly assured, crossing his arms over his chest as he pouted, looking away from us and closing his eyes before adding, "My intent was merely to try to encourage you all to solve your problem yourself first, of course! Celestia does that all the time, because ponies learn better when they get themselves out of their own difficulties, right?" Wow, her powers put him on the defensive... I didn't know him very well, but that felt sort of like a rare occurrence. My eyes widened an instant later. Solve it ourselves. No, he was right! That was... Everything snapped into place an instant later. I had just defaulted to assuming Purdue's powers and will was the only way out of this mess the second I learned about her full abilities. But that... sensation. It had told me that the start of all of this had been important. I thought it was so I could understand Purdue's ability to manipulate time, but... That wasn't the case at all. It was so I could see that the captain gave her his own energy to fuel the effect. Even if she didn't know how it worked, that meant it was possible. Solve it ourselves, then. That instinct was back, and now I knew what it was, finally, as all of the pieces fell into place. It was him. His memories affected more than just the training and skills put into my head. It wasn't that unexpected, I decided, that I also got his instincts as well. He had years of experience in using Prudentia, and all of that translated into a certain level of understanding about how the forces worked behind the scenes. "Discord, you're a genius. Thank you," I suddenly interrupted, smiling more earnestly up at the draconequus. He blanched completely, snapping back to look at me with a surprised expression. "I... I am...?" he asked, confusion matching the three other females as they all looked back at me at the same time. I simply nodded, however. "You are. Do it ourselves... That's it. It's what my own instincts had been trying to tell me when I looked back into Purdue's past. I had to understand that it was possible to directly manipulate Prudentia..." I elaborated, turning to the small filly after, who widened her eyes even further. Nodding down at her, I asked, "You revealed all of this to me. That means you trust me, right, Sis?" Her ears flicked before she perked and rapidly nodded, no hesitation at all. Smiling, I then asked, "Every time you've revealed your full powers to me in the past, I ignored it and attempted to free you instead, right?" The ears lowered again as she sighed and nodded. "Yeah. You put my well-being above your own each time. You can't free me from the Geas, however..." she warned, obviously guessing where I was going with this. She was wrong, however. I shook my head, correcting, "Actually, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is more than a little crazy, right? I have a new idea. This time, I'm going to take you up on that offer. You trust me, right? You don't need to do a thing. Just let me use the book directly instead..." Purdue's eyes almost widened out of her skull, although Applejack and Rainbow just looked even more confused. The little filly rapidly shook her head, warning, "Brother, you can't! Well, you can, but... No! It uses a tremendous amount of energy and even if you used up your entire life force, there's no way you can stop the ship in time!" The orange mare frowned at that, turning to look back at me, but I held my hoof up to her and just smiled. "I don't have to stop the ship. And I won't kill myself, don't worry. Inverted logic a given, Discord is right. Fluttershy wants to see me again and for me to come home. So do a lot of ponies, so I can't just assume my life is for only me anymore..." I assured, giving her a softer smile. The two mares with me had also proven that. They had no reason to go along with me like they did, but each of them had aided in helping me get here regardless. They came along because they not only wanted us to succeed, but to add their abilities to mine to help me survive, too. The filly bit her lower lip, but Applejack just looked sternly at me for a long moment before slowly nodding. "Ah trust ya, too. Ah believe ya," she assured. Rainbow looked less than pleased, but huffed and added her own nod as well. "Fine, but if you die, I'm going to go get your soul myself and drag you back here. Don't think I can't, because I'll practice until I can! Then we will have words!" the cyan mare finally announced, glaring at me until I smirked at her. Her anger shifted away into a grin herself, and I nodded to her. "Done. Which is good, because I need both of your help still to do this..." I revealed finally. Purdue finally relaxed a little and nodded towards me as well, but both mares just grinned... * * * * * The time distortion dropped. I barely even noticed it, us already flickering forward in a distorted blur of motion. With her newfound ability to abuse physics, fire off her perpetual Ether Furnace uncontrollably, then just toss all that power into warping her wing jets, Rainbow had discovered that she was capable of mimicking the Icarus Effect and temporarily entering Slipstream. Thus, she was the first living organism ever to enter, however temporary, a state of faster than light travel without any assistance whatsoever. She had assistance this time, however. My computer systems had already locked onto Discord, who had teleported ahead, and now held up a massive, billboard sized neon sign with an arrow pointed downwards at where the panel was that I had described to him, almost at the back of the six some kilometer long ship. We arrived in less than the span of a heartbeat... Dash flipped, letting us go as she spun out of control, completely unable to stop as she exited FTL going over six hundred meters a second. While she spun backwards and fired off her wing jets to slow herself, Applejack and I descended hard directly into the plate, just as Discord hopped away. Purdue shouted, energy flowing around her as her barriers expanded around me, and I hit the plate at over the speed of sound, in full armor. With her barriers focusing on inertia dampening, I put all four hooves down into the metal and watched it twist and buckle, even as my vision shook from the impact. Shielded, Applejack 'rode' down on my back, letting me absorb the entire wave of vibration from the hit, then 'pulling' it out of me as she used her armor to 'sync' with my body. I rolled, tossing myself out of the way as she kept going, then gave a snarled scream as she spun and drove both her back hooves into the same plate. The vibration she ate from me was transferred right through her legs, and for a moment, I watched the pulse distort off the plate as it tried to register the damage. The ablative armor was useless as the entire system disintegrated into a fine dust in a blinding flare of orange light. Trying to catch myself with tentacles to stop my spin, I instead felt forelegs snatch me from space, boosting us both back towards the now gratuitous impact crater. Discord was already down in the center, of course, even as Applejack drifted away into space. Teleportation was cheating... He pointed frantically down towards the side of the crater instead, however. "Oooh, oooh! I found the vibrating bits!" he called out, sounding gleeful, probably due to completely ignoring the laws of physics and somehow transmitting sound inside a vacuum. Rainbow nodded once, and I braced as she flung me at the area he was pointing at. I rotated, pointing my hooves down towards the crater, and got an excellent view of her bursting after Applejack, making a speedy space rescue even before my hooves contacted the broken metal below. Focusing, however, I looked down at the massive power couplings, and then smirked as I felt Purdue fade in next to me, Prudentia open and radiating energy out as she passed the control directly to me. My eyes widened, but she quickly directed me at the couplings, barely saving me from a whole world of torment. Literally. In that instant, everything blurred through my head at once. I saw them being manufactured in the Grosh labs. I saw them being touched up and tweaked for a perfect fit. Them being installed was even shown to me, details of the sealant they were using flicking past, too. I focused, trying to get a grip on the absolute bombardment of data, my head spinning and screaming out in agony, even as I made sure to keep my forehooves connected to the parts in question. "Focus, Azure!" suddenly rang out in my mind. Kyliona. My eyes snapped forward again, and I watched the departed doctor's form gesture with her left arm, parting the haze as she directed me to exactly where I was looking for. She smiled, starting to fade, but then looked surprised as I latched onto her sensation instead, refusing to let go. "No, I'm not losing you again! You're staying at the forefront!" I shouted, her hazy and distorted image snapping into focus, even as she looked surprised. My attention shifted back to the parts, however, running through the final metal restructuring in the facility. Nodding, I pulled my right hoof up, the book drifting up in front of me, even as I kept my eyes trained on those three couplings. They were each the size of a car, but it didn't matter. My own engineering knowledge pointed me right to the three seal lines, and I pushed my hoof down against the book. The effect was instant. The writing started to change on the page, shifting to exactly what I wanted instead. It also simultaneously felt like someone spun around and smashed a sledgehammer into my chest, unfortunately. My magic supplies were depleted immediately, and it felt like my heart skipped a few beats even as my body jerked, and I winced. Damn it! It was too late, though, even as the screaming ache sensation tore through my legs. The energy was gone and used. Minimal changes to very small details, and it still hurt like hell. For just that moment, the cooling cycle on the machine as it rotated around to harden the sealant also skipped a beat. One little fault introduced to the code running the machine was all it took. No longer cooled down, the seal on the coupler would begin to warp and bend from the heat. It would start on the microscopic level, of course, but when the engines activated and Nirru did her first FTL transfer to get into Equus, the heat would utterly tear the metal apart at the seams, leaving long splits along its surface that would cause large energy leaks. Shivering, I looked to the second and third couplers, however. One might not be enough. Swallowing, I shifted back to the beginning of this 'scene' in the book and prepared to modify the other, my chest still screaming out in that cold ache. "Brother, stop it! Y-You can't get all three! One should be enough to slow it down!" I heard Purdue whisper in my mind. Tch... Hesitating, I shook my head before asking, "Even if you can just rewind this, I can handle at least one more, so doesn't it make sense to maximize your chances of this working?" Not giving her a chance to actually answer, my hoof touched the book once again, and I gritted my teeth. If the first one felt like a sledgehammer, this time they'd installed a rocket engine to the back of it or something. My air left me as the shattering pain tore into my chest. The hoof touching the book went numb even as I felt it tugging hard at my life force instead of my magic. Something warm was sliding down my muzzle, a sharp contrast to how cold I suddenly felt, even as I tried to push the change into place. It was hard to focus, my vision swimming even as I felt Kyliona trying to direct me. This wasn't enough! The energy pushed hard against causality. The odds of a second error happening started to go up, but my body faltered before I could push it past the fifty percent mark. I felt my back legs go out, even in the distorted time field that Purdue had created, and winced as my knees hit the cold metal. Head swimming, I focused as hard as I could on my forehooves instead, watching reality mix with my vision of the past back and forth, starting to time itself to the pounding in my skull. Well that wasn’t good... For a moment, I hesitated. This had to be done. There wasn't a choice. With just one, it might slow it down by a half a dozen seconds or so. But with two, they'd cause additional overheating and larger cracks, venting almost three times the energy together. That was guaranteed to slow it down enough... But she could just rewind if it didn't work, right? I swallowed the hard lump in my throat. None of this had ever been about me, had it? The book wasn't actually about the one written in it. No, she had been controlling everything from the very start. She was the hero, if anypony was. My eyes closed, stuck in time as I sagged slightly. Why did I always push myself so hard? I wasn't the hero. I was just another cog in her grand design, and my success or failure was up to the roll of a die, basically. Was I actually wanting to be a hero? Was that the reason I didn't have any issue with sacrifice whatsoever? Or was there something darker there...? She had fallen behind. It wouldn't take her long to find me again, but for now, I was frozen in time an instant ahead of her. I looked back at the small filly, crying out towards me. She was doing all of this for 'me', right? I didn't even pretend to understand why, or what made her decide I was worth the immense, unimaginable effort she'd put in so far. Kyliona smiled, sitting on the coupler next to me as she looked up into the shifting and twisting sensation and textures past our image. Slowly, she chuckled and pointed out, "It's ironic if you examine it a step further. She's doing all of this for you, and you're doing all of this for them. Your species, and those ponies you love. Of course, it's more than that, isn't it?" Her eyes seemed to slice into me as she turned and directed them my way. I shuddered, some of that dizziness sliding away as I stood again, then closed my eyes. More? My mother immediately came to mind, having not only sacrificed her life to save mine, but spent three hundred years in what could only be described as a personal hell in order to stay by my side, so I wouldn't be alone instead. She was selfless and loved me completely, and I realized that I'd changed the second I learned about her story. It was something to look up to, and strive towards. The Keldarian smiled and nodded, looking amused, even with my eyes closed. I remembered she was 'inside' of me a moment later and sighed. Not only did closing my eyes do nothing, she had direct access to my surface thoughts regardless. "The moral of her story, however, is to strive for selflessness while staying true to what you believe in... not that the only way to achieve that is by sacrificing yourself... Maybe it's time you included Purdue in who you were doing this for...?" Kyliona asked, tilting her head slowly towards me. My eyes widened a little. Doing it for Purdue, too? But... I remembered my promise to Applejack and Rainbow, too, and sighed. What could I do, then? Looking back up to my longtime friend for possible suggestions, I was surprised to note her frowning as she stared past me to the left instead. Looking over my shoulder, I froze the instant I spotted her. Nirru was moving, regardless of the temporal freezing, which left rather unfortunate implications as to her current state of existence. There was an empty, yet somehow haunted expression on her face as she walked up towards us. To add to the overall sensation that she'd been run through an industrial power washer, her movements were jerky and she slid her back paws across the lower boundary of our reality with every step. Her colors were faded, looking muted and dull as she got closer, slowing to a halt next to me and staring towards the ground between Kyliona and me. A hesitant, guarded dozen seconds passed, but she didn't even flinch. There were no attacks incoming, and she didn't have her guard up at all. What... was she? She smiled at that thought, but it wasn't her usual sneer. Instead, it was weak and barely existent, her looking even more tired for a second before she stood up a bit straighter. "I'm dead. I'd call you a cheater, but admittedly, there aren't any 'rules' when it comes down to real combat... so truly, good move," she muttered, voice rasping lightly as she finally met my eyes with her own. There was no color left in them whatsoever, nothing but gray emptiness within, giving an exceptionally creepy vibe. Not knowing what else to say or do, I went with, "Thanks, I guess. You look remarkably lively for a dead person. Sort of..." She chuckled at that, sagging again before sliding down to a sitting position instead, legs tucked up against her chest as she rested her forehead on her knees. She was oddly naked, I noticed, however her body was surprisingly formless, showing she had fur covering her but leaving the more specific and finely detailed aspects overly smoothed out and undefined. "It's your weapon," she revealed, explaining with, "You already know it attempts to eat the life energy of individuals, too. Well, it turns out it does that automatically. At range. You might not have gotten my body, but you ate my soul, so to speak..." What...? Aww, crap. She held a paw up before I could respond, and shook her head. "There's nothing to say. Dying... It's amazing how much it clarifies things. Suddenly, the urgency of everything just sort of bleeds away, and in an instant, I was able to reflect upon everything in my life. Maybe that's what they mean when they say your life flashes before your eyes... Although I always thought they indicated it would happen before you died," she added, letting her arm fall limp at her side again after. I watched her for a moment, definitely completely unsure of what to say. The pure stupefied sensation made me entirely forget about the raw agony my body was in. For a moment, anyway. It didn't stop me from narrowing my eyes and taking a step to the side as she suddenly moved closer, however. I didn't predict she could do much to me in her current state, but I wasn't about to take any chances! My eyes widened when she instead knelt down and placed both of her paws onto the middle energy coupler. Her energy stores flooded forth suddenly, and she shivered, watching Purdue's effect start to fire off. "W-What are you doing...?!" I asked her, wondering if she realized she was technically sabotaging herself or not. She was powering the effect! She didn't hesitate, only continued to push her own power into it. "Powering your effect to destroy my own ship's FTL drive... And before you ask, no, I'm not helping you," she assured, earning a frown from my very confused self. Uh, it kinda looked like she was helping me. Shaking her head, she corrected, "I'm helping my sister. You're still a dick, but... she likes you, and she was right. I let my own feelings turn me into a monster, and did nothing but hurt her. She was... the only one I ever loved, and I have to at least try to make things right again for her." Ah. She wasn't apologizing, then. Of course, I probably would have just laughed if she tried, which she understood. She just kept pushing, however. I sighed, then warned, "That's enough of your energy, Nirru. I know you aren't exactly at risk of dying, but if you push any more forward, you're going to mix it with mine and it might make you... more stuck in the cluster inside of me..." That probably wouldn't be pleasant for her, or any of the souls she had gotten mixed in with, I'd imagine. To my surprise, Kyliona had snapped out of it at that point and also stepped forward. "I didn't know this was possible. But she's stuck regardless, so I might as well help, too. Along with a few others that you've made very happy today..." she suddenly informed. My eyes got even wider as image after image distorted along behind her, making her almost look like the head of a massive snake. Paws joined my hooves, some merging out of my legs and chest, and others coming from the side. They rested around and on mine, and energy started to flow freely forward. "What are you all doing?! It's fine enough as is, but... If you guys do this, you're just going to tie yourselves even closer with me!" I tried to warn, looking at the now hundreds of faces of Keldarians I didn't know, all around me now. Every push they made, their energy was getting more and more tangled with mine! Nirru looked up from the flood of energy, locking eyes with me for the first time since dying. If anything, my longtime enemy just looked mildly amused. "I openly admit that I was a fool turning to the Grosh for help. You let our fallen comrades taste victory for the first time in their lives, however. I think you've done a lot of impressing this day..." she pointed out idly. Was that enough to let them risk possibly getting stuck even harder to me?! Kyliona nodded at that, then added, "The energy within you, and in Equus itself, is also liberating them of all that magical congestion you're familiar with. It's a paradise, and I doubt any of us have any qualms with following you back there." Nirru said nothing, and I just closed my eyes and sighed. It wasn't like I could stop them anyway. I wasn't the one in control of the link, after all, with the energy couplers. Opening my eyes again, I looked to the left and spotted a sheepish looking Purdue, sending a glare her way. She just shrugged, however, then added, "Maximizing possibility of success, right? You said so yourself..." I gave a start, then glared even harder. That brat! By then, it was too late, however. All three coupler seals had been skipped, and Purdue cut the link in an instant. The true agony my body was in suddenly readily apparent once more, and I gasped, coughing twice as I watched a splatter of my own blood hit across the coupler I was touching. The coupler that was now partly melted due to a faulty seal line. My eyes widened in an instant, even as Purdue's barrier blocked the sudden gout of radiation coming out of the fracture. Discord's paw touched down on my back a moment later, and we were gone... Pain... It was one of those times again. Although for literally cheating 'fate' itself this time, I guess the bill had come due much faster for me. Rainbow caught me, even after Discord finished his teleport. I hadn't even seen anything about how he did it, momentarily blacking out for completely different reasons. Applejack said something, but it was echoing too bad to hear, even as she helped stabilize me in Rainbow's forelegs. Both of them... Wait... The orange mare leaned forward, nuzzling some of the blood off my muzzle, and then winking as she pushed her nose against mine, our foreheads touching. The stubborn brat... Her energy flowed into me, slowing the spinning in my skull as the pain vanished completely. True. She'd used the least energy out of the three of us there, Rainbow looking about ready to pass out as well. That was the one flaw of her technique, I noted. Well, apart from only lasting about two seconds, of course. Applejack's warmth drifted all around me, slowing my energy down and refilling my very base supply, her smiling as she felt me stabilize. "Gotcha, Mender. Don't worry. Ah'm ah tough gal. It worked..." she reported, pulling back a little, then grinning as she rotated me around in her forelegs. Rainbow was tucked into my other side, looking happy towards me before she turned to watch as well. Discord was even here, too, drifting half a meter away and looking a mixture of pleased and awkwardly embarrassed at the events. I tried not to chuckle, if only to preserve his dignity. With the rotation completed, I saw that the massive ship was still visible, although quite a distance away now. A massive gout of green flames expanded from its side, and my scanners picked up its engine output even from here. It was still powering up the FTL, but its engines had dropped from eighty-seven to fourteen percent output in an instant, pushing its required jump time from twenty seconds all the way up to three and a half minutes. Ha! I grinned and nodded to them both, a look of relief washing over their expressions as they had waited, with bated breath, for my final verdict. We had fought our first, and hopefully only, full-scale battle... and Equestria prevailed. We won... Luna's voice exploded through space itself, telepathic vibrations distorting from the very moon. I winced, recognizing the Royal Canterlot Voice even before her first word formed. "MOST FOUL ENEMY! CONSUME UPON THIS!!!" radiated out, causing the other two to wince as well. "Eat!" Rainbow shouted, correcting her with, "It's supposed to be 'Eat this!'" If the Princess of the Moon heard her, she certainly didn't act like it. Instead, she just appended, "AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF IT!" My eyes widened as I watched what my scanners picked up as a fifteen kilometer wide patch on the surface of the moon suddenly rupture upwards with dark energy, popping out into serrated and jagged spikes instead, even as it careened towards the flagship at several hundred meters per second. My jaw dropped, the unpleasant taste of getting my own blood in my mouth completely overshadowed by watching a celestial body smash into a huge space dreadnought. Well, technically, it was more like the dreadnought hit it, but that hardly mattered! Luna just kept laughing. Even Discord looked horrified as the four of us watched in shock. It was like seeing a big slice of cake get launched out of a potato cannon into a razor wire covered brick wall. The moon didn't even notice, of course. Hell, the ship was a speck compared to it, and I doubt it even slowed it by a few appreciable fractions of momentum. The metal came apart in an instant, the massive vessel flattening, then buckling in slow motion as the expanding fireball was released into space, in a remarkably well-shaped sphere. Having a pre-shaped direction to be released in, thanks to Prudentia's powers, all of the energy inside the FTL drive was released a heartbeat later, like a shaped explosive charge. The gout of green light expanded off into space, like a colorful fountain of energy off the moon for several seconds before it faded completely. Everything went quiet, minus Luna's hysterical laughter, and I slowly blinked, staring at the sheer destruction as I watched the still glowing chunks of moon start to move. Within seconds, the spikes had all but ground up the remains of the huge flagship, pulling it beneath the surface of the celestial body like a million tiny 'mouths' eating the metal and bits of the ship completely. Okay, Luna was absolutely terrifying... I gave a shiver, looking to my right just in time to see Ventosus Lacuna warp into existence next to me. Ah. "Heh, you didn't want to be down there either, huh? I don't blame you..." I admitted, drawing everypony's attention back to me, then to the sword. Applejack snickered, then nodded. "Remind me not ta upset Princess Luna. Ah guess tha sword's yours now..." she pointed out. Nodding, I reached over and used my right forehoof to close Rainbow's jaw, earning a light blush from the mare, who then shivered. "Can we go home now? I need a nap..." she finally muttered, using her left forehoof to wipe some of the blood from her own muzzle. That... That I could heartily agree with. Discord rolled his eyes, and then rotated back to face us, wearing a smirk again. "But the day is young, and I'm sure all your fellow ponies are all set to throw a massive victory celebration in your honor!" he suddenly reminded, voice full of mirth. All three of us groaned, even as I felt Twilight's magic finally find us. Her spell pulled us all away in an instant, reality crushing in upon itself as we were yanked back towards the massive planet below... Epilogue Falling. It always felt like falling. This time, we drifted through emptiness for a long time. Everything had collapsed away into a singularity, crackling with energy that protectively folded around us, probably shifting us into some sub-dimension while we physically transferred ourselves. Rainbow and Applejack both rested against me, my sensation extending to them despite my eyes being closed. We stayed stuck together and held on, until reality tossed us out sideways. It was more violent than her usual teleports, but given the distance we had traversed, it didn't really surprise me. Rainbow's eyes widened, and before either Applejack or I could react, her wings flicked open. She corrected our spin with a burst of her jets, slowing our velocity even as we sailed into the camp. We spun once, lazily through the air as I rotated, tentacles extending from all four legs and six from my back. Tucking, we became a cushioned ball a moment later. Both mares grabbed on tight and I just let us bounce once, then roll to a gentle stop. Tentacles collapsing into me again as the three of us slumped to the grass, dozens of ponies converged on our location in an instant, most wearing medical gear. Ah... hah... It was real. We had won... It was the only thought I had time for before a blur of yellow and lavender crashed into me from the side... * * * * * Everything was happening so very quickly now. Redheart smiled and nodded once to me, pulling back and taking the stethoscope out of her ears. "All of you are in good condition. Injuries are superficial at most, largely consisting of minor contusions and lacerations..." she reported, earning a warmer smile from Tia. We were in an informal circle now on the grass, joined by the previously wayward Luna and Discord, whom everypony apart from the three of us were surprised to see. Turns out, he had been invited to aid and had simply neglected to respond. He of course claimed it had gotten lost in the mail... Absently, I gave a nod while adjusting the ping controls. My transmitters had gotten a little wonky in all of the FTL jumps we'd done, and needed recalibration. The projection orbs drifted around me, showing everything I was doing while the large projection screen displayed my image to the entire field. Hundreds of ponies watched nervously as I finished the adjustments, then sent the ping through to Keela. Luna had set up the projector screen for us to let the guards watch. She picked up instantly, of course. "Mender! You're okay!" she exclaimed, popping up on the screen with her expression looking tense. She sighed a second later, visibly relaxing, and I nodded confirmation to her. "We're all fine. Minor injuries. Are you okay?" I asked immediately. The odds that the Grosh had pulled off a really bizarre and elaborate trap hadn't slipped my mind, and I was eager to hear the outcome. The Keldarian nodded, glancing out at the crowd of ponies through my display for a brief moment before reporting, "The Grosh surrendered completely. They jettisoned their weapons and armor, and we've already pulled the gear on board, so they're literally defenseless. We haven't done anything to them apart from talk, however. They want to make 'amends' and help us..." Her voice was strained, and she sounded like she didn't believe what she was saying. Twilight made an awkward coughing noise, and then asked, "Well, the Elements of Harmony are a form of exceptionally powerful magic which has effects we've not documented yet. This is definitely new but, uh, is it really that unwelcome?" I was the one who shook my head first, earning a surprised glance from both females. "No, it's very welcome. You can backwards engineer the technology from their vessels and blueprints available. I'll draw up more for you later, too," I offered softly. It had been a long day and I was almost completely out of energy. Applejack shot me a knowing glance from across our circle, forelegs still wrapped around Dashie, who was snoozing out already in an exhausted looking collapsed position. The lavender mare next to me lifted an eyebrow to my seemingly inside information, but didn't say anything for now. Keela exhaled, then nodded, still looking a little confused but apparently willing to accept it for now. There'd be a great many things that we'd have to talk about in the future, I imagined. She hesitated, and I felt it coming now. "I... That means you stopped her, right?" she asked, voice softer now as her eyes lowered. How exactly do you tell somepony this...? She already knew the answer, and she was really only looking for confirmation, but... I lowered my eyes instead, and she bit her lip for a moment, but Rarity sighed instead, drawing our attention over to her instead. Once we all glanced over, she shook her head and added, "We all know that our course of action had been sealed the moment she refused to surrender. That said, given the fact that we're still here, the outcome should be fairly obvious." Keela winced lightly, but the pearly mare shook her head and continued, "We understand, Keela. She was your sister. I'm just worried for Mender, who's also my friend. I don't believe he derived any pleasure from what he was forced to do, either." That... Searching my own heart, I felt back on it. I 'remembered' killing her twice, but given how many times we'd been rewound, it was undoubtedly more than that. Both of those times... were just empty. The first time, I was so angry right up to the point, but when she was actually in front of me... it just went blank. It became a job that had to be completed. So yes, Rarity was right. It gave me nothing, and left me with nothing. Swallowing, I snapped out of it in time to note everypony looking at me, including Keela. The Keldarian looked close to tears, but bit her lower lip and nodded, meeting my eyes instead. "I... I know. I'm s-sorry I didn't have the guts to... do it myself and had to ask you, Mender. It..." she whispered, a tear sliding down her left cheek. Sighing, I slowly shook my head. No, there was no point in hiding other things as well. My mind flashed back to the teleport ride back to Equus' surface just a few minutes ago. Nirru had retreated, and started to slide back into the darker recesses of my mind, sinking away into the miasma of souls within. I had stopped her, of course. She demanded why I was helping her, but naturally... I wasn't helping her. I was helping her sister. Looking back up at them, I instead corrected, "Nirru's not gone..." Her eyes widened, and almost everypony near me promptly gasped... * * * * * Things moved remarkably fast. Not quite as fast as when the threat of alien invasion was imminent, but still fairly fast for standard pony life. My eyes scanned over the screen, but it was still reading all nominal. Not that I doubted Luna's abilities, but this was... Looking up and away from the holographic screen in front of me, I saw into the night sky. Dozens of stars danced above, and for just a moment, I felt things slow down and get peaceful again. My long awaited 'nap' had been delayed, of course. It was now five hours since the battle, and DReg was still on full alert... I watched the stars for just a moment before yawning, glancing to the moon instead. It was full, glowing bright in the sky and spreading its luminance over the landscape. This time, however... The dark spot was visible at about seventy magnification of my eyes. A few more rotations of my lenses showed a picture of the portal slowly closing and sealing, ripped right across the surface of the moon. They were suppressing it as well as sealing it, strengthening that 'weak spot' that was on the other side even as they closed the hole. The massive dark spot was an entire mining vessel floating in geostationary orbit between the moon and Equus. Quite a feat, despite Luna's expert control over gravity. And there it would stay. I smiled, watching the dim glow of the dropship as it slowly entered the atmosphere. Well, slow was a relative term, but I digress. They had made it. Tia had stayed true to her word, and about four hours after the battle, had opened up a portal and, to my surprise and Keela's, pulled the entire mining vessel through. Mostly. Looking to my right, I saw another panel on display, showing space coordinates in the other dimension. Quantum entanglement was a rather powerful communication method, it would seem. It didn't even need a direct 'link' between places to function. The one given to me, for example, was from another dimension, and linked to a rather large Grosh ship that had been left in contact with a large colony of escaped Keldarians. Keela thankfully hadn't questioned yet how I happened to know exactly where they had escaped to, including exact space coordinates. Sadly, Twilight wasn't as forgiving. The lavender mare shot a curious glance at me through the translucent image, and my eyes focused past the screen onto her instead. She pushed her face through the image and stared pointedly at me, narrowing her eyes a little and I lifted an eyebrow. "You've been acting weird. I know it was intense, and I know the battle was hard on you, but... This is different. What happened, Mender?! We're worried. You three are... different," she suddenly explained, eyes softening again as she straightened and withdrew her face from my hologram. Looking over it at her instead, I sighed, then closed my eyes. I felt where they all were at this range without needing them open anyway. Applejack and Rainbow were unconscious and curled up against each other on our blanket half a meter behind me. No backup for me this time. It was interesting how I considered those two my closest backup now, my memories from the other timeline left intact. It had already changed our relationship, and I didn't know where. One source of backup remained, however. I looked to my left, eyes still closed, and felt Purdue there, lingering next to her book. Dutifully, Prudentia started to glow, and an image of the little filly appeared next to me. I opened my eyes again and smiled to her, earning a hesitant one back. My relationship with her had changed, too. Although definitely for the better, I knew. She'd been through hell to save me, and... There were no words to express thanks for that. "It's a long story, Twi. And I really, really need to sleep. How about we compromise after this is done. This is our last thing to do tonight, right?" I inquired, shooting her a skeptical glance instead. Debriefing from the battle, navigating Keela to the other Keldarians, laying out a plan for their survival against the Grosh and development of the ghost fleet I knew they could make, organizing Keela's retrieval alongside her whole team over to here, explaining about the fact that I apparently absorb ghosts at ranges of a few meters without intending to, and of course that her sister was still 'here' and inside of me... I was really, really tired. And this was after getting up early, eating a terrible breakfast, and going through a mortal battle for the fate of Equus. Now it was one in the morning and frankly, today had sucked. She looked at me for a long moment before smiling softly and nodding. "Apart from welcoming Keela, who's probably just as tired as you, yeah, sleep is next..." she assured. Several guards towards the edge of the camp breathed sighs of relief, apparently listening in. Campfires danced in the night all around us, and the field was lit up like a small city at this point. They had three flags up, one waving to signal the completion of the landing pad, and I nodded. "Ugh... all right. You let me sleep after, and I'll talk our dream away, sharing with all of you," I assured, gesturing to the mares already sleeping behind us. Well, mares plus Spike, who was definitely not a mare, and quite lacked those parts. My tired brain stalled out for a moment imagining a female Spike, and I sighed, sagging where I sat. Damn it... His head rested against Rarity, and I knew he'd be joining us in our dream shortly. Of course, I had ulterior motives regardless... If I told them in the dream, I'd not only have Purdue, Applejack, and Rainbow as backup, I could also use visuals. The small filly grinned and nodded at that, assuring, "I'll help explain, too. After all this... I... We really won, didn't we? This isn't just a dream, is it?" Her eyes met mine, bright and hopeful, my own colors shining looking up at me. Smiling softly to her, I nodded, then reached down and scooped her up, even as she clung to my chest. I felt her shivering as I just held her there, and Twi smiled gently again, relaxing. It didn't matter. They'd have the truth, and it didn't matter, because everything was going to be good again. Purdue was right. Compared to what we'd been through already, the future was looking a hell of a lot brighter... Fluttershy stirred against my back and I smiled backwards, feeling her eyes open sleepily. She just returned my smile upon seeing I was still there, and then nuzzled against Purdue in my forelegs. "Mmm, practicing?" she whispered, a quiet murmur compared to our voices before. I blushed regardless, of course. Purdue herself snickered, however, and then assured, "Big Brother's good at being a hero, so I'm sure he's good at being a dad, too. I totally wouldn't mind if he was my dad, as a vote of confidence!" She grinned, of course, but I scowled down at her. "Hitting me with both the 'good father' and 'hero' lines at the same time isn't fair!" I shot back, then reasoned, "I can't decide which to be more annoyed over...." Both were just downright embarrassing, and I'd really rather somepony else take the credit. Then they can deal with the spotlight and talking to others and I could do something relaxing... Like a nap, or mechanical physics. Twilight giggled, then assured, "Eh, you'll get used to it. Besides, it doesn't really matter what you call it. If you don't like 'hero', just instead put it as somepony who wants to help and protect others..." That was... Huh. I blanked at that, blinking once, then once again as that screen below my view of Twilight blinked again. A glance told me that the Grosh were reporting in. The Keldarians had accepted their information and surrender based on Keela's explanation, and were very interested in my extensive data. Moving my right hoof up, I typed at the panel for a few seconds, agreeing to the three week observation and transfer of information. DReg was officially multidimensional now, and had Keldarian and Grosh members to account for. Time to make that other time stream at least partly true. Letting Fluttershy slip up and snuggle into my left side, I smiled to her with a nod, then looked past Twilight as the large dropship slowly lowered itself towards the landing platform, several ponies guiding it visually down from the sides. Lots of new things were going to be happening now, and I'd get to see them with my own eyes... Thanks to Purdue, we all were going to see a new tomorrow. Twilight slid into my other side as we snuggled and watched it land not twenty meters away. I felt Pinkie stir behind me at the noise, and the others started to reluctantly drag themselves back to reality at my mental call. We might as well greet our guests before fully committing to that nap... * * * * * Life moved both slow and fast, I realized. You either lived in the moment, or you were a spectator. Sometimes, your role changed depending on the scene, but we were all actors, moving to and fro at the beckoning of fate. Although 'fate' was a tricky concept, especially when my little sister could screw with it at will. Or did she prefer 'daughter' instead? Admittedly, the line was rather blurry sometimes, not that it really mattered. Sometimes I played the joker. Sometimes the knight. Sadly, sometimes I played the prince, too, all paperwork included in that position. I preferred to play the wizard and inventor, of course, challenging myself to new problems and discovering new ideas at the same time. Of course, I was also a lover and friend to quite a few, with those lines getting equally as blurry. But again, blurry lines didn't matter at all, just being a sign that relationships were organic and not to be labeled. Today, or rather tonight at this point, I was to accept yet another title, and stood on ceremony waiting to be called upon. Well, 'on ceremony' hardly adequately described the levels of panic, terror, enthusiasm, apprehension, and glee that tore through my heart in a blinding flurry similar to a house flattening tornado. Did they have tornados in Equestria? Oh Celestia, I hoped not. There was a small crowd at this point, and I certainly hadn't predicted it would be a widely viewed occasion like this, but I suppose it was a festival. The 'Harvest Moon Festival' to be exact. The name felt familiar, but it didn't really matter. Two weeks of more laid back celebration, evenly bracketing Nightmare Night on both sides, the festival was to commemorate a good yearly 'harvest', for all meanings of the word. It made sense really, to be honest. When your species had two very specific times that the females were fertile for, and eleven month gestation periods, it meant that there'd be a whole cluster of births all during a fairly specific time period. Why not make a celebration out of it? This was different, though! Hearing a faint cry from the field hospital tent in front of me, the small crowd of ponies all let out a little cheer, causing me to almost jump out of my skin. I definitely had never heard that voice before! Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell... Twilight gave a giddy little squeal next to me, stamping up and down on her forelegs while grinning at the door to the tent, waiting just as impatiently as I was, it would seem. Dash made a huffing noise behind us, pouting as she sat there on the grass. "Why aren't we in there with her?! This is silly!" she declared, sounding a bit frustrated. I agreed fully! I'd wanted to be in there the whole time, not be kicked out all of ten minutes before the final act! Applejack smirked and gave Dash a gentle shove in the shoulder, causing the cyan pegasus to wobble and steady herself with her forelegs for a moment, looking a bit startled. The orange mare answered, "We're not 'cause it's Fluttershy. Ya know she's self-conscious 'bout things, an' trust me. Ah've grown up on ah farm an' seen it lots. Givin' birth ain't always tha most glamorous o' events..." My mind spiraled at that, and I flailed. "Aaaah! I thought you said it was reasonably safe!" I exclaimed, spinning around to glare at the mare who looked momentarily surprised, then grinned again. Rarity giggled on her other side, then shook her head, the much larger looking Spike holding her from behind, with his arms wrapped under her forelegs. He'd really hit a growth spurt over the winter... "Dear, she means appearance-wise. There's the mess involved, and the smells, and you saw how much liquid was released when her amniotic sac broke! I'm sure she just doesn't want you to see her in such a light," she assured. I huffed lightly, but Twilight smiled more gently to my left now and nodded as well. "We ponies don't have much issues with foal birth, plus she's in expert hooves with highly trained professionals, including your favorite nurse in Equestria. Redheart's not going to let anything happen to your foal especially, don't worry, Mender," she pointed out, causing my heart to skip a beat. My.... My foal. Pinkie just couldn't take it anymore. The tape over her muzzle was already ripping in spots, and her vibration despite being tied up with four tentacles from my back was starting to cause her to shift across the ground. The tape ripped with a loud tearing motion and she squealed, immediately tacking on, "Oh gosh, oh gosh! It's all gonna be fine anyway! There's a new foal coming, and it's Fluttershy's and Mender's!" It was about a hundred times louder than needed, and of course caused even more ponies to head towards our rapidly growing crowd. All of us winced, being much too close for her 'megaphone' voice. Glaring at her, I slipped a third tentacle up and unceremoniously shoved it into her mouth, earning a grin from the pink mare. She wasn't dissuaded by anything... "Pinkie! We taped your muzzle shut so you'd stop being so loud! It's interrupting the doctors and nurses in with Fluttershy!" Twilight hissed, glaring at her as she gave an apologetic look. I pulled my tendril out, and she gave a whine and wiggle, then murmured in a much lower voice, "I'm just so excited... It's Fluttershy having a foal!" At her outburst, my mind began to whirl again, just in time for Rainbow to reach over and whack me in the shoulder instead. "Calm down, Mender. And relax, Pinkie, you're not helping him either..." she pointed out, causing me to exhale nervously. I couldn't deal with this. Why weren't they calling us in yet?! "We found them!" was suddenly shouted in a very Scootaloo-sounding voice from my right. Perking my ears up, I looked to the side just in time to watch the three Crusaders rushing up, alongside my two nieces. Aura had been in town for the festival and dropped in earlier that morning to visit regardless. Derpy had hung out with us for most of the day at this point, but both had left to go check out the midway. Interestingly enough, looking over to them, I noted that Keela was riding on Aura's back. No, they all had a Keldarian on them! Litta was riding on Derpy, Mirin was on Scootaloo, who was actually flying with her, and Amre and Kyre were on Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom respectively. Of course, they were smaller than your average pony and all three Crusaders had hit the same growth spurt that Spike had, so honestly it didn't really surprise me. They were still 'Crusaders', too, even though they all had their marks now. "They're way faster running!" Keela called out as she slid in on Aura, who carefully let her off. All five of them were wearing custom fit, matching jumpsuits with a single stripe going down the side of each in the color of their hair, the rest a blueish gray color. Rarity thought they were adorable, and I had to agree, especially the twins with their matching ones. "We're not sure how far along she is. She kicked us out!" Rainbow grumbled, huffing as she gave a grumpy look in Keela's direction as the rest of the Keldarians dismounted. Scootaloo almost crashed on her face as she slowed down, landing hard and spilling the laughing Mirin against the back of her head for a moment. Figures, she'd pick the rough but exciting 'ride'. "Aww! Is everything okay?" Derpy asked, giving a concerned look towards the door. Aura's eyes lit up almost immediately, and she rapidly assured, "Everypony's health looks fine in there. Awww! And there's definitely a new little aura present now!" There were two gasps next to her, from both Scoots and Sweetie, and the white filly quickly asked, "Little Aura?! Are you pregnant too, Miss Auramirror?" My niece blushed almost instantly, widening her eyes, but Apple Bloom snickered and shook her head, interrupting with, "Ah don't think she's talkin' about a filly named 'Aura'. An aura is another name for life force that's all swirly around ah pony. Mah Sis taught me that!" They both shot her a skeptical look but Applejack snickered and nodded. "That's right! Yer life force drifts up around ya, an' fer ponies trained in it, it's real easy ta see, even through walls," she confirmed. Huh. I think I'd heard about something akin to that. Was it in one of Twilight's books? Wait, no, another time. Fluttershy was giving birth, and I was supposed to be panicking! I flailed abruptly and immediately for good measure. "Is the aura separate from Fluttershy now?!" I asked Auramirror almost immediately, turning fully towards her. Twilight perked her ears up and turned with me, realizing the same thing I did, of course. The still blushing mare looked promptly surprised, then shifted a bit, hesitating before answering with, "Well, actually yes it-" She was cut off by the tent flap opening up, and a smiling Redheart peeking out. She spotted me instantly, and I froze, head snapping in her direction as I waited for... well, something to come out of her mouth. She snickered, then assured, "Calm down, Mender. You're the father of a very healthy looking little filly. The herd can come in now, as we've cleaned her and her mother up..." My mind blanked, and I was only aware of Pinkie deflating visibly in my tentacles to my right. "Whaaaat?! We all can't go in?!" she asked instantly, starting to vibrate again. I frowned at that, then shook my head, drawing her startled glance. "No, Pinkie. Slow and steady. You'll see her in a few minutes, I'm sure, but Fluttershy and she have just had a rather rough experience, so let Fluttershy rest for a moment, and the filly slowly adapt," I suggested. Well, more told, as I wasn't exactly going to grant leeway there. She relaxed a little, then smiled again and nodded to me, causing me to exhale. I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath. The uninvolved crowd started to disperse a little at news that the filly was fine, but our immediate group stayed, of course. Keela smiled and nodded to me, looking pleased before adding, "See? You're a natural. Now stop fidgeting and go comfort them..." Ah! Right. Rarity snickered, then nodded, assuring, "We'll all be right out here. You two go in first, then give us a call when everything's okay." I nodded to her, then looked to Twilight, who seemed almost as nervous as I was. "We... We have everything set in the room in the castle, right? I mean... I think we set everything up right and you're a trained engineer and..." she started rambling, shivering lightly as her wings twitched and fluttered. I leaned in and gently nuzzled her, earning a more relaxed sigh before she nodded again, and we stood. "That I can say for certain. The room is very well set up, structurally sound, and quite ready for an occupant..." I assured. If anything, I was at least certain of my engineering ability. Moving forward, I 'felt' Twilight following after me slowly, and Red nodded, turning around and heading back into the tent. Touching the flap, I hesitated for a moment before Derpy grinned to my right and gestured in with her head. Sighing again, I pushed forward, bumping the flap open with my head before slipping inside. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the brighter interior, and I blinked twice in the lamplight before my eyes made out the 'room' within. It was rather simplistic, but well stocked for a temporary infirmary. Two large medical trunks with shelves folding out of the top of them were on one wall, lined with equipment and medicine. There was a freezer box for food supplies, and two comfortable looking medical cots on the left side of the room. The mattresses themselves were waterproof by the looks of it, and both were well cleaned. My eyes widened as I spotted Fluttershy resting on the closest one, and I made a beeline towards her immediately. Her eyes opened gently as she felt me approach, and a smile danced across her muzzle as I slid over next to her. Twi was right on my tail and sat down behind her instead, gently resting her forelegs against the pegasus' back. "Mmm, hey," Fluttershy whispered, looking a bit tired, but healthy. She assured a moment later with, "We're both okay..." I leaned in and bumped noses with her softly for a moment before she gave me a little kiss, then smiled warmly up at me. We... She'd said 'we'. Her left wing lifted and slid back a little, and my eyes widened as it revealed a very light blue fur. It was similar to mine, but lighter, and very fine. More of a 'fuzz' than outright fur. My breath caught, spotting little tufts of pink amidst it, and what could clearly be seen as a little tail starting to grow out. Pink that was remarkably similar to Fluttershy's mane. Her rump was towards me, seemingly oblivious as her head rested further back on Fluttershy's navel. The up and down motions slowed a little, and I recognized almost immediately that she'd been drinking. Twilight's eyes widened too as she spotted her at almost the same time, both of us watching, unable to even blink as the little filly slowly and carefully raised her head. She gave a little hiccup, and Fluttershy reached her left hoof down to lightly rub at her side, massaging it carefully as her eyes opened again. She looked a bit sleepy, and her muzzle was slightly damp still from the milk, but she turned and gave a tiny smile towards Fluttershy again. That's when she noticed Twilight instead and froze. I blinked once, a bit surprised when I saw her head rotate fully. Her eyes... To my surprise, I'd originally seen just her right eye when she first opened them, and it was an amber color, maybe a little lighter than my own. But as she turned and looked back at Fluttershy, I realized her left was teal, with maybe a bit more blue mixed in than Fluttershy had. Heterochromia? That was a thing ponies could get? She watched Twilight fully now, and I looked between the little filly and the lavender alicorn. Fluttershy giggled lightly and leaned in, nuzzling the small foal's left cheek lightly. "Don't worry. This is Twilight Sparkle. Your other mommy I told you about, remember?" she whispered softly. The small filly relaxed a little, and I suddenly found myself wondering how intelligent foals started at. Maybe intelligent wasn't the right word, but... The little filly perked up after, then gave a little smile before murmuring lightly. The tiniest of squeaks came out of her muzzle, not forming anything really intelligible, but making my heart absolutely melt all the same. Twilight smiled, leaning down to make herself smaller as she rested her chin on Fluttershy's side. "Hey there, little one. I'm your other mommy, yes," she assured quietly, blushing a little after. My heart fluttered again, and I didn't want to even make a sound to ruin the moment. Fluttershy was less reserved and giggled lightly, drawing the attention of the little filly again. "I wanted to run it past you two, but... given her coloring, it just sort of popped into my head. How does 'Sugar Snowflake' sound?" she asked gently. Oh! A name! Twilight grinned at that and nodded, then tried out, "Sugar Snowflake? Snow." Smiling at that, I nodded, then added, "Snowy." That was an adorable nickname. Wait... My hooves moved up to my muzzle to stop the noise, but it was too late. Fluttershy giggled as the little filly perked, rotating around the other direction instead. In that instant, those two eyes, one teal and one gold, met with mine and locked on like a guided missile right into my heart. I froze, of course, the only thing my mind processed was her slow blink, and then she tilted her head towards me. Her little face was framed with the start of a thin pink mane, and it all smashed into me right then and there. She was my daughter. My little filly. Fluttershy nuzzled her again, and then assured, "He's safe, too. That's your daddy. Moon Mender. I told you about him, too." Snowy relaxed, then gave me a tiny little smile, and I felt my chest getting warmer. I couldn't make my voice work, so I just smiled back, probably rather goofily, and slid down a bit closer to her. My forelegs resting against Fluttershy's back legs, I laid my head on my own right foreleg and watched the little filly watch me instead. Time almost froze, my heart swelling in my chest, and my eyes widened just a little as she shifted, then lifted her right foreleg up. My breath caught and my barrel tensed as she reached forward and tentatively brushed her tiny hoof against my nose. I wiggled it for her, and she giggled, one of the most beautiful noises I'd ever heard, causing me to smile fully again. It didn't matter anymore if I was ready or not. She was right here in front of me, and that's all that I really needed. I suddenly just 'knew' that I was going to guard and comfort her, and not let a single thing harm her. I wanted her to grow and thrive and be happy, and nothing was going to get in the way of that. Her hoof pressed a little, and she made a murmuring noise again, relaxing as she watched me. Little wings moved on her back, and I realized she was a pegasus like her mom. But it didn't matter, because I realized she was touching me when I understood that. She understood it, too. That was how Fluttershy had been 'talking' to her. Fluttershy smiled to me at my expression shift, then nodded. "She knows who both of you are now. I... I asked for just you two first because of that. She's a very timid little filly..." she whispered, looking back to Snowy and looking her up and down. To my surprise, the little filly shifted again, using my nose to push herself upwards. She wobbled once, and my eyes widened as she carefully stood up on all four legs. They shook under her, wobbling at the knees and ankles as she tried to steady herself. Twilight smiled and slid closer, lifting her right hoof and lightly touching the filly's left flank to steady her. I moved over, then mirrored her on the other side, both of us helping to keep Snowy balanced as she stood fully for the first time. I'd read that much already. Foals learned to walk rather fast, a carry over from herd migration periods almost thirty thousand years ago. The ability to walk and run was needed for survival and taught fast. Wobbling, Snowy carefully rotated herself, turning around so she was facing Fluttershy's head again, then carefully started to make shaky steps towards the yellow mare. Our hooves rested lightly to both sides of her, helping her stay steady as she wobbled forward. She managed to make it halfway up Fluttershy over the course of half a minute, then stumbled. The yellow mare moved her forelegs up in an instant and caught the little filly, giggling again as she held her to her chest. "She's perfect. I love her... and I love you both," Fluttershy murmured, eyes shifting over to Twilight, then to me as well. I grinned, then slid over and lightly kissed her on the forehead, earning a shiver. Twilight nuzzled into the side of Fluttershy's neck as the four of us relaxed there. The flash of light hit next, and I winced. Redheart grinned as she set the camera down, then winked to us. "Hey, her first picture. It's a moment I figured you all would want to remember, after all..." she pointed out. Heh, okay, she had us there. Fluttershy giggled again, then looked back over at me instead. Hmm? "Mmm, I'm a bit tired, though. Could you watch over her for a few minutes while I rest, Mender? I'm sure our friends will want to see her, too, and she'll need somepony to protect her while she meets them all..." she murmured. Eh...? Me specifically? But... wait... Twilight smirked at that, then nodded, standing once more. "She's right. I'll have time with her, too, don't worry. But her overprotective daddy should handle this," she teased. Arg! I scowled at her, earning a wink from the mare, and to my surprise, another soft giggle from my new daughter. Looking back down at her, I saw she was watching me again. Fluttershy smiled and nodded before fully lifting her wing up, revealing the entirety of the filly once again. My mind blanked as she stood again. She managed three shaky steps on her own before swaying to the side. I caught her immediately, then widened my eyes as she relaxed into my forelegs. Ever so carefully, I shifted her until I was cradling her to my chest. She was so light and soft, and I did my best to carefully hold her, lightly rubbing her side as she looked up at me again. Fluttershy's eyes softened as she watched me, warm smile playing across her muzzle. Red grinned again, then let Twilight back out of the tent before heading over to us both. "You two are natural parents, don't worry. You'll have to show Twilight the ropes, I think. Heh. I'm actually going to go over Fluttershy once again as a final checkup, now that she's separated from the little one for a few minutes," she revealed, slipping over to where Twilight had been a moment ago. I nodded to her, then looked back to Fluttershy before asking, "Just a precaution?" Okay, so maybe I was a little protective... She snickered before nodding, then revealed, "Policy, actually. It's part of our regulations. To be honest, Fluttershy was one of the smoothest cases we've had so far this year. I'm impressed. Everything went about as perfectly as possible, and she's amazingly healthy..." I relaxed at that and smiled, nodding to her again. Looking back down at the filly in my arms, I blinked and froze for a moment, noticing she was looking over my left foreleg instead. Purdue sat there next to me now, glowing lightly as she looked back at Snowy, and for a moment, they both just stared at each other. Oh. Relaxing a little, I explained, "This is Purdue. She's going to be your sister." Purdue perked at that, blushing lightly as she glanced up at me instead, but I smiled and winked down at her. "Purdue, this is Sugar Snowflake, or Snowy. My..." I started, then hesitated for a moment. Fluttershy's eyes opened again as Redheart felt along her side with her hooves, and the mare looked over at me curiously. Relaxing again, I smiled, looking the small filly over again before gently finishing, "She's my daughter." Purdue smiled, then turned to face her again as the filly relaxed, then smiled as well. Just a little. ...and just for a moment before the flap to the tent opened again rather abruptly... So much for gentle relaxation. Looking to my right, I shielded Snowy against my chest, the warm glow of my barrier going over her even as I spotted Pinkie and Sweetie leading the charge... Heh. Life never slowed down, did it...? * * * * * Three years passed, uneasy and unwelcome for their empire. Terror had been struck into their very souls. Less than a year prior, a new foe had emerged. A terrible, terrible force that struck suddenly and without warning out of the darkness of space. They seemed to fold out of the inky black between stars, striking and destroying facility after facility before disappearing without a trace. There was no identity, and no quarter given. Far worse, three months prior, they had lost the entirety of their energy production and research on top of the unidentified attacks. A single beam had come out of nowhere, from the dark of space. It was a brilliant gold in color, and somehow moved many hundred times the speed of light while still in relative space. It was an enigma, not able to exist under their understanding of physics, but there it was regardless. It bypassed all sensors, having struck by the time they even detected it, and released no FTL emissions to be tracked at further range. It hit with precision, and worse yet, all Grosh on-site accounted for what could only be described as a mass hallucination. The explosion took the form of a brilliant and fiery equine, possibly native to species 1459's habitat. It reared up, and for just a moment, they all claim to have perfectly understood a 'Gotcha!' as it rang out through space. At first, they suspected telepathy, but no known translation of the word of sorts was found. Fear was all that was left as the detonation lost shape and destroyed the entire gravity generator. The great experimental megastructure collapsed. They had almost completed the awe-inspiring 'net' that had completely surrounded the star itself. Capturing an appreciable percentage of the energy released from the massive star, the superstructure would have allowed leaps and bounds of research, and almost unlimited energy for the Grosh. With the gravity field destroyed, almost half of the net collapsed into the star itself. Experimental generators detonated, setting off a massive chain reaction. Half a day later, the entire star went nova. The beam was traced back to the one and only known battle with species 1687. The image in the mass hallucination was further attributed to their image. No explanation was ever found, and all interaction with the species has now been blacklisted. Research has ended in regards to finding them, and all insisting on trying to continue were silenced by the governing body. Nothing further exists of the star system that used to house their vast energy systems. Just cold and empty space, driving home the fear they now held for an entity they only knew as 'Celestia'... The End Chapter 01Consciousness stirred. That fundamental spark of awareness. With it came a sensation of waking up from a long nap. I felt old and dried out, immediately aware of how stiff my muscles were. But there was a new feeling, wasn't there? Or more accurately, there was a lack of something. That urgent sensation. It took me a moment to realize it, but it was gone. Smiling, regardless that my body felt like one big, bandaged bruise, I opened my eyes. I felt the pupils in each eye contract sharply at the light and winced. Several seconds of adjustment later and the sunlight from a brand new morning greeted me through the window. I appeared to be alone in a very familiar looking clinic room. Equestria. I was still alive? For once in my rather short life so far, I just took the moment to relax and let in the light. It took a good five minutes or so of daydreaming before I got down to the business of testing muscles. Oddly enough, despite the massive levels of bandages, I seemed to be reasonably intact. My muscles were stiff and cold but oddly lacked the soreness I was anticipating. Even my forelegs could be moved properly again. A little perturbed, I wondered why I was so heavily bandaged. Did I have bad burns? Was my skin missing? I decided confidently against taking said wrappings off. Unlike unwrapping a gift that’s contents were to be celebrated, I preferred my squishy insides to stay well, inside. Instead, priority quickly dictated that I needed to pee and I rolled to get out of bed. Oh for the love of all that is right and just in the world! That redefined bad idea! Rolling over caused the series of IVs to be pulled from my neck and forelegs, and not in the gentle and happy manner in which a cute nurse would remove them. Wincing, I couldn't halt damnable gravity in time and tried to make my dead drop off the side of the bed as graceful as possible. And it's a stone-filled stomach flop with half rotation! The crowd goes wild! I decided I must still be significantly underweight as the noise of me planting my face into the wooden floor was still rather quiet; not unlike dropping a wet sack of potatoes onto cement. I winced and shook my head. Well, I was off to a great yet predictable start and it had only been my first meter or so of spatial movement. Groaning lightly, I shakily stood up off the ground and tested my leg muscles. They held, thankfully. It would be kind of embarrassing to die two feet from a hospital bed via starvation. Things were looking up! I took a tentative first step and felt a light tugging in strange areas. Huh. Muscle atrophy, maybe? I wasn’t a medical expert so I had no idea what could cause tugging like that. Step two had me writhing on the ground in agony. Again. Son of a bitch! Next time, check for catheter in sensitive bodily orifices prior to accidentally stepping on the connected tube while walking! Burning sensations in awkward places came forth and I groaned again. Okay, so if I had one of those things in me, I must have been here quite a while then. After checking myself for bleeding, I discovered that the catheter was one of the 'soft' variants. Okay, so it mainly hurt because I twisted it sideways before yanking it out. That made a little more sense and I felt considerably better. No blood was usually a good thing in my experience. I resumed my walking, now at a hobbling pace with the newly acquired stinging sensation between my back legs. The bandages were stiff as well so I took things slow and careful as I headed towards the door. That's when I heard voices. "But how am I supposed to plan a party if I don't know where it is?" whined a very distinct Pinkie voice. And the voices were familiar. That was even better. "Jus' hold yer horses, Sugar Cube! Doesn't he have ta wake up first?" replied the unmistakable Applejack. My heart soared. I was actually alive! And in Equestria still! "But, but, but, decorations!" Pinkie continued. A light snickering came next. Wait, that snicker sounded distinctly unlike the other two voices. "Can't ya just load it into your cannon, Pinkie? That would be way cooler anyway," the voice suggested. Rainbow Dash! Wait, she was talking about me and it wasn't vindictive or cursing my very name? I had expected her to be angry after my forced teleportation of her. I sighed weakly. Even if she was, I still couldn't apologize. I don't regret making sure she got out safely. She had a dream here and somepony to share it with. I didn't have much of anything, only having been here a week prior. Oh wait, I still didn't really have anything. My few friends were probably mad at me for the ‘almost dying’ and ‘lying to them’ things. Hopefully in that order, anyway. "Oh, yeah! I forgot about that. It's portable, too!" Pinkie exclaimed, lightening up instantly and throwing a sizable wrench into my moping. "Ah've been meanin' ta ask ya how yeh go about doin' that, by tha way," Applejack mentioned suddenly, sounding curious. Rainbow Dash snorted. "She's Pinkie. Seriously, 'nough said," she replied simply. Sadly, having spoken to the pink mare myself, I had to agree. "Aww! Dashie knows me so well," Pinkie cooed, sounding almost flirty. Applejack laughed and made a clicking noise. "Ah think it's one o' those things ah shouldn't ask 'bout, ah guess," she finally admitted. "Didn't Twilight try that once?" Rainbow asked. "Oh! Yuppers. Then the bees and Derpy happened. Oooh, and the hydra!" Pinkie shot back, sounding excited. Well, that sounded exceedingly unpleasant. The universe is protective of its secrets, I suppose. Either that, or Pinkie Pie is some sort of reality warper with a sense of humor. "Yeah. Let's just hope she wants to come to the party. She still sounded kinda upset the last I talked to her," Rainbow commented. What? Twilight was upset with me? My heart sank a little. Oh yeah, I did kind of lie about coming back and she had to haul me to safety using her magic. She was probably more than 'kinda' upset. "Still? Fer cryin' out loud. It's Princess Celestia. She's not gonna do anything rash," Applejack grumbled. P-Princess Celestia?! My eyes widened. I had upset her and she sold me out to the Princess? Oh no. Images of slave labor camps on the moon came to mind as I started to panic. Surely, I could still apologize? "Oooh, but the Princess said she'd come to the party! Doesn't that mean Twi will probably come anyway?" Pinkie theorized. Everything started to add together. I felt my pupils contract as panic set in. I'd never seen anything to do with these princesses yet. If they were some form of shadow op government and I just offended a prime operative, what was my punishment going to be? Wait, didn't that make all of the Elements of Harmony agents of the princesses? My eyes widened as I realized Pinkie never said what kind of party it was. If party was a code word for execution, I was in serious trouble. It was time for action, then. Looking around the room, I rapidly noticed that there were only two exits. The door obviously led into the hallway, where the agents of death were waiting. That left just the window. All right then, here we go! Hopping up on my bed, I slid the window open and peeked outside. Crap. It was a side window, which meant it opened onto the street. Far too late to withdraw my action now, I ignored the confused glances tossed my way and tried to kick off the bed to hurl myself out the window. Alas, this was only partially successful. The bandages around my legs were way too stiff to get a proper thrust going. The bed went one direction and I went the other at greatly reduced speeds. This managed to get, well, most of me out the window. Oh, and cause those aforementioned sensitive areas to smash into the window frame, making an explosion of agony to dance up my spine as I smacked against the outside of the building with my chest. I heard a rolling sound and a crash from inside as well. Oh, the bed was on wheels. Go figure. I contemplated the errors of my escape attempt while hanging upside down by my back legs. That could have gone so much better. "Moon Mender?" I heard a soft, yet innocent sounding voice from somewhere in front of me. Twisting my head, I managed to see a very familiar white unicorn filly running up to me, purple and pink mane bobbing rapidly. "Oh uh, hey, Sweetie Belle. Nice day, huh?" I tried to distract, voice cracking towards the end due to disuse. She stopped a meter or so in front of me and tilted her head. "Um, yeah. Do you need help or something?" she asked quietly, looking perplexed. I was probably an amusing sight, wrapped up like a mummy and hanging from a window. "What tha hay's goin' on in 'ere?!" I heard a very distinct Applejack shout from behind me. Oh crap! Kicking with my forelegs against the side of the building, I managed to vault myself off the window frame, flip once, and land gracefully on my butt outside. Sweetie Belle dove aside to avoid my descent and winced as I smashed into the ground. "Ow! Sorry, Sweetie Belle! Gotta go," I apologized rapidly, before getting up and hobbling around the back of the building, wincing the entire way. Damn these bandages! She looked surprised but stood up again and followed after me. "Wait, where are ya going?" she asked as I took off across the street. Aside from being a tad stiff and now sore in uncomfortable places, I found that I could move as if uninjured, oddly. Why was I wrapped up, then? Stupid bandages! They were more of a hinder than a help at this point. "Wha?! Horse apples! Where'd he go?" I heard Rainbow Dash exclaim loudly back at the clinic. I dove into an alley between two houses and into a large pile of leaves I found, making sure to bury myself as best I could. There was no time to get away. Much to my surprise, I felt someone messing with my tail a few seconds later. Oh no! It was outside of the pile still. Even more surprising, they tucked it inside and covered it up. I saw a single leaf moved from my right eye, and Sweetie Belle smiled down at my panting form. "You must be hiding from AJ and Rainbow, right? I'll help!" she declared, looking like she was enjoying herself. This wasn't hide-n-seek! My life was on the line, here. "Shhh. I need to get away from them. I need time to think," I whispered. She smiled and nodded, resuming covering me up with leaves. A short ten seconds later, I felt something tiny and warm push up against my chest as she slid in and covered herself as well, going dead silent. Both of us held our breath as hoofsteps could be heard suddenly outside, walking across the harder dirt. Oh crap! How close were they? The hoofsteps stopped out on the street, three meters away or so. I felt Sweetie Belle go rigid and I swallowed, trying to control my breathing. "Wha? Tha hoof prints stop on tha edge o' the grass 'ere. He musta gone off between tha houses, an' towards tha woods?" I heard Applejack reason, thankfully incorrectly. "How'd he get so fast? Dang. I'll take to the air and see where he is," Rainbow returned, before I felt a light breeze. Thank goodness she wasn't closer or she might have blown away my hiding spot! A merry giggling followed, with, "Maybe he's playing a game? Like tag or hide-n-seek? That would be really fun after being cooped up in that room for so long!" "Who knows with that crazy stallion. Why'd he go an' run away, anyway? Ain't it custom ta say yer playin' one o' those games before jus' bookin' it outta there?" Applejack asked, sounding skeptical. Pinkie snickered in amusement. "It's fun either way. Maybe he just wants some alone time?" Pinkie offered in a surprisingly lucid observation. The distinct sensation of her staring right at me suddenly came into being. Uh oh. "But why run away? He could'a jus' said somethin', right?" Applejack questioned. "I dunno. Let's go peek in the forest! We can't turn him down if it's hide-n-seek!" Pinkie declared as if it were a universal law. There was a light, accented groan followed by, "Ya really are kinda random sometimes, ya know that, right?" My blood turned to ice and it felt like my heart stopped as Applejack walked towards our hiding spot slowly, hoofsteps getting closer and closer albeit muffled by the grass. Time seemed to drag forever at that singular moment. It felt like an eternity but she finally passed us by. I watched the tip of her tail stir some leaves at the edge of our pile as she went. Thankfully, my eyes were amber instead of blue like the rest of my color scheme! Blending in might be a little harder otherwise. I turned my visible eye forwards again. Then I froze as I saw Pinkie Pie looking directly at me. She wore a fascinated smile and surprised me by winking rather than sounding the alarm. Instead, she returned to her prior closed-eyed smirk and pounced past, following Applejack. "Do you think we can find him before Rainbow?" she asked in a gleeful manner as she disappeared from vision. What happened? Whose side was she on? "Oh, yer on! Ah'll hound him down in no time," Applejack agreed, suddenly sounding excessively competitive. Whoa! Was she always like that, or was it Rainbow bringing it out in her? "But you're a pony, Silly! You’d need to bark more if you were a hound," was the last thing I heard before the voices disappeared at a surprisingly fast pace. Sweetie Belle and I didn't dare move for a good ten minutes, however. * * * * * The forest along the outskirts was peaceful, anyway. It was a chilly, Fall day and the leaves were beginning to drift off the trees. I vaguely recalled them changing colors before the incident, and I tried to gauge how long I'd been asleep. Now the sun slowly drifted towards the horizon, nightfall coming. I estimated it had been about four or so in the afternoon when I woke up. On further estimate, that made it now close to six o'clock. "So you're worried about Twilight being mad at you?" Sweetie Belle asked, still tucked against my chest and emitting a diabetes-inducing level of cuteness. Both of us were packed into a small pocket we found under a few roots of a large tree. You'd have to be practically on top of us to see us from the air and we were only visible from a meter long segment on one side at ground level. However, it was rather nippy outside. I was kind of glad the little filly had followed me, as she was considerably warmer than I was. Maybe I had lost a lot of blood? Oh, and the company was nice, too. I made a mental note to not refer to friends as space heaters in the future. I whispered back, "Yeah. I overheard them talking about how upset she is." Sweetie giggled. "I don't think they meant mad. She visited you, like, almost every day. You probably just worried her. Fluttershy, too," she explained. "I'm just worried after they mentioned Celestia," I muttered quietly. "Ooh! Princess Celestia? Does she want to see you or something? She was here the day of your incident, but didn't get a chance to talk to you then. Uh, well, obviously," she enlightened, almost managing to confuse herself towards the end. My mind skipped a few gears. "Wait, she was here?" I asked, feeling like the blood drained from my face. Sweetie Belle giggled whimsically. "Yeah, she helped Twilight pull you back. Twilight is a little, well, sad because of that, I think," she explained, frowning a little in concern. "Er, why? She didn't want me back?" I asked, swallowing a tad painfully. It earned me a gentle shove to the chest. "No! She was just sad that she might not have been able to with just herself, I think. She never said directly. I just saw it in her eyes, really," Sweetie corrected, looking a little distracted in memories. It dawned on me that there were indeed multiple definitions of 'upset'. I frowned and considered it. Well, ultimately, I probably just made an idiot of myself again. The best thing to do would be to simply slink over to the library and apologize directly to Twilight. If she says I'm clear with Princess Celestia, then I go and apologize to Fluttershy, who was the next most bothered by my attempted martyrdom. And then everypony else. That was a lot of apologies! "I think you were really nice, though. Sis says you're a dying breed, or something like that, but I think you're honest and kind. I don't really understand but you saved Equestria even if it meant almost dying, didn't you?" Sweetie Belle interrupted, knocking me out of my planning and earning a choked back gag of surprise. "Oh, no, no! I'm no hero, Sweetie Belle. We, well, we don't know how much danger Equestria was ever in, but I didn't want to take the chance. I'm," I muttered, trailing off and realizing the base facts. Sweetie tilted her head and looked back up at me from her curled up position. I sighed and shook my head. "I'm just me. I'm not important enough. I mean, risking all of Equestria just for me? If I did that, even if the threat came to nothing, I doubt I could ever live with how selfish that would be," I continued, wondering if anypony was that important. My friend and tree hiding companion smiled and nodded gently. "You're still important to your friends. But I think I see why Sis likes you. Although it makes her say more and more mean words about Prince Blueblood," she muttered, suddenly looking a tad annoyed. I frowned, still attempting to process my own feelings alongside the dribble of new information the little filly constantly surprised me with. "Prince Blueblood?" I asked hesitantly. I hadn't realized there were any male rulers. "He's a jerk. He made Rarity really upset at the Gala a while back after she was all set to, oh, what did she call it? Court him? I have no idea what that means, but oh was she mad!" Sweetie explained, shuddering. "Are there two princes, as well? Sorry, I don't know much about your lifestyle here and didn't read anything about him in the book Twilight gave me," I asked, trying not to sound stupid. She giggled however and nodded. "That was the first I'd heard of him, too, don't worry. He doesn't have wings like the princesses, so I doubt he's as powerful," she muttered, smiling up at me innocently. "The princesses are pegasi?" I questioned, tilting my head. So much for equal representation. "They have horns too. They're really pretty, with their flowing manes and beautiful jewels. I really, really like their manes," she cooed, swaying happily. Both horns and wings? I hadn't heard of such a being, but it certainly sounded convenient. "So they can fly and cast spells as well? Wow," I muttered, impressed. Sweetie Belle nodded happily. "Yeah. They're so amazing! I mean, Princess Celestia raises the sun each day! Her magic is so strong," she agreed, sounding a tad jealous as she looked up at her tiny horn. "Oh don't worry, Sweetie Belle. I'm sure one day you'll be able to um, wait..." I muttered, trailing off as my brain slowly tried to shift from first gear to cheese. "T-The sun?!" I almost screamed, blood feeling like ice cubes. Sweetie Belle looked surprised but nodded rapidly. "Yeah, she raises the sun each day. Princess Luna raises the moon each night. Why?" she asked, as if it were natural. "B-But it's a massive... How?! Does she rotate the planet or? Even that, it-it's insane!" I muttered, my fragile mind starting to twist in upon itself. I'd heard of powerful magic back on my own world but this was just madness! Sweetie Belle giggled and shook her head. "She raises the sun as her sacred duty. She's Equestria's ruler, alongside her sister. What's so strange?" she asked innocently. My head gave a throb of protest and I suddenly felt exceedingly sore all over. Of course, I had just gotten a lot of exercise. "I-I guess. Um, do you think you could h-help me get to Twilight's library?" I asked her weakly, deciding it was best for my sanity to just not think about it. She smiled and nodded. "Sure. I didn't really wanna do the dumb errand I was on anyway and Rarity will understand if it's to help you out," she reasoned, a light scheming expression dancing across her face. I smirked as I saw her grin. "Naughty little filly. Does Rarity know you're this devious?" I asked her in amusement. "Devi-wha?" she questioned, tilting her head towards me. "Oh, sorry. It means sly, or tricky," I relayed. Sometimes I forgot she was a young filly. She was very patient and mature for her age, it seemed. She was probably more of a mediator for Scootaloo and Applebloom. She perked and giggled, shaking her head. "Nah. She thinks I'm a paperweight most of the time. But she's a nice big sister, don't get me wrong. Just, well, frustrating," she muttered, sitting up and looking a tad exasperated. I nodded and smiled, trying to sit up, too. I immediately smashed my skull into the underside of our tree nook, and winced. Sweetie snickered in amusement before shaking her head at me. She was probably used to me bashing my skull into things by now. "Do you have any siblings?" she asked curiously after a few moments. Frowning as I struggled to squeeze out from under the tree, I rapidly realized I had no idea. "Um, I can't remember. It, well," I muttered before lowering my eyes. Her curious smile shifted to a concerned frown, but I shook my head. "There's a lot I don't remember still, is all. I might have, but I dunno." "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about what happened," she apologized, looking down slightly. Did she really know to begin with? Part of me was glad she was so young. The concept of genocide was probably blunted on a lack of understanding. This world didn't need such concepts and I wasn't about to introduce them. I placed a bandaged hoof on her cheek and gave her a gentle brush, lifting her head up again. She gave me a questioning look until I smiled and shook my head. "I'm glad I can stay in Equestria and not have to leave anywhere. You ponies are wonderful, without a doubt. Anything beyond that... It's all right," I assured her softly. She smiled, eyes softening before nodding and reminding, "We'd best get to the library. I'll keep watch ahead of you until we get there." Wise. Rainbow was probably still in the sky and who knew about Applejack. I didn't know where Pinkie stood still, so that was kind of like rolling a die. Of course, Sweetie Belle was probably right. This was all a misunderstanding, more than likely. I guess I'd find out once getting back to Twilight. Slowly, as I was quite tired and sore at this point, I headed after the little unicorn filly as she rolled across the ground ‘stealthily’. She tumbled from tree to tree ahead of me, peeking out around the sides cautiously. I didn't have the heart to interrupt her playtime with the fact that her jolting motions were probably far easier to spot from the air. Thankfully my bandages were now far from white after all the dirt and grass got involved and were fairly good camouflage. Regardless, town was actually only a quarter of a mile away and we made it back within ten minutes or so, at my current stunted pace. Sweetie Belle slunk along between a natural alley leading up to a side street. We'd have to slip between the two houses and across the street in order to reach the library. She 'scouted' ahead, striking me as a little obvious with her ninja poses, but she was way too cute to tell off. I slipped behind a dilapidated, retired rain barrel while she slipped closer to the street to peek around. That was a fairly obvious choice as she was far less suspicious looking than a walking lump of dirty bandages. Still, I felt a little bad that she was putting her own neck out for me. Sadly, she didn't quite make it to the street before freezing. My eyes widened and I dove into the overturned barrel instead, peeking through a crack in the bottom of it. It was probably the crack that earned its retirement. Sweetie Belle slowly started to back up into the alley but it was too late. The orange earth mare with the blonde mane had already spotted her and trotted over. Crap! "Oh, hay there, Sweetie Belle! Yer lookin' mighty dirty, ha ha! Can ah talk ta ya fer a minute or two?" Applejack asked, sounding friendly enough. I started running escape plans through my head just in case. Sweetie laughed nervously alongside her, and nodded. "Well yeah uh, I mean no, wait, I don't mind of course!" she hastily returned. I made a mental note that the filly was terrible under pressure, for future reference. "Hmm. Are ya all right? Come ta think of it, yer Sis mentioned that ya were missin' a few minutes ago. Hour's late fer ah shoppin' trip, she reckon'. Where have ya been?" Applejack asked, getting a concerned look on her face. Oh no. Sweetie Belle was getting in trouble because of me! "Oh, well... I saw a frog that was lost. So I had to g-get it back to its stream, of course!" she rapidly lied. Ug. It had to be a frog? Applejack momentarily looked confused, but it didn't last long. Her eyes narrowed as she lowered her face to the little filly. "Yer actin' awfully suspicious, Sweetie Belle. Ya haven't happen'd ta see Moon Mender around, have ya?" she questioned, eyes scrutinizing the unicorn filly's every movement. I couldn't let Sweetie Belle get in trouble over me. My mind rapidly tried to think of a way out when I felt the light pulse in my left, front hoof. What was that? Extending my awareness to it, I lifted the bandaged hoof up to my face inside the barrel. It was only lightly wrapped, with tufts of light blue coat coming out from around the edges of the bandage. Did that mean it was in better shape? I felt out what that pulse was and was surprised at the ease of scanning my system. The magic flowed through me gentler now, as if water going through carved grooves, rather than trying to splash around rocky crags. To my curiosity, it drew easily into my left hoof; far easier than anyplace else in my body. A memory stirred in me. This hoof? Sweetie Belle backed up, bumping against the front of the barrel. "I, well, I haven't seen him. W-Why?" she asked weakly, averting her eyes. "Ya don't seem surprised he's up an' about. Yer not fibbin', are ya Sweetie?" Applejack asked, advancing again. No! I had to do something. This hoof! A flash of pained memory slipped through my skull as images of it splitting into the shape of the creation symbol and igniting came forth. Ignoring them, my mind pushed the magic forwards as if muscle memory. Alteration. It was basic magic that focused on changing things. As an engineer I'd been really good at it. Still, I didn't have much to work with. A master blacksmith can only do so much with crude iron. The hoof began to glow as the symbol carved into it lit up with my magic. The bandages unwound themselves and drifted away from each side in midair, causing me to smile. They had been touching the symbol, so I could use magic on them! I could use magic on things that touched the symbol. "Um, well he, uh," Sweetie continued to stutter. "Ya have seen him then! Where is he? Ya know what bad, lyin' fillies get," Applejack warned. I pushed the symbol into the old wood of the barrel. The magic was there. Not the same as a unicorn's and nowhere near as strong as Twilight's in any sense, but it was uniquely mine. My mind touched upon the symbol on my hoof and flooded out into the wood and iron of the barrel alongside lines of magic. Gravity, inertia, thrust, motion... All of these things needed to be modified. "Ah! B-But Applejack, I just wanted to," Sweetie Belle muttered weakly. Applejack just started to step forwards and lean closer when the barrel I was in exploded into movement. I popped out of the top of it as it split in half, the tightly woven boards that made up the sides coming undone and expanding rapidly into a platform and six crude legs. The orange mare looked more than a little startled as I changed the barrel. Taking advantage of her surprise, I sprung forwards using the walking platform and scooped Sweetie Belle up off the ground just as she was starting to turn to look. She yelped, but I nudged her behind me as the top of the barrel folded partially back around us, forming a protective shell. "No! I can't let you punish Sweetie Belle. She was only trying to help me," I warned, scowling at the gawking Applejack. Not giving her time to recover, I folded the top back around us and ordered the platform down the street at full speed. Six ‘legs’ made of iron and wood carried us like a giant beetle towards the library. "Whoa! Cool!" Sweetie muttered as she looked closer at my glowing hoof pressed against the boards. I kept my breathing under control and slowly focused on dodging surprised ponies as I headed for the library. "Sorry! Excuse me! Coming through!" I called out as I swerved and trotted around the clusters in the street. They seemed largely surprised at my makeshift transportation, but were oddly not that panicked. Of course, I was going out of my way to miss them and apologize so they probably assumed there was little danger. Or they were so jaded by the normal happenings in town that they really didn't care about a reasonably non-violent one. "Mender! Hold up ah bit, would ya! Ah just wanna talk ta ya!" Applejack shouted, as I heard a galloping noise from behind me. Damn she was fast! Our platform angled itself down as it sped up, leaping up a hill and making a break along the final stretch for the library. "Will ya wait up?!" I heard her shout, more irritated now. An impossibly powerful impact hit the right back leg a second later, splintering the wood as if it were twigs and causing us to spin violently. Sweetie yelped but I caught and steadied her with my right hoof, forcing more energy through my left. We leapt after one full rotation, using the energy of her kick to propel us at the door. Two tiny shields formed in the platform's outstretched right 'leg' and I spun them as they contacted the door handle. The door popped open in the same instant we crashed into it. I kept a firm grip on the door as we slid across the now familiar wooden flooring. Pivoting, we rotated as the door reached maximum angle and I used our backwards rotation to slam the door shut. Focusing, I rapidly started engaging every lock I could find on the door. "Alright, alright! You don't need to slam the door. I'm coming!" I heard a rather annoyed sounding Twilight call out from upstairs. Oops. I rotated the platform around while peeking through the crack in the front, just in time to see Twilight come down the stairs. She gave us a look of shocked horror shortly before her horn started glowing. Uh oh… Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr_5Qy5aclQ Chapter 23For having a tear in my suit and a lightly singed sleeve, nopony at the party seemed to mind. Actually, the 'battle damage' had rapidly become a conversation point. After Twilight left, Octavia had insisted on taking me around and introducing me to anypony important she noticed and that wanted to talk. I didn't get much say in it, but her reasoning was fairly easy to understand, even if she was quiet about it. I lost count of the times I paraphrased my thoughts during the accident or explained the enchantments on the suit allowing it to survive so readily. I didn't realize how important clothes were to the high society, even in a culture with no qualms about total nudity! Still, the conversations served to keep my mind busy and off what had happened. That and at least two-dozen ponies took Rarity's information down in the process. I guess my purpose here was fulfilled after all, even if her spoken reason to bring me no longer entirely matched her suspected reasons. She kissed me. Rarity, of all ponies! She wanted a prince with reputation and esteem. I was a nopony with nothing to his name! What the hell happened?! Vinyl noticed my downtrodden expression a moment later and bumped me sideways when I looked at her. "Chill, Dude," she ordered with an amused undertone to her voice. Neither herself nor Octavia had left my side since, and it was a little strange. I hadn't known them for long, yet they were surprisingly loyal. Of course, they also got their fair share of questions regarding the accident. Shaking my head wearily, I nodded to her after a moment's consideration. "I know. I'm just worried that Twilight is going to be upset with me," I repeated, wandering towards the cleanup crew as they worked. The party was essentially ended soon after the accident. The questions I got were from lingering ponies afterwards, largely. A guard had also questioned me in length about what had happened, but thankfully I wasn't in trouble. Again. Fancypants spoke up for me, thankfully. Of course, then the guards recognized me from Twilight's apparent description earlier. I stretched as I stood in front of the chandelier, looking over the damage. The guard next to the rubble that was gesturing the ponies away just nodded to us. Turns out, Twilight has, like, top-level clearance in the palace and surrounding grounds. Apparently she extended some of that to me, and I was allowed to look over the wrecked chandelier without issue. Of course, I'd already gotten a somewhat intimate view of it. The chain was undamaged, I noticed. Tracing it back up, I saw a splintered section of a wooden beam still anchored to the end of it. My memory flared with the image of the ceiling caving away, and I sighed. "The problem wasn't with the chandelier, but how it was attached to the ceiling. It didn't have anywhere near the structural support it should have," I pointed out, gesturing towards the beam still attached. "It was a fast repair job. They wanted it done in time for the party tonight," Octavia revealed, glaring at the chain as if it had personally offended her mother. Not that I necessarily blamed her. It was kind of like me and apple trees. The construction stallion from earlier stood up from the remains and nodded sternly. "You know your stuff. I've looked it over, but as far as I can tell, yer right. The candles didn’t go out after the thing detached, either, did they?" he asked, gesturing towards the scorched blast residue on the crystals. Whoa. Had they literally exploded when the thing crashed? I nodded absently. "No, they didn’t. I'm guessing they were enchanted? Well, whatever they were enchanted with might not have liked the spell I used to cause it to float," I explained. Note to self. When you get some time in the future, compare Equestrian enchantments to your own to see if there’s some potentially explosive overlap. "Sure looked awesome, though!" Vinyl cut in, sounding overly cheery, if not a bit gleeful. I rolled my eyes. "I wouldn't know. All I saw was burning and pain for a bit afterwards," I groaned, looking back down at my suit again. It, interestingly enough, wasn't that damaged. Here I thought that Rarity was silly to fireproof it. "Now, I don't normally do this unless for special orders, but due to your terrible misfortune for accidents, I'm going to weave a few tasteful protection spells into your new suit," I keenly remembered her explaining, just the barest hint of an amused smirk playing at the corners of her lips. I chuckled before withdrawing from the wreck again. Octavia and Vinyl followed me yet again as I wandered back over to the banquet table. They always said that eating was excellent stress relief. "Um, you have second to highest clearance, Mender. You could just go to the kitchen and ask the staff to make you something a little tastier," Octavia reminded as I started putting a light sandwich together. "They already made all of this. No sense in letting it go to waste. Besides, I don't think I'm important enough to warrant special privileges like that," I reasoned, watching the ingredients drift into place. Vinyl seemed more interested in watching my hoof pressed against the table as I manipulated the various barriers into putting the thing together. Octavia smirked but shook her head. "You're a strange one. You're dating Twilight just for Twilight, aren't you?" she inquired, making it sound more like a request for confirmation than anything. "Of course I am. I fell for her before I even knew who she was, fully. She also saved my life. Not to mention she's just so," I started before trailing off and frowning. Octavia's eyebrow rose, but she listened expectantly. Finally, I added, "There's a lot I like about her. She's kind, fun, smart, gentle, entertaining, and absolutely gorgeous, for the basics." "You definitely got it bad. Ha! She's lucky. It's dang hard to find a stallion that wants you for you when you're famous, let me tell ya! How'd ya honestly never hear of her?" Vinyl questioned, sounding surprised before she flopped down onto her haunches. I glanced over at her as my sandwich finished making itself. "I woke up outside of Ponyville with retrograde amnesia. Didn't have a clue who the Elements of Harmony were in the first place, let alone that Twilight was one of them. I'm under the impression that I'm Twilight's first attempt, also," I told, giving them the abbreviated, censored version of my arrival. Octavia lowered her ears and shook her head at the same time that Vinyl looked honestly surprised. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Have you been able to recover any memories yet?" she asked gently, sounding concerned. I slowly shook my head, mentally restricting what I knew I shouldn't say. "Not a whole lot. I know my name and what my talent is. Nopony knew me in Ponyville, either. I've honestly just been focusing on building a new life," I admitted, deciding that much was safe. Hopefully they didn't have complicated background checks in Equestria. A pony literally fading into existence out of thin air might be a tiny bit suspicious. "Mender! I know I'm not supposed to contact you during the day, but I have a bit of news to share. You don't have to answer, but I know you can hear me," suddenly echoed out in my skull, scaring the metaphorical crap out of me. I jumped at Keela's voice and accidentally launched my sandwich up into the air. Flailing, I lashed out with a force field to try to catch it, but it was suddenly whipped downwards instead in a red aura. Vinyl snickered as she caught it in her mouth, taking a rather impressive bite out of it. "Vinyl!" Octavia berated, looking a little upset. "They're fast to make! Besides, I want to watch him use those cool powers more," the cyan-maned mare admitted, smirking after she swallowed the first bite. As irked as I was momentarily, I was also distracted by the sudden compliment mixed with wondering what Keela wanted. I rolled my eyes and fired up the barriers again, proceeding with sandwich attempt number two while I heard my extra dimensional friend clear her throat. "I wanted to let you know that I've been making serious headway on my end of the bargain as well. I've almost gotten a working spell that should be able to send the book directly to you. There are a few kinks in it that I'll try to work out first, however. Further, I discovered that, in theory, I should be able to continue to use the link you control with me to talk to you, even after giving you the book back," she explained. I frowned while listening, a little concerned that a link would still exist between myself and that place, even after the book was retrieved. This time I added cheese into the mix, along with a bit of mayonnaise and hay bacon strips. It looked delicious, and I momentarily focused on salivating over my newly formed snack. Octavia giggled while watching me, adding, "You have refreshingly ordinary tastes. It still surprises me that you're dating Twilight. Although now I see that she's quite grounded as well." I gave her a curious look while slowly chewing my first bite, loving the taste as I swayed happily. "Simple pleasures! A stallion after my own heart!" Vinyl agreed, holding a hoof up as she nodded approvingly. Snickering quietly while my mouth was still full, careful to keep it closed, I reached forward and bumped hooves with her in the meantime. Our gray friend just rolled her eyes and laughed. "The spell and equipment is mostly workable as is. I just can't control the entry point. It will appear somewhere within twenty meters of you, not limited to straight up or down. You'll either have to wait a few more days for me to work the kinks out, or find a secluded spot for the transfer," Keela continued. My ears perked a little out of habit, regardless of the fact that the voice was entirely in my head. After a moment's consideration, I decided that I'd never have normally uttered that thought and still considered myself sane. Maybe I really was becoming jaded by recent proceedings? "Oh, and don't worry about our personal link. Due to its nature, you're in complete control of that one. I can't send you anything using it without you opening it up and letting me. You can also disconnect it at any time. But please tell me as much as you can first! I really do love hearing about new magical theories and, um," she trailed off, oddly. I frowned, but realized my mistake a second later and maintained as neutral a facial expression as I could. "...have to visit Ponyville more anyway. I know I don't visit you enough, and now that I know Mender there, it gives me more reason," Octavia continued from some unheard starting point. She appeared to be talking to Vinyl, however, and I exhaled quietly. They missed the expression, anyway. "Hey, it's all good. I know you're a busy mare," Vinyl waived off, smiling at her friend with a genuine look of happiness. She didn't seem to let much get to her at all. Octavia, however, looked down and sighed, nodding gently. "I know. I still feel badly, though. Plus, Mender saved my life. What just happened is still a little hard to swallow, but I'm definitely feeling no small amount of affection and thankfulness towards him," she admitted before smiling back over at me. She looked momentarily surprised to see me looking back. I felt my cheeks heat up a little and I shook my head, coughing. "You don't owe me anything. I'd be more than happy if you were my friend," I offered, holding a hoof out to her timidly. Her look of mild surprise expanded, but she caught herself a moment later. With a practiced motion that felt like it contained years of experience, she nodded and extended her forehoof to mine, shaking both with just enough force to register, but not enough to be jarring. I was impressed. "Most assuredly so! Are you sure you cannot think of anything else as well? Private orchestra performance? VIP Pass for life?" she offered, smirking at me. Oh, a business mare! Deflating a little, I rapidly shook my head before she continued. "No, no! I definitely don't deserve that. I'm not a hero," I corrected, exhaling softly. Admittedly, I enjoyed her style of music, though. Vinyl surprised me by actually laughing. It was a short series of rather impish barks, almost. "Ha! Tell that to the newspapers tomorrow. I have a sixth sense for these things, and it's telling me that you're going to make the front page," she assured, winking. What?! "Ugh. I just don't know what I'm thinking anymore. Fine, to be honest, I've really enjoyed talking to you. Yes, just talking. I've not handled everything that's going on as well as I've been telling Nirru, and talking to you has helped a lot," Keela suddenly continued, reminding me at the same time that she was still there. Frowning, I sighed weakly. As much as I was annoyed by my own problems, she was still living in a personal hell. It was rather shallow to think my issues the worst. "I suppose as long as I'm not arrested again. I don't see why they'd be so interested," I protested idly, heart not in it anymore. "Oh, true. I mean, you only saved twenty-seven ponies from either a really bad day, or death in general. Totally reasonable. I really like this guy, Tavi!" Vinyl agreed, height of amusement playing through her tone. Octavia actually laughed at that one. I, on the other hoof, just slapped my forehead. "Not you too! I only did what I had to in order to minimize the suffering of anypony," I excused idly, honestly thinking that should be self-evident. Octavia coughed lightly. I raised an eyebrow to her, but the spunky unicorn mare next to her just shook her head. "Duh. Ya could have just stepped back and watched the fireworks. It takes a certain level of balls to leap into the accident and use your nifty contact magic to stop it instead," she argued, managing to do so without losing the entertained tone. Octavia nodded in agreement, effectively double-teaming me with, "As brash as her wording is, she's right. You didn't have to save us, and certainly got hurt in doing so. You didn't even hesitate, however. That's what's called a hero here, even if you do not agree." Feeling ganged up on, I finished off the rest of my sandwich before standing up and stretching. "I just feel a hero is somepony who actually strives towards doing so. If one went out and looked for situations to help with, I'd imagine that would be a lot more heroic," I pointed out, looking down again. The situations just kind of happened to me. I'd keep helping if the events demanded I do, but I simply didn't have the energy to go out and seek them on my own. Lacking that determination, I decided that I wasn't hero material. "Hum. I have a new idea as well. Tug twice instead if you want me to power up the book. One tug will tell me to send an audio probe through if you just want to talk without sleeping. Um, thank you again for doing all of this," Keela cut in yet again, sounding more final this time however. The distinctive radio static sensation faded away shortly thereafter, and I realized she had left once more, probably for a while this time. "...or not, you still acted when you had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Further, in acting, you saved a huge amount of grief and lives. Ponies are going to consider you a hero regardless," Octavia warned, causing me to miss the first part of what she said due to timing. I got the gist of it, however. Having two conversations at once was a pain. "I'm not used to this, really. Honestly, I'd rather everypony just treat me like normal. I just want to fit in and be useful," I complained, brushing my longer bangs out of my eyes. I really needed to get somepony to finish cutting my mane, too. Octavia giggled softly again, her light, city accent bleeding through even into that. "Is it so wrong to appreciate that you saved my life? Besides, everypony likes a hero," she pointed out, resting against the edge of the table. I suppose there was nothing wrong with that if she really wanted to. Unfortunately, that left me at ends with how to actually respond to that sort of thing. Vinyl took that moment to finish off her stolen sandwich and was oddly watching me with interest at the same time. I glanced at her and then noticed that she was actually watching my hoof instead. Giving a knowing smile, I gently extended the hoof towards the curious mare. "Oh, sorry. It's just kinda awesome to see an Earth Pony doing magic. The rumors were true, then," she pointed out, getting a closer look at the hoof. "I've never heard of such. That looks like actual damage, though. Does it hurt?" Octavia asked politely, also looking, albeit in a less intrusive way. Sighing, I stared down at it myself. The grooves were burnt into the hoof itself, but that had healed a while ago. Now it just looked like something had branded the hoof. "It is damage. It only hurts if I hit it too hard or get something wedged in the grooves, though. The benefits outweigh the issues that come along with it." Vinyl got another rather curious expression and I suddenly knew what she probably wanted to ask. She held her tongue, surprisingly, instead deciding to stretch and let me return to perusing for more food. I doubted it was a good idea to tell them how I got the injury. "I'm starting to doubt she's coming back," I muttered after another few minutes passed in silence. The cleanup crew for the damage was starting to give me annoyed glances, and I realized they'd probably rather have all the 'civilians' out of the area. Octavia hummed but nodded. "Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" she inquired simply. "Kinda, I think. Twilight told me that we were staying in her old room in the palace. Rarity was supposed to stay in one of the guests bedrooms," I relayed, frowning. Of course, I had no idea where her room was. "Ha! You should have expected that one, Tavi! I imagine Twilight would know enough to go back there as well," Vinyl added, smirking and winking at me in a way that brought heat to my cheeks. Why did everypony insinuate we were a lot further in our relationship than reality dictated? Octavia smiled and nodded to both of us. "We should probably retire for now, then. I'm definitely going to be visiting Ponyville in the future, so I imagine I'll see both of you again soon," she assured, seemingly rather on the happy side. "Heck yeah! You know you're welcome anytime. You too, Mender!" the electric-maned unicorn reminded, having said similar earlier, if I recalled. "Will definitely do. Pinkie is planning a party in a couple days, actually. She's probably going to invite you regardless, but maybe I'll see you there?" I suggested to Vinyl. She grinned, glasses scrunching up in the process. "Miss a Pinkie Pie Party? Heck no. I'll definitely be there. Maybe I'll even be playing the music," she hinted, seemingly excited again. She indeed liked simple pleasures, I noticed. As Octavia would say, refreshing. We parted ways on pleasant terms, regardless. Far more pleasant than certain other mares earlier that night. Being alone with my thoughts now, I wondered what had happened. Rarity had mentioned liking the princely type, not a bumbling idiot like me. She seemed exceptionally conflicted, however, so maybe even she didn't know? At least, to my absolute delight, Twilight wasn't angry with me over the ordeal. I didn't even know what was going on until well after the fact! Sighing, I wandered down a hallway that exited into a rather glamorous courtyard. I'd been to the guest bedroom Rarity was staying in earlier, which was in the back tower. Was Twilight's room anywhere near those? Two guards posted at the end of the courtyard watched me carefully as I approached. Perhaps I should just ask them for directions? I noticed they were in golden armor, so I assumed I'd get a reply that wouldn't lead me to a broom closet or off a balcony. Still, I was a civilian, so I didn't know exactly what their reaction would be. Ah well. The prison cells were moderately comfortable when I wasn't bleeding all over the place. "Um, excuse me. I'm kinda lost. Could either of you please tell me where Twilight Sparkle's room is?" I asked as politely as possible. The guard on the right remained stoically staring ahead, but the left one nodded gently to me. "Miss Twilight Sparkle is staying in her old quarters in the observatory tower. Would you like an escort there, Mr. Moon Mender?" he inquired back. My eyes widened and for a moment, I didn't know what to say. They knew who I was? He watched my reaction carefully, a light smile playing at his otherwise stoic expression. "Miss Twilight informed us of you already, of course. You are a guest here," he explained after a moment. I considered it for a moment before nodding weakly and agreeing with, "I'm not used to ponies recognizing me, sorry. I should probably have somepony show me where they are. I've only ever been to the guest room Rarity is staying at." "Oh, they're in the same tower as Miss Twilight's quarters. You just need to go up to the top instead. I should also inform you that Miss Rarity canceled her stay in the guest quarters earlier," he explained calmly. My body jolted as I turned back to look at the guard, having started in the direction I came from earlier. "Wait, what? Why did Rarity cancel her stay?" I asked, frowning. She didn't leave because of earlier, did she? "We weren't informed, unfortunately. She canceled about an hour ago. Miss Twilight also asked the same when she came through here looking for her," the other, oddly identical guard chipped in, still staring blankly ahead. My ears lowered a little. "She left then. Is there a train going back to Ponyville tonight?" I inquired next, following the hunch. I doubt she'd simply stay in a hotel to avoid us. The guard I was talking to first smiled a little further and nodded, informing, "Miss Twilight asked that as well. There is one last train to Ponyville tonight. It leaves at midnight, so twenty minutes from now. I do believe that's where Twilight headed for as well. Is there something wrong?" I sighed and shook my head weakly. "Twilight can probably handle it. They got in a, well, disagreement. Rarity left the party rather upset, and Twilight was trying to find her and talk to her," I relayed, contemplating it to myself. If I were to go, I'd probably just make things more awkward and potentially undermine Twilight's efforts. "Shall we inform her that you've retired to her quarters when she returns, then?" the talkative guard suggested. I nodded, finalizing my decision. "Yeah. I shouldn't get in the way. Now that I know where the room is, I should be able to find it on my own." I glanced back down the hall I recognized as able to lead me to that particular tower. The guard nodded politely before resuming his post. What a mess. Slowly walking on, I found the base of the tower I'd been in earlier and started my long passage up the steps. Well, I needed to get into shape again, anyway. It was a pleasant enough night and stayed rather warm around me, even as I climbed up higher and higher in the tower. The view was spectacular, and I took a small moment to peek out each window I discovered on my way. The rooms were stacked on top of each other as I went. Of course, not having to pay attention until I got to the very top made it fairly easy. The doors at the top were actually double, and quite stiff to open. Eventually they creaked free and I peeked into the well-lit room on the other side. My jaw dropped of its own accord as the room was revealed to me. This wasn't a quarters or room, actually. Twilight stayed in a rather luxurious five-room apartment, I quickly realized. Edging inside, I contemplated this actually being the wrong room or something despite the definite tastes of Twilight about. Books appeared to be the primary focus of the first room apart from a rather practical telescope setup. Hey! She didn't need to bring hers after all! Shaking my head, I double-checked the bedroom and confirmed it. Our luggage was placed on the large bed. Damn. This was her place after all. Lowering my ears, and a little scared to touch anything, I peeked about further. There was a full bathroom, of course, conveniently next to the bedroom. A kitchen was also included and similarly attached to the main library area. Lastly was what appeared to be some sort of casting chamber with warnings still in place and set to use. Well, she was the student of Princess Celestia herself, of course. I considered it, feeling more than a little on the tired side. Twilight didn't appear to blame me, but she could still be either a little miffed at remembering what she saw, or worse, awkward. Pacing, I stared at the large bed in her bedroom. In my current condition, it was looking more than a little appetizing. Still, if she came back in to find me in her bed, that would say a lot of things I should probably avoid saying. Deflating, I decided that as amazing as the bed looked, I couldn't risk it. Plus, with both her brother and Celestia this close, all she'd probably have to do is release a slightly higher pitched squeaking and I'd be either thrown back in the dungeon or banished to the moon. Thirty seconds later, I had the lights dimmed down to sleeping range and was stretching out onto the cushions of the couch in the main room. It was a comfortable couch, so it didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. Once I adjusted to the dim lighting, I watched the fire slowly flicker as my body relaxed. What a day. A minute later, I gently closed my eyes, giving two tugs lightly to the link in my mind. The hum of the book powering up forty seconds after lulled me into a gentle drifting sensation. As tired as I was, it took no time at all before I was gone. * * * * * "So, this is the device, then?" I asked, sitting casually on my translucent, barrier haunches. The lab around me was dimly lit, and a device sat in front of me consisting of a long rail and a lot of rings. It was a massive accelerator. Keela nodded, giving me a gentle yet excited smile as she played with the dials on the other side of it. "Yes. It accelerates a charged alloy orb until it's fast enough to activate the Slipstream Drive I've hooked up to it. Once the orb falls into Slipstream, I activate the resonance of the link and the energy from the FTL effect slides it into the other dimension. From there, the hard part begins," she explained rapidly, though most of the concepts I already knew about. "You finished the algorithm that stabilizes the portal the orb creates, then?" I furthered, raising an eyebrow to her. Last I'd heard from her, the object she tried to move twenty meters to the left got cut into two fairly burnt pieces when the portal collapsed and exploded on itself. That seemed detrimental to our goal, although I suppose it didn't matter. Knowing my luck, however, the book would go up like a nuclear blast when cut in half. Keela nodded rapidly, her bangs dancing in time with her excitement. "Yeah, it was a serious pain, but I managed to figure out how to make a stable portal. Interestingly enough, I followed a hunch and figured out that it could be stabilized using the Aegis Barriers. The only problem is that I can't control the exit point yet. This will get you your book, but it would appear anywhere within twenty meters of you or so," she warned, raising an eyebrow at her readouts. So it could arrive potentially inside solid surfaces or, worse yet, inside of me. That would be rather uncomfortable. I watched her adjust several more dials and sigh, glaring at the display. "The portal is so finicky that it's hard to even experiment with it. Further, I've obviously never tried it with an actual connection to your Equestria instead. I've only been working with local spaces," she added, sounding a little unsure. "So there could be further complications during the real attempt," I muttered, staring at the field of disks. It was clever, honestly. She accelerated the orb until activating Slipstream, which was our FTL Engine, then punched the thing through the dimensional barrier using the same Aegis Resonating effect that let me get to Equestria in the first place. Once it punched through, she used the pinhole as a starting point, spread it open more, shoved an object through it, and then let it close. The object would then bleed through the dimensional barrier and 'fall' into Equestria. Well, with a somewhat randomized landing point. Risky. Given my luck and the strange magnetic draw of my skull, it would phase halfway through it and kill me instantly. She sighed and walked around the table before sitting down on the couch next to me. "It's untested, so of course. I calculated the same thing that happened to you and came up with some fairly disruptive results, actually," she revealed, suddenly looking a little guilty. I raised an eyebrow to her, tilting my head as I just watched. "Mender, I don't think Rainbow Dash's Rainboom could have drawn you over to Equestria just by itself. Someone had to trigger a Slipstream effect and mix it with your Aegis shield on this side. You don't remember doing it?" she asked cautiously, looking a little perplexed at my probably gaping expression. No, that wasn't possible. Does that mean that somepony knew about Equestria before I was even sent? It dawned on me in the same instant and I voiced, "Those disks." Keela sighed but nodded minutely. "They do seem almost engineered for the six Elements of Harmony, as you called them. Honestly, I think they're meant for taking sample readings. Maybe the original goal of whatever project you were involved in was to scout out Equestria and get samples of energy sources? " she offered, shrugging absently a moment later. "Project?" I questioned immediately, not sure if I'd like the answer. Keela frowned but shook her head. She typed a few keys on her console to the right of her and another profile popped up on the screen. "Dr. Kyliona. She was the one who stopped your execution and submitted you to whatever her research was. The classified data was lost when our planet blew up. She died in her lab at the same time, it would seem," the pink haired Keldarian explained, gesturing towards the rotating image on the screen. It was that of an older Keldarian woman with a dark red mane, er, hair, and a darker blue hue to her fur. She wore a pressed and very clean looking lab coat as well. "We don't know what she was even working on apart from her specialty being quantum mechanics. She interrupted your execution, stating she might have found a way to 'deliver us from evil' and that you were important to it. She never specified beyond that, and didn't have to, given her rank," Keela continued, rolling her eyes slightly after finishing the statement, as if disgusted with her own words. "It's weird. I thought physically encountering myself would bring my memories back, but it didn't. I don't remember anything to do with her," I muttered, staring as hard as I could up at the image on the screen. As far as I could tell, I'd never even seen her before. Keela exhaled but nodded, slumping back in the cushions and tapping the console again. It folded into the armrest before the screen went dark. "It's okay. I'll keep looking into that as well. I did find a bit of data on her, but it's heavily classified. My computer's been decrypting the data for the better part of the afternoon, now," she relayed, further reminding me that our day and night cycles were off by quite a bit. "I'll let you know if I remember anything more. There has to be something," I promised, frowning a little as I looked back to the machine laid out on the table. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, however. My eyes widened further as I realized it was the sound of a wooden door opening rather than the telltale hissing noise the doors on the ship made. The Keldarian next to me gave a raised eyebrow as I hesitated and glanced to my left. Reality bled, flickering like an archaic movie reel I'd seen once. The image of a door and a small flood of light burned into the dim lab. I recognized the door as the main entry to Twilight's room. "Oops! Uh, Twilight finally came back, it looks like. I gotta go," I excused as politely as I could. Keela grinned, and I caught a surprise blush as it headed for my cheeks. "Remember what I said. Act cute, apologize, and then kiss her on the cheek. If she's like how you've explained her to be, she'll eat it up," she tossed on. I flailed, stomping my hoofs rapidly into the couch before glaring at her, heat rushing up into my face regardless. Which was ironic seeing as I technically didn't have any blood in me. "You're a brat. Anyway, I'll be back later," I groaned. I turned the book off, the last sound of my dimension being her snickering laughter as everything fell away again. * * * * * Jarring slightly, I opened my eyes slowly. It was always a little rough snapping back into my actual body like that. My vision focused just in time to see Twilight gently closing the door. Her features were sunken a little and she looked extremely tired. I watched her carefully as she sighed and her horn flickered up with a bit of light. It wasn’t very bright, and reminded me vaguely of a flashlight, interestingly enough. The cone drifted across the floor, missing the couch completely as she walked right past me, heading into the bedroom instead. Er, whoops. I wasn't expecting that. Of course, it was rather dark in here. My ears twitched as I heard her breathing catch. She made an unhappy sounding murmur before backing up again and shining the light across the library and miniature observatory, again missing the couch but in the other direction this time. The light illuminated her face, showing me a somewhat nervous expression suddenly. She was expecting me to have been in her bed after all? I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad due to that. I didn't want her to worry about me any further, however, and quietly asked, "Twilight?" All I was truly hoping for was to get her attention and alert her to my presence. I’m never that lucky, of course. She made a light squeaking noise and whipped the light directly into my face on the couch. I let out a yelp, blinded completely by the flare of light as I flailed to cover my eyes. The cushion gave way and flipped under my unbalanced weight, causing me to spill to the floor a half second later, blanket tangling me up as I went. "Ah! I'm sorry, Mender! Wait, what are you doing on the couch?" she suddenly asked, helping me untangle my head from the blankets. I groaned and rubbed the spots out of my eyes before looking up at her again, noticing she dimmed the light and made it radiant rather than a beam. "Um, I'm sorry, Twilight. I was worried you'd be upset with me when you got back. Finding me in your bed might have sent the wrong message," I explained, ears lowering a little. I'd rehearsed the apology in my head, but I was still nervous as to what her actual reaction would be. I didn't want her angry with me. Her eyes softened and she smiled finally, exhaling lightly. "I'm just glad you're here and okay. I'm not mad at you, Mender," she assured, shifting her head down slightly. She looked stressed, if nothing else. I mulled it over slightly. Well, Keela was a girl too. Maybe she was right and Twilight would appreciate it? Deciding to take a risk, I leaned forwards and gently pecked Twilight on the left cheek. She made a starting motion, but I withdrew before overstaying my welcome and tried to just smile at her. I had a sneaking suspicious that I might have looked a little nervous, regardless. She blushed lightly before exhaling and visibly relaxing, however, smiling fully at me. "Thank you, Mender. It's been a long day. I trusted you, of course, but the added assurance really does make me feel special. Rarity openly admitted that you had nothing to do with that when I caught up with her at the station as well," she informed, shifting closer to me and resting her horn on my shoulder. Huh. Keela was right. She didn't mind me pecking her on the cheek after all. "She left then," I spoke quietly, it definitely not serving as a question. My ears lowered again wearily. I’d figured as much. Twilight nodded against my shoulder slowly. "Yeah. She was pretty shook up by the time I found her. I couldn't stay angry with her when she was doing such a good job of being angry with herself. I'm worried about her, though. I've seen her when she loses her cool," Twilight confessed, looking back up at me carefully. I frowned, but considered it before suggesting, "Maybe we should come back to Canterlot later? If you're worried about her, maybe returning to Ponyville tomorrow would be a good idea?" Twilight's eyes widened a little, but only for a split second. "Oh, hmm. Well actually, that's not a bad idea. Otherwise we'd have to wait for the appointment with Princess Celestia and we wouldn't be able to leave until two days from now. Are you sure, though? I promised you that I'd have her scan you, after all," she reminded, her ears suddenly mimicking mine in a rather expressive manner. I smiled, a little touched that she was considering me as well. "It's okay, Twilight. I'm sure we wouldn't have to wait too much longer to get another appointment. I'd almost think you were special to Celestia," I added, tossing an impish smile on afterwards. As anticipated, Twilight grinned and batted me playfully in the shoulder. "You're a jerk sometimes. If you weren't my coltfriend, I'd so make you stay on that couch for tonight," she 'threatened' with a rather playful smirk on. I started to laugh before it dawned on me. "Oh, wait. I'm not staying on the couch?" I questioned, suddenly a little surprised. Twilight slapped her forehoof under her horn before snickering. "Wow, Mender. I can't hint any harder that I don't mind snuggling with you while sleeping than I already have. You know, by actually snuggling with you while sleeping," she reminded skeptically, giving me a raised eyebrow. I blushed, coughing lightly again before standing up fully. "Oh, shush. I'm new to all of this. I'm sorry, but I respect your desires too much to risk assuming like I usually do," I excused. Her cheeks tinted pink this time in her own horn glow, but she smiled and nodded. "Thanks again for that. You've been really understanding so far and it's been amazing. Um, do you think we could hold off until tomorrow night for the 'experimentation', though? I'm really, really tired after chasing Rarity down all night," she requested. Frowning, I gave her a perplexed stare. If she was implying what I thought she might be, that left me a little on the confused side. "Wait. Now that I think about it, didn't you mention that last night, too?" I suddenly remembered, wondering if there were deeper implications behind the pattern emerging. She whined as if burned before rapidly stamping her hooves. "I know, I know. I remember what Rarity said on the train, too. I've been nervous and slacking off. Please, put up with me for one more night?" she asked, causing me to frown. Something was definitely off. "Twilight, stop it. Rarity was teasing you. Just relax," I reasoned, trying to calm her down. It’s almost as if she felt obligated to do this every night. She exhaled and nodded weakly. "I know, I know. The book just said that nighttime was the traditional time to engage in such activities, so that's what I've been attempting to pull off. Things just keep getting in the way," she complained, heading back into her bedroom. Admittedly, I pulled off a miraculous recovery from almost tripping over three of my own hooves while following her. "W-What?! Wait, so you've been suggesting the evening 'experiments' because you read about it in a book?" I asked, unable to contain my sudden shock. Things snapped into place rapidly, leaving a lovely sinking, icy feeling in my chest. Oh. Twilight froze in mid-step, apparently not expecting a reaction like that. Slowly, she shifted and turned around, stopping right next to her bed. "Oh, um, is that a bad thing? I mean, I want to do this right and not screw up so I figured following things to the letter would be the best," she reasoned, looking a little confused. I exhaled, confusion shifting to a light melancholy instead, before asking, "Do you actually want to do things like that?" I didn't know which was correct anymore, and my head spun. Why couldn't all of this be simple? Instead, it felt like we were plagued by communication errors. "Uh, what do you mean? Do I want to do what?" she asked, tilting her head gently as she looked at me. My eyes searched hers for a moment before I lowered them gently. "Let's go at a speed you're comfortable with, Twilight. From now on, you only have to kiss me like that when you want to. There's no obligations or quotas you have to meet," I assured, looking back up at her as she widened her eyes a little. "But the book said that was really bad for," she started to protest before I gently pushed a hoof to her mouth. Her guilty eyes stared over my foreleg before I lowered it a moment later. "Twilight, I might be new to this place, but all I can see is what's right in front of me. If you're uncomfortable with anything, we're doing it wrong. Don't listen to the book; listen to yourself," I tried to correct. All I knew is that if she was uncomfortable with anything, it wasn't worth doing no matter how, well, enjoyable I found it. I knew what I wanted in the big picture, and Twilight was far too important to be selfish with. I cared for her. A lot. Her eyes softened as she listened, and she nodded shortly after I was done. "I've never done this before and I just wanted it to be perfect, is all. I'm used to having everything planned out," she furthered, revealing exactly what I had come to expect from the mare. She was extremely reliable like that, if not a little too so. Was there a thing as too reliable? Eh, I doubted it. I smiled at her again and shook my head. "I'm more comfortable with you in control. I guess it's deep-seated from my old culture. You don't need a schedule if you want to snuggle or kiss me. Just do it," I offered, adding a nod as punctuation. Her blush was rather adorable and she smiled softly. "You're indeed a good stallion. I'm glad my brother likes you as well. He's right, I see," she suddenly agreed. I raised an eyebrow, drawing a blank before asking, "Right about what?" I searched back into my head, trying to remember any opinions he might have expressed or advice dished out. Twilight snickered but shook her head quickly. "Oh, nothing. I'll admit, when the mood strikes me, kissing you like that is really, really nice. I've been tired lately due to everything I've needed to do, though. Night isn't as convenient as the book said it was," she muttered, exhaling softly. She did look really tired, now that I looked harder. "Well, let's get some rest then, Silly. Are you sure you don't want me on the couch?" I offered one last time, watching her hop up on the bed with gusto. The luggage started to glow with a soft crimson and purple light before sliding off and onto the floor. I still admired her ability to manipulate things without needing to touch them. If I could have done that, the entire incident earlier with the chandelier could have been avoided! "After everything you just said? Trust me, you did wonders to put my mind at ease with that," she admitted before sliding under her covers and lifting the side closest to me up so I could crawl in. A little spike of apprehension hit me again, but I reminded myself that nothing bad had happened the night before. The only difference this time was that I was willingly getting into bed with her rather than being teleported alongside. Closing my eyes, I nodded to myself before climbing up and sliding under the covers. Twilight made a content cooing noise before sliding over and pressing further into me. I exhaled as I felt her coat slide and mix with mine; her body heat started to warm me up as the blankets settled around me. "This. This I have no complaints about at all. There's just something so relaxing and, I'm not sure. Stable, maybe? I've never particularly felt unsafe in my own bed, but having you here as well almost lets me feel like you'll keep any nightmares away, too," she tried to explain, voice lowering due to lack of energy and proximity, I imagine. I matched her tone and volume, assuring, "I'd do everything I could to keep them away. And you can have this for as long as you desire it." Even if she thought it was a treat, I rapidly realized that this wasn't a bad thing. It didn't tax me in any way to be with her like this. Quite the contrary, actually. Her horn lightly pressed into my forehead, and I felt her presence slip inside of my mind with a gentle shift. She didn't push too much energy in; just enough to perform the empathic connection. It always surprised me when I saw how gentle she could be. One would think with such a massive level of power and skill, she'd have difficulty doing smaller things. Not that I'm complaining. I've felt what it's like to have her shove as much energy as she could inside of me. It was vaguely similar to what I'd imagine being hit by a tsunami would be like. "My turn tonight. Mmm. Maybe one day, both of us will go at the same time," she speculated quietly, folding her forelegs up between our chests as I lightly draped my right one over her waist. Maybe she was getting more comfortable too? "I don't think we're ready for that kind of commitment, by the sounds of it. It's permanent, Twi," I reminded, remembering the details from the train ride. Contrary to popular belief, the only time I specifically wasn't listening was when I was actively throwing up. "I know. Honestly, before you came along, I'd never really thought about relationships that much. I've never really wanted or needed that feeling, let alone understood the feeling in the first place. But feeling you right here makes me understand a lot better. It's a lot like that spark I first felt when we repaired the Elements of Harmony. A warmth I hadn't realized I was missing until that day," she compared, hesitating towards the final part. I perked my ears up at the interesting new information, but didn't interrupt. Finally, she continued with, "It's a lot different from that feeling, too, of course. Whereas friendship felt pleasant and warm, relaxing even, this makes me feel almost stir crazy at times. It's a hot, needy feeling that makes me want to get as close as possible. More tactile and physical than what I share with the other girls." I suddenly got the suspicion that she'd been thinking about this for a while. Of course, if she was freaked out by it when she first discovered I liked her like that, she probably did a lot of analysis on her personal feelings. "The descriptions fit easier than you realize, me feeling extremely similar things to compare them to," I pointed out, smiling gently against her nose. She let out a light, sleepy giggle before nodding, pushing my head down with each motion due to horn contact. "I figured you felt similar. That's what made me realize it wasn't as scary as I thought in the first place. You have wants and fears, just like me. Even tonight, I saw the confusion and shock clearly enough and realized that you were just as surprised as I was by it. That meant a ton to me," she added. I swallowed but nodded gently, still unsure of how to deal with that. "My only thought after was wanting you to not be mad at me over it. Now I just feel selfish for not considering how hurt Rarity was at the time," I groaned, pushing closer to Twilight. She made a light murmur before kissing my nose in return, her energy warming up inside of my mind. "You're very kind, Mender. A bit dense sometimes, but still very kind," she complimented. I felt her smile widen as I knew she felt my eyes roll. "Relax, though. Rarity was feeling better by the time we got done talking. I'd still like to go back to Ponyville and clear all of this up, though. All I managed to do before the train left was convince her that we weren't angry with her," she explained, relaxing slowly as we both calmed down. It was kind of weird in a good way that I could feel her, well, feelings. "I was surprised. Well, shocked, really. I couldn't even process it when it happened. I'm nowhere near the traits I thought she wanted in a stallion," I elaborated, feeling a spike of frustration again. Twilight just nuzzled me, however, and I exhaled. "I think Rarity herself is starting to realize there is no stallion quite as perfect as she was looking for. You do have a lot of attributes she likes, however. You treat her with kindness and respect, and try to be polite whenever possible. Most importantly, none of those traits are an act," she explained, opening her eyes again and staring into my own before adding, "Those are the same traits I appreciate in you. Sure, you can be clumsy, dense, and I've never seen such lengthy conclusion jumping before. Regardless of those negative traits, you honestly care for me and respect me. That's way more important." My ears lowered a little, but I nodded. I was trying to fix a few of those, but it felt like my own body conspired against me sometimes. "Plus, it's nice to find a stallion I have a lot in common with. We both like reading and mental pursuits, and you can talk with me about magic as well," she tacked on, smiling again and suddenly humming pleasantly. I raised an eyebrow, opening my mouth to ask what the demeanor shift was about when she leaned forwards and kissed me directly. My eyes widened briefly before dropping again as I pushed back gently, feeling her smile against my lips. The urgency wasn't there this time and she just melted against me further for a few seconds before letting my mouth go and snuggling again. I blushed but used my right foreleg to hold her tighter, giving a light squeeze around her side. "This. This is nice. I'll never be scared of this," she murmured a moment later, brushing the side of her muzzle against mine before settling into the pillow again. "I have no complaints in the slightest," I agreed happily, earning another sleepy snicker before her breath deepened. Her consciousness slipped backwards, tugging mine down as well. I smiled, momentarily watching her sleep like a beautiful angel before I stopped resisting. Much more pleasantly than the book’s shifts ever could be, I felt myself pulled into her dreams alongside her, sinking into the warm heat to the sounds of her gentle breathing. Chapter 24Things had gone smoothly so far! And by smoothly, I meant I hadn't thrown up at all on the ride home. Smiling, I strolled off the train after my fillyfriend, who was a few meters ahead of me. Heck, I was so happy I hadn't gotten sick that I didn't even care that I was carrying both sets of saddle bags and hauling all three suitcases plus one new bag. The medicine Twi found in lieu of not having time to research an anti-nausea spell had worked wonderfully! "I still can't believe that we missed the first train," Twilight groaned as she walked. I caught up with her before chuckling weakly. Glancing up, I noticed the sun was already in its final stages of the day. What a waste. This is what happens when you only have one train on the track at any given moment. No wonder they use pegasi for most of their transportation needs! "You were the one who insisted on getting the extra quills and parchment," I reminded, gesturing behind me to the extra bag that was balanced on the three suitcases I was already hooked up to. Twilight flattened her ears back before finally giving in and snickering. "I know, I know. Still, the prices are better in bulk, and I can never go to Quills and Sofas without him trying to sell me a sofa, too! I have enough sofas," she defended, giving me a playful smirk. I nodded and smiled back, a soft and warm sensation drifting into my chest. It felt strange to be walking so casually right next to her, but definitely in a good way. Twilight stopped and turned back to face me after we cleared the train platform. "All right then. Are we set for the plan? You get the luggage and saddlebags back home and wait for a little bit. I'll go talk to Rarity and get her calmed down, and then both of us will wait for you. All three of us need to talk about this," she reiterated calmly. It was indeed a good plan. I liked the part where I didn't talk to her first this time and make an idiot of myself. I nodded and smiled to her. "No problem. How long do you want me to wait?" I asked, just to be on the safe side. Twilight pondered for a moment before shrugging and offering, "Twenty or thirty minutes should be plenty of time. If you're a little late, Rarity and I will just have tea or something." I idly considered that Rarity might not be very comfortable with that arrangement, but Twilight had been friends with her for a long time. Maybe I was underestimating that? "All right! I'll drop these off, wait twenty minutes or so, and then wander over to join you," I agreed, once again happy that she was such a prepared and organized mare. It also only involved me having skill enough to walk short distances without dying! Thus, it was a really good plan. Twilight smiled as well, apparently my extreme positive aura rubbing off on her. "Okay then! See you in a few!" she tacked on before turning again and heading towards the Carousel Boutique. I momentarily allowed myself the distraction of watching her flanks sway as she departed before shaking myself out of it and heading in the other direction towards the library. Yup. Still male. Hauling the extremely large amount of luggage definitely got me a few stares. This time, however, quite a few shocked stares turned into friendly smiles and waves as I passed, letting me return them. I guess I was moving past my ‘outcast’ reputation. I caught a glimpse of Lyra and Bon Bon near the park. Golden Harvest was oddly nearby as well, looking up in the tree as if having lost a kite or something. Heck, a further examination even showed Derpy waving at me from the upper tree branches! I waved back, then winced as the motion of her gesture dislodged the mail bag that was stuck to the tree branch, causing her to wobble and then hover out of the tree again, truly free this time. Oh, Derpy. By the time I decided she was okay and turned back around, I yet again encountered two large, blue pools of color staring back at me, surrounded by pink. Startled, I jumped a little and hopped backwards, bumping into the luggage I was hauling. Pinkie smiled pleasantly at me and waved, hoof movements as packed full of energy as per usual. "Hiya, Mender! You're back from your trip! I missed you. How are you doing?" she asked all at once, surprising me. I was gone technically less than twenty-four hours. She missed me in that period of time? "It was, well, eventful. I got arrested and then released by Twilight's brother, Shining Armor. Then I got drafted into being a stagehoof. Oh, then I ended up surfing across the ball room on a flying chandelier, trying not to catch fire," I summarized, bumping my right hoof along my held up left as if counting with imaginary fingers. Oddly, Pinkie seemed to somehow understand the gesture. "Wooooow! I missed so much! That sounds like fun! And you got to meet Shining. He's really nice," she chirped, nodding enthusiastically. Well, I’m glad that’s the important thing she pulled from those statements. I snickered and nodded as well, enjoying the mare’s outlook on things regardless. "I agree. He didn't seem to have a problem with me seeing Twilight, either," I noted, exhaling gently in long past relief. It was still nice to realize. Now I just had to make a good impression for her parents, for whenever that would happen. Pinkie gave a little spin and sway in place, apparently venting the perpetual energy her body generated in the only way she knew how. I began to understand how she could eat so much, just considering the sheer amount of calories her body must burn through releasing whatever cosmic energy fueled her on a daily basis. "Oh! That reminds me, before I forget to remember to mention it!" she started. For a moment, I tried to follow the path of her logic before remembering whom I was talking to. She continued, undaunted, "I still totally owe you a party for saving Equestria, and another for having such a bad time and me injuring you! I've decided to put both of them together into one super-duper awesome party of the century! Everypony shall be invited, and I mean everypony! This is going to be so awesome!" she rambled, flailing towards the end. Snickering, I nodded once more, singularly this time. "Do you think you could invite Vinyl Scratch as well? Oh, and send an invite out to an Octavia in Canterlot?" I requested politely. Pinkie's eyes bugged out as she stared at me intensely. For the briefest moment, I wondered if I'd offended the pink mare, and slowly lowered my ears. "Oh wow! You have requested guests?! This is so awesome! Vinyl is so cool and plays such amazing music! If you're her friend, maybe she'll even play for the party? Oh, and Octavia, as in the Royal Orchestra Cellist? You met a lot of fun ponies in Canterlot!" Pinkie finally squealed, allowing me a sigh of relief. I didn't want to think about what an angry, vengeful Pinkie Pie looked like, that was for sure! "Yeah, they were both at the party. Octavia wanted to come visit, and Vinyl already said she might like to play at the party," I informed, feeling a bit more relaxed now. Pinkie double gasped, somehow. It wasn't just a gasp twice in a row. No, she somehow compound it exponentially in a way that made my head hurt. "You got Vinyl to maybe consider playing music at my party without me even needing to ask her?! You're awesome, too! Maybe I'll need to turn you into my Party Planning Partner Pony!" she squealed happily before lunging. Oh hell. My life flashed before my eyes as my torso was practically crushed into her puffy pink body. She spun and swayed happily with me, hugging the life out of me as we went. No! I wanted to die by Twilight and Fluttershy hugs! Preferably both at the same time. She finally released me after an agonizing six seconds and bounced back into place with gusto, exactly where she'd been a moment before. "Excellent! Now I just have to see Mayor Mare about borrowing the main hall! This is going to be so super cool!" she gushed, thankfully not asking me anything as I reeled from her prior assault. Wait, why the main hall? "What do you need the main hall for?" I inquired shakily once my brain felt like it had stopped vibrating. "Any one of our houses couldn't possibly hope to contain a party of this magnitude! Just trying to might cause a funplosion. Maybe, just maybe, if I got Big Mac to push a few of our houses together, it might work. But he's a busy stallion, dodging all the googly oogly mares and what not! I mean, he is second most eligible bachelor in Ponyville, after all. Still, he'll be at the party, too, so this should be fun!" she started rambling. I blinked slowly, unsure of how my inquiry as to the location had gotten hijacked into a rant of Ponyville's bachelors. "Wait, who's first?" I inquired curiously. I'd probably regret it in a few... "You, of course! Silly!" she squealed, hopping into the air and flailing her hooves around under her. Another slow blink. That didn't compute at all. "But, um, I'm not single," I refuted, extremely confused now. "Oh, you can't date anypony, Silly! Secret agents can't date. They just have steamy romances and liaisons," Pinkie corrected, adding a low growl and a wink onto the end. I went from confused to flustered and backing up almost instantly, more than a little leery of sudden advances at the moment! Pinkie, staying true to herself, burst into laughter and wobbled happily. Regardless of her mirth and obvious jest, several nearby mares started whispering to each other rapidly. Damn it! "What are you talking about, Pinkie?!" I rasped, glaring at the mirthful pink mare. She gave me an exaggerated wink in return, adding, "Oh, I know. You're not a secret agent. I'll shush." Somehow, the way she said it didn't help at all, and I started hearing giggling alongside the whispers. Shifting my attention, I shot an angry expression towards whom I now identified as Lily, one of the three flower mares. She giggled even more whimsically when noticing my attention and also gave me a wink, earning an exasperated sigh. They were screwing with me. They were all doing this on purpose… "Anyway! I'll get the invitation to you tomorrow! See you a little later!" Pinkie announced before happily bouncing away, proving entirely immune to my death stares. Dang. I'd have to practice them a bit more. Exhaling, I stood back up and shifted my balance back into hauling position. The three suitcases weren't that heavy and had the benefit of wheels, but I still didn't want to pull anything. Or trip and garrote myself, of course. After a few more minutes of casual walking, keeping my pace steady and actually enjoying the exercise, I made it to the town square. A bead of sweat drifted off my brow, and I gave a light flick sideways to dispel it. The sight of the tree house on the other side of the square looked appealing indeed. My trip had already been slowed considerably by the sheer weight of the things I was hauling. "Howdy there, Mender," I suddenly heard called out to my right as I crossed the walkway and entered the marketplace common. My ears perked and rotated before my head did, and I spotted the familiar orange mare fitting the voice. Applejack was selling today? I knew that she and Big Mac took turns tending the stand and they were only here certain days of the week. All of those apples couldn't get bucked by themselves if one of those two was always here selling them, I admitted. "Oh, hey, Applejack. Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom," I greeted politely, eyes picking out the prior unnoticed cyan and rainbow pegasus, and much smaller filly. I had a half an hour to kill anyway, so I wasn’t particularly hurried to get back home. Home. I smiled gently as I walked up, realizing I was already starting to think of the library as my home now. Dash gave me a smirk and nod as I approached, but Apple Bloom squeaked and spun, having been oblivious until I said something. Oddly, it looked like she was more harassing one of the customers than trying to sell the apples. Seeing me, however, she shot away from the confused brown stallion and headed right for me! Oh crap. I braced for impact and let out a stiff wheeze as she collided with my chest, knocking me back and onto my haunches. "Mender! Ah wondered when ya were gonna show up! Are ya hurt?" she asked instantly, giving my front a curious once-over. Hurt? Raising an eyebrow, I looked back up at her sister and Rainbow for a clue. "Rare told us what happened with tha chandelier after she got back last night. Ah thought she was gonna stay longer than that," Applejack relayed, looking a little perplexed. Rainbow caught my frown instantly and fluttered closer, looking interested. "She had a reason for it, didn't she?" the clever cyan mare guessed, dead on as usual. I nodded weakly, averting my gaze from her sharp, rose-colored stare. "Yeah. There were complications and she and Twilight got in a fight. She left, looking pretty upset. I probably shouldn't say more," I explained, trying to filter while I talked. I'm not the best at that, decidedly. Rainbow's ears perked a little as her expression shifted deadpan with an audible, "Huh." I tilted my head curiously at her, but Applejack merely rolled her eyes. "Those two have been darn feisty with each other fer days now! Ah'm one fer gettin' down ta tha middle o' this right now," she spit out, looking a little frustrated over the matter. I shook my head rapidly, however, raising my hoof up to gesture a halt. "No, it's okay. Twilight's over there right now trying to talk to her. I'm supposed to follow after putting this stuff back in the house," I elaborated, trying to keep interference to Twilight's plan as minimal as possible. I doubted things would go well if two irked mares busted her door down. Rainbow nodded sagely, seemingly more content now that she knew Twilight was on the case. Applejack just let out an indignant huff, however, causing Apple Bloom to shift her attention back to her sister, looking worried. "Why are ya goin’? Kinda ah weird choice, if ya ask me," Applejack questioned, causing my ears to droop a little. Well, true. I wasn't the best at talking or defusing situations. Fluttershy was way more empathic, while Pinkie or Dash would do a better job of cheering somepony up. "Sis! That's not very nice an' ya know it!" Apple Bloom defended, turning fully to meet her sister. Applejack softened and shook her head after a moment of staring at the little filly. "Ah didn't mean it like that. Ah'm sorry, Mender. Ah'm just frustrated," she excused, apologizing with a gentle nod. I shook my head, however, assuring, "No, you're right, of course. I'm not the best at the whole talking thing. I tend to do stupid things, socially. Even if this isn't directly my fault, I still feel badly over what happened. So you're right. I'm not going there to help, but because I'm involved." "Oh, does it involve the chandelier thing? That has ‘Mender Accident’ written all over it!" Rainbow asked, suddenly smirking. I felt a distinct heat push into my cheeks as I exhaled, looking away from her again. Applejack snorted, however. "Ah seem ta remember ya did ah real number on ah statue at tha Gala that one year," the farm mare reminded with a smirk. Predictably, Rainbow shifted from mirthful to defensive in less than a heartbeat, turning to glare at her friend. "Hey, I was trying to save somepony, too!" she defended, looking more than a little guilty while doing so. I decided I probably shouldn't ask. Applejack rolled her eyes but turned back to me instead. "If it's involvin' ya specifically, and is between Rare and Twi, Ah have a feelin' Ah know what happened," she reasoned before stepping considerably closer and whispering, "Rarity confessed, didn't she?" Rainbow's eyes widened, her being close enough to hear it as well. Apple Bloom let out a sudden gasp of understanding, and asked, "Oh my! Fer true? Rarity has feelin's fer ya?" Blushing, I sighed and nodded, not really feeling like lying to the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty; not to mention an adorably innocent little filly who implicitly trusted me for some reason. "Whoa! I'm surprised Twilight isn't in rage mode," Rainbow admitted, looking more than a little shocked. Applejack smiled at that and shook her head, however. "They've been friends fer ah long time. Ah think Rarity knew she overstepped her bounds an' Twilight's bein' rightly forgivin'," she pointed out, actually sounding pleased by the way things were turning out. Although, I suppose Twilight hasn't blown up Ponyville yet, so things were indeed going well. Applejack watched me carefully for a few more seconds, and I shifted uncomfortably. Rainbow's ears twitched and she frowned before glancing over at Applejack as well. "You're making ‘me’ feel awkward. Good grief, Applejack. What's up?" she asked a moment later, pseudo-defending me. Kinda. Wait, that reminded me; wasn't there something I was supposed to be remembering? Damn it. Now I was thinking in Pinkie. The orange country mare rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Ah was just curious as ta how Mender 'ere felt about her. Ah've not seen any hintin' that he likes her like that, is all," she explained, looking back up at me curiously. Sighing, I looked down from her for a moment, considering her question. She knew already what my answer was going to be, in all likelihood. Did she really feel the need to actually ask? "I, well, no. Rarity is an amazing mare and a really great friend, but I honestly don't feel the same towards her as I do when I think of Twilight or Fluttershy," I explained as simply as I could. I'd not given it a lot of thought beyond the basic realization, so putting words to it was a little tricky still. Her stare persisted for a few more moments before a light smile danced onto her expression and she nodded sagely. "Ah'm happy yer not lyin' ta yerself. Ya tell her just that and Ah'm sure she'll understand," Applejack advised, seeming pleased again. She was a strange mare. Although I could definitely see why she was the Element of Honesty. Wait, Honesty? Being truthful, or revealing information. Oh! Glancing back towards Rainbow, I noticed she was still looking a little weirded out. Now I remembered! I had made a mental note to chase her down when I got back. Apple Bloom gave me a curious look, but I just smiled down at her before mentally whispering, "Hey Rainbow, can you hear me?" There wasn't the level of realization I was looking for. "Huh? Yeah, I'm still paying attention," she assured, snapping out of whatever daydream she was in and looking back up at me with a faint smile. "Er, well, that's good, Ah guess. Ya got somethin' ta say?" Applejack inquired, turning back around again from her stand. I was suddenly glad she didn't have any customers at the moment, as I was certainly distracting her enough. Similarly, Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow towards Dash as well. My right ear twitched. Hmm. The bitter memory of the cupcake prank drifted into my head and I tried not to smile openly. Rainbow flattened her ears back and shook her head at Applejack. "Uh, not really. I mean," she muttered. Mentally grinning, I launched my daring plot. "Oh, don't mind her. I just wanted to talk to you about the wing thing, and the finer details of how you’re going to let Applejack know you love her," I relayed in an amused mental projection. This time it was like flicking a switch. Rainbow screeched to a halt and shifted her attention over to me instantly, jaw dropped open and eyes the size of teacups. "What are you doing?! You're not supposed to say anything about..." she started to shout, stammering the last sentence before blushing furiously and looking back at Applejack. "Uh, what in tarnation is wrong with you, Rainbow?" she questioned, looking a mixture of surprised and concerned. Oh, oh crap. That played into it a little too good! Rainbow shuddered as if punched, eyes softening as she looked away. "I, um, well, I don't know what he's talking about, of course. He gets these crazy ideas and," she started to excuse, backtracking rapidly while looking utterly hurt. Oops. I couldn't let this go on. "Er, who? Mender hasn't been talkin' in the first place. He’s tha only stallion ‘ere," Applejack asked, giving Rainbow a curious glance. "W-What?" Rainbow asked, shifting from pained expression to confusion a moment later. Sighing, I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Dash. That was a mean trick. I didn't intend for it to go like that," I apologized, verbally this time. The cyan mare whipped her attention back to me, questioning stare rather apparent. Apple Bloom looked downright confused at this point, shifting her attention freely between the three of us, while her older sister shot me a skeptical glance. I closed my eyes and focused again, mentally asking, "Can you hear this as well, Dash?" Her eyes widened, confirming the already mostly proven suspicions. Now she saw me not moving my mouth while doing it, however. That would prove to her that her secret was still safe. Hopefully. "How are you doing that?! I thought you could only do that with Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, more shocked than angry suddenly, apparently momentarily forgetting my rather cruel prank. Of course, system shock could do that. Applejack snapped into realization, widening her eyes a little as well. I nodded to both of them, while the little filly at my hooves finally settled on me, apparently deciding I held the answer to her confusion. "Twilight figured out what caused me to link with Fluttershy like that. I was going to track you down today when I got back, but I guess you saved me the time. In testing one of her theories, she also accidentally enabled the link for you as well," I explained in summary, not wanting to give out details like that on the open street. Dash's ears lowered a little and she looked oddly dissuaded instead. "Twilight could have told me. What exactly does it mean? What caused it?" she asked rapidly. Oh. She was worried, not dissuaded. True. We didn't know a lot about the links yet. "Ah'm interested too, Mender. Ah don't think he wants ta discuss it 'ere, though, Rainbow. It makes sense," she pointed out, snapping Rainbow back to attention. She seemed to relax before nodding to the orange mare. "Oh, can I listen too?" Apple Bloom asked rapidly, shifting her attention back to her sister with a pleading, wide-eyed look. I winced, glad I wasn't on the receiving end of the diabetes-inducing attack. Honestly, she already knew about me being an alien, so I didn’t think there was any point in hiding this from her. Hmm. I made a mental note to tell the other two Crusaders at some point in the future. Her sister must have resistances to the horrible cuteness attack, however, as she simply shook her head. "It's not mah call in tha first place, Sis. Ya should be askin' Mender that," she corrected. Crap. To her credit, Apple Bloom didn't miss a beat before whirling around and blasting me with the expression instead. I wilted, lowering my ears as she shifted closer, wiggling her forelegs back and forth impatiently. "Pleeeeease? Ah won't tell anypony else. Please, Mender? You're so cool; Ah know ya trust meh!" she squeaked, eyes watering a little. I shrank further, and Applejack started to snicker in the background. Rainbow raised an eyebrow with a choice grin as well. Damn it! I knew better than to hold her to absolutely nopony, however. "Ugh. Fine, so long as you keep it a treasured, Cutie Mark Crusader secret," I requested, earning a shocked yet eager expression from the little filly. She’d undoubtedly tell Sweetie and Scootaloo anyway, so I might as well give her permission to. Besides, they should know regardless. "O' Course! Only Sweetie and Scootaloo'll know, an' Ah'll swear 'em ta secrecy tha same!" she assured, hopping gently up and down while promising. I nodded softly and smiled at her, my chest heating up a little as I watched her absolutely adorable expression. "All right then. You can listen, too, when the time comes," I assured. My poor heart. Too much exposure to these fillies might make it explode, I noted. "Yay!" she cheered, spinning in a circle before prancing back to her sister, who looked absolutely amused at this point. Oddly, I'd seen that expression on her before, if I remembered correctly. "Ah repeat, yer dang good with foals. Ah think yer gonna be ah great Daddy one day," Applejack complimented soon after. Oh yeah, now I remember where I'd seen that expression before. Further, I now wished I hadn’t. Blushing, I looked away from them, finally earning a straight out laugh from Rainbow. She was probably silently recovering from the rather scary prank that was accidentally a lot worse than intended. "Heck, Ah'm barely makin' any sales anyway. Let's git inside tha library ta talk," Applejack offered a moment later, smiling instead and nodding towards me absently. "Oh, uh, okay. That's where Twilight keeps, um, them, anyway. I'll show you when we get inside," I assured after earning a strange look from Rainbow. Applejack nodded and turned back around to her stand before shouting out, "Last chance fer apples today! Ah'm closin' up early!" Smiling, I nodded and slowly hauled my baggage up closer to the stand before sitting again and watching a small crowd of ponies rapidly approach. “Them?” Rainbow whispered, drifting closer to me as Applejack drew all of the attention. I smiled and nodded to her, returning her whisper with, “They’re items that made the links between us from my old world.” Her rose colored eyes widened and she momentarily looked apprehensive before her mask of self-assurance painted over it. She nodded gently and landed next to me while we both watched the country mare sell her wares. Apple Bloom apparently decided that meant she was done for the day and hopped up behind me onto the top of the middle suitcase, smiling sweetly at me as she lay down. Smirking at her, I rubbed the top of her head, earning a soft murmur as a light burst of magic from my hoof acted like a brush along her mane. Rainbow seemed pleased as well, watching me pay attention to the filly. She relaxed on her haunches, the tension flowing out of her again as she stretched her wings out softly. I watched with interest for a moment, seeing the muscles along her upper back flex and shift with each movement of her wings. If I was going to improve upon the wing thruster design, I’d have to get rather familiar with those muscles, I had a feeling. Wiring into them would give a lot more control over things, especially for in-atmosphere flying. But first things first… "I'm sorry for the prank, Rainbow. I didn't mean for that to happen," I mentally whispered a moment later, trying to get my sincerity across. Rainbow obviously didn't know how to respond, but her eyes softened and she gave me a rather warm smile before shaking her head. "I'm just glad it wasn't what I thought," she whispered, surprisingly mellow for Rainbow Dash. I would have expected a good solid kick to the skull after that incident. Either the prank had truly shocked her, which made me feel really, really badly, or she was waiting for a more opportune time where she could beat the crap out of me without raising public suspicion. Oddly, I don't think the latter would hurt as much. Honestly, I just wanted Dash to trust me still. "Hmm?" Apple Bloom asked shortly after, glancing over at Rainbow as well. "Oh, nothin'" she assured, giving a nonchalant wave of her hoof. I snickered and resumed waiting for whenever Applejack was finished. Hmm. Sorry, Twilight, but I might be just a little bit late. * * * * * Applejack stared curiously at the disks I'd spread out on the table. Rainbow had picked hers up almost immediately and was flipping it around in her hooves. "This is so weird! This is totally my Cutie Mark!" she exclaimed, looking fascinated. As I predicted, it didn't do a thing when she picked it up. She was already recorded on it, so I didn't think there was anything for it to do in the first place. "These thingies came out o' tha rocks, right? When you poked 'em?" Applejack asked again from her spot on the sofa. Once I told her they operated via touch, she refused to get too close to them, which was probably a good thing. I nodded gently. "Yeah. Fluttershy's disk was in the second rock, while Rainbow's was in the third. Rainbow's was deactivated until I touched it, however," I summarized what I had already told them. Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed. "You mean when Twilight made you touch it, right?" she corrected, sounding a little miffed. I coughed lightly but looked away. Apple Bloom snickered, looking up from where she was rolling one along the table. She'd grabbed one before I could warn her about the touch thing, and absolutely nothing happened. It honestly didn't surprise me that much, but I pretended that I already knew it only worked on the Elements of Harmony. I didn't exactly want Applejack to beat the tar out of me for risking her sister like that. Still, it was a discovery I could tell Twilight! "What happens if I touch a blank one?" Rainbow asked a moment later, shifting her attention to one of the gray ones still lying on the coffee table. "I honestly have no idea." No sense in lying to either of them about it. Rainbow smirked at me before reaching down and resting her hoof across one of the gray disks. My ears drooped and I sighed, realizing I should have guessed she'd do it almost instantly. "Ya really need to work on that forethought thing, Dash," Applejack muttered a moment later, rolling her eyes. The cyan pegasus let out a squeak and hopped backwards as the disk lit up. Hers landed on the table after she dropped it, rolling about in a distracting manner. Regardless, my eyes widened as I watched the gray ones instead, but then I relaxed as only a message popped up over the disk. "Subject 02 Already Recorded" was displayed in the floating holographic lettering. "Whoa! That's neat," Apple Bloom muttered, sliding her hoof through the message a couple of times. It flickered with each passing, but remained floating in the air for a few seconds before fading away. "I guess the disks are linked together and know you're already on one, Dash," I reasoned, shrugging. Applejack frowned and leaned forwards a little now that the light show was done before verifying, "So if Ah were ta touch ah gray one, mah Cutie Mark would appear on it, and Ah'd be 'registered'; whatever that means?" She paused, looking back up at me, so I nodded gently to her. "Then, if ya touched it after, we'd link up just like Fluttershy and Rainbow?" she finished, tilting her head curiously while looking down at the disks. Absently, I nodded. "That's what's happened so far. Apparently, it works if you touch the containers as well. It registered Fluttershy when she poked the rock, after all," I reasoned. "I'm still confused. Why didn't it form the link with me instead of just recording me, then?" Rainbow asked, frowning. That was probably my fault. I hadn't explained it very well. "Ah, Fluttershy touched it, and then I touched it when it was still connected to the rock. You touched it after Twilight chopped it free of the main container. Apparently, it doesn't need a connection to register you, but it does need a connection to hook me up to the disk?" I offered. Rainbow exhaled weakly, blowing her bangs up into the air a little before nodding. "So, kinda because by the time I touched the rock thingies, it was already cut free by Twilight?" Well, that was a far easier way of saying it. I blushed but nodded, a little embarrassed over my own awkwardness. Note to self, still not so great at the talking thing. Apple Bloom hopped away from the table and onto the couch a second later. Glancing her way, I saw one of the glowing disks in her mouth instead. Wait, what? My eyes widened as I looked back at the table, only to find Dash's discarded disk missing! Apple Bloom smiled at me before tossing in a wink and letting the disk drop against her sister's foreleg! "Apple Bloom?" the orange farm mare asked, looking down at her sister again. A heartbeat passed as I stared in horror. Applejack caught my stare and gave me a funny look before glancing down at what I was looking at. A long second drifted by as all four of us now stared at the glowing disks resting against her foreleg, Rainbow's attention having been drawn by Applejack's voice. Applejack practically exploded after the moment passed, diving off the side of the couch to get away from the seemingly inert disk. Well, I guess that means nothing happens if we try to dual-register ponies either! Her sister looked more amused than upset, however. What the hell was she trying to do?! "Don't worry, Sis! It was Rainbow Dash's disk. Ah don't think it woulda hurt ya," she assured, snickering in amusement. "Hey! Give that back!" Rainbow exclaimed, giving the filly a glare before grabbing her disk back. She didn't notice it was her own disk before now? Applejack's head popped up over the armrest again, glaring at Apple Bloom as well. "Ya didn't know that, AB! That was right dangerous!" she warned sternly. The little filly's ears drooped, and she nodded solemnly. "Ah'm sorry, Sis. Ah honestly thought the worst that coulda happened was that ya'd get ah link with Rainbow instead," she professed, causing me to mentally snicker. Rainbow probably wouldn't be nearly as upset about that. Although, as much basis as that guess had, I seriously doubted that would be possible. I called it correctly when I noticed Rainbow blush. Applejack considered it for a moment before shrugging. "Ah suppose yer right. That wouldn't be so bad," she agreed. What? Her reply hit me like an avalanche, flattening my ears back and causing my mouth to drop open a little of its own accord. If she meant what I thought she did there... Wincing, I tried to flatten out my expression as best I could. Dash had been looking at me at the time to avoid Applejack's gaze, and now raised her eyebrows, but I steadied my expression before the country mare herself looked my way. "What's all involved in this linkin' business, speakin' of?" she asked politely a moment later. I searched her expression carefully, silently cursing my lack of social skills. The only thing I managed to get from her slightly raised eyebrow and reasonably deadpan features was that she was either mildly curious or concerned. Maybe she hadn't intended that to be as harsh as it had sounded, then? "You okay, Mender?" Rainbow asked suspiciously, drawing both other females' attentions. Snapping out of my thoughts, I nodded rapidly. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. The only thing we know about them right now is they share a mild empathy link at close distances, and a telepathic link when even closer," I explained casually. "Tele-wha?" Apple Bloom questioned, snapping her attention back to me almost instantly with a large, curious stare. "Telepathy. It means I can talk in Rainbow's head without anypony else hearing it. Empathy means she can lightly feel some of my emotions," I elaborated, smiling warmly at the little filly. As upset as I let myself get sometimes, nothing cheered me up more than a pure dose of adorable. Apple Bloom was dang good at those. Just like Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy. By being a filly, did that mean Scootaloo was also good at them? Truly, I hadn't hung out with her enough to know for sure. Rainbow still eyed me suspiciously, but Applejack nodded and further questioned, "Ya don't know if it has any other effects then, right? Or why yer the one ta get tha links?" Raising my head back up, I shook it weakly, adding, "No, I don't have an answer to either of those. Twilight wanted to look into them more tonight, so she might have more information for you by tomorrow." The icy stabbing sensation withdrew to a dull ache. It made sense that she didn't want a link with me and would rather it be Rainbow. That didn't necessarily mean she didn't like me, right? Hmm. "Ya think Twi would mind if all o' us Elements came back tomorrow ta discuss this? Ah think the others should know, too," Applejack continued, looking thoughtful. She trusted me enough to speak on Twilight's behalf? I warmed a little, taking that as a positive indication to erase a few of my prior doubts. "She's Twilight. She loves magical lectures, so why wouldn't she?" Dash pointed out in amusement, settling back onto the sofa with her coin between her hooves. I snickered at the probably accurate estimate before nodding. "Admittedly, she's right. Twilight doesn't want to hide the information from you girls. She only found out about it the night before last, like I did," I assured, smiling to Applejack. The orange mare seemed to relax a little and nodded to me, apparently relieved that nothing was being hidden from her. "I've also been working on blocking, or at least pushing out the connection. It only works automatically at extremely close ranges now," I added, aiming that one at Rainbow instead. She stared at me for a moment before puffing out a bit of air from her lips, blowing her bangs up in a mild expression of what felt like apathy. "I'm not really worried, Mender. I know you can keep my secrets and you've kinda already shown that you respect my privacy," she reminded, earning herself a blank stare. Huh? When did I do that? Applejack gave her a quizzical glance as well. Apple Bloom didn't appear to be paying attention, and was instead playing with Fluttershy's disk on the table. The cyan mare sighed a moment later before explaining, "Remember when we crashed and you helped me get untangled?" Oh! I blushed and nodded, coughing lightly and looking away. "He kind of had me in a compromising position, but he only helped me get free rather than sneak a peek. So he's totally cool in my book," she elaborated for me, thankfully bulldozing over the conversation that had accompanied. That was the first time I realized Rainbow liked stallions, too. Although technically, that wasn't entirely accurate. She'd never said specifically that she liked mares, if I recall. She only said that she liked Applejack. Applejack-sexual then? Applejack herself snapped me out of my contemplation with a light chuckle. "Ah figured, really. Ah guess he really does only have eyes fer Twi and Flutters," she agreed, smirking towards me in a rather uncomfortable, knowing manner. "Hey! Looking at her like that was an accident. Admittedly, I like her like that, too, but I already told her we move at her pace," I defended, not at all comfortable with the insinuations. Now I was glad Apple Bloom wasn't paying attention after all. It was Dash's turn to laugh. "I figured you two hadn't done anything yet. Disappointed?" she inquired, wiggling her eyebrows a moment later. Applejack rolled her eyes at the same time I scoffed, glaring at the cyan mare. She was certainly blunt. I'd forgotten how matter-o-factly she could talk sometimes. "No. I'm managing myself well enough," I groaned, just wishing they'd shift the topic again. "Sure you are," she continued, agreeing with an exaggerated wink. Ugh. Applejack snickered before standing up fully and walking back around the couch. "Twilight's doin' ah lot better with things; ya don't gotta worry any. Any who, Ah gotta git tha cart an' stand back ta tha farm before it gets dark," she excused, stretching lightly along her lower back. Glancing out the window near the door, I noticed she was indeed right. A peek at the clock told me that it had been a good twenty minutes since I left Twilight. Eh, I'd finish moving the suitcases upstairs before heading over to Rarity's. "I'll hang out with ya until you get back to the farm, AJ," Rainbow tacked on nonchalantly. I was impressed that she managed not to blush. Apple Bloom yawned sleepily before setting the yellow, pink, and cyan coin down on the table again. I gathered up all five of them with my magic and moved them back into the cabinet, careful to not even breath on the one I left in there. "Thanks fer trustin' me, Mender," the little filly added warmly upon closing her mouth again. I smiled and nodded down at her, getting a warm grin back. "You're a Crusader. Of course I trust you," I returned in a proper voice. It kind of reminded me of goofing off with Twilight. Her grin expanded and she nodded enthusiastically, further earning smiles out of the other two mares. "O' course! Cutie Mark Crusaders are forever!" she assured, saluting me with her right forehoof. She giggled at my return salute before wobbling as Applejack picked her up and tossed her onto her back with a flick of her head. "Come on, AB. Gotta git home and go ta bed. There's ah long day ahead o' us again tomorrow," she reminded, smiling back at her sister, who busied herself re-adjusting Applejack's Stetson. "We'll see ya tomorrow, Mender!" Rainbow tacked on, smirking back at me as she took to the air, drifting over to the door to open it for her secret crush. I nodded gently to her, catching Applejack's wave with a returned one before she slid the door shut. For a moment, I simply stared at the darkened wood of the door, suddenly a little bit unsure of what I was doing. I'd been so caught up in the act of actually managing a social situation by myself that I hadn't entirely realized that it was over until it was over. Now I was distinctly aware of a little bit of emptiness left behind. After a long minute, I turned away from the door and checked the clock again. It was eighteen fifteen. That meant I had a good five or six minutes before I should leave, regardless. I had enough time to haul the luggage upstairs still. Deciding to be lazy, I smirked and warmed my left hoof up as the suitcases and saddlebags floated into the air near me, attached to tether-like barriers. * * * * * Twilight had decidedly over-packed. I sighed as I placed her alchemy equipment back where they were supposed to be on her shelves. The only thing she'd used them for was to get a proper measurement for my nausea medication. Of course, after what happened with Rarity, we lost quite a bit of our free time, so I hardly blamed her. My ears perked at the sound of static upon setting down the alembic. I looked around curiously, but noticed no visual cues that might indicate a dimensional disruption. Seconds passed in absolute stillness before the static died down again. Well, that was weird. Either I was hearing things out of paranoia, or Keela was playing with the power couplings hooked up to the book. Actually, if I remembered correctly, the time lag would put her as just barely getting up at this point. Pushing the distraction out of my head, I peeked up at the clock once more; probably for the seventh time in five minutes. Twenty after. I decided to give them the full half an hour just to be sure, of course. That only made sense. It gave Twilight extra time to try to reason with Rarity, right? I shifted back and forth on my hooves. Damn it. What would I even say to her? Now that I thought more about it, what Applejack said just felt insensitive. Another minute ticked by as I idled. Her books were returned to the private shelves in pristine alphabetical order, and most of her instruments were put away. I didn't dare touch the clothes she brought along, of course. Maybe I was trying to be too helpful? I edged away from the suitcases on the bed uneasily, peeking around the room again. It was kind of unnerving to be by myself here. The static sensation creeped into my skull again and I looked around rapidly. Nothing. I contemplated yanking on the link a couple of times to properly indicate to knock it off. She'd better not be trying to scan the book again. We had traded very specific words in that regard! Again, the static died down after barely thirty seconds and I sighed. Whatever. Distracting myself, I peeked at the note on Twilight's desk again. She wouldn't technically need it now, of course. It was written in Spike's rather elegant, if not practical, handwriting, explaining that he heard Rarity came home upset and had gone over first thing this morning to see if he could do anything for her. I smiled softly at it, but kept it where it was. With her being over there right now, she probably found out before I did. Leaning down, I gave my tired leg muscles a stretch before heading back for the stairs. I might as well make my way there, I guess. It would take a little bit to walk there, and Twilight would probably call me late anyway, even without a definite time of arrival. Ah well. The sooner I got it all off my chest, the better. I was halfway down the stairs when a resounding impact hit the main door. Startled, I jumped a little and lowered myself to my belly, halting on the stairs. What the heck was that?! "Ah! Owww," was muttered out a second later, answering my question without requiring further investigation. In fact, the voice sounded suspiciously familiar. Sighing, I stood up fully again and walked over to the door. A peek through the little window in it confirmed my suspicions, and I opened it for the lavender unicorn, who was gently massaging her horn now. "Are you okay, Twi? What are you doing back here?" I inquired, a little concerned at not only her disruption of the plan, but the light bruise that was appearing towards the base of her horn. That looked painful, now that I knew horns were sensitive! She winced and looked up at me, eyes softening in the dim light the room released. "Ow. Yeah, I'm fine. I was thinking to myself and not, um, paying as much attention as I should have," she muttered, looking down and away from me with the hinting of a blush forming on her cheeks. I smiled, but didn't rub it in any further. Besides, she was cute when embarrassed. "Well, what are you doing back here? Was Rarity not home?" I inquired, back to the topic at hoof now that she assured me she was okay. She exhaled weakly, and I swallowed. Uh oh. "No, she wasn't. I looked for a while, but I couldn't manage to find her," she muttered, frowning before slowly walking past me and into the library. I shivered as she walked past. Wonderful. Did she know we had arrived back in town and was avoiding us? No, that didn't make sense. She wasn't one to avoid her problems for this long, it felt like. Maybe she was just visiting somepony for a bit of a talk? It made sense if she was upset about it. Fluttershy maybe? Twilight probably already thought of that, though. I turned and followed her back inside after gently closing the door. Damn it. This wasn't exactly going as smoothly as we initially thought it would. "Was Spike there still or did he go with Rarity?" I asked curiously. Twilight stopped and frowned back at me. "Spike was supposed to be there?" she asked, confirming my answer regardless. He must have gone with her, then. "Yeah, he left a note on your desk upstairs saying he had gone to console Rarity this morning," I informed. She glanced up the stairs in question before sighing and shaking her head. "Perfect. I was hoping he'd know where she was, too. Ugh, this is making me tired," she muttered, stomping her hooves in frustration before lowering her barrel a little and looking downright exhausted. I lowered my eyes and nodded to myself. The 'jet' lag from the train ride followed by her generally high strung manner of dealing with things probably took a lot out of her. The fact that she was showing it to me said a lot, however. I blushed as I walked up and rubbed a hoof along her shoulder, massaging gently. Her muscles felt tense, confirming my suspicions. Twilight glanced back at me and smiled softly, looking downright content with my gesture, although it was hard to tell in this light. The sun was rapidly setting, and I had lacked the foresight to turn on many lights downstairs. "You're so kind to me. Thank you, Mender. Sometimes I worry I don't appreciate you nearly enough," she muttered before resting her cheeks against my hoof. I momentarily worried that such a stretch might be painful to her stiff neck muscles, but she didn't seem to mind all that much. I felt my cheeks heat up again and shook my head in denial. "You're amazing, Twilight. You don't need to worry about anything," I assured quietly. Maybe the thing with Rarity had shaken her up a little more than she let on? Of course, if how she acted on the train was any indication, she had been thinking about it a lot more than she let on. She smirked suddenly and giggled. "Still! Hmm. Actually, I think I need a little break. Wanna come along?" she inquired, her tone of voice changing dramatically. Huh? Suddenly, I noticed my heartbeat increase as I watched her walk towards the stairs. She stopped at the foot of them and smiled back at me, giving a mirthful wink. What did she mean, break? "Come on, Mender. I want to 'experiment' a little bit to help me relax," she murmured, swishing her tail in my direction playfully. The heat magnified in my face as my heartbeat increased again followed by a painful swallow. Now? Of all times, she wanted to do that kind of stuff now?! Was she afraid that Rarity might steal me away or something? "Twilight, is this about what she said on the train ride? I told you I'm all right with waiting," I asked hesitantly, following along after her if not to simply keep up. She paused momentarily and sighed before giving me a soft smile backwards. "I know what you said. I have been thinking about it a lot, but I want this. It'll just be a little bit of fun, okay?" she offered. Hesitating, I frowned at her and tried to search her expression. She was bothered by what Rarity said. I should have figured as much. What was she going to do, though? Hesitantly, I took another couple steps. She took my slow step forward as a confirmation, apparently, and continued up the stairs, a definitely noticeable sway to her flanks with each step now. What was she doing?! My mind sputtered as I couldn't move my eyes off her tail; it would sway in the opposite direction of her hips with each light movement, still covering everything but acting extremely teasing as well. Scrunching my eyes shut, I fought back the heat and promptly almost tripped on one of the steps. No, she probably just wanted to kiss a little! If she knew I was staring at her flank, I'd probably be sent back down the stairs in a rather abrupt manner! "There you are. Get lost?" she playfully teased as I finally rounded the top of the stairs and looked over at her. My breath caught in my throat as I watched her lazily spread her long form out on her mattress, demurely looking up and down my body before gesturing for me to approach. Oh hell. Oh hell! What was she doing?! "W-What are you doing, Twi? Um, this seems a little much for, um," I tried to ask, stumbling over my wording as I stuttered like a schoolyard boy. Ugh. My hormones were going totally crazy and I struggled to keep my body under control as it started to tingle in awkward places. She said just a 'little' fun! "I want to show you exactly how much you're appreciated, Silly. I really do love you, you know. Oh. So. Much," she murmured, snickering at my locking up all of a meter away. Love?! I swallowed and shivered, totally taken off guard by this sudden change in approach. It was something she read. It had to be. Rarity wouldn't have suggested she act like this, would she? She saw something or other today at some point and it must have caused her to panic and think she was doing something wrong. That meant it was practically my obligation to explain things to her and assure her that she was indeed okay, right? I shook my head, stopping my advance despite my body's complaints. "T-Twilight, relax. This is something you read about, isn't it? You don't need to do this. I'm ecstatic that you feel that strongly about it but you don't need to, um, push yourself," I tried to explain, ignoring my body's shivers. She snickered and just looked more amused before leaning forward and pulling me closer to her. "You're such the gentlecolt," she returned before pulling my head forwards. Oh crap. The kiss was a lot rougher and more needy than what I had been used to prior. She practically attacked my mouth, slipping her tongue inside and smiling against my lips as I shuddered. Her heat was absolutely intense as she pulled me against her chest, my back end still hanging off the side of the bed. She moaned lightly into the kiss a moment later as I hesitantly returned a push against her tongue with my own. She broke the kiss a moment later and I frowned, wondering if I had done it wrong. Wait, why were we doing this in the first place?! A thin line of saliva connected our lips still, and she surprised me by licking along mine slowly, gathering it up with her tongue before pulling it back into her mouth. Whoa. "Mmm, good boy. I knew you'd change your mind," she muttered, looking content with her eyes half lidded. I stared at her in surprise, my brain sputtering. She leaned back more, giving me a gentle tug and gesture to get up on the bed with her fully, lips curling into a rather heated smile. I froze and stared. Wait... After a moment, she frowned and tilted her head at me, asking, "Why stop now? I know you don't want to." A cold sensation drifted through my body as I suddenly understood. Everything clicked into place at the same time. My left hoof activated, subtly coating the blankets under her with my magic. She frowned for a split second before I whipped the blanket up with both hooves. She let out a startled yelp as the fabric came alive, tightly wrapping around her and hauling her into the air like a possessed cocoon. After she finished three rotations, wrapping her up tightly, I smashed her into the wall as hard as I could, glaring as her head skipped off the rough wood... Chapter 38"Pinkie, isn't this a little, um, much?" I asked softly, looking at the banner as she unrolled it. "Congratulations on Surviving an Alien Attack and Saving All of Ponyville from Disaster and Recovering Nicely and Dating Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy and Getting Your Cutie Mark! I'm Sorry I Accidentally Poisoned You and Covered You in Acid and Hurt Your Leg!" I stared blankly at the easily fifteen meter long banner. Oh. She wasn't joking about that. "Well that's, uh, long?" Sweetie Belle offered hesitantly. Scootaloo sighed and asked, "How are we supposed to fit this thing in one room?" That was a very good question. The only way I saw that would even remotely work was... "Wrap it around the walls, of course! This is as compact as I could manage," Pinkie explained, far faster than I could manage. She worked all this out ahead of time, didn't she? The inside of Sugarcube Corner had emptied out considerably after it closed, obviously, leaving just Pinkie, the Crusaders, and Derpy. Oh, and myself. It felt even friendlier now that all the ponies left, but that might have been simply my dislike of crowds talking. "We can handle it, Pinkie. You and Derpy get to decorating the tables," I assured, smiling and nodding to my fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo beamed at me, but Sweetie Belle was still staring down at the elongated banner. I tilted my head at her before lowering myself closer to her level. She must have seen the motion, as she jumped slightly and looked over at me instead. "Oh, sorry! Did I miss an instruction?" she asked hesitantly. I shook my head, of course. "Nope. I was just concerned. You okay?" I tried to keep my voice as gentle as possible. She looked back at the banner before nodding. The head motion was barely perceptible, however, and not entirely convincing. I started to question her further, but she cut me off with, "Did you really stop the creature in the forest?" I raised an eyebrow at the unexpected line of questioning, but figured it was just practice for tomorrow. "The creature foalnapped me. After I heard all the bad things it wanted to do to Ponyville and my friends, I couldn't let it get away. All I did was stop it until Princess Luna got there, though. She got rid of it," I explained simply, making sure to stick to the official story while not technically lying. Sweetie Belle could fill in the parts that had already been elaborated anyway, and I couldn't say any more with Derpy here. Sweetie Belle frowned and shook her head, however. "But you got hurt real bad, didn't you? I mean, a couple fillies at school said you were foolish and probably wouldn't make it," she continued, sounding surprised over something. Wait, what? Why would those kinds of rumors be going around? "No way, Sweetie! We told you not to believe what Diamond Tiara was saying. Mender's really tough and Rainbow Dash herself said that he's awesome, so he'll be fine!" Scootaloo defended suddenly, surprising me. Sweetie giggled and shook her head, however. "No, no. You know I don't really believe those two. I know Mender's amazing. It's just, well, he's only been in Ponyville a few weeks, right? Why did he get himself hurt for all of us?” she questioned. I stared at her for a moment, surprised. I’d not been anticipating this kind of question at all. How did I answer something like that? My mind flashed back to the hatred I’d felt for Nirru. She wanted to hurt my friends and all these innocent ponies. I remembered asking myself how she could hurt these innocent ponies that had done nothing to her. It didn’t make any sense to me. At the time, all I wanted was to make her suffer. I wanted her to suffer for what she’d put me through and what she wanted to do to my friends, just to get at me. A slow yawn came over me a second later, completely unstoppable in its formation. It was like a slow blink. I didn’t remember closing my eyes, but they gradually opened to greet the cool breeze across my face. A forest met my gaze, a dense fog settling in along the ground. I felt light headed as I slowly looked around. This was… A massive tree stood behind me, easily twice as large as any of its neighbors. It looked ancient, like it had taken root eons ago. It felt as much a part of the glade I now found myself in as the rocks and dirt. I suddenly felt sleepy as I shifted my gaze down the trunk of the massive tree. My eyes locked onto a shape at the base, however, and I limped over to where it was. While walking, my mind idly wondered where the metallic clink of my brace was, but I didn’t really feel like checking my leg. Prudentia lay in the grass at the base of the tree. It felt as old, if not older than the surroundings, and I sighed. My hoof extended out and touched the surface of the book. “Are you sure?” was suddenly asked to my right in a feminine voice. It was familiar. Had someone asked me that before? “It’s okay. It’s not too late,” the voice continued softly. I shifted, and then looked slowly to my right to behold a small, unicorn filly I’d never seen before. Her coat was a simple blue in color, and her short mane had copper and gold colorations to it. Her tones were hard to see through the fog, though. Her extremely long tail slid along the grass as she took a step forward, eyes still closed. “Are you sure?” she asked again, quieter this time. My attention shifted back to the book and my eyes softened. The lock was popped open. I don’t remember it being undone the last I looked, but it probably didn’t matter. Slowly, I reached downwards again and opened the front cover of the book, it neatly sliding open to roughly the middle. A blank, white page greeted me. I sighed weakly and flipped backwards, finding nothing but absence of anything at all. My mind felt fuzzy as I shook my head. "Please. Try to remember. Are you sure?" the little filly asked again, sounding sad. I stared blankly at the words that drifted onto the page. "I'm so lonely," they spelled out. A leaf drifted down and landed on the book, lightly accenting the page with its shadow. I looked up at the tree again, branches swaying in the wind and shading the entire grove with its canopy. Ancient. A guardian. It wasn't a bad way to spend eternity. "Wake up." My eyes opened again, suddenly finding myself exactly where I had been standing prior in Sugarcube Corner. Wait, what? What the hell just happened?! Sweetie giggled and shook her head, however. "No, no. You know I don't really believe those two. I know Mender's amazing. It's just, well, he's only been in Ponyville a few weeks, right? Why did he get himself hurt for all of us?” she questioned. I stared blankly at her. Hadn't she asked that already? No, I was probably wrong. Still, I knew what my intent was. It was true. I'd done nothing but run away and put up half a fight when I absolutely had to. But if nothing else, that night taught me something that was truly valuable to me. "I've done a lot of running. But I'm starting to realize how lucky I really am. That night, something threatened everything I've come to adore and love over the last month. Everypony is amazing here, and I'd never want to go anywhere else again. Now that I admit that to myself, I can say that I'm not going to run from that. I'll do anything I have to in order to protect everypony I care about," I explained, smiling down at her softly. Sweetie's eyes shivered a little as she watched me, a timid smile creeping across her face. Finally she outright grinned and pounced forwards, hugging me gently around the right foreleg. I laughed and pulled her tighter, gently wrapping my right foreleg around her back and giving her a squeeze. That's right. I'm not going to run from Equestria, no matter what. If Nirru wanted to destroy these wonderful ponies, nothing would stop me from tearing her apart. I'm sorry, Keela. If it truly came down to her or Equestria, the choice was already made. "See? Mender's awesome. Rainbow Dash is always right," Scootaloo chirped, giving her little wings a flutter as she hopped closer to us. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes behind her but kept smiling, following Scootaloo at a much slower pace before sitting down next to her. Pinkie nodded rapidly in agreement with everything, however, adding, "Things are gonna change for you, Mender! This party is the start of something good, and I'm going to make sure it's done how you want it!" I gave Pinkie a pleased nod before standing up again. "All right, then. First step, I guess, is to make sure we actually get the decorations up," I admitted, grinning at the fillies in front of me. Scootaloo returned the grin while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started giggling. "Good idea! I'll help put the ribbons up along the ceiling!" Derpy said, nudging her chin upwards for emphasis. Pinkie shivered before hopping up onto her hooves again, apparently reaching her limit for sitting still. "Right! I'll decorate tables!" she announced, zipping off before anypony could even acknowledge the statement. I chuckled and nodded down at Apple Bloom specifically. "Okay then. Apple Bloom, you're on bottom. Sweetie's next, and Scootaloo stands on her back and operates the staple gun. Ladder formation!" I declared. All three fellow Crusaders saluted me before hopping up onto my back. I braced myself, forming visible barriers up along my back to help them get into position and hold them there as I slowly shifted towards the wall to the left of me. Finally, the tower of fillies was completed, and I glanced upwards towards the top, giving Scootaloo a nod before passing up the tools and moving one end of the banner into position using my barriers. My magic was going to get a workout today! * * * * * “Pinkie, are you sure you put the streamers under the counter?” I asked, opening the sixth door with only two left to go. Why she stored party supplies under the cashier island counter is beyond me, but I wasn’t one to question Pinkie’s judgment. We were almost done anyway, so I wasn’t in any particular hurry. High-pitched giggling was my reply. My mental warning flags went off and I peeked over the counter at the pink mare, giving her a skeptical glance. Her mental link showed nothing but dancing hard candies and balloons, so I didn’t have anything to go off there. She pretended to still be fussing with the last table, but I saw her tail swaying back and forth in amusement. Slowly, I lowered myself again, hyper-alert now. Raising a frontal shield, I opened the last two counter doors at the same time. To my surprise, the last one had a large tub of streamers in it. Well huh. I guess she was being honest. Smiling finally, I hauled the tub out from under the counter, and then lifted it into the air with a jerk of my barrier magic. The second I looked up and leveled my head off with the counter, there was a flash of green. Everything disappeared into warm, wet, sticky pink an instant later as something latched onto my face! My scream was high-pitched and drawn out as I flailed away from the counter, totally blinded with nothing but pink wetness all over my vision. What the hell?! Something was eating my face! Laughter exploded out from Pinkie and two smaller voices an instant later. I tripped in my mad stumble backwards and ended up rolling across the floor, trying to get my hooves up and pry whatever it was off me. “Aaah! Mender, are you okay?” I heard Sweetie Belle ask, voice following me as I rolled across the floor. I finally managed to pry part of the thing off my face and could see sideways off my right side. Pulsating holes greeted me, and I shivered, trying to get the thing off me even faster. Ew! It didn’t appear to be doing damage, but I didn’t know if it was about to spray acid or lay eggs in my nose or something. The door to the shop opened in my vision as I rolled passed, yelping. Twilight gave me a bewildered, skeptical look as I scooted past on the floor in front of her. “Uh, why is Gummy stuck to Mender’s face?” she questioned as Sweetie finally caught up with me and began helping pry the thing’s mouth open. Gummy?! That sounded remarkably like a proper noun, which probably meant it was a bad idea to activate my barriers and start slicing. Subtly, I powered down my left foreleg and focused instead on getting my back legs up to pry alongside Sweetie Belle. After a good five seconds, the two of us managed to pull the thing off. A moderately sized alligator greeted my newly restored vision, and I stared at it, bewildered. Why was there an alligator in the sweets shop?! “Gummy wanted to say hello, is all! Mender, this is Gummy. Gummy, this is Mender! Don’t worry. He doesn’t have any teeth!” Pinkie introduced, gesturing back and forth between us. My ears flattened back and I glared at her. “I gathered. My face is still attached, after all. What is it?” I asked. A second later, I mentally realized my mistake. “He’s an alligator, Silly!” Pinkie pointed out, giving me a happy and nonchalant nod. Scootaloo started snickering behind her as I smacked my forehead with a hoof. If Pinkie noticed, she was oblivious. I took the time to wipe the alligator spit off my face. Twilight giggled lightly and shook her head. “Gummy is Pinkie’s pet alligator. He stays here with her. All six of us have pets,” she explained calmly after I’d recovered. I sat down again and gave her a questioning look. So Pinkie had an alligator, and I knew Rarity had Opalescence, the cat. Fluttershy had LOTS of pets, technically, and I didn’t know about the others. “Sis has Winona. She’s ah darn good dog,” Apple Bloom answered for me, smiling politely now that she was done laughing at my misfortune. I frowned at her, but nodded thereafter. “I believe you’ve met Opal, Rarity’s cat. Fluttershy takes care of a lot of animals, but Angel Bunny is her own. Uh, kinda,” Twilight continued, blinking afterwards as she seemed to hesitate momentarily. Kinda? Pinkie giggled and nodded along before I could ask, adding, “Yup! Dashie has a turtle!” Wait, what?! The incredulousness must have been extremely apparent on my face, as Twilight started snickering again. “Tortoise. Don’t let Fluttershy hear you call it a turtle. Oh, and I enchanted a gyrocopter blade and strapped it to his shell. Tank is now a flying tortoise,” she elaborated. My head hurt a little bit, but I just nodded along and resisted twitching. I didn’t know why she’d pick one of the slowest animals in existence, but there was probably an interesting and lengthy story behind it. I made a mental note to ask her about it later. “That only leaves you, Twilight. I’ve never seen any pets around the library,” I pointed out, giving her a questioning look. She gave a start, and then tilted her head at me. “What do you mean? Owlowiscious has been there the entire time. Sure, he only comes out at night, usually, but he’s always there with me,” she questioned, looking a little concerned. Wait, what?! I stared hard at her, but couldn’t detect that she was kidding. Seriously? Wait, why did she name him Owlowiscious?! Five syllables were a bit much! “I, uh, haven’t seen him? What is he?” I inquired, starting to get a little paranoid. “He’s an owl, Silly! Couldn’t ya tell?” Pinkie asked, hopping in place next to me with light bounces. I ignored the fact that she wasn’t there a moment ago. Owlowiscious? Ah, then it was a play on words. Owl-owiscious? That sounded somewhat close to Aloysius, which was Latin. Oddly enough, they had Latin here, so that might not be that far off. It made me wonder why they did have Latin here in the first place, but Twilight shook her head and just gave me a soft smile in return, making me decide to just consider it later. “I’ll introduce you to him when we get back tonight. I was actually going to see how the decorations were coming along, but you being here too saves me a step afterwards,” she chirped, nodding twice in my direction. I snickered and shook my head. “I’m glad I’m convenient for you, then?” Predictably, she scowled, and I smirked at her playfully. She finally gave up and pouted as she stood and walked past me instead, causing Pinkie to start giggling mirthfully. Twilight’s tail flicked up at the last second, however, and whapped me across the muzzle. I was blasted with all sorts of distinctly Twilight smells and my mind momentarily faltered, along with my legs as I stumbled. The lavender unicorn gave me a knowing smile over her shoulder before following Pinkie towards the newly set up treat table. What the hell was that?! There was something extremely different about that smell I just picked up. I stared, dumbfounded, at her for a moment before Sweetie Belle gave me a soft nudge. “Are you okay, Mender? We need to finish the balloons,” she reminded, looking up at me with a little bit of concern. I swallowed, and then glanced past her just in time to watch Derpy attempt to blow up another balloon in the background. It deflated as soon as she stopped exhaling, and filled her mouth back up with her own air a moment later, bulging her slightly crossed eyes out. “Er, yeah. Let’s go give Derpy a hoof, then,” I suggested. Scootaloo was watching the gray pegasus with a confused expression, but nodded as I got closer. Derpy stopped her attempts and glanced over at me with a smile when she saw me. I nodded back, and she offered me one of the balloons to inflate. I chuckled. This was going to be a long night. Taking the balloon into my mouth, I inhaled sharply through my nose, then systematically inflated it. Once it reached full size, I used a dozen or so microbarriers from my right hoof to tie it off. How did a normal pony do this? How did Pinkie Pie do this?! There had to be a trick to it for them. Maybe they had some sort of device they used to tie the balloons off? Either that or Pinkie was really just that good with her tongue. A moment later, I decided that sounded wrong. Then I decided to just stop thinking about Pinkie's tongue entirely. "Oooh, awesome!" Derpy cheered as I presented her with the tied off balloon. Scootaloo gave me a smirk and slid the entire box of them over. Damn it. * * * * * Night had long since fallen. I stared blankly out into the darkness through the window for a long moment before closing the shades. With every curtain and shade in the library now pulled, I let myself relax slightly. It was strange how on edge I felt whenever ponies who didn't know 'me' could be watching. Was it a subconscious reaction from knowing the truth about myself? Twilight had returned to the library after the decorations had been put up, and I’d elected to go with her. The CMC of course followed along, despite how late it was getting. Still, neither Twilight or I could honestly say no to those fillies when they looked so downright adorable. Pinkie had come along too, as the only way we could get her to let us leave in the first place was to just let her keep walking and talking about the party as we left. Naturally, she ended up back at the library with us, too. "So the party's starting at six tomorrow night, right?" I heard Twilight ask in the background. She'd be able to check off her double-checked checklist of checking when the party was now. I mentally chuckled as I turned around again, smiling. Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically from the couch, mane bouncing rapidly. "Yup! It's going to be huge! Not as big as if I could have gotten the town hall, of course, but still massive! That's why we decorated the outside, too. Dashie says we're gonna have great weather tomorrow!" Pinkie rambled for a moment, swaying back and forth. Rarity sat politely next to her, deftly shifting her floating teacup away from the sways of Pinkie's mane almost subconsciously. She’d arrived about twenty minutes ago, looking for Sweetie Belle, and made the mistake of sitting down for tea. "It's going to be quite important, I admit. It’s a pity that Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence said they couldn’t attend," she lamented properly. Shining and his wife. It still felt weird that he asked me to call him that. Still, I hadn't met Cadence yet. Twilight said she was nice, though. Not that it wasn't blatantly obvious to consider an Alicorn representing love to be nice or anything. "Well, our parents are going to be here, too. Shiny probably wants to see them as much as I do. Although I'm a bit nervous," Twilight admitted, causing my smile to widen. "I already promised not to throw up or bleed on them, Twilight," I reminded, giving her a smirk as I sat down next to the table. Sweetie Belle started giggling as she peeked out from under the table at me with a playful expression. My lowest right tentacle formed, shooting out and snagging her before she could retreat, earning a happy yelp from the little filly. The lowest one on the other side extended and went in from the other angle, nabbing Scootaloo as well, who was also hiding under there. "Ha! These are still so cool!" Scootaloo muttered as I flipped her upside down. She grabbed the tip of the tentacle and started kneading it like dough. She didn't even flinch when upside down, interestingly enough. I wondered if it was a pegasi thing. Rainbow also seemed to be able to instinctively be aware of her spatial movements. I guess it made sense. Sweetie burrowed into the coil of tentacle I had wrapped around her and nuzzled against it. She was adorable, even if I still saw it as a little creepy. "They're soft and warm! I don't see how anypony wouldn't like these," she pointed out, trying to pull her lower half up into the coil, too. She gave a happy squeak as I lifted her over my head and set her on the coils rolling out of my back. I thought it was the other way around. Why did she like them so much? "Something about too many limbs tends to freak ponies out?" I guessed, taking a shot in the dark. "Ah. It is ah might creepy. Not ta be offensive, o' course. But Ah'm gettin' used ta it," Applejack spoke up, wandering down the stairs from the bathroom. I’d forgotten she was here. She showed up with Rarity, also looking for a missing and curfew breaking little sister. She watched me with the two fillies for a moment before giving a weak smile. Talking to her still felt awkward. She held herself back and watched every word she spoke like a hawk, which felt beyond unnatural. I gave her my best attempt at a smile before her sister landed on my back behind Sweetie Belle. Stumbling, I'd at least managed to stabilize myself using two tendrils before she hit, having just enough warning from the proximity sensors. I could have thrown up armor, but I knew it was Apple Bloom and didn't want her to have a rough landing. She bounced off the coils before snickering and getting tangled up next to Sweetie Belle, who was sitting somewhat like Spike usually did. "Apple Bloom! Yer not supposed ta jump from tha loft," Applejack scolded, frowning at her on my back. "Eh, it's fine, Applejack. My balance wasn't on my bad leg, and the tendrils are soft," I assured, walking closer to the farm mare with the load of fillies I found myself with. She'd come wandering over to Pinkie's before we left to see where her little sister was. She found her, but also found me, which seemed to make her nervous. At least she felt a bit more relaxed now, and had followed us back to the library to discuss the party plans. Rarity coughed finally to regain the attention before continuing with, "Regardless, Mender will be on his best behavior, I'm sure. He's a perfect gentlecolt so you hardly have to worry about him making a good impression." My cheeks warmed a little at her compliment, but Twilight smiled over at me and shook her head. "No, no. That's actually not what I'm worried about. I'm just a bit concerned about my father, is all. He's a bit of a stickler for tradition, and didn't react well when Shiny told him about the mind magic," my fillyfriend explained, shifting back to Rarity. As badly as I felt for her, I was pleased she trusted me. No, she was proud of me. That was enough. "I don't see what the big deal is. They're just her parents. Mine are boring," Scootaloo complained, rightside up now and lowering herself to me with a bit of wing propulsion. "He wants ta make ah good impression. He'll pobably be marryin' Twilight an' Fluttershy in tha future, so havin' their parents like him is good, right?" Apple Bloom pointed out quietly on my back, leaning over Sweetie Belle to do so. Come to think of it, Fluttershy hadn’t said anything about her parents at all. I snickered and nodded back at her before wrapping them in more tentacles for support and hopping up on the sofa next to Twilight. She gave me a soft smile as I lay down next to her and let the fillies go. Sweetie and Apple Bloom stayed on my back, however. "It'll be super awesome, don't worry! They'll be so amazed by the party that they won't even have time to get cranky. Then they'll like you being with Mender, and you won't have to worry anymore!" Pinkie reasoned, somehow managing to sound totally logical while flailing her arms about like a bird trying to take off. Twilight hesitated for a moment before cracking a smile and nodding to her overly excited friend. "Yeah. I'll be happy after tomorrow goes smoothly. I'm sure my mom will love you, but it's just Dad I'm worried about," Twilight admitted, looking over at me again. I returned her smile, but before I could say anything, a light tugging went off inside of my head along with a tiny ringing noise in my inner ears. Oh! "Mender, is this a good time? I need to talk to you. Tug back once for yes, twice for no," I heard Keela ask. She sounded relaxed, so it probably wasn't anything major, but normally I didn't like to keep her waiting for long. If this were a phone company, her long distance expenses would be murder. Twilight must have noticed me suddenly zone out. Pinkie's tail twitched lightly and she perked up, watching me instead. "Ooooh! Who's that talking?" she asked curiously. Out loud, I noticed. Of course, she knew everypony here already knew about me. "Keela?" Twilight asked, a little more business-like but with those curious undertones still. I nodded and gave Keela a light tug back, shifting my left eye to a projector. Scootaloo stopped spinning on the legrest next to me the instant the projection danced out into the center of the room. Keela herself faded into place over the coffee table and gave a start as she glanced around. Given our connection, it was fairly easy to project the room and occupants into her mind as well. After the connection was established, I tried out the new technique I had been working on and enabled the audio uplink too. "Hey, Keela. Sorry for the audience. Meet my other friends I've told you about," I gestured, shifting my right forehoof to the couch across from me. Keela recovered fast and smiled, bowing politely to the three ponies on it. Rarity had shifted to surprised but extremely courteous a moment later, returning a soft nod of her head. Pinkie had simply been curious, and now she added vibrating and grinning to the mix as she watched the Keldarian eagerly. Applejack appeared unsure, but gave the female a calm nod when she saw the polite gesture. It was interesting watching everypony's reactions. A bow was somewhat universal, it would seem. "We have Pinkie Pie on the right; the one excitedly vibrating. The ever-elegant Rarity is in the middle. Last, but definitely not least, we have Applejack on the left. Note the signature Stetson," I continued, earning a giggle from Pinkie, a puff up and nod from Rarity, and a skeptical smirk from Applejack. I felt a little uneasy introducing them like that, but their reactions gave me a bit more confidence. "It's nice to meet you all. I'm Keela, Mender's, um, well..." she suddenly trailed off with the hesitation, looking back at me with a turn in place. I shook my head, however, seeing where she was going. "You're my friend, Keela. You're not responsible for what your sister did," I reminded. Her elongated ears drooped a little, but she nodded. "Nirru," Applejack muttered, giving a light shiver of her shoulders as she got a far away look. Keela nodded as she rotated back around to face Applejack. "Yes, Nirru is my sister. She doesn't treat me like one anymore, but she still is. I'd not realized how far she had let herself fall, and I wish I'd noticed sooner. Still, for what it's worth, she's absolutely terrified of you, Applejack," the Keldarian explained gently. I felt bad for her. She'd lost her sister over this, even if I didn't kill her. Applejack snorted and shook her head. "Only cause Ah kicked her flank. Ah made ah big mistake that day an' don't intend ta make it again. Ah was only protectin' Mender," she excused. She shouldn't feel badly for what she did to Nirru. If it was any consolation, I did a whole lot worse. "Oh, I know. She fears Mender even more after what happened, trust me. I'm happy you helped him. That all of you are here for him. It's amazing," Keela said. I detected a slight hint of sadness in her voice, but she covered it up well. She started to turn when she halted suddenly, eyes locking onto Scootaloo who was sitting on the legrest of the sofa. She'd shifted backwards and partially behind me at this point, watching the Keldarian carefully. Her vision shifted as I moved my head to the side with a nod, showing the two other fillies sitting on my back and watching carefully. "The pegasus is Scootaloo. These two are Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom," I introduced, patting each filly on the head with a tendril tip as I named them. By the time I looked back over at Keela, however, her eyes had softened dramatically and were shivering slightly. "Oooooh, they're adorable!" she squealed, grabbing her hands against themselves and pushing them to her chest. Twilight giggled at the reaction, and I couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly. "What?! I'm not adorable!" Scootaloo denied instantly, seemingly forgetting she'd been nervous a moment ago in light of the horrible indignation. She crossed her forelegs over her chest and looked away, pouting. Keela just squealed louder though, earning a facehoof from Scootaloo and laughter from Apple Bloom. "They are just angels! You didn't tell me you mated already, Mender! Wait, what's the gestation period for a pony?" Keela suddenly asked, confusing herself. I almost fell off the sofa. Twilight's eyes bulged out next to me as her mouth dropped. Pinkie burst into laughter at almost the same instant. "Jess wha?" Sweetie Belle asked, sounding confused above me somewhere. I ceased noticing as I buried my face into the cushion, heat radiating from it. A moment later, I remembered to point the projector at least out onto the coffee table again. Suddenly, I wondered if it might be a good idea to start carrying around an ice pack or something. Was this much blushing really healthy for me? "Ah, about eleven months..." Twilight murmured after a moment's hesitation, sounding more than a little embarrassed. Oh. Well, it made sense that they'd have their estrus cycles in the spring and fall then. The foals would be born into at least a little bit of warm weather, which probably helped. Maybe that was how it developed, biologically? "Oh! So, not his. Ah, sorry," Keela apologized sheepishly. I coughed lightly. Scootaloo tilted her head in my peripheral vision, but Apple Bloom started snickering again. "O' course not. Mender ain't our daddy. Applejack's mah sister," she explained upon calming a bit. "Oooh, that's what we're talking about!" Sweetie Belle finally chimed in, followed by, "No, I'm Rarity's little sister." I saw her little white hoof point over my head and towards Rarity, who gave a polite nod on the couch and smiled towards Keela. Both turned to Scootaloo, who just shrugged idly. "Eh, I wish Mender was my dad! He's way cooler," she admitted. I blanched, eyes widening drastically. "Scootaloo! You should respect your parents!" Rarity lectured, frowning towards the orange filly. Twilight coughed abruptly, cutting everypony off before this could spiral any further into a nosedive. "Uh, not to distract from the topic, but was there a reason that you wanted to talk to us, Keela?" Twilight reminded, tilting her head towards the floating, somewhat translucent Keldarian. Oh yeah! "Oh, well, originally I was only intending to talk to him real quick. I'm really glad I got to meet all of you, though," Keela assured, brushing her pink hair back and out of the right side of her face before rotating to face me again. "What I wanted to tell you was that the research documentation and Ventosus Lacuna are ready to be sent out. The energy buildup we needed to power another FTL Transfer finished an hour ago. Sorry it's taken so long, but it's really hard to gather enough power out here in dark space." I shook my head and smiled at her. "It's no problem, Keela. When are you going to transfer it over?" I inquired curiously. "Anytime you're ready. Again, I'm limited to within twenty meters of you," she reminded. "You were pretty accurate with it before. Could you drop them onto the coffee table?" Twilight offered, gesturing towards it with her right forehoof. Keela swallowed hesitantly but nodded. "Have shielding up around the table. I'm not entirely sure what Ventosus Lacuna is going to do. I've never technically sent an unassigned Aegis Artifact over before. Mender's book was already linked to him, so it didn't put up any resistance," she warned, before turning and typing at something we couldn't see. "Wait, what do ya mean, resistance? Is she sendin' over somethin' livin'?" Applejack asked, suddenly sounding wary. I sighed and lifted Prudentia off my left side, holding it up with a tendril. "Aegis Artifacts apparently have limited awareness. I'm not sure if you'd call it a consciousness, but they can react to things around them by themselves. This is Prudentia, my Aegis Artifact," I explained. Saying that it was 'mine' felt strange. The book seemed to hum pleasantly when I said its name out loud, oddly. Sweetie Belle nudged it carefully with a hoof while I focused on forming an Aegis Barrier around the coffee table. Distortions drifted along the surface of the book wherever she touched, and she giggled at the sensation. It probably felt like static electricity to her. The book started feeding me biometric information on the little filly, but I ignored it completely. Twilight surprised me by leaning past the book and brushing her horn along my forehead while I concentrated, instructing, "After you finish the Aegis Barrier, pass the link over to me. I'll charge it with my energy." Whoa. Well, that was probably overkill, but better safe than sorry in this situation, I supposed. I gave her a smile and nod, tossing her the link at the same time through our shared forehead connection. "Oooh, you're fast at making barriers," Twilight purred, winking at me as she backed off and began to focus. I blushed again and coughed, much to the amusement of both Keela and Pinkie. "Of course he's good at barriers! He only fell short of the mastery position and an instructor level because he was too lazy to take the tests!" Keela pointed out, grinning. I glared at her, memories of him deciding not to take the test flaring up with her mention of it. "Okay, from what I can remember, he didn't take the tests because he felt he could help more in the field," I defended, idly wondering if it was me I was defending or him. "Oh! A very noble aspiration! You've always been a gentlecolt, then?" Rarity inquired, giving me a rather devious looking smirk. Okay, she was laying it on thick intentionally. I knew her enough to know that she always curled her mouth up like that when she was teasing, at this point. "It's all just a show, of course. I'm secretly a bad stallion who's into breaking hearts," I added sarcastically, rolling my eyes. Rarity grinned, but Applejack snorted before she could comment. "Puhlease! Yer tha straightest arrow Ah've ever seen. Ya might not be as honest as me, but Ah know fer ah fact that ya'd never do us harm," she refuted, giving me an unflinching yet skeptical stare. Twilight appeared unfazed by the entire topic. Either that or she wasn't paying any attention to us. "Mender's not an arrow, AJ! You're just being silly now. He's a klutzy stallion with shiny armor and lots of limbs! Sooooooo much cooler than an arrow," Pinkie corrected, rolling upside down and smiling at me while waving. I smirked at her antics and shook my head. "He's not a klutz. He just has a gravitational pull and absurdly bad luck," Twilight appended calmly, relaxing her magic when the barrier was almost six times as thick as I had it. Yeah. Way overkill. Oh, and she was also very right. Sweetie Belle, apparently growing bored with the ripples from the book, slid down my foreleg and plopped next to me on the couch. "Gravity? What does a gravity pull thingy mean?" she asked curiously. I paused, blinking again as all attention focused on me, Twilight apparently content with letting me talk instead. But how should I best explain this in ways they would understand? "Uh, really big objects have a pull towards them called gravity. The ground is massive and keeps us all stuck to it because it's so big," I explained, glancing at the other two to see if they were comprehending as well. Scootaloo seemed only vaguely interested, but Apple Bloom swapped over to where Sweetie had been before and nodded down at me. "We learned that in Miss Cheerilee's class!" she assured. Well, that made things easier. "Well, I have a pull, too. It's not as strong as the ground's, but it's enough to make things fall towards me if they're already falling. Or if they're not doing anything and can roll," I explained. Twilight nodded at that, then turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie! Ball emergency!" Huh? Pinkie perked up and nodded rapidly before ducking under the couch and coming out with a rubbery, blue ball a few seconds later. Wait, what?! Twilight had blue balls hidden under her couch? Wait, something sounded off about that thought. "Here ya go!" Pinkie offered, tossing the ball over the Aegis Barrier. Twilight caught it in her magical field before lightly setting it down on the surface of the barrier. I nodded after she got it stable, and then looked back down at Sweetie. "To explain it simply, I used to look a lot like Keela does. That's what my old race looks like. After I got turned into a pony, however, something happened and I became a lot bigger than I am now. With magic, I'm able to stay small, but sometimes my gravity thinks I'm still really big," I tried to explain. Sweetie Belle tilted her head, but I extended my right foreleg towards the ball, lowering the dial on my gravitational limiter. Sweetie's eyes widened as her bangs started drifting sideways slightly towards me. Twilight gave me a questioning glance as well, then looked back at the ball as it slowly started rolling towards me of its own accord, obviously having no other forces apart from air friction acting upon it. My internal mass was easily able to overcome that, however, and soon the ball picked up speed before rolling right off the barrier. "Cool!" Pinkie chimed in, beaming at me. "Whoa! It suddenly feels like I'm being pulled towards you!" Scootaloo exclaimed, giving me a somewhat uneasy look. Oh yeah. Being a pegasus, she was probably far more aware of gravity. I snickered then shook my head. "Sorry. I'll turn it down a bit," I apologized, dialing my gravity compressor back up. One of these days I should see if there's a repair diagnostic for it. If I could fix the damage the short during the warp caused, I could totally nullify my extra density. "You can control the effect?" Twilight asked curiously, giving me a surprised stare. My ears lowered a bit, but I gave her a soft smile in return, reminding, "I'm part robot, remember? It's as easy as turning a dial. Mine's busted, however, so I can't fully suppress it." Twilight's eyes softened and she momentarily looked guilty over something, but Keela cut in before she could speak. "You could probably fix it, given your capabilities. Anyway, the coordinates are plugged in and the device is primed. I triple-checked the equations, but it should be accurate down to a couple millimeters," she assured hesitantly. The gloom clung to me a bit, but I threw up a mask over my emotions and gave her a nod. "We're ready on this end, then. Release when ready," I instructed. Keela hesitated only for a second before hitting a button on the console we couldn't see. Light exploded from above the coffee table, and everypony in the room winced. Out of instinct, I threw a barrier in front of both groups of ponies. Keela gave out a yelp over the connection and ducked a bolt of energy. The link was momentarily disrupted, but flared back to life mere seconds later. "It's eating up too much energy! It's fighting the transfer!" Keela called out over the deafening hum given off by the reaction. Two familiar looking prismatic wings expanded slowly out over the table. My mind scrambled to think of anything that might be different that we hadn’t thought of between the book and the sword. It was obviously not connected to this reality, so it probably was acting as if she were simply trying to banish it. With a limited, reaction based intelligence, there had to be a way to fix that! Thinking hard, I realized there was really only one way to ‘help’ from this side. The book had a link to me. Maybe if I grounded the energy from the sword as well on this end, it would ease the transfer! My back flexed, tendrils gently shoving Apple Bloom off me as I hopped off the couch. Twilight looked over at me in surprise, mouth opening to say something as I formed a barrier above the Slipstream wings inside of the shield. She didn’t get a chance to start before I brought the thin barrier down into the center of the Slipstream emanation. The jolt of energy rippled through me instantly, causing my muscles to clench up as it passed through me and into the floor. The connection happened instantly, rooting the effect to this side just like the book was. Banking on the blade having the same reaction as Prudentia, I shouted out, “Ventosus Lacuna!” For a moment, the blade pulsed. Then it was as if a ribbon of fire danced across my mind along my connection to the barrier I made. The orb of light and energy expanded outwards from the partially phased in blade, crushing into the sides of the barriers we’d set up for it. For a moment, I saw a single eye opening up and looking right at me in my mind. The Slipstream effect exploded a moment later, snapping my connection barrier in half and blasting me backwards into the couch… Chapter 64Everypony looked surprised at once as all eyes were instantly redirected onto Snapshot, who trotted in looking quite pleased with herself. "Mender, I was hoping I'd see you again soon! They've been super nice to me here, and you sent along awesome recommendations. For a strange, extra-dimensional alien, you're awesome!" she chirped, earning a blink from myself. Ah, she was just as crazy as I remembered. "You're the one that attacked him in the woods!" Twilight growled in an instant, standing up next to me as her horn lit up, eyes narrowing. Snapshot went from happy to terrified and dived behind the couch as Twilight snarled. Tia sighed lightly and held up a hoof, but Twilight wasn't even looking at her. Slipping up again, I bumped into Twilight's side and slowly pulled her back, kissing the side of her neck. "Twilight, calm down. She's cooperated with Tia so far, and seems honestly interested in redeeming herself," I tried to reason, rubbing the mare's shoulders as she huffed. A little stick popped out from the side of the couch, a white flag tied to it as it waved around. Wait, was she actually carrying that thing around with her, or did she anticipate problems? "I'm sorry! He was significantly scarier then, and looked like he was going to kill me! I... Okay, yeah, accepting the job from the shady, cloaked stallion in the back alley was probably stupid on my part, but he offered me a lot of bits!" was called out from behind the sofa. Back alley? "Snapshot is from here in Canterlot. We've investigated the alley fully, and found no evidence, as anticipated. She's given accurate descriptions of the stallion in question, and surprisingly, we have another eye witness account from a local baker that was dumping trash who saw her there with the stallion. She's also given us her contract," Tia explained further, sliding a roll of paper out of the guard's saddlebag next to her, and floating it towards us. Twilight snatched it with her magic and unrolled it, frowning as she read the document. Snapshot peeked out from around the sofa, looking uncertain as she peered towards me instead. I didn't have the heart to mention that Twilight could have pulled the sofa apart at probably a molecular level, shredding her along with it if she were truly serious... Sure, she thought I was scary, but she'd never seen Twilight truly mad. Anypony whose subconscious rage could vibrate molecules fast enough to light the air on fire around her was to be feared and respected. "So, her purpose was to take pictures of Mender to gain proof of his alien status, or that could be doctored easily to make proof," Twilight muttered, drifting the paper towards me instead. I picked it up with a barrier and pulled it in front of Fluttershy and me, the yellow mare peering over my foreleg curiously to read it alongside me. "Heh, my pictures wouldn't have needed doctoring. The shots of Mender sprouting tentacles were crystal clear. Also, totally awesome if I might add," Snapshot chirped before suddenly frowning and continuing with, "Well, totally awesome when it stopped looking like he was going to rape, murder, and eat me, not necessarily in that order. Uh, I have to admit, ever since I was a little filly, I always wanted to meet an alien!" An alien? Wasn't that highly specific for a pony from Equestria? I didn't see many 'alien' stories floating around in their culture, actually. "Uh, an alien, specifically?" Applejack asked, apparently picking up on my confused expression as well. "Oh, well, yeah! An alien! Or Bighoof! Anything that's unique and awesome, really! My mom used to tell me stories when I was a kid about things like that," she revealed, wobbling back and forth on her legs as she swayed happily. Huh. She was a strange one. Well, so was her mother, apparently. Pinkie looked ecstatic, however, and nodded along happily. "Oh, I know! Mender's tentacles are so fun! He picked me up with them once and was like, 'Woosh! Wooooosh!' and flew me around the room! It was awesome!" Pinkie exclaimed, causing me to sigh. I think she was missing a point somewhere. The sad thing was, I couldn't tell where, as now I was just confused. "Psh, that's 'cause flying is awesome!" Rainbow declared, also totally missing the point. "Two thousand bits for five photos? Wow," Fluttershy suddenly murmured. Eh? Oh yeah, that contract. I looked back down at it, and then snapped a picture to toss into my database. My optical character recognition picked up from there and converted it into text, which I analyzed. Two thousand bits for five clear photos to be delivered anonymously via crystal resonance projection. Alongside it was a warning about how monstrous and horrific I was, and to stay stealthy at all times, and assume homicidal intent if discovered. Okay then, somepony didn't know me very well, it would seem. Well, until you pushed enough buttons to get my more 'feral' mindset to take over, it would seem. I should really get a leash on that. "See? It was a total steal. Of course, you were supposed to be a scary monster, but apart from going a little crazy after I attacked you, you're actually a fairly nice stallion! Huh. They really did lie to me, then," Snapshot muttered, appearing to ponder to herself. Twilight gave her a raised eyebrow, still looking slightly hostile, but more on an air of caution now. I couldn't decide if Snapshot was rather dense, or just outright insane, personally. Of course, me of all ponies calling somepony either of those was kind of ironic, in a tragic sense. Spike, in the meantime, was busy looking at the photos themselves he'd retrieved from my file, and nodded. "Hey, these are still good photos. She caught Mender with his tentacles out and lifting Apple Bloom and Scootaloo," he pointed out. Yeah, I had to be more careful from now on. "Snapshot has indeed given us a lot to work with, and several leads to follow. It's enough to clear her of immediate arrest. I'll explain more to you all tomorrow, however. It's getting late, as I'm sure you're aware. You’re staying in the guest rooms under Twilight’s old room in the tower, and your luggage has already been delivered,” Tia explained. Hmm. Yeah, we had arrived at fourteen hundred hours sharp, had an hour of prep time upon discovering we were holding a press conference. The event itself was a grueling three hours, which put us into eighteen hundred hours. I wouldn't be nearly so irked if eighty percent of the questions asked weren't totally pointless. I mean, really? Did the color of the stupid spire really matter? The location and shade projection of it?! The sheer volume of eye twitches alone that I had to suppress used up enough energy to make me quite hungry at this point. Pinkie started hopping up and down in place, smiling suddenly. "Oh, oh, are we gonna get to eat in the awesome Royal Dining Room?!" she asked rapidly. Uh, for just us? Celestia blinked, then started to explain, "Well, actually, I was just going to have..." Pinkie grinned a little wider, edging closer to her, and Tia frowned, backing up slightly and trying to continue with, "...to have them send... Uh..." The pink one edged even closer, shivering in excitement and suspense. Oddly, I felt tense, too, suddenly as I realized everypony in the room was locked onto Pinkie in fascination. "Oh fine. Yes, you can eat in the Royal Dining Room..." Tia gave in a second later, exhaling as if a great weight was pulled from her chest the second Pinkie squealed and danced away, hopping. Okay, never mind. Pinkie was scary, too. How was I friends with so many scary ponies? Chuckling, I followed after the others as we headed towards the dining room instead, giving a wary eye towards Snapshot as she oddly saluted me as I passed. Yeah, I didn't want to know. * * * * * Admittedly, the food had been amazing, and I now knew why Pinkie had wanted to eat there. The sheer volume of desserts she'd ordered outweighed the actual meal by at least twice, about half of which she hauled back towards the room she was sharing with Rarity and Spike, one of the guest quarters, if I remembered right. Much to my amusement, that also meant Applejack and Rainbow were sharing sleeping arrangements, too. Dash blushed furiously, of course, and did not appear to appreciate my wink towards her after it was announced. At least Spike was happy. Oddly, Snapshot sat directly to my right, sticking awfully close during the whole meal. Sure, I'd stuck up for her, but I didn't think the rest of the mares warranted unneeded fear or anything. Fluttershy was to my left, and Twilight was on the other side of her, shooting me strange glances every other time I looked towards her. After her apprehension levels spiked down the link when I glanced her way in return, I pretended not to notice on every other occasion. "Yeah, I haven't had a chance to talk to you since they told me. It was, uh, a little surprising. What sort of alien are you?" Shining asked politely, giving me a curious glance as he sat across from me. I smiled and snickered, shaking my head a bit. "Uh, the pony kind. I'm only technically an alien as I was born in another dimension. I came from Equestria, however. Or, at least, my biological mother did, as far as I can figure so far. I'm a normal pony, with some added parts here and there, and a scary weapon inside of me that I've essentially disabled on all fronts," I elaborated, upon swallowing my last bite of sandwich. Sandwiches were amazing! Cadance giggled to his left, sliding her hoof along the white tablecloth for a moment before looking back up at me, smiling gently. In the warmer light of the mostly vacant dining room, I noted that she was indeed rather pretty. Her beauty was a regal sort, lacking the practicality of most of the mares I knew. I compared her closest to Rarity, honestly. I think I preferred a more natural sort of look, however. Twilight had a crisp feel to her features, and Fluttershy had an earthy, adorable feel to her that I loved. "A scary weapon that's not the tentacles, armor, and claws? Interesting. What form does it take?" she asked, sounding curious. Really, a rampaging monster was probably scarier to them, given it being easier to understand and imagine. Still, I guess I might as well try to be honest. "It takes two forms, actually. If I turn off my gravity dampener, as close as I can figure, I become an extremely powerful bomb. My mass to size ratio, due to the compressed space inside of me, would cause me to collapse into a singularity almost instantly, with a normalized gravity field radius of about a hundred and twenty kilometers," I attempted to explain. Nope. Two vacant stares met mine, and I sensed Twilight frowning again before I even looked over. She turned, looking over at me with a mix of concern and horror. "Wait, a normal gravity at a hundred and twenty kilometers?! So, if you stood in the center of Ponyville, ponies in Canterlot would fall sideways towards you?" she asked in surprise. That much they understood, Shining widening his eyes at me. "Yeah. Roughly. They're the lucky ones, though. Ponyville, and a good forty kilometers in each direction would be destroyed pretty much instantly, light itself not being able to escape the gravity effect. Where I'm from, they call that a 'Black Hole'. It's not pleasant," I added, causing Fluttershy to shiver lightly. "I'm glad you locked that down hard. Should we ask about the other form?" he inquired, looking uncertain. Sighing, I explained, "Planet consuming blob that eats mindlessly until everything's destroyed and the sun is consumed for energy. That's where my tentacles come from." Short and sweet, but it worked and only Twilight would get the extended version anyway. He stared blankly at me, then raised an eyebrow as a tentacle extended out of my left shoulder, slipped over the table, and broke into smaller tentacles near the tip to gather additional ingredients for another sandwich in front of a now extremely delighted looking Pinkie Pie. Equally expected at this point, Snapshot also looked absolutely fascinated by the example. "Mender, tentacles at the dining table aren't good manners. You could have simply asked one of us to pass you the sandwich materials," Rarity pointed out, smiling in amusement towards me from further down the table, across from Pinkie, who was lifting up stuff for the tentacles to grab now. Shining, to his credit, didn't appear bothered by the actual tentacles at all, although Cadance gave them a wary glance. Instead, he asked, "Why would such a thing even be needed? What were your people so scared of?" Ah, he had to ask that, of course. Figures. At least it was an easy answer. "The Grosh. A race of completely alien motives and mindset, bent on wiping out every species capable of space travel that wasn't them. Their technology was so far beyond ours that it was essentially a lost cause. The weapon inside of me was built in secret and had been intended to be used against them, to tear them apart endlessly as it consumed the rest of the galaxy, ignoring only those programmed in to be spared." It was painful to relay again, to my surprise. At this point, I thought I'd come to terms with the thing inside of me, but feeling and being aware of all that twisting, almost angry mass made me shudder. If I paid too much attention to the sensation, I caught a glimpse of the cold abyss that was inside of me, hungry to tear apart and eat everything it could, and my waking mind screamed in horror, reeling back from the mere presence of the beast within. It chipped away at my sanity the longer I considered it, and that was a precious enough commodity with me, so I tended to ignore the weapon entirely. Cadance frowned, looking sad for a moment before asking, "That seems, well, horrible. Are you sure they attacked indiscriminately like that? Did anypony try just communicating with them?" Her disapproving tone didn't even register as my eyes widened. A thousand times, I'd heard the same thing. They loved surprise attacks, often coming out of nowhere with a heavy alpha strike. It was always the same. Our job wasn't to combat them, but merely to buy time for civilian evacuation, taking losses so they didn't have to. It was thankless, of course. We were expected to die for them. Half of us were meaningless clones, some barely even considered 'intelligent'. Begging. I'd heard the screams of pain and sorrow so often, and it was always followed by begging. Some prayed to some higher power to save them. Others asked the Grosh themselves for mercy. Laughter was all we got in return, and they relentlessly murdered us. A thousand images flashed through my head at once. Friends. Teammates. Squad members. The weapons used in-atmosphere were for 'cleansing' the matter and making sure they had the highest fatality rate possible. Thus, we saw horrible levels of overkill, like anti-personnel shells that exploded into clouds of spinning razor wires and flechettes, or acidic adhesive mists. Hardened bunkers got a pellet or two the size of a baseball shot towards them that were released uncontrolled from FTL, causing the air itself to fuse and explode into plasma and level the whole area. It was death. That's all they became to us. Silence. It was more horrifying than the screams after an attack. That lonely silence that burned into your mind, as you realized how many weren't hearing it with you, and just how alone you were. My ears twitched, and I suddenly became aware of the actual silence around the table, distinctly realizing I'd dropped all of my sandwich materials and knocked the whole tray over when the tentacle went rigid. Damn it. "Sorry," I whispered, my eyes softening as I quickly picked up the tray and put the ingredients back on it, my appetite totally gone now anyways as I tried to will the smell of blood away from my senses, refusing to look anypony in the eye. It was an odd sense of shame and disgust brewing in me, as I felt truly alien then, sitting there. Honestly, it was my experiences that separated me from them far more than my form. "Mender," Fluttershy murmured, brushing her hoof along my shoulder. I pulled my tentacle back inside of me in an instant and recoiled, feeling like I was covered in filth and that I'd get it all over her if she touched me. She squeaked, but I shook my head rapidly, realizing I was standing suddenly as my chair crashed against the wall somewhere behind me. "N-No! I'm fine. I'll be, uh, okay. I just need some air," I excused. Their eyes were all on me, and I knew they saw me as not like them. The sensation burned into my mind, spiraling around me and making me want to scream. But I didn't. My eyes lost their focus as I made myself not look at any of them, turning and running towards the door with a moderate pace. Nopony stopped me. I just kept running, the tension, frustration and panic flooding through my chest in a screaming ache. I stumbled and fell some time later, long after I lost sense of how long I'd been running. I rolled and slammed into the wall at the base of one of the towers, not even feeling the sensation as I curled up there, panting and gasping as the sweat slid down my coat. The nausea was intense, and I fought the light-headedness and urge to throw up as the smell of blood overwhelmed me. No! I wasn't there! It wasn't even me! Slowly, my heart calmed and the world stopped spinning around me. I became more aware of the smell of the flowers in the garden I laid next to, and that terrible smell faded. No, I was never going to be rid of this. Ever. I just lay there on my side, mouth partially open with a slowly expanding puddle of drool wetting the cool cobblestone under me. I just didn't care. The Moon was rising on the horizon now, spreading soft darkness with it that was gently illuminated by its own inner glow. I knew it was magical just from looking at it, and felt myself calm. My name was appropriate, given my affinity for night, it would seem. I didn't even flinch at the flash of light to my right somewhere. Twilight slowly walked up, the gentle beats of her hooves echoed in the relative silence, and I felt her stop right next to me. Was she mad? Sad? Worried? Her link slowly caught up with her instantaneous movement, and I felt distinct concern as she gently lay down right next to me, pushing her warm body into mine. We lay there for quite a while, neither of us saying anything. She didn't have to, me knowing she was worried, and her knowing exactly how 'blended' my emotions felt at the moment. I didn't even bother trying to hide it from the link. Far away, I also felt sadness, and anger from others. I listened a little more carefully, and felt that Fluttershy had been told to finish eating, and Rainbow was seething. Pinkie felt sad, and I remembered she didn't like seeing her friends fight. "Cadance apologizes. She... She doesn't know, Mender," Twilight finally spoke, barely a whisper. "I know. I'm not angry with her," I returned, realizing a while ago that her feelings were based off everything she knew of Equestria. That's why I loved it here. Twilight sighed and nodded against my shoulder. "I know. You're understanding. A lot better than I am with that. There's so much I don't understand. But I know that, deep down, you're really angry, Mender," she added, followed by kissing my shoulder lightly. I shivered and swallowed, not saying anything. Bitterness. I was so bitter, and spiteful. It was a different kind of anger. Rational understanding had nothing to do with it. I knew why Applejack sided with Twilight, and why she broke four of my ribs, fragmenting two through my lungs. I could be rational and understand that. But that wasn't enough. Deep down, I was bitter. She had 'betrayed' me, not even giving me the slightest indication that I was to be trusted. As I recoiled from that pain, a subconscious part of me blamed every drop of it on her. I wanted to deny it. To erase that part of myself. But it reared its ugly head regardless. "My subconscious is different. On that level, um, I'm angry with Applejack for not trusting me. I'm also angry with you two, because it thinks you betrayed me. I'm mad at Pinkie and Rarity as well, for feeling totally insensitive. Rainbow, too, for being selfish and ignoring what I wanted, instead going with what she wished for. Sweetie bothers me as well, more out of self-disgust of not wanting to take advantage of her and knowing she doesn't even know what she wants herself. All of those things I can reason away, but they don't really go away," I muttered, unable to stop once I started. Honesty. It burned horribly, but felt amazing at the same time in a twisted sort of duality. Twilight didn't flinch through any of it, keeping her head lightly resting on my shoulder. I knew that she knew it all already, but it still felt cathartic to get out of my mind. "Do you trust us when we say that we'll make it up to you? Fixing your inner viewpoints is a slow and gentle process, Mender," she assured, pushing herself a little harder into me. I raised my right foreleg up for her as she slipped in against my stomach, surprisingly ignoring my drool as well as she kissed me lightly. I have no idea how long we rested together like that, kissing softly back and forth under the darkening sky, belly to belly. There was nothing urgent really, and I felt no need to consult Clocky, even. Her fur tickled mine as her chest joined against me, too, her heart lightly thudding in time with my own. Slowly, oh so slowly, I felt that tension ease up under her patient ministrations. It was hard to miss at this point. She cared about me. Maybe even loved me. Forgiving was easy for me to say, yeah, but understanding that she truly wanted it and wanted me to fully forgive her was comforting. Her own feelings mixed well with mine through the link as we snuggled. I felt the tension from her as well as it slid away. This had been a rough few days for her, too, and I suddenly understood as much. She gets, well, crazy like that when she panics more than anything. I knew that much already, although that was definitely the worst I'd seen it. But what I'd missed at the time was she wasn't just panicked over Fluttershy. I'd been her first target, and suddenly it all clicked. She'd been freaking out for almost two days straight about sending out that form. She even mentioned at Fluttershy's that she was afraid I was going to dump them. She was scared. Very, very scared. That meant that I was indeed important to her after all. Sure, the herd didn't revolve around me, but as selfish as the inner Mender was sometimes, I realized that was how things were 'supposed' to work. It was an odd feeling, 'sensing' Fluttershy's smile as she glided towards us through the warm air. Twilight felt it, too, her eyes opening and her muzzle drifting a little away from mine, strands of saliva still connecting our lips as she blushed lightly, then looked 'up' towards Fluttershy, according to her orientation anyway. "I'm glad you two are okay," Fluttershy whispered softly upon landing next to us and sitting down. Twilight smiled and hooked the mare's foreleg with her own, earning a widening of the smile until she tugged backwards, pulling Fluttershy over and onto us instead. "Better than okay. I'm feeling amazing, and I apologize, but I started the process of making it up to Mender early," the lavender mare apologized, winking towards Fluttershy. Snickering, I fake scoffed and turned my head up, closing my eyes. "Is that what you're doing? Here I thought you were just being affectionate," I chided. Fluttershy giggled oh so lightly before rotating and flopping fully into us instead. "We do enjoy giving you affection, too, Mender, because we get affection back. You, um, really care for us, don't you? You have to after all this. Most stallions would have just, well, dumped us," she muttered, smiling softly afterwards, but looking just a little sad. It was easy enough to feel down her link, too, and I pulled both of them closer, nodding. "I care for both of you. If I get, um, braver in the future, I'll admit to loving you both as well. That's essentially all I wanted for all of last week. Rainbow and Sweetie being flirty with me was... It was frustrating. It reminded me constantly of the two mares I missed instead," I admitted, remembering those sensations as well. It hadn't been pleasant. "You're with us now, Mender. Don't worry. We're not going anywhere, and you're not going to have to leave us next year. I don't care anymore. I'm going with you next time," Twilight assured, earning a nod of agreement from Fluttershy. I chuckled and nodded to both of them before taking a risk and teasing with, "You just are interested because I can fire blanks, right?" Fluttershy blushed lightly and giggled, but Twilight's eyes shot open wide almost instantly. "W-Wait, you can? Seriously?!" she asked a heartbeat later, jaw dropping open. Well, I wasn't expecting that reaction to the news... "Yeah, turns out that I have a lot of different, uh, options I didn't know about before. I don't exactly know why I was given all these, but..." I added. Actually, now that I thought about it, why did I have these options? Switching DNA sets, heavily augmented virility, cosmetic tweaking... Why did a scout need all that?! Twilight stared at me for a moment, and then frowned. "We should really investigate your various systems and properly document them. I want to help you figure out these things, too," she requested firmly, a sense of duty and discipline drifting back up the link. "Let's all learn about them. I might not be able to help as much as Twilight, but I want to understand you more, Mender," Fluttershy added, smiling slowly up at me. Huh. I hadn't expected them to be interested. "Heh. Shall we go up to the room anyway, before I share more of my inner workings, then?" I suggested, peeking around slowly. Nopony was within my significantly enhanced vision, but I was still paranoid. There sadly wasn't time, however, as the world imploded inwards, everything falling in around us as we seemed to shrink to nothing. In the same instant, it all popped back out again into relative darkness. Fluttershy gave a squeak as a burst of terror shot down her link, but I pulled her close as Twilight's horn lit up with magic. Fluttershy inhaled softly against my fur as Twilight focused, and one by one, lamps turned on around the room. To my surprise, Fluttershy calmed down first, keeping her face pressed into my chest instead. A strong urge to guard her sprung up, and I rested my head on top of hers, whispering, "It's okay, Fluttershy. Look around." The yellow mare opened her eyes again and peeked about upon my request. Twilight smiled gently at her, extending her hoof out and gesturing in a wide arc around her bedroom. I added to the effect by shifting my weight slightly and causing us to bounce on the mattress of Twilight's massive bed. Actually, if this was her room from her years as a filly, why was her bed so huge? "Yup, we're safe," Twilight assured, flopping over backwards and pulling the still uncertain mare with her. I smiled and watched as Fluttershy shifted to a smile instead, then giggled momentarily before Twilight pulled her down into a soft kiss. Oh! Watching them now brought about significantly different feelings than during the party. This kiss was intentionally for one. Also, the fact that they were officially a pair now slammed through me. Did that mean that Fluttershy cheated on Twilight with me? It didn't matter, of course, but I suddenly realized how very much alone I felt. Not since realizing my true nature had I felt like this. I was more careful this time, pushing the feelings away quickly and keeping them from the link. Both mares were distracted as well, probably contributing to them not noticing. Me interrupting their moment with my feelings would be rude, as I knew this was their first time together in relative privacy since the bath that night we got back. I'd had a lot more of Fluttershy since... Distraction. I needed to think about something else. Turning, I noticed that our bags had indeed been delivered properly, and were sitting at the entrance to the main chamber in the other, darkened room. Ah, that would do! I didn't even touch the floor, the purple aura catching me mid-hop. Blinking, I looked back at Twilight, who smirked as she hauled me back towards them, Fluttershy smiling softly from on top of her. "Oh no you don't. Unpacking can wait until tomorrow. For now, we have a lot to talk about and even more snuggling to make up for. You are part of the herd, too, and that will be official tomorrow," Twilight assured promptly. Crap, she'd heard that after all? "Um, actually, I told her. I'm sorry, Mender. I just don't like you feeling sad," Fluttershy corrected, voice whispering through my head. Oh, I forgot how good she was at the links. Still, I hadn't been mad anyways, and it was impossible to stay angry with them anymore. "It's fine, Fluttershy. I just wanted you two to get some time together. I've been kind of hogging Fluttershy the past day or so," I reasoned after getting set back down next to them. Twilight giggled and nodded, to my surprise, before adding, "You're nice like that, but there's a flaw in your logic." Oh? She nodded to my curious burst down her link, and continued with, "I want you, too. Brushing your teeth and other stuff can wait. Come on." Her horn lit up again and slid the covers out from under us a moment later. I immediately fell on my face, of course, having not anticipated the surface I was standing on to suddenly pull out from under me. I heard a giggle, and turned in time to be pulled into two warm, yellow and lavender masses as the covers were pulled back over us. Fluttershy shifted gently a moment later, sliding over so she snuggled into both of us instead as I rotated to properly face Twilight, her forelegs hooking around mine gently. "Good. Let's stay nice and comfy for a while, okay? We can talk like this, and I'll take notes later on your systems," Twilight explained, nodding twice towards me. "Oh, if you wanted to take notes..." I offered, my left eye lighting up slightly. The projection was onto the mattress between us instead this time, and I opened up my note-taking program I'd made, showing the notes I already had on my inner workings as I scrolled through them. Twilight looked more than a little surprised before grinning, suddenly. "You have a note program?!" she asked, already drawing upon a term I'd given her about my workings. Heh. I started to nod, when she squeaked with glee and lunged forwards, pushing her lips into mine again, to Fluttershy's happy giggling. Oh boy. What had I gotten myself into with these two? * * * * * Doing precise things was so much easier with magic. I didn't care what Twilight said about relying too much on mine. I didn't see her brushing her teeth by hoof! No, she levitated almost everything purely out of instinct. Personally, I didn't know how Fluttershy managed to make this look so easy. Of course, she had almost two decades of practice, I supposed, being nineteen. The mare in question carefully flushed the toilet a meter or so to my left as I focused on getting the back teeth. I sensed a bit of embarrassment from her suddenly, and frowned as I glanced over at her. To my surprise, she'd stopped and was staring at my toothbrush instead. That was weird. Why was my toothbrush embarrassing to... Oh. Ack! "I said I was sorry!" I yelped upon quickly spitting out the suds. Fluttershy's blush deepened, but she smiled and nodded, adding, "I know. It's just embarrassing to remember." Well, yeah. That was a given. "This is Mender we're talking about. Him finding your toy collection and having a 'battle' with them honestly isn't that bad," Twilight pointed out idly from her leaning spot in the doorframe. Turning, I shot her a glare, but she wore an amused smile instead and I just rolled my eyes. Fluttershy shifted back and forth on her hooves, blushing horribly now as well. Instead, I focused on her and sent calming thoughts, smiling towards the yellow mare instead. She relaxed her fidgeting and smiled at me as well, then squeaked as I reached out and pulled her into a gentle hug. She was so adorable, and I'd never let anything hurt her. I 'felt' Twilight send a warmer smile our way as she continued looking over the notes we'd completed. It was almost ten now, and Fluttershy was getting tired, so we all agreed to call it a day. Early for the lavender mare, no doubt, but it would have to suffice. Of course, if Rarity hadn't suggested Spike stay with Pinkie and her, we probably would have been asleep by now anyways, if only because he kept an earlier bedtime. "There are definitely lots of mysteries involved with this. These two upload times are important, I can just feel it," Twilight muttered a moment later, earning our attention again as I turned and walked over, alongside Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus nodded, looking uncharacteristically concerned again before adding, "Yeah. Plus, why did they give him all those things to make him really, really virile and capable of switching DNA?" That... That was a very good question. Twilight sighed and shook her head, flicking my holographic display with her hoof and scrolling back up it. She took to technology amazingly fast, once I realized I could project a barrier onto the display for 'touch' capabilities. "Honestly, most of those reproductive functions were added at the same time as the first information upload. That same upload added the schematics for that weapon, set it to be created inside Mender, and then go off. Can it really be coincidental that Mender suddenly finds himself in possession of billions of Keldarian DNA and the ability to switch to producing viable reproductive material with them?" she questioned, deduction ability as sharp as ever. That wasn't a pretty conclusion, however. "Considering it was from the same source, no. It can't be coincidence," I muttered, sitting down next to my two fillyfriends Twilight smiled and leaned in again, kissing me gently on the cheek. "I know it's scary, Mender, but you should watch that video soon. Both of us can watch it with you if you'd like, and we'll be here for you if you need us. It's better to know everything sooner, so we can fix or prepare for something than ignore it," she reminded gently. I flattened my ears back, but Fluttershy bombarded my link with warm feelings as she nodded twice, smiling towards me. "Y-Yes! Twilight and I are here for you. You're part of our herd, and we care for you," she added a moment later, giving me her determined look again. I shuddered, barely resisting the urge to pounce her and squeeze her until she squeaked. Although, admittedly, she'd probably squeak before I squeezed her, so that didn't make much difference... Twilight frowned at that, thinking to herself for a moment before revealing, "I also want to try some of Rarity's suggestions for trust exercises tomorrow. Most of them don't require any special equipment or anything, and we can do them right here in the castle. I need to trust Mender as much as he needs to trust me." I nodded quietly before getting somewhat curious. "What are some of these exercises?" I asked, tilting my head towards her. "Oh, nothing too elaborate. The 'fixing the herd' thing is going to be big for me, but I need to show you that I fully intend to include you. I have to. Other than that, there are basic exercises to do. Blindfolded leading, and catching each other as we fall," she elaborated, smiling towards me after. Heh, the brat knew I would have tried to counter the herd part. "Not to put a damper on it, but leading me around blindfolded, or making me purposefully fall seem like really bad ideas. But eh, Rarity knows her stuff and hopefully the castle will survive," I admitted, scratching under my chin with my right hoof. Twilight gave me an amused nudge before standing up fully, stretching out and cracking her back. "Regardless, we should get some sleep now. My turn to use the bathroom. You two can go lie down if you'd like," she offered, slipping past me and towards the toilet. Looking towards Fluttershy instead, I smiled and gestured towards the exit of the bathroom. She nodded and wandered past me, flicking her tail up almost automatically as I turned to follow her. My eyes widened as she got me in the face, blasting me with those oh so lovely smells before trotting onwards. Gah! Okay, she'd gotten so used to it being 'okay' that she did so subconsciously now. Head swimming a little, I trotted after her, trying to keep my eyes off her swaying rump before hopping up onto the massive bed. Fluttershy gave me a soft smile as she slid over, and I moved in next to her on the right side of the bed. The blankets were amazingly soft, and the mattress itself was extremely comfortable. Twilight was really pampered with this thing! The yellow mare slipped up to me and tucked her head under mine as I pulled the covers back over myself. Smiling, I squeezed her gently, rubbing her sides with my hooves and relaxing there. She shivered oh so slightly, and my eyes widened as I felt her muzzle push against my neck, kissing me gently there. "I missed you a lot during estrus. I know I kinda said it already but, well, I wanted you to know how much," she whispered, her hips shifting forwards and pressing more solidly against mine as our back legs entwined. Her body was a lot warmer than the sheets and I held her close, feeling my fur puff up a little at the contrast. I didn't know exactly what to say to that, the bitterness from earlier still there. I settled for the truth, after a few seconds of consideration. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I forgive you for everything that happened, but my subconscious doesn't. I can't... I can't make it forgive you," I muttered, closing my eyes as another bout of frustration shot through me. I was angry. Maybe I should invest in a punching bag to vent on? Of course, if I were really venting, it wouldn't last long. Maybe just a sturdy looking rock would do? Her grip tightened, like she thought I'd fade away if she eased up. "I know. Things have to get a lot better first. You... You really are equal, Mender. We'll fix this tomorrow, and then you will be. Then, all that's left would be for Twilight to, um..." she whispered gently. She didn't need to finish, our link telling me her meaning easily enough. "Twilight doesn't have to do anything with me if she doesn't want to, Fluttershy. She has to feel comfortable with it, and really want to," I reminded gently. It wasn't essential for the herd regardless, seemingly more of a formality than anything. Fluttershy exhaled softly, pecking my shoulder lightly. "I know. But she will eventually, right? She likes you like that, too, I think. She's just nervous," she pondered out loud, seemingly unsure of herself. I couldn't help but find it a little cute, and smiled to myself. "Maybe. I'm not sure what a romantic relationship without sex would be like, but that's Twilight's choice, not ours," I pointed out. Fluttershy blushed again at my frank wording, and shivered lightly. Well, without sex with me, anyways. That did seem sort of one-sided, but I decided it was pointless thinking about it before it became a reality. "Well, um, I... I'm not afraid of you like that. You'd never hurt me, and it feels so amazing to know that. You protect me and I can, well, be as open as I want with you and share such a wonderful experience with you. I feel like I don't have to be afraid of anything when you're there," she continued, surprising me with her openness already displayed. She really was getting more and more trusting of me, I realized. Oh so gently, I pulled her closer against me and held her, feeling her shiver as her wings flicked out and then in again quickly. Her heartbeat against my fur slowly started to pick up, and I opened my eyes again in time to see her leaning up towards me. Oh! It didn't exactly take much to convince me, and I met her half way, kissing her lightly as my right hoof slipped up higher, cradling the back of her neck under her mane as she relaxed against me. She was beautiful, and as soft and fluffy and sickeningly sweet as it felt to me, I wanted to be with her forever. At that moment, she felt my emotions and apparently decided the same thing, pushing into me fully as her eyes closed, the warmth shared between us as her lips opened just a little. It was naughty, but she invited me, so I took the bait and deepened the kiss, hearing her groan lightly as my tongue played along hers. That heated sensation burned through us and I felt giddy, feeling her wings open up slowly as I dominated the kiss. She always retreated into her own mouth like this, I noticed. At first I'd thought she was trying to treat me or something, but the surge of pure delight was unmistakable, as usual. I'd realized a bit ago that she liked me being in charge, innately slipping into a submissive role. It was awkward for me, as I was never sure if she'd like the direction I was moving us in, but the link made that easier, too, giving me immediate feedback as to my performance. Right now, it was somewhere in the ecstatic range, I noticed. A burst of undiluted pleasure shot down the link as Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around my neck and pulled me deeper into the kiss, earning a heated groan. Her taste was... There was a light crash in the bathroom, and a somewhat dizzy looking Twilight Sparkle wandered out a second later, staring at us with a bewildered glance. We broke apart at the noise, and I stared back blankly, wondering what exactly was going on when I noticed how absolutely flushed she looked. "I... I can feel every single thing you two are doing! A-Ah! C-can this please wait, um, just a day even? Just not tonight?!" Twilight begged quickly, looking beyond flustered. Fluttershy matched her color in blushing, and I just sighed. Figured that was a bad idea. That didn't stop it from being an 'enjoyable' bad idea, but I was a bit miffed at Twilight, too. Still, it was her room. And she looked terrified, which made me feel somewhat like a jerk. Fluttershy squeaked, looking back and forth between the two of us before whimpering and shaking her head quickly. Eh? "T-Twilight, um, could we maybe talk please, if it's not too much trouble?" she asked quickly, surprising me. Twilight flattened her ears back, still quite red and suddenly looking uncertain at Fluttershy, too. "Um, sure. Where do you...?" she started. "The bathroom." Fluttershy hopped up and off the bed almost as fast as she returned her reply, and I was left mildly confused and alone in a very dark room as she pushed Twilight gently into the bathroom and shut the door. "Twilight, you need to..." was all I heard before the door closed. Sighing, I turned off my amplified hearing and the links, realizing she obviously wanted privacy to talk to Twilight. The shy mare usually didn't act like this unless something was bothering her. I took a vague shot in the dark and guessed that it was Twilight's reaction to our little show across the link. Wonderful. A light ping shot in from Pinkie's link a second later. Eh? "Hey, Mender. Is everything okay? I felt Fluttershy's and Twilight's links disappear," the pink one mentally asked a moment later, tone sounding uncharacteristically concerned. Oh? Oh yeah, if there was anypony more skilled with the links than Fluttershy, it was her. "Oh, yeah, they're both fine. They wanted some privacy to talk about something, so I turned the links off," I explained absently. Seriously, to feel that at this distance... There was one room per floor of this tower, and I knew Applejack and Rainbow were under us. That meant Pinkie sensed that through a good twenty meters and two solid barriers. The pink one exhaled gently, and I 'felt' her nod as easily as if she were in the room with me. It was beyond weird to 'see' somepony without actually seeing them. "I'm glad they're okay! I've been worried about you three since estrus. They were really, and I mean, really torn up about it all, and you got really sad. I don't like it when my friends are upset or sad," she revealed. I smiled to myself, but knew she felt it anyway and nodded. "Thanks, Pinkie. Really, you're an amazing friend," I thanked. Honestly, she'd 'only' poisoned me and dunked me in acid. Comparatively speaking, that wasn't that bad. She giggled at my reference and nodded again, giving me another shiver down the spine. "You're a super, duper, awesome friend, too! I'm glad things are getting patched up now. Oh, and I'm really glad Fluttershy's been getting more comfy with you! She really cares for you, and I know that letting you closer has helped both of you! The adorable and happy feelings you two share through the link is amazing!" she squeaked out, sounding ecstatic. I chuckled, then coughed slightly and frowned. Wait... "Uh, how much exactly can you, um, feel down those links, Pinkie?" I inquired, a bit concerned suddenly. Louder giggling was followed with, "Oooh, lots! Like that thing where she uses her tongue to-" Nope! Pinkie's link turned off in an instant, and disappeared to echoing laughter from the pink mare, who was undoubtedly getting a kick out of my misery over it. That better have been a prank... Brat! Groaning out, I shuddered and just rolled over onto my side, not wanting to think about that aspect at all. Damn it! Staring into the dark, I sighed tiredly, the soft voices whispering through the wall next to me, revealing only the fact that they were still talking. Heh. At least that meant they weren't rutting each other. Chuckling mentally at the somewhat bitter thought, I relaxed and closed my eyes, head still swimming with a chaotic blur of thoughts. I have no idea how long I lay there, wishing that the night would just be over and I could get on with tomorrow. It came out of nowhere, and I gave a start of surprise. A ping, but not from my 'network'. Fainter, and slower. I knew who it was instantly by it being the only one of its kind. Keela... Falling into myself, I opened my eyes in my own three-dimensional space and turned the link on. Nothing happened, only silence on the other end. Listening closer, I heard a quiet breathing, barely audible, and relaxed, resting there and waiting. Seconds passed in silence before I heard a light sniff, and then she whined lightly. "I... I'm sorry, Mender. I'm sorry," she whispered, voice barely there. I swallowed uneasily, and pinged her back twice. There was a slight hesitation, before I felt her tail lift up and gently push the ‘on’ button on the stabilization unit that was apparently next to her. She'd anticipated me, or used her magic to guess at probability, being the leading divination specialist before everything went to hell. My form faded in next to her in a heartbeat, the book that suddenly found itself at my side humming to life with immense inner power. The room was her bedroom, and slightly messier than the last few vague shots I got of it based off proximity to her, and my very brief sojourn on the train here. It looked like it had been searched, from a professional standpoint. Based on our last interaction, probably to get any weapons away from her. Keela herself looked worse than the room did. Her eyes were bloodshot, fur and hair messy and matted in a few spots, and her whole tiny frame shook as she stayed tucked into a ball with her face in her knees, leaning against the wall next to her bed. There were no accessories in her hair this time, and it hung loosely to her shoulders. Further, she wore nothing but her underwear, the rest probably removed so she couldn't conceal any weapons until her condition improved. Her eyes told me she wasn't going to try, however. "I'm... I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, Mender," she apologized again, making it sound more like begging than anything. Slowly, I walked up to her instead and sat down in front of her, frowning. A burden. She felt she was a burden on me. On all of Equestria. That feeling I could sympathize with. "Keela... I think I know what you're feeling, but we need to talk. We needed to talk before it came to you trying to kill yourself," I explained gently. She winced and shuddered a second later, but didn't look away. No, I'd learned my lesson. No good came from running away from or skirting issues. Nodding to her, I continued with, "But first, I need you to promise something. If you ever feel doubt, or fear, or loneliness, tug at that connection inside of you first. You're not alone, and don't need to act like you are," I requested. She stared at me for a moment, tears sliding down her cheeks still, but nodded regardless. "I'm sorry, Mender. It's all falling apart and I didn't know what to do and... I thought I could at least be useful to, and help someone else if I, um, got rid of the link," she whispered, eyes softening and looking down again. I clicked with my tongue and she shuddered, forcing her gaze back up to me as I nodded gently to her. "Relax, Keela. I'm only upset that you think you mean so little to me. Calm down and take a deep breath. What's wrong?" I asked, realizing it was probably more than her sister being psychotic. The Keldarian exhaled slowly and nodded, looking a bit more focused, if nothing else. "I'm lost and confused. I've never led anything bigger than a short survey operation, and everyone is looking to me for leadership and important decisions. I've tried everything I can think of to be fair and keep us all alive, but... I can't do this. I'm not a leader, and I'm just going to get us all killed," she groaned out, sinking into her knees again. "Keela, you're a strong individual. You don't give yourself enough credit. What exactly is wrong that you think you can't handle? You've been doing amazingly well so far, and I doubt this will be any different," I pointed out, turning and sitting down next to her instead. She was as riddled with self-doubt as I was. It was strange how my own flaw put me in a unique position to at least cheer her up. She sighed, sliding her finger down her leg before unfurling and stretching out instead, giving me a tired stare. "Where to begin? This mining rig is falling apart at the seams, for one. Without parts and proper repairs, we have maybe a week, tops, before larger ruptures hit," she started, shuddering afterwards. "Larger?" I asked, raising an eyebrow towards her curiously. "There was a breach this morning in one of the emergency air ducts. It blew off one of the extra compressed air tanks and exploded, taking out one of our rotary engines," she revealed. I sighed weakly, biting my tongue as to not mention the merits of making sure things were sealed properly when working with anything 'compressed'. "Isn't there anypony doing maintenance?" I asked instead, switching to a skeptical expression. Keela smiled to herself and shook her head, returning, "No, there isn't 'anypony' doing maintenance. We have one male who's good at electrical work, but that only covers a fraction of the repairs that are needed. He tries, but... I'm not going to ask him to do anything risky," she refuted. "Not asking you to. I'll show you how to make any repairs you need to this thing if you can get the parts. Rim systems. Look for abandoned or forgotten celestial bodies and scan for debris. Any parts will work, or even raw metal if you can find it," I suggested, considering it for a moment. Keela stared at me in surprise, a blank look on her face before she slipped up to her feet and grabbed her personal organizer off her bed stand. "I didn't think about looting. The Grosh do leave a lot of stuff behind. It might be possible to reclaim some of it. You... You'd really do that for us?" she asked softly, turning to look at me with a hesitant expression. "I'm not going to let you all die, no. Relax, Keela. I'm an engineer, and I can at least instruct, even if I don't have a body to fix it myself. Get me a diagnostics panel, and I'll start tossing up notes," I requested, nudging my muzzle towards the nearby console. Keela grinned and nodded, carrying the organizer over and accessing the keypad on the computer. She snapped her fingers a second later and a second stool lifted into the air from the other side of the room and drifted over. I hopped up on it and accessed the damage reports out of pure instinct. I'd done this before, thousands of times, I realized instantly. "This is a mess," I reported blankly, a half a minute later. Most of the reports weren't about damaged areas so much as upkeep or restoration work that they didn't know how to do. She nodded idly while watching me, and then widened her eyes as my left hoof faded into a few hundred tiny tentacles instead, and they started rapidly flicking across her keyboard. One by one, I threw notes and small diagrams into the system, attached to every single flagged damage report that was logged. None of the information was mine, of course. 'He' knew how to fix all of it, and I just let his memories guide the notes. Keela just watched the process with no small amount of awe as I let them write themselves, for the most part. Five minutes later, a hundred and fifteen notes were added into the system, covering eighty-seven percent of the damage reports. I halted and frowned, my proximity sensors going off, and then indicating physical contact on the other side. Damn it. Of course, now they had to finish. "Other side?" Keela asked, smiling lightly as she saved my progress so far. "Yeah. I guess Twilight and Fluttershy are done talking and want my attention again," I muttered, frowning as I shifted my hoof back. "Relax, Mender. You've given us enough repairs to keep us busy for a week, and saved our butts, big time! Go back to your mares," she assured, obviously just trying to placate me, but I knew she meant well. Sighing, I nodded and hopped off the chair again, starting to turn to look at her. Instead, two furred arms lightly wrapped over my shoulders, and she hugged me gently from behind. There was a bit of shakiness to her still, and I felt her squeeze lightly. "Thank you, Mender. Really. Not just for the notes but, um, just for keeping me company and being my friend. I have no idea what I'm doing and, um... Well, it probably would sound a bit weird, but... What would you say if I asked you to sorta take over?" she inquired timidly. I froze, and then slowly turned around to look at her with wide eyes. She grinned sheepishly towards me instead, and nodded. "I'd say... 'You're doing a fine job yourself, and shouldn't try to pass on important management positions to extra-dimensional entities.'?" I offered weakly. Of course, she started to laugh... Chapter 91It was amazingly similar to where I was before. There was confusion, though. I couldn't quite remember who I was. No, I did, but I couldn't honestly decide which I was. There was a conflict. My head hurt, and I could barely breathe as my thoughts swirled around in a jumble, thousands of voices whispering in my head. Which one was mine?! Regardless, there was a lot that I remembered now. I floated in white nothingness, a photo negative of where I'd been before. It was so white I felt blinded by the absolute light all around me. I squinted, then realized I couldn't really even see myself through the searing brightness. Her forelegs wrapped around me, and I felt an old connection open up again that I'd forgotten I had. My eyes opened, things not seeming quite so bright now as I looked partially back over my shoulder. A smile danced across her muzzle. "Mender. Moon Mender. That's your name now," she reminded, holding me tight. It felt like her forelegs held off the crushing weight all around me, and I could breathe again, with some effort. Frowning, I shook my head. No, that wasn't how it was supposed to work. "That was the name I came up with. Aren't... You're supposed to name me. You, Dad, and my other mother," I declared, not quite sure if it was really 'law' or not, but it felt right. She smirked, and I paused. My memories came back slowly. Wait, no, something was added. The soft light of dusk came through the window. Twilight gave me a warm, happy smile as she spoke, almost thinking out loud as she suggested things. "He's very good at fixing things, both mechanical and involving ponies' feelings. Repairing? No. Too forced. Fixing? Hmm, no. A little too literal..." She trailed off, considering it for a moment. My mother, meanwhile, drifted behind her before swatting her in the head. It didn't do anything, of course, her almost white hoof passing through Twilight with no effect whatsoever. "No, I said Mender! Moon Mender! We already decided on it after I talked to the rest of our herd," she hissed, almost shouting it into Twilight's ear before crossing her forelegs and giving a pout. She brushed her mane back out of her eyes, it filtering the light dancing through the window. For a moment, I almost saw the color, realizing the blue was my own coat tint, or at least very close to it. I'd heard it, however, on some level. Maybe just the faintest whisper even, and I smiled shyly. "Mend?" I offered, looking back at the pretty mare. She grinned, of course. "Moon Mender," she spoke out loud. Spike cheered, and I smiled. It was so long ago, it felt like. I'd heard it, however. She smiled softly now, the mirth faded from her expression. Mother. "We named you. It's not easy trying to communicate with someone I don't have a link with, you know. But no, we gave Twilight that name. She's a very sensitive unicorn, although for good reason," she explained, more 'real' now as I relaxed back into her soft chest. She seemed perfectly happy to stay right here, holding me. I imagined she didn't get the chance very often, especially after I'd forgotten I had the link. "Good reason?" I asked, finding myself mildly curious, above and beyond wondering where I was. Mom just smiled even wider, though, and I remembered yet another instance, this time a bit closer in my memories. It was a reunion, I think. She grinned, golden brown mane bobbing as she tossed up her hoof in a salute as I passed. She was a strange one. But no, it was different. Mom floated along next to me, and I remembered she'd held me when they were talking about my other self. I had felt strangely calm, even without knowing the source. Snapshot was strange, too. Mom had given her weird looks with a raised eyebrow. No, not strange, really. She was strange enough without losing the meaning of the word. She didn't show up right. Every grin she did, every little movement, every laugh or squeal or gasp... There was no vibration that matched it. Despite being so animate, happy, and energetic, there was nothing mirroring it on the inside. She either held it all in extremely carefully and was on guard every waking second I'd seen her, or there was really nothing there, and it was all an act. Strange. Yeah, I guess it still fit. Mom was more interested in my mates, of course. Well, future mate in Twilight, as we technically hadn't 'mated' yet, but that's just arguing semantics. Gem loved Fluttershy, of course, gleeful in what she declared to be amazing chances of getting grandfoals from her. I couldn't argue, really, as Fluttershy did strike me as making a really good mother. She liked Twilight, too, but I vaguely remembered her spending a lot of time kicking her in the head for one reason or another. Heh. This time, she was poking her instead, which I estimated to be a slight improvement. Twilight didn't notice, of course. Why was she poking...? Wait, no, I remembered now. Wait, what?! I didn't see them at the time. Mom wasn't poking Twilight, but playing with faint wings that were on Twilight's back. They weren't fully there yet, the wall showing through the other side of them as we walked towards the Royal Dining Room. Pinkie had insisted, if I recall. No, I was getting distracted. Why did Twilight have wings? I hadn't asked that. Mom did. Tia smiled, but didn't smile at the same time. Only part of her smiled. How did she do that? No, I already knew. Alicorn were Ancients. Ancients existed on multiple layers at once. "Twilight's changing. I've only seen it once before, and this time, I've been guiding it. Last time it almost killed the mare, but... no, not again," Tia spoke, but didn't speak. Only Mom, and now I, heard her. "Oh, right. That new Alicorn. What was her name? Cadbury?" Mom asked, scratching under her chin lightly as she considered it. I decided her goof was probably intentional. Tia smirked, then corrected, "Cadance, and yes. She used to be a pegasus, but due to an extremely rare soul pattern and essentially unique conditions, she somehow triggered the creation of her own Ancient form, then turned into an Alicorn. Twilight possesses the same pattern type, but I'm hoping to guide her more gently towards her change, if she decides to take that route." Twilight, become an Alicorn? That was exciting, yet terrifying at the same time. No, I'd just forget it for now. Mom smiled, a light giggle sounding around me as she held me close. "You don't belong here yet, my son. You need to wake up," was spoken out loud, in surprisingly not her voice. Her smile widened as did my eyes, and I looked past her as a darker shape faded out of the light. "Here?" I asked quietly, taking in every detail I could about my father as he walked up, a warmer smile on his face. His coat was bronze, probably where he got his first name from. His mane and tail were almost black, but with an all too familiar silver streak shooting through them. It was a surprise to see him, but less so to see my other mom step in next to him, giving me a more timid smile. Auraprism. She was somewhat shy, although not as bad as Fluttershy. Reserved, and usually soft spoken. Similar to Dad, who was also reserved, but could be very demanding when he needed to be. Usually to protect his loved ones or values. My mother's own feelings and understanding of the two of them came to me at the same time, trying to make up for a lifetime of not knowing either one of them. Auraprism shook her head slowly before admitting, "We're not entirely sure. Once you pass into the Ether, in theory, the only ones that can communicate with you is either a necromancer, or a visiting Ancient. You're not trained in necromancy, nor are you an Alicorn or Draconequus, so we're not sure." Huh. That was either really good, or really bad. Father chuckled before shrugging. "It feels like we're close to Equus. The planet, not the dimension. You're our bridge from the Ether, and we're piggybacking on your mother, who has a link with you. She's linked to your soul, due to the three hundred years she anchored herself to you while you slept, I imagine," he reasoned, somehow managing to sound completely sure of himself despite intentionally admitting that it was just a theory. I attributed it to experience. Still... I stared at him, eyes softening. For a moment, he got a confused expression to his face, slowly turning to look at me fully with his amber eyes that mirrored my own. Mom rolled her eyes, and my other mom just giggled to herself before reminding, "Dear, this is the first time Mender's met either of us." He looked momentarily surprised, but Gem rested into my left side, nuzzling me gently. I relaxed, feeling safe here as she smiled. "You lost out on interacting with any of us, and it's not fair. But maybe you lucked out in other ways?" she suggested softly, eyes opening as she looked into my own. Lucked out? Aura nodded, looking away from Bastion as she sat down, watching me. "She's right. Such a strong link normally isn't possible. It's why we're here right now, even though you're still alive, Mender. You're not dead," she revealed. My eyes widened a little. Seeing all of them here like this... How could I not believe that I hadn't made it? Bastion smirked at that, then remarked, "He really does jump to conclusions fast. You were right, Gem." Hey! My ears flattened back as I momentarily glared at him, getting a wider grin in return. "Seeing my parents, floating in white cliché nothingness, getting flashbacks from my exceedingly brief life... What was I supposed to believe?" I defended, flailing at him in frustration. Aura giggled at that, of course, while Gem whistled innocently. "He even does her flailing routine. Heh. You have both of them in you," the white and green mare complimented. Her coat was truly white, so much so that she almost blended in with the background lights. Her mane wasn't too far off from her distant descendant who shared part of her name, but much, much lighter in color. The pictures also didn't do her eyes justice, which were a rather brilliant teal color, maybe a couple shades lighter than Fluttershy's. Huh. Her personality sort of matched, too, although Fluttershy still beat her several fold in shyness. But she cheated, having that in her name even! She looked surprised when I smiled to her, then pointed out, "Don't sell yourself short either. You're also my Mom, no?" She surprised me by blushing at that, and then I was surprised when Bastion made a stomping motion with his right forehoof, then grinned. "See?! I told you, Aura. Mender was going to accept you just fine," he teased, causing her to flush more and shrink a little. Smiling, I gave her smaller form a soft hug, and she relaxed a moment later, resting her left cheek against my shoulder. "You earned your biological mom's sense of justice and drive, though. I'm glad for that," she admitted, smiling up at me as I tilted my head. Gem wiggled her ears and coughed awkwardly, and Bastion just shrugged. "She was the best of us," he admitted, before furthering, "She fell through the portal before she could tell us about copying pretty much all of our group's secrets into her journal. And now, fittingly, our son knows every single one of our secrets. I wish she'd told us, but... Now I understand it was the right thing to do." The final part came out as a whisper, and Gem's ears flattened down a little, looking over at him, but he shook his head and held a hoof up to her. "I forgave you already, even though I didn't need to. You were right. Look at what BEID has become now, trying to keep all of their secrets from the populace. Mender... Son," he offered softly. I perked, looking back at him as he fully addressed me. He was so confident in himself sitting there, it felt strange to hear him admitting a wrong so easily. But it only added to that aura of confidence, that he was able to just say he was at fault. I wasn't exactly anticipating what he said next, though. "Princess Celestia dissolved BEID less than a week after the accident. To us, it felt like she was ordering us to abandon Gem and the foal in her stomach to that horrible place. We could not accept that order. Aura, Ether, and I cut all ties with the Princess and royal court, ignoring all summons and refusing all visits. Going against her direct order, the three of us gathered those who thought the same and reformed BEID in secret. Its mission was to recover our own, and guard our great world against such monstrous places, standing guard for everything we loved when nopony else would. Up until just a month or so ago, we'd failed at both of those counts." His explanation caught me off guard, not realizing that they were the original founders. The level of feeling he had for getting us back was, well, I expected it from what I'd heard, but seeing it right in front of me, I honestly didn’t know what to say to that. He scowled to himself, however, looking downright disgusted for a moment before closing his eyes. "It's pathetic, though," he corrected, followed by, "The very thing we set in motion now becomes one of your biggest problems three hundred years later. They put so much emphasis on guarding against the dimensions that they're losing themselves in the process. They can't even see that you really are a pony, through and through. Your mother shames us, Mender." Eh?! Aura reminded me she was still there by nuzzling my collarbone for a moment, looking sad. "He's right. Gem looked over you and guarded you faithfully for three hundred years, despite how much it hurt her. She loves you. And look at all we've done for you both. We lashed out in petty spite at Princess Celestia despite it hurting her gravely, just because she was the only target we had. You couldn't even meet us for three hundred years, and the first thing we cause is to get you attacked and slandered by the very organization we created," she explained, looking up into my eyes again. I didn't know what to say. Three hundred years of pain was a very, very long time. This close, I could feel the immense oceans of regret from both of them that would take a long time to drain off. I rested my head on top of hers and let her shiver against me as Gem hugged me from behind. Finally, she reminded, "You're both just ponies. You have feelings and needs just like Mender and I. Maybe you didn't make the best of choices, but thankfully, there's always time, and now opportunities, to fix them. I talked to Princess Celestia, and she feels deep remorse over what happened. Reach out to her." I got the distinct impression this wasn't the first time Mom had suggested that. Dad looked down towards his hooves for a moment and sagged a little. For the first time, I saw the sheer weight of the ages behind his eyes, and he truly looked exhausted. "Gem, I don't think we deserve her forgiveness for how we acted. But... There are opportunities, and your link with Mender provides us with an unheard of one," he admitted, looking back up at me. I looked up again as he set his strong hoof down on my shoulder, eyes locking with mine a moment later. "Son, I've done nothing for you your entire life so far. Neither of us have. We've just made things worse for you, our own spite coming back to be your problem instead. But please... Aura and I truly apologize for not being there for you, and for causing all of this mess in the first place. If you accept our apology, please, let us help you now that we can," he requested, falling silent to watch me carefully. Closing my eyes, I felt inside myself. No, I knew what hate was. I knew what anger was. Even irritation. There was none of that, and I confirmed the answer I already knew as a light smile came to my muzzle. He tilted his head in a surprisingly familiar way, a habit I hadn't realized I'd copied. Heh. Instead, he froze up as I just leaned forward and hugged him. "No, I can't accept your apology, because you didn't do anything wrong," I replied, feeling him relax a bit and hug me back as Aura's eyes widened to my right. I shook my head, however, and leaned back again before elaborating with, "Your only wrong was wanting to get my mom and me back so badly that you went against your ruler's wishes to try to make that happen. Sure, in hindsight, you might have realized it backfired, but Mom's right. We're just normal ponies who can't predict that sort of thing. If my life has taught me anything so far, it's that the hardest pony to forgive is yourself." They weren't my words, I realized, but Tia possessed immense wisdom she'd garnered over the years. Bastion looked surprised for another long moment before it slowly melted into an uncertain smile. Auraprism was faster to react, however, grinning and pouncing my right side again instead. "You grew up better than any of us, I think. Let us help you, Mender. With our link to Gem, and her link to you, I think we can still talk to you, despite you being, uh, not dead, obviously," she revealed, blinking awkwardly afterwards as Gem snickered. "We want to help you with BEID. Further, I think this 'Dimensional Regulation' has gotten off to a good start, far more so than our organization. We don't want you to face all of this alone," Bastion furthered, nodding to me with a grin as well. Oh! It was my turn to smile and relax, shaking my head. "I won't turn down the help, and I definitely won't turn down a chance to get to know my parents for the first time. But, well, ever since I arrived here, I haven't been alone. Mom looked after me at first, and then I met some very special ponies who I can call my friends," I corrected, my expression softening as I realized how much Gem had done for me. The mare to my left grinned, however, and I felt another one of those familiar "It's a trap!" moments. "Oh, a couple are more than 'friends', we noticed. Barely a month here and you've already got two lovers and a herd! Totally my son!" she chirped. I felt the heat burn into my face, then noticed Aura was almost matching me as she glared at Gem. Bastion just chuckled, however, and shook his head. "Don't worry. We stopped her from watching the intimate bits. Besides, it's natural, no? The three of us had a lot of affection and catching up to do once Gem got back to Equus, too," he reminded. Mom blushed instead, huffing and pouting as she crossed her forelegs, then stuck her tongue out playfully at Bastion. Wow, that was just slightly too much information mixed with surprising levels of Mom being adorable. I was conflicted. Although distraction hit instead as I realized something. Blinking, I looked around, then finding nothing to note, asked, "Wait, if I didn't die, where is here? And what's going on in Equus?" Dad perked at that, then nodded to me. "Astute observation. We're able to view a lot of what goes on in Equus, especially with those we're connected to, such as you. If we're helping you, let that be our first bit of aid," he offered, gesturing to the left. Oh? Raising my eyebrow, I looked to my left, past Mom as the fog slowly parted, a faint image coming into focus. Frowning, I looked a bit closer, then realized it was me in the image! Seeing myself from an outside perspected, I saw all six mares lying around me, completely still as Spike tried to move through them, pulling them into more comfortable positions. "The Princess said she'd be here in ten minutes! We have to see if we can wake them up!" he frantically declared. The view panned over to Auramirror a moment later, who stepped back and forth on her hooves, alternating left and right sides nervously. "This is bad. Really, really bad. They're all fine, but Mender's life signs are all over the place! They all have elevated heart rates, but his life energy is flaring up like crazy," she exclaimed, looking surprisingly concerned for what I had remembered had been about to happen to her before I stopped it all. That's when the lights exploded from above somewhere. My 'view' spun quickly, looking towards the stairs, then barely dodging to the side as the massive rush of rainbow energy shot past. It spun, following the energy as it crashed into me specifically at absurd speeds, contact already being made before the camera even rotated to look back at me. Spike screamed, barely dodging out of the way as he exclaimed, "The Elements of Harmony?!" The jewelry... They were in the upstairs loft! All six mares started to glow, a single color each that comprised of the Elements, I realized. The rainbow radiance exploded out from me into a spinning whirlwind of energy, lifting my body up slowly with it. Each of them either gave a start or gasped as they woke up, but were still frozen in place by the paralyzation effect. Oops. Okay, maybe five minutes delay had been a bit generous of me. Still... My body rose, my own eyes opening even though I didn't recall ever waking up. They were two burning orbs of pure white, however, and suddenly I was rather glad I was unconscious through that. Instead, an unearthly scream I barely recognized as my own voice echoed out as my body started thrashing inside of the light. My chest literally exploded, three tentacles ripping out of my skin in a small spray of blood. To my surprise, they hauled a rapidly petrified CPU Core out of my body, violently throwing it away from me as some of the rainbow light followed it into the air, finishing turning it stone, and not in the gentle way. Sharp ruptures and fractures split across the surface of it as it rotated through the air, several spikes exploding out and destroying the core from within. Despite it exiting my body and my tentacles rapidly retreating, the energy descended upon me still. There was a huge flash of light, and my screaming ended abruptly, drops of my blood landing all over the place as the energy whipped it into the air like some macabre fountain. The miniature tornado crushed inwards and was gone just as the flare of energy ceased. A dull thud resounded through the now eerily silent library as my petrified form landed abruptly on the wooden floor. I stared at the image in shock. The stupid things had turned me to stone?! What the hell?! My eyes softened as the still petrified Fluttershy started slowly writhing and crying, looking at me stuck there, and Rainbow started almost thrashing against her own body. All six of them were stuck there watching me for however long it was before that last order I sent was executed, I realized. They were stuck, unable to do anything. The image faded, and Gem hugged me again, giving me a squeeze. "I followed you, of course. I was the camera in the vision, and came back to Equus when we all felt the disturbance caused by that Keldarian," she explained softly, kissing me on the chest. Bastion nodded, now next to me on my right as Aura held me from behind. He added, "Once whatever was paralyzing them ended a few minutes later, Fluttershy was hysterical. Twilight was panicked, but the Princess arrived soon after that. Apparently Spike sent the letter like Twilight asked. She thought it too risky to unpetrify you in the library, however. They didn't know if ejecting the core had gotten rid of that influence, and your sudden ability to control the Elements of Harmony was worrisome for her." Well, okay, I couldn't fault her for that. It's what I would have done. "What happened, then? Where am I now? How much time has passed?" I asked, staring at the reforming image. They had my form covered in a tarp carefully exiting what appeared to be a train. I was on rollers, probably significantly heavier than normal, I realized. A distraught Rainbow Dash and angry Applejack pulled me, heading down a familiar looking cobblestone street. A few nearby ponies gave the group confused, slightly worried stares as the Princess lead them along, several other royal guards to each side to keep ponies clear of the path. It was Canterlot. The view shifted to inside of the palace less than a heartbeat later, sinking through the floor of the throne room to a large, circular chamber below. It halted, almost ten meters away from me this time, a statue frozen in the midst of what looked to be pure agony, a large chunk of my chest missing still. "It's the casting chamber under the palace. It's only used for experiments that are deemed risky, like spells that are being prototyped or new alchemy formulas with sensitive ingredients. I couldn't even get any closer than that," Gem explained, filling in narration for the scene. Fluttershy and Applejack rested outside of the barriers, the yellow mare looking miserable and the orange one rubbing her shoulders gently. Rainbow was stomping about in the background looking generally pissed off, and Twilight was talking to Princess Celestia, gesturing to the circle. "Are you sure we need to wait? What if this is having some sort of bad effect on him?! The only one who was petrified for a prolonged time like this was Discord, and he's an Ancient," she pointed out, sounding more than a bit concerned. I felt myself warm up a little as I listened to Twilight worry about me. Tia shook her head sadly, though, and then promised, "It's a couple days at most, Twilight. The specialists are coming in from multiple locations around Equestria to protect both you six, and Mender himself if that entity isn't gone. We need to be prepared." Wow. I was kind of honored that I warranted such a large scale 'rescue' attempt, just in case that monster had lived. Of course, I knew he hadn't at this point. Actually, if anything, his death was actually overkill. He'd been cut into three pieces physically, mentally tormented until his psyche split itself into two fighting over his own guilt, got the evil portion of his psyche blasted by the Elements of Harmony, got what was left ripped apart by a billion angry spirits wanting revenge, then had any vague bits that might have still existed nuked by the Elements yet again. Of course, that last one had hit Malice and me as well, but it was a comfort to know how thorough the Elements were in purging evil. Maybe a bit too thorough, but eh. Who was I to say I wasn't at least a bit evil? I didn't think any normal pony, of which I definitely was, didn't have a bit of darkness to them. Rainbow flailed, then screamed something out at Tia, but the sound and video faded away after that. Instead, it snapped back to the six of them, all watching carefully in a loose circle around me, just barely two meters in each direction. Tia gave a nod on the sidelines, and all six of them closed their eyes, the gems they wore starting to glow and pulse. A moment later, I glowed softly, radiating out energy before it dispersed, suddenly leaving me in my familiar azure fur and rapidly closing amber eyes. The large hole in my chest splattered out blood as I just fell sideways like a sack of potatos, including anticlimactic thud sound. Fluttershy cried out and rushed to me almost immediately, followed by Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow an instant later. The paramedic team rushed in from the other side, apparently ready to do with bandages and a full trauma kit. Redheart, interestingly enough, led the charge... The picture faded again as Bastion shrugged, pointing out, "Nothing was found inside of you except for you. The petrified core is a Computer Core in shape only as well. They discovered it was completely hollow, the magic of the Elements only petrifying the casing for it. They shredded the inside, then set it on fire. Uh, I hope that wasn't important to you." I blinked, then decided that they were definitely overkill. "No, thankfully I can grow a new one, this time without the fragmented soul of the evil parts of a madman," I assured, huffing at that. Was the fire really needed after dicing it? Gem snickered at that and rested against my left side, and I heard Aura giggle behind me, massaging my back. "Regardless, they treated you first and foremost, then the Bastion Guard and Necromancers gave you complete scans," Aura explained gently into my left ear. Eh? My similarly named father smirked at my confusion, then elaborated simply with, "The Royal Bastion Guard, Royal Air Force, and Royal Guard make up the defensive forces of Equestria. The Bastion Guard are the unicorns." Oh. Well, the three phenotypes could specialize into unique things, so it made sense to split up their training and whatnot. I made a mental note to suggest that to Shining for DReg as well. "So I'm all clean, then?" I asked, watching as the image shifted to me lying in an unfamiliar hospital room, probably still in Canterlot. The various tubes running into me were familiar anyway, and I exhaled softly. Crap. They had me on life support. How long had I been out? Gem smiled and nodded to me before standing up instead. "Yes, and your chest is completely healed. Redheart made sure you were well taken care of before heading back to Ponyville, so you should thank her!" she chirped, smiling at me. I nodded as I stood as well, Aura and Bastion coming forward and standing to my right. My father nodded gently to me, a soft smile on his face as he assured, "We'll be here whenever you need us, and you can reach us when you dream as well. I know you can pull them in with you, so let us meet your herd soon, too." The request seemed simple enough, and I knew Fluttershy would be delighted to meet my parents, at least. Still... Coughing, I corrected, "Actually, all six of them will probably want to meet you three. Do you mind?" Aura simply smiled softly and shook her head, answering for all of them with, "Of course not, Mender. You're our son, and we want to get to know your friends, too. Plus, maybe it will bring us a step closer to being ready to talk to Princess Celestia again." She softened visibly with that last bit, and I nodded to her. "Tia's a nice pony, but she has a lot of, well, very similar regrets and pains. I think she'd like that," I pointed out, earning a surprised look from both Bastion and Aura. "Told you she told him to call her that. Chill," Gem repeated, smirking at both of them before wrapping her forelegs around my shoulders. "We need to haul you back to your body, though, Mender. I think you've worried everypony enough already," she added. Huh?! "Wait, I'm not in my body?!" I asked in surprise. I thought they said I didn't die! Gem gave a sheepish grin before assuring, "It's just a tiny coma. Relax! I can fix this... Here we go!" Wait, what?! I didn't have time to argue further as she hauled me backwards in a flare of light, my dad starting to laugh behind me. Damn it! * * * * * Note to self, when ponies become spirits, they develop a remarkable lack of empathy for normal mortal concerns. Like the difference between being 'dead' and 'technically dead'. Apparently those are a gray area, and allowed to be completely synonymous once you're 'actually dead'. Bleh. Waking up was about as pleasant as usual after a long term hospital visit. After I had become partly, or mostly, cybernetic, I thought I'd be cutting down on these, but I guess 'fate' conspired against me. I'd have to talk to Auramirror about that after this. Maybe she knew a way to get rid of a few billion potentially hostile spirits? Regardless, I woke up with an immensely dry mouth, nasal congestion, and an incredible stiffness to every single muscle in my body, including my eyes. At least, this time I both checked for and deflated the catheter before 'removing' it. Oh, and I didn't remove it by jumping out of bed this time either. Fun times. The IVs came next, and were less fun to remove, but at least my first aid training paid off. Pity I kept having to use it on myself. I was both comforted and saddened by the fact that the holes in me sealed up almost immediately. Just one more reminder. But no, this was different, wasn't it? Yeah. I was me, this time. Everything was back, and I looked back into my own file systems. As I had wondered, there was no video. It had never been a video, and I hadn't been 'repairing' any of it. They were my own memories, and I had been using some convenient way to block them out and move them out of mind this whole time. To pretend that I hadn't killed and eaten my mother-figure after being turned into a weapon of mass destruction. To try to forget that I broke my promise and left Keela behind. But I had indeed seen her again, hadn't I? I couldn't decide if that was a kindness, or some ironic hell I was being forced to live, now. My eyes stared blankly ahead as I lay in the hospital bed feeling empty of pretty much everything. I was Azure. I was also Moon Mender. I'd favor and use the name Moon Mender now because that's what my parents had named me. There was no disconnect there, though. There was no clear spot where his memories ended and mine began. I was him. He was me. We were the same pony. They were my memories that I remembered, and now I'd probably answer to Azure as easily as Moon Mender. They came as easily now as if I'd lived it myself, which I had, of course. I'd only forgotten. Memories. Every time I got some back, it hurt a little more. And now that I'd gotten them all, I had a full scope on how messed up everything in my life was. Adding this month in Equestria to it, I was seven months old. Seven months. Not even a year of life, and I was in an adult body with adult emotions. I was a fully trained spec ops assassin, essentially. Capable of advanced magical powers and survival training tossed in. Why? Because the lady I ate hadn't been 'purified' yet at the start of her project, and thought I might do well having survival and combat skills in an, at the time, unknown world. I... I couldn't fault her for that thinking. She didn't know they didn't need 'warriors' in Equestria, and had already apologized for it. But what's done is done. Plus, like she'd said during that last conversation, she hadn't escaped her past after all. The pings alerted me, snapping me out of the dark haze. They weren't active. Ping 'logs', I should say. I could view logs now. Right. With him gone, there was no other user left on my system that could share access privileges, and now I was in absolute, ultimate control of all of my fancy systems. Lucky me. I opened the display, and forty-three instances showed up. Oh... Maybe a part of her remembered? She had gotten to trust me amazingly fast. She cast a spell that enslaved her soul to mine under penalty of her death if disrupted, which was kinda weird, now that I thought about it. Even the most trusting of individuals might second guess themselves for considering that sort of thing, let alone acting on it. They'd started four days ago, her only pinging three times that day. The next day saw seven pings. Two days ago was thirteen. That left twenty pings since yesterday. She was panicking now. Of course, she had no way of knowing what had happened apart from me just stopping answering. Oops. Exhaling, I wondered if that monster hadn't quite had the power to 'completely' erase their memories. What if they had something similar to me? A subtle sort of suppression. No, wait, that wasn't the monster's power at all. My eyes widened, and the book was there on the bed like I knew it would be when I turned and looked. Purdue still listened to me, and I felt her out carefully. Her response was a mixture of timid and terrified, slowly peeking out from some hole where she had hid herself. Two eyes slowly opened in my mind, and her image faded in over the book, only for my vision. "U-Um, yes, Master?" she stuttered out, looking like she might pass out completely if I even raised my voice. "Purdue, you know you can call me either Mender, or brother," I reminded, smiling softly to her. If that monster had been her last owner, everything suddenly made so much more sense. He hadn't even known her name. Her eyes widened, mouth hanging limp as it looked like she momentarily couldn't process a reply to that. No, I wasn't him. I had his memories, but they were not mine. I had his training, and his magic, which I willingly took from him. By force, as two occasions had proven. He had deserved getting bucked in the face. This little filly didn't. She felt my own feelings, and I saw her eyes shimmer and start to water. I held my hoof out, and she collided with my chest almost instantly, starting to cry. I just held her there, words not really needed, but her whispering 'sorry' over and over again anyway. "I tried. I tried to stop him, but he knew me. He knew all of my powers and abilities, and had prepared to avoid them," she murmured, answering what I already knew. She looked up, cheeks wet now until I wiped them off, still the only one that could touch her. Shaking my head, I assured, "I already guessed that. It was the only way he surprised you, I know. But he's gone now, and you don't have to worry." Her eyes softened, and she looked into mine for a long moment before nodding. "He... He's gone now. I no longer feel his connection to me. You're now the only one who can command me. I should have warned you about him sooner, though, but I thought he was just some errant bit of code left behind or something," she muttered, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against my chest. I rubbed her back, letting her image slowly fill with her blue and bronze colors now that she felt more at ease. "Purdue, sis, relax. I'm not blaming you, okay? I just wanted to make sure you were okay," I explained, lifting her head up to look at me again. The images she appeared as that day were... Well, I'm just glad they were fake graphical distortions and not something he was actually doing to her. She smiled and shook her head, messy mane flailing about for a moment. "No, he wasn't fully him, and didn't have much power over me at all. That felt like just a part of him, really. All the really bad parts, I think," she muttered, frowning at that. She had known him quite well, I imagined. "I think the real him died that day a month and a half ago. That was more an evil twin, of sorts," I reflected. Although the real him wasn't a saint either, that much I'd seen. He had been driven, and unfettered by almost everything. The only thing that mattered to him was his messed up goal. And I had only gotten in the way. I wasn't even an enemy to him. Just an obstacle. Part of him had refused to admit defeat even after being cut apart and washed away in his own regrets. "She's still a threat," Purdue suddenly warned. My eyes snapped open again, and I gave her a questioning glance, spurring her to continue with, "Nirru. She's not dead. There is a rounded up seventy-three percent chance that she is still a threat to Equus. She wishes she were dead, but she's currently the captive of the Grosh. They're... No, I don't want to predict what they're doing to her." Oh. I shook my head. "Thank you for confirming her fate, but you don't have to go any further than that. Use your powers for yourself, Purdue. They're yours, not mine," I reminded. She gave me a surprisingly cute focused look before nodding twice. "No, I am using them for me. I'm using them for the me who wants to protect you! I'll... I'll only warn you about the really nasty things that I can't stop, don't worry. Apples falling on you, you'll have to deal with yourself," she explained, smiling after. I widened my eyes for a moment, honestly not expecting a joke from the little filly. We both smiled after that, and I held her closer again as she giggled. Yeah, she needed this. If I was going to get my second chance, I was damn well going to try to give her one of her own. After the book was safely back inside of me again, and Purdue cheered up, I sat up fully on the bed and looked down at all the wires against my chest. Ah, right, I was hooked up to an electrocardiogram. That made things a bit trickier, I noted. Glancing up at the beeping noise I'd drowned out until now, I saw it was indeed running just fine, with a little line logging my heart movements. A wire was also coming out of it and running up the wall, then into the ceiling. Crap. No, I was out of excuses anyway. This was a pony hospital in Canterlot, not some limb chop shop run by a Keldarian. Hopefully, I wasn't set to be executed or something for this latest incident. My own dry amusement made pushing the call button easier. Admittedly, the nurse probably would have come faster had I just pulled all the wires off. However, she was in a much better mood when she peeked into the room through the doorway. We locked eyes for a moment, and she hesitated before smiling gently and trotting into the room, a clipboard floating after her, glowing the same color as the green aura around her horn. "Oh, excuse my hesitation, Mister Moon Mender. I was afraid it might be the pink one again to order more room service," she apologized, bowing slightly after coming to a stop. Room service...? No, that didn't really surprise me either. Wait... White coat, aqua mane and tail... Oh, and she was without her reading glasses this time. Oops, she had green eyes instead. I had been close! It was the nurse from the field hospital that had taken care of Rainbow after her wing jet disaster. "Oh, right, my name is Nurse Carejoy, but you can call me Care if you wish, Mister Moon Mender. I'm sorry I didn't, um, recognize who you were earlier at the fair. I'll be your check-out nurse for today," she explained. Recognize? Check-out? I tilted my head slightly, then noted yet again that it was a tick I'd gotten from my dad, but that didn't really bother me. "Checking out? You mean I'm clear to leave? Also, what do you mean recognize?" I asked, head filling with questions already. No, resist bombarding her! "Oh, well Miss Twilight Sparkle is easy enough to recognize, alongside the other Elements of Harmony, but you're rather new to general celebrity status, so I didn't recognize you at first," she explained, doing another small bow. Oh Celestia, I wish I hadn't asked. That explained the formalities, too. Flustering, I flailed my forelegs and rapidly shook my head, and she blinked, taking a step back from me. "No, it's okay. I'm not a 'celebrity'. I'm just Mender, really. Don't add anything to it just because I'm in charge of half of DReg. Um, I thought I'd be staying in the hospital for longer, however," I explained, trying to get her to relax the formal attitude a bit. She eased her posture and smiled, nodding to me afterwards, and I took a breath of relief. "They told me you were down to earth. Um, that's not a play on words or anything!" she exclaimed, eyes widening as she slapped her hooves to her mouth a moment later. Huh? Why would it be a play on... Oh. Earth pony, right. Heh. Snickering, I shook my head again and she relaxed once more, although a few stray hairs stuck out of her mane now. Wow, she was really high stress. Kind of the opposite of Red. "Ah, um, right. No, your healing progress is remarkable. That Zebra potion they gave you worked wonderfully well, although I can definitely see the special situation involved. It's not every day somepony accidentally gets petrified by the Elements of Harmony themselves! Your healing was mostly complete after the second day, and we were just waiting for your mind to rest. Now that you're awake, I can give you a final check up, and clear you for leaving," she furthered, answering quite a bit. Ah, so I was given a 'special Zebra potion', huh? I idly wondered what it really was. High energy pure sugar syrup to boost the hell out of my nanites’ regeneration routines? Back logs showed them working overboard on my chest, which I recognized to have taken a beating when my body spit out the fatally damaged CPU Core. Damage readout showed it obliterated my muscle and dermal layers momentarily, and fractured two ribs on its way out. Exhaling, I slowly inquired instead with, “Petrified?” I didn’t know exactly how much information the nurse was privy to, and didn’t want to reveal any information I wasn’t supposed to. Plus, my mind still felt foggy and it was helping to focus on other things at the moment. She lit her horn up further, setting the clipboard down and lifting the stethoscope up from around her neck. I presented my chest instinctively, and she placed the silver disk to it before admitting, “I don’t really know the details myself. You arrived here six days ago, on the first day of the harvest festival. You were a statue then, and there was something sensitive about your case. Specialists were pulled in from a lot of places before you could be cured. Then you were badly wounded, and they administered alchemical, magical, and medical support to you. You’ve been unconscious for almost four days.” Well, at least I had a timeframe now for myself. The sun was slowly lowering through the window, and I didn’t need Clocky to tell me it was probably close to six in the evening. That meant that eleven or so tonight would have made day four of my coma. Living out six months of my life in four days was disorienting to say the least. That’s when I distinctly realized something. Apart from the nurse, I was alone in the room. I glanced about as she was listening to various spots on my chest, and saw that the room was remarkably bare, little to no sign of passage whatsoever. A few cards rested on the windowsill next to a small pot of flowers, which I took interest in, but there was no sign that the room had been lived in otherwise. I didn’t know what to think, and looked back at the nurse as she was writing on her clipboard. “Um, where are my friends now? The Elements of Harmony?” I asked, not entirely sure what I was expecting her to say. She stopped writing for a moment, then glanced back at me before explaining, “Oh, each of them is rather crucial to the Harvest Moon Fair, and preparations for winter. They stayed for the two days you were petrified, and part of the day after you were cured, but couldn’t for any longer after that, and in your condition, we couldn’t transport you back to Ponyville. We had plans to move you back in a couple days if you hadn’t woken up by then, but obviously that’s not needed now. Oh, and your heart and breathing are perfectly fine.” Oh. Yeah, I don’t know why I’d expected them to stick around. They did have a lot to do in their own lives. Fluttershy and Twilight had been especially busy with the animal hibernation schedule and managing the coordination of the town getting ready for winter. Applejack had her farm to manage with harvests, Pinkie had tons going on with the Fair, Rainbow was surprisingly busy with winter weather moving in, and Rarity had a sudden influx of winter clothing requests, if I remembered right. Closing my eyes, I nodded mostly to myself, and I heard the nurse resume writing. I shivered lightly, realizing that I was mostly alone in a distant town now, with my seven main friends a good distance away. This was the first time I felt mostly by myself since I’d arrived here, and I realized I didn’t even know where I was in Canterlot, only knowing that it was a ‘hospital room’. This wasn’t the clinic that was set up in the castle, that was for sure. The nurse flipped a few more pages in my chart, looking it over once more before nodding to herself, then glancing back up at me with a pleasant smile again. “Everything seems in order. We already tested most of your systems while you were asleep and you’re in amazingly good health after your recovery. Your chest is in good shape now, and you’re cleared to leave,” she assured, nodding twice as if finalizing her statement. I considered it, then frowned, asking, “Um, what about a bill? I don’t think I have any bits on me. How much is all of this going to-“ She interrupted me with a giggle, and I inwardly sighed. “Oh, your bill had come to a couple dozen bits, but Princess Celestia herself already cleared it. You’re something of a special case,” the nurse reminded, confirming exactly what I had predicted, and I sighed fully instead. “All right. Um, thank you for helping me recover,” I added, suddenly uncertain of what I should say, and feeling a little vulnerable. Her smile widened, and the nurse nodded, her aqua mane bobbing in time with her movements as her ears flicked once. “Oh, think nothing of it. I’ll escort you to the exit, as you’ve never been here before. Also, you should take your things,” she suddenly reminded. Oh, right! Trotting over to the window, I looked the cards over. Two were from Pinkie, one wishing me well as soon as physically possible and the other hoping I recovered fully. I wasn’t entirely sure what the difference was, but didn’t think about it too hard. The third was from Octavia, to my surprise, who must have visited me once I was in the hospital. Interestingly enough, she told me to look her up once I woke up, and she wanted to try the visit to her restaurant again, hopefully to actually eat something this time. A smiley face was added after that, and I snickered. The last surprised me even more, being from Twilight’s parents. They wished me well, and told me to visit before I left town. Visiting them without Twilight would be… Well, the only word I could describe for it would be awkward. Retrieving my saddlebags from the foot of the bed, I put all four cards into the left front pouch and turned back to the nurse. Giving a nod, I followed her out of the room and down the hall, swallowing the nervous knot suddenly in my throat. I tried to distract myself instead, looking at the signs and paintings on the wall as we turned down the stair well and hit the ground floor. It didn’t help much, and she stopped and turned, giving me another relaxed nod before nonchalantly walking off to the right, towards what looked like a nurse station. Crap. Looking back to the left after she disappeared, I saw the double doors in front of me, looming ominously as I felt like I was trying to swallow an apple whole. Slowly, I stepped outside of the hospital and looked around. The street was busy, with ponies walking on both sides. They ignored me for the most part, of course, as I was just a normal pony about my own business. Except I had no idea where I was, what I was supposed to be doing, where I had to go, or where I could stay tonight. Well, I knew I could probably find a comfy area in a nearby park to lie down in. I wasn’t afraid to sleep under the stars. Sighing, I looked over the rooftops instead, scanning higher up until I saw the largest landmark possibly available, which was both the continuation of Mount Celestia, and the huge royal castle. Tia would probably want me to check in with her after waking up, regardless. Exhaling, but at least knowing the direction I was supposed to head in order to find someplace familiar, I slowly started towards the huge castle. My thoughts slowly drifted back to Azure, and reviewing my own feelings on everything that had happened. Pinging Keela was set for after talking to Tia, even though I dreaded it. Keela. My feelings played all over the place thinking about her, and I focused instead on just watching my hooves while I walked… Chapter 98My hoof stamped down on another of the sizzling embers, feeling the momentary warmth before it was crushed into the cold earth and drown out. My fur stuck to me in spots, drips sliding off it as they fell from the sky, giving a cold chill to everything. I looked up and nodded to Rainbow as she moved the large cloud along with us on the ground, adjusting it to put out all the errant flames as she went. “So, any clue yet at all?” Applejack asked, walking to my left as she pushed some dirt up and over another pile of embers. Twilight gave a frown, her magic moving and digging further into the warped and scorched roots of the tree, sighing as she worked. “No, there’s nothing present here that could have done that. Seriously, I’m pretty sure the apple exploded,” she reported, looking back up at the orange mare with concern. Applejack frowned at that, then huffed. “Ah ain’t never seen an apple go up in ah giant fireball like that one did,” she defended, sounding frustrated instead. Sighing, I shook my head, however. “I… think it was reacting with my energy, somehow,” I muttered, giving a sigh as I looked up and around at the crater again. It was a good four meters across, and the tree had been reduced to just so many burnt wood fragments from the temperature. The ground was blackened outwards from the crater another three meters, almost, and the trees had caught on fire within that radius. Thankfully Rainbow had a rain cloud over here within less than a minute for damage control. Twilight slapped her right hoof against her left and grinned. I saw it coming, but she quickly announced, “This calls for experimentation! In, uh, a safer area.” The mayor chuckled, still standing far over at the road and giving us a nod. “Yes, a much safer area, preferably. Might I suggest the rodeo grounds, seeing as they packed that up already and it’s a large, open area with just dirt?” she suggested, not losing that unwavering smile still. I, uh, huh. I looked over to Twilight, who looked just as momentarily surprised. Then she shrugged, and just nodded, giving a smile back to the mayor. Oh boy… * * * * * Thirty-two tests so far. I was fairly certain that we’d scared off every possible bit of wildlife, and probably quite a few ponies, in at least a five mile radius by now. So far, the apples had consistently exploded in a one to one ratio. To keep the damage to a minimum, we used various poles and objects to keep the apples up off the ground, to varying degrees of success. We tried a log, which was blown to bits and splintered in flames. We tried a metal pole that was left over from one of the tents. It was blasted into fragments and straight down the center, warped and melted in half. Twilight even got brave and tried floating the apple with magic at a distance. It took ten minutes to help her get rid of the headache, unfortunately. Now we'd resorted to her simply launching the apples into the air, and me stabbing them with the measured out barrier as they reached their apex. So far, the results were weird. As far as we could tell, the apples reacted directly to my energy, but only when I used my magic with it. I could manipulate them directly with my Earth Pony abilities, making the stems grow nicely and the leaves shade a vibrant green color. But the second I put that same energy into forming magic using the Keldarian style, the apple instead became a small thermobaric device, the initial apple explosion sending burning particles in every direction that literally set the air on fire, making an even bigger explosion afterwards! Doing it in smaller bits, with just apple slices, had proven similar, if smaller explosions. It also let us slow down the reaction with lesser amounts of energy so we could actually see what was going on. It was rather impressive. The explosion was actually ‘shaped’ like the apple crescent, even. We didn’t get the real results, however, until we used a full sized apple, and I just lightly ‘poked’ it with an extremely thin barrier ‘bar’ of energy. I’d intentionally disabled the adjustment limiter on the barrier, making so it wouldn’t try to draw in more energy upon getting depleted, as per Twilight’s request, and sure enough, her guess was spot on. The apple literally ‘pulled’ the energy out of the barrier, sucking it up like a straw and into itself. The energy was finally small enough that the apple instead sizzled, then caught fire instead of simply exploding. Twilight continued to take notes, of course. “Okay! So, it takes four ‘units’ of energy to make the apple catch fire,” Twilight repeated, looking over her notes before adding, “And six units compromise the apple entirely.” That meant reduced it to ash instead of a baked and rather tasty treat. Literally, as we’d tried the one after. She continued, however, with, “And anything higher than nine units of energy will cause it to rapidly combust, exploding. Greater than twelve units cause it to explode significantly larger, through the effect that Mender has called a thermobaric reaction. This explosion also causes a shockwave of air pressure from the vacuum the loss of oxygen leaves behind, and is significantly louder.” And more deadly, but I didn’t mention that part. Ponies didn’t appreciate ‘more deadly’ the same as Keldarians did, especially if I mentioned ruptured lungs and inhaling incendiary particles. At least the apples weren’t toxic, and if the explosion and horrible burns were survived, those caught within the blast were treated with the aftertaste of delicious baked apples for a few hours! The ‘unit’ of energy so far was a centimeter wide circular bar of my barrier energy, five centimeters long. That was a ridiculously pathetic amount of energy to be creating the explosions we were dealing with, which meant either apples here had stupidly high concentrations of fluorine, or something strange was going on with the reactions between them and my magic. I was really hoping for option two there. Or, option three, physics hated me. That was always a good choice, too. Twilight continued, of course. "After fifteen units, the explosion actually shrinks a little and gets quieter again, but the wait time before the detonation is exponentially reduced, a sharp asymptotic relationship as it approaches twenty units, heading towards an instantaneous reaction," she murmured to herself, scribbling a few more notes down. That was a given, due to the initial explosion becoming strong enough to annihilate the apple completely, removing the thermobaric component. Rainbow, lounging on her back against my left flank, rolled her eyes, predictably. "Less egghead talk, more explosions! This is like fireworks!" she chirped, grinning backwards and upside down at me after. I chuckled down at her, causing her grin to widen, but Applejack, who was leaning against Rainbow's right flank, thus facing the same way as me with the apple basket in her lap, shook her head. "Explosions or not, Ah feel kinda bad blowin' up all these apples, rotten or no," she mutters, huffing as she looked back down at the basket. I looked down at all of the yellow, brown, and green mottled apples, and nodded lightly. True, they could at least be mulched into fertilizer. At least, that's where she said they were going before, when Twilight asked for more test subjects. The orange mare jumped at sacrificing a basket of rotting apples, however, rather than watching another entire tree of them explode, then set fire to half a dozen more. Twilight waved a hoof absently in her direction, assuring, "This is a worthy cause! Notes on how types of magic interact is always useful, and if we're going to prevent any further random explosions, this could be really important." This time, I was in agreement with her eager drive towards science, at least. Applejack chuckled at that, then finally nodded, scooping another apple out and holding it over in my direction on her right hoof. "Trust me, Ah know that much. What's tha experiment this time?" she asked, glancing over at Twilight. The lavender mare looked over her notes for a few seconds, then levitated the apple up and consulted her notes. "We have just about everything well documented now. Rate of energy intake, explosive radius, energy output to input ratio..." she murmured, flipping back a few pages in her copious amounts of notes. I looked back at Rainbow for a moment, raising an eyebrow. She perked, of course, giving me a curious look, but I looked back to Twilight before murmuring, "Fireworks?" She stopped, looking back at me curiously. "Fireworks?" she asked in return. That had Rainbow's attention, and she looked between us, ears flicking lightly as I felt her excitement building through the link. I nodded, however. "Thermoberic reactions require oxygen. In theory, that means a twelve unit apple should release significantly less energy and sound the higher up it is in the atmosphere," I suggested. The lavender mare perked at that, then quickly switched over to her most recent notes page. "Ah, true! You said that the thermobaric reaction was the incendiary particles expanding out faster into the air than the destruction limitations of the initial point of the explosion. But if there's less air to expand out into, that should, in theory, lesson the effects!" she declared, quickly writing down the next test clause. Dash looked gleeful regardless, however. "Yes! Does that mean it's my turn again?" she asked, grinning as she sat up and made Applejack move forward a bit, shifting back into a sitting position. Twilight gave a nod, telekinetically tossing the apple back towards her and looking back to her notes as Rainbow caught it between her two forehooves, airborne almost instantly. Giving a more tired sigh, I stood again, slowly heading out into the blackened area. The gentle beats of the wings next to me revealed Rainbow following, and she asked, “Same as the last time?” “Yup. Fly upwards until Twilight says stop over the links. I take aim down here, then send you the ready. You drop the apple, then fly away from it horizontally,” I instructed. That got her optimal distance away from the apple while making sure to clear the sudden upwards burst in thermals. She tossed me a salute, apple balancing on one hoof, then grabbed it again and shot upwards with a laugh. I gave a chuckle and started to set up the charge on the ‘launch’ platform, hooking my magic up into my computer’s targeting system. Another handy use for my magic! Looking up, I locked onto Rainbow, the targeting lock focusing onto the apple afterwards as she carried it up, and my link started sending the height reports to Twilight, live. Twilight nodded to me, watching Rainbow ascend rapidly. “We’ll aim for fifteen hundred meters, then. The air should be thinner up that high, and we should see a noticeable difference,” she suggested. Oh. I took my own pressure readings, calculated my current altitude, and added it automatically to Rainbow’s as she went up, causing her to suddenly gain a good hundred and eighty meters onto her total. Ah, much better. Twilight gave a light whistle down the link, and Rainbow slowed to a stop just slightly over fifteen hundred and fifty meters, still holding the apple. She was a speck in the sky for the most part, my eyes rotating and zooming in automatically as she’d gone up. I saw her about as normal, my lock still on the apple, and the thin magical ‘bar’ of shielding lined up with precision with the target. The lavender mare nodded to me, and I nodded back, then sent my own little ping up at her. Half a second later, the pegasus smirked and dropped the apple. Her wings opened up at the same time in a burst of rainbow energy, and she was gone, sideways. I let her easily clear the distance of the apple, my tracking algorithm picking up how fast it was falling, its acceleration, maximum estimated speed, then calculated it against the speed that the rod was going to be going. Then I fired. The ring of energy shot up first, stretching out almost twelve meters up when the rod launched from the elastic energy tethers, firing off like an arrow at exactly one thousand five hundred meters per second. The rod drove itself into the apple a heartbeat later, sinking in seamlessly. The apple started to glow as it fell, reaching just past the fifteen hundred meter mark before flashing in a blast of light. My eyes measured the radius, matching up the distance and calculating out how wide it was as it went off. Twilight looked to me after the flash, and I stayed watching it, picking up all the data before shaking my head. “Significantly sub-par. That detonation didn’t even cause the particles to stay burning. Estimated output similar to six or so units of energy…” I reported. She immediately started scribbling things down, and I activated the orb that still floated on the other side of her, the projection screen displaying the replay of the detonation and all the actual figures. I counted down the seconds as I trotted back over to the others. Rainbow of course made it back first, grin on her muzzle as she zipped in with her fur puffed up from the wind. “That was awesome!” she declared, flapping for a few seconds before settling down next to Applejack, who started chuckling. Sitting down again, I held my hoof up and formed a barrier box over top of our entire group, with about four seconds to spare. A hot apple ‘rain’ started over the whole area, lasting a couple seconds as the almost mist of sizzling apple debris came in. There wasn’t much of it, and it wasn’t terribly hot by the time it got down to us, but I imagined that was a pain to get out of your fur. Tossing the shield behind us after the event had passed, I looked over at Twilight and watched her write up more of her notes. She was dedicated, that was for certain. I slipped up next to her again and looked over her notes, checking her equation in my head, then nodding. She’d broken down the explosions into grades essentially by the amount of energy units we put into it. She’d tried to name the units ‘Mend’s, but agreed to hold off on that, mostly due to my flailing, I think. “I think that’s about everything, given that proves that it takes oxygen to cause some of the ignition process of the larger explosions,” I admitted, looking back up the page of writing she’d had. Dash nodded as she leaned over my head, looking at the writing as well, although with a more skeptical expression. “Probably good. We’ve been out here for over an hour, and the others are probably wondering where we are. Plus, as fun as it is, I don’t like going up that high. Hard to breathe…” she admitted, huffing. My proximity alarms went off for behind me a second later, however. Eyes widening, I turned, releasing Twilight, just in time to see a flying gray blur go over my head. “Aaah! Too fast!” Derpy yelped, sailing in over us carrying a rather large parcel of sorts. Rainbow was gone in a heartbeat, hooking her hooves along the package from underneath and dragging upwards, helping the gray pegasus get it back under control as they spun and finally slowed down. I extended my tentacles out towards them, and Dash set the box down against them, letting me latch onto it with four of them before unhooking it from Derpy’s harness. “We know you’re strong, Derpy, but this parcel is meant for two pegasi. See the extra strap?” Rainbow pointed out, frowning towards the gray pegasus and earning a sheepish grin. “I know! But I couldn’t find anypony else. This is a holiday, after all. The package said urgent, though!” she pointed out, gesturing to the side of it. Looking down at the standard brown package, I immediately noticed the royal seal and raised an eyebrow. I started reading off, “Royal Seal of Canterlot, return address of the palace. Addressed to one Twilight Sparkle, in Ponyvi-“ The lavender mare almost ran me over as she bumped me out of the way and started tearing into the package, of course. “Aaah, it’s the book! It’s the book!” she cheered, ripping through the paper eagerly, a huge grin on her face. I raised an eyebrow, then suddenly remembered what she was talking about. Oh, right, some sort of research notes or something, including a book that Starswirl the Bearded had started but never finished. Ducking a few flying pieces of paper, I was beginning to question why she wasn’t using her magic when she finally got it open. She immediately looked inside, then froze, a more questioning expression shifting over her. I raised an eyebrow before asking, “Not the book?” Her horn lit up, and instead of a book, three plus several note binders came out of the box. The book on the bottom was the largest, a dark brown in color with a bronze binding. Twilight locked onto that one almost instantly, lifting it separate from the others and smiling at the swirled star pattern on the front. Huh. Taking a wild shot in the dark, I was going to guess that had been his Cutie Mark. She set the others down in the grass, eyes widening as she looked over the cover. “No, it’s the book! It’s also all of his research! This is even more amazing than I’d hoped!” she chirped, hugging the book to her chest before dancing around in a happy circle. I smiled towards her, relaxing a little, and Applejack curiously picked up one of the folders that was in the pile next to her, raising an eyebrow. “What exactly does tha Princess intend fer ya ta do with all these?” she asked curiously, glancing back up to smile at the overly excited unicorn. To the farm mare’s credit, she actually got Twilight to slow down in her bouncing as she explained, “Ancients, the Alicorns and Draconequi, have always had issues reproducing. The bulk of them are outside of Equus’ sphere, and they’ve only successfully reproduced four times! At the rate of expansion of Equus, as in the entire dimension, it’s of concern that it will eventually outgrow their ability to manage the realm.” My head started to spin, then I realized that I’d never read that book on the ‘earliest’ histories of Equus. For her part, Applejack also looked a bit overwhelmed, but Rainbow lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “What’s his research have to do with Alicorns and Draconequi not being able to reproduce?” she asked, folding her wings back and crossing her forelegs in front of her. Twilight stopped bouncing and gave the cyan mare a grin, making me realize that Dash would immediately regret that question. “I’m glad you asked!” the lavender unicorn chirped, then explained, “Starswirl the Bearded created and advanced the amniomorphic spells, the first foray into direct genetic manipulation. His advancements in spellcasting has allowed us to eliminate all sorts of genetic diseases and issues! In his later years, he turned his attention to solving the underlying genetic issues that the Ancients faced. Given what happened with Cadance a few years ago, the topic is being… well, revisited.” Ah, so Tia had her best student working on it. Applejack perked at that, however. “Cadance…? Does his research have ta do with what happened ta her? Ah didn’t think anypony really understood that,” she muttered, tilting her head slightly. Oh, right, she ‘ascended’ somehow to become an Alicorn. Oh, and now Tia had targeted Twilight for potentially the same thing, if my sneaky insight from my mother was correct. The lavender unicorn nodded twice at that, then confirmed it with, “Yes, it was a complete mystery. I was the one that suggested considering Starswirl’s work in the matter, but I thought she’d give it to a group of specialists. That was two years ago. Clearing these from the library took some time, I imagine.” She looked down at the notes in front of her, then grinned again and started wiggling. Ah, I could see the appeal. Ancient texts on borderline secret spell information written by a skilled unicorn she obviously looked up to would undoubtedly cause her to get just a little excited. I nodded to that, anyway. “So make more Ancients by turning other creatures into them, rather than more standardized reproduction. I imagine, in light of alternatives, it beats not being able to reproduce at all, even if they are immortal,” I deduced, looking back to Twilight, who nodded twice. “As far as we can tell so far, that appears to be the case. Cadance hasn’t been able to get pregnant yet either, so it looks like the ‘rules’ of her genetics are the same as a normal Alicorn. Although, heh, if Mender’s upgrade is pulled off…” she tacks on, looking over at me with a grin. I felt myself blush, even though it wasn’t even me that was associated directly with the awkward bits. Dash grinned, and I inwardly groaned before she even spoke up. “Stud! I’m sure Shining would love some of your upgrades. Putting a foal in Fluttershy when she was way under the hormone levels like that. Mmm,” she teased, winking to me after. Okay, yup, that one was more personal. I felt my cheeks flare up fully with heat as I glared at her, which of course only fueled her on more. Applejack snorted, then started laughing, but Twilight lifted an eyebrow over at the cyan mare. “Careful Dash, it sounds like you may like it a little too much there,” she teased right back, surprising me enough to drop my jaw and look over at her. Applejack looked surprised, too, but Rainbow just squeaked, turning suddenly red. “W-What?! No way! Getting pregnant would completely ruin my chances of getting into the Wonderbolts!” she quickly defended, not entirely denying it, however. This caused the orange mare next to her to start grinning as well, and Rainbow hopped away from her, scowling. She quickly added, “Don’t you start either! You know you couldn’t harvest apples like that!” The orange mare just snickered, however, and then shrugged. “Eh, Ah plan on bein’ that way at some point in tha future. Ya know there’s magic ta help with that, heh,” she murmured, standing and smirking as she walked slowly towards the pegasus, who was now flailing and almost the same color as her eyes, at least in the cheeks. Rainbow took off running, and Applejack laughed, sprinting off after her. I raised an eyebrow, watching her chase the pegasus around the full circumference of the rodeo area. Blinking after, I looked over to Twilight, who was also skeptically watching. “We get into some really strange conversations, you know?” I suggested after, giving a light chuckle. She smirked at that before replying, “I couldn’t agree more…” * * * * * Giving a little yawn, I rested on my back on the couch, my eyes gently closed. Fluttershy rested next to me, snuggled into my side as we both relaxed. Well, she was on her stomach, but same thing. Everything felt like a rush, as per usual, and I valued these times I could just chill here. The scents of the library were comforting and familiar, and my friends’ scents mingling in with it helped, too, new and old. Derpy had followed us back, and was resting on top of the couch back, above me and tucked up against the wall. To my surprise, Auramirror was still in town, too, and had been waiting for us back at the library. She was in front of me, sitting on the only cushion I wasn’t stretched out over. That had been a bit awkward, regardless. “Really, uncle. Like I said, they fully explained what happened after, and I saw the change in you with my own eyes. I knew it wasn’t you, even if he hadn’t had the courtesy of being right there explaining what he was doing,” she assured yet again. I gave a little sigh, and nodded. Still, he’d tried to force me into forcing her into sex, and no matter how many times we talked about it, I had a feeling it was going to continuously sit wrong with me. At least it had proved a distraction to him, as he somehow didn’t realize that ponies ran on an estrus-based reproductive cycle, and that ‘mating’ was kind of pointless at the time. At least I hoped it was, still looking through my documentation for any paperwork about my own reproductive system. I nodded, opening my eyes to give her an upside down stare for a moment before answering, “I know. It’s just going to take me a while to put all that behind me, is all. Actually, all of this. I think I really could use a vacation.” Spike snickered, sitting next to Twilight and Rarity over by the fireplace. “Haven’t we been saying that for, like, two weeks?” he reminded, grinning over at me. Twilight didn’t move an inch, staring engrossed into her book instead with a soft smile on her face, but Rarity nodded on the other side of him, turning from the fire to give me a warmer smile. “Indeed, Mender! All of us should go on a vacation once winter settles in. Applejack doesn’t have nearly the workload during the winter, and my own clientele dwindles as well, so we could all spare at least a week and travel somewhere nice and warm,” she assured, nodding twice after. I shrugged to that, looking over momentarily as Pinkie and Applejack came in from the kitchen, the former carrying a large tray of sugar cookies, and the latter carrying a slightly smaller tray filled with what looked like mugs of hot cocoa. Wait, why did we leave it to the two without any magical abilities, extra carrying surfaces, or outright clawed hands to carry the trays filled with treats? They didn’t have any issues with it, of course, Applejack simply lowering and sliding the tray out onto the coffee table with a light nudge from her, not spilling a drop. Pinkie landed on her back a moment later from a backflip, grinning down at her. She smirked up at the pink mare, and I blinked, momentarily wondering where the cookies had gone, seconds before they fell from the ceiling and landed perfectly fine next to the tray of drinks. Nope. Not even going there this time. I shook my head after, then muttered, “Admittedly, I don’t really even need to go anywhere. I think I’d just love a few dozen quiet days relaxing with everypony here, and just absorbing that whole ‘not doing anything’ thing.” Like stopping alien invaders, discovering horrifying truths about myself, discovering how much I hated apples, and other such lovely things. I didn’t even care anymore. All I wanted to do was be able to fall asleep and stay that way for a good fourteen or fifteen hours, at this point. Although the barracks and guard training area wouldn’t be set up until next week, so… tempting. I smiled to myself, but Applejack just snickered and nodded. “Ah agree. Ah think we all could use ah bit o’ ah break at this point. Once tha snow hits, we can really hibernate an’ just rest up,” she assured, sitting down next to the couch all of half a meter from me, and laying her head down on the cushion to stare at me staring back at her. At least until Rainbow drifted in from the bathroom upstairs, flopping onto her back. “Hey, I’ll be the first to tell ya that napping is super important, even for an amazing athlete like me. If you don’t get the rest your body needs, everything just kinda shuts down!” she warned, wings fluttering for a moment before giving me a wink and grin. Minus the bit of self-glorification there, she was probably right. Nopony doubted she was a good athlete. Aura snickered to the other side of her. “I don’t think anypony is doubting that, Rainbow. Looking at his energy levels, I think he’s about ready to go to sleep right now,” she pointed out, giving a softer giggle after. Derpy gave off a particularly loud snore, with almost perfect timing, and I chuckled to myself. “Yeah, I don’t know how getting turned to stone works, but it felt like it seriously knocked the energy out of me. Or maybe it was the ‘living through six weeks of life in three days’ bit? Sleeping for normal that night felt amazing, and I don’t think I’m fully recovered yet,” I warned, closing my eyes again. Fluttershy nuzzled into my side, giving a sleepy murmur herself before assuring, “Well, you just sleep as long as you need to! All day tomorrow if you have to! Oh, between potty and food breaks, of course. Twilight and I will make sure nothing wakes you up,” she chirped, managing to ooze affection from her voice that made me blush. Instinctively, I tilted my head over and gave her a small nuzzle and kiss, smiling against her lips as she kissed back. She broke the kiss a moment later, softer teal eyes looking into mine and our noses touching as she started to giggle again. Aura gave us a smile in my peripheral vision, but I didn't pay any mind, letting myself get lost in Fluttershy's gaze. Aura had congratulated us almost instantly, apparently having 'forgotten' to last time we talked, which meant she knew for almost a week longer than we did that Fluttershy was pregnant. I was almost a little jealous of her and her necromancer training. Although honestly, 'spiritmancer' seemed more accurate. Eh, whatever. Apparently having had enough waiting, Pinkie then announced, "We have sugar cookies and hot chocolate, everypony! Come get some!" I gave a start at the sudden voice, and Derpy murmured in her sleep, then immediately fell off the couch, landing on my chest with a dull flop. I raised an eyebrow over to Pinkie, but my niece stirred and yawned, rolling over then taking to the air again. "Sorry, uncle. I fell," she murmured, giving me a sleepy look downwards as she hovered there. I chuckled and nodded, assuring, "I noticed. You should at least have a cookie and cup of cocoa now that you're up, though." She gave a smile and nod, drifting sideways until she hovered down and landed next to the tray. The energetic pink one had set a cup down on the floor already, whipping it sideways with her hoof. To my surprise, Twilight's horn lit up as it slid in, and it slowed down and drifted up for her to sip at it gently. "Thanks Pinkie," she tacked on after. Was I doomed to start considering Pinkie's antics as just part of every day life, at some point in the future? Of course, I'd already accepted her defying of gravity to be normal! It had started to happen without me even realizing it! “No problem!” the pink mare chirped, then started delivering cups about to others as well. I took my own, taking a sip of the hot fluid and shivering at the chocolate taste as it slid down my tongue. Admittedly, I was perfectly content with moments like this. It was a good example of exactly what I was looking for in my vacation. Well, maybe not exactly, but pretty close. Twilight was halfway through her first sip when she perked up suddenly, looking over the page, and then frowning as she quickly looked back to her notes. I raised an eyebrow, and Fluttershy traced my line of sight back over to Twilight as well. The lavender mare sat up, flipping her notes rapidly, then started to grin before finally announcing, “I think I got it!” Oh? Rarity turned and raised an eyebrow towards her, and Spike perked up as well, asking, “Whoa, already? You’ve only been at it for, like, four hours. Didn’t Starswirl spend, like, twenty-five years to come up with all of that?” The unicorn gave out a snicker, then nodded at that. “He’s done amazing research on this. It probably would have taken me just as long to compile and conclude all of this data. He was just… missing the final piece. Now I see why he never cracked it,” she explained, looking the final page over. Oh? Something he never had? Rarity frowned at that before asking, “What exactly is the purpose of, well, whatever this is, exactly?” She gestured with both forehooves towards the mess of notes, both ancient looking and Twilight’s new ones. The lavender unicorn nodded to that, then gestured to the older notes, revealing an anatomical drawing of a pony but with the overlay of the energy systems inside them, and the variances for the different phenotypes. The notes mostly appeared to focus on the ‘heart’ node, which held the ‘Ether’ link. “This is the core of his research,” she explained, sliding the sheet over, then revealing the one behind it had the drawing of an Alicorn instead. The heart node was massive, and a figure was scribbled next to it just like the other drawing. She continued with, “The heard node contains everypony’s link to the Ether, or the dimension of infinite magic that exists behind and alongside our dimension. It’s the same link that pulls us back to the Ether when we pass on. Everypony exists both here, in Equus, and simultaneously in the Ether, where a chunk of their energy is stored, following them along their whole lives, connected by the link.” She looked to me as she was explaining it, probably realizing I’d not read a lot of the fundamental books yet. I nodded regardless, looking back down at the two diagrams. The Alicorn one was a lot more complicated looking. Twilight smiled, then continued with, “The difference between an Ancient and a normal being, when both are in Equus, is with this node. The physical bodies that the Ancients use are exactly like ours, theirs having manifested through their powers, rather than birthed, of course. Unlike us, however, a vast, massive majority of their energy is kept in the Ether, with only a small fraction of their abilities being able to be pulled into Equus itself.” “So tip of the iceberg sort of thing?” I suggested, suppressing my urge to whimper and cry. Tia just ‘felt’ ungodly powerful simply by standing next to her. I’d hate to see her true form and abilities. Maybe that’s the reason they limited themselves so much. That also meant there were a lot more Ancients that were outside of Equus. They were all doing something to help the continued existence of this realm? Rarity smiled and nodded to that, adding, “Yes. The magic they wove that guards Equus from the infinite Ether beyond it prevents too much energy from coming within the bubble. They can’t risk drawing too much energy at once, or the magic may retaliate against it. It’s one of the fundamental rules that govern Equus now. I learned it in school when I was ten.” Oh, so common knowledge. Nodding along with her, Twilight continued after she stopped with, “Starswirl came up with a new form of magic, however, that lets us look right into the genetics of ponies. This revealed a wealth of new information that wasn’t available prior. Including the genetics of Ancients. Princess Celestia asked him to look into the reproduction issues, to possibly see what’s wrong. He found… something else instead.” I looked down at the links, then guessed, “Something to do with the heart node, by the looks of it.” The lavender mare nodded to that, looking down at his notes before explaining further. “What he found, when comparing different genetics, is that there’s a rare strain inside normal ponies of all three phenotypes that actually is remarkably similar to that of an Ancient, in that area. At first, he pursued it out of thinking that they might be closer with being able to reproduce with an Ancient, but that theory fell through. He did, however, study three individuals that had that rare strain. He explained it as… well, sort of a ‘hole’ inside of that heart node,” she detailed, her magic lifting her pencil again and using the tip to gesture to the diagram in the two areas. I looked closer, my eyes rotating the lenses around and zooming in, to note there was a secondary ‘hole’ indeed, drawn towards the lower portion of the node. I frowned at it, and Twilight nodded softly, staring at it for a long moment. She finally looked back up again, over at Rarity before revealing, “It’s a hole that’s close to the source of the link. A pony’s magic. We draw from the surface, but after examining those rare ponies, he realized that if they ever drew from too close to the hole, and lowered their overall magic down to the point where it was ‘uncovered’, he thinks it might release the pressure on it, and start flooding magic from itself into the individual.” Uh, that sounded really, really bad. Applejack agreed apparently, looking momentarily horrified before asking, “Uh, is that as bad as it sounds? That seems ah mite bit unhealthy fer tha pony.” Fluttershy shrank a little against me, seemingly also following along with what my gut told me. The lavender mare blinked at that, then snickered. “Probably not, no. It would let them tap into amazing levels of power and magic, but… they might not be able to ‘close’ the link down after. He speculated that given the right magic to ‘guide’ them in that state, that they might be able to do some sort of ‘transformation’ and become an Ancient. A roundabout way to solve their reproduction issues. It was pure conjecture until it happened to Cadance,” she pointed out, looking back to Applejack, who looked surprised. Ah. “So Cadance did something that strained her magic so intensely that she tapped into that… hole in her, and she turned into an Alicorn after?” I asked, frowning but wanting to make sure I was still following. To my surprise, Aura nodded at that one. “I used to live in the same town with her before she moved to Canterlot. She was a pegasus then. We lived in a coastal town, Baltimare, and got hit with a surprise rainstorm that came in from the sea. They sometimes happen, but this one was too big even for the weather team to handle. We ended up with partial flooding and a mudslide. It destroyed our train station, and stranded half a dozen ponies in their homes,” she said softly, frowning afterwards. I frowned as well at the new influx of information, but Aura continued first. “Without our train, we couldn’t get word quickly to Canterlot to send aid. We started to try to activate one of our keystone portals to try to send a message through, but the energy they require is tremendous. Instead, Cadance volunteered. She took the message and flew non-stop. Normally a pegasus would have to rest at least twice during, but she pushed on and flew for over ten hours, all the way to Canterlot with the message,” she continued, shivering after. Twilight gave a sigh, looking over at her before nodding, stepping up where she left off with, “She passed out when she got to Canterlot, but not before delivering the message. Canterlot activated its Keystone portal, and sent relief workers through immediately. She ended up saving the lives of dozens of ponies. She slipped into a coma in the hospital, however, her magic going out of control. Princess Celestia personally visited her, then helped her through the ordeal. She woke up as an Alicorn instead.” Well, at least that hadn’t happened to me when I woke up out of one of my many comas. Getting used to four hooves was bad enough, and I was fairly certain I’d be the worst Alicorn Princess ever. I gave myself two hours top before blowing myself up, along with a good chunk of Equus. Rarity looked back down at the notes before asking, “So this spell is what Princess Celestia used to make Cadance into an Alicorn and save her?” Shaking her head to that, Twilight flipped back to the first page of the notes and showed the actual spell computations to us. “No, she used the base version of it. It was incomplete then, and highly risky to use, but it was either that or Cadance would have died. Well, in a way, she sort of did die. Her body was remade, however, as an Alicorn in the same instant. The full version of this spell, which I think I might be able to finish, is supposed to guide an individual to that same result, but without needing to push them to that same state, or risk hurting them in the first place. It would be a way to safely ‘test’ individuals for the potential to become an Ancient,” she explained, sitting up as she levitated the notes with her. I saw the spell documentation copied to her own notes, and a few dozen changes made to them already. Ah, I think I understood, then. “So, what was he missing, then?” I asked, looking expectantly back to Twilight, and causing her to grin. She was just itching for somepony to ask that, I could tell. Without even needing the link to feel her excitement flare up over. She shifted to a happy wiggle, then nodded over at me twice. “Well, apart from a massive energy source, he was missing a way to safely harmonize the magic while it accessed the pony’s link. But, I think, baring a collection of a few dozen skilled and powerful unicorns and a whole lot of customizing of the spell to their styles, we may have a one up on that ‘harmony’ bit, with the six of us here,” she revealed, grinning around the room at them. Oh. Oh hell… Of course, it was Twilight. Despite it being almost one in the morning with half of us falling asleep, five minutes later, the six of them had their amulets retrieved from upstairs, and Twilight wore her tiara crown thingy. I gave them all a skeptical glance, watching as they made a star shape around the unicorn, who was in the center. “Why do we have to do this now?” Rainbow groaned, rolling her eyes and generally looking rather tired. Pinkie bounced along happily with it, though, somehow not seeming the least bit slowed down. “Because it’s super awesome and exciting, and our friend really wants to see if it does something, and we love Twilight and want to let her be super happy and excited?!” she asked, grinning over at the cyan pegasus. I chuckled at that, sitting outside of the group with Spike, Aura, and Derpy. Dash gave her a frustrated look before smiling and chuckling. “Fiiiine, but only for Twilight,” she admitted, looking back to the unicorn in the center, who smiled over at her softly. “Thanks, girls. This is just a preliminary test of the spell. Chances are, it probably won’t do anything as I probably screwed up somewhere and will need to fix it up after this, but I just want to see if the Elements of Harmony are even an acceptable source of energy for it! They’ve never been used to cast a spell before!” she reported, grinning happily as she danced on her hooves again. Yeah, I could kind of see why nopony had ever cast a spell with them before. That sort of was like trying to power house lights with a full-size fission reactor. “And if it does do something?” I asked, starting to feel a bit uneasy. Wasn’t this exactly what Princess Celestia was expecting her to do? Only well rested and after a lot of trial runs? Fluttershy nodded rapidly from her position in the star, but Twilight gave me a skeptical look. “Starswirl found a grand total of three ponies out of over five thousand total tested. Do you realize how astronomically low the odds are that I’m one of the ones with that specific gene? On top of the spell probably just fizzling out, you worry too much, Mender,” she assured. That was still zero point sixteen percent! Plus, with what I already had overheard from my mom’s spying… Twilight focused, however, her crown starting to glow, building up energy at about the same rate my heart sank into my stomach. No, this was bad. This was an amazingly bad idea. The engineer in me wanted to cry out and tackle her to the ground for such foolish, reckless behavior with no safeguards whatsoever, but then I’d just get screamed at. But it might save her life! I was momentarily blinded next, all five points of the star pulsing with energy as the horrific, eldritch energy that was the Elements of Harmony started to hum to life, spraying their colorful and misleading lights about the room. Okay, I might be a bit biased, however. I’d gotten a rather bad draw with them, having also happened to contain an evil monster in me. Still, I’d never seen them actually do something ‘nice’, so I was a little on edge. Or a lot. “Ah, the spell’s accepting the energy!” Twilight shouted over the radiating hum of the six powerful artifacts. She then warned, “It might create a bit of smoke if it fizzles! Could you get ready to blow it towards the open window if it does, Mender?!” I barely heard her over the hum, but nodded. Tentacle fans, coming up! I winced at the violent flash of light as all five beams of energy from the Elements of Harmony smashed into the radiating sphere around Twilight. She smiled, looking up at her own gem as it burst with energy, the pulses expanding out over her as the spell actually started to take hold. Sighing, I pulled two tentacles out of my body, one from each shoulder, and got ready to blow the smoke backwards, as instructed. I also put my eye shields on, as magical or not, I imagined hot smoke to my eyes was probably rather uncomfortable. Sure enough, another flash of light hit an instant later, and there was a small explosion as a blast of smoke shot everywhere. Giving a chuckle, I started spinning the tentacles in front of the three next to me, who were now hiding behind me actually, and the expanding bank of smoke slowed, being pushed backwards. Multiple sets of coughing could be heard from inside the cloud, and I sped it up in order to get it off all of them as fast as I could. Clearing it, I chuckled as it exited the window, probably making it look like the library was on fire or something. All five of them were coughing and hacking, and I frowned, looking over to Fluttershy with a bit of concern. Well, it was still early in her pregnancy, so it probably wouldn’t hurt her too… much… Five? My eyes widened, snapping back to the center where Twilight… wasn’t, anymore. They shifted down to the floor instead, revealing nothing but a scorched black char spot on the wooden floor. What? Wait, that wasn’t… No. No, no, no! I took two more steps forward, staring in horror at the spot as the other five gave questioning looks, then joined me with a few gasps. My blood felt frozen as my body chilled, jaw dropping. My mind refused to even register the charred area, everything grinding to a halt as I started coming up with thousands of things that might have just happened. Then Rarity started screaming, and Fluttershy gave a squeak before falling over sideways, out cold…
Chapter 02I realized we were trapped. Sweetie Belle lowered herself nervously to the floor of the platform, slipping in behind my right foreleg as I watched Twilight through the crack. Applejack was behind the only exit to this now very horrifying building. To make matters worse, I saw Rainbow Dash flutter down and slowly start to attempt to work the window open outside to the left. A rapid pounding came from the door behind me. "What in blazes do ya think yer doin', Mender?!" I heard shortly thereafter, barely audible through the heavy wooden door. "B-Back, monster," Twilight warned nervously, her horn still glowing angrily as she lowered herself to the stairs. She was scared of me? I started to open my mouth to say something when she opened fire, unfortunately. I let out an exceedingly high-pitched scream, rather embarrassing of my gender, and rapidly raised a shield up using a front leg. The barrier barely deflected the bolt, causing it to tear through the side of my platform instead and knock us back into the door. From my cowering position, I stared in shock at the new hole in my vehicle. Sweetie Belle peeked out from around the busted section, earning another gasp from Twilight. "Sweetie Belle? Are you okay? Let her go!" the lavender unicorn demanded. "I-I will! Please, j-just listen," I begged, peeking around the side of the opening, just above the little filly. Twilight widened her eyes. "M-Moon Mender? What are you, but you were..." she muttered rapidly. "Just please. Sweetie Belle didn't do anything wrong, so please don't punish her. She only wanted to help me," I begged, lowering the platform to the floor shakily and opening the front so she could get down. She surprised me by turning around and looking up at me instead. Huh? "You rescued me and stuck up for me?" she asked quietly, suddenly wearing a warm smile. My mind idled into reverse. Sweetie Belle hugged my left foreleg before I could reply. My magic faltered as I suddenly realized how tired I was. The platform, or what was left of it, anyway, slowly lowered us to the floor. "Oh fer cryin' out loud! Ah wasn't gonna hurt 'er in tha first place," Applejack muttered from the other side of the door. Twilight recovered rapidly and bounded the remaining two meters towards me. I almost panicked, but Sweetie Belle had a hold of me so there wasn't much I could do! There was no impact or subduing blast though. All I felt was Twilight's warm coat as she latched onto my other foreleg, pushing both Sweetie and I gently into the wall next to the door. I was momentarily bewildered, then turned a deep crimson as she pulled me into a tight hug, Sweetie Belle incidentally getting sandwiched between us. I tried to avert my eyes, shifting them just in time to see a cyan and rainbow pegasus flutter through the now open window wearing a smirk. She landed next to me on my right and unlocked the front door, sticking her tongue out as my eyes widened towards her. I fidgeted, trying to shift from her but Twilight wouldn't budge. "I'm so, so sorry for everything, Mender! I'm glad you're awake," Twilight muttered into my neck as she squeezed me. Oops, back to blushing. Threat of imminent death can only hold back the feelings of an amazing girl pressed against you for so long, I guess. "Twi, it's all right. I'm sorry, too," I reminded, realizing Sweetie was right all along. I'm glad I listened to her this time. Rainbow snickered. "Aww. You two are so cu-," she started taunting with a grin, just as she slid the last lock. Wham! The door slammed open, taking the cyan mare with it and flattening her against the wall on the other side. "Woo! Totally party time, right here! I brought the cannon," Pinkie assured whimsically as she bounced through the doorway. I saw Applejack flattened on the step, glaring up at the pink tush bouncing away from her. I just assumed she got bowled over as well. Wait, cannon? "Pinkie! I'm trying to apologize here!" Twilight growled, switching from adoring to irate in a second. Whoa! I was suddenly worried as I was still attached to her. Pinkie giggled and nodded merrily, seeming unfazed as she spun and cart-wheeled. I got even more tired just from watching her. "He already knows about Celestia. I'm sorry, Twilight," Sweetie Belle apologized from in-between us, looking up at the lavender mare. Twilight swallowed and nodded as well, looking back at me instead. "It's all right, Sweetie. Mender, I wrote a letter to the Princess the night I got so worked up. I panicked and didn't know what to do so I kinda ended up telling her everything," she explained quietly, looking more than a little nervous but still clenching me as if I'd fade away should she let go. It wasn't a hug anymore, but instead felt like a strange form of assurance. "Ya were right ta be honest with tha Princess, Twi," Applejack assured slowly, getting up again and walking inside at a far more relaxed gait than her pink friend. Pinkie nodded agreement enthusiastically, then tilted her head as a light groan came from behind the door. Rainbow Dash slowly stumbled out, holding her forehead with a hoof. Applejack held a hoof up however, preemptively halting a Pinkie outburst. "But ta do that, ya had ta betray Mender's trust instead. Ah'm not sayin' ya made the wrong choice. It's just somethin' ta think about," she added slowly, as if carefully picking her words. I swallowed heavily, remembering my nightmare. If Sweetie was right and the Princess helped pull me back then this was definitely the right choice, wasn't it? My memory shifted back to those frigid moments I spent all alone on that ship, in the middle of a massive void and the only other living thing vaguely nearby being a complete monster. I'd wanted so desperately to just let someone else deal with it. I hadn't been brave and strong. I'd just felt tiny and weak, dealing the only hand I had left and hoping it was enough. Truthfully, these ponies meant more to me than I did now. This way of life and everypony in this wonderful world; it was all so pure and beautiful. I hated myself for risking it. Maybe I should have died with the rest of my race? I tried so hard but did I deserve this outcome? I was all that was left. My old race was gone and everyone I knew and loved, dead. And I couldn't even remember them. Did I deserve to be happy when millions of my race lost everything? It was overwhelming. Screams of pain and despair echoed through my head as I remembered. There was nothing but memories of misery from my past life. I wondered if I had seen anything apart from that. "Mender..." Twilight whispered gently. I snapped out of it in time to realize my cheeks felt warm and wet. A sense of disgust came over me as I used my now freed right hoof to wipe my eyes. "Ah, sorry," I muttered, embarrassed. Whack! I reeled sideways from a moderate blow to the side of my head. Stars exploded nonetheless and I felt a sharp sting tear through my left cheek as I hit the wooden floor and slid. "Applejack! What are you doing?!" Twilight demanded, moving in-between her and I while Sweetie Belle sprung over to check me for damage. "That there's fer worryin' everypony with yer shenanigans. Ah imagine Rainbow, Twi, an Fluttershy'll have their own two bits ta add later, but consider yerself paid in full with tha rest o' us," she explained, expression neutral and stoic. All things considered, she probably could have snapped my head off with that hoof hit. She pulled her punch and let me off gently, then. I had expected worse. Slowly sitting up, I rubbed my left cheek and drew back blood on my hoof. Yup. I was definitely going to get a black eye from that one. "T-Thank you, Applejack," I spoke gently, eyes softening towards her. That oddly made me feel better. Well, mentally. Her stoicism slipped and she nodded, acquiring a gentler smile. "Then consider yerself forgiven. Pinks an Rare wouldn't'ah voiced as much, so ah knew ah had ta be the one," Applejack added, averting her gaze slightly from the still angry looking Twilight. "Applejack, I wasn't upset with him at all. Well, maybe a little sad that he almost died. And that he was gonna miss the awesome party I planned, but," Pinkie protested with a little less energy than usual. Applejack shook her head gently, glancing over at the pink mare. "Ah know yer a forgivin' mare, but he made ya sad still and Ah'm sure he didn't mean ta," she explained in a quiet but sturdy voice. Rainbow Dash still looked shocked and remained quiet. "Then why did you do that? He's barely out of the clinic an afternoon and you decide to hit him?!" Twilight asked crossly. Rainbow Dash finally snapped out of it and let out a snicker, raising a hoof between Twilight and her pony of affection. "Relax, Twi. That was barely a swat for AJ here. Plus he seems to have accepted it," she pointed out, now wearing a smirk. Did that mean I did something right in her eyes? I smiled weakly and nodded, trying not to wince and risk damaging my ego further as I felt my cheek swelling. "She let me off easy for what I did to you ponies. I still feel like I owe you more," I muttered. Sweetie Belle quietly shook her head as she reached up with a piece of tissue in her mouth to dab at my cheek. Whispering thanks, I bent lower to make it easier for her. The tissue felt really soft and I wondered where she'd gotten it. "I'm not mad at you at all, Mender. You were amazingly noble and if anything, I should be the one to apologize. I gave out confidential information about you without consent or even informing you," Twilight replied, turning around to focus on me instead, albeit with a far more positive expression. "Is Princess Celestia mad at me?" I asked carefully. I decided to keep the banishment, black ops, and execution ideas to myself for now. All four mares looked bewildered, but Twilight laughed nervously a second later. "You have quite the imagination, Mender. No, she's happy she helped save you," she assured, trying to smile. "But?" I questioned, noting her hesitation. She sighed and noticeably sagged. "She just asked me if it was all right to get an account of the event so she could estimate the level of danger to Equestria," she muttered. "Er, ah might be missin' somethin', but that doesn't sound so bad," Applejack pondered out loud. Pinkie went back to smiling and enthusiastically nodded her agreement. "Yeah. Are ya worried that she'll do something to Mender?" Rainbow asked curiously. Twilight shook her head, to my relief. "No, she reported herself that the link faded after the explosion of the Grosh ship. Mender's not dangerous to Equestria," she assured, making me feel even better. I had planned on asking her if the explosion had worked. But if it wasn't that, I could only think of one other reason for her distress. "She wants a personal account. From me directly?" I asked gently, masking my nervousness. Twilight nodded softly. "Sort of. She wants the direct images from your memories, if at all possible," Twilight informed weakly, looking down. I reeled back in surprise. Oh crap! If Twilight was forceful I could only imagine the level of violation being mind raped by a goddess would bring. She must have seen my reaction, as she rapidly shook both front hooves towards me. "W-Wait! She said when you're healthy enough to. And she wants me to perform the spell, not her," Twilight rapidly over-corrected, although scarily accurate with the second half. "Healthy? Is the ritual painful or something?" Rainbow asked from behind her, sounding a little uncomfortable with the concept. Twilight shook her head, peeking back over her shoulder. "No. It just takes a lot of energy from him. He essentially won't get any natural REM sleep for the night we choose to do it, which might be detrimental to his health at the moment," she reasoned. Oh, I had to be pseudo sleeping? Rainbow started snickering mirthfully, however. She held a forehoof up to her muzzle as she restrained it. "Better eat some Silphium beforehand," she warned, barely holding back the laughter. Huh? What was Silphium? "Er, huh?" Twilight muttered, apparently as confused as I was. Pinkie Pie burst into laughter almost instantly. Applejack chuckled as well and shook her head, though. "It did sound ah tad awkward, but ah think ah get it. He has ta be sleepin' but he won't be rested up after, right?" she asked, smirking still. Awkward? I was seriously missing something. Twilight slipped back into scientific mode rapidly and nodded. "Yes. I'll be peeking through his mind as he sleeps, which means he can't slip into REM and replenish his natural energies. My mind sort of, well, keeps his awake?" she attempted to explain. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Applejack looked truly thoughtful but Twilight suddenly looked perplexed. A single beat later, she suddenly went scarlet in the cheeks and glared intensely at Rainbow. "Hey!" she protested. The cyan mare burst into laughter of course. She joined Pinkie Pie in rolling on the floor. "That is disgusting! You are so horrible, Dash!" she growled, sounding oddly embarrassed. I was just deeply confused. I'd assumed as Dash was laughing, it was because of what she said earlier but I had no idea what Silphium was. Sweetie Belle looked equally confused so I didn't feel as badly. Applejack must have noticed my quiet confusion, as she explained a second later, "Silphium, when ingested by ah mare, works as ah potent contraceptive." "Contra-what?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously. Pinkie winked at me while upside down, ignoring the filly. My cheeks went scarlet, oddly similar to Twilight. "Yeah, wouldn't want Mender to become a daddy!" the pink mare squealed, sounding deeply amused. What the hell?! Where did they get, oh. 'The night we do it.' I mentally groaned. "What? Mender's going to be a daddy?!" Sweetie Belle asked in sudden shock. Oh for the love of all that was just and fair! That's it. Twilight was never going to speak to me again. "Argh! That's it! Mender needs rest so out!" Twilight growled, horn starting to glow menacingly. Dash made a yelping noise, zipping out the window behind her as if trying to escape incoming mortar fire. Of course, Twilight was scary like that. Pinkie giggled and made a light, excited snorting noise before rolling to her feet. "Aww! We were just playing. But Mender does need his rest! Sleep well, cuz it's totally party time tomorrow!" she assured me, giving a wink before hopping out the door like a rabbit with a sugar high. "Ug, fine. Tomorrow evening, though!" Twilight called after her, sounding a little tired herself suddenly. Regardless, she followed Pinkie out the door with the warning just to be sure. "Ah reckon Ah'd best let tha nurse know yer checkin' out an' not in some tree somewhere, rah-ight?" Applejack offered calmly after Twilight wandered back inside, head hung slightly. I sighed and nodded to her wearily. The aftereffects of using my magic again were definitely felt, even though I hadn't done much. It was like any other muscle, however. I was just heavily out of practice. "Yeah. I'm sorry about the whole running away thing earlier," I apologized. Sweetie Belle giggled as she finally took the tissue back, rotating it using her tongue. I saw little dots of blood on it. "Buh iht waas phumn!" she protested, tissue still in her mouth. Applejack chuckled and patted her lightly on the head, having moved up next to me to get out of the way when Twilight went after Pinkie. "Fun is all fine an' dandy but it's only common courtesy ta let tha nurse know he's all right," she explained, smiling at the little white filly. I suddenly thought of something horrifying but decided to be as polite about it as possible. "Thank you, Applejack. Um, where am I gonna stay tonight if not the clinic, though?" I inquired as nicely as I could muster. "Here of course," Twilight answered instead, coming back inside slowly and closing the door. I was momentarily taken aback, memories of almost getting run over with a mattress coming fresh to mind. I must have looked surprised because she suddenly blushed while Applejack started snickering merrily. "Ya have'ta admit, you two last part'd on some rocky relations," she reminded, absently waving her hoof in the air. "Oh yeah. Twilight kicked him out!" Sweetie Belle suddenly seemed to recall, leaning back against my right foreleg. Wait, why was she still here? Twilight winced and nodded. "I know. We have a few things to discuss but please give me another chance?" she requested quietly. Smiling, I nodded gently to her. I was just happy she was giving me another chance instead. The day's events rapidly caught up to me an instant later, surprising me. I wobbled suddenly, feeling the slow throb of my headache spike from the magic and a light, warm trickle go down the front of my muzzle from my nose. Too much magic, too quickly. "Whoa nelly! Ya had best be makin' yer way upstairs an' ta bed. Ya look mighty unstable on yer hooves, so let me help ya," Applejack offered, moving a little closer. I flinched slightly and shifted away from her. She froze for a moment and her eyes softened, her nod assuring me followed by a gentle smile. I relaxed and gave in, letting her hook my left foreleg over her shoulders and slowly leading me to the stairs. She meant what she said earlier. That punch really was my payment, then. "Oh, Sis's nose sometimes does that if she works on dresses for too long," Sweetie Belle pointed out, trotting after Twilight as she went up the stairs following us. "Yes. He overused his magic back there. He'll be fine. He'll just sleep well tonight," she assured. I heard a weak sigh behind us, regardless. "But he did it to save me. To get me out of trouble," she muttered. "Oh, fer crying out loud. Ah wasn't gonna hurt ya, Sweetie!" Applejack protested. Again. I chuckled tiredly and added, "Yeah, and technically I was the reason you were in that position in the first place. I couldn't let anything happen to you." There was light scratching as we reached the top of the stairs, I noted. Spike was writing gently on a long, unrolled parchment that was spread a good ten feet across the floor. "Hey, Twilight! I almost finished the first alphabetized segment of," he started to greet before turning around and giving a surprised start. "Whoa! Applejack? Moon Mender?" he added questioningly. "Hey, Spike. Mender woke up and is going to be staying with us tonight. Can you help Applejack get him into bed?" Twilight requested, coming to the top of the stairs after the three of us cleared it. Spike tilted his head. "Bed? Is he sleeping with you?" he questioned. Even half asleep I still managed to blush. "Ug! Spike! Mattress, then. Sheesh," Twilight groaned behind me, a matching blush almost apparent in her voice. Spike didn't seem to understand his faux pas, but shrugged and guided Applejack and I towards the other corner. I was surprised to see the folding mattress set up there again. Applejack wordlessly picked up my surprise. "We brought it back 'ere after ya went in the clinic. Twi said she wanted ta have ya close ta run some tests fer ah little while," she explained gently, helping me lie down. Sweetie Belle helped adjust my pillow as Applejack actually pulled my blankets back up for me. "Um, thank you, you two," I muttered, somewhat unsure of how to gracefully handle their kindness. "Considering she belted you not even ten minutes ago, that's the least she can do," Twilight muttered, rolling her eyes as I watched her walk around Applejack to examine me. "Whoa, she what?" Spike asked, sounding a mixture of surprised and amused. Applejack looked less entertained. "Ah told ya why. Ah let him off easy fer the amount o' needless worry he gave us," she professed. Twilight narrowed her eyes slightly. "I guess we have different definitions of needless, then. He was brave and honorable, actually ready to give his life to save us," she defended. Er. Brave and honorable? I almost wet myself. If there had been any other option, I would have run screaming. But the only other options I know I couldn't have lived with. You can't outrun yourself. "He coulda let Dash stay an fly 'em through yer magic even faster. Or held off on tha reckless explosions until yer spell was done. Poor Rainbow almost tore herself apart over all this," Applejack growled, tone of voice rising. Sweetie Belle swallowed nervously and backed away from the two mares, bumping into the edge of my mattress. "It doesn't work like that. Twice the mass, twice as slow to move! Would you prefer they both almost died? He did that for her," Twilight explained, blush now gone and looking irritated instead. Sweetie Belle climbed onto the mattress, over me, and hid on my other side. Rainbow must have taken this really badly. I wish I could apologize to her right now. Applejack stomped a hoof down. "He didn't have'ta blow up so soon. It wouldn't'ah been an issue iffin he just delayed ah minute or so!" she argued, gesturing angrily in my direction. I swallowed weakly. She was right, of course. It all boiled down to me being too weak. After I'd gotten hit by that blast in the back, my body just kinda gave out. I should have been stronger. Rainbow could have stayed to the last moment and nobody's feelings would have gotten hurt. The sick feeling came back and I held in the urge to throw up. "Why are you attacking him?! I screwed up in the first place. If it weren't for my scanning spell, they wouldn't have gotten into trouble at all," Twilight growled, not quite as loud as Applejack. No, it wasn't her fault. It wasn't. "Why are ya protectin' him so hard, Twilight? Can't ya just let 'er go at tha one punch an' be done?!" Applejack redirected. She growled low and her snarling face burned into my mind. I winced as a low static audio bled through my hearing. "He's a worthless pile of shit after all! Why protect him in the first place?" Applejack demanded. I reeled in agony as her words tore at my heart. The room started to spin as I fought to close my eyes. Still, she continued, "He's a runt! He failed the breeding examinations and is barely fit to be a janitor, let alone a... Why do you support him?!" I choked back the vomit and sobbing, eyes opening to a darkened room full of glowing red eyes. My vision warped and distorted, spinning as if I had a massive fever. Maybe I did? I felt like I was burning up. The eyes stared wickedly at me, curved mouths twisted in laughter as I tried to spin away from them. They had me completely surrounded, however, and I cried out, trying to get someone, anyone to come help me. I clutched tightly at the only thing that gave me comfort. A memento. Some called it silly or childish but it was all I had. I... Everything was washed away in lavender and it felt like I stopped breathing, if but for a moment. A lovely smell and soft feeling drifted over me, even as my beloved memento faded from my memories. My mind felt sleepy suddenly, and I gave way to the soft light as reality bled back into being. W-What happened? The soft sensation solidified into a warm coat and gentle heartbeat pressed tightly into my chest and a harder push against my forehead. My eyes re-focused just in time to see Twilight's open from an inch away, her horn pressed against my forehead again. She pulled me out of the nightmare? "Ah can't keep him down fer long with that blasted hoof gettin' in tha way. Could ya hurry it up ah tad?" Applejack asked, sounding a bit irritated. Uh oh. All of my muscles relaxed instantly as I forced the tension away. The magic focus went with it and I felt the elongated ribbons connected to my left foreleg go limp. The ends drifted away from Applejack's face and hooves as she continued putting her full weight on my waist and back legs, holding me down. My death grip on Twilight's back also lessened, but I saw her blush lightly as my hooves slid off her back. "Mender, are you here now?" Twilight asked gently, smiling. I swallowed and nodded quietly, unsure of how to respond or even what happened. "Thank Celestia fer that! Those bandages were darn annoyin' when they kept tryin' ta tangle me up or crawl up mah nose," Applejack muttered, shaking her head rapidly and blowing air out her nostrils a couple times. Spike, whom I just noticed, let go of Sweetie Belle, who bounded back up onto the bed again. "Are you all right, Mender?" she asked rapidly, sliding to a stop at my left side. I nodded tiredly as Twilight moved her horn out of the way. "Um, yeah. I just don't know what happened," I muttered. "Ya started freakin' out an squeezin' Sweetie Belle like ah stuffed animal er somethin'," Applejack informed, causing me to swallow. "I'm okay. They got me free of the bandages. But are you all right?" Sweetie asked, still sounding concerned. Twilight frowned, shaking her head as she brushed her horn along my temples instead. Her warm breath drifted down my neck and I tried hard not to blush. "I'm sensing his magic settling down again. It was a panic attack. But your magic activated too, so this could be dangerous if unchecked," she explained. Her tail swished impatiently as her lower half stuck off the side of the bed. "Is that why his eyes glowed?" Spike asked, approaching on the other side of Twilight and sitting down lazily. "Ah reckon it's ah good idea ta keep him 'ere with tha magic expert, then," Applejack admitted, finally releasing my stiff waist. "Ya back then, Mender?" she followed up quietly. Staring at her again, I tried not to shiver while nodding. She hadn't really said that, Mender. Calm down. She doesn't think you're a useless runt. Right? There was a moment’s hesitation. Something silently noticed or maybe a rogue thought in her mind. I saw her eyes flicker for less than a second, averting her gaze from mine. Then she snapped them back onto me and covered the building frown with a warmer smile. "That's good. Ah guess ya should take 'er easy fer ah few more days," she added, nodding solemnly. "Maybe you should leave for the night?" Twilight returned instead, glaring at the orange earth mare over her right shoulder. Applejack sighed and nodded more tentatively this time. "Ah'll get outta yer hair. Ah only seem ta be makin' it worse fer now. Come on, Sweets. Ah'll take ya back to Rarity, too," she finally relented, motioning to the white filly on my cot. "Aww! Do I have to? Sis is gonna kill me," she whined in protest. Twilight hesitated for a second before sighing. "Look, I'm sorry, AJ. I'm just a little stressed right now, is all," she interrupted, apologizing. Applejack stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back in surprise. After a second or two, the soft smile returned and she shook her head. "Ah understand, Sugar. Rainbow's been talkin' with me almost every day 'bout it, an' ah'm ah tad stressed too. Ah..." she started to explain before frowning at me. Jittery, I looked away rapidly, directing attention to Sweetie instead. She was frowning and looking down at the fabric she'd given me earlier. Wait. Fabric? I suddenly noticed the tiny saddlebags on her sides. Oh. "That was for Rarity, wasn't it?" I whispered, getting a closer look at the now bloody piece of fabric. Sweetie Belle looked up at me in surprise, but then smiled. "It's okay. It was for a good cause," she assured hesitantly, absently brushing a hoof over the piece. "Will Rarity understand that?" Spike asked, sitting on my other side now and looking concerned at Sweetie Belle. Twilight migrated over to Applejack while we whispered, tilting her head. Applejack seemed to draw assurance from her and nodded to herself. "That's not entirely true, ah 'spose. Ah've been ah bit worried mahself, too. Ah pony grows on ya after ah while, ya know?" she finally offered up. I grew on her? My heart wanted to believe her but my mind was ever the skeptic. I pretended not to be listening. "Yeah, I know. He's important to me. I just wish I hadn't screwed up so much. It's stressed me out," Twilight returned. I frowned. Important? As a pony or guinea pig? Sweetie distracted my stalker tendencies by sighing, seemingly paying no attention to the mares. "If she gives me time to explain, it might not be as bad. Does blood wash out?" she asked innocently. "Way too easily," I assured before I really realized I was talking. I'd had that impression before, I was suddenly distinctly aware of. "Whew! She might not be as mad at me, then," Sweetie Belle muttered, looking relieved. My darker thoughts lightened a little and I smiled at her. She perked and returned my expression a moment later, nodding. I assured her, "Don't worry. Rarity will understand. I'll even come by the boutique tomorrow and explain." Her eyes got as wide as saucers and she grinned, hugging my chest gently. I chuckled and patted her lightly on the head. "Besides, Princess Celestia left it up to you, right? She still has faith in you," Applejack continued, snapping my attention back to their conversation with that name. Twilight sighed and shook her head wearily. "It's not her I'm worried about. Still, thank you," she returned quietly. I tilted my head and Applejack smirked suddenly, looking past her lavender friend and right at me. "Well shucks. Iffin' that's all yer worried about, he's right 'ere ta ask, after all. Hey, Mender?!" she called out, surprising me. Twilight looked momentarily shocked before glaring at the orange earth mare. "Don't you dare!" she warned. What were they talking about that was so dire? "Do ta think Twi 'ere is a horrible pony deservin' some punishment?" she asked, totally ignoring the unicorn's sputtering protests. I blushed lightly, more than a little confused. Sure, I was apprehensive about meeting the Princess, but I trusted Twilight's judgment most of all. I shook my head as Sweetie let go of me and gave a questioning look back at the mares. Twilight stopped and stared at me in surprise, tilting her head. "You aren't angry that I told the Princess? That I almost got you killed?" she questioned incredulously. I smiled softly and shook my head. "I was in good hooves. Rainbow's a goddess of flight. I don't think we were ever really in danger after you cast it. It was a simple mistake made during a stressful moment," I reasoned. Technically true. I'd gotten most of the damage due to the communication dish skirmish, not on the first approach to the Aegis. Twilight exhaled lightly while Applejack laughed. "Careful ya don't let Rainbow hear ya say that. She might try ta court ya next," she warned, wearing a smirk. I chuckled and shook my head. That I didn't have to worry about, at least. "I don't think she's interested," I observed, brushing the faux warning off easily. Applejack just snickered and nodded. "Ah didn't think she'd be. Anyways, ah should be headin' home. Ah'll see ya at tomorrow evenin's get tagether," she assured, maintaining the friendly smile through her slow drawl. Twilight nodded and answered for me, "Of course! Could you also clear Sweetie Belle with Rarity? It'll save Mender having to tomorrow." "Aww! But I wanted him to visit!" Sweetie Belle complained, frowning sadly. I chuckled, feeling a little more useless than before, but I suppose it's for the best. "He still can visit if he wants. Plus you'll see him at the party, right?" Twilight reasoned to the little filly, not missing a beat or losing her smile. Spike snickered and nodded as well. "I bet you could get Rarity to let you come over early and help decorate, too. I'll... help her with your duties in your absence, of course!" he offered, smirking towards Sweetie Belle. Twilight gave the little purple lizard thing a knowing skeptical look, but Sweetie beamed. "Really? You'd do that?" she asked, sounding absurdly excited. I resisted snorting at his ulterior motives. "Of course! No sweat," he assured, grinning now. I noticed his teeth for the first time and was surprised to note their razor points. Those kinds of teeth weren't meant for a veggie diet. I found myself debating what he actually ate. Somehow, I doubt he'd be Twilight's assistant if it were too gruesome, though. Sweetie gave him a gentle hug before squealing, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Spike! I can't wait to help Pinkie tomorrow." Applejack gave a soft chortle and nodded. "We best be off then, squirt. Ya have ah long day tomorrow, an' ya need ta get some rest, ah reckon," she pointed out, motioning towards the stairs. Sweetie Belle nodded, hopping off the cot and excitedly bounding down the stairs. "So much energy," Twilight muttered, shaking her head. "Youngin's. Ah'll see ya'll tomorrow, okay?" Applejack affirmed as she headed back down the stairs. Twilight giggled and nodded, following after her. "Yeah. I'll see you two out," she offered before disappearing from sight. I watched her tail disappear down the stairs before softly exhaling. That had gone better than anticipated, minus the whole 'panic attack and lose control of my magic' bit. Still, if it was going to be a problem, here was admittedly the best place I could be. My attention was drawn to the shivering Spike a moment later, however, who was still sitting next to me. There was a momentary lapse of concern before I noticed his almost predatory grin. Excited jitters? "Score!" he finally shouted, quiet enough to not carry down the stairs. I couldn't help but laugh at his exuberance. He smirked at me and raised a claw expectantly. Figures. Some things were universal I guess. Rolling my eyes, I gave in and bumped a forehoof into his clawed hand, earning a widening of his grin. I sat back and watched his tiny celebratory dance while waiting for Twilight to come back... Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/ljK1DYczRA4
Chapter 03It was there for but a moment. Like a dying echo as it bounded off a cliff. My conscious awareness flickered, momentarily focusing on where it used to be. I felt a certain sense of distress at finding nothing. No. Nothing wasn't what I was afraid of. A stirring of awareness, as if I slowly opened my eyes to a new day. That nagging sensation. I frowned, right ear giving a twitch of annoyance before I flattened them both back against my head. Before me spread the infinity of stars, winking and shifting innumerable. It wasn't exactly cold, yet the absence of heat. There was nothing around me but the gently drifting chunks of rock. Nothing at all, air included. That wasn't a problem, though. I wasn't breathing so I didn't require air. I wasn't breathing because I wasn't here. This was a dream, right? The cooling remains of a broken planet as it drifted slowly away from our star. The same star that had brought forth a thousand generations of my old people. Now I saw the telling rings being extended around it as it was milked for gas and energy. A certain emptiness filled my chest and seeped from my eyes as I watched. Why bring me back here? That stirring again. No, the link was gone, right? Of course it was. My old body was reduced to the consistency of fine dust and scattered to the solar winds by now. You don't get much deader than that. So why show me this? My mind either felt sentimental or masochistic, I suppose. Still, there was no denying that sensation, even if it was barely a second. An echo. I frowned, letting my idly swaying legs still, for all the good they were doing at the moment. Besides, it's not like I was actually here anyway. "Madness. This is... They're gone, all right? We need... They might find us here. We need to..." It was a whisper in my mind and I frowned. A male voice. Like a radio signal but for my skull. Pleasant. Mentally, I went over potential causes. Skull fracture perfectly aligned to form some sort of audio spell? Highly unlikely. Whispers of an elder being urging me to perform his unknowable designs? I doubt I'd get off that easily. "They can't be all... ...parts of the Grosh ship is... ...think there was a counter..." followed. A droning sensation kept cutting out the words. It wasn't unlike the static sound of an empty television broadcast. Different voice this time and mention of that hellish name. Damn. Why couldn't it have been the skull fracture? So much easier. I grew desperate. Creeping whispers of madness as the mental isolation slowly drives me insane? Probably not. It wasn't Tuesday yet. Radiation from Rainbow Dash causing a brain tumor to form, brandishing vivid hallucinations? Nah. Scan would have picked that up. I rapidly ran out of ideas. Another voice rudely interrupted my bout of adamant denial with, "No! There has to... another explanation. They're... ...near the moons. Hiding, yes! They're not all..." It was much clearer than the others and distinctly female. I also was surprised by the accent. Heavy rolling of the tongue with sharp uptakes on the 'ta' sounds. Where had I heard that accent before? Images of a cat purring came to mind, earning a frown. That sensation reared back rapidly. It was like I was almost remembering something, balanced carefully on the apex of my mind, but I didn't know how to move to get it to fall towards me and was deathly afraid the wrong shift would cause it to tumble away forever. My eyes widened as I rotated in place, suddenly aware of it. A ship drifted into sight from behind the moon! It was a ship. The design looked Kel... Wait, what? My mind jerked awake as Pinkie Pie landed on my chest. * * * * * My world spun as I hacked and coughed, flailing about as the pink monster sat unforgiving on my chest. She giggled in delight at my reaction, as if a devil slowly sampling my soul like a fine wine. My mind was lost somewhere in the metaphor before Pinkie was finally hoisted off of me with a purple glow. "Pinkie! I told you to stay downstairs with the decorations!" a familiar, 'Twilight Sparkle' sounding voice lectured. It was hard to tell with my mind spinning from the lack of air and sudden awakening. "Aww! But he's totally awake now. Does that mean I can decorate up here, too?!" she requested. My eyes widened as it looked like she suddenly drew a cannon out from behind her. Somehow. I filed it under system shock. Twilight growled, ignoring the cannon completely and tossing the pink pony backwards onto her bed. Pinkie let out a giggle and 'Wheee!' as she bounced off what used to be the well-made bed. "Are you all right, Mender?" Twilight asked, smiling upon reaching me. Rolling over onto my side, I winced as I looked up at her but managed a tiny nod. "I'm fine. A little tired and sore today, but all right," I assured. She exhaled softly and nodded before resting her horn on my exposed left forehoof. "I'm glad. Part of me was afraid you wouldn't wake up again," she admitted, eyes tracing the grooves cut into the hoof. It was a desperate measure and last resort but was now promising new potential, I noticed. Her concern made me warm up a little though. Wait, how long was I out for if she was worried? Glancing towards the window, I was greeted by a warm afternoon light. Oops. I blushed and finally managed a smile. "I'm fine, Twi. Although we probably have a lot to discuss," I pointed out. Pinkie Pie got off the bed behind Twilight and disappeared from my point of view with a grin. Now what was she up to? Twilight lifted her horn off my hoof and smirked knowingly. "Indeed. If I saw correctly, that little show last night was magic. The hoof, right?" she reasoned, dead on as usual. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that you're not one heck of a smart mare," I complimented, snickering at her smirk. Her cheeks flushed at the same time that her eyes softened as she smiled at me. "Needs more smooches!" Pinkie suddenly declared from somewhere behind Twilight. Wait, what? Twilight's eyes widened in surprise as her expression took on something similar to my train of thought. I wasn't left any time to react, however. A pink burst of mane collided with Twilight's rump, moving at ramming speed. The lavender unicorn gasped sharply in surprise momentarily as she lost her balance and stumbled forwards. Her still open mouth pushed into mine as her right foreleg outstretched to catch herself. Time lagged hard and my mind joined along as my heart hung up the 'Out To Lunch' sign. A jolt of electricity sparked through me from the contact and I was oddly aware of the warmth and texture of her lips against mine. Her weight continued, pushing her chest into mine as she fell forwards. I was oddly aware of her warm coat mingling with my own as I was pushed backwards into the pillow. Her mane billowed out in slow motion, drifting to each side of my head. A single heartbeat came and went as my eyes widened drastically. Hers infinitely surprised me by lowering, if only slightly. My mind couldn't process anything, and I screamed at my body to not move an inch. Every fiber in my forelegs wanted to reach up and pull her closer. No! Another thud of our hearts. Her eyes widened again, realization dawning behind them. A sharp intake of breath through her nostrils, our muzzles still sealed together. She suddenly retreated off me as if burned; as if I were actively on fire. Her face was aglow with flush as I no doubt mimicked. Instead of facing me, however, she shifted to a glare and swung around at the now ecstatic Pinkie Pie behind her. "Oh, so cool! It actually worked! You two are so sweet together. Of course, I'll have to get Fluttershy to sample, too, so you three can figure out which," the pink one started to gush out. "Pinkie! Why the hay did you do that?! That was... That was my first kiss!" Twilight screamed with surprising intensity. To my surprise, Pinkie actually stopped talking and looked up at Twilight instead. "Really? You've never kissed anypony before?" Pinkie asked, sounding playful yet surprised. Everything dawned on me in a single instant. I stole Twilight's first kiss. Oh crap. I was dead. I was going to go down the stairs this time with my cot on top of me for added measure! Twilight let out a strange mixture between a snarl and snort. "Of course not! I well, I was always too busy with my studies as Princess Celestia's student to worry about stupid, pointless things like that!" she spit out. The dagger of ice slicing my tiny heart open was oddly comforting. Maybe it would numb the physical pain of the multiple series of blunt force trauma I was probably about to receive. "Aww! It's not stupid, or even pointless, Twi. Didn't it make you feel warm and happy?" Pinkie asked, eyes starting to water slightly. Uh no. Everything was falling apart. It wasn't supposed to be like this! Twilight looked taken aback by her expression before hardening hers again and scowling. It didn't last, however, and I watched her eyes shift back over to me for a split second's hesitation. The scowl shifted to a look of frustration as she reached up with her left forehoof and gently held her forehead. "I... I don't know. I've never felt this way before. I don't know what to think anymore," she muttered, causing me to swallow weakly. Admittedly, my mind was still reeling from finding out I was still alive. This was a bit difficult to process and I wasn't sure what to think. Pinkie looked miserable still, however. "But did I do bad, then?" she asked gently, eyes large and watery. Twilight swallowed, looking uncomfortable before shaking her head. "Uh, no, no you didn't. It was just, um, something I wasn't ready for. Do you think you could decorate downstairs for a few more minutes, Pinkie?" she hesitantly asked. Pinkie glanced between us before I watched her expression shift from miserable to positively ecstatic within seconds. I added it to the growing Pinkie Memory Reel of things that would scar me for the rest of my life. "Sure thing, Twi! And I'll keep everypony else away, too!" she assured, throwing a salute and bounding down the stairs before Twilight could get a word in otherwise. The lavender unicorn sighed before turning and facing me again. I tried to remain neutral as she blushed lightly and snickered. "Rarity wanted us to wait until you were up and about before broaching sensitive subjects, but I guess Pinkie got a little exuberant. Ug," she explained, suddenly looking really tired. "It's fine. I'm just a little overwhelmed right now. It's like my mind keeps thinking I should be dead, not kissing cute mares," I reasoned sarcastically. Twilight blushed but smiled and nodded up at me. "I understand. How are you feeling this morning, aside from that?" she asked, sounding a little concerned and walking closer again. I watched her sit down on her haunches a foot from the cot before returning, "A little tired. Um, dreams again. Not as bad as before, but..." Her eyes widened a little. "Memories or…?" she led along. I shook my head. "Images of the remains of the ship and star we orbited. And a tiny scout ship going along the remains. Not Grosh," I elaborated, swallowing. "Ship as in space vehicle, right?" she requested in confirmation. I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. As cool as it would be to have boats in space, I doubt it would be as effective," I admitted wistfully. Twilight laughed, tension lifting a little. "Yeah. Kind of like pirates but for space. Space Pirates?" she guessed, assumingly not realizing how accurate she had been. "Careful. Those actually existed," I warned, winking at her. "Oh, you're kidding. Ug. They're probably a lot scarier and meaner than our versions too, right?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "It wasn't a pleasant world," I reminded, before adding, "Regardless, I'm very happy to be here instead." She smiled again and nodded before standing up off the floor. "Agreed. So let's keep you here. It's probably nothing, but I want to do a dream study on you tonight, just in case. Is that okay?" she asked, tilting her head a little. It was easier to manage looking at her after she shifted back to her professional tone again, I noticed. I nodded, of course. "If it means anything, it didn't feel as hostile this time. I was detached. Bodiless, I think," I added, frowning. She nodded and smiled before climbing up onto my cot with me. My eyes widened and I couldn't stop the blush as I suddenly remembered the feel of her lips. Oh crap. Stupid body! She surprised me again by grabbing my forehoof instead. Huh? Oh. She examined the lines and grooves that were cleanly sliced into its form, frowning. "Is this some sort of focusing symbol?" she asked after a few seconds of examination. I nodded softly. "Yeah. It just helps me focus on an effect I want. It was made to help make fire, but it's just a general concentration symbol," I replied. She nodded absently, seeming deep in thought. Her examination continued and I felt a tingling sensation as telekinesis slipped down into the cracks. "Structural integrity loss. The nurse was worried about that. She said it can support you, but you should wear a covering over it to prevent things from getting wedged inside," Twilight enlightened as she continued prodding with her magic. I sighed. I'd figured as much. Still, as a price to be paid, that was getting off cheap. I wondered about my lower back, however. It was still bandaged, so I couldn't tell if I had a scar or anything. Well, what used to be my lower back before I became a quadruped. Back back? No, that sounded stupid. I should really find an anatomy book at some point Twilight's magic prodded yet again a second later, but this time slipped inside my hoof completely! I gasped, momentarily wondering if she'd sliced into my hoof accidentally or something. Calming down, I felt her warm energy sliding up my left foreleg. Oh, she used the hole to inverse the thing I did last night. Her energy pooled into my chest and I closed my eyes, simply letting her past. It felt distinctly like her as it coiled around my energy inside of me. I felt her testing internal organs, making sure the energy was recovering correctly, and checking along the surface of my skin under the bandages. She was doing a medical checkup. I couldn't help it, though. The energy felt so much like hers, the massive amount of strength behind it, yet it was so graceful. Beautiful, yet a little intoxicating. I felt my face heat up as my energy started to feel out hers. That familiar light-headed sensation drifted through me, similar to the last time she had connected her magic with mine. "M-Mender, that's distracting. Cool yourself off and l-let me focus," Twilight requested, a light blush appearing on her cheeks. "Ah, um, s-sorry!" I muttered, rapidly pulling back all my energy towards my core. Twilight made a light gasping noise in surprise as I did so. I was momentarily confused until I felt her energy slip and rush in to fill the sudden void. Her body fell against mine as it felt like I was suddenly dropped into warm, blasting air currents. The billowing heat surrounded me on all sides as I retreated inside my own mind momentarily, unable to process anything but lavender light. Her level of magic was... It was beyond anything I'd seen before. Her, a small pony, contained more energy than the prior arch-magi of the university! Two violet pools of light opened up in my mind, before a light giggle resounded through me. "Mender, don't retreat like that. This form needs your magic as much as it needs warmth. You create a void by retreating quickly. Um, I need you to come out now," she requested softly. Wait, this form was dependent on magic? Interesting. I gave her an inquisitive 'look' as best I could with no physical body. She caught it regardless, it seemed, and an image formed in my mind. I saw myself and her from outside of our bodies, suddenly. An aura of light burned off her before getting sucked into my hoof? "You partially pulled my psyche into you when you retreated. This, um, it would be bad to stay like this for too long. Could you push me out, please?" she muttered, softer than before. I felt the connection easily enough. There was an odd sensation as I grew curious and felt along the lines leading back down my foreleg. It went both ways, didn't it? If I shifted into her at the same time, that would make it even more of a link, wouldn't it? Suddenly her eyes widened and she 'felt' scared. "N-No Mender! I'm not r-ready for this. I need to... I need to think things over," she pleaded. Ready? What wasn't she ready for? I tried to push a questioning sensation towards her as my progress down the link halted. She sighed weakly. "We all have magic in us. You know that, right? Well, we unicorns can manipulate that, not just in ourselves, but in others too. By melding two magic pools together, we can cause various effects between ponies. Please, let me go?" she requested gently. Various effects? While vague, based off her reaction, I could guess at a few of them. Temptation struck once more, and I realized that she really couldn't stop me if I just kept going. We might be linked, able to remain together forever, even! The pang of guilt hit a second later and I remembered. All those feelings and thoughts when faced with the same choice on the Grosh ship. Was anything different? Not really. As much as I wanted to be accepted and stay here forever, there were some things that just couldn't be sacrificed. I couldn't live with the thought of hurting these ponies. It was decided in an instant. I expanded out again and shoved. Twilight was ejected a moment later and shuddered as her body sat back up on me, psyche full back inside of her. She looked down at me softly and I winced, looking away in no small amount of shame. "What did the Grosh offer you in return for Equestria?" she suddenly asked, voice quiet but solemn. I swallowed, wondering how much Twilight and Fluttershy had seen in my memories while trying to pull me out of that, well, whatever that was that I fell into. I sighed. "You six. And a research position with immortality benefits," I returned, closing my eyes gently. Maybe if I didn't look at her, she wouldn't see what a monster I was for even thinking about it. There was silence in return and I feared the worst. Why was this so hard? What was my problem with this? All I had ever known was myself. To encompass others in that reality was both exciting and terrifying. Sure there had been other soldiers. At least I think there had been. I can't remember anything specific, but a more general feeling of companionship was there. That wasn't like this at all. We weren't friends. Just individuals mutually working towards a common cause. They were allies, just like our nation's allies. This... These ponies were my first friends. At least, I think that's how friendship works. It's been a bit rocky, sure, but I think they were my friends. Now, I valued this world more than my old one. Of course, when all was said and done, my body was out-pacing my heart. Things were happening too fast. Battle was easy in comparison. I knew my targets and exactly what needed to be done to approach the goals given to me. I don't remember much and certainly never a time where I wasn't fighting. This was so different. I just wanted to step back and flee. I wanted to hide somewhere and scream until I felt my head clear and my blood cool off. Yet here I was in the middle of a party getting put together with a cute unicorn sitting in my lap. No, not cute. Twilight Sparkle was gorgeous. She held a more level feeling of maturity and self-assuredness. Fluttershy was beautiful, too, but hers more stemmed from an innocence she seemed to almost drip. After never having dealt with females before to my knowledge, it was overwhelming on my body. I didn't fault it for getting flooded with hormones. Just because it was justified, however, didn't mean I had to put up with it. I needed to fix this somehow. Twilight surprised me out of my self-examination by giggling suddenly. "You're so different. You're a lot like me in some ways. We both worry and overthink things from time to time. Still, I'm not angry. The answer you gave him was quite obvious," she reasoned. I glanced back up at her in time to see her nose press lightly into mine. She sighed and rested her horn against my forehead again. I braced for magic, but none came. A moment passed and I smiled lightly. "I guess blowing him up was as obvious an answer as any," I agreed, hoping that much was a given. Nothing says 'I hate you and want you to drop dead' quite like reducing a few dozen kilometers of space into fine dust. She giggled again and nodded. "I missed you," she suddenly confessed, her hoof running along the fur on my chest. "Why?" I asked, quieter while trying to not blush again. She was just resting against me. No test or examination. Just for comfort. My mind didn't know what to do, so I simply slid my hoof up and down her foreleg. "You make me laugh. You're smart and can hold a conversation about advanced things. You're also full of fascinating things! I like you," she explained, taking my hoof up again and examining it. It never came, as anticipated. I'd been listening for anything actually intimate to be added to the list, but it wasn't there. See, body? There's all the proof that was needed. She could get everything on that list by just being my friend. What was it that I wanted from her, anyway? I stared emptily at the hoof she was holding. That pervasive sense of being lost came back to me. Everybody from my past existence was dead. Why was I still alive? Did I honestly deserve a second chance to find my purpose? There were no readily apparent answers and I somehow doubted there ever would be. "Mender, what's wrong?" Twilight asked hesitantly a moment later. A glance back up at her told me she had switched her attention back to me rather than the gashed up hoof. I shook my head, however. "I'm all right, Twi. Just tired. Pinkie takes a lot of energy to keep up with," I politely lied. No sense in worrying anypony needlessly. There was nothing she could do about it anyway. "Well, if you're sure. You can wander a bit if you feel like it, but be back by six for the party. I also want to discuss your dreams and magic after," she informed, standing slowly and stretching before getting back onto the floor. I nodded and tried my best self-assured smile. I probably looked like Fluttershy at a heavy metal concert, sadly. Although that's pretty accurate for how outpaced my mind felt. "Oh! I almost forgot. Rarity was by earlier and asked for you, but you were still sleeping then. She requested you either drop by later or somepony let her know when you woke up," she relayed. I tilted my head and questioned, "Er, why does she want to see me?" Twilight shrugged absently as she trotted over to her personal bookshelf. "She didn't say. The only thing she mentioned was something about saddlebags," she tacked on idly as she focused on searching through the titles of her books. Rarity made me a saddlebag? I frowned and wondered what the occasion was. I hoped it was an occasion, anyway. I certainly didn't have the bits to pay for it, obviously. Well, I'm sure that should she want me to pay for it, she'd offer some sort of payment plan. She knew of my lack of funding. "I think I might go for that walk after all," I muttered before tacking on, "Maybe I'll go see what she wants before the party gets started." Twilight smiled at me as she turned around, a book seemingly on potion making floating next to her. "That's probably a good idea, Mender. You could do with some fresh air after being cooped up in the hospital for so long. Just please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help you out," she offered quietly. There was a distinct moment of hesitation as she looked at me. It was as if she wanted me to say something but was afraid to ask directly. I nodded and tried to give my best assuring smile. She confused me something terrible but ultimately I'd just prefer to have a little time to myself to think. Plus, I really was interested in what Rarity wanted. Up to this point, she was the one who'd given me the least amount of problems. If she really did have a saddle bag, it would be worth it just for that! From what I'd seen of her work, I knew it would be top quality. Still, the why of the situation concerned me. It wasn't my birthday, at least that I knew of. Maybe it was to celebrate me NOT being blown to tiny little bits? Deciding to just go with that, I nodded gently to Twilight and slowly got out of bed. Thankfully, she was there to brace against me as I stumbled. My left foreleg was surprisingly weak and caught me off guard. "Careful, Mender. I think the magic put quite a strain on that leg. Take it easy for a few days, all right? You're also not fully recovered from the incident," she warned. A lapse of lethargy passed through me suddenly and I slumped against her warm coat. It made sense. My body wasn't fully recovered from the massive level of damage it had received. Plus, it had just spent almost two weeks cooped up in a bed, being fed intravenously through a tube. I took several deep breaths and steadied myself on my hooves. "Mender, you need to take it easy, okay? Your body took quite a shock," Twilight warned gently. Her eyes softened as I managed to shakily stand on my own. I nodded and flushed lightly, fighting back my own thoughts. It really would be nice to stay here with her. A pity it was so hard to think coherently around her. My not thinking properly wasn't fair to either Fluttershy or Twilight. I needed to figure out a way to clear my head. "I'll be careful, Twilight. I just need to clear my head a bit," I assured. She smiled uneasily but nodded after a second or so. "All right. Just be back in time for the party," she reminded. Nodding, I slowly and carefully made my way downstairs. * * * * * The day was a reasonable one. Light cloud cover kept the temperatures down well enough. I felt a light breeze also drifting over my coat, making for a rather pleasant experience. It was Fall now and I figured things would be getting chilly soon. It amused me when I read that they even had snow. Most species capable of controlling their climate wouldn't let their planet's rotation around the star interfere that much. Of course, I had no idea if the planet really rotated around a star. Or if the planet was actually rotating. Hell, I didn't know if I was even on a planet at all! Regardless, I took my time as I walked down the path. The day was almost too bright and I found my eyes starting to ache if I took them off the ground for more than a minute or so. I guess I simply prefer the night in this instance. I'm named after an aspect of it, after all. A bit of noise came from my right as I rounded the street on my way to the Carousel Boutique. I saw a group of young foals playing in the grass just off the street. What day was today? If I recalled, the town had its own school for the young foals. It wasn't late enough for them to be out yet, so it was either a day off or they were playing hooky. Sadly, my thoughts were halted once again by my poor skull smashing into something. There was no give to the harsh metal wall at all as my momentum carried me forward. I squished momentarily into the surface before gravity took over again and I fell over backwards. My landing was surprisingly gentle as I landed on my haunches. After shaking the dizziness out of my head, I looked up at the source of my newly discovered headache. An imposing looking Stallion stood in front of me. He was nowhere near as big as Big Mac, but wore an impressive looking set of armor. It was a shiny golden chest plate and helm set with some sort of plated hoof guards. Wait, was this some sort of law enforcement pony? I hadn't seen any prior to this and frankly didn't think that they were needed here. He gave me a cold, stoic stare that hinted at a detached level of calculated efficiency, and I shuddered. "Oh my! Are you all right?" came a soft-spoken inquiry from behind the guard. I shifted my attention past him to note an almost regal looking mare approaching from his left, my right. My eyes widened drastically as I drew in her looks! She was the purest white that I'd ever seen. Her hair was alive with softly cascading rainbow colors. It was vastly longer than Dash's, but provided a much softer color variation. The colors complimented magenta eyes. To my shock, she had both regal wings and an elongated horn extending from her forehead. Both? What was the name of those? I racked my brain trying to remember what that book had said about them. There was something important that I was forgetting. Answering her would be a good start, I decided, finally replying, "I'm all right. Um, I'm sorry I bumped into your friend." She giggled gently, her eyes softening to match her tone. I was suddenly shocked at the weight of knowledge she seemed to contain behind those eyes. "Oh, I do recognize you. You're Moon Mender, Twilight Sparkle's friend. Worry not. I'm certain my guard is undamaged," she assured, smiling again. "You have me at a disadvantage," I pointed out, deciding to ignore the slight rib from the obviously well off mare. Her own guard? She's probably upper class, at least. She surprised me with an odd smirk that came out of nowhere, before returning, "You can just call me 'Tia' if you want. I'm a friend of Twilight's. She talks a lot about you." I averted my gaze from her rapidly as I blushed. She talked about me? "I didn't know that. Well, a friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine," I assured, trying to will the blush away. Tia nodded politely to me, still wearing that understanding smile. "Friends are very important. I'm glad Twilight has opened her heart to them. I was actually on my way over to the library right now. Do you know if she's busy?" she asked. "Well, Pinkie Pie is over there right now to do the decorations for the party tonight, but Twi probably wouldn't mind company," I cautioned. If she was friends with Twilight, she probably knew Pinkie. That warning should be self-evident if so. "Oh my. Well I don't want to get in the way of anything. Wait, do you know of any good places to eat here?" she suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Well, probably not out of nowhere. I knew firsthoof how fast hunger could sneak up on you. I frowned but nodded slowly, suggesting, "Well, Twi eats at a cafe near here. But she only ever gets dandelion sandwiches anyways, so that might not be the best recommendation." Tia laughed warmly and nodded. "She is a bit stubborn sometimes. Shall we go and see if the food is good there, ourselves?" she asked a moment latter. I swallowed uncomfortably and probably paled a little. How much had Twilight told her? "Ah, you seem really nice but I kind of don't have any bits," I admitted, blushing as I felt a tad pathetic. Tia shook her head softly, smile widening. "Nonsense. I'd just like some company, you know. Besides, I'd like to talk to you more, if you don't mind," she insisted. Well, I suppose there's no harm in that. Rarity didn't know I was coming, anyway, so no loss there. "I suppose I could," I finally agreed. Tia nodded sharply and smiled. Her two rather stoic guards moved back into position near her at the same time. I swallowed my nervousness and followed after her. She waited politely for me to catch up, and a guard fell in to either side of us. Swallowing, I couldn't decide which way to shuffle or who to distance myself from more. With nothing else for it, I headed towards the cafe, leading the way. I should have stayed in bed... Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/_njN1VnKzfw
Chapter 04A few minutes later had us arriving at the cafe in due time. Tia made quite a stir, to my surprise. She must be quite a bit more famous than I had originally thought. The waiter looked like he was going to pass out when we walked up. He was so flustered that he tried to bow to Tia when she approached! She introduced me respectfully and nodded towards him to have us seated. Admittedly, I was more than a little impressed by her good graces. I had a sneaking suspicion that Rarity probably liked her. I was unaccustomed to them taking our orders then and there, but the white mare took it in stride. "So how has Twilight been as of late? She writes to me frequently but it's always nice to hear about it from a third pony perspective," Tia inquired after we got comfortable at our table, the flock of attendees dispersing a little. I nodded quietly. "She seems a little stressed but that could just be Pinkie Pie affecting her. I was worried she would be mad at me after what happened but she didn't appear to be at all. It's a little confusing, honestly," I admitted sheepishly. Tia laughed lightly and shook her head. "Far from it, Mender. She likes you quite a bit," she assured as those strange bodyguards settled in close to the table. "I just wonder how much of it is my being an interesting test subject," I wondered out loud. "Admittedly, it probably had a lot to do with it at first, knowing Twilight. These things have a tendency to grow out of simpler things. If only you read some of her letters to me recently!" she tantalized. My cheeks flared up, predictably. Oh my. Twilight shared a lot with this mare! I guess that did leave certain topics open, however. "Well, an Earth Pony that does magic is pretty rare, I guess," I returned, attempting to change the topic. I didn't particularly feel comfortable with somepony else giving away Twilight's secrets to me. Plus, it would tell me how much Twilight had told her. If she acted confused, I could just play the idiot. "Rare is an understatement. What types of magic were you trained in on your world?" she asked curiously. My blood chilled a little. "M-My world?" I asked hesitantly. Or it went the other direction! Twilight had told her pretty much everything, then. Who was she that Twilight hadn't talked about her yet? Tia nodded politely, still maintaining the warm smile before informing, "Twilight tells me many things. I'm her confidant, worry not. I haven't told another soul." I swallowed uncomfortably and nodded. She was a closer friend of Twilight's than I thought. "Ah, I'm just surprised is all," I muttered, looking around to make sure that nopony was listening. To my surprise, I saw that there was a three-table radius where nopony sat. It looked highly intentional to me. "I apologize for startling you. Perhaps I should have been more open from the start," she apologized. I smiled again and shook my head, feeling a bit better now that I saw nopony had heard. "It's all right. I just wanted to keep it a secret. Ponies tend to underrate my sanity when they hear the story," I explained. Tia nodded politely again. "I understand, of course. I don't doubt your sanity in the least, worry not." I had to laugh at that one. "I wouldn't go that far. I doubt I'm holding a full deck of cards," I corrected between snickers. She gave me cold deadpan stare for several seconds before seemingly realizing my playfulness and joining in the laughter. "Ooh, I think I might like you. You have no idea how nice it is to get away from responsibilities from time to time. You're good at getting somepony to let go," she complimented, smile shifting from polite to warm again. "It's not always a good thing. I'm not the best at motivating myself, either. At least not without probable cause," I admitted. Sure, my lackluster approach stemmed from the utterly hopeless war I had been a part of, but this place was infinitely better. Even if it did feel like I had jumped from one event to another so far. "Living with Twilight will help balance you out, don't worry. You never answered my prior question, though," she reminded. Prior...? Oh! "Oh, I'm sorry. I was an Engineer, I believe. My magic revolves around barriers, physical trait manipulation, and repair. I was a more supplemental role, it would seem," I explained to the best of my abilities. "Oh? For such a grim place, you weren't trained in any attack magic?" Tia inquired curiously. Why was she interested in that? I hesitated but nodded a moment later, answering with, "Yes. Just one technique. An energy blade. Rainbow Dash's fly by attack was the first I'd used it in actual combat." "Huh. I was expecting something a little bit scarier. You aren't going to use it anymore, are you?" she asked, sounding a little concerned. I chuckled at that. "Maybe as a glorified letter opener. There's no need for it in this dimension. The less these ponies know of my old world, the better," I muttered, feeling a little bit down again. These ponies didn't need to know about that hellish place. "A noble stance. What if you needed to defend yourself, however? Or defend Twilight and Fluttershy?" she asked next, watching me in an oddly focused manner. That was an extremely specific question. She knew I liked both of them, without a doubt. Why she was so adamant on this was beyond my guessing, however. I frowned and considered it. I didn't know what she was looking for in my answer, so I simply went with the truth and quietly explained, "If we couldn't escape and the only other option was them dying, then yes. I would use it without hesitation. But I don't think it will ever happen. Twilight is amazingly powerful and I have suspicion that Fluttershy is far from defenseless herself." Tia stared at me carefully for a surprisingly long time. I started to fidget nervously after almost thirty seconds of her rather intense stare. Finally she smiled again, however, and I exhaled sharply. "Twilight vouched for you already but I still wanted to ask. I see she's right. I don't believe you'd willingly hurt anypony," she explained. I slowly shook my head. "I love it here, even with the horrible luck and multiple blunt force traumas to my skull. I'd never hurt these wonderful ponies intentionally," I added, looking to the side at the filled tables. I oddly notice that a bit of a crowd was forming towards the cafe entry with quite a few ponies whispering and gesturing towards us. Wow, Tia was popular! I started to feel a little self-conscious. She must have noticed. "Don't worry about them. You're my friend so just treat me like normal. Trust me, it's refreshing. Can you show me your magic?" she requested. I tilted my head and gave her a skeptical glance. Did she mean right here, in the middle of the cafe? She gave an encouraging nod and smile. Sighing, I lifted my left hoof up, staring blankly at it for a moment before nudging my inner pool of energy into movement. Not sure what she actually wanted me to do, I simply activated the channeling and watched the symbol under the bandages start to glow. A few seconds later, the wrappings drifted free from my hoof and into the air. All I did was temporarily turn off gravity for them. The current from my hoof pushed them away gently as a natural result of the energy emission. Tia's smile broadened as she watched. There was that feeling in her eyes again! It was as if a great deal of time resided behind those twin pools of magenta. She suddenly struck me as far older than I had originally thought. "You're not levitating them. You told them to ignore gravity, right? Twilight is right. It's a far more physical magic than a unicorn's. Can you levitate something?" she asked curiously. I shook my head. "No. I can only manipulate what the rune on my hoof touches. Basic manipulation as well. It doesn't feel like I have enough energy in me yet to manage anything complex or permanent," I elaborated. Tia seemed to think for a moment before asking, "So like most unicorns, you need mental exercise before you can manage more?" A wave of gloom washed over me and I put my head down. I'd been so proud of my magic. Now it, like me, was starting over. Worse yet, I was surrounded by magic users of phenomenal skill. Heck, the partial unicorn sitting across from me was probably stronger than me, too! Tia gave me a soft smile, sympathy showing rather plainly before seemingly thinking of something. "I understand your frustration of course. But might I make a suggestion?" she asked softly. I nodded while patiently listening. She continued a moment later with, "Your body is that of an Earth Pony, so it's geared towards directing its magic through constitution. My suggestion would be to train your body alongside your mind. Healthy diet and exercise would do a good job of jump starting your magic as well, I'd assume, based on your body. I blinked slowly, considering what she had said. Wow. That actually was really intelligent. Twilight being friends with her suddenly made a lot more sense. "Wow. Thank you, Tia. You just might be onto something there," I admitted, running the concept through my head again. In all likelihood, it would help to greatly expand my magic pool. If I could do that by doing what I had intended to do anyway, I could use the time saved for training my control capabilities. That would speed the process up significantly! Tia giggled lightly and nodded. "Be sure to run it past Twilight as well. She deals more with experimentation and advanced theory than I do. She might be able to help you out even more," she pointed out. "Still, thank you for your help. Things haven't been going well since I arrived. It's nice that something might be working in my favor this time," I thanked again. She smiled and sat back in her chair as the waiter brought out our drinks. Tia had a tasty looking shake of some sorts and I had ordered tea. Fell in love with it ever since Rarity had served it to me. Sadly, my first sip told me she had spoiled me. It wasn't nearly as good as the stuff she had made. "Admittedly, I didn't know what to expect before I had met you. I was a bit apprehensive after the first letter Twilight sent," Tia returned. Had my delicious, delicious tea not been in the way, I might have slammed my face into the table out of frustration. Was I never going to live that down? She giggled and continued with, "Relax. Then I was deeply puzzled by her sudden change of tone in the letters after that. I was worried she was being manipulated. She's very intelligent but quite young still. Most ponies have good intentions but you should always be careful. It didn't help that you weren't from here." I nodded this time. That much was just playing it safe. I could accept that easily enough. She continued before I could say anything, with, "But now I see that you're just a normal pony with his own fears and troubles. Twilight was right and for that, I'm glad. You have my blessings." As happy as I was to hear that, I was a little confused. "I'm glad, but your blessings in what, might I ask?" I inquired. Tia giggled lightly. "Why in the pursuit of happiness, of course," she furthered simply. Smiling, I nodded and took another sip of my tea. I should have known something was wrong by the way she eyed me eagerly as I sipped. "And Twilight, obviously," she tossed on after I had a good mouthful of tea. It momentarily went into my lungs as I attempted to inhale at the same time. Seconds later, I was reduced to a coughing and sputtering lump on the table. Tia promptly added a "Gotcha!" before bursting into laughter. It felt like an eternity passed before I could breathe properly again. Gasping, I tilted my head up to glare at her. She was still giggling merrily, however. I politely waited for her to finish. "Oh, this is just too much fun! I don't do this nearly often enough," she finally spoke up in a wistful manner. Sighing, I decided that her life was probably pretty boring if that was the case. My irritation faded rather rapidly after that. "Well, try to warn me ahead of time when you decide to choke me half to death," I muttered wearily. To my surprise, she grinned and nodded. "But of course. We shall have to do this more often. You're quite good at relieving the stress of a day," she complimented. At least I think it was a compliment. "Your life doesn't feel so bad after watching my daily maiming, concussions, and almost asphyxiations, I take it?" I asked, using the napkins she floated my way to dab the tea out of my coat. "Well, tragedy is popular for a reason," she pointed out, earning another eye twitch and glare before she snickered and continued, "Oh relax. I tease. As much as you probably don't believe me, I have to say that you really are a good pony. Your luck will turn around soon. You have two cute mares after your attention as well." My mood shifted in a morose direction and I sighed before placing my head down on the table. "I just wonder if it's not karma or something. I lived when my entire species died. Why was I the lucky one? Maybe it's just paying me back?" I reasoned quietly. Tia shook her head softly. "One can never know the future. Not even the strongest magic can accurately predict it. Asking yourself if you deserve the place in life where you find yourself is equally futile. If you can't find a reason to be here, even though I see several, make your own reason instead," she suggested. I frowned and considered it. "A... A reason to be here?" I asked, not sure what she meant. Tia nodded politely and continued, "Of course. You're incorrectly worried that the sacrifice involved in your arrival was too great, right? Even if they actually intended to save only you, you can still choose to give a reason for it all. You don't need to wait for something else to give you that reason." She surprised me considerably. She definitely gave me another point of view, and a wise one at that, but there was something off about her reply that made me uncomfortable. Something she knew and wasn't revealing. Still, she had a good point. They hadn't sacrificed themselves for me specifically. Even though I lived when they died, it didn't exactly make me special in any regard. She raised an eye to me, so I snapped myself out of it and spoke up with, "You're right of course. I'm not that special just because I didn't die." Tia snickered and shook her head. "Of course you're not special because you lived. You're special because you're kind and many a ponies' friend. You're special to them," she corrected. Frowning, I considered her words. They matched well with what I had been told a while ago. Ponies took more away from interactions with others than I noticed or gave credit for. It applied to me as well, I supposed. "You're really wise. Twilight's lucky to have a friend like you," I complimented. This was a good friend of Twilight's, I reminded myself. She wasn't going to have bad intentions. I really needed to do something about the paranoid tendencies. Oh, and the hormones. Tia smiled warmly, but looked away from me. "You're quite a lot of fun as well. Surely you can be my friend as well?" she asked. My eyes softened and I smiled. "Of course, Tia. Are you going to be at the party later tonight?" "That's the whole reason I'm in town. Of course I'm coming. I think Twilight wanted me to meet you," she reasoned, a hint of playful sarcasm in her voice. I averted my gaze. "A little late for that. I guess she didn't anticipated me literally running into you in town," I muttered, face giving a tiny jolt of pain in protest of the memory. Tia leaned back as her salad and my sandwich arrived. "I doubt she'll mind. She's very patient and understanding," she assured as the waiter bowed politely to us. It took her a moment to glance back at me, but she finally noticed my incredulous expression. She hesitated, then giggled. "Okay, she's patient and understanding when scary feelings aren't clouding her judgment," she appended. Chuckling, I brushed the surface of my conveniently still unwrapped hoof against my sandwich. A quick tweak in magnetic properties later, and it was stuck to my hoof as I picked it up. Tia watched me curiously throughout, a mixture of amusement and possibly considering me the laziest stallion she'd ever seen. That last part could have been just me reading into it, though. Shrugging, I took a small bite of the sandwich, not wanting to rush anything. My body was used to an IV supplying its nourishment still. I could potentially get one hell of a stomach cramp should I rush eating. Tia simply nibbled gently at her salad. A small fork drift in front of her effortlessly and fed her bite by bite. Levitation magic must be so useful. Still, things were looking up for me now. All that was left to do was get Twilight to check out this new dream issue, and convince this Princess Celestia pony that I wasn't totally insane. Oh, and apologize to everypony for worrying them. Especially Fluttershy. It worried me that I hadn't heard from her yet, nor heard anything about her. Was she mad at me or something? Maybe Twilight would know. "Hey, this is pretty good after all. I'm going to have to thank Twilight for the recommendation, through you of course," Tia spoke up. Snapping out of my usual spacing out mode, I smiled back up at her. "That's something to be said about somepony who eats the same thing often enough. They get really good at quality testing the dish," I reasoned, gesturing idly in the air with my other hoof. Tia simply smiled and nodded, oddly seeming to actually enjoy my company. I hadn't known her for long, but she seemed to be really tense. It was like she didn't get the chance to unwind all that often. The rest of the lunch period went uneventfully, although the crowd gathered and continuously whispering near the entry to the cafe was a little awkward. I knew they were here for Tia, but it still felt like more than a few directed attention at me. The giggles that sporadically drifted from the mares in the crowd were particularly distracting. That's something I'd noticed almost immediately. I'd not been around females prior to arriving here, as far as I knew. But their laughter! There was just something about it. I couldn't really explain why it was so appealing. It was like something deep inside of me stirred and cheered every time I heard it. It was about forty minutes or so before we were done eating, if one included the conversation and waiting prior. As anticipated, Tia easily managed the bill, floating some gold looking coins out of a small pouch tucked away in her large chest jewelry. The owner of the restaurant almost fell all over himself trying to make sure that we had a pleasurable experience. I was a tad perplexed but Tia seemed to be used to that sort of thing. "But I insist! Surely if there's anything we can send with you, I can get it packed up immediately," he continued to assure. Tia smiled gently and shook her head as I wrapped my hoof up again. She watched me finish the final rotation as the owner deposited the bits. I hadn't paid that much attention to the final tab between the giggling mares and trying to focus my magic long enough to wrap the bandages again. Hopefully it wasn't too much. Even with her being obviously well off, it didn't feel right to leech off of her like this. The first bodyguard went ahead of us and stomped his hoof down once in front of the crowd. As if on cue, they parted in a line to allow us through. Tia went on ahead and I trailed slightly behind her. Awkwardly, a couple of the mares brushed lightly against me as we passed. I stumbled while trying to avoid one, and another managed to catch me and support my balance until I could get back on my hooves. "Don't mind these kinds of mares. Are you okay?" the mare next to the one who caught me asked. The questioning mare had a cream colored coat and a rather poofy, dark blue and pink mane. It was definitely unique. Her friend who caught me hurt my eyes, however. She was a bright mint color with a messy cyan and white mane. She gave me a friendly enough smile as she helped me to get my balance again. The second guard motioned the crowd back as Tia stopped and looked back at me. "Yes, I'm all right. Thank you, um..." I started before hitting a snag. The one still grabbing my left leg smiled warmly and nodded. "I'm Lyra. This is my fillyfriend, Bon Bon. How did you pick up that sandwich with just one hoof?" the minty mare asked. Er, oops. Um... Tia started back towards me again, frowning. Before she got too close, however, Lyra frowned and examined me. Huh? Was there something on my face? Before I could ask, she suddenly flailed and gasped. "It-It's you!" she declared at the top of her lungs. "Lyra?" Bon Bon questioned, tilting her head towards the other mare. I shrank visibly however, doing my best impression of a shivering dough ball. Lyra growled as Tia made it to me. "I stepped in your pee like, three weeks ago! You ran away from me!" Lyra reminded at the top of her lungs to the entire crowd. Oh crap! It was her. I thought she looked familiar... "Lyra! Is this the best time?" Bon Bon asked her quietly. Tia stopped in front of us instead. From my new position I realized how tall she was. "He's had a rather rough last few weeks. I know that much personally. Are you all right, Mender?" she asked gently. Lyra gasped and oddly fell into a bow. That was the second pony to bow to Tia. Warning bells went off in my mind. "I'm s-sorry, Princess Celestia!" Lyra apologized rapidly. A pause. Oh. Tia? Celestia? Celes... Oh crap. Decidedly, my body chose that moment to gargle with my yet beating heart. The newly revealed Princess Celestia sighed and made a motion with her head. "Shall we take a walk, ponies?" she suggested. I don't quite remember moving. I think one of the guards came up and pushed me along from behind. * * * * * The sun slowly sank towards the horizon as I sat quietly in the grass, watching the iridescent sky. The oranges, purples, and blues mixed together so nicely that I really didn't want to leave. Tia, or more appropriately, Princess Celestia, sat a meter or so to my right. Her eyes absorbed the colors of the sky as she watched her sun go down. It was beyond strange to realize that her sister was out there somewhere, directing the moon into the sky at the same time. She caught me looking a moment later, and I rapidly turned my head away, feeling insecure again. At least the mint pony had forgiven me for earlier transgressions before leaving. Lyra was it? She seemed nice enough once she stopped trying to murder me. Honestly, I hadn't realized "stallion smells" were so hard to wash off. Unhealthy obsession with how I picked up my sandwich, though! That was a little creepy. She went on to explain how awesome fingers were and how she wished she had some, like a dragon or something. Bon Bon looked like she wanted to die, though. "Still feeling awkward, Mender?" Celestia asked a moment later. Sighing, I shifted uneasily. "A little. You got me good, that's for sure," I pseudo-complimented. She giggled lightly again. "I only did so to keep you honest. And technically I never lied. Twilight Sparkle is indeed my friend." True enough, I suppose. "So you were asking about my magic to make sure I wasn't a threat, right?" I deduced, absently motioning with my right forehoof. The princess smiled and looked back out at the sky. She was quiet again for a moment before nodding and asking, "You understand why I had to do as such, right?" "Of course. You're the ruler of Equestria. I'm a potential risk to your nation." She frowned but nodded again. "Twilight ultimately can take more risks than I. Normally I don't ask her to, of course," she started to explain. It had been a nagging thought before I went to bed last night. I don't quite know why, but I think it was the way she said it. "She told you about me almost right away, didn't she?" I interrupted, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible. Celestia smiled again at that. "You're clever. You two really would make a good pair," she complimented. Of course. She told her probably right after finding the memories of another world and form in my mind. It was dangerous not to. I just didn't understand why she didn't tell me. "It was the right call. I could potentially have caused a lot of damage, and not much was known about me," I agreed quietly. "She was right, however. Twilight's gotten to be a good judge of character since becoming a Bearer. She said you yourself were harmless, and that the real danger was what you represented." I could tell she was directing the topic away from Twilight being at fault. That probably meant something. "But you're the ruler of Equestria. You can't just trust Twilight, no matter how faithful she was. Too much was at risk," I concluded for her. Celestia remained quiet for a moment and glanced back out at the sky. She hesitated before finally nodding. "Yes, this country is my responsibility. I need to be thinking about its welfare. I asked Twilight to keep an eye on you until I could make it to Ponyville myself that weekend. A potential hostile invasion is extremely serious, you must realize," she agreed. It rapidly snapped together. She had been flustered because of us jumping ahead of schedule. Twilight had wanted to wait for the Princess. Instead of her feelings becoming clear, however, I simply became more confused. How did she feel personally if she was simply told to look after me? My mind shifted back to her eyes slowly closing as I felt her lips push harder into mine. I pushed back the heat that was threatening to drift into my cheeks. No, I shouldn't jump to conclusions. There was definitely something there. Now what about me? I tried my hardest to feel out what I thought of her, but things kept getting mixed up in my head. "You're quiet, Mender. Are you okay?" Princess Celestia suddenly spoke up. As my thoughts had stolen my concentration, I couldn't help but jump when the silence was suddenly broken. "Oh! Sorry, Your Highness. I was just trying to sort out my feelings. And everypony else's," I apologized. She shook her head, however. "Please, either Celestia or Tia. I meant it when I said it was a comfort to just pretend I'm a normal pony for a while," she requested. It felt awkward, regardless. I seemed to be stuck thinking of her as Tia. Maybe that's what she wanted? She continued, " And if you're worried about Twilight, don't be. I was a little concerned when she started getting attached to you, but now that I can see for myself what you're like, I'm happy she trusts you." I had a sneaking suspicion she could see a lot more than she let on. I decided to just be open rather than risk her ire. "Why didn't she just tell me that she was in contact with you, then?" "I told her not to. You'd hardly have acted natural had you known you were being watched. You have my word that she isn't under any orders now," she assured, somehow guessing at my insecurity before I myself did. I was a bit impressed, and just a little frightened. Still, all Princess Celestia would need to do was say the word. Twilight practically worshipped her, from what I'd seen and heard. Celestia smiled gently after a moment, my inner turmoil halting the conversation reasonably well. I stared once again out at the colors of the sky as they slowly shifted towards the horizon. It couldn't be that late yet. Maybe this place followed a more natural seasonal daylight cycle. That would mean that the day would be getting shorter and shorter. Winter was coming. Really, I just wanted somepony I could trust. Failing that, maybe a good, sturdy tree I could kick until I felt better. Rainbow Dash? No. She was loyal, but not exactly to me. Plus she might be mad over the teleport incident still. Applejack? Heh. And get punched again? Pinkie? It worked surprisingly well last time, but this seemed a little sensitive for her level of energy and violation. Fluttershy? I didn't know what she was doing or where she stood on what had happened still. I didn't want to offend her. That left Rarity. The only thing she had done that was necessarily bad was eavesdrop and work me a little harder than I would have liked. She also took things reasonably seriously it seemed. Maybe she'll have some advice? Gently, I stood up and stretched out my back legs, earning Celestia's attention again. "Miss Rarity said she wanted to give me something today, so I should stop by there before the party, I think.” "I'll be at the party as well. May I speak with you more there? You probably have a lot of questions," she requested. I sighed but nodded slowly. She was insistent on clearing Twilight's name. Idly, I wondered why. She continued before I could ask, though, with, "Good! You have about an hour before the party. Best not be late. I don't believe even I can stop Pinkie Pie from going to find you if so." That I laughed at. "Oh, I know her a little bit. I won't be late." She smiled and nodded towards me as I turned and headed back into town, directing my legs towards the Carousel Boutique. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/VkeqBh2WzJk
Chapter 05Yawning quietly, I peeked about the town as I strolled, being more than a little happy at my ability to walk properly. It was hard for me to believe that it was less than three weeks ago that I could barely walk on four hooves. Now I could at least manage to look around a bit without risk of cracking my skull on the ground. As per the usual, there were a few stares as I headed towards the Boutique. Oddly, there were more whispers than usual. Surely they were used to me wandering about while looking half dead, right? They should just be thankful that I wasn’t in a mechanical walking barrel this time. They picked up the deeper into town I went, growing in participants and volume. I grew uneasy as I started to pick up Princess Celestia's name, and picked up the pace a bit. Sadly, three mares intercepted me no more than a dozen meters from the Carousel Boutique. "I'm, sorry to interrupt, but you're the stallion that was with Princess Celestia earlier, weren't you?" the cream-colored mare with the rose red hair asked. I swallowed nervously but managed a weak nod. "Ooh! What's your name?" her friend asked almost immediately. The sudden half prance forward caused her blonde mane to bounce excitedly. Oddly, her coat color reminded me of Pinkie. With her level of energy, I wondered if they were related. Regardless, I took a step back from the display of excitement. "I'm, my name is Moon Mender. Uh, why do you ask?" "Oh, I'm Rose," the cream and fittingly rose-colored mare spoke up. "Lily!" the slightly more energetic, blonde and pink one added. The only one to not speak yet nodded along and smiled, adding, "And I'm Daisy. Lily and I run the herb shop in Ponyville, and Rose handles the flower stand." Her lime colored mane shifted gently as she nodded. It looked a little strange with her light purple coat. "Ah. Well, that's nice," I returned, admittedly unsure of exactly why they were talking to me. All three smiled, however, seemingly oblivious. "You were that stallion that Pinkie Pie threw a party for a few weeks ago, weren't you?" Lily asked a moment later. I started to nod in agreement, but Rose interrupted before I could even open my mouth. "Huh? Oh, that party. I never actually saw the pony it was for." Daisy giggled, however, correcting, "Yes you did. He was the bandaged lump that slept on the sofa for most of the night." My eyes drooped as I gave an irritable glare towards her. "What?! No way. I could have sworn that was a throw pillow," Rose muttered, her brow becoming scrunched up. "Is that why you almost sat on him and Sweetie Belle?" Daisy asked skeptically. Lily added at the same time, "Are you sure you weren't drunk?" My ears drooped a bit and I sighed. You know it's a bad day when somepony mistakes you for an inanimate object. "No, I wasn't drunk! And I stopped when I saw her," Rose defended sharply. Sadly, a few more approached while they went back and forth. "Oh, you're the stallion that's been staying with Twilight, aren't you?" a yellow colored mare with a golden mane spoke up. Blinking, I swallowed again and started to open my mouth. A chorus of "Ooh"s interrupted, however, from the trio in front of me. A blush drifted into my cheeks and I stuttered out, "It's not like that. She's my friend!" "You're friends with all six Element Bearers, aren't you?" Lily asked in amusement a moment later. I didn't like her tone or implications, but I nodded anyway. "Uh, yeah. It's kind of a long story. I was trying to get to..." I started to excuse myself. "And friends with Princess Celestia! Are you some sort of secret agent or something?" Rose asked excitedly, halfway through my attempt to excuse myself from the conversation. "Would he honestly tell you if he was a secret agent?" Daisy reasoned, giving Rose a gentle nudge with her left forehoof. That was a very good point. All three were interrupted by a loud voice from above, shouting out, "Whoa! Nice crowd you got going, Mender!” Oh crap. That sounded like... Rainbow Dash swooped in an instant later, blasting all three mares in front of me with a rather sizable gust, earning a trio of yelps. The rest of the crowd seemingly decided that now would be a good time to back up and give the high-speed bolt of cyan fur a bit of landing room. After standing back up fully from her landing, Dash smirked over her right shoulder at me before rotating around fully. "Oh, hey Dash. What are you doing here?" I asked, carefully bracing against the wind she indirectly caused. Scratch that. I still wasn't all that stable on my legs. Dash glanced about at the crowd before puffing a little and snickering. "I was looking for you, duh. Twi said you seemed a little upset when you left and asked me to give you a little company. I guess you found some company on your own, though," she commented, gesturing to the crowd. I glanced about at them, uncertain. Some looked surprised, others more curious, and all were watching me. "Ah, yeah. Um, I don't know?" I offered, which was to say, told her nothing. "He was eating lunch with Princess Celestia!" Rose spoke up. Rainbow gave me a speculative glance, to which I shrugged and elaborated, "I bumped into her shortly after leaving Twilight's. Kinda maybe literally. She invited me to lunch and said she wanted to talk to me." I didn't think it was that big of a deal. "Whoa. Got asked out by a Princess. Nice going, hot stuff," Rainbow cooed, tossing me a wink. Obviously, I whipped out my trademark blush. "Dash! You know it's not like that!" I protested. It didn't help much as I heard the whispers and gasps start up around me. Great. Rainbow took it in stride, of course. "Hey, no need to be modest, Mender. You've got both Twi and Fluttershy hot after you, and you're friends with the coolest, bravest pegasus in Equestria!" she declared, puffing her chest out even further and widening her stance. Her cocky grin met my irked glare blow for blow. "You forgot fastest," I reminded sarcastically. She gave a pert nod and wink. "That's just a given with how awesome I am!" she assured, sounding amused. Okay, she was just screwing with me now. The door to the Carousel Boutique slowly opened behind the crowd, however. To my surprise, I saw both Rarity and Fluttershy peeking out through the doorway. The latter's eyes widened upon seeing me, and mine followed suit. Fluttershy! Mine widened even further when she lowered herself slightly and looked past Rarity and back inside. She was scared of me? Dash had turned around and peeked at point. "Oh, Rarity's? Is that where you were headed?" Rainbow asked a moment later, looking back over her shoulder with a smile. I buried the emotions as fast as I could and smiled back, nodding. Rarity smiled softly at me and strolled out of the shop. Fluttershy took that moment to dive back inside and out of view, of course. “Moon Mender! What a pleasure. I was looking forward to seeing you at the party tonight. I hadn’t expected an early visit,” Rarity spoke politely, drawing out her sentence spacing smoothly as she walked towards us with certain elegance. Wow, she was certainly laying it on thick. It must be the audience that brought it out in her. “I would have been here earlier, but Princess Celestia wanted to speak with me. Ah, I’m sorry,” I excused, nodding courteously to her. She giggled softly as she stopped maybe a meter away from us. Dash had backed up as she approached and now stood to my right side. “Oh I would never forbid a meeting with the princess. What was it she wanted to speak to you about?” the white unicorn asked, pleasant smile dancing onto her features. Rainbow snorted derisively. Uh oh. “What else could it be about, Rarity? She probably wanted to know more about his magi…” she started. Damn my reaction speed! Still, my shoulder jabbed into her side as fast as I could manage. “Ow! What the hay did you do that for?” she asked, glaring at me after recovering from her stumble. “Oh. Oh! Perhaps we should take this inside, dear?” Rarity offered, suddenly seeming to realize what the topic was and looking a little more flustered. Rainbow frowned over at her but lost some of the edge on her expression. Oh sure. Believe Rarity. There couldn’t be a logical reason for me to nudge a pony. I obviously go around all day assaulting random ponies in the side. “Oh. Well fine,” Rainbow acquiesced in an irritably nonchalant manner. It was too late at that point. Due to my lack of reflexes, almost everypony present with more than a dozen brain cells to rub together had figured out what she had been on the verge of saying. More whispers from the crowd could be heard. There were over two dozen ponies at this point, and it was getting hard to hear individual voices. “Wait, was that what you were doing at the café?” Rose suddenly spoke up, separating from the front of the crowd again and stopping just in front of me, looking a little eager. I swallowed nervously and took a step back away from her. “Uh, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I answered, trying to shrug off the suspicion. “That’s good. Neither do we,” Lily muttered, giving a suspicious looking glance at her friend. Rose seemed to pay no heed though and bounced back and forth on her hooves in a rather exciting and oddly mesmerizing fashion. “I thought it was just a rumor but Lyra was going crazy over it earlier, saying he could hold up a cup of tea with just one hoof! Magic!” she exclaimed, eyes widening and dancing with energy as she stepped closer to me again. “That is simply preposterous, ponies! He is clearly lacking a horn, so Lyra simply must have gotten confused,” Rarity tried to redirect. Oh, thank you! Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow to her, however. “What are you talking about, Rare? You know he,” she started before pausing for a moment. A look of dawning graced her face with the punctuated, “Oh.” “Are you serious, Rose?” Daisy asked, looking at me instead of her friend. “Yes! And hey, he’s cuter than Lyra described!” she returned, suddenly looking up and down me. Oh crap. She was suddenly way too close for comfort, my privacy zone expanding by several meters along with my nervousness. I edged away from her as I shifted my gaze back to Rarity, begging for a way out. Rarity sighed and held a hoof to her forehead, just below her horn. She suddenly looked like she really could use a full spa treatment. Oddly, I had no idea where that thought came from. My concentration was cut short in surprise, however, as I heard a light and faintly echoing squeak, shortly after the comment on my appearance. Huh? My mind reeled with a dip of vertigo momentarily, but I shook it off easily enough and glanced back at the Carousel Boutique. That squeak, which was oddly a mixture between a whimper and yelp, was excessively cute enough to be a certain yellow pegasus I knew. Had she heard the comment? More importantly, how had I heard her in return? A strange compulsion bounced into my mind. Both Dash and Rarity gave me a questioning glance as I suddenly ignored the crowd entirely and trotted past the unicorn mare, going inside the Boutique instead. I heard murmurs following me, and the distinct sound of two other sets of hoof steps on the entry step behind me after I entered. It didn’t take me long to find the shivering pink tail that hid behind a rather large supply chest. At least I assumed it was supplies. I guess Rarity might have some other reason for keeping large chests of various gemstones, textile tubes, and spools of thread. Regardless, the soft pink tail shivering behind the chest clearly didn’t belong. “Fluttershy,” I murmured quietly. The tail went rigid, followed by an audible gasp. With glacial movements, I saw her pink mane, and then finally her left eye peek out from around the chest. The eye widened and I watched her visibly shrink under my gaze. There was a long pause where we simply looked at each other again. I slowly sat down in front of her, eyes softening. Why was she suddenly avoiding me? Not making any sudden movements, I simply sat in front of her, breathing slowly. After several more rather awkward moments, she must have realized that I wasn’t going anywhere and slowly peeked out further from around the chest. Her eyes softened a little as she simply watched me, those twin pools of teal shivering lightly as I saw moisture start to build up along the bottoms of them. “Fluttershy...” I heard Rarity muttered from behind me and to the right. The main door gently closed as well, due to what I assumed were Rainbow’s manipulations. The pretty yellow pegasus winced, tears finally coming as she lowered her head and buried her face in her hooves. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, shivering again. Deciding it was for the best, I lowered myself further down into a laying position, leveled out eye to eye with her. “For what, Fluttershy? What’s bothering you?” I asked carefully, trying hard to corral my mind’s natural tendency to start guessing. She stayed frozen like that for a long moment. Rainbow appeared on my right side and sat down next to me, looking down at the shivering yellow pegasus with a frown. Rarity’s hoof steps could be heard getting closer behind me as well. Fluttershy sighed and continued staring at her hooves. “I… should have visited you sooner. I just don’t know what to do. I mean, what to feel around,” she tried to mutter, already quiet and fading to nothing towards the end. That much I could work with. I swallowed weakly and nodded. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable with my feelings. They’re there, but I’m trying really hard to keep them under control and figure them out,” I tried to assure, voice jittering a little. She surprised me by shaking her head rapidly, however, mane fluttering back and forth. “No. It’s not… that. Twilight had me, um, help her pull you back from your bad spot. But I accidentally saw some other things, too. In your memories,” she squeaked out, hiding her face again in her hooves as if she was afraid I’d hit her or something. Oh. Oh crap. She knew about when I first arrived! “Oh! Uh… I can explain! Um, I’m really, really sorry! Honestly, I didn’t mean to look!” I exclaimed rapidly, feeling my blood drain from my face and shivering. Unconsciously, I lowered myself further down to the floor. Fluttershy stopped shivering for a moment and looked back up at me, looking slightly confused instead this time. “Um, what?” she asked hesitantly. Oh. Uh, oops. “Oh my. Who else did you look at aside from Twilight?” Rarity asked behind me, sounding surprised. Crap! She was right on cue. “You checked out Fluttershy’s flank too?” Rainbow asked, starting to laugh. Fluttershy’s cheeks went crimson as her eyes widened. I only saw it for a moment, however, before she buried her face in her hooves again, releasing a timid, “Oh my.” I could appreciate the feeling, and joined her in hiding my face. Mine was out of shame, however. “Oh relax, girls. Let’s not let this get out of hoof again. It’s a natural reaction. It simply wouldn’t be feasible for such a pretty mare to go unnoticed, right? I’m sure he meant no harm by it, right Mender?” Rarity requested, resting what I figured was her right forehoof on my back and patting. “Of course not. There’s just so many… feelings whirling around in my head. I need to sort them out. Then do something about these stupid hormones,” I groaned, whacking my forehead on the wooden floor. Fluttershy let out a weak sigh and shook her head, still blushing lightly as I peeked up at the noise. “It is, well, natural. You’re a very, um, kind stallion. It’s just…” she started to explain before frowning and hesitating. After a moment of staring off into space, she shuddered and rapidly shook her head. “No, no, no! I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. It’s not you. It’s me.” “Flutters, you need to relax. Nobody’s blaming you. Mender’s just a stallion. They look a lot. Take it as a compliment!” Rainbow pointed out, smirking down at me instead. I returned a rather annoyed stare. The yellow pegasus didn’t seem assured, though. “I know. It’s not what I saw. But I can’t get it out of my head. So much. How do you even stand it? There was… It was all around you,” she whimpered, curling up on her side instead. Oh. It snapped back into place and I felt my blush drop away, sitting up again. The cyan pegasus next to me gave a questioning look, but I stared past Fluttershy instead. Honestly, I’m surprised Twilight was alright with it. No. In all honesty, I didn’t know why I was still alright with it. Maybe I wasn’t? I don’t think anypony, or anybody in this case, ever got adjusted to such a thing. Rarity approached and peeked at me from my left. “The war. All of the death. I know,” I muttered, eyes drooping a little. My memories were still a mess. There were no coherent events in them, but many images were still present. Like the photographer went out on a drinking binge and got shots at random before falling down a cliff and trying his best to recover the camera. Regardless, the pictures weren’t pleasant. Dash frowned, this time at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, you know that’s not his fault,” she tried to defend. Rarity interrupted with a sharp clicking noise from her tongue as Fluttershy winced and curled up tighter, as if physically hit by Dash’s words. “Of course she knows that. But when she thinks about him, those memories come with,” she explained. Explained. She knew already, I suddenly realized. Fluttershy nodded weakly, tears now coming down her cheeks. “You’re really nice. For all that to happen, to you and your race; it’s terrible. It’s horrifying. I can’t…” she muttered again, shivering visibly now while barely producing more than a whisper. “Um, should I leave? I don’t want to stir up uncomfortable memories for you,” I offered, quietly looking down at her. The last thing I wanted to do was make the shy pegasus more uncomfortable than I was already making her. She had probably been talking to Rarity about it when I rudely interrupted. Wait, why had I interrupted? I suddenly couldn’t recall why I had wandered in here in the first place. She was scared and needed help. But I don’t know why I thought that. Of course, I was no stranger to having large gaps of memory missing, between already being diagnosed with amnesia and spending an uncomfortable amount of time unconscious through blunt head trauma prior to the coma. I guess I should just be thankful it only lasted a couple of weeks. And from what I heard, I had Twilight and Fluttershy to thank for that. It made what she saw even harsher, though. She had done it for me. I digress, however. I’d never had gaps of memory while awake. This was a little troubling. Perhaps I’d talk to Twilight about it again. Although it probably was nothing, like she’d already tried to convince me. Maybe she was right and I really didn’t have anything to worry about? Fluttershy interrupted my thoughts by sitting up in front of me. Her eyes looked a little bloodshot, now that I was close enough and she had them fully open. Were the images giving her nightmares? “Please. No. I want to… Well, I want to get used to you again,” she murmured, voice a little stronger this time. Rarity smiled and nodded politely off to my left. “Yes. Replace the memories with happy ones instead. Both of you should let those images go, honestly. Surely it isn’t doing Mender any good either, right?” she suggested, motioning towards me with her right forehoof. Letting out a puff of air, I nodded weakly and glanced away from the yellow pegasus. I felt really tired, in truth. It felt like I was going full-bore for so long that I don't remember the last time I really relaxed. Not that lack of memory should really surprise me at this point. Not including the coma, I think the last time I rested was after helping Applejack fix her wagon. “I could definitely do with a little more forgetting, honestly. My dreams still aren’t exactly pleasant,” I admitted finally with a shake of my head. Fluttershy sat up again, shifting to a light smile instead. It still felt a little timid, though. “I’m sorry for, um, avoiding you. I want to get used to you again,” she apologized quietly. Again. I looked away from her slightly. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, Fluttershy,” I expounded, feeling a little better that she was at least being open with me again. I hesitated, but finally got up the courage to add, “It’s true. I like you. You make me feel, well, safe. You calm me down and have already stopped me from panicking on multiple occasions. Plus you’re… Well, you’re beautiful. I’m trying to fix the other things, don’t worry.” I ignored the light gagging noise coming from my right, of course. Predictably, she resumed a light blush, but her smile didn’t go away this time. “I’m not that special,” she whispered, losing her force of voice and looking down again. “Oh, that I agree with him over. You’re very special indeed, my dear,” Rarity reinforced, giving a wide smile to her friend. The blush expanded by several magnitudes and she started fidgeting with her front hooves. “I, um, thank you. I really do want to be your friend, Mender. I’m not sure if I want more than that, but…” she finally managed to get out, sounding as if she were straining to actually push the words out of her mouth. Smiling, I nodded gently. That was the best I could have wished for heading into this situation, really. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I want to be your friend too. Are you coming to the party?” I inquired, curious about her standing. She let out a surprised gasp. My eyes widened a little, but she rapidly stepped forward half a leg length. “Oh, of course! Um, why would I miss it?” she defended, looking surprised that I’d even had to ask. “She has a point ya know. Of course we’re all going to be there. You’re already our friend,” Dash insisted, giving me a light shove on the shoulder with a hoof. Sadly, I tipped and wobbled a bit before Rarity snickered and gave me a push back in the other direction. I nodded, really unsure of what I could say to something like this. Thankfully, I really didn’t have to say anything. Rainbow’s gasp beat me to the punch. “Oh horseapples! The party!” she exclaimed suddenly, eyes widening. Huh? Oh! Looking around, I finally managed to spot a clock on Rarity’s wall. Seventeen fifty-five? Uh oh. That left five minutes before the party started. “Uh, I’d better get going! Pinkie will hunt me down if I’m late for the party,” I whimpered. Dash nodded, looking a tad apprehensive herself. “Run and you can make it. I’ll stall them!” she exclaimed before turning and galloping towards the door. She flicked the knob with her muzzle as she hopped, weight pushing the door open before a single flap of her wings sent her hurtling into the sky in a blur. Damn that mare was fast! Turning around and trying to start into a sprint at the same time was probably a really stupid idea, however. As it turns out, even two weeks in a coma does horrible things to your body. Not that I needed the coma excuse with my general lack of finesse in this body, anyway. Regardless, I tipped and promptly ran my face into the wooden floor instead, skidding along a good foot and a half on my nose. I heard a light squeak behind me, indubitably from a very surprised Fluttershy. Her noises were very distinctive, I decided. Well, as much as I could decide as the nerve endings in my face screamed out for mercy. Attempting to recover what little there was left of my dignity, I simply rolled with it. For a moment, I balanced perfectly on my forehead before falling in the other direction onto my back. With all the grace of a drunken hippo, I flopped backwards and rolled sideways, spinning myself as I went. With my momentum somehow still intact, I came out of the spin on my legs again and booked it towards the door at top speed, utterly afraid to look back at the two mares in my shame… * * * * * In an ideal world, I would have slid through the door totally on time a few minutes later, with everypony there happy to see me and congratulating me on my physical prowess. I’d then be the guest of honor of the party, and have a grand old time. The night would then end on a high note with a swooning purple unicorn and yellow pegasus, and gentle kisses to welcome the coming sleep. Instead, I lay spread eagle on my stomach a dozen meters from the entry to the library, with a bruised face and dignity, puffing like some makeshift steam device. Damn. “Okay, this ‘ere is mighty sad, Mender,” came a familiar accented voice from the direction of the door. I didn’t have the energy, nor heart to look up at Applejack as I heard her hoof steps coming closer. “Haa…” I managed to murmur airily as I exhaled, world still spinning. As to not throw up, I kept my eyes closed. That was as close to “Hi” that she was going to get from me at the moment. “Ya know, it was only ah couple blocks from Rare’s, right? Ya really need ta get yerself back into shape,” she added after a few more seconds. I heard the light puffing noise of a bit of dust in front of me, and assumed she’d sat down. I managed a miniscule nod into the ground, wincing at my aching legs. “Yeah… Ugh. Can’t move,” I finally got out. They wouldn’t mind if I took a little nap here, right? There was an exasperated sigh, followed by, “Ah figured as much. ‘ere.” My surprise doubled when something rough and grainy wrapped itself around my upper body with no little amount of nudging and shoving. My eyes opened a moment later just in time to see her tighten the rope and pick up the other end in her teeth, shrugging as she started dragging me in the direction of the library. Well, this was awkward. It was kind of comfy, though, in a dust up my nose kind of way. Silently, I hoped Ponyville would get some rain soon. Raising my head feebly as we reached the steps, I managed to angle the slope off my collarbone. Applejack took note and pulled me up the forty-five degree angle before continuing into the library. The explosion of light and sound was magnified by my spinning head. Cheering exploded all around the room as the lights flicked on. "Surprise!" several of the ponies shouted, Pinkie at the forefront and very much the loudest. Pause. Most lost their grins and I got dozens of confused looks. Suddenly, I noticed a visible twitch and picked Twilight out of the crowd near the front. "Oh come on! Four hours. I leave you alone for four hours! How do you do this, Mender?" she shouted, looking a little exasperated. Dash predictably burst into laughter, this time drawing many others along with her. My irritation spiked, but once I thought about it, she had technically done her job. Twilight was mad because I bashed my face off Rarity's floor, not because I was late. "Oh who cares! He's here now, so it's time to party!" Pinkie declared, doing a lazy series of somersaults towards my position on the floor. She, and the sensation of horror in me as she approached, were both cut short by a sudden flash of light, however! Twilight was suddenly standing between us with no visual spatial movement whatsoever. What?! She could teleport without charging? What I could recall of my lessons labeled that as a 'Blink' technique. Appropriate, honestly. It allowed the caster to move from one spot to another, usually a short distance away, in the space of an eye blink. To do so impulsively with no charge time was masterful, though! "Oooh no! No, no! He's already injured. He takes it easy tonight," she prescribed, stomping her right front hoof on the floor. Pinkie giggled and started to turn around her, but was easily snatched out of the air in a lavender aura. She took it in stride, of course. "Wheee!" she squealed as she spun about defying gravity. Twilight tossed her into the pillow cluster next to the couch before lifting me up with a similar aura. Absently, I noted that the pillows used to be on the couch. I had slept against them at the last party. The unfazed Applejack nodded to Twilight and undid the rope as I dangled in the air in front of her. This really wasn't helping the dizziness. After Applejack untied me, Twilight walked over to the couch with me floating lazily in the air behind her. She hopped up onto the end cushion and smiled warmly at me before gently setting me down next to her. “There! Now you’re safe and sound for the rest of the night,” she concluded, nodding sharply. Was that on her checklists somewhere? Or was she ordered to watch me again? I nudged my thoughts back into check. Celestia had been very insistent that it wasn’t Twilight’s idea. That either meant that Twilight had expressed discomfort in spying on me and honestly wanted to just be my friend, or that Celestia wanted to keep Twilight in my good graces so I’d be less suspicious. But what was that old adage? Innocent until proven guilty? Twilight’s look shifted to puzzled instead when I took so long to answer, but I slowly got into a vague sitting position instead, leaning against the back of the couch. “Thanks, Twi,” I finally managed. The impact with the couch directly above my head jarred me. I glanced up and saw Rainbow Dash, perched precariously on the top of the couch’s back. "Ooh, guarding him all night?" she asked, smirking. There was a light whispering from various locations around us, and I quickly realized that the crowd was still at full attention. Twilight scowled up at her before defending with, "You know it's not like that, Rainbow!" "Oh! Can we have you, then, Mender?" was suddenly shouted out from the left. I glanced over and blushed as Rose waved from the front of the crowd. Wait, we? I saw the other two flower themed mares standing next to her a moment later. To my discomfort, both were smirking. Rainbow Dash started snickering again, but Twilight looked utterly shocked. She glanced over in the direction of the three flower mares as well. "Wait, what?!" she muttered in disbelief. "Well, he's personal friends with the Element Bearers and Princess Celestia. Plus, he's cute and an Earth Stallion who can use magic!" Lily explained simply. "He can what?" Twilight asked, visually shifting from surprised to annoyed in seconds before turning and glaring back at me. I saw Rainbow avert her gaze in the corner of my eye. Tempting as it was to rat her out, I didn't think it would impress the Element of Loyalty all that much. "Sorry, Twilight. I got caught using it," I apologized softly. She sighed weakly and nodded, turning back towards the group to our left. A frustrated murmur interrupted anything she was going to say, though. "Okay, yeah. I can't let you do that. I let the secret out! I totally didn't think it was a secret in the first place. Sorry, Twi," Rainbow muttered. Sorry, Twilight? Twilight nodded once, a light smile playing at her features. She had probably guessed it had something to do with Dash, I'd imagine. She opened her mouth again to speak. Once again, both her words and my sulking were interrupted by a third party. "I offer my apologies for being late, Everypony. The moon rising here is beautiful without the Canterlot lights to wash it out," spoke the elegant voice of the Princess of the Sun, from the direction of the library's entry. The crowd was like a gentle retreating wave as the collective bowing commenced. The prior whispering tapered into nothingness at the same time, a seemingly mutual respect for the Princess telling everypony to allow her to speak. Everypony minus Twilight of course, who instead released a quiet gasp. "Princess Celestia! You made it!" Twilight exclaimed a moment later, hopping over the back of the couch like a little filly before scampering over to her teacher. I saw that Rarity and Fluttershy were both with the Princess as well. I smiled softly as I watched, finding it more than a little cute to watch the usually reserved unicorn get so excited. Well, I watched until I heard the barely audible coo to my right. Instinctively, I glanced in that direction, just in time to see Pinkie Pie balancing carefully on the other armrest. Uh oh... She wiggled her butt like a cat, giving me a predatory grin before pouncing. I managed to inhale sharply but couldn't quite get the scream for help out before she collided with my chest. My stored air supply left as rapidly as I had acquired it, and not nearly as noisily as I would have liked. It was kind of like being molested by energetic chipmunks wielding cotton candy. I couldn't catch my breath as she tickled me mercilessly, her mane blocking my vision at every turn. She purposefully ruffled my own mane up as I squirmed, trying to get away from her. Dash must have heard my squeaks and gasps, as I heard her start to snicker from somewhere reasonably close above me. "Whoa! Harsh, Pinkie. Flutters, you should see this!" she tacked on in a break between the laughter. I finally managed to get a hold on Pinkie's head and pushed her out of my viewpoint. Just as I got the pink curls out of my eyes, Fluttershy popped into view next to Dash on the back of the couch. "Oh! Oh my. You're not hurting him, are you, Pinkie?" she asked timidly, actually looking a little worried. Pinkie sat up on me and laughed, shaking her head until her mane flailed everywhere wildly. "Of course not! I'd never hurt such a good friend," she assured promptly. She seemed to know how to deal with the yellow pegasus, anyway. "Just tickle me until I can't breathe. Got it," I groaned wearily, glaring up at the pink lump of energy masquerading as a pony. She giggled merrily, of course. "Oh you know you like it!" she defended, giving me a surprisingly flirty wink. Wait, no. She had acted like that with one of the girls, too, if I recalled. It was probably just her way of playing. "Two can play at that game you know," I reminded, grinning back. Her eyes widened as she grinned, making to dive off me. Far too late, my pink friend. My left foreleg exploded into a mess of bandages, snagging her and mercilessly returning the tickle treatment at every conceivable angle. She burst into spastic squealing as she squirmed and laughed, trying to climb up the back of the couch. Hey, at least they were all clean and new. What the pink monster really deserved were the gross and messy ones I had on earlier! "Whoa! Awesome, Mender," Rainbow complimented, laughing as she kept blocking Pinkie's climbing path. I made a clicking noise with my tongue as I sat up again. Less than half were tickling. Heh. Sorry Rainbow. "I'm not letting you off the hook either, Dashie," I warned, winking at the cyan mare. All she had time for was a questioning glance before I snagged her too. She started squealing before I even proceeded with the tickling. "No! No, no! Please?" I cut short her pleading as I pulled her out of her weak attempt to fly away while hysterically laughing. Pinkie's giggles only escalated as her friend got pulled in too. Even Fluttershy giggled lightly as she balanced on the back of the couch. "What the hay is going on over there?" I heard Twilight ask, seemingly finally noticing her friends' plight. Pinkie immediately tried to climb over Dash after she crashed into the couch cushion, and used her as a step to get towards the top of the couch. Guess it was every mare for herself! Fluttershy wobbled and clutched to the cushion as Pinkie giggled and clung next to her. I should have seen it coming. All four of us gave out a yelp as the couch spilled over backwards. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/DVtqPDLWZmY
Chapter 07Maybe it was the potion-induced unconsciousness. Maybe I had a weekly quota. Maybe I was just incredibly unlucky. Regardless of the reasons behind it, I found myself in the other reality. Well in all honesty, I had no idea if this place was actually real or if it was some kind of delusion put together by my brain to further torture me during my lack of consciousness. Twilight seemed to believe that the link was gone, and maybe she was right? This could just be a sign of my slowly decaying sanity, of course. The only reason I knew that I was in space this time was due to the view out the window. My subconscious had taken me to the inside of a spaceship cabin, it would seem. The disembodied projection feeling remained as I peered around the interior. In a way, I was grateful that at least my technical training had carried over to my pony body, no matter how awkward it was. It was kind of like knowing how to do complex math without any memories of ever learning it. The skills and knowledge was simply there. In this case, I must have paid attention in some divination class somewhere, because I knew how to manipulate my mind outside of the context of my body. The cabin was comfy. Not military, that much was certain. It still felt a little cramped, but had personal touches. A couple fanciful pillows, colorful bedspreads, and an array of pictures on the walls brightened the room up quite a bit. Functionally, a bunk bed for two and single lavatory was rather luxurious by itself, though. It cost serious funds to push extra mass through space, after all. In short, I had no idea why I would be here. If this were an elaborate setup on my mind's part, I don't even know where it could have gotten the information to use as a backdrop. Failing that, the only other option was that something was linking me back to that hellish place, even though Princess Celestia herself said the link was gone. Unlikely, but go ahead and call me paranoid if you want. I made further note to stop talking to myself again, as to not further fuel my own insanity. Looking to my own 'body' did nothing, of course. There was nobody there for me to see. The surrounding area gave me little to go off, as well. Given no choice, I closed my vision and opened my Mind's Eye instead. A glorified meditation technique in most cases, the Mind's Eye did have a practical purpose in this situation. Being not in my actual body, be this either dream or some sort of projection, the Eye activated almost immediately. The world shifted into shades of gray and I glanced about, looking for anything that stood out for me. If this were a dream, I'd probably get nothing. I really hoped I'd get nothing. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case. Half a second passed and I picked up a light blue glow coming from the lower bunk bed, barely a meter away from me. Damn it. So this was either a dream that was exceedingly convincing or I was really here, being pulled while my body slept. Or maybe I was rendered unconscious, as my last memory served? Of course, I could have just died from a potion overdose. Snapping out of my distraction, I looked into the sheets. It wasn't very hard to find. The blue glow made it easy to locate, but I almost wish I hadn't. My mind ached in a dull, frozen manner as I looked at the small book lying on the mattress. Its worn wrinkles graced the simple blue dyed leather cover in dignity. The simple lock adorned one side, metal showing a gentle rusting that mirrored the spine decorations. The key lay barely three inches from the book, somewhat defeating its purpose, but telling me something important. It had to be important. If only I knew what it meant. The door slid open with an audible mechanical hum before I could ponder it further. I froze, wondering exactly how visible I was to the natives of this place. With no other option, I watched helplessly as two individuals entered the room. Then the helplessness shifted rapidly to shock instead. Both of them walked upright on two legs. Further, they both wore clothing; space contact suits to be precise. They had no helmets on, however. The true surprise came from the blue fur covering their faces, long ears extending back almost a foot, short muzzles, whiskers, and slit pupils. They were my old race! They looked like I had. Well, prior to the explosion, death magic, and massive bodily trauma. Further, they possessed a curved build, both major and minor mammary gland sets, and a distinct lack of extended upper canines. They were females! The one in the lead was a little taller and had her hair tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes were a pretty teal color and looked right through me. The smaller trailed behind her a little, sporting a relaxed cascading hairstyle and brilliant blue eyes. She lingered in the doorway and glanced about the room wearing a frown. The taller one walked right through me, giving me the rather discerning view of the inside of her stomach before I killed my perception. That was something I could have lived my whole life without seeing! Well, technically I had. I considered this existence my second life regardless. The tall one stopped at the other end of the room by the time I'd pulled my perception back into place. "What's bothering you, Keela?" she asked quietly, upon observing for a moment. The one called Keela jumped slightly, as if spooked. "What? Oh, sorry, Sis. I guess I'm just a little unnerved still," she excused quietly. So they were sisters? Or really close. It made me wonder what family structure was like in my old race. There were no memories of that sort of thing at all. Did I have family too? If these girls were real and not extremely strange dream figments, then maybe I had family left too? "For one as sensitive as you, visiting the remains of our home planet can't be comfortable. How are you holding up?" the yet unnamed female questioned in seeming concern. The younger looking one shook her head tiredly before walking into the room further. Oddly, she drifted a little in her trajectory and walked around me. A subconscious thing? It didn’t seem to be that big of a stretch to think that there were other specializations too. My magic focused on three distinct subjects. Maybe she focused on detection or divination of some sort? My mild distraction abruptly ended with a wave of vertigo. My vision spun to the right rapidly, just in time to see the older girl pick up the small book. "I'm all right, Nirru. Just tired. You've been quiet too, though," Keela pointed out, sitting down on the bed next to the newly named Nirru. Nirru sighed, setting the book down again and dropping my nonexistent stomach out from under me. Ug! "I'm just frustrated. So far, we've only found this book. We need to find survivors," she muttered quietly, looking down at the cover. Keela exhaled gently and smiled, replying with, "This is a survivor. It's perfectly intact. Its magic is strong, but very strange. It's not just an Aegis Artifact." An Aegis... Artifact? That was totally new to me, unfortunately. It must have something to do with the Aegis Barrier, but there weren’t even the faintest of chimes in my memories at the name. That's how it had worked before. Some sort of external stimulus would occur, and the memories involved would slowly start to drift to the surface. It was sort of like blowing up submersibles with depth charges. This topic seemed to be firing blanks, however. "What feels so weird about it? Furthermore, what does it do?" Nirru asked abruptly, snapping me out of my contemplation. Ah well. This sounded more interesting anyway. Keela frowned and slid her small hand along the surface of the book. It momentarily felt like my mind was being brushed against. Instinctively, I held rigid and gave out no signs of life. Crap! That book! "It feels like the owner is still alive. I have no idea what it does, though. Being a book type, it will need to be opened to find out. “That’s not possible, though. At least, if it really is an Aegis Artifact. The very definition requires that the creator be dead,” Nirru pointed out skeptically, frowning down at the book as well, but making no motion to touch it like her sister. Keela didn’t respond immediately. I felt her energy dancing along the book, and in turn, myself. I made no motions and withdrew my energy the best I could as to not be detected, but she was extremely insistent. “It feels like there’s consciousness in this life-force. It’s unlike the other artifacts I’ve handled. It’s alive. The owner is alive. I can almost guarantee it!” she proclaimed, sounding confident. “Can you find anything else out about its owner?” Nirru inquired curiously, surprising me a little. Her uncertainty was slipping fast. She really trusted Keela, it seemed. “He’s very far away, but feels very close at the same time. I’m not sure what to make of the feeling,” Keela muttered, still frowning as she slipped a claw into the lock. There was a ripple and distortion once she was barely a millimeter in, and some sort of invisible field held her at bay completely. It was irritating. I glared at the book, trying to make my mind remember more about it. All I truly accomplished was giving myself a headache, of course. It was important from somewhere! That much I could be sure of. The headache got worse and reality started to bleed, images melting through my perspective. Uh oh. "He?" Nirru asked suddenly, eyes widening and little. It was almost impossible to hear her as her voice echoed and dropped off. Keela said something in return, but I couldn't quite hear it as the backdrop of the world fell out from under me. For a moment, everything was deconstructed into base energy dancing wildly. Then it all went black. * * * * * It was the oddest sensation. Kind of like you just popped out of a blender backwards, only to realize that nothing was moving in the first place. My mind snapped back into its normal spot with a crashing wave of dizziness and nausea. A headache mixed with a dull beating sensation along my left eye followed. What the heck happened?! Was I having seizures while talking to the magic, dimension-traveling frog? Wait. It suddenly occurred to me that the frog might have been a bit nonsensical. My eyes opened slowly, taking in the sight of the gently spinning room with mild disdain. After a moment to adjust, I realized with no small surprise that I wasn't in the clinic bed. Huh. Normally when I wake up from a 'nap' of unspecified duration with a splitting headache, I'm greeted with the sight of the emergency medical facilities. Managing to catch some features as they slid by, I rapidly noticed a couple large bookshelves, another bed, a desk, and a lavender blur. Huh. "Ah! I was wondering when you'd be up! I was just coming to check your temperature again. How do you feel?" the fuzzy blob that spoke like Twilight asked, sounding happy. I tried blinking. It didn't help much. "What happened and why does my face hurt?" I asked wearily. "Hey, you're awake! Finally," a new, blue blob announced, floating up in front of my vision as well. Okay, that sounded like Rainbow Dash. I must be back in Equestria at this point. The blob Twilight sighed weakly and relayed, "You got a massive overdose of truth serum mixed with a powerful hallucinogenic. You then proceeded to shout out some rather, um, interesting things at the top of your lungs in-between throwing up. Rainbow Dash, uh, kicked you in the head and knocked you out at that point." I blinked slowly, head giving another throb of protest. "Hey, he started to blab about sensitive information! I didn't have any choice," Dash defended, crossing her forelegs. I momentarily got distracted by some square looking object tucked under her foreleg. Wait, the frog wasn't real? Damn frogs! "Dash..." Twilight warned, looking over at her floating friend. My vision slowly started to focus again, and my memory caught up alongside it. Oh, oh crap. "How much did I say?" I suddenly asked, apprehensive. Twilight had shifted into focus enough for me to pick up a noticeable pink tint to her cheeks. She gave a sheepish grin regardless. "Well, mostly about Fluttershy and me. Um, just confirming what you thought about us," she elaborated. Yup. Everything the frog had said was actually me. "And I'm sorry for hitting you," Rainbow muttered a moment later, rubbing the side of her neck with a forehoof while drifting further into my field of vision. I glanced back at her, but she continued with, "But hey, you're awesome enough to survive a space battle against a powerful alien boat thingy, so I doubt a little bonk to the head is going to even slow you down!" My eyes widened a little at her sudden bragging. Wait, she actually said I was awesome? Wait, she hit me in the head?! She took it in stride, of course, returning a wink and playful smirk. Twilight laughed before climbing up onto the bed and pressing a forehoof to my forehead. "How are you feeling, anyway?" she inquired curiously, frowning a bit before pulling her hoof back and adding, "You're actually a little on the cold side." “I feel… a little bit sick,” I agreed, shifting onto my side and looking at the mare sitting next to me. She held a look of concern that was much clearer now that she was close enough that my fuzzy vision didn’t matter. Rainbow zipped down and landed next to the bed as well, taking a curious peek at me. I now realized the object she was holding was a book. Dash liked to read? That was a little surprising, but I guess I didn’t doubt it all that much. Everypony had facets of themselves that were a lot deeper than appearance. She caught me looking and grinned, pulling the book out and flipping it face forward in both hooves. Daring Do and the Three Heads of Cerberus? Oh, it was an adventure novel, by the sounds of the title and picture on the cover. She liked fiction, then? I smiled gently while looking at the cover. “Daring Do is awesome! Don’t knock reading until you try it!” Rainbow exclaimed, rocking back and forth on her back legs in an almost giddy sway. Twilight giggled at her display and nodded. “Indeed. Although I believe he’s already a fan of reading, Dash,” she pointed out, looking amused. The rainbow pegasus puffed up, looking proud, if not a bit relieved. What, was she afraid I was going to rag on her for reading or something? “Yup. I love reading. The books Twi gave me when I got here saved me quite a bit of face and social faux pas,” I muttered, blushing a little. Not all of them, sadly. “Foe wha?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head at me questioningly. “Faux Pas. A slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct, usually done in a social context,” Twilight explained as if on cue with no hesitation whatsoever. Without missing a beat, Dash snorted and started laughing. “So making an idiot of himself? I kind of wish I’d seen you when you weren’t prepared then! Oh, that would have been even more hilarious!” she exclaimed in-between snickers. My ears flattened back. Of course she’d bring up that. I knew I hadn’t been the most socially suave pony to grace the lands, but she didn’t need to remind me of that fact. “Dash! Be nice. He’s truly new to Equestria, so a few social blunders are actually totally expected. You shouldn’t tease him for it,” Twilight scolded, outright frowning at the pegasus now. Her laughter died down to a light snickering and she bobbed her head in agreement, assuring, “Don’t worry. I’m just teasing a little. Mender has a ton of guts and I can totally respect that. We made an awesome team, after all!” She smirked back at me and raised a hoof expectantly. I barked out a short laugh, and then extended my hoof as well, earning a firm, but still gentle bump from hers. Twilight rolled her eyes again, but now wore a smile instead. Heh. If she thought this sort of thing was awkward, I doubt she’d appreciate the camaraderie of a barracks, if I recall correctly. “Anyway! I’ve got to get going. I have to meet with Fluttershy to, uh, bird watch, I guess. A dare is a dare. Oh, um,” Rainbow started slowly looking down at the book she had tucked back under her foreleg. “Yes, you can obviously borrow it. This is a library, Dash. And even if it wasn’t, you know I’d let you,” Twilight reminded, smirking at her friend. The cyan coat complimented Dash’s blush well, and she nodded with a suddenly sheepish looking grin. “Thanks, Twi. You’re the best. I’ll talk to you two later, then?” she offered, fluttering into the air again without effort. I momentarily admired her flight capabilities. Having wings would be so cool. “Of course. I’m dropping by Applejack’s later today to help her with the barn if you want to visit,” Twilight agreed. I almost saw a knowing glimmer in her eyes, and shuddered. Whoa. I hadn’t realized Twi had a playful side to her like that. Oddly, the revelation wasn’t exactly a bad thing. Rainbow blushed outright now, but smirked still and nodded. “Ha, you got me there. Sold! I’ll try to drag Fluttershy there too,” she admitted, giving a mock salute with her free foreleg. "That would be a good thing, I think. See you there!" Twilight replied cheerfully, a rather warm smile on her face. I was a little suspicious of why it would be good. Silent dread slipped into my mind again. I smelled plotting. Dash threw up another salute before twirling once in the air and bursting off through the open window on the other side of the room. I watched her go, still amazed at the level of speed the mare seemed to exhibit with such ease. Everypony here was so amazing, but admittedly, the Element Bearers were extremely skilled ponies in their own way. "She really does love the Daring Do saga. Don't let her fool you, though. She was hanging around here extra-long so she could apologize," Twilight suddenly explained, tacking a giggle onto the end. I snickered and rotated to view Twilight fully again. "She's a sweetheart once you get past the exterior, it seems," I agreed, maintaining a soft smile up at her. It earned me a nod in return, followed by, "Just like you, it seems." Her playful mimicking was cute, but her tone caused me to blush furiously as her eyelids lowered a little. I swallowed. "Uh, what do you mean?" I asked uneasily. She smirked as she crawled a little closer, her hip now pushing up against my leg. "You're a gentlecolt, of course. Fluttershy knows you refused the bet for her sake. I also happen to know you find me attractive," she pointed out. Less than half a meter of air separated us. I felt my heart start to beat faster, a light sweat starting at my forehead. "I'm, um, I didn't mean to offend you!" I exclaimed, hopefully derailing any awkwardness at my apparent reveal last night. Why hadn't I realized that she was one of the mares I'd talked about last night?! For some reason, the Twilight Sparkle I associated with my crush didn't always sync with the one that was probably my best and first friend. The heat in my cheeks was probably visible and didn’t help much, though. I only hoped that she'd forgive me if she were mad. Twilight closed her eyes but continued smiling softly. A moment passed and I watched her eyes flicker slightly under their lids. She seemed to be hesitant about something. They flicked open partially a moment later, but remained at half-mast. “You definitely didn’t. It was shocking to realize that a stallion liked me in that regard, but it was far from offensive. It was just something I’ve never had happen to me before,” she assured. My system went fully into shock as she slipped back up onto all fours, leaned over, and dropped herself on top of my blanketed form. Her head rested against my chest lightly as, for a moment, she hugged my torso. The heat magnified significantly in my cheeks but I fought it back as best I could. She was hugging me! No, wait, that wasn't accurate. She was resting on top of me. Cuddling! “A-Ah. You did say you were, um, studying a lot during your time in Canterlot,” I muttered, attempting to simply keep talking to stop myself from locking up. She giggled and nodded against me. “Yeah. Not much time for boys when you’re Princess Celestia’s personal student. Which is why I was, well, hoping to ask you for a favor,” she requested, looking back up at me. Her eyes were warm and held a certain amount of pleading, it felt like. Locking mine to them, I knew there was no way I could say no, even if I had wanted to in the first place. She was gorgeous, and whether she knew it or not, she could definitely dump on the female charm to influence my thinking. Just the way her mane was splayed out, intermingling with the fur of my coat. Her warm cheek against my chest mixed with that soft smile. No! That kind of thinking was definitely not helping me just answer her! “Well, you can ask me for anything, you know. Besides, I do owe you quite a bit,” I finally managed to spit out, blushing furiously still. Yes! Just focus on how much you owe her, Mender! No need to think about how warm she felt, how gorgeous her eyes were, the soft fur against my chest, or the amazing mind and soul sealing it all together. Er, crap. She laughed. It was melodious and quite pleasant on the ears. “Relax. I want the request to be mutual with no strings pulling it one way or another. I, um, haven’t exactly been very good at sorting intangible things like my feelings. So a bit of experimentation is in order, I think!” she explained, a certain level of determination flickering into her eyes. Okay, that was adorable. I smiled at her and nodded. Wait a second. “Er, experimentation with what?” I questioned, suddenly realizing where this might be going. “Hee! You like me. I think I might like you back. How else am I going to decide if I don’t have any experience otherwise? The empirical method has never failed me yet! Well, not too much, anyway. So I want to try kissing for real now,” she explained, sitting up and leveling her face with mine. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped. Or at least if it didn’t, my chest went numb and I couldn’t feel it beating. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but no sound came out. My brain stumbled over itself. She started giggling again. “That’s an ambitious start, but we should try normal kissing first,” she warned playfully, leaning closer. I could almost feel her breath on my muzzle, she was so close. She added, “Last chance to say you don’t want to.” She leaned closer and closer while waiting. I started shaking a little but couldn’t make my brain form proper thoughts correctly. Did I want this? She was gorgeous. Her personality was amazing. So essentially, hell yes! But was this too fast? She’d only known me for three weeks now. Did she really know what she wanted? No, that was a moot point. She had decided to experiment just for that reason; to figure out what she wanted. Who was I to deny her that desire? I closed my mouth again and smiled at her instead, only managing a nod. That was all it took. Her smile turned into a grin and she leaned forward all at once. For the second time, our muzzles locked together; this time of her own volition. My sense of time ground to a halt again. Her eyes softened and slowly closed as I relaxed backwards, pulling her with me. A light hum escaped against my lips from her, and both of her forelegs slipped over my shoulders. A deep floral scent drifted into my nose as I breathed in her scents. The sensations were enough to make me light headed. She was fully willing this time, which made the sensation of her lips against mine seem so much better. Jolts of heat and tingling sensations danced up and down my whole body. I didn't deny my instincts this time, and wrapped my forelegs tightly around her back, pulling her as close as possible. The noises she made when I squeezed her closer to me were delightful. Her smells surrounded me on all sides. I couldn't escape them even if I wanted. Even though it felt like I was starving for the touch, our movements were deliberate and slow. She sampled different movements, one at a time, as if savoring my flavors. I let out a light hum, refusing to have it any other way. The heat in my cheeks expanded through my face and down my neck. My right foreleg slowly massaged up and down her back, kneading the muscles gently. My unoccupied hoof extended up and held her cheek softly, cradling her as I tilted a little bit to give her more room. She started shivering almost uncontrollably. I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad sign. She finally pulled away slightly, splitting our lips apart enough to draw in several panting, ragged breaths. My eyes opened rapidly and sought out hers, looking for any sign that she enjoyed it. Her eyes were still closed, but a deep flush extended along her cheeks. Her eyes quivered slightly before cracking open and looking into mine. They never opened fully, giving her a warm, sleepy look. "Oh wow. Why did I wait so long to do this?" she whispered weakly, nose and muzzle still pressed against mine. Did that mean she liked it? "Was it, um, good?" I asked hesitantly. It sounded good and I remained hopeful. She smirked instead of answering directly. Several small pecks a moment later told me much more specifically. "I think I might need more, hmm, experimentation to figure it out," she cooed lightly after the third or fourth small kiss. I exhaled weakly, relief flooding my system. She must have noticed it, as she giggled merrily before capturing my lips once more, this time with a hungry groan. Her kiss was a little stronger now, but I just let her move at the pace she wanted. My heartbeat quickened as she arched up, pushing me back into my pillow as she tried to almost drink me in. Jolts of pleasure and happiness drifted through my mind and it was difficult to form full thoughts. She practically purred as I pulled her down tighter into the kiss, wishing I could feel her more through this blanket! She started to shiver again as her forelegs extended to each side of my head. Was this good? Did she like it? I had no idea what to do with my forelegs, so I simply went with instinct and tried to pull her as tight against me as possible. A loud impact sounded out off to my right a moment later, followed by, "Hey, Mender! I forgot to ask. Can you help me later with, um, whoa!" Rainbow Dash's voice trailed off and died. Oh. Oh crap! Twilight shot up into a sitting position instantly, flush extremely obvious on her cheeks. "Ah, I can explain!" she declared rapidly. Wait, what? What was going on?! Rainbow Dash recovered fast, however, and had acquired a smirk by the time I looked over at her. "There's not much to explain from this angle. So, how long have you two been an item?" she asked coyly, getting it entirely wrong. My heart skipped a beat. "What?! No, we're still just friends! I was just trying to figure out how I felt and well, experimenting a little bit," Twilight tried to explain, looking as pink as I'd ever seen her. I frowned up at her instead, that leaving me with conflicting feelings. Still friends? Did she mean that, or simply want to keep her feelings a secret? I tried to assume the latter, but it was still a little painful to consider. Dash chuckled, before pointing out, "It looked like you were enjoying it plenty from your end, Twi. You don't need to hide it." Wonderful. She just had to push the lavender unicorn; the only one in the room capable of shattering every bone in our frail, squishy bodies with her mind! I was dead. Rainbow was dead too. Twilight frowned and rapidly shook her head. "I, well, I'm telling the truth. It was an experiment!" she defended adamantly, stomping her right forehoof for emphasis. I winced but didn't dare say anything as it smacked into my chest. "Twilight, stop it. How do you think that makes Mender feel?" the cyan pegasus asked, losing her smirk and actually frowning. Which part? The wanting to not admit her feelings, or the blunt force trauma to my chest? Not that it mattered if Twilight got mad again and threw me instead of the bed this time. Shivering, I tried to keep the situation, and my voice, under control. "N-No! It's all right! She has every right to experiment. It's, um, okay," I assured weakly, not entirely sure where I was going with it. Rainbow gave me a skeptical, unamused looking stare, and I swallowed nervously. Twilight let out a quiet whining noise, however, surprising me. Glancing back up at her, I saw that she was looking down at her own hoof instead as it rested on my chest. "I'm sorry. You're right, Dash. I need to be honest, especially to myself," she muttered to herself. Wait, what? Was she, uh, maybe that was sarcasm and she was actually pissed? Scenarios of her snapping and painting the library floor with my blood came to mind. Something about having a pony you know could rip you apart with her mind sitting on your stomach made it really hard to relax. In substantially different ways than a less powerful mare. I think. I shivered nervously, the image of the full size bed smashing down the flight of stairs clearly present in my mind. That level of force exerted on me, via accident or murderous intent, would result in an extremely quick death. She was stronger than the archmages in my memories, and considering what I could remember them doing to recruits like me, that was terrifying. Rainbow shook her head in my peripheral vision. "You two need to just talk to each other about it. Besides, we could all stand to be a little nicer to him," she reasoned, catching me off guard. "Ah! That's really not necessary! You all have been really nice to me so far. Probably a lot more than I deserve for putting everything you know and love in danger. Really," I repeated, not wanting to be a further drain on these amazing ponies. Oh, or be crushed violently by psychokinetic powers. Living was high up on my list of priorities, ironically. Dash shook her head and walked closer, giving me a stern glance as I looked over at her. "Mender, relax. Again. You need to stick up for yourself a bit more," she groaned, looking a bit exasperated. Frowning, I shook my head. "There's no need to. Twilight hasn't done anything wrong," I insisted. "Mender, I did!" Twilight groaned out, pushing lightly down at me with both forehooves. It happened without a conscious decision on my part. Unfortunately, I wasn't looking at her when I was suddenly jolted down, and panicked. Wincing, I rapidly closed my eyes and cowered, flattening my ears down. There was a pause, and then I heard her gasp. Risking a glance up at her, I saw that she had both hooves covering her mouth. "Oh no. No, no, no! You're... You're scared of me?" she muttered, looking visibly horrified. My eyes widened and I tried to shake my head to assure her to the contrary. Then I realized that I'd be lying. I kind of was afraid of her. She was ungodly powerful. Dash sighed, now a few feet from our bed. "Well, you kinda threw a bed at him. What did you expect?" she questioned in a surprisingly irritated manner. Twilight winced as if burned and looked away from the cyan mare, eyes starting to get wet. Did she truly regret that? Swallowing nervously, I started to shuffle out from under her using my forelegs. Rainbow was right. We really did need to talk this out more. Talking involved thinking about what I wanted to say. Thinking was a lot harder when a gorgeous girl was on my lap. Well, sort of. Did it count if there was a blanket between us? Twilight's eyes shot fully open again as she must have felt me moving under her. Before I fully realized what was going on, she collided fully with my chest again and pressed her now wet face into my fur. "No! Please don't go anywhere. I'm sorry. Having somepony scared of me feels horrible," she pleaded, voice muffled by my coat. Rainbow chuckled and finally smiled. "Mender's afraid of everypony at first. Just be nice to him," she suggested in an exceedingly amused sounding voice, giving Twilight's side a pat. I glared at her while giving the significantly less threatening lavender mare an assuring hug. "You blew me up, dropped several things on my head from absurd distances, and got me in trouble with others on many occasions," I reminded in annoyance. She promptly laughed, of course, returning nonchalantly, "Details, details! I think we're a pretty good team now, right?” That much I had to agree with, and had to nod. Twilight slid her left forehoof gently down my chest, however. When I looked back down at her, my eyes locked with hers. Tears slid down the fur on her cheeks. I swallowed again, urges stirring inside of me. Crying was hardly fair, although it definitely did a good job of almost making me forget that she could pull me apart with her mind. "Mender, please. Tell me what I can do to make you feel safe around me," she requested quietly. She really did look traumatized. Plus, Twilight was never known for her social skills, so pure probability dictated that she truly felt bad. But how could I be sure that sort of situation wouldn't crop up again? "Don't throw beds at him?" Dash suggested, stretching out and flapping her wings gently. After a moment, they sped up and she lifted into the air again. Twilight's ears drooped as she glared at her flying friend. Dash just grinned and winked at her, earning an eye roll. Twilight smirked, however, and I exhaled in relief. Rainbow did know how to defuse a situation, that was for sure. Almost as well as she created them! I sighed. That, of course, just left me. It was true; I was terrified of the lavender unicorn at times, as surprising as it was. It partly had to do with her massive level of power and skill, obviously. But part of me was afraid of her purely because she was female, I realized. Kissing wasn't unheard of in my memories, from a technical standpoint. I doubt that I had personal experience in it before Twilight, but I knew what it represented. Still, the aspect of the female was what scared me. On some subconscious level, I think it had been influencing my actions since I came to Equestria. She felt like she was more important than me. Well, Twilight obviously was, along with the rest of the Element Bearers, but even normal ponies like Lyra or Bon Bon felt 'better', for lack of a better word. Well, if you could consider Lyra normal. Extending my right forehoof back up, I gently wiped the few fallen tears away from Twilight's cheek. It didn't look like she was a pony who cried in front of others very often. It felt so contradictory. Part of me wanted to hug her and kiss her again until she stopped crying, but another part of me was afraid she'd rip off the arms I used to do so. No screaming sensation of agony came, however. Twilight simply stared into my eyes from a few inches away, both pools of lavender shivering periodically. I felt myself warming up again and wasn't entirely sure what to do. Rainbow interrupted before I could decide on anything. "Well, you two seem to be a little bit better, so I'm going to go find Fluttershy. Do you need anything else before I go?" she asked politely, grin shifting back to a soft smile. Twilight blinked twice, then smiled weakly and looked over at her. "No. Um, thank you for bucking some sense into me, Dash," she thanked quietly after a moment's hesitation. Rainbow waved a hoof nonchalantly towards us before dismissing it with, "Oh relax. I just want to see you two be happy. That's what best friends are for!” Twilight smiled fully, finally, and nodded. I couldn't help but join in as well. She really was a good mare, when she wasn't dropping things on my head. Before either of us could reply, however, she started lightly blushing. "Speaking of seeing, think you two could let me watch later when you're more comfortable with each other?" she suddenly asked, tossing in a wink after. Twilight blushed furiously at the same time my mind spun, trying to fully understand what she had just said. She reacted much faster, however, and blushing shock switched to blushing irritation. My eyes widened as several pillows and a few books drifted into the air around us. Rainbow took her cue and launched herself backwards. She stuck out her tongue as she went, barely managed to dodge two high velocity pillows, then burst back out and off the balcony a heartbeat later, laughing hysterically. I sighed quietly a moment later, blushing still. Twi nodded and slowly hauled the pillows back onto the bed. She turned back to me a moment later, smiling shyly again. I started to smile back when she ducked in and put a far more timid kiss on my mouth. My mind spun but that soft, warm sensation filled me again. This one was kept short, however. She slipped back an inch and smiled again. "Please, don't be scared of me. I, um, regret what I did in the past. I overreacted to a rather simple thing, and will never hurt you again. Can you forgive me?" she asked softly from all of an inch away. For a moment, I hesitated. She seemed honest. Taking a risk, I leaned forward, pecking her lips timidly. For a brief moment, I caught myself flinching as I did so. She smiled against my lips however, and I managed to relax. We broke apart again a moment later and she nodded approvingly. "That was much better. Thank you," she added softly, seemingly in no hurry to get off my chest. A moment passed and she faltered slightly. "Still, I've never had a coltfriend before. I, um, admit to liking you quite a bit. There! I said it. What do we do now?" she questioned hesitantly. I blinked once in surprise, then frowned. "Uh, I've never had a fillyfriend either, if that's the term. We're both kind of new to this. And what about Fluttershy?" That last part I barely managed to add. The lavender unicorn blushed and shook her head gently. "Oh, uh, didn't she talk to you before the party? She came by not more than an hour after you left, asking for you," she revealed, seemingly a little hesitant about something. Uh oh. "She was hiding from me at the Carousel Boutique when I saw her. We didn't have very long to talk," I explained uneasily. At least not between her hiding behind furniture. But she wouldn't like it if I said as much. Twilight frowned and exhaled abruptly, angling her lips so her bangs puffed into the air, momentarily. "She lost her nerve, then. What to do..." she muttered, a bit of frustration sounding through in her voice. I swallowed. That didn't sound good. "Is it to do with the memories she saw when you two helped me?" I lead, trying to get anything that would be helpful. Twi obviously knew about her issues already. She surprised me by wincing instead. "Yeah. Another thing I goofed up. It hurt both of you by me asking for her help. I should have just taken more time and not hauled anyone else in," she groaned out tiredly, looking down again. I frowned and started to move closer to her again to comfort, but she shifted back a little. "No. I thought you already knew her feelings. If I'd known she hadn't told you and your mind wasn't made up, I wouldn't have tried to experiment. I'm sorry for," she started to apologize, before my hoof gently pressed onto her lips. "Please, Twilight. Don't be so hard on yourself. You helped me by asking her for help. If she doesn't like me anymore because of things she saw, then that's between her and me. You didn’t have-" I assured softly. It was my turn to be interrupted, though. Twilight gasped and shook her head rapidly. "No! She doesn't dislike you. She knows you only wanted to protect what you loved. She's proud of that and happy. The images are what hurt her. She thinks about it every time she sees you still, and says, well..." I frowned as she trailed off. This is where Fluttershy had technically stopped, too. "She doesn't want to get in a relationship with me, right?" I finished, pretty sure that it was just in need of verification at this point. The unicorn sighed and nodded, exactly as I figured. "She doesn't think she can give it her all anymore, which wouldn't be fair to you. She was very insistent that she didn't think of you as a wounded animal, though," she explained, seemingly tacking things on as she remembered. Her expression looked stressed, and I realized she was winging the conversation on the fly. Lack of planning made for a very stressed out Twilight, it would appear. It wasn't the reason I had expected, but the outcome was the same. I'd prepared myself for it a hundred times over, so why was it still painful? I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I'm sorry. She still needs to tell you herself. I insist. And I apologize for kissing you. I thought you had already picked me," she admitted uneasily. Uh oh. The distinct feeling of screwing up came to mind. So I liked Fluttershy and Twilight, but Fluttershy didn't return my feelings because of my memories from my past 'life'. But not knowing that, I just shared a rather intimate moment with Twilight, who was now rapidly regretting it due to the feelings she saw me having for the other mare. She now refused to acknowledge otherwise until I'd talked to Fluttershy about it, who was currently probably off avoiding me with Rainbow Dash. My head start to spin and I sighed weakly. If Nurse Redheart wouldn’t have a stress attack upon seeing me again, I’d seriously consider jumping out the window while screaming. Instead, I settled with a heady sigh and shook my head. “I figured as much already. Really, Twi. I accept what she thinks of me. I just need to get my head straightened out and figure out what I think about you. Although I’m really pretty sure I already know the answer to that one,” I explained, blushing lightly after. Twilight smiled but also shook her head as well. "I know you like me. I'm glad for that, but I would have believed you without the truth serum issue. But I know that you also like Fluttershy. I just want to have you settle your feelings for her first," she explained, gently warding off my hoof away from its attempts to brush against her shoulder. I was surprised at the brief spike of irritation that went through me. I frowned. With a bit of focus, I calmed myself. I had wanted more. That distinct urge was identified again. Hormones? Not entirely, it would seem. The noticeably cute mare practically sitting on me frowned, looking unsure for a moment. I hesitated. Had I gone too far? I reined in my feelings as best I could. She hadn't intentionally teased me. "Uh, are you okay? Um, did I say something wrong?" she asked cautiously. I shook my head rapidly, hoping she wasn't upset. "No! Of course not." She frowned further and I shrank a little under her gaze, earning a groan as well. "You don't need to be afraid of me, Mender! What can I do to make you more comfortable around me?" she asked, moving her face close to mine again, following as I backed into the pillow. "Um!" I managed to squeak out in a weak voice. Uh oh! She was getting irritated now. She suddenly smirked, however. It was a knowing and predatory grin. Quite familiar, considering I'd seen it all of fifteen minutes prior. "Of course, a little positive reinforcement might help," she whispered, brushing her nose against mine. I couldn't help but blush again, a gentle smile sneaking onto my face. It was accompanied by the soft rumbling of my belly. Twilight looked confused for a moment and I peeked down at my tummy, now blushing even harder. She followed my gaze before giggling merrily. "Or some breakfast first. That works too," she agreed a moment later. I hadn't realized that my body could ask questions for me. "Ah! Uh, I'm sorry?" I offered, unsure of what to do in this situation. Twilight giggled again and shook her head. "I won't hurt you. Stop apologizing for every little thing. Let's go get some breakfast, then!" she assured, sounding surprisingly chipper. She stood up again in one fluid motion, sliding backwards and off the bed. My back legs immediately started tingling as the blood rushed back into them. I smiled at the tickling sensation while sitting up finally, attempting to pull the blankets off of me. Sadly, I wasn't anticipating the wave of dizziness accompanying the simple movement. Twilight started laughing hysterically as I became a confused, tangled ball of blankets at the foot of the bed. I glared up at her as best I could while upside down and prone. "You'll never change," she muttered warmly, giving her head a final shake before her horn lit up. I felt her slowly start to undo the blankets and sighed. This was going to be a long day. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Ux9lO1MYM
Chapter 08My stiff muscles released sparks of happiness up my spine as I slowly stretched out. Combined with the warm feeling of the Sun beating down from above and the gentle breezes around me, I was finally feeling pretty good. Heck, I should have gotten outside long before this! That thought jolted me into paranoia and I rapidly looked all around me. Several uneventful moments later, I decided that maybe, just maybe, I was going to have a good day. Maybe even one without blunt force head trauma, full body burns, or multiple lacerations. Twilight lagged behind a little, looking at some sort of flower alongside the path we were on. She was still smiling pleasantly, which was oddly contagious. Still, it was nice to see her in a good mood. Less painful, too. Although admittedly, the only time she had almost hurt me since I woke up was when I broke into her home in a mechanical monstrosity of nightmare, seemingly taking a young filly 'hostage' at the same time. Maybe it was about time to start giving her the benefit of the doubt? She smiled up at me upon noticing my attention, and trotted to catch back up. It was a delightful treat to watch her mane sway gently in the sun as she moved, the pretty purples and violets being illuminated softly. Her eyes carefully roamed along my bandages as I concluded my stretch and straightened into a sitting position. She'd taken some of the bandages off this morning, but for precautionary measures, the main one stayed on for now. That left my lower back, hips, and navel with light wrappings. It had been the worst where the flak lasers had hit me, I assumed. Twilight, concluding her seemingly seventh or eighth assessment of my condition for the day, brought her gaze back to my face instead. "How are you feeling, Mender? The walk isn't too much for you, is it?" she asked politely, a timid and somewhat concerned looking expression gracing her features. The way she was moving, I probably could have taken a nap and still kept up. Still, I was thankful for her concern. "I'm holding up well enough. A little stiff and drowsy still, but feeling pretty good, all things considered," I muttered back, stifling a yawn. Getting poisoned via potion and spilling a few secrets here and there was a little depressing, but at least I was alive still. Mostly. Keep thinking on the bright side, Mender! Twilight hadn't been the one responsible for that little incident, though, so I shouldn't be irritated at her. Twilight snickered in an oblivious manner, adding a nod a moment later. "Admittedly, your recovery has been amazing. Not only from the wounds you received in closing the link, but in resisting the potion effects yesterday," she complimented. It was a little weird now that I considered it. With my current constitution, I should have practically keeled over from that much potion, and slipped into some sort of alchemical coma or something. "Just chalk it up to the universe having a weird sense of humor?" I offered idly, standing fully now and gesturing towards the path again. Grinning, she picked up the subtle motion easily and fell in right next to me as I continued towards the farm. We walked in relative silence for the rest of the way. It wasn't very far of a walk, from the center of Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres, but admittedly, I was getting a little tired. As much as it felt good to be moving again, my full recovery was a ways off, it felt like. It took us a solid half an hour and I was shaking a little bit by the time we got there. Unsurprisingly, Twilight was giving me concerned looks by then. Sitting down, I took a tactical pause in order to regain my breath. My legs felt a little shaky still, the tension from use already creeping up my muscles. Damn. Even for my runt physique, I was out of shape. I figured I'd have lost a little strength during my two weeks of coma, but this was ridiculous. I guess almost dying really takes a lot out of you. "Maybe this was a bad idea? Are you sure you're okay?" the concerned sounding lavender unicorn asked, tilting her head down to peek under my bangs and into my face. I smiled and nodded softly towards her, not quite trusting my voice to not crack yet. Twilight shook her head but grinned, probably thinking I was stubborn. I hoped she understood, though. I needed to fix everything that was off with my body. More strength and endurance, less hormones, a larger magic pool... Everything would help me fit in better. Maybe eventually, I wouldn't have to mooch off these wonderful mares anymore. She didn't look entirely convinced, however, and opened her mouth to say something further. Thankfully, she was interrupted by a sweet drawl coming from the direction of the nearby barn. "Howdy there, Twi! An' Mender came with too?" Applejack smiled warmly as she rounded the barn. I honestly don't think that I had ever been so happy to see the rough and tumble mare. Of course, we hadn't gotten the best start, with her being practical and down to earth, and me being, well, an idiot. Twilight smiled again in an instant while turning, giving a small wave. "Hiya, Applejack!" she shouted back to clear the distance. It was a little sharp to my poor, potion-addled eardrums, being right next to her and all, but I restrained my reaction to a wince. "Mender said he needed the exercise, plus I figured that he could put his skills to good use," Twilight continued, once the orange mare was within civil talking distance. It wasn't hard to pick out the light blush on her cheeks as she said it. She had asked me to come, in reality. Fluttershy might drop by later today and she had been hoping to talk to the elusive yellow pegasus. Plus, I saw it in her eyes when she had asked. She had wanted company. "Oh! Ah think ya might be on ta somethin'. He's pretty handy with the engineerin' if Ah recall," Applejack agreed, snapping me out of my daze. I suddenly realized that I actually had no idea what she needed help with. Well, not that me having no clue what’s going on was actually all that different from normal. I nodded regardless. “I need to get myself back in shape, but I think you knew that already. Um, I also didn’t exactly catch what you wanted help with in the first place,” I elaborated, tilting my head to the side. Her warm smile shifted into a slightly knowing one, but she nodded. Instead of answering immediately, she motioned behind her with a flick of her head before turning. Twilight and I caught the intent and followed after her as she headed back around the side of the barn. “As ya’ll know, tha last harvest of tha season’ll be ‘ere soon. It gits ah might busy ‘round ‘ere before then, an’ Big Mac an’ Ah usually have ta call in tha relatives from all around ta help,” she started to explain. We rounded the side of the barn and crossed into the opening. My eyes widened as I saw the mess that covered the ground. Several large crates were strewn about the floor of the barn, most opened with their contents spilled out. Gears, cogs, wooden planks, chains, and some sort of rail system appeared to have been packed in them, as far as I could tell. Twilight looked amused instead of surprised, but simply nodded. “She took my advice and is going to partially automate the packing process,” she tacked on, stopping next to AJ, who stayed in the barn doorway. I took a few steps further into the barn, and scanned over the piles of parts. Automation huh? My mind instantly shifted to that of an assembly line. I suddenly realized what the rails and chains were for. Each piece started fitting itself together in my head. There would be the wooden conveyor belt itself that would probably line up with the lift. The curved rail pieces indicated that they wanted to turn the boxes as they approached, so if convenience dictated... A glance at the wall behind me and to the right showed a lightly traced square on the wall. Bingo! A chute system to the outside, for pouring in the apples. They'd then travel along the line and be inspected before being dropped into the crates. I walked slowly alongside the wall, mentally structuring the raised platform the inspectors would stand on. After loading, the crate should be sealed. Nails were probably impractical for ponies. Glancing up, I saw another lightly traced square on the ceiling. Well, the floor of the loft, technically. So they were going to drop the crate lid on from the ceiling? Made sense. Then it would be latched and sent around the bend to the lift, either to go past and be stored on the ground floor, or hauled up to the loft. Storage was reasonable in this scenario, but the real perk was that it would only take a few ponies to operate the thing. I halted my self-tour in front of the lift. It would need a foundation for stability, but that wouldn't be too hard to... "Uh, Mender?" Applejack suddenly asked, sending a jolt through my system! I jumped in surprise before whipping my head over to look at her. Was I not supposed to have walked here?! Wham! My muzzle cracked off the side of the support beam to my left. I reeled, gasping as I stumbled sideways away from it. Son of a! My right side hit the nearest rope holding the lift up. I fell over sideways and landed on the lift platform frame. Huh. Guess they still haven't put the actual platform in. The force of my collision with the rope caused the entire frame to spin around with me still on it! I let out a dizzy wail as I went around in circles several times, the support ropes wrapping me up in an instant. In the space of a second later, the room finally stopped spinning and I let my head droop over the side of the frame. A painful stinging sensation beat with the rhythm of my heart against the side of my muzzle. Ow. Thank you, reality. I knew I hadn’t gotten my quota of pain yet today. "Oh fer cryin' out loud! Yer never gonna change, are ya, Mender?" Applejack asked, starting to chuckle as she walked back to where I was hanging. Twilight followed, looking slightly less amused. "Seeing you in action on a regular day, I'm suddenly not surprised that you managed a few bruises in the space of four hours," she tacked on. I sighed, trying to yank my back leg free from its midair suspension. "Thanks for rubbing it in. Uh, a little help here?" I begged, only managing to rotate myself a bit. "Whoa! Tha way yer displayin' yerself, Ah ain't rubbin' nothin'! Manners, Mender!" Applejack suddenly scolded, sending a deep spike of panic and embarrassment through my system. "Oh, sweet Celestia's Sun! Ah!" Twilight squealed instantly after Applejack seemingly brought it to her attention. I didn't react quickly enough to stop her from getting a healthy glimpse, but managed to roll up with my other leg and properly cover myself. "S-Sorry!" I apologized, wincing as I tried to pull myself up onto the frame. I saw Twilight go scarlet, seemingly unable to close her jaw again. Her reaction reflex had brought both hooves to her eyes, but I saw a little crack between them. Applejack just burst into a copious laughter. "Ah'm just teasin' ya. Ya didn't intend ta flash us tha goods, obviously. 'sides, it's not tha first time Ah saw that sorta thing. We don't exactly wear clothes ya know?" she pointed out, stopping in front of the lift. "Applejack! He... You shouldn't have looked!" Twilight whimpered, shrinking visibly as she gawked at her friend. She honestly looked traumatized. Applejack smirked and raised an eyebrow to her. "Ya caught ah big 'nough gander yerself, Ah think. Yer actin' ah tad strange there, Twi," the observant country mare pointed out, causing an even deeper blush. Admittedly, I was feeling a little warm as well. "Ah! Nothing! Rainbow accused us of that too, but nothing is going on between us!" the lavender unicorn defended, stomping her hoof against the ground. Her blush was still readily visible, of course. Ouch. As much as I enjoyed being reminded of how she viewed me, technically that was a suspiciously specific defense. As predicted, Applejack never lost the warm smile. "Ah never said ya were, but that explains ah whole lot." Twilight winced and shook her head rapidly. "No, no, no! I don't know what to feel yet, and until I do, no!" she adamantly declared. I couldn't help but think that it was a bad idea for Rainbow and Pinkie to be pushing her like this. She didn't cope with stress very well, and I didn't particularly feel like getting caught up in any bursts of rage she might fall into. Again. "Getting a little dizzy here," I reminded, hoping to derail the potential homicide. And maybe get somepony to help me down. Applejack laughed and turned back to me. "Impatient, ain't ya? Ah'll have ya down in ah sec," she assured, looking over the mess of ropes wrapped around me. Twilight remained anchored to where she was, staring down at her hooves with a faint blush still. I watched her quietly as the other mare tugged at various ropes, trying to loosen them up a bit. Twilight was so confusing. Well, she was a lot of things. Cute, adorable, intelligent, innocent, good natured, loyal, drop dead gorgeous... I stopped for a moment, realizing where this particular train of thought was going. Calm down! She was also indecisive, overly analytical, a perfectionist, stubborn, and somewhat insensitive. Switching back to my previous adjective, I simply went with 'confusing'. She seemed halfway between thinking of me as a friend or experiment, and as something more. My hormones weren't helping, of course. Had I thought it through properly, I probably shouldn't have let her kiss me. Thinking was what I definitely hadn't done, though. I should have considered Fluttershy first. Of course, all this was against my instincts anyway. Two mares held my interest. If anything, that should have set off enough warning flags to send me screaming into the forest as fast as possible. Probably involving a makeshift rocket. My thoughts were interrupted by ropes being garroted into my neck. I gasped and thrashed, causing Applejack to immediately release the vile things. "Whoops! Sorry. They're ah might bit tight," she apologized, stating the obvious. That snapped Twilight out of her daze, causing her to glance up again. A moment later, I finally managed to get the rope off my neck. Any and all proceedings were then interrupted by a knocking sound coming from the front of the barn. "Hello, anypony? I was told that I could find Applejack here," sounded out in a distinctive Rarity tone. "Oh, ya need somethin', Rare? Was tryin' ta untie Mender back 'ere," she explained, turning and walking towards the newest arrival. I could barely make out the white unicorn from between two of the large crates. Applejack headed through the gap between them, squeezing as needed. The lavender unicorn wasted no time at all in surprising me. Her lips pressed into mine rapidly, ignoring the awkward sideways angle we were at. I started in surprise, followed rapidly by blushing. I didn't even have time to close my eyes before she backed up an inch or two again, however. "Thank you, Mender. You could have caused me some serious stress by revealing too much, but you didn't. So thank you," she added to her oh so warm smile after the kiss. I blinked slowly, totally unsure of what I was being thanked for. "But, um, why would I intentionally add more stress to your life?" I asked. The idea was totally foreign to me. Why would somepony waste the effort in doing something unnecessarily cruel to somepony else? I understood that there were some extremely mean individuals in existence, but they didn't exactly get anything from the exchange. My confusion oddly seemed to make her more content. She smiled softly at me and shook her head. “Asking that must mean you’re being honest. I’m glad you’re taking my desires to wait well. I really do want to talk to Fluttershy about things first,” she assured weakly, frowning and seeming a little unsure. “You thought I wouldn’t understand, didn’t you?” I asked quietly, managing a smirk. It was a shot in the dark, but something told me that she was the cautious type. Just a hunch. She averted her eyes. I was right! “Well, you do have a tendency to jump to conclusions and come up with some fairly convoluted ideas. I was a little concerned as this is fairly important to me. I don’t want to screw it up by offending you.” Ouch. Well, she was still accurate. At least she was being straightforward and to the point. "I'm glad it's important to you. I admit that I'm a little concerned about what you think of me," I admitted. Twilight looked slightly confused before asking, "What do you mean? If I like you as more than a friend?" That seemed safe enough, so I simply nodded. She smiled and I felt relieved. "I think that much is safe to assume. Now the only question is if I'm ready for a relationship." She sounded nervous after she said it and I swallowed. If she decided that she didn’t want a relationship either... My thoughts derailed suddenly, plowing off the three hundred foot cliff and into the rocky ridges below. What the hell was I doing?! Twilight wasn't supposed to be treated as a last resort. Was I screwing up what it meant to like a mare? Fluttershy. She made me feel safe and calm. Twilight made me feel warm and wanted. I liked both of them quite a bit, but I needed to figure out my own feelings first. That was the truth. I was frustrated and let it direct itself at them. My feelings weren't their problem! It wasn't fair of me to take any action in regards to a relationship without properly thinking it through first. I'd been doing the opposite. I liked both of them, so I was just waiting for whichever made the first move, then? I berated myself for being so selfish. This would require quite a bit of thought. Feelings for Twilight felt murky and heated, gravitating towards thoughts of kissing her. That felt dangerous to think about, so I decided to consider Fluttershy first. "Equestria to Mender?! You still awake?" the now irritated sounding unicorn asked from right in front of me. I started abruptly and looked back up at her. Shock hit me hard as I realized that her eyes were starting to water. "Did that bother you? You went all quiet and sad looking and I didn't know what to do," she asked before I could say anything. Frowning, I managed to somehow shake my head through the ropes. "No, I just zoned out. I realized that you were right. It's not fair for me to jump into this without thinking it through. So I have a lot of thinking to do," I explained. Well, to the best of my abilities. Admittedly, I wasn't the best at getting my feelings across. Twilight surprised me by looking shocked, herself, before responding with, "Oh. But does that mean that you don't...? Ah! Sorry; you're right of course. If I can take time to think about it, you obviously have the right as well." "What's wrong, Twilight? Is there something bothering you?" I asked, more than a little concerned about her reaction. She had spent at least half of the reply backtracking. She swallowed timidly, but looked away. "Just, um, talk to Fluttershy soon, okay? I really would like to get back to my usual routine," she requested, confusing me even more. Somehow. Before I could ask for clarification, however, she simply extended her foreleg up and gave the bottom of the lift frame a solid shove. My eyes widened as I was spun around rapidly in the other direction as before. The ropes lost their tightness in an instant, letting centripetal force take over. With an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp, I was flung free of the frame and hurled towards the pile of nails, bolts, and gears next to us. Damn it. Putting my forelegs up to shield sensitive areas, I braced for impact. Gravity decided to take a coffee break instead, however. My body stopped a mere half a meter from the pile of sharp and pointy things. Thankfully I had an absurdly powerful unicorn on my side! She pulled me back over to herself, giving me a light smirk and pointing out, "The more I see of it, the more I think your level of bad luck is about on par with Pinkie's Pinkie Sense. I should run some tests." I rolled my eyes, getting a little tired of being upside down. "Fine. I really would like to get my dreams scanned again as well, speaking of tests," I reminded, closing my eyes to reduce the dizziness. Mercifully, she flipped me back over, before assuring, "I'll do the scan if you want me to, but I really don't think that you have anything to worry about. Princess Celestia said..." "I know what she said. I'd just feel safer if you took a peek at it yourself," I interrupted gently, looking down a bit. It wasn't that I didn't trust Celestia. She was a wise ruler. From what I'd seen of her, however, she was fallible. That wasn't a bad thing, but I trusted Twilight more. Twilight seemed truly surprised instead of mad, however. I suddenly hoped that I wouldn't have to explain all of that. She gave a warm smile a second later, though, and nodded in understanding. "I'm glad you trust me that much, Mender. You're a really good friend and, well, I'm glad," she muttered, suddenly seeming to mentally stumble over something. The light pink tint gracing her cheeks confused me, though. "What was all tha screamin' 'bout? Oh, ya got Mender free?" Applejack suddenly asked, walking up from the side of my vision. Twilight squealed in surprise and spun to face her two approaching friends, looking extremely guilty. I didn't have time to analyze further as the magic holding me up flickered away alongside her concentration. I landed unceremoniously on my butt, along with other sensitive things. Daggers of pain lanced through my navel and I winced, screaming out in an airy, soundless wail before falling forward and dropping flat like a bag of wet sand. Son of a bitch! Applejack chuckled somewhere above me. Mentally, I imagined stabbing her a few times to make myself feel better. "Oh dear!" Rarity added, sounding further behind me somewhere. "Uh, hi girls! Um, what brings you here, Rarity?" Twilight asked, oblivious. Instead of giving in to the pain and homicidal urges, I slowly and tenderly pulled my back legs up into a tucked position, gritting my teeth the whole time. Oh for the love of all things just and righteous, somepony please kill me now! Why did they have to be external?! "Uh, Rare here wanted ta’ try an' proposition me fer her fancy party comin' up," the only mare with a heavy accent explained, also ignoring me now. My entire body shivered and jolted as I felt two hooves slowly push into my back. They kneaded my lower muscles carefully, not applying too much pressure, but slowly massaging along my spine, relaxing me a bit. "Are you all right, dear?" Rarity asked softly, from barely a foot above me. I groaned miserably, trying my best to form a coherent thank you for her. "Er, he only dropped from half a meter or so," Twilight pointed out. I wished I could have glared up at her. Pity the raw ache prevented the rotation of my stomach. "An' right onta tha stallion parts! Ah've seen it happen ta Big Mac ah few times. Looks mighty painful, Ah'm guessin'," Applejack explained, earning a new level of respect in my mind. Twilight let out a sharp squeaking noise and I felt her move closer to me. "Oh no! I didn't mean to, Mender!" she assured. Thankfully that much was obvious. Had she intended to, it probably would have hurt quite a bit more. Slowly sitting up, I shook my head while keeping my eyes closed. “Ow. I’ll be okay,” I managed to get out, in between my voice cracking and the reverberations of agony as I moved. Twilight gently helped me up, supporting me with a foreleg. Rarity stopped her massage and lifted from the other side of my body by the shoulder, until I was sitting up again. I nodded and smiled at her as she brushed along my side, frowning. I glanced down and noticed I had collected a bit of dust from the floor in my coat. Mentally shrugging, I just let her go crazy and dust my coat off. Instead, I glanced back at Twilight instead. The lavender unicorn looked incredibly guilty, but didn’t say anything. Applejack interrupted before I could speak, regardless. “What were ya doin’, anyway? Ya almost looked like ya were in some sorta trance or somethin’,” she questioned, walking around to sit next to Twilight and be fully in my sight. I shook my head at her, still not feeling all that great in the lower stomach. “It wasn’t a trance. I was just figuring out the system for the conveyor you wanted to build to package up the apples,” I corrected quietly, looking back to my right at the front wall and the square traced on it. Applejack gave a start and tilted her head. “Wait ah minute. Ah never told ya that we were makin’ ah conveyor.” “I know. These parts are pieces of one, so it was fairly obvious. Then I saw the tracings you made in the wall and ceiling and figured out the direction you wanted it going. You want a system to drop the covers on the crates after sorting the apples, and then deliver them for easy storage, right?” I asked, mostly for clarification purposes. Twilight shifted to an amused smirk and looked over at the still surprised Applejack. “See? I told you there’s a good reason to have him help. Now we don’t need to try to buy the plans for the conveyor,” she rubbed in, me obviously missing a lot of information. I frowned but shook my head, asking, “Wait, there were plans to go off of?” Applejack sighed and lowered her head, looking exceedingly dejected. “Well there would’a been if Ah had bought ‘em. Twi ‘ere convinced me not ta spend tha extra bits an’ have ya look at it first ta see if ya could figure it out,” she explained. Twilight vouched for me? Wait, if I could pull this off, I could save Applejack bits! I could start paying her back for all of the hospitality so far! My delight couldn’t be contained and a warm smile crept up out of nowhere. I found I couldn’t nod my head fast enough. “Of course I’ll try to put it together. Anything to help you out,” I agreed. The farm pony gave me a warm smile, but Twilight displayed a knowing one instead. "You don't owe us anything, Mender. You do realize that she's going to pay you for this, right?" she asked coyly. My heart sank as I glanced back at Applejack and earned a still smiling nod. "Iffen ya can get tha thing workin', it would only be right ta pay ya fer yer work. Ah would've had ta bring in ah professional and Ah can't afford that an' keep tha project worth it," she explained gently. I frowned, this not sitting well with me at all. Then an idea struck me. I turned to Rarity instead, assuming she'd be closer to the heartbeat of the town. "Hey Rarity? Do you happen to know what the rate is for a hotel room in Ponyville?" I asked. She surprised me by gasping, and vehemently denying, "I'm not that type of mare!" This was accompanied by a rather pronounced blush. I blinked slowly, a little confused. "Uh, what? I just figured you'd have more out of town visitors than Applejack or Twilight. Nopony has mentioned prices to you?" I elaborated, unsure of what I had said wrong prior. She stared at me for a moment with a blatant expression. I tilted my head, and she exhaled softly, as if relieved. Twilight looked as weirded out as I felt, but Applejack started snickering. Rarity shot her an icy glare before looking back at me and continuing with, "That is true enough, I suppose. Last I'd heard, several weeks ago, mind you, the hotel prices were about thirty-five bits a night." My mind jumped on the math like a rabid ferret. "Okay, so at a twenty percent markdown, that would be twenty-eight bits. That is probably close to what rent would be. Applejack supplies the bed, and Twilight supplies the room it's in. Cutting that in half, that meant that I owed each of you fourteen bits a night for room and board," I reasoned, looking back and forth between the two of them. Applejack frowned, glaring at me suddenly. I'd never seen an expression shift so rapidly. Oh crap! Was that figure too low? I knew I should have researched pricing a little more before suggesting something like this. Wait, the way Rarity reacted led me to believe that I might have been wrong about the hotel thing. From what little I could remember, which thankfully included basic vocabulary from my old dimension, a hotel was a place of temporary lodging for those displaced from a more permanent living arrangement. What if it was a little different here, though? The way she reacted indicated some sort of ill reputation establishment. Had I just compared Applejack and Twilight to that?! "No, Mender! We're not going to...!" Twilight started to berate before stopping and giving a questioning look. At her yelling, I had dropped my belly to the floor and tucked my ears down as hard as I could. Oh no. No, no, no! I should have researched this way more. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to compare you two to anything! You're reputable mares, and I wasn't insinuating that you perform mating requests for monetary reimbursement. Please! I'm sorry..." I apologized as rapidly as I could, hopefully heading off any bouts of rage or homicidal thoughts. "Wait, what?!" Applejack suddenly exploded, expression shifting to shock even quicker. Twilight's cheeks went pink and she looked away rapidly. Rarity reacted the best and simply coughed lightly, however, admitting, "I do believe that little misunderstanding was my fault. But you really shouldn't jump to conclusions like that, Mender." Applejack rested a hoof on her forehead and shook her head weakly. "Again. Ah shouldn't be surprised by now, Ah guess. Ya didn't offend. Ah jus wanna pay ya somethin' fer yer work," she muttered, looking down at me after finishing explaining. Oh. "And I said I wasn't going to hurt you again!" Twilight yelled suddenly. I let out a yelp and dove sideways and away from her in surprise. Of course, I rolled right into the pile of sharp and pointy things that I had saw prior. Stupid nails. * * * * * Things always seemed to go in patterns for me. The unfortunate thing is that there always seems to be a quota for the amount of pain I'm required to go through. I gritted my teeth and winced as Applejack pulled out the twelfth and final nail. Speaking of that quota. "Disinfecting," Twilight reported instantly. A sizzling sensation hit the spot where the nail used to be embedded in my back. I gasped, but thankfully the merciful unicorn continued with, "... And healing." The pain faded instantly and I was finally able to slump forward to the ground. Rarity, who was at my side, patted my shoulder as I tried not to get grass up my nose. Wait, I was supposed to be trying to think positively. Well, at least I'm not allergic to the grass. Or iron. Or blood loss. I heard Applejack spit out the nail behind me. "That's some handy magic, Twi. How come ya never used that before?" she asked a moment later. There was an exasperated sigh before the unicorn returned, "That's because I learned it only a few days ago. At the rate he gets injured, it was all I could do to lessen the hospital fees." I let out a frustrated groan and looked back at her, just in time to see a wall of lavender descending towards my face. I winced as she lightly batted me on the end of my muzzle. "No. You're not going to pay for those either," she preemptively declared. Sighing, I turned back around and glared straight ahead again. They just didn't seem to get it. "You're a Gentlecolt for trying to make it up to us, don't worry. But you can't be expected to without any source of income and while injured still," Rarity soothed, bending down and trying to smile at me, eye level. I sighed weakly, staring at the root of the tree we were under. Applejack hadn't wanted to get blood in the barn, which was understandable. In frustration, I whacked the front of the root I'd been glaring at. It barely shook, which only served to irritate me further. A moment later, something reasonably solid skipped off of my head. I let out a stifled yelp, and then glared at the infuriating red object rolling away from me on the ground. Twilight sighed weakly and walked up next to me, lifting the apple up with her magic. "I'm definitely going to have to run a few tests on you at some point in the future. You have the absolute worst luck I've ever seen," she admitted, tossing the apple backwards. "Yer just noticin' this now? He only has good luck when it counts, ya know? Like givin' ah giant alien battleship tha ol' what fer!" she exclaimed. I blushed a little but didn't look up again. It was mostly because my head hurt, but I also wasn't sure if I was supposed to be honored or depressed by her viewpoint. Still, Twilight had a point. The white unicorn next to me sat up fully again, shaking her head slightly. "I personally don't feel his luck is too entirely bad. Sure, he's a bit clumsy from time to time, but he's only been in the physical form of a pony for all of three and a half weeks. Surely, he deserves a bit of a break due to that, no?" she suggested reasonably. Well, I thought it was reasonable, anyway. "She has a point. Honestly, his progress is astounding if you take into consideration the age of his body. He's technically been alive for less than a month," Twilight concurred, nodding. I glanced back and caught her smiling down at me. She blushed and looked away rapidly upon noticing my attention. Had she said that purely to make a case for me? She had to have realized it was different due to me being alive for much longer prior. "Indeed! To project an air of such sophistication while being so young! You're truly talented. It makes me wish Applejack was such as well," Rarity praised before glancing over at the now glaring farm mare. "Yer still pushin' fer that? Ah already told ya, Ah can't make it. The last harvest is comin' an' there’s no time ta be off prancin' about in fancy clothes," Applejack repeated. Well, technically it was the first time I had heard it, but I assume that they had been discussing it while Twilight and I had been talking. A light blush distracted me momentarily. Yeah, talking. Mostly. "It would just be for a few days, Applejack. Please?!" Rarity practically begged, edging a little closer to her friend. "Ah'm really sorry, Rare. Ah know yer desperate if yer askin' meh. Ah really wish I could help ya," she apologized, subtly putting herself down. Rarity sighed and nodded, to my surprise. Was there some sort of context that I wasn't aware of? "Yes. I didn't believe that you'd want to go. I'm just running out of options. Twilight's already going on behalf of the Princess. Fluttershy practically passed out when she realized how crowded it would be. You know she only accepts crowds when all of us are there to back her up," Rarity replied weakly. I'd guessed as much about Fluttershy, but Applejack and Rarity seemed to have a deeper understanding than I realized. They knew each other's tastes. Twilight nodded as well. "What about Rainbow and Pinkie? Surely they're not busy," she suggested, gesturing with a hoof towards Rarity. "No such luck, I'm afraid. Rainbow Dash unsurprisingly has the entire public appearance schedule of the Wonderbolts memorized. She was a little miffed at my attempt at trickery in trying to let her think they were attending. And Pinkie Pie is still banned, remember?" Rarity returned, looking a little stressed. Banned? I swallowed nervously, not entirely wanting to know how the friendly enough seeming pink party pony got banned from somewhere. "Oh yeah. Ah forgot they got real upset after tha Gala incident. Ah would've thought they'd be over that by now," Applejack muttered. Yup, definitely didn't want to know. Rarity sighed and nodded, brushing her mane back gently before noticing me watching her again. She gave a soft smile down towards me before shifting her attention back to Applejack. "What of Big Mac? I suppose he's needed for the harvest as well?" she asked after a moment's apparent thought. Applejack sighed as well, but nodded. "He does tha figures an' fancy mathematics. Ah don't think we'd have ah smooth time without him 'ere," she explained. Silent but smart, huh? I could definitely appreciate that. Rarity looked downright depressed for a moment and shook her head. "If I hadn't been asked to provide the dresses for the fashion show there, I wouldn't be nearly as upset. This could really make my career! If I were to show up without the guest attached to my invitation, why, it would be shameful! Outrageous! I'd be laughed out of the party," she lamented. Whoa. Rarity dealt with an entirely higher level of social performance than what I was used to! I can see why Fluttershy didn't want that kind of pressure. There was a quiet moment, followed by an awkwardly uncomfortable feeling. I glanced up at the white unicorn again, only to discover that she was staring intently at me. Er, did I have something in my mane? "Wait a moment. I suddenly recall that you are a personal friend of Princess Celestia herself! Everypony saw you having lunch with her," she reminded, for as of yet unknown reasons. I still didn't like where this was going. Twilight predictably blanched. "Wait, what? Just because he eats lunch with her once, doesn't mean that they're best friends. Is that why that rumor is spreading like wildfire?" she questioned, sounding more than a little irritated suddenly. What did I do?! "Um, not to interrupt, but what rumor are we talking about?" I interjected cautiously. If it was about me, I at least deserve to know what it is, right? "Ah heard it too, down in tha market this mornin'. It's mixed up more than Pinkie on fermented cider. Somewhere between ya bein' ah clandestine lover, an' ah secret agent," Applejack explained, looking back down at me. Damn it! This was all Rainbow Dash's fault. She had to go screaming at the top of her lungs that I had a date with the Princess. Twilight slapped a hoof to her forehead, sighing miserably. "Wonderful. Well at least there's no real harm in any of it, I suppose. If they want to be silly, then so be it," the lavender unicorn acquiesced weakly. She didn't sound convinced. Of course, saying "No real harm" and referencing me in the same sentence would probably make a lot of ponies uncomfortable. "Oh, but I intend to use it to my advantage, with Mender's support, of course," Rarity corrected, looking remarkably devious for such a refined mare. I swallowed timidly. Regardless, she continued before I could voice any opinions, further enlightening with, "Seeing that everypony seems to be busy, I'm tentatively considering asking Mender to go with me to the party instead, purely for appearances, of course. If they want to perpetuate the rumors, so be it. That assumed, Mender should be a very eligible 'date' for the evening." "Excuse me?" Twilight asked instantly, devoid of any tone fluctuation at all, expression deadpan. Uh oh. Wait, what?! Applejack nodded skeptically as well. "Admittedly, Ah get the point behind it. Yer usin' tha rumors ta puff up Mender's reputation an' make yerself look good fer yer designin' show. Ah just question how, well, wise that is. Mender's ain't exactly known fer his social graces," she pointed out. Ouch. My ego suddenly hurt a little. Although I sadly had to agree for the most part. "Oh relax, you two. It's not an actual date. He's coming as a friend, of course. I simply want to avoid any potential social stigma," Rarity explained carefully before sitting down again next to me. Giving a test shift of my muscles, I decided that they weren't quite ready to move yet and did absolutely nothing. It was surprisingly effective at making me feel better as well. Twilight's glare didn't relent, however, and I had to mentally stop myself from fidgeting. It wasn't even directed at me, yet I found myself trying not to shake. Still, what could I honestly say in her defense without giving away exactly what she told me not to? She seemed to realize this too, and kept it to a silent glare instead. Rarity looked a little flustered, however. "Twilight dear, what's wrong? You seem awfully upset at me. May I ask?" she requested politely. I'd never seen the white unicorn actually look unsure, admittedly. Twilight must mean a great deal to her. Finally, Twilight let out a huff and relaxed a little. "It's nothing. Just, well, don't let him wander off and maim himself or something," she warned pointedly. I suddenly got the impression that my choice had been made for me already. "Splendid! Then it's a date. This is in Canterlot, Mender, so pack warm! Oh, and we shall have to spend a night there, of course. It will simply be far too late by the time the event is over to catch a train back. I'll pay for the room, of course. Oh, and we absolutely must size you and get a wonderful suit made before the party! Oh, there's just so much to do," Rarity started rapidly explaining. Well, more suggesting. Wait, I didn't own any clothes, let alone warm things. Wait, I had to spend the night in a hotel room with Rarity?! Twilight started growling again, predictably this time. "Then you'd best go do it. And I'm sure I can work him into my old quarters at the palace, so you don't need to worry about a hotel!" she berated, tone sounding irritable. Rarity looked taken aback, but Applejack just chuckled. "No need ta get so defensive, Twi. She said it was just ah friendly thing. But we do have ah lot of work ta do, Rare," she excused politely, giving the white unicorn a gentle nod. Rarity coughed lightly, but nodded. "Of course. Do come by in a couple days to get measurements, Mender," she requested, doing a polite bow and recovering her smile as she looked over at me instead. The best I could come up with was returning an uncertain nod, trying my hardest to smile back. She departed slowly, with the elegant and drawn out gait of a true noble, of course. I exhaled weakly as she left, avoiding the burning sensation of Twilight's gaze on the back of my head. Applejack just gave another laugh and gestured towards the barn again, starting a pace towards it herself. Shaking my head, I sighed wearily. The day had already felt long enough, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it was far from over. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: http://youtu.be/DUBVQA2mr0Y
Chapter 09Okay, so this was a mess. Carefully weaving between the piles, I moved another group of planks in with the rest. We were finally wrapping up the sorting of the parts into the various piles on the floor of the barn. Applejack had taken off already, leaving the finer points of the sorting to the ponies that could use magic, it would seem. Although she did have the harvest to take care of, so I didn't exactly blame her there. Smiling down at the last of the planks, I glanced back up at Twilight. At this point, I was growing a little concerned for the unicorn in question. She only got half as much done as me, mostly because she insisted that all of the nails and screws be aligned in the same direction. She was now smiling proudly down at her very exact, orderly piles. It was oddly kind of endearing, and I caught myself smiling softly at her. It was strange. The more I sorted out the feelings, the weirder I felt over the whole situation. Fluttershy had obviously distanced herself, which might have led to some of it, but surely not all. Spending so much time with Twilight had given me greater appreciation for the mare. She seemed honest in her desire to not hurt me anymore. Okay, that was a total lie. I blushed as I realized it. As much as I was trying to stay distant, I couldn't help but get giddy little butterflies in my stomach when I watched her. She was a scary individual when upset, sure, but that's just because I knew what she could do to me. When she was happy, such as now, staring at her gave an entirely different feeling. I wasn't naive. That warm feeling was new to me, but I realized what I wanted. It was maddening some days. How would males on my home dimension stand it? My eyes started to roam a little. All right, so it was really maddening. Her coat was well maintained, looking so soft in the barn light. Her form was sleek and streamlined. She lacked the muscle tone of Applejack, and the corded muscles of Rainbow Dash, but she was far from unhealthy looking. I blushed lightly as I traced gentle curves with my eyes. Her hips were particularly pleasant to take note of, and I saw her tail was well maintained, similar to her mane. My eyes drifted back that way, tracing along her mane that almost seemed to glow in the warm light of the Sun seeping through the barn's front door. It complimented the gorgeous shade of her eyes as they almost sparkled with energy when she was excited. It always made her look so cute. The light flush of her cheeks didn't help either, of course. Wait a second... Twilight was staring right at me at this point, blushing softly and fidgeting with her right front leg. My blush expanded significantly and I politely looked away, coughing. I hope she hadn't noticed too long ago and saw me ogling her flank. Again. Well in her mind, anyway. The first time had indeed been an accident. A light giggle. Her voice always caused me to melt a little, but I kept my hormones under control. No sense in getting her mad at me again. "Um, you don't need to look away, Mender. I don't mind you looking at me. It's just surprising, is all. I'm rather plain looking, honestly," she excused, looking down towards the floor of the barn instead. I blatantly recoiled, shocked. "Twilight! You're far from plain. You're... You're gorgeous. I mean, I do find a lot of mares cute or pretty, but you're by far the only one I'd say was truly beautiful," I corrected softly, frowning now. Twilight's eyes hit saucer size almost instantly. She looked shocked for a moment before her eyes softened and the blush in her cheeks magnified sharply. "M-Mender! I, well, I thank you, but I just don't know. I've never had a stallion think I was pretty." While she had barely choked out the first part of her statement, she calmed down a little and now looked reserved. Or was that a shy expression as she nervously looked at me. Smiling, I shook my head. "I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to, Twilight. It's not just because you'd rip me limb from limb either if I tried," I assured her, nodding. Her ears visibly drooped and she shook her head. "I told you that I'm not going to hurt you, Mender. I don't want you scared of me, okay?" she asked softly, walking towards me again. I hesitated and took a half step back, unsure of her intent. Was she mad at me for staring and only acting this way to get me to lower my guard? Her eyes softened, but she didn't stop walking. "What can I do to show you that I won't hurt you?" she asked a moment later, stopping a half-meter in front of me. I swallowed but stood my ground. She was serious. "I, uh, have no idea, Twilight," I answered, as truthfully as I could manage. Her eyes searched mine for a few seconds before she nodded. To my surprise, she started smiling. "It's a well-documented issue. Your situation is unique, but I bet I could figure out a way to let you have more confidence in dealing with me. Wanna give it a shot later?" she asked warmly, looking oddly excited. Oh well. I couldn't see any particular harm in it and agreed with, "Sure. I don't see why not." The lavender pony grinned instantly, instilling a sudden paranoia in me. Had that been the wrong choice? "Excellent! I'll study up on some of the techniques. Research and experimentation have never failed me in the past, so it will undoubtedly work here too!" she exclaimed excitedly. More experiments? Smiling, I agreed with, "Well, your last 'experimentation' was a lot of fun. I'm sure I'll like these too, right?" Her happy expression shifted to that of a shocked blush in a heartbeat, earning a grin from me. "Cool your jets, Lover Boy. We need to talk to Fluttershy first, don't forget," she reminded, playfully sticking her tongue out at me. I laughed, but nodded gently. She had already been more than adamant on me talking to Fluttershy about things. She didn't need to remind me any further. She continued before I could say anything else, however. "But I am serious. I'm, well, even if you don't end up picking me, you need to move slowly in the relationship. I'm a little worried that maybe kissing like that was too fast. It would be way too fast for Fluttershy," she voiced, an odd mixture of nervous yet sad sounding. Wait, slow? I'd never heard of that adjective being applied to mates before. Swallowing my pride, and possibly sense of self-preservation, I decided to throw caution to the wind and ask Twilight what she meant. "How does slow apply to a relationship?" She had started to turn around, but froze when I asked. Her initial expression seemed to be of surprise and curiosity, but she nodded quietly. "Well, to take your time dating and getting to know a pony before moving on to the more, uh, physical aspects of a relationship," she explained, causing even more confusion. Dating? This was another word that I'd not encountered before. Well, not in this context. To be 'dated' was to be old or out of place in your time period, if I recall correctly. "Uh, what's 'dating' mean in this context?" I inquired, deciding that if she answered the first without hesitation, she shouldn't have any problem with the second. I hoped. A large blush exploded over her cheeks almost instantly. Oops. Guess I was wrong, there. "What, um, what do you mean, Mender? Surely you've heard of dating before. What did your society do to pair up males and females for mating?" she questioned, sounding gravely embarrassed. Uh oh. It had something to do with mating rituals. Please don’t kill me, Twilight. Guessing that I had just made an idiot of myself again, I lowered my head and drooped my ears. "Sorry, Twilight. Honestly, I don't think I've heard that word in that context before. From what I've pieced together and remember, there were no direct mating rituals. Sure, sometimes females took in a male specifically for such in the higher circles, but most of our breeding was done through clinics," I explained quietly, formulating it at the same time. It wasn't as if I had anticipated having to explain this to anypony. Dreams and vague memories showed me the clinics and I knew the male concubine facts. Everything else was purely speculation on my part, of course. The lavender mare didn't look all that surprised. She did lose her smile and look away, however. "I expected as much. Dating is when a couple goes out and has fun together, with the purpose of testing compatibility and feelings for each other before anything more, um, intimate. Well, that's usually the case, anyway. There are exceptions, of course," she expanded upon, shifting back into analytical mode. That probably meant she was uncomfortable talking about this topic. "So that's what you wish to start with, right? Dating? It makes sense if you aren't sure of your feelings, although admittedly, I have no idea what's expected of me," I confessed, blushing again but managing a smile this time. For once, I wasn't irritated at making an idiot of myself, especially if it made her more comfortable. Both of us were interrupted by a sudden light fluttering sound above us. I glanced up for a moment until an impact sounded, and a light ruffling. What was that?! Twilight must have seen me glance up and giggled lightly. "Oh, don't worry about that. Uh, Applejack has a slight issue with, um, birds in the loft. I told her I'd look into it later after this," she explained, fidgeting a little. She seemed nervous for some reason. Uh oh. It dawned on me. Traumatic experiences in an individual's past could lead to painful phobias. Twilight must have had something happen to her involving birds and was too embarrassed to say anything to anypony! Applejack probably asked her to take care of the issue without even considering her feelings. How rude. Hmm. Well birds didn't sound too dangerous, so maybe I could help her with them? I wasn't as likely to get in the way or make her use more healing magic on me again. "Oh, I understand, Twilight! I'll help you take care of them after this, then," I assured, nodding and smiling warmly at her. She paled considerably. "You, um, you do? You don't need to do that!" she assured rapidly, shaking a little. Whoa! It was a nastier case than I had thought. But she was being so brave and trying to hide it. I wondered how long she had kept this pain inside. Blushing, I shook my head again and opened my mouth to insist that I could easily help her on the issue. She interrupted before I could, however. "What do you think of me, Mender?" she suddenly asked out of nowhere. My brain did a flip inside of my skull and I totally forgot what I had been about to say. "Er, wait, what?" Complete sentences eluded me as my brain shifted from sixth to reverse. "About me. I mean, I know you think I'm pretty. Somehow. And fun to be around despite our conflicts in the past. I wanted to know what you think we could be to each other, though," she elaborated carefully, intensely locking eyes with me. Swallowing, I shifted nervously off my left side. This wasn't expected at all. How did the conversation shift from birds to our future?! Although if she was insecure about things concerning her phobias and personality, that might have prompted this. She might have suddenly worried that I looked down upon her for having a phobia. Still, fear of birds wasn't that out of the normal range of things. Heck, I once met an Artificial Intelligence who was afraid of them. Well, she had a lot of problems other than that, but it still fit! "Well, I really do like you a lot. You feel very mature and stable to me, honestly. You're extremely intelligent and I look up to that. You're also scarily powerful, which admittedly terrifies me on occasion. I would like to..." I started before trailing off and frowning to myself. I'd gone over this a hundred times in my head, but always managed to hit a snag here. She felt almost untouchable. Like she existed in a reality apart from my own. Above me and impossibly real. It was hard for me to imagine myself 'with' her in any romantic regard. I didn't know why. Technically, her kissing me should have made it easier, but it didn't. Funny thing, that. She made an impossibly quiet sound a moment later, and I closed my eyes. Surely, if I couldn't see her, she couldn't see me, right? That somehow made the confession easier, and I started with, "I would like to be important to you like that, and have you let me care for you. I just have my doubts that I'd be able to, well, reach you. You're one of a kind in this world, and it feels like I, as an intruder here, shouldn't be considered for such good fortune." Every word was extremely carefully chosen, of course. I decided to leave out the extreme paranoia about her relationship with Celestia. Twilight predictably blushed. "Mender, I want to be important to you, too. Just trust that instead of worrying about if you're worthy or not," she returned, calling me out on my polite wording. I guess I did kind of consider myself unworthy of her, didn't I? "But thank you. That helps me quite a bit. How do you feel about Fluttershy, then?' she asked less than a second later. This one I'd seen coming, however. Sadly, that didn't make the answer any less complicated. "I'm not entirely sure. She makes me feel comfortable, which is amazing considering I'm an alien dumped into the middle of a new land with nothing to his name and who started off thinking that all of the natives wanted to kill and consume him," I groaned out, rubbing a hoof to my temple. At least I'd progressed a long way since then. Kind of. Oh fine; at least I knew they were vegetarians. Twilight giggled pleasantly and shook her head. "Fluttershy is really good at making ponies feel comfortable when she doesn't feel threatened herself. Although from what I've read, you need more than comfort in order to love somepony," she pointed out, sitting down in front of me. I thought about it a little more. Technically she was right. Fluttershy was adorable, very cute, and made me feel safe. Was that enough to base a relationship off, though? Was it fair, to her, for me to try to base a relationship off that only? Everything was new to me, and it was frustrating having no idea what I was doing. "I think you might be right. Now that I consider it, I'm not entirely sure my feelings for her were like that in the first place. I mean, she's cute and very, very kind, but I never intentionally looked at her in that way before." It was more pondering out loud than any direct statement. A light scraping came from above afterwards, along with more of the flapping noises, however. I raised an eyebrow and looked up again. Those sounded like destructive birds. Maybe we shouldn't be waiting to chase them away? Twilight interrupted with, "You mean when you accidentally looked at her flank, right?" My gaze burned back down to her instantly, cheeks flaring up again. Of course she wore a smirk. For a moment, I thought I heard Fluttershy gasp. Then I realized it had just echoed through my head and chuckled mentally. True, that's exactly what she would do had she been here. "Of course, given your wording, that would also indicate that you intentionally looked at mine," the mirthful lavender unicorn continued, giving a more playful smirk. Damn, she was a brat when she wanted to be! This was a whole new side of Twilight that I hadn't seen before, and I didn't particularly know how to deal with it. Well, what was that song? Fortune favors the bold. I nodded in return, smirking. "Of course I did. You're definitely not hard on the eyes," I managed to get out, suppressing the urge to wince and hide behind the crate next to me. Twilight's eyes widened drastically and her blush magnified tenfold. Her smile remained, however, and I eased up on my tense muscles. "You're a charmer when not cowering from me," she teased, slowly swaying closer to me. My pride made me hold my ground as she approached. If she was going to murder me, I could at least die with dignity. She leaned past me however, whispering into my ear, "I like it. Relax." My turn to blush. Had it been that obvious that I was tense? I let out a little sigh and did just as she had suggested. She smiled gently at me from inches away. A sudden urge came over me, and I slowly leaned forwards. Twilight turned away however at the last second and picked up a bunch of the wooden planks for the support structure. They drifted easily into the air around her so easily. I almost fell on my face, wobbling for a moment to recover my balance. "What about Applejack? She might be employing you," she asked instead, hauling the woodpile over to the corner of the barn. My mind whirled with the sudden topic change and I had to do an about face to catch up. "Wait, what?" I asked a moment later. Okay, try to catch up, anyway. She snickered, causing me to scowl but sigh. Was she intentionally throwing me off guard? "I've never really thought about it. Mostly I'm too preoccupied trying to make up for my terrible first impression. She's very kind though, and has been extremely hospitable since." I followed her over to where she was lining up the boards as I replied. She smiled, agreeing with, "Applejack would like that description. You don't think she's pretty?" I laughed, pointing a hoof over to the nails pile. "Nails. And don't get me wrong. Applejack is very pretty in her own unique way. She's not adorably cute like Fluttershy or subtly gorgeous like you; she holds a practical charm, in a down to earth kind of way," I tried to explain. Twilight didn't miss a beat and yanked a pile of nails over to where we were as I positioned two of the interlocking planks into a cross brace. "You always seem to compliment me the most," she groaned as we instinctively swapped roles. She snagged both planks in her telekinesis and I magnetically picked up three of the sturdy nails with my left, glowing hoof. "You're the one I like the most in that way, so isn't that normal?" I questioned, giving the nails a light kinetic burst of energy. They drove themselves into the board all at once an instant later. Twilight smiled at me for a moment before starting at the sound of the nails. She looked momentarily amused when she glanced down at my work. "Well, admittedly, that makes me more than a little happy. Maybe I've been, I dunno, over-thinking things?" she muttered, turning back to the board pile and lighting her horn with magic. Twilight, over-think things? I tried not to laugh as I realized I tended towards doing the same thing. I instinctively ducked as two more boards flew in over me and lined themselves up in a light magical aura. "I'm probably as nervous about things as you. Everything is going a little faster for me, and admittedly, it's a tad hard to keep up with mentally," I tried to assure. She smiled pleasantly and nodded, expression relaxing a little. "Then I guess it will be new to both of us. Uh, well, if you pick me, of course," she backtracked, eyes widening at the last part. This again? I sighed as I grabbed the next set of nails. "Twilight, we're pretty much assured that she's..." I stopped and frowned. Fluttershy didn't like me like that. I'd already figured that much out. Whether she did before she saw my memories, I'd probably never find out. For such a gentle soul, the prospect of war and death was probably grim indeed. I felt bad enough that she had to see what she did. "She just wants to be friends, Twilight. I don't blame her for that and frankly, I'm sad that she had to see what she did in the first place, regardless of it being the reason she changed her mind. I just want to be absolutely sure that's what she wants so I don't hurt her feelings, is all," I furthered after straightening out my mindset. There was a light, contented sigh that echoed out of nowhere and everywhere at once. Frowning, I glanced around again. Okay, that time I swore I heard the timid yellow mare in question. Was it just my imagination? Twilight smiled and nodded at me as if she'd heard nothing, so I decided to keep it to myself lest I sound even less sane than she already thought I was. "I understand. I'm sure she would as well if she heard that. Relax, Mender. I'm glad you like me like that. I think, um, I think I really do want to give it a try. Oh dear, I think I'll need to do some more reading on the topic," she groaned, shifting back and forth on her hooves. I lowered the hoof that had the nails and ducked again as her magic followed her swaying, whipping the boards back and forth in front of me, predictably. I just shook my head and chuckled. At least I didn't try to figure out everything by reading about it. Well, not that it was a bad way to do things, but she might be content with just experimenting more, too. I grinned to myself as I remembered her last one. "Twilight, relax. You have all the time in the world," I assured regardless. Well, it wasn't just assurance, I guess. Something still felt off about the whole situation. My instincts told me that she was more important than me, and I shouldn't be so lax and loose tongued around her, to be respectful and subservient instead. Not just because she was an Element of Harmony, one of the most important mares in Equestria, or could single-handedly tear the fabric of my being apart with her mind, but because she was female. The frustrating thing was not knowing where the instinct came from. What was my old culture like to instill such a nigh panic over the issue? "...but I should be fine as long as I experiment slowly. Oh, and get lots of research and notes taken!" she continued from a statement I was apparently missing the first part of. Oops. It was easy enough to gather what she had been saying, however. Not that I knew how to respond anyway. Further, not that it mattered, as she apparently wasn't looking for a response in the first place, and simply continued with, "Anyway, what about Rainbow Dash?" After Applejack, I had been anticipating being grilled on Dash as well, so it wasn't as much of a surprise. Thankfully, the boards stopped flailing and I was able to sit up again, proceeding with driving the next set of nails into them. "I trust her with my life after what we went through. She really pulled her own back in my dimension, and showed me how truly loyal she can be. She's amazing." Twilight smirked at my explanation, and I saw it coming. "Sounds like you like her too," she cooed a second later. I rolled my eyes. "Twilight, I came from a world with no females in day to day activities. Every mare here is going to be at least a little cute to me. So yes, Rainbow is very cute. But you know her heart is also taken, and so is mine," I reminded, giving her a skeptical glance. She nodded promptly, seemingly unfazed by my admission. "Rarity?" she asked without delay as we swapped plank sets again and moved further down the line. "Very elegant and beautiful in her own way. She really maintains herself. Maybe a little too much. She's really nice, however, and her heart is in the right spot. I'm glad she's my friend," I returned, drawing forth more nails. This was going faster than I thought it would. Although I should have known better, as Twilight was an extremely intelligent mare and learned fast. The mare in question snickered at the over-maintaining portion of my answer, but nodded. "Okay, a hard one. Pinkie Pie!" she launched, sounding a little amused. Okay, that was a hard one. I drove the nails into the board before frowning and thinking about it a bit. I barely remembered to duck as more planks flew in via her magic. "She's a really nice mare and super friendly. Way too much energy for me, however. I get tired just watching her. Still, I've seen her when she's not wound up like a spastic ferret on sugar, and know she has other gears. I like her, overall," I reasoned simply. Twilight started laughing by the time I was done. "Well, that's fairly accurate. Ha! Still, I think she'd be happy with that reply were she here," she agreed, nodding to me between snickers. There was another light thump from above us, and more flapping sounds. For crying out loud, what were those birds doing up there? I saw the ropes for the lift shiver back and forth slightly and widened my eyes. Uh oh! We're they pecking at the lift ropes? That wouldn't do at all. Twilight frowned as I stood up and trotted over to the lift. "I think those birds are on the lift ropes. I'm going to scare them off," I explained, smiling back at her. Oddly, a look of shock and terror suddenly spread across her face. "No, Mender! It's okay, I'll get them after we're done!" she shouted. I smiled further and shook my head. "It's okay, Twilight. You don't need to be brave. It's perfectly all right to be afraid of birds. I'll get rid of them," I assured. "Wait, what?" she asked suddenly, getting an odd look on her face. Shaking my head at the stubborn mare, I reached over with my left hoof and touched the rope, swinging it into the edge of the loft above. The shockwave shook the entire building, rippling and distorting across the loft floor. Nothing too strong, but that should be enough to scare the birds out of there. A trio of screams sounded through the air instantly, and my eyes widened a moment later. Applejack fell first, going sideways out of the lift hole. Rainbow Dash came next, looking more intentional as she dove after Applejack, her wings extended. What the hell?! A light squeak came from above a moment later, causing me to look up just in time to be greeted by a face full of yellow fur. Fluttershy landed on me with a force that was astounding for what I anticipated she weighed, and we became a pony pile on the floor in front of the lift. She gave another timid squeak upon landing on me, then rolled until she hit solid ground again. Dash caught Applejack out of the air and spun, skipping and sliding along the ground on her back while cushioning the mare she held. Both of them slid to a stop right into one of the larger boxes still in the room. The side snapped on the box and the entire top collapsed in on them. My eyes widened and I slammed my left hoof into the ground as it fell. The energy shot along the ground and up the side of the box as it broke, killing the inertia and gravity and letting the broken top float free instead, drifting a ways off to the side of them before running out of energy and falling. Everything slowly came to a stop. Fluttershy let out a pained "Ow" next to me, and Applejack slowly sat up on Rainbow. The cyan mare was blushing furiously as she looked up at the orange mare, who smirked down at her. Rainbow scoffed a second later, looking away before asking, "Comfy there?" The country mare let out a throaty clicking that sounded remarkably like laughter. "What if ah am?" she pointedly questioned, nudging a hoof into Dash's chest. Whoa! Well that sounded promising for her. If she caught it, she was obvious. "Just... I don't care. We didn't crash and die so it's all good," she muttered, scarlet color in her cheeks standing out heavily against the blue of her fur. She was kind of cute when embarrassed. Fluttershy sat up slowly next to me and looked around. Groaning, I decided she probably had the right idea, and sat up too. My neck hurt from being squashed into my shoulders when she landed on me, but at least it wasn't a direct blow to my head. I don't think I needed another concussion at this point to add to my collection. Then the situation dawned on me. Slowly turning, I shot an extremely irked glare back at Twilight. She swallowed and edged away from me, shifting nervously on her front hooves. That's why she was asking me about all of them. She knew that the three of them were eavesdropping! That meant the entire conversation was a set up to get me to admit things not to her, but to the three of them listening above. The unicorn shook her head rapidly, almost hearing my train of thought as I turned fully towards her. "Please let me explain, Mender. I can explain," she rapidly assured, shifting a little closer with her hoof reaching towards me. Backing away slowly, I frowned further at her. "You let them listen intentionally. Why?" I asked carefully. I'd just started giving her the benefit of the doubt again, and now this. For not spying on me for her mentor, she used some awfully underhanded tricks. Underhanded? Underhoofed? It didn't matter! "It was mah idea, actually. Ya don't be mad at her now," Applejack interrupted, turning around and climbing to her hooves again. Rainbow Dash looked momentarily stunned, but shook her head rapidly where the orange mare couldn't see. My ears went back and I glared over at her instead. "Why? Why did you... Why didn't you just ask me?" I growled, stamping my hoof to the ground. Applejack sighed wearily and nodded over towards the now shivering yellow ball of wings and fur on the floor. "Ah figured it would help Fluttershy ta hear yer thoughts indirectly first, ya know?" she explained slowly. The murky heat I hadn't realized was there to begin with slowly withdrew back down my neck, and I could suddenly hear quiet whispers coming from the yellow mare. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," was being released from her shivering form, seemingly ad infinitum. Sighing, I lowered my eyes. This wasn't a pleasant situation in the least. It made me feel unclean, I decided. But I couldn't stay angry at Fluttershy, anyway. She hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't her idea, nor had she tricked me and steered the conversation in ways to benefit herself. If anypony was innocent here, it would be her. Leaning down, I spoke directly to her instead, assuring, "Fluttershy, it's not your fault so don't worry. You most certainly didn't do anything wrong." The 'you' came out with particular venom. I didn't recall ever being truly mad at anypony before. Irritated, sure. Like when I was forced to dig for twenty minutes longer than what was needed. Or when a bag of apples descended onto my skull at high velocity. This felt different. I was angry. I'd just started to let go of the incident with Celestia and trust Twilight again. Then she did this! Fluttershy looked up at me, eyes softly wavering and mouth partially open. "Mender, we're sorry. I was just trying to help Fluttershy. You can see that, right?" Twilight tried to assure, taking a few steps closer again. My eyes narrowed and I backed up yet again, away from Fluttershy. "That's why you asked about everypony else too, right?" The lavender mare's eyes drastically widened and she shrank a little. Applejack let out an annoyed sounding snort before stamping her right hoof down with a dull thud. "Now wait just ah minute, you! Twilight 'ere wouldn't go an' lead ya on without good reason. Can't ya understand why we did it?!" she growled, eyes narrowing at me. Twilight finally shook her head and spoke up with, "No, Applejack. It was a bad idea. We should have just asked him." the orange mare turned and glared at her as well for a moment before rapidly shaking her head. My flank brushed past the forward ropes to the lift, and I frowned. I honestly just wanted to get away and clear my head for a while, but the door was past the two mares. I momentarily contemplated fleeing using the lift and my magic, then diving out one of the second story windows, but decided I'd probably just land on my head and wake up in the hospital. Besides, I was oddly getting a little tired of just running away. "It was not ah bad idea! Fluttershy 'ere benefited greatly from it," Applejack defended stubbornly, directing her irritation towards Twilight now instead, who was strangely shifting more towards me. Rainbow finally managed to recover enough to stand up again behind the country mare. Her gaze shifted past her however and at me instead. Ignoring all of them, I just walked forwards directly in-between Twilight and Applejack. Potentially lethal if either of them attacked me as I was setting up my own flanking position, but I was screwed if they did so anyway. The barn fell oddly quiet as I walked past both, keeping my eyes locked firmly on the exit. "Uh, where are you, um, going, Mender? Oh, if you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy requested politely, tilting her head at an angle that encouraged her mane to drift absently along her cheek. I stopped for a moment. Where was I going? "I'm taking a walk. I need to clear my head," I returned quietly, without looking back towards her. Twilight's ears drooped in my peripheral vision to the left, while Applejack's expression hardened on my other side. "What about mah barn?" she questioned, a bit of sharpness to her tone. Looking back over at her, I frowned. Why was she suddenly in such a bad mood? She was the one who'd decided to spy on me. "Build it yourself, then. At least there will be no need for spying without me here," I pointed out, admittedly a little on the bitter side. As expected, she looked significantly taken aback, eyes widening as she leaned her head away from me as if I burned her muzzle. Not waiting for a retort, I turned back and proceeded out of the barn, happy for the fresh air. * * * * * To their credit, they didn't give chase. Slowly, I trotted along at a moderate pace, much faster than my normal speeds but nowhere near hurrying. The sun was still high above, spreading its soft warmth over the fields of grass and apple trees. There was a certain amount of peace I felt as I watched the leaves sway to and fro around me. I could definitely appreciate the draw of a farmer's life. Compared to my old life, where it seemed like I only stopped moving after I was blown into three parts, this place was heaven. Slowly, I shifted from the path and walked down to the base of a small creek. The water ran clear and was chilled to the touch as I lightly dipped a forehoof into it. Maybe this really was heaven? My thoughts strayed back to the book, causing a slow sigh. They were trying to find me. It couldn't be just my imagination. Asking 'her' about it seemed pointless, however. She'd probably just say that it was all in my head again. Heh. That would give 'Tia' a real reason to spy on me again. Hell, Twilight would no doubt jump at the chance! Her mindset was practically geared towards clandestine operations. The bitterness flared up again as I splashed the water about in front of me with a hoof, realizing that I must have sat down at some point. This was kind of pathetic, really. Get upset at the cute ponies displaying interest in you, so you run away and sulk? Real mature, Mender. Angrily, I whipped my hoof out and hit the water, sending a somewhat satisfying spray away from me. Why didn't I trust them? Why was I so upset? I've been here for barely three weeks and have caused considerable problems in that time, not limited to accidentally dragging one of them to what could be considered hell in comparison. Rainbow Dash almost died with me in that desolate place. Of course they're not going to hold me in high regard. It snapped into place. Of course Fluttershy was going to lose interest after she saw the hell I came from. Such a view surely scarred a gentle and innocent soul such as hers. Of course Twilight would pick her teacher, mentor, longtime friend, and ruler of the entire country over me, the whelp that had barely even touched upon her life. It was logical. I wasn't important considering who I was trying to impress. Flicking a tiny rock along the creek, I wiped weakly at my eyes with the other hoof. This was so stupid. I gave a light groan and leaned down instead, pushing my muzzle and forehead into the modest flow of water. The gentle coolness shifting pleasantly over my fur and skin underneath felt amazing, and I relaxed my shoulders, letting my neck gently support my body. This was the first time I'd been alone in a while, and it was kind of nice. I just let the cool water drift past my coat for a moment, feeling the tension exit my body slowly. Sighing, I sat back up, eyes yet closed as the water dripped down off my face and forehead. Maybe I needed more time to myself like this? Shaking back and forth, I let the water spray off me before giving a faint smile and opening my eyes once more. I was greeted to the sight of a magenta pair of eyes staring back from all of a half meter away. Giving a rather embarrassing yelp, I hopped backwards to make some distance from the two pools of amused looking color. Given my natural levels of grace and foresight, I promptly tripped while going backwards and rolled. With all the finesse of a beached whale, I crashed into the loose dirt and mud to my right and slid a few inches before coming to a stop, dignity a long lost cause. Rainbow burst into laughter almost instantly, of course. "You're just too awesome, Mender! I've never seen anypony with such bad luck or total lack of dexterity. I don't even have to prank you to get a good laugh!" she praised, voice mirthful and energetic in between gasping for air from the hysterical laughter. Well, praised was probably the wrong word, even though she made it sound like they were stellar attributes of mine. I sat up again, glare returning and being blatantly aimed at the spunky cyan mare. "You could have said something. What do you want, Dash?" I asked, normal politeness decaying a little in my foul mood. Not that she normally cared about etiquette, of course. She returned without hesitation, "Relax. I'm here to make sure you're all right. Ya know, battle partners checking up on each other, right?" I couldn't help but blush a little. Looking away from her, I sighed wearily. "You don't need to remind me of how I put you in danger, Dash. But thank you," I muttered. It was ironic how I had just been thinking about that. Her expression shifted to a glare almost instantly, fast enough for me to do a double take. "I told you that I had wanted to stay even longer. Don't you get it? You're our friend, and constantly thinking otherwise is really hurting a few ponies. So knock it off already!" she requested. Well, more demanded. I'm not sure how prevalent radio was here, or if it even existed, but the effect was reasonably similar. If one rotates the dial through dead air long enough, and then finds a station that's barely managing to transmit to the area where the radio is, there's a light fade in of the sound mixed with the dead static. If one wasn't anticipating such a find, it was quite possible to zip right past the faint channel without quick enough mental reflexes. It was exactly like that, except the sound mixed in with the dead air was a very familiar voice, rather than any music or such. "...such is the nature... ...link faint, yet decidedly real... ...book leads to..." echoed through my skull. Oh hell. The mention of the book put my nerves on edge, and I glanced around while feeling the blood drain from my face. Sadly, as soon as it had appeared, it was gone again. I now found myself distinctly aware of the sense of static left behind by the 'station,' now nothing more than dead air. Damn it. They didn't even give me the courtesy of being asleep this time. "Hello? You awake there? As I said, your fillyfriend is going crazy thinking she screwed up, and Fluttershy won't stop apologizing to the dirt floor. Suck it up and go back and at least let them know you don't hate them," Dash continued, apparently repeating a large section of a conversation I zoned out again. Shaking off the panic, I glanced back at her and frowned. She wasn't going to leave me alone until I did, probably. Wait, fillyfriend?! My cheeks went scarlet this time, instead of settling for just a mediocre blush, and I voiced my surprise with, "Wait, fillyfriend?! We haven't really, uh, decided that we'd make it official or anything." The rainbow-maned mare smirked, and I knew that she knew that she'd gotten to me. Ug. Today just wasn't my day. Except for that kissing part. That was nice. "Mender, she's totally all for it. Which means, given Twi, she's probably thought about it and researched it until almost going crazy, so I'd take it as a compliment. Although you really wouldn't want to see her when she 'actually' goes crazy, so we should probably get back there," she warned a moment later, glancing back towards the barn. Uh oh. That was the distinct phrasing involved with past experience, I noticed. Which probably meant that I should listen to her advice. Then I considered it more. An impossibly strong magic user with an extremely orderly and focused personality totally going off the deep end and acting irrational or otherwise, as Rainbow indicated, crazy. It all suddenly clicked into place, violently disturbing my thought processes long enough to at least drive the annoying dead air sound out of my skull. Well then, prior worry about interstellar invaders coming to destroy all of Equestria and everypony I had come to know and love put behind me, I decided my colorful friend and battle partner was probably right. It was pointless to worry about future invasions if a certain, extremely powerful lavender unicorn made Equestria go away before they even got here. "Right indeed. I don't think I really want to see Twilight when she's crazy, given how she's acted before. Shall we go?" I offered, gesturing back towards the barn with a hesitant hoof. Rainbow snickered and nodded, taking to the air again and drifting over from the other side of the creek. "Exactly! And don't forget, she's totally your special somepony now," she reminded. Again. A spike of annoyance struck me. But her smirk indicated that's what she wanted, which oddly made it hard to stay angry at the exact same time. Paradoxical thoughts aside, I glared anyway, putting on a good show before pushing my hoof into the ground on my left side. This time she saw it and laughed, dodging out of the way as little orbs of water started shooting out of the creek at her. She flipped and swirled through the air, laughing as she avoided most of my barrages while dancing towards the barn again. Finally laughing, I ran after at my typical clutzy pace, firing more every time my left hoof touched down while managing to squeeze the happiness out of the few I managed to clip her with. She took it in playful jest as we headed towards our destination. Decidedly, I distracted myself wondering why I could never manage to stay mad at her. It was funny now that I thought about it. If she had gone there wanting to cheer me up and calm me down instead of just check up on me, she was an extremely clever filly. Suddenly, I had a lot more respect for the rainbow-maned mare that was frolicking through the air in front of me. 'Battle Partner’, huh? Smiling gently up at her, I stopped firing and just ran after as we rounded the barn. Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: TBA
Chapter 10"Uh, Twi?" Applejack asked cautiously, giving the shivering lavender lump a nudge with her right forehoof. It had been slightly awkward, but that was pretty much my modus operandi since coming here. Rainbow Dash and I had gotten back into the barn without issue or serious maiming, which is a positive mark on my part. Twilight was pacing around Fluttershy spouting worried statement after increasingly worried statement while practically wearing a groove in the dirt with her hooves. Her expression was a little scary, but snapped back to normal, if not slightly shocked, when I spoke her name. No, that wasn't the awkward part. The awkward part came as Twilight ceased to exist in her current location and then, for all intents and purposes, landed on me in a teleportation pounce technique. I would have been impressed had I not been rendered upside down and sideways. I never thought well when at other gravitational inclines. Rainbow continued laughing while Fluttershy approached from Applejack's other side, smiling softly down at me. I swallowed nervously and did my best to gently squeeze the ball of lavender fur embedded onto my chest. "I'm sorry! I knew it was a bad idea and that I never should have gone along with it, especially after reading pointers indicating exactly the opposite in 'A Mare's Guide to the Modern Stallion' in chapter eleven! Sabotaging trust in a relationship is a fatal mistake!" she quoted, probably perfectly. Averting my eyes, I tried really hard not to mention the whole spying on me for Celestia thing. Not that I had time to. "Wait now just ah sec. Relationship? Twi, are ya really datin' Mender?" Applejack asked suddenly, sounding surprised. Okay, I wasn't sure how to think about that reaction. Her surprise was probably justified, but her tone indicated it was because of me, not Twilight. Rainbow let out a mirthful snort instantly, causing Twilight to lock up on top of me. Of course, anypony who knew Rainbow and had more than five brain cells to rub together at the moment probably could see what was coming. "Ha! Dating? More like making kissy faces with each other in Mender's bed!" she corrected, proceeding to laugh even harder afterwards. To her credit, the orange farm mare didn't let her expression shift much past the surprise she held prior. Twilight was a different case, however. Her head whipped around and glared at Dash before I could even fully process the comment and formulate a blush in response. "Rainbow! You said you'd keep that a secret!" she reminded angrily, her left hoof jabbing painfully into my side. Suddenly I was a little bit concerned for my relative safety, being this close to a font of rage and magic. "Twi! That's not tha point. Ya shouldn't have tried ta keep it ah secret in tha first place! Think of poor Fluttershy's feelin's," Applejack lectured instead, interrupting the bout of anger while gesturing towards the now surprised yellow pegasus. "Oh! Oh, no, Applejack. I'm happy for them. I would, um, rather not be Mender's special somepony right now. I... Well..." Fluttershy started to deny rapidly, pink mane flailing as she rapidly shook her head back and forth. A light blush drifted into her cheeks, as timidly as she typically acted. It hurt, but at this point, it was a dull pain. Falling asleep with the thoughts since waking up a few days ago had taken the edge off it. "The images in my memories hurt you, and I'm really sorry for that, Fluttershy. I know you only want to be friends, so don't worry about that. If I could at least take away the images, I would in a heartbeat," I interrupted after I saw her explanation start to dwindle. Applejack closed her mouth slowly while watching me carefully, but the yellow mare just blushed even more before shaking her head. "No, it's not just that. Um, thank you though. I don't think I'm ready to be a special somepony yet as well," she whispered weakly, barely audible from my position, before adding, "Maybe, maybe one day I'll be ready. The images aren't you and won't bother me forever. Maybe then..." I smiled and nodded, but Rainbow let out what could only be described as a gleeful and diabolical squeaking noise as she suddenly grinned out of the corner of my eye. "Oooh, are you gonna share him then, Twi?" she asked, fluttering a little closer. The timid yellow pegasus let out a surprised squeaking sound, wings suddenly fluttering rapidly. Twilight groaned, right on time, but Applejack surprised me by giving a warm chuckle. "That sorta thing ain't done too often, RD. Let 'em git used to each other before Fluttershy joins in," she pointed out. Wait, polygamy actually happened here?! Well admittedly, I had a sneaking suspicion that it happened in the inverse in my past dimension too. Anywhere where there was a significant difference in gender ratios probably did similar. Still, something seemed different when it came in the context of myself. "Uh, hold on a second! I want some time with him myself before I even consider that, okay?!" Twilight warned, pushing me back a little bit and giving Fluttershy a skeptical glance. Wait, what happened to not being sure of her feelings? I winced as I was further squished up against the barn's main doorframe. Further, didn't I get a say in any of this? Fluttershy shook her head as fast as she could, eyes widening and assuring, "Oh my! No, it would be a very long time before, well, I was ready, I think." Her voice dwindled halfway through and I had to strain to hear the rest through the wheezing of my lungs struggling for air. Twilight's skeptical expression shifted to that of a soft smile instead, and she nodded to the now red and yellow pegasus. I would have smiled had my neck not been squished at an odd angle. Gasping in again, I tried to shift out from under the lavender mare on top of me. "Hoo boy! Well 'ere RD an' Ah were jus' teasin' ya'all, but it looks like ya had somethin' else in mind," Applejack suddenly spoke up, trailing it with a whistle and smirk. Twilight went from smiling to glaring in record time, tensing on top of me again. "Applejack! It's just, but..." she fussed, words suddenly failing her. They failed me as well, as she shifted to look fully at the country mare and squashed me further against the wall. Rainbow managed to keep it to a controlled snicker this time before pointing out, "I think AJ is supporting ya. Although neither of you are going to get him if Twi kills him." She accompanied it with a hoof gesture in my direction. The lavender mare in question gave a sharp start and whirled around to look at me again. I did my best assuring smile as my eyes watered and I tried to look relaxed rather than attempting to remain conscious. She let out a stifled squeaking noise regardless. The flash was rather on the blinding side, and I was left seeing a rather accurate after image of where she had been before. Twilight materialized back into existence several feet away in the same instant, right next to Applejack. She then proceeded to give me an exceedingly mortified stare. "Oh no! I'm sorry, Mender! I was just so excited to see you come back. Admittedly, I didn't expect that Rainbow would actually succeed in convincing you," she spewed out at an accelerated rate. Nowhere near the speeds that Pinkie Pie could achieve, but at this point, I couldn't expect the unicorn to keep up with a hole in physics. That was a bit unreasonable, even for one so powerful. "Hey!" Rainbow squawked, glaring at Twilight's new position as I flopped over on my side, both gasping for air and rubbing my eyes now. Dash reacted so easily to the teleportation. Would I ever get used to Twilight doing that? I doubted it; although it also made me significantly curious. There were so many properties that were interesting in it. How did it compare to 'blinking' from my dimension? Twilight flinched, catching my attention again as my breathing slowly returned to normal. Damn, I was out of shape. "Sorry, Dash. It was Mender being offended that I was worried about, not the fact that you were going to get him," she quickly amended, giving her cyan friend a sheepish grin. Rainbow straightened a little and almost visibly puffed up before bumping her right hoof into her chest. "Relax. I had it covered. Besides, Mender and I are Battle Partners, so we understand each other," she assured cockily. Twilight gave her an annoyed look while Applejack chuckled and Fluttershy gave her a soft smile and nod. I decided to finally speak up with, "If it makes you feel better, Dash, I really do trust you. With my life, actually. You really pulled your own when it mattered the most, and I'm never going to forget that." A warm blush drifted into Rainbow's cheeks and she smiled at me in an instant, posture relaxing a little. "Careful. Yer gonna swell her head even bigger with that kinda talk," Applejack warned a moment later with a smirk, tilting her surprisingly clean Stetson down a little. Hadn't she just finished falling off a loft and crashing into a large crate? "Well I think it's nice. That you, uh, trust her. I mean, we do kind of deserve..." Fluttershy timidly whispered, barely audible as usual and getting worse as the sentence neared its conclusion. Twilight interrupted, shaking her head rapidly to the yellow mare and correcting, "No, Fluttershy. You didn't do anything wrong. It was Applejack and I, well, mostly just me, who are in the wrong. I really screwed up, so if there's anything I can do." The second half of the sentence shifted not so subtly over to me, along with the unicorn's nervous gaze. I really didn't like situations like this. A faint blush shifted into my cheeks. Shaking my head again, I looked away from her. "I'll be fine. I just would rather you ask me up front next time." Applejack stomping her hoof down further scared me and I jumped, looking back up at her instead. “Now hold on just ah minute! Twi is right. Ah apologize too, fer bein’ downright stubborn on tha issue. Ah don’t think it was that great of ah’n idea after all,” she cut in, eyes softening. Wait, huh? Oh. That’s why she’d been defending it before. Fluttershy joined the team against me and nodded, adding a soft smile before amending, “Yes, we shouldn’t have, well, tricked you like that. I promise that I’ll be braver, um, if this happens again in the future. Really! So, I’m sorry.” She acquired a faint blush halfway through, and bowed her head towards the end, wings fluttering ever so slightly on her back. Admittedly, she was adorable. But what did I really feel towards her? It didn’t feel the same as Twilight, whom I just enjoyed being with. I wanted to protect Fluttershy, helping her when she needed it. She obviously didn’t really need my help, but it was a secret little selfish wish inside of me. I’d learned a lot more about myself today, in all honesty. I disliked dishonesty and tricking individuals when there was no obvious point besides greed. Forgiving the girls was reasonably easy to do, because there was a reason they did it that wasn’t for their own gain. They were trying to help Fluttershy, after all. It irritated me, but I realized that I could forgive it well enough. But it did get me thinking. It had been happening without me noticing it in the first place. Over the course of my stay here, I’d been reacting to external stimuli in ways that felt natural to me. Of course, I had started with nothing except for a large amount of technical knowledge and an indescribable panic at being lost in a new, unknown place. But now that I had been more accepted into their culture and adapted, I found myself seeing facets of myself that I wasn’t quite consciously aware of. What did I know about myself so far? I disliked dishonesty, but didn’t shy away from it when it would benefit someone’s feelings. Rainbow Dash, I noticed, was a good example. Further, I wasn’t very confident in my own capabilities. Possibly because of this, I tended to try to figure things out as fast as possible and might have a small tendency to jump to the incorrect conclusion a couple of times. Or a lot. I was further loathed to mentally admit that I might have a little bit of trust issues. Although that was at least partially justified on my part, as I had been spied on for the first week of my stay. Still, I couldn’t fault Celestia for wanting to keep her kingdom safe. If it was so easy for me to accept that, though, why the hell did it make me so irritated?! Then I realized I had been zoning out again. Snapping back to attention, fully expecting everyone’s attention to be directed angrily at me, I was pleasantly surprised to find them all staring at Rainbow Dash instead. She shifted back and forth between the stares, expression getting more and more negative with each switch. “What?! Hey, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m so not apologizing!” she defended, crossing her forelegs and looking away from them with closed eyes. "None of you had to in the first place," I muttered, ears drooping and trying my hardest to diminish the light blush I felt in my cheeks. If anything about my ideals and personality was certain, I wasn't cut out for this kind of attention. Twilight smacked her hoof lightly into her forehead before glaring over at me again, returning, "Mender! You need to stand up for yourself a little more. Right now. Tell all four of us what you want to make up for this." I blanched and backed up a little as all four mares shifted their attention to me instead. "Are ya sure this is ah good idea, Twi?" Applejack asked, sounding uncertain suddenly. Didn't I get a say in any of this?! Oh wait, technically that was the point of the 'exercise', I suddenly realized. "Scared he'll ask for a bit of loving, AJ?" Rainbow teased, bumping her flank up against her orange friend, jarring her a little. Fluttershy visibly wilted, cheeks going pink immediately. Oddly, I was close to mirroring her in posture, dropping to my haunches and staring in shock at Dash, a familiar heat sinking into my cheeks. Applejack smiled gently at my display and shook her head in reply. "Of course not. Ah should'a known better in regards ta Mender. In this case, Ah think Twi's idea was ah good one, then. Give us somethin' ta do fer ya. All four of us," Applejack requested politely, recovering her warm smile. Being around her was like walking on eggshells. She didn't fully trust me still, which admittedly was my own fault for making such a bad first impression. The 'almost eating her with extra-dimensional tentacles' thing probably didn't improve her opinion of me either. Oh, or almost getting her best friend killed in a space battle in an impossibly far away place. Honestly, I should be thankful she hasn't skinned and garroted me yet. Although this was also getting a bit frustrating. They probably expected me to make some deeply personal and selfish request for them all to fulfill, which I obviously wasn't at all comfortable with doing. I had already forgiven them and definitely didn't want any pity, so it was a little confusing as to why they sought punishment in the first place. My right hoof nervously scraped along the dirt floor as I rapidly tried to think of a way out of the situation, avoiding the gaze of all four intently watching mares. I was about to vote for panicking and fleeing into the forest when my hoof bumped into one of the screws on the floor. I stared at it for a second before a potential escape occurred to me. Smiling, I raised my head back up to them, earning a mixed response. I saw Applejack fidget minutely, but maintain her smile. Rainbow's smirk widened as she puffed up, awaiting my request. Fluttershy shrank down a little more, but maintained a standing position, barely. Twilight had the most amusing reaction of all, being no reaction whatsoever. A light blush adorned her cheeks and she almost looked as if she was staring past me, not really listening in the first place. Finally, I announced, "I got it! All four of you," I started, pausing momentarily for dramatic effect. Three of the four leaned closer, with the lavender mare still staring blankly at the floor to my right. "Help Twilight and I finish upgrading the barn!" I finished rapidly, nodding twice in confirmation. Applejack and Rainbow Dash shifted from anticipation and excitement to confusion a beat later. Fluttershy actually perked up a bit and recovered her smile, nodding to me. Twilight, hearing her name, snapped out of it and looked around rapidly, looking even more confused than her orange and cyan friends. "Uh, Mender... Isn't that more helping AJ than you?" Dash reasoned, perfectly logically, of course. Chuckling, I shook my head and walked past the four, the lavender unicorn now looking exceedingly flustered. "It might, but I just asked if of you four, so if you truly want to repay me, you'd better get to it," I reminded, not turning back as I headed gleefully towards the beginnings of the quality control platform. "What are we supposed to do again?" I heard Twilight ask in a whisper behind me. * * * * * The sun slowly drifted below the window of the barn, casting an orange tint along the dirt and wood. It was pleasantly warm today, and the soft glow simply added to the ambiance. It was getting late at this point, causing a soft tiredness to drift through my muscles. It felt so different from the overworked sensation in my memories. I guess fighting for your life in a hopeless war and upgrading a friend's barn weren't really all that comparable. Regardless of ducking another set of boards as they zipped in via telekinesis, I felt reasonably relaxed. Twilight's magic fit the wood softly along the frame we'd already made, setting up the outside of the conveyor belt. After she lined it up oh so expertly, I placed more nails against the pieces and sealed them together an instant later. I shook the wood once and smiled in satisfaction when it didn't budge. The lavender unicorn lagged in her next set of beams, however, and I glanced up and to the left automatically. Sure enough, Fluttershy drifted in with her apron held lightly, carrying a new supply of screws and nails in the cupped fabric. She gave me a warm smile as she lit softly upon the frame we'd just put together, and started pouring the tiny objects into Twilight's newly formed telekinetic tunnel. Working together, the girls made a neat pile of nails and screws directly to my left, earning a nod of approval from me. They were so adorable when they worked together like that. I felt myself blushing as I watched them nod to each other happily. Unsurprisingly, Dash zipped in a moment later from behind the two, nodding to me and throwing an over the top salute. "Rainbow Dash reporting, Boss! The hole is cut in the loft floor perfectly, and lines up with the conveyor frame underneath for the lid lowering!" she reported, hamming her voice up as much as possible. Predictably, I blushed at the performance, causing all three mares near me to grin. "Dash, you know you don't need to call me that. I'm just the engineer," I reminded, doubtlessly as futile as it was last time. Further predictably, her grin widened and she shook her head, returning instantly, "The only engineer here. We don't have any instructions, so we need ya to work your magic." Well, that was true, I suppose. I'd forgotten that they didn't technically have any instructions. Although something seriously struck a bad chord in me when I considered someone asking for more bits for the instructions, too. That didn't seem very fair to me. Of course, my gap in retort gave way to a stronger defense on their part. "Ah think it's an excellent idea. Yer savin' me a hefty 'mount o' bits already, Mender. Ah might be payin' ya fer the work, but in tha long run, it's ah lot cheaper than ah professional," Applejack chimed in as she dragged another pile of wooden beams into the barn, tied to her with a thick rope harness. Fluttershy and Rainbow nodded along in agreement, but Twilight flattened her ears back and glared at her orange friend. I tilted my head to her, confused. I didn't even know where to start guessing as to what was wrong. "Isn't he a professional anyway, Applejack? I didn't think about that before, but what is the going rate for a full-blown engineer?" she suddenly questioned, with a certain level of accusation to her voice. Oh crap. No longer needing to guess as to what was wrong, I started debating how to head off the argument. Much to my extreme surprise, however, there was no argument in the first place. Applejack stopped pulling the boards, her muscles gently going slack as she sat back on her haunches, ears lowering a little. "Ah know, Twi. Trust me, Ah know. Ah could barely afford ta hire a construction team fer the job. An engineer, which is what's needed fer this, is totally out ah the budget. Ah wish I could pay ya the full price fer the work but..." she started to slowly admit, turning and looking at me instead of Twilight. The unicorn's features softened as she absorbed what Applejack said. I looked away from her and over to the orange mare as well, smiling and shaking my head. "I already told you, I'm not accepting any bits for this. You're my friend, plus you've done a ton for me. Save the bits," I requested. I knew she was tight on funding before, so taking her bits had never sat well since she mentioned it. After this admission, I really couldn't accept anything from her, however. She had legitimate need for my skills, and I wasn't about to disappoint. "Mender," she groaned, her right hoof digging into the dirt in front of her as her eyes closed. I tensed, remembering what it felt like for those powerhouses to collide with my skull. She continued before I could react, though, eyes opening softly with a warmer smile on her face. "Yer ah mighty good stallion, ya know that? Why, ifin' Twi hadn't caught hold o' ya first, Ah might have tried my luck ta swoon ya." My expression froze in that of shock. In my peripheral vision, Rainbow locked up in midair and crashed into Fluttershy behind me, causing a loud thud and a squeak from the surprised yellow pegasus. Twilight also went rigid against my side, whipping her head up to look at her now grinning friend. Grinning? Applejack burst into a hearty laughter, stomping the dirt floor with her hoofs alternately. "Ha! Ya should see yer faces!" she squealed in-between gasps of air and laughing. "Oh thank Celestia, it was a joke," Twilight groaned out next to me, slumping visibly forwards as she exhaled. The mass of pegasi slowly untangled themselves and stood again, Fluttershy blushing but Rainbow looking significantly bewildered. "Haha. Good one, AJ," the cyan pegasus muttered, shaking her head back and forth with her eyes unfocused. Either the fall knocked her for a loop, or the joke did. She had probably geared up mentally to murder me the second the others weren't looking, I predicted. "Ya need ta be more careful there, RD. Yer gonna hurt somethin' if ya keep crashin' like that," Applejack lectured suddenly, eyes locked on Dash instead of me suddenly. "Yeah, Fluttershy," Twilight quipped instantly, rolling her eyes as she rotated to look at the two. Seeing as the crisis was averted and I wasn't going to imminently die or be hospitalized, I decided to get back to the task at hand while they were distracted. Carefully, I started counting out the wooden plates that would comprise of the conveyor belt surface as they lay there in stacks. Something seemed off. Rainbow huffed, shaking her head repeatedly. "I'd never hurt Fluttershy. We've been best buds for, like, forever," she assured, giving the yellow mare a light shake back and forth with her foreleg. Fluttershy smiled softly back at Rainbow, looking oddly appreciative for having just been flattened by her. I wasn't so distracted by the counting that I missed the odd look Applejack was giving them, either. I didn't know much about pony body language, however, and didn't have a clue as to what it indicated. Not that it immediately mattered, of course. There were larger issues at the moment, I decided. "I don't mean to interrupt and I apologize, but I just noticed your stacks of wooden planks to be used for the conveyor," I spoke up, causing all four of them to glance back at me instead. "Ah, yeah? It's no problem, Mender. Somethin' wrong with 'em?" Applejack inquired cautiously, looking a bit apprehensive instead. Although that was the right way to react, in this case. "Well, I did a rough estimate of the surface area of both the treadmill surface and that of the conveyor. By my calculations, you have just under half of the required wooden plates to put this together. Are there others you haven't unpacked yet?" I asked, fidgeting with my hooves a little. If she didn't have any more of them, this was very bad. Her expression deflated immediately. Damn it. She didn't have any more. I started trying to consider alternatives before she even replied with, "Dang it. That scoundrel said these would be plenty enough ta span tha distance ah needed!" Twilight looked back at the conveyor and frowned. "A little under half what's needed? Oh, it was wordplay. You do have enough to span the distance you wanted, but a conveyor belt requires extra for the sides and underneath to function," she deduced, shaking her head in what looked like annoyance. "That sneaky little jerk! I outta pound him into the ground!" Rainbow growled almost instantly, wings flaring up as she fluttered lightly off the ground, looking just about as pissed as I had ever seen her. Maybe more so. Applejack motioned her back, however, smiling softly. "Ah was dun tricked completely fer this whole project, Rainbow. Still, ya don't need ta hurt anypony fer it. But thank ya. Fer everythin'. Yer ah good mare," she thanked. Rainbow plopped back down on the floor, now blushing profusely and looking awkward. I tried really hard not to laugh. She was just so adorable when embarrassed! My mind snap-kicked me in the head, though, and I looked back at the wooden planks. Wood! "Applejack, do you happen to have any large logs of wood on hand? Or know where you can pick some up for cheap?" I asked quietly, trying not to interrupt abruptly. If I could still pull off that technique, I might be able to work with this still. "Mender, the planks need to be exact. Sure it would be way cheaper to make our own, but it would take forever to carve them out, and if they were off in measurements by even half an inch," Twilight warned, looking back up at me, eyes softening as her brow furrowed. Applejack looked intrigued, however, and smiled. "Ya think it's possible ta make more of 'em, Mender?" Returning her smile, I nodded quietly. That's all that was needed, though. "Well ah think it's about time ah gave ya ah lil' trust too. Rainbow, can ya zip up ta tha loft an' drag one o' those big logs off that side?" she requested, shifting her gaze to Dash. The pegasus perked up instantly and threw a sharp salute before zipping up and over the side of the loft in the space of a blink. I took a moment to admire her absurd speed before slipping over to the nearest pile of planks, taking one off the top with a slide of my hoof. It was an old technique, having been in use since my race had learned basic abjuration and compression magic. Still, for what I remember of our largely scavenger engineering style towards the end, it was invaluable still. My engraved hoof brushed against the surface of the plank. The energy spread, forming an impossibly thin layer over the entire surface of the piece of wood. It was a skilled work of craftsmanship. The way it was cut indicated that it was created using some sort of form press, which made sense. Replaceable parts were fundamental for widespread use of key technologies. My magic traced each curve: the subtle tension lines cut into the surface to allow flexibility, the holes along the ends to anchor it, and even the roughness of each edge. It was easy to feel the exact dimensions and shape using the magic, and I embedded the template in my mind. The room was dead silent as I focused, breaking the unspoken vigil only as the large log hit the dirt some four meters from me. Dash zipped down after it as I looked up again, propelling it slowly my direction by shoving it from one end. I laughed gently as she approached, holding my left hoof out and stopping the log as she came in. A wide smile adorned her face and she flopped over next to Applejack, both watching me carefully. Of course, I could almost feel Fluttershy and Twilight also staring. It was a little bit intimidating, but I pushed it out of my head and just focused on the technique. I'd done it a thousand times before. The magic seeped into the wood, taking the precise shape of the template in my mind from the tip of the log. Each edge took focus and an exercise of will, but the results were amazing. With one plank of wood lined up with faint magic in the log, I started to duplicate it right next to the other one, the top surface of the first forming the bottom of the next. It had gone unsaid that I wasn't to waste any space inside of the log. That just wouldn't do. After the second duplicate was completed, the third was started. Then the fourth. Finally, I managed to get six copies of the plank to line up back to back inside of the log, and smiled. Applejack and Rainbow wore an unsure look by then. Nothing was visually happening, so they were probably wondering what was going on. Twilight's eyes were glued to the log, however, her horn glowing softly as she no doubt watched the magic curiously. Fluttershy instead stared at me, which I found to be more than a little unnerving. I pushed down the blush and shifted all of the lines inside of the log into a barrier, not unlike the type I used to make my blade. This was my specialization, after all. Sure, I might be skilled at spatial manipulation and abjuration, but barriers were my true talent. The top of the board that I was in contact with made a sharp hissing noise, no doubt the result of the sudden burst of friction caused by the shield slicing through it effortlessly. A burst of smoke raised up as the log jerked lightly, causing all four mares to jump back. I smiled, however, watching bits of wood fall away from the end I was holding. Shifting the shields, I slid out six pristinely carved wooden plates, exactly like the one I had scanned. I doubted I could make any more of them out of what was left of the log; at least not without some serious structural integrity loss. Twilight made a squeaking noise, eyes widening as she watched me pull the plates out. Applejack seemed less surprised and just smiled warmly, nodding to me. The backlash hit a moment later, causing me to exhale quietly. That wasn’t too big of a job, but I was well out of shape, magic-wise. It reminded me that I had a long way to go before I was back to my old self, which was more than a little annoying. The wave of fatigue draped over me like a shawl. “Well, ah’ll be! That’s mighty useful there, Mender. If ah can get ya more pieces o’ tree like that, ya can make me tha rest o’ tha parts?” she questioned, visibly relaxing and looking like a sudden great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Smiling contently, I nodded to her, trying my best to ignore the light headache forming at the thought of more of the same. This was going to be a long day, I had a sneaking suspicion. “That’s amazing, Mender. Doesn’t it take a tremendous amount of focus to do that, though? Aren’t you tired?” Twilight asked, sounding a little shocked still. I swallowed weakly and purposefully avoided the lavender unicorn’s gaze. “Ah, well it does require quite a bit of focus, but I should be fine. Barrier magic is my specialty,” I tried to assure, hoping to not let show my own apprehension of the task. Applejack stared hard at me for several seconds, emerald eyes dragging over my features and seemingly staring into my very soul. I resisted shuddering. "Ah have ah sneakin' suspicion that yer lyin' ta us. But ah need them parts fer the machinery. Yer not gonna be able ta get away with not gettin' paid fer this anymore if'in it's that much work," she warned, eyes narrowing towards me. "Just don't push yourself, Mender. I'll keep following the directions you gave us while you work on making the parts," Twilight assured, nodding to me before turning to the elevated platform we had finished. "Why don't you do it, Twi? You're, like, crazy powerful with your magic, aren't you?" Rainbow asked curiously, bobbing through the air after the lavender unicorn as she walked. I bit my tongue, trying not to let the frustration that question caused get to me. I wanted to be able to help them somehow! "I can't make precise copies like he can. Honestly, I didn't think it was possible until he actually did it. I could cut out the pieces a lot faster and not get tired, but they wouldn't be all that detailed and we probably couldn't use most of them," she explained in a rather neutral manner. It bugged me when I couldn't even guess what she was thinking. Was she upset about it? Deciding not to take any risks, I offered, "I could probably show you the techniques needed. You could do it a lot better than me, and Applejack needs these parts." "Mender, yer goin' awfully far fer mah sake," Applejack muttered softly behind me. I swallowed quietly, but didn't turn around. Twilight didn't either and I watched her head slowly lower, her gaze shifting to the floor instead. I still couldn't see her face, and had no idea what she was feeling. Fluttershy walked past me slowly and placed a hoof gently on Twilight's shoulder upon coming up beside her. "You don't have to tell us, but, um, are you okay?" she asked quietly. "It's nothing, Fluttershy. Let's just focus on getting as much of this project done as possible before tonight," she spoke gently, finally looking over at her yellow and pink friend. Her eyes looked dull, giving a distinct sense of being sad. Frowning, I watched her turn back around and walk the rest of the way to the platform. A glance back at Applejack and Rainbow showed that they looked as confused as I felt. Dash gave me a weak shrug a moment later, and I sighed. I guess I'll just have to talk to her about it later. In no small amount of frustration, I swatted the pile of planks I had just made. The top one whipped up from the force of the blow, lightly skipping off the side of my head...
Chapter 11My focus waned as I pulled yet another set of six planks out of a log. I'd long since lost count, but estimated that this was probably my fifteenth or sixteenth piece. It was getting harder and harder to maintain my concentration with my head feeling like someone had taken a splitting axe to it, however. Suddenly, that light tingling sensation danced along the edge of my nostrils, heading towards the bridge of my nose. Not again! Regardless of my desires, the sneeze exploded out of my nose: releasing a wet, gooey sensation across my mouth and extended left foreleg, and sprinkling the log with little dots of red. Damn it. The timid yellow pegasus sitting next to me jumped a little in surprise at my sudden outburst, but promptly extended the third towel up again to wipe at my muzzle. It was tinted red as she withdrew it, looking like it was dipped in paint. Obviously it was blood, but it was still nice to pretend. It made me at least able to blissfully remain inattentive to the large amounts of the red liquid I'd been losing out my nose and tear ducts in the last hour. It was such a pleasant sensation, honestly, to have that delightful metallic taste in your mouth as it crusted over on your cheeks and muzzle. There was a light twitch in my peripheral vision, but not from the source I was expecting. I looked up in time to see Applejack turn sharply from her position near the lift and glared at me. "Oh, that is so it! Yer done workin' fer tha day, Mister! Ah don't need this thingy done tonight, so we're callin' it quits right now," she announced abruptly. I frowned, wanting to just be done with it, but Fluttershy exhaled quietly to my right, adding, "Oh good. You need to rest after losing all this blood, Mender. At least take tomorrow off, if that's not too much trouble, of course." She looked at me with those brutal, pleading eyes that could melt a Grosh's heart, and I was forced to look away, blushing. Twilight stood up from her position of putting the actual belt together and walked back over to me, still looking dejected. Swallowing, I watched her carefully, trying my hardest to look past Fluttershy without catching her devastating gaze. The lavender mare looked extremely tired and a little on the sad side. It still bugged me that I couldn't figure out why she was sad, so a part of me was glad for the break. It meant that I could get her alone soon for questioning. Applejack walked up, looking a little surprised at my lack of protest at her decision, but traced my worried glance to Twilight and smiled, nodding to me. "Ya get ah good night's rest tonight, Mender. More mental exercisin' tomorrow would probably be healthy fer ya too, but don't push yerself. Ah'll get tha extra metal parts ordered fer delivery as well, don't worry," she spoke up, thankfully not saying anything about the focus of my attention she had caught me with. I nodded, of course, returning her warm smile. Actually, it probably just looked creepy with the stained orange tear streaks and muzzle. "I'm all right. I'll finish the rest of the planks tomorrow for sure, then we can finish the project as soon as possible. We'll get it done in time no problem, this way," I assured softly, feeling more than a little tired. "Thank ya kindly, Mender. Tha rest o' ya come back after yer daily routines are done ta give us ah hoof in finishin', okay?" she requested further, looking at Fluttershy beside me and the now landing cyan mare on my other side. "I'll be over after I finish my weather duties, no problem!" Dash assured, giving an abrupt and absolute nod. It felt like that might as well have been a blood oath of some sort. "I can come over after I feed all of the animals their breakfasts, well, if I'm really that much help, of course," Fluttershy added as well, bowing politely towards the orange country mare. Twilight brushed her left forehoof into Fluttershy's shoulder and rubbed softly, shaking her head before refuting, "Of course you're helpful, Fluttershy. Having another pony with wings is a huge help, plus you lined up a lot of the boards so perfectly. It really helps to have a gentle touch sometimes, Fluttershy." The shy yellow mare blushed but smiled at Twilight's kind words. The bookish unicorn continued before anypony could comment, however, with, "Even then, as an added bonus, you can help me put Mender back together again after he inevitably injures himself three or four times a day." My glare was matched only by Rainbow's laughter. Fluttershy seemed flustered, glancing between myself and the now smirking Twilight, while Applejack just chuckled and shook her head, wearing a smile. After a few moments' denial, I decided that technically she had a point. Plus it was nice to hear her joking again, even if it was at my expense. "True enough, I suppose. It really is a big help to have somepony who’s capable of lining," I started to agree with, before trailing off abruptly. The static came back, quietly and almost imperceptibly in the background. I glanced around again, just to make sure that I hadn't missed any speaker systems or something. "...ook testing number twenty-nine; commence," was suddenly spoken, much clearer than last time and in an oddly familiar voice. Uh oh. The girls were giving me odd looks by then. "Uh, are you okay, Mender?" Twilight asked curiously, angling her head while looking at me. I was about to answer when a tiny orb of light drifted out of my left shoulder, causing me to jump and stare at it. What the hell was that thing?! "Probe activated. Getting vague yet conscious energy readings," the voice noted, sounding very interested. It was that girl from my dream! Okay then; there were three possible reasons for this. One, I was high on truth serum again and having a seriously messed up dream. Two, I had used up too much magical energy and was having some vivid yet creative flashbacks from aforementioned dream. Three, it was real and we had some serious problems! Given priorities and threat levels, I was more inclined to believe the third option purely as a precaution. Given that decision, I reacted in the best way possible that I could think of. Giving out a yelp, I hopped backwards while lashing out with my left forehoof, smashing into the orb with my fully shielded magical limb. It shattered like my frail skull would have against Applejack's hoof, and a piercing yelp echoed through my skull. Ha! Eat that, girl whose name I couldn't remember! Rainbow hopped backwards as well to clear the sudden blow. Twilight looked momentarily surprised, as did Applejack who yelled, "Whoa nelly! What's goin' on, Mender?" "A ball of light! I think it might be some sort of probe from the other dimension. I... think it’s dead,” I declared, gleefully watching the shards drift down through the air. It was worth it to know I disrupted whatever she was doing. Twilight smacked her forehead with a hoof, sighing. "Mender, there was no source of magic or energy there. Plus, for the last time, Princess Celestia Herself said that the link was gone. You just used up too much energy and need to lie down, okay?" she offered, sounding a little exasperated. Shaking my head rapidly, I pointed down to the shards of the probe lying on the ground. "The pieces are right there! There has to be something you can pick up," I defended, wishing she'd just believe me for once. Fluttershy peeked out from behind Applejack, looking timidly at where I was pointing. The orange farmer herself seemed slightly more skeptical, raising an eyebrow to what she probably saw as empty dirt. Twilight muttered something sounding vaguely like "empirical doubt" before looking down at the spot I directed her to, horn lighting up. I held my breath as a wave of lavender light washed over the dirt gently. My eyes widened as I watched the energy pass right through the shards as if they weren't there. What the hell? "Mender, there's nothing there aside from dirt, a thin paint residue, and some ancient looking clay jar with heavily fermenting cider of some sorts buried about a foot and a half down," she reported dryly, glaring back up at me. So she couldn't scan it after all. Wait, what? Applejack coughed lightly and shook her head. "Just ignore that," she requested, blushing lightly and looking away from us. Rainbow shot her a knowing grin, and I just sighed. "Maybe there's something there you can't detect? Maybe it's only partially merged with this dimension?" I deduced, fishing for possibilities as best I could. That's really the only explanation for why Twilight couldn't pick it up, given her level of skill and sheer strength of magic. "Or maybe you're hallucinating from blood and magic loss and need to go lie down? Why can't you just trust Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked sharply, glaring at me instead. Maybe because she was fallible? Or maybe because I wanted to be cautious rather than regret it later? Why couldn't she just trust me?! I opened my mouth to retort just that, but the only answer feasible popped into my head before I could say anything. Why did I keep forgetting her relationship with Celestia? Of course she's going to think the Sun Princess was infallible. Who was I, a mere imperfect mortal, to challenge her perfect teacher's assurance? My mouth snapped shut a second later and I just closed my eyes. It was pointless trying to convince her otherwise, as she was never going to believe me. As bitter as that felt, I knew that there was nothing I could do to change it. I wasn't as important to her as Celestia was, and I'd just have to deal with that. My irritation dropped, and I exhaled wearily before opening my eyes once more, much softer this time. Twilight was still glaring, but Rainbow Dash looked at me with uncertainty over her right shoulder. No, causing more conflict didn't solve anything. It only served to make Twilight angry with me, which led to almost being squished by a bed last time. Not wanting to risk her aim being better this time around, I simply turned away from the lavender unicorn and walked out through the main barn door. Okay, so today had a few good points, but overall, I'd have to say that it was largely terrible. The kissing was nice, but mostly overshadowed by the discussion afterwards and what her intent seemed to be. I was an experiment; I had no idea if she liked me, or just liked the kissing and wanted to fool around. She'd said she was interested in me and I really did want to believe her, but she'd lied to me before, and certainly didn't trust me now, so it was extremely difficult. "Mender," I heard Fluttershy whisper, almost directly into my head it felt like. "Just let him go, Fluttershy," Twilight added a moment later. A spike of irritation shot through me, but I turned past the side of the barn and got out of sight as best I could. Frustration was an understatement in light of my current outlook. The second I got out of the light from the barn, I swallowed hard and burst into a run. Well, as fast as this body could manage, anyway. There was no destination in mind as I ran as hard as I could, the lump in my throat shifting painfully with each gallop. I just pretended the warmth running down my cheeks was blood again, and headed off into the rapidly darkening night. * * * * * The moon rose into the night's sky steadily, giving an ethereal glow to the world. It was quite beautiful, and I tried my hardest to relax to the sounds of the forest around me. The light gurgling of the stream meshed well with the chirping of unknown insects all around me. I didn't even know what forest it was, honestly. My head gave a sickening throb as the background static magnified again, twisting through my skull like a rusty screw. Damn it! "Test failed. Again. The book is somehow lashing out at my probes, as if it had a conscious awareness. In light of that information, I'm going out on a limb and trying to communicate with it," the annoying voice continued rambling on, as if talking into a recorder. Hell, she probably was. Keela. I'd like to say I had remembered her finally, but she simply mentioned her name about an hour ago. I had no idea how long I'd been here. "Just shut up," I groaned wearily, smacking my forehead into the rock in front of me again. I'd followed the stream here, it running quietly behind where I currently resided. I was tucked up safely against a rock ledge, between the solid material and the deeper flowing water. The static didn't cease, however, and yet another orb popped out of my body; this time out of my heavily bandaged flank. Not even hesitating, my magic danced out of my hoof, along my skin, and then lashed out with a barrier blade, neatly severing the probe in half. If it was even there, of course. Maybe Twilight was right and I was just hallucinating? Or maybe I was just finally slipping into a higher level of insanity and actually tied up in a mental institute somewhere? "Okay, I can safely assume verbal isn't working. Seeing as it's a book, I'll try writing," the voice continued, oblivious to my wishes of silence. Didn't she sleep? I really shouldn't have been surprised when the glowing sheet of paper and a single pen was spewed from my forehead. Rolling my eyes, I glared at the paper, doing my best 'burn and die' expression. Couldn't she at least have the common courtesy to be consistent with where she ejected foreign magical objects from my body? If I was going to be forced into the position of random portal device again, it would at least make things less awkward. "Are you sentient?" was written at the top of the page in a very neat, concise handwriting. Oh crap. She wrote like Twilight. If she were even half as persistent as the bookish unicorn, I might as well just give up now. That was a rather stupid question regardless. Picking up the 'pen' with my left hoof, I wrote, "No. Go away. Better yet, launch me into a star and forget I ever existed," right below the initial question. Okay, maybe that was a little on the sarcastic side. Still, it would be so much easier if she actually listened. There was a long pause at that. I almost started hoping that the shock of getting a reply had given her a heart attack. Alas, I was destined to be disappointed. "You're sentient then?! This is wonderful. But why do you seek self-destruction?" soon appeared questioningly directly under what I had written. She must have a similar page on her side. "I just want to be left alone. Please forget I ever existed," I requested again, in a steadier handwriting than last time, exhaling quietly. I used my other hoof to wipe the tears from my cheeks and silently shook my head. I'd had enough crap today without needing to be harassed by entities and energies from my old dimension. Or my own mind's avid hallucinations, I suppose was another theory. Of course, given that it was the only reality I knew, did it really matter if it was real or not? Of course, my bitterness just made me feel even more childish. All I was doing was whining. It was frustrating not fitting in anywhere. Still, what was I honestly expecting? I'd only been in this plane of existence for the grand total of three weeks. Not to mention having spent a good portion of that time unconscious through various machinations against my well-being. The ponies here didn't really know me all that well. Honestly, for Twilight to decide that she liked me after such a short time period was probably way out of the normal trend of things! "Who are you?" appeared on the page, interrupting my thoughts. Ah, she was changing the topic. Well, that much was easily answered. "Mender," I wrote vaguely, with no lead in or punctuation. Of course, now that I thought about it, this girl wasn't entitled to get any information out of me in the first place. If she could be appealed to, though, perhaps she'd just dispose of the book? I guess it wouldn't hurt to be civil. "A strange name. Or is that your species? Are you a construct in the book?" she asked next, elegant writing starting to slip a little. I imagined she was getting more and more excited. "It's my name. Can you please just destroy the book?" I requested again, noticing we'd slipped off track. There was a delay again, and I heard an airy sigh coming from around me. Or maybe it was coming from inside of my head. "The book is an Aegis Artifact. The amount of energy required to destroy a normal one is phenomenal, and this one appears to be geared towards defense," she explained carefully. Her writing was structured and slow this time, as if she was holding back bursting into scientific babbling. I caught myself finding it cute and mentally lectured myself. The last thing I needed at the moment was to think about Twilight. Why did that even remind me of her in the first place? Well, obviously it was something she would do, but why did my mind even insist on going through the exercises of making the comparison? "Regardless, why are you seeking self-destruction if you're still sentient? Although I can't help but notice that you said 'the book' as well." Her writing sped up after she passed the magic babble part. Oops. I hastily added, "I'm technically not the book. I'm just connected to it. Please, just get rid of it or sever the connection between us or something." She seemed nice enough. Although granted, I didn't know how important an Aegis Artifact was. Convincing her to destroy it might be a long shot, but it was worth a try. There was another hesitation. A lot was probably going through her mind, of course. More scribbling sounds came from the audio connection she didn't know we had, more writing appearing on the page. "Where are you? What are you? Are you a Keldarian?" That word. It sent a bolt of agony through my skull, but I couldn't seem to look away. More memories flashed through my mind. Needles and scalpels extending on robotic arms, a splash of blood on smooth metal, and even the sounds of someone screaming over and over again. The waiting. Mud and gore we had to wade through on our occupied worlds. Hatred that was so old that I couldn't remember a time when I didn't have it. Most of all, I remembered the rain. Why was that moment so important? * * * * * We stood around a partially collapsed convoy. The surrounding area was a scene from what I assumed hell would look like. There were various burning craters, plus the burnt, skeletal remains of what used to be the facility we had taken shelter in looked extremely foreboding. We knew that the Grosh wanted the planet for the resources on it, so we set up evacuation right on top of the reactor coils for the planetary shield. They were busted and the shield wasn't on anyway, but they didn't dare fire their big guns on us from orbit under risk of hitting the reactors instead and cracking the plate of the planet with the explosion. They hit us with invasion waves instead, but those could be fought back for a time. The weather controls busted too, of course. At this point, I was getting a little tired of the constant rain. Of course, the stupid thing would misread the flames and explosions as 'too high' of a temperature and cause constant rainfall. Although at this point, it didn't really matter all that much. Three squads guarded the West landing zone, trying their hardest not to die as they listened bleakly to the radio. It was that very same radio that gave us news of other squads failing at exactly that. The amount of Keldarians we were rescuing was almost exponentially proportional to those who didn't make it. So many lives were simply vanishing, being washed away in the rain. Why were we even here? The radio answered me by crackling to life again, exporting on the status of the covert op to recover the second branch of the research division. Oh yeah, that's why. We were here to rescue a group of four bitches that were so far beyond our station that we weren't permitted to glance upon their bare skin. Heavens forbid their uniforms get damaged in, I don't know, the war across the surface of the planet. The radio reminded us again that our eyes would be gouged out following the mission if we were to catch a glimpse. We weren't part of the special operatives division, so I guess we didn't need our eyes to delay the enemy while dying like Croesians in the rain. Anger and rage were natural reactions to events around us. An emotional effect paired with an unfettered form of applied, conditional insanity in most cases. The truly unhealthy aspect was to maintain this state for too long. Eventually the screaming rush of blood in your ears died down. The blood would cool again and tempers would settle. But the sanity never fully came back. Once you step outside of that comfortable zone of innocence and into hatred, there is no recovery. I fully believe that it's not within our natural state of mind to want to purposefully end the existence of another being. To destroy all that they are, could have been, and were prior is an atrocity. To wish that so fervently that you would give up your own life to end as many of theirs as possible has to be unnatural for us. It must be an insanity, or we're doomed from the start of our evolutionary track. How could any species that justified such insanity be considered a 'success,' after all? Yet here I was, with several dozen of my fellow soldiers, all huddled in the broken remains of a bunker near the landing pad in the rain. We listened to the radio repeatedly tell us how others have failed this morning, and how we were not allowed to. Meanwhile, the sounds of particle shots and explosions got ever closer and I double checked the state of the generator I'd just finished repairing, if only to avoid looking out the window. Yup. It wasn't quite the end of the world yet, but you could definitely see it from here... * * * * * Ow. If there were ever more distinctive and accurate thoughts to wake up to, I wasn't aware of them. Of course, there wasn't a whole lot that I was aware of at the moment anyway, apart from the demolition project at the base of my skull. My eyes slowly opened up, greeting the soft morning light with disdain. It only served to further confuse me as I watched water drift by in the strangely brown and gray sky, teasing my mane playfully. Well, falling asleep outside had distinctly different effects than I last remembered. When was that? Oh yeah. Falling asleep under a tree and getting blown up by an overly excited Rainbow Dash. Fun times. Under? Suddenly solving my strange physics issue, I inwardly blushed and rotated around until I was right side up again. In the process, my body slid off the rock I was unceremoniously splayed on top of and promptly fell right into the muddy creek. Yup, physics still worked! Or at least the heartless bitch known as gravity. My mind finally took stock of the situation more fully upon seeing the muddy piece of paper a few feet from me. There was no voice in my head, and the paper had lost its ethereal glow from last night as well. I could only surmise that she had 'hung up' after the connection was lost alongside my consciousness. My head hurt even more as I pulled myself up to the piece of paper and stared at it. The word 'Keldarian' stood out plainly, now being underlined several times in a dirty red and brown color. The same 'ink' had been used to scribble all over the remaining page with various faces, a small yet badly rendered doodle of a bunny, several alien-looking symbols, and the word 'Twilight' written a few dozen times in the spaces between. The throb in my head got worse, followed by the distinct sensation of a light tickle under my eyes and the lovely smell of peroxide and blood. I threw the paper sideways away from me, wincing momentarily at the dancing sensation of scalpels digging into my stomach. Panicking, I spastically leapt backwards, feeling my stomach instinctively. There was nothing to speak of involving sharp things embedded into me, of course. I took a moment to catch my breath, intentionally not looking at the blasted piece of paper. Well there goes showing it to Twilight as evidence. I don't think it would prove the exact thing I wanted it to. The words spewed all over the page in a psychotic manner were also too choice to assume coincidence. Okay, so maybe I had a thing for the lavender unicorn, even if she did scare me witless on occasion. Nopony was perfect, after all. I doubted this whole relationship thing was that inflexible. Then it dawned on me, so to speak. It was dawn, or at least early morning. The last thing I had recalled was fleeing from aforementioned lavender unicorn in the evening. Considering the time lapse, that meant that I had been out in the middle of the forest all night. I might not have a relationship with her depending on how pissed off she is at me now. Considering my options, I tried not to panic. Okay, first, I needed to assess where I was. Without panicking. Glancing about, I listened to the creek next to me, attempting to absorb some of the gentle flow. It was a bit disheartening to realize that it wasn't the same one that I lost sanity and consciousness next to last night. Okay, that meant that I either fell in at some point while raving mad and was carried away by the pitiful flow of water somehow, or more likely, I wandered quite far afield in my lunacy. Chances are high, though, that I lacked the finesse required to navigate the forest in the dark, especially when in the middle of a mental breakdown. So if I had any luck at all, a risky hope, I followed the stream in one direction or another. It wasn't really a clearing that I was in. In all honesty, I was probably lucky that I hadn't been eaten by some random forest creature that happened to stumble upon me. Maybe they didn't mess with the crazy ones either? The stream was clearly flowing to my right, and was much smaller than the one I had been by last night, so naturally I assumed that by following it to the left, I might happen across where I started. It was worth a shot. With nothing left to really think about apart from my own delusional paranoia, I started following the stream to the left. With no decisions left to make, naturally I then started to mentally panic while walking. The forest was peaceful around me, anyway, if not a bit on the gloomy side. It felt chilly and a cool wind blew through, signaling the upcoming season change, I was guessing. Thankfully it wasn't snowing yet, so at least I planned a good time to get lost. I chuckled in amusement at the oxymoron as I wobbled along, my legs feeling like lumps of wet noodles. It didn't help the comparison that I was actually wet and covered in mud, of course. I also noticed that I had various scratches and bruises covering myself. Wonderful. Maybe I had wandered through the forest for a ways? Still, thinking that wouldn't help me, really. I could only hope that this creek rejoined the larger stream or river that I was next to prior. Chances are, however, that I was now hopelessly lost and doomed to an either violent, bloody demise, or to starve to death under a rock somewhere. Several minutes passed reasonably uneventful, and I simply wandered, taking in the sounds, smells, and sights of nature around me. If I didn't feel and probably look like a drown rat, this would be a really nice place to relax. Sure it was a little dark, but I didn't necessarily mind that so much. Besides, relaxation was probably what I needed a lot more of. I felt like I was a thousand years old, both in body and mind. A rather loud squawking distracted me a moment later and I stopped, looking around for the source. It took me a couple of minutes, but I finally spotted the small, golden-yellow bird that was lying next to the base of a tree. It was looking around as if in a daze, and had probably fallen from a nest. Upon further examination, I spotted the little brown nest at the lower branches of the tree. Well, trees and I didn't particularly get along well, but the fellow was obviously in distress, so I decided to investigate further. Walking over slowly, I frowned and peeked at the little guy. It looked back at me, utterly unafraid in the slightest, and made an annoyed squawk towards me. Well, proportionally, if I had just fallen out of a four story building or so, I'd probably be a bit annoyed as well. Sympathetically nodding, I extended my hoof out cautiously to him and cupped him with a tiny force field. How should I go about this? I could connect it to the tree trunk but I couldn't see into the nest and didn't want to drop the little guy again. Well, there was nothing else for it. I touched him against the tree. The shield extended under me as well and I slowly lifted both of us upwards into the tree again. I was surprised at how complacent the little guy was, but he simply sat there watching me curiously as I lifted us upwards. We cleared the branches easily enough and I nodded to myself. Interestingly enough, there were two other little ones in the nest that chipped up at me when I popped my head up next to them. Leaving the shield detached under me, I raised the little guy up on my hoof and gently made to place him back in the nest. That's when the unholy scream from hell sounded out from in front of me. Uh oh. Looking up, my heart skipped a beat as a small blur of fury and hatred zipped in with wings extended. I barely managed to duck out of the way before the thing took my head off! The little guy in my hoof started chirping madly and I decided that I'd better get him back into the nest so he didn't fall again. After the winged death passed, I popped my head back up and quickly deposited the little guy back into the nest. Another furious screech sounded from behind me this time, and I quickly tried to duck out of the way. This time they weren't aiming for my head, however, and I ended up getting clipped across the side instead. I let out a yelp and winced sideways, dropping my hoof against the shield I was standing on in attempts to lower myself back to the safety of the ground. That's when the blur of feathers smashed into my face. There was a sharp, stabbing pain and I fell backwards, everything going black. * * * * * Ouch. This was the second time I woke up distinctly aware of how much agony my body was in. Groaning, I opened my eyes slowly, only to realize the left was caked with blood. Slowly and tenderly feeling my forehead with my left forehoof, I noted a rather nasty gash just above the eye. Damn it. I struggled to tuck my legs up, and then noticed I was on my left side. My right rear leg gave a flare of pain, and I was suddenly glad that I hadn't been conscious for the landing. Okay, assessment time. Expending a little bit of my own magic, I felt along my insides to attempt to figure out exactly how badly I was screwed. Now I was lost and badly injured, in the middle of a dark and dank forest with who knows what kind of creatures in it. The scan was rapid, giving rather vague results that I didn't fully know what to do with. Once again I found myself wishing that I had studied the healing arts. Damn it. The bone in my rear right leg was intact, but the muscles appeared to be badly strained. There were no rips in them, but a contusion covered the thigh and the muscles under and along the knee were stressed to their limit. Walking probably wasn't going to be pleasant. A light chirping noise sounded out and I froze immediately, trying my hardest not to panic and do anything potentially embarrassing. Those demons were still here?! I cursed myself silently for forgetting to check for hostiles before moving! A rather large bird, looking distinctly similar to the little one I put back in the nest, took that exact moment to land in front of me. My skeleton almost jumped backwards out of my skin. Thankfully, my fleshy parts are more durable than that, and it instead only had the effect of me going rigid while staring at it. Oddly, it made another chirping noise and fluttered in place, as if somewhat distressed. Being unable to speak Bird, I had no idea what it was attempting to communicate. I decided to count my blessings that it hadn't gouged out my eyes yet, however. "Um, please don't attack me?" I requested timidly, hoping for mercy. It seemed unlikely that the tiny bird could outright kill me, but I did have lots of sensitive squishy bits it could puncture repeatedly and bring about agony with. Actually, rather than take a chance, I just assumed that it could somehow distend its jaw like a snake and possibly eat me whole. If I didn't know better, I'd say it almost looked sad. Much to my further surprise, it actually shook its head. Wait, it could understand me?! Maybe I didn't know better. Tilting my head, I simply asked, "Do you understand what I'm saying?" I definitely didn't know better. The sad part was, in all honesty, I should have realized that the intelligence level of all of the creatures would be significantly greater than what I was used to dealing with. The bird finalized my guess by nodding its head up and down in the almost universal gesture of affirmation. "Oh! I'm terribly sorry for the incident earlier. I was trying to put him back in the nest, I swear!" I apologized, hoping to not offend the newly discovered intelligent creatures. Actually, they were probably more intelligent than me, seeing as I'm the one who just fell out of a tree. As if reading my mind, the bird gave me its best dumbfounded and exasperated gaze, as if specifically stating that I was an idiot in no few words. It shook its head again and made several more squawks, gesturing back towards the nest. Not entirely sure what it was attempting to convey, I looked back towards the nest regardless. A tiny little bird was sticking half of its body into view above the nest, and actually waved a wing at me. Further surprised, all I could manage to do was wave back with my left foreleg. Then what the bird was trying to say became clear. "You already knew that I was only putting him back because he told you, didn't he?" I questioned, glancing back at my new feathered friend. It gave another nod, before hopping over my two front legs and gently brushing a wing along my injured knee. I gave a wince and shuffled it a little, only to note that it was stiff and shaky. This wouldn't do at all for walking on. About the best thing I could do is make a makeshift brace, then hobble. Not that hobbling would impact my normal speeds all that much. The bird looked sad again and shook its head, looking back at me. Did it feel badly for attacking me? "It's all right. You were only protecting your young. I'd have done the same thing," I assured, trying to smile through the misery from my leg. Well, assuming that I'm ever going to have kids. Highly unlikely, I'm guessing. It's tricky to reproduce when dead. Not impossible, but I doubt this dimension had that sort of technology. Maybe there was magic for it instead? Doubtful, but I didn't want to assume. The bird shook its head even more rapidly, but I didn't know what that implied. It could mean quite a few different things, and I just tilted my head towards the small avian creature. "I'm not entirely sure what you mean. I'm terribly lost, however, and unfortunately need to get to work making a splint for my leg so I may attempt to find my way back to Ponyville before starving to death," I excused to the little one, attempting to shift myself to a standing position again. My back, right leg refused to support my weight, so I was forced to form a barrier along the outside of it to push it directly into the correct place. Okay, wasn't expecting that. The raw agony of moving the knee caused my breath to catch and ice water to shift up my veins, feeling like all of the blood drained out of my head at once. I made a silent wincing and gasp, shivering but managing to not scream like a little baby. While mostly for preserving my dignified appearance, it also had the side benefit of not alerting every predator within three miles to my location. My eyes had slammed shut during the process, but after several minutes that felt like an eternity, I slowly opened them as the pain ebbed back down. I held the shields rigid against my leg and locked them together before putting them into power saver mode and letting them be. Okay, that was probably the hard part. Now all I had to do was hobble along my merry way. Oh, and find which way that's supposed to be. Oh, and not get eaten in the process. At this point, I might as well tack on not starving to death to the end of that list, as a last resort. My friendly bird squawked again in protest as I wobbled and started trying to half walk, half hop along as I progressed back to the creek. I gave it a wary glance, but it just looked vaguely depressed again. Come to think of it, weren't there two of them earlier? I distinctly remembered being blitzed from two directions at once on that last attack. Either the one here was hellishly fast and being taught by Rainbow Dash, or there were two of them. Given that Rainbow didn't seem much like an 'Animal Pony', and the fact that there was a nest back there, I assumed the latter. At least if birds still reproduced sexually here. There has to be a law for serendipity somewhere. No sooner had I finished thinking it, I heard a faint but definitely chirping noise in the distance. Huh? My avian friend looked up towards the sky in an instant, and I watched him curiously as I hobbled along the river. Oddly, at this point I thought nothing of him stalking me. Wait, is it stalking if I know he's there? Further, is it stalking when the target is pitifully slow and wounded, barely able to hold their own in a fight against a chipmunk? Almost a minute passed before another barrage of chirps sounded off, much closer this time. My friend flitted a little higher into the air and started releasing an oddly loud counter salvo. Okay, the situation was getting a little strange now. He was obviously communicating with the other bird, but why? Taking the volume levels and distance into consideration, it suddenly dawned on me. The little bastard was giving away where I was located to the other bird! Why else would he follow me? Well, apart from an easy meal after I inevitably passed out. I further noticed that I seemed to consider him male for some reason. Seconds later, I almost had to duck again as a smaller but similarly colored bird dove in alongside the river. So there were two of them, then. I smiled politely at the newcomer, before literally having to not only duck, but also fall sideways into the creek to avoid a fur-covered bolt of cyan lightning. Sputtering, I slowly wobbled and got back up from the now extremely familiar source of water. Thank goodness for barrier magic. It was significantly more resilient, and waterproof, than normal stints. Upon regaining my footing, I rotated with tiny hops and glared at Rainbow Dash, mildly annoyed, even though I was technically saved now. She paid little heed to me, seemingly more interested in rapidly looking around the forest in a paranoid vigil. "What have you attracted so far? Wolves or bears? Both? Something more exotic like a manticore or cockatrice?" she asked rapidly, still not fully looking at me. I scowled at her before returning, "A couple of birds and a deadly blue comet." "Deadly blue," she started to ask, fully turning to me now, before shifting to that of a glare instead and finishing with a, "Hey!" I couldn't help but smirk, which caused her to grin in amusement as well. "Okay, okay. So your bad luck hasn't hit the situation yet. Let's get you out of here before it does. It's safe, Fluttershy!" Rainbow called out, looking up again. "Fluttershy?" I questioned, following her gaze up and to the small yellow mare that drifted into view a few dozen meters away. Rainbow snorted but nodded. "Well duh. I'm not gonna think to follow a random bird into the Everfree forest without a little initiative. Besides, it came to her first and she got me to help afterwards," she explained in a dismissive manner. Well it's not like it's every day that I get lost in the forest and they need to organize a search party for me. Thankfully. "Actually, Mrs. Bird is to thank. She was the one who thought of coming and getting me after the terrible misunderstanding and accident earlier," Fluttershy explained quietly as she hovered for a moment before gently touching down on the grass next to me. I blinked, then realized that she was talking about when I fell out of the tree. The birds had a much stronger grasp on reality than I realized. Hell, possibly more than I did. "They've been on, well, edge since last night," the gentle yellow mare continued in a soft, yet stable voice, giving me a warm smile. She looked happy for some reason. Wait, last night? I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that I was extremely lucky to have spent most of the night unconscious. "Oh, all those creepy noises that came from the forest? Yeah, that put me on edge too, and I don't even live here. Thankfully," Rainbow muttered in agreement, shivering and sitting down next to me. I couldn't help but notice that she was fully equipped with strapped on saddlebags. Fluttershy swallowed wearily but nodded. "Yeah. It's worse than that, even. Those poor creatures. Tons of trees were damaged or destroyed in a long path through the forest. With all of the roaring heard, Twilight suspects that one of the nearby Ursa's are acting up for some reason," she furthered, keeping herself busy by unpacking some medical supplies from her own saddlebags. I found it amusing for some reason that she didn't even question the fact that I was covered in lacerations and contusions. "What exactly is an Ursa?" I asked wearily, trying to ease out my muscles as Fluttershy approached with bandages. Rainbow sighed and shuddered again. "It's a massive bear that's all glowing and partially see through. Hugely strong; it could probably split a pony in half with one swing," she explained, fidgeting and looking around again. Yikes! If one of those was on the loose, I'm really glad they found me when they did. Given my spectacular luck, I was likely to blunder right into the thing. Then somehow subtly insult its mother without realizing it. "Oh dear. These bandages are filthy. How are you so clean, though? Um, if you don't mind me asking, of course," Fluttershy suddenly observed, giving me a once over before shaking her head. I sighed miserably before replying, "I actually spent a lot of time in the creek, sadly. I think I'm going to be wrinkly for quite a while." Rainbow grinned, but then tilted her head as Fluttershy started slowly peeling the bandages off me. I assumed she knew what she was doing and that there was skin under there. Gritting my teeth against the constant fur pulling sensation, I decided that was a good indication that she was right. Rainbow's confusion slowly shifted to amusement, then to holding back the laughter with her hooves as Fluttershy unwrapped me. Annoyed, I looked back behind me in order to figure out what was so funny. It only took me a couple seconds to notice that there was very little of my coat grown back under the bandages. It looked like I got in a fight with a razor and lost. Badly. I rolled my eyes and fought back the heat drifting into my cheeks as I just sat through it. Oddly enough, Dash stopped laughing shortly thereafter. Finding that even more odd, I looked back over at her curiously. Her expression held a frown instead and her eyes were locked firmly on my side. Uh oh. Was my skin missing there?! I whipped my head around to look, only to find nothing technically wrong with me. Fluttershy paused momentarily and looked up at me from her intense concentration and focus. She looked really adorable with the questioning expression and her mouth full of bandage roll. She then peeked at Rainbow, and traced her eyes back to me. "Dude, what happened to you? I've never seen so many scars," the cyan pegasus inquired quietly, still wearing the frown. Oh. "The scars are usually hidden by my fur. I'm guessing they transferred over from my old dimension when I came here. I was a soldier, sadly," I reminded, suddenly deciding against looking at Fluttershy. Unfortunately, she caught my intention before I even fully turned away. The shy yellow mare snatched my right foreleg, softly shaking her head. There was no force behind it at all, and I could have easily pulled away, but something about the way she was staring at me almost forced me not to. "Please. If it's okay with you, don't treat me any differently. Please? I want to see, um, all of you," she requested, almost a whisper. I felt something inside of me skip. Smiling again, I nodded silently to her. Rainbow made a gagging motion next to us, of course. "Ya don't have to get all sappy on me. I'm just glad we found you before a bear ate you or something. Then Twilight would really have freaked out," the rainbow-maned mare complained idly. "Why is Twilight freaking out?" I asked carefully, wincing again as Fluttershy got back to work, removing the last of the bandage around my hips and back, finally. I was surprised when Dash snorted and whacked me on the snout with her left hoof. Wincing, I looked back up at her questioningly, holding my muzzle with both of my hooves. "Don't be silly, Mender. She's totally into you whether you believe it or not. She's all worried that she went too far with the Princess thing and drove you away forever to be eaten by a bear in the woods or something. You two really do match pretty well, but I think she's a little more grounded in reality," Dash pointed out, snickering immediately after. I rolled my eyes and sighed. First she's pissed off at me, and now she's regretting it and freaking out over my well-being. I swear, I'm never going to understand that mare. "Well, it did hurt last night. I guess I just want to be taken seriously in her eyes," I confessed, sighing and letting my upper body deflate naturally as I exhaled. The tension was slowly leaving my system as Fluttershy expertly removed the bandages and gently massaged the growing fur down afterwards. My cyan battle partner smirked again, but nodded in seemingly understanding. "I hear ya there. She can get a tad unreasonable sometimes. You should have seen her the last time she was tardy with a letter to the Princess. Ponyville almost didn't survive," she groaned, resting her forehead on her hoof. She was joking, right? Right?! There was no smile, however, and she truly looked exasperated. I was suddenly more than a little frightened of the lavender unicorn again. "It was, um, really bad," Fluttershy suddenly spoke up in agreement, nodding her head twice. I was momentarily distracted by the bobbing of her mane as she did so, but rapidly snapped out of it and swallowed. "Admittedly, I'm a little scared of her. I really don't want to get on her bad side and end up magically turned into a coat rack or something. Or be squished by a flying bed," I admitted wearily, tensing as Fluttershy pulled the last of the bandages free. Rainbow snickered and shook her head at me. "Relax, Mender. She'd never outright hurt a pony if she didn't have to. Especially you, I have a feeling. Like I said, she's totally into you," she assured, holding up a hoof in almost congratulations. I rolled my eyes but smirked again and extended mine to lightly bounce it off hers. Both of us were interrupted by Fluttershy's sudden gasp of, "Oh my!" Rainbow looked past me to where her friend was looking, then widened her eyes drastically. Huh? Uh oh. Was my skin missing there instead?! My head spun around to assess the damage to my hips and butt. I wasn't at all prepared for what I saw, however. It was even worse than missing all of my flesh back there. Someone had tattooed my butt!
Chapter 12I sighed wearily as Rainbow Dash got the leather harness on again with the help of Fluttershy. "So what exactly does it indicate that my special talent is?" I asked once again. Rainbow snickered as she raised her left wing to get the strap hooked under it. "Sometimes cutie marks are kind of vague. Guess I got lucky with mine," she admitted. I stared at the rainbow lightning bolt on her flank for a moment before nodding in agreement. "You're certainly the fastest pony I've ever seen," I agreed, smirking. As anticipated, she puffed up with pride and grinned at me. "Of course I am. Goddess of Flight, right?" she reminded, winking at me playfully. I felt a little bit of heat dance into my cheeks again but maintained my smile, adding a nod as she glanced back at me. Admittedly, she was cute when cocky. I had no idea as to why she was so attractive, but I certainly wasn't going to act on it. Fluttershy and Twilight would murder me, principles aside. Snapping out of my distraction, I looked back at my flank again. It was still there of course. The silver gear with eight, evenly spaced teeth took up a good portion of my flank, and oddly had a heart-shaped axis hole. Honestly, I didn't know what it meant. The gear was easy enough to figure out, but was the heart just for stylized effect? The concept of getting my own Cutie Mark had always been there in the back of my head, but I never truly thought I'd get it, being so different from a normal pony. Now that I suddenly had one, I was a little overwhelmed as to what it meant. I thought you were supposed to magically know or something. "Is it almost on, Fluttershy? We need to hurry up," Rainbow asked, having resumed her cautious vigil of the forest. My gut told me that there was something I was missing still. "Is there a reason we're in a hurry apart from getting proper medical attention?" I questioned carefully, glancing over at the yellow mare that was just securing the last side buckle. "Oh, um, yes. The mayor has declared a state of emergency. It's a little scary," she muttered, swallowing timidly while nodding to Rainbow. The aptly named rainbow pegasus sighed and nodded. "Something really freaked out the animals of the forest last night. Lots of roars, growls, and snarls. Wolves were spotted near the forest's edge and one pony even reported seeing a manticore. Until things settle down again, we really need to stay away from here," she added, far more calmly than her shivering friend. It was a compulsion, really. Almost everything the yellow and pink pegasus did gave me urges to guard and protect her. Shifting a little, I leaned up and gently extended my left forehoof. She watched me curiously, stopping in her shaking long enough to at least be interested in what I was doing. Her eyes widened further as I made contact with her back and gently rubbed the spot directly between her two wings. The effect was instantaneous, and more than a little surprising. She let out a soft gasp as I massaged along her coat, going in gentle, hopefully soothing circles. Her eyes lidded slightly, and she rested more heavily against her cyan friend as I worked. She was so adorable that I couldn't help but smile. Rainbow started momentarily as she felt the contact, then glanced back at me and her. Her surprise shifted to that of a warm grin as she saw me gently stroking the other mare. "Between the wings, and the wings themselves are sensitive for most pegasi. Especially the mares. A little on the nervous side, Fluttershy?" she pointed out knowingly. Wait, why were mares more sensitive? Fluttershy's cheeks tinted a light pink color, but she nodded subtly. Her eyes then shifted back to me, and a smile lit along her expression again. She surprised me further by turning and actually hugging me gently. "You're a good stallion. I promise that I'm going to get over this. You're never going to hurt me; I know that now," she muttered, almost as if hoping her cyan friend wouldn't hear. Obviously, she did. "Of course he's not going to hurt you. If anything, he'd rather let himself be hurt than let you come to harm. Remember the rock thingy? And even more recently, the couch?" Rainbow pointed out in a surprisingly gentle fashion. The more I saw them interact, the more I realized she had a special soft spot for Fluttershy. Not to say she wasn't spot on, of course. If I was protective of any of the mares, it was Fluttershy. The yellow mare retained her pink tinting to her cheeks, which magnified a little before she nodded. Regardless, she seemed content enough where she was, and just looked back over at me with surprisingly curious eyes. "I'm still glad Twilight is going to attempt to date you first, but maybe one day I'll work up the, well, courage to try as well. If you two allow it, of course! I mean, I don't want to offend either of you. That would be bad. Oh dear, I'm sorry if I just did," she suddenly started to ramble, looking more and more flustered. I placed a hoof gently to her muzzle to stop her before shaking my head. "It's a strange concept because it's reversed for me. In my culture, I believe that it was the females that used to take multiple male mates, but if it's sometimes done in reverse here, then I might be able to get adjusted to it. You don't need to apologize," I assured, keeping the evil glares and ear twitches restricted as much as I could when she mentioned Twilight. Rainbow shook her head wearily, turning around to fully face us before muttering, "That is so weird. You must have a lot of guys on your world." "Well, we did. If my dreams are of any indication, the situation is reversed now. I'm not sure why, but one of them mentioned they were looking for males and-" I started explaining before I suddenly realized what I was doing. Giving a sudden blank, dumbfounded look, I shut up and looked away from both of them. I forgot, they probably think I'm just insane too. Rainbow stared surprisingly intensely at me. Her expression neither shifted to amusement or scorn. Fluttershy surprised me a little more, however, by smiling fully and shaking her head. "Twilight has, um, trouble believing things that she can't see. It's a little scary, but if you think there's something truly wrong, then I believe you," she whispered softly, timid voice shivering a little towards the end. I'm not sure if it was the thought behind it, or her being literally right against me, but I felt myself soften and relax. I finally let myself genuinely smile towards her. Dash finally smiled as well, tossing in a nod for good measure. "If it's bothering ya that much, we'll try to talk to her about it. It's a little crazy, admittedly, but I don't think Princess Celestia is totally without error. She'd probably be the first to admit it, actually," my cyan friend offered, gesturing with her hoof lightly towards me. I nodded in agreement and stood up as gently as I could manage. Fluttershy broke off her hug and helped support me fully as I rose to my hooves again. I wobbled lightly, but slowly limped my way towards Dash, who turned around and lowered herself to the ground as best she could. "Thank you for not automatically assuming I was crazy. We should probably get out of here, however, before anything happens across us," I advised cautiously before stepping over the prismatic tail and gently making my way onto her back. "Oh, oh yes. The faster we can get out of this forest," Fluttershy murmured wearily as she took to the air again. Rainbow smirked as she stood up again, adding, "Don't let her fool you. The only reason she entered the forest in the first place was because she knew that you needed help." My eyes widened significantly. Fluttershy let out a tiny squeak, blush forming once more as she almost lost control of her hover. "Dash!" she reprimanded in a wavering voice. "Oh relax, Flutters. He already knows you technically like him like that. Now we just need to get you back to Twi before she turns Ponyville upside down with her freak out session," Rainbow followed up, shaking her head slightly. She abruptly halted and looked back at me, probably feeling me go rigid. "Do we absolutely have to go back to her? I kind of, well," I started trying to explain. Was there really any other choice, though? I didn't exactly have anywhere else to go. Dash looked surprised at first, apparently realizing that I wasn't joking. "Wait, seriously? We don't have to, I guess. But she's really worried about you," she professed in an uncharacteristically serious tone. I stared skeptically at her, unsure if she was joking this time. "So she not only thinks I'm crazy, but has decided that I can't survive a single night without her keeping an eye on me?" I asked sharply, sorting it in my head still. "Well you did kinda already hurt yourself," Dash pointed out, earning a burning glare. If she felt the same way, why was she here? Shouldn't she have just assumed that I was rocking back and forth in a corner somewhere, deranged yet fine? "Oh dear. No, Mender! She feels really bad for not going after you. She's really, really worried," Fluttershy tried to convince. I softened my features a little as my gaze shifted to her instead. Her eyes looked into mine with pleading gentleness, and I soon had to look away again. This yellow mare would always hold a soft spot with me, no matter how she considered me, I suppose. Rainbow shook her head, walking forward slightly and then turning around. "Maybe he's right. This is new to both of them, and until they get adjusted to it a bit, maybe they should spend some time apart," Rainbow suggested, looking back over her shoulder at me. I met her gaze for a moment before sighing and nodding. "I know she's new to this, and I don't have a clue how to act. Maybe I just want to be taken seriously by her? I'll never be as important to her as Celestia, but maybe one day she'll at least listen," I reasoned. Sometimes seeing her as a 'veteran' of this world made me forget that she wasn't of the same experience level with relationships. Fluttershy let out a tired sigh and lowered her head, looking reasonably glum as I turned back towards her. After a moment's consideration, she frowned and looked back up, assuring, "Princess Celestia is indeed important to her, but I think that once she realizes how much you mean to her, she'll open up quite a bit more. You two have so much in common. She's never had anypony that she was able to really talk to on her level here. That has to be valuable to her." Her voice was strong and stable, even if a little quiet, and her level of insight surprised me. She knew quite a bit about her friends, it would seem. At first I thought it was just a special connection with Rainbow, but now I noticed she was extremely empathic with others as well. It made me wonder what her thoughts on myself were. Maybe I didn't want to know? "You two have a lot in common too, don't forget. I can totally vouch for his loyalty and caring. Sure, he's not as brave and steadfast as me, but he'll stick with you through pretty much anything and has a really gentle touch!" Rainbow spoke up, vouching for me. Kind of. I blushed at her words, looking away from both of them this time. Fluttershy was tinted pink as well, but smiled shyly. "Oh, I know he can be really gentle. Plus, he's so good with foals; I really look up to that sort of thing. Eventually I'd love to have a family of my own, of course. Seeing him be so gentle with everypony, alongside how protective he can be to those he cares about, just makes me feel so, um, well..." She trailed off, eyes widening as the pink shifted past the shade of her hair and well into the red tints. Rainbow's jaw dropped down a little as she let out a quiet, "Whoa." My eyes felt like saucers before I rapidly looked away again, feeling the dull thud of my heartbeat in my ears as the blood firmly flooded into my head. Did she just insinuate what I thought she did?! "Does that mean, uh, you're looking at Mender for, well, that in the future?" Rainbow asked, probably without even thinking about what she was saying. Fluttershy looked beyond flustered, rocking back and forth between her left and right side rapidly. "Well, um, of course he'd make a good father! He's a very gentle and kind stallion and I um, really respect that. So uh, maybe?" she admitted finally, slamming her eyes shut afterwards and looking faint. She seemed to shrink down slightly as her legs buckled a little. My blush magnified and I suddenly felt light headed. I hadn't realized how serious she was, or how much she'd been thinking about it! Dash was momentarily speechless. After several exceedingly awkward moments passed, she shook her head to clear it before recovering her trademark smirk. "Well, you surprised me, but I can't say that I wouldn't support the decision. I told you that I vouch for Mender," she reiterated. "I am still here you know," I reminded, letting out a groan afterwards. Did she have to say all of these embarrassing things in my presence? I wasn't a hero by any means. All I did was react to what was thrown at me in the only way I could. I didn't want to, and certainly wish that somepony else would take care of it all, but if it had to be me, I wasn't about to let anypony I cared for get hurt because I abandoned my duties. "Of course. It's all true, though! Hehehe!" she defended in an extremely mirthful tone, letting out a giggle after. Fluttershy recovered slowly and smiled back at her friend, then up at me on Rainbow's back. "Well, what I said was true, too. I don't know what I'd do without either of you," she muttered, smile shifting from shy to warm slowly. Her soft blush remained, however. Dash took it in stride, giving the pink-maned pegasus a soft hug with her left foreleg. "We love you, too, Fluttershy. We'll always be there for you, don't worry," she promised needlessly. That much was second nature for me. I smiled again and nodded in agreement. Rainbow suddenly froze for a moment while Fluttershy blushed and smiled widely. "Wait, I never did get to ask you for my favor that time I walked in on you and Twi making out!" the cyan mare suddenly remembered out loud, in a voice that Twilight herself back in Ponyville might have been able to hear. Fluttershy let out a surprised yet embarrassed squeak, mane giving a little shiver as she almost lost control of her flight again. I would have slapped my forehead had it not required me to either punch or garrote the mare I was riding on. "What?! It surprised me so much that I forgot. Can I ask you now?" she requested, looking a little miffed at our reactions. "Yeah, you can ask. You didn't need to mention the making out thing, though. We were just kissing!" I defended profusely. Fluttershy seemed to almost shrink more, pink shifting to a solid red color across her cheeks. "Oh. Oh my," she muttered quietly into her hooves covering her mouth. "I could have sworn I saw tongue. Oh well," Dash debated to herself, smirking at me before continuing with, "Anyway, there's a race coming up soon to celebrate the end of fall, pegasus style. I really, really want your help for it!" I tilted my head against her shoulder, unsure of exactly what assistance I could be in preparation for a race. Fluttershy peeked over her hooves at her friend, however, looking a little surprised. Still embarrassed, but it looked like she was getting distracted now, anyway. "It's just the three of us. Is this about, um, Applejack?" she asked. No, it was more of a deduction than anything. Rainbow smirked wider and nodded. "I totally want you to give me those nifty wings again!" she revealed excitedly, hopping back and forth on her hooves. My surprise was impossible to contain, and I stared at her in shock before asking, "Wait, you want me to help you cheat?!" Rainbow lost the smirk instantly, looking both shocked and offended without missing a beat. "What?! No way! I could win the race flying backwards with my wings tied. I need your super wings for a trick I want to pull off on the winner's circle," she rapidly corrected. Fluttershy's comment suddenly hit home, and everything snapped together. "Your sky writing. You want to use the wings to pull off your message to Applejack after you win the race, because she'll be watching it," I suddenly realized out loud. "Ha! Exactly! That's my egghead partner!" Dash acknowledged, grinning back at me over her shoulder as I glared. Fluttershy gasped, however, gaining both our attentions at once. "Oh dear! But there are a lot of ponies there. Everypony at the race will see the message," she warned, sounding absolutely traumatized. Wow, she wasn't even involved and it freaked her out. Still, I couldn't help but find it adorable for some reason. "Oh, please. I'm not afraid of them seeing it. I'm proud to be going after Applejack! She's totally worthy of being with the most awesome pegasus in Equestria," the boisterous cyan mare declared, slapping her right hoof off her chest and nodding as if punctuating the declaration with her chin. The shy yellow pegasus shrank back a little, but shook her head. "I, um, meant Applejack. Do you think she'd want everypony knowing she might like other mares?" she asked quietly. Uh oh. I hadn't thought of that. Rainbow looked momentarily taken aback. She hesitated, and then shook her head rapidly. "Well, of course not. Applejack's the strongest mare I know. She's not going to care if other ponies know about us or not!" she assured, sounding almost as if she herself was her target. Red flags went off in my head. This seemed familiar. Oh yeah, it was something I'd probably assume; which meant it was probably an absolutely terrible idea! I opened my mouth to point this out when all three of us were interrupted by a rather sizable roar to our right, deeper off in the forest. Fluttershy whipped around in the air, looking fearfully in that direction while my airlift jumped a good foot and a half in surprise. "Oh, horseapples! I think that's our signal to get out of here!" Dash pointed out rapidly, taking to the air with a hard kick-start. Fluttershy nodded rapidly in agreement and started rising into the air, considerably faster than I had ever seen her move before. Well, there was something to be said about a healthy amount of motivation. Or was that unhealthy? Yeah, getting mauled and eaten by something rather large was definitely unhealthy. Rainbow shot into the air faster still, managing to snag hold of her yellow and pink friend as she went. I was amazed at the sheer strength to the cyan pegasus' flying as she managed to not only lift me entirely off the ground without effort, but haul her friend through the air even higher without any noticeable strain. Obviously not sticking around for ceremony, Rainbow got all three of us well into the clouds before I could even look back. * * * * * Peeking through the window yet again, I watched the spastic lavender mare pacing rapidly back and forth. Books were strewn here and there, most of them open and discarded where she finished with them. To my surprise, three larger log sections were displayed on stands around her work area; various stages of damage on each one. She seemed to be paying very little attention to them, however. Normally, I'd contribute that to the other guest of the room; a certain pearly unicorn with curled purple mane and tail, but due to how animate Twilight was, I had a sneaking suspicion that Rarity was only trying to calm her down. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked yet again, dropping down and turning to look at the two mares. Rainbow was already to the door, but Fluttershy stopped and nodded back at me. "I think it's for the best. Um, if it's okay with you, of course, Dash and I will go in first to try to, well, calm her down a little," she offered quietly. Why the hell would I say no to that?! Rarity hardly seemed to be having much luck, so let them go in and defuse the situation a little, or blunder in ahead of them and potentially be torn apart by telekinesis? Honestly, it wasn't much of a decision, barring any masochistic tendencies or suicidal urges I might be subconsciously hiding. I nodded rapidly and gestured them in, earning a giggle from the yellow mare. Rainbow took the cue and opened the door gently, letting herself and Fluttershy inside the excessively large tree-building. I propped up against the wall again and peeked in the window, feeling incredibly similar to a stalker. Twilight snapped to attention instantly, observing her friends with an almost calculated glare. I could have sworn I saw her eye twitch slightly, too. "You're back! Did you find him yet, Rainbow?! It's not easy to work like this. Not easy at all!" she asked instantly upon concluding her analytical observations. Actually, she sounded a little on the hysterical side. Rarity shook her head wearily and muttered something that was well outside of my ability to hear. "Whoa, calm down, Twi! I just wanted to know if you made any progress on the identification thing? I also have to tell the pegasus teams what to look out for, if you remember," Dash interrupted, pointedly derailing the outburst. Twilight stared at her with a rather anxious look for a few seconds before sighing and visibly exhaling slowly. "I'm worried like crazy, so it's kind of hard to focus. I finished the reconstruction of the print, though, but I hit a snag," she slowly replied, almost as if she had to keep a tight leash on her own thoughts. "Oh? Uh, what is it, then? If I can ask, of course," Fluttershy requested politely, recovering from her stiff shock at her friend's first outburst. "That's the snag. I've looked through every book I can think of and I can't find anything quite like this print. So I can only assume that I reconstructed it wrong and have been trying to correct and double check my results," the unicorn explained in a rather listless manner, suddenly looking extremely tired. "Spending a large amount of time worrying over Mender certainly hasn't helped in that regard. Truly, I kept telling her that he's fully capable of taking care of himself," Rarity assured pleasantly, shifting her bangs out of her face with a soft gesture of her head. Rainbow nodded grimly, but smiled a heartbeat later. "Well, if it will help your investigation, I suggest you relax a little bit more. Don't freak out on him or anything. We found Mender," she slowly revealed. Here we go. I dropped down from the window and walked around the side of the building towards the door. Might as well get in place for when they called me in and Twilight undoubtedly blasted me to smithereens. I could still hear them surprisingly well, so it didn't matter too much. Twilight should really do something about soundproofing these walls. There was a hesitation, and I could only imagine Twilight's face. Literally. "Wait, what?! Why didn't you say so sooner?" she demanded moments later. "Um, we didn't want you getting worked up. We're really sorry. He's a little hurt, but mostly okay. Please don't be mad," I heard Fluttershy report in response. My ears picked up a light whistling noise, but I ignored it. Fluttershy was always so polite. I definitely liked that about her. "But I've been so worried! Especially with the state of emergency being called by," she started protesting. The rest was washed out by that whistling noise from before. What the hell? Did somepony want my attention or something? Looking to the right afforded me several realizations. It wasn't a whistle, but a squeal. Further, Pinkie Pie was arcing through the air at high velocity towards me and was now a meter or so from my exceedingly squishy body. Given just enough time to react, I did the most logical thing. Letting out my best whimper, I cowered as the ball of pink energy that defied physics itself plowed me off the side of the steps. At this point, I was starting to rather enjoy that weightless sensation of drifting upside down after a large impact. It was a peaceful lull before the inevitable end. Oddly, that kind of fit my life, if I thought about it. Although it could be worse, I suppose. She could be a tiger: sharp pointy ends and all. "I finally found you! I've been looking absolutely everywhere all day. Nopony told me that you had woken up and I really, really needed to find you. But then I was all walking back home from Sweet Apple Acres and saw you hiding in the bushes outside of Twilight's window. At first I thought that it was totally weird, but then I realized that it was you and I was looking for you. Then I sprinted over here and pounced you before you could get away again! But you already knew that. I'm going to invite you to a party! I have to!" the pink blur of fuzziness and distortion said while standing over my limp, newly broken form. It all bled together and pooled into one long stream of something I couldn't exactly hear correctly, very similar to how the blood was probably pooling in my undoubtedly fractured skull now. Groaning, I shook my head rapidly in attempts to clear it and make sure she too wasn't a figment of my imagination, lest I be accused of insanity again. There was a sharp intake of breath almost instantly upon me doing so. "No, no, no! You absolutely have to come. I cannot accept 'no' as an answer! It's a party just for you, any way you want it," she protested, seemingly taking my head shaking as a negative answer. "W-What?" I managed to stutter out between the throbs my head was giving off, tacking on slowly, "I um, don't even know what you're talking about. Pinkie?" I winced momentarily as I shifted a rather sizable rock out from under my head. This was proving to be a fun day already, and I'd only been awake for a few hours! Well, at least the pain wasn't my fault this time. I was seriously starting to consider admitting myself permanently to a medical facility for the remainder of my undoubtedly short life. "Of course it's me, Silly! That's my name! I absolutely must throw you an 'I'm really sorry for accidentally poisoning you and almost killing you, but thankfully you're better now' party! I feel super duper bad and really, really need to make it up to you!" she announced in another burst of hyper, almost hysterical ranting. Her eyes got bigger and bigger the longer she talked, her face getting closer and closer to mine until she was glaring directly into my eyes. If I'd been lucid and not likely internally bleeding, I might have been considerably more freaked out and frightened than I currently was. "Pinkie? What are you doing?" I suddenly heard Rainbow ask. She must have come to investigate either the loud noise of my squishy impact, or my seeming absence from the doorstep. Salvation! Pinkie squeaked and hopped off me, bouncing around my fallen form like some violent, pre-culturally revolutionized tribal member would around their fallen prey as I cooked over a fire. "I found him out here and really had to invite him to my 'I'm really sorry for accidentally poisoning you and almost killing you, but thankfully you're better now' party! It's urgent!" she explained rapidly, skidding to a halt somewhere near my fallen tail. I heard hoofsteps and managed to glance over dizzily at the cyan pegasus as she approached. "Um, it kind of looks like you squished him a little. Are you sure he's okay?" she questioned wearily, giving me a visual once-over. "Of course! He's Mender; practically impossible to keep down!" the pink one assured, giving my back, right leg a solid whack with her hoof. Oh hell! I still felt things! Giving a yelp of intense agony, I curled over and tucked my poor, mangled leg up, intensifying the shield around it to try to protect it from any further torture. "Pinkie! That was the exact leg he injured..." Dash chewed out, honestly sounding slightly impressed. Either she was surprised I was still conscious, or shocked that Pinkie had managed to select exactly the right leg to hit to get the most reaction out of me. "Whoopsy! I'll add '... and hurting your leg' onto the party title!" Pinkie assured in a way only she could. Rainbow rolled her eyes before sarcastically asking, "Sure it will all fit?" "Better than trying to fit all the injuries you've given him on a banner," Twilight reminded as she walked up next to the now glaring cyan mare. My breathing snagged in a flurry of emotions and I forced myself to look away from the lavender mare. I momentarily saw a look of surprise drift into her expression before doing so. "Oh dear. Is he okay?" Fluttershy practically whispered as she drifted over and landed next to me, between the now guilty looking Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Glancing over towards her, I managed a gentle smile. She returned it instantly and fluttered closer, carefully drawing my leg back out from under me with a soft hoof motion. I had a fair amount of trust in her and allowed her to pull the leg out and examine it, which gave her an odd, dancing energy in her eyes, almost. I had no idea what the mare was thinking. Of course, during the whole time I spent gawking at Fluttershy, I totally failed to notice Rarity slip up next to Dash. When I glanced back at the prismatic pony, I started a little when I finally noticed the newcomer. There was a long moment where I stared at her, and she stared back at me with increasingly widening eyes. It was more than a little creepy, and I started edging backwards from her timidly. "Uh, is there, um, something wrong?" I inquired, doing my best Fluttershy impression. To my surprise, Pinkie let out a sharp yet excited gasp instead. "Oh my gosh! You have a Cutie Mark!" she squealed instantly thereafter. "Wait, what?!" Twilight asked, snapping out of her seeming stupor just in time to notice as well. Rarity interrupted all of us before I could be fatally molested by the pink one, regardless. She rapidly stomped her front hooves back and forth on the dirt in front of me, momentarily freaking out as she glared in what could only be described as unadulterated horror. "Forget the Cutie Mark for now! This is an absolute fashion disaster! This simply must be fixed, stat!" she declared zealously, glaring at my flank. Glancing backwards, I noticed that my fur was indeed still missing in large stripes along my back, flanks, and butt. Oh. Well it did indeed look kind of strange, but I'd hardly call it... I was enveloped in a blue aura before I even finished the thought and violently hauled into the air, a flustered and fussing Fluttershy following, wings flapping rapidly. "Rarity! He needs medical attention first," she tried to protest. "Nonsense! It will not do to have him be treated for such a superficial injury while looking like that. Inexcusable. Thankfully, I have just the thing at home to fix this terrible, terrible catastrophe," she assured vehemently, making me dizzy as she punctuated each point of her reply with a dip in her telekinesis. Oh crap. This day was about to get a lot worse, I had a sneaking suspicion. "I'll heal him once we get there," Twilight interrupted gently, glancing up at Fluttershy as she trotted after the quickly moving white unicorn. Rainbow let out a low snickering, a large grin adorning her face as she muttered, "Oh, this I gotta see. You coming, Pinks?" Pinkie gave an enthusiastic nod, seemingly recovering her spunky, happy go lucky demeanor before bouncing after the small group of ponies now violently escorting me to my probable doom. At least it wasn't apples or frogs...
Chapter 13Well, I was definitely right about one thing. The day seemed to be destined to get worse and worse. Still, I tried to stay positive about things. I was in desperate need of a bath, so being forced into one was at least covering that aspect. The smells assaulted my poor nose from every conceivable angle, of course. They were deeply root smelling, but with a sharp, acidic after smell. Was that the proper term for that light stinging sensation that one frequently got after sniffing something? Well, I digress. The nature of the smell did absolutely nothing for the color and texture of the probable gallons of stuff Rarity dumped into the hot water in the middle of her seeming mental breakdown. A thick lather, pink bubbles and all, was drifting well up to my jaw at this point. Due to how slippery it was making my coat, I was having difficulty keeping my head above water at this angle. She was still fidgeting sporadically while zipping here and there in her bathroom around me, looking at labels and various other bottles of all shapes and sizes. I wasn't sure of the norms of society, but this seemed a little on the psychotic side. Still, she was generous enough to attempt to make me look nice at no charge whatsoever, so I really didn't have room to complain. Much. It still seemed like she was more doing this for herself than me. "I know that the stuff is here somewhere! I'd just gotten an extra-large supply from Zecora. It simply must be found! This is an emergency," Rarity declared as she sped around the bathroom. The gentle tugging at my back, right leg continued as she talked. I was positioned in a very unnatural manner, almost on my side with my leg sticking out over the side of the tub. This was all to give Twilight as easy access as possible, of course. Fluttershy at least was sympathetic and rested at the head of the tub with her forelegs wrapped around my chest, gently supporting my head and neck above the soap bubbles. I gave her another warm, thankful smile while further hoping that this stuff didn't dye me pink. Thinking about it more, I decided it would also be bad if it made the fur along my butt grow back pink as well. "So this is a potion? Are you sure it's safe, Rarity?" Twilight questioned somewhere near my injured leg. The gentle massage of heated, magical warmth didn't miss a beat, even though she wasn't exactly concentrating. I was more than a little impressed, honestly. Sure, I could do more precise maneuvers, but she was way more practiced than I was. Oh, and obviously considerably more powerful. Was I allowed to be impressed and irritated at somepony at the same time? Rarity waived her concerns with a gentle, nonchalant hoof motion. "It's more of a, how do we say, tonic than a crude potion. It simply stimulates hair re-growth in the most natural way possible. There's truly nothing to concern yourself with," the pearly white unicorn assured confidently. I idly wondered how many last words included that last part in the history of, well, everything. I started mentally preparing myself for a horrible, hair-induced demise. "I dunno. Pink really suits you, Mender. Are you sure we can't make it grow back pink?" Rainbow asked once more, snickering from her position near the end of the tub, across from Twilight. Sneezing lightly after inhaling an offensive soap bubble, I finally cleared enough of the froth to speak. "For the last time, no! I don't need pink stripes on my butt," I groaned out. This was exactly why I was concerned. Rainbow started snickering even harder, but Pinkie let out a sharp gasp. "Hey! Is there something wrong with pink?! I know it might be kind of hard to tell, but I happen to really like pink and take offense to that! Think of its feelings!" Pinkie berated loudly from my right, leaning over the side of the shiny, white tub and giving me her standard, bulging glare. Wait, was she being sarcastic about the pink thing? Deciding I couldn't tell, I figured that considering the color having feelings was probably even more absurd, making the whole thought process a moot point. Damn it. I hate it when I do that. "Weren't you supposed to be apologetic and supportive of him, Pinkie? We needn't add potential drowning and, even worse, fashion crime to your party banner," Rarity reminded gently, calming down visibly upon pulling a rather large keg of something out from under her sink with her magic. Uh, what was that? Wait, bad fashion was worse than death? Pinkie's eyes went from buggy to nervous as she blinked a few times before releasing an airy giggle. She then tactically retreated out of my field of vision, leaving me even further confused. Of course, it could just be lasting effects from the fresh head trauma. Rarity distracted me by hauling the keg over to the side of the tub. She then distracted herself by frowning and looking down at me, barely sticking out of the pink bubble ocean. "Although she does have a point. Pink goes very well with blue, and compliments you well. Perhaps you should consider it?" the seamstress reasoned, smiling at me. I gave her a rather deadpan stare, and she giggled merrily. "Really now. You males shouldn't be nearly so concerned about colors. I mean, really. Pink is a perfectly acceptable color and compliments many things. I see no reason to rule it out because of some brash stereotype that it adversely affects your masculinity. Haven't we progressed past that as a," she started lecturing, causing me to sink into the water a little. It wasn't that I myself didn't like the color. It was more a matter of what other ponies might do to me if I did add it to my wardrobe. I was runty enough already. Of course, there weren't a whole lot of males in town to mock the choice anyway. "Um, I don't mean to interrupt. Please don't be mad! The bath water is getting a little cool. May it be reheated?" Fluttershy asked carefully in her typical timid fashion. Rarity hardly looked offended, not that I thought she would be. She gave her timid friend a warm smile, but shook her head. "It shouldn't be necessary, although you're a very kind to be looking over him so well. He should be thoroughly clean now and ready for the application of the tonic," she explained, giving the intimidating looking keg next to her a soft pat. "I'm pretty much done with his leg, so it should be perfectly fine for him to stand now," Twilight reported, backing off my leg and sitting up again, suddenly reentering my view. She glanced over at me at the same time I turned to her. We locked eyes and I couldn't turn away suddenly. She seemed conflicted, then seemed to have the same problem as her eyes softened further while watching me. She was acting nice now to me, but I was still a little irritated over her not even considering my proposal. If there really was danger, wasn't it better to be cautious? Still... "Thank you for healing my leg, Twilight," I finally managed to get out. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly for a moment, but then softened with an accompanied smile. Rarity, of course, took that moment to distract me. "Okay then, Mender. Stand up and I'll start gently pouring this stuff on and applying it to the, um, disaster zones with my magic. Hold still while I do, Mender," she instructed politely, giving me a warm nod. I nodded in understanding as I struggled back onto my stomach. A light test of my leg told me that the lavender unicorn indeed knew exactly what she was doing, and had restored my limb to full working condition. I breathed a sigh of relief and shakily stood up in the bath, letting the pink foam drain off my back as I did so. "Perfect! Okay, I'm going to start applying it now. Do hold still," the white unicorn instructed, lifting the keg into the air above me. Slight apprehension drifted into my system, but I held it at bay. Just because the last potion, er, tonic from Zecora had ended in utter disaster, didn't mean this one was going to. Right? Fluttershy gave me an assuring nod, but I heard more giggles from behind me. "You look like a wet rat. I wish I could get a picture," Dash pointed out in an oh so loving fashion. Pinkie clamped both hooves over her muzzle, but I could see the barely restrained grin under them as I glared back at her cyan friend. All thoughts were interrupted as the cold slime hit my back. "Ah! That stuff is really cold!" I whined, shivering slightly despite my attempts to stay still. "Oh, you poor thing. You just got out of the warm water, too! I'm sorry," Fluttershy cooed softly, looking extremely sympathetic as she sat up in front of me. "Here, this might warm you up a little." Before I could even react, she leaned forward and buried my entire face in the crook of her neck, against her left shoulder. Warm, buttercup yellow fur flooded my vision, accompanied by a gentle flowery smell that was absolutely delightful. She herself pushed her muzzle into the mirrored location on me, folding her left wing over my head and ears. Well, she was right about it warming me up. I rapidly felt the blood flood into my cheeks as her mane shadowed out the ceiling light as well. "Is, um, is it helping?" she asked timidly, a few seconds later. Being pretty much rendered mute and paralyzed, I barely managed a nod of affirmation. Suddenly I was really happy I was facing away from Twilight. She was probably giving my flanks a death glare now. A bit paradoxical, but I'd given up trying to figure the mare out. Females were confusing. Thankfully the gel stuff started to rapidly warm up. Was there some sort of heating agent in it? "Oh, actually, it's getting nice and warm now. That feels kind of good," I informed quietly. It was a fully welcome, yet very much new sensation to feel Fluttershy smile against my neck. Although I was starting to feel a little guilty. I definitely didn't want to hurt Twilight's feelings. "Is it supposed to get warm, Rarity?" the aforementioned lavender unicorn asked, sounding intrigued. Well, curious meant Twilight wasn't angry. I'd never seen her both angry and curious at the same time! "I'm actually not sure. I've never had to use this new formula yet," Rarity returned, sounding interested. The gel got even warmer, and I wondered if it was supposed to compliment some sort of massage technique or similar. Rarity seemed to like that sort of thing, so she probably was interested in using it on herself later, I guessed. The only problem was that it didn't stop heating up. I frowned as it started to get a little on the uncomfortable side, and questioned, "Uh, is it supposed to stop heating up at some point?" "What do you mean?" Twilight questioned with a slightly confused sounding inflection behind me. "Well, uh," I started to voice, when my nose picked up an odd smell. Something was burning. The heat along my back magnified, and I finally risked a glance backwards, apparently just in time to see a light smoke start to come up off my fur. Oh. I was burning. My voice devolved into panicked whimpering as I locked up, completely unsure of what to do. "Water! Wash it off!" I managed to yelp, not wanting to leap out of the tub and spray the stuff all over my friends. Oh, and Rarity's floor. She'd probably murder me out of principle. Twilight looked surprised and started to open her mouth, horn lighting up. Pinkie beat everypony to the punch, however, yelling out "I know!" before violently kicking the side of the tub with both of her back hooves. Oh crap. Rarity barely managed to leap out of the way, and Fluttershy made a panicked squeak as I was torn sideways with the tipping of the tub. I hit the bathroom floor first, and was washed over momentarily by the soapy water before the tub flipped completely and landed on top of me. Unfortunately, Pinkie's violent kick had ensured that a great deal of water was still in the tub, and the slow leak around the edges of the tub and floor didn't prevent me from suddenly finding myself submerged in the water. The soap burned into my eyes instantly, causing a garbled scream as I slammed them shut in pain. Screaming underwater isn't the most effective. That's when I realized that the soap in the water was what was reacting to the tonic Rarity had put on me. The water started to heat up as well, bringing back a familiar sizzling sensation along all of my skin this time. Damn it. "Pinkie!" I heard both Rainbow and Rarity scream in an echoed fashion outside of my prison of agony. Rainbow? The tub was kicked off me a second later, allowing the water to release instantly across the entirety of the bathroom floor. I gasped for air, unable to see anything at all. The smells of burning fur and now identified acid hit my nose along with the sizzling sound. I heard somepony slam the bathroom window open a second later. My guesses were on Twilight, who probably realized the fumes were potentially poisonous. "Horse apples! Hang on, Mender!" Dash shouted from practically on top of me, it sounded like. Two hooves latched onto my sides and I was yanked backwards, giving a yelp. We hit open air suddenly, and I felt the breeze of outside along my burning skin. Then both of us landed in water, somehow. * * * * * That was how I became furless. At least I'm told that I have no fur. Rarity sounded hysterical when she had told me, so it was probably true. Although she could also be upset over her probably badly burned, stained bathroom floor. Both probably caused that reaction, I decided. "Ugh, hold still, Mender. I'm trying to fix your skin," Twilight reminded nonchalantly. Considering it was my skin and I very much felt it, I didn't think the reminder was needed. Still, her regenerative magic didn't exactly feel like a massage this time around. "I'm so going to need a bigger banner," Pinkie groaned from somewhere to my left. Rarity gave a weary sigh in front of me, but a few meters away. I think we were in her living room, although I only had their word for it. "I'm going to need a new bathroom floor after this. Zecora could have warned me that the new formula doesn't get along with conditioner well," the white unicorn complained. "Relax. I'm going to need new hooves after this! They're still orange," Dash griped from behind me, sounding closer than she was in the bathroom. A sting of sympathy went through me in that regard. "Thank you again, Rainbow," I muttered quietly, not bothering to move my head. It wasn't like I knew exactly where she was anyway. Looking in the wrong direction was liable to be embarrassing. There was a definite pause before a light sigh sounded out. "I wasn't gonna let you just lie there, burning. We're both lucky the rain barrel was right outside," she returned, sounding somber. "I thank you as well, Rainbow. That was very brave. You could have been hurt by the acid as well," Twilight chimed in, seemingly finishing my lower back and moving on to my flanks. At least I assumed she had finished it, as I could feel something apart from agony from the area, now. "Aww, stop it. No need to get all mushy on me," the cyan mare groaned, sounding embarrassed. I smirked lightly as I could almost feel her blush from here. Then I realized that Twilight thanked her for saving me. Twilight was slowly getting past what happened, it felt like. Pinkie let out another whine again, adding, "I'm going to throw both of you a really awesome party after this! I really don't like hurting my friends." "You had the best of intentions, dear. You simply didn't know the soap was what was causing it. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Rarity assured warmly. As much as I wished it hadn't happened in the first place, I had to nod in agreement. "She's right, Pinkie. You didn't know," I tacked on, ignoring the subtle stinging sensation. Something warm and with actual fur hugged me around the neck as I rested on my stomach. "You're just too nice, Mender! I promise that I'm going to really make this up to you," Pinkie insisted from a few inches away. I was cold without fur, so I wasn't about to protest her hugging me. That and I was more than a little fond of the pink mare. She really grew on me after awhile, even if she was a little on the hyper and clumsy side. "Mmm, you're warm," I muttered quietly and in a raspy tone, having not realized exactly how nice it was to have fur. My throat gave its complaints at my use, but I hardly cared. There was a momentary pause and I felt the pony hugging me tense slightly. I let out a tiny shiver as she withdrew slightly, the cold air silently assaulting my now hyper-sensitive skin. A light giggle, starting to sound like Pinkie as she got back to normal again. "Oh, without your fur, you're cold! Poor little guy," she swooned playfully. I couldn't argue with her, despite how the adjectives were vaguely undesirable. It must be hardwired into the male brain to dislike the word 'little', I realized. "Rainbow! We need to warm Mender up. Wanna help with your big, soft wings?" the mare asked a second later, leaning back down and holding my head again. "Aww, why can't Fluttershy-" Rainbow started, before hesitating and grinding to a halt before continuing, "Oh yeah, she left. Ugh. I guess I can, but it's kinda mushy." A soft, familiar feeling body rested into my back hesitantly a moment late. That was far faster than it should have taken Rainbow to get over to me, however. There was an almost tactile silence as the soft, warm fur slipped up my back and ended in two legs gently wrapping around my chest. The sensation felt familiar, somehow. "Whoa, Twilight?" Pinkie asked hesitantly after several awkward moments passed. Twilight?! I tensed up and tried to look behind me, before realizing how stupid that was. A pause. "Yes, Pinkie?" the lavender unicorn in question asked from directly next to my ear. Oh dear. It was indeed Twilight who was residing on my back. Mixed emotions assaulted me, but she was oh so warm and soft. "Weren't you two mad at each other? But now you're holding him!" the pink one pointed out in an extremely obvious yet self-aware manner. How she said it so we knew she was aware that it was obvious, I have no idea. A gentle cough sounded from behind Pinkie, followed by, "That is an extremely blunt question, Pinkie. Perhaps we shouldn't pry? Although certainly, if you require our aid to talk things out, we'll obviously be here for you." Rarity sounded thoughtful, but more than a little curious as well. I recalled that she did love to gossip, but doubted she'd let it overwhelm her sense of propriety. "I'm surprised she doesn't mind that he's all furless and diced up. With all of those scars, it looks like he got stuck in a blender," Rainbow chipped in, adding a light snicker after. "Rainbow! That's a little rude. I don't mind what he looks like. He'll always be Mender to me," Twilight defended, and I felt her hooves hook together under my chest, letting her squeeze me lightly from above. A light warmth shot through me, and I felt the telltale heat drifting into my cheeks. Pinkie started giggling merrily, and I realized that my blush was probably quite a bit more pronounced without any fur to hide it. "Oh, that's very noble of you, Twilight. I happen to agree as well. It doesn't hurt that scars are somewhat appealing to me, though. Each one says something about the pony they belong to, telling a strong history," Rarity agreed in her usual sophistication, but sounding a little strange. There was something to her tone that I couldn't place. "Yeah! Scars mean you're super tough and have lived through lots. They're kinda sexy, right Dashie?" Pinkie asked, causing me to blush even more. This conversation, regardless of my taking part in it in the first place, was getting more than a little embarrassing. Rainbow let out an awkward sounding, "Mmph" noise, and then remained silent. "Oooh, she thinks so too!" Pinkie cooed, sounding a little more pleased than she should, probably. "Pinkie!" Dash berated, sounding a little annoyed this time. It didn't matter as the conversation was thankfully interrupted before it could spiral out of control. A light squeaking noise, sounding remarkably like a certain timid pegasus I knew, sounded throughout my head as I heard a door open up. "I'm back. I have the two ointments, Twilight," Fluttershy announced from somewhere far behind me, sounding a little flustered. Probably the main entrance, if I remembered what the inside of the building looked like still. There was that strange sensation again. Focusing a little harder this time, I suddenly saw the faint image of an almost spilt bag of supplies and a buttercup yellow hoof extending out quickly to catch them, just in time. What was that?! "I, um, think I got everything. Hard and soft tissue treatment for both hooves and eyes, skin salve, throat syrup, and stain cleaner. Uh, for Rarity's bathroom of course. I hope it helps," the timid yellow pegasus informed, landing somewhere near me. I decided that yet again, this wasn't the best place to ask her about the effect. "Oh, you're a lifesaver, dear! I'll save the bathroom for later. Mender and Rainbow are the highest priority right now," Rarity decreed. Twilight nodded against me, gently explaining, “It would be a good idea to let the fumes clear out up there anyway. I’m not sure what they’d do to a pony if breathed in.” Oh, acid. I forgot about that. Actually, I was kind of lucky it wasn’t any more potent than it turned out to be. "It's just my hooves. Take care of Mender first. He hurts, can barely talk, and is blind as a bat," Rainbow requested gently as I heard Fluttershy start to unpack things next to my head. Fluttershy let out a soft giggle next to me that was extremely pleasing to the ears before commenting, "That's very kind of you, Rainbow. Still, getting yours set up while Mender's eyes heal won't be any trouble at all. You just need to soak your hooves in this stuff." Fluttershy always had everypony’s best interest in mind. She was so sweet like that. Although my anger was fading now and I was starting to also remember why I liked Twilight as well. Even though she could freak out big time and be a little unreasonable, she still cared deeply for her friends. "Mmm, take your time. He makes a decent pillow," Twilight murmured lazily right into my ear. I smirked. Of course, her caustic wit at this point was something of an endearment. She's grown on me, and we really do share a lot in common. "Is that what they call it now?" Rainbow teased, confusing me a little. Call what now? Twilight groaned and, in lieu of answering, buried her face into the nape of my neck. I blushed lightly but didn't move, simply letting her rest there. I heard movement in front of me at the same time. Pinkie's skin contact left and was replaced by nothing but the chilly air. I didn't have to wait long however, before somepony started gently removing the wrap around my eyes. A soft, flowery scent wafted into my nose and I smiled. "Fluttershy," I whispered, voice unable to go much higher due to increased pain. "Oh!" she spoke, sounding startled before asking, "How did you know it was me?" Pinkie gasped almost instantly before I could so much as think, questioning, "Did you get your sight back? Can you see what I'm doing?!" I then heard the distinct sound of her tongue sticking out, as if she were at the doctor's office or something. "Pinkie, his eyes are closed," Fluttershy pointed out weakly, probably not being heard over Pinkie's ridiculous 'Ah!' sound. "She's sticking her tongue out. Oh, and you're the only one who smells like fresh cut flowers," I explained simply, still smiling. "Oh, um, I see," Fluttershy whispered quietly, pausing again in the removal of my bandages. I didn't need to see to guess fairly accurately that she was blushing. Even just in my imagination, it was adorable! I smiled wider as she stopped. "You're such a sweet talker. The most charming part is, I don't suspect that you're aware of it," Twilight mumbled into my ear, earning a giggle from Fluttershy. Wait, sweet talker? Wasn't that somepony who uses false praise to get something? But Fluttershy really did smell like flowers! It wasn't like I was lying. "He's just honest, dear. Possibly too honest for his own good, in some cases. I'm honestly surprised Applejack hit it off the worst with him," Rarity continued as Fluttershy took my eye wrappings off. Blotches of light greeted me through my yet closed eyelids. I knew that it was significantly less than what it should be given Rarity's well-lit rooms. A quiet, yet sharp intake sounded from the mare right in front of me. I swallowed wearily. There was no feeling coming from my eyes, and I felt them almost glued shut by something. They probably didn't look all that healthy. I felt for Fluttershy. She was such a gentle soul, but she had to see some truly terrible injuries. The only reason I could see for her having the medicine in the first place is that she's had to deal with this in her animals before. "It's not good. The medicine will numb them and help heal, but without magic..." Fluttershy assessed softly. I felt a warm hoof brush along my left temple, probably cleaning the skin a little. Twilight leaned forwards on me and let out a giggle. "That's what I'm here for, Fluttershy. It's okay. I'm sure he'll recover fully," she assured gently. More for Fluttershy than myself, it sounded. There was no direct reply. She probably nodded or something. Regardless, I felt her tilt my head up and simply let her do whatever. "This might hurt, but I need you to open your eyes to get the medicine in them. The liquid will make them feel better, so it will only hurt for a couple seconds. I'm sorry..." Fluttershy requested timidly. "I understand," I managed to rasp out before gathering my legs under me. I didn't want to accidentally hit anypony if I jerked. Not that I was looking forward to the pain, but some things are just unavoidable. Gritting my teeth together as firmly as I could, I yanked open my eyes with as much speed as I could muster. The blotches of light immediately shifted to blotches of color. After that, all I saw was agony. I didn't even know one could see agony! My breathing snagged on the intake, making me dizzy when combined with the twin spears of pain that just smashed into my skull. The distinctive metallic taste drifted at the corners of my tongue at the same time that all the blood seemingly drained out of my head. Then Fluttershy hit me with the medicine. At first, all it did was make me give a raspy yelp and flinch away. Mere seconds later, however, it just stopped. The pain vanished possibly faster than it arrived. Then I realized that I actually couldn't feel my eyes at all. It was an exceedingly strange sensation, beaten only by the fact that I still could only see splotches of color, even though I knew my eyes were open. "Does it hurt now? I can put more in if you need it!" Fluttershy quickly offered, gently shifting me back into a lying position. After a momentary assessment, I decided that I actually couldn't feel a majority of my face, and shook my head softly to decline her offer. "I'll take over then, Fluttershy. Give him a little of the throat medicine, then help Rainbow?" Twilight suggested gently, probably more to assure her that I didn't need any more of the eye stuff. Twilight shifted in front of me then and switched with Fluttershy, from what I could feel. I was distracted shortly thereafter by a warm cup being pressed to my lip. A thermos? “I mixed it up while I was there. It’s best when mixed in tea, I discovered. Oh, um, if you don’t like tea, I can go back home and mix it into something else, of course! It’s just what I use for sore throats when I’m not feeling well and, um…” the shy pegasus started to explain before trailing off. I gave her my best warm smile before shaking my head and accepting the cup. It was surprisingly good, I decided after a few sips. I'd never had much tea before, but she could definitely give Rarity's a run for her bits. It was smooth and had a light minty aftertaste that covered up the normally bitter tang. If there was medicine in it, I certainly couldn't taste it. Moments later, I realized further that there was indeed medicine in it, as my throat went pleasantly numb. My expression must have been that of happiness, as Fluttershy let out a pleased squeak a moment later. I smiled again and nodded to the yellow mare. "That will help numb your throat, and contains a healing mixture to repair. Zecora is really good at making potions, despite, um, your bad experiences. Please don't be upset with her," she timidly requested. "Yeah! It was totally my fault that you got too much truth serum. Oh, and got coated in acid. Oh yeah, and the kicking your leg thing. I'm gonna need a bigger banner!" the energetic pink one suddenly declared, sounding as if making a mental note to herself. Oddly, even when sounding guilty, she didn't lose a drop of her normal energy. It kind of made me wonder when and how she actually recovered it all. Did she go home at night and crash in the most epic fashion I could ever witness? There was indeed something to be said about giving your all to everything, if so. It was a little depressing if you thought too hard about it. Kind of like my battalion's motto that I vaguely remembered. Translated, it was something akin to 'Live Free, Die Hard', if I recalled correctly. Although fairly accurate, as we were dumped on the front lines most of the time, if my most recent flashback was to be believed. The sudden magical current running through the front of my face snapped me out of my dour mental monologue almost instantly, thankfully. I blinked with neither sight nor feeling, a little concerned for what was happening. I assumed Twilight was the cause of the sudden, strange sensation, but then I remembered what usually happened when I assumed something. Thankfully, she explained it shortly after beginning. "I've never healed something as fragile or complex as eyes before, so I don't trust myself to do it properly the first time. Instead, I'm relying on the slow regeneration the potion Fluttershy gave you bestows, and then accelerating the process," the amazingly brilliant unicorn explained. Well, she'd deny that herself, probably, but I certainly thought so. It really meant something that she wasn't willing to reduce me to an experiment when it really mattered. What Dash had said earlier came to mind again. She really did seem to honestly care for me, even if both of us sometimes forget that. I suppose fights are inevitable, even in the best of relationships. Which means we should expect a lot of them. Rainbow snickered immediately. "Wow. You just said something that I actually could follow this time," she praised, with no small hinting of sarcasm. Pinkie giggled at the undertones before asking, "But he'll be super duper fine after this, right? He'll get his sight back? Seeing things is important!" There was the slightest hinting of hysteria at the back of her voice, which was actually kind of disturbing the longer I thought about it. I couldn't imagine Pinkie being serious to any degree without involving the destruction of the world, or something of similar effect. "Well, in theory. Restoration of chemical burns to tender skin has been done before, but I don't recall any cases where the eyes were involved. So far, the only notable cases involved horns, noses, a few examples of wing tissue, and in one unfortunate event, male genitalia." Twilight paused there, and I felt a shudder in her magical current that oddly matched the one going down my spine. I didn't even want to know how that happened. Pinkie continued, oblivious of course. "So it will work on his eyes?!" she asked again, a little more frantically this time. Twilight sighed and focused more energy into my skull. I hope I didn't get some sort of magical brain tumor or something. "I don't know, Pinkie. It should and has a high probability of working, but it's never been done before," she reiterated. "Relax, Pinks. Mender's one tough stallion. He'll be fine," Rainbow assured calmly, expressing a great deal of faith in me yet again. Well, she was definitely living up to her reputation. I'd never had somepony show such loyalty and faith in me. Well, to my knowledge anyway. I couldn't help but blush a little, somewhat unsure of how to handle such an expression. "Okay, Rainbow, here you go," Fluttershy suddenly whispered from a little ways behind me and to the left. Whoa! I hadn't even realized that she left. I guess there were perks to being quiet all the time. She'd make a wicked assassin. A heartbeat went by, then I reconsidered. No, she'd probably be the worst assassin in the universe. Followed very closely by myself. She'd decide to rehabilitate the target until they were a functioning member of society again, and I'd trip and fall on my weapon during my first mission. "Uh, and all I have to do is put my hooves in this? I really don't like my hooves touched!" Rainbow inquired, sounding a bit flustered. I was intrigued, but decided against saying anything. As defenseless as I was at the moment, tempting fate just seemed extra stupid in this case. I can't make it too easy. "I'm sure, Rainbow. This will heal the outer layer of your hooves that got burned, turning them the odd color," Fluttershy explained. It suddenly dawned on me that the timid yellow pegasus actually knew quite a bit about medicine and treating injuries. She explained things simply, however, so far showing no need to boast about the knowledge. I made a mental note to hopefully remember to ask her about her knowledge later. Idly, I wondered what Rarity and Pinkie were doing while I waited. I picked up snickering and a few whispers, but it seemingly moved to the other room. Her kitchen, if I recall? Knowing Rarity, they were gossiping or something. Ah well. The constant current of magic running through my face and head was starting to actually get a little relaxing, and I felt myself slowly getting sleepier and sleepier. It had been a long day, seeming as if the day before just bled into it in one long jumble. I doubted that the sleep I got last night was all that restful, if I was truly asleep in the first place. Coma, came to mind instead. A light humming noise from Twilight snapped me out of it. Instinctively, I looked up at her before remembering that I couldn’t see. Then I surprised the hell out of myself by seeing a fuzzy, lavender blur instead of almost nothing. “This is strange. It was supposed to speed up the recovery, but this is almost too fast. Plus the effected zones of the tonic are far too spread out to be standard deviation,” the unicorn muttered, almost to herself as I saw her lean in for closer examination, the purple, fuzzy glow from her horn flaring up. “That wasn’t in the other cases?” I asked quietly, voice already feeling better from the medicine. Of course, the other cases probably didn’t involve an extradimensional traveler. I really don’t like to consider it, but I’m probably a fairly unique case in Equestria. I think. She smiled, but shook her head. “Not exactly. I mean, the magical healing mixes well with the potion effects, but this is almost as if your eyes are taking advantage of the potion effects themselves and forcing the recovery even faster. They’re reacting very strangely.” “Maybe because I’m not originally from Equestria?” I suggested, delighted in the fact that I could see her now when I looked up. “It could be that your genetic makeup is different from ours, although this seems almost intentional on your body’s part. I take it you can see me again, as your pupils are tracking my motions?” she observed, peeking down at me again. I smiled wider and nodded. Hers became a grin, and then she surprised me by looking around carefully, to each side of herself. I glanced about too, wondering what she was looking for. Fluttershy was to my right now, smiling gently at me as well. Dash was close to her, looking back and forth between myself and her hooves that were stuck in a small, purple tub in front of her. That was undoubtedly the mixture Fluttershy brought. Seemingly nothing out of the ordinary in the situation that Twilight would be interested in, I decided. Well, nothing out of the ordinary apart from the various injuries we all had. Then I realized what Twilight was looking for when she nodded to herself and leaned down further. Oh, she was looking for observers. Specific observers it would seem. There was no further time for realizations before she lightly kissed me directly on the muzzle, pushing against me warmly but not forcefully. What had I done to deserve this?! “I’m glad you’re back as well,” she whispered, a few seconds later upon breaking the kiss. “Please don’t run away again?” Fluttershy now sported a light blush, and Dash was grinning at us. I smiled softly up at her, noticing a warm blush similar to the one I felt on my own cheeks. “Are Mender’s eyes about done, if I may ask?” Rarity inquired, sounding as if she was a mere few feet behind Twilight. Twilight leapt back and away as if burned, blush magnifying a few fold. It took her a few tries, but she nodded rapidly. “He’s definitely healing up. Uh, yeah, totally healing up nicely!” she assured, a little too abruptly for her own good. The white unicorn gave her a slightly skeptical glance, but nodded politely, seemingly deciding not to ask about it. “Well, regardless, I have retrieved the hair regrowth tonic from upstairs. The bathroom isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but I’d like to treat Mender’s condition first. He simply can’t go outside like he is!” Rarity declared, looking a little frightening again. I shrank down slightly, but reminded myself that Twilight would stop her short of killing me. I hoped. “Relax, Mender. You’re thoroughly cleansed of the soap that caused it before. It should work perfectly fine this time," Twilight assured, blush finally fading a little bit. Looking back over at Rarity, I saw that she was already putting away the vile jug again. Even though it was a little fuzzy still, I could tell that smell from anywhere now that it was thoroughly engrained in my memory. Sighing, I realized that I wasn't going to be given a choice in the matter. Rainbow's snickering sent a pulse of irritation down my back. "Come on, Mender. Worst case scenario, I have to dump you back into a rain barrel. Ya don't want to look all pink and fleshy until your fur grows back, do ya?" she reasoned bluntly. Shaking my head wearily, I finally gave in and sighed. "Fine. Just try to hurry, because that stuff is cold," I whined. I might as well get this over with. Rarity gave a somewhat overzealous grin before bringing the jug over my back. * * * * * That was how I became a four foot wide furball. With a deadpan, mildly annoyed expression, I sat there on my haunches as Rarity did her best to fend the fur away from my face and eyes with deft use of three pairs of scissors at once. I was a little apprehensive with that many sharp, moving objects drifting around my head, but I suppose it was better than suffocating. "The more I consider it, the more I think that I might have used slightly too much tonic," Rarity deduced dryly, giving the top of my head a shave again, only to have the bottom start to regrow into the spot she just cleared. "You don't say?" Twilight questioned sarcastically, watching the white unicorn work from a good two meters away, as if concerned the fur would lash out at any moment and attack her. Rainbow, of course, was still laughing. She had rolled off the couch a couple of minutes ago, but it didn't really faze her much. She continued laughing hysterically and occasionally getting another look at me. Pinkie was still on the couch, smiling warmly towards me. I was honestly surprised she hadn't had the same enthusiasm as her cyan friend. She'd laughed a little when I started rapidly becoming the world's largest duster, but simply seemed happy at this point. I kept occasionally glancing at her to make sure there were no surprises coming my way, but she only perked and gave me a nod each time I did so. Which meant she was continuously staring at me the entire time. I found that to be a little more unnerving than if she were laughing. Fluttershy was drifting around in the air above me still. She wielded the largest comb Rarity owned, and was continuously attempting to ensure that my newly acquired fur didn't become one massive knot. I was extremely thankful for that, as Rarity might be encouraged to attack it with extreme prejudice. Twilight shook her head again, giving me a light smile before going back to her strange construction project in front of her. I actually didn't know why she was still hanging around, having occasionally complained that she really should be working on the Everfree Forest Analysis job. She seemed absorbed in her current project, however. She'd taken two of the cardboard cores from Rarity's fabric rolls and merged them together using magic. They now formed a crude, upside down 'Y' shape. I had honestly no idea what she was planning on doing with it. "Oh thank Celestia. I think it's finally slowing down some. Now all we need to do is trim and style it, and you'll be right back to normal!" she assured, suddenly looking proud of herself. I remained healthily skeptical with an expression of stoic irritation. Technically, this was all her fault to begin with, for the most part. She was the one who went compulsive on my fur. I could hardly hold it against Pinkie, who was only trying to save me. "Oh, we're going to style it, too? Isn't that strange for a stallion?" Fluttershy asked timidly, halting momentarily over my head. It was? Wait, what were they going to 'style' it as?! Rarity gently scoffed at the idea, waving her hoof in the air as if to dismiss it. "Nonsense, my dear. There are many styles that a stallion may apply that can make them look simply dashing! Have you seen that kind Dr. Whooves walking about town? Such a sophisticated look could really help Mender impress the mares!" I gave her another glare before asking, "What if I don't want to impress the mares, Rarity?" Twilight would probably kill me if I even looked like I was vaguely considering it, after all. Rarity gave a blank look before smiling politely back at me. "Well, I'm sure the stallions would also appreciate an air of sophistication," she returned with no hesitation whatsoever. Rainbow laughed even harder. I sighed wearily and slapped my forehead with a hoof. Or tried too, until I realized I couldn't lift my foreleg up that far with all of the fur in the way. "Look, I already feel badly enough for all of your generosity. All of you have been treating me really well, and I don't have a single thing I can repay you with!" I protested, settling for stomping my hoof on the ground instead. "Really nice except for that whole acid thing, the potion poisoning, the leg kicking, the multiple concussions, lacerations, and general injuries..." Twilight started listing. I was about to protest further when I noticed she'd lined one end of the tube she made up with my face. My eyes widened instead. "Don't forget the mental trauma, dear," Rarity amended, a hinting of irritation in her voice before shaking her head. Twilight shot her a rather caustic glare. "Besides, Mender, I don't believe you fully understand exactly how much you're saving my career by agreeing to this little soiree. Potentially importing my designs to Canterlot via multiple important and wealthy ponies? For the price of one suit? I'm not even considering that I'm taking up your time for a day and a half to two days! Truly, I should be paying you, Mender!" she further explained, sounding just a little hysterical towards the end. I found it a little hard to believe that not arriving with the guest requested on her invitation would honestly make her look that bad, but she was the expert, not I. I suddenly tried not to chuckle. Yeah, Mender, you definitely aren't an expert at social situations! Whap! A small, rubber ball skipped off my muzzle and bounced across the floor. I was momentarily stunned before skeptically glancing back over at Twilight. She was oddly taking notes in a notepad that I hadn't seen her carrying prior. The tiny bouncy ball was caught out of the air with her magic as she lined it up in her slanted tube again. Wait, why was she doing this? I glanced at the 'Y' fork and raised an eyebrow. Okay, so it had a fifty-fifty chance of hitting me. "Oooh, it's long enough to braid, Rarity! He looks so cute," Fluttershy suddenly announced, snapping me out of my curiosity with a replaced sensation of dread. Glancing back as best as I could, I saw that she had stopped combing me now and was unfortunately braiding my fur along the side of my head. My ears drooped as I felt what little there was left of my dignity slipping away. "Oh, he looks simply darling! Maybe I won't trim his mane as much if you're going to do that instead," Rarity agreed in a whimsical tone. She totally ignored my death glare, of course. Fluttershy may have been off limits for my irritation, but I held nothing back for the others. Rarity gave me a knowing smile as Fluttershy squeaked and went to work braiding with a slightly surprising level of enthusiasm. Crap. Well, she seemed to really want to do it, so how was I supposed to say no? The adorable yellow mare hummed pleasingly as she flitted about above. Thankfully, the pearly white unicorn started to make headway as the tonic undoubtedly wore off. Another ball skipped off my face followed by more furious scribbling sounds, but I simply ignored it this time. Twilight seemed interested in the results as she peered at her notepad. Changing things up a bit, she shifted the contraption to the right so that the other end lined up with me instead. Whap. So far she was scoring a hundred percent, as the ball took the other path and managed to hit me yet again. She frowned and recorded the results before trying once again. Seeing a pattern forming, I was a little amused when she got frustrated and flipped it over to the other side. What, was she worried about defects in the cardboard? After six more tests with both ends, and twelve more collisions with my head, I saw her start to get a slightly crazed look in her eyes. "I don't understand! Why is this happening?!" she asked in obvious frustration. What part of the universe hating me did she not get? Rainbow, who had been watching the entire time, started to snicker before asking, "What are you doing, trying to find a measurement of how much gravity hates him?" I rolled my eyes, blaming her for secretly stealing my thought, no matter how true it might have been. Twilight didn't respond the way I thought she would, though. In fact, she didn't respond at all for a good ten seconds or so. Even Rainbow went from smirking to curious, to looking slightly worried. "Wait, gravity? You might just have something there, Rainbow!" she suddenly exclaimed, whipping back around to face me and launching the cardboard construction halfway through the spin. I gave her an uneasy grimace. "What do you mean, gravity? You're not going to throw me off a building or something, are you?" I questioned. It might have been a mildly paranoid guesstimate, but sometimes having a healthy air of caution was useful! She momentarily scowled before playfully batting me on the nose. "Relax, Mender. I told you that I wasn't going to hurt you anymore, and I meant it. Gravity isn't something I had considered, though. It's unlikely, as in order to have the required gravitational pull to manipulate something already containing inertia, you'd require a huge amount of mass, but it's worth a few tests, right?" she reasoned. Wait, was she seriously suggesting that I had a gravitational field strong enough to draw things towards me, to effect things that were not only inside of an atmosphere but already acting under its own inertia? The pure calculation escaped me at the moment, but even with some generous rounding, I doubted that was possible. Unless she was considering magical means, of course. Eh, what the heck? If the experiments were as mundane as bouncing a rubber ball off my head, I wasn't all that concerned. Yeah, I'd probably live to regret that thought. Maybe. I nodded nervously, and Twilight let out a squeal of delight. "Yes! I've been wanting to test the source of your seemingly insurmountable bad luck since meeting you! This is gonna be great! Hurry up, Rarity. Mender and I need to get back to the library for some experiments." She hopped lightly on her hooves while going on about it, and I sighed. Her version of 'great' seemed to significantly differ from mine. Sure, it would be nice to quantify so I knew what to avoid, but the process of getting there was liable to be painful, knowing the aspect of what we were testing. How else would one test 'bad luck' without subjecting the participant to events which could go horribly, horribly wrong? "Twilight dear, weren't you supposed to examine those things brought back from the forest? I hate to spoil your fun, of course, but you mustn't keep the Princesses waiting," Rarity reminded in a rather profoundly proper tone. It was probably to my benefit that she had. Twilight stopped bouncing and sighed wearily. "Yeah, I know. I'm just frustrated that I can't seem to properly identify the creature," she explained, energy seemingly leaking out of her at an alarming rate. "It might be a mutation. You should take potential variances into consideration," I suggested after a few seconds' consideration. My voice sounded strange to me for a moment, in a detached sort of way. There was the brief flickering of bodies strewn out before me, gaping burn holes seared into their flesh and horrible disfigurations present across their entire forms. The image was gone and instant later, and I realized once again that it was a memory. We had been familiar with mutations as well, it would seem. But the situation itself with no context didn't say much. Who was responsible for the mutations; us or the Grosh? Hopefully I would never find out. "I never thought two ponies could say so much, yet so little at the same time," Dash muttered, smirking again at the two of us. Twilight rolled her eyes again, but wore a smile this time. "Oh hush. You're probably right. I shouldn't doubt that I did the calculations wrong after I re-checked them all night. It could be a significant mutation to a manticore. The claws are very wrong, though," Twilight explained, agreeing with me for the first time in a while now. Rarity, who was down to my shoulders now with her trimming, smiled and nodded to her in assurance. "Of course, I have no doubt that you'll reach the right conclusion, Twilight. I have the utmost faith in you, and it's obvious that the town, and even the Princesses do as well. Even if you can't identify it exactly, giving a detailed explanation of what you have discovered would be invaluable, no?" Rarity reasoned calmly, which was a little surprising given the topic. One would think a resident in the town threatened would want a more definite solution to the state of emergency. Yet the white unicorn seemed the epitome of calmness and tranquility. Ironically, she threw more of a fuss over my traumatized fur than potential mortal danger in the forest. Twilight smiled pleasantly at her friend, giving a gentle nod in return. At this point, however, I really had to ask. "You seem really calm, Rarity. Shouldn't you be more concerned with the danger in the forest? That there might be danger to yourself or those you love? That, uh, I haven't seen Pinkie Pie for a good fifteen minutes?" I questioned, changing my flow halfway through as I looked around in realization. Wasn't the pink pony just on the couch next to me?! Glancing about, I confirmed my fears in that she was now entirely absent. Rarity banished all doubts with an amazingly feminine giggle. "Truly, you are a Gentlecolt to be concerned for my feelings, but a Lady simply must remain composed and dignified at all times. Sure, I'm concerned about the forest, but I must remain calm to deal with it. Oh, and Pinkie wandered back into the kitchen to say something, but left through the kitchen window a few seconds before I returned, parting not but with a sudden gasp," Rarity spoke softly, brushing her mane smoothly out of her eyes. Why the window?! Rainbow perked up from her hoof bath, both ears twitching slightly. "Ooh, something tells me another party is coming up, then. Finally! All this stress and work makes me really want to kick back and relax," she lazily exclaimed, drooping her head in a tired looking manner. "Regardless, I don't think anypony needs to worry about it. No matter what I can identify it as, it will only go as far as to let everypony know what to look for. The Princess will probably decide to send a group of hunters to try to capture the creature," Twilight furthered, nodding softly to herself while looking just as tired as before. Rarity nodded sympathetically before suggesting, "All the better to get it out of your mind sooner rather than later, Dear. We can make sure Mender gets returned to you after he's properly maintained." The whimsical, nonchalant manner in which she referenced me as an item was both shocking and depressing at the same time. Didn't I get a say in this? I distinctly remembered Rainbow's advice this morning about possibly not staying with Twilight anymore. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll see you later today, Mender. Try to arrive intact, this time," the lavender mare requested as she slowly stood up again and shook herself while stretching. Exhaling quietly after I realized I wasn't going to be spared from the braiding or humiliation, I slowly lowered myself into a lying position. Might as well be as comfortable as possible while being psychologically tormented. "Worry not. We'll make sure nothing happens to the dear," Rarity assured merrily, lightly trimming along my back now. Twilight gave a nod, then a final smile towards me before heading towards the door.
Chapter 14In all honesty, I really didn't like daytime. There were numerous reasons, but a select few came to mind right away. Squinting from the glare, I slowly made my way towards the giant tree near the center of town. The Sun hadn't set yet and was at that frustratingly annoying angle where it partially blinded you when looking a certain direction. I certainly didn't need any help being blinded right now! The heat was stifling at the moment as well, given my longer than average coat. Rarity wasn't able to fully complete her trimming after Sweetie Belle and crew stormed into the place chirping about a slumber party. It had been a nightmare. "Why are you so fluffy?" "Aww, you're adorable!" "Yer lookin' ah little haggard there." All three fillies seemed to think something different about my look. Well, actually I think Apple Bloom was more commenting on my expression than anything. That didn't stop Sweetie Belle from pouncing on me and using me as a makeshift teddy bear. Apparently it was hard to cut my fur with her clinging to me, so now I was a little more, well, fuzzy than usual. Fluffy, if you would. Oh, and the part of my mane consisting of my bangs was braided, much to my dismay. Given my lack of a masculine build, I sincerely believed I could pass for a female at the moment, now. Not that current company seemed to mind. The timid yellow mare walked quietly to my right, in as much of a hurry to reach my destination as I was, which was to say, not at all. Fluttershy seemed withdrawn and distracted, but still maintained a smile on her face. She was quite pretty to look at, and I caught myself peeking over at her more than once. She'd insisted she had nothing further to do today until nighttime. I hadn't questioned her motives further than that. Our eyes met once again and we both blushed, looking away from each other. I suppose it was still a nice enough day, all things considered. I'd gotten my leg healed and my fur returned to some semblance of normalcy. I'd discovered I had my Cutie Mark, much to the disappointment of the three fillies. I hadn't escaped their wrath flawlessly, and had been forced to promise my time in helping them to acquire theirs as well. It wasn't a pretty memory, and I'd probably suppress it later today. Still, in comparison to my usual days, it was looking up. I hadn't been almost killed or suffered any blunt head trauma yet. The bouncy ball didn't count. I decided to only give credit if the impact was above a certain velocity. Honestly, it was the only way to keep a track record at all. Fluttershy shifted ever so slightly closer to me as she lowered her head again. I looked back at her hesitantly but she simply looked deep in thought. I kept walking alongside of her for a while longer before the concern finally got the better of me. If she was upset about something, I simply had to do something about it! To get her attention, I closed the half an inch distance between our shoulders and lightly brushed against her. She started slightly but looked over at me regardless, a light blush forming when she saw me looking back with lightly furrowed brows. "Are you all right, Fluttershy? You seem down," I asked softly. She momentarily looked surprised, but recovered quickly with a warm smile. "Oh, yes. Thank you for your concern, but I was just thinking," she returned softly after a moment's consideration. While I doubted this was anything out of the ordinary, I was still a little concerned for the already quiet and reserved pegasus. "About what, if I might ask? I don't like seeing you upset," I inquired as politely as I could manage. She blushed even further but kept her smile, adding a nod before furthering with, "I don't know why I'm so silly, but I keep thinking about what Twilight and I saw in your memories. It bothers me when I, um, think too much about it." Her revealed thoughts didn't surprise me all that much. I'd suspected that was what she was thinking about. "You don't have to deal with it all by yourself, you know. Don't be afraid to talk to me about it," I offered, slightly before my brain fully considered the implications of the statement, and I followed up with, "Or any of the girls of course. I'm sure any of them would gladly listen." The last thing I wanted was to have her think I was taking advantage of her or something! Was it too late already?! Fluttershy watched me carefully, neither suspicion nor true understanding in her eyes. It was unnerving after a second, and panicking after several. I fidgeted, wondering if she thought I was some sort of abuser or something. "Ah, I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't mean for it to sound like that, honest! All I want to do is help you. I'm not trying to take advantage of you or anything and I understand if you're not comfortable," I rapidly backpedaled, hoping it got to her before she jumped to conclusions and panicked. The buttermilk yellow pegasus momentarily looked surprised before, much to my shock, she started giggling merrily. It was an uncontrolled, pleasant sound to listen to as she shifted to snickering and swaying. "Oh Mender. You'll never change. That's a good thing of course! I wasn't mad at you and I wouldn't dare to consider you taking advantage of me. You're a very kind stallion, which is why I like you," she explained before leaning in and giving me a soft hug. As surprising as her trust in me was, I still felt relieved that she wasn't mad at me. Exhaling quietly, I rested my forehead against her shoulder. "Thank you again for worrying about me. I'm okay, though. It's just a bit hard to not think about what I saw when around you, still. You're so gentle, it's hard for me to understand how you could come from such a terrible place," she explained, voice rapidly losing confidence the longer she spoke. She shifted and looked down towards the dirt by the end, but still didn't make any attempt to move. "Just because I was there, didn't mean I agreed with the violence. A lot of soldiers justify the war like that, but others just want to protect those they care about, and the very place they call home," I justified, secretly calling upon the reasons I told myself that I had participated. She seemed confused and looked back up at me with a slightly tilted head. Her expression shifted to thoughtful a moment later when she asked, "So you joined the war to protect, right? I think I knew that already. What were you trying to protect?" That was, well, a very good question. I frowned and looked up at the radiant blue sky above us for a moment. Yeah, that was probably it. My eyes got lost in the azure shades and I relaxed, giving the yellow mare a gentle squeeze. "At first I thought it was for family, but I'm not sure I had any. Ultimately, it was the same reason I had when fighting the Grosh most recently. I wanted to protect those I cared for, and all the wonderful ponies that make this place special. The Equestrian way of life, I guess?" I reasoned, surprisingly enough for the first time. I'd not spent much time thinking about that day. Of course, it was kind of a miserable experience. I didn't know anything about this 'hero' thing, but if that was what it took, I'd rather leave the horrible pain and miserable death to somepony else. Of course, it was asked of me at the time so I didn't have a whole lot of choice. Fluttershy smiled in my silence and nodded, mirroring my earlier pose against my shoulder this time. "That makes me feel better. Even if you, um, hurt things, you did it for a reason you couldn't control, and to protect your way of life from the evil creatures. I just don't know. How did you make it through that and remain so nice?" she questioned again, pushing harder against me and shivering a little. I frowned, never liking to see her like this, and gave her another reassuring squeeze. "That level of... Well, let's just call it hatred, is definitely not normal. The emotions required to willingly end the life of something else doesn't sit well with me. It never has, I don't think. It's like it's a form of insanity, and I avoid it with all my might. Even on that ship when I was all alone, I still remembered why I was doing everything. It wasn't ever for me. I could only focus on what would happen if I let them figure out how to make a portal here. That was all that justified blowing up the ship. Stopping an evil and selfish creature from hurting everypony I loved. If there were any other way, Fluttershy, I would have taken it. I'm not a hero, and didn't even want to be there, but considering the alternatives..." My rambling died out slowly the tighter her hugging got. At some point, we'd switched places again, and she was back to hugging me. "Thank you. Just, thank you, Mender. That's what I'd been hoping all along. You aren't what those images hinted at, and that's all that matters. You, well, I'm just glad that you care so much about us. Thank you," she gushed, in her own soft and quiet way. A warm smile decorated her expression, and her gorgeous blue eyes shimmered in the sunlight. I couldn't help but smile as I gazed at her and gave a gentle nod. She was one of the mares I'd give my life to protect, hooves down. Hooves? I was suddenly amused by how I had started to adapt the vocabulary into my very thoughts. All amusement slipped and fell off the proverbial cliff as she leaned up suddenly and gave me a timid peck on my cheek. My eyes widened and I felt the fiery magma sensation explode into my face as I tried to suddenly process what she had just done. I must have looked silly, because she suddenly giggled and backed away a little, still smiling warmly but now mirroring my blush slightly. After several seconds, she lightly reached up again and closed the mouth I hadn't realized I'd let drop open. "That was for protecting us and being such a nice guy. Um, thank you. For putting up with me as well. I, uh, know I can be a bit, um, nervous sometimes and..." she started, looking back down at my hooves again. That fired up the thought processes once more! "Fluttershy!" I scolded lightly. She jumped with a start, eyes snapping open as she shuddered. "Oh! Uh, yes? I'm sorry!" she rapidly apologized, shrinking a little closer towards the ground. "No no. I just don't want you to think you're a burden. I like you, Fluttershy. You're a wonderful mare, and I'd say that even if I didn't think you were adorable, cute, beautiful, and have a massive crush on you. You're intelligent, interesting, kind, gentle, and care so much about everypony else. Honestly, I don't know how anypony could not like you," I pointed out, driving it as hard as I could towards her so she knew exactly how I felt. Predictably, her surprise and fear rapidly shifted to that of embarrassment and awkwardness. The color in her cheeks flared up even more, and oddly, I felt a little proud to have been the cause of her being absolutely adorable. She pawed at me with her right forehoof as if motioning that I had said too much and ponies might hear. "Oh you! I'm not, but... Thank you, but I just, well, oh my goodness, I can't even talk straight," she whispered, mostly to herself it seemed. She shook her head rapidly, causing her mane to shift side to side with a sway before rubbing her cheeks slowly. I smirked and took a bit of a chance. Leaning forward, I gently pecked her forehead before pulling back again. She was just too cute to resist! Besides, it was a show of affection more so than interest in anything else. The timid yellow mare locked up instantly, going absolutely rigid in surprise. Slowly, she lifted her head again to look back up at me, eyes widened to almost maximum size and shivering slightly as she stared. The blush in her cheeks held a shocking contrast to her blue eyes, and she was suddenly even more adorable than before. Her mouth was still open, having been in mid self-berating when I'd done it. Expanding my smirk, I reached up and gently closed her mouth with an odd sense of déjà vu. Her muzzle shifted to a smile instead, eyes softening as she watched me with her renewed blush still not lessening. The emotions behind it felt like they had changed, however. She gave me a quick, almost unnoticeable nod and stood up again, brushing against me with her shoulder before nudging her head towards the tree house library a few blocks in front of us. There was a definite feeling of elation as I returned her smile and nod. I'd made her feel better about something, and that felt even more awesome than figuring out an invention or equation, I suddenly realized. She was happy, and I had helped her get there. With a sudden burst of realization, I looked back at the silver gear adorning each of my flanks as Fluttershy moved ahead. At first I was irritated at it, but now that I think about it, the heart in the center made a little more sense. "Are you coming?" my gentle friend asked from a few meters ahead, her voice a little louder than usual, if not to only get the questioning over to me. Smiling more honestly this time, I turned back to her and nodded before trotting to catch up. This time I managed it with only a slight stumble... * * * * * Having armed guards posted outside of the door was concerning, I decided. At least I assumed they were guards, as they were dressed similarly to the ones I had seen with Celestia in my first encounter with the Princess. They were decked out in a quite different purple and blue color scheme; their chest plate held together by a large, impressive looking gemstone. Most striking, however, were their yellow eyes and bat-like wings instead of feathers. Wait, what in Equestria were they? I'd never heard of a pegasi with membrane wings instead! Of course, they were a little distorted and fuzzy, compliment of my less than stellar eyesight. Maybe they weren't ponies at all? Both guards to either side of the door gave me specifically a stern glare upon our approach. My usually timid companion seemed entirely undaunted, however. "Halt. We are to let nopony into the building without specific invitation. Exception is granted for you of course, Miss Fluttershy," the intimidating guard on the left hissed out upon my breaching spitting distance. I blinked but frowned, a little confused. "Uh, but I live here," I reasoned, unsure of what was going on. Both guards glared harder at me, but said absolutely nothing. "Oh dear. He really is telling the truth. Could you let him in, please?" Fluttershy asked quietly, looking back and forth between the guards and I. "I'm sorry, Miss Fluttershy. We have our orders. You may enter if you wish," the same guard reiterated, tone slightly less hostile this time. They had both visibly relaxed upon her vouching for me, I suddenly realized. Of course, Fluttershy was an Element of Harmony. That meant she was practically a living legend. For a moment, I was put back into perspective. How exactly had I met such wonderful ponies? Surely the odds were astronomically against me. "I'll go inside and talk to Twilight. Perhaps I can get permission for him to enter?" she suggested politely, oddly almost looking comfortable with the guard. I wondered what made her so relaxed. There was something I was definitely missing. Of course, I didn't have a clue as to why there were guards standing out here in the middle of the evening, or why the library would suddenly require armed security in the first place. Both guards nodded curtly and Fluttershy turned back to me, assuring, "I'll only be gone a moment. If you can't enter for some reason, I'll keep you company out here, okay?" I blushed but shook my head. "I can find something to do until I can enter. You don't have to keep me company." Fluttershy's eyes softened, her quiet exhale causing her mane to sway softly. That small smile flashed across her muzzle again and she shook her head. "Oh, you're just so cute and nice! I'll come back out and steal you away to my cottage if you can't enter for some reason," she added, eyes closing momentarily as she gave a cute little nod. Oh crap. Think innocent thoughts, Mender! She's Fluttershy, so she surely meant nothing by it. "We can have a perfectly good time without them if they want to be mean," she tacked on after I didn’t respond due to fighting back a blush. Damn it! The heat flooded into my cheeks and I coughed lightly, trying to dispel both the obviously inaccurate innuendos drifting into my head, and the urge to simply take her up on the offer right then and there. She'd been a lot nicer than Twilight had to me so far. I doubted staying in the same house with the stressed out unicorn was all that healthy for our relationship anyway. "I think I'd like that. Thank you, Fluttershy," I returned in an appreciative manner, trying my hardest not to sound creepy. Or let her figure out the thoughts I was trying to banish. If the timid pegasus was bothered, she was being amazingly stoic about it. Instead, she let out a little giggle and nodded. She surprised me yet again with a light nuzzle to my shoulder before fluttering backwards and rotating to land in front of the door. I watched her graceful movements compulsively, as if she had some sort of mesmerizing effect on me. Yeah, I definitely liked the cute yellow mare. Of course, I also liked the beautiful lavender unicorn who was somewhere inside. As much as she scared the crap out of me and was more than a little high strung, she gave me excited little butterflies in my stomach whenever she got too close. I got along the best with both of them, and each shared compatible yet varying traits with me. I frowned, realizing how badly I didn't want to choose between them. Well, for now, I wouldn't have to. I snapped out of it just in time to see the guard on the right give me a knowing, rather suggestive wink before gesturing towards the mare opening the door. The less than subtle reference was followed by an even more obvious double eyebrow flick, and I sighed. "I'll be right back, Mender," the mare in question assured, glancing back at me before giving a nod and walking inside. I watched the light dwindle to a mere crack before fading completely as she shut the door again. They wasted next to no time after the door shut. "Wow, what a mare! This guy is so lucky to have none other than the Element of Kindness hot for him!" the guard on the right exclaimed wistfully. What the...? "I am still here, you know?" I reminded irritably. If they heard me, they certainly didn't acknowledge it. "Ho! You don't know the half of it. I overheard the Princesses discussing the fact that he's already dating none other than Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic!" the left one shot back. The princesses shared gossip like that? Wait a minute. "You knew who I was all along!" I deduced out loud. For all the reaction I got, I might as well have been a ghost. "Whoa, Fluttershy would never help the jerk cheat on one of her best friends!" the right one denied, sounding appalled. I'm the jerk?! "That's just it, don't you see? They're cooperating, if ya get my drift," the other, hear by classified as Jerk One, pointed out. By reduction, the newly labeled Jerk Two suddenly got a look of dawning comprehension. "The lucky stud! A herd is kinda rare by itself, but one with two of the Elements of Harmony?!" Jerk Two exclaimed in shock. "I'm still here! And you knew who I was all along?!" I finally growled out in an irritated tone, stamping both hooves to the ground as emphasis. Jerk One snorted and looked back at me. "Of course we did," he confirmed, speaking as if I should already know that. Jerk Two, of course, nodded in agreement. "Think about it. We get to play the 'Just Following Orders' routine and watch you squirm. Then you get both mares inside to pity you and lay on the good stuff!" he explained, causing heat to shoot into my cheeks as I realized what he was insinuating. "What if I didn't want their pity? That seems kind of pathetic to me," I groaned out, shaking my head rapidly. It was mostly in disagreement, but it also helped clear it of that annoying heat. Jerk Two shook his head as well but in a slower, more disappointed looking fashion. "Clearly you've never tried it. Pity Sex is the best sex," he pointed out, gesturing empathically towards me with a hoof. My ears flattened back and I glared, a little irked at this point. "Uh, isn't that disrespectful to the mares? I care for them. Besides, there are more important things than just sex, you know. Both are truly amazing mares and frankly, I should be lucky that they like me back," I tried to explain. Both guards stared at me like I had sprouted mutant tentacles out my back or something. I blinked a couple times and resisted the urge to turn around and check. "That's single-handedly the most pansy thing I've ever heard. Let me guess, you haven't gotten any since you got here, right?" he inquired in a snide sort of curiosity. Oops, back to being mad. I grimaced before glaring at him again. What was wrong with these stallions?! Was that truly all they thought about? Sure, I admit to entertaining the idea a couple of times, too, but they seemed downright obsessed with it! "I've been a little too busy trying to stay alive, sorry! There are more important things, you know!" I shot back, suddenly finding myself oddly on the defensive. It wasn't that big of a deal! "Ha! Called it. See how far 'respecting' them has got you? Mares don't want to be respected. They want to be teased and toyed with! Be bad and daring, and they'll crawl all over you," Jerk One exclaimed, rearing slightly and 'punching' the air a bit with his hooves. My opinion of him plummeted. Jerk Two shook his head and raised an eyebrow over at his friend. "I was the one who called it, stupid. But he has a point," he concurred, looking back to me before continuing with, "Even the shy, reserved Fluttershy would probably put out if you pressured her a little bit and acted a little spunky. Heck, act masculine in general. You do kind of look like a mare." Now I didn't know which to be angrier with him for. He insulted both myself and Fluttershy in that statement. The heat got stuck in my cheeks, but for different reasons this time. "Don't talk that way about Fluttershy! She's not like that and deserves your respect," I admonished, voice low and struggling to keep it under control. It wasn't often that I got mad, I realized. I didn't know what to do with all of the anger. It wasn't exactly a feeling I was comfortable with. Still, these bastards deserved it if I just so happened to form a few barriers and knock their skulls around a bit, right? Jerk Two's vague image smirked. It was hard to see details when everything was fuzzy and out of focus, but I'm pretty sure he smirked. At least, that's what would have fit in context. "Or you'll what? Braid my mane?" he challenged. As funny as that would be, turning off his gravity for a few hours sounded infinitely more promising. "Teach you some proper manners, of course. Aren't you guards supposed to be stoic and polite?" I suddenly remembered, surprised at the noticeable difference. It was like night and… day? "Does it look like we're wearing gold to you?" Jerk One coughed lightly, drawing both of our attention to him before suggesting, "Uh, I really don't think that attacking him is such a good idea." My opinion of him increased a few notches. A guard attacking a pony in the street with little to no provocation didn't sound too legal. "Don't join him in Pansy-land. I'll just show him why we're guards real fast. Don't worry," the second guard assured, stomping the steps they were on with his front hooves as he slammed back down and glared at me. My eyes narrowed as I focused on him instantly. At least I would have, had a low but loud creaking noise not sounded from the wall behind him, expanding up the side of the tree. What the hell?! That didn't sound too good. Glancing up the tree, I tried to spot any noticeable structural integrity damage. Movement below my vision flickered forwards at that exact moment. Instinctively, I threw up my barrier across my chest, neck, and face at skin level just as he smashed into me as hard as he could. Sparks flew as his armor scraped harshly off my barrier and I slid backwards from the force of the impact, wincing a little. Well, that hadn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. "Ow, ponyfeathers! That felt like hitting a brick wall," the idiot exclaimed, sounding irritated as he glared back up at me. I started to get ready to rear, deciding that bucking him in the face with a shield-reinforced hoof wasn’t such a bad idea. Movement caught my eye first, however. My eyes widened and I maximized my shield as a full tree branch, a few dozen pounds of leaves, assorted bark, a few shingles, and a very pissed off squirrel landed on him an instant later. He let out a high-pitched scream at the top of his lungs as the seriously offended furry attacker seemingly latched onto his nose with an inspiring level of bloodlust. Hey, that would have landed on me had he not knocked me out of the way! Suddenly I was happy about his sudden attack. Jerk One sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s what I was talking about. He’s supposed to be, like, cursed with abysmal luck or something, which would probably rub off on you if you attacked him,” he explained. Well, there went all my respect for him. Anything further he was going to say was interrupted by the library’s door slamming open, assumingly flattening him into the side of the building. "Oh for crying out loud! First you guys decide to have a perverse shouting match out here, and then you destroy a section of my house in a fight?!" I suddenly heard Twilight yell from the doorway. Oh crap. Never mind; we were all dead. Well, more dead in the flattened guard's case. "I'm sorry!" I preemptively apologized, shrinking down as far as I could manage; mostly to show respect, but also to hide the sensitive bits that were in the back. More likely that she'd totally forget they were there than willingly attack them, but that was still probably just as bad. Twilight momentarily gave me a deadpan look before shaking her head and revealing, "Mender, I heard most of the conversation. You didn't do anything wrong." Oh. Wait, she heard that?! "I'm sorry!" I repeated a heartbeat later for the new reason this time, causing her to slap her hoof to her forehead, right under her horn. "Um, I'm sorry, too. We shouldn't have eavesdropped," Fluttershy spoke up a moment later, causing me to blush and start to smile at her as she peeked out from around the doorframe. Twilight sighed again and turned around to Fluttershy. "Oh for Celestia's sake! It's not eavesdropping if we can hear it through three walls, Fluttershy," she pointed out, making a very solid point. Were we really being that loud? "What does our sibling have to do with this situation?" I heard asked from somewhere inside suddenly. Was that Princess Luna? She had a very good question, however. For a moment, I could have sworn I saw Twilight twitch sporadically. "Okay, inside! Now!" she growled out. Suddenly, I found myself yanked off the ground in a light purple aura. Uh oh. My 'inescapable pain' alarm started going off like crazy. Jerk Two yelled as the furry avenger was torn from his face, taking a tiny bit of his nose with him, and he himself was similarly lifted into the air. I braced for impact and Fluttershy dove out of the way as the guard and I were tossed through the door of the library at high velocity... * * * * * Pleasantly, the couch broke my fall. I suddenly had a deep respect and love for this piece of furniture. Not only was it a nice bed, party instrument, and looked fashionable, but it was also an amazing landing pad. Truly a universally appreciated device! The guard wasn't quite so lucky, having the bookcase, end table, and shame to block his fall. Further, I was righted by an invisible force almost instantly and promptly had a pillow adjusted next to me. I blinked as I was gently set down on the cushion and pillow. Twilight walked up with a smile this time. Oddly, the gentle treatment kind of scared me, too. Was she just trying to lull me into a false sense of security? Regardless, I still managed to glance about the room, having gotten a less than satisfactory examination while flying through the air upside down. The tree samples were still organized in a vague half circle, with pieces of paper, notes, and tracing strewn about. Aside from the crackling fire, the room was devoid of lights and looked very soft, almost homely. It gave a warm sensation, which was welcome, as it was indeed getting a little nippy outside. Maybe I'd ask Rarity for a scarf or hat alongside the suit she was going to be forcing me to wear. I could ask for something in return for being hauled to a foreign city to be paraded about as a social accessory, right? I hoped a simple knit hat and scarf weren't too expensive. Movement caught my eye, however, and I glanced back to the fallen pile of books. The guard groaned as he crawled out from under it a moment later. Suddenly, the entire collection drifted into the air and sorted themselves neatly before returning to the shelf they came from. They were coated in a magical aura that was distinctly unfamiliar, I noticed. Seconds later, the guard himself was grabbed and hauled into the air as well. "SO, WHAT HAS THOU TO SAY IN THY DEFENSE?! THOUST MADE A MOCKERY OF THINE TRAINING ON THE FIRST MISSION OUTSIDE OF THE CASTLE! WE ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED!” was suddenly screamed out on a deafening level, causing me to wince and slam my face into the pillow to drown out the noise. What the hell was that?! The noise stopped, apparently waiting for a response. I took a risk and peeked out over my comfortable hiding spot at the now rigid and trembling guard drifting in the air. He'd slammed his eyes shut and was curled into a little defensive ball, looking remarkably like I probably have on occasion. My eyes shifted to the left to see an exceedingly large and imposing figure standing at the base of the stairs. Her wings were expanded fully and a radiating flow of what almost appeared to be space itself came from her mane. Unfortunately, the details were lost to me as she was still a rather fuzzy blob. A very imposing, scary blob, but still a fuzzy blob. Her size was a little less than that of Celestia, I noticed. Was she younger? Twilight coughed lightly. "Princess Luna, you're slipping," she suddenly reminded; of what I didn't know. The figure gave a gentle start and glanced at Twilight momentarily before coughing lightly as well. "Ah, I apologize. We, uh, I tend to get excited and forget," she apologized, voice dropping down to a much more manageable level. "I-I'm sorry, your highness! I shouldn't have attacked an unarmed, unprovoked target," the guard practically pleaded through his own trembling hooves he was using to cover his face now. Twilight went from smiling to glaring at him with frightening speed. "That's it? Don't forget we heard the entire conversation prior to that," she pointed out. "Indeed! You have insulted both our dear Fluttershy, and this kind mare with your words! Apologize to them as well," Princess Luna instructed. Mare? My cheeks lit up again and I looked over at the darkened, midnight blue blob. Was she referring to me? Fluttershy had closed the door and caught up with us by then. Idly, I wondered if she'd also scraped the other guard from the side of the building. "Oh, it's all right, Princess Luna. I don't need an, um, apology," she declined politely. "Nonsense. As a guard, no, as a proper stallion, he should learn to not speak to mares that way!" Luna vehemently declared with a surprising amount of passion. Of course, given her first outburst, I suppose I should just count myself lucky that I wasn't blown through the wall. As a further enlightenment, I realized she was indeed talking about me. Twilight looked over at me again before letting out a biting, knowing giggle and trying to correct, "Uh, Princess Luna? I don't think that you..." The Princess waived the statement with a hoof gesture, shaking the quivering ball of fur and armor with her magic. "Well?! Thou must apologize!" she ordered again, slipping back into that extremely archaic form of speech. It was hard to understand what she was saying, but I managed to grasp the context well enough. Kind of reminded me of something I had read a long time ago. Even if the words were a fabrication, one could still understand what was being said by their place in the sentence and the context involved. It was quite fascinating. A pity I couldn't remember the name of the book. "But, um, but that's a-" the guard started to mumble before another violent shake cut him off. Princess Luna gave him another stern glare, causing him to curl up again. "I'm sorry, Miss! I didn't mean to insult you and Fluttershy," he finally just gave in and apologized. As much as I disliked being called a female, how exactly did one correct what was considered essentially a physical Goddess? "Good. For now, go back to thy duties. We'll be having another chat in time for debriefing," the Princess assured before sliding him in the general direction of the door. He rolled once before scrambling to his hooves and moving almost as fast as I did when being chased by 'carnivorous' ponies. Once the door finally slammed shut, Twilight burst into copious amounts of giggling. Sighing, I glanced back at her, already knowing she was looking right at me. Princess Luna gave us a curious look, and the lavender unicorn burst into laughter, unable to contain it any further. "Pray tell, what is so funny?" the Princess of the night asked curiously, interestingly enough, not seeming mad in the slightest. At least, I think I vaguely recalled that was one of her formal titles from that book Twilight had given me back in the hospital. Twilight must be on really good terms with her, too. Wait, I think I read about this somewhere before. "Oh my. Well, this is Moon Mender, Princess. He, um, is kind of a stallion," Fluttershy chimed in with her usual quiet, soft voice. She slowly got up on the couch next to me and relaxed against the back of it, shifting her mane out of the way of her eyes as she got situated. Princess Luna stared quietly at me for a few seconds before leaning closer, apparently to get a better look. I was proven uncomfortably incorrect when she sniffed a few times, then leaned back. "Subtle, but yes. Oh dear. I seem to have committed a faux pas in front of a dear friend. Would you accept my apologies, thou with such a pleasing name?" the Princess requested, gently extending a forehoof towards me. Pleasing name? Oh yes, she was the Princess of the Moon as well. Gently tapping my hoof against hers, we cordially shook them up and down for a moment. "It's perfectly fine, Princess Luna. It's a pleasure to meet you," I spoke, mentally grinding through the list of possible polite and proper things I should be doing in this situation. The books I'd read a while ago had some, but my memory wasn't the greatest. The moon princess smiled warmly and nodded at my gesture, so I must have done well enough. Twilight snorted lightly, however, pointing out, "You seem perfectly content to give her formal titles." Oh, this was about Celestia again. I was about to glare at her once more when Princess Luna giggled lightly instead, cutting off hostilities. "Oh, if my memory serves and this is the correct Moon Mender, my sister gave him full permission to refer to her as either Celestia or Tia. She requested it, in fact," she pointed out a second later. Twilight visibly deflated, going from glaring at me to staring in surprise and horror at Princess Luna. I coughed lightly before the situation could be derailed further and corrected, "Technically, she was pretending to be a normal friend of Twilight at the time to get me to drop my guard, so I don't want to assume the offer still stands." Sure, I might assume that ponies were carnivorous or that they had selective breeding rituals and enslaved half their species, but calling a princess the wrong thing was just plain silly. "She, uh, she did what?" the now flustered lavender unicorn asked, surprisingly enough, directed at me instead. "He speaks the truth. Tia felt she had to catch him acting as his true self so she could be absolutely sure that he was no danger to her, well, our subjects. She has properly apologized and even enjoyed their lunch date, however. She doesn't get many opportunities to just be herself, you understand, and I believe she wished to preserve that relationship as real instead of acting," Princess Luna explained, bringing a shocking level of insight into play about her sister. Twilight gave one elongated, slow blink, before looking back at Princess Luna. "So she wants to be his friend?" she questioned with a light edge of skepticism that was slightly offending. I swallowed my irritation, not wanting to fight with the mare again. Well, not that it was really fighting. I seemed to do more running away than anything. That was kind of depressing, now that I thought about it further. The worst part was that I had nopony to blame except for myself. "Is that so hard to understand? My sister is an excellent judge of character, and has openly admitted that she trusts him and finds no direct danger in him whatsoever. If you recall, she should have explained that the reason she had you watching him was due to his link to danger, not what he directly represented himself," she reminded, unknowingly hitting a raging nerve in both of us. Exhaling quietly, I looked away from the Princess and down at the couch cushion again. This was exactly what I didn't want to think about right now. I already knew that Twilight had essentially been told to spy on me, but now I realized that a large extent of that had been from Twilight herself rather than Celestia. Twilight was the one who didn't necessarily trust me. After a moment's consideration, I decided that I technically had already known that. A lot of the anger slowly dissolved after that. Fluttershy coughed after almost five solid seconds of utter silence. "You know she's very sorry for that, Mender. She apologized already," she whispered softly into the back of my ear. I felt her gentle hooves massaging lightly into my back and sighed, shifting a little closer to her. She always managed to find a way to comfort ponies that were in distress, I noticed. The kindness she represented was one of the reasons I liked her so much. Risking a glance back up at Twilight, I saw her staring softly back at me. There were strange emotions in her eyes. A mixture of anger to some degree, but what almost looked like regret as well. I didn't want to jump to conclusions again, however. She gave a soft nod upon catching my eye and added, "I am sorry for spying on you, Mender. I know you'd never hurt us intentionally, and I guess I should focus on my own advice. If Princess Celestia says you're not a threat, I should really believe her." It was more than a little surprising to hear the stubborn unicorn say as much, but it made the butterflies come back as well. She smiled when I did and leaned in, giving me a light nuzzle along the side of my jaw. It was an extremely affectionate gesture, and I blushed lightly as she backed up a little again. "Oh, that's right. I forgot that Tia had said he was your mate now. I must compliment your choice. He's a kind soul," Princess Luna suddenly complimented politely. Twilight went from smiling to blindly lurching sideways in an instant. I caught her by the shoulder before she fell off the couch, thankfully! Fluttershy let out a timid squeak behind me; from either Twilight's almost falling or the word itself, I wasn't sure. "M-My what?!" Twilight demanded, suddenly acquiring an embarrassed stutter. I blushed deeper as well, but took it in stride considering the Princess thought I was a mare less than three minutes ago. At least that meant she had cemented my gender in her head, which I was thankful for. "Your mate? Did I misspeak? It has been a while and I'm unfortunately out of touch with more modern language," she admitted awkwardly. Oh yeah! She was locked away on the moon for a thousand years and just recently came back, saved by the Elements of Harmony themselves. That's why she was so friendly with them. Fluttershy shrank against my back, burying her face in my fur. Twilight groaned lightly, red furiously attempting to take over her cheeks, but managed to explain, "That title is usually reserved for a couple who have, um, actually been intimate with each other. Uh, Mender and I haven't gone that far." Her words were meticulously chosen as she seemingly struggled to maintain her voice. The blank stare she received from the Princess in return was less than helpful. "We've only been, um, dating for a couple days, technically," I tried to chip in, hoping that I had the terminology right. I was probably worse off than Princess Luna. Twilight squeaked in surprise and looked back at me in shock, face flaring up with a pink tint. "You technically never asked me out! We're kind of just experimenting, right?" she rapidly questioned, voice edged with a trace of hysteria. My smile dropped as fast as my thoughts. What did asking her to go somewhere have to do with dating? Did she actually like me or was it just one big experiment to her? "Well, that hardly seems proper. From the letters you wrote to my sister, I almost thought-" Princess Luna stated behind me, before being interrupted by a now flustered Twilight. "No! Those letters were personal. Um, please don't talk about them in front of everypony," she requested quickly. It was too suspicious to ignore, of course. She doubtlessly wanted to prevent me from hearing them. What had she sent to Celestia? Did she know something about the link between worlds that she hadn't told me? I was suddenly extremely suspicious, but didn't have much to go on. The timid yellow pegasus behind me spoke up instead. "Um, if it's not too impolite to say, I think you're letting yourself get too flustered. Mender surely isn't pushing you into anything, right?" she cautioned, sounding a little on the ironic side. Advice about staying calm coming from Fluttershy was interesting indeed. Although she probably did have more insight into it than most. Twilight frowned as she looked past me at her friend. Twice, she opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. Normally she wasn't one to mince words. I waited patiently, but Princess Luna seemingly lacked the virtue in this regard. "Don't be afraid to admit what you're actually feeling, Twilight Sparkle. It doesn't do either of you justice. You taught me to be true to myself," she suggested softly, looking solemn but maintaining a little smile. It made me wonder what it was like to be locked away for a thousand years. Surely she was a definition of stoic as she wasn't stark-raving mad as I'd probably be after that. I was both impressed and nervous as I caught the same weight of time behind her eyes that her sister possessed. To be that immensely old and have no risk of mortality with age was absolutely foreign. Twilight snapped me out of my thoughts by sighing suddenly. Actually, it probably wasn't suddenly as I hadn't been paying attention again. "You two are right, of course. I haven't been pushed into anything by Mender. Honestly, it's kind of been the opposite," she admitted quietly. Fluttershy let out a low gasp, but I headed her potential worry with a chuckle. The last thing I wanted was Fluttershy being mad at Twilight, so I decided to disrupt that chain of thoughts before it got anywhere. "We have a lot in common and I enjoy being around you. I get excited, flustered, and happy all at once when I'm with you, and honestly, it's a little scary. I definitely like it, though, and hope you feel the same," I explained slowly, feeling more and more awkward the longer I went on. I knew I was blushing, but it made me feel oddly better as I saw the lavender unicorn following suit. She nodded slowly before admitting, "At first, you were interesting: a mystery to be tested and solved. Then the mystery shifted as I learned more about you. It went from trying to figure out your past and magic, to trying to figure out why you were fun to be around and such. Then I started getting scared the longer I thought about it and the more I couldn't scientifically justify it. It got worse when I realized I couldn't stop thinking about it, either. I tried to say that you were just like my wonderful friends and that I liked hanging out with them, too, but I don't really want to kiss Rainbow Dash or cuddle with Rarity. It's not that they're female; you went from a mystery I wanted to solve to a truly interesting, kind, friendly odd ball that I just want to pounce on playfully and hug. It's compulsive! It's addictive! It's..." Her admission turned more into a rant the longer she went on. This was the first time she was actually explaining things from her perspective, however. It was as insightful as it was embarrassing, and I could hardly believe that I had caused such a reaction in her! Was this normal or had I done something wrong? Curiously, Princess Luna smiled instead. "...love? You like him, my friend. It may be scary, but there's nothing wrong with how you feel. Given the chance, your feelings could blossom into something truly beautiful. Take it slow and relax," the extremely wise Princess of the Moon suggested. Fluttershy's mood shifted completely as she murmured, "It's so cute. You two are really good for each other. Even without considering my place in things, I think you really have something special." The lavender unicorn finally smiled and looked back up fully with that said. There was a long pause as her bright, violet eyes seemed to almost bore into my very soul. A wave of apprehension spilled through me as I saw her slowly tense up the longer she stared. Her right hoof fidgeted visibly, and I could practically see the gears spinning madly in her mind. This was either going to be really good, or I would wake up a few days from now in the hospital. Well, it had been a little while since I'd seen Nurse Redheart, so it would be nice to catch up. The nervous unicorn looked down for a fraction of a second before nodding to nopony in particular and asking, "Moon Mender, will you be my coltfriend? Officially?" There was a long pause where I was all but certain that my heart had stopped. Was I dreaming? Did I die at some point and not notice? If this was the afterlife, it was off to a very nice start. "I, uh, yes, of course!" I assured, suddenly having trouble ordering my thoughts. The cute unicorn, my now fillyfriend, leaned forward and gently kissed me on the lips, a soft smile decorating her features. It was brief, her pulling back a moment later, but warmth spread through me uncontrollably regardless. "I thought you'd say yes, but I wanted to be sure this time. Now it's official," Twilight acknowledged after I opened my eyes again. "Aww!" Fluttershy squeaked from next to us now. I glanced over and saw her eyes were soft and watery, a large smile adorning her face. "More like gross," suddenly sounded from the back of the sofa, on my right. I started and turned to face the familiar, male voice. Spike sat on the top of the sofa, holding a large roll of paper in his arms. Twilight herself did an about-face, staring at her assistant in shock before turning sheepish, blush rising. "Spike! When did you get back?" she asked quickly, obviously attempting to change the subject. Spike rolled his eyes but held up the paper in his hands. "I got back, like, five minutes ago. This is the map you wanted from the mayor's office. She wasn't very pleased at being woken up until she found out that Princess Luna had requested the map," the tiny dragon expounded irritably. I was surprised at how easily he accepted the subject change, then decided he probably was too young to care. Princess Luna’s ears perked up. "Oh, thank you, dear Spike! These are the maps the scouts made of the discovery sites in the forest," Princess Luna enlightened, looking exceedingly pleased as she lifted the roll of paper out of his hands with her magic. I was suddenly extremely curious as she unrolled it. Now that I was back among the living and seemed to be staying that way for a reasonable amount of time, I figured it might be interesting to discover just how close to death I had come. If a massive, carnivorous beast had wandered through the forest the night before, I'd have to say I'm probably lucky this time. Twilight grinned as she noticed my sudden interest in the scroll. I tuned back towards her just in time to catch her pleased nod. "That's what we were doing before you got here. Princess Luna is here to take a look at what I've found so far, and figure out the best course of action in dealing with the situation," she explained, nodding towards the roll of paper. I glanced as the Princess rotated it, and saw a surprisingly detailed map. It showed elevations and terrain, and had three areas circled with several smaller marks inside of them. It looked almost like a tactics map, but I knew they were probably marking evidence. "What exactly do you think it is?" I asked, swallowing softly. I'd seen pictures of a manticore in the books I'd read so far, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. Those I knew to be in the forest, after all. Twilight frowned and shook her head, looking a little frustrated, I'd guess. "That's the problem. I don't know exactly what it is. From the claw markings, it's like nothing I've seen before. The impact angle makes the shape of the claws all wrong. They're formed into too harsh of a curve and far too honed to be a manticore, which has much smaller claws. Further, from the point of impact and depth of the cuts, the amount of force applied should have broken the claws. That indicates something tougher than what we're used to dealing with on, what I think, is a significantly larger body to generate that much strength," she deduced carefully. Fluttershy grew smaller the longer Twilight spoke, shrinking herself against my back until she was hiding fully behind me. Smiling to myself, my protective urges kicked in again and I pulled the blanket off the top of the sofa in as visible a manner as I could. The timid yellow mare watched me curiously, then blushed as I wrapped her up in the blanket and tucked her against my side. "Um, thank you, Mender," she whispered before burying her face in the blanket further. Twilight momentarily smiled at the scene, but Princess Luna interrupted with, "It's all right that you can't identify it completely. It might be something entirely new." She was examining the map instead of looking at us, however, and wore a contemplative expression. I frowned. Maybe not new, but a little bit different? "I'm not sure if it's applicable, but it might be a mutation. Manticore, maybe? It might be more helpful if you just say what's absolutely definite," I reasoned, bringing up my earlier thought. Twilight gave me a blank look before nodding. "A mutation would also make sense, although it's strange we've not seen the signs of genetic change sooner," she agreed, looking over at her diagrams that were near the log sections strewn about the main room. The sheets lifted into the air with her familiar aura, and shot over to where we were on the couch a moment later. Twilight cleared her throat lightly as she examined the notes again. "There's not a huge amount of data that could be gleaned from the samples, but here's what I have so far. With shape and size comparisons between all three, I concluded that the claws were over half a foot in length and curved at an almost thirty degree rotation. Further, the depth of the blow along with the fragmenting of the wood further down indicates at least five hundred pounds of pressure applied over an unknown, but assumed instant duration. That's over seventy-five percent more than what the strongest recorded manticore was capable of," she read quietly, scanning further along after she finished. Princess Luna sighed and put the map down. "While interesting and not really good news, that doesn't give us a lot of data," she returned, shaking her head slowly. "Without bite marks, too, any further information about sociology or diet would be only hypothetical," Twilight defended, looking displeased. I smiled to her and shook my head. "You've figured out a lot, Twilight. From what you explained, those don't sound like utility-based claws. It's just a hypothesis, but there's a very good chance that it's a hunter. That means it's either omnivorous or carnivorous," I reasoned, trying to further defend her work. I doubted I had to, but I truly wanted to, I discovered. Twilight furrowed her brow, but nodded. "That's true. It's more than likely," she agreed, before smiling again and gazing softly at me. "Wouldn't there be, uh, evidence of it being around other than just the claw marks? I mean, you know," Spike spoke up, sounding a little unnerved. Princess Luna sighed and shook her head in return. "Alas, it is not so. Aside from the destruction to the woodlands itself, there was no other evidence of its existence. Further, the path becomes extremely hard to track the further into the forest it goes. The hunters think it might have turned as it moved, but they were unable to track it due to the forest becoming extremely difficult to navigate," she answered, shooting down yet another lead. "What caused it to, um, be so angry at the trees though? Trees don't go out of their way to hurt anypony," Fluttershy questioned, sounding oddly like she was sympathetic to the trees' plight rather than simply curious. Although that wouldn't necessarily surprise me. Nopony said anything. Well, it was more because I didn't think there was a knowable answer at this point. Twilight finally shook her head a good ten seconds later. "I honestly don't know, Fluttershy. It might have been scared and panicking, or in a rage about something. There were no known casualties of animal life," she finally admitted, looking as bewildered as I felt. It sounded like a predator, but didn't do anything akin to such. It was weird to say the least. We were interrupted by Spike letting forth an inspiring yawn, however. "Is that all you need, Twilight? I'm getting kind of tired," he groaned quietly, eyes suddenly drooping. The lavender mare smiled and nodded gently to him before giving a light nuzzle to the small dragon. "Of course, Spike. You've been an amazing help and it's way past your bedtime. Go get some rest. You've earned it," she agreed, maintaining her warm smile towards him. He mirrored it a second later and nodded before hopping off the couch and wandering towards the stairs with a slight sway to his path. I watched him with certain envy, suddenly realizing how close he and Twilight were. He wasn't just her assistant, that was for sure. She treated him almost like a son or little brother, and it was very cute to watch. "The young one has a point. I have more than enough information to give the hunters. Hopefully, we'll at least be able to catch a glimpse of this thing soon. I should retire back to the forest, however. They're expecting my return soon," Princess Luna excused politely, standing up fully again. Even if she wasn't as large as Celestia, I still found myself a little intimidated as she became much larger upon righting herself. "Oh, of course, your highness. Thank you for stopping by. I'll certainly continue to look into this matter," Twilight assured, suddenly looking a little flustered by the sudden departure. Fluttershy was much more reserved and peeked out of her blankets at the Princess of the Moon. "It was nice seeing you again, Princess Luna. I hope you travel safely." I smiled down at the peeking mare, deciding that she was overwhelmingly adorable no matter what she did. Where Twilight inspired nervous butterflies and a certain level of similar tastes, Fluttershy instead made a heat wrap around my chest and gave me a huge urge to just hold her until she was afraid of nothing else ever again. Twilight's flank almost knocked me sideways off the couch as she bumped it against me. "Careful there, Casanova. She wants to wait, and I'm your only fillyfriend at the moment, remember?" she belted out, twinge of playfulness injected into her voice as she smirked at me. I blushed and coughed lightly as Fluttershy looked back at me, air of confusion present. Princess Luna just laughed, however, a true and hearty one that she seemed pleased with when it was done. "It was truly a pleasure, Moon Mender. Thou are very much to our tastes, and we hope to visit again soon. We are happy for Twilight in her, how do you young ponies say, 'catch'?" she asked, her request for assurance feeling extremely humorous. Laughing would have been bad, however, so I resisted to the best of my capabilities. Twilight snickered, having obviously more free reign then I did with the Princess. "Thank you, Princess Luna. He is indeed quite a catch, you're right," she surprisingly agreed, causing another burst of heat to enter my cheeks. She gave a gleeful grin, and I suddenly realized she was enjoying embarrassing me. "You're a horrible mare," I muttered, glancing away from her excessively mirthful expression and further earning a laugh from the lavender unicorn. "We shall return later, possibly tomorrow night! Try not to murder each other in the meantime," the Princess requested as she headed for the door, interrupting our charade. Fluttershy ducked back under the blanket as she left, and I idly wondered if she was going to come out long enough to go home tonight. Twilight waved goodbye politely until the door fully closed. She abruptly stopped at the same time I raised my eyebrow towards the sudden screaming outside. "THOU MIGHT YET GO BACK TO BASIC TRAINING IF A REPEAT OF THIS HAPPENS! WE WILL FULLY DEBRIEF THYSELF UPON ARRIVAL BACK TO THE CASTLE, AND PUNISHMENT SHALL BE DEALT OUT! DOES THOU UNDERSTAND?!" was screamed by a very pissed off Princess Luna the second the door closed. Twilight swallowed wearily, eyes still wide as she watched the door. Fluttershy burrowed deeper into the blankets and further against me instead, almost as if she was trying to slip under the cushion I sat on and hide completely. Oh dear. I kind of felt bad for the guy now. Kind of. "Um, Twilight? Can I, uh, maybe ask you a question, if it's not too much trouble?" Fluttershy whimpered from her hiding spot. Twilight snapped out of her horrified expression long enough to glance down at the shifting blanket that now resided partially under me. "Oh, of course, Fluttershy. I do have a request for you, though, as well," she returned, smiling finally. Curiosity must have gotten the better of her. Either that, or she truly trusted her friend, as the timid yellow mare soon poked her head out of the blankets and looked up at Twilight. "Oh?" she practically whispered. Ah, still not totally comfortable, I noticed. "With the state of emergency in effect, I don't really want you to fly home at eleven o'clock at night by yourself. Would you mind staying here for tonight?" she requested politely. A very good idea! Now that I thought about it, I really didn't want her flying back home either if there was something that nasty in the forest. If it came down to it, I'd walk her home myself, but this was a much better idea. "Oh thank goodness. I was going to ask to stay," Fluttershy admitted, slumping slightly and letting out a long exhale. "You can use my mattress if you want. I can take the couch for tonight," I offered, smiling reassuringly at her. I'd fallen asleep on this couch before, and almost considered it an old friend at this point. Fluttershy gasped as if burned and sat up, zipping around me with surprising speed and putting on a pleading gaze. "Oh no, Mender. I couldn't possibly do that! Please, uh, let me take the couch?" she requested, surprisingly adamant sounding. Twilight smiled softly at both of us before shaking her head in the background now. "Both of you are adorable, but I don't really want either of you sleeping down here separate from the others. Fluttershy can sleep with me in my bed. It's not a big deal," she reasoned. Oh! True. I'm guessing it was socially acceptable as they were both the same gender. Fluttershy froze, eyes shifting from warm and pleading to shocked and terrified. Despite the decidedly negative emotions displayed in them, her cheeks shifted to a rosy pink color as she swallowed lightly. Okay, so maybe not so socially acceptable? Had I missed something? "Are you sure, Twilight?" I inquired, attempting to ask for the now rigid mare between us. Twilight smiled and nodded earnestly, not seeming fazed in the slightest. "Of course. It's no big deal. My bed is plenty big enough." Well that indicated that it might just be Fluttershy. Somehow, that didn't really surprise me, but I couldn't fault her for it. Twilight got up off the couch and walked past us, heading for the stairs. I gave the shivering mare a light nudge, earning a squeak and sudden lap full of shaking Fluttershy. I frowned and tried to pat her gently on the shoulders before lifting her up again. "Oh no. What do I do? Twilight wants me to sleep with her! In the same bed!" she whispered shakily to me. "Um, I'm not really grasping the problem. Twilight's acting like there's no social stigma attached to it, but you're acting like there is," I complained, exceedingly confused at this point. Somepony was wrong in this case, or I was missing important information. Again. I was kinda getting adjusted to it at this point. Fluttershy looked down slowly, upper teeth nibbling on her lower lip before wearily explaining, "I, well, admire Twilight. Apart from concerning you, she always seems to know what she's doing and what she wants. She's amazing, confident, polite, gentle..." I grew more confused the longer she went on. If she respected Twilight so much, shouldn't she be happy Twilight trusts her? This didn’t make a lot of sense to me. "...athletic, brave, graceful, well-kept, beautiful," she continued, oblivious to my inner monologue. Oh. That actually explained a lot. I interrupted, if only to clarify. "You like Twilight as a little more than friends, don't you?" She stopped and slowly stared at me for several long seconds before releasing a gentle sigh and sinking back onto the couch cushion in front of me. "I've had a small crush on her for a while. I was hoping that, because she liked you as well, that you'd help me get closer to Twilight too, if we were together," she admitted. It was a sensation I wasn't entirely used to. Kind of like a sudden impact to the inside of my chest as it recoiled and tightened. The hoof I had been using to comfort her on the shoulder dropped in surprise. Had I misheard her? Did she really say what I thought she did? Was she really using me to get to Twilight? Every rational thought screamed no, but the sudden pain shooting through my chest was almost blinding. It was cold, as if a dagger made of ice had just stabbed through me. I noticed her questioning expression as I realized I was still staring at her. That confused me, but some part of me clung to the fact that she didn't realize what she'd said. That meant she hadn't meant it like that! That had to be the case. Innocent little Fluttershy wasn't capable of using somepony for her own gain. Her eyes suddenly shot open with realization and she rapidly shook her head. "No! No, no. I didn't mean that I only liked her. I, um, like you too like that. I like both of you. Uh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to, um, sound like that," she rapidly corrected, causing me to let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "I'm sorry. I tried to not jump to conclusions. I'm... glad you don't just like her," I muttered, completely unsure of what to say. Damn it. Even my heart jumped to conclusions on its own. My chest warmed a little, but I couldn’t shake the feeling from before. She shook her head weakly back and forth, mane dancing in the dim light. "No, I want to make sure you, um, believe me. That was a bad thing to say and I've never, well, done this before. I don't know what I'm doing," she murmured uneasily, looking down at the couch cushion again. I raised a hoof back up and gently ran it along her jaw, in an assuring motion. "That makes three of us. Relax, Fluttershy. Nothing bad happened and we figured it out right away. Why don't you go up and get ready for bed? I'll wait for you girls to use the bathroom first," I tried my best to comfort and distract. The yellow pegasus relaxed against the hoof and nodded, giving a faint smile finally. I nodded again to her and she stood up shakily before slowly making her way towards the stairs behind me. A solid five seconds passed after I could no longer hear the hoofsteps on the wooden stairs before I put my hoof back down. What was I doing? Did I even have a clue how to deal with all of these feelings? Was it right to tie mine to Twilight's before my issues were even sorted out? Nothing but the quiet flickering of the fire answered me, of course. It would be so easy if I'd still been there instead of here. Being a soldier was mentally simple. There weren't all of these feelings to get in the way. Emotions were outright discouraged by the higher ups, I remembered. Think, don't feel. I think that was on a poster. My hoof was still shaking, my chest following suit as I carefully breathed out. Why did the thought of her using me hurt so much? Surely it was nothing compared to getting a laser to the back or being smashed into rocks. My cheeks heated up again as I almost felt her light peck from earlier. I smiled and chuckled, the thought dancing and mingling with the sensation of Twilight's mouth against mine. The heat shifted to an almost burning sensation as I lowered my head. Being a soldier was simpler, but I wouldn't trade this for the world. Unless it meant protecting them, of course. Even if they didn't need it, a stirring urge deep inside told me to guard them against those who would cause pain. Maybe that was a part of this 'love' thing after all. "Coming, Mender?" I heard Twilight ask in a rather cheery voice from the top of the stairs, disrupting my thoughts in a rather pleasant way. I smiled and nodded to nopony in particular before standing up again. My back gave a rather mean spirited creak of discomfort, but I ignored it as I got off the couch. Twilight calling me upstairs; I could definitely get used to that. I grinned before trotting towards the light shining down from the second floor.
Chapter 15It was subtle at first; that creeping madness as the hours went on. The dark was my friend after all, and I stared up into the blackness around the ceiling, currently lying wearily on my back. Or maybe it was the blackness in my head. This could all be some sort of vivid hallucination or fantasy as I'm locked away somewhere, still. Maybe after all the pressure, I finally snapped and decided my life needed more cute, colorful ponies? Or maybe, finally, I had died at some point and this was what heaven was like. Any of those sounded like acceptable answers. It hardly mattered, as I couldn't substitute this reality for anything else, so it was what I was stuck with. "Test number two hundred and fifty-seven; failure. I cannot seem to replicate the communication with the entity from before. All attempts have now been rejected. Perhaps I offended it the last we spoke? After well, what happened, I could hardly say for certain," the familiar voice of Keela continued to run through my mind. She was sounding less and less professional the longer she went on. From the way she spoke earlier, I could only guess that something extremely bad happened to her connection after I had my bout of insanity. From what I gathered, she got stuck connected to the book and experienced, well, something that had rather disturbed her. I sighed quietly, literally covered in cut up pieces of paper at this point as I stared blankly up at the ceiling. She was persistent, I'd give her that much! Every one she'd send through, I'd slice in half as it drifted through the air. That seemed to disrupt the magic instantly. Of course, explaining this mess in the morning was going to be a little trickier. I could only guess that she kept bizarre hours, or that our night and day cycles were reversed. Finally deciding I could use a bit of water, I got up out of bed, careful to slide the mountain of papers quietly to the floor. Both mares had fallen asleep hours ago, of course, and I definitely didn't want to wake them up. I glanced over as I fully stood, of course. It was hard to pass up an opportunity to gaze at them. It was like candy for my eyes! Twilight and Fluttershy were both tucked under the covers, face to face but several inches apart. I remembered Twilight had started with her back to her friend, so she must have rotated in her sleep. Nothing bad could possibly come from that, right? I decided to remain blissfully unaware and move on. I walked past the basket at the foot of the bed as quietly as I could, momentarily hearing the quiet snores of the baby lizard thing wrapped up in his sheets. Hmm. I should really ask Twilight about him in the future. I'm sure he was some sort of known creature, as I hadn't run into anything truly unknown yet. I smiled down at Spike for a second before slipping down the stairs. "What was the entity I spoke with, anyway? It announced its presence as 'Mender', which doesn't sound much like a name. It insisted that it was named that, however, so I'm inclined to believe so. Was it some sort of advanced artificial intelligence that existed inside of the book? Or is the book connecting to somewhere else and I'm talking to a true being?" Keela questioned as I walked down the stairs carefully. Ignoring her, I focused on putting one hoof in front of the other. I didn't trust myself to walk blindly down the stairs still, especially with everything blurry and distorted. I'd likely fall down the stairs if I tried that, even when my vision wasn't screwed up. After I ran into the bathroom doorframe before bed a few hours ago, Twilight assured me that my vision should be returning to normal in a day or so. Until then, I simply had to be careful. Especially around varying depth levels that were the same color. Like the bathroom doorframe and the floor of the loft. With a light boost, I raised my upper body and put both hooves on Twilight's counter. I nudged the tap for cold water and let a little stream go into the sink before cheating and forming a shielded 'straw' with my left hoof. It worked a lot like a drinking fountain at that point, and I sipped down a good amount before sighing and turning the water off again. "Thankfully, Nirru gave me a fascinating idea that I'd like to try before she gets down here with the data. If it was a book, it must have words in it, right? Well, if it's written in ink, I should be able to try scanning it with a particle projector on several varying levels to try to pick up the words!" she exclaimed, sounding excited. Uh oh. That didn't sound very healthy for me in the least. I debated what to do when a loud humming sound started echoing through my head. Wincing, I pushed both hooves to my ears and sunk to the floor, gritting my teeth. Oh hell. I had all new respect for those lead x-ray sheets. Our allies had been absolutely crazy to make this a regular part of their medical exams! Magic was so much safer. Then I realized in horror that it was simply warming up the generator. There was a sudden, bright flash as my body went through the strangest sensation of being turned inside out, boiled alive, put back together, then microwaved. All purely speculation as to how those felt, of course. I gasped as my flesh suddenly felt like it was on fire and smashed my forehead into the floor before throwing up. Everything spun after that and I fell sideways, thankfully missing the now external contents of my stomach by a few inches. Then, blissful nothingness. * * * * * Blissful nothingness, sadly, didn't last for very long. I drifted sideways gently, not really looking around, but effectively able to turn my viewpoint with my mind. Oh, this again. I glanced about curiously, and was gifted the rather amusing sight of Keela spraying down a machine with some sort of foam. The device in question looked like it had been hit by lightning, then cut into pieces. Damn. If I had done that, I was seriously impressed. Was it weird to be impressed by yourself? I guess not, as a lot of ponies and Keldarians alike probably were. Although looking at it from a third-person perspective was a little strange. Widening out my view a little, I noticed that my location was different from last time. I appeared to be in some sort of laboratory with various computer devices, scanners, and interestingly enough, a glassed in blast chamber in the corner. One of the scanners was now out of commission, it would appear. My 'eyes', so to speak, were drawn to a glowing book that rested on the floor a meter or so from the smoldering wreckage. Footsteps sounded rapidly in the hallway as I drifted closer to the book that was now lying neglected. I heard the powered door slide open, but paid little attention to it. The book was exactly as I last saw it with the new addition of a distorted energy shield that covered it entirely. It was an Aegis Barrier, in which the item shared its name. I'd never seen one on such a small scale before, however. I wasn't aware they could be compressed like that. Although from what I'd heard the last time, there was a significant amount we weren't aware of. "Keela! I heard an explosion. Are you all right?!" Nirru asked upon entering the lab, expression looking nervous and concerned. Keela sighed as she stood back up fully from the machine, smoke seemingly ceased for the moment. "Yeah. The idea to scan the book didn't work out very well. It apparently likes its privacy," she muttered in an annoyed tone. Her sister stopped for a moment before shifting to a smirk and snickering lightly, earning a frustrated glare from Keela. "Relax. At least it didn't set your fur on fire again. Besides, you needed the break. Check this out," Nirru offered, holding up what appeared to be an elongated crystal rod. Hmm. My mind gave a dull ache as I stared at it, but memories came back a moment later. Information. Those crystals stored a lot of information that could be read by a computer. Nirru walked right past the book and myself without notice, confirming that I was indeed undetectable again. I watched with interest matching the speculative look Keela wore as she took the crystal from her sister and slid it into the surface of the computer next to her. "You found something?" she inquired as she tapped a few buttons along the panel. The screen on the far wall of the lab lit up, and several menus were navigated with precise motions. Nirru nodded patiently, watching the screen as well. "Indeed. On a hunch, I looked through the soldier index we brought with us from the citadel. Every soldier was allowed one item of personal value to be carried with them. Command said it helped psychologically, but regardless, we kept a log of every object each soldier chose.” Keela shifted to a grin instead as her movements sped up. "You found the book," she deduced sharply. Of course she did, or she wouldn't have brought it up. That also meant that she found me, however. Or at least, my old self. As if on cue, a full profile popped up on the screen a heartbeat later. It had an extremely familiar looking profile picture, and a full readout of skills, basic background, and a psychological profiling. Overall, I was suddenly made extremely uncomfortable and wanted to look away. Did I really want to know all of this stuff right away? Of course, would I ever have another chance to learn it if I didn't look right now? "It's not terribly insightful, but does raise a few interesting questions," Nirru commented, sounding perturbed. It didn't feel like she liked the questions she was presented with, to me. Maybe it was just her body language. "No name listed, but I think that's normal. Just a serial number," Keela muttered, scanning over the beginning bio with rapid eye movements. Nirru just gave a light clicking noise, but I mentally snorted. We were just numbers all along. It was only a rumor that they didn't even bother to write down our names, but I guess it was actually true all along. The varying amounts of memories that seeing the display caused was exceedingly uncomfortable. Not to mention, it was starting to feel like my own mind was going by a 'need to know' basis and only feeding me information as it came up. It was a rather, well, helpless sensation. "Expert marks in barriers, abjuration, and transmutation. He could have been trained as a Master with these grades. What caused him not to be?" the younger sister asked a moment later. Ah, barriers did come easily for me. Forming them now was almost like second nature. Abjuration dealt with changing the metaphysical properties of an object such as gravity and inertia, while transmutation revolved around morphing the physical in its entirety. My choice of professions was fairly straightforward with that skill set. I was able to repair and jury-rig things on the fly, and adapt rapidly to changing battle scenarios. That's why I was elected both an engineer and field commander, if I recall correctly. "He was the reason. Quiet type, and never favored command. He also held dangerous opinions on the status quo," Nirru explained idly, shifting tone to seem a bit bored now. I watched her carefully as she skimmed over the page on the screen. Keela frowned and looked over at her sister. "A full out dissenter?" she asked skeptically, failing to mask the surprise in her voice. If I had ears, they would have perked at this. I rotated away from the book fully to pay more attention. I was at least a little interested in who my old self used to be. Nirru shook her head slowly, however. "Nothing that drastic. No concrete proof, anyway. He was the quiet type so it was hard to get evidence, but due to a few incidents during his growth period, he was flagged as high risk," she explained, confounding me even further. That was the problem with having only single events in your memory. The larger picture was extremely difficult to piece together. Keela's elongated ears lowered a little, making her momentarily look sad. "So no proof he held views contrary to the government. I see," she muttered softly, looking back over at the screen. Her sister snorted, crossing her arms fully. "You might not like the way we ran things, but you can't argue with the results. Did you manage to get any data before the, uh, unfortunate accident with the scanner?" she questioned, giving an appraising glance at the toasted machinery. Keela started, before shifting back to smiling. "Oh, I might have found something of a lead. The computer managed to pick up a few words! It reads something akin to a journal from what I've glanced at. It also references one 'Moon Mender' frequently," she informed. My nonexistent heart fell into my equally imaginary stomach instantly. Oh hell! That wasn't just a journal! Somehow, it had more recent data in it than since I left. That meant it might have important information on Equestria in there. My mind started whirling at a hundred meters a second, trying to think of a way I could get rid of the accursed thing. Sadly, I snapped out of it a second too late as Keela bent down and picked up the book from under me. My metaphorical eyes widened as the book was lifted up directly into my self-awareness. Thousands of images exploded all around me like a rampaging movie reel in an all night marathon, without the delight of concessions, of course. Further in line with my luck, it had to lag momentarily on a simply wonderful zoom shot of Fluttershy's posterior before zipping on. I tried not to throw up my meta-dimensional stomach contents as they spun about my consciousness with little respect for my sanity or consciousness. It all halted in a fraction of a moment later; barely a drop of time in an infinite expanse. My view was locked in a screaming hell-scape with my prior kind frozen in mid-destruction. The ground itself was torn asunder and flames colored the skies as the air started to burn. I saw the beam of light in the backdrop and knew that this was a mere second, with some generous rounding, before everyone in the image burned away. But then, like staring at a familiar image and suddenly discovering something mind-numbingly terrifying about it, my eyes were drawn up to the sky. It was monstrous; a black shadow of absolute nothingness with a web of similarly styled lines splintering from it at all angles. The blot on existence hung in the sky as if suspended by sheer physical defiance, urging a painful tugging in the front of my mind. The second I saw it, I couldn't look away. It was like staring into an abyss. The mind isn't capable of quantifying something that has no end. Looking into it was like seeing into forever, and my mind ached as reality was drawn in. I snapped back at the last second, hurtling my metaphysical camera off the surface of the planet in the frozen picture. I saw the beams hitting the planet's surface from the star's lit side. The atmosphere burned away and the plates themselves buckled and shattered under the force of the barrage. Some tore loose under the unimaginable power at play as gravity warped. It was a truly horrifying sight to behold, especially knowing that technically my last breath was but a moment later before my magic broke and trapped me in stasis. Further, I saw it fully. The massive thing in the atmosphere could be seen from space. It looked almost draconian in shape, and a web of burning ebony tendrils stretched across an unimaginable amount of the planet! A rough glance told me that it covered at least a hemisphere with the impossibly black manifestations. What was that?! I'd never heard of anything like it before, and I remembered almost everything about our most hated enemy. Was it something I couldn't remember, or something I didn't know about to begin with? A throaty scream tore my thoughts aside and I looked around as best I could. The image was gone a moment later, replaced by the laboratory once again. The power must have gone out; emergency lights flooded orange luminescence across the bleached floor, making for a rather brutal contrast that was unpleasant to the eyes. Well, if I had any. Oddly, I felt quite a bit different now as I looked about. Gravity was in full effect, yet I floated effortlessly in the air. There were no appendages, so I felt remarkably similar to my consciousness-only state, minus the fact that I felt immensely physical. The sensation was indescribable; like I was so physically there that I transcended normal reality. Everything tinted a light blue as I rotated and glanced at Keela, who was staring back at me in shock. Uh oh. That's when I noticed the literal aura of energy that radiated off me. Testing, I checked my magical energy levels and was literally washed out by the ocean of power I stumbled into. Aegis! This was the book. It had to be. But that meant... The realization hit me as if I'd tripped and rolled down a hill on my face. Again. The sensation was actually reasonably familiar, but I digress. I was in the book! The book's powers, whatever they were, had activated and pulled me in? Maybe. Or that intrinsic link I seemed to have with the artifact had something to do with it. Regardless, the effect was rather apparent as I rotated around to look at Nirru instead. She looked far more stunned than her sister and was instead reaching for her belt while rapidly backing away. She withdrew a small, metallic looking item with various, fundamentally obvious shaping, and pointed it at me. It was a standard issue officer sidearm. I searched my memory and oddly heard the sensation of a book page flipping. A heartbeat later, I suddenly 'remembered' the exact specifications of the weapon, revealing that it was an energy, pulse-based pistol with high rate of fire and a shield disruption effect. I was suddenly less worried about the gun, and more concerned for my own sanity. Was that an effect of the book? "Turn it off, Keela! Hurry!" she shouted as her back ran into one of the main support columns for the room. There was a hesitation before her sister returned, "I don't know what I did to turn it on in the first place!" Not taking my viewpoint off the firearm, I rotated awareness in time to see Keela rapidly digging through her notes, panic readily apparent. Well this was bad. I didn't know what would happen if they destroyed the book while I was residing inside of it. I did a rapid assessment of my defenses. I recalled that Keela had mentioned that this was a defensive artifact at the same time I discovered the seven layers of Aegis Barriers coated the outside of the book. The more I examined them, the weirder they got, however. From a practical standpoint, I knew next to nothing about how the magic behind the barriers actually functioned. Very little was explained directly to us it would seem. I shifted my awareness against them and realized the barrier I saw, the visible parts of the Aegis Shield, was actually holding the inside together, not blocking anything. I tried to scan deeper into the inside, but there was a mind-numbing absence that stretched on for far longer than existed inside the centimeter-thin layer. Everything suddenly clicked into place. It was an absence so resolute that it felt like it 'leaked' out a ways from the barriers themselves, preventing me from getting any sort of feel of them whatsoever. What was this magic that we had been using? It wasn't a barrier at all, but a thinly held in place sheet of void. A cleverly shaped hole in reality manifested by our magic, somehow! In truth, I forgot all about defending myself. Something was extremely wrong with how I perceived things. I suddenly realized that there were some things you simply couldn't un-think. This magic wasn't what I had thought it was all along. An Aegis Barrier was supposed to be just an extremely strong, layered shield. But the entire time I had been using them, I didn't understand what I was working with. Nirru fired three times in rapid succession. The shots didn't even reach the outer field before the absolute nothingness between the two barriers drew the energy into itself. Nothing was left of the blasts once it was done. It consumed the energy like it was a ravenous beast, and I mentally shuddered simply from witnessing the truth. "Damn it! It's definitely an Aegis. I can't disrupt the energy field around the book. Tell me you have something, Keela!" Nirru swore, slipping sideways away from the support pillar and backing up further, dropping the gun. I felt the book inside of me. There was no will; no awareness. But it still worked towards my goal with a limited intelligence, I noticed. There was a certain amount of anger that was somehow separate from me, but it was ruthless instead, requesting a quick and efficient solution. It gave me twelve known fatal points on Nirru's body, suggesting that if I hit at least seven of them at once, she was almost guaranteed to cease functioning almost instantly. Further, tendrils made of shielding shaped into rather sharp, twisted points popped out of various locations around the book, as if showing me a perfectly reasonable implement with which to attack. Okay then, so it was of questionable morality. I decided to ignore it in light of cutting the gun in half on the ground with a simple wave of a conveniently formed barrier tentacle. I had the sneaking suspicion that Fluttershy would have likely passed out from witnessing that, I idly mused. I probably looked like some sort of ancient eldritch abomination or something. Keela froze behind me, and I heard her lightly mutter, "It's intelligent." It was beyond weird to be aware of something I wasn't looking at. I shook myself out of it. No, this whole situation was weird. I needed to get rid of this book somehow. If I could figure out how to take it back with me, I could solve everything at once. They wouldn't have either the source of power, or the knowledge that the book contained! The practical ocean of power inside of the book was dizzying, and I fought to maintain coherent thinking. How the hell did Twilight manage to do this on a daily basis? My attention snapped back to Nirru as she lowered her hands again, both to the left side of her waist. The air itself seemed to distort and fold outwards from itself as she drew forth a hilt and full sheath. It was some sort of archaic bladed weapon, I noted, mentally frowning. No need to underestimate it if she felt it was more useful than the gun, I reminded myself. "Wait, Sis! Don't use that! If you damage the book," Keela started to scream out, just as Nirru stepped forward and whipped her right hand out in one fluid motion. My mind forced time to a crawl as she drew the blade. Regardless of my enhanced reaction speed, she had almost finished the cut by the time I became fully aware. Lines of energy danced from the shining white blade as it cut, extending its natural path through the air dozens of feet in front of it and aimed right at me. Along the path of the lines formed a familiar looking absence of matter. It was the same effect as what was between the Aegis layers! It wasn't even a vacuum, although it behaved similarly towards the edges. It was nothing; void. There was nothing at all existing along the path of the cut, leaving air and matter to scream back into place to fill the gap behind it. This wasn't a shield, however. The lines simply created the effect and then let it go. An Aegis Barrier wouldn't be able to block that, I suddenly realized. The book needlessly informed that it would slice through as if we were made of butter. My thoughts whirled. A moment later, I decided that I had a distinct advantage. There was a force of will and decision behind the energy in the book that was under intelligent control; namely, me. I whipped out a barrier with two tethers embedded in it just in time to watch the effect pass through as if it weren't there. I smiled however as the lines intermixed, connecting me for just a moment to the effect. The sword was massively powerful; possibly more than the book I was in. There was no will behind it, however. It was attacking using a preset pattern built into it. It was static, while I was dynamically adapting to the situation. I pulled out the energy. Like turning off a light bulb, the attack faded more than a foot before it got to me, dispersing as fast as a disrupted Aegis Barrier wouldn't after the support fields collapsed, as predicted. I exhaled in relief, deciding I really didn't want to find out what would happen if I got my consciousness cut in half. Nirru's jaw dropped as she backed up more, shaking her head slowly. "No. That's not possible. Nothing can withstand an attack from the Void Cutter," she rejected, right hand clenching down hard on the hilt of the still glowing blade. Void Cutter? Based on context, she must be referring to the blade. Aegis Artifacts had names, then. I felt a little like Twilight as I mentally took notes, trying to piece together the information I was missing. It was a pity she wasn't here. She'd think of a way to get the book back to Equestria, no problem. I blushed as I shook the heated thoughts from my mind. No, this was no time to be remembering the finer points of more recent events involving her. "It wasn't withstood. It nullified the attack before it connected," Keela corrected softly, standing up fully behind me. I suddenly wondered if there was a scripted maximum length for that effect. Had I not disrupted it, there was a significant probability that it would have not only went through me entirely, but continued and hit her sister. "We need to vent the lab," Nirru muttered, eyes narrowing as she risked a glance back towards the door. The book reminded me that it would be easier to just slice her in half as she lost focus, but I quelled the advice yet again. "No! Stop it, Nirru. M-Mender! Please, stop as well," she suddenly requested, causing me to do a double take and spin around to look at her. Her expression shifted from worry to a gentle smile as she saw my reaction. She had guessed that it was me inside of the book?! I watched her carefully, extremely wary suddenly. Had she predicted this would happen as some sort of contingency? What was she planning? "Wait, what? Who's Mender?" her sister asked in shock behind me. Both of us seemed to have forgotten what we were doing in light of what she just said, albeit for entirely different reasons, I assumed. As much as she seemed surprised, she stopped retreating as soon as Keela drew my attention. The book suggested she might try to attack while I was distracted, of course. I really hoped this thing wasn't some facet of me or something. Was I really that paranoid? Keela drew a blank look before snapping out of it and nodding rapidly to herself. "Oh! It's an AI that's controlling the book. I read some of the command words from the scan the machine made before being destroyed," she rapidly lied. Wait, why was she lying to her sister? I suddenly drew a blank and realized that there were a few pieces of the puzzle I was missing still. Keela gave me a stern look before glancing back at her sister for support. "Can you, um, control it? Is it dangerous still?" Nirru asked warily, sheathing the sword once more but keeping her eyes dead set on me. Similarly, I watched the blade carefully until the last of the glow disappeared into the leather sheath. That weapon was exceedingly dangerous, I noted. It took sharpness totally out of the equation by not needing to cut its target in the first place. It was kind of hard to defend against something that simply made everything in a long, spatial plane cease to exist. Keela nodded curtly, walking up fully next to me. She seemed shockingly unafraid, suddenly. "Yes. That command renders it neutral, it said. I'll have to read up more on it though," she continued, much more calmly this time. Well, there was nothing else for it, so I decided to play along to the best of my abilities and acted harmless, pulling the barrier tendrils back into the book's form. The young Keldarian girl smiled at my display and gently patted the spine of the book, causing a lightly colored ripple to drift down the surface of the outer Aegis Barrier with each touch. The book further reminded me that I could sever every nerve in her hand and interrupt her nervous system with a few deft barrier movements, but I ignored it. Again. "You're certain? I can leave Void Cutter with you if you think you might need to defend yourself, Keela," Nirru offered, shifting from suspicious back to her worried, surprisingly sisterly side. Said sister in question shook her head, however. "It's okay, Sis. I don't want to risk deactivating it, then not being able to turn it back on. Just let me study it for a little bit in its active form, okay?" she suggested, moving back over to where the equipment resided. Nirru let out a discontented sigh, but shrugged, finally giving in with, "If you think it will get us closer to figuring the thing out, go for it. Just be careful. Oh, and look at page three in the dossier. I think you'll find the information there quite interesting indeed." Keela gave her a questioning glance, but received only a wink in return before her sister gathered herself again and walked slowly towards the door. I watched it slowly slide shut again before noticing Keela shift her head towards me instead, looking a little confused. I shrugged until I remembered that I lacked shoulders, of course. Feeling a little stupid, I formed a vague shoulder image out of four barrier planes and repeated the motion, much more visibly this time. Keela cracked a smile suddenly and giggled, nodding to me in amusement. "So it is you, Mender. I think I recognize the biting sarcasm from last night," she muttered, looking a little less tense. I was surprised by her level of trust in the strange, floating, potentially alien entity with almost unlimited energy that resided less than a meter from her. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to try something. "This is a little new for me, but you did catch me at a bad time last night," I attempted to say. Lacking vocal cords, I distinctly placed my chances of that working at almost zero. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised when her eyes widened a little. Wait, I hadn't 'heard' anything when I said it, though. "Wow! You can use telepathy? That's definitely handy. Wait, you're male?" she suddenly questioned, tilting her head to the side while giving me a curious look. Oh. She heard it in her mind. Well, more likely, I manipulated the various nerve signals that allowed her mind to interpret what I said as verbal and in my distinct voice. I was suddenly extremely glad that I didn't have to manually do that. I decided to be diplomatic and returned, "Well, yes. I'm male. My full name is Moon Mender, but most just refer to me as Mender." Names were a show of politeness, right? I tried to remember any rules of etiquette I may have read about at any point. Damn it. I drew as big of a blank as when I tried the same with the Princesses. Keela smiled and nodded gently. "It's an interesting naming convention. Who are the 'others' you refer to?" she inquired curiously, now ignoring the machines and sitting down on the top of the lab table instead, all attention directed at me. It was a little flattering, and I felt myself mentally blush. "They're my friends, but I'd rather not go into detail. Is it at all possible to convince you to get rid of this book and forget it ever existed? Maybe, I don't know, launch it into a star or something?" I suggested hopefully. Keela looked surprisingly contemplative for a moment, before snickering and pointing out, "I don't think that would technically destroy the artifact. The book you're in is extremely defensive in nature. It would probably just get pulled into the star for a few billion years until the end of its life cycle." Okay, so she could be sarcastic too. I smirked, but decided it had at least cheered me up. There was something about leaving the colorful ponies once you knew them that was utterly depressing. "Well, that would be fine. By that point, any and all relevance the book has would be gone," I reasoned, mentally doing the calculations. I'd be dead by then, one way or another. The link to Equestria would die with me, so at the very most, the book would then simply be a colorful story, if anyone existed that could still read Universal Common at that point. Or if it was even found again. A cold, inert, pathetically small object drifting through space had an astronomically small chance of being found. Last I checked, space was a pretty big place. She smiled suddenly, looking a little too amused for comfort. "You're not actually in the book, are you? The book is a connection to somewhere else that you can act through, right?" she deduced, causing me to mentally twitch again. Why did she have to remind me of Twilight so much? She was definitely a sharp one, that was for sure. "Does it matter? I really just want to be left alone," I groaned, getting tired of the conversation already. Wait, was it still a conversation if it was purely one-sided in a verbal context? I snapped out of the distraction yet again, the dizzying ocean of energy weighing heavily behind my eyes like muddy, lukewarm swamp water. She lost some of her smile and nodded gently before scrolling the long forgotten computer screen down two pages. "If you can answer my questions, I promise that I'll try my hardest to help you. You seem like a really nice guy," she promised, scanning the page with her eyes. I glanced up at it as well. The document appeared to be only three pages long, with the last page detailing my old self's career. It was a list of combat operations for the most part, until one got down to the last three entries. "Led Rescue Operation EX6?!" Keela suddenly read out loud. Oh yeah, that must have been the extraction mission I had remembered earlier. It didn't seem entirely relevant, however. Immediately under it was, 'Selected by Doctor Kyliona As Punishment', followed by, 'Elevated to B11 Status'. Disturbingly, the entries simply ceased after that, being replaced by over a dozen 'Classified' labels. "He was the commander in charge of the rescue mission," she muttered again, sagging a little in posture. I frowned at her reaction but quietly mentally corrected, "Lieutenant." She snapped her head up and back at me rather rapidly, eyes surprisingly wide. "Do you know about him?! Where is he now?" she rapidly asked, borderline on demanding. I sensed a potentially deeper connection and backpedaled rapidly. "I, um, don't know. It just said he was a lieutenant in the promotions listed," I excused rapidly, not very good at the whole 'lying through my teeth' thing. At least, not with last second excuses, anyway. Keela's eyes narrowed momentarily before she sighed. "Please tell me? I'm partially responsible for him getting punished and I'd really like to know," she requested, expression softening. Uh oh. My potential landmine radar was flashing like crazy. I had been punished for something regarding whatever it was she did, and was then classified. Somewhere after that, I had somehow ended defending a vault on an extremely doomed planet, blown to crap, then transferred to another dimension full of colorful, talking ponies. I was missing a few pieces still... "The truth?" I asked hesitantly, to make absolutely sure she really wanted to know. There would obviously be things I couldn't tell her, but I could let her know ultimately what happened to the individual she apparently knew. She frowned, hesitating at my question as if not expecting it, but finally nodded. I sighed weakly before informing, "He's dead. He died on the final day of our last planet." She closed her eyes softly and slumped, bringing her hands to her knees for support. I watched the gentle movement of her throat as she fought to swallow before nodding. "I kind of knew, I guess. It's not like I really knew him that well, of course, but well, he saved my life and paid for it," she finally explained, shaking her head gently. I watched her soft pink mane, er, hair sway back and forth as she did so, bangs draping back in front of her eyes as she looked back up at me again. Her almost sapphire blue eyes seemed to stare into me and I was forced to look away. "Can you tell me how he died?" she asked quietly, apparently composing herself a little. What was her relationship to my old self? "He was charged with protecting one of the vaults. He gave his life to charge the Aegis Barrier but persisted as the Planet Busters hit," I furthered, unsure if I wanted to give her all of the details. Regardless, she didn't ask for them. She smiled gently and nodded, sitting back upright. "He always wanted to protect something, he said. I guess he got his way in the end. I was worried they'd execute him," she muttered, before chuckling wearily. My curiosity got the better of me, finally. "If I may ask, what did he do to get in trouble?" I couldn't help myself. If this was my past life, I wanted to know more about it. He wasn't me, I don't think, but it was still informative. She smiled fully now and raised an eyebrow up at me. "You'd laugh if I told you, probably. You must come from a totally different world," she warned, looking amused at my apparent expense. That was the problem with inside jokes. I rolled my metaphorical eyes before daring, "Try me?" Her expression of mirth was worth it, and I caught myself smiling too. "Oh fine, nosey. If you must know, high-ranking females in our culture have a very strict privacy and dress code. It's mostly a religious thing, and the males are punished for violating it. At the highest ranks, me being a council member as an example, the punishment for even seeing a patch of my fur is quite severe," she explained, covering what I had already knew of course. I feigned ignorance, however, to both cover my identity and speed the story along. "Anyway, needless to probably say now, he broke that. Well, that's not entirely accurate. I broke it for him, which is very well known," she finished, coughing lightly and looking away from me. Uh oh. I suddenly didn't like where this was going. "Uh, he saw your fur then?" I suggested, playing the idiot. It wasn't too hard for my usual self to pull off fairly convincingly. She laughed, a sharp and amused sound, before shaking her head and blushing. "Ah, a little bit more than just fur. But nothing too bad. He saved my life, so I might have, well, thanked him a little after his debriefing conveniently located in my room. Just a bit of kissing and such. Damned if my sister hadn't walked in on us," she groaned, putting a hand on her forehead. I tried to keep the mental convulsions to a minimum. I'd made out with her in her room after rescuing her?! Damn it all to hell! My mind whirled at potential implications of what that would mean. Did she have feelings for my old self? It was unlikely those would carry over to my new form, so I was probably safe. Still, if she found out about the relationship, working with her to fix the connection might become awkward. Or she might get pissed at me for lying about it and refuse to help me. Oh crap. But if I told her the truth, she might think I was lying anyway and then get mad regardless. What was I supposed to do?! In the midst of my panic, I failed to note her giving me an amused look. "I should warn you, I'm a detection and observation specialist. It's one of the reasons I'm the head scientist. Your inner aura just went crazy after I said that. What's wrong?" she suddenly asked, causing me to whirl and smack into the side of the desk as I momentarily lost control of my levitation. She put a hand to her mouth to hold in a giggle. I glared momentarily before sighing. I had figured she was a sensor specialist of some type. "I might not have told you the entire truth about him. Um, he actually lived for about a week after the destruction of the planet," I revealed, looking back up at her. Keela, for her credit, managed to limit her reaction to one of extreme surprise. "Wait, that was just shortly before we got here! How did he stay alive in space for that long? Could we have, um, saved him?" she asked, a little more eager than I had expected. "No. He was in a coma and had extensive physical damage. Saving him wasn't possible. We would have tried could it have been. He was in stasis, being kept alive by the dwindling Aegis Barrier that had shrunk down to barely three meters wide. Air was being pumped in by the Grosh that had moved into the area to study the event." It was easier to get out than I anticipated. If she was going to help me close the link, some things she'd have to know regardless. There was a long moment where she just stared at me, vacant expression of surprise and what appeared to be system shock. For a second, I thought I had accidentally broken her or something. Finally, she shook her head slowly and frowned again. "They really were here then. Wait, we? You were here and trying to save him?" she asked, catching on rapidly like I had hoped. "Yes. My friends and I tried to deal with the connection once already. We apparently weren't fully successful as we didn't anticipate the book, but we were responsible for the destruction of the Grosh laboratory vessel. It was a private operation that hadn't been reported yet, don't worry," I added, heading off that bout of panic before it could get out of control. Keela's frown didn't fade, and she immediately asked, "Wait a second. Your connection existed before the book, then? Are you and your friends connected to here somehow? And where is the other end of the connection?" Her thinking was speeding up and I could see an entirely new interest forming in her eyes. Still, this time I needed confirmation first, however. "Before I can tell you that, I need your absolute word that not only will it stay between us, but that you'll help me destroy the link to this place," I adamantly warned, drifting back up to be eye level with her again. She watched my carefully before suddenly smiling. "I can do better if you're asking for insurance. I trust you, which is strange. You feel familiar, so I'm going to go out on my gut feelings in this case. Here," she offered, raising her left hand up to me. My eyes widened, figuratively of course, as her palm started to glow. There was no prepared attack however, so I simply remained alert. A small orb drifted out of her palm and formed into a crystal in the air, bright purple in color. I momentarily wondered what it was for before she gave it a shove and let it drift over to me. I caught it with the innate field of telekinesis around the book and went to examine it. Unfortunately, it didn't give me a chance and promptly faded into light again before smacking into the book itself?! "Well, that explains a lot. You have a life signature. That was a soul bead. It's a little drop of my condensed life force that is attached to a promise. I promise that I will not share what you're about to tell me, and will help you close the link you refer to, to the best of my abilities," she promised in a surprisingly official tone of voice. Now I was really confused. "Where did it go? And what does it do?" I inquired curiously. I didn't feel anything particularly detrimental, so I assumed it wasn't malignant or anything. She snickered before explaining further, "It attaches to your life signature. You can use it to 'ping' me at any distance, so to speak. The real purpose of it, however, is to assure that I uphold my end of the bargain. If I don't follow through with my promise, the bead opens up to you and gives you full access to my end of the link." Oh. Whoa. If I had access to a link directly to her, I could cast any spell I wanted directly into her being. That much I knew already, as I vaguely recalled contracts involving them from time to time. It didn't take a genius to know that having an angry person with a direct link to your existence would be very bad. Then it dawned on me. She trusted me. It was probably something she felt inside of me that made her remember my past self, but regardless, she trusted me. Me, not him. I drifted gently before nodding my entire form. "Thank you for trusting me. There's a reason I probably seem familiar," I added, a little concerned with how she was going to take this. Her eyes flickered wider slightly, but she contained herself and just listened. Not able to hesitate any further, I gave up and just started talking. Or whatever it was that I was doing now. "The place this one is linked to is a different dimension. I traveled there by freak chance when my spell went haywire. As far as I can tell, the dimension 'passed' close to this one and a, well, rather powerful energy source on their side linked up with the energy of the shield I was using. I think that's what caused me to shift over to their side," I hypothesized. It was summarized, obviously, but that was about as close as I could come with the information I had. Of course, there wasn't any need to convolute the details by explaining what a Sonic Rainboom was. She couldn't quite contain herself this time. "You're a Keldarian, then?! Wait, shield? No. No, it couldn't possibly be..." she started to rapidly ask, suddenly looking conflicted and confused. Further, she didn't seem to know what to do with her hands, claws sporadically popping out as she flexed them. "He, well, I died a week after our planet blew up. My old body was too badly damaged to save, but that was what kept the link connected before the book took over. A new body was somehow formed for me on their side. I'm not a Keldarian anymore," I corrected softly, not exactly sure what to say after all that. "What are you now?" she asked quietly, staring at me with an incomprehensible expression, a light shiver in her pupils. That was a difficult one to answer. Instead, I focused and formed a shield in front of me. Slowly and surely it started to bend and curve, shaping into my now familiar form. It took a good thirty seconds to finish with the crude shape of my body, but I was pleased at the dimensions. I put on the finishing touches of the eyes and hair with a second shield plane to overlap with, keeping them somewhat visible as they hung in the air in front of me. She watched curiously as I finished the rough image, finalizing my rather unkempt mane and tail. The last thing I added was the silvery Cutie Mark that adorned both flanks. Shifting the visible light spectrum across the surface of the shields was rather elementary of a procedure, so color was quite possible. Complex pictures would take a great deal of concentration, but basic shapes such as what my symbol consisted of was rather easy. "You're an equine? Um, too small to be a horse. Isn't that one of the imported animals from our allies?" she questioned, tilting her head and seemingly getting distracted by her own natural curiosity. Regardless, I nodded softly to her, a full motion of the book simulating it. "A pony. There are many genetic differences, though. Different skull structure, larger eyes, shifted proportions, and altered hooves. Sapient levels of intelligence as well as a grasp of complex machinery, sciences, culture, and magic. Two different phenotypes as well, as to what they consider races," I explained as technically as I could to keep her distracted. Based on her expression, it more than worked. Her eyes were now glued to the diagram as I added the translucent horn and wing types to it in cascading style to show the different types. "Let me guess. Unicorn, pegasus, and normal types?" she inquired, peeking around the wings to get a better look as I cycled them. I chuckled and shook my book form. "They are based off legendary creatures, but they call the normal form 'Earth Ponies' in regards to their apparent natural affinity in magic," I corrected simply. She smirked and nodded, still looking amused as I drifted my little diagram closer to her to see. "I'm a normal type, but due to damage to my hoof in the destruction of the Grosh ship, I can perform my magic from when I was a Keldarian on things I touch," I added, erasing the extra parts and shifting the form back to just me again. "Earth Ponies can't use magic?" she inquired, drawing her hand along the flank of the image and lingering with curiosity on the Cutie Mark. "Watch it. That's technically my butt, you know," I reminded, coughing lightly. She snapped back as if burned and I started laughing as a visible blush danced up into her cheeks. I continued before she could complain, however. "Unicorns are the only ones to be able to actively use magic. The other two races use it in a passive way. Earth Ponies manifest it through heightened strength and constitution, as well as a natural connection with nature, making them excellent farmers. Pegasi manipulate clouds, fly far more capably than their wings should allow for, and can alter weather conditions." She was still glaring at me by the time I finished, but I had no doubt that she had heard most of that. "I didn't mean to touch your flank. I was just curious as to the obvious symbol," she defended, looking a little miffed. I was kind of glad she couldn't see the grin I'd be sporting if I had a mouth. "It's called a Cutie Mark. It symbolizes a special talent that we're particularly good at, but can be extremely vague sometimes. Normal ponies apparently get them close to puberty when they discover said talent, but mine appeared a few days ago." The mention of vagueness might have been influenced by my own frustration over mine, but I'm sure I wasn't the only pony out there with the mindset! That damnable heart confused me to no end. It must be symbolic, but the connection to the gear was rather baffling. She nodded, her blush finally dying down a little as she peeked closer. "A gear? Well, if your engineering skills carried over, that's very appropriate. Are you a male still? Do they have genders?" she continued her pattern of curious questioning while examining the model. It was a little annoying, as I didn't know how long I had before waking up, but I owed her politeness anyway. She trusted me, so the least I could do was show a little in return. "Yeah, I'm a male still. It's a little awkward as their gender ratios are flipped from what ours used to be, if I remember correctly. The transfer also gave me a lovely case of retrograde amnesia," I admitted, sighing wearily. It was an extremely selective amnesia as well, which was beyond weird. The book even only gave me information I specifically asked about, greatly limiting its usefulness. Well, it was automated when trying to get me to murder things, but that was hardly fair. "That actually makes sense. To be forcibly shifted into another dimension and have your body regrown into an alien shape probably put you into system shock. Is their culture reversed like ours too? Males rule or something?" she questioned lightly, seemingly calming down a little now. Or she noticed my unrest over the barrage of questions. That one was less awkward, anyway. "Their culture seems pretty even. The ratio seems to be about four to one in favor of female births, but both genders are treated as equal members of society. There's significantly less crime and violence as well," I answered wistfully, realizing honestly how lucky I was. If the dimension shift was truly random, I had amazingly good luck, contrary to what a lot of mares believed. Keela giggled lightly and nodded, eyes softening. "I can see why you don't want to come back here. Cutting the link is more to protect the place, isn't it?" she deduced simply, looking a lot more relaxed now. There was an odd whispering quality that echoed in her voice suddenly, and I glanced about. Wait, that seemed really familiar all of a sudden. I saw the Sun slowly rising on the inside of the ship, oddly. It was starting to bleed through the walls, almost as if a massive three-dimensional projection was inside the room itself. Uh oh. Keela glanced over at where I'd rotated to, but acted like nothing was out of the ordinary and shot me a questioning glance. Yup, it was dimensional bleed through. Damn it. "Crap. I'm waking up. If you have any other questions, best ask them now," I warned rapidly, rotating back to face her. Her eyes widened and she put both hands to her mouth in surprise. "Oh! You were sleeping? Our time cycles must be reversed. Um, I don't want to be a bother now that I definitely know you aren't an AI or anything. What should we do?" she questioned, an air of guilt leaking into her tone. "Oh, that thing you gave me. Right before I'm about to go to sleep, I'll ping you. Just feed the book energy and I'll probably be pulled through into it. It beats listening to you talk for five hours and getting paper dumped all over me," I groaned, suddenly remembering what I had to look forward to when I woke up. "Oh, and don't run the book through that thing anymore. It wasn't pleasant," I added, sighing wearily. Hopefully I hadn't rolled into my own vomit while sleeping. Well, unconscious. Keela nodded rapidly, looking a little sad suddenly before agreeing, "Yeah, that's no problem. I'm glad you're going to let me talk to you again. You're, well, fun." Well that was, um, actually, I didn't know how to respond to that at all. Thankfully I didn't have to. I felt the book suddenly turn off and fall, me falling with it. I kept going however, falling back into the dark recesses of my mind and crossing the infinite void once more.
Chapter 16The fluid dimensional shift had been so poetic compared to the now jarring spasms that I awoke to. At first I was wondering if I'd inhaled vomit and was now having some sort of choking attack, but those don't normally talk to me, I'd hope. "Dude! Mender, wake up. Are you okay?" I heard in a quiet but sturdy male voice. My eyes opened up abruptly to stare right at his emerald ones. The little, purple lizard stood over me, an expression of seeming concern adorning his face. I winced and pushed my hoof against my right temple, trying to shove the splitting headache out of my skull. "Ow. Yeah, I'm all right, Spike. I think I passed out last night and fell," I excused, telling most of the truth. Well, it was enough of the truth to hurt like hell. I probably had hit my head when I fell over, but I vaguely recalled being on my knees to throw up anyway, so it probably wasn't too far of a drop. Spike looked momentarily unsure before smiling and nodding again. "Well, as long as you're not hurt or anything. You're nice and all, so it wouldn't be good if something were wrong. Oh, and Twilight would go totally spastic again. You should have just heard her yesterday!" he complained, rolling his eyes before walking back over to the counter where I had gotten my drink last night. He went under the counter, however, withdrawing what appeared to be a paper towel. "Are you sick, though? You should let her know when she gets up if so," he followed up before getting ready to clean up my rather large mess. "Those two are still asleep?" I questioned in earnest interest before tapping my left hoof to the wooden floor. The barrier formed almost instantly under the mess and I scooped it up using a bowl shape in one fell swoop. "Sorry about the mess, by the way. I think it was something I ate," I tacked on, gesturing to the bowl of rather disgusting smelling liquid. Well, it used to be liquid. I decided not to think about it, lest I make myself sick again. "Oh, sweet! I wish Twilight helped me clean up stuff! Thanks! I totally forgot you had that crazy magic, too. But yeah, I usually always get up before her. I usually make her breakfast, too," he informed as he walked over to a nook in the corner and slid a garbage can out. I winced as I dumped the contents into it, and he rapidly tied it off. "You cook? You seem more like a little brother to Twilight. Isn't she supposed to be the responsible one?" I asked, smirking as he tried to pull the now much heavier plastic bag out of the can. "Ha! You'd think so, but we actually do it this way for safety. You saw her cooking at the party! I thought Rainbow was going to die," he warned, sounding actually shocked. I felt the blood seep out of my head. Oh. "Yikes. I thought that was because it was just really old," I muttered, shuddering before lifting the bag out of the can with my teeth. Spike smiled as I helped him again and latched onto the bottom of the can, using his weight to help me pull it off. "Nah. Twilight's too orderly to let things sit in the fridge for that long. Pinkie made that up. She'd only cooked that up, like, three days before? It just wasn't exactly, um, edible by the time she was done. It was a total waste of potatoes and celery if you ask me." More blood dribbled away and I felt faint, suddenly glad my stomach was still empty. "Potatoes and celery?! I thought that was pancake batter!" I admitted, swallowing wearily. Note to self, if I ever felt suicidal, have Twilight cook for me. "Exactly!" he returned, winking at me before opening the door. We took the bag out the front and set it down next to the end of the walkway leading up to the library. Hoped nopony got too close. The smells alone might incapacitate an unlucky pony! "Thanks a ton, Mender! Having you living here is going to be awesome. Do you want some breakfast too?" he asked, running briefly to catch up as I walked back inside. "Well, if it's not too much trouble. I can try to help if you want," I offered, smiling over at the little guy. He was nice enough of a lizard-thing when it came down to it. His eyes widened a little and he asked, "For real? You'll actually help me cook?" Was it that much of a surprise? I paused, but nodded simply, wondering if I was missing something. "Woo!" he exclaimed before hopping into the air and raising his fist. I snickered momentarily before he rotated and landed on me during his second jump, almost knocking me over sideways. "You're awesome! Let's go make breakfast, then," he agreed from his newly discovered sitting position on my back. I raised an eyebrow back at him, but he only grinned. "Twilight must have you ride on her back, then?" I questioned before heading back inside the library. He wasn't heavy at all, honestly. If he hadn't been rather on the warm side, I probably wouldn't be able to tell he was riding on me. My hoof flashed with energy and the door slid shut after we entered. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't even ask if I could," he suddenly apologized. I glanced back at him with a smile again and shook my head. "You're not that heavy, so it's okay. I just wasn't expecting it," I explained as we entered the kitchen. Now that I peeked around a little more, I noticed that he was right. Everything was ordered, tidy, and practically immaculate. It struck me as almost compulsive, but I knew better than to say anything to the mare, or that wouldn't be the only thing that struck me, I figured. Then I suddenly got an idea as we entered the kitchen. "Hey Spike, why don't we make the mares breakfast in bed?" I suggested, looking back and up at the little fellow. He thought about it for a second before smirking. "Dang, I wish I'd thought of that before! You really know how to impress the ladies, Mender. I wonder if Rarity would like breakfast in bed," he mumbled, raising a clawed hand to his chin as he thought out loud. My brain did a flip. Wait, he liked Rarity? The total lack of comprehension shifted my brain into reverse as it rolled down a hill at maximum speed. "Whoa, you like Rarity?!" I asked before common sense or propriety could caution me otherwise. Spike let out a gasp of shock and stared at me, dumbfounded. "Ack! Don't tell anypony! That's supposed to be super secret!" he warned, looking at me with pleading eyes. Oh crap! Why could I not go a whole day without committing some sort of social atrocity? "Don't worry, Spike! I promise that I'm not going to tell anypony. I'll even help you make Rarity breakfast in bed too if you want to," I offered, hoping my attempt at blatantly bribing him wasn't too obvious. Wait, there was something odd about that logic. He seemed oblivious, though, and sighed in relief instead. "Thanks, Dude. You're a good stallion. Oh, and you're so lucky to have both of them after you!" he suddenly exclaimed, probably remembering what he heard last night. I blushed and coughed as he climbed up onto the counter wearing a smirk. "Well, Fluttershy hasn't made any promises and I'm happy enough to have Twilight. Both mares are amazing for their own reasons, so I am pretty lucky. Well, in that regard," I admitted, leaving a loophole for the blunt head trauma and injury quota I seemed to possess. "Oh yeah. I'm gonna do the cutting, okay? I know better than to let you near sharp objects," he agreed, taking my hint. I laughed and helped him get things out of the fridge that seemed breakfast-y. Was that a word? Oh well. Eggs and bread were good, solid choices. Potatoes would work too. I peeked around for the veggies as Spike started working with the eggs I had retrieved. It was strange. Every time I had one of those dreams, I felt so weird when I got back. It was a surreal, detached feeling that lingered for as long as I thought about it, which this time, was quite a while. What was Keela doing now? She would hopefully be less intrusive from now on, but maybe with her help, I'd be able to solve the link issue without talking to Twilight. A twinge of bitterness slipped in before I could stop it. She'd probably just think that I was nuts again, even if I did say anything. "Equestria to Mender? You okay?" Spike suddenly asked, snapping his fingers in front of my muzzle and knocking me out of my thoughts. "Oh! Oh yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something," I excused, attempting to act nonchalant and probably failing in an extremely epic manner. Spike gave me a skeptical eyebrow raise before muttering, "I noticed. The mares won't appreciate burnt breakfast nearly as much, however. Watch the toast for me while I handle the potatoes," he requested in a surprisingly professional tone. Well when someone spoke like that, one simply had to go along with it. I nodded politely and peeked over at the toaster. Now that I realized it, this was the first time I noticed that Equestria actually had working electricity. Although I think I should have known this before. I could have sworn I saw a hydroelectric dam up by the riverhead. Forcing myself not to get distracted again, I plugged the machine in with a burst of field manipulation around the cord, then stuck the entire stack of bread slices to my hoof with a simple magnetic shift. The little lizard watched in amusement as I took four slices and slid them over the top of the toaster, simply releasing them as they were over the slots in one fluid motion. I might as well get magical practice while doing mundane things, right? "Magic is so cool. Yours doesn't seem as convenient as Twilight's, though," Spike observed after another moment. Well, that much was true. "Yeah. I have to touch things I want to mess with. Having a horn must be amazing," I agreed wistfully. I could think of a few ways around the limitation, but walking around with a bunch of ribbons tied to my left ankle wouldn't do wonders for my already suffering image as a stallion. Maybe some sort of hoof-to-hand glove I could build with movable parts? That might go the other direction though and scare ponies. I gently reminded myself that I was supposed to be cooking when the toast popped up, arced through the air, and unerringly skipped off my nose. I let out a squeak before lashing out with a bunch of force fields from my hoof and catching all of the slices in a makeshift bowl! The little purple lizard started giggling in amusement at my quick recovery, then clapped as I managed to get all of the slices safely back onto the counter. "Your luck is still just as bad, but at least you're getting better at the recovery part," he complimented, pulling a flat, dull knife out and dipping it into the small tub of butter nearby. What interesting ways to prepare food. It made sense from what I had been subjected to so far in meals. They prepared things similarly to the exotic dishes I vaguely remember being 'imported' from our tentative treaty with those other aliens. They had such complex ways to prepare food. It was a little weird, but I guess I'd get used to it. Our species, when not subjected to preserved military meal rations, kept things simple and mixed; chopped, diced, or stringed meat mixed with light grains and maybe a bit of sauce for flavor. The sauce was typically made from either fruits or vegetables. I remember a lot of spicy peppers mixed in as well as the occasional fruity tang if the meat was sweet. My stomach growled as I put in the next set of four toast, and I whimpered. Spike smirked and nodded, complaining, "Yeah. I always get hungry when cooking, too. Seeing all this awesome food in front of me and not being able to touch it is like teasing. Even if it's not what I really want to eat." My attention focused on his mouth while he was talking, and I once again saw the rows of pointed teeth. Was he omnivorous? "Do you eat meat sometimes?" I questioned gently, having gotten too curious for my own good. To my own defense, I wasn't expecting the look of utter horror that the little guy displayed. "Ew! No way, Dude! I'd never eat any kind of meat," he denied instantly, taking a step backwards and away from me. Okay then! That hadn't been a reaction I was expecting. I chalked yet another social blunder onto my quota for today. Damn. I'd only been up a half an hour! "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to offend! I just saw your teeth and I didn't think they looked like something a pure herbivore would have," I explained hastily in attempts to calm the little guy down. He exhaled, and seemed to relax before sticking a finger into his mouth and running the claw along his teeth as if just having noticed them himself. "Well, I guess I see the mistake. These are for crushing and chewing gemstones, though, not meat," he corrected. What? My brain stalled as I blinked slowly at him. Gemstones? He eats crystalline mineral deposits that have been processed into faceted gems? "Uh, all dragons eat gems, I guess. They taste really, really good and make my tummy feel better if it's aching," he expanded upon, seeing my empty expression. Oh. He was a dragon then, not a lizard. My mind strained to remember anything I could about the word. The only place I had recalled seeing it was in an old book that was imported, once again, from our estranged allies. It was starting to make me a little paranoid now that I considered it. A lot of that alien culture seemed to be popping up around here. Although to them, even, dragons were a myth. Something fictitious that existed purely in imagination and fantasy; yet here was a living, breathing example of one. I think. I wondered how close the little guy matched to their myths. "So you're a dragon? I think I recall reading that they can breathe fire," I muttered a moment later, tilting my head towards him. He grinned in the same instant and exhaled, blasting a small plume of green flames dangerously close to my styled and braided mane. I stepped backwards with my eyes widening a little before coughing out, "Dragon it is, then!" He snickered and nodded with a big grin dancing across his face. "My fire isn't normal dragon fire, though. I'm extra magical and can use the fire to transport things to wherever I think about when using it," he added, swaying back and forth as if pleased with himself. I was confused, however. "Wait, so it makes some sort of portal or something?" I inquired curiously, suddenly finding the little guy fascinating. At least he didn't seem to mind the attention I was giving him. "Haha! No. It kind of burns up, then just appears somewhere else. Like magic!" he exclaimed. Yet again, my brain did a flailing nosedive down a cliff. A thousand questions came to mind, but I suddenly realized that assaulting him with them might seem kind of rude. The way he was explaining it, I decided he probably didn't know the answers any more than I did. I made a mental note to never willingly use it for transportation, however. If it didn't actually send the object, instead destroying it and making a copy at the location he considers, wouldn't that technically kill living things? If it didn't, were they really the same individual as the one who got teleported? If one couldn't tell, was that still a bad thing? The moral and ethical questions confused me deeply. Spike was oblivious to my inner turmoil, thankfully. "I mostly use it to send letters for Twilight," he added happily before starting to load up a tray I hadn't seen him pull out. Oh, the food! To my surprise however, the sets of toast were done to perfection and already placed on a large plate. "Ah! Sorry for zoning out so much, Spike. I didn't really help you much," I apologized, suddenly feeling badly about it. He had seemed so happy to be getting the help earlier, too. Spike snickered and waved a claw to me as he finished loading the tray. "It's fine, Mender. You had a rough night, so it doesn't surprise me you're a little out of it today. The company was totally worth it! Can you help me get this upstairs, though?" He glanced over at the tray, suddenly seeming to realize that it was several times his size. I smiled, teasing, "Don't want to use your flames to move it up there?" A faint blush appeared on his cheeks before he shook his head, admitting, "I can't exactly control how the objects come out. With our luck, the tray would flip over and land on them." That would indeed be bad. Eating breakfast is good. Being covered in it; not so much. I reached out and touched the tray with my left hoof. It was simple enough. The tray and contents lost gravity instantly, and I snapped a thin, contorted barrier over the food on top to prevent any unfortunate drifting that might happen. Spike gave a questioning look due to the effects being not exactly visible to the naked eye. It shifted to amusement and a rapid clapping as I slid the tray off the counter and drifted it through the air towards the stairs. Once the properties of an object were changed, the small symbols I put on them would remain 'charged' for quite a while after I broke contact. That was a basic technique I remember being taught. More advanced ones gave methods in which to place self-recharging 'batteries' onto the enchantments, allowing for significantly more permanent effects. They required a tremendous amount of focus and magic to start up, though, and that was currently well outside of my capacity. Spike snagged the tray out of the air and pulled it up the stairs, scooting himself backwards as he went. The anti-gravity enchantment seemed to amuse him to no end. Of course, I could hardly cancel the true effect of gravity on an object. That would take considerably more energy than my entire body possessed. Mass manipulation enchantments were extremely hard. Now a basic effect that provided omnidirectional counter-thrusting to match the force of gravity on the object; that was a lot easier! Spike gleefully made it to the top of the stairs and turned in the direction of Twilight's bed. I smiled at his youthful exuberance as I went up the stairs significantly slower. Up was far safer than down when traversing stairs in my current body, but I still didn't want to trip and plant my face into the steps. Idly, I wondered if the girls really would enjoy this little gift. My eyebrows raised questioningly, however, as I saw Spike freeze shortly after turning the corner, claws extending up to his mouth and his eyes widening. Uh oh... Sensing potential disaster, I sped up upon nearing the top of the stairs. Thankfully I only managed to trip once. Stumbling to a somewhat complete stop, I finally managed to turn just as Spike started to smirk instead. The girls must have heard my fumbling in some far off corner of their dreamland. Both stirred gently, still tucked under the warm embrace of the covers. A smile crept onto my mouth before I could stop it as the stirring made them snuggle closer into each other. Fluttershy's muzzle and cheek were lightly pressed into Twilight's chest as the lavender unicorn had both of her front legs wrapped around her friend. Honestly, it kind of looked like she thought she was holding some sort of stuffed animal. Actually, now that I thought about it, the yellow pegasus was probably going to have a small heart attack upon waking up. "Twilight? Fluttershy? Breakfast is ready," Spike gently called out before I could properly warn him. Both mares stirred gently after barely a second; Fluttershy opening her eyes up first. She looked disoriented in that brief moment where you have to cognitively register where you are after falling out of your dreams. The look of confusion rapidly slipped into surprise, and then panic as she looked up fully at Twilight. Twilight, for her part, didn't seem to notice at all anyway. She was busy releasing a planet-cracking yawn. I momentarily amused myself by watching the little thingy in the back of her mouth shiver back and forth before she finally stopped yawning and blinked sleepily. By then, Fluttershy had started shivering uncontrollably and couldn't seem to break eye contact. Twilight slowly looked down, eyes widening in surprise but not quite slipping into the panic her friend seemed to be displaying. "Oh! I'm sorry, Fluttershy. We must have moved in our sleep," she reasoned, probably dead on as per usual. Fluttershy was still mostly frozen, but I watched her eyes soften a little at the lavender unicorn's warm smile. Note to self, my fillyfriend is amazingly unfazed by waking up to cuddling with her best friend. Even in my head, that sounded really weird, and not because of the cuddling part. I decided I still was having problems considering myself as her coltfriend. Spike managed to remain smiling, even though I heard the suppressed, airy snickering from this close. "I'm sure you two are hungry as well. Mender had a really good idea, so here you go! Breakfast is served," he announced, giving a hammy bow before sliding the tray through the air. It drifted low before gently landing on, and sliding across the surface of the bed. Twilight looked more surprised by the tray than the fact that she woke up to holding Fluttershy, ironically. "Wait, did you guys make us breakfast in bed? Aww!" she cooed, smiling even wider now. Fluttershy snapped out of her system shock and glanced at the tray in front of her as well, as she sat up to equal Twilight's height. Spike wasted no time in hopping up on the other side of the tray and sitting across from Twilight. "Yup! He even helped me make it. I should have totally thought of this before!" he exclaimed, tone indicating he felt he was silly. "Hey, you did most of the cooking. Plus you would have had too hard of a time getting the food upstairs," I reasoned to try to redirect his self-chastisement, not to mention the credit. Fluttershy was now blushing furiously and looking down at the tray. I had the sneaking suspicion that it wasn't me who caused the tinted cheeks, however. "Thank you. You two are wonderful. You really know how to treat two mares!" Twilight spoke up, smirking over at Fluttershy before shifting to a more questioning expression. There was a long, awkward moment where Fluttershy continued to zone out while blushing and Twilight stared blankly at her. I was a little awkward, too, but for other reasons. I realized that I was rather hungry myself, having thrown up most of my supper last night. There was a problem, however. Breakfast was sitting on Twilight's bed. Her bed. Bed! I might be rather naive from time to time, but I knew what the favorite location of private time was. Due to a very informative conversation with Pinkie and Applejack a while back, I had a sneaking suspicion that the concept was fairly universal between our worlds. "Uh, are you okay, Fluttershy?" Twilight hesitantly asked, finally running out of patience, it would seem. The timid yellow pegasus snapped out of it with a start and nodded rapidly. "Oh yes, I'm, well, fine!" she assured, not sounding assuring in the least. Twilight's expression said she didn't buy it, but she sighed and nodded before gesturing towards the food again. "You should really eat something, Fluttershy. I'm sorry again about moving in my sleep," Twilight apologized softly, gently brushing Fluttershy's right shoulder. Fluttershy started to shake her head towards the tray before she stopped and gave me a questioning look. Damn it. I'd hoped they'd be too distracted with their food and awkward moment to notice mine. I carried forth with sitting down on the floor next to the bed and peeking over at my share of the food. Maybe Twilight wouldn't notice and I could... "Mender, what are you doing?" aforementioned lavender unicorn asked. Damn it! I swallowed and glanced over at the confused looking unicorn before trying a reassuring smile. "Uh, sitting down? I'm kinda hungry," I complained, trying not to be too snarky. I'd noticed that I'd been getting a little sardonic as of late. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but I didn't want to be rude. Twilight was deadly sharp of mind, I keep forgetting. She smirked instead, assuring, "It's okay if you sit on the bed, Mender. There's no stigma against it, and besides, you technically are my coltfriend now, remember?" Blushing at her implications, I gave in and slowly climbed up onto the bed. "I suppose. I just don't want to do something stupid by assuming and offend you," I admitted, settling into a comfortable spot across from Fluttershy and next to Spike. This still felt awkward, but I suppose knowing that the bed wouldn't be hurled at me for sitting on it was a good step in the right direction. Twilight frowned for a microscopic moment before smiling again and nodding. "It's not like we're being intimate. You're just eating with us," she reassured before taking a bite of her toast finally. Fluttershy, who had been reduced to a timid silence during the exchange, nodded to me as well. "Admittedly it is a, well, nice concept. It would make me feel so much better some nights if you were there to push up against. Sometimes I get really, um, scared in my house all alone," she furthered softly. She was looking down at her food, which oddly left me wondering which one of us she was addressing that to. She wore a light blush regardless and Twilight gave her a curious look. Somehow, I had a sneaking suspicion that she was refering to a more platonic cuddling than anything. My smile softened towards her. "I didn't realize you thought of Mender that much, Fluttershy. You really like him, don't you?" Twilight asked gently, smile not even flickering. I know, because I was watching it like a hawk. It was still hard to believe she was so open-minded about Fluttershy liking me too. Was their culture that different, or was it more of a Twilight thing? I discovered that I was looking for any indication of her secretly disliking it that I could find. Realizing that, I started questioning my own motives over the ordeal. I was afraid of offending the lavender mare, obviously, but some of the doubts stemmed from myself instead. I didn't really consider myself worthy of them both. Wait, did I consider myself worthy of either of them individually? That, of course, reminded me of the awkward conversation from last night. "That reminds me. What's a herd?" I blurted out before seriously considering what I was asking. I should really stop doing that, I decided in hindsight. Fluttershy seemingly forgot that she couldn't breathe while eating eggs and suddenly started coughing and hacking like mad. Spike started to laugh a split second before Twilight made a gagging noise and spit half the contents of her orange juice cup all over him. My eyes widened and I leaned forward to pat Fluttershy on the back as she leaned over the tray. At least my fillyfriend seemed in less immediate danger of choking to death. "Ew!" Spike complained immediately, looking down at himself with both arms indignantly spread and dripping orange juice. Fluttershy seemed to finally regain her composure and adopted a new, fiery red tint to her cheeks as she looked back up at me in surprise. Twilight's cheeks were similarly tinted, although noticeably less than her friend’s. Maybe it was a shading difference due to their extreme coat colorings? The lavender mare shook her head before sighing and asking, "You remember that from what the guard told you last night, right?" I nodded weakly, wondering if I should be worried for my safety now. She continued regardless, seemingly less upset and significantly more awkward. "A herd is an older tradition in Equestria. It stems all the way back to when we were still nomadic, but the legal and cultural aspects are still practiced today from time to time," she explained quietly, not making eye contact. In a slightly bizarre oddity, Fluttershy actually seemed a little more comfortable with the topic, continuing where Twilight left off with, "Yes. A lot of animals still use the concept, and it's obviously still important to us ponies too due to our slightly off balance gender ratios. A herd then is as simple as multiple mares and stallions in a family or relationship together." That was it? It seemed simple enough, but was more flexible than I anticipated. So it wasn't just one member of a gender sharing multiple opposite gendered partners, but simply a group of ponies in said situation with potentially multiple on each side. It made sense if it was originally for a nomadic lifestyle. Unity and protection would be significantly greater. "So the guard last night was insinuating that we were trying to form one?" I asked, largely for clarity. Well, not in so many words, as he chose a lot more that were significantly more degrading. That wouldn't do at all. The shy pegasus shot back to embarrassed in a heartbeat and shrank back down again. Twilight took her turn to recover and let forth a snicker of amusement before rubbing her friend on the back. "Well, for right now we're just a couple. If Fluttershy would like to join in the future, we'd tackle that then, but I read that it works a lot better if the members of a herd are friends before joining, so I could honestly see it going well," Twilight pointed out. At this point, her referencing the fact that she's read about this topic didn't surprise me in the least. Was there a topic she hadn't read about yet? Spike, who I totally forgot was there, gave a questioning glance over at the two mares after swallowing a large mouthful of toast. "Wait, doesn't that mean that you and Fluttershy would be in a relationship too?" he questioned curiously, taking a strange interest in the subject. Wait, he probably shouldn't have asked that! Fluttershy gave out an almost miserable sounding mix between a groan and squeak before sinking lower to her side of the tray. I resisted smiling as I went back to gently rubbing her shoulder to try to comfort her. Spike's studious mother surrogate raised an eyebrow to him but finally giggled nonchalantly. "Well, sometimes. I've never, well, considered being with a mare before, but I couldn't see any harm in it. I care deeply for Fluttershy as a dear friend, of course, but I can't speak for how she'd feel for that, Spike. Be gentle," she warned before turning to the now visibly shocked yellow mare next to her. "You really, um, mean it?!" Fluttershy asked in disbelief. I could see the muscles along her forelegs shivering as she asked, her wings twitching behind her lightly in what seemed to be a mix of panic and surprise. I suddenly realized that all three of us liking each other might actually have a possibility of working. That was a little scary, for some reason. My sense of self-established inferiority started to creep up again. Things were getting complicated and the urge to distance myself reared its head again. The more complex something got, the higher the probability of something going wrong. "Of course, Fluttershy. Now you'd best eat something before the wonderful meal the boys made us gets cold," Twilight reminded gently. The shy pegasus gave a start before turning back to the tray of food in front of her. "Ah, yeah! I'm sorry," she rapidly murmured, gaze shifting between Spike and me. I smiled softly to her, and my scaly friend gave a nonchalant wave of a claw while stuffing a frightening amount of hash browns into his mouth. Fluttershy simply giggled before resuming her own meal. My smile dropped away as I lost the focus of attention again. Why was I doubting this? I liked both mares; Twilight maybe just a little more, due to experience and proximity. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity then? It seemed almost too perfect. Admittedly, my natural sense of paranoia was a little cautious. It didn't help that I kept getting stuck on the fact that these mares were national, maybe worldly even, heroines! How did I deserve such amazing mares? Finally, like a shadow looming over the whole thing, I worried that things involving Keela and the other dimension would spill over at the worst possible time. So yeah, things were getting complex. Twilight drew her attention back up to me. I caught it this time and rapidly resumed eating as to not draw unwanted attention to myself. This was hopefully going to be an easy day, anyway. I hoped that thought wouldn't come back to bite me again... * * * * * The resounding vibrations drifted through my skull as my momentum slowed to a halt. The cold wood contrasted my now heated and pulsing skin just along the bridge of my nose and muzzle. Groaning, I slowly slid my head down the unmoving wood, eyes still closed. Damn it. Laughter danced along my hearing from somewhere in front of me. It was a hearty, carefree laugh with a familiar voice behind it. "Ah reckon yer eyesight still ain't fully recover'd?" Applejack inquired in an amused tone. At least I assumed it was the country flavored Earth Pony. If it wasn't, somepony was one heck of a voice actor. "I take it you found out about the incident yesterday?" Twilight asked softly as she helped me back to all four hooves without hesitating the slightest. She adjusted quickly to my penchant for hurting myself. At least I was expected to be fully recovered by tomorrow. Magic was amazing! Opening my eyes finally, I saw a slightly fuzzy version of Applejack nod earnestly. "Yup! Dash came by yesterday an' told all 'bout it. Yer one lucky stallion," she remarked, walking over to give Twilight a hoof in moving me into the room. "It usually doesn't feel that way," I muttered, giving out a stiff groan as I was forcefully moved next to the inside wall of the barn. My, as of yet hard to believe, fillyfriend snickered playfully before suggesting, "Well, just in case you're right and physics still hates you, you're just going to be telling us what to do today. No handling sharp and pointy objects when you're half blind." Applejack laughed as well, seemingly ignoring my eye roll. "That's probably ah good idea. Ah'm gonna keep workin' with tha supports until Dash an' Fluttershy get 'ere. Mah brother asked if ya could make some plans up fer tha design, too," she requested, turning to walk back in the direction of the half-done conveyor, but glancing back over her shoulder at us. Twilight perked up, probably noticing that this stage of the project could make full use of her talents. "Oh, certainly! Mender will explain the design and I'll draw it up as precisely as possible!" she assured, again promising my support without actually asking me. Well, it wasn't like I would have turned the farm mare down, but it still would have been nice to be at least consulted on what my workload would be. I chalked it up to her knowing me, though. "Thank ya kindly, Twi! An' you too, Mender. This would'a been downright impossible without yer talents," she thanked, sounding more sincere than I thought a pony could. Smiling, I nodded softly to her as I plopped down into a lying position with my butt to the wall. The lavender unicorn sat down next to me before giving a smirk and lighting her horn up with magic. Almost a dozen logs drifted over to my position from a new pile that had apparently appeared there overnight. Oh yeah, Applejack had been shorted by over half her required parts. Note to self; find out whom she bought the 'kit' from and blacklist him or her from any of my future business. "Hey Spike, are you coming?" Twilight called out a moment later, aiming for the door next to us, it sounded like. Oddly enough, I could still 'feel' what the part was shaped like from when I last scanned it. I didn't think my memory was that good, so I snagged the original again and started to re-scan it. That was the last thing I needed: to get through all of the parts only to discover that I made a noticeable error in the duplication process. Applejack would probably kill me for wasting that much wood, too. My thoughts were interrupted by the grumbling of the little dragon as he hauled a rather sizable saddlebag set in from outside of the barn. "Yeah, yeah. This isn't the lightest, ya know," he complained, causing me to smile over at him. He was an extremely hard worker. Of course, Twilight had been wearing the pack up until we got to the barn, so at least he didn't have to drag it far. Which was good. If Rarity were here, she'd probably kill us all for mistreating an accessory by dragging it through the dirt like that. "Oh, Ah ordered tha metal parts, too. They said they'd come sometime today," Applejack chimed in. Oh yeah, I'd forgotten she'd need more than just the wooden segments I was making. They were kind of pointless if there was nothing to attach them to. "I hope you didn't go through the same pony," I returned, shaking my head slightly. It still made me mad that somepony had taken advantage of my friend. Sure, we had gotten off to a rough start, but Applejack had been extremely nice to me ever since that had been patched up. "Ha! He ain't gonna get ah lick o' Apple business ever again, don't worry. These parts are from out o' town. Ah little more expensive, but Ah'm guaranteed ta get tha whole order, ya know?" she informed, sounding justifiably irked. "Good! I have half a mind to go visit him myself and discuss the definition of product fraud," Twilight grumbled as she pulled out several sheets of paper from the saddlebags that were now in front of her. Spike wobbled a little bit before dramatically falling over next to her. Oddly, it kind of reminded me of Rarity. "It ain't worth tha trouble. It'll hurt 'em enough ta lose all tha Apple business. 'sides, Ah might'a found somepony ta take over our construction needs," she returned with a playful tone to the last part. A little flag went off in my mind and I glanced up from my scanning work just in time to see the orange mare smiling at me from on top of the conveyor's main support. Wait, was she talking about me?! Heat drifted into my cheeks as my eyes widened. "I think that's a very good choice, Applejack. He's brilliant at engineering, from what we've seen so far," Twilight chimed in using a sweet tone and a nuzzle to my shoulder. I let out a weak groan and buried my head in my forelegs, feeling the heat radiating off it. Twilight let out a light giggle before I heard the papers rustling into position. "Yer too humble, Mender. Ya must realize how much this is helpin' us, right?" the farm mare questioned curiously, yet in what sounded to be a distracted tone. Curious again, I peeked up at her latching a hammer to her hoof using a simple leather strap. She lined up a couple more nails with her mouth and lightly held them up with her free hoof as she tapped them in. The act seemed so precise that it left me in awe for a moment. If I had tried that, Twilight would be re-attaching my hoof. I knew she was strong, but watching her reinforce the supports displayed a totally unrealized level of finesse from her. "No, don't try doing that, Mender," Twilight suddenly advocated cautiously, apparently practically reading my mind. She wore an amused smirk as I glanced over at her. "Yeah, no. I like my hoof in one solid chunk, thanks. Worse yet would be making extra work for you," I agreed, returning a much softer smile. She looked momentarily amused before softening as well, probably guessing that I was purposefully trying to appease her. What was the term for that? 'Sweet Talking'? The situation seemed similar to when Twilight had accused me of that before. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing? "Don't get distracted, Casanova. We have work to do," she murmured tenderly. Of course, she accompanied it with a tantalizing and agonizingly slow nuzzle along the side of my cheek, doing the exact opposite of keeping me focused. It was strange, but I had a strong compulsion to push her over onto her side and start kissing her. Still, that would probably get a bad reaction. Reminding myself that she could tie bows using my insides without touching me, I managed to resist. Somehow. The heat rushing to my head certainly didn't make it easy. "Oh come on! Last night wasn't enough smooching for you two?!" Spike suddenly groaned out, sounding appalled. Twilight snapped back instantly and looked over at the annoyed little dragon. Applejack, who had apparently stopped hammering at some point and was now watching with a surprised expression and slack jaw, shifting to that of amused and started chuckling. "Ah reckon ya would think ah little differently if'in it was Rare and yerself," she reasoned pointedly. Wait, she knew about Spike's crush? If she was okay with speaking of it so plainly, Twilight must know about it too. Spike grumbled something under his breath and crossed his arms. Applejack snickered but spun the hammer around with a flick of her hoof and resumed lining up nails. She continued to speak as she worked, with, "It was ah little surprisin' though. You finally decided ta admit feelin's an' bury the hatchet?" "It took a while, but I think he's finally more comfortable with me," Twilight agreed readily enough, missing my eye roll shortly after. It wasn't entirely my fault that I was terrified of making her mad. Disregarding the most obvious retort, I decided to just resume my scan. Amusingly enough, it turned out that my memory seemed to be spot on from the last one I did. Maybe there was some sort of intrinsic memory involved with imprinting the scan in my mind. Regardless, I locked down the shape and set the part aside. From my yet imperfect vision, I noted that the stack of logs was over to the left side of me. I reached up to touch one when the top log drifted free and landed softly in front of me. Smiling, I gave the unicorn a nod, even if she was currently looking down at her papers. It didn't surprise me in the least that she could manipulate the logs without looking. "Ah meant you, Twi," Applejack corrected a moment later. Uh oh. The farm mare had serious guts, I'll say that much. Well, she was also a good friend of Twilight's, so she could get away with saying a lot more than I could. I decided not to look up. Maybe if I didn't see the death coming, I'd survive? "Hey! I admit my feelings for him! Well, okay, fine. I might have been a little on the hesitant side, but I've never done this before!" the lavender unicorn protested, suddenly seeming extremely flustered. Well, that wasn't the anticipated reaction. I expected more yelling. And homicide. I kept my head down through the moment of silence, busying myself by making cutting patterns in the log in front of me. They hunted mainly through motion and terror, I had heard. If I remained absolutely still and avoided eye contact, they shouldn't be able to see me! The log was significantly larger than the one I worked with last time, I suddenly noticed. I managed to fit three full-length stacks inside of it, allowing for eighteen sections from one. That meant we should only need five or six, and still have plenty of spares left over! As pleasing as that aspect was, I realized that I had only done four stacks before causing my nose to explode in blood and the most distracting sensation of a nail being driven into my forehead. This wasn't going to be pretty. "Ah think yer both perfect fer each other, frankly. Ya share enough similarities ta get along, an' not enough ta murder each other," Applejack admitted, gaining a snicker from myself. The mare spoke truth. It made me realize that Rainbow and she actually were very similar to Twilight and me, minus the massive competitive streak they had going. They shared a lot of similarities and lacked the overlapping skill set. Twilight nodded in my peripheral vision before adding, "Agreed. It's nice to be able to talk about magical things to somepony. It helps that he's actually neat and tidy too. Well, when not bleeding all over things." I gave her a skeptical glance, only to receive a tantalizing one in return. She was such a brat sometimes. She continued her verbal rampage before I could retort, however. "Still, at least he has the sense of organization and cleanliness in the first place. Right, Spike?" she asked with a bit of a bite to her tone. Whoa, what did he do to get on her bad side? "Hey, what did I do?!" he asked instantly, apparently knowing just as much about his offense as I did. That didn't bode well. I had just started to become friends with him, too. The exasperated unicorn sighed wearily. "You filled up the bin under my drafting table with cut up pieces of paper, Spike. It was two inches over the top of the thing! Did you think I wouldn't notice?" she questioned bluntly. Cut up pieces of paper? I glanced up at the same time Applejack did apparently, her expression shifting to one of dubious curiosity rather than mirroring my merely interested one. "What? No, those were all over Mender's bed when I got up! All I did was pick them up," he defended adamantly. Wait, what? Oh. I knew I forgot something. Twilight slowly rotated around to give me a skeptical, yet confused look. Applejack's shifted even further to the disbelieving side of the spectrum as her eyebrow rose sharply on the left side. Well, crap.
Chapter 17Magic. Using a broad definition, it was anything not clearly defined through science that still held definable effects that could be documented and controlled. Well, not always so much on the controlled part. To narrow that focus a little bit, our magic was a little bit more understood, anyway. We knew where the energy came from and how to manipulate it. It followed the most rudimentary laws of the physical world. You couldn't create or destroy matter at a fundamental level. Forces such as gravity and inertia could only be balanced out instead of changed completely. You had to obey the rules already in place. There were still variables missing, of course. How our bodies made the energy. Why the symbols worked the way they did to focus our efforts. Where the energy went after dissipating. Even the very nature of the 'soul' itself, if I was allowed to be dramatic. Back home, mentioning that in the wrong audience was liable to be disastrous, if I recalled correctly. I'd always been more interested in function and practicality, though. Magic did what I wanted it to, for the most part, making my life significantly easier than it was prior. Which was a good thing, considering that in most cases, if life had been any harder, I probably would be dead. A burst of focus. The ebb and flow; twists and bends of the energy through me. It was an elation to use it. The log in front of me shuddered gently and I released the energy in the same instant. With a light tug, three stacks of the plates slid out of the wood with the extra space between them turning into a light dust. "Oh, I'll never get tired of watching that. It's so efficient, Darling! I'd be simply delighted to see what you could do to fabric," Rarity assured from behind me. I smiled back at the relaxed unicorn, pleased that I could see a majority of her without distortion or fuzziness. It would seem that I couldn't be without at least one unicorn with me today. Twilight had burst into a small fit when she realized that she'd forgotten some of her drawing equipment, and immediately took off back towards the library to retrieve them. Spike had elected to stay here, giving her an exasperated look if I recalled correctly. That was about a half an hour ago, at this point. It wasn't five minutes later that Rarity showed up looking for me, believe it or not. Spike was then delighted that he decided to stay here! Not that I was complaining. Personally, I was just happy that they had bought, or at least partially bought, my blatant lie earlier. Thinking fast, I had informed both mares that I had simply been practicing 'precision magic' with the pieces of paper. They seemed skeptical, but I elaborated that I couldn't manage to fall asleep and was trying to tire my brain out quickly with the practice. Twilight shrugged and went back to sorting and labeling sheets of paper, but Applejack had given me a dirty look. It hardly mattered, though, as at least she could be as suspicious as she wanted without potentially involving powerful princesses on the case. I hoped. The measuring tape felt cool as the ever-gentle white unicorn pressed it up against the nape of my neck before running it down my spine. "How are the measurements coming?" I inquired curiously as she continued. She still insisted on making me a suit, but I realized that it would defeat the purpose of me going with her if I looked horrible. Plus, it was apparently good advertising for her to actually have an example of what she could design for stallions. "You'll need far less fabric than Big Mac, admittedly. Which is a good thing!" she rapidly assured before I even had a chance to think otherwise. Oh, she had accidentally insulted my body type the first time I had visited, now that I recalled. "I mean, honestly. There are many good builds for suits that I could make for you. You'd look simply ravishing in a dark blue. Maybe get some simple gemstones on the cuffs and buttons, and a nice bow tie to go along with the look. Hmm!" she continued, cooing contentedly as she paced around me, eying over every inch. I swallowed, blushing a little as her eyes almost hungrily scanned me. I knew she was just thinking up suit designs, but the intensity she was pursuing it with was a little on the scary side. "I'm so glad you didn't talk me into going! Total drag, those kinds of parties," Rainbow Dash complained from up near the ceiling. Rarity glared up at her ineffectively and was ignored completely as the rainbow mare drilled the support plates into the ceiling. Metal pads attaching in the four corners to spread out the support pressure as best as possible. Of course, they were only backups, really; something to give a bit more sturdiness to the ground platform and to buy time if something catastrophic happened. Dash had arrived a little after Rarity, primed and ready to help finish the job. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I managed to get through two more logs since she got here. I rubbed at my temples now, however. The headache was starting to flare up, and I knew if I tried a third log that things were going to get messy again. Still, this was already more than what I had managed the last time. Nowhere near what I could have done before coming to Equestria, but that was a different story completely. "Rest, Mender. It simply won't do if you get your nose bleeding again. Maybe stretch and get a bit of fresh air?" the kind unicorn next to me asked, giving a soft smile. "Ah agree completely! Ah'm not gonna let ya overwork yerself again. Get some fresh air, okay?" Applejack chimed in, popping her head out from under the main platform for the conveyor and giving me a stern glance. It lasted all of three seconds before she cracked a smile and winked at me, however. Sighing, I nodded to both of the insistent mares before slowly standing up. My legs were stiff from lying in one spot for over half an hour, but it felt good to stretch them out. Maybe they were right? A bit of fresh air would do me some good. As if reading my mind, Rarity nodded to me before suggesting, "Come then. I can always finish the measurements later. Let us take a stroll around the barn to clear our heads." Spike stood instantly as well, attentively watching Rarity with all of his focus. "Am I allowed to go with you two as well?" he asked pleasingly, sounding a little on the desperate side. I struggled not to smirk at the little guy. Applejack didn't hold back her eye roll, however. "Well o' course ya can, Spike. Ah'm not gonna force ya ta do heavy liftin' or nothin'," she assured before giving a warm chuckle. She seemed in good spirits today for some reason. "Yeah, that's what she has me for," Rainbow groaned, hauling the toolbox back down and shaking her wings off after she landed next to her orange friend. Applejack gave her a knowing, amused look, but shifted back to her warm smile when Dash looked over at her. Wait, what was that? "Ya know ya like it. Good exercise fer tha wings," she pointed out, brushing her hoof along the underside of the cyan mare's left one as if to emphasize. Rainbow flailed instantly to the side in surprise, her other wing blasting out to full extension in an instant. How it didn't lose half of its feathers, I didn't know! She glared back at the country mare, cheeks burning a bright crimson, now. Applejack seemed unfazed and instead winked over at me. "If ya'all are gonna date Flutters, that's ah good spot ta remember. Ah hear it drives ah pegasus wild," she explained, causing me to join Rainbow in blushing. "Why did you do it to me, then?!" the flustered cyan mare squealed, stomping her right hoof down into the dirt of the barn floor. Applejack laughed before ducking back under the platform again. "Ah needed an example, RD. Ya proved mah words well enough, right?" she reasoned, muffled a little by her new location. "You don't lie, Applejack. I would have just believed you," I assured, smirking now. Suddenly I realized that Rainbow wouldn't need to worry much about being turned down. Not only was the farm mare significantly more adventurous than I had pegged her for, she seemed extremely affectionate towards her cyan friend. Of course, I didn't know a whole lot about Equestrian relationships, but this seemed like a good sign. "Speaking of, where is the Dear? I thought Fluttershy was to help us today with the remainder of the barn?" Rarity questioned softly, glancing over at me instead. Wait, why would she think I knew? Even though I technically did... "What do ya mean, 'us'? All you've been doing today is measuring Mender," Rainbow pointed out, flushed cheeks finally calming down. I saw through her attempt to distract herself and smirked at her. Unsurprisingly, she avoided locking eyes with me. Rarity looked absolutely appalled by the suggestion, dramatically throwing her foreleg up to her forehead and seemingly looking woeful. "The shame at even suggesting such, Rainbow! Surely you realize that I will help just as soon as my measurements are done, right?" she asked in a dramatic tone. Dash slapped her forehead with her right forehoof before shaking her head. "I'll hold ya to that, then. Where is Fluttershy anyway, Mender?" she inquired, mirroring Rarity. Why was I suddenly the resident expert on the shy mare? "She said she had to catch up on feeding her animals this morning and would arrive afterwards," I revealed, if only to get them to stop asking. Without missing a beat, Rarity shifted from dramatically depressed to curiously asking, "Oh, you saw the Dear this morning?" "Uh, well, yeah," I admitted, suddenly unsure of how much I was supposed to give out. On one hoof, they probably wouldn't let up until I told them. On the other, Twilight might use me as a makeshift hammer for the conveyor if I gave out too much information. "Yeah! Mender and I made breakfast in bed for them this morning! It was a lot of fun," Spike suddenly admitted. Damn it. Well there goes that choice. I knew I was going to get blamed for this, too. "Oh my! Scandalous!" Rarity murmured, suddenly blushing faintly as she brought her left hoof up to her mouth. What?! No! Rainbow burst into laughter instantly and even Applejack peeked her head out again. "Our little Flutters decided ta spend tha night at Twi's place? Ah'm suitably impressed," she admitted, brushing a hoof through her bangs lightly. It was weird seeing her without her hat. The overly large Stetson couldn't fit through the support beams, though. Wait, that was beside the point! "She just spent the night! Nothing bad happened," I defended, not wanting the mare's reputation sullied, even if she wasn't here to see my defense. If you can't be proud of who you are in the dark, not much else matters. Rainbow grinned but Applejack beat her to the punch. "Ah know that, Mender. Everypony 'ere could agree that yer ah real gentlecolt," she assured with a curt nod and smile. Rarity averted her eyes and snickered before suggesting, "Well technically speaking, it doesn't have to involve Mender, of course." Wait, what? Was she suggesting...? Applejack blushed, the pink of her cheeks looking quite fetching when complimenting her orange coat and widening eyes. The cyan and rainbow pegasus couldn't contain herself any further and burst into laughter, rolling over onto her side. I averted my gaze and sighed. Sure it was good to have a healthy sense of humor, but when she spent most of her time laughing at other ponies' expenses, it was an entirely different story. "Well, I was simply suggesting. Anyways, if Mender is to get his fresh air in any timely fashion, we really should get to it," she excused politely, timing a tactical retreat just as Applejack's mouth started to open. She had either been about to protest the probable mental images flooding through her brain, or her mind was losing motor control. Dash grinned and slowly closed her mouth with a hoof, still lying on her back, now partially under her friend due to a particularly festive side roll. Spike scampered faster than I realized he could as Rarity exited the side of the barn. I watched him carefully as he caught up to his target of affection and began hopping excitedly next to her. Well, he certainly didn't try very hard to keep his interests a secret. I was beginning to have my doubts as to the validity of my prior promise to him. Was I the only pony who bothered to keep the secret? "Please, Rarity? It would be really, really awesome," I suddenly heard him plead as I approached. Oh, was he requesting favor already? Admittedly, I had no idea how this dating thing worked still beyond my girlfriend's rather vague explanation. "I'm truly sorry, Spike. I just brushed my coat down and styled it. I know it's not your fault, but your claws do terrible things to styled fur," she refused. Oh, was he asking for a ride? Wait, she combed and styled her coat before even leaving her house? I didn't think there was any special occasion today. Twilight barely ran a brush through her mane before we headed out this morning! Upon catching up to the slowly walking couple, I inquired, "Is something going on today for you to go to all that work?" Rarity hesitated for a moment, suddenly averting her eyes before shaking her head. "Why, of course not! A lady must strive to be presentable at all times. You never know when a simply wonderful stallion could be watching," she explained simply, adding a smooth wink onto the end. I laughed and blushed, careful to avert my eyes as she swished her tail in an extremely distracting fashion. "Well, I wouldn't know, not exactly looking to attract stallions' attention," I reminded, mostly to change the topic. Maybe it would work better the bigger an idiot I made of myself? Spike took to the distraction well, breaking out of his depressed expression and snickering. "Oh, that much is obvious. Twilight and Fluttershy both seem convinced enough. You have that subtle charm that only innocence, kindness, and a certain level of oblivious striving can produce." She smiled sweetly at me as she said as much, causing my blush to expand. Damn it. She hadn't fallen for the topic change. Spike struggled to run after us again, having finally snapped out of his momentary shock of watching her tail with so much focus. I let him save face and knelt down as he caught up. He caught my smile I directed his way and didn't miss a beat, hopping up and settling himself in the middle of my back. "Oh dear! You let Spike ride on top of you as well?" the pearly mare questioned, smiling politely at her now somewhat eye level dragon friend. I nodded before starting our walk yet again. "It'll be good weight training. I need to get back in shape," I excused, sighing wearily. "Hey! I don't weigh that much," my scaly passenger protested. I almost felt his irritated glare on the back of my head. "That's the point. I'd probably collapse if I tried to lift anything heavier," I groaned, wishing I could magically skip all of this and just get back to the same fitness level as my old self had been. Nothing like the active lifestyle of trying not to die horribly from murderous rampaging aliens to get one into shape. Rarity giggled along, regardless of it being a true statement. "See, Spike? Gentlecolt. Don't let those guards tell you otherwise. Being a nice stallion definitely makes you attractive," she assured nonchalantly. I came within half an inch of inhaling a large cluster of rocks as I stumbled in surprise. Rarity was either oblivious or intentionally ignoring my almost accident as she continued with, "Sure, you leave yourself open for attracting a definite type of mare, but isn't that the type you want? You know, the mare who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to pounce. Every mare reaches a point where she decides she'd rather settle down with a nice stallion with a responsible outlook on life. Well, some skip right to that step as well, as I imagine Fluttershy and Twilight have. Myself as well, of course!" She only added herself after a sudden look of dawning, and I tried not to snicker. I hadn't considered her the wild party type attracted to the 'bad' stallions anyway. Like those two guards... "I try my hardest to be really nice, too," Spike chipped in, sounding a little down over the entire conversation. Rarity didn't miss a beat with that one. "Of course! You're the nicest dragon I know. Any lady worth her salt would be happy to be with you, Spikey," she assured pleasantly. He perked up instantly, of course, and gave her a wide smile. It kind of made me wonder if it was socially 'acceptable' to be with a dragon when you're a pony. They're both sentient species capable of making their own decisions, so I saw nothing wrong with it. We'd gotten about halfway around the barn at that point, not traveling at all that impressive of a speed. Rarity seemed pleased with the slow pace and I wasn't going to argue. Walking was becoming second hand, but moving any faster would typically result in my face greeting the ground in short order, still. It was hard to make sure all of these hooves were going in the right direction! "Still, I can hardly imagine Twilight 'pouncing' me, per say. She's usually quite reserved," I admitted after a moment's consideration. It hadn't really bothered me, I decided. It was probably better for both of us that we take things slowly. Rarity let out a whimsical giggle as she listened. Spike, for the most part, seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal. Twilight was either his sister or mother, depending on how one looked at it. Normally, either of those would pose a negative reaction upon him should a guy start becoming involved with her, I would think. I mean, I don't even have proper breeding documentation or a certificate of authenticity! I vaguely recalled that those were important when trying to impress a female and her clan. Well at least they were in my prior world. Equestria was so weird, sometimes. "I doubt her education covered the finer points of intimate involvement, so I could hardly blame her. Are you two truly dating, then?" she inquired, shifting back to curious like someone flicked a light switch. There was that word again. I hesitated and stopped walking for a moment. "I, well, she said that I was officially her coltfriend, and her my fillyfriend. We haven't, um, gone anywhere to celebrate it or anything, if that's the right idea," I ventured carefully. Rarity's smile widened and I inwardly groaned. I screwed up somewhere, didn't I? "Dating does involve actually going on dates, but ironically, such events aren't necessary. If she says she's your fillyfriend, then you are dating," Rarity explained patiently, much to my surprise. I exhaled softly and nodded. "I'm still getting adjusted to Equestria's culture, really. This is way more complicated than my old life," I excused quietly, feeling a little tired still. Of course, I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night between the Keela-induced insomnia, then blacking out when she ran my brain through a microwave. "It's perfectly understandable, Mender! Relax. Has she informed you about herds yet, due to Fluttershy's interests?" she inquired, a bit of her mirth slipping as she tilted her head towards me. I nodded wearily, unsure if I should be talking about this or not. I suddenly realized that I had to be really careful with Rarity. She was on a totally different level from what I was used to dealing with, I realized. Something subtle like a tone change could mean quite a bit! "Yeah. This morning, anyway. I'd heard the guards last night reference it and was," I started to explain. All was interrupted by a spontaneous shout from high above. All three of us looked up instantly, just in time to see a wooden cube of some sort descending towards us at high velocity! Rarity went rigid, eyes widening as I panicked. Not again! Simply going on instinct, I leapt forwards into the white mare, hauling Spike along on my back still. All three of us fell sideways and rolled just in time for the falling object to crater itself into the ground where we were. It shattered noisily upon impact, splintering open and spilling what appeared to be metal rods all over the ground. They were long and thin things, each about five feet in length. Wait, the support rods for the conveyor belt in the barn? "Look out!" sounded from high above me in a lower, yet still distinctly feminine voice. Yelping, I shoved the now scrambling Rarity off to the side and tucked my legs up, narrowly avoiding three metal rods as they stabbed into the ground right where my groin had been located a mere second ago. Not cool! What, had the second crate exploded in midair or something?! Spike cried out as he fell off my back finally and landed on all fours. He wasted no time in tossing himself on top of Rarity and shielding her upper body with his entire form. That wouldn't do at all. Grabbing onto both of them, I pushed them over until they were both tucked up under me. The second we took up as little profile as possible, my barrier activated and unfurled into a pseudo-umbrella above me, covering all three of us. Rarity covered her eyes with both hooves as she tucked against Spike and my right foreleg. I balanced carefully with my left hoof in the air, supporting my weight on just my back legs and one foreleg. The shield held; sparks flew off at various angles as the high velocity metal rods skipped off it and fell around me in a loose pile. High above, a panicking gray pegasus with a blond mane attempted to control what appeared to be a floating cart of some sorts. For some reason, somehow, the cart was on fire. Another box fell off the back and exploded in midair from a haywire blast of magic the cart produced, sending yet another wave of flying spikes plummeting down towards me. Damn it. Tucking up again, I lowered my left hoof and focused purely on compacting the shield as hard as I could. The more compressed the energy, the stronger the barrier was. All three of us let out a panicked yelp as the sky darkened and metal rained about like a spring storm... * * * * * "I really do need you to sign for this," I heard through the hundreds of bars of metal. Why did Applejack even order so many?! This was easily three times the amount that she had needed. Was she just trying to kill me or something? "What tha hay?! Derpy! Ya made ah right mess o' the barn. Some o' these things are stickin' through the wall!" I heard Applejack complain. It was hard to hear anything through Rainbow's laughter, of course. Rarity and Spike stirred under me slowly. I doubt they lost consciousness, but they'd probably just now decided the end of the world wasn't going to take them with it. I raised myself to the edge of the shield as best I could to give them room. I was sweating a little bit now under the force of maintaining the stupid thing after so many collisions. Rarity glanced up at me and smiled momentarily before looking past me. Her smile faltered and her eyes widened as she realized why exactly it was so dark in here. There was a tired sigh, followed by, "I know, Applejack. I'm sorry. I just don't know what went wrong!" "I'm surprised they didn't arc towards Mender, wherever he is right now," Rainbow finally muttered, catching a breather between chortling. Gasping, I winced as another spike of pain went through my head. I didn't even dare speak and let my focus slip. "A little help under here?!" Rarity called out, noticing my dilemma. "Oh yeah. If Mender's that blue stallion, he is actually under there. Along with Miss Rarity and Spike," the mare named Derpy finally explained. Trying not to groan, I pushed back any comments about her priorities in light of not getting squished by metal rods. "What?!" I heard in two simultaneous voices. A sudden harsh galloping sound came from off to my right. I winced as a hard blow slammed into the side of my shield. It flickered and I was forced to slam my eyes shut as the strain put pressure on the inside of my eyes. Uh oh. That was never a good sign. "Hold on ya'all! Ah'll get ya outta there," Applejack assured before another slam hit the same side. I finally groaned under the pressure, the top of the barrier fading slightly. No! My eyes snapped open as I re-solidified it just in time. Well, almost just in time. One rod made it through just before I slammed the barrier around it. My right foreleg instinctively whipped to the side, snagging the rod as it stabbed downwards. I winced as I felt a light gash along the side of my leg, but the improvised weapon missed Spike by a few inches. He yelped and crawled closer to Rarity, both looking more than a little worried. A few drops of red descended from my nose as I looked down at Rarity. She watched them hit her coat and frowned before her horn lit up. Shakily, the rod slid upwards again from her magic as she strained to push it back out of the field. Seconds passed and I strained more. Finally she pushed the tip of it out again, and I closed the barrier back up instantly. The pressure on the top lessened as I realized that two or three of the rods were being lifted up off the shield. "Almost got rid of a few off the top!" Rainbow gasped, sounding like she was straining. Holy hell! These things must have weighed a good seventy or eighty pounds apiece. How was she lifting three of them at once with just her wings?! Her reply from Applejack was a furious scream of rage as one more blow hit the side of the pile. I almost choked on my gasp, but the shield held somehow as light suddenly breached through from my right. "Mender? Ya got ah barrier up?" she asked carefully as I saw her peek between the bars in my peripheral vision. I didn't dare so much as move, however. I was literally helping the roof hold up with my back now, drops of blood and sweat coming off me in various spots. My head was screaming at me, an invisible pressure inflating inside my skull like a balloon. "Get them out," I managed to say. Plead, really. Applejack frowned but nodded before slamming her shoulder into the side of the bar. It shook with the force of her muscles and she shoved five over and out of the way an instant later. The other side started moving by itself, seemingly, at the same time. It took me a moment due to the strain to realize that Rainbow must be yanking them from above. Finally, half a meter of clearance was made and I slid open that side of the barrier with all my focus. Why couldn't an accident like this have waited a few more days for me to get more practice in? The temporary slip in thoughts caused me to jolt to the side, another bar slipping through to my left this time. Spike thankfully managed to dodge the thing before pushing against Rarity rapidly, helping her squeeze herself sideways out of the hole that was made. Applejack grabbed her a second later and pulled rather forcefully. The pearly unicorn was out of the barrier and removed from danger before I could even manage to blink. Spike stumbled under the sudden loss of the individual he was shoving, but caught himself. He quickly looked back up at me and frowned. "Go," I managed to spit out, closing my eyes yet again as another bar slipped through, sliding hotly across my left flank before leaving a burning, then numb sensation. If I lived through this, my curiosity was going to force me to weigh these bloody things. I knew they were long, but what in Equestria were they made out of?! Spike brushed against my leg as he left, rapidly following Rarity. "Mender, you doing okay? Can ya slip out while keepin' tha barrier up?" Applejack asked in a worried tone. All I could manage was to shake my head to both questions. If I moved, I just knew the magic would snap and bad things would happen to my fragile body. Again. "Oh no. Oh no. I thought he was okay because of his magic thingy," I heard Derpy whine from behind the farm mare somewhere. "Whoa! What's going on now? Uh oh. Is this your delivery, Applejack?" I suddenly heard asked from an oh-so familiar sounding unicorn on the other side of the peppering of bars. She sounded surprised, but not entirely distressed. Okay, time to change that. Sorry, Twilight! "Help!" I managed to shout out weakly. It made me lose more of my concentration and the barrier flickered again. I shrank it instead of letting it collapse, falling to my belly as I lost ceiling height at the same time. "Mender's under these in a barrier!" Rainbow Dash added hastily. Some of the metal bars suddenly didn't follow the shield down. I counted five directly above me that stopped as I heard a frustrated groan from Dash. There was a beat of silence, followed by, "What?! Move, Rainbow!" It wasn't a question, and I swallowed nervously. What was she possibly going to- The bars didn't fall more than an inch when Dash let them go before snapping rigid suddenly. My eyes widened as I was bathed in a purple and scarlet glow. Every single one of the rods lit up like a light bulb and started shaking violently. The pressure was suddenly gone off the top of the shield as the magic tore the entire shipment of rods up out of the ground at the same time, lifting them all into the air before dropping them in a rough pile almost twenty feet away. There was a negative energy image as the barrier collapsed upon itself instantly with my sharp exhale. My eyes shifted to my left in time to see my fillyfriend standing there, a foot of energy radiating off her horn as she glared over at the pile of metal. Well, that marked a whole new level of awe and terror I had for the unicorn. I had momentarily forgotten that she was practically a physical goddess when it came to magic. Damn. I was starting to realize that she was actually stronger than the instructors back home, not only in sheer volume of magical energy, but raw talent as well. Moving was out of the question. My mind screamed as I gasped the air back into my lungs, tasting blood as my tongue rolled out. It was oozing from my nose in a healthy quantity, I felt. The light throb of my heartbeat reached my left flank and right foreleg at the same time and I winced. Oh well. Aside from my headache, this was probably the least I'd ever been hurt in an accident of that magnitude. Actually, it turned out kind of lucky for me! "Mender!" Twilight shouted as she rushed up to my left. I couldn't seem to catch my breath and simply panted there before opening my eyes again to the sound of her hooves on the grass. "You used too much magic, too soon! Here," she informed needlessly but in a worried voice. I wondered momentarily what she was going to do. Her forehead and full underside of her horn was shoved directly into my forehead a moment later. I gasped as the world momentarily disappeared, raw magical energy flooding directly into my skull from the emanations. It was distinctly Twilight in feeling, and extremely familiar at this point. I couldn't help but blush a little as I felt her push herself closer, shoving more of her own energy inside of me at the same time. Oddly, my breathing regulated as the pressure eased up inside of my mind. Her magic danced along inside of me with purpose, flicking along the sore parts of my body before gently restoring them from the inside this time. Further, her energy seemed to almost massage my being, promoting my own energy to stabilized and bolster itself on the inside. Thoughts surprised me as they danced along the surface of consciousness. They were the full spectrum of emotions. The warmth of her kiss, the nervousness as she looked down at me in bed, and even a pang of guilt as I swallowed nervously and looked away from her. Wait a second. The images weren't from my point of view, but hers. That made me pay even more attention to them as I realized that there was indeed a huge wave of affection pushing through, tainted with worry. A lot of worry, actually. The image flickered through for barely a second upon closer examination. Pieces of paper, hastily taped together, with written out words on it. "Mender, are you there?", "The book is important, right?", and "Tell me more about yours," were clearly written on the page in a familiar, fine handwriting. Oh hell. She must have sensed what I saw. The connection snapped shut in a heartbeat as she pulled her forehead back. I groaned lightly as I felt the connection fade, her energy withdrawing alongside it. My own rushed to fill me back up again, however, bringing the burning pain in my skull down to a dim sizzle. Now I had other things to worry about. I suddenly realized she hadn't gone back to the tree house to get tools. She averted her eyes as I looked up at her. I knew it. "Mender, we need to talk," she finally admitted, almost too quiet to hear. The tone made me inwardly groan. There was something about the way she said that which set off red flags in my head, and I didn't know why. Rarity pounced before I could further analyze how badly I was screwed. "Oh, thank you, Mender! You're simply amazing, I must say. You didn't even hesitate! You saved Spike and me from certain doom," she spoke rapidly, tone dripping with a surprising level of appreciation. "Yeah, dude! That was awesome the way you threw that shield up so fast! We would have been pancakes if you didn't. Although that does sound kinda good," Spike chipped in, derailing his own thought processes as he hummed, subconsciously rubbing his stomach, it would seem. I had to chuckle at that one. Twilight actually hesitated. Normally the single-minded mare would have hauled me off to lecture me on scribbling all over hundreds of sheets of paper in a crazed manner during the night, then cutting them up into dozens of pieces each. Well, some were only cut once or twice. Towards the end, I was getting really tired and lazy. "Um, not to say that I'm not thankful that he saved you two and was really brave and all, but I kinda need to talk with him for a moment, if you don't mind," Twilight interrupted, sounding vaguely uncertain for some reason. I sighed wearily. Rarity heard my sigh and looked up at Twilight, a frown shifting onto her face instantly. "Twilight! Mender not only totally exhausted himself saving the lives of both your best friend and assistant, but he is injured! Anything you need to say to him surely can wait until he gets healed, cleaned up a little, and a big glass of water into him!" she lectured, surprising me completely. It wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, the accident surely wouldn't have been lethal or anything. All I really did was save them the pain and Twilight having to heal the two of them. Hell, if I hadn't been there, I suspect the rods would have missed entirely. They did seem to cluster exceptionally well right on top of me. Although she’d already healed most of the inside wounds anyway. Twilight flinched and looked away, sitting down again and frowning. I saw the pieces of paper that she dropped from where I vaguely heard before. They were the same taped up pieces that I saw in her mind. Great. Should I try to lie and say they're nothing, play into the fact that she probably thinks I'm totally insane, or try to tell the truth and watch them really think I'm insane? Such great choices. Spike must have traced my sight as he asked almost immediately, "Hey, I threw those away! Why did you tape them back together? And what about the tools you went to get?" Heh. At least one of those questions should be obvious, but I don't think he's ever seen how readily Twilight can use espionage to her advantage. Or I'm just exceptionally paranoid. Or would it be 'properly paranoid' instead, seeing as it turned out to be true? "I lied. The tools are all here in my saddlebags. I went home to tape these back together on a hunch that proved right. This is why I need to talk to Mender," the lavender unicorn admitted, tossing yet another surprising twist onto my day. I would have expected her to try to hide it. "Uh, what? Are ya sure yer feelin' okay there, Twi? That seems kinda paranoid an' distrustin'," Applejack asked quietly. Okay, that's it. I give up trying to do the silly 'expectations' today. Now the mare who was usually first to suspect me, even for irrelevant things, was thinking Twilight was a bit overzealous. That should really give the unicorn pause for thought. Twilight scowled at her orange friend and shook her head rapidly. "I was right, though! Fine, look for yourself," she defended harshly, floating the papers over and tossing them in the general direction of the two mares and Spike. I didn't include myself, having neither the energy to interfere, or the desire at this point. No matter what I did or said, it was going to look bad. Tactical silence was for the best. Of course, one of the pieces of paper landed on my face and got stuck to a blood spot on my nose. I just lay there regardless, now enjoying the shade for my eyes. Why did using up a lot of magic make me physically sore? "What in Equestria? Did Mender write these thingies?" Applejack asked, complimenting the sound of rustling paper as I assumed she picked one up. At least after my prior experience, I was significantly more comfortable being blind. Twilight groaned and pointed out, "Of course he did? Why would Fluttershy or I get up in the middle of the night, write on hundreds of pieces of paper, cut them up, and throw them all over him while he slept? It's not even our handwriting!" Her irate tone let me appreciate not being able to see her. In my current state, I couldn't run away and hide somewhere. "Easy, Twi. Mender, can ya tell us what tha pieces o' paper are?" Applejack asked bluntly. Ignoring my first choice of dripping sarcasm, I went with a much more diplomatic approach. "Yeah, I could tell you. You wouldn't believe me if I did, however, so isn't it just easier to tack it up to ol' Mender being totally insane?" I reasoned calmly. Yeah, that was the diplomatic approach. I took note to try and tone down the bitterness in the future. Largely, it was just this topic, though. "I'll believe you, Mender. Please?" Rarity asked politely. I felt a hoof gently trace down my back and figured it was her. She followed up with, "If he answers truthfully, will you then heal him, Twilight?" Well that was a little pointed. Ouch. She also technically healed me already. At least a little bit. "Hey! I wasn't holding it for ransom or anything! I'll heal him regardless. Plus I already fixed up the inside of the wounds a bit," Twilight protested. Idly, I wondered why Rainbow wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear wing flaps either, so she either landed or left. Weird. "They're from last night. I couldn't sleep, like I said. It wasn't because of insomnia, however. Keela wouldn't shut up. Whenever she talks near a book that's on the other side, I hear it for some reason. I think I'm still linked to that book and I don't know why. Keela is a Keldarian scientist. That's the name of my old race." I actually surprised myself this time with the calm I managed to maintain. Although it probably didn't matter either way, so was that calmness or apathy? "What?" Applejack asked in about as flat a tone as possible. A low groan, sounding very akin to what frustration would be like if it made noise, emitted from my girlfriend. This was followed by a faint slapping noise, from her hoof and forehead in all likelihood. "Mender, this is getting ridiculous. You need to see somepony about this," she finally managed to voice a dozen seconds after the groan. "What's the book thing about?" Rainbow suddenly asked, indeed confirming that she was still present. Still present, and missing the point entirely, anyway. I shifted my legs under me fully, realizing that with her current level of distraction, Twilight wasn't going to heal the outer wounds right away. Not that I wanted her casting spells on me while distracted, exactly. "It's the journal my old self kept, I believe. They were allowed one personal item to carry with in the military. Keela stated that it's something called an Aegis Artifact. From what I've pieced together, it's some sort of pseudo-sentient item of extreme magical power. The book is dormant until I connect with it. For some reason, it's linked to me." All the talking was making me even more tired, but Dash deserved a proper answer. She had actually asked the question without the barest of hints that she thought I was nuts. "You really believe all of this, don't you?" Twilight asked, sounding genuinely surprised now. "Don't be rude, Twilight. I mean, honestly. You should trust your coltfriend more. Would it hurt things that much to have either yourself or Princess Celestia take another look? The three of us will be in Canterlot in three days' time, need I remind you," Rarity suggested reasonably, actually giving me the benefit of the doubt as well. Maybe it was a good idea to come clean after all! "Ugh. You too, Rarity? Can't you see how crazy this all sounds?! Princess Celestia herself said that there was no link to his dimension left. You all trust her as the leader of all Equestria. She's not going to screw up when the risks are this high!" Twilight defended, getting more irritated with each rebuttal. Rainbow sighed wearily and added, in an uncharacteristically serious tone, "I kinda agree with Rarity, Twilight. If it's as serious as you just said, I think we should have it looked at again. Princess Celestia would want that." I couldn't help but smile gently from under my piece of paper. Maybe I was wrong about all of them thinking I was crazy? Well, crazier, anyway. Pity the only pony arguing for my craziness was my fillyfriend. Twilight let out a stifled groan, but was interrupted almost instantly. "I agree with Rainbow Dash! If it's dangerous, you or Princess Celestia should definitely check it out!" exclaimed the gray mare from before. Derpy was it? Wait, why was she still here and listening to all of this?! "Ah! Derpy?! What are you still doing here?" Rainbow asked almost instantly, apparently thinking the same thing. "Oh. Well, I feel badly for what happened and wanted to apologize to Mr. Mender himself. Plus, you still haven't signed for these," she reminded. If I'd had the energy, I'd have hit my forehead myself. She was almost legendary in her persistence. Applejack sighed but nodded in my peripheral vision, being one of only two ponies I could actually see from around the paper. "Ah guess yer right. Still, could ya kindly not tell anypony 'bout this? It's kinda ah secret," she requested politely before accepting a feather of some sort from beyond my vision range. She held it carefully and signed a slip of paper that was held out for her, it would seem. "Ophf corph, Apphljahk!" Derpy agreed, I think. It sounded like her mouth was suddenly stuffed full of something. Oh, wait. She was holding the clipboard in her mouth while it was being signed. Twilight sighed wearily, reminding me that she was still there. "Fine. I'll do another scan tonight on him if it will make everypony feel better. What do we do if it comes up negative?" she questioned, sounding as if that was mostly assured. Still, at least she was considering the slim possibility that I might not be totally insane now. "That would probably be reasonably easy to deal with. I'm sure you have places in Equestria for ponies like that," I finally spoke up quietly. Maybe she was right after all? The possibility that all of this was just in my head hadn't been lost on me yet. Twilight went completely quiet, and I was almost curious enough to peek if it hadn't required so much energy. Applejack stopped looking over the page presented to her and softened her expression a little before setting the feather back down and glancing back over at me. What, was it taboo here to have ponies with mental illnesses? Uh oh. Was I going to be executed or something for being crazy? Surely they wouldn't have kept that large of a secret from me! "We do, but yer not gonna go to one o' those places. If'in it comes down ta that an' Twi can't do it, Ah'll take care o' ya mahself. Yer still ah hero, Mender," the orange mare returned softly, smiling again over at me before turning to face me fully. A cyan wing shot out into my vision a second later, startling me just as the blush had started to set in. "Heck yeah!" Dash exclaimed abruptly, making me suddenly realize the outstretched wing was part of a pose on her part. "The entire town will probably take care of ya! If nothing else, you have the full support of the six of us." I blushed further, tucking my ears down and trying to hide behind the paper. I could handle making an idiot of myself, but this was totally out of my comfort zones! "Seven!" Spike added, sounding a little irked that he needed to remind her that he was still here. I chuckled finally and extended my right hoof a little towards him as he slipped into my right-most viewing field. He grinned and nodded to me before bumping it with his claw. Derpy herself put her clipboard away, and then looked between everypony with a happy grin. “Eight!” she exclaimed a moment later with a little hop into the air. I held back a snicker. To my surprise, a light giggle sounded from Twilight. "It won't come down to that. If what you've shown so far is the extent of the issue, you'd still be considered a fully functioning member of society. The Princess would probably just want you watched to make sure you didn't hurt yourself if you had a spell. I'm keeping you, regardless," she explained, extremely clinical and detached until the last sentence. Her tone shifted to amused and teasing with that, and I smiled weakly. Well, it was nice to know she wouldn't let my potential delusions ruin our relationship. Applejack gave a stiff snort, amused but giving Twilight a skeptical glance. "That would be interestin' ta watch. But Ah think tha real problem 'ere would be if'in yer test comes up positive," she reminded, losing a bit of her smile. Twilight let out a quiet humming noise before it suddenly shifted way closer to my perspective. Her mouth latched onto the piece of paper and pulled it off abruptly, making me wince as it took a bit of drying blood with it. She spat the paper back out after it was clear of my nose and looked down at me with a troubled expression. Was that because of me? A pang of guilt went through me. "If it comes back positive, we have a lot of problems. It was either something the Princess couldn't detect; doubtful. Or it was something that happened after she did the scan. You said it was a book you felt connected to?" she reasoned out loud, repeating what I vaguely recalled saying to her already. I bit my tongue and nodded. If she was willing to actually inquire more about the issue, I should try to be as somber as possible. "It was my old self's journal. She said it was an Aegis Artifact. I'd not heard the term before that, and seriously doubt that my old self made it into one," I furthered, earning a frown from my fillyfriend. "Isn't that what you call your strongest barrier spell?" she pondered out loud, somehow making it sound like both a normal and rhetorical question. I nodded yet again before remembering the bits I'd learned in the meantime. "Oh, that's right! I also learned that there's something wrong with that spell. It doesn't behave like I originally thought it did," I warned, unsure of exactly how to explain what I had figured out. She seemed curious, but distracted at the same time. "Can you tell me about it inside the barn? I just remembered that I need to heal your outside nicks, and that Applejack probably wants to get back to work on her conveyor.” "An' fix tha holes in tha wall, now," the farm pony groaned as she looked at the marks from the metal rods. Oh yeah. A few had stuck into the side of her barn like a giant dartboard. Twilight must have torn those out, too. Then I remembered that I knew alteration magic. "Oh! If you'll let me use the bits of wood left over from the logs after I cut the boards out of them, I can use my magic to meld them into the holes and repair them, if it would save you time," I offered politely, perking up again and rotating my head ambitiously towards the mare. She surprised me by looking equally as surprised before smiling again and nodding. "Yer just full o' handy tricks, ain't ya? Ah suppose Ah'll just have ta add it ta mah huge debt Ah owe ya," she agreed, smirking mirthfully afterwards. I scowled at her, and the smirk became laughter. She knew that I didn't like the thought of her paying me and did that on purpose! "Oh relax, Mender. You deserve to get paid a little bit for your trouble so far. Besides, she's already getting the work of a professional engineer and free materials as well, all for the price of a construction pony. I think she already knows how lucky she is," Twilight pointed out before picking me up like a ragdoll using her magic. All retorts left my mind as it was lurched downwards and I redirected processing to attempt not throwing up. Spike hopped up onto Twilight's back immediately as the mare stood up again. She didn't even flinch, and I wondered briefly at just how used to him being there she was. Applejack walked further forward and shifted under my drifting position, looking up into my lowered face. "Trust me, Ah know how lucky it is. This project would'a been ah total bust had ya not been 'ere, Mender. Ah'm real happy ya wanted ta help outta tha kindness o' yer heart, you have no idea! But that just don't set right with mah conscience. Mah brother agrees fully. So yer gonna get paid as much as we can manage," she spoke, surprisingly serious as she watched my expression. I lowered my eyes, but nodded to her. Even though I felt bad accepting anything from her, I suddenly realized that she probably felt the same way in return if I did everything for free. I could understand that. Rarity coughed politely before asking, "Is this a bad time to inform you that I'm giving you the suit as compensation for your troubles as well? Oh, and I will cover all of our traveling expenses too, don't fret!" What?! But that was one of her newest designed suits for stallions! I didn't even want to think about how expensive that was. My ears drooped as I pouted towards her. Well, they rose, I suppose, considering my head was upside down. "Rarity! That's too expensive," I protested weakly, trying the cute eye expressions I saw Fluttershy pull off before. She didn't buy it, and simply grinned wider. Rainbow snapped me out of it, however, as she smacked her hoof into the grass. "Hey! Not fair, you guys! The weather captain position isn't the greatest paying job, ya know. How am I supposed to pay Mender, too, now that all of you are?!" she questioned in frustration, throwing me for a loop with her logic. Wait, was she seriously going to try to pay me for the silly wing thing she requested earlier? That was barely twenty minutes tops, if that. She was either overreacting, or had additional details planned that I hadn't been told about. There was dead silence for a good four seconds, which I discovered was ridiculously awkward regardless of the short amount of time. Why was everypony looking at her like that? "What, pray tell, service did you request from Mender? Further, I think you have that a little backwards," Rarity muttered, sounding decidedly perplexed yet equally awkward at the same time. Maybe she felt it, too? Glancing over at her, I noticed her brow was furrowed and she seemed to be thinking very intently as she stared at Rainbow. Twilight spun me around instantly and glared into my face from well within my comfort zone. "Yes, Mender. What's she paying you for again?" she questioned pointedly, irritation present in her voice. Wait, what?! What did they think it was, exactly? I swallowed nervously as Rainbow shuffled with her front legs. How did I say this without giving away sensitive information? I tried rapidly motioning towards Applejack with my eyes. All it served to do was shift Twilight's irritated glare into a confused one instead, sadly. "Uh, it wasn't anything bad. I wanted him to do that glowy thingy with my wings again to help me practice for the race that's coming up after the party Rarity's hauling him to. You know, to maybe get better at my, um, celebratory sky writing?" Rainbow offered nervously, being surprisingly vague. A look of dawning comprehension appeared on Twilight's face and she shifted to a smile in an instant, nodding to me. Whew! I got to live another day! I made a mental note to get one of those "days since last accident" counters for living with Twilight. It would put each day I woke up still breathing into perspective. "Oh, that might be lovely indeed. You're certainly getting into this sky writing technique!" Rarity chirped, sounding honestly interested. Wait, why was she, of all ponies, interested? I was suddenly highly suspicious. Rainbow apparently wasn't. "Yup! I can even add colors to them now! It's totally awesome, of course. I just need to work on the sharper turns now, which I was hoping to use those cool wing things for!" She seemed oblivious to the strangeness of her friend's sudden interest, so I just assumed it was a rather regular occurrence. Obviously, I only ever saw them interact while I was actually there. They've been friends for years, so who knows the depth of connection that I was missing? Twilight's mouth caught hold of my ear and tugged my head back up using it. Huh? She smirked as she captured my attention again before leaning up and lightly kissing me directly on the lips. My system jump-started as my eyes widened. Right in public?! Well, her close friends, but still! Spike made a groaning noise and rotated around on her back so he was facing away from me. Despite the awkwardness, I felt the familiar heat drifting into my cheeks as I pressed further into the kiss to the best of my abilities. It was kind of hard to get leverage when floating in the air, I realized. Still, this was a pleasant change of pace from what I was expecting for today. Letting out an obviously stifled groan, she gently lowered me as her magic wavered, pressing me lightly into herself as she did so. With my legs back firmly on the ground, I pushed forwards a little, nudging my forehead up under her horn and earning a giggle, followed by a gentle blush. The horn lit up with her energy a second later and I felt a little bit of her flow into me yet again, comforting rather than healing this time. It was like she was nuzzling me with her magic! "Whoa! Now that's ah surprise," Applejack muttered quietly, apparently finally noticing Twilight's display. The purple unicorn blushed harder but followed me back as I tried to break contact, assuming she wouldn't want her friends watching. Well, yet another incorrect assumption! Her neck and chest pressed against mine as she refused to let me break the kiss. She didn't make any attempt to deepen it, which the rising heat to my face thanked her for. I might have passed out had she done that! My right eye peeked sideways to see the slightly fuzzy image of Applejack smirking as she watched. Rainbow's eyes went wide behind her and she looked past Rarity to get a better view. This of course alerted Rarity, who turned around and dropped her jaw while watching. Oh crap. I shut my eyes quickly as the blush magnified. Why were they all watching?! I felt Twilight grin and smirk against my lips as she finally released mine in return. "That, well, was to say I was sorry. I don't mean to get mad about that. Princess Celestia just means a lot to me, is all," she explained, grin dropping to a warm smile instead. My ears and eyelids drooped a little, but I quickly caught them and forced a timid smile. That was 'just' to say she was sorry? I didn't like the aspect of her treating it like a reward or compensation. Still, I struggled to try not to jump to conclusions. She didn't specifically say that, after all. Still, it would be nice if she didn't think I was crazy in the first place. She frowned slightly, apparently having caught my momentary lapse in expression. Her eyes practically bore a hole through mine and I backed up a little bit. Rainbow, who was thankfully oblivious as to my look, interrupted with, "Wow! That's the first time you two have willingly kissed with an audience. Although the one I accidentally flew in on was much more interesting." Rarity did a double take and directed her slack-jawed stare to Rainbow instead. "What?! You simply must reveal the story! Right now," she effectively ordered. "Rainbow! You weren't supposed to tell!" Twilight lashed back, switching from concern about me to seething rage in a surprisingly short amount of time! Suddenly, I didn't feel nearly as comfortable being pressed up against the unicorn. "It's all perfectly normal, Twi. Everypony gets ah little worked up with their special somepony in private, Ah imagine," Applejack tried to sooth, playing the voice of reason. Of course, she was also taking a shot in the dark with what we had been caught doing. Risky, but she'd guessed right. I think. If my terminology was accurate, anyway. "Excuse me?! We were experimenting! It wasn't anything serious like that. Then she blundered in without even knocking!" Twilight growled, sounding even angrier. Oh crap! My terminology must not be accurate! I started slinking back a little bit at a time, trying to distance myself without drawing attention. If she spontaneously ignited or something, at least I wouldn't be incinerated instantly this way. She noticed. Pretty much immediately. Her glare was shifted to me almost instantly and I made a weak whimpering noise in the back of my throat, trying to hop away. She caught me out of midair and violently pulled me back next to her in a heartbeat. "And for the last time, I'm not going to hurt you! You don't have to run," she started to explain in an irritated tone. There was something wrong; a twinge in my head from the situation. My vision flashed as I was pulled, something ugly twisting itself through my skull. My posture in the air matched something dark in the back of my mind, suddenly feeling familiar. For the briefest moment, everything darkened as I was pulled towards a metal table, arms and legs strapped in place to something cold behind me. I tried to scream, but there was some sort of metal piece stuffed in my mouth. A slim girl stood in the shadows in front of me, partially concealed by a combination of there being only one light in the room and it being shined directly into my eyes. I could still make out the whites of her teeth as she grinned, and the glistening metal blades of the drill she held. My eyes widened. The clawed-shaped blades were stained red, I noticed, the closer I was inched towards the gleeful female. I knew those were the last things I was going to see. The horrible image was gone in less than a heartbeat, but it was far too late. With a guttural yelp, I curled up into a little ball in her magic. Apparently expecting me to remain upright, her magic missed its mark and dropped me the remaining foot to the ground in front of her feet. I didn't even feel the jar before her hoof extended to stop me from sliding. I tucked up further, attempting to hide the sensitive parts from her magic. She kept saying she wasn't going to hurt me, but she got so angry sometimes. Just like them. She was so absurdly powerful that her anger... There was a thousand ways she could make me wish for such a simple thing as death and I knew it. She could torture me for days with that level of power, slowly pulling me apart yet making sure every individual piece stayed alive to feel everything. Nopony would stop her, would they? She was too important. Just like them. She could do whatever she wanted. What was I doing? What was I thinking?! I couldn't stop the shaking as I tucked up further, remembering suddenly what I had seen the females from my dimension do. Could that really be considered a 'relationship' in any way? Who was I kidding? I'd just been pretending to be her equal, after all. Her hoof hesitated, and then drew back again. I felt her body follow suit, even though I couldn't feel her. What was she doing? A spike of paradoxical anger suddenly reared up inside of me, scaring me even further in its sudden, seemingly random appearance. I smashed it down before it could even get started. No! If I got angry with them, it would just give them more reason to punish me. What was wrong with me?! Where had that anger come from? "Whoa. Dude, are you okay?" I heard Spike ask softly. Why didn't he realize? He's been her 'assistant' for years now. Surely he saw what she could do. Why didn't it bother him?! My body told me to run while they were distracted. I tried to quiet it down further and pulled my legs up. No, if I ran, even if she didn't just catch me with magic, Rainbow could in a heartbeat with her speed. She was nice though, wasn't she? "Mender, I..." Twilight started to speak. Speak. Her hoof touched my shoulder again and I went rigid. No. No, it wasn't right. She was either like them, or she wasn't! What was real and what wasn't, though? Was the other world all in my head? Was Equestria all in my head and I actually lay dying somewhere? Was it a mixture; if so, which was real? She was real. She just touched me. I could practically feel the magic beating under her hoof. She was filled with it. The guttural instinct was still there, after all. The panic spiked and I screamed, "No! Get away!" at the top of my lungs before booking it for the barn as fast as my legs could carry me. I tripped over my hooves within seconds, crashing along the ground and sliding on my face. "You're pathetic. You can't even walk right. There's no way we want you on the breeding list," she continued after laughing at my spill. Her essence seemed to follow me, inescapable. The images of the scalpels returned, and I gasped, clutching my stomach with one leg before scrambling to my hooves again and aiming almost blindly for the barn door. "Mender!" I heard Rainbow shout before taking to the air with a loud flap of her wings. Oh hell! "Come back... You'll make such a good pet. Just accept it," the cyan pegasus continued, echoing into my skull as I screamed again. I smashed off the side of the barn door's frame and fell over once more. "You already failed the breeding exam. You failed what it meant to be a soldier, too. You failed to protect her from yourself. You touched her!" Twilight screamed after me, somehow feeling like she was right behind me now. I dove across the floor, sliding in the dirt before getting under the bars of the support platform. "I'm sorry!" I yelled towards nothing in particular, the inside of the room spinning violently. There was no other choice. Panicking, I did the only thing I could think of that would protect me from them all; the only thing I was good at. I slammed all six inside edges of the conveyor's platform with barrier spells before tethering it up to my vitality. Now they couldn't get me at all, even if they broke through...
Chapter 18Goals and desires were a funny thing. It was scientifically proven, of course. Once all of your base needs were fulfilled, it was natural to move on to higher designs. Food, shelter, sleep, and a good book or similar were what my list of needs largely consisted of. Once those were satisfied, the wants moved in. But that was normal, right? What would most say their wants were? Every sentient organism would probably consider reproducing a good life goal at some point. The method didn't really matter, I suppose, but it was a basic biological drive. Success, in its broadest definition, was probably fairly popular for a goal, too. Well, I don't know of many that set out into the world to fail. I suppose friends and family would also count for many. It's that networking aspect that was appealing. Or maybe it was just that special somepony to ward away the loneliness while sharing all that success with? Company was nice, especially when it included passionate sex and a solution to that reproduction thing, I'd imagine. Not that I would know. Speaking of myself, what I wanted was rather simple. A normal day. Groaning, I held a forehoof to my left temple to push the noises away. My other side was squished into the bottom of my barrier, so I hardly cared. My other foreleg was busy clutching my stomach, just in case the scalpels decided to make themselves real and spill my squishy insides out everywhere. Something was wrong. After my rational mind rebooted itself, I at least managed to come to that conclusion. Images, barely noticeable and not really visually there were flickering through my imagination of their own free will, which was kind of frightening. They weren't something direct; just barely there on the edges of my thoughts for me to notice as my mind wandered. After I acknowledged them, they were gone an instant later, no doubt to reposition themselves for another ambush further down the line. My vision shifted and warped as I stared at my own barriers that surrounded me completely. They were partially transparent, and it was like watching a silent movie. The ponies outside were saying things, but no sound reached me. Vibrations couldn't get through the barriers, so that was an obvious side effect. The orange mare had reared back and slammed the side of the field a few times, too, of course. I didn't even feel it. I'm not really feeling much of anything, though. It just made me even more tired after her third hit. The lavender unicorn shouted something then and she stopped. I was kind of sleepy, but I didn't feel like dreaming, so I stayed awake. It was kind of hard to think, which probably meant that I was running out of air inside my little box. I couldn't escape, though. They'd capture me if I did. If they were real, of course. I couldn't decide. Still, if they were real, I had probably really offended them this time around. It seemed like all I could do was run away anymore. They were wrong about me being a hero. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to suffer. There hadn't been a choice back on the ship. It was either accept that I had to die, or let all of my friends die instead. The only friends I had ever made. That was worse than death. So there was no choice. I wasn't a hero. I was a coward. I curled up more as the pink one slowly scraped more on the barrier, holding up her piece of paper again. At least they figured out fairly fast that it was sound proof. The paper was the same, pleading with me to come out. I stared listlessly through it. What had broken to cause these images? It was hard to believe that Twilight was the only reason. My head cleared a little, surprisingly. I took advantage of it and reflected upon everything that had happened. Rarity and Twilight had gotten into some sort of shouting match, it had looked like. Twilight surprisingly lost and left in tears at full speed. Rarity didn't exactly act like she had won, however. Now she was lying in the corner by herself, watching Pinkie and Applejack try to get me out of the box. Pinkie had obviously gone with a pathos appeal. Applejack was a tad more creative, however. So far she had removed the back wall, the left wall, and the inside of the platform in testing the various angles of my barriers. She was extremely persistent, it would seem. Now she was starting to dig down into the dirt, looking like she was going to try to tunnel under me. I was lying on a barrier as well, so I already knew that wouldn't work. No, it couldn't work. I'd rather suffocate than subject myself to what they could do to me. So much power. I fought it further. Twilight said she wasn't going to use it to hurt me. But she had used it to hurt me before. I didn't know what to think. I wanted to believe her but I was scared. I saw what power like that did. I saw it with my own eyes, if the images flickering through my brain like a bad movie reel were to be believed. They hadn't just taken my squad's eyes when we all saw her; saw Keela. She was whom we had rescued. She was the one that had damned us in the same instant. She was different from them, and they blamed us for it instead of accepting her. No, blame was too weak for what they did. Taking our eyes would have been a mercy. Why was I the only one to make it out alive? Was I? The memories just weren't there, and my head started pounding again. The clarity continued until finally, the cloud that had sunk over me like a fever faded. Wait, what was I doing? That had obviously been a flashback, and while they were probably upset, I had no reason to think that they were like the females of my dimension. Twilight, while not exactly the fairest pony out there, definitely didn't deserve to be compared to... them. "Exactly! Relax. Come out then, Mender," I heard echoed all around me. Wait, what the hell?! A yellow distortion landed inside the barn a second later. "Sorry I'm, um, late. I got here as fast as I could after Rainbow found me. She told me what happened, and then went to catch up with Twilight," Fluttershy apologized, my head echoing in perfect clarity and timing to her moving lips. Oh. That again. I suddenly wondered how much of my thoughts clearing up were due to proximity to the yellow mare. Pinkie made several frantic motions and gestured towards the wall of the barrier, looking uncharacteristically concerned. "I know. But it sounds like he's, well, starting to realize that it was all a misunderstanding. Right, Mender?" the yellow pegasus replied, turning back to me through the barrier as she asked quietly. I sighed and nodded, testing a reply. "It was a flashback when she pulled me. Something, um, really bad happened in my prior life that it reminded me of unexpectedly." Fluttershy's expression fell a little and she nodded quietly. Applejack had stopped digging and was now staring in surprise at the mare. She mouthed something a second later, and Fluttershy gave her a quizzical glance. "What do you mean, Applejack? I can hear him fine, and he's answering me," she reasoned, blowing a blur of pink out of what I could only assume was her face. At least it was the barrier screwing my vision up this time instead of my actual eyes. They were on the way to recovery, thankfully. "The barrier is soundproof, Fluttershy. I think we need to, um, talk after this at some point," I finally admitted, frowning to myself. There was an abrupt spike of panic from the shy mare. "What? But, how could it be... That can't be right. How can I hear you if it's soundproofed?" she asked, losing more and more of her voice the longer she spoke. The rush of strength returning to me as I killed the barriers was actually on the pleasant side. I stepped out of the underside of the platform shakily, trying to keep my balance. "I heard it in my head. You're probably the same, right?" I inquired, more to try to distract myself from the wet noodle feeling in my legs than anything. Applejack surprised me by closing the gap almost instantly and catching me as I wobbled. "That's not important. Are ya alright there, Mender? What happened?" she asked quickly, sounding more concerned than anything. Rarity stood up the second I exited the underside of the conveyor, scampering over far faster than I had ever seen her move before. The little dragon I'd failed to spot from inside of the shield stood up as well, having been on the other side of her. His approach was much slower, however. "It was, well, a panic attack. I don't know what happened. The way she pulled me combined with the, um, anger involved... It caused more memories of my prior life to re-surface. They weren't exactly the most pleasant," I explained, sitting down roughly on my haunches. Dried blood stained two of my legs at this point, I noticed. I knew I forgot something. Rarity shook her head sadly before frowning. "She shouldn't get so defensive over being with you. It's obviously doing more harm than good. Still, I might have made things a tiny bit worse," she warned, looking incredibly guilty. "Ya spoke the truth, even if it could'a been more polite. Maybe it was what she needed, really. Ah think she'll be alright once all this calms down," Applejack assured softly, brushing a hoof down Rarity's shoulder. I noticed a deeper understanding of each other again. All six friends had roots extending far further than I had originally realized. Although now I was terribly curious as to what the argument was about. A wall of pink squished me into the floor a second later, causing me to flail my legs upwards in an ineffectual manner. "Okay, enough sadness then! Mender's gonna be okay, and that's all that matters! Twilight has a chance to fix things still, and I don't have to add more to my sign," Pinkie reasoned, in a roundabout yet perfectly logical way. Somehow. Spike nodded and smirked at the pink mare as he finally finished walking up next to Rarity. Pinkie grinned and helped me back into a sitting position, still refusing to let go, however. "Twilight's been more stressed than everypony realizes, between her feelings and the project the Princess assigned to her. I think it's starting to take its toll, so try to go easy on her, okay?" Spike asked, looking between Rarity and Applejack before settling on me again. I watched him weakly, giving my best nod. Not that it was up to me to go easy on her, but he looked like he needed assurance. "Ugh. This is all one big mess. Ah think we need ta finish this conveyor thingy as soon as we can. That way we can all work on helpin' Twi get her head straight again," Applejack pointed out, gesturing to the construction project around her. Admittedly, apart from the gearbox, lid lift, and tread to power the thing, it was mostly completed. "I'll help finish the plans in Twilight's stead," Rarity offered politely, walking over to the saddlebags Twilight seemingly left near the door. Applejack nodded curtly before looking over at the loft hole she'd cut earlier. "Ah'll try ta finish tha lid thing. It's gonna be hard without RD 'ere," she confessed, frowning. "I'll try to help with the flying parts, um, if you think it would be useful," Fluttershy murmured, soft eyes still locked onto me instead. She hadn't looked away since I revealed what I had been guessing at for a while. "I'll help too, Applejack! I finished picking up all the rods outside," came from high above an instant later. I glanced up just in time to see the gray mare from before, Derpy, coming in through an open window near the loft. A smaller version of the cart from earlier was attached to her, hauling a tied-up bundle of the blasted rods that almost killed three of us. Applejack smiled and nodded up at her. Spike disrupted my view, however, with a large sheet of paper. I recognized the gearbox assembly on it as he lowered it again. "This is supposed to connect the conveyor and tread, right? I can put this together. My small claws are good at doing this kinda thing!" he bragged, grinning over at the softly smiling Rarity still, who presumably gave him the sheet in the first place. I tried not to laugh, and managed a nod and smile instead. As unnerved as I was about what had happened, this was quite refreshing. They were being very understanding as to the situation, much to my surprise. I vowed to give them more credit in the future. A lot of the feelings were truly mine, however. I felt like a coward who always ran away. Was this who my old self was? If it wasn't, why was I different suddenly? "Okay then, that settles it! We'll all git back ta work an' finish this up as soon as we can. Mender, you try ta calm yer nerves ah bit an' just focus on tellin' us how ta build this thing," Applejack instructed, obviously trying to sound positive, but managing a smile regardless of her inner feelings. Still, her attempt was comforting, and I nodded back quietly. It made sense, regardless. I think the distraction would do me some good. There were a lot of complications and things were moving way too fast to be comfortable for me, but they'd already proven they were going to help me as best they could. Pinkie grinned and started rubbing my back gently after she helped me resituate myself next to Rarity. The white unicorn smiled politely and nodded as I sat down again. She had laid out the papers in front of her, and looked sideways at me expectantly. Yeah. It was going to be hard to focus on all of the complications. I suddenly realized exactly how much effort they were expecting from me, and began to wonder if maybe it had been a bad idea to drop those shields after all... * * * * * Why hadn't someone killed me yet? It would be a mercy blow at this point. I groaned as I dropped the last pile of planks that were needed for the tread. It was to be hooked up to the gearbox, which would transfer energy to the conveyor and make it move when somepony ran on it. A very basic setup that required a deceiving amount of planks. I was literally covered in leftover wood shavings. "Whaaa!" sounded out from in front of me. I almost didn't bother to look up again, but decided it might actually be important. An inquiring glance showed that Scootaloo was dangling from several ropes attached to the ceiling, now upside down and swaying back and forth as her tiny wings propelled her around in a circle. The red cape she wore had somehow gotten flipped over her eyes and she struggled against the air, unable to see anything. Derpy, floating conveniently nearby, suddenly looked extremely guilty and slowly drifted over to where Fluttershy was, apparently making to help her and Applejack line up the lid lift itself. Damn. She had worse luck than I did. Thankfully or not, as the case may be, at least mine only usually targeted myself. Well, nopony died, so all was yet good. I decided not to ask how she'd gotten tied up in the ropes in the first place. Sweetie Belle sat on the edge of the loft, looking nervous as she tried to tug her friend to a stop with her magic. It didn't look like she had very good control over it yet, however, as it appeared largely ineffectual. I stood up softly and stretched as my magic gathered up the wood shavings around me. Rarity paid little heed beyond a cursory glance as I moved from her side, instead focusing on 'perfecting' the drawing. Her extremely stylized border around the plans, excessive amount of measurements included, and potential decoration positions made me dizzy, so I hadn't been watching her work for a good two hours. I still had to repair Applejack's back wall, however. The mare in question smiled as she saw me gathering up the pieces and dumping them into Derpy's miniature cart. I imagine she anticipated that I'd forget about the repair job and was now pleasantly surprised. Fluttershy was helping her line up the chains for the lid lift at the moment, alongside Derpy doing most of the heavy lifting. It surprised me how readily they all got along when it came to a project like this. We'd been at this for a good five hours now, and it was finally starting to come together! I gave a nod to Spike as I walked past him. He grinned up at me, having almost finished with the gear assembly. It was looking surprisingly precise. The little guy had an amazing eye for details I hadn't anticipated; probably from living with Twilight for so long. The slowly dimming light of the barn was enough for me to navigate around the boxes, thankfully. It was also enough for me to make out the form of Apple Bloom as she readied herself to launch out and snag Scootaloo's rope as she swung past. Uh oh... Anticipating disaster, I sped up my passage a little bit in attempts to time the jump. As predicted, Apple Bloom hit the rope at high velocity, her own cape making her look momentarily like a superhero, and swung both Scootaloo and herself violently to the side. The rope snapped off the ring on the ceiling and dropped both of them from the level of the loft. I adjusted my momentum a little and peeked behind me as Apple Bloom landed in the soft wood shavings in the cart, as I'd hoped. Wait, where was Scootaloo? The buzzing of her wings sounded as she momentarily slowed herself, drifting to the side. I stepped sideways, rotating the cart as I went, and she landed rather abruptly on my back, face and stomach first. I winced, more for sympathy of her pain than any she had inflicted on me. "Ow. I don't think we're gonna get our Cutie Marks in barn design, girls," the orange filly groaned as she popped her face out from being wedged against my back. "Aww! But we were tryin' so hard!" Apple Bloom complained profusely, sounding a little on the irate side. Oops. Best placate them before their desire to help turns destructive instead. "You're being too hard on yourselves. You've been a huge help so far with the upper loft, and there are more things you three could assist with," I pointed out, amused at the skeptical look Scootaloo gave me as she just lay there. Sweetie Belle descended from out of nowhere a moment later and landed in the shavings next to Apple Bloom, who squeaked and burst into laughter as Sweetie's cape got flopped over her head. I smirked back at the two before continuing walking towards the back of the barn, ignoring the now swaying cart as the two wrestled to get off each other. Surprisingly, all three of them were rather on the light side, even together. Although if I recall, this little cart was enchanted similarly to the larger one. Er, I suddenly hoped that this one didn't catch fire too. Apparently, carts were frequently enchanted to drift free of gravity so Pegasi could pull them through the air with ease. I could see the potential in such an enchantment. Oddly, I saw Applejack give a light tug on the ropes next to her in my peripheral vision as I walked past. Fluttershy drifted down from the other end that was over the loft and looked questioningly at her friend. I passed them, however, and didn't want to look suspicious by turning to stare. What was the farm mare up to now? "Oh. Oh my... Um, you're right," I suddenly heard the shy mare echo in my head wistfully, almost gushing with embarrassment. Wait, what had Applejack said to cause this?! I couldn't help it anymore, and glanced back over my right shoulder at the two mares. Both were eyeing me as I walked with a rather soft expression that I had no way of placing or translating in the slightest. What did it mean when they looked at me like that? Scootaloo glanced back as well, now as curious as I was. Both girls in the cart saw our attention shift, and of course peeked back as well. The light pink in Fluttershy's cheeks turned to full out red as her eyes widened dramatically. "Oh, um, oops! I didn't mean to stare, Mender. I'm, uh, really sorry," came in another echoing yet familiar voice in my head. Fluttershy bowed her head politely as I heard it, and I realized it wasn't just in my head after all. This was going to get weird fast. It was the same kind of thing that I did to Keela, except it worked both ways for us. There were lots of questions regarding it, really. From observation, I only heard her when she was not trying, if she was under some sort of emotional imbalance. It's like a form of empathy, then. Now she had discovered that she could purposefully push words at me as well. I had no idea how she did it, and had yet to be able to respond similarly. Regardless, I shook my head softly towards her and returned a warm smile before turning back to the back wall. What those two had been staring at would just have to remain a mystery for now. "Fluttershy is acting really weird. Is she okay?" Sweetie Belle asked softly, looking to her fellow cart rider as she said so. Apple Bloom frowned but shook her head, returning, "Ah honestly haven't ah clue. Yer sister's actin' all weird, too." "She got in a fight with Twilight earlier. I don't think she feels too good about it," I informed gently as we slowed to a stop at the back wall. That got Scootaloo's attention, of course. "Whoa! Awesome! Was there blood? Did they use their magic? I bet Twilight kicked her flank and that's why she's so mopey," she asked all at once, suddenly rather excited. I peeked back at her with a smirk and shook my head. "It was a verbal fight, not a physical one. The barn hasn't been leveled, so magic wasn't involved, obviously," I pointed out. Instead of being disappointed, the orange filly with the purple mane started snickering instead and nodded. "I figured. That would have been cool to watch, though," she lamented a moment later, sitting up on my back and tucking her wings up again. "So long as we didn't get caught in it, yeah," I muttered, shuddering at the thought. All three fillies started giggling then. Sweetie Belle took the opportunity to launch herself out of the cart and land directly behind Scootaloo an instant later. "Hey! There's only room up here for one of us," Scootaloo complained, getting shoved up against my mane. I started and wobbled, spreading my hooves out so I didn't tip to either side as they readjusted on my back. Well, this was awkward. "Then get off. You got to ride back here on him. I haven't gotten to see him for a while," the little unicorn responded, sticking her tongue out at her friend. Apple Bloom sat up on the rim of the cart and rolled her eyes. "Sweetie, ya were the last one ta see him in tha first place," she pointed out skeptically. It was true. I had seen a lot more of Sweetie Belle than I had the other two fillies. "Yeah! We get to hang out with the new CMC member, too. Did you remember the thing?" Scootaloo asked vaguely, earning my attention again as I unhooked myself from the cart. Not an easy task to do when there are two fillies sitting on your back. "The what? Oh! Yeah!" Sweetie returned before reaching behind her own cape. Huh? "Rarity knew how to make a bigger one, like we thought!" she added before withdrawing a rather large roll of red fabric. It was the same color as their capes? Wait a second... Scootaloo grinned impishly before hopping off my back. Before I could so much as ask a question, Sweetie Belle pounced! I let out a squeak as she wrapped a cloth loop around my neck, sealing it with a brooch of some kind on the other side. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting it and had tried to shift sideways to avoid whatever she was doing. The much larger cape unfurled as we fell sideways. I tripped over two of my hooves in an instant and somehow managed to twist onto my back, wrapping myself up in the cape while spilling Sweetie Belle off to the side. Everything finally slowed to a stop. Sweetie Belle came out of her roll upside down, looking at me in a confused manner. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo started snickering in amusement as I struggled to free my legs from the frustrating fabric. To my surprise, however, Scootaloo stepped forwards and wrapped a forehoof around my front leg. Sweetie recovered quickly and shifted forwards, shoving at the same time Scootaloo yanked. This tipped me in the other direction and let me pull free of the cape. I smiled to both of them as they gathered themselves in front of me. Apple Bloom hopped out of the cart finally and straightened the cape on my back with a few gentle tugs before backing up to admire her work. "Ah think it looks darn good on ya! Yer an official member o' tha Cutie Mark Crusaders, now!" the little, red-maned filly exclaimed, smiling widely now. "Even if he already has his Cutie Mark," Scootaloo groaned a second later. I frowned and shook my head towards her. "I don't care if I have mine already or not. You three are the coolest fillies I know and have been nice to me, so I'm going to help you regardless," I assured. It was true. The three of them had been really kind to me so far. The chasing me into a rock on my first day in Equestria was totally my fault, after all. Scootaloo perked up at the 'cool' part and smirked back before nodding in agreement. Sweetie Belle perked through the whole thing, however, and gave my forelegs a gentle squeeze upon my finishing. "You're really cool, too, Mender! So much better than a lot of the adults," she admitted, smiling up at me. "Plus he has tha benefit o' already bein' one! Ah bet he could really help us out, especially with that magic o' his," Apple Bloom chipped in before bumping her right forehoof against my left one as a visual pointer. I snickered and nodded. "I'm just a big kid at heart anyway, so I hear ya there. Just, um, let's not try anywhere up high. I don't have the best track record with gravity," I warned, shuddering and checking above me for any large, heavy objects. "Oh yeah, Rainbow told me about the time she clocked ya with the apples! That must have been amazing aim," Scootaloo spoke up, sounding genuinely impressed. I scowled and shook my head to vanquish the phantom pain drifting into it. Sweetie interposed herself instantly between Scootaloo and me. "Not so amazing for him! Don't get any ideas," she warned in a surprisingly defensive manner. I smiled warmly at her back before wrapping my right foreleg around her and giving her an appreciative squeeze. "Thanks, Sweetie. It's okay, though. I forgave Rainbow already," I explained, warming as she gave me a happy smile in return, rotating to face me fully. Scootaloo made a gagging motion, though. "I wasn't gonna brain him with apples! You don't have to get all defensive. Ew," she protested profusely, wings fluttering a little as she crossed her forelegs. "Regardless, this is a really nice cape. Thank you, girls," I tossed in, hopefully redirecting the topic. I didn't mind a bit of bickering, but I didn't want the three of them out and out fighting over anything. Not if I could help it, anyway. I smiled to myself. If this really was in my head, this was the most adorable hallucination I could have asked for, however. "Well, o' course! Yer a member o' tha CMC, so ya get ta dress tha part, too! What are we doin' back 'ere, though?" Apple Bloom asked a moment later, peeking around at the multitude of holes in the back wall. Scootaloo followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow up before asking, "Yeah, and what happened to the wall? Did Pinkie find Applejack's hard cider again?" That um, brought horrifying mental images forth. I blinked and swallowed nervously. "Hey! I resent that! That stuff was good!" came from the other side of the wall before a bright pink blob oozed from one of the holes near us. What the hell?! Pinkie somehow managed to squeeze her entire head through the hole without further structural destruction and eyed the now freaked out pegasus filly with a menacing glare. "I haven't gotten any of that all year! So this totally wasn't me. Although it does sound really fun. Sometimes I wish I could just go around randomly knocking holes in things! It sounds so cool. I mean, there's that little tingle in the back of your head every time you see something go boomy! It would be like that all the time. As often as I wanted it!" she started, in a manner that I hadn’t heard in a while. Well, since the last time she did it. "Uh, Pinkie?" I tried to ask, to get her attention so we could get the wall fixed up before night fell. "I mean, my party cannon only does so good at the boomy thing. Plus, it takes forever to load the party into it! I can only use it so many times a day, so that's way too limited. Now if I had a hammer or something, I could totally do this all I wanted! That would be really fun, of course. Almost as fun as having some sort of tube that could push out a bunch of stuff really fast by using a blast of pressurized gas produced from something that burned really fast and," she continued, seemingly oblivious to our existences now. At this point, she was talking way too fast for me to fully comprehend what she was saying, but for some reason, it made me really nervous. "Pinkie..." I tried again. "But some stallions are just so ungrateful! I was taking time out of my busy schedule of tending to the counter and all he could complain about was that the hole was too small! The nerve! I mean, isn't it supposed to be better the smaller it is? I never figured out that part anyway, but still. Getting frustrated and shouting it out right in the middle of serving hours was just so embarrassing! So many ponies could have heard, and then my reputation would be ruined! I mean, honestly, I thought that the smaller the hole, the better the..." "Pinkie!" I shouted, finally aggravated. Wait, what?! "...donut? Yes?" she answered perkily, smiling politely at me as if nothing had happened at all. All three fillies looked half brain dead as they stared blankly at her. Oh, my poor, poor mind. I shuddered as it performed a manual reboot before looking back up at her. "Uh, yeah. I thought that you were supposed to be looking for Twilight and Rainbow Dash?" I finally asked, flushing everything else out of my head. "Of course, Silly Willy! I found them at the library already," she informed, as if it was the most logical conclusion in the world. A throb went through my left temple. Pinkie should come with a few general health warnings. I swore that I could practically feel my stroke and cardiac arrest risk increasing. "Uh, right. How were they doing?" I asked hesitantly, a little apprehensive as to the answer. Pinkie apparently sensed my tension and smiled softly. Oddly, the fact that she was squeezing just her head through the wall didn't matter so much anymore. I feared for my sanity. "Twilight felt a lot better when I told her that it wasn't her directly that you were afraid of. She's patching things up with Rarity right now!" she explained softly. Admittedly, I appreciated her attempts to reassure me. Pinkie really could be a sweetheart when she wanted to be. Wait, I thought Rarity was in the barn with us? A chill drifted down my spine as I slowly rotated my head around to glance back at the entrance. Sure enough, the lavender colored unicorn sat next to the entry, talking directly to a solemn looking Rarity. Oh. Well, that would have been nice to know a little bit ago. Rainbow Dash was apparently here as well, drifting about above Applejack and talking in a rather loud fashion. I made out bits and pieces about a race that was coming up. Probably the one she had requested I help her with. I abruptly turned back around as Twilight's gaze started to shift, and ran a string of profanities through my head. I wasn't prepared to talk to her so soon! I hadn't had any time to think about what happened at all, and tried hard not to panic. Calm down, Mender! You can think of a way to work through this. If Pinkie can fit through those holes, surely I could in the opposite direction! With my confidence reestablished, I stoically raised my head again, just in time to stare directly into two massive, blue eyes from less than a muzzle's length away. To my credit, I managed to muffle the surprised yelp by shoving my own forehoof into my mouth. Pinkie giggled merrily, somehow on this side of the wall now, having gotten there not only without making so much as a noise, but in less than the two seconds it took me to look back at Twilight. "Wow, you're not as easy to scare anymore! I'm impressed. What are ya doing all the way back here, though?" the bubbly mare asked, tilting her head. "We're gonna repair the wall! We're trying for our construction Cutie Marks!" Scootaloo answered almost immediately, pounding a hoof off her chest with a smirk on her face. All three somehow managed to think absolutely nothing of Pinkie's blatant disregard for physics, naturally. Was I honestly the only sane one left? That didn't speak too highly of Equestria's future. I managed to nod weakly. "Uh, yeah. What she said. The transmutation spell is touch based, obviously. They're gonna help me reach the higher holes, and keep the pieces of wood in them until the magic can finish the transformation," I explained, news to all four ponies present, I figured. "Oooh, we can help with that!" Sweetie Belle agreed, sounding excited now. I, of course, started to assure, "It's not dangerous or anything. I'm going to channel my magic through you as the three of you reach up to plug the holes and..." "Awesome! Let's do this!" Scootaloo exclaimed before hopping into the air excitedly. Okay then! Well, I guess they trusted me not to blow them up or something. "CMC Ladder Formation! Help us, Pinkie. Ya'all can be tha base!" Apple Bloom called out. Pinkie squealed with a characteristic level of energy before sliding into place in front of me. I took a step back as all three fillies hopped up onto her back. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and finally Scootaloo climbed on top of each other to make a makeshift pony ladder. Pinkie tossed a chunk of wood up next to her a second later, as if they had choreographed the entire thing. Scootaloo caught it as it sailed up and immediately jammed it hard into the hole! So hard that it popped through and shot out the other side at high velocity. I heard a crash, followed by the squawking of several distressed chickens and sighed. "Er, oops. Take two, Pinkie!" the little pegasus muttered a second later. Pinkie didn't miss a beat in launching a second chunk up. Suddenly, I remembered that the cart was still behind me, a good two meters from the pink mare. I stared down at the small pile of wooden chunks she had accumulated near her front hooves in confusion. When had she done that? Scootaloo was infinitely more careful this time around, lightly squishing the chunk of wood into the hole before nodding down at me. Well, this would work, regardless. I pulled the cart closer to Pinkie before peeking at her expectantly. She gave me an ecstatic grin and nod of confirmation. Ugh. Very well. I reached up with my left hoof and lightly nudged her in the shoulder, sending a wave of magic up through her body. "Wah!" she squeaked out, the second the energy made contact. I watched it arc through her like a bolt of lightning, rapidly expanding off her back and through all three fillies in an instant. The magic touched upon the wood chunk that Scootaloo still held and it instantly began to shift and squirm. Although I was hardly paying attention to it at that point. All three younger ponies squeaked as the energy shot through them and devolved into a massive fit of snickers and giggles. Scootaloo's wings shot out like static electricity against her fur and she flailed them rapidly, sending arcs of the transmutation magic off herself in her laughter. Fearing for their safety, I withdrew the energy an instant later and they all slumped against each other. "Whoa! That was like gittin' tickled all over! Ah wasn't expectin' that," Apple Bloom admitted upon shakily standing up again on Pinkie's back. "Yeah. That was so awesome!" Scootaloo agreed, still laughing a little. Sweetie Belle just smiled and nodded while squished between the two of them. I instead turned my attention in concern to Pinkie, who was just standing there, shivering a little. "Uh, how about you, Pinkie? Are you okay?" I inquired, unsure as to what her behavior meant. "Uh, yeah! I'm fine. Let's do another!" she exclaimed in a surprisingly excited tone, suddenly. Well, that was a little strange. Er, more strange, for Pinkie, anyway. I could have sworn I saw a red tint to her cheeks as well, but she looked away before I could do more than glance towards her face, prepping for the next position. Er, okay? "Well, okay. Shift down then, a bit. There are three more holes near the top that need to be filled, then we can move on to the lower ones. We probably won't need all three fillies for them," I reasoned, looking at the pattern of damage. Damn, I'm glad I put my barrier up in time, earlier. I didn't realize the wood was that thick. If those metal rods had hit us instead, they'd still be mopping the pieces up. Pinkie gave another strange shiver as I gave the instruction, but obediently took a couple steps forward, haphazardly aligning herself with the next hole. I bit my tongue, deciding not to mention it would probably be easier to align herself if she actually looked up to see where they were. No, I'd probably just say something stupid and put my hoof in my mouth again. It took four more holes, starting in on the second rough 'tier' down, before Applejack seemingly noticed progress being made and wandered over to investigate. "Well Ah'll be! It's like Derpy never put 'em there ta begin with!" she praised, touching one of the lower marks with her hoof, then giggling as she felt it still wiggling about and reshaping itself. "Oooh, that must have been fun to watch!" Pinkie exclaimed, absolutely giddy at this point. Her energy was going higher and higher with each hole, as if I was somehow feeding her with the magical bursts! I was retrieving all of my energy afterwards, however, so that couldn't be the case, right? I didn't feel all that convinced, and wondered idly if I was somehow contributing to the end of Equestria or something. "Ah don't imagine it was all that pleasant from Mender's perspective. We're gonna call it quits soon, though. How are ya managin', Mender?" she inquired. I was momentarily stuck on the simply delightful way in which she said 'perspective' before snapping myself out of it with a shudder. The memory of those rods of death descending towards us was all too fresh in my head still. "Uh, well. It should only take us a few more minutes to repair all of these. How's the rest of the barn looking?" I asked back, sending another jolt of energy absently through the four of them. Scootaloo hadn't been required at this point, but absolutely insisted on not missing out on the apparent joyous entertainment arcing magical energy through her body brought. Not that any of the other three disagreed with her, so maybe they were onto something? My eyes lingered past her momentarily as she smiled in response. Twilight had moved away from Rarity and was now talking to Fluttershy in quiet whispers. A slight nervousness echoed down that familiar link when I paid it heed. What were they talking about that was making Fluttershy nervous? "...but apart from ah few adjustments and tightenin's 'ere and there, all that's left ta tackle is hookin' tha tread up ta tha main belt an' givin' it ah trial run!" Applejack continued, looking well beyond pleased once I snapped out of my prior thoughts and began paying attention to her again. I really needed to stop zoning out like that. Still, it was enough to piece together what had been said. "Are we going to do that tonight, then?" I asked, ignoring the chorus of giggles and laughter from behind me. Applejack watched the four in amusement for a moment before looking back to me and shaking her head. "Nah. We need mah brother ta properly test out tha workin's. Ah figure that can wait 'til tomorrow. He's been sport enough ta handle all tha buckin' today," she reasoned, shrugging softly, which slowly devolved into a gentle roll of her shoulders and a light eye twitch. She'd worked just as hard as I did today. Probably more, in all honesty. I stared blankly at her shoulder for longer than I probably should have. Four seconds later, she frowned and glanced at her right shoulder as well. An awkward three additional seconds later, I coughed lightly and looked away, feeling like an idiot again. She just laughed and shook her head. "Ah'll be fine. Nothin' Ah haven't felt before," she assured, waving her other hoof absently at me. An idea popped into my head recklessly, like most of mine do, and was out my mouth before even pulling its parachute. "Actually, could you hold still for a second? I want to try something," I requested, extending my left hoof up to her shoulder. She hesitated, nervously looking at my hoof as it started to glow with energy, before she nodded and closed her eyes rapidly. She trusted me. The thought momentarily made me hesitate before I shook my head again. No, getting caught staring again would only lead to being accused of yet another mental degradation. Touching the hoof to her shoulder, I let a burst of soft heat and vibrating energy through the muscle in her shoulder. In the same instant, it shuddered once, seemed to clench of its own accord, then almost melted into a loose, relaxed position a moment later. Applejack gasped in surprise, and then let out a highly pleasing murmur as she promptly sat down roughly on her haunches right then and there. "Oh! Oh wow. What was that?" she asked, opening her eyes again and looking a little on the surprised side before glancing at her slightly reddened shoulder. "Oh, well I just figured you probably didn't get much out of a normal massage, with how strong you are and how much muscle is present. So I just used my energy to get as deep as possible and apply heat and a tense vibration," I attempted to explain, skipping over the technicalities behind the magic itself. Twilight might be interested, but Applejack was more likely to fall asleep during the explanation. It was awfully late out now. "Oh yeah! Magic hooves, I say. Get it? Magic?!" Pinkie tacked on before bursting into a fit of laughter and taking all three fillies with her. Oh dear. What have I done? Was I actually destroying their minds with the magic?! Applejack smirked and rolled her eyes at the display before looking right, and then left. I silently agreed with her assessment that nopony was watching, before she leaned closer to me and whispered, "Now look 'ere. Ah don't normally go for all that frou-frou stuff that Rarity likes, Ah hope ya understand. But if ya wanted ta do that ta all o' me next time, yer gonna get one heck o' ah tip, alright?" she offered, surprisingly me and earning a blush. Maybe it was reflex from talking to Rainbow so much, but I suddenly found myself totally taking that the wrong way. "Um, a-all of you?" I stuttered out weakly, literally feeling my eyes shiver as I carefully watched her. Of course, I realized she could potentially murder me for the comment a mere second after it left my mouth. She started for a heartbeat, and then grinned in amusement. "Got yerself ah special somepony fer less than ah day an' already yer startin' ta think like ah stallion. Ah'm actually kinda proud," she shot back, barbed tongue coming into play faster than I realized possible. She must train her quick wits by fencing with Rainbow all the time. She managed to relay amusement to detract from how nervous I probably sounded, reminded me that she knew I was taken and wouldn't do that to me, and implied that I hadn't been thinking like a stallion up until this point; all in one jab. Subtle. I was impressed. Sweetie Belle gasped loudly and left the center of the pile before anyone had even realized she was moving. Scootaloo gave a yelp and crashed into the other two before she could even pop her wings out. "You have a special somepony, Mender?! Who is it?" the little filly asked excitedly, somehow standing right in front of me now. I jumped and sat down abruptly from surprise, managing to at least make some room between us. "Oooh, I know! It's Twilight and Fluttershy!" Pinkie squealed excitedly, bouncing on her hooves a little bit and grinning ear to ear. Sweetie's eyes widened and she gasped before paraphrasing, "Two special someponies?!" Sighing, I gave Pinkie a moderately stern look she no doubt blatantly ignored. "Just Twilight for now. I think. Last I knew of, anyway." I'd never started backtracking from the very start of a statement before. Was this a new personal best? My ears drooped at the mere thought and I sighed. Sweetie Belle went from delighted to frowning in a heartbeat, but Applejack just shook her head. "She's still all yers, Mender. Ya just need ta do somethin' about this scared thing. Twi would never intentionally hurt ya; Ah vouch for her ah hundred percent!" the farm mare assured, giving a proper nod after as punctuation. I nodded gently, still not looking up. It wasn't that simple, but I did want to believe she was right. She was the Element of Honesty, so it was a good bet that I could trust what she was saying. "It's just hard. It's not just Twilight. She's scary powerful, yeah, but that more serves as a comparison to the females in my old life. They were scary powerful too, and definitely not benign with that fact. Even though I want to believe she's totally different, the comparison is still there, if that makes sense," I tried to explain as simply as I could. It was hellishly complex for myself, and I'd never tried to put it into words for somepony else before. Applejack actually smiled, which threw me off guard. She closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to consider things before continuing with, "That feels like tha honest truth ta me. Thank ya kindly fer bein' open. Ah understand that concept completely." Her open acceptance of my explanation further threw me for a loop, but it was a happy one this time. I cracked a smile timidly, looking up again fully. Things were looking up now, of course. I felt a little bit braver. "Yeah. If you were treated badly before and Twilight kinda sorta makes you remember that, it seems kinda normal. Like when my mom tries to feed me leeks," Scootaloo suddenly chipped in, drawing all attention towards her. She fidgeted in place and glared back an instant later. "What?! I threw up the first time I ate them, and now I just shudder every time I even see them," she defended sharply. I smiled and nodded to her, agreeing with, "That's actually the perfect example. They did really bad things to me and my friends. When Twilight looks or acts like them, even a little bit, I panic. It's really scary." Simplified, but still true. Scootaloo was starting to grow on me, I'd have to admit. The orange and purple filly perked up and nodded back, smiling at me again. Pinkie started a small fit of giggles at the same time, shifting the spotlight to herself instead. I gave her a questioning tilt of my head, and she nodded energetically. "After you're done working for AJ, I should totally hire you to help me babysit the Cake's foals! You're super-duper awesome with younger ponies," she suggested a moment later, glancing to Applejack for support. I detected a slight shift to her eyebrows as she did so, making her grin look almost knowing. I raised my eyebrow in return and glanced over at Applejack for some sort of reveal. Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the apparently mundane turn of events and flopped backwards onto her back. Sweetie and Apple Bloom still seemed curious, and glanced towards Applejack as well, however. The farm mare blushed lightly and coughed, looking away from the piercing gaze of the pink one. "Ya use yer Pinkie Sense fer that one? Yeah, ya caught us. Fluttershy an' Ah were watchin' Mender earlier. She actually thought he'd be ah pretty good father, though," she revealed weakly. I'm really glad I wasn't eating anything. I'd be taking another trip to the hospital if so, it then being lodged in my throat as I spasmed all over the place. Pinkie burst into snickers and wiggled back and forth on her haunches, seemingly unable to contain the level of energy inside of her body. Scootaloo snapped back up to a sitting position with wide eyes, however. It turns out she hadn't paid all that good of attention, sadly. "Wait, what?! Mender's gonna be a dad?!" she asked, rather on the loud side. Suddenly, I realized how absolutely quiet the barn was. Oh hell. I swallowed and started to turn and look out at the others before I heard a sharp inhalation, followed by, "What?!" Twilight almost screamed it, staring over at me with what could only be described as a mixture of shock, hostility, and murderous intent. My ears dropped instantly and I shrank back down to my stomach, hiding any essentials that I might yet need to continue the whole living and breathing thing. "Twilight! You have a better memory than Rainbow Dash and can recall further back than ten minutes. Control yourself!" Rarity chastised almost instantly, giving the lavender mare a stern look. "Hey!" Rainbow shot back a second later, glaring at Rarity instead. The two unicorns were too busy glaring at each other to notice, however. In the meantime, the bubbly gray pegasus drifted down from near the ceiling and over to me. "Oooh, congratulations! Who's the mommy?" she asked, causing me to look up at her in slight confusion. I don't know why, but I suddenly just noticed that her eyes drifted in different directions. She had Strabismus? Well she didn't seem to be bothered by it in the least, so I just mentally shrugged. Looking past her, I pointed my muzzle towards Twilight before replying with her name. Pinkie burst into more giggles again, predictably, while Twilight herself suddenly went from glaring at Rarity to staring back at me in surprise. Ha! That defused the situation, hopefully. "Wait, what?" the lavender mare asked, sounding exceedingly confused now. Derpy didn't miss a beat, however, and squealed happily. "Oooh, congratulations Twilight! Do you know if it's a filly or colt yet?" she asked, giving an excited flutter to her wings. Scootaloo just looked confused, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged giggles. Twilight finally blushed at that, stamping her hoof on the floor a couple times. "Hey! I'm not pregnant! What's going on?" she groaned out, looking back towards me for clarification. Fluttershy was still, and had been since the comment was shouted, blushing furiously next to Twilight. She nudged Twilight with her hoof however, then whispered into her ear when Twilight peeked sideways at her. Half a second later, a look of dawning comprehension graced the lavender mare's face, and she exhaled. "Scootaloo, you misheard. Mender isn't a daddy. They only said he'd make a good one," she explained slowly, standing and walking back towards us. She seemed in a better mood, but I didn't take any chances and kept my stomach to the ground. Basic artillery shell survival training. You kept a low profile to the ground to minimize fragmentation contact. It also helped reduce your target size in case you also happened to be getting shot at. I figured either could be applicable with an enraged Twilight Sparkle. Twilight stopped and gazed at me from a couple meters away before slowly sitting down where she was, ears lowering a little, alongside her eyebrows. Her mouth opened to say something, but no sound came out as she hesitated, lifting a hoof up in my direction. It almost looked like she was reaching out for me, and I felt a stirring in my stomach to obey. Regardless of her being scary and potentially dangerous, I still cared about her and really didn't like seeing her sad. That deadly silence crept into the barn again as I gradually sat back up; just a little bit. Her eyes opened a little more, as if she suddenly snapped back to full attention at my movement. She shifted her weight back onto her haunches and balanced upright before raising the other hoof as well, extending both to me. That gesture was common enough. She either was hoping that double the hoof pointing would cause further reaction in me, or she was making the gesture of desiring an embrace. Deciding to go with an assumption again, I settled on the latter and edged closer to her, fully sitting up now. Technically my assumptions hadn't explicitly gotten me killed yet, so that had to be worth something, right? The reaction was like a rubber band. Twilight closed the meter gap. In a rather stunning flash of light, she appeared practically on top of me. I gave a start of surprise, but no blow came. Instead, all I felt for a moment was warm fur intermingling against mine as she wrapped both forelegs around my body, pulling me against her chest. Her head rested on top of mine, as if she was suddenly desperate to make sure none of my fur was showing to the outside world. Pinkie's cooing 'Aww!' finally broke the silence. The heat I hadn't realized was coming from my face flared up even further as the soft unicorn placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head. My eyes widened, confusion flooding my senses. How could she go from being pissed off at me to embracing and kissing me so fast? This entire situation the last couple days had been bouncing up and down so quickly that I could barely follow it anymore. Mares were so confusing! "I know I said I was sorry before and I ended up scaring you again anyway, but please forgive me, Mender. You know I didn't mean to frighten you," the unicorn asked quietly. It was easy enough to hear by probably everypony present due to the silence, though. I shook my head against her chest, briefly causing her to lock up and her heartbeat to speed up. "I wasn't mad at you, Twilight. There's nothing to forgive. The problem is obviously with me and my memories," I pointed out tiredly. She relaxed after that. "I want to help you, Mender. You just have to realize how crazy this all sounds. I've already sent a letter out to Princess Celestia before coming here, asking for an audience the day after the party. Seeing as we're staying three days anyway, is that okay with you?" she asked, pulling me even tighter to her body, as if afraid I was going to run away again. On that account, I didn't blame her. "I, well, yes. That will work, of course. I'm glad you're giving me the benefit of the doubt," I managed to mutter. This time I wasn't going to let my coward-like behavior get in the way. No matter how scary Princess Celestia and Twilight could be, she was at least making an effort for me. Running away this time would only serve to spurn her attempt. She hesitated, left hoof tracing down my back gently and stopping just above the point where the brutal scar started. I guess I was kind of lucky. An inch to the right and the energy shot would have burned my spine in half instead of just scorching it. I shuddered as she touched the edge, remembering the horrible stabbing sensation followed by the cold numbness. I suddenly felt a little sick to my stomach. "I really, really do want to believe you, Mender," she finally added, drawing attention to the elephant in the room. Was she lying? My gut instinct told me she was, due too the order of her priorities, of course. Celestia was more important to her than I was. She wanted the problem to go away, in all likelihood. She probably felt my muscles tense as well as I felt her suddenly swallow. She knew that I doubted the validity of that statement; of that I had no doubt. Neither of us said anything. The silence became awkward again, but she only squeezed me tighter. What worried her so much? I pushed the bitterness back as best I could, biting my tongue instead. Fighting didn't really solve anything. "Well, can ya'll stay friendly long enough ta finish this 'ere job? After it’s done, we can all take ah nice break an' figure things out, then," Applejack suggested suddenly, approaching the two of us from the sidelines. Twilight's lips left my forehead as she glanced over at her orange friend. I shivered at the sudden loss of heat and buried my face a little closer into the fur on her chest. Her heart beat against my forehead soothingly. Why couldn't we just stay like this? I didn't like feeling like she didn't trust me or thought I was crazy. Wasn't she the one who said that trust was integral for a relationship? "Yeah. It's going to be nice to have a sort of vacation in a few days. It's only for three days, but getting away and just enjoying each other's company will be nice," Twilight agreed in a roundabout sense. Of course, 'enjoyment' was a relative term. I'd imagine it all depended on the results of Celestia's scan. Applejack nodded and gave us both a soft smile. Rarity approached at the same time, adding on, "I do apologize again for snapping at you earlier, Twilight Dear. I should have been gentler. The message is still there, though," she reminded, of what, I did not know. Twilight winced lightly, but nodded softly before looking up and over at Fluttershy instead, who was on the opposite side as Rarity. I felt a light burst of apprehension before mentally feeling the mare nod, even though I wasn't looking in her direction. At this close, I could start to visualize her without needing to look, it would seem. Distance must play a major part of the connection between us. "Heh, yeah! Going back home to piece the papers together was a little paranoid," Rainbow chimed in, sounding amused. She earned an annoyed glare from all three mares near me, but only snickered more. She had guts, I'll give her that. "She knows, Dash," Fluttershy whispered softly after hesitating a moment. Hearing was no problem, as the two pegasi were only a meter away from each other or so, I realized. It wasn't perfect, but I'd gotten a lot more comfortable with my sense of hearing ever since my eyes had gotten damaged. Even though they were significantly healed now, I still trusted my hearing more. Applejack coughed lightly before shaking her head. "There's ah lot ta talk about still, but it'll be easier after ah little time passes. Twi is real sorry fer her behavior and I'm sure lessons have been learned, but makin' ponies feel bad about things they already made amends with is just wrong. Let's just focus on tha project fer now, an' distract ourselves." Everypony nodded in agreement after a moment or so, the fillies probably more to just stay on Applejack's good side. Twilight waited another moment for attention to disperse back to the project before smiling down at me. "I know I've said this before and still haven't actually done anything yet, but I'll definitely make all of this up to you. I'll make you realize that I'm not going to hurt you if I have to," she promised, smile shifting to a smirk instead as I swallowed, suddenly nervous for entirely different reasons. The moment was interrupted by her expression melting to a curious confusion instead. Huh? She shifted her gaze past my face for a moment before asking, "Wait a second. Where'd you get this cape?"
Chapter 19Staring out the barn window, I watched the overcast sky drifting overhead. It was peaceful, really. I kept a lookout for any rainbow specks, but there was no sign of her. Maybe she had today off? She probably handled the weather during the winter, too. I shifted myself in the hay, deciding that the loft was rather comfortable. My ears twitched and rotated around to face partially behind me as I heard the conveyor start up again. This was the third test, now. So far it had been working flawlessly, much to her enthusiastic delight. Even Big Mac seemed quietly impressed by it as his sister tried heavier and heavier loads. I didn't hear anything straining, so I took that to be a good sign. She was trying a full crate on it, filled with apples this time around. Twilight sat a good half-dozen meters away, ready to try operating the lid lift from the loft. Last night had been, well, awkward for all accounts. I'd ended up going home with Twilight again, at her insistence. I was going to stay with Rarity instead, but the lavender unicorn looked one part horrified, another guilty at my suggestion, and had specifically requested another 'chance', whatever that had fully implied. Mares were so complicated. Of course, once we got home, things were a little better for a while. She left me alone for the most part, and I just read up more on Equestrian history. Although she did ask me a few strange questions about Fluttershy. How was I supposed to know if she was acting overly strange or not? It made me wonder what they had talked about yesterday for so long. No, the real awkwardness came when it was time to go to bed... * * * * * It took a certain level of finesse to brush your teeth when all you had was a hoof. They made almost everything imaginable with loop attachments for proper use without magic, of course, but it took practice to use them. This was a nightly event, however, so even I was getting better at it. Twilight hummed as she wandered about the room outside of the bathroom. Several books were out still, and she had moved the wood samples upstairs, it had seemed. That meant the mess surrounding them had migrated alongside, and now she was busy putting books away, probably out of fear that I'd trip on them and break something. Spike snored quietly, curled up in a loose ball in his little bed, residing at the foot of Twilight's much larger bed. I smiled over at him as I brushed. Tonight had been more pleasant than anticipated. I had expected to be grilled by Twilight upon returning, but she was overly pleasant instead. Idly, I wondered exactly what Rarity had said to her earlier. It certainly wasn't anything I had done. Satisfied that every minute surface of my teeth was scrubbed down, I placed the toothbrush back in its spot and ran a little water into the sink to properly wash away any remnants. Twilight kept the bathroom immaculate, and I certainly wasn't going to be the one to break that trend. She gave me a warm smile upon my exit, sitting down oddly next to my makeshift bed. I hesitated slightly, wondering if I was yet to be questioned tonight after all. "How are you feeling?" she quietly inquired, smile not faltering. While a question, that was hardly the one I had expected. "I'm tired after today and a little sore still, but better. Or did you mean mentally?" I returned, restraining all snarkiness from my voice and trying to keep a calm, stoic expression. Her ears lowered slightly alongside her brow, but she shook her head carefully. A moment later, after seemingly considering her words, she answered, "No, I know you're not fully recovered from everything you've been through. That's to be expected, however. I, um, regret not taking your feelings into consideration over it. Rarity opened my eyes to that." "What did she say to you, exactly?" I finally asked, voice softening as I walked over towards the end of my bed and sat down next to the corner, a meter away from her. "It was a lot of shouting, but I think you've guessed the most of it. She fed me my own words back about how important trust is. I kinda forgot that in my defense of my teacher, I admit," she explained, unable to meet my eyes any longer and looking down instead. I chuckled weakly. Yeah, I really had guessed as much. Still, it wasn't entirely as predicted. "It's understandable. I mean, comparatively speaking, the amount of time spent with Celestia is an ocean to my bucket. It makes sense that she'd be a higher priority," I reasoned. That was a mistake, it would seem. Twilight's ears dropped all the way down, eyes starting to shiver as she looked back up at me again. "No, Mender. I'm just not used to this. Please, I know trust is important. Can I have another chance?" she requested, edging closer to me suddenly. Huh? Another chance? I didn't know what she was referring to, in all honesty. "Um, what do you mean, another chance?" I decided to just straight up ask instead of attempt to guess. A break from character for me, but there were way too many possibilities this time. "To keep your trust in me. I know it's asking a lot at this point, but I really want you to trust me; to know that I'm not going to hurt you," the lavender unicorn expanded upon. Her eyes locked onto mine solidly, and I couldn't look away for a moment. I wasn't so much talking about the physical pain, but the emotional when she didn't acknowledge my concerns and just passed it off as me being crazy. Still, she seemed extremely sincere, and I didn't want to mention that lest she be further hurt by the memory. Finally, I just decided on a nod. It earned a quiet exhale as she slumped sideways onto my bed. "Thank you, Mender. It's been bothering me all day," she muttered. I bit my tongue again, not wanting to sound bitter or anything. "You don't need to thank me, Twilight. Even if you're scary sometimes, and don't often believe me, I still really, really like you. You've done a lot for me and are really kind. I can't imagine where I'd be if it weren't for your help so far," I redirected, ending up thanking her instead, technically. I almost chuckled at her flustered reaction and pink cheeks. "Mender. I haven't done that much, plus I've been a terrible fillyfriend," she groaned, sitting up fully again and brushing her bangs aside with her right forehoof. I snickered before reaching forward and straightening the side of her mane for her. She watched me, expression softening before she smiled. "Well, I'd like to make it up to you, regardless. I also promised you some more experimentation earlier, if you're up for it," she suggested, surprising me by running her left hoof along the top of my bed while smirking. My brain did a flip inside of my skull as it suddenly became my turn to blush. Wait, what?! "What brought this on?" I asked, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice. She momentarily looked delighted in my reaction before shaking her head rapidly. "Again, I want to make it up to you. I was also reading up on a few kissing techniques that I would like to test. Thoroughly." There was a long, awkward moment as I broke eye contact with her, face now beat red as I stared at her hoof on the bed. Oh, how I wanted to, I suddenly realized. Warm, fluttering sensations were filling my stomach as I considered it. Still, something didn't feel right about accepting her offer. Then it suddenly dawned on me. "I don't think I'm comfortable with applying some part of the relationship as a reward or payment. It feels wrong, I guess," I tried to reason. I was paying her in forgiveness instead of bits. Her eyes widened significantly, and I realized she hadn't anticipated a negative answer. She hesitated, then gasped further and covered her mouth with her free hoof. "Oh! I hadn't even realized it could be taken like that! I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to buy your forgiveness as much as simply trying to say that I was sorry. But you're right, of course. It should probably be split into two separate aspects. Maybe we can experiment tomorrow night instead," she offered. I contemplated the fact that I'd just technically ruined my chances at what I had really wanted, but decided a moment later that it was indeed for the best. I wanted to embrace her because she wanted me there, not because she felt guilty. I managed a smile and nod, which seemed to relieve her further. "Honestly, I'm surprised. I saw the look you gave the bed right after I suggested it," she added before I could say anything. There was a certain amused tone to her voice that I didn't feel like placing. I averted my gaze as rapidly as possible, causing the mare to giggle in amusement. It was a whimsical, adorable noise that I decided I really should hear more often. "Ah, you caught me. Trust me, I just suggested exactly what I didn't want to do," I admitted, blushing again. Dang. The heat had just died down, too. Still, I had a feeling she'd appreciate the honesty. Instead of being annoyed, she looked further amused instead, with just a hinting of relief. "Well, I'm glad that you're definitely interested in me. I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject to try to improve myself, but this is really different from anything I've studied up on before. There's not exactly a lot of concrete data," she complained, sighing wearily and glaring over at her personal bookshelf on the other wall. I tried not to laugh. "Maybe you should just ask me instead? I know that I've never done this before, but if we're testing compatibilities, it would make sense that the best source of likes and dislikes would be the other pony," I pointed out, smiling gently towards her. She seemed to consider it for a moment before smirking again and nodding. "Interestingly enough, that's what most of the books said, too. I guess it really is a good idea, then," she agreed. I was suddenly glad the books supported me. Celestia forbid that the books suggest covering me in tar and feathers before lighting me on fire... "Well again, you can ask me anything you want. I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities," I promised before yawning tiredly. She stepped aside as I idly climbed up onto my bed before flopping over. Well, technically it was Applejack's bed, but that sounded wrong when I mentally said it. Rainbow would kill me if I climbed into the farm mare's bed! Actually, there was a long list of ponies that would kill me should that happen. I was in the same room as one of them, too. Twilight oddly didn't move away and just gave me a curious, thoughtful looking gaze as I settled myself in. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she pointed out instead, "You're technically my coltfriend now. That gives you obvious privileges, you know. You don't truly have to sleep there, alone, if you don't want to." Oh. * * * * * Like I said, last night had been intensely awkward. Regardless, she definitely got the point across that she was willing to open up more to me. I tried to gauge my own opinion on the aspect, but in all honesty, I didn't know what to think about it. I knew next to nothing about Equestrian 'Dating' or relationships, so I didn't know what to expect, or what was expected of me. It was a little frustrating. "It's a sound success, Mender! It has no problem with three full apple crates," Twilight suddenly announced, sounding as if projecting it in my direction. I snapped out of it and smiled back at her, nodding. I'd have felt like a total idiot if it had broken on the trial run, of course. If there was anything I had any confidence in, it was my engineering capacity. "Darn tootin', it worked! This is gonna be right nice come packagin' time. Fer once, we won't need ta recruit ah ton o' help, which is gonna save ah lotta bits!" I heard Applejack exclaim from under me somewhere. She sounded significantly pleased, so I took the job as completed to her satisfaction. The conveyor slowly came to a stop as the large, red stallion let out a sharp, "Eeyup!" I got to the edge of the loft in time to see him hop off the tread, not even looking winded. Damn. He just powered the conveyors for almost an hour and he wasn't even sweating. My ego plummeted as I realized just how out of shape I was. If Applejack or Twilight noticed my crestfallen expression, they didn't say anything. The farm mare stretched next to the side of the conveyor before giving a brisk nod as she examined it. "This is one nice piece o' equipment! We'll need ta get tha gals out 'ere again ta see what they helped create," she observed, sounding happy indeed. I couldn't stay glum knowing she was so happy with the results, and quietly smiled instead. "I think Mender deserves some credit, too," Twilight spoke up, giving me a start as I suddenly realized she was right next to me, sitting down. Applejack didn't even hesitate before looking up at us and nodding, still grinning from ear to ear. "Ah reckon yer right, Twi. If ya give me ah little bit, Ah can get his pay ready. Ah don't keep that much on hoof, ya know?" she offered, shifting to a simple smile instead. That, in turn, shifted to a raised eyebrow and head shake as she saw my ears drop again. "You can just give anything I earned after the rent for your cot to Twilight. I'm sure it isn't more than what room and board would be," I groaned, lowering my head again. It wasn't just awkwardness, but almost a sense of shame from leeching off these wonderful ponies so much. "Mender, you worked really hard for this. You deserve something in return," Twilight stubbornly protested, turning towards me more fully. Sighing, I shook my head before admitting, "I just wanted to be useful. I wanted to help, so maybe you and the others would think more highly of me." Or at least give me the benefit of the doubt, I suppose. I'd never had friends before, and was rapidly realizing how much it hurt when they thought you were totally off your rocker. Twilight bit her lower lip before gently pushing into me and wrapping her forehooves around my shoulders. She was quiet, however, and didn't appear to know what to say. "Ah know we got off on tha wrong hoof, Mender. Knowin' what Ah do now, Ah know why, o' course. After all this, an' yer right proper attitude all 'round, Ah do think highly o' ya," Applejack spoke up, wandering closer to the edge of the loft and looking up at me fully now. I sighed, but nodded. "Then keep your bits. Take all this as my honest apology for scaring you and acting so creepy when we first met. I want to be useful to you mares, and this is a good start for repaying all the kindness," I explained openly. It had been bugging me since she had insisted on paying me, and it was good to finally get it off my chest. The orange mare's ears flattened back and she frowned, however. Her mouth opened to say something when a red furred hoof rested down gently on her shoulder. "Let it be, AJ," Big Mac spoke simply, yet strongly. She glanced over at him, eyes darting back and forth in mild confusion before locking with his. A second passed before she gave a frustrated clicking sound and shook her head, glancing back up at me. "Yer right stubborn, you stallions! But Ah suppose Ah can be, too. Fine. Yer ah darn good guy, though, an' Ah'm gonna tell everypony Ah can about yer skills. Ah have ah feelin' yer gonna earn quite ah lot o' bits with yer talents! At least accept ah good meal fer yer time, though. Twi's invited too," Applejack finally gave in, gesturing towards Twilight as she did so. Twilight groaned, raising her head off my shoulder to look at her friend below. "I'm not sure, Applejack. I might pop if I try another one of your home cooked meals." Whoa. I suddenly got a mental image of Twilight swelled up like a balloon, barely able to move, and tried not to snicker. Snickering would lead to me having to explain what was funny, which in turn would probably get me a fast ticket down from the loft. Applejack grinned up at her before nodding. "Ah'm serious, though. On all accounts. Word o' mouth is real strong around these parts. Yer magic an' skills are real convenient, ya have ta admit," she repeated, shifting her gaze back to me instead. "Um, I'm not sure of what use other ponies would have for technical things, but I'll help where needed," I assured, trying my best to smile for the farm mare. She rolled her eyes of course. "Ah don't think yer gonna be so lucky as ta escape without pay again. That goes fer anymore work ya do fer me, too, Ah hope ya know," she warned, eyes dancing in amusement. "He's not going to escape getting rewarded, regardless, don't worry," Twilight assured, making me blatantly aware that she was still holding onto me. I blushed, but she just kissed my cheek and grinned, eyelids lowering a little. There was something about her expression that made my heartbeat suddenly pick up, and I swallowed. "Whoa! Ah reckon that's darn good incentive, regardless. Careful Rare don't gossip on ya'all, though," the country mare teased, tossing a wink to both of us. Twilight snickered and nodded before tipping us sideways off the loft. It caught me totally by surprise, and I just started to inhale in shock when her magic gently caught us both and we drifted to the floor. Neither Applejack nor Big Mac so much as batted an eye at the display, which probably shouldn't have surprised me. Magic really was commonplace in Equestria, after all. "Yer welcome ta help out on tha farm as well, when ya want. Ya mentioned wantin' ta get back inta shape, an' apple buckin' would do ya real good. Ah wouldn't turn down one o' them magic massages at tha end o' tha day, either," she added upon us fully settling on the ground. Oh yeah, I had wanted to get back into shape again. If it helped my magic improve, I was all for it. Twilight's ears perked at the admission, though. "Magic massage? What do you mean?" she asked curiously. "Hoo boy! Yer coltfriend is right good with his hooves! Adds magic ta tha touch, gettin' in real deep and tweakin' tha muscles with heat an' shakin'. It felt like ah slice o' paradise!" Applejack revealed, closing her eyes and releasing a pleased clicking sound as she seemingly remembered when I'd used it before. Twilight rose an eyebrow and glanced over at me, curiously. I swallowed and rapidly shook my head. "Her shoulder was sore after working on the conveyor last night, so I just gave it a little rub," I assured, just in case she was suspecting me of anything. She laughed instead, however. "I trust you, Mender. Actually, I was thinking of asking for a sample when we got back to the library," she informed, smiling warmly instead. My heart skipped a beat and I felt heat grow in my chest when she said that. Maybe things really were taking a turn for the better? "Darn tootin'. Ah know ya wouldn't cheat on yer mare. Or mares, as tha case may be," Applejack chipped in, voice dripping with mirth. I blushed and gave her a deadpan stare, causing her to burst out into hearty laughter. I couldn't keep up the stoic expression, and snickered myself at her rather contagious display. I started to notice that all six friends had different mannerisms to almost everything they did. Twilight was more prone to quiet giggles and smirks, whereas Applejack just openly and honestly laughed when she felt like it. Both were appealing in their own way, and I started to really appreciate all the differences between them. "Well, Mender and I will probably stop by tomorrow before the trip. We'll be gone for a few days, so we have to say our goodbyes before leaving. For now, however, we need to get back home and pack," Twilight reminded gently, nodding back to her friend who finally composed herself. Big Mac stretched in the background before swapping out yokes that hung on the side of the barn wall. There appeared to be a lot of variations of them, probably for different purposes. "You have to pack, anyway. I don't own anything yet, remember?" I added, giving her a skeptical yet amused glance. Twilight rolled her eyes and gave me a light shove before smirking again. "I'm still going to pack things for you. I figure the three of us will largely be hanging out together anyway once Rarity gets done with her show and socializing," Twilight reasoned, quickly catching me in her magic as I tipped over from her shove, unable to re-balance myself upright. "Iffin that don't take her all night, anyway. Ya know how she likes ta schmooze with tha frou-frou crowd," Applejack warned, rolling her eyes yet retaining the smile. Nopony batted an eye when I tipped over either, I noticed. Twilight didn't even glance my way before catching me. Did that technically mean that my blundering was more commonplace than magic? Twilight let out a light giggle before nodding and standing again. "I'll try to keep her on a tight leash. You two take care, of course. We'll see you tomorrow before we leave," she assured yet again. I took my cue to stand up again, shakily making sure I remained balanced this time. "Good. Ah'll hold ya ta yer word, o' course. Take it easy, then, an' have fun with that 'reward' later, ya'll," Applejack returned, throwing a wink in at me as I blushed once again. Twilight took it in stride this time and just smirked before hauling me back towards the barn door with a series of nudges. "Oh, we will. Don't worry," she tossed back as we left the barn. What had I gotten myself into? * * * * * Reality continued to surprise me, however. I stretched gently as I watched Twilight dance from shelf to shelf, peeking through each one's contents. Occasionally she'd levitate an item or two down into the third bag we'd packed. Regardless, I simply sat there, watching her while holding the bag open with my forehoof. The room was dimly lit by now, the sun having sunk below the horizon about an hour ago. Eight o'clock, maybe? Twilight had instead insisted on getting to work on the wood samples when we got back to the library, rather than any prior hinting of 'experimentation' she had mentioned. This caused mixed feelings of both relief and disappointment in me, surprisingly. I guess I always got so anxious when she started acting like that. I started second guessing my own actions. A pleasant aroma drifted into my nose from the kitchen as Twilight lightly hummed. Spike was making supper, I knew, and I had been relieved of my active kitchen duty by him at the moment. Well, when I refer to 'relieved', I actually meant conscripted by Twilight instead. Apparently she can't hold the bag open and still focus intently on fretting over what to pack. Of course, I just got a stiff glare when I mentioned she might be overdoing the whole preparation thing. Not that it mattered. The scenery was infinitely better in here, and I didn't have to be concerned about lopping off a hoof and adding it to the meal at any point. My eyes traced over Twilight as she worked, earning warm butterflies in the rest of my body at each movement they caught. She was absolutely gorgeous and she didn't even try to be. Maybe it was just my perspective, but I certainly didn't mind just watching her pack things. I might be a little biased, but at least I knew I wasn't the only one who would think that way. It was surprising to realize that Fluttershy definitely liked Twilight as well, but I saw her reasons easily enough. Not that feelings like these really needed a reason in the first place. The lavender unicorn glanced back at me again after dropping yet another item into the bag. Her gaze caught my own once more, and she immediately blushed; a light shade shift that was almost imperceptible in the dim light. She let out a light, groaning sound and looked away slightly. "I know I said that I don't mind you looking, but I think I'd actually find it easier if I caught you eyeing my flanks instead, or something, " she muttered in a somewhat pointed fashion. I chuckled in amusement. "Well, they're very nice flanks, I agree, but I like a whole lot more than just them," I reminded, sticking out my tongue afterwards. She smirked at my impish reply and expression and relaxed a little. "Your flattery only works because I know you're honest. Most would get a magical boot to their flanks instead if they'd said that," she warned, snickering a little herself. I coughed lightly, painfully aware of how popular she was and not needing the reminder. "Oh, I know. I'd be the first to wallop them," I agreed, keeping a close check on the wicked green monster that was busy snarling inside of me. Twilight's smile softened and she nodded, adding, "A little possessiveness is a good thing in a relationship, I feel. The books I've read on the matter warn to not let it go too far, but I don't think you're anywhere near that." The statement was accompanied by her shifting closer and softly brushing her cheeks against my own. The heat drifted into my face again, and I looked down. It still surprised me that Twilight herself wanted that kind of attention from me. She could probably have any stallion she wanted, too. Still, I was too close now to treat her as anything other than just Twilight. She'd been introduced to me not as a national hero and student of the practical goddess ruler, but just as a skilled magic user and kind mare. First impressions stuck hard. She didn't appear to mind, however. "I feel kind of badly that I have all of this packing to do, but you don't have anything," she muttered, breaking me out of my contemplation a few moments later. I raised an eyebrow before the impish smirk returned. "I'm telling you, you probably barely need half of this stuff." As predicted, she shot me a dirty looks before visibly scoffing. "I must be prepared, no matter what. I might be called upon to do practically anything, so it helps to be ready. I might need to help organize or set up for the party, even," she reasoned, flailing her forelegs up and about as if partially panicking already. I averted my eyes and coughed. Of course, I could practically feel her piercing glare bore a hole through my head. "So the telescope and orrery are going to help with that?" I inquired curiously, if not a little sardonic in tone. "Those are for entertainment after the party!" she defended sharply after a moment's hesitation. "Didn't you say that about the mortar, pestle, and alembic, too?" I reminded, raising an eyebrow towards her incredulously. Twilight gave me a frustrated, pouting stare before I started laughing and she flailed at me. "Oh, you! You're so frustrating sometimes. Fine, I'll leave the telescope and orrery here, but I absolutely cannot afford to leave behind my alchemical equipment," she insisted. I shielded my face from her flurry of playful swats with a foreleg while continuing to snicker. "All right, all right. Princess Twilight wins. Your loyal servant shall carry your alchemy supplies along as well," I conceded in as theatrical a manner as I could muster. Of course, it was just to poke a little more playful fun at her. Twilight gave me a curious raised eyebrow before a smile danced onto her expression. "That's Princess Twilight Sparkle, thou must remember. We must be addressed properly," she insisted a moment later, playing along with it and shifting to a strangely familiar speaking mannerism. I tried not to laugh, and continued along with, "Many apologies, my Princess. Is there anything this humble servant could do to earn forgiveness?" "Pending any further transgressions, we have already forgiven thou. However," she began, before her eyelids lowered a little and that grin returned. Uh oh. I found myself on my back before I could say anything. Apparently, one needs a certain threshold of air in one's lungs in order to properly formulate vocal noises! It was a fascinating discovery. Learned at the same time was the fact that for kissing, one definitely did not require that same threshold. Twilight broke contact a few seconds later, her lips still hovering over mine and a light flush on her cheeks still. "If thou keeps being so adorable, surely we can spare a pleasant reward," she followed up, assuming from her prior sentence. Okay, now she was just screwing with my head. I rolled my eyes while smiling still before reminding, "Surely, Princess Twilight Sparkle remembers that she shall be very busy with her duties all night and won't have time for such." Her eyes lit up with amusement as I continued. Suddenly, I started to question just how much she was enjoying this verbal exchange. It didn't help that she was pressed right up against me, chest to chest. Focus, Mender! "We shan't be busy all night, of course. Much, hmm, rewarding shall be done upon retiring for the evening with thou,”Twilight informed before slowly starting to inch closer. “All. Alone. Together." My breathing caught as I felt hers gently against my chin. She was just teasing me again! Why did she like doing this so much? Regardless, I kept forcing myself to remember that. I started to playfully scoff and resume the acting, regardless of how my blazing cheeks probably shifted me out of character. She interrupted further, however, by ducking down suddenly and pressing a heated kiss directly to the side of my neck. My eyes flew open in shock at the same time my body locked up at the new, entirely unexpected sensation! It was like a light switch got turned on, and I was suddenly all too aware of all the intermingling fur between our bodies. She was so soft and warm that I couldn't help but lift my forelegs up and wrap them around her back, pulling her closer against me. Her kiss pushed higher up my neck, and she added a light lick before lifting her head up again, smiling down at me with a victorious grin. "Oooh, someone has a sensitive neck. I'll have to remember that," she observed slyly, causing me to swallow. I couldn't manage to say anything as I just stared up at her in shock, cheeks feeling like they could fry eggs if given the chance. "I can still hear you, ya know!" was suddenly shouted from the direction of the kitchen. Twilight's mischievous grin melted into embarrassed shock in less than a heartbeat. I coughed lightly, seemingly reminding her that I was still here and currently underneath of her. She gave a guilty smile and awkwardly stumbled sideways off of me, trying to untangle her legs from mine. I fought down stirring feelings and managed to get onto my hooves again, unable to push back the blush. "Ah, we should probably keep packing up," she finally excused awkwardly almost ten seconds later. That might not seem like a lot, but when blushing furiously in a supposedly active conversation, it's an eternity! Sighing, I nodded weakly and stood up fully again, feeling my back legs crack in a somewhat pleasant manner. "We've almost got everything packed now. Can you get the drawings and notes I made about the wood samples as well? They're in the sample cabinet over there," she requested, gesturing with a hoof before peeking over the shelf in front of her, gathering up what appeared to be official papers. Oh yeah, she had wanted to present her findings to Princess Celestia the day after the party. She had indeed been working hard on it, not that I thought whatever it was in the forest was still around at this point. I wandered over to a series of three wooden cabinets, all in a row. She sure kept a lot of samples. Pity she didn't specify which one the wood notes were in. I mentally decided that was also on my list of things I'd never thought I'd be looking for. Notes on blocks of wood. Mentally shrugging, I just decided to metaphorically bite the bullet and opened the first cabinet closest to me. The moment of peace and tranquility before utter horror sets in just serves to make the effect worse. Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting to panic so suddenly, or maybe it was the mundane outer appearance of the cabinet that threw me into a false sense of security. Regardless, my eyes widened and almost popped free of my skull after I opened the first cabinet and came face to face with three hellish rocks straight out of my nightmares. My first distinct thought while stumbling backwards and falling away from the cabinet was wondering why she had kept them. After what they had almost done to both myself and two of her closest friends, the rational solution would have been to find a place that could obliterate them. A lava flow or tectonic shift came to mind almost immediately. So why were they here, in an unassuming cabinet all of thirty feet from where I slept at night?! "Mender?!" Twilight asked immediately upon hearing the crashing noise of me tripping over my own hooves and landing on my back. I rolled once and slid to my hooves again, carefully lowering myself against the direction of the rocks, ready to dodge in case any eldritch tentacle lashed out at me or something. There was no movement from them at all, however. I distinctly noticed that the shifting, distorting effect that had given me a headache when I looked at them the first time was also absent. Twilight moved into my vision and quietly closed the cabinet again, not meeting my gaze. She hastily opened the third cabinet instead and pulled out a stack of paper notes. That was it? She was just going to stash them away and pretend I hadn't seen them? She knew exactly what I'd seen in there. "Twilight," I warned, eyes narrowing a little as I stared at her. She halted, sighing before putting the papers into the folder she was still holding. "I know. I said I got rid of them," she admitted, lowering her head before looking back over at me in a guilty manner. It had been discussed prior, after they'd finally caught me up as to what happened after I lost consciousness. She told me they had deactivated after the explosion and she'd disposed of them. "Why?" I asked, relaxing a little bit. A part of me expected the cabinet to burst open again, pulling us all into the inky darkness no matter how much we screamed. She still refused to meet my gaze. "They're important, Mender. If something like that happens again, having samples might be the only thing that stops disaster," she defended, distinctly interested in her right forehoof. I exhaled quietly, finally deciding that she had only half lied. They certainly didn't look the same as they had, so maybe they truly were deactivated? The cold sensation slipped into me again as I remembered the feeling of having one of their tendrils attached to my chest. It was so cold that it burned, creeping into my body as it tore through tissue and wormed its way into my very being. The worst part was knowing what it actually was; a hole in reality going back through to the very place I so wanted to avoid. I doubted any living thing would survive the transfer via that method, however. Regardless, I finally gave up. Really, it wasn't that big of a deal, I guess. If they were deactivated, they were only rocks. Sighing, I nodded to her and lowered my head. There was nothing I could do, anyway. I could hardly force her to get rid of them. This was her house and they were technically her property, after all. My ears twitched and I frowned, remembering that I technically didn't have any property in the first place. "Mender, are you okay? I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth. I didn't think you'd understand my wanting to keep them," she apologized, edging closer to me carefully. I held my ground and didn't shrink back this time as best I could. Surprisingly, she smiled and edged closer yet before gently pecking me on the forehead. "Thank you, Mender. I'm not going to hurt you." She'd said it before, but I guess it was just a matter of convincing myself of it now. "I know, Twilight. It just surprised me, is all," I muttered slowly, looking back up at her again, unsure of what exactly I was supposed to say. Thankfully, Spike saved me the awkwardness. "Hey you two! Dinner is ready," the little dragon called out from the kitchen and dining room area. Twilight peeked past me towards the sound of his voice before nodding and smiling further. I took my cue and turned around, heading towards the glowing doorway that led to the fully lit kitchen. It was always so much more peaceful at night, I decided. Hoof steps slowly followed me, indicating my fillyfriend was coming along too. That still felt weird to even think about. Spike had produced a rather simplistic dinner obviously made for three ponies. Well, two ponies and a drake? I didn't exactly know what to call him. Regardless, it was more than pleasant, even if I was the last one to finish eating. It was a mistake to attempt to learn how to use the utensil loops for my hoof, I decided. Twilight's magic and Spike's opposable thumbs easily beat my clumsy attempts at eating using just my hooves. Twilight even choked back a couple giggles after I poked myself in the muzzle with the fork the second time. Who knew spaghetti could be so frustrating to eat?! By the time I finished, Twilight had migrated to finishing up the packing, and Spike was already washing the dishes. He was more than a little surprised when instead of just dropping my plate in with the rest, I set it in and proceeded to help him clean everything that was left. He was an earnest little guy, that much was for sure. I felt bad that he worked by himself all the time, though. It took us another ten minutes or so to finish drying the dishes, and I saw his eyes starting to slowly droop by the time he put the last one away. Admittedly, I had no idea where to put them once they were dried. "Getting a little sleepy there, Spike?" I asked in amusement, obviously already knowing the answer. He sighed and nodded before smiling warmly again. "Yeah. It's almost my bedtime. But thanks to you, I got that last chore done twenty minutes early and can get some extra sleep tonight!" he exclaimed, sounding as if he were a little kid in a candy factory. I snickered as he wobbled and tried to get off the counter. In order to reach the upper cabinets, he had to climb up and stand on the counter surface. Afraid he was going to fall, I walked up next to the counter, right where he was set to get down. He gave me a happy nod before stepping down onto my back instead and flopping forwards. He was still light as a feather, even after eating, so I proceeded out of the kitchen and towards the stairs up to the loft. Twilight, who was sitting on the couch and sorting her bags, smiled up at me escorting the sleepy dragon and nodded in approval. I perked and gave a single nod back before slowly making my way up the stairs, careful to watch where each of my hooves were going. Now that would have been ironic. I was worried he'd hurt himself so I carry him up the stairs, only to trip and fall down it myself; both of us ending up in the hospital. Thankfully I made it safely to the loft and deposited him near the bathroom door. "Thanks, Mender. You're so, uh, totally awesome. Yeah, that's it," he thanked sleepily, seeming to struggle with his words. "Don't worry about it, Spike. Just brush your teeth and enjoy the extra sleep time," I waived off, smiling pleasantly at him. I was kind of glad he was taking Twilight and I so well, actually. Making myself useful around the house was one way to ease any transition time as well. Plus, he seemed seriously overworked, and I liked helping the little guy. He grinned and saluted me before turning and promptly running straight into the yet closed door. I winced as the wood shook and he stumbled backwards slightly. "Ow! Uh, that was just a fluke. I'm fine!" he rapidly informed before quickly reaching up and turning the doorknob this time. I fought back any snickering as he rapidly ducked inside and closed the door again without making eye contact. Poor little guy. I decided to keep it my secret and headed back downstairs. Twilight sat the last bag down on the floor at the base of the couch before looking back up at me, smiling again. She seemed really happy tonight, which was definitely a good thing. After how awkward yesterday had been, I figured her transition to pleasant moods would have been a more involved process. "Spike getting ready for bed, then?" she inquired as I sat down on the other end of the couch from her, circling once on the cushion before flopping over onto my right flank. I stretched before giving another brief nod, adding, "Yeah, he's brushing his teeth, then turning in early. He did look really tired." "He works really hard on all of his chores. I'm really thankful for such a dutiful and proper assistant. That's why he's number one," she explained, closing her eyes and giving a cute head nod as if to agree with herself. She really did seem to appreciate him, plus he seemed more than happy with his position. With that, I decided all was indeed well. "Still, I'm really glad that you're helping him so much. I worry a lot that he tries to do too much by himself," she admitted a moment later, causing my chest to warm up a little bit. Yeah, she honestly did care about him. A lot. That made me feel a little better about things. "He really is like a little brother to you, isn't he?" I asked, smiling at her from across the middle cushion that separated us. The urge to slide over and hug her was still there, but I didn't want to take a risk and destroy her good mood. Twilight nodded pleasantly before looking over at the crackling fireplace instead. "I've been with him since he hatched. He knows I'm not his Mother, obviously, but I'm somewhere between his sister and surrogate mother instead. I'm glad you two have been getting along so well. You'll be spending a lot of time here, obviously, and I was a little nervous," she admitted, frowning. We thought fairly alike on that topic, then. "Well, things are working out all right. Does this mean I shouldn't plan on getting my own place in the future?" I questioned, smiling again. As predicted, that drew her attention back to me, wearing a frown. It disappeared when she saw my smirk, and she rolled her eyes, chuckling. "I wouldn't let you leave even if you wanted to. Now that I have the extra company, going back to just the two of us here would be really depressing," she informed, getting that impish grin again. I coughed and averted my eyes, earning a snicker. Twilight rolled her eyes before adding, "Oh relax. I just don't want you to leave. We can obviously keep separate beds. I suggest getting an actual one soon, however. Applejack will probably want her cot back eventually." "Heh, don't remind me. I really do want to earn things for myself, don't worry," I assured, lowering my ears are little. She didn't falter and scooted over a little, resting her forehead and horn against my right shoulder. "I know. You're a good stallion. Part of me was afraid of the relationship thing because I was worried about expectations and being controlled, not just because it's new and unfamiliar. I should have known better, of course," she revealed, pushing a little harder with her snout. Sighing, I wrapped a foreleg over her shoulder softly, needlessly assuring, "You know I'd never do that. I just want you to be happy. Fillyfriend is just a convenient label. It doesn't come with any particular duties or requirements apart from just being you." That much I didn't need to learn about dating. Sure, the terms were new, but my sense of integrity wasn't. She nodded against me gently before raising her head up again and pecking my cheek. "I know that now. I'm way more comfortable with this than I was before. It's just like being friends, only, um, closer," she tried to explain, tracing her free right hoof in a simple triangle on my chest. Of course. Most would use circle patterns to their movements. Twilight, however, uses perfectly formed, one hundred and eighty degree triangles. "A lot closer," I agreed before placing a kiss right above her horn. She made a murmur as her horn lit up to my touch, shuddering after I withdrew. Well that was an interesting reaction. Was her horn sensitive or something? I had assumed it was just bone with a light layer of skin over it. She swallowed and shivered slightly. "Mmm, easy there. I'm, uh, actually a little tired tonight. Do you think we could hold off on the 'reward' thing until tomorrow night?" she requested softly, opening her eyes finally and looking up at me. I raised an eyebrow, but shook my head, ignoring the sudden pang in my chest. "Twilight, I had figured you were just joking anyway. Of course we can just go to bed," I pointed out, unsure of why she was insisting on rewarding me to begin with. Her expression suddenly made me uncomfortable and I couldn't help but look away. I saw her ears flatten back out of the corner of my eye. "Of course I want to reward you for doing such an amazing job helping out my friends. It's kind of a reward for me, too. Um, I'm just, well, tired tonight," she furthered, lowering her head a little. I nodded absently, eyes drifting carefully to the cabinet again. "Come on, Mender. Let's go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow. We can enjoy each other's company tomorrow night when it's just us in my castle room," she reminded, standing up and sliding off the couch. My mind drifted back to her before I gave her another nod and stood as well. Ultimately, I wasn't looking forward to the crowds and stuffy suit Rarity had no doubt finished by now. I'd be happy when tomorrow night was over, I had a feeling. Dawdling slightly as I went after Twilight, I gave the cabinet one last uneasy stare before scampering up the stairs.
Chapter 20Keela watched in amusement as I drew on the piece of paper in front of me, my hoof moving surprisingly deftly as it manipulated the pencil. Working with a hoof wasn't that different from holding something when you could stick things to the surface of it using magic, I found out. I'd never had any issues learning to manipulate things with my left appendage, either. Maybe I had always used the left one? We were in the lounge area of her lab. This vessel, I recently discovered, used to be a large research platform before it was refit with massive engines and used to escape from the Grosh. Now Keela was one of only three researchers who still used the lab section. We were entirely alone, so I felt reasonably comfortable being out and about. My transparent, barrier-body was in an almost perfect replica of my pony self due to the power of the book floating in my chest, and I was busy drawing while seated at a rather comfy table. As odd as the situation was, I'd been taking a bit of comfort out of the audacity lately. It surprised me a little when I realized that Keela wasn't much bigger than I was in pony form. One thing I didn't recall was that Keldarians were rather small in stature. Standing up, she was maybe a meter tall at best. "Oooh, she's pretty. You can definitely tell she's a female," my only companion commented finally, sliding closer to my energy body while peeking over my shoulder. I raised an eyebrow and peeked back at her questioningly. "It surprises me that you can say she's pretty, not being a pony yourself," I pointed out, watching her snicker. "Traits of attraction are surprisingly universal. I don't know if you recall, but some of our species took an interest in our allies too, even though they're practically hairless, gargantuan, and rather brutal. She's very pretty. I can see why you like her," Keela explained, catching me by surprise. No, I hadn't been aware of relations with our allies such as that. They seemed kind of gross to me, but I supposed everypony had their own tastes. Err, everyone. "I didn't know that. Or at least, I didn't remember it," I reasoned, staring down at my rather based drawing of the absolutely gorgeous lavender unicorn. She didn't look nearly as good on paper; let alone in monochrome. Vibrant colors had oddly grown on me for some totally unknown reason. My, dare I say, friend nodded politely, looking deeply amused. "I'm glad you patched things up with her, regardless. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I'll refrain from sending things through the book from now on," she promised, averting her eyes as a light blush danced onto her cheeks. "Eh, you know they already think I'm nuts. Maybe watching the paper pop out of me would convince them otherwise," I groaned out, trying my best to keep the bitterness limited. A sudden compulsion hit, and I followed it instantly without consideration. "Hey now! Don't be so hard on yourself," Keela protested a few seconds after my forehead smacked into the surface of the coffee table. I felt nothing and barely resisted sighing. "Look, I might not know much about love, but I know if she really likes you like that, she'll come around eventually. Trust takes time to build up and you haven't been there all that long, really," she added several seconds later, apparently upon deciding I wasn't going to move anymore without further stimuli. I shook my head against the hard surface, agreeing with, "I know I haven't been there that long. I'll be the first to admit that I don't compare in the slightest to Celestia. I'm just, I don't know, venting frustration at this point?" It was rather confusing to even me. Something told me that this was the first I had to deal with these kinds of feelings; they neither involved making something work or spontaneously making things no longer work, be it mechanical or organic. She giggled again. I impulsively decided that it wasn't as nice of a giggle as Twilight's or Fluttershy's. "Their culture is amazingly peaceful, so you're very lucky, honestly. All of your new friends seem really nice, so I don't think you have anything to worry about. Rarity might actually really help Twilight see what she's missing, from the sounds of it," she added, gently rubbing my back. Well, the shield told me she was rubbing it. It wasn't like I could actually feel anything. Still, the sentiment could be appreciated, which she probably knew. "See what she's missing?" I asked curiously, finally lifting my head off the table and looking back at her to my right. Keela only snickered; her short whiskers wiggled in amusement as she grinned at me. "Call it a woman's intuition. Rarity spending so much time with you will probably vastly improve your relationship with Twilight," she explained, nodding twice at the end. The concept was completely foreign to me. "How will hanging out with Rarity improve my relationship with Twilight?" I inquired incredulously, raising an eyebrow to my alien friend. She just shook her head, looking impish now. "You'll see. If it makes you feel better, I can see why she likes you as well. If she's unsure of herself, you probably make her feel really comfortable, actually." Okay, I give up. I was never going to understand females, and I was only wasting my time in the trying. Keela let out a humming noise and added more snickers, which started to annoy rather than placate at this point. I glared at her, but she just hummed a little more insistently. If we hadn't been talking for the past, like, four hours, I'd think she was suddenly nervous about talking to me. She gave me a questioning tilt of her head, causing me to realize that something was off. I shifted and turned away from her, but the tone and depth of the humming noise didn't change. Okay, that was weird. It wasn't coming from her, then. "What's wrong, Mender?" she asked, voice shifting a little lower and more serious. I glanced about, and realized the humming wasn't coming from anywhere. It was in my head, but exceedingly there. There! It was so real that it couldn't possibly be real. Oh crap. It reminded me of what that connection sounded like between the dimensions. "There's a humming sound coming from my mind. I think it's something to do with the dimensional link. Weird," I informed, glancing back at her in confusion. She frowned, and then shook her head. "I'm not doing anything differently. Perhaps you should try waking up real quick and seeing if it's not on that end?" she reasoned, shrugging her shoulders. I contemplated it for a moment before deciding she was probably right. If Twilight had my head in a pot and was smashing it off the wall trying to wake me up, I should at least humor her. "All right. I'll tug on our link if I can make it back to sleep," I accepted, standing up off the couch again. She nodded and smiled to me before everything went monochrome. I braced myself as I withdrew, keenly aware of the book hitting the couch cushion before everything fell backwards. It was kind of like falling and sliding at the same time, with a warm feeling of liquid running just along your skin. Rather peaceful once I stopped panicking the first time. Then there was the sensation of waking up... * * * * * The room was almost pitch black, the only light being the soft moonlight coming through the side window next to the small balcony. Even that was reduced significantly by the heavy leaf foliage in front of it. Sometimes I forget that I technically live in a tree. Remembering why I woke up, I perked my ears up for that strange humming noise. It didn't take me long to locate it in the relative quiet of the night. It was directed this time, clearly coming from downstairs. What was scary was that it was a familiar noise to me at this point. I'd not remembered much, but the humming noise advanced electronics made was still quite clear enough. I slowly slid off the side of my cot, careful to ease my hooves onto the hardwood floor. They were significantly harder than the rest of my skin and would undoubtedly make noise if I rushed. Easing along and cringing at every creaking noise, I peeked over at Twilight and Spike. My fillyfriend was completely under the covers at this point with just the tip of her head and horn sticking out. I smiled as I watched the blanket gently rising and falling with her slow breathing, a warm fluttering sensation drifting into my chest. I was glad we were on better terms now. Spike hadn't moved either apart from rotating onto his back. His light snores were rhythmic and gentle, occasionally accompanied by a twitch of his legs. I tried not to chuckle before slipping past both of them and heading down the stairs. Unfortunately, the first floor was far darker than the second, which only served to magnify my apprehension. I wasn't afraid of the dark by any means, but there was something absolutely terrifying about the unknown if you dwelled on it for too long. My eyes slowly got adjusted to the lack of light. Of course, they were drawn like a moth to a bonfire in the direction of the darkened corner. I knew that the cabinet was there, ominously hidden in the darkness. The happy feeling in my chest was gone in an instant, replaced by a nervous dread. My ears twisted around and I almost groaned when I realized that was exactly where the sound was coming from. A few choice expletives were muttered under my breath before I gritted my teeth and inched closer to the three cabinets. My initial instinct was to run back upstairs and wake Twilight up, but I somehow doubted that would be met with much success. My breathing became a controlled, stifled thing the closer I got to the cabinet as I tried my hardest to quiet any excess noise I might be making. Who knows what might be in the dark, listening intently for me to announce my presence. I hesitated, stopping a meter away from the object of concern. Shadows seemed to cling to it and I was unsure if that was a product of my imagination or some nefarious will inside. Damn it. I was distinctly aware of the darkness around me, suddenly not wanting to turn around lest I come face to face with some grinning demon or maddening abomination. My heart beat faster as I almost saw its glowing red eyes in the dark as it got closer, smiling with rows of razor sharp teeth. Wicked instruments of torture and misery were in her hands as the shadows hid all but her weapons, clawed arms, and glowing eyes. I could almost smell the fresh blood that dripped off the twisted, serrated drill she held; the blades on it were curved perfectly to slide under and around the eyeball before she turned it on... Shuddering, I snapped myself out of the darkening images and tried not to throw up. What the hell was I doing?! Glaring back up at the cabinet upon gathering my nerves again, my left hoof flared up with an inner light, bathing the entire lower floor with the intensity of a box of flares going off! I whipped around instantly, expecting to see things burning away or writhing in agony in the sudden light. I was both disappointed and relieved to see nothing out of place at all. Have some guts, Mender! Damn it. My imagination was going to give me a heart attack. Swallowing nervously after becoming satisfied that I wasn't going to be ambushed and torn apart, I slowly turned back around and glared at the cabinet. My flared up ball of light behind me split into multiple pieces and scattered about the main room, illuminating row after row of books along with the humble furniture, dwindling fireplace, shelves of instruments and scientific baubles, and entry to the kitchen. Nothing was out of the norm. My eyes locked back onto the first cabinet directly in front of me. The humming noise was gone, apparently having disappeared at some point during my minor freak out. Maybe it got scared and ran away from me instead. I chuckled airily before resting my hoof on the door handle to the cabinet. Guts, Mender. After a quick recollection of my breathing, I gritted my teeth again, threw up my forward barrier over my chest, neck, and face, and opened up the cabinet. The rocks were just sitting there, exactly where she had left them. My spike of apprehension and preparation to defend myself was actually met with a bit of disappointment, honestly. I glared at the three blasted things, wishing I knew of a volcano to toss them into. Of course, even if I knew where one was, walking all the way there just to toss something in seemed like a major pain in the butt. Of course, magic existed, so I suppose Twilight could just teleport me there. I shook off the distraction before sighing, a little tense still but with dwindling outlook on my mission. I hadn't managed to find the source of the noise after all. Why would rocks hum in the first place? Growing mildly frustrated, I reached out and nudged the left-most one with my hoof. I could have sworn I pulled something in my chest with how fast I inhaled. Shoving myself backwards with all three remaining hooves probably didn't help either. The stone actually lit up when I touched it, glowing with a soft blue light that almost perfectly matched my coat! Upon retreating back to my meter gap, I whipped up my full barrier in front of me again and watched the stone through it, unable to help but shiver as that noise came back. Damn it! I should have woken up Twilight after all! The stone wasn't very impressive for something potentially lethal. It glowed softly, barely managing the same strength as a candle. My eyes widened as its edges and cracks faded, however, revealing what I recognized as a wire frame design of blue lines. What the hell?! The blue light washed away the rock coloring completely before withdrawing deeper into the stone. That's when I realized that I could see inside of the thing. The outer rock became a finely detailed, shaped barrier. It wasn't a rock at all! The wire frame dissolved at the same time the image of a rock did, leaving the barrier to shrink down to that of a glowing sphere instead. I started and backed up another half a meter as the orb of light drifted lazily out of the cabinet and stopped right in front of me. Oh crap. Was it sentient? I instantly recognized the effect as a holographic display as it popped a 'box' up above it in the air. "Entity 002 Recognized" was displayed directly above it in darker blue, computerized print. Below that, slowly fading into existence, were smaller words as well. "DNA Scan Completed: Unlocking" Well, that seemed a little strange. Actually, this entire event was a little strange. The rather non-threatening little orb of light then spontaneously vanished without so much as an announcement of intent. Two lightly glowing disks, much smaller than the original ball, fell out of the air from where it had been and landed abruptly on the wood with a light chiming noise that was entirely unexpected. I blinked and tilted my head towards them before nudging the closest one with my shield. It mildly surprised me by doing absolutely nothing. Well that was anticlimactic. Still, I suppose I should be happy that I wasn't being hauled off into an alternate universe by eldritch physics tentacles only to die a horrible, squishy death in a void without a space suit. It could always get worse! I dropped the extra shields in favor of just the skintight ones and nudged the coin-sized disks with my hoof this time. They continued their pattern of doing nothing, producing further mixed feelings in me. Huh. Upon closer inspection, I noticed they were comprised of two separate glowing sections. The outer ring was slightly darker in coloring and took up maybe a fifth of the radius in width. They looked kind of like an alien bit, almost, if I was comparing them to Equestria. Finally relaxing a little, I picked one up with my magically enhanced hoof and stared at it. It was the same on both sides, as I kind of expected. This was strange. Why were these things inside of the rocks? Did they have anything to do with the effects from before with the tentacles and potential death? They felt warm to the touch and brought only more questions rather than answers; although it was safe to say that I had located the source of the noise after all. The second coin-shaped disk proved perfectly identical to its partner, and I set both of them down on the coffee table. Systematically, I reached out and poked another one of the rocks, entirely unsurprised when it started doing the same thing. They were some sort of encrypted storage devices, I decided. Maybe it wasn't an 'accident' that they were sent with me after all. I was obviously on their list of individuals to reveal themselves to, after all. Entity two, huh? "Mmph, what's with all the light down here?" I suddenly heard Twilight mutter from the stairs. Oh crap! Totally caught red-hooved, I didn't even try to hide the glowing orb of light drifting towards me from the cabinet as I slowly looked over at her, trying to smile innocently. She stared blankly at me for a moment before shifting to a questioning expression instead, eyes locking onto the orb of light instead. "What are you doing?" she asked a moment later, continuing down the stairs at a more rapid pace. She thought this was something that I was doing? "Uh, I heard a noise from the cabinet and went to check, and then, um..." I tried to explain before faltering. I realized I didn't exactly know how to explain what was going on in the first place. Thankfully, I didn't have to. Her eyes widened as the light receded and she recognized the wire frame shape of the rock drifting in the air. She rushed over, horn lighting up with magic as she scanned it rapidly. "That, is that one of the rocks?!" she asked almost instantly, suddenly significantly more awake than I had given her credit for prior. I nodded weakly before glancing back at it. "I touched it, and this happened with the first one, too. It says that it's unlocking for an entity zero, zero, two," I explained as best I could. She watched, eyes shivering with a mixture of what I could only pick up as nervous fascination as the holographic displays lit up with the exact same message as the first one. In the meantime, I picked up the two disks from behind me and offered them to Twilight, hoping she could make more sense of them. At first, she just frowned down at the two disks before snapping her attention back to the orb as it unceremoniously vanished. She watched the two coins fall to the floor before looking back at the two I held. "These came out of the first one I poked. I wanted to test if it would happen again, which you can see the results of," I offered. Twilight frowned at the two disks before levitating them off my hoof and closer to her face for examination. "The stones were containers, then," she deduced instantly, surprisingly me with her clarity yet again. I nodded weakly, adding, "They were locked, and for some reason, I was on the list of accepted individuals to open them." That made me nervous for some reason. "Maybe them following you here wasn't so accidental after all. Why didn't this happen the first time, however?" she questioned, flipping the two disks over and over as she peeked at them. I was amused at how fast she forgot about sleeping. That I couldn't answer, however. "The only thing I can think of is that I didn't technically touch the stones directly before; just the tentacle thingy that came out of it after Fluttershy poked it," I offered, tossing a shrug in for good measure after. Fluttershy apparently wasn't on the list that the rocks had. Did that mean that what happened was some sort of defensive mechanism or something? Scary. That was just a guess, however. "This is so weird. They're precisely shaped crystal disks of some sort with weird magic woven into them. There's some sort of scratching along the inner disk, but they're too tiny for me to pick up fully. Well, this definitely gives me something to study in the off time after the party," she muttered, suddenly looking bewildered and shaking her head at the two floating in the air in front of her. I sighed before looking down at the ones lying on the floor instead. Wait a second, something was different. One of the two disks on the floor was yellow in the center with a much brighter glowing blue ring around it. Something was in the yellow too that I couldn't make out. Curious, I picked it up and instantly drew Twilight's attention. She saw the difference too and frowned until I brought it closer to us. Both of our eyes widened drastically as the image in the center of the yellow came into view. Inside of the now familiar yellow center, the glowing alien disk had a crystal clear image of three butterflies; their cyan bodies and pink wings offsetting the soft yellow perfectly. No. This couldn't be possible, even! Why was that design on something that came from my world?! "Mender, do you know what these are?" Twilight asked quietly, nudging the coin-shaped artifact carefully. I shook my head, sadly. "I was just as surprised as you are. This shouldn't be possible. The rocks are from my world, so why is Fluttershy's Cutie Mark on this?" I questioned, staring hard at the brightly colored disk. Something was very wrong, and I didn't have a clue where to begin to guess what. "There's one more rock. You should open it and check the disks there as well. This is beyond weird. You're sure you didn't have anything like Cutie Marks in your world?" she questioned as I stepped over the coin on the floor to poke the last rock in the cabinet. "No, nothing like that. I'd never heard of them before coming here," I assured, giving her a nervous glance. She returned it and nodded, glancing over as the other rock activated, announced me as 'Entity 002' again, and opened up exactly the same as the other two. Both Twilight and I watched intently as the coins hit the floor, and I could tell right away that something was off again. One coin was blank, but the other had a light cyan inside. Oh crap. "Rainbow Dash's coat color," Twilight pointed out, picking up the coin. Her bringing it up so we could see it confirmed her suspicions. A tri-colored cloud and lightning bolt was in the center of the coin. What did the coins mean? "I'm curious. Do you have one of those links with Rainbow, too?" she questioned, bringing up a very good point. I shook my head, however, potentially ruining the theory. She peeked more intently at the coin, not seeming dissuaded in the least, however. "The outer ring isn't lit up like Fluttershy's. I wonder why that is? Here, try holding it," she offered a moment later, extending the coin over to where I was. Her expression made me frown. It was almost passive, with her voice abrupt and expecting. Did she think my touching the coin would cause something to happen? Uncertain, I hesitated as I extended my hoof to the coin, stopping barely a centimeter from the shiny surface. Shouldn't we be, like, experimenting on these first before going right to live tests? Of course, I didn't exactly know how to experiment on them, but still... Twilight decided for me by smiling gently while I hesitated and lifting her hoof up slightly, brushing the coin along the underside of my hoof. I jumped slightly at the sensation of a static jolt, but she pulled the coin back before I could react. It glowed angrily for a moment before the outer ring lit up as well, causing the light created by the coin to be magnified significantly. Both of our eyes widened as "Connection Established" faded into existence overtop of the coin. Well crap. "Fascinating! You have a link with all of the coins. I think they're responsible for the strange phenomenon between you and Fluttershy," she theorized, sounding a little too curious for her own good. I coughed lightly, pointing to the coin she was still holding. "You might have just created a connection with Rainbow Dash, too," I reasoned, staring blankly at it. What did the connections ultimately do? Twilight seemed momentarily unsure, hesitating as she looked down at the coin in her hoof. "It, well, it needed to be tested. Making the connection must be a two-stage process. Fluttershy touched the rock a while back during the first incident, and then you touched it immediately after to free her, which probably caused the connection. But why wasn't Rainbow affected fully, too?" Twilight pondered out loud. Both of us were suddenly distracted as my flare spell went out and we were plunged into the darkness. Well, we would have been if not for the two fully established coins, and one partially established coin glowing like tiny flares. Wait, partially established? I glanced down at the coin Twilight had set down and widened my eyes. "Oh crap. Twilight, the other coin you touched!" I pointed out, gesturing towards the coin with my hoof. She started, still trying to get over to the lamp and being apparently surprised by my sudden outburst. "Huh?!" she let out before glancing down at the coin in question. Her coat color and starburst shaped Cutie Mark was on the coin already, but with no lit up ring around the outer edge. "Ack! Don't touch it!" she exclaimed harshly before catching it in her magic and pulling it over to her. I gave her a skeptical glance, but she just frowned down at the coin and rapidly shook her head. "We don't know what the links truly do, so let's minimize the exposure until we can get more information," she added, looking away from my stare. My ears drooped a little and a light spike of bitterness shot through me. Sure, she thought experimenting with Rainbow's coin was fine, but when it came to hers, she decided it was too risky. Either that or she really didn't want to establish that kind of link with me. The reality of option two burned and I quietly winced, looking away from the unicorn. I couldn't really fault her for not wanting to jump into something like that, I guess. A little assurance that she was looking forward to extending our relationship at all, however, would be a rather nice thing. Even our kisses had devolved a little into just friendly pecks. I tried not to think of her saying she was tired or didn't feel like it just as an excuse, of course. I mean, I had said no on the one occasion, albeit for a slightly different reason. "Um, I'm sorry. That sounded, um, not the way I wanted it to," Twilight spoke up, bringing me back to attention. Looking back up at her, having not remembered lowering my head, I was a little surprised to see her staring right at me. Her expression was difficult to read; softened, yet her eyes darted quickly, searching my face like I was doing to her. Eventually I decided with taking the safe choice. "It's all right, Twilight. I know that kind of connection to me is a big commitment and can't be looked at from a purely scientific point of view. Further, if it turns out that the connection is bad or detrimental, we're going to need you to fix it. If you're being detrimental at the same time, that would be very difficult," I acknowledged gently, trying to give my most earnest looking smile towards her. I think she bought it, anyway. I mean, I was trying to do my best to stay positive and not worry anypony. Keela promised that she was actually making headway on closing the link permanently, which was definitely a good thing. If I could solve this issue without anypony else getting involved, it would be wonderful. Twilight's ears lowered at the same rate as her eyelids. Damn it. She didn't buy it. "Mender, I... Um. You're serious about all of this and I should have taken your word on how you felt at and least tried to be serious, too. I realize that, now. Not even considering how my viewpoint hurt you was also immature of me. I'm going to fix this, don't worry. I have to. Regardless of my apprehensions, I've never felt this strongly about anything not regarding academics and learning before. Ever. The more I think about it, the more everything points to this being exactly what I want. You're everything I want in a stallion, honestly, and are a ton of fun to be around. I'm going to fix this!" she adamantly declared, suddenly looking more than a little scary. I swallowed, trying to think of something to say, but quickly realized that technically she hadn't said any of that directly to me. It sounded more like she was saying that to herself. The gesture made me pleased, of course, but I wasn't entirely sure it was needed. She faltered after seeing me shrink slightly under her level of hot bloodedness. "No, no, no, Mender. I'm not going to hurt you. See?" she asked before slowly extending both of her forelegs out, smiling gently at me. My brain recognized it before my cognitive thoughts did as the universal 'want hugs' gesture. I relaxed a little and nodded before leaning forwards again. She took me against herself as gently as possible and just held me there. A moment passed, and I lowered my muzzle down to her neck, sleepily resting it there against her fur. To my surprise, Twilight let out a content sigh instead and pulled me tighter to herself. Her forelegs let out a shiver as she squeezed, slowly rubbing them up and down my back while clinging to me like a life raft at sea. If it had been any harder, it might have actually hurt. "It's okay, Twilight. I'm just happy you're going to have it looked into," I muttered, slowly breathing in her light scent. The raspberry scent of her shampoo from this morning drifted into my nostrils and I exhaled slowly, relaxing further against her as she took over supporting my entire weight. Not that it was a lot of weight to support at the moment. "More than just that. I believe you now. There's more to this than just your imagination. These coins prove that. But let's deal with this more in the morning. Well, later morning. It is four o'clock. Let's go back to bed for now, Mender," she suggested, slowly lifting my head up to stare directly into my eyes instead. Hers were soft and sleepy looking and I had to restrain a snicker. The smile got through, though. "Okay, Twilight. I'll trust you to keep the coins safe," I agreed before lowering my head again and resting. She was right, of course. Three and a half hours didn't feel like enough sleep at all. "Somepony likes my neck," Twilight cooed impishly while she lifted the coins back into the cabinet. I watched the doors close again before chuckling. While her statement was true, I further corrected, "It is a very nice neck and very tasty looking, but in all honesty, you smell good. It's making me relaxed and sleepy," I muttered tiredly. There was a momentary pause, and for a second, I worried that I'd said something wrong again. Twilight lowered her head down as well, however, and gently nuzzled my neck in return. "That's rather romantic, actually, and probably a good thing," she murmured quietly, exhaling against me. As probably intended, my curiosity spiked. "Why is it a good thing?" I inquired against her neck. "Ponies can pick up pheromones on other ponies. If you think I smell good, that probably means that your body is telling you we're biologically compatible with each other and an optimal choice for a mating pair. You smell good to me, too, by the way," she explained in a disturbingly casual manner, leaning back and smiling at me with lowered eyelids. Her choice of wording was a little creepy, however. I tried to toss up an assured smile, but I think it came off as nervous instead as I swallowed. Well, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else. "Does that mean you want kids in the future?" I asked, attempting to not only sound casual as well, but change the topic from 'optimal mating'. Her eyes widened again and she blushed, smiling shyly. "I've never really thought about it, honestly. I was pretty goal-oriented before moving here, in an academic sense. Sure, I've really opened up socially since then, but nowhere near enough to even realize that I might have the opportunity to become a mother in the future!" she exclaimed, looking oddly like she was somehow scaring herself. She didn't let me go and run screaming for the stairs, however, so I took it as a good sign. Heck, she actually squeezed tighter, which was actually kind of painful now that I thought about it. "Ah, um, my insides are still squishy and fragile, Twilight," I reminded, wincing slightly. She let out the cutest squeak I'd heard since last hanging around Fluttershy and promptly eased up the pressure, smiling with a slight embarrassed tint to her expression. "Ah, sorry. Are you okay, Mender?" she asked cautiously. "Eh, if I got to pick my preferred way to die, that would definitely be it. But I'll be fine," I teased, managing a grin to her finally. Hopefully she'd take the hint and lighten up a little. I felt bad that I had gotten her worked up, especially if she was going to try to go back to sleep soon. Her expression shifted back to warm mirth, and she nodded. After a light parting kiss to the forehead, she released me and stood fully again. "Let's go back to sleep, Mender. You need to get more rest and so do I. We have a lot to do tomorrow," she warned, gesturing towards the stairs with her head. Sighing, I nodded and stood back up again, definitely feeling the tiredness. Well, on the bright side, even since I'd been hopping over to the other world and telling Keela more about Equestria, it had obviously warded away any bad dreams. Might as well enjoy keeping my end of the bargain if I could. If it meant making Equestria safe again, permanently, it was definitely worth it. In my distraction, I failed to see Twilight duck in and give a gentle, yet extremely wet lick to the side of my cheek. The sly unicorn teleported at the same exact instant of contact, shifting both of us upstairs in a blinding flare of light. My stomach dropped back into my body and I was momentarily disoriented as I fell over onto something warm and soft, in an embarrassing heap of limbs and fur. Wait, these blankets were a lot higher quality than what I remembered them being all of a half an hour ago. Twilight giggled at my sprawled out form before tucking me in and... My mind froze, spitting out memory overflows and error messages as I felt the warm unicorn slip under the covers next to me. Twilight no doubt sensed my immediate rigid stupor, as she informed, "I'm lonely tonight and want to keep your bad dreams at bay. Don't worry, Mender. I won't even touch you if you don't want me to." Her whisper came out warmly and danced inside of my chest for a while, being carried by the butterflies. Well, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. I nudged forwards a little, lightly pressing myself into her chest. She let out a pleasantly surprised cooing noise, and I felt her forehead rest against mine. "Thank you for trusting me, Mender. It really means a lot to me, and I'm not going to ever betray that again. Let me prove it to you, even if it takes forever to do so," she requested. I felt a gentle warmth drift into my mind before lightly intermingling with my own magic. It was an amazing sensation and I couldn't help but kiss any of her skin that I could make contact with. The feelings distinctly belonging to Twilight were drifting into me, and it made me feel very secure indeed. "I'll give you another chance, Twilight. Don't worry about that. I just wish you trusted me a little more." It was the truth, of course. She probably knew it all along, but it felt good to get it out. She winced gently, but nodded against my forehead. "I do trust... Well, I'm going to start from now on. During my talk with Rarity earlier, she mentioned several techniques that could use to build trust in you and vice versa. A few are a little, um, embarrassing, but you're totally worth it," she assured. I felt her temperature rise a little bit, oddly. I didn't really understand what she was talking about, but nodded gently and just let the energy drift into me. My mind idly traced the magic back upwards and I saw where our energy pools were actually connecting. It was rather interesting, once I managed to think through the haze that was building up in my mind. "You said before not to push my energy back into you, right?" I inquired quietly. Twilight paused, and I felt her energy stir a little, but she surprisingly didn't withdraw. "Yeah. Please don't do that. It's not just from pushing your energy into me. It's only if I'm already moving mine into you at the same time. I can tell you more about it tomorrow, if you want," she offered softly. She already trusted me a little more, I realized. I stayed my ground, not about to try it and betray that newfound trust, of course. "I'm not going to, don't worry. I would like to know why eventually, though," I agreed, relaxing and simply enjoying the hazy sensation of her heat both against me and drifting into my mind. She smiled and I realized she picked up on my contented feelings. A general feeling of happiness drifted into me as she mirrored my earlier nod. "We have a long train ride tomorrow, so I'll explain it then. Rarity would already know, of course, but she'll probably be able to add far more onto the romantic and bonding aspects of it," Twilight relayed softly. Oh. With that admission, I suddenly understood the implications a little better. Twilight picked up on that too and released a gentle giggle before snuggling closer to me. Yeah, this was nice. The pressure and expectations weren't what I was expecting, which is to say, they were essentially non-existent. We were just enjoying each other's company, really. Eventually, I couldn't manage to form coherent thoughts anymore and drifted off to sleep, pulling a pleasantly murmuring Twilight Sparkle with me. * * * * * Another bump jarred my reasonably upset stomach yet again. I winced and curled up further, trying to keep the nausea under control as I lay on the nicely cushioned train car seat. The pearly white unicorn sitting across from me gave a look of sympathy as I double-checked the bucket was still at the base of the seat. Okay, I officially hated trains. "I didn't expect such a violent reaction. Why do you have no problem doing loops on Dash's back through zero gravity while being fired at, but a train going barely sixty kilometers per hour gets you sick?" Twilight asked skeptically from directly next to me. She sat nearest my head, and despite her rather venomous tongue, her tone was soft and she gently rubbed my neck and cheek at the same time. I swallowed dryly before wincing again, sticking my head over the seat just in case. "Rainbow didn't vibrate while feeling like a sack of worms against your legs," I protested, deciding the mental image just made it worse. "This is truly unfortunate. Were you able to grasp any of our explanation at all?" Rarity asked politely. Okay, so that conversation had been the last thing on my mind until now. "Kinda. She puts energy into me, I put energy into her, and then we absorb each other's energy and gain some sort of bond," I managed to summarize without barfing, amazingly enough. Rarity made a disappointed 'Tsk' noise with her mouth before shaking her head. "Well, I can see you missed the various romantic aspects of such a bond. Surely, given your apparent connection with Fluttershy, you can understand why such a link is sacred," she lectured idly, flicking her mane to the side in mild irritation. The motion made my stomach churn but, like a train wreck in slow motion, I couldn't look away for some reason. Okay, bad example given the context. "Oh leave him be, Rarity. As sick as he is, it's a wonder he got that much," Twilight defended, gently massaging my shoulders as I took deep breaths over the bucket. Damn. It was true, though. Given my connection to Fluttershy when in close range, I could appreciate the romantic undertones of such a bond. Frankly, I think she was the only reason I regained my composure at all after my vivid hallucination and panic attack. Once I got back from this silly trip, I was definitely going to thank her. We needed to talk a lot more about this thing anyway. Oh yeah, and maybe warn Rainbow before she freaks out from hearing 'voices' in her head sounding remarkably like me. "Oh yes, and you are suddenly the quintessential understanding mare, I know," Rarity muttered dryly. Twilight's hooves jolted against my shoulders before digging in a little. Uh oh. I suddenly regretted my compromising position next to the ungodly powerful unicorn. "So you remind me every chance you get. I know; I get it. I'm a horrible fillyfriend who doesn't deserve Mender. Let me guess, you feel you're better for him?" Twilight asked, seemingly forgetting my squishy muscles were there and pretending it was Rarity's neck instead of my own. Oh please help me live through this train ride, somepony! "What?! I am simply looking out on Mender's behalf! I cannot believe you'd stoop so low as to insinuate such under-hooved intentions. You really must get a grip on this terrible case of paranoia that has you! It is simply not befitting of a lady," Rarity warned back, looking truly offended for the brief moment my vision caught her before I started gasping for air. Note to self, make sure Twilight was fully aware of her body at all times. Further note to self, haunt the crap out of her if you don't live through this train ride. The lavender unicorn in question let out a low growl before pointing out, "Surely, you're not so perfect as to have never made a mistake before. There, I said it! I screwed up and lost the trust of my coltfriend! Does that make you happy?!" she asked dramatically, voice now loud enough to probably be heard through the walls. Well, glad this wasn't a private topic or anything. Oddly, however, having half of my windpipe pinched off was doing wonders for making me forget about the nausea. Still, dying wasn't a good motion sickness prevention method. Carrying through with my new concept of self-preservation, I began flailing my forelegs about to hopefully get my fillyfriend's attention while gasping like a fish out of water. As predicted, she glanced down quizzically at me before widening her eyes and instantly letting go. My lungs screamed in triumph, or perhaps whiplash, as I inhaled heavily and rolled over onto my back, panting. Wow. That wasn't awkward timing at all. "No! No, no, no! Why does this always happen?!" Twilight groaned, surprising me once more by flopping over sideways onto my upper half with herself at the same time. My yet gasping muzzle inhaled a few rogue strands of fur from her chest as the warmth washed all around me. Well, at least she wasn't a female of my species, or this position would be exceedingly awkward indeed. If I vaguely recalled correctly, which I wasn't going to bet any bits on, pony anatomy placed the female mammary glands significantly lower. Oh, and they retained almost no mass when the mare in question wasn't with foal. I supposed that it was actually more convenient that way, anyway. My cheeks grew hot as I squished my eyelids shut, trying to drive the thought chain out of my mind. Damn it; I hated it when this happened. "I didn't mean you're a horrible fillyfriend. I'm sorry for speaking too rashly. Will you forgive me?" Rarity asked softly, doing a surprisingly good job at attempting to defuse the situation. Well, at least I thought it was a good apology. Thankfully, it also served to distract me from images of a pregnant Twilight. Of course, as far as, um, attractive daydreams go; I guess that one's fairly evolutionarily justified. She would look incredibly gorgeous pregnant, in my opinion. Ugh. Why did I do this to myself? Twilight let out a low murmur into my stomach before nodding gently. "I know. Mender's very understanding, thankfully. I probably reek of being totally new at this." "I am still here, you know," I reminded politely upon realizing I could talk again. Curse that air threshold for speaking. It was very strange feeling of Twilight smiling against my stomach. She lifted off me a little and looked into my eyes instead from an upside down perspective. Feeling a bit brave and hoping it would make her realize it wasn't that big of a deal, I reached both of my hooves up and gently pulled her down into me. She let out a soft muttering of nothing in particular upon breaking the upside down kiss a few seconds later, and smiled more fully down at me. "Does that mean you forgive me?" she asked hopefully, eyes dancing a little in the light. I couldn't help myself. "About the overly enthusiastic neck rub? Of course," I assured, smirking now. Predictably, her ears flattened back and she gave me a barbed stare. "Careful, you might wish you hadn't said that once you find out how I plan to earn forgiveness for the rest of it," she warned, mirroring my expression in an instant. My ears drooped and I managed a timid swallow. "Uh, isn't that kind of defeating the purpose?" "Oh, simply no imagination. You'll thank me for giving her the ideas afterwards, I'm sure. Once you recover, of course," Rarity tossed in, sounding oddly devious. I glanced over at her with widening eyes, which caused her to burst out into copious amounts of laughter, followed promptly by Twilight. Well, I was doomed... The train hit a particularly jarring bump before I could properly formulate words and I groaned again, remembering why this bucket was lying in front of my spot on the seat. Damn it. I contemplated asking Twilight to strangle me again so I'd forget about the nausea. "Oh, you poor dear. I think it's almost worth sending a letter to Rainbow Dash upon our arrival, requesting that she pick him up for the return flight," Rarity suggested politely after my dry heaving was finished. I sighed weakly before shaking my head, protesting, "Rainbow shouldn't have to fly all that way and then haul me back just because the train makes me sick. That's not fair to her." "That's very kind, Mender, but she probably wouldn't have a problem with it. She thinks she owes you, anyway," Twilight reminded, earning a groan of lamentation from me. This was promptly followed by a groan of my stomach trying to crawl out of my body. I heard a light, almost imperceptible squeaking laugh from Rarity before she tacked on, "Or we could always talk to Princess Celestia about having the royal carriage and guards fly you home." After recovering from almost falling off my seat in a coughing fit, I finally managed to scramble back and glared up at her. "No! I'd rather walk than ride in a royal carriage. Ugh. It probably costs a few thousand an hour," I protested weakly, earning a giggle from Twilight. "It doesn't. That's what I first rode to Ponyville in. It's very comfortable. Although if you're uncomfortable with Princess Celestia, you could always ask Princess Luna. She seems to have taken a liking to you," Twilight suggested, sounding deeply amused at my expense. I glared back at her over my shoulder and saw only a grin in return. "Oh! Is that my Scandal Senses tingling?! Quickly, this calls for gossip!" Rarity exclaimed, suddenly from the seat right next to Twilight and leaning in closer to listen. The lavender mare in question seemed more freaked out than anything, starting in place before falling over onto me in surprise. Any rebuttal I had carefully selected was promptly drowned out by a second helping of Twilight's chest and stomach fur. "Rarity, it's not like that at all! She just likes his name because it has," Twilight started to rapidly explain. Well, she tried anyway. Her thoughts must have been fairly disrupted when I suddenly closed my eyes and licked gently along the fur of her tummy. "Whaaa!" she squealed before flailing off the side of the seat and crashing onto the floor, blushing furiously. Oh, payback was worth the probability of death that earned me. Quickly, I threw on my innocent facade. Rarity gave me a skeptical and extremely scrutinizing stare in the meantime as Twilight recovered on the floor. Several intentionally awkward seconds passed before Twilight restored her capacities enough to roll her eyes. "Try to limit kisses and licks to my face and head please. That felt a little weird," she managed to request, spoiling all of my current and future fun at once. "There's no fun in that, Twilight. Surely you can be more imaginative," Rarity concurred without needing my specific input. I snickered before lowering my head towards the bucket again. I'd hate to drop my guard and end up having yet another mess to clean up. "Shush. That's a bridge that can be crossed far, far, far, far in the future," the lavender mare shot back. Well, that boded well for me. Actually the ironic thing was that I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. Rarity made an amused sounding half snicker before adding, "I do suppose you intend to ship him away with the rest of the single stallions in a few weeks, then?" Okay, that caused my brain to stall out. There was a soft smacking noise as Twilight mushed her right forehoof into the spot directly under her horn. I gave her a curious yet observing stare. Apparently what Rarity said triggered some sort of memory in her that she seemingly forgot. Or broke her brain and that was how she rebooted it. "Great! How did I forget about the stupid heat cycles?! Um, yeah. That would probably be a wise idea," she finally muttered, sounding a little dejected. What did temperature have to do with sending away all of your males? Did the mares turn into bloodthirsty, ravenous monsters or something if the temperature increased too much? No, that sounded far-fetched, even for me. Rarity gasped, looking horrified. At this point I was getting used to her having that expression. "Oh my, Twilight! It's unheard of! A stallion who actually has a fillyfriend being sent to those horrible cabins!" she exclaimed. Her voice was strange, and I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. I knew she had a taste for dramatic flair, but it was often too subtle for me to separate from what might actually be a disaster. Frowning, I looked up and tried to pay attention just in case. "Oh come on! The cabins are quite nice and you know it. It's more of an inconvenience than anything. Talk about stalling out our entire economy for a good week," my fillyfriend reputed. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Um, not to sound stupid, but I need to sound stupid here. What are we talking about?" I asked curiously. Now that I thought about it, this was starting to sound vaguely familiar. "Heat, Dear. Are you unfamiliar with the word?" Rarity asked, causing Twilight to perk up out of her stupor and glance over at me instead. I nodded wearily, frowning slightly. Rarity gave me a smile instead and nodded as well in a more assuring manner. "It's perfectly understandable given your unique arrival here. Heat is a little complex, but I'm sure you'll understand it fine. Normally, when a filly enters into marehood, she..." Rarity started to explain. Wait. Oh, this was starting to sound familiar. "Estrus?" Twilight alternatively suggested, interrupting her friend. Oh hell! My eyes widened as my ears flattened back in an instant. "Wait, you ponies go through an estrus cycle?! How many times a year, and does it sync up?" I asked rapidly, suddenly realizing exactly what they had been talking about. Rarity momentarily looked totally flabbergasted, while Twilight just giggled and nodded, answering, "Yes, it does sync up with other mares so we mostly all go into heat at the same time if we live together long enough. That's cumbersome for tight knit communities like Ponyville. It occurs twice in a year; once in the spring, and a somewhat lighter one in the beginning of fall. You luckily showed up after the first one." Rarity coughed lightly and looked away again, nodding. "Indeed. You wouldn't have found any males at all, and probably would have actually been pursued had you shown up a mere week and a half earlier, just for a different reason other than food. I'm sure that would have worsened your opinion of us severely." Well, I guess I lucked out after all. "Well, if he'd arrived for the spring one, yeah. The fall variety isn't that bad. Regardless, we evacuate the males more for their comfort than anything. All of the pheromones drifting through the air makes them a little awkward," Twilight corrected in a rather proper manner. Well, they seemed to be extremely civilized about it. It was more like a biological annoyance than a true danger, then. "Eh, I don't mind being shipped off to some cabin for a week. You'll have to give me the specifics when it comes closer to being required," I requested, easing back down into my disaster prevention position, deciding that it wasn't really that dire a conversation after all. Rarity let out a huffing noise before rolling her eyes. "I personally think you're crazy not to go with him, and would hate to see the social stigma that will stir up, but as your friend, you have my support," she finally gave in, averting her eyes from my now slightly flustered looking fillyfriend. That was so weird to think about. "It's not that big of a social stigma! I mean, lots of mares decide to wait before, um, that," Twilight defended, probably needlessly, given what Rarity had just finished saying. That probably indicated something, but I was too lazy to think about it further. Plus I felt like crap. "Perhaps. I'm simply concerned for the stability of your relationship if you truly decide to wait as long as it sounds," Rarity pointed out. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think I heard an impish undertone to her voice. Weird. My stomach finally started to settle gently. Twilight looked suddenly like she might need the bucket instead, however. "W-What?! Um, but I haven't read anything about... Oh no, I didn't read the advanced relationship books yet, though! I didn't think I'd need those for a few years still!" she exclaimed, starting to shift into her telltale panic state. Uh oh. Wait, years?! "Years?! Oh, I truly feel for you, Mender," Rarity teased, letting out a light giggle as she looked over at me instead. Twilight practically spun in circles between looking at the two of us. Was Rarity doing this on purpose just to rile up Twilight? Wow, I hadn't realized pranks could get so ugly! "Stop teasing her, Rarity. You know I don't, um, mind waiting as long as she needs to," I reminded, carefully choosing my words to hopefully head off the panic session. Twilight dismantling the train while we were moving sounded like a bad thing, yet something she might do while freaking out. I shouldn't have hesitated in thinking up the proper wording, though. Twilight let out a soft whimpering noise before shrinking a little. Well, I guess we wouldn't be making it to the party after all. I braced for any potential magic catastrophes as best I could. Hey, at least my stomach felt better now! The train's forward momentum slammed to a halt in an instant, sending my stomach lurching upwards into my lungs, it felt like. I winced before almost sliding off my seat. Rarity merely leaned back slightly in surprise while Twilight slid from the center of the room into the base of the seat Rarity was on, eyes getting a little watery and appearing oblivious to the sudden shift of momentum. "This has been a successful test of the emergency brake system! If this had been a real emergency, it would have been accompanied by much more screaming. Thank you for your time!" I suddenly heard blaring over the speaker system in a male voice. I promptly threw up into the bucket.
Chapter 21The sun bathed the entire area in light, shining brightly off the gentle cobblestones and worn brick. I winced and partially closed my eyes, the brightness just a little too much to be comfortable to me. My eyes hurt and my stomach still ached from throwing up on the stupid train. Still, as irritable as I felt, the city was quite impressive. I'd never seen such a grand city in Equestria. Row after row of buildings greeted my mostly healed eyes. The main street was practically alive with ponies; easily three times the traffic of Ponyville. The buildings I could see mainly appeared to be cafes, shops, and other entertainment establishments. The fanfare was quite a sight to take in! Of course, extra banners appeared to be up, advertising a formal dance and fashion show put on by one "Fancypants." Huh. I wondered if Rarity knew who that was. Speaking of, Rarity herself looked almost giddy as she sat next to me on the right. "Oooh, it's been too long since I've been here! I must see if there are any new supplementary fabrics before the show, Twilight," she quickly informed, looking past me to the left. My fillyfriend nodded absently while going over a list she held up in her magic. "I figured as much and planned accordingly. We have three hours before we're expected to be at the banquet hall to get ready. Meet us at the castle in two hours so we can dress, okay?" Twilight suggested, looking over at her overly exuberant friend. Rarity nodded pleasantly, neatly done mane bobbing with the motion. She then stood up and pranced off towards the rows of shops, a certain lightness to her step. I watched her go, trying to figure out where she got the energy. Ah well. I suppose this entire ordeal was her kind of thing. "She'll never change. Not like that's a bad thing, though," Twilight agreed unknowingly to my inner thoughts, shifting her attention back to me with a smile. I turned back to her and nodded pleasantly. "It's nice to watch somepony who really knows what they enjoy the most. Pinkie's the same way, to some degree," I observed idly, wondering if I'd ever show that level of excitement for something. Twilight let out a chuckle before warning, "I wouldn't mention that comparison to Rarity. She likes to hold herself above the spastic level of energy Pinkie Pie demonstrates." Above? There was nothing wrong with Pinkie's energy that would 'lower' it in the first place. "I must defend Pinkie, stating that her mannerisms are certainly admirable as well," I protested, frowning slightly. The lavender unicorn nodded without missing a beat, nor losing her smile. "Of course. They're just very different. But we're delaying too much. I need to go speak with the castle staff and arrange rooms for the three of us. You don't mind staying with me, right?" she asked, standing up again and carefully sliding her rolled up list into her saddle bag. "Of course not," I assured, sticking my tongue out at her before adding, "We slept together last night and it turned out nicely. It was amazing to have a night without nightmares, which I totally credit to the beautiful mare I got to cuddle with." I couldn't help but blush a little as I tried to emphasize exactly how much I appreciated her. Her cheeks flared up with a hot blush, but she only smiled wider. "Mender! You're just so... Ugh. I don't even know what to say," she complained, tone of voice betraying a completely different mood. Her eyes also softened, a warm feeling behind them that I couldn't quite place. "Just the truth, Twilight. Do you want me to come with?" I asked, pretty sure that I already knew the answer. She giggled, informing, "You can just call me 'Twi' if you want. It feels more intimate and informal. And no. I need you to make a brief detour and pick up some food to go before joining me. Rarity will be hungry as well when she gets back and we need to eat before the party." "Food?" I questioned, tilting my head at her. Wait, she wanted me to wander off by myself to run an errand in a totally unfamiliar city? Twilight nodded politely, oblivious to my nervousness. "Yup. It doesn't matter where, so long as it's edible. Enough for all three of us, of course. I'll give you some bits for it," she furthered, levitating a small, pink coin bag out of her saddlebags and hooking it onto mine. Great. Pink. "Um, okay. I just ask for it to go?" I asked, largely for clarity. This was going to go poorly. It was almost a foregone conclusion at this point, I had a feeling. She nodded excitedly before starting towards the massive castle that easily loomed above the rest of the town. Well, that was imposing. I wondered if Celestia was compensating for something or if she just inherited the place like that. "Yup! I'll put in the word with the gate guards to expect you, don't worry. Just hurry along so we can get situated into our rooms before the party!" she returned, adding a wink as she pranced in place. My thoughts tinted my cheeks and I coughed lightly, trying not to jump to conclusions about the implications. "All right. I'll try to go as fast as I can," I assured, nodding to her and smiling. "Awesome! See you in a bit!" she exclaimed excitedly before disappearing in a flash of light and a little hop. I watched her flicker in down the street a little ways, only to disappear again and repeat the short flickering in the direction of the palace. Damn. It must be nice to have a planet-sized pool of magic. Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the shops, looking for any restaurant-looking ones. An outdoor cafe probably wouldn't be too expensive, and would likely be able to get the food in a hurry. Spotting cozy eating chairs furnished with oversized umbrellas, I smiled and headed in that direction, sporting a moderate gait. Twilight being in a good mood lightened my spirits considerably. It was almost enough to let me forget about the sour look the stewardess gave me upon cleaning out the bucket earlier. I was careful of the crowds as best I could, making sure to stay clear of the clusters as I neared the cafe. It was a pleasant looking spot, simplistic in design yet looking very new and clean. I nodded to myself before approaching the entrance. Unfortunately, a couple appeared to be just leaving as I rounded from the sidewalk. I ground to a halt, starting to backtrack a little. The stallion looked large and imposing, yet very proper and worldly. The mare was lithe, legs extremely long and groomed, making her seem slender and taller than she actually was. Unfortunately for me, and probably her as well, she paid me no attention and did a little twirl to face the stallion as they exited, a happy smile on her face. Oh crap. She collided with me almost instantly, causing both of us to spill sideways and become a tangled heap on the ground. I winced as I hit first, my body becoming effectively a squishy pillow for her impact. Oh well. I'd rather it that way than the inverse. My eyes opened, then widened drastically as I was presented with a very detailed, up close view of her elegant, abstract Cutie Mark. "Ah! Hey!" she shouted, scrambling off me and glaring. I swallowed, ears lowering as her expression made me feel further pathetic. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to," I apologized profusely before slowly getting to my hooves. The stallion stepped forward instead, however. "I do say, what are your intentions, young one? That is most disrespectful behavior to force upon a mare! Explain yourself!" he demanded, frowning down at me as I shrunk further. His styled blue mane, nicely pressed suit, and radiant white coat made him look even more important. I knew this was a bad idea! His pink-maned mare leaned closer behind him, partially hiding herself from sight as I swallowed, tongue feeling like it was swelling in my mouth. Pink. My eyes widened as I caught another dot of pink below my vision, and glanced down at the stonework. Twilight's coin bag lay at my feet, having been knocked loose in the collision. I checked my side and sure enough, it was missing. "Um, I really didn't intend on landing like that. You surprised me!" I tried to explain, before carefully picking the coin pouch up with my mouth. It smelled like Twilight, which was a little distracting. Both of their eyes widened as they watched me pick up the bag. "M-My bits!" the mare exclaimed, looking shocked. Huh?! I glanced to her side and widened my eyes as well as I saw an almost exact duplicate of the tiny pink pouch tied to her saddlebag. "You scoundrel!" I heard the stallion declare before feeling a solid impact with the side of my head. Wincing, I stumbled sideways and cracked my head off the side of the entrance to the cafe before I could so much as explain otherwise. "Guards! Quickly!" was shouted in his echoing voice as stars exploded into my vision. Aaaah! My head throbbed as I curled up, holding both sides of it. My vision danced and blurred as I pulled my right hoof back, blotches of red covering it. Crap. "I didn't take anything. That's my fillyfriend's pouch..." I groaned, trying to sit up again. Suddenly, I was knocked sideways by something extremely solid, shoving me into the side of the wall. I saw an imposing looking guard standing over me with a glare when my eyes opened up again. Lacking the energy, I didn't resist as he shoved metal cuffs around my hooves. My eyes widened further as I watched the sharp metal lock around me, the chains going taunt and rattling in my ears. That rattling. Chains. Her smirk glittered through the haze from the dark, the blood dripping from her claws and blades as I was forced onto the table, screaming and missing an eye now. There was no healing from it. I watched her bite down on it and eat it myself. I screamed until I passed out, not realizing that's what actually happened. My world rapidly faded into the darkness that surrounded her. * * * * * The darkness was miserable, of course. I shivered as I sat in the furthest corner of my tiny, stone room; the looming metal bars cast an ominous shadow across the wall next to me. The wooden 'bed' chained to the wall partially blocked the light from my lower body as I sat there, absolutely freezing. A rough wrapping had been tied around my head to stop the bleeding but I hadn't been cleaned up. This place must be underground somewhere as well, because it was absolutely freezing. I had no idea where I was apart from a jail cell with a very silent guard. I was on the wooden slab when I woke up in cold sweat, thinking someone was ripping my muscles out one section at a time. I guess I had been arrested. This was an amazing attempt at getting food for Twilight and Rarity. The absolute silence was broken suddenly by solid, slow hoof steps from the left of my cell entry. My eyes widened as they matched up fairly well to the pounding inside of my skull, and I glanced back at the bars, shaking still. I must have lost a lot of blood as well. The hoof steps stopped, and I saw the front of a rather large stallion, another unicorn, standing in front of the guard. His mane was striped in light and dark shades of blue in such a way that, interestingly enough, reminded me of Twilight. His coat, however, was pure white, and he wore detailed, golden armor that was similar, but far more extravagant than the guard who saluted him. Uh oh. "I was told a prisoner needed my attention down here? I hope this is quick. I'm supposed to meet my sister at the palace," he questioned in a lighter tone that surprised me. I'd expected him to have such a deep voice that the stone would crack around me. Maybe that was my nerves talking. "Yes sir! Arrested in the markets near a cafe. An account of both petty theft and sexual harassment. Further, we think he's mentally unstable and possibly dangerous," the guard spoke up. My ears lowered with each word. Wow. Less than an hour in Canterlot and I'd already been declared crazy. I wonder if this was a record. The stallion sighed and nodded before sliding open the bars. He stepped easily inside, not an ounce of fear despite me being 'dangerous', and casually lit a lantern that hung on the wall. I winced at the light and further curled up into a little ball behind the wooden slab, shivering as it only reminded me of how nice heat was. I anticipated an interrogation was next on my schedule. "Why is this stallion not bandaged properly? He's obviously injured," the white unicorn questioned, looking incredulously towards the guard who stood at his left. "We dared not approach! Regardless, in the end, he came willingly," the guard assured. Willingly? Is that what they call blood loss and severe head trauma now? Unfortunately, I was more hurt at losing Twilight's pouch. I swallowed painfully and lowered my head to my hooves. I exaggerated, anyway. I doubted the little scratch to the side of my head did any more damage than apples from the stratosphere or Applejack's hoof. No, that was also an exaggeration. I doubted Rainbow Dash ever escaped the troposphere. The stallion shook his head above me and sat down. A light touch of magic surprised me, causing me to jump and shudder. The wound along the side of my head slowly healed in a gentle, cyan light. "I'm sorry for their rude behavior. I'd like to get the full story from you, however. Miss Fleur came to me, abashed, after you had been arrested with some interesting admission that I'd like to verify," he explained calmly, completing the healing magic in record time. I glanced up at him and nodded, rasping out, "I'll tell you anything. I'm sorry!" I wasn't quite prepared to speak and coughed afterwards, my vocal cords feeling like they had frost on them. "Relax. Just tell me what happened in your own words," he coaxed calmly, giving me a surprisingly assuring smile. In the light, I also noticed his Cutie Mark, which happened to be a shield and starburst, alongside three smaller stars above. The star shape looked remarkably similar to Twilight's as well, and I started to relax a little. "Yes, you might know me. My name is Shining Armor. I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard," he furthered, smiling as he noticed me peek at his mark. "I... Well, I'm kind of new here, so I didn't know. It just looked familiar. I'm Moon Mender," I muttered weakly, looking back at him fully. He frowned, seemingly thinking for a moment before exhaling. "That sounds familiar, too, but I can't remember where. Anyway, Miss Fleur found her bag after you had been arrested and admitted she had erred in accusing you of theft. I guess that pink pouch is popular!" he exclaimed, chuckling afterwards. The guard next to him widened his eyes, and then looked away from me a moment later. Admittedly, I was surprised by the lax interrogation technique, but took the break if it was offered. "Well, I'm thankful. The bag belongs to my fillyfriend. Um, can I have it back?" I asked, trying not to get my hopes up. Shining Armor smiled, however, and nodded. "Of course. You have very good tastes. I'm sure your mare will be delighted that you tried to protect it. In fact, I got a bag just like that for my sister last year. It's a wonderful gift," he assured, seemingly more amused at the coincidences than angry at my arrest. Well, if it was a popular enough bag, a lot of mares probably had it. Rarity probably had picked it up for Twilight. I smiled faintly and relaxed, still not feeling the best but happy that I hadn't lost Twilight's pouch. She trusted me with it, after all. "That little thing is really important to you, isn't it? You must really care for her," the guard captain observed, smiling warmly all of a sudden. I nodded weakly, looking back up at him as best I could. I was ravenous, having emptied out my stomach on the train and now missed lunch. What time was it, speaking of? Had I missed the party, too? "She trusted me with it and asked me to get food for her and a friend. I, um, care for her a lot and don't want to lose her trust," I explained, trying to be as honest as I could. Shining Armor nodded earnestly before seemingly thinking to himself. "I'm under the impression that the collision wasn't entirely your fault either. Still, now that I know more details, I should at least extend the courtesy of sending a message to her about what happened. What's the name of your mare, and where is she staying?" he inquired, smiling now as he looked back down at me. I felt a little safer now and nodded, sitting up fully. "Her name's-“ I started, before the once silent guard walked up next to Shining Armor. “Actually, I got his address in a statement prior. Here you go, Captain,” he interrupted, cutting me off. Oh yeah. He had questioned me when I was first arrested. Shining Armor picked up the clipboard offered with his magic and floated it in front of him. I fell silent and let the captain read it over carefully. I’d answered all the questions to the best I could manage, so I figured that would cut off a lot of any potential interrogation that was needed from me. “Oh, interesting. You’re staying in a castle suite? You must be here for the party tonight that Fancypants is throwing. Ironic. I’ve got to bring you to the castle anyway, so I’ll send a message ahead and we’ll meet your fillyfriend there,” he explained after a good minute of reading. I shifted uneasily. Twilight had given me Rarity’s room, but I had no idea what her own room number was. I’d hoped it wouldn’t complicate things that I’d given them Rarity’s instead. I nodded weakly, asking, “Are you letting me go, then?” This was all just one giant misunderstanding, and I was really glad he was so friendly! Ponies really were a lot different than Keldarians. At that point, I didn’t know why I was expecting otherwise. The worst part about this little experience so far had been the cold dungeon. “As part of regulation, I’ve got to get confirmation from the castle. Your fillyfriend shouldn’t be a problem, but I also need to sign off on your release. The office is over there, however. Paperwork, right?” he explained, smirking over at me. I snickered, feeling a lot better finally. His healing magic was top notch! “Thanks for being so understanding. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. What a day!” I groaned. He also said tonight, I noticed. That must mean I hadn’t missed the party yet! Twilight would be mildly irked that I’d not gotten them food, but at least it wasn’t a complete disaster. Shining Armor laughed and shook his head. “Relax. I understand what a bad day is like. You should have seen the Changeling invasion!” he exclaimed, signing off on the clipboard before passing it back to the guard. Changeling? I tilted my head, but then flattened my ears back as he fitted the manacles back onto my legs. My forelegs couldn’t stop shaking as he fastened them. Why was this…? “Mender, Relax. Nopony is going to hurt you. You only have to wear these until we get to the castle and verify your story. It’s just procedure, and I’ll stay with you the whole time, okay?” Shining Armor softly assured, patting me on the head. It probably mentioned my reaction to the chains on the clipboard. Shivering, I managed a weak nod as he helped me up and led me towards the door. At least this would all be over soon and I could go back to Twilight. * * * * * Groaning again, I tried my hardest to hide my face as best I could. The cart slowly moved along through the street, careful to let ponies move out of the way before passing. It was decided that I’d be transported to the castle via cart instead after I fell down two flights of stairs while wearing the manacles. Shining Armor was really, really good at healing magic! Still, this was more than a little embarrassing. Shining Armor himself sat at the front of the cart with the driver. I was in the back, trying my best to hide and wishing the sides of the thing were taller. The chains attached to me were easily visible, of course, and I saw dozens of ponies giving harsh whispers and giggles as I passed. Damn it. There goes the effect Rarity had been hoping for. She wasn’t going to want to use me for showing off her suit if everypony knew I was a criminal! Shining Armor did his best to not make a spectacle of it, taking a back street most of the way there before cutting out onto the main thoroughfare in order to get to the castle gates. The cart rolled through the gates and finally reached the sanctuary and privacy of the grounds, letting me exhale gently. Less ponies seeing me meant less rumors going around. Of course, three blocks of aristocratic looking ponies had already seen me regardless, and if they were anything like what I was used to dealing with back in my old world that I recall, rumors would explode anyway. “Okay then. Message was sent ahead via pegasi, so we should be expected. I’m going to escort you to the assembly hall where they’re waiting, and then once you’re spoken for, I’ll go upstairs and fill out your release paperwork,” Shining Armor said, making his way around to the back of the wagon and helping me down. Slowly, I nodded, putting most of my focus into not falling on my face. I’d fallen out of the wagon twice trying to get up onto the thing, but at least I’d landed on my butt then. Nose-diving would suck considerably more. At least they knew I wasn’t going to run away. Well, run away effectively, I appended to my thoughts a moment later. He smiled once I had all four hooves on the ground and carefully led me towards a side gate for the right wing of the massive looking castle. Shining Armor kept careful pace with me and kept his magic up to stabilize me as I wobbled, snagging my legs on the chains every half dozen meters or so. The guard that was in the back of the cart with me followed a little behind us, from the sounds of it. It wasn’t the same guard as at my cell, not that I could tell the difference, anyway. Why did all the guards look the same? Security measure? The heavy door opened with a creaking noise, and it was a lot dimmer inside, lit by the warm glow of wall sconces. Heavy looking marble tile decorated the floor, and a soft looking rug led from the entry all the way along the hallway. Fancy looking benches made of a rich oak of some sort lined the sides. This looked like a kind of waiting chamber or something. What did he call it? Assembly hall? To my absolute relief, both Twilight and Rarity were waiting at the far end of the hall. Rarity sat calmly on a chair, giving a soft if knowing smile to Twilight as she paced back and forth. I swallowed nervously. Even though I hadn’t been here for very long, I could kinda tell when my fillyfriend was frazzled. It wasn’t a good feeling to be the source of that discomfort. “Eh?! Twily!” Shining Armor suddenly exclaimed, steadying me from my start before trotting forward ahead of me towards the two mares. Twily? Wait, was he talking to Twilight?! I blinked and watched, surprised, as she looked over in response to the name, shock evident on her face. “Shiny?” she asked, eyes widening rapidly. Shiny?! What the hell?! They obviously knew each other, but why did they have pet names? Wait, no. That couldn’t be. Oh hell. No, Twilight would have told me! “What are you doing here, Twily? Wait, you heard I was bringing a pony over and intercepted, didn’t you? I sent a message to your room saying I was going to be a little late,” Shining Armor groaned out. Her room? Her room?! My right eye twitched, the spasm traveling all the way down my chest and right foreleg, giving the chains a jiggle. Twilight’s eyes didn’t shrink down, and she looked past Shining Armor and over at me. I glared in her direction, really hoping this wasn’t what it looked like. No, if she were already in a herd with this stallion, somepony would have told me! They wouldn’t have kept this a secret this long. They couldn’t have. Shining Armor followed her gaze and peeked back at me. I snapped the glare off my expression, not wanting for him to decide to throw me back in jail. “Oh, don’t mind him. I’m just dropping him off to his fillyfriend here at the castle. She should have been here already, though,” he muttered before looking around the hall. Oh hell. If he found out I was dating his herd member, I predicted a lot of complications. Twilight’s ears flattened back and she lowered her eyes, shifting them back and forth as if fighting violently with thoughts in her mind. Rarity looked utterly speechless as she glanced between Twilight and Shining Armor, who finally noticed her. “Wait, Rarity? Oh. Oh! Oh my. Is that why you two are here? Wow! I didn’t realize the guest you invited with you was your coltfriend, Rarity! Is that why you two are acting so weird?” he continued, seemingly a bit concerned that nopony was saying anything. Rarity?! Rarity let out a gasp of surprise, flush exploding over her cheeks as her eyes widened at him. Twilight shuddered and rapidly looked over at Rarity as well, as if burned for a moment. “Ah! R-Rarity? Of course! Yeah, thanks for dropping off Rarity’s coltfriend. You can go now, Shiny! I’ll talk to you back in my room, okay?” Twilight suddenly spewed out. Several icy hammers hit me in the chest as I stared at her. My forelegs started to shake and I couldn’t seem to stop them as I let out a sharp gasp. She was embarrassed about me and was pretending I was Rarity’s coltfriend?! My ears dropped completely. “Twilight Sparkle!” Rarity suddenly shouted, shifting from looking shocked to righteously pissed in half a second. Oh hell. Shining Armor must have thought the same thing as me, as he hopped backwards away from the unicorn, who was now standing up in her chair and glaring at Twilight. Twilight flinched and shrunk visibly away from Rarity, not meeting her eyes. The guard pony standing next to me made no motion to move any closer, just watching with wide eyes as the rather brutal and awkward scene unfolded. My head was still reeling from the implications mixed with what Twilight had just said. I could barely process what was going on. “I, um, I’m sorry. Uh, Shiny, meet Moon Mender. Um, he’s the stallion I wrote about in my letters,” Twilight finally admitted, shrinking down to the floor. She told him about me, but she didn’t want him to know that I was me? She was embarrassed I was arrested, then. I didn’t know how to feel about this. Her, well, a stallion close to her was the captain of the guard, so I could see why she was appalled that I’d been arrested. Shining Armor looked back at me, eyes widening rapidly. “Moon Mender! That’s where I heard his name before! This is your coltfriend?!” he asked sharply. “I was going to tell you! I just didn’t know what to say and he’d been arrested for something, so I panicked! I’m sorry,” Twilight continued, standing up again and prancing anxiously in front of the much larger stallion. Damn it. Who was he? Did she honestly keep this much from me? “I’m not the one you should apologize to! Fine. Stay here and I’ll go get the stupid paperwork filed and get him released. I’ll be back in a bit,” he snarled out, sounding rather angry as he stormed off and through a side door. The hallway fell silent, and I dropped my head. This had gone from getting better to rock bottom almost instantly. My head was swimming with what I’d just heard, and I didn’t know where to even start sorting everything out. It didn’t help that my eyes were getting watery and my chest hurt. The guard next to me gave me a soft nod and frown before undoing my restraints. I heard hoofsteps getting closer in front of me, but I refused to look up, staring at my hooves instead. “He was charged with an account of sexual harassment, and another of petty theft. Both charges have been acquitted, however, and he’s free to go. It was all a misunderstanding,” the guard explained next to me as the movement stopped. “M-Mender, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie about that. I panicked. This wasn’t how I wanted things to go,” Twilight muttered quietly. I shivered again, eyes softening. That much was obvious. Nothing today had gone as planned. Slowly, I looked up at Twilight, who sat in front of me about a meter away. Rarity was rapidly catching up, still glaring at Twilight’s back as she approached. “This is absolutely horrifying, Twilight. Even if embarrassed, consider Mender’s feelings! The charges are false and he is innocent regardless, so there’s no need to feel ashamed of him,” the white unicorn scolded harshly, sitting down next to Twilight. “I’m not ashamed! This just wasn’t how I wanted Mender to meet my brother, okay!” Twilight snapped back, too quick to be sincere. Brother?! My exhale was instant and excessive as I slumped slightly. Shining Armor was her brother! The relief washed through me instantly, and I couldn’t help but smile a little. Oh. Her brother had just escorted me as a prisoner to the castle. Okay, I could see why she freaked out now. It took me a moment to realize that both mares had stopped talking and were giving me questioning looks. “Er, sorry. I didn’t know he was her brother. Um, the way they addressed each other,” I tried to explain quietly. Rarity blinked, and then snorted, holding a hoof up to her lips instantly as if to hold back a sudden bout of laughter. Twilight simply shivered as a deep blush crept onto her face. I coughed politely and looked away again. Yeah, I was expecting that reaction. “No! No, no, no! He’s my brother, not… Oh Celestia. No! You’re my only coltfriend, Mender!” Twilight rapidly corrected, not that it was needed at this point. The guard next to me averted his eyes from all of us rapidly, and I could have sworn I saw a smirk starting to play at his lips. “Oh ho ho, that would be scandalous indeed. But no, Prince Shining Armor is Twilight’s brother, not lover. Still, that doesn’t excuse her for trying to do that!” Rarity reminded, shifting back to a stern glare at the lavender mare. Twilight sighed and nodded, not meeting my eyes still. I was just happy to know that I didn’t have competition, especially of that level. There was no way I could compete with the captain of the guard. “Come on, Mender. Let’s go back to Rarity’s room. There’s a comfy couch there you can lie down on,” Twilight finally muttered, shifting the topic as best she could while gesturing towards the door opposite of the one that Shining Armor used. My ears perked as I glanced over at the guard, who outright snickered before shaking his head. “I doubt it’s going to be a problem anymore. I’ll let the captain know where you’ve gone, and try to calm him down a little,” the guard said before I even opened my mouth. Admittedly, I was a bit surprised, but nodded hesitantly. Well, today was still crap, but maybe now it would look up? I mean, what more could possibly go wrong at this point? No, I’d better not say that. There was always falling off the side of the cliff the city was built into. “Why thank you, Dear! You’ve been extremely helpful, and I shall put in a good word with Shining Armor for you,” Rarity spoke politely before looking back at me and shifting to a quizzical expression before continuing with, “Wait, is that dried blood on your muzzle, Mender? Oh my. Let’s go get you lying down, okay?” I sighed and nodded wearily back to her. The day wasn’t over yet. “I’ll explain on the way there,” I excused, resigning myself to walking after Twilight, who had already turned and headed for the door she pointed out earlier. No, the day was still young, and probably going to get a lot longer… * * * * * "Seriously? Twenty minutes. In twenty minutes, you managed to not only get yourself beat up, but accused of sexual harassment and theft. Then arrested," Twilight groaned out, staring at me with what could only be described as a look of dumbfounded shock. I kept my head down and ears lowered as I looked up at her from the couch, and a royal nurse carefully tending to my forehead. It annoyed me that head wounds bled so much. My fur needed to be cleaned now, and there was less than an hour before the party! Rarity giggled merrily behind Twilight, lightly sipping tea at a rather elegant wooden table. They had gotten food somehow anyway, it would seem. At this point however, I was more worried about having made an idiot of myself, and ruined Twilight’s introduction of me to her brother. I had humiliated her, and further felt like crap because of it. "Relax, Twilight. The charges were falsified, we got room service anyway, and you got your bit pouch back," Rarity pointed out sagely after setting her cup down. I was both happy and sad that they so easily managed to get food without me. After being hauled up to the palace in chains, I'd lost all sense of hunger, only to find out that my duty hadn't really been needed in the first place. The stares were enough to make me want to curl into a ball and cry for a few hours. Pity that would make me feel like an even bigger wimp. At least Rarity had visibly calmed down now that she had gotten tea. "It's all so embarrassing, though! This isn't how I wanted to introduce him to my brother, for one. Plus, everypony saw him hauled through the streets and are going to think he's done something horrible," Twilight shouted, pacing back and forth in a tight circle. I shriveled further on the couch, making the nurse tisk as I flinched. Rarity gave her a speculative, questioning glance over her cup, but Twilight didn't seem to notice. Finally, I managed to suggest in a quiet voice, "She's right, Rarity. I don't think it's a good idea to bring me as your guest anymore." Rarity surprised me by smiling warmly. "Nonsense, Dear. If brought up, it shall simply make for an amusing story and correction. There's absolutely nothing negative to worry about," she assured, causing me to exhale quietly. Admittedly, her words put me a little at ease. She was willing to explain to ponies who asked and tell of my innocence. Twilight shook her head and resumed pacing. "I don't know how you can be so nonchalant about it. I mean, it's so embarrassing! Don't they have, like, privacy carriages or something?! The guards are supposed to be professional," she complained, moving the target of her wrath to prisoner transport, it would seem. It felt like she was just angry in general and lashing out at things. At least she wasn’t angry with me. Still, I think I’d rather have her angry with me than ashamed of me. Rarity frowned outright at this and set her cup down again, a little more forcefully this time. The noise snapped Twilight out of her spiral and caused both of us to look at the white unicorn. "That's enough, Twilight! You know as well as I do that he is innocent. If it concerns you, spread that fact around to any who question rather than worry about how it might influence your own reputation," she lectured, surprisingly harshly. The tone was strict and demanding, leaving an almost unspoken dare to challenge her and get trounced. In my reasonably shaken mentality, it was more than a little intimidating, and I shrank further. Twilight, for her part, looked more surprised than anything. "But, I wasn't worried about... I mean, he's my stallion and I care for him, is all. It's not like I was, well, okay, I was a little embarrassed over the ordeal but," she started to shakily protest, shifting back and forth on her hooves. Rarity's eyes narrowed slowly the longer Twilight went on. The lavender mare hesitated and slowed to a stop before sighing. "Okay, fine. I was utterly horrified," she finally admitted. It hurt, but it was the truth. I knew that it was because of me as well, which hurt the most. Come on! One normal day is all I ask. "You were ashamed. Ashamed of the stallion you claim to care about. This is not you, Twilight," Rarity spoke quietly, earning a wince from all three remaining ponies in the room; the nurse oddly included as she blatantly listened in. I didn't care at this point, though. Twilight stayed quiet for an agonizing half a minute, shifting her gaze between the floor and myself a couple times. I was ashamed as well; far too much to even look her in the eye at this point. What a mess. Why did it have to be me? Of course, I caught myself asking that quite often about various things. I wondered if that was just another way to run away. The nurse let out a yelp as I flailed about in panic from the sudden foreign set of lips on my forehead. Twilight thankfully backed up and simply observed until I stopped wiggling. I stared at her in surprise until she giggled and looked down again. "Um, are you okay, Mender? I should have asked you that a while ago. I’m sorry," she spoke softly, smiling weakly as her eyes caught mine again. My mouth was still open in shock. Becoming aware of it, I slowly closed it and exhaled wearily, having no idea how to answer. She suddenly decided to take Rarity's advice? My eyes lowered as I let myself slowly slide down onto the couch cushion again, letting the nurse resume her cleaning of the wound site. At least she said it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. Damn head wounds... "Did it, um, bring up any bad memories?" the decidedly warm and comfortable lavender unicorn asked instead as she gave my muzzle and nose a light kiss. It tickled a little and I smiled weakly. "When they put the hoof cuffs on me, it did. I think I passed out shortly after," I replied, feeling a little more relaxed but tired now. My body just wanted to sleep for a while and heal. Rarity perked up at the mention of my memories and listened intently. My fillyfriend just nodded against my nose before getting up fully onto the cushion in front of me. "She's right. You're innocent and I shouldn't be worried about myself. I'll stand by you too, Mender," she assured after a moment's hesitation. "Well, I'll be. I guess you were telling the truth and not just helping some stranger escape jail. I’m also glad to see you apologized," I suddenly heard spoken in a familiar voice, followed by an even more familiar laugh. His absence must have put him in a better mood. Twilight opened her eyes again and shifted them in the direction of the doorway to her chambers. I peeked as well, discovering Shining Armor slowly walking into the room, still in full armor but looking considerably more relaxed than he had been earlier. Maybe it was because it was warmer up here? Or he really liked filling out paperwork… "Of course, Shiny. A little late for this, but meet Moon Mender, my coltfriend. Mender, this is my brother, Shining Armor. But you already knew that," Twilight introduced, smiling gently now and seemingly feeling better. "It is good to meet you outside of the jail cell, Mender. Unfortunate series of events, that. But I have a feeling you're a good stallion after all, especially after what you said about the pouch," he welcomed, winking at me. I blushed weakly and looked away. If I had known he was Twilight's brother, I would have stayed quiet about the whole thing! "Huh? What do you mean?" the now exceedingly curious unicorn in front of me questioned. Shining Armor snickered before shaking his head, however. "Anonymity sometimes breeds honesty, Twily. I know he deeply cares for you, which is enough to make me accept him as your coltfriend," he assured with a smirk. I shook my head wearily. "Honestly, I'm just glad I got it back. That had me worried the most," I muttered, glancing back up at Twilight's brother with a newly discovered curiosity. Outside of his post, he wore a relaxed expression, even in his armor. He was a little smaller than Big Mac, but it looked like he had years of experience behind his eyes. He also had a horn, and if he came from the same family as Twilight, I could only hope to guess at how powerful he was. Twilight sighed and shook her head, however, drawing my attention back to her before adding, "As much as I'm happy to have the pouch back, I'm just happy that you're okay." I caught myself blushing and smiled weakly with what energy I had left, searching her eyes for truth to that. If she was going to make an effort to trust me, I should definitely make an effort to trust her back. Our relationship hadn’t been the smoothest so far, but maybe that would make it stronger overall? Her expression was earnest, however, and she returned a warm smile. "I'm still curious as to why you felt so strongly for the pouch, Mender," Rarity spoke up, smiling over her cup of tea at me a moment later. Her tail swished back and forth behind her in an oddly polite, sophisticated manner, as if on display with its fine curves. Chuckling, I shook my head again. "Besides the fact that it was Twi's and she trusted me with it? It also had her bits in it, which was important. But for the honest truth, I myself have nothing to my name. Even the saddlebag I hauled things here with is Twi's. So for her to give me something so dear to her and almost lose it might bother me a bit more than normal," I speculated quietly, having just considered it for the first time now. It was just a feeling that was there. The lavender unicorn smiled and kissed me softly on the top of the nose again before being shooed away by the nurse, who was now cleaning my fur along my cheek. "You're amazingly sweet, Mender. We need to have you start getting things of your own, however. You've honestly done a lot of hard work for me and my friends and deserve it," she added, not dissuaded by the nurse at all. Shining Armor chuckled, distracting me before I could protest. "She's right. The letters she writes back to us are practically glowing about you! I could have sworn from the letters that you were twice my size, made of coiled iron, and threw fire with a wave of your hoof," he tossed on, smirking. "Hey!" Twilight practically shouted, flushing red as she whipped her head back and glared at him menacingly. I held back a chuckle before nuzzling her cheeks gently. She made a squeaking noise, but held her ground and smiled again, features relaxing a little. "My, my. Normally I'd be chased halfway around the castle for that comment! He really has tamed you quite a bit," her brother teased further, dancing backwards away from her tiny electric shock blast. She growled and fired a second one at him as well. He started to dance backwards again when my hoof touched the sofa instead. A magic line arched along the floor faster than a lightning strike and the large barrier extended up in the same instant, totally blocking the small blast of electricity. He stopped and stared at it in surprise, before Twilight glared at me instead. "What, are you taking his side?" she questioned, eyes narrowing a little. Hastily, I nuzzled her again in assurance before explaining, "Just saving him from your wrath. I'm honored, Twilight. You don't need to be angry over it." She let out a soft sigh as I rested against her cheeks. A second ticked by and she finally smiled against me and relaxed again. "All right. But only because you asked so nicely," she agreed, earning a snicker from both myself and Shining Armor. "Interesting magic indeed. Physical contact creates it from the point of his left hoof, exactly like your letter stated. Your strength is in barriers?" he asked after a moment's thought. I nodded at the partial answer. "Barriers, transmutation, and alteration magic. I block things, change the physical forms of things, and change the metaphysical properties of things," I summarized, closing my eyes sleepily. Twilight was warm and felt good against my now freshly cleaned cheek. The nurse stood up again next to the couch and left contact with my side finally. "I've cleaned the site as best I could, but I suggest taking a shower to get the remainder of the blood out of your fur. It's just a surface wound and has already ceased bleeding. There's no further trauma that I can detect with my magic, so you should be all right," she reported in her quiet, rather soft voice. She sounded business-like but gentle. "Thank you, Nurse," Rarity spoke up courteously in the background before adding, "It's best if you go do that now, Mender. Twilight and I already cleaned up while you were, well, preoccupied, and I need to get you into your suit before the party." I had to admit she spoke wisdom. Shakily, I slowly stood up off the couch and wobbled before finding my balance. One would think that having four hooves instead of two feet would make me more stable, but that turned out to be false so far. More legs seemed to mean more ways to trip over myself, in my case. "Do you need help walking, Mender? You did take a rather nasty hit to the head still," Twilight asked, moving in gently to brace against my side. The image of her following me into the bathroom caused me to blush, and I rapidly shook my head. Twilight raised an eyebrow at my display, but I caught a knowing smirk from Rarity as if she practically read my mind. "Baby steps, Mender," the pearly, technically almost white unicorn reminded. I suddenly realized she wasn't talking about my walking issues at all, and nodded back to her. Twilight deserved baby steps, and I was less likely to make an idiot of myself if I didn't rush anything in the relationship. "Good idea, Rarity!" Twilight agreed, nodding enthusiastically to her friend and totally missing the underlying message, I suspected. "Oh, Twily. Never change," Shining Armor agreed, rubbing her on the top of the head and earning another questioning glance as I quietly slipped towards the bathroom while she was distracted. If she did indeed catch on, I had a feeling it would only be awkward... * * * * * Temporarily drowning out the panicking Rarity in the background, I glanced around the massive, multi-story ballroom with a sense of awe and scrutiny all at once. It was an extremely impressive structure, had it actually been fully intact, I imagined. Repairs from some practically apocalyptic disaster that had struck the room were still ongoing, it would seem, and I was mildly concerned about how structurally intact the entire room was. "This is why Pinkie was banned for two years from the room," Twilight whispered in my right ear from next to me. I shuddered, my having put two and two together a few minutes ago doing nothing to blunt the sheer horror of that statement. Hell, the stonework was completely shattered in a few spots! "Are you sure they've put enough of it back together for this party to be safe?" I asked, glancing skeptically over at the stage near the massive bay window overlooking the cliff outside. Twilight sighed wearily and nodded after a moment's consideration. "Well, they're professionals, I think. They wouldn't let Fancypants throw a party here if it wasn't safe, right? I think. Yeah, probably," she 'assured'. Crap. Her statement only making me more nervous, I stood up again and wandered along the wall, examining the support beams that had been put in place while they redid the inner masonry. They hadn't left any loose or jutting pieces of stone, so that was good. The wood they used also looked of high quality with proper supports. No, if there was any risk, it was probably in the ceiling near the two damaged areas. So the apparently newly replaced bay window by the stage and the front entrance to the room, both of which sported large wall craters. The parts furthest away from the support beams of the room were at risk of structural collapse if they hadn't been reinforced. Of course, lacking x-ray vision, I had no idea what the supports looked like inside of the ceiling. "Mender! I need your help!" I suddenly heard Rarity call out. I turned to my left just in time to see the frantic mare speeding towards me, gorgeous dress swishing out with each shift of her back hips. I waited for her to get within casual talking distance before politely asking, "What is it, Rarity? You know I'll help with anything." She paused, relaxing a little and giving me a softer smile. "You really are a dear. These incompetent workers have not yet finished my stage and catwalk, sadly! This just will not do. Their boss took sick leave, of all things! How can one be sick when there's a fashion show to prepare for?! I've informed them that I'm recruiting you to lead them in the finalization of the stage," she summarized rapidly. I went from assured to shocked, and finally to a little panicked by the time she finished, of course. "Uh, I don't think I'm qualified for construction like this. Besides, why would they even listen to me? I look like another party goer," I pointed out, gesturing towards the rather impeccable yet highly uncomfortable suit that I was currently wearing. Even my mane had been styled, which felt more than a little awkward. Well, re-styled. Embarrassingly enough, I had managed to accidentally punch myself in the head while trying to get the suit on, causing Rarity to have to go back and fix my mane up again. Thankfully, it was my left side that time, so I didn't reopen my wound. Rarity wasn't dissuaded in the least, however. "Why, they'll listen to you because I told them to. After the wonderful job I watched you do making Applejack's machine up from scratch, I have not even the slightest doubt this will be foal's play for you," she complimented, trapping me into doing it at the same time. My ears lowered and I sighed. The mare definitely had a way with words. "I'll try, Rarity. But only because it's you," I finally agreed, slowly heading back the way I came, towards the rather crude looking framework of a display tent. "Oh, you're an absolute doll! A true prince of a," Rarity started to coo, hoof steps sounding as if she were following me. Her walking and voice ground to a halt in an instant, however. Huh? Slowing to a stop, I glanced back at her questioningly, only to discover her staring blankly at me with her mouth still partially open, mid-word. Had I done something wrong? Uh oh. Did I tear the back of the suit or something somehow?! To my surprise however, a faint pink tint shifted into her cheeks rather than any expression of anger. She closed her mouth in a heartbeat and coughed lightly, looking away from me. This only served to leave my mind a further confused mess as I tried to figure out if I should be running away or not. "Ah, sorry. A momentary stray thought distracted me. We must make haste, though," she excused a moment later, smiling back up at me with no trace left in her expression of what had been before. Weird. When she didn't want to, she certainly didn't wear her emotions at all. Regardless, I nodded to her and continued towards the construction. The basic structure looked very elaborate with the curves and outcroppings, but that's all it appeared to be. There was nothing existing on the wood at all, which concerned me. Whatever the walls were supposed to be made of had better go up quickly, or there was no way it would be ready by eighteen hundred hours. If my guess was correct, it was probably a tent of some sort meant to hold fabric in place. Rarity zipped ahead of me and quickly pulled aside a tan pony in an orange vest, who was wearing a solid looking yellow construction helmet. Tufts of black mane stuck out from under the headgear, I noticed. She whispered to him for a moment before nodding. He returned the nod a second later and glanced up at me before walking over. The entire exchange took all of ten seconds, leaving me wondering what exactly she said. "The Boss says yer gonna help us with figuring out how ta put together the rest of the tent?" he asked dryly, sounding more than a little frustrated. Figure out? I nodded wearily, unsure of what to expect when he withdrew a rolled up piece of paper from his side bag. "Good! Ah'm not trained in these blasted plans and whatnot. Can you make sense of them?" he requested, offering me the roll. I couldn't place his accent, but that didn't surprise me, really. It was thick and the words almost felt 'slanted' somehow. It was hard to describe. I took the roll with my left hoof, and he raised an eyebrow as it stuck without further assistance. My magic traced along the paper and it unfurled under my manipulation, causing him to step backwards a few hoof lengths in surprise. Still, I needed to hurry, so there was no time for restraint. My eyes traced the lines on the paper, noting that it was the structure plans almost instantly. My frown lowered further when I noticed the units being used. Centimeters? Meters? Of course, the plan I'd made Applejack was in metric as well because that's what I had been used to using. I rarely, if ever, considered things in terms of the old fashioned Keldarian methods. Still, this wasn't made by me, but was still in metric units. There was starting to be a disturbing amount of coincidences involved for my liking, but I shook my head rapidly and tried to focus. "These are structural plans for the frame. You have most of it done already, but there's not enough structural support for the front curtain or the upper-back ceiling where it connects to the changing rooms, yet," I pointed out, gesturing to the same spots on their constructed framework. He momentarily looked surprised before nodding. "Ah thought it was a little light in the back. We don't want those poor mares having lumber fall on their heads! Ya heard him, team! Get on supporting the back, and get those front curtain rods up!" he shouted, gesturing towards the group of a dozen or so congregating near the front of the frame. Rarity smiled pleasantly at the seeming results, but I shook my head. "No, too slow. You're only going to need three or four ponies for both of those jobs. Have the remainder start putting up the fabric along the front of the building at the same time and we can get the job done even faster," I suggested, heading towards the rolls of fabric they had resting nearby. The head stallion seemed yet again surprised, but I ignored him and touched my hoof against the rolls. The top one exploded into movement as it unfurled itself, rapidly sliding along the floor before coating the right side of the 'tent' and rolling itself out over the frame. "Oh, you don't have to actually help, Mender! They were simply having trouble figuring out what the plans meant," Rarity informed, trotting up while wearing a gentle smile. I shook my head back at her, correcting, "Actually, the back reinforcement isn't on the plans. But without any attachment to the back wall above the changing room exits, it's a serious danger to anypony passing under the arc and through the doors. As for helping, I don't really have anything else to do until the party, so I might as well be useful." Twilight smirked off to my left and joined Rarity in front of me. "That's very productive of you, Mender. Honestly, you'll make a name for yourself without needing Applejack's help, although her word certainly wouldn't hurt," she added, giving me a happy nod. That I blushed at and smiled after lowering my head a little. I wasn't really used to praise, but I was glad she was happy with me. My eyes widened subtly as I realized that it was important to me. I wanted her to be proud of me. Her, specifically. Rarity gave a happy murmur and nod, agreeing with, "Indeed! You're very kind, Mender. I can see why Fluttershy also likes you." Well, I wasn't out specifically to be kind. Fluttershy absolutely oozed the virtue. In reality, I just wanted to be useful. I wanted to fit in and actually contribute; to help these amazing ponies as freely as they accepted me into their lives. "I'm going to be free as well, Mender. May I assist you in construction of the stage and tent?" Twilight suddenly asked, smiling politely with her eyes gently closed towards me. It was more than a little adorable. "Oh, that's a good idea. Please do prevent him from accidentally tearing his suit as well," Rarity requested, giving two nods towards Twi. I chuckled, realizing that it was indeed still Rarity talking. She must have recovered from whatever bothered her earlier. Twilight snickered and nodded, pointing out, "He's not going to tear his suit if he sticks to using magic anyway. I'll just help hold things in place." The same stallion from before dropped his jaw, however, as she followed me back to the construction site. "The Element of Magic herself is going to help put this together?!" he asked, watching her carefully lift up all three curtain rods at once. She smiled while focusing and nodded absently. "Of course. You're already taking orders from my coltfriend, after all. I might as well help, too," she reasoned, lingering and putting more than a little emphasis on 'coltfriend' as she said it. I blushed lightly, and the brat of a mare looked right at me after finishing the statement. She held a knowing grin, and I suddenly realized she was intentionally spreading it around! "Careful. It won't be secret for too much longer if you don't do some damage control," I warned, sticking my tongue out at her gently. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about it. Maybe I don't want it to be a secret? Rarity's right, you know? Honestly, it's totally normal and nopony is going to think any differently of me regardless," she reasoned, blowing a strand of her mane out of her face while two ponies to each side placed the curtain rods into their locking bars. Chuckling, I shrugged absently. I wasn't one to question the topic, having no idea myself. "If I had to guess, they'll probably treat you with more respect due to who you are, actually. I don't think you'll have anything to worry about," I reasoned. I was interrupted with a soft nudge to the shoulder, however. I glanced to my right only to see a smaller looking mare with a white coat and abruptly green mane. She was also decked out in the construction gear, so I assumed she was part of the team. "Excuse me, Mr. Moon Mender. We have the right side secured to the frame. Could you help us attach the left now?" she asked politely, oddly looking a little nervous for some reason. I hope she hadn't heard about what happened to the guard and thought my bad luck was contagious or something. Twilight had said Luna told her that the guard had been hospitalized upon returning to the barracks, it turns out. Something about a mild concussion, muscle strains, and potential infection in awkward places from small animal bites. I hadn't realized there was more than one squirrel! Or had it been a chipmunk? "Oh, sure!" I returned, suddenly catching myself zoning and snapping myself back to reality. She smiled innocently and nodded before gesturing to another roll of the heavy purple fabric. I released my minor barrier that was holding the right side up, tentatively at first. My smile widened upon realizing that it was indeed secured to the frame. Exhaling softly, I slid the other roll along the ground with my barrier again before unrolling it and hanging it up against the left side of the frame this time. "I think your magic is getting stronger," Twilight commented, walking along at my left as I went, having finished her job. Smiling, I nodded to her before she suddenly stopped and turned fully towards me, silently calling for my attention. I halted as well, making sure the fabric was solid against the frame before turning to look at her. "What did you mean, 'who I am'?" she asked a moment later, tilting her head gently. Huh? Oh! The last thing I had said to her, that's right. "You're Twilight Sparkle. That name, from what I hear, is synonymous with a mixture of Princess, Celebrity, and Superhero," I explained, winking at her. As predicted, her cheeks lit up pink almost instantly. "Mender! Ugh. I'm not that important; certainly not a princess," she complained, flattening her ears back and looking down from my gaze. "Oh, but technically you are, Twilight Dear. Your brother married a Princess, after all, which makes you royalty by relation," Rarity chimed in, making me jump a little. Looking behind me to the left, I saw her slowly trailing along, looking far more relaxed than earlier. "That's hardly qualification," Twilight denied, giving her friend a deadpan look. I decided to redirect her self-undercutting, correcting, "Well, even if you don't think you are, I do. You'll always be my princess." Twilight was important to me. At this point, I was determined to accept that. Sadly, the wrong mare squealed. "Oh, that is absolutely gushing with romantic undertones! You are such a Gentlecolt," Rarity chirped, hopping up lightly on her back hooves and flicking her forelegs back and forth rapidly, looking oddly excited. Twi, for her part, just shifted her blush to crimson and stared at me, mouth parted slightly. I couldn't read her expression in the slightest, however. My ears drooped a little. "Um, I'm sorry," I tentatively apologized, just in case. It was getting kind of instinctive at this point. Another trait I noticed I shared with Fluttershy. She snapped out of it, rapidly shaking her head. "Oh, no! No, no! You just surprised me, is all. I've never had a stallion say anything even remotely so nice to me before, apart from Shining Armor. I'm just starting to fully grasp all of this, I think. You really do care for me," she muttered. The way she said the last part made me think she didn't really believe herself, even. I nodded to her and lightly stepped forward, nuzzling the side of her cheek lightly. She was cute when she blushed, I decided. She pushed back into me at the same time, letting out a quiet sigh. Seconds drifted by contentedly, and I smiled. I could stay just like this for an eternity and be perfectly content. My ears twitched as I picked up a light scraping noise of hoof against the floor to my left, however. Breaking away and looking over, I saw Rarity slowly retreating via backing up, her eyes fixated largely on the tile below her instead of on us. "Rarity?" I questioned, a little concerned at this point. She was acting strange again. She jumped as if burned, however, looking back up at both of us just in time for Twilight to give her a confused look as well. "Are you okay?" the lavender unicorn inquired, sounding as concerned as I was. "Oh, of course, Dear! I was just going to, um, help myself to a bit of a snack before the party," she excused, settling her hooves again and seemingly puffing up, almost. I gave her a skeptical glance, and she looked away as predicted. Okay, that time she was obviously lying through her teeth. The fact that it was obvious only went to indicate how much whatever she was thinking about was bothering her. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a bit forlorn, is all. Don't mind me," she finally confessed, shifting to a warmer smile and looking back at us fully. "What's wrong, Rarity? You can tell us," Twilight pressed, shifting to face her fully instead. I let her do her thing, realizing she knew her friend a lot better than I did. Shifting as well, I simply idled next to her for support if needed. Rarity exhaled before thinking for a moment. I knew that look. It was the "choosing my words carefully" expression! "Well, looking upon you two being so absolutely amazing together indirectly reminds me of what I don't yet have myself. I'm simply wishing that I, too, had found my prince." She looked sullen after having admitted it and lowered her gaze again quietly. Twilight frowned, eyes softening before she walked forward and gently hugged the white unicorn. "I understand, Rarity. You'll find your prince soon, don't worry. Maybe he'll even be here at this party?" Twilight suggested, smiling confidently at Rarity. The white and purple mare chuckled and leaned into her friend before returning, "I wish I shared your confidence, but thank you. If he's half as polite and charming as yours, I should feel rightly delighted." Twilight's eyes widened for the briefest moment before she recovered her composure, adding a light frown. Huh? The frown was gone before I could so much as blink, however, replaced by a gentle yet assuring smile. "I'm sure he's out there, Rarity. Just keep your hopes up. I can even keep my eyes open for you and direct any potential stallions your way during the party," she offered, releasing Rarity and giving her a soft wink. Rarity laughed outright at that before making a 'tsk' noise towards her. "Oh that would hardly be proper. But thank you, Dear. You're a very good friend," Rarity replied, sounding genuinely better than before. I smiled too and nodded. If I knew what to look for, I'd try to help, too. I wasn't very good at judging character, though. Hell, half the time I couldn't even judge my own. I pondered it, however. Of course, if I had some thermal imaging cameras and photo scanning equipment, I could probably write up an algorithm that could scan the crowds for potential matches with physical characteristics that Rarity looked for. Some simple conversation monitoring with directional mics would probably give a brief summary of their personalities, too. It would hardly be accurate, but it could be done. It would be a lot more thorough than talking to every stallion at the party, that was for sure! "Um, are you listening, Mender?" Twilight asked, nudging me in the chest lightly. I started and flailed in surprise. "Huh? What?" I asked, suddenly feeling more than a little embarrassed. Twilight snickered and pointed out, "I know you're a stallion and I'm your fillyfriend, so I'm not going to be mad that you've been staring at my flank for the past thirty seconds. Normally one wouldn't be wearing a blank look while doing so, however, so I have a feeling your head was elsewhere." My blush magnified, earning another series of snickers from Twilight, who, to her own credit, looked more amused than angry. "Relax, Mender. I'm teasing you. I just wanted to let you know that Rarity and I are going to go get a snack before the party. You don't need me for anything else here, do you?" she asked after another moment. "Oh, no. I'll just finish helping them set up the tent, then," I answered, trying to keep any negative tones out of my voice. Admittedly, I was enjoying their presence, but I didn't want to get in the way of any talking they might want to do privately. Or their food, in case they were actually intending to get some. Given the reminder, my stomach let out a pained murmur, but I ignored it. I didn't have time to eat anything now. If I had let anything slip, Twilight either didn't notice or decided not to say anything. She gave a gentle nod, eyes closed in content before turning away. "We'll be back in a few minutes," she tossed out before heading after Rarity, who had already turned and redirected herself towards the rather impressive looking buffet table. This time I really did watch her as she walked away, not necessarily her flanks, of course. Not that they weren't something to look at. Still, I found myself enjoying her presence more and more as she became more relaxed around me. She was slowly becoming less scary. As the negative feelings were removed, there was less to get in the way of the shockingly positive ones that I hadn't even realized were there in such force. Still, I knew better and reminded myself to exercise restraint and move at her pace, even if that meant waiting until the next ice age before progressing any further. Well, if this planet had atmospheric shifts like that. I pondered it for a moment before I was nudged on the right shoulder again. Expecting her this time, I glanced over at the same mare as before, who was now smiling this time. "We got the left side secured. Could you help us with the roof now, Mr. Moon Mender?" she asked politely, perking a little after saying it. I chuckled and nodded, following her towards the back of the structure where the elevated construction platforms were. Well, at least this was going smoothly. Maybe I'd have a normal night at least, as a compromise. For some reason, I wasn't holding my breath.
Chapter 22Wiping my forehead with a hoof, I glanced back up at the soft moonlight flowing through the sky dome above. The silver and blue light cascaded gently across the entrance to the tent, giving the purple fabric a complimentary glow. I waited for the cue yet again before straining back against the rope and pulling the curtain open for the next mare to walk out. How had I gotten suckered into doing this again? I had thought I was supposed to be just a moving mannequin for Rarity, not a stage hoof. Oh yeah. Half of them didn't show up and the party coordinator latched onto me in a panic, recruiting me as part of the crew. What the hell was with these ponies? I hope they weren't getting paid for this still. Of course, I didn't expect myself to get paid either. Keeping my bitterness in check, I slowly lowered the rope again and swallowed, sweating profusely under the stifling curtains. The models were lucky they only had to walk through this hellish environment between the changing rooms and the stage. Thankfully, I'd been very careful to not rip the suit I was wearing, which didn't make this job particularly easy. Not that Rarity had shown up again to grace my presence in the first place. For that matter, neither had my fillyfriend. Bitterness, Mender. Shaking my head, I lowered my ears and waited for the next cue. Another model was walking up in a rather cute, if not frilly, dress. It looked good on her lanky form, although she didn't seem to have any meat on her bones whatsoever. That didn't really appeal to my senses; not that I was in the market for a fillyfriend anyway. Still, I had to give credit to Rarity. The mare was seriously skilled. Something twitched in my mind and I frowned, suddenly taking a closer look at the mare. Wait a second! White coat with a pink mane, horn elegantly slipping up through the complimenting shade. It was her! She was the one who got me arrested. Her eyes glanced over a second later and she froze, apparently recognizing me instantly, aside from the suit. Her eyes slowly widened as mine narrowed, my hoof slowly squeezing the rope. Oh, it would be delicious to 'accidentally' drop the rope as she was walking under the curtain, flattening her onto the stage and ruining her pretty presentation. The temptation was there, and I swallowed wearily. She fidgeted, and actually edged closer to me, much to my surprise. "Fleur de Lis, get ready. You're on in thirty," the manager called in a quiet whisper from behind the secondary curtains to my left. So that was her name. She shifted closer and leaned her longer neck down, whispering to me instead, "Please don't ruin this! It was an accident, so let's not be rash. I'll pay you a hundred times what was in that pouch; just please don't do anything. Fancypants has another agent watching," she actually begged, further surprising me. I didn't know what kind of agent she was talking about, but I didn't particularly like the sentiment either. "You're trying to bribe me to shut up? You had me arrested for sexual assault and theft! I got paraded through the streets after being tossed in jail!" I growled, vaguely insulted that she was attempting to pay me off. Her ears flattened back and she put a hoof to her mouth, adding, "Shh! Look, I'm sorry! Please. My career could really take off here and Fancy would be really happy. Just please don't do anything?" she pleased, eyes looking desperate. I glared for a moment, locking eyes with her in silence. "Okay, go," the coordinator spoke in a hushed tone behind me. Fleur backed up weakly and swallowed, giving me a nervous look before heading towards the curtain. Damn it. Closing my eyes, I slowly pulled back on the rope and opened the curtains up for her. She nervously looked to either side of the curtains before beginning her slow, styled walk out. My hoof twitched. The mare had embarrassed Twilight immensely, too. If anything, I should be getting justice for her. Squeezing my eyes shut, I sighed and held back. The moment dragged out and was gone in an instant as the white unicorn strode confidently out onto the catwalk. No. I was better than that. Public humiliation was exactly what she did to me, so I wouldn't be proving myself any better a pony if I turned around and did the same back to her. Plus, it would only serve to add a smudge to Rarity's showing, which I was here to prevent. Almost a full minute passed before Fleur was on her way back inside. I opened the curtain up dutifully as she came in. She relaxed, seeing as I didn't drop it on her back on the way in, flattening her and providing a perfect frame for her butt to the entire crowd. She hesitated, glancing at me after the curtains slid shut. I looked away from her, a little hurt at letting the opportunity pass but just deciding to let it go. I'd probably never see her again after this, anyway. She quickly had to move aside as another model came up, and slipped away back towards the changing room. The rest of the show passed uneventfully, if not rather boring in my opinion. The mares, and to my surprise, a few stallions, simply blurred together as they walked past. After a while, I just listened to the cues for opening the curtains. It became mechanical as my thoughts drifted, mood lowered by the surprise encounter. Well, at least this wasn't that particularly bad of a night. Now, I was happy I had resisted flattening her in front of the crowds outside. Much to my surprise, the cues stopped and I looked up just in time to see the manager himself approach the curtains. He smiled and grinned to me before slipping through the cracks, not bothering to open them up or request that I do. "Thank you, Everypony! Tonight was truly amazing and I hope all of you enjoyed the look of fashion to come! Give a warm applause for our wonderfully talented fashion designer, Rarity!" he called out, voice muffled by the curtains. My eyes widened a little and I peeked out the hairline crack on the other side of the curtain, watching the pearly unicorn mare sashay onto the stage and give a delighted, energetic bow. I smirked as I noticed she looked right at home on the stage, as if a fish in the water. I'd be a traumatized, shivering ball in the corner with that many ponies looking at me and cheering, admittedly. She seemed almost energized by it. "Oh, thank you, fine ponies of the wonderful Canterlot. You are too kind," she politely added after her introduction. "She truly is wonderful, folks! Of course, have an amazing round of applause for Mr. Fancypants himself; without him, this would not have been possible!" the coordinator added. I raised an eyebrow as I watched, then widened it as the same stallion who punched me in the head this afternoon got up on stage and took a gentle, flowing bow. What? What?! Damn it. I should have known. "Thank you, Everypony! I am purely the provider here, however. This truly wouldn't be possible without my wonderful friend, Rarity's styles," he spoke up, surprising me a little. Well, he was more humble than I pegged him for. Rarity gave a show of waving her hoof gently towards him, acting abashed. "Oh, you surely jest, Fancy," she chided, looking clearly delighted at the same time. This was getting to be a bit much in my opinion, but I suppose this was the whole reason Rarity came. "Further, I'd like to say how proud I am of my wonderful mare, Fleur de Lis!" he added a moment later, causing my eye to twitch of its own accord. The mare in question came up on stage from the audience at the same time, still wearing Rarity's beautiful dress. She bowed alongside Fancypants, smiling for the crowd. A model, huh? Shaking my head, I released the rope and winced, feeling as if the skin had been worn off my hooves. That was a brutal forty-five minutes or so spent tugging on the same rope. I glanced about, but most of the stagehooves were either talking to themselves or finding a dark part of the curtains to peek out of at the proceedings. Sensing the opportunity for food, I slipped towards the back of the tent and exited through the curtain I knew was angled between the back of the wall and wooden frame, having put it up myself. My stomach growled once again, and I slipped my way through the crowd, heading towards the table I knew the food was kept at. Rarity was still up on stage, shining in the lights while Fancypants droned on and on. I didn't even pick up on what he was saying. Shifting away from the brightness of the stage lights, it wasn't that hard to pick out Twilight, either. She was sitting in the elevated stands set up for the show, surrounded by both guards and extremely posh looking ponies, amongst other things. One looked to be some sort of part lion, part eagle. I thought I spotted what looked like a donkey type individual too. She was here as a representative of Celestia, however, so perhaps they were dignitaries who caught up with her during her excursion with Rarity? Accepting it at face value, I continued on until I managed to locate the food in the dim lighting. It looked heavily picked through at this point, but I wasn't about to be picky. I decided to go 'heavy' for the occasion and made myself a rather hearty sandwich scrounged from various sources at the table. I wasn't expecting having to almost use my wilderness survival training to find food here! A quiet chuckle entered into my ears after I took my first, massive bite. It interrupted my savoring of the taste of food after so long, but didn't quite disrupt due to its melodious tone and softness. My right ear twitched lightly, and I turned my head in that direction. She was an unassuming, gray-coated mare with a softly flowing, black mane that was considerably longer than what I was used to. Further, she was dressed up in a simple, yet elegant black suit coat and had her mane tied back with a clip. My eyes trailed down, taking small note of the mark on her flank. I didn't know a lot about music in general, but the treble clef was a popular enough symbol. Hers appeared to be purple in hue. Not lingering, I shifted my gaze back up to meet hers. She looked amused, so I assumed she was the source of the chuckle. "Truly. No dainty bites or posh posture. You must be one of the ponies working here," she guessed, giving her glass on the table a swirl with her hoof but not breaking eye contact. I slowly swallowed, earning another giggle before giving her a questioning stare, unsure of what she was getting at. My guard was admittedly up ever since running into Fleur earlier. "Oh, no offense meant, of course," she excused, nodding once before smiling softer instead, continuing, "I'm actually a worker here too." With that mentioned, she gestured back behind her at the small group of ponies gathered on stage. They were chatting and seemingly taking a break while attention was focused on the show. "Oh, it's fine. What do you play?" I inquired politely, honestly the only question I could think of before shoving another large bite of sandwich in my mouth. My stomach wasn't out for hostages at the moment, that was for sure. She grinned at my enthusiasm before answering, "Cello. I'm first chair for the royal orchestra. We were asked to play tonight." That sounded important. I idly wondered what a mare of her stature was doing talking to me. I inquired as to just that as politely as I could between my second and third inhalations of sandwich. She surprised me by chuckling softly and shaking her head, oddly reserved. "I'm not that special. My name is Octavia, by the way. I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage yet," she finally introduced, taking another idle sip of the dark scarlet liquid in her glass while waiting for my reply. "Oh, sorry. I'm not used to these types of parties and, well, I'm a little hungry," I excused, coughing lightly and feeling my cheeks heat up. Here I was supposed to be making a pleasant image for Rarity, and this is what happened. "Regardless, I'm Moon Mender. It's a pleasure to meet you, Octavia," I introduced myself, bowing lightly. I maintained a firm grip on my food, however. I'd be damned if my bad luck quota stole my hard fought prize from me! Octavia momentarily smiled, nodding to me mid-sip before suddenly starting and trying really hard not to choke on her drink. My eyes widened and I gently leaned forward, patting her on the back as she coughed a couple times. "Wait, you're not 'the' Moon Mender, are you?" she questioned skeptically, staring at me in surprise. Oh hell. Was she there this afternoon to see me hauled through the streets? My ears flattened back and I glared. She shook her head rapidly, swaying a hoof in front of her. "No, I'm sorry if I mistook you for somepony else! It's just rumored that Miss Twilight Sparkle's mate is here at the party, and I thought that was his name. I didn't mean to insinuate," she excused rapidly, causing my glare to shift to embarrassment even faster. "Please don't let her hear you say that. She is totally not comfortable with 'mate', I should warn," I groaned, cringing at the prospect of her hearing that. Exhaling weakly, I shoved the last bite of sandwich in my mouth before rapidly chewing. I will digest you before anything can possibly take you away from me, my precious! Octavia tilted her head gently, giving me an inquiring expression. I honestly didn't know what to say. Twilight had said she might not mind spreading it around a bit, and I could always say that I hadn't said anything. She could have easily heard it from somewhere else, of course, but if she'd heard it in the first place, it must be getting a bit more widespread than I realized. "There's only one way you could know that," the black-maned mare pointed out a moment later. I nodded gently and smiled towards her. "I'm just me. Twilight is my fillyfriend, yes, but there's nothing specifically special about me," I explained, trying to form the correct impression. Her eyes widened even further, causing her to look almost like a statue. "Oh my gosh! You're so, well, normal! I figured you'd at least be like one of those guys she's sitting with over there," she reasoned, glancing past me and in the direction of the raised seats. I idly shook my head before pouring myself a glass of punch. It was labeled as raspberry punch, anyway. Seeing as it was practically untouched, I guessed that it was lacking alcohol. "I'm just me. Twilight isn't that kind of pony, either. I think you'd find her really normal as well, at least compared to your expectations," I reasoned, taking a sip and being pleasantly surprised in the truthful label. Octavia smiled pleasantly, looking actually happy for the first time since the conversation started. "That's actually rather refreshing. Seeing as Twilight is busy, I extend the offer to come listen to us until she gets done, if you want. Looks like our break is almost over," she offered, glancing over at the ponies starting to disperse from the stage. Given the amount of cheering, I'd say that Rarity's show was a success. The dignitary booth didn't look any closer to clearing out, however, so I figured Octavia's guess was accurate. Feeling a little more full as well, I shrugged before nodding. "Sure, if you don't mind me hanging around by the stage. I don't exactly have anyplace else to go," I muttered, again trying to hold back the bitterness. She seemed to pick up on it anyway, but apparently realized it wasn't for her and smirked, nodding. "No problem at all, of course. It would be a pleasure, honestly. My friends aren't ones to put on airs, ironic as that sounds for a party such as this," she assured, standing up fully and taking her glass back to the stage with her, lightly carrying it in her mouth. Unwilling to part with my punch, I refilled it back to full before attaching it, barrier and all, to the side of my shoulder, following after the grayish mare. Her friends up on stage greeted her as she approached, then shot a questioning glance past her at me as I wandered up. Being utterly exhausted, I flopped onto my haunches unceremoniously next to the stage. They seemed to almost exhale while watching me. Huh? "See? He's normal. This is 'the' Moon Mender, by the way," she introduced, causing more surprised reactions. They didn't tense up again, however. I glanced across them, noticing a good dozen or so ponies of varying colors, all equipped with classical orchestra instruments. Octavia's was the only cello, however, I noticed. I watched her hop up on stage, resuming a relaxed position behind her larger instrument before nodding down at me, smile still playing at her expression. I squinted my eyes at the change of light in this corner, momentarily glaring up at the rather impressive looking crystal chandelier hanging above the entire stage, radiating its light down upon the entire band. Ugh. It was still too bright, considering I was practically blundering through the dark looking for food a moment ago. Octavia watched the dispersing ponies carefully before giving a gentle nod and wave of her hoof in the air. The instruments came to life instantly, producing a gentle, harmonious sound that wafted over the speakers and across the entire room. I smiled, relaxing a little at the tones. This was definitely a pleasant sort of music, I must admit. The only thing I vaguely remembered from my old world was the stuff that blared out in the barracks all the time. A bunch of new, trendy sounds from our allies' ever pervasive culture. Now that I considered it, their influence was actually a more dangerous weapon than their vastly superior weapon technology had been. Pushing the unpleasant memories away, I relaxed gently against the stage, watching the crowds ebb and flow. * * * * * It was easy to zone in and out when nopony was really paying attention to me. It was even easier after I discovered Octavia's book stash in her cello case. She looked more amused than angry when I peeked inside. She had brought three books with her for the 'before and after' party, she explained. One was a rather, well, vivid romance novel that brought uncomfortable stirrings to myself after the fifth page. Subtle wasn't exactly my thing, so I decided to try another book before I ended up arrested again. The second didn't really interest me in the slightest, being about, oddly enough, vampire ponies. Sure, they were actually likely to exist given the massive level of supernatural and magical occurring in Equestria, but I didn't see the draw in romanticizing getting my blood drained from my body. I kind of needed that! So out of options, I had distracted myself by reading the third book for a good hour or so while listening to the gentle, lulling music. It didn't entirely fit the adventure genre, but it was pleasant enough. "Daring Do" was a fascinating character, admittedly. I wondered idly if Twilight ever read fiction. She seemed too analytical for that kind of thing. I could almost hear her ask, "Why write about something that's fake?!" I chuckled to myself before flipping another page, being treated to Daring haphazardly swinging over a pit of vicious, flesh eating beetles to get at the golden chalice in the center of the temple! "Ha! I heard you'd be here, Tavi!" was suddenly announced from practically right next to me. I let out a startled yelp before falling over sideways, barely managing to catch the book before it spilled to the floor. "Oh! Whoops! Sorry, I didn't see ya there!" the mare's voice apologized suddenly upon me regaining my composure. First glance showed me she had a rather gentle white coat; not pure white but a very bright gray. Her mane surprised me, however, by being a vibrant cyan and dark blue color, worn in a spiky, relaxed manner. I couldn't see her eyes at all through the dark rimmed, purple shades she wore shortly under her horn. Well, she was certainly different. I couldn't place the style, though. "Vinyl? What are you doing here?" Octavia inquired properly, taking a sip of water after. I looked between the two, realizing that they must be acquainted, obviously. Octavia didn't seem truly displeased to see the other mare, so maybe they were friends? Vinyl smirked and nodded to herself before returning, "I heard a certain gray cello player was going to be here and snuck in, of course." What?! I looked up and down at her, noticing she was oddly in a pressed vest and white coat. For sneaking in, she was dressed fairly formally. Of course, if she wanted to blend in, that was really the only way to go. Octavia smirked back and shook her head. "I'm sure you did. Why, I bet the bouncer even blushed and squealed like a little filly before he let the mighty 'Dj Pon-3' in," she reasoned, tone mirthful and amused. Dj? Oh! Disk Jockey! Now I knew what her style reminded me of! 'Dj Pon-3' must be her stage name. "And asked for an autograph, of course! Say, who's your new 'friend' here?" the eccentric Dj asked a moment later, suddenly shifting her attention to me instead. "Only 'the' Moon Mender, mooching off my book supply," she introduced, adding the emphasis yet again onto my name. My ears lowered and I gave Octavia a skeptical glance, asking, "I'm really not that important. Do you have to introduce me to everypony like that?" She just smiled and gave me an amused wink, earning a laugh from Vinyl. I glanced over at the newcomer in time to see her give me a once over, shifting her shades down to peek up and down myself. Her eyes were a soft Crimson, surprisingly, behind the headwear. "Well, it's nice to meet ya! I'm Vinyl Scratch, just in case you haven't heard of me. Dj Pon-3 might be more familiar, of course. I'd heard Twilight Sparkle got a coltfriend, but didn't have a face to put to the name. I have seen you around town, though," she admitted, smiling more warmly before raising her glasses back up. Wait, around town? "Oh, do you live in Ponyville?" I asked, tilting my head to her and closing the book I still held. Reading with the 'sun' right above me was causing serious eyestrain anyway. What was it about crystal chandeliers that made them so bright? Refraction? "Yup! Right on main street. Admittedly, I was impressed by your walking barrel platform," she complimented, snickering lightly. I blushed, earning a surprised yet confused stare from the mare onstage. "Ha. Not my best moment, admittedly. Seriously though, how is everypony finding out that Twilight and I are dating?" I asked, curiosity finally getting the better of me. I'd probably regret it, of course. Vinyl gave a hearty chuckle before shaking her head. "Dude, Twilight Sparkle herself finally finds a stallion to sleep with; that's huge news. She's practically royalty," she explained. My cheeks exploded into heat and I stepped back, lowering my ears slightly. "W-What? Wait, how does anypony know that we, uh," I started to ask before trailing off, realizing that I might have just stepped into a trap. The Dj grinned in impish delight, confirming that I did just step on a social landmine. "Oh ho ho! I wasn't expecting that. So you two have slept together!" she confirmed, dramatic evil laughter tying it in. Octavia slapped her forehead and put her water glass back down. "Vinyl, that's not very proper. And it is sort of assumed, Mender. That is an aspect of dating somepony," the gray mare pointed out gently, in a surprisingly calm manner. I exhaled and nodded, trying to convince myself of the same. "So, how is she in bed?" the mare next to me asked an instant later, causing me to blush again and sigh, giving her a skeptical look. Why did she want to know that? How is that even relevant in the first place? "Vinyl!" Octavia protested, looking utterly shocked. As predicted, she only received an impish smirk in reply. I just shrugged, however. "I don't really think it's that big of a deal, now that Octavia says that," I assured, ears drooping still as I wished for a different topic regardless. Vinyl, for what it was worth, looked delighted. "See?! That's an awesome attitude to have about things! Live and experience, I always say. So, about that question?" she reminded, winking to me. I rolled my eyes and decided to take a stab in the dark. "Well, she's relaxing, I suppose. Oh, and very warm. Oh, and she makes this cute little squeaking noise when she falls asleep," I tried to relay. She really was adorable, even when sleeping. Well, actually she was all kinds of different adorable while sleeping. The Dj's reaction was less than satisfactory, however. Her smirk fell away, replaced by a stunned, vaguely disbelieving look. "Wait, relaxing? She falls asleep?!" she asked, sounding like the concept was completely foreign for her. Well, maybe it was if she lived that much of a night life, but I assumed she'd be dead a long while ago if she never slept at all. I tilted my head towards her, inquiring, "Isn't that a good thing?" "Uh, no! I think you're doing something wrong, Dude. What are you doing, actually, if it's not too much to ask?" she asked, still sounding unsure and looking at me like I had grown a second head. I checked just to make sure while peeking back at Octavia for help. Nope, still just the one head. The cello player looked surprised as well, but with an oddly pink tint to her cheeks as she held her hooves up to her mouth. What the hell?! "Uh, do? Well, I mostly just lay there, like she does. Um, why?" I asked cautiously, starting to wonder if I was committing another strange faux pas. I swore I saw the cyan and dark blue maned mare twitch lightly. "What is wrong with you?! Do you honestly want her to dump you? Not that she's not partially to blame, but still!" Vinyl started to complain, stomping her hooves around while flailing about in a surprisingly active anger. I flinched and shrunk back, ears lowering significantly. I knew what 'dump' meant, and it brought an icy knife wound to my chest almost instantly. Oddly, a look of dawning comprehension flashed onto Octavia's face when I glanced back up at her, trying to get a second opinion before freaking out and rushing over to Twilight to beg for forgiveness. "Oh! Oh. Uh, Vinyl, I think you two may be talking about totally different things," she pointed out, causing me to freeze. We were?! Oh thank you! Maybe that meant that Twilight wasn't hiding anything from me that she might potentially dump me for. Vinyl stopped her rage-induced stomping and glanced over at her friend, somehow projecting a questioning look without us being able to see her eyes or eyebrows. If I remembered, I'd have to ask her how she did that later. "You know, you're supposed to relax in bed, right? It helps you get to sleep?" Octavia reminded, raising her eyebrow as well. Finally, logic! This I could work with. I exhaled quietly, waiting for the verdict. Vinyl gave a deadpan stare at both of us before shrinking a little. "Oh. Oh dang. Well, yeah. Okay, that makes me feel so much better. Dang, Dude. You seriously need to stop joking around like that! I thought you were serious for a second there!" she exclaimed, wobbling about as if her blood pressure was still spiked from her rant. Technically, I was serious, but I probably shouldn't mention that. Instead I just laughed awkwardly and agreed with, "Ha! Yeah, sorry." I'll probably never know what actually went wrong there, but at least Twilight wasn't going to dump me, I decided. "Well, might I suggest you let me get back to playing before this conversation gets any further awkward?" Octavia asked, directing her unsteady expression towards the Dj. Vinyl smirked and nodded, agreeing with, "It's all good. Oh, and look me up when you get back to town, Mender! You're definitely a cool stallion." I blushed and smiled, rubbing the back of my head with my right forehoof. "Nah. I'm just me. Nothing special, like I said earlier," I protested, not taking to this public awareness thing with much grace. Twilight was really popular! The almost white unicorn gave a hearty laugh before shaking her head. "You're too modest for this whole celebrity thing. You need to come visit me more often as well, Tavi!" she declared, slamming her hoof down on the stage next to Octavia and earning a slightly annoyed stare. I listened to the boards creak under the blow and sighed. It was indeed a cheap reconstruction job. They were either stingy or rushed, I decided. "I usually do visit you when I come to Ponyville, Vinyl. It's not my fault that I need to sift aside a veritable mountain of garbage from your decadent lifestyle to merely find a place to sit," she shot back, tongue rather barbed. I was impressed. Vinyl grinned wider, apparently taking the jab in stride. Her mouth opened, undoubtedly to return another venomous verbal volley, when the creaking echoed and reverberated through the wood I was leaning against. My frown hit instantly and I pushed my ear to the stage. There was a straining sound and a light vibration that got more distant, shooting into the back wall the stage was connected to. My eyes widened as I watched the line of dust shoot up the wall behind the stage, disappearing into the repaired ceiling in an instant. A split? But that meant that something heavy was being anchored to the... I looked up, swallowing as I saw the massive chandelier shiver suddenly before lowering barely half an inch. Son of a bitch. All of those lovely, sharp, pointy crystals were aimed downwards at a most unfortunate angle as the entire form gave another sway, crack visibly appearing in the wall. My right forehoof slid Octavia's book towards her cello while my left flared with energy as fast as I could manage to draw it. There was no way I could move the stage out of the way before it fell, so there was only two options. I could shield them all from the falling crystal monstrosity, of course, but the surface area involved was roughly seven or eight times what I tried before. I doubted the shield would hold for any significant amount of time. Alternatively, I could move the chandelier as it fell. This time I had the advantage of only one object descending towards me at high velocity, after all. I wasn't given time to think of anything else, sadly. Less than two seconds after I noticed the first sway, there was a brutal cracking noise from above the thing and it dropped. Aww hell. Simply acting at that point, I hopped up onto the stage as it dropped. Everypony looked up at almost the same time when the noise sounded out. Octavia's eyes widened and she screamed as I kicked off the chair next to her, using a barrier to boost my jump as best I could. The chair went flying as I snagged my hoof in it, but it was far too late to worry about clumsy reactions. My hoof extended out, reaching for the center extension of the chandelier as it descended. The rest of me braced for impact just in case I missed. Of course, a second later I realized I could have simply stepped back from the stage and avoided the chandelier entirely. Ah well. Instinct is a bitch sometimes. * * * * * Okay, this plan could have done with a little more thinking through before I implemented it. I rotated yet again as I flipped through the air, drifting two-dozen meters over the ballroom while clinging to a spiky, crystal disk of misfortune and death. And now it was flipping like a coin and threatening to rob me of my hard fought sandwich, of course. I clung to the side of it as best I could, wincing as I tried to think happy, non-spinning thoughts. Okay, so what had gone wrong? I reviewed what had led up to this disaster carefully in my mind. My hoof had touched the metal of the chandelier, of course, activating my magic, which first canceled its downward momentum, then used automatically adjusting micro-thrusters to apply an antigravity effect. That had worked perfectly fine. Mistake number one was to not account for getting caught in the burst of energy. I fired it off too fast, and got hit with the cast-off effect. Losing my gravity as well, I guess I was really lucky when I managed to only get a small nick to my suit when I slipped between the fields of sharp and pointy crystals, safely getting to the significantly less pointy top of the chandelier. Mistake number two. Failing to account for what my own forward momentum would do to the now stagnant lighting arrangement. Of course, upon smacking into the center of it, I knocked it upwards at a slight angle. I was momentarily stunned upon impact and failed to correct the velocity before it smacked into the wall behind the stage. That started the bloody flipping motion. Now I was too dizzy and unsure of my own timing to try counter-thrusting to push it in any given direction. Chances are, given my skills and luck, I'd send the spiked disk of misfortune and death directly down into the gasping crowds below me. Or are they above me now? I couldn't figure it out and just clung to the hot metal as best I could. Figures they'd use actual fire to light the stupid thing. I also singed one of my sleeves trying to avoid the perpetually burning magical candle things that were on this side. What a choice. Sharp and pointy or hot and burning? No, wait. Gotta look on the bright side, Mender. I had at least another five or six minutes of life left before my magic wore out and I crashed into the floor in a giant shrapnel fireball, undoubtedly killing myself instantly along with several dozen innocent bystanders. "Help!" I yelped again after completing yet another rotation. There were dozens of unicorns down there. This thing, even including myself, wouldn't take that much at all to stop the rotation. My spell would make it virtually weightless in regards of momentum. Hell, Twilight could do it while sleeping, I had no doubt. Still, I shouldn't rely on her to save me every time I get into trouble. I finally managed to rotate myself to line up with the direction the crystal chandelier kept flipping. I waited once again for the thing to be right-side up before killing the antigravity on myself and throwing my squishy body against the side that was raising into the air as hard as I could. I winced as one of the candles exploded against my side, singing my suit lightly, but the rotation managed to completely stop and even out. Scuttling backwards, I re-balanced myself in the center of the blasted thing and left my anti-gravity off. The spell on the chandelier only accounted for its own mass, so mine added to it was causing it to slowly lower in the direction of the ground now. I was still drifting to the side, however. Looking ahead of me now, I swallowed wearily as I saw the full size bay window rapidly approaching. If I broke through that before I touched down, this thing would drift off over the cliff edge. My magic would exhaust itself before I would be able to land then, and the remainder of my brief fall would have a very painful end to it, I imagined. I hoped for a pegasi in the crowd that might be able to recover me before being pancaked into the ground. "Mender!" I heard in Rarity's voice from beneath me somewhere. I peeked down below the chandelier as I sailed. The crowds below were clearing, making a painfully obvious path of potential destruction should my impromptu flying saucer crash and burn prior to hitting the window. I saw that no effort was given to providing cushions, of course. Joy. Rarity surprisingly ran along directly under me, however. She looked up with a shocked, yet attentive expression. Oh! "My spell is making the chandelier really light! You should be able to lower me with your magic. Please watch out for the spikes on the bottom, though!" I called down as loud as I could over the panicked murmurs and screams below. Rarity slowed, lagging behind the chandelier for a moment before her horn flared up with a light-blue energy. My eyes widened as a billowing aura surrounded the entire chandelier. The speed of my descent increased significantly and I heard a sudden yelp. Hmm, perhaps she would have expected the mass a little better if I had said weightless rather than really light? Rarity overcompensated. Badly. The chandelier hit the ground hard with the crystals digging in. Nopony was under it as far as I could tell, thankfully. Not so thankfully, the crystals shattered and fragmented, not only flipping the entire chandelier while I was still on it, but spraying the shards at high velocity in every conceivable direction. That adrenalin rush hit again and everything slowed down. I casually flipped through the air, flung free of the top of the chandelier and tossed like a rag doll. The spell came free when my hoof lost contact with the metal, and all the energy snapped back into myself. The chandelier, returning to full weight instantly, anticlimactically flopped along the floor on its top, spinning in a lazy rotation. The energy left me in the same instant as I fired it from my hoof as hard as I could. The cone-shaped barrier momentarily formed an exceedingly unorthodox long-jump pole as it cratered into the floor of the ballroom. The rogue shards from the chandelier were encapsulated instantly, however, smashing into the inside of my makeshift cone as I trapped them all. I smiled momentarily as my shield predictably failed a second later, letting a few thousand crystal shards fall to the floor rather harmlessly. If I were fast enough, hardly any would have gotten free of my barrier, though. That was all I could do. Going limp, I let myself rotate once more in the air before descending harshly towards the floor, ironically headed right for the slowing chandelier. It would seem I couldn't be rid of the damn thing. Unfortunately for me, the spiked side was pointed up now. My descent slowed significantly as I was caught in a light-blue aura. I went rigid as to not put any undue strain on her magic as she let out a gasp and grunt, straining against the force of the spell. Twilight ran up at high speed a moment later, shoving her way through the crowd before snagging me in her own purple and crimson light. Rarity let out a pained sigh before slumping over onto her stomach, mindful of the shards of crystal everywhere. Twilight had no issue carrying me over to her at all, of course. "Mender, are you okay?! What happened?" she asked rapidly, sounding worried, as usual. I seemed to bring out the best in her. "Several failed attempts at slowing down a stupid chandelier," I groaned, feeling exceedingly tired. That hadn't taken as much energy as the shield did earlier with Rarity, however, so I managed to stand on my own four hooves when set down. Rarity frowned, slowly sitting up again. "That was horrible. This is hardly becoming behavior for a gentlecolt, Mender! What were you doing surfing a chandelier across the room in the first place, I dare ask?" she questioned, looking a little miffed at me. I lowered my ears and opened my mouth to explain when I was cut off anyway. "Hey, isn't that the same stallion that was being moved through the streets in chains earlier this afternoon?" I heard asked from an unknown voice behind me somewhere. Spinning around, I saw nopony in particular talking, but a rush of murmurs and whispering spread out through the crowd almost instantly. I deflated, ears now dropping into negative angles in regards to my head. Oh crap. That was the last thing I wanted them to remember. Twilight surprised me by hauling me against herself a second later, wrapping both of her forelegs around me. The whispers picked up, but she glared over my head at the crowd as she hid me from sight using herself. Her ears flattened back as well, giving her a more hostile look than sad, however. Was she actually defending me?! Rarity shrunk a little under the overwhelming negative attention, and seemed unsure of herself and what to do for a moment. "Wait! Stop!" was suddenly called out to my left, Twilight's right. Octavia and Vinyl managed to squeeze through the growing crowd of ponies. "He saved Vinyl and I, along with the entire orchestra when the chandelier fell from the ceiling! If he hadn't intercepted it, I'd be dead," the gray earth mare defended, swiveling about and looking at the crowd as she spun. Vinyl nodded and ran over to me at the same time, sliding to a stop in front of Twilight. "Is he okay?" Vinyl asked a moment later, raising her glasses up to get a better look at me. I smiled to her and nodded gently. "I'm fine, Vinyl. A little worked up, but I'm just glad nopony got hurt," I muttered wearily. Twilight smiled down at me and nodded. "Making friends in high places while almost killing yourself is certainly better than just almost killing yourself," she pointed out, relaxing enough to stab me with her barbed wit, I noticed. Vinyl snickered and nonchalantly shook a hoof at her. "He's definitely a cool dude! That high flying ride was totally awesome, too! Uh, minus the almost dying and squishing a bunch of random ponies, of course," she corrected a moment later, letting her shades slide back down with a nod and raised hoof to the ceiling. "You have such a way with words, Vinyl," Octavia muttered, walking up much more slowly. The crowd shrunk in on us a little further now that the imminent threat of flying crystal shards appeared to be suppressed. I managed a soft snort, sitting up fully against Twilight. "Just about like me most of the time, don't worry. It wouldn't be a complete day if I didn't insert my hoof into my mouth at least once," I sympathized, hoping the expression wouldn't be lost on them. Vinyl grinned and nodded enthusiastically while Octavia just snickered. She had a soft expression on, however, and I almost swore she was giving me an exceedingly fonder expression, if that was indeed a word. Meanwhile, Rarity was recovering nicely. "Oh my! I should have known you wouldn't go sailing around like that purely for entertainment like a certain other mare we know. Now you're a hero!" she exclaimed, quite a bit louder than I would have liked. My blush magnified and I started rapidly shaking my head. Like I really wanted to leap up into a spiked disk. Again, if anypony else could have done the same thing or better, by all means I would have let them. A hero felt like they did things like that intentionally. It felt like it was something one attempted to represent. All I did was what I had to at any given moment to minimize grief to those around me. That didn't sound very heroic to me. The crowd actively parted as a large stallion I recognized as Fancypants approached. The lithe figure of Fleur was next to him, of course. Now that I saw him up close, I realized he wasn't as huge as I mistook him for the first time we met. Of course, I was quite a bit intimidated for other reasons back then. Now that I got a proper look, I realized that Big Mac was larger yet. Ironically, the red stallion didn't intimidate me nearly as much, given his gentle and passive outlook. "I dare say, we meet again, young one!" he declared, getting a closer look at me as he approached. I shrank a little bit, causing Twilight to frown and pull me closer again. He frowned a little as well and slowed in his approach, then drew to a complete halt when the lavender unicorn's horn started glowing softly while she watched him. "Twilight, this is Fancypants himself! What are you doing?" Rarity asked, intersecting herself between Twi and the well-dressed stallion. Twilight shook her head wearily, eyes not leaving Fancypants. "You were the one who had him arrested earlier, weren't you? The guard report didn't name anypony, but you just said this wasn't the first time you met," she deduced quietly, not letting me go. I looked up at her curiously, my cheeks heating up even more. What was she doing? Rarity shook with a start, pupils seeming to almost shrink as she suddenly looked back and forth between Fancypants and myself. "W-Wait, seriously?!" she asked in apparent disbelief. Fancypants smiled, however, and sat down at his current distance before nodding. "Yes, I was. I'll be the first to say that it was also a terrible misunderstanding and that Mender is truly innocent. No, I dare say he's a true knight after that rather bold rescue! I offer my deepest apologies. Moon Mender, correct?" I turned and looked at him in surprise, not having expected him to actually admit that I was innocent. Didn't that look negatively upon himself instead, then? Regardless, I nodded gently after a moment's consideration. "Yes sir. My name's Moon Mender. I live in Ponyville with Twilight," I informed nervously, trying to be as proper as I could think of. He smiled and chuckled at my reply. "Yes, I heard the rumors, but didn't connect you to said 'Moon Mender'. You have excellent tastes, Miss Sparkle," he complimented, standing up fully again. The murmuring picked up a lot louder than before, to the point where I could hear a few exclamations of shock. Then my ears deflated again as I heard whispers of a secret agent and rendezvous with Princess Celestia. Damn it. Twilight smiled finally and hugged me tighter regardless, seemingly happy that I was unhurt. "Is anypony injured from the crash?" I heard a guard start asking towards the back of the crowds. I exhaled softly and just rested against Twi. Rarity joined the three other mares surrounding me, smiling down at me in a pleased manner. "Knight, huh? I'd say that's definitely a livable title," she admitted, giving me an exaggerated wink. Her cheeks were a faint rosy color, however. I exhaled softly, glad that my original purpose for being here hadn't been ruined. Admittedly, I had no idea how everything had worked out and felt dizzy trying to remember what just happened, but it was more than enough to have arrived at a satisfactory outcome. Rarity fanned herself, however. Her cheeks were indeed a pink shade and she exhaled softly. "I might get a spot of air, however. I'm suddenly a bit, um, distraught. Too much excitement, I think," she excused softly. Twilight lost her smile and gave Rarity an inquiring glance. "Are you all right, Rarity? You strained your magic pretty good, there," the lavender mare asked. I picked up a definite trace of worry in her voice and suddenly remembered what it was like when I burned through too much energy. "I'll be fine, Dear! Thank you for your concern, but it's nothing a bit of fresh air won't fix," she assured before turning and heading towards the balcony near the main entry to the room. Glancing up at Twilight, she shot me a worried look back. "I'm afraid she used up too much of her magic. We should go with her to make sure she doesn't collapse or anything," she warned, looking back up and watching her friend disappear out onto the balcony. "Oh, good idea! Magic headaches are worse than hangovers!" Vinyl agreed, shuddering softly as she seemed to remember her own less than fond memories. Octavia gave her a playful shove, which only resulted in a grin being returned. "What she meant to say is, with the stage destroyed, we have nowhere else to play our music and have been relieved for the remainder of the evening. Would you two mind if we tagged along?" the gray mare asked politely, that soft accent that I couldn't seem to place rearing its head again. It was too subtle for me to put a comparison on it. Twilight smiled softly at her and shook her head, assuring, "Of course I don't mind. I'm not sure what's upsetting Rarity, however, so could you hang back for a moment until I make sure it's nothing private?" Octavia nodded politely to the request while Vinyl was busy looking a little distracted. "Actually, I think I'm going to take a detour anyway. I haven't eaten supper yet, and that food over there looks rather promising!" the Dj decided, sliding to a halt and glancing over at the banquet table where I was earlier. Twilight stopped as well, oddly, and frowned. "Actually, I just realized you're right. If Rarity is having magical exhaustion issues, sustenance is high up on the priority. I'm going to get some real quick sandwiches and tea for us all. Go on ahead, Mender," she requested. I nodded gently before turning and continuing to walk towards the balcony. Octavia trailed along after me, lingering back as promised once we neared. So, how was I supposed to go about making her feel better? Or figuring out what was ailing her in the first place? Yes, priorities, Mender. Why the hell did Twilight send me of all ponies in first?! I had about as much social graces as a rotting pineapple. Considering it wasn't sentient, that really said something. "Hey, Rarity. How are you feeling?" I asked softly, figuring the best bet would be to start by announcing my presence. Preferably in a way that didn't freak her out and send her careening off the balcony. She started lightly but turned her head to the side, smiling back at me. The moonlight did a nice job of accenting her purple, curled mane. The amount of effort she put into her appearance really came through for her. "Oh, hello, Mender. You didn't have to check up on me, you know," she assured, looking pleased that I had regardless. "You're my friend, Rarity. Of course I'm going to worry about you, especially after you exerted yourself to such an extent," I reminded, slowing and finally stopping next to her and peeking out at the night sky. It was gorgeous, honestly. I loved looking up and seeing the thousands of stars in the sky. The moon hung low as well, a gentle three fourths of the way full and spreading a milky blue illumination over the castle architecture. "You are truly a Dear. A knight or prince, even. Fancypants is right," she muttered, smiling to herself and chuckling at a quiet joke I didn't know. Frowning, I glared up at the stars. Were they the same stars that I would have seen in my other life? "I'm just me, Rarity. I'm not a knight or prince. I don't even know how to properly eat using utensils. I'm not a hero, either. Saving the ponies on the stage happened exactly the same way as destroying that ship in the other dimension," I refuted, putting my left hoof on the railing. The symbol on it glowed lightly in the moonlight, serving as a permanent reminder of that choice. "What do you mean, same way?" she inquired softly, looking over at me with a certain air of curiosity, brilliant blue eyes almost glowing in the light. I exhaled and shook my head again, looking down at the railing. "It's wrong, what everypony said. I'm not a hero. A hero strives to match those traits that define them. I was scared. Terrified even. If anypony else could have done it, I would have gladly let them, even. I didn't want to die. But the alternative, if I didn't do what I did in each situation, was to let others pay the price instead. I only did what I had to in order to minimize the suffering," I elaborated, scraping my left hoof along the smooth stone. I didn't feel a thing, of course. The right hoof was tactile and responsive. The nerves in my left were all but destroyed. Rarity looked sad for a moment. I wished Twilight would hurry up and get back with the food. I wasn't good at talking, and was prone to long tangents that didn't really help matters, it would seem. "Even if you didn't want to be a hero, you still are one, Mender. As frustrated as it probably makes you, you could have simply walked away so many times. You didn't, though. Because of that, just today alone, a dozen ponies are still alive. Even if you'd rather it not happen in the first place, it did. Fate is, well, strange like that," she muttered, looking far off towards the end, as if talking about something else. I looked back over at her, unsure of what to say. I suppose that if it had to happen, and nopony else was capable of fixing it, me doing so was a good thing. Well, that much was obvious. But necessity didn't make me feel heroic. Then it was just my duty. "A real knight; not just some fairytale fantasy. Polite and kind, yet flawed. That's why it's so hard. I don't know what to do anymore," she groaned, pressing the bottom of her horn gently into the railing. I sensed frustration, but didn't know what to do about it. "Rarity, what's really bothering you?" I asked, suddenly getting a suspicion she wasn't fatigued after all. She looked back up at me, eyes dancing lightly again. "Can I pretend, if only for a moment, Mender? Just one, selfish moment?" she asked; no, pleaded as she turned to face me more fully. I frowned, tilting my head towards her, unsure of what she was asking, let alone of how to fulfill it. Octavia's eyes widened in the very edge of my peripheral vision. Rarity shivered and winced, seemingly fighting amidst herself as a light pink tint lit along her cheeks again. She'd done this earlier, too. Idly, I wondered at the connection. I didn't get a chance to formulate the thought further, however. Time slammed on the breaks as she leaned up spontaneously and gently pressed her lips against mine. My mind froze, unable to process the information in the slightest. Floppy disk smashed into a USB port. She wasn't urgent or needy; just content in feeling the heat between us with the gentlest of pushing motions. Her body let out a shiver and a light hum, snapping time back into motion an instant later. I gasped and stepped back away from her, breaking contact as fast as I could. Wait, what the hell?! I stared at her in shock as she kept her eyes closed, head still angled gently where she'd left off. Slowly she lowered it and made a sniffing noise, shaking her head rapidly. The sound of a tray hitting stone, followed by a series of shattering noises sounded out to my right. Octavia let out a light squeaking noise in surprise, snapping to attention as I turned to look in that direction. She was staring in horror at Twilight, who in turn was staring in utter shock at Rarity. A tray of sandwiches, broken glass, and spilled tea rested at her hooves, a giveaway on the source of the sound. Vinyl stood to her right, actually raising her eyebrows above the rims of her shades this time. "Whoa!" she muttered a moment later. Rarity snapped back to attention and looked to her left at her friend. Her expression shifted between disbelief and horror in a heartbeat. "Oh! Oh no. No, no, no... I didn't mean to, um, do that. That was just, oh Celestia, what did I just do?!" she asked, more to herself than anything. My mind whirled, hauling me along with it as I suddenly felt dizzy. What just happened?! Tears built up in Rarity's eyes. She made a sound halfway between a sob and choking before taking off at full speed, galloping past the shocked looking Twilight and heading back into the crowded, deathly silent ballroom. Twilight slowly turned, several seconds too slow, and looked back at where Rarity had shot off to moments before. The white unicorn had made a beeline for the main exit, knocking aside several other ponies and drawing effectively the entire room's attention as she went. She was already gone, out the door now. My fillyfriend slowly turned back to me instead, mouth finally closing now and being replaced by a grimace instead. My ears lowered and I started shivering instantly. Oh hell. I was dead. I was so dead. She was going to launch me off the balcony with such force that I might break orbit. Her burning stare tore into my very soul for a long, five seconds. It felt like five years when her eyes finally softened. "I knew it. I just knew it. No. No, blaming you would be foolish," she sighed a moment later, lowering her gaze and shaking her head. I let out a whimpering noise and sunk to the floor, having literally no idea what to say or do in this situation. "You were just as surprised as I was, and pulled away. Relax, Mender. Stay put; I'm going to go look for Rarity. We apparently have quite a bit we need to talk about," she requested, straightening herself and glancing back towards the entrance of the room. "Twilight," I muttered weakly, unsure of if I should be saying something or not. What the hell was I supposed to do? She sighed and shook her head again, however. In a flash of light, she reappeared in an instant right in front of me. I panicked for a moment before she reached out and gently hugged me against herself. "It's all right, Mender. Just stay at the party. A lot is going through Rarity's head, from what I could tell. I need to find and talk to her. She has some explaining to do. I'll be back in a bit, hopefully," she instructed. My heart slowed its breakneck pace slightly and I managed to nod. She smiled momentarily before disappearing in another flash of light. This time, however, she didn't reappear. Octavia exhaled weakly, looking about as tired as I suddenly felt. It dawned slowly on me as I glanced back over at the two musicians. Rarity had kissed me. Rarity liked me, and I hadn't had the slightest clue before just now. Why? That was the true question. Neither mare in front of me seemed to know, their expressions simply serving to give me more questions than answers. Damn it all to hell. Well, there goes another potential 'ordinary' night.
Chapter 25Twilight let out a yelp as her head cracked off the wall, temporarily stunning her. I wasn't entirely sure of her abilities, so I didn't want to take any chances. The blankets constricted further, going all the way up to the base of her neck and keeping a tight hold there. My barriers were primed and ready to go in a heartbeat if needed. My eyes narrowed as I glared at her a moment before spitting to the side, trying to get her taste out of my mouth. Ugh. "W-What are you doing, Mender?" she finally managed to stutter, gasping for air as she tried to raise her head up higher. I snorted, watching her carefully for any sudden moves. "Cute. Who are you really?" I asked cautiously. She stared down at me, eyes wide with shock before asking, "W-What are you talking about?" Her voice was timid, sounding exactly like the familiar lavender unicorn. Scarily similar. I was starting to get annoyed at this point. "It all fits. The static I heard before you got here. Not mentioning Rarity probably being at Fluttershy's and simply going to check there. Giving up on the search for Rarity in the first place. None of these things are something Twilight would do," I pointed out. Her eyes started to water and she opened her mouth, but I continued first. "Further, Twilight and I haven't progressed this far in our relationship. She would... She wouldn't have said that she loved me. Or tried to do what you just tried to do." "M-Mender, it really is," she started to protest before I hauled her closer, momentarily distracted by the slight bruise the right side of her face bore. "Lastly, Twilight's eyes are lavender, not pink," I finished, staring right into her bright pink eyes. Hers widened while mine narrowed. A quiet second passed by, and she suddenly smiled. It was that same saucy grin she wore before. "Clever. Is this better?" she asked casually. I watched, anger rising as her eyes shifted from pink to the purple I was used to. Damn it. Why hadn't I noticed sooner? Sure it was dark down there, but still, her behavior was ridiculous. "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked again, more slowly this time as my voice lowered. Twilight was probably at Rarity's still. Rarity was probably home after all with Spike there. I subdued this mare easily, so Twilight could have stomped her into the dirt without looking. No, Twilight was fine. "Aww, but I just want to have some no strings attached fun, Mender. I even went to all of this effort to look like your girlfriend. So, how about it? We have a juicy little romp, you pretend to have fallen asleep, and I'm gone and out of sight before anyone's the wiser," she offered pleasantly. Her voice shifted at the same time and I noted 'anyone' as if a flare was attached to it. Not that I needed the clue, as I recognized the voice anyway. "Nirru? What the hell?!" I asked, backing away from her a little. How? How was this even possible?! Everything pointed at Keela. I'd told her about Twilight, Spike, bits of Equestria, my friends... She grinned and smiled at me before nodding. "Of course. Keela attempting to contact you and warn you was probably what you heard earlier, but I blocked her from communicating. I only want one thing, Mender. Give it to me and I'll leave. You'll never have to deal with us ever again," she assured, eyes half-lidding as she licked her lips towards me. No, this didn't make sense. Why was she even doing this? "Why do you want to mate with me?" I asked carefully, shifting to my left a little as she floated in the air, not trying to resist in the slightest. Her eyes closed a moment later and she sighed. "You have something we need, and that's one of the fastest ways to get it. I don't give a shit if the council likes it or not. I'm going to save our species, one way or another." There it was. It clicked into place and I sighed again. "You think I have Keldarian DNA left that can be used to help repopulate," I muttered, losing the anger I had. It was hard to stay mad at somepony blatantly lying to themselves. "I know you have the DNA," she corrected, losing her smile and just watching me now. "You know that one Keldarian isn't going to be enough to jump start our species again, right? Even if this new form somehow didn't screw with my DNA, there's not enough diversity in just me for that to work," I warned, shuddering internally at the thousands of complications that would stem from that. Disease, mutation, genetic abnormality, and massive amounts of defects would probably cause them to die out in all of four or five generations if they were lucky. "That's my problem, not yours. All I'm asking is for you to just sit back and enjoy yourself for a bit. In return, I'll break the link myself and send you your stupid book back," she offered, shifting to a business approach instead, it would seem. I opened my mouth to protest when both of us were interrupted by the sound of the door opening downstairs. Uh oh. Had Twilight gotten impatient and come looking for me? Well this would be rather easy to explain if so, and she'd have her proof right here and now. "Twi, are ya up there? Applejack and I saw you hit the door on your way in and were worried," Rainbow called out from below, causing my heart to fall into my stomach. Damn it. Okay, this was going to be harder than I thought. "Work with me! We'll get them to leave, then we can mate and it'll be over. You won't have to worry about us any further," Nirru whispered, shifting back to Twilight's voice and causing me to shiver. The sensation of knowing who she actually was felt largely like nails on a chalkboard that was strapped to the back of my skull. Damn. If I got them to go away, maybe I could talk some sense into her? This was crazy. "Twi, are ya okay up there? Mender told us about tha disks, an’ Ah had ah few more questions if ya don’t mind. He up there with ya?" Applejack asked a second later, earning another annoyed groan from Nirru. I paced lightly in place, unsure of what I should do. If I let her go and had her help me get them to leave, they'd probably tell Twilight anyway and then I'd get in trouble for tricking them. But if I tried to convince them that this was some freaky space version of Twilight here trying to seduce me because she's off her rocker, I had a feeling that would go over as well as a barrel of rotten apples dumped over their heads. “Okay, just help me talk to them, Nirru. I’m sure we can explain things in a way that doesn’t make me sound cra… Any more crazy, and that will help both of us,” I suggested in a whisper, looking back up at her as she drifted. Nirru hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and adding, "Idiot." I glared at her before widening my eyes in shock as she yanked herself backwards. Her back and side crashed into the wall again and she let out a muffled yelp before adding in, "Ahh! H-Help!" What?! Oh. Oh hell. "Twi!" I heard Rainbow shout from the stairs, followed by a powerful flapping noise as she undoubtedly took to the air. I took a few steps back away from the bed, looking back and forth between Nirru and the stairs. A heartbeat passed and she was there. Dash took in the situation with rapidly widening eyes, mouth slowly dropping open as her orange friend cleared the top of the stairs and split second later. "What in Equestria are ya doin', Mender?" Applejack asked, eyes rapidly joining Rainbow's in size. Son of a... I rapidly tried to think of something; anything I could say to convince them of what was actually going on, but it all sounded so far-fetched that I didn't know what to go with. "H-He hit me, and then wrapped me up," Nirru whimpered in Twilight's voice, making sure to show the right side of her head where blood now trickled down. The shift was like watching a train looming towards me in slow motion. Applejack's eyes slowly narrowed and filled with an indescribable rage as she shifted her gaze towards me. I shuddered and backed away, panic drifting readily into me now. Oh crap. Uh, she appreciated the truth the most! "This isn't Twilight! This is Nirru, one of the people from my dimension," I rapidly explained, shifting closer to the bed in case I needed soft things for something. You never knew when you'd need something soft! "Mender, just let her go and we'll talk about this, okay?" Dash suggested, looking unsure of the situation rather than pissed, surprisingly. "Yer crazy. Yer absolutely crazy. Let her go, or Ah'm gonna buck ya so hard yer ancestors'll feel it!" she warned, slowly stepping closer to me, one hoof at a time. Oh hell! Shifting Nirru, I intersected her between the two of us to ward off any potential charges. "I'm telling the truth! She's the crazy one! She said she was here to try to seduce me or something," I defended, peeking out from around the blankets. "He's crazy! He said he was tired of waiting and he," Nirru 'sobbed', burying her face in the blankets surrounding her. What?! "He tried to do things to me!" she finally managed to yell out. I pulled the blankets tighter against her to shut her up, but it was probably a little too late at that point. Applejack looked livid and was actually shaking in rage while glaring at me. Rainbow was just frowning, looking a little upset but still seeming unsure. "Mender, calm down and just let her go. AJ and I aren't going to hurt you. Let's just talk about this," she reasoned. I paused, not realizing the hoof I was touching the blankets with was shivering uncontrollably. It felt like a ball of ice had settled in my stomach and I further retreated. Applejack looked like she was going to murder me, which kind of lowered the believability of the cyan pegasus' claim. "Twilight's at Rarity's! Go and check for yourself, Rainbow! Applejack can stay here until you get back," I reasoned, swallowing hard. I couldn't stop my stupid hoof from shaking, and I suddenly felt like crying. That wasn't possible, though. I couldn't let Nirru hurt my friends! "Oh no. Yer not gonna split us up. Let her go, Mender. Now," Applejack demanded yet again, voice dropping into a tone I'd never heard her hit before. Rainbow herself hesitated, though. She believed me? No, she felt the tension and utter horror coming off me through the empathy link. "Just put her down, Mender. Then I'll go check at Rarity's," she finally offered. Crap. Well, that was a lot better than not believing me at all. "Yer kiddin', right? Ya actually believe that hogwash, RD?" Applejack asked skeptically, glaring over at her friend instead for a moment. Rainbow surprised me by glaring back. "He at least deserves the benefit of the doubt! Sure, it's crazy, but so is me flying through space and him taking out a giant ship!" she pointed out, sounding a little irritated. I swallowed weakly, but peeked out from behind the blanketed mass again, hoping maybe that this could be resolved in a non-violent manner. Heck, Applejack could buck me all she wanted so long as Nirru wasn't allowed to be free. I'd certainly prefer she didn't, but given her expression, I decided that wasn't bloody likely. More static sensation resounded into my skull, but I ignored it entirely. Keela could wait. Applejack looked momentarily taken aback before scowling and returning her gaze to me. "Fine. But only after he lets Twi go," she finally acquiesced. I swallowed and shifted back a little, unsure of myself. "I just don't want her to hurt you. If I let her go, I'm not sure if I could defend you from her if needed," I explained uneasily, finally managing to get my hoof under control and force it to stop shivering. A few cold swallows later and I slowed my heartbeat as well. Rainbow momentarily looked surprised before narrowing her eyes slightly. Huh?! Her stance spread out along with her wings as she slowly started sidestepping, putting distance between herself and Applejack while remaining oriented on me. She was widening the flank I needed to defend. Crap. Why was she suddenly mad at me? Applejack lowered herself as well upon noticing her friend's reaction, staying her ground and blocking me off from the stairs. I swallowed, my heartbeat speeding back up again almost instantly. Damn it! A short scream of rage sounded off inside my head, and the static burst through, finally releasing a panting voice. "Nirru! What the hell are you doing?! This isn't what you said you'd do! You were supposed to talk to them and discuss the matter!" Keela suddenly demanded, sounding utterly pissed off. It seemed like everypony here was pissed except for me. "I'm doing what you're too afraid to do. Save our species," Nirru whispered under her breath into the blankets, sounding indignant instead. There was a huff, followed by, "You're hurting innocent bystanders. Stop this, Sis! Just tell them that he's not lying and talk it over!" Keela pleaded, calming down a little. She had helped her sister get here? Although their plan seemed to have deviated significantly, I noticed. My feelings were suddenly conflicted over her involvement and I frowned, looking up at Nirru as the Keldarian turned pony hesitated, frowning to herself. My mistake was noticed several hundredths of a second too late. To maintain the barrier over Nirru, I didn't have any on myself. Looking away from them was all the opening Dash had needed. She was in front of me before I could even widen my eyes, way faster than the guard had been. There was no chance for me to raise a barrier in the slightest before she plowed me over in a feral pounce. We slammed into the bed in an instant, sliding the entire thing across the floor as she pinned me to the mattress. Suddenly I was glad of my decision to get close to the soft things. Regardless, her actual impact had hurt like a bitch, and I yelped as my skin bruised under the force of her hooves holding me down. Contact with my hoof broken, the barriers collapsed, blanket and Nirru falling to the floor as Applejack rushed over. No! I fought against Rainbow, her being deceptively heavy as well as strong. It apparently wasn't just her wings that were powerful! "Twi! Are ya alright?" Applejack asked almost instantly, helping Nirru unwrap herself from the blanketed mess. I tried to look around Rainbow to see what was happening, but the pegasus just shoved me harder into the bed. "We do not need you to protect us, Mender," she hissed out a second later, glaring at point blank range into my eyes. I swallowed, backing up completely into Twilight's pillow, starting to shiver again. A pause between Nirru's fake sobbing let her relay, "He c-cracked my horn when he first hit me! I can't m-make my magic work!" Clever. Nirru's 'crying' resumed shortly thereafter, and I saw Applejack wrap her hooves around the 'shivering' mare and glare over her shoulder at me instead. Not good! At that range, I had no idea what Nirru was capable of. I struggled harder against Rainbow, trying not to panic as I saw the lavender forelegs gently wrapping around Applejack. The left hoof, as it extended around behind the farm mare's back, slowly shifted into a metallic hue, a long needle starting to form out of it. Shit! "I'm sorry, Rainbow," I managed to mutter, causing the prismatic pegasus to raise an eyebrow. My hoof touched her front elbow an instant later, however, removing all gravity from her at the price of more of my limited reserve of magic. Her eyes widened as she felt herself become weightless, but I had already shifted my back legs up and shoved against her chest. She yelped as she spun backwards, flailing and drifting towards the ceiling. I rolled and lunged after the kick, sending myself off the bed and bounding towards Nirru's back. She wouldn't hurt my friends! Applejack's eyes widened and she surprised me by shoving Nirru to her right, sending the lavender mare sprawling, her hoof rapidly shifting back to normal! Damn it! I slid slightly, shifting my course and launching myself towards her new position, as fast as my legs could take me. I hadn't wanted to hurt her, but if it came down to either that or letting her hurt anypony I cared for, there wasn't a choice! Smashing her into the wall earlier had revealed a problem, however. The vibration through her body had revealed to me that she was actually absurdly dense. I hadn't mentioned that to her, but that had confirmed my actions in an instant. Just a barrier wouldn't be able to even make a dent in her skin. I just wasn't strong enough, and there wasn't any weight behind them. In order to actually cut her, I needed to make a compressed blade like I had before. Without my past self's energy pool however, I was severely limited in both range and size. I'd have to get a lot closer if I was going to connect with this thing! Applejack was thrown off balance by her toss, rotating around practically backwards as she spun. My peripheral vision told me Rainbow had barely hit the ceiling and was still trying to recover as my burst of magic wore off her. This was my only chance! Two bounds passed. My heart hammered at my chest in the same instant that Nirru hit the floor, face first. Her flank was to me. I couldn't reach her neck, so I formed the energy blade aiming at her spine instead. It wasn't an assured kill, but she would be in too much pain to do anything, hopefully. This was assuming that her current body had some sort of central nervous system. The blade flared up, compressing down as best I could with my limited amount of energy and time to form it. It only extended half a meter or so. My third bound landed against the harsh wood of the library floor, and then I leapt. I angled my head down the best I could, aiming for her mid-back. Time slowed as my body flared with adrenalin. A nagging sensation hit my mind, as realization connected a second after. Wait, didn't Applejack buck with her... "No!" the orange mare screamed out, bracing like a coiled spring on her front legs. She had spun on purpose. It dawned on me as my eyes widened. There was no energy left in me to even try to form a barrier. Years of smashing her hooves into the solid trunks of trees had made Applejack an absurdly strong mare. Both of her legs unfurled with practiced precision and timing. I'd have been impressed, had both back hooves not connected with my right side a hundredth of a second later. Time ground to a halt at the call of the brutal cracking sound echoing out from my side. The air in my lungs was literally forced from my body from the impact, my midsection suddenly deciding to travel sideways instead of following the momentum of the rest of my body. My legs and head snapped sideways as the force of her double kick shattered my prior forward momentum almost as easily as it had undoubtedly just shattered a few ribs. Then the pain hit, catching up with the torn apart nerves throughout the flesh along my side. I let out a silent scream, having absolutely no air to actually make my vocal cords work. My side screamed in bloody agony for another heartbeat, mirroring the whiplash from all four limbs and my neck as I was tossed through the air like a high velocity ragdoll. The crushing pain was joined by an abrupt stabbing sensation in the same instant, it practically feeling like she had snapped me in half from the force of the impact. Then I hit the window. My momentum had carried me forward a little bit still, but her strength had rendered it a moot point. I rocketed sideways away from my intended target and smashed directly into Twilight's bay window near the balcony. The wooden frame shattered under the weight of my body, the glass fragmenting around me as I was forced through it. It didn't shatter in any uniform pattern, however, leaving long gashes along my skin as I was torn across it. I didn't even feel the sensation at that point. The explosion of raw agony from my side tore through my body like a ripple, leaving numb oblivion in its wake. My back hit the railing of the balcony with enough force to splinter the wood and snap the supports, from the sound of it. My instant stop was a harsh one as I momentarily caved my fragile body into the heavy rail before gravity outweighed my sideways momentum. My world blackened as I hit the floor of the balcony, not unlike a sack of wet sand. Ironically, that's the closest I could get to describing what my insides felt like. She was right. I swore I could hear an unknown ancestor crying as everything went black. * * * * * Consciousness flickered back into my skull; not as a stirring this time so much as a belly flop onto cement. I couldn't even manage a groan as I felt my body stiffen, points of agony dancing along my back, side, neck, and legs. It would be easier for me to list what didn't hurt, I noted. My eyes opened a second later as the realization of what had happened set in. Nirru was free with nopony to stop her! Speak of the devil, I saw she stood all of a meter from me on the balcony when my eyes opened. Applejack stood next to her, looking furious still down at my unmoving form. "Yer lucky we're even goin' fer ah doctor. Yer crazy an' we’re through as friends. Nopony tries ta hurt my friends like ya just did!" she growled upon noticing my eyes open up. I swallowed, eyes flickering back to Nirru's amused smirk behind the mare. "This is insane! Don't move him, AJ! I'll go get the doctor," Rainbow rapidly excused from behind me somewhere, apparently missing Nirru's expression entirely. Damn it. If she left, it would be even easier for the fake Twilight to ambush Applejack! "Don't," I managed to rasp out, my right foreleg shifting a bit as I tried to gain some sort of friction under it. There was almost no strength however, all attempts at applying pressure only causing it to scream out in agony as it connected with my side. "Shut it," Applejack warned coldly, kicking my leg away from them as she saw the movement. I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing when I felt nothing at all. "Don't do anything to him! I'll be back as soon as I can!" Rainbow ordered, surprisingly sounding concerned. The bitterness flared up inside of me, and I mentally snarled to myself. Was everything I tried to do that pointless? Applejack hadn't even hesitated for a second before deciding I was just crazy and a danger. I felt my eyes start to get wet as they lost focus. I tried and tried to fit in; to stay positive and persevere. Now what? Applejack didn't want to be my friend anymore, Rainbow no longer trusted me, and the one thing I tried to stop was free and gloating over the whole ordeal. I couldn't win. The tears just came, earning another glare from the orange mare. I didn't care. There was only one thing left that I could do, I decided. There was one secret I still hadn't revealed to Nirru. She had no idea how my magic functioned. Focusing as best I could, I tried to build up all that was left of my energy. The blade had been entirely disrupted after I was kicked, and all of that energy was lost before I could pull it back in. I doubted I had enough energy to move and still form the barrier. That left only one option. I focused on using the floor as a connector. If I couldn't bring the blade to her, or her to the blade, I'd simply form it on her and shoot it upwards. She'd probably die. Applejack's retaliation would probably kill me as well. I didn't have any other options, however. "Careful, Twi. Don't get too close. That weird, unnatural magic o' his might still be able ta work," Applejack warned, causing me to open my right eye again, not having realized I closed them. Heh. At least I knew what she really thought about my magic, now. My consciousness swam and I hadn't realized how hard it was to focus. I pulled in the energy faster, realizing I might have internal bleeding. The doctor might not even make it back in time at this rate. "You did a number on him! I don't think he'll be able to do much anymore," Nirru pointed out after giving me a prod with her hoof. "Are ya all right, though?" Applejack asked softly in reply. A pang of jealousy hit. Twilight had such amazing friends. I couldn't manage to let myself be angry at Applejack. She was defending her friend in her time of need. The principle was there, even if she herself was being tricked. Breathing became an uphill battle and I coughed, shocked suddenly by the wet sensation leaking out of my mouth as that cold numbness started to spread throughout my body. Lung damage. Probably shock. Nirru didn't answer, instead leaning down close and staring into my eyes. There was no emotion in hers. The only thing lighting them was cold, clinical precision as she stretched my eye open and looked into it. "Nirru, you need to... Don't do this!" I heard Keela beg, fading in and out between static. "Tch, the link is collapsing. Keep your eyes open, Mender," Nirru ordered, standing upright again. "Wha?" Applejack muttered, sounding confused. The fake lavender mare in front of me sighed and aimed her hoof backwards. My eyes widened as I heard a pressurized launching noise and Applejack jumped in surprise. "W-What tha?" My vision flickered down to the small dart buried in her chest. "Hmm? Oh, that? It's a tranquilizing agent I was going to use on Mender after I seduced him and mated. Then he would have just woken up after a while and thought it was all a dream. See? Aren't I nice?" she relayed, smiling back at Applejack. The country mare's eyes widened and she shook her head slowly. It didn't look like the words even registered with her. A moment later, her front legs started to shake and she slumped slightly, struggling to stay upright. I didn't have time to look anymore as I felt a sharp poke entered my neck and a second later. "And this is a mixture of proteins, mass enhancement, and adrenaline. It was for the mating itself if you weren't impressive enough," Nirru added with a wink, smirking down at me. I tried to roll my eyes but couldn't manage to feel where they were pointing in the first place. "They should keep you from shutting down before I get what I want from you, though," she continued, shifting me closer to the edge of the balcony with her hoof. Why wasn't anypony coming?! Surely we'd made enough noise for somepony to investigate! "Wait, yer not..." Applejack muttered, rapidly shaking her head and actually starting to stand upright again. Damn. Nirru sighed wearily and turned back around to face her. I sped my charging up as best I could. If I released my limiter, I just might be able to fire it off sooner, but in my current condition, it might just kill me instantly. "No, Applejack. My name is Nirru, like he said. He was telling the truth. I can see you're going to be a stubborn one," she replied before extending her hoof towards the orange mare again. No! Nothing shot out, however. Instead, a gentle barrier extended out and formed a shimmering, transparent cage around Applejack. It was a low end barrier and not every well focused, I noticed. Also, it was only pieced together from other barriers instead of being solid. Sloppy. "There. That'll hold you until I'm gone. Your friend is fast, but I imagine it will be difficult to find a doctor at this hour, no?" she reasoned, looking far too smug when she turned back around. Applejack stood in shock, mouth hanging limply as she shifted her gaze from Nirru's back to me as I watched her. "Why are you doing this, Sis?! You didn't have to do any of this!" Keela demanded over the static echoing through my head. Oddly, I felt my energy slowly returning with a tingling sensation as well. Unfortunately, with the return of my strength came the return of my feeling as well. Pain started to lance through my barrel, and I gave out a muffled groan, squishing my eyes tight. "Oooh, feeling coming back? That's good. The pain lets you know you're alive, am I right?" she asked, quoting an old soldier's sang. She continued before I could so much as give a sassy retort, however, "And I'm doing what you were too afraid to do, Keela. I already said that. Whether you believed me or not, he's worth a lot more than just one Keldarian. I know this. I will not let this opportunity pass in efforts at being 'nice' to him." What? How the hell was I worth more than one Keldarian? I wasn't even a Keldarian anymore! "Oh no. No, no, no!" Applejack finally started to speak up, snapping out of her shock and slamming into the front of the cage angrily. Nirru burst into a grin before turning around and watching the mare. "Ha! You're so hypocritical. You were the one who practically handed him over to me, and then when you find out the truth, you get all indignant over it? Please. Honestly, he's been here what, a month and a half? I figured it would be way harder to turn everyone against him like that," she pointed out. A sharp pang stabbed into my chest regardless of the agony everywhere else. As much as I wanted to stab her until she stopped moving, she was right. Maybe I really didn't belong here after all? I thought I was fitting in better but then something would happen that told me otherwise. This was just another one of those times. Applejack didn't answer. Instead, she just seemed to get angrier and let out a scream of rage, slamming into the front of the cage again. The floor started to crack and splinter under the force of her impacts and my eyes widened. I sensed Nirru's did as well. "My goodness! The tranquilizing agent doesn't appear to be affecting you at all. Either that or you really are just that stubborn. I really didn't want to have to take more extreme measures, but I don't have time for you potentially throwing a wrench into my plans," she muttered, sounding annoyed. Crap! Just pretend you're getting weaker, Applejack! My spell wasn't fully charged yet. If I fired it off now, it would only extend a half meter or so. That wouldn't be nearly enough to kill Nirru when I was forced to use the floor as the extension point. Damn it! I contemplated releasing the limiter again, but in all honesty, I was afraid that it would kill me before I could even release the spell. Applejack's eyes widened as Nirru drew her right foreleg backwards as if going to punch the cage. The hoof shifted, extending a long blade out of it and angling it back off her elbow. Oh hell. Her body was amorphous! "And now, you die knowing exactly how much you failed your friend," Nirru proclaimed, stabbing her foreleg forward an instant later. There was no choice. My hoof flared with energy and the barrier blade stabbed upwards from the floor in the same instant. Applejack's eyes widened and she pushed herself backwards away from the elongated blade, just as mine shot up under the extending foreleg itself. Nirru screamed as my blade stabbed into the underside of her hoof, forcing her blade to overshoot the top of the cage and imbed itself in the wall above. "You little bastard!" she screamed a second later, smashing me with her other forehoof as she tore her wrist off the blade. I winced but managed to pull back most of the energy from the attack. Preparing a second stab, I readied to release the limiter just as I launched the attack, hopefully allowing it to be enough to finish her off. Her body moved far faster than I realized it could, however. She whipped around before I had fully retreated the blade and stomped down hard on the still glowing hoof. I screamed as I felt something snap inside my leg and lost focus on the second attack, energy dispersing instead. "Ha! So it's your hoof that's doing it. This is just too rich! You gave away your only hope, just to save the very same mare that handed you over to me," she cooed suddenly, looking ecstatic. Shit! I drew in more energy from myself as best I could, but she was on to me at this point. "Mender!" Applejack called out at the same moment. Nirru smirked as her eyes flicked to the orange mare momentarily before whipping me forward, smashing my face into the slate bars of the barrier! I gasped as the thin sheets of energy cut into my cheek from the impact, and then I felt the hoof stomp down on the back of my left shoulder. Oh hell! No, no! "And this is what we get for being a little bastard!" Nirru called out in a rather sing-song voice. I screamed. She smashed my face harder into the bars, Applejack looking horrified a few centimeters away from. Nirru tore my foreleg backwards, causing a massive ripping sensation and multiple snapping noises along my shoulder. I tried to thrash away from her, accidentally running my face into the bars on the other cheek in the process. "No!" I heard Applejack scream out, squeezing herself closer to me. The pain was white hot and blinding. Gasping for my breath, all I could do was sob pathetically as she smashed me hard into the cage and tore. The pain shattered through me, followed by frigid nothing as I felt it tear free, blasting my neck, head, and chest with cold numbness. Applejack's eyes went wide in shock as blood hit against her face. "Heh. Here; a memento to remember him by," Nirru offered coldly before throwing the detached leg down next to the cage. It rolled twice before coming to a stop, blood pooling under it. All I could do was let out an airy gasp as I slid down the side of the cage on my face, pain echoing through my mind and causing darkness to swim through my vision. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. All I could manage to do was cry as Nirru's hoof flared up and she momentarily singed my shoulder, cauterizing the wound. "Now, now. No passing out. I need your stupid link in order to haul your DNA back. You're not allowed to stop functioning until after I'm gone," she ordered snidely. Applejack let out a guttural scream of rage, thrashing against the front of the box while putting more cracks in Twilight's floor. I could barely hear her until another stab went directly into my back, spreading more of the numb tingling sensation through me. "I had a backup, just in case you were really pathetic," Nirru pointed out absently, echoing in my skull. I couldn't think. My head was swimming, burning hot on the inside and freezing on the outside. I could barely even breathe, the wet sensation oozing out of my mouth. "You monster! This isn't what I wanted at all!" Keela screamed through the static, ironically causing a stirring as I tried to focus. Oddly, Nirru went rigid a second later, but I could barely manage to acknowledge her. She had... She tore off my leg! Completely. No magic escaped from my body anymore, and I knew it was over in that moment. My vision slowly shifted over to the limb discarded on the floor. My mind refused to register it as mine, no matter how hard I stared at it. Vaguely, I acknowledged shouting somewhere a ways off. Ponies were investigating finally. "Mender, stay awake!" Applejack urged softly, lowering herself down to the floor of the cage, to my head level. I stared blankly at the severed limb for a few more seconds before gently shifting my eyes to her instead. We stared at each other for a long moment before her eyes slowly started getting wet. "I'm sorry, Applejack. I don't have the energy left to stop her," I apologized, silently wondering if she'd take back her declaration of no longer being my friend. I decided I was too afraid to ask. A drop, followed by three more landed on the wood under her head as she watched me, eyes tearing up. A moment later however, she started and looked down slowly at the floor. I didn't have the strength to see what she was looking at, unfortunately. "Tch! Looks like we made too much noise," Nirru finally muttered, shivering and snapping herself out of the trance I hadn't realized she'd fallen into. The static flared up again, and Keela was silent. The fake Twilight paused for a moment before shaking her head irritably. "I'm going to have to move you, now. This is getting downright annoying." "Twitchy twitch! Applejack, are you okay?!" I heard suddenly from downstairs. Pinkie?! My memory snapped lazily back to her Pinkie Sense, and I realized she must have felt something was wrong. Still, this wasn't the best of timing. The clouds in my skull were beat back as I tried to shift myself around, looking past my errant limb and into the main loft. Nirru let out a groan of irritation before shifting her attention to the left, asking, "What now?! Are all these ponies crazy?" Pinkie hopped up over the stairs and gasped as she saw me lying on the balcony. Her eyes widened further than I'd ever seen; her mouth hanging partially open. "It's not Twi! Run, Pinkie!" Applejack shouted, shifting towards the back of her cage suddenly, away from me. Huh? Her hooves scraped gently along the bars of the barrier as she turned herself around, aiming her flank at me instead. "Annoyance!" Nirru yelled before whipping her yet bladed foreleg up. The blade detached, much to my surprise, and flung itself at high velocity across the room. No! There was no time for warning at all before it drove itself into Pinkie's head. At least, I thought that's what would happen. The spike embedded itself into the wall behind the pink mare, however, who turned and peeked at it in surprise. "Hey! That's sharp! What the hay are you doing?!" she demanded a second later, turning to glare at Nirru again. Nirru actually looked surprised momentarily. She blinked twice before peeking down at her blade again, seemingly just to make sure she'd properly fired it. "What the hell? Did the dimensional transfer throw off my targeting calibrations?" she questioned, hopefully to herself as assisting her was the last thing I was about to do. Pinkie slowly started walking towards her, nervously eyeing my leg on the floor while shifting her attention between that and Nirru herself. "If you're not Twilight, who are you? Are you a mean pony?" she inquired, sounding surprisingly reserved. I'd never heard that tone from Pinkie before. Even in my numbed state, it was a little scary. "I'm Nirru, not that it will matter after I put a spike through your damn head," the fake Twilight answered, glaring at Pinkie as she took aim again. Crap! Deciding she re-calibrated the 'gun' thing, I tried to shift myself up. There was almost no strength left in my legs at all, and I could barely feel anything. I considered my options, immediately deciding throwing myself in front of it wasn't going to be fast enough. Nirru fired regardless, aiming directly for between Pinkie's eyes this time. The spike slammed into the wood next to the stairs, missing entirely. Wait, no. I tried to focus, and then realized that the thing hadn't missed at all. Pinkie had shifted to the left a few inches! Her fluffy, cotton candy tail flicked back and forth behind her as she walked, twitching lightly. Nirru just looked pissed this time, rather than surprised. "How the hell can you dodge something moving almost at the speed of sound?!" she demanded, blade growing back and extending into a melee weapon this time. That was easy, but required information she didn't know. One simply moved out of the way before she even fired. I softly smiled, chuckling lightly amidst the cold numbness. The shot did almost nothing to remove it this time, and I realized I was probably in a moderate shock. That in itself was strange when I thought about it, when I realized I was capable of thinking enough to think about it in the first place. No, wait, that sounded like Pinkie logic... "I just moved out of the way, Silly!" Pinkie returned, earning a scream of rage and a downward cut from Nirru. My eyes widened again as I saw her slide past the slash while spinning, causing it to miss completely. Nirru blinked in surprise after embedding her foreleg blade into the wood of the library floor. I momentarily felt sorry for it, realizing Twilight was going to have to spend a lot of bits to fix all of this. "Meany!" Pinkie yelled, frowning outright at Nirru before whipping her flank forward instead, smashing into the fake Twilight's hip with her own! To my surprise, the blow actually sent Nirru sideways, cracking the railing of the balcony as her body smashed into it. Holy hell! How strong was Pinkie's flank?! "Hold onto Mender, Pinkie!" Applejack suddenly ordered, rearing back and up with her hind legs. What?! I shifted my attention down to the floor, realizing what she must have noticed a moment later. The barrier wasn't covering the floor! Pinkie felt amazingly warm when she wrapped her hooves around me. She rolled as she grabbed onto me, just as Applejack let out another scream of rage and brought both of her hind legs down onto the wood. My eyes widened as the entire balcony dislodged from the side of the tree with a splintering crack, the wood caving in and shattering around the two massively powerful orange legs. Pinkie rolled off the balcony with me as it hit a forty five degree angle. We momentarily hung in the air before she shifted and we landed in a rather sizable shrub near the base of the library. A heartbeat passed and the entire balcony smashed into the ground next to us, kick starting my heart into fully functioning again! Applejack landed on top of the balcony a moment later, rolling as she hit. Nirru landed last, directly onto her face as she practically belly flopped into the dirt. Ouch. I suddenly realized that she wasn't a physical fighter at all. Her body was powerful, but she moved with all the grace of, well, me. Groaning, she slowly stood up, wobbling on all four hooves as she shook the impact off. Her body was connected directly to her nervous system, then. She actually felt everything. Applejack was already standing however, and stepped in front of Pinkie and I as the pink mare pulled me out of the shrubs, keeping me pressed close to her body. She felt so warm that I was hardly going to complain, however. Nirru finally turned fully, glaring at both mares as she regained her composure. "You can't win, you know. This body is practically invulnerable. I'm going to enjoy killing both of you, though," she muttered, starting to walk forward again. Applejack shivered, similarly to how I'd seen her before, and looked downright furious as she stepped forward as well. The fake Twilight snorted and lunged, whipping her foreleg blade up into a quick stab. Applejack stopped moving as she approached, then stepped back at the last second, shifting to the left. The stab missed her head by a few dozen centimeters, and to my surprise, the orange mare 'grabbed' onto the hoof attached to the blade, using her forehooves to smash it into the ground, point first. In the same instant, she spun around and bunched herself backwards, gently brushing against Nirru's chest before springing, a vicious double buck. Both hooves embedded themselves into the lavender chest for a split second before I heard a snapping noise. Nirru hit a tree that had been a half dozen meters behind her, back first. The bark splintered at the impact, and she gasped, cracking into the trunk of the tree. Yup. I knew what that felt like. Her eyes remained wide as she slowly slid down the trunk, mouth partially hanging open in definite surprise. The majority of her hoof blade remained stuck in the ground next to Applejack, point first. "Ow," she muttered simply upon finally resting her haunches on the ground. I concurred. Shivering uncontrollably under Pinkie, I noticed I could barely feel the remaining limbs I had. Oddly, it kind of still felt like I should be able to move my left foreleg. The numb sensations were welcome, however, as my body hurt like a bitch without being able to fully feel it. Nirru finally fell forwards, glaring up at us after securing all four legs on the ground. Applejack stood fast, however; the muscles in her legs clenching and relaxing as she looked ready to pounce on a hair trigger. "Fine. I see I don't have any choice at this point. The game's over now," Nirru spoke, tone soft yet cold. Applejack snorted, but in the same instant, silvery wings expanded from Nirru's back, looking like the refraction of light through a strange, monochrome prism. My eyes widened a moment later, realizing the lines of the wings didn't necessarily adhere to Euclidean geometry, and hurt my eyes to stare at. That was a Slipstream emination. She was carrying a personal one on her?! The wings slipped through each other a moment later, coating her in a shimmering silver light. "W-What tha hay is that?!" Applejack demanded, taking a step back as air pressure started to blast away from Nirru in all directions. You weren't supposed to activate that on ground level! "Don't!" was halfway out of my mouth when Nirru disappeared. A twitch of my eye passed and she moved outside of my ability to see, due to the light simply not reaching my retinas fast enough. I winced as a hoof slammed into my side, the distorted non-Euclidean bubble expanding around me in an instant from the contact. The world melted away slowly, time seeming to fall apart as we folded ourselves across a field, through several trees, and into a forest; our movement not unlike that of a melting butterfly skipping through a mud puddle. Geometry and perspective also took a coffee break, allowing me a momentary glimpse of both the inside of my nose and the traffic along the main street of Canterlot. The bubble popped a moment later, unceremoniously dumping me onto the ground, steam wafting off my fur. Oddly, the energy field had done wonders to cauterize my various wounds. Oh, and wake me up. Although I wasn't considering that a good thing, as now I was more than a little nauseous. Idly, I distracted myself wondering if it had cauterized the internal wounds, too. Not that it mattered all that much. Without treatment, I was still going to die rather shortly. Nirru climbed out of a heap of trees that had followed us into the clearing and promptly landed on her. She apparently had the foresight to drop me out of FTL before stopping herself, thankfully. She fell into the large rut we had left in the ground, wincing and shuddering on her side. "Fuuuuuuu-," she groaned out upon falling out of my personal sight and smacking into the ground. As bad as I felt right now, I was extremely glad I didn't just get subjected to her experience. "...and that's why you don't fire off a Slipstream Drive while on a gravity bearing surface. It bends, usually taking a lot of debris with it," I muttered wearily, not bothering to move from my position. The orders to my limbs were only being followed in a halfhearted manner, almost no strength at all present. "Oh shut up. Ugh," she shot back, crawling out of the rut on my side. That was one of the problems with our variety of FTL travel. Not only was it highly susceptible to forces such as gravity, it also distorted most sensors upon entering, requiring careful calculations and a planned course prior to actual activation. The perks were it being far more accurate than our ally's version, which actually couldn't turn after being launched. Nirru's entire back was scorched badly, I noticed. She aimed it away from me before opening a slot in her skin. Three holes existed under the panel, one of them being already empty. Half a second later, the middle one ejected a cylinder shaped crystal canister filled with a glowing blue liquid. The grass caught fire around the canister when it hit, spreading out a good meter in each direction almost instantly. Oh yeah. That was another downside to our FTL Engine. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to use that. This body isn't meant for physical combat, though. Damn, that orange bitch is a brute," she groaned, sliding the plate shut again before standing upright fully. The static in my skull suddenly reared its ugly head again, reminding me of its presence. Nirru glared at nothing in particular before sighing. "Didn't you learn your lesson yet? Just shut up and stop interfering, Keela," she ordered a moment later. Whether not heard or ignored, I couldn't be sure as the static certainly didn't die down. "She disagrees with my methods for some reason," the fake Twilight explained a moment later, walking over to me. I glared up at her, deciding not saying anything was preferred. There wasn't exactly a point. Even if Pinkie and Applejack had rescued me, there was a high probability of my body not surviving the time it took a doctor to arrive anyway. The realization was a frozen, numbing one. I was going to die, and there was literally nothing I could do about it. "Psh, you're a mess. I guess I'd better do something if you're going to survive transferring the DNA over," she muttered absently to herself after giving me a good hoof prodding. That was such a medically sound evaluation. She obviously had extensive medical training. I was so screwed... "Do I really have to be alive for it?" I asked bitterly, closing my eyes instead. She snorted, asking, "What, giving up already?" I think my eye twitched. "You tore off my leg. You alienated me from my friends. There's no recovering from this! What's left to fight for?!" I demanded, opening my eyes again to glare at her harshly. There wasn't any force to the shout as I couldn't get enough air into my lungs to work my vocal cords properly. I degraded into a series of coughs and spasms immediately after. She lost her smile and shook her head slowly. "It's kind of sad seeing you after all, in a rather pathetic way. You're a mistake. You couldn't have fit in here even if you wanted to, yet you deluded yourself anyway. You don't even know what you are," she returned quietly, looking surprisingly solemn. My glare could have burned through her skull. "I know I'm not a Keldarian. You're a fool," I shot back in a whisper, not understanding why she was even doing this to me. What did she have to gain? "If you only had one sample of Keldarian DNA, then I'd agree with you fully and wouldn't be here. You don't remember a thing, do you?" she asked quietly, watching me with interest. A weak sigh later, I shook my head. She smiled and looked down. A soft wind blew, and I finally noticed the forest around us. It was familiar to me all at once. The Everfree. The moon above was a few stages from full still and spreading an ambient silver light over the entire clearing. Nirru's mane blew gently along with the wind, and she looked up again, eyes almost looking through me. "Unit Zero Zero Two; initialize second, third, and fourth CPU core reboot and repair sequences in failsafe mode," she ordered with precision. Wait, what? My eyes widened and my heart leapt into my throat as an analysis display screen popped up seemingly inside of my eyes themselves, reading, "Rebooting CPU Cores."
Chapter 26No. This wasn't possible. My body shivered lightly as I watched the CPU Loading Bars go across the inside of my eyes. Nirru, looking like a beat up and burned version of my fillyfriend, smiled at me snidely through the displays. "Right unit projection. Display hard disks," she requested softly a moment later. My right eye's vision went white instantly, blurs and colors shining through it. My left noticed a holographic display of the CPU Bars pop up above me and shift in front of Nirru. No, it couldn't be. Why was my right eye a holographic projector?! The loading Bars finished and initialized all three additional CPUs a moment later. Displays popped up all over the inside of my eye and I swallowed, a frozen sensation being magnified by the numbness in my chest. Thousands of what I recognized as files spread out over the screen. What the hell was this?! No, she had to be just projecting something onto my eye. The fake Twilight knelt down a moment later and pushed her hoof against my bloodied chest. My remaining functional eye widened to maximum capacity as I saw a cornered off panel form out of my chest, various slots and holes in it with seemingly metal rims! This was a nightmare. A really bad, screwed up nightmare! It had to be. I was going to wake up next to Twilight at any moment and compulsively kiss her. Nirru plugged her hoof into my chest using a cord that 'melted' from her skin a moment later. "Transfer all DNA data after decrypting," she finally ordered, sitting down on her haunches after. A bar labeled 'decrypting' slowly started crawling across my left eye. Wait, DNA data? "It's kind of sad, really. You've been here for weeks and you don't even know what you are. Well, I'm nice, so I'll tell you the truth. You're an organic computer with the mind of a clone created from a soldier you're probably familiar with. Apparently, your job was to scout this dimension, get samples from six powerful energy sources, then return," she explained all at once in a bored tone. My head swam. What?! No, I was Moon Mender; a pony here that came from a different dimension! Nirru idly adjusted the wires running into her hoof before continuing with, "Doctor Kyliona was our foremost expert on FTL Travel and Quantum Physics. She came up with a supposed plan to escape the Grosh by actually jumping dimensions. Reacting reasonably, I of course assumed she was batshit insane. Guess I was wrong. Mostly.” Even addled as I was, that was an easy enough jump to make. She stumble upon six energy sources while experimenting, found Equestria, and sent a 'scout' to explore it. I sank a little further down into a lying position. What was I? Nirru sighed after looking back up at me, letting her cords drop again. "Frankly, I can't see her programming a scout with rogue emotions. Chances are, something got fried in the dimensional transfer. Whatever the hell you are, you're a mistake. Not that it matters much as you'll probably not function for long after I finish this transfer anyway," she reasoned idly, looking surprisingly bored. A mistake? The static picked up again after a few more seconds. I felt an angry pulse inside of my skull, followed by the white noise snapping back into an audio channel. "I'm not, ugh, done yet. This is wrong, Nirru!" Keela adamantly interrupted a moment later. I didn't pay much attention, remaining motionless on the ground. What did it matter anyway? I couldn't not see the proof right in front of my eyes. Well, eye. I was a machine; a fancy computer used for scouting Equestria. "It doesn't really matter anymore. I'm downloading the DNA data now. Mender's dying," she informed, starting to echo a little as my body grew colder. I shivered, but didn't move still. There was a low growl from Keela's end before, "It still matters. I called for help now. Four squads of soldiers are waiting for us when we exit the machine." Both of them were plugged into a machine on their end? That didn't help me much. Of course, the sad thing was, I couldn't really think of anything that could help me in the first place. Healing myself was all fine and good, but when I didn't have a life to go back to anyway, it was a moot point. Swallowing, I decided I could probably never even look at Twilight again. Was everything I felt, even now, fake? The only thing I could feel now was the tightness in my throat and chest, and my eyes starting to get watery. This was pathetic. If I really was a machine, why was I crying? "Who do you think the soldiers listen to, Keela?" the bitch across from me asked, rolling her eyes in seeming annoyance. She was so full of herself. How did those two honestly end up as sisters? Keela snorted, however. "Not you anymore. We took a vote and decided you're not fit to lead this ship. Something is wrong with you," she corrected sharply. A vote? Keldarians didn't vote, as far as I remembered. All our decisions were made by the elder council, who held lifetime, hereditary positions. Predictably, Nirru narrowed her eyes. "I'm the one saving our race. I've got the DNA data of two point four billion Keldarians downloading right now. Who do you think they're going to thank for that?" she questioned vehemently, glaring down at me. How did I have all that DNA?! "H-How?" I asked softly, looking fully back up at her. I couldn't seem to stop my shivering, but she didn't seem to notice. Nirru smirked suddenly and chuckled. "Finally, an intelligent conversation. Doctor Kyliona was a homicidal bitch; that's how. You really don't remember anything about what happened before Equestria, do you?" she inquired, voice softening again. My eyes lowered, and I tried to shake my head. The only thing I achieved was a miniscule nudge sideways into the mud under me. Nirru seemed to understand regardless, continuing, "Shortly after the planetary bombardment started, a huge energy spike was released from the surface. I was in a class two battleship above the surface, and managed to pick up this." She reached down and brushed her hoof again. A short uploading bar activated, and a movie started playing in my left eye. The eye in question widened as I saw a black, well, something. It drifted off the planet, clearly visible from orbit, before exploding into tendrils in every conceivable direction. It spread at an absurdly fast rate, considering the scale involved! "I had no idea what it was at the time," she continued, adding, "It spread to just over sixty three percent of the surface area of the atmosphere in an absurd sixteen and a half seconds, blotting out our star's light completely. It then proceeded to launch more tendrils at the surface, consuming and destroying everything in its path." The video showed over half of the planet covered in pure black mass. What could possibly do that?! "Wait, you said ‘at the time’! You know what it is now, and you never told me?" Keela demanded, leaving a sharp echo through my mind. True. I hadn't picked that up so readily. I relaxed slightly, feeling my head swimming as if I had a high fever. Maybe I did. Nirru snorted. "It was a little classified, Sister. Of course, our friend here actually has the clearance to hear about it, given that he's a type one classified artifact himself. I'll even let you listen." I tried to roll my eyes, probably only managing the left one. The right seemed to be no longer under my control, instead acting as some sort of holographic output. Knowing I could do that would have been ironically helpful a few days prior, if not a whole new level of disturbing. "Uh, I'm one of the highest council seats! There shouldn't be anything above me in rank," my psychically linked friend protested. Hmm. Was she my friend? After all of this, I wasn't so sure. I had only spoken with Keela, ever. She had promised me that she was keeping everything we talked about an absolute secret. Either that was a total lie, or Nirru had spied on her somehow. Regardless, it seemed obvious that Keela had at least started out helping her sister with this little excursion. I was having trouble focusing, though. I couldn't remember what she had said earlier as it bled into what was happening now. Nirru just smiled, apparently ignoring her sister's complaints. "It was an untested biological weapon of mass destruction. It had been developed in top secret and wasn't related at all to her research. I still have no idea how she got a hold of it, but she did. It was set off right on top of us, killing a little over two point four billion Keldarians in less than thirty seconds," she explained softly, actually looking somewhat remorseful after. I shuddered of my own violation this time. The image momentarily cut out, replaced by one of planet side. Keldarians ran screaming in the dark; flares of dark blue light burning through the skies. The tendrils lashed out from the heavens themselves to rend and murder, consuming and eating everything in their way. The smaller ones were about the size of a hovercar, and the largest could have rivaled the circumference of a mountain range. The Twilight doppelganger smiled wider as she watched. Wait, how the hell did I have that video feed?! "Exactly. I know you're seeing this, Sister. The tentacles consumed everything, organic and inorganic alike. In some spots, they ate as far as four kilometers into the ground. Everyone who was touched by them was consumed and added to the mass, alongside the raw minerals and matter. That's what it was meant to do." Keela groaned lightly, interrupting with, "Please clarify what this thing does? Why were we even working on something like this?" That was a good point, although the answer was fairly obvious. There were very few uses for something like what she was describing. Nirru seemed to agree and sighed, furthering, "It was an anti-Grosh weapon. A pseudo-sentient mass of matter capable of traveling through space independently by use of our FTL technology. It could spread out almost indefinitely, consuming any mass or energy source it found as it went. It wouldn't stop until it ran out of conceivable planets to jump to, which was rather limitless considering faster than light jumps were possible. The Grosh, and everything we didn't blacklist in the AI, would be eliminated entirely. Further, after they were absorbed, all their technological information would be ours, directly from their own brains." Oh. Well damn. On a scale of scientific atrocities, that was dang near the top. There was a stagnant pause, followed by a stifled groan from Keela. "That's monstrous! There's no way we could justify that. Who knows how many innocent species we would have wiped out without even knowing!" she growled, sounding about like I felt. My mind wasn't processing the concept of potentially dooming a nigh unlimited number of species just to defeat the Grosh. "They would have been wiped out by those monsters anyway. We deserve to be the true heirs of the universe, not them. Our pathetic allies said the same thing after we shared the data with their 'Earth Sphere Council'. They called it a Universal War Crime, if I recall. If it were up to me, I'd remove them from the blacklist and launch it anyway," she spit out, glaring up at the sky absently. The amount of hatred I could practically feel radiating from her was sad. "Well thankfully it's not up to you. Regardless, if it was supposed to keep spreading, something screwed up anyway," Keela corrected, explaining, "A tendril shot off about seven thousand kilometers to the East after it reached the widest visual diameter. I suppose you know about that, too?" Nirru actually laughed before shaking her head. I shuddered as I heard it, deciding that anyone like herself had no right to be happy. "Not a clue. It was supposed to keep going, but it stopped for some reason. My only guess is Doctor Kyliona changed its AI. The tendril shot over to the edge of the bombardment zone. Then, a short ten seconds later, the entirety of the massive hulk of destruction just vanished. I didn't know we could even move that much matter into Slipstream in the first place," she muttered. We shouldn't have been able to. All of that DNA. The biological weapon had something to do with the scout then. Me. It somehow got all of the DNA of everyone it killed to me. A stiff wind blew through the dark, unfriendly forest around us. I couldn't feel the motion, but I shivered at the temperature drop. Damn it. More sticky, wet sensations leaked from my mouth, and I let out an airy cough. That proved to be a mistake, as the cough decayed into a fit of hacking, spraying droplets of red and black liquid all over the grass in front of my mouth. Well, normally that was a bad sign. The broken ribs must have injured my lungs. Internal bleeding in my respiratory tract somewhere. Without professional aid... Nirru watched curiously, but otherwise did nothing before simply continuing her little tale. "Regardless, there's a large gap of information missing after that. Her scout landed here; the biological weapon compressing back down into the body right in front of me. Now I'm conveniently taking the information," Nirru finalized a moment later, smirking back down at me. What?! "Wait, you're saying Mender is not only the scout she sent, but also the carrier for that massive biological weapon?!" Keela asked, sounding shocked. She didn't know, then. I felt the surprise from her link she gave me. No, all of this was definitely Nirru's doing. Her sister nodded. "Yes. Mender has all of the video data from the device. He also has the DNA. Frankly, I should destroy him right now for killing almost two and a half billion Keldarians, but it turns out that only a few thousand of them were female, so I don't really care. Plus, now I have the biological weapon data too," she pointed out, standing back up again. I was a biological weapon. It rang through my head after she had said it. One that had killed billions of Keldarians. I couldn't process it. The aspect felt entirely foreign; divorced from reality. "No! Mender didn't do that. It doesn't matter what he is. What truly matters is who he is, and that's clear! Individuals love him, and he loves them in return. Fix this or you're going to pay, Sister," Keela spit out, startling me with the amount of anger I suddenly sensed. Who or what? Did it matter, really? Nirru snorted, muttering, "Wow, I never thought you'd grow a backbone at any point. I don't give a shit what happens to Mender or this backwater little place. He's not loved, nor does he love in return. You can't get love from a toaster or television, which is basically the equivalent. He's a machine." It burned. Everything I had felt and cared about over the weeks. What was it? An anger built up out of nowhere, my gaze locking onto the fake mare across from me. Keela growled back, lower this time in tone. "He's not like a television. He has emotions and wants, just like we do. His feelings are real!" I had trouble suddenly trying to decide who was right. If everything Nirru said was true, what was I really? An accident that happened to instill a personality inside of me via fluke? Or was I something else that Nirru didn't know about? I had a feeling that this Doctor Kyliona could tell me, for all the good that did. Nirru's eyes narrowed and she glared upwards, probably at what she considered akin to her sister before adding, "You know what? I'll show you exactly what real looks like. After I shove this data through the connection, I'm going to go straight back to that rat infested hole in the ground back there. How many creatures do you think live there? A few thousand? Well a few thousand females died when 'Mender' exploded on our world, so I guess reducing that filth pit to ash would be fair exchange." The words shot through me like a bolt of electricity, narrowing my eyes before I could even realize their true meaning. "Twilight would rip you apart before you even got a spell off," I warned in a whisper, taking the hint from her 'ash' comment. She was an evocation caster, in all likelihood. The ironically fake Twilight paused for a moment before smiling again, looking back down at me. My vision darkened a bit, but I maintained my threatening glare as best I could. I doubted it was quite as effective with the trail of red coming from my mouth and the beat to crap and back body, though. I wish I had the strength to talk louder. "Ha! I bet she could be a serious threat," Nirru agreed, before adding, "Of course, if I look like you, I also bet she'll hesitate just long enough for me to slice her head off. Nobody ever expects their precious television to try to kill them, after all." Hatred. I remembered it. I tasted it as my eyes burned into her. This was my fault. I should have killed the bitch when the book had suggested it. It had been right. The book almost realized that I was agreeing with it finally, wherever it happened to be at the moment. I felt it smile, then laugh. Mentally, I laughed alongside it. For a moment, felt an opinion form from it and sync up with mine. My eye's 'screen' flickered. I saw the lower corner of it light up, and a smiling, crudely drawn cat face popped up inside. A quick glance at the display floating in front of Nirru showed me that it was absent in hers. Well, that was interesting. The face made a winking motion at me before melting into what could only be described as a small button, labeled "Protocol 312." What was this, some sort of black box functionality? I heard Nirru and Keela bickering back and forth amidst static and echoes, but didn't really pay attention. I didn't have long left, it would seem. I closed my eye, frowning at the small button in the peace of the dark. The book silently urged me to press it. It had to be a way to make her pay. Well, what were the odds? It might make me blow up, which would solve all of the problems at once. Maybe it would just purge my memory and erase all of her precious data? Either way, it got revenge. I was hoping for the explosion option myself, of course. I smiled lightly. Twilight. Fluttershy. No, deep down, I could only trust what I knew. I knew that I couldn't let anything bad happen to anypony here. Yes, anypony. Maybe I could prove I was a pony by dying as one. I kept my eyes closed, a light drop of water slipping down my cheeks and into the mud below. It wasn't fair. None of it was. I hated her. Hatred. She ruined everything. Even if I could see them again, I could never look them in the eyes knowing what I actually was. That settled it; there was no choice. What she just promised to try was the final straw. It was unforgivable. My upper lip twitched as my smile twisted into a sneer. I wasn't about to be the one to forgive her. I made up my mind. I was all out of forgiveness. Mentally, I pushed the button. * * * * * Everything flickered. A thousand screams echoed through my mind. Each passing thought flickered to a new individual. Tentacles tore through everything, spraying blood and gore as they went. Hatred and fear were everywhere, but not alone. Sorrow, acceptance, shock, misery, hopelessness, rage... The miasma of emotions danced through my nerves like a thunderstorm. Everyone who died in that instant was screaming out in their own way, trying to be themselves in their last moments of life. They were all there. Everything they had been, from flesh to opinions to memories. I entertained the thought of it being a twisted form of purgatory. At some point, I was distinctly aware of how it was similar, and quite different from falling asleep with the book powered up. The book presented an inescapable suction; a draw across an unknowable, infinite distance that I couldn't hope to ignore. The second my mind shifted into its resting mode, I was yanked into the book an instant later. Normally a sense of vertigo would follow with a light nausea as a side dish. This time was different, yet familiar. There was that same pull and dropping sensation, although this felt more like I was falling into a pit I slipped into. My body shut down. I felt my breathing slow and my heart get weaker until it stopped. The dull ache was supplemented by a jolt, and I felt myself yanked inwards as if on a leash. Technically I should be dead, but I had a feeling if I were speaking of technicalities, my case was far more complicated. Everything after that felt exactly like the disembodied consciousness I had experienced before being unceremoniously crammed into the book. My eyes opened, even though they didn't really. That same woman I saw a while back on Keela's computer was sitting in an overstuffed, green armchair in front of me. 'Me' was subjective, as I decidedly didn't consider my body, so it wasn't there. Lines of data and loose information drifted all around in the otherwise pitch black ambience. Was this inside of the computer cores inside me; some convenient graphical representation for my conscious mind? The reality around the Keldarian in front of me flickered, showing hintings of a corrupted version of some sort of basement lab, almost. It was tiny, yet organized. A warm light shined across her features from a desk lamp on the end table next to her seat. Cozy. She looked up at me, or maybe the camera she was talking to, a moment later. Her face held a far older appearance than Keela or Nirru, age lines hinting at a much longer story. Her mouth was twisted into a wry smile, regardless of her pained expression and posture. Those calculating and calm eyes still burned out from behind the modest frames of her glasses. "I tried and," she started to speak before cutting out into static. I frowned, noticing my mental readout gave me a warning about fragmentation problems. Bits and pieces were picked up, however. "He was a monster. I tried... ...launched anyway but... ...cut the shielding. It will fry his personality core and... ...too late. After it eats me, it will be too late..." she continued, features twisting and flickering with each fragmented glitch. There was also a sense of movement; like the ground was shaking and a booming echo sounded off with each flicker. Was this video taken during the bombardment? It wasn't enough. I tried to fix it, but my 'mind', the voice of the book, reported that it would take too long. Pity. "You are you... ...never... ...they can't have you. Destroy..." she finished. My mental eyes widened as I saw the deep crimson stain pooling around her stomach as she held it lightly with her left hand, claws digging into the fabric of her shirt. The video died shortly thereafter. Doctor Kyliona... She was dead, wasn't she? I felt a twinge of sadness and closed my eyes again. They were all dead. All of them; dead, yet screaming in my head. They agreed. Vengeance. Destroy, huh? If it would protect Twilight, Fluttershy, my friends, and all the ponies I cared for; even if that feeling was fake, it was all I had! With a new sense of purpose, I focused on all I knew about neurological graphic interfaces. Oddly, the one in my skull almost felt familiar as I brought up menu after menu. Emergency systems kicked on, enabling backup subroutines. Electricity jolted through me, kick starting my systems as everything powered up, energy folding in around me. Yes. Vengeance and justice. I felt pain and stiffness as my heart struggled to start beating again; lungs slowly starting to labor in an agonizing fashion. Was I dead or alive? I decided it didn't really matter at this point. As my body started itself back up again, I searched through everything I could find to help me stop her. Artificial energy level readings started displaying, so I just started turning on anything I could find. Oddly, it sort of reminded me of having root access to a system. There were no prompts or security screens. I was the ultimate administrator, and what I commanded, happened to the utmost extent. I suppose, fundamentally, that made sense. My mind screamed to a halt when I finally stumbled upon a folder entitled "Project 312" in my spastic search. I opened it with no acknowledged decision being made. Written statistics, project descriptions, and thousands of pictures and diagrams met my 'eyes' an instant later. Flicking through to the diagrams, I immediately brought up schematics of myself. I had started out as a sort of egg-like device. My body was entirely amorphous, capable of taking form into practically anything and holding it indefinitely. I was meant to blend in and try to survive, regardless of the situation or natural environment. For a scout, that sounded ideal, honestly. Then my form shifted to that of a Keldarian. To be specific, the extremely talented engineer I was cloned from after his body was pieced back together. He was flagged for execution and thus, Doctor Kyliona apparently could do what she wanted with him. From the documents I discovered, she actually appeared to want him more for his mind than as punishment. She 'enlisted' his aid under admittance to his Barrier Magic skills. It appeared to have something to do with her latest experiment. I kept searching, not having time to read everything, obviously. Damn it. There had to be specs in here I could use or something. Surely they gave me a weapon to defend myself, right? I finally found a specification document, and rapidly skimmed through it, forming a summary in my database. As disheartening as it was, I was listed to have absolutely no weaponry of any kind. I flattened my non-existent ears back and sighed, flipping back through the folder again. Momentarily, it amused me that my mental aspect was more pony than Keldarian. After half a minute of searching, I managed to stumble upon a collection of executables as well. Perking up a little, I activated one with the descriptor of "scout package" out of sheer curiosity. Multiple screens popped up immediately, showing me a detailed readout of the area surrounding my body in a radar form, picking up data points from all five of my main senses, as well as a few built in sensor suites. That was handy. I tweaked the display a little and managed to find Nirru almost instantly through her heat signatures. I had been right about her body. It apparently was extremely similar to mine, albeit seemingly more simplistic. She had a hard set grouping of equipment and electronics inside of her, appearing to lack the 'organic' properties I possessed. My attention was drawn away from the radar output a moment later, however, as I picked up Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's Cutie Marks pop up on the right side of the display, taking up the first and second boxes of six. My eyes widened and I pulled the display out, shocking myself when I got emotional output data and recognition analysis. Fluttershy's pulse was low and in a resting state. My program stated she was most likely asleep. Rainbow Dash's heart rate was going crazy, however. Uh oh. Sensing my distress, the display focused on her and extended out, filling my 'screen' with her data. To surprise me yet again, audio started playing a minute later, cutting in apparently mid-sentence with, "...doing here?! Oh no. No, no, no! He was telling the truth. I knew it! Twi, we need to get back to the Library like, now!" It was spoken in a very surprised Rainbow Dash's voice. What? Was this live?! I tried to say something, and then remembered I technically didn't have vocal cords. Damn it. Attempt two had me try to mentally 'project' the words into her mind again. Anything to warn them of what was going on. Nothing. "Incorrect Relay Format," displayed itself under the audio readout a moment later. Thanks. That's really, um, helpful and descriptive. I made a mental note to figure out who programmed that and murder them later, if possible. Or at least harshly reprimand them. My inner Fluttershy nodded cutely in agreement, managing to make me smile. "W-What are you talking about? Did something happen?" I heard Twilight ask, sounding instantly worried. Well she'd left me alone again, so I imagine she was picturing her house burning down. There was a sniffling noise, followed by, "Oh dear. Is Mender all right?" It sounded like Rarity, but was a little off. Had she been crying? "No, he's not! It’s really bad! AJ’s probably in trouble too. Teleport us, now!" Rainbow rapidly spilled out, relaying frustratingly outdated information. I wished I could bash my metaphorical skull into the non-existent screen. Did Rainbow know Morse Code? Doubtful. How the hell was I even hearing all of this? "Wait, what?! You're not joking, are you? What happened?" my fillyfriend questioned, sounding both shocked and disturbed at the same time. I could almost picture her face, too. "No, I'm not! He was telling the truth the whole time. Somepony came from his world! We need to get there before she hurts somepony!" my cyan friend furthered, surprising me. She had checked out my story, even after I 'attacked' her friend. She trusted me. Further, while she sounded shocked and scared, there wasn't any sense of doubt coming from her words. She believed what she was saying! "Oh no. I was afraid of this. He was right! Princess Celestia warned me that this might happen, but didn't say why. Ugh. Let's go, Rainbow! Hang on," Twilight requested. What?! Celestia had warned her? Didn't she say that Celestia was the one who said there was no more link in the first place? An explosion rocked the audio a moment later, and I heard ponies screaming in the background. “W-What was that?!” Spike spoke up, apparently being there as well. The distorted ringing sound after it was all too familiar. That was the slipstream device. This wasn’t live, then? What was going on? “I, well, I want to come too!” Rarity spoke up, followed by what sounded like a table falling over. “No! Stay here with Spike. He’ll protect you if something happens, Rarity. Come on, Dash,” I heard Twilight order an instant later. It sounded like something bumped up against the microphone a moment later. “On it!” Spike declared, but everything else was cut off. The audio died an instant later with another flashing message overtop of the display, saying, "Audio Link Disrupted Due To High Energy Interference!" Twilight teleported them. I let the link drop and sighed in frustration. I couldn't figure out how to talk to them anyway, so it hadn't done me a huge amount of good. Plus, I wasted a lot of time listening. At least I knew Twilight was warned about a potential shapeshifter attack. She'd be suspicious now. I wondered idly if she'd dealt with them before. She certainly didn't seem as surprised as I expected when she heard that part. Peeking through the executable files again, I tried to find any that had to do with weaponry or defensive measures. If I was to survive in a potentially hostile environment, surely they'd give me something to do it with, right? There was unfortunately nothing of immediate direct interest, and I glared at the screen. A second later, I saw an upload date discrepancy in the files. "Waste_Disposal_Management.exe" was dated uploaded five days after all the others. Well, that was weird. Wait, why did I even have a program to manage my waste disposal? Where the hell was it when I encountered Lyra the first time?! Curious now, I activated that instead. The name changed instantly to "Protocol312.exe" instead. My smile widened as it activated. The change was instantaneous as I felt multiple things activate inside the core of my body and expand. Power flooded into my systems and woke up my tired body almost instantly. Maybe, just maybe, I had finally found what I needed. Thank you, whoever or whatever dropped this little black box into me. My eyes opened again, for real this time. * * * * * My vision momentarily swam before I focused the left on Nirru. She was looking moody and glaring absently at the loading screen that floated in front of me. My breathing started up again after my heart did, my muscles slowly following the lead. I felt dried out and rickety, and something was worming its way through me. It twisted inside my gut, spreading out over my skin and coiling around my insides silently. Nothing beyond the chilled numbing was added to the sensation, and I felt my stomach piecing itself back together again, organs that I suddenly discovered outside of my body being slowly pulled back in. The bitch had torn me open while unconscious? The hatred swelled, threatening to overwhelm. No Mender; patience. "Are you even listening to me, Nirru?! You have to get him aid! Don’t make me pull the plug!" I heard Keela demanded a moment after I had calmed myself down. Her sister just snorted however, absently watching the download bar as it hovered above me. "You’d die too. You don’t have the guts. Besides, he's ceased functioning; his body is only running on backup reserves it seems. Hopefully the bastard will stay alive until I can burn down his precious little town," she spit out, glaring at the bar as it moved. "Kill her! Rip her limb from limb!" was whispered inside of my skull. I ignored it, deciding to watch her carefully from my lying position, holding my reforming body as still as possible. Tiny movements slowly pulled my organs back inside of me and sealed the holes. They were stringy and almost tendril like. Tentacles? My mind flashed back to that… thing… in the sky in those videos. Oh. New systems that hadn't been presented before powered on. A generator grid lit up in a status display, and I tucked it away for future observation. How they fit all of this crap inside of me, I had no idea. My display showed multiple, highly compressed folded spaces inside of me, which probably answered that mystery. Then the biggest surprise came next. A weapon system display lit up next, giving me multiple dozen targeting reticles across the entirety of my vision. Moving them was beyond second nature, to my surprise. I felt myself start to think faster, moving them into position before I even realized I had acknowledged her as a threat. Wait. In an exercise of will, the targeting cursors that drifted over her various vital spots stayed a happy green color. Yes, green was good. Green meant wait. "You're a monster! No, Mender can't be dead. He can't. They'll be coming to rescue him. Hell, I'll pull him through the connection and heal him myself if I need to," Keela shouted. I shivered lightly. Why did she care that much? Surely she realized I was a robot at this point, organic or not. I had the mind of a clone, right? But she sounded like she was crying. Suddenly, my apparent software defenses kicked in. Nirru gave a start as her download screen went red a split second later. "What the hell? Huh?! How does the encryption protocol change halfway through a transfer?" she groaned, glaring at the screen I still projected. The impossibly strong twisting and worming sensation crawled up my throat, supporting my neck and pulling my vocal cords back into place with frightening precision. I felt heavy and thicker; my limbs were impossibly solid suddenly. "Aww, is your data not cooperating?" I asked, my tone both my own, and something darker at the same time, bleeding over each other in a strange duality. Two tones at once? I recognized it as the book, whom I was in full agreement with at the moment. She needed to die; preferably in the most excruciatingly painful way possible. Nirru's eyes widened a little and she looked back down at me instead of the screen as soon as I spoke. "No way. You were dead. Your heart stopped," she muttered, sounding like she didn't quite believe herself. My body didn't feel like a dead weight anymore, I suddenly realized. The coils were under my control, and I could move myself with them, I discovered. Further, they felt impossibly strong. I felt them slowly extending down each of my legs towards the hoof, as well as curling out around where my left foreleg used to be? "Mender?! Oh thank goodness! Just hold on. I'm going to try to help you through the link," I heard Keela chime in an instant later. No, she was irrelevant at this point. Just noise. The radius on the targeting indicators tightened and tracked each muscle shift in Nirru's body. Her hoof extended upwards slowly, activating her decryption program again. "Whatever. It'll just take me a few more minutes to crack it again," she nonchalantly returned, eyes calming down again as she ignored both her sister and I. My smile widened as I shut her process down remotely, leaving nothing but an "Access Denied" message in its stead. Her blink was a slow one, and her hoof hesitated before hitting the same button again. A very wise individual once said something about insanity that applied there... My right eye flickered, and her entire screen disappeared; the viewpoint in both of my eyes rapidly returning to my own. My thoughts raced, millions of voices screaming at me to tear her apart as all four main cores hummed to full capacity. This was empowering, but absolutely maddening at the same time! "No, I really don't think I want you in my databases anymore. Although you were right about something," I agreed softly, the lower voice barely there. The worming sensation stretched across my back, a heightened sense of awareness extending across each muscle as I felt the eight twitching points of contact. Further, it extended out all four hooves, including the newly formed one on my also newly created leg. The tips extended into wicked scythe-like claws; three forward and one backwards from each hoof. I was mildly surprised at the revelation, my internal sensors taking rapid measurements of each of them. Well, Twilight's claw marking mystery was solved then, even if she would never know. The fake Twilight swallowed before shifting her right forehoof metallic again, extending four large prongs from it. My newly discovered scanning and analysis software told me it was a brute force software cracker. Heh. "And what, pray tell, is that?" she asked in self-assurance before extending the hoof casually down towards my chest. A rush went through me as my heart beat powerfully once more. An intense thrill that sung along with the cacophony of madness in my head; a moment later I realized it was bloodlust. I liked it. The light shining over her from my eye displays shifted crimson instead of pale blue. One of the targeting reticles flickered red with a stray thought. The upper right point on my back lashed out faster than the eyes could track, metal blades making a sharp whistling noise through the air. Her entire right foreleg hit the tree to my left, hacking module shattering against the bark. Her eyes widened into a stunned look. "Nobody ever expects the television to try to kill them," I half quoted, mouth twisting into a vicious smirk. All of the targeting circles turned red.
Chapter 27The moonlight pierced through the branches of the tree I found myself in. The soft, silvery blue light accentuated the deadly silence of the forest around me. Lower yet, the light died out almost completely at the forest floor. The cool breeze drifted through my fur, causing me to shiver as my nerves flared with each movement. A heightened sense of awareness was accompanied by a feral, rushed thinking. My pupils contracted, warding out the light from above and focusing on the prey I yet tracked. I couldn't keep my eyes focused as I excitedly darted them back and forth, taking in all movement. I could smell her on the breeze, a light string of saliva drifting out from the rows of razor-like teeth in my mouth at the sensation. Her breathing was irregular as she crouched beneath the overhang of a rocky outcropping. The stream that undoubtedly carved it eons ago was still flowing at her feet as she struggled to regrow the basic structure of her foreleg, if not for mere balance concerns. I shifted, a movement barely concerning my conscious effort as I slithered between three sets of trees, extending myself out and closer to her. My harsh claws scraped gently along the bark of the tree I landed in, silently watching from above. Holding onto the tree was easy when I had extra limbs! Eight extra appendages extended from my back, although the term must be used loosely. Each was almost twelve meters long at this point, flexing and twitching of their own accord like starving snakes as I watched her. They were repulsive things, I noted. The majority of their surface area had taken on the same texture as my flesh. Coiled, lumpy, lightly oiled, and gunmetal black. Dark red sores and ruptures covered them, occasionally squirting out a blast of pus as they shifted and flexed. The smells were hellish, and that was being generous. They were organic, yet I also saw corded metal and energy running down them. These were, without a doubt, exactly what a biological weapon would look like. Yet for all of their speed, flexibility, and striking power, there was something far more frightening about these tentacles. I watched a visual distortion drift lengthwise along a portion closed to my head; my sensors were unable to pick up the effect itself regardless of me knowing exactly what it was. A byproduct of the Slipstream technology was a 'folding' of spatial connectivity. That protected living organisms from the many complications of faster than light travel, of course. It had a few other applications, however. Out of the distortion came a partially liquid but rapidly solidifying blade, jagged in shape as it took form rapidly. They could pop out of me anywhere, just like the tentacles themselves, it would seem. Without a doubt, I was a monster. I was close enough to hear her blood rushing through her veins. At least, whatever passed for blood in that artificial body. I knew my body couldn't process it, but at the same time, I realized these things extending out of me could. Oh, and how they hungered too. Their wanton starved desires made me salivate as I slipped down the tree. A tentacle extended above me, rearing back like a snake as a spear-like head extended out of the maw on the tip. No sound. No warning. I wasn't about to delusion myself with giving her a sporting chance. No, I just lashed out when it was ready. Her eyes widened at the last possible second and she dove sideways, just barely missing the blade driving itself through her eye. I landed an instant later, propelled out of the tree at unnatural speeds by three additional tentacles. My right forehoof drew blood using the claws extending from it as she rolled out of the way, fresh series of wounds sliced into her cheek. She let out a blast of flames from her right forehoof as she flipped up to her feet, sending out three fireballs that blew away the base of the tree I was at prior, sending the entire thing crashing down to the earth. On second thought, it was no surprise it was dead quiet. If I was small, furry, and classified as a woodland creature, I would be running the hell away from here as fast as possible. I entertained the idea of classifying my prior self as exactly that as I landed silently in a tree some sixty meters away, cloaked once again in darkness. "Stop hiding, you chicken shit! Face me!" she screamed into the darkness, rapidly spinning in a sharp circle as she tried to find me in the dense forest. I resisted laughing, thankfully. Even had I been compelled by some strange form of honor or ego to do just that, this was far too much fun! Her heart rate skyrocketed as she listened to the silence for another second before shifting closer to the trees. Duking it out at point blank range was sporting and the gentlecolt thing to do. Did she forget already that I was a monster? Besides, I wanted her to taste the fear she'd forced down my throat earlier, preferably mixed with blood as I tore hers out. I wanted her to pay for the hell she just made Applejack watch. Even Twilight's floor and balcony deserved a few stabs of revenge! Oh yeah; she also killed me. My claws tightened at the thought as I flickered effortlessly closer. Personally, I could keep this up all night. She didn't look nearly as fortunate, however. Her strangely realistic looking blood dripped from dozens of wounds dotting her body. Honestly, I was surprised she managed to get the foreleg restored so fast. She was panting heavily and rested against a large tree, peeking around it rapidly before also looking up into it. Ah, she had caught on. Pity it was absurdly dark, and I was an equally dark shade of gray. After her body moved faster than I thought possible while avoiding my first barrage of tentacle attacks, I had been playing hit and run with her. My mind and newfound rage told me to lunge and not stop attacking until she was shredded mulch, but I managed to keep the bloodlust in check for the most part. Wearing her down and learning what she was capable of seemed more productive. I slipped into the branches of the tree next to hers, tentacles shooting down vertically along the trunk and lashing out from the base. Predictably, she saw them coming out of the darkness and lashed out with a slash of her hoof, releasing a surprisingly crescent shaped wave of flames. I was already out of the tree, however, flipping sideways with actually calculated precision. Two tentacles got singed before I moved them back up and away. Her eyes winced down the moment the trunk exploded from her attack, the light difference briefly stunning her. There! I noticed that her own attacks would blind her with the light they released. I landed behind her on all four legs, digging into the dirt before lunging as fast as I could manage. There was no time to raise a claw up, so instead, I improvised. With a feral cry, the top of my head rammed into her lower back as hard as I could manage. She let out a scream as I felt something snap against my forehead, both of us spilling over and smashing into the burning tree debris. She lashed out with a kick I didn't even feel upon landing, but it did serve to wedge it into my chest, preventing me from landing on top of her. She charged a blast of flames in her hoof, but two of my tentacles whipped down and smashed blades into both of her forelegs. She gritted her teeth, barely blocking my downward claw attack with her other back leg. With both back legs up now, she managed to shove hers out from under me, sparks flying from her shoulders as the blades scraped along them. Damn, her skin was tough! Sliding, she used both forelegs to launch another close range fire crescent. On instinct, my tongue lashed out from my mouth, extending two meters in front of me while covered in barriers. Nirru's eyes widened in surprise as I smashed it along the path of the slash she made, knocking the attack off into the forest. My tongue pulled back just as four tentacles lashed out instead, the remaining four balancing me again and raising me off the ground. Just like the first time, her body accelerated, launching her a good five meters backwards before she raised her head up fully again, landing on all four legs. Her horn lit up this time, launching a barrage of fireballs. Shit! I let her get too much distance on me. Thankfully that primal monster that directed my instincts reacted far quicker. The four limbs supporting me shifted, flinging me to the right and far clear of the incoming attack. My mind replayed the video of her movement as I landed quietly behind a tree, the entire left side of my body lighting up from series of explosions I'd avoided. It was fast, but definitely there. Her hooves had flared up for a split second, and she used them like some sort of primitive rocket to propel herself away from me, getting more distance to attack with. Leaping away from the tree again, I lunged along the clearing she landed in, using the cover of the trees to block her series of straight shot blasts. She was limited at close range and seemed to have an affinity for fire based attacks, then. "Activate the full tentacles. They'll eat her alive," I heard whispered in my inner ear in the voice of the book. No! I hadn't dropped their shielding when they activated, and I wasn't about to now. They'd consume everything, not just her! I paused an instant later, realizing what I just said... It was almost disastrous. A fire streak shot in, burning runes dancing around it. There were layers to the shot. The first was just a container. The second fueled the shell like a rocket. The third tore through a layer of shields before exploding. I recognized the setup, it would seem. She was skilled to rapid fire these things. There was just one problem with the technique; the outer layer was a barrier. With a bit of finesse, my tongue found the blast instead. It deftly curled around the thin barrier, strengthening it before crushing inwards. The blast became a marble sized orb of heat before I swallowed it and pulled out the energy inside of me, adding to my reserves. Nirru looked disgusted as I dove down and sprinted at her. "Monster!" she exclaimed, drawing forth another burning crescent wave at me. That was ironic, coming from her. I leapt over the wave of flames and landed within six meters of her. Do it! I lunged again while releasing a feral roar of rage, rather than lash out with my tentacles. She leapt backwards again and I watched the runes light up on her hooves. Right into my trap! Smiling, I whipped my upper left tentacle at her an instant later. She smirked back as it missed, passing right in front of her. That's when the shield around it disappeared, if only for half a second. The air itself was sucked into the void that my tentacle's tip became. Her eyes widened as the flames along her forelegs sputtered, being closest to the tentacles as it whipped past. The back legs burst out fire a moment later, unfortunately for her. I've never seen somepony plant their face into the ground in such a spectacular manner before. Her horn snapped off as she ran her head into the ground at high velocity before her back legs flipped out the other direction. Oh. Oh crap. I hadn't thought this through very well! My eyes widened as well as her direction suddenly reversed, sending her grinding along the ground on her face directly for me. At the last second, I managed to jump using my tentacles as a spring. Her body clipped my back legs still and ended up flipping me forwards regardless. Disoriented, I managed to spin in midair and land on all four legs again, rotating once before sliding to a stop. Thankfully my CPU cores kicked in and rapidly re-oriented me a moment later. Nirru flipped over and landed on her back, blood coming from a large gash along her forehead. Her horn had apparently shattered, leaving just the stump of it attached to her forehead. She let out a primal scream of pain and clutched both sides of her head after landing, shaking there while lying on the ground. Whoa! I forgot she had an empathy link with that body. Now that I looked closer, that probably hurt like a bitch. Regardless, my eyes narrowed and I raised all eight tentacles up into the air, popping blades out of every one of them. No, letting her recover wasn't on my agenda. All eight descended at once with the full intent of unceremoniously grinding her to a thick paste in an instant. She whipped her foreleg backwards at the same time however, instinctively lashing out. I could barely track the flash of light and searing arc before it smashed into my chest in a tight spiral. A light explosion knocked me flying backwards, causing my tentacles to miss entirely, smashing into the ground instead. I spread them out and drug them along the forest floor, anchoring my slide and slowing myself to a crawl until I could fully steady myself. Systems scanned and noticed light dermal damage to my chest and forelegs from the detonation, with primary and secondary armor systems unharmed. Ah; that attack was for speed and distance creation. Glaring, I rose my vision back up to meet hers as she stood, shaking visibly and bleeding heavily. "That's it! I don't care anymore. You're dead! You and this entire forest are going to burn, and I'll pick the DNA out of the ashes!" she screamed, flames starting to dance up around her as she practically trembled in rage. My eyes narrowed as the sensors in them picked up the temperature increases focusing into her hands rapidly. That amount of energy wasn't good! My first instinct was to dash away again and resume the hit and run tactics, but I realized that wasn't possible. If she got too destructive, the collateral damage to the forest would be phenomenal. My body shifted forwards, flicking itself into a vault in an instant instead. She screamed in fury this time as she whipped both forelegs forwards, standing up completely on her back hooves! A radiating orb of white and orange flames expanded instantly from her held out limbs, blanketing the entire burning clearing in a bright, white light. Damn it! I started to recognize the magic and didn't like where it was going. I'm pretty sure I'd only seen that particular attack performed once, but I remembered what it did well enough! She wanted to end this in one shot, and I wasn't entirely sure I'd persist through that. Processing power spiked as calculations ran through my mind. Time slowed again as a burst of adrenalin combined with the heightened mental capacity and slowed things to a crawl. All eight of my extra limbs spread out as far as they could, four to each side as I lashed them out forwards. There was only one option if I didn't want her to reduce everything in a ridiculously large cone in front of her to ash, and it wasn't going to be pleasant either way. My eyes widened as a true memory drifted into me from the individual I was created from... * * * * * The old geezer walked in front of our group, pace slow yet strutting. He was probably well over a hundred and forty, but the crazy bastard was still teaching. Jokes amidst the barracks said he'd invent a spell to reanimate himself after he croaked just to keep his position as head instructor. At this point, I wasn't so sure that it was a joke! He turned sharply, crossing both lightly furred arms over his chest. Patches were missing here and there, but he obviously took good care of himself despite his advancing age. "So recap! Restoration, Alteration, Transmutation, Enchantment, Conjuration, Illusion, Divination, and Evocation! Those are the eight primary schools of magic. Everyone here should have their tactics and summaries memorized, regardless of your actual profession! Knowing your enemy is the first step towards defeating them," he reiterated. I'd studied hard regardless, and knew the techniques of all of them by heart. Each was broken up into categories, but that much was irrelevant. I specialized in Alteration and Transmutation of course, being an Engineer. More specifically, I held a special fondness for Barrier Magic, which was a subset of Alteration. But that was for a different reason entirely. Heh. Regardless, I was a support type. While I knew of the techniques of the other categories, I couldn't actually cast any. My elongated ears perked as I listened, knowing where this was going anyway. I'd used Prudentia to take a 'peek' at his lesson plan last night, as usual. "Today, we cover basic balances between the categories! Right off the bat, we'll discuss the most likely cause of most of your death's in the future; evocation! It's classified as the manipulation of energy at a molecular level in order to transform it into a different effect in order to provoke a reaction. Fancy talk aside, it's used to blow shit up! If any of you survive your evocation training later this week, you'll know what I mean," he continued, glaring at each of us in turn before moving on. Evocation didn't frighten me. As a barrier user, the only classes of magic that I really had to worry about were divination and restoration. One was annoying to the point of mind numbing frustration, and the other was single handedly the most lethal class of magic in existence. Always stay on a healer's good side! Reversing the healing spells was not something pretty to see. "Those of you in Alteration or Transmutation specializations are probably laughing now, but you need to listen up! A good amount of caution never hurt anyone, and I'm gonna show you why. The upper most tiers of Evocation mess around with things you'd better damn well hope you never see comin' at you! This, for example," he warned. Wait, he wasn't seriously crazy enough to activate an Evocation inside of the gymnasium, was he?! Sure enough, flames exploded around him as he gathered up a massive orb of heat and energy directly in front of him, his fur lightly blowing as it gathered into the size of a beach ball, radiating orange and white light! What the hell was that?! "This, ya soggy hairballs, is called Gigaflare. An unoriginal name for a rather simple process. That's what's sick about it, really. It's too simple, in theory. Imagine making a magical rune array to produce energy. Then, you smash that energy together to cause a reaction to make even more energy. Using that extra energy, you then do it again! Pretty sweet deal, right?" he offered, gesturing with a nod towards the orb. The class nodded, mostly. I frowned. Exponential energy increases were fine and all, but the heat coming from what he was holding indicated something else entirely. "This is exactly what the 'medium' end magic in Evocation deals with. Turns out, most of their higher end stuff comes from apprentices like you screwing up and leveling a few city blocks by total accident. So, long story short, guess what happens when you get the hiccups and drop the energy tethers to this orb halfway through charging it?" he asked, looking amused. Hiccups? Seriously? Well, if you dropped the tethers, you'd lose control over the spell. The failsafe would kick in and disrupt it and, wait, unless the student forgot to apply the failsafe. Then the reaction would spiral out of control and... "Ah! I can see the look of horror on your face! You, up front! Got a guess?" the professor asked, gesturing towards me with a grin. I swallowed nervously and reasoned, "Well if they forgot the failsafe, the energy reaction would spiral out of control and explode in an exponentially larger detonation than what they put into it." The professor's grin widened and he nodded enthusiastically. "Bingo! Of course, the time it was discovered didn't go so well. Lost the entire class of two o' seven and our fifty sixth gymnasium, but we learned quite a bit! With a little bit of an adjustment, it turns out you can 'kick' the energy in a single direction. It makes for a nifty attack!" he explained. Oh hell. He wasn't seriously going to...?! He promptly turned around and aimed the ball into the corner of the gymnasium before releasing a pulse outwards from his hands. The energy in the blast magnified and slammed outwards. That little bump he gave it was all it needed once the fragile balance was lost! It exploded outwards from him, radius expanding to seven or eight times his body length in a pure oval shape of radiating flames. An actual corona formed around it of superheated energy before exploding into a cone-like wave of white and orange light and heat. The side of the gymnasium disappeared into a blackened shadow before blowing away to ash an instant later as what looked like the maw of hell itself smashing through it. The cone extended far past the gymnasium, and I saw one of the orbiting survey blimps explode in the distance. Those were over the fields of ore fourteen kilometers away, though! "What the hell are you doing down there?!" was suddenly screamed over the professor's belt communicator. He lowered his still smoking hands and just burst into copious amounts of laughter as he watched half the corner collapse upon itself. Yup; he was crazy. * * * * * My extra limbs smashed around the rapidly elongating oval of burning death as I leapt directly into it. There was no way to stop the reaction, as she already released it. That left only one possible solution and it wasn't going to be pretty. The professor said trying to block or absorb that kind of attack was foolish and pointless. The only defenses were to either not be there when the attack hit, or to redirect it as best you could. Dodging looked pretty good about now, but if I did, half the forest would probably be burnt to ash. I didn't know which direction Ponyville was in, either. That left only one choice... Barriers activated along all eight of my tentacles, expanding outwards as I slammed to a halt right in front of the energy buildup. Well, if this didn't work, I was almost assured a rather fast death. With that optimistic outlook cemented in my mind, I activated all eight barriers. Slowly, they started to expand outwards, forming an entire cage around the buildup of flames. Nirru made a scoffing noise and the orb flared with light just as my tentacles connected together behind her, sealing both of us inside with the blast. "Seriously? You prioritize those rats in this world above yourself? Wow, you're stupid!" she screamed a moment later. My eyes narrowed. Yeah, I probably was an idiot. But this was all I knew. Even if they didn't want me, they were all I had. The book itself seemed to dislike the thought too. I felt it; so close yet so far. Shifting, I felt that connection jingle and to my surprise, Keela's signal came alive again. I hadn't heard from her since Nirru and I had started fighting, and just assumed she was being blocked. After a light burst of static, she finally spoke up in a whisper with, "I'm sorry. I can't stop her. This wasn’t what I wanted. I couldn’t… But I can do this." My eyes widened. She sat in a chair with wires connected to her temples. A faint smile danced across her features as her hand reached out to the right, struggling and shaking as she moved it. I saw a twisted and torn leather strap on the chair and a thick, dark liquid ran down the armrest. Keela! Her hand finally landed on the counter next to her, dripping more of her blood down along the metal. The book! Her claws brushed against the cover before she latched onto it and, in one fluid motion, hauled it against her chest and hugged it to herself. The energy flared into me through her link an instant later, and it all suddenly made sense. Smirking, I drew upon the energy and my barriers exploded, expanding out exponentially and covering the entirety of her blast in a massive cylinder shape. Stopping the blast would be foolish. Giving it a top and bottom direction to leak out of however would be far easier. "What the hell?! You're not this powerful!" Nirru exclaimed, trying to break the reaction down instead before it went off. Ha! She had just expected it to punch through my shield with no problem at all, I realized. Her frantic clawing made it far worse. Instead of deactivating the massive chain reaction, she launched it straight downwards instead. Well, this was going to be fun... The explosion radiated outwards in an instant, shattering my entire world into bright white light. Nirru's scream sounded an instant later as the ground around my hooves gave away. * * * * * Coughing, I managed to crawl out of the crater. My skin tingled with an irritating amount of heat. Opening my eyes, I winced and gasped as I saw that I was literally glowing red, steam from the air temperature difference wafting amply off me as I drug myself back onto level terrain. The grass was missing. Actually, it appeared to be missing in most of the clearing. The ambient heat radiation from the explosion alone was enough to set fire to the vegetation around the center of the area for a good six meters. The newly formed crater itself fared far worse with the center of it literally crystallizing various minerals in the soil under the heat. If the shield hadn't been there, that probably would have done unspeakable levels of damage to the forest! A weary glance up showed a rather large cloud of smoke and sparks wafting into the air. I could only imagine what the column of flames had looked like a second ago. Well, if anypony was looking for us, they wouldn't have to look very hard! That display could probably easily be seen from Ponyville. Damn. Given the state of my ringing ears as well, I guessed nopony was asleep in Ponyville either, at this point. That explosion had been deafening! Nirru coughed weakly, crawling out of the crater on the other side. Her left foreleg, ironically, was gone, leaving only a burnt stump. Her back legs didn't look much better, but were rapidly reforming as she shakily tried to stand up. Her fur was gone along with a lot of her mane and tail, embers drifting off her skin as she stood. I sighed. Nothing could be easy, could it? Snapping my back right leg around to the proper angle, I pulled the cords together again and formed it solidly to my body, calmly noting the broken leg. After I steadied myself, I extended out all eight tentacles from my back once more. They were shells of their former selves, but rapidly lashed out with hundreds of miniature versions of themselves. I smiled as they sought out and 'ate' the remains of the old tentacles, rapidly reforming as well as I turned. No. I didn't have any forgiveness left. Oddly, what she just tried to do didn't really lower my opinion of her any further. Maybe she'd fallen as low as she could? I didn't have time to debate my opinion however, and just extended blades out of my extra limbs as I went. "Damn it. You're a monster," Nirru muttered after coughing again. She slowly started to back away, hobbling with each shift that should have went to the limb that no longer existed. I couldn't help but notice that she wasn't regenerating anymore. I shook my head as I rounded the crater, tentacles extending to either side of me and forming seamless if not distorted scythe blades. Finally, I spoke. "Of course I'm a monster. You killed me and turned me into this. What does that make you, I wonder?" I questioned, expression emotionless as I rapidly approached striking range. On three limbs and looking like she had been put through a blender and then an oven, she was far too slow to outpace me. I didn't really care about her answer of course. I was going to rip her apart no matter what she said. "No! I'm just trying to save my race! You're trying to kill us. You're just like the council members! You want the Keldarians to die," she denied, narrowing her eyes at me as she realized she couldn't get away. She flicked backwards instead, shakily balancing herself on her hind legs as best the awkward spinal structure would allow for. Her remaining right foreleg extended up again and caught fire, forming another fire blast. I just kept walking. The book was connected to me now. I was done screwing around. "The amusing thing was, if you'd just talked to me like your sister wanted, I probably would have just given you the data," I pointed out. Minus the information on the bioweapon of course. Although maybe that’s why she didn’t? "Bullshit!" she spat out before justifying with, "You males are all the same. You do whatever you want at any given time, screw everyone else that happens to be hurt by it! If we need anything from you, it has to be taken by force or you won't even acknowledge us!" For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her. Her fire blast launched off an instant later, reminding me of why that was foolish. It was bigger than the one that hit me in the chest, but slightly slower. My forward most left tentacle swatted it away and into the ground at few meters to my left with an Aegis Barrier, not even slowing me down. Anger built back up in me rapidly, eyes narrowing and focusing solidly on only her once more. My extra limbs began to twitch in anticipation of tasting her flesh again. I shook my head slowly. "I don't know what happened to you to make you think that, but it doesn't matter anymore. I'm not a Keldarian or a Pony. I'm a monster, just like you said. And now, I'm going to tear you apart for what you did," I quietly spoke, eyes softening as I stepped within range. She screamed in rage again, firing almost half a dozen more times. In an instant, my processors gave me the calculation and a target lit up each shot. She was tired now, and badly injured. None of the fireballs had much force behind them. I divided it up; a limb for each blast. Five shots were knocked away from me in the same moment. Three remaining tentacles lashed out at the same time. She let out a startled yelp as one swept low, knocking her unsteady legs out from under her, and the remaining two smashed her into the ground as hard as they could, blades now reinforced with Aegis Barriers. She screamed in pain as the elongated scythe blades pinned her physically to the ground via her right shoulder and inner left thigh. There was no hesitation and my body moved faster than I thought I could. With my other limbs recovered from their defensive maneuver, I whipped them backwards to throw me towards her and pounced the remaining five meters in an instant, landing on top of her prone form. She screamed, sounding absolutely pissed as she whipped her right foreleg up towards my head as fast as she could despite the flesh tearing around the blade in the same shoulder. I anticipated it a mile off this time, it being her only remaining defense. My left foreleg was already moving as I landed on her. I knocked her hoof aside, causing her flame whip technique to fail and burn out. She screamed again, in pain this time as the magic exploded, taking her hoof with it in a blast of light. My left claws smashed her limb into the ground and I systematically destroyed both the elbow and shoulder joint and instant later, rendering it immovable. My chest grew cold as she writhed under me, silently screaming after her lungs ran out of breath. No. I was all out of forgiveness. Nothing could undo what she did today. Still, the realism put into her body was strange indeed. Maybe it was specifically to try to seem as real as possible to trick me earlier? I thought she'd shift to a solid body, being as amorphous as she was. I tried to focus on the technical details as best I could, staving off the urge to tear into her more. It felt so good to cause her pain, and the bloodlust was delicious. To have this much control when I had none before was, well, addicting to say the least. I actually could feel her matter being pulled into me as I rendered her, my body itself feeding on hers before she even died. "M-Monster!" she spit out at me a moment later, glaring up in seething hatred. Even like this, she wasn't afraid. It was almost addicting as her screams! The urge to literally consume her reared its ugly head again. I wanted to keep lashing out until she stopped moving; the taste of her pain lingering long afterwards. She'd feel every last second of the agony until I was sure she deeply regretted coming here. I felt something twitch inside of me, and that cold feeling in my chest crushed inwards, twisting my expression into a glare. The revelation hit me with both shock and cold acknowledgement. I hated her. "Yes, I'm a monster! It takes one to destroy one! You ruined everything," I growled out, slamming her hard into the ground beneath her. I felt her collarbone snap under the pressure of my right hoof, but hardly cared. Instead, my claws dug in, drawing blood. It was surreal. I couldn't even see her as Twilight anymore. That was probably a good thing, though. Now she was just Nirru to me. A monster, just like I was. We were both monsters, out in the middle of the forest at night while dead set on murdering each other. It was oddly simple. She spat blood up into my face mid-glare. The liquid sizzled instantly and baked onto my cheek. I didn't really pay attention. "You're fake. You're a mistake and never could have had anything here. Maybe they all sensed that on some level and never really trusted you in the first place?" she suggested, tone venomous. A lump formed in my throat, and some part of me wondered if she was right in that regard, at least. It didn't matter now. "You have no right to judge me. You killed me, and now I'm going to kill you, even if to only protect everypony. Even if they don't trust me," I whispered softly, swallowing the lump painfully. Her head fell back against the ground and she closed her eyes. "Do what you want. You win. Tear this body apart if it makes you feel better. I have what I wanted for the most part anyway," she finally accepted. Oh. Her fearlessness all clicked together instantly. She was just a connection to here, and had already uploaded a lot of data to that connection. All she had to do was 'log out' and pull the data with her. Why would she care about what happened after that? Unless... I smiled, sharp teeth glittering in the heat-distorted moonlight. Her eyes widened and she let out a pitiful mewling noise as I slammed my left hoof, claws and all, directly into her stomach. It punched through all the way to her center in an instant. She gasped and whined in airless agony, and I felt it. She slammed on the release, undoubtedly guessing what I was doing. Too late. My smile twisted into a sneer as I sent the electrical pulse directly into her spine, halting her 'logging out' attempt. Her eyes widened in an instant as she gaped up at me. The reaction was immediate; that cold exterior melted into panic and fear. Lowering myself down to her, I asked softly, "I wonder what happens to your mind if you're torn apart before you can log out? Wouldn't it be a bitch if everything you did tonight actually had consequences for you?" Her eyes widened further and I realized my guess was dead on. They shivered and she slowly started shaking her head with what little strength she had left. "No. Please, no," she asked quietly, tone changing completely as what was left of her back legs tried in vain to push her away from me. Using my back claws, I destroyed her leg muscles a moment later, causing her to wince and silently scream in pain again. The reaction was dulled, however. She was probably going into shock. "M-Mender! What are you doing? Please, stop this. She'll be punished when she gets out of the machine. Please, she's my sister," Keela suddenly interrupted, apparently figuring out rather rapidly what I had done. I snorted, suddenly realizing she was exactly the same as the creature under me in that reasoning. Had she expected her sister to just waltz out of Equestria with all the data after what she did? The book was right. I should have murdered both of them and just taken it back with me when I first went there. "Yes, her getting a slap on the wrist after getting free with the data she wanted really helps me. It totally takes back her murdering me after torturing me in front of my friends and turning them against me," I muttered in response before glaring back down at the fake Twilight below me. My eyes were close enough to hers now that I could see the new, radiating blue color reflected as she gasped. They were kind of pretty; reminding me of my old coat color. Why couldn't everything have stayed how it was before? I slammed her back into the ground again, shaking now. She let out a pained yelp as I slammed her head into the rock below with another angry thrashing motion. Again and again I hit her, denting and breaking her fake body with each onslaught. She gave up fighting and simply cried there as I slowly destroyed her. Her heartbeat slowed in her chest as more and more blood spilled out of her. Soon... "This is all your fault. You killed me and destroyed everything! I don't care what I am. Maybe I could have been happy here, but now you took all of that for your own selfish reasons!" I growled, eyes narrowing as I actually felt them start to get wet. I hated her! I wanted her to suffer and die just like I had. She ruined my chance at having anything here and turned them all against me! Not that it had taken much, the book reminded. True. Then she killed me after taking everything! "I-I'm sorry. Please, Mender," she begged weakly, her own eyes starting to water too. They were dim and unfocused at this point, the blood slipping the left one. Sorry? She was sorry?! I smashed her legs again, removing the right one completely. "Oh yeah, that just makes everything better now doesn't it?! You murdered me! I'm a monster, remember? Mender died. You killed him! Do you honestly expect a 'monster' to forgive you?!" I screamed now, adding her left shoulder to the list of destroyed parts with another blow. To my surprise, she actually started crying even harder, her body locking up. My emotions tangled up and rage seeped through everything. She didn't have a right to beg for her life! She didn't let me beg for mine. She just took it! My right foreleg twisted upwards, pulling free from her body and raising into the air. I was done with this bullshit. "Mender! Please stop!" Keela begged in a shout over the connection. My hoof paused in midair, scythe-shaped claws twitching as I glared down at the crying, broken image of Twilight Sparkle. There was no recognition there. I fully knew it wasn't Twilight. I hated Nirru. Keela probably helped her, too! "Please. I'm deleting the data now. Just let her log out? She might be a complete monster, but she's my sister as well. Please?" Keela begged, softer this time. My foreleg froze. Why was she bothering to delete the data? She'd have that even if I killed Nirru. Why waste everything her sister did tonight? My eyes softened as my raised claws curled up gently. Keela had tried to help throughout all of this, honestly. I really don't think this was her intent at all, like she said. To think otherwise seemed a bit irrational, I noticed. The cloudy haze shifted a little and I became distinctly aware of the book's anger as it separated from my own. Urges to tear her apart became clear in my mind, and I shuddered. They weren't entirely mine, I realized. I'd wanted her to die for what she did to me, but this was... I lowered my hoof a little, emotions smashing together inside my chest. I hated her, but if I killed her like this, I'd hurt Keela as well. Suddenly, I was confused. There was a light, almost imperceptible growling noise followed by a hissed out, "No! Kill her now!" The book's hatred was all around me; there was a haze to my thoughts and vision as I stared down at Nirru under me, emotionless. With her wounds and my claws in her gut, I knew she'd die shortly anyway. Did Keela really deserve this, though? No, she didn't. I doubted she saw what her sister really was, but she had already made her decision. My lips curled up into a grimace as I glared down at the broken body below me. Nothing was ever fair it seemed. Why couldn't I just be happy? Why did something always have to try to take that from me? "HALT CREATURE! CEASE YOUR AGGRESSIONS!" suddenly exploded from in front of me in a voice about six decibels higher than the prior explosion, I estimated. Both Nirru and I let out a startled jump from the blast that caused my 'fur' to blow backwards. What the hell?! Wait; that voice... Both of us glanced up at the same time. Princess Luna herself stood a half dozen meters from me, wings spread out in an extremely threatening manner with a look of fury on her face. Oh. Oh hell. Well this complicated things a little! Almost a dozen ponies stood near her, all wearing a dark purple armor and wielding various sharp and pointy instruments in their teeth. "H-Help me!" Nirru groaned out, starting to cry again as she looked back at the Moon Princess. She had shifted back to Twilight's voice in an instant, I noticed. A light sigh escaped my throat as I extended my claws again on my raised hoof. Not this again... Well, she'd obviously try anything to live through the situation. That much I kind of respected in her. "T-Twilight Sparkle?! Let her go and once, creature! You shall face our wrath otherwise!" Princess Luna warned, eyes narrowing from her brief look of shock at seeing the bloodied body of 'Twilight' under me. As much as I really didn't want to face any wrath she could bring forth, I didn't particularly feel like letting Nirru go. Princess Luna's negotiating skills left something to be desired. Still, I had no doubt that the Princess of the Moon herself could very easily survive anything Nirru could attack her with, but I was more concerned about the far less imposing guards gathered around her. My head cleared now that I separated myself from the still pissed off book, and I focused as best I could. What were the choices, really? I couldn't let her go and risk untold amounts of complications. If I killed her outright right now it would cause Keela immense grief and instantly earn the wrath of one of the most powerful beings I'd ever known, undoubtedly leading to my destruction. That wasn't... It clicked and my eyes softened. Wasn't that ideal? What honestly did I have left, after all? I wasn't a Keldarian or a Pony. I didn't belong to either world, really. In truth, I was a biological weapon pretending to be the pony-morphed clone of a Keldarian soldier that had been dead for a while. A joke, really. I lowered my eyes away from Princess Luna, looking down at my bloodied limb imbedded into Nirru's stomach. If I was a joke though, it wasn't that funny. At least, I wasn't laughing. Knowing what I was; knowing what I'd done and how many innocent lives died directly due to me, there was no way I could bring myself to look any of them in the eyes again. So what was left? I had wanted it all along. I'd even achieved it once already. I've always wanted to protect these ponies. But what if I was the danger to them? It seemed like my vary nature all along was nothing but a threat to Equestria. Wasn't the solution obvious then? It was right here, presenting itself to me. I could eliminate every threat to Equestria at the same time, and still make Keela happy. All with one motion. Given my luck, I didn't dare ask for more. Maybe a bit of fortune smiled on me after all in a perverse sort of way. My data readout showed Keela had kept to her word and deleted all of Nirru's connected memory banks. I closed my eyes and raised my hoof back up to full extension, claws glistening in the moonlight. Nirru's eyes widened as I opened mine again and stared down at her. For a moment, we locked our gazes into each other. I almost saw something clashing in her eyes. There was sorrow there; a pain I recognized yet could do nothing for. Her eyes softened as well as she stared into mine. Did she recognize something there? Maybe, if things had been different, we could have been friends. Maybe we had in a different time. "DON"T YOU DARE, OR WE WILL DESTROY YOU!" the Princess screamed out once again, a pointless and ignored reminder. Heard it the first time. Maybe, after this played out, she'd realize maybe a more subtle tract would get better results in future negotiations? Finally, I swallowed painfully and shook my head. "I'm sorry Keela. I don't think I can talk to you anymore. Thank you for everything," I quietly spoke, knowing she could hear me. Nirru heard as well and quietly gasped, eyes widening as they grew watery again. I released. Her signal became unblocked again in an instant, earning another widening of her eyes. She hesitated, obviously not even fathoming that I'd let her go. My claws flexed. The realization sparked through her. A heartbeat later, she was gone. The fake corpse of Twilight Sparkle was all that remained under me, eyes glazing over. The image burned into my mind in an instant and I almost threw up then and there. Deciding it needed to be banished as fast as possible, I exhaled before whipping my clawed hoof down as hard as I could. Her skull was no match for my new strength and I crushed it. It felt like an icicle had imbedded itself in my chest at the same moment; a part of me died with my very blow, I think. Tendrils ripped free of my hoof a second later, starting to consume her body’s mass. Scanning activated and memories flashed to and fro in my mind as my twisted body pieced the information back together again that was inside of her. There probably wouldn't be much left, but I let it do whatever the hell it wanted. A glance upwards half a second later showed me an utterly horrified Princess Luna. The shock twisted into a look of absolute rage a moment later and she let out a scream. I swallowed painfully as her horn flared up and, faster than I could track, a black crescent wave of energy tore through the air. The ground under it ruptured and cracked as it passed. One spin later, it cleared the distance between us. There was nothing else. I closed my eyes and lifted my head up as best I was able, revealing the entirety of my neck as the attack came in. I'm sorry, Twilight. Fluttershy. I winced as I felt the blade of darkness slam into my throat...
Chapter 28Darkness. A deep, inner peace. My muscles loosened and unwound; they were long overtaxed from two lives of never really being able to stop moving. It would be nice to rest finally. Sleep had always eluded me it seemed. I can recall my original self having to always sleep with one eye open in bunker after bunker. His memories seemed to translate into me for the most part. Now I was haunted by them and still hadn't slept well, even in Equestria. But they were fragmented. Even knowing what I was didn't give me all the details. Things were missing or lost; the transfer to Equestria was apparently a bit more violent than anticipated. Not that it mattered anymore. I could finally relax. After two lifetimes of conflict and stress, it would definitely feel good to be able to stop. It was finally over. The final act hadn't concluded on a happy note at all, and I turned out to be the roll of the jester, but at least it was finally over. To go through my entire life without really knowing my place, then to have it snatched away as soon as I found it felt immensely cruel still, but there was nothing I could do. Maybe something, somewhere, had at least been amused by the antics. I wouldn't be a very good jester if nopony got a laugh from it. Now, no matter what awaited me, I knew I could at least rest. That would be good. The darkness continued, and I paused. No, there was something off. Oh, wait. A moment later, an annoyed sensation drifted through me and I sighed, opening my eyes again. Nope. Not the afterlife. That was just the inside of my eyelids. Damn it. Princess Luna glared at me still. The burning sensation still pressed into my neck, but barely dug in a centimeter into my armor. What?! The level of energy there should have been able to slice right through me! Why had she stopped it? Sure enough, she held the energy back herself as her eyes narrowed. I took a step forward to try to complete the stroke, but she pulled the blade away entirely, her massive aura that practically darkened the sky itself seemingly retreating into her body again. "Thou shows extreme intelligence, yet wishes to die. CAN THOU SPEAK FOR THYSELF, BEAST?!" she asked a moment later, shifting back to whatever the hell that tone was and actually pushing me backwards with the force of her voice. Well hell; maybe my head would explode if I listened for long enough and she wouldn't even need to attack! After her voice receded, I wobbled on my legs for a second before shaking my head clear again. The reality set in a moment later. She was suspicious of me for some reason. My eyes narrowed as well as I glared back at her a moment later, requesting, "Just kill me. You have the power to. Destroy me." She had to! I wasn't sure what else would at this point, and I had no idea how to turn back to my other form. Not that I wanted to turn back in front of her. If she knew who I was, there'd be no end to the shame involved on my part. She relaxed rather than get angry, however. "Why?" she asked simply, causing me to twitch. "I just killed Twilight Sparkle! You should hate me! Plus, I'm a direct threat to Equestria. Open your eyes and look at me. You should be able to see what a monster I am," I reasoned. There were so many reasons why she should kill me that I was having difficulty grasping why she'd even question it! The guards looked confused at this point, keeping their weapons drawn but now looking back and forth between Princess Luna and I. She lost her glare and shifted to a more neutral expression, standing up straight again. "Thou has a startling visage, but we have seen far worse. You may speak however, and know of your supposed crimes. We are concerned that thou may be clever enough to abuse thus facts," she spoke plainly, much quieter again. My ears lowered. I should have just growled at her and attacked. Then she'd have no choice but to kill me. Wait, that was it! "Fine. If you won't kill me, I'll just have to kill all of you instead. How does that sound?!" I suggested, tentacles extending upwards into the air again, blades popping out menacingly. The reaction was both as expected and less than satisfactory at the same time. The guards snapped to attention instantly, backing away from me and lowering their weapons to cover the Moon Princess. Luna herself looked more amused than anything, sadly. Her left eyebrow rose momentarily before she nodded and stepped forwards, pushing a spear out of her way and narrowing the gap between us by a meter or so. "Very well, Creature. Thou has a deal. If you strike out at us with all your strength with intent to kill, we shall destroy you," she agreed, watching me carefully. What? My mind stalled as I stared at her in surprise. What the hell?! For a moment, I couldn't even manage to formulate a proper thought process in which to consider what she just said. In my delay, she actually shifted to a smile instead, moving her balance more to the side and giving me an impatient yet deeply amused look. Damn it. She was mocking me! All it needed to be was close, though. My tentacle on the upper right side whipped down in an instant, scythe blades moving in on her neck with calculated precision. "No!" one of the soldiers screamed from behind her as he started to rush forwards. She watched the blade come down an instant later, and... I stopped it less than a millimeter from the skin of her neck, glaring at her. The step of her dodging it and obliterating me was strangely absent as she just stood there, watching me. I swallowed, tentacle twitching as I couldn't bring myself to touch the blade against her fur. Damn it! "Thou hesitates? No such moment existed for Twilight earlier, yet thou claims her death was an atrocity. Where is the difference between her and us?" Princess Luna asked softly, calling me out on my bluff. I continued glaring at her before shivering and taking a few steps backwards, withdrawing my tentacles as all the soldiers stared in shock. "You wouldn't have struck me regardless, I suspect. The truth is rather obvious, as it doesn't exist in thou's prior statement. What is the truth then, pray tell?" she asked again a moment later, watching me curiously now. My ears flattened back and I scowled at her, still unable to bring myself to lash out and actually hit her. I sighed wearily and lowered my head. Well, there was more than one way to go about this. To my credit, she actually looked surprised when I dropped onto my forward knees, forming a polite and proper bow. "Please, Princess Luna. I represent a threat to Equestria, and you watched me kill your sister's faithful student. I need to be destroyed," I requested, voice softening and losing some of the harsh edge around the lower tone. She frowned but closed the gap to just a meter finally, standing almost right in front of me. I remained in my bowed posture. "We are now unsure of what it was we just saw. Anger clouded our judgment and we failed to notice a lack of our dear friend's magical residue in the area. If that was indeed Twilight, surely she would have resorted to magic for her defense, right?" she suggested logically, tilting her head. Crap. That was cheating! I hesitated, but shook my head. "I broke her horn off. She couldn't cast anything," I corrected, looking back up at her. If that excuse had worked on Rainbow and Applejack, surely there was some truth behind it. She just smiled however and shook her head. "Our skills are not that of a fundamental level. We need no spell cast to sense our friend's aura residue," she assured. Okay, that was definitely cheating! Before either of us could say more however, the sound of frantic flapping came to my attention. My ears perked up instantly and swiveled around to behind the Princess. A pegasus? Uh oh. Thankfully, a lightly armored guard drifted in instead of any hinting of rainbow or cyan coloring. I should have known. It sounded a little sloppy for Dash's flying. He wobbled as he landed, looking downright exhausted. "P-Princess Luna! I have a report from Ponyville! There's been an attack and," he started to relay before finally noticing me and letting out a sharp squeak. As much as I knew about the 'attack' from an intimate position, I was curious for new information. Princess Luna looked back at me carefully, her eyes shooting me a questioning glance. I hesitated for a moment before giving her a slow nod, lowering all of my extra appendages and retracting the sharp and pointy bits back into them. She watched for a moment before subtly nodding as well and shifting back to the messenger. "Worry not. Speak forth your information for us to hear. This one will not interfere," she assured confidently. I got a little paranoid at that point. She was highly intelligent, obviously. If she figured out who I was... The scout looked less than assured, but shakily turned back to her and bowed. "Ah, well there was an attack by a shape-changing entity. The Elements of Laughter and Honesty intercepted, but it got away and fled into the, um, forest. I think you might have found it already, though," he muttered, glancing back over at me nervously. The Princess of the Moon frowned and looked back to me as well. "We are unsure. What was the attacker to look like?" she inquired curiously. "T-That's the thing! Applejack, er, the Element of Honesty reported the creature appearing as Twilight Sparkle herself!" he exclaimed. Damn it. Well, at least I knew Applejack wasn't hurt in the explosion from the Slipstream emanation. Assuming as he didn't mention Pinkie, I figured she was probably perfectly fine. Hell, she was Pinkie Pie. I doubted physics would allow her to be hurt in the first place. Princess Luna smiled almost instantly and nodded. "That is very informative. We thank you, truly. Was anypony hurt?" Shouldn't she have asked that first? The scout seemed to finally relax a little before shaking his head, apparently deciding I really wasn't going to rip him in half and consume him. Oddly, the other guards behind her lowered their weapons a little as well, simply watching me instead. "No. The two Elements involved suffered only minor wounds. Moon Mender has been reported missing however! The Element of Magic herself has guessed that he was somehow captured before the creature fled. She sent me to report to you while she gathered the rest of the Elements," the scout reported further. I swallowed, ears lowering as I took a step back and away from them. All six of them were coming here? That didn't bode well for my cover remaining a secret. Princess Luna watched me carefully, seemingly analyzing my every move as she saw me step backwards. All the guards, including the scout with lighter armor, focused intently on me again as well, probably following Princess Luna's lead. The fact that they all looked so bloody similar just made it all the more unnerving. On that note, I decided I still had no idea what was wrong with their wings to be bat-like and membranous, but I was starting to bet that it had something to do with their similar appearance. "Thou seems uneasy over the news. Pray tell; what causes thy discomfort?" the Moon Princess asked, tone surprisingly pleasant as she smiled lightly. I just murdered her friend in front of her! No, she had already guessed that wasn't Twilight... I'd hoped she hadn't guessed my identity as well, but I had to attempt to maintain as if she hadn't. "The Elements of Harmony are powerful. I prefer to not be on the receiving end of that," I admitted in perfect honesty. The dark alicorn momentarily looked surprised before smirking again and actually giggling. "Worry not, young one. We had no intentions of directing their ire towards you. I'm more interested in the creature you defeated; the imposter who took our dear friend's likeness. If you fought her, surely thou must know about her?" she reasoned gently, gesturing absently towards the badly damaged corpse not two meters away. This was seemingly the first time the scout noticed it however, as he let out a stressed squeaking noise and shuffled away from it as the Princess gestured. Sighing, I nodded in agreement. "A little. She's not of this dimension. Her body was amorphous yet still allowed her to cast her spells. We fought after she threatened to destroy Ponyville," I explained, keeping my voice neutral as I glazed over everything I thought I could get away with. The Princess smiled as she listened, then upon completion, asked, "Thou heard the report. Has there been any signs of wayward Moon Mender in thy travels?" That one I saw coming and had an answer prepared for it. "The scrawny blue stallion? He was dead when I found the two of them, and I ate him first," I answered easily, chest feeling a little colder as I stared absently at her. Her smile wavered momentarily before she resumed it, looking oddly amused. Yeah, it didn't look like she bought it. Well, technically it was true in a metaphorical sense. "Interesting. Thou's magic twists just so when speaking fabrications, we notice. You try to steer towards thy own destruction, yet you say not why. You are curious indeed. Although are we wrong in considering that thou's magic also feels familiar?" she guessed, tilting her head towards me. My heart dropped into my stomach. I had been outclassed from the very beginning. My only true chance to get her to destroy me was to have taken advantage of her rage at the start. I was a fool to have not attacked her then. Now, I had the sneaking feeling that even though she didn't openly say anything, she knew exactly who I was. My racing thoughts must have been rather obvious, as her smile grew and her eyes shifted mirthful. For the second time however, we were interrupted. A low whistling noise with several calculated flaps mixed in sounded off to my left. That was indeed the sound of a pegasus, but far more precise and coming in much faster than the scout had. Son of a bitch... I turned just in time to see the bolt of cyan streak in at high velocity, sliding along the ground and knocking bits of ash and debris up as she slowed to a stop. The wind almost stroked her wings as she whipped them down in a final breaking motion, tail whipping wildly to the side as she leaned against her momentum. I watched her rather graceful landing with no small amount of appreciation as the rampant apprehension seeped into my veins. Now, ironically, she was one of the last ponies I had wanted to see at the moment. Well, to be more specific; who I wanted to see me. Interestingly enough, a rather beautiful necklace of a golden hue resided around her neck, center gem in the shape of her very own Cutie Mark. I had an uneasy suspicion that was more than a fashion accessory, apart from simply the mare who wore it hating fashion... Her gaze dragged across the surprised Princess Luna with a pleased yet excited smile adorning her expression. It all but shattering as her rose-colored eyes locked onto me instead. In an instant, her expression melted into one of shock and unabated horror as she scanned my form easily enough in the full moonlight. That look destroyed me in an instant, bringing forth far more misery than Nirru could ever hope to do. Shame and a raw sense of exposure set every nerve in my body on fire at the same moment. There was no conscious choice, as often the case in times of duress. The lukewarm sickening sensation overwhelmed me in an instant. All eight of my added limbs whipped forward in an instant, latching onto the ground as they went. "Wait!" Princess Luna call out as I flung myself backwards into the forest in less than the blink of an eye. It didn't register, as all I could see was Rainbow's look of disgust. * * * * * I let out a weary gasp as the flat of my upper right tentacle splattered against the back of my well armored neck, breaking open and reforming into me instantly, only to restore itself to its proper place a few seconds later. It was no good. The blades retracted an instant before touching my neck. Letting the blade fall using gravity didn't work either. I mentally checked it off my list, having failed in the fifth attempt to slice my own head off. I couldn't self-terminate. It was hard coded into whatever root program controlled me, it would seem. Shivering, I curled up tighter into a little ball, trying not to cry. My emotions were a jumbled mess. Honestly, I just wanted to scream and scream, lashing out and bashing apart anything near me until I felt better. My chest felt like a bubbling, pressurized soda bottle at this point, up to and including the dull, frozen ache I imagine being refrigerated would bring. I whimpered lightly, wishing something even nastier than myself would come along and tear into me. The forest shivered in the wind around me, the sound almost as if a low whimper of sympathy as the darkness consumed everything. I liked the darkness, honestly. Sure it meant I couldn't see as much, but it also meant that nopony could see me either. At the moment, that was a very comforting fact. I peeked out over the small rock I rested on and glanced into the ground pool under me. The moonlight shimmered through the upper cracks in the trees high above, giving me a crystal clear reflection of the night sky in the water. I watched the beautiful, white orb drift upwards into the sky, wondering what time it was. A pop up display appeared in the lower right corner of my eyes, displaying an accurately synced to the second clock based off the last time I looked at the clock in Twilight's living room. Ugh. Uh, thanks I guess? Regardless, I duly noted that it was twenty three, fifty eight. Almost a new day. I must have escaped from Princess Luna hours ago. Idly, I wondered what everypony was doing. It was a bitter thought. I couldn't go back now. Even if I could somehow keep it hidden from everypony; even if the Princess kept it a secret, I knew what I was. That's all I could consider. I wasn't real! I was some fake mash-up of living computer components and biological weaponry cleverly designed to look like a pony. Something like that didn't have a use here, in Equestria. Suddenly I remembered what Celestia had said a while ago. It wasn't fair, still. I had found my place here! It was where I wanted to be. I wanted to stay with Fluttershy, Twilight, and all of the wonderful ponies. The second I decided I wanted it however, then and only then did I lose it all. It was like a sick joke. She told me to make my place here and decide it for myself. Well now she saw where that got me! There is no place here for a monstrous biological weapon like me. Why couldn't I have just been normal? I glared at my own reflection in the water, the cold blue eyes staring back at me. I was a mockery of my old self at this point. At least, the tentacles having been out for a while now, they had healed up the sores and boils nicely. Maybe it had been a byproduct of trying to form them so fast? Regardless, it certainly smelled a few hundred degrees better! Gotta think positive, right? I might be a killing machine who's lost its entire purpose in all of existence that's been shunned by everypony and forced to live in a dark, ancient forest for the rest of my natural or unnatural lifespan, but at least I smelled better now. Yup. Positive. At least I managed to chuckle to myself. Still, for places to be stuck, at least it was pretty. I stared down at the water again. The wild and untamed forest drifted all around me in the current, the darkness only serving to cloak me as I hid. Slowly, I closed my eyes and just listened to the forest around me. The noises were back, and I heard all manner of wildlife around me from cicadas to owls. It was a pleasant, relaxing experience that I embraced like a starving pony to a pile of apples. Apples. I wondered how Applejack was doing. She had seen a lot of horrible things tonight. I hoped she was okay. Quietly, I curled up on the rock, feeling years’ worth of weariness crush down upon me. Maybe, if I was lucky, something would come along while I slept and eat me. Or just kill me out of pure terror. Or because I was an abomination of nature. Hell, I'd even take 'not notice and accidentally sit on me' at this point. I drifted in and out of fitful bursts of sleeping. Each bout was sprinkled with horrifying memories that were and weren't mine. Being strapped to a table and getting my eyes torn out, or oddly being shoved down onto a couch and screaming in fear as someone ripped the back of my skirt open, laughing in a low voice. There was a distinctly alien feeling involved with that one, but I didn't pay it much heed. Her grin. I recognized it now. The shadowy face and teeth glittering in the dark. Blood dripped from her bladed drill as she walked up to me strapped down on the table. Nirru. She hated me. She hated all males, but she really hated me. It was probably because of what my original self did with her sister. Right? Screaming. My claws slashed over and over again at them, being shoved away each time as they pushed me down into the cushions. No, there was nothing there. I stirred, sneezing as a leaf brushed against my muzzle. It drifted off again and gently landed in the water, sending a light ripple out across the surface. My eyes were still closed, but I 'heard' it touch down on the water. Shouts. I winced and cried, unable to do anything at all. The monster above me groaned out pleasantly, apparently not hearing the noise. A flash of metal. Blood splattered everywhere followed by a scream of rage as something wet and furry landed on my chest. Blood. It was always blood. We were covered in it. If it was inescapable, why not show it directly to all the monsters that deserved it? I agreed, of course. Fluttering pain. Lines of white hot agony danced through my body. "This will teach you to do that to my sister." It bridged to a heated groan, fur against fur. A dash of blue and a giggle bleeding into a moan from under me, mouths meeting again. A scream of rage. I twitched. * * * * * My eyes opened slowly, a sense of disorientation drifting through my mind. My body felt like it had gotten rung through a paper press. Groaning, I looked around, wondering what woke me up. Eventually, my eyes locked onto it. Or him? Maybe it was a her. A tiny bird rested lightly on one of my mixed up and entwined tentacles that lay idly around me. I watched it as it watched me back for a few moments, both of us curious of each other. Now that was a gutsy bird! I smiled to it a moment later, remembering to keep my lips sealed. Baring rows and rows of razor sharp teeth seemed like a bad idea. "You have some serious guts, Mr. Bird," I complimented softly, watching him. He let out an annoyed squack suddenly, causing me to start and move backwards a little. Heh. I realized a moment later that even when I was like this, I still remembered the pain of having my muzzle pecked open by the angry birds. "Uh, Miss? I'm sorry," I apologized softly. She looked pleased and nodded twice to me. Wait, yellow coat with a black underbelly? No, it couldn't be the same bird, could it? Suddenly I wished I had Fluttershy's knack for animal empathy. Not that the bird recognized me regardless, I bet. "Is there something you need? If I can help, let me know," I offered weakly, unsure of how she'd 'tell' me in the first place. Oddly, she hopped off my tentacles and landed right in front of my face. At first I was weary, but then she oddly gave me a gentle nuzzle. Shocked was an understatement. A moment later, another bird fluttered down and landed next to her, followed by three more much smaller ones. No way! I smiled gently to all of them before asking, "Um, do you know me from somewhere?" Part of me still didn't want ANYTHING knowing that Moon Mender was, well, whatever the hell this was. The male, now that I remember correctly, nodded gently before hopping up and landing on my side. Huh? Careful not to scare them, I sat up and watched him as he moved. Then he landed on my flank, and my eyes widened, no longer staring at him at all. But how?! That blasted silver gear with the heart-shaped axel hole resided on my flank, oblivious to the fact that I was a horrible monster. It was a little darker, but otherwise looked completely unchanged compared to its prior appearance. I wasn't even a pony! Why did I have a Cutie Mark in the first place? "Ha... I see. You um, recognized me then using the mark. Wonderful. Um, could you not tell anypony that it's me? This isn't exactly something I'd like to spread around," I requested quietly, looking away from my flank and crashing back down into my lying position. The birds didn't even flinch, but now I at least know why they were so trusting of me. That didn't make me feel any better. The lady bird chirped sharply and hopped up onto the hoof in front of my face. I watched her before shaking my head. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I am a monster now. I was never a pony it turns out. You don't need to stick around, or want anything to do with," I started to suggest. Whap! Her beak hit my nose before I could even finish and I yelped, wincing and holding it with my other hoof. She squawked in seeming annoyance at me before fluttering up and landing on my head, sitting down as I stared daggers back up at her. Well, I suppose that was one of the most effective counter-points I'd ever been given. The male gave an almost laughing chirp noise a moment later, and the three little ones joined in. The brightest yellow one shifted closer to me and rested against my muzzle. The markings on its underbelly were similar to the mother. A female, maybe? She gently rubbed the spot where her mom had whacked me and almost smiled up at me. Oh, it was her. It was the one I put back in the nest a while ago. "I'm glad you learned to fly. It must make it easier to get back up into the nest yourself now," I joked, smiling at her. They didn't notice, or care, when I forgot to hide my teeth. She gave a chirping laugh and nodded, resting against my gunmetal gray fur. "You are very good with animals as well as foals. We can see why Fluttershy likes you so much," was suddenly spoken quietly. I froze, eyes widening as I felt them almost pop out of my head. All five birds perked and looked to my right in the same instant. Slowly I turned my head, casting my nervous gaze upon the Princess of the Moon as she slowly walked up. She actually looked a little worse for wear now, her coat looked a little unkempt and spots of mud and dirt were on her legs. What was she still doing out here at... I popped up my decidedly useful internal clock and noticed it was oh one, twenty. Surely she had nightly duties or something to attend to. "We've been looking for you ever since you ran, Mender. We are alone now however, and you don't have to hide," she explained, catching me looking at her messy legs. I also noticed she switched to a less formal way of talking now. My ears lowered and I set my head back down on the rock, watching her. It didn't surprise me as much as I thought it would that she knew who I was. "Was my Cutie Mark visible back then and I was just stupid?" I asked softly, feeling annoyed at myself. She smiled and peeked past me at my flank a moment later. "Ah, your Cutie Mark did come back. I didn't think it would be suppressed for long. No magic can make them truly disappear," she noted, answering my question at the same time. I shook my head and closed my eyes again. "I'm not a pony. I shouldn't even have one and I don't know why it came back now," I muttered, wondering what she wanted but afraid to ask. Was she mad at how I acted earlier? "It's who you are, Mender. We felt your magic after our first attack. We're sorry for not recognizing you sooner," she apologized softly. My left eye opened again and I looked over at her, surprised at her priorities. Why was she treating me like normal? The five birds around me settled back in and seemed to rest in various locations on my body, taking advantage of my oddly branch-like tentacles. I didn't mind in the least. "Mender, we can hazard a guess as to what thou are thinking. We knew nothing about your current form, nor do we think of you any less. My sister probably knew about it the whole time, and she was the one who agreed that you were just like a pony," she furthered, seeing my hesitation. I tried not to openly laugh. "How am I just like a pony? I'm a biological weapon meant to cause genocide on a Universal scale. I'm fake," I questioned, looking at her skeptically. Princess Luna exhaled and sat down a few meters away, looking up towards the Moon she represented. A minute passed before she slowly shook her head again. "You are you, Mender. You told my sister that and it surprised her so much she still remembers it. Sure, it's simple, but the message is very powerful. Do you still feel like you, Mender?" she asked, looking back down at me curiously. I watched her, unsure of where she was going with the topic. "Not really. I feel powerful. Almost indestructible and fast. Yet I've never felt so vulnerable and alone at the same time," I muttered, almost staring past her as I let my eyes lose focus. I was still really tired, but sleeping didn't seem all that effective. She smiled and snickered lightly before shaking her head. "We speak not of your physical self. Do you feel like you?" she asked again, watching me carefully. Me? What was me? She almost seemed to feel my thoughts, and smiled. "You seem confused. Is it possible you didn't know who 'you' were to begin with?" she clarified with a hoof gesture. Finally, I sighed and shook my head in agreement. "No. I don't think anypony apart from maybe you or your sister truly knows who they are. I feel like I'm still me in that regard," I clarified, thinking about it for the first time. Princess Luna nodded curtly, placing her hoof back down again. "Exactly. If thou hasn't changed, then you're still you, no matter what you look like at the moment. We are sure you've read about us. Do you think we do not understand your pain?" My eyes widened. Nightmare Moon. I'd forgotten that the Princess I saw in front of me used to be far, far scarier. She smiled and nodded at my look of realization. There were no further points I could make. Finally I questioned, "What am I supposed to do, then? I know what I am now and I can't just escape that." She gave me a soft smile before fluttering up and landing on the rock next to me, sitting down as well and watching the birds resting against me. A moment passed as she just lay there. I shifted my attention to the birds too, more just thankful that she didn't appear to be scared of me. "Let us start with smaller steps. Can thou resume your prior form?" she asked politely. I paused. So far, I hadn't seen a point to but I suppose that would be the first step. "I'm not sure. I haven't tried yet," I admitted, digging back through the executable files for some form of return effect or something. No files were added and running Protocol312.exe again did nothing. My frustration spiked, but I exhaled quietly instead. "Relax, Mender. You are a clever pony and will find a way. We only suggest this so you can revert to your less intimidating form," she pointed out. It stung a little but she was right. Oddly, I also kind of respected her honesty. At least her admitting my current form was intimidating meant she was really looking at me. That was the other reaction I was worried about; the ponies I cared about pretending to simply not see the ugly side and ignoring me instead. Deciding on a different approach, I tore apart the executable in question and looked at everything it had done. A few seconds later, I was mildly surprised by the fact that it hadn't technically 'installed' anything on me. Everything was already there and it simply unlocked it. Fascinating. That meant I was built with the black box functionality in mind. Regardless, if it was just unlocked now, I should be able to control my form at will. A bit of menu tweaking later and I frowned, feeling my eight tentacles retreat backwards into my back. Princess Luna smiled as she watched, although the birds protested as their resting spots disappeared. "Very good! That's a start indeed," the Princess of the Moon praised, giving me a gentle smile. Blushing lightly, I nodded back but then paused before trying the rest. Uh oh. Bringing up a medical diagnostic, I noticed that my body was indeed under the armor and muscle structures. The only hiccup was that it hadn't had enough time to regenerate itself fully. Actually, it hadn't regenerated much at all apart from completely re-growing my left leg and hoof structure. Well, that was fairly impressive already, after I considered it for a moment. Most of my energy had gone into re-forming that and almost none to my ribs, lungs, and back legs. "Uh, how good are you at healing magic, Princess Luna?" I asked suddenly, unsure if this was a good idea. She momentarily looked surprised before shaking her head and returning, "Our sister is much better at it. We know some, but not enough to be of significant use. Oh, and please call us Luna. We would like the same treatment as our sister." I blinked, and then blushed a little before nodding. "Well, alright Luna. I'll call you that from now on. I was asking because under this armor, my body hasn't fully recovered yet. I'm a little worried that this form is technically all that's holding me together," I explained wearily. If I still had several holes in my lungs, turning back was an inexplicably bad idea. Luna shook her head and smiled back however. "Worry not! We are good at teleportation. If thou start bleeding all over after changing back, we shall teleport you to the hospital," she 'assured' a moment later, giving a happy nod. That actually wasn't very assuring at all! Swallowing, I decided against calling out the Princess of the Moon on her potentially flawed logic. Eh, what the hell? You only live once. Or twice, in my case. Closing my eyes, I toggled the rest of my body back to 'normal' and felt the muscles and armor start to melt back into me, shifting into a pseudo liquid form before being sucked into nothingness. There was a long pause, and then I opened my eyes and inhaled lightly. Inhaling fire might have been more comfortable. I let out a stifled, half scream as I buckled up instantly, the stabbing and burning sensations shattering across my barrel instantly. Luna gasped as she saw me spasm, then further looked on in horror at the rest of my body. I could barely see past the pain threatening to overwhelm me, but noticed my left foreleg, while existing now, was seriously messed up. The only skin to speak of on it was a light pink film that covered most of it. Otherwise, it was nothing but emaciated muscles and thin veins; maybe about half the circumference of my other legs. Why is it that being aware of a wound made it hurt so much worse? I gasped and ended up smashing my face into the rock as the pain tore through my leg. I was tempted to tear it off again just to make the pain stop! Further, I was absently aware of my back right leg hanging loosely at an odd angle, remembering that I had broken it in the explosion. The birds started squawking in distress a moment later. "Mender! Oh no! Here, hang on," Luna ordered as she pushed herself against me and lit up her horn with magic. Hold on with what?! Thankfully, her lack of specifics mattered very little, as she managed to teleport us anyway. On a related side note, teleporting when wounded and missing large chunks of skin really sucks. The pain tore through my mind like a school of angry piranhas. I don't remember the end of the teleport... * * * * * I woke up in a flurry of motion. Leather straps around me went taut and my eyes widened to their maximum degree. No! I was captured! The lights around me flickered as I felt the tube shoved down my throat, air flowing into it. Gasping sharply, I flailed against the straps, the lights in the room flickering. "Stop him! Why isn't the sedation working?!" I heard shouted from somewhere behind me. Everything hurt. The lights flashed again and I saw her teeth in the dark as she grinned at me, blades sliding under and alongside my left eyeball. I tried to scream into the tube, energy flailing out wildly as I saw a barrier warp out from my side and break through a window. I flailed it violently, tearing a jagged gash down the wall as I tried to kick backwards with my rear legs. The back right one wasn't moving at all however, and the left was strapped down as well. I saw a display pop up of an unknown agent in my bloodstream that was being filtered faster than they could inject it. Poison! My entire body screamed in agony as I darted my eyes back and forth, light burning into it. She grinned against me momentarily, tongue slipping out to lick along my cheek at the blood flowing down it. I lashed out at her, screaming in muffled rage as another barrier smashed into wear her neck should have been. A second later, a chair got obliterated as it sliced through and cut into the wall, cracking the plaster as I stabbed. "How do we stop his magic?! There's no horn to put a suppression ring on!' was called out a moment later. My eyes snapped onto a young looking stallion as he rounded into my viewpoint. Targets snapped into place all over him an instant later, highlighting vitals and giving me biorhythm data. No, she wouldn't have me. She should have died but she wasn't going to have me, even if it meant breaking free from here. My eyes narrowed as I felt the stirring along my back again. Yes. See through the pain and shred the entire room if I had to. A flurry of yellow entered my peripheral vision a moment later. "Miss, you can't come in," another doctor started to shout. At least they looked like doctors. I couldn't tell which was fake, though, and I wasn't about to take chances. He was caught up in a purple and red aura before he could complete the sentence however, and was shoved out of Fluttershy's way. Fluttershy! "Mender! Stop it!" I heard echo through my head at the same time it echoed through the building. My eyes widened as my vision became a blur of yellow warmth as she pushed up against me; a gentle kiss landing on my right temple. Her empathy was felt throughout me and even without the link, I knew it was her. She was here too? It was her. She wouldn't hurt me. She couldn't. My muscles went numb as I slumped against the surface I was strapped to. I didn't know which was real; the darkness or the hospital. But if she was here, it didn't matter. This had to be the hospital. I didn't trust my mind, but I trusted Fluttershy. "Thank you, Mender. Please, rest..." she requested, the absolute blue of her eyes flooding my right eye's vision. No! She'd know right away what I was if she saw me. She would just be able to tell! My eyes slammed shut and I hit the retreat function as fast as possible. With a stifled sob, I fell back inside of myself and all connection to my outside body was dropped. Everything was quiet an instant later. Slowly, I felt my motion stop; the mental construction of my pony body curling up against itself as I hung in absolutely nothing. I shivered against myself, gasping for air as I tucked myself up. She couldn't see it. I couldn't let her. I didn't even know what I was! My eyes opened again a second later, glaring at the hoof in front of my vision. I was a pony. I wanted to be a pony! But I wasn't a pony. I wasn't a Keldarian. I was a monster. Another spasm wracked my frame, a mental flash of teeth snapping out at me flickering through my head. Tentacles, blades, teeth, and death. What the hell was I?! 'Monster' was all I could manage to describe myself as, alongside assorted synonyms. I couldn't let them see that I was an abomination. Equestria didn't need my other self. It didn't need me. Tia was wrong. I didn't have a place here anymore. I gently closed my eyes, exhaling air that technically didn't exist. Warnings popped up around me, saying something about taking dermal damage along my barrel, but I ignored it. I was going into surgery, probably. If my ribs had fragmented, I imagine they'd have to get the shards of bone out of me somehow. My mind wandered as I lost track of time. There was something peaceful about just releasing your hold on your thoughts and letting them flow freely from topic to topic. I unfurled as I drifted, eventually finding myself floating flat inside of my mind, legs outstretched limply in various directions. There was no need to remain guarded. I was the only thing here and always would be. The concept struck me as extremely lonely, but I fought it down. Instead, I decided to be productive and brought up one for my file folders again. Two point four billion Keldarians were inside of me. The DNA was segmented already and compartmentalized, but was in desperate need of sorting and organizing. I devoted an entire processor to the job of going through it like a rampaging Twilight on her library shelves. That settled, I devoted yet another processor to the repair and reconstitution of Dr. Kyliona's last video message. In a weird way, she was sort of my 'mother' so I admitted she deserved at least that, as I couldn't do anything else for her. She made my original form and, from what I guessed, created the clone as well that was essentially me. I didn't even know what to classify myself as. If I was a pony with robotic parts, I'd be a cyborg. But I wasn't originally a pony or even a Keldarian. Are a clone's parts 'fabricated' then? If all of me was fabricated, then I'd be an android I guess. Then of course there was the consideration that I also housed a Universal-Class Weapon of Mass Destruction inside of me. After the tentacles had popped out, I was given the delightful options of unleashing that as well. At least that choice had been a simple one. It plagued me. I sought out file after file. All of them had various things to do with extra features, add-ons, and various utilities. It didn't take me long to find the operating system files for my organic computer parts either. But this left me frustrated. I searched everywhere. There weren't any files dictated to 'me'. There were no advanced AI subroutines or any form of organic mental structure anywhere. What was I if I wasn't an artificial intelligence? Then the idea hit. I'd trace where the 'orders' were coming from when I gave one out! Printing out garbage data to a pop-up window, I watched where the order came from specifically. It didn't help much. There was a small translation black box connected to an input and output lane. I frowned. The connection was massive; easily four times the size of the biggest hardwired connection I had thought possible. Beyond it, there was nothing to access. Either something was blocking my ping attempts, or beyond that uplink to the black box, there was something truly alien from a computer's standpoint. An actual mind, maybe? I remembered the translation error I'd gotten when trying to communicate with Rainbow a few hours ago. Mental communication didn't mesh well with computer communication. I didn't know if I should be happy or sad at the discovery. Was it just the clone mind that I consisted of? What was this consciousness that I was right now? If it was just the clone mind, shouldn't I be dead now after what Nirru had done to me? I floated there absently, some part of me wondering if any of these questions would ever be answered. Shivering again, mentally pictures of that thing that I could become danced through my mind. That thing wasn't needed here. Knowing what I was, how was I honestly supposed to face any of them again? I was fake. Were my feelings even real, honestly? Maybe they'd be offended that they'd put so much time and energy into a robot. Another flash of imagery. My claws tore her apart, destroying her head in an instant. Oh yeah. A violent, homicidal robot. I shuddered as I remembered the feeling of tearing through her flesh. What scared me the most was the feeling of actually liking the sensation. It wasn't because of the texture, or even the fact of what I was doing, really. It was finally not being the runt. Finally, I could do something when somepony hurt me and tried to take things from me by force. It felt so amazing to be able to say 'no'. Heh. I gave her one heck of a 'no', I suddenly realized. I'm me. It's what I told Celestia and now what Luna told me right back. I had at some point accepted it for other reasons. When dealing with my own delusions, it didn't really matter what was real and what wasn't. All I could do was act within the world I interacted with. It didn't matter if Equestria was in my head and I was locked up somewhere, or if I had always been a pony and was having nightmares about my original dimension instead. If I was me, then this reality was also this reality. In a roundabout way, it made sense. Given that as truth, did it matter that I couldn't classify exactly what 'I' was? Curling up again, I sighed. Classification was indeed pointless. Now I just had to somehow get around the fact that I directly murdered two point four billion Keldarians with my own hooves. Hands, at that point? Tentacles, maybe? Shaking my head, I chuckled to myself. I had an obsession to classify things. Knowing what I had done and what I was, I didn't have a clue how I could possibly look any of the ponies in the eyes again. They'd know almost instantly. Which led me to the next hurtle. How would they react? To say I had some explaining to do would be an understatement. Hell, I'd be lucky if the Elements of Harmony didn't activate and blow me away regardless. Although technically I had no idea how the Elements actually functioned. The book Twilight had given me had been wonderfully vague. Sighing, I decided to keep an eye on my external heat sensors to let me know when I was done being operated on. Assuming once everypony left the room, that would indicate that I was either dead or done with whatever surgery they were performing. Given my multiple redundant backup life support systems, my bet was on the latter. Of course, this probably left me several hours to kill with absolutely nothing to do. I didn't have any books or anything to read, so I did the next best thing that any somewhat sane individual would do in the given situation. Peeking back through the files I'd looked through earlier, I started up the Minesweeper.exe I'd found...
Chapter 29Drifting in an out of sleep as if caught up on a free-floating raft on the currents had become the norm. It was so much worse than my first hospital visit in Equestria. Today was no different, as I'd barely spent two hours awake as of yet. Clocky, my affectionately named pop up display clock, appeared in the lower right corner of my vision again at my mental request. It was now decorated in yellows, pinks, purples, and indigos. I got really bored last night and those colors appealed to me for some reason. Mentally chuckling to myself, I resumed considering the flood of questions that drifted through my head as I floated in the pseudo empty space. Well, technically I was in my head anyway, but giving the questions a visual avatar sounded amazingly annoying. Unless, of course, I made them little versions of Twilight and Fluttershy. Although, then I'd spend more time watching them than actually thinking about the questions, I had a feeling. I digress. There were indeed all sorts of important questions revolving around everything that had just happened. I'd been focusing so far on the extremely obvious ones with no luck at all. What was I exactly? What did Nirru and Keela know about me? How was I to find a place to fit in anymore? There were no answers to some, and the rest I didn't have access to. Still, maybe I was being too obvious. Another good thing to find out would by why I was created in the first place. If I knew what purpose I served exactly, maybe that would make the 'how' and 'what' a little bit easier? Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure only Doctor Kyliona could answer that fully, so that was mostly out of the question. Maybe once the video finished repairing itself, I'd learn more. Finding out everything Keela knew would also help. She had obviously hidden things from me. Still, I hadn't heard a single extra-dimensional peep for a day and a half. There was this sneaking suspicion that she was avoiding me, too. Well, technically Rainbow and Applejack weren't avoiding me if they didn't realize I was awake and listening to anything that entered my room. Still, they hadn't visited even once. Pinkie hadn't either, but I truly had no idea as to why with her. Not that I was one to talk about avoidance. I'd spent the last thirty-six or so hours hiding inside of myself, barring all outside senses minus hearing. I just wasn't ready to face them. Hell, I wasn't ready to face me. Further, I refused to use the links to either Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash to listen in. It felt too much like eavesdropping and I respected their privacy. The only thing I allowed myself to listen to was what was within earshot of my still snoozing body. Speaking of, that brought me to the biggest and most important question of all... Where in the bloody hells was the King of Hearts?! I glared at the full cascade of cards I had going. If I could find the other red king, I could move the entire stack and get at the last unrevealed pile! Damn it. Knowing my luck, the card I needed was in the pile itself. This was an extremely frustrating game! Wasn’t it supposed to be easier than that blasted mine thing? After blowing myself up two hundred and thirty six consecutive times in a row, I had decided to switch to cards. "Are you sure the doctor said he was, um, healing up all right? I thought he was supposed to wake up like normal. Oh, not that I'm doubting the doctor's knowledge or anything! I'm sorry!" I suddenly heard murmured from the body's audio input. My mental ears twitched and I looked upwards, as if that would somehow help me hear it better. I caught myself a moment later and snickered. That voice sounded remarkably like Fluttershy. She was still here? There was a light sigh, followed by, "Yes. It's okay, Fluttershy. The doctor said that it was very much possible for him to spend several days asleep. His body took a huge shock." Twilight, who was apparently there with her, had also been visiting a lot. Fluttershy visited more in-between taking care of her plethora of animal friends and visiting with Rarity and Twilight, from what she'd told me so far. Well, she didn't really 'tell' me. When she was by herself here, she'd often talk to me as if I were awake. That I honestly tried not to listen to for her privacy, but some of it was really hard to not hear! I blushed lightly at the thought. While it was adorable that she was feeling safer around me, I hadn't realized exactly how nerve-wracking everything had been to her. She was scared, and I wish I knew what I could do to help her through it. "Does anypony know more about what happened yet? It's simply dreadful to think of what went on that night! I can't imagine what he felt like; actually getting foalnapped by that brute!" Rarity sympathized dramatically a moment later, although a little more solemn than I was used to. I was just glad to hear her talking to Twilight again after what had happened. "No. That's the frustrating thing. Neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna will tell me anything more than the public statement they released. They thanked me for my research into the creature that supposedly defeated my duplicate, but they still won't let me see the, uh, body of it," Twilight replied, sounding both perturbed and annoyed at the same time. Fluttershy let forth a low whimper, adding, "I still can't believe Princess Luna had to, um, kill it." I closed my nonexistent eyes gently, momentarily drifting in the darkness. There was nothing I could do for her, though. It would be so much worse if she knew that I was the creature instead. No, her believing that it was dead was ideal. A moment of silence passed, my ears picking up only a quiet rustling noise. Movement maybe, but I couldn't tell what it was with my eyes still closed. A murmur followed, and a knock at the door shortly after that. My ears perked at the new development. A split second later, I mentally winced as I realized my real ears had also twitched and rotated. If anypony had noticed, they were silent about it. "We are sorry to interrupt, girls, but my sister requests an audience with thy Elements of Magic and Generosity," was suddenly spoken in an elegant tone. Given the wording involved, I didn't need to really hear the voice in order to realize it was the Princess of the Moon. "Oh? Why just us, Princess?" Twilight asked, sounding curious, but with a certain level of excitement in her tone that she kept hidden carefully. Ah yes, of course she'd be excited to go see Celestia. My thoughts drifted back to that night and I inwardly sighed. After all of this time and everything she said to me, she had still kept things hidden. Princess Celestia had told her things involving myself, apparently, that Twilight had neglected to relay. From the sounds of it, it had been some sort of warning about me. I was a little bitter, admittedly. I didn't fully trust the lavender mare, or her alicorn tutor. If they would simply share with me everything that they knew, it would be perfect. I didn't even know why they felt they needed to keep it a secret in the first place. Still, at least she hadn't been ordered to spy on me again; at least not to my knowledge. Happy thoughts, Mender! "-worry. I can keep an eye on Mender. It shouldn't be too hard seeing as he's asleep, right?" Fluttershy timidly asked, me coming back in the middle of it. I smiled, wondering what she'd do if she knew I wasn't asleep. "Of course, Fluttershy. We have no doubt at all of your capabilities in watching over Mender, worry not. We shall return after our conversation with Princess Celestia has been concluded, of course," Rarity assured as I heard hoof steps heading towards where I knew the door to the room was located. Wait, was I in the same hospital room as before? "I just don't understand what more we can add. Didn't she already get the report from the ponies who cleaned up the chandelier?" I heard Twilight question, the position of her voice shifting out of the room alongside the hoof step noises. There was a faint giggle from Luna that made me a little suspicious. This suddenly felt like a set up. "Oh, of course. My sister trusts you very, very much and would like a full report from both of thou directly, however. She feels that some aspects may have been, well, glazed over." Well, it made sense that the construction team probably wanted to cover up the somewhat sloppy job they had done, but this seemed a little too convenient, timing-wise. Biting the bullet, I slid the solitaire game to the side and, for the first time in over a day, drew myself back to full consciousness. My real eyes opened after their voices disappeared down the hall. Fluttershy was perched up on one of the visitation chairs with her hind legs on the seat and her forelegs resting on the windowsill. She shyly peeked out through the blinds, her head tracking the large yet regal midnight blue wings outside as they stretched gently. Her tail swayed upwards and curled at the base of her back hooves as she did so, her ears lowering somewhat. I smiled lightly at her adorable display, and exhaled quietly to calm my nerves. The act of breathing out caused a mild ache along my torso and I frowned. No, it made sense that I was still sore. They'd been adding things to the IV that caused my regenerative capabilities to go into overdrive, but I still had to recover from an intrusive chest surgery and several broken ribs. My left foreleg was also beyond most of their medicines. From the mutters of a couple nurses yesterday, they sounded shocked that I even had the leg still in the first place. I glanced at the bandages around the leg while Fluttershy was distracted. Due to the nature of my newly discovered electronically supplemented body, I knew the state of my leg under the wrappings. I contemplated adding 'ugly as sin' to my status readout, honestly. The skin was rapidly regenerating and becoming thicker again, but the muscles would take a while to recover. The fancy computer bits in me stated a good three weeks at my current regeneration level. Of course, I also had the option of 'supplementing' the regenerative process with the massive amounts of, well, mass inside me, but I had so far refused. It didn't feel like 'my' mass. It had been forcibly taken from a few billion Keldarians. "Relax, Fluttershy! You're confident and he's already perfectly stable, right? It's not like you're going to have to worry about anything happening," Fluttershy suddenly muttered, dropping herself roughly back down to her haunches as she shook her head. I smiled again, for real this time, as I saw her ears twitched back and forth nervously. She was always so adorable. Some days it felt like I'd be perfectly content with just watching her little movements forever. Other days, I wanted to bound up and pounce on her, hugging her until she was lulled to sleep. Yet other days... My eyes drifted away from her tail and I blushed softly. Focus, Mender. Do you really want to do this? I had the sneaking suspicion that this was set up intentionally. Was it possible that Luna knew I was awake the whole time? Regardless of the truth, I did have an opportunity now, didn't I? After everything that had happened, I hadn't really wanted to talk to Twilight. Especially not the second I 'woke up', as she'd probably pepper me with questions. I was also a little wary after hearing about the Celestia thing. Fluttershy, however, presented another set of problems. Her link to me and natural empathy made it very difficult to hide things from her. Further, she was likely the last pony I wanted to find out about, well, what I was. Still, just her being here caused me to feel almost compelled to talk to her. Maybe that was what Celestia and Luna wanted? Fluttershy wobbled a bit, but slowly turned around on the cushion. She managed to keep her balance as she relaxed against the back of the chair, her wings fanning out and stretching with a little shiver. Those lovely teal eyes opened fully as she shifted them. I made my choice, keeping my eyes open as she looked over at me. Predictably, she froze an instant later. Her eyes slowly widened as I made sure not to meet them directly with my own. If she saw directly into my eyes, who knew what she'd be able to see. Maybe I was a little paranoid, but I heard an expression somewhere saying that the eyes were the 'window to the soul', if I remember correctly. "Hey, Fluttershy. How are you doing?" I asked, feeling both awkward and extremely lame. What exactly was I supposed to say? My voice came out in a raspy whisper anyway due to disuse, I guessed. A moment later, I realized that I had misjudged her overall reaction almost completely. Her wings flitted out and she hopped the distance between the chair and bed with a gentle gliding motion. I tilted my head as she hit the covers into a stumble, falling forward and lightly falling against my chest. My eyes widened and my cheeks got warm again as she gently squeezed me upon coming to a stop. Oddly, she felt practically weightless against my body, the collision almost non-existent. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried. Please, um, don't do that again! Uh, if you can help it, that is. Not that I'm saying it was your fault!" she rapidly started to request, then backpedal. Well, some things hadn't changed. I smiled and averted my eyes before she could look up, slipping my still functioning right foreleg around her back gently. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Fluttershy. Are you okay?" I asked softly, barely a whisper. Talking left a light stinging sensation in my throat so I kept the volume down. Fluttershy nodded against my chest before adding, "I'm okay. I was just worried about you. I, um, really, really like you, Mender." She had stiffened when I touched her back, but with a timid glance backwards at my leg, she smiled softly and relaxed against me. My blush picked up again, but I just rubbed her back a little bit more, continuing to look away. I didn't think there were any outward signs, but I didn't know if Fluttershy would just 'tell' that I wasn't a pony by empathy alone, so I avoided her eyes still. "Um, I'm a little behind on what happened after I lost consciousness. How is everypony else?" I inquired, wondering why I hadn't seen Pinkie yet. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were probably just avoiding me. "Oh! I'm sorry. I forgot you just woke up and probably have lots of questions!" the timid yellow pegasus squeaked out a moment later, holding a hoof to her mouth while her ears twitched in nervousness again. How could she forget that I'd just woken up that fast? I contemplated a deadpan look, but she was just too adorable to stay mad at for long. Smiling, I shook my head gently and assured, "It's okay, Fluttershy. I've been awake off and on, and just resting for the most part. I haven't seen Pinkie yet and was worried, was all." She momentarily looked surprised before smiling again and giving a shy nod. "Pinkie is okay. Well, actually she's going stir crazy, but she's in good health, I mean. She cracked a rib in the explosion because she knocked Applejack out of the way instead of dodging it. She's stuck with bed rest for four days while Zecora's potion heals her," Fluttershy explained quietly, watching me with interest. I didn't even try to fathom how Pinkie could manage to get Applejack out of the way of a point blank explosion and escape with almost no damage. Some things just weren't worth breaking your mind over. I exhaled and nodded. She was okay. "I'm glad she's all right," I muttered, closing my eyes again and resting back against the pillow. Fluttershy's light form followed me down, resting lightly against my chest as she pulled herself closer. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why didn't you ask about Rainbow and Applejack? Uh, you don't have to answer if you don't want to!" she asked a moment later before releasing a shiver against me. Her closeness was strange, but entirely welcome. I hadn't expected her to suddenly pounce like that. Normally she didn't get this physical with me. I shook my head, shifting my gaze down to the mixture of fur between us instead of off to the side. "I figured Applejack and Rainbow were avoiding me after what happened," I explained softly. Actually, I was glad she was this close. I didn't have to put as much effort into exercising my sore throat. Fluttershy watched me for a moment, her pink mane swaying lightly as she tilted her head, and then nodded. Her eyes were massive and seemed to almost draw mine in. I resisted as best I could, earning a frown. "Well, um, I'm not sure about Dash. Applejack's been, well, she hasn't been doing so great. Most of her time has been split between apple bucking for harvest and taking care of Pinkie as best she can. I tried to talk to her but, um, she only got quiet instead." I listened through the whole thing and sighed weakly afterwards. I was glad she was taking care of Pinkie, but part of me was sad over everything that had happened. "I'll talk to her today again, I think. Maybe she'll change her mind once she knows you're awake?" she continued a moment later, seeing my hesitation. I swallowed and nodded. "I wish none of it had happened. Seeing all of that must have been..." I furthered, trailing off as I decidedly couldn't find an adjective to apply to it. Fluttershy cut me off regardless, surprising me by raising her hoof up gently in front of my face. My eyes snapped to it, then widened as I realized hers were right on the other side of the hoof. She tricked me? "That's better," she whispered, slowly lowering her hoof as she kept her eyes locked dead center with mine. I froze in place, unable to look away in the slightest. She almost seemed to pull me out of myself with her gaze, the warm teal washing out my surroundings. "You're in a lot of pain, I know. But, um, please. Don't blame yourself, or Applejack. Please? She made a really, really bad mistake and I can tell she is hurting really badly for it. I don't want to see anypony I care about suffer like this," she continued after thoroughly locking me in place. I shivered and snapped out of it as she finally closed her eyes gently, letting out a soft hum from deep inside herself. Her wings expanded slightly, fluttering out around my leg and relaxing over my shoulder a moment later. "I'm, well, surprised though. I didn't think that... The way you're holding me..." she muttered, sounding unsure of herself. I realized I'd been gently rubbing her back in a small circle. My grip on her had strengthened a little while she was talking, I noticed. My eyes widened. Had I been too rough?! "I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't realize I'd held you too tight. Um, I'm sorry, " I rapidly apologized, easing up instantly and releasing her back as best I could. Her wing gently held my foreleg down against her fur, however. "No! I mean, um, please keep this up. I'd always heard that stallions were, well, rough. They’re stronger, which meant they were supposed to be less, um, gentle, I guess?" she explained, tilting her head at me. I frowned, contemplating pointing out that Applejack could probably break most stallions in half outright with little effort. Still, I had a feeling she was generalizing. "Not that I'm saying you're weak! Oh no. I'm sorry," she murmured a second later when I didn't say anything. Snickering quietly, I shook my head. "I guess I'm just a little unsure on if I'm in the right or wrong?" I reasoned, frowning slightly myself. It didn't help that neither of us were apparently very gifted in the speaking department. Fluttershy surprised me yet again by outright blushing. "You're so gentle with me. I was really worried that you'd be rough or insensitive, even if you didn't mean to be. This is, um, really different from what I was expecting, but in a very, very good way," she explained further, settling down against my chest again. Her blush remained, giving her a warm tint as she smiled up at me. Suddenly, my existential problems seemed a little further away. She didn't see anything in my eyes after all, so maybe, just maybe I could at least pretend to be a normal pony? I smiled finally and shook my head towards her after realizing I was hesitating. "I'd never be forceful with you, Fluttershy. I care about you a lot and would never hurt you on purpose," I assured. Any time I hurt the feelings of these ponies was definitely accidental. Her eyes widened slightly, the pink in her cheeks shifting to a light red instead. The smile gracing her features remained, however, as she asked, "Really? I trust you, Mender. No matter what anypony else says, you're a good stallion. I, um, really want to be your fillyfriend too, I think. I'm going to ask Twilight about it tonight." My eyes widened, earning another giggle from her as she watched my shocked reaction. I felt a familiar heat rush into my cheeks and knew I probably mirrored her blush now. The surprise only magnified as she gently slid forward, brushing a forehoof to each side of my face as she pulled herself upwards. My eyes extended to maximum size as her eyes softly closed, muzzle pressing timidly into mine with the utmost care not to jostle me. I couldn't help it really. My right foreleg pulled her closer against me as I kissed back. The feeling of her body's heat radiating into me mixed with the burst of happiness her empathic link betrayed. The combined effect was enough to bring a new wave of heat to my cheeks, even without the need to realize what exactly was happening. She was kissing me! On the lips! Seconds passed before she slowly eased up. I let her break away at her own pace, withdrawing a few centimeters but not quite retreating. Her heavier breathing teased my snout as she relaxed against me again with a shiver. "You meant it. You really are gentle, and want me to be at ease," she murmured a moment later, teal eyes opening softly as they re-focused on me. Oh. She felt me through the link, too. "Yes. I want you to be comfortable, Fluttershy. I..." The thought drew forth hesitation as I swallowed weakly. The shaking sensation drifted into my working forehoof again. I was scared. If she knew what I was, she wouldn't be here. It wasn't me attracting her, but the mask I'd thrown up to trick her. What did that make me, regardless of what I actually was? My eyes closed again and I looked away from her, no longer able to face her gaze. Tricking such an amazing, wonderful mare was shameful at best. Fluttershy noticed my shaking almost instantly, pulling herself a little closer to me as a result. "Mender, what's wrong? Are you, um, okay?" she inquired timidly, sounding unsure of herself again. I wanted her to be comfortable, but maybe I didn't want her to be comfortable around me? "Fluttershy, do you think you could wait to ask Twilight about being my fillyfriend? I don't want you to hastily make a decision that, well, you'll end up regretting." Annoyingly enough, I couldn't prevent my voice from shaking as I said it. I swallowed again, feeling myself get antsy. My eyes widened as a flickering image of claws tearing through Twilight's face flashed through my mind. I jumped as it passed, gone an instant later. No! That wasn't Twilight. I wasn't going to do that to my friends! A moment passed in disorientation before I glanced back at Fluttershy. My surprise spiked when I saw that she was pulling the sheets up over both of us, settling down against my front while I lay on my side still. Despite being careful of my damaged left foreleg, I winced a little as she settled in, pulling the bandaged limb back before giving her a questioning glance. When had she gotten under the covers? I felt out her connection and found it fully intact. I'd lost a couple of seconds, but it was still Fluttershy; she was no imposter. "I'm, um, staying here, Mender. I'm going to stay with you and help you through this any way I can, uh, if that's okay with you. Um, I really want you to get better!" she confessed, tucking her wings in and gently pressing her muzzle against my chest. I blushed again, my mind not fully processing this new predicament. It kept trying to tell me that Fluttershy was in bed with me and snuggling! Totally ridiculous. "F-Fluttershy, you don't need to worry about me. I just want you to be happy and, um, I'm not sure if I'd be the best stallion to do that for you. You can still be with Twilight, of course," I assured, wondering if that was the reason she was being so insistent. Hell, if I told them, Twilight probably wouldn't want to be with me like that anyway, which would solve any sort of jealousy issue that might be worrying Fluttershy in the first place. The thought hit me like a bag of apples at high velocity, and I swallowed the lump in my throat again. Why? Why couldn't I just be a normal pony?! Ultimately, I couldn't see a way out of this. If I kept everything a secret from everypony except those that knew already, I'd be living a lie, forever hiding what I really was behind a mask. They wouldn't love me, but some close resemblance of me instead; one with less flaws. But if I told them, they'd all see me for the abomination I actually was. Was it even possible for them to care about something that was fake? I was a scout, weapon, and key from another dimension that, at the very least, represented a passive threat to everything they held dear. Worst case scenario, I was a ticking time bomb waiting to destroy the universe as they knew it. How does anypony treat 'that' as an individual? How would they really see me as anything but a monstrosity? The warm lips kissing under each eye snapped me out of it again. Fluttershy kissed lightly, brushing away drops of liquid on my cheeks that I hadn't realized were there to begin with. "Just let it out, Mender. If you feel like talking about everything, I'm, um, here, of course. But you have me now, no matter what you say or do. Twilight too. I can feel it," she spoke softly, sounding surprisingly sure of herself. What did she mean? "Have you?" I asked softly, opening my eyes again and searching hers for emotions. A big, fancy computer in my head didn't help me figure ponies out any easier, I noticed. She smiled, expression softening as she relaxed against my pillow again. "No matter what you say and no matter what I say, you let me see who you are. I like what I, um, saw. I don't know why you want me to reconsider but, well, I'm sorry! I won't," she explained, closing her eyes after and wincing, acting as if I'd get mad at her for speaking her mind. I smiled, finding her adorable instead. Confusing, but very adorable. It lingered on the edge of my tongue. I tasted it; rolled it around in my mouth as my thoughts drifted. Instead, a compromise of sorts came out of me instead. "Even if I was a monster? The scariest monster you can think of?" I asked, my energy draining out with each word forced free of myself. Dash's horrified look flashed through my mind again and I shivered, pushing back the memory again. I already saw her answer. "If you were a big, scary monster, I'd probably panic for a moment. But you're still you, Mender. The you in here is what makes me feel safe, no matter what you look like," she explained further, resting her forehead on my chest before asking, "I know you'll be, um, gentle and care for me. Why be scared of that?" I paused, trying to fully grasp what she meant. "Is that what you meant what you said I have you?" I asked, wondering what this meant to her. She smiled fully and raised her head up again, actually looking somewhat emboldened. Well, emboldened for Fluttershy, anyway. "You're stuck with us. Twilight is smart. Neither of us are going to let you get away now that we know what you're like," she added, blushing afterwards. Her surprising amount of comfort with the declaration surprised me. Of course, she undoubtedly knew I didn't want to get away in the first place, but it was still a new level of trust she gave me. Smiling, I gave her a gentle squeeze. If she was speaking truthfully, which I was inclined to believe, that gave me a bit more hope for the future. Having a pony that cared about me was worlds better than being alone with the cacophony of madness in my skull. Even if I was a monster, I'd tolerate it for Fluttershy. "Thank you," I muttered into her ear as she let out a pleasant sounding sigh against me. Her eyes didn't open this time, but she smiled and nodded against me instead. "Rest a bit, Mender. We both need it," she whispered back. I blushed but couldn't make myself deny her request. She seemed to be truly okay with being here. I wanted her. Her warmth felt amazing and I wanted to just squeeze her and snuggle for all of eternity, honestly. It felt so simplistic, carefree, and absolutely amazing. Her wanting even just a drop of that was more than welcome. I decided I wasn't about to say no, anyway. For the first time since Luna found me, I willingly let myself drift to sleep. This time I wasn't lonely, and had a smile on my face. * * * * * “Fluttershy!” sounded out in a distinctly Twilight Sparkle voice in the echoes of my mind. Groggily, my systems restarted and I stirred as I felt the warm, furry body next to me give a violent start of surprise. I felt Fluttershy sit up rapidly and look towards the door of the room. Murmuring in a whisper, I wanted to just bury my face in her nearby tummy and go back to bed. Why was Twilight raising a fuss? Wait, something told me I should know this. “Ah! Um, hello Twilight! Rarity! Uh, this isn’t what it looks like,” my now fidgeting bed companion excused, making it extremely hard to lull myself back to sleep with her sporadic movements. There was a low sigh, followed by, “I know you do so enjoy Mender’s company and are obviously considering joining their herd, but you really should get permission before crawling into bed with him as he sleeps.” Rarity spoke calmly, a reasonable counterpart to the other unicorn in the room. Oh yeah, I should probably do something about that accusation. “Um, but he-“ Fluttershy started to profess, grinding to a halt instantly when I opened my eyes against her and gently raised my head, turning to look at the two newcomers. Both Twilight and Rarity shifted to startled shock almost instantly, but I held my tongue. Rarity was in a simple button vest, undoubtedly to fashionably combat the increased colder temperatures outside. Twilight looked far more frazzled with a bit of her mane misplaced here and there. I’d seen that before when she got stressed out over things. She was halfway through setting aside a scarf and promptly dropped it upon seeing me awake. Both wore a similar wide-eyed, mouth slightly agape expression however. After half a second of sleepy observation, I shook my head and sighed, looking down at the blankets again. Rarity and I had departed on somewhat awkward terms, and having personally murdered a doppelganger of Twilight no less than forty-eight hours prior, it felt a little awkward looking at her, too. Plus there was the whole 'lying to me' thing again, but sadly, I was getting used to that. A part of me blamed Celestia regardless. "I gave her permission. She was keeping me company," I elaborated, finally breaking the silence of the room. Rarity recovered first and closed her mouth again. I saw her form a hesitant smile out of the corner of my vision as she relaxed into a gentle sitting position again. "Well, that certainly makes it all right then. I'm very pleased to see you up, Mender," she agreed politely, letting Fluttershy finally relax against me again. I pushed my forehead into her chest and nodded against her softly, enjoying the feeling of her coat on my face. She squirmed for a moment as if tickled, but settled in and wrapped both forelegs over my shoulders. I wasn't about to start complaining about her newfound cuddly nature, that was for sure. Twilight hadn't said anything yet, however, so I glanced back over at her. Her gaze was locked onto Fluttershy, blank look adorning her face. She hesitated, noticing my attention a moment later and straightened her pose. "Um, yeah. I'm glad you're awake, too, Mender. Princess Celestia asked to be notified of when you woke up, so I'll run and get her real quick," she informed, turning towards the door again. "Twilight Sparkle!" Rarity exclaimed, the surprisingly harsh tone giving Fluttershy another spasm and causing me to widen my eyes slightly, shifting my attention over to the rather annoyed looking mare. Twilight froze and winced as if burned, but slowly shifted herself around. "What do you think you're doing? You know what you promised," the pearly unicorn continued a moment later, giving Twilight a harsh glare. She swallowed nervously and backed away from Rarity's gaze before rapidly shaking her head, "I... I will talk to him about it! Just, well, does it have to be right now?" she pleaded, eyes drooping as she looked away from her friend. "Yes. I shall go and talk to Princess Celestia instead. You're not backing out of this," Rarity spoke softly, but with a certain air of finality as she walked past the lavender unicorn and headed out the door in a brisk trot. "Rarity, please!" Twilight called after her, seconds before a light blue aura grabbed the door and pulled it shut right in front of the bookish mare. Fluttershy looked just as confused as I probably did at the moment as we both watched the proceedings. What was that about? Twilight shivered lightly and slowly rotated around, turning her gaze towards me again an instant later. Half a minute passed in awkward silence before she finally shook her head and sighed. "Um, I'm sorry about all that, Mender. You do really deserve the truth, though," she finally spoke. A sudden, horrible thought shifted into my mind an instant later, however. Fluttershy and I were alone in the room with her. No, I wasn't going to make the same mistake again. "Wait. What's Rainbow Dash's favorite book series?" I asked coldly, staring at her for any shift in posture at all. My back stirred as I prepared to take her head off in an instant if I had to. I knew this was Fluttershy against me, and nopony was going to hurt her while I was here. Twilight jumped at my interruption and widened her eyes. The mare against me gave out a squeak at my tone shift and looked at me curiously instead. A moment later, Twilight's distinctly lavender eyes softened and she answered, "Daring Do. I was the one who got her hooked on it." Oh. That was an interesting tidbit of information. I relaxed and nodded, calming my new back muscles again. Twilight liked fiction, too? "You are you, then. The only ponies she could have possibly copied would be you, Rainbow, and Applejack. Only you're in the room, though, so I had to be sure," I explained softly, feeling Fluttershy tense against me a moment later. Twilight nodded and looked down, brushing her hoof along the ground before finally sitting down. "Mender... Please don't worry about that anymore. The Princesses are here and have used magic to protect the town," Fluttershy assured, giving me an assuring squeeze. The lavender mare looked up again as well before nodding. "They're fully shielding us with my brother's help. He's in town as well. I don't think the dimensional shift they used before will work inside of the shield, so you're safe, Mender. I'm really me," she added, walking up and sitting back down right next to my bed. We locked eyes for a moment, and a pang of regret danced across hers a moment later. "I'm sorry, Mender. I should have just told you, but Princess Celestia warned me that your old existence might still be a threat." I took a moment to process that. It was more vague than I realized, but there was a possibility she was lying to me again. "Why didn't you just say something, Twi?" I asked softly, watching her as my body grew sleepy again. Her ears flattened down against her head and she looked away again. "I was... It was foolish of me. I was frustrated because I couldn't find anything wrong or detect anything with my magic. But you still kept insisting that there was something there. I didn't want to believe that there was something there that my magic couldn't pick up," she admitted slowly, seemingly considering each word with great care. "T-Twilight! Um, doesn't that mean we could have prevented this?" Fluttershy asked ahead of me, sounding surprised and oddly, a little upset. I'd never heard Fluttershy really angry over something, so the tone shift was surprising. "There was a lot I should have done. I know that and I, well, I really screwed up. All I could think of was that Mender was traumatized and simply having flashbacks," she furthered, still refusing to look up at me again. I closed my eyes softly. Well, it was just a confirmation of everything I'd already suspected had been going through her mind. She seemed to actually treat me better as of late, so I could only guess that this was what she thought before the change of heart. There was no sense in backtracking. I'd kept secrets too, and had a big one now. "If we're revealing secrets, I should probably let you know that I was in communication with one of my old race, the Keldarians. She was a research and development specialist called Keela," I revealed, resting my head back down on the pillow. Twilight's eyes shot open an instant later and she looked back up at me, startled. "Why were you-?" she started to ask before I raised my right forehoof to halt her. "I was working with her to get rid of the link forever. We found out what was causing it and were well on the way to making sure it never bothered us again," I added, curbing her question before she could ask. Her reaction surprised me however as her ears flattened back and she looked away. "Mender, why didn't you ask me to help you? I could have helped to get rid of the link, and this might not have happened," she asked softly. "Twilight..." Fluttershy muttered, but I shook my head. She really wanted to know. She probably knew already and just wanted somepony to say it. Fine, then. "You thought I was insane. Telling you wouldn't have done anything," I pointed out, possibly a little colder than I had intended. The lavender mare winced and lowered herself a little more, partially sinking below the level of the bed where I couldn't see her. Silence dominated, and the gentle forelegs quietly pulled me closer again from behind now, me having rotated around to face Twilight. Almost a full minute passed in dead quiet before a light sniffling noise sounded out. What? Finally, the lavender mare lifted her head back up again. "I know. I knew that before, and deserve everything you want to say about me. It's probably too late, but I'm sorry, Mender. I really am," Twilight apologized softly. Tears ran freely down her cheeks now, and she looked away, wiping at them with her left forehoof. I'd never seen Twilight cry before. The anger bit back at myself and I suddenly realized I might have been too harsh on her. Sighing, I shook my head and reached out with my right foreleg, hooking her left one and pulling it away from her cheek as she brushed her fur. Her eyes widened and she looked back at me as I wiped it off myself. "I'm sad that you don't trust me, yes, but I'm not going to stay mad forever, Twilight. Don't be so hard on yourself. I don't think any of us saw this coming; not even Keela," I spoke, trying to calm her down. It was partially my fault, too, regardless. I had given too much information to Keela, not even considering the lab might have been bugged. "That wasn't Keela that pretended to be Twilight?" Fluttershy asked softly against my neck, causing me to smile lightly as her breath tickled my fur. After regaining my composure, I shook my head and returned, "No. That was her older, and now revealed to be sociopathic, sister. Her name's Nirru. She tricked Keela into helping her get here to 'talk' to me." There was no point in lying about it anymore. Twilight's eyes narrowed as she watched me again, definitely looking irritated this time. I was confused until she asked, "Is it true then? Applejack said that you'd told her she tried to seduce you." "She what?!" Fluttershy squeaked out, sitting up again and looking over me, at her friend. I couldn't see her expression, but I felt the surprise drift through the link. She hadn't known about that, then? I nodded regardless. "Yeah. She wanted to mate with me to get at the Keldarian DNA inside of myself. That's why she made herself look like you, Twilight," I confirmed. The lavender mare blushed, surprisingly enough, and looked away. "But we haven't even done anything like that yet! Did she really think-" Twilight tried to protest. This, I'd seen coming, however. "That's what made me catch on to her so fast. She only got me upstairs before I started getting suspicious. She did manage to, well, kiss me once. I caught on after that," I admitted, wincing as I closed my eyes and looked away from Twilight. There was a long pause before she let out a quiet sigh. Fluttershy's forehooves massaged into my shoulder before she leaned down and gently nuzzled the side of my head with her snout. "Mender, it's okay," she assured from above me, giving me a gentle shoulder rub. I opened my eyes in time to see Twilight lean forward and gently kiss me on the nose. It surprised me, and also tickled a little. Both mares giggled as I crossed my eyes to stare at my nose, wiggling it around a little to hold back the sneeze. "Please give me another chance, Mender. I'm an open book now. Even if Princess Celestia tells me to, I'm not going to lie or hide anything from you anymore," she promised, actually surprising me with that one. I stared at her, undoubtedly looking shocked as I searched her eyes for feeling. She locked eyes again and confidently nodded before slipping into a familiar motion. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she recited, gently pressing her right hoof up against her closed eyelid to finalize it. Fluttershy stiffened but nodded vigorously a moment later. "Um, me too! I promise that I'm not going to be afraid of you anymore. There's no reason to be," she added, also tying herself to the surprisingly solemn promise. For such a nonsensical pledge, it certainly held a lot of meaning here. Still... The image of an enraged Pinkie Pie flashed through my mind and I shuddered. Okay, maybe there was merit to not wanting to break a Pinkie Promise. "Do you mean that, Twilight?" came from the doorway in a familiar, soft voice. Twilight went rigid, eyes widening in shock as Princess Celestia herself walked in through the doorway, two guards and Rarity trailing closely behind her. Fluttershy squeaked immediately and pulled herself up into a bowing motion on the bed next to me. I didn't quite know what to do myself. Twilight rapidly spun around and bowed as well. In my current position, I couldn't flex enough to bow in the first place with my hurt ribs. Still, she had told me to treat her like a normal pony, so maybe I should? Did she honestly deserve my allegiance, of course? She had saved me once, but only to lie to me and set Twilight and me against each other. At this point, I had no idea what her intentions ultimately were. Going with that, I decided to just watch. "W-What do you mean, Princess?" Twilight hesitantly asked, looking back up at her mentor a moment later. Celestia gestured to rise, and everypony in the room minus me did so immediately. Celestia smiled down at the unicorn before sitting down as well. "If I asked you specifically to keep something from Mender, or to watch him and report findings to me without his knowledge, would you?" she asked outright, eyes locked onto Twilight intently. I raised an eyebrow but stayed silent, unsure of what she was hoping to accomplish. Regardless, she didn't once direct her attention to Fluttershy or me. Admittedly, I'd never seen the lavender mare so flustered. She shivered, and then surprised me by looking over her shoulder at me instead. I looked back without much energy, keeping my expression as neutral as my insides felt. If she wanted to save face in front of her teacher, I wasn't about to stand in her way. She swallowed, and then rotated back around to look at Celestia. "Um... I'm sorry, Princess. I wouldn't. You'd need to find somepony else," Twilight muttered finally, causing my eyes to widen. Fluttershy murmured lightly to my left, holding a hoof up to her muzzle as she watched the scene unfold. Rarity looked far less surprised behind the Princess, however, a soft smile forming on her expression. The tension hung on the air for a long ten seconds as Celestia stared down at the sunken Twilight Sparkle, gaze almost burning through her in intensity. I exhaled softly, opening my mouth to finally interrupt; to say anything that might spare Twilight any further pain. Celestia giggled first, however, cracking into a smile and nodding, snapping the room back to life with just that simple motion and sound. "I'm pleased, Twilight. I have no desire, nor need to have anypony spy on Mender anymore, anyway. Regardless, I'm pleased that your feelings on the issue have drastically changed, and you now trust him," the Princess assured after everypony relaxed. Twilight smiled softly and looked back up at Celestia, but the white alicorn had already looked past her and up at me instead. "Good afternoon, Mender. It's been a while since we've gotten to talk," she spoke gently, gesturing with her hoof as she did so. Pleasantly surprised would be an understatement at that point. I formed a light smile and nodded to her as well. "Good afternoon, Tia. How are you doing?" I asked politely, a bit of amusement being sparked by the sudden memory of my ill-considered lunch date with her. Rarity gasped immediately, eyes bulging out, but 'Tia' just laughed, nodding to me as well. "You remembered! I'm quite pleased that you've decided to treat me like a normal pony. I do have quite a bit to talk to you about, of course. I'd like to believe that you're about the only pony that knows what happened a couple nights ago," she reasoned, probably fairly accurately. Everypony here had a piece or two about the night, and I'm sure she'd already talked to Dash and Applejack, but I did have not only pieces that nopony did, but the entire picture. However... "Didn't Luna give you the full report?" I questioned, watching her carefully. She had to have at this point. But Luna herself said that Celestia had warned her about me ahead of time. Had she even needed the Moon Princess' report? As expected, Celestia smiled towards me and nodded. The gesture was fleeting; barely a shift in posture and eye position as she watched me, but I saw it. She knew, indeed. "Yes, she did. I'll only ask a couple of questions, as you're undoubtedly tired," she returned a moment after. Questions? "Firstly, I'm told that you know specifically of the individual responsible for the violence. Only you have the information on her, however. May you share it?" she asked carefully, after seeming to consider it for a moment. Oh. She was intentionally avoiding asking questions about me. So far, anyway. "Her name's Nirru. She's the older, considerably more psychotic sister of Keela, the Keldarian I've been in contact with," I explained simply, trying to be as thorough in answering as I could. She had me in a bad position, knowing what she did, so staying on her good side would definitely help in the long run. Celestia nodded pleasantly, seemingly amused by something for a moment before continuing with, "I assume you were attempting to work with the Keldarian for a reason as well. I'd hazard a guess as to wanting to remove the link you still have?" Another simple question. Oddly, I kept waiting for the punch line. The question that would cause everypony in the room to suddenly hate me. "Yes. The link is connected to a book in their dimension. Her plans, before the incident, were to send the book here, thus severing the link forever," I elaborated, technically not giving much 'new' information on top of what she already had suggested. Twilight looked curious for a moment, but continued watching me from the side, shifting her attention between Celestia and myself. Fluttershy relaxed openly again, slumping before resting against my side in a lying position. Rarity still looked momentarily flustered, but I saw the interest starting to build again in her eyes as she sat next to the Princess instead. "I see. This is admirable; seeking aid yourself when you couldn't elsewhere. I approve, even though it turned out poorly. This was not Keela's fault, however, I'm guessing. What do you know of the creature that attacked Nirru in the forest?" she asked next, causing my heart to skip a beat. I stared at her, a bit of uneasiness settling into my chest as everypony shifted their attention back to me. She hadn't connected me to it. But she knew I'd know almost everything about it at the same time. Clever. But how much should I tell her? "Mender, um, are you okay?" Fluttershy whispered softly, brushing her wing up along my side in assurance as she rested there. I looked back over and smiled weakly at her, feeling tired suddenly. No matter what, I couldn't shake the exhausted sensation. It felt like my body was a shell; some sort of hollow moving statue pretending to be a pony. Pretending. I looked back at Celestia and noticed she was watching me with a more solemn expression, looking a little sad instead. "No, he's not, Fluttershy. My sister reported he was gravely injured, undoubtedly receiving some of the wounds from the creature itself. I apologize, of course. It can't be a pleasant memory," Tia interrupted quietly, not breaking eye contact. A lie? No, technically the 'creature' had injured me. The very knowledge of its existence hurt more than I could ever realize. I nodded softly before finally replying. "It was a little larger than a full size stallion; vaguely pony-shaped but with layered, chitinous armor. It didn't have a coat, but the armor was dark gray in color. It seemed to have a wire-like mane that twisted and lurched of its own volition. Its eyes were glowing blue, and eight elongated tentacles with various bladed parts extended off its back," I described carefully, staying vague. Fluttershy had brought up both forehooves to her mouth by the time I was done and timidly watched me with her eyes shivering. I could tell she was scared, and hardly blamed her. Rarity looked more horrified and disgusted than scared, reminding me of Rainbow's reaction to actually seeing me. The image flashed through my mind again and I winced, quickly looking away. Twilight seemed more curious than disgusted, however. "Did you manage to see its hooves or the tentacle weaponry? Did any of them have a curved, scythe-like blade shape?" Twilight asked me almost instantly, looking absolutely fascinated. Well, at least I wouldn't need to worry about her running away from me in a panic. Instead, I only had to be concerned that she might dissect me while I was still alive. "Its hoof claws matched your diagrams exactly, Twilight," Celestia answered instead, shifting her attention to the now excited looking unicorn. "Yes! I was right in the measurements then! But wait, how could a creature like that evolve so quickly and spontaneously? It's almost like it evolved from a pony by the description, but unless serious magic is involved, that shouldn't be possible. There's no way that could happen naturally!" Twilight continued, starting to shift her exceedingly sharp mind in the exact opposite direction I'd hoped she'd go in. Damn it. If she started asking questions like that, I had a sneaking suspicion that the clever unicorn might just uncover my secret on her own. Celestia shook her head, however, still smiling. "It matters little, my student. My sister dealt with the creature, and you don't need to worry about it any longer," she assured gently, not breaking her expression even for a moment. Suddenly, I kind of wondered what she'd be like playing cards. 'Poker' had been popular in the barracks, if I recalled correctly. I had a feeling she could win with a hand comprised entirely of Uno cards instead. I made the mental note to inquire later if those two games existed here as well. If they did, I was going to be seriously creeped out! Twilight looked less than pleased with the answer, but gently nodded to her teacher. That probably meant I'd be blasted with questions later, instead. "Excuse me, but now that the patient is awake, I need to go over a few things with him and get his medicine set up," I heard called out from the hallway a moment later, in a familiar sounding mare's voice. Oh! I hadn't told any of the medical staff that I was awake. Oops. Nurse Redheart slowly walked in seconds later, giving a gentle bow to Celestia before turning to me instead. Seeing her in this room again brought back memories of my first hospital visit in Equestria. Not that it was all that long ago. "I'd like to go over the details of your chart and get you some food. Can I have a moment of privacy with him?" the nurse requested politely. I was a little uneasy, but felt secure in my ability to defend myself if needed at this point. Besides, if she wasn't really Nurse Redheart, I'm sure Tia would have picked up on it immediately. "Oh, of course. I'll drop by tomorrow after you've rested up more, Mender. I have to go check on the reconstruction project at the library," Celestia excused, nodding to me with a smile. Reconstruction? Oh. Oh yeah, the FTL reaction. "Thanks. I am getting rather tired," I agreed, taking note of the sleepiness again. Regrowing your leg must take a lot of energy. "Um, can I come back afterwards?" Fluttershy asked politely, standing up on the mattress next to me. Twilight perked up and nodded along, adding, "Me too." Nurse Redheart glanced between them before snickering and turning to me instead. "Do you mind if your herd stays with you after visitation time?" she asked pleasantly. My cheeks warmed a little bit, but nowhere near as badly as Fluttershy's. Twilight's smile widened, much to my surprise. I shook my head regardless. "No, they can come back in." It was a little strange how everypony just assumed after the rumors had circulated. Although, oddly enough, neither mare involved denied it. Maybe rumors had a way of becoming real after a while? Of course, I doubt the rumors had much to do with it beyond simply making it easier to go with the flow. I snapped out of it a moment later, only to see the tip of Fluttershy's tail as it left. Shifting my attention back to Nurse Redheart, I saw she wore a gentle smile as she set a clipboard down on my bedside table from her side pouch. "All right then. I just want to inform you of the status of your health, and then talk to you about what we're going to do next to get you back on your hooves!" she exclaimed in an extremely cheerful manner. "Aww. I missed you too," I joked, smiling softly at her. She momentarily looked surprised before bursting into laughter. I followed soon after, probably earning a few questioning stares from the mares in the other room, but I hardly cared. After everything that I'd been through in the last few days, I didn't really care about a whole lot, I discovered. Did that make me happy or sad? "Yes, Mender. You know you can visit me without putting yourself in the hospital, though, right?" she pointed out, snickering as she poked me in the shoulder with her hoof. I simply stuck my tongue out, earning another grin before she peeked back at my chart. "Besides, after you hear all this, you get treated to hospital food and medication for desert. Isn't that awesome?" she offered, smirking at my elongated groan. Well, at least I got my wish. If you could call it such, spending days in the hospital was about as 'normal' as I could seem to manage. Some days, I really hated my life... "Stop flirting with my coltfriend!" Twilight suddenly shouted from the other room. Nurse Redheart paused for a moment in surprise before bursting into even more laughter.
Chapter 30Yawning, I idly flipped another page, further expanding my understanding of Equestrian culture and customs. Since Twilight gave me the book yesterday, I had spent a vast amount of time reading it. Now, every chapter except for one was finished. I had skipped chapter nine, but finally doubled back to read it after finishing the book and instilling a bit more courage into myself. Herds. Apparently it was a time honored tradition dating all the way back to the 'foraging' days of Equestrian society. Of course, back then it was also used for protection and according to most researchers, the herds were significantly larger in size. Nowadays, a herd was formed almost exactly like a marriage in most cases, with a few more obvious technical differences. The most obvious apparently being involvement with more than two ponies. In Equestria's example, the legal limit was five individuals unless special permission was granted by either royalty or the courts for extraordinary circumstances. The book stated that, realistically, herds of three or four individuals were much more frequent, unless the herd contained multiple members of both sexes. It wasn't absorbing very well, honestly. I could get the technicalities easily enough, but application was drawing a huge blank in my mind. It wasn't the multiple mates aspect. I'd dealt with that before in my prior world. It definitely wasn't the practical applications. The skewed gender ratio here certainly justified alternative arrangements. No, I think what bothered me the most was that most herds were primarily mares. I just didn't get it. It wasn't that I couldn't see what was in front of me, but it was as if I couldn't believe it instead. This caused me to question myself further, of course. Lowering the book slightly, I glanced over at the gorgeous yellow mare that was spread out on the blankets beside me. Her eyes were closed as she lay on her side. Her wings would twitch on occasion, as did her legs as she made little stepping motions in her sleep. I smiled, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest, tracing the pleasant smile she wore with my eyes. She was beautiful. I closed my eyes, feeling the miasma of emotions flooding through me. What did I honestly do to deserve her? I wasn't a real pony. I wasn't a real anything, really. Was the care and affection I felt for her real even if I wasn't? Cares and wants slipped off my hooves like sand as I desperately tried to grab onto anything that could justify my existence. I was a murderer. No, that was too simple. I'd effectively committed genocide; our race was all but doomed thanks to what I directly did. Can anything justify me being happy at this point? Suddenly, it didn't feel like the universe was cruel enough to me. Fluttershy was far too kind, especially. Of course, that was her in a nutshell. Hell, it was even in her title. Beyond feeding her animals and checking up on Pinkie every day since I woke up, she had spent the entirety of her time right where she was now. Not only did I feel extremely guilty that I was eating up so much of her time, I was also completely baffled by her sudden change of heart. At first it felt like she was forcing herself to, but she'd always insist something about me being gentle, and that it was surprising to her, and then she'd get unbelievably cuddly. I wasn't complaining, exactly, but I did feel badly that she hadn't done much of anything besides that. I guess the most surprising aspect of all was the sheer level of her emotional and physical hunger. She acted almost desperate for cuddles, hugs, and, surprisingly enough, kisses. Nothing deep or long, but she was definitely kissing me on the mouth now. I stared in wonder at her as she slept. Truly, what had I done to deserve such an amazing mare, when in theory, I should have exactly the opposite. Fluttershy sneezed in her sleep, murmuring in mild dislike about something before pulling herself closer, shivering. It was a little chilly in the room. Smiling at her, I gently slid my covers down, bracing against the encroaching cold air before sliding it out from under her. She sighed, a soft and pleasing noise as she pressed herself up against my side and I covered her in the blanket. Whether she was awake or not hardly mattered as she soon returned to her rhythmic snoozing, this time at a much closer distance. Deciding not to fight it anymore, I chuckled to myself and set the book down on my bedside table, slipping my lavender bookmark into my spot before rotating to face Fluttershy directly. Her smile widened as I wrapped my right foreleg around her and gave her a gentle squeeze, closing my eyes. I felt my eyelids give in to the weight pressing down on them. A nap sounded really good, I decided. It would probably be around supper when we woke up, and that meant Twilight would be visiting after the library's public hours had ended. I looked forward to seeing my fillyfriend, which both did and didn't surprise me. Maybe things were looking up? It was hard for them to look down at this point, of course. Oh wait, I could think of a few ways... Snickering to myself, I let my thoughts drift away from the monster that I was and onto happier things, snoozing against the pegasus I shared my covers with. * * * * * Twilight lightly set the bag down, then smiled at Fluttershy as she looked up again. I paid little heed as I peeked inside of the bag, lifting the flap up with my right foreleg. More books were inside numbering at a half dozen or more, including the first book in the Daring Do series. I smiled at the goodies. "I brought the cultural basics books, as well as the stuff you requested on enchantment theory and energy dynamics," Twilight finally relayed, shifting her happy smile in my direction instead. My ears perked and I nodded to her, rather excited to have more reading material. Lying in bed for hours at a time was exceedingly boring, even with solitaire and minesweeper to keep me company. Fluttershy stretched out under the covers, yawning sleepily as she peeked out at Twilight a moment later. "Oh, um, hello, Twilight. How was your day since this morning?" she asked timidly, as if afraid of getting chastised for being where she was. You'd think she'd learn after the third time of being walked in on and nothing bad happening. "Quite well, Fluttershy! The library was surprisingly busy today. I actually had to be a librarian for a while! Unsurprisingly, all our public books on the Everfree forest are now rented out. It's silly, really. I'm all for public understanding, but learning about a risky area after something has already happened is a bit too late," she muttered, hopping up onto the bed and flopping over against my covered legs. Thankfully the snapped bone had healed already thanks to my regeneration, or that probably would have sucked. "It's still good that they're concerned. I'd don't want to see anypony hurt in the forest," Fluttershy spoke up, voice growing a little in strength as she got adjusted again. I noticed that she was always just a little awkward after she woke up, but gradually got better afterwards. I'd also noticed that the time it took her to 'recover' her comfort zone was gradually decreasing. I didn't understand it, but I was happy with the results, honestly. "The repairs must be going smoothly, then," I reasoned, honestly surprised that Twilight opened the library back up so soon after what happened. She had some serious dedication going. "They're done with the ground floor but the second story still needs a lot of work. Spike and I are still staying with Rarity in the meantime," she returned, smirk shifting to a knowing one instead. I chuckled, mentally picturing the little guy jumping for joy at that turn of events. "I'm guessing you didn't have to twist his arm?" Twilight snorted and rolled her eyes while Fluttershy let out a little giggle. "Please. He's like a little Casanova. I'd swear I caught Rarity flirting back a couple of times, too," she muttered, scrunching her eyebrows down a little in a look of hesitant amusement. "It's good though. It distracts him, doesn't it? All of my animals are so scared and admittedly, I'm worried myself being that close to the forest," Fluttershy murmured. Idly, I wondered if that was the cause of her sleeping here all the time. "We're safe in Ponyville, Fluttershy. My brother has a shield over the entire town, including your cottage. Plus, Princess Celestia has garrisoned guards here to patrol until the scouts finish combing the forest," Twilight assured. My hoof drew to a stop as I felt a shiver go through my torso. No, it was an isolated incident. Of course, I couldn't just tell her that. With a nudge of willpower, I stopped my leg from shaking and pushed away the memories of that night again. Rainbow's look of unadulterated horror was the hardest to drive away, reminding me that I was the monster they were worried about. “We’re lucky your brother was still in Canterlot and not in the Crystal Empire,” Fluttershy murmured, even though Twilight was locked onto me instead. Oh crap. Had she noticed that? Being an extremely skilled magic user and scientist, Twilight was nothing if not observant. I saw her at the top of my vision, expression slowly shifting to a frown as she watched me carefully. I didn't say anything, but guessed the damage had already been done. She hesitated, glancing slightly towards Fluttershy before explaining, “My brother’s the acting guard captain in Canterlot until the new one is trained and they finish moving all of their stuff to the Crystal Palace. He would have come regardless however because Princess Celestia asked him to raise the shield…” Fluttershy noticed her locked attention and shifted her head back towards me instead, however. I’d figured Twilight wouldn’t let it go. "Mender, I would like to talk to you. You've been distant the day and a half since you woke up. Please, tell me what's wrong. I care about you," she requested a moment later, causing me to release the breath I'd been holding, hoping she wouldn't say anything. Fluttershy stopped fidgeting with the nearby food tray the nurse had left, and looked over to me instead. I shook my head, however, still not looking up. "I'm just a little shaken up still. I don't think I've really, um, processed everything that happened that night," I excused, cringing with a visual tick as I stumbled over my own choice of wording. 'Processed' would probably never be the same now. The thought left me surprisingly empty feeling as I stared blankly at the bag. "Then, um, if it's not too painful, tell us Mender. Twilight's your fillyfriend and I'd like to be too so, well, we care about you and want to help!" Fluttershy added, slipping into a sitting position and leaning closer to me, supporting herself on her front hooves as her eyes softened. Twilight looked momentarily surprised at her interjection, but smiled and nodded to her a moment later. I shifted my vision between the two as they both expectantly stared at me, teaming up again. Ugh. How was I supposed to defend myself against being flanked by both of the beautiful mares? My ears lowered backwards and I felt myself blush under their intensely-focused gazes. Twilight twitched in my peripheral vision, but I didn't react in time. Her hoof snapped up and lifted my chin an instant later before I could react. My eyes widened as they locked firmly onto both of hers as she shifted less than half a meter away from me. "Please, Mender. Look at us again. You don't need to be afraid of us. We're both really us. My brother's shield magic will stop any invasion attempts and he can do so for an extremely long period of time, so you're perfectly safe," she whispered, voice no longer needing projection as she closed even closer. Was she... ? Fluttershy widened her eyes and openly blushed as Twilight gently kissed me, firmly ruining my carefully laid out response to her last point. My mind momentarily blanked as I felt her push me lightly backwards into my propped up pillows, her hoof running soothingly down my chest as she smiled into the kiss. There was no insistence or rushing; the kiss was a passion-filled one with an almost shy uptake as she tenderly slipped both forelegs around my neck. Both of us let out a squeak, however, a moment later when a rather abrupt wing movement smacked into the side of my head. There was no force behind it, but I glanced to the left in confusion, shifting my viewpoint past the yellow-feathered cluster. Fluttershy held both hooves up to her mouth as she stared at us in a mixture of surprise and extreme guilt, her cheeks a deep crimson color. I saw her muscles twitch as she tried to pull the wing down and away from us to no avail. Smiling as I realized what happened, I gently raised my right foreleg and held her stiffly extended wing against my chest. She gasped, eyes widening further but her muscles froze in place instead. I saw her almost cringe at the touch but she fought it adamantly as her eyes locked onto my foreleg. Twilight smiled and nodded softly to her, resting her right forehoof gently on Fluttershy's buckled-up leg as I softly massaged her wing, lightly feeling along the muscles in it as they shivered. Fluttershy's eyes softened gradually as she exhaled, watching my movement still but relaxing a little. "I think I see what you're doing now. You're staying near Mender on purpose, aren't you, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her friend, earning a raised eyebrow from me. Admittedly, I was curious as to her newfound affection and fondness, but I hadn't pressed my luck and asked about it. I continued gently rubbing her wings, causing her to release a soft murmur as her eyes lidded. Her wing muscles must be really sensitive if she could feel every little shift I did. "I... Yes. Rarity suggested it. She called it conditioning, I think," Fluttershy finally answered, extending her wing out instead of fighting against it and letting me have the whole thing. I went with the flow and started massaging closer to the base, causing her blush to deepen. Twilight rose an eyebrow to me, but I just shrugged. If this got Fluttershy to relax and trust that I wasn't going to hurt her, I certainly wasn't going to stop. Plus, a little part of me was happy to make her feel good. It went a long way towards me forgiving myself a little bit, I decided. "The anxiety over the dreams. Rarity told you to stay near Mender as often as you could to condition yourself into realizing he's safe, then?" the lavender unicorn inquired a moment later, shifting her attention back to Fluttershy. The now relaxing mare nodded slowly, adding, "He, um, surprised me. Every stallion I've met for the most part has been... Well, they've been really mean and rough with me. I guess I thought that was just how stallions are." She whimpered lightly after her admission, shivering as I gave her upper wing muscles another gentle massage. They were tense still, but far more relaxed than when I started. Twilight's expression gently softened as she smiled again. "Mender's the gentlest stallion I know. He'd never intentionally hurt you, Fluttershy. I'm glad you're realizing that now." The yellow pegasus smiled as well, finally lowering her hooves and just letting her blush radiate from her cheeks. I snickered at how adorable she was and gave the top of her wing a gentle peck. The reaction surprised me as she inhaled sharply, and then slowly let it out in a whistling, airy squeak. Her entire upper body shivered as I watched her flight muscles along her back spasm a little. Wow. This kind of sensitivity struck me as actually kind of detrimental to their ability to fly. Wouldn't moderate winds kind of hurt if they could feel all of this? Twilight burst into giggles, looking at my dumbfounded expression. "I can see you don't realize it. I told you the wing reaction was a secondary reaction, didn't I? Well, I did kind of forget to mention that it's also an erogenous zone with all of the nerve bundles in there," Twilight pointed out. Oh. Oh hell. That meant that I was just... My eyes widened as the heat rushed into my cheeks unimpeded. "Oh no! I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't realize that, uh," I rapidly started to apologize, trying to salvage what I could of the situation. Fluttershy looked more spaced out than upset, however, and slowly shook her head while smiling over at me. Her cheeks still kept up their flushed appearance, but it was in a more relaxed way now. "No, Mender. You didn't do it intentionally and were only trying to make me feel better. Thank you. Mmm, you're so nice," she muttered before slumping against my shoulder and giving me a soft nuzzle. Well, that certainly didn't help my blush any. "I agree. You didn't know and your intentions were purely good-natured. You are a nice stallion," Twilight agreed, flopping slightly more abruptly against my other shoulder instead. I swallowed, feeling them pressed into both sides of me. No, I'd probably never stand a chance when they teamed up like this, no matter what we were doing. Still, this gave me a bit of hope for the future. Just a little. "I just don't know what's going to happen anymore. Well, not that I knew usually before all of this. Not having much control in anything is so frustrating sometimes, you know?" I finally admitted, staring up at the ceiling as I rested back against the pillow mountain and two warm bodies against me. "I know something happened to you. Whenever you get comfortable with it, you know you can talk to us," Twilight assured quietly as she rested her horn on my shoulder. I assumed she meant something more than the obvious of what happened to me. She'd relayed the horror story of finding my torn apart leg already. Thankfully Applejack had been kind enough to warn her about it beforehand. Now I just wished one of the two wayward mares would visit me. Pinkie at least had a reason she was absent, although that would change by this time tomorrow, I heard. "Would you still like me if I looked scary, Twi? Like, the scariest monster you could imagine?" I asked carefully a moment later. Testing the waters might be a good idea. I couldn't keep lying to all the ponies I cared about. It would tear me apart inside. Fluttershy looked up slightly faster, to my surprise, asking, "Didn't you ask me that yesterday?" Twilight had perked at that point and raised her head as well, giving me a questioning glance. I swallowed, but she closed her eyes and frowned to herself before shaking her head. "No. You said if you 'looked' scary. That means that you're still you and only look different. If that was the case, there'd be no reason to be afraid of you," she reasoned, saying roughly the same thing Fluttershy had yesterday, albeit in a slightly more structured manner. Fluttershy smiled over me and nodded to Twilight, seemingly pleased with her choice of wording and answer. I closed my eyes and rested against my pillows, considering the odds. They were all I had, really. If I couldn't trust these two, I couldn't trust anypony. With that laid out, I decided they had to be telling the truth. I exhaled softly as both rested back into me, quietly. I had expected more questions and was more than a little surprised by Twilight's passive behavior. For some reason, I suspected Rarity's involvement in the change of demeanor. Adding to what she said to Celestia yesterday and it left me with a rapidly changing opinion of my first fillyfriend. Er, technically only fillyfriend still, although Fluttershy seemed rather adamant on joining as well. For some reason, I didn't really consider her officially joined yet, however. Maybe that was because Twilight was yet to say anything to me on the issue, for or against it. Ultimately, as much as I liked having my own opinion and choices, I noticed I defaulted to her approval and control in almost everything. It felt more 'comfortable' to me, for some reason. I resigned myself to my fate at this point. I opened my eyes again, cracking my mouth to ask if Twilight had considered the proposition since. My question was halted before it began, however, as I saw Twilight's eyes gently closed, her breathing having deepened and become passive and regular. A glance to my left showed that Fluttershy had also fallen back asleep. Well, this was unexpected. Although I began to wonder about Fluttershy a bit. Sure, she brought books and talked to me a lot, but she also spent a lot of her time snoozing around or against me while she was here. I was beginning to suspect that she wasn't sleeping very well at night. Regardless, I decided to let the two mares rest and slowly closed my eyes, leaning back again and slipping into a gentle snooze myself. * * * * * My arms ached with dull agony as I let them hang from the rusted, blood spotted manacles chained to the wall. My only company had been the metallic clinking in my ear for hours. Days, even. I hated them. All of them. All sense of time fell away, leaving me with nothing but an eternity of pain and suffering in which to consider just how much I hated them. Jovan had died right in front of me some time ago. He begged for his father for over an hour before his mind fell apart in fever-induced hallucinations. He was the sixth of my old squad to die like this. At least he didn't go out screaming into my face about how much he hated me. That had disappointed her. She eventually got bored and pulled out his drug-warped heart and tossed it onto the growing pile at my feet. I couldn't even manage to cry anymore out of the one eye I had left. "So, do you think you've learned your lesson for what you did to my sister?" was whispered into my ear an indeterminate amount of time later. Her voice haunted my sleeping and conscious hours. I didn't even turn to acknowledge her, eyes locked instead on the carcass in front of me. She unhooked the body, kicking it off the rack and throwing another struggling male into place, ignoring the mess that the thing was. It was absolutely coated with dried vital fluids at that point. I kinda wished she'd tear my nose off next. "P-Please! Don't do this. You promised me that you'd let me see my son one last time! You promised!" the older looking Keldarian soldier reminded after she tore off his gag. A cruel giggle. "Of course. I'm a female of my word, don't forget. He was a bitch to find, mind you," she muttered before tearing open the other bag she was carrying and dumping its contents on the floor. The mess only vaguely resembled a Keldarian at that point, but she had left most of the face intact. Considering the steam drifting off him in the chilled dungeon air, I'd say he'd only been dead for a few minutes at best, which made the state he was in have quite a bit of unfortunate implications. I shuddered silently, feeling eternally empty. "No. No..." Kevilin muttered, staring down at the remains, starting to shake. She was the biggest monster of all, so perfectly embodying everything I hated about Keldarians. She laughed, of course. "I gave you exactly what you asked for. Consider it a mercy compared to him," she pointed out, gesturing towards the mess on the floor. "He died knowing that his loving father sold him out. Did you know he screamed out how much he hated you just before he died? It was touching." Kevilin fell apart into roaring raging for what felt like hours. I drifted, my numb mind only occasionally hearing how it was all my fault and I didn't even deserve Hell. She just kept laughing as she pulled him apart like a wet doll. My claws dug into my own palms, shaking, as his heart was added to the pile. * * * * * My eyes opened as a jolt went through my system. There was a distinct echo going through my skull, the reverberating sounds of the rattling chains as it bounced around inside of my head. A cold sweat clung to my body, matting my fur down and making the blanket feel clammy and wet. I shivered and stared blankly up at the ceiling, slowing my racing heart down. Those memories were from a long time ago. They happened to somepony else, not me. I repeatedly told that to myself, despite how real they felt. I wasn't there. I was in Equestria now. Slowly, I rotated and peeked towards my curtains, wondering where all the light was coming from. What time was it? How long had I slept? It wasn’t a surprise to see my two companions gone at this point. My eyes widened a moment later as I saw that the curtains were partially open. No, I had closed them when I went to bed! A rapid glance around the room picked up nothing out of place that I could see. I frowned. I wasn't in my old room. That I'd found out yesterday from Nurse Redheart. This room was room 203, up on the second floor. It wouldn't be easy for somepony to use the window to get in with all the guards patrolling the hospital grounds, and my door was warded by Twilight herself. Taking a risk, my scanners activated, bathing the room in the cool blue light coming from my eyes as I glanced around. Measurements were taken on the fly. Nothing had been changed since I had gone to sleep, however. Weird. A little creeped out now, I rotated back around to get comfortable on my side instead, facing the window. I was halfway through the rotation, however, when something bumped into my chest under the covers. I froze, feeling the rather cold lumps moving against my stomach. Five seconds passed, and no movement was detected from them. Finally, I lifted the blanket and little to peek at the strange objects that were in bed with me. My eyes widened a little. Three large, pristine-looking apples rested gently against my stomach. My mind raced, and things clicked into place rapidly. The apples wouldn't be allowed as part of my diet here, and the nurse would probably disapprove of somepony bringing me food. Of course, the hospital food was lacking significantly, and that was an understatement. I caught myself starting to drool as I stared at the three apples. That meant somepony had smuggled these apples to me without using my door. There were very few candidates that could pull that off. Fluttershy had wings, but I doubt she'd evade the guards. Bribing them or acting adorable might get her past them because they know her, but she'd probably not want to risk it. Twilight could have just teleported into the room, but unless she had developed a 'stealth' teleport, that would have woken me up almost instantly. Further, she'd probably frown at altering my diet too. That left Dash. She hadn't visited me yet, which was a little depressing, but she probably felt bad over what happened so I wasn't going to hold it against her. Still, she was the only pony that could get these to me without being spotted. Wait. Apples. My eyes softened and I smiled to myself. Rainbow might have just been helping out as the delivery mare. I was worried that after what Applejack had seen, she wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore. She had said that to my face that night. Of course, that was under false pretenses, but I hadn't been able to ask her otherwise yet. My ears lowered as I stared at the apples, a certain wetness building up in my eyes. Damn it. Lying back down, I lifted one and examined it. They were larger than most and extremely red. Due to their size, I had a suspicion that these were picked out specifically, not just grabbed at random. Tentatively, I bit into the one I was holding and almost moaned as the wonderful taste flooded into my mouth. My sensors also came alive and started picking out all the various parts that made up the apple as I chewed. Of course, it had to report that there were no toxins in it. Thank goodness! Applejack hadn't gone crazy and decided I needed to die! Thank you for the information, sensors. Amused at my own self-snarking, I took another bite and wiggled back and forth at the taste. Of course, it wouldn't do to leave evidence, as Nurse Redheart changed my sheets daily. I guess that meant I had to eat all of it, even down to the core and stem. I smirked wider and swayed with the tasty treat. After eating what tasted like processed cardboard for two days, this was a delicacy. Of course, I remembered as I finished off the first apple that I could have just distended my jaw and eaten the thing whole. My 'upgraded' stomach didn't care what I threw into it and processed all matter and energy exactly the same way. Still, that struck me as a terrible waste of such a tasty treat. I nibbled intentionally, tasting the second apple as if a rare candy as I flopped back onto my back. Applejack grew these things! I had all new respect and adoration for the orange mare suddenly. Halfway through the second apple, I paused and looked at my left foreleg. It suddenly occurred to me that I was partially holding the apple up using it. Before, I could barely so much as twitch it due to how weak it felt. The strength was gradually returning to it, admittedly much faster than I or the hospital staff had predicted. Nurse Redheart said I'd be lucky to be walking on it again within the month. I hadn't told Twilight or Fluttershy yet, of course. Exhaling, I lightly chewed and swallowed the last of the second apple before lying back and thinking for a moment while my stomach cooed happily. They were going to notice something was up. Admittedly, however, I didn't exactly want to be stuck in the hospital for a month. With these apples I was surprised with tonight, my body suddenly got a lot more mass and energy to use for repairs. The doctors were going to notice I was healing a lot faster than I should be. Then Twilight and Fluttershy would notice as well, and I'd have a bit of explaining to do. They knew I didn't know any healing magic. I bit into the last apple and chewed lightly as I stared across the room at the wall. Honestly, I should probably just tell them. The longer I wait, the worse it's going to get. But what then? I couldn't possibly imagine any of them wanting anything to do with an alien abomination that killed billions of innocent individuals. I'd probably count myself lucky if they didn't just blast me with the Elements right then and there. But then there was... As if hearing my thoughts, the curtains rustled lightly. My eyes widened as I saw the light flood through out of the corner of my eye. I snapped to attention, looking rapidly to the left as the window slid open and a head squeezed through. For such a large body, she oddly had no problems fitting through my window and sliding it shut a moment later, politely drawing the curtains closed again with a burst of her magic. Her fur almost glowed white in the dimly lit room. I stared in shock at not only her abrupt arrival, but strange manner of entry. Still, there was no fooling the level of energy I picked up coming off her. Celestia smiled softly and nodded to me as she turned, sitting down lightly directly to the left of my bed. "I apologized for the strange time to visit. My sister alerted me that she felt a very disturbing dream from you, and that you had abruptly woken up. I wanted to talk to you in private anyway, however," she explained softly. Her magic coated the room a moment later, leaving a shimmering barrier around every wall. "There. We won't be bothering anypony with our talking, now," she added, smiling afterwards. I shook myself out of the daze and nodded to her before glancing down at the partially eaten apple in my lap. "I, uh, I'm honored that you'd want to visit me again. You probably have more direct questions to ask, I'm guessing," I reasoned, wondering if I should hide the apple or not. She snickered and shook her head. "The honor is mine, Mender. And please, keep eating. I know Rainbow dropped them off an hour ago. She may have avoided the guards, but I have my senses extended over the entire building as well," she revealed, looking deeply amused. I laughed at that. Well, a weak chuckle, anyway. "I'd figured Rainbow had dropped them off. I just wish she and Applejack would stop avoiding me," I lamented, looking back down at the apple before picking it up again. Celestia shook her head while I took a bite, further revealing, "Applejack's a stubborn mare. I do believe she extended those to sort of test the waters, so to speak. She's never quite had to deal with this before, and she isn't handling it well. Rainbow wants to visit you as well, but also thinks you'll be mad at her. It's a tender situation." That I could agree with, and nodded lightly while chewing. I swallowed lightly before shaking my head. "I'm not mad at either of them. They were protecting who they thought was Twilight. I'm not going to condemn them for defending their friend. I'm happy Twilight has such good friends," I corrected, staring at my lap instead of the Princess. She had surprised me by giving out information rather than just requesting it. I'd suspected I'd eventually get a visit from her in private, but my mind had pictured more of an interrogation at horn point than this. "They hurt you, Mender. Even if they didn't mean to, it was still because of their lack of trust, and I think they'd be the first to admit that at this point. You seem bitter still about something surrounding it, as well," she observed, watching me carefully. I froze, mid bite. Bitter? I swallowed the lump in my throat, shivering as the taste wasn't nearly as good suddenly. No, I accepted what they had done. They had reasons to do it, didn't they? Besides, I owed them the benefit of the doubt because of their hospitality and friendship they'd given me, right? I set the apple down again and sighed, shivering lightly again as the air left my lungs. "I don't like to think like that. It's easier to just accept it and not complicate things, isn't it?" I asked, looking back up at her finally. She wore a soft smile but shook her head. "That might work in your old world, but I think you might find these mares to be a bit more stubborn than that. Forgiving them is important, but helping them to forgive themselves is going to be the hard part. But your friendship will be much stronger if you do," she suggested softly, her horn lightly starting to glow. The apple lit up with her magic and gently pushed itself onto my right forehoof. At first, I was confused as to why she suddenly decided to help me eat, but then I saw her focus on my left foreleg and start to undo the bandages. Oh. It was so I could keep eating while she worked. Taking her less than subtle advice, I took another bite of the apple while watching her unwrap my bandages on the left foreleg. It stung a little, but eating was a good distraction as she got the last of them off. I glanced down at it as she lifted my foreleg to examine the progress of my healing. Ultimately, it looked a lot better than it did when I first changed back. The skin wasn't transparent anymore, and a light muscle growth had started along the various spots of the leg. The hoof had also fully reformed, along with a neatly cut pattern along the bottom of it that was similar to my first rune, but much cleaner looking. My body had mimicked it? "Amazing, Mender. Your regenerative abilities are quite impressive. While I ask a couple of questions, I'm going to try to use my magic to restore what I can to your leg and side, all right?" she offered, smiling politely at me. A light bulb popped up over my head, and I suddenly realized that I might have an excuse presented to me for my 'rapid' healing progress. As if reading my thoughts, Celestia winked to me and began to work. The stinging sensation went away instantly as her warm magic danced over my foreleg, gently coaxing nerves and muscle tissue to regrow into the proper spots. It felt like I was using the Princesses for all of the excuses lately. Princess Luna had used her advanced magic to ‘regrow’ my limb prior, too. "The first and most important question is rather obvious. What exactly happened with the Nirru incident? I only have fragmented pieces between Twilight and my sister," she asked first, being surprisingly open with her inquiries. "Well, that's kind of a long answer to that one. Nirru tricked her sister, Keela, into letting her come here under the guise of 'talking' to us about how I could help my old race. She apparently changed the plan and decided to try to seduce me instead by turning into Twilight. I don't know why exactly, but she was apparently under the impression that the Keldarian DNA I'm carrying would be released when... Er..." I trailed off, blinking a couple times before the heat crept into my face. Well, that got awkward fast. Celestia snickered and shook her head slowly towards me, however. "I'm far old enough to know how that works, worry not. Suffice to say, Applejack and Rainbow Dash interrupted, and she decided on a more direct route then, I take it?" she asked, seemingly not paying attention in the least to what her magic was doing. It felt amazing, however, so I wasn't about to question the capabilities of the extremely powerful alicorn sitting across from me. "Yeah. You know that part already. She then hauled me into the forest and tried to download the data directly, explaining what I was in the meantime. I, um, might have had a small breakdown. I'm not really sure. Honestly, I don't remember a lot of it, but I do recall figuring out a few things and finding a 'present' left behind by my creator, Doctor Kyliona," I summarized, trying to be as objective about things as I could. She surprised me by giving a warm smile and nod, however. "I understand what hearing that would be like. You of course have my support if I can do anything. What was this present you speak of?" she inquired gently, voice softer than before. I exhaled quietly, not entirely liking this part. Still, it would be easier to simply show her rather than explain it. The scanners activated in my eyes and I saw her suddenly bathed in the familiar blue light I loved so much. Something about the shade relaxed me. Honestly, it was probably the only part of all this that I liked. She looked momentarily surprised, but I kept going. My right foreleg shifted rapidly into heavy plate armor, twitching lightly as I felt the corded muscles shift through it and the claws form off the front of the hoof. The armor went up half of my face before I stopped it, feeling the right side of my head become heavier than the left as the chitin covered it. I only summoned two tentacles this time, elegantly sliding them off my back with no rush or speed. They fully formed this time, that unpleasant smell being absent as the mouths on the end of each opened and closed, tongues tasting the air. I noticed a moment later that I could actually smell through them. Celestia observed the changes calmly now, finally smiling and nodding again as I exhaled and relaxed inside the armor. The strength in this form was overwhelming, but disgusting at the same time. Blankly, I stared down at my now clawed hoof. Every time I saw this, whether in real life or in my mind, it served to make me remember how exactly not a pony I was. "The description my sister gave me was quite accurate, I see. I didn't know you could change only a part of you, but I thank you for not disrupting my work on your left foreleg," she added, smirking afterwards. I watched her carefully for a moment before finally chuckling. She wasn't nervous in the least. Since my eyes shifted, I'd only noticed her heartbeat spike once when I initially started the process. She wasn't afraid of me. Honestly, that was rather refreshing after the reaction I'd gotten from Dash. Deciding not to mention that, I popped my now greatly extended tongue out of my mouth and wrapped it around the remaining piece of apple. It deftly pulled it into my mouth and I swallowed it whole in an instant. My mood had soured their taste anyway, but I still should thank AJ the next time I saw her. "My, that's convenient! I wouldn't let Twilight or Fluttershy see that, though," she warned, looking mildly impressed. Huh? "Eh? Why? Is it that freaky looking?" I inquired, raising and eyebrow on my non-armored side towards her. She smirked. Uh oh. I knew that face. I'd walked into a... "Of course not. They might get ideas," she corrected, nodding twice to me with an amused expression. ... Trap. My cheeks flared up with heat again and I coughed, looking away from her. "I don't think that in particular will come up for a while. Our relationships haven't progressed to that point," I excused. I almost added 'yet' onto the end, but thought better of it at the last second. A light chill drifted into my chest. No, it might never progress to that point. I was going to show them this before that, and there was no guarantee that I'd have a relationship with either of them beyond that point. "Mender, I already warned you. Don't underestimate them. Anyway, do continue. I'm assuming you fought her after that?" she asked, changing the topic with surgical precision. Sighing, I nodded weakly. "It wasn't really her there. Her body was a doll she essentially controlled from my old dimension with her mind. It got violent fast and there were a few close calls, but I won. Your sister should have the rest," I finished, hoping that would sate her curiosity. I didn't particularly want to delve into what I became to win that fight, and honestly hoped she'd accept that. The hunger was still imbedded in my mind. Hatred. I had wanted her to suffer and die, just like she did to me. I saw her as prey, and pursued her until I crushed her skull under my hoof. I shivered before I could pull myself back and rapidly closed my eyes. Celestia waited patiently for me to re-open them before giving me a soft smile. "Relax Mender. That's all I wanted about what happened. Take a deep breath. There are only four more questions I wanted to ask," she revealed. That surprised me as well. Four questions and she had all the information she wanted? They must be seriously detailed questions! "After I finish asking them, you can ask anything you want. It's only fair that I answer all of your questions, too," she added after watching me shift my attention back to her. My eyes widened. I figured this was an interrogation all along, but so far, she had treated it like a social visit. And now she was going to let me ask things in return? Her pouting reaction further knocked me off balance. "That expression! I'm not cruel or heartless, Mender. I'm hurt that you think so!" she exclaimed softly, partially looking away from me. My tentacles and right foreleg flailed for a moment. "N-No! I didn't mean to imply that. You're just a busy mare, er, Princess, and..." I started to correct rapidly, trying not to offend. She burst into laughter, of course, leaving me feeling like an idiot a second later. "No need to be so formal, Mender. I'm just Tia, remember? Sometimes you're just too fun to tease," she revealed, smiling at me again. A certain softness danced in her eyes, however, and I realized she meant that first part. Maybe a part of her really did enjoy being treated like normal. Was it as refreshing to her as somepony not being afraid of me? I nodded and smiled lightly. "I know. You introduced yourself as that, and now I have trouble thinking of you as anything but," I agreed, sticking my tongue out at her playfully. Her smile shifted to a full on grin and she nodded, relaxing in her posture a little. "I'm glad, Mender. Contrary to popular belief, I don't have many close friends. It's relaxing to just talk normally and casually. My next question is purely academic, however. I'm curious as to what exactly you are, technically speaking. It matters very little, but I would still like to know," she requested, choosing her words carefully. It wasn't as offensive a question as she thought, however. I'd only asked myself the same thing a few hundred times over the past forty-eight hours. "You mean physically? I'm an organic computer that's taken on the form of a pony. My mind originally was that of a clone, but now I'm not so sure. Doctor Kyliona did a lot of splicing and tampering with my DNA specifically, by the looks of my project files. As far as I can tell, my personality was an accident, however. I was supposed to have preset information when I landed here but for some reason, that didn't happen," I started, frowning a moment afterwards. That was a true mystery, honestly. I'd seen the files in between getting my flank handed to me at solitaire. Everything should have worked perfectly fine. "You're not an accident, Mender. But I think you know that already. Please continue, however," Tia corrected a moment after I hesitated. I glanced up at her, only to be met with an inarguably stern expression that denied me all capability to refute her viewpoint. I swallowed and nodded carefully, suddenly feeling a little uneasy. "Well, I'm a scout, essentially. Or at least I was. Something happened and an extremely advanced weapon of mass destruction found its way into my core systems. It went off when I was activated at some point, and I killed a good percent of my old race before landing in Equestria and losing all of my memories. That's all I know," I finalized, deciding not to hide anything from her. Her frown was noticeable at that point, but she finally shook her head. "I assume you are in full control of this weapon, right? What does it do?" she inquired. I had a sneaking suspicion that question was in addition to the ones she already had planned. "I'm in full control of it and I already encrypted and sealed away the root access to it. I never intended to activate it, ever. It's a weapon of mass destruction, O-Class. Essentially the only one to exist, ever. Its purpose is to end all life on a Universal scale, minus the specific planets programmed into its blacklist," I explained. Even saying it left a bad taste in my mouth, I noticed. Omega class weapons were supposed to be purely theoretical, and for a very good reason, in my opinion. Celestia stared at me, not saying anything for a long moment. I couldn't even begin to read her absolutely blank expression, so I simply waited, idly wondering if she was going to erase me at this point. Eventually, however, she closed her eyes and smiled. I tilted my head, but she shook hers minutely to interject. "You've spoken the absolute truth, and I thank you for that. I believe you, of course. This eliminates one of my original questions as well," she explained, opening her eyes again and fully smiling. "Oh?" I asked curiously, unsure of what to make of the whole conversation at this point. She was both making me relax, and scaring the crap out of me at the same time somehow. She was very understanding, but at the same time, absolutely nothing fazed her in the slightest. She was capable of both rapid fire, emotionless calculation, and compassionate empathy. The scary part was how close she could squeeze those two together. Momentarily, her eyes pulled me in and she felt like an abyss of time, both ancient and absolute. "Indeed. My next question had been not 'what' you are, but 'who' you are instead. But I already see that you are the same Moon Mender I talked to before. You're shaken and unsure of yourself, but you are still you. I'm glad you haven't let it change you," she explained, pausing to snicker at my incredulous expression. "I'm not so sure about that. I know you said I wasn't an accident but, well, there was a lot that night to make me doubt." I wasn't even sure how to explain it, honestly. How was I to expect somepony else to understand when I didn't even understand it myself? "Everypony has darkness to them, Mender. My sister fully saw yours that night, and she still speaks kindly and encouragingly of you. Consider that instead, if you will. I trust her implicitly," the Sun Princess informed, watching me curiously. I looked down for a moment, conflicted. I'd obviously not spoken with Luna since that night, but I remembered a lot of what she said. I hadn't really considered the fact that she watched me kill Nirru. Hell, she was probably watching before that. But she still spent three hours chasing after me and finally talked to me openly and honestly. I hadn't fully realized the implications of that before. Luna didn't think I was a monster? She had... My eyes widened a little. She had asked to be my friend literally that night. But why? Celestia smiled, and I knew she had guessed what I just thought. "My sister knows what it's like to lose control of yourself and to become a 'monster', Mender. She's not a monster, of course. She's my sister and I love her dearly. A lot of ponies saw her as a monster, however, regardless of what she actually was. I believe she sees the kinship in you, realizing that in some ways, you're very much alike. Her intentions are purely honest, I know you realize," Celestia confirmed, flexing her left wing idly while talking. It took me a moment to realize she didn't have any of her jewelry on. She was just a normal looking pony, really. Albeit with both wings and a horn, not to mention an awesome mane, but she still looked rather normal without all her 'regal' accessories. "I realized that she knew how I felt when we talked that night. I'm just worried about, well, the Elements," I admitted slowly. She laughed, a light and amused sound that drifted lazily through the air. "They're the Elements of Harmony for a reason. They're not perfect, but they learn very quickly and I believe you've taught a few of them some valuable lessons. I'd hoped they'd grow by meeting you, and I was right. May I ask you to trust in them like I do, and eventually reveal yourself?" she requested, smiling politely now. I hesitated, but sighed. There was a lot I was unsure about when dealing with them, especially Loyalty, Honesty, and Magic... Still, she must have a reason for asking me to trust them. I sighed again and nodded, resigning myself to the choice. They deserved as much regardless. "Thank you, Mender. I'll be there to support you whenever you wish it, of course. May I ask my last two questions?" she reminded, tilting her head in mirror of my gesture earlier. I smiled inwardly and nodded, realizing that despite everything, Celestia was still capable of acting rather cute, in a whimsical sort of way. "Ah! Good. The last question involving the incident is if you've heard from Keela since," she inquired a moment later. Oh, well that one was easy. Still, I guess I could see why she'd want to know. "No, I haven't. There hasn't even been a stirring on the connection. If I had to guess, I'd say she was intentionally avoiding me," I reasoned, taking my best guess. Celestia smiled and nodded along as I explained. "It would make sense. I imagine Keela's going through a lot as well, her having enabled her sister to do all of those terrible things in the first place. Guilt, I imagine, is being rather rough on her," she deduced, frowning lightly before nodding to herself about something. She was probably right. I didn't directly blame Keela, of course. Sure, I wished she'd been a bit more cautious or kept her sister on a leash, but hindsight is always perfect, I reminded myself. I doubt she'd seen what her sister was truly capable of before this. "I still have the personal link to Keela inside of me. She gave me a way to get in contact with her. If she hasn't spoken to me by the time I'm released from the hospital, I'll try contacting her," I offered, also revealing the connection. Celestia seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding in agreement. "I would like to meet with this individual as well. Perhaps you can set up a way for us to communicate later once you've recovered," she suggested, adding extra emphasis to 'recovered' by a burst of energy added to the spell. I hummed lightly, feeling it massage into my leg muscles and relax them as she repaired things. She really was good at healing magic. This was far better than the practical magic the nurses had used on me when I was a captain! Err, well, when he was a captain. I reminded myself that they technically weren't my memories. "Regardless, my last question is merely for personal interest. What do you plan on doing now?" she inquired, shifting back to smiling politely at me. I stared blankly back, somewhat unsure of what she meant by that. "Err, what do you mean? Like, once I get out of the hospital?" Surely she didn't mean right this instant. That would just be silly, right? I tried my best to curb my conclusion jumping, however. Could I offend her by guessing the incorrect thing? She smiled and gave a single nod, however, assuring me that I had the right idea. I exhaled softly and shook my head. "I'm not entirely sure. Once I can break the link to my old world forever, I'd feel a lot better. Then I'd probably like to try and get some form of independence. Maybe start a repair or invention service of some sort? I could think of a lot of ways my magic could help improve ponies' lives," I elaborated, this sadly being the first time I'd really considered it as specifically as this. Nopony had ever asked me what I really wanted to do, now that I thought about it. She looked honestly surprised by my answer, however. I tilted my head, wondering what she had expected me to say, when she suddenly started giggling in amusement. My bewildered look must have been even funnier because as soon as she looked up and saw me watching her, she started outright laughing. My ears flattened back and I sighed, deciding once again that females were confusing. "I'm impressed. I hadn't expected you to even consider long term things. Plus, you didn't even consider alternatives like leaving Equestria or returning to your old dimension," she finally explained after recovering from her small fit of amusement. My ears drooped completely as I felt my eyes widen. "No! I'd, um, very much like to stay in Equestria if you'll have me. Please... Please don't make me go back there," I requested, a spike of fear shooting through me. After everything I had found here and one shot at being able to live in a place I felt like I really belonged to, I desperately didn't want to go back to that nightmare from before. Celestia sobered immediately, giving a faint and assuring shake of her head as I let out a shiver again. "Mender, I'm not ever going to force you to go back there. I've seen who you are and would gladly let you live here forever. I'm happy you want to stay here and hadn't even considered leaving. I say this because after what you've experienced, and after figuring out the truth behind yourself, most probably wouldn't be able to decide what they wanted to do," she assured, watching with a warm demeanor as I exhaled quietly. The truth behind myself, huh? That was a polite way of saying it. "I love it here. It's paradise and I don't ever want to leave. If you'll have, well, something like me here, I'd be eternally grateful," I murmured softly, lowering my eyes away from her. Being in her presence made me feel rather self-conscious. My focus snapped back to attention instantly as I saw the white glow shift closer. I looked up just in time to see Celestia stand and walk over to me. My body went into alert, unsure of what her intentions were until she gave me a gentle hug. I went rigid, having no idea in the least as to what was going on. "You're hurt, Mender. I know you're confused and unsure of what you really are. I'm not from your world so I can't answer that for you. But there are two things I can point out to you that are very, undeniably real," she spoke, leaning her head back to look at me as I swallowed nervously. Real? What did she mean? She smiled at my confused expression and extended her left forehoof over my blankets, touching down on the area directly over my flank a moment later. The momentary burst of embarrassment was washed away entirely as my Cutie Mark flared up with light, easily radiating through the blankets as a warm sensation danced through my chest. What was that?! "This is one thing I can assure you of. Only ponies get Cutie Marks. To be specific, only ponies belonging to Equestria get them. You are of this world, Mender. Even if you didn't start here," she continued quietly. I couldn't take my eyes off the soft blue light burning off my flank. It was beautiful; a cascade of slightly varying hues drifting along the gear, with the heart in the center of it all flaring the brightest. "Secondly, you dream. Not only dream, however, but my dear sister may visit you while you do so. She assured me of this when you first came here." My ears perked as I looked back to Celestia as she revealed that newest tidbit. Its relevance wasn't immediately known to me, but I suddenly realized she was being open with me regardless. She was outright telling me things instead of hiding anything. That alone was enough to make me feel a little better about the situation. "Um, if I can ask, what does that mean?" I questioned, assuming as I guessed she thought I would, given that she smiled immediately afterwards. "It means, combined with your Cutie Mark, your heart and mind are that of a pony. I tell you this hoping to give you some form of peace. No matter where you started or what extra parts you might have inside of you, you are still a pony accepted by and belonging to this world. You are always welcome here," she explained. That was... There was nothing I could possibly think of to say to that. I stared at her blankly, keenly aware that my mouth was partially open and not really caring. Things added? Extra parts? But I wasn't... I closed my mouth finally, letting myself relax lightly against the wing she still used to gently prop me up against her shoulder. She had accepted me regardless. Was it really just as easy as that? I knew deep down that I would rather die than hurt any of these amazing ponies, but she didn't know that. Right? Her eyes continued to capture mine, the weight of experience and time behind them almost as if staring into an abyss. No, maybe I was wrong. Maybe she could tell what I was feeling after all, somehow. It was so weird. She had never entered this room as a Princess, really. She felt more like a friend than ever. Maybe that's what she wanted, too? "You were right, back at that cafe," I finally spoke, exhaling and sitting upright of my own volition. Her eyes softened but she still inquired, "Oh?" I nodded once before continuing, "You were right. Even if I did have a reason for being sent here originally, that's gone now. I want to make my own reason for being here, I think. I just don't know how." Celestia considered it for a moment in silence. Feeling relaxed now, I simply watched her, wondering if the tentacles against her wing felt strange or not. She didn't seem to mind in the least. They weren't slimy or anything, however, so I didn't think there'd be any long-lasting detrimental effects of her doing so. "Honestly, your idea of inventing things feels like a good step in the right direction. Twilight and the other Element Bearers will undoubtedly have other ideas, too, and probably help out," she pointed out as her wing lowered away from me, seemingly relaxing as well. I frowned, but nodded. I'd figured she'd mention the Elements. She smirked before I could say anything, however, and tossed on, "I know you're unsure of them, but they're good mares. They know who you are for certain now; all of them do, I believe. Even if you openly reveal the extra parts inside of you, that's not going to change anything." I sighed, honestly not liking that she guessed exactly what I had been considering. In defiance, I returned, "Actually, I was worried about owing them even more. If they were more akin to loan sharks, my spleen would probably be on the Black Market already." That was a fun word to say, now that I thought about it. I kept my face as deathly serious as I could muster, of course. Celestia shifted to a blank expression for a moment until I smirked. A heartbeat passed and she smirked back before bursting into laughter again. I couldn't help but join a few seconds later. "Ho! You got me there, Mender! Heh. Still, I have a sneaking suspicion they're going to consider that debt thing you have stuck in your head a little reversed now," she warned, causing me to wince mid-laugh. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. She of course laughed harder. Ah, so it was paybacks, was it? "When it comes down to it, you're kind of a brat," I pointed out, averting my gaze away from her and coughing lightly. If anything, she took it amazingly well, giving me an exaggerated wink. "Okay, I do have to confess that it's extremely relaxing to just talk with you. Plus you're so fun to tease!" she admitted, eyes widening afterwards a moment later. I gave her a deadpan stare, which only seemed to fuel her amusement. "Oh, relax! You're adorable when you get embarrassed and blush. I doubt I'm the only one to notice, too. Hasn't anypony else expressed an, say, interest in making you blush?" she pointed out, nudging towards me with her right forehoof. I frowned, mind instantly shifting back to Lily, Rose, and Daisy. Well, that explained that, more than likely. "Ah, yeah. You're probably right," I groaned, feeling a little silly now. It made more sense that they were just teasing me, rather than genuinely interested. She nodded in agreement before standing up again and stretching. I watched her elegantly fold her wings back up onto her sides before glancing towards the window again. "Alas, my morning duties are unfortunately approaching quickly. Time waits for nopony. I know I promised to answer any of your questions, but do you mind holding off on that until tomorrow night? I shall return then and visit again," she offered politely, looking away from the slowly brightening day outside and back at me, a warm smile on her face. She'd already helped me a lot, so that was beyond reasonable. I nodded and snickered lightly, adding, "That's no problem at all, Tia. You've helped me a lot, and given me quite a bit to think about. Thank you for being my friend." Princess Celestia seemed genuinely happy with my answer, her impossibly deep eyes softening as her smile grew. She nodded again and shifted her attention towards the window once more, it sliding open softly with her meekest attention. "Then I shall take my leave for now. I'm happy that you've decided to stay, and pleased that you still consider me a friend. I'll be back upon my sister raising her night, and shall gladly answer anything you desire then," she promised, giving me one more smile before hopping through the window, ducking and dashing off into the air again. I watched her spell slowly fire off, and gently lower the window closed again before locking it and sliding the blinds shut. My room dimmed as the curtains finished closing. I felt considerably more relaxed than I had been when I woke up, and lowered myself backwards onto my pillows again. Accepted by Equestria as a pony, huh? My hoof brushed along the now normal Cutie Mark on my right side, and I smiled gently. The armor and tentacles drew themselves back inside of me as I relaxed, turning off my eye sensors again. Maybe the little marks weren't so annoying after all? I let myself gently drift back to sleep, smiling this time. Author's Note An extra three pages added, for your reading pleasure!
Chapter 31I drifted in and out, a pleasant, warm sensation filling me. Nothing in the way of dreams, good or bad, bothered me after Celestia had left. That was perfectly all right with me. Eventually, I gently awoke, a light tingling sensation throughout me, as if static electricity had built up. The dim light shining through the window indicated that it was probably mid-morning. I shifted my eyes around and frowned lightly. They finally landed upon my left leg. I'd fallen asleep last night before I'd gotten a chance to look at it. Now that I could see it in the light as well, I noticed that the Sun Princess had done a very nice job of repairing it. The skin was a healthy color again and the entire leg appeared to be in the proper shape now with muscles under the surface yet again. It was still roughly half the size of what it should be, but at least somepony wouldn't get the urge to throw up upon seeing it. The tingling hit again, with accompanied static sensations in my head this time. Oh. Oh crap. I sat up and looked around, not immediately noticing anything out of place. My barriers shifted into place around me, pool of magic going into high alert as I got ready to shift form if need be. Could they get through the barrier after all? Was it just communication, or was something coming through this time? A half a minute came and went, leaving me a mixture of confused and mildly disappointed. False alarm, maybe? No. I could never be that lucky. I was about to hit the nurse's call button when motion caught my eye to the left. My attention snapped that direction, barriers rotating into place to guard me as I observed a rainbow-like prism expanding out of midair as if a butterfly opening its wings. It danced momentarily, twisting in upon itself and wobbling onto my bedside table before expanding a little ways. Slipstream! But that was far too small for a pony or Keldarian to fit through. A needle-like extension slid out of it a moment later, gently pushing through the dimensional barrier and compressing into a solid form for my eyes to lock onto. I frowned as it flared out at one end and then, much to my surprise, took the shape and coloration of a single, white tulip. It popped out of the Slipstream effect with its barrier rapidly disintegrating, steam coming off it as the super-cooled shield met the much warmer air. A flower? A thin note followed a moment later, sliding under the flower as both landed gently on my bedside table, conveniently next to the tray of food I had finished last night. Well, then. She was a hell of a lot more accurate than she had told me the last we talked about it. A sliver of bitterness slipped through me as I realized she had probably lied to me about that, too. The prismatic effect condensed upon itself, and I sighed. She'd activated a Slipstream effect just to give me a message and a flower? That seemed like kind of a waste of energy to me, when she could just speak into my mind. My ears perked half a second later, however, as I heard commotion down the hall. Uh oh. I didn't get a chance to fully process what was going on, however. The prismatic bubble twisted in upon itself and shot sideways in an instant. My shields flared up as I braced for any sort of impact, but none came. Instead, it flickered like a firefly over onto my blankets, settling a half-meter in front of me where my back hooves were under the covers. My eyes widened as it grew significantly larger, to roughly the size of a bowling ball, before radiating outwards and popping. The effect was gone instantly, having used up the last of its energy to do whatever it just did. A weight hit my rear legs, however, as the energy cleared in a puff of steam. My already wide eyes expanded further as the steam cleared. No. No way. I ignored the rapid hoofsteps rushing down the hallway towards my room. There it was. Sitting there, lightly cooling my hooves through the blanket was a small, blue book. No, it was 'the' book. I stared at it in shock as the key slowly slide off the cover of it and landed next to it on my bed. She actually gave it to me?! With my senses dulled, I only barely looked up as my door slammed open. Shining Armor himself almost broke it off its hinges as he stumbled in, horn flaring with magic. Oh! He sensed that. "Mender! Are you okay?!" he asked instantly, vigilant eyes scanning the room rapidly as a few flares came off his horn. I found my entire bed encased in a barrier in an instant and the room's personal shield flared into life and almost doubled in thickness. "Ah, um, yes!" I shot back, honestly startled by his rather impressive response time. Light blasting noises could be heard coming down the hallway rapidly at the same time, each sounding vaguely like a blast of air, and was accompanied by a light flash. Twilight appeared in the room an instant later before flickering out of existence again. She appeared inside of the bubble on the bed instead and crouched down against me, horn also flaring up. "What's going on, Mender?!" she asked, sounding significantly more confused than her brother seemed. Slowly, my heart stilled its furious beating and I relaxed, exhaling softly. "I got a delivery, it would seem," I finally spoke up, figuring it would be wise to calm them both down rapidly. Shining Armor's attention shot back to me in an instant, and both he and his sister followed my hoof gesture to the flower and note on the table. Twilight's eyes widened first and she peeked over to get a better look at it. "A note and flower? Oh, Keela?" she asked abruptly, horn lighting up as the note lifted into the air. "No, Twily! I'll get it," Shining Armor interrupted, pulling the note out of her telekinetic grasp and slamming it to the floor an instant later. My ears drooped as I watched him rapidly start to scan it with waves of magic, horn glowing furiously. Twilight smiled and nodded, apparently content with his thorough precautions as she shuffled closer to me. I turned and looked at her, earning a pleased smile instead. "All right. It's clear," he finally announced a moment later, relaxing visibly and standing up straight again. I almost didn't have the heart to show him the full sized book that was already inside the inner shield. "What's it say?" I inquired, suddenly enjoying the sensation of Twilight's fur against my own. Beyond the minor scare, this was starting to become a pretty good day. I kept my thoughts in careful check, however, just in case I jinxed myself by thinking that too strongly. He gave me a skeptical glance before levitating the slightly dirtier note up and through the barrier towards me. "Reading somepony else's correspondence would be rude," he corrected, smirking at me. I raised an eyebrow, suddenly seeing a bit of family resemblance as I accepted the paper from him. A cursory glance told me that it was a card and opened up. "Eh, what's this?" Twilight asked, suddenly noticing the book immediately to her right. I ignored her as I flipped the card over. "I'm Sorry," was printed on the front side, in elegant writing. Ah. It was going to be like that, then. I flicked it open with my left foreleg a moment later. "I know you probably don't believe me, but I didn't mean for any of this. I'll understand if you just cut the link. You have your book now, so the link between our dimensions is only being held by our connection. Removing it will cause the dimensions to drift apart in a week or two, forever separating us. I'm so very sorry for everything. I'd love to talk to you at least once more and await either a tug, or to feel the link fade away. Signed, Keela," was written in the letter. Twilight had noticed my lack of reply and shifted her attention to reading along with me. "She sounds really sad," she muttered a moment after I lifted my head up again. "She also sent a white tulip. Traditionally, that flower in particular means 'a sincere apology', if I remember correctly," Shining Armor added, lifting the flower up gently with his magic. I resisted rolling my eyes as he scanned it a couple times. Well, at least he was dedicated. "Shiny is really smart! And he protected my coltfriend!" Twilight complimented, snickering as she squeezed me gently. I blushed, predictably, which only caused her Cheshire grin to widen further. Okay, yeah. She was doing it on purpose. Her brother snorted and rolled his eyes. "You don't have to act cute, Twily. Mender's a good stallion, too. I'm not guarding him just because he's your coltfriend or Aunt Celestia asked me to. Although both of those are also good reasons," he informed, looking mildly amused as Twilight squeezed me. "What are you two doing here so early, anyway?" I asked, noticing Clocky telling me that it was barely oh nine hundred hours. Celestia's Sun had only been up a couple hours! Twilight shook her head before lightly letting me go again and sitting down next to me on her haunches. I took her momentary distraction to reach down and pull the book to me while I had the chance. She looked curious, but answered first with, "The construction team is reinforcing the balcony today and needed the lower floor cleared again, so I didn't open the library. Instead, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to visit my friends and coltfriend! I've already spent an hour with Pinkie." "I came here after finishing my rounds and observing the shield. Then I met Twily in the lobby and we got talking," Shining added, gesturing softly towards his sister with a hoof. She grinned and chimed in with, "It's nice to have you in Ponyville. I miss hanging out with you all the time." The shift away from me in the conversation left me distracted as I felt the tingling sensation coming off the book through my forelegs and chest. It practically radiated power! Feeling out into it, I was surprised when there was no resistance in the slightest. It knew me, I realized. Not only that, but I could feel the incredibly strong connection to it far clearer than in my dreams. A whisper resounded through my head, simply speaking, "Prudentia." It wasn't a word so much as a symbolic essence. It was the book, I realized. Its name was Prudentia. I acknowledged that, and more words drifted lazily into my mind, no longer whispered but simply deciding to float there. Focusing, I pulled them into conscious recognition a moment later. "You have her now. Please, take good care of my Prudentia. Our Prudentia. She is now yours." It was gone an instant later. Frowning, I realized there was nothing else. What was that? I stared at the book, the faded blue of the cover meshing well with the golden binding cuffs and lock. It looked so old, but I knew it was almost indestructible. It must have been old when it first became an Aegis Artifact. When my old self turned it into an Aegis Artifact? He had somehow used a technique that hadn't required his death, as well. "... Mender? Are you okay?" Twilight asked suddenly, snapping me back to attention with the mention of my name. "Huh? What was that?" I asked rapidly, giving a start as I squeezed the book a little tighter. Twilight frowned, giving me a skeptical yet disbelieving glance. Shining Armor was locked onto the book instead, however, his eyes rapidly expanding. "Holy horseapples! What is that?! Sis, do you pick up the same readings I do on that book?" he asked a moment later. Aww crap. Twilight's horn lit up almost instantly as she looked back down at the book I was holding and now trying to shield from her. Her eyes widened dramatically, exactly like those of her sibling. "The energy in that book is ridiculous! Mender, what is that thing?" she asked, slightly less startled sounding, but with hinting of concern instead. "This is the book I told you about; Prudentia. She sent it to me. With this here, the only link left to my old dimension is her," I revealed, hoping to head off any paranoid assaults on the book. Of course, I doubted Twilight would do something like that without provocation at this point. She'd been amazingly level-headed for the past couple days and I found myself relaxing easier around her. Maybe I was just trusting her more now? "What is it?" Shining Armor asked, cautiously shifting closer before sitting down next to the bed and staring at the object as if it violated his principles. He definitely looked more wary than Twilight did. I suddenly felt a little uneasy, but answered regardless. "It's what my old race called an Aegis Artifact. The males weren't given the specifics of what one is, but from what I've grasped so far, it appears to be a magical item created by using the unique properties of our Aegis Barrier, our FTL technology called Slipstream, and the life force or will of a Keldarian. This is the Aegis Artifact belonging to..." I started to explain before trailing off. I'd almost said the soldier I had been 'cloned' from. My eyes softened and I stared at the book again. Twilight gently squeezed my right shoulder with both forehooves, frowning towards me. "Are you okay, Mender?" she asked softly, sounding worried. I looked over at her, searching her eyes as she looked back. The lavender mare had changed quite a bit. She seemed like she'd added me to her list of determinations, honestly. It felt like she was prioritizing me, which was an amazing feeling, I admitted. "Yeah. I just remembered something Nirru said to me, is all. Anyway, this book belonged to my old self. Now I have a link to it instead," I finished, looking away from her a little. Yeah, it was worth the risk. I wasn't ever going to trust her if I didn't take the first step. Being honest was important, but the entire truth would have to wait until she was alone. I made the conscious decision then and there that Twilight was going to be the first to find out about what I really was. Not only was she most likely to accept and justify it, but I also had a feeling she'd appreciate being the first to know. Maybe I could extend it as a pseudo olive branch of sorts to start repairing our relationship? "What did she tell you? Was there anything important in regards to her plans or Equestria?" Shining Armor asked almost an instant later, startling me with the sudden question as I looked back towards him. "Brother! Give Mender time to rest. I know you can keep this barrier up for weeks at a time, so a day or two more isn't going to hurt you," Twilight headed off, glaring past me at her brother. To his credit, he looked extremely surprised for a moment, then apologetic towards me. "Ah, yeah. You're right of course, Twily. I just want to know if there's any more risk I should specifically keep my eyes peeled for," he explained, nodding towards her. Frowning, I nodded as well. I could understand the feeling. "As far as I know, Nirru was captured by the Keldarians after her body was destroyed here. I assume she's still being held captive. Further, she couldn't operate Keela's machinery alone, so it's fairly safe to say her threat is massively reduced," I deduced out loud a moment later, looking back over at Shining Armor. He gave me a blank look for a moment before smiling finally and nodding. "That's a definite plus. I guess talking to Keela would be recommended, then," he suggested, looking over at the flower he'd set down on the bedside stand again. I shook my head slowly. "Maybe later tonight. Although you should probably tell the guards to keep a look out for any prismatic glows or lights, especially in the shape of wings. That's what our FTL effect looks like," I warned. "FTL?" he questioned, tilting his head slightly in my direction. Oh, oh yeah. Their culture probably wasn't as big into acronyms as ours seemed to be. "Faster than light. It's a theoretical form of speed that's apparently been breached by their culture. From what I've picked up, that's how they send things to Equestria," Twilight cut in instead. Whoa. Her observations were scarily accurate. Her brother nodded promptly at that, returning with, "Ah, so look for the effect because it means something might be coming through. I'll head to the temporary barracks we have set up right now and spread the word." Whoa. I felt both honored and significantly awkward that he was taking me on my word and description, just like that. I wondered what I had done to earn his trust so readily! "That's an excellent idea. The more information we have to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, the better. I'm going to stay here with Mender. That's why I came here in the first place," Twilight excused, smiling over at her brother as he headed towards the door. He smirked back over his shoulder momentarily, warning, "I'd better not walk in on anything hanky panky when I get back, you two." Er, what? Twilight's blush flared up again and she glared back at him, however, so I assumed it was something either inappropriate or naughty. "Watch it, Shiny! I'll tell Cadence on you if you keep misbehaving," Twilight shot back, a smirk growing on her face. His wife? Yikes! As I figured, his eyes widened and he rapidly propelled himself out of the room at a decent trot, earning a giggle from my fillyfriend. "What's hanky panky mean?" I asked after a couple seconds, making sure he was out of earshot. Her eyes widened and the color in her cheeks flared up again, but she smiled back at me a moment later instead. "Oh yeah, cultural phrases that you're not used to yet. I keep forgetting. Hanky panky is doing something naughty that generally is done only when a couple is alone. Like if he walked in on us making out," she elaborated, smirking towards the end as my blush joined hers. "Um, oh," I managed to mutter, totally unsure of what I was supposed to say in this kind of situation. She surprised me, however, by shaking her head and lying down next to me instead. "I'm happy to explain things to you, Silly. I'm really going to try to turn over a new leaf! No more letting stupid ideas get the better of me," she promised, looking momentarily determined before I pecked her on the cheek again, causing it to fall apart. "I'll try not to jump to conclusions and trust you as well. If there's anything wrong though, just talk to me about it," I requested quietly, smiling at her. Maybe, just maybe this would work out. Twilight nodded, looking extremely pleased with the direction this was taking. A moment later, however, her eyes shifted downwards to the book I held in my forelegs again. I knew she'd have more questions about the book, of course. "I'm curious now. Would you mind explaining the properties of an Aegis Artifact or Barrier to me?" she inquired after a moment's hesitation. Heh, now she was curious? I bit my tongue, however. "If you go over the 'Principles of Enchantment' with me?" I offered, gesturing towards the top book she'd left me yesterday. I wasn't quite expecting her eyes to light up and widen in sudden surprise. "You really want to go over a book with me?" she asked, sounding shocked. I hesitated, unsure of what to make of the reaction, but I bravely nodded, regardless. Trust, Mender! Her confusion shifted instantly to a considerable smile as she hopped up, dancing back and forth on her hooves excitedly. I moved my right foreleg out of the way so it didn't get stepped on, almost immediately. "Yes, yes, yes! Of course I'll go over the book with you! I mean, I occasionally read alongside Rainbow, but those are all adventure novels and such. I've never gotten the opportunity to help somepony with actual academics!" she squealed, eyes now sparkling as she grinned down at me. Nervously, I backed away a little from her rather spastic exuberance. She tilted her head questioningly, so I informed, "Uh, sorry. I just don't want to get stepped on. I'm a little more squishy than normal at the moment." She giggled and nodded, calming down immediately before gently levitating the book over, apparently having forgotten all about the Aegis Barrier discussion. Not that I minded, because not only was she adorable when happy, I felt a certain warmth stir inside of me as I watched her. The cute giggle only served to send more sparks through me. After the hours of cold numbness, I clung to the feeling as best I could. "Of course, Mender. I'm just excited! I'm kinda surprised you didn't call me on the dancing, though," she muttered, laying back down slowly with a sudden blush evident on her face. I was a little confused, but waiting for her to set the book down on the bed before asking, "What about the dancing? It was cute to watch." She looked up at me for a moment before the blush brightened and her eyes widened a bit. "Wow. You're being honest, aren't you? You didn't think it looked silly? I know I can behave a little, uh, immature when I get excited. I just get so much energy inside me sometimes that I can't help but go on and on and I feel like I'm so silly looking sometimes when ponies stop and-" she resumed explaining, finally letting me in on what she was talking about. Snickering, I ducked forward and snatched up her lips with mine while she continued, shutting her up instantly and causing her eyes to bolt open to maximum size. I closed mine and momentarily pressed against her mouth tenderly, feeling her give a gentle sigh and pushed back a little. Not wanting to distract her, I broke off a moment later and smiled softly at her, giving a nod. "Shush. You're adorable and I don't mind you acting like that in the least, Twi," I corrected, watching her blush expand over most of her cheeks. She fidgeted a moment with her front legs before smiling up at me shyly and nodding. Her eyes were soft, however, and only partially open, giving a warm feeling that radiated from her almost. The emotion she displayed was new to me, however, and I couldn't quite place it. She looked very happy, though, so I was more than content with the shift in demeanor. "Um, thank you, Mender. I'm really, really glad you're giving me another chance," she finally spoke up. I nodded as she shifted closer and pulled the book into her lap, leaning against my pillows as she pushed into my right side. Smiling, I rested my head on her left shoulder as she opened up the book and propped it so we could both see. "We'll start from the beginning then. I'll read it to you and explain anything you want," she offered, earning a pleased nod from myself. I made a mental note to remind her about her wanting to learn about the Aegis later. Having the clever and highly intelligent unicorn on board with the Aegis Artifact study would be a huge boon as well. "Works for me," I agreed in a whisper directly into her ear, causing her to shiver lightly. I gave a gentle kiss to the side of her head shortly afterwards, more as thanks than anything. A momentary hesitation drifted through me as I did so, and I wondered if it was right for me to lead her on like this before she knew about me. I didn't feel like a machine, but if she didn't want to be with me anymore because I was fake, I honestly couldn't bring myself to hate her. It was justified, really. My thoughts were disrupted by her kissing my shoulder in return before starting up her reading in a low, quiet voice. Damn. The warmth drifted through me and I managed to pull back a bit of water from my eyes. If she really did decide she didn't want to be with me anymore, it was definitely going to hurt. I couldn't decide if that made me more or less pathetic, as far as robots went. With a bit of a repositioning and snuggle, she started in on the prelude. * * * * * It progressed from there. Papers were strewn about the bed as we subtly shifted from an Equestrian enchanting tutorial to full blown experimentation on the reaction between our two types of magic. Well, Twilight was experimenting; I was simply providing the magic to test against as she took notes. That was fine, though. It actually gave me more information than what was in the book, anyway, with her telling me all of the results. "Are you sure it's okay to have it out like that?" Fluttershy asked timidly from her position to me left. She'd arrived about twenty minutes ago and was simply lying on top of the covers this time, having set her book down to watch me 'cast' with my left foreleg. Technically, I could form the symbol on any part of my body, but that would involve explaining awkward things that I didn't quite want to talk about yet. "The nurse said it was quite fine," I assured, smiling softly over at the mare. Twilight paused in her magical manipulations and gave me an extremely skeptical glance. "Actually, if I remember right, she said that your recovery rate was phenomenal. Healing shattered ribs to just a hairline fracture in less than three days is unheard of," Twilight corrected, eyes watching me carefully. I swallowed an uneasy lump but Fluttershy cut in before I could say anything, with, "Twilight, isn't that a good thing? You sound, um, upset. Are you okay?" Twilight's gaze didn't budge for a moment, but eventually she sighed and nodded, shifting her attention back to the shielded, floating food tray in front of her. "Yeah, I'm all right. If you need to talk about anything, though, you know you can trust us, Mender. Right?" she asked, eyes shifting back over to me while she still pointed forwards. I thought about it. Did I trust them? It wasn't really that I didn't. My reservations were in how huge it was, not that I thought they were untrustworthy. Frankly, I thought anypony would have issues with the knowledge I was hiding no matter how loyal and honest they were. I closed my eyes gently, calming the storm of indecisiveness in my heart. What a mess. Idly, I wondered if there was some way I could become a normal pony. I doubted it, however. Surely, Celestia would have mentioned something along those lines already, even if only to eliminate the risk a monster like me posed to her kingdom. A warm and gentle nuzzle pushed against my shoulder, and I smiled softly. Her smell told me it was Fluttershy without even needing to open my eyes. "Mender, please. Remember what we said yesterday. We're not going anywhere, even if something scary happens. Um, of course, unless you tell us to, that is. Uh, well, if that's okay. I'm not sure entirely what you want us to do. Sorry," Fluttershy murmured before dwindling into a quiet whisper as she lost certainty in herself. "I know, Fluttershy. I'm just doing a lot of thinking lately. I'll tell both of you soon, though. Probably once I'm out of the hospital," I guessed. Just in case I had to run away in blind panic from a unicorn either thinking I'm an abomination, or wanting to dissect me while I was still alive, I should probably wait until I was fully recovered. Both mares smiled softly at me, and Twilight gave a nod. "I expected you were just thinking too much, but if there's anything else, Mender, let us know. If we're going to be a herd, we need to look out for each other," she reminded softly, resting back against the pillow gently. A herd, huh? My eyes closed lightly. Would she really think the same way after she knew my secret? I couldn't really see a happy ending to this, regardless. She'd probably be mad at me for lying to her as well, of course. Fluttershy would also be even more traumatized around me than she already was, so even at the happiest outcome I was looking at a huge setback in both relationships. Maybe I should just back off after I tell them and let things settle for a while? That would give Fluttershy time to recover, and maybe even pursue Twilight independently for a bit. I had no doubt that I could survive by myself if I just wandered into the Everfree. Ironic, considering my initial impressions of the ponies, I now found myself an extremely universal omnivore, rocks and dirt probably amidst the list of things I could consume for mass, anyway. Of course, they were probably fairly low on the vitamin scale. For a while, I imagined myself idly wandering through the forest. In my natural form, I doubt I'd be harassed much by the local wildlife. I couldn't even manage to kill myself, so I doubt anything else could in there. Still, I should probably read up on some of the wildlife before venturing forth. My thoughts drifted, and I lost sync with the rest of the world as I let my mind wander. The door opening again snapped me back to reality as I sleepily opened my eyes. Shining Armor wandered back in, giving the mares a smile and me a curt nod before turning and shutting the door again. He seemed a little bit 'colder' than earlier, I noticed. "Hey, Shiny. You were gone a while," Twilight greeted, raising an eyebrow up at him as he sat down in front of the bed. My warning flags went off and I armed my weapon system just in case, watching him carefully as the stirring extended to the surface of my back. He sighed wearily and shook his head before explaining, "It's a nightmare. Cadence sent me correspondence while I was visiting the barracks relaying that the attack is being talked about all the way in the Crystal Empire. The citizens are worried about their safety, of course. She's doing her best to console them, but is worried that other cities are having the same problems." Ah, so a really bad day, then. I'd take that over being replaced by a homicidal alien assassin any day. Although, now that I thought about it, wouldn't that be classified as a 'really' bad day, then? "Oh no. Those poor ponies. Is there anything we can do to help?" Fluttershy asked almost instantly, sounding a little distraught. Shining Armor shook his head before looking back to me and relaying, "We need information on how secure we are, of course. Mender's pointers so far have been invaluable in tightening security, but Aunt Celestia has requested that we try to get a hold of Keela herself and ascertain if Nirru has been captured or not." "I'd like to be there, too, Mender. Is there any way you can connect all of us to her?" Twilight asked, shifting her attention back to me. I shuddered lightly, instantly imagining Celestia smashing her massive amounts of energy into my skull in attempts to connect, too, and comparatively decided that I'd rather fling myself into the sun. Not to mention, who knows what Twilight would discover while connected to me after everything that happened? Shining Armor interrupted before I could say anything, however. "I want to be there, too. It's my job to guard the Princesses. That includes my sister now, as well," he announced, stomping his hoof down lightly and frowning at me, as if it were my fault she hadn't included him. "Shiny, it's okay. Mender will sever the link if anything bad happens. Besides, Princess Celestia herself will be there," Twilight assured gently, nodding twice afterwards. To my surprise, his eyes narrowed a little instead, shifting down to the book in my lap a moment later. I knew he didn't like the thing, but was he seriously thinking I'd purposefully hurt Twilight after everything I told him?! "There's just a lot of weird things happening, and I don't like it. I'd like to bring that book to Princess Celestia and have her take a look at it instead, honestly," he added, confirming my suspicions, anyway. "You can if you want. I promise you that it's not dangerous. It's an extension of me as much as my left foreleg is," I assured, trying to be as open as I could. The last thing I wanted was for anypony to think badly of me. I'd have enough trouble once they found out what I was! "Mender! No, that's not needed. He says the book is safe, brother! There's no need to take it away from him. Just relax," the lavender mare next to me defended, much to my surprise. I really didn't have a problem with him taking it. I felt its capabilities now that it was this close. If I really needed it back, I doubt anything could stop it from returning. Honestly, it kind of scared me. I didn't need its powers in the first place. He frowned over at her instead. "Twily, what's gotten into you, lately? I heard about what you said to the Princess, too. You're her faithful student, remember?" he reminded, looking both worried and perplexed. "Of course I am, Shiny! I'm not doing anything to be disloyal, am I? I told her I wouldn't spy on my coltfriend anymore, and she agreed with me! Before all of this, I made the mistake of not trusting Mender, too. You saw what happened because of that. Everything he said turned out to be true, so I'm not going to doubt him ever again," she fired back, chaining together my surprised reactions into a rather vicious combo. What exactly had I done to change her mind in the first place? Surely it was more than her just finding out I wasn't 'completely' crazy. Fluttershy shifted closer to me after wincing at the initial reactions. "S-Stop it, everypony. Please? There's no need to get mad at each other. Um, if you don't mind, Mender, maybe Shining Armor would feel better if you explained what the book does?" she suggested timidly, but in a surprisingly wise manner. Shining Armor froze for a moment before sighing and looking away. I recognized that expression instantly, and realized that he too was susceptible to the powers of Fluttershy. Although, the nature of her suggestion posed a problem. "I, uh, don't know much about it in the first place," I warned, before following up with, "It can float freely in the air using basic gravity manipulation. Uh, it can also generate barriers like mine and is practically indestructible." To illustrate my points, I let the book drift into the air of its own accord, a diamond-shaped barrier forming around it as it rotated. Twilight tilted her head as she watched it, interest shifting rapidly to that instead. "Indestructible?" she inquired, sounding curious. "Keela said that it could be ejected into a star and be totally fine, even after the thing explodes. It also survived the point blank explosion of the Grosh vessel, too," I elaborated, summarizing extensively. Shining Armor was rapidly shifting from hostile to interested, much like his sister. "What's inside of it? If it's a book, surely it has things written inside," he reasoned, extremely accurately this time. I nodded, explaining, "It's a journal. I'm assuming it has every bit of information all the way back from when my original self started it. I know that it magically updates itself based on everything I experience as well, but unfortunately, I can't get it open. The key requires, well, something else in order to fit into the lock." Twilight lifted the tiny bronze-colored key up before lightly pushing it against the lock on the front of the book. I saw the glowing of the barrier that covered the keyhole as it flared up a couple of times, completely resisting her jabs. "It's like there's a shield of some sort over the keyhole," she muttered a moment later, moving the key away and glaring at it. "Keela explained that it needs something else from whomever tries to open it. She said it could be most anything, from being a specific individual, to thinking key thoughts, to even a certain feeling held strongly while pushing the key into the hole. I don't even know where to begin to figure out how to open it," I elaborated, restraining the mild irritation in my voice. Admittedly, I did really want to see what was inside of it myself. "Huh. It doesn't seem as dangerous as I was afraid of. What do you plan on doing with it?" he inquired, ignoring the annoyed expression Twilight shot him a moment later. I shook my head, however, looking down at the book as it dropped back down to my lap. Just seeing it left me feeling rather hollow and empty. The things we all had to go through just for me to get the bloody thing... "Nothing, really. Well, beyond trying to open it. The only reason I wanted it here so badly was because it was holding the connection open to Equestria while it was on the other side," I muttered, unable to contain the bitter tone this time. The price to get it here wasn't exactly low, that was for sure. My left foreleg twitched lightly and I shivered, pulling it closer to myself to warm it from the sudden chill. I vividly remembered the feeling of having it snapped backwards and ripped from my body. "Mender, it's okay now," Fluttershy assured softly, instantly rotating around again and squeezing me with a light hug. Sighing, I rested my head against her shoulder as she squeezed me, giving her a weak nod. "I know. I just, well, remember what it felt like when she, um... Well, regardless, it wasn't easy getting this thing here," I tried to explain, suddenly finding myself extremely uncomfortable with even saying what happened. A light flash. The tearing sensation burned through me from my snapped shoulder. I couldn't remember screaming, but I must have as she smashed my skull into Applejack's cage over and over again just from the motions of her yanks. My foreleg hit the wood in front of me, a splatter of blood coming off it from the impact as I felt it running down my side, everything going numb. It didn't even register as mine. It couldn't be mine! Applejack's expression shifted into shock and horror a moment later as she stared at it, tears starting to come down her cheeks. No! I gasped, mind reeling as my body suddenly felt extremely cold. "Mender! Snap out of it. You're here, with us!" Twilight suddenly shouted, causing my eyes to open again in shock. Fluttershy was holding me tightly with her wings wrapped around my shivering body. Twilight herself was pressed into my right shoulder, giving it gentle nudges to get my attention again. Both looked extremely worried as I finally looked around, feeling the blood pool in my stomach. Damn it. Another stupid flashback. My head lowered lightly against Fluttershy's foreleg as I sighed. "I'm sorry, everypony. I, um, didn't mean for that to happen," I muttered, sad that I had worried them. Shining Armor looked downright shocked, now that I glanced up at him. Twilight laughed; a short and mildly amused barking noise, almost. "Obviously, Mender. I don't think you'd ever 'want' to have a flashback like that. Just relax, though, okay?" "Yes. Um, please relax. You're here with us and nothing bad is happening," Fluttershy chipped in, pulling me closer against her as she tucked herself partially under the blankets. "Dang. I, uh, didn't mean for that to happen. I'm sorry, Mender. I didn't realize," Shining Armor apologized, glancing between Twilight and me. Finally, I just shook my head wearily, looking back up at him. "It's fine. You want to protect everypony. I can definitely relate to that. I'm just a little shaken up over everything that happened still. It's not every day that I get my foreleg torn off," I excused, lowering my ears again. That must have been a pleasant thing for Twilight to discover upstairs, now that I thought about it. The mare in question smiled softly and gave my right foreleg a squeeze. "It's all right, Mender. I'm just happy you managed to get it back and are recovering," she assured. Her tone had a slight shift in it, and I glanced back up at her hesitantly. It was hard to place the emotion in her eyes as I stared at her. She specifically avoided saying the Princess got it back for me, I suddenly realized. She hesitated, then looked away from me a moment later, causing me to frown. Oh hell. Did one of the two Princesses say something to her?! "Yes. It's a miracle, honestly. I didn't know Princess Luna was so good at healing magic," Shining Armor furthered, smiling and nodding politely towards me. He hadn't meant anything by it, but it still sent a shiver down my spine. Fluttershy slid down my side and shifted her wing over me, her book now apparently having been forgotten. Still, I couldn't bring myself to remind her, as the warmth of her coat felt amazing against my still damaged left foreleg. I expected them to be queasy over it, so this was quite a surprise. It wasn't slimy or squishy or anything, but it certainly looked rather disgusting with its discoloration, bony protrusions, and fresh veins expanding out across it. It also itched like crazy as my fur started to lightly grow back across the surface, but that much I was expecting. None of the prior mentioned oddities seemed to bother the adorable yellow mare, however. She cradled the leg against her chest, smiling as it stopped shivering and warmed up under her body heat. Her wing expanded over me as well, further keeping the rest of me warm as she lightly dropped it across my chest. She trusted me with it now, I suddenly realized. Smiling, I gave it a light kiss along the top of it, earning a whimsical giggle from Fluttershy. "Okay, you're adorable, Mender. Applejack and Fluttershy are right. I suddenly realize that you'd make a wonderful father as well. You're so understanding and gentle," Twilight suddenly spoke up, making my eyes shoot to full size almost instantly as I looked over at her in surprise. "Whoa! Uh, is there something I should be telling Mom?" Shining Armor asked almost instantly, ironically looking as surprised as I felt. Twilight snorted, however, and stuck her tongue out at him. "Shiny, you're smarter than that. For one, you know that I'm a good girl and won't be starting a family until I'm sure I'm ready," she reminded, giving him a skeptical glance. Of course, what she didn't mention was that 'ready' wasn't likely to occur in the lifespan of say, the star in the sky. If her prior statement still held, I had a feeling the ball of burning gas would be on its last legs by the time she even decided to become intimate. "Yeah, I guess you're right about-" he started to agree before she raised a hoof and silenced him. "Further, and more importantly, Mender arrived in the middle of summer, 'after' the first estrus cycle. The second one hasn't come yet. Thus, it would be physically impossible for me to be pregnant," she pointed out. I choked back a snicker out of respect for her brother. Fluttershy giggled, however, and squeezed tighter to me while Shining Armor rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You're a real piece of work, Sis. Suddenly, I think I was wrong. Fluttershy is probably going to end up having foals first, isn't she?" he suggested, recovering his smile from before as Twilight shifted instantly into a blush. My cheeks lit up too due to me not considering Fluttershy like that before. Of all things to not make her squeak, however, this was apparently one of them. Fluttershy's smile simply widened as a light flush drifted into her cheeks. "I, um, don't think I'd mind. Probably not this year, but maybe next if, uh, Mender accepts me into the herd. It might be scary, but I'll have Mender and Twilight here to help me, along with all our other amazing friends," she murmured against my chest. My heart dropped into my stomach at about the same speed as my jaw dropping onto my chest. Twilight looked equally stunned for a moment, barely managing to get out, "Um, whoa. Uh, you do realize that means you have to, um," she tried to point out, causing me to blush at the implied direction of her question. Fluttershy opened an eye to peek at Twilight as she trailed off. Frankly, I was shocked we were even having this conversation, let alone it going so well, even if I was just listening, really. Fluttershy nodded gently against me, eyes only open a little ways and looking half asleep. Maybe that contributed to her mellow take on the conversation? "Yeah. It's, um, all right, though. I trust Mender and it's a natural thing, right?" she reasoned, her left hoof gesturing towards Twilight as she rested. Twilight momentarily looked surprised, but relaxed soon after, giving her friend an agreeable smile. "Well, yeah. You're right, of course. I think I'll let you become a mother first, though. That way I'll know what I'm getting into," she finally agreed. Wait, what?! My eyes widened as I looked back and forth between the two mares. "D-Don't I get a say in this?! Why are we even talking about this, anyway?" I finally managed to ask. Shining Armor, who had been doing so admirably with both forehooves pressed to his muzzle, finally caved and burst into laughter. My ears flattened back as Twilight joined in a moment later. I opened my mouth to say more, but Fluttershy slipped up and kissed me lightly on the chin, causing me to blush and momentarily lose control of my voice. She let out a giggle as I looked down at her. "Of course you get a say, Mender. You're going to be the daddy, after all. It still amazes me at how gentle you are with me. I had been wrong all along," she muttered, frowning a bit towards the end. "Wrong?" I questioned, wondering what the sudden shift in tone was about. The siblings' laughter finally dwindled as Fluttershy shook her head. "I know you aren't mean and you'd never intentionally hurt anypony. The images were just so scary though that I started to, um, doubt that in my mind. Now I'm, well, really, really upset with myself. Ooohh! I could just scream I'm so mad. I wasted a lot of time being silly and doubting you, and then I see you're really like this and I regret the whole thing," she explained, being remarkably quiet and soft spoken for being angry. Well, not that I expected her to actually start screaming or something. Twilight snickered and shook her head softly. "If Mender's fine with it, I have no problems with you being in the herd at all, Fluttershy. If you feel badly for it, just make up for lost time and be together with us now instead," she suggested, nodding twice afterwards with that satisfied smile she always gets when things are neat and orderly. I nodded along with a similar soft grin, discovering that I wasn't really needed for this to work out. All four of us were interrupted, however, as three bright blasts of pink flames and smoke appeared in the air around Shining Armor's head. He sighed as he caught the three scrolls in his magic and rotated them in front of himself. "Yup. All three are from Cadence. Well, you three seem to have everything covered, so I'm going to go for a while. I need to send another letter out to my wife, it would seem," Shining Armor excused after Fluttershy relaxed against me again. Twilight started giggling in amusement. He stopped a moment later, however, looking as if he suddenly remembered something. "I almost forgot. You never did answer, Mender. Is there a way to draw other ponies in to talk to Keela with you? Aunt Celestia was curious," he asked yet again. Oh! Oops. I'd forgotten I technically didn't answer that after our topic got derailed. "Oh, um, yeah, there is. Well, I think so, anyway. It feels extremely similar to when Twilight touches her horn to my head and slips into my mind. I think that if she does that when I transfer over to the other-" I started to explain. It got cut off most unexpectedly however. "What?!" he asked almost instantly, shifting to a mixture of what looked like shock and hostility as he looked over at his sister. I blinked, totally blindsided by the reaction as I looked towards Twilight as well. She was blushing furiously and averting her eyes from both of us, however. I suddenly got that familiar sensation that she was hiding something from me again and I just blundered into it accidentally. Fluttershy looked just as confused as me, however, before asking timidly, "Um, is that a bad thing? It doesn't sound bad. It sounds kind of romantic," she inquired, smiling towards the end and giving my chest another squeeze. I smirked down at her and held her closer, enjoying the sensation. Well, she was right. Honestly, I guess it was kind of romantic. "Ah, can we talk about this later, Shiny?" Twilight pleaded, looking back up at him and pushing her forehooves together. "Don't 'Shiny' me, Sis. Acting cute won't change the fact that you've been Mind Syncing outside of marriage! What would our parents think?" he lectured, sounding irritated. Uh oh. Outside of marriage? There was definitely something she hadn't told me, I had a sudden suspicion. "Oh! Oh, I remember now. It's part of the Unicorn marriage ritual, and needed to consummate the union," Fluttershy suddenly remembered out loud. Oh. My cheeks flared up with heat and I shivered lightly, looking back over to the lavender unicorn who still refused to meet my gaze. "Exactly. You were supposed to wait, Twilight. I just... I don't know. I don't have time for this right now. I'll see what Mom and Dad want to do about it," he finally decided out loud, shaking his head and turning towards the door again. No matter how many paths I followed in my mind, I couldn't foresee a good outcome to this. "Shiny, wait! You don't have to tell them at all!" Twilight shouted as he exited the room. She stood rapidly and was gone from the bed in a flash of light, reappearing in the hallway in an instant. "Wait, I said! Just listen to me!" she yelled after him. His hoofsteps further down the hallway didn't slow, however, and Twilight let out a low growl before chasing after. Fluttershy and I listened to her voice dwindle as they got further and further down the hallway. Well crap. "Oh dear," Fluttershy murmured, staring in surprise at the door. I still couldn't process what had just happened fully, and suddenly decided that maybe I should stop trying. I couldn't exactly run and catch up with them anyway. "I couldn't agree more," I returned before exhaling softly and flopping back into a lying position. You know what? Screw it. The world can wait. I had a warm bed, soft covers, and an amazing mare squeezed up against me. She shifted back to a smile as I pushed my muzzle into her tummy and drew her down into the covers again. "We can deal with it later," I assured, smiling up at her from the shadows of my blankets. This was an amazingly comfortable bed for being in a hospital. "That sounds, Mmm, nice. Yes," she agreed softly before slipping down next to me. I let out a pleased cooing noise before snuggling against her and closing my eyes again. Fluttershy felt nice and warm against me, and staying awake for so long had really tired me out. There was a hazy, sleepy sensation as we snuggled against each other under the covers. Honestly, I could be happy with this. Very happy. So very sleepy as well... I’ll see what’s going on later. Slowly, my body relaxed and everything drifted away.
Chapter 32A flash of teeth in the dark snapped me awake in an instant. I found myself sitting upright with a cold sweat dotting my coat. I stared into the dark of the room, rapidly letting my heartbeat slow. I was alone again. Fluttershy had probably left after I fell asleep on her. I was just so tired lately. Teeth. They had been mine this time. Well, the teeth of my other form; the ones that were pointed, sharp, and angled for restraining prey while my jaws crushed them apart. I shivered, the moisture on my fur feeling even colder. There was no escaping the truth anymore, honestly. Twilight was right. I couldn't live like this; lying to everypony like that. Even if it meant that I lost their love in the process. Princess Celestia had said the same thing, hadn't she? Of course, she had also told me that it was up to me to find my own place in the world; my reason for being in Equestria. As if summoned, a light tapping noise sounded from the window to my left as my thoughts drifted. Sitting up, I glanced over at the window, noting immediately that there was a white glow emanating into the room. Celestia herself hovered just outside of the window, wings idly flapping as she looked in expectantly. I knew she had the capability to just open the window herself, so I assumed she was waiting for an invitation. My upper left most tentacle extended from my back and reached out, lightly wrapping around the window and unhooking the lock at the bottom. She smiled as I slid it open, and then retreated. "You're very gentle with those as well," she commented, flicking herself through the window with practiced grace. Beyond yesterday, I wondered if she'd done this before. "It was hard to do anything but break things at first, but after I got stuck in that form for a few hours, I learned to be gentle with them, too," I explained, watching passively as she landed at the side of my bed. Her smile widened as she nodded in agreement. "After Shining Armor's report, I must say that I'm fully accepting of you. Not that I wasn't honestly before, but it spoke most favorably on your behalf," she relayed. I raised my eyebrow, skeptical at best. "Even after what he found out about his sister and me? Not to mention the book," I asked, finding it hard to believe that he had anything good to say about me. She chuckled softly and shook her head before glancing over at my bedside table. "Ah yes, is this it?" she inquired, undoubtedly already knowing the answer as she levitated it gently off the wooden surface. I nodded once, watching her lift it with mild intrigue. Idly, I wondered if it was within her power to destroy the thing. "Prudentia. It's an Aegis Artifact. I'm sure Twilight reported that already, though," I added, feeling kind of silly. For some reason, however, I also liked saying the book's name. It felt, well, warm to me somehow. Celestia examined it for a few moments before shaking her head and setting it down on my mattress instead. "No, she hasn't reported anything to me since the last time I saw her. I do believe she's a bit uncomfortable with me at the moment," she revealed, looking back up at me with a soft expression. I frowned, having not expected that reply in the least. "I'm surprised. Honestly, I never expected her to say that in the first place, let alone actually follow through with it," I admitted quietly, unsure of my own voice suddenly. Celestia watched me carefully before closing her eyes and sighing. She took a moment before glancing back up at me with a weary smile. "I'm sorry, but that's a little sad to hear. I'm not blaming you, of course. You've lost your trust in a lot of ponies after all of this. Is there anypony you trust still?" she asked in almost a whisper. I wasn't used to seeing the white alicorn look sad. It was a little disarming. The question was easy enough, however. "Fluttershy," I returned a moment later. She watched me as I considered my own answer before nodding again, adding, "She's never really done anything to betray my trust apart from eavesdrop once. Plus, I have the direct link to her and can feel her when she gets close. It's relaxing and I feel comfortable around her." Celestia smiled gently at my mention of the link and looked down at the book in my lap yet again. "I confess to being unable to detect that connection. Twilight also hasn't spoken much about it. Or is it more a matter of nopony knowing?" she inquired. That tidbit surprised me, honestly. Well, not so much that she couldn't detect it but more the fact that she admitted it to me. "The last I discussed them with Twilight, neither of us knew much about them. I still don't know, as I haven't really looked into them. I've been trying to sort all the Keldarian DNA I have inside of myself into a database the last day or so," I excused, realizing I should probably look into it at some point. She nodded as if actually understanding what I just said, to my further surprise. "It might be a nice olive branch to offer to Keela if the need arises. Shining Armor told me of what you reasoned could be used to have a talk with her as well. Oh, and worry not. He is not angry at you at all and fully realizes that you didn't know what she was even doing," Celestia assured, as if suddenly remembering the finer points of the conversation. I blanched, then shook my head sadly. "I'm more worried about him being mad at Twilight. She's been, well, a lot more flexible and understanding the last few days and I find myself far more sympathetic," I admitted. Back when she still thought I was a crazy loon that couldn't manage breathing on my own, I might have thought otherwise. Celestia snickered at my explanation instead. "I agree that her progress in adjusting to having a coltfriend has significantly improved. Her parents are understanding, however, and this should only be a minor blunder. Normally such a thing is associated with, uh, more intimate interactions and some families hold it relative to consummation of a marriage," she explained in an extremely helpful, if not slightly awkward, manner. I swallowed, finding myself extremely uneasy now. "Uh, will it help if they know we haven't, um, mated yet?" I offered, unsure if this was a conversation I should be having with the Princess of the entire country. If it was a faux pas, she didn't bat an eye at it. Instead, she released a gentle giggle accompanying a shake of her head. "Nay. I think they'll guess that even if she doesn't tell them. Honestly, you have nothing to worry about. The worst thing they shall do is attempt to be a little pushy with you, looking for commitment. My niece described similar after they walked in on her and Shining Armor, I believe," Princess Celestia relayed, raising a ponderous hoof to her chin. My eyes widened a little bit. Was there such a thing as too much information? I shuddered and suppressed my gag reflex. "Uh, I didn't honestly need to know that," I managed to mutter, looking away from the alicorn. She grinned; it was a long and mirthful expression. "You are indeed fun to tease. You turn the most adorable shade of pink. Rose was speaking of such earlier," she pointed out. Ugh. She was doing it on purpose! "You can be downright evil, you know that, Tia?" I asked, giving her a dull, irked stare. She outright laughed, of course. Wait, Rose? Oh, one of those three mares. Well at least that confirmed my earlier suspicions. "They were teasing me the entire time, weren't they? Twilight and I thought they were serious," I groaned, smacking my right forehoof into my forehead and sighing. Tia grinned even more, somehow. "I should tell you something. A blushing stallion, much like a blushing mare, is adorable. If a mare finds an easy way to make a stallion blush, she's probably going to abuse it for the cuteness. A shy stallion like yourself is going to get a lot of playful flirting, I suspect," she explained, politely holding a hoof to her muzzle in order to contain the light snickers emerging from it. "So they were just teasing me in order to get me to blush?" My eye twitched slightly as I stared harder at the Sun Princess. "Oh, don't downgrade it. Rose and Daisy spoke highly of you when I talked to the two of them. They're not just teasing you, but feel genuinely friendly. In fact, almost everypony I've spoken with the last day or so has shown outright sympathy and caring for your condition. You've made a positive impression on them, even if you think otherwise," she assured. I stared at her in surprise, wondering when she'd grow the second head out of her tongue and eat me or something. It slowly shifted to a frown as I considered the cultural differences between here and my old dimension. I figured that they'd hold me in contempt after being indirectly responsible for the attack and disruption of the peace. Hell, if I were still a Keldarian, they would have held me as an 'indirect accomplice to the act of terror,' as I believe they worded it. That warranted incarceration or the death sentence if I was remembering correctly. "What, did you think they'd be angry with you? My little ponies are smart, Mender. They know that you're as much a victim, if not more so, than everypony in town. I shouldn't mention this, but they're putting together a care package to present at the party once you're released and Pinkie feels better," she revealed after a moment of my dumbfounded staring. If I wasn't dazed and confused before, she might as well have just walked up and clobbered me with a baseball bat to the side of the head. They were what?! She lost whatever ancient stoic reserve she typically called upon and started snickering again in amusement, undoubtedly at the expression I was currently sporting. "As big of a deal as the attack was, I just figured they'd have put more blame on me having indirectly caused it by, well, existing here?" I tried to reason, tilting my head up to consider it. Admittedly, it had sounded better in my head. "You're very silly, Mender. Regardless, I think you shall be pleasantly surprised. However, before I forget, I would indeed like to ask you when you'd like to bring us to meet Keela, if your method works. I'd like to do so soon, but I'm not sure what you need for the feat," she requested, locking eyes with me again. I frowned, but nodded a moment later. "The only thing needed really is enough room for yourself and three other ponies to be comfortable with touching horns. Um, also, can I request that Twilight lead, if possible?" I inquired, ears drooping a little. Instead of being irked, however, she simply smiled. "Of course, Mender. I was already planning on that. My horn is significantly longer than average, so I shall let Twilight's rest upon you, rest mine upon hers, and have Shining Armor place his upon mine. Would that be satisfactory?" she suggested calmly, going a step further than what I was going to risk requesting. I nodded twice, smiling gently at her again. She returned my gesture before settling into place in one of the side chairs that slid up in her aura to be closer to the bed. "Then I'm glad that's settled. Will you be fit enough to do so tomorrow? I don't mean to rush you, but I simply worry for my subjects. They are quite concerned over the state of things, and some definite answers would do well to placate them," she reasoned. I could definitely see the logic in her request. "Yes, I can do it tomorrow if the other two can manage it." It really wasn't that big of a deal in the first place. Taking a nap wasn't exactly stressful on my body, after all. "Then I'll get word out in the morning to have Twilight begin preparations. In the meantime, I do believe I offered to answer anything you wanted me to," she reminded gently, settling into her chair as if expecting to be there a while. Oh, oh yeah. Now that I thought about it, she had already answered quite a bit of my questions just in this informal conversation. It always amazed me that she insisted on approaching me like just another pony. Still, she'd helped me a lot and proven to be quite a bit more pleasant than I had started to see her as, so I wasn't about to complain. Of course, that didn't mean there weren't things I was curious about. "When did you discover I was a robot?" I asked a moment later, deciding that was foremost on my list and I didn't know how many she was going to let me ask. "Whoa. You certainly know how to get right to the heart of things. To be honest, at the cafe. Although, to correct you, I do believe the term for you would be cyborg. You are essentially a pony, but have many added parts and qualities," she answered, gesturing towards my chest with a hoof while doing so. I raised an eyebrow. Was it common for answers to raise more questions than actually answering? "Why didn't you say anything then?" I asked, deciding not to mention the fact that she knew what a cyborg was in the first place. She shook her head, however. "If you'd proved hostile to my little ponies, me informing you of what you were wouldn't have been needed anyway. If you didn't prove hostile, you obviously didn't know and had genuinely good intentions. If that were so, telling you would simply disrupt the life you wanted to form here and be exceptionally cruel. Of course, had I known this would happen, I might have acted differently," she explained simply, politely watching me with a neutral expression. It didn't strike me as fair for her to decide that for me, but I guess it was a moot point. "You really aren't going to have Twilight watch over me anymore?" I asked, deciding it was a little risky, but I needed to know the answer. She cracked a smile and shook her head, of course. I didn't sense any lies, but I had no doubt she had the world's greatest poker face. "No, I'm not. If she watches over you from this point on, it's for her own reasons. Most likely concern, I imagine. She's come a long way in learning about a more intimate level of relationship, and I personally think she cares for you very much. Please don't place any of the blame for those instances on her, however." That was an interesting request, but she'd made similar past, after lunch that time. "I have enough reasons to distrust Twilight without adding those, but I'm trying. She asked for another chance and I'm inclined to give it to her. She could just take what she wanted, but so far, she hasn't," I relayed, frowning a little bit. This was totally backwards compared to how I was used to things. In my dimension, if a female claimed you, you were property unless a different female laid claim as well. Then all hell broke loose. It was rare for the male in question to even survive. In some cases, the government stepped in and euthanized the male just to cease the hostilities. It's not like there weren't nine more of us to replace the one lost. Celestia's smile pushed through my thoughts, and she assured, "I have no doubt that she'll not allow herself to stray this time. I've seen her react like this before and I assure you, you'll get her utmost attention. I realize there's a significant contrast from your old culture. Equestria doesn't work like that, however. Have you considered explaining this to the girls? I believe they'd really like to know." "Normally, they aren't comfortable when I talk about my old world. I didn't think they'd want to know anything about it," I muttered, looking away from Tia. "This is important, however. I do believe this will explain a lot of things to them and probably improve their outlook on things," she added, shifting back to a soft smile afterwards. After a moment's consideration, I nodded. I'd tell Twilight when I could. If it was relevant information, she'd no doubt give it to the others. "I only have one more question. Do you know if Applejack and Rainbow Dash forgive me for what happened that night?" I asked last, largely because it hurt to say it. There were some questions I discovered that I didn't want to know the answer to. At the same time, this was one I couldn't not know either. It was more than a little inconvenient, honestly. "As they won't tell you themselves, it is truly only fair that you ask somepony else. Rainbow is conflicted between supporting her crush and trying to get her to talk to you again. She was the one who delivered the apples last night, and if I heard correctly, will try again tonight," she relayed, looking a little glum suddenly. "Try?" I asked, a little confused as to her meaning. I received a nod in return. "You ate the apples whole. Fluttershy reported that they were simply missing, and now the three of them think that the nurse confiscated the apples," Tia elaborated. "Fluttershy's involved too?" I asked, actually not all that surprised. Celestia nodded again, explaining, "She worries for Applejack, who is in much worse condition than Rainbow. It's more than just accidentally betraying the trust of a friend. She didn't believe you even when you tried so hard, which goes against her very Element. She wanted to see how you reacted to the apples to know if she even had a chance at forgiveness." The Sun Princess sighed afterwards and lowered her head a little, obviously not liking the progression either. After a moment's debate, I made up my mind. "When Rainbow comes tonight, I'll try to talk to her. Maybe I can get a message to Applejack," I pondered out loud. If I couldn't approach her myself, then I'd just have to ask somepony else to for me. Celestia nodded politely, agreeing with, "That's a wise and mature direction to go in. I'm pleased with that." She lingered after, watching me carefully. For an awkward moment, I suddenly didn't know what she wanted, her gaze locking with mine. An errant thought drifted through my mind, and I suddenly realized that she was probably waiting for me to ask more questions. "Oh, um, I don't really have anymore questions for you," I revealed softly, partially looking away from her rather unnerving gaze. Those eyes! I could almost feel the sensation of them burning into me as she focused her attention. Was it a product of her strength, or was it more her sheer force of experience she's lived through? She giggled a moment later, easing the pressure off immediately. "That I wasn't expecting, to be honest. Are you sure there's absolutely no more questions you want to ask?" I nodded gently in assurance, causing her to continue with, "Very well. I do have one final question for you for tonight, if you'll indulge me." Admittedly, when worded like that, it made me more than a little curious. Her tone had shifted formal, which she had intentionally avoided when talking to me, for the most part. I glanced back over at her, eyes curious. "Uh, of course I don't mind. Um, what is it that you wanted to ask?" I tried to inquire in as polite a manner possible. Her expression wavered momentarily, further surprising me and unnerving me at the same time. "Do you trust me?" she finally asked. The weight added to the question could have knocked the building down. I locked up momentarily, not really even processing the question. The shock slid into a mixture of sadness and apprehension, however, as I was suddenly conflicted. The obvious 'right' answer to the question was some variant of 'yes', of course. But that would be lying. To be honest with myself, no, I didn't fully trust her. Celestia's eyes softened and she looked away a moment later before nodding. "I understand. That much I predicted after all this. You have my honest word that I'll do nothing to betray your trust ever again, of course, for what it's worth," she assured a moment later. It didn't really surprise me that she saw my answer without my need to say anything. Giving a weak smile, I finally shook my head. "I want to believe you, Tia. Deep down, you're a good pony who's had to make some tough choices due to your position. I understand that, and still want to be your friend," I finally tried to explain, never having put it together in my mind before now. My feelings regarding Tia were mixed to begin with. She smiled, of course, and glanced back at me, head still tilted to the side. "You're a very kind stallion. After all this is over, I'm inviting you to Canterlot. My treat. I want to just be able to talk with you again, like normal, I believe," she finally announced, expression growing more mirthful as my expression shifted to surprise. This time I caught her ploy before she could fully engage it, however. I grinned and nodded in return, warning, "Only if the girls and Spike can come too." She laughed that time and turned to fully face me, agreeing with a soft nod of her head. "But of course. It's a plan, then. Although, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow, so I won't keep you further," she assured, standing upright again and shifting her wings out into a light stretch. The window slowly slid open without her turning to look at it. "Yeah. And tomorrow you get to use the door," I pointed out, gesturing towards the window with my right foreleg across my body. To my surprise, she winked instead before heading towards the window. "You'd be surprised how much fun it is to do things in an unorthodox manner from time to time, Mender. For that, I thank you. You let me get away," she explained, eyes momentarily softening as she looked down at the sill. I tilted my head, but she shook hers before I could ask anything. "Anyways, I shall see you tomorrow," she added, before slipping through the window. Hmm. Not nearly as graceful as Dash, but I'd give her a three point five. Chuckling to myself at my own lame sense of humor, I lay back against my pillows again as the window slowly slid shut. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. Here's just hoping Keela would answer in the first place. Of course, she wouldn't know I was bringing company along this time, so I saw no reason for her to refuse the connection specifically requested in her note. Telling myself to relax, I let my body slowly drift back away into my dreams. * * * * * A stirring drifted through me. Halfway mixed with a rather tasty dream involving Twilight and Fluttershy in the spa still, I felt an uncomfortable shiver go through me as my body suddenly felt a little colder. It clashed with the wonderful sensations the dream brought on, and I pulled myself awake with reluctance. What was going on? My sleepy eyes shifted around, not immediately catching anything out of place in the dark room. There were no movements or out of place shapes, and no static noises mixing with the silence of the night. Disoriented momentarily, I pulled up Clocky and discovered that it was oh three hundred hours. Damn. I shivered again and looked over at the window, instantly noticing it was partially cracked open. Oh! The air was leaking in from the outside, slowly lowering the temperature of the room. Had Celestia forgotten to shut it all the way? I thought I remembered her doing so. A moment later, I saw it shiver and worm it's way up a little more. The lock lowered a little more and slid a little further open. Huh? A moment later, I gave a startled jump as a little wire slipped in and hooked around the latch on the still partially closed lock. A bit of jiggling got it hooked around the knob, and the wielder pulled, popping the latch off. My eyes narrowed and I pulled the stirring inside of me to the surface of my back, shifting my dermal layer to armor just in case. This was a messy way to go about breaking in if they had Keldarian technology, but I wasn't about to extend the benefit of the doubt. The window slid up a little a second later, and a cyan hoof slipped under it and pulled it up slowly and silently. Dash! My mind flickered inside of me and I brought up her status link with myself. Sure enough, it displayed her as being less than three meters from me. It really was her, then? Of course, it didn't give me the direction she was in, but what were the odds she was, like, sleeping on the roof above me? After a moment's consideration of her lethargic tendencies, I kept my dermal armor up just in case. She slipped through the window upon getting it open wide enough, barely managing to get the saddlebag she wore inside as well. Further probability of it being actually Dash. A Keldarian assassin wouldn't have bothered with the saddlebag; their body is malleable enough to just keep their weapons inside of themselves. She straightened herself a bit and stood upright upon landing. I closed my eyes again and peeked through the barest sliver as she turned to look at me, pretending to be asleep again. This was the first time I'd seen the cyan mare since the incident, and a light lump grew in my throat as I watched her. A vivid memory drifted up of her angry face as she smashed me backwards, followed immediately by her horrified look as she saw me in the forest. Her eyes had said it all. She thought I was a horrifying, unspeakable monster. Her heart rate maintained a calm, if slightly elevated beat as she slowly got closer, slipping her muzzle into her side bag and rooting around in it. I waited patiently until she gently withdrew a rather sizable apple, the stem carefully held between her teeth. I felt myself blush lightly as I realized she was technically touching the top of the apple with her lips. Mentally berating myself a moment later, I realized I might still be a little hypersensitive from the dream she disrupted. Regardless, I put a tight leash on the stirrings instantly. She used her muzzle to lightly brush the blankets back before hesitantly and ever so gently setting the apple down against my chest. Once it was in place and she made sure it wasn't going to roll, she slipped her head back into her saddlebag again, no doubt to withdraw another of the tasty red morsels. This was my chance, I guessed. My eyes opened again as she slipped her head into the bag. I decided to be brave and just meet her face first and talk. She'd probably appreciate that more than beating around the bush. I waited patiently as she withdrew another apple and repeated the careful positioning. She had some extreme stealth skills if she did this last night and didn't wake me up. I suddenly wondered what she'd look like all dressed up in an operative outfit or something. She could probably pull it off if she covered up her more, well, vibrant qualities. Not much blended well with rainbow. To my surprise, she was completely oblivious to my eyes being open. Okay, so she had the moves but not the observational skills. A little rough around the edges, I guessed. She probably didn't have to use clandestine skills every day. She repeated the motion with the third apple, then carefully started to nudge the blanket back into place. I waited patiently and in slight amusement as she got it stuck in a tangle and released a whispered growl before finally resorting to her teeth to pull it up again. Okay, that was cute. Finally, her work completed, she exhaled quietly and glanced back up at my not so sleeping face. A heartbeat went by. Her expression shifted from a soft smile to a startled, shocked look after a second's lag. She gave a startled squeak and shuffled backwards a good half-meter or so, eyes hitting their maximum size as she stared at me. I couldn't help but smile lightly at her. "Hey, Rainbow. Thank you for the apples," I offered in a soft whisper, not wanting to startle the guard now posted outside of my door. Shining Armor had gotten a little paranoid after the incident with the book yesterday, it would seem. Her eyes softened and locked with mine. She flinched, but couldn't seem to budge the soft, rose-colored orbs away from mine. "M-Mender! I didn't realize that you were awake. Um, the apples are actually kinda from AJ, not me. I'm just dropping them off," she whispered back, uncharacteristically shaken a little. I must have really surprised her. Trying to calm her down, I gave her a gentle smile. "Well, can you thank Applejack for me as well? The last three were delicious, too," I added. To her credit, she honestly looked surprised. "Wha? I thought the nurse found 'em and took them away. There weren't even cores left in the morning," she exclaimed, apparently momentarily forgetting her caution and raising her voice in surprise a bit. Oh. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten the entire apple after all. I decided to be vague and return, "The hospital food is terrible. I was more than a little thankful to get the delicious apples and didn't want to waste any of them." Dash's eyes softened and she gave a nod after a moment's thought. "I hear ya, really. I've been here enough to know that the food is always terrible! But AJ will be glad to hear you liked them. They're kind of, well..." she started before hesitating. Again, this was a side of Rainbow I wasn't familiar with. I didn't think she'd ever be insecure about anything. Her usual confidence was dulled, however. "I'm not mad at her," I revealed in the light lull Dash left in her statement. She started, then looked back at me with a bit of a disbelieving look. "I'm not. Frankly, I'm jealous that Twi has such great friends who are willing to so adamantly stick up for her when they think she's hurt by somepony. I'm happy she has such amazing friends, though. Honest," I added, trying to convince her of what I felt. "Mender, you don't need to-" she started to interrupt before I lightly held a hoof up, stopping her. "All I'm trying to say is that I, well, I'm just hoping she'll take back what she said that night about not being my friend anymore," I finally admitted, probably majorly confusing her with the wording. My mental rehearsals usually ended a few minutes ago with her fleeing from the hospital in horror. Frankly, I was astounded that I'd gotten this far in the first place. Rainbow watched me for a few moments before smiling again, shifting back to her confident grin I was far more familiar with. "That I can assure she'll do. Heck, hearing this should help her a lot. She's been a mess the last couple days," she assured, giving a confident nod afterwards. I raised an eyebrow, unsure of her wording. "I thought Twilight said she was barely hurt?" I asked, a little worried now. Dash snorted and rolled her eyes playfully. "Relax. She got a few nicks. No, she just thinks she's screwed up bad. Well, she did, but she's never quite messed up like this before," she muttered, shaking her head. I gave her a skeptical glance, which earned a wince again. Dash lowered her head and sighed, adding, "Okay, yeah. I screwed up too. That's why both of us weren't coming in during visiting hours. We really, uh, didn't know what to say? What do you say to that? 'I'm sorry for not trusting you, almost killing you, and then almost getting you killed afterwards because of it?' Sounds like one of Pinkie's signs..." Okay, that I chuckled at. Did that mean she was seriously going to try to fit all that onto a banner? Joy. "It looked pretty bad on my part, you have to admit. Just assuming I was nuts was the far more realistic choice," I pointed out, resting back against my pillows again. Beats the alternative explanation, anyway. An alien from another dimension arrived, assumed the form of my fillyfriend, then tried to seduce me for my alien DNA to rebuild her race. Oh, and I was a robotic eldritch abomination capable of eating the planet. "She's going to want to do some serious apologizing regardless, Mender. I do, too, so let us? We want to make amends. I'll try to get her in here tomorrow, okay?" Rainbow requested, holding her head higher again but not recovering the smile. She was stubborn all right. "I forgive you already, of course. But yes, tomorrow will work for me so long as it's not during Celestia's meeting," I agreed. "Oooh, goin' on another date with the Princess, hot stuff?" she asked almost instantly. There was a light thudding noise from the other side of the door. The guard knew she was in here and was listening in?! Deciding to ignore the development, I rolled my eyes and gave her a flat stare. "You know it's not like that. Celestia, Shining Armor, and Twilight are all coming here tomorrow to have a face to face with Keela, the sister of the Keldarian who attacked us," I explained gently. Rainbow's grin shifted to a serious expression almost immediately, and she nodded twice, asking, "Do you think I could be here to watch? I probably can't help any but, I dunno, I guess I'd just feel better if I could be here for emotional support?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked at her a moment later, earning a scowl. "You avoid me for three days and now you want to participate?" I inquired playfully. I could tell immediately that she knew that I was teasing, given the smirk she shifted to as well. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Now that I know you forgive me, though, I want to start making it up to you," she explained, nodding sternly and finally. I gave her a curious look. "If you know I forgive you, why do you have to make it up to me? Aren't those kinda the same thing?" I reasoned, more than a little confused. Rainbow scoffed almost immediately, holding up her hoof to me and shaking her head. "No way! You forgave me, which means you'll accept my friendship back again. Now I have to actually make up for the damage I did to prove I really want to be your friend again!" she exclaimed, totally forgetting that it was nighttime and in a hospital, it would seem. If I didn't already know that the guard knew she was here and was listening in, I might have been a little concerned. Sighing, I settled back down into place, accepting that she wasn't going to change her mind. "You're silly, but I suppose if you want to do so, I won't stop you. It would mean a lot to me if you could talk to Applejack, though. Maybe have that be the thing you do for me?" I suggested hopefully. She smirked and my hopes sank. "Of course. But I was already going to do that as 'her' friend instead, so that totally doesn't count for making amends to you," she cooed, looking downright devious as I blushed and looked away. Okay, now she was just screwing with my head. "Fine. Just so long as you can talk to her for me. Oh, and tell her I'm sorry, please," I requested, suddenly frowning. Predictably, Rainbow widened her eyes at me. "Why are you sorry?!" she asked instantly. Sighing, I shook my head. "Sympathy, Dash. She saw a lot of ugly things that night, not limited to me getting my leg torn off. If she's beating herself up as much as you say she is, then I think she needs some support too, no? As her future lover, you should really be there for her," I suggested, dropping the last part down to barely a whisper directly to her face. Her blush flared up, coating her cheeks with a soft, pink shade which complimented her colors quite nicely. I mentally cooed at how adorable she looked when embarrassed. "I, well, yeah, you're right, of course. I'm gonna support her, don't worry. She acts tough and says it was nothing, but you're right. I think that's what it is: an act," she agreed finally, looking back up at me with a confident smile again. Now that's the Dashie I was familiar with! "Good idea. You should go get some rest now so you can focus on that tomorrow, then. Drop by later tomorrow so you can be filled in on what's going on," I suggested, returning her gentle smile. Hers expanded as she gave another single nod, perking up at me as her ears fluttered excitedly. "Will do, Boss! I'll talk to you tomorrow, then, and hopefully haul Applejack's flank in here with me," she repeated, giving me a sharp salute. I snorted and batted playfully at her with my right foreleg, causing her to grin and hop backwards away from me. Her tongue shot out a moment later, which I had anticipated this time. My barrier had already shifted along the floor as she hopped backwards. With a tweak of my left foreleg, the barrier shot up and wrapped around her tongue like a coiled snake in less than a blink of an eye. Her eyes widened and she flailed, trying to pull the shield off her tongue as I started giggling. "That's what you get for being a brat, Dashie," I muttered, winking at her as she scowled, calming down when she realized it was my doing. "Yah yah. Yah gock mhee," she mouthed, tongue twitching lightly against the shield as she failed at talking. It was easy enough to translate, of course. Snickering, I released her tongue, seemingly surprising her for some reason as she looked back at me. I tilted my head, but she just giggled instead. "I expected ya to keep that up for longer. Eh, you're too nice for your own good, Mender," she informed, snickering quietly to herself. I rolled my eyes again, but couldn't beat back the soft heat that drifted to my cheeks under her playful gaze. She gave me another gentle salute, however, before I could say anything contrary. "See ya tomorrow, Mender!" she assured, before launching sideways and shooting out the still open window in a heartbeat. I marveled once again at her speed and grace before sighing. She left the window open. Speed, grace, and forgetfulness. A shift of my left foreleg again slipped a barrier up along the wall and slid the window shut, slowly dialing the lock back into place. I admired my administrations before shivering at the chilled night air. It wasn't too hard to pull my blankets back up around me again. With my heat back in place, I looked back down at the tasty, tasty apples that had been delivered. It took conscious effort to retain the drool in my mouth. With a content sigh, I settled in and prepared for a nice nighttime snack...
Chapter 33Carefully, I shifted my weight to properly balance myself. After a bit of concentration, I took another light step forward, putting light pressure on my left foreleg. It held, if a little shaky. A slight ache shifted through it in protest as I stepped past it and took another step. My wires and tubes followed as I slid the pole along with me. My back legs had made a full recovery at this point, thankfully, between the unicorn magic and my own brand of regeneration. My side was still a little tender, however. The doctor looked me over this morning and said that the ribs were healed but there was still some lung and muscle damage. Applejack has one hell of a kick! The rhythmic beating of the electrocardiogram lulled me as I edged closer to the other side of the room. I don't know why they still had me hooked up to one anyway. I was stabilized and there was nothing wrong with my heart. Sighing, I tried to remain focused as I touched against the opposite wall. A little burst of joy went off inside of me at my minor but encouraging victory. Of course, technically I wasn't supposed to be out of bed yet but nopony was around and I wanted to get on my legs again as soon as possible. Pinkie was lucky she got the all clear this morning! Being stuck in one spot for days at a time sucked. It was a good thing, though. My status reports fired off this morning informing me that I'd reached the limit of sheer 'regeneration' for my leg. It was as repaired as I could force it to be, which meant that the only thing lacking was the muscles. It of course gave me the suggestion of just supplementing the growth with the mass inside of me to recover almost instantly, but I'd refused that. It wasn't my mass to make that decision with in the first place. But if I ever wanted to use my left foreleg again for walking, I needed to exercise it. The mental distraction while turning around proved to be a mistake. I put too much weight down on the leg and winced, feeling it go limp as I tipped. I stumbled against the wall before slipping sideways from my body's weight and momentum. My armor flickered into place just before my head hit the floor, jarring me but doing very little in the way of pain or damage until I landed on the leg in question. I gasped sharply, inhaling rapidly afterwards as the pain flared up along my leg and I bit back choice expletives. I felt a tearing as I hit and for a moment, I froze as I heard the electrocardiogram flat line. A second passed and I realized I still felt totally fine. Well, apart from the agonizing throbs coming from my left foreleg, of course. Shifting myself rather uselessly along the floor, I managed to prop myself up against the wall and tuck my foreleg up, cradling it to my body. My other foreleg was shaking as I held it, partly out of pain and also out of disgust with my current state. This was pathetic, even for my standards. My ears perked as I heard scrambling coming from down the hall. Oh, wait. That machine probably wasn't hooked up to just me. Looking around, I noticed the wires coming from the machine lying on the floor a good meter from me. That must have been the ripping sensation. Oops. I tried to reach for them, but realized that I was probably busted at this point. Nurse Redheart practically took the door off its hinges as she skidded in, large defibrillator in her mouth. Her panicked eyes locked onto me for a split second before confusion took over instead. I gave her a sheepish smile, caught in the middle of trying to get the sticky things back on my chest in the right spots. A look of dawning realization mixed with relief set in as she set the defibrillator down and shot me a skeptical, annoyed glare. Oops? The guard looked past her from the doorway, looking both confused and mildly concerned as I heard more commotion from down the hallway. The nurse turned and stuck her head back out the door before shouting, "False Alarm!" Yelps resounded, along with a series of orders being barked as the commotion settled a little. She turned back around and gave me a stern look instead, however. "You're not supposed to be up and about yet, Mender. You fell, didn't you?" she asked, walking closer to me as the guard resumed his post. More than a little embarrassed at this point that my screw up had caused such a commotion, I looked away from her while lowering my eyes. No matter what excuse I gave her, it would just sound childish. Instead, I just nodded quietly. She exhaled softly and sat down in front of me, looking at my foreleg as I held it. After a moment, she spoke up with, "I know you're probably frustrated, just as much as I know you know that to heal, you have to take it easy. I know you're not stupid, Mender, so you must be getting a little stir crazy in here." Admittedly, that wasn't what I'd been expecting to hear. I looked back up at her again, a little surprised. "I'm not going to say anything about it. Frankly, I'm amazed you made it this far. Your healing capacity is phenomenal. Do you think you're ready to start getting the muscles back?" she asked, further disrupting my idea of how a hospital should operate. I frowned before asking, "Shouldn't you be the one telling me when I'm ready to begin physical therapy?" Admittedly, what I remembered of doctors from my old world had them pretty much lording their status over you and having absolute authority over your treatment. This was a bit outlandish in comparison. "By our calculations, you shouldn't have been able to get up out of bed for another three weeks. You're so much faster with your healing that I think I'm going to ask the doctor to speed things up for you." I felt a jolt of surprise go through me and it must have shown, as she shifted to a smirk a moment later before adding, "Further, my intuition tells me that it's not just what Princess Celestia did to you." My eyes widened a little. There was no question there. She had simply stated what her guess was, so anything I said for or against it would simply give more away. That sensation of walking over a minefield came back a moment later. "Why would you say that? I'm a normal pony," I reminded, careful to answer with an inquiry rather than give anything away. Her smirk didn't lose its edge as she shook her head. "You're an earth stallion who can use magic. You heal at an alarming rate; far faster than anything I've seen before. Further, the Princess herself stations guards around the hospital grounds and right outside your room door, not just throughout Ponyville. No, if I had to guess, there's quite a bit more about you that's being kept secret," she reasoned, shrugging her shoulders lightly and closing her eyes. I saw the guard look back into the room, giving her a frown. He would have been informed of some of the dangers I represented as well, no doubt. "The guards are more for your protection than mine. If one of those individuals comes back, it's better to have the event isolated and minimize the collateral damage, isn't it?" I pointed out softly, watching her as I slowly recovered feeling along my foreleg and sat up properly. Her eyes opened again a split second later and she frowned towards me, shaking her head. "Don't lessen yourself, Mender. You have many, many ponies who care about you. You might not think it, but I consider you a friend, too, you know." Her tone was stern yet soft, which only made her words confuse me even more. A light giggle cut my thinking off, however. It was rapidly followed by, "She's right, of course. Despite being a klutz and kind of thick sometimes, you make an amazingly good impression on everypony." Twilight followed her voice into the room, rounding the doorway with a smile on her face while her horn lit up. I was gently lifted into the air and drifted over my bed again before settling down against my pillows. They fluffed themselves as I landed, and my blankets slid up against me while enveloped in a soft glow. "Good impression?" I inquired, shifting back a little as I eyed her glowing horn with a little surge of paranoia. "Rainbow was already raving about how awesome you were and how you forgave her so readily," Twilight explained, sitting down in the middle of the room as Nurse Redheart picked up the wires from my electrocardiogram. I was a bit perplexed, but my side of caution got the better of me first. "Nurse Redheart. What room was I in when I was first hospitalized here? Twilight. What's your brother's name?" I asked rapidly. I never talked about my room here, and I hadn't talked to Keela after I discovered who Shining Armor was, so both questions were safe. Twilight halted in her tracks as her eyes softened again. Nurse Redheart answered, "Room one," instantly without even looking up, however. I think that was about the eighth question I'd asked her, now that I thought about it. "Mender, you really don't have to do this every time you see me," Twilight murmured. I narrowed my eyes while watching her carefully, my back starting to stir as I readied my armor just in case. Nurse Redheart chuckled as she stepped past Twilight with the cords straightened again. "He asks everypony questions except for Fluttershy. Relax, Twilight. Now hold still, Mender. I'll get these hooked back up," she instructed before lining the sticky ends up along my chest. I gave her room to work, ready to block for her if need be at the same time. If she really considered me a friend, I didn't want her to get hurt because of me. Actually, now that I considered it, I didn't really want anypony to get hurt because of me, friend or not. The lavender unicorn sighed a moment later, finally answering, "Shining Armor. It's because of the link, isn't it?" Nurse Redheart paused, but continued hooking the wires up a moment later. I relaxed and nodded gently, assuring her of what she already guessed. "I know it's Fluttershy from that, so I don't need to ask her anything," I furthered, looking away from Twilight. Even if she didn't like it, I didn't have a choice! I couldn't risk being surprised by an ambush again. Twilight shifted her gaze towards me, expression lightening a little from her sullen tone, surprisingly. "I figured that was the case. That's why I got Fluttershy to help me with some experiments last night," she revealed, smiling again suddenly at me. Experimenting? I rose an eyebrow to her, unable to contain a light blush. Twilight's eyes expanded and she mirrored my cheek shade. "Not that kind of experimenting!" she rapidly denied, coughing and looking away from me. Nurse Redheart smirked lightly as she plugged the last of the wires back onto my chest, but wisely stayed quiet. "Hey, I can't help it! You've ruined the term forever for me," I playfully refuted, earning a smirk and eye roll. Well, it beat depressed Twilight any day, even if I had to make an idiot of myself in order to cheer her up. Nurse Redheart backed up and double-checked the output from the electrocardiogram before nodding. "Okay, you're all hooked up again, Mender. Try to keep it that way this time so you don't give us another heart attack. No pun intended. I'll leave you two alone then," she added upon smiling back at me. Twilight giggled in my stead and nodded, adding, "I'll make sure he behaves and doesn't try hurtles or anything." I rolled my eyes and settled back into my pillows giving my best grumpy face. "I'm just getting stir crazy. I want to be back on my hooves again, not locked up inside a hospital room," I explained, exhaling softly. The nurse gave me a sympathetic nod before reminding, "Like I said, I'll talk to the doctor about starting your physical therapy. That will put you one step closer to leaving." I nodded and thanked her as she excused herself. Twilight idly watched her go before smiling and turning back to me again, an excited expression dancing across her face. Uh oh. Usually that only meant a few things with Twilight. "Anyways, like I said, I got Fluttershy to help me with more experiments. I wanted to test out the connection and if it truly did anything to her," Twilight furthered, hopping up on the bed and settling into a sitting position near my back legs. I idly noted her saddlebags and wondered if she had brought something. "Did you find out anything new?" I asked, making a mental note to peek into my 'documentation' myself to see if I could find anything on them. I'd not thought to look through that folder for anything about the disks. As if having waited for me to ask that, Twilight perked and nodded in a pleased manner. "Of course! There's a faint electromagnetic signature that fires off every time she attempts to contact you via the link! I'm starting to wonder if there's not something technological about it instead of magical," she enlightened. I swallowed, suddenly nervous about her getting closer to the truth of what the links were. Of course, did I know what the links were? It was an electronic signal that went both ways between the recipient and myself. It also picked up biorhythm information and various other bodily data. Wait, how did it pick up that stuff to begin with? "But the important thing is that there are no complications with her and she's perfectly healthy! The energy given off during the communication isn't harmful at all," my fillyfriend added upon seeing me hesitate. Okay, that I at least knew how to react to. I gave her a warm smile, of course. "I'd feel horrible if it was dangerous for her, so that's a good thing. Are you going to do any more tests with her?" I inquired, if only to keep the topic expanding. Okay, maybe I was fishing for a bit more data, too. Having her stumble into the truth would be disastrous. I'd much rather tell her myself and not let her think I was holding out on her. She grinned. That bolt of uneasiness went through me again. "Nope! No need. I decided that keeping myself as a control group was doing more, well, harm than good. It took a lot of consideration, but I decided that I wanted to be trusted by you as well," she further explained, closing her eyes lightly upon finishing. I frowned as she shivered, almost appearing to draw upon some inner strength to brace herself for something. Wait, what was she talking about? "I do trust you, Twilight. Making sure you're you every time doesn't mean I trust you less. It just means that I don't trust our ability to prepare for every possibility," I tried to explain, attempting to draw blame away from anypony involved. Her eyes opened softly, a gentle shine to them as I noticed they were a bit more watery than usual. She shook her head a moment later before smiling bravely up at me, causing a lump to form in my throat. "It hurts every time you ask me. I know I don't deserve your trust, but I just want you to be comfortable around me. I think that, um, I'm ready," she assured, momentarily confusing me before her horn lit up. I raised an eyebrow, but relaxed again as I saw her bags open up instead of any strange effect or other. The relaxation was shot to hell, however, when she pulled the glowing disk out of the bag, the center of which was painted lavender with her star-shaped Cutie Mark in it. The other disks followed rapidly, and to my surprise, Rarity's and Pinkie Pie's Cutie Marks were now amidst them. "I did a bit of experimenting. Pinkie touching it with her tail registered it. Rarity touching hers with her magic also worked. It seems that anything a pony touches the disks with that personally belongs to them will work," she theorized, laying the disks out in front of me. I stared at the two that had the brightened outer rings, then frowned and gave her a questioning glance. "Why did you bring them all here? Isn't that risky to get them near me? Further, do Rarity and Pinkie Pie know you got their readings?" I questioned, my mind swimming with an uneasy miasma of inquiries and situations that could explode from this. My eyes shifted in particular to the orange one with the trio of apples. "Of course they do. Rarity suggested hers, and Pinkie Pie was ecstatic at the chance," Twilight assured, expression stoic and unwavering. She said nothing else, however, so I guessed she was thinking intently about something. A nervous swallow from her a few moments later gave me a fairly certain confirmation. I decided to wait patiently for her to continue. After a good twenty seconds, she finally sighed and looked back down at the disks, explaining, "I talked to all the girls. Most think it's a good idea and want you to complete the links. If not just for the ability to tell if we're truly us, for the emotional support whenever you need it. Fluttershy says you can contact her, quote, 'Whenever you need it in the slightest,' of course." My eyes widened during, and remained quite large after she finished revealing those tidbits. More questions and extremely bad outcomes burst forth into my head, but I remained in control as best I could. That was amazingly good advice that I had read somewhere. 'Don't Panic!' "Uh, they 'want' me to form a link with them? Further, 'most' of them wanted to?" I inquired, her choice of wording not lost to me. Most did not equal all. Twilight sighed and nodded. "You probably already guessed that Applejack said no. I still present her disk here, however, due to the reason she said no. She tried to say that you'd never want to form that sort of connection with a 'horrible monster' like her," she relayed, chuckling weakly afterwards. I snorted. It came out before I even realized the true intent of my feelings about the matter. She thought that 'she' was the monster? No. She must not have gotten my message by the time Twilight had talked to her. "I'd hoped Rainbow had talked to her already and given her my message. I want to be friends with her again," I repeated, figuring I'd already said as much but I couldn't remember. That familiar tiredness crept up again and I suddenly fought the urge to just curl up and take a nap. I guess regenerating body parts really did take a lot out of me. This was easily the fourth time I distinctively had thoughts such as that. "I know. She just needs to forgive herself a little bit first. She'll come around, I'm sure. I'll try to talk to her if she's not better in a few days. I brought her disk anyway in the meantime, if you wanted," she muttered, nudging the incomplete disks towards me again. My eyes shifted to hers and I frowned, looking back up at her questioningly. She looked away in an instant, and I had the sneaking suspicion she wasn't as ready for this as she led me to believe. "Are any of the girls really ready for this? We don't even know the full extent of the capabilities of the links. I don't think any of you are thinking it through properly. You do realize I can't remove them, right?" I asked skeptically, suddenly more than a little paranoid. It was the truth. I had explored most of the options revolving around the two links I already had. They were called 'absolute' links for a reason, and there was no option to remove them. When I tried to 'uninstall' Rainbow's, it specifically warned me that the link was permanent and couldn't be disabled from either end. "The only two I'd worry about being unsure of it is Rarity and Applejack. Pinkie almost jumped down my throat at the opportunity, and I know I can speak for myself," she explained, still not looking at me. Sighing, I shook my head gently. Pinkie I understood. For some reason, I suddenly got the suspicion she knew exactly what she was getting into and truly had no fear of the link. I got the distinct mental image of her grinning and laughed softly to myself. Yeah. A moment later, I reached forwards and touched Pinkie's disk. To my surprise, an 'Are you sure?' prompt popped up in my mind, displaying across onto my eyes. Huh? Oh, so 'now' they were giving me the confirmation?! Of course, they might have given me one before and had it on a timer or something. Because I couldn't see it and wasn't aware of it, it just ran out of time and defaulted to yes. That was a really crappy system... Mentally, I hit the 'yes' option and watched the disk light up around the edge, displaying a 'Connection Established' above it via holographic letters. Twilight smiled gently as she watched until I withdrew my foreleg again. "That's the only one I'm going to establish," I added, closing my eyes and waiting for it. All it took was three seconds. Twilight let out a gasp before rapidly exclaiming, "No, Mender! I'm telling you, I'm ready! I don't want you to doubt me anymore and don't mind in the least." "Twilight, you already said you have a problem with the mind melding thing that your brother was so upset about. If you're not ready for that, how can you be ready for this? They're both equally permanent, from what I gather," I pointed out, frowning and opening my eyes to look at her again. Her expression practically killed me, of course. Both of her ears drooped almost flat against the sides of her head and her eyes were getting watery again as she edged closer to me, centimeter by centimeter. Damn it. Crying wasn't fair! "No, Mender. If you don't want the link, I'll, um, understand, of course. I mean, I don't think I'd trust me either. But the more I think about it, the more I realize how I really, really don't want you going anywhere away from my life," she muttered, eyes looking down as a faint streak slid down her right cheek. My right foreleg twitched in an effort to physically stop myself from raising it and wiping her eyes. I didn't think she was intentionally doing this... She continued after I didn't say anything. "It was a lot like friendship, really. I started off thinking I didn't need it and you made me uneasy because of what you 'forced' me to feel," she explained, adding the air quotes with a double shake of her hoof before following up with, "Eventually, I realized that I've never had anypony who I could seriously relate to with my academics and magical knowledge. My friends try to be interested but it's really not their thing. At first, I assumed it was just because of that, but everything about you just..." I watched her as she trailed off, shivering in what almost looked like frustration. Finally she let out an annoyed sounding sigh and tore her gaze back up at me with a pleading expression. "I just can't explain it! That's what frustrates me the most. Words have never failed me before. The more you're around me, the more I realize that I never want you to leave. I just want to hold you and kiss you and have wonderful discussions with you and, well, I want you to trust me. I trust you now, having learned my lesson. You're not here to hurt me or anypony I care about. You're hurt by all this the most, and if the link is what it takes for you to implicitly trust me, then I'm willing to do that," she explained in length, eyes locking back on mine towards the end. My chest felt full of both soda bubbles and ice cubes. On one hoof, I wanted to pull her against me and kiss her until she fell asleep. On the other, I was hiding a really huge secret from her now and definitely didn't think I deserved even half of how much she just said she cared. Still, she was opening herself totally and winced, watching me stare at her intently. She actually looked vulnerable. Her, a female. Vulnerable. I suddenly realized I'd never honestly seen that before. Fluttershy was timid and reserved, but always guarded, I noticed. Even with her opening herself up slowly over the last few days, she still held herself back. Twilight had just taken a flying leap off the proverbial cliff and was hoping I would catch her. Maybe she really did trust me? The lavender mare gave a start as I raised my right foreleg up, then relaxed a little as it simply brushed the tears from her cheeks. Those sparkling globes shifted back to my face a moment later, and I could have sworn I saw a glimmer of hope in those violet depths. Yeah, I didn't have a choice if I wanted this to work. "I, well, I believe you, Twilight. I want to be with you and Fluttershy, too. I don't think you 'need' to form the link with me to earn my trust back, but if you truly want to, then just tell me that. But think about it first and, um, wait a little bit before answering," I requested, earning both a happy and confused expression at the same time. Well, at least I got happy mixed in this time. Usually I was really good at just the confused part when interacting with other ponies. I sighed and shook my head quietly before she could ask. "You guessed right, from what I noticed. I'm hiding a rather big secret from you and have been trying to think of how to best tell you about it the past few days. I can't tell you quite yet, but after our meeting with Keela, I promise that I'll tell you everything in private," I promised, committing myself to biting the bullet later. I probably could have chosen a better time to do this, considering I couldn't even flee if I wanted to at the moment, but maybe that was part of the appeal? She looked surprisingly thoughtful for a moment before smiling and nodding. "I'm happy you're being honest with me. Admittedly, that's more than I've done for you in the past and I really, really apologize for that. I can wait until after the meeting, don't worry," she agreed, taking it amazingly well for what I had considered in my mind. I didn't even have to reattach any body parts! Smiling at her, I gently stroked her cheek while she relaxed again. A moment later, her horn lit up once more and opened her saddlebag. I tilted my head until she pulled out the enchantment notes she'd taken last time and gave me a guilty if not hopeful smile. Tossing a chuckle in, I nodded to her before drifting my bedside food tray into the air again. My fillyfriend gave a squeal of delight before flopping over next to me and tucking herself under my right foreleg, levitating her notepad in front of her. "Excellent! Based on what I discovered last time, Unicorn magic seems greatly magnified as you accelerate it through your own enchantment patching. From what I saw earlier from the burn marks, I think if we adjust your energy array, we can get it almost perfectly compatible!" she resumed, as if having never stopped in the first place. I snickered and added, “I was considering the problem. Perhaps if we drop a few of the circuits off the array, then lengthen each individual one?" I suggested, having considered the issue last night while munching apples. She gave a happy squeak and nodded, taking more notes rapidly. "Good idea! You try adjusting the left side, then I'll pump some energy into it and we'll hope it doesn't catch fire this time!" she requested, sounding absolutely gleeful. Snickering, I did as she asked and prepared a barrier for the two of us. This was going to be a long morning... * * * * * "Hey, mine can totally get bigger!" Shining Armor pointed out, smirking cockily at me as I shook my head. "It's not about how big it can get. Mine is way harder than yours, which is far more important," I refuted, a little frustrated and embarrassed over the conversation in general. Shining Armor shook his head and gave me a skeptical glance. "Honestly, if it's not big enough, it won't matter how hard it is, right? Have you actually gotten any real experience with using it?" he asked, sounding skeptical. I glared, shocked that he'd even ask that if Twilight told him as much as I thought she had. "Of course! Dozens if not hundreds of hours of experience!" I assured, a little indignant. Fluttershy gave out a timid giggle next to me, tucking further into the blankets as she listened in. Shining Armor ignored her entirely, of course. "Fine! You're obviously not going to be satisfied like this. Let's just smash them together repeatedly until one breaks," he finally suggested. He was joking, I assumed. There was a skidding sound in the hallway, and I suddenly saw Twilight burst back in. "What are you two talking about?!" she demanded, oddly beet red for some reason and looking absolutely horrified. I raised an eyebrow at the same time I lowered the barrier block I had formed in front of me. Her brother looked equally skeptical and lowered his shield-shaped barrier before turning to look at her. "Er, is something wrong, Twily?" he questioned, looking as perplexed as I felt. Fluttershy let out a pleased humming noise, informing, "They're comparing shield magic!" Well, at least she sounded amused by it. I was worried the technical discussion parts had bored her. Twilight gave us both a deadpan stare before exhaling and slapping her forehead with a forehoof. "Oh. Never mind, then. Uh, I brought lunch," she murmured, sliding a tray along after her. I gave her a questioning look, but decided it was probably best if I didn't ask. "Is Celestia almost set then?" I asked instead, watching as she shifted the tray in. There were all sorts of delightful sandwiches and salads on it, and my mouth started watering. Then she rotated the tray, turning the plate of processed cubes and slime towards me instead. My ears lowered as I stared at it, instantly losing my appetite. Ah yes, another reason to get out of the hospital as soon as possible. Twilight smiled gently and flopped over onto the bed next to me, the side opposite of Fluttershy. "Princess Celestia said that she'd be here in half an hour. She's sending a letter to Princess Luna," she explained. "Um, this isn't supposed to be dangerous, right?" Fluttershy questioned yet again, probably for the fifth time. Smiling, I pressed a little kiss into her right shoulder before shaking my head in assurance. She reddened but smiled towards me, eyes surprised but warm from my display of affection. "Me, too!" Twilight playfully reminded, tossing up a pouting face. I smirked as she pounced both of us, food momentarily forgotten. Fluttershy's blush expanded across her cheeks almost as fast as her eyes shot open, and for a moment, I was jealous of the reaction Twilight managed to get out of her. The shy yellow mare shifted her attention to Twilight instead, pulling her a little closer to the both of us. Shining Armor made a playful gagging motion over his sister's back and I managed a snicker. "You two should eat before your sandwiches get mushy," I suggested a moment later, both conscientious of her brother being in the room, and of Fluttershy's blood flow. Admittedly, it certainly wasn't for me. Having two adorable mares lying on top of me wasn't hard to take at all. The results hit as fast as I predicted. "Ah! The food!" Twilight squeaked, sitting up instantly and checking to see if she had jostled the tray with her pounce. Of course, if she had, it would have been far too late for that. Shining Armor smirked, pointing out, "Shouldn't you have checked that before launching yourself at him? If it was going to be upturned, you three would be wearing it at this point." No fair! He could get away with teasing her just because he was her brother. She stuck her tongue out at him before resting back against the pillows again, taking her plate into her lap. I still wasn't used to either of them sitting like that, but I suppose it wasn't that big of a deal. "Please eat, Mender. You'll need your strength for when Princess Celestia gets here," Fluttershy requested softly a moment after picking up her own plate. I sighed wearily as I looked down at mine. I'd eat if there were food present for me. The processed cubes and puddings on the plate didn't meet my specifications for edibility. Fluttershy gave me a frown and I caved instantly. She was far, far too adorable to refuse. Sighing in defeat, I lowered my head and picked up one of the bite-sized cubes before crunching into it in my mouth. It tasted grainy and somewhat burnt before shifting to a powdery prune aftertaste. I tried really hard not to gag, but I'm fairly certain that my grimace was enough to give away my opinion on it. Shining Armor apparently respected me enough to not burst into laughter as he watched, instead only holding a hoof up to his mouth politely as he grinned behind it. He then showed surprising understanding and distracted me with, "You did say that you had some sort of new spell you wanted to try that would show everypony else what was going on?" The question distracted me from the horrible misery in my mouth long enough to just swallow the thing whole and I nodded wearily. Of course, I could have swallowed it right off the bat, but that might have looked a little creepy to onlookers. I didn't think chewing something to maintain appearances would ever be a 'difficult' thing for me. "It's more a spell I remembered from before than anything new. I have no idea if it will work in this particular situation, but I figured it might be worth a shot," I explained, only lying a little bit of course. He nodded earnestly towards me, apparently pleased with my answer. Twilight gave me a quizzical look, however, so I decided it would be more effective to just show them. I closed my right eye and activated the projector effect in my left. All three ponies gasped as an image of Rainbow Dash soaring through the air came into existence drifting over the bed. She zipped easily through the air, my connection picking up the direction, speed, and muscle twitches accurately enough to recreate the image of her. The scenery was also reformed out of my basic memories of Ponyville, with a bit of guesswork on the computer's part for angles and such. I smiled as they all watched it. She zoomed down and headed for the hospital a moment later. Oh! Oops. "Wait, is this live?" Twilight asked instantly a moment later. I turned off the projector and coughed lightly just as Rainbow landed on my windowsill. "Hey, Mender, let me in!" she called out through the glass. Twilight and Shining Armor gave me a shocked look, but Fluttershy just smiled and drifted into the air, sliding the window open for her cyan friend. Dash zipped in instantly, landing lightly on the floor before stretching and flexing her wings out lazily. She'd probably been asleep before this. I didn't know specifically, as I kept the links off unless I wanted to do something with them out of respect for their privacy. "He can track us through the links if he focuses on it," Fluttershy explained upon settling on the bed again. "Isn't that a little, I dunno, creepy?" Twilight asked, metaphorically bowling me over with the bluntness. Wasn't that the same thing as calling me creepy?! Dash snorted, however, apparently picking up on what we were talking about. "It's not creepy. It's handy, honestly. If we get in trouble, he can contact somepony or come help himself. Plus, he keeps the links off when nothing’s happening," she reasoned, drifting into the air again and landing lightly on the bed to Fluttershy's left. It was getting a little crowded now, but Celestia said she was going to bring in another bed to give us a wider 'platform' to all lay on. "You believe him, I take it?" Shining Armor asked, not pointedly, but with an air of innocent inquiry instead. I sighed weakly, having anticipated the question coming. "Heck yeah! Everypony in this room probably does," Rainbow shot back without hesitation, shifting my expression to a blush in an instant. Twilight and Fluttershy both nodded in agreement, the lavender mare adding, "I'm fairly certain that he's more than proved his honesty. If anything, we should have started believing him long before now." Blushing even more now, I sunk a little lower into the blankets, earning another giggle from Fluttershy as she watched. "It's also really adorable when he doesn't know what to say," she pointed out, tucking her wing around my back and coaxing me upwards again as she gently nuzzled my left temple. Rainbow gave a sharp mix of snorting and laughter. "He just doesn't know how to take a compliment. I could totally help him get adjusted to that by getting help from my fan club!" she offered. At least, I think it was an offer. Wait, she had a fan club? "Yes, you'd certainly be the one to go to for ego training," Twilight muttered a moment later, smirking at Rainbow as she did so. This of course earned a glare of spite from the pegasus. "Hey, he needs to learn to at least stick up for himself, and I'm only trying to help!" she defended, earning a snicker from Twilight. I was more concerned that nopony was calling her on the fan club thing. She actually had a fan club?! "Oh, I know, I know. I'm just teasing you, Rainbow," she assured in a softer voice. Dash relaxed and smirked at her after recovering. All of us were interrupted, however, by the noise of something heavy rolling down the hallway outside. Wait, was that what I thought it was? Sure enough, half a minute later, a large bed got rolled in being pushed by a royal guard. Half a second after it cleared the doorway, Celestia herself followed them in and gave me a warm smile. I glanced at the guard as he started to rotate the mattress so it was horizontal, before turning and looking back to Celestia. "Good afternoon, my little ponies," she greeted warmly, sitting down at the foot of my bed. "Good afternoon, Auntie." "Good afternoon, Princess Celestia!" "Oh, um, good afternoon..." "Hiya, Princess Celestia!" "Hey Tia." I noticed we each had a different way in which to greet her. Mine earned a questioning glare from Shining Armor, however. Celestia seemed unaffected, though, and simply smiled and nodded to each of us in turn. "I'm glad everypony is well today. Do you mind Miss Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy watching as well?" she inquired after another moment. The guard gave her a polite bow upon rotating the bed completely and lining it up to the left of mine. "Nope. I even remembered an old spell that will let me hopefully project what we're seeing through one of my eyes for them," I returned. Her expression flickered to amusement for the barest split of a second before she nodded warmly. Heh. I figured she'd know the truth almost instantly. "Sweet! I wanted to see what Keela looked like, so I know who to buck into the stratosphere if we meet!" Rainbow spit out rather vehemently, to my surprise. Twilight shook her head rapidly, however, correcting, "Dash, it wasn't Keela who attacked Mender. It was her sister, Nirru. Keela was conned just as much as we were." Rainbow looked less than convinced, and I suddenly gathered she was more just looking for somepony to beat senseless to relieve some anger. "Let's wait and see how this meeting goes first. I have no idea what's going on or what's happened since the incident," I warned, earning a patient nod from Celestia. "He's right, of course. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions until we have more information. That's why we're going to talk to Keela," she reminded, drawing everypony's attention back towards her. In that split second lull, I took advantage of nopony looking at me. My tongue shot out half a meter, snagging three of the four remaining cubes and pulling them back into my mouth for me to swallow whole. Thank goodness for small blessings! Skipping the whole 'tasting' part of hospital food was definitely a perk. Celestia, the only pony who saw me, smirked and intentionally kept their attention as I swallowed. "Regardless, it doesn't hurt to be prepared. We don't know what's been going on while Mender's been hospitalized. Shining Armor, be prepared to shield us upon entry. Twilight, you get ready to use your magic to intervene as the situation demands it," Celestia requested, looking to each of them individually. They both nodded, leaving her to turn to me. Thankfully, I had finished swallowing the hospital food whole already. "You, Mender, will be our go-between and translator. You're the only one here who knows fully about the culture and technology we'll be seeing, so that's indispensable," she added, smiling towards me. I blushed, but nodded lightly, trying to stay calm. There was no guarantee that this was even going to work in the first place! Heck, I might end up going alone. The prospect of meeting Keela again after everything that happened was somewhat nerve wracking. 'Lunch', as they insisted on calling it, passed relatively uneventful after everypony settled down. Rainbow informed that she'd been by Rarity's earlier and told me to expect a visit from both her and the slightly slower, less energetic pink one later tonight. She also said the CMC would be visiting as well, having been asking about me left and right apparently. I doubted Scootaloo had been honestly, but it was easier to believe with Sweetie Belle. Positions shifted after we got rid of the food tray. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash moved to the chairs near the window across from the bed for prime watching location. Princess Celestia took up almost all of the bed she brought, being almost twice the size of a normal pony. Twilight stayed on my right and gently set her horn against my forehead as I lay down on my stomach. Shining Armor shot us a displeased look at the sight before settling in to her right and waiting. Celestia seemed oblivious to his annoyance, which I doubt was the truth, and settled her horn down on top of Twilight's, as planned. It was hard to see around all the horns at this point, but I saw Shining Armor finally lower his onto Celestia's, forming a 'chain' of horns. "You may begin when you're ready, Mender," Celestia relayed a moment after all four of us settled. Twilight frowned next to me, asking, "Don't you need to fall asleep for this to work?" Heh, normally yeah. That was a lot easier for me to do since discovering I was a cyborg, however. "I've gotten better at it in all my downtime. I'll get Keela's attention," I relayed before giving a firm, double tug on the inner connection to her. Twilight was already channeling energy into me and I knew she felt the sensation as well, going quiet instantly. A second passed before a burst of shock mixed with an incredibly distinct sense of fumbling a teacup into the side of a coffee table came into place. I felt Twilight restrain a giggle, and Celestia followed suit a moment later. I suddenly realized I could 'feel' all three of them there, seeing the reaction as well. "Just a minute, Mender! I'll power up the link so you can get a lock on me," Keela assured a moment later, sounding slightly scatterbrained. Well, I hadn't exactly given her any warning about this, so I guess I could sympathize. Twilight stiffened instantly next to me upon hearing the Keldarian's voice. Some part of her was probably in disbelief still that this was actually real. It was probably easier on her to believe that it was all a figment of my imagination. Not only had that been easier to treat, but it had far less implications involved. I understood why she did so. The power turned on, just as expected. I felt the connection strengthen and reached out to the book in the same instant. The ocean of power flooded into me and I slipped my mind down the link between us once more, turning off my consciousness on the way out the door, so to speak. Two of the three connected ponies gasped as they were dragged along with. Celestia followed with an almost practiced ease, however, which was more than a little disconcerting if I thought about it too hard. With a minor mental push, I shoved us into the other reality. * * * * * I stepped out first, beating out everypony else in the transition due to natural acclimation and due course for being half robot. My eyes widened, however, as I looked around, finding myself in a radically unfamiliar place. The room was exceedingly large, containing what appeared to be a full suite of living quarters. A large sofa sat across from several comfy looking recliners, a familiar looking and still dripping coffee table between them. A fireplace accented that corner and brought a warm light to the atmosphere. To the left of the seating arrangement was a large, sliding door installed in the middle of the wall. The corner to the left of that popped outwards and had a smaller door kitty corner to the main one. A restroom, maybe? I saw a full kitchen behind me upon shifting my perspective. It looked well stocked and had an island bar expanding a good two meters across it. Behind me on the other side was a nicely sized bedroom area that was partitioned off from the rest of the room via half-walls. A king-sized bed took up most of the area, but I also saw a cozy looking workstation. Snapping back to attention upon a mental nudge from Celestia, I snapped focus onto Keela, who stood next to the sofa I had originally noticed. She was waiting patiently and looking about the room, apparently for any signs of my being there. With a bit of focus, I touched upon the shielding capabilities of Prudentia and formed a barrier body for myself, coloring it with my natural colors. Keela's eyes locked onto me instantly and a warm smile flickered across her face. It shifted to a bit of confusion as I didn't return it, instead focusing on pulling forth all three separate individuals into full awareness and shifting them into their own bodies. It would probably be more comfortable for them that way. Twilight formed first, 'stepping' into place right next to me as her eyes widened and she looked around. My Keldarian friend gasped and nodded to her instantly, offering, "Oh, Twilight!" Shining Armor appeared to my left, also mid-step as he faded into place. He looked much calmer and slowly took in his surroundings with an air of calculated precision. He was extremely serious when he wanted to be, I noted. Celestia more pulled herself out, apparently having experience with dealing in a projected body already. She still borrowed my barrier capability to give herself a visible form, though, and stepped out behind me a little ways. Keela looked utterly shocked at this point, gaze flicking between the four of us rapidly. "Twilight, hold her. Shining Armor, throw a barrier over us and the door," Celestia ordered upon touching down. Huh? Both unicorns' horns lit up to either side of me. A barrier of energy went over the only two doors in the room a heartbeat later. Keela's eyes widened as her form went rigid at the same time, surrounded by a purple glow. I narrowed my eyes as I looked back at Celestia. "Don't hurt her. This wasn't part of the agreement," I reminded, ready to cut connection if need be. Celestia gave me a light shake of her head, explaining, "It's fine, Mender. I have no intention of hurting her. This is merely for both our safety, and to secure a private conversation with no interruptions." "It's okay, Mender. I should have realized you wouldn't be coming alone. Precautions are fine," Keela assured, smiling again regardless of her current state. I sighed and walked past her, earning a curious look from Twilight and Shining Armor. Fine, I might as well bite the bullet and cooperate then to speed things up. I stopped in front of the keypad to the right of the door. My barrier extended for a split second from my right shoulder, neatly slicing open the panel directly under the pad. A few tweaks later and I killed power to the surveillance circuit and the door. "There. Her internal surveillance system and door security are offline. They already sounded an alarm upon our entry, however," I warned, observing the energy flowing through the main circuit board. Of course, I 'cheated' a bit to analyze it, using my own processors. "We're in a detachable section of the ship with a self-contained life support system. I intentionally separated myself from the rest of the crew. They're only concerned for me and want to know what's going on," Keela explained gently, looking over her shoulder as I walked back up to the group. Celestia nodded gently, looking to Keela's left at me instead. "This is fair. Introductions are in order, Mender," she suggested softly. I walked past Keela and turned to face her again, once more in front of everypony else. "You already know who Twilight Sparkle is," I started, motioning to the lavender unicorn-shaped barrier in question. Keela nodded and smiled at her, affirming, "Yes, of course I've heard of Twilight. It's nice to finally meet you." Twilight looked momentarily surprised, but cracked a tiny smile and nodded back. "This is Twilight's brother, Prince Shining Armor. He's also Princess Celestia's nephew." I nodded towards him as I said as much, causing him to nod properly towards her in return. "Charmed. I can see the family resemblance," Keela noted, relaxing against the tight hold Twilight had on her. I noticed that it shifted her rather informal robes against her in a rather uncomfortable looking manner as well. "Last, but definitely not least, we have Princess Celestia herself, ruler of Equestria," I announced properly. Celestia smiled at my introduction, and Twilight actually perked up a little as she smirked at me. She was probably used to me chopping off the titles already. Keela’s eyes widened drastically and to my surprise, she actually dropped to one knee and bowed to Celestia. I gave a questioning glance at Twilight, who looked as surprised as I did and just shrugged. "She did it herself, and the expression seemed harmless," Twilight elaborated. "She's royalty. She deserves respect," Keela relayed, smiling gently but remaining eyes closed, head tilted down. Celestia flexed out her wings and nodded to her as well. "You may stand, of course. Twilight, you may relax the barrier to only restricting magic," she ordered, stepping past me slightly and sitting down to my left. "What about the windows?" Shining Armor inquired a moment later, glancing out the one to our left that showed a rather impressive view of nothing in particular. Honestly, that's all space was. A whole lot of nothing with pockets of burning gas and chunks of solids floating around them. Shaking myself out of the momentary distraction, I answered, "They're not actually windows, but parts of the wall that images of the outside are projected on. They're fine." To my surprise, he actually smiled at me and nodded. Well, these three were extremely talented. I guess I shouldn't have expected them to react poorly to the totally foreign environment. A mental image flicked by of him stomping my letter into the floor and I inwardly sighed. Well, for the most part, anyway. A muffled but abrupt pounding came to the door a moment later. Keela hesitated as she glanced over to it, but shifted her attention back to us. I saw Shining Armor thicken the barrier over the door, then go back to ignoring it. Celestia spoke up anyway, regardless. "Please forgive the surprise visit as well, Miss Keela. I'm sure you know why we're here, however," Celestia cut in, gesturing gently towards the Keldarian. Keela sighed and lost her smile, looking away from us before slowly nodding. "You're obviously here because of the attack from my sister a few days ago." That was indeed fairly obvious, and I wasn't quite sure why we were even starting there, if not purely for formalities. "Indeed. I wish to have the unpleasantness be as short as possible, of course. Where is Nirru now, and what is her status?" Celestia asked next, voice quiet but demanding all the same. Even totally out of her element, she seemed to hold an air of authority when she dropped into her serious demeanor. "My sister is under arrest and locked in a holding cell on this ship. A fight broke out after we were freed from the machine, and she had to be subdued by force. Thankfully, Mender took a lot of the fight out of her or it could have been a lot worse than it was," Keela explained instantly, no hesitation at all. Oh. Oh crap. "Wait, what?!" Twilight asked a moment later, shifting her gaze over to me in surprise. Keela's eyes shot open and she covered her mouth with her hands, suddenly realizing I hadn't told her yet. Celestia coughed, however, snapping Twilight's attention back up to her instead. "Now isn't the time for that, Twilight. I'm sure Mender will explain everything to you in due time," she assured, obviously not aware of my prior promise to Twilight in the first place. "I told you I'd tell you after this talk, Twilight. Please wait until after?" I requested, looking away from both Keela and Twilight as I said it. Given that reaction, I wasn't so sure this was going to go swimmingly anymore. Of course, what could I honestly expect, when I'm going to have to explain to her that I'm an abomination mixed with a weapon of mass destruction? There was a long pause before Twilight finally muttered, "Oh. Oh! It's what you wanted to talk to me about! Okay, I'll wait then, of course. I already promised to be patient." This surprised me. I hadn't anticipated her actually being understanding over this entire thing. As I turned, however, I could have sworn I saw her doing something with her hoof and deep breathing. Heh. She still had stress issues, I guessed. Remembering suddenly, I double-checked the feed to the hospital room as Celestia started talking to Keela again. It was kind of amazing how clear the images were given how theoretically far apart we were. Fluttershy was staring around the room in amazement as my eye projected a mostly completed version of us, Keela, and the room we were in. The timid pegasus oddly seemed more interested in the surroundings than Keela herself, unlike Rainbow. Dash's eyes were glued on the Keldarian, apparently interested in seeing what one's true form was. Well, true form that wasn't cut into three pieces and bleeding all over the place, anyway. I shuddered as I remembered the image of my original I was cloned from lying on that broken rock. He was me, wasn't he? If so, I wondered if he had been scared before he died. I probably would be. Hell, I was definitely terrified when the ship was about to explode. There was something more than that, though. A sense of calm and acceptance of everything. Now I didn't have that feeling anymore, oddly. Was that because I had more reasons to keep going on, now? Drawing myself back to reality, or as close as I got to it, anyway, I looked over at one of the main reasons I had for preserving myself. Twilight stared back and forth between Keela and Celestia with a certain sense of curiosity, of course. She usually held that look when she found new things to study or observe, I noticed. Frankly, it was rather adorable to watch. "The records we found in her study were more than a little disturbing. She'd known about Mender's original form the entire time, and only made the connection with who he was a day or so before everything fell apart. Worse yet, she got the council's approval for what she did. Well, for the most part," Keela continued, sounding rather grim for her usual standard. Celestia sighed, but nodded before inquiring, "What have you done about the information, may I ask?" The council confirmed her mission? No, that probably meant they just let her decide what to do. Keela shook her head, however, and looked away. It was a long minute before she finally spoke up. "I couldn't stand it anymore. The council has been nothing but a blight to our race for as long as I remember. Every choice they've made has been to preserve the status quo of the females and their own personal power, above and beyond the needs of our species itself. I took a vote," she revealed, looking back to Celestia with a stern yet sorrowful expression. A vote? I wasn't aware Keldarians knew the meaning of that. Mentally, I snickered at the aspect. "What were the results?" Twilight asked with more than a little interest. Heh, no unnecessary questions, I noticed. It didn't matter what they were voting on, I decided. Twilight was right. The only thing that mattered was what they did. Keela smiled weakly and answered, "We blew the FTL Communication Array off the side of this ship, then jumped into dark space where we currently are." What?! I choked out a cough, staring at Keela in shock. She looked startled for a moment before giggling at my reaction. Celestia raised an eyebrow to me, and I picked up her silent inquiry easily enough. "Dark space is empty space outside of a standard galaxy cluster. Nopony ever goes out that far and it's considered uncharted, for the most part. If you don't have specific coordinates for something, finding anything out here is pretty much impossible. As for the FTL Array; that means she cut off all contact with the council. They probably think the ship was discovered by the Grosh and destroyed," I explained quietly. Keela nodded gently, closing her eyes as she fell backwards onto the couch again, spilled tea momentarily forgotten. "He still knows his stuff. We voted to live out here on this ship for the rest of our lives, the first free Keldarians in three thousand years. There are only twenty-seven of us who either didn't join up with Nirru, or lived through her arrest." Keldarians died trying to arrest her? I frowned, but kept my mouth shut, biting back the hostility. No, she was Keela's sister. I made the right choice in letting her live. "That is a brave and very lonely decision. You're a strong individual, Keela. Is that the same reason you isolated yourself here?" Celestia inquired curiously. Wait, why did Keela isolate herself? The Keldarian looked shocked for a moment. That question had caught her by surprise, it would seem. "Oh, I locked myself in here to keep the rest of my crew safe if, well..." she admitted, trailing off as she glanced over at me. Celestia raised an eyebrow and the two unicorns turned to me instead. What? Oh. "In case I decided to use the link you gave me to take revenge?" I asked gently, staring right at her. Did she honestly think that I would do something like that? Her ears flattened back and she looked away, giving me all the answer I needed. There was no trust anymore. Nopony trusted me, did they? It was a bit ironic, but maybe everypony already thought I was a monster? I idly wondered, with a small amount of bitterness, if that would ease my transition into a literal monster for them. "Surely, you realize Mender would never do that!" Twilight exclaimed, snapping my attention back to her instead, eyes widening a little. My fillyfriend continued to surprise me more and more since the incident. There were too many differences for it to just be guilt, and she seemed genuinely intent on changing. Maybe I wasn't the only one who had an epiphany? Her outlook itself seemed to change about the relationship. "I believe it was a precaution, Twilight. It's similar to us using magic to lock the room down when we arrived," Shining Armor spoke up. He had a point. Her reaction indicated she felt bad for having to do it, so maybe she really did believe that I wasn't going to murder her and blow up half the ship with it? Keela sighed and sank further into the cushions of her couch. "I knew the Mender I had gotten to know wouldn't have, no. But my sister did a terrible, terrible thing and I didn't know what the price would be for that. I insisted that Mender spare her and took her out of his reach, so I was worried he'd take me as a substitute instead. If he were a normal Keldarian, it would have only been a question of when," she corrected, still not looking at me. "That's kind of sad, really. Why was that promoted in your culture?" Twilight asked, looking a little down suddenly. 'Why' was never something asked. Keela laughed, though. "Power and control. Females were in charge and had an ironclad grip over every aspect of society. Males were treated as expendable property and 'disposed' of at the most minor of inconveniences. We didn't even call it murder or execution. It disgusted me, but even holding a seat on the council, there was nothing I could do. Males usually were instilled with a deep-seated psychological fear of females at an early age and rarely spoke out, much less rebelled. If a male were to actually get some form of power after all that, it usually ended up in a gory or vindictive form of revenge," Keela continued, opening her eyes again, now looking miserable. The reactions were interesting, to say the least. Celestia just frowned, having a reserved yet saddened expression on. Shining Armor looked downright horrified, however, showing open disgust for the first time since I met him. Ultimately, I had to agree. Twilight was totally different, though. She snapped to a sudden look of dawning comprehension instead, and rapidly looked over at me. "That's why you're afraid of me, isn't it?! That's why you act that way around us!" she suddenly exclaimed. Well, yes, that was mostly true. It wasn't honestly because she was so powerful. Sure, it was scary, but it was also because she was female. "You girls are powerful and important females. On an unconscious level, Mender probably instinctively attempts to submit because of that," Keela observed, earning a glare from me. Even if that was true, she didn't have to say it out loud to the entire room. I suddenly noticed that Shining Armor was looking at me instead of Keela, upon looking back up at everypony. He looked away when our eyes met, and immediately reminded, "We're getting a little off track. What's going to be done with Nirru?" I stared intently at him for a moment, but he didn't look back at me. I knew he'd seen that I wasn't enjoying that last topic. Did he switch it for me, then? "She's already had her rights and powers striped from her. Her Aegis Artifact is in my keeping instead, and she'll probably be incarcerated indefinitely. At least until the link between our dimensions is permanently broken," Keela responded, looking momentarily glum over the aspect, but maintaining her stoic expression. I had sympathy for her, honestly. She'd been through a lot, and while it could have been prevented, expecting her not to make mistakes in hindsight was stupid. She was hurting, too. Celestia smiled and nodded with that. "I understand that this is hard for you, too, but I believe that to be the right choice. My primary concern is keeping my little ponies safe, of course. This seems satisfactory to do so. What of your relation with Mender?" she asked. Keela seemed hesitant for a moment before smiling over at me instead. I met her gaze with a curious expression, wondering what the change in demeanor was about. "I would really like to be his friend still, but I know keeping the link open would just be dangerous. The only thing holding it open now is the link I gave him to communicate with me. If he severs that, our dimensions should shift apart again in a couple weeks. That, um, would be the best course of action, probably," she suggested, doing a very bad job of sounding sure of herself. Her eyes stayed locked on mine until her voice trailed off. "You're hesitating," I pointed out, watching her carefully. That got her to snap her eye contact with me instantly, looking away and to the left instead. Twilight's eyebrow raised and she tilted her head as well, theorizing, "The only anchor firm enough to maintain a connection at this distance theoretically is your life force. You mentioned earlier that Mender could also use the link to retaliate against you. What would happen to you if he severed the link?" Oh. That was indeed a good question. Keela's ears flattened back even further, and I suddenly realized that I probably wasn't going to like the answer. "I, um, don't know? The link I gave him used to be taken from slaves in order to control them and show ownership. The only time I've ever seen one broken is when the slave is killed by their owner," she revealed. "What?!" was out my mouth before I could stop it. Why the hell did she give one of those connections to me?! Twilight looked as surprised as I did, making me feel a little better about my sudden outburst. "Mender's not even in your dimension. Why did you give him such a link?" she asked, mirroring my thoughts, apparently. "Well, for one, I wanted him to trust me. Even if he didn't know the significance of the link, giving him clear leverage over me was the easiest and fastest way I could think of. So, well, I took a gamble on his personality. I don't really mind the thought. It's not like he asks me to do anything I wasn't technically doing already," she reasoned, making my feelings twist up even more. "So severing the link could potentially kill you?" Celestia asked in a rather direct, blunt manner, earning a wince from me. Keela just nodded wearily, suddenly looking somewhat uneasy. "Twilight, I'd like you to start looking into the nature of the link and see if you can find a way to break it without hurting Keela. In the meantime, the link shall stay. I also need to talk to you after this, Mender," she requested after a moment's consideration. I swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling as uneasy as Keela looked a moment ago. Was I in trouble? Regardless, I nodded towards Celestia, who gave me a soft smile in return. "Then I believe we're done for now. I'll contact you through Mender again in the future when we have more information, and vice versa with any discoveries you make. Oh, and I'm sure you realize now, but you don't need to worry about retaliation, Keela," Celestia continued, politely smiling back towards the Keldarian. Keela blushed and coughed lightly before smiling back. It was a precaution, but it was rather silly. "I'm not going to attack you, Keela. What happened was out of your control," I agreed, giving her a smile as well. Keela's eyes softened as she looked at me before she gave a single nod. "I realize that now. Um, thank you for believing me, Mender. Do you want to keep talking during this whole ordeal?" she asked, looking hopeful. Twilight giggled instead, however, pointing out, "He kind of has to if he wants to deliver information back and forth. But if he doesn't have a problem with it, do you think I could visit, too? You seem like an interesting individual," Twilight asked, looking back and forth between us. Wait, she was asking me, too? Keela grinned and shook her head, adding, "I don't have a problem with it if Mender doesn't. It's him doing all the hard work." I snorted and shook my head. "It's not really that hard at all. I'm actually in the hospital right now, so honestly, it's kind of like resting anyway. Maybe I'll ask Fluttershy to meet you too, even?" I offered, shifting my focus into my left eye and peeking back into the other dimension again. Fluttershy gave a squeak as I referenced her name, and shrunk down in her chair, of course. I tried to resist the urge to cut the link, then run over and hug her again. That 'running' part would probably throw a wrench in things. "I'd like that. Every, um, pony seems really kind so far. Now that I can truly meet them, I feel a lot better," Keela agreed, somewhat cryptically. I let it slide, however, deciding to ask her about it later. Princess Celestia nodded in agreement. "I'm pleased that this has gone so smoothly, and will gladly welcome communication between yourself and Equestria. For now, however, I apologize, but I have much to consider," she apologized. "I suppose that means you're leaving now?" the Keldarian asked, hiding the smallest burst of melancholy that flashed across her face. Celestia nodded, of course, earning a soft sigh from Keela. "All right. Before you go, Mender, I do have something for you," she revealed, sliding over to the other end of the couch and fetching something from around the side. I felt Shining Armor's barrier strengthen almost instantly and smirked to myself, amused at how cautious he was. Still, I kind of envied him for it. If I'd been this cautious when Nirru tried to trick me, she never would have even made it upstairs. Shining Armor probably would have figured it out on the ground floor, tricked her back, then ambushed her instead. He relaxed when Keela withdrew a medium sized box instead. Papers and notebooks were literally overflowing from the top of it, and she slid the box across the table and closer to my view. A simple glance at the top few pages revealed many familiar topics. "Doctor Kyliona's notes. How did you get these?" I asked, surprised they even still existed. "They're not the originals. I printed off and bound everything I could find in our database before deleting it. Those are the only copies left. I want to send them over to you in Equestria," she explained, sounding remarkably final about it. I frowned, but before I or anypony else could say anything, she kneeled down to my head level and slid something out from under the sofa. Shining Armor's shield flared up again as his eyes widened. Mine did too, for just cause. The silver and black hilt and sheath of "Void Cutter" was displayed before me. "I know I don't have any right to ask favors of you, but can I please send you Ventosus Lacuna, too? It's Nirru's Artifact, and as such, she can pull it to herself from almost anywhere. Almost. I have reason to believe that she can't draw it from a different dimension. I don't want her getting it. I've had to forcefully stop several attempts already of her pulling it," she explained. Ventosus Lacuna? Windy Emptiness? Why did Nirru call it something different? I started to turn and look at Celestia instead, but the alicorn beat me to the punch by far. "That actually is in line with my thoughts exactly. Please accept the Artifact, Mender," Celestia requested, surprising me and making me suspicious at the same time. I nodded slowly, turning back to Keela instead. The Keldarian smiled and gave me a gentle hug, squeezing around my shoulders. Subconsciously, I patted her on the back using my right foreleg, avoiding my left entirely. "Then I'll see you later, Mender?" Keela asked, finally backing up and giving me a hopeful expression. I nodded softly to her, offering, "Probably tonight, depending on what Twilight's doing. I'll tug on the link when I'm set." Of course, I didn't mention that Twilight might be busy either directing me or blasting me to pieces. I held back a shiver of nervousness at the prospect of telling her. "Okay! I look forward to talking to both of you again, then," Keela confirmed, sounding a lot happier than she was earlier, admittedly. Nodding to her, I gave her a parting bow for politeness before pulling all four of us back out and through the dimensional transit. Twilight waited until everything started to run together before sliding sideways and pressing a firm kiss to my right cheek. I gave her a smirk and kissed hers back in return as everything melted into a singularity. Maybe, just maybe, things would work out after all?
Chapter 34Slowly, my eyes opened again to greet the hospital room. The flickering projection of the other reality melted away as I shifted back here at the same time. Rainbow and Fluttershy were both facing the wall, having previously been looking out the 'window' that was projected there from inside the ship. Both turned around and smiled at us as the other three stirred, one by one. "That was surprisingly relaxing," Celestia commented, stretching her wings out upon lifting her head. I blinked my eye repeatedly, it having dried out a little while projecting the image for the girls. Twilight snickered before gently brushing her muzzle against my cheek. "Eye got a little dry, did it?" she observed, grinning. I nodded and gave a sheepish smile back. At least I found out that the transmission thing worked across the dimensional gap. That meant it should work in the other direction, too, if Keela wished to talk to us. I made a mental note to bring the topic up with her if I had time later. "That was very productive. She's very easy going," Shining Armor noted, pulling out a pad of paper from his saddlebag and jotting down a few notes on it. I figured he'd have to do a report on all of this. "She's doing better than I thought. At least she's taking it well," I muttered, idly looking down at my emaciated leg resting under me. Fluttershy landed to my left again shortly afterwards, brushing against my left side as she settled into the blanket. I gave her a warm smile, but frowned when I noticed the focused look on her face. Normally she only got that expression when she was trying to nerve herself up for something. "Um, do you think I can stay for, well, whatever it is that you're going to tell Twilight? I want to be part of the herd so, uh, I mean, if it's okay, of course. I don't want to be a burden or anything," she asked after another few seconds of silence. Oh. Oh hell. "Fluttershy, you're not a burden. If Mender doesn't have a problem with it, I most certainly don't mind," Twilight assured somewhere behind me. I almost didn't register it as panic shifted throughout. I had to tell Fluttershy, too?! This was going to go very, very poorly. Damn it! It was a stupid idea to have shared the feed with them. If she hadn't been watching, she wouldn't have even known about any of it! "Um, Mender?" Fluttershy asked, snapping me out of my panic, only to realize I'd been frozen in one spot since she asked me, staring wide-eyed at her foreleg. Well, that wasn't creepy at all... "Ah! Uh, yes?" I asked, shakily looking back up at her. She looked startled at my reaction, and I fought to regain control of my expression. A moment later, all three of us jolted as Shining Armor let out a frustrated groan from all of half a meter away. "No! I forgot to ask her about the creature that attacked her sister that night in the forest! I knew I was forgetting something!" he groaned, sounding a bit annoyed. The irony of his topic wasn't lost to me. My ears flattened back a little as I really hoped it would just be dropped. "It's okay, Shiny. We'll talk to her again sometime soon and ask then. Relax," Twilight assured in a calming tone, resting her forehoof on his left shoulder. He smiled up at her and shook his head wearily, shifting from annoyed looking to seemingly embarrassed over the whole ordeal. Rainbow landed slightly behind Fluttershy a second later and made a scoffing noise, however. "Why would you want to know about that thing in the first place? It's gone now, and that's all that's important!" she exclaimed. Thank you, Rainbow. I agreed fully with that sentiment. It's in the past, so they shouldn't need to ask about it. Awkward questions set me up for awkward answers, after all. "It was extremely dangerous, Rainbow. If there was more than one of them out there, ponies could get hurt," Shining Armor reasoned, shifting back into that defender role he was so fond of. I appreciated the outlook he had, but sometimes I wondered if he didn't stress himself out with it. He struck me as a little high-strung. Blinking, I glanced over at Twilight a moment later. Yeah, maybe it ran in the family? "It didn't look all that tough! Actually, it looked kinda shrimpy. Totally ugly too," Dash shot back, flaring her wings out. My ears flattened a little more as I suppressed a sigh. Her expression when looking at me that night looked more 'horrified' than 'disgusted'. Although there was probably a little of both in there. "Oh, I forgot that you actually saw the creature. Yes, I read your report on it. You actually said it was pony-like?" he inquired. I became more and more uncomfortable with the conversation. Celestia looked back and forth between them, her expression mostly neutral with a mix of concern blended in. "Yeah, that was the weird thing! I thought I saw a Cutie Mark, too, but it left way too quickly. It definitely wasn't a pony, though. There were totally gross looking tentacles coming from its back like an octopus, and it had creepy looking, glowing blue eyes!" Rainbow continued, sounding more excited than scared, oddly. I twitched at the 'gross' part. Fluttershy let out a squeak and shrunk down away from her cyan friend, while Twilight let out a sigh instead. "Rainbow, stop it. You're scaring Fluttershy, and making Mender uncomfortable," she requested, shooting her a skeptical glare. Rainbow deflated a little before looking over at me instead as I tried to rapidly shift back to a neutral face. She was nothing if not fast, however. "Oh, sorry, Mender. I forgot that those weren't the best memories. Sorry for scaring you as well, Fluttershy," she apologized, tone a bit lower than prior. She had no idea how close she just hit to the absolute truth. "We should let him rest now, speaking of. That probably took a lot out of him, and we have reports to file, Shining," Celestia reminded, subtly coming up with an excuse for me. I wasn't exactly tired, but I didn't mind pretending if it meant a topic change, and nodded over at her. "Oh yeah, I gotta go check on Pinkie anyway! She's supposed to be getting the bandages off at the end of the hour and I said I'd help her. I'll probably be by later with Pinkie in tow, Mender," Rainbow suddenly relayed, seemingly just now remembering. "Fluttershy and I will stay here with Mender for now. I'll see both of you then when Pinkie and you get here?" Twilight asked, smiling pleasantly at Dash. "Totally! Anyways, I'm actually a bit late, so I gotta go. See you in an hour or so!" she exclaimed, flapping backwards and latching onto the windowsill long enough to open the window again. Fluttershy smiled as well, finally recovering enough to nod towards Dash, who probably missed it entirely before zipping out the window. I guess I'd be getting a visit from Pinkie later, then. I smiled at the aspect. As tiring as she was, she somehow managed to cheer me up. I'd probably need it after this. Plus it was nice that Dash was finally relaxing around me again, of course. "I'll be back later today in order to get a few details on Keela and the Keldarians if you don't mind, Mender. I have a report to file, then a letter to send out to Cadence," Shining Armor requested, stopping by the door and glancing back at the three of us. Celestia got off the bed and stretched her legs as a guard spontaneously came in without call and started rotating the bed onto its side again. I couldn't tell if it was the same guard as before or a new one. Did she pick all of her guards based on color? That hardly seemed economical. I guessed an enchantment of some sort and wished I could scan him without my eyes glowing. I snapped out of it after catching myself again, and nodded to Shining Armor. "That's fine, Shining Armor. If I'm asleep, just smack me," I requested, sure I could easily take a whack or two at this point. He laughed immediately, smirking and assuring, "Just call me Shining. You'll probably be my brother-in-law soon enough, after all." I stared blankly at him for a moment, parts of that sentence simply not computing. "Aah! No! I'll tell him later. Shoo!" Twilight exclaimed, a gentle nudge of magic pushing him towards the door. She exhaled quietly as she turned around, and then promptly deflated as she saw me staring at her. I was vaguely aware of my mouth being open. "Well, I know when to take my leave. My sister is expecting me back soon. I'm going to shift that talk to a couple days from now. I need to make some arrangements first," Celestia interrupted, smirking gently towards me. Wait, what? What 'arrangements' was she talking about? My mind swirled in confusion at the bombardment of new questions raised. Celestia apparently intended to capitalize on my stunned state and beat a dignified yet hasty exit, nodding to her guard to follow her with the packed up bed. I watched the end of the bed disappear out the doorway before finally rectifying my slack-jawed expression and giving a wide-eyed stare back at Twilight, who was blushing furiously. "Ah, yeah. I was going to explain, of course. Um, Shining Armor kind of told our parents about the syncing thing. Dad wasn't entirely pleased with me," Twilight revealed after an incredibly awkward ten seconds of me staring blankly at her. Fluttershy fidgeted next to me, ears drooping as she muttered, "Oh. Oh my. Um, are you in trouble or anything?" My brain slowly rebooted, somewhat literally, and I frowned. It would help if I were fully aware of the implications of what was involved. "I deflected the anger away from Mender, and did manage to alleviate a great many of his concerns. If I'd been coerced somehow or blackmailed, and if it was both ways, which of course I assured him it was not. I even tried to get in that it was initially part of a magic examination, but he still wants to come visit and meet my 'future husband' as soon as possible," Twilight explained in length. Uh, I hadn't realized that Twilight wanted to marry me. This was, well, unexpected. My brain went blank again as I realized I couldn't tell how she'd prefer me to react to that revelation. If I was pleased, it might alleviate some of her stress, but that would also indicate quite a few other things that I somehow doubted she'd be happy with. What did I want, honestly? More importantly, what did she want me to want? My head started spinning again and I momentarily felt sick. "Oh dear. I didn't know that the binding ritual was so important! What's your mother think?" Fluttershy asked, sounding considerably worried, regardless of the fact that it didn't really affect her all that much. Twilight rolled her eyes, which I couldn't place as a good or bad sign. "She's a mixture between laughing hysterically at my father, and hoping for foals in the future. Ugh. She also mentioned something about getting me fertility tonics for this upcoming season, and I'm horrified to say that I couldn't tell if she was joking or not," Twilight groaned, deciding to bury her face in the blankets rather than risk looking at me. It suddenly dawned on me that this might make my own reveal after this all the more awkward. Yeah, by the way, Twilight, I hope you don't mind marrying an abomination of nature and physics. Further, I noticed no 'not getting married' clause anywhere in her information. Would her father hunt me down and personally execute me if she were to suddenly break up with me? "Um, it's a little sudden for foals, if you don't mind me saying so. Well, maybe next year, but the herd should really be official first, right?" Fluttershy reasoned, rather wisely. I didn't want any legality problems. Although I wondered if they had some sort of communal child centers or something. Sadly, I didn't know of any other methods off the top of my head, unless they were like our allies and used a sort of family based unit to raise the children. That might take some adjusting to, of course. Wait, why was I even thinking about this?! "W-What?!" Twilight asked, looking up at Fluttershy in shock and a slight mixture of horror thrown in. Well, there was further proof contrary to the idea! "You were serious about that earlier? Are you crazy?!" At this point, I decided my wisest course of action was to simply stay silent until addressed. Fluttershy tilted her head, seemingly not fully understanding the question. I frowned, wondering if there was something I was missing again in a social context. Which mare was the incorrect one?! "Well, I'm sure by then we'll be a lot more comfortable with each other. Undoubtedly we'll have, uh, progressed to, well..." She trailed off, leaving me at an extremely awkward cliffhanger. I realized it must have been something that was supposed to be implied, as Twilight immediately flushed a violent red shade. Was that healthy for her circulation? Probably not, I decided, as she immediately locked up, unmoving. Fluttershy frowned as well, but smiled a moment later and gently brushed her cheek against my shoulder while watching Twilight. "Well, that's almost a year. Surely you aren't, um, opposed to the idea, right?" she asked quietly, with what I almost labeled as a hinging of amusement if I didn't know better. This was Fluttershy, after all. She didn't tease others! Twilight started shivering, somehow getting more blood flow to the cheeks and starting to look a little faint. I was getting a little tired of not knowing what we were talking about or what to say, and sighed. "Twilight doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to, Fluttershy. Maybe we should just talk about something else?" I offered after a moment's consideration. That seemed a safe enough choice. It was difficult deciding what was the best course of action in social situations, for me. I knew the males were on more equal terms here, but I kept worrying about overstepping my bounds or something and getting reprimanded. How did family dynamics and child raising work in Equestria? Twilight jumped, startled to hear my voice speak up again and looked towards me, wide-eyed. Uh... "No! It's not that. I'm just, well, nervous. It's fine, Mender," Twilight assured, suspiciously without hesitation. I raised an eyebrow to her, but Fluttershy shook her head rapidly. "No, he is right. We should talk about something else. Rainbow and I did manage to hear one side of the conversation with Keela earlier. Did you say that you had something to talk to Twilight about?" Fluttershy reminded softly. Aww, hell. That wasn't a 'better' topic! Twilight perked up instantly with the reminder and nodded towards me. "Yeah! Do you mind if Fluttershy hears it, too?" she inquired, suddenly glancing towards the yellow mare uncertainly. I frowned, considering my words carefully. "Well, it's a little, um, scary. It involves the night of the incident," I admitted, hoping Fluttershy would bow out. Of course, would either of them really accept the truth all that well? I somehow doubted it. If I were an outsider, I'd probably find it hard to swallow too. Fluttershy shook her head, however. "I, well, I'll be okay if you don't mind sharing, that is. I want to be a part of this herd, and that means accepting and being connected to each member," she explained, closing her eyes while doing so as if to draw strength from somewhere inside. Oh boy. I swallowed nervously as both mares shifted their attention to me. I suddenly felt extremely exposed and tucked my legs up a little, guarding various soft and squishy parts along my stomach. This was bad. Fluttershy began to look concerned after I hesitated for a good half a minute, but Twilight nudged me ahead with, "It came up after Keela mentioned that you really did a number on Nirru. Did you actually manage to attack her before that creature came along?" She unknowingly gave me the perfect out if I had really wanted to take it. Still, I should tell them the truth at some point. It only felt right. Crap. I closed my eyes and shook my head softly. It would make it easier if I introduced this a bit slower to edge them into it. Looking around, I managed to spot my saddlebag under the bedside table. I gestured towards it with my right foreleg. Tilting her head, Twilight took my hint and levitated the bag over to me. Well, technically they were her old saddlebags, but she'd been letting me use them anyway. I dug around inside of it for a moment, knowing there were only books inside. While doing so, I formed one of my claws on my left forehoof before popping it off. I stared at it at the top of the bag for a moment before magically picking it up and pulling it out. Fluttershy gave it a curious stare, but Twilight's eyes practically shot out of her head. "That's one of the creature's claws, isn't it?" she asked almost instantly. Fluttershy's eye size joined hers for a totally different reason, and she shrunk down and away from the thing. I nodded gently and passed the claw over to Twilight, who took it up in her magic and examined it. "Oh wow. How is this even possible? This isn't bone at all. It's laced with organic metal of some sort, is the best I can describe. How did you get this, Mender?" she asked after rapidly analyzing it. Heh. I expected nothing less from the clever mare. "Celestia and Luna won't let you see the body because Luna didn't destroy or kill it," I continued, ignoring her prior inquiry. Fluttershy's eyes got even larger, killing me a little more inside. Would that expression change after I told her everything? "Wait, why would the Princesses lie to us?!" Twilight asked almost instantly, frowning and looking down at the claw again. To my mild surprise, she didn't seem distrustful of me in the slightest. I was expecting her to jump to their side at that point. "Because I told them to," I replied softly, eyes lowering to the sheets. That got the attention of both of them instantly, of course. "It would be better for them if they lied, but it also gave me, well, time to try to think of how to tell you two." "Tell us what, Mender?" Fluttershy whispered timidly. Yet another piece of me fell away as I swallowed, starting to shake a little bit. Please let her not hate me. Please! I closed my eyes again to try to gather my courage. There was no escape. I couldn't live with a mask to them, never letting them see the real me. I'd never know if it was me they cared for or the mask. "They didn't kill it because there was no monster. There never was. I was the one who killed Nirru," I finally got out. A feeling of finality set over me as I realized there was no turning back now. Fluttershy gasped, tearing free yet another chunk of me as I winced. Twilight's eyes shifted into calculating, however, with record speed. "There's no way you could have defeated Nirru in the state that Applejack described to me. You were critically injured before being taken away in the first place. But you say there was no monster, and Keela specifically said that you took a lot out of her sister. That's what you actually wanted to tell us, right?" she deduced, skipping a lot of parts and logic. I should have expected as much, honestly. I had a feeling Twilight was onto me before this, even. I nodded weakly. "I didn't defeat her. She killed me. Well, more specifically, she let me die from the wounds she and Applejack inflicted on me," I detailed, frowning as I corrected myself. Fluttershy shivered, tears forming in her eyes and Twilight gave me a blank, surprised look. There was nothing else for it. "She told me a lot of things before I died. Then, after my heart stopped, something else woke up. It was what killed her. It was what Luna found and talked to. I... I'm just..." I broke down and started crying as it all spilled out. I told them everything she'd said after hauling me away, and everything I'd found out about myself. The fact that I was a cyborg clone of a Keldarian that was turned into a pony to scout their dimension, then got damaged or something on the way over and developed whatever the hell personality I was. My consciousness was a mistake in and of itself. I was a mixture of scout and biological weapon. I told them about how something had happened that set me off on our old world and killed billions of Keldarians and how I had all their DNA in me. After all the information was released, I just kept blabbering, afraid my world would fall apart if I stopped. I told them that I didn't have a clue what I honestly was, as the sum of my parts didn't equal what I was now and something had obviously changed in my transition to Equestria. I went over everything that happened that night, up through tearing Nirru apart for what she threatened to do to everypony I cared for, trying to get Luna to kill me, running away from a horrified Rainbow Dash, and regenerating my foreleg. Finally, I quieted down when there was absolutely nothing left to tell. * * * * * Twilight still sat on the bed, absolutely motionless at this point. Her eyes were wide and she barely risked breathing. Fluttershy was tucked into a ball, looking more sad than shocked as she watched me quietly. I didn't know how to read either mare at this point and just slumped under my covers. It had taken almost forty minutes to relay the entire tale in between my small breakdowns. I didn't feel better like I thought I would. There was no sense of relief or weight being lifted off my chest. I just felt empty and cold now while waiting to see how alone I was going to be left. "Y-You killed Nirru?" Fluttershy asked again, barely audible after almost a minute of silence. Her entire form shook, and I expected her to run away at any moment. It wouldn’t surprise me, and I couldn’t blame her for it. It was pointless to hide the truth at this point, regardless. "I destroyed her. I tore her apart and made her feel it. It scares me now, but I hated her so much for what she did to me, and what she was threatening to do to you ponies," I reiterated, little emotion to my voice at this point. It felt like a giant icicle was impaling my chest. "But it was a fake body, though? She was remote controlling it from their dimension?" Twilight asked, sounding far less disturbed over the whole ordeal than I expected. I nodded softly, still staring straight ahead while not looking at either of them. "Yes. At first I wouldn't let her leave, but her sister begged me to spare her," I furthered, repeating in a little more detail what I'd already said. Fluttershy frowned but nodded before asking, "You did spare her, then? She really didn't die because you, um, let her go, and now she's being punished by her sister?" I nodded again, wondering where she was going with it. I’d said all that already. Why did she need confirmation on that part of all things? She frowned, however, seemingly considering something. I looked away again just in time for Twilight to continue instead. "I mostly understand what you are now. You're basically a genetic copy of the Keldarian we used to think you actually were, that was created to scout Equestria but then abandoned. They turned you into a cyborg, or cybernetic organism as you call it, which is essentially an organic individual like us with extra or replacement synthetic parts, right?" she inquired, sounding like she more wanted confirmation than anything. It was also amazingly astute, but I’d expected as much from Twilight. It wasn’t her understanding the situation that I was scared of. That was basically accurate and I nodded to her, wondering where she was confused if she was asking for confirmation. She picked up all of the details amazingly fast. "The only thing I don't understand is the biological weapon part. I know that your dimension's weapon technology far surpasses Equestria's, but I can't seem to grasp the concept," she explained, frowning. "That's probably a good thing. Frankly, it's horrifying and I wouldn't have even created such a thing had they asked me. It's a biological entity that consumes practically anything it touches, can take any shape it desires, and can warp bits of itself through space, connected via our FTL engine to move at hundreds of times the speed of light. It was like a living plague that consumed and destroyed everything on a universal scale, moving from planet to planet as a colossally large thing. It's impossible to describe and I wish it had never been created. But that's what I am. I don't know why it fired off on our planet, or why it stopped, or why I came to be after it moved here in the body of a scout, but that's what it was originally, and why I have over half our planet's population of DNA in me," I elaborated quietly. "You think it's, um, horrifying, then?" Fluttershy asked quietly, again slipping in with a strangely off topic question. I figured that much would have been obvious in the way I described it. Her shivering had stopped however, and she just stared at me with wide eyes. I’d expected her to be fleeing at this point, honestly. I nodded to her regardless, attempting to be as honest as possible. "Of course. It's, well, beyond bad. It's unspeakably horrifying that somepony could even think to create something like it," I muttered, shivering again. "You don't have any direct memories of the event because 'you' weren't the one doing it, I bet. You didn't lie to us at all, but really became 'you' when you landed here and thought you were the Keldarian," Twilight concluded, seemingly thinking that herself out loud. I watched her curiously, while Fluttershy also fell into thought. Well, they weren't running away screaming yet, which I should take as a good sign. "I didn't mean to lie to you. At that point, I didn't know any better myself. I've been struggling with how to tell you for days," I explained, sighing weakly. Twilight's ears flattened, snapping her out of her thoughts as she looked up at me sadly. "I've kept secrets a lot longer than that from you. Please, Mender, don't worry about that. If anything, this conversation only proves that you really are uniquely 'you', you know," she pointed out, causing me to raise an eyebrow. She explained however, taking my non-verbal hint. “You’re expressing doubt over the originality of your existence. Further, you show deep remorse for what happened and all events indicate that you only have ‘recordings’ of the weapon in question. This leads me to believe that you became ‘you’ in the transfer to Equestria. You’re not a robot, Mender. This ‘cyborg’ thing leads me to believe that you’re also a lot of pony too. So empirically, all evidence points at you being your own, unique self that was ‘born’ on the day you arrived in Equestria, but with memories from the individual you were cloned from,” she reasoned, being extremely level-headed about things and rather surprising me. Fluttershy perked up and nodded rapidly while listening, adding, “Yes! If you were just a machine, you wouldn’t think to ask if you’re a machine or not, right?” I blinked and raised an eyebrow over to her, causing her to blush and continue before I could say anything. “I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense and I’m not as good at, well, wording things as Twilight, but I know what my feelings are. The Mender I’m talking to right now is the same Mender that I like and want to be with, so that’s enough for me,” she appended. My eyes widened and I stared at her in surprise, causing her to shrink a little. Twilight gave me a skeptical glance as I looked away and down at the bed sheets. Was this real? Oh, please let this be real! If I was seconds from waking up from an amazing dream, I was going to be all kinds of pissed off. “I… Well, I didn’t think that either of you would really want to still be with me after you found out I’m not a pony. Especially because of what I actually am,” I muttered, frowning to myself. If I had fingers, I’d be attempting to pinch my foreleg now. Fluttershy relaxed again, and Twilight shook her head. “I’m not going to lie to you anymore, Mender. Remember? Both of us told you that we like you for who you are. I know that it’s hard for you to trust, well, anything anymore, but please make us an exception?” the unicorn requested softly, tipping her head around so she could look into my eyes. They shifted up to meet hers a moment later. “It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I guess that should tell me something. I just want to stay here with everypony in Equestria. I don’t want to be a part of anything my old race tries to do. I just want to be with you two,” I confessed, resting my head on my forelegs, mindful of my injury. Fluttershy tucked in against me to the left, and Twilight giggled lightly before resting against my right foreleg. “Nopony’s going to make you leave. We want you to stay, Mender. This proves that you’re still you as well, even if you have some extra parts,” Twilight agreed. I opened my eyes again in time to see her smile. My chest warmed up a little bit and I nuzzled against her cheek, earning a grin. “There! Now cheer up, Silly. You’re not scary if we know you’re still you,” she concluded. “Um, can I, uh, see it?” Fluttershy asked timidly a moment later. My mind blanked as I looked back at her questioningly. See what, exactly? Twilight frowned, however, asking, “Are you sure, Fluttershy? He did say it was scary.” I looked back and forth between them, a little concerned now. She wanted to see my other self? That was, well, going to be unpleasant if so. The yellow mare frowned and gave a stern look, however. “Yes! I took Rarity’s advice to heart. I’m not going to let anything involving Mender scare me anymore. I want to, well, get used to it,” she explained, pushing a little harder into my side for emphasis. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “If you’re sure, Fluttershy. Rainbow was right, though. Despite what she said, I can still remember… what she looked like that night,” I warned, lowering my eyes a little. She was horrified. Rainbow’s eyes told me she was looking at the most ugly, unnatural thing she’d ever seen and that I was an abomination. It tore me apart. My thoughts were obliterated when the pegasus pushed forwards instead, momentarily kissing me directly on the lips. My eyes opened up in an instant as I jumped, but she pulled away a moment later. “Stop it, Mender. Please? She didn’t know it was you, and wouldn’t have looked like that if she did.” My eyes closed again and I resisted snorting. That I wasn’t so sure about. My eyes opened again after I made up my mind, scanners activated in them. The blue light washed across the mares and Fluttershy gave a start. Twilight didn’t look nearly as surprised, however, blinking once then shifting to lean in closer and get a better look. “Wow! There are actually things rotating and moving inside the eye. What is this?” she asked, obviously noticing my display on the inside of my eyes. “I have a computer display on the inside of my eyes that gives me readouts and information. The blue light is actually scanning energy being projected from my eyes,” I explained simply, turning to look at Twilight instead. Fluttershy relaxed as she watched, apparently deciding that blue eyes weren’t all that intimidating. That I agreed with. Twilight nodded rapidly, her notepad sliding out of her bag along with a quill. I resisted groaning as she started taking notes rapidly without looking. Did she have to start studying me already? “Rainbow did report that your eyes were blue. She must have seen the light as well,” she deduced, sounding as if she were mostly talking to herself. “She also said that your skin was, um, black and beetle-like? So kind of like armor?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight wrote, seemingly curious, oddly. Oh, she did like animals, so relating it to something that insects had would make it seem less foreign, probably. I nodded and focused, shifting a bit of my armor back into place. The left side of my face shifted to the plating almost instantly, it merging out of my skin as it folded in segments down my neck and over my shoulders. “This is what she was talking about,” I explained, my voice splitting into two tones again as the armor covered my vocal cords. This time, Fluttershy didn’t even look surprised as she reached out and ran a hoof lightly along the smooth organic metal. “It’s warm,” she murmured, tilting her head at it. Twilight’s writing picked up speed as she stared even harder, looking more and more excited the more of me changed. Well, this was exactly the opposite reaction that I had been expecting. Either I had a few things fundamentally wrong in my outlook, or I had cracked from the pressure and was even more insane, rocking back and forth somewhere in isolation. Either case seemed likely at this point. “This is amazing! It’s made out of the same stuff as the claw. And it merges seamlessly out of your skin! You really are amorphic, then!” Twilight squealed, causing me to sigh. No, that hadn’t surprised me, I realized. Fluttershy rapidly shifted around me to give Twilight a concerned glance. “Twilight, he’s not an experiment. This is probably uncomfortable for him so, um, please don’t be insensitive,” she quietly requested before tucking up against me again. This time I blushed, pleasantly surprised at how well she was taking it. Twilight started not taking it so well as she flailed, releasing a series of murmurs while shaking her head rapidly. “No, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that! Everything’s just making sense now about the forest issue and I guess that makes me happy,” she explained, ears lowering before I shook my head to stop her. “No, it’s fine. I’m just not comfortable with this form. I don’t think it’s pleasant to look at in the first place, so I guess this just surprises me,” I explained, shifting to completely armored instead. Being covered in plate armor made me feel remarkably less exposed, even if it did nothing to block less tangible things like opinions and feelings. My ears flicked lightly, the metal shifting gently as they moved. Twilight smiled and nodded, relaxing back down against the covers and resting her quill on top of the pad instead. “I know. Thank you for showing us. It’s a bit unnerving to look at, admittedly, but knowing it’s you makes it far less scary,” she admitted, watching me carefully. That surprised me. I was expecting one extreme or another. Well, honestly, I had been expecting them to run screaming. Accepting me was amazing, but this was different. She just admitted that I was a little on the scary side, but that sort of made me feel better in a backwards sort of way. At least I knew she wasn’t lying to me and actually was looking. Fluttershy nodded in agreement as well on the other side. “You are scary, but seeing you change made it a lot less so. Even if it, well, is scary looking, I definitely know it’s you,” she agreed. Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Them seeing the transition also probably smoothed that aspect a little. Rainbow obviously hadn’t gotten that either. “This is most of the transformation, anyway. I can move really fast and take quite a beating in this form. I also regenerate while inside of it. That’s how I got my foreleg back,” I added, lifting it up and moving it around without problem now. Technically, it wasn’t doing the moving, of course, but it was nice to see regardless. “You also must be really strong in order to do that to the tree the first time you changed. I can see how you beat Nirru now, and I’m glad you did,” Twilight deduced, frowning towards the end. Fluttershy sighed and blew a stray piece of her bangs out of her face before looking down. “Um, yeah. That bothered me at first, but she wanted to do really bad things to us. You only got angry and hurt her after she threatened us, and that, um, kinda makes me happy in a way,” she tried to explain, tilting her head at herself after she said it. “She threatened both of you specifically. That’s what set me off. I just… I know you two are strong and can handle yourselves, but the thought of her even trying to hurt you just infuriated me. She was there because of me and I wasn’t about to let her hurt anypony,” I muttered, feeling that familiar anger coming back. The sad thing was that I probably wouldn't have cared nearly as much if she stopped at killing only me. Both mares quieted after that, and I settled again on my stomach. At least this was going better than I thought it would. Although, I had expected them to be afraid of me, not disappointed in me. My back clenched as I remembered absolutely hating Nirru. Hate. I wanted to murder her in the most painful manner possible. That raw rage scared me, to some degree. It didn't feel natural. "She deserved it. You should have done worse. You should have killed her outright. Eaten her corpse just to make sure," I heard whispered directly into my skull. I sighed, realizing it was stronger than before as I glanced over at the book lying on my bedside table. I just kept pretending it was its own entity rather than some aspect of myself. Unnatural, right? I resisted chuckling. "I'm..." Twilight started before trailing off. I glanced back up at her, surprised at her hesitation. She frowned to herself a moment later, eyes flicking lightly as she apparently fought intensely with something internal. Finally she shook her head and closed them, that familiar sensation of seeking peace inside of yourself showing on her face. As if the world wouldn't be able to see you if you couldn't see it in return. "I'm not as strong as you think sometimes, Mender," she continued after a moment's focus. I tilted my head to her, but she kept going before I could say anything. "I know now why you're afraid of me. It probably won't help much, but I wanted you to know that I'm not as strong as you think. I'm powerful with my magic but, well, I have insecurities just as much as you do. I'm unsure of a lot and I don't always know what to do in any situation. I'm okay if I can prepare ahead of time but you can still catch me by surprise. I bleed just like you do," she admitted, opening her eyes to half-mast before looking back up at me. I exhaled gently. What does one say to something like that? "What do you mean, Twilight? If it was something Keela said, I probably didn't hear it. All Dash and I could hear was things Mender said," Fluttershy reminded gently. "Females on my world held every aspect of political and social power. Males were treated as second-class citizens at best, slaves at worst. We were kept weak and plentiful because of the genetics magic exposure inflicted us with, so we were expendable. If we acted out or showed any signs of anything apart from submission, we were typically disposed of," I explained quietly for Twilight. As expected, Fluttershy's eyes were huge by the end of the explanation. "It's terrible, but it also explains why you were afraid of me. I showed strong magic and, well, quite a temper, I'll admit. Even if you didn't remember specifically why you should be afraid and submit, it was probably conditioned into your original self," Twilight deduced, resting her head down on the surface of the bed. I swallowed weakly, the knot feeling almost tender as it drifted into my stomach. The urges to apologize again for being an idiot hit me, but I clamped my mouth shut. Was that part of it, too? It just felt like, well, me. Twilight sighed at my silence and continued, "It wasn't just you, obviously. I was scared by my own feelings, which was rather silly now that I look back on it. It made me cranky and impatient with you when I shouldn't have been. That's another reason why I asked you to finalize the link. You'd understand I'm telling the absolute truth then when I say I'm not going to hurt you anymore," she revealed. Fluttershy let out a sudden squeak, looking surprised. "You tried to get him to finalize the link with you?" she questioned, apparently not processing it very well. I shot her a questioning glance. Why was that so surprising to her? "Yeah. I want him to trust me like he trusts you. All of the disks have our marks on them now, but he's only completed yours, Rainbow's, and Pinkie's," she returned. Fluttershy looked momentarily confused before smiling gently and looking down. I thought I saw just the slightest hint of sadness in her eyes. "Rarity suggested it, didn't she?" Fluttershy asked quietly, barely audible. I frowned further, getting a little concerned over her reaction. Twilight blinked, expression of surprise shifting over her face that told me that Fluttershy was right. "How did you know that?" she asked a moment later, mirroring my question exactly. Fluttershy shivered and squeezed her eyes shut, looking momentarily horrified. My eyes widened, but hers shot open a moment later, tears starting to form in them as she looked up at us. "I'm sorry! I just can't take it anymore. I'm so, so sorry! I've been trying to get you two together this entire time, and not just for, um, you two's sakes," she spilled out, almost as fast as the tears spilled forth from her eyes. Oh, oh hell. She liked both of us, I knew that much. Had she actually tried to get us together so it would be easier for her to be with both of us? Actually, that didn't exactly sound like it was detrimental to either Twilight or myself. I didn't exactly feel that 'used', considering she liked me, too. "Fluttershy! Calm down, please! What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, extending a forehoof towards the yellow mare, who shrank away from it and let out another choked whimper. "I wanted you two to be together so badly, but it wasn't just for you. I'm a horrible pony who doesn't deserve to join you two! I can't stand lying anymore. It hurts too much. I talked Rarity into having that talk with us after Mender fell into the coma. I wanted to be able to share Mender with you, um, not just because I liked him," she admitted, managing to look horrified and embarrassed at the same time. "Fluttershy, you don't have to do this," I offered, brushing my armored hoof along her shoulder, claws retracted. She froze, shivering again before shaking her head rapidly. I forgot how stubborn she could be sometimes. "Fluttershy, I don't understand. Being a herd isn't a bad thing, and you like Mender, so what's the problem? I don't understand," Twilight muttered, looking utterly confused. I would have thought it was obvious by now, but then I remembered that Twilight didn't specifically look for romantic cues from other ponies. She probably hadn't even considered it as an option. "Twilight, I... I-" Fluttershy started to squeak out. The door opened up an instant later, Pinkie Pie sliding in happily alongside Rainbow Dash hovering above her. "We're back! Turns out Pinkie was totally already on her... way..." Dash started before trailing off, look of horror growing on her face. Mine mirrored hers as my eyes widened and I rapidly looked towards her. My mind blanked, multiple of the worst possible outcomes shifting through it all at once. Fluttershy sprayed tears from her eyes as she whipped her head towards Rainbow, look of surprise matching Twilight's as the purple mare dropped her jaw. "Oooh, shiny!" Pinkie exclaimed happily. * * * * * What had gone wrong? Everything about my admittance had actually gone smoothly up until that point. Things had gotten a little rocky with Fluttershy's panic, but I was sure that could have turned out wonderfully as well. Why did everything seem to go as badly as possible at the worst possible moment? It was almost as if some higher being with a sadistic sense of amusement was writing out my life ahead of time. The air felt cool along the dulled sensation from my metal plates. I was thankful that Dash herself had left the window open when she slipped out earlier. My tendrils latched out, momentarily connecting with the side of the building before pushing backwards as hard as I could manage. Like a cannon, I was launched away from the window at high velocity, almost silently sailing through the air. Shame and embarrassment were fairly prevalent in my mind, but that face was right at the forefront. That expression from a friend I trusted with my life tore me apart. Rainbow's expression had shifted from shock to utter horror; it was the same expression she wore that night as well. She looked at me as if I were the ugliest, most horrifying thing she'd ever seen and practically willed me away from her friends. This time, anger had been mixed in with the look, too, and I could only guess as to what had shot through her head at that moment. I couldn't stand her looking at me like that. The shame made me want to throw up. So I did the only thing I seemed to be good at and ran away. My armored hooves hit the floor half a second after registering her look. Prudentia snapped to my left side like a magnet as I skidded and angled at the window. I heard Twilight shout something and the magic tried to form around me. It was all I could think of was to throw up a decoy body made of weak barrier magic before leaping forwards and clear of her spell. I came a hundredth of a second away from being grabbed by the magic anyway. She missed, however, and I was out the window before she had time to fire another effect off. I felt the magic subdue the barrier body an instant later with amazing precision and force. "Mender, wait!" Twilight called out in the same moment. It was scary how she managed the gentleness of a drifting feather yet the force of an avalanche at the same time. After that, I was sailing over Ponyville as fast as I could. If I'd made any noise at all, I doubt anypony could have even managed to look up in time to see me. Snapping back to attention, I angled myself to the right as I descended towards the trees below. I recognized the extremely familiar forest at this point and knew that hiding there for a couple hours was all I could manage. My mind was a blur and I was in full panic, not having a single clue how to fix this. Staying there and pretending it was a new spell or illusion would have gone over as well as somepony insulting AJ in front of Rainbow. She had recognized the form instantly, and most of my options had evaporated then and there. My mind adopted the only thing I could manage to process. Run away from the horrible shame that her expression burned into my head. My tentacles hit the tree first, easily shifting me past it and into a gentle landing in the forest, skidding to a halt over a good thirty-foot distance. I panted, watching the blades of grass fly every which way in the cloud I'd made from my impact. Damn it! What was I doing?! Frustration mixed with the disgust I felt in my chest and I felt like screaming after I calmed down a little. The forest around me was alive with the sounds of all sorts of animal life, and I looked around it, uncertain if I was far enough from the edge to not be spotted by anypony in town. This was all going to hell at an amazingly fast rate, I decided. No, I needed to hide myself away for a little bit and think about this! I needed to decide what I could do to fix this and get Rainbow to… To what? Accept my other form? That seemed unlikely, at best. It was an extremely short-lived calm, sadly. Something I hadn't expected in the least happened an instant later as the link’s sensors fired up. A cyan bolt exited the hospital window I had just escaped from, the proximity warning pinging off from my link to her giving me the visual. Oh. Oh shit! Why was she following me?! It dawned on me in the same instant. Twilight had called out my name! Rainbow knew it was me, which eliminated the remaining possibilities for keeping it a secret. I choked back the swell of frustration as I spun and took off further into the woods as fast as I could manage. Minutes passed as I ran, ducking deeper and deeper into the forest in random movement patterns, trying to slip into the thicker tree clusters. My scans stayed skyward and picked her up twice, following my general direction from high above. Somehow, her eyes were able to pick up and differentiate the movement at that distance, and she followed at an extreme height. She knew that if she dropped below the tree line, I could probably lose her fairly quickly. Damn it! Luckily, my bad luck kicked in before she could catch up fully. Glancing upwards again, my proximity sensor fired off just a half second too late. I tried to jump, but I snagged my hoof on a rather large root and went flipping out of control, spiraling through the air at a good hundred kilometers per hour. Tucking into a ball, I tried to use my tentacles to slow me down but I ended up hitting some sort of sinkhole instead. The way down was a spinning, tumbling mess. I stayed in a rough ball form as my armor strengthened and my tendrils sucked back into me. After almost twenty seconds of skipping off various rocks at untraceable angles, I finally smashed out onto flat ground and skidded along the rocks under me, sparks coming off the armor plating and barriers that surrounded me. Seconds passed after I came to a stop. Slowly, I opened my left armor plate over my eye and looked around. I was surprised to find myself in some sort of illuminated cave. Well, that could have gone much, much worse. Slowly, I looked around as I stepped forward. The cave was illuminated by glowing flowers of some sort. Given my reputation with 'alchemical' based reactions in Equestria, I kept my distance from the things. Various tunnels appeared to branch into the cave along the walls, most of which were angled upwards towards what I presumed to be the surface. What a strange cave. Reaching a main chamber of some sort, I immediately noticed a massive pool of water that prominently took up most of the floor. At least it looked like water. Walking over to it, I slowly peeked in, the metallic vibrations of my hooves sending ripples out from the edge I sat next to. It was disturbingly clear and mirrored the top of the cave, and my face, with a disturbing level of clarity. I couldn't seem to see into the water at all! Moments passed as I stared at my reflection in the water. The metallic edges of my armor combined with my gunmetal black shade and ominous glowing blue eyes made me look more demon than pony. I knew that if I pulled the tentacles out, it would only serve to compliment that appearance. My ears flattened downwards, the metal plates covering them making a sharp clank upon hitting the sides of my head. What was I doing? Ultimately, I should have asked that before running away. Again. It seemed to be all I was good at lately, especially when it came to Rainbow Dash. I couldn't blame her, though. Fluttershy and Twilight had gotten a monumental amount of warning and had seen me transform. For all I knew, Dash had thought Twilight and Fluttershy had been having a tea party with an eldritch abomination. Heh, tea would have been nice, of course, but that might have actually made that statement true. "They don't understand," was suddenly whispered into my skull. I started and looked around, noting myself alone in the mostly dark cave. I glared to my side again at the book I'd hauled along. Initial instinct was to protect it, or more specifically, the secrets inside of it that might involve me. The whispers seemed to echo from all around me, however. "They'll never understand you. They might eventually come to tolerate you, and maybe even appreciate you, but did you ever stop to consider why?" the whisper asked again, this time, outside of my head. My eyes widened as I whipped around, eyes searching the darkness and shadows at the edges of the cave. A broken visage stepped out of the dark, snapped and shattered horn draining blood down an all too familiar looking face. She smiled as she stepped out of the dark, watching me. My eyes expanded to maximum size as I lowered a little, barriers coming back on to full as tendrils expanded out my back. No, it couldn't be! She was dead. That body was destroyed. Well, its head was destroyed, anyway. Sure enough, tears and cracks displayed along her skull where I had crushed it. Her internal organs slid along the floor under her, leaving a wet red trail as she walked forwards with a limp, her back legs still twisted and broken. "I see everything you see, but for some reason, you refuse to accept it," she muttered, stopping a good six meters from me. I glared at her for a moment before straightening myself a little, hair trigger reflexes twitching gently. No, if she had wanted to attack me, she should have when I wasn't paying attention. "What do you mean? There's no way you could see what I see," I refuted, refusing to buy into her garbage. She snorted and laughed a moment later, looking completely relaxed even though she was very obviously beyond mortally wounded. "Oh, please. You're smart, Mender. There, I admitted it. You've seen Fluttershy's reactions to Twilight. I'm sure you've noticed the contrast between how she acts around her and how she acts around you," Nirru pointed out, sitting down in a pool of her own insides as absently as one would a comfy sofa. I ignored the wet, squishing noise. "She's comfortable around me. She doesn't have to panic because she knows I already know about her feelings," I explained, seeing where she was going with this instantly. The smile didn't waver, however. "Is that so? Yes, a gentle soul like Fluttershy would be absolutely devastated from using somepony! You're right! Why, she'd probably break down and cry, feeling absolutely horrible and thinking she had no right being with them," the fake, torn up Twilight agreed, amused grin dancing across her face. It snapped through me like a bolt of lightning. She had seen that. Somehow, she had seen that which happened only a few minutes ago! For a moment, I doubted. Fluttershy had assured me that she really did like both of us, and Nirru was a psychotic bitch that I honestly couldn't trust in the first place. She made an absent minded sighing noise a moment later before shaking her head and looking down. I raised an eyebrow at her exceptionally muted personality in comparison to what she was like before. Her eyes opened again, a somewhat sad look to them. "You saw what happened to me. I can feel it. It doesn't excuse what I do, but it was oh so easy to justify it after that. I'm not understood either; not even by my own sister. While different, both of us have monsters inside," she added, looking up again slowly. My eyes widened again as the whispering came back, louder this time but with so many tones and voices that I couldn't differentiate them. "How... Why do you know all this?" I asked, holding my left forehoof up to my temple and gritting my teeth, trying to shove the voices out of my head. "You took a little part of me that night. But don't worry, you proved that you are undeniably stronger than me. I'm not going to attack you, Mender," she assured, tone shifting to a softer one. My head rose again as she stood and slowly started walking towards me again. My tentacles extended their blades regardless as I swallowed. She looked heavily damaged, but I wasn't about to take chances and prepared to use full force if she got too close. "Stay away from me, Nirru," I warned, glaring again. She smiled softly this time, no upturned corner of the lips or sneering shift of expression. I somehow found it creepier. Her skin shifted around her hooves, metal forming out of them and linking together as she pressed them into contact. The metal separated from her skin around the ankles a moment later, becoming a solid metal band. What the hell?! Her forelegs firmly sealed together, she nodded and kneeled down in front of me, eyes closed. "Part of me is disgusted, but you've proven your undeniable strength. Plus, a part of me is infuriated by how easily you allow them to walk all over you, given that strength. At least allow me to... serve to release some tension," she suggested, voice shifting silkier as she shifted around. Wait, what was she doing?! My eyes shot open as she spread her back legs and eased her tail to the side. I almost stumbled backwards into the water before halting and rapidly looking away from her presentation, even further disturbed by the fact that bits of bone were sticking out of her back legs and her entrails still leaked along the ground. What the hell?! "You're stronger than me, Mender. By our oldest laws, that means you can have me. I'll have to do anything you say," she revealed, voice practically dancing heatedly upon 'anything'. I resisted throwing up. "I'm with Twilight, Nirru. I'll give you the data if that's what you still want. I already promised to give it to Keela anyway," I refused, feeling more awkward than angry at that point. Was the body she controlled practically immortal?! All she did was make a sighing sound, with a wet splattering accompanying it. Huh? Against my better judgment, I peeked back in her direction. An elongated face half torn apart and crushed greeted me from three inches away, long fangs dripping blood as steam from its hot breath exited between them. No noise. I gave a sharp intake of breath as I leaped backwards in an instant, clearing the entire underground pond as my tentacles tore through her form a moment later before I landed on the other edge. Nothing. The tentacles hit nothing. Her form was gone as the arms of the tentacles cleared my vision. What? A whispering laugh exploded all around me as my sensors came alive again. I was alone in the cave. "What are you?!" I demanded, heart still hammering in my chest. "I'm you," my reflection whispered, grinning at me with razor teeth from the reflection in the water. My breath caught as I took a step back and away from the pool, suddenly very much not liking this place. The creature stepped 'up' and out of the water, instead standing on the surface as it flowed smoothly, form seemingly made of moving liquid. "I'm the hatred inside of you given form. You hate how they treat you. You hate how your life has been dictated, removing every choice you ever could have made," it spoke, voice raspy and dripping with venom. I shook my head rapidly, holding a forehoof to each temple. "No, no I'm not! I don't hate anything!" I denied, glaring at it. It smirked, wide rows of teeth glittering in the glow of the cave. "You hated her. You hated her so much that you were ready to murder her. You heard the urgings to do so," it reminded, tilting its head unnaturally to the side as it watched me, snaps coming from its neck. I shook my head and took a few more steps back away from the forsaken water creature. What was the power of this pool?! "There is no power here. Only you. That's another thing you hate. Yourself," it pointed out, grin extending and continuing until its jaw snapped, a good foot and a half of grin now being displayed. "Shut up and get out of my head!" I screamed at it. I don't remember telling them to move, but my tentacles sliced its head off a moment later with a scissor motion. It formed back with a splash of liquid and laughed. "Temper, temper. To be expected from a monster, though. We're a monster, you know. Your true form is me, and you live to consume everything until all is as dark as your heart. Don't fight it. They see your true nature and either lie to you or use you!" it shouted back. I screamed, anger exploding as I tore its form apart with tentacles. It laughed as I sprayed the walls with the liquid it was made of and didn't stop until there was nothing left. My head felt like it was on fire as I stared at the pond, silent once more. It was time to do what I was really good at, I decided. I didn't recall ever having run so fast in my life. My imagination showed me images of that thing chasing me back up the tunnel that was behind me, laughing and twisting its jaw as it ran. In blind panic, I broke out into daylight an eternity later, tripping and rolling like a flailing hippo down an embankment and into a stream. My heart tried to beat its way out of my chest as my mind blanked. I whipped back around and extended tentacles out, smashing down bits of the cliff and burying the small exit I'd just came out of with a few metric tons of rock. To hell with that place! Shakily, I realized nothing was chasing me, and nothing was happening in general. I looked around, noting the rather sunny clearing was dead silent. Heh. That made sense. Again, if I were a small, woodland creature, I would have run away by now, too. The irony wasn't lost to me this time, either. I had technically just run away from 'myself', if the thing had spoken the truth. Still, it was something I was good at. At that point, I had no idea where I was, however. A glance about told me that I'd fallen into some sort of stream running along the base of a moderate rocky embankment. A long-collapsed wooden bridge was a few dozen meters downstream, and I wandered towards it. Sure enough, there was a faint path leading off through the forest. I knew Ponyville was back towards the southwest, so if I followed the path in that direction, I'd probably be okay. I couldn't be that far away, having not run from Rainbow for that long. My eyes picked up a partially broken wagon axel as I stepped out of the water next to the bridge's remains. It looked like it had taken a moderate blow to each end and snapped in the middle. Actually, that was probably the accident that had doomed the bridge. The wagon busted through and dropped a meter and a half into the riverbed, breaking the axel off. There was no wagon however, so I guessed that they had a spare one to fix the thing with. Wagon... An idea hitting me, I walked towards the axel and peeked about. Sure enough, in the grass nearby was a partially broken wagon wheel, the metal having dented at the impact. I smiled and felt along the rim. Like most wagon wheels, it had a heavy wooden frame that was layered with metal around the outside of the wheel to give it a bit of tenacity. It would last a lot longer than a solid wooden wheel this way. Nodding to myself, I noticed the metal was a bit rusted and not the greatest strength, but there was a lot of it. With a bit of focus, my energy activated and danced across the surface of the metal. It melted off the wheel as it was taken apart at a molecular level, oxidation and impurities being filtered as I pulled it towards me. It was iron, and I couldn't change its base mixture without having other, necessary materials, so it would have to do. A minute later, I was shifted out of my heavily armored form and was wearing an iron brace on my left leg, comfortably molded to fit perfectly, rotational hinges and all. I shuffled along at a moderate pace, the newly added metal implement allowing me to at least hold my weight with the injured leg. My barriers stayed active, however, just in case I either had to correct myself from a nasty spill or deter some animal or something from attacking me. For the first time in quite a while, I felt a sense of proud accomplishment as I looked down at the brace. I enjoyed it when I could think I was clever, I guessed. I'd walked for a good five minutes before I had the nagging sensation that I was forgetting something. I checked my side, but the book was still there. I hadn't taken anything else from the hospital room. What could I be forgetting? It puzzled me for a moment before I glanced upwards, mid-pondering. Oh. I was on a path. The path was cleared through the forest. If the path was cleared, that meant the trees were removed from it. Damn it. I stared blankly up at the open sky as I heard the telltale flapping noise arc in from behind me. I froze as I heard the thud and sliding motion in the dirt from a few meters back. Slowly, I peeked over my right shoulder, eyes locking onto Rainbow's as she sat there, watching me silently. Well crap.
Chapter 35Reflecting upon things that had happened in the past usually gave me unique insight into the future. For example, for the entire duration of my stay in Equestria, rarely did I actually have a clue what was going on and for what reason. This brought the more recent events into disturbing light. For once, I wasn't entirely sure of what I myself was doing and why. I felt confused; the world was a more open and less controlled place. Further, my emotions were all over the place, it felt like. I stared at Rainbow for a few moments before sighing and turning around again. She said nothing as she stood and walked up to my left side, keeping pace with me as I slowly started walking back towards Ponyville. Why had I run away to begin with? Her expression was the catalyst, but why did I choose that course of action? Still, Dash said nothing as we continued walking. She knew already, so was there even a point in pretending? "Um, I'm sorry for running away," I apologized quietly as we walked. The forest around us was nippy now that my armor was gone, although I still had the heavier, fluffier look from the hair regrowth incident, so I was probably warmer than she was at the moment. Sadly, I still had the braids, too. As much as I disliked them, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them. Fluttershy had put them there, which made them something special. Rainbow let out a light scoffing noise and shook her head. "You ran away that night, too. I told Twilight I'd go get you before following. I'm not stupid, however. You ran away from me specifically," she deduced, looking back over at me with a frown. I swallowed nervously before explaining, "I know I did. Your expression when you look at, um, that side of me hurts, is all. I can't stand it." My voice was weak, as I felt both better and far, far worse by having this talk with Dash. Still, I had a sneaking suspicion that there were far nastier talks coming up in the future. "I, well, yeah. Okay, so you're a little creepy looking with the armor on, but I didn't know it was you, Mender. All I knew was that it was dark out, blood was everywhere, and there was this unknown creature covered in the stuff and looking monstrous. I actually feel better knowing that there isn't some terrible creature loose in the forest," she admitted, somewhat to herself rather than me as she looked momentarily ponderous. Better? "It's not armor exactly, Dash. I've been keeping a secret from you girls since I was hospitalized. You and Pinkie walked in on me finally explaining it to Twilight and Fluttershy," I corrected, shuffling a little as I tried to keep my balance with the new leg brace. It made a light squeaking noise every time I bent my knee, and I wondered if Twilight had some oil I could put on the hinges. "Hmm. Well, you're an alien, so is it some sort of secret form or something?" she asked in a rather relaxed manner. I raised an eyebrow to her and stopped walking, earning a skeptical glance before she turned around to face me again. "Kind of. I'm a cyborg. I'm a clone of a Keldarian, who was turned into a pony to scout Equestria, and then had a bunch of mechanical parts shoved inside of me. I’m not actually a pony," I summarized, risking it considering she was taking it well so far. Maybe she was like Applejack in the fact that she appreciated honesty? She stared at me for a moment before snickering lightly and shrugging. "Eh, not really a big deal. You're a pony with extra, metal parts. Clone though? I wonder if that's like the effect of the Mirror Pond?" she questioned tentatively, tilting her head up as she rubbed her chin with her right forehoof. "Mirror Pond?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her as my left ear twitched lightly. I didn't recall Twilight having mentioned anything like that before. "Yeah. It's an underground pond under the Everfree with a super crystal clear reflection. Turns out it's also magical and Pinkie Pie used it to make, like, dozens of herself," she explained, shuddering towards the end as if mentally violated by the memory. Well, I knew that feeling! Wait... My eyes widened drastically, shuddering myself. No, the coincidence was just too high. Surely there were, um, all sorts of underground ponds with crystal clear reflections and creepy supernatural manifestations, right? A moment passed. Damn it. Well, all I could do was hope for the best! "The clones weren't permanent, were they?" I inquired as subtly as possible. That would be absurdly strong magic if so. The level of energy required to support that level of permanency wouldn't have been feasible back in my old dimension. Rainbow snickered, letting me breathe a sigh of relief. "Nah. Twilight found a spell to get rid of them. She's kinda our go-to mare for remedying the supernatural. That many Pinkies were scary and did quite a bit of damage to the town. That was, what, the third time Aj's barn was destroyed?" she guessed, looking rather impish this time instead. Yikes. It had as bad of luck as I did! I finally continued walking again, Rainbow falling into place next to me in a far more relaxed manner this time. It was subtle, but I felt things shift more easily between us. I doubted that she grasped the full implications of what I told her, but at least she accepted it readily enough. It actually didn't appear to matter to her one way or another, which was both comforting and disheartening at the same time. Was I making too big of a deal out of it? I doubted it. It wasn't every day that I learned I was actually a cyborg. Rainbow’s laid back perspective was probably simply unique. Deciding to be responsible for once, I started mentally communicating while walking. "Fluttershy, can you hear me? I'm, well, I'm okay." Damn, I was lame sometimes. I hated those awkward moments where I had no clue how to break the uncomfortable silence. Rainbow perked next to me and glanced over, hearing it in her head as well as I broadcasted it. "Oh! Thank goodness! Did Rainbow find you, then?" the yellow mare questioned back, soft voice echoing in my mind. "Oooh, how do I talk back?! I wanna learn how to do that!" Dash suddenly spoke up, sounding excited as she grinned again. I raised an eyebrow but nodded to her, halting my walking yet again. My left foreleg gave a surprising ache of protest, momentarily distracting me. I looked down at it, noticing the ankle was swelling up a little. Wonderful. Rainbow turned around and grinned at me as I looked back up, and I rapidly masked my expression. "It's not that hard. Here," I offered out loud, stepping towards her. She momentarily looked unsure but held her ground as I approached. Heh. Was she a bit nervous after all? Her expression switched to a totally new kind of nervousness as I leaned in, her eyes widening drastically. My intentions were honest, however, and I gently pushed my forehead against hers, feeling the link directly. "Can you hear this?" I questioned into her mind, letting her feel the specific mental reverberation I used. Her eyes widened and she suddenly realized what I was doing. It was comforting on multiple levels to see her nervousness melt away. "Um, yes?" Fluttershy asked cautiously, accidentally eavesdropping without knowing it. Rainbow giggled in her mind, testing the technique before smiling wider. "This is so cool! That was to me, Flutters. He was teaching me how to do this," she added in her head a second later. I smirked at her before stepping around and continuing walking, this time with a slight limp. It felt like my left foreleg was getting heavy. Heat was pooling into it and I became very aware of the heartbeat as it throbbed through. Maybe it wasn't as 'recovered' as I had hoped? It by far wasn't a pleasant sensation, aching dully every time I moved it. "Oooh, are you guys talking with your minds?! So cool! Can we all communicate like this from now on?!" suddenly blasted out through my skull from all directions, somehow both spoken and 'thought' by Pinkie at the same time. Oddly, colors played across my vision as she spoke into my head, looking momentarily like psychedelic confetti oozing through the air. "Whoa! Pinkie?!" Rainbow asked, half in and out of mental communication while sounding like she was reeling from the same effect. I stumbled and shook my head rapidly, trying to clear it. "Yeah! Mender must have finished the link with me! Thank you so much! That means that just Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack need to do the link thingy," Pinkie continued, the mental speech this time significantly faster than her verbal, blurring ahead and causing colored streaks to rain through the area as I dove for cover. A moment later, I groaned and shook my head. No, the streaks weren't actually there. They shimmered and faded as thoughts, in the purest imaginative sense, of colored balloons drifted through my mind. My eyes widened as the images flickered through, covering dozens of moments and ideas at once. "Pinkie, stop!" I heard Fluttershy gasp, and 'felt' her slip and fall over. "Turn it off, Mender!" Rainbow groaned as she stumbled next to me, tripping over my collapsed form and falling into a heap on top of me. "Stop what? I can't stop yet! I totally have a ton of party things to plan. Mender's doing better and everypony's recovering so nicely. This calls for a party! The occasion is perfect for my best party yet!" Pinkie added, bouncing in place with afterimages across the trail in front of us, prismatic effects not unlike an aurora bleeding through the ground in large pieces. "This is going to take all of my party-rific planning to pull off! In fact, I might have to talk to-" Pinkie started to continue, cracking the area around her with a web of colors before I forced every single connection off at once, trying really hard not to throw up. Reality snapped back into place instantly, the quiet unnerving as my skull rang like a crate of culinary tools that fell off a bullet train going full speed. Damn! "Oh, thank you. It stopped," Rainbow murmured, shivering on top of me and rolling to the side. Her hooves clutched her temples as if she were trying to stop her head from vibrating, eyes slammed shut. "Okay, we're going to have to talk to Pinkie before I turn her connection back on," I noted out loud, earning a rapid nod of approval from Dash. "Yeah. Let's get back and do that before she gets absorbed into party planning, then. Ugh," she groaned a moment later, shakily getting to her hooves. I frowned and shifted into a sitting position, wincing as I moved my leg. "Um, Dash? I think my leg is swelling. I stood up on it for too long and it's not used to that yet," I warned, lifting it up to try to elevate it above my heart. Would it stop if I changed just the leg into my armored form? I never really tested what the effects of partial transformation were. "Uh, is that bad? Can you walk still?" Rainbow asked, frowning as she walked up to me again and looked at my leg. It felt better after I elevated it, but I could hardly walk like this. I frowned and tested moving it again with a little more success than before. "I can kinda walk, but we'll have to take frequent breaks," I deduced, setting it back on the ground, gently. My cyan friend looked less than amused by that. "Ugh. That's lame. Walking back is going to take forever at this rate," she protested, looking around the forest we resided in. Neither of us had a saddlebag, so that assured the lack of the harness we used before. I considered it for a moment before chuckling. "Well, if you're impatient, there is one other option," I offered hesitantly. Twilight probably wouldn't approve of this. If I ran out of focus or magic, I'd probably end up falling and making an impressive crater in the ground. To my own amusement, I wondered if that would actually kill me. Rainbow looked back at me with a skeptical glance, but I just reached out with my left forehoof and touched her chest. My magic expanded across her coat and made a makeshift 'harness' out of energy instead. She looked down at it, and then peeked over her shoulder to look at the straps forming out of barriers across her back. A smirk played across her expression as she turned back around. "Don't tell Twilight?" she inquired impishly. "Don't tell Twilight," I agreed, smiling and nodding to her. This should be educational... * * * * * "Whoooo!" Rainbow screamed, flipping us sideways as she slammed into another tight curve. Her wings expanded with rainbow light, dozens of tiny jets bursting in synchronization with every muscle movement she did. The scream shifted into laughter as she spun, me holding on for dear life on her back as my viewpoint momentarily went upside-down. This was interesting indeed! Her backwards-facing jets flared again as she burst forward, coming out of the tight turn like a rocket and skimming down through the clouds, shimmering rainbow trail far wider and more sporadic than she normally made. I grinned and enjoyed the rush as we shot downwards towards the ground at high velocity. I'd taken an interesting idea and plugged the wing jets directly into her own source of 'magic' that was inside of her. Ever since Twilight had told me that every pony, even pegasi and earth variants, had magic inside of them, I had wanted to see if Rainbow could support the jets by herself. I guess the answer was yes. A blast of indigo hit me in the face as she flicked her wings up, letting us skim down just above the treetops and angle towards Ponyville at high speed. Ah, there were a few minor differences, I noticed. Her magical 'color' was prismatic. I really shouldn't be surprised, but it definitely gave her wings a more vibrant look than when I powered them. Further, a much more predicted outcome, they were nowhere near as powerful inside an atmosphere. I'd already realized that air friction and gravity would limit their capabilities. Still, she seemed to be enjoying them! We skidded to a stop, Rainbow shifting to a dull trot as we landed outside of Ponyville proper. She panted and coughed once as I slid off her, and I was careful to land on specifically three of my four legs. "Wow, that was awesome! Normally a little flight like that wouldn't, wow, tire me out like this, though," Rainbow muttered between pants. I snickered and shook my head. "I told you that I plugged the jets into your own source of magic this time. You weren't just exercising your muscles, but your internal energy. I'm told it's directly linked to your vitality, so it would make sense that you'd get tired," I pointed out. Rainbow frowned and flexed her wings out again before looking back at the jets drifting across them and in the air spreading from their tips. "I kinda remember hearing that from school. Wait, does this mean that if I keep flying with the jets, that magical thingy inside of me will get stronger, too?" she asked, swirling back around to look at me, eyes widening. "Yeah. It's exactly what I'm trying to do with my magic. It's linked to my vitality and constitution as an Earth Pony, so if I exercise both my magic and body at the same time, both should benefit. The only difference is that I know how to manipulate the energy directly, whereas you require an enchantment," I explained, smirking as I knew where she was going with this. Her squeal surprised me still as she danced back and forth on her hooves, wings flapping lightly. "So awesome! This will so give me a one-up on making it into the Wonderbolts! Please, Mender! Can we practice with these jet thingies more often?" she pleaded, shuffling a little bit closer than I was comfortable with. I flushed lightly as I stumbled and fell backwards onto my rear while backing away from her advance. "Uh, sure, Dash. It's no problem. I might be able to hook you up with a permanent set later once I build up some more of my magic reserves," I suggested quietly. I'd prefer she get more comfortable with the jets first, though, before she tried solo flights. I could probably do the permanent enchantment now, but decided against mentioning that. If she exhausted herself in midair and passed out... No, I couldn't let my friend take that risk. Oblivious to my internal conflict, Dash nodded vigorously and hopped into the air, hovering in place as she spun in a quick circle. "Totally cool! Don't let anypony ever tell you that you're not awesome! I'll so buck them in the head if they do," Dash promised, grinning at me as I felt the heat get worse in my cheeks. Her expression shifted impish and I inwardly sighed. She enjoyed my reactions, too, I noted. What's with mares and liking to watch me blush? A tiny gasp interrupted both of us, and I raised an eyebrow as I peeked to the left. An extremely familiar looking orange filly stood there, staring wide-eyed at Rainbow. Scootaloo wore a helmet this time and was parked on a scooter about three or four meters away. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom bailed off the back of the scooter at the same instant, the white unicorn filly making a mad dash in my direction with no hesitation whatsoever. I smiled at her and moved my injured leg out of the way before she plowed into my chest, giving me a rather sizable hug. "Mender! You're out of the hospital! I really, really missed you," she squealed, looking up at me with huge eyes while wrapping her front legs around my right foreleg. Apple Bloom approached slightly slower, snickering at Sweetie before sitting down next to me. "Ah missed ya too. We didn't get ah single chance ta visit ya in tha hospital between stupid school an' Applejack bein' all fussy!" she protested, flattening her ears back for a moment and looking annoyed. "You really think he's awesome, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked rapidly, approaching Dash instead. I gave her a skeptical look, but decided I probably didn't want to know. "I missed you girls, too. I'd heard your sister was taking what happened rather roughly," I returned, frowning a little as I gently patted Apple Bloom on the head. She shook her head rapidly, looking more flustered than mad. "She's overworkin' herself again. She's in tha market today tryin' ta sell apples, actually," Apple Bloom informed, looking over at Sweetie Belle instead, who was trying her very hardest to assimilate with me. "Heck yeah! Mender's totally awesome. He and I totally kick flank while working together!" Dashie bragged, causing Scootaloo's eyes to light up. I groaned and warned, "You shouldn't go bragging about me like that. That's how rumors got started, remember?" The last thing I needed was for rumors to start about me and a little filly. Rainbow rolled her eyes, adding, "And he's so modest, too! You really need to admit how cool you are sometimes, Mender." I gave her a skeptical stare, but shifted my attention to the movement rapidly rounding the corner. "Are you sure Rainbow landed over here?" Twilight asked as she followed after the speeding pink bloodhound who was apparently on my trail. Oops. Heh. Pinkie zoomed right at me, looking up in time to get a happy expression as she started hopping instead. "The twitches never fail me! They're right over here!" she announced happily. I braced for another impact, but noticed her bounces weren't nearly as high or fast as usual. Further, she slowed this time before reaching me and slid to a stop, giving me a soft hug instead. I smiled, happy with her gentleness today. "Mender. I'm so, so happy you're okay!" Fluttershy whispered, drifting in and gently landing next to me, careful not to land on either filly. She then hugged my other side, squishing Apple Bloom up against my left foreleg as well. I blinked, starting to heat up for totally normal reasons as four ponies squished into me now. I'm glad I was trimmed down to only a 'fluffy' coat instead of 'two meter wide furball' like before. I'd probably melt. "Ooooh, group hug!" Pinkie chirped, hugging into my side again. Sweetie Belle was locked on Fluttershy instead, however. "You two are so cute together!" the white filly squealed, looking delighted and nodding up at me. Twilight approached next however and smiled at me as well. "Got room for a fifth?" she asked, slipping in between Pinkie and Fluttershy before I could fully answer. "Of course, Twi," I agreed, blushing lightly as she shifted and gave me a light peck on the mouth. Sweetie Belle gasped and squeaked somewhere below her, not that I could physically see the filly anymore. I chuckled, and then apologized with, "Sorry for running away back there. I kinda, well-" "I know why you ran. It's understandable after what you told us earlier. Nopony's mad at you," Twilight interrupted almost instantly, apparently having anticipated my attempt at apologizing. I coughed lightly and covered my mouth as I laughed. She knew me a little bit, I supposed. Part of me was glad that Pinkie wasn't asking any awkward questions in front of the fillies, of course. Although, I realized she was excitable and curious, I also noticed that she seemed to have proper discretion when she wanted, too. Regardless, I decided a change of pace was probably in order. "Do you think we could go to the market, by the way? Apple Bloom mentioned that Applejack was working the stand and, um, I'd like to try to talk to her," I asked gently, looking back up at Twilight upon giving up trying to find Sweetie Belle amidst all the colorful fur. "Oooh, that's ah real good idea! Maybe if Sis talks ta Mender, she'll realize that half tha stuff she's been worryin' about is total hogwash! Ah bet that'll fix her up ah bit," Apple Bloom agreed, standing up again and giving me a merry grin. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, before the timid pegasus gave a nod, adding, "It would probably be a good idea. She's been really, really stressed the last few days." I heard as much from Rainbow herself, of course. "She'll probably try to run away again. You might have to grab her with magic, Twi," Dash spoke up, cutting in between her and Pinkie as Twilight stepped back. "I don't really want to restrain her. She's just going through a bad spot and scared," Twilight muttered. I bit back on my tongue and looked away from the mare. Sure, she didn't want to restrain Applejack, but using her magic to grab at or lock up aliens was totally fine. Keela and I were easy targets to justify, I suppose. Although Applejack being able to buck a hole through me was fairly dangerous, too! Pinkie rapidly shook her head. "Using magic to hold anypony is wrong unless it's absolutely needed! I'll talk to her if she tries to run," Pinkie refuted, adding a hoof stomp as punctuation. I smiled at her, earning a beaming grin in return. Now there was a sensible opinion. It scared me that it came from Pinkie, but I had always seen maturity under the bubbly mare's exterior. "All right. I wanted to talk with her anyway, so this is as good a time as any. Is everypony coming?" Twilight asked, stepping back a little more and rotating to face the market area. "Heck yeah!" Rainbow agreed, taking to the air. I snickered until I felt a sudden weight impact my back. Raising an eyebrow, I looked back in time to see Sweetie Belle grinning at me from her new riding position. Fluttershy gasped next to me, raising a hoof to her mouth before chiding, "Sweetie! He's injured. You shouldn't add more weight he has to walk on." I shook my head and quieted her with a peck to the cheek. "It's okay. It's not too far, and sitting down for a bit has let me rest my leg. Thank you very much for worrying about me, though, Fluttershy," I thanked politely, giving the now flushed mare a soft smile. Twilight smiled as well at the display before turning and heading towards the market. Slowly and steadily, I started walking towards the market as well, careful to keep most of the weight off my leg. Sweetie Belle really wasn't that heavy, and I barely felt any noticeable difference, honestly. Pinkie burst ahead, following after Rainbow, who had gone ahead of Twilight. Fluttershy fell in next to me on the left, keeping suspiciously close to me while glancing down at my injured leg every few seconds. I smiled inwardly to myself. She really was worried that I'd fall, I guessed. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hung to my right and trotted along at a matching pace, breaking into talk about some break from school in a week. Idly, I wondered if there was a holiday coming up or something. I made a mental note to ask Twilight tonight. A holiday might be a fun way to forget everything for a while... * * * * * The markets were rather busy this time of day, I rapidly discovered. Ponies were hustling about with crisp conversation here and there. The day seemed a little darker with the light tint from the barrier over the entire town, and it meshed with the nip in the air to give the definite feel of winter approaching. School had started back up for the colts and fillies, too. They must have summers off, I noted. Keldarians broke their schooling up into trimesters with short, two week breaks between, then mandatory combat training in the off season. It was interesting having all sorts of memories that weren't mine. I remembered that I couldn't remember a time when there wasn't combat training, even though I knew it had existed a few centuries prior to my birth. We'd fought the Grosh for so long that we forgot who we used to be. My thoughts drifted as I watched Twilight approach the apple stand. Interestingly enough, Rarity was already there and appeared to be talking to Applejack when we walked up. My breath caught as I realized it was the first time I'd seen the orange mare since that night. Still, she looked far from dangerous at this point, which allowed my heart to slow down a little again. Stupid nerves. I knew she wasn't going to hurt me. I just wish I could up and tell my body that. Applejack looked like a mess. Her eyes were totally bloodshot with irritated puffs under them. Her mane didn't look combed in the least and she apparently forgot her tail tie today, letting it limply drape across the ground instead. Her trademark hat was even on crooked as she appeared to give Rarity an annoyed glare. Uh oh. "Applejack, I'm only trying to help you. You absolutely must take a rest and recover before you end up in the hospital, too!" Rarity continued, apparently from the conversation that had been going on before our arrival. As we got closer, I also noticed several nicks and cuts dotting the farm mare’s coat, only a few bandaged, and a wrap over her right shoulder. How much of that was from the explosion? The stubborn farm mare gave a huff and shook her head rapidly. "Ah'm just fine! Look, Ah know yer worried about me and all, and Ah really appreciate that, but it's not needed. This is no more than what's usually done by me in tha week before tha second cycle, and it's good fer me ta keep mah mind off things!" she protested, whacking the stand towards the end to prove her point. The precariously balanced apple baskets wobbled a little bit, and I guessed outright that they wouldn't survive the conversation to come. "She's right, Applejack. You're obviously exhausted. Remember the last time you refused to accept help?" Twilight warned, moving in next to Rarity upon approaching the stand. I idled closer, shifting off to the left as I watched. At some point while walking, all three fillies had ended up on my back. I really needed to work on that awareness thing. Apparently, I had this nasty tendency to drift off with my own thoughts and not pay attention to my surroundings. Given my luck and gravitational pull, that was probably one of my more stupid tendencies. Rainbow and Pinkie soon joined Twilight's intervention, while Fluttershy hung back with me, ever alert in case I tipped. At this point, however, I noticed her subtly brushing against me while walking as well. Did she have two sets of ulterior motives for hanging back? I smirked at the clever mare, causing her to flush and look away rapidly. Heh. She knew I'd noticed, now. My leg gave a light throb, however, distracting me from my mirthful entertainment. "Ah know. It won't happen this time. Look, Ah just have things ta think about, is all. Sleep's been ah little, well, lackin'," Applejack finally admitted, plopping back down behind her stand and staring at its wooden surface. I frowned as I watched her expression fall again, a haunted look momentarily flickering through her eyes. That I'd seen before. Well, the other me had seen it before, rather. Rainbow had that feel to her, too for a bit, after what happened on the Grosh ship. Regret and violence both had a way of decaying away at the inside of you, leaving behind a hollow, cold sensation over time. I couldn't do it justice, even when I considered it directly. War was hell. I'd imagine most ponies were totally unaccustomed to that level of violence, and she also probably felt like at least part of it was her fault. Fluttershy frowned in my peripheral vision as I started walking closer, flanking the stand to the left. "Applejack, you really need to go and talk to him. Things aren't as bad as you think," Pinkie pleaded, expression surprisingly solemn for her. Applejack frowned and shot her a dirty look before sighing and shaking her head. "Ah probably should, but he must hate me by now. He must! After everything Ah did ta him, there's just no other way ta consider it. Ah almost killed him. Where's tha honesty in that? He was tellin' tha truth all along and Ah..." Her voice trailed off as she shivered there, rapidly shaking her head and turning around. My frown deepened, and then I winced as she accidentally ran her face into the apple cart behind her. She let out a sharp yelp as apples spilled all over the place, rapidly backing away from the offending inanimate object. Some of those wounds did look more… recent. I started to guess as to how. In her haste of backing up, her rear cracked into the stand instead. The baskets spilled instantly, apples rolling off the surface and onto the dirt by the dozens. "Dang it!" Applejack growled, glaring in frustration at all the fallen fruit. I nodded back to my fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders, who returned the gesture before piling off my back. All three sprinted ahead of me and started helping Applejack to gather up the apples, while I righted the baskets for them to put them in. "Thanks, ya'all. Ah just haven't been feelin' too good," she muttered, smiling at Apple Bloom as she shot past, chasing down a rogue apple. She didn't even look up to see me, however. Rarity did see me, her eyes widening momentarily before shooting over towards Twilight, who gave her a smirk and nod. Heh. Tricky, tricky mares. It felt weird to be actually in on the plan this time, though. Pinkie and Dash split apart in almost choreographed precision, each slowing the expanding apple disaster as if herding cattle. Fluttershy sat down next to me and started holding the baskets steady as I created a funnel with my barriers for the fillies to dump the apples in, a split leading to all four baskets in question. Applejack actually smiled blankly over at us before turning and sighing, looking back to Twilight. Was she nearsighted or something while tired? "Look, Applejack. He accepted your apples. He knows you sent them, too, and thought they were delicious. The 'plan' to figure out if he forgave you worked perfectly, and you have your answer," Twilight reminded, doing that adorable air quote motion with her hooves again as she sat there. I mentally snickered, wishing I could rush over and pounce her again. That would disrupt the plan, however. "I don't believe he was ever upset with you in the first place, anyway. Why, he's not even upset with me, and I kissed him!" Rarity exclaimed, gasping afterwards and looking horrified. Applejack gave her a deadpan stare for a moment before shaking her head and closing her eyes again. "Ah wanna make it up ta him, but how do ya even start with somethin' like this? Even if he is willin' ta try it?" she asked, lightly swallowing while keeping her eyes closed. "Just talk to him! It's super easy, and I'm sure you could get him all cute and blushy and figure out a way to make him happy! It's easy! You could cook for him, or give him a massage, or do all his chores, or-" Pinkie started to rant, causing me to wince. I really was rather easy to get a blush out of, I realized. It was just so, well, hard! The more I thought about how silly I probably looked or acted to others, the more I got embarrassed. Out of frustration, I fought back a blush just from thinking about it. Dang it! "I think she gets it, Pinkie. She's right, of course. You'll never work out anything if you don't talk to him," Twilight interrupted, causing the unfazed Pinkie to nod rapidly in agreement, smiling again. Slowly, the baskets filled back up and Apple Bloom started loading the rest of them back into the cart instead. I nodded to her, getting a grin back before I lifted all four baskets back into the air, sliding them along my barrier and onto the stand. "Thank ya," Applejack muttered, still not looking at me as she lay her chin down on the wooden surface, hat shielding her eyes from the light. "Ah'm just scared he won't wanna be friends again. Ah told him that night that we couldn't be anymore, after all. Ah was so stupid!" she muttered a moment later, whacking her head into the wood intentionally this time. My barriers steadied the baskets, but I frowned. She wanted to be my friend again? Admittedly, that cleared up a lot of my own worries. I was happy she hadn't meant what she said that night, the words fresh in my heart as the chilliness crept back. Of course, I needed to tell them all the truth, or I couldn't expect them to truly be friends with me. All they knew was the mask, after all. Fluttershy and Twilight at least appeared to accept that I wasn't a psychotic murder machine, anyway. Still, I couldn't let this continue any longer. "You were protecting your friend, Applejack. As long as you didn't mean what you said now that you know the truth, that's enough!" I explained finally, bracing for the reaction. It was hard not to be mildly disappointed when she just snorted. "It doesn't change what Ah did ta him! Even if he accepts that Ah was just worried fer who Ah thought was Twi, that doesn't change tha fact that it was brutally cruel. Plus, it almost killed him," she murmured, apparently having slipped into her own dark world. Apple Bloom hopped up on the stand and pulled Applejack's hat down, ruffling it over the mare's head. "It does too matter! He forgives ya, Sis! He just said so! Now talk ta him!" she demanded, sounding surprisingly stern, but in a rather cute way. Applejack straightened her hat, then shot her little sister an annoyed glare, before it shifted to a questioning one. "She's right, Applejack. I do forgive you. I was never mad at you; just sad over everything that happened. Will you talk to me again?" I asked, earning the orange mare's attention finally. She froze, eyes widening to their full extent as she stared at me. Momentarily, based off her expression, I wondered if I'd accidentally changed into my bio form or something. "Ah... buh... wha... yer not in tha... but..." she started stammering a moment later, a telltale shiver starting to go up her upper body as she appeared rooted to the spot. I blinked, and tilted my head towards her. It all snapped to a head as she let out a piercing shriek instead and turned, falling into a bolting sprint from dead stop. I'd have been impressed had I not been busy slamming my eyes shut at the dirt flung up from her hooves. Dash had already swooped down by the time I opened my eyes an instant later, barely missing as the country mare dove sideways and made a break for the other side of the stand. The cyan pegasus recovered fast and was hot on her tail while Pinkie ran around the other end and cut her off. "Wait, Applejack! Just talk to him!" she shouted. Applejack slid, trying to move around Pinkie by diving to the side. She hadn't cleared the stand yet, however, and crashed into it with her shoulder. Our carefully stacked apples ate dust yet again, her flailing hooves launching several across the market at high velocity. Lily, who I recognized on the other side of the market, barely dodged an apple projectile as it hurtled past her position, splattering into the side of a house. "The horror! Apple attack! Run, everypony!" she screamed out before flailing and fleeing from the market. To my surprise, instead of questioning the sanity of such a statement, dozens of ponies started screaming as well, rapidly diminishing our attracted crowd as they fled in all directions. Well, that was silly. Applejack winced as she stumbled, then reared as Pinkie tried to intersect her. Rainbow landed on her back a moment later and tried to pin the strong earth pony down. It was a losing battle, however, as Applejack, despite her state of exhaustion, attempted to jump over Pinkie. She might have made it had she been rested and not carrying an additional mare. My eyes widened as both of them crashed down onto Pinkie in a large heap of multicolored fur. I heard Pinkie give out a sharp yelp from under the pile as Applejack rolled off her as fast as she could. I ran over, as did Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and the three CMC. The orange mare froze, looking up at me, but then swallowing and looking down at Pinkie lying on the ground. I smiled when Applejack sat down instead, concerned expression towards Pinkie. "Pinkie! Are you okay? Your ribs..." Twilight muttered, rushing up. I'd never seen the happy mare in pain before, but she held her eyes shut hard as she let out a silent but sharp gasp, breathing jerking in her chest. "Aah, y-yeah. I'll be okay. Owwie. Gimme a second," she murmured, tucking her legs up against her as she lay there. Applejack looked even worse now. "Ah'm sorry, Pinkie! Please, just rest," she apologized rapidly. Rainbow glared at her instead, however. "She wouldn't have gotten hurt if we didn't have to try to chase you down, AJ! You're better than this. Just talk to him instead of running away all the time!" she lectured, looking surprisingly angry. They were all good friends, and Pinkie was injured because of a fight. I could see why they'd be upset, regardless of how different it would have been handled in my dimension. Shaking out of it, I pushed past Rainbow and went up to Pinkie instead. Speaking of different, there was another chance to improve things right in front of me. To limit the attention drawn, I lowered my head directly to Pinkie's side, eyes almost pressing into the shakily breathing skin at her rib level. She gave me a pained but questioning look until my eyes momentarily lit up her side with blue light. "W-What was that?!" Applejack asked, but the light was gone an instant later. My scan complete, I rapidly looked it over. "Twilight, she needs healing magic. There are a few ruptured blood vessels to the left of the third rib down that need healing, or she's going to have some really bad bruising. Other than that, her ribs are still okay, but her chest muscles are going crazy," I relayed. Twilight perked before immediately leaning down as well and counting out the ribs before pressing her horn in with a burst of healing magic. Pinkie winced then gasped as the light washed over her, probably feeling better already. Her muscles were spasming due to pain, I guessed. The pink mare shivered as Twilight finally lifted her head again, the warm light fading. "I felt them repair. Thank you, Mender. Can you do something about the pain?" she asked shakily. Fluttershy landed on the other side of Twilight and dug into her saddlebag instantly. "Here, Pinkie. These are some of the numbing herbs I was going to give Mender. I can always pick some more," she revealed, pulling out several green leaves before lowering them down to Pinkie's now open mouth. Shifting forwards again, I lit both forehooves up and lightly pressed them into Pinkie's side, reaching out with my magic as I gently massaged her shivering muscles and smoothed out the bruising area. Pinkie cooed and practically melted into the ground as I continued massaging. She barely remembered to chew and swallow the leaves Fluttershy gave her. Applejack had walked around to Pinkie's face at that point and sat down again. "Ah'm really sorry, Pinkie. Ah didn't mean ta do this, obviously. Can ya forgive me?" she asked softly, looking down at her friend. Pinkie lay motionless for a few moments, a light smile starting to form at her mouth again as I continued gently massaging her side. Sweetie Belle slid into my left side and watched what I was doing with avid fascination, as did a few ponies from the crowd. Apple Bloom ran around and hugged her sister's side, looking up at her for support, while Scootaloo helped Rainbow dust herself off from her roll in the dirt. Pinkie finally opened her eyes and looked up at Applejack with a surprisingly melancholy expression. "No, Applejack. I can't be happy until all of my friends are getting along again. Please, just talk to Mender?" she asked softly, eyes shifting to pleading instead. I swallowed. Pinkie really did have a heart of gold under that bubbly exterior. Even when in pain, she put her friends first and foremost in her mind. I massaged more intently to try to help her, even forgiving her for the mind rape she injected all of us with earlier. Applejack swallowed uneasily, but Rarity drove the point home before she could say anything else with, "Relax, Applejack. We're all mature adults here and you have more than enough proof that he doesn't hate you, so please. For the sake of all of our efforts to show you otherwise, stop running away and simply talk to him." It felt a little harsh to me, but it was true. I didn't hate her. The orange mare's eyes softened and she looked up fully at me again. They were absolutely bloodshot and she looked like she hadn't slept in days, now that I saw her up close. She also looked miserable. Why would she feel all of this, and do this to herself, over me? It was a totally foreign concept to me. "Mender, um, Ah don't even know how ta start," she finally muttered, looking lost as her focus waned. She almost stared through me for a moment. I shook my head rapidly. "Please, start with what you said that night. Please, that wasn't true, right? You still want to be my friend?" I asked instead. That was first and foremost on my mind every time I thought about the orange mare recently. All I could see was her hateful face glaring down at me and stating our friendship was over. It was the same face looking at me now, which made me uneasy. But the expression was practically the mirror opposite. Her eyes widened in surprise at the same moment her ears flicked back. She frowned a heartbeat later. "O-Of course! Ah was totally wrong about tha whole situation and, well, Ah shoulda believed ya from tha start. Or at least givin' ya tha benefit of tha doubt. Everything that happened ta ya that night coulda been prevented had Ah just, gah..." she groaned, cutting herself off and smashing the dirt in front of her in frustration. Pinkie smiled softly and rolled finally, gently giving me a pleased squeeze with her neck and right shoulder before moving into a laying position. "I'm happy, Applejack. You're doing the right thing. You don't have to be embarrassed, though," she reasoned. I smiled, realizing she was probably right on some level. It was a strong form of embarrassment called shame. "Relax, Applejack. What I just asked you was the only part that bothered me. The more I thought about it, the more I was happy that you were so fiercely loyal to Twilight. You're a wonderful friend for her. Of course you'd pick her over me, and I don't blame you for that. It's not your fault you were tricked by Nirru, too," I explained, trying to assure her. Yet again I was reminded of how much I sucked at the whole social thing. Instead of looking assured, she looked more horrified than anything. "B-But that means ya don't think Ah'm friends with you instead! Yer tha one Ah hurt with all of this, Mender. Ah wanna be ah good friend ta you, too!" she protested, edging a little closer to me. I raised an eyebrow to her, but rapidly shook my head. "Applejack, I've only been here for, like, a month. You've known the others for years. I want to be friends with all of you, but I was the one who got off to a rocky start. I mean, even I thought I was crazy some of the time," I murmured, flushing slightly at that admission. Part of me wondered at our crowd, too. I intentionally was leaving things vague due to all of our onlookers. This town sure had a lot of nosey ponies. I barely looked up in time to see Applejack smush herself directly into my chest, almost bowling over Twilight to get over to me! My eyes widened, and then bulged as she practically crushed my torso with her strong forelegs. Holy hell! How strong was this mare?! She lifted her head back and finally lessened the pressure, letting me gasp for air as she snickered. "Thank ya, Mender. Ah really wanna be yer friend, too, still. Ah know ya said that Ah'm forgivin', but Ah ain't gonna let mahself off tha hook that easily. Please, help meh come up with ways ta make this up ta ya, okay?" she requested, giving me a look that felt as if she were staring into my soul through my eyes. I swallowed, and then suddenly remembered what Celestia said. The hardest pony to forgive is yourself. She recommended that to fix it, I try to help them to forgive themselves and feel better, if I recalled correctly. Taking the advice to heart, I smiled at Applejack and nodded lightly, internally beaming as she exhaled in relief. Then applause burst out from the crowd around us! Applejack actually blushed as she rapidly released me, looking around at the crowd that had gathered. Well, the ones that didn't flee in terror a bit ago, anyway. "Right on, Applejack! A totally righteous performance! You had quite a lot of ponies worried for ya, ya know?" suddenly sounded out from the crowd. I recognized the voice instantly and smiled as Vinyl Scratch shifted out of the mass of mostly unrecognized ponies and walked towards us. "Eh?! Vinyl?" Applejack started, looking surprised before Vinyl cut her off, hoof raising towards the farm mare. "Hiya, Applejack! I’m pleased ta see that you’re talking to Mender again," she spoke up, lowering her purple and black shades to peek over them at Applejack. I'd figured they'd met before, but she looked surprised to see her for some reason. Had they really never been introduced? Ponyville was a small town, but it wasn't 'that' small, I supposed. "Uh, it ain’t evenin’ yet. Why are ya-" Applejack started again, only to be cut off a second time. Evening? Vinyl held up a hoof and gestured behind her to the small swarm of panicking ponies Lily was leading, screaming something about invading apples. "As if anypony could sleep through that. 'sides, I'm a friend o' Mender's here and was going to visit him in the hospital today, but am equally delighted ta see he made it out in one piece!" she exclaimed, shifting her attention back to me. She eyed me over and frowned at my leg before shaking her head. "Sorry I couldn't visit sooner. You totally beat me back to Ponyville by at least three days. Then imagine my surprise when I got back to a state of emergency? Not only that, but then I find out my newest friend, the wicked lifesaver up at the party in Canterlot, kicked so much monster flank in the Everfree that he got himself hospitalized!" she cooed, sounding more and more amused as her 'summary' went on. Gasps and murmurs exploded amidst the crowd, of course. Well, the ones not panicking. Oh hell. Not again. My ears flattened back instantly and I whined, "Vinyl! All I did was stop the chandelier. Plus it was L- Er, Princess Luna who stopped the monster in the forest." Maybe I could head off some of these ridiculous rumors this time before they spiraled out of control. Again. Vinyl just laughed, however, smirking at me. "Modest as always! You are just so awesome, dude! You saved the entire royal orchestra and then try to shrug it off. Then you survive certain death and hold off a terrible monster until the Princess of the Moon, who you know personally, got there to stop it. Dang!" she cooed, only making it far, far worse. I glared at her, suddenly realizing she was doing it on purpose! Even the three CMC were staring at me in shock. Twilight, however, slapped her forehead. "Okay, that's it. Everypony back to the library. The apple stand is closed for now, as is my library! Back to your own business, everypony!" she called out, glaring at the crowd until they rapidly started to disperse. "Oh, I guess I'll see ya later, then?" Vinyl asked skeptically, giving Twilight a wide birth. Twilight stopped and looked back at her with a somewhat irritated expression. "I’m sorry, Vinyl. You can visit Mender in a little bit if you want, but we have some important things we need to discuss first," she apologized, nudging her head towards the tree looming over the rest of the buildings in town. Vinyl nodded and gave the universal backing off sign with her hooves towards Twilight. Applejack helped Pinkie up, and gently supported her on the side as she limped along, probably still a bit tender in spots. I trailed along after, Fluttershy shifting to my left and resuming her guardianship over my injured left foreleg. I didn't say anything at all when the three fillies hopped quietly up onto my back again. After everything that happened, I felt they deserved an explanation, too. Besides, I was actually beginning to feel like a CMC member at this point. One of my only other belongings after all was the CMC cape, which was carefully tucked away in the saddlebags I now wore. I was just glad Twilight had enough mind to bring them with her from the hospital room after telling Nurse Redheart about my impromptu checking out. I made a mental note to return to the hospital after this and talk to the doctor. Twilight didn't think they'd want me to stay any longer, however. Of course, it also turned out that I’d torn the window frame and part of the wall down when I’d fled, so they were probably a little mad at me anyway... Rarity followed along after as well, falling carefully into place at my right side instead. She gave me an uneasy smile, to which I countered with a real one and surprised her. Even though her outburst earlier had been rather silly in light of things, I realized that it probably really did bother her. The more I got to know her, the more I realized the depth of everything she didn't say. She was almost as stubborn as Applejack when it came to putting others first. Dash, however, shot me a pleased grin as she hovered in place above me momentarily before dancing forward towards the library. By the time we cleared the market, she was already at the door and opened it for all of us. Twilight flipped the sign on the door to 'closed' as she walked inside. Hey, I'd get to see Spike again, too! Finally feeling a little more relaxed about the situation, I followed everypony inside. There would be a hell of a lot of questions coming up, I had a feeling, but maybe, just maybe, it would turn out okay. My final thought before resigning myself to my fate and entering the library was of how much I sucked at keeping secrets from these mares.
Chapter 36While the girls were settling and talking to each other, I took a good peek around the bottom of the library. It was familiar to me, yet not at the same time. The wood looked somewhat 'new' along almost a third of the wall behind the shelves, and there were temporary support struts that I saw organic parts of the tree actually growing around. Twilight explained that the tree was still alive and simply shaped to be a house. To repair it, she had to get Earth Ponies in to organically mend the hole. It would then 'age' to look exactly like the wood around it in a few weeks. Color me impressed, to be honest. I'm not sure what I thought the library was before, but it definitely wasn't something living in my mind. Pinkie slid back into the main room from the kitchen, balancing an entire tray of tea on her head with little effort whatsoever. She was moving a little slower than I remembered, but I suddenly had a feeling that if she were fully recovered, she could probably do a flip while balancing the thing. She set it down on the table in front of the couch, grinning at Rarity, who was its sole occupant at the moment. Spike was nearby, wielding some sort of fan and keeping Rarity cool with it. I rolled my eyes, my only regret being that I didn't see it sooner. Rainbow drifted back downstairs from the loft a moment later, followed shortly by Fluttershy, who looked a little flustered. There was a soft flush across her cheeks and her eyes darted from one side of the room to another as if looking for somepony. Strange. I further decided to not disrupt that either. Twilight was still in the kitchen with Applejack. She had insisted that we make this as civil and relaxing as possible, and warned me that she didn't really understand it fully yet, so she was going to let me do most of the talking. I was totally okay with that. For the most part. Okay, so I had a small heart attack and was mildly recovered now, and trying not to pass out. There was something unnerving about being the center of attention for me. Still, I wasn't about to enter that kitchen and protest. My paradoxically scary fillyfriend and the mare who'd just partially recovered from avoiding me were both in there at the same time. Yeah, no. That left only one option. Of course, it was actually a pretty good option, because I had to catch them up anyway. Making a series of clicks, I got Sweetie Belle's attention instantly. She alerted the other two, and soon all three fillies had wandered over to where I was located, next to the sofa in the living room. "Mender! Do ya need somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked happily upon wandering over. She'd cheered up considerably, I noticed, ever since her sister accepted being my friend again. I nodded and gave them a small smile. "I just wanted to catch you three up before I talk to everypony. I've been keeping a lot of secrets, and I'm not going to from you fillies anymore," I explained, giving them a nod. Scootaloo looked skeptical, but Apple Bloom gave me a larger smile and nod. Maybe some of her sister's appreciation for honesty had rubbed off on her? Sweetie Belle, however, almost swelled up as her eyes widened, raising both forehooves to her chin and suddenly giving me an uncomfortable level of focused attention. Her expression kind of made me feel like I was debriefing her on her mission to save all of Equestria. I blinked in confusion, and Apple Bloom started giggling. "Chill, Sweetie!" Scootaloo chided, giving her friend a skeptical look. The little unicorn filly rapidly shook her head, however, exclaiming, "This is important! Can't you see how the others are treating it? We need to take this seriously and with a proper, mature outlook!" Oddly, she kind of sounded like she was quoting something. Apple Bloom's giggling picked up a notch, and Scootaloo slapped her forehead. I coughed, however, and corrected, "She's actually right. This is a huge secret that absolutely cannot leave this room. You can't tell anypony else this, and only those present, and the Princesses, can know." The giggling stopped, Apple Bloom giving me a more wide-eyed look. Scootaloo looked surprised, but tilted her head towards me. "The Princesses know this?" she asked softly. I nodded affirmative. "Yes. It's about me, and the attack in the Everfree half a week ago," I revealed softly. All three gasped at that, and I held up a hoof to calm them down. "It's okay. You're not in danger and everything's fine. I just need you three to know this, too. I'm a Cutie Mark Crusader, even if I already have my Mark, right? That means you three need to be kept up to date on everything!" I reasoned, shifting to a smile instead. All three went from nervous to smiling, and I exhaled a quiet breath of relief. "Ah'm glad ya didn't give up bein' ah Crusader, Mender! Things are finally startin' ta look up," Apple Bloom admitted, glancing back behind her at her sister, who was just exiting the kitchen with a tray of what looked like miniature cakes. Uh oh. I hope these didn't require etiquette or anything to eat. Well, maybe making a total idiot of myself would lighten the mood? Gotta stay positive, Mender! "Yeah! Rainbow's obviously right, of course. You really are a pretty awesome stallion," Scootaloo chirped, fluttering her wings a little and smiling at me. I resisted laughing, noticing she seemed to have a bit of hero worship for Rainbow. Huh. I wonder if the similar goals made her get along with Spike? I nodded towards them, noticing Rarity watching me with a soft smile out of the corner of my eye. At least I'd gotten off to a better start with her and Sweetie Belle. "Anyways, what I'm about to tell you is going to be really hard to believe, but it's the absolute truth. Anypony in this room will say the same thing," I warned, shifting to a solemn expression instead. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shifted up straight instantly, almost rigid in posture as they paid close attention. Scootaloo, however, looked downright giddy and her grin got wider as she watched me. Well, at least I knew I had her attention, too. Summary time! "Equestria is sometimes connected to another dimension. It's a bit random, but every once in a while, your dimension will 'brush up' against another that's close to it. When that happens, there's a very tiny chance that things can pass between the two," I started, hoping it didn't go right over their heads. Three blank stares. Damn it. Rarity started snickering out of the corner of my eye. New idea! "Okay, think of Equestria as a bubble or ball floating in a pond. There are other bubbles in the same pond that are drifting around, right? Sometimes they bump into each other, however, and when that happens, things can go between the bubbles," I tried, relaxing a bit more as I lay down to drop myself down to their height. "Ooooh," Scootaloo muttered, holding a hoof up to her chin. Sweetie Belle was smiling now, however, and gave me rapid nods. Apple Bloom didn't look confused anymore, but instead seemed deep in thought. "Inside these bubbles are entire other worlds full of strange individuals and places. Some aren't even ponies. We use the term 'aliens' for them," I continued. Sweetie Belle made a quiet 'Oooh' noise, but Apple Bloom looked more shocked now than anything. Scootaloo surprised me, exclaiming almost instantly, "Oh wow! That's so cool! For true?" I nodded and put my left hoof over my heart in the almost universally accepted 'pledge' gesture. "Honest and true. None of what I'm going to say is a lie. I'm not joking in the slightest," I reiterated softly. All three fillies seemed to focus attention back on me, so I took that moment to continue. "Here's the absolute biggest secret. The reason I know all of this for a certain fact is because I'm one of those aliens," I tacked on, then counted to three. It only took until two. Apple Bloom's jaw dropped at the same time Sweetie Belle's eyes doubled in size. I held back a snicker, but Scootaloo beat me to the punch with, "No way! This is one of Pinkie's pranks, isn't it?!" "Sorry, Scoots. He's tellin' tha absolute truth. He really is an alien," was suddenly spoken by an extremely familiar voice. I glanced to my left, past the leg rest of the sofa, and beheld Applejack as she slowly walked up. Her emerald eyes keenly avoided mine as I sought them out, and she sat down hesitantly next to us. "Whoa," was all Scootaloo could mutter. I smiled back at the little filly, who had looked back to me instead. Sweetie Belle, however, got distracted really easily, I noticed. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why are you two upset with each other? Sis said something bad happened, but I'm not really sure what she meant," she asked, looking over at Applejack and apparently noticing the glum expression. Well, glad to see she was taking me being an alien okay! "Ah hurt Mender really bad tha night o' tha attack because of ah stupid misunderstandin'. It was all mah fault. If Ah had just given him ah drop o' trust an' looked inta things, he wouldn't have his leg like that," she explained softly. I watched her instead of them. She refused to raise her eyes from the floor, and I sighed. Remembering what Celestia pointed out, I asked the most obvious question I could think of. "What is it going to take for you to forgive yourself, Applejack?" She jerked, then looked up at me with a startled expression. "W-What? No, Mender. Ah need ta get ya ta forgive me," she 'corrected' after a minor hesitation. I smirked and nodded. "Okay. I forgive you. Now what?" I asked, a bit amused this time. Scootaloo snorted and started snickering, while Apple Bloom beamed at me. Applejack's next expression reminded me of all the many times my 'processor' shut down. It was that familiar state where you heard something so unfathomable that your mind simply refuses to consider what had been said. It happened to me more often than I would like. "No, it can't be that easy, Mender. Come on, ya gotta be at least ah little mad at me!" she exclaimed, at least looking at me now. "Well, I'm not. I was really sad when you said you didn't want to be my friend anymore, but you took that back, which meant a lot to me. Beyond that, you were protecting who you thought was Twilight. Why would I be angry with you for wanting to protect my fillyfriend?" I reasoned quietly. Again. The whole conversation reeked of déjà vu. Didn’t I just tell her this? She was extremely stubborn. "She's upset not for protecting me, but for not even considering trusting you, Mender. Does her not trusting you hurt?" Twilight herself suddenly asked. I started at her sudden appearance as she walked in from the right, but flattened my ears back at the topic. It wasn't that it didn't hurt exactly. I'd come to start expecting it, especially from Twilight herself and Applejack. My eyes softened a little. It had been a long and rocky road, but I was finally starting to think that Twilight was maybe trusting me a bit more. Applejack, however... The mare in question also drooped her ears. "That! That's what Ah wanna fix. Ah hate idlin' around and doin' nothing, an' RD's right. Ah ran away fer too long. So how can Ah make that hurt less?" she asked intently, locking gazes with me. I hesitated, not only unsure of what she was expecting me to say to that, but mildly wondering how my explanation had gotten derailed so badly. "This should wait till later, Applejack. What he's going to explain in a bit is going to make things a little more complex," Twilight warned. Confliction hit, as I was both happy she got me out of answering that right away, and somewhat flustered that it was almost time for me to talk in front of all of these potentially exceedingly judgmental mares. My head lowered and I sighed, nodding. "Yeah. I'm giving everypony here a 'get out of jail free' card on my friendship after I finish explaining everything today. I'm not so sure I'd want to be my friend either, if I’d known the truth," I warned, swallowing weakly. That was my biggest concern for today. Applejack looked startled, but Rarity gasped suddenly in my depth of vision behind her. "What are you even talking about, Mender?! I know I can speak for anypony in this room when I say that we're never going to not be your friend!" she reprimanded intensely, surprisingly vehement about it. I shivered, and then looked up at her again with my scanners fully activated. She stopped mid-rant and widened her eyes as mine undoubtedly shifted to glowing blue right in front of her. "Rarity, I lied to you all. Even myself. Nirru told me a lot of things that I didn't know about myself. I'm not a pony," I revealed gently. The room had shifted dead silent and it was extremely unnerving. Feeling awkward, I hopped up on the sofa next to me and sat down lightly on the cushion. Rarity was just gawking as if I'd turned into an octopus or something. I hadn't yet, so I figured she was just shocked. Pinkie looked more excited than nervous as she hopped up over the back of the couch and landed next to a still stunned Rarity. I was reasonably sure she'd still be my friend. Rainbow looked apprehensive, but fluttered down behind the surprised Applejack and pulled her back over to the couch. The orange mare looked startled, but nodded back to her and sat down on the couch cushion next to her. Maybe it was their more recent involvement, or a lack of having fully processed the last surprise, but the fillies seemed significantly less surprised. They looked at each other momentarily until Scootaloo shrugged, then all three nodded and turned back around, Apple Bloom raising her hoof up. Huh? "Er, yes Apple Bloom?" I questioned, wondering if their schooling techniques were similar to my own. "After a unanimous vote, we've decided that you're still a Crusader and that we don't mind whatever it is you are," she informed, smiling gently. I blinked. "Er, you haven't even seen it yet!" I exclaimed, my brain doing a belly flop. Impressive, considering it lacked the anatomy to do so. "So? You're still Mender. You're awesome and very nice! I wouldn't care if you were a scary looking dragon. I'd still totally... uh... we'd all be your friend still and well, you'd be a Crusader!" Sweetie Belle explained, jumbling her words halfway through and seemingly getting confused, a light blush on her face. Oh, I knew that feeling. Open mouth, insert hoof. I smiled at her and nodded, trying to make her feel better. Twilight, however, was giving me her best Cheshire grin, looking deeply impish and amused. I glared at her instantly, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Yes, I know. You told me that, too. Still, I'm going to give everypony the option. It's only fair after I accidentally lied to you all," I cut her off, far before she could start the 'I told you so' part. Regardless, she nodded happily to me. "I don't understand, Mender? Are you not a Keldarian?" Rarity asked, finally seemingly recovering from her system shock and settling herself on the couch, subconsciously combing her tail back down with her hoof while asking. Spike, who had dropped the fan when I revealed the prior information, apparently decided to give it up and sat down next to the object of his desires instead, watching me curiously. I shook my head, however. "I thought I was, but it turns out those memories aren't mine. I'm a clone of that individual. They took his DNA, created me from it, 'enhanced' me with mechanical parts, and then sent me to Equestria prematurely by accident. Something happened in the transfer and I lost my memories, becoming, well, me," I summarized weakly. More silence, but of a less profound variety this time. I took advantage of it and explained everything I could about what happened after I was taken that night, leaving out or smoothing over the nastier details, of course. * * * * * I'd told them everything I could about Nirru, Keela, Prudentia, and myself. It was difficult to explain what a biological weapon was, so I ended up simplifying it while still trying to get the point across that it was the most horrifying thing I'd ever seen. The expressions ranged from disbelief, to shock, to confusion throughout the explanation, as I'd anticipated. It took the better part of an hour, but finally I gave my dry throat a rest and sat back down, feeling empty and cold. No matter how big of a burden it was, letting ponies know always made me feel even emptier more than anything. I thought you were supposed to feel better after getting 'rid' of a secret? Fluttershy had migrated from the rug next to the table to squeeze in right next to me over the course of the explanation. She was the only solace I took at the moment. I was a little surprised, but not really. After I scooted over, there was enough room for both of us to sit on the meter-wide sofa cushion. Every time I hesitated, she'd shoot me a reassuring smile, and I'd feel better. Twilight also stayed positive throughout the entire thing, but remained on the couch with the rest of her friends. Silence prevailed in the room at this point. The fillies were quiet too, seemingly more out of respect than being disturbed. Rarity wore a passive smile, having apparently absorbed the information and relaxed again. Whatever I was to her now, it wasn't a threat, which at least made me feel a little better. Spike was looking back and forth between Rarity and me, looking uncertain but calm. Twilight gave us a gentle smile and nod, but Rainbow had a somewhat unsure expression. She wasn't looking at me, but at Applejack instead. The orange mare held a horrified expression, and had been wearing it since halfway through my story. I didn't know what to do about it, as it wasn't the part I had expected her to be horrified at. She practically melted down, interrupting with a startled 'What?!' when I got to the point where I'd technically died. Twilight attempted to assure her that it was only momentarily and only technically because my heart stopped. Now she wore a shell-shocked expression, which was only magnified by the bloodshot eyes and sullen look. Pinkie, however, was shivering sporadically with a massive grin on her face. "It's so cool! Can we see it?! Huh?" she asked, smashing the awkward silence with all the grace of an egg being hit by an avalanche. "Pinkie!" Rarity reprimanded instantly, switching from relaxed to horrified in an instant, also for a reason unexpected by me. I blinked, a little confused. "Aww. Come on. It's not that scary, and I wouldn't mind seeing it, either," Scootaloo cut in, also grinning now. I rolled my eyes. Now all that was left was for Rainbow to- "Yeah! It's totally awesome, Rarity. Gross looking tentacles and beetle-like carapace all with glowing blue eyes!" the rainbow maned mare chipped in, right on time. My ears flattened back at how she worded it, though. Everypony gave her a questioning look, and she lowered herself a little. I sighed and shook my head, vision activating a moment later with scanners. "If you're sure," I warned, voice splitting into two as the armor plating expanded across my neck, chest, and shoulders before moving on to the rest of my body, seamlessly merging out of my skin as if it were simply my flesh given new form. I closed my eyes momentarily as I felt the plates shift over my eyelids, then stretched my back as the armor finished popping out over my rump, my tail getting stiffer and more wiry as it momentarily sparked with electricity. I opened my eyes again with a light clinking noise of the 'metal' plates, and skimmed the expressions now. Rarity wore surprise, of course, but it didn't particularly hold any fear. Pinkie and Scootaloo looked more delighted than before, while Sweetie and Apple Bloom looked more curious than anything. Dash held a grin this time, which was infinitely relieving to see. Applejack shifted to a blank expression instead and simply passively watched. Huh. I was expecting a more violent reaction. Fluttershy simply shifted over as my plates popped out, then resumed lying up against me after I finished transforming and wouldn't pinch her with any of the shifting armor. Spike was the one who actually surprised me, however. He hopped off the couch a moment later and scampered towards me, stopping in front of the sofa and staring with focused intent at my right foreleg. "Whoa! This is cool. It's like big dragon scales!" he described, sliding a claw along the plate there. "Fascinating! I should do a consistency test at some point," Twilight muttered, suddenly looking more curious than supportive. Oh boy. Scootaloo squirmed, however. "This is awesome! You turned into this to kick the flank of that scary imposter?" she asked, hopping down and running over as well. This instantly prompted the other two fillies to join in, both smiling now. I raised an eyebrow, but nodded. That was, um, technically true, even if the wording was a tad colorful. "Yeah. I honestly thought you'd think it was scary," I explained. My back flexed as the eight tendrils slowly and carefully expanded from my back. I was in no hurry to form them, as I didn't think steaming pores and smelly ooze was a good first impression to make. Twilight's curiosity shifted instantly to the new appendages, and Fluttershy gave them an unsure but unwavering glance. "No way! Can you pick things up with those?!" the orange filly asked a moment later, hopping up and down in front of me. I laughed, extending my front left tendril down and gently wrapping it around her stomach. She squeaked, then cheered as I lifted her up and swayed her around. Fluttershy outright smiled at that, oddly. Despite the underlying creepiness, Scootaloo was adorable, I had to admit. "Oooh, me too!" Apple Bloom called out. "Um, be gentle?" Sweetie requested a moment later, also extending her hooves up like Apple Bloom. I resisted the spike in sugar levels just from watching them, and slipped three more tentacles down and lightly picked both fillies up. Spike grinned until I snatched him up too. He gave me a marginally annoyed look before laughing as I flipped him upside down. All four tentacles spiraled around in the air and tied up with each other as I spun them around, getting happy squeals. Well, this was a nice new use for my added attachments. I smiled up at them as I spun them back the other way, untangling my limbs again. Pinkie hopped off the couch after being able to no longer stand it. "Oooh, me too!" she squealed, smiling happily. Frowning, I put two more of the tentacles against the floor to brace myself before wrapping my second to last one around her. Carefully, I gave her a double wrap, making sure to avoid the area where she was hurt. I gently pushed energy down the tendrils as well, massaging into her side as I lifted her up and twirled her around. She cooed happily, and then started giggling as I rotated her. "How many can you grow?" Twilight asked, standing up now as well and hopping down to get a closer look. I frowned. That was a good question, actually. "I only tried eight because I'm only using one processor to control them and I didn't know what its upper limit is," I excused, focusing again. Another tendril popped out of each shoulder, giving me ten. I expanded two more off my back hips, another two from the side of my stomach on each side, and then two more from my chest. Frowning, I started to feel more like an urchin than a pony. That was twenty-two, then, given that each tentacle was mirrored. "Uh, whoa. That's enough, Mender. It's getting hard to see you," Twilight warned, pulling a tentacle down with her magic and peeking at it. "Twenty-two of them is running the one processor to about seventy percent, but it's giving me error readouts now, so I might not be able to control them fully," I explained, starting to pull the excess back into myself. The processors hadn't been repaired yet, however. I made a note to start running some repair diagnostics on them when I went to bed. Applejack edged off the couch and walked towards me as well, looking unsure, but somewhat curious. "Ooooh, hi, Applejack!" Pinkie squealed. I lowered her, upside-down, towards Applejack on her cue. The orange mare smiled and looked up at her as I extended her down. "Well, this ain't as bad as Ah was expectin'. So yer some sorta part pony, part machine?" she asked, giving a passing tentacle a skeptical examination. I nodded weakly. "An organic machine. My body is a shapeshifter, technically. Its natural form is a pony, but I can shift parts of it at will, as you can see," I summarized, flailing a tentacle about to my side. Sweetie Belle took that moment to untangle herself from one of the tendrils and slide down it, landing lightly on my back. Fluttershy started giggling. "Oooh, you're toasty warm," the little filly pointed out, slipping up closer to my head and lying down. I used the tentacle she was riding before and lightly coiled it over her, causing her to coo as I covered her up with the heat. Rarity perked up, trotting over as well. I also felt Rainbow take to the air and start batting at one of the free tendrils in the air. Apple Bloom started whooping as she spun around, and Scootaloo started trying to chase her, using her little wings as propellant. "Warm, you say? Honestly, up close, it doesn't look that bad. In the dark, this might be scary, but simply realizing that Mender is in control..." Rarity spoke up, running a hoof along the plate of my left shoulder. "I'm in full control right now. I was a lot scarier that night. Nirru made me so angry. I hated her. I completely destroyed her," I muttered hollowly, lowering myself into a lying position on the sofa. My tentacles stopped spinning and I gently set the two extremely dizzy fillies down on the floor, then pulled the tentacles back inside of myself, watching as Pinkie landed gently back on her hooves, swaying back and forth happily. Fluttershy brushed her muzzle along the plates on my neck gently, smiling at me. "She wanted to hurt all of us. You only got mad when she threatened Ponyville, right?" she asked softly, almost directly into my left ear. I couldn't manage to stay depressed when she was around, I noticed. Smiling, I glanced back over at her and nodded. "She threatened both you and Twilight, and then said she wanted to destroy Ponyville. I had to do something. I hated her. I couldn't let her do bad things to everypony, so I turned into this and stopped her," I reiterated. Of course, I clearly left out the part where 'stopping her' involved ripping her apart slowly so she felt every little motion. The older mares probably figured that out, however. Rainbow did for certain, as she coughed lightly and looked away. She'd been there and saw all the blood, of course. "Hum. I can't say that I like the new form. It's not very appealing to look at and it appears to be made for things not really needed in Equestria, in my opinion. Still, I'm not going to give up on being friends with you just because of this," Rarity finally spoke up, sounding unsure of her wording, but admitting her feelings finally, regardless. My eyes lowered, but I nodded tiredly. "I understand. Thank you. I know this form is disgusting and unnecessary here," I agreed quietly. She was being honest, at least. Applejack showed the same uncertainty, but was trying to hide it under a positive guise. That made for three neutrals, and three positives amidst the Elements. That was a better outcome than I predicted. The fillies seemed largely for it, even if Sweetie Belle was a little unsure. I had worried she especially wouldn't like me anymore. Spike seemed somewhere between interested and deciding it didn't affect anything. Ultimately, this was far better than I could have hoped. “I never said disgusting. Hmm. Maybe a touch up or two…” Rarity murmured a moment later, peeking over my armored plates before seemingly slipping into thought. I suddenly got the unexplainable sensation of dread. Still, it had snapped me out of my inner thoughts, and I was more than a little startled to find everypony in the room staring at me. Eh?! "Mender, are you okay? We never asked you what you thought about everything," Fluttershy reminded softly, sounding a little sad. My eyes softened, causing me to look away from her. I was suddenly distinctly aware of how many ponies were in the room. "It's fairly easy to tell what he thinks about all of this, given his last response. Mender, I never said you were disgusting," Rarity reminded gently, louder this time and stepping a little closer to me. Idly, I was quite interested in finding out what she’d been thinking about. Twilight stepped forward before I could respond, hopping up and placing her forelegs on the cushion with Fluttershy and me. Her nose bumped up against mine and she locked eyes with me. "You're still worried that this sudden discovery makes you fake, right?" she asked gently, watching me carefully. I stared back for a moment before lowering my head again. "Being a clone isn't that bad, I guess. I saw the information about my creation. Dr. Kyliona, the Keldarian who created me, changed so much of my genetics that I might as well be a totally different individual. I'm sad that the memories I have of my life and family aren't mine, but there are worse things," I explained before trailing off. A glance showed me that Twilight was giving me absolute attention, which was actually a little unnerving. I forced down the urge to hide from so many ponies, and made myself continue with, "I wish I could separate which memories are mine and which are his. Especially the really bad ones. But then, I also am uncomfortable with being part organic robot, too. I just want to be normal and stay here without causing problems all the time." I think this was the first time I'd really mentioned what I had wanted, or what was bothering me. Twilight's look of intense focus shifted to a smile instead, and she nodded gently. "We're here to help in any way we can, Mender. As your friends, we'll do whatever's needed. I might be able to help you with the memories thing. If you feel up to it, I'll start connecting to you with my magic each night and help you try to sort them out. I want you to be rested up first, though," she suggested. I blinked, then remembered what she did way back when we had first met a month or so ago. "Do you think we can really figure out where my memories start and his stop?" I asked, unsure of the whole process. The mare seriously knew what she was doing, though, so I trusted her. Twilight smirked and nodded confidently, shifting everypony else's expressions to smiles as well. "I think it's a splendid idea! Further, it might help you adjust more to being the pony that you are now if we got you a position in the neighborhood. A job you'd be particularly good at is your inventing and repairing," Rarity chipped in, suddenly seeming to forget that I was in my alternate form as she started rapidly considering. "Oh yeah! Ah can get word o' mouth goin' about yer skills. There's tons o' stuff around town that needs repair, an' Ah'm sure quite ah few ponies would be interested in yer inventin' skills," Applejack agreed, also shifting to seemingly thinking intently. A job, huh? Well having my own income to help support the library would certainly be nice. Plus, they seemed intent on treating me like a normal pony, which made me feel significantly better as well. Pinkie was vibrating at this point, grin looking like it might pop off her face if she expanded it any further. "Exactly! Oh, this is going to be so fun! I've already got a super duper party in the works. It's maybe my biggest yet! I'll introduce you to everypony I can manage in Ponyville, and you'll probably get lots of friends to help ya," the pink mare fired off in rapid salvo. "Uh, just don't hurt yourself, Pinkie. I'm worried about your sides," I reminded, gesturing to where she'd hurt her ribs earlier. It was really, really hard to tell, but I could have sworn I saw her blush for a moment before her grin shifted to a happy smile instead. "Aww! You're so nice, Mender. You don't have to worry about me. I know everypony is, so I'll be super careful," she promised, giving me a double nod. Fluttershy pushed harder into my left side suddenly, brushing her cheek along mine where they connected. I smiled over at her, and she added, "I'm not, well, exactly sure how I could help, but I’ll try my hardest for anything you and Twilight need." She flushed as well as she spoke, glancing to the left a little at the lavender mare, who was smiling happily at her. They really did get along quite well. "Enough of the mushy stuff, sheesh! We'll all help Mender in our own ways, so no worries. Just don't crowd him. I think he needs to feel surer of himself! More awesome! I'll try my absolute hardest in that regard," Rainbow interrupted suddenly, grinning and hovering into the air with a bold pose. I raised an eyebrow to her, but Applejack snorted and tugged her back down by the tail. "Careful ya don't drown him with yer ego. What, exactly, are ya gonna do ta help, then?" she questioned, giving her friend a skeptical glance. Rainbow momentarily looked annoyed at the tail tug, but thought for a moment. It didn't take long before she grinned again, sitting on the floor this time. "That's easy! He has that wing thingy he can enchant me with. We go out and practice each day with that. I fly around with him making my wings heavier instead. I get practice with my flying and build up that inner magic thing he explained, and he gets practice maintaining his magic, too. And if I remember, that means his earth pony body is gonna get bigger and stronger at the same time!" Rainbow explained a moment later. My eyes widened. I hadn't anticipated her giving a viable solution to help me with. Sure, it helped her, too, but that was actually a really good idea. Applejack looked impressed for a moment before hiding it and smirking. "Doesn't that help you more than him?" she pointed out a moment later. The cyan mare's retaliatory glare was instant, and scary. "She's right about it making him stronger. If I had to guess, it would also speed up his recovery time," Twilight muttered, drawing forth an appealing conclusion indeed. She seemed deep in thought, however, which mildly scared me if she managed to shoot that out as a mere afterthought. Applejack looked surprised again, but smiled. "Okay then, it's settled. Ah'm gonna whip up some solid meals fer Mender, too, ta boost tha recovery process. Rainbow an' him can use Sweet Apple Acres ta practice at tha same time!" she offered, directing it over at Rainbow as well. Rainbow Dash looked more than a little surprised before she gave her friend a grin and nod. Heh, like she'd refuse spending even more time at Applejack's place. The food sounded really appealing as well, after having hospital food for so long. "Oooh, I'll help you fix up some really good meals, AJ!" Spike suddenly chipped in, apparently wanting to help as well. Applejack's expression fell a moment later, however, as she glanced towards the little dragon. "Ah dunno, Spike. Remember last time?" she suddenly asked. Last time? Spike frowned and rapidly shook his head. "No, no, Applejack! Last time doesn't count. I was so out of it trying to impress you that I just wasn't myself," he tried to explain, looking rather devastated, actually. "He's a hard worker, and his cooking is top notch from what I've seen," I added, vouching for the little guy as best I could manage. He looked momentarily startled before smiling over at me warmly. "Really? Ya must've been really outta it then, last time! Well, Ah guess it wouldn't hurt ta give ya another chance. Go easy on tha kitchen this time, though," Applejack relented, giving Spike a smile and nod instead. He pumped his fist and did a little hop into the air before running forward and hugging the farm mare, who just chuckled. I snickered and turned back to Twilight, who was cooing happily but remaining silent over the whole ordeal. She seemed pleased that I spoke up for him instead, if I was reading her warm smile correctly. Her eyes stared into mine as she gave my nose another nuzzle as well. Fluttershy blushed next to me, but managed a timid smile as well. Twilight noticed instantly, however, and looked over to Fluttershy instead. Oh? The yellow mare perked and returned her attention, if not slightly more confused looking. My official fillyfriend smiled, though, and leaned forwards, giving Fluttershy a light nuzzle as well, directly across the cheek. My eyes widened, but nowhere near as fast as Fluttershy's as her cheeks exploded into a heated flush. A light and weak squeak managed to slip out of the surprised mare as she hunched backwards, staring at Twilight in shock. "Hee. You're so adorable, Fluttershy. I'm really glad you want to join us," Twilight finally spoke up, looking pleased by the reaction. Fluttershy's flush expanded as her eyes started shivering. "R-Really?" she whispered, voice barely there at all. "Of course! Taking vows as a herd means we get to be together forever. I, well, would really like that. I think the three of us being together for all time is very romantic, and I'm starting to like the thought more and more," Twilight admitted, giving me a confident grin too. She was starting to work through her apprehensions then and become more certain of her feelings? I smiled gently before hearing Fluttershy's quiet whimper. Glancing over at the yellow mare, I noticed that her face might as well have been pink rather than yellow, given how much her blush had expanded. Wait, I'd never thought about it before, but how was I able to notice her blushing through all that fur? I noticed the coat along the face seemed to tint red alongside the increased blood flow to the area, but why did it do that? Was there some biological reason for it to do so? I added it to my substantial list of questions I'd probably never end up remembering to ask Twilight. It's a pity I'd forgotten to get a look at my flank after it was shaved to see if my Cutie Mark was tattooed onto my skin or not. "Fluttershy! Are you okay?" Twilight asked, eyes expanding as she noticed the yellow and now excessively pink mare. It went well with her mane, anyway. Fluttershy nodded timidly and shrank down a little bit, burying her snout in the crook under my left shoulder. I smiled at her before my head was suddenly shoved downwards violently. I whacked into my armored forelegs, and then glanced upwards towards the source of the sudden weight added to my skull. Sweetie Belle smiled and waved down at me, apparently having landed there from the back of the sofa. "We want to help you, too, Mender. You need exercise to get walking right again, so what if your fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders help you do that? We could make sure you don't fall, and help you around town and stuff!" my new hat suggested hopefully, a soft grin playing at the edges of her mouth. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom gathered to the right of Twilight in my vision a moment later. "Seriously? What are we gonna do, be a pillow for him to land on or something?" Scootaloo asked skeptically, shooting Sweetie Belle a glare. "How about you help keep me company while Rainbow does her practicing? Being able to use my magic while holding a conversation would be a good challenge, plus company is always nice. You'll also get to watch Rainbow practice, Scootaloo," I suggested pointedly. Twilight gave me a skeptical glance this time instead, but my attempt to bribe the little filly probably was a little on the obvious side. Still, it worked like a charm. "R-Really? You'd let me, uh, well, I mean, of course. That would be fun and all. I wouldn't mind watching Rainbow practice," the orange filly said far too quickly, shifting to a more reserved and 'cool' tone halfway through. I smirked at her. She shot me a scowl, and I resisted laughing. Oh yeah, I was supposed to pretend not to notice. "That's the spirit, Kid! Maybe I'll even take ya flying while I practice! Added weight will help me, and the added experience will help you!" Rainbow herself tacked on, giving a sparkling smile to the young pegasus. Scootaloo's mental meltdown was rather amusing to watch and I couldn't seem to look away. It didn't help that she was absolutely adorable to me, like the rest of the fillies. "You're super nice, Mender. Of course we'll keep you company," Sweetie agreed, leaning forward on me again to peek down while saying it. Apple Bloom nodded in agreement before crawling up onto the right hoof rest next to me, sitting up once she got to the top as if it were a perch, and she a gargoyle of sorts. "Ah can come keep ya company after mah chores are done, o' course. We got ah lot ta do before tha break next week," she spoke up, once again referencing that. What was next week? Wait, didn't somepony just say something about that? I wracked my brain trying to think of what it was. "Thank you for all of your help, everypony. I don't want to be a burden, but so long as I can do something in return for all of you, I could probably use the help," I finally admitted, somehow without hiding or blushing profusely. Pinkie grinned and shook her head repeatedly, almost becoming a blur for a second. "It's totally fine, Mender. Now, onwards with the super important things! It's time to plan a party!" she declared loudly, rib damage apparently not hampering her lungs in the slightest. I chuckled while everypony else winced at the outburst. My armor plates folded up again when she was done, of course. A break would be nice, indeed. "I agree, Pinkie. I agree," I finally said. * * * * * Yawning, I gave a blank stare ahead while Nurse Redheart carefully unplugged wires from my foreleg. How long had we been here? Twilight sat to my right, reading over paperwork that was drifting in front of her via that oh so familiar purple aura. I peeked over at her, momentarily distracting myself from intently staring at the hospital room wall. "Well, you're recovering remarkably for the most part. According to the scans, it's about week seven of your recovery, even though it's technically only day three, by a normal pony standard. Princess Celestia's magic is powerful indeed. It's a pity she doesn't make exceptions for using it more often," Redheart muttered, turning away from me and looking over the notes in my rather impressive file. How I'd accumulated three inches of hospital paperwork in a month was beyond me. Twilight sighed and shook her head tiredly. Clocky told me that it was well past twenty-one hundred hours. We should really be sleeping about now. "I've answered that question way too frequently the last few days. Her intervention had nothing to do with him being my coltfriend. She's already revealed that this was a dimensional attacker at work that had been thwarted. She helped heal Mender due to the extraordinary situation," she explained rapidly. I detected a few potential slips in that explanation, but decided against saying anything. I suppose everypony would want her healing them if she didn't make it look like this was a special occasion. "Oh, I know. It was just wishful thinking," Nurse Redheart assured, smiling as she turned back around again. "But you know it wasn't just her. You're fully aware that Princess Celestia has a direct Seal of Silence order on all of Mender's medical records, right?" Twilight reminded, causing me to swallow uneasily. It felt like I was being hidden away when she said it like that. Was that for my protection or theirs? The nurse's smile remained unwavering, however, as she nodded. "Of course. It's the same as Spike's, after all. Only his primary doctor, surgeon, and myself know that Mender isn't exactly a pony," she confirmed. I shuddered quietly. Twilight didn't smile back, but simply nodded. "Are we clear to go for the night, then?" she asked, after a moment's hesitation. "Yes. I'll let the doctor know what's going on when he gets back in the morning. He'll probably want a follow up for Mender in a few weeks to check the leg, but other than that, you're all set," she replied in a rather cheerful manner. I smiled faintly at her. She was a remarkably resilient mare for having to put up with all of this. I'd have probably snapped under pressure by now. "Thank you, Nurse Redheart," I said, giving her a gentle bow of my head. Twilight smiled finally and nodded to the nurse as well, who looked somewhat flustered, but grinned back. "It's my job, Mender. You don't need to thank me for it," Redheart explained absently as she opened the door to the room for us. "More like a full time commitment for Mender. But thank you for helping us," Twilight added, following me as I slowly hobbled out the door, careful not to put too much weight on the lightly throbbing limb. Lying down in a few minutes was going to feel amazing, I had a feeling. Twilight moved up to my side as we wandered through the hospital. So many of the ponies recognized her instantly and gave her happy nods and waves. I was impressed at how well known she was, but realized it was probably a foregone conclusion. She had a lot of things going in her favor when it came to notoriety. Now 'Somewhat Psychotic Coltfriend' could be added to that list. I'd yet to decide if that was actually a good thing. "Whew. What a day," she muttered after we finally got our first breath of fresh air in what seemed like hours. Wait, it had been hours. Regardless, I nodded in sympathetic agreement. "Falling into my cot tonight is going to feel amazing. I'm exhausted," I murmured, peeking up at the night sky as I walked. The cool air and breeze that nipped past my leg felt wonderful against the superheated skin. The stars high above were gorgeous as well. I remembered that was one part of my old world that I had cherished up until the very end. The night sky had never lost its stars. A light twinge of bitterness shot through me. Was I even allowed to reminisce about memories that weren't mine? I resisted snorting. No, forget it. This memory was mine. This moment and every second hereafter was something I could distinctly claim as my own. My old universe could go to hell. "Thank you, Mender," Twilight suddenly said, piercing the silence floating around me. My awareness shifted back to myself instantly as I made sure none of the anger was visible. "Huh? For what?" I inquired, a little confused. Had I zoned out again and missed a part of her sentence? I really needed to break out of that habit. Twilight giggled, however, so I assumed she was teasing me with it again. "For still being you. I know it's silly and probably rather nonsensical, but I'm kind of glad you're a clone," she revealed, tossing the metaphorical penny onto the track of my train of thought. Apparently, my train of thought controlled my walking too, because I halted almost immediately. "Wait, what?" I questioned, maybe a little harsher than intended. She stopped walking as well and turned back around, looking at me carefully. "I meant no disrespect, of course. I'm just glad because it divorces you further from that dimension. There's so much pain and misery back there. I'm glad you're not a direct product of it, honestly. It also makes you uniquely you rather than an alien with tons and tons of prior history, if that makes sense," she explained quietly, watching me in the light of the moon. There was nopony around, but it was still an awkward topic. "So kinda like a blank slate?" I suggested, starting up my forward momentum again. She fell into place next to me as I continued towards the library. "Yup. It makes me feel more comfortable. Instead of a scary alien like you were before, you're just the familiar Mender I already feel safe around," she furthered, smiling again as she lined up our shoulders while moving. I blinked, and then gave her a skeptical glance. "You, afraid of something?" That didn't sound like Twilight, really. She laughed, and then shook her head. "Hardly. I'm not fearless, Mender. I know you probably think I'm some sort of 'master' of you or something because of your old culture, but that's far from the truth. I'm a scared mare who doesn't really know what to do with herself, and who's really far out of her comfort zone," she corrected, the last part sounding a little bitter instead. A familiar level of bitterness, actually. "You blame yourself for not being comfortable with it," I reasoned, not really asking anything. She sounded like I did sometimes when I wasn't pleased with the cards I'd been dealt. She slowly shook her head as we reached the door to the library, deciding to give it a blank stare instead. "Of course I blame me. I wasn't prepared for you, of all things. Almost everything about you caught me off guard, and that's not something I'm comfortable with. I care about you in quite a different way than I care about the girls, and that's scary. I'm not trying to control you, Mender. Although, I admit to manipulating things to be more... comforting to me," she whispered, seemingly more talking to the door than me. "Celestia gave me a lot of advice about that, too. We both have our faults, Twilight," I reminded, getting her instant attention when I dropped her mentor's name. "She talked about, um, us?" she asked hesitantly, eyes widening as she slowly turned to face me. I distracted her by opening up the door instead. "Yeah. She 'approves' of us, for what it's worth. She told me a lot of things that kinda gave me hope for the future again. I'd been worried that nopony would want to be my friend anymore after finding out what I am." That secret was probably obvious to her, but it felt good to get it off my chest. We both headed inside and into the darkened main floor. Only the fireplace was going and dimly lighting the room up. I smiled at the sight of Spike, who was asleep on the armrest of the couch, facing the door. He'd tried to stay awake for us after all. "I know it's hard, Mender, but you need to have more faith in us. Trust us. We're not Keldarians," Twilight whispered, hanging up her saddlebags and shaking herself lightly. I watched her coat fluff up, and then straighten again with a light dusting of magic. I just tipped myself backwards after sliding the fastener open on my stomach. My bags slid off my back and bumped onto the floor gently. I blinked as I felt similar magic ruffle through my coat along my back and straighten out the matting from my straps. The same magic then lifted my bag as well, hanging it on the hook next to hers as she glanced over at it. Leaning in, I gave her a warm peck on the cheek just as she turned back away from the wall. Her startled hop into the air made me smirk, and earned a playfully annoyed glare from her. "Mmm. Sorry. You were just too cute there," I apologized softly, just in case I had misread the 'playful' part of her expression. She grinned and stretched forwards, however, planting an encouraging, and extremely pleasant kiss directly on my lips instead. Smiling into her, I pushed forwards a bit more, causing the mare to release a pleased groan against my mouth. She finally sighed softly and backed up a bit, smiling warmly at me with slightly upturned eyes. For once, I didn't actually blush, although there was a light tint to both our cheeks. I wasn't embarrassed, I realized. That was the first time we'd kissed without that lingering feeling of awkwardness afterwards as I expected my lungs to be pulled out through my nose. All Twilight had ever really, truly done was throw a bed in my general direction. Why was I so afraid of her? Her especially. All the mares made me nervous, except for maybe Fluttershy, but Twilight had been absolutely terrifying. Twilight was oblivious to my internal interrogation, of course. She knocked me out of it when I felt her fur brush along my neck. There was nothing urgent as she leaned into me; there was no sensation of heat or burning passion. Her forelegs wrapped around me as her weight caused me to sit down, and she just held herself against me gently. I breathed in her scent, wrapping both of my forelegs around her as well as she shivered there. My magic activated, giving her a light jolt as it coursed through her, shot along the floor, and gently closed the door. Now onlookers couldn't peek in, and the chilly breeze wouldn't touch her fur. She leaned back and smiled at me again, eyelids lowering as a light blush danced across her cheeks. "Thank you, Mender. You thought I was cold, didn't you?" she asked softly. I tilted my head questioningly, asking, "Oh? You weren't?" I could have sworn I felt her shiver. "A little. The shiver was from inside me, however. Fluttering sensations tickling the inside of my chest," she explained. My eyes widened again, but she cut me off with another kiss. This one remained soft and gentle, however, her leaning back again a few seconds later, eyes much softer looking now. We didn't really say anything. She looked past me, and I watched her horn light up again. Spike drifted into the air and tucked himself up into a ball, wrapped up in Twilight's billowing aura. I knew how warm it felt to be coated in unicorn magic. It was like a warm breeze that lazily flowed around you, never really drifting away like a normal gust of wind. Or like a thin flow of water that you could breathe as easily as air. Her head gestured to the stairs as she stepped away from me, the sleeping dragon drifting after her in slow, rocking motions. I smiled as I watched her walk up the steps. She was lying to herself, I realized. She really did know how to be a good mother. She'd been doing it for years. Sure, he might do the cooking and chores around the library, but the love was there. Love. My eyes lowered a little. Why did I even know what that word meant, coming from the culture I did? Keldarians didn't love. Was I so divorced from what it meant to be a Keldarian that I was more Pony now instead? I wondered if it was part of the clone design that Dr. Kyliona intended. Apart from her looks and voice from the now fully repaired video, I didn't really know anything about her. I'd neglected to watch the repaired video out of fear of what I'd see. What other horrors would I learn about myself? Slowly, I stepped forwards, careful to keep my weight partially off my left foreleg. It gave a few throbs of protest that I pointedly ignored, alongside the swelled up sensation. Every fourth stair step was an exercise in caution as I readied my armor and barriers in case I took a tumble. My surprise doubled as I saw Twilight waiting at the top of the stairs for me, her eyes tracking every movement my left foreleg made. I smiled towards her, and she caught the movement, returning the expression a moment later. "Just making sure we won't have a surprise hospital visit yet again tonight," she teased, winking to me playfully. I chuckled, assuring, "I had my armor and barriers ready just in case. I'd be a little dizzy, but it wouldn't have hurt. It would give you an excuse to just toss me up here with your magic, too." Twilight's eyes widened at the last part, and I hesitated at the top of the stairs. Had I offended her, accidentally? "Mender, I'm not going to throw you around using my magic. I'll not lift you unless you're fully expecting it. I learned that lesson back at Applejack's barn," she said, lowering her head a little. I rested my forehead against the top of her head and sighed weakly. "You didn't know, Twilight. I, well, I have a lot wrong with my mind, you know. It's not just the amnesia. Things just sort of bleed through into reality if, um," I started trying to explain. It was a bit confusing to relay to an individual that didn't suffer from it, however. "You have external stimuli that triggers the memories, which partially overlap your waking consciousness. I figured that out after you told me what happened back then. What did I do to cause it?" she asked gently, looking back up with surprising focus and determination. Swallowing, I sat back down at the top of the stairs, wondering if I was going to fall down them yet tonight. "It was, um, my posture while being pulled forwards. Nirru tortured me after, uh, I was arrested. Well, the individual I was cloned from, anyway. It momentarily felt like I was strapped to a platform and being pushed back towards her, as she stood there ready with her tools..." I swallowed wearily, the images easily popping back into my mind as I suddenly felt a cold sweat form. It took everything I had to remember that it wasn't real and I was with Twilight in the library. The images flickered and snapped away an instant later, Twilight's face pushing through them and directly into another kiss. I felt myself relax a little, my breathing slowing as she pushed her chest into mine. "You're safe, Mender. She's not going to get you ever again. I'll personally teleport her to the moon if she even tries," she assured. I smiled and gently nuzzled her cheek, refraining from mentioning that tossing her into a zero atmosphere environment would probably be the same as just murdering her, if their outer space was the same as ours. Twilight had known what a void was, which would probably be a difficult concept to grasp if it didn't exist here, however. That made me slightly more inclined to think their outer space was similar to ours. Twilight turned away and finished tucking Spike in before giving me a smile over her shoulder. She hopped up onto her bed an instant later, leaving me slightly confused as to what the expression had been about. "Go brush your teeth and get ready for bed, Silly. You're probably exhausted," she reminded, peeking over the side of her bed at me. I chuckled and nodded before turning to do as I was told. Here was infinitely better than there. I realized that once more for probably the hundredth time as I stared at my reflection in the mirror, toothbrush coated in a barrier as it moved by itself. I had to keep telling myself how good it was here out of fear that I'd wake up and not be here anymore. It was like this was a fragile dream that I kept expecting to wake up from. Maybe that was why it was so easy for me to slip into memories? Things didn't feel 'real' here. Even staring at the stallion looking back at me, my mind couldn't fully process it. I peeked into the amber eyes, wondering if that was the same color my old ones had been. Keldarians all had blue fur, so there wasn't much to go off of, there. What about my mane? I looked up at the darker blue and silver streaked mess. It was shorter than I used to have it when I'd first come here, thanks to Rarity's uphill battle with the growth formula. The sides of my bangs were still braided however. They were simplistic weaves, going barely an eighth of a meter down and ending in a light tuff of hair. It kind of reminded me of the tribalistic styles I'd seen in books from when I was growing up. When he was growing up, I reminded a moment later. My 'youth' was the inside of a glass tube. I glared at the amber eyes, suddenly hoping they weren't his colors. I wanted them to be mine. This body was mine, not his. It had never been tortured, even if my mind said otherwise. The scars on it are from his past, not my own. I set the toothbrush back in the cup on the sink after thoroughly rinsing out. They were right. I'd feel better once I got my own source of income. I had to. It was part of building my identity as a pony here. Just thinking about having a purpose was comforting. I'd start by helping Rainbow with her wings. I'd already helped Applejack with her barn. That made me feel better. When I felt useful, it was a good sensation. My type of enchantment was new here, and would probably be useful to a lot of ponies, right? I was a little hesitant about putting myself out there, but I'm sure that my friends would help me get adjusted. My friends. They were still my friends. Sure, some didn't like the ugly monster I could turn into, but they were still my friends! Nopony had decided that I was bad or gross just because of what I actually was. Even knowing that was what I really looked like, they had accepted me still. I smiled gently and shook, waiting for the last couple drops to fall before reaching up and pushing the toilet's lever down. Carefully, I washed my hooves again with the still running faucet before turning off the water and drying them with a towel. Yes. Things were finally going to be okay. Even if they weren't, I could make it through because I didn't have to be alone anymore. That was ultimately what made this place so much better than my last universe. I had been all alone there, even in a crowded room. The only sense of companionship I'd ever gotten was from my squad mates. After they'd died... No, after they'd been murdered, there was nothing but that frozen cold core in my heart. I remembered now. It wasn't natural to hate. I don't think anypony, or anyone from any species had a natural tendency to hate something. We were taught it. It was trained insanity. A pure, cold form of anger that made one want to end the target of it, no matter the cost. That wasn't natural. I opened the door, only to be met with a softly smiling Twilight as she wandered past, undoubtedly to do what I just did. I returned her smile, albeit a bit more timidly, and let her pass before heading for my cozy bed. That would be purchase number one, I think. An actual bed so I could finally return this one to Applejack, and thank her profusely for allowing me to use it. She'd deny the thanks, of course, but at least she'd have it. I smiled as I lay down amidst the warm covers, glad the heat from the magical fireplace had drifted up and warmed the room. It was always comforting to know that physics still worked properly. Twilight was much faster than me in the bathroom. Either that or I had drifted off while she was in there, as I snapped back to attention at the sound of the toilet flushing again. I rotated around to give her a smile as she passed, but was momentarily startled when I kept going. At first, I had thought I'd misjudged my distance and rolled off my cot, but I rapidly felt the billowing magic as I lifted into the air. Hey! She gave me a knowing grin upon turning the lights out to the bathroom and walking back over to her bed, carrying me along with her. I realized her intent about halfway there and started blushing again. She had no trouble whatsoever with hopping up onto the bed and depositing me directly against her as she slid under the covers. "I think we'll return the cot to Applejack tomorrow," she added, making me shiver at her not so subtle implication. Her grin only made it worse, and I gave her a playful glare. It would only fuel her, of course. "What? I've gotten comfortable with sharing my bed with you at night. I might have even missed it, staying over with Rarity the past couple days. She makes for wonderful company, don't get me wrong. But there's something extremely pleasant about sharing a bed with somepony you know cares about you in a far, well, different manner," she extrapolated, and I could feel the heat coming from her even though we weren't touching. Heh. I tucked myself under the covers and settled gently into the lavender mare, who snuggled closer and made a light cooing noise. "I missed you, too, Twilight. I'm glad that you're not having second thoughts after everything I told you," I murmured, relaxing as I felt her breathing against me. "Quite the contrary. You, Fluttershy, and Rainbow made me really jealous today, although I was glad I didn't have to experience Pinkie's mental barrage," Twilight revealed, giving a shiver towards the end. I resisted laughing. It hadn't been pleasant at the time, but now I could certainly laugh at myself over the whole ordeal. "Still, I'd like to finalize the link to you. Not only would you know it was me all the time, but the communication over distances seems really useful," she added. As if reminding herself, she pushed her horn against my forehead and I felt the familiar and distinctly 'Twilight' energy drift into my mind. I'd had no doubt before that it was her, of course, technically having never been separated from her since this afternoon. Still, it was an amazing sensation that I wasn't about to complain over. "It's permanent, Twilight. I just want you to be absolutely sure," I reiterated quietly, letting my body slowly drift. Her thoughts mingled into mine, and I almost felt her kissing me again even though our muzzles weren't touching. I smiled into her mind and pulled her a little closer, feeling a burst of happiness drift through her at the sensation. She didn't have to say anything else. She'd made a totally valid argument with her feelings alone, and she knew it. Her heat drifted through me as she mirrored the sensation, actually kissing me for a moment this time. I felt myself slip, and she went with me willingly. Both of us fell into slumber, foreheads touching and entangled in each other's hooves.
Chapter 37A cold breeze drifted through, causing my fur to puff up a little. Suddenly, I was thankful that I had neglected to return to Rarity and get the rest of my coat trimmed down again. Staring upwards, I watched the two earth stallions slowly put the undercarriage up for Twilight's balcony. Apparently, they used wooden frames, and then encouraged the branches to grow into and around them. My shoulders bunched up a little, pulling the warm scarf up further around my neck. I had a lot to thank Rarity for lately. She had dropped off this hoof-crafted blue and silver scarf earlier, its colors just a little darker than my mane. It took her ten minutes to decide if it was the right shade, but I didn't mind modeling it for her. Spike was totally fine with the process, too, of course, and Rarity got a free breakfast while she was here, whether she wanted it or not. Twilight seemed uneasy over the process, but sat and watched the fitting anyway. I had thought she'd have rather gotten a start on the report she was behind on, but I could also think of a few reasons why she didn't. A distinct sensation of Rarity being chaperoned during the entire ordeal was rather pervasive. It wasn't me she was worried about, I sensed. Still, the pearly unicorn was on her best behavior the entire time, apart from complaining about having to take back and shoulder measurements again. Apparently, I had gained a little definition since she last measured me. I didn't know why she only wanted those two readings, though. I glared up at the work they were doing. Even with no direct sun shining through the overcast sky, I could see a couple flaws. "Is the tree branch supposed to grow through the whole thing, or does it only follow the support struts?" I suddenly asked, standing and walking over to the construction director near the base of the library. "Eh? It mostly follows the struts. Why?" he questioned after a brief hesitation. Aww hell. Two struts for the entire balcony? I flattened my ears back and shook my head rapidly at him. "If that's going to be the new balcony, you need either a stronger undercarriage or a middle support strut to maintain and spread out the structural support. It would be really bad if it fell off the side of the library while somepony was on it," I warned. That somepony would probably be me, given my luck and lovely, busted gravity suppressors. He rapidly shook his head, however. "Relax. This isn't the complete work. We won't be able to add the extension until we get a secondary tree growing anyway, and that'll have supports on the other side of the bridge," he returned. I blinked. Wait, what?! "Uh, extension? Twilight's putting in an extension?" I questioned. Well, getting the old balcony torn off would be an ideal time to start a project like that, I guess. Applejack unknowingly allowed her to cut a corner then by providing free demolition work. "Look, I can't just discuss the private building plans of the Element of Magic herself with a civilian. It's good that you're concerned for her safety and are trying to help, but it's private," he explained in an exceedingly condescending manner. My expression drooped as I glared at him. Was it worth the time and trouble to bitch him out, or should I just ask Twilight later? Hmm. She might lie to me, but I didn't see a reason for her to. Plus, she'd been getting a lot better about that and seemed sincere in trusting me lately. I weighed it for a moment before sighing and shaking my head. "Eh, forget it. I'll just ask Twilight later," I said, officially giving up. Maybe I just didn't hold an air of authority or something? He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Sure ya will. Can I get back to work now?" he asked, earning another glare from me. The door of the library opened up before I could shoot back a witty and belittling retort that would crush his happiness for the rest of the day, sadly. To my surprise, Twilight herself pranced out and looked about for a second before locking onto me, expression shifting to a grin. I brightened my mood and gave her a smile as she trotted over, a bit of a spring to her step, interestingly enough. "Ah! Miss Sparkle! I was hoping you'd come to investigate soon. I wanted to let you know that the tree is going to be delivered by tomorrow, and we can start construction on your extension as soon as it gets here," the annoying construction stallion spoke up as she approached, cutting her off as she was about to open her mouth. She looked momentarily confused as she regarded him. "Oh. I forgot that was coming tomorrow. Well, that's good!" she exclaimed, giving him a polite smile and nod. He grinned back, but she immediately went back to being oblivious and rotated to face me instead. Only then did I notice she was wearing my saddlebags. "I was so hoping you were still out here! If you're still going to go for a walk, can you take these and drop off the measuring tape Rarity left here this morning? She'll probably be wondering where it is," Twilight requested. Oh! Well, it was a good thing that I got distracted by the crappy construction work, then. I nodded happily to her. "Of course! I was going to go see Pinkie, and that would be on the way anyway," I remembered, mentally running through my basic map of Ponyville. Then my short-term memory kicked back in. "Oh yeah. What's the extension you're having built?" I inquired a moment later. The stallion, now eavesdropping on us, made an indignant, shocked scoffing noise. Twilight ignored him. Again. "Aww. I was gonna keep it a surprise! Well, it's not a huge surprise, so surprise!" she added instead, giving a little hop into the air. I snickered at her. Sometimes she was so awkward, it was just adorable. "I figured Spike wouldn't mind a bit more privacy at night, and we probably wouldn't either, so I'm building us a bedroom off the side of the loft. Lots of privacy that way," she chirped, giving me a wink. Oh. Predictably, I felt the heat rush up into my cheeks. "Oh, uh, well if you're sure we need it. Spike probably would be more, um, comfortable if we're not... I mean, he doesn't seem very pleased when we..." The longer I talked, the more of a stumbling mess I became, of course. I was getting really good at that. Twilight giggled, however, a light flush appearing on her cheeks as well. "You're adorable. Let's just stick to all three of us needing privacy. Anyway, I'll tell you more about it when you get back. Better get going before Rarity sets the boutique on fire looking for the measuring tape," she reminded, giving me a light peck on the lips. I sighed gently and smiled back at her, nodding. She returned a single nod before prancing back inside again. Wow. She was in a really good mood today. I wonder if there was something going on? I wobbled for another second or two in the pleasant aftermath of her kiss before shaking myself out of it and scooping up the saddlebags she'd floated over to me. I managed to get them on, and then used a burst of magic to strap the underside with a barrier. Having magic made the task infinitely easier, I decided. It wasn't hard to remember my first clumsy attempt at getting saddlebags on after my first hospital visit. It took me a moment to notice the stupefied gawk that was aimed my direction from the construction stallion, however. I glanced back over at him questioningly, momentarily forgetting why he'd be giving me such a look. Oh. Wait. He didn't believe me that I knew Twilight. Now I remembered. "Er, sorry about the public display of affection. I kinda forgot you were there," I apologized, in place of Twilight, of course, since technically she'd initiated it. It was hard for me to believe that she was as oblivious as I was to the surroundings, though. Did she just not care? He started, and then shook his head rapidly. "Oh, no, no! It's all right. I just didn't know what you looked like, Mr. Moon Mender! I'm sorry!" he apologized in a rapid-fire voice. I deflated a little. "Seriously? How many ponies know that I'm dating Twilight? Is it really that big a deal?" I asked, somewhat saddened that yet another pony knew my name way ahead of time. I mean, what the hell? Were their fliers up and I just kept missing them or something? "Er, I'm pretty sure the entire town knows. The Element of Laughter was shouting it at the top of her lungs this morning while advertising the huge party coming up in celebration of that, amongst other things," he informed. My brain lagged for a moment as I stared blankly through him. It took almost five full seconds for me to fully process what he'd just said. My right forehoof hit my forehead a moment later. "Pinkie! Gah. I hope Twilight doesn't mind. Well, I'd better go talk to Pinkie. Uh, keep up the good work, I guess," I said, excusing myself and trying really hard not to choke on the 'good' part. He still looked a bit shell-shocked, but gave me a nod as I walked off slowly, metal brace on my left foreleg clinking with each step. I mean, seriously. If they really knew about me, I figured the battle damage would easily give me away. Not that I was pleased that everypony knew about me in the first place. Still, I'd rather have one extreme or the other! Either have nopony know who I was, or at least have them recognize me to the point where they wouldn't deny me information. Well, one thing at a time. Twilight wanted me to drop off the measuring tape, so that came first. Stewing still, I set out on my slow, limping pace towards the Carousel Boutique. * * * * * Of course, it had started raining by the time I made it over to Rarity's fine establishment. It was a cold rain that seemed somewhat more wet than usual, even though that didn't make much sense. Still, only my hooves felt it, so I wasn't complaining. I casually limped along with a hemispherical barrier above me, staying pleasantly dry. I'd never cease being thankful for my magic, I decided. Visibility was crap at this point, so I was almost within spitting distance of the boutique when I saw that I wasn't alone. Out front, somepony had their teeth locked firmly onto Rarity's mailbox handle, and looked like they were trying to tear the thing from the ground! My eyes widened as the wooden post shifted a little under the wet mud and wrenching motions. Why was somepony assaulting Rarity's mailbox? I picked up a bit more speed and got closer, ready to stop the individual if need be. To my surprise, a familiar gray pegasus with a blond mane came into view. She was tugging desperately at the front of the mailbox, which appeared very much stuck. To my surprise, she was also crying! "Derpy! What's wrong?" I asked as I walked up, slowing a bit. She probably was just attempting to deliver mail. She stopped her thrashing against the box and looked over at me, one eye focusing on my position. "M-Mender? I'm almost done with my deliveries but I can't get this box open. I wanna get out of the rain!" she yelped, looking downright miserable as her ears drooped. My barrier expanded above me, instantly covering her too as I gave her my best reassuring smile. "Let me take a peek at it," I offered, stepping up next to her. She looked up in surprise at the barrier, and then gave me an amazingly warm smile as she nodded. I felt better already, even though I hadn't solved the issue yet. Derpy's smile was definitely heartwarming to see. I wasn't used to seeing somepony who wore their feelings so close to the surface. I pretended to peek inside the slot, my left eye flashing with a scan real quick. The results surprised me. I frowned, and then examined the picture I'd taken a little closer. There was an extremely rudimentary spell inside of the box that was holding the door closed. There wasn't even a power source attached to it. Instead, a line of magic was extended from the mailbox, off to the far right somewhere. Worse yet, there appeared to be a tin of whip cream pressurized inside. This was a prank... "Somepony's trying to prank you. Or Rarity. Just a second," I informed, popping out another barrier a moment later and simply snipping the line of energy leading from the mailbox. I heard a light thud from inside and realized that the spell had collapsed, simply dropping the tin of whip cream to the floor of the mailbox instead. Derpy sighed, however. "They're probably pranking me. It's so fun to watch the wall-eyed pegasus soak out in the rain, after all," she muttered, ears lowering again. "It's okay. You're welcome to come into the Carousel Boutique with me to dry off. You did say it was the end of your shift, right?" I suggested, opening the mailbox and drawing the tin of whip cream out. She hesitated for a moment, giving it a questioning look before her expression shifted to that of recognition, followed by a glare. Oh. This wasn't the first time she'd encountered this particular prank. My eyes traced the direction of where the line went. There appeared to be a series of bushes near a tree that was just outside of the boutique. If the spell was that crude, it was probably an inexperienced unicorn. They'd have to be close, which meant... "Do you really think I can?" Derpy asked me, looking back up with a bit of hope glimmering in her eyes. She shifted to shock a moment later as I fired the tin with my hoof, launching it directly at the bushes. "Aaah!" was shouted out as I heard an audible splattering noise. A short yet extremely round unicorn dove blindly out of the bush, pie tin of whip cream attached to his face. I tilted my head as a brownish-looking, much lankier colt followed his bluish green friend in full retreat, running back towards town square. I shook my head, glaring after them. "Jerks. You could catch a cold being wet in this weather. Come on, Derpy. I'm sure Rarity has towels we can use to dry you off," I suggested a moment later. There was something about the vindictive and downright cruel prank that really irked me, I noticed. Of course, I knew I didn't like seeing others being treated badly by those 'stronger' than them, even though that didn't necessarily apply in this case. If Derpy had really wanted to, she could probably paddle those two with very little effort. The gray mare perked, however, and gave me another warm smile. "Thank you, Mender! It must be amazing being an earth pony with magic!" she exclaimed, following after me as I hobbled towards the door in front of us. "It's not all amazing. Some things I can't control. For example, I have a gravity field that likes to draw falling things towards me through the air. That's not very fun," I corrected, shuddering a little. Then I realized we were forgetting something. "Wait, didn't you have mail to deliver for Rarity?" I questioned, turning back to face her. She perked and nodded, pulling out a moderately sized package from her mailbag using her teeth. "Yuph. Ah'll jus dehlihver thish ooh er ihrecktly," she explained, beaming. "Er, what?" I asked, having no idea what she just said. She paused for a moment before turning and putting the package back in her bag. "I'll just give it to Rarity myself," she corrected, grinning as she looked back around at me. Ooooh! I nodded happily to her before resuming my moderate hobble. The boutique's door squeaked lightly as I opened it, and a little bell chimed. Both Derpy and I scurried inside and I shut the door so excessive rain wouldn't get in. Bleh. My shield slowly faded and I dried my hooves off on Rarity's welcome mat. "Oh my. Welcome to Rarity's Carousel Boutique. Dreadful weather we're hav-" Rarity's voice sounded out from the side hall. I glanced that way just in time to see her draw to a stop, eyes widening as she looked at me. "Oh, Mender! What a pleasant surprise! And Derpy?" she asked, finally noticing my soggy companion. "Do you have a towel Derpy can borrow, Rarity?" I asked politely, giving the unicorn a soft smile. Normally I tried to pay more attention to manners, but Derpy was probably cold. Rarity shifted to a small smile and nodded, however, not looking offended. I heard a door opening as she glanced to the right, horn lighting up. Hall closet? I vaguely recalled seeing one before. I wasn't nearly as familiar with this place as I was the library, for obvious reasons. A large beach blanket drifted over Rarity a moment later, and she gently wrapped the shivering pegasus in it. "T-Thank you, Rarity! I got stuck out in the rain while just finishing up my route, and Mender threw a shield over me to act like an umbrella. Oh, and he stopped a nasty prank that was being played on me," Derpy spoke up finally, shivering lightly as she wrapped the large blanket around herself more. "A prank?! In this weather? You could have caught a cold! How very inconsiderate. You two should come to the back. I'll serve us some hot tea," Rarity suggested. She had my attention instantly, every bit of focus remembering exactly how amazing her tea was. She gave me a knowing grin before trotting back through the hallway. Heh, my expression probably just gave away exactly what I thought about the tea. Derpy gave me an extremely pleased smile and I nodded to her, reaching over and helping her dry her hooves off first and foremost with the blanket before we slowly made our way to the back work room. Rarity was already sitting on her sofa when we arrived, Opal lying regally next to her as if queen of the house. I gave the feline a wide birth as I settled onto the couch across from Rarity. Derpy got up next to me, blanket first as to not get the cushion wet. Tea was already sitting out on the table between us, steam gently drifting from the large pot. I saw Rarity had a half-full cup, and surmised that she had actually already made it before we got here. She poured us both a cup with her magic. "Thank you, Rarity. I was actually on my way here to drop off the tape measure you accidentally left at the library," I explained, settling into the cushion and sighing contently as the warm and delicious liquid drifted down my throat. It was a little sip of heaven, especially after getting out of the crappy weather. Rarity halted for a moment and gave me a blank stare before she slapped her forehead with a free hoof. "That's where I left the thing! I had to get out another roll because I couldn't find it. It slowed me down significantly. Thank you for returning it," she said, watching passively as I pulled off the saddlebags and dug into the right side, looking for the measuring tape. "Admittedly, I thought you'd be busier than this with the orders you mentioned this morning," I added idly, perking as I finally found the tape at the bottom of the bag. This thing still had a bunch of random things from our Canterlot trip in it. After pulling the tape out and setting it on the table, I took another peek into the bags. Rarity snickered as she watched before finally explaining, "I was taking a brief break from the order, actually. The creative process cannot be rushed. Well, not with good results, anyway. Plus, it gives me time to fit your suit for your decidedly expanding build." I detected a bit of hesitation with that last part and smirked with my head still inside the bag. She'd been on edge about mentioning anything to do with my build after accidentally insulting me way back when we met, I noted. "I don't have to wear it to Pinkie's party, do I?" I asked wearily, popping my head out of the bag again and pulling an impressive looking abacus with me a moment later. This thing had to be made for a unicorn. The beads were way too small to be manipulated with hooves. Although it was Twilight's, so that kinda made sense. Rarity snickered merrily. "Of course not. Admittedly, I doubt it would be the right dress for what she was explaining. Unless you want its protective qualities. It does make you fire resistant, and I'm working on a complex feather fall enchantment to put on it, but admittedly, I've never used it before," she rambled. I stuck my head out of the bag again at the word 'enchantment', having tucked the abacus back into the bag while she was talking. "Feather fall?" I asked curiously. Was that as self-explanatory as it sounded? "Well, I've noticed how gravity seems to simply adore you, so I figured an enchantment that let you fall slower and significantly less painfully might be nice," she detailed, giving me that self-aware smirk again. I averted my eyes for a moment before nodding in agreement. "As much as I'd love to deny that, I honestly can't. In truth, after I'd seen Canterlot from a distance while on the train, I really thought I was going to end up falling off the cliff it's built into," I admitted, remembering the oh so graphic images easily. Rarity started laughing, and Derpy actually gave me a grin at that, snapping out of her shivering stupor a little more. I noticed the strength of the shaking seemed to be dropping, which hopefully meant the pegasus was warming up a little bit. "Oh dear. I believe that thought had crossed my mind as well, once or twice. But I'm glad it turned out so... ah..." I raised an eyebrow while turning, but stopped when I saw the frozen, wide-eyed mare. Eh?! Self-examination told me I hadn't accidentally turned into my armored form, sprouted tentacles, or grown a third head, so I gave her a questioning glance. She shivered, and then shook her head, losing her smile and looking away from me. "Sorry. I almost said it turned out well, which wouldn't have been entirely honest, would it?" she finally explained. Oh. The kiss. "Uh, what? From what I read in the papers, a really big disaster was averted. Isn't that good?" Derpy asked, now down to just her head peeking out of the comfy looking blanket. I sighed and lowered myself to my stomach, lying down on the cushion. However much Rarity wanted to say was entirely up to her. "Oh, disaster was averted, but I created some of a different sort afterwards," Rarity corrected, ears lowering a little as she watched me. A hesitation. Finally, she closed her eyes and seemed to try to pull up strength from deep within. "I was a complete foal. Watching Mender almost hurt himself without the slightest hesitation in order to save the orchestra... Well, it did something to me. A part of me realized that I'd been being silly," she continued, apparently gathering her courage up. Derpy remained silent, watching the mare respectfully with one eye, the other drifting sideways to peek at me. Idly, I wondered if she could control them individually or if the one was just a 'lazy' eye and did its own thing. Admittedly, I didn't know a whole lot about her specific condition. Asking would be rude, however. "I've always wanted a prince. Everypony in town probably knows that by now. Maybe, however, I was looking for the wrong kind of prince? After realizing that, I decided that I really just wanted a polite gentlecolt who would treat me with respect. Mender was more than that even. A humble if not somewhat clumsy hero!" I decided the longer Rarity talked, the more I couldn't tell if I should be insulted or embarrassed. I went with the latter and just let my cheeks flush without fighting it this time. The pearly unicorn had been watching me like a hawk, however. "Ooooh no. Not this time. I know you just happened to be there, and wouldn't have risked bodily harm if there were another choice, and were probably scared. Regardless of any of those things, you saved them, so you're a hero whether you like it or not!" she refuted before I had even said anything. I opened my mouth, and then realized she'd rebutted everything I usually say in this situation. Five seconds later, I just felt awkward and slowly closed my mouth again. Damn it. “Oooh. It almost sounds like you like Mender!” Derpy exclaimed, eyes widening as she looked back and forth between Rarity and me. Rarity hesitated, and then nodded. “I do like him. I went about it entirely the wrong way, however, and kissed him before even asking if I could. Twilight saw me do so and I panicked, running away. It wasn’t a pleasant night,” she finally finished, lowering her eyes away from me. Derpy gave out a small gasp, and I couldn’t tell if it was out of shock or worry. I sighed wearily. Admittedly, I knew this confrontation was coming. Part of me had prepared for it, at least subconsciously, so I somewhat knew what I wanted to say. It had to be said, obviously. “Rarity, I’m sorry. I mean, you’re an amazing mare and a true friend, but-“ I started to explain. Rarity held up a hoof, however, and gave me a soft, sad looking smile. “There’s no need to go through the motions, Mender. I knew you didn’t feel the same way the second I kissed you. My only intent with this was, well, to apologize for not simply asking. Twilight said she didn’t get mad at you. Was that the truth?” she asked quietly. My ears lowered a little, but I nodded. I hadn’t expected her to already know my feelings. The sad part was that I couldn’t tell if it was better or worse this way. Probably better. There was no chance for me to shove my hoof down my throat when trying to explain myself. “I’m sorry, too, Rarity. I wish there was something I could do for you,” I agreed. Oddly, Derpy looked about ready to cry as she continued following the conversation between us. Rarity smiled to herself as she looked downwards, nodding after a moment. “Ah, there is something you could do. I’d very much like to put the whole situation behind us and continue on with a wonderful friendship instead, if that’s possible at this point,” she requested. Okay, now she was just being silly. “Rarity, I never stopped being your friend. Of course I want to stay that way,” I revealed, smiling at her in hopefully an assuring manner. She stared blankly for a moment before that more confident smile returned. “I should have known you’d be a gentlecolt. That’s why I was so interested in you in the first place, I remind myself. Hmm. Although this leaves me with a quandary as I had worked out a bribe; well more of an incentive, to give friendship another try. Now what shall I do with it?” she questioned. My turn for the blank, confused stare, I guessed. She wore a playful smirk, however, so I was fairly certain she was just kidding. “Rarity, you didn’t have to get me anything!” I protested, really wishing I were dealing with somepony other than the Element of Generosity. There might actually be a chance that I could convince her otherwise if it weren’t for that. As if reading my mind, she simply shook her head. “Then it’s a good thing I didn’t get anything for you. I made it. It’s something I should have made you a while back, though,” she revealed, tossing a playful wink in for good measure. Derpy burst into snickering, but rapidly quieted as Rarity activated her magic and slid something out from under the sofa she resided on. For just the briefest of moments, I wondered why she’d put something under a sofa and have it get dusty. It passed rather rapidly once I reminded myself whose house I was at. Even her dust was probably clean. Then everything momentarily left my mind as she lifted up the wonderful article. A doubled up saddlebag set complete with harness attached to them. Two bags on each side appeared to be comprised of sturdy, dark leather with silver inlay around the borders. Each bag was completed with a beautiful, sapphire clasp to keep them closed. The clasps themselves appeared to be shaped as my Cutie Mark. This must have been a recent project of hers, then. The whole set looked surprisingly heavier than what I had on right now, as if it were built for function as well as appearance. My attention was snapped back to reality when Rarity’s confident smirk returned. “That, my dear, is an artist’s greatest reward. That look of awe you just displayed makes it worth every stitch,” she cooed, causing me to cough lightly and blush. “Rarity, uh, I don’t exactly have any bits yet. It’s only been a day since I decided to try working,” I reminded. Four sapphires of that size would have been absurdly expensive back in my old dimension, if I recalled correctly. I had no idea what their price was in Equestria, but the saddlebags looked amazing, so it couldn’t be cheap! Rarity gave me a skeptical, disbelieving look. Oh no. She wasn’t going to… “Mender, were you not paying attention when I said it was a gift?” Damn it. She was. She was just going to give it to me. For a moment, I’d forgotten whom I was dealing with. Derpy snickered again before adding, “Technically, you said it was a bribe or incentive.” Ha! That was true. I shouldn’t assume that it was still being offered as I already gave her what she was using them to bribe me for. She gave an exasperated stare to Derpy for a moment before chuckling herself. “Okay, I have to admit that I did indeed say that. They’re a gift now, however. You did mention liking saddlebags, if I recall,” she said. I twitched, looking back down at the amazing bags. “Like? I love those! They look absolutely beautiful. I didn’t know you cut gems yourself!” I corrected, eyes widening a little. The white mare flushed lightly, the coloration being extra noticeable against her coat. “Well, I’m very glad I made them for you, then! Gems are something of my specialty, so of course I know how to cut them myself. Also, given the nature of your luck, I made the entire set out of heavy-duty materials, and layered several protective enchantments onto them. I’d hate for them to get scratched or damaged,” she added, looking back down at them wistfully. “Heh. Are you sure you don’t want to keep them and use them yourself?” I asked impishly, noticing her longing expression. I bet it was hard to part with such masterful work. As predicted, Rarity recovered instantly upon me finishing saying such. Her grin returned, albeit slightly more mischievous this time. “Scandalous! Imagine what ponies would say if I started wearing articles of clothing with your Cutie Mark on them! Why, you’re liable to start even more absurd rumors,” she playfully observed. Okay, I choked a bit at that. “Aaaah! I meant you’d take the buttons off and replace them!” I rapidly appended, front legs flailing a little bit. Derpy burst into more laughter and rolled over in her blanket. Rarity didn’t falter in her smirk, which made me relax a little. Okay, she really was joking. “That was worth it just for the reaction. You’re too easy to tease, Mender. Although that does give me an idea,” she muttered, looking back down at the set. I really did have to stop second-guessing myself. These ponies had already proved a lot more easygoing than Keldarians. I followed her gaze, and watched as she peeked at each gemstone clasp. “Yes. Wouldn’t it be romantic if I replaced the back ones with Fluttershy’s and Twilight’s Cutie Marks? That would simply be adorable, and they’d probably love it!” she pondered in a hopefully rhetorical manner, as I myself had no idea if it was romantic or not. I’d just learned what ‘dating’ meant not even a week ago, after all. I tilted my head and watched her think. “Ooooh. That is kinda romantic. It’s almost like he’d be showing that they’ve claimed him or something!” Derpy squealed in agreement. She might have said more, but my mind froze at the ‘claimed’ part, a bolt of ice tearing down my spine and causing a full body shiver. My eyes widened of their own accord, as I was both disturbed and surprised by my own reaction. No, they weren’t like the Keldarians. They weren’t! I forced my eyes shut and took a couple deep breaths, feeling my spiked heartbeat slowly returning to normal as I reminded myself that I was in Equestria. To ‘claim’ somepony was probably entirely innocent. It wasn’t ownership over the individual, right? Slavery didn’t exist here. At least I didn’t think it did. “…okay, Mender?” Derpy suddenly cut back in. I snapped my attention back to my surroundings again and looked over at her. She was giving me a worried expression. I felt along my neck and noticed the cold sweat that had developed. Damn it. “It’s okay, Derpy. Just let him relax,” Rarity warned, also looking concerned. After another deep breath, I shook my head wearily. “Sorry about that. Just a momentarily bout of not feeling well,” I excused, carefully wording around a direct lie. Rarity gave me a skeptical glance, and I knew she probably had guessed as to what the problem was. Still, there wasn't a lot that I could do with Derpy here. After a few moments, I managed to calm myself down again. That was silly anyway. Equestria didn't have slavery. I'd read the sociological books myself. Ponies definitely didn't seem to promote the enslavement of individuals. Opening my eyes again finally, I decided that the best bet was to simply change the topic. "Well, I'll keep this set for now if you're going to add their Cutie Marks to the saddle bags. You're right, of course. Both mares would probably like it." Rarity's eyes narrowed slightly, and I knew that she knew that I was trying to change the topic. "Now I'm not so sure that it's a good idea after all. Are you sure that you're all right?" she asked, eyes giving me a once over. I nodded with only a slight hesitation. "Just a bad memory is all. I'll be fine, Rarity. Do you really think they'll like it, though? I'd hate for you to go through all the trouble of making additional buttons only to have them not like it, or be uncomfortable with me wearing it," I pointed out. The second option was far more likely, given the two mares involved. Rarity actually considered it for a moment before finally nodding. "Yes, I believe so. Your fears aren't entirely unjustified, of course. Fluttershy will probably be extremely embarrassed by the gesture at first, but once she recovers, I believe she will be delighted by the aspect. Twilight is a bit harder to predict, but I don't think she'll be nearly as embarrassed. Deep down, I think she has a very well-guarded romantic side to her," she speculated, somewhat surprising me with the in-depth character analysis. It was almost as if she'd done this before. I was just thankful for the distraction and opportunity to learn. "I think it's a wonderfully romantic idea. Most mares would be delighted that their stallion was even considering it!" Derpy chimed in softly. Rarity nodded along in agreement. Wait. Why was that? "Is it really that big of a deal?" I asked, suddenly somewhat worried about walking into a relationship minefield. Big deals struck me as a high risk, high reward sort of gamble. I'd be the first to admit that gambling for me was a seriously bad idea. Jumping off a balcony in Canterlot was probably better for my health. At least fate wouldn't take that as a personal challenge. Rarity snickered before giving a noncommittal shrug. "It's no secret that stallions are stereotyped as inconsiderate to their partners or outright unromantic sometimes. I'm pretty sure they already know that you're an exception, but more examples never hurt," she hesitantly explained after a moment's thought. Unromantic, huh? I could see why Rarity would prefer a gentlecolt, now. Her bias showed through, even with her trying to be professional. Finally, I nodded in agreement. "Alright then. I'll trust your judgment. Let's surprise them with it, though?" I suggested, smiling towards her. Plus, that way there'd be lots of ponies around and I was less likely to be murdered right away. I mentally chuckled to myself. At least with Rarity’s explanation, I was fairly certain I could put fears about ‘claiming’ to rest. She grinned and nodded, apparently approving of my idea. "A very good thought. I'll whip up some appropriate gems and have them ready in time for the party!" Rarity added, seeming pleased with the turn of events. Slowly, I stood up again and stretched, making sure to be careful of my injured leg and the brace attached to it. Derpy watched me with interest for a moment before snuggling further into her blanket. "Derpy, you should stay here. You're not warmed up yet and it's still raining outside. I'll get you some more tea," Rarity suggested. "Aww. But I wanted to go with Mender," the gray pegasus protested. She looked back over at me instead, eyes large and pleading, even while drifting in different directions. Rarity shook her head wearily, admitting, "I obviously can't stop you, but I would very much like for you to get warm and dry first. Maybe even borrow an umbrella? Besides, I'm sure Mender has things he needs to do." I blinked again, momentarily confused. "Actually, I figured that you were busy and I didn't want to get in the way. Everypony seems busy today, so I was just going to go bug Pinkie Pie for a while," I corrected, perplexed. I knew Applejack was busy with the harvest, and Twilight was preoccupied running energy sample tests in the basement. Spike was dutifully assisting her, of course. Rarity said that she had three orders to fill for Canterlot elite when she left this morning. I’m guessing the party had paid off for her already. Fluttershy was in a nigh panic over something to do with the animals and organizing something. I didn't dare try to help there, lest I just get in the way. Rainbow said she had to get a head start on next week's weather arrangements for some reason, and felt extremely grumpy when I asked her using the link this morning. Even my fellow CMC members were currently in school right now. "You're certainly not a bother, Mender. I do have a lot to do, but if you're bored, I can entertain you," Rarity offered almost immediately. That gave me pause. Was I bored? I'd never had a day to myself like this before. Everypony being busy did remind me how little a life I had here. Should I go out and try to get a job? Fitting in and making myself useful seemed close to one and the same. "Like I said, I'm done with my route and totally don't have anything to do," Derpy interrupted, breaking me out of my chain of thought. Rarity gave her an exasperated glance. "If you really want to, sure. I'm gonna wander over to Sugar Cube Corner if you want to come. Pinkie might not be too busy, and I wanted to ask her about the party coming up," I offered. Derpy lit up and grinned, fluttering into the air and spinning once, dislodging herself from the blanket. I snickered at her rather cute display. Rarity finally shook her head and recovered her smile. “I can see that I can’t dissuade you. At least try to stay dry, Derpy. You remember how hard it was to fly when you got that last cold,” she said, finally giving up. Derpy hovered closer and nodded rapidly to Rarity. “I’ll stay under Mender’s awesome umbrella spell thingy, don’t worry. I’ll come visit you later as well. I just haven’t gotten to hang out with Mender at all yet,” she explained, wobbling in the air and momentarily drifting sideways before righting herself. Actually, now that I thought about it, how did she fly with her eye condition? Wasn’t that a little dangerous? Rarity smirked but lifted up her left hoof gently. “It’s understandable. Just be safe, you two. I’ll probably see you later today or tomorrow, Mender,” Rarity assured gently. I nodded to her and slowly got off the couch, careful to step down with my right foreleg first. Both mares seemed momentarily drawn to the metal clink as my left foreleg touched down, but Rarity rapidly averted her gaze a split second later, avoiding looking at my leg. I watched her for a moment before looking away, trying not to sigh. The memories were still fresh and probably would be painful for everyone involved for a little while. “I’ll see you later, Rarity. Let me know how the commissions are going,” I spoke softly as I withdrew from the room, suddenly self-conscious of the noise my left hoof made on the wooden floor. “Well, of course. You did help get them for me. Do stay safe, Dear,” she called out, followed by the gentle sound of the teacup sliding along the saucer again as she lifted it. My ears swiveled back around and faced forwards again as I headed towards the exit of the building, Derpy hovering along above me in a happy bobbing motion. * * * * * Stepping to the side, a barrier held the door open for Derpy as she walked past and inside. I ducked after her, letting my umbrella barrier dissolve above me as I entered the building. It wasn’t like I was superstitious or anything, but I guess my luck didn’t need to get any worse. Although, did it actually count as an umbrella? "It's still a good idea. If you can help ponies with your enchantments, and make a job out of it, then I say you should go for it," Derpy continued from her prior point. A part of me already knew that much, but the larger parts questioned if I was truly up to the task. Could I pull off something like what I did for Applejack totally on my own initiative? All I could remember was building things that destroyed. That was the first time I'd ever made something that helped to create. The inside of the Sugarcube Corner was surprisingly busy today, with a small line of ponies at the counter and over half of the tables taken. What was going on? Derpy momentarily hesitated, giving a worried glance around the room. I walked past her, however, giving her a light bump to gain her attention before heading to the counter. To my surprise, there was a mature looking mare stationed there instead. I wracked my brain trying to remember her name. Mrs. Pie? No, it wasn't anything to do with Pinkie. Muffin? No, that was Derpy's favorite food. Salad? No, that didn't sound very 'Sugarcube' to me. Tea? Ack! No! Get your mind off the cup of tea you forgot to finish back at Rarity's! I was totally disrupted by Derpy flying past me in a sideways drift before crashing into the cupcake display on the counter. I blinked, noticing that up until the rather rough awakening, she had been focused solely on the muffin display on the other side of the line. Cupcake? Cupcake! Wait, no. Cake! Mrs. Cake! My barrier shot out as fast as possible and I scooped the cupcakes out of the air before they hit the floor, lifting them back up and into the tray again. The startled, and then panicked Mrs. Cake eyed the display for a moment before apparently deciding it was safe and rearranging all the cupcakes so they stayed upright again while I held them in place. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cake! I got looking at the muffins and wasn't watching where I was going," Derpy apologized upon recovering from the surprise. Mrs. Cake smiled, despite the rather annoyed looks from some of the costumers still in line. "Oh, it's okay, Derpy. The cupcakes were saved. Thank you as well, um?" she started, turning to me with an expectant stare. To my amusement, she frowned a moment later, probably starting to recognize me or something. "Moon Mender. It's nice to meet you. Mrs. Cake, right?" I introduced while I still could. As nice as it was to have bits of conversation skipped completely, it was awkward when it was purely one sided. She perked up, and then smiled, giving me a nod. "Oh yes. I thought you looked familiar!" she said excitedly. I knew it. "Pinkie talks about you all the time. I got an extremely detailed description of you." Oh. Okay, that I hadn't been expecting. Wait. Extremely detailed? "Wha! Mender! What are you doing here?" suddenly exploded out from behind Mrs. Cake as an excited looking Pinkie Pie slid out of the kitchen. A large tray of assorted baked goods balanced precariously on her back, and she somehow pulled off a happy bounce without jarring the thing. "Pinkie! Your side!" Mrs. Cake reminded, turning around just in time to see the energetic display. Pinkie grinned, however, and assured, "This 'is' taking it easy. Besides, I feel a hundred percent better today!" Less than a day after the accident in the market?! I doubted that. Did she really heal that fast? "Just take it slow, Pinkie. I don't want to see you hurt yourself again," I added, mentally shivering as I remembered her pained expression from yesterday. Maybe it was just me, but it didn't feel like that face belonged on Pinkie. She was one of those ponies who deserved to be eternally smiling. The smile she held now softened considerably as she nodded to me. "I'll try to be good. It's hard sometimes, though. I get so excited! Besides, you give yummy massages, which gives a mare incentives to get hurt around you," she pointed out. "He gives good massages?" Derpy asked quietly, landing beside us. Okay, the logic of this concept was starting to hurt my brain. "Pinkie, you're still on shift. It's really busy right now so can you please continue waiting tables?" Mrs. Cake reminded, interrupting the conversation anyway. Pinkie looked devastated almost instantly, but I considered the situation. Well, I did need practice. I smirked at her and activated my left foreleg again. It was weird that I always used my left one. Technically I could extend magic through any hoof now, but I guess it was just habit. Pinkie's eyes widened as I snatched up the tray, flicking on her link a second later. "Tables?" I whispered into the link. Her eyes danced in delight as she nodded and zipped off to take orders instead. Her memory was amazing, however, and I got the image of a pony for each treat on the tray. Smirking, my magic burst into action, expanding outwards in each direction and taking treats with the little barriers. Each drifted high above the surprised yet amused ponies before drifting down to the different tables on little strands of energy. It didn't take us long to get a pattern going. Pinkie took orders and dropped them off to Mr. Cake in the kitchen, removing the line completely. Derpy surprised me by joining in as well, snagging the finished goods from the kitchen and delivering them to me. I was surprised at how fast the little pegasus could move on her hooves! I'd then pull the treats into the air and shoot an image of each to Pinkie as they went. Pinkie was much better at using images in the link than actually talking, I quickly discovered. What happened the first time we tried made more sense now. She'd shoot back an image of the pony who ordered it, and I'd send it along the enchanted ceiling tracks I built to be delivered. Mrs. Cake watched in awe after the pace quickened and the line disappeared. She then only had to take payments. Things became fun really fast with Pinkie zooming between tables, Derpy's balancing act, and everypony laughing as the food zipped around and delivered itself. After getting the pattern down and making the tracks solid so they were way easier to maintain, I started adding twists, spins, and loops just for fun. More than once, the girls got distracted watching rather than doing what we were supposed to. I'd snicker every time I caught Pinkie trying to chase one of my deliveries. Then something unexpected happened. Apparently word of mouth traveled absurdly fast in Ponyville. Our amount of customers increased instead of lessening as lunch came and went. Some ponies appeared to order things just to watch them fly around through the air. I started to get a little tired from the exertion after a while, but kept it up regardless. Pinkie's job was easier this way while she was recovering from the injury. She'd gotten injured protecting me, so it wasn't asking much of me to just suck it up and help her out. Besides, it's what friends did for each other and I didn't have anything else to be doing right now. After the hour and a half mark passed, my head was starting to hurt. It would be so easy if the book were here. It held almost unlimited energy, it felt like. Still, it defeated the point of exercising my magic. Plus, a part of me just didn't like the thing. It felt like it was almost giving me suggestions sometimes. Really bad suggestions. I exhaled quietly and slid my heavy feeling saddlebags off, shivering as the cool air licked the newly revealed skin through the fur. The left bag popped open upon hitting the floor, however. Remembering that I hadn't opened that side at Rarity's, I peeked down to make sure nothing had spilled. Twilight would be upset if I accidentally lost her things. Time ground to a halt and I momentarily froze in place as I watched Prudentia slide out of the bag. No. That wasn't possible. I'd left it on Twilight's bedside table this morning! Why would she pack up the book before giving me the saddlebags? She didn't like to touch it anyway, saying it felt amazingly like 'mine'. So much so that she said she felt dirty even magically lifting it. Like it was chewing her out. I paused for a moment. Yeah, of course. That must have been it. She felt it was mine and wanted me to have it with me. That made sense. I doubted she wanted it around the library after all, right? I guess it kind of was my duty to take it. Just like it was my duty to guard the sword once Keela gathered enough solar energy to send it to me. Apparently, dimensional travel took a lot of power. Who'd have guessed? I snickered to myself, earning a curious smile from Derpy. Finally, things slowed down an hour later. All three of us took a much-needed breather on the sidelines while Mrs. Cake brought us some milk. "On the house, Mender. You two helped us serve more customers in three hours than we normally get all day!" she exclaimed instantly upon seeing me hesitate. Eh?! What, had Pinkie warned her about me or something? Pinkie gave me an innocent grin from my left, and I rolled my eyes. Eh, a glass of milk was fine. "It was a lot of fun. Plus I need the practice using my magic. I'm really rusty still," I excused simply, giving my temples a little rub as emphasis. Pinkie watched for a moment before leaning over and replacing my hooves with her own, gently massaging my head. "You should take your own advice and take it easy. You don't want to get a nosebleed again," Pinkie pointed out in a rather impish manner. I smirked, closing my eyes again, but wondering what to do with my head. "Oh dear. Most unicorns only get those if they really overexert themselves," Mrs. Cake added softly, sounding a little concerned. I shook my head as best I could with Pinkie there. "It happens a little faster with me. I'm out of practice, and I don't think Earth Ponies were meant for this kind of magic," I furthered, idly starting to really enjoy Pinkie's ministrations. "And they're a lot worse than a unicorn's!" Pinkie tacked on, pulling my head down against her chest before continuing the massage. I blushed a little but reminded myself that it was just Pinkie being Pinkie. She was a really nice mare who truly cared for her friends. “I’ll be fine,” I tried to return, if somewhat muffled by the pink fur in my face. It must have tickled, because Pinkie let out a squeak and giggle a moment later. I heard Mrs. Cake walk away for a second, and then come back and set something down in front of us. “Muffin!” Derpy exclaimed a second later. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I shifted to peek, opening my eyes again. A small tray of muffins and donuts were laid out in front of us. Eh? She was giving us lunch, too? “Before you ask, yes, it’s also on the house. A couple bits worth of food is the least I can do for all the help you ponies have been. I also heard you’re looking for commissions, Mender?” Mrs. Cake questioned after watching my expression. Somewhat caught off guard, I looked back up at her questioningly. She smiled softly and added, “Applejack dropped an apple shipment off this morning and told me that you were trying to apply your engineering skills and magic to others for bits.” My eyes widened and I flushed lightly. I hadn’t expected Applejack to start so quickly, and be so earnest about it. “Ah, I didn’t realize she was actually telling ponies. Yeah, I’m kinda hoping to get a bit of income coming in,” I said. Pinkie snickered and gave my shoulder a playful nudge. “This is Applejack we’re talking about; the most dependable of ponies! When she says she’s going to do something, she does it. Besides, she’s terrible at lying. Everypony would have known instantly if she weren’t going to do it,” Pinkie explained. I gave her a somewhat blank stare before chuckling. Yeah, I probably should have seen that coming. “Yes. She was very resolute in insisting that your skills were top notch. I’d asked her how her farm project was going, which is how we got on the topic. I was surprised, admittedly, when she said it was already done. Plus, your magic show there gave me a few really fun ideas!” Mrs. Cake continued, looking up along the ceiling as she spoke. “Ponies did seem to really like that! It would be super-awesome if we could do that all the time!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing in place slightly before wincing, and stopping. I shook my head and immediately pushed a hoof into each of her sides, gently massaging with magic starting to flow into her. Pinkie’s tongue lolled out almost instantly and she slumped against my shoulder this time, giving out a happy sigh. Derpy started snickering at the display, mouth completely jammed full of muffin. “Even though she insists on hurting herself, I do agree. If you could whip something up that was similar that didn’t need you here to manually control, it would be amazing,” Mrs. Cake agreed, gesturing absently towards the ceiling. I looked the ceiling itself over while massaging Pinkie. It was high enough to have something like that. If I used enchantments, I could save space, too. “If you didn’t mind wooden tracks being laid out, I think I could manage a few enchantments that would allow that, yeah. It might take a couple days to set up, though. And I’d need wood supplies,” I muttered absently, working out the design in my head while talking. Little rolling lifts would be cute. A square ceiling attached to the rolling pin, with four wooden posts going downwards. The floor of the lift would be made out of a barrier, and sides would have to be projected to keep the snacks in the lift, of course. Then when the little lift got to the tables, the bottom barrier would disappear and gently drop the food the remaining few centimeters onto the table’s surface. It would work! It was gimmicky, but also cute at the same time. It also removed the need for a line to order the food with Pinkie taking the orders herself. “Well, I’d offer you free run of the place with heat season coming up next week, but Pinkie stays here over the week or so and that might be uncomfortable for you,” Mrs. Cake returned, frowning and thinking to herself for a moment. My ears flattened back. That’s what I’d been forgetting! Damn it! “That’s next week? Um, this is my first time dealing with it, so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on,” I warned. Pinkie backed up a bit and smiled at me. “In smaller, closer knit towns, they usually come up with some means of sending the stallions off for a week or two during the two heat cycles in the summer,” she explained simply. I swallowed uneasily, the lump in my throat feeling a bit painful. Memories danced back of Keldarian estrus cycles, which were a nightmare. Our females didn’t sync with each other and had somewhat varied times every half a year or so, but the pheromones were a nightmare. “Uh, does that mean it’s really bad?” I asked uneasily. Mrs. Cake gave me a questioning glance, but Pinkie just giggled and shook her head. “Nah. The smells just make stallions a little dizzy and woozy so it’s harder for them to get work done. In close communities, all the mares kinda link together and all go into heat at the same time, so it’s worse than in cities, is all. We let them go to the cabins in the Whitetail Woods so they can be more comfortable during the week. Of course, it’s kinda hard for us to get work done, too, so I guess nopony gets much work done during the week! I think that’s why Applejack gets so grumpy, because she really likes to stay on schedule and things slow down a lot. Of course, in a couple years, Apple Bloom will be staying with her so maybe things will get done faster? I mean, two ponies are better than one and-“ Pinkie started rambling, shifting off topic rather rapidly. I chuckled and nodded, feeling a little better. It wasn’t anything overbearing then. Of course, they were a civilized society, so I guess their biological cycles were more of an inconvenience instead. I guess they could have a menstrual cycle instead and cut out the pheromones entirely, but always being fertile might also be inconvenient, at least for a few individuals. Pinkie’s rambling and my thought tangent were both cut short by Mrs. Cake starting to giggle. “You two are very silly. Regardless, do you think the weekend after heat’s officially over would be okay? We can obviously budget a little bit your way for the effort,” she asked softly. She seemed earnest in wanting the upgrade. Of course, if it was cute and popular, it would probably bring a lot of income their way too. “I don’t see why not, unless Twilight has something else she wants me doing. I’ll let you know if it doesn’t work,” I offered, returning her smile. She gave a happy nod before turning and heading back to the kitchen. Pinkie watched her go before turning and giving me a huge grin. “This is gonna be awesome! I’ll totally help you decorate it. Ponies are gonna love it!” she exclaimed excitedly. Heh. Leave it to Pinkie to instantly think of making it cuter. Of course, it subtly hinted at her focus on ponies enjoying it rather than it making the shop more bits. That made me happy, deep down. Derpy swallowed the muffin she was working on and lowered her hooves again, suddenly seeming a bit lost in thought as her eyes softened. I gave her a questioning glance, and she perked up upon catching the attention, smiling at me. “What’s wrong, Derpy?” I asked gently. Pinkie caught my words instantly and shifted attention to Derpy instead, switching from excitement to concern faster than I could follow. Dang. No wonder she had trouble ‘talking’ using the link. It was like her entire system was wired three times faster than normal. She was also extremely more image oriented than most. “I’m just a little worried. I know Prince Shining Armor lowered the barrier, and the mayor called off the state of emergency, but I’m still a little concerned about the cabins this year. The stallions and little foals off in the middle of the woods after what happened is a bit scary,” Derpy explained quietly, frowning down at the remaining muffins on the tray. Pinkie shook her head rapidly, of course. “It’s okay, Derpy! Princess Luna took care of the problem in the woods, so there’s nothing out there that could hurt them. Besides, that was in the Everfree Forest, not the Whitetail Woods where the cabins are!” she rapidly attempted to assure. I was somewhat pleased by her explanation of the ‘problem’ in the woods, admittedly. At least she avoided using ‘creature’ or ‘monster’ like I’d heard so often around town. Derpy nodded halfheartedly, and sighed again. “I know. I’m not the only pony who’s a little concerned this year, though. I know Miss Redheart is coming along too like usual, but she expressed a little concern over the potential risks too,” the gray mare countered, looking back up at us finally. Nurse Redheart went to the cabins as well? Well, it made sense that they’d want somepony with medical training there. “I’m apparently staying with Big Mac and Apple Bloom. From the way Twilight talked, our cabin is right next to the medical cabin, so I’ll help keep an eye on things too,” I promised, giving her my best reassuring smile. Of course, if Apple Bloom were there, I had the sneaking suspicion the unwritten statement was that all three Crusaders were staying with us. Unless, of course, they had their own parents or fathers there. I’d have to ask Apple Bloom later. Derpy smiled softly and nodded to me, looking back over at me after I finished. “It’s a little better knowing somepony with experience is with them all apart from just Miss Redheart. Sometimes it just makes me wish Ponyville had a standing guard force like the bigger cities,” she explained. That did make sense, of course. I nodded, unwavering. “Of course. I don’t have anypony to look after except for myself, really, so keeping an eye on things was something I was going to do anyway,” I assured. It was obviously a lie given the fact that I knew there was no danger in the first place, but I couldn’t exactly tell her that, so this was the best assurance I could offer. Pinkie grinned in my peripheral vision, however. “Yet. You don’t have anypony to look after ‘yet’. The way Fluttershy talks, that could totally change in a couple of years” she teased mirthfully. I blushed, catching her meaning and intent almost instantly and shooting her an awkward glare. The gray pegasus next to me grinned, however, and nodded. “Watching after all the little foals might be good practice for you, then,” Derpy pointed out, grinning before shoving another muffin into her mouth whole. That was… actually rather impressive. I knew I could distend my jaw to eat things, but she somehow managed it without injury. Wait, when had I become unofficial guardian of the camp? “Oh! I just remembered that I should probably talk to the Crusaders anyway. I think they wanted to get my help with Cutie Mark searching today.” Clocky informed me that school was almost done for the day. Pinkie grinned even wider, however, and rapidly shook her head. “Nuh uh! All four of you are totally helping me decorate after work today! I have a massive party to throw you tomorrow, if you recall,” Pinkie corrected rapidly, raising an eyebrow to me. Her exuberance threw me off and I swallowed, backing up from her a bit while nodding and hoping she didn’t pounce on me or something. “Oooh, I can probably help, too! Decorating sounds like a lot of fun,” Derpy offered behind me. “Settled then! Bring the Crusaders over if they’re interested, and Derpy can help as well!” Pinkie announced, pumping a hoof into the air excitedly, her mane bobbing with the motion. Snickering, I nodded in agreement. Well, I guess I didn’t have to worry about not having anything to do today after all! It was nice that it actually felt like I was in control of what I was doing, too. Sure, it was offered by somepony else, but I had actually wanted to do so, and agreed to it! Maybe, just maybe, things were starting to look up.
Chapter 39My eyes slowly opened, somewhat dazed but reasonably okay. Smoke was clearing from inside the Aegis Barriers, and I saw that Twilight's coffee table was broken into three pieces. Twilight let out a light coughing noise behind me, waving the smoke from her face with her hoof. "Is everypony okay?" she asked a moment later. "Good gracious! That was violent. Was that supposed to happen?" Rarity asked, making no attempt to leave the couch and get closer to the table she was eyeing warily. The thinning of the smoke let me see that Pinkie and Applejack were also unharmed. A glance behind me showed all three fillies hiding in my shadow, shivering nervously but otherwise unhurt. "It's okay, Crusaders. I threw up an extra barrier to each side. You wouldn't have been hurt," I assured quietly. Not that I had anticipated it getting through the Aegis anyway, which it had not, but it was mostly for peace of mind. Applejack carefully looked around before nodding in agreement, my extra shields lowering as she sat up again. "Ah think we're all fine, Twi. Yer table ain't, though," she warned, gesturing towards the broken remains with her head. The connection re-established a few seconds later, and I activated my left eye's projector, popping Keela into the room. She was coughing slightly, and I saw the haze of similar smoke drifting past her occasionally, but she appeared unhurt. "Wow. That ate up both cells of energy that I had stored. Did the sword make it? Is everyone okay over there?" she asked. That was a good question. I peeked through the side of the barrier and saw that there indeed was a shape lying on the floor amidst the wreckage of Twilight's table. "We're all fine. Checking on the sword," I reported as I activated the end barrier, causing it to pulse and blow some of the smoke to one end of the containment area. My eyes widened drastically as I got a good look at the blade. The leather in the sheath had shifted to a light blue in color, while the cord wrap around the grip was a darker shade of the same tone. The metal portions of sheath and the patterned swirl along the leather were now a copper or amber in style. The pommel was a similar color, but now sported a shaped sapphire instead of a ruby. I could have sworn the blade had been black and silver before! "Oh! Mender! What did, but, that shouldn't be possible. You linked with it!" Keela exclaimed, seeing the same thing we all were now. "Linked?" Twilight questioned, hopping off the couch and walking closer to the blade. It didn't appear to be doing anything at all anymore, so I lowered the main Aegis Barriers. As predicted, it just sat there, now totally inert. Keela nodded and watched Applejack and Pinkie hop off the couch before continuing with, "Yes. In order to use an Aegis Artifact, you have to be linked to it. There are varying degrees of connection as well. Normally, however, you can only be linked to a single artifact. Mender's Prudentia should have stopped the link attempt." "Isn't it already linked with Nirru anyway?" I asked, leaning down and staring at the blade. The colors were remarkably similar to my coat. Although now that I thought about it, Prudentia's colors were extremely similar to mine as well. Why didn't it stop the link, though? Pinkie smiled down at the sword, seemingly fascinated by it for some reason. I also got a closer look. It was much how I remembered it, minus the color incident. The blade was small; it had been made for a Keldarian to use. The grip would be just enough for me to comfortably hold it in my mouth at this point. The guard was smaller than normal, being only twice the width of the grip itself, and the blade was straight, appearing to be just over half a meter long. Keela shook her head, however. "She was partially linked, but she could never manage to form a full connection with the artifact. The blade belonged to our mother before her, and has been passed through seventeen generations of our family now. She was the first eldest sister to not be able to connect with it. You're the only one to connect to it without being a family member. This is crazy." She stared at the sword, expression shifting sad for a moment before she carefully composed herself. "Why'd this thingy have ta be sent 'ere anyways?" Applejack asked, crouching down and getting a closer look at it from half a meter away or so. She seemed to relax a little when it didn't animate and lash out at her or anything. I was pretty sure I knew how it worked, so I figured a visual example would be better for the stubborn farm mare. Pulling Prudentia off my side, I tossed it sideways in a singular motion that got everypony's attention almost instantly. It landed on the floor with a dull thud, and I shifted my right foreleg against it, punting it a good three meters across Twilight's wooden floor. Huh. Aegis Barriers slid rather well, I noted. After Applejack gave me a questioning look, I extended my right foreleg back towards Prudentia. "Coming, Master. This is a good example," was suddenly whispered into my mind, and I gave a start. There was no time to consider it, however, as the book faded out of reality and flickered into existence against my right forehoof. "Whoa!" Applejack exclaimed, staring at the new position of the book in my hoof. "Yeah. That's what I'm trying to prevent my sister from doing. Ventosus Lacuna was her Aegis Artifact. She could teleport it to herself with just a mental command. After blocking three such attempts, I decided to try something new. My guess was that she couldn't call the sword if it was in another dimension," Keela explained, smiling softly at me. Something in her eyes caused me to shiver, however, and I rapidly looked away. Pinkie giggled and nodded rapidly. "Oooooh, so Mender is basically just keeping it safe and out of her hooves?" That I laughed at. "Really, I don't have a use for the blade. I'd rather return it to Keela as soon as possible, so hopefully this is just a temporary thing," I muttered, reaching down and lightly sliding the flat of my right hoof along the sheath. It hummed lightly under my touch, almost as if happy. 'Ventosus Lacuna' mentally came to mind, as if inserted of its own accord. I recognized the sensation as exactly the same as when I'd first touched Prudentia. For some reason, 'Windy Void' felt significantly less, well, real to me, for lack of better words. It didn't seem to have the sense of presence Prudentia had for me. I felt Keela smile at me before I even looked over at her. "I'm glad you're respectful of it. Even if it had belonged to my sister before this, it has been in our family for far longer. Hopefully I can take it back one day," she agreed softly. "It's to be expected. Mender is a gentlecolt, after all," was added in reply. I'd almost thought Rarity had said it, but she simply smirked as Sweetie Belle landed on my back again, wrapping her forelegs around my neck. I'd thought the voice was a little high for Rarity. "I'm glad to say we have similar tastes, Sister Dearest," Rarity agreed, snickering at Sweetie's impression of her. Apple Bloom simply groaned however. "Just don't start talkin' fancy on us. It ain't fun fer anypony involved," she warned, shuddering. Oddly, that almost sounded like she was talking from personal experience. Keela started to giggle, but jumped in surprise as a sudden pounding sounded out from somewhere on her end. "Miss Keela! We heard an explosion! Are you okay in there?" somepo- somebody asked, sounding concerned. "Oops. Uh, I'll start charging another energy cell to send the research materials to you, Mender. For now, however, I have to go and let them see I'm still alive," Keela excused, bowing lightly to me. Chuckling, I nodded gently to her and she flicked away in an instant. A few seconds passed and I let out the breath of tension I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Well, that was exciting! "What's with all the noise down here? A dragon's trying to sleep, ya know!" suddenly sounded from an agitated Spike on the stairs. He walked slowly down the steps and glared at the smoke and debris on the floor. "Oh no. Do I have to clean that up?" he asked weakly, side fin things drooping. Rarity winked over at Twilight and stood abruptly. "Nonsense, Spikey-wikey! You just head right back to bed. I'll even come and tuck you in," she said, hopping off the couch and sashaying towards the little dragon. His eyes bulged out as a flush spread across his cheeks almost instantly, his little jaw dropping in shock. "R-Rarity?! I didn't even know you were here! Wait, w-what?!" he asked, mental processing finally catching up with what she just said. It was a familiar enough facial expression for me to be able to identify it almost immediately. Scootaloo made a gagging noise behind me, but Sweetie just giggled and held tighter to my neck. She was actually rather warm, and it felt oddly good on my neck muscles. I reminded myself not to think of my friends as heating pads, however. The little dragon got no further protest out as he was shoved lightly upwards, and looked utterly shocked as he landed on Rarity's back. My eyes widened a little, surprised she was actually giving him a ride after she complained so heavily about his claws earlier. All of us watched in silence as he was hauled off into the darkness of the loft. Well, good luck, little buddy. "Well, that was unexpected. Hmm. Eh," Twilight finally muttered, breaking the silence with a noncommittal sound. Pinkie giggled merrily, but with slightly less energy than normal. I glanced over at her and noticed she had deflated a little bit, smiling over at me instead. "Spike's right, though! It's getting late and my medicine is making me a little sleepy. I've got a lot to do tomorrow before the party, so I think I'm gonna go home and go to sleep, okay?" Pinkie asked in a surprisingly hesitant manner. "Of course, Pinkie! Apple Bloom an' Ah should be headin' back anyway. We'll walk ya ta Sugarcube Corner," Applejack agreed heartily with no hesitation whatsoever. That made me feel better. Ponyville was a super safe community, but I still felt better if Pinkie had the tough farm mare as an escort. Especially with an injured side and medicine in her system. Pinkie nodded happily towards Applejack, and Twilight exhaled softly beside me. Did she have the same worry? If she did, it was apparently gone now as she slid sideways and rested her head on my shoulder. Sweetie Belle started playing with her mane almost immediately, but garnered no response from my fillyfriend. "Come on, Scootaloo. Ah'll drop you off, too," Applejack added, smiling as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hopped off the couch and trotted after her and Pinkie. Both fillies stopped halfway to her and turned around, looking at both Sweetie and me. "Good night, you two. We'll see ya tomorrow, okay?" Apple Bloom assured, giving two affirmative nods after. "Of course!" Sweetie replied. I added a smile and nod to the two. Seemingly pleased, they turned again and trotted up to the patiently waiting Applejack and Pinkie. Applejack hesitated before looking up again and locking eyes with me. Her mouth opened momentarily, but she didn't say anything. After an awkward three seconds of silence, she closed it again, simply settling with a nod towards me, and turned around rapidly. My eyes softened as I watched her go. Yeah. Things weren't going to be the same for a while with anypony, I had a feeling. Twilight watched me for another moment before shifting back to the retreating ponies. "Oh, let me at least show you to the door! I wanna know when you want us to show up tomorrow anyway!" Twilight called out, making a beeline to catch up with the four. I watched her go, somewhat curious but deciding it wasn't any of my business. She'd chosen to hide whatever her true topic was with them, so I guessed there was a reason for it. My gut told me it was Applejack, actually, but I dismissed it before I jumped to conclusions again. Left to my own devices, I glanced up at my warm, adorably cute hat. She smiled down at me and nodded, shifting slightly as I stood up. Ventosus Lacuna joined Prudentia 'magnetically' attached to my side as I slowly limped towards the stairs, my brace leaving a clinking noise with each step. "Let's go see how your sister's doing," I suggested. "I'll go anywhere you want to go, Mender!" Sweetie Belle assured, nestling herself further into my four supporting back tendrils. It felt a little weird, but I got used to it fairly fast. This also allowed me the added benefit of supporting her on my back as I headed up the stairs, kind of like a pony chariot for her. The loft was darkened, of course, but my glowing blue eyes could easily pick out Rarity and Spike. The dragon was snoring peacefully in his basket, looking extremely pleased. Rarity lay next to his bed, smiling softly at him as she gently rubbed his tummy scales with her left hoof. "Out like a light," she whispered softly to me as I slid up. My other four tendrils shifted under me and lifted me off the ground so my brace wouldn't make noise. "Aww! He's adorable," Sweetie Belle cooed quietly, peeking over my head at the snoozing drake. "As I said, we have similar tastes. He really is a charmer, isn't he? It's weird, but I never really fully acknowledged how kind Spike has been in trying to help everypony," Rarity muttered, watching the dragon sleep soundly. I nodded in agreement, deciding to throw some points in for Spike while I had the chance. "He really does try his hardest to make everypony happy. He cooked breakfast in bed for Fluttershy and Twilight practically single-handed. Single clawed? Regardless, I'm, uh, not very good with knives," I informed. Sweetie giggled in amusement on my head, but Rarity just smirked over at me. "Oh, you don't need to tell me that. I could have guessed. Still, he's a gentledrake, that's for sure..." she agreed, turning her attention back towards the sleeping Spike. She watched his chest rise and fall for a moment before smiling again, adding in a nigh whisper, "If only he were older..." My eyebrow rose up slowly. Rarity hesitated, then seemed to realize what she just said as both forehooves shot up to her muzzle. "Oh! Oh dear. Did I really just say that?" she questioned to nopony in particular. Sweetie Belle let out a gasping noise, but I held my hoof up to her, quieting her. "I certainly didn't hear anything. Although I should probably point out that he strikes me as rather mature already from our discussions so far. I'm curious if dragons age differently from ponies," I deduced softly. Rarity froze for a moment before shooting me a questioning stare. I fell silent, however, and decided to just leave that statement hanging there. Sweetie got a downright devious look however and smirked down at me in what could only be described as a, well, proud expression. Rarity wasn't paying attention, however, and shifted her gaze back to the sleeping dragon. I left her to her own devices and thoughts, heading over to Twilight's bed and setting Prudentia on the bedside table again. Ventosus Lacuna was leaned against the table's side as well a moment later. "Do you sleep with Twilight, Mender?" Sweetie Belle asked softly, glancing over at the bed. Why was everypony so interested in my unconscious habits? "We cuddle as we sleep, yeah. It's a more recent thing, however, and I haven't gotten to in a while due to being in the hospital," I answered, attempting to be as honest as I could. Sweetie made a cooing noise and nodded softly, smiling down at me again. "That's sweet. Did you miss it?" I hesitated. A light shifting sensation drifted through me as I remembered the touch of soft fur. Twilight smiled as she pressed into my chest, nuzzling along my neck lightly. A gentle heat drifted into my cheeks as I opened my eyes again and nodded. "Yeah. I missed it a lot," I admitted. To my surprise, Sweetie's forelegs wrapped around the back of my neck in a light hug a moment later. "Well, you're back now. You don't have to sound so sad," she said. Sad? Was I sad? My eyes closed again, and I shuddered lightly. For just a moment, I heard Nirru's final cry as my clawed hoof descended towards her head. My eyes opened an instant later and I realized I was shaking. "Ah, no. I'll be fine, Sweetie. I'm just a little shaken up over the whole ordeal still," I excused. Technically the truth. "You believed us when we said we didn't care if you weren't a pony, right?" she asked, voice surprisingly adamant for such a small filly. Blinking, I glanced up at her in surprise. She wore a somewhat dejected expression as she frowned down at me. I swallowed. "Well, it was shocking. I mean, I'm technically a monster-" I tried to explain. Sweetie Belle whacked me on the top of the head, however. "Ow! Well, I am. I'm some sort of abomination or-" I continued. Another whack. "I'm not sure what that is, but it doesn't sound like something you should be calling yourself," she warned, frowning more. Her eyes got larger, and I felt my heart crying in my chest as I tried to manifest any sort of defense against this unique kind of attack. Logic! That had to work, right? "Sweetie, I can grow tentacles and armor out of my skin, tear a tree apart with my hooves, and leap dozens of meters through the air. My eyes glow in the dark and my teeth and claws are absurdly sharp, too! That's not what I'd call a pony," I tried to reason. She smirked. Uh oh. "All those are part of what you look like and are capable of, though. What part of you is a monster, then?" she asked instead. What? I frowned at her, raising an eyebrow and hoping she'd elaborate. Thankfully, she asked, "What part of those makes you scary and mean? Do you want to hurt or eat ponies or anything?" Okay, now I saw where she was going. "Well, no. I'm still me, even when transformed. Doesn't my appearance scare you even a little, though?" I asked, finding it hard to believe she wasn't even the slightest bit uncertain. She thought for a moment, then nodded a second later. "You're a little scary, yeah. And when I first saw your back thingies. Tenmicals or something? They were a little scary. I'm fine with them now that I realized they're not really icky or anything. Plus, knowing that it's you, I know you'd never hurt me or anypony I care about," she elaborated, nodding twice when she was done. Fluttershy had said almost the same thing, and Twilight agreed too. Sweetie gave me a questioning glance as I pulled her off my back, but then gasped and giggled as I hugged her gently with my forelegs. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle. That's amazingly similar to what Twilight and Fluttershy said, and it really helps," I thanked, giving her another squeeze. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me, then she blushed lightly. "I said the same thing as your two fillyfriends did?" she asked. I blinked. Didn't I just say that? Regardless, I nodded gently towards her. She finally smiled and nodded back, pulling herself against me again. She was so adorable. A gentle cough sounded to my right, interrupting the hugging session. I glanced over in time to see Rarity with a gentle smile on her face, looking down at her little sister. Sweetie pulled her face back and glanced over at Rarity before flushing again. "Are you ready to go, Sweetie? We should head back to the Carousel Boutique and get some rest so we're fresh for the party tomorrow," Rarity quietly pointed out. Her little sister's eyes widened again. "I can go?!" she asked excitedly before pushing both forehooves to her mouth and peeking past Rarity. Spike gave an extra loud snore before continuing his unconscious adventures. Dang, he could sleep. "Well, of course. I dare say, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shall be there, and I can't let my very own sister fall behind socially," she added, mock pouting with her nose shifted slightly up. Sweetie Belle giggled and slipped away, giving Rarity a hug instead. I smirked at the extremely cute display before looking up at the older mare. "Do you need an escort back home, Rarity? It would be no problem for me," I offered. While injured, if we really did run into trouble, I had the utmost confidence that I could still manage to protect the two. The potential mugger or wild animal might need counseling or therapy after being released from the hospital, but it was truly their fault for attacking us to begin with. Rarity gave me a tender smile before shaking her head. "No, you need to rest up and heal. As Twilight isn't back yet, I'd hazard a guess that Applejack and company are still talking to her outside. I'm sure she'll have no trouble escorting us as well," she pointed out. True. I'd noticed Twilight was still gone. I glanced towards the stairs down momentarily before nodding back at her. "It's all right, Mender. I'll go down there and tell her that her coltfriend is getting lonely. I'm sure she'll be back up in the utmost haste," Rarity playfully added, understating intentionally, I think. I glared at her, and her grin widened, proving my suspicions. "Please don't. She's liable to resort to drastic measures," I warned, shivering lightly at the mental images. Unfortunately, the moment I considered it, I realized I wasn't quite sure what she'd do in order to protect me from loneliness. Industrial wire, stitching, and herself came to mind however. I decided that would probably be painful. "Well, I make no such promises. Still, I'm sure our appearance will remind her regardless. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, of course," Rarity agreed, bowing politely. "Me too!" Sweetie added quietly, smiling as she walked up alongside her sister. I returned a polite bow to both of them before agreeing with, "Of course, M'Ladies. I shall see you both tomorrow evening." Both seemed amused at my theatrics, as intended. Rarity slowly turned and headed towards the stairs a moment later. Sweetie hesitated a moment, then rapidly ran back and gave me a quick hug around the right foreleg before galloping after her sister. I couldn't help but grin as I watched her run. So much energy! I always wondered how children got all the energy. Foals appeared to have the same thing going for them. Slowly, I made my way downstairs after the two in order to wait for Twilight. I still heard talking outside the door when I got to the ground floor, so I shifted further away as to not accidentally eavesdrop. It was quiet downstairs now, and I glanced around, enjoying the flickering lights. Deciding to make myself useful, I slowly circled the room, putting out the wall sconces as I went. They were enchanted, of course, and Twilight had shown me that all I needed to do was tap the gem in the center to put them out. She could do them all at once with her magic, of course, but I managed. Finally making it to the last one, I smiled as I lowered myself back to the ground, nodding as the light dimmed to just the fireplace downstairs. That wasn't too hard. Plus, nothing fell on my head! I always counted that as one of my measures of success now. Mentally, I decided on one last double check to make sure I got them all, and turned to the left... I promptly came face to face with two extremely large, yellow eyes. My yelp of surprise was predictably high pitched as I flailed backwards, armor plating popping out on instinct. There was a dull clang as I landed on my back and frowned. Okay, so not so good. I fell on my head instead. Eh, close enough. Readying my attack protocols, I flipped back onto my hooves with a light roll and glared at where the eyes had been. To my surprise, I saw a moderately sized owl sitting on the hoof rest of the couch instead. Oh. Oh! Sighing, I folded my armor back up into me and rolled my eyes. Okay, Mender, you were still a chicken. That was just stupid, though. "Ah, sorry about that. You surprised me, is all. You must be Owlowiscious, right?" I asked, calming my rapidly pounding heart. "Who?" he questioned, in a modest tone. I detected depth behind those eyes, and was mildly impressed at his intelligence. Tilting my head, I inquired, "What, do they use a different name for you? Twilight said your name was Owlowiscious, I thought." Had I misheard her? That was always a possibility. "Who?" he asked, looking confused. "Er, Twilight? Your owner? Er, or is it friend?" I asked, suddenly starting to sweat a little bit. Was owner the wrong word? I didn't want to make a bad first impression. Although, I was starting to wonder if he had amnesia problems, too. "Who?" he repeated. Okay, yeah. He definitely had amnesia problems. Hmm. How best to explain this? I shook my head and sighed. "I didn't know you'd forget who Twilight was. She's the nice lavender unicorn who lives here? Of course, I guess I'll be living here as well. My name is Moon Mender! It's nice to meet you," I greeted, attempting to sound polite. "Who?" he questioned, giving me a skeptical yet oh so familiar look. Okay, so he either thought I was crazy, or was deeply confused by my statement. I sighed weakly. "Moon Mender. I didn't expect you to know who I was. Heck, I didn't even know you lived here until this afternoon. Apologies. Twilight was supposed to introduce us, but then the girls followed us back and we got distracted," I excused politely. Owlowiscious stared at me for a moment. I thought I could see a light twitch along the left side of his temple, and frowned. Was he okay? He suddenly took off from the couch, zipped along one of the shelves, and snagged a book with amazing precision. Oh wow! No wonder Twilight liked him. He flew back with the book a little slower, and then set it down in front of me with calculated efficiency. ‘The Owlpedia, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Owls'? "Oh, thank you! This would probably save a lot of time if you're tired of me asking questions," I pointed out, feeling mildly dejected but understanding if I was annoying him or something. "Uh, what are you doing, Mender?" Twilight asked suddenly from behind me. I gave a light jump, then turned around to look at her as she wandered back in, closing the door behind her with her magic. "Oh, I was having a discussion with Owlowiscious, whom I just met. I didn't realize he had severe amnesia, however, and that I was bothering him with my inquiries. He was nice enough to give me this book on owls, though, to save himself time," I explained, nodding and smiling to her. A familiar look of confusion graced her face. "You were having a discussion with him?" she asked hesitantly, looking over at Owlowiscious "Who?" he asked quietly. He almost sounded embarrassed or ashamed! "She's talking about you. It's okay if you have trouble remembering. I do, too," I assured, giving him a sympathetic look. A second passed before Twilight burst into copious amounts of giggles. "Oh, I suddenly get it! Mender, have you ever dealt with an owl before?" she inquired, sounding deeply amused by something. I flattened my ears back and gave her a stern glare before shaking my head. Why was she laughing at us? "I've read about them kinda, at least in passing. Well, my original did, anyway," I elaborated, sighing weakly. "Mender, owls can't talk. The 'who' noise is just the sound the male owl makes most often. Owlowiscious was probably trying to explain that to you with the book," Twilight explained. I stared at her for a moment before glancing back at Owlowiscious. He stared back, expression almost knowing and impish. Damn it! My head smacked into the closed cover of the book as I groaned. Twilight burst into giggles again before wrapping her forelegs around my chest. "It's okay, Mender. It's a simple mistake. I fell for it once, and Spike had a whole conversation like that, too," she assured softly. I sighed and nodded against the book, still feeling idiotic, but enjoying the feel of her pressed into my back. "Come on then. Let's go up and get ready for bed, okay?" she offered, pulling me off the couch hoof-rest and steadying me. "All right. I suppose it is going to be a long day tomorrow," I reminded myself. Getting enough sleep was important. "Yup! You go up the stairs first, then. I'll follow behind you," she requested. Smiling at her, I nodded and headed for the stairs. "Thank you for being so understanding. If I slip and fall, you can catch me this way," I said, realizing she must really care about me. This was a change from the troubles we used to have. "Of course! Plus, I have the added benefit of getting to stare at your butt as you walk up," she added, falling into step next to me. Thankfully her magic caught me as I almost planted my face into her floor... * * * * * Twilight and I walked along side by side through the overcast town square. A notebook with elaborate writing and figures in it drifted in front of her and she glared at it as if it were everything that was wrong with the world. I hobbled along at a slow pace, but she managed to unconsciously slow herself down to stay side by side with me, even though she was clearly distracted. I'd done my part and gotten her the analysis and measurements accurately. The rest was mostly for her to figure out. "This is absolutely horrible. Every part of this connection is engineered to be as disastrous to the recipient as possible! There's a feedback loop that causes them pain if the 'owner' tugs a certain way even. As far as I can tell, it's engineered to cause fatal damage to the nervous system upon being severed," she finally snapped, closing the notebook violently with her magic and shoving it back into her saddlebag. I winced and shifted away slightly at the violent motion, which earned a gentle softening of her eyes. "I'm not mad at you, Mender. I'm disgusted by whoever made that spell. They were a horrible individual," she assured, giving me a light nuzzle on the cheek. Relaxing a little, I nodded gently to her. "It was made to support slavery, so I'd imagine it's fairly disgusting. I don't remember a huge amount about the data surrounding the link. Tampering causes pain and potentially death if done from the target's end, and I heard it's almost impossible to escape from it," I relayed quietly. It was uncomfortable to talk about it, and I certainly didn't want anypony to hear the details. My fillyfriend shook her head and lowered it, looking disturbed. "The more I learn about your culture, the more I realize why you'd want to stay in Equestria," she murmured. That I could snicker to, and I did just that. "Apart from having amazing friends and two absolutely gorgeous mares, right?" It was thick, but I did love watching her blush. The red shade shifted onto her cheeks and she gave me a playful glare. "Flatterer. Still, I'm really glad you decided to stay with us," she agreed, bumping into my right side with her left. I smiled softly, but then became surprised when she didn't pull back. Instead she kept walking, slowly brushing along me side by side as we went. I guessed it was my turn to blush instead, a bit. Public displays of affection always got to me. "All I really want is to just live normally. That's why I'll be glad when all of this stuff involving the Keldarians is over with. I want to forget about all of it and just focus on rebuilding any semblance of a life that I can manage," I explained, shaking my head towards the ground as I walked. It was tiring. It still didn't feel like I could relax. A part of me was worried about my own sanity, while another was wishing I had a more definite solution to the other dimension's threat. My lavender walking companion glanced into the sky for a moment before a gentle smile played across her lips. "It kinda makes sense, now. Your reactions to everything. I'm doing a lot better now that everything is becoming clearer. I know how not to upset you far better, now. I'm thinking we can finally just be happy," she said finally after a good ten seconds of absent staring. My eyes closed and I nodded. "It's not just you, Twi. I'm better at dealing with things, too. It's easier to realize that you're not going to hurt me now," I assured. More whispering drifted to my ears as we walked past a larger group of ponies, but I ignored them. Of course, I was fairly recognizable with my mutilated leg. "I'm glad. I'm still going to want to do those trust exercises Rarity mentioned. She insists that doing some confidence building and trust activities between the two of us will help strengthen our relationship." It was a little strange considering the source of the suggestion. Rarity was helping Twilight get closer to me? Twilight saw my frown and shook her head rapidly, adding, "Rarity still likes you, yes. But we had a really long talk about it. She knows you don't feel the same and really just wants us to be happy. She's an amazing friend, Mender." My ears flattened back slightly and I sighed. My tail started to flick as I walked, and I mentally reeled it in again, calming myself. "It's just frustrating, is all. She really is a good friend and none of this seems fair, you know? I know I don't, well, feel the same way about her as I do you two, but do you think I should try, just for her sake? Doing nothing about it feels a lot like giving up." It had been digging at me for a while now. The more I thought about my friends not wanting to give up on me, the more I realized that I didn't want to give up on them, either. Twilight shook her head slowly, after a long half a minute of thought. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Mender. Really, I think you'd just be prolonging things. If you think there's some hope that you might actually feel the same once you got to know her, maybe. But you do sound pretty adamant on that not being the case," she pointed out, slowing as I stopped to catch my breath and lift my left leg up again. "I just want Rarity to be happy, too. I know I'm indecisive and probably fairly weak at making hard choices like this, but it's not something I'm used to. Feelings were never really considered in the army, from what I remember. Matters of consequence involved weighing loss of life verses probabilities of success," I elaborated, feeling a little better to get it all off my chest. Twilight smiled in a sad way before nodding. "You can ask me anything you need, and I'll listen whenever you need it, Mender. Don't keep things inside. I've read up on traumatic events and the best recoveries from them, and what I've found out so far say that it's really bad to not talk about things. Fluttershy and I are here for you," she assured, giving a stern and confident nod. Both of us were distracted by a sudden gasp. I turned to my right just in time to see a wide-eyed mare scurry backwards away from me before fleeing, eyes looking wide and panicked. Eh?! A shot of panic shifted through me as well and I double-checked my systems, peeking at my back in paranoia. There was nothing there, of course, and my readouts said I was in 'normal' mode. Why was she running away, then? "Well, that was weird. I'd heard everypony is still nervous over the Everfree accident, though. Maybe you remind them of it?" Twilight guessed hesitantly. My ears drooped and I sighed. "That's just perfect. I hope not. I'm not going to hurt anypony," I groaned, more than a little annoyed over the situation. Nirru had ruined everything. Part of me still regretted letting her go. I stopped for a moment, remembering the toothy grin and the sheer delight I'd felt from slowly slicing her apart. No. That 'part' of me didn't deserve to see light of day. My thoughts were derailed a split second later, and both Twilight and I shifted to look for the source of a loud 'Psst!' noise from the left. Oh! The sight of Sugarcube Corner greeted me. I hadn't realized we'd gotten so close already. Rarity was sticking partially out the front door and motioning urgently to us to come inside. Well, that didn't seem like a good sign. Twilight frowned and ducked into the building after Rarity slipped back inside. Inwardly, I groaned before following after the two mares. My bad luck sense was tingling again. Rarity slammed the door shut and locked it after we got inside. Oh yeah. In order to prepare for hosting the party, the Cakes had closed for today. I was kind of honored that they were doing all of this for me. Didn't that mean they were losing a lot of potential profit? "Big problems! This is a total disaster! Quick, over here," Rarity requested, motoring towards the nearest table and making sure the shades were closed tight on the windows nearby. Twilight frowned and trotted after before asking, "Rarity, calm down! What's going on?" That was a good question. Yes, we should ask that! Getting nervous now, I followed after with my systems on high alert. "You know how I get my subscriptions delivered from Canterlot, right?” the pearly unicorn asked, setting her saddlebags down on the table and rapidly opening them up. "Well, yeah. But that delivery doesn't come in until tomorrow," Twilight said, tilting her head at her friend. Subscription? Like a newspaper? I sat down and rested my foreleg, deciding to just keep my mouth shut and watch for now. Rarity rapidly shook her head. "Sapphire Shores was kind enough to send me hers early to tip me off. This is really bad!" she announced, tipping her bag over and spilling five different magazines out across the table. I frowned and hobbled a little closer, hopping up onto the chair to get a better peek. Twilight did the same on the other side of Rarity. "Rarity, what's so bad about magazines? Are they not hosting your styles like Fancypants promised?" Twilight inquired, shifting a magazine closer to herself with her magic. My eyes widened however. "Newest Ranked Princess Shows Dark Side with Cowed Coltfriend at Canterlot's Finest Party?" I read out loud, staring in shock at a crystal clear picture of me cowering on the balcony and Twilight facing away from the camera, broken glass littered about her hooves. "What?!" Twilight shouted instantly, yanking my magazine across the table and slamming a hoof down on each side of it before glaring at the cover. We were right on the front cover! While Twilight practically ripped the magazine apart to get at the page the story was on, I pulled a different one closer to me and peeked at the cover. A slightly scorched variant of me in Rarity's nice suit, blushing in front of the shattered chandelier with Twilight and Rarity to each side of me. Pleasant. I suddenly didn't like Canterlot so much. This one's title read, "New Scoop On a Future Prince? Dark Storm Clouds are Brewing!" That sounded, well, pleasant. Flattening my ears back, I flipped the pages gently using a burst of rapid-fire barriers. "I don't know what's going on! Most of the ponies at the party had been impressed. Well, a few certainly thought you were weird or uncouth, but most thought you were a hero!" Rarity exclaimed, pacing back and forth behind us. "Lies and slander! I do not keep Mender on a short leash! This reads like I'm some sort of monster who enjoys torturing him," Twilight growled. I glanced up at her enough to note her horn absolutely radiating magic as she glared down at the magazine, looking utterly pissed. I swallowed and decided that ignorance was bliss, shifting my eyes down to my own article instead. If we exploded, at least I wouldn't see it coming. My article here was filled with some fairly impressive photo manipulation. They'd taken the same image from the front cover, cropped it to just me, used a gradient of darkness from my hooves upwards, and then colored my eyes a glowing green for some reason. Was that significant? I silently read the start of the article, frowning. "The newest potential prince in the married-in royal line has been the talk of the town! From all reports, he's been called a Prince Charming, noble and kind, and even a hero after saving the entire Royal Canterlot Orchestra from a horrible chandelier accident!" Well, this didn't sound nearly as bad as I thought it was going to. Although I wasn't holding my breath. "What?! But, no! He had those scars when he got here!" Twilight squealed, sounding utterly livid. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew where that had come from, and went back to reading mine instead. "It's almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, it is. Our brave journalists risked their very lives to dig further into this mysterious stallion's past. Before he was Twilight Sparkle's coltfriend even, we traced all the way back using medical records. More recent information is heavily restricted, which is suspicious enough, but we managed to get our hooves on a single copy of a record from almost a month ago!" the report continued. A month ago? Uh oh. That would have been when I just arrived in Equestria. "No known parentage. No work history. No medical history. There's not even a name listed at this time! This stallion practically fell out of the sky one day, gaining identity and contacts overnight, and then, out of nowhere, drew the Elements of Harmony into his insidious trap!" I blinked a couple times. If I didn't realize they were serious, I probably would have started laughing. "Using my connections to keep the poor, timid stallion cowed while erasing his past?! This is insane!" Twilight growled a moment later, spasming and slamming her right forehoof down onto the table again. Rarity stopped pacing and sighed. "Well, it is the Canterlot Inquirer. It's slightly less believable than the others and does enjoy the odd rumor spreading here and there," she warned, walking up to us again. That one was the less credible one?! I glared down at the page in front of me and shook my head. It continued, of course, with, "After earning the trust of the Elements of Harmony, his connections spread. Now he's a whisper in the upper tiers of Canterlot itself, and has openly met with our own Princesses, even! His rise to power is unrivaled, but now we bravely report on his past. Our only hope now is to uncover his agenda and reveal what he truly is." My ears flattened back as I saw a picture of myself and Tia at that cafe a while back. Damn it! If they wanted to reveal what I actually was, I had a feeling they were in for one hell of a surprise. "Beat Mender while performing bizarre, sexual rituals to increase my own power?! I... I don't even know how to respond to this!" Twilight practically screamed. Rarity and I shifted to the other side of the table as the haze of aura started drifting off her. A few splinters started cracking out of the table. Uh oh. Feigning innocence, I went back to reading my own article again. We were probably about to die anyway, so at least I'd die amused. Rarity sighed and made a series of gentle clicks towards Twilight with her mouth. "Calm down, Dear. They're trying to get ponies riled up, and are very good at it. You're going to break the Cake's table," Rarity warned softly, voice shifting to a gentler tone. Twilight sighed and lowered her magical aura again before flopping down weakly into a sitting position on her chair. Her magic pushed the magazine away and pulled up the other she'd grabbed prior. That one, entitled "The Canterlot Shine," had Rarity on the front cover, posing in front of the broken chandelier. Interestingly enough, the pose looked like it was taken from when she was on stage with Fancypants. "Fashion Star Rarity Saves Evening?" Twilight read skeptically, raising an eyebrow to the cover. Rarity herself blushed and coughed lightly, shaking her head. "That one's simply bending the truth to make it look like the orchestra was saved by moi," she explained nonchalantly. I tilted my head, unsure of what 'muah' meant, but gathering enough from the statement to realize it wasn't that bad. Twilight shook her head and shrugged. "At least they're not slandering anypony, but taking all the credit away from Mender is still wrong," she elaborated. Eh, that I didn't really care about. The rest of my article struck me as scarily close to paranoid raving. They mentioned numerous times that I was a sleeper agent and going to topple the Princesses and let some mare take over that they called Chrysalis. There was a word sprinkled throughout that I wasn't sure of, however. "Hey, Twilight? What's a changeling?" I asked, finally giving up looking for an explanation or definition somewhere in the article. Twilight froze, causing my eyes to widen and look up at her. Her expression was of shock, slowly melting into that familiar seething rage. "No. Oh no. They didn't do what I think they did, did they?" she asked, snatching my magazine again with her magic and glaring at the page I had open. Rarity gasped at the picture, rapidly shaking her head. "That's horrible! They're calling Mender a changeling?! This is a new low!" she declared, looking actually disgusted. I'd never seen Rarity look angry before, and it was kind of scary. "A changeling is a creature capable of shapeshifting into specific pony forms and pretending to be that pony. Their queen, Chrysalis, brought a whole horde of them to Canterlot and destroyed my brother's first attempt at marrying Cadence. Queen Chrysalis even posed as Princess Cadence for a while, trying to destroy Equestria from the inside out so all her changelings could feed on our love," Twilight explained, her right hoof slowly dragging along the side of the table as she rapidly read the article while talking. Oh. It all snapped into place, even though I'd suspected from the name alone. They thought I was a spy for this Queen Chrysalis, then. "They have no honor at all! To call Mender one of those creatures that eats love is just horrible!" Rarity continued ranting, looking even angrier now. "How did they get one of the copies of the medical records?! Those should have been locked down by royal decree," my fillyfriend questioned, suddenly frowning as she read over what I already had. Shaking my head, I lifted the corner of the somewhat mangled magazine and peeked at the front cover again. "Equestria Weekly?" I read out loud, raising an eyebrow. Twilight frowned and flipped the cover over again before shivering. "This is the most popular and widespread magazine and newspaper series in Equestria. They're not known for their biased outlook. Why are they doing this, then?!" Twilight demanded to nopony in particular. Rarity sighed weakly and set her head down on the table. "As much as I hate to admit it, none of the three magazines are beyond manipulation. Somepony doesn't like Mender, and probably paid for the articles," she deduced wearily. Her mane was slightly more unkempt than normal, too, I noticed. This must be bothering her. "Well, if they don't release until tomorrow, officially, maybe we can make some calls and get the articles taken out or changed. I mean, this is practically slander!" Twilight suggested, voice shaky as she managed to maintain her volume. That didn't explain the weird reactions in town. I opened my mouth to remind Twilight when the door suddenly unlocked and blasted open a second later. Flailing, I almost fell sideways off my chair in shock, readying my guard. Twilight and Rarity whipped around as well, with the lavender mare lighting her horn up almost instantly. All three of us exhaled as Pinkie bounced in instead, looking significantly better than yesterday. "Ooooh! Hey everypony! I wasn't expecting ya for a few hours," she chirped happily before sliding the door shut behind her. Papers drifted in around her, some clinging to her mane and tail as she shook like a dog and sent them everywhere. "Oh, pardon us. We had much to discuss and needed a private spot to do so. My apologies, Pinkie dear," Rarity excused, holding her hoof up gently. The pink one just giggled and rapidly shook her head. "It's totally fine, Rarity! My closest friends can borrow the shop anytime!" she declared, not missing a beat. "Uh, what are these, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, levitating up one of the pieces of paper that had been liberally sprinkled about the floor now. I lifted one up as well. Pinkie shrugged and stared at the paper for a second before her eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! There's like, a half dozen pegasi outside that are dropping those all over the town!" A cold chill drifted up my spine with that all too familiar sensation of dread building inside of me. I tore the paper sleeve off the one I picked up and read the title. It was a news sample. Damn it. "Equestria Weekly Free News Sample? Subscription Coupons Inside?" Twilight read out loud, voice dropping as her eyes widened. Crap. The large image of me appeared on the front page right under the huge words, glowing green eyes prominent. The header under that was amazingly similar to the main article. Twilight started to shiver as she stared at the pamphlet she held in her magic. "Uh, Twilight?" Rarity hesitantly asked, frowning slightly. "I... ah ha ha... aaaahhhh..." Twilight muttered, face flushing lightly as the paper wavered. Uh, that struck me as a bad sign. A little strand of her mane popped up suddenly, slightly tweaked away from the rest. Another moment later, her coat bristled a little around her shoulders, looking ruffled. I swallowed painfully as Pinkie suddenly shrank down, losing her smile and scooting backwards away from Twilight, who still faced away from me. "Aaaaah.... AAAAAHHHHH! RAAAAAAAAH!" Twilight suddenly screamed, the slow shift from hysterical to completely pissed was rather terrifying to listen to. The paper in front of her hazed out, then momentarily exploded into flames before flaking away into ash as the superheated blast of air hit Rarity and me. My armor folded into place.
Chapter 40Twilight never ceased to impress me, time and time again. "Oh no! This is bad. I mean, these thingies are really mean and it's supposed to be Mender's nice party day! Why would somepony drop these off everywhere when today is supposed to be a super fun day?" Pinkie asked quietly, staring at one of the remaining pamphlets in front of her. Dozens floated through the air around us, rapidly igniting and burning away as Twilight screamed out at the now terrified pegasi trying to fly away from the town square. She grabbed them all. All seven pegasi were snatched up in a purple and red glow before being hauled out of the sky. At this point, they were probably lucky they too weren't on fire. "What are you doing?!" Twilight screamed after depositing them in front of her in the air, literally holding them there, afloat. I blinked, then waved at Derpy who floated upside down on the end of the line. She smiled pleasantly at me and waved back, seeming unfazed. "Uh, our jobs? We were paid to drop these off," a pegasus mare towards the middle of the drifting cluster replied. I was amused by her light cyan mane that spiked upwards and back. It meshed well with her lavender coat. Actually, the pegasus right next to her looked remarkably similar in coat and mane colorings, but sported a more relaxed hairstyle and a large bow. Sisters? Twilight gritted her teeth, eyes narrowing again. "Who? Who is paying you to spread these?" she demanded. Uh, that sounded bad. "Twilight, calm down," I tried to plead, but only got a somewhat annoyed glare in return. "Admittedly, I agree with Twilight on this one. Did you girls even look at what you were spreading?!" Rarity asked harshly, pounding the negative feelings out like one would swing a sledgehammer. Why was I the only one not actively wanting to murder something? The other purple one swallowed and rapidly shook her head, while her sister sighed. "I just wanted this job to be done. No, we didn't bother reading them. That would have wasted time on a perfectly good day off for a Pinkie Party!" the spikey one explained. Wait, did the whole town stop working today?! "This is slander! Derogatory and blatant lies about Moon Mender! You know, the one the party is for in the first place?!" Twilight snapped, throwing one of the slightly less crispy pamphlets at the two. "What?! Oh no!" Derpy exclaimed, eyes widening as she snatched up another pamphlet and started reading it as well. The not so spikey mare on the left flailed in the air suddenly. "What?! You're a changeling?!" she asked in panic, pointing her hoof right at me. Gasps shot through the considerable crowd that Twilight had attracted. My ears flattened back and I rapidly shook my head, backing away from her. "No, of course he's not a changeling! I've done multiple scans on him for weeks. You really think I would have a changeling for a coltfriend?!" Twilight pointed out, moving rapidly in front of me. A somewhat older-looking mare's voice sounded out from the crowd, however. "The Equestria Weekly says you'd say that! You're corrupted already by his influence!" she shouted. What?! Oh hell. "No! That's just crazy. I'm Princess Celestia's student. She's seen me since! Don't you trust your Princess to pick up on something like that?!" Twilight tried to reason. Pinkie hopped over to the other side of me and covered that direction as well. "She's right, everypony! Princess Celestia likes him, so that must mean he's totally not a changeling!" she shouted out. "Be careful, Pinkie," I muttered, gesturing towards her side with my muzzle. She gave me a soft smile over her shoulder but shook her head. "I don't trust him, I know that much! Prove it! Prove he's not a changeling right now," a closer, dark blue stallion near the front row demanded. Murmurs shot through the crowd, and a few angry snarls joined his. This was insane! "First the attack, and now this! He's been nothing but trouble since he got here! I'm not going to let a monster like that near my foals," was screamed from the back. My eyes widened as that one hit me dead on. Monster. I really had been nothing but trouble to Ponyville since I got here. Even before I learned that I was a monster. All I'd ever done was break things and cause chaos and destruction. She was right... "Fine! I have a spell already that will reveal a changeling! I'll cast it on Mender, and then you'll see that everything is fine!" Twilight shouted, horn lighting up. "Lies! You're under his spell already. No! We need a better way!" the same blue stallion shouted. That sense of dread came up again. Would her spell reveal my other parts, though? Something small shot up over the crowd before flicking downwards and smashing into the wall behind me. I yelped as I lowered myself closer to the dirt, a still spinning rock coming to a slow rest. "Hit him! Changeling's can't keep their form up through pain! Hurt him so we can see!" screamed a pony from somewhere in the back of the crowd. Oddly, the voice was rather androgynous. "Stop this!" Twilight shouted, horn lighting up as two more rocks bounced off her magic in front of us. This couldn't be happening. They all thought I was a monster and were trying to stone me! "Move, Twilight! Get out of our way! One good hit and we'll have the truth," an orange mare with a golden mane shouted near the front of the closing-in crowd. More rocks flew in before Twilight could respond, and were haphazardly knocked in other directions. Pinkie yelped and dodged sideways as another rock almost hit her in the shoulder. Amidst her dodge, she smashed into me instead and we both almost hit the dirt. I helped her steady herself as best I could, forced to grit my teeth as I dropped my left foreleg down against the dirt to brace her. She was surprisingly heavy! Then I learned a very important weakness to my proximity sensors. I'd not thought about it before, as it really took a specific situation to take advantage of it, but my sensors could be shadowed out by other objects. Twilight, looking to the right as she knocked two rocks out of the path of Rarity's head, missed a rock to the left. Her body shadowed out the sensor just as she moved out from in front of the rock. My eyes widened as I sent the signal down my body to pop out a single plate. Pain exploded from my left foreleg as my command was a few hundredths of a second too slow. I actually screamed as the stabbing burst shot through my left elbow area and radiated in all directions. My foreleg gave out as I felt the metal of my brace dent into my skin and tear. Pushing with my back legs, I managed to hit the ground on my shoulder instead of my leg at the last second and tucked myself up into a ball as best I could. My mind reeled in pain as I let out a series of airy gasps. I shouldn't have hesitated to put up my barriers for us! Screw scaring ponies... damn it! "Mender!" Rarity called out, diving to the left towards me as I curled up. Twilight's eyes widened as she looked back at me. A half second was all it took. Her expression twisted into a grimace as her eyes disappeared into white light. She whipped around again and let out a scream of rage. The ball of magic radiated out from her horn like a small sun, tearing the wind backwards away from it as it washed over us. Her mane and tail literally ignited in the same instant, the stray papers that had been drifting around her being reduced to a fine dust in a shockwave of heat. She fired a second later at point blank range into the advancing crowd. My eyes widened in shock as she flattened every single pony in the town square, knocking them every which way as they fell over each other and were sent into market stalls. Dust and debris were kicked up into the air as the stalls themselves were ravaged as well, produce and smaller items being sent flying as my pissed off girlfriend radiated out raw energy. Only one stallion made it past. The blue one from earlier leapt forwards at the last second and managed to just barely get past Twilight's shot. He growled as he lunged, hooves extending back as he made to land on me! My eyes widened as his glowing brown ones narrowed. Wait, glowing? An orange mare came out of nowhere and shoulder checked him before he made contact. His direction was instantly changed as his eyes widened instead, spinning once and flipping before crashing into a fruit stand a half dozen meters away. My eyes shifted over to Applejack as she slowly stood up fully, glaring at the groaning stallion as he struggled to get out of the mess of broken wood. Twilight panted in rage as she rapidly looked around the square. Her eyes were burning like the surface of a star, and her horn absolutely radiated raw magical energy. Flames lapsed off where her mane and tail had been prior, moving as if billowing in the wind dancing off her. I'd seen that once before, I suddenly realized! That was my last sight before slipping into a coma after the ship exploded. "Twilight, that worked! Calm down," Rarity pleaded, rubbing her right forehoof down her friend's side to get her attention. Wait, how was flames coming off her head and butt even vaguely possible for an organic being?! Pinkie was silent as she tore a tablecloth from the wreck of a nearby corn stand and started pushing it into my left foreleg. I winced, and then finally looked down at it. The cloth rapidly turned red, and I shuddered, wishing I hadn't looked suddenly. My internal sensors flared up and I instead did a scan of the damage. "Ah! Pinkie, the brace is stabbing into my leg. I need to pull it off," I managed to whisper. She frowned but nodded with a surprisingly solemn expression. She pulled the tablecloth back, and I swallowed as I saw the dented metal had snapped before sliding cleanly into my flesh. "Oh no! Uh... here!" Pinkie squeaked as she pushed her right foreleg down on the very end of my brace. I nodded to her and closed my eyes, gritting my teeth before pulling my foreleg backwards. The pain was white hot and exploded as I yanked backwards. The wet and slick noise of the wire popping free told me it had worked, and Pinkie rapidly pushed the tablecloth back into my foreleg again. "There?! Are you all happy now?!" Twilight screamed out, voice sounding as if it were seething in anger. The wind around her picked up with her shout, flames lapsing and dancing chaotically like actual hair. But… how?! "What in tarnation is goin' on 'ere? Why was everypony attackin' you gals? Err, gals an' Mender," Applejack asked, correcting herself a moment later. Rarity turned her attention back to me as she massaged my other leg gently, and explained, "These pamphlets contain terrible slander of Mender from the Equestria Weekly magazine and newspaper. They're claiming he's a changeling!" Applejack stared at the papers for a moment before snorting to herself. A chorus of groans sounded out as dozens of rather confused looking ponies stood up and pulled themselves out of the wreckages of many a food stand. "What ah load o' hogwash if Ah ever saw one! Ah'm ashamed o' you ponies! Can't ya'all decide fer yerselves what's true an' what ain't?!" Applejack shouted out, turning to face them all instead of me. Twilight exhaled softly as she looked over at Applejack, the burning light slowly fading from her eyes with the deep breath. Oddly, the flames that had lapsed from her prior faded away, leaving totally unharmed mane and tail in its wake. No, just no. I wasn’t even going to ask. The orange and golden mare who just crawled out of a carrot stand suddenly gasped, looking past Twilight and right at me instead. Oh hell. Here we go again. This time I didn't care what they'd think of it. I was going to put my barriers up. "Oh no! W-What happened? What did we do?!" she asked, however, looking utterly horrified. What? Oh. Oh! "Ah... Twilight, that stallion's eyes were glowing before Applejack knocked him flying," I managed to say, wincing as I pushed my lower body into a better position. The pain reverberated through my entire foreleg and I clenched my jaw. It hadn't hit any of the main blood vessels in my leg, but the pain was intense. My scan showed damage to a sizable nerve bundle near my elbow, and millions of nanites were released to start internal repairs again. My natural and unnatural regeneration only went so far... Twilight gasped and immediately looked around for another flier. To my surprise, Derpy sat up on the other side of Pinkie, having apparently landed there after Twilight let the pegasi go to parry rocks. Oddly, only one of Derpy’s eyes was glowing lightly as she frowned. "T-Twilight. Here's one of the pamphlets; undamaged. I, um, I don't want to hurt Mender. No, I'm not going to," she denied to nopony in particular. Twilight pulled the piece of paper away from her instantly using telekinesis, and it was like someone turned off the light bulb. She frowned and looked around again before exhaling softly. Twilight glared at the pamphlet for a moment before tucking it into her saddlebag. "I'm going to bet that they're enchanted. But why?" she asked to herself. A second later, she gasped and spun around to me instead. "Ah, Mender!" "Oh no! I'll go get a nurse!" the orange and gold mare shouted, tearing off towards the hospital. The blue stallion stood up shakily again as well. "I'm going to need some food after this," I warned Twilight quietly. She looked momentarily confused before it dawned on her. I forced my eyes shut and manually shifted my body's energy flow. The nanites sped up at the same time my regeneration kicked into overdrive. Applejack's expression shifted to surprise next to me as she watched my wound start to sizzle and seal up. "Oooh, neato!" Pinkie exclaimed, watching the effect with fascination. Their show was cut short, however, as Twilight's magic washed over the affected area. To my surprise, she actually started using a healing spell rather than just covering up what I was doing. "It didn't hit in a critical spot," I assured, looking gently up at Twilight as I regenerated. As I lifted my head, my muzzle came directly into hers, however. I hadn't realized she was so close, but she went with it and grinned against my lips, kissing me lightly as her magic restored my outer skin. I smiled and lightly pushed back, feeling better already. My leg even hurt less! "Ah'm glad yer okay, Mender. Don't worry none about these ponies anymore. They learned their lesson, Ah think," Applejack spoke up, smiling at both of us after we broke apart. Her eyes rapidly shifted away from mine as I looked over at her, however. Mentally, I sighed. There was no time to say anything, however, as that blue stallion from earlier limped over. Now that I got a better look at him, as he was no longer trying to pound my face in, I noticed he had two musical notes on his flank, and his fur was a very rich blue color, far darker than mine. Applejack stepped up in front of me like a bodyguard, however. She puffed up and gave him a rather nasty looking glare. "Oh no. Yer gonna stay back if ya don't wanna go flyin' again," she warned, right forehoof digging into the dirt menacingly. Something about it made me blush lightly. It was similar to how she got with Twilight... "I'm sorry, Applejack! I really am. It's all a blur and I don't remember what happened. I'm so sorry!" he apologized rapidly, halting his advance right there. I took note of a nick along his forehead that was causing a small trail of blood to run down the side of his face. "Noteworthy! I'm ashamed of you! You're so polite and such a hard worker. What were you thinking attacking Mender like that?!" Rarity shot out angrily, stomping her hoof at him the second he finished talking. Twilight shook her head, however, turning slightly away from me. "No, I don't think this is their fault directly. It feels like the pamphlets were enchanted. Possibly to magnify doubt and anger?" she suggested, thinking to herself. "Why would somepony do that, though? And on such a fun day?" Pinkie asked, sounding almost heartbroken. Wait a second... Shifting slightly, I realized that the 'pillow' I was propped up against was in fact Pinkie's shoulder. Oh. Well, the proximity of her voice made sense now, anyways. "Magnified?" Applejack asked suspiciously, staring over at Twilight. Huh? The lavender unicorn hesitated before sighing weakly. "Only the most powerful spells can directly manipulate feelings to the point of instilling one that's not there. In order for it to have been this subtle, it would be restricted to only magnification," she revealed, looking down and away from me again. Oh. That I should have seen coming. Applejack stared at her for a moment before frowning. "Ah think Ah got most o' that. Yer sayin' they already had tha doubt an' fear?" "Yeah. It's to be expected, really. I'm a strange new pony who shows up out of nowhere with weird abilities, and then an attack happens in my vicinity," I pointed out, looking up at Applejack instead. "N-No! It's not, well, it's just that you make a lot of us a little nervous, is all. We see you doing weird things and acting a little off and, I dunno. I'm sorry, Moon Mender," Noteworthy apologized softly, lowering his head. The crowd had gathered back around at this point, albeit considerably more passive this time. Most wore new scratches and a few were bleeding, I noticed. The town square looked like a hurricane hit it, however. Twilight sighed and glanced back over at me, eyes dancing urgently. I recognized the stare and silently nodded back to her. She wanted permission. I wasn't sure on what, but I trusted that she had my best interest in mind. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to say anything and things would just smooth out without incident, but it's a bit late for that. Mender's had a rough life before moving to Ponyville, however, and he has severe retrograde amnesia. Further, he occasionally gets flashbacks which scare him and might lead to you seeing him 'acting weird'," Twilight explained gently. As vague as that was, technically it was all true. She was trying to get them calmed down, then. Noteworthy winced as he listened, then nodded silently. A mare stepped out of the crowd that I also recognized, however. She was with Lyra a while ago. Bon Bon, was it? "We're really sorry, Twilight. We haven't been told anything, really. What did Mender have to do with the attack a week or so ago?" she asked softly, giving my fillyfriend a pleading stare. Twilight stared back for a moment before shaking her head and closing her eyes. "That was exactly what the Princesses said it was. A creature from another dimension attacked my library. Mender happened to be there at the time and was taken into the Everfree. He held it off until Princess Luna arrived, but got badly hurt in the process. You know the rest," she explained. Twilight was amazingly good at saying something that was technically true but avoiding most of the details. That kind of scared me. "It was a monster. I tried to run away, but it told me what it wanted to do to Ponyville, and I got really angry. Unfortunately, that also made me a bit reckless," I added, shakily sitting up against Pinkie, who nudged me gently into a balanced position. Noteworthy's eyes widened as he processed my information. "That thing wanted to do something to Ponyville?" he asked uneasily, suddenly unsure. Applejack cut in instead with, "Yeah. It was really bad. Ponyville would'a been in real trouble, but it don't matter now because Princess Luna an' Mender stopped tha thing. Ya'all are safe now." "The shield was just a precaution while Mender healed in the hospital," Twilight agreed, giving a nod. Bon Bon tilted her head, however, shooting me a questioning gaze. "It was important to shield us while you were hospitalized?" she questioned. "Yes, it was, my little ponies. Mender could hardly perform his duties as our Chief of Dimensional Regulation while he was in the hospital, after all," was suddenly spoken up to our right. What?! Everypony, including me, turned to look at almost exactly the same time. Oddly, Princess Luna herself walked towards the crowd, a Night Guard to each side of her. I peeked at both of them, but they weren't familiar and I let out a sigh of relief. Wait, what was that about Chief of Dimensional Regulation?! "P-Princess Luna! What are you doing here?" Twilight asked almost immediately as the entire crowd, minus herself, Pinkie, and me, bowed to the Princess. Twilight never seemed to, and I was told not to. Pinkie could have, I suppose, but I would have toppled over if she did. Her suddenly standing up would probably hurt. "Oh, that one's easy! I invited both the Princesses to Mender's party!" Pinkie informed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Twilight didn't seem to think as much, however. "Oh. Oh! But, Sugarcube Corner isn't done yet! Oh no!" she squeaked before rapidly opening the door again and fleeing back inside the building. I raised an eyebrow as I watched the door slowly shut, really hoping we didn't need her to deflect anymore rocks. Luna snickered merrily as she approached, gesturing for all of us to stand up again. "Mender is, if he accepts, the head of the newly formed Dimensional Regulation Unit. It's a branch of the Royal Guard that my sister instated yesterday. Even given his amnesia, Mender is an expert on dimensional travel and magic involving it. We believe that's why he was targeted by the monster," she explained. My eyes widened dramatically as I looked up at her while Pinkie helped me stand up again. How much of that was just a cover story?! There was no way Celestia was going to make me chief of anything. Gasps and whispers exploded throughout the crowd, and Noteworthy actually shifted to a look of realization. "Oh! You really are a secret agent, then! This news story is so bogus about your past, then. Duh, of course they're going to hide the truth about you," he muttered, kicking one of the half burned pamphlets on the ground. "News?" Luna asked, looking over at me in minor confusion. "Long story. Wanna come inside to talk there?" I offered, trying to stabilize myself as I looked about for where my brace skidded off to. Pinkie gasped and hopped lightly, causing me to wobble. "Oooh, I'll go get you some snacks and tea!" My eyes widened as she zipped inside less than a second later. "Pinkie, wait!" I exclaimed. As anticipated, my left leg gave out the second weight fell back onto it fully. I yelped and stumbled, tipping sideways as I hadn't expected the sudden shift in balance. Rarity made a grab for me from the other side but didn't react in time. To my surprise, the ground never came, however. I gently opened my eyes, looking to the left in time to see Applejack had taken Pinkie's place and was gently propping me up. She shifted her gaze away awkwardly, but nodded to me. "Ah definitely ain't gonna let ya fall," she explained quietly. I stared at her for a moment. She felt bad, and wanted to make up for her perceived slights against me. That much I got. Part of me realized that nothing would really be the same again, but I wanted to at least smooth out this awkwardness. "Thanks, Applejack. Could you help me inside?" I requested gently. If she were just looking for things she could do for me, I guess it could work. The only thing was I had to make sure the requests were dignified. She'd probably do almost anything, but I had a deep respect for the mare and didn't want her doing anything degrading. She smiled lightly for just a split second, but every sense I had locked in on that and remembered it. She liked that. She liked any way she could think of to repay that. Me just telling her it was all fine was pointless if she didn't forgive herself. "Sure thing, Sugarcube," she said, gesturing Luna and Rarity inside as well with a move of her head. I watched the Moon Princess step through the doorway, then heard more commotion from behind us. Rarity, Applejack, and I turned back around to look as the orange and gold mare rushed back up finally, the oh-so familiar Nurse Redheart on her tail. Both looked rather panicked, but Redheart gave me a worried smile upon finally making it. "Twilight healed him a little bit, but it doesn't look like his leg is doing too good," Noteworthy explained, trotting up to the mares as they ran up. To my surprise, Bon Bon stepped out of the audience at the same time and held up my brace in her mouth. Rarity smiled towards her and nodded, picking it up with her magic and floating it over to us as well. "He had his leg forcibly removed. It's a miracle he's even walking, so that's probably normal. I still want to take a look at it, though," Nurse Redheart explained, walking up after us after glancing towards Sugarcube Corner. A series of gasps spread through the crowd at that, and I winced inwardly. Applejack, ignoring the reaction, nodded politely to her before requesting, "We're about ta head inside ta have ah talkin' with Princess Luna. Can ya come in an' take ah look at it there?" "Of course!" the nurse exclaimed, brushing past her and giving me a frustrated glare on her way into the building. I swallowed lightly, realizing I was giving her even more work now. "Oh, wait! My name is Golden Harvest, but my friends just call me Carrot Top," the golden-maned mare introduced, running up until she was about a meter away before bowing politely. Frowning, I gave her a nod in return before asking, "Why do your friends call you..." I trailed off as I glanced up to her rather curly, golden orange mane. "Oh." She giggled but nodded. "You got it! Anyway, I'm super sorry for what happened! If you ever need anything at all, just let me know. I'll jump right on it!" she apologized, eyes softening as she looked rather sincere. Slowly, I nodded back, starting to feel a little shy and honestly having no idea what to do with so many ponies staring at me. Carrot Top grinned happily and Noteworthy nodded in agreement. "Me, too, of course. I'm a good friend of the Apples and a hard worker. If you need anything, either personally or in the defense of Equestria, please let me know!" he declared. Wow, they were really taking this 'Chief' thing seriously! I started to cough weakly, but Applejack beat me to talking. "Ah can vouch fer him. He's strong an' ah good worker. O' course, ya also have mah family's support," she chipped in. Er, what? "Not you too, Applejack! I don't even know what this position is yet!" I reminded, shooting her an awkwardly frustrated stare. She actually started laughing! "We know what you're capable of, Mender. Stop being modest and realize you actually have skills in this area," Rarity lectured politely, giving my right shoulder a gentle rub with her forehoof. I sighed and looked over at her, but only received a half-lidded wink in return before she stood again and slowly walked inside. Coughing, I averted my gaze politely. So, she wasn't just going to give up, I noted. Either that or she was just being playful to make me squirm because it was humorous... Applejack snickered even more before gesturing and shoving me inside. She was surprisingly gentle from what I'd been expecting. Luna smiled politely as I slid indoors, then lifted a massive folder crammed full of papers using her magic. Redheart nodded and smirked to me as well, holding up a rather large needle at the same time. Oh dear. This was going to be a long day. * * * * * Even knowing they weren't going to publicly execute me, I still had worlds of trouble saying no to mares. One pointless tetanus shot later, I was sitting gingerly on a couch in the upper floors of Sugarcube Corner. The room was immensely pink, which didn't honestly surprise me. It was also extremely crammed with Princess Luna and Rarity on the bed, Twilight sitting next to me on the couch, and Applejack and Pinkie on the floor between the bed and said couch. I spent another good half a minute staring blankly at the papers in front of me. What was the natural reaction to something like this? Only the top three were meant to be signed by me. The rest were detailed information about the Everfree Incident, an exceedingly detailed table of goals in a suspiciously familiar writing, and oddly enough, portfolio information on a dozen individuals. "I'm sure you understand where my sister is coming from. This is a purely defensive aligned group meant to safeguard Equestria from any extradimensional risk," Luna explained again after my lengthy bout of silence had drawn on almost a minute. I nodded weakly. That much was crystal clear. She was forming a mixture of combat and extremely selective R&D to guard against any and all future extradimensional incidents, focusing on defensive measures. "I get that much. I'm just not sure where I fit in, and why you're labeling me the 'chief' of the branch," I elaborated, frowning as I flipped to the next page again. It outlined the goals of the agency and vaguely explained what they wanted me for, but I didn't see where the research and development of alien technologies translated into 'chief'... "You'll be monitoring and leading an expert team of unicorns in order to investigate and develop counters for any alien technology acquired," Luna informed. She gave a slight shift of her eyes when she said it, and I frowned. Twilight shivered lightly next to me, and I closed my eyes. She said she wouldn't. All I'd have to do is say something. Yes, that might be a better idea. "This is your writing, Twilight. If you're running overhead on the entire agency, why aren't you chief?" I inquired, looking over at her. She winced as if burned, then swallowed. A hesitation. Finally she rapidly shook her head, causing Applejack to give her a skeptical look. "I'm not going to lie to you. I'm your organizer and planner in the organization. But, um, I'm not the chief," she explained, not explaining much at all. I raised an eyebrow and she sighed again. "Twi, it can't be that bad. Just come out with it, Sugarcube," Applejack interrupted, frowning up at her. My fillyfriend's ears lowered and she shivered again before looking back up at me with a surprisingly determined stare. "No, I won’t lie! I, well, I don't have any actual combat experience. Actually, compared to you, the royal guards that dominate the personnel list don't either," she finally admitted. I froze, eyes widening slightly. "Wait, what?" Rarity asked, sounding somewhat startled. "You're expecting to need to use force against threats to Equestria, and want me to lead the guard into battle against them..." I muttered, eyes locked intently on Twilight's. She shivered again and tried to look away with her head, but her own eyes remained frozen on mine as she hesitated. "Yes, that's true. You're the only one here currently that has led troops into battle. The only other individual who still technically has guard capacity and has the same qualifications is Shining Armor," Luna added calmly, watching the exchange. I resisted snorting. "Yeah, and he's a prince. I get it. All I've ever led was a specialist squad, however. We didn't see much direct combat," I warned, voice softening. Only a little white lie. Just a tiny one. It took effort to resist shivering. "Please, Mender? You said you wanted to protect us, and I'll be there with you the entire time," Twilight reminded, edging forwards a little and nuzzling along my shoulder. Heat danced up me and I flushed lightly as she almost touched the base of my neck before stopping. Yeah, not the place for that... Still, that was cheating! I sighed and looked away from her, staring down at the floor. Technically, I wanted to protect them, yes. I didn't like placing myself under Celestia's orders, however. Further, I didn't want to give these ponies weapons of war. The 'threat' was almost over, unless Celestia knew things I didn't. The entire concept reeked of ulterior motives. Pinkie was surprisingly quiet during the entire conversation, and shifted herself to a more comfortable spot. I was a little irked that she'd given up her bed. Not only was it her room, but she was also the injured one here. At least I thought she was injured. The way she'd been acting today, I couldn't tell for sure. She must heal amazingly fast. Finally, she looked back up at me and softly asked, "What's wrong, Mender? Something about it must be bothering you if you didn't agree right away." The corner of my mouth turned up in amusement. Clever deduction, honestly. Above and beyond the others in the room, anyway. "It bugs me. What is Celestia so afraid of? I've been dealing with it and the threat is almost done with," I said, merely speaking my thoughts out loud. "It's a precaution, Mender. Plus, my sister worries for other dimensions getting involved due to the nature of the Elements here. It's not just your old dimension she's concerned for," Luna informed. Well, I suppose it was a small chance, but that was true. I was here, after all. If the Keldarians could figure out a way to get here, it stood to reason that others could, too. Nurse Redheart raised her hoof from the doorway, and everypony turned to look at her at the same time. "Uh, I don't mean to interrupt everypony, but, um, should I still be here?" she squeaked, looking a little uncertain now. Oh yeah, I forgot she was here! Wait a second... Frowning, I flipped through the paperwork again and came to her portfolio as well. Oh. I nodded to myself and looked back up at her. "Uh, actually you appear to have class-three agency clearance. Welcome aboard!" She widened her eyes, and then looked down at her own file in my hooves. "Oh. Well, um, okay! I definitely accept then! This is way more entertaining than hospital detail!" she exclaimed. "Actually, considering the agency shall be based out of Ponyville, I expect you'll probably continue the hospital detail until special request otherwise," Twilight pointed out, causing the nurse to deflate a little. "Darn. I was hoping I could try on some black spandex and learn martial arts," Redheart muttered wistfully. Er, what? What was she thinking of?! Luna continued, however, apparently deciding to ignore the comment. "Regardless, the agency is under my jurisdiction instead of my sister's. Further, any countermeasures we develop to defend Equestria shall remain strictly that. No copies and no prototypes are to be distributed anywhere else. We need not these advanced weapons except to defend ourselves from similar," she warned, looking grim. I exhaled quietly, relaxing a bit. Okay, that put aside a lot of my concern. She seemed to notice this and smirked. No, Luna was amazingly perceptive, if I remembered anything from my dealings with her before. She probably 'warned' me of that simply because she figured out that it was bothering me earlier. Twilight gave Luna a surprised glance for a second before also smiling and relaxing. "We understand, of course. I believe that is what Mender would prefer anyway," she assured, glancing back over at me with a soft smile. "Of course! We ponies would much rather party than hurt others!" Pinkie chimed in, nodding rapidly to Luna. The Princess of the Moon finally rolled her eyes and giggled lightly, revealing, "It wasn't an actual warning. Mender was just concerned about giving ponies weapons like that." I coughed and looked away, causing Rarity to smirk across the way. "What about tha Elements? Are we on defense, too?" Applejack inquired, looking over her shoulder to Luna. Luna nodded down to her before explaining, "Purely for defense, of course. It wouldn't be the same as before, however. Tia has requested we limit the Elements' exposure to other dimensions, so their use would be situational. Twilight and Mender should be able to judge when to use them." I glanced over at Twilight, who nodded and smiled to me. "I'm extremely familiar with the Elements of Harmony. If Mender chips in the extradimensional parts, I'm sure we can come up with information on it," she estimated. I was surprised by her confidence, honestly. If it were just me, there's no way I'd accept this position, I suddenly realized. "Then do I carry good news back to Tia?" Luna asked me politely. I hesitated, but finally nodded. Why not? I really did want to protect them, and it appeared that I wouldn't be able to escape being a soldier after all. Pinkie interrupted both my thoughts and my attempt to reply, however. "No! You're not bringing news back! That would mean that you left. And if you leave, you can't attend the party here, because it's not in Canterlot! If you can't make it to the party, I'll be really sad! So no, you can't deliver the news yet!" Pinkie ordered. Oddly, everything she said was the absolute truth. Luna stared at her for a moment before smirking and adding, "Of course, Pinkie. I've already cleared the whole day, and was planning on staying. It's wonderful for everypony to truly want me to stay." Oh yeah. Her banishment then return probably left some lingering negative feelings. Pinkie couldn't have looked more delighted. Well, maybe she could have, but I didn't want to think about that. That was kind of like just happily finishing your cup of ice cream, then somepony informing you that you have twenty seven more cups to finish, this time with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and brownies. Delicious, but overwhelming at the same time and almost guaranteed to make you throw up. Of course, now I was thinking about it. The pink one was gone when I snapped out of it again, and I was momentarily surprised. Uh oh. It was never a good thing if she got out of my sight that quickly. The door downstairs slammed open a second later and I heard, "Come on, everypony! Let's get this party started!" Oh. Luna gave out a deafening cheer before flapping up off the bed and trotting back downstairs rapidly. My head momentarily swam from the decibels, and Twilight leaned over again, giving me a gentle massage. "Just try to relax and enjoy yourself. I'm staying with you all day, so don't worry," she assured. I nodded weakly, then flattened my ears back as I heard the rampage of hooves downstairs. This was going to be a long night. * * * * * One startling, overwhelming conclusion I had come to over the last hour was that Pinkie Pie had absolutely no sense for numbers. Well, that might not be absolutely true. If she knew of them, she certainly ignored them. Lowering, I ducked under a flying disk before it took my head off, then barely stumbled forward to avoid getting run over by the mare chasing it. Town's square was absolutely flooded with ponies, and Vinyl had moved her sound stage out here instead. The deafening bass that radiated from that direction literally shook the ground I walked on. As fun as the music was, I couldn't manage to get any closer than ten meters. That meant visiting Vinyl was out, as I wouldn't be able to hear what we were saying anyway. Yeah. Pinkie had no sense for numbers. She invited roughly seven times the amount of ponies that Sugarcube Corner could hold by itself. The library opened itself up for mingling and a quieter scene in which to talk for most, as well. Rarity also surprised me by opening up the Boutique and serving tea for the easily upset ponies. I'd just come from there and was feeling delightfully sleepy, despite the loud noise and potentially fatal collision opportunities. Fluttershy was still there, and said she'd come to the library afterwards. Hopefully that's where Twilight still was. Seeing as I had been in good hooves at the Carousel Boutique, she'd taken off to open up the library and shift some things upstairs. As she was late returning, I finally decided to wander that way and see what had slowed her down. It could be anything, knowing my fillyfriend. To my surprise, an uncertain looking Spike sat just outside on the library's step. He shifted uneasily to look in my direction before smiling and waving. I returned a smirk and nod, dodging two mares as they danced past rather haphazardly. Frowning, I stared at the two for a minute, realizing they were the same pegasi from earlier with the lavender coats and blue manes. I oddly couldn't tell if they were dancing or fighting, so I decided to hurry past. Owlowiscious flew out the upstairs window with a flail, momentarily dropping like a rock before pulling out of the fall and giving a couple of flaps over to me. "No! This was supposed to be a calm and quiet place!" I heard Twilight shout from inside on the first floor. Uh oh. I ducked my head down while looking over at Owlowiscious. He took the hint and landed solidly on my back between my two shoulders, looking a bit frazzled but otherwise okay. It was amazing how much I noticed him now that I realized he existed! "Hey, Mender. Twilight's going crazy inside. Ya might want to hang here for a bit," Spike warned, shooting a nervous glance back inside. I peeked past him and saw Twilight chasing down a little pink-maned filly who had a book in her mouth. Seconds later, a table fell over and crashed in the corner as somepony slipped. Yikes. Twilight's feral scream of aggravation cemented Spike's suggestion into my head, and I sat down next to him. Owlowiscious fluttered off the incline and landed on my head instead, giving a tired hoot. "Agreed fully. When Pinkie decides to party, she really parties," I groaned, casting my eyes upwards at the owl. Spike snickered and nodded, looking back down at his claws before shaking his head. "It kinda sucks, really. Sure it's fun, but there's no organization to it," he complained idly. I raised an eyebrow to him before asking, "You're starting to sound like Twi. What do you mean?" He snorted, but smirked at least. "I just want to find some of our friends to hang out. That's why I'm so happy to see you as well. Sitting out here by myself was kinda lonely," he confided, looking a little glum. As depressing as it was, I was kinda happy he considered me a friend. I gave him a gentle nudge in the shoulder, and he smiled up at me. "Relax. I'm here now and you don't have to be by yourself, at least. I'm just surprised you're not with Rarity," I pointed out. "I don't even know where she is right now! That's what I was talking about," he protested, dropping his head down again. Ah, he hadn't heard yet. "Oh, that one's easy. She's at the Boutique. She opened up the first floor and is serving tea to ponies. She might even need your help to serve it," I revealed. His expression changed like I'd flicked a switch. "What?! Really? Oh! Oh! I should go help her! If she needs my help, it's my duty to..." he started before slowly trailing off. I gave him a skeptical glance, but he lowered his arms down again and stared at me. "But you just got here and were nice enough to tell me about her. It kinda feels like I'm ditching you now," he muttered, frowning a little. My smile widened. Those were some extremely complex feelings. I suddenly realized he might not be as much of a 'kid' as I originally thought. "Spike, it's okay. If she needs help, you should help her. Show her that you can be a white knight, too. She'll realize it soon enough," I suggested gently. Of course, I didn't say anything about the ideas I'd dropped on her the other night. He perked up and nodded. "Thanks, Mender. You're a good friend. I'll make this up to ya later, okay? Say hi to Twilight for me!" He ran off before I could say anything else, making a beeline for the boutique faster than I realized he could move. Right. Talk to Twilight. Turning around, I peeked back inside at the horrible mess. Twilight was nowhere to be seen, but ponies appeared to be behaving themselves more, anyway. At least, I didn't see as many little foals in there. Did that mean she was getting the situation under control? Owlowiscious let out a weak, hooting noise, as if reading my thoughts. Yeah. Better stay out here for a while longer, just in case. Rotating around, I plopped down onto the step and looked out at the crowd, listening to the reverberating beats of the nearby music. Celestia's Sun slowly drifted closer and closer to the horizon, and soon Luna would take over. Did it take her effort to raise the moon? It would seem like it should, but I'd never seen either Princess do it, so I tried not to jump to conclusions. Luna was somewhere in Ponyville enjoying herself, and I wondered what she'd do when she had to start her night. My drifting mind snapped back to focus as my eyes picked out two stragglers moving along the outskirts of the party, as I had a bit ago. My paranoia increased somewhat as I realized I didn't recognize either of them. The mare was cream colored with a long, striped mane of purple and white. The stallion was a darker blue color, with an even darker mane. At first I thought it was Noteworthy from earlier, but as he got closer, I noticed not only was he different in facial structure, but both were unicorns. They were making straight for the library and the stallion had an expression of purpose. My armor prepped inside of me as I watched them, and I felt my muscles tense and twitch. They halted maybe a half-dozen meters away and he started fidgeting with his bow tie. I noticed they were dressed rather formally for this sort of party. "Are you sure I look presentable? If he's indeed up to scruff, I want to make a good impression," the male asked, looking over at his partner. Mates? Dating? Married? My ears swiveled around to focus in on them, my hearing magnifying as I kicked on my scouting protocols. "Dear, for the fifth time, you look fine. You're not going to make a very good impression if you keep getting so excitable. Relax," the mare soothed, nudging his hoof away and straightening his tie with both of hers. As she turned sideways to do so, I got a good look at her Cutie Mark. Three simple purple stars, misaligned in a loose cluster. Interesting. Stars? Her eyes were also a brilliant blue color that went really well with her mane. They continued moving again before I could consider it further. His Cutie Mark was barely visible at this angle, but I thought I saw some sort of double crescent moon or something. As he got closer, I noticed his eyes were a lighter orange or brown. It was hard to tell as I lost my light. The mare took a step forwards ahead of the stallion and approached me with a smile. "Ah, hello! Do you know if Twilight Sparkle is in?" she asked gently, surprising me. They were after Twilight? "Well, yes, she is. She's a bit distracted right now, though. Do you want me to take you to her?" I offered after a moment's consideration. I didn't know these ponies, but if they wanted to hurt Twilight or were secretly spies or something, they were in for a world of hurt. The stallion scoffed, however, and shook his head rapidly. "I don't need an escort to see my own daughter! She's here, and that's all we needed to know," he shot back. My eyes widened drastically and I started to panic before he plowed past me and headed into the library. Oh, oh hell! That was her father?! The mare, presumably Twilight's mother at this point, sighed and shook her head as she watched. "I'm very sorry about that. He gets a little anxious about things," she apologized, sounding sincere as she gave me a light bow. "Ah! N-No, it's fine. He just surprised me, is all," I excused, suddenly having no clue whatsoever what to say. Oh hell. I should have prepared something for this! I knew they were coming tonight at some point. Why didn't I think about it before now?! She smiled, however, and shook her head. "It's no excuse for him to be so rude. Still, it's not every day that our daughter gets herself a coltfriend and potential marriage material, so I can see why he's worked up," she reasoned, turning and watching him hastily go upstairs. Twilight must not be on the first floor... Wait. "Marriage?!" I questioned, turning back to the mare with a surprised expression. I'd known her dad was big on that, but the way her mom talked, this sounded like something Twilight herself said! The mare giggled and nodded before correcting, "Not actually my idea. Twilight herself mentioned that she thinks he's 'the one' and all. It's so cute how she gushes! I'm surprised you didn't hear about him. I mean, she writes us all the time about him, so I figured... the news would..." She trailed off, but I wasn't paying attention. I felt a little dizzy as I sat back down again, head spinning. She wanted to marry me?! But it had only been a month or so! She was talking about marrying me already? Suddenly remembering that I was still present for a supposed conversation, I snapped out of it and focused back on the mare in front of me. She was giving me a questioning stare, however, and I swallowed, tilting my head back and away from her a bit. "Actually, her letters were very detailed and descriptive. I..." she started, before glancing down at my left leg instead. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she saw my newly repaired brace on it. Oh. Crap. Twilight probably told them about the injury. She shifted to a smile a moment later, however, and looked back up at me. "Oh, terribly sorry! Where are my manners? My name is Twilight Velvet. My impatient husband you met earlier is Night Light. I'm very surprised I didn't notice sooner, but you seem to have a way of disappearing into the background, even when I'm talking right to you. I guess I thought you'd be taller," she spoke, sounding almost as if she were talking to herself or taking notes on me. "Ah... ha ha... It's fine. It's very nice to meet you. Um, you probably guessed already, but I'm Moon Mender," I introduced, scratching my head with my brace and feeling kind of stupid. Well, this was still a better introduction than I gave Shining Armor. If the introduction had been awkward for her, she didn't let it show. Instead, she smiled softly at me and returned with, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I wondered what my future son-in-law would look like. You're very polite, just like she said." That tasty awkwardness returned and I coughed weakly. "Maybe a little too polite. I'll have to work on that," she continued a moment later before grinning. Somehow, I resisted hiding. "Ah, um, I'm sorry? I'm a little nervous," I apologized, shifting uncomfortably back and forth. "See? I'll break you out of your shell, however! For now, though, we should go stop my husband before things get out of-" she started to suggest. "Stop trying to subtly sniff my bed! I know what you think, but I was telling the truth!" I heard Twilight scream from upstairs. What? Twilight Velvet sighed, muttering, "Oh dear. Too late. He's being creepy-paranoid again." Sniffing her bed? Even I thought that was being a little weird. "I heard what your brother said! You need to wait to be respectably bonded via unicorn tradition! I mean, really! Not only mating, but joining energy outside of bond? I expected more from my daughter!" he shouted back. I thought she said that was cleared up?! "Shiny told you that was a misunderstanding! We haven't bonded yet!" Twilight shouted back. Her mother headed for the stairs. Hesitation struck me, but I decided a second or two later to follow her. Even if I couldn't help, I could at least support Twilight. At least I might be able to be a good punching bag as well if need be. There was more stomping upstairs. "You two were always close. You bribed him, didn't you? Tell me the truth, Twilight Sparkle! His smell is all over the place here. You're a mated pair already!" he rashly accused. "That's quite enough, Night Li-" Twilight Velvet started as she hit the top of the stairs. "GAH! FOR THE LAST TIME, MENDER AND I HAVEN'T MATED YET!" Twilight's voice exploded out from upstairs, causing me to wince under the volume of it. It matched what Luna could do. Everything went dead quiet. Time practically stood still as I momentarily heard only the ringing of my ears. How loud had she said that? I swallowed nervously and turned around at the base of the stairs, only to see that every single pony in the room was staring up at the loft, looking surprised. Damn it. Wait, something was missing. My ears twitched. Where the hell was the music outside?! A few seconds later, somepony coughed over the microphone. “Well, ‘that’ was awkward. Uh, right on. This next set o’ tracks is a remix I made at Tavi’s request. Some of her music meets some of mine! Let’s move those bodies, everypony!” Vinyl shouted out, recovering rapidly from the horribly timed track switch. The music blasted out most of the rumor spreading a second later, I imagined. A quiet snort came from the nearby table and I heard, “Well at least we know he’s not a changeling. He’d have starved to death by now!” My ears flattened back, regardless of me not getting the implication. But the way it was said was clear enough. I didn’t even turn to look at them before scurrying up the stairs. Damn it! I could have sworn I heard Rainbow laughing hysterically over our link…
Chapter 41By the time I got up to the loft, Twilight had both hooves covering her mouth and looked like Celestia had just walked in and slapped her in the face. It was an amusing expression if one were to make fun of the situation. Oddly, that felt better than addressing reality. "Oh no. How loud did I say that?" she asked, looking over at her mother. "Oh, I'm sure a few ponies near the edges of town missed it. Don't worry!" her mom chirped back with a smile. I shot her a disbelieving stare. Twilight groaned, however, and lowered herself to the floor. I limped past Twilight Velvet and sat down next to my fillyfriend instead. "Relax, Twilight. It's not that big of a deal," I tried to assure. Sure, the inevitable rabid mocking over the next few days would be annoying, but there were worse things. "You again? I told you that I didn't need an escort! Who are you, anyway?" Night Light asked, shifting his glare to me instead. Eh? I looked up at him to respond, but hesitated when his eyes widened. "Wait, I recognize you!" he exclaimed. "Finally..." his wife said behind me. Here was that 'even worse' turn I'd been waiting for. "You're that changeling! You're trying to manipulate my daughter!" he declared. Yeah, I figured he'd figure out I was... Wait, what? Twilight blinked, and then gasped out loud. Huh? Oh! He had looked at the fliers, too, then. Her mother groaned behind me. "You said you didn't believe those bogus stories, Dear," she lectured. He didn't get a chance to reply. "I'm sorry, Dad!" Twilight yelled out. He gave her a split second look of confusion before she blasted him backwards onto her bed. Well, sticking with what worked before was a safe bet. Still, I would have at least given a bit of explanation first. "Twilight!" her mother yelped, shifting to a shocked expression before I turned away and limped up to the bed. Owlowiscious took that moment to fly off my head and roost on the bed corner instead. I gave him a light nod before propping myself up and holding out my right hoof to Twilight's father. "Are you all right, sir?" I asked uneasily as he groaned and hooked my foreleg, letting me pull him up into a sitting position. Wincing for a moment, he finally opened his eyes and looked over at Twilight instead. "Wait, what? What happened?" he asked uneasily. It seemed to impair their memory a little bit after they woke up. Twilight Velvet glared over at her daughter, but Twilight shook her head sadly. "You looked at one of those fake articles from earlier. They have a subtle enchantment on them, from what I guessed already. Hitting you with a magical, low density blast is the only way I currently know of to knock you out of it," she explained. Her mother's expression shifted instantly, and she frowned. "An enchantment? What's it supposed to do?" she inquired. "Magnify anger and doubt in a pony towards me, setting them up with the perfect mindset to read the article, would be my guess," I elaborated, wincing slightly as I slid back away from the bed. My leg still ached from the rock earlier, and had lessened my tolerance for standing. Taking the hint, I drew myself back and unceremoniously dropped to my stomach instead, sighing as the pressure was pulled off my leg. "Does it still hurt, Mender?" Twilight asked softly, walking up to me instead and sitting down. I shivered lightly, nodding after a moment's consideration. Her father looked dazed still, and gave us a confused look. "It feels like I just woke up. You're Moon Mender. The article said that much. That part was true, right? If so, that means you're my daughter's coltfriend," he deduced, it sounding like it was more for clarifying his own mindset than anything. I couldn't tell if it was from the enchantment or the blast Twilight gave him, though. "Yes, this is her coltfriend. Yes, I talked to him already and he's just as nice and polite as her letters said. Maybe too polite, really," Twilight Velvet explained, hopefully shifting away any potential wrath towards me. Although I didn't know what to expect of her saying I was 'too' polite. My Twilight shot her a skeptical glance before snickering, apparently knowing something I didn't. "He's not perfect, and can be a little dense sometimes, but I like him just the way he is," she assured, smirking down at me before giving a playful nuzzle. I rolled my eyes before sticking my tongue out at her, feeling a little more relaxed now. Her parents seemed more reasonable now, but I withheld judgment until her father snapped out of his daze. "What happened earlier with the fliers?" the stallion in question asked a moment later. He gave me a concerned stare, but looked far less malicious than earlier. "They were being dropped off all over town from the sky by a bunch of pegasi from the mail and weather teams. Private, paid job by the sounds of it. I'll be looking into that more later, for sure. Regardless, the enchantment on them almost caused a riot and they honestly thought Mender was a changeling, to the point of trying to stone him. I’ve already sent a full report to Princess Celestia." Twilight's elaboration brought back rather painful memories, but I let her continue unabated. She hesitated and gave me a soft nudge again before continuing with, "I shielded him to the best of my abilities, but one got through and hit him in his injured leg. It's been bothering him ever since." I started to open my mouth to assure that I'd be fine when I gasped in shock instead. Wait, no I didn't. It confused me for a moment as it echoed through my head alongside the open air at the same time. My gaze shifted past Twilight at the same time she turned around to face her window. Rainbow had just finished sliding it open, and Fluttershy was hovering in the air just inside the room. "Oh no! That's terrible! I knew I shouldn't have spent so long at Rarity's. Sure, I was upset that it had happened, but if I'd known it was still bothering you, I would have rushed home and gotten some of my pain creams and," she started rapidly rambling. "Fluttershy! Relax. He's a tough stallion, and you're freaking yourself out," Rainbow reminded, gently rubbing her hoof through the top of Fluttershy's mane. The yellow pegasus gave out a quiet squeak, but then nodded. Twilight smiled and stood, however, turning to face the two newcomers. I politely averted my gaze from her flank and tail as she did so, coughing lightly to myself to calm the jitters. The combination of physical aching and whatever it was she hit me with earlier was causing weird thoughts. Pheromones? Twilight seemed oblivious, of course. "I'll go get some topical anesthesia from the bathroom, if you wouldn't mind applying it, Fluttershy," she offered gently. Fluttershy nodded so rapidly that it started to destabilize her hovering. She landed a moment later looking somewhat sheepish. "Oh, that would be wonderful, Twilight. If it's not too much trouble, um, do you think you could also find a small bandage? I'd like to get some covering and antiseptic cream onto the injury site," she requested, landing and walking gently over to where I lay. Twilight Velvet giggled lightly, suddenly reminding me that they were still here. I really had to work on that paying attention thing. "You're always such a kind pony, Fluttershy. You certainly live up to your title," she complimented, earning a light blush from the yellow mare. "Oh, I only want to see Mender comfortable. I mean, why wouldn't somepony want to do what they can for an injured pony? Besides, I've been worried about Mender the entire time I was over there! Oh, I hope Rarity isn't upset that I was so distracted," Fluttershy worried, fidgeting slightly back and forth on her forehooves. Twilight giggled but rolled her eyes, offering, "Why don't we just bring Rarity and Spike back over here then? That way you don't have to worry about Rarity while here, and Mender while there." Fluttershy looked even more flustered as Twilight pointed out her circular logic, but I just smiled at how cute she looked. "I, um, I think I'd like to stay with Mender for now. It's been too long since I've seen him anyway," she finally excused, looking down at the floor instead. "Aww, don't get all sappy on me, Flutters! I should also report that Twilight's shout was heard all the way up at cloud layer where I was about to practice my writing," Rainbow informed impishly, tossing a wink in at the lavender unicorn. Twilight groaned instantly, almost as if she'd been expecting the jibe and set up the reaction ahead of time. "Rainbow! I really didn't need to think about that," she protested. My turn to avert my eyes from those involved with the topic. Fluttershy became much more interesting to look at suddenly. Well, not that she wasn't before, but that was beside the point. "Thank you, Fluttershy. I'm sorry for worrying you," I apologized quietly, as Twilight started ranting at Rainbow. I zoned it out to the best of my abilities. Fluttershy looked up at me and smiled softly before shaking her head. "I just care about you, Mender. A lot," she confessed, still a little pink from the earlier comments. She leaned down, however, and gently kissed me on the forehead, letting her soft mane drift over me. I smiled up at her until Twilight's mom let out a choking noise. Huh? "Uh... what are you, wait," her dad muttered behind me, sounding surprised. Wait a second. Did Twilight tell them about Fluttershy? "What the hell?! You're cheating on her while she's in the same room?!" her dad shouted out, immediately jumping to conclusions as fast as he jumped up into a hostile stance on the bed. I winced painfully as Fluttershy yelped in my ear and scurried backwards, giving him a shocked look. Twilight went rigid instantly, then slowly turned around to look at her parents. Rainbow promptly broke into laughter, however. "Ha! You totally didn't tell them about Fluttershy?" Dash asked, words drifting out haphazardly between her laughs and rolling on her back. Well, at least somepony was amused. "What?" Night Light asked, tone shifting low and pissed off sounding. There was a subtle difference between fury and simmering rage, I noticed. "Twilight?" her mother asked a moment later, giving my fillyfriend a skeptical look. Twilight twitched lightly, then swallowed, starting to look flustered. "Ah, well I kinda forgot to mention, um," she started, everypony in the room focusing on her instantly. I could almost see a couple beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she gave the guiltiest smile I'd ever seen. Seconds passed before she finally said, "Oh! I seem to have forgotten Mender's medical supplies. I'll be back!" "Twilight!" her dad barked, but it was too late. The lavender mare disappeared in a momentarily blinding flash of light. I'd almost forgotten she could teleport. I kinda wished I could, too, at this point. Her father sighed, however, and shook his head, looking back down at me instead from his higher position on the bed. Well, here we go. Time to take this like a stallion, if that was the proper term. "You weren't cheating, were you?" he asked softly instead, surprising me. I blinked once, but shook my head a moment later after I recovered. Huh. I'd expected more hitting. I kept my hopes up, and my armor prepped. "Oh, but that means my little Twilight is actually involved in a herd!" Twilight Velvet chipped in a moment later, sounding scarily okay with that aspect. Wait, were they going to beat me senseless or not? "Dear! You're supposed to be concerned!" Night Light professed, looking flustered now instead. "Why? That just means our family gets even bigger! And I'll get even more little foals to play with soon!" she exclaimed, shifting from surprised to rather gleeful. Okay, I moved fully into scared and started working on terrified. I'd been scared of the wrong pony all along! Fluttershy's cheeks, which had been recovering, now heated up again. Maybe I should start carrying a cold pack for her, too? "Ah, well we kind of decided to hold off on kids, at least for a year or so. Twilight will probably wait longer," I corrected, not wanting her to get the wrong idea and fluster Fluttershy. "What?! You're going to waste a perfectly good estrus period next week?" Twilight Velvet asked instead. Err, that was unexpected. A light slap sounded from behind me, and I turned to see Night Light grinding his right forehoof against his forehead. "Okay, okay. Before this gets out of hoof, can you answer some questions?" he asked, looking up at me instead. I rotated around and nodded to him, trying to adjust back into a comfortable position for my leg. "As long as you don't mind me lying down. When I stand up, the blood rushes into my leg and it hurts," I requested, lightly adjusting the brace. Fluttershy smiled, taking another step closer and lying down as well, pushing right into me with her side as she extended a wing over my shoulder. "Just relax, Mender. You'll feel a lot better once I can wrap it," Fluttershy chirped, apparently forgetting about the foal thing when she got the opportunity to take care of an injury instead. "That's fine. How many are in the herd?" Twilight's father asked after she settled in. "It's just those three. I think Rarity is interested too, but uh," Rainbow answered for us, apparently sobering somewhat. I sighed. "That's a bad topic. Rarity asked me, but I didn't feel the same way towards her. She seems to be taking it well, but I don't know. I feel bad," I elaborated, seeing Dash fall silent. "Aww. That's not the best situation for anypony involved. I'll have to send her my sympathies. ...and give Spike some encouragement," Twilight Velvet added after a moment's thought, seemingly contemplating to herself. What, did she just like playing matchmaker that much? Idly I wondered what her occupation was. Night Light sighed but nodded, seemingly assured by the honesty. "Waiting for kids is also an admirable and responsible position. You swear to not having bonded with Twilight yet? I'm a strong traditionalist, and it's considered improper for unicorns to engage in that before marriage," he explained, significantly more rationally than prior. Okay, so this was going better now. "To be honest, we have partially. Never at the same time, but she's used her energy to manipulate things inside of me for various purposes, and sometimes does it at night to calm me down," I admitted. Fluttershy gave me a reassuring nuzzle, but I was surprised when Rainbow suddenly looked sad. Eh? Her father looked curious at that information however, and before I could address Rainbow, asked, "If you don't mind, could you elaborate? I'm afraid nopony knows much about you." I frowned, unsure of exactly what I could and couldn't tell him suddenly. Thankfully, it was solved for me. "We may answer thy questions, if that will suffice," suddenly came from the stairs. I peeked over my shoulder at Luna as she wandered into the room from the lower floor, everypony bowing except for Fluttershy and me, who were kind of as low as we could go already. We instead dipped our heads to her. "Luna," I greeted her, giving a soft smile. Night Light gasped in offence, but Luna herself snickered and nodded to me. "Hello, Mender. I was looking for you, actually. However, I now see that all individuals present would do well to see this, too," she greeted back, smiling softly at me. I couldn't help but notice she dropped the formal speech instantly. To my surprise, as I turned to face Luna instead, there was a flash of light that appeared practically on top of her. She momentarily looked surprised before smiling as the glow bounced around against her form, then shot to the right a meter or so and flared up again. Twilight re-appeared there instead, and looked to her left in surprise. "Oh! Princess Luna! What are you doing here?" she asked, lowering a rather sizable medical kit to the floor. Fluttershy took the initiative and snatched it with her right wing tip, sliding it over to us with surprising dexterity. "My sister is about to start a press meeting, and requested I let Mender watch. I've decided to show everypony here, however. It will answer a few questions, along with shedding some light onto what happened with the fliers," she revealed. Oh! That was important indeed. All of this crap was probably why Celestia couldn't attend the party today, which was beyond cruel, honestly. Why did I always have to cause such problems for everypony? With that said, however, Luna lowered her head slightly and her horn lit up. I watched curiously, if not in a slightly apprehensive manner. The last time I'd seen Luna using her magic, I'd been almost turned inside out with a teleportation spell and dropped in the middle of a hospital. The time before that, she was attempting to sever my head. This time, however, nothing malicious occurred. Instead, a sort of field appeared in front of the Princess of the Moon, and expanded to about a meter wide by a half a meter tall. It shifted from transparent to black for a moment, before a crystal clear image of a large stage and podium appeared. Hundreds of ponies were gathered in the audience, I noticed, as the 'camera' swept over them to zoom in on the podium itself. Twilight perked up and trotted around the screen to get a better look, of course. Rainbow also looked curious as she took to the air and flew over the display, landing slightly behind me and to the left. At this point, I didn't even have a second thought as she flopped close to my back. I was starting to realize that, by their culture alone, ponies seemed to be a lot more easy-going about physical contact. It made sense, really. Fluttershy took the moment to unpack the medical supplies, however, and start to tend to my leg. I noticed her right ear swiveled towards the screen, though. All of us quieted as the sound cut in suddenly. * * * * * The day was rather clear looking in Canterlot. Rather fitting for the Princess of the Sun to talk to everypony. A burst of wind drifted across the crowd as they gathered near the stage. What appeared to be cameras of some sort were lined up facing the podium, and dozens of ponies with notepads were scattered throughout the front of the crowd. Oddly, the cameras appeared to be an extension on a still picture design rather than motion capture. Princess Celestia herself walked forwards half a minute later, drawing a hushed wave of silence to expand across the crowd. Was this entire meeting about what happened this morning? She halted in front of the podium and a gentle golden glow encompassed the microphones, gently adjusting them so they pointed slightly below the angle of her mouth. She didn't appear to be new to giving speeches, that's for sure. "Stallions and mares, I welcome you to the castle. To be honest, this situation was not one I had anticipated ever needing to be addressed, but I've come to the conclusion that there has been some doubt amidst the populous. I'm here today to see if I can clear up some of these lingering concerns and, hopefully, allow things to be put to rest. Any and all questions may be asked by members of the media after I've finished," she spoke calmly. Knowing her personally, it wasn't hard to pick out a certain level of boredom in her eyes. That introduction almost felt like it was routine for her. Of course, if ponies everywhere panicked as easily as they did at Ponyville, that wasn't really a surprise. Murmurs danced across the crowd, but she continued regardless. "To begin today, I'm going to give you a bit of background information. Many of you already know some of these, but it's worth repeating. Equestria has dealt with situations regarding other planes of existence before," she tossed out. She let the final sentence drop like a judge smashing a gavel, easily knocking the crowd into stunned silence. There was no easy smile on her face or sparkling eyes this time, however. Her stoic expression displayed nothing but a masterful and resolute seriousness. Celestia scanned the crowd for a moment before continuing with, "This might come as a shock to many of you, but this is the case. Search our history books and studies into magic. You'll find research and case studies into it at multiple points in our history. In all of my time ruling this fine land, never once has this become an issue, however. Until now." More murmurs exploded, but she silenced them all with a simple shake of her head, flowing mane drifting in the fading sunlight. "That's right. I gave the statement earlier, but there's been some confusion on the issue. My dear ponies in Ponyville were attacked by an entity that came from one of these neighboring dimensions. It was unprovoked and done with malicious intent." Gasps and murmurs again danced across the front row. The ponies began furiously writing, assuming to put every detail of what she said in the papers as soon as possible. Celestia's level of influence was incredible to watch. She never looked outwardly angry or upset, but held a level of absolute authority that impressed me. If she were a Keldarian, abuse of power would start up faster than the sun next to her set. To see a ruler actually act with benevolence and kindness was downright startling. "But this isn't the entirety of the truth. This much I openly acknowledge. Before this moment, there were things kept secret from the general public due to matters of security. The fact of the matter is that we have not been idle about our defense. Up until a month ago, I had a skilled research team in the field studying this very phenomenon. The goal of such a group was to find out the possible dangers other dimensions presented to us, and find ways to counter these threats. They remained low key and unobtrusive whenever possible under my direct orders," she started to explain. Now it was starting to get interesting. A whole strew of bio information on researchers came to mind, all located in that folder. Was that the team she was talking about? "I mention this team because the stallion that has been so brutally slandered this morning by a supposed leak in our very media outlets is from this group of researchers. Yes, I'm sure everypony here has heard about Moon Mender by this point. Rumors have spread like wildfire about him, but there's no more need for me to hide the truth. He was a private researcher before being enlisted by me specifically for this task almost three years ago now. He rapidly became the head of my dimensional research division, and his understanding of dimensional transit is second to none in Equestria, I believe," she continued. Oh. This entire conference was a setup to establish a cover story? That much seemed unlikely. But how much of what she was saying was the truth? Had she really had a group studying the dimensions? More whispers and furious writing ensued, but she carried on regardless. "Great progress was made up until a month ago. A very tragic accident occurred, and Moon Mender was badly injured in an experimental dimensional shift technique. When we finally recovered him, it was discovered that he'd developed complete retrograde amnesia, and didn't even remember his name. Unsure of what to do, I requested that my own student, a master of magical theory and concepts as you all know, to look after him and help him recover. I owed him the very best, after all," she went on. Oh, that was clever. Almost every single aspect of that statement was completely true. Celestia finally smiled after that, actually chuckling to herself. "Admittedly, those other rumors are indeed true. My student has certainly done more than look after him, and I'm pleased to officially announce that they are now very special someponies towards each other. It pleases me greatly, and I have great hope in their continued happiness," she added. Oh hell. Well, at least that would put a stop to some of the rumors traveling around. Happier sounding murmurs went through the crowd, and surprisingly, more notes were taken. Why did they need notes on that?! She lost her smile, however, a moment later. "Then, unfortunately, we were attacked last week. Out of sheer luck, the entity went after the library in Ponyville that night. I've little information about its ultimate intention, but Moon Mender happened to be there. I'll not lie to anypony. Combat broke out after Mender ascertained that the creature was a threat to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie and Applejack, two brave Elements of Harmony, assisted in stopping the creature, but the destruction was carried deep into the Everfree Forest. Moon Mender held off the invader by himself until my sister and her night guards arrived and ultimately vanquished the creature. As many of you know, Mender was brutally injured in this event and lost his foreleg in the attack," she recounted. That was mostly true, with a bit of embellishment here and there. It was a bit surprising how honest she was being. Or rather, how honest she could be while lying. "Circumstances being extremely warranted, my sister took exception for Mender and gave him his leg back with her magic, as he'd so bravely lost it in defense of Equestria. He's still recovering in Ponyville, and as many of you know, there's a party in his honor going on right now. He's watching this conference as I speak. Being unsure of how to handle the situation, however, I decided to maintain secrecy of Mender until today. Now, I reveal all of this to the ponies of Equestria in hopes to stem the tide of distrust and malevolence towards this stallion who has helped us so. It shocks and concerns me to see that a group of individuals would go so far as to use magically enhanced advertising to slander such a kind and polite individual. I wish to see nothing more like it happen again!" she finally declared, frowning out at the crowd. There must have been some unwritten clue in that final statement that told everypony that it was the end of the prepared speech, as the reporters in the front exploded into questions all at once, causing Celestia to get a soft smile on her face. "One at a time, my little ponies," she reminded a moment later, gesturing to one near the front row. "Is this Moon Mender going to take a role in Equestrian politics from now on?" the stallion asked instantly, pen at the ready. Celestia never lost her smile and simply shook her head. "Moon Mender has no interest in politics. I know him personally. His job at this point forward is as a researcher. I'll no longer idly stand by waiting for another attack," she explained, voice soft but full of conviction. It would be interesting to find out how far she was willing to take that. She gestured to another reporter, who immediately asked, "What are your plans to counter another attack, if one were to happen?" The reporter's voice was nervous sounding, and distinctly feminine. Were any of these reporters from the three magazines that wrote up all the slander? "A small yet highly specialized and trained team of ponies led by Moon Mender will be our defense against any further attacks. Both the Day and Night Guard are contributing members, and our best researchers are equipping them and researching tactics. This will be our only group with such equipment, however," Celestia replied. She shifted a little bit more towards relaxed with that statement, but maintained her absolute tone. Was she pleased with that question? It certainly leaned more towards Equestria's well-being, in a practical sense. Another stallion was up next, asking, "What information do we have on the leaks from Equestria Weekly?" Ah, here was the interesting part. Celestia closed her eyes for a moment before shifting her gaze off 'screen' to the right; her left. "I believe somepony else can better answer that question. If you would, Mister Fancypants?" she requested, moving to her right slightly. Eh? Fancypants himself walked up in his typical attire. The immaculately pressed suit looked good on him when added to the styled mane and elegant gait. "It would be my pleasure, Your Highness," he said, lining himself up with the podium before exhaling quietly. Despite his proper posture and groomed appearance, his eyes looked very tired indeed. "This matter is being thoroughly looked into on all levels of the company. So far as we can tell, a small group of unidentified ponies used our press equipment to create official looking facsimile early in the morning. They then delivered the fliers to various outlets both here and in Ponyville, enchanting them somewhere along the way," he explained, expression passive. Having a slight angle on the podium showed that his left hoof was shaking slightly, however. It didn't take long to find out why. "So you're saying the fliers were definitely not endorsed by Equestria Weekly?" the same reporter asked, a moment later. Fancypants' face flushed lightly as his eyes narrowed a little. "No! The proud company I own does not endorse this voracious and vindictive attempt at slandering a completely innocent stallion! To be honest, I find the very act absolutely disgusting and am ashamed that they chose our company to promote it. Equestria Weekly promotes the absolute truth in reporting at every opportunity. Given that statement, this act is a travesty. There will be a full, front page article in the very next release that denounces these claims and promotes the absolute truth," he assured. His tone didn't sound adamant as much as downright angry over the entire ordeal. He took a couple deep breaths before calming down and visibly relaxing again. He looked back up at the utterly silent crowd and added, "Furthermore, Mender and I met personally at that party that was so ill reported on. I assure everypony here that he is a good stallion and has Equestria's best interests at heart. These two eyes watched him save the entire Canterlot Orchestra that night despite risk of great bodily harm. He did so without asking for a reward or even hesitating. So ask yourselves; does that sound like a monster to you? Make up your own minds about it." Celestia was smiling openly at that point. Fancypants stepped back from the podium and walked away the same way he came, ignoring the outburst of questions from the reporters. * * * * * The screen became just so much light at that point. I sat there, partially in shock as I stared blankly at the darkening viewing window. He didn't even know me. Sure, his company was technically slandered, too, now that I realized he owned it, but that didn't mean he had to say that last part. Why had he stood up for me, a pony he barely knew? "There's a reason Rarity speaks so highly of Fancypants. He's a reasonable pony who does what's right," Fluttershy whispered softly, smiling at me in my peripheral vision. I looked over towards her, only to discover that it was an almost knowing expression. It was like she knew exactly what was going through my mind, which further surprised me. For just a moment, I realized that I'd never really understood how close I'd let the yellow mare get to me. Fluttershy leaned forwards and ever so gently kissed my forehead. I relaxed against her and closed my eyes. A moment later, I felt Twilight lightly rest herself against my back and wrap her forelegs around my shoulders. The heat expanded to all sides of me, and I smiled as I felt two very distinctive heartbeats against my body. Luna made a happy murmuring sound before giggling. "Celestia requested I stop the film after Fancypants finished speaking. She said you wouldn't likely be interested in the funding and organizational questions that would undoubtedly follow," she explained, stretching her wings out and letting the glow die down around her horn. My left eye opened to glance over at her and I lightly nodded into Fluttershy's neck. "I'm not so much interested in that as I was about the fliers. Fluttershy's right, though. I hadn't expected Fancypants to stand up for me like that," I agreed, lightly glancing up at the yellow mare. Her muzzle shifted to a slight smile as she rested her chin on my forehead. She looked so peaceful there. I felt Twilight resting her chin on the top of my head as well, almost mirroring Fluttershy from the other side. I had absolutely no complaints about this situation. Although... "So what Miss Octavia said in her statement was right, then. He really did save the orchestra?" I heard Twilight Velvet ask behind me somewhere. Night Light oddly perked up at that too, but I didn't pay much attention, however, as my mind whirled into motion. They mirrored each other and were very lax. I smiled impishly for a split second before lifting my left foreleg up. Luna raised an eyebrow barely a second in the corner of my eye. My foreleg extending up, I dipped my head down to pretend to itch my nose rather vehemently. Time practically ground to a halt as everything fell into place quite literally, and I tried to devote the image forever to memory. It might result in my death, after all. Both mares fell forward as my head dropped. Twilight's eyes zipped downwards in time to catch me scratching, but Fluttershy's just widened drastically. Neither reacted in time before their muzzles touched. Twilight froze in place almost instantly while Fluttershy's eyes started to shiver slightly. There was a hesitation for just a moment. I could have sworn I saw Fluttershy's eyes start to lower slightly as she continued forwards. Then the instant was over as both mares exploded away from me, Fluttershy's wings shooting out to full extension fast enough to almost knock Night Light into the wall next to the bed. "Whaaaaa! Oh no. Oh no! Um, I'm, uh, really sorry, Twilight! I, uh, oh dear," Fluttershy rapidly started to spew, the chain of 'oh dear's rapidly devolving into a long, drawn out squeak. Twilight sat there looking more dazed than anything, a blush expanding across both her cheeks. For the most part, I didn't have to act shocked in the slightest, given that Fluttershy accidentally put her knee into my gut on the way back. Giving out a weak wheeze, I couldn't even properly enjoy the fruits of my plan as I flopped sideways, clutching at my stomach with both forehooves. Okay, I probably deserved that. Rainbow, who had been watching the last of the image fading away, rapidly turned and looked over at us with a questioning expression, apparently having missed the whole thing. "Wait, what happened?!" she rapidly asked, rotating in place to look at the three of us. "W-Whoa. Fluttershy, calm down. Um, are you okay, Mender?" Twilight asked, finally recovering and restarting her brain as she looked down at me with concern. I winced and gasped momentarily before nodding, sweet air slowly coming back into my lungs. "Ah, yeah. She just knocked the air out of me accidentally," I assured, deciding to just rest there for a moment. Fluttershy squeaked louder when she heard that, however, and lowered herself flat to the floor. "Oh no! I'm so sorry to both of you! No. What a disaster!" she murmured, breathing rapidly and shivering. Okay, now I just felt like a jerk. Twilight edged over to her and gently placed her hoof against Fluttershy's shoulder before gently speaking, "Fluttershy, calm down. Mender's fine, and I'm not mad at you or anything." "But I k-kissed you!" the yellow pegasus stuttered out, looking horrified at herself. Of course, I knew the real reason as to why she was so shocked. Twilight didn't, however. My fillyfriend's ears lowered a little and she looked away. "Is it really that disgusting of a concept?" she asked gently. Twilight! Fluttershy inhaled so fast I thought she was trying to suck up Twilight. Hmm. I think I remembered seeing a video game or something based off that the younger recruits used to play, but I can't remember now. Seems like that comparison would better suit Pinkie anyway. "No! It's not that, Twilight. Um... oh dear," Fluttershy assured, closing her eyes tightly. No. Was she really going to tell her? Every ounce of support I could manage to push down the empathy link was injected into Fluttershy, who smiled softly when she felt it. "Thank you, Mender. You're right. I have to do this. Twilight, I, um, really like you!" she managed to squeak out, wincing afterwards as if expecting the world to promptly end. Twilight tilted her head, and I inwardly groaned. Oh no. She didn't think that... "I really like you too, Fluttershy. You already knew that, though," Twilight assured a moment later, shifting to a warm smile before nodding twice. Fluttershy deflated visibly and I sighed. Twilight Velvet slapped her forehead instead, interestingly enough. "Twilight, stop and think about it for a moment," she suggested in a frustrated tone. Ha! Okay, so her mother knew her a little bit. Gently, I sat up and earned a helping hoof from Fluttershy to stabilize myself again. Rainbow gave me a confused glance and pouted, still having no clue what had happened it would seem. Twilight froze suddenly, eyes slowly expanding as she looked back over at Fluttershy. The yellow mare blushed lightly and shrank away from the shocked gaze, but having her hooves still on my foreleg, I wrapped my limb up with hers and gave her an assuring smile. It was indescribable to feel her relax somewhat from the gesture. "You like me, um, more than friends?" Twilight finally asked quietly, eyes lessening in intensity a little as she exhaled. Was this okay to get into with her parents right here? Fluttershy timidly nodded and squeezed around my leg a little harder. I gave her another soft tug and she smiled lightly. Rainbow's eyes shot to the size of saucers instead, however, and she started looking back and forth between my two fillyfriends. Ugh. That sounded weird even in my head. "Huh. Well, actually that makes me feel a little bit better over the situation. A herd is supposed to have mutual attraction after all," Night Light pointed out idly, snapping his daughter out of her seeming shock enough to finally blush. Yeah, it was definitely time to invest in ice bags. The three of us got into the most awkward situations. The sad thing was, I only predicted it to get worse. "Um, please don't hate me. Please? I can keep it to myself and-" Fluttershy begged, squeezing my foreleg tighter than ever. I was suddenly happy it was my right one. She was cut off before she could even finish the request. "No! Fluttershy, I'm never going to hate you. You just surprised me. I had no idea you liked me like that. Um, when did you start thinking of me like that?" she asked, sounding shocked. Seriously? Even I noticed the odd behavior before she flat out told me. There had to be a record in there somewhere. Did Equestria even keep records? I should get myself qualified for a few of them if they did. Both as record holder in terms of fastest diagnostic of insanity, and as a measuring stick to see who could fool me the shortest amount of time. Fluttershy thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Oh, that's easy." I didn't expect her to actually recollect it, however. * * * * * The castle was dark and cold at this time of night. Honestly, I didn't know what I was doing here in the first place. It was a really bad idea for us to have run off into the forest, and kind of bad that we wandered into this old castle, too, even if it was for a really good cause. Why did the night have to be so dark?! It was just scary this way! At least the moon helped light things while we were still outside. The stairs kept going up in a tight spiral, and I was thankful to have the girls so close to me. Applejack was so strong for leading the way through the dark, and a part of me wished I could be that sure of myself. All I could do on the way here was run away and panic. Sure, I helped the manticore, but was that really all that useful to my friends? I tried not to whimper as we reached the top of the stairs. My mind froze and I tried not to scream as I saw the dark clouds and pure anger of the powerful Alicorn. But something was wrong. It only took me a second to notice the broken shards at Nightmare Moon's hooves. No. No! It couldn't be the Elements of Harmony! I stared in horror as the rest of the girls started forwards. If they were destroyed, we couldn't win. It was hopeless. No, the mare we ran up here to help was facing off against such power all by herself. Even if she was talented, how could she possibly win, though? Why did she keep trying? We should just run away! Twilight Sparkle. I looked over at her just as she turned around to look back at us. In that instant, her eyes swallowed me up. There was something in them that I couldn't even begin to fathom. Surprise, sure. But a deeper warmth. A happiness that we were here that I didn't understand. She smiled. Yeah, I didn't have to understand. Even if it didn't make any sense, I suddenly felt her energy tugging my heart forwards. She was so brave to stand up to Nightmare Moon all by herself. Her eyes widened and she gasped suddenly, before her expression turned to that of a smirk. Slowly, she turned around to face Nightmare Moon again. What was she doing? Suddenly, I didn't find myself as scared anymore. She was sure we'd be okay, and I believed her, didn't I? "You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here," Twilight assured, earning a surprised start from the powerful Alicorn in front of us. That was the first time I saw it. Nightmare Moon looked scared. "What?" she asked incredulously. Twilight then went on to point out how all of us had succeeded in representing the very Elements of Harmony we'd been searching for! They had been with us all along. Twilight gave me my destiny that day. Her words and feelings were responsible for me becoming the Element of Kindness, and in that moment, she truly understood me. In doing so, I helped give her the hope she needed to defeat Nightmare Moon with all our powers. She trusted in us at that darkest moment, and I realized that was the kind of confidence I wished I had. * * * * * Fluttershy finally finished her tale with a pleased nod towards me. I smiled back, of course. "It took me a day or so to realize that I respected the mare who gave that to me more than the confidence I yearned for. Another day or so made me realize that I didn't just respect her, but realized how amazing and gorgeous she was. Um, then I started to l-love her the longer time went on and the more adventures we had..." she continued. Her voice dwindled down below my capabilities to hear afterwards, however. It seemed directly connected to how pink her cheeks got, I noticed. Did that mean if I applied a cold pack, her voice would get louder? Twilight wasn't taking it nearly as well, it looked like. She sat there with her mouth open and a blank stare aimed directly at Fluttershy, who was starting to get flustered now. "Um, is that bad? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or bother you or make you uncomfortable," Fluttershy immediately apologized, of course. I gave her a skeptical look, but the lavender unicorn finally snapped out of it. "But, that was, you've liked me since we first met?! I..." Twilight managed to stutter out. Well, never mind. I thought she'd snapped out of it. "Everything she said made sense to me. I mean, all of you are really amazing, and that was the first time you all shined together," I reasoned, earning a soft smile from Fluttershy. Rainbow was grinning at this point, however. "Heck, that's awesome! You'd better not apologize, Fluttershy. I'm proud of you for saying all that!" she declared. The burst of energy surprised the yellow mare, and she gave a squeak before shrinking down a little. "Ah! I'm sorry, Rainbow! Should I have not apologized then?" she asked. Rainbow gave her a deadpan stare before slapping her forehead lightly. I snickered lightly and pulled Fluttershy closer, giving her a soft squeeze. She hesitated for a moment, but then relaxed against my chest as I lightly rubbed her back. Rainbow was right. She was awesome for having said all that. Of course, that just left Twilight to decide what to do with the information. Everypony in the room redirected their attention back to Twilight, who froze as she suddenly found herself in the spotlight again. "Er, yes?" she asked, looking hesitantly over at me instead. Luna cut me off, however. "My Equestrian culture may be a little rusty, but I believe this is the part where you either acknowledge and return said feelings, or deny them," she spoke up politely, but rather bluntly at the same time. I felt Fluttershy shiver, but I gave her another squeeze and she buried her left cheek into my collarbone for support, partially hiding her from Twilight. I understood, of course. Sometimes having 'cover' was an encouraging instinct when you're expecting 'incoming fire' from something. Given my level of armor, I actually didn't mind being used as a barricade as much as I thought I would. Twilight blinked, and then giggled to herself. "You remember what I said earlier, don't you? I'm all for love no matter the gender. Fluttershy's already a herd member once we finalize it, so why wouldn't I give her a chance with me, too? It only makes sense," she reasoned, being remarkably 'Twilight' about it. I started to laugh before being partially lurched backwards by the rapidly pouncing Fluttershy. She wasted no time in landing on Twilight a moment later and almost sending them both back into the wall. She then proceeded to give her the largest hug I'd ever seen. Admittedly, seeing that mixed with my sudden loss of attention left me just a tad jealous. Still, they were both with me, too, so I guess it evened out. Fluttershy had a lot of catching up to do anyway. Twilight did laugh after she recovered her balance, and hugged Fluttershy closer to herself, smiling as the yellow wings slipped around her in both directions. They were rather cute to watch. My serenity was shattered, however, as I heard my name shouted at the top of Pinkie's lungs from downstairs. Eh?! "Are you in here, Mender?!" she yelled again, sounding a bit closer this time. Why was she specifically looking for me? "Oh yeah! Fluttershy and I were supposed to tell you when we got here that Pinkie was looking for you," Dash suddenly remembered, drawing her attention away from the new couple and looking over at me instead. Eh?! My ears flattened back at her for a moment, and she shot me a sheepish smile while rubbing the side of her head absently. I sighed and turned away, propping myself up to peek over the balcony. Pinkie perked up the second she saw me and hopped over to the stairs in her usual energetic manner. I had no complaints, however. It was much nicer to see her like this then in pain like she had been. "There you are! I was looking all over for you. I'd have thought Dashie would get you first," she admitted, sliding to a stop and shifting to a guarded position as I wobbled and tried to make my way down the stairs. It was nice of my friends to be on the lookout for my inevitable stumbles and gravity-induced blunders. "They're here. They just got distracted. Fluttershy finally confessed to Twilight," I explained, sliding down to her level after slipping the last few steps. She had the courtesy to catch me and slow my fall at least before gasping and hopping unnaturally slowly into the air. I shivered as I watched her float for a second before landing and dancing around in a tight circle. "I missed it?! No! I'll have to go up there and ask them to do it again! Do you think they'd mind?" she asked, hopping impatiently in front of me. Snickering, I shook my head, reminding her, "They probably wouldn't mind telling you about it. Although, you never said why you were looking for me." She stopped for a moment before her eyes lit up again. "Oh yeah! Vinyl talked to Princess Luna and got her to air your fun movie thingy with Princess Celestia onto the sound stage out there! She thought it would be a good idea to clear your name, and then wanted to introduce you after the movie," she rapidly explained. What?! But that would mean getting up on stage in front of all those ponies! I'd be in the light with hundreds of ponies staring at me. Hundreds! My heart started racing just thinking about it, and I rapidly froze. No, that wouldn't work at all. I'd have to talk to Vinyl about doing something else. Why was she even trying to do this for me? Why did they think this would work in the first place? Why, um, why was I floating? Looking back behind me, I saw Rainbow lightly hooking her forelegs under mine and lifting me into the air. "Don't worry, Pinkie! I'll get him over to Vinyl. You go up and talk to Fluttershy and Twilight," Rainbow assured confidently. "Ah! No, this is a bad idea, Rainbow! I don't like crowds and-" I attempted to protest, flailing my back legs about trying to shake myself loose. She was absurdly strong, however. Oh yeah, I couldn't have weighed anywhere near what those poles back at the barn did. Well, I could if I wanted to, but that would also put me into Twilight's basement rather rapidly. It would be awkward explaining to everypony how I suddenly, temporarily gained three metric tons. "Okie Dokie Loki! Meet you there in a bit!" Pinkie declared, totally ignoring me just like Rainbow was. Rainbow gave a curt nod to Pinkie and a reassuring smile to me before launching both of us straight through the open door of the library, not even giving me enough time to properly whimper. This was a really bad idea...
Chapter 42The sound was absurd as I got unceremoniously plopped onto the stage. Even though the music was turned down, the bass still was vibrating the wood I walked on. The cheering was incredible, and I did my absolute best to not look to the left at the ocean of ponies I knew was there. Oh hell. Oh crap. Please, please let me not trip. It was awkward enough limping with the clicking my brace made against the stage. Rainbow had shot me a knowing smile after setting me down and actually landing, not only sticking with me but walking along to my left, partially shielding me from all the ponies. She felt my panic through the link, no doubt. Still, I made sure to send as much 'thankfulness' to her as I could now. Her assured smile told me she understood. Vinyl absolutely beamed at us from the sound booth, sitting patiently on the steps with several glowing accessories on. Her glowing choker held her microphone, and I saw the wire running off it and to a flat, black box strapped to her hip. Interesting. "And here we have him! Good mares and stallions of the audience, Moon Mender!" she shouted out as we got closer. Oh hell. To my surprise, a massive level of cheering broke out to the left. Risking a glance, I saw the audience come alive with shouts of actual happiness, and interestingly enough, they all started rapidly stomping their hooves along the ground. The significance was lost entirely on me, but I took it as a good thing. Eyes. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were all watching me. I got a little dizzy and had to look away and back at Vinyl a moment later. The faint, partially transparent screen was easily visible floating high above the stage as well. To my surprise, it was still going and showed a very bored looking Celestia talking at the podium. The sound appeared to be muted. "There ya have it, Mender! Speaking from somepony who was there and saw it with my own two eyes, I could not, at all, let this continue. It just doesn't sit right, ya know? No matter who these mules are that happen to not like Twi and you, now you know that you have a whole town o' ponies that'll beg to disagree!" she declared confidently, smirking at me. Behind those dark purple shades, I knew her rose colored eyes were just dancing at the spectacle. Rainbow smirked, and I saw it coming without even needing to hear the squeal from the link. "Heck yeah! Even if you didn't want to, you sure as hay stepped up and helped when needed. That," she emphasized, nudging me in the chest with a forehoof before continuing, "That is what ponies can respect. You have guts and morals, dude." She stared at me only the entire time, and I knew that she hadn't said it for the crowd. Yet, it was different. I realized it a second later. She avoided using 'hero' completely. She knew that I didn't want any of it to happen, and after seeing what I became, I had no doubt she realized it was far from always a good thing. I was an abomination, and I could never be a normal, real pony. Ever. The very thought of that burned on the way down as I swallowed. Still, at the same time, she just said that I didn't have to be a pony. Guts and morals, huh? Vinyl grinned, then surprised me by asking, "Way to say it, Dash! Got any words for us then, dude?" Her magic lit up a second later and extended her mic out and right under my muzzle. My eyes widened a little and I looked out to the audience instead. Everything went silent almost instantly and their cheering ceased. For the undercurrent of the simple beats, it felt amazingly soundless in the center of that stage. For a moment, I had to fight back pure panic. Hundreds of them were all watching me. Half as many had almost stoned me this morning due to that bizarre and subtle attack. I remembered what Derpy had said in Sugarcube Corner. They were just normal ponies, just like I felt like before all this. They had hopes and fears, and this was even more terrifying to them. Closing my eyes, I nodded to myself. No, I could do this. I flicked them open a second later, and Vinyl's smile widened a little. "Thank you, everypony, for accepting me into this wonderful town and letting me call it home. Um, I know my stay has been trying for some and I didn't make the best of impressions, but everything Princess Celestia just said is true," I started. I saw the murmurs without needing to hear them as the motion picked up in the crowd. "I'm just a normal pony, honestly, and all of this is scary to me, too, but trust me when I say this then from that perspective. I'll do everything in my power to keep all of you safe, if only to return the hospitality you've shown me," I finished, nodding to Vinyl. I felt stupid after finishing and more than a little light headed, but the cheers surprised me by exploding out again. They either didn't mind it, or they were humoring me. Hospitality not including the angry mob and rock pelting, of course. I turned to look back at Vinyl again when a sudden shout came from towards the front of the audience with, "Show us your magic, Mender!" A mare's voice that I knew fairly well. I looked back to the left and shot a skeptical glance to Lyra Heartstrings, who sat right up next to the stage, one forehoof up on it now as she waved the other in the air. A horrified Bon Bon sat next to her, shrinking down slightly as ponies turned to look at them. I smiled and turned more fully towards her as she grinned. Focusing on just her, I tuned out the rest of the crowd and it made me feel a lot better at the same time. As traumatic a time as our introduction was, I guess she at least deserved that. "Whoa, are you gonna really do it, Dude?" Vinyl asked in amusement. I simply nodded without turning and walked slowly towards the front of the stage. The runes of pale blue light danced out of my left hoof, expanding in shimmering patterns up my leg as I walked. Soon, my right foreleg, then my back ones also joined in the display as I walked towards the audience. The light from my energy emanation danced as embers off each of my steps, my slower speed making my limp less pronounced and easier on my body. I closed my eyes and felt out in all directions with the magic, feeling the lines of light dance across the stage and show me what was there and what wasn't. It was true. If there was anything that I really loved and appreciated in my life, apart from two special mares, it was my magic. I'd tasted its loss, and that tore me apart on a fundamental level, not considering the physical ones. I stopped in the middle of the stage, my tail and mane starting to drift freely of their own accord as my magic came to life around me in lines and angles. It felt like a pool of light had expanded under me, and I knew it probably looked similar as the lines branched out from that, glyphs and ancient symbols dancing along them like butterflies. Gravity negation, propulsion, tethering, and barrier manipulation all flowed smoothly out of my thoughts, danced across my body, and became reality around me. In one smooth motion, I inhaled lightly as I lifted off the ground and drifted into the air. More gasps and cheering caused me to smile to myself as I let my barriers and senses expand out around me. My target was already located, but knowing the absolute area was a good precaution. Lyra gasped, then laughed as I caught her in ribbons of light. The light guided my mind to her, showing me every detail of where she existed so I knew where to manipulate. The barriers lifted her up off the ground and caused her to drift into the sky towards me. She giggled and spun herself, rotating in a front flip before I slowed her and opened my eyes again. She gave me a happy grin as I reached out and bumped hooves with her, but then she gasped as the tendrils of light flexed out from her hoof's contact. She watched the flares come off my hoof, dancing like ribbons through the air towards her, and I smiled at her as her eyes started to shimmer. She thought that was pretty? Nodding to her, I sent her back down slowly towards Bon Bon as I let myself drift towards the stage again. The back of my head ached lightly as I touched down, but I was happy overall. That was the most I'd done yet without tapping into the book, and I saw that my abilities were growing again. That was a good feeling, even if I was nowhere near what I had before yet. Baby steps. Magic danced around me like fireflies as my hooves touched down against the hard wood again. I opened my eyes and, if just for a split second, everything was quiet. A light mist drew across the dancing breeze. The crowd was still, frozen mid-cheer as the haze drifted through my head. The little blue filly smiled at me from the front row and nodded, eyes open this time. Whatever color they used to be was lost to nothing but milky white textures mixed with dull grays. "Remember. You have to remember. You're heading towards a bad outcome again. Will you do it? Remember." Her mouth didn't move as her voice danced in my ears. My eyes widened. The crowd exploded into cheers, far louder than before and I gave a start, looking around at anything that could have changed. "Whoa! That's some amazing stuff ya got, Mender! Even teleportation. High level magic indeed!" Vinyl exclaimed behind me in surprise. What? Wait, something was... My magic gently set Lyra down like I'd told it to already without my guidance and pulled back into me. I looked back at both of the mares and saw a surprised and somewhat confused Dash looking back and forth between me and where I used to be in the air. I gave her an equally confused expression back, which caused a spike of apprehension along the link. What had happened? I don't remember... "Let's get this party started again, then!" Vinyl cheered out, knocking my thoughts out of my head almost instantly. She'd made it back to the sound booth and the music exploded from all around me, volume similar to how I imagined the end of world would compare. Rainbow smirked and nodded to me before bursting forward again. She was such a wonderful mare. I didn't think I'd ever have sweeter thoughts about her as she got me a safer distance away from the stage with those wonderful wings. * * * * * "Seriously?" the gray mare asked yet again, lazily resting against one of the many food tables. It seemed to be a pattern for us to meet in similar backdrops. I sighed and nodded to Octavia. "Yeah. I don't exactly enjoy being so active, you know," I reminded softly. "A day after almost dying in Canterlot, you almost die in Ponyville instead? Then get hospitalized?" she asked incredulously. Glaring, I gestured down to my left foreleg, the very obvious brace still glittering over it. "Worst. Luck. Ever! It's kinda his 'other' special talent," Rainbow chipped in before shoving another graham cracker s’more into her mouth. Pinkie grinned across from us while making a few dozen more. There were uncomfortable amounts of ponies around us at this point. I was more than a little surprised when tons had followed from the concert and started asking me a bunch of questions. I remembered the papers Luna had given me and was able to answer almost everything. I sensed a lot of fear in everypony. They were scared, normal ponies who had taken my speech to heart. I did my best to assure that the danger had diminished and that Celestia was confident in that. "But you're sure it's safe enough to send the foals and stallions off to the campground next week? Sure, it's a bit uncomfortable if they stay, but..." Carrot Top asked timidly from her spot near the front of the group near us. I nodded towards her while shifting into a more comfortable position to sit in. My systems reported almost full repair of the damage from earlier, but my stomach was complaining profusely while urging Pinkie to hurry the next set of s’mores. Applejack, who had come out of the crowd earlier after Rainbow had landed, surprised me by scoffing instead. "Darn tootin'! Princess Luna an' Mender took care o' that thing, an' Mender already plans ta go with an' guard tha cabins," she assured, scrapping at the dirt with her hoof in a somewhat irritated looking manner. Smiling, I opened my mouth to agree when a high-pitched yelp sounded off behind me. My head perked up in surprise as something impacted the table I sat at and lurched it backwards. I rolled once, sensors picking up the three fillies as they bounced off the table and spilled over backwards. My barriers shot out as I flopped upside down against the tipped over table, and I caught them out of the air. A moment later, things slowed again, and my shield deposited all three next to me. Well, that was unexpected! Scootaloo got up first and dusted herself off before rapidly turning and looking at her flank. I peeked up at the now destroyed flag line they had apparently descended from. "Aww. I thought party entertainment Cutie Marks was gonna work!" Scootaloo murmured in frustration. Party entertainment? My view shifted to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as Octavia slid over and helped me to my hooves again. Both fillies were wearing a makeshift harness of some sort that had pinwheels and flags sticking out of it. I blinked slowly, then looked back up at the flag line, recognizing the rope in the harness immediately. Huh. Octavia gave me a deadpan expression after I steadied myself, and then nodded to herself, adding, “Never mind. I’m beginning to see why it’s not that unlikely after all. What’s the prognosis on your leg?” I sat down again, feeling a little dizzy from my roll still, but scooted away from the fallen table as it started to shift again. All three fillies followed after me as Applejack nudged it from the other side and slowly tipped it upright again with her shoulder. “Oh, Mender!” Sweetie Belle squealed after hopping up onto the other table. I lowered myself just in time for her to throw herself off the top of the table and land on the back of my neck a moment later. Saw that coming. “It will eventually recover on its own, but it needs lots of exercise to get the muscles built back up,” I explained, gesturing gently with it while the little unicorn shuffled around behind me, getting situated on my back. Applejack walked around the edge of the table by then and nudged her from behind, letting her stabilize herself and cling to my neck instead. Octavia gave out a smirk and nod towards her, and then the other two fillies. “Friends of yours, I imagine?” she suggested, a knowing smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. I coughed lightly and averted my eyes, but Apple Bloom was quick enough to pick up the welcome. “Howdy, Ma’am! Ah’m Apple Bloom, an’ this ‘ere is Scootaloo. Mender’s new scarf is Sweetie Belle!” she introduced, earning a rolling series of snickers from the small crowd. Some of them were starting to disperse anyway, I guess being bored at this point. Well, I actually preferred that more than anything. It wasn’t like I spent my day lit up like a lightbulb, exploding periodically, or dodging heavy objects descending from the clouds. As entertaining as that was, I’d much rather just be a normal abomination of nature and engineering. The bad luck was getting a tad much anyway. “Hey!” Sweetie Belle yelped, followed by, “Scarves are worn in the front! The back is more for capes!” I frowned, not entirely certain that was the point, but Octavia giggled and nodded regardless. “And a very fine cape you are, Miss Sweetie Belle. I’m sure Mender, Savior of the Canterlot Orchestra, is honored to have you,” the gray mare assured in a whimsical and rather theatric tone. It was my turn to give her a deadpan glare, but Sweetie disrupted my attempt with a sudden, surprised cooing noise before tightening her grip on my neck with a hug. “Whoa. Mender saved the orchestra?!” Scootaloo asked, perking to attention instantly at that. I slapped my forehead with a hoof. “O’ course! Don’t ya read, Scootaloo? It was all over in tha papers…” Apple Bloom chirped, giving her orange friend a nudge in the shoulder and getting a glare back. Well, it might have been a glare. It was slightly harder to see now that they’d systematically destroyed the line of lights above us with their ‘entertainment’ attempt. I coughed lightly to draw their attention again, and not at all to distract from the topic at hand with a timely diversion. “T-That’s not important! Anyway, this lovely mare is-“ I started to properly introduce. Pink exploded to my right before I could finish as the pink mare herself popped up between the seat and table of the picnic table, knocking the two seated fillies flying into me as she hopped onto the seat and bounced happily. Eh?! Turning, I caught Apple Bloom in my forelegs and tried to catch Scootaloo, but she made a fast buzzing noise and hovered up over my head, landing on it a second later. Sweetie Belle just giggled as she spun, and I frowned, suddenly finding myself ‘wearing’ three fillies. “Now you’re the scarf, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie chided in a playful tone from my back. “This is Octavia Melody, of the Grand Canterlot Orchestra! She’s the super duper amazing head cellist in it!” Pinkie announced, dramatically flailing her forelegs out at the startled gray mare. To my surprise, Octavia narrowed her eyes at Pinkie instead. “Ah yes. Pinkie Pie. I should have known you’d be here…” she muttered, glaring at my overly pink and excitable friend. Whoa! The hostility I suddenly detected was phenomenal. “Well of course I’d be here! Biggest party of the year, and I so totally came up with it. I mean, why wouldn’t I be here? My most awesome friend Mender is the guest of honor and everything after I kinda accidentally poisoned him and then spilled acid all over him and then injured his leg which was already injured from falling out of a tree while trying to save a little baby bird who’d stumbled out of the nest after it had problems flying and tried to prove that it could after its mommy left to go get another set of worms for them and ran into Fluttershy who was inquiring as to where Mender was in the first place!” Pinkie gasped out. There was dead silence as everyone stared blankly at her. Even Octavia had shifted from irritated to more bewildered at that point. "Pinkie... I think he forgave you for most of that stuff already..." Rainbow pointed out, holding her hoof to her forehead. I blinked, but nodded after my processor had caught up with the rambling. "Oh, I know that! But I promised him a super awesome party and I keep my promises!" she corrected, nodding twice before grinning at me again. I smiled at her and started to nod when a series of rapid fire flashes to my left startled me. My head turned just in time to see Twilight of all mares with her face literally an inch from mine. My totally natural reaction, of course, was to yelp in panic and flail backwards. "Sorry! Gotta borrow Mender real fast!" she squeaked out faster than I could fall over before grabbing me around the waist. The world rapidly disappeared into a wrinkle as reality seemed to fall in upon us and we were yanked sideways a hundredth of a second later. * * * * * After a few dozen compressions and expansions, I was feeling remarkably similar to how I imagined a slinky must feel. It was a fun spring toy I used to love playing with as a little Keldarian kitten and could have kept me entertained for hours, but it wasn't pleasant being treated like one. Well, technically it wasn't 'me' who played with the toy, but the memory felt fond regardless and served as a good example. My head spun as I fell out of probably the thirtieth expansion and the world finally stopped moving. I groaned as Twilight let me go, only for me to fall onto a soft bed with three fillies spilling out after me. Oh hell. She hauled them along, too? "Oh... oh wow. My stomach feels like it's upside down..." Scootaloo groaned, rolling over and flopping onto her back as her eyes spun. "Please make it stop. Ah wanna get off..." Apple Bloom groaned, sliding to her stomach and just lying there next to me. My sympathy extended to her, as my head spun, too. Only a light groan came from Sweetie, who still clung fiercely to my back with mastered conviction, refusing to let go. Twilight looked shocked suddenly, looking at all three fillies. "Eh?! Girls? Wait, why did you come along, too? I should have only grabbed Mender..." she muttered. "They were kinda holding on to me..." I informed in a low voice, lying in a still position on the covers. At least the landing had been soft. My sense of smell picked up Twilight all over the surface, and I realized this must be her bed. Why was I back at the library suddenly? A light giggle sounded to the right, and I recognized the tone as Twilight Velvet almost instantly. My head rotated to find both of Twilight's parents sitting there, watching me and the fillies. Well, this was weird. Had I forgotten about something again? My mind strained, and I pondered making a program to run that would keep track of important points I tossed into it. Surely a database was better than my crappy memory. "Don't mind us, Mender. Under proper unicorn tradition, we're simply here to make sure you properly consummate your relationship by observing," Twilight Velvet assured. My stomach lurched into the bottom of my lungs and I momentarily gagged, breaking into a coughing fit as I rolled to my side, gasping. What?! Night Light gave her a slightly annoyed glare, and Twilight shot out, "Mother!" Eh? Oh, wait. I was being teased again... Damn it. Twilight Velvet burst into snickering and I realized I'd been conned. "Consu-wha?" Sweetie Belle asked a moment later, looking up from my neck. Oh. Oh yeah. Oops. Well, it technically wasn't my fault, as I hadn't been the one to say that. "Don't care. Too dizzy..." Scootaloo groaned, eyes closed now as she held both sides of her head with her forehooves. Oh, that might have been particularly bad for a pegasus. Night Light sighed and shook his head, giving his wife a final irked glare before turning back to me and nodding. "Actually, we simply wanted to talk to you before we headed back to the hotel room. It's important, although I hadn't expected my overly excitable daughter to immediately retrieve you. I'd specified in a few minutes..." he explained, raising an eyebrow past me to the now lightly blushing Twilight, who looked away. Heh. I could agree with that description. Slowly, I managed to sit upright on the bed. Sweetie slowly slid down my back until she landed on my tail and walked over to help Apple Bloom up. A few seconds later, I felt a light impact on my head and peeked upwards in time to see Owlowiscious look down at me. He gave a 'hoo' noise a moment later, and I nodded. Eh, I made a good perch I guess. "I'll answer anything I can, of course. I, um, want to be as helpful as possible," I muttered, deciding to just ignore the owl sitting on my head. How had I missed him all this time?! "That's a good start. Why do you want to be as helpful as possible?" her father asked almost instantly, taking me aback. "Well, I'm not very good at first impressions and I really wanted to, um, make a good one on Twilight's parents? I mean, not that I ever want to make a bad impression per say, but I'm very good at being, uh, awkward I suppose?' I tried to explain. The longer I went on, the more her mother giggled, but her dad just raised an eyebrow up. "Why do you want to make a good impression on us, is more what I meant," he furthered skeptically. Aww, crap. I'd screwed up the very first question. Starting to sweat a little, I shook my head rapidly. "Ah, sorry. I really, really care about Twilight and her parents are obviously important to her, so I didn't want to goof up and upset anypony important to her?" The longer I talked, the more idiotic I thought I sounded, of course. More giggling came from Twilight Velvet, but Night Light just averted his eyes over at her with a questioning glance before looking back to me. He stared at me for an extremely uncomfortable thirty seconds or so before nodding and asking, "If things continue on this path, do you intend to marry my daughter?" My stomach flipped. What kind of question was that?! "Dad!" Twilight squeaked, as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started giggling. Scootaloo gave out a groan and slowly sat up again, looking around as if she didn't quite know where she was. "If she'll have me, yes," I admitted, blushing lightly at the thought. After everything I'd been through over the last month, all I could honestly be certain of were my feelings regarding the two mares. Nothing beyond them was stable in my life, and I had already realized a while ago that they were the ones I really, really wanted to protect. I cared for all of my friends, but... Twilight went from squeaking to a drawn out gasp as her head whipped around to look at me. "Yes! You two are so cute together… Plus, marriage is important for establishing a herd!" Sweetie Belle chipped in suddenly, hopping up into the air next to me and giving me a happy, blushing smile. I gave her an amused smirk, but she just grinned fully before hugging my left foreleg. Well, I knew her vote in the matter, anyway. Night Light seemed surprised for once. He stared at me for a moment before tilting his head. "Your other answers were hesitant. All except that one. Why are you so sure of that?" he asked, shifting to a more neutral look. Well, that answer was a lot easier to explain, anyway. "I've not had a wonderful life, but Twilight and Fluttershy are the best things to have happened to me since, well, ever. I'm not really sure about anything really, except for those two facts. I've already made that choice before, but I know I'd do anything to protect them. Anything," I answered, frowning down towards the floor. I remembered that exact feeling as I held my burning hoof up in an alien spaceship. I'd do anything I had to in order to make sure nothing hurt Twilight and Fluttershy. They were highest on my priority to guard, beyond even Equestria itself. My eyes widened slightly as I felt the warm fur push into my right side. I looked over in time to see purple as Twilight lightly kissed my cheek. "I agree," she murmured, smiling towards me before continuing. "I used to think I didn't need friendship, but the Elements of Harmony opened my eyes wide to that. I don't think I've ever closed them afterwards. Romance and a coltfriend was something I, well, never thought would be for me. Mender started as my friend and I don't think I really noticed the transition. He still is my friend, but so much more now. Now I can't, and don't want to imagine not having him here." One probably could have fried up an egg on my face at that point. She grinned at my reaction, and I finally saw Night Light smile towards us. "Yes, I can see that now. From your letters, I know it hasn't exactly been a painless ride so far, but the very fact that you're still together should be a good sign. I've also heard from others that you have morals and character. I'll accept you," he finally agreed. My eyes widened drastically, but her mother stepped up before I could say anything. "I already had accepted you. Stallions get a certain look in their eyes when they stare at a mare they truly care for and see a future with, and you have a shine to yours I haven't seen since I met my husband. Almost like you'd be lost without them," she cooed, smiling again. Heh. She had no idea how accurate that last part was. If it wasn't for Twilight and Fluttershy, I'd have gone crazy by now. I didn't know if this was the right choice, but I didn't want to lose her. Was it selfish to want something like that even when I wasn't entirely sure what I was? Twilight knew enough about me to make an educated choice, however. Still, I turned and looked at Twilight for confirmation. She was blushing noticeably, even in the dim light of the library loft. Her smile was definitely there, however, as she leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips. I joined in smiling after she pulled back, but a high-pitched, drawn out cooing noise distracted me. It didn't take long for me to locate the little white unicorn filly as the source. She wore a massive grin as she watched us, and I snickered, rubbing her on the top of the head. "Oooh, good with foals. He's a keeper, my daughter," Twilight Velvet added a moment later. I barely resisted groaning. "Why does everypony say that?!" I asked, turning around and giving a frustrated glance at her mother. Twilight caught me off guard by answering instead with, "Hmm, you're right. Applejack and Fluttershy already pointed it out, and now my mom, too, who has experience in such. Empirical Evidence thus points to you indeed being good with foals!" Slowly, my head turned to glare at her instead, noticing she sported a rather impish grin. She was teasing me! "But you are! We have a lot of fun around you, and you make me feel really safe," Sweetie added, leading to a light yet sugary stab into my chest. The filly gave me rather large eyes, almost begging for me to believe her. "Ah think she's right, o' course. Just based on what ya did fer us, yer ah dependable pony. Sis says dependable is ah darn good thing, so Ah guess that makes ya good in mah book," Apple Bloom agreed. Both turned and looked at Scootaloo, who looked like she was zoning out. A moment later, she perked and looked at both of them before apparently vaguely realizing that she was supposed to say something. "Oh, yeah, yeah. Uh, Rainbow Dash says he's cool, so he's cool," she tacked on. Sweetie kept staring blankly at her, and Apple Bloom smacked her forehead with a hoof. I couldn't help but snicker at their antics. "This is perfect! Well, I, for one, fully approve! Night Light does, too," Twilight Velvet started suddenly, snapping my attention back to her. Wait, what?! "Wait, I do?" Night Light questioned, looking over at her in shock. Oh yeah, he had only said he ‘accepted’ me, which was different from approval I suppose. She continued, however, as if he weren’t even in the room, with, "You may have our daughter's hoof in marriage, and give us lots of foals! See if you can beat Shining. He's being a slowpoke with Cadence." Oh hell. My mind jumped to a really terrible pun there and I blushed, but Twilight hopped up into the air and thankfully distracted me. "Thank you, Mom! I'm, well, I've never been so certain that I've wanted something before, and I'm really glad you both approve," she thanked, nodding to both of them in turn. "I do?" her father asked again, a bit more annoyed sounding this time. Uh oh. This wouldn't do. "Do you approve, Sir? I'd like your approval as well," I requested, interrupting them ignoring him and attempting to patch the damage. Night Light looked surprised, but stared at me for a good long second before sighing. His wife smiled softly over at him, looking curious as he nodded finally. "Fine. You're, well, your head is on properly. You have a good sense of morals and are far better than I feared, but you'd better not hurt my daughter!" he warned, shifting to a glare instead. Swallowing, I rapidly shook my head and held my hooves up in assurance. I didn't get a chance to respond, however, when movement caught my eye heading up the stairs instead. Unexpectedly, the entire crew wandered up, somehow having located us. "Twitchy twitch! See? He's even easier to locate using my Pinkie Sense!" the pink one announced upon beating everypony to the top of the stairs. Eh?! I was? "Darn Tootin'. It's ah good thing, too! Twi, ya know it's rude ta snatch somepony away in tha middle o' conversation," Applejack pointed out, following after Pinkie. Rainbow followed her, and last was both Vinyl and Octavia walking side by side. Wait, Vinyl? My ears perked up, but sure enough, I still heard the music playing outside. She smirked as she looked over at me, however, and shook her electric blue mane. "It's on record right now. I get breaks, too, ya know!" Vinyl explained, smirking at me. I snickered, but Night Light surprised me yet again by letting out a sharp gasp, having turned and looked at the new intruders. "N-No! It can't be... But you're famous..." he muttered, eyes expanding as he took a couple steps forward. Oh? Vinyl smirked and nodded to him, holding a hoof up. "Aw yeah! A fan! I got this, don't worry..." she assured. Night Light rushed past her a moment later. "Please, Miss Octavia, will you grant me a humble autograph? I own all of your records and simply love your performance over in Manehatten at the Golden Shell!" he gushed out, disrupting Vinyl's sentence completely. Vinyl slowly turned around and stared blankly at them, and I swore I heard Twilight's mother mutter, "Here we go..." Octavia almost gave a knowing smirk towards Vinyl before nodding pleasantly. "But of course! Any friend of Mender's definitely deserves my attention," she agreed, slipping a record out of her saddlebag and setting it down on the floor, pulling a pen out with her teeth. I watched her with fascination as she managed to deftly write her name across the front of the record sleeve before handing it up to Night Light. He was the last stallion on earth I ever thought I'd hear squeal. "A limited edition version of River Blossom Waltz?! No, no way! H-How much is...?!" he asked, starting to shake after his outburst was completed. "I can't take him anywhere..." Twilight Velvet groaned, rubbing a hoof to her forehead and shooting me a helpless glance. I shrugged and smiled towards her, kind of amused by the sudden shift in demeanor. Octavia shook her head and gave him the record regardless. "I've a few on commission, and like I said... Mender saved my life. Making the father of the mare he loves happy is nothing in comparison," she politely explained, smiling gently towards him. I hadn't expected him to move so fast. He zipped backwards and over to me an instant later, and I suddenly found myself in the most awkward and uncomfortable embrace of my life. "You saved the life of an irreplaceable pony! You're forgiven on all accounts. Please, I accept you into this family with open hooves!" he squeaked out, shivering against me. The cologne he was wearing made me want to sneeze, which would have been even more awkward. Twilight blinked, and then shot us a skeptical look after she was shoved partially out of the way. After an awkward ten seconds, in which Rainbow started to snicker, Twilight Velvet finally scoffed and hopped forwards, hauling him off me. "Leave the snuggling to Twilight, Dear. Don't forget you have me for that. Speaking of, we should get back to our hotel room," she reminded, tossing on multiple layers of awkward implication. He coughed lightly before nodding. "Ah, yes. Well, I imagine we'll see more of you tomorrow before heading back to Canterlot. I must talk with you more about what happened at the party!" he suggested before getting prodded into moving by his wife again. I smiled politely and nodded to him, of course, if only to be relieved of the awkward situation a second ago. "Oh, and, well," he started muttering again, stamping his hooves back and forth nervously as he was shoved closer towards Octavia, who had walked up next to Vinyl again. "Dear..." Twilight Velvet added, pushing him past the two mares rather rapidly with her shoulder, rolling her eyes. He started to protest when Octavia raised a hoof and silenced him instantly. "I'm a good friend of Mender's, so we'll undoubtedly see each other again, Mr. Night Light. Vinyl and I shall undoubtedly play at any occasion Mender hosts as well," she assured, causing his eyes to expand rapidly. "D-Did you hear that, Velvet?! She knows my name!" he squeaked, looking excited. Rainbow had both hooves in her mouth at this point, face shifting red as her whole body shook from trying so hard not to laugh. Pinkie simply swayed happily and nodded in agreement, probably having already decided to invite the two musicians to future parties. She already knew Vinyl, after all. Twilight's mother gave a sigh and nodded. "Of course, Dear. Now, um, well..." she started before averting her eyes and coughing lightly, nodding pleasantly towards me as a farewell. Then she shifted back to him and added, "Pre-Heat! Get moving! Hotel! Now!" He let out a yelp and booked down the stairs almost instantly. Twilight Velvet turned and winked to us on the bed before following slowly after him. Twilight herself looked more ready to shrink down and disappear, however. A long squeal came from Rainbow's direction, and she finally exploded into laughter, falling over onto her back as she rolled about. Pinkie joined in, of course, if not to simply roll next to her. "Well, that was awkward. Almost as awkward as Twilight shouting to the whole town that Mender hasn't gotten any..." Vinyl observed, scratching her temple while re-adjusting her glasses. Oh hell. I really needed to be reminded of that... Twilight let out a low groan and sank back down onto the bed. I felt myself tint a light pink and coughed as Rainbow's laughter got louder, adding leg flailing into the mix. Pinkie got kicked a second later and giggled merrily as she spun out across the loft's floor. A light fluttering came to my ears, however, alongside a distractingly happy sensation drifting up my spine. I felt her before turning, but looked and smiled back over my shoulder anyway. Fluttershy drifted up and over the balcony a moment later, looking about before nodding and smiling towards me, landing next to us on the bed. "I left before she went to get you. Um, I wanted to give her parents privacy..." the yellow mare whispered upon landing. Smiling, I nodded to her softly before kissing her on the cheek. She returned my expression while blushing lightly. Sweetie Belle made another happy giggle, finding herself cushioned between Fluttershy's and my hips. Applejack shook her head finally at Rainbow's antics before sticking a hoof out and stopping the cyan pegasus, mid-roll. "Don't ya think yer makin' Mender an' Twi feel bad, Dash?" she pointed out, gesturing towards the two of us. Apple Bloom perked up at that and peeked around Sweetie, as if checking on me to see how accurate that was. I gave her an assuring smile. Scootaloo finally sat up as well, looking more than a little groggy, but appeared to be recovering from her apparent first teleportation experience. Rainbow gave a jerk and sat up, staring over at both of us. Twilight still had her face buried in the sheets, and Fluttershy lightly massaged her back to try to calm her down. "W-What? No, I wasn't trying to rub it in or anything. It was just funny that she shouted it so loud," Dash tried to explain. "Ah think they got that much, Rainbow. How 'bout we just drop it?" Applejack suggested, tilting her head towards her cyan friend. There was a slight hesitation before Rainbow nodded again and sat up fully again. Octavia nodded before reasonably adding, "It's probably wise. I doubt anypony really paid it much attention, plus they've only been dating about four weeks now. It's totally within reason to go slowly." I blinked at her before considering it. Yeah, it really had only been four weeks or so. Plus, I spent at least half of that time either hospitalized or in a coma. Oh, and we'd only made it official about two weeks ago. Vinyl shook her head and gave a nonchalant hoof wave, however. "Psh, I was only teasing anyway. I'm actually pleasantly surprised that they aren't rushing inta things. Makes for a nice change of pace from what I normally see in the club scene," she corrected, sounding a bit annoyed for some reason. I detected a bad experience in the past in that regard, and decided it was best not to ask. At least not at this very moment. "Ah'd like ta point out that Ah have no idea what ya'all are talkin' 'bout," Apple Bloom suddenly declared, raising her hoof up to draw more attention to herself. Oh, oh yeah. Those three probably shouldn't know about things like that yet. Her big sister nodded, agreeing with, "That's ah darn good thing! Ah'm also thinkin' we should be headin' on back ta tha farm. We got ah long day tomorrow, gettin' ya set up ta go with yer big brother." Apple Bloom let out a stifled groan before sinking down onto the covers. I smiled down at her before nodding gently, my right hoof lighting up and lifting her into the air with a barrier. She giggled as the barrier extended, sliding her along it in a dip before flipping her into the air and onto her sister's back as she stood up. My surprise spiked as Applejack gave me the first open smile since the incident, adding a nod to me as she adjusted her snickering sister on her back. Rainbow yawned and stood as well, glancing towards us as Twilight finally looked up again. "Um, I'm gonna walk with AJ. My cloud house is in that direction anyway. Oh, and sorry if I upset ya," she apologized after a moment's hesitation. Twilight managed to smile weakly before shaking her head. "No, I just feel stupid for doing it. I let myself get too worked up trying to have Mender impress my parents," she explained, looking away from her two friends and averting her gaze in my direction instead. Octavia snickered and shook her head, interrupting with, "I believe he made a good impression regardless. I don't believe you had anything to worry about, Twilight." Well, that was to be excused. Octavia didn't know me very well, and didn't realize exactly how badly a situation involving me could turn out. A light 'hoo' came from my head in agreement, and I momentarily freaked out, realizing Owlowiscious was still sitting on my head. How did he do that?! It's like he just blended into nonexistence in the background whenever he wanted! Rainbow nodded, halting Applejack again as she headed for the stairs down. "Of course! I think that's the best first impression Mender's ever made! Don't forget, he met me when I blew him up," she reminded a moment later, earning a groan from me. Applejack smiled and nodded instead, suddenly perking up and looking straight at me. I got a little nervous before she smiled again, adding, "Almost forgot. Drop by tha farm before ya head out tomorrow, Mender. Mah brother'll show ya tha way an' walk with ya." Oh! That was indeed helpful. It would be nice having somepony I knew to walk with and assure me I was wandering vaguely in the right direction. Spike was set to come with as well. I nodded politely. "I'll head over after I'm done at Pinkie's. I'm going to take measurements of their main room so I can get some designs drawn up while I'm gone," I explained a moment later. Applejack momentarily looked surprised, but Pinkie hopped up again in an instant despite being on her back just a moment ago. Damn, she had recovered fast! "Oooh, you're going to be doing that neat job the Cake's wanted with their front room?! I can't wait! Not only will it be super fun to watch, but it saves us so much effort with running to each table!" the pink one squealed out excitedly. Twilight's ears perked about and she looked over at me curiously. I attempted to mouth 'later' to her, but she nodded, so I assumed she figured it out. Applejack gave Pinkie an unsure stare, however. "Are ya sure ya should be movin' like that, Pinkie? Ah don't want ya hurting yerself," she asked, sounding rather concerned. Pinkie rapidly shook her head, however. "I'm fine! I even went to the doctor's today before the party and they said I'm healing up, like, way faster than they've ever seen! So I'm good to go!" she exclaimed. Wait, what? That sounded a little, well, weird. Applejack's frown intensified, but Rainbow just shrugged and pointed out, "Hey, you've seen how much raw energy she puts out. She did slow down for a few days so all that energy had to go somewhere. Maybe she has super healing?" I rolled my eyes but mentally agreed. It was probably just Pinkie being... Pinkie. "Eh, Ah guess tha important thing is yer doin' better. We'll be headin' home then. See ya tomorrow, you two!" With that, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Rainbow Dash headed down the stairs. Pinkie stood there, grinning at me still as she almost vibrated in place. Was she that excited to see this thing built? Twilight watched her for a moment, almost in a daze before sighing herself. I shifted my attention over to her just in time to see her nod. "Applejack's right, of course. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and Mender even longer, so I suppose we should get some rest," she muttered after another moment. "Psh, where's the fun in that?" Vinyl asked almost instantly. Octavia rolled her eyes a moment later before reminding, "Not everypony is nocturnal like you are, Vinyl. Let's go and let Mender rest. We can say goodbye to him at the farewell tomorrow before I take off myself. You're sure you're okay with me staying at your, uh, pad, was it?" "Heck yeah! You're always welcome, Tavi! And trust me, we'll be there, Mender!" Vinyl Scratch assured before nodding to Octavia. After they reached the stairs, our group dwindled down to six. Well, seven if you counted my exotic headdress. Twilight watched them go as well for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Well, I'd better go get the Casanova from Rarity's. Come on, you two. Sweetie Belle can be dropped off there, and Scootaloo can be dropped off on the way," she decided. I smirked, almost able to watch her plan out the shortest possible route. "Aww, do we have to?" Sweetie asked, shuffling up further between Fluttershy and me and wrapping her forelegs around my hip. I lifted an eyebrow and peeked down at her, but she was more intent on shooting Twilight a brutal set of sad eyes. Unfortunately, it was super-ineffective, it would seem, as Twilight wasn't even looking. "Yup! You get to hang out with Mender for a week starting tomorrow, which will start a lot sooner the faster you go to bed, you realize?" Twilight reasoned. Well, that was technically a false statement. Tomorrow wouldn't get here any faster regardless of her sleeping or not, but I suppose it was all about perspective. Scootaloo nodded and managed to get back up into a sitting position a moment later. "Fine. Just so long as there's no more teleporting..." she groaned, clutching at her stomach again. I was suddenly glad I wasn't a pegasus. "I'll come with as well! Sugarcube Corner is on the way," Pinkie chirped, standing upright fully. Oh, I guess everypony was leaving then. That only left... My gaze shifted towards Fluttershy, who was staring off into space. She sat there with a blank expression for a moment before nodding gently. "Yes, I suppose I'd best get home, too," she finally admitted, smiling over at me. There was a hesitation as she glanced at me, and her expression flickered to a frown a moment later. Oh, the link. It was true to some extent, of course. A part of me just wanted the day to last forever. It wasn't just that I was enjoying the party. Part of me was enjoying a quiet night for once, and I didn't want to see all of the company leave. It took me a moment, but I realized loneliness was starting to creep up on me. Fluttershy started to open her muzzle to say something, but Twilight cut in with, "Oh, I'll walk with you then, Fluttershy. No sense in you walking by yourself in the dark," Twilight offered, not giving her much choice in the matter regardless as she spun around on the bed to look at both of us. The mare next to me hesitated, but I nodded softly to her. She frowned, but sighed before nodding back over at Twilight instead. Both mares got off the bed, and Twilight nodded back to me as soon as Pinkie caught up. "I'll be back in a few minutes, Mender. You don't need to stay up and wait for me if you're tired," she offered. Heh, I would anyway, but it was a kind gesture. She stopped for a moment again, then glanced back at Scootaloo with a raised eyebrow. Heh. Smirking now, I simply waited for it. "Sweetie, come on," Twilight called back, looking back over at me. Busted. My tail let out a dejected groan before Sweetie shuffled out from under it, revealing her hiding spot. My lavender fillyfriend rolled her eyes before lifting the filly up with magic and hauling her along. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mender!" Sweetie called out rapidly before being pulled down the stairs a moment later. Well, that was tiring. She really seemed to like me for some reason. Huh. Eh, I was probably thinking about it too hard. Closing my eyes slowly, I heard Twilight shout out downstairs that the library was closing, followed by a lot of ponies walking. That meant I was all alone again. Seconds passed as I listened to the silence in a paradoxical sense. I felt her before I opened my eyes, and sighed. "You're never really alone, Mender," she whispered into my left ear. At this point, I was too tired to bother. My tentacles didn't extend, but my mind sliced her head off with a thought. My mind. That's the only place she resided, so I had complete control over her in theory. An echoing giggle as her form burned away again. My eyes slowly opened, the blue glow shining across the room as I looked around. My hat let out a 'hoo' noise, but it was low and quiet. Almost depressed sounding. "Yeah. I'm lonely, too. But at least we have each other," I offered, standing up and walking towards the bathroom. Owlowiscious hopped off my head and took to the air ahead of me, fluttering into the bathroom and landing on the sink gently, seconds before I hopped up on it as well and extended a barrier towards the toothpaste. "There's something oddly comforting in just talking to you. Maybe I should get a friend like you to just hang out with every day," I muttered gently, manipulating the brush into scrubbing my teeth down. A pet. Was I responsible enough for one? Not really. I needed actual income if I were to be able to support anything, myself included. I was hesitant at best at the payment Celestia was offering me for this strange new position, after all. I'd at least have to figure out if she merely assigned it as an excuse to cover my public identity before coming to any decisions about it. The timing was very convenient indeed. Opening the door after I flushed the toilet, a tingling sensation greeted me again. A slight static across my vision drifted, for just a moment, and I sighed. Madness was persistent tonight, it would seem. She sat near Twilight's bed, smiling at me with her detached jaw and bleeding skull. I paused, remembering the lake and stepping forwards, apprehension instead of fear. Owlowiscious landed on my head again oddly, staying with me rather than flying into the room again. "Stupid bird. Doesn't it know it sits on a monster?" she questioned, eyes devoid of pupils as her body became more and more decayed with each visit. Technically not true, as she shouldn't have a head at all if that was her real corpse. No, she was only in my mind. "Shut up. The biggest monster is locked away on Keela's ship right now, rotting in a cell. You're just an aspect of my slowly slipping sanity," I whispered into my head, not giving her the satisfaction of a verbal response this time. She smirked wider, cracking noises sounding off as the right side of her mouth drooped. She heard me, which only further proved my statement that she was only in my head. "We're a monster, too, Mender. I'm you. The you who did this to her. Wasn't it so tasty to tear her apart? Why do you keep up this act?" she questioned. "Even if I'm not a real pony, I have at least two mares who lo- care for me as if I were. If pretending to be a real pony makes them happy, so be it. I'll do anything for them," I agreed, ignoring her entirely and hopping past, up onto Twilight's bed this time. Her head made a cracking noise as her neck twisted, face following my motions rather than tracking me with her sightless eyes. I'd only hesitated slightly, but I realized she probably picked up on that. "Oh? Do they care for you, or do they pity you? Maybe they just don't want their new toy to break or get too sad?" she suggested in a singsong voice. Yup, she picked up on it and was trying to play off my insecurities. "And maybe you're just a cute little boot program that is loaded on my hard drives somewhere that's about to get deleted?" I offered back, silently staring over at her as her grin widened. There was a slight flickering. Almost a graphical distortion along her image. A small whisper of blue. Yes, the sound blue makes drifted into my head. Okay, that was weird. I frowned as my hoof touched down on something hard while walking. Glancing down instead, I saw Prudentia lying on the covers of the bed. Oh. It was never far away, was it? "Please, don't forget. If you continue on this path, it will happen again. Don't forget," came in a whisper behind me. I saw her image before even turning to look. The little blue filly sat on the edge of the bed, a light haze suddenly having gathered in the room. Owlowiscious was frozen in place a little past the bed, sitting on nothingness suddenly. I moved again. Or did everything else move? "You! No. Get away from him. You're supposed to be dead!" the oh-so lovable Nirru-Twilight-thing suddenly shouted from my left side. Well, this just kept getting better and better. Now the voices in my head were arguing about something I had no clue on. The small filly turned to look at her instead, losing the seemingly perpetual smile she seemed to wear. "You've fallen. You have no voice anymore," she whispered, barely even audible. Her eyes looked so sad. The creature next to me screamed in annoyance and lunged a moment later. My tentacles tore into its side before it even cleared a meter. I'd gotten faster. Its body shattered, for lack of better words. It became a distortion of color before branching out into its separate prism components. Data could be seen inside the color, and my eyes widened before the creature screamed and winked out of existence. That was new. To my surprise, the young filly looked just as shocked as me. A moment passed and she turned back to me, slowly. Or maybe no time passed at all. "You protected me," she whispered, in a surprised tone. It wasn't a question, but I nodded regardless. "You feel kind to me. Call it gut instinct if you want, but you remind me of Fluttershy," I whispered back, purely in my mind. She paused before that soft smile returned, and I nodded to her. "You're Prudentia, aren't you?" I asked gently, off another gut instinct. "I'm me. Prudentia is me. I'm not Prudentia, however. You are, well, not him. The old master. You are... clear. Clean. I like you. Maybe the path can be changed," she suggested, saying the most she'd ever had to me, ever. "What path?" I questioned, tilting my head to her. There was a pause, and she smiled fully. "Soon." It was in my mind, not from her lips. Owlowiscious let out a panicked hooting noise as I blinked. My eyebrow raised up as he flailed in midair, flying again as he landed on the bedpost instead, looking startled and confused. Time had skipped backwards again, just a second or so. "Ah, sorry. Guess I'm more tired than I realized if I knocked you off. Accident. I'm very sorry," I apologized, blatantly lying through my teeth. Prudentia wasn't what I thought it was, that's for sure. Looking down, I noticed it in front of me again and smiled. It was never far away. Oddly, I took a strange sort of comfort in that fact. I touched the book and watched it float up, resting on the nightstand again. Yes. It was a good idea to keep it close. Settling in, I looked up at the ceiling and waited for Twilight to get back. Owlowiscious gave a displeased hoot before fluttering up and landing on his stand that I'd never noticed before near Twilight's writing desk. Yes, things were moving forwards. I didn't know why I felt that way, but it seemed right. Now I just needed to figure out where we were going...
Chapter 43I wobbled slightly, and then took the fourth measurement, careful to keep my balance as I jotted the number down next to me on the pad of paper. My pad of paper. It was the first item I'd bought with my own bits. Well, I'd also bought several pencils alongside it. It was kinda embarrassing. Twilight had hauled me to Sofas and Quills in the morning after we'd gotten to the Cake's and realized I had nothing to write with. Mrs. Cake fought valiantly in attempts to give me a sizable down-payment towards the project, but I managed to negotiate it down to twenty bits after almost half an hour of arguing. It was almost like she wasn't used to haggling in the other direction before! Regardless, it was overly enough to buy some supplies for me. The saddlebag was a little overkill, however. Shaking my head, I peeked down at the crisscross navy blue straps across my barrel and stomach, firmly securing the saddlebags, which themselves were attached to rotating spindles sewn directly into the leather of the harness. If I hadn't realized Rarity made it and put gemstones on it, I'd have thought it was for military use. It didn't help that I could feel the durability enhancement and protection magic dancing through the leather. Well, it looked like leather. I was actually unsure of what they were made out of. I was rather thankful for the swiveling bags themselves, however. I could access them upside-down this way. Speaking of... I smiled up at Pinkie again, well, from my orientation. She was technically below me, gravity-wise. I rested on her back, lying on my back as well, and faced the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner. I had no idea where she got stilts or how she got them on, but there they were. Further, I was tied to her back, upside down as she walked along and I took measurements of the ceiling. Probably not the brightest or safest idea, but I had a feeling at least Scootaloo would be proud. Using a barrier, I slipped the pencil back into one of the many loops along the underside of Rarity's saddlebag harness, sliding my measuring tape off the seal on the other end of the room. "I've got enough measurements for the large part of the room now, Pinkie. We need to get the loading area next, which is over by the cash register," I relayed, examining my notes as I felt us start to rotate. "Roger, Boss!" she chirped, sounding like she was having way too much fun with this. Of course, she had looked delighted when I agreed to the idea, it being marginally better than Twilight trying to find a ladder in her basement. "I'm not your boss, Pinkie..." I reminded. Again. It was met by yet another giggle as she walked along, humming happily. "Oh, I know, Boss. I just don't have ponies accepting my plans very often, so I gotta make sure you're treated well, too!" she explained, making it difficult to hold back a sigh. Admittedly, this plan was a bit unorthodox, but it was getting the job done. Who was I to argue form over function? I was just an abomination of science, after all. Twilight scurried along under us, moving tables out of Pinkie's way, frantically trying to make sure she didn't trip on anything. I somehow actually doubted that would happen, even if we were walking over an oiled mud pit full of rampaging Kronkshaws. Pinkie's balance was unreal, and she seemed to function at maximum reaction speed even when humming along and swaying happily. For a moment, I kinda wondered if she was Unit 001 in actuality. I never did figure out where the first unit went. A mild dash of guilt slipped through me as I shifted my eyes to the fully repaired video in my inner screen. It had been repaired for a while now. Yet something made me not want to watch it. What was I afraid of? What could it possibly reveal to me that could be more painful than realizing that everything I was, was fake? Could it be worse than realizing that my ultimate goal of being accepted as a normal pony was impossible? I swallowed weakly as I stared at it, feeling that anger and frustration bubbling up inside of me again. Another giggle. "Mmm, you smell good," Pinkie complimented under me, shifting to a halt finally, directly under the corner of the cash register area connected to the kitchen. "Uh, thanks?" I offered back, unsure of what to make of the pink mare as I connected my measuring tape to the wall. Of course, she kinda smelled good, too. Kinda like a cake with frosting, but that could have been simply from her job here. A certain deeper, spicier scent also mixed in with it, but I didn't question the depth of what they made in the kitchen. Twilight groaned under us somewhere, whacking one of the firmly rooted stilts with her hoof, sending a light vibration up to us. "Pinkie! You said you could do this and behave," she reminded a moment later. I blinked, stopping after I finished the seal on the wall and peeking down at the lavender mare below. Behave? My thoughts caught up a moment later, and then hit a speed bump. Smells. Pinkie was more in tune with pheromones at the moment. I forgot that heat had started this morning. Why had I forgotten that? It had been a nightmare getting out of bed this morning with an extremely overly affectionate Twilight Sparkle having woken up ahead of me this time. Why had I overslept?! Memories of the party flooded into my mind, answering that question instantly. Ugh. Now I was glad that they sent the males away. It would be rather annoying working and operating daily things with this going on. Rather intelligent, honestly. "Hey, I am behaving. I haven't kissed him even once," Pinkie reminded, smiling down at Twilight while upside down. My fillyfriend didn't look amused, but I rotated around to finish the measurements. Uh, time to think of an excuse, Mender! "It would be a good idea to hurry this up anyways, Pinkie. The blood's starting to pool in my skull. Across the front of the cubby, please," I instructed, lying more than a little. I saw Twilight pause for a moment out of the corner of my eye, and then smile lightly. Figured she'd realize I was lying. As if my newly 'upgraded' systems wouldn't let the blood pool where it wasn't supposed to. There was a key segment of that statement, however, as I discovered this morning. It was perfectly fine letting it pool where it was supposed to, apparently. Damn, that was awkward. "Oooh, okay! That's definitely a bad thing. It happens to me if I stay in one spot for too long so I always try to keep moving whenever I possibly can, which is weird because it doesn't do it when I'm asleep which is for a really, really, super-duper long time each day. Shouldn't I wake up and be all, 'Arg, my blood hurts!', and stuff? Maybe I move around a lot in my sleep, which would explain why I sometimes fall out of bed. That wasn't much fun when I had my sides hurt like that, but thankfully I just started healing really, really well about two days into recovery and the doctor was all amazed that I was doing so well and..." I just started filtering her out as I continued taking measurements. I didn't mind her capability to endlessly ramble, and it was certainly better than her smelling me in rather creepy manners. "Wait, what? What do you mean two days in?" Twilight suddenly asked, snapping my attention back to the two as Pinkie kept walking. Err, wait... Seeing it coming, my armor snapped on just under my skin as I whacked into the side of the underhang with my head. It jiggled me a little, but no damage was sustained and I sighed, peeking down at Pinkie as she just kept walking and talking, stilts sliding along the floor now instead of pushing us forwards. "Oh, well the doctor came on the second day in and I was all horrified that he said it was going to take a full two weeks to heal my ribs! Can you imagine just lying in bed for two weeks?! It was horrifying. But after he checked up on me with his magic, he got so confused. It was kinda funny until he explained that somehow I'd started healing at almost four times the normal rate of a pony. Not that I'd know, as I'd never gotten that hurt before. Maybe I'm supposed to heal that fast?" Pinkie suggested, finally stopping her forward walking and nodding vigorously to Twilight. That's very strange. Well, for a normal pony, anyway. I'd imagine it's about on par for Pinkie. Twilight looked perplexed, however, and I already realized she wasn't going to be satisfied with that answer. Shifting away from the inevitable, I took the other measurement and ran it through my energy to magical mass calculation. We were still under par for what I could manage with my own magic as it currently was. This was good. This project was well within my reserves to do. "Did he figure out what was causing it?" my fillyfriend inquired, totally distracted now from what she'd been saying prior. I felt Pinkie shake her head beneath me, her curly mane tickling mine momentarily from the motion. "Nope! He thought it might be a strange reaction to the potion that Zecora made, because the reaction was coming from my blood or something. He took a sample, but I dunno after that," she explained, still sounding rather chipper. Well, at least she wasn't worried about it or anything. "Kiddy corner, Pinkie," I instructed softly after she finished. She started moving towards the back wall almost instantly, being careful of my head this time. Oh, she had noticed that after all? "Very interesting. Do you mind if I take a small sample as well, Pinkie?" Twilight asked politely a moment later. I felt us stop and pushed the tape measure into the other wall, carefully taking the measurement down. With this, I'd have all the information I needed, hopefully. Volume of the room was important, alongside table and chair height, and optimal height of a pony sitting in one of the chairs. Velvet was kind enough to provide me those measurements. A quick glance showed me that Twilight's parents were still at the corner table on the other side of the room. Twilight Velvet was talking excitedly about something and making rather wide gestures with her hooves in emphasis. In contrast, Night Light had his head down on the table and looked either passed out already, or really close to it. Note to self, the hotel in Ponyville must be terrible for getting proper sleep. Or he just had anxiety issues. Those definitely could keep me up at night. "Of course you can take a sample! That means I get to eat even more sugary things afterwards!" Pinkie chirped a moment later, wiggling excitedly. I frowned and shook my head while writing down the measurements. "I don't think she needs to draw that much blood, Pinkie," I assured, checking over the totals. Including the side room with just an estimate, I was pushing my magical capacity. This would probably make me tired, if only because of the detail needed to go into the enchantment. Thankfully it was low energy use once I got the initial enchantments laid down. "Of course not. A single vial is enough. I'm just, well, concerned about something, is all," Twilight muttered, suddenly sounding distracted. Uh oh. I'd been around Twilight to know that usually meant she'd thought of something potentially disastrous. "Ooohh?" Pinkie asked, not really sounding all that worried and instead smiling down at her friend. Oddly, her link felt more like amusement than concern. Again, I suddenly got that sensation that she was fully aware of what the problem was. Maybe I was just being paranoid, though. Interrupting slightly, I requested, "We're done here, Pinkie. Can you get us d-" She interrupted my interruption by slipping each of the hooks on her stilts at the same time and sliding us down to the ground as gently as a drifting feather, smiling back at me while giving me a visual 'wink' through the link. She sent images amazingly well through that thing. "Ah, thanks," I appended, telling the 'ropes' to unwind from around us. They'd only ever looked like ropes. Tentacles were actually amazingly handy, especially when they could shapeshift and disguise themselves... After I made sure nopony was looking apart from Twilight and Pinkie, I sucked them back into myself almost instantly. "Yeah. I'm worried about timing, is all. Do you recall what happened a couple days after the incident, Mender?" Twilight asked, looking over at me instead. I frowned, and then thought about it for a moment. "Well, I woke up a day and a half after my surgery. You and Fluttershy stayed with me that night, then the next day... uh..." I muttered in sync with my thinking, trying to remember specifics. Oh. No, it couldn't have anything to do with... I frowned, and Twilight smiled gently and nodded. "The, um, disks? You think it has something to do with me activating Pinkie's disk?" I asked quietly, making sure we couldn't be overheard. There were only a few other ponies in the shop, but it would be bad should they hear any of this. It didn't help that a few were still paying attention due to Pinkie's and my antics with the measurements. My fillyfriend nodded lightly, and explained, "Like I said, it's just a concern. Nothing concrete, hence the blood test." She looked a little nervous, but kept her voice down. Pinkie seemed unfazed by the revelation, of course, but I'd already anticipated as much. "But if it makes me heal faster, isn't it a good thing?" she pointed out, surprising me by also lowering her voice. Sometimes I forgot she could be subtle when she wanted to be. "Oh, no doubt. I'm just concerned there could be other side effects that we need to look out for. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, too," Twilight explained, nodding at the pink one instead. Ugh. If the links were dangerous, I was going to feel horrible. "I'll look more into my database files and see if I can get any information on the disks and the technology surrounding them," I offered, frowning lightly. Frankly, I didn't really want to think of myself like a cyborg. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I guessed I'd been procrastinating several key issues. With my processors fixed and my systems back in production mode, my insides had been expanding with new components without me really bothering to check what it was making. I suppose that was a bad thing. I'll just blame it all on denial. That fit the closest with my feelings regarding my less squishy insides. Further, was it too much to hope that there was an instruction manual or two in my files revolving around that whole "weapon of galactic extinction" and the disks? "That would be very helpful! Thank you, Mender. You're a sweetie..." Twilight cooed, smiling again and nuzzling against my shoulder gently. Oh boy. Here we go again. Pinkie burst into a fit of giggling, earning her a mildly annoyed glare from Twilight. "You'd better head towards Sweet Apple Acres, Mender! Quick, before Twi changes her mind and follows you to the cabins," the pink mare warned mirthfully, smirking at us. Twilight's cheeks flushed lightly and she hesitantly glanced back at me instead of looking angry. Uh oh. Pinkie was right! I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't want to be late. I'll see both of you at the parting, then," I excused, shifting past and trotting for the door. This wasn't the violent reaction I'd been worried about, but part of me decided this was actually a little worse. Trying to subdue me gave me full permission to flee as fast as I could manage. Twilight acting like this actually made me not want to flee in the first place, which I knew was a dangerous mindset that was being influenced by how absolutely delicious she smelled. Flushing lightly, I almost, almost ran into the still closed door as I headed in that direction, skidding to a halt half a meter before impact. "Ah, Mender! Wait, um..." Twilight started to call out behind me. I heard her hoofsteps nearing again and mentally sighed. Oh no. She was slipping again. "Uh, like I said earlier, um, maybe Rarity was right? I mean, maybe I'm just being silly and too hasty and it really isn't fair to you for me to not consider it," Twilight murmured behind me. Taking the slow turn for a distraction, I subtly opened the door as I rotated, to give myself a polite out later. "Twilight, I appreciate the thought and really wouldn't mind, but we both know that wouldn't be a wise idea," I reminded. This was the third time she had started to change her mind. She wouldn't like it now, but she'd thank me later for this. Her ears lowered a little as she looked down and away, looking just as sad as I expected. "Now I regret deciding that in the first place. Mender, I just don't want you to be lonely or looked down upon by any other stallions or anything. Plus, well, I don't really want to be lonely either. You're wonderful company," she complimented softly, peeking up again with just her eyes while shifting her front right hoof over the other. The gesture was like sticking my brain onto a frying pan and I resisted panting as she tried to look as winning as possible. Damn her! The heat hadn't reduced her cleverness in the slightest. Sweating a little, I rapidly shook my head, subtly disguising my attempt to clear it with a negative reply. "Twilight, it's only for a week or so. Plus, we can write each other, but you don't want kids this soon, do you?" I reminded, adding a bit of emphasis on the 'kids' part. Her reaction snapped back like I'd fired a rubber band into her face, and she coughed lightly. "Ah, well, not really. Um, I mean there are spells I could use to uh, avoid that outcome but... Wait, no, that's implying that I was going to... uh..." she started rapidly muttering, tinting pink in the cheeks again. Yes! It worked. I took the moment to further cement the negative with her by reassuringly rubbing her shoulder with my forehoof. "I understand, Twilight. Now do you see why it's better if I leave for a while?" I asked, attempting to clear her mind a bit more with a strong dose of logic. Hesitantly, she nodded again, while Pinkie was busy trying not to laugh behind her. Ugh. I think I would have preferred just running away. "Um, yeah. You're right. It's still not fair, though, and I'm going to make it up to you when you get back. Well, along with all the rest of the things I screwed up," Twilight promised suddenly, coughing and looking away from me. I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. Pinkie could nod in agreement with that one, however. "Yup! The party went well, but I still feel a little guilty over everything, so I'm gonna do some extra stuff for ya, too, Mender!" she added on, hopping over to where we stood. Resisting rolling my eyes, I shook my head to her instead. "You've more than made up for the acid and potion things, Pinkie. That party couldn't have been cheap," I reminded, ironically feeling guilty for my own reward party. Did that defeat the purpose? "Don't be silly, Silly! I didn't pay for much at all. My work was mostly in the planning for it! Princess Luna paid for almost everything!" she assured almost instantly. Wait, what?! "And told you to keep that a secret," Twilight reminded, giving a skeptical glance at the pink mare. Eh? Why did she want to remain anonymous? Why did she pay for it in the first place?! Oh, that answered that first question. She didn't want me asking why she wanted to pay for it in the first place, maybe? I rapidly confused myself. "Uh, oopsie! Um, have fun, Mender!" Pinkie squeaked out, covering her mouth with her hooves. I could have sworn I saw an extra set of legs momentarily that she used to shove me backwards. My mouth opened in protest, but the door slammed shut again and I went rolling backwards into the dirt, wincing as I clutched my nose with both hooves. Aaah! I needed warning to get my armor up! Groaning, my muzzle gave out throbs of protest as I shakily stood up, then sat back down properly and held it again. Scan showed blunt force trauma and vein injury, but nothing broken. I sneezed, a bit of pooling blood dripping out my nose before my nanites rapidly started to repair me again. At least I didn't need to worry about ponies noticing my fast regeneration on the inside of my nose. I toned down the nerve magnitudes to the area as I sighed and started walking towards the farm. This was going to be a long day. * * * * * Admittedly, I didn't mind the sun too much when it wasn't right in my eyes. The approach to Sweet Apple Acres was nice and shady, which meant I stayed cool and could properly see. Note to self, install an air conditioning system. Having no wind whatsoever made the heat all the worse, it seemed. The air kind of just hung there in a blistering haze, and I sort of imagined an oven would feel like this. Sniffing the air lightly, I noticed the strong fragrance of apples and decided I was probably on the right track. A moment later, a heavy smacking noise resounded through the air, causing me to smile. AJ was probably hard at work. My hoofsteps were more than audible with the metallic clinking noise with each set of movements, which admittedly was beyond annoying if I focused on it too hard. She must have heard it as well, because the repeating impacts ceased as I got closer. Sure enough, the hat peeked over the hill first, followed by a certain blonde mare. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, I noticed, before she regained control of her expression and shifted to a weak smile instead. Would things ever be the same between us? "Howdy, Mender! Ah thought plans had changed with how late ya are. Er, what happened ta yer nose?" she questioned, patiently waiting for me to get closer to her. I noticed she shivered lightly with each clink of my leg brace. I'd not expected that reaction, and intentionally stopped walking once I got within comfortable talking distance. "Pinkie happened. Which, not-so-coincidentally, is also why I'm late. I'm sorry. I dropped by there to get the measurements for the project the Cake's wanted me to do," I explained, skipping over the awkwardness of almost being tackled by Twilight on my way out. Applejack cracked her back with a fluid bend, and then slowly treaded down the hill, narrowing the distance to a mere meter as she peeked at my muzzle. At this distance, I could see the drops of sweat sliding down her coat, and suddenly realized how insane she was to work heavy physical labor in this heat. "Are you okay, Applejack? This isn't good weather to be bucking apples," I cautioned, frowning at the sheen on her coat. She momentarily looked confused before glancing back at her shoulder, then smiling gently. "Ah'm drinkin' lots o' water, so Ah'll be fine, Sugarcube. Ah appreciate tha concern, though. Yer nose is okay?" she returned, shifting her attention back to my muzzle with a frown. I nodded of course. "Yeah. My nanites made short work of the damage on the walk over here," I assured, smiling at her. I also started a processor on actually sorting out the data files that came with me, with a second one to govern the computations. Anything to do with the biological weapon or disks was getting flagged for reading later. It was frustrating that I couldn't just 'upload' it into my mind, but it seemed that my electronic parts and biological thinking capacity were two entirely separate systems. "Er, what're those?" she asked, tilting her head lightly at me. "They're small robots that float around inside of me and repair me rapidly from the inside. I have to eat a lot more if I use them heavily, but they mean I heal really fast," I summarized simply. She perked up at that, and smiled again. "That's right useful, then! Does that mean if Ah feed ya ah few dozen apple pies, that ya'll heal even faster?" she asked, smirking finally. She was starting to relax again, which was good. However, she was now considering overstuffing me, which wasn't so good. "Er, after I stopped looking like a balloon, probably. Um, I shouldn't eat that much of your food up, though. I'd feel-" I started. That one I should have thought through first. She pounced not unlike a feral tiger, but the impact with the ground in front of me almost made me think she was three times heavier than what she really was! I gulped and swallowed, backing up and shrinking a little as the top of her snout smashed into mine, pushing my head down as she glared into my eyes. "No! Don't even start thinkin' that way! Ah'm practically directly responsible fer yer leg bein' like that, plus Ah..." she started, before her voice faltered and she winced again. I frowned as she backed away and looked away from me again, shaking slightly. "Ah was ah horrible friend ta ya. So really, Mender. If simply feedin' yah can help, it's tha absolute least Ah can do. Trust me, Ah'm gonna think o' other things ta do, too," she assured, looking back towards me again. Her eyes widened slightly, but I'd already stepped forwards, and she didn't have time to react as I closed the gap again. Her breath caught as I gently wrapped my right foreleg around her, giving her a soft hug. "Applejack, I know you feel bad, and I admit that I'm sad you hadn't trusted me, but it's not the end of our friendship. You don't have to rush anything or push yourself to try to make amends. What would really make me happy is if you started to trust me," I explained, realizing I wasn't going to get her to swear off trying to appease me. She was more doing this for her than me at this point, I realized. She chuckled lightly finally before resting her head on my shoulder and hugging back. "Thank ya, Mender. Um, Ah think Ah needed that. Eventually things'll feel right again, o' course. Rainbow feels tha same. She was talkin' about bein' yer underlin' or somethin'," the farm mare muttered, breaking away after another moment and nodding to me. "Eh? My underling? What do you mean?" I asked, not liking the sound of that. Underling for what? That sounded remarkably 'evil overlord' to me. Applejack smirked and shook her head. "Ah suppose that does sound ah tad nefarious. Nah. Ah think she just said 'underlin'' because she ain't gonna accept pay fer tha position. She said somethin' about heavy liftin' an' helpin' with high up work," she elaborated. Oooh! Dash was talking about my new 'job' I was starting. That made more sense, now. "Well, it's up to her. You can also do anything you want, of course," I accepted, continuing down the path towards the barn where I assumed Big Mac was waiting with Spike. The little dragon had gotten a head start this morning on us. A big one. As in, he saw Twilight pushing me against the pillows amidst a rather deep kiss and fled far faster than I realized he could run. Of course, Twilight's embarrassment over being caught allowed me the distraction to slip out from under her, so I supposed I should thank him for that. "Do Ah detect ah change o' heart in regards ta us makin' amends?" Applejack inquired, falling into hoofstep alongside me. Okay, I rolled my eyes at that one. "Not really. Just accepting that it's easier to just say yes than fight against two stubborn mares like yourselves," I corrected, smiling as I caught her grin widen in my peripheral vision. "Guess yer wisin' up! Pity it ain't affected yer punctuality. Heh. Hate ta break it ta ya, but Big Mac an Spike left over an hour ago," she cooed in amusement. My motions ground to a halt as I locked up, processing the new information with no small amount of frustration. What?! "Seriously? Why? The departing thing isn't for an hour!" I whined, stomping my right forehoof down. Applejack had continued walking momentarily after I stopped but I saw her smile widen slightly due to the corner of her mouth. She was amused by this, wasn't she?! "Heh. Yer tha one who was late. Guess ya'll just have ta keep me company instead, 'til tha departin' announcement," she suggested, voice shifting a bit whimsical as she turned around. I froze instantly, eyes widening slightly at her. If this new, heightened awareness taught me anything, it was that body language was an extremely powerful thing. The flick of her tail, gentle sway of her hips as she turned, and half-open eyes set off so many red flags that I was hard pressed not to panic then and there. "Don't worry. Ah know yer injured so Ah'll be gentle so ya can keep up. Not that Ah imagine ya'll have trouble stayin' up, o' course," she assured, slowly swaying as she walked towards me. I made out a weak wheeze and stepped backwards slightly, legs not wanting to cooperate with me suddenly. Crap! Turn around and run, Mender! She watched me for a moment before the corners of her mouth twitched oddly. Huh? Her face scrunched a moment later and she burst into laughter, flopping over onto her side. Oh. Damn it! "Tha look on yer face! Ha! Oh, that was just awesome!" she squealed, laughing hysterically. My ears flattened down and I exhaled, glaring at her. I should have known she was joking. Gah. Come to think of it, she'd 'play flirted' with me before for her own amusement, too. I think she just got a kick out of making me blush. The heat faded slowly from my cheeks and I shook my head, a little miffed now. She's lucky I knew Nirru didn't have her image to clone, or that might have gone differently. Still, she knew what had happened to me, and this was a bit too soon for this! Her laughter made it really easy to mask the sound of my brace clinking as I walked past her and towards the barn, glaring at nothing in particular. That meant she had intentionally not looked at me until she knew she was done lying. Props for knowing your weakness, I suppose. Big Mac and Spike were probably still here, then. A few more meters of walking and Spike rounded the barn, peeking curiously towards the laughter behind me. He smiled when he saw me, then widened his eyes and lost it when he saw my glare. It wouldn't take a genius to guess who had irked me. The laughter dwindled to a snicker behind me as I heard her roll over. "Eh?!" she squeaked out, apparently just realizing I wasn't there anymore. Heck, I was almost to the barn. Maybe I made a better ninja than I gave myself credit for? There was a scrambling noise a moment later and rapid hoofsteps catching up behind me. "H-Hey! Wait up! Did Ah upset ya?" Applejack called out, closing the distance between us with record speed. I resisted the urge to dodge, realizing she probably wasn't going to plow me over like Pinkie or Dash might. "You're lucky I didn't think you were Nirru," I muttered, not turning to look at her when she finally fell into line at my side. "W-What? Oh! Oh shoot. Ah didn't even think o' that. Ah'm sorry, Mender. It was supposed ta be ah joke," she murmured, switching to sounding rather sullen almost instantly. I frowned, but an image flickered through my head an instant later. That aggressive kiss. Trying to pull me back and on top of her. Her tongue forcing its way into my mouth. I winced and suddenly held my right temple, stopping. Damn it. What was wrong with my head? The hoofsteps stopped instantly, and I felt her eyes on me as I sat down again. Scuffling came from ahead too as I closed my eyes, and I knew Spike had run up as well. "It's... I'll be fine. It's just a touchy topic for me. I wish I had been faster in realizing it was a fake, and not kissed her. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I remember it," I explained softly, relaxing my neck and letting my muscles unwind. The throb going through my skull slowly dwindled as I rested, and the images slipped from the back of my eyelids. "It's not like we were expecting it, dude! It wasn't your fault she kissed you," Spike tried to assure, finally coming to a stop in front of me. "Ah think he's more dislikin' tha memories. None o' us are holdin' anythin' that happened durin' that night against him. If anything, it was-" she started to elaborate. "Nirru's fault. Don't, Applejack," I warned, eyes opening again and looking right at her. She looked startled at my rather adamant interruption, but shut up instantly, looking away from me again. No, not this time. Feeling a little more guts than normal, I slid forwards a half meter and pulled her head back towards me with my left foreleg, mindful of the pointy parts of the brace. She didn't resist, eyes widening instead as she turned and looked at me again. "Enough, Applejack. You're a very smart mare, and know that almost everything that night was directly Nirru's fault. You apologized for not trusting me already, and we're working towards a way to get past that, but that's all you can do," I reasoned. She stared at me for a moment before sighing and nodding, emerald eyes still locked with mine. "Ah know that much. The conscience has ah way o' eatin' at ya, though. I'm sleepin' ah little better, but it's rough still. Please let me do somethin' fer ya, Mender. If ya think o' anything before Ah do, just let me know," she requested gently. Spike snickered and nodded to her as well. "Careful, you're starting to sound like I did, remember?" Eh? Wait, somepony had said something about that before. What was it? Applejack let out a chuckle and nodded towards him. "It's ah little different, mind ya. Gratitude is ah far stretch from guilt, Ah think. Ah... well technically Ah killed him. That's just stuck in mah head somethin' fierce," she elaborated, looking down towards the dirt. "I'm like a cat. Sure, you helped make it easier for Nirru to kill me, but I'm better now. Sometimes I think the universe just wants to keep me alive because I'm amusing," I muttered, looking up towards the sky. My life was far too long and drawn out in its misery to fit into a movie or show, but if this were a book, I'd so slap the author. Slap, not kill. If I killed them, I'd probably cease to exist. The farm mare gave a snort and a playful shove with her hoof. Being Applejack, the coiled muscles in her foreleg were enough to send me sideways into the grass, and she slapped her forehead as I rolled. After everything came to a stop, I stared up at the sky, my armor folding back in from my left side. Well, at least it hadn't hurt. I heard her start towards me again and decided to talk first, heading off another pointless apology. "This reminds me, is that offer to help me exercise still there? I'd really appreciate the help in getting some more muscles on these bones." It was true enough, I decided, as I rolled fully back onto my hooves again. She stopped, and I looked over at her, getting a puzzled look in return before she smiled. She must have realized I wasn't injured in the slightest. I knew better than to complain. I'd felt the full force of those hooves, and knew what it was like to have them almost break me in half. That little shove was literally nothing in comparison. Suddenly it didn't surprise me that her adrenaline flooded self could snap Twilight's balcony off. Wait, had it surprised me before? I decided a moment later that I'd lost too much blood back then for the reaction to be an accurate sample. Plus, it was ruined now that I already knew she could, so I guess I'd never find out if it would have surprised me or not. Darn. "That's easy enough ta do. We'll see how good ya can do with buckin', an' ya'll be in great shape in no time!" she assured, proudly stomping the dirt of the path while nodding in emphasis. I smirked and nodded to her before heading towards the barn again. Big Mac had the cart out and was carefully checking the undercarriage, it looked like. "I'll give it a try, but don't plan any profits on me. I'll be hit by more than a few apples, I imagine," I warned, knowing my gravity field a little bit. That was next up on my list of things to fix inside of me. The special control chip had been 'brewing' inside of me for a day or so now. My only issue was I had to unplug the old one to add the new one. Given my internal mass calculations, that could be, well, really bad for the environment around me. And by ‘around me’, I actually meant a radius of a few hundred kilometers. Applejack interrupted my attempt at calculations by snorting and shaking her head. "Ah reckon ya'll be fine. Heck, ya could even kill some time 'ere by practicin' if ya want ta. Once Big Mac gets done lookin' over tha wagon, he'll show ya tha moves," she offered, gesturing towards her brother. I raised an eyebrow and wandered in the direction of the wagon instead. "Er, what's wrong with the wagon?" I inquired, peeking under it as well once I got closer. "Nothin' yet. Hit ah pothole. Checkin' 'er out," Big Mac muttered softly, looking over at me from his side behind the wagon. I smiled and nodded before sitting down, shifting to a lying position, and kicking with my back legs so I slid under the wagon. A tendril shot out of my left shoulder and hooked around the other wheel, pulling me fully under the wagon almost instantly as I peeked it over. "Hey! Ah don't have tha bits ta be payin' ya yet, Mender! Tha new undercarriage put us back ah week or so ago," I heard Applejack warn from behind me somewhere. I rolled my eyes as I looked it over. It was functional, but bare minimum. This was an axle assembly made for a commercial wagon I bet, not a work wagon. There was only one attaching point for supporting the entire axle, with a support loop for each wheel. This wouldn't do at all for serious structural support. "Two things, Applejack. One, I never said I was doing this for bits. You're my friend and I love helping you. Two, this axle support is terrible. You need at least one more brace under here for this to be safe for heavy lifting. This looks commercial," I warned her, peeking it over again just to double check. "Oh, fer cryin' out loud. Well, it was a commercial order. Couldn't afford tha prices o' tha industrial one an' stay out o' tha red! Gah. How much ta upgrade, ya think?" she asked, sticking her head under the side behind me. I tucked my tail up instinctively to cover any awkward bits, and peeked back at her. "Do you have a couple bales of hay to prop the main body up with, and a couple decent sized logs?" I asked, smiling towards her. She raised an eyebrow to me, but nodded a moment later. * * * * * Whistling lightly, I smiled at my work as I screwed the last plate in, barrier rapidly spinning it up into the bottom of the wagon. Using the logs she gave me, I made two additional, functionally identical assemblies for the axle and fully replaced the partial loops they had towards each wheel. I also put in a proper support bar and, for kicks, used the old axle hinge from the busted axle to add a folding stand they could use to prop the wagon up when not in use! I aimed to please, of course. By the time I was done, I estimated the wagon's wheel system to be at least three point six times as sturdy as it was prior. Applejack made a happy whistling noise as she hopped into the back and realized the wagon didn't so much as jiggle. "Whoooeee! When ya say yer gonna do somethin', ya do it! Ah can definitely respect that," she chirped, walking around in the wagon bed as I finally slid out from under it. Big Mac had helped me move the parts into position thankfully, and gave me a slow but respecting nod as I pulled myself out. As he was nearby, he hooked my right foreleg and yanked me out the rest of the way once my torso was clear. Rolling, I got to my hooves and shook myself off. "I'm pleased with it. Barely used up any resources and it will last you a lot longer now, and carry about twice as much as before," I estimated, giving her a safe hauling weight to work with. Sure, it could probably handle a lot more than that, but it was better to be gentle on your tools. Her grin expanded as she turned to face me, nodding twice. Spike came back from inside a moment later with a tray of what looked like glasses of lemonade. All three Crusaders tagged along after him, of course. Nodding, I accepted a glass off the tray into my barrier and took a sip, sighing as I sat down again. Big Mac mimicked my motions, albeit with both hooves to hold the glass, and Spike sat down next to me after Applejack took over the tray with a smirk. It didn't take long for Sweetie to pile in next to me, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sitting down across from her. "This is going to be miserable walking in this weather! We'd better make sure our canteens are full before we start," Spike groaned, looking up at the sky overhead. The blue seemed almost infinite as I gazed up at it, not noticing a cloud in the sky. Rainbow had done her job well. "Rainbow apologized already. She said she can't give any cloud cover until evening, due to a mistake in the rainfall patterns handed down from Cloudsdale. Too wet, apparently," I muttered, remembering what she had said last night after getting me off the stage. That 'too wet' part really didn't help at all. I think I'd rather dry than wet heat. Spike sighed and nodded weakly, scraping the dirt under him with a claw. "I know. It's just not gonna be fun, is all." Applejack sat down next to her brother, completing the nice semicircle we made. "That's why ya ain't walkin'," she corrected, elaborating with, "Big Mac an' Noteworthy are gonna pull tha wagon, an' tha five o' ya are gonna ride instead. It's too dangerous ta march tha youngin's in this heat, an' Mender's leg is hurt." Well, this made me feel awkward. Spike frowned for a moment, staring at my leg before he got a look of comprehension. "Oh! Mender obviously can't change his leg without giving himself away," he said out loud, earning a nod from Applejack. I stared down at the metal brace before sighing and nodding. Admittedly, walking all that distance with that thing wasn't going to be easy otherwise. Just getting around the short distances of town left the leg absurdly sore, although it was getting easier. "Admittedly, it's still aching from the walk over here," I mumbled, glaring at the thing. Applejack shook her head towards me a moment later, pointing out, "Yer bein' too impatient, Mender. Please, just try ta take it easy while yer out there? Ah feel bad enough about tha leg without ya goin' an' bangin' it up some more." Her words were tough sounding, but her tone didn't manage to keep face with them. I looked up at her and saw her focus on my leg instead, her emerald eyes looking downright miserable. Sighing, I opened my mouth to assure her again when a low whistling noise came out instead. Wait, no, that wasn't right. My eyes widened drastically as my proximity detector fired off. My mind slammed on the panic button at the same time I heard Rainbow shout out, "Look out!" Tendrils fanned out with shields extending from them, covering all three fillies instantly with light loops. My armor folded on just as a green blur smashed into Sweetie Belle's barrier, skipped off like a pinball to Scootaloo's barrier, then whipped up and skipped off my forehead an instant later. Wincing at the jarring sensation, I watched sparks skip off my fully plated head as I flopped backwards with the motion. What the hell?! Rolling as I hit my back, I flipped back upright and extended the remainder of my tentacles, glaring at the slowly rotating green... turtle? I stopped and raised my head, giving the small tortoise an appraising examination. Definitely a tortoise, based off its legs. "No, don't hurt him! Tank just gets, uh, carried away!" Rainbow warned, landing in front of me gently and holding her hoof up to my chest. Oh! Her pet. My tentacles slowly withdrew back into me, earning a giggle from Sweetie Belle and a confused 'Uh...' from Scootaloo. Oddly, Apple Bloom seemed unfazed and continued sipping her lemonade, as if having fully expected me to block anything that was flung her way. Trusting little filly, but a bit gutsy. I watched the little tortoise float there on an obviously magical propeller as my armor slowly folded back into me. "Your pet? I'm not going to hurt him, Dash. He just surprised me," I explained, looking over to her instead. Her eyes softened and she nodded to me before puffing up again. "You'd have trouble hurting him anyway. He's real tough! He just gets worked up when trying to keep up with me, obviously," she detailed, strutting over to Tank as she talked. My last withdrawing tentacle blocked her tail before it hit me in the face as she walked away. Normally she kept it a bit more still than that, but maybe it was part of her usual strutting and I just hadn't noticed. That didn't surprise me. The accompanying smell of raspberries and light spices made me a bit dizzy, though. Applejack snickered at the strutting and shook her head. "Don't forget he's real strong, too! Lifted up tha boulder that almost flattened ya all by himself," she reminded. Err, what?! That sounded very unhealthy. Rainbow shot a scowl back at her, and I glanced skeptically over at Applejack, silently asking for more details. I could have sworn I saw Rainbow duck down suddenly towards the tortoise and nuzzle his nose, but she was standing upright and looking innocent again when I glanced back at the motion. Wow, maybe I really was dizzy? Did getting hit in the head jar me or something? I did feel a little woozy. I fired up my internal scanners just to double check for injuries. "Anyway, I was hoping to catch ya before the departing thingy!" Dash announced, snapping my attention back to reality. Who was she talking to? "Ah told ya, Dash! Ah got enough work ta do on tha farm. Ah can't take care o' Tank fer ya too. Ah'm sorry, but it's just too much," Applejack said almost instantly. Why was Rainbow looking for somepony to take care of Tank? The appropriately rainbow-maned mare shook her head rapidly, and then nodded towards me instead. "Not you, AJ. Mender. I, well, I'm a bit desperate, so I was hoping he'd accept. Uh, it's a learning experience! Builds character," Rainbow tried to sell, looking to me hopefully. I got more than a little confused. "Wait, why do you want me to take care of Tank? I'm going to the cabins, remember? Why can't you take care of him?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her. Her reaction was completely different than I had anticipated. Instead of snapping my face off or acting defensive, her cheeks exploded into a pink color, and she rapidly looked away. "Ah, well, I don't think I can properly take care of him while, uh, I'm in heat. Fluttershy took care of him this Spring, but he, well, destroyed some of her stuff and I really, really don't want to put her up to it again," the blushing mare explained. Oh. Was her heat different than normal, then? As if reading my mind, Applejack added, "Rainbow gets real nasty heats. Some mares do. Ah really do want ta help ya, Rainbow. It's just..." She trailed off and sighed, while Dash's pink turned to red as her eyes widened. I felt a flood of embarrassed shock down the link. Mentally whispering, I warned, "I don't think she meant like that, Dash." Carefully, I averted my eyes as Rainbow looked over at me, scared now instead before suddenly realizing I'd said that in her head and relaxing. I was kinda sad that she thought I was stupid or vindictive enough to say that out loud, but let it pass. Applejack probably would have just laughed anyway. "So you want me to bring him with me to the cabin?" I asked her, trying to pull her mind back to the topic at hand rather than steamy mental images of Applejack. I pulled back a moment after I thought it, and realized that I might be getting a little more snarky than normal. That wasn't the first time I'd noticed me reacting in a surprisingly sarcastic manner. Well, moreso than usual. Rainbow glanced over to me in mild confusion for a second before snapping her eyes fully open again and nodding rapidly. "Yeah! He's really easy to take care of and I've been telling him about you all morning. He seems okay with the idea, so please?" Rainbow asked abruptly, taking a step forward while eyeing me. It wasn't quite begging, but it was a little more needy sounding than a simple request. I'm guessing I was the last pony left that she could ask, apart from Fluttershy. Could I really take care of a tortoise, though? "I'll help ya take care of him, Dude. I've watched Tank before," Spike suddenly informed, smiling towards me. Oh! Well that made it a lot better, then. If I had somepony I could rely on to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid, I felt a lot better. "Oh, in that case, I don't mind as much. I'm just not sure how well I'd manage to take care of him. Does he have any special requirements?" I asked, glancing back at Rainbow. She rolled her eyes suddenly, snickering. "Nowhere near as many as Opal. Just make sure he has plenty of water in a dish big enough for him to rest in if he wants. He finds his own food for the most part, but will probably hang around you guys most of the time. He's almost as loyal as I am!" she boasted again. It was to cover up the massive blast of relief I felt down the link, however, I realized a moment later. I smiled gently at Rainbow, but didn't say anything about it. Despite bragging about how tough he was, she really had been worried about him. "All right then. Spike and I will watch him for you," I agreed, nodding to her. Her grin exploded a moment later. "Thank you! Oh, you're a real lifesaver, Mender. Honestly, I just knew you'd say yes," Rainbow cheered, her relief somewhat betraying that statement. She still hadn't fully realized I could also feel her general emotions at this range, drifting down the link. Scootaloo surprised me by shifting to look at me instead, fluttering slightly in excitement. "Can I help you take care of Tank, too, Mender? I promise I'll be super useful and do anything to help!" she asked, looking back over at the now amused looking Rainbow Dash while she asked. "I'm sure Mender would take your help, Scoots. You're a hard worker," Rainbow complimented, nodding to the little orange filly. Given her expression, I began to worry if it was possible for a filly to explode from being too excited. Sweetie Belle perked up a moment later and wrapped her forelegs around my leg brace. "We can help, too, Mender! Apple Bloom and I are useful, too!" she assured, slightly confusing me. I'd never said they weren't, but it would seem Rainbow got something started with the 'hard working' motion. "Settle down, ya'all. Ah'm sure Mender'll be happy ta get all yer help, but we need ta get ready ta set out," Applejack warned, standing up again and stretching gently. Ah, yeah. I had used up a lot of the extra time on upgrading the wagon. Turning, I headed back towards it myself, Sweetie hot on my trail. Double-checking as I walked, I made sure I had everything attached still. The saddlebags were definitely attached still. About three times as attached as a normal variant. Rarity definitely made sure they were sturdy. At this point, I was starting to wonder if she was trying to say something about me. Heh. Slipped inside the front, right pouch was Prudentia. I could feel her there. Feeling even weirder, I shifted to peek at the small dagger slipped between the straps on my left side as well. That had been quite the surprise this morning. I wanted to keep my promise and not let Ventosus Lacuna out of my sight, but it was proving more than a little difficult to find an easy way to carry the blasted thing. My final attempt had me attempting to shove it through the straps of my saddlebags while Twilight giggled hysterically at me, when the sword flared with light and the sheath, well, shrank. Twilight's reaction speed was amazing, I might add. The second the thing flared with light, she had blasted it out of my grip and teleported to me, putting a barrier up in front of both of us. I threw my own up over hers and both of us stared at it for a good three minutes before anypony moved. I drew it out of the sheath just to make sure it was still okay, and it oddly pulled out the full blade. Compressed space, maybe? It didn't surprise me, given the technology and magical levels of the society that created the weapon. Meh. Everything in place, I hopped up onto the wagon with a light burst from my back legs. The one was a little tender still, but at least I could manage simple movements. Sweetie curled up next to me, and her two fellow Crusaders piled practically on top of her. Rainbow surprised me a moment later by landing right next to me and snatching up Scootaloo, pulling the little filly next to her and extending a wing over her shoulders. Admittedly, she got no resistance at all. Big Mac finished strapping himself in and gently pulled the cart into motion, not waiting for ceremony. Applejack fell in line next to him and peeked back at us with a smile. Well, sort of a smile. It faltered a little when she saw me, but she managed to maintain it. "RD and Ah will obviously go with until town. Mayor ain't one for long goodbyes, but Ah hear she has somethin' special fer this one," she explained softly, giving a nod afterwards. "Eh, no sense in a long goodbye. Heat's only a week or so. They'll be back in no time!" Rainbow chipped in, waving her hoof dismissively in the air. She seemed relaxed, anyway, now. "How will we know when it's okay to return?" I asked curiously, wondering what sort of communication system they had. Rainbow grinned and bumped her hoof against her chest. "A pegasus, more than likely me, will fly over and let everypony know. Besides, Nurse Redheart'll be there, too, and she'll be able to tell when her own heat is over and give everypony the heads up. Well, I think she can feel it through the pills she takes to lessen the effects, anyway," she tried to explain, dwindling at the end when she confused herself and began thinking instead. Oh, my favorite nurse was coming, too? Applejack peeked back again and nodded, and for a moment, I thought she had somehow heard my mental question. "She can still feel it, but she's always been darn amazin' at controllin' herself. She's goin' along just in case medical attention is needed," she added, confirming Rainbow's story. "Probably wise if I'm going to be there. Heh. What's so different about this departure, though?" I asked, remembering suddenly that she'd never explained. I saw her smirk, but she didn't turn to look at us this time. Uh oh. "Take ah guess. He's blue, klutzy, an' tha talk o' tha town fer bein' ah secret agent." Oh. Well, this was going to be awkward. With a newly established sense of dread, I gulped weakly and settled back down in the wagon. Why was it that crowds made me so nervous, especially when they were all looking at me? So many ponies made me, well, dizzy. I wanted to run away and hide somewhere, but that would probably destroy the 'image' Tia was trying to turn me into. Without asking me, of course. Well, she'd done a lot to help me, regardless, so I guess I owed her this one. Sweetie Belle smiled reassuringly at me and nuzzled closer into my shoulder after I lay down again. Heh, even without a link, she could tell I was nervous. Silly filly. I don't know why she liked me so much, but I was happy for her company regardless. Sighing, I waited patiently and listened to the wheels slowly turn...
Chapter 44The wagon was an amazingly smooth ride, albeit a bit on the slow side. Although I certainly wasn't going to make Big Mac run. Eh, Twilight was probably too distracted today to keep track of time properly anyway. ...and if she had, surely she'd forgive me in her current mood. Heh. Smiling gently to myself, I lay at the bottom of the wagon, feeling rather comfortable in the corner. There was leftover hay in the bottom of it, and it was nice to give my leg a rest, as frustrating as that was. Sweetie Belle gently massaged the shoulder after insisting loudly for a good five minutes, me trying to convince her that it wasn’t needed. Rainbow shot me a glare of death after the loud and annoying ‘debate’ had gone on too long, forcing me to relent and just let Sweetie do whatever. I guess she’d gotten tired of listening to us go back and forth? Apple Bloom had hopped out of the wagon and onto Big Mac's back instead, and was busy talking quietly with her siblings. Scootaloo was absolutely absorbed in Rainbow Dash's presence, which just left Tank and Spike. I stared quietly at the turtle, who stood a half-meter away from me. He stared back. We'd simply been watching each other the entire ride. He was a very wise looking tortoise, honestly. He seemed to actually understand the words spoken around him and carried out complex and detailed actions. I was used to animals being, well, animals. This was an interesting surprise. Of course, I'd seen a few other pets, too. Opal was almost snooty in her mannerisms, but I think that was more a cat thing. Still, I could have sworn I saw her roll her eyes at me before. Winona was more loyal and trustworthy from what I saw, but still quite intelligent. I watched Apple Bloom play with her for a while when I was helping build the conveyor system. Owlowiscious was obviously intelligent, and I noticed he understood several things I said to him. With that much evidence, it looked like all the animals of Equestria were quite a bit smarter than normal. I'd have to remember that in my dealings with them. I wouldn't want to accidentally offend. Zoning slightly, I gave a start as the cart slowed and Dash zipped into the air. Scootaloo rolled twice before I stopped her with my back leg, smiling at the dizzy filly for a moment before sitting up. Sweetie Belle gave me an endearing smile, and I patted her on the top of the head with my right forehoof. "Thank you for the massage, Sweetie," I added gently. She grinned and hugged the leg I was using to pat her, earning a chuckle from me. She was so adorable sometimes. Well, most of the time. Rainbow interrupted anything I could have said, however, by shouting out, "Over here!" My eyes widened and I peeked to the left just in time to see the entire gathered crowd of ponies turn around and stare at the cart. Aww, crap. Not again! Instincts made me crouch back down again, mostly shielding myself using the wall of the cart. A storm of giggling sounded almost instantly, and I groaned. "Ah, just the stallion I wanted to talk to! Moon Mender!" was called out from the stage. A tan looking mare with a white mane stood up at the podium, looking highly official. That must be 'Mayor Mare'? Oddly, her mane was white, not gray. She didn't look that old to me. Both of us were interrupted by a squeaking noise as a yellow pegasus suddenly bumped up above the crowd, flailing momentarily as she grabbed onto the pink head under her. Fluttershy? "Ah! No, Pinkie. Put me down!" I 'heard' her whisper rapidly, embarrassment flooding down the link as she blushed fiercely at all the ponies looking at her now. "Nope! Sorry, Fluttershy," Pinkie refused. My surprise doubled as the pink mare literally stood up and threw Fluttershy right at me! My eyes widened as Fluttershy let out a high-pitched squealing noise as she sailed through the air. Oddly, instead of just doing the logical thing and opening her wings up, taking to the sky, she instead went rigid. Her wings stuck out like an airplane and she sailed surprisingly well. I shook off being impressed and hopped up on the lip of the wagon, balancing carefully for that instant up on my two back legs as I caught Fluttershy out of the air, rolling backwards to cancel her momentum. My back armor skipped off the wagon as I rolled to a stop, cradling the now hiding Fluttershy, who was doing her best to cover herself with my body. "Wow, good catch!" the mayor complimented, totally missing the point. I didn't even know how to respond to that. Instead, I looked down at Fluttershy to see if she was okay. At this range, I could pick up her biorhythms, and noticed that, unsurprisingly, her heart rate was through the roof. Also at this range, I was bombarded by the wonderful smells of fresh cut flowers coming off the mare, along with a slight honey smell in addition to that, which was new. All mares seemed to be as varying in smell as they were in coat color! The discovery was rather fascinating to me in a somewhat uncouth way. I knew I probably shouldn’t be paying so much attention to their smells suddenly but it was far from unpleasant. She peeked up a moment later as she must have felt my concern. Her eyes softened and she smiled at me again before burying her face in my chest. Sweetie started 'aww'ing to my right. I sat up fully with Fluttershy again and the crowd started cheering. What was this all about?! "I imagine you're wondering what this is about," the mayor guessed, almost word for word. I tilted my head, but nodded towards her. She had a microphone setup. My voice wouldn't carry that far. Err, my 'normal' voice wouldn't carry that far. Heh, but my other would get the crowd to scatter rather fast. "It's quite simple. You've been here for weeks, drawn the attention of both Princesses, and fended off an attack on my town. Yet somehow, we haven't been officially introduced! Further, I wanted to extend my official thanks for everything you've done so far," she explained, nodding and gesturing towards me. The crowd started that hoof stomping thing again almost instantly as they all grinned at me. Perhaps it was akin to applause? I gave my best sheepish smile while wanting to run in the other direction. I suddenly felt a little lightheaded, and had to fight down the urge to flee. There were way too many ponies here, and it was daylight so I could see them all this time. It helped that there weren't stage lights in my eyes this time. Twilight teleported in next to the mayor suddenly and whispered something in her ear. I was momentarily curious again before the tan mare pulled the mic back up and nodded. "I'd almost forgotten that your leg is badly injured. Silly me, expecting you to come up here on stage! Ha! I must not pay enough attention to my secretary's memos as I should," she cooed, smiling out at the crowd. There was a polite wave of laughter, which confused me until I realized it was supposed to be a joke. Spike groaned next to me and sank below the wall of the cart. Was she always like this? "Well, worry not. You stay right there in the cart. I'll come to you!" she exclaimed, hanging the mic back up with an awkward squeaking noise from the speakers. I winced, and in that brief moment, Twilight was gone from the stage. I turned to my left in time to see her reappear, literally into a pouncing motion. Fluttershy gave a squeak as Twilight's forelegs wrapped around both of us. My eyes widened, then extended even more as Twilight wasted no time kissing me directly on the lips. Happy laughter and murmurs shot through the crowd as I gave a weak groan, getting pulled tighter against the mare. She pulled back almost five seconds later, licking a string of saliva away from her lips and leaving my head spinning. A certain tingle danced along my tongue as well, and I realized that she'd shot her magic into the kiss, too! It felt amazingly like Twilight, I decided. It was an odd sensation. Why had she-? Oh. She gave me a wink and then gave Fluttershy a more relaxed, chaste kiss, causing the mare to have about the same reaction as me, interestingly enough. I was busy staring at Twilight, however. She wanted to kiss me like that, but she didn't want me getting paranoid about her being that forward, I guessed. Shooting her magic into me was definitely a good way to prove that it was indeed her. My ears twitched a moment later, and I looked over at Fluttershy. She was still flushed, but she was whispering something rapidly, almost in chant as she looked down and over at my front, right leg. Eh? My ears swiveled around from their surprised, backwards position, and I picked up, "Be brave. Be brave. Be brave, Fluttershy. Assertive!" I tilted my head, but she looked up at the same moment with a look that could only be described as fierce resolve and focus. Then she leaned up as well and pushed her lips up against mine. I was vaguely aware of the crowd going crazy somewhere to my left, but I really didn't care. All I was aware of was Twilight grinning against both of us, and Fluttershy's warm muzzle against mine as she pushed into me. Her hooves drifted just around my waist as she leaned into the kiss, in a timid and subtle possessive gesture. I certainly wasn't about to deny her. Almost a full five seconds later, she finally pulled back, a bright red shade in her cheeks as she smiled shyly at me. More cheering hit, which was starting to get a bit annoying. Of course, I guess I shouldn't expect privacy up on a wagon in the middle of a large crowd of ponies. Wait, middle? Turning and confirming my peripheral concern, I noticed the wagon was indeed surrounded at this point. I got a bit flustered until I realized we were still moving. Big Mac pressed onwards, crowd or not, as he headed towards the southern exit of town. Noteworthy slipped out of the crowd a moment later and stepped in next to him, giving me a pleased nod before hooking himself up to the free harness, now that Applejack stepped out of it. "Mender," the mayor called out, getting my attention. Shifting, I rotated around and saw her walking slowly along after the wagon, following us as we went. A large amount of stallions and younger foals were also with us, I noted. Considerably more than what I'd normally see in an entire day in Ponyville. Walking to the back of the wagon, I lay down on the straw again and peeked down at her, giving a nod. "I'm glad I have a chance to talk with you before you go. Although I'd like to ask for a slightly longer audience once you get back. Official residence paperwork, and discussing what the future entails," she elaborated, giving me a patient smile. There was really only one way to translate that. "Concerned about Princess Celestia's initiative, and Ponyville's involvement in it?" I guessed, tilting my head towards her. She gave a smirk, and I realized I'd guessed right. "Mostly. I really do have residence paperwork for you to fill out, although I wouldn't say I'm concerned. It's an honor to have such a hero living here," she corrected. "I'm not a hero," I returned almost instantly, eyes lowering a bit. No, I wouldn't... couldn't accept that title anymore. Heroes weren't involved in the wholesale slaughter of a few billion innocent lives. Brave? Not really. I was more pragmatic, really. I did what I had to do at any given time, regardless of how bitter it tasted. That sounded more like a soldier to me. Duty. Yeah, that was mine, I suppose. She smiled but nodded, making me realize I'd just zoned out for a full ten seconds. Her eyes were softer than prior to my slip of awareness, and I wondered if I'd accidentally implied anything with my silence. Ah well. "I need to talk to Celestia more, but from what I've read so far, she's placing the research center of the initiative here. Given the, well, extent of what she wanted researched, I imagine a new facility is going to have to be built. I'd like to avoid any further damage to Ponyville if at all possible," I groaned, wondering how much the repairs to the library had cost. Nirru was an idiot. You don't fire off Slipstream in-atmosphere. Thankfully, hers was just a personal-sized engine. "Is the research that dangerous?" the mayor asked, looking a bit surprised. Twilight slipped up next to me, however, and nodded in my stead. "We're seeking defenses and counters against further extra-planar infiltrations. Given how powerful the last creature was, yes, any defenses we can muster will probably be rather dangerous before we finalize them," she warned, sounding professional yet a bit on the grim side. Fluttershy remained quiet on my other side. Well, technically on the other side of Sweetie Belle, who wormed her way in-between us, but the little filly hardly blocked all of Fluttershy, so I suppose it didn't matter. The mayor frowned for a moment before looking over at me instead. "You truly fought the creature, then? That wasn't an exaggeration from the Princesses, I'm guessing," she reasoned, expression neutral. "All I could manage was to contain it. It was extremely powerful. Luna was the one who removed it," I confirmed, technically telling the truth in an abstract way. Not that I was against lying if I had to, but it was easier to convince somepony if you could at least fall back on being truthful. "You must be strong as well, then," she deduced. It wasn't a question, but it was a little too vague to my liking. I shook my head weakly. "Twilight is far stronger than me. My strength is more in quick thinking, experience in combat, and just a bit of cleverness," I corrected, smiling finally afterwards. Twilight gave me a playful shove, and I didn't even need a connection to her to know what she implied with it. I know I tended to undervalue myself, but it felt more comfortable doing so. "Psh! I've totally seen you fight before, and it's downright scary!" Rainbow teased, smirking at me out of the corner of my eye. I gave her a skeptical glance, but the mayor surprised me by snickering softly. Glancing back over at her, I raised an eyebrow and she nodded, explaining, "I always find it a little bit scary when I see somepony do something they're really good at. Practiced motions that come naturally are pretty to watch, but knowing I'd never match up with them is a bit intimidating. I imagine combat is, due to its nature, even scarier." I absorbed her words for a moment before nodding again. Yeah, that made sense, I suppose. "Still, your mark implies creation, not destruction. Your strong suit is engineering, is it?" she added, somehow changing the entire tone of her prior statement. She was okay with me, then? I couldn't read her very well. She gave off an air of wisdom, but I wasn't sure if it was just for show, or if she was actually wise. It wasn't an absolute thing like when talking to one of the Princesses. "Engineering and enchantments is what I hope to make a living with. My specialty for magic is more defensive, however," I relayed, attention waning somewhat. Surely she'd heard as much already, though. What was she hoping to accomplish by asking me directly? Twilight, who had been watching me instead, frowned and shifted back to the mayor, asking, "Can't this wait until he gets back? He's getting tired, and Fluttershy and I would like to properly say goodbye before he rests." It surprised me, but there was a certain air of irritation in her voice, mixed in with a dash of possessiveness. I glanced over at her, but she simply gave a frown towards the mare trailing after us. "Oh! Yes, he's still healing. Certainly. I shall leave you all in peace, then," she agreed, bowing politely before turning around. The progression trailing the wagon had dwindled at this point, leaving only a handful of faces following that I recognized. Pinkie herself dashed up much faster than I realized, leaving both Vinyl and Octavia momentarily in the dust. "Don't forget about me, Mender! Spike! I'll miss both of you!" she squealed, hopping up and hanging off the back of the wagon long enough to pull both of us into a bone crushing hug. I gasped and wiggled against her, wondering how she'd grabbed Spike too. He was at the front of the wagon! "Aaaah, I'm not squishy, Pinkie, but I will be if you don't ease up..." Spike managed to whine, causing Twilight to giggle and light Pinkie up with magic, prying her off us. "I just can't help myself! I'm not gonna get to see you all for a week and a half or more! So I've gotta try to squeeze two weeks of hugging into an instant!" she declared. Yikes! With Pinkie, two weeks of hugs might be enough to compress diamond. The two musically inclined mares had caught up, and Octavia added, "I did say I'd be here to say goodbye to you. I'm not sure when we'll see each other again, but I do hope to visit quite a bit more often now. Vinyl has offered me a, uhm, what did you call those... things, again, Vinyl?" She hesitated and looked back at her DJ friend. Vinyl shook her head weakly and sighed. "They're futons, Tavi. Any good pad worth its weight in swag has them. You don't get a more righteous sleeping arrangement than that," she explained, pumping her hoof into the air to emphasis 'righteous'. What was a futon? Obviously something somepony slept on, I supposed, but there wasn't any visual reference in my memories for one. "Ah, yes. So long as I don't have to share it again. You should really get some, well, spray for your house, Vinyl. Or at least get rid of the empty pizza boxes. Those things are attracted to food in the first place, and if they get much bigger, you might need to burn them out instead..." Octavia warned, a hint of playful teasing in her voice. Even with the shades on, I 'felt' as if Vinyl rolled her eyes. I think it was that oh so subtle head motion. "Hey, the mice deserve room and board, too, just like everypony else. We have an arrangement. I let them stay rent free, and they clean up the stale stuff I leave out for too long," she explained. I blinked, and wondered if she really did have an arrangement with the rodents. Were they that smart? I added a note to ask Fluttershy about it later. Maybe it was just the mice? Could they talk, too? Heh, who knows? Maybe they were smarter than us, even? Twilight let out a weak, strained giggle, eyes shivering a little bit as she listened. Uh oh. "You really shouldn't live like that, Vinyl. As you're a friend of my coltfriend, I suppose I could, I don't know, help you clean it up a little? Make it more orderly?" the lavender mare offered after a moment. I sensed an obsessive-compulsive trait to her sometimes. The look she got in return was blank and far from amused. Lying there, I decided I'd rather not get involved at all, and shifted my attention to Fluttershy instead. The yellow pegasus was zoning out, and gave a small start of surprise when I shifted to look at her again. A gentle smile expanded upon her muzzle, her attention drifting back and being given entirely to me. That never ceased to amaze me. I wasn't used to somepony really, and I mean really, paying attention to me. Apart from the, well, problems I caused here so often, sometimes I felt like more a part of the background than anything. Everypony had jobs and duties while I just sort of drifted, making trouble for ponies. Closing my eyes softly, I decided to see what would happen if I initiated for once. A second later, I worked up my courage and gently leaned forwards, resting my forehead softly against hers. A peek showed she was momentarily surprised before smiling wider and leaning into me as well. "It's sad that I have my friends to take care of. Well, not sad as in I don't like taking care of them. That's not what I meant! I just, um, kinda wish I could go with you this week. Are you sure you won't be too lonely?" Fluttershy asked softly, the words barely transferring over the small distance between us, but I easily heard it all because of our deeper link. "I'll miss you two, but I'll have a lot of company. Spike, my fellow Crusaders, Big Mac, and now Tank," I pointed out. Spike hadn't been close enough to hear what we were talking about, but there was something about hearing your name being mentioned in a conversation that lets you pick it up a lot easier. His head snapped to full attention back to me, having only been passively listening to Vinyl, Octavia, and Twilight bicker about personal hygiene. If they kept this up, they were going to come to the camp with us regardless of their intention. I was also a bit surprised that Dash and Applejack had stuck around, too, the former still talking with Scootaloo and the latter walking with her brother and little sister up front. Although, now that I thought about it, I thought I heard Applejack mention she usually helped set up everypony at the cabins. Maybe Rainbow was sticking around because Applejack was, too? At least the mares didn't just toss us out to the cabins and leave it at that. Fluttershy flushed lightly but smiled, nodding to me. "Oh, I know. I just wish I could be with you at the cabins, too," Fluttershy elaborated. Spike smiled and nodded, now paying attention and probably guessing what had been said prior. "That would mean Mender and you would have to stay in a couple's cabin, though, wouldn't it? I was kinda looking forward to hanging out with him," he slipped in. Oh, they had couples' cabins? Well, I suppose that made sense. They were probably smaller and easier to make than the full size ones, and mates would want their privacy, especially during an estrus period, I'd imagine. Fluttershy appeared pleased and nodded to Spike, adding, "Of course. You'd be able to hang out with him during the day, as well, of course! I'm not going to monopolize his time, and, um, I'll lecture Twilight sternly if she tries to as well." There was mild weight and conviction behind her words, which only went to prove she was serious about it. It still surprised me a little. She seemed focused on my needs and wants above and beyond her own. I guess I'd have to try extra hard to get her to accept things that she wanted, too. "Wow, that's really kind of you, Fluttershy. I might have been, uh, a little worried about that. Twilight's been acting a little clingy lately," he whispered, looking past us at the now irate lavender unicorn. She wasn't even paying attention, so he didn't really have to worry. "Probably just the heat, Spike. She'll probably return to normal after a couple weeks," I explained, attempting to console him a bit. In reality, I had no idea how long it would take for the hormones to get out of her system completely after estrus was over. Fluttershy frowned and looked over at her as well. "Not so sure. Um, it's probably not my place to say, but I think she might be, well, figuring out what she wants more?" she tried to explain. Her peek showed a confused expression drifting over from me, and she squeaked, elaborating with, "Not that she didn't know before on some level. I think she's realizing how important you are to her, and your priority has gone up by a lot." "She told Princess Celestia no to her face for you. I'd say that much is accurate, anyway," Spike added, nodding enthusiastically. That had surprised me, admittedly. It was tempting to accept her offer for her disk to at least feel what her emotions really were, but that was a shallow reason. Sweetie Belle, who had been quiet throughout the entire conversation, finally stirred and looked up at Fluttershy. "Um, you seem really comfortable with Twilight, Fluttershy. Is being in a herd and sharing hard?" she asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Well, I saw where it came from, but didn't really know why she was curious. Fluttershy didn't seem to mind, however, and smiled down at her as well. "It was a little difficult at first. Wanting to be with the pony you love is natural, but eventually it starts to feel like a really close family," she tried to explain. My ears swerved around and my heard skipped as I stared at her. Did she just say that?! She... loved me? Wasn't it a bit too soon for that? "What if somepony wanted to join the herd? What would happen?" Sweetie asked next, only vaguely registering on my consciousness as I fought to decide if things were progressing too fast or slow. Sure, Fluttershy seemed worlds' more comfortable with being in a relationship, but love? Although, I had agreed to marry Twilight, now that I thought about it. Sure, it wasn't official yet, but the feelings and intent were there. Pinkie suddenly almost landed on me, squishing me over and causing me to yelp and roll slightly. Holy hell! I forgot she was even here! "That's a tricky one, Silly! Herds usually only let ponies join that they know really, really well and trust. Plus, you have to at least care for everypony in the herd! Even then, afterwards, all members have to approve of you joining," she explained while Fluttershy recovered from her sudden appearance. Sweetie Belle blinked up at her, and then slowly turned a pink color. Eh? Oh, Pinkie's use of second pony tense? Surely the little filly realized the 'you' was just a hypothetical example, right? "So even for you and me, it wouldn't be an easy in! If you wanted to join Mender's herd, you'd have to get all three of them to agree to it, obviously! I'd have to as well!" she continued a moment later with a happy chirp, ruining my hypothetical comment completely. Well, at least it was still just an example. An example that was probably really awkward for the little filly, but I suppose that couldn't be helped. Fluttershy gave a frown and muttered, "Um, Pinkie... Aren't you forgetting something?" Eh? Pinkie blinked slowly, then perked up and nodded rapidly. The tempo shift made me a little dizzy. "Oh, and you have to be at least fourteen. Forgot about that," she added, giving two nods afterwards. Fourteen? Was that when they were legally considered an adult in pony society? Usually it was a certain fraction of their lifespan, which kind of made me wonder how long a pony lived for, on average. Granny Smith appeared ancient by pony standards, and surely the Princesses were some sort of immortal. At least functionally and biologically immortal, anyway, although if Luna's exile to the moon was any indication, they might be fully immortal. Sweetie Belle looked more than a little flustered at this point, sitting up now as she shifted back and forth on her front hooves. "I didn't mean, um... but... wait. I have to wait two years to join a herd?!" she suddenly asked, eyes widening a little bit. Err, was that a bad thing? Oh, wait, she was twelve? Interesting. Now I wondered how old the others were. Late teens, early twenties maybe? I knew my old body, and thus, my mindset had been twenty-three before I was cloned. That didn't tell me much, however, as I didn't know how fast our years were in comparison to Equestria. I also didn't have a clue when my 'birthday' was at this point. Maybe it would be in Doctor Kyliona's notes when Keela sent them over? "Hey, relax. Ya got your whole life ahead of ya to find that special somepony, you know," Vinyl cut in a moment later. My ears perked and I suddenly realized their conversation had ground to a halt over the series of noises Pinkie had caused us to make in surprise. Plus, Sweetie Belle's outburst had been kinda loud. The little filly gave an embarrassed groan and scooted backwards using her front legs, burrowing under my tail and hiding in it a moment later. I snickered at her display, and Fluttershy simply smiled back at her. Rainbow smirked suddenly, and I inwardly groaned. I knew her well enough to see a 'hoof in mouth' statement coming a kilometer off. "Why the rush anyway, Sweetie Belle? It sounds like you might already have a colt you're interested in," she pointed out coyly a moment later. Yup, there it was. If Sweetie hadn't told us, she obviously didn't want to tell us. Surely, Rainbow could have deduced that. Scootaloo groaned weakly next to her and shook her head. "Don't remind me. She talks about him a lot!" she protested, shoulders sagging. Oh crap. Rainbow was rubbing off on her. Sweetie perked up and yelped out, "Scootaloo! You Pinkie Promised not to tell anypony!" My eyes widened and Pinkie gasped dramatically, suddenly right in the orange filly's very surprised looking face. "What?! You broke a Pinkie Promise?" she demanded, eyes narrowing at Scootaloo a moment later. "Whoa! N-No, Pinkie! I promised not to tell anypony who he was, not that she had a crush! Besides, they already guessed it," Scootaloo tried to defend. "It's not a crush! B-But please, don't say anything else?" Sweetie begged softly. That I had to nod in agreement with. "She's right, Scootaloo. If she'd wanted us knowing, she would have said so herself. She's your friend, so neither you or Rainbow should tease her about it," I chided, a little upset that they couldn't think of this themselves. Rainbow puffed up slightly and gave me an indignant stare. "Hey! It's all in good fun, Mender. I wasn't going to press her for names or anything. You need to relax," she defended. Octavia sighed and spoke up as well, adding, "I think I more agree with Mender. It's all in good fun... for you two, Rainbow. I'm sure you know what it's like to be teased and how 'not' fun it is." She pointed it out as if from personal experience, and I glanced back at her gently. She wore a neutral expression, but gave me a small nod and smile when she caught me looking. Rainbow shifted her glare to Octavia instead, and I recognized that expression. Her legs flexed as she moved to shove past me, but I extended my foreleg out to my left and blocked her. "Hey, let me through! She doesn't know anything about me and she's trying to judge me like that!" Dash demanded, glaring past me still. "Hey, come on. Let's all just get along!" Pinkie tried to plead, moving more to my right so she could direct it at everypony at once. "Dash, she's not judging you. She's just trying to give you Sweetie's perspe-" I started to explain. I'd forgotten how impatient the cyan mare could be sometimes. She took off at point blank range to me, her wing feathers slapping across my muzzle as she went up. She neglected to take into account the cart movement and wind speed, however. Gasping, I gave out a wince as her back left hoof clipped my left elbow, sending a moderate spike of pain up my leg. Okay, yeah. I should have turned around and blocked her with the other leg. I was an idiot. Why did I even consider that my injured leg would stop her in the first place? "Rainbow!" both Twilight and Applejack shouted out almost instantly. The pegasus must have felt the hoof clip me, because she spun around almost instantly before they even said anything. Her eyes widened before I looked down and away from her, focusing on lowering the nerve sensitivity in my leg with a bit of careful adjustments. Who needed pain medication when you were an unstable organic cyborg? Another perk! Gotta stay positive, Mender. "Ah! Oh no, no, I didn't mean to do that, Mender! I'm sorry!" Rainbow apologized almost instantly, looking surprisingly horrified for the rather low magnitude of the accident in question. I shook my head gently, cutting her off before it spiraled out of control, given the death glares she was getting from four different directions. "It was just an accident, Dash. Plus it wasn't even that bad of a nick. I'll be fine," I assured, nodding up towards her as I lightly set the hoof down. A gentle and warm numbness drifted through it, and it felt heavy as my internal medicine started working on both pain relief and regeneration. The damage was minimal at best. Rainbow didn't exactly look convinced and drifted down again to land behind Fluttershy, next to me. The yellow mare had hopped up again alongside Sweetie, and both were checking my left foreleg over carefully. Rainbow watched them, ears rapidly lowering. I didn't want her to feel badly over it. Wait, had that actually managed to defuse the situation? Huh. I didn't realize there were perks to being an idiot and getting myself injured! "Ya gotta cool yer jets, Rainbow! There's no need ta get so defensive. All Octavia meant was ta try ta see it from Sweetie's perspective," Applejack lectured, slowing so she was walking next to the wagon instead so she could give her cyan friend a stern glare. Wasn't that what I said? Unlike mine, Applejack's words looked like they hit Rainbow in the face with a sledgehammer. Huh. Either my defusing of the situation had gotten her to actually listen, or there was weight due to who was saying it. "I know. I'm sorry, Octavia. Sweetie Belle. It's perfectly fine that you have a crush, and there's nothing wrong with it," she admitted, crouching down closer to the little filly who was still partially hiding in my tail. It didn't seem that strange to me, but I was a little curious as to who it was. Still, I wasn't about to ask her. After everything I just tried to prove, that would be highly rude and inappropriate. Sweetie Belle looked entirely unsure of how to deal with Rainbow and just nodded twice before slipping back down into my tail a ways. She'd be traumatized after she hit a growth spurt and couldn't fit in there anymore. Fluttershy nodded twice a second later. Ever so gently, she leaned down and kissed the inside of my elbow between the brace lines, then smiled up at me. "It's not hurt at all," she added softly. Even having already known that, her happy tone, smile, and general affection made me feel even better regardless. I kissed the top of her head, causing a light pink tint with so many ponies watching. My mouth opened and I got half of the 'thank you' out before Vinyl suddenly started snickering. "Wow. I'm so gonna get diabetes just from watching you three. You're so adorable that it's a little sickening," she admitted blatantly. I raised my eyebrow over at her grinning form, but Octavia smirked next to her and shook her head. "Admit it, Vinyl. You're jealous. You just want an oh-so sweet coltfriend like Fluttershy and Twilight have," she chirped coyly, continuing to look straight ahead to make herself particularly immune to the death glare her friend resorted to. "Hey, I'm totally cool with being single! Don't forget our pact as the troublemaking bachelorettes of Canterlot Musical Academy!" Vinyl reminded. Wait, what?! That statement made my brain stall on so many levels. Twilight perked up and looked at the two of them curiously. "Wait, both of you went to the musical academy in Canterlot?" she asked, suddenly very interested. Well, I suppose she could relate academically. "Roommates for four years. Equestria forbid! Passed all my classes with an A- average? Wonderful. Granted highest honors in leading my own section in the orchestra? Quite nice. Hold no less than sixty-nine solos and duets for the Canterlot elite while founding a social club for musical study? Excellent. What does everypony remember of my academy days? That our room vibrated the entire fourth floor and I liked to occasionally relax with a glass of wine," she complained. I noticed there wasn't much actual bitterness to it deep down. At least a part of her was amused at that outcome, I decided. "A glass? You do remember that amazing swinging maneuver off the third story balcony in the recital room, don't you? Oh, wait. No, you probably wouldn't remember that," Vinyl chirped, grinning now. Octavia sighed and lowered her head, looking a bit exasperated. Pinkie was hopping up and down at this point, however. "Oh, oh, oh! I had no idea you were such an awesome party pony, Tavi! We should totally hang out and go dancing or listen to music or compare amazing maneuver notes or...!" Pinkie started offering, earning a wince from the gray mare. Rainbow started laughing again, and Vinyl's grin widened. Well, at least Dash wasn't feeling so bad now. Pity it appeared to all transfer to Octavia instead. "There's nothing wrong with that, Octavia. That's why I liked you in the first place. You were almost the most relaxed pony at the party," I offered, shifting to look at her fully. She perked up and met my gaze for a moment before smiling softly and nodding. "Admittedly, I don't much care for how posh the Canterlot Elite get. While I'm not against living with a bit of dignity, they shoot right past that into the egotistical levels," she muttered, giving a weak eye roll. I didn't think Vinyl could grin much wider without snapping her jaw. "Exactly! There's the Tavi I love! Besides, you don't need a stallion to complete your identity. Most of them are only after one thing, and then dump ya. You so don't need that. I know I don't!" she added, nodding twice. Wait, what? That I hadn't expected, and had to pick it apart in my head before I realized how actually bitter that had sounded. It screamed unfortunate experiences. I lost my small smile as I looked over at Vinyl instead. Octavia did as well, giving her friend a questioning glance. "Vinyl, don't tell me you still haven't moved on after-" she started to ask softly. "Don't! Don't even say it. It's in the past, and we promised not to talk about it anymore," Vinyl warned. Octavia dropped into a slightly more incredulous expression, looking somewhat annoyed instead. "I promised no such thing. You demanded I not, then wandered off to drink for six hours and cause three thousand seven hundred bits of property damage to the school!" she corrected. Err, should we be hearing this? "Psh, I so did not! I... err, wait. No, I remember the bill afterwards. Oh yeah, and his hospital fees. Dang it, Tavi! Just shush for a while," the DJ groaned out, exhaling weakly and adjusting her thick shades again. Hospital? Suddenly, I earned a healthy amount of fear-based respect for the mare. Everything had paused as we stared blankly at Vinyl. She bumped into the back of the wagon as it stopped moving, and that's when I realized that Big Mac and Noteworthy were staring around the side and back at her. She looked between all of us before flailing her hooves in the air a bit. "What?! He so deserved it! Almost every stallion is exactly the same way! All his friends stood up for him, too," she defended, showing a far less relaxed side of herself I wasn't used to. Despite her thick, nonchalant exterior, I realized that she was actually rather resentful deep down. That made me a little sad. "Vinyl, not every stallion is like that. Most in Ponyville are rather good-natured and kind. A lot of it is probably their upbringing and culture they're exposed to," Twilight reasoned softly, also adding a certain amount of theory into it, of course. Although, that wasn't entirely true, but she admitted that. If it was, shouldn't I be a complete monster? Vinyl scrunched her nose up at her, but Fluttershy nodded rapidly next to me, her eyes getting much larger. "Yes! I was surprised by the same thing. I, um, thought that all stallions were rough and, well, rather pushy. Of course, I'd never really gotten to know any of them," she admitted, pausing for a moment before smiling over at me and nodding. I smiled back, personally very happy I was the stallion she picked to get to know. "But Mender is oh-so gentle with me and so cuddly and polite and assuring and respectful and-" she started rapidly gushing next, swaying back and forth. Eh?! The barrage of compliments immediately caused me to shrink a little and blush again. Twilight giggled, interrupting with, "I think you've shown your point wonderfully, Fluttershy." The yellow mare looked momentarily sheepish before nodding slowly. "Oh, um, sorry. Yeah. I really, really care for Mender and am oh-so glad he proved me wrong. Now I feel silly for even thinking that way to begin with," she summarized quietly. I nodded, turning back to Vinyl and Octavia a second later. I started and tipped my neck back and away as I saw the DJ staring purposefully and intently at me. An exceedingly awkward ten seconds passed where she did nothing but stare before she roughly exhaled from her nose in a puff. "Okay, I admit, for everything I know about Mender, I realize he's significantly different than the type of stallion I was talking about. But he's a rarity! Definitely not the norm," she assured stubbornly. In all honesty, I didn't know if I should be happy she supported me, or sad that she thought so little of the others. Before I could say anything, however, Applejack surprisingly cut in. "What about mah brother? Or Noteworthy? Caramel? There are plenty o' good stallions in town that ain't tha 'love 'em an' leave 'em' type," she pointed out, sounding even more stubborn. Uh oh. Neither mare was likely to back down, which made me a bit concerned as to where this was going. The day was young, and I had plenty of opportunity left to meet my pain and accident quotas. "Hey, I'm totally a nice guy, too!" Spike cut in, crossing his arms over his chest and looking a bit offended. Smiling, I attempted to appease him as best I could. "She didn't list you too because you're not single, Spike. Aren't you already completely devoted to Rarity?" I pointed out calmly. Twilight smirked at me and Vinyl relaxed, smiling at the little dragon. "Totally, Spike. I already knew you were a great guy! She didn't even have to say anything," she assured, giving him an exaggerated winking motion. Well, actually it kinda had to be exaggerated when she wore those huge shades... "R-Really? Oh, I mean, of course my reputation precedes me," he muttered, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. Everypony grinned at that point. Heh, I just hoped Rarity had really considered my words that night. Regardless of the disruption, the wagon soon continued along the path, as we were lagging a bit behind everypony now. Pinkie, Octavia, and Vinyl headed back towards Ponyville, Pinkie herself departing with a promise to chew Rarity out for not being there. They'd said she had an order to fill and was too busy, but I had a sneaking suspicion she didn't trust herself under the effects of the estrus cycle around me. It was just strange thinking about her actually liking me like that. It definitely didn't have that same tingle that I got whenever I thought about Fluttershy and Twilight. The rest of the trip went uneventfully, Twilight and Fluttershy staying on as well to 'make sure I was comfortable,' as they so endearingly reasoned. To be honest, I didn't really want to leave them either. Not seeing either of them for two weeks was going to be hard. That was almost half the time I'd been in Equestria! Heck, that was an appreciable percentage of the time I'd been 'alive' in general. As myself anyway, rather than him. "Which cabin was yers again, Brother? Ah'll help ya haul tha things in," Applejack offered, once the wagon finally came to a stop. Things? I peeked at the rest of the contents of the wagon. Apart from the seven ponies and dragon, I noticed several general personal effects that must have been Big Mac's, and a ton of broken farming equipment. That confused me a bit, I wasn't going to lie. All three siblings treated it like normal, however, so I decided not to ask. Instead, I stood up and silently took in the surroundings from over the lip of the wagon. We were in a sizable meadow of sorts, with the taller grass cleared in a large area for a few dozen quaint structures. Most were rather large, easily able to fit half a dozen ponies comfortably. Smaller ones were towards the back of the area, and I guessed those were the couples' cabins. There was a small stream flowing through, slicing the field in half. Three wooden bridges were built over it and spread out for ease of access. It was far more set up than I thought it would be! The sunlight drifted down from overhead and the flowers speckled throughout the area gave a colorful, natural vibe to the place. Whitetail Woods was far more pleasant than the Everfree. "It's a nice place. Are you really sure you don't want me staying here with you, too? There are available couple cabins..." Twilight reminded softly, glancing over at me. Rainbow raised an eyebrow towards Twilight, who had no clue being pointed in the other direction. "Uh, that's so not a good idea, Twi. You kinda know that," she pointed out, noticing her visual cue wasn't getting attention. Twilight sighed, not turning back to look at her and instead just lowering her head. "I know. I just don't want Mender to be without both of us for two weeks," she muttered, not exactly sounding like she knew, honestly. I felt conflicted, because I kinda wanted her to stay too, but the consequences were too great. Something clicked a moment later in my head, and I felt my chest grow cold. Oh, oh hell. Could I even get either of them pregnant in the first place? Admittedly, I had no idea if my parts down there functioned properly, and if so, if I was compatible with them to begin with. Why hadn't I thought of that before?! Fluttershy had said that she really wanted foals... "Uh, are you okay, Mender?" Rainbow suddenly asked. I snapped out of it in time to notice all seven other cart occupants staring at me with concern. My cheeks felt cold, and I realized I must have paled considerably. Dang. I really should talk to Tia and see if she could give me poker face lessons. If even Rainbow noticed, who was the least observant of the Elements, I was in trouble! "Ah, sorry. I'm fine. Just was thinking too much," I attempted to assure. Twilight's eyes narrowed at me before I even finished the sentence, and I knew they weren't going to buy that. She didn't have to say anything, and I simply sighed, shaking my head. "Fine, I just suddenly realized that, um, I might not exactly be compatible with a normal pony. Everypony here knows I'm an alien. What if I, um, can't be the father of a pony in the first place?" I admitted. Twilight went from annoyed to curious looking; her ears twitched slightly as I practically saw her mentally jumping all over the new mystery. Fluttershy frowned instead and pulled my left foreleg against her chest in a re-assuring gesture. "We'll find a way, Mender. Even if you aren't compatible, you and Twilight are the smartest ponies I know. If you work together..." she suggested hopefully. I smiled gently at her. I'd expected to have to comfort her, not the other way around. "I'd have to run some tests and get samples to be sure. If you were still in the form of your old race, I'd probably immediately say no, but there's a possibility that your genes also changed with your new, pony form. If your chromosome count matches up with ours, that significantly improves the chances," Twilight explained quietly, mostly to herself, it would seem, as there was no request for input there. Rainbow suddenly perked up, eyes widening drastically. The three Crusaders shifted their attention to her in confusion at the motion. Well, more confusion, as they didn't appear to fully understand what we were talking about anyway. "Wait, are you saying that Mender can't get a mare pregnant?" she suddenly asked, ears perked into the air as she stared at me. Uh, isn't that what I just said? "What?! No!" Sweetie yelped, eyes widening at the same speed her ears fell, and she turned around rapidly to look at all three of us with rather sad eyes. "But, but, little foals are so cute and you really need to start your own family and, and," she started stuttering. Heh. She was such the matchmaker. "We're not sure yet, Sweetie Belle. Like I said, I'll need to run a few tests first. After estrus is over, of course," Twilight explained yet again, blushing a little at that last part. Really? I figured she'd want something to do during the couple weeks, and she usually liked experiments. Huh. Rainbow's ear twitched slightly and she looked back over at Twilight. "Wait, why are you waiting until after estrus to find out? If he can't get a mare pregnant, wouldn't that mean it's totally fine to stay here with him? Uh, you and Fluttershy, I mean, of course," she pointed out, flushing a little and looking away. Okay, something was up with her... Twilight looked less than amused at her, and Fluttershy quickly looked over at Rainbow instead. "Twilight wants to wait until she's ready to mate, and that wouldn't be possible if she stayed," I heard the yellow mare whisper through my mind, aimed at Rainbow of course. The cyan pegasus looked momentarily shocked before flattening her ears back. "She's crazy! Consequence-free sex during your heat? What mare wouldn't want that?!" Rainbow mentally shot back, looking exasperated now. The Crusaders, the reason I imagine this conversation had shifted to the mental plane, looked back and forth between the two pegasi. "They're talkin' in each other's heads, Ah bet," Apple Bloom deduced a moment later. Scootaloo looked less than pleased and immediately asked, "What? Why?! Why don't they just talk out loud?" Fluttershy lightly shook her head towards Dash, mentally adding, "Her heat isn't as bad as yours is, Dash." Oh, it wasn't? "Adult stuff," I warned, shaking my head to Scootaloo instead. They probably were used to hearing that, of course. Twilight raised an eyebrow to me. "Do I want to know?" she asked hesitantly a moment later. "So?! My heat is terrible! It's taken every ounce of willpower I have not to pounce him off the wagon, haul him up to a cloud, and rut his brains out," Rainbow mentally shot back, sounding upset now and... wait, what?! My eyes shot open wide, cheeks heating up to maximum temperature almost instantly. I probably matched a beet in color, now. It took no hesitation at all for me to shake my head to Twilight. "No, no you most definitely do not," I added, just to be sure. Rainbow looked perplexed and I rapidly looked away, earning a cough from Fluttershy. "Uhm, I probably shouldn't tell you this, and I'm sorry. Uh, Mender can kind of hear everything we say," Fluttershy mentally whispered back to her friend. Rainbow's eyes slowly expanded to the size of mine, her cheeks flaring up as well as her mouth dropping open. I'd never seen such a good look of shocked horror and embarrassment before. Twilight gave both of us a confused look and I inwardly groaned. This most certainly wasn't awkward as all hell. Depending on how long everypony decided to stay here with us, this was going to be a long day... * * * * * Quietly, I lay there relaxing. It was only the afternoon and I was already tired. That, and more than a little hungry. It had taken an agonizing ten full minutes to say goodbye to both Twilight and Fluttershy. I disliked saying goodbye at all, which didn't help matters. It reminded me too much of the times where I almost had to say goodbye forever, which weren't exactly pleasant memories. No! I refused to dwell on the details, and pushed it further out of my mind. Positive, Mender! Gotta think positive! Uh, Rainbow! She had been easy to deal with. She just freaked out for a good thirty seconds and flew away, leaving everypony apart from Fluttershy and I utterly confused. Twilight grilled me on that too for a while, but I refused to give any answers whatsoever and insisted she go ask Rainbow instead, of course. The answers wouldn't be pleasant for her, probably, and they technically weren't mine to give in the first place. The whole conversation had felt kinda like eavesdropping, which always left a bad taste in my mouth. Damn it! Stay positive, Mender! Hmm. Oh, I hadn't seen Spike or the Crusaders in about two hours! Wait, no, I was lonely, so that wasn't a good thing. I strained harder and realized just how lonely I really was. Movement danced around me as everypony went about their daily business. The stallions seemed to function perfectly fine without the mares around. Casual chatting, a couple games with strangely shaped balls, and the little foals being adorable and playing with each other gave me plenty to watch to shove away the boredom. Still, I didn't see anypony I knew, which lead me to believe that I really didn't know many ponies. Okay, I sucked at staying positive, it would seem. Even that statement there was negative, which was a little amusing to say the least. Heh. There's a positive! Kinda! I could laugh at myself when I was an idiot. Hmm. Weak, but it was the best I had. Oh, another positive! Ponies weren't currently throwing rocks at me. Giving up, I dropped my head down in the grass and zoned out again, peeking back inside of myself to see how things were doing. DNA was sorted out, everything except the gravity drive was repaired, and with my new calculations, that would be a disaster to turn off in order to fix. My new work-around was far gentler. I was in the process now of building an auxiliary slot to plug the fixed gravity dampener chip into. That would let me plug both of them in at once, and pull out the old one without interrupting the power supply. I really didn't want to kill anypony with tidal forces or sink into the ground like it was air. That just left the notes. A lot of them appeared to be from Doctor Kyliona herself, but I bet Keela had quite a bit more of them. It had been a couple days since I talked with her. Maybe I should do that later tonight? A dark part of me considered doing it right now and waking her up like she'd done to me so often, but I decided against it. That would be rude, my inner Fluttershy reminded. Staring at a couple stallions playing ball, I realized that honestly, I was kind of happy that not everything revolved around my problems and activities. I'd caused so much fuss lately that it was getting frustrating every time something fell into place that caused me to pull things out of the norm around here. I wanted to be a normal pony, cybernetics be damned. Although Clocky could stay. He was my friend. Smiling at the thought, I shakily stood up again and wandered a bit more. I'd been laying for a good half an hour, and my leg felt better again, so I guessed it was time for more exercise. Big Mac was sitting in front of our group's cabin still, working on reattaching the straps of a large plow, I noted. I'd offered to help him an hour ago, and it was about as productive as offering an apple to a brick wall. You couldn't get anywhere without throwing the thing. My example kind of broke down there, I decided. Still, I understood where he came from. He was like Applejack. This couple of weeks was irritating for him because he couldn't do anything, so he hauled a bunch of broken equipment along with him and repaired it while he was here, so he at least felt useful. I wasn't about to take that away from him, even if it made me feel about the opposite of useful. My somewhat brisk stroll led me down towards the river a few minutes later. Peeking in, I was amazed at how absolutely clear the water looked. I'd never seen water like this back in the other dimension. Everything had to be run through a purifier in order to get the gore, radiation, and bile out of it. Now that I thought about it, I was kind of happy to label those particular memories as his, and not mine. I shuddered while staring down at the water, being very glad I was here rather than there. As much as it was a problem for me to want to feel useful here, it was even worse over there. Literally, my only job had been coming up with more efficient ways to end the lives of others, preferably in mass. No, his job was that. I kept trying to remind myself of that. It was weird feeling like two entirely different individuals. His life was so bleak compared to this one. I kind of pitied him, which was weird considering he was kinda me. Nothing had ever gone my, err, his way there. No mate, no friends, no family, crap job, no respect, no anything really. The clinical, cold, unfeeling breeding programs even turned him down. It was no secret he thought of suicide a couple of times. There was no point in keeping it a secret. It was dealt with casually in the barracks. Saying goodbye forever was easy there. That felt the most hollow about it. Worse yet, there were perks for doing so. Sure, the voluntary breeding list was heavily regulated and screened. Even though it wasn't even a mate, it still meant that you could have a child if you were lucky. Some didn't even get on that. That led to another 'solution' the council thought up. Government sponsored euthanizing booths had been installed in quite a few locations in the city. Overpopulation for our planets had definitely been a problem, and there were already way too many males, so the solution? Offer the males who voluntarily offed themselves one free next of kin to be born, post-mortem. The booths did it all! It was as convenient as getting in and pushing a button. You didn't even need to waste the effort hitting yes for an 'are you sure' question. Clamps and a bit drill would pop up from the seat, take a sample and gore you at the same time, and then the booth would spray you down with acid until you dissolved. Rather clean, if not a bit on the noisy side. The smell wasn't exactly pleasant either. The benefit? One less male while the government got a small chance that the new Keldarian being born would be female instead. That was wining for them all around. You got assured that your legacy would go on, which was important to some males. Further, if you did have obscure family somewhere, the remaining members got entered into a lottery! Whoever won out of the few thousand contestants each month got a free upgrade one social status level! Yeah, a few families encouraged kids to use the booths in mass, too. That was pleasant. The first nine runners up at least got a twenty-credit gift card. I think the acid used to murder their loved one cost a little more than that, though. Snickering weakly, I stared down at the water, looking at my own morose reflection. Was it any surprise that I was so totally fine with being a pony? Of living in Equestria instead? I'd rather slice off all four of my legs than go back to the other dimension. Not that it would matter much, as they'd just grow back, but it's the thought that counts. Not that it further mattered. The Keldarians didn't exist as a species anymore. Just yet another mark on the massive list of species the Grosh wiped out, I'd imagine. That was the biggest mystery. Why? What were they so afraid of? Our strange, furless 'allies' weren’t much better. They weren't local. I knew that much. Galaxies, star clusters, star systems... Nothing from any of our scans. We thought we were alone until they came. They were a blight at first, honestly. They came with fast and aggressive traditions, advanced weaponry, faster than light travel, and a few thousand diseases we'd never even seen before. Eh. A few hundred thousand less males weren't that important, right? Our culture jumped up easily a thousand years after their arrival. If I had to honestly guess, they were what killed us. It had never been about the Grosh before then. We were magic users and tribesmen. Culture was everything. Sacred cleanliness was second only to divinity. We had no gods so much as we believed everything had a life force. Mana. Magic. Whatever you wanted to call it. Our allies called it animism. I never cared, learning about it in school. By the time 'I' was born, it was gone. Magic used to be sacred. It was practiced with moderation and used with respect for the betterment of all. Their culture warped us. Quick and easy instant gratification became prized above all else. The Grosh didn't kill us. We were dead long before that. Another reason I wanted none of that technology here in Equestria. Of course, we only found out later that our very magic had been dooming us with its overuse. Maybe something somewhere had a sense of humor? Or maybe it was just vindictive. The more we used and abused magic, the lower our female birth rates fell. By the time I was born, the ratio had been about thirty-seven to one on a good day. We were doomed and we knew it. But the council just kept pushing. Now I understood it. They were never out for preserving our race. They only wanted the most for themselves before everything went to hell. The Grosh following our allies to our system was just the last in a series of dominoes. And I'd thought it was weird that our allies showed up with their entire planet, warping it through space using amazing and massive wormhole technology. They were really fond of that planet. They started to help us fight them off, but the Grosh just kept coming. I remembered everything now. Generations had been spent fighting the Grosh. We were cannon fodder. What better way to cull the horrible male population than send ninety percent of them off to fight a hopeless war against abominations? It bought them time, I realized now. Three weeks before the end, the council vanished. No more contact or voices over the loudspeakers informing us of our 'sacred' duty to die for them. No more laws passed. No more judgments or courts. Most thought they were meeting in secret somewhere and planning a great counter-offensive. Idiots. They ran away. Our allies' planet disappeared the same day. Undoubtedly, they moved on to find a new race to use as fodder to hold off the Grosh for a while. If they gave us their technology, we could fight the Grosh for them and they wouldn't have to sacrifice much of anything. It was brilliant, if not monstrous. My eyes focused slowly back in again as I stared into the river. I snapped back to attention just in time to see the reflection of Carrot Top sitting directly next to me. I gave out a panicked yelp almost instantly and flailed sideways in surprise before falling into the very water I'd been watching. Sitting back up again, I looked back at her as she giggled in amusement, a soft smile on her face. "You looked too deep in thought for being on vacation, so I figured I'd come and cheer you up! I have laundry to do, so if you wanna join me to chat, you can," she offered, gesturing towards the baskets tied to each of her sides. I followed her nodding gesture a second later and saw two stallions and another mare down the stream a little ways further, also washing clothes. It only took me a moment to decide, already being mind-numbingly bored. I didn't want to return to my thoughts, that was for sure. "Um, okay. I was rather bored, you're right," I agreed, skipping over the darker answer in light of a white lie. Carrot Top nodded gently to me before helping me out of the stream. Both of us walked in relative silence towards the other three ponies. Maybe I really did need to stop thinking so much? Inner monologue tended to be bad for my health, I noticed. Deciding to try to relax for the rest of the day, I followed after my reasonably new friend.
Chapter 45It was somewhat interesting watching them wash the clothing. Not because the process fascinated me, of course, but because they were so adept at manipulating things using just their hooves. It must take a lifetime of practice to get that skilled with your hooves! Carrot Top deftly folded another wet towel in half, and then hung it on the line to dry a moment later. Towels appeared to be the most used thing that required washing, I noticed. It made sense, ponies not normally wearing clothes. I still felt better in Rarity's saddlebags, though. Well, technically my saddlebags. It was hard to think of myself owning any property apart from the book. Ventosus Lacuna gave a pulse at my side, both reminding me of its existence, and further pointing out that I technically 'owned' it as well. It didn't make sense, as I wasn't part of the original creator's 'bloodline', but if the blade was intelligent, maybe it understood the situation? Prudentia seemed beyond intelligent, being capable of full on sapience. "It still astounds me. I saw what that, well, thing did to the library. To hold off such a creature while badly injured is amazing!" Carrot Top complimented, causing me to sigh. She had wanted to hear from the source what had happened that night, of course. That appeared to be the most popular topic for ponies to ask me about. I knew it wasn't every day that an alien attacks Equestria, but I still wish they'd branch out into another topic occasionally as well. I'd even take the weather at this point. I shook my head weakly, looking down into the stream. "I'm an inventor. Being able to fight isn't exactly what I'd consider a bragging point," I muttered, looking into my reflection's eyes. The area under them was darker, hinting at the stupid nightmares that were becoming more and more frequent when I actually bothered to sleep. That monster loved to come out during my sleeping hours and make sure the details of the torture, combat, murder, and loneliness were as detailed as possible. "I'm sorry for asking. It's just got everypony on edge still. We're used to having problems, but all of them until now have come from somewhere in Equestria, not from someplace beyond. It's scary, but you being good at fighting isn't the point," she explained, folding another towel up. I gave her a curious, if not tired, glance. I hadn't known her for very long, but there were definitely familiar vibes coming from her. Her attitude reminded me a lot of a more relaxed Applejack. She caught my questioning glance and nodded, hanging up another towel before explaining, "I know it's rude of us, but I know I'm not the only one. Having somepony capable of not only knowing about these things, but defending against them is a huge relief. Before I knew what you'd done, I wouldn't even let my little filly out of the house!" It took me a moment, but I finally nodded. It kinda made sense. "I understand that much. That's technically not why I'm in Ponyville, but I'm extremely dedicated to making sure nopony gets hurt by any malicious attack, be it from an alien or otherwise. That much I'm sure of," I assured, staring back at my reflection in the water. Once a soldier, always a soldier. If that was what I was going to be stuck as, I might as well face it with dignity. This cause was a hell of a lot better than my last one, regardless. "Yes, I sometimes forget about your amnesia. Twilight is helping you recover from it, isn't she?" Carrot asked in a much softer, more hesitant voice. There hadn't been any stigma I'd encountered over the amnesia aspect so far, but there was indeed an extreme desire to not be rude from most of the ponies I'd talked to. It felt like she was more not wanting to offend me rather than thinking less of me because of it. "That's what it started as. Now I'm staying in Ponyville because of Twilight and Fluttershy. And most of my friends are there, as well," I elaborated, smiling finally. That was a positive, that was for sure. I didn't even have to struggle to disguise that one with fake optimism. She smirked, and I saw it coming. "Yes, I'm pleased the rumors were true all around. A secret agent of the crown, and dating two of the Elements of Harmony!" she cooed, tone impish and amused. I rolled my eyes, but felt a little heat enter my cheeks anyway. It wasn't as bad this time due to having seen it coming, thankfully. "It's not exactly a secret agent if everypony knows. I'm just a friend of the princesses and in a position to be of use to Equestria," I corrected, giving her a skeptical glance. She laughed, to my surprise. "You try to play down everything. Sheesh. I would have expected Rainbow Dash to rub off on you by now," she chided playfully. My cheeks flushed even harder instantly and I winced, crushing my eyes closed tight. Maybe if I couldn't see her, she couldn't see me? Bad thoughts! It took her a second, but she burst into more laughter a moment later, followed by, "Ha! Not like that, Mender! Oh ho ho, you're a perverted one!" I groaned and shook my head rapidly. "It's just the situation, I swear. Ugh, and an awkward talk earlier. Sorry," I apologized, opening my eyes again but rapidly looking away from the mare. It was still easy to see her eyes widen in the sides of my vision. "Uh oh. Did she actually try it? I knew her heats were bad, but dang! Maybe she should rent out one of the love shacks here, too!" she suggested, sounding equally surprised and amused. "No! Just, I accidentally overheard her talking when I shouldn't have. It was, uh, awkward for both of us," I corrected, being as vague as possible. Wait, love shack? Oh, probably a cute nickname for the couples’ cabins. The meaning was kinda lost on me, though. She’d told me more about them earlier anyway, amidst explaining that she was here with her husband, Written Script. Some couples or herds just prefered to get away from the ‘pheromone cloud’ that was Ponyville, as she worded it. I suppose I could see her point. He probably couldn’t focus very well on anything there anyway. Carrot Top snorted and shook her head, going back to washing a moment later. "Come now, Mender. Everypony has fantasies. She didn't act on them, so you should cut her some slack. That's the important part," she pointed out rather sagely. Fantasies? I thought about it for a moment before realizing I'd indeed never thought about it before. Sure, I was attracted in that regard to both Fluttershy and Twilight, but there was nothing particularly specific I thought about habitually. I snapped out of it in time to notice her staring at me. "Oh, sorry. I just realized I'd never really thought about it before. I don't really have any fantasies that I can, well, remember, so I guess it's hard for me to put it in perspective," I admitted, frowning lightly. Rather than look amused as I expected, Carrot looked a little sad instead, but nodded. "I'd never realized how thorough your amnesia was. The list of what you can remember is a lot smaller than the list of what you can't, isn't it?" she murmured, going back to distracting herself with the washing. "Almost everything was gone from my mind when I woke up in the forest. I wasn't even sure what my name, gender, or species was. At this point, I've given up trying to guess what I was like before, and am just trying to start a new life for myself," I explained. It wasn't so bad because I didn't know him in the first place. He could have had any personality, honestly, from just the few bits of memory I have that are directly his. Does it matter? No, I think I like who I am now, rather than what I might have been like before. "I'm sorry, Mender. If there's anything any of us can do, just let us know. Most of Ponyville feels the same way," she reminded, smiling at me again. I gave her a weak one back and nodded, of course. "I know. Thank you, Carrot Top. I just wish I knew what I did to offend whoever made those fliers. It's obvious that not everypony likes me." It had bothered me off and on since the accident. The use of enchanted fliers and the pure timing involved led me to believe it wasn't done just as a smear story. Bad publicity is one thing. A violent mob is on a whole other level! She outright snorted, to my surprise. "Whoever came up with that idea is a miserable little creature that should crawl back under whatever rock they came from. Such underhooved tactics are disgusting! If they have a problem with you and Twilight, they should step up and show themselves. That way all of us could get a chance to buck them down a few pegs," she growled, sounding outright hostile this time. My eyes widened as I looked at her, and she flushed a moment later, suddenly looking sheepish. "Oh, sorry. Dirty tactics get me riled up, especially if they're being used against one of my friends. I do hope I can be your friend, Mender," she offered, smiling gently instead. That choice was easy, and I gave her a double nod and smile. Friendship was magic, as Twilight would say. "Of course, Carrot. It's not your fault about what happened with the fliers, that's for sure. I'm sure between Fancypants, Princess Celestia, and Twilight, they can find out who was responsible," I assured calmly. She smirked again and shook her head, lowering the next towel towards the water. "You even know Fancypants, and saved all those ponies at the party, too! You really are something," she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. I rolled my eyes. Of course, I couldn't just come out and say I was probably at least partially responsible for the chandelier falling without admitting that I have a mostly repressed density somewhere a few magnitudes above a white dwarf star. That would probably be awkward. Almost as awkward as her face a moment later, as she shoved the towel directly into the mud instead of the river. I frowned, and watched hesitantly as the river dwindled rapidly, becoming nothing more than a little trickle running through a muddy channel within seconds. Well, that probably wasn't a good sign. "Oh, you're kidding me... What's going on?" she asked, frowning as she looked to the other three questioningly. They looked as confused as she did, however. My mind whirled into action. It was a rather simple issue, I realized. "There's only one thing that could have happened. Something's blocked off the flow further up the river. I'll follow it back along its bank and check it out," I said, standing again and stretching gently. The Whitetail Woods were considerably safer than the Everfree, and I was perfectly confident that even there, I could walk through it in the middle of the night and be totally fine. I guess there were perks to being a scientific abomination after all. "Are you sure?! What if it's something dangerous?" Carrot asked, whirling back around with wide eyes as I finished talking. "Then I'll take care of that, too. Just stay here in case you're right. I'll hopefully be back in a few minutes," I instructed, not wanting witnesses in case I had to extend a few tentacles, after all. To my extremely honest surprise, she nodded obediently and sat back down, looking more than a little worried. I wasn't used to ponies actually doing what I said, and it was more than a little awkward for a moment before I forced it from my head. Giving her a nod, I turned around and headed upstream towards the edge of the woods where it entered. Hopefully it was just a rockslide or something. To my surprise, Big Mac was already at the edge of the forest and turned, looking over at me. We exchanged nods as I walked up, and he asked, "Goin' in ta investigate? Ah'll tag along if so. Plum curious happenin', honestly." He already knew about what I was, so that much didn't concern me. Seeing what he did to his door a while back when Applejack was in trouble also reminded me of what the excessively large stallion was capable of, and I nodded. "Yeah. It's probably just a few rocks that fell over or something, but we'd best be careful just in case," I warned absently, heading past him and into the forest. I heard his snicker of amusement behind me as he followed, surprisingly quietly for a stallion of his size. "Ah doubt we need ta worry too much. Whitetail is fairly tame," he reminded. I noticed his habit of lopping off any unneeded words from his statements. He really didn't like talking. Hopefully appealing to his personality, I just nodded back to him and started my silent tracking of the source of the problem, my weak leg shifting to armor after we got well away from the cabins... * * * * * It didn't take us more than ten minutes to find the source of the problem with the river. It's not like we were exactly rushing, but it was an extremely noisy problem that could be heard from considerable distance away. "Aaaah, no, row the other way! You're gonna flip us!" I heard Scootaloo shout in obvious distress upon getting close enough. Oh. I should have known, honestly, that it would have something to do with them. I gave a questioning glance back at Big Mac, but he just sighed and wearily shook his head. Yeah, he probably had that thought, too. "This ain't ah canoe, Dodo! Ah'm usin' mah hooves tha best Ah can, but we're goin' in circles!" I heard Apple Bloom yelp a moment later. What the hell did they do, make a lake? "But, I can't swim! Oh no, oh no..." Sweetie added. Aww, crap. My biomechanical parts took over in my leg as Big Mac nodded to me, and both of us burst into a sprint towards the direction of their voices. "Calm down, Sweetie. Grab hold o' me, an' Ah'll swim fer both o' us if we fall in," Apple Bloom tried to assure. That wouldn't be a good idea with a panicking filly! Apple Bloom probably knew how hard it would be to swim with Sweetie if the little unicorn was freaking out. Ten seconds later, Big Mac and I skidded to a halt in front of a somewhat sizable drop. To my surprise, the entire indent below us was flooded with a considerable amount of water, and the three fillies floated in the middle of it, stuck to a log that looked like it drifted free from the larger chunks. A makeshift dam had been constructed from mud, rocks, and branches, it looked like, and it was actually nicely put together. I didn't have time to admire the details, however, and scanned down into the water. Five meter drop, and at least three meters deep. Plenty. "I'm gonna go get an adult! We need help!" I suddenly heard. I looked back up and spotted, to my surprise, two other foals on the opposite edge of the shore from us. It was the young filly who said that. She was a raspberry color with a slightly darker mane and tail. The colt, who was smaller than her, was a light tan with darker brown for his. Further, he sported a camera?! Damn it! My leg shifted back to normal almost instantly as I looked over at Big Mac. "Got ah plan?" he asked softly, sharp eyes examining the situation and looking along the dam. There were plenty of loose logs we could snag them with, of course. There was still a current as the water had gone over the top of the dam at this point, but it didn't look that strong. I frowned, and considered the options. "Can you swim?" I asked him, walking further to the left and sliding down onto a lower ledge. "Eeyup. Work yer way down. Ah'll get ta tha dam an' head 'em off," he offered, going down the other direction. I noticed they were spinning in that direction, slowly getting pulled by the water flow. "No! Don't go get an adult! We're gonna be in enough trouble as is!" Scootaloo called back, halting the other filly in her tracks as she paced. Then her eyes widened as she spotted both of us sliding down the cliff. Sweetie perked at her expression and turned to look, gasping as well. "Mender! Big Mac! Help us! I can't swim!" she called out, waving towards me as the log spun. No, don't do- The waving motion was all they needed to go over sideways, Apple Bloom letting out a frantic yelp as the log spun. Scootaloo held on hard and rotated completely under the water, coming up the other side soaked and missing the two other passengers. Shit! "No! Hang on!" Big Mac shouted, running along the dam now and rapidly getting in front of the log. No, that would be too slow. They might not be able to get back onto it! Out of options, I jumped. Inhaling sharply, I kicked on my rebreather as I dropped the two and a half meters into the water, slipping into as best a dive as I could. The impact stung like crazy on my left leg, but I slipped under the water an instant later and looked around for any sign of the two fillies in the murky fluid. Damn it! Particles from the newly created ‘lake’ were stirred up everywhere, and I could barely see a meter in front of me! It took almost five seconds for me to get over to where they were when the log flipped, and I spotted somepony sinking slowly and kicking, righting themselves in the water. Apple Bloom knew how to swim, so I guessed that was her. I kicked sharply, redirecting my momentum and launching myself into her from underneath and a little bit behind. She flailed in surprise, but I propelled both of us back to the surface, pushing her against the log we'd come up next to. She burst into coughing and hacking, and then looked back at me with bewilderment. I didn't have time to answer anything, and kicked the log towards the now wading Big Mac before diving again. At least he was in a position to grab the thing before it went over the other side of the dam. Damn it, Sweetie! Why were you even doing this if you couldn't swim?! Ten seconds passed, then fifteen and I grew desperate. Clocky had shifted to a timer of how long it had been since Sweetie fell in. Twenty seconds was enough for somepony who actually inhaled before going under, but... My eyes flared up and I switched over to particle scanning through all the crap in the water, frustration taking hold as I couldn’t find the small filly. I made my way back to where the log had first spun again, but she was nowhere near where Apple Bloom had been. Damn it! Left and right I looked, the particle scanning barely able to pick up anything in the flurry of movement that was the dirt and wood particles in the water. I had plenty of air in my ‘tank’ from after depositing Apple Bloom, so I sank further down into the water. Thirty seconds had passed now, and I was starting to panic. Finally, after thirty five seconds, I managed to find her. Amazingly enough, she had sunk like an admirable rock, which actually took skill to do. She'd managed to sink down to the absolute deepest part of the lake, and I saw her mane tangled around a dead log wedged into the dirt. I carefully shifted my angle downwards before performing a couple calculated whips of my back legs and shooting myself down towards the thrashing filly. Sweetie Belle was upside down, and didn't seem to realize that as she flailed in blind panic, a flurry of bubbles coming from her. Her mane got wrapped around her foreleg however and whipped her sideways instead, ineffectively spinning in the water as I got closer. No bubbles came from her muzzle though, which was open in the water as her eyes were wide with panic. Shit! I hit against her a moment later and wrapped my hooves around her waist. Her eyes opened even wider and she struggled against me, flailing and hitting my left foreleg with her hoof, hard. I winced, but maintained my hold on her, deciding to attempt to get her pointed upright before breaking her free of the log. Her struggle weakened by the time I got her spun around, her eyes losing their focus as they started to roll up into her head. Forty five seconds. Her lungs were probably flooded with water at this point. Damn it, there wasn’t any choice! Adjusting my internal pressure, I inverted the value for the second and third airway on the rebreather, a vacuum forming in my lungs before I pushed my muzzle into hers, forming as tight a seal as I could. Her body spasmed weakly, but she didn't look coherent enough to even react, going limp against me. Come on, work! The pressure difference between us sucked the water from her lungs in a few seconds, and I resisted the choking sensation as it got shoved into the practical black hole that was my stomach a moment later. That was… unpleasant. The second the water stopped coming, I switched over to the rebreather instead, and felt the fresh oxygen flood into her body. At first, nothing happened apart from her lungs slowly inflating and her eyes gradually closing. Sweetie! My right hoof whipped around and whacked her in the side of the shoulder lightly. Her eyes shot open again and she gasped into an inhale against my muzzle, sudden focus shifting back into her eyes as they locked with mine. Yes! Thank you! Her eyes widened as she went rigid instead of limp, looking down at where our muzzles connected and drifting there against me with her mane and tail billowing about her in the mud. Slowly, her forelegs wrapped around my neck as I held her there, pushing as much air as I safely could into her. Seven or eight seconds later, I used my hooves to clamp her muzzle shut as I pulled back and nodded to her. It hardly took any time at all to smash apart the water-soaked log with my back hooves, and I kicked off the floor of their newly formed lake. She held on around my chest as hard as she could, and we broke through with two gasps, hers followed by coughing and hacking as she got the rest of the leftover water out of her lungs. Damn, that had been way too close! My left foreleg gave a powerful throb of protest as I winced. I turned, shoving her onto my back with my right foreleg instead, and drifted gently towards the recovering fillies and Big Mac on the dam. "Sweetie! Yer okay!" Apple Bloom called out, sitting up as she spotted us. All three of them looked like soaked rats, which I had no doubt Sweetie and I shared. She didn't reply, instead wrapping her forelegs around my neck and shivering there. It took me a second, but I heard her start to cry through the sloshing of the water in my ears. Damn it. I wished I'd been faster in finding her. Big Mac nodded towards me, then hooked my right foreleg with his and hauled me up and out of the water when we washed up at the dam. He was utterly soaked, and the sight of the log on top of the dam suddenly made me realize he'd dove in and hauled them both up along with it. Apple Bloom pounced on Sweetie instantly, but couldn't manage to dislodge her from my back. "Sweetie! It's okay. Yer safe now," she assured. Scootaloo sat up half a meter away and gave us a sad look as well. The little unicorn refused to move, however, shivering against my back and openly crying now. Frowning, I rotated her around to my front easily enough due to being soaked, and wrapped my right foreleg around her. She desperately buried her muzzle into my neck and just shivered, giving out soft sobs every few seconds. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both went quiet as they shifted forward to gently massage her back. Big Mack shook his mane a moment later, wringing some of the water from it before sitting down next to us and frowning at the little filly. He knew as much of what to do as the rest of us, it would seem. I'd seen it before, though. Almost dying was terrifying, as an understatement. Soldiers that are gravely wounded but survive went into shock sometimes, realizing exactly how close they came to dying. I'd imagine it was the same for accident survivors, like in this case. All you could do was offer comfort and support to them. I hugged her gently as the other two foals ran up as well. It didn't take long for me to be temporarily blinded by an intense flash of light. "Oh no, are you three okay?!" the pink filly asked, sliding to a stop right next to us. "I'm soaked, and freezing," Scootaloo complained, pushing harder against Sweetie and me for warmth as emphasis. Apple Bloom looked close to tears herself as she shook her head and hugged Sweetie's back. "No, we're not," she admitted weakly, pushing her nose into Sweetie’s neck as the little unicorn continued crying against me. I looked over at Big Mac and shook my head. "They need to dry off and warm up. Can you carry Apple Bloom and Scootaloo on your back?" I asked, gesturing back in the direction of camp. He nodded gently and lifted them both off me in an instant. His little sister looked like she was used to being carried, but Scootaloo looked even less pleased about the situation. "I can walk, you know," she complained weakly. "Yer in enough trouble," Big Mac warned, shutting her up instantly with the shortest sentence possible. I smiled to him as I stood up with Sweetie Belle, slipping her onto my back again before following Big Mac up the slope with a sharp limp. My left leg throbbed with each push of pressure I put on it, and I knew it would be swelled up by the time we got back to the cabins. Great. Stopping, I frowned as I turned around, looking back at the dam as the other two scampered past me. My left hoof tapped gently against the dirt and a flare of magic shot along the ground an instant later. I felt a little tired afterwards, but a small, circular hole was cleanly sliced into the bottom of the dam. The water started to pick up speed again and become like the river it was before as Big Mac and I stepped out onto the bank. "Ya sure yer gonna be able ta make it?" he asked, nodding towards my left foreleg. I glanced back at Sweetie, but she only winced and held onto me tighter, as if hearing my mental thought. Guess there was nothing else for it. I turned back to him and gave a small shrug, to which he actually smiled and nodded. "Come on, then. Ya can rest all ya want when we get back," he assured, turning and heading back towards the path. Another flash of light hit me as he moved out of the way, and I winced, blinking at the spots. "Featherweight! I know you want to put this in the paper, but stop blinding him!" the pinkish filly chastised irritably. I glanced back up at Featherweight a moment later, and he gave me a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I get excited sometimes! You're Moon Mender, right?" he asked in a rather soft and high voice, cutting in next to me as I continued walking. The second she said paper, a creeping sensation drifted into me. The last picture they got of me was manipulated into looking like some sort of monster. I sighed, but nodded. "Yes, I'm Moon Mender. You can just call me Mender, though. Featherweight, right? I'm guessing you're a reporter?" I inquired wearily, not looking at him as I focused more on not screaming every time I put my left forehoof down. Sweetie had quite a kick! Although, it would probably be hurting even if she hadn’t hit it while struggling. Glancing back to check on her again, I noticed she’d gone silent and was just shivering, clinging to my back now. She held on far tighter than she needed to, as if she’d be yanked away from me if she eased up even a little. My eyes softened as I watched her. Damn it. "Well, I want to be when I grow up! Right now I just report for the school newspaper, and give Ponyville's news a few pictures every once in a while for a bit of extra bits," Featherweight explained suddenly, snapping me out of my daze somewhat. "He doesn't give any pictures to the Canterlot papers, don't worry," the young filly said to the other side of me. Heh, she was a sharp one. I relaxed slightly, and nodded to her, getting a smile back. "I'm Berry Pinch, by the way! Just Pinch is fine. I don't think anyone from Ponyville will be giving the Canterlot newspapers much business for a while, don't worry," she added, smile widening as I snickered. "Admittedly, that wasn't a pleasant experience for me. I don't know what I did or who I upset..." I agreed, pulling up my positioning system to check where I was and how long until I could fall on my face and go to sleep for a while. I said I wanted exercise, but damn! The little filly snorted irritably and shook her head. Featherweight raised his hoof gently towards her before she could say anything, though. "Relax, Pinch. I'm gonna make sure the truth gets reported, at least in our school newspaper," he promised, noticing her irritation. She sighed at that and absently nodded as they both followed after me. It was strange, really. Honestly, I admitted that I just wanted to be a normal pony, but I guess I'd have to settle for working towards just a normal day instead. That would be tricky enough... * * * * * Admittedly, I fully surprised myself. I'd locked my jaw to prevent myself from having the urge to cry out and scream at the top of my lungs by the time we got back to the cabins. Ten minutes had expanded into almost thirty at the speed I was forced to go as the leg got worse and worse. Big Mac looked considerably concerned by the time we broke the clearing, as both my knee and ankle swelled to the point that the frame of my brace was pushing into the skin. The tissue underneath was inflamed, and I felt the blood pooling towards my hoof with every angry, hot throb. Thankfully the muscles themselves were mostly numb at this point. "Ah! You're back! You must have gotten the blockage fixed and, uh, oh no!" Carrot Top called out, grinding to a halt as she saw that five of the seven ponies walking towards her were miserably soaked. To my surprise, Nurse Redheart was not only outside, but standing by her cabin and watching the woods with a full medical supply? She perked up, then frowned as she saw us coming towards the camp, then snatched the supply saddlebags and galloped towards us. Heh. Somepony must have told her I went off into the woods, and she predicted this. Relief hit me, and my left foreleg stopped moving of its own accord. It was like I just hit a brick wall with it, and all the energy just left the muscles all at once. It refused to listen to anything more and gave out against me. Wincing, I wedged the hinge on my brace and used just the metal to support myself on that leg while I rebalanced, trying not to rouse the sleeping filly on my back. Carrot Top just turned and grabbed her entire towel basket, running over to us at the same time Nurse Redheart got there. "Lie down, Mender!" Redheart ordered, sliding to a stop in front of me. That I couldn't do. "No, Redheart. I'm sorry, but please check out Sweetie Belle first. She almost drowned," I requested, kneeling slightly to show her the soaked and unconscious filly who was still holding onto my neck. Her eyes shot open in surprise before she pulled the little unicorn off me. "Ah, no! Mender!" Sweetie screamed out practically as soon as she was lifted, snapping awake in an instant and lashing out for me in panic. W-What? "Sweetie, calm down! You're on land now, and I'm not going to take you away from Mender. I need to check you out for a moment, okay?" Nurse Redheart cooed in a gentle voice. I started to smile before the ground shook slightly and I heard a muffled yelp to my left. Eh? I hadn't been paying attention to Big Mac or the other two fillies at all. Both other Crusaders were wrapped up softly in towels, but I was surprised to discover that Big Mac had been solidly tackled to the ground by Carrot Top, who was literally making him dry off and wrap up in towels. "Y-You just cleaned these, Carrot!" he tried to protest weakly, struggling to rise again without hurting her. She smirked on top of him and rapidly shook her head, focusing her weight on awkward to turn locations on his hips and shoulders. "No problem, Macky! You need to dry off, and I won't take no for an answer," she stubbornly 'assured' in a playful tone. I snickered, realizing that Applejack's stubbornness had apparently rubbed off on Big Mac as well. They acted awfully familiar with each other, though, but I remembered that Big Mac was single. Family, maybe? In my distraction, I didn't realize my brace joint pop the other way. As it jarred me and I started to tip, I just sighed and resigned myself to the fate, attempting to land as flat as I could against my side. Spreading out the impact zone if you had to take a fall was a good way to reduce damage, I remembered. Both Nurse Redheart and Sweetie Belle yelped as I fell onto my side with a dull thud, wincing and sliding a few inches before coming to a rest. My side heaved with my breathing and I just let my whole body relax, the dull throbs dancing across my injured leg like a parade of hyper Pinkies wearing climbing spikes. Aaahh, damn! Regardless, not moving had never felt so good before. "No, Mender!" Sweetie called out, struggling against Nurse Redheart. The mare turned her over so she couldn't get traction with her hooves, and lightly pressed the stethoscope to a different location on the filly's chest. "We're almost done, Sweetie. Hang on. You've got a wheeze, but that's to be expected. No pressure damage, and it sounds like an amazing amount of water is already gone from your lungs. You're a very lucky filly," Redheart reported after another half a minute of listening. Sweetie's eyes slowly expanded more and more as she looked at me from an upside-down perspective. "Try not to think about it, Sweetie. Just rest and think of fun things," I whispered softly to her. She hesitated for a moment, but gave me a shaky nod, a soft pink tinting her cheeks a moment later. Eh? I honestly didn't want to ask what she'd suddenly decided to think about. Pinch and Featherweight attempted to circle around me, and tried to unhook the clasp on my leg brace with very little success. "Dang! How do you get this thing on and off by yourself?" Pinch asked after trying three times to get her hoof under the catch for it. "I use my magic," I shot back simply. It wasn't that far fetched for me to realize that a lot of ponies probably didn't immediately jump to the conclusion of an Earth Pony manipulating something with spells. It was probably fairly consistent in their culture that doing so was a Unicorn thing. "Mender! Big Mac!" I suddenly heard Spike call out from the direction of our cabin. A second later, I remembered that he had fingers. Wincing, I looked up at him and nodded, gesturing him towards me as he ran. His eyes widened as he saw my leg all puffed up, and he shifted his direction, skidding to a stop in front of me. "Ah! I'll get the brace off," he assured instantly, assessing the situation just as quickly as I expected from the number one assistant of Twilight. It took almost no time at all for him to snap the clasps open and unhook the brace with his claws. They were surprisingly dexterous, I realized. Sweetie embedded herself against my chest again as soon as Nurse Redheart let her go, almost running the little dragon over to get back to me. "Whoa! What happened?!" he asked after falling out of the way of the charging filly. I caught her and hugged her gently as she pushed her face into my fur again. This was starting to get a little disconcerting. "Mender s-saved my life," Sweetie Belle revealed, not moving an inch as Pinch wrapped a blanket around her from behind. Featherweight surprised me by covering me up with one as well while Redheart looked at my leg. She sighed a moment later and shook her head, giving me a skeptical look. "You walked all the way back here on it with Sweetie Belle, didn't you? Mender, you have to take it easy or you're going to damage your leg," she warned, surprising me with an uncharacteristic level of seriousness and concern. Apple Bloom yanked Spike back by the tail before he could say anything else, as I looked away from Nurse Redheart, wincing. I knew it was a bad idea, but I was worried about Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo sat next to us as well, silently watching Apple Bloom whisper into Spike's ear. She was undoubtedly relaying what happened in private so Sweetie didn't have to hear it again. At least I guessed as much, as his eyes got wider and wider the longer the filly whispered. Redheart pulled my attention back to her with a soft nudge to my shoulder a moment later. "Mender, I don't mean to sound harsh towards you. I'm just worried for you, is all. You're, well, you're not just technically my boss, but you're my friend, too. You don't take good enough care of yourself," she explained, eyes softening as she watched me. I was used to the teasing, joking Redheart, but I guessed she definitely had real aspects to herself as well that were more serious. It actually caused my respect for her to grow a bit more. I nodded to her and relaxed, gently letting my leg rest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be reckless. I couldn't let anything bad happen to anypony, but I guess I don't often consider myself in that regard," I admitted, flattening my ears back a bit, sheepishly blushing at my own silliness. My nurse giggled and nodded in return before glancing to the side. To my surprise, I hadn't seen Noteworthy walk up next to us. A stretcher rested on the ground next to me, and I saw it coming. "I'm going to keep an eye on your leg for a couple hours, to make sure the swelling goes down properly. The three fillies involved in the incident also should come along. I'd like to check everypony for injuries," the nurse explained, standing up again fully. Noteworthy smiled and nodded to me as he helped slide me over and onto the stretcher. I coughed lightly and looked away from him, a little embarrassed that I'd managed to injure myself yet again. Thankfully, he just snickered and shook his head. "You're really something, Mender," he noted. The way he said it, I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. A glance showed Nurse Redheart moving around behind me and hooking the other end of the stretcher as they lifted Sweetie and me up. For half a second, I could have sworn I saw her looking at my flank. She caught me looking at her, however and rapidly looked ahead, steering towards her cabin that doubled as the medical facility. Seriously? This was going to be a long two hours... * * * * * One hour, twelve minutes, and forty-five seconds later, I was checking the clock on every five-second mark. It had gone agonizingly slowly as I rested on a cot, the pain having long since passed in my foreleg. Sweetie Belle stayed tucked against my other foreleg, resting there and not paying much attention to the outside world. Apple Bloom sat on the cot next to us, switching repeatedly between concerned glances at Sweetie and annoyed stares at Scootaloo. Scootaloo, however, well... "Gah! This is sooooo boring! We won't go anywhere near the forest, Sweetie Belle. Let's just go out and do something! Anything!" Scootaloo continued to complain. It had been almost non-stop for the last twenty minutes, and I was starting to shiver from the blaring headache. I was tempted to flick my gravity 'just' enough to yank her tiny head into the bar of the cot and knock her out, but she was just too adorable, regardless of how annoying it was. Sure, I could just mention I had a headache and Nurse Redheart would have a dozen varying types of pain medication to me within seconds, but she was kind of scary at the moment. Even with my head down, I could hear her hooves on occasion. From the sounds of it, she was still hovering nearby, just waiting for me to request something or complain that something was hurting. I mean, dang. I thought she took medication to lessen this?! I made a mental note to never get near her when she was in full estrus. "You three can go outside if you want. I'm sure Spike wouldn't mind keeping you company," Nurse Redheart suggested softly. What, and leave me alone with her? I swallowed uneasily but didn't say anything. Sweetie Belle rapidly shook her head, however, making no effort whatsoever to even shift positions. Okay, this was starting to be a little on the strange and worrisome side. "Sweetie, are you okay? I know what you went through was scary, but you don't have to sew yourself to me, you know," I asked gently, trying to raise her head up with my hoof. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo perked up at my voice, and Scootaloo turned to look as well. Sweetie looked back up at me a moment later with absolutely massive eyes, fidgeting a little with her hooves. "B-But I don't, um, I don't feel... Does that mean you want me to leave?" she asked, eyes softening as they started to get watery instead. Aww, damn it! "Don't be silly, Sweetie Belle! He ain't gonna kick ya out. Yer just startin' ta worry us ah bit. Yer actin' weird," Apple Bloom assured to her friend, hopping off the cot and jumping up next to me, letting Sweetie Belle see her. The little unicorn's ears flattened back and she frowned, eyes starting to get more watery instead of less. I felt my chest tighten and I swallowed, really wishing she'd stop crying. "But he, um, Mender saved my life! Don't you understand? I would have... I would have drowned if it weren’t for him. I wouldn't be here!" she exclaimed, the anxiety skyrocketing in her voice as tears slipped down her cheeks again. "Now you're starting to sound like Spike did! You saw how awkward the two of them got. Do you want to freak out Mender like he did with Applejack?" Scootaloo asked, back to sounding irritated. The ears hit the back of Sweetie's head at that, and she started openly crying again. Gently, I wrapped my right foreleg around her again but she pushed it away and crawled forward instead, getting right into my face before asking, "Please, Mender! Anything. Is there anything I can do at all? I don't want to, um, be a burden and if you want me to leave, I'll go. Please!" I swallowed uneasily, trying to pull my head back into the pillow as far as it would go to keep space between us. Nurse Redheart intervened, however, walking up and sliding the little filly backwards and away from me. "No!" she squeaked out, grabbing onto my right foreleg and not letting go. "Sweetie, stop this. Relax. Did you know that Mender technically saved all of us?" Nurse Redheart asked softly. I froze for a moment before remembering that technically everypony in the room knew the majority of my secrets. The unicorn stopped struggling and gave her a questioning glance backwards. The nurse just smiled and nodded to her, making me relax a bit. She was helping? "Yup. If he hadn't stopped that female the night of the incident, she would have destroyed Ponyville. None of us would be here right now," she explained. Eh? Why was she telling her that? "Hey, yeah! We all should thank Mender!" Apple Bloom suddenly exclaimed, looking like she just realized that in the first place. What?! Nurse Redheart snickered and shook her head gently. "As much fun as that sounds, you three are about two years too young. But do you see anypony else trying so hard, Sweetie? I know it's more personal for you, but maybe you could truly pay him back by just being there for him and being friendly?" she suggested softly, giving her a soft smile. Despite being unsure of her intent with that first part, I smiled and nodded to the second. I saw what she was doing now by trying to remove the personalization. A bit backwards compared to the logic I was used to, but if it worked, who was I to argue? Sweetie Belle looked hesitant, then glanced back at me after a long few seconds. I gave her a gentle but assuring smile, hopefully. I was still uncertain of my expressions with a muzzle, despite having been here for a while now. It was the subtle things that were hard to grasp. "But, Mender-" Sweetie Belle tried to interrupt. Nurse Redheart shook her head, cutting the filly off with, "No, Sweetie Belle. You're not staying this close to Mender for Mender's sake, are you? This is for you." Eh?! Wait, why was she staying here with me if not for me? Was she still frightened over what happened? "What? Yes I am! It's just-" she tried to continue. Apple Bloom cut her off this time. "Sweetie, yer not bein' truthful. Ya know better than this. Tha rest o' us know why you're doin' this," she pointed out. Oh, they did? I weighed the social stigma around asking them why she was staying. Would that be rude? I couldn't decide, and didn't want to offend any of them. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and sighed, also adding, "After Rarity kissed him, you've been talking a lot about it, remember?" Sweetie Belle flattened her ears back further, backing away from them and back into my chest as she blushed lightly. Rarity? When she kissed me? "Wait, she what? Is Mender's herd 'open' in that regard?" Nurse Redheart asked suddenly, widening her eyes a little. Open? Eh, I was getting confused, so I just decided to ignore her for now. Sweetie Belle was having trouble with Rarity, then? What in Equestria did that have to do with me?! My brain wracked itself trying to think of anything at all I'd heard between Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Twilight had mentioned a really bad fight a while back where they almost stopped being sisters, but I thought that had been patched up. Oh! Oh... Oh no. I suddenly realized what she was talking about! "But I... he... under the lake he-" Sweetie started, before I interrupted her this time. "Sweetie, if you're having a fight with Rarity, you really need to patch it up. I know I don't have a little sister or anything, but that doesn't mean it's okay to declare me a big brother or something. Rarity is your actual sister, so you need to work things out. I can try talking to her if you want," I offered, attempting a reassuring but stern tone. Four blank looks greeted me, and I hesitated, coughing lightly a moment later. "Um, what?" Nurse Redheart asked awkwardly, tilting her head in confusion at me. Okay, had I gotten that wrong? "Ah! No! I don't want you as a big brother, Mender!" Sweetie Belle squeaked out in shock a moment later, before suddenly smashing both hooves into her muzzle and blushing rather impressively. Scootaloo started snickering in amusement, and I frowned. That was a rather… negative reaction to that. Was she…? "Oh, um, it's okay to tell me, Sweetie. If you don't like me, you don't have to keep doing this for appearances or anything," I explained, ears dropping back again. Was that what this was about? She appeared to really regret saying that. Apple Bloom slapped her forehead, and Scootaloo fell over sideways as she laughed hysterically. Ugh. Okay, I was just going to stop talking. I was just making an idiot of myself, I realized with a hint of bitterness. "No, Mender! I really like you! I really do... it... but under the lake you... you kissed me!" she squeaked, the blush getting worse suddenly. My eyes expanded rapidly, at the same time Scootaloo's laughter was disrupted by a choking, coughing noise instead. Apple Bloom's head shot up in a second, her eyes widening about as fast as mine. Redheart gave Sweetie a skeptical glance instead, however. "W-What?! Sweetie, that wasn't a kiss," I tried to explain, feeling myself pale a little. Oh hell. Was I in trouble for using the rebreather now?! "I'm guessing you suddenly found yourself able to breathe again at the same time?" Nurse Redheart asked, ignoring the ringing sound as Scootaloo sat up into the underside of the cot next to us and whacked herself in the forehead, yelping lightly. Apple Bloom relaxed on the mattress and nodded, eyes softening visibly. Sweetie nodded rapidly, however. "Yeah! He shared his air with me through a kiss! It was so romantic!" she exclaimed, eyes getting bigger again. I resisted slapping my forehead. Did she think I liked her 'like that' now? So she was staying close to me because she thought I liked it and owed me for saving her life? That didn't sit well with me at all. "Sweetie, I have a rebreather system built into me that can provide an air supply. You, um, weren't looking so good when I finally got to you and I didn't have a choice," I tried to explain gently, rubbing her on the shoulder with my right forehoof. Scootaloo was apparently just fine, as she started snickering again after Apple Bloom pulled her out from under the cot by hooking their tails. The little filly blushed even more and shook her head at me, edging closer. "No, I know it was needed. You saved me with it. I-I don't mind at all," she assured, the flush creeping up the bridge of her nose now, connecting the two tones on her cheeks. I suddenly wasn't entirely sure what the problem was, and got confused again. Nurse Redheart sighed and thankfully started talking before I could shove my hoof down my throat again. "Sweetie, it's a medical technique. It's not meant to be a kiss, and there are a lot of differences between the two. He was forming a seal with your muzzle so he could get you fresh air," she explained gently, pulling the little filly back and hugging her lightly around the shoulders. Sweetie's eyes widened a little and she shook her head rapidly. "No he... he meant it as a kiss, right?" she asked, suddenly sounding unsure. The blush faded and her eyes started to water again. My mind blanked for a second as I stared at her. Wait, she wanted it to be a kiss?! Wasn't she too young to want that sort of thing? It suddenly all snapped into place almost instantly. The reason she spent more time with me; the reason she stayed so close to me; it was all because she had a crush on me?! A little pang went through me as I realized that she hadn't been spending so much time with me exactly for the reason I thought she had been. "I, um, understand now. I'm flattered Sweetie, but," I started. Her ears drooped as she stopped fighting Nurse Redheart and sank lower. I swallowed painfully, but shook my head. "You're too young, Sweetie. You're a nice filly and I like hanging out with you, but I think you should wait a couple of years. Um, you shouldn't try to pursue just a crush anyway," I explained, struggling to find any wording I could to upset her the least. Her sudden frown told me distinctly that I had failed. "He's right, Sweets. Ah told ya that ya needed ta wait an' be sure, not ta mention it ain't legal anyway," Apple Bloom muttered, looking a little sad herself. Oh yeah, it wasn't legal, either. Yeah, that was important, too. I nodded in agreement. Sweetie looked downright angry now, glaring over at Apple Bloom before yelling, "It's not a crush, and I'm old enough! I, um, I love Mender! I'll share him with Fluttershy and Twilight and not get in their way! It can work..." I winced at the volume, while Scootaloo looked at her like she'd lost her mind. I chalked another day off the attempt at that whole 'normal' thing, and resigned myself to thinking of a way to appease the little filly. "Sweetie, you could get Mender in trouble by trying, and you don't want that, right? We understand you really do have feelings for Mender and, if you still feel the same in two years when you're old enough, I'm sure he'll talk to you about it then, okay?" Redheart suggested, sounding remarkably reasonable even with the awkward situation. I didn't know how true what she said was, however. I'd never even considered Sweetie Belle like that, as she was far too young in my eyes. Maybe if she were older, though. Sweetie hesitated, and then looked towards me again. I nodded, accepting the idea. It was just talking to her about it, and she was my friend. I didn't have any problem just talking to her and working through this. If I liked her then, well, I don't know. It was impossible for me to think of what I might do. Even two years older, she still felt a little on the young side, but I didn't know how much of that was me being biased due to her being really young right now. Did foals hit a growth spurt or something around this time? Sweetie Belle stared at me for a moment before her eyes softened and lowered. I hesitated, feeling like she just shoved a shard of ice into my chest. It looked like days of happiness wilted off of her in seconds before she managed a barely visible nod. My mind wracked itself trying to think of anything I could do or say to cheer her up. I saw another tear slip down her cheek and she suddenly winced as if burned by something. In one fluid motion, she spun around and dove off the other side of the cot. "Sweetie!" Scootaloo shouted out, leaping after her. Both fillies were gone out the door of the cabin in an instant, before I could even right myself into a stiff sitting position. My mouth remained hanging open as I blinked, then frowned at the sudden silence. Turning to look back at the other two, I saw both Apple Bloom and Nurse Redheart held a rather unsure look. Why did this keep happening to me?! With a frustrated groan, I fell forwards onto my face on the cot…
Chapter 46Silence prevailed for a moment as my head spun, unable to quite comprehend just how fast that had escalated. Apple Bloom sighed softly, walking around to the other side of my cot before muttering, "That really got outta hoof." "Oh dear. You two stay here, okay? I'm going to go make sure she's all right," Nurse Redheart instructed, trotting towards the door. "Eh?! Ah can go check on her. Shouldn't ya stay with Mender in case his leg hurts or somethin'?" Apple Bloom questioned, tilting her head at Redheart. Uh oh. Even with my incredibly oblivious nature, that sounded like a bad idea. The nurse hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and admitting, "Uh, actually Mender is fine and could have left an hour ago. Um, sorry. I'll go talk to Sweetie.” I fell into a deadpan stare as she hastily retreated out the door as well. A certain awkward silence prevailed both in the room and in my head for a moment. "Yer popular with tha mares, lately. This is scary," Apple Bloom suddenly murmured, sitting down again and exhaling sharply. I stared at her briefly before falling forward onto my face. "Why?! What is going on?" I asked into the blankets, frustration swelling up in me. This didn't make any sense! I started to seriously consider if I was flat out cursed by something. It was a wonderful explanation for the boundless bad luck, too. "Mah brother guessed it was due ta ah negative backlash from tha public smear campaign. He said that sociology indicated that ponies would naturally be more inclined-like towards ah pony they believe 'suffered unjustly an' unduly'. Makes 'em somethin' of an underdog, whatever that means. Plus, yer real nice an' polite, an' try ta do good by other ponies. Oh, but that last part's mah own input," she explained, nodding twice and shooting me a smile when she was done. I gave her a blank stare for a moment before slowly blinking. Well, huh. Okay, that theory did make a lot of sense. So because those Canterlot Newspapers tried to lie about me, it made ponies angry, so they were more inclined to see me in a positive light? Reverse logic, it would seem. I hadn't of course considered Big Mac simple prior, but I definitely realized that he was just a stallion of few words. Behind those gentle eyes lay an extremely calculating intelligence. A moment passed, and I smiled at her, nodding again. "That's actually pretty smart. Your brother has a lot of sides he doesn't like showing to others, I notice," I deduced, tilting my head towards the little filly. She looked momentarily surprised before giggling and nodding. "Yup! Mah Big Brother is really smart! Nice and protective, too. He takes care o' tha fancy mathematics on tha farm, with tha bits an' all. Him an' AJ fight about that ah lot," she explained, flattening her ears back momentarily and shaking her head. I raised an eyebrow, and then sat up again, starting to feel a little better overall. Redheart was a responsible adult. Surely she could talk Sweetie into feeling better. I just hoped the little filly would still want to hang around me after all this. "Oh, nothin' serious. He just gets mad at her sometimes. Says somethin' 'bout her bein' ah... Oh, what did he call it? Ah 'spontaneous spender', Ah think. Somethin’ about needin’ ta think through deals better. Oh, he was right furious 'bout tha conveyor thingy, too!" the little filly exclaimed, shivering slightly in front of me. Oh, that? Heh. Honestly, her being spontaneous with the spending didn't surprise me. She didn't seem to have very good money instincts when it came to judging the honesty of a sales pitch, it would seem. "I'd imagine, but surely he realized that wasn't entirely Applejack's fault. That stallion scammed and tricked her," I pointed out. Apple Bloom smiled and nodded, of course. The door opened gently a moment later, and I looked past her, hopeful that I'd see Redheart walking back in with the two fillies. To my surprise, it was Spike instead, with Tank following after. After I'd gotten settled into the clinic, he told me he was going to take Tank out for some exercise, but I hadn't anticipated him back so soon. Apple Bloom paid no attention whatsoever and continued regardless. "Yeah, he knew that. Oh, was he angry with tha stallion, too! Granny tried ta stop him, but it was no use. He got Caramel, Noteworthy, an' Carrot together an' went ta confront tha stallion," she relayed, looking rather giddy at that outcome. Heh, I imagine she wanted to see the guy get punished for tricking her sister, too. "Oh, are you talking about that creep who tricked AJ?" Spike asked, walking up and hopping onto the end of the bed. Tank hovered down slowly and landed between the three of us on the cot, his weight shifting me slightly forwards. Thankfully, those blades stopped spinning almost instantly and folded up into the top of his shell before he sliced somepony's forelegs off. Apple Bloom nodded softly towards him, still grinning in amusement. "Yup! It was awesome! He told me not ta follow, o' course, but tha Crusaders just had ta see what was gonna happen! All three o' us an' Sis slipped out after them," she continued, deeply enjoying her story. I smiled, somewhat amused at the other perspective on the event I already knew about. "Applejack went, too?" Spike asked, tilting his head gently. Apple Bloom absently started playing with Tank's leg as she nodded. "Yeah, she was darn curious as ta what her brother was gonna do. We were rather impressed that all he did was talk ta tha jerk," she informed, looking a bit surprised. I raised an eyebrow, and she coughed and looked away slightly. "Okay, okay. Ah know. 'Talk' was ah bit o' an understatement. More yelled. Still!" she amended after a moment's hesitation. I snickered and nodded, having already predicted that due to her 'protective' statement earlier. She kept going, regardless, with, "O' course, tha slimy bugger started tryin' ta talk fancy with all sorts o' trick questions an' loopholes, sayin' she never 'asked' fer tha rest o' tha parts or tha manual, an' he ain't obligated ta look out on account fer her 'foolishness'. That made AJ mad! Oh boy..." My eyes widened, and scenes of horrible, awe-inspiring violence played out in my mind. "Yikes! Applejack didn't tell me that she attacked the guy," I muttered, looking a little surprised. She must have just avoided saying anything about it. She was terrible at lying, after all. Spike nodded in agreement at the same time. Apple Bloom snickered and scoffed, shaking her head. "She probably would'a, but she didn't get tha chance. Carrot bucked him out flat in an instant, an' then proceeded ta stomp him inta tha dirt. She gets right scary when somepony uses underhoofed tactics!" she chirped, giggling afterwards. Spike and I both paled a little, staring in surprise at the little filly, who only giggled harder at our reactions. Carrot...? She was the one who attacked first?! "What? For true! It took both Noteworthy an' mah brother ta haul her off him, an' he was ah bad sight by then! Thankfully, they patched him up at tha hospital fer free before runnin' him outta town fer not doin' honest business. That's an offense 'ere!" Apple Bloom assured, smirking at both of us. "Wow, that's, uh, a little scary, considering she seemed so nice earlier. Why did she even listen to me?" I thought, mostly to myself out loud, if that made sense. "She has ah lot o' respect fer ya, Mender! She was impressed by yer manners an' inta.. intey... morals! Ya forgave her right quick, she said, an' honestly meant it. Not some guilt drivin' or somethin'. She said she believes exactly who ya say ya are," she continued to explain, surprising me a little bit. Even though it wasn't the entire truth, even I didn't believe that Celestia had given me the position she had. It was a little surprising that a stranger did so readily. Spike thought for a moment before nodding and smiling. "You Apples are definitely a strong bunch. Even the distant relations. I wish more ponies were as honest and loyal," he muttered gently. Distant relations? "Oh, Golden Harvest must be a relative?" I inquired, jumping on the opportunity to ask now that somepony, or somedrake else had brought up the topic. The filly nodded and smiled towards me, informing, "Yup! Just call her Carrot Top or Carrot, though. She grows ah lot o' things, but Carrots are her specialty! Plus, she thinks tha nickname's cute 'cause o' her mane. She's mah cousin!" "Heh. I'll call her anything she wants so long as she doesn't buck me into the ground," Spike assured, causing Apple Bloom to burst into a fit of giggles and nods. Heh, her family really was something else. Of course, now I was glad that I had helped her with the loft and conveyor. "Did Big Mac forgive Applejack for the conveyor thing after we got it working, by the way? We kind of got sidetracked before you could finish that part," I suddenly reminded, hoping that the girls and I had relieved some of the tension amidst the Apple household. The little filly continued snickering for a bit before finally nodding twice. "He was right unsure about it really workin' fer ah while, but tha second we got done packin' up tha first o' tha apple shipments up fer delivery usin' it, he plum dropped tha subject! O' course, that might'a had somethin' ta do with tha fact that we finished it in two days instead o' tha week it usually takes us, an' didn't have ta bring in extra help," she informed, smiling happily towards the end. I grinned and nodded to her, feeling happy that we'd managed to make the thing work. It was an uphill battle for a good half dozen hours or so, but I guess it was worth it, then! "I hope the machine didn't take away anypony's jobs," I suddenly muttered, the fact that they'd not hired the usual help suddenly dawning on me. Spike snickered and shook his head instead, surprising me. "I wouldn't worry about that. I've heard Applejack talking about that at the 'Third Week of Fall, Start Talking About Getting Ready to Welcome Winter” party Pinky throws each year. She feels terrible about having to bring in family to help, hauling them away from their own shipment packaging, and usually pays them three times the normal rate," he relayed. Several aspects of that statement hurt my head, and I frowned, rubbing my temple. Okay, so not only did Applejack pay family to come here and help pack up apples with them, but she paid them three times more than a pony she could get from Ponyville and, I had no doubt at all in my mind, paid their traveling expenses and room and board. I was beginning to realize why Applejack was a little bad with bits. Also, more importantly, seriously, Pinkie?! "Yup! Spike's right. Feedin' all those ponies also takes ah lot o' work! Big Mac keeps tryin' ta find local ponies ta help, but apart from Carrot, Caramel, an' Noteworthy, not ah lot o' them are up fer tha heavy labor, usually. My brother finally admitted that this is good fer everypony, all around," Apple Bloom continued, frowning a bit while she thought deeply about something, it looked like. "Well, I'm glad that the machine helps that much. I hadn't realized what a big deal it was when I was helping put it together," I admitted, frowning a little, myself. Her trying to pay me for it kind of made a bit more sense in perspective, I suddenly realized. I just kind of assumed it was a silly side project that they didn't have much overhead sunk into. Dang. I hadn't even realized I was assuming that time! Apple Bloom surprised me by groaning instead, slapping her forehoof to her face a moment later. Both Spike and I gave her a questioning look, but Tank seemed indifferent. Or bored. Or plotting the noisy ponies' deaths. No, I was gonna go with indifferent. "Don't remind me! Ah really do love mah sister, but sometimes she gets downright aggravatin'-like! She went on an' on fer days about what she did ta ya, after ya did everything right an' helped us so much. She practically worked herself inta exhaustion every day over it, an' was too stubborn ta see sense in ya maybe, just maybe, not bein' as mad as she thought over it all," the little filly suddenly started ranting. My eyes widened the longer she went on. Twilight and Rainbow had said she was hard on herself, but I guess Apple Bloom had firsthoof account of it, living with her and all. It was unnerving, ultimately. I felt badly over making her worry that much, yes, but the truly unreal part I couldn't wrap my head around was the fact that she reacted like that to begin with. What made me so important as to cause a pony to do that to themselves? Maybe it wasn't me exactly, and more of a morals thing? That would make more sense. "Is she doing any better now that her and Mender are talking again?" Spike asked softly, snapping me out of my inner turmoil with a question I was very much interested in as well. Apple Bloom frowned, however, her eyes softening before she shrugged lightly. That wasn't a positive reaction... "She's sleepin' more normal hours now, but still gets up two hours before tha rest o' us an' is out workin' before Ah even wake up. Sometimes Ah get woken up ta her screamin' about Mender, too. Big Brother always rushes inta her room ta calm her down afterwards, but he won't tell me anything about it. Ah think she's dreamin' 'bout that night," she deduced, looking up at me gently. My eyes were even wider now, and I flattened my ears back before swallowing. That night was monstrous, for sure. But if she was having repeating nightmares about it, maybe she needed to talk to somepony? I shivered, but nodded a moment later, looking back down at the filly. "I think I'll talk to her when we get back. Maybe if we, well, talk about some of the things that happened that night, she'll feel better," I reasoned, not really sure if that was the case, but I had to do something. I was the reason that night even existed. I had been Nirru's target, and technically Applejack had just gotten caught up in all of it by accident. Apple Bloom looked momentarily stunned, but quickly started smiling again and nodded. "That would be amazin', Mender! Ya really are ah swell stallion. Even if things don't always work out, ya always try ta do tha right thing, an' that's what's important," she complimented, causing me to flush lightly. It wasn't as overblown a compliment as I'd gotten before, but something about who was saying it and the way she said it made it feel ultimately sincere in comparison. I couldn't think of anything to say in reply to that, but thankfully Spike beat me to it with an impish snicker. "Sheesh, AB, I could'a told ya that! Just look at whom he's dating. Fluttershy trusts him enough to fall asleep right up against him, and Twilight's actually giving dating a try in the first place! Nothing has ever gotten Twilight to move a priority up four hundred and ninety-three places before! So there has to be a lot of good about Mender," he deduced. My head couldn't wrap itself around that, either. That was, but, wait, she moved me up... She kept a list of almost five hundred priorities for herself?! No, wait, that part didn't surprise me anywhere as much as it should have. She moved me up that far in the list?! Suddenly, I couldn't get the heat to die down in my cheeks in the slightest, and I felt a little dizzy. She really cared about me that much?! Apple Bloom momentarily looked as shocked as I did, but then she looked over at me and burst into a fit of laughter. Spike glanced over at her reaction, and also started laughing as I flattened my ears back. "H-Hey! Stop it! It's just, honestly I didn't realize that she, um," I muttered, trying to defend myself before realizing I didn't exactly understand how I considered her before in the first place. "Of course she likes ya ah lot! That much is obvious. Ah lot o' ponies like ya once ya talk ta 'em. Even mah quiet brother has been talkin' 'bout ya ah little," Apple Bloom reminded, recovering from her laughing fit but still grinning. I coughed and rolled my eyes, finally fighting the heat down in my head. "Not everypony likes me, or there wouldn't have been that whole smear campaign and angry mob thing. Plus, a lot of ponies would change their minds amazingly fast if they knew what I actually was," I reasoned, relaxing slightly into a laying position. "Hey, those fliers were enchanted, right?" Spike asked, frowning at me as I lay down. I sighed and shook my head towards him, explaining, "They were, but they only encouraged the behavior. The distrust and anger had to at least be there a little bit for them to work as well as they did." Twilight had said as much after scanning the one. Why had I earned so much distrust and hatred in the first place? Did somepony figure out what I was? The little filly scoffed and shook her head rapidly. "No way! Ah bet that if tha stupid fliers were tried again now, they wouldn't have no effect at all!" she vehemently corrected. I stared at her for a moment before smiling and nodding. "I'm happy enough knowing that they wouldn't have any effect on you two, at the very least. Thank you," I added. Apple Bloom shifted into a warm smile at me, and Spike shot me a grin as he flopped over on top of Tank's shell. The tortoise seemed unfazed in the slightest by the sudden impact, and didn't appear to be straining at all. How strong was he? Dang. If anything, I could have sworn I saw him slowly start to smile back at Spike, but the movement was far too slow to be sure of. I guess he was only fast while flying. A lazy five seconds passed before Spike slid over the shell and landed gently on his back on the cot right in front of me, with both of us looking down at him, and Tank slowly turning to glance at the claw that flopped over near his head. "It's cool, Dude. We so have your back if they try anything again," he assured, earning a snicker of amusement from Apple Bloom. "Ya mean on his back as he runs away with us, right? Ah ain't anywhere as good ah fighter as mah Sis, yet, remember?" she reminded. I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head at her, and she smirked, ignoring Spike's scowl at the attack against his ego. "Ya didn't realize? Sis is ah really good fighter. Wrestlin' an' hoof combat are two o' tha events she always comes back with ah blue ribbon in! She can stand hoof ta hoof against mah brother 'cause o' that, despite him bein' so much bigger. He's ah lot better at tha fancy mathematics, though," she explained, shifting at the end as if suddenly realizing she should complement both of her siblings. Admittedly, I wasn't too surprised. I'd seen her extremely practiced stance and movements when she put Nirru through a tree, and I guess I'd never really thought about it after that. Of course, I'd been busy bleeding out at the time, so I might not have given it as much attention as I should have. Her not being good at the 'fancy mathematic' didn't surprise me, either. "It makes sense. She handed Nirru her flank that night after getting free. That's why she hauled me off into the forest in the first place. She was running away," I revealed, smiling at the two of them as their grins got even wider. I figured they'd like hearing that. "Sis is real tough! Ah'm not surprised Nirru ran away," the filly chirped proudly, smiling and nodding twice to me. Of course, we were also lucky that the target of her mission, me, was right next to Applejack. Nirru couldn't use her magic with me that close and risk reducing me to ash before she got what she wanted. I decided to change the topic before I got depressed again. "Big Mac does the bookkeeping on the farm if he's that good with mathematics, right? Why didn't he think of automating the process before now?" I inquired suddenly, tilting my head at the filly. There had to be a reason behind it, and it made me curious enough to pull my mind away from the bad memories again. Apple Bloom looked momentarily confused before shaking her head. "He did think o' that. He ain't good with tha' engineerin' part, though. Ponyville doesn't have an engineer pony ta help build complicated thingies, so he didn't even have anypony ta hire available," she explained, with Spike nodding along in agreement. I considered it for a bit before hesitantly nodding as well. "Maybe I'll get a lot of business, then, if demand's high enough. I don't see where a lot of ponies would need fancy machines, though, so I was kind of hoping my enchantments would make it a bit more lucrative," I muttered, mostly talking to myself again. It felt good to get it out of my head and into the open air again. Almost like it made the aspect clearer. What I needed to do, anyway. Apple Bloom smiled and nodded rapidly before assuring, "Heck yeah! Tha Cakes didn't even wait fer ya ta advertise, an' Big Mac was already talkin' about two other projects he wanted ta hire ya for after yer done with that an' all." Oh. Well then, that was more than a little surprising to me. She giggled, and I realized my expression must have blanked when I heard it. "Sorry. I just didn't expect him to want to hire me. It felt more like Applejack was the one pushing for it," I explained, frowning to myself. "Rarity, too," Spike suddenly spoke up, then explained, "She was talking about you to a lot of the ponies that visited the boutique during her 'open house' event. They were asking about the 'indestructible suit' you had been wearing in Canterlot, and she advertised your business specialty afterwards, as she put it." A part of me was a little saddened that they were impressed with the levels of shields she had to throw onto the suit to make it resist the epitome of bad luck that was myself. I slapped my forehead lightly, and he snickered. Apple Bloom just smiled, however, and nodded. "Ah told ya my brother is real smart. He saw what ya did fer us, an' was impressed by yer morals! He might not say so, but Ah can tell! He knows yer smart, too, an' good with tha machines an' stuff. Ah think he's been waitin' fer an opportunity like this fer ah while," she guessed, looking really happy about the prospect. I smiled and nodded towards her, taking a shot in the dark. "I'm guessing it'll make it easier on all four of you if he automates a few things?" She probably had a few chores she'd have no qualms with automating, too. Heh. She smiled but shook her head again. "It might, but that ain't tha important part. Ah bit more free time means Ah might get ta spend more time with mah brother an' sister. They're too busy usually durin' this time o' year ta play with me much, is all." Oh. I frowned lightly at her softening eyes, and she suddenly snapped back to attention, shaking her head rapidly and holding up a hoof. "Oh, no, it's not all bad. Ah mean, they're takin' care o' me by workin' so hard, plus we all get ta see each other an' talk durin lunch an' dinner. Oh, an' Applejack walks tha three o' us ta school each day, an' Big Mac helps me on mah math homework and.... such....." she started to append, before trailing off into a blank look, then deflating rapidly where she sat, flopping onto her stomach and chin. Well, I had been smiling at her up until that point. "Er, is something the matter, Apple Bloom?" I asked hesitantly, raising an eyebrow to her. She stayed like that for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Ya can just call me 'AB' if ya want ta. Ah just remembered Cheerilee gave us math homework over this vacation, an' Ah don't have it done yet," she murmured, sounding utterly depressed. As happy as I was at being upgraded to nickname status, I felt bad that she suddenly felt bad. I considered it for a moment before realizing I wasn't entirely sure what the problem was. "Why don't you just do it now, then?" I inquired, sitting upright again and cracking my back. As much as resting felt nice, staying in one position for too long reminded me of the hospital. Of course, that statement was a bit ironic when I considered the building I was sitting in right now. "Ah can't! It's almost an honored tradition fer tha three o' us ta wait until tha absolute last minute, panic, an' then do it all tha night before!" she explained. Both Spike and I gave her blank stares, and she coughed lightly. "Oh fine. Ah'm confused over it, an' Sweetie Belle an' Scootaloo are even further back in tha assignment. Ah was hopin' ta ask mah brother ta help, but he ain't done repairin' all tha farmin' tools yet," she added, that one making a bit more sense to me. Spike snickered and asked, "Wouldn't it be better to get all of the boring homework out of the way as fast as possible so you three could play all you wanted without having to worry?" Exactly! That made the most sense to me. Although both of us were starting to sound like Twilight now, prioritizing things. Wasn't he as old as they were? He should be slacking off, too, then. I guess he was raised far differently. Heh. Apple Bloom thought about it for almost thirty seconds. Honestly, I was a little saddened that she had to consider the logic involved for that long. She must really... value... procrastination? My head was starting to hurt again, so I just let her think in silence. Eventually, she hesitantly nodded and admitted, "Well, that would be awfully nice. If Ah could get mah brother ta help us, we could get it done real fast! Ah should talk ta them about it later after all this blows over," she pondered out loud. Oh yeah... Spike got a curious look, but I so didn't want to talk about that topic and rapidly changed the subject back again. "Why don't you go get the assignment right now? I'm assuming you brought it with you. You can get it done right now instead, and then prove how smart you are by helping Sweetie and Scootaloo figure out the problems later," I suggested, smiling softly at her. She perked up at that idea, and Spike snickered again, letting me breathe a sigh of relief in my mind. Apple Bloom frowned a moment later, however, and looked back up at me. "But Ah'm confused by it. That doesn't sound very smart ta me. How am Ah gonna figure it out by myself first?" she asked, eyes softening yet again. "Oh, that's easy. You won't have to figure it out by yourself, Silly. By being an engineer, I'm quite good with the 'fancy mathematics' as well. I'll help you figure it out if you want," I offered, giving her an assuring smile again. That would help her with her problem, and give Big Mac more time to work on the repairs in a stress-free environment! While the three of them were absolutely adorable, I realized how distracting they could be sometimes. Her eyes expanded considerably as she gasped. "You'd do that fer me? Fer true?" she asked in disbelief. Okay, speaking of adorable... I had to swallow weakly and close my eyes for a second before I could manage a nod. "Of course, Apple Bloom. You're my friend and fellow Crusader. I'd help you with anything," I assured. Especially if she looked at me like that. There wasn't even a choice. I'd have to, or my heart would explode out of my chest. She beamed at me before ducking forwards and hugging my uninjured foreleg tightly. "Oh, thank ya, thank ya, thank ya! Ah'll go git it right now!" she exclaimed. I didn't even have time for my eyes to focus again before she shot off the cot and bounded out the door, the wind from her passing blowing it shut again, impressively enough. Wow. Dang, that filly could run! I thought Sweetie had been fast. Maybe it was an Earth Pony thing, but they seemed almost unsurpassed in all things physical and ground based. "Wow, she gets really excited easily. I thought you were gonna melt if she looked at you too much harder!" Spike exclaimed, snickering at me. I rolled my eyes, giving him a playfully annoyed glare. "Oh shush. I imagine you'd do almost anything if Rarity asked you nicely," I reminded, causing him to grin and nod. Heh. While the motivations were different, as a fellow male, he could understand. He was swooning, and I was reeling from cuteness overload. Close enough. "Hey, it's cool. I understand. They've gotten me a couple times with their stares, too. They can be scary cute when they want to be!" he warned, shuddering lightly. We shared a moment of mutual silence and understanding before both of us nodded to each other. It was very much a common problem. In that moment, I sensed a true bond between us, as two fellow males having troubles resisting the various wiles of the females. It was truly a noble, elegant thing. He stared at me for a moment before suddenly averting his eyes a few seconds later. "So, what's up with Sweetie and Scootaloo?" he suddenly asked. ...damn it. * * * * * "Wheeee!" I absently watched as he sailed across the room, hanging upside down from Tank's feet. The tortoise looked rather entertained, given the soft smile, and seemed to genuinely enjoy carrying the dragon around. Maybe it was an ego thing? How many tortoises actually got to say that they carried a dragon? Through the sky, nonetheless. Apple Bloom smiled as she watched them as well for a moment before continuing to unpack her papers. The mathematics on the page were more than familiar enough to me. It looked like she had multiplication and division down, and was just starting on the very basic most algebra. "I'm surprised Sweetie Belle finally confessed, even if it was under misconceptions. I still don't fully get why you told her no," Spike muttered again as he drifted past. Neither of us looked up as I helped her organize her pages. Five sheets worth of algebra. That hopefully wouldn't take too long at all! "She's too young. He said that already, Spike. Ah understand it, really," Apple Bloom reminded, smiling at me as I set her last sheet down in order. Spike sighed as he rotated around in place, dangling his back legs down for a moment before haphazardly dropping down to the cot instead. I put my hoof down on the papers as the cot was jarred from the impact, and made sure they all stayed in one place. AB grinned and hopped up onto the bed as well, in a far smoother manner, of course. "I get that. But why didn't you just tell her to wait a couple years?" he asked, apparently confused at my wording earlier. "I did. Honestly, I tried to word it as nicely as I could and make sure she knew I didn't 'not' like her or anything. I've just, well, never considered her like that before. Again, she's too young for me to even think about like that," I explained, expanding it a bit more this time. Apple Bloom nodded twice at me and smiled yet again. "That's ah good thing! She's just hurt, is all. She'll come around," she assured me, settling into a sitting position. Exhaling, I managed to nod softly to her. "I know. It just makes me wish I could do something to make her feel better. Or at least that Redheart would get back and report in about them! She's been gone, like, half an hour," I complained, frowning as I consulted Clocky again. Apple Bloom started giggling and nodded, but Spike shrugged next to me. I ducked again absently as Tank drifted past overhead and landed in the sink I'd filled up with water a bit ago for him. "Maybe she had to use the bathroom after she found them?" the little dragon suggested absently. I raised an eyebrow to him and questioned, "For a half an hour?" I'd heard of taking your time, especially if you had good reading material, but dang. He nodded towards me and added, "Yeah, I think it's an estrus thing. Back in Canterlot, Twilight once stopped me just as we were about to go out and go shopping and ran into the bathroom. She was in there for, like, forty-five minutes! I was about to go find a nurse to go check on her in case she fell or something, but she finally came out." Whoa, seriously? "That's weird. I wonder why it takes them so long," I muttered, frowning. Honestly, I couldn't think of any sort of biological purpose for slowing down excrement release during an estrus cycle. "Seriously? Ah thought Sis was tha only one who did that! Ah was helpin' her gather up ah load o' apples fer harvest last year at tha beginnin' o' heat season, an' she suddenly snuck off ta tha west field's outhouse fer like, an hour! Ah was gonna go get help 'cause she took so long an' started groanin' in there, but she just told me everything was all right an' ta go wait by tha buckets..." Apple Bloom furthered, looking surprised. Groaning?! "Yeah, Twilight was making noises too! It must really hurt or something," Spike agreed, frowning to himself. Pain didn't seem normal. I frowned as well, and then swallowed. Did it cause some sort of inflammation or something? What purpose would that serve? Regardless, it didn't sound pleasant at all. Maybe I should ask Twilight about it when I got back? "Ah so don't wanna go inta heat. If even goin' ta tha bathroom is miserable, ah don't wanna know what it feels like, normally!" Apple Bloom whined, lowering herself to the cot and shivering as she probably imagined horrible agony. I set a hoof down on her head and rubbed gently, smiling down at her. "It's natural, AB. Part of growing up and becoming a mare. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it being painful, just as well as I'm sure there's something you can do to make it less so. I can't imagine nopony's thought of any way to lessen the effects," I pointed out, wishing I knew more about it so I could comfort her. She smiled at me and relaxed a little, shivering just once more against my hoof. Spike grinned and nodded, nudging my back thigh as I sat with his elbow. "He's right, ya know. If anypony knew how best to deal with it, it would be Twilight. She's really smart! We should go ask her when this estrus is over," he suggested, not realizing how close he was to what I had already planned to do. Apple Bloom perked up and nodded happily at both of us, seemingly relieved that she didn't have to face it alone, anyway. "Ah think that's ah wonderful idea. Both o' ya are right kind fer helpin' me. Thank ya, both," she agreed, giving us both a sincere looking smile. Spike returned it and I nodded to her before nudging the piles of papers her way. "Let us help you more, then. If you can get these out of the way, imagine how smart you'll feel when helping Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. I can't give you the answers, of course, but I can certainly help you figure them out for yourself. So long as you promise not to just give them the answers, either," I explained, raising an eyebrow to her. She sat upright again and placed a hoof over her chest, going into the all too familiar motions. "Cross mah heart an' hope ta fly, stick ah cupcake in mah eye! Ah promise truly not ta cheat in any way!" she promised. I was impressed by her honesty and nodded to her. She really did take after her sister. Well, they said imitation was the most sincere form of flattery. I didn't know who 'they' was in that regard, but it was correct. She must really look up to Applejack. "Good girl. Are we ready to begin then?" I asked pleasantly, kind of looking forward to helping her out. She grinned and nodded twice, sliding up the first paper as Spike and I settled in to help as best we could. * * * * * It took me a couple tries, but I figured out that Apple Bloom best learned through relation. If she could apply the question to something in the real world, she could wrap her head around it fairly quickly, I realized. That being said, I took up her namesake as an example and applied apples to every example I gave her. Addition and subtraction were as easy as giving and taking them away. Multiplication involved adding entire baskets of apples, each containing the same amount, and division involved splitting the apples up into the baskets in equal amounts. She figured out almost everything right away based on that. After I went through the basics with her again, applying apple examples to everything, it was an easy step up to throwing them into an equation. She was confused about mixing numbers and letters together until I explained to her that the letter was just a fancy way of saying a number was there that you could change the value of. There was always a proud feeling accompanying seeing that look of dawning comprehension on somepony's face when you're trying to explain something. She realized how valuable the equations could be once I explained why it was a good thing to be able to change the value the letter represented. Orders were a lot easier to fill out if you could just plug in the amount of barrels you sold to somepony and have the equation give you the exact amount of bits. Three of the five pages went by with that in mind. It was a little tricky, but Spike was amazingly creative and helped me come up with an applicable apple situation for each different type of problem she had. Overall, it wasn't a bad way to pass an hour, honestly. In the meantime, memories drifted back through me, surprisingly of my days as an engineer and Keldarian. I knew they weren't mine, technically, but it was so easy to forget that when I could see them clearly through his eyes. Still, those were some of the very few actual happy memories he had. We were similar in that regard for certain, as I loved working out the answers to things and making stuff. There was nothing more rewarding for me than putting something together with my own knowledge and skill and then seeing it work. Even if, by 'work', I meant that it was especially lethal when launched at high velocity towards our enemies, or particularly good at stopping the same from happening to us, I was still delighted that what I'd created served its purpose. A light twitch went through me, and I frowned lightly. What would I think if I'd created me? That was a tricky one. What purpose had I originally been intended to serve? Without Doctor Kyliona's notes, there was no way to be certain, I realized; I'd have to contact Keela tonight and see how the charging was doing. Regardless of what it was, however, I had a sneaking suspicion I'd failed epically in my original purpose. But, if I could watch my creation not only gain a life of its own, but true goals and desires, protecting those things important to it, would I still consider it a failure if it didn't do what I intended it for? I tried, but I couldn't manage to put it into perspective. Creating life like that felt amazingly similar to how I imagined a parent would feel. Would one be disappointed if their child didn't behave as intended or designed? I smiled gently, understanding that question, at least. No, I wouldn't be disappointed, because if it truly were my child, I wouldn't have an intention or design for it in the first place. I'd be happy if it was happy and making its own way. Could Doctor Kyliona say the same about me? That was a very good question. I didn't know anything about her or the circumstances of my 'birth' into this world, but I also found that I didn't particularly care, ironically. Ever since my talks with Tia, I realized that it didn't really matter. That was what she ultimately said, right? All that mattered was everything in front of me right now. Who I was and am, and what I've done as myself. Fluttershy and Twilight accepted that much, I thought. So, was I responsible for the deaths of billions of innocent Keldarians, then? The number alone was beyond me. It was empty. It was a twenty-four with eight zeroes after it. It didn't really mean anything beyond what could only be described as mind-numbingly horrifying. That numbing part was important in that definition. If I truly was responsible for that act, then did I deserve any happiness ever again? Definitely not. I could never forgive myself for that, if so. Heh. Forgiveness... Pending a complete memory wipe at that point, it wouldn't be possible. So what then? I couldn't remember if I was responsible. Did that mean one way or another? The scary part was, no, it didn't. My memory was partial at best, because the majority of it that wasn't recorded by my mechanical side was organic in nature. Organic wasn't the most reliable source of storage. I didn't trust my own memory, and that was that. "Uh, Mender, ya there?" Apple Bloom suddenly spoke up, causing me to start and snap back to reality. My eyes focused on her again, and she smiled, presenting me with the full sheet worked out. Whoa! How long had I been zoning out? Recovering fast, I nodded to her and picked up the sheet she presented with my mouth, setting it down in front of me to look over. I felt all right in telling her if she got a problem wrong and having her try again, as long as I didn't tell her how to get it right. The point of 'homework' was to practice doing the equations, not neededly to test your knowledge on the fly. I wasn't too worried about bumping her grade up a little bit with this. A minute and a half later, I assured her she had only missed one problem, and pointed out number four to her. She seemed pleased with that, but still took the paper back to re-do that one. It wasn't a huge mistake, as she'd just forgotten to flip the sign of a constant. Yawning, I rested my head on my hooves and watched her work, noticing her mistake from the first time and fixing it rapidly. After she finished, she looked back up at me silently, and I gave her a nod. To my surprise, the little filly squealed happily and gave my face a rather awkward hug, given the angle. I snickered as she backed off, grinning at me. "This is amazin'! Ah'm gonna get ah hundred percent on this assignment, an' it's all thanks ta yer new way o' explainin' things!" she exclaimed, perking upright and swaying as she hugged the paper to her chest. I continued smiling at her, but shook my head. "You're doing all the work, AB. You're the one figuring it all out. I've made sure not to directly help with anything," I reminded, causing her to blush as she realized the implications of my compliment. "That's nice o' ya, but ya really are helpin' me somethin' amazin'! Yer easily as smart as mah brother, an' that's sayin' something! He just... well, he don't have that much time ta help me, usually," she explained, her exuberance fading a bit as she switched to a soft smile instead. I considered it for a moment, before asking, "So if I help make things easier for everypony on the farm, would that mean that he can spend more time with you and Applejack?" The little filly nodded twice, slowly slipping back to a grin of approval. I snickered and nodded back. That settled it, then. Knowing there was a problem fully within my capabilities to fix, I couldn't just sit idly by while one or more of my friends suffered from it. "Very well. I'll help him set up anything he needs," I promised. It was worth it just to see her smiling face. Spike laughed and shook his head at the display between us. "Not to be harsh or anything, dude, but I should probably point out that you're a total sucker for the cute looks," he pointed out, smirking at me. I gave him a flat stare for a moment before chuckling as well. All three of us broke into snickers after another moment, Apple Bloom looking a little guilty, however. "Ah'm not tryin' ta get him ta work fer free, though. Ah agree with sis! He deserves ta be paid like everypony else," she reasoned, setting her paper down finally and shifting to the fifth and last page. Sighing as she brought up the stubborn mare, I realized that Applejack wasn't going to let me get out of it this time anyway. About the only way I could assure I didn't get paid is by sneaking the bits back to her somehow without her noticing, which felt a bit underhooved. Tricking the Element of Honesty seemed like a very bad idea. Even if she weren’t mad over it, the karmic retribution would probably be violent, given my track record. "Fine, but I'm not accepting anything over thirty percent overhead, no matter what the project is. Materials and supplies will be up to your family to acquire, obviously," I laid down, sure it would get back to one of her siblings sooner or later. She tilted her head and surprised me by asking, "What's overhead mean?" Heh, curious little filly, I noted. "Overhead for a big contract job is the amount of bits set aside for paying anything not to do directly with materials. Usually the salary of the workers, such as me, is paid out of it. As I'll probably be the only worker, I'll probably get most of it. If somepony helps me, I'll split the amount," I explained as simply as I could. There was no point in getting into the super-specific details of what did and didn't count as project overhead, the possibility of a supply fund, or joint holdings. Besides, it had been a while since my original had done public contract work. Most of his recent projects that I could vaguely recall were engineering projects for the war effort. He didn't get paid for those... Spike considered my words before nodding as well, asking, "So, thirty percent overhead means that, in addition to the supplies needed to make whatever Big Mac needs, you get paid thirty percent of the cost of it all?" He was fairly dead on, so I nodded to him and smiled. He just raised an eyebrow, however. "Uh, she's probably not going to be pleased with that number," he suggested a moment later, looking uncomfortable suddenly. I blinked, then frowned myself. "Is it too high?" I inquired, glad I'd mentioned it to them first, now! Note to self, always run my requested fee estimates by somepony not involved in the project and get an opinion on the values involved. He snorted, however, and shook his head rapidly. "Uh, not exactly. That means that on the conveyor project, which was a little over two hundred bits total, given that you supplied half the panels we needed, you'd only be getting paid sixty or seventy bits. How many hours did it take all of us working on it to finish?" he questioned, giving me a more than skeptical look. I stared back, seeing where he was going with this instantly, but biting anyway. He was quite sharp, I realized. No doubt his upbringing had made him very clever. "Uh, about eighteen to twenty hours," I threw out, taking an educated guess and generously truncating off the 'testing' hour and a half. "Oh! Oh! But ya have ta times that by how many ponies helped! It woulda taken ah lot longer otherwise," Apple Bloom chipped in, making me wince. Okay, that made the amount of hours significantly worse. Spike grinned at her and nodded, ignoring my sour look and flattened back ears. "Exactly! So even doubling his pay with the assumption he didn't supply any of the plates like he did, you're probably not even going to add up to a bit an hour at thirty percent," he pointed out, turning back to me. I gave him a death stare, of course, which only caused him to start snickering. Damn, I needed to work on that angry look... Apple Bloom nodded along, easily managing to follow the math as she grinned as well. "Sis so needs ta hear this! Ah think she'll be proud o' mah fancy mathematics, don't ya think?" she suggested. My glare shifted to her in less than a heartbeat. "Don't you dare! It's going to be hard enough arguing her down without figures to back up her opinion. Gah. She's my friend. There's no way I'm going to work for full price," I refused adamantly, abruptly shaking my head. It wasn't right to do that to somepony who actually wanted to be my friend. Friend! That word was unheard of in my original's dimension. There was no way I was going to sour it even in the least by being greedy. AB smiled, however, and shook her head before leaning forward and lightly hugging my snout again, causing me to swallow weakly. She didn't have to try to push the cuteness to get her way, I hope she realized. I valued her friendship, too, but admittedly, I enjoyed the hug. There was something simply so warm about the gentle affection she was displaying. It made me smile ever so slightly, my frustration and heartbeat lessening as she hugged me. Why was that? Mostly, it felt like just realizing she truly cared. "Ah know ya wanna be nice, but she'll like it, too, if ya don't fight it too much. As nice as ya think yer bein', Sis actually feels real bad every time she thinks she cheated ya out o' pay. Ya gotta promise ta accept somethin' ah bit more reasonable this time, okay?" the little filly asked, leaning back away from me and giving me a soft smile. Oh. That was true. I'd never actually considered it from her perspective. Given that she was so stubborn about paying me, why had I honestly thought that I was making her happy by refusing all payment? I considered it for a moment, and realized that I'd technically never wanted to make her happy. No, I'd wanted to do right by her. I could understand where Apple Bloom was coming from, however. "You're right, of course. As much as I don't want to charge your family for anything, I don't want to make Applejack sad either. I hadn't thought about it like that before. Thank you, Apple Bloom," I finally admitted, mentally promising to be a bit more 'fair' when it came time to negotiate for my cut. I suppose, with a bit more bits coming in, I could afford some nicer things, too. Maybe I could even get Twilight and Fluttershy presents! "I'm glad. Sis will be happy, too!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, then picked up the last sheet on the bed. I watched her for a minute, then smiled as she raised an eyebrow to it. "Uh, besides them addin' more letters in, Ah don't see how these problems are different," she muttered uneasily, that familiar hesitation in her voice. Ah, I've had that many a time, when I suspected a problem to be significantly harder than it appeared. "That's because they're not different. Just another letter tossed in to shove to one side or another," I revealed. She looked up in surprise for a moment, then smiled happily at me and ducked her head back down to pick up her pencil again. I smiled gently and lay back down. Spike yawned next to me a moment later and flopped over against my shoulder, laying the side of his head down against me. I just rested there, letting him get comfy before I let my thoughts drift off again. It sure was taking Nurse Redheart a while... * * * * * Despite the problems being similar, it still took Apple Bloom a bit longer to finish all of them, due to the additional steps involved. She surprised me, and at the same time, she didn't when she got every single question correct the first try. When I'd told her, though, she almost fell off the cot in the middle of her cheer. Spike winced as he hauled her back upright fully, and she gave him a sheepish grin. "Thanks, Spike! Ah wasn't payin' enough attention, Ah guess," she muttered quietly, embarrassed by the looks of it. I snickered and shook my head, pointing out, "If you had to pick a spot to get hurt, this would be the most ideal. Still, try to avoid that. Redheart isn't in at the moment." "Yeah, she's really, really late," Spike reminded, making sure the filly was stable and had ceased trying to throw herself off the cot before letting her foreleg go and backing up again to where I was. Frowning, I glanced towards the door, Clocky informing me that it had been an hour and forty minutes since Nurse Redheart had left. That was way, way too long. "I agree. Spike, you know first aid, right? Hold down the fort, would you? I'm going to go see if I can find her," I requested, sliding up and off the cot a moment later. Spike perked up, looking surprised at first, and then puffed up with what could only be described as pride as he threw me a salute. Heh. I figured he'd like me leaving him in charge. "Oh, can Ah go, too?! Ah'm ah little worried about Sweetie," Apple Bloom asked timidly. Eh? Why was she asking me? "Of course you can come, AB. Nothing's stopping you, really," I pointed out, smiling back at her. She perked up and bounded off the cot as well, galloping the short distance to catch up with me again. "I so got this covered! I'll keep everything together until somepony gets back!" Spike assured as we both headed towards the door. Turning, I gave him a regal salute before heading outside. Apple Bloom looked more than amused when she followed me out, but kept her mouth shut. Okay, now to find them. It wouldn't be easy, given the entire camp to search. Further, I had to take into account that they might be in the surrounding woods, too! It would be easiest to break up the terrain into quadrants and split up, covering a grid pattern. Asking individuals if they'd seen them as well would significantly narrow down the search zones. We should be able to find them before dark, hopefully. Provided they didn't go into the woods, of course. Then I'd have to set up some long term surveillance and look for signs of passing so we could- "Hey, there they are down by tha bridge over the river!" Apple Bloom squeaked out, grinning as she gestured down towards the rightmost bridge. Oh. Or there was that. "Good job, AB! Let's go," I congratulated, deciding it wasn't worth overthinking and heading directly towards the three ponies. Redheart was indeed with them, and seemed to be talking to Sweetie Belle on the bank while Scootaloo played in the water in front of them. The little orange filly perked up and stood on one of the rocks in the center of the stream when she saw us approach. Apple Bloom waved to her, but she bound off the rock almost instantly and shot towards us in a blur. My eyes widened as I braced myself just in case, but she skidded to a halt in front of us, shaking some of the water off before holding her hoof up. "Ah, just a sec. Wait until Nurse Redheart says it's okay. She's trying to talk to Sweetie and get her out of the funk, and no offense, but seeing you at the moment might be a bad idea," Scootaloo explained, giving me a sympathetic look. Oh. Well, um, at least they weren't in any danger or anything. My ears lowered, but I nodded slightly. "Ah, sorry. AB and I were just worried as you'd been gone a long time. I'll go back and keep Spike company, then," I apologized. Scootaloo winced slightly but glanced back at her friend down by the shore. "Mender," Apple Bloom muttered, frowning at me. All I could manage was a shrug in return. Staying here and accidentally being spotted was probably just as bad. "You can stay here, AB. I'll see you all later," I said, turning and heading back towards the medical cabin. I tried to remain hopeful, but it was kind of hard at this point if it had taken almost two hours of talking and she still wasn't sure about things. Would Sweetie still want to be my friend after all this? I closed my eyes and sighed, listening to the clinking of my brace as I walked. It was an ugly sound, and it reminded me of how useless my body was at the moment. Another part of me whispered in the darker corners of my mind that I was only fooling myself, and I might as well accept the other me as the real one. Then I wouldn't have to worry about my leg. I also wouldn't have to worry about anypony wanting something from me that I wasn't in a position to give, then. Nopony would want anything to do with me if I looked like a monster from their most horrible nightmare. Spike looked up questioningly from the table now as I walked back inside, but I strolled past him without saying anything and flopped back down onto my cot again. Well, my rented cot. I lay there with my eyes closed in the silence for a moment before the repeating sounds of light scratches came from the floor, getting closer. The telltale sounds of Spike's clawed feet on the wooden floor, I noted. "Uh, are you okay, Mender? You came back really fast. Did you find them?" he asked hesitantly. A part of me didn't feel like talking, as it used up a lot of energy, but Spike was my friend and had never let me down. After a moment of considering the questions, I finally replied with, "Yeah, they're down by the river near the bridge, talking. Sweetie Belle, um, didn't want to see me yet, so I came back here. Nurse Redheart's easily within view of the cabin, however, so we could probably go back to ours if you wanted," I suddenly realized, sitting up again slowly. "Oh. Well, if you want to. Tank's taking a bath, but we can run some water at our cabin instead," Spike informed quietly, looking suddenly unsure of what to say. I stared at him for a moment before swallowing and managing a nod. "The full beds are more comfortable. I'm going to take a nap over there, I think. You can stay here if you want," I offered, standing up again, careful not to accidentally step or sit on any of Apple Bloom's papers. Neatly, I shifted them back into a stack and slid them into the saddlebag she'd pulled them out of before getting off the cot. Spike frowned at me, but nodded of course. "Mender, I know what it looks like but... She's not going to not like you or anything... I don't think she'd, um, do that," he tried to comfort, not sounding comfortable with, or even that sure of his statement. I stared at him for a moment before my eyes softened and I shook my head. "It's up to her. I'll understand either way. I've hurt her feelings and turned her down, so it's acceptable, really," I pointed out. It was strange, but I wasn't quite sure whom I was pointing it out to. I was talking to Spike, but it felt more as if that had been addressed to myself instead. He frowned even more, but I walked past him and decided upon a strategic retreat before I confused myself even more. He started to turn, probably to try to talk to me about it even more, but I cheated a little. Two thin strands left my shoulders, hooked and stuck to the doorframe, and went taut with an elastic snap, whipping me over to the door about three times faster than I should have been able to manage as he turned. They pulled back into my shoulders as fast as I sailed at the door, and I slid, opening it in a fluid motion to avoid crashing. Spike looked surprised to see that I'd made it a full five meters by the time he finished rotating in place, but I didn't do more than glance before stepping outside and gently shutting the door again. Talking about it confused me, and I wasn't sure what to think. Really, I didn't want to think about losing a friend suddenly. After realizing how amazing it was to have friends in the first place, my chest shivered and my eyes watered at the thought of possibly losing one. My eyes stayed locked dead in front of me as I headed to the right after exiting. Our cabin was coincidentally, or very un-coincidentally as the case probably was, right next to the medical cabin. At least that made it a short walk, and a shorter duration I had to listen to the metallic clanking of my leg. Exhaling softly, I noticed Big Mac wasn't in his usual spot sitting out front with the repair jobs. I decided it probably wasn't any of my business where he was at the moment, and I headed rapidly inside the cabin without meeting anypony's eye contact. Sliding inside, I shakily closed the door, staring at the wood for a moment. My eyes slowly slid to the right, looking at my trembling hoof against the door. What was wrong with me?! Wincing, I held my left hoof to the tightness in my chest and felt something warm slide down my cheek. Damn it. "You're pathetic, that's what's wrong with you," she whispered from the corner, just slightly before I became aware of her. My eyes softened as I stared into the wood. "Why do you keep annoying me? Don't you have better things to do as a corpse?" I asked softly, barely a whisper as I refused to look over at her. She was only a figment of my own slipping sanity regardless. 'Looking' at her was kind of pointless. A giggle. "Sorry, but you're the best thing to do in this reality. Despite being pathetic and an idiot, you're worlds beyond the rest of the filth in this world," she explained, immediately making me regret asking in the first place. Exhaling softly, I slid my hoof down and turned, walking over to my bunk instead. I heard the sounds of wet dragging and weak hoofsteps, and assumed she was 'moving' towards me as I walked. At least my imagination was attempting to be realistic. Maybe her muscles would eventually fall apart then and she wouldn't be able to talk anymore. That would be a blessing. Then I'd only have to smell her. "That's not a nice thought. Good job! You're getting closer to embracing your inner monster," she complimented, sounding amused as she walked after me. Rolling my eyes, I clambered into bed and flopped over, ignoring her with my back turned. "Just shut up and let me sleep," I ordered, knowing she wouldn't listen anyway. "Aww, upset that the little baby filly might not want to be your friend anymore? Heh. Your priorities are so strange," she pointed out, sounding absolutely delighted. I didn't ask, or say anything in return, knowing she was going to elaborate regardless. And elaborate she did. "Honestly, you do everything you possibly can to ensure you're the most miserable you can possibly be. I didn't even have to do anything! It's ironic, really. You should have just accepted and mated with her like she wanted, of course. They're really impressionable when they're that young, so you probably could have turned her into your own little-" What was left of her head was torn off and crushed into the wall next to the door before she could even finish the sentence, my tentacles writhing in pure hatred as I glared at the rest of her body as it slumped over, the blue light from my eyes burning across her form as she faded away. The giggling laughter came from all around me, echoing softer and softer before finally disappearing as well. Panting, I shakily pulled my tentacle back, noticing a light gash along the wall where it had impacted. My entire body was trembling now, and I felt sweat start to dampen my fur. Damn it, what was wrong with me?! If I hadn't been so acutely aware of every minor detail at that moment, I would have never noticed the light static flickering in the corner of my vision. I froze, watching it before it disappeared a moment later. That wasn't in the room. That had been in my eye display. My expression shifted to a frown as one of my processors lit up, rapidly writing up the code I requested on the fly. It was silly, and I was being paranoid, of course. Regardless, I devoted the entire processor to running the program the second it was done about half a minute later. An extremely low-key, subliminal scanning program to hunt and destroy. On a hunch, I hooked it into my memory bank and remaining three processors, making sure to run it on the processor I hadn't had to repair. I was just being silly, probably, but no. Let them call me paranoid if they ever found out. I'd rather be accused of paranoia than wishing I had been properly so. Greeted with silence yet again, I relaxed against the mattress in our cabin. Apart from the newly acquired nick in the wall, it was a really nice place. The main room had four reasonably sized beds. Big Mac had one all to himself, of course, being almost the size of two ponies. I shared mine with Spike, and the Crusaders were set to take one of the others. Or both of the others. I suppose it didn't really matter. The main room was then cut off from two smaller sections. The bathroom had a full wall and door for privacy, while the kitchen unit had a half wall partition to let in light, and let out heat, I imagined. There was a working stove, fridge, and sink in the kitchen, and we were well stocked. This was a nice place, honestly. Sharing my bed didn't bother me. I closed my eyes and rested against the soft blue sheets. Due to the nature of my 'sleep', I didn't move around or snore during it. It had taken me only a single night to realize that when I was actively visiting Keela, or hiding inside of myself, I wasn't actually letting my mind 'rest' like it needed. I discovered after that, largely by accident, that I could still fall asleep like normal. It made sense, considering I'd been doing it all along before finding out I was a cyborg. Sleeping with Twilight's horn against me even let her join in with the interesting experience. Twilight had called it 'lucid dreaming', but it was essentially just being cognitively aware of my own consciousness while asleep. The dream realm was one of true fantasy, manipulations of anything being possible. Kind of like being in the most detailed video game ever, only with myself in full control. I was happy that Twilight could join in, and while she couldn't manipulate the world the same way I could, she seemed to honestly just enjoy being with me in there. I missed that. It had, well, ceased after she got in trouble with her parents. Still, she surprised me. I figured she'd want to conduct experiments and take advantage of a world where anything was possible, but she said it would sully the results because it wasn't potentially real. Regardless, she spent time with me instead while we both slept. Sometimes I just let things flow around us from event to event as we played, just laughing and running through the scenery. Other times I constructed more elaborate things and we played games. Showing her how to play 'Battleship' using an entire fleet in an actual ocean was a lot of fun. More warmth dripped down my cheeks as I curled up against myself. So what if I was pathetic? So what if I didn't embrace that other part of me and just wanted to be normal? I missed Twilight and Fluttershy already. I wanted to be able to dream with Twilight again, but my big mouth telling her brother had ruined that. I wanted to figure out a way to bring Fluttershy into the dreams, too, even! It would be amazing. I could show her anything she wanted to see. The old Abylith Gardens from my memories, which was sort of a 'zoo' and natural habitat for a ton of creatures we'd imported from our allies. The gardens were an entire moon we'd given an atmosphere, and it drifted along so close to our second planet that you could see the hue shifts as the atmospheres interacted. It was beautiful, spreading auroras across the entire sky at night. I wished she could see it. I was sad that such a wonderful place didn't exist anymore. Giving up and just letting the warmth stream down my cheeks, I let my mind drift away, pushing myself as hard as I could into my dreams. This time, I visited the empty gardens by myself...
Chapter 47Everything was a blur as I ran. My left foreleg screamed in agony, but I kept going as the dark distortion followed after me. It paced itself, laughing every time I tripped over something and fell, tearing fur and skin on thorns and stray branches. Gasping, I rolled down a hill through the trees around me, sliding on the wet grass as I felt it land behind me, grinning. Everything slid to a stop as I drove my hooves into the ground, gasping as I giant chasm opened up in front of me. There was no noticeable bottom, and it looked like it was gouged out of the ground by a giant claw. Shit! Looking both left and right, I noticed it spanned a good sixty yards in both directions. Slowly swallowing, I instead turned to face my pursuer, willing my armor up as fast as I could. Nothing happened. No, why didn't it work?! "Because you're afraid. I scare you, just like I scare everypony else," it whispered, grinning at me with its distorted, black smile. I stared in horror at the wicked blades it called teeth. No, get away! I couldn't manage to even speak as it loomed ever closer. "There's one problem, however, Mender," it whispered, close enough now to lean in against my ear. My eyes widened as I felt its hot breath along my neck and the saliva sliding onto my fur. It wanted to tear me open and feed. To feast on my flesh and blood. I started trembling, which only caused it to snicker. "Everypony else can run away from me. You can't run away from yourself," it finished. No, this wasn't- "I am you!" it screamed into my ear suddenly. A bladed tentacle whipped forth, and the last thing I saw was the point of the serrated spikes on it going straight towards my eyes. Everything exploded into pain and darkness, and I barely managed to scream out as it threw me backwards into the chasm, three more tentacles slamming through my torso an instant later. The pain was beyond anything I'd ever felt for just that instant, and then it yanked in three different directions... * * * * * My scream echoed through the tiny room, devolving into a gasp of actual physical pain and a coughing fit. Then I fell out of bed and landed on my face on the floor. The wooden planks of the cabin's floor greeted me as I wheezed for breath, shaking throughout my very core. My hooves grasped at my chest, feeling it solid and whole again before I let myself sag down and collapse fully against the floor. My eyes could see still, and I opened them to look around the dim room. I was alone, which I was thankful for. That would have been awkward to explain. Weak sunlight drifted through the window shades next to the door, and I guessed it to be late evening without bringing Clocky up to specifically tell me. Nopony else was here though, so either before or after suppertime, and before bed. Gently, I brought my hooves up to rub at my temples, wincing at the throbbing sensation tearing through my skull. I didn't know what to do with myself, and just ended up curling up, a soaked mess as my own sweat smeared across the floorboards. I felt cold, as if instead of waking up, I'd been brought back from the dead. Hell, maybe I had? Was I even really alive with all that shoved inside of me? Hyper-sensitive at this point, I felt her 'appear' behind me next to the bed far before she announced her presence this time. Her grin echoed through my mind, and I pinpointed her location as soon as she landed. Her broken, decaying mouth opened, undoubtedly to spew more garbage out in the form of thinly veiled insults and passive-aggressive goading. No, I couldn't even think of a way I could deal with that right now. A tentacle replaced her face instead an instant later, both surprising her and tearing her in half before she could even get the parting chuckle out this time. Just to be sure, and hopefully to delay her regeneration in my mind, however she pulled it off, I stabbed her twice more through the chest as she fell, then ripped her into three more pieces with a sharp yank. I felt the heat through my head as the pieces burned away behind me. Go to hell. Minutes passed as I just lay there on my stomach, face pushed sideways as I lay limp against the floor. Half my blue blanket had followed me off the bed and tied my legs up, but I made no attempt to free my lower half. My eyes ached as I stared into the darkness under my bed, finding all sorts of delightful metaphors from the fact I could still see fine in it. 'Monster' echoed through my head and I felt a spike of nausea shoot through me. No, I couldn't deal with this right now. Everything was adding together and I needed to just get away for a while. There was, well, one solution, given what time it was in the day. My eyes closed again and I jumped at the chance for sanctuary. Inside of myself, I gave two gentle tugs to the connection to my mind. There was a pause, then a jolt of surprise, and I smiled, making sure to keep my eyes closed throughout. "Oh, Mender? Uh, do you need, wait, two tugs! Uh, just a sec. I'll go turn the quantum generator on!" Keela managed to squeak out, sounding both surprised and delighted by my sudden appearance. "Hurry," I whispered, no, more pleaded back at her through the link. My mind ached but I felt her pick up the pace, flat out running down what felt like a corridor before turning into a larger area. Her lab, I recognized. The machine turned on a moment later, and I wasted no time in activating Prudentia, whom I discovered was next to me now. At this point, I was used to suddenly finding it when I needed to, so I didn't pay any attention. Feeling the link expand enough for my mind to slip through, I flung myself as fast as I could. * * * * * Opening my 'eyes' much more gently and comfortably this time, I looked up at an upside-down and somewhat bewildered looking Keela. Eh? Oh. I rotated myself and slowly climbed back to my feet, having literally flung my mental image through the portal created and crashed into a sizable bookcase. Thankfully, they made the bookcases and covers for bookcases out of sterner stuff than wood and glass in this dimension, and I had bounced off it with a reverberating ringing sensation. "Eager to get through, were we? Err," Keela pointed out, then suddenly stopped as she tilted her head towards me. I looked up at her questioningly, earning a giggle. "Uh, not to sound crass or anything, but that's probably the best way to say this. You look like shit," she observed, snickering again and covering her mouth with both paws. My ears flattened back and I sighed, nodding. Free of physical constraints, my headache went away and I found myself in the cold comfort of my purely digital self again. It was weird knowing that this body was just a construct, but a bit of a happy thought at the same time. I didn't have to worry about pain in this form. "Sorry, but I've been having a rough day," I excused, sagging a little, but perking as she gestured behind her to the couch. "Well, lie down and rest for a bit. You can talk about anything you want with me, of course. I'm willing to do anything I can to make you feel better!" she chirped, looking pleased with herself before turning and heading for the very couch she pointed out. Aching a little, I limped over to the thing and hopped up on it, feeling content at the prospect of resting my tired mind. Sleep wasn't the issue so much as I felt heavily stressed. "Thanks for this, Keela. Sorry if I woke you up," I apologized, noticing suddenly that she was still in her morning robes. They were a secondary layer Keldarians used to cover up whatever they happened to sleep in, be it pajamas, underwear, or nothing. Mornings, when not under the covers, could get a little bit nippy. "Nah, I was sitting in the lounge nursing my 'breakfast'", she assured, holding up a clear mug of what looked like very, very black, unsweetened coffee. Scary! Snickering, I shook my head at her. "It's unproven, I know, but I hear that stuff stunts your growth. You should be careful," I teased playfully. She shrugged before grinning and suddenly shifting both paws towards herself, cupping her upper set of breasts through the robe. "Eh, I'm big enough already, so I don't mind," she added, mirthfully looking back up at me as my blush radiated through my colored barriers and I averted my gaze. "Keela!" I whined, trying my best to look upset and grumpy. She laughed and dropped her paws again, grinning at me before apologizing with, "Sorry, sorry! I know. I'm just teasing you. Figured you wouldn't mind a bit of visual stimulation after the pent up stress of the estrus season in Equestria." That didn't make it better! "That's not better! Anyway, that is kind of why I was so insistent on visiting this time," I chewed out, a little irked at her now. She shot me a sympathetic expression and held an open palm towards me, the universal sign of not having any weapons. Kind of pointless, as I was indestructible here and she had advanced magic that came out of that very palm, but it was still an ingrained gesture, I realized. "Relax, I was only teasing you. You know I'm not going to do anything. Rest, Silly," she suggested, patting the couch cushion next to her. Exhaling softly, I nodded to her before flopping onto the cushion in question. "I miss Twilight," I muttered almost immediately upon flopping over. Keela grinned and nodded, but didn't look over at me. "I understand, honestly. She's gone for estrus, right? That means you only have to wait a week or so. What about Fluttershy?" The Keldarian looked over at me expectantly, and I shook my head. "Of course I miss Fluttershy, too, but I actually meant that I miss sharing dreams with Twilight. It's hard to miss that with Fluttershy, seeing as I never had that to begin with," I explained, frowning down at the fabric of the cushion absently. Could you miss something you'd never experienced, or was there a different word for that? Longed for, maybe? Keela frowned for a moment, and I saw her keen mind whirl into motion. It was entertaining to me to watch ponies and other individuals think, I discovered, knowing I spurred it on. Well, except for Pinkie. Her 'thinking' looks never interested me as much, because I could never tell if she was thinking about what I'd just said or revealed, or if her mind had hopped off onto a totally different tangent. Heh, much like mine just did. "Because her brother found out, I'm guessing? There was some sort of meaningful symbolism or something surrounding the mutual sharing of energy, wasn't there?" she inquired a dozen seconds later. "Yup. Turns out, I discovered that it's extremely similar to being engaged. I snagged one of Twilight's culture books after I got out of the hospital, and it explained that it was a mostly permanent bond between two ponies, not necessarily unicorns, that linked both life force and empathy. It listed a surprising amount of side effects and cultural ramifications," I furthered, shuddering as I remembered the extremely detailed entry. Of course, if Shining hadn't made such a big fuss over accidentally assuming the wrong thing, I probably never would have looked it up. Keela let out a slow blink, and then snickered in amusement. "She must trust you if she placed you in a situation where you could potentially form a bond like that without her consent. The magic involved intrigues me, though," she admitted, perking her ears up and glancing back over and down at me again. I nodded, continuing with, "There wasn't much detail about the magic itself. Between two unicorns, or apparently magically enabled individuals, in my case, it's spontaneous and can be done at will. If one of the partners isn’t magically enabled, a ritual is used instead to momentarily 'open' the 'static' individual, or individuals. It's common, apparently." Despite not having the technical details of the ritual, Keela still looked interested enough. "That sounds rather romantic. And remarkably dangerous. I can guess at some of the side effects. That pool of energy that the magic inside of us comes from... you exchange part of yours for someone else’s? Considering most magic practitioners use that synonymously with 'soul' in most regards, I can see why it's a big deal," she agreed, softly shaking her head afterwards. Yeah, I'd thought about that already. "Empathy is just the start. It would create a bond similar to what the disks do, but more extensive. Physical constitution is partially linked, too, so when one partner gets sick, they usually both do. A perk being that it works in the other direction, too. If one partner is sick or hurt, the other one being healthy and pulling themselves above their peak will often drag the other back into healthiness. To the point that there are healing techniques specifically for linked individuals," I continued. I couldn't help but also find that much interesting. I'd never even considered such a practice, and the applications it could have to lifestyle and magic were amazing, honestly. Keela surprised me by blushing lightly and nodding, giving me a soft smile. "Very romantic indeed. Mostly permanent, though?" she inquired, shifting to a skeptical look a moment later. I shuddered, remember reading about that. "Yeah. There's an... extensive ritual to get one removed that requires the assistance of an external unicorn, regardless of being magically enabled or not. It takes a good six hours and is extremely risky. Permanent energy loss, complete destruction of emotions, and death are all side effects. Hence the 'mostly' part," I elaborated, coughing lightly. She stared at me for a second before breaking into giggles. "Yeah, I can see the incentive to not try to break one of the connections. What if one of the partners passes on?" "It's far gentler, but often described as a hollow sensation afterwards. There's surprisingly little information on it, with only a few actual experienced individuals explaining what it was like. They felt a constant tugging, and a longing to join their other half again, but other than that, refused to elaborate," I muttered, frowning slightly. Keela shivered before whispering, "That's a little scary, honestly. If you believe in ghosts, that's practically an assured haunting, there." I smiled at her, rather amused, honestly. First admitting to liking the romantic aspects of a relationship, and now hinting that she might believe in supernatural effects... Keela had surprised me today. She was more open-minded and positive than I thought Keldarians could manage. I opened my mouth to comment when I heard the door slide open behind me. Instinctively, I whipped around to see whom it was, the barriers getting ready to activate as an extension of the book that rested against my leg in Equestria. He stopped, looking honestly as surprised as I was. "Oh, I didn't realize you had company, Keela. My bad! Hahaha! Wait, you're Mender, aren't ya?" he asked. Keela smiled to him and nodded, offering, "This is indeed Moon Mender. He's visiting at the moment, nothing formal. Mender, this is-" "Instructor Tymiandius!" I managed to choke out, eyes widening even more. Damn, he was still alive?! Wait, no, that honestly didn't surprise me. Hell, rumor had it he could breathe void and was immortal, so long as there was something left in the universe he hadn't blown up yet... Keela looked bewildered, and Tym started laughing heartily. "I see! If you know my name, do you also know that I prefer-" "Captain Tym," I finished, smiling at him. He had been my instructor so long ago. Not just instructor, but mentor later after my schooling was over. Well, technically, he had been my original's instructor and mentor, but same difference, honestly. "Y-You know him? Wait, does your memory extend back as far as..." Keela started to ask, tilting her head towards me curiously. Tym frowned and walked forwards, scratching the thick braid of hair he kept from his chin as he examined me. Keela looked towards him instead as he moved, hesitating suddenly, as if remembering something she wasn’t supposed to tell him. He looked more interested in me, though. "Hmm. Scrawny and downright slacker posture. Insatiable curiosity and habit of interrupting when convenient. Oh, and Keela's fawning all over you. Yeah, ya kinda remind me of my last, and honestly, best apprentice," he commented, causing my ears to flatten back. "Hey, I've been exercising more! If Nirru hadn't injured my leg, I'd be doing worlds better by now! Wait..." Halting, I blushed lightly as I glanced back at Keela, who had averted her gaze. In my spontaneous and confusing urge to defend myself against his verbal barbs, I had only listened to part of what he'd said. Damn it! "I, um, think I understand. You were the mentor of his original self, then? The Keldarian he was cloned from? I’d not realized you two had known each other when-" she inquired, tilting her head. Tym snorted and rolled his eyes, waving his paw lazily towards her. "Eh, that was the official crap, anyway. He was a good kid, if not a bit of a smart-ass. Still, he's dead now, so as far as I'm concerned, this guy here is the real deal now, no? Are ya gonna start things up again?" he inquired, snickering. Keela glared at him, pink turning to crimson a moment later. "You jerk! Now you're just teasing me. No, I'd rather, um, really not think about that!" she squeaked, causing him to burst out into laughter again and me to get confused. I had the sneaking suspicion I was missing something again. "Ya know, for being such an inquisitive guy, I never understood how you could be so damn dense sometimes. It's downright contradictory, Mender!" Tym pointed out, resting a hand on his hip. It was a little strange, seeing the considerably larger Keldarian and having him act like he knew me perfectly fine. Although, did he know me? Technically, I had tons of memories of him that were rapidly popping into the forefront of my mind now, and it felt like I really knew him. "Um, I guess so. Twilight says I can be really dense sometimes, too," I muttered, frowning as I remembered her playfully teasing me about it. Captain Tym stared at me for a moment before snickering lightly. "Scratch that. You ain't entirely him after all. He would have gotten pissed at that. You're a bit more level-headed, and slightly more boring than he was," he deduced afterwards. I flattened my ears back and glared at him, earning another round of laughter from the large Keldarian. His fur was as blue as the rest, but patched somewhat by the lines of scars I knew resided under it. He was ancient, even in Keldarian standards, but his body just would not give up. He was as muscled and defined as I remembered him. His eyes were a bright green in color, somewhat uncommon for that light of a hue. The left ear was still missing its tip as well, and I realized he still refused to have it regenerated. He said something about it driving the girls crazy when asked. "Well, I think that's pure improvement, Captain," Keela defended, gently hugging me from behind almost protectively. Lying down like this, I was actually a little smaller than she was due to position of body mass. I tilted my head back questioningly at her, a little surprised she wanted to defend me in this regard. He smirked, and I suddenly had flashbacks from Rainbow Dash. Uh oh. "Careful, Keela. Are you sure you want to admit that this version is 'even better' than the last? Do I have to point out that you technically mated multiple times with the prior version?" he inquired in amusement. I wasn't entirely sure who reacted worse to that statement. Keela exploded into a flush across her entire face until I thought she'd die from blood loss to the rest of her. I spasmed and broke into a coughing fit as it felt like I accidentally inhaled a piece of my lung. Oh! So Nirru didn't walk in on our 'first' time, then! Of course, then all the memories had to come back. "Aaaaaah! Why did my brain pick now to suddenly remember all of that?!" I yelped, curling forward and grabbing my head with both hooves. "That's it! You're upsetting Mender! Out, Captain!" Keela commanded, pointing towards the door. I wasn't entirely sure he heard her through his copious amounts of laughter, though. It took him almost a fully thirty seconds to recover, as I remained tucked into my ball, refusing to look at anypony due to the absolutely rock bottom gutter thoughts flowing through my head. It wasn't even technically 'me' that did it! "Ha! Oh, you two are too much fun. I forgot how entertaining this was," he added, snickering. "You technically promised to keep that all a secret! Mender also technically isn't him, so you just broke your promise!" Keela squeaked, still blushing furiously but trying her best death glare at him. He snorted, proving hers was just as effective as mine. Well, we shared that in common, anyway. "Eh, he's close enough. Your face already says as much. Anywho, don't ya wanna know what my information was that I was looking for you for in the first place?" he pointed out, reminding me that he still hadn't gotten to, well, any points at all, except for embarrassing us. Keela growled and gave him an annoyed look before nodding once. "Speak then. And then you can leave!" she reminded, yelling the last part. I noticed two guards had popped into the room behind the captain, reminding me that Keela probably still had the highest seniority on the ship, even though they'd be pasted if they tried to apprehend Tym. He laughed even more before nodding, unfazed by her flustered state. "Sure thing, Princess! Your external sensor results came back finally from the test site. You should probably take a look at the readings, as they're more than a little interesting," he revealed, taking a short stack of papers from his side pack and handing them over to both of us, sliding them across the couch. I uncurled enough to reluctantly peek at them, as Keela leaned over me and shifted the top page closer to her to look. "Wait, what? The feedback isn't static?" she asked, sounding beyond shocked. I was also impressed with how fast she recovered after the topic change. "Er, what was the test?" I asked, not having anything to base the readings off. "Quantum wavelength tests in the area where our planet was, based on Equestria's samples. We decided to do a residual passive scan, but filter out any wavelengths that didn't specifically match Equestria's, just to see if there were any fluctuations," she explained. Ah. She was looking for 'weak spots' in the dimensional barrier where it would be potentially easier to pass through. The results were definitely, well, not what I'd expect them to be. My processor ran the field numbers almost instantly off her database. "Graphed out using spatial quadrants, this forms a concentrated sphere at a point very close to where the original portal was. Anything more than a kilometer away from the portal point has the readings dwindle away into almost nothing," I reported, giving Keela a start. "Er, wait, what? How did you figure out the shape so fa-" she started, before wincing and stopping the sentence instantly. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she giggled to herself and shook her head. "No, sorry. Forgot about the computer thing. So, instead of bleeding through on a universal scale like I had anticipated, it's actually only a very small effect at this specific point? That actually makes sense, honestly. I doubt that even the connection of an Aegis Artifact could manipulate quantum wavelengths in an entire universe. The energy requirements would be phenomenal!" I shrugged idly and relaxed into the cushion again, considering it. "Well, to be fair, we thought that it was a specific effect that adhered to the nature of the planes before, not something localized. That meant it would take very little effort at all to keep the planes 'linked' to each other. In reality, this means they're only linked over a very specific area," I corrected. In truth, I'd only been thinking out loud. This was a good thing overall. That meant that, even if something else repeated the exact effect that created a portal, unless they did so specifically within this two-kilometer wide area of space, they wouldn't get a portal to Equestria. Two kilometers compared to, well, all of space, was laughably pathetic. So pathetic that I couldn't even fathom how pathetic it was. Further, you couldn't even detect quantum wavelengths at greater than five kilometers. They'd have to literally know exactly where to look. Keela nodded, as if reading my mind. "This data is now classified as top secret. Nobody is to mention these results to anyone," she ordered. Reading between the lines, I realized she actually meant anyone involved with Nirru. Captain Tym nodded again and gave her a thumbs up before turning and promptly walking out without a single other word. I blinked and watched him go in slight confusion, and then looked over at Keela, who wore an annoyed face instead. "Smart-ass. He did say he'd leave right afterwards," she murmured, shaking her head a moment later. I gave her a perplexed shrug. Her stare continued for a moment before her cheeks tinted pink again and she looked away from me, coughing lightly. "Ah, sorry about all that, by the way. Uh, technically it wasn't you, if it makes you feel better," she reminded, tone shifting awkward instantly. I became keenly aware of the heat from her stomach that was pressed up against the back of my neck as I coughed as well. "Ah, it's not so much that I'm grossed out. I'm just, well, in a committed relationship with Twilight and Fluttershy. Any memory that goes against that feels, well, awkward, even if it wasn't me. I still get treated to, uh, every single recollected sensation," I explained, feeling my cheeks heat up as well. Keela groaned and buried her face in her paws, rapidly shaking her head. "I so didn't need to know that. Um, okay, this is getting really uncomfortable, in a mixed-feelings kind of way," she complained, peeking out over her fingers at me. Well, her claws were still retracted, so I took that as an awkward instead of annoyed frown. "Well, I suppose it really doesn't change anything apart from my knowledge. Honestly, to try to be positive about it, at least I have a lot of pointers that I can use for when, uh, wait, mixed?" I asked, suddenly confused by what she said. How did that word apply to this situation? She blushed even harder and looked away from me before explaining, "Well, there's the whole different species thing that makes it a little weird. Plus, the fact is that, honestly, you're not actually him. You just act a lot like he used to and have his memories." I stared at her blankly, and then watched her start to fidget a little under my scrutiny. Those were both negative. Where was the 'mixed' part of her prior statement? Thankfully, she knew what I was going to say. "Yes, I know. What makes the feelings mixed is, well, honestly, none of the prior mentioned things has technically stopped me from thinking about it?" she finished, giving me a hopeful smile. Oh hell. With a light groan, I fell forwards onto my face. Okay, she actually laughed at that. Regardless, 'thinking' about it was a far cry from actually considering, planning, or doing anything about it. I decided that I ultimately appreciated her honestly slightly more than how much I was weirded out by all of this. It was cutting a sharp contrast with me trying to realize in my head that all of these memories came from a dead guy I was cloned from. Her attempting to pretend that I was actually still him was a little weird for me. Especially since that 'pretending' part was about romance and sex. "I'm not going to do anything about it, relax. You're just, well, really kind to me, despite everything you've experienced and been through. He changed a lot after what my sister did to him, and it shocks me that technically you have all those memories yet you're not, well... You're a good guy, still," she explained, tone softening significantly. A couple warning bells were set off in my head. Duh! Of course she would have sought him out after the lovely torture events with Nirru! She talked to him afterwards then, and apparently he didn't choose to start the relationship up again? When I first mentioned him, she had no idea what had become of him or where he was. Generally those bits of info were fairly readily available if you were in a relationship with somepony, I suspected. I felt uneasy suddenly, but I couldn't figure out where the sensation was coming from. Keela kept rambling, however, starting to sound like she was afraid that if she stopped talking, I'd freak out and disconnect. "Look, I know this is weird. You're a really, really likeable clone of my ex, which sounds weird just saying it! I admit, openly and honestly, that a part of me was and is considering what it would be like to date a pony. That sounds even crazier, trust me. But the big part is that I'm not going to do anything about it! I don't want to scare you or make you angry with me and lose you as a friend, Mender, so unless you give the green light first, I'll be just your friend," she continued rapidly, allowing for no space large enough for a reply anywhere. Finally, she dwindled off and just watched me, cheeks pink and apparently waiting for some final verdict now, which kind of bewildered me, given the nature of her request. "Uh, you want me to decide on that now?" I inquired, confused at what she was waiting for. "Ah! No! Of course not! I mean, you could if you wanted, because I have no idea what I'm doing right now, and this wasn't in any of the research materials I've been looking over about xeno-dating, or even in their source material, which was a little frustrating. I'm sorry! Uh..." she resumed, noticeably panicking as she raised up both paws to give me a double 'relax' sign this time. Okay, Rainbow might have rubbed off on me a bit. I couldn't help it, and started laughing. "You have no idea how adorable and silly you're being right now. Relax, Keela!" I assured, giving her hands a gentle push downwards. She looked momentarily bewildered before smiling again and looking down at her knees sheepishly. I had a strong hunch at this point, however. Tilting my head at her, I softly asked, "Who exactly are your friends, apart from me?" It probably was being fairly intrusive, but I had the sneaking worry that- "Apart from you? Captain Tymiandius and, well, my sister, although that's more than a little soured after she, you know, tried to kill you and blow up Ponyville," Keela informed, exactly as I realized. Frowning, I looked at her for a moment. "That's why you don't want to lose me as a friend, then," I muttered after another moment's thought. "Mender! I wouldn't want to lose your friendship, even if I had a thousand friends. But you're right in the fact that I get, um, really, really lonely. It's mind-numbing sometimes," she agreed, coughing lightly and looking away from me. After her sister did all that and was now technically in their prison, I imagine her life got a lot lonelier. A half a minute passed as I considered everything. She patiently waited and watched me mull it over in my head until I nodded. "I'll talk to Twilight. She'll understand what you're going through, and the two of us can keep you company more often. In fact, all the girls are really nice and you'd probably have six new friends if you really wanted," I suggested. Keela widened her eyes, looking honestly surprised at my offer as her jaw sagged an inch or so. "I don't know about that. It feels kind of wrong to seek their friendship after what my sister did. I know that it wasn't me doing those things, but my naiveté and denial were what enabled her to go to Equestria in the first place. I've been trying to pretend she's a good individual for years," she murmured, eyes softening a little. Years? That surprised me a bit. It took me a moment to realize that losing her 'lover' was really fresh for her. My entire life was over the span of weeks she could count on one paw, but her perspective placed losing him a very short time ago. "Did you know what she did to him?" I asked, my tone a little colder than anticipated, but I felt a little colder on the inside, too. She winced and looked away, telling me the answer right there. "They wouldn't tell me anything directly but, um, I had educated guesses. Mender, I can't excuse anything she's done. I agree with you. She's a monster and is more than a little unbalanced. But she's my sister! I know it sounds weird to hear from a Keldarian, but she's my only family and I love her. She's taken care of me since I was old enough to realize I was being taken care of. After, well, what happened to her, her outlook on everyone else changed. And not for the better..." she explained, starting strong but ending in barely a whimper. "She was raped," I concluded, closing my eyes gently. Keela gave a start against my back, and I could only imagine her expression at that. But I didn't want to know, in truth. "H-How do you know that? She only ever talked to me and our mother about it!" she asked, sounding more shocked than offended. My eyes slid open and I peeked back at her as I explained, "Her memories were partially uploaded into the body she used to kill me. After I turned into that other... thing, I absorbed her memories and DNA when I killed that body." Her expression softened, and she looked sad at the memory for a moment before nodding. "I see. That explains it. Um, yeah, she was captured and held by two of her magic instructors after practice when she was twelve. They held her down and, um, took turns in one of the lounges. I don't have the full story, but it was said that they were trying to get back at our mother for her council chair decisions on magic tutelage. They probably fully expected what happened," she explained, flattening her ears down to the sides of her head. I stared at her for a long five seconds or so before nodding. "She killed both of them after she finally found her, right?" It was more for confirmation than any actual curiosity. From the broken and fragmented memories, I had gathered that they died on the spot. "Our mother was known for a lot of things. She was the war council chair, which Nirru took over after she died. She was also unmatched with a blade, and was known for her fiery temper and sense of duty and morals. No, they didn't even get to be arrested. She killed them both instantly. I don't think there was even a fight," she muttered, tone of voice mixed and hard to read. It seemed like she looked up to her mother. Wait, blade? "Ventosus Lacuna?" I asked, ears perking up. Finally, Keela smiled. "You're very clever, Mender. Yes, our mother wielded the blade. She was the last true owner of it. Our great, great, great, great grandmother was the one who created it almost a hundred and ninety years ago. Back then, the sword design was brand new, introduced by our new allies just a decade prior when they first appeared in our system," she confirmed. That was a really old blade. I wondered how old Prudentia was. Not very, considering my original 'made it' somehow. They keep telling me the creator has to die, but that obviously wasn't the case for him. It was 'Prudentia,' I knew for a fact, at least as far back as his schooling days. "Regardless, I'm not telling you any of this to try to redeem my sister. It's just so you understand why I can't just, well, kill her. I love her and she's my only family I have left. She's a complete monster, yes, but that doesn't change that she's my sister. I've been trying to talk to her, of course, and get her to realize the error of her ways," Keela continued explaining, snapping me out of my thoughts on Aegis Artifacts. I stared at her for a moment, expression blank. "How's that been going?" I asked a second later, trying my hardest to keep the ocean of bitterness from tainting that statement. My feelings were still very, very fresh regarding Nirru. I hated her. If it had just been me with a say in what happened and it wouldn't have affected anypony else, I wouldn't have hesitated in the slightest at ripping her head off. Call me soft and weak, but I didn't want to make Keela cry. "Awkwardly. She's mostly silent and, well, confused, for the lack of a better term. She doesn't understand why you didn't kill her. She doesn't seem to fully understand why I'm so angry with her and locked her up, either. She had resisted arrest and severely injured three Keldarians before Tymiandius got there and forced her to surrender," she explained, closing her eyes and relaxing backwards. Mine closed, too, and I just lay there for a moment, considering everything that happened. It had confused me at first, too. Why had I let her go? Keela was the only reason. At least, I was pretty sure she was. A part of me hadn't wanted to drop myself to her level, but that was just childish thinking. Somepony had to get their hooves dirty if they wanted to protect what was worth protecting, and as far as pure kill count went, mine was already pitch black. No amount of karma or happy thoughts would erase the fact that I outright murdered almost two and a half billion innocent individuals. I was fairly certain that put me down as the biggest mass murderer in the history of pretty much anything, as a singular, anyway. The Grosh as a race easily beat me, of course. They killed about three times as many Keldarians, given the population of our other, smaller colonies. "Thank you for sparing her, Mender. I know you only did it for me, and you very much didn't want to. I felt that much through our bond. But you spared her, all for me. So sincerely, thank you. If there's anything I can do to help you, ever, let me know," Keela suddenly spoke up, surprising me. Glancing back at her, I realized she was just giving me a soft smile. Hesitating, I nodded back a moment later, deciding it couldn't really do any harm. We were almost assured to have a long road ahead of us together in the future, given the permanency of the bond she gave me. With her newest confession, a part of me wondered if she did that on purpose. Was it just an excuse to be 'stuck' to me for longer? No, I doubted Keela would give up so much just for that. "I didn't want to, no. But you're my friend and I didn't want to make you cry. You sounded so desperate, and that was the only thing that stopped me. I apologize, but I hate Nirru. Not only did she kill me, but she outright threatened everypony I know and love. There's no forgiving that," I apologized, looking away from her. She was silent for a moment before nodding gently. "I understand, of course. Honestly, I agree with you. She went too far. I wonder, really. If you'd met her long ago, would you feel differently? She seems so absolutely bewildered by you sparing her, that I wonder if the her from back then isn't pointing things out. But no, she's staying locked up. She hasn't even tried to escape so far," Keela murmured, sounding more reflective than anything. I just let her talk, ears twitching a little as I lay on my side. It was rather peaceful after everypony had left us alone. Keela gently sighed and slid me sideways until my head rested gently in her lap, then gently massaged my shoulders while I relaxed. I guess I was real enough to her, even with my smooth and solid-colored body. I probably looked like a character from a videogame or something. My sensations were hooked into this form, however, and it gave the proper give to my muscles for her, apparently. I relaxed as she gently kneaded my neck and back, seemingly pleased to just be near me. Honestly, this was what I'd wanted from the start. Just time to relax with a friend and get my mind off everything for a while. Too much had started to happen, and I found myself losing pace with the rest of the world. A little rest and relaxation was what I needed. Future Mender could worry about Sweetie Belle, Keela, Rarity, Canterlot Newspapers, sanity loss, and strange graphical glitches. Not in that particular order. Oddly, being massaged like this kind of made me feel like her pet. It didn't bother me as much as I thought, probably because deep down, I knew I wasn't, but being pseudo-pampered was still rather relaxing. I understood Opal a little better now. Smiling, I just let myself relax and zone out as we rested there in the comfortable silence. This was a good break from my bad dreams after all... * * * * * Jolting awake rather roughly, I winced as the dawn light slipped into my eyes. Lifting my hoof up to rub at them, I realized that I was back on my bed and had a blanket tossed over me. Huh. I didn't remember doing it, but guessed that Big Mac might have tossed me back into the bed after he got back. Wait, dawn?! Looking back up through the sliver of sun rising up through the crack in the curtains, I noted that indeed it was in the opposite position that I remembered. I peeked at Clocky a moment later and noticed it was oh seven hundred hours. The days were getting shorter, it would seem. That meant I'd slept for about nine hours total, not including the time I had been awake but visiting with Keela. I fell asleep while she was massaging me at some point and ended up disconnecting, drifting back to my body as normal. Huh. Slowly, I sat up and looked around the room. Big Mac's bed was empty, of course. He was an early riser, I had heard. Spike was curled up into a little ball not unlike a cat, vaguely near the small of my back but not quite touching. His snoring was impressive as always, of course. At least Twilight and Fluttershy didn't snore... Shifting further to the left, I saw all three Crusaders still in bed as well, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to either side of Sweetie Belle, both holding her gently. She actually wore a smile, which made me happy, even if I knew it wasn't made by me. A slight twinge of regret shot through my chest, and I looked away from all three of them. No, staying here wouldn't work. Slowly slipping sideways, I slid out from under the covers and drifted to the floor. Silently, four tentacles shot out and braced against the wood instead, lifting me off the ground and shifting me towards the door like a silent snake. Stealth was a lot easier with eight extra appendages. The door opened with a light squeak, and I saw Scootaloo shift lightly in her sleep, so I held still. A second later, she smiled again and snuggled back into Sweetie's side, and I exhaled. Sharp senses on that one. I didn't lower my tension until I was outside, tentacles rapidly pulling back up into me before anypony who happened to be awake saw them. Making sure the door was closed and locked again, I slipped the key into the saddlebags I now wore, and stretched out, giving a happy groan as my back cracked in three different locations. I'm glad nopony noticed that I didn't have my saddlebags in the room. Smiling, I pulled Ventosus Lacuna and Prudentia out of my subspace pocket as well and hooked them both to my left side before looking around. The camp looked practically empty, of course. Including Big Mac down by the river, I counted only three ponies up and about, and one was questionable. For some reason, there was a dark brownish pegasus sporting a rather unique mohawk on the roof of one of the cabins. He was oddly hanging upside down from the chimney by his back leg, but was curled up very comfortably, looking like a bat, and appeared to be sound asleep. I decided I very much didn't want to ask. Shrugging, I trotted in the direction of the stream, angling to go down the flow of water this time. I slipped a small map out of my right front saddlebag and peeked at it, glad Twilight had insisted on giving it to me now. It showed the stream angling slightly northeast, east as it headed off and away from Ponyville. Smiling, I saw a small lake that was naturally formed this time, and decided to make a beeline for that. Big Mac saw me walking past, and we exchanged nods before I returned to my course. I could appreciate a stallion of few words. He appeared to trust me enough to leave me to my own devices while he washed up a few of his towels, anyway. Oddly, that made me feel rather good. At least somepony thought I was dependable enough to not accidentally kill myself, or anypony else if left alone for a few hours. The walk itself was amazingly peaceful, and I enjoyed the cooler air of the morning as I shuffled through the fog. The forest was still sleeping around me, and apart from a cranky squirrel and a startled but sleepy looking raccoon, I didn't see any other animals. Oddly, neither were scared of me, the squirrel in particular seeming more irate that I had tripped over the log he was sleeping in and sent us both tumbling down a decently sized hill. I apologized when we finally stopped spinning at the bottom, of course, but he didn't appear happy regardless. After a quarter of an hour or so, I finally made it to the lake, only slightly dirtier than I had been prior. I set my saddlebags and Aegis Artifacts down at the end of the river, where it met with the lake, and slipped down into the shallow water near the shore. Sighing, I let the cool liquid flow around my fur as I eased the brace off slowly. Wincing, I realized it had gotten a little stuck after my leg swelled up, which I had predicted. The water softened my skin and relaxed my muscles, however, and I slipped free of it after a moment's effort, letting it drift towards the shore. More muscles were growing back in my leg now, and I'd have to adjust the brace soon anyway to be wider in the straps. After I washed all of the dirt and grime off my fur, I just let myself drift on my back in the water. It was very relaxing, in all honesty, and it felt good to just let my left foreleg float freely, no strain or aching needed. I zoned out, shifting back inside of myself for a bit as I double-checked on my various passive projects. The DNA was fine and ready to send to Keela in our next visit. She just had to finish the adjustments to the scanner she'd built on her side to receive the data. My database-sorting project had also finished, and I had many folders now to separate everything neatly, including information on the weapon and disks. Those I would definitely peek at today. Even more interestingly enough, my silent scan had finished and set up hundreds of root access backdoors to almost every part of my systems, also informing me of several anomalies discovered. It looked like mild corruptions of code in a few of my drivers from all the damage I suffered coming into Equestria. I headed towards the auto-repair, but stopped myself suddenly. Wait, what? Frowning, my eyes opened again and I looked back towards the shore. The little blue filly stood there in the mist, mostly transparent but smiling at me. I watched her for a minute before she slowly shook her head and faded away. I stared at where she was, realizing she'd never done that before. Normally she hid behind something or only appeared in my peripheral vision, but she seemed to be getting less shy suddenly. Further, she felt like she was directly inputting into my action this time. My mental hoof shifted away from the auto-repair, and I decided to just leave it be for now. Eh, I was functioning just fine for the moment, and I should probably look into the repair algorithms before just giving it free reign. She was right. Smiling, I silently whispered "Thank you..." into my mind, feeling a light pulse from Prudentia before I shifted back to floating again without direction. I'd have to see if I could talk to her again soon. I wanted to learn more about her and the book. If I was going nuts, I might as well be cordial to my other personalities. I had a feeling cooperating would be much healthier in that situation. Smiling, I relaxed again and opened up the first file about the disks, settling in for a bit of reading. My proximity sensor went off less than a second later, of course. My eyes widened as my armor popped on, the water exploding around me in what could only be described as a very noisy Mach cone skipping across the lake at point blank range next to me! I swore I heard a 'Whooo!" as it shot past, momentarily tearing a 'tunnel' in the water and flinging me at least five meters into the air. Given my newly discovered velocity and falling distance, hitting the water again momentarily jarred me, the armor folding over my face as I went under, creating both functioning goggles and activating my rebreather system. Okay, what the hell? Glaring, I just let myself sink as my sensors activated, sending particle scans up through the water and spotting the UFO as it swerved around, coming in for another 'bombing' run. It was a little smaller than I was and had wings... Damn it, Rainbow! The 'U' having been removed from the UFO equation, I shifted my back legs a bit and surfaced again, considerably farther offshore now. My face armor folded back as I watched her skim the surface again, a ways from me this time. Ah, she wasn't attacking me so much as she probably didn't even notice I was there. Wait, why the hell was she here?! Mares weren't supposed to visit the camp during the estrus, even if this was somewhat away from the main area. Hmm. Did it still count as part of the camp? Further, why was she here this early in the morning?! From what I heard from Twilight, she was usually comatose until well past noon. Her skim slowed as she hopped higher into the air again, whipping into a tight corkscrew and spraying water off herself everywhere before shifting into a hover, shaking herself off in the air. Oh. She was doing the same thing I was. Washing herself. That was a, well, creative and violent way to do so. It fit her well. "You could have given me a heads up!" I shouted at her from across the lake. She gave out a startled yelp instantly and fell out of the air in surprise, falling right back into the water she just got out of. Err, oops. Should I go make sure she wasn't drowning, or should I beat a hasty retreat so she didn't try to drown me instead after she got out? Deciding I'd feel moderately bad if she drowned on my account, I snickered to myself and motored over to where she was, two tentacles shifting under me to form propellers under the water. She resurfaced a few seconds later, shooting me an annoyed glare as she rotated to face me. It only lasted half a second, however, before she shifted to surprised and wide-eyed instead, then blushing furiously as she fought to get out of the water again. "Ah, no! Wet wings!" she groaned, not being very successful in escaping the water with nothing to kick off. Apparently settling for plan B, she started rapidly paddling towards shore again. Smirking as I realized I caught her out of her element, I simply motored up next to her, my propulsion in the water being far superior to her hooves. A few seconds passed with me easily keeping pace with her frantic swimming while smiling at her, before she finally sighed and just stopped, idly floating while treading water. "Okay, I can't get away, I get it. Just get it over with," she groaned, wincing and slamming her eyes shut as I drifted next to her. My eyebrow raised, me having absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Uh, get what over with?" I inquired curiously, a bit lost and the conversation hadn't even started yet. A new record! She sighed and looked away, opening her eyes again while her flush shifted to just a light pink tint. "Ribbing on me for yesterday. I'm sure you have quite a few choice words after what I said to Fluttershy," she groaned, sinking her muzzle under the water and blowing bubbles in frustration after she finished talking. Snickering, I inhaled before sinking back under the water, shifting under her in the same instant. I saw her eyes widen and her body lock up, but I brushed her onto my back instead before extending out all eight tentacles in different directions, holding them straight. The maws on the ends peeked up above the water and purposefully inhaled sharply, shifting every tentacle into a rather buoyant floatation device. Like a rescue platform, I entirely lifted above the water, Rainbow sitting on my back trying to keep her balance as she looked around. Realization hit her a moment later and she fluttered her wings open, taking to the air again with a light spray of water. "Wait, you're just letting me go?" she asked, looking at me with a bit of surprise as I resumed my normal form, giving an airy burp as all the inhaled air flooded into me instead. Well, that felt funny. I nodded back up at her a moment later, shooting her a smile. "I'm not mad, Rainbow. Just a bit surprised that you thought about me like that. You don't need to avoid me," I explained, just drifting there while looking up at her. She blushed again and coughed lightly, looking away. "H-Hey! It's not like that! You were 'there' the entire ride, which was more than a little, um, distracting, so at 'that' moment, you were looking pretty good. Ugh. No, that was... well it's true, but it didn't sound very good," she groaned, smacking a forehoof into her forehead. I smiled at her, but just let her continue. "Trust me, I'm so after AJ. Although, if I wasn't after her for some reason, you're definitely cool enough to warrant a sharp second! I'd probably be all over you," she added with a nod, grinning again. Blinking, I rolled my eyes. Okay, that sounded like Rainbow again. "Second, huh? Well thanks, I guess," I returned, giving her a blank and somewhat skeptical stare. She snickered and sprayed a bit of water at me from her tail. The smells coating it were more than a little potent, and I coughed violently, sticking my nose back into the water and blowing bubbles. She, of course, started laughing. "Smell good, do I? Imagine what it was like before the dip! I told you I get bad heat cycles. Still, second place is way totally high up there on the list. That means you're more awesome than Soarin', from the Wonderbolts! He got knocked down to third," she explained, winking at me. I raised an eyebrow to her, but assumed who he was. At least I knew who the 'Wonderbolts' were. "Interesting. I'd ask why you rate me so high, but you probably don't want to say, so I'll respect that. Why are you even here, anyway? Isn't there a lake on the other side of Ponyville that you could use that wouldn't put you dangerously close to the stallion camp?" I inquired, tilting my head as I drifted in a slow circle, causing her to be upside down to me now. She blushed again and looked away, coughing. "Okay, so maybe I was hoping to find you at some point today and properly, um, explain myself! Yeah. Obviously, I don't need to apologize or anything because it's totally an amazing compliment for me to want to mate with you," she concluded. I smirked, reading easily between the lines and accepting her apology anyway. Silently, of course. "You don't have to be tough around me, Rainbow. I can feel your emotions at this range from the link, too. I'm not going to laugh at you," I assured, causing the light pink to shift red again as she squinted her eyes closed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm not used to this like Flutters is! Go easy on me, sheesh. I also was hoping to talk to you about the wing thing, too, for the upcoming race. I know you're cool, and not going to rat out me being here to anypony," she explained further, looking down at me with a smile again. A light warmth danced into my chest and I nodded up at her, returning a happier smile. "Of course not. Battle partners, remember? Should we get to more stable ground to talk, however?" I inquired, gesturing with my head back towards my saddlebags on the now opposite shore. Keeping up with the active pegasus had carried me quite a ways off course! She grinned and nodded, swooping down and hooking her forelegs with mine before using her wings to power us both towards the area I gestured to, her eyes perking up as she spotted my things in the grass. "Sure thing, Boss! Wait, what are you doing awake at this time of day?" she suddenly asked a moment later, remembering apparently that the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. Heh, that was a long story, but I guess we had time...
Chapter 48Rainbow winced again as I laced another line of energy through the muscles in her left wing. It was apparently the more sensitive of the two. She had explained that for most pegasi, the wing opposite their favored hoof was the more sensitive of the two. I hadn't realized ponies had a favored hoof. Mine was easy to guess, however, being the one not covered in metal bracing. "Are you sure you want me to do this, Rainbow?" I asked again, watching her shift to panting and squirming as I went through each of her flight muscles with the lines of energy. She let out a weak groan and arched a little into my hoof's touch. I waited patiently, and she finally exhaled, shifting back under control of herself. "Hah, hah, yeah. Make them adjustable, remember. I want to be able to slowly increase the tension in them while practicing," she murmured. The lines were meant to either enhance or restrain her muscle movements. After I'd explained to her what I could do, and was further surprised by her extreme knowledge of flight muscle anatomy, she'd told me that there were lesser flight muscles that were really, really hard to work individually. A lot of pegasi had problems with it, apparently, and she wanted to know if I could specifically help her exercise those. It, well, evolved from there. "Just be careful with these. Not only are the wings going to get really tired, really quickly, but this enchantment is feeding off your own magic supply, so your fatigue will increase faster," I warned again. Rainbow smiled back at me, cheeks rosy, before nodding. "I know. I'll stay low and over the lake. Uh, thanks for worrying about me, of course. Can you keep watch for a water rescue if need be?" she asked, eyes softening a bit. I gave her a smile and nod, of course, and she grinned. At least by the shade of her cheeks, I was reminded that her squirms were from pleasure rather than pain. It was slightly awkward thinking I was the one giving it to her, but apparently it felt good when my magic went inside a pony's body. As in, really good, which made me feel even more awkward when I considered Pinkie's reaction a while back. At least it didn't seem to affect the Crusaders in the same fashion! Too young, maybe? "I'm so never using my magic on anypony unless I absolutely have to," I muttered a moment later, causing her to laugh between pants. "I dunno, Mender. You could just rake in the bits if you took up massaging. Oh, oh, ah, um, is there any way I could get you to keep going after you're done?" Rainbow asked, giving out another light groan as I tied off the line of energy into the main cluster on her back. Her wings were getting really complex now! I just kept layering the enchantments onto it, and tying them together. The jets from earlier were still technically there, but now I had wired muscle manipulation into them as well. Sighing, I shook my head lightly towards her. "Rainbow, you know that's a bad idea. This is getting a little weird, too. I didn't realize you even liked me like that before today," I warned, more than a little uncomfortable in her request. "I told you, Mender. I like both stallions and mares, but only because I happened to, well, start liking particular ponies of both genders, if that makes sense? Sexuality isn't as important as the individual that catches my interest. Soarin's more just a fantasy, honestly. I was kidding there. Applejack and you, so far, are the only ponies that, um, interest me," she admitted, her blush increasing slightly as she glanced back at me again. Oh. Well, that made more sense and made me feel a little better. She just looked back at me for another minute before relaxing again and continuing with, "I only tried dating once before. That was way back in flight school with a dude my friend, Gilda, set me up with. It, well, didn't go so well. He got pushy and I broke it off barely a week in after he tried to go too fast. I mean, I like fast and all, but I'm not gonna let myself get used like that! It left a bad taste in my mouth for a while." "That makes sense. I take it you started to get interested again after meeting Applejack?" I inquired, pleased to take her mind off the sensations during the last stretch as I wired up the central enchantment. She snickered and shook her head, however. "Nah. We were friendly with each other for the most part, but we were more rivals than anything at first. She's an amazing competitor, and really pushed me when we went head to head. I guess the tension built to admiration, and then I realized that, well, I loved the mare. I really do. I care for her and want to be with her as more than a friend. That revelation surprised me, and got me thinking about a relationship again." By the time she finished, I had completed the enchantment and sat back up again, slipping off her back and sitting beside her instead. The leaves crunched under my weight, and I adjusted myself as Rainbow sat up again, stretching. "Friendship first is a good way to do it, isn't it? I know I don't know much about relationships, but they seem more an upgrade to friendship than something that replaces it," I suggested, smiling as I watched the graceful mare stretch out her back legs, then each and every muscle in her wings. She grinned at me, of course. "Of course! I imagine it's a lot like friendship. Only a lot stronger. Oh, and with sex," she agreed, nodding twice. I chuckled and shook my head towards her, causing her to grin further. "To be honest, Twilight and Fluttershy probably wouldn't mind. It's not like I'm a stranger," she added, winking and causing me to blush again. "I'd say you had a one track mind, but the enchantment probably didn't help much," I admitted, averting my gaze. Hesitating for a moment, she finally nodded absently towards me. "Well, yeah, it did feel good and the wings are sensitive on a pegasus anyway, but a big part of it was who was doing it, too, to be honest. It's weird, but I kinda feel better now that I admitted to liking you," she corrected, tilting her head in consideration. It was strange how little it bothered me at this point. Sure, I was used to being 'new' and 'exotic' in Ponyville, which was probably why a lot of ponies were interested, but I assumed, and hoped, that would die down over time. This didn't bother me as much as normal, though, because she had real feelings behind it. It wasn’t just a shallow interest in something ‘new’. "Why do you like me in particular? Even though I know you've said it a couple times, I thought you were just being silly and didn't think I was 'cool' enough for you," I asked, tilting my head towards her as she rotated in place and stretched one wing out at a time. Warm-up exercises, maybe? "You're dependable and I can trust you to have my back, for one. That's super important to me and obviously a quality AJ has in spades! Sure, you're an egghead like Twilight, but I think she's cool, too! So, don't doubt me. I might not be Honesty, but I'm not lying." She puffed up while saying it, apparently having finished her stretches. A part of me was a little surprised when she gave that particular answer. She'd thought it through, I noted. Considering it for a moment, I nodded in agreement. "I've trusted you for a long time. If I hadn't offended your sensibilities that night, things probably would have gone better. Even though what I was saying sounded absolutely crazy, you still checked on my story after going to get the doctor. You believed in me at probably my lowest point ever, and that means a lot," I decided, my mouth following along with my thoughts. Her eyes got bigger as I went on, and she got another light pink tint when I smiled back up at her. "Well, my point is that I don't have a problem with how you feel, because I already feel close to you and relaxed when around you, so it doesn't faze me. I don't want to distract you from your goal, however," I summarized, a little frustrated that I wasn't better with words. Twilight probably could have summed up everything in a couple sentences. Her eyes shivered slightly and, just for a moment, she looked distinctly not Rainbow Dash. I'd never seen her features relax and soften in quite that manner before she peeked left, and then right over her shoulder. Eh? Apparently satisfied in what she did or didn't find near us, she nodded to herself and shifted closer to me suddenly. My eyes widened, but she simply leaned forwards and lightly brushed her muzzle along my jaw, her neck lightly resting against the side of mine. A second passed as I lightly reached up with my left foreleg and hugged her back, understanding her intention suddenly. I felt her smile and press a bit closer, sighing softly and losing the nervous tension she'd been holding onto. What, was she afraid I'd laugh at her, or accuse her of going soft or something? Her hugs were surprisingly feminine, displaying a good deal of affection as I rested my jaw against hers. We stayed like that for a surprisingly long time. Almost a minute passed before she gently backed up a bit, giving me a soft smile. "It's weird how easy it is for me to accept you, but I guess I see a part of me in you and can relate to your past. I know yours was far worse, but you're still here and trying to be positive, and I can respect that," Rainbow muttered, staring at me intently for a moment. "I'm glad. I know that not everypony in Equestria is sunshine and happiness, so if you want to talk about, I dunno, things, I guess, I'm available to listen," I offered. My more ideal viewpoints on Equestrian life were shattered with the rather vicious news stories. Yeah, not everypony was friendly, that was for sure! I wondered if Dash had encountered some of those not-so-friendly ponies in the past as well. She coughed and looked away for a moment. "Okay, starting to sound like some sort of therapy session or something. So not going there! If you wanna hear more about my amazingly awesome, super exciting past, you'll have to bribe me. The only way I'll confess is via pillow talk!" she declared, winking at me with her tail starting to whip back and forth. I gave a slow blink, my mind unable to keep up with the conversation suddenly. 'Therapy' confused me somewhat, as I didn't immediately associate any part of her being injured that I might have been attempting to fix. Normally, I applied that particular word to muscle correction after severe damage was accrued. Stepping back, I went back to the root of the word. To heal or restore something, usually after a successful diagnosis. Weird. Wait, could she have been talking about her feelings? There were official means in which to fix feelings here? The concept was totally foreign and I made an immediate mental note to ask Twilight about it later. 'Pillow Talk' sounded more like a social event or reference of some sort. I, well, mostly doubted she was referring to a literal interpretation. Talking about pillows would be amazingly dull, and talking with pillows seemed impractical, if not a choking hazard. Given it being a cultural thing, I decided I had a very low probability of figuring it out on my own. By the time I shifted back to reality, her smirk had faded, and she gave me a confused stare instead. "Oh, sorry. I was trying to figure that statement out," I apologized, followed by, "What exactly is 'Pillow Talk'? Is that where we pile up a bunch of pillows or something and lie on them while talking? Or is there some sort of ritualistic pillow combat I'm not aware of that decides the verbal victor and who gets to ask what to whom?" They were just guesses, of course. It had been a high probability from the moment I decided to ask her, so I mentally counted down from three. I only got to one before she burst into laughter and rolled over onto her back, and I sighed, just letting her get it out of her system. While she was busy, I pondered if it was a good thing that I decided it was just faster to make an idiot of myself than try to explain my reasoning behind it. It took her almost a full minute to calm down to just a few giggles and snorts. Sitting there, I kept my head averted, feeling a little dejected. Still, I was used to that feeling when sometimes dealing with Rainbow's verbal quips. While loyal to a fault and rather mirthful, she could be downright abrasive in personality sometimes. She finally noticed my posture and expression and sunk a bit, shaking her head. "Yeah, yeah. I know. You're new here. Um, sorry. Pillow talk is when you're relaxing in bed with your head on the pillows with your mate, enjoying the relaxing feeling you apparently get after mating and just talking," she explained simply. Oh. I blushed lightly, but nodded. Ah, she had been flirting again, then. "Apparently? You must not have ever mated before, then," I deduced, sitting upright again and out of my sullen pose. She froze, eyes widening drastically before she started awkwardly laughing. "Oh, slip of the tongue! Of course I've mated! Lots of times! So many times, I've lost count!" she exclaimed after recovering from her stunned expression. I just stared at her. Okay, I was dense, but if she had expected 'that' to work on me, I felt kind of insulted. She fidgeted slightly, then blushed and looked away from my gaze as if it burned her. "Oh fine. Just, um, don't tell anypony else! I'm kinda a virgin," she whispered, starting to sound like Fluttershy suddenly. I raised an eyebrow, a bit confused. "Uh, maybe I'm missing something because I'm new here, but is it really that big of a deal? You're young, so I would have thought, probability speaking-" I started, running my thoughts by her out of confusion. "Yes, it's a big deal! It's extremely uncool that I don't have any experience whatsoever with anypony! I'm the coolest pegasus in Ponyville, no, in Equestria! But I've never been with anypony?!" she interrupted, sinking a little in her spot. It was that big of a social event? I blinked, and then pointed out, "Uh, I might be wrong, but I don't think it's really a social thing. Shouldn't you be more focused on simply being with a pony you care about and sharing your experiences with them?" She stared at me for a second before sighing and sagging her wings down. "Well, yeah. I'm not going to mate with just anypony. It's just, I don't have any experience! When I finally do get with Applejack, I'm going to be horrible and that's just, well, not cool!" she continued. Ah, now that struck me as the real reason for her problem with it. "I'm not sure if that's the important part or not. I mean, sure, I assume that a healthy sex life is good for a relationship, but I doubt Applejack is going to be upset, given that it's totally new to you. It might even be new to her and turn into something you two can experiment with and work on together?" I offered, blushing lightly as I realized I'd accidentally slipped 'experiment' into the statement. Damn it, Twilight! That word was ruined forever for me now. Rainbow stared at me in surprise before thinking for a moment. "Um, I'd never thought about her not being experienced either. Now that I think about it, I've never, ever heard of her dating anypony, ever," she muttered, sounding more like she was talking to herself then realizing I was still here. "See? She might think it's even more special that you're a virgin, too," I pointed out, followed by, "That worried me for a while with Fluttershy and Twilight, but Fluttershy especially pointed out that no matter what happens in the future, it's not going to change how they feel about me. I suppose that probably applies to if I'm terrible or not as well." I'd expected to not be very good, even with a ton of memories of mating as a Keldarian. Not that, well, I wanted to remember those memories. That I was remembering right now. Damn it! Rainbow finally smiled and nodded to me, looking quite a bit more relieved than she had been prior. We both relaxed for a moment before she opened her wings again and looked up at the sky again. I glanced up, noting it clear, if not somewhat overcast. There was a cool nip to the air that made me glad I had thicker fur. Taking to the air again, Rainbow experimented by hovering for a little bit, then sent the 'feeling' of the number two down the link. As requested, I shifted an impulse back to her, and the tension in her wings doubled. She winced momentarily as she almost fell out of the air, but managed to maintain her flight and nodded. "Are you sure about this, Rainbow? You can just practice with the enchantment if you want," I pointed out, frowning at her faltering. "Psh, it's fine! You just surprised me, is all. Now you get to watch the amazing Rainbow Dash as she puts on a private air-show just for you!" she announced, puffing as she lifted into the air further. Smirking, I stuck my tongue out at her, wiggling the tip as it extended three feet from my body. Her eyes widened in surprise, then, half a second later, she blushed while staring at it. I didn't give her time to weird out and pulled it back into my mouth before gesturing towards the lake. Who knew what the silly mare was thinking? I'd rather distract her before she put her barbed tongue to use instead. She grinned and nodded before flitting backwards, still sporting a soft flush as she spun and took higher to the sky. Her movements were slightly more sluggish, but her wing muscles were operating under twice their normal friction and strain, so it was to be expected. Frankly, I thought she'd just fall out of the air, but then I remembered that she could technically comfortably carry up to two full-size ponies by herself, so she was probably fine. With that, her routine started, and I sat back to watch, smiling at the loops and darts and just admiring the mare's agility. Flight looked fun, but also so empowering. She could go anywhere, and there was something appealing to that. It took me a moment, but I accepted that I admired her in general, not just for her wings and skill, but her personality and mind. She had courage to fight through scary moments and get things done. It was a certain motivation that I lacked. Silently, I tried to take in as much of it as I could while watching her dance across the sky on prismatic wings... * * * * * Okay, Rarity was right. There was something to be said about a healthy air of paranoia and preparation. Installing the parachute enchantment into Rainbow's wings was definitely one of those. The stubborn mare had practiced for almost an hour under double tension, despite repeated suggestions for breaks. She was getting frustrated at my concern, but no more than three minutes after my most recent one, a bolt of pain shot through the link. Having been zoning, my head snapped into position in time to see her gasp in midair, her left wing locking up and buckling against her side. The link told me muscle cramp before my mind even identified it, and I felt her start to panic as she careened over the lake. My impulse fired down the link a moment later and a parachute of thin barrier magic popped out her back, slowing her to a swaying drift as I dove into the water again. Two minutes later, I set a soaked and gasping cyan pegasus onto the shore of the lake. I tried to detach the enchantment, but she swatted my hoof away a moment later and struggled to try to get back up to her hooves again. "I said I'd be fine! Why did you install a parachute?! Didn't you trust me?" she growled before gasping as her wing spasmed and she tripped, landing hard on her shoulder. "This isn't exactly giving me much reason to, Rainbow. You promised me you'd take it easy, and you just worked yourself into a wing cramp," I pointed out, giving her a skeptical glare as I followed. Her energy tried to flow back into the enchantment again to activate its jet functions, but I turned it off before she could power them up. "Gah! No! I want to keep practicing! This is nothing, Mender!" she groaned, lifting her torso off the ground before I physically pushed her back down again. "Hey!" she continued, shooting me a confused and slightly panicking look as I rolled her over. Shaking my head, I sighed and informed, "I'm not turning the enchantment back on until you recover. Now relax your left wing." My tone surprised me by shifting rather stern and commanding, more so than I thought I could. Rainbow's eyes widened slightly, and she surprised me even more by actually doing as I instructed and extending her left wing. "W-What are you going to do? You don't know healing magic, I thought," she asked hesitantly, accidentally admitting she injured her wing and not realizing it. Gently, I extended my left foreleg, sliding my rough brace off before touching the top of her wing with my hoof. "I don't. I'm fairly good at massages though, and this helped Pinkie get over her pain," I reasoned, wanting to help as best I could. Rainbow's eyes shot open and she looked back at me suddenly, which surprised me a bit more. "Ah! W-Wait, you don't need to-" she started to say before I rolled my eyes and shot a spike of my magic into her main wing muscle, combined with a gentle knead. "...to... oh. Oh.... Hah... oh, wow," she continued, stunned voice melting into a throaty pant as she immediately collapsed onto her stomach. Ha! Miss Tough Mare enjoyed massages, too, I noticed. Smirking, I decided to lay it on thick and push more energy into her muscles, heating along the tense and twitching area as I softly pushed the knots out, letting the sore and tender wing get some much needed rest and attention. She was surprisingly vocal about it, giving out a low and long groan as I ran my hoof along the full length of her wing, my energy dancing through her fur. "How's this, then? I've never tried massaging a wing before, but I think I'm familiar with the muscles in it. Do you want me to get the flight muscles in your back, too?" I asked, not wanting to linger too long on the wing itself. Twilight's mentioning of it being an erogenous zone was still fresh in my mind, and I only wanted to stay long enough to remove her pain. Her expression indicated that I had definitely managed that. "Oh... ah! You can do anything you want to me, just don't stop," she murmured, sinking a bit lower against her stomach as she shook next to me. I raised an eyebrow, but shrugged as I shifted to her back between the two wings instead. After a light moan, she relaxed a bit more, this spot seeming less intense and more calming to her. That's when I realized her back muscles were a mess of spasming twitches. Joy. It took me almost five minutes to get her relaxed to satisfaction. She lay in the grass, totally limp with both wings sticking stiffly out to each side of her. Her forelegs were spread out to each side of her head, and her back legs were pushed tightly together, her tail tip flicking back and forth as if fanning the hot air away from her. To my surprise, I was getting 'heat' through the feedback link somehow, my body temperature increasing the longer I worked on her. It was interesting to say the least, although I didn't know what was causing it. It was a bit electrifying, to be honest, but I stopped myself from continuing the massage past what was needed to get her feeling better. After stopping, I relaxed against the grass and let myself cool off idly, enjoying the sounds of her light snoring slowly picking up intensity. A few memories of a barracks danced into my head, and finding odd comfort in my snoring squad. It was a reminder that I wasn't alone. Of course, I didn't need her snores to tell me she was there. The link was ever present and I was always 'aware' of where the owners were. Fluttershy's feeling showed her in the town market right now, while Twilight's was in the basement of the Library, undoubtedly busying herself with experiments. Pinkie was harder to track, but I finally picked up on her over at Sweet Apple Acres for some reason. Of course, even if the link failed somehow, at this range, I could very easily smell the mare. She was normally accompanied by a sweetish smell of fruit that was hard to place. Something soft on the palette with a hinting of sweet, but not too potent. Now, however, there was also an underlying spicy smell to it, which I could only assume was because of her estrus pheromones. It wasn't unpleasant, exactly, but if I paid too much attention to it, I noticed my heartbeat picking up. Scary. Instead, I pulled up one of my data sheets on the disks and started reading instead, deciding to distract myself and be useful at the same time. Twilight would be so proud... * * * * * It was almost an hour before Rainbow's whining and whispering about Applejack ceased, her wings repeatedly twitching and moving in her sleep. I counted no less than four full expansions and retractions as she dreamed. Of course, I was happy she was apparently having good dreams, but just a tiny part of me was irked that even though I had been the one to so pleasantly usher her into them, she still dreamed about Applejack instead. It was strange, stepping back and looking at the feeling. When had I started putting more emphasis on my own ambitions? I knew I only really wanted Twilight and Fluttershy, but I suddenly realized that I wouldn't necessarily be bothered if Rainbow was telling the truth about liking me. A part of me had always liked her, and hadn't she already proven to be the epitome of trustworthy and loyal? A deep unease settled into my head as I frowned. This didn't feel like me, really. When had I become selfish, wanting more than what my station allowed? What did my station allow? I didn't really even deserve Fluttershy and Twilight. Suddenly I wanted Rainbow Dash, too?! Sighing weakly, I shook my head and flipped the page on the data sheets in my eye display. No, it wasn't right to think like that. All I needed were Twilight and Fluttershy. The reading was proving dry at best, unfortunately. Apart from operating ranges for a 'remote uplink', all I'd found so far was composition and creation information. Well, if I wanted to make more of them, I suppose, I was set. Snickering to myself, I peeked back at the uplink data and noted the ranges. Biorhythm and audio could be accessed at ranges of nine hundred 'Mm', it said. As I knew the range on it was significantly larger than nine hundred millimeters, I could only assume it was actually in 'megameters', which was a little scary. Suffice to say, it would operate undoubtedly anywhere in Equestria. From the surface of my old home planet to our first moon's orbit was a 'mere' three hundred and ninety megameters, I suddenly recalled. Regardless, the 'emotional composition' range was significantly shorter, listed at five meters. That must have been the empathy link I experienced. It was a little disconcerting that they labeled it as 'emotional'. That indicated they knew the sources of power were sapient. How much did Dr. Kyliona know about Equestria? I flipped through another page of specifications, starting to feel rather bored. None of this actually told me the purpose for these samples, or what the disks actually did to myself or the 'host creature', as they labeled it. That was a bit scary, too. I closed the file a moment later and moved onto the next, listed as 'LMNS Controls'. I had no idea what that was, but my search had flagged many listings of 'disk', 'crystal', and 'link' in the file, so it was next up on my reading priority. Maybe I'd get an official name for the bloody things and be able to refine my search a bit. Otherwise, looking through a few thousand data files was going to take a really, really long time. My eyes widened as the title expanded on the first page that it opened up. 'Link Monitor and Nanite Surveyor' was at the very top of page, followed by a subtitle of 'Control Listings'. A detailed picture of one of the disks was under the subtitle, and I couldn't look away from it. Nanite?! Oh. Oh hell. My eyes flicked down to note the first section was a summary of the controls for one 'LMNS Unit', and showed the parts of the disk and what would light up when links were registered. Jackpot, for better or worse. My hyper-alert mind jumped back to attention when I heard a thump and cracking noise in front of me. My ears snapped back around and I looked up into the woods near our clearing by the shore. A fast glance showed Rainbow was still sleeping, and an urge shot through me suddenly. No, she wasn't about to get ambushed by anything on my watch while she slept. Feeling protective, I stood up lightly and stared into the forest line, my barriers slowly lighting up along my legs and chest before sliding across the ground and forming a dome around her as well. Another light snap. Something small was moving through the brush close to the path used to get here. It couldn't have been bigger than a pony, by the sound of the movement. I remained alert as my ears swiveled, following the sound. It didn't take long for me to spot a flash of orange in the bushes. I raised an eyebrow as a small, purple tail slipped under one of the lower trees, barely noticed by me. Scootaloo? What was she doing off the beaten path and trying to stealth? I relaxed a little, but kept my barriers up, just in case it was a clever mimicry of my young filly friend. Better safe than sorry, in my case. My eyebrow rose even further as I watched the tail disappear from view, and silence resume from the bush. Was she hiding from me? A quick glance upwards showed me a still swaying branch, broken and hanging by a tiny strip of bark from a tree above the bush. Ah, she fell. Immediate concern drifted through me, and I sighed. Rainbow's barrier was left up as I walked past it, and headed for the bush. Distinctly, I noticed it shivering lightly as I approached, and I lowered myself to peek under it. Two magenta eyes stared back, and she gave a weak swallow after freezing for a moment. "You don't have to hide, Scootaloo. Are you okay? Did you hurt anything in the fall?" I asked softly, attempting to appear as non-threatening as I could. It probably didn't matter, given that she knew what I was capable of. "Ah, I'm sorry! I, um, I didn't mean to spy on you two! I was looking for you and I stumbled across you both and, um," she started rapidly apologizing. Holding my hoof up, I opened my mouth to interrupt her when I was cut off by a particularly loud snore from Rainbow. Sighing, I waited for her to quiet again before assuring, "I'm not mad, Scootaloo. I'm surprised and a bit concerned if you hurt anything." She stared up at me for a moment, as if gauging my sincerity before shaking her head. "Um, the bush broke my fall, so I'm fine. What are you doing out here with Rainbow?" she asked, easing up on her crouched down position and slowly sliding out from under the bush. Oh yeah, Rainbow wasn’t supposed to be here. "She officially requested that I help her with an enchantment to practice better for the race coming up. I was actually the one that walked in on her, so don't get her in trouble, okay?" I requested, frowning a bit down at the little filly. She seemed to not care too much for authority, one way or another, so I doubted I had to worry really. Oddly, I heard a light choke amidst the snore behind me a second later, and a wave of surprise and happiness drifted through me. Ah, the brat was awake then and faking it. I was impressed. Her fake snores were amazingly like her real ones! Scootaloo rapidly shook her head, eyes widening drastically. "No way! I'd never, ever get Rainbow Dash in trouble! I won't tell anypony else that she was here," Scootaloo promised instantly, causing me to smile again. Oh yeah, that was another good reason I didn't have to worry about Scootaloo telling on her. How had I almost forgotten about that? Dash sent a wave of what could only be described as pride at that. Heh. "It just surprised me a bit to see you two, um, together. I was maybe wondering, since you couldn't be my dad and all obviously, if I might luck out and get you as a brother instead," she explained. I gave a slow, confused blink, both at her suggestion out of seemingly nowhere, and the blast of shock and embarrassment from the link behind me, the snoring stopping instantly. Uh, okay, I was probably missing something again. "Uh, I didn't know ponies could adopt siblings, too. Is that, uh, common?" I asked, raising an ear up as I tilted my head at her. She snickered and nodded, surprisingly. "Kinda! I was just, it was so, well, I mean, it was absolutely awesome when Rainbow said I could be her little sister! Best. Day. Ever!" she squealed, causing me to snicker and nod. It must be a thing here, then. The haze of embarrassment shifted to warm instead behind me, and I inwardly grinned back at Rainbow through the link. A stutter followed, and then a blushing scowl and I resisted laughing. What, did she honestly think I wouldn't notice she was awake? "I noticed you seem to look up to her quite a bit. Although, she is an amazing mare," I agreed, nodding twice to the little filly. I got a massive grin back, and she nodded twice. "Totally! I figured you thought so, too. That's why I was wondering, when I saw you two here, um, together. I mean, she totally let me in on her crush over AJ, and I know you know about it, but seeing you two..." She trailed off, as another brief bout of confusion hit me. Wait, that meant... My eyes widened a little, and I stared back down at her in surprise. "How many ponies know about her crush, anyway?" I asked, undoubtedly adding the other two Crusaders to the list now, too. That was a lot of ponies! Scootaloo snickered and shook her head. "Don't tell her I said this, but sometimes I think the only pony who doesn't know is AJ herself," she pointed out, averting her eyes and getting a light blush again. Hmm. There was evidence I'd noticed contrary to even that, but I decided not to say anything, feeling the irked sensation coming from Rainbow now. A wise pony knew when to shut up in front of angry mares. "So kinda like Spike. Gotcha. Well, at least that means that it's widely accepted and she shouldn't have any problems when she finally tells her," I deduced, intentionally a few decibels higher in order to grind the point home. Instead I only got a bit of confusion, and sighed. She was almost as dense as I was. Almost. The orange filly snickered but shook her head again, standing fully and stretching her wings out a little. "Nah. She doesn't have anything to worry about, I don't think. Not the way AB talks. Uh, Rainbow's not supposed to hear that, either," she reminded, looking past me at the 'sleeping' Rainbow Dash. Uh... oops. Coughing lightly, I averted my eyes as the wave of shock hit through the link, and I felt her heartbeat skyrocket. The biorhythm readout also showed spikes of chemicals shoot into her bloodstream, and I felt her get a little 'wiggly', for lack of better words. Okay, this was awkward enough already. "Uh, don't do anything rash and get her in trouble, Rainbow," I warned finally, out loud. Scootaloo's eyes shot open fully and she looked past me again. Rainbow sat up instantly with an exasperated look, eyes wide. "But, but, did AJ say something about me or something?!" she asked rapidly. Maybe I was dense, and sure, I'd only been here for a month or so, but that still felt like a live minefield she was walking into. Considering I noticed it, that was really saying something! Scootaloo's eyes bugged out, both of her forehooves shooting up to her muzzle, as if to hold back the secret she'd just accidentally confessed. "Uh, you probably shouldn't ask that, Rainbow. Honestly, if you want to know how Applejack feels about you, you should probably just ask the mare," I suggested, covering for the now hiding Scootaloo, who was using me as cover. Rainbow shifted to a skeptical glare instead, adding, "Why are you giving out relationship advice? Didn't you almost get run over by a bed when you tried to ask Twilight out the first time?" Well, that had gotten altered in her head a bit! My ears flattened back an instant later and I shifted to a flat glare instead. "I didn't ask her out. You drew her attention to it in the worst possible way, and then ran off before helping to defuse the situation!" I reminded. She puffed a little, angling her wings down as her ears flattened, too. For just a moment, I found myself distracted, wondering why that was an instinctive reaction, before remembering that I was supposed to be mad. "She's your fillyfriend! You're supposed to be able to handle her yourself, not rely on somepony else to," she shot back, missing the point completely. Groaning, I reminded, "She wasn't at the time! She was your friend, too, and you created the problem in the first place." Scootaloo got her gumption up again and hopped out from behind me a moment later. "Stop it, you two! It was a super long time ago, so it's not worth fighting over. Besides, Twilight's your fillyfriend now, so it all worked out, right?" she questioned, little wings flittering as she tried her hardest to smile up at me. I noticed hesitation in her eyes, and wondered why she had to drive herself to being brave around me. Rainbow huffed and crossed her forelegs, nodding and agreeing with, "Totally! It all worked out, so you have no need to be angry with me!" My ears dropped again as my eyes narrowed at her, but Scootaloo hopped between us instead, rapidly shaking her head at Rainbow as well. "Rainbow! You always told me that if you cause a problem, you should be loyal first and foremost and fix it for your friends, right? I heard your prank did get Mender in a lot of trouble, and hurt his feelings, so shouldn't you fix that instead?" the little filly asked softly. Idly, I wondered if she kept a Rainbow Dash quote book or something, but the sentiment was still nice to hear. Yeah, that was actually good advice. I decided to take it to heart myself as well. Dash's expression softened into a frown instead, and she relaxed her tightly held forelegs a moment later. Seeing a potential opening, Scootaloo chose that moment to attack. "Besides, isn't he currently doing you an important favor in order for you to better win over Applejack? If you're mean to him, he might not help you train anymore," she reasoned. Ouch. That was a low blow, and I stared in surprise at the little filly, not realizing she could be so downright devious. Although, that was kind of defeating the point of her prior show of morality. Rainbow's face dropped into a look of stunned revelation and I inwardly groaned. It wasn't like I was going to ruin her chances with the race just because I was mad at her. She didn't really think I was that shallow, did she? "Ah! Um, uh, shoot! I didn't think of that! Um, I'm really sorry, Mender. You'll still help me practice, right?" she asked hesitantly, shifting a little closer and moving her forehooves together with a light begging gesture. Or she did think I was that shallow... Sighing, my ears drooped lower and I stared at her sadly. "Rainbow, even if I'm upset with you, you're still my friend. This race is super important to you, and I'm not going to lessen your chances with it by not helping," I assured. Her face fell as she probably picked up my intent through the link. There was a light, awkward silence between the three of us for almost a full ten seconds, a nervous Scootaloo looking back and forth between Rainbow and me, unsure of what to say, it looked like. Finally, Dash smiled lightly and opened her wings up fully. For a split second, I thought she was going to fly away. She lifted airborne in a fluid hop, easily drifting over Scootaloo's head with a single flap, and then glided downwards at an angle directly into me. My eyes widened, but I caught her and cushioned her impact as she fell into a gentle and relaxed hug against me. "Yeah, deep down, I knew that. You might not match Honesty all the time, but you're a pretty good example of Loyalty. I think that's what I like best about ya," she admitted, pulling herself tighter and squeezing over my shoulders. Smirking at the rare display of affection from the cyan mare, I wrapped my forelegs around her waist and gently squeezed, earning a sigh. Admittedly, I didn't hold myself to any standard in truth telling, but loyalty was something I felt strongly about. I'd never really thought about it before, though. Scootaloo made a light gagging motion with her hoof behind Rainbow, but remained silent. I couldn't help but notice she also wore a rather pronounced blush, and grinned at her. She glared back, of course. Rainbow cut in first, however. "Okay, enough mushy stuff. You're cool, and I admitted that, so there! Don't tell anypony," she finally requested, blushing lightly before letting go of me again. I let her slip backwards and away from me, still amused. "Aww, I'm hurt. I'm sure if it was Applejack, you'd hug her all day," I teased, actually finding her rare cases of carefully concealed affection rather endearing. Deep down, I realized she really was a nice mare, if not a bit stubborn and blustery. I wondered idly if there was a term for that. She kinda ran hot one moment, and cold the next. Rainbow predictably blinked, then tinted lightly pink with that, looking a bit flustered as Scootaloo snickered and nodded. "W-What?! Hey, you're no different than her. What, do you think I wouldn't?!" she asked, narrowing her eyes and puffing herself up a bit in defiance. A bit of confusion hit me, and then I realized she didn't know I was teasing. Hmm, note to self, I'm still not the best at getting my point across in a social situation. I decided to try to remedy the situation as best I could. "Uhm, well, actually I was-," I started to mutter, also suddenly realizing I still was bad at social situations and didn't know how to remedy it in the first place. With nothing else for it, I decided honesty was probably the best policy. It would probably get me bucked into a tree for teasing her, but she wouldn't be mad afterwards! I hoped. "Oh, that's so it! Scootaloo, time me!" Rainbow ordered suddenly. Huh? The little orange filly threw a salute and dove sideways to Rainbow's saddlebags, which she'd deposited next to mine before I layered her with the enchantment. She retrieved a stopwatch from the left one, as if knowing exactly where it was, and nodded to Dash. "Uh, time what, exactly? I don't-" I started to ask before Rainbow gave a short nod to Scootaloo and promptly pounced me. Oh. Oh hell! "Twenty-four hours! I'll show you!" she boasted, smirking before squeezing me a bit harder and burying her face in my fur. My turn to blush. Coughing, I tried to pry her off of me, but she just grinned at my attempt. "Ah, going to really make it a challenge, huh? Don't make me give you incentive to hold me," she warned, causing me to stop instantly. Ack! She didn't mean... "Rainbow, I was just teasing you! Uh, I appreciate the gusto, but you really do like Applejack more, so it's to be expected. It's not like I was really sad or-" I tried to explain. Scootaloo held up a hoof and shook her head to me. "You're not helping, Mender," she warned, causing Dash to snicker and resume her resting position. Suddenly, I realized that this wasn't so much about her wanting to 'win' anything as an excuse to snuggle with me. Frowning, I decided to go with the civil approach first. "So, this is your heat talking, right?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow towards her. Predictably, she blushed and looked away from me, but didn't directly answer. Scootaloo gasped, however. "Do you really like him like that, Rainbow?" she asked, looking surprised as that faint blush came back to her cheeks. For 'not being interested' in things like this, she was awfully inquisitive. Rainbow smirked and turned back to me, slowly edging forwards instead. "Yeah, he's a pretty cool stallion, like I said. Not to every mare's taste, but he definitely suits mine. I wonder if I could convince AJ to join his herd," she murmured, voice shifting lower as her eyes lidded slightly. I felt my entire body heat up, then realized that it was actually hers heating up instead. My eyes widened as that smell suddenly flooded the area, and I felt... No! Bad! My chest, hips, and shoulders exploded into tentacles, causing both Rainbow and Scootaloo to yelp. The mare on top of me didn't have time to react, however, as she was yanked off me and tangled up in the extra limbs, hauled into the air and away from me. Panting, I glared up at her, unable to get that smell off me or slow my heartbeat, it would seem. Damn it, Rainbow! "That's it! This is... no. You can't do this, Dash. This is why you're not supposed to be here!" I suddenly realized, announcing it out loud at the same time. She yanked lightly at the tentacle wrapped around her right forehoof before smirking and looking back down at me instead. "Oh, come on, Mender! I mean, if this is the way you want to play, too," she cooed. Okay, definitely her heat talking. Heat. Huh. Raising an eyebrow to her, I shrugged suddenly. "Fine. If your heat is this bad, time for a bit of cooling off," I suggested. Her eyes widened momentarily before I dropped the tentacles back down and dunked her into the lake. After making sure she went into the water, I simply let go and pulled my tentacles back in before anypony wandered into the clearing accidentally. That would be my luck, too. Scootaloo started laughing when Rainbow resurfaced and gave me a soggy glare. The cyan mare treaded water for a moment before yelling out, "Jerk!" I laughed finally before shakily standing up again. The throb of blood danced through my ears and that smell drifted all around me. Damn. Shaking my head to try to clear it, I ran at the lake on sudden impulse. Rainbow's eyes widened, but it was far too late even as she brought her hooves up. My cannonball formation hit the surface less than a meter away from her, and she gave out a shocked yelp as she got washed sideways, dunking under again. Surfacing, I gave a pleased groan when I realized I couldn't smell it anymore. She floated a good two meters away from me now, giving me that oh-so wonderful death glare. I shot my best one back as Scootaloo ran up to the shore we had just departed. "Don't give me that look. You know you were out of line," I warned, getting kind of tired of this. She didn't need to know, of course, but it was hard enough telling myself not to be selfish. I was with Fluttershy and Twilight, however, and Rainbow was definitely not a part of the herd. Sure, she was cute, dependable, and downright sexy sometimes, but I... I really cared for both of the mares I was already with, and it wasn't worth hurting them. I was better than that. She stared at me for a moment, undoubtedly tasting the flurry of emotions I just shot through. Finally, she relaxed and nodded while floating there. "Okay, yeah. That was underhooved of me. I knew my smell would get to you. Uh, I'm sorry, Mender. I Pinkie Promise that I'll be good for the rest of the cycle," she suddenly apologized, eyes softening a little. I was somewhat proud that our relationship had developed to the point where she rarely tried to hide her intentions and feelings from me anymore. Slowly, I nodded to her, accepting her promise. "Okay. It's a promise, then. I'll keep helping you with the wing thing, just ease off the flirting, okay? Even joking, it's a bit, um..." After I hesitated, I realized I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to say there. What was it, exactly? A temptation? No, that implied there was a chance I'd go for it. It was certainly stressful, but that wasn't quite what I was going for either. She nodded anyway. "Yeah, I'll lighten up on it. My heat just makes me do, uh, embarrassing things. Well, it doesn't make me, but it does make it seem like a pretty good idea. Cheating is bad, though, and you so don't have permission to be with me," she agreed, coughing lightly and totally missing the point. Wasn't she supposed to be after Applejack?! Also, it wasn’t ‘just’ about permission. She kinda had to get mine, too, which she seemed more intent on simply seducing out of me. Scootaloo, however, was far faster on the uptake than I was. "Hey, don't forget about Applejack! She's the whole reason you're doing this," the little filly reminded. Rainbow glanced her way for a moment before smirking lightly and nodding. "Of course! I've got to get her to say yes, first. Then, maybe with a bit of hard cider helping me out, I might be able to broach the subject of a herd. Heh," she murmured, eyes dancing mirthfully. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Your heat's getting to you again, Rainbow. Dip back under the water for a bit before we start practicing again," I suggested, paddling back towards the shore again. Eh, screw it. Dealing with this was getting to be a bit much for me right now. She muttered something quietly as I swam back, but I missed it as my head dipped under. Looking back, I saw her giving me a look of innocence as she slowly sank back under the water with a grin. Well, that was probably a bad sign. I hesitated for a moment before shaking my head. Eh, Future Mender could deal with it. Current Mender was going to take a nap, as I was now exhausted. Scootaloo smiled at me and helped me out of the water once I hit shore. I gave her a tired nod before flopping onto my side, not so interested in moving anymore. The swimming was starting to make my leg hurt from all the exercise, and I exhaled, just letting my body rest. "Are ya tired, Mender? Maybe you should sleep for a bit?" Scootaloo asked softly, actually giving a rare look of concern towards me. I smiled and nodded idly. "Yeah, I probably should. Hopefully Rainbow's going to be too busy practicing for a while and won't try anything while I'm unconscious," I muttered, closing my eyes softly. "She Pinkie Promised not to. You don't break a Pinkie Promise. Ever," Scootaloo explained, and I felt her shiver even without looking. Okay, she had me curious, but it sounded like one of those things I probably shouldn't ask about. I just assumed professional hit squad and left it at that. Resting, however, I suddenly realized that technically only my body was tired. In order to get just a bit more out of my time, wouldn't it be best to tire my magic out, too? If the theory was right and they were both 'plugged' into the same spot, then that would get me better even faster. But what to do in order to use up more magic? Smiling suddenly, I opened my eyes again and looked back up at Scootaloo, who gave me a curious look after realizing I was staring at her again. "I need to use up more magic and don't feel like moving too much to do so. But I have an idea. Could you turn around, Scootaloo?" I inquired politely, smiling at her. The orange filly tilted her head towards me, looking a little unsure, but she nodded and slowly rotated around in place, still sitting down. My eyes lit up and a particle scan shifted along her back to analyze the muscle structure. As I predicted, they were underdeveloped for her size, which was probably the reason foals couldn't fly until they were older. Their wings and muscles had to expand to fit their larger bodies. Still, if I could shrink the enchantment down, the results could be interesting! Plus, I wanted to practice my contraction techniques anyway. "Uh, w-what are you doing?" she asked, fidgeting a bit under my intense stare, then hesitating after nothing happened for several seconds, apparently. Frowning, I extended my left hoof out and traced along her spine, causing her to start as I fed a bit of energy into her. "Wah! That tickles, Mender!" she squeaked, blushing lightly as she looked back at me. "Oh, sorry. I wanted to use up more of my magic, and I was considering trying to shrink the enchantment down to fit you as well, just for practice," I explained, absently feeling along her flight muscles with the energy lines. Her body wasn't displaying the telltale shivers or flushing that Fluttershy and Rainbow got, but she did have the secondary twitching of the wings when I fed energy into the muscles. It should technically work still, and I was glad that it wouldn't affect her in, well, 'that' way. While I was just barely comfortable enough to help Rainbow, doing the same to Scootaloo was a huge no for me. The little filly frowned, but relaxed a little now that she had been told what I was up to, it would seem. A second later, a damp Rainbow Dash wandered back over, shivering a bit but looking considerably more coherent than before. She momentarily gave us a questioning look before shrugging and sitting down next to me again. "Sorry about that, by the way. I did warn that my heat is, like, really bad. I'm a lot better now," she assured, voice sounding a little tired and soft, but it struck me as honest again. I was glad she was leveling with me, and the relaxed attitude was definitely helping. I nodded to her while focusing. "It's okay, Rainbow. I understand. Just try to keep me in the loop with what your plans are involving me, okay? It's kinda scary sometimes when you get pushy," I asked, sighing weakly afterwards. It wasn't an ideal situation, but she was my friend and talking it through would help. Her ears shifted back a ways and she got a momentarily glum look about her before nodding. "I know. Uh, I'll be totally frank with you, then. I like you. You've got a lot of personality traits and stuff that I like, and you're easy on the eyes, if you catch my meaning. I'm partial to blue," she informed, smirking lightly as she nudged the fur up on my foreleg. I gave her an amused yet skeptical look, but nodded for her to continue while I layered on the basics for Scootaloo's wings. Interestingly enough, the little filly seemed content to just listen to Rainbow, smiling the entire time with her ears rotated to face her. "Still, I haven't known you anywhere near as long as AJ. Don't get me wrong. I definitely trust you. As much as I trust anypony, really. You've proved yourself and paid your dues, and I can totally respect that," she continued after collecting her thoughts for another half a minute. I shivered at that one. Dues? Is that what it was called? I tried not to be bitter, of course, but I realized that my thoughts had been getting darker lately. Slowly, I was shifting more and more negative, which only made me more irritated. She kept going this time, however, knocking me out of my self-reflection. "So yeah. You're a cool pony, got a lot of things I like, and are admittedly tasty to look at. The heat just makes that last part so much worse! But I still haven't known you as long as AJ. Honestly, I don't know you any better than most of the other girls do. Actually, I think only Twilight knows more than any of us. You're closer to her, I can tell. But..." Noticing the hesitation, I sighed and nodded while finishing lacing the flight muscles and beginning on the actual jets. "You don't like me as much. I get it," I assured, frowning as I realized the normal thrusters wouldn't fit on her wings. I'd have to make an energy extension just to add the normal amount of jets, rather than the extras like Rainbow had access to in an emergency. Rainbow's ears flattened back and she sighed a second later. "Well, yeah, but you don't have to sound so negative about it! Sheesh. I like you, like you. You're only the second pony for me to feel that way about. I mean, really feel that way about, not the stupid crushes I had when I was little." She tried to make me feel better, but I was a little confused as to where this was going. Scootaloo squirmed a little, and I couldn't tell if it was the conversation or my manipulation of her wing muscles. A moment later, she revealed it was the topic by asking, "Does that mean I might get Mender as a brother after all?!" She grinned over her shoulder at the same time, and I rolled my eyes. This time I was on to her cute little indirect reference. Rainbow snickered before I could say anything, though, shaking her head. Yeah, honestly, that's what was the most obvious outcome. I mean, Applejack didn't- "I've obviously gotta talk AJ into it. I can't be a member of two herds at once, so combining makes more sense," the cyan pegasus elaborated, a mirthful sparkle in her eyes. I almost, almost fell on top of Scootaloo in my shock. Thankfully, I recovered fast and glared back at her, having no way to tell if she was serious or pulling one on me. Again. She just smirked, telling me absolutely nothing to my frustration. "That's very much not a good idea. You'd better be joking," I warned, flat look of annoyance probably reflecting in my tone. Her eyebrow rose a bit, and she inquired, "Oh? Why is it a bad idea?" Seriously? "I didn't think I'd need to point out how much Applejack and I aren't exactly on good terms. Not just what happened that night, but ever since meeting her. I got off on the wrong hoof and never recovered. She'll never agree to it, and think less of you probably for even suggesting it," I reasoned, look of annoyance shifting to a softer, more neutral expression as I looked away from the two pegasi. Rainbow watched me for a moment before sighing weakly and stretching her wings out. "She wants to be your friend, Mender. You gave her another chance, and she sure isn't going to waste it like that. Don't underestimate her," she warned, sounding rather sure of herself. I gave a light sigh, then turned back to continue on Scootaloo's wings. She was giving me a rather sad frown, but looked away when I moved to look at her back again. Absently, I finalized the compression and started stringing the enchantments into her energy pools. It felt like I was starting to sink in negativity, honestly. Ever since I found out what I was, after Nirru ruined everything, it felt like I was stuck. I couldn't escape and as much as it tore me apart inside to admit it, I was forced to realize that I could never actually achieve what I really wanted all along. It really sank in, finally. I'd never be a normal pony. I'd never know what it was like to have my own existence outside the shadow of somepony else. To have memories that didn't bleed through into events that I never experienced. I didn't have parents. I didn't have family. My old race was dying rapidly, and my new one I just found out I wasn't a part of. I was the first and last of my kind, and there was no changing that, or looking away. Giving a light tug, I tied off the enchantment from myself and let the magic go. It felt like a part of me fell away with it, and I was suddenly hit by a good amount of fatigue, a throb going through my head. Scootaloo perked up, and then glanced backwards at her wings a second later, undoubtedly having realized that was what I was messing with, and feeling me stop. She looked almost disappointed when she saw they didn't look any different. Dash eyed us both cautiously, also looking for changes. "Visualize using them, and open them up," Rainbow suddenly suggested, going off the very correct hunch she undoubtedly got from her own enchantment. Scootaloo nodded to her before focusing and stretching her wings out. Orange and crimson light danced out from them, a web of energy expanding out in a much larger wing shape, lit up by glowing thruster disks and hundreds of balancing tabs, not unlike feathers. Her eyes widened as she took in the glow, and Rainbow smirked as she watched. "You gave her the jets?" she asked, a moment later, shifting her attention to me instead of the filly. I nodded absently, laying down on my side and feeling my whole body throb. My magic was definitely hooked into my vitality, I confirmed. It felt like I'd just run fifty laps after doing martial fall recovery practice. "Yeah. Not like yours. Just enough to balance out the thrust to weight ratio. Mmm. About like normal wings for an older pegasus," I explained in brevity, deciding that even talking sucked. Rainbow shifted to a concerned look, but gave a sudden start as Scootaloo let out a high-pitched squeak next to her. Both of us looked over again in time to see the little filly hovering a couple feet off the ground, gently trying to keep her balance while her body also tried to squirm in excitement. "R-Rainbow! I'm flying!" she almost screamed, eyes looking huge and dancing with energy. It brought a certain warmth to suddenly see her look so delighted, and even though I felt like crap, I felt her slowly hauling my mood back up again. Rainbow didn't need any help beaming at her, and nodded. "Heck yeah! I didn't expect ta have to teach ya for a year or so more, but with Mender's help, I guess we can get a jump on it! Want a flying lesson?" Rainbow asked, smile shifting to a knowing one instead. Uh oh. The light from the wings flared up as Scootaloo's emotions literally caused the wings to lift her even higher into the air, her whole body shivering in shock and excitement. "R-Really?! You mean it?! Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, spinning in a circle, and going totally off balance as she did so. Rainbow laughed as she hopped forward and caught Scootaloo, who was now upside-down and going into a nosedive. I snickered, not realizing that it would make the little filly so happy. The two hugged for a moment, Rainbow smirking down at Scootaloo before glancing over to me instead. I spoke up finally, giving the standard warning. "They're going to make you get tired far faster, Scootaloo. They're hooked into your energy supply. There's also an emergency parachute in them that will go off under several conditions. If it does, the wings will power down until it fills back up with enough energy to work again, so take breaks or the wings will turn off for a while." Rainbow's chute technically had the automatic safeguards, too, but I figured the wings going away would be considerable incentive for the little filly. Rainbow already knew her limits. She just willingly chose to disregard them... Scootaloo's eyes widened for a moment before she nodded rapidly towards me. She surprised me, however, by hopping off Rainbow and pouncing forwards, grabbing onto my chest and squeezing into an unreserved hug. My eyes widened, but I smiled gently a moment later and wrapped my right foreleg around her back, careful to not singe myself on her overactive wings that now refused to turn off. "Thank you, thank you, Mender! You really are an awesome stallion! Aaaah! I can't thank you enough," she murmured, backing up slightly and looking down at me with wide eyes. I snickered and shook my head. "Thank me by having fun and practicing well. I expect you to be showing me tricks Rainbow taught you by the end of the week. I'm, uh, I think I'm gonna take a nap, so don't mind me," I excused, getting really tired. Yup, I imagine this is what a unicorn felt like after using a lot of magic. Rainbow frowned, despite Scootaloo's oblivious laughing and spinning. "You sure you're okay, Mender?" she asked hesitantly, looking concerned. Weakly, I gave a nod and tucked myself up again after Scootaloo fluttered off. "Yeah. I wanted to get myself tired out using magic, and I guess it worked. I'm just going to take a nap while you two practice. Remember, be careful," I cautioned again, smiling at the mare. She gave a gentle grin back and nodded, taking to the air on just her normal wings. "Of course. I'll make sure nothing happens to her, or me. Thanks for worrying, Mender," she cooed, winking and turning away, zipping after the out of control Scootaloo, who was now doing barrel rolls along the tree line. I blushed, the way she said that having stirred many a thing inside of me. The tone she took saying my name especially was electrifying, and I suddenly realized it might take longer to fall asleep than I had initially counted on. Groaning, I flopped back onto my side, listening to the laughter and happy shouts. Not everything was negative. Life was slowly normalizing again, despite my penchant for ungodly horrible luck. Again, I drifted back to hoping Sweetie would talk to me again, and idly thought of ways I could try to appease her. I really had no idea what to do. My body slowly relaxed, as I tried to think back to everything she said. There had to be something, but I just couldn't think of anything that would make the situation better. Heh, plenty that could make it worse, of course. No, I wasn't going to let it get worse. Feeling tired again, I gave my last bit of mental resolve to promising to try harder when I woke up. It was about time I got a hold of my own life. I'd get back in control of things, and force myself to stay positive! I had to. Giving up wasn’t an option. With that declaration sapping the remainder of my fortitude, I relaxed and let myself slip into dreams.
Chapter 49It's amazing how time sort of slipped together and blurred when nothing noteworthy or distinctive was happening. Further, the more awareness one gave to the actual process of time's passage, the slower it seemed to go. Yesterday had been one of those blurs after I woke back up and helped Rainbow get Scootaloo out of the tree she was hanging in via her parachute. They practiced for a surprisingly long time, honestly, so it was no surprise that her wings finally gave out. Rainbow bid me farewell for the night after securing the tired and sleeping Scootaloo to my back, and I headed back towards the cabins. By the time I'd arrived, of course, Spike, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom were sleeping. Big Mac gave a soft smile as he saw me walking up with the missing Crusader, apparently having anticipated her being with me. The two of us got her into bed, I gave Tank his supper and evening bath water, and then I, too, lost consciousness, leaving Big Mac as the only still functioning member of our little group. He'd been writing some sort of letter before bed, but I didn't pay much attention. Probably just to AJ as to update her. Now, time had ground the other way. Despite the rather interesting name for the disks, there wasn't a huge amount of data on them in that file. Well, their overall function was well documented, and so were various commands I could give them, but there was a surprising lack of the 'how' and ‘why’ parts of what they did present. The data they were passing to me, combined with 'nanites' in the title, didn't bode well. Tiny machines measured on the nano-scale were drifting through my bloodstream right now, actually. They were responsible for my hyperactive regeneration and immune system, along with most of the biorhythmic data I could take on myself. Given the rather similar comparison to what I could pick up on Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, I could only assume, really. Did the disks introduce nanites to their system? If so, what did they do? If they didn't stop at just taking readings, I had a feeling we'd have a bigger problem coming up. Out of pure paranoia, I kept a secure lockdown on my connections to the girls. Encryption and passkey, not to mention firewall and active scanning. At this point, until I figured out the extent of the connection, I didn't want anything passing through that line without my explicit permission. It only made matters worse in the fact that they didn't use conventional radio or psionic channels, as far as I could tell. There appeared to actually be my race's magic involved in supporting the link. Wonderful. Because a mixture of magic and technology never caused problems before. I rolled my eyes idly while flipping to the next page. At this point, the manual was projected out my right eye and I was reading it with my left, 'physically' flipping the pages. After the sixtieth page, I had started to get a bit of eyestrain reading it right off my display adapter, I discovered. This was far gentler for me. I wasn't exactly concerned with ponies finding me, regardless. Glancing up again, I took in my hidden view of the lake. The sky was somewhat clear today and actually had a bit of sun starting to peek over the horizon and across the water. A thin mist hung over the entire body of water as the air rapidly heated up, and I smiled at the early morning sensations. It was cooler this time of day, and I felt far more comfortable without the sun glaring down on me. No offense to Tia, of course. It was in my name, after all. I was more of a night pony. The hidden bluff I rested on was nicely covered by thick foliage and was partially into the tree canopy, so I couldn't be spotted from the air, and they'd be very hard pressed to see me from the lake. I could see them, though. Speaking of, my eyes locked onto the two foals playing in the water still. They'd come by a good twenty minutes earlier, and seemed to be enjoying the water. They were much too far away for me to see anything apart from their colors without bothering to magnify my vision, but one of them looked vaguely like the filly that was with the Crusaders during the accident. What was her name? Pinch? Also too lazy to peek into my database to verify that, I shifted my attention back down to my reading. I had a lot of data to weed through before I saw Twilight again, and she was expecting me to get this done. A part of me oddly felt better, however, knowing I had my sensors and occasional visual peek at the foals. They weren't accompanied by anypony, and after what happened the first day here, I realized that if I could make a difference, I definitely wanted to. If something did happen and they needed help, I was in a position to provide just that on extremely short notice. That, and get a message back to the other adult ponies quite quickly. Smirking, I glanced over at my only other companion again, remembering I wasn't technically alone. Tank was smiling gently while watching me read, seemingly perfectly content with lying in the shade and relaxing. I made sure he was nice and washed up this morning, and picked out some choice greens for him to eat alongside my surprisingly large breakfast. After the last two days of driving myself quite hard, I discovered my appetite had skyrocketed! The next page showed the start of chapter sixteen, entitled 'Root Commands'. Everything I grasped so far looked rather zealous for just information gathering. Sampling, I understood, but there was also mention of manipulation of both bodily processes and energy pools. In other words, manipulation of the magic and bodies of those that touched the disks. Who made these, and for what purpose?! Worse yet, what would happen if I registered all six of them? The code for their processing and sampling was open to me, and I'd already thoroughly examined it, but the root coding and signal manipulation was black boxed on me. Thankfully, it was just a partition, and I was in the process of breaking down its encryption right now, but I still didn't like things hidden from me. My eyes widened as I skimmed through the index of the chapter. Root commands appeared to be orders directly to that black box. It sent 'root' level commands to the disks themselves, instructing them to... do things to the hosts, as they put it. Basic things were there, such as localized sampling of tissue and biorhythm data, and reading different types of energy outputs, of course. It went beyond just scanning, however. My ears flattened backwards against my head and I glared at the page, rapidly flipping past the scans and going directly to the 'orders' I could give. It went into something about producing and storing various chemicals, and apparently one of the commands was introducing them in either localized or system-wide amounts. The chemicals were indexed separately, and listed, unfortunately, by their formula. I cursed myself for not knowing proper chemistry, apart from the basics of engineering. For probably the thousandth time, I caught myself wishing I'd taken medical training. The second of three direct manipulations listed was electric in source. That appeared to be physical nerve manipulation, and it actually appeared to have interface capacity. I was even less comfortable with the sounds of that, and didn't particularly agree with the idea of physically controlling the hosts' movements. Twilight was going to have a field day with this. The third was energy manipulation, the only non-physical variant. The amount of commands was staggering, however, and this appeared to be the 'main' purpose of the disks, I decided. The commands were focused on taking samples, and then mixing them across the disks to try to figure out how they interacted with each other, for some reason. I could only guess that Doctor Kyliona had found something to do with the way the Element Bearers interacted. Could it be hinting at the Elements of Harmony themselves? Honestly, I knew next to nothing about the actual titular power source. The fact that she called it our race's only hope kept running through my head, and I groaned, sighing as I read on. Once I got the black box cracked open, the first thing I was going to do was find a way to nuke all of these options and commands. Cracking sounds distracted me, and I perked my head up again, ears swiveling as I checked on Tank. He hadn't moved from his position, however, and was slowly turning his head in the direction of the offending noise as well. My scanners went active, and I easily picked out the two fillies wading through the underbrush at the bottom of the cliff. Outline profiles began running on them as I frowned and waited. "Are ya sure he's around 'ere somewhere? Why would he be way out 'ere in tha first place?!" I heard muttered in a distinctly Apple Bloom voice from the rear filly. I switched the profile to just matching for her and got a ninety-seven percent positive, which was the best I could hope for at this distance. On a hunch, I ran the other two fillies against the lead pony, and got a positive, ninety-four percent match on Scootaloo. There was a soft snort, followed by, "I'm not. It's just something I noticed yesterday. The wings he gave me have a disk on the front of my chest that holds my parachute in place like a harness. It glows slightly brighter the closer I get to him," she revealed. Oh, the harness brace I put in to cushion against g-shock. Clever filly! That doubled as the signal feedback to me, so it would get just slightly brighter the closer she got. I double-checked my magic signal, and it did indeed show her extremely close to me in that direction. "Really? So we could'a wandered out 'ere fer no reason whatsoever?" Apple Bloom asked, annoyance shifting into her tone. I smirked and stood up, slipping quietly towards the cliff edge to peek over at them. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and turned around at that, giving Apple Bloom a frustrated glare. "You're the one who agreed to find him. Got a better idea? I just hope this works, or all of this will be a waste of time," she groaned, looking to her left again towards the lake. "She's our friend, Scoots! Ya gotta trust her. She says she wants ta properly apologize-like, an' has ah way ta smooth things over, so she does. She ain't dumb," Apple Bloom defended, stomping her right forehoof down as emphasis afterwards. Heh, both of them being out here in the first place was a testament to their loyalty. They must be talking about Sweetie, then. Guessing they weren't going to ambush me or anything weird, I decided it was rude to further eavesdrop. Scootaloo sighed and nodded, looking a little glum for a moment. It was rapidly replaced with surprise and panic as I snagged her torso with a tentacle, wrapping it around her in an instant and yanking her upwards. Apple Bloom whipped back around at the surprised squeaking noise, then gave a start when she saw her friend no longer in front of her where she was a moment ago. The orange filly stopped struggling after I pulled her up to the cliff level. She stared at me for a moment before smirking and nodding, relaxing inside the tentacle wrap. A moment later, I grinned and launched another down, just as the filly on the ground looked upwards instead. Apple Bloom yelped but didn't dodge quick enough, being snatched up in my tentacle as well and hauled upwards. She didn't fight, however, pushing a tentacle away from her long enough to look at it, then smile. Heh, not only was she stronger than Scootaloo, I noticed a more level head about her. "Okay, Ah take it all back. Ya know yer stuff, Scoots," she admitted upon touching down on the cliff surface next to me. Snickering, I nodded to the little pegasus in question, setting her down as well. "Finding me like that was indeed clever. You're very observant, Scootaloo," I complimented gently. "Just Scoots, please! You're awesome in my book, especially after giving me these! That means I'll let you use my nickname," she decided, opening her wings up and displaying the radiating jet extensions with a grin. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. I smiled softly to her and nodded, happy that it made her happy, anyway. "You've been behaving with them, right?" I asked, a light stern tone to my question. She threw me a salute and nodded. "Apple Bloom can confirm, Boss! Short flights only with rests in-between. I've also stayed low to the ground, just in case!" she relayed. I peeked back at AB as well, who nodded twice and smirked at her friend. "Very good! I'm proud of you, Scoots. With your loyalty, you'd make Rainbow proud. I'll put in a good word later for you," I offered, smirking as she puffed up almost instantly and beamed. It was easy to make her happy, but she was oh so adorable when grinning. Apple Bloom snickered at her for a moment before nodding and shifting to face me again, sitting down gently on the rocks. "Ah'm ah bit jealous, honest. Ya think it would be possible ta work somethin' up like that fer me, too? Maybe runnin' faster, or kickin' stronger or somethin'?" she asked, sounding hopeful. I hesitated, and then tilted my head towards her, considering it. Earth Ponies had the same magic pools as everypony else, if I recall. Muscle enhancement for speed and strength would actually be easier than the wings, enchantment-wise. What made the wings insanely complex were the micro-jets hooked up into the muscle nervous control. Oh, and the backup emergency systems for the parachute and chest support. Plus, if Rainbow got any faster, I might have to install heat shielding... A moment later, I carefully nodded to her before explaining, "A lot of the same issues would be involved, but I could make an enchantment that enhances your muscles and dermal layer, yeah." "Dermal?" Scootaloo asked, tilting her head as well as she looked between us. Extending my right foreleg up, I nudged my skin lightly with my other hoof. "Dermal is your skin. I'd make you stronger, faster, and tougher. The only issue is, like Scootaloo, the only way I have to power it is your internal magic supply. You'll get tired a lot faster, and might pass out if you're stubborn and overuse it," I explained, warning her the same way I did Scootaloo. Apple Bloom didn't stop grinning, however, and nodded twice. "Yeah, Scoots was explainin' ta me! She said it gets easier tha more ya do it, or somethin'?" Smiling again, I nodded to her. "Yeah, training up your magic pool is like training any other muscle. The more you use it, the bigger your pool gets. Overuse will make your whole body sore, though, and it gives actual magic users nosebleeds and headaches from the tension," I elaborated. Both fillies were surprisingly interested, and I realized I might be onto something here. Still, it worried me a bit if this got out. "Oh, and don't tell anypony else about this, okay? Everypony is going to want this sort of thing if it becomes public knowledge," I deduced, frowning to myself. Apple Bloom looked momentarily bleak, but Scootaloo just nodded and waved her right forehoof towards me in assurance. The little filly opened her mouth to comment, when all of my focus was suddenly shifted directly to the right. My ears whipped around as I picked up a very, very light clicking noise, followed by a mechanical whirling sound from quite a distance to my right. Er, what was that?! Both fillies stopped and gave me a questioning stare as I turned my head to the right. The noise stopped instantly and I frowned. That sounded remarkably like a camera. That other colt's had sounded the same, except his had an additional flash noise. Hesitantly, I scanned the thicker clusters of greenery near where my little ledge joined the rest of the woods, eyes picking up a slight glimmer that rapidly moved out of view. A reflection of light. A lens? "We have company, and not of the nice sort, I don't think. Stay here," I ordered to the two fillies, lifting my left foreleg up and forming a barrier in a hemisphere around them. I doubted the glint was a rifle scope, but I wasn't about to risk their lives on an assumption. "Aaah, be careful, Mender!" Apple Bloom hissed, scanning the plants as well, a frantic light dancing in her eyes. Tank, whom I accidentally neglected to put in the barrier, took to the air a moment later, light buzzing noise only temporarily distracting me. Nodding to Apple Bloom, I slowly made my way towards the edge of the area before calling out, "I know you're out there. Do you want to talk?" It was a long shot, but being civil was preferred. I waited. Lightly, I heard a bee buzzing a few yards away. Quiet bird chirps joined somewhere behind me. Frowning, I scanned the area where the glimmer of light had come from again, widening my eyes as I picked up a hasty but subtle movement underneath the larger bush in the area. A shift, and something brown sliding along the dirt. Skin? No, it was a little shiny. Manufactured? My systems flared to full processing an instant later as something ducked out of the bush. The dark green colored pony shape whipped its foreleg sideways as it dove out of the hiding spot, and a blast of powdery smoke came up out of nowhere. My eyes narrowed, cybernetic muscles shooting down my legs in the same instant before I took off, avoiding the smoke and kicking off a tree to the other side of it, giving a wide berth. Something round glimmered where the smoke came from as I dove sideways, setting warning flags off in my head. Coming out of my hasty roll, I sliced with a thin energy blade up and out at a forty-five degree angle, tracing a line across the object in an instant before tearing after the pony. I heard the explosion behind me prematurely go off in the background, and a few chunks of shrapnel bounced off my flank armor as I ran. Low-grade shrapnel explosive using some sort of rock salt or something. It was meant to stun or slow me, probably. What the hell was with this pony?! By the time I righted myself and had gotten running, I saw the mysterious pony almost forty yards ahead of me, flowing golden brown mane whipping chaotically in the wind. Damn, they could run! No wings, I noticed instantly. Picking up speed, I sprinted after them to catch up, forcing sharp breathing from my mouth. My target must have heard me, and picked up speed a moment later, dodging between two trees and sliding down the embankment into the valley. The light sound of rotary blades came from behind me, signaling that Tank was following, but I ignored him in light of leaping past the two trees and just falling the entire way to the ground below. They glanced back a heartbeat later, and I noticed genuine surprise on their face when I smashed into the ground on all four hooves and didn't even stop, kicking up dirt before leaping towards them again. The sight of widened, light gold eyes greeted me, and more importantly, no horn. At this range, I noticed the body structure was light and slim, with only moderate muscles and definitely a focus of mass balanced between the front and back of the body. A mare? She dove sideways instead, rolling out of the way before bolting along the face of the embankment we'd just leapt off, going deeper into the woods. I slid before kicking sideways and rolling after her to keep my momentum, hot on her hooves and definitely not going to lose her in the woods. She had saddlebags as well, and I counted on them slowing her down. Something loose hung around her neck from a strap, but I couldn't tell what it was at this speed. She was damn fast, and it was all I could do to keep up without fully transforming my legs. That would definitely tell her something was up, however. I marked it down as a last resort in case I needed to prevent her escape. The woods opened out suddenly into a clearing, barely noticed at the speed we were running. She dropped suddenly out of viewpoint. I saw it coming and fell sideways, feeling the wind shoot over my fur as I rolled past both her lashing out back legs. She hopped away again as I spun to my legs, skidding to a stop as she made a sideways whipping motion with her head. Her posture righted itself into a spread out stance, and the glitter of metal was in her muzzle. Some sort of mouth handle attached to a quarter meter of blade. Interesting. I didn't realize they had weapons like that. The handle itself also looked strange, and I remained wary as she slowly paced sideways, keeping herself wide and ready to dodge. "Knock it off. I just want to talk to you. You don't have to run away or attack me," I growled, shifting my dermal armor up near the surface under my skin. Not exactly wanting to hurt her wasn't mutually exclusive to not wanting to get stabbed by a psychotic mare, so I was better safe than sorry. "Mhack ohf!" she snarled back a moment later, eyes narrowing at me. I blinked. "Uh, what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her. Her glare shifted to a deadpan expression instead, mixed with mild annoyance. Her jaw unclenched a moment later, and she shifted her tongue visibly over the handle of the blade. "I said, back off. Stop chasing me," she corrected, flicking the blade back into guard an instant later and slowly starting to shift backwards herself. Figured that's what she said. Frowning, I kept the same two-meter distance between us, slowly shifting forwards instead. "I'm not attacking you. You attacked me. But I can't let you run away either until I talk to you," I warned, sticking to the honest approach. I pretended Applejack was on the sidelines applauding. The mare gave a frustrated snarl through the blade instead of answering. Her rear legs snapped back at the same time. Widening my eyes, a flash of memory suddenly reared up. I was much, much too young. Day after day, it was all the same. It just got worse, of course. In order to eat, we had to grab and pull off a collar tag. It didn't matter from whom. If ours got pulled off instead, it was fifteen lashings with a studded paddle. I learned fast, and still felt the burning sensation of the red streaks across my lower back. My stomach rumbled as the targets dwindled. Barely any tags left. A flash of insight. Selfishness. Hatred. Maybe even a bit of defiance. A mock chase later past the instructor set everything up. I pounced. The fellow blue blur dodged, of course, which set it up perfect as our captain turned to watch. Spinning sideways, I lashed out at the instructor's tag instead. Captain Tym didn't let me even fully extend my arm. His left paw only flicked me sideways, sending me crashing through several training dummies. Of course, he thought it was hilarious. That night, I got supper. The next day, he started training me himself. My hoof hit the bundle of muscles in the corner of her jaw and kept going, hooking under the hilt and whipping the knife sideways as I rolled under her lunge. She hit hard on her shoulder and rolled with a startled yelp, me flipping back up to my hooves an instant later. She came out of the roll with another flick of her head. For a split second, I anticipated another knife, but rapidly tossed myself sideways just in case. I'd been wrong. Tiny and thin, like a pencil, the steel bolt flicked past my shoulder an instant later, and I kicked off the ground as I rotated to the left. My left shoulder now facing downwards, I checked her in the chest with my full weight before she could flick the second of three bolts down into the tiny mouth crossbow. She gasped as I landed on her, but rapidly rolled backwards, kicking me off at the same time. I landed, her crossbow latched firmly in my teeth before I bit down, snapping through the wood and tearing the string off an instant later with a low growl. She looked more than startled, and whipped something off the side of her saddlebag an instant later. My eyes widened, but I closed them an just before the blast of smoke hit me dead on. My proximity sensors flicked up a heartbeat later, just in time to see her book out of the clearing like her tail was on fire. Damn it! Okay, the straightforward approach wasn't working. My nanites came alive and started processing the smoke that now covered me. It wasn't just for covering things, I noticed, as several irritants and a light nerve agent were picked up in the residue. So, kinda like the tear gas we used to use in my old dimension. Shrugging, I set them to work sucking up the dust while I put a filter over my eyes and nose, hopping up again and flicking myself into the air with two fast tendrils. Instead of chasing her this time, I moved into the treetops, rapidly slipping from branch to branch and following behind her with quick and quiet tentacle flings. The last time I'd used this was against Nirru. Overkill for this mare, but she was really starting to annoy me. The irritation surprised me, but I just chalked it up to having a rather bad day since she showed up. Dirt flaking off me, I dashed to the side and kept a light distance, watching as she slowed down and looked over her shoulder again, cautiously cantering to the left as she looked. She was skilled, but not a professional. At least not according to my squad based tactics. I slipped closer, watching as she slowed to a halt and looked around rapidly, her chest heaving like crazy. No, she didn't hold herself like a soldier. A scout, maybe? It felt like her training was more revolving around not being detected than outright combat. Training. She worked for somepony, and had been watching me. Those fliers! My eyes narrowed as she dropped a few more points on my personal karma meter. If she worked for whoever was behind that, I definitely couldn't let her escape. "Ha... wow. Okay, his leg... must be injured still. Uh... transmission!" she suddenly whispered to herself, hastily tossing her saddlebags off and digging through the right one. Transmission? My ears perked up as my eyes zoomed in more. The crystal array she pulled out of the saddlebag was pretty looking, variants of green and light blue gems all woven together in a practical looking, silvery stand. It was compact, and looked vaguely like a satellite dish, honestly. A communication device? A moment later, the case around her neck hit the forest floor, too, hastily opened back up to reveal a similar device to what I saw when I got here. That must be a camera that ponies use! Damn it. She took pictures of me? Oh, the tentacles! My eyes narrowed as I slipped one tree closer, right above the clearing she was in now. She hesitated, looking the device over before giving a weak groan. "Uh, energy crystal! Uh, where did I put them?!" she muttered, rapidly checking the other bag. She was panicking still. Her mind probably was picturing my recovery and running after her again, and I smirked. I'd not felt this way since Nirru, and my long tongue licked out along my lips, tasting along my grin. I'd forgotten that it was fun, too. My body shifted the second she moved to the left, ducking into the bag. My tentacles braced out below me, not a single scrape sounding out upon landing, and I slipped them back inside of me in an eyeblink. My hoof reached out, lightly brushing the device of crystal and taking a quick scan. There was no energy in it at all. Good. A smirk twisting up at the corner of my lips, I tipped the device over and pushed my right forehoof against it, watching her curiously from less than half a meter away. She grinned as she pulled out a glowing crystal, and then rotated to face me. The expression faltered in less than a second, and I almost swore she'd accidentally swallow the thing as her eyes shot open. Her heartbeat skyrocketed, bursts of blood rushing through her veins as I watched her pupils slowly shrink. Fear. Panic. She reeked of it, and it was delicious. I grinned to her as my hoof pushed down, crushing her device in half in an instant and snapping the metal under my strength. "Injured leg, huh?" I inquired playfully a moment later. She yelped and spit out the energy crystal, lashing out with a hoof. It was pointless of course, and I just felt her blow hit the organic metal in my cheek. She screamed in pain as her hoof rebounded, barely jarring my head to the side. My smile didn't falter as I slowly walked forward still. A whimper sounded out, and then she glared up at me again and lashed out with the other hoof to my neck this time. There was a cracking noise, and it didn't come from me. She gasped and leaped backwards away from me, landing into a stumble as her left foreleg gave away under her weight. Now she was just being stupid. I snickered, a light whispering dancing through me that I barely acknowledged. She did smell really good. Making her pay a little for everything she just put me through wouldn't take too long, would it? "S-Stop! Please, no! Don't kill me, I give up!" she exclaimed, limping backwards as I continued slowly strutting forwards, that familiar stirring inside as her delicious words reached me. "Shouldn't you have thought of that before trying to kill me instead?" I suggested playfully, grinning wider as her look of horror set in and she fell backwards, trying to crawl away from me. It would be so easy to grab her with tentacles, but I held them in reserve with what little willpower I could muster. She smelled so good! I pounced instead, landing on her prone form as she screamed, trying to feebly shove me off. Her strength was shot, however, and I was much too heavy now that I'd released quite a bit of muscle from subspace into myself. Inhaling softly, I smelled along her collarbone, and she froze instantly, eyes shivering and widening as I held her there. "Oh... oh no, please. I, um..." she whispered, slowly looking back up at me instead. She really did smell good. She was in heat too, as expected. "What? You told me not to kill you," I pointed out softly, smile widening as she swallowed and nodded, rolling over onto her back, letting her forelegs drop to her chest and spreading her back legs. Submitting just like that? That wasn't any fun. My eyes narrowed, but something nagged at the back of my mind. No, I didn't want to be weak. I didn't want to keep being a pansy doormat that everypony walked all over! But wait. What? No, I didn't want to hurt her! My eyes snapped open an instant later and I inhaled sharply, sitting back up again. She scrambled up and out from under me immediately, shifting to a confused expression instead of anger. Wait, what was I just doing?! Why did I...?! Why had I even considered doing that to her?! "G-Get away from me! Wait, no... Y-Your eyes??" she asked, looking stunned as she shoved herself away from me, sliding into a sitting position again. I was jarred backwards, not really feeling it as confusion shot through me. No, I wasn't supposed to listen to that voice! I wasn't a monster like she said. The buzzing noise shifted loud enough for me to no longer be able to subconsciously ignore it at the same time my proximity sensors fired off. Oh. Oh hell. "Duck!" I shouted to her, head whipping to the left and lashing out just an instant too slow. "Hu-?" was all she got out before a tortoise came in at high velocity and rebounded off the side of her head. I saw her lurch sideways, head whipping painfully into her left shoulder as her eyes went vacant with shock, and she hit the ground on that side, unmoving. Uh oh. Slowly, I shook the murky feeling out of my skull and edged closer to her. "Uh, Miss? Are you okay?" I tried asking, noticing a bit of blood coming from the right side of her head. She didn't respond, or move, and I swallowed, scrambling forwards and feeling her neck. Exhaling softly, I relaxed as I felt the heartbeat, and noted the slow breathing. She was just knocked out, then. "Uh, thanks, Tank. I, um, really didn't know what to do there," I muttered, deciding the judgment call on his part was probably actually the wisest path. Sure, she'd wake up with a whopping headache, but at least I, um, stopped. I swallowed weakly and stared down at her for a second before slowly shaking my head. Damn it. My view shifted to the book connected to my left side still, tucked between saddlebags. What was wrong with me?! I felt the bubble I'd left the fillies in disrupted, but I didn't care at that point. All I could manage to do was sit there and stare down at her. There was nothing in my cybernetic programming to cause that. What did that mean? Slowly, that cold ache drifted back into my chest, and I crushed my eyes closed, staring at her having started to cause physical pain. All I could manage was a painful swallow, and it felt like the truth was sucked down with the lump in my throat. It reverberated through me, and I hated every ounce of it. It was me. Nirru had been right. Parts of me were monstrous after all. The admission left me with nothing but that oh so familiar hollow ache, and I suddenly felt lost again. Confused. For the first time since so long ago on Fluttershy's couch, I suddenly thought about it, and realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Everything had been a reaction, hadn't it? I'd been forced to just keep moving and reacting to things as they came up. My only 'plan' so far, if one could call it that, was to get a job as an engineer and enchanter. I heard them run into the clearing a little before the wind danced past and brought their smells to my nose. Still, I couldn't open my eyes yet. I'd see the monster I was turning out to be if I did. I had two mares interested in me even, yet that beast on the inside almost... I shivered, but halted myself soon after, scared to even move. Two mares. That thought should bring happiness and a warm elation, shouldn't it? Then why was I absolutely terrified?! It came down to the realization that I had no idea what I was doing. I'd found myself in a position of surprisingly unwanted authority, doing a job I hadn't wanted to begin with, and holding responsibilities for other ponies when I could barely ensure my own safety, let alone that of anypony else! What was I doing?! "M-Mender, are ya okay?" was asked, the soft yet uncertain drawl reverberating through me, having no consideration for my mindset. That... That was a good question. I decided she probably meant physically, which apart from dozens of cybernetic additions, was true. I was healthy, and my leg was healing still. I'd sustained no damage. The answer obvious now, I slowly shook my head negative, refusing to open my eyes. "No. I'm really not. Uh, I'm not hurt, it's fine..." I whispered, my own voice feeling foreign, and I coughed to suddenly clear the hoarseness gathered around my vocal cords. "Whoa! You so kicked her flank! What was she even doing out here?!" Scootaloo asked softly, apparently deciding that was all that mattered, and that the unconscious mare was more interesting. Her wording caused me to wince, regardless. After a moment, I shook my head and finally opened my eyes again, correcting her with, "Actually, I was trying really hard not to hurt her. I'm, well, I'm not a monster. I don't want to be a monster. Uh, Tank was technically the one that knocked her out." It felt like an excuse, and left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. My tongue recoiled, and I rubbed it against my teeth for a moment to drive the feeling away. Tank hovered in, breaking orbit around my head to land gently in front of me and start the extremely slow process of nodding in agreement. I smiled down at him and returned it preemptively, gently patting him on the head. My red-maned friend moved into my viewpoint and ducked down, face next to Tank so she could peek up and at my eyes, however. "Mender, yer not ah monster. Ya tried ta not hurt her, so relax. What was she doin' out 'ere?" she asked softly, shooting me an assuring smile. I swallowed, but couldn't manage to look away from her, forgetting how adorable she could be sometimes. As much as it burned in my chest, I realized that meeting her eyes was probably, well, better for me than avoiding them. "She was taking pictures of me in secret. From her extreme reaction, I'm guessing she either works for, or is an associate of the ponies who printed those smear fliers last week. I should, well, probably get her back to the camp and put her under arrest. Spike should be able to send a letter to Tia and let her know about what happened," I reasoned, my head clearing a bit to the point where I could finally consider what to do. Apple Bloom's gentle smile burned its way into my mind, and I felt myself relax a little. She trusted me. That must mean I wasn't a bad pony, right? I stopped, and that had to mean something! Even if the temptation was there and, uh, something seemed to take over, it didn't succeed. I didn't hurt the mare. That was the important part, wasn't it? Deciding Fluttershy would say yes and hug me, I smiled down at the little filly and nodded. Her grin widened and she returned it before trotting over to Scootaloo instead, finally letting me free of her subtle spell. I suddenly realized that I was a total sucker for adorable foals. What would it honestly be like with my own to take care of? I blushed lightly, thinking back to what Fluttershy said, and decided it was best to immediately drive it out of my mind for now. Heh. I sighed and turned back to the fallen mare, contemplating a way that we could actually get her back to the camp. Suddenly, I realized that this was almost a perfect use for alteration. Smiling, I gestured towards the woods, after walking up to the two fillies. "I have an idea for getting her back to the camp. Could both of you go gather as many sticks and branches as you can find? I'll start the enchantment," I requested. They both saluted, and I nodded back... * * * * * It was more than a little awkward wandering back into camp, admittedly. Many ponies were giving me strange stares, but that much I was used to. What I wasn't used to was being followed by a spider abomination made of wood, with a mare tied to the top. Still, it was easier than carrying her all this way myself. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both walked proudly to either side of me, chests puffed up as they assisted me in making my first ‘arrest’. I honestly didn't think it was that significant, but if they were pleased, I was happy. Nurse Redheart saw me coming before Spike did, who was talking to her. Tank pulled out of his usual orbit around me, and drifted over to the dragon as he turned around, wondering what Redheart was giving the shocked and disturbed stare to. His expression shifted to startled, but with a bit of jaded mixed in. I resisted snickering, but was cut off by Big Mac and Carrot Top just as I got over to where Spike and Redheart were. "Whoa, who's the mare, Mender? Heh, ya catch her off in the woods growing from a bush or something?" Carrot asked, smirking and winking to me. Coughing lightly, I muttered, "Actually, you don't know how accurate that was. But no, nothing like that. She's actually under arrest," I explained, glancing back at my captive to make sure she was still secured. All three ponies present widened their eyes a little, but to my surprise, Spike looked more amused instead as he perked up. "Whoa! Dude, I didn't think you were going to actually use that capacity! What did she do?" he asked, walking up closer and peeking up at her. Her coat was considerably dirtier now, and her mane was disheveled, sticks sticking out here and there. "Wait, you can make arrests?" Carrot asked, tilting her head towards me. I started to nod towards her, but Nurse Redheart cut me off and nodded as well, adding, "Yes, he technically holds the position of a secondary captain in the royal guard, but he's more a researcher. This must be a special case." Her observations were just as sharp as ever, I noticed. Smiling, I nodded to her. "Yeah, related to me in this case. We caught her taking pictures of me in the forest from hiding. She ran when confronted, then tried to use force to escape. Uh, Tank was actually the one to subdue her," I explained, stepping back as Redheart shifted up, lifting the mare's head, then wincing at the bruise on her temple. "Wait, there were paparazzi all the way out here?" Carrot asked, shifting to surprise instead as she too got a closer peek. Big Mac raised an eyebrow, however, and stayed back. "Eenope. If'in she used force, an' considerin' she was all tha way out 'ere, Ah'm guessin' she's workin' fer those ponies that made tha fliers last week, an'-" he started guessing, before suddenly widening his eyes and holding his right forehoof over his mouth. Huh? Carrot Top's demeanor changed instantly, and I literally watched her expression twist into one of rage instead. Her right ground into the dirt in a slow pawing motion before she grabbed the mare's nape with her teeth and yanked her off the top of my makeshift platform. Oh, oh hell. "Carrot, stop! I already subdued her, and she's going to be arrested," I spoke up, stepping past the rapidly retreating Nurse Redheart. The orange-maned earth mare shifted a glare back at me before spitting my captive back onto the grass. "Oh, I'm so not letting her off the hook that easy! They're nothing but a bunch of dirty rats, hiding in the shadows and trying to nip at you while you're not looking! They don't deserve sympathy!" she growled, surprisingly vehement as she turned her gaze back to the mare on the grass. My eyes widened as her hoof rose, and I hopped forwards. My right foreleg hooked around hers as she brought it down, and I stopped it a few centimeters short of smashing into the fallen mare's skull. Damn, she was strong! The muscles activated along my foreleg as Carrot attempted to yank her leg back, and I held it there, rigid. "Hey! Why are you stopping me from... How are you so strong?!" she asked, shifting from anger to surprise the second she realized she wasn't getting her leg back. "He's right, Carrot. Ya don't wanna drop yerself down ta their level. We gotta do things proper an' civilized, right? 'sides, ya shouldn't hit ah pony that can't fight back, anyways," Big Mac spoke up, walking to her other side and gently pulling her backwards a little. Seeing him with the situation under control, I relaxed and let her foreleg go. She looked a mixture of bitter and guilty before sighing and hesitantly withdrawing her hoof. There was a weak groan from the forest green mystery mare, and then she sighed, startling me as I looked back at her. Her light gold eyes stared back, not at me this time, but Carrot. "He's that strong because he's a monster that's going to destroy us all. He's just pretending to be a pony," she whispered, sounding rather raspy in tone. My eyes widened as the blood slipped from my head, letting a cool chill sink down my spine. Monster? How much did she know about me?! Carrot reacted far differently than I had anticipated, however. Instead of asking what she was talking about, she snapped back to attention at the mare with a snarl and glare before diving forwards again, both forehooves whipping into a stomp. I barely managed to extend a barrier across the mare before Carrot brought both forehooves solidly into it. I winced as it exploded into light and a distorted ripple. The farm mare only screamed in rage before laying into the barrier with a flurry of blows, actually causing the mare to widen her eyes and shrink back away from her. Big Mac wrapped both forelegs around Carrot Top's barrel a second later, however, physically lifting her up and away from the now terrified mare. A little dizzy, I withdrew my barrier and rubbed at my temples from the exertion. I'd not been prepared to defend against such a ruthless rage like that! "W-Why?! Why didn't you just let her hit me?" my captive asked, looking over at me with what appeared to be genuine shock. "Because he isn't a monster, Stupid!" Scootaloo spoke up instead, giving a little hop towards the mare and spreading her stance out, wings flaring up with light as the little filly narrowed her eyes. Apple Bloom nodded rapidly, also frowning at her before adding, "It's true! He tried ta talk with ya tha whole time! Ah saw it. You were tha one that attacked him an' wouldn't listen." Sighing, I nodded gently to her, looking up again and away from the filly to each side of me. "I'm placing you under arrest, of course. I've no intention of hurting you, or letting you get hurt, and I only want you to cooperate and answer our questions," I explained. Slowly, she closed her muzzle again and stared blankly at me for a long moment. I took that as the first sign of that whole cooperation thing, as she wasn't trying to stab me again. Turning, I looked over at Spike, who grinned and had already taken out a scroll from, well, somewhere. Efficient and overly prepared. I could definitely tell Twilight raised him! "I got it. I'll send the letter to Princess Celestia, explaining the situation. Anything extra I should add?" he asked, starting to write on the parchment. Frowning, I considered it. I had no idea how to actually make an arrest in this dimension, and didn't know how it differed from my old world. It was already different from being a ranked officer and dismissing soldiers, which would have been my only experience in the matter. "I'm not sure. You should mention she's injured and should be treated with care, probably. Uh, is it too much to ask if you could look her over, Redheart?" I asked, looking back at my white and pink friend. She smiled softly and perked up as I turned, shaking her head before walking over to the confused looking mare. "But, they said you were an alien, and would destroy everything we loved," my confused captive muttered, frowning at me and completely ignoring the nurse looking her head over. Another snarl came from the still pissed off looking Carrot Top. "Maybe if you stepped out of the shadows and gutters for long enough, you'd see that maybe, just maybe, you're an idiot!" she oh so politely pointed out. The darker colored mare shrunk down a little and flattened her ears back away from the seething farmer, which I honestly didn't blame her for. Even with her fighting skills, I had a fairly solid guess going that Carrot would stomp her flat into the dirt with pure rage. She was kinda like a berserker... I immediately decided to never, ever tell the mare herself that. "It's true. It's a smear campaign. I would have thought you'd understand as much, as you look like a fairly intelligent mare. Mender is a gentlecolt, for the most part," Redheart chirped, giving the mare a wink afterwards as she applied a soft rag to her forehead, dampened with water. To my surprise, the mare winced lightly but then blushed, looking back over at me with a more skeptical, appraising look instead. "I, well, admittedly a few things didn't add up, based on what they told me. I mean, aliens helping us? It was supposedly an alien that attacked that night. Why would another alien defend us at the same time?" the mare questioned, frowning to herself before wincing again as Redheart applied cleaning agent to the cut. Note to self, never get hit by Tank without my armor on. He apparently could generate a good amount of force behind that shell. Scootaloo rolled her eyes before adamantly defending with, "Mender's nice, no matter what anypony says! He's done so much for all of us, and really just wants to be treated like normal. Why do you want to hurt him for that?!" That was a good point, but the mare was lied to. Manipulated. I wanted to know who was behind that instead, and why they were so intent on destroying any life I tried to make for myself here. What had I done to deserve their ire? That was the question. Also, they seemed convinced I was an 'alien' as well, even if I wasn't entirely sure if they knew what they were talking about. "I, um, think I might have made a mistake. Look, I don't actually belong to whatever organization they do. I'm an independent scout and surveyor down on my luck, and they offered me a 'lot' of bits to get pictures of you doing, well, anything weird or potentially incriminating. Failing that, I was to get pictures that could be easily doctored to show those instead. I'm obviously not going to do that anymore, of course. Uh, I'm Snapshot, by the way," my newly identified captive explained. She shifted her saddlebags up along her flank at the same time, revealing a cutie mark of a camera with a flare of light coming from the flash. Interesting. Sighing, I nodded wearily. An organization was involved then, and apparently they were well funded. Wonderful. "Okay, Snapshot. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, then?" I asked softly, attempting to straighten my posture and appear polite. I heard a cracking along my lower back as I did so, and winced at the light throb that shot through me. Apple Bloom started snickering, and I shot her a glare. She returned her best 'innocent angel' expression before hopping around behind me. She was such a brat sometimes. It was funny how I was getting to know them quite a bit better due to this little 'vacation'. Actually, now that I thought about it, this was kind of a really crappy vacation so far. "Uh, of course! Um, could you answer something real fast first? Are you really an alien? Those tentacles looked really realistic and, um, that would be really cool!" Snapshot suddenly spouted out really quickly, eyes widening and dancing a little with a somewhat creepy level of energy. Er, what?! She sounded surprisingly excited about the prospect, seemingly coming out of nowhere with it. Carrot Top lifted a single eyebrow towards me for a moment as I swallowed nervously. She looked away a second later and back at Snapshot instead. "Does it matter if he is or not? He's proven he's nice, and way more forgiving than I am. He did stop me from beating your sorry flank into the dirt, then using you as a washboard," she pointed out, surprising me on so many counts that I just gave up keeping track. As a side note: ow. That sounded amazingly painful. Snapshot apparently agreed with me and paled significantly, shrinking down and away from the exceptionally hostile farmer. This vacation was now getting even worse. I sighed and prepared for the worst, asking Snapshot a few questions on the side while waiting for Spike to finish the letter. * * * * * Staring up at the sky watching the chariot fly off, I couldn't help but wonder why I couldn't just enjoy this little 'vacation,' so to speak. It was kind of unfair how nothing ever seemed to go exactly as planned, but at least I was getting used to it. The guards had shown up to pick up Snapshot only twenty minutes after Spike sent out the letter. Tia had written back a private letter, indicating that catching the mare would indeed help the investigation, and warned me that she desired to pull me away to Canterlot in the future to privately discuss the affairs, apparently deciding that Spike's flames could be intercepted or something. I didn't know anything about it, of course, so I just went along with it. "You always have such eventful days, Mender," Redheart added from her position next to me, a snicker following. I rolled my eyes, and then glanced back over at her as she tested my foreleg's range of motion. "The good news is, the exercise you gave your leg didn't do any harm whatsoever. Your other ability must protect it while active?" she guessed, slipping vague again because Big Mac and Carrot Top were still here. Big Mac knew, of course, but Redheart didn't know that he knew. Oddly, Carrot didn't seem to care one way or the other. She was either strangely easygoing, a seemingly popular Apple Family trait, or incredibly jaded from her life in Ponyville, which seemed to be hit with a disaster of insane proportions at least twice a season. "Trust me, I wish I didn't. I just wanted a proper vacation out of this. I'll be happy if the rest of it is uneventful, anyway-" I started to complain. Carrot Top's hoof found my muzzle a second later, stopping me in mid-sentence by pushing my jaw closed. I blinked at her, but she winced and shook her head. "Drat! I was hoping to stop you before you got it all out! Never, ever say anything like that, Mender! It's called tempting fate, which is a fickle mistress and loves to call your bluffs," she warned, nodding twice afterwards in a sagely manner. I raised an eyebrow to her, but snickered after my muzzle was released. "I didn't peg you as the superstitious type," I admitted, tilting my head a second afterwards. They technically had magic here, however, some of which apparently ran quite wild in nature. Maybe she was on to something? "Normally I'm not. I leave the superstitions to the flower mares. That one, however, is the only one I adhere to. Just pretend you're in a book or story. What happens to somepony in a story the second they say something like that?" she asked, eyes narrowing a little. Swallowing, I sighed and admitted, "Normally they doom themselves to exactly the opposite of what they want happening." That didn't always happen in real life, of course. Honestly, what I physically said had little to no bearing on what actually happens to me. I'd probably be just as screwed if I'd simply remained silent. Scootaloo started snickering, but Big Mac nodded as well, which surprised me a little bit. "Good advice, Ah reckon," he decided, followed by, "Even if ya don't believe in that sorta thing, keepin' ah positive mindset has ta subconsciously help ya do better an' relax more." That was, well, actually pretty good advice. Further, it just added to my case file about Big Mac actually being extremely intelligent behind all that stoic silence! Smiling towards him, I nodded confirmation. He certainly seemed to be a master at taking things as they came. It took me a moment to realize it, but I decided that I definitely admired the stallion. Strong of mind, body, and will, he was quite impressive, honestly. Then I wondered what would happen if I gave him the muscle and stamina enchantment I was considering giving to Apple Bloom, and shuddered. No, watching him uproot trees with a kick would be far too mentally scarring for me. He makes do just fine on his own, obviously. There was really nothing practical I could think of for him using such magic. I mean, maybe to haul an entire orchard worth of apples to Canterlot in an hour or less? "Well, I think I'm going to take a bit of a breather after all that excitement. A walk along the river, maybe," I muttered, standing up after Redheart released my foreleg. The nurse nodded to me and gestured at my shoulder, adding, "Your range of motion still isn't what it should be along your shoulder. I'm guessing there's damaged tissue along there still due to taking the brunt of the damage. Try doing light stretches with it once you find a spot to rest, and I'll look it over tomorrow for a bit of physical therapy." That was indeed the part where the 'tear' happened. It didn't really surprise me in the least that it was the slowest to recover. "We'll look after him, don't worry," Scootaloo assured, beating her right forehoof against her chest as she puffed up a bit in her sitting position. Apple Bloom started to snicker at her before suddenly gasping, eyes extending fully. "Oh no! Sweetie! We forgot about her. We were out lookin' fer Mender because she wanted ta smooth things over an' was settin' up somethin'," she suddenly exclaimed, causing Scootaloo's eyes to widen as well. Oh, well, that was only forty or fifty minutes ago, not including however long it took them to find me in the first place. "She probably thinks we ditched her! Come on, Mender! We gotta take you to her," Scootaloo requested, hopping up and gesturing the other direction from the lake, upriver this time, but further east of their 'dam' location. "Can I come, too? I've finished the letter back to Princess Celestia, and am kinda bored," Spike asked cautiously. Safety in numbers, so to speak. Normally not the case with me, and I probably shouldn't say that out loud, but being terrible at social interactions, having another pony, er, drake there as morale support even, would be nice. "Sure. Both you and Tank can come along," I agreed. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other somewhat skeptically, but Scootaloo shrugged a moment later, earning a nod from her friend. Having apparently reached some sort of silent conclusion, both fillies rotated and headed towards the direction indicated earlier. Spike gave them a curious stare as they trotted off at a brisk pace, and I mimicked the shrug to him before turning and crouching down for a moment. I felt his weight settle on my back before standing up again and following the fillies, running for a bit in order to catch up. The telltale sound of rotary blades followed me, of course. Oddly, I kinda felt 'better' with Spike and Tank there. I wasn't really sure why. Something about the entire thing seemed weird to me, but I couldn't place the source of the apprehension. Catching up to the two fillies, the five of us continued our hastened pace in hopefully the direction of Sweetie Belle. Now just watch them get us lost...
Chapter 50Not having realized that the small river branched off from the direction towards the 'dam' from earlier, I was pleasantly surprised at the rather peaceful feeling of the woods as we trotted along. My leg was feeling better after I rested it up, and even though I felt a little guilty over it, I knew transforming it earlier had repaired some of the muscles in it. I really needed to look into a way to turn that off. All the matter that was crammed inside of me was totally unsorted, and I had no way of knowing if what I drew out was mineral and rock, or organic, post-Keldarian. It didn't feel right at all using somepony else's flesh and bone to repair myself, so I didn't want to use ANY of the mass on my own body, if I risked that. Even tiny amounts. Of course, I had needed the muscle, and wouldn't have been able to catch Snapshot without it. The tentacles were totally not me at all, so I didn't care what mass they used to form themselves, as I just tossed the matter back into the pool after I finished using them. They weren't 'permanent', so to speak. My passive daydreaming was rather rudely interrupted by a rock jutting out of the riverbank. Spike let out a surprised yelp as I suddenly lurched and planted my face into the ground, feeling him roll off me along my neck. Sighing, I popped my head up again from my fallen form, dirt flaking off my face as I slowly relaxed my under-armor. Having that stuff ready to pop out at an instant's notice was really handy, and I was able to keep the basic stuff just under the surface of my skin, so I looked 'normal' still. It wasn't the fancy, ablative stuff, but it was suitable for, well, my 'daily' needs. That was a little sad to word that way... Scootaloo burst into laughter upon turning around, but Apple Bloom just winced and trotted back, helping me up again. "Ya okay, Mender? We're almost there," she informed, using her right forehoof to wipe off some of the dirt on my chest. "Yeah, I'm fine. Dumb rock..." I muttered, glaring back at the offending chunk of hardened minerals. The orange pegasus rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Hard to be mad at something that didn't move into your way to begin with. Besides, what could you do to it in the first place? Scold it?" she pointed out, her wings popping out and stretching, the light distorting off them as the disks appeared around her due to the motion involved. I glared at her for a moment before my first CPU gave me a targeting analysis. The second CPU fired up and gave me an instant-based movement calculation, and I sent the go-ahead. A tentacle popped out of my right shoulder and lashed out behind me as I continued to glare at her, neatly whipping downwards with a massive slamming noise, and I felt it fragment the rock neatly in two before slipping back inside my body a heartbeat later. Scootaloo's eyes bugged out and I resisted chuckling until she surprised me with, "Whoa! Awesome!" Figures, she'd be less intimidated and more delighted... She really did take after Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom slipped around behind me and picked up the two halves of the rock, looking surprised before smirking at them. It was actually a rather pretty rock, tannish-white and surprisingly round, if not a little lopsided. For a moment, I felt bad that I'd hit it. The little filly then smiled and rotated the stone around, showing me the fractured insides. To my surprise, it was somewhat hollow and lined with a pretty yellow crystal. "A geode? What are the odds?" I asked, surprised at the pure probability of the rock I tripped over being such. "What's a geode?" Scootaloo asked, shifting closer and sitting down next to me. "A volcanic or sedimentary rock that forms with crystals inside of it. Oooh, that's a surprisingly clear quartz formation of the citrine variety!" Spike exclaimed, forgetting he ever fell and popping upright to peek. Whoa! He knew a lot about crystals. Apple Bloom gave him a skeptical look before shaking her head. "Ya can't eat it, Spike. Mah brother collects these an' uses 'em fer bookends, actually. If ya don't mind, Mender, could Ah give 'em ta him?" she asked politely, smiling up at me. Nodding happily, I decided to take it with good fortune after all. "Sure. I didn't realize he collected them, but if my little accident can benefit somepony, I'm all for it," I agreed, nodding twice more afterwards. "Weird. I didn't know Big Mac collected rocks, or read that much anyway," Scootaloo muttered, tilting her head towards Apple Bloom. It sounded more curious than degrading, and the little farm filly just smiled towards her. "He actually has ah whole collection 'o books in tha basement. Tha geodes make good bookends, an' somehow he gets 'em ta glow in tha dark an' make good lamps! It's pretty down there. He don't talk about it much, though, so don't go spreadin' it around, Scoots," Apple Bloom warned, frowning lightly at her friend. I shook my head gently at her caution. "There's nothing wrong with reading or having hobbies, Apple Bloom. Your brother is very intelligent, and I respect him for it," I assured, mentally vowing not to tell anypony either. Scootaloo perked and nodded at me, however. "Yeah, reading is awesome! The coolest ponies read, so there's obviously nothing wrong with it. Still, I won't blab," she promised. Her reaction surprised me a bit, but in a good way. She didn't strike me as having the patience for a good book, but I liked to keep an open mind until proven otherwise, lately. Beats, I don't know, thinking all mares were carnivorous or something, as a good example... Apple Bloom actually blushed lightly, but smiled between the three of us, obviously not able to see Tank without craning her head back high enough to view his slow orbit above. "Ah thank ya'all, o' course. Ah few ponies think mah brother is 'simple' is all, an' would be right surprised ta find out he's well learned an' good with math. Ah think it's because he works hard ta support tha family, they just think he's all muscle or somethin'," she muttered after considering it for a moment, eyes softening as her ears lowered a bit. "Well, that's their loss," I pointed out, gently rubbing her on the head with my right forehoof. It had never occurred to me to associate 'muscular' with 'simple' in the first place, but they might have a different culture here. Apple Bloom smiled softly towards me and nodded, nuzzling my forehoof with her snout momentarily before turning and continuing down the path. "Ah know. Brother always says ta tolerate other's differences an' try ta realize that Ah'm just as different ta them," she continued in a softer voice, Scootaloo falling in next to her. I smiled at that and nodded to myself before standing again. She was doing even more with 'my' differences. She wasn't just tolerating me, but seemed to truly enjoy being my friend, even though I was very, very different from her. Maybe there was a truth in her statement. With a pleasant smile on my face, I nodded to an extremely skeptical looking Spike, momentarily wondering why he was giving me that look before tripping over the two halves of the geode we had forgotten about and promptly falling sideways into the river... * * * * * It was fifteen minutes and forty meters down the hill before the two fillies and Spike managed to help me get out of the elongated underground stream I'd managed to break through into. Sighing, I stared at the makeshift waterfall I'd created in the ceiling from the riverbed, the entire small 'tunnel' of sorts lit up by dozens upon dozens of large, glowing crystals lining the walls. Okay, the probability of me finding that geode wasn't looking so low anymore. Sadly, it had taken another five minutes for me to finally calm Spike down. It turns out gems were something of a delicacy to him, and me blundering into a natural cavern literally layered with the things was kinda like walking into a sweets shop. At least I got him to focus more on pulling the ones out of me now, instead of going after the ones on the walls! "Hey, cheer up. At least it had a lower cave exit further down the hill. Plus, these are absolutely delicious," Spike pointed out, pulling another crystal shard out from under my armor ridges. There was occasionally a light crunching accompanying the bigger ones, and I only assumed he was getting a free snack as well. Falling into several crystal formations on the floor tucked amidst the water had gotten dozens wedged into the armor folds along my back. None of them were anywhere near tough enough to pierce my second or skin layer of armor, of course, but I couldn't directly absorb them from my plates. That, and I was a little hesitant in introducing anything that was glowing of its own accord into my body. The last time I did that, I was puking bubbles and frogs. "That an' it's really pretty in 'ere. Think we can bring mah brother 'ere later?" Apple Bloom asked, her voice leaking so much awe that I honestly couldn't stay pissed off at my luck. She was just too cute, and really ruining my bad mood. I gave a weak grunt before sighing and checking the map I'd been building of the area in my database. The location program was still running fine, and I had an exact spot for myself, so I simply flagged it on the map and nodded. "Yeah, I can find this spot again easily enough, so we can come back here," I assured, shifting the inner 'window' to the side before smiling at her again. I liked to keep my eye-space free and clear of clutter. I was oh so observant already, and didn't think it was a wise idea to add blind spots into the mix. Apple Bloom perked up and nodded to me, starting to smile before we both heard a grunt to the left. I glanced in time to see Scootaloo yanking backwards on one of the larger, prismatic crystals with all her body weight and wing power. I raised an eyebrow as she tore the crystal free, causing a fracture to shoot up the wall. My eyes widened and four tentacles shot forwards, catching three falling crystals while the fourth whipped rapidly around above her and knocked the smaller shards away. The little filly didn't even seem to notice as she gathered up the prismatic gem and trotted happily back towards us. Ugh. These fillies were going to be the death of me. If not in their defense, of a heart attack instead. "You should really be careful, Scootaloo," Spike chimed in as the filly drew back into our group and under my defensive umbrella barrier again. She already knew I was worried about the ceiling collapsing! The orange filly made a scoffing noise before presenting her rather large rainbow gem, roughly the size of my hoof in diameter before retorting, "This was so worth it! Besides, Mender's here, so nothing could have hurt me." My turn to scoff. "Scoots, I'm not perfect. I'll definitely try my hardest to protect all of you, but you shouldn't take risks like that. At least warn me next time so I can extend the barrier over you before you do that," I requested, frowning towards her. "Or just ask him ta get tha gem. Still, she's also right, Mender. You are really strong. Ya make us feel safe, regardless," Apple Bloom suggested gently, still sitting just in front of me. I stared at her for a moment before blushing lightly, unsure of how exactly to handle compliments and gifts still. I wasn't getting any better at dealing with them at all, so I had a feeling that this would always be an awkward point for myself. "Ha! You pasted those crystals super easy from a dozen feet away! You're too hard on yourself. Plus, I think you're the first adult to not actually tell me not to do the thing I'm in trouble for," she deduced, scratching her chin with a forehoof. Snickering, I shook my head towards her. "You're not in trouble. Besides, you wouldn't have listened anyway," I guessed, smirk growing on my muzzle. Apple Bloom matched my expression and gave her friend a knowing grin, while Spike just chuckled and yanked out another shard of crystal. At least I’d finally gotten him calmed down now. Scootaloo grinned back at us before shrugging and nodding. "Nothing can stop me from getting a present for Rainbow if I find one that's cool looking! But, uh, thanks for being cool, Mender. You're the first adult to look out for me and still actually listen to what I want, and that, well, means a lot," she thanked, grin melting into a warm smile instead. A bit of heat fluttered into my chest, and I ruffled the front of her hair with my right foreleg, earning a series of giggles. No, Scootaloo was different from Rainbow in quite a few ways, I realized. This just cemented it further. She wasn't as hardened up as Dash, which was probably a good thing. In some ways, she was braver. I don't think my cyan friend would have been able to admit what Scootaloo just did with an audience around her. "Hey, all of you crusaders are awesome in my book! Spike included, of course," I assured, resting again as I felt another tug at my back. Then more crunching. Okay, he was eating at least half of them... "You should meet tha fourth crusader, then!" Apple Bloom chirped, smiling and nodding twice at the two of us. That caused me to stop for a moment and consider it. Fourth? "Aren't I technically the fourth crusader?" I asked, tilting my head to her. "Nah. You're actually the fifth crusader for our local branch. Apple Bloom's cousin, Babs Seed, is the fourth. She's also started a Manehatten branch of crusaders!" Scootaloo chirped in response. Oh! That was interesting indeed. The farm filly did a happy bounce and spin in place before rotating around with a grin towards us. "Yeah! Babs is comin' fer tha harvest festival that marks tha end o' fall an' start o' winter! Ya can meet her then, an' watch tha Runnin' o' tha Leaves with us!" she excitedly offered. I started to smile before Scootaloo perked up and nodded as well. "Yeah, that's right! All of us can totally watch Rainbow win the Cloudy Sky Dash, too! She's been practicing super hard for it," she added. Oh, was that what the event was called? "Ya seem awfully sure o' her winnin', Scoots. She must really be practicin'," Apple Bloom admitted, giving her a skeptical glance. Scootaloo smirked and nodded, adding cryptically, "Yup! She's got a lot riding on this race! She has to win." "Oh, is this tha race she's plannin' on...?" Apple Bloom started to ask, perking up before her friend nodded to her. "Finally! Ah'm pretty sure Sis has ah thing fer her, too. Won't admit it fer nothin', though, but sure goes red when Ah ask her about it, an' changes tha topic right quick! Brother just grins when she does," she added after another moment, grinning widely again. Okay, I didn't know much about relationships, especially in Equestria, but it sounded like Rainbow was definitely going to get a positive outcome. I smiled along and nodded to both fillies involved. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to say anything else as my eyes locked onto the gem that Scootaloo had risked getting maimed for. In an instant, I couldn't move. Both my eyes locked onto the gem as symbols flickered on along the right side of my display, a targeting lock appearing on the thing. What the hell?! My eyes widened as my scans activated by themselves, running a deep analysis on the gem as the little filly carried it closer. "W-What?!" I suddenly managed to spit out, shaking as I fought against the lock that was trying to hold me there as the scans completed. "Huh?!" Apple Bloom asked, noting my tone, it would seem, and immediately shifting to a concerned one of her own. A second later, I ran a side script and managed to turn on my projection displays, showing a three dimensional view of the scan going across the gem and data readouts appearing as information was discovered. "It... It's forcing me to scan that gem. Try to-" I started to ask, hoping her moving it out of sight would make this stop! There wasn't a chance to finish, however. The scan displayed a full data readout, and I jerked in one spastic motion before falling on my face again from the sudden snap release of my muscles. "Mender!" Apple Bloom squawked, and I heard a rapid bound of hoofsteps before two forelegs wrapped around me and gently helped me up again as I shivered. My stomach swam and I felt a wave of nausea as I tried to relax again, opening my eyes into the status display. The text was written out in front of everypony, myself included. "Scan completed. Unknown Element 003 located, and sample scans saved to local drive. Scouting objective four successfully completed. Samples should be acquired. Scripting disabled." Everypony stared at it in mixed shades of surprise. The message devolved into code after that, which I recognized as an indexing number a second later. I ran the number into my file database and drew up a sheet on 'Element Three' instantly. I tossed that file up, too, and read its leading paragraph, frowning. "Trace samples of Element 003 discovered on subject. Alongside Blood Particle 001 and Hair Filament 002, this is the third unknown element this specimen has examples of. More might be located after a successful autopsy, but data analysis is given for now. High energy readout displays unusual properties when manipulated with aether energy, producing what can only be described as non-Euclidean energies! With this discovery, we might be able to replicate the element and produce all sorts of technological advances with-" I stopped reading, another wave of numbness and nausea shooting through me. No. Why would this be...? We already knew how to manipulate non-Euclidean space, and had known how since our allies showed up with the technology! Sure, we expanded upon it to make our FTL Slipstream Engine in ways they couldn't even realize, but we'd gotten the technology centuries back. Why was this document discussing the discovery of non-Euclidean energies from something in... My mind started spinning as I slowly shook my head. Specimen? "W-What is this, Mender?" Spike asked softly, frowning as he looked over the display before adding, "These look like the lab notes I help Twilight take sometimes. She talks formally like this while taking notes." Lab notes. "Mender, yer scarin' me. What is all this?" Apple Bloom asked, both fillies looking back at us as Spike's eyes got bigger and bigger in shock. "Really, really bad news. This is a document from a long time ago from my old dimension that's talking about some sort of specimen they found that supposedly had these crystals on it. Crystals from Equestria!" I groaned out, shaking my head rapidly. Calm down, Mender. Think. Okay, this didn't change too much. It actually explained some stuff. A new element was introduced and we figured out how to replicate it, discovering it could manipulate non-Euclidean space to form our FTL Drive. That's how we figured out folded space and FTL in the first place, both technologies extremely advanced compared to what our allies could do. That's why! The element didn't exist before it was introduced and replicated. "That means that a long time ago, something made the transfer over into my dimension from here. An experiment gone wrong? An accident? Gah. Um, okay, Princess Celestia probably knows about this. I need to get this data to her fast," I muttered, mostly talking to myself. Scootaloo started to look excited, while Apple Bloom had shifted to uncertain. "Aether is a fancy word for Magic, isn't it?" Spike asked, digging into his backpack and pulling out another parchment and quill. I stared at him for a moment as he started writing things down rapidly, then glanced back at the gem. Magic. Reaching out, I touched the gem lightly with my hoof, Scootaloo having dropped it to the floor when I started scanning it. Just a little drop of magic, and I focused on the simple image of the other corner of the cave. This would ultimately show us if this was true. Due to the short distance and low amounts of energy, the transfer was actually almost faster than I could see. Scootaloo gasped as her gem flared with light, the twin ribbons forming and wrapping around it in a blur, and the whole thing disappeared. No. No way. They were the catalyst for our FTL drive! "Hey, my gem!" she squeaked, eyes widening and staring sadly at where it used to be. Smiling to her, I shook my head and gestured over to the corner with my hoof, drawing her attention to the gem as it spun lightly in place, steaming. "Don't touch it for a couple minutes. It's really hot. This... is bad, but it doesn't change too much. After I tell Tia the discovery, I'm sure she'll know how it affects things," I muttered, staring at the steam coming off the gem. Calming down, I relaxed and started to think things through again. "Whoa. It teleported? Ah didn't think ya knew how ta teleport," Apple Bloom murmured, also staring at the thing as it slowly came to a stop. "Technically, it just moved over there really, really fast, but close enough, yeah. Those are the gems we use in our big spaceships to move really, really fast and travel through space," I explained, keeping it simple for all of our sakes. My brain might explode if I tried to fully register what was going on. Spike held up the letter a moment later, the page gently illuminated by the light of the crystals as I looked it over. If nothing else, he was more than professional with his writing skills, I noticed. Eyes softening, I wondered what Tia would want to do about all of this. I felt a little lost suddenly, but nodded to Spike with a light swallow. It was one of those moments where I felt very small and insignificant. The little dragon nodded and rolled the scroll gently up, sealing it before tossing it into the air and blasting it with a spout of green flames. It was gone when the blast cleared, and I suddenly snickered, realizing how silly this all was in perspective. If this had been my other self, he'd probably freak out at the fact that Spike just seemingly disintegrated the scroll. Well, no, he'd be too busy freaking out over the dragon and talking ponies, probably. "Come on, Mender. Let's get out o' this cave an' into tha warmth ah bit. Spike'll let ya know when Princess Celestia responds," Apple Bloom suggested, still looking significantly uncertain while staring at me. Hesitating, I glanced back over at Scootaloo's gem before extending a tentacle out and snatching it up with it. Three others zipped out and broke more samples off the cave walls, hauling them towards me and dropping them into my bag. Twilight needed to see these, too. Why hadn't the ponies discovered this already?! Swallowing, I nodded to everypony, noticing Scootaloo intently focusing on the gem still in my tentacles. Smiling, I shook my head and added, "It's hot. Let's dip it in the stream outside to get it cool again. Then you can have it back. I'm not going to take your gem, Scoots." She perked up at that and nodded, offering me a little smile and subtly informing me I was accurate with my guess of what she was worried about. With that settled, I gave in and the five of us headed outside, Tank hauling another crystal sample along with him, and Spike snapping off gems as we walked, apparently determined to bring half the cave’s supply with him as we left... * * * * * Sighing, I walked along with a small barrier floating off my chest, an entire folder resting on top of it and shifting about as I sorted through it all while we walked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were walking in front of me leading the way, and I only passively paid attention, following along after them instinctively. The folder was sizeable, and Tia had certainly surprised me with it. Of course, I felt extremely bad after Spike spent almost five minutes leaning over a rock and coughing it all up for me. I'd asked if there was anything I could do to make it up to him, but he assured me that Twilight had once insisted he transfer an entire encyclopedia set from her room in Canterlot, and that was much, much worse. My tentacles had snapped off large amounts of amethyst from the walls regardless, causing him to perk up in shock and delight as I dropped them all in front of him. "Mmm! They taste so good! It's like a crunchy cream soda," the little dragon murmured next to me, swaying as he walked along and crunched down another gem. I smiled absently, but kept my eyes glued to the documents. If they tasted that good, hopefully they washed out the taste of these things! Why was she so insistent about this? I stared at the paperwork documenting my official rank in the royal guard and status as Head Dimensional Researcher. Of course, apart from Twilight, I was really the only dimensional researcher. Alongside the documents was a Royal Guard Lieutenant badge with both neck cord and minor "Camouflage" enchantment, which I was now wearing, and a research clearance card for royal material, level four, whatever that meant. I slipped that into my saddlebag and shook my head. This had to be because of what was going on with the newspaper thing. This gave me credentials if I required them, of course, which further solidified what she told everypony at the conference thingy. Sighing, I read her letter over once more, just to make sure I got everything. She wanted not just me, but all eight of us to come to Canterlot two days after my return from the cabins. She explained that normally she'd request my presence immediately, but realized I wasn't in a position to return to town just yet. Further, Twilight was having issues with something and Tia predicted that she would need a few days to work through it. Mental images of the library exploding or burning down without Spike there to help her came to mind, and I shook my head sadly. Hopefully she hadn't tried cooking something! It further assured me not to worry about the gems and to just get samples, and that she'd fill me in during my stay there. The visit was for three days, so I assumed she had quite the itinerary for us. Still, why request the Element Bearers and Spike as well? They all had important things to do around town, and couldn't just drop everything because I had discovered yet another problem with my old dimension interfering with theirs. I was getting downright tired of it, frankly, and would be glad to sever the link in a more permanent fashion, if only to let everything return to normal here. Hopefully, Twilight was making progress with a way to do so without hurting Keela. Closing my eyes for a moment, I exhaled softly and felt my heart slow down again. Anger came easier for me lately, and even the frustration of being a burden to everypony had gotten me upset. What was wrong with me? Was I just getting too stressed out with all this stuff? I tried to relax, reminding myself that I didn't like being angry at anything or anypony, and that it really wasn't me. After a few deep breathes, I managed to ground myself again and really put into focus whom I felt I was. Barely remembering anything I could truly call my own, I wanted to be really careful with what I considered me, honestly. "Uh, Mender?" I heard Scootaloo ask, causing me to wince at the distraction before sighing. Wait, it sounded like she was right next to me when she said that. My eyes flicked open gently, just in time to see a very confused looking Sweetie Belle half a second before I crashed into her, tripping and purposefully falling to the side so I wouldn't land on top of her and squish the poor filly. Three seconds later, the world finally stopped spinning and the two of us were a pile of fur and legs, her ending up shoved under my left foreleg and stuck, apparently upside down. Carefully, I tipped over and set her back down on the ground before coughing, a light blush coming to my cheeks. "Uh, sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going while reading all this stuff," I apologized, gesturing towards my fallen folder with my right forehoof. The small unicorn sat upright again, also blushing lightly but giving me a soft smile and shake of her head, pawing at the dirt with her right forehoof awkwardly. "Ah, no, it's okay! I hesitated too long and didn't move like I should have. I'm sorry as well for tripping you, uh, Mender," she apologized, not looking me in the eye as her ears twitched about with little spasms. "Sweetie, calm down. Yer fine, an' he's fine, so everything's fine! What was this thingy ya wanted us out 'ere fer?" Apple Bloom inquired, tone of voice rather soothing as she trotted up and rubbed a hoof over her friend's left shoulder. The little white filly swallowed but nodded, seemingly bracing herself before looking up and meeting my eyes again. I just smiled and waited patiently for, well, whatever was going to happen. To be honest, I didn't know what to do or say in the first place, so I was really hoping she'd take the lead. "I'm sorry! I, well, I shouldn't have gotten so upset over you turning me down, and I should have realized that I'm much too young for you. I'm sorry for being so mean over it and, well, I made this as an apology!" she spit out all at once, sounding afraid we'd interrupt and tear her down if she stopped talking for more than a second. Raising an eyebrow, I glanced past her as she gestured, noticing a large blanket spread out on the grass in the clearing we'd made it to, and a rather cute looking wicker picnic basket resting on top of it. Oh, she made us lunch? Wait, there was something I was supposed to be remembering about this. Scootaloo tilted her head back and looked surprised more than anything before carefully asking, "Wait, you, uh, cooked something for us?" Her tone was rather biting, however, and I frowned. Hadn't I heard an offhooved comment somewhere about Sweetie's cooking? Apple Bloom shot a glare at Scootaloo, however, and whipped back to facing Sweetie, shaking her head. "It's ah very nice gesture, Sweetie! Ah think this is right nice o' ya. Are we invited, too?" she asked, smiling positively. I smiled as well, realizing that even if the food was indeed terrible, the little filly was trying to apologize and it meant a lot to her. It wasn't so much the apology that was important, or even needed really. I saw it for what it really was. She was trying to smooth things out between us again. The unicorn perked up at that, but then widened her eyes further as I sat up and rubbed the top of her head, hoof straightening her mane again with a few gentle brushes. "Thank you for this, Sweetie, but you don't need to apologize. This is a good way to get used to each other again, however. I actually meant what I said about simply waiting a couple years. When you turn the proper age, would you like to try going on a sort of test date with Twilight, Fluttershy, and myself?" I suggested for her, trying to drive the point home while also setting it up to not just be a one on one thing. Everypony would be more comfortable that way, I had a feeling. Of course, I'd have to talk to Fluttershy and Twilight about this. Sweetie's eyes were massive by the time I finished, a deep crimson flooding her cheeks. Scootaloo made another gagging motion, but wore a playful smile this time, while Apple Bloom just grinned at the two of us. "Y-You were serious? I thought that was, um, just something you were saying to be nice," she whispered, suddenly looking down and away from me, a pang of sadness dancing across her features. "I really meant it, Sweetie. I'll need to talk to the mares, of course, as they're involved, too, but I don't think they'll mind you. It's just, well, hard for me to say because you're too young right now. I have trouble picturing you as older, which is probably my fault, but I'm willing to give you a chance when the time comes," I explained. Her level of focus she was giving me was kind of a little intimidating, which was a strange sort of paradoxical sensation given it was coming from such a cute little filly. For a moment, she seemed deep in thought before slowly nodding to herself. "So, you're having trouble picturing me as an... adult then, right? I didn't think of that. Um, I might have, well, no, I definitely overreacted earlier. I really am sorry," she whispered, shrinking a little but nodding twice and galloping back to her picnic blanket. Scootaloo gave a sigh, a light bit of frustration showing through in it, but Apple Bloom just nodded to me before looking back over at Sweetie Belle. I hesitated, but the yellow filly nodded and added, "Yer doin' amazin'. She's super nervous obviously, but just keep bein' yerself an' she'll be back ta normal again in no time, Ah think." "I hope so. This is really awkward," Scootaloo muttered from my other side. I nodded to both fillies before walking forwards again, trying to put on my most reassuring smile as I headed towards the blanket, noticing the white filly sitting opposite of our approach. Given how absent-minded I'd been lately, it was no real surprise when Apple Bloom deposited my folder into my left saddlebag a second later. Oops. I forgot I'd dropped it when I tripped over a small unicorn. Never thought I'd say that sentence either, probably. It was getting amusing to keep thinking of all the things that would probably break my original self's brain. Her hoof rose up to point at the spot across from her, and she smiled weakly. "Mender's spot is there. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are to each side," she informed once we got within easy listening distance. She didn't want me sitting next to her? I swallowed lightly, but maintained my neutral smile as best I could. She might have been feeling awkward still, but maybe she just wanted me within the easiest viewpoint? I tried to stay positive as I nodded and sat down where she gestured. "What about Tank and me?" Spike inquired, smiling as he trotted up next to me, the aforementioned tortoise orbiting him instead. Pity. I had kind have grown affectionate of my orbiting body for a while there. Maybe it was bias, however. My inner mass was envious of the planet and its moon. Sweetie Belle momentarily blanked out after he spoke up. Heh. I figured that she hadn't taken five guests into account. Thankfully, I had stuffed the dragon full of gems before we got here! "Oh, you can sit next to Mender, of course! I packed plenty of food," our young hostess chirped a second later, gesturing dramatically towards the picnic basket. She recovered fast! I guessed that her social graces were developing rapidly from her sister. "Uh, I hope they didn't let you near an oven to make this stuff..." Scootaloo muttered, sitting down and giving the basket a suspicious stare. Eh? I didn't think most picnic food required baking. Did they do it differently in Equestria? I suddenly imagined all sorts of fried foods, brown and crisp as they steamed lightly in the cooler air. My stomach growled lightly, and I tried really hard not to drool. Sweetie Belle made a pouting gesture while crossing her forelegs. "Big Mac wouldn't let me use it! He carried me away from it really fast and told me that it was too hot for cooking. It's colder today than yesterday when he made those baked potatoes!" she protested irritably. Apple Bloom exhaled gently in what almost looked like relief. Oh yeah! Hadn't somepony mentioned that Sweetie Belle's cooking was terrible? "Eh, at least we won't choke and die on charcoal. What do we have instead, sandwiches?" Scootaloo asked bluntly, reaching towards the basket a moment later. I noticed she was picking up some of Rainbow Dash's less than stellar personality traits, too. "Scootaloo! Don't be rude! This 'ere is Sweetie's picnic. She serves tha food, and is treatin' us all, so be nice!" Apple Bloom cut in, swatting her friend's hoof away from the top of the basket at the same time. I nodded in agreement towards the little pegasus, lightly pushing her hoof back as she winced and rubbed at it. "Ow! Sorry! You didn't have to whack me," she whined, frowning down at her hoof. Her eyes widened slightly as I reached forwards again and took her hoof in mine. Her hesitation melted into a smile a moment later as a bit of magic danced into her hoof, spreading soothing heat along her nerves and ankle muscles. She gave a little shiver before smiling back up at me with a nod. "I'm sorry, Sweetie. I didn't mean to be rude," she apologized properly a moment later, settling back into a sitting position. Apple Bloom looked quite happy over the turn of events, but Sweetie simply gave a blank look, her cheeks blushing still as she watched us. She recovered fast and shook her head, smiling again a moment later. "Oh, no, it's no problem, Scootaloo. I'll get the sandwiches out for us if you're that hungry. I also brought some fresh grape juice!" she exclaimed, nodding twice and lighting up her horn. The lid of the basket shakily opened, her apparently not having a whole lot of power behind her magic yet. That got me thinking, as I watched her pull out the sandwiches. Could I use enchantments on her, too, in order to enhance her abilities? I knew Apple Bloom wanted something to enhance the physical skills, but maybe I could do something to magnify magic as well? Idly, I started working out the concept in my head as she pulled out three full thermos bottles full of purple liquid. Whoa. Okay, she brought a lot of juice! Smiling, I helped her steady my cup as she shakily poured the least full one first, giving me a grateful smile as I helped her. Her cup came next, and I suddenly realized the silly filly had given me priority. I tried not to snicker as I realized she really was worried and trying to smooth things over. The first thermos didn't survive both of our cups, and she screwed the cap back on and set it aside, having a lot more trouble lifting the heavier, full one. Gently, I reached out and stuck my hoof against it, another bit of my magic expanding through it. Her eyes widened, then she smiled as gravity stopped working on the thermos. Discovering it much easier to manipulate, she nodded and smiled to me again as she poured the remaining three cups for everypony else. It took her a moment, of course, to realize she needed to shake the bottle to push the juice free of the no-gravity field I'd put on it. She grinned once she finished and left it floating in the air over the basket, lightly spinning in a circle. Relaxing finally, I picked up one of the sandwiches with my hoof and sniffed it lightly. It smelled quite good, a spicy mixture of dandelion and alfalfa, if I guessed correctly. My pallet must be significantly different as a pony, as I never anticipated alfalfa to have a spicy flavor to it. A hard crunching noise came from my side as well, Spike resting against my hip as he continued munching on the amethysts. Idly, I wondered what they tasted like to him, having just been on the topic of racial taste buds. Sweetie started on a sandwich, too, while Scootaloo sniffed at her cup of juice and Apple Bloom smiled over at Sweetie instead. I took the momentary distraction to sate my curiosity, leaning over and asking, "I just realized alfalfa tastes different to me as a pony. What do those taste like to you?" Spike glanced up at me before smiling, light purple flakes in his teeth as he offered up a medium sized chunk of amethyst. "They taste kinda rooty, like a thick cream soda," he explained, adding, "Wanna try one?" He flattened the palm of his hand out, claws flexing out flat and offering the gem on it. Apple Bloom snickered at the two of us, warning, "Spike, Mender's ah pony. Ya know he can't eat ah-" Interrupting her, I bent down and snatched up the gem with my muzzle, crunching into it lightly with a couple of chewing motions and running it over my tongue to sample it. Sharp mineral taste, and the oh so familiar sensation of rock. Nope. Guess I wasn't going to luck out and acquire a dragon's taste buds. Darn. "Ah... uh..." Apple Bloom continued a second later, eyes wider than they had been as she just stared blankly at me. Spike just grinned at my expression and laughed. "Guessing it's not as good for you?" he asked, snickering as I sighed and shook my head. Crunching the rest of it into chunky dust in my mouth, I just shrugged before swallowing it down. Scootaloo started laughing hysterically, of course, having momentarily forgotten about her drink. "Wow! You can eat gems, too, Mender?" Sweetie asked, tilting her head towards me curiously. "I can eat pretty much anything I want. Alien robot, remember?" I returned, averting my eyes and blushing lightly. Apple Bloom finally recovered and snickered, shaking her head. "All tha same ta me. It don't matter none, honestly. Just surprised me!" she defended, raising her hooves up and waving them in front of her lightly. Smiling, I shook my head towards her. Scootaloo had recovered and returned to examining her drink, of course. "This smells really like grapes. Like, more than grape juice should. But oh well. I practiced flying a lot this morning, and I'm way too thirsty to be picky!" she chirped, finally smiling and taking up her cup, taking a big swig of it. Uh oh. I suddenly realized there was indeed something Sweetie could have made in our lunch. I realized I guessed right as Scootaloo's eyes bugged out, her whole body shivering. Sweetie gave her a curious glance, mouth still full of sandwich. A second later, she was blasted directly in the face with grape juice ejected from the little pegasus filly, who started hacking and coughing afterwards. Sweetie yelped and flailed, knocking her own cup over Apple Bloom, who rapidly ducked and shielded her sandwich from the flying refreshment, eyes wide now. I gave a little sigh. Never a dull moment. Sweetie gave Scootaloo a somewhat annoyed looking glare, purple liquid dripping off her face as her friend rolled onto her stomach, hacking and coughing. "Oh come on. It can't be that bad!" the unicorn protested, sounding annoyed. Apple Bloom, who had sat up and been just watching, frowned and picked her own cup up instead. "Ah'm sure it ain't that bad, Sweetie. Scoots is probably just bein' all, what's tha word? Mah sis calls yer sis it all tha time," she asked, raising her glass up. "Melodramatic?" Sweetie offered, glancing over at Apple Bloom, glare shifting to a smile instead, despite the fact that she was covered in grape juice. Rarity? Melodramatic? I averted my eyes and lightly bit my tongue. No, she had been kind to me almost, almost always, so I shouldn't speak ill of her. "Yeah, that's tha word!" the yellow filly agreed, nodding and taking a much smaller sip of her juice. She coughed and winced a moment later, looking back down at her glass. "Okay, ya might'a added ah mite too many grapes. This must be homemade?" she inquired, shivering lightly but looking much better than the face down pegasus across from her. Maybe Scootaloo just had more sensitive taste buds? Although she did practically inhale the stuff. I patted her lightly on the back between her wings, hoping to knock some of it loose or something. She peeked up and smiled at me, nodding. Heh. She really was starting to feel like a little sister, I noticed. So did Apple Bloom. I considered it for a moment, and suddenly realized Sweetie didn't. What did she feel like, then? I couldn't really place it. It wasn't the same as Twilight and Fluttershy either, that was for sure. The filly in question frowned and licked some of the grape juice off her face, shuddering a half a second later. "Ah! Oh no. I really did add too many grapes!" she suddenly muttered, eyes softening as her ears drooped down. I swallowed the lump in my throat, the urge to hop over and hug her growing rapidly. Leaving my spot would probably be rude, though. What was Equestrian table etiquette, now that I thought about it? I should probably find a book in the library about it at some point, if Rarity was going to keep hauling me to social functions. Being a lieutenant in the guard and eating by smashing my face repeatedly into the plate seemed kind of improper. "Hey, cheer up, Sweetie. It's the thought that counts, and I'm really happy you went to all of this trouble for all of us. So thank you," I tried to assure, giving her a soft smile. She blushed lightly and looked down again, shaking her head. "Ah! No, it's not that much trouble. Um, nopony obviously has to drink any more of it. I feel so stupid!" she murmured, ears flattening rather than just drooping as she glared at the basket. It was like she was personally wringing my heart out, however, and I frowned. "I'm sure it's not that bad. Mine even looks a little lighter than the other mix, so here. I'll give it a try," I offered, raising my cup up as well. Well, life, I'll miss you, but anything to appease the adorable little filly! She raised her head up instantly, looking surprised and uncertain at the same time. I almost saw a bit of guilt mixed in, too, but I just smiled to her and raised the cup up, deciding to just get my undoubtedly horrifying fate over with. "Mender." It echoed through my mind and I stopped, frowning as I opened my eyes again. Sweetie still looked at me with that expression of surprise, happiness, and apprehension. It looked a little weird with her just staring at me, frozen in place. Wait... My gaze shifted to Apple Bloom, who was also stuck in place, head in the middle of rotating over to look at me. A peek at Scootaloo showed that she, too, was unmoving, midway through extending her hooves out towards a sandwich. Apparently, she had decided the crisis was averted after expelling the juice all over Sweetie Belle's face. Regardless, it didn't surprise me when I noticed our clearing had fogged over considerably. Returning my gaze to Sweetie, I saw the dark blue filly with the clouded up eyes step out from behind her, looking over at me sadly. "Prudentia," I whispered, earning a soft nod from her, her whole face shifting down to look at the cup, empty eyes holding rigid in their sockets. She really was blind, then. "Don't drink it, Mender. Please," she warned suddenly, her voice a whisper as her eyes softened, giving her a sad look. Frowning, I inquired as to why as I looked down at the juice again. A sharp intake of breath later, I barely resisted throwing the cup away from me as I beheld the black ichor frozen inside, looking like diseased blood. Well, that wasn't what it looked like a moment ago! "That's its true form. It's poison, disguised as juice," she explained, shifting her blank eyes back up to me as she gestured to her right. I followed her hoof and locked my eyes on Sweetie's fallen cup, a meter or so away. She'd spilled it. It was poured from the same thermos. But it was an accident. She didn't mean to spill it! Why would Sweetie...? A pang went through my chest and I looked back at Prudentia, expression falling into a frown. "W-Why would Sweetie try to poison me, though?" I asked her, not entirely believing the mysterious filly. Prudentia looked even sadder before shaking her head weakly and correcting, "It's not a poison meant to kill. It's true purpose is to destroy aspiration, twisting your every desire and wish in life until you're an empty shell, only desiring one thing." I stared blankly at her, my mind unable to fully process that. How could Sweetie Belle attempt to do something so downright malicious? It literally refused to acknowledge itself as even a concept in my mind. Instead, I tried to understand it better. "Desire what?" I whispered, frowning at the sound of my own voice. Uncertainty made it feel like a sin to speak above a light murmur. No, Sweetie wouldn't do something like- "The first pony you look at after imbibing it," Prudentia furthered, turning her face towards the little filly next to her instead. Oh. Sweetie's expression still held the somewhat lukewarm happiness, but also contained a whole slew of other emotions, guilt and apprehension amidst them. Suddenly, I understood why she looked like that, and it snapped cleanly into place. "This is a love potion, then?" I asked, glancing back down at the disgusting black liquid. She wanted to force me into liking her? "A love poison is more accurate, and I believe it's the potion's true name. She is so very sad and it hurts to see," the little filly whispered, frowning at my frozen friend. Well, I used the term 'filly' loosely. It was hard to tell exactly what she was, aside from appearances. That went a ways towards answering the most obvious question, but still, I found it lacking. My small, mysterious friend smiled and nodded, as if somehow hearing my very interest. "She's sad, Mender. She's very much in pain. Perhaps this will clear your mind a little and let you understand?" she asked softly, smiling over at me instead. My eyes widened fully as I heard a click against my left side. I glanced down in time to see the lock on the book unhook itself, and crack open just the tiniest bit. Images drifted through me, expanding across the area as I gasped, suddenly realizing the full weight of what had just happened. It opened! The flickering image of Sweetie danced into a dozen places at once, each no more than a faint ghost of her real self. Each I looked at started to move, whining and actually crying as she repeatedly stomped about the clearing. What was all this? "No! It's not fair! Why am I even thinking of doing this to Mender?" "This isn't right. I can't just make him love me back. Look at what happened to Big Mac and Cheerilee!" Who was Cheerilee? "But if I don't do anything, I’m going to lose him. If I have to wait two years, his herd is going to be filled up at the rate things are going. I-I can't risk that!" Did she really think I was that... promiscuous? "He's my friend, though, even If he doesn't feel the same way! Can I really betray his trust and do this to him? But he lied to me. He just told me that to get me to stop pestering him!" Frowning, I watched each image as she stormed around the clearing, stomping her little hooves as she seemed to fight with herself over what she wanted to do. It was all to the backdrop of that mixed stare she was frozen in the middle of giving me, which only served to magnify everything her images were saying. If she really had thought I was lying when I told her to wait the two years, what she was trying to do wasn't really that unexpected. I didn't know she felt so strongly about this, to let herself get torn up to this degree. Exhaling softly, I felt my energy seep out of me and shook my head. "What is all of this, Prudentia?" I asked, unsure of where it had all come from in the first place. Could the book read minds or something? That seemed deeply disturbing, in all honesty. "What came before. It's hard for me to see the flow, but given your numbers, I think about an hour prior," Prudentia explained, keeping those milky white orbs locked onto Sweetie Belle. So it wasn't a journal, like I had initially guessed. The small blue filly turned to stare at me again instead, as if hearing my thought. No, she really had heard my thought. She continued with, “No, I am a journal. Your journal. My most basic use is simply recording what happens to you. I have other abilities, though. One most used by the other, previous you was to also record those that enter your story as characters. Insight may be given." Whoa. That was, well, a little scary, actually. It was more frightening by implication than anything. She was vague there, and I was fairly certain it was intentional. Anypony who entered as a ‘character’ into my 'story?' So what, proximity? Or did they have to interact with me? Or scarier yet, did I just have to be aware of them? "So, literally, your most used purpose is exposition?" I asked, feeling more than a little awkward. She nodded, elaborating with, "Exposition of what you may or may not be aware of, through connection to what you are aware of. As thus, I can report on events that you weren't there for, such as this." Her right foreleg swept wide, gesturing vaguely to all the Sweetie Belle images flickering around the clearing, all whispering into my mind in a strange, pseudo-chorus that was really distracting if I paid it too much attention. My ears flattened back and I shook my head weakly. "Um, thank you for helping me, but could you try to not use this capability unless I specifically ask? This seems, well, sort of like an invasion of privacy," I muttered, glancing about at the tortured looking images around me. For just a moment, Prudentia looked utterly blank, giving me a surprisingly amusing dumbfounded expression. Ever so slowly, it shifted to a genuine smile that softly danced across her muzzle. "You are definitely not him. He would have demanded I use it almost constantly and keep him informed of everything going on around him. You are, well, I don't mean to speak ill of him, but I'm very happy you're my new Master," she muttered, shifting tones to her voice in a more upbeat direction, instead of the flat monotone she rarely broke from. The only other time I had heard her voice change was when I stopped Nirru, or whatever that thing was, from attacking her, now that I thought about it. "I'm not really your master. Did you have to do everything he said?" I asked, a bit of apprehension drifting into me for some reason. What was I suddenly so tense over? She frowned but nodded twice. "Yes. You are my new Master, whether you wish to be or not. My link was passed to you when he died. Truly died, not when he lingered for days afterwards. I must do everything you tell me to, although I'm much happier to obey your wishes, I'll admit. You're very, um, kind to me." Smiling to her finally, I reached out and lightly patted her across the top of the head, causing her to give me a shy smile, momentarily leaning up into it. How anypony could be mean to her is beyond my reasoning. Maybe cute things really were my biggest weakness? "Yes, I'm glad. You wear your energy very close to the surface, and you feel so warm and nice. I'm happy that I'm yours now," she cooed, swaying as she tipped gently, then fell off balance and landed on my other foreleg. I raised an eyebrow as I realized I actually felt her there, and then helped her back into a sitting position. "What do you mean, close to the surface?" I asked gently, steadying her again as she sat back down and nodded. It had me curious, and I wondered if she held more insight on me instead. This was certainly the longest I'd talked to her. It was also a little strange that she was sitting in the middle of the picnic blanket now, the basket partially phasing through her left flank. She was only physical to me? "It's subtle, so nopony probably noticed yet. Twilight Sparkle will be the first to realize it, unless you inform somepony first. To use your magic, it must be close to the surface to escape your body. A side effect is that your life force, or soul if you will, is also highly visible. It gives you a warmth and gentleness about you. Haven’t you noticed a pattern from those more interested in you yet? More empathic ponies probably more easily pick up on it, such as Fluttershy, Nurse Redheart, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle, although the last took a while to acknowledge it. This little filly is also the most empathic of her friends," Prudentia explained, gesturing without looking towards Sweetie Belle again. My eyes widened, suddenly seeing the pattern she shoved down my throat. Oh. Wait, Rainbow? Empathic? The little filly pulled off her mind reading trick again, or just had a very accurate guess. "Rainbow Dash is far more empathic than she lets others see, or even admits to herself. For those that can see your aura, those with high empathy, you just happen to possess the traits they look for most in a mate. It’s a bit ironic, but very sweet. You truly are loyal, kind, and gentle,” she continued explaining, tossing in a bit of conjecture for good measure, I noticed. Well, if all that were true, that would go a long ways to explaining why aforementioned mares were interested in me so rapidly. Well, I'd rather have my magic than not, so I guess I was stuck like this? Prudentia, or whoever this little filly really was, also struck me as highly empathic. "I grow tired, however, and must rest soon. Until the book is properly opened, I'm limited in my time here," she finished, sighing weakly as she slipped into a laying position instead. Frowning, I asked, "Is it okay if I ask you two more questions before you go, Prudentia?" Well, not including that one, of course. She smiled up at me and nodded, a bit of lag to her movements now. I started immediately with, "Why are you helping me, for one?" The filly stared at me for a moment before giggling lightly and looking down again towards my hooves. "You're kind to me. At first I thought you were going to be a bad master and was worried. But you're so nice; I couldn't let you get hurt. I, um, I miss you,” she murmured. A light blush formed on my cheeks, but I kept up my smile and nodded again. "Then my last question is if it's okay to talk to you more. You, you. Maybe while in my dreams?" I inquired. It was the first time I'd seen the little filly blush, giving me that wide-eyed stare that didn't trace movements. Her recovery was fast afterwards, however, and she got a timid smile on her face. "I didn't realize you were interested in me. You really are different, Mender. I'll visit you in your private dreams, yes. Don't show me to anypony else yet, though, please,” she requested, bowing politely to me. I lifted the cup back up, moving it into the position I had it at before to account for the strange time shift she seemed to make every time she appeared. On cue, she gave me a soft little smile after straightening, and was gone an instant later. The fog imploded silently into where she was before, and sound rushed back in to fill the void of silence, suddenly sounding unnatural to me. "...much trouble. Um, nopony obviously has to drink any more of it. I feel so stupid!" Sweetie murmured yet again, ears flattening back against her head and glaring at the basket, just like she did before. I sat there, my cup in my hooves and staring down at it. She was giving me a way out if I wanted. She hoped I'd decide not to drink any, while also secretly hoping I would. She didn't screw up the grape juice. She'd tried to get it the same color as the potion... My eyes softened as I stared into the purple liquid, sighing finally and looking back up at her. Her eyes met mine with intensity as she tried to search my blank face. Apple Bloom looked somewhat weirded out in my peripheral vision, and Scootaloo tilted her head. "Mine looks lighter than theirs, so it must have been made from a different batch, right? I'm sure it will taste better, too," I finally said, eyes locked directly on Sweetie's as I raised the cup a little higher. Her eyes widened as I spoke, and I knew she knew that I knew. Heh. I continued lifting the glass, thin shield coating the inside of my mouth and throat, and a subspace pocket sliding open at the very top of my stomach, just in case she actually let me drink this stuff. "W-Wait! You don't have to drink that stuff, Mender. I'm sure it tastes terrible, like the other batch. It, um, wouldn't be good for you," she spoke up hesitantly, front forelegs starting to shiver a little. Close to what I needed, but not quite. "Are you sure, Sweetie? This probably took a while to make. I'd hate to waste it. It really does look lighter, doesn't it?" I offered, showing her the cup. She winced and backed away from it, as if afraid to even sniff the stuff. Apple Bloom frowned as she watched before observing, "That actually looks kinda like-” Oops. "Grape juice, of course!" I interrupted, smiling gently towards her. She gave me a confused look, but Sweetie shivered and snapped an instant later. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! This is wrong. I knew this was wrong. You know what it is, Mender. It's poison! It's Love Poison!" she exclaimed, smashing her eyes shut as tears flowed out instantly. My eyes widened, not anticipating this severe a reaction, and only having wanted her to admit the truth. Apple Bloom let out a sudden gasp, as if slapped, and shouted, "Sweetie!" The tone was sharp and shocked sounding, causing Sweetie to wince again. "What, are you crazy?! You remember what happened with Big Mac and Cheerilee, right?!" Scootaloo asked, staring in shocked disbelief at her friend as well. "Girls, stop it. She's hurt a lot more than she's telling, and needs support, not yelling," I warned, frowning towards the little unicorn. Sweetie looked up at me slowly, opening her now very red eyes, the tears not stopping as she slowly shook her head. "No, they're right. What I just tried to do... The problem is me, not you. I'm too young. I'm... I need to... No, I don't have a choice. I can't just give up," she muttered, her voice dropping to almost a whisper at the end. "Sweetie, it's not too late, and you're not going to lose me just by-" I tried to assure, reaching out towards her across the picnic table. She buckled down and away from my right forehoof, however, screaming out, "No! No lies! I'm too young. You said so yourself! So, there's no other choice!" What?! Her magic lit up again, pulling the top off the basket and pulling out a flower that was tucked into the weave under the cover. I'd never seen anything like it, the blossom on it sort of reminding me of a folded heart, with smaller little hearts off the sides. I took a shot in the dark and wondered if that was something used to make the potion. Scootaloo looked confused, but Apple Bloom's eyes opened up fully in surprise. "No, Sweetie! Those don't ever give ya-" she started to warn, standing up and leaping towards her friend. Sweetie swallowed the entire blossom however, getting a good part of the stem down as well before her friend bowled her over and tore what was left from her mouth. I stood as well, knocking Spike over as I hopped the basket and landed next to the now coughing and gasping Sweetie. "What is this, some sort of poison?" I asked, eyes lighting up to try scanning her. Apple Bloom slowly shook her head, spitting out the stem as Spike and Scootaloo ran up. "No, it ain't. It's called Heart's Desire, an' they're nothin' but trouble. Supposed ta give ya what ya desire tha most, but it almost never turns out right," she explained, glaring down at her friend. I noticed she appeared to have a more involved opinion, but decided not to ask. That concept of not talking when a mare was furious was rapidly applied to the miniature ones, too. Instead, my energies focused on turning Sweetie Belle over and trying to hit her back lightly, listening to her cough even more violently as a tiny, heart shaped petal drifted out of her mouth. "They ain't supposed ta be taken raw, Sweetie! Ah don't know what they're gonna do," Apple Bloom groaned, looking tense. Okay, this wasn't good. "Scootaloo, we're going to start heading back in the direction of the camp. Take your new wings and go ahead of us as fast as you can safely manage, and get word to Nurse Redheart about what's happened," I asked, looking over at my orange friend. Her eyes widened, but she puffed up and saluted me before bursting off the ground, the ribbons of orange light expanding from her back as she shot off towards the camp. "W-Whoa! Scoots can fly now?" Spike asked, staring in surprise at the little filly as she exited the clearing. Sighing, I extended my tentacles to attempt to lift Sweetie onto my back. I was about to get some serious exercise! Ready or not, it was time to try running with weight on my back. "Not a good time, Spike. I'll tell ya later," I explained rapidly. Sweetie Belle started to glow before I'd even touched her. Oh hell. Seriously? It was all those times I said things were looking up, wasn't it? I only had half a second to slam my eyes shut before the little filly went off like the light from a flash-bang right in front of me.
Chapter 51Why?! Why couldn't I just have a normal day? One. One normal day was all I asked for! No potion poisoning, no alien attacks, no hospital visits, no pissed off, overly dramatic, judgmental ponies trying to stone me to death... We moved along at a moderate pace, both Spike and Apple Bloom able to keep up fairly easily due to my overly sensitive payload. There were key words there, and they were making this trip really awkward. Wincing, I kept my nose on filter mode, and tried not to pay attention to the new line of liquid as it slipped down my lower back and off my thighs. Well, it was shower time after this, again! Oh, and I made a note to upgrade the filter to properly block pheromones. Neurotoxins and acids were fine and all, but I needed practicality! Sweetie Belle lay twitching on my back, groaning occasionally if I hit a particularly nasty bump. Her fever was immense, and she barely qualified as 'conscious' at this point, but her newly acquired, significantly larger body didn't seem to care. Her plan had been flawed from the very start, not considering the ramifications of attempting this right in the middle of estrus cycle. Damn it! I mentally sighed as another slick streak of warm liquid ran off my back, but pressed onwards as fast as I could go. If the raw flower was poison or something, which the horrible fever might indicate, she needed immediate medical treatment! Spike let out a cough before blasting more flames out his nose and shaking his head as he ran after us. "Getting a little dizzy from the fumes. How much further is it?" he asked, panting as he tried to keep up while fighting off the crazy level of pheromones Sweetie's body was producing. Apparently, it had even started to affect him through his dragon resilience. Here I thought that the whole 'different species' thing would make him totally immune. "Ah can see tha cabins from 'ere. Another minute at most," Apple Bloom added between pants, purely from physically running for so long rather than being affected by the smells coming from her friend. In this regard, she was lucky to be female! Sighing, I nodded and inhaled slowly through my breathing system and filter. "Good. She's nowhere near what I'd define as light anymore!" I managed to complain, breaking the tree line in a run now. The muscles shifted through my legs, complaining but changing to a more streamline form as I broke away from the other two and shifted into a full out sprint. I saw the white mare outside of the medical building even from here, and was determined not to let anything bad happen to Sweetie Belle. The filly in question let out an almost continuous moan as I picked up speed, and I felt her growing hotter on top of me, especially towards my lower back. Damn it. Instead, I just focused on running even faster, blasting her with the wind and causing her longer mane to billow out behind me like some really strange cape. Heh, now she was my cape rather than a scarf or hat. Fillies made the best fashion accessories, after all. "Oh no. Get her inside, Mender!" Redheart yelled as I approached. She stepped aside just in time and I shot past her and through the open door. My hooves lost traction as I tried to slide to a stop, and I suddenly realized the back ones, which served as my brakes, were covered in slick liquid. Yup. Not my day at all. Wincing, I braced my right foreleg up and went directly into the wall, shifting my chest forwards so Sweetie simply crashed into my squishy back. Hitting first, then having a full sized mare crash into me an instant later wasn't pleasant, and I sort of bounced off the wall, only shielding my face as to cushion Sweetie's impact with my own body. Redheart was there in less than a second, helping me up and tipping me back to my legs as I gasped and winced from the sudden throbs that dominated my chest and right foreleg. Ow. That could have gone better. "She aged up?!" Nurse Redheart asked, staring in shock at Sweetie as she lay there in a slowly expanding pool of clear fluid of various sources, flooding the room with pheromones. "And promptly went right into estrus, skipping all the finer details. You shouldn't have to guess her motive," I muttered, unable to entirely stop the bitterness in my voice. I should have been faster and stopped her from eating the stupid thing in the first place! Managing to straighten myself, I panted heavily from the exertion of running so fast for such a long time. Damn it! Redheart sighed and stood fully, trying to lift Sweetie up and move her towards one of the cots. My magic activated instead, doing the work for her in all of five seconds. She gave me a weak smile, and then whacked me on top of the head a moment later. "No blaming yourself. I told her that you weren't lying, but she apparently didn't listen and didn't want to wait. Looks like we'll need to have another talk after all this," she explained, taking advantage of my momentary lapse in retorts as I rubbed my forehead. It probably hurt her hoof more, as she just punched me through armor. Still, I perked up at that. It was difficult to understand what the little filly had been thinking, but even if I did sort of empathize with her, there weren’t a whole lot of options that I had. "That means she's going to be okay?" I asked, hopeful and ignoring the sudden sound of the door blasting open behind me. That would probably be Apple Bloom and Spike catching up. As if on cue, the little yellow filly and accompanying dragon slid in, Spike slipping on the rather sizable puddle on the floor almost instantly. As my tentacles were still out and looking like 'rope' from carrying Sweetie over here, I lashed out with two of them and snagged him out of the air before he landed on his head. He gave me an upside down thumbs up, of course, and I snickered at him, still panting lightly. "She'll be fine once it works out of her system. I pulled a few books on Heart's Desire to figure out what eating it raw does. Turns out, it does the same thing the less concentrated potion achieves, but much stronger over a significantly shorter period of time. One flower is about four hours of effect," Redheart explained, sliding the book over on the table next to the cot Sweetie lay on. The white unicorn gave a rather miserable sounding groan a moment later, eyes opening in a dizzy looking sway and shifting her back legs together repeatedly. "H-Hot. It's so hot! H-Help me, Mender," she whispered, voice hoarse from coughing so much. Frowning, I tried extending a hoof out to her, but Redheart stopped me and pushed it back down, shaking her head. "Don't, Mender. You're linked to the effect of the Heart's Desire, and I don't want variables thrown into the mix. Her hormones are going crazy from what she wanted. I'm going to have to share some of my estrus suppressant with her, just to bring the fever down. Scootaloo should be back with some cold water sh-" she started to explain. The door blasted open again before she could finish, and I winced at the sound. If there was anything left of that door by the end of the day, I'd be surprised. "I'm back! Saw Mender and everypony enter. Here's the water from the stream!" Scootaloo informed rapidly, fluttering in and lowering herself to the ground, sliding the bucket forward that she had around her neck. It was impressively large, and I suddenly realized it had probably been faster to send it with Scootaloo to fill it at the stream than try to fill it with tap water. "Yikes. Ya don't look so good, Sweetie," Apple Bloom muttered, hopping up on the cot her friend was on and looking down at her. The flush appeared permanently fixed to Sweetie Belle's face, and she just kept her dizzy gaze locked onto me instead. "I'm not, um, feeling very good. Mender touching me would make me feel so much better," she whispered, extending her right foreleg towards me as she lay there. Scootaloo frowned and fluttered up to her as I helped Redheart with the bucket. She dipped the tip of her hoof into it and sighed before going towards a shelf with towels on it. "Not as cold as I would have liked, but it will have to do on short notice," she murmured as she left. Cold? Looking back down at the water, I touched the bucket with my left hoof, the runes forming in my mind and dancing across the surface. The molecular movement slowed as I held my focus, a layer of frost glazing the rim of the wood. Ah, that should be better. Smiling, I let go of the magic and innocently put my leg back down as Nurse Redheart turned back around. Anything to help Sweetie. Spike gave me an amused grin, suddenly reminding me that I still had his leg wrapped up and was dangling him upside down. Err, oops. I shot him a sheepish smile before lightly lowering him to the floor again. "Will any touch do?" Scootaloo asked suddenly, lowering and setting herself down against Sweetie's stomach. The newly formed mare groaned and rapidly shook her head, her tongue lightly hanging out of her mouth a moment later. Looking back over at the three, I saw Apple Bloom looking more than a little concerned, but Sweetie herself was staring unerringly at me instead, face flushed and eyes unfocused. "N-No, it has to be Mender. He smells so good, and he's the one who rescued me! I, um, I love him! He's so nice and gentle and brave and sweet and he saved my life and didn't even ask for anything for it. He never brags or boasts... Sis was so right about him," Sweetie started swooning out, a very strange mixture of sensual and delirious. It was somewhat unnerving to hear, but that might have been just the string of compliments causing my cheeks to tint pink. Nurse Redheart shook her head softly as she returned with the towel, warning, "You're too young to know what 'love' is, Sweetie. Rest and put this on your, uh..." She trailed off, staring down at the bucket before raising an eyebrow. Her cunning mind didn't take two seconds to snap her gaze back up to me, piercing suspicion in her eyes. I smiled a little wider and innocently averted my gaze, causing her to actually let out a soft giggle instead. "I forgot how downright useful your magic was, Mender. I should invite you over tonight to chill the cooler I have, too," she noted. I couldn't help but notice that her voice slipped a little softer on that last part, and I swallowed uneasily. How could somepony make something so innocent sound so... I didn't even know the word for it! My favorite nurse didn't give me a chance to wallow, however, dipping the towel and slipping past me, a light trail of subtle perfume and something a little sweeter mixed in following after her. Oh boy. It only took me half a second to remember to bring my filter up again, but the slip of awareness already let a tidal wave of Sweetie's scents through regardless, almost bowling me over with the haze. Damn it! At least Nurse Redheart appeared to be attempting to cover her smell. "No, don't f-flirt with him! He needs to leave a s-spot for me in his herd and-" Sweetie started to yelp, eyes big and pleading towards Redheart as she approached. My head was too busy spinning to properly formulate a response beyond a mental groan of frustration. It did, however, nicely process the solid whack Apple Bloom gave Sweetie's muzzle a second later. My eyes widened, and Spike snapped out of his haze long enough to stare in surprise at the yellow filly. Scootaloo almost dropped out of the air, matching her already dropped jaw. "Sweetie! That's enough! Yer bein' downright selfish ta everypony. Mender deserves yer respect, not yer attempts ta cheat ta get at his heart, regardless o' what he wants! We helped ya too after ya were downright foolish an' ate that no good flower, but ya haven't even said thanks ta anypony. This ain't you, Sweetie! Stop this," Apple Bloom almost ordered as Sweetie winced, holding both hooves to her muzzle. Nurse Redheart gave a weak sigh as she gently pressed the chilled towel to the now shivering mare's head. No, she still had the mindset of a filly. A very confused one at that. It didn't take long for her eyes to get wet again after she opened them, looking at her friend. "I'm so sorry, Apple Bloom. I'm just so scared. I don't want to be too late, but I'm just not good enough! It's like... It's like if you had a chance to miss out on getting your Cutie Mark if you didn't do something about it!" Her head tucked back into her hooves, specifically avoiding looking at anypony, as Apple Bloom's ears drooped a little. "Ya are good enough. Mender told me that he was speakin' true. He ain't lyin' ta ya, Sweets. Ya really do get ah chance!" she tried to reassure, her left foreleg rising up and gently rocking the white mare's shoulder. Tank took this moment to hover in through the window and resume his rotations around Spike and me, like before. I'd asked him to in the clearing, and it would appear he remembered. The pheromones were rapidly sucked up past the very much immune tortoise, and shot off towards the ceiling and away from us. I smiled up at him, almost seeing a slow wink in return. It was kinda hard to read his body language, it being ten times slower than normal. I caught myself getting distracted again, however. "She's right, Sweetie. You're good enough as is. You don't need to rush, Silly. To be honest, I have no intention of asking anypony else to join the herd unless both Twilight and Fluttershy agree or suggest it first. Even then, I'll refuse to fill the last slot, because I promised you that you'd get your chance," I explained, smiling softly towards her. Apple Bloom looked surprised to hear my voice, but smiled happily up at me almost right away. Sweetie herself looked more shocked than anything, her eyes slipping from her friend to glue themselves to me instead, her cheeks heating up even more. Redheart snickered at her reaction, but then glanced back at me instead, adding, "I guess some lucky mare is going to have to try really hard to fill that fourth and last spot then." Her voice was laced with amusement, and I barely resisted slapping my forehead. "Don't forget the part about Twilight and Fluttershy approving, too," I warned, giving her a skeptical expression. She was pretty persistent, but it could also be her heat dropping her reservations a bit. Plus, how much of it was that aura thing Prudentia pointed out? I considered it. Was my magical aura technically cheating? It wasn't really a form of manipulation, I deduced. All it did was let a sensitive, empathic individual get a feel of who I was far faster than normal, if I understood correctly. Technically, there was nothing manipulative about it. The moral debate was a bit of a moot point anyway, given that I couldn't exactly turn it off. Redheart simply grinned and shook her head a moment later, lifting the towel off and dipping it back into the chilled water again. "I know. I'm only teasing you. Mostly. Still, you have no need to make that promise to Sweetie. She should be content enough that you're going to consider her in two years, especially after she's been such a bad filly," she added, turning to give a pointed stare at her newest patient instead. Oh boy... Scootaloo, seemingly more interested in helping than the topic, shifted down the cot at the same moment, hauling the blanket with her teeth and sliding it out from under Sweetie, moving it to cover her instead. Sweetie's ears lowered at the same time her eyes softened and she looked away from us, swallowing weakly. "I'm... I'm really sorry, everypony. Thank you for taking care of me even though I don't deserve it. I'm especially sorry to you, Mender. Both for trying to use the Love Poison on you, and for, um, all this. I'm scared, is all..." she finally whispered, refusing to look up at me. "Love Poison?! Sweetie!" Redheart hissed, but then gave a surprised start when I rested my right forehoof on her shoulder, shaking my head to her. "Actually, it's all sort of coming together in my head. I at least understand why you did it, and I'm sorry for not realizing you felt this way, let alone how strongly. I Pinkie Promise that I'm telling the absolute truth, and you'll get your chance when you're old enough. But please, no more potions or magic or anything to try to cheat the system, Sweetie. I don't want you getting hurt, especially for me," I explained as best I could, probably using six times the words needed. Her soft blush and timid smile told me that I got my point across, however. She gave two nods and tucked herself a little more into the blankets, still just watching me. There was a certain hesitation before she finally sighed and nodded once more, agreeing with, "I promise I'll be good and wait. Thank you so much for being patient and kind, Mender. Um, can we still be friends until-" I raised a hoof up and shook my head towards her, cutting her off but keeping a gentle smile on my muzzle. "We're never going to not be friends, Sweetie. Even if you eventually become more than a friend to me, friendship stays, I think," I reasoned, remembering a remarkably similar prior conversation like this. It only took me a second to realize I was still really dizzy a moment later, and I realized my blood was starting to thud through my ears. Sweetie really did make for a rather pretty mare, and Redheart was starting to look downright ravishing. Yup, time to leave. "Ah, sorry though. I'm going to have to leave now. The pheromones are getting to me, I think. Come on, Spike. Let's leave the ladies in peace," I excused, glancing back towards my draconic friend. He sat somewhat limply to my right, eyes unfocused and staring blankly at a totally unaware Nurse Redheart. More specifically, her flank, I realized. Yup, he'd been here too long, too. "D-Do you have to?" Sweetie whispered softly, giving me a pleading look I refused to lock eyes with. I knew her power, and realized stallions lost their souls by looking into similar eyes. Instead, I wrapped Spike up again and lifted him onto my back, ignoring the smears his legs made from sitting in the puddle. Yeah, it was time to wash my coat out. "Yeah, Sweetie. I'm sorry. You're starting to smell too good, so I have to get out of here. Poor Spike can't take much more of this, so I'm bringing him with. Is there anything else, Redheart?" I asked, getting her attention again as she finished digging out more medical supplies, including a blood sample kit, from what I noticed. Oh yeah, hormones... She gave me a soft smile before shaking her head. "No, I'm set here for a while. Check back after a couple hours and I'll have her cleaned up by then. Go wash up, and, well, thank you for being, um, you. You've been a lot of help today," she thanked politely, perking a bit at me. Heh. She had already proved she could be cute if need be. There wasn't any reason to rub it in! "Okay. I'm heading to the lake then. I'll see you three later, okay?" I suggested, earning a nod from both fillies, and a pout from Sweetie Belle. At least she was smiling, I noticed. I had a feeling we'd be talking more about this later, but she appeared content for now, and not likely to blatantly poison herself again in the next few hours. Females were so confusing... Giving them both a nod, I headed out of the medical cabin yet again with Spike on my back. He seemed coherent enough to balance on his own, so I retracted my tentacles into myself as we walked. Tank followed loyally along after me, apparently content to just idle on my last request until I said otherwise. Rainbow had really gotten herself a loyal companion! To my surprise, Big Mac caught up with me by the time I reached the tree line again. He slowed from his faster pace after falling in next to me, and then sniffed a couple of times at my shoulder. I coughed lightly, cheeks tinting a light pink before he started chuckling, much to my relief. It was silly of me, but for a moment, I thought he might jump to conclusions and pummel me or something. "Ah saw Sweetie. Heart's Desire?" he asked upon recovering, still keeping pace easily with me. Of course, he wasn't fooling anypony. I'd already seen him move significantly faster than this when he wanted to. When his sister had been in trouble, I don't think Rainbow could have gotten into the living room any faster! Sighing, I nodded as best I could without jostling Spike. "Yeah. She seemed to think that I'd be perfectly okay with her aging herself two years to date me," I muttered, sagging a little but keeping my gentle pace. He mulled it over for a moment, but kept that gentle and relaxed smile on his face. "Ah shouldn't need ta warn ya now, but mah little sister an' her friends can be right impatient sometimes. Sweetie ain't so different, from what Ah saw. Mind if Ah tag along? Need ah washin' mahself," he asked, apparently not realizing he'd already pretty much started accompanying me. "Sure. I might need help rousing Spike anyway. He got blasted pretty good with pheromones," I muttered, peeking back at my rather dizzy looking passenger, earning a tired glare in return. "H-Hey! I'm okay, sheesh. Twilight's smells can get pretty potent, too, so I can handle myself," he tried to defend, only slurring a couple of the words, to give him credit. Big Mac nodded solemnly, also turning to look at the small dragon. "Right true. Ah'm more concerned fer tha magical nature involved. Ah can smell it on Mender, an' it's quite ah bit stronger than what it should be, given how she sped up tha process," he reasoned, surprising me with his insight. I hadn't thought about the possibility that the pheromones had also been magnified by the plant. Oh! If her only ‘desire’ had been to appear as appealing as possible to me, the entire instant magnified estrus thing might have been all part of it. Giving out a groan, I shook my head at the whole ordeal, deciding then and there to take the rest of the day off. "Ugh. Mares..." I managed to mutter finally. Spike gave out a snicker against the back of my neck, and Big Mac grinned over at me while walking, surprisingly animated for his usual self. "Hear ya there!" he agreed, giving his shoulders a roll while walking and making an audible cracking noise in the process. Maybe he was just getting used to me? Snickering, I inquired, "Cheerilee?" I was observant enough to notice a faint darkening in the tone of his cheeks, and a light twitching lift to the corner of his mouth. "Heh. Long story, that one. Ah'll tell ya at tha lake," he assured, making an amused clicking noise afterwards with his tongue. Giving a smirk in return, I just silently followed after him as our pace increased. I'd just be happy to get rid of the scents! * * * * * Relaxing, I let myself air-dry, my tired muscles feeling heavy against my frame as I lay in the sand along the shore of the lake. There were no more mare smells anywhere around, and I felt clean and fluffy again! Spike had his arms folded behind his head and lay against my stomach, as I was currently flopped onto my side. Tank munched on grass a meter from my head, and I heard the heavy movements of Big Mac wading somewhere behind me, not bothering to open my eyes to check. I tried my hardest to achieve inner peace without falling asleep, in the meantime. Big Mac's tale of how his little sister and the rest of the Crusaders had 'poisoned' Cheerilee and himself, and how he'd almost gotten married was all quite amusing and all. I'd especially liked the part where he'd unknowingly relocated Berry Punch's house, which was a bit scary considering how much raw Earth Pony power he must possess. Ruby Pinch's mother, it turns out, although I think I knew that already. I'd seen the beverage maker in the market a couple of times, and they definitely have similar color schemes. I'd make an apple and tree comparison, but present company might think I was trying to be clever. "Ah know, Ah know. It's silly. But all she ever said was that Ah was her friend. It was tha perfect opportunity, an' Ah blew it," I heard him mutter in his deep but low voice, kicking up a bit of water as well by the sounds of it. I stirred lightly, pulling back from my meditative relaxation and exhaling. Eh, the eyes could stay closed a bit longer. "It's a pity you don't have Rainbow around to insult her sensitivities in front of you. It was totally an ice breaker for Twilight and me, it would seem," I suggested, smirking lightly as I heard Spike chuckle against my stomach. Big Mac gave a snort and short laugh, adding, "While she ain't capable o' throwin' ah bed at me, Cheerilee has ah mean buck! Ah think Ah'd rather risk tha flowers." That amused me more than I would have liked to admit, and I snickered, shaking my head and finally opening my eyes towards him. "Should I ask how you know she has a mean buck?" I inquired, hopefully keeping any insinuations subtle. The big guy gave me a knowing grin, telling me he picked up on it anyway. "Ain't like that. She's ah proper mare, after all. Nah, she just got ah mite impatient with me in our schoolin' days. Ah worked with her on quite ah few projects, an' Ah was right lazy back then. Didn't know no better. She gave me ah few good whacks ta keep me goin'," he explained, surprising me instead. Raising an eyebrow, I admitted, "It's awfully hard to imagine you as lazy. You're an amazingly hard worker." His eyes softened a little, and I immediately regretted commenting on it. I'd blundered head first into a bad topic, I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion. "Ah wasn't always. Had ta step up ta meet tha challenges o' runnin' ah farm after Ma and Pa passed. Sis was still too young, an' Apple Bloom just ah little foal, so that left me with tha heavy labor. Ah think Applejack still feels bad about me workin' so hard sometimes, but what can ya do?" he muttered absently, rolling his shoulders in a tired looking shrug. My eyes softened and I nodded back at him despite my viewpoint being upside down. "I'm sorry for bringing it up. I'll try my hardest to make things easier for the Apple Family on the farm. My enchantments and inventions might not be much, but I did promise Apple Bloom," I apologized quietly. That got his attention, and he returned that ever-quiet gaze back to me, taking me in for a moment before frowning. "Apple Bloom asked ya ta help, too?" he asked, sounding uncertain for some reason. Smiling, I nodded back at him, deciding it wouldn't hurt to relay the message. It hadn't been a secret, after all. "She says she misses spending time with you two, and was hoping if I made the farm work faster and easier, she'd get to again," I explained. It was honestly a simple and clever idea on her part. Big Mac's eyes softened and he looked down at the water again before finally nodding slowly. "At first Ah was right hesitant o' ya, but Ah know yer tryin' yer hardest ta help, despite everything dealin' ya ah right awful hoof," he admitted, although that didn't sound like it was what was actually bothering him. Wait, that meant... Yes! Ponies did have cards! Maybe they did have Uno? Big Mac looked back up at me, however, snapping me out of my mental tangent. "Ah trust ya. Do ya think ya can help us out? We ain't got ah huge amount o' bits ta pay ya with, no matter what AJ wishes, but-" he started to warn. I held a hoof up, er, down I guess, towards him and shook my head. "I know that, and trust me, if I can manage to get her to not pay me, I would. I'll gladly accept a good meal as payment, of course. Hospital food has scarred me for life, and I deeply appreciate anything but, now!" I explained, shuddering as I remembered what could only have been processed cardboard they tried to get me to eat. After it was ground up, regurgitated, and formed into a limp cube, of course. Although, maybe it was a wise precaution? Given my knack for horribly injuring myself, having food ready to be injected through an IV was probably smart. Wait, then I wouldn't have to taste it! Note to self, the next time I get hospitalized, break my own jaw. The red stallion was grinning at this point, and nodded gently towards me. "Ah stallion o' simple tastes. Refreshin', honestly. Ah was ah bit worried ya were all fancy-like after ya went ta that party. That sorta thing makes me real tired, even though Ah would've gone had Rare asked me," he admitted, shaking his head slowly. Blinking, I frowned at that. "Uh, she said she did ask you, though," I muttered, raising an eyebrow back at him. He smirked, however, and it dawned on me at the same instant. "Nah. She just wanted ta bring you along instead," he shot back, only enlightening the thought further in my head. Figured. Damn it. Spike gave a start on my stomach and turned around, glancing back at us both with a frown. "Wait, why did Rarity want to bring Mender along?" he asked suddenly. Wonderful. Because this was exactly what I needed at the moment. Sighing, I sat up and rolled to my haunches again, realizing I wasn't going to get to nap. "I'm going to just be honest with you, Spike. Do you mind?" I asked, deciding the little guy might appreciate an up front, adult approach to the situation. He stared at me for a moment before slowly nodding, looking apprehensive but just watching me. Well, now or never. "Rarity thought she liked me as more than a friend before the Canterlot party," I tossed out, just getting the worst out of the way as soon as possible. Spike sat there, the only movement on him being a light swallowing in his throat after a second of letting it process. "You used past tense," he whispered a moment later, eyes softening as I was pretty sure he at least had some clue as to what happened. I nodded, continuing with, "She kissed me and Twilight caught her. That's what they were fighting about. Finally getting the chance after all of that Nirru stuff, I explained to her that I didn't feel that way about her. She's taken it surprisingly well, but seems more confused than anything. It's more the concept of a 'Prince' she wants, rather than the actual thing, and I think she's starting to realize that." I felt tired again afterwards like I always did when revealing things. Maybe it was just the fact of not 'having' the secret anymore that made me realize how heavy it was to deal with? Sighing, I just let it sink in and watched him as he frowned, almost staring through me for a moment. Big Mac nodded and sat down next to me a second later. "Eeyup. Miss Rarity needs ta realize that tha stallion in her mind don't exist. Ain't nopony that's perfect. Or dragon, Ah imagine," he added, smirking lightly afterwards. That Spike caught almost instantly, blushing lightly. I snickered and nodded towards Big Mac as well. Now I was really glad he was here! "He's right. That's almost exactly what I told Rarity when I pointed out you," I agreed, adding that little tidbit hoping to cheer him up some. His eyes widened drastically, mouth hanging loose a bit as he stared at me. "Y-You mentioned me?" he asked hesitantly, looking extremely confused more than anything now. I decided to stick to the truth, and nodded. "Yeah. Subtly, of course, if that's possible for me. She must have pulled at least something from it, because she sat there watching you sleep for a good half an hour," I reasoned, considering it for probably the first time. It really did seem like she'd started really considering Spike. Reminding myself not to zone out again in the midst of a conversation, I snapped back to attention to note Spike's blatantly wide-eyed stare, and exceptionally red face. Okay, that was adorable. He wobbled a bit before holding up his claws and staring at them as if he thought they'd gotten cut off, and was pleasantly surprised to find out not. "You told her no. You actually turned down Rarity... But then you suggested me?! That... Okay, I really don't know what to think about all this. I wish you'd told me sooner. I mean, she's been acting a bit different around me and I'm not sure if this is why or not, but honestly, I think I could use some help with-" he started rambling, apparently just spewing forth whatever came into his head in a long string. Well, he started to, anyway. My ears twitched at the whistling noise I picked up a few seconds into him talking. Wait, that sounded familiar. In fact, I'd heard that noise multiple times now. Oh. Damn it! I spun as fast as I could, my barriers activating and expanding past both Big Mac and Spike. The red stallion gave a start, looking at me with a surprised and confused expression as Spike's voice dwindled, him looking at the barrier instead. Neither got a chance to question my motives, however, as a cyan bolt shot in, looking like it 'bounced' off the lake an instant later. The refraction was accompanied by a brutal explosion in an instant, shattering the water out from the expanding prismatic ring. A heartbeat later, my barriers were blasted by millions of pellets of glowing, multi-colored water. The sizzling drops hit with the force of a heavy hail, and I winced under the massive barrage as everything was momentarily tinted in rainbow shades. Sound finally caught up two seconds later over the deafening roar of the blast, and the wave itself hit us at the same time as her voice did. "Woooo! Heads up, Mender!" was screamed along the blast, the wave of light smashing over us and washing out the area in light. What the hell was wrong with her?! She was insane! She fired off a Sonic Rainboom right on the surface of the lake?! My eyes flicked open a moment later, only to find Spike hiding under my tail and Big Mac sternly holding up his right foreleg to shield his eyes from the light. My barrier held, creating a small dome of 'not rainbow colored everything' in a two-meter radius. The sand itself was prismatic now, as the high energy seemingly bled into everything. Actually, my barrier was colored the same now, too, I noticed. Hmm. Was that healthy for me, or did her explosions have some sort of radiation to them? Probably not, or else she would have reduced the life expectancy of everypony in Ponyville to single digits by now... "Yes! Totally clean now. How was that, Mender?!" I heard Rainbow ask, landing behind me. Turning, I noticed a broad grin on her face as she landed, shaking herself lightly and whipping her mane from side to side. My eyes widened as I watched her prismatic locks flick, the spray of glowing light and color misting off her in almost an aura. For a moment, I was utterly shocked at how gorgeous she looked, a natural and almost raw elemental vibe coming from her. It was primal. Her grin widened as she noticed I must have looked rather dumbfounded towards her. "What's wrong? See something ya like?" she asked coyly. The expression faltered and vanished an instant later as her haze of rainbow colors withdrew a bit more, revealing both Spike and Big Mac to either side of me as well. Her cheeks instantly took on a noticeably contrasting pink shade as her eyes widened. Big Mac recovered rapidly, however, shooting her a skeptical look. "And 'ere Ah thought ya only had eyes fer AJ," he muttered, sounding more amused than anything. Heh, if he was looking for an answer to that, he was in for a confusing ride. Rainbow gave him an annoyed glare, which didn't faze him in the least, and shook her head rapidly. "I like stallions, too!" she defended, puffing up a bit. "Never said ya didn't," Big Mac pointed out idly, that unfaltering soft smile still on his muzzle. It was honestly a bit unnerving how stoic he was sometimes. He was starting to give me serious 'unliving doll' vibes now. As long as he didn't go evil and start stabbing us all in our sleep, I suppose it didn't matter. I was pretty close to that definition, too, now that I thought about it. Dash deflated a little bit, realizing her distraction defense was unsuccessful. Sighing, she looked away from him slightly before huffing in irritation and finally admitting, "Yes, I like Mender, too. He's got a lot of things I like in a pony. Dependable and good morals, humor, intelligence that I admire, but without the strict and rigid discipline Twilight has. Um, I haven't been around him as much as Applejack, but I definitely like him, too. Plus, uh, my heat is really bad, like usual. Makes it hard to resist being flirty." Damn. That was the most simplistic and honest I'd ever heard her be. Now why couldn't she just tell me that, of all ponies? If it bothered Big Mac in the least, he didn't show it. "Works fer me. Just don't hurt AJ, or we'll have words," he assured before gently rolling his shoulders with a light crack, and heading back to the lakeshore. I shivered, and noticed Rainbow visibly swallow and falter as she watched him go. That was a little scary! Big Mac voluntarily having words for any situation felt grave indeed. Spike, who had silently watched the whole time, slowly rotated towards me with a somewhat skeptical expression a moment later. "Okay, I've noticed a pattern. Spill. Why do mares like you?" he accused, narrowing his eyes slightly. Rainbow snapped out of her stunned state to raise a knowing eyebrow towards him, mouth opening for undoubtedly some horrible quip to flatten him with. I cut her off, however. "Because of this," I answered openly, holding my left hoof up. Both drew their attention to it before it flared up with light, expanding rapidly across my entire body with a warm blue glow, runes of focus and form patterning my body. "Magic?" Spike asked hesitantly, tilting his head. Rainbow looked momentarily surprised, however, the light from the glow reflecting greatly in her eyes as she took it all in. "Heh, it definitely looks cool! You have neat looking magic," Rainbow complimented, shifting to a soft smile instead. I sighed and nodded, turning off my temporary lamp mimicry a moment later. "My magic is apparently closer to the surface than most ponies. It's the only reason I can actually use magic as an Earth Pony. But with magic comes-" "Emotion. Feelings and personality often show through in magical auras, Twilight said. Magically sensitive ponies and creatures, and those that are really empathic would be able to pick up on who you are a lot faster than normal, I'm guessing?" Spike suddenly deduced, that clever glimmer showing through in his eyes that was oh so familiar. Twilight definitely raised him, and it seriously showed. Rainbow perked at that, looking a mixture of surprised and curious. I nodded, expanding his deduction with, "Yup. It lets ponies get a 'feel' for my personality just by looking and being near me, it would seem. If they like what they feel, they have a higher disposition towards me?" It was a little hard for me to summarize, and for probably the hundredth time this little 'vacation', I wished Twilight were here. She was so much better with this whole 'words' thing! "Oooh, so the feeling of safety and trust I normally get around you isn't just a gut feeling?" Rainbow asked, coughing lightly and averting her gaze a bit. Well, that was blunt, but I hadn't really expected anything less from her. "Yeah. That's a, well, big thing with me? It's one of the things I regret from my other self. I want to protect everypony I can, and make sure nopony gets hurt around me. It's really, really strong with those I deeply care for. It's safe to say you're one of those ponies. You, too, Spike. Uh, minus the pony thing. Yeah..." I muttered, verbally planting my face into a rock towards the end. Damn it... Rainbow blushed a little but tried to disguise it by rubbing lightly at her cheeks with a hoof. Naturally, I pretended not to notice and just shifted my attention to the now grinning Spike instead. "Okay, I forgive ya for the Rarity thing. Plus, you put in a good word for me so, yeah. We're good?" he asked, extending a claw towards me. Smirking, I nodded to him and raised my hoof up, letting him latch onto it and lightly shake it up and down. Rainbow finally grinned at that as well, giving a knowing and approving nod towards us both. Heh, at least that was settled. Now I indeed felt better about having told him. "Awesome! Can you help me practice with my wings then, now?" Rainbow suddenly spoke up, stepping up beside Spike and grinning at me. I shot her an amused expression, but nodded regardless. As blunt as she was suddenly pretending to be, I knew it was to cover for her probably feeling awkward over me caring about her. Heh, suddenly I realized she must have just as much trouble dealing with social feelings as I did. We just took different ways to deal with them in the end. "Yeah, I have a new challenge for you today, if you think you're up for it," I offered, waiting for it. Half a second before recognition, and then it was another second and a half before her eyes started sparkling and her whole face lit up in anticipation. The mare was seriously competitive, but at least that was predictable. "Oh, I'm so ready! What have you got today?!" she asked excitedly as I walked a little further away from the water and motioned for her to follow. I didn't know what getting the process wet would do, and didn't want to risk it. Her wings buzzing, she practically galloped after me, and I snickered, measuring out the distance before patting the ground next to me. After she zipped into position, I started to explain the exercise... * * * * * The grinding noise was a bit grating, but I just kept it pushed out of my mind as I skimmed through another flagged page. Everything about the disks was in front of me on about four-dozen glowing sheets of 'paper' drifting through the air from my eye projection. To conserve on resources, I only selected the absolutely most important documents, cutting and compressing pages together when I could. Looking to my left to check on the process, Big Mac nodded to me as he gently sat there, angling the entire tree in as the grinder ate it whole, shredding and mulching it inside the basin before breaking it down and converting it into basic paper. It was a good size tree, in its last stages of life, as he'd explained. They apparently did that to the apple trees, too. They'd break up the older trees to be used as materials, and plant new ones in their place. It sounded very organic and I was surprised at how eco-friendly the ponies were. But not too surprised. I was beginning to simply take anything I remembered from my culture and invert it to get a good guess at how ponies handled things. So far it had been working fairly well! "Ya sure yer only gonna need one? Ah saw two others that should probably come down in there," Big Mac asked, gesturing back towards the forest behind him. I rapidly shook my head, gesturing upwards with a hoof. No, it had been terrifying enough to watch him cut this one down. I didn't need another tree obliteration haunting my memory. Applejack was faster, sure, but damn was this stallion strong! A 'bucking blade' was truly fascinating, however, and I ran that through my head again. I'd wondered how Earth Ponies had cut down trees before, and now I knew. It was a crescent blade attached to a sturdy steel plate and a strap made out of their fake leather I saw everywhere. They put the blade against the tree, wrapped the strap around the trunk to hold it there, and then simply bucked the metal plate, driving the blade into the tree like a wedge. Quite clever! After they sliced in, they simply rotated the blade a bit and did it again until they had cut all the way through. Angles could be used to make a wedge and control the fall direction. It had been awesome to watch. Except for the part where he almost snapped the tree in half with one kick. Having been oh so familiar with Applejack's bucking, seeing his in action made my side hurt in sympathy. Or memory. Regardless, I double-checked the 'grinder' the tree was going into. It was barely big enough to fit the whole thing in, and definitely not deep enough, if it weren't for the fact that the inside fell away into subspace. A cord ran from the back and merged seamlessly with my left side, where I had spawned the device from. A cord popped out right next to it as well, this one being attached to a printer that was busy spitting out pages of documentation. Glancing at one of the finished products, I checked it for nozzle alignment, and then internally adjusted the printer a fourth of a millimeter or so. All the writing and diagrams were in red 'ink', but I was limited in my resources. I had to write it with something, and ink wasn't exactly in ready supply in the middle of the forest, so I improvised. My right hoof extended back into my pile next to me and I popped another tasty strawberry into my mouth, deciding I couldn't complain, honestly. It was one of the most delicious inconveniences I'd ever experienced. "Hey, Mender, could ya come 'ere fer ah sec?" Big Mac asked patiently to my left a moment later. Perking, I stood up slowly and made sure to shift my cords around their respective devices carefully before walking over to him, extending the lines as I went. Splashing momentarily distracted me as I walked, and I glanced over at Spike, who was still over in the lake, the extra loyal tortoise still hovering around his head, earning another laugh as he swooped down and blasted a wave of water at the little dragon. I smiled before getting hung up in my printer cord and smacking my armored face into the ground. Well, should have seen that one coming! Big Mac gave an amused chuckle as I sat back up, shaking my head rapidly and spraying dirt everywhere as my plate armor folded back into my skin. Thankfully, that inner layer pops out fast! It might not be as dense and defensive as the outer layer, but it was far faster to apply and helped with the everyday bad luck, clumsiness, and gravity related disasters. Big Mac gestured down towards a small hole he was starting to dig at the edge of the forest, and my ears perked up as I stared at it. A single acorn sat in the center of the hole, and the large stallion carefully shifted dirt up over it, burying it tenderly in the ground. For such a strong individual, he showed remarkable finesse. I supposed having lived with a pony body your whole life, one was far more comfortable moving around in it. "Seein' as yer technically an Earth Pony, Ah was curious if ya could do this, too," he explained, lightly pushing his hoof onto the top of the dirt mound. I watched with avid curiosity as he just let it rest there for a moment, nothing visibly happening. My right eye, however, which was still in projection mode, picked up stirrings of energy drifting around his hoof and into the ground. What was he doing? Wait, how was he doing that? The vibrations visible in his hoof slowly and carefully matched up with the ones suddenly visible in the ground, and he relaxed, his muscles easing up and slowly raising his hoof up. Following the rough surface up as if magnetically connected, a softly glowing, green sapling tasted the air for the first time, finally releasing itself and swaying pleasantly in the breeze once it reached about a hoof's width in height. Whoa! He grew the plant?! He chuckled, setting his hoof back down and sitting there idly watching me stare in shock at the tiny thing. "You try makin' it ah little bigger," he suggested, gesturing towards the small sapling. I swallowed nervously and gave him an uneasy glance, but he just nodded confidently towards me, and lightly bumped my left foreleg with his still gesturing hoof. Images of the sapling on fire and Big Mac beating me to a pulp rapidly came to mind, but I fought them back and slowly, carefully extended my hoof out and touched the tiny plant. It was kind of hard to believe this would be a tree one day. "Good. Just close yer eyes an' feel tha plant against yer hoof. Let it rest there until ya can feel every sensation o' it. Feel tha soil under tha rest o' yer skin, too, an' just let it touch ya," he instructed calmly, his voice surprisingly relaxing and without concern. He wasn't worried in the least that I was going to cause the horrible demise of this little plant, which was a bit comforting. Slowly, I felt the tiny little sapling. It brushed against my hoof and, even though I thought I would hardly be able to sense it against the harder roughness on the bottom of my leg, it was definitely there. More than I expected, I almost felt it willfully touching my hoof. It felt happy. The sensation of the moist soil expanded out from it, and I knew it was enjoying the water in the ground. Sunlight as well danced across it, and it had everything it needed. I smiled, sensing the old feeling of the ground, and the sturdy stability around me. It felt right, and I nodded to Big Mac. "Yer ah fast learner. Lean back inta yerself now, ever so gently. Ah'm sure ya can feel it. Ya like tha sensations. Feel that inside yerself and pull it out. Show tha plant that, an' push ah bit o' yerself forward," he explained softly. Pull myself out? Did he mean... Of course. Pull my energy out of myself alongside the sensation brought about by the plant, and push it into my hoof! It was like the act of finalizing a spell casting! My eyes widened, opening as the inner light activated again and cast a very light amber glow from my irises. It was like full body magic when I briefly recalled casting biorythm spells. Smiling, I felt the energy form in my hoof, gently swaying like the wind the little plant felt and told me about. It gurgled, flowing like the water through the soil and the plant was happy with me. It was happy. My eyes widened as it grew before my eyes, expanding and branching out while washed in the bright, cascading blue light from my hoof. Big Mac got a smirk on his face as he started laughing, then gestured my hoof away from the tiny plant. "Ah should'a known ya would take ta it naturally. That there is our own form o' magic. No Unicorn or Pegasi can do that. Ya might have yer own magic, but this belongs ta ya. Just like tha ground itself," he complimented, smiling softly down at the swaying and almost dancing tree sapling, now almost half a meter tall with tiny limbs extending from it. I frowned, staring at the sapling that was now impossible to ignore. I'd done that, and there was no doubt about that. But what exactly did it mean? "Ground?" I asked curiously, glancing back up at the red stallion questioningly. "There's ah reason we're called Earth Ponies. Simple answer is that we grow things. Most are just happy with that. Truth is more complex, o' course. We understand. Nature, that is. Ya felt it, right? It talked ta ya. Plant, animal, an' earth alike. Ya showed ya could listen, which means yer as much ah part o' Equestria as tha rest o' us, no matter where ya started," he deduced, nodding towards the plant again. I couldn't take my eyes off it as it swayed gently before brushing lightly against my chest. It was intangible, but all the more real because of it. Happy. A thank you. In the same instant, I felt it float through my chest and shivered lightly, earning another chuckle from my friend. "Any ol' Earth Pony can help tha lands prosper. Some o' us are better at certain things than others, o' course. Ah'm real good at growin' apples, specifically," he elaborated slowly, gesturing back at his Cutie Mark. I easily nodded, realizing that much. Wait, growing? The dawning expression must have been visible, as he smirked suddenly and nodded. "Ah'm good with apples, but Ah'm best at specifically growin' 'em. Sis is downright amazin' at harvestin' 'em. Ah swear she could just nuzzle tha trees an' all those apples would just drop inta her baskets. Granny is downright incredible at makin' stuff with 'em. She can tell tha best apples apart, too, 'cause o' that." That actually made a lot of sense, given what their Cutie Marks were. "My Cutie Mark doesn't seem much like an Earth Pony one," I muttered, glancing back at my flank, and the silver cog that adorned it. That blasted heart in the center had done nothing but infuriate me in its meaning since I got the thing. Big Mac stared at it for a second before nodding softly and looking back at me. "Ah swear yer half Unicorn, honestly, but Ah've seen weirder. Distant cousin had ah rollin' pin fer his. Fer ah long while, he was runnin' 'round tryin' ta whack ponies with one before Ah oh so gently pointed out ah dough recipe book. He was ah might thick, though," he muttered, thinking for a moment. I blinked, and then started snickering as the mental image of a pony chasing others around with a rolling pin popped up. Well, at least he wasn't around when I came to Equestria. I'd still be traumatized, probably! "Point is, there's lots o' different interpretations ta Cutie Marks. Ya gotta find yer own meanin', even though Ah think yer already doin' amazin'. That conveyor definitely has tha Earth Pony feel to it," he enlightened, smirking afterwards as I perked up. "What do you mean, Earth Pony feel?" I asked, suddenly curious now that a potential lead was being shown to me. He nodded, then stared up and off into the forest tree canopy for a moment. I followed his gaze, trying to figure out what he was looking at, but didn't see anything in particular. Accept for a fascinating looking squirrel that stared down at me from two trees away, looking at me like I was a strange curiosity of some sort. Of course, maybe I was to it. Heh, it hadn't seen anything yet, though. It would probably burrow into the tree if it saw me start popping tentacles out. "It's tha feel o' somethin' Ah get sometimes," Big Mac suddenly spoke up, causing me to jump in surprise. I'd forgotten I'd asked him something a minute back. "Sturdy an' practical. Ah felt our magic in it. Like it was ah natural part o' things rather than an invention. Sis felt it, too, an' was downright impressed," he elaborated, somehow still managing to be cryptic regardless. I stared at him for a moment before frowning and looking back down at the plant. I was an Earth Pony. We had our own magic, and I could use it. I could mix my magic with it, actually. It was compatible, which surprised me more than a little. What else was there hidden in the undercurrents of this amazing world? Maybe that's why Pinkie and Applejack seemed particularly affected by my magic? I smiled lightly in amusement. I could use Earth Pony magic. The little tree sapling in front of me suddenly felt strangely familiar to me. Like a small friend that sat there, smiling happily to me. It was the oddest sensation, but it didn't feel wrong. Quite the opposite. I wondered if it was the same for all Earth Ponies. For the first time in a very long while, since before Nirru came, I felt myself relax. I belonged to this world, and didn't have to be afraid of anything taking me from it. Earth Pony. That was why I was an Earth Pony. No matter how far away, I'd always be a part of Equestria... "Mender, my wings are stuck again!" Rainbow shouted from way back at the lake suddenly. Wincing from the abrupt blast of sound, I sighed and shook my head wearily, earning another knowing chuckle from Big Mac. This was going to be a long day...
Chapter 52Slowly, I watched the fading light gently drifting across the grass. Celestia's sun slowly drifted out of sight along the horizon, and soon it would be time for Luna to take over and bring forth my more favorable times of day. I guess it was in my name, but I much preferred the cooler temperatures and darker atmospheres night brought about. Plus, the moon in Equestria was gorgeous. Luna had my full compliments. We weren't quite there yet, though. Raising an eyebrow, I looked to my left again at the straining and panting cyan pegasus, drops of sweat sliding off the oranges and reds she sported towards her bangs. Four layers of jets extended off her back, idle yet being supported with her own power entirely. The further out she got from her natural wings, the harder it became as it required more and more energy to expand the framework of the enchantment. She trained fast, but I could tell she was pushing herself. "Ha... Ha! When you say endurance training, you mean it!" Dash squeaked out a moment later, barely able to start the sentence as her focus wavered lightly. "You like fast, and this is the absolute fastest way to grow your energy pool. Once you rest up from this, you'll find yourself slower to tire and able to go for far longer with your jets activated," I reasoned, watching her intently while monitoring her inner fluctuations. Based off her inner energy network, she should have passed out three minutes ago. The only guess I had was that sheer stubbornness was keeping her conscious at this point. She grinned, eyes still dancing with energy despite how much sweat dripped off her face. "That... Totally what I wanted to hear!" she groaned out, legs shaking as her ragged breathing doubled in speed. Spike, who was just wandering back up from the lake with a familiar looking tortoise sitting on his head, gave her a surprised stare as he got closer. Yeah, she didn't exactly look like she should be standing. "She's still going?!" he questioned, eyes widening, and I gave him a hesitant nod in return. Well, if nothing else, the mare had tenacity, that was for- Her energy flickered at the same time her eyes widened a little, and I saw a shiver go through her. Dark crimson slipped from both nostrils at the same time, draining down her muzzle and across her lower lip as she panted. "Yup, that's it!" I called, mentally disabling her enchantment remotely. She gave a startled jerk as the wings were suddenly gone and stumbled. I moved in to her left and Spike dashed forwards at the same time, both of us steadying her as she suddenly just collapsed, gasping. Damn it! She pushed herself so hard she got a cranial pressure spike. Well, I guess anypony can have that happen, regardless of phenotype. She started coughing a moment later and spit some of the blood from her mouth before pulling her right foreleg up around mine and pushing it into her right temple. "Aaah! That... It hurts!" she gasped out, voice airy and barely there. Damn it, Rainbow! "Here, I don't know if this is going to work, but hold still!" I barked, bumping her right side with my flank, fairly easily knocking her over onto her side. Spike yelped and cushioned her with his chest, slowing her tumble and setting her on the ground as I ducked under her forelegs. Rainbow gave a startled squeak, eyes widening to full size as I slipped right through her forelegs and pushed my forehead solidly against hers, glowing eyes now open and staring into her own from barely a few millimeters away. Energy flowed through points in the body, like a complicated subway system. One of the main points was in the forehead, and everypony had it. I'm guessing it's where the horn would be, even if they weren't unicorns. Regardless, my body had it, too, and Twilight used it to inject her energy into me, so maybe... "W-What are you..." she whispered, cheeks going crimson as I held her there. "Twilight does this for me when I overuse my magic sometimes. Just hold still," I requested, feeling the mare relax gently on her side in the grass. My focus shot up again once I stopped talking, eyes scanning her internal pressure at the same time I shot my energy into my forehead. The sensation was there. That connection that Twilight had was in Rainbow, too! Smiling to myself, I pushed into it and felt Dash gasp, eyes widening as they started to glow a faint rose color a second later. "Whoa!" Spike muttered, staring in surprise at us as Tank finally landed next to him, having been knocked free when Spike lunged to catch Rainbow. I paid no attention as I felt the connection stabilize, and then my energy flooded into her. She shivered against me, but didn't move at all, as I requested. She couldn't keep from giving a low, elongated groan, however, as I washed over her mind with my own magic. Her reserves were badly depleted, and I just copied what I'd felt Twilight do, going from node to node and stirring Rainbow's inner magic back into production, boosting her recovery speed and removing the pain. She probably felt her headache melt away, if it was like what I'd experienced. Ten seconds passed as I felt her breathing stabilize and her eyes closed. Her shivering continued, however, as the muscles along her stomach danced against mine, my torso partially over hers so I wouldn't have to bend myself to get at her forehead. "You're copying Twilight, aren't you?" Spike suddenly noticed, smirking at us. I snickered and nodded, watching the pressure drop inside her head, magic balancing itself again. "Yeah. She told me in the hospital that all ponies have the main forehead connection, so I took a guess that this would work for Dash, too," I relayed, tasting a bit of Rainbow's blood from her nose, but ignoring it. Still, she shouldn't have pushed herself to this! Her drive to get ahead was putting her in a lot of danger! If not for herself, for everypony else that cared about her. "Aaah, the headache, it's... It went away. Mender..." she muttered, eyes opening again a moment later, staring into mine. I frowned, however, keeping the energy feed up but giving her a stern stare. "You should stop before you get to this point, Rainbow. Don't push yourself this hard. You'll end up hurting yourself. Even if you don't think it's a problem, a lot of ponies care about you, so do it for them," I voiced, watching her expression falter slightly. Spike started snickering again, nodding along in agreement as well. Her magic was stable again, but I noticed a particular stress along her back where her wing muscles were. After I was finished regulating her inner magic, I shot over to her back and focused on repairing the energy lines going into her wings. There was no outward reaction, so I assumed she probably didn't even feel it being done. Her eyes shivered lightly, as if she were fighting with something inside, I noticed. "I-I know. Um, I probably shouldn't ask, and it'll sound, well, really uncool, but, uh, are you one of those ponies?" she asked, voice dropping to almost a whisper as she searched my expression. Her direction came out of left field, and I suddenly had no idea why she was even asking me that. I rolled my eyes before giving her a weak smile, stringing her back energy lines back up fully and returning to check her head one last time. "I'd have thought that much would be obvious at this point. I wouldn't do this for just anypony, Rainbow. While it has medical uses, there are also intimate connotations with it, too," I warned, hoping she got the hint to not tell everypony about it. Twilight would understand and probably be fascinated that it even worked, but I didn't want random ponies starting rumors up again! Little warning flags went off in my mind as I felt her forelegs slowly snake up under mine and hook over my back, shaking there as she locked eyes with me. I froze, surprised at her sudden movement, but managing to get out, "Uh, Rainbow?" "Um," Spike muttered, eyes also widening as he watched, mouth dropping a little. Rainbow's mouth dropped a little, too, but for an entirely different reason. It was spontaneous, abrupt, and with little to no warning whatsoever, so it honestly kind of suited her entirely. Suddenly, she tipped her head down just a bit and fully pushed her muzzle into mine. With the most natural reaction possible, I froze as if I'd witnessed a nuclear warhead heading right at my face. The instant her lips connected, her inner mindset blanked completely, and I felt a tidal-like surge as her own energy started to shift back up the link. Uh oh. Oh no! That was bad! Her lower body shifted slightly to the left at the same time, neatly cupping against my left flank as she held me there. To my shock, I actually felt her tongue start to slip out, trying to brush against my lips. It snapped me out of it and I panicked, snapping the link free as I pulled away from her forehead, energy visibly dancing between us as I winced. Her inner light was indeed prismatic, dancing halfway up the link between our foreheads before I managed to pull it away and separate us. My back forelegs pushed off at the same instant, tossing me away from the mare and landing me on my back into a sideways roll before I crashed into a tree at the other side of the path leading up to the clearing we resided in, mind reeling in an almost fog. Was that what a mind link starting to form felt like?! "Mender, Mender... Mender," whispered all around me in Rainbow's voice, snap images of her crying into a cloud, extending a hoof down through the dark and reaching towards me. What was...? A deep sadness and sense of vulnerability stagnated around the darkness, and I felt intense fear that wasn't my own. Inside, I knew Rainbow wasn't as strong as she pretended to be, but what was causing so much doubt? Was this behind, well, whatever feelings drove her to do what she just did? She suddenly felt really lonely. No, she was lonely, as well as scared of remaining that way, I realized. My eyes snapped open again and I groaned, sliding off the base of the tree and looking over at Dash and Spike. He was staring back and forth between us with huge eyes, both claws covering his mouth as if to hold in a scream of shock. As if he could erase what he just saw if he didn't say anything. Rainbow still lay on her side, her right foreleg extended out towards me as her other was tucked back up, holding a hoof up against her muzzle. Her eyes held both surprise and wetness as she slowly started shaking her head. "I... I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that. It just kind of slipped out and...!" she started excusing roughly, voice shaking and barely managing to work for her as she pulled her right foreleg back in and closed her back legs together again. I had absolutely no idea what to say in the slightest, and just continued to stare at her in blank shock. She winced and struggled to stand up again, her wings opening and flailing to try to get a running start to what was undoubtedly her escape attempt. But her energy hadn't recovered enough to even get into her wings, I noticed. A numb sensation shot back through the empathy link and she gasped, flailing limply before hitting the ground hard on her chest. Damn it! That kicked me out of it and I got up again, limping over to where she lay, slowly pulling her legs back under her from the abrupt belly flop. That couldn't have felt good... "Rainbow, you can't fly. Don't try to-" I started to warn before she rolled over abruptly. Her right foreleg swatted my right one out of the way before she edged backwards, shuffling to get away from me. "N-No! Stop, I don't deserve you worrying about me after what I just-" she started to spit out. I guessed it was my turn to do the interrupting, and slammed down to either side of her, locking her in place on the ground. She froze in an instant, eyes wide as she stared up at me. "Stop it, Rainbow! Running away isn't the way to handle it. I've done it enough to know it never works, and you don't see me running, do you? I'm... I'm not angry with you, just really, really surprised and confused, okay? Don't hurt yourself, and let's just talk, okay?" I suggested, voice softening after I saw her relax and finally start to take in what I was saying. I had decided to just keep talking until she finally seemed to settle again. Slowly, she eased back and swallowed, nodding ever so slightly as I shifted off her, into a sitting position again. My left foreleg throbbed from my sudden use of it, but I just gritted my teeth and held it up for a second, shaking out the sudden numbness that oozed through it. Some things were worth a little pain for. "I'm sorry. Again. I, uh, had no intention of doing that before you answered like, well, the way you did. It's the l-link. I knew you meant all of it because of it and, well, I've never honestly had such a definite confirmation before that somepony really cared about me, especially a pony that, uh, means a lot to me already. Ugh. I sound so sappy," she groaned out, flattening her bangs back down in frustration as her forehooves rubbed each side of her head. She made no effort at all to so much as move, even enough to roll over again. Dirt covered her chest and stomach, and I saw a light scuff on her right foreleg that didn't look like it felt too good. Talking seemed to be making her feel better, though. Sitting there, I managed to nod as Spike caught back up with us, carrying a concerned looking Tank in his arms. The tortoise slipped off him into a hover, and lightly landed on Rainbow's stomach as she watched him, shifting to a smile. Her forelegs wrapped around his shell and she pulled him into a hug after he landed. I couldn't help but smile a little at the sight. "I think I understand, Rainbow. You don't have to apologize. You're worried about Applejack," I surmised, causing Spike to raise an eyebrow towards me in confusion. Rainbow's ears flattened back an instant later, however, and she looked away rapidly. "N-No! I'm not worried about that! I'm sure I can convince her to give it a try, and then it's just a matter of showing her how awesome I am! No sweat there," she corrected. I averted my gaze, realizing I didn't have that great of a grasp on Equestrian 'dating', but that still sounded a little off to me. "Then why don't you just fly over there tomorrow and ask her right away?" Spike questioned, tilting his head while oblivious to the fact that she had lied through her teeth, in all likelihood. Still, he had a point. Heh. "Well, uh, I gotta show her how awesome I am first, and the easiest way to do that is by winning a big race in her name! Then she'll go crazy over me and it'll be easy," she explained. I tilted my head, giving her an amused smirk before asking, "Didn't you already say it was going to be easy? It just seems like you're making it a lot riskier than it needs to be, is all." My expression fell and I sighed, getting an uneasy feeling about it all. Her demeanor shifted, the link feeling a slight twinge of panic instead as her face blanked. She stared at me for a second before quietly asking, "W-What do you mean, riskier?" The question was genuine, and I decided she'd probably not considered the ramifications of her plan. Well, no, this was Rainbow I was talking to, so in all likelihood, she was flying blind. So to speak, anyway. "It just seems way riskier. Applejack seems to be a more modest and reserved mare. The race is super important, right? Well, announcing your feelings in front of potentially hundreds of ponies and shoving her right into the spotlight with it, based on how you reacted earlier with me for liking another mare... Well, it just seems like Applejack might not take it too well, regardless of how she actually feels about you," I explained, resting my left foreleg down again. It was finally starting to feel better. Rainbow stared blankly at me for a good five seconds as I shifted back and forth on my hooves, unsure of what more to say. Finally, her eyes dropped and she frowned, softening her expression a little as she seemed to shift into a rather intense bout of thinking. "I, well, I didn't think about that. Um, I don't know what to do, now. It felt like such an awesome plan! But I don't want to screw up. Uh, not that I'd screw up or anything, of course, I mean-" she said rapidly, tone shifting to flustered as she continued. I cut her off with, "Dash! You don't have to try to act tough. It's okay, and totally normal to be nervous, and I'd actually think a lot higher of you if so. You're strong, but not impervious." Memories flashed back into my mind of soldiers who were exactly the same way. A unit functioned based off its members, and soldiers like that, who wanted to prove themselves, tended to not ask for assistance. We buried a lot of those kinds of soldiers. While Rainbow thankfully wasn't a soldier and didn't have those harsh risks, I didn't want to see her hurt. She blushed, staring at me intently as Spike nodded along. "Totally. We're you're friends, Dash. Neither of us are gonna tell another soul, and ya know Tank's not gonna think less of you," he chipped in, giving his best warm smile. I smirked but nodded at him, realizing he was a lot better at this whole 'talking' thing than I was. Rainbow sighed and looked down again before finally rolling weakly onto her side, wincing as she went. The overuse of her magic was probably catching up with her body now, assuming it was also tied into a pegasus' fortitude. Yeah, it was a rough day when your entire body felt like one giant bruise. Like being kicked through a window, getting your leg torn off, and then being flung through a forest at Slipstream speeds. Good times! "Okay, don't tell anypony else! I mean it! I have a serious reputation to keep. I'm worried, yeah. I mean, what if she doesn't, uh, swing that way? I've never even seen her date before, well, not that I have since moving to Ponyville either, but... What if she's just not interested in seeing anypony like that? So, it was a little weird when you showed up out of the blue and were so, well, appealing. At first I thought it was just nerves and me looking for alternatives, but serious feelings started to develop the more I hung out with you. After what happened with the Sonic Rainboom and the weird bunny and all that, I realized how, well, loyal and dependable you were. My title says it, but loyalty is kinda big with me," she started explaining, pausing to frown and collect her thoughts. I'd pretty much known all of this, but the 'alternatives' was new. What, in case Applejack said no? Being a runner up didn't really surprise me all that much, but a little ache drifted into my chest anyway. More because I'd never be able to make her as happy as if she'd gotten her 'first' choice. Noting I didn't say anything, and not realizing it was because of my thought processes, she continued anyway. "It didn't take me long to realize that I really did like you, and it started to make me conflicted with Applejack. I wasn't used to dividing my focus, and then I started getting vibes that you might like me, too! But you're already with Fluttershy and Twilight, and I knew they probably didn't like me like that, so I got frustrated. It seemed like both individuals I like might fall out of my reach, and I'd end up with nopony. It's stupid, I know, but I panicked, which was so not cool!" She glared at me for a moment before I realized she was staring pretty much right through me, and was angry with herself instead. Oh, the kiss. "So, you tried to secure a backup ahead of time in case Applejack said no for whatever reason?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to her. Idly, I wondered what the plan would then be if her intended target said yes? Okay, 'now' I felt a little used, and was saddened because it felt like Applejack was being used, too. Further, this was all giving me a killer headache, and I really wished things could just go back to me being hit by apples. Things were so much simpler then. "Well, yes, I mean, no! That, ugh. You make it sound so horrible when you say it like that!" Rainbow accused, letting out a stiff groan as she raised her forehooves to her eyes, covering her face. Spike shut up instantly, looking like he really didn't want to get involved in that particular line of questioning. Tank, now released, curled a little, resting gently up against Rainbow as she lay there, pushing his head into her chest lightly. The little guy really loved her. Suddenly, I missed Fluttershy and Twilight again. Fluttershy gave amazingly similar hugs, and seemed to really like pushing her face into my chest for some reason. The sensation she gave made it feel like she felt safe like that. That alone made me want to hold her even tighter when she did it. Sighing, I shook my head through the sudden haze of melancholy, pushing the stiffness in my chest down away from my expression again. "Look, it just doesn't seem fair to Applejack that you're only giving her a part of your focus before you even asked her. So forget about me until after you do," I requested. No, it was more of an order. The cyan pegasus had taxed me the last couple days in the feelings department, and I was getting a little tired of it. Her head snapped back up and she stared at me for a moment, frown softening along with her eyes as she watched me. "M-Mender, no! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Please don't give up on me," she asked, several light twitches going through her left foreleg. My eyes narrowed at her totally missing the point, and I shook my head. It's not like I'd seriously considered her in the first place until this camp excursion! She wasn't exactly one to make her feelings known very easily. In fact, sometimes she did the exact opposite! "Rainbow, you're not being fair to Applejack far more than you're not being fair to me. Think about her instead, because she's been your focus for a lot longer. Until you ask her and get a definite response, I'm not even going to consider the possibility, and for her sake, you shouldn't either," I warned, not breaking eye contact with her. She froze after wincing, and finally looked away from me, throat swallowing stiffly as she lay there. I didn't need the link to tell me that she got it, that time. It wasn't my intent to hurt her, but to make sure she didn't hurt anypony else. Applejack had already been hurt quite a bit lately, and definitely didn't need this on top of it all. I admitted to myself that Rainbow really did appeal to me in many regards, but I wasn't about to hurt anypony else either, especially the two mares I was already with. "I get it! Um, I don't want to treat either of you as second place. Really, I don't! Honestly, I'm selfish and want both of you. I admit it! Is that what you wanted to hear?" she asked sternly, shifting to a light glare up at me but not trying to move away. It didn't take me long to realize she couldn't. My frown returned as I stared at her, then shook my head again. "What I want is for you to not hurt anypony's feelings. I'm not trying to hurt yours either!" I defended as best I could. She shivered lightly as Spike seemed to get smaller the louder we got. Tank was unfazed, as always. Either that or he'd panic sometime tomorrow afternoon. Dash went silent and puffed up a little, looking away from me again, staring at the ground this time instead. Slowly, her back legs tucked up against her stomach, and she nodded to nopony in particular, closing her eyes again. "I know. You're nice like that. I'm selfish, and probably don't deserve either of you. I'm sorry. I just don't want to be alone," she finally whispered, voice getting a little shaky. Even though I knew she didn't intend it, she got me right in the heart and I winced to myself, seeing her like that. Giving a little sigh, I leaned down again and gently rested my forehead against her right shoulder, feeling her give a start under me and raise her head again. "Rainbow, you're not alone and never will be, okay? You have a lot of ponies, including me, who will always be here for you and listen to anything. I'll help you however you need it, as long as you're not hurting anypony else. Applejack undoubtedly feels the same way as me," I assured, dropping a sizeable hint in there without trying to be too obvious. Sure, she could just assume I meant being there for her, but it was there if she thought about it. A moment later, I realized I'd just called myself a pony, and inwardly smiled. Big Mac, Fluttershy, Twilight, and even Tia had said as much. Maybe I was finally starting to believe them? Rainbow lowered her head to the grass again a moment later, her back legs curling up until she wrapped around Tank and gently pushed against my left, kneeling side. "Uh, thanks. Um, can you just keep me company for a bit?" she asked quietly, tense and slightly awkward, I noticed. I chuckled, and then glanced back at Spike, who coughed and averted his gaze, looking back towards camp. He noticed, too. "Rainbow, we're not going to leave you to just lie out here all night. I'll keep you company while walking," I suggested, nudging her right shoulder again with my nose. She squeaked at the sensation and gave me a surprised look before frowning at me. "Uh, I kinda can't get up. 'sides, I'm not allowed back at camp while in heat. This has already been a bad day. I kinda don't want to add getting arrested to it," she reminded. "I'm sure an exception can be made because you're hurt and it's far closer. Besides, I never said you were walking. If you disagree, feel free to stop me if you can," I 'reasoned', smirking at her as my tentacles extended again, shifting into their rope disguise. She let out a groan followed by, "So not fair." I noticed that wasn't exactly a complaint about the prospect, and snickered lightly as I hoisted her up onto my back. Well, Twilight was right about me getting my exercise during this excursion! It was kind of sad how it was starting to feel normal to have somepony or some dragon on my back while I walked. If Sweetie was feeling better, maybe I could convince her to be my cape for a while, as I was starting to feel naked if nopony was there. Oh, wait... Smiling at my stupid joke as I stood up fully, I nodded to Spike, who had gathered up all our things. He gave a surprised yelp as I pulled all of them into subspace for easier carrying a second later. Tank remained unfazed and hovered into the air, following after me as I headed back towards the camp. Or maybe he was following his mistress, who happened to be on my back? I decided it was a moot point. "Comfortable back there, Dashie?" I asked a moment later, peeking back over my shoulder at her playful scowl. "Jerk," she muttered back, rolling her eyes but smiling at me as she rested her chin against my shoulder. Heh, this was definitely weird. Normally I was the one riding her. Wait, that came out wrong. Blushing lightly, I decided to just stop thinking for a while. Spike started snickering as he caught up, probably quite amused by our antics. My leg gave a light throb of protest, and suddenly, I had no doubt I was going to sleep really well tonight, too... * * * * * "Would you believe me if I said I happened to stumble upon her, injured, in the forest?" I offered after a few minutes of hesitation while Redheart checked Rainbow over. "If you let me wear a secret agent outfit, I'll believe anything you ever say again, Boss," Nurse Redheart offered, winking back at me as she smirked, testing Rainbow's range of motion in her wings. Rainbow would probably be laughing if she weren’t so busy wincing with every movement, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Chuckling, I assured, "I'll ask Tia if it's in the dress code for us." Little did she realize, given her snickering afterwards, that I probably would, just to surprise the white mare with it. "I still don't, ah, get what exactly Mender's position is," Rainbow muttered, wincing between shifts again, then cringing as the nurse stretched her wing a bit more inwards, checking its folding capacity. "He's Chief of Dimensional Regulation, or DReg for short. Apparently, it's a new branch of government Princess Celestia has instated in order to provide research and defense against any and all dimensional intrusions, through diplomacy by design, and force if necessary," Redheart recited, frowning as she rubbed along the tendon of Rainbow's inner right wing. The cyan mare gasped and squished her eyes closed, a pained look on her face during the whole process. She backed off finally and let Rainbow rest a moment later, pushing a pillow up gently under the mare's head while she lay on the cot. "You seriously swelled up your wing muscles. The next time Mender tells you to not overdo it, listen to him," she warned sternly, shaking her head as she dug into a drawer and started pulling out multiple medicine bottles. Color me impressed, as I hadn't actually told her what had happened. Rainbow looked equally surprised, but Redheart just rolled her eyes. "I've seen enough unicorn injuries to know what magic strain looks like, with your reddened inner nose, tinted eyes, and tendon tension along your wings. Given that you're not a unicorn, and that the damage is along your wings instead, I took a guess that Mender was training you with some sort of magic to give you an edge in the upcoming race," she deduced, amazingly accurately. Damn! She wasn't just picked as my nurse due to proximity, I had a feeling. "That's really impressive! I'm glad you're in the agency. You even memorized the mission statement already," I complimented, smiling at her. She blushed faintly at me, but fluttered her eyelashes in amusement. "Oh come now. You knew I was more than just a pretty face and amazing body, Mender," she cooed teasingly. I started to roll my eyes as Rainbow made a gagging motion with her hoof, when all three of us jumped as the door slammed open behind me. Redheart shifted to a skeptically incredulous expression as she looked past me, and I sighed. Spike wouldn't slam the door like that, so I had a sneaking suspicion that was... "You made it back, Mender!" Sweetie Belle managed to squeak out, her voice a little raspy from the hundreds of changes she'd gone through over the course of the day. Turning, I noticed she was a little smaller than before, apparently starting to shrink again as the magic wore off. She was still enough to drag both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo along with her, however, despite them trying to stop her. Spike just shook his head and followed a few paces after the three of them, this apparently being the results of him going to let Big Mac know where I was. "Of course I did. What, did you think I'd fall off a cliff or someth-" I stopped and averted my eyes for a second before shaking my head and continuing with, "No, don't answer that. Anyway, weren't you supposed to be 'resting' at the cabin?" I doubted it almost as much as Nurse Redheart looked like she did when first telling me the news five minutes ago. None of what I said halted the part filly, part mare, and she smashed into my chest a moment later, hugging me tight. I was kind of glad I was sitting down, as she was still a bit on the big side. "I just, um, wanted to apologize more. And show you that I'm getting back to normal now. Oh, and thank you properly for saving my life finally. I don't think I, um, said that," she whispered, keeping her head down and refusing to look up at me. I sighed weakly and wrapped my left foreleg around her, careful of my leg brace on her back still. That was what changed everything, I had a sneaking suspicion. I, well, he saw quite a few individuals change after a near-death experience. Intense gratitude had a way of warping perspective on things, and I wondered if that pushed her to the extremes earlier. "Wait, you weren't joking about what happened with Sweetie?" Rainbow suddenly asked, blunt dumbfounded tone of voice causing me to wince. She had no tact whatsoever... The white mare and filly mix sighed and shook her head, sitting down right next to me, as close as she could get without burrowing into my chest cavity. "No, I was stupid. I thought that if I ate Heart's Desire and aged myself up a few years, Mender would accept me now rather than having to wait," she admitted, her ears flattening back. Not that the entire point of the Crusaders wasn't to rush to try to get what they want as soon as physically possible, I guessed. Maybe I should have expected this? "You need to wait, Sweetie. I can't let myself be interested in you until you're at least two years older, okay? It's only fair, and far safer for you if you don't keep trying unusual magic, obviously. I'd feel awful if you gave up your foalhood just to be with me," I pointed out, lightly rubbing the top of her head with my left foreleg, frowning as I suddenly remembered I was still wearing my brace and got a bit of her mane stuck in the wire. Uh, oops. She raised an eyebrow up to me, and then started giggling as I lifted the other hoof, trying to get the hair loose from the frame. Rainbow just gave us a smirk while slowly shaking her head, but Apple Bloom exhaled softly and slumped against Sweetie. "Please, Sweetie, just promise yer gonna think things through? Talk ta us before doin' anything crazy like this," she requested, sounding tired. It was late for them, and she had done a lot today trying to fix Sweetie's mess, I realized. "Seriously? Your aura thingy has this many mares interested in you? By the time I ask AJ, you're not gonna have any, er..." Rainbow cut herself off, slowly closing her muzzle again and averting her eyes. Nurse Redheart, who was peeking through pill bottles, shifted her gaze over to Rainbow for an amused moment before going back to searching. "Oh, you, too? Best join the club," she murmured absently. For a brief moment, I could have sworn I felt my right eye twitch a little of its own accord. "Oh, wait, you already did, I forgot. All the Element Bearers are in the agency, so I assume that gives them free access," she added after another moment's consideration, finally pulling a bottle out with her teeth afterwards. She wore a playful smirk, but I glared at her regardless. So the estrus just made her playful teasing even worse? "W-What?!" Rainbow asked, eyes widening fully as her blush magnified several fold. Sighing, I really did twitch that time before finally getting my hoof free from Sweetie Belle's hair. She wasn't paying attention anymore, instead looking very interested in the discussion about my supposed 'club'. "They do not, Redheart. I mean, they don't just get 'free access' to me because they're in the agency, too. Besides, a good percent of the agency are stallion guards!" I reminded, shuddering as I tried really hard not to think about what she was accidentally implying. The nurse peeked back over her shoulder and smirked as she tossed a pill over to Rainbow, who was just staring at her in surprise. The tiny object skipped off her muzzle, and she barely managed to catch it in her mouth before it fell again. "Oh? You don't swing both ways? Pity. That would have been amazing to watch," she cooed, snickering to herself as my jaw dropped. Rainbow made a low squeak, flush extending almost to her neck now as she almost stared through Redheart in shock. At least I wasn't alone in my surprise. Three seconds later, her cyan wings slowly started to extend as she zoned out, and I smacked my forehoof against my forehead. "Oh come on, Rainbow! You, too?! I don't like stallions!" I shouted, feeling the heat shoot into my face almost instantly. Redheart burst into a fit of giggling, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gave questioning looks back and forth between the two of them. Sweetie just edged closer, ignoring Rainbow trying to shrink down and make herself invisible. "I'm glad you only like mares, Mender," she assured, blushing lightly as she smiled up at me before continuing with, "I promise that if you let me be in the herd, I'll never, ever suggest that you be with any stallions!" I gave her a suspicious stare, realizing that promise was both ridiculously easy for her to keep and heavily weighted in her favor regardless. It was kinda obvious, even for somepony as dense as me, that she had only seen an opportunity to be more appealing than the other two. "Can I please just go to bed? It's way past my bedtime..." Spike requested weakly behind the two fillies, apparently the only one in the room who really didn't want to be here. "Nope! Sorry, Spike, but yer our escort! Ya gotta protect us little fillies from anything bad that could get us as we walk back ta tha cabin," Apple Bloom denied, smirking back at him and fluttering her eyelashes in his direction. Talk about knowing how to work the cuteness angle! He rolled his eyes, looking away from her but sporting a tiny blush as well. Rainbow's might have gone down by now, but I couldn't tell as the only thing I could see of due to her new hiding spot amidst her blankets were the two rigid wings sticking up into the air. Actually, it probably hadn't gone down if they hadn't yet. "Then let's go back! We can't haul Sweetie back by ourselves, and I have no point of being here, nothing needing a pair of claws and the conversation not pertaining to Rarity in even a little bit," he pointed out, looking frustrated. Scootaloo was giving questioning glances to Rainbow's wings at this point, but Apple Bloom fully rotated around to face the little dragon. "Ya got ah one track mind, that's fer sure. Fine, ya can go back ta tha cabin an' sleep! Ah'm sure Mender 'ere will be ah proper Knight in Shinin' Armor an' escort us back," she pointed out, gesturing back to me with a slightly annoyed expression on her face. Spike glared at her for a second as I lifted an eyebrow in her direction, not realizing how manipulative she could be. "Fine! I, um, guess you're right," he muttered, shifting to dejected a second later. "Thinking of others is indeed important, Spike. Don't be afraid to offer your services if you can, as it's the nice thing to do, she's right," I cut in, turning to both of them. Spike frowned but nodded, and Apple Bloom puffed up momentarily before I shook my head at her next. "You shouldn't take advantage of somepony's kindness though, Apple Bloom. Spike's your friend, and you should treat him better," I warned sternly, shifting to a blank expression. The little filly shrank down a little and got a guilty expression, glancing back over at the dragon. Spike smiled gently to her and shook his head, extending both arms up. Apple Bloom smiled and blushed lightly before hopping forwards and wrapping her forelegs over Spike's shoulders, letting him do the same with her waist. I smiled and glanced back at the others, raising my eyebrow as I apparently blundered into a debate I'd been ignoring. "But he promised me!" Sweetie insisted, stomping her right hoof down and glaring at the now revealed Rainbow. "Yeah, but I need two herd slots because of Applejack! There's no room!" the cyan mare pointed out. Aw hell. I suddenly wished I had continued ignoring it. Sweetie rapidly shook her head, however, arguing, "You already will have Applejack! Don't be greedy, like he said! I don't want to be alone!" Rainbow's eyes widened, her head backing up a little as the, uh, pony unknowingly stabbed her in a sensitive spot. Idly, I wondered if there was a pronoun used for somepony in-between a filly and a mare. Or colt and stallion, for that matter. "Oh, stop it, you two. He's with Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy," Nurse Redheart pointed out, causing me to smile towards her slowly. "Plus, he knows Princess Celestia personally. If anypony can get a legal herd extension to as many as he wants, it's obviously him," she continued a second later, smirking over at me. The smile shifted to an annoyed glare in less than a second. Never mind. My ears drooped as I glared at all three of them. Redheart was trying to help and lighten the mood, I think, anyway, but that didn't stop the entirety of the conversation from being so many different kinds of inappropriate that it wasn't funny! Actually, it wasn't funny, now that I considered it. They were forgetting the biggest part, and I decided that finally, finally I was tired of it. I should have done this ten minutes ago. "Actually, yeah. You know what? I'm done. Good night, all. Come on, Spike. We're out of here," I spat out, unable to stop my voice from dropping from the irritation. The tone caused all three instigators to snap to attention instantly, and I felt all eyes shift to me as I stood up and simply walked towards the door. "Awesome!" he chirped, hopping onto my back as I ducked low while passing him, not even slowing down. At least I knew I could always count on Spike. Tank didn't move, so I assumed he was going to stay with Rainbow, which made sense. He was cool and all, but let her take care of her own responsibilities for once. Apple Bloom looked more than a little surprised, glancing back at Scootaloo and Sweetie before shaking her head rapidly and scampering after me. "W-Wait, what?!" Sweetie asked in shock, spinning around probably to face me as I kept walking, if the sound was any indication. "Everyone was kinda ignoring him and not giving him a say in anything, even though it's really all up to him anyway. Uh, I was kinda wondering why you were, but it was mean, don't you think?" Scootaloo pointed out in a somewhat dejected sounding way. Eh? That stopped me, and I glanced back to look at her as she stood up, the other three staring at her in surprise now instead. "Um, I'm sorry, but I'll see you tomorrow, Rainbow," she muttered a second later before running after me instead. I smiled to her as she caught up before turning and exiting the medical cabin, ignoring the two surprised squawks from inside. Damn it. Please, please let an apple fly out of nowhere and smack into my head? That, I could deal with! "Ah'm sorry, Mender. Ah don't know what's gotten inta Sweetie Belle, let alone tha other two," Apple Bloom muttered, falling into position to my right. Scootaloo caught up to us and moved in next to Apple Bloom as well, shaking her head and looking deep in thought. Spike surprised me by speaking up instead. "Rainbow has bad estrus cycles, I know that much. Nurse Redheart gave me the vibe that she was actually just having fun teasing the other two," he observed, shifting to a more comfortable position on my back now that we were out of the poisonous atmosphere. Sighing, I nodded weakly as I walked. "Redheart was just screwing around. Rainbow and I already talked about it and I at least know where she's coming from, but her priorities are all screwed up. I think she needs time to think about what she really wants. Sweetie almost died in the lake, and that, well, changes how you think. I've almost died many times, and did die once, so I know that much first hoof. She's scared and only thinking about herself, I suspect," I relayed, giving it my best educated guess. It was difficult because I could at least sympathize with all three of them, but the whole situation was just wrong, especially how I got no input whatsoever. All I was interested in, especially now, was going back to Ponyville and being with Fluttershy and Twilight. They were all I needed and then some, I suddenly realized. I didn't think I deserved either of them, but I was going to try my hardest to change that and be something worthy of both. Screw anypony that thought otherwise. "They still were being mean. It's up to Mender who he's with, not them! I've only heard him talk about Fluttershy and Twilight like that," Scootaloo pointed out, sounding a bit upset. Actually, a bit more upset than I thought she'd be, I suddenly realized, giving her a curious glance. She was staring hard at the ground and frowning as she walked. Apple Bloom shook her head and leaned over, gently nuzzling the little pegasus' shoulder. "Ah know yer mad at Rainbow fer doin' that, but Ah'm sure she'll clear right up after tha season's done," she assured, suddenly making me realize why the little orange filly was so upset in the same instant. She groaned and shook her head, her left wing gently extending out over Apple Bloom's back as they walked side by side. "Thanks, AB. It just frustrates me when she tells me not to do something like make problems for your friends, and then just did so herself!" she explained, huffing again afterwards. I chuckled a little at that, understanding how frustrating hypocritical behavior could be, even if she didn't use the word itself. "I know the feeling. It's really hard to follow your own advice sometimes. But the most important thing is forgiveness, I think. Both in yourself, and helping somepony else with it. That's what Princess Celestia told me, anyway," I suggested, smiling over at the two fillies. Spike perked on my back, looking surprised, and both of them glanced over at me as well. "R-Really? Princess Celestia herself told you that?" Scootaloo asked, sounding a little surprised at the aspect. I nodded gently to her, giving a soft smile as best I could despite suddenly wanting to cry again at the memory. "Yeah. I have a lot of things in my memories that I'm not proud of, and I really don't like myself that much because of all that. But she told me that the hardest pony to forgive is yourself, so I'm still trying and taking what she said to heart. I suppose you don't live for thousands of years and not pick up good advice here and there," I muttered, keeping the bitterness choked back in my voice. How did one forgive a billion innocent lives taken away, though, let alone over double that like I actually did? Was there forgiveness for that? Maybe my horrible luck was part of the universe hating me, too, and wanting revenge for everything I destroyed. Snapping back to reality, I glanced down at the sudden warm sensation and saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both brushing closer against my legs as I slowly walked. The little yellow filly smiled up at me and nodded as she noticed my attention again. "Yer always gonna be just Mender ta us. Ah Crusader, forever an' always! Ya don't have ta worry about us not likin' ya," she assured warmly. Scootaloo snickered before adding, "A little corny, AB, but yeah. She's right. You're stuck with us." It came suddenly and without warning, and my eyes widened a little as I felt the warm streak slip down my left cheek. Wincing, I looked away from the two fillies and sat down, wiping it away with my left forehoof. I'd not realized how frustrated and tense I'd been, and how much I honestly just felt like screaming sometimes. I didn't understand why I was here or what I was supposed to do. I didn't understand mares and why some liked me while others didn't. The worst part was that I also didn't understand why somepony I never met hated me so much that they poured forth a lot of bits to cause problems for me. Then, right here when I least expected it, three young souls just said that everything was all right and that they'd help me. Maybe it was because I'd just hit the peak of frustration, but there was something so warm about the three of them. "Just let yerself, Mender," Apple Bloom whispered, and I felt both fillies suddenly against my right side as I just couldn't stop the warm liquid from escaping, my right hoof grinding into the dirt as I felt the tension ebb against my chest. It was so easy to imagine myself just screaming at the top of my lungs and running off and away from everything. There were only five ponies I'd bring with me, and we'd all live happily without any of this bullshit. There'd be no need for any of this guilt or hatred. Applejack would be way better without the constant reminder of that night. Rarity wouldn't be misled into thinking I was 'perfect' for her while she instead wanted what I represented. Rainbow could just focus on making Applejack happy then. Pinkie, uh, actually no. Pinkie could come, too, now that I thought about it. Leaning against the wall of our cabin, I just exhaled softly in a low whine, feeling the tightness crush my chest as the heat poured down my cheeks. There was no sobbing, just a cold, pained sensation all the way up to my throat as I shivered there. Scootaloo and Spike just sat against me while Apple Bloom gently massaged my closest, left shoulder. It all snapped at once. "I just want to be normal. I don't want to be special or unique or a weapon or a clone. I just want to be Moon Mender, a pony. I'm so sick of all of this. I'm tired of causing problems for everypony I care about, and I just want to live in peace with you all," I whispered, shrinking down against the foundation of the cabin as my right hoof tore into the dirt, my anger and frustration pouring into it as I made a large gouge, just to feel the sensation of damaging something. I couldn't hit what I actually wanted to, so this was the next best thing. None of them said anything as I just kept smacking the ground in frustration, letting my anger out with each impact. "I'm tired of flirty mares, too, and really only want to be with Twilight and Fluttershy! Sweetie Belle is too young for me to even consider like that, Rainbow is too confused to even know what she wants herself, and Nurse Redheart... I don't even know if she was being serious in the first place! I've never thought of her like that," I groaned, feeling my face twist into an angry grimace as I did another long gouge into the ground. I had a good half-meter long rut in the dirt now, and panted heatedly as I glared at it, feeling the even hotter liquid sensation coming down each cheek. Scootaloo surprised me by wrapping her forelegs around my right hoof and gently moving it away from the torn up area, softly smiling up at me. "I know this'll sound stupid probably, but I get frustrated a lot, too, like this. Homework, not being able to fly, not having my Cutie Mark, getting teased in school... It all kinda adds up. I know none of that is as scary or painful as what you said, but maybe you need to just get away from it for a while? Whenever I get really upset, I just ride off on my scooter and let myself relax and rest until I feel better, no matter how long it takes," she explained softly, tilting her head towards me slowly once she was done. I blinked, not having been expecting such a grounded approach from the little filly. "No way does that sound stupid! It's ah good idea, Ah think. All four o' us should take tha rest o' tha vacation off as an actual vacation. Scootaloo an' Ah will keep all three o' those crazy mares away from ya!" Apple Bloom offered, perking up as she nodded to my other side. "Hey, I'll help, too!" Spike agreed, nodding twice as well. I looked between all three of them before smiling and chuckling softly. "That, uh, actually sounds really amazing. Tomorrow, let's go out to the lake and just relax. Maybe have a real picnic this time? I'll help you with your wings more, Scoots, and I'll see what I can do about setting up an enchantment for you, too, Apple Bloom," I suggested, exhaling weakly and suddenly feeling really tired. They had done an amazing job of defusing my frustration, but there wasn't much energy left in me to actually replace it. Scootaloo fluttered her wings out, sending sparks of energy everywhere as she grinned and rapidly nodded, and Apple Bloom just smiled softly, agreeing with, "Eeyup! Ya got yerself ah deal." I smiled at the little fillies before I felt Spike give a start against my left side. A glance towards him showed he was staring past me and across to the other side of the cabin. My proximity sensors expanded faster than my head turned, showing a shape with body heat about sixteen meters away. A second later, my eyes locked onto her instead, and widened a little. I felt myself relax, glad it wasn't any horrible monster, and then I scolded myself for getting paranoid in the first place. Well, maybe properly so. Luna sat against the corner of our cabin, eyes gazing upwards into her rapidly rising night sky. To my surprise, her horn glowed faintly as she stared, although she held a relaxed expression and didn't appear to be focusing on anything in particular. Was she actually manipulating the heavens with that little amount of focus? I guess it made sense, given how much practice she must have gotten. Two little gasps joined a moment later, breaking the silence and causing the Princess of the Moon to glance over our way and smile. "We didn't want to intrude in your conversation. The young ones were handling themselves well enough," she excused gently, her voice barely a whisper but somehow managing to extend all the way to where we were. I nodded to her and stood up again, slowly walking forwards with a Crusader to each side of me now. Spike wasted no time in hopping up onto my back again as I stood, peeking out around the side of my head as we approached. "You're not intruding, Luna. What's the occasion?" I asked curiously, blinking a couple times as I walked in order to rinse my eyes a bit. That was a downside to crying. "We need an occasion in order to relax and watch our night, or wait to converse with a good friend?" she asked back, giving me an amused smile as I looked away and twitched my nose lightly. As nice as that simple of an answer would be, I highly doubted my luck was going to allow for that. "If that's all, then I'll be happy, but usually I'm not that lucky," I muttered, deciding I might as well sit down, as this probably wouldn't be pleasant. Spike slid off and slipped around next to Apple Bloom as I did so, frowning and looking a little concerned. Luna smirked but shook her head, rotating to face me fully. "We are alone. I'll drop formalities, of course. I assume these two young ones you're okay with?" she inquired, gesturing towards the Crusader to each side of me. Both perked up when they suddenly realized the topic had shifted to them. "Of course. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are both trustworthy fellow Crusaders, and relation to the Elements. They'll be discrete," I assured, adding a nod onto the end. "Ah, o' course! We ain't gonna tell anypony else, Princess Luna!" Apple Bloom agreed, her eyes about as big as they could get. Her friend nodded rapidly in agreement. Luna smirked and shook her head, holding a hoof up towards the two. "Relax, young ones. I fully know who you are and what you two know already. My inquiry was merely to see if Mender was comfortable around you, which is very much apparent now. I do have a bit of news for you, and a question, Mender," she informed softly, turning back to me. Smiling fully, I'd suspected that was her intent already, but it was pleasant to be right for a change. "I'm an open book, and will tell you anything I know, Luna. Although, I do hope you stay a while beyond just the formalities. You did look like you were enjoying the relaxation," I suggested, noticing she looked a little stressed, now that I was closer. Wait, did Alicorns get estrus cycles as well? Uh oh... The mare looked beyond pleased and nodded towards me again, relaxing. "I'd like that, yes. It has been an exhausting week. My Rangers have taken many samples from the forest where you did battle with Nirru, and have acquired numerous energy readings for you. Twilight's last letter as of yesterday informed that you might be able to use them," she started. My mind clicked into movement again and I frowned, considering the information. Slipstream was 'blockable' if you knew the energy signature involved, which depended on where the link was traveling from. The samples would give me that signature, and if they were all the same... "Actually, she's right, as usual. I just realized there might be a way to block future connection attempts. Having a look at those samples would be very useful, in particular where you saw her 'die' at, and where we landed after she activated her FTL ability," I muttered, still thinking to myself out loud. Both areas would carry residual signature energy from Nirru's FTL unit, which I assumed was used to move that remote body here. One canister had been missing, if I remembered right. Luna perked up and nodded, chirping, "Ah ha! That answers one of the questions and I didn't even have to ask. Very good! Twilight's faith in you is much deserved, although I'd already known that much. My sister will be pleased with this estimate. I'll get the samples to Twilight once communication is re-established." I raised an eyebrow to her, confused at that last part. "You lost communication with Twilight?" Spike gasped instantly, quickly asking, "Is she okay?!" Luna froze for a second before sighing and looking away. "Well, yes, unfortunately. She's perfectly fine, worry not. Rarity and Fluttershy both report her doing well. She's just having a bit of a, well, problem with this estrus cycle and had to cease her studies. Her letters stopped as well, which is merely what I meant," she hesitantly explained, causing me to frown. I hoped everything was okay, and considered it. Was there a complication or something with this cycle? Parts suddenly not working right didn't sound like a good thing, and I immediately regretted not forming the link with her yet. I'd be able to at least figure out what was happening then, beyond just her location. "But she's going to be okay? She's not sick or hurt or anything, right?" I asked, frowning as I realized I'd only start jumping to conclusions if I didn't find out. The Princess smiled softly and shook her head again. "Your concern is very touching. I'll pass on that you were worried. No, Twilight will be fine. Actually, my sister anticipated this happening, given her student's sudden, well, change in social status. This is Twilight's first Estrus cycle with a mate," she furthered, shifting to a sound smile afterwards, apparently having anticipated that to mean something to me. Her eyebrow rose at my blank stare. "Uh, is that important or somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked, beating me to the punch. Spike snickered and shook his head, sitting down again and relaxing on the grass. "Yeah. I heard Fluttershy telling Twilight specifically to find something important and time consuming to do so she wouldn't spend all her time thinking about Mender and her. I'm guessing that failed," he deduced idly, apparently relaxing now that he knew she wasn't setting the library on fire or something. Huh. Was there something wrong about thinking about me? It must have some sort of adverse effect during the estrus period. Let's see... Chemicals and hormones would be released in time with her egg as her body got ready for a potential pregnancy, and even though they undoubtedly evolved past quite a bit of the instincts, there was probably at least some physical urges involved to actually attempt to ensure impregnation. Further, I wasn't actually there regardless of her thinking about me. Uh oh. That meant she was probably stuck with rather annoying sensations and urges, and technically it was my fault that she had no way to get rid of them. Did her body realizing she was supposed to have a mate make it worse or something? My mind flashed back to her screaming with flames lapsing off her, wiping out the entire town square in an instant, and disintegrating everything around her to ash in her rage. Oh crap. I felt myself pale considerably, and then wondered if it might not be a good idea to move to a different city for a while. At least until she forgave me enough to not murder innocent bystanders in her rage. "Uh oh. That's really bad. Uh, she hasn't hurt anypony yet, has she? I know how powerful she is," I asked, flattening my ears back a little. Luna gave me a confused heat tilt, but shook out a negative a moment later and I exhaled softly. "Ah, good. So, she'll only be aiming for me, then. Hmm. Maybe I should move to Canterlot until she cools off. If she attacks me in the street when I get back, other ponies might get hurt," I muttered, trying to consider the best solution. Luna had apparently forgotten what she was capable of. The mare blinked lightly before starting to snicker. "Well, she might attack you when you get back, yes, but moving to Canterlot will only make things worse. She definitely won't 'cool off' then, as you stated," she warned, looking deeply amused. She was teasing me! Wait, trying to give her time to cool off would make things worse?! But how was I supposed to fix things then? If she attacked me when I got back, and attacked me even harder if I tried to give her space, it seemed like the only solution was to just let her attack me and hope she didn't blow anything else up that may or may not be important. "I don't know what to do, then! Uh, do you think either you or your sister could help? She likes both of you, too," I asked. Yes, that was it! She'd be so flustered that Celestia was visiting her, she wouldn't even look at me long enough to set me on fire! Luna's eyes widened drastically and a light flush danced across her cheeks. "Oh! Oh my! Um, I do not think that is the best of ideas, Mender. Even though I surely could and have much, much experience in the matter, I really feel you should handle Twilight yourself," she excused, coughing lightly and looking away from me. Seriously?! I gave her an annoyed stare for a moment before exhaling and just deciding to bite the bullet. "Fine. But if she blows me up, along with half of Ponyville, I'm personally coming back and haunting you for the rest of your life," I warned. "Whoa, that sounds awesome!" Scootaloo muttered, totally missing the part where I was reduced to the consistency of fine ash alongside most of her town. Luna smirked, however, apparently finding the aspect funny somehow. "You must be very confident in your abilities if you expect that impressive of a result," she cooed a moment later. What did it have anything to do with my abilities?! "I doubt I have the fortitude to do anything about it. You didn't see what she did to all of those ponies in the town square. Twilight has a scary amount of skill," I groaned, shivering as I remembered it all again. Wait, no, actually she had seen what Twilight did to the town square, now that I remembered properly. Spike snickered at that, of course. "Don't forget her power! I saw it afterwards, and it looked worse than after the parasprites wrecked it. A few ponies went to the hospital, too," he revealed, both making me question what a parasprite was, and why Twilight hadn't mentioned hospitalizations... Luna's eyes were massive at this point, and I think she was finally starting to consider just how bad it could be. "I, uh, had no idea Twilight would... Oh my. Hospitalizations?!" she asked, sounding beyond shocked. "Hey, Ah don't think she meant ta hurt anypony. She just don't know her own strength when she gets all worked up like that," Apple Bloom tried to defend, frowning at the aspect. I nodded in agreement, not wanting to get Twilight in trouble over defending me. "You speak as if this is almost a regular occurrence?!" the Princess of the Moon asked, staring down at the little filly in shock. Spike widened his eyes and rapidly shook his head, raising both arms up as he did so. "Oh, no! No, no. I mean, Twilight used to have, well, problems with it when she was younger, but she's gotten a lot more level-headed lately. Actually, after the thing with Pinkie, she's gotten a lot more relaxed about things," he excused. Thing with Pinkie? I didn't think I wanted to know, but I imagined Twilight could get fairly frustrated with the pink one's behavior. "She and Pinkie...?! But..." Luna asked, losing her cool a moment later and giving the small dragon a totally flabbergasted expression. What, didn't Pinkie's reputation usually proceed her? Even I knew she was tough to deal with sometimes. I tilted my head at Luna, asking, "Surely you know about Pinkie? She's a good mare most of the time, but she gets to everypony eventually, whether they like it or not. She's just, well, Pinkie sometimes. She has so much energy!" I groaned, shuddering at the memories. Spike started snickering as Luna looked downright disturbed. "So agree! Pinkie is really nice and all, but she's gotten under my scales so many times I lost count. She just never knows when to stop, and it gets 'really' hard sometimes, ya know? After she used the Mirror Pond to make dozens of herself, I thought all of Ponyville was screwed! Haha!" I started to smirk and nod when Luna gave another twitch. Huh? Before I could even turn my head to fully look at her, she exploded into a full on scream rivaling a rocket taking off! "What is wrong with you ponies?! This is rape! It's not funny in the slightest!" washed over us, physically knocking the two fillies over and sliding me backwards almost a meter. My ears rang as I winced, looking back up in shock at the seething Moon Princess. Her shout echoed out around us and through the trees as it expanded away with the volume of a bomb going off. W-What?! "W-What are you talking about? Pinkie frustrates us with her antics sometimes! Frustrates us!" I exclaimed, unable to hear myself talk very well and having no idea how loud I was. Luna went from pissed off to surprise in barely a second as I held both sides of my head, rubbing at my ears. "Uh, whoa. D-Dizzy. What happened?" Apple Bloom muttered, rolling over from her back and shaking her head rapidly. My small pegasus friend looked even worse for wear, being far lighter and having sensitive balance senses. She puffed up a little, both fur and feathers ruffling before rolling onto her stomach, holding at her head. The light suddenly clicked on in the window up above me, and my eyes widened. Had that woken up Big Mac? Wait, of course it had woken him up. It might have... I turned and looked towards the other cabins, watching lights start appearing in the dark rapidly by the dozens. Aww hell. No, wait, take care of Scootaloo first, and then start damage control. Luna was slightly pink at this point, holding both forehooves to her mouth as she stared out at all the lights coming on as ponies woke up. Finally, she managed an, "O-Oops." Scootaloo threw up all over the ground...
Chapter 53"Yes, we assure everypony that there was no danger to be concerned of! It was a misunderstanding between ourselves and our friend, and there is nothing to be concerned about! We humbly apologize for this confusion and interruption of your slumber," Luna continued to announce, being lit up by a few magical unicorn light spells, and lanterns carried by those less magically adept. Exhaling, I remained leaned against a cabin wall a half-dozen meters away from her. My right foreleg hooked around and cradled a small, orange filly against my chest while my left slowly and gently rubbed her stomach. Scootaloo's wings were tucked up against her back and she seemed content enough to just lie there, letting the combination of the medicine and my energy-coated hoof work magic on her stomach. Nurse Redheart, sitting awkwardly a meter to my right, assured her, "Just rest, Scootaloo. A combination of being sensitive to the loud noise and the potent grape juice you had in your stomach set you off, but the medicine should start working in a few minutes." Aforementioned grape juice, diluted by the rest of her stomach contents and masked by the dim light, had looked amazingly like blood, and I had all but sprinted back to Redheart with her, easily putting aside my prior tiff. "Mmm, Mender's hoof is... Awesome! I'm gonna... If this keeps up, I'm gonna fall asleep..." Scootaloo murmured softly, causing me to smile gently down at her. She was even more adorable with that peaceful smile on her face, and her eyelids lightly fluttering every time she shifted a little in position. Urges stirred lightly in me, drawing an invisible line around myself where I wouldn't let anything hostile come within, willing to tear limbs off in order to make sure she was safe. I knew she wasn't my own, but that faint urge was present anyway. I guess I really was geared towards protection. Luna's talking droned on, independent ponies approaching to give her quiet whispers. She was probably lucky most of them hadn't even heard what she said, only concerned that there was an Alicorn blasting out Royal Canterlot Speech in fury at twenty three hundred hours. Redheart sighed and looked back up at me a few seconds later, again making me aware that the awkwardness had resumed now that I knew Scootaloo was going to be perfectly fine. "Um, like I said, uh, I'm sorry, Mender. That got out of hoof and, well-" she muttered, apologizing for the second time since also discovering Scootaloo would be fine. I shook my head, however, still looking down at the little filly in my forelegs. "As I said, I know you were only joking. Just please, I'd really like to just be with Twilight and Fluttershy for a good while before considering any other arrangements, okay? I'm sorry for snapping earlier, but I've been on edge for a bit and haven't had a chance to calm down yet," I explained quietly, keeping my voice low as Scootaloo's breathing softened, becoming more regular. Redheart nodded rapidly and pawed at the ground with a hoof for a moment, seeming like she wanted to say more about something. My peripheral vision picked up a large, red figure, however, and looked up and to the left as Big Mac wandered into our location. "They're all put ta bed now, but sleep'll be ah while, Ah think. Everything okay down 'ere still?" he asked calmly upon getting into range, right to the point, as usual. He'd gotten Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Spike back inside our cabin, telling Luna and I to go on ahead and explain things. I elected to keep Scootaloo with me, so I could use my technique on her tummy until the medicine started working. "Yeah. Between Mender's magic and my medicine, Scootaloo will be fine. They'll kick in after a few more minutes and keep her stomach settled through the night so she can get some sleep. She should be fine by morning," Redheart informed, smiling softly at the large stallion. He gave a polite nod before looking back over at me, the tired expression shifting to a soft smile after a moment. Noticing the attention, I glanced back up at him, raising an eyebrow. Most of my attention was focused on properly using my hoof and making sure I didn't use too little or too much magic. Had I missed something again? "Sorry. Ya just had ah familiar lookin' expression on yer face. Mah pa used ta get it all tha time when Ah saw him holdin' Apple Bloom. It was comfortin' ta see," he explained, apparently guessing at my confusion. "Comforting?" I asked, thinking I knew the expression he was referring to, but I wasn't entirely sure at his choice of wording. Big Mac nodded before considering his words for a moment, never one to place a careless statement out, I noted. "Well, o' course it's ah pleasant memory. Happier times an' all, even if tha present ain't all that bad. But seein' ya give it just reassures that yer just as much pony as tha rest o' us. Ta be honest, it was ah small concern Ah used ta have," he revealed, adding a nod onto the end afterwards. He knew it didn't need an apology as pretty much everypony had that thought, it would seem. I literally got dumped here from the sky apparently from nowhere. Frankly, their hospitality to such an individual was already beyond amazing. They'd have been totally justified in locking me up and studying me after I ran my head into a rock and knocked myself out like I did. "I'm not a pony, but I have every desire to be. So, um, thank you for just accepting me as close enough?" I returned, managing a smile up at him as he nodded. "Yer pony enough fer Equestria. It already decided that, proof bein' in yer mark an' tha plants listenin' ta ya. Simple 'nough ta decide after that. Who am Ah ta argue against such ah decision?" he pointed out simply, surprising me with such a direct outcome. He didn't have any convoluted reasoning involved, nor did he avoid the facts. It was refreshing to deal with, after all the drama of the last day or so. Nurse Redheart perked up at that, looking back towards the large stallion before inquiring, "You had him do Communal, and it worked?" Oh yeah, she was an Earth Pony, too. For some reason, her profession just seemed to lend itself better to that of a unicorn, which I guess I had subtly saw her as all along. It was kind of strange to consider. "Sure as tha sun risin'. He's ah natural, due ta his magic trainin', Ah suspect," Big Mac said after a moment's hesitation, closing his eyes and gently sitting down again. He looked tired, and I wondered if I should suggest he go back and try to get some sleep. Redheart smiled and nodded, looking more pleased than anything by the news. "I'm glad for that. You don't need to be concerned about it, Mender. Equestria itself has accepted you as a pony. Isn't that good enough?" she asked, still keeping her voice down even though Luna was doing an amazing job of totally drowning us out, even with her 'quiet' voice. Although I suppose in court, one had to have a loud voice in order to be heard throughout. "Everypony seems to have come to that conclusion, even the two Princesses. I'm... Well, I wouldn't say that I don't have doubts, but I'm a lot more accepting of it now than before. It will be awhile and there are still issues, but... I'm just happy that Tia and Luna are letting me stay here after all," I whispered, exhaling gently as I sagged backwards against the building again. If I had been forced to go back to that hell... I'd have found a way to kill myself first, even if I had to launch myself into the sun to do it. Redheart looked pleased, but Big Mac seemed to consider it all before slowly nodding. "Ah don't think we're quite in tha clear yet with everything, but yer ah stallion o' yer word. Ya really mean ta see this through, right?" he asked quietly, a certain amount of cryptic apprehension to his voice. I stared at him for a long moment before asking, "Gut feeling?" His nod answered well enough, and I swallowed lightly. Redheart looked nervous as well as she directed her attention to me again. I felt a little chilly suddenly, the filly in my forelegs suddenly seeming so distant. Carefully, I managed a slow nod, committing myself to the unspoken duty. "Even if I didn't feel like I belonged here, or consider this my real home... Even if I could leave and somehow find a better place, not only are those two here, but I also owe Equestria a debt," I whispered, suddenly afraid of my own voice. It was true. I didn’t think I would have found myself anywhere else. Maybe this was another chance? Of course, that also implied that I had been lost before, and wasn't anymore. No, I still felt lost, but maybe just a little closer now? Big Mac frowned lightly, and Redheart's stare felt awkward and uncertain, but I only shivered as I looked up again towards the large, red stallion. "You don't have to doubt me. To answer fully, I'll personally stop at nothing, and do anything it takes to make sure this land and all its inhabitants are safe. I promise that," I added, my free forehoof lightly scraping along the ground as I felt empty again, like every time I told a secret or revealed something. The scariest part was that I was getting used to the sensation, like the beast was getting closer and closer to the surface, and I didn't care. Maybe some things were worth it? If something like Nirru ever came here again, it would suffer for its transgressions. "We should get Scootaloo back to the cabin so she has a proper bed to rest in," I suggested after neither of them said anything for a good fifteen seconds. "Mender," Redheart muttered weakly. Ignoring her, I walked past after nudging Scootaloo onto my back, the newly disguised belt buckles helping pull her up and 'clasping' by themselves around the two of us as I walked. Luna was handling this, and I was tired. The rest of the night could go to hell. It was bedtime. This time I didn't hear hoofsteps following me as I trudged back towards the cabin up the hill with my small charge. If they didn't want to help, so be it. I had to do pretty much everything else major by myself, and I didn't see it changing anytime soon. Silently swallowing the lump in my throat, I headed off into the dark without them. * * * * * Staring up into the sky, I watched the clouds drift lazily overhead. It had been there for barely a hundredth of a second. There was a flickering and band of numeric data that shot across in the sky. Well, in all likelihood, it had been across my eye sensors instead. I stared intently at the spot for a good minute before lowering my gaze again. My passive scanner was still running in the background, and I felt the light tingling in my left hoof. I'd programmed it to do that when it found weird code to hook into in my list of running processes. Physical sensations didn't register on my sensors, skipping my computer parts and going straight to my brain if they weren't deemed 'painful' or 'threatening'. Lovely. Another thing to look into later. My body was a mess of black boxes, I noticed. The one for the control of the disks was finally cracked open, and I had full control over all of the root-level commands for them. For some reason, I hesitated when considering just deleting them all. Of course, logically I didn't know what the disks were capable of, so if they started doing something on their own, it would be a good idea to have those functions in me still. It's not like I was going to use them to control any of the ponies, of course. Beyond potential hardware errors, things were starting to look up a bit for me. Independence was always a good thing, and I was a step closer with my own income source. Hopefully, that would get a nice boost due to the newly completed schematics at my side. They detailed a lovely ceiling-based sweets delivery system and were tucked carefully into my notebook. The book I bought before leaving Ponyville, of course, not the unopened, finicky, extremely powerful, extra-dimensional one. It was weird thinking of myself owning things, honestly. I had a nice sketchbook for schematics, an extra-dimensional blade of almost infinite sharpness, a sturdy set of saddlebags, my Crusader cape, a powerful eldritch book of unknown origin and powers that came from my original self and seemed to be possessed by several distinct spirits, and a lovely box of wooden pencils. Oh, and the little white filly familiar that was seemingly hell bent on maintaining, at most, a three meter radius orbit from me at any given time. Sighing, I yet again reminded myself that living, sapient creatures weren't possessions. The urge to stake my claim on things was a bit new to me, and I contributed it to a falling out of my old social queues. Maybe I was overcompensating due to suddenly having all these freedoms? I shifted my gaze down to the little unicorn filly, who still lay barely a meter in front of me, eyes locked onto mine. Unlike how I was so used to seeing her before, her expression was blank now, and there was no glimmer in her eyes. Pain did that, I realized, and again I felt like this was one of the worst possible outcomes to all of this. She'd been lying there for an hour, insisting on silently floating any drawing tool I needed to me from my bag. Her small amounts of magic could barely lift the heavier tools, but she didn't hesitate, which disturbed me on many levels. It felt like it was all my fault that she was like this. "Sweetie, I don't need help anymore. Don't you want to go play with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Spike?" I offered yet again, gesturing to my left towards the lakeshore. After recovering and waking up early this morning, she had insisted on following us, not in an energetic manner as usual, but by simply trailing us wordlessly, no matter how much the other two fillies tried to get her to leave us alone for a day. She felt almost empty, and I regretted being so hostile to her last night. I shouldn't have let my temper slip. Her eyes listlessly drifted to her right, enough to glance over at the three playing in the water. Apple Bloom bobbed along the surface rather adeptly, already knowing how to swim. The energy danced along her limbs as she moved, flicking the water with ease and sending her jutting in rough bursts. The little orange filly, meanwhile, hovered about in a tight orbit, taking opportunities to dive bomb her friend. It became a strange game of cat and mouse, with Scootaloo hunting the only swimming target, and the flying dragon and tortoise combo trying to pounce Scootaloo. Spike had taken at least twelve dunks so far, leaping from his flying platform and missing the fast little filly in the air. He seemed to love it, though, so who was I to note otherwise? Their laughter was nice to hear, and almost a constant vibration to the air, a welcoming disruption to the otherwise quiet day. My small, forced familiar slowly looked back at me, looking more tired than before, as if the action of rotating her head had used up significant energy from her small body. I tried to add incentive to the mix, offering, "I'll give you a neat horn enchantment I've been thinking up. It should magnify your levitation ability." It had been an idea I'd been cooking up since Apple Bloom asked for her enchantment. Twilight and I had discussed the fundamental differences between our two styles of magic, which was the source for this little idea. "I'm fine here. I need to show you that I can behave," she whispered quietly, the first time she'd spoken in more than two and a half hours. A part of me got cold inside, and I decided I couldn't deal with this anymore. No, it was time for drastic measures. Sweetie Belle frowned ever so slightly as I stood up without warning. The frown deepened as I walked towards her with purpose, keeping my eyes locked firmly on hers. She slipped from her stomach to lying on her side as I got closer, probably a subconscious gesture of uncertainty. It revealed a good deal of her stomach, which would also be an act of submission, and I smirked, my target suddenly revealed in plain sight. Sweetie's eyes widened drastically as I lunged. All three of the others stopped their playful game and looked our way with confused expressions as Sweetie's squeals suddenly exploded into the air. Apple Bloom was the first to grin, I noticed. Sweetie thrashed violently, trying to swat at my forelegs with all four of her own as she burst into copious laughter. The lashes of energy coming off my hooves 'programmed' to dance along her skin like feathers and blades of grass, each a thousand times better than what I could do with my own hooves as I mercilessly assaulted her tummy with the tickling sensations! "Aaah! N-No! Haha! Stop, Mender! Ah! I give up! Eeeeeeeeee!" she managed to squeak out, trying to scoot away from me on the ground while laughing. Scootaloo came out of nowhere an instant later, bumping me sideways and snatching up Sweetie, hauling her a good three meters away from me with her wing jets. "I'll save ya, Sweetie!" she announced boldly, smirking up at me with a certain cocky expression on her face. The little white filly gasped for air, bursts of laughter still coming from her as she wiggled in her friend's grasp. "Ha... Ha! Thanks, Scoots! I can't... Ha... I can't breathe!" she giggled out. "Oh really? Then who will save you?" I asked to the orange filly. Her eyes widened as I slid past her, breaking from my sudden springing hop with my back legs as I rotated. She started to follow me to the side, wings opening to do another burst to escape with her friend, but my right forehoof connected with her side a split second faster. "Eeeeeeeeee! No! Ah, I'm sorry! Mercy!" Scootaloo squealed, flailing to get away as I pounced just her instead, pushing both glowing hooves into her stomach now as she desperately kicked, bursts of energy going across the ground in chaotic and haphazard directions, dirt and grass going with. Sweetie managed to hop back to her feet, her horn glowing again a moment later and wearing a smile this time, much to my delight. "I will, obviously! We fillies need to stick together!" she announced. Oh, is that how it was going to be? A very soggy Apple Bloom ran up at the same time, grinning at me and taking a stand next to her friend. "Heck yeah! Can ya handle all three o' us, Mender?" she asked, the energy from her new enchantments drifting up her legs and coating most of her chest at the same time. "Two of you. I guess boys get to stick together too, then!" Spike shouted from above. My eyes widened and I didn't get a chance to look up before he descended onto a very surprised looking Apple Bloom. And thus began a battle never seen before on the shores of that lake... * * * * * Okay, so bringing magic and enchantments into play was probably a terrible and irresponsible idea on my part. I'd be damned if it wasn't amazingly awesome, though! Of course, Spike and Sweetie had been totally outclassed from the start, and I ended up calling ceasefire for almost twenty minutes to give them both an enchantment as well. Sweetie got the horn modification to magnify her magic I'd already promised her. With Spike, I had to get a little creative, however. It turns out, dragons also have that internal magic, so my energy source was compatible from the start. His claws were really useful, however, and I ended up attaching energy threads to each of them, rear claws included. After a bit of practice, he could extend them about two meters and properly grab or tie things up using them, which was good enough for our purposes. Things got way out of hoof fast, of course. After getting carried away and flinging Apple Bloom a good sixty meters across the surface of the lake in a laughing ball of energy armor, I decided that maybe this was a bad idea. Thirty minutes later, we were an indistinct pile of wet fur and scales lumped a dozen meters from the lake, all panting in the shade. Well, most of us were wet. Sweetie managed to stay amazingly dry, given that she was responsible for shore bombardment, and her defenses were almost foolproof with her magic to help her. "So awesome..." Scootaloo muttered after a long break of silence. Her tiny wings were splayed across the right side of my barrel as she lay out on top of me. I barely felt her there as I rested tiredly on my left side. Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were curled up against my chest and stomach, respectively, and my right foreleg limply lay over Apple Bloom. So tired! Keeping up with foals took a tremendous amount of energy, but I was quite content. The ache was there in the left foreleg, but nowhere near as bad. Which was a bit of a good thing, as the small farm filly now used it as a pillow. "We so gotta do this more often," Spike muttered from behind me, still propped up against my back, it felt like. I didn't so much mind being a piece of furniture. I was kinda the biggest one here, so it wouldn't work nearly as well in reverse. "The lake's open all season, and is used for skating in the winter," Sweetie informed softly, as if hinting at a plan. It made sense that the cabins weren't just used during estrus. Skating, though? That rang a small bell, but I couldn't place it. My database opened up on the side and I tossed it into a search. The little filly carried on, though, voice shifting wistful instead with, "Oh, it's so pretty in the winter with all that ice on it! We should go skating then." My search results popped up a fraction of a second later. "Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including exercise, leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and rivers." Huh. I looked at the pictures of the skates, tail hooks, and tail anchors the Keldarians used in trick skating and shuddered. Me going across a plane of ice on thin blades at high speeds sounded like a remarkably poor idea. Scootaloo snickered happily, and I felt her nod against my side. "Yeah! I've been practicing, and I bet I can even beat AB now!" she boasted proudly. Apple Bloom was good at skating? The boast went unanswered for a good five seconds before I opened my eyes and looked down at the small filly on my leg. Scootaloo was peeking at the same time, and we both saw the filly sound asleep, very light snores coming from her. I smirked for a second before lying back down. "Eh, we'll run it past her when she wakes up..." Scootaloo acknowledged, a twinge of annoyance in her tone. "Has she tried getting her Cutie Mark in skating yet?" I asked, wondering if there was a reason for her being so skilled at it. Sweetie let out a momentary hum, but shook her head against my tummy after a moment's consideration. "We've been skating lots during the winter just for fun. We hang out even when not doing official Crusader stuff for our Cutie Marks. She hasn't gotten one yet," she explained softly. What were the odds she had a more specific Cutie Mark in skating, then? Doubtful. It was hard to imagine a pony who was only good at one specific type of spin or something. They seemed more general than that. "Nah. She's an Earth Pony, and most of them are really good at skating, for some reason," Scootaloo tossed on, sounding more wistful finally rather than annoyed. Snickering, I idly raised my right foreleg into the air, holding my hoof up. "Not this one. I can almost guarantee that I'd spend more time on my head than hooves should I try that," I concluded, without even needing to hesitate. Scoots started snickering in amusement, and I heard a light giggle from Sweetie as well. Spike just scoffed, though. "No worse than me, dude. Ponies are so not happy when you sneeze while skating and melt a big hole in the ice. I'm just glad they got Derpy out of the water before she got hurt. Felt real bad after that one," he muttered, sighing warily at the thought. Yikes! Derpy had really bad luck, which was starting to feel quite similar. "Derpy didn't even get sick! I swear she's half Earth Pony," Scootaloo muttered, finally lying back down against my side. Was that possible? I didn't think they could get 'half' phenotypes like that. At least, I hadn't seen any so far. Actually, now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen any sort of mutation or variation in genome anywhere, which was rather astounding. Ponies didn't even seem to mention any long established diseases or syndrome. Call me paranoid, but magical manipulation started to look more and more likely. "I still felt bad. She didn't even get angry with me! At least she let me help her with mail deliveries for a month," Spike protested, relaxing a little further against my back. Another giggle sounded from Sweetie, followed by, "Don't let anypony tell you that you're not a nice dragon, Spike. I'm sure Sis sees it, too." I almost felt his temperature shoot upwards after that, and smiled to myself at how cute he could be sometimes. Still, despite being a totally different species, I think he was the male I had the most in common with. We had similar outlooks on things. I'd have to ask him about this 'rampage' thing he mentioned earlier when I got him alone. Maybe I could draw more similarities yet. The conversation wound down as the breeze slowly drifted over us. Lightly, I heard Sweetie's breathing deepen as well after a minute or so, plus a light snoring started up behind me. I just smiled, staring up at the sky. It was peaceful, really. One day, I wouldn't mind having little ones of my own, I don't think. Although that brought up a good question. I had the 'parts' down there that were compatible, to my knowledge, but was it possible for me to actually impregnate a mare? It had come up before on the trip here, but I'd never looked into it, despite blundering across the manuals for my own body while looking for the disks. Well, they weren't so much manuals, but a bizarre sort of note journal that was flagged with biological functions in my filtering functions. Taking advantage of the down time, I clicked it open in my head and displayed the file in my eyes, taking a peek at it. Scootaloo stirred a little but remained staring up at the sky with her wings folded over my side, resting on her back. She didn't feel like she was asleep, but it felt like she wanted some time to think, which I was more than happy to allow. The series of notes read like a journal, detailing growth patterns, formation, and activity, each entry with a highly accurate date. From everything inside, it was insinuated that I was grown inside of a breeding tube rather than a Keldarian, which didn't necessarily surprise me. What did tweak my interest a bit was that it was specially made just for me, and a size category larger than the standard. Weird. Did they grow me to full adult all at once or something? A light cricket noise sounded off, and I snapped back to attention in an instant, double-checking all my proximity detectors and passive motion scanning. Nothing was tripped, and I exhaled softly. Hum. My focus shifted back to my reading and I turned the page, the document heavily detailing every formation of the embryo. Was there something unique about me? I didn't think they'd go to this length in order to document the growth unless they were anticipating something. My eyes widened a little of their own accord as the details got more and more separated from what I had been expecting. Tail extension, muzzle expansion, eye socket growth, hip joint displacement... None of it was in line with the basic Keldarian anatomy class I had taken as my other self. The next page caused my breath to snag. It went into great detail about hoof formation. Shit. Light laughter, and a smiling feline face as I ran unsteadily towards her, causing her to giggle in amusement. The loud noises my hooves made against the metal hurt my ears, but she looked so happy. I hopped upon reaching the end of the table and the female stood, grinning as she caught me into a hug and cheered. My eyes widened as I snapped out of the sudden, extremely vivid memory, mouth hanging open a little. They didn't... But... I had never been a Keldarian! They grew me as a Pony! The numb sensation receded across my skull and I suddenly found a light smile starting to expand across my muzzle. This was my body. I'd always been a pony. They just added things to me, was all. I was a pony! Only my ultimate respect for the foals and dragon sleeping around me stopped me from squeaking happily in elation, a perfect tribute to Fluttershy if I'd ever heard one. But despite the extremely pleasing news, it actually left a dozen questions in its wake, with 'why' and 'how' being among the highest. I had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with that 'specimen' mentioned earlier. But that face! That female. It dawned on me. I knew her. She was familiar! My eyes started to widen again when my proximity alarm went off for the disk tracking. I came so close to groaning in frustration, but just sighed instead and checked it. Not that I needed to, because I knew there was only one signal that would be approaching in the first place, let alone that quickly and in a straight line. Rainbow surprised me by gliding in over the other side of the lake, barely reaching proper flight speeds as she just let the currents take her. Further, her eyes were closed completely, which seemed a little risky given the fact that she was really close to the treetops. Wait... Popping my display up again, I noticed her heart rate was slowed, and her breathing regulated. Further, the link was displaying a feedback effect from the host. But that would only happen if she was... It clicked. She was actively 'pinging' my connection. She found me using the link. Her eyes opened again as she must have felt herself close, and they shifted downwards and locked onto us on the shore. Wonderful. What did she want now? Her heartbeat lost its focus and sped up as she saw me raise my head. Apprehension. I knew the effects of it before she even needed to get into empathy range. Scootaloo hadn't been sleeping after all, and glanced back at me as I raised my head. Following my line of sight, she saw Rainbow a second later and stiffened before suddenly flipping to her hooves again. Huh? "Crusaders! Wake up!" she announced out loud suddenly, causing me to wince at the sudden sound after so much silence. "Eh? Why wake them?" I asked as both fillies stirred and slowly looked up from their rests, looking a little bleary eyed. Unsurprisingly, Spike remained asleep, despite having been whacked by Scootaloo's wing as she spun. Now he tipped over and continued snoring lightly on his side, just rolling away from the noise a little. "Rainbow," Scootaloo explained as she got their attention, and I couldn't tell whom it was directed at. The effect was unquestionable, however. Sweetie Belle's eyes widened as she looked in the direction Scootaloo's wing gestured in, and Apple Bloom just groaned and rotated to her hooves again, standing upright in front of me. Rainbow looked slightly surprised as she drifted in and lightly landed about a half dozen meters away from the lakeshore. I sat up more fully and stared at her, unsure exactly what she wanted and not knowing what to say in the first place, but Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both stepped forwards instead, moving in-between Rainbow and me. "What are ya doin' 'ere, Dash? Didn't ya cause enough problems yesterday?" the yellow filly asked, sounding a bit hostile, honestly. "Uh, look, I just want to talk to him, okay?" the cyan pegasus explained, folding her wings back up lightly and taking a few steps in my direction. As she tucked her wings in, I noticed that, oddly, she was wearing a set of saddlebags. I'd never seen her with anything of the sort before, and it looked out of place on her. Scootaloo shook her head, however, extending her left wing out fully to block Rainbow's path, the energy expanding the wing several fold and almost touching Apple Bloom's side. Her friend didn't look so passive, however, and slammed the ground with her right hoof, causing a tremor to extend all the way over to where I was, the energy expanding up her foreleg and showing the intricate magic array along her skin. "No! We promised not ta let ya anywhere near Mender until he says so an' ya apologize proper like! Ah'm not gonna go back on mah word," Apple Bloom warned, spreading her stance out a bit. They were serious about that? "I'm sorry, Rainbow, but yeah. This isn't how I wanted things, but you're just not yourself," Scootaloo muttered softly afterwards, lowering her head a little bit, then shaking it. Dash looked more than a little surprised as she glanced at the two of them, then looked past over at me. Sweetie Belle slowly stood up, looking uncertain, but her horn started to glow regardless, disks of light expanding off it and sliding up along the line of light that came almost a meter off the tip of it, more repeatedly forming at the base as the old ones left. Rainbow stared at us for a moment before sighing, her eyes softening as her body sagged a little. Oddly, I couldn't smell her estrus from here, not really smelling much of anything, which was a big difference from yesterday. "That's, um, what I came to do, okay? I do want to apologize to Mender properly," she revealed, sounding a little on the stressed side. Her eyes were bloodshot as well, hinting that last night wasn't the most pleasant for either of us. Slowly, I managed to get to my hooves, simultaneously drawing everypony's attention in an instant. Rainbow hesitated as I limped a little bit closer to her, my left leg giving a weak throb of protest at its interrupted rest. Closer now, I saw that Rainbow's coat appeared to actually be brushed, startlingly enough. Further, her mane was combed lightly, managing to still be in her loose style, but definitely holding straighter than normal. A light, flowery scent drifted from her once I was within two meters, and I raised an eyebrow, causing a light blush to shift to her cheeks. Her eyes remained locked with mine, however, despite seeing mine roaming over her form. "Rarity?" I guessed, locking eyes with hers again. A light smirk shifted onto her muzzle and she nodded gently. "I was, uh, bothered by what happened yesterday. It was throwing off my practicing, of course, so I had to do something about it! I went to Rarity to ask for, well, professional advice on how to apologize to a stallion without any of the mushy stuff like flowers or chocolate," she explained quietly, rolling her eyes towards the practicing part. I tried really hard not to snicker, but she shot me a somewhat knowing glare a second later and continued with, "Well, I didn't want to admit why we'd had the fight! She guessed it was with you, anyway. If you want any of your secrets to remain secret, don't visit that mare! Regardless, she told me quite a few ideas, one of them being to make myself proper and presentable. This is the end result." I was surprised, regardless. She seemed sincere in her desire to apologize, if she let Rarity go this far. Another look showed me the normally boisterous mare definitely had a 'gorgeous' side to her, even if it was downright primal in appearance. This time she fussed as I looked her over, the pink in her cheeks turning red instead as she looked away, flattening her ears back a bit. "You don't have to stare!" she squawked, looking mildly annoyed. I saw something else in her eyes, however, complimenting the spike in her heartbeat. "If you didn't want me to stare, why did you bother getting 'presentable' in the first place?" I inquired in mild amusement, gesturing towards her coat with my left foreleg. Scootaloo started snickering, framed by a particularly loud snore behind me from Spike. Rainbow somehow got even redder, and I started to wonder if she should lie down before she passed out. "H-Hey! Rarity tried to do even more, but I fended her off with her own dress fitting! Look, this isn't easy for me and, um, I really just want to be forgiven, okay?" she squeaked out, causing me to sigh. There went the playful sensations. "Why? So you can feel better and get on with your practice for the race?" I inquired softly, my ears dropping a bit. At my tone shift, Scootaloo swallowed weakly and looked back to Rainbow, while Apple Bloom shifted back up to fully guarded, glaring at the mare. Rainbow's eyes widened rapidly as her head spun back to me, her back leg shifting backwards slightly as if to retreat. This was stupid, and I didn't even know why she had come in the first place. Her frown started to come back, but my eyes snapped to a glare instead. "No, be honest, Rainbow. Why are you here? You have your wings still. I didn't remotely disable them or anything out of spite, so your practicing should be fine. You have the safety guards in the wings still, as I'd never disable those. What more do you want? You don't need me for anything else, so why are you here?" I asked, cutting off whatever crap she was undoubtedly about to spill out, covering her every intention with excuse after excuse. At that, Rainbow's expression fell and she looked away, the blush leaving her cheeks. A pang of guilt went through me, but I smashed it down angrily. No, on some level, the fake Nirru was right. I did let ponies walk all over me. "I came to apologize, Mender. Not because I want something, but because I care about you and it hurts when you're angry with me," she muttered, staring hard at the ground instead. My expression softened a little and I sighed, not having expected her to actually admit her feelings. "Is it really so hard to just tell me that? You send a lot of mixed signals and it's, well, frustrating sometimes," I admitted, feeling myself cool a little with each exhale. Rainbow continued staring at the dirt for a moment before slowly nodding and sliding her head forwards. The saddlebags unhooked from her stomach and slid over her head, landing on the ground with a loud and unmistakable clinking noise of metal on metal in mass. Bits. "I brought as many as I could carry. All I could think about is what you said last night. Not just to me, but..." she whispered before looking up slightly at Apple Bloom as well. I frowned, but she shook her head and continued regardless with, "You were right. There, I said it. I was only thinking of myself instead of both you and AJ. Plus, I've done a whole lot of taking advantage of your friendship. Every plan I have to 'help' you seems to help me even more, and, well-" "Rainbow, look-" I started to interrupt. She held up her hoof, however, and rapidly shook her head. "N-No! I can't take advantage of you anymore. I don't even know where to begin guessing how much your special training would normally cost, but just, well, take these! If you need more, I'll have to go back and-" she cut me off, starting to look flustered as her eyes got watery. What she was doing suddenly dawned on me. Not because it was obvious, but because it was familiar. Value substitution. Well, I'd probably regret this later, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let her go down this path. Step one, get her to shut up. Yes, a part of me liked her like she wanted, but she was only trying to lie to herself. Paying me wouldn’t make her feel any better, as her feelings would still be there. Her rose colored eyes widened as I slipped forwards and wrapped both forelegs around her, cutting off her denial and making her freeze instantly. A few seconds passed before backed up a bit again and opened my eyes. Hers were wet now as she slowly closed her surprised muzzle, features softening rapidly. "W-Why? But this wasn't..." she whispered, not seeming to notice the tear slip down her right cheek. All the signs were there. I'd seen it a lot, and even fell victim to it myself. Well, my other self did, anyway. "Trying to pay me won’t make your feelings go away, Rainbow. It's just another form of running away. You can't run from any of us anymore, not just Applejack or myself. I'm going to tell Fluttershy and Twilight about both you and Sweetie, and about everything I've suggested to you two," I warned quietly, trying to sit as straight as I could. I had the indescribable sensation that if I slouched even slightly, I'd fall over and pass out from tiredness. It all seemed to suck into me all at once. She stared at me for a moment before lowering her head again and nodding weakly. "I'll accept any punishment they want to give, so long as we're still friends afterwards," she accepted, sagging a little. "They're not going to punish you for being true to your feelings, Dash. I won't let them. But you have to realize that being in a herd is an interwoven experience. I've discovered this. Every member cares for every other one. Could you honesty care for Twilight and Fluttershy like you care for me?" I suggested, if only to get her to consider the aspect of what she said she wanted, compared to what she actually wanted. So many soldiers did the same thing as a coping mechanism. If you attach value to something and pretend long enough, it becomes an excuse even for yourself. With her trying to pay me for my services, it distracted from the real reason she was feeling bad, and the reason I was helping her in the first place. But that didn't make either reason go away, no matter how much she tried to pay me. Buying off your conscience usually didn't work so well. Just like no amount of good notions and deeds would ever make up for the fact that I personally ended a few billion innocent lives. Pretending it was paying it off one at a time was idiotic. Rainbow just stood there, staring down at her saddlebags with her legs shivering lightly. Another tear slid down the other cheek and she winced at the sensation, suddenly turning around and away from us all. I actually heard Scootaloo swallow, but I walked forwards regardless, brushing my right hoof along the shivering mare's left shoulder. "No! Don't look at me! This is... It's so pathetic!" she spat out, shifting away and not letting me see her face. Her voice steadied itself once we couldn't see her expression anymore. "Rainbow, calm down," I muttered, trying to feed as much 'understanding' as I could through the link. She sagged a little, and then rapidly shook her head. "No... No! Get out of my head, Mender!" she shouted instead, whirling around and swatting my foreleg away hard enough to knock it back into my muzzle. I was more than a little surprised by the sudden movement, my head spinning as I tried to shake it clear. "You knew it wouldn't work all along, didn't you?! Why? Why did you set me up thinking you liked me back when you knew it wouldn't work?!" she screamed, stepping back into the water now and sending a spray out backwards from her hind leg. "Why would I do that, Rainbow? All I want is for everypony to get along," I muttered, holding my hoof to my muzzle and wincing as I looked back up at her, my armor folding into place under my skin, just in case. Pity it was too late for my lip. I sighed as I drew back blood on my hoof. The cyan mare glared at me, shaking still on her hooves as tears continued down her cheeks freely now. "You knew all along that this wasn't going to work. I can't have both of you! Why did you let me think that I could for so long?!" she demanded, voice breaking again as she stomped her foreleg down, imprinting the sand with a mold of her hoof. "I don't know that, Rainbow! It's not up to either of us, and you know that! You can't just make ponies feel a certain way," I reminded, voice rising finally as well. She was just looking for somepony to blame and targeting me for it. No, not this time. I wasn't going to let her walk all over me. The snoring had stopped behind me, and I heard a rather groggy sounding, "Huh? Wha? What's going on?" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo slipped to each side of me at the same time, looking furious and uncertain respectively. "S-Shut up! You're just trying to get my hopes up again! What is it, funny to you?! Talk to them all and get them to understand what's going on! You can make them understand!" There was a hint of desperation to her voice, and I suddenly felt sick. I wouldn't be making anypony do anything. Ever. Her trying to suggest it, no, order it... "Talk to them yourself, Rainbow. But if you try to bully anypony into anything, I'll stop you myself," I warned, feeling my anger rising again. All I could see was her trying to make Fluttershy agree to the idea. I felt my face heat up as Rainbow let out a frustrated shout, her wings bursting open. She ran into me a second later and bowled both of us into a sharp rotation, managing to momentarily land on top of me with a hoof to each of my shoulders. My armor was up now and I didn't feel a thing, this time. Red. It wasn't just symbolism, I realized, as I rarely got angry enough to notice it, but it flashed into my mind like an impulse. A bolt of rage as my back hit the sand. In a frustrated scream, through that haze of frustration and anger towards the mare, I hit her. It was instant. She was on top of me one second, and in the next, my right foreleg collided with her left side. Then she wasn't on top of me anymore, but instead sent flying into a loose roll off to my left somewhere. My eyes widened as I stared at the hoof in front of my vision, the anger falling away into an ocean of ice water in my mind a second later. I hit her. Nopony else seemed to even register it as Rainbow hit the sand with a weak yelp. Apple Bloom was over me in a heartbeat, clearing the distance in two bounds before landing on and physically holding the full sized mare to the ground with her front legs. "Stay away from him!" she shouted at point blank range down onto the fallen mare. Oh, oh hell. I tried to get to my feet as Scootaloo ran past after Rainbow. Sweetie was there a second later, a boost of magic helping me up as she hugged into my left side. "A-Are you okay, Mender?!" she asked, sounding scared. My scans lit up as I looked over to Rainbow instead, noticing her just lying there. She winced, however, at the sound of the shout, and then tried to limp up to her hooves again. Apple Bloom shoved her back over, however, moving her a little further away from me with a slide. "No, just stay there and stop attacking him!" she ordered, backing away from the mare. Rainbow's left side was swelling a little, and my scan showed a half dozen ruptured blood vessels under the surface. No internal damage apart from that, and I swallowed weakly. I hit her! My eyes watched the skin puff a little and discolor as she gasped and managed to sit up finally, tucking her left foreleg up against her side and looking back up at me instead. Her eyes burned into me like fiery lances and I shivered, wanting to run away myself. There was no anger there, however, only surprise. "I... Ugh. What am I doing?" she whispered suddenly, closing her eyes again and shaking her head. What? Her question confused me, but I was suddenly distracted as my scan fired off again. Every vein in her side started slowly shifting, slipping back together again and merging back into normal. Oh. At the same time, I saw the swelling start to actually reduce as the bio-signals from her reported medication being released into the affected tissue. There really were nanites inside of her. They were repairing her side. "I h-hit you. Are you okay, Rainbow?!" I asked, unsure of what was going on and even less sure of what was going through her head. A very confused looking Sweetie Belle followed after me as I slowly walked towards the mare and hostile looking Apple Bloom. She stopped, and then looked up at me with a slightly incredulous stare. "Well, it hurts, and you hit like a train, but yeah. I've had way worse injuries from crashes. I kinda hit you first, regardless," she muttered, exhaling weakly and brushing her right forehoof down her leg. "Can we please stop attacking each other now?" Scootaloo asked hesitantly, standing between the two of us with her wings fanning out, apparently ready to move in case that was a no. Slowly walking up, I folded my armor deeper into the surface again, relaxing as the stiffness it caused rolled off my muscles. "I'm sorry, Rainbow. I didn't mean to hit you. I just got mad," I murmured, looking down at her when I finally got within a meter or so. Apple Bloom looked less than understanding of the situation, however. "This is stupid! Ah've half ah mind ta go get mah sister right now an' have her fix all this in an instant," she growled, followed up with, "You've done nothin' but hound Mender an' cause all sorts o' problems fer him all week, an' now he's bleedin'!" The last part shot up in octave as her eyes widened, looking back to me. Huh? Oh, the lip. I lightly licked at the cut, tasted that oh so familiar metallic taste along my tongue, and sighed. It had run down my chin at this point, and about halfway down my neck in a red line. Rainbow's eyes bugged out, but I just shook my head towards her, wincing at the sudden yelp from the tiny unicorn next to me. "It's just a nick. Nothing major, really. I'll have it repaired in a minute or so," I assured, pretty much pointlessly, I decided. Sweetie Belle had already entered freak out mode, and galloped back towards our basket, grabbing some of the napkins we were going to use for lunch and running back with them. "This will help the bleeding stop!" she yelped, neatly folding the napkin and pushing the flat of it onto the cut. Sighing, I just smiled down at her and nodded, letting her do her thing if it made her feel better. "Please don't tell AJ. Um, I won't bug Mender again this vacation. I'm really sorry," Rainbow muttered, looking rather glum as she sat there in the sand. Apple Bloom, having migrated a little closer to me after the discovery of my superficial injury, shot a glare back over at her in a heartbeat. "Ya should be sorry! Just tell Sis about yer feelin's an' get it over with! Stewing over it like this can't be ah good thing," she oh so wisely pointed out. Well, it was extremely obvious that it wasn't a good thing, though. I noticed I started to use myself as a measuring stick of how skilled a pony was at observations. If they noticed more than I did, that at least put them beyond a blind and deaf pony who was actively distracted by a hive of bees landing on their head, anyway. Okay, it couldn't hurt to get a few more example thresholds in there. "I pick the worst times to go to sleep..." Spike muttered, finally walking up and sitting down next to Apple Bloom while giving me a questioning stare. Rainbow frowned and started to open her mouth again, doubt slipping down the link rather readily, when Tank drifted in and ever so lightly, almost lovingly in fact, skipped off her head. She blinked under the rocking sensation, and then smiled weakly as the tortoise landed next to her. I held my hoof up to Apple Bloom, however, shaking my head. Talking when an inexperienced unicorn used magic to push a wad of paper onto your mouth was tricky, I had discovered. "Just leave her be about it. She has a plan to confess after the race coming up, either publicly or in private later. She just has to steel herself for that point," I finally managed to say, almost getting the napkin shoved up my nose as Sweetie tried to keep up with my mouth moving. Her level of movement overcompensation was impressive. Rainbow stared at me for a moment before frowning and giving a slow but determined nod of her head. "Yeah. I promise to tell her then. I have to! You're right, I can't keep doing this. Freaking out is so uncool," she groaned, wracking her forehead with her left forehoof. Tank slowly edged his head forwards and gave her a soft nuzzle to her other foreleg, and I smiled at the two of them. "Then that's all you need to focus on. It's partially my problem, too, obviously, so I'll help you talk to them and explain things if you'd like. But before you can even begin that, you need to tell Applejack," I pointed out. Blatantly telling the farm mare that Rainbow had a problem because she wanted to have both of them join 'my' herd would be amazingly confusing for her if we reversed the order involved! Rainbow apparently realized as much and smirked at me, nodding. I relaxed a little, pleased to see happiness on the mare's face again. Well, happiness that didn't revolve around her punching me repeatedly in the face. Could you punch with a hoof? Or were they all called kicks? Bucking, maybe? "Yeah, having your help to explain things would really help. I doubt it'll work anyway, because you're right. I don't have feelings for Fluttershy and Twilight like you do. Just you, which isn't really what a herd should represent. I just don't know what to do about it, and I so don't want to hurt anypony's feelings!" she elaborated, relaxing a little and going into thought. Sweetie Belle relaxed a little as well after the bleeding stopped and withdrew the napkin, gently folding over the red spot. I watched her for a second before smiling and extending my right foreleg across the other side of her. Her eyes widened as I gently pulled her over in front of me and gave her a soft hug from behind. "I understand. We'll cross that bridge after you talk to Applejack, of course. Patience, Rainbow. I'll also need to talk to Twilight and Fluttershy about Sweetie as well," I listed, building the mental checklist even as I talked. Sweetie tilted her head back and smiled up at me with a soft blush on her cheeks. I nodded and smiled back, giving her a light squeeze and rubbing her shoulder with my forehoof. She looked beyond content, closing her eyes and just resting her cheek against my leg, letting herself be hugged. I still didn't know how exactly to consider her. She was too young for me to think of her like an eligible mare, and too old for me to consider her a foal or daughter. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were more like little sisters to me, but I didn't feel that with Sweetie Belle, either. It was rather confusing. Rainbow looked just as overwhelmed, really, and I suddenly realized that we were rather similar in problems. She was supposed to be an embodiment of loyalty itself, but now she was struggling with being loyal to her friends and being happy. She'd have to hurt somepony she cared for if she wanted to be with both of us. Potentially, it would end even worse and Applejack wouldn't forgive her for it. I was torn as well. I'd never assumed she was interested in me, just keeping the fact that she was more than a little attractive to myself, harmlessly. I was perfectly fine with Twilight and Fluttershy! Hell, more than fine. Shocked and equally delighted to be a part of such a loving herd, if they'd have me. Then my very thoughts betrayed me and strayed, deciding that wanting Rainbow, too, was totally fine. I sickened myself, but the damage had been done already and I absolutely had to explain things to Twilight and Fluttershy. I wondered idly if Rainbow was as torn up as me, or if she was more the type to hide it even from herself? The cyan mare looked curiously over at Apple Bloom instead, however. Her eyes traced the runes that shimmered along the filly's legs, and I raised an eyebrow towards her. "Oh, idea! Seeing as you gave them all enchantments, too, how about we all practice with them?" Rainbow offered suddenly, completely and totally off topic. Yup, definitely one of the 'hide it from herself' types, of the distraction variety, I noticed. "Hey, ya didn't get forgiven yet!" Apple Bloom cut in, shifting back to an annoyed glare. Spike lightly raised his claw up, drawing my attention over to him as I sighed. "Uh, yeah. Still no clue what's going on," he reminded weakly. Yup, this was going to be a long day... Again...
2013 Hearth's Warming ShortAuthor's Note As for how this relates to the rest of the story, I have no idea! Where it's positioned in the timeline, or even if all or any of it is canon is hard to say. Heee. Just enjoy it as is. Happy Hearth's Warming! -Kiro 2013 Hearth's Warming Short “Are you sure you’re okay with all those?” Twilight asked yet again, walking slowly alongside me through the light snow. I shivered and nodded, tucking my scarf a little closer as she brushed up against me for warmth, smiling now. “Of course, Twi. At least they’re good for something, right?” I teased, peeking back at my own back as we walked. They were smaller, but a good two dozen tentacles extended off my back, holding various wrapped gifts and presents. Fluttershy shifted up and around them, making sure each of the presents were secure and stable, looking a little concerned as well. Mares… Sheesh. Twilight smirked, and I saw it coming of course. “Oh, they’re good for lots, lots more than that,” she admitted, pushing particularly close to me and kissing my cheek. I blushed lightly and shook my head. Mares. Mmm. Yeah, wouldn’t give up either of them for the world. “Um, everything looks stable up here. We’re just bringing them to the library, right?” Fluttershy asked softly, drifting down on my other side and glancing at us. She got a confused look when she noticed my blush, but Twilight just nodded and smiled. “Yup. Everypony should be there already. But I suppose tactfully late in order to pick up more gifts is acceptable,” the lavender mare muttered, frowning to herself for a moment. Recovering from my flush, I smiled and returned a wave from Noteworthy as we walked past before shaking my head to Twilight. “We didn’t know your parents were coming, so don’t be hard on yourself,” I reminded, focusing my vision in front of me instead as we neared the other edge of the square. I always had to be careful around the edges, as that’s where the most activity took place, and my probability of tripping over something skyrocketed. The whole square was decorated festively at this point, with Hearth’s Warming being tomorrow. A celebration was being held at the library by Pinkie of course, for all our Ponyville friends, and then we were heading to Canterlot to celebrate with Twilight’s and Rarity’s parents, Tia, and Lulu. Or, well, that had been the plan as of two hours ago. Not so much now. “Yes, but did all of them have to come?! I know they didn’t want us to travel but… come on!” Twilight finally yelped, slowly shifting into her ‘freak out’ mode, I noticed, before continuing with, “I mean, what do you even get an Alicorn Princess?! How am I supposed to shop for them?!” Sighing, I kissed her behind the ear suddenly, snapping her out of the deranged look and earning a blush as she looked quickly back to me. Heh. That spot always got her. “Calm down, Twilight. You’ll be fine. I think the best gift is simply being treated like normal and part of the family by us. Hence, we got them a normal gift?” I reminded, lowering the two presents we’d gotten for the sisters, one a light orange and the other a dark blue. For amusement, the dark blue one was for Tia, while Lulu got the orange. Yes, just to confuse them. “Whaaaa, am I late?!” I heard somepony shout, coming in fast from behind us as we reached the door. Twilight’s link registered the voice as Derpy before even I did, and I extended three more tentacles as I turned, barely catching the dive bombing mare, both of us crashing into the door behind me now. The presents all wobbled about, but I managed to keep them all balanced while cushioning Derpy’s fall. “Ow. Ah, thanks, Mender!” she chirped a moment later as I helped her up. Twilight perked, not missing a beat before nodding and adding, “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Derpy. I’m glad you could make it to the party.” Fluttershy nodded and smiled as well as she helped stabilize me again. Eh, at least the presents hadn’t fallen. Oh, wait. Carrot had warned me about that. I counted it. A second and a half was all it took that time. The door slammed open behind me, whacking me in the butt and knocking Twilight off the step in surprise. “Mender!” was shouted by five unique female voices at once. Oh hell. Sweetie Belle and Purdue led the charge with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Babs shortly behind them. I tried bracing for impact, but all five little fillies hit at once, knocking me completely off the step and sending us all flailing into the snowbank, presents flying every which way! Then, everything was tentacles as I caught every single gift and wrapped one around each filly in question, snickering as I pulled them closer. “These things ah so cool! I wish I’d met yoo yeaah’s ago!” Babs muttered, wiggling upside down as she batted at one of the tips. Sweetie just squeaked happily, hugging hers to her, and Purdue giggled, climbing up hers partially and hugging my shoulder. “I knew you’d catch them all, so no harm done, right?” the little blue filly asked, smirking at me. Brat! She could have told them that this was a bad idea… but no. Twilight shook her head and lifted all of us up with a lavender and crimson aura, floating us and bits of the snowbank inside. It was like a totally different place on the inside. Warmer air, happy lights, festive music, and a few dozen ponies greeted me. Yup, it was definitely one of Pinkie Pie’s parties. The mare herself shot past a second later, a happy grin on her face while doing a cartwheel, somehow managing to keep the Hearth’s Warming hat on her head at the same time. I’d long since stopped trying to figure out the pink mare, however. “Everypony made it! Ooooh, and you brought snow in with you! Awesome idea! We can have a snowball fight on the inside, now!” she announced, then quickly was lifted off her hooves by Twilight, who was just entering. “No, Pinkie. So much no. Throwing balls of condensed, frozen water around in a room full of carefully preserved books is a bad idea. So no. Go outside if you want to throw snowballs,” the lavender mare rapidly shot down, heading off the idea before it even started. “Aww!” Pinkie whined as Twilight set her down. I shifted my attention to Fluttershy as she gathered the presents, my tentacles supporting them still, into a neat pile with the others. Every time she’d get one adjusted, I’d slip the tentacle away from it when she gave a mental nod down the link, until I only had five tentacles left out, one for each filly. Derpy trotted past me in the meantime, not seeming to mind that she was covered in powdered snow, as Twilight started after her instead, several towels floating into the air from near the door entry. Well, never a dull moment, I guessed. I set all five fillies down as Fluttershy trotted back over to me, smiling. Well, three of them down, anyway, as Sweetie and Purdue refused to let go, as anticipated. “No damage. Thank you, Mender,” Fluttershy whispered, smiling and nuzzling closer to me, kissing my forehead and managing to squish the two fillies between us. Not that I was one to complain, and they certainly didn’t either. I just hugged her back, nuzzling the side of her neck and taking in the warm ambience of the room. It had been a while since I’d gotten to celebrate something, and I was determined to enjoy every moment of it while I could. “Welcome ta tha party, Fluttershy. Mender. Glad ya made it, as it would be pretty sad ta miss one at yer own house,” I heard Applejack chime in from my right a few seconds later. Looking in that direction, I saw both her and Rainbow approaching from the center of the congregation of ponies in the room. I smiled and nodded to each of them, noticing they both wore a rather festive hat, like most of the ponies in the room. Wait… Peeking up, I saw I had one too, and idly wondered when Pinkie had put it on me. No, in that line of thinking lies madness, so I just accepted it and looked back down again. “I’m glad you two made it as well. Having fun so far?” I inquired, already knowing the answer from Dash’s light flush. The cyan mare grinned however and licked her lips. “Heck yeah! For one, it’s a Pinkie Pie party! But then, AJ busted out her cider reserves and mixed it into the eggnog! Woo!” she cheered, earning a round of celebratory shouts behind her. I blinked, momentarily surprised by the outburst, and swore I heard Fluttershy mutter “Oh dear…” under her breathe. Recovering quickly, I snickered and shook my head. “Let me guess, some of it’s the hard stuff?” I inquired, attention shifting to the farm mare instead. Applejack smirked and winked of course. “O’ course! Labeled clearly on tha table, so tha youngsters don’t get inta it. It’s tha one towards tha back if ya want ah sample,” she relayed mirthfully. I rolled my eyes, knowing that she knew I couldn’t get drunk anyways. “Even without the hard stuff, it’s so good!” Rainbow squealed, shivering and squeezing her own chest as she swayed there. Her eyes flicked open again a second later and she grinned, sliding her gaze up and down me as well. “Mmm, although, I dunno. You look kinda good, too,” she admitted, angling a bit closer. And here we go. I knew it was only a matter of time before she started teasing me again. “Oh no ya don’t. Yer off target, Dashie,” Applejack muttered, snagging the cyan mare around the shoulders as she slid forwards, and spinning her around, capturing her muzzle with her own instead. Oh! Well, guess I didn’t have to worry about it right now, then. If she was upset, Rainbow certainly didn’t show it, melting against the orange mare as she got pulled tighter. Snickering, I grabbed the blushing Fluttershy, and all five gawking fillies, hauling everypony further into the room and around the edge of the groupings of ponies. Those two could have their own alone time. The happy talking, soft music, and warm lights really helped me relax as Fluttershy shifted into walking under her own power. My parade of fillies followed behind as well, with Scootaloo talking excitedly about how awesome it was that Apple Bloom and her were ‘kinda like sisters’ now. It was adorable, and I didn’t have the heart to point out that their sisters, adopted or not, technically weren’t married yet. Although given how stubborn both were, I doubted it was anything short of an inevitability, as they weren’t going to give up on each other anytime soon, if ever. Finally, we got around to the other end of the room where I’d spotted my friends talking, moving around two more groups of ponies, and three very drunk flower mares trying to dance together. Good grief. Hadn’t the party only started twenty minutes ago?! Vinyl sat in the sofa next to Octavia, looking less than pleased while her friend sipped at some of the aforementioned eggnog. I gave her a questioning glance as we slipped past, and I hopped up onto the bigger couch next to them, angled to face the two sofas with a small tea table in-between. “Tavi pulled me away from the record player…” Vinyl finally muttered amidst her sulking. Octavia sighed and shook her head, elaborating with, “It’s a sixty year old masterpiece. This party doesn’t need that sort of music to liven it up and I’ll not have you destroying such a beautiful relic with your exuberance.” Oh, Twilight’s record player. “Oh, I could not agree more! It is truly a beautiful instrument. Why, I was the one that gave it to Twilight when she moved here, and it’s been in our family for decades,” Night Light spoke up, of course sitting on the side of the couch closest to Octavia’s spot. Velvet rolled her eyes next to him, but smirked over at us as we sat down, fillies piling around Fluttershy and I as we settled. As those two broke into a conversation about music players and Vinyl looked about ready to cry, Velvet turned to me instead and gave me a polite smile. “Why, good evening, Mender. It’s so good to see you again,” she greeted politely, followed by a very pleased looking nod towards Fluttershy as well. “Heh. You only saw me about an hour ago, Mom. Still, I’m glad to be back in where it’s warm,” I muttered, puffing my fur up a little as I sank against the warm couch. Velvet perked and shivered happily at my use of ‘Mom’ for her, like she did every time. Fluttershy grinned and snuggled into my left side, taking Purdue into her lap as well, as Sweetie clambered into mine instead. Babs and Apple Bloom stayed on the floor, now arguing over the semantics of calling somepony a ‘sister’ when it should be ‘sister-in-law’. Huh. Scootaloo hopped up onto the back of the couch instead over my head and relaxed, tucking up her legs and resting against the top of my head. Velvet shifted her attention to Fluttershy as well shortly afterwards. “I’m glad you’re both doing okay. Are you sure the cold isn’t too much for you, Dear? Do you need anything? You should try to take it easy in your condition, you know,” she spoke up. And here we go. Again… Fluttershy blushed and held her hoof up, rapidly shaking her head. “Oh, n-no, I’m fine. Um, it’s only been three months…” she whispered, looking away quickly. I smiled and nuzzled into her cheek as she hid behind me a little bit. The mare on the other side of me looked less than convinced however and shook her head. “I know, I know! It’s just exciting! And you have to take good care of yourself. You have to make sure she behaves as well, Mender! You are at least partially responsible, no?” she reminded. I guessed it was my turn to blush, as I coughed lightly and looked away from her. If Fluttershy was bothered by it, she didn’t show that time and instead hugged into my back instead, pushing Purdue into my hip as well. The little filly gave a squeak, and I smiled, rubbing her coppery mane with my left foreleg, while pulling Sweetie against my torso with my other. Sweetie smiled up at me, upside-down to me, but still happy. “I think it’s wonderful! Maybe, when I join the herd too, I’ll eventually get to have a little foal of my own with Mender!” she exclaimed. Okay, that time I coughed in surprise. “Ah, you’re way, way too young, Sweetie! Gah. Besides, we talked about this, remember?” I reminded, shooting her a skeptical glance instead. She pouted and sighed, crossing her forelegs before nodding ever so slightly. “I know, I know. You know I’m looking out for my future as well. Rarity told you all about that, I heard her. Even though it might mean I… I might have to be away from Ponyville for long periods of time, I still haven’t given up on being with you three either. At least let me have that,” she requested softly. Yes, that was spoken like a more mature mare. I smiled and nodded, feeling her relax and tuck her head under my chin. Of course, the way she acted sometimes with me left very little to be transitioned to if she did join the herd. Still, with her upcoming profession’s opportunities, we might want to hold off on that. “My little sister isn’t causing you any troubles now, is she? No poisons yet, right?” I heard eloquently asked from a familiar voice, behind me. Glancing back over the sofa and past the now preening Scootaloo, I saw Rarity calmly walking down the stairs in her Hearth’s Warming gown, looking very pretty indeed. A much wooed Spike followed after her, carefully lifting up the other end of her dress and keeping it off the stairs as she walked, making sure it stayed nice and clean. Sweetie gave out an annoyed groan, but I chuckled and shook my head. “Nope. She’s being a well behaved, extremely mature mare,” I corrected, catching her perk up and smile at me in my peripheral vision as I rotated around to note Rarity sitting down on the other side of Fluttershy. Spike carefully lifted her dress up onto the cushion behind her, smiling towards the pearly mare. “Why, Sweetie? Are we still talking about my sister?” she teased, looking amused at the filly, who shot her a glare back. It didn’t last however, and Rarity soon melted into a more pleased smile and nodded to her, causing her to relax again. “Spike, you don’t have to stay down there, of course. Hop up here,” the white unicorn suddenly spoke up, patting the cushion next to her. Spike perked and hopped up onto the cushion as well, needing no further convincing. There wasn’t really enough room between Rarity and Fluttershy for him, but the requesting mare pulled him a bit closer instead, squeezing him into her side as she relaxed. The little dragon looked like he’d died and gone to a particularly pleasant afterlife at that point, and I snickered. “Hello as well, Spike. I’d ask if you were enjoying the party, but…” I greeted, earning a snicker from both Sweetie and Velvet. “Oh, am I! O-Oh! Mender, uh, hey! We’re uh, cool about that little, um…” Spike suddenly spoke up, shifting to nervous instead. Snickering, I nodded to him before assuring, “Prudentia is an extremely powerful artifact. Sneezing on her, even if your sneezes involve fire, isn’t going to harm her.” Purdue shot me a mildly annoyed glare a second later, followed by, “It was disgusting, still! Burning and highly magical snot is still snot!” Spike deflated, and I gave a light glare to the little filly, who sighed and shrank back a bit. “I… yeah. Okay, it was fine. Besides, the book cleans itself automatically so, eh…” she muttered, turning back to Spike. “I’m sorry, Purdue. I said that…” he apologized, ear fins wiggling as the little filly shook her head. “No, it’s okay, Spike. I know you didn’t mean to,” she accepted finally, giving the dragon a hug. Rarity smiled as well and nodded, patting them both on the head. Woo. Another social disaster averted! I was never going to get used to this… * * * * * The party was dwindling down now, ponies leaving here and there to be with family in private. Some to be with ‘family’ in ‘private’. And even a few more being dragged out, very much unconscious at that point. Regardless, it was just me now, alongside my extended ‘family’ of amazing friends. The wonderful mares that were Element Bearers, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, and Big Mac. Cheerilee had gotten horribly sick about an hour in and he was kind enough to escort her back to her house anyways. It was a little weird that it had taken an hour and a half for him to get back, but meh. I wasn’t going to ask. Now we all rested around the fire, myself tucked down right next to it, with Fluttershy curled up against my chest as I held her. Pinkie rested to my other side in a surprisingly unenergetic manner, looking tired as she watched the flames flicker back and forth. Twilight and Rarity sat talking on the sofa, softly discussing the practical application of a new magic spell Twilight had made involving changing the colors of fabrics on the fly. Spike snored lightly next to Rarity. Rainbow, on the other hoof, snored loudly on the sofa on the other side of me, an amusing looking Applejack holding her close. I heard mention of a bet involving eggnog consumption, and could only assume from there. Sweetie sang softly next to the fire, a gentle sound that had her three other Crusaders enraptured as they swayed along to her voice. It was a happy song, light-hearted and very much feeling like Hearth’s Warming, despite there being no words. Lastly, Big Mac lay across from them, also close to the fire to warm up after he got back. He smiled however as he watched the four, looking relaxed. It reminded me of so long ago, when we all had relaxed by the fire after getting drenched in the rain. Spending time with those we loved was what Hearth’s Warming was really about. I pulled Fluttershy close, kissing the top of her head warmly and feeling her coo, snuggling a bit tighter against my chest. Yeah, that’s what was the most special to me now. Silently, I hoped that everypony, no matter where they were, was having an amazing Hearth’s Warming as well, also celebrating it with their loved ones. Even if they called it something else… Even if they found themselves alone… Deep down, I extended my heart out in silent hoping that they knew, at the very least, one soul was thinking about them all. Fluttershy silently agreed, feeling my intent and sending her love alongside it through my heart, and I smiled softly. It was nice to have a relaxing evening, regardless. Maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay and this would be a nice holiday… Wait, Carrot had said something about that whole ‘tempting fate’ thing… Eh, what could possibly go wrong in the mere hour we had left to the day? * * * * * “How did this happen again?!” I screamed out over the roar of battle, another massive giant of ice and snow crashing to the ground at my hooves, my tentacles tearing half its torso off. Twilight’s magic screamed through the night, a massive beam cutting three of them in half as sixteen full levels of my enchantment came off her horn, her eyes radiating white as she landed again next to me. “The mayor, being greedy, and stealing an ancient artifact from a long forgotten tribe of snow monsters!” Twilight yelled out, pushing us both aside as the one I’d sliced open grew back together and lashed out at us. “They look like giant snowmen to me!” Pinkie cheered, hopping sixteen feet in the air past us and whipping into a tight spin with her legs, the disk blades of light flaring out from each hoof as she went and slicing the offending arm from the creature that it used to attack. It looked momentarily surprised before she landed on its still reforming shoulder, smiled happily at it, and then flicked away again, slicing its head into three pieces as she left. I chuckled at her energy and nodded, bursting forwards again. Timing it right, I hopped over two more leading blasts from Twilight, which clipped the next monster off at the knees, then drove into its chest as I felt four hooves land lightly on my back. Clicking, I signaled to her, and Sweetie leapt off me, slicing the now downed snowman’s head off with her horn’s blazing light extension, rolling to a stop on the other side of it. As expected, its closest ally raged and charged towards us. I raised my hoof and gestured twice before bringing it down towards the creature as it ran. Perfect. Forward momentum. A filly shot past me on both sides, far faster than they should normally be able to run, and I instantly realized that he threw them. Babs and Apple Bloom, both radiating their own inner light from the runes covering them, smashed into a knee each with all four hooves first, snapping the creature’s legs off as it screamed, falling forwards. I ducked as Big Mac leapt over me, sporting his own burning green runes as he bound forwards, meeting the thing as it fell. It never stopped shocking me how absolutely terrifying he was, as he grunted out, smashing through the creature’s back as its entire chest shattered away from the force of the large stallion’s impact. Three titans temporarily down. That left the smaller ones to the town guard, and two more titans to deal with before we could retrieve the star from the top of the Hearth’s Warming tree and catapult it back into the mountains. Let them find it themselves in there somewhere! I’d thought the new ornament looked kinda weird, with its rotating tips and lines of eldritch light drifting out of it and glowing everywhere. Eh. I gave a light click, then a whistle as I booked it towards the next titan, tentacles extending and flinging me into the air. Scootaloo shot past at my signal an instant later, grabbing my extended tentacle loop above me and flinging me hard towards the creature. Rainbow shot past even faster at the whistle, her massive wings flaring with light easily four times her own body size as she zipped in, releasing Applejack from her grip as she went. I hit first, just as the creature turned, realizing its allies weren’t on the offensive on that side of town anymore. Three tentacles tore into its chest, two more ripped its arms off, and I saved the big one to send its head flying, my pure mass easily overwhelming it as I expanded myself slightly. Applejack hit the other one half a second later, letting out a scream of rage as she brought her massive, armored hooves down into the thing, caving its head in and crushing its torso down the middle before kicking off it, the force of her launching herself sending it into the ground in a crumpled heap. “Downed! Dust all five of them!” I shouted out, spinning as I hit the ground and barely managing to throw myself off the thing as the ribbons came in. On it, Dear!” I heard Rarity call out, the green and light blue glows dancing along the ribbons as they flicked around the battlefield like demented puppets, glittering in the dark. While quite pretty, I knew their true form. A few thousand razorblades attached to dozens of wires, the energy and cutting power of Spike’s claw lines mixed with the precision of Rarity’s magic. They found cracks and weak spots, and then sliced. Rarity trotted up while her focus reduced the five titans to nothing more than volleyball sized chunks, Spike still riding on her back with glowing green claws. “Fluttershy!” I tossed out next, noticing all the pieces start to glow purple instead. Every single chunk across the entire battlefield lit up as Twilight lifted them all. Several hundred tons of ice and snow, split into thousands of pieces, and she was still managing to raise them all up. It was moments like these that I realized how scary the mare was. Fluttershy shot up in the back, her wings expanding in yellow glow, soft and warm like the sun. Her lines weren’t harsh or sharp looking like Rainbow’s, but extended like a butterfly as she expanded her wings. She also wasn’t fast at all, but had something else entirely different. Then she flapped. One massive rush as the wings expanded together, with the surface area of a creature a thousand times her size. The wind blast had us all hunkering down just to stay rooted to the ground as snow and ice blasted away. The entire cluster of chunks were sent flying off into the mountains faster than the eye could see, however. Shaking the loose snow off, I stood up again and sighed, watching the titans trying to reform before they disappeared into the mountain range, undoubtedly smashing into more pieces. Heh, it would be a while before they were back. And by then… “Happy Hearth’s Warming!” Rainbow shouted after them before bursting into amused laughter above us. I smirked up at her, and she grinned back. Happy Hearth’s Warming indeed. “And to all, a good night!” Pinkie chipped in before slicing the ancient star off the top of the tree in the middle of the square with her left forehoof. Applejack smirked and hauled up her cannon, looking amused. Hopefully it would be a good night now. But I was done tempting fate, I decided, as Rainbow shot in and threw the star, and the top of the tree, into the massive, floating cannon as its firing anchors shot out into the ground. “Good night indeed, ya varmints!” Applejack agreed, charging the cannon up with her energy before firing the star directly at the mountainside, the explosion of light brightening the entire town up, like a secondary sun expanding on the horizon. Err… Twilight just sighed and rubbed at her temples with her hooves. “Oops…” Applejack muttered weakly, swallowing as we watched the heated cloud of flames expand up into the sky. What had I told her about firing strange ammunition out of that thing?! You’d think she’d have learned her lesson after the last time. “Uh… let’s just tell them that it was a fireworks accident gone wrong and call it a night…” I groaned, sighing and slumping as I watched. Yeah, I wasn’t even going to mention fate from now on… Wait… Damn it! * * * * * It was well into the night now, with all townsfolk accounted for and only minimal property damage. Well then, I guess it was all in a good day’s work. Well, night’s work. Eh. The seven meter tall ice and snow monstrosities stopped coming once we got rid of the five big ones, and shot their stupid star back. The mayor didn’t exactly like my report that I’d used her expensive and shiny star she’d bartered for as ammunition, but after I mentioned that it was what drew all the creatures, she dropped the matter entirely. And this is why you don’t try to barter with strange looking ponies wearing all black with large robes on. There’s usually a reason they want to stay anonymous. All of us slowly headed back to the library, our friends having left their stuff in there anyways when the first ice meteor came in and smashed the fountain. I couldn’t speak for them, but I was a bit sore, and had a few bruises here and there, alongside a nick across my forehead. Given how they looked and walked, I’d say the others were pretty much feeling the same. Well, except for Fluttershy, as I intentionally didn’t let her fight. Not that was too hard. The light was on when we got back, oddly. Eh? We’d just left it off as the fireplace was going. Twilight frowned as well, then walked in first, ears perked up. I readied my armor and weapons, just in case more of the smaller ones had somehow gotten inside. None of us were expecting what we did find, however. “Bu… I… what?! Where did you two go?! You said you were going to get more ‘cider’ for the party from the royal reserves, then never came back!” Twilight yelped as we came to a stop. Lulu sat on the sofa, politely sipping tea, and Tia was across from her, eating cake on the couch I had inhabited earlier. Oh yeah, they had been there before we left for the presents, and gone when we’d gotten back… with their presents… “Oh, we did. It’s right here, of course,” Tia explained, sliding two massive barrels over towards us with her magic. Two? I noticed they were different types. Luna sighed and shook her head, setting her tea down. “My sister here seemed to think our aged Apple Family Reserves was the finest cider we had. I might have disagreed, instead requesting some imported Draconic Firetree cider. My sister refused, and we wasted much time in debate about it,” she explained. I stared blankly at them. What? “No guards were injured during our disagreement,” Tia quickly assured. Wait, was that even needed to be said?! “Regardless, in the end, we brought both. So now, Mender gets to decide. I’m not entirely sure anypony else could drink the Draconic cider without blood filters,” Luna finished, gesturing towards me. I could have sworn I saw Twilight twitch. Rainbow flopped down tiredly on the other side of me, giving out a weak groan, while Applejack just slapped her forehead. “Uh, so ya were arguin’ about cider tha whole time we were battlin’ with tha giant ice thingies that attacked?” she asked in disbelief. True. You’d think they’d have known about that, seeing as a hundred and twenty their royal guard helped push back the invaders. Even though they reported to me, I’d imagine they still gave information to the two Princesses. “Oh, of course not. We came back towards the start of the fight, then rushed when we heard combat. Of course, everypony was doing admirably, and it didn’t look like you needed aid,” Tia assured. I stared in blank shock at her, feeling a spasm go through my left eye. Seriously? Lulu nodded pleasantly and picked up her tea again, adding, “Quite. It was wonderful exercise, too.” They were screwing with me, weren’t they? “Worry not, we at least kept the southern flank busy while you settled the disagreement,” Tia added, taking another slice of the Hearth’s Warming cake for herself. She paused for a second, then smiled warmly back towards us. “This is wonderful cake, by the way,” she complimented after another moment. Please, just let me pass out now… “Oh, thank you!” Pinkie chirped, sounding as if she had just woken up. Whatever demonic or eldritch energy fueled that pony, I wanted it… Twilight ceased responding, letting out a series of low groans as I watched her expression contort into mental ticks. Hmm. Actually, she sometimes sounded like that when… uh… no, stay focused, brain! I shook my head and sighed before asking, “Southern front? There wasn’t… But none of the monsters came from the Southern front…” “Does that mean we did a good job?” Lulu asked, smiling politely up at me while Tia started snickering uncontrollably, blushing. Was… Was she drunk? Okay, I just had to confirm this for myself. I didn’t care at this point. Turning, I looked up and mentally whistled lightly. “Hey, Keela, are you awake yet?” I reverberated through my mind. “Huh? Oh, yeah, of course. I was having breakfa-“ she started to relay, before squeaking suddenly and frantically continuing with, “Oh, oh no! I was supposed to come to your party and I totally forgot to set my alarm and-“ “No, that’s okay, Keela. Could you bring a satellite scan of Southern Ponyville, and then warp in here?” I requested gently, interrupting her. Rarity finally spoke up in my absence of talking, Spike sliding off her back as she cantered around the group. “Not to sound unthankful, but isn’t the party well, over now? This lovely cider is all going to have to be brought back and-“ she started to point out. “Never! We’re partying again tomorrow!” Pinkie adamantly declared, with no room whatsoever for disagreement. Oh, okay! A flickering distortion appeared, and Keela faded into the room a few seconds later, cup of coffee still in hand and yawning as she slid the pictures over to me. “Whoa, wild party, huh?” she asked, blinking as she looked past us and out the door, watching two guards trying to put a fire out on a wagon. I couldn’t bring myself to answer, my jaw dropped as I stared blankly at the pictures. Three kilometers to the south of Ponyville, in the fields before the forest, lay a scene of utter destruction. Ice titan chunks lay everywhere, amidst massive gouges sliced into the rock and earth alike. The destruction spanned almost a kilometer, all the way to the edge of the forest. It even looked like a couple of the titans had tried to drag themselves and their broken bodies away, only to be violently obliterated by high impacts to the head and back by something that blackened the very ice they were made out of. Some of the remains even looked like they’d been… played with or something. One was put back together again upside down and dressed up like a snowpony! Why?! I looked up in horror at the two princesses, but Tia just smiled back over at me. “Mmm, this is really good cake!”
Chapter 54"Okay, and remember, if you start to get tired, it's perfectly fine to take a break," I repeated again for the third time. Rainbow would disregard it, of course. Scootaloo further looked like she was more ecstatic for training with aforementioned mare than actually listening. At least the other three were paying attention and nodded in understanding, even if Sweetie might have been paying a bit too much attention. All four ponies and dragon were lined up nicely along the shore of the lake, and I paced slowly in front of them. "We get that much, Mender. Can we just start now?" Rainbow asked, rocking back and forth on her hooves impatiently as if she had to use the bathroom really badly. I rolled my eyes and dropped my head, defeated. "If you wear yourself out to the point of exhaustion again, I'm launching you into the lake. If you're lucky, I'll even use the regeneration technique on you first," I warned her, glaring upwards as she grinned towards me. "Eh, more work for you having to fish me out all soggy-like, but okay! Race ya to unconsciousness, Scoots!" she announced. What?! Scootaloo grinned and nodded, flaring out her wings at the same instant that Rainbow did, both expanding three levels instantly. The little filly's eyes widened as Rainbow's kept going, however, extending out an additional two extensions past hers. "Whoa! You can get five?!" she asked in surprise. Okay, yeah. They weren't serious. Rolling my eyes, I just walked back to the other three, ignoring the excited discussion opening up behind me. Apple Bloom was already focusing intently, glowing runes expanding across her skin like armor as her legs in particular started to flare up with light. I smiled towards her as the ground started to shiver, realizing she already knew the basics and was following instructions. Stepping past her, I noticed Spike already focusing on the water in front of him, his arms raised out horizontally with the ground and his claws extended out. The lines of energy drifted easily from each sharp point, lightly stirring the water as he focused. Slowly, he closed his claws back up into a fist and frowned, two orbs starting to rise gently out of the water, lightly webbed with green and purple light. I was glad to see my experiment was successful on that end! Dragons had energy inside, just like ponies, and he was able to manipulate them similarly. It got me wondering about other races in Equestria, and how much magic they possessed. Dragons and Ponies at least appeared to inherently create their own magic, so much so that it literally leaked out into everything. Equestria was absolutely flooded with magic, and I wondered where it all came from. Surely it had to come from somewhere, right? Moving behind him so I didn't disrupt his focus, I turned and rounded the other side of the line to peek at Sweetie Belle as well. That, well, wasn't going so hot. I double-checked my enchantment, but noted that it was actually exactly the same tension values as Spike's, who had never really used his magic before, as far as I knew. Sweetie was fighting like crazy, however, to even expand past the first layer, and looked beyond frustrated. "This... It's just not working!" she whined, a few sparks shooting off the tip of the energy construction as her attention wavered. Hmm. "I'm not familiar with unicorn magic, obviously, but maybe it would help if I took a peek at what you were doing with your magic when trying to channel it?" I offered, not entirely sure what I could do to help her. She tilted her head curiously at me, but nodded a moment later. "You can do that?" she asked gently. "Yeah. I'm just going to lightly toss a couple magical probes into you and see what's going on with your energy lines while you focus. Just a second," I requested, starting the basic-most probe spell, the runes forming in my mind as I held my hoof up. Calculation and energy was bestowed a moment later, and I nodded, firing three tiny little strings of magic into her shoulder. She looked confused more than anything, but just stood there as I slipped the lines of energy into her own flows and traced them in various directions. She probably didn't even feel them due to the small amounts of energy there. I nodded to her a second later, and she looked back at the lake, giving a short nod in return before her horn lit up again and she squished her eyes shut in rather intense focus. I raised an eyebrow as her entire system went rigid with tension and pressurized, forming a sort of percolating effect. It was beyond weird as her magic just sort of 'bubbled' up under the pressure and leaked out of her horn into the effect she wanted. That was totally different from Twilight. Hers was kinda like a high-pressure tsunami directed through a fire hose. Intimidating to say the least when the 'end' of that hose was pushed into my forehead when I was watching it. "I think I see the problem. You're not really doing anything with your energy directly. Has anypony ever taught you how to use it?" I asked, trying to remember back to the culture books I'd read in the hospital. "No. Rarity's too busy most of the time for private lessons, and I'm too young for the official unicorn magic training yet," she explained, eyes softening a little as she looked down. A pang of sympathy shot through me and I smiled, lightly rubbing the top of her head. "Well, cheer up. Admittedly, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll try my best to give you lessons myself! I only know how I use my own magic, though, which I'm told is quite a bit different than what a unicorn does," I warned. Her eyes lit up and she looked back up at me with a tiny smile, nodding and blushing a moment later. "Please! Thank you, Mender!" she squeaked out after recovering for a moment. Chuckling, I nodded to her before asking, "Okay, let's try a few things. How do you normally start 'channeling' your magic to make it work? What do you focus on and how does it feel?" That would be a good start for comparison's sake, anyway. "Well, I just kinda try to stir it up inside and make it move around while I focus on what I want to do," she explained hesitantly, looking back over at me as I sat down next to her. Direction was her problem, then. "I see. I'm thinking I know where to start now, then," I returned, lightly closing my eyes. My magic leaked out of me from all sides as I pushed it to the surface and held it there, hearing a light squeak of surprise from the filly next to me. I just relaxed as the glow danced around me, shapeless and doing absolutely nothing, apart from turning me into an oddly shaped lamp. Slowly, I opened my eyes again and held up my left hoof, looking at it. "Shaking my magic up, I'll try to create an orb of light in my hoof," I explained, focusing on starting to ruffle up my magic without direction. It was pointless, of course, but I activated the spell anyway. It 'bubbled' there, for lack of better words, and slowly splashed up and about, weakly powering a flickering orb of light on my hoof. Sweetie frowned as she watched the flow of energy all around me shake about, probably noticing how similar it looked from what she had just done. "The easiest way to naturally understand channeling is to picture a river. The gentle bubbling flow as it drifts through you and cycles around endlessly," I explained gently, feeling the shaking stop and the light start to slip back into a flowing motion, following my natural mana links along my body. Her eyes widened as she watched curiously, and I smiled towards her. "This is what your body naturally looks like. Frothing your energy up inside of you might get a little to the surface, but it lacks direction, as you saw. So feel the river, the flow, inside of you and listen to it," I explained, closing my eyes again. It circled endlessly, like life itself. It was all mine, and the pool ran a lot deeper than it had even a week ago. I was growing stronger again, and it felt amazing. My eyes opened up again, alight with an amber glow instead, my natural eye color. The flow in my left hoof gradually shifted, ebbing forwards until it touched along my hoof. The energy flowed into my carefully constructed magical weave, and the orb of light formed almost instantly as I willed it. Normally it wasn't visible, of course, but the lights I'd stuck along my fur kept flowing with every drift of energy inside of me, and Sweetie saw it all. Her eyes were huge now as she stared at the little orb in front of me as it drifted free as programmed. "My magic isn't spontaneous. I need careful focus and calculation to use it. Unicorn magic is formed instead by 'aura', or an exercise of will over the energy itself. That's how Twilight explained it, anyway. Your magic is far faster than mine, and can grow quickly past any bounds you need for it. My strength is in stamina and conservation, using far less energy to do the same thing," I explained, letting the magic sink back inside of me. The orb broke apart a second later and was reabsorbed into my body as I released the framework. Of course, there was another reason I had given her this talk, showing her instead of having her try it. Watching me for a minute or so had stabilized her own flow again inside of her, I noticed through my little energy probes. She had relaxed now, which would make trying it easier. "Give it a shot. Just close your eyes and try to feel that perpetual flow inside of you. I'll put a little more energy into my probes so you can feel them moving around, too, and make it easier," I explained. Sweetie did as instructed and closed her eyes again, this time not shaking her entire system up instantly. My probes flared up like little dancing beacons along her system, and she shivered lightly as I felt her suddenly become aware of them. I smiled and just let them drift inside of her as I leaned closer. "Ebb and flow, Sweetie. It's a river constantly going in a soft circle. I know you can feel it, even as it dances past the base of your horn. You can see it now in your mind, right?" I asked quietly, trying to drown out the sound of Rainbow's 'advice' to Scootaloo a couple meters away. I wasn’t entirely sure ‘throwing yourself at the ground and missing’ was legit flying advice, but she was the expert, I guess. The small unicorn didn't seem to even hear them as she just nodded, and I suddenly 'felt' all of her focus on only me as she sat there with her eyes closed. She was aware of me, too, having felt back up the links through the probes, I noticed. Heh, fast learner. "Then just try to light up the tip of your horn. A soft, green light. Feel the color and flow as you lightly push it upwards on your forehead to touch the bottom of the horn inside your mind," I explained, keeping my voice low and calm for her. Her magic was green, so that would give her the easiest time with it. Slowly, almost cautiously, I saw the flow point in her forehead reach out with a line of energy as she exhaled quietly, an airy sigh as it brushed into her horn. She gave a start as it danced along the length of the extension suddenly, then smiled as she felt the light flare up instantly, giving a soft green tint to the sand under her. Her eyes opened and she looked up at the tip of her horn in surprise, staring at the glow as her eyes shivered, a smile forming on her muzzle. "That, Sweetie. That's how you channel magic as a unicorn. Pretty soon, it'll be like second nature to do it, I'm sure. Then you can do more complex stuff like-" I started to explain, grinning at the little filly. She interrupted me with a violent pounce to the chest, hugging me tight around as much of my torso as she could manage. "Thank you, Mender! Thank you, thank you! This is amazing! I've been doing it wrong this whole time!" she squeaked out, sliding back down and grinning up at me. A little surprised, I recovered quickly and nodded down to her, adding a wink as I reactivated her enchantment. That was probably one of the stupider things I've done so far, of course. The horn extension expanded off her forehead two sections instantly, putting it barely a sixth of a meter from my face before the magic caught up. A minute and a half later, I was still curled on the ground and holding my eyes, the bright dots still showing on the insides of my eyelids from the massive flare of light. Okay, that was idiotic! "Aaah, I'm still sorry, Mender!" Sweetie squeaked out from somewhere in front of me. Apple Bloom's hooves lightly rubbed my back from behind, and she snickered again in amusement. "As I said, that was kinda totally my fault. You didn't do anything, Sweetie," I groaned, finally starting to feel the wetness coming back to my eyes. It figured that it would generate heat, too. "Admittedly, it was kinda stupid," Rainbow added a second later, followed by a snicker. "Dash!" I heard Scootaloo yelp, apparently still a little on my side, even with her all-time favorite pony right there. I couldn't help but start to chuckle as well and nod, agreeing with, "You got me there. Let's just activate the magnification enchantment while she's casting a light spell a meter from my face! I've... Well, I've definitely had better ideas." Was it good that even I found it funny? Rainbow started outright snickering at that, and I heard a warm laugh from Apple Bloom behind me as she ruffled the top of my mane. "Y-You really aren't mad, then?" Sweetie asked hesitantly, sounding like she shifted a little closer, but I couldn't tell without looking. "Of course I'm not. I'm proud of you for managing your first full spell!" I chirped, feeling enough wetness to finally open my eyes up again. A couple persistent spots and a grinning Sweetie Belle greeted me immediately, and she slid forwards and gave me a hug on the foreleg. "You really helped me with that magic you did! Being able to see it like that..." she cooed, nodding twice as she swayed there. Her horn was still activated, interestingly enough, but the light spell had long since been halted. She probably turned it off after the incident. Rainbow exhaled gently from behind her and snickered again, shaking her head slowly towards me before raising it and giving me a smirk. "Well, now that I know you're fine, it's back to practicing for me! I've got a race coming up and I need to show them how awesome I am!" she reminded. It didn't take much effort to see through that statement, and I returned her smirk. "Thanks for worrying about me, Dashie. I'll help you train extra hard today," I thanked, making sure to really lay it on thick with her nickname. I'd only ever heard Pinkie call her that, but it was cute, so... Her cheeks tinted furiously and she scowled at me, but Scootaloo started grinning as she watched. "Hey, she's not going to have any problem winning. This is just to make her look even more awesome! Then maybe AJ will call her Dashie, too?" the little filly suggested, giving a rather impish smile. Oh, wow! I started to laugh when the extremely red Rainbow Dash squeaked and pounced at Scootaloo, who squealed and took off to the side, blasting off over the lake with her wing jets. Rainbow was after her like a bolt of lightning from hell itself, and I once again found myself admiring the mare's pure feral speed as the lake exploded out in blasts of water, rainbow light distorting across the small shock waves formed. Huh. Well, that happened. We stared after them for a moment as everything went silent, and I sighed. "Uh, you guys can keep practicing. I guess I'll go see if they're still alive," I muttered. A small chorus of laughs sounded off behind me as I walked towards the water... * * * * * Despite almost a half dozen accidents and them almost killing each other with enchantment-enhanced showing off a couple of times, I'd say the training session had gone fairly well so far! Relaxing on the blanket, I idly lifted and took another bite of my sandwich with my right hoof, the faint glow keeping the tasty morsel attached. Sweetie was tucked into my right side, and Apple Bloom had taken residence a half a meter to my left while we ate. Rainbow laid herself out across from me, crashing hard after the practice and only sipping a bit of water until she cooled off, while Scootaloo compulsively tended to her every need, like a real, worrying sister. Now she was munching lightly while keeping Rainbow's water bottle and straw balanced upright with her right foreleg, tucked into the cyan mare's stomach. It was rather adorable and I found myself idly wishing I had a foal of my own to cuddle and spoil rotten. The thought caused me to blush lightly as I realized that might be ahead somewhere in the future. Still, the process of 'getting there' still felt amazingly foreign. Even though I cared for both of them, it was really hard to see either Fluttershy or Twilight in that sort of light. "This was an amazing idea," Spike chipped in a few quiet moments later. I peeked over at him in time to watch him devour the rest of his sandwich, giving me a pleased smirk afterwards. I chuckled, but nodded as well, deciding this picnic was far better than our last attempt. Nopony had even been poisoned yet! Apple Bloom perked up and nodded to the little dragon who was to her left, comfortably using Tank's shell as a table. Following his normal pattern, the tortoise just didn't seem to care. I was impressed at how little actually fazed him. "Ah packed it up mahself. Ah'm glad ya like it, Spike!" the yellow filly chirped, sounding pleased. I was just glad they'd made up and were friends again, it would seem. His grin widened and he started to look like he was suddenly going to say something when his eyes widened and he froze. I gave him a questioning glance, considering he was staring at me, and double-checked my proximity sensors and status. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, so I tilted my head towards him curiously. A few seconds later, his cheeks puffed up and his pupils shrank a little bit. I started to get concerned for his health when he suddenly opened his mouth and blasted flames right at me! My eyes extended to full size as I backed my face up, barriers flickering up to block the attack that never landed. The flames solidified into a scroll instead halfway between us, and the rolled up message skipped off my barrier, landing on top of the picnic basket in front of me. Oh! Oh hell. He really needed a warning system or something for that! I almost wet myself... Apple Bloom didn't look surprised in the slightest, but instead looked at the scroll in awe. "Ah message from tha Princess?!" she asked, looking impressed. The lightly snoozing Sweetie Belle perked on the other side of me and opened her left eye, curiously staring at it. "Uh, I'm not sure. There are only, like, five ponies that can send me messages. The three Princesses, Twilight, and Shining," Spike informed, leaning over to pick up the rolled up scroll. It must be a spell or something they used, then? Did all dragons function as a long distance communication method? I watched curiously as he broke the seal with his claw and unrolled it gently. A long minute passed in silence, as he seemed to almost be counting to himself for some reason. Tilting my head, I finally asked, "Uh, who's it from and what are you doing?" "It says it's from Princess Celestia, but it's got a summation number, and I'm checking to make sure there's the right number of words, paragraphs, lines, and spaces," he explained absently, his eyes moving incredibly quickly, to my surprise. I peeked at the number printed at the very bottom, noticing it was an unlabeled series of letters and numbers, seemingly at random. Fascinating! So, to make sure the letter hasn't been tampered with, they make a complex, manual checksum at the bottom. Could dragon delivery service be intercepted or something? Apparently that was a yes, if Tia went to this much trouble to safeguard against it. "Uh, what's all that mean, again?" Apple Bloom asked curiously, looking more than a little skeptical. "That code on the bottom somehow tells Spike how many of each of those to expect in the letter. If his count shows up differently, it might mean the letter has been tampered with before it arrived here. That transfer must be able to be intercepted, then?" I guessed idly. I wasn't really surprised when the filly perked up in understanding, seemingly able to grasp my explanation. Spike nodded again before finishing counting out the letter. "Yeah. Powerful magic can intercept a letter for a few seconds, which is enough to use a different spell to change what it says. This really is from Princess Celestia, however. Also, it's for Mender," he elaborated before smiling and extending the sheet towards me. Blinking lightly in confusion, I reached out and touched it with a hoof, my magic locking onto it as I lifted it over to where I was. What did she want with me again? Rapidly, I started silently reading the letter. "Hello again, Mender. I hope this letter finds you well," it started, giving me a nice, informal feel. Plus, it was always a good idea to hope for my health, both physical and mental. It continued with, "I wanted to inform you that the guest that you sent to us is proving most cooperative. As per your warning, we gave her prompt medical attention and treatment for her injury, although it wasn't severe in the least." That was good. I'd feel terrible if I'd given her, or through inaction, let her get a concussion or something. "What's the letter about?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously, interrupting my flow. "You should let him read it first," Scootaloo chastised lightly, giving the unicorn an amused stare. Sweetie shot an annoyed glare her way, but I held my hoof up and shook my head. "It's fine. It's talking about that mare I had to arrest and send to Canterlot. She appears to have made a full recovery and is cooperating with them," I explained, hopefully heading off any arguments. Rainbow's lips curled up into a smirk, proving she was still awake. "At least Tank didn't cream her too hard. Way more restraint than me! I would have bucked her through a tree for trying to blow you up," she muttered tiredly, but managing to open her left eye up to give me a mirthful glance. I chuckled before correcting, "Low density explosive. Plus, it was rock salt fragmentation, so her goal wasn't to blow me up so much as just stunning me. It didn't even make my barrier flinch, so don't worry." Her amused look only doubled, and I braced for a barbed retort, but it never came. Sweetie instead beat her to the punch. "I agree! She shouldn't be treated nice, at least, if only because she tried to hurt Mender!" the little filly growled, in an uncharacteristically menacing tone. I gave her a surprised glance but Spike started laughing, distracting me. "You would have gotten your wish had Mender not stopped Carrot! The mare would still be in critical otherwise," he chipped in, apparently finding it infinitely amusing. Heh. Critical? She'd be lucky if the berserking mare stopped short of putting her six feet under! Seriously short temper on that one. Possibly shorter than Rainbow's, but that was a tough call to make. Also, I wasn't about to run empirical testing on it. I wouldn't survive the process. "Works for me. She kicks almost as much flank as AJ, and that's saying something, considering she's not trained for it," Rainbow tossed in, adding a low whistle afterwards that was almost universal for respectful awe. It also amused me that they used 'flank' rather than 'rump' or 'haunch', which would be the butt of a pony. I chalked it on to some sort of cultural significance and made a note to ask somepony later, who wouldn't laugh hysterically at me. Shifting back down to the letter, I continued reading where I left off. "She's given us insight as to what is going on, and I have a solid hunch I know of what is behind the slander and magical attack against you. It's not good news, however, and I must hold off and inform you in-person upon your arrival in Canterlot. In the meantime, we continue looking into the matter on this end." Well, Tia being negative about something was definitely cause for alarm. I sighed and then widened my eyes a little at the final paragraph. "Lastly, I must alert you immediately of current information. She also informed us that she may not have been the only operative in your current area, and that there might be an additional issue to contend with. Be vigilant, and protect those around you as best you're able. Stay safe until we meet again," the last paragraph read. I stared at the letter for another moment before sighing and folding it up again. It distorted across its surface and was gone an instant later, falling into the wrinkle of space inside of me, instantly dropping inside my saddlebags, which were in the same spot. Sweetie watched curiously where it had been on my hoof for a second before I shook my head. "It was just detailing what she'd said so far and informing me that they're investigating more using her information," I explained, entirely honestly. There was no sense in telling them about potential danger that may or may not even still be here. Whoever was here before might have run after the mare had gotten arrested. I kept my proximity sensors on, however, just in case. Spike perked up and nodded at that, smiling towards me gently. "That's good that they're getting closer to finding the ponies responsible. They can't get away with this," he said, closing his eyes lightly as if intently focusing on his own words. "They won't. This whole thing'll probably be resolved before winter even hits! Ya got ah lot o' ponies supportin' ya now," Apple Bloom predicted, making me frown towards her. I really, really hoped she was right, but there was something that suddenly made me uneasy about the whole thing. For just a second, her smile matched up with the one in my mind, and I saw her as a little blue filly instead. It was gone before I even grasped it existed, and I was forced to look away. Remember. Remember what? Giggling snapped me out of my focus, sounding far off yet. My proximity sensors picked up the location instantly and started passive distortion scans towards it as my ears twitched, my head turning to look in that direction. Three levels of magnification to my eyes later, I saw four small foals coming down the road. Two I recognized almost instantly as Featherweight and Pinch from the other day. The other two were unknown, however. My focus shifted to the unknown two as the three fillies around me perked up and rotated to look at where I was staring. Same size, mane length, and tail length. Related, maybe? The gray one sported a mane of two slightly different shades of silver, looking surprisingly grayscale in comparison to most ponies. The pink one further had a two toned mane of purple and white, to my mild surprise. I guess white was a legitimate mane or tail color for ponies, regardless of age. Maybe to offset her distinct lack of color, the gray one also sported a rather expensive looking, and in my opinion, ugly pair of blue glasses. Well, at least they were practical, which couldn't be said about the small tiara the filly next to her sported. I decided I was channeling too much inner Rarity, and set aside the opinions so it didn't poison my first meeting with them. Oddly, Featherweight and Berry Pinch were sporting two rather sizable saddlebags apiece, and didn't exactly look pleased about the situation. Huh. "Eh? Four ponies are headed our way. Small, so foals maybe?" Scootaloo guessed, impressing me significantly with her eyesight. "Yeah, four foals. Two earth ponies, a pegasi, and a unicorn," Rainbow added, squinting a little and impressing me even more. Damn, she had to have at least double the standard pony's vision! No, probably more if she could pick out enough shape to see Berry's horn. I decided to not say anything, and simply turned back towards Dash instead, complimenting her with, "Nice vision, Dash. I only was able to hear them." A small lie, but watching her grin and puff up was so worth it. "A pegasus has to have good vision if they travel as fast as I do! Gotta see what's ahead of me at all times," she explained, with no light amount of bragging. Scootaloo sucked up every word as if it were the ultimate training manual, and then got a determined look in her eyes before nodding vigorously. Smiling, I nodded happily towards the two of them, and then raised an eyebrow to my left as Apple Bloom disappeared into my peripheral vision. I felt two small hooves set down on my back a moment later, and looked over my right shoulder instead in time to see her peeking in the direction of the foals as they got closer. My distortion scans were within range enough to pick up their different types now, so I figured she could probably see them fairly well. "Ah! Pinch an' Featherweight! Wait... Aww, no. Also, Diamond Tiara an' Silver Spoon," the yellow filly groaned out a moment later. Oh? I didn't know which was which until I glanced back at them again curiously, and noticed they sported Cutie Marks remarkably similar to their names. Weird. What would I be then, Heart Gear? I shivered at the prospect, suddenly having the urge to vomit up the sandwich I'd just finished, which was a distinctly foreign sensation. Successfully eating without something destroying or removing my food was a challenge! I didn't want to expel it once it was already in my stomach. The other two fillies let out a groan, Rainbow looking between them with a vaguely skeptical expression. Spike sighed, however, adding, "What are they doing with those two? Diamond Tiara probably conned them into something or other." Diamond Tiara... Where had I heard that before? "Wait, wasn't she the one that was spreading rumors about me not going to make it after the hospitalization incident?" I inquired, frowning as I glanced back towards Sweetie Belle, who was the one who'd said it, if I recalled right. "W-What?!" Rainbow asked, sounding shocked as Sweetie nodded at the same time. "Yeah. She said that you were nothing but trouble and weren't going to make it. She said she had some sort of insider scoop from the hospital! It was really mean and I was already worried about you before she said that," Sweetie murmured, frowning weakly and shivering there. Giving her a gentle smile, I wrapped my right foreleg over her back and massaged her gently. She didn't look all that appeased, but sighed and finally gave me a light smile before burying her face into my chest. Rainbow let out a stiff groan, glaring down the road further. "She's the pink one with the stupid looking tiara on her head, right? Starting to not like her already, and we haven't even met," she spat out, her wings twitching lightly across her back. "She teases us all the time about not having our Cutie Marks yet," Scootaloo admitted, looking down towards the dirt a little, which further made me want to toss the pink filly into the lake. Uh, the mean pink filly, not Pinch. Pinch and Featherweight seemed nice, and were both spoken highly of by the others. Suddenly, the reason they seemed to be hauling all the beach equipment seemed a little more apparent. The group halted once they'd broken into the clearing, apparently not paying us much attention as Pinch suddenly stomped forwards. The two in front apparently heard and turned around to confront her before she got more than two steps. "Hey! We hauled your stupid equipment all the way here. Give back Featherweight's camera, like you promised!" she suddenly shouted out, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. After Diamond Tiara rotated around, I was able to see the familiar looking camera bag slung to the right of the filly's shoulder. She stole his camera?! As angry as that made me, it was even easier to pick out the burst of rage that shot down the empathy link from Rainbow. I watched her stand up fully, her wings starting to twitch as she glared daggers at the scene unfolding. "Oh? I do vaguely recall something about that, right, Silver? Hmm. However, I don't think I heard you respectfully address me as Mistress there," Diamond Tiara added, smirking over at the other two with a rather possessive looking glint in her eye. Featherweight stepped up next to Pinch a moment later, a far more apologetic look on his face. "Please, Mistress Tiara. Can I please have my camera back? It was a birthday gift from my parents," he begged, staring in apprehension mixed with horror as she flexed her shoulder, sliding the camera bag to her chest instead. The front of the bag folded open, revealing the camera itself and various reels of film in neat loops. Oh, the strap on it was actually connected to the camera, I realized. The leather part was just a case that fit around it, then? Featherweight's eyes widened as she took the protective leather case off it, then popped the cap off the lens and pretended to focus the camera on the small colt. "This? Ooooh, I'm a camera pony! Heh. I don't know why they got you such a stupid gift. You look dumb carrying this around everywhere," she muttered. "It's not 'camera pony', stupid. The proper term is a photographer! And he looks super cool carrying it," Pinch retorted, looking even angrier now as she tossed aside the equipment bag. "Please, this piece of junk? It was probably barely a couple dozen bits. Your parents must really not like you if they only got you this cheap thing. How much does it go for, Silver?" Tiara asked. Rainbow let out a growl and stomped towards the group. My mouth opened to say something, but I suddenly held my tongue, deciding that maybe, just maybe, I didn't want to stop her. A second later, I found myself slowly following after her, at a lesser pace, of course. Silver Spoon shook her head, however, adding, "Um, actually, it's fifty six bits for the base camera, and twenty more bits for that added lens." She hesitated after her friend gave her a confused glance, and then giggled lightly as if unsure of herself. Eh? She was either interested in cameras, too, or had amazing memory for prices. "Well, well. More expensive than I thought! Oh yeah, now I remember. Your parents are dirt poor and probably saved up a whole year just to afford this! Ha! I guess they must care about you after all," the annoying pink filly teased, after recovering from her apparent confusion. Parents that cared for him. I felt a light pang go through my chest, but frowned as his eyes started to tear up. Rainbow snapped, bursting the last ten feet before landing defiantly between the two groups of foals. Ah crap. As angry as I was, I really didn't want to see Rainbow cave their faces in over it. She probably had the restraint not to, but I broke into a jog just in case, at least getting within reasonable barrier-forming range. I heard a light growl from behind me as well, noting the four individual sets of steps alongside it, and the very distinct rotary blade sound. "Leave them alone! That camera isn't yours, so just give it back!" Rainbow shouted, stomping her right forehoof down again and kicking sand backwards as she scraped with it, wings jutting out angrily to each side of her. "W-What?" Tiara asked, momentarily looking surprised before glancing over to her right at us as we approached. "Oh, it's the three blank flanks and their loser friends. I'm not afraid of you, you g-garish freak! You shouldn't even be here!" she retorted a second later, taking an uneasy step away from the pissed off pegasus, kind of calling her own bluff. Garish freak?! Rainbow was amazing, and her colors were quite beautiful. My eyes narrowed as I slowed to a walk towards them. "Show Rainbow Dash proper respect. She saved all of you multiple times, and is an amazing, beautiful mare," I defended once I was within reasonable talking distance. Err, okay, my own feelings might have bled through a bit into that statement, but it hardly mattered. Rainbow blushed lightly, giving me a startled glance that seemed to distract her from the anger a bit, which was a good thing. Both bullies turned to me instead, however, which was a bad thing. "Oh? Is she joining your stupid fan club, too? What are you going to do about it, monster?” Diamond Tiara inquired pointedly, causing something inside me to twist up, that prior anger bubbling a little again. "Monster? Funny, coming from the one blackmailing an innocent colt using his birthday present!" Spike defended suddenly, walking up on my left with an angry expression as well. "I'm not a monster like him! I have secret information and know all about how monstrous he really is. Besides," she continued, raising her hoof to the camera on her chest again before lightly tapping it against the lens and continuing with, "What are you all going to do about it? Try to hurt me? I'll have you all arrested if you even touch me! Especially the freak, because she isn't even supposed to be here." The pink filly punctuated her threat with a much harder movement of her hoof. My eyes widened at the sudden snapping noise of breaking glass an instant later. "No!" Featherweight yelled out, accompanied by Rainbow's sudden snarl. His scream echoed through my head as he ran forward in almost slow motion, tears coming down each cheek. In that instant, as the throb went through my mind, he wasn't Featherweight. I saw a good friend, whose son's body was just dumped in front of him. Her grin matched almost perfectly, a twisted mirror holding a camera rather than a bloody body bag. It reared up again, escaping as a snarl from my throat. The magic was released before I even realized I'd formed it, shooting across the sand in less than a heartbeat. It slammed upwards, and I barely managed to restrain it from slicing her head off. Instead, the box of barriers formed around the camera and bag, knocking her hoof away from it in a second and hauling it upwards, strap and all. For a second, she was still attached to it and struggled against the leather band at the back of her neck. I yanked it off her, sending her stupid looking tiara flying as she fell sideways onto the ground from the force of it. "This does not belong to you! If you so much as say one more cruel word towards anypony here, I'll haul you back to your parents myself and see how much they'd be interested in their daughter potentially getting arrested for theft and harassment," I growled, slamming my right forehoof down as my magic carefully brought the camera back over to where I was. The little filly looked more than flustered, and her friend looked actually horrified as she backed away from both of us, apparently really not interested in being an accomplice, if her friend was getting arrested. "H-How dare you! You can't-" Diamond Tiara started to yelp. I cut her off in an instant by tapping my chest lightly, shooting magic into the pendant I knew was there. It activated instantly, revealing itself and, in turn, me to be a member of Princess Luna's Royal Night Guard. "I can. You said you know about me, but you didn't remember that I'm a full member of the royal guard? Further, Rainbow is here under my direct supervision and still on ground not associated with the cabins, so your threats count fully as harassment," I concluded, watching her eyes bug out as she stared at the 'badge' of sorts around my neck. There was a long five seconds of her just staring at me in shock before she swallowed uneasily and scrambled to her hooves again. "F-Fine! Uh, come on, Silver. We're leaving," she ordered, sounding shaken. I tentatively raised an eyebrow towards the gray and silver filly, who suddenly looked conflicted. "B-But, I thought we were gonna swim?" Silver Spoon whispered to her friend, a slight tone of disappointment sounding from her voice. "No w-way! I'm not staying another second around these-" she started before wincing and looking back at me as my eyes narrowed again. "Uh, ponies. Come on!" she finished after a slight hesitation, that time her 'order' not sounding nearly as convincing as a byproduct. She didn't stick around to let me say anything, however, scampering over to where her tiara lay and snatching it up in her muzzle before booking it surprisingly quickly back towards the trail they walked in on. Silver Spoon stood there with an open mouth and slightly bewildered look, her right forehoof extended towards where her friend was a moment ago still. She lowered it a second later and looked down at the fallen equipment bags before swallowing weakly. "B-But the bags. I can't lift them by myself and, uh, I really wanted to..." she whispered, almost to herself. "You should have thought of that before going along with Diamond Tiara and being mean," Scootaloo snapped, causing the gray filly to wince away from the sound. To my surprise, Rainbow wore a thoughtful expression on her face instead before shaking her head towards Scootaloo. "Ease up, Scoots. Silver Spoon, right? Just because that spoiled brat says something, doesn't mean you have to do it, right? I'm sure you really wanted to swim, and you still can, right? You can hang out with us instead as we enjoy the lake," she offered. My blood cooled a little and I felt a light smile form on my muzzle. That was unexpected from Rainbow Dash, but there was probably something I didn’t know about. Scootaloo looked surprised herself, and then hesitated as she glanced back, looking like she just noticed how distraught the gray filly looked. "I, uh, really? Even after I was mean, you'd let me, uh?" Silver questioned, glancing back at Rainbow with a shocked expression. Diamond Tiara was making amazing time meanwhile and I raised my eyebrow as the filly disappeared over the hill way up the path, apparently not even bothering to look back. I guess she didn't care about her beach equipment all that much. Featherweight ran over to me an instant later, giving an absolutely miserable look towards his camera, his cheeks wet and eyes tinted red. Pinch followed after him almost immediately, frowning towards it as well. I smiled gently to him and set the camera down on the leather case on the sand. Well, fake leather, I noticed, starting to be able to tell the difference from the seams. Snapping myself out of my tendency to go off on a tangent ahead of time, I examined the lens. It had a lovely fracture across the surface of it, splitting the main body into almost five chunks. The young colt's eyes started to water even more, and he sniffed weakly, sitting down in front of me while staring at it. I held a hoof up to him and shook my head, however. "Just a second, Featherweight. I wanna try something," I offered, lightly touching my left forehoof against the lens as I felt the magic stir into the glass. The fracture was bad, but I also specialized in Transmutation, which usually dealt with far worse damage in my engineering days. Er, my original's engineering days, anyway. "I'm sorry about the camera, Featherweight. Um, and I apologize for Diamond Tiara's behavior. I really would like to swim with everypony. You'd really let me?" Silver Spoon asked weakly, walking up towards us instead. I glanced up momentarily just in time to notice I'd gotten everypony's attention when I spoke, Featherweight giving me a surprised yet hopeful expression. "Of course you can swim with us. You don't have to hang around Diamond Tiara all the time, you know?" Sweetie offered, smiling as well and nodding towards the filly. Pinch sighed and reluctantly nodded as well, but shifted her attention back to what I was doing instead. The glow from my magic was readily visible under my hoof, but the lens wasn't due to me covering it from view completely. I felt the cracks as the heat began to form, distorting the arrangement of the material lightly as I shifted its shape and consistency. It was a nicely formed lens, and I was able to get the shape down rather easily. Professionally made, and I suddenly realized why it was a little expensive to purchase. I was impressed by the quality. Smiling, I felt it seal back together gently, and I made sure to adjust the gradient of the glass as well as carefully smooth out the surfaces for him. As an added touch, I also cleaned both sides of the lens before lifting my hoof up again, admiring my work. It looked like a complete lens again, and I relaxed lightly, sagging back to my haunches. Featherweight's eyes expanded significantly as he stared at the camera, as if expecting it to suddenly explode or something. My enchantment had been made smoothly and had the proper safeguards, so the risk of that was far less than point zero two percent! Carefully, I slid the case back over to him and nodded. A second passed, and he just stared at it, and then slowly looked back up at me. "Uh, I kinda saw a flier in town advertising your business before we left. Um, h-how much is it for that?" he inquired hesitantly. Er, what? Blanking for a second, I looked back down at the camera. Flier? "Ugh. Why did she do this? I'll cover whatever it costs, Mr. Mender. Um, normally she doesn't go out of her way to break things," Silver Spoon added, sitting down next to the rapidly growing group, Rainbow following her as well. Oh! She fished a small bag out from the discarded equipment bag, hooking the drawstring around her hoof and making a clinking noise as she pulled it out. Smiling, I placed my hoof over her gray one and shook my head. "No, I'm not charging for that little thing. The only thing I want in return is for both of you to smile again," I muttered, looking back to Featherweight specifically. His eyes softened and he nodded again, genuinely fulfilling my request with a warm smile. "Thank you, Mr. Mender! I'm definitely going to write up a good story for the school paper about you," he agreed. "Uh, just Mender, please. And you don't have to. Although, I am interested in where you saw the flier you mentioned," I admitted, having a sneaking suspicion Pinkie was involved. "I'm kinda interested in why you were hauling bits along to the lake, hidden in your equipment bag, too," Berry Pinch muttered, gesturing back to the gray filly next to me still. Perking, I glanced back over at Silver as well, noting she had suddenly become the center of attention again. Wait, why did she haul a large sum of bits with her to the lake? There weren't exactly any vendors around, even in the camp. Silver Spoon blushed lightly and looked down at her hooves, sighing to herself. "I always bring bits along when I'm with Diamond Tiara. Sometimes she, well, upsets ponies and I don't want her getting in trouble, so having a small amount of bits with to pay for any damages or smooth over hurt feelings is, well, useful. I was going to pay you two for hauling the equipment along, too," she explained, once again causing me to blank out. Did that honestly work that often? Rainbow thankfully was far ahead of me in the reaction department. Unfortunately, however, that also meant that Rainbow was far ahead of me in the talking department, too. "Wait, why are you the one to pay out bits for Diamond Tiara being a jerk?!" my cyan friend asked bluntly, with no small amount of irritation playing through in her voice. Silver winced lightly and looked away from Rainbow, her eyes softening down at the bit pouch. "She, um, she has reasons why she's like that. But she's the only one who'd talk to me my entire first year of school. She's my only friend and I don't want her getting in trouble and going away somewhere like her dad threatens her with sometimes," she revealed quietly. I swallowed uneasily, really wishing Prudentia would pop up and conveniently rewind things a bit so I could pounce Rainbow into the lake before she'd said that. "Wait, what?!" Scootaloo asked, tone similar to how I'd imagine a pony would respond to finding out the sky is actually purple. Apple Bloom frowned at the same time instead, and shook her head slowly. "Why didn't anypony talk ta ya, Silver? Ya could've come talk ta me, as well," she offered tentatively. I was all sorts of mixed feelings at this point. On one hoof, paying ponies off to look the other way really wasn't teaching Diamond Tiara anything. But on the other, if she was down to her last 'chance', so to speak, with her dad, I could see why Silver Spoon was doing what she was. Silver shook her head and gave a weak smile towards the sand before reaching up with both forehooves and lightly taking her glasses off. Rather pretty lavender eyes rested behind them, but they looked rather sad. "I was the only filly in our class to get glasses at that time. Almost everypony thought there was something wrong with me, and would just run away or call me a freak. Diamond Tiara not only talked to me, but she helped chase some of them away by threatening to sue them," she replied, giggling lightly towards the end as I saw more of a smile play across her muzzle. Rainbow slapped her forehead with a hoof, but I smiled a little, too. Seeing a little foal threatening bullies with legal action would have been kinda amusing. Silver continued, however, before anypony could say anything, and added, "Plus, I kinda was interested in talking to you, but that huge stallion would walk you to school every day and he was kinda scary." Apple Bloom giggled instead this time and shook her head. "Mah brother's super nice, Silly. He's real big an' strong, but wouldn't hurt ya," she assured confidently. Sweetie Belle looked lost in thought, but frowned to herself before gently speaking up. "Do you think we should try talking to her? I mean, I know she's never really been nice to us, but if her dad's really mean to her or something..." Going away somewhere sounded more like different schooling or some sort of etiquette school or something. Was he so busy that he didn’t want the responsibility of teaching his daughter manners himself? I frowned for a split second. Her father. Her taunt shot back into the forefront of my mind. Secret information. It was vague, and probably a bluff, as hearing the crowd call me a 'monster' during that incident wouldn't have been all that hard. Still, though, those newspaper thingies had 'secret information', too. I made a mental note to run it past Twilight when I got back. It was probably nothing, but I didn't particularly like taking chances, especially when a reasonable alternative presented itself. "I think we should try. She might really need friends, and I'm sure Silver Spoon wouldn't mind having more as well," Spike agreed, sitting down to Sweetie's right while holding onto Tank's shell lightly. I didn't see a head or legs anywhere, but two eyes peeked out from the darkness at the hole in the front of it, so I assumed he was okay. Silver Spoon sighed, but nodded weakly. "After everything we’ve done to you three and Spike, I didn't expect you to really even let me stay and swim. I'll, well, I'll try to get her to not pick on you so much if it doesn't work," she muttered, sounding as if she knew something we didn't. Something felt off still, and there was a bitter undertone to her statement. Nopony seemed to notice, however, as Apple Bloom just nodded back happily, so I decided to let it drop for now. "Speaking of, I think we're done eating and napping, so you lot can go and play in the lake again. I'll keep an eye on you," I offered, gesturing towards the body of water in question. Scootaloo was the first to perk up, nodding happily at me before bounding off towards the water without even a word. What, did she take that as an order or something? "Hey! Wait fer us!" Apple Bloom shouted after her before breaking into a sprint as well. Her legs powered up, however, and she burst ahead as Scootaloo laughed and took to the air. Aww, crap. They forgot already?! My ears flattened down as I watched them, and Rainbow gave me a questioning eyebrow raise. "Whoa! How are they doing that?!" Pinch asked, however, answering for me as I sighed. "Oh! Oops. We weren't supposed to use the enchantments with anypony watching," Rainbow suddenly muttered, lowering her ears and glancing back out at the two fillies chasing each other across the beach. "I gave them an enchantment that magnifies their abilities. Uh, please don't tell anypony, you three? It takes a lot of effort to make them and if everypony knows, they'll all want one," I requested, glancing back at Pinch, Featherweight, and Silver. To my surprise, Featherweight looked more horrified as he watched Apple Bloom take a nasty spill and skip almost twelve meters across the sand. Her armor was on and she was far from injured, of course, but- "Uh, I won't tell anypony so long as you don't put one on me. That looks kinda scary," he requested, flattening his ears down a bit. Berry Pinch rolled her eyes but snickered at him, lightly giving him a shove in the shoulder with her hoof. "You don't have to be such a chicken. Mender wouldn't give them out if they weren't safe, right?" she reasoned, smiling back at me as if asking for confirmation on that. Silver Spoon just watched the two enchanted fillies curiously instead. Spike grinned a moment later and ran out after Apple Bloom as she dashed past, lines of light coming off his claws and lashing out at the unsuspecting filly. Well, I guess now that the cover was blown, he might as well. "Kinda. They're prototypes at the moment. Mostly safe, but I'd like to work a few more precautions into them before they become public knowledge," I warned, shaking my head towards her. To my surprise, Silver Spoon smiled and nodded instead, looking back over at me. "That's for the best. It wouldn't be good business if somepony got hurt using your products. Still, the amount of bits you could rake in from this service would be amazing! Especially if you put in time limits to the magic or something, so they had to keep coming back to you for refills. I've never heard of magic being used to magnify a pony's abilities before, so you could probably even have a monopoly!" the little filly exclaimed, smiling fully at me. I stared back, eyes widening a little. That, well, was actually a little scary that a tiny little filly knew what a monopoly was in the first place, let alone knew tricks on how to start one up and abuse it. Suddenly I wondered what exactly a silver spoon Cutie Mark represented. "Uh, I'm kinda content with just making a little bit of bits. I don't need all that much," I muttered, suddenly feeling kind of awkward talking to her. She tilted her head, staring at me like I'd just grown a second head. Or tentacles. My scanners told me I hadn't, however, but I still caught myself checking in paranoia. "Why wouldn't you want more bits? You can get anything you want with them," she asked, looking utterly confused. Rainbow gave her a disbelieving glance, but just shook her head and went back to watching the three play in the sand. "I already have more than I need with Twilight and Fluttershy with me. I can't really think of anything I really want to buy in the first place, apart from just having enough to get some food and supplies for myself," I admitted, my ears drooping a little more. I'd never really considered anything that I 'wanted'. I just realized that I didn't really have any goals to work towards past just getting an income set up. This only seemed to confuse Silver Spoon more, who frowned at me but remained silent, her eyes shifting out of focus as she considered what I'd said. "There are some things you can't buy no matter how many bits you have, Silver. You can't buy true and honest love or friendship with them, and they won't make you truly happy," Rainbow muttered, still looking out at the lake, but softening her eyes a little. I felt a wave of unpleasantness slip down the link, and suddenly wondered if she was speaking from experience. "Do you, um, need those things?" Silver asked hesitantly a moment later. Rainbow glanced back at her, but I smiled and shook my head, looking down at my hoof, my eyes tracing the metal that was strapped to it. "No, you don't 'need' them. You can continue existing with very little, it turns out. But that's all it is without friendship, love, or happiness. Existing. In order to live, you need to be happy and content with yourself," I reasoned, already having known the answer to that one. The other me had 'existed' his entire life. Staying in Equestria had been the easiest choice I'd ever made, even now. No hesitation was needed at all. Silver looked surprised at that answer, but Rainbow smiled over at me. It was interesting, really. For that brief moment, I realized how valuable that sensation was. She was smiling genuinely at me. I felt the warmth through the link, and realized that in that moment, she wasn't hiding her feelings or trying to pretend she was 'cool' and detached. She was just genuinely happy, and I'd caused it. Sweetie Belle looked confused as Rainbow bumped into her other side, sandwiching the filly between us as the cyan mare leaned over and lightly rested her forehead against my shoulder. It 'felt' like a hug, even if it wasn't, and I smiled and nodded in understanding. I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion the mare didn't really 'need' her weather job, given the amount of bits she'd tried to deliver to me for payment, and the sheer size of her house I frequently saw floating over Ponyville. Her house she oh so rarely saw fit to actually sleep in, apparently deciding a passing cloud or tree was more comfortable. There was probably a reason for that, but I was content enough to just understand her a little more. "Are you okay, Rainbow?" Sweetie asked softly, shifting a bit to adjust to the new presence, but apparently deciding she was perfectly content with being sandwich filling now. Actually, she was a fairly easygoing filly. Sandwich filling, scarf, hat, cape... She didn't really care no matter what. "She seems more than okay against Mender," Pinch cooed, giving a smirk over at us. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she bumped Featherweight in the side with her hip instead of continuing to actually look my way. He gave a startled yelp, having been watching the lake instead, and fell into a lying position. She smiled contentedly and rotated around once before flopping down against his right side, earning a blush and questioning stare from him. Rainbow snorted, giving her a skeptical glance before rolling her eyes and returning her attention to the water. "I trust Mender. We've been through a lot together and he's one of my best friends," she explained, carefully avoiding that whole 'kissing' part, which even with Pony culture being rather cuddly, I was pretty sure was a breach of friendship. Sweetie must have thought the same thing as she snickered. The clever filly then slipped forwards and rolled onto her side instead, squeezing out from between us and landing across my forelegs. I didn't even have time to give her a questioning glance as Rainbow slipped the rest of the way sideways and the sensation of warm fur covered my entire right side. My missed skeptical stare was given to Rainbow instead, who made no attempt to move, just lightly blushing while lying against me. I saw the raw focus in her eyes, however, as she literally willed herself to keep looking out at the lake. Oh boy. Yeah, this was a bad idea. That lingering sensation of warmth drifted through me as well, and I felt the deepest sensation of frustration coming from the mare, mixed with a rampant hunger and the strange desire to locate and consume a juicy slice of watermelon. It was a little confusing. The longer I stared at her, the more I felt her becoming acutely aware of my gaze, and I felt the warmth start to get a little hotter. It was strange, though, as I'd never gotten appetite or specific sensations from the empathy link before. Normally it was just blanket sensations revolving around emotions. Weird. I'd focused so intently on Rainbow that I didn't notice Sweetie Belle staring at us. "What's that?" she asked curiously a second later, causing both Rainbow and me to jump at the sudden noise. Eh?! I looked back at her at the same time Rainbow did, and then traced where she was looking. There was very little, honestly, that gave me that 'blood freezing' sensation anymore. My eyes met Rainbow's, and perhaps from instinct or sudden compulsion, both of us looked up at the exact same time. Ever so thin, and so light you could barely see it, there was a tiny cord of prismatic and blue light running between our foreheads. Shit.
Chapter 55The day was turning cooler now, with darkening skies overhead. My fur was warm, however, due to being significantly thicker than normal, and I simply stared out over the lake. Rainbow had explained that the clouds were made over at Cloudsdale, and then 'slid' over to the locations where they were supposed to be. For big storms, local pegasi were then called in to help, but the upcoming rain was supposed to be more a drizzle than anything. Sweetie had elected to stay near us instead, showing a reasonable distaste for going near the large body of water, which I attributed to her experience at the dam. She stayed carefully nestled into my left side with her head down on my foreleg. She'd gotten my brace off and was lightly massaging my leg, to my surprise. She didn't seem to think it was 'ugly' or 'gross', it would seem. Although the color was coming back to it now, and it felt stronger than it had in a while. I wasn't about to try it without the brace, though. Rainbow lay to my left with her head down on her forelegs, staring up at Scootaloo and Spike. The little dragon was being carried and they repeatedly swooped down to gather up little 'bombs' of water to let loose on the swimming fillies and colt, who'd take swipes at them as they shot past, trying to spray Scootaloo down with water and get them to crash into the lake. I could tell that wasn't where Rainbow's thoughts resided, however. "I'm so stupid. What are we gonna do?" she asked quietly after another moment. Sweetie frowned lightly, but didn't slow in her small massage, regardless of obviously listening in. After the initial shock, both of us realized almost instantly what it was, of course. The only one there to listen who was actually interested was Sweetie, of course, as I let them know it wasn't some weird spell effect from me. The others split off to go play at my request, but so far, Rainbow and I had been silent. Gently, I shook my head. That was an easy one, anyway. "Nothing has changed. I'm still going to tell the girls about both of you, and try to figure something out with them. I don't foresee a problem with my plan on waiting two years for Sweetie, but you know they'll insist that you see things through with Applejack before even considering our herd," I warned slowly, trying extra hard to think my words out ahead of time. This wasn't a good spot to insert a hoof into my mouth, which I knew I had a tendency to do. If I had to, I'd rather do so when the results could be laughed off. Heh. Rainbow nodded absently, that obviously not having been what she was talking about, but I already knew that, and she already knew that I knew that, if that made sense. Deciding that there were too many 'that's in my thought process, I moved on to what she really had asked. "As for the link, it appears to be visible at extreme levels of focus and attention between us, maybe at only close range as well, and transmits slightly more information than the crystal disk link does, minus the direct verbal communication bit," I analyzed, silently channeling my inner Twilight Sparkle, who would probably be proud of that assessment. Or kill me due to the topic, but that was irrelevant. The cyan mare gave me a blank look before snickering tiredly, still looking a bit worn out from all the exercise prior. "I can see why you and Twilight get along so well. It's good she can have somepony to be all 'egghead' with. Spike can only go so far with that, and he's already the closest she had before. Still, what does all that really mean?" she asked, frowning to herself as she finally looked back up at me from her resting position. "Everything I've read on the links, and everything Twilight told me about them, seems to indicate it takes a prolonged period of time to form one. We didn't have that, so my best guess is that only a small sliver of one was created. I don't know if it retains its 'permanent' qualities, or if it just means it's really short range or something, but I'm sure there's data out there on it. Surely, somewhere in all of Equestria's history, said ritual was interrupted at some point before completion," I reasoned absently, based on pure probability. The chances of it never having happened before we're astronomically low, honestly. Rainbow nodded at that and closed her eyes again, curling up a bit more for warmth, then smiling as my tail flicked up and flopped over her like a blanket. I think it was the first time I really noticed that she was a little bit smaller than me. Just a little. "So it might not be as big a deal as we thought? I really don't want it giving Applejack doubts either," she admitted, but again, I'd already suspected that particular worry had been going through her. "Even if we can't find a way to remove it, it's not all that different from the link we already shared before that she definitely knows about. Doubly so if it only works at short range. I don't think you have a single thing to worry about," I assured softly. It was true, really. "It's still really romantic. Besides, even if Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy don't go for the 'joining herds' thing, you're all really close already, so I'm sure you'll always have a special connection to each other," Sweetie suddenly spoke up, saying 'romantic' like one might describe a triple-layered fudge and milk chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles on top. Damn it. Now I was hungry again. Rainbow snickered, then slid the picnic basket over to us again with her wing, tipping it over easily enough and sliding a wrapped sandwich out towards me. Oh, she was amazing! She gave me a knowing smirk before adding, "Yeah, I can totally see that being awesome, too. Just not 'as' awesome, ya know? Although, if I can get them to agree to letting Mender provide 'heat relief' to all of us, I'll probably be okay with it." I shot her a mildly annoyed glare, but she already smirked at me and stuck her tongue out, so I quickly shifted to just rolling my eyes. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten about the little white filly's more recent experiences. "Ah! That horrible, burning heat that pools in your stomach and makes you really, really dizzy, giving you weird but really good feeling thoughts? If that's what it's like to be in heat, I so don't want to be! Wait, Mender can actually make that go away?" she asked, sounding a little on the curious side. Both Rainbow and I blushed lightly at the implications, but she recovered a little faster than me. "Yup! For one, he could just get us pregnant, but that would actually make for far more problems than it solved, for me, anyway. But that would get you free of heat for a whole year! ...and then you get a foal. So yeah, no," she chirped, dropping off as she somehow managed to horrify herself with her own statement. Sweetie Belle's eyes widened, a light blush forming across her cheeks as well, but she slowly nodded. "That, uh, doesn't sound totally bad, but I can see why it would, um, be a problem for you. Being all big and round like that would probably make flying kinda hard," she admitted, her eyes drifting over Rainbow's sleek yet muscular frame. "Exactly! Totally not cool for a future Wonderbolt! I'd have to train for, like, a year just to get all the weight off again. So not worth it if we're just talking avoiding the heat," she groaned, burying her head in her hooves again. I snickered at her description, but smiled back to Sweetie. "You also have to remember what Nurse Redheart said. That 'heat' was actually several times worse than what you'd normally go through due to the magical nature, so what you'll actually experience will only be a small fraction of that," I reminded, causing the little filly to exhale quietly and nod, looking back down at my leg idly. Her massaging movements had ceased during her inquiry, but she started up again a moment later. "Yeah, yours probably won't be as bad as mine. No, there are 'other' things Mender can do to at least temporarily get rid of the horrible heat feeling. Because he's, like, part robot or something, I think he can do it without risk of us having foals, too! Uh, I might be wrong there though. I kinda stopped paying attention after that," she admitted, snickering lightly and rubbing the back of her head with her right forehoof. At least I managed to resist slapping my forehead. The second she'd even heard it was a possibility, I bet all other thoughts just went right out the window. Sweetie stared at her for a moment, her cheeks burning a little brighter red before she gave a timid smile and nodded. "Um, you're talking about sex, right?" she asked quietly, momentarily reaching Fluttershy's levels of volume. Er, wait... Rainbow's eyes widened and she looked more than a bit surprised, but Sweetie just giggled and cut her off with, "I'm twelve. Miss Cheerilee has already taught us the, well, basics. I know what it is and that it's supposed to be good feeling, but not to do it with just anypony." Exhaling, I nodded down at her, honestly berating myself for not guessing as much. "Yeah. That's what she's talking about. I'm actually a little worried that I might not be able to have a foal with a mare, but things I discovered recently are making that a little bit more probable sounding. You should definitely hold off, though, Sweetie. Isn't there an age limit on that sort of thing, too?" I pointed out, idly reminding myself at the same time to peek back a ways in those research notes I'd found and see what they said about my 'creation'. If I was similar enough to a normal pony, chances are I could mate with one. Rainbow shrugged idly, relaxing a bit as the heat died down in her cheeks. "No, not really... We've never really 'needed' a law for that kinda thing. A more natural sort of approach is taken, only when it feels right with the right pony. The age limit on joining a herd is more to encourage a realistic amount of consideration before doing so, to cut down on spontaneous choices being regretted," she explained, shuddering lightly. Oh, well that made sense, too, having noticed enough about their culture to know they probably didn't have a problem with it to begin with. Sweetie smiled lightly and nodded twice, the slow motion rather timid almost. "Ah, yeah, I know. Um, I'm saving myself for Mender, of course, so you don't need to worry about that," she pointed out. I mentally sighed. Even seeing it coming hadn't really helped me cope with her answer all that well. My mouth opened in attempts to at least commend her on waiting in general, when my ears rotated around an instant later, a very light snap sounding out from the forest. My head rose and whipped around to look fully over Sweetie Belle, staring off into the woods in the direction the snap had come from. The little filly went silent as she turned rapidly to look as well, but I said nothing and continued scanning for any movement whatsoever. A full forty seconds passed before I exhaled and frowned. A fast flicker of my scanners masked by a blink revealed nothing but dirt, rock, and wood, based off density comparisons. "Mender?" Rainbow asked cautiously after seeing me relax a little. I shook my head idly while still watching the trees. "I guess I'm getting paranoid. I thought I heard something, is all," I explained, refusing to look away from the forest still, just in case. "Want me to do a flyover? I think I'm rested enough now," Rainbow offered idly. Sweetie looked away from the woods with a shiver and glanced back up at me curiously. "Nah. If you're rested up, you can go back to practicing if you'd like. We can talk about this later tonight or tomorrow, of course," I offered, finally looking back over at her instead. I guess I really was getting paranoid. Rainbow smiled upon getting my full attention again and nodded, relaxing a bit. "If you're sure. Keep an eye on me, too, just in case I take an unintended dip?" she requested, standing up fully and stretching out her lanky body. I watched the muscles shiver down her side, lightly tracing the curve of her hip and flank before looking back forward again to her now smirking face. "Of course. You know I always keep an eye, or at least a link, on all of you," I reminded, sticking the tip of my tongue out at her. She grinned and nodded before taking to the air and shooting out over the lake in an instant. Again, I was impressed by her speed. Watching her up close wasn't too bad either. I knew I was loyal to Twilight and Fluttershy, but Rainbow definitely wasn't hard on the eyes. But she was more like a work of art or something in a gallery somewhere, to me. The last thing I wanted to do was get in her way in pursuing Applejack. Sweetie smiled as she watched her go, then shifted her gaze down to her friends in the lake, eyes following their movements as they played. "You can go join them, if you want, on the shore. Don't worry. I'll be right here to help if anything happens," I assured softly, earning a start from the little filly. She turned and smiled back up at me before shaking her head. "N-No, I'm fine where I am. The water is still, well, it makes me uneasy. I feel at ease up here on the hill with you, as far from it as possible," she revealed, shivering lightly as she turned back and stared down at the lake. My eyes softened and I nodded, even though she probably didn't see me do so. I'd figured the memory wouldn't leave her for a long time. This was one case where I'd gladly find out I was wrong again. But that's not the nature of bad memories. "I had another nightmare about it last night. I was watching the lake from some sort of hill, all by myself this time. It was scary, but I couldn't look away." I watched her do oddly similar with the lake right now, and somewhat predicted where this was going. My left foreleg slipped out and lightly hugged the filly, but she didn't even react to it. "It was getting dark, and the sun was sinking into the lake with a lot of sizzling and bubbles. The lake twisted and turned, then started rapidly getting bigger and bigger! I panicked and tried to run higher up, but the hill was the highest point and I was already on it. The water surrounded me and circled around, splashing around like a scary river before eating the entire area," she continued, locking up and closing her eyes tight again. I pulled her against my chest and just rubbed her side as she shivered for a second. "It... It was terrifying. I screamed and screamed but the water just pulled me under and flooded into my mouth, hauling me lower and lower until I couldn't see. I yelled your name again and again to come and save me... A-Apple Bloom woke me up then," she finished, voice barely a whisper as I just kept rubbing her tummy lightly. "I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, Sweetie. If I'm anywhere at all near you, just call out my name and I'll be there in an instant to protect you," I promised, a sinking sensation making me realize I really meant that. It wasn't a bad thing until I realized how little would actually even slow me down in getting to her. Even if I had to tear a mountain apart to save the little filly. Sweetie Belle nodded and smiled up at me timidly, looking tired. Her eyes were red and I knew she probably hadn't been sleeping very well. A thought occurred to me a moment later. "If you want, for the rest of the time we're here, I won't leave early in the morning. That way, if you even whimper during one of your dreams, I'll be right there to wake you up out of it, if you wish," I offered, realizing that was probably the best I could do for her at the moment. Her eyes widened almost as fast as her mouth did, and she nodded twice. "Yes, please! I feel much safer when I'm near you, and knowing you'll be there to watch over my dreams, too, would be amazing. Thank you, Mender. Um, I really do love you," she added, blushing after and shyly looking down into my chest again. My heart stirred for other reasons and I smiled at the adorable little filly, giving her a gentle squeeze with my foreleg. "Careful. You're adorable right now, but if you keep this up two years from now, getting into our herd won't be a problem at all," I teased her, snickering to myself. Her eyes shot to full mast again as she looked back up at me in surprise, the pink turning to a heartier red to each side of her snout. "I, um, I really would like that, Mender! Of course, I'll try to be super nice to Fluttershy and Twilight, too," she spoke up, apparently remembering what I'd told Rainbow the other night. Snickering, I leaned down closer to her before pointing out, "Didn't you ever consider that you might be more than friends with them if you get your wish? If you're part of the herd, you're not 'just' with me, Sweetie." The red expanded even further across the entirety of her cheeks as her eyes somehow got wider. Half a second passed and she let out a tiny squeak and buried her face in my foreleg. "Aaah! Uh, but, I dunno! Twilight's super nice to me, but I've never thought about her like that before! Um, um," she started muttering, sounding like she was panicking a little as she fidgeted against me nervously. "Oh? What about Fluttershy?" I inquired, noting an absence of information there. She peeked back up at my amused yet skeptical stare before squeaking again and hiding her face against me, as if that would somehow make her disappear from my sight. Well, it did make her face disappear from my sight, but that hardly interrupted the conversation at this range. She must have realized that a moment later, or at least gathered her courage up a bit more. "Um, well, Fluttershy is really pretty. She's always been kind to me as well so, uh, maybe I wouldn't mind that as much? Aaah! Did I just say that out loud?!" Her admission was reduced to a series of squawks in less than three seconds, and I swore she was trying to tunnel under me and bury herself in the ground. I snickered at the sensation before hooking around her tummy and pulling her up against me again before she hauled both of us into the hole she was starting. "Relax, Sweetie. I obviously think Fluttershy is beautiful, too. If you want to be part of the herd, thinking that is definitely a plus!" I tried to explain. The little filly stopped fidgeting and looked back up at me shakily, as if she were expecting me to be mad or something. Yeah, she was definitely too young for the herd still. The wisdom behind the law made a lot more sense to me suddenly. "Y-You're not angry I think your mare is pretty?" she asked after carefully watching me for a moment. "Ha! Of course not. I know what you mean by it, and to be honest, it kind of makes me happy you think she's pretty. Not just because of the potential to join the herd in two years, but because I think she's pretty, too, and it reminds me of how lucky I am to be with her," I explained, honestly not having anticipated needing to tell anypony else that little thought that had danced through my mind off and on, but given who was listening, I didn't really mind. Sweetie Belle smiled softly and nodded twice, relaxing against my leg again as she lay back down. "Twilight is pretty, too, but she's kinda scary. I don't feel as comfortable around her, even though I know she'd never hurt me. But if you're there, Mender, I don't think I'll mind," she assured, her muzzle brushing against my left hoof as she gave it a light nuzzle, fully proving she had no issues whatsoever with the damaged limb. If anything, she seemed to like nurturing it even more than before. I'd noticed a few glances towards it from other ponies, of course. I knew it looked gross and was unpleasant to look at, so it was extra nice when I realized some ponies weren't disgusted by it. Of course, other ponies made up for that by being bothered in a totally different way by it. Rainbow and Applejack being first and foremost on my list there. Rainbow avoided looking at it as if it were a scary monster most of the time, but I caught her staring almost through it once or twice with a distant expression, a scary neutral anger usually settling into the empathy link around then. I could only begin to guess. Applejack's gaze was drawn to it every time she saw me, on the other hoof. Her feelings were more readily translated, her expression similar to it being an object straight out of a nightmare in hell. She was such a stubborn mare, I don't think she'd let herself forget anytime soon. All said, I'd be very pleased when it was looking normal and functioning fine again without needing metal covering it. Less reminders for all involved, really. I mentally made the choice at that point to speed the process up as much as I could through matter consumption. Minerals were fairly useless to me in their raw states, but plant matter I could manipulate to speed up my own regeneration. The sonic blast snapped me out of my own head, and I sighed. Sweetie gave a start, but I simply raised my barrier up over both of us without even bothering to look up. It was pelted by a few thousand drops of heated, multi-colored water a half second later. "That's cheating!" I heard Apple Bloom shout out, apparently having been on the receiving end of splash warfare's first seen nuclear attack. "Aaah! Rainbow, my wings are wet!" Scootaloo shouted a second later. I peeked up in time to see her and Spike careening to the side in a spin, and shook my head. Rainbow dove after them both after spinning around from her launch vector, but I simply triggered the mental firing in my mind. Scootaloo's jets disappeared in an instant, replaced by a parachute popping out. Note to self, put in a condition monitor for the surface of the pegasi wings, too, for yet another reason to pop the parachute. Scootaloo probably didn't know how to properly fly with wet wings. Rainbow skid to a stop in front of them, then started snickering as they drifted about in the breeze, the little orange filly not looking all that pleased. Her sister turned back towards me, however, before shouting out, "Good call, Mender!" I rolled my eyes before returning, in equal volume, "Stop blowing up the foals, Rainbow!" She burst into laughter, of course, and I chuckled. Sweetie looked more pleased than anything that she was dry, smiling back up at me before sliding over and resting against my left side again, partially snuggling under my coat for even more added warmth. It was a bit nippy without any sun to speak of. Time passed without event after the threat of water explosions ceased. With Sweetie falling asleep against me again, I simply brought up the notes inside of me and continued where I'd left off. It was amazingly dry material, listing genetic splicing that went into various parts, but for the most part, I was born, and always had been, a pony. The various biomechanical parts that made me a cyborg were largely added during my embryo stage, it would seem, manipulating into my own natural systems as I grew. They were meshed using my own DNA, so they were as much 'me' as the rest of me was. Tons of systems were added, with the focus being on survivability, as I was originally intended to be a scout. The subspace was added for storage ability, manufacturing hubs for creating things in the field, generators for powering it all, and advanced computer mainframes for managing it. So what was physically 'here' and in me all the time was just the external portion of the subspace manager, and my various physical manipulation components, in their basic levels. The subspace was always 'open', however, which lent itself to being really flexible, but also gave me the 'small' problem that the 'density' of everything inside me bled through into the real world. I stared at that issue for a while before sighing. I was never intended to get that experimental weapon shoved in me, then. They saw the gravity and density effect as a minor oversight and that I'd only weigh as much as the equipment inside of me. The gravity dampener system was wired into me along with the weapon at a later date, then. At the same time? That was the same change in coding that told my inner assembly labs to go crazy making redundant parts and such. Now I had six generators in me, four computer mainframes, and twelve manufacturing hubs. The subspace was without limit, as far as I knew, so my programming was to simply keep making the extra things until turned off, which I didn't know how to do. Time to crack that next, I guess. Considering one generator was enough to supply power to all of Ponyville indefinitely, it was already way overkill. What did they even run on? If they were nuclear, I was going to cry. After adding 'generator schematics' to the things to look up, I double-checked the 'other' issue that I was supposed to. All of my male parts appeared to grow as per normal for a pony, and there were no alterations to them except for muscle and 'expansion' controls, which kinda weirded me out a bit. Now, however, they were black boxed. That was beyond concerning, as it indicated something in the 'new' code I'd received at some point after being born had changed the function of my reproductive organs. Why?! Why was that even a feasible need for somepony to do? Hitting a dead end in that direction, I tried a different approach. Looking up a data log, it was fairly easy to find two main code injections that happened after I was out of the embryo stage. They were a year and a half, in universal star date system, from my birth point. That lined up amazingly close to the point in which was labeled as my transit out of dimension. They were both within five minutes of each other as well. The first one added a whole new massive layer on top of my system controls that seemed to act like a wrapper of some sort. The second landed on top of that and just made a bunch of holes in it, removing access protocols and reassigning them all to a 'feed 000'. That much I knew to be me. Control was taken away from me, then given back five minutes later? What the hell?! I stared at the last log for almost a full minute before a shiver danced down my spine. A small, drawn cat head, winking at me playfully. It was the same one that was on the root access I'd managed to get when Nirru hacked me. Nothing made sense, and I exhaled softly, rubbing my right temple with my hoof. I was missing pieces still, and I had a sneaking suspicion I knew where to find them. Her. But would I like the whole picture when I did find them? The video was still there, taunting me from my own memory banks, almost daring me to watch it. Would it reveal even more horrifying secrets about me, or would it answer what I needed it to? Regardless, the logs listed the access modules for all the holes the second injection made, so I recorded them all. It didn't take long to locate the one hooked up to my reproductive organs and open it up. What greeted me were a few dozen generically labeled, if not somewhat vague, boolean variables, and a whole ton of data output. DNA switching? Growth input control? Gender? It made me a bit concerned that there was a 0 next to the Gender, but I decided not to mess with that just yet. The DNA readout displayed source data, which indicated that my own was currently 'loaded' into me. Did that mean I could switch what DNA I was using to attempt to impregnate a female with? Weird. It was set to accept both native and Keldarian values, but was currently using native. That meant that, with my current configuration, I could get a mare pregnant in all likelihood. I exhaled softly and nodded to nopony in particular. Good news, I guessed? Another side link referenced me to the entire massive database of Keldarian DNA I had stored. Oh, oh hell. Nirru had been right. I really could 'eject' Keldarian based DNA. That was actually a little creepy, now that I thought about it. The code was put in place by the first code injection, not the second, but the second one gave me access to controlling it. Weird. I didn't know what the 'purpose' of it was. That meant the first injection knew I'd suddenly have access to a whole ton of DNA, and even set up the database link ahead of time. Further, it was already flagged to use the "Keldarian" configuration, automating the process. The second code injection had switched all the configuration data back to 'me' as well. After a moment's consideration, I decided I really liked the second code injection, and it wasn't just because of the cute cat face it used as an avatar. I saved the list of what each injection did and what the code links were before cracking my back and peeking at Clocky, noting it was kinda dark. Oh, well hell. Clocky noted that it was nineteen hundred hours, and past suppertime for all of us. I'd been reading for two hours?! Looking back up again, I noticed Pinch and Featherweight resting on the sand, Silver making a sand castle, Spike and Apple Bloom drifting on their backs in the lake next to each other and talking, and Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash chilling in a tree a half dozen meters away. Well then, I guess everypony had taken care of themselves while I was distracted, which was a good thing. "Hey, Rainbow, are you okay on your own now? We need to get back and get supper now, and should probably call it a day," I warned, directing my voice towards the two ponies in the tree. I wondered idly if ponies from my other dimension liked trees. Of course, they didn't exactly have wings that I knew of, so probably not, as hooves weren't spectacular climbing instruments. I really should have visited that zoo moon before the Grosh blew it up. She perked up, and then smiled back down at me, nodding. "Heck yeah. I've gotta get back soon anyway. I promised Pinkie that I'd have supper with her at eight. Can we practice some more tomorrow as well?" she inquired, sounding more than a little hopeful. I found myself wondering how she could tell what time it was without a clock, but guessed they got really good at using the position of the sun, which was probably amazingly accurate due to being controlled by a pony. "Of course. We gotta get you in even more than top form before the race," I agreed, playfully winking towards her. Of course she grinned and nodded, but suddenly dropped the smile and got a startled look on her face. I peeked in the direction she was looking but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary apart from my talking having woken Sweetie up again, allowing her to resume her snuggling into my left side. Heh. Glancing back at Dash, I saw her instead looking down at the base of the tree at her rather large saddlebags I'd totally forgotten about. Oh yeah, the metric ton of bits she'd tried to pay me earlier. "Aww, dang it! I forgot I hauled that huge thing here. This is why I don't like traveling with saddlebags," Rainbow groaned, looking down at it in disdain. "What are you gonna do with it? Still try to pay Mender?" Scootaloo asked curiously, fluttering down towards it and hooking a foreleg around it, wincing as she tried to lift the thing and couldn't. Rainbow snorted and rolled her eyes, dropping from the tree and hovering over Scootaloo. "As if. Mender's stubborn as a mule. He's not going to accept-" she started to remind, earning a smirk from me. My barrier hooked the saddlebags a second later, however, hauling them away from the two pegasi and right in front of me. Rainbow looked rather bewildered as she watched me with interest while Scootaloo spun in a light loop, righting herself after the thing she was hooked to was yanked away from her. It was easy at this point, as all of my practice was finally starting to catch up with me and show some results. A layer for reinforcement, a simple booster enchantment, and then a capacitor added to the top of the system. I smiled as I boosted the capacitor with my own energy, easily filling it, as it wasn't very big in the first place. The whole process was done in about forty seconds, and I nodded back up at Rainbow before flicking the bags back at her. She winced and held her forelegs up in front of her face as the bags whipped at her, assuming, like I had figured she would, that I'd used my enhanced strength to toss them. They harmlessly bounced off her side a moment later before lightly drifting off into the air away from her. Scootaloo snorted, and then started laughing at Rainbow's surprised expression, which was rapidly shifting to a scowl aimed in my direction. "It should last until sometime tomorrow, so hauling them back will be easy for you," I elaborated, giving her a warmer smile instead of the Cheshire grin. The cyan mare relaxed a little and blew out an exhale, puffing her bangs upwards a bit before tentatively smiling and nodding. "If you're sure I can't convince ya to take some of it. You really are doing me a huge favor here, Mender!" she offered yet again. Still smiling, I lightly shook my head. "Nah, it's fine, Rainbow. I'm just happy that you're happy. Get back over here bright and early tomorrow so you can practice more," I 'ordered', mostly to just get off the topic at hoof. Her grin shot back up and she gave me a salute, hooking the saddlebags over her barrel again. "Will do, Boss! I'll see you tomorrow, too, Squirt! We have more flying to do," she returned, the last part obviously aimed at Scootaloo, who perked up and grinned back. A light blush suddenly slipped into Rainbow's cheeks as she got a rather impish look on her face a second later. Uh oh. I braced for impact as she peeked back over at me, mirthful energy dancing in her rose-colored eyes. "Oh, and keep shooting down our ways of paying you back, I dare ya! AJ and I might just need to get, hmm, creative instead. I'll warn you now. She's amazingly good with rope," she warned. My eyes shot open almost as fast as the heat spiked in my face, but the mare shot off into the sky with a laugh before I could even fully consider the full implications of what she'd just suggested. At least I knew I didn't have to worry about Applejack going along with it, but damn. Still blushing, I lightly shook my head in disbelief at the mare's antics before looking back over to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Both were giving me rather amused smiles, and I stuck my tongue out instead. "Okay then, everypony! We're gonna head back to the cabins now for supper! Come on," I called out, specifically trying to extend my voice in the direction of the foals down by the lake. Spike, apparently hungry, was headed towards me within seconds, a very surprised looking Apple Bloom being physically dragged behind him by one of his claw tethers. "Yes! I've been hungry for a few minutes now!" he exclaimed, sliding up to a stop in front of me. The other three came at a slightly slower pace, with Featherweight and Pinch looking amused, and Silver bewildered. It only took me a moment of looking at her to remember her equipment bags. "Ah, yeah. Could you get one of your equipment bags, Silver Spoon?" I requested, nuzzling my head under the strap on her other one and flicking it lightly backwards onto my back. They'd taken a couple balls out from it earlier to play with, but at some point during my distraction, they must have cleaned up after themselves. I was rather impressed. "O-Oh! I, uh, well, you don't have to help me with them, Mender. They're my responsibility, after all," the gray filly muttered, slipping under hers and carefully lifting upwards, hooking it over her back. "Eh, I could use the exercise. Besides, it's what friends do, no?" I pointed out. It was kind of amusing watching her expression shift to looking like she'd just got blindsided by a runaway wagon, but I resisted snickering. My fellow Crusaders looked somewhat surprised as well, but recovered far faster than Silver. Apple Bloom chipped in first, suggesting, "O'course we'll be yer friend, Silver. Yer ah nice pony now that we got ta hang out with ya. Do ya have supper plans? If not, yer always welcome ta eat with us." Pinch finally relented and got a light smile on her face as well, nodding along. "Yeah, you're not the filly I thought you were. Just, well, you don't always have to go along with Diamond Tiara when she's being mean," she suggested, eyes softening at the now uncomfortable looking Silver. I shook my head lightly instead. "No, if anything, Diamond Tiara is really insecure about something, if I had to guess right. A lot of bullies act that way to try to get some form of control over their lives. I saw a lot of it, er, in my prior profession," I elaborated, suddenly remembering that not everypony present knew I was an alien from another dimension about halfway through. Silver smiled weakly at that and nodded. "Her dad puts a lot of pressure on her. But, um, thank you, everypony. Uh, I'm staying with her as well and we're kind of on our own for supper tonight. Would it be okay if I offered some food to her, too?" she asked hesitantly, swallowing and shrinking a bit almost automatically afterwards, as if expecting us to throw rocks at her or something. Heh. She'd probably seen the angry mob from earlier. "Sure. I'm sure Big Mac isn't going to turn down a hungry filly," I pointed out, smiling towards her in a hopefully reassuring manner. I wasn't so great at the whole body language thing, and sincerely hoped it didn't come across as creepy and uncanny valley instead. Her smile returned in the corner of my eye as I turned and started walking towards the path leaving the lake again. The group of foals rapidly caught back up with me, Sweetie perpetually to my left again as usual, but this time Silver slipped up to her left as well. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Spike came in on the right again, and I heard Featherweight and Pinch following closely behind me. The sound of the hovering tortoise somewhere above got me thinking a bit. It was a little weird that I was the only adult here, but that familiar urge to make sure absolutely nothing hurt any of them reared up again, somewhat comforting at this point. That was specifically my desire, I realized. My own, and it was good to cling to my own identity. Plus, being responsible for others and taking that seriously left a good feeling in my chest. "What did you used to do before coming to Ponyville?" Silver asked curiously after a moment of walking. Heh, speaking of identity, I guess I should stick as close to what was established as possible. While we walked, I went into detail about how I was a researcher before, and also served in the Royal Military as well. Technically it was true, minus the royal part. There was no royalty where I really did come from, but I guess arguing semantics was a rather moot point now that 'where I came from' was kind of blown to tiny bits. Eh. Details, details. Regardless, I made them up as I went... * * * * * It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, there would never be any escape from the pervasive awkwardness that seemed to haunt my life at regular intervals. I stared up at the ceiling of the darkened cabin, listening to both the rainfall on the roof and the light snoring from Spike, who was curled up near my back legs. I tried giving him a blanket, but he denied one, saying he was warm enough with just his inner temperature. It was downright nippy in the cabin now, but I believed him if the distortions in the air above him meant anything. He was warm indeed! Sadly, the relaxing atmosphere only made it easier to remember supper earlier. Diamond Tiara sat like a grumbling rock the entire time we ate, despite us trying to be as nice as we could to her. I figured she'd not be happy with me in particular, but her irritation seemed to extend to pretty much everypony, even Silver Spoon. It had been awkward, but she looked more depressed than anything by the end of supper. I stared up into the dark, taking an odd comfort in not turning on any enhanced vision. Even though I was just lying here, it was oddly peaceful. Another low rumble sounded in the distance, lightly shaking the windows. For a moment, I thought it was Scootaloo, who still snored blissfully unaware. The two squeaks in the same direction reminded me that I wasn't the only one awake. Another flash of light through the windows illuminated the entire room, and my eyes softened. Three seconds passed, and the loud boom shook the windows even further. Two weak yelps sounded out in different tones, and I heard the distinct sound of hooves hitting wood a second later. Oh? Big Mac stirred at the same time I rolled to my right, peeking as two panicking fillies shot past my bed, one yellow and one white. "B-Big Brother? Can we stay with ya, tonight?" Apple Bloom shakily whispered, hopping her front legs up onto the red stallion's bed. He was large enough to take up almost all of it by himself. I doubted his ability to compress himself that much, and eagerly watched to see if he'd try. Interestingly enough, Scootaloo's snores didn't even miss a beat. He sleepily stared down at the two fillies before sighing and nodding. "Ah only got room fer one, though. Go see Mender, Sweetie," he quietly returned. That bastard! He knew Sweetie 'liked' me at this point! It was pointless to glare at him, of course, as he wasn't even looking at me. Sweetie lowered her ears for a second but nodded slowly, shrinking a little before peeking back over at me in the dark. Her whole body shivered as another rumble sounded out, and a pang of guilt over being annoyed shot through me. Exhaling, I gave her my softest smile and nodded towards her, extending my right foreleg off the bed a bit. Timidly, her muzzle switched to a weak smile as she slipped over in my direction. The next flash and boom sent a white bolt of shivering fur right into my chest, burrowing into the blankets in blind panic. Trying not to snicker, I tucked her under the blankets and just held her against my chest while she shivered there. From my current position, I could also see Apple Bloom's head sticking out from under the edge of Big Mac's covers, hesitantly looking our way. My right hoof lit up gently with a soft blue light, and both fillies looked over at it, Sweetie peeking out from the top of my blanket. Big Mac looked tiredly towards me from the two-meter distance and gave a weak nod, eyes slowly closing again. "You two are fine now. Just try to get some sleep," I assured as best I could, giving Sweetie a squeeze around the chest. She smiled up at me as I turned off the glow, letting the light fade and the darkness resume once again. "Yeah, goodnight, Mender," Apple Bloom whispered, followed by an even quieter thank you to her brother. Sweetie puffed up a little before rotating around and sinking back down a bit, moving all but her face below my blankets as she timidly looked up at me. "Um, I'm sorry about this, Mender. T-Thank you," she finally whispered. I sighed, but smiled weakly before asking, "Bad dreams?" Her tired nod was all that was needed, and I decided upon something else instead. "I know a trick that will make sure you don't have a single bad dream tonight. Relax," I instructed softly. It didn't really surprise me this time when Sweetie exhaled and nodded, her muscles going limp against me. Pulling her up a little, I noticed a light pink shift on her cheeks as I pushed my forehead against hers. A second later, my energy danced through her head as I lightly held her close, her eyes widening a little at the sensation. "Dream syncing. But first, I'm going to take a bit of a trip. Don't be afraid, Sweetie, as I won't let anything bad happen to you," I muttered, barely audible into her ear, the tiny thread of my energy connecting our foreheads still. Fear appeared to be the last thing on her mind as she smiled up at me, gently nodding against my chest. Snickering lightly, I nodded to her, and then gave two little tugs on the inner connection. Ten seconds passed in silence before I 'felt' myself pulled a bit closer to my Keldarian friend. "Oh, just a second, Mender! You caught me in the middle of something," Keela informed, sounding a little distracted. Sweetie's eyes widened a bit as she heard the voice, too, and probably recognized it from before. She stiffened a little bit, but relaxed a moment later after catching herself. I gave her an assuring squeeze around her back, and her muzzle shifted back upwards ever so slightly into a smile again. A moment later, Keela's end of the link activated fully. Someday, I was going to have to ask her how she did that. I knew she was a divination specialist, but allowing me to project my energy across dimensions to where she was still impressed me a little. It didn't take long before I nodded absently and nuzzled Sweetie's forehead. As predicted, she blushed and closed her eyes during the sensation. In that instant, while her eyes were still closed, I pulled us across the dimensional gap in one fluid shift. * * * * * The step out was a bit more jarring this time, as I accidentally kicked a scrap of metal and sent it flying with my hoof as I materialized. Raising an eyebrow, I looked around at the rather messy lab, a far cry from how she normally kept it. What looked like wreckage and various scraps were positioned on the lab tables, probably for analysis. Keela herself stood up again and smiled back at me from a nearby workstation, her scanning device that was ceiling-mounted sliding across what looked like a burnt up satellite assembly. "Hiya, Mender! You caught me looking not my best, but you probably don't mind," she greeted, giggling lightly before turning around fully. Her fur was a bit matted in spots, and she had grease stains on the engineering uniform she was wearing, but other than that, she didn't look bad, really, her hair tied up in a ponytail like that. Heh. Probably another reason she didn’t get along with the council before. She wasn’t afraid to get her own paws dirty. "Psh, you're too hard on yourself. You look fine to me," I observed, causing her to flush lightly and grin. A moment later, I closed my eyes again and focused lightly on the confused, disoriented mind also connected to mine. Keela tilted her head towards me, but then widened her eyes as another form shifted out of me, and Sweetie Belle took immediate shape and coloring to my left. I felt her mind orient instantly as her eyes opened and she gave a start, looking around the large lab in sudden surprise. "Oh! Hello there," Keela suddenly added, snapping Sweetie's attention back to her in an instant. The Keldarian crouched down to make herself look smaller as she smiled warmly at the little filly, who looked more nervous than anything. "This is Keela, Sweetie. You already met her, remember?" I asked softly, sitting down next to the filly. Sweetie Belle snapped her attention back to me as well, suddenly realizing I was right there next to her, and visibly relaxed, exhaling gently before pushing into my side again. Heh. She acted like she was going to be by herself if she broke physical contact. "Um, hello. I'm Sweetie Belle, but you already, well, met me," she whispered, looking back up at Keela with rather large eyes, looking her over carefully. "Oh, you're just adorable! Are you staying with Mender, then?" Keela chirped, getting that expression she had before when she last saw the fillies. It was really hard to describe, but was kind of a mixture between super excited and gushing at the cuteness. The white filly relaxed a little more at the non-threatening question, and nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah. It's storming really bad at the cabin, and, well, I don't like thunder. Mender let me sleep in his bed, and then brought me here to get me away from the storm," she explained, looking back up at me and getting a larger smile on her face. Giving a gentle nod, I pulled her into a light hug and ruffled the top of her mane a bit, earning a giggle from the filly. Keela snickered at the display and tacked on, "Oh, I know. Mender's a sweetheart, and really likes you fillies. He's talked about you three before." I gave Keela a skeptical glance, but Sweetie perked up at that, her eyes widening a little. "R-Really? What does he say about me?" she asked a little too quickly to be an innocent question. Snickering, I playfully nudged her, earning a squeak as I reminded, "I'm right here, you know. I mostly tell her how adorable I think you three are." It was an easy enough admission, of course. No lie was needed, as Sweetie alone was potentially the most quintessential adorable being in existence. Add in three others, and Fluttershy as well, and you had world-ending levels of cuteness. My heart was straining just thinking about it! Keela got a coy smirk, however, and my eyes instantly narrowed in her direction, but it was far too late to say anything about it before she spoke up. "Oh, he talks about more than that. How Apple Bloom is always open and honest with him, and how he admires Scootaloo for her unwavering dedication and genuine attitude," she started, actually covering legit details I'd mentioned. Oh, well that wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Sweetie, who had perked up at her having started explaining things, just smiled and nodded along at all that. "He says they're kinda like the little sisters he never had, which is downright adorable to hear him say, I might add," she admitted, winking towards me. I felt a light heat enter my cheeks, but I rolled my eyes and waved a hoof towards her dismissively. "I'm not adorable. Now this little filly here is adorable!" I illustrated, lightly patting Sweetie on the head, who beamed up at me. Keela looked unfazed, to my slight horror. Was there such a thing as 'slight' horror? Could you be just a 'little' horrified? Regardless, she continued with, "But you confuse him oh so much. He tries to think of you like a little sister, but you just feel 'different ' to him in how you interact with him." Aww, damn it. She was hinting at that? Sweetie turned a light pink and shyly stared at her own hooves before nodding. "Um, I don't want to be his sister, so that's good. I want to be his. His, um, mate. A member of the herd!" she revealed, despite Keela already knowing all that. She'd been the one who had calmed me down, after all. I'd told her everything. The Keldarian smiled in an assured manner, complimenting, "Those are really mature thoughts for such a young filly. I'm impressed." Sweetie cracked a smile at that, and giggled, to my surprise. "I, um, learned a lot from Rarity. She talks about romance a lot, and taught me about values and stuff. She, um, sorta noticed that I liked Mender already, and talked to me about it. A lot. It was a little awkward, but she was helping me get the courage up to talk to Mender about it before we all left for second heat," she revealed. For all intents and purposes, I was flattened by the revelation. "W-Wait, what?! Your sister knows about this and said it was okay?" I asked almost instantly, unable to even fathom the reality of this. I was expecting Rarity to be first in line to grind me into pony paste when I got back and told her! Hmm. Actually, now that I thought about it, it really did say something about my intelligence if I knew she was going to smash my face in and I was going to tell her anyway. Keela looked bewildered at the sudden turn of events, looking back and forth between us, but Sweetie just swallowed and nodded, losing her smile a little. "Yeah. I almost think Rarity figured it out faster than I did. She wasn't happy at first. She said she was worried it was just a 'crush' and because she talked about you so much. She also told me more about what happened and, um, admitted that she had made a mistake," the little filly elaborated. "Mistake?" Keela asked hesitantly, apparently coping with this better than I was, being not technically involved. "Yeah. Something about her falling in love with what Mender represented, rather than, uh, himself? I think? It was kinda confusing, but she said she was happy Mender said no, and that she had to 'reevaluate what she looked for in a male', as she put it. Looking at the male himself rather than comparing him to her ideal?" Sweetie tried to explain, stumbling a bit and frowning at the end. It made sense. She hadn't even looked at the many, many flaws I have, only being interested in how I treated her and what she perceived as a 'flawless' match to her 'Knight in Shining Armor' image. She never really looked at 'me', as it was. She wanted 'a prince', and not 'Mender', and from the look in her eyes that night she kissed me, it felt like she was willing to lie to herself in order to get that. Keela smiled and nodded happily to the little filly. "That's very wise. Do you like Mender because he's always nice to you and acts compassionate, or is there something more?" Sweetie smiled at that but shook her head, letting her curls sway with the gentle motion. "Rarity asked me that, too. I really do think Mender is nice and friendly to everypony, or at least tries to be. I know he's not, well, perfect, but I made a lot of mistakes, too! I'm not saying that just to be mean or anything. I like talking to him and he makes me feel safe. That comes with a warm and dancing feeling in my chest that just makes me want to sing and tuck myself into Mender and kiss him and, um..." She trailed off a moment later, noticing Keela's surprised look, and my dropped jaw in comparison. It didn't take long for heat to creep back across her cheeks. "Uh, how long ago was this talk?" I asked, shaking myself out of it a good fifteen awkward seconds later. Keela exhaled softly and looked over at me instead, but all my attention was reserved for the little filly at this point. Well, okay, so she wasn't really 'little' so much as three-fourths the size of an adult, but still! She paused, then lifted her head up for a moment, tilting it to the right a little. "Uh, it was the day after she got back from Canterlot, and before you came back to Ponyville," she hesitantly answered. That long?! Why didn't she say anything to me?! Well, looking back at it now, as observant as Rarity had proven to be, I really shouldn't have been surprised that she figured it out that fast. Keela finally stood up again and looked back at the workstation behind her. "Well, I think it's amazing that she's supporting you, Sweetie Belle. In a couple years, I'm sure you'll be more than ready to join the herd," she assured upon turning back around. Sweetie perked up, but looked over at me instead. "Wait, you told her about the two years thing, too?" she asked, sounding more than a little surprised. My ears flattened back of their own accord, and I frowned. "Is that, um, a bad thing?" Technically, Keela was more a confidant than most of my friends. It helped that she had a truly outsider's perspective, but being from a totally different culture, and the same one most of my mindset had been from, I found her able to give a surprising amount of insight, not to mention being highly empathic of everything. Sweetie's shade shifted even further into the red tones as she rapidly shook her head, mane dancing back and forth with each motion. "No! Not at all. I'm glad, because that means you were definitely telling the truth when you said you'd give me a chance?" she tried to explain, insinuating something else on the side, undoubtedly by accident. I smirked, of course. "Oh? You didn't trust me before?" I teased, grin widening towards her as she scowled, faint smile still playing across her snout. "Of course I do, Mender. I trust you with my life! You did save it, so it's all yours now," she chirped in a singsong sort of manner, managing to fire back my teasing with a surprising level of finesse. I blushed and rolled my eyes as she grinned. Keela, who was still listening, surprisingly enough, perked her ears up and smirked back at us. "Careful, Sweetie. For a Keldarian, if they go through great trial and acquire honor while saving a female's life, they rise in station, with said female usually feeling obligated to 'reward' them," she tossed in, earning a flat look from me and a gasp from my filly friend. "So it's kinda like knighthood! How romantic!" Sweetie gushed, and I barely resisted slapping my forehead. Sure, you usually got an heir out of the 'arrangement', but were they really anything more than possessions of the female to show off with after that? Not my idea of romantic... Keela must have seen my sour face, and quickly corrected, "It's not all that romantic for all of them, Sweetie. But yes, they're sort of like 'knights'. Although our culture uses the term 'Honored Guardian' instead." Well, that was true. It was a rise in station, after all. Better pay, better hours, better living conditions, rising on the social ladder, and potentially getting to hang out more with your charge, if she had a small 'collection,' anyways. You only had to almost assuredly die a horrible, merciless death trying to 'save' them. The little filly looked deeply engrossed, as if trying to memorize every word, so I took the distraction while I could and changed the subject. "Uh, by the way, what are all these things?" I inquired, having actually been wondering that for a while now. Keela glanced back over at me questioningly, but I gestured around to the various destroyed parts on the tables. "Oh! These are samples that were in the best shape from the wreckage near the destruction of our home world. From what I can piece together, it's a Grosh research vessel, but there's almost nothing left of it. From what we could tell from the destruction, there wasn't any actual damage to it, so we were trying to figure out how it spontaneously blew up," she explained, smiling back towards her computer, which appeared to be analyzing ballistics of the hull piece laying there. Oh. Oops. Why had I never told her about that? I'd mentioning encountering the Grosh when trying to recover the original me, but not that I'd successfully blown up the ship. Staring at the analysis going on, I smiled and shook my head, remembering that particular run at the radar dish. "Depleted pellets fired from a rail launcher built into several scouting drones," I answered, an estimated three and a half hours before the computer narrowed it down to the same option. Keela gave a start, and then turned back around to give me a questioning glance. I coughed lightly and looked away. "I really should have told you about that part. That was from the first attack run when Dash and I sliced off their radar array. There were a negligible amount of scouts firing at us on our approach, but we outran them easily. Looks like they hit their own hull," I pointed out, gesturing towards the damaged plate. "You?! You attacked the Grosh ship?!" she asked, eyes widening in surprise as her paw slid along the plate next to her. It was a sizable sample, dull gray metals producing next to no shine despite the lab's overheads. "We didn't have a choice. The ship was already there investigating the portal. I couldn't take the chance that they had information on Equestria," I said, frowning afterwards. Sweetie's eyes softened a bit and she slid into my left side again, hugging my foreleg as I smiled down at her. "You blew them up, then? H-How?!" Keela asked weakly, turning off the scanner with an errant gesture now that she knew the answer already. "They pulled him and Rainbow inside the ship! He lit it on fire, then Twilight teleported them out with her magic!" Sweetie answered for me, with the 'close enough' version. I wasn't going to go into details, but Keela was a smart girl, and probably figured out what happened. She smiled, a sudden, knowing sort of tingle dancing in her eyes. "Ah, their ecosystem's gas. Clever. Well, I guess that solves this mystery, and you saved me quite a few hours, so thanks!" she chirped, turning around and starting to slide the sensors up. "I just wish we could have gleamed something from all this. Everything's so burnt up that it's almost unrecognizable," she added, sounding a little bit down and pausing with her paw on the handle of her scanner. Staring at it, I traced the sleek metals with my eyes, remembering the cold efficiency of it all quite intimately. That wasn't all his memories, either. For just a research vessel, it had a scary array of armaments. My hoof reached out and slid along the extended plate of the one propped up on Keela's table, feeling the lightly cooled metal as it curved towards the floor of the lab. It felt almost, well, sad. Sad? A little confusion shot through me at the same time the light pulse did, and I was suddenly 'aware' of the metal a bit more. My eyes widened as I realized how familiar the pulse had felt, and I subconsciously looked back towards my left side. Prudentia was there in barrier construct form, and I knew I hadn't formed it. Giving a questioning glance up at Sweetie, I noticed her frozen in mid-hop towards me, looking happy. Oh. Expecting it this time, I turned back to my right, only to find a small Keldarian kitten sitting on the edge of the plate wing. She was totally nude, but was so young that I would have had a hard time telling her gender had she been wearing clothes. Her shoulder-length hair was a mixture of dark gold and silver, while her cloudy, white eyes looked vaguely back in my general direction, yet slightly over my shoulder with the way she was sitting. Prudentia. She spoke up before I could address her this time. "But little did the hero know, how many untold eons that metal contained. Sadness and loss, betrayal and fear. Each anew shall rise up to the heavens, but only one shall attain the infinite. Which one?" she asked, confusing me more than a little. Sadness? "Fear drives all. The answer? Cut them down while they still ascend. If none rise up, then the prophecy falls upon deaf ears and idle hands. None shall question them again. Now, they hide behind a mask of their own making, full of great advances, but hating all equally," she continued, dropping into a whisper towards the end. The Grosh. It was speculated that they perceived us as threats somehow, and I knew they were at war with countless thousand other species at the same time usually, but nopony really knew why they were doing it all. Did they have some sort of prophecy telling them to? Prudentia smiled as I stared at her, looking amused. "Master is clever. I'm sure you'll eventually find out. In the meantime, you should make sure Keela doesn't think this was a waste," she suggested idly. It was odd, but she felt more substantial this time. Was she getting stronger, or was there something about being in this dimension? "How do I do that?" I inquired, tilting my head while looking at her. For a moment, a smile played at her lips as she reached her right paw down and brushed it against the metal she sat on. The metal glowed as she touched it, a faint light dancing across the surface and forming thin, perfectly spaced lines. The light aggressively expanded but didn't stop at the destroyed edges, continuing as if tracing some unknown design. Oh! "My power," Prudentia answered finally. Everything inside the part was shown as well, with layer after layer deepening as it went. It moved beyond sight, as I took the data right into my databases instead. "Oh, this is much more convenient than the last Master. He took time to absorb information and write things down." My eyes softened a little as I stared down at the almost completed diagram of the Grosh ship. Yeah, that was one way to look at it. I was definitely more convenient. Now that I considered it, I was rather convenient for the ponies, too. Wasn't that what I wanted, though? Prudentia surprised me with a sudden squeak, her eyes widening as she covered her mouth with both paws. "Ah! That's not what I meant, Master! You, um, that's the whole reason I'm here. You're so, well, different. I thought that revealing my other abilities would cause you to start, well, requesting a bunch of different things. But you haven't even asked once!" she rapidly explained, tripping over her own words like I'd never heard her do before. Of course, the second the rather strong thought entered my mind, a sharp blush shot across her cheeks. Heh. She was definitely a real individual, I noticed. Still, I was concerned about her statement. "Why would you even think I'd do that in the first place, Prudentia? I mean, it's your power to control, and even if I wanted to, it's not my place to tell you what to do with it." It didn't make sense to me, but at the same time, I had my suspicions. The little kitten blushed lightly and smiled, shaking her head and letting her hair dance about. "Master is really nice, but you're still my master. I really do have to do everything you request. I can do things on my own when you don't request anything, of course, which is why this is a gift! Something you can give Keela to help her defend her people," she reasoned, giving me a happy nod when she was done. Yeah, I'd suspected something 'bound' her to me like that. I'd no desire to actually take advantage of that, though. Although, the way she said Keela's name... "Well, I'm never going to order you to do anything for me, Prudentia. Although I am curious. Do you know Keela?" I inquired, tilting my head a little to the left. She momentarily looked startled, empty eyes widening as her ears perked up. "Oh, well, yes, I did while I was still alive. But she won't remember me, so it's probably pointless to mention it to her," she explained. A light pang hit me, several suspected bits of information coming to light at once. Prudentia was dead, and the way she'd said that had been absolute. Not 'she might not remember'... "I'm sorry. Um, is there anything you'd rather I call you than Prudentia? I remember you said you were Prudentia, but it wasn't you at the same time, so..." I offered quietly, hoping I hadn't brought up bad memories. If she was sad by the topic, she didn't show it. Instead, I got a sort of perplexed, blank stare for a moment before she hesitantly asked, "Uh, wait, you're asking me a personal preference? It doesn't have anything to do with you, though." I nodded and tried to give her a warm smile, but she shrank a little and gave a more pronounced blush. "Um, well, no, I'm not, well, I am, but I'm not Prudentia. I became Prudentia, but I'm still me, I guess?" she managed to squeak out, looking a bit flustered and reminding me of Fluttershy again. I snickered lightly but nodded to her, urging her to continue. After a bit more fidgeting, she finally whispered, "Um, you can call me Purdue if you want. That was my name before I was Prudentia." My ears perked up and I committed it to memory instantly. It was a rather pretty name. She blushed a bit more and smiled at me, looking happy regardless, if not a little tired. "I am getting tired, though. Showing you the schematics took a lot out of me," she admitted, voice a bit stronger afterwards, either happy I liked her name or trying to adamantly change the topic. "You were here for a lot longer this time, and did a ton of stuff. What was so different, if you don't mind me asking before you leave?" Glancing back into my database at the same time, I pulled up the completed schematics she'd given me as if to prove the point, knowing full well she could probably see what I saw, too. Her smile came back and she nodded. "It's easier for me to show up in just your mind than it is to form a physical body out of barriers so you can see me. So when you're asleep or in a purely mental state, it's easier for me to talk to you?" she explained, much as I'd already guessed. I perked and nodded at that, earning a light giggle from the kitten before she hopped up off the metal chunk. I watched her hesitate, a step or so away from me before I smiled and stepped forwards, lightly hugging her front while squeezing her with my right foreleg. She gave a start, but then wrapped her arms around my neck with a happy murmuring. She was rather silly if she thought I'd object to hugging her. A moment later, she backed her head away and nodded to me, looking very happy now. "I'll see you again soon, Master! Um, thank you!" Before I could tell her to just call me Mender, she was gone again and Sweetie Belle hopped point blank range into my rear. We both gave a startled yelp and fell into a rather tangled pony pile, giving Keela a start as she turned around again. It didn't take three seconds for the Keldarian to start giggling at us as I tried to fold my leg back around Sweetie and untangle her tail from my forehoof. Her eyes spun momentarily before she coughed and gave me a sheepish, apologetic look. I just snickered and patted her on the head, however, pulling her back to her hooves after disengaging from her. It was amazing how easy four legs could get all wound up with each other when multiple ponies were involved! Well, no, maybe it was just me... "Are you two okay?" Keela asked, a hint of mirth still in her voice as she walked back over to us. Sweetie Belle peeked back over at her and nodded, shoulders relaxing again and giving my alien friend a soft smile. It was nice to see her not afraid anymore. "Yeah, we're okay. Just a spill. It, uh, happens more than I'd like to admit. I'm still not the greatest at this whole four leg thing," I admitted, getting her to giggle and wiggle her whiskers for a moment before I added, "By the way, do you have a data jack in any of these consoles?" Sweetie tilted her head at me, and Keela gave me a curious stare for a second before nodding. I smiled and held my left forehoof up, a plug extension forming out of it and sliding out a few inches. I knew how they worked, and mimicking the electrical current in it to form the data signal would be rather easy. Peripheral support ho! My Keldarian friend stared at it for a moment, eyebrow raised, before she smirked and slid a panel open on the console next to her. "This better not be the DNA data, Mender. I told you I don't have the database ready for such a huge upload yet," she warned as I hopped up on the device, unable to reach it otherwise with my hoof and still be comfortable. Sweetie didn't seem to fully grasp what was going on, but followed me like a lost puppy regardless, jumping up right behind me and pushing into my back as she peeked around, curiously watching what I was doing as I got the plug inserted two tries later. For universal plugs, why did they make them have a specific up and down? It was just bad engineering! Plus, it seemed like I was 'fated' to always try to plug it in upside down the first time. "Nope! This is a present Prudentia gave me, for you," I revealed happily. Keela's eyes expanded rapidly, but I started the upload before she could say anything. Her eyes whipped to the screen instead, then got bigger and bigger as I transferred the full schematics to her. Okay, it was worth it just for that expression. "H-How did you...? You're just full of surprises, Mender," Keela whispered, looking on in awe at the display. "Magic?" I offered, giving her a playful smirk. She shot me a glare back, but I just shot her a wink before turning back and watching the upload into her computer's database...
Chapter 56Dreaming was a pleasant pastime for me. Admittedly, I'd discovered it was way more fun with a friend, as special as that felt to say. When I was by myself, even when lucid dreaming, I had a tendency to fall prey to negatives. Bad thoughts would magnify and more base fears would manifest themselves until I lost control of the dream and it shifted into a nightmare. That wasn't pleasant, of course. With somepony else there, however, there was always something else for me to focus on rather than my negative tendencies. I really did try to stay positive, but a little bit of help from time to time was amazing. At this point, due to Twilight not really wanting to sync with me anymore, obviously before the Estrus, of course, I felt like it was a distant dream. As ironic as that sounds, it wasn't very pleasant after I'd gotten used to somepony helping me keep the memories at bay. So, despite Sweetie having infinite amounts of fun and no complaints whatsoever, it still felt like a slightly selfish, naughty indulgence to me. My eyes stayed closed, enjoying the sleepiness even though I was keenly aware of being awake now. Dreaming always had that surreal, misty feel to it, even when aware of it. Things flowed and shifted freely there, and it was a delight to show the little filly all the ways you could change the dreamscape. First a circus show, then an interesting air show with the 'Wonderbolts', and even an aquarium of some sort was on our list of stops. She led the way from her own memories, and was delighted to see them come back to life around her. Admittedly, I was equally delighted to see the new aspects of Equestria, obviously not getting away from Ponyville much. Apparently the little filly had been much more active with events and shows and such when she was living with her parents. After they moved to Canterlot a year or so back, she moved in with her sister to stay in her current school, but Rarity obviously didn't have as much time to take her places. She was more than happy to go sightseeing, that said. The last hour of our sleepy dream experience was on a breezy hill overlooking Ponyville from the south. I just enjoyed the sun on my side, and she rested against my chest in her prior adult form, saying she wanted to see what it was like without the monstrous, overbearing heat. Admittedly, far, far less hectic, I had to agree. We just lay there watching the sun slowly set, while its twin rose in reality. The wind and gently swaying grass let me just rest peacefully. It was a rare opportunity, and it surprised me that it had been Sweetie's idea. She was acting like normal again as well, just enjoying lying there lightly against me. Her adult form was exactly as I remembered it, and quite pretty, her lightly curled mane significantly longer and lightly resting down her shoulder and neck as I occasionally massaged her shoulder blades. Yeah, in a few years’ time, I doubted I'd have any issue with her. She was close to me already in other ways and felt familiar, which was definitely important. Either she was taking after her sister and an amazing mastermind to plan this relaxing last scene, or she really did mesh well with my interests and self. Was I just lazy? Eh. Not so much that as really, really tired. Maybe that's why I just lay there for a bit, enjoying the soft mattress under me before the day began once more. I knew she was awake, too, both of us having slipped out of the dream at the same time. The mind only rested while in the actual dreamscape. It only idled, and our body rested while we were over visiting Keela, so I could never stay with my Keldarian friend all night. No, we needed a full rest. The filly gave a soft sigh a moment later, her face pushing a little more into my chest as she relaxed in my forelegs. Even if we each had different potential reasons for the embrace, it was still pleasant. She was warm, soft, and adorable, and all three of those appealed to me on a base level, especially when put into one tiny little package. Well, again, she was pretty big, honestly, so maybe 'tiny' wasn't that great of a word to use, but eh, it wasn't like anypony else could see or hear my thoughts. "Heh, I can see you two are awake. Gonna get up so we can go play?" I heard whispered in a very Scootaloo-sounding voice from somewhere above my head. Smiling lightly, having already felt her end of the enchantment close, my left eye slipped open and rolled up to peek at the grinning filly. Sweetie Belle gave a soft murmur and ruffled her face against the fur on my chest for a moment before peeking up above my collarbone at her friend. Scootaloo couldn't tell, but I could feel the smile against my chest, even before the little unicorn nodded up at Scootaloo. "Mmm, yeah. We can. I was enjoying this, but, um, we really should get up. Can we, uh, maybe try the lake again today? I don't really like thinking about going to the water again, but I should really wash up," she whispered softly. "Relax, Sweetie. Nothin' is gonna happen ta ya this time. Scootaloo an' Ah should wash, too, an' we'll be right there ta help ya out," Apple Bloom cut in, sounding like she was over close to the door. My guess proved true as I looked over at the yellow filly, who smiled back at us earnestly. Sweetie peeked back at her, and AB gave a flex of her right foreleg as emphasis, the enchantment dancing along it still. Ah, yeah, I needed to add a bit to those today, too. A few more safety precautions added couldn't hurt. "Ah, yeah, I'm guessing you fillies want your privacy for that. Still, I'll be within earshot of all of you just in case," I promised, sitting up in bed again and earning both a happy smile from Apple Bloom and a warmer one from Sweetie. I saw nothing but a blur from Scoots, however, as she cheered and hopped down off the shelf at the top of my bed, bolting over to Apple Bloom as well. A stifled groan came from behind me, and I peeked down at the foot of the way-too-long bed and noticed Spike drag the other end of the covers more over himself. "Mmm, five more minutes, Twilight..." he whispered, earning a snicker from most of us. "Just rest, Spike. Bring Tank down to the lake once you two wake up some," I requested, noticing the tortoise's shell still tucked up over by the sink full of water in the kitchen. He stuck a sleepy head out at his name, but, apparently deciding he wasn't needed for epic suspect apprehension or dragon airlift service, he tucked it back in a second later, probably resuming his sleep. Being that awesome probably took a lot of energy! I felt a very awake Rainbow Dash snicker at the prospect and mental image I sent her way, and realized she must be really, really close for her emotions to be that clear. Heh. Sneaky Dashie. That one got a blushing scowl, and I grinned to myself before nodding back at Apple Bloom. "Let's head to the lake, then. I should probably wash up anyway, as well," I pondered out loud. The yellow filly grinned before playfully adding, "Ah'll say! Can smell ya from 'ere, as AJ would say." My surprise shifted to amusement in half a second, and I hopped down at her, my tail whipping sideways and snapping a half-meter away from her rump as she squeaked in surprise and laughed, bolting over to the door. Scootaloo grinned even more and ran after her friend as I gave chase, laughing at their antics. "Ah! Wait for me!" Sweetie chirped a second later, and I heard hoofsteps rapidly bolt after me and out the now open cabin door, hot on my tail. The sun was just rising, and Big Mac gave us a happy grin as we shot past, the two fillies ahead of me laughing now as we headed for the lake. The familiar cyan mare sat in the tree branches at the edge of the clearing and perked up as we approached at a breakneck speed, sitting up from her carefully chosen hiding spot. Her smile broadened as she took to the air when we passed under her, me smiling back up at her briefly after she dropped into a glide next to, and a little above me. "Race ya," she offered a moment later, her wings flaring with light and energy. Heh, this probably was a bad idea. "You're on," I agreed regardless a second later, my muscles activating in my legs, forming tight cords as we went. She looked momentarily surprised at my actual agreement, before I could no longer see her face anymore. I cleared the three fillies in front of me with one leap, landing three meters ahead of them and shifting my legs into a blur. Rainbow's gleeful laugh sounded from behind me as I felt her energy flare down the enchantment connection. The last thing I heard before everything behind us shot away was Scootaloo's surprised "Whoa!" * * * * * "That was so awesome!" the little orange filly shouted out again, flailing up into the air and almost dancing in place. I lay on my back, panting at this point as I felt the heat pour off me and drift skywards. Rainbow had won still by a significant amount, but there was this lingering suspicion that she'd intentionally stayed back for a while. She seemed to almost enjoy flying right next to me as I ran. It was an odd sensation I picked up from her when it happened, but it was over before I could properly figure it out. Now the cyan pegasus rested next to me, breathing hard but looking more exhilarated compared to my flat out exhausted. "I'll say! With that cyborg stuff, you're, like, the fastest Earth Pony alive! Well, maybe Pinkie's a little faster. She can keep up with me when I'm flying, too, but then again, that was before I had these babies!" Rainbow cooed, flexing her wings out and grinning back at her glowing jets that may as well have been a permanent attachment to her body at this point. She'd probably attack me if I tried to take them off. Catching my breath still, I wobbled as the oxygen adjusters in my bloodstream leveled off. Rolling to my left, I gave her an amused smirk once I was on my side again. "It was fun, admittedly. Also a test, to be honest. After everything I ate yesterday, my leg is feeling pretty good today. A little tender after that, but..." To illustrate the point, I lifted it up a little and looked it over. The fur was definitely coming back, giving it a healthier look, and the veins could only be seen in a few spots now due to the muscles developing along it. Sweetie edged closer and peeked it over as well, smiling lightly at it before nodding in agreement. "Yeah! I think it's looking good. It's wider now, too, so it looks healthier," she observed, obviously able to note the muscle mass in it now, which was a definite improvement. My face blanked and my eye twitched as a hoof slowly slid along my right flank, however. Rainbow snickered from behind me a second later, adding, "Hey, the leg isn't the only thing starting to look good. Mender with muscles!" I slowly rotated my head, surprise shifting into a slightly annoyed yet skeptical glare back at her, her left hoof still tracing the muscles in my flank. Eh, at least it wasn't my butt, I suppose. "Rainbow," Apple Bloom warned, frowning towards her and standing up again next to Scootaloo, who suddenly looked nervous. What could only be described as light 'hunger' rapidly dissipated at the yellow filly's tone, and Rainbow snapped her hoof away from me in an instant, blushing lightly. "H-Hey! It was only a compliment! Sheesh. I learned my lesson, promise," she assured, sliding the hoof from shoulder to shoulder in a half-baked Pinkie Swear. Oh so subtly, I noticed she sniffed lightly as it went past, then shivered. Ack! My magic burst a second later before flicking her casually over us like a catapult and into the lake, her surprised howl not unlike a siren the entire way. Apple Bloom burst into laughter in an instant as the cyan pegasus splashed down into the water, back first, slowing for a second as I enabled the parachute just before she hit. I wasn't cruel. "Cool your jets!" I called after her as her head resurfaced, glaring back at me. She let out a frustrated grumble, followed by, "Fine, I'm sorry, okay?!" Well, an indignant apology was better than nothing from the stubborn pegasus. I rolled my eyes, then nodded to the fillies, gesturing to the lake as well. "Yeah, yeah. Head on down, everypony. Wash up and make sure Rainbow scrubs herself down, too, especially her chest. I'll head around the small peninsula over there with all the trees on it and wash up as well. I'll be within shouting range, however, if you need me for anything at all," I elaborated, nodding to each of them individually. All three gave me varying affirmations back, Sweetie's a little too impish for my liking, but I decided it was close enough. Two splashes later, followed by an exasperated yelp from Rainbow, and I was slipping through the trees and into the water on the other side. It felt cool on my legs after all that exercise, and I sighed softly, sinking into it while I lightly washed over my left foreleg. It really was tender, and I turned my nerve receptors down a bit so I could properly clean it. It was still about three-fourths the width of my normal legs, which were already underdeveloped for an adult stallion, but that was better than being under half, and showing bone here and there. Smiling lightly, I washed along it and the flat of my hoof while listening to the splashing and laughing on the other side of the trees. Sweetie hadn't dove in like the other two, but I kind of wondered how much actual cleaning was getting done. "Ah, hey! I can wash myself, Scoots!" I heard Rainbow protest a moment later. "You're not getting your chest, and Mender told you to!" the filly shot back, followed by a large splash and more laughing from Apple Bloom. I snickered to myself and rolled my eyes. Rainbow ran hot and cold so fast it kind of made me dizzy trying to keep up sometimes. I definitely preferred her warmer sides, but sometimes she got a little too warm, admittedly. A second passed before the laughter stopped from AB's end. Eh? "Sweetie! What do ya think yer doin'? Get back 'ere," she suddenly warned. Uh oh. Was Sweetie having problems with the water after all? I frowned, and then lowered my ears a bit. "Ah, um, I was just checking to see if he was okay! He's not making any noise!" I heard Sweetie call back, sounding significantly closer to me than the others. Oh. I slapped my forehead and sighed. "I'm fine, Sweetie. Go clean!" I shouted through the trees, earning Dash's laughter this time instead. Grumbling followed, and I heard her hoofsteps moving away again, and sank back under the water. It wasn't like I was doing anything particularly enticing anyway. I mean, she saw me naked all the time. What was so different? I paused for a second and rolled my eyes, realizing I had slipped into a bit of paranoia instead. Erring on the side of caution, I decided to wash my more private bits next while I knew she wasn't watching. I was going to be so happy to have a normal bathroom again, where I didn't have to worry about underage fillies peeping on me. Well, kinda underage. Sure, there wasn't a specific law for it, but I still didn't feel comfortable given the Crusaders' current ages. Washing up didn't take long. Thankfully the equipment down there was similar to what was in my memories from my original self. The baculum, specifically, made it far easier to clean, the bone being able to extend whenever I needed it to. I knew enough about basic anatomy to know it would probably suck otherwise. A few minutes later, I had moved on to my back legs, checking over the right one again. It was still a little less muscled than the other due to the injury it had sustained, but doing significantly better. A broken bone, I guess, was far easier to recover from than getting your leg chopped off and biologically regrowing it from nothing. Heh. After carefully washing my legs up, I inhaled sharply and slipped sideways into the deeper part of the water, staring out into the lake as I slipped below the surface. My rebreather kicked in and I relaxed, sinking towards the bottom as I rested there. That was another downside of my broken suppressor letting the tiniest sliver of my density through. I naturally sank like a rock, because I kind of was of similar density to one. I had to work to stay floating and couldn't do so and truly relax. My eyes closed as I rested at the bottom of the water, ears rotating around and absorbing the muffled sounds from the lake. I couldn't go back over there until they said they were done, so there was nothing better to do. My right eye's readout activated and I flicked through all the notes I'd taken for Twilight on the disks and data about the link. Alongside notes I'd made on the weapon for myself, there were well over a hundred pages. I'm sure it was light reading for her, but at least I felt better understanding myself a bit more. Ironically, the majority of the disks were made from crystals found here, in Equestria. Idly, I considered the aspect that I could technically make more 'blank' disks that could be linked to anypony, and then I decided that was probably a bad idea until I fully understood them. Yeah. Besides, I didn't really have anypony else I trusted enough to give them to. Well, that could consent to it anyway. Spike and the Crusaders were a little young to be making huge choices like that. "I still can't believe there's an age limit to sign up! It's just not fair!" I heard the muffled Scootaloo yelp, stirring my attention again. Eh? Well, it wasn't screams of panic and terror, or a confirmation that I was to rejoin them, so I just idly listened. "Scoots, this isn't like the Running of the Leaves. This race is in the air and a lot more dangerous. You can't just sit down and take a rest if you get tired, obviously," Rainbow warned. Well, unless they found a cloud, I guess. Heh. Of course, my last experience with being on a cloud was less than wonderful. There was a weak sigh, followed by a long pause, and I opened my eyes again. A small, yellow fish drifted in front of me, giving two slow blinks as I caught sight of it. It didn't seem particularly concerned about me, probably being intelligent like all the rest of the creatures here. I smiled lightly to it, and then closed my eyes again, having decided there wasn't much interesting to look at. Less talking, more washing, girls! Gah. "I guess I just really wanted to be able to fly with you, is all. Now that I have these wings, there's so much I can do! It just feels, I dunno," Scootaloo continued, her quieter tone harder to hear through the water. Eh, this wouldn't work very well. I mean, what if they were screaming for help really quietly? My eyes opened again and I gave a start, noticing no less than seven, equally yellow fish in front of me now, all drifting there and watching me. Eh?! What was I, some sort of curiosity or something? The front-most fish, noticing it got my attention, swam in a small circle and looked down towards my right shoulder, which was pressed into the lake floor. Huh? Glancing down, my eyes widened as I saw a tiny, paler yellow fish stuck under my shoulder, wiggling about a bit. Oops! Moving up a little, I lifted my right shoulder up and let the tiny thing swim out from under me. It made several angry flicks towards me before wracking me lightly in the nose with its tail. Wincing, I managed to mouth, "I'm sorry," to it underwater, wondering if it could understand universal common or not. Eh, if it couldn't, at least I only made an idiot of myself. It stared at me for a moment, still looking angry. My eyes shifted to its side, where I noticed a few scratched and missing scales. Scales? Oh, that I could help with. It fidgeted in the water as I gently raised my left hoof towards it, and all the other fish started to swim forward in worry, but my magic lightly danced across its side, repairing the scales easily enough with very little effort. I watched, rather amused now, as the little fish took turns examining the work, then circled around me, lightly bumping into my forehead and muzzle in a rather affectionate gesture before shooting off into the lake again. My smile returned as I watched them all swim away. That was something that was entirely me. There was that warm sensation I got when I saw somepony was better off or happier because of me. It helped me feel like I was useful and contributing. A moment of hesitation later, I sighed underwater and watched the bubbles drift upwards. I followed them with a push of my shoulder, and broke the surface of the water again, thoroughly soaked at this point, but very much clean. Dark circles appeared along the sand as I waded out from the water, and I shivered lightly. Taking a page from several canines I'd seen, and Rainbow Dash earlier, I spread all four of my legs out for balance and shook my entire body as violently as I could. The spray was rather impressive, reaching a good four meters from me, and I smiled, feeling much better now that I was all washed up. With that, I sat down and wondered when they'd finish and call me back over. My ears and proximity scanners stayed on high alert, however, and I kept a close eye out into the woods to my immediate north. Maybe I was paranoid, but they weren't about to ambush my friends on my watch. Just in case, I stayed tucked in the foliage and out of sight as well. Five minutes passed, and I didn't know whether to be pleased or disappointed that nothing happened. Ah well. I'd never regret taking precautions. That much wasn't in my nature. Apple Bloom called out that they were done, however, and I stood up again and trotted carefully through the trees and back towards the main area. My eyes drank in the sight of four rather puffy looking females, and I smiled. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both perked up as they saw me, anyway. Scootaloo was busy pressing her tail along the sand, either to ring the water out of it or to reapply some quota of dirt she had. Rainbow was crouched a bit lower and tilted to the left instead, smacking the other side of her head with a forehoof while water popped out of her lowered ear. "Everypony does look really clean!" I complimented, smiling to the two fillies as I approached. Apple Bloom grinned, while Sweetie stood up more fully and rotated around in front of me, showing me multiple angles of her fluffy fur before striking a rather elegant pose, smiling at me warmly. I raised an eyebrow to her at the same time her yellow friend rolled her eyes at the display. She didn't have to show off for me, I hope she realized. "Yes, you look very pretty, Sweetie," I assured regardless, causing her to practically swell up she puffed her chest out so much, grin widening. "Ah'd say yer actin' like yer sister, but Ah'm gonna go an' guess that it's just fer Mender, am Ah right?" Apple Bloom inquired slyly, causing the little unicorn to blush in an instant and stumble out of her pose. I caught her with my magic while snickering, sitting down a half meter away from the two. "I don't mind. Again, I was honest when I said she gets full consideration in two years, so I'm actually rather flattered that she wants to look nice for me," I pointed out. AB tilted her head towards me, but Sweetie let out a little gasp, blush intensifying as she looked at me in surprise. Was it that strange of me to say? "Ah think Ah understand. It's not just 'cause she looks pretty, but because she took tha effort ta look pretty for ya spe-spa-er, just you?" Apple Bloom suggested, smiling at me finally. "Specifically?" Sweetie offered her, before her yellow friend gave her a shove again and a mildly irritated glare. Shaking my head, I finally interrupted with, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. I mean, I already kinda guessed how important it is to Sweetie, but it's still nice to see her efforts. That, and she really does look adorable." Apple Bloom gave me a happy nod at that, and Sweetie no longer even looked mad at being shoved! Instead, she squeaked and hopped forwards, embedding herself against my chest again in a somewhat damp hug. It would seem I did a better job of drying myself than she did... "Psh, you shouldn't be content with 'adorable', Sweetie! A mare should try to get her stallion to think she's 'gorgeous' or 'sexy'!" Rainbow 'warned' a moment later, apparently paying more attention to the conversation than I had given her credit for, prior. Both her and Scoots fluttered over the short distance towards us, landing all of a meter away while keeping the sand blast to a minimum, which I was thankful for. I'd hate to have to launch her into the lake again. Apple Bloom gave her a somewhat skeptical stare as Sweetie herself perked up and rotated around to face Rainbow instead, tilting her head but making absolutely zero effort to move away from me. AB beat her to the question, however. "Uh, ain't she still considered just ah filly, though?" That was a very good point. Rainbow didn't buy it, of course. "Hey, it's never too soon to start in order to woo your stallion! With so many straight mares out there, you have to keep in mind the competition! Especially if the stallion only wants a single mare," she warned, hoof gestures emphasizing that last part especially. "Doesn't Mender already have two mares? That kinda means he doesn't mind more than one, right?" Scootaloo asked, oddly sounding more confused than anything. Dash gave an exasperated eye roll and shook her head, rubbing the tip of her muzzle with a forehoof. "I wasn't specifically talking about Mender. This is more advice to you and AB. Sweetie kinda already has it in the bag," she corrected. My ears flattened back at that and I glared at her, causing Sweetie to squeak when she noticed. "Ah! Please don't be mad at me, Mender!" the little filly begged, turning back around towards me and putting both front hooves up imploringly on my chest. "You weren't the one who said it, Sweetie," I assured, petting the top of her head as I kept my glare locked on Dash instead, who was doing her best to look completely innocent. At least Sweetie's priorities appeared to be in the right place. Well, now, anyway. "'sides, mah sis says that sorta thing ya need ta wait fer, an' not rush into until yer sure it's love. 'Beautiful' or 'gorgeous' probably ain't bad, but 'sexy' ya should avoid fer now, Sweetie," Apple Bloom appended. That was far less risky sounding advice, and I nodded along to that, causing Sweetie to relax and smile up at me. Rainbow surprised me by looking shocked rather than annoyed at the correction. Oh, wait, no, it was probably the 'source' of the advice more than the advice itself. "W-Wait, AJ said that? Uh, does she, um, well, has she-" the cyan pegasus stuttered out, suddenly looking a little paler. A spike of apprehension shot down the empathy link, and I tried to return assuring sensations, earning a light blush as she suddenly glanced over at me instead. Apple Bloom nodded, then snickered, cutting the pegasus off. "Yeah. She ain't ever let anypony that close ta her, though. She listen's ta her own advice, don't worry," the clever filly answered, earning a smirk from me. If Rainbow had figured out the implications, it probably hadn't registered as I literally felt her slip into her own thoughts at this range. A light blush formed on her cheeks a moment later, giving me more than a small hint as to what she was thinking about. "Yeah, that means Applejack's probably just as experienced as you are," I whispered into her mind through the connection. That tiny pink tint flared up to a full red flush as her eyes widened and she looked up at me with a mixture of embarrassment and horror. Wow, she was never going to remember that whole link thing, was she? Could I honestly just keep pranking her with this every time? "Link?" I reminded down the very thing itself, causing her expression to fall to an irritated glare instead, ears drooping as she looked amused yet exasperated. "Uh..." Scootaloo voiced, looking back and forth between us. Apple Bloom snickered, however, and shook her head. "Don't forget, they have that link thingy. Ah have ah feelin' Mender just pranked her again," she reminded, causing Scootaloo to grin and Rainbow to direct her ire towards the little yellow filly instead. "Ooooh, are ya pranking each other?!" suddenly exploded over the mental link, causing both of us to wince at the pink one's sudden barrage. A light haze drifted with it, spiking the temperature at least three degrees, it felt like, while strange, distorted balloons and snow-like confetti fell around us. What the hell? It wasn't as, well, crisp as her normal mental pictures. "Ah, Pinkie! I told you to ease up on the link," Rainbow groaned out, ineffectively putting a hoof over each ear while speaking both through the link, and out loud. Apple Bloom perked up again, adding, "Oh, Ah forgot she had ah link, too!" Lucky her. I certainly didn't forget! Giggling sounded out from all around us, and what could only be described as hot breath across my neck drifted out later. "Oooh, I should have thought of this earlier! You two feel really, really good," she cooed out in amusement. Uh, what? My eyes widened as I felt the sensation of a warm nuzzle along my neck and flailed sideways, but nothing was there except distorted pink. Oh. Oh hell! They widened even further as I saw a pink distortion assaulting Rainbow's ear with playful nibbles as well, the cyan mare yelping and flailing away from it as the red flush shifted down her neck as well. "Pinkie, you know you're not supposed to contact me during estrus! We'll talk about this later!" I growled out, just as she started to pounce towards me again. She was gone an instant later as I flicked her link off. Estrus wasn't fun... Rainbow winced as she slowly got back up to her hooves, shaking her head slightly. She looked more than a little flustered, and I sighed. Scootaloo looked between us with wide eyes. "Whoa! What happened?!" she asked, Apple Bloom looking just as confused. Sweetie oddly didn't, and just sat calmly at my side, pushing me back up after I finished reeling. "Ugh, Pinkie can be a bit, um, overbearing in her mental communication sometimes, and apparently it's worse with Estrus," I explained, massaging my right temple with a hoof. "Thank you... You made it stop," Rainbow gasped out finally, after shaking her head so hard that her eyes wobbled back and forth for a moment. The little orange pegasus next to her looked less than dissuaded, however. "Actually, that sounds kinda awesome! I wish I could see that, too!" she admitted wistfully. "You really don't," Dashie groaned, mimicking me now and rubbing at her head. Snickering, I shook my head towards the filly as well. "At the moment, that's not possible. I figured out how to make the disks now, but I don't want to make more before fully knowing what they do," I explained. Okay, so I hadn't been expecting all four to perk up at that. "W-Wait, you can make more?!" Sweetie asked almost instantly. Err. "And ponies other than tha Elements o' Harmony can use 'em?" Apple Bloom added a heartbeat later. Rainbow started to grin at the same time, and Scootaloo just looked confused again. "Well, it's all conjecture right now, but as far as I can tell, yeah. The disks for the Elements were specially made. It would appear the full thing is more flexible. They're apparently called LMNS units," I revealed, attempting to filter out some of the awkwardness of the situation. I hadn't anticipated needing to explain the disks to anypony this soon. Scootaloo tilted her head at that. "Limins? What's that mean?" "Ah think it's one o' those acra... Acro... Uh, words made o' ah bunch o' first letters in ah phrase?" Apple Bloom suggested, tilting her head towards me for verification. "Acronym," Sweetie chirped a half second later. Apple Bloom perked up and nodded to her, adding, "Thanks!" I couldn't help it and just started snickering. Sometimes the fillies were just so cute. "She's right, though. It stands for Link Monitor and Nanite Surveyor," I confirmed. Rainbow raised an eye at that one before asking, "Nanites? I know what it means by link, but I'm not sure what a Nanite is." Admittedly, I had expected that much. "That's because Equestria doesn't have them. They're little machines smaller than what you can see with your eye that can do things in a really tiny area. Millions of them usually in this case," I extrapolated, feeling a little bump in nervousness as I saw the next part coming. Three confused frowns and a somewhat apprehensive stare greeted me, almost as I had anticipated. "Wait, what do tiny little machines have to do with the link thingy?" Scootaloo asked instead, probably beating Rainbow by a few seconds. I flattened my ears back and looked away from them, not so comfortable anymore. "I was going to wait to tell everypony until after I talked to Twilight about it, but as you're asking, I guess, well..." I muttered, unsure of how best to proceed. "The link isn't magical, is it?" Rainbow asked nervously, and I felt her apprehension bleeding through both links at this distance. I shook my head idly, wondering at the best way to explain it. "Well, they use magic to communicate with me, but they gather the information through technology. You have millions of tiny machines in your body now, Rainbow. All the Elements do, as it apparently happens when you touch one of the disks. They don't just monitor, either. How's your side feeling?" I asked quietly, now touching upon two tender topics at once. I was on a roll today! Rainbow's eyes widened further as she reached down and touched her left side where my hoof had impacted. There wasn't even a mark at this point, and she knew it. Her eyes stayed locked with mine as she swallowed weakly and nodded a second later. "Gone. I could have sworn it was going to bruise up but, um," she whispered, finally breaking away and looking down at it. In most cases, I'd think she'd think it would be 'cool', but I guess it was a little more nerve-wracking when it was real. "They healed your injury. I'm glad for it, but I need to find out more about it, and fast. I've locked down all the internal controls and put some heavy duty protection on the links inside of me so they won't do anything they're not already programmed to do, but it's better safe than sorry," I assured, looking down at my hooves. They were the same nanites that were inside of me, so I had a good idea of what they were capable of and supposed to do, which should be purely beneficial. Of course, theirs also had the specialized capabilities for whatever scouting project I was originally intended for. A yellow hoof lightly nudged me in the left leg, and I looked up at Apple Bloom again. "Uh, when ya say touched...?" she inquired hesitantly, eyes widening a bit. Touched? Oh! I smiled and shook my head towards her. "Oh, no. I'm pretty sure the nanites are only transferred on registration of the disk," I assured, causing her to smile again. Plus, I'd have to figure out how to get around the specialized nature of the disks for the Elements of Harmony. I definitely didn't want all those scanners and controls on anypony else. Scootaloo, who accidentally became the random target of my gaze after I turned from Apple Bloom, perked and nodded towards me as I assured them. "Awesome! Well, we can save that for later. I'm getting kinda bored. Do you think we could train again with enchantments and our abilities?" she asked eagerly, smile widening into a grin. "Oh, I don't know, Scootaloo. I mean, I'm not exactly a trainer or anything. What do I get out of it?" I asked her, tone shifting to mirthful and teasing instead as I leaned closer, winking to her. Her eyes started to widen a little when Rainbow leaned in as well instead. "Careful, Mender. You wouldn't let me pay you in bits before, so if you charge her, you'll have to accept tasty, delicious payment from me instead," she cooed out, winking towards me as I swallowed. Hey, she was ruining my prank! "Ah, n-no. I was just joking," I hastily appended, noting that I had set myself up almost perfectly for that one. "Psh, you’re no fun," Dash scoffed, smirking at me and trotting away again towards the lake. That brat! She was just teasing me that time, I suddenly realized. She changed demeanor rather rapidly, and it made me a little dizzy trying to keep up all the time. Scootaloo, for the most part, totally ignored the exchange, masterfully pulling out only the information she had wanted. "So, um, you'll help us train again?!" she inquired excitedly a second later, grin widening as she hopped in place. Rolling my eyes, I gave her a soft, if not tired, nod as I stood back up again. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get back down by the lake, just in case there are any accidents. Having water close by seems like a good idea," I instructed, walking past the filly and towards where Rainbow had stopped by the shore. "Hey, I said I was sorry! I didn't mean to set your tail on fire," Sweetie groaned from somewhere behind me. I sighed weakly as Apple Bloom started giggling, two sets of hoofsteps following along after me as Scoots took to the air. * * * * * The chaotic barrage was surprising to say the least. Despite the distractions, I managed to cushion the little filly's inner energy stores and get her balanced again. Slowly easing back and withdrawing, my eyes opened up again at the same time hers did, and she gave me a sleepy stare as I sat up again fully. "And what did we learn?" I asked, watching her wings spread back out. Scootaloo sighed and looked away from me but made no attempt to escape my grip. "Stop means stop, not 'just a little bit longer?'" she offered weakly, fidgeting with her forelegs. Rainbow turned light pink for some reason, and I gave her a questioning glance before deciding I probably didn't want to know. "Yeah. When I tell you that you need a break, it's not just because I'm trying to be mean. Overdoing your magic isn't pleasant, as you now know," I reminded, finally letting her go and watching her slip back up into a sitting position, the glow now gone from her wings due to me having turned off the enchantment. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both looked on, the unicorn blushing lightly as she watched me, oddly. It had only been an hour and a half, yet Apple Bloom had already bashed herself in the face with an out of control ball of sand, and Sweetie had set my mane on fire this time. Honestly, I didn't think it was a difficult concept to not aim her horn at me when casting. Now, Scootaloo burned out her entire magic supply trying to get five levels like Rainbow could, despite being far less experienced, smaller, younger, and not as in shape yet. Were they trying to kill themselves or others? Scootaloo sighed and nodded again, Rainbow smiling and putting a foreleg over the filly's shoulders. "Relax, Scoots. You'll get there eventually, but you gotta have patience. I know it's hard, but I've put a lot of work into getting to where I am today, so I know if you do the same, you'll get there. Just don't push yourself like that, okay? You getting hurt... That would be very uncool!" she exclaimed confidently, her wings fluttering out behind her a bit. The filly gave her a soft smile and I suddenly felt a pang of regret, wishing it didn't have to be me being mean to her and lecturing her on how to practice. She really did look up to Rainbow, and admittedly, that level of devotion was inspiring. It also made me question why I was getting jealous over it. I had ended up questioning myself a lot, lately. Why wasn't I content simply with what I had already, even knowing what I really deserved? I exhaled softly, wishing there was an easy answer over that. "T-That's what you do to, um, help somepony recover from magic exhaustion?!" I heard Sweetie ask suddenly, giving me a start and knocking me out of my stupor, thankfully. Rotating, I shot her a questioning glance over my shoulder, not entirely sure why she was so interested suddenly. The technique was supposed to be for a unicorn, sure, but she already knew I could use magic as well. Was it really so surprising, or was she interested in it from an academic standpoint? "Uh, why do ya wanna know, Sweetie?" Apple Bloom asked, beating me to the punch by a few seconds. She didn't get a direct reply. I kept rotating until I winced, deciding to spin around the other way as Sweetie shot past me to the right instead, headed for the lake. "So worth it!" she cheered a heartbeat later. Wait, what?! What was worth it? My eyes widened as my head snapped back around to lock onto her. I was momentarily blinded by the meter wide ball of raw magic expanding in front of her horn and I winced, holding up my left foreleg in front of my eyes before shouting, "What are you doing?! Don't put that much energy into a-" The flash fired off a second later, a pencil-thin beam of light arching off into the distance, a shock wave traveling underneath it along the water and the clouds parting a dozen kilometers or so off. Oh hell! Why?! "Whoa! Awesome!" I heard Scootaloo mutter behind me as I ran towards the unicorn filly, who looked lightly dazed and wobbled sideways on her hooves. "Ha... So, totally worth... It... Oh, ow. Ow! Aaaaaah! My head! Not worth it! So, not worth it!" she started screaming as she fell sideways and rolled onto her back, both forehooves clutching at her temples as a trickle of blood came down her snout. Damn it. It took almost forty seconds for Rainbow to get a good enough grip on her to hold her steady while I tried to form a connection, both other fillies looking on with varying levels of horror to their expressions. Sweetie's blood was peppered all over the sand at this point, as well as along Rainbow's forelegs and my chest in long smeared strokes. The mental fatigue caught up with the little unicorn faster than we could restrain her, however, and her struggling slowed along with her breathing as Dash finally pinned her to the ground. Groaning in frustration, I ducked in and pushed my forehead under her horn rather hard, earning another gasp from the little filly. She tried to move again, but it was far too late as the connection finally stabilized and my energy darted inside her. Nerves got doused first, me holding her rigid from inside her own mind as she gasped out, her own inner-self flailing in agony. The nerves went numb an instant later, shock setting into her mind as the pain turned to nothing at all, little tingles dancing along her extremities as I felt it, too. Her inner 'self' was pushed down lightly, my aura shifting around and through her, bolstering her magic as I felt her finally relax against me. Damn it, Sweetie! She was downright impulsive sometimes, having very little regard for her own safety. I felt her inner self swallow, as I knew my frustration and irritation over her actions were clearly felt, my energy actually inside her at this point. For just a moment, she had the empathy link that Fluttershy shared with me, even if it was just due to sheer proximity. Fatigue hit fast as I had to use a lot of energy up to repair her inner paths, her mind soothing alongside her energy pool. Twilight could have done this no problem, but I didn't have the inner energy to repair two ponies back to back like this, especially with Sweetie's being so severe. The frustration was palpable and I almost tasted it in my mouth, and I sighed, pushing onwards. I had to at least stabilize her. It was strange. I'd never really been truly frustrated with her before. With any of the fillies, really. But something about Sweetie could really try my patience sometimes. She was right there, and felt the thoughts enough to wince at them, but I mentally shook my head towards her. No, it wasn't that she bothered me like that. She frustrated me. It didn't take me long to realize that it was her total disregard for her own safety and health when it came to pursuing her feelings that really got under my skin. A guilty sensation drifted through her, but I brushed my magic along hers and earned a quiet sigh, her inner-self relaxing again. It was definitely because I cared about her and didn't want her getting hurt. But why did it get to me more than when Scootaloo did the same thing? Well, Sweetie's case was intentional instead of just being inexperienced and foolish, and directly because of her feelings for me. Was that it? Was it because it was technically 'my fault' that she did this? Panic danced through her mind as I felt her vigorously shaking her head, some even carrying through to result in light twitches to her real body. Heh. She didn't know how to talk yet in her mind. Still, I found it oddly adorable regardless. I cared about Sweetie. I'd spent the most amount of time with her out of the Crusaders, and she felt technically the closest to me. Still, if she truly felt that way about me, I felt at least a little responsible for her hurting herself while acting upon it. But no, that was only a half-truth, admittedly. Her eyes widened a little but I forced myself to relax, finishing the last of the stabilization inside her mind. Yeah. It was true. By the time she looked like she did in last night's dream, I'd probably have no problems liking her as more than a friend. It wasn't an aspect of what she looked like really, but she really did appeal to me. A certain mix of loyalty to her friends like Dash represented, while also maintaining flexibility and an appreciation of kindness like Fluttershy. Not too much of either, though. Plus, she held the regal airs and politeness from her sister, but really felt like she was looking at me rather than a storybook cutout parading around in silver armor. Oh, and her adult form being rather cute in a not-so-foalish way helped. Overall, comparisons didn't do her justice, as she was her own individual. Her carefree attitude appealed to me, but she retained dignity and compassion at the same time, which was nice. Honestly, she could probably be more open and ultimately comfortable about things than either Fluttershy or Twilight, I bet. Now, all that was left before I really, truly let myself consider it was to get to know her over the next few years. It was a timid sensation as it creeped back up, but a deep sense of regret danced from her, mixed with large amounts of thankfulness. I mentally questioned what she was exactly thankful for, and instead I got a drop of her memory projected towards me in a somewhat clumsy way. It was a messy blur of movement and I couldn't pick anything out, but felt what she knew to be 'me' under her and running. Ah, that was after she poisoned herself. To my surprise, I felt it. At that range, I felt it through her as it seeped off my skin. A very light, but very absolute empathic feeling. At that lowest point, she 'felt' my aura directly and figured out what she wanted from it. In that memory, I felt that she had picked up the fact that I was being honest with her. She really was going to get a chance when she was fourteen. Relief and thankfulness mixed with a pang of regret over doing everything she did, then. I smiled inside of her mind at the overblown lengths she’d gone to in order to show that to me, but also at her honesty at that point. That was her own memories she showed me freely, just to try to be open with me, and I really did appreciate that. That much I sent directly to her. The blush carried through to her real body unabated, of course, and I smiled to myself as I withdrew, relaxing and opening my eyes again as I lifted my head up. Hers were already open and quite wide, staring up at me with pleasant surprise, despite her matted fur that had streaks of blood caked in it. "Uh..." Rainbow questioned in an uncertain tone from in front of me. Neither Sweetie Belle or I said anything, however, as I just stared down at her. She knew I didn't approve of her stunt and I knew she was sorry for it. Oddly, it felt like I understood the little filly a bit better, and I felt closer to her, with her not being a little filly anymore, but a mare capable of her own decisions. The Crusaders really were starting to get old enough to be. She hesitantly nodded to me, and I returned it before shifting my muzzle in the direction of the lake with a light gesture. Shakily, she hooked onto my right foreleg and I lifted her onto my back, slowly walking past Rainbow and towards the lake again to clean us up. "She'll be okay now, Dash. Can you help get her washed up?" I asked glancing back over my left shoulder at the confused looking pegasus. She smiled finally at my acknowledgement and nodded, standing again and trotting after me, the other two following closely. Scootaloo looked downright worried over the whole ordeal and asked, "Are you sure she'll be okay? There's, um, blood everywhere." I hesitated at the way she said 'blood' and frowned. Sweetie had a lot more blood in her than this, and it wasn't really that much, I didn't think. I lost easily six or seven times this after I got my leg ripped off. Although, uh, I kinda died from it. Huh. Bad comparison. "Yeah. She'll need to rest after this, and no more practicing for today. Oh, and getting her something light to eat would be a good idea," I suggested, bringing up my limited first aid knowledge. I'd given up lamenting on not having learned healing magic. It was one of those things that would have been absolutely invaluable at this point, and thinking about it would just get me depressed. Apple Bloom skidded to a halt almost instantly, eyes perking up as I glanced back at the sand scuffing noise. "Oh! Ah'll go toss together ah sandwich fer her, then!" she offered, not even waiting for me to nod before spinning around and booking it back towards the picnic basket we'd left at the edge of the sand. Heh, she really was worried about Sweetie then, and just was trying to be tough. Smirking, I turned back around and walked lightly into the water before rotating and carefully lowering Sweetie in. She held onto my right foreleg tight and gave an apprehensive stare at the water as I set her down, but I kept hold of her and steadied her balance as Rainbow slipped up next to me and sat down. "You hold her upright, I'll do the washing, okay?" Rainbow suggested, before grinning and whipping her foreleg up. Sweetie gave a surprised squeak as the water blasted over her face, eyes barely closing in time, and I sighed. "Wash, not attack, Rainbow," I requested dryly. The mare rolled her eyes, replying with, "Yeah, yeah. She needed to get her face washed anyway!" Heh. Switching over to short-range mental communication, I warned, "Careful, or I'll pin you down and slowly lick your hooves." That said, I waited for it. Two seconds. I contributed it to system shock at first, considering it. Her eyes shot open and her cheeks went red in an instant, her head whipping towards me a heartbeat later. "W-What?! Wait, how do you know, er, I mean, why would you do that?!" she demanded, both in mental and verbal voice. She was never going to get the hang of that... "It was one of the several hundred thoughts you had running through your mind like an out of control train when you formed this," I explained out loud this time, pushing the tiny rainbow strand of energy out of my forehead as emphasis, peeking up at it as it swayed about. It had been extremely clear for one of the scrambled thoughts. 'I really hope he doesn't find out about the hooves. Why are mine so sensitive?! Oh, oh wow. If he kissed them...' Her face went scarlet as it crept down her neck the longer I played back the thought in her own voice down the mental link. "O-Okay! Please, just stop!" she whined before flailing about and dunking her head under the lake. Scootaloo looked more than bewildered at this point, but Sweetie just watched Dash while giggling lightly. "I'm guessing you found something that she doesn't want spread?" the little unicorn asked while Dash was busy soaking her head. I rolled my eyes and nodded to her before slipping my left foreleg under the water and pulling Rainbow back upright, pointing out, "Drowning isn't a viable exit strategy, Dash. It was a joke." She scowled at me for a moment, and I almost felt her trying to stab me in her mind before flopping over backwards. "Gah, I know that. Still, don't do that to a mare in heat!" she shouted a second later. I snickered before I just started washing Sweetie's face and chest by myself, the little filly relaxing to the side against my foreleg that was hooked behind her back. I had her totally supported and I knew she could feel that, but it still surprised me that she was so readily relaxing despite the water being around her, up to her hips. Grumbling, Rainbow finally rejoined me as Scootaloo waded into the water, too. The orange filly helped scoop up water with me to wash Sweetie's chest, and I wasn't about to complain about the extra help while Dash got her back. I was pretty much out of my magical energy apart from my life force, and I wasn't about to remove the seal on that if I didn't have to. It was resting time for me, too! * * * * * It took almost a quarter of an hour to get all the blood off us. Rainbow groaned up at the sky as we finished washing her cyan coat off as well. Light sprinkles were coming down around us at that point, ripples dancing across the surface of the lake. "Relax, Rainbow. We can't practice anymore anyway. I don't have any energy left to safely stabilize you if you run out of magic," I warned, tiredly watching Scootaloo clean every single inch of Rainbow's forelegs, almost obsessively. It had been a good idea to enlist her aid in the task, I now realized. She had more than enough energy to spare to help her hero out. Rainbow sighed but shook her head a second later. "I'm gonna just do some speed runs with my normal wings, then, before the rain picks up. It's not supposed to be as bad as last night, but I hate flying with wet wings," she groaned out, wiggling her wings about that were still under the water as emphasis. I nodded, checking again and only finding about twenty percent of my energy recovered. "Good. I'm, uh, really tired after all that," I muttered, eyes softening as I lost focus and relaxed again, lying on my side in the sand. Sweetie lay against my stomach, upright and lightly munching on a sandwich Apple Bloom had made for her. The yellow filly in question was nice enough to pop out our umbrella and had it stuck in the sand, holding it upright for us both to stay somewhat dry under. "Ya need ta rest, then, Mender. We could go over by that overhang ya were at when we went lookin' fer ya," she suggested, gesturing to my left, westward, to where I knew my prior hiding spot was. Under the cliff I'd been laying on was a good, three-meter under-cut in the rock, which would be good to stay dry in. I nodded back to her as Rainbow struggled out of the water, looking mildly like a soggy, unhappy rat. "I'll make a tiny fire under the rocks over there, then. Rest by it for a few minutes before going flying, Rainbow," I more ordered than anything. The cyan mare sighed but nodded towards me as she followed after us. * * * * * The fire swayed lightly back and forth over the dry sticks the Crusaders had found. I watched it flicker gently, relaxing as it made tinted imprints in my eyes because of the light. My body lay motionless; my head propped up to stare into the fire half a meter away. I thought of nothing in particular as I let the sound of the light rain drone through my ears, and the wet, earthy smells ebb around me. My mind tended not to focus on any one topic when I wasn't directing it, dancing between the frustration my newly discovered 'aura' brought me with mares, worry over what had happened with Snapshot and whatever organization had hired her, and ultimately what was going on with my own past. Nothing stuck, however, and eventually I just let my thoughts blank as I watched the dancing flames. To hell with it. This was supposed to be a 'vacation' for me, and so far it had been just about as bad, if not worse, than my normal routine. I think it owed me a bit of relaxation at this point. Sweetie Belle made a murmuring noise next to me, breathing speeding up just a little as she shifted, then resumed snoring lightly. I smiled down at her with a shift of my head, and then just watched her chest rise and fall for a few minutes. Sometimes, reality caught up with me, and the details suddenly became the only important thing. The little filly was alive and well, her torso moving with each breath, and a soft smile on her face. She was soft and warm against my stomach, and suddenly I found myself in awe, realizing such an expansive personality and mind was keeping me company. It was difficult to explain, even to myself, but she felt special, anyway. Like it was the first time I really 'saw' a will and ego behind another pony, apart from my own. Really, all I had were my own experiences and thoughts as comparison. She had her own as well, just like everypony else. I entertained the thought for a while, in all of its existential glory. It was certainly appealing to realize that I too had my own set of thoughts, further distancing me from the 'mechanical' parts. My ears perked up first at the sound of heavy hoofsteps heading down towards the beach area. Turning, I double-checked on everypony, noticing Scootaloo and Apple Bloom still playing in the shallow water by the shore, and Rainbow lazily drifting through the sky above, trying to pull off a backwards loop out of a glide for some reason. Oddly, I felt certain muscles tugging lightly in my back as the empathy link mirrored us, and decided she was probably trying to do something extremely specific with her flight muscles. Well, she was the expert. Shifting back to the right, I peeked at the intruder a second later. Big Mac slowly walked down the beach, slowing as he got about halfway down. I relaxed, watching him stretch out and look up at the sky for a moment. It wasn't an intruder after all. I didn't need a link to know it was really him. Somepony wouldn't dare impersonate him, as that was like signing off on your own death. Either Carrot or AJ would beat your bones to mush with their bare hooves for trying... He sniffed a moment later, and then perked his ears up as he glanced over to the left, locking eyes with me, and then shifting them down to the fire a second later. In just that instant, his normal relaxed look flickered to a more sharpened, analyzing one before he let it rest again, adopting a slight smile and walking over. Yeah, he was a lot sharper than he seemed to like to appear, either intentionally or out of a particularly laid back attitude. "Howdy, Mender. Ah'd say yer tha smart one, stayin' warm out 'ere. Sweetie okay?" he asked quietly upon reaching comfortable 'quiet voice' talking range. I peeked at her again before slowly nodding. "Yeah. She overdid her training and got a nosebleed. I told her to rest for the remainder of the day," I explained, equally quietly, notably not elaborating on exactly how horrible the bleeding had been. I was starting to feel scarily comfortable with the half-truths thing. Maybe I'd be okay working for the government after all? Sweetie didn't stir in the slightest, but still appeared to be breathing, so I relaxed. Deep sleeper? "Good call, there. It's nice ta know yer ah responsible stallion. How's things?" he inquired, again seeming to cut off all unneeded words from his sentences. I smiled, looking back to the fire as he sat down with a surprising level of gentleness for such a large stallion. "Quiet. I'm just enjoying the rare moment of peace while I can," I admitted, feeling the tiredness leak into my words, and I was forced to exhale lightly after. He stared into the fire himself for a moment before nodding ever so slightly. "Eeyup. Ah wouldn't envy yer position, fer sure. But ya got mah support, an' tha support o' tha Apple Family, that's fer sure." His tone was quiet, yet adamant. Somehow he could pull off that level of assurance without needing to raise his voice, and I was impressed. "Just knowing I have friends helps a lot. What are you doing over this far, anyway? I mean, if you want to tell me," I asked, curiosity finally getting the better of me, but still maintaining enough sense to be polite about it. He smirked and looked skywards again, scanning towards the north through the canopy. Eh? Was he expecting something from Ponyville? "Today's tha fifth day o' tha main bulk o' heat. Tha mayor usually sends ah pegasus that's already safe ta deliver news, either today or tomorrow. Tell how much longer an' if'in cleanup's started," he explained absently, eyes not leaving the sky. Oh. That actually made sense. "So, the bulk of estrus is five or six days for the town? The summer one's a little longer, right?" I asked, trying to get my days right. This was important to remember, now that I was a pony! "Eeyup! Worst o' tha scents are done and most o' tha mares are safe after five ta six days. Then they clean up an' we come back on tha sixth day. Sometimes seventh. Summer heat's longer, with eight ta nine days o' solid scents an' fertility. Then we come back on day ten, usually." He was amazingly patient with me, which I was rather thankful for. Being one of the few who actually knew not only my situation, but what I was, I appreciated him quite a bit! He perked up suddenly and finally took his gaze from the sky long enough to look over at me, a light frown playing across his face. A moment later, he relaxed and nodded, slipping his head back and into his left saddlebag, rooting around in it for a moment. I watched curiously until he pulled out a roll of paper and flicked it over in my direction. I let it land before my magic slipped out and unrolled it in front of me, assuming, despite his silence, that this must be meant to be read by me. He confirmed a second later with, "Forgot. Found that in tha wagon. Take a peek." Raising my eyebrow, I looked down at the mysterious slip of paper, and immediately noticed it was a flier. Three nicely drawn gears were spread across the center of it, slightly towards the top, and, to my surprise, the axel on the middle, largest gear was heart-shaped. What?! Wait, flier? Groaning, I smacked myself in the forehead, earning a confused glance from Big Mac. I'd forgotten to ask Featherweight more about that flier he mentioned! Was this one of them? Looking back at it, I noticed 'Announcement!' across the top of it in big lettering. Well, it got its point across. Under the gears was even more startling, however. "New business opportunities! Moon Mender, new to Ponyville, offers advanced skills in Engineering, Design, and Magical Enchantment. He's opening a personal business with reasonable pricing available for everypony. If interested, or in need of consultation, please speak with Moon Mender, Twilight Sparkle, or Applejack in Ponyville! Prices are negotiable with Twilight or Applejack. Questions welcome!" That little...! Given who the contact ponies were, it was really easy to figure out who was responsible for this. And the fact that they left me out of pricing arrangements stunk of Applejack's doing. If it was my business, shouldn't I be the one to decide prices?! They just thought I was going to work for practically nothing, didn't they? I sighed weakly as I read it over once more. Big Mac started chuckling lightly as he looked back skywards, a knowing smirk on his face. "Your sister, I assume?" I asked, sliding the paper back over to him with my right hoof. "Keep it. An' probably. She did say she was gonna advertise fer ya. Ah just didn't think it'd be so soon. Ah'm not one ta mince words, so Ah'll just say it. Ah approve, an' hope ya'll help me out after tha job with tha Cakes is done. Ah got ah few upgrades fer tha farm Ah've been hoping ta do at some point," he requested, slowly turning and looking back towards me. I watched him for a moment before smiling and nodding. That was an easy choice. "Of course. What do you have in mind?" I inquired curiously, tilting my head. His smirk came back, a little wider this time. Oh boy. I suddenly realized I was going to be really, really busy the next few weeks...
Chapter 57The sheer amount of things he was hoping to do was a bit staggering. As we lay there in silence under the cliff, I stared into the fire and mulled it over to myself while he watched the sky. The farm was split into multiple 'fields', labeled by their cardinal directions, it would seem. That much made sense. They usually harvested and planted one field at a time, loaded up larger wagons with the produce, then moved it into the barns for storage until it shipped. I'd upgraded their smallest barn with the lift system and conveyor. It apparently cut their workload and time involved to barely a fifth of what it normally was, and it was so much better that he wanted the larger two barns equipped with them too. That alone was staggering, but he didn't stop there. Each of the fields was massive, and he was hoping for a better, faster, or easier way to move the produce to the central barn area. That meant a standard track system with larger rail wagons to carry the stuff. It wasn't too fancy, and setting up an enchantment on the wagons themselves, or developing a rune engine to pull and push them, would be reasonably easy. Overall, nothing he had asked for was any more complex than what I'd already done for him, but the sheer volume of work was going to take probably the better part of a summer if I had to do it by myself. That didn't leave much in the way of any time for any other jobs, of course. Maybe advertising my availability wasn't such a good idea? The only other thing was repairs to the watermill they had down by the large stream nearby. It at least was already made, and apparently powered a decent water pumping system they had used for the farm before, but it fell into disrepair and they switched to several pump wells instead, which were easier to maintain. Those were a lot more work and didn't supply the same volume of water, which made dryer months a lot harder. That much would be simple with the right equipment. All those things put together would free up a lot of time for the Apple Family. I smiled as I thought of Apple Bloom, and already decided I'd help them out, no matter the volume of work involved. Her being happy and able to spend time with the two would make it all worth it to me. Spike was right. I really did have a soft spot for cuteness. Still, she was an earnest and hardworking filly. She deserved to be happy. "Ah hah," Big Mac muttered, standing up suddenly next to me. I followed his gaze past the lightly dripping leaves overhead and spotted a dot off in the sky, coming in fast but drifting lightly as it headed towards the lake. It was gray in color, and my eyes rotated lightly as I zoomed my vision in, then smiled. Her blonde mane blew in the wind behind her as she lowered in altitude, that happy smile adorning her face again as she made a beeline for the beach. Regardless of one eye drifting off to the left, she was an amazingly skilled flier and handled herself gracefully. No doubt years of experience had honed her skills to the point where her eyes didn't bother her in the least. Big Mac slowly exited the tree line and headed over to the area where Derpy was coming in. Standing, I was careful not to disturb Sweetie Belle, who still slept peacefully next to where I lay before. Relaxing as she stirred lightly but didn't wake, I tucked the flier into my left saddlebag with my mouth, and then trotted out to join the two. Derpy sneezed a second later as she braced for landing. I winced as her forward momentum didn't halt properly and she flipped after touching down with her hooves. The oscillating sky blue and silver energy danced along the sand in front of me before I raised my left hoof upwards, a burst of the stuff following the motion. The gray mare squeaked lightly as the sand danced up around her and formed a soft cushion as she landed, gently drifting down to the ground as I lowered my hoof. Hey, controlling sand was surprisingly useful! "Ha ha ha! That was fun! Thanks for the save, Mender!" Derpy managed to squeak out, rolling forwards onto her haunches and wiggling her eyes around until at least one focused on us. The colors of my magic still danced lightly about the sand as I pulled it back into my body and gave her a warm smile and nod, pleased to see the familiar mare again. "Are ya okay, Miss Derpy?" Big Mac politely asked after the mare managed to recover. I walked up next to him the rest of the way, and then sat down, watching her. To my surprise, her right eye locked onto him, and both widened afterwards, a light flush dancing across her cheeks suddenly. Oh? She hesitated for a moment before rapidly nodding. "Ah, yeah! I'm okay, Big Mac. Um, I didn't know you'd be the one here meeting me," she muttered, getting a little quiet towards the end. I tilted my head towards her, but Big Mac just chuckled and shook his head. "Ah'm tha one ta wait 'ere every year, Derpy. Ah notice yer comin' rather than Wind Whistler," he pointed out, snapping her out of her daze. "Oh, yeah! She was supposed to come, but sprained her wing in a, well, accident. I'm here instead, so," she muttered, looking down towards Big Mac's large hooves and scraping at the sand a bit, the pink tint getting a little worse. Was she embarrassed? That hardly seemed reasonable, as she knew both of us didn't mind her being there. She had been super-nice to me so far, and Big Mac didn’t appear to have a problem with much at all. I perked up and tried to give her an assuring nod. "Well, I'm glad it's you, Derpy. I was sad I didn't get to see you too, before I left," I added. It was true, of course. She hadn't been anywhere to be seen at the going away event. The gray mare perked up, then smiled softly in my direction instead, the blush fading a bit. There we go! "Thanks, Mender. I missed you, too. We should hang out more when you get back. I wouldn't mind helping with deliveries for your work either, of course, when I'm not on duty," she offered, her ears popping up and twitching lightly as she gave me a happy nod. Heart of gold, that one. Still, that did get me thinking about getting help. "Well, I don't have the bits to pay for any extra help right away, of course, but it seems like I'll have a lot of business after all, so maybe hiring ponies to help me might not be such a bad idea," I considered, thinking out loud for the benefit of the two listening. Derpy seemed sufficiently distracted and much more relaxed now. Big Mac chuckled a little and glanced back over at me instead. "Ah really hope ya aren't gonna try ta do all o' what Ah asked by yerself. AJ and Ah will help, an' Ah already got ah few others, too. Tha small barn was ah risk, but now Ah see what ya can do, so we're goin' all out now," he explained, surprising me on multiple fronts. Oh! Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be as horrifying as I thought? Wait, how was I supposed to pay these ponies? "Uh, I'm really hoping you're paying them from the funds you were going to give to me," I suggested, averting my eyes from him weakly and bracing myself for heavy bartering if I needed to. "Oooh, are you upgrading the farm, then?!" Derpy asked excitedly instead, seemingly forgetting about her prior problem. Big Mac looked between us before snickering softly and nodding. "Yes, Ah am, Derpy. Ah'm also hopin' ta get yer help in movin' stuff around, too. Paid work, o' course," he answered, to her instead. Although that also partially answered me as well. He was assuring the payment, which probably meant he was paying the others as well. That meant they didn't work for me, but for him, and I was just the head designer. That I was okay with, and nodded to myself. Derpy's problem came back in spades at the same time her eyes widened and she shrunk down a bit. "M-Me? Of course! But, um, you don't have to, well, pay me," she whispered, looking rather intimidated. Eh, was she scared of Big Mac? Well, he was quite a bit larger than she was, so admittedly, I didn't blame her. "Heh, yer gonna get paid, Derpy. Just like Mender 'ere. Although, yer technically gonna be workin' fer him, just like AJ an' me. He's the boss an' brains. Two o' tha others wanna work directly fer ya, too, Mender. Maybe fer even after tha projects, if ya can pay 'em then." He glanced back towards me as he said it, and my eyes widened even more, my concern for Derpy getting violently switched out by surprise. Wait, what?! My ears flattened back and I exhaled, lowering myself ever so closer to the ground. "Why am I in charge of everypony? I'm not that great of a leader," I warned honestly, starting to really, really think this job thing was a bad idea. It wasn't too late to flee into the woods and live like a hermit, right? Big Mac chuckled and shook his head towards me instead, however. "Technically, yer workin' fer AJ and me, yeah. We don't got ah clue how ta make tha stuff, though. Yer more ah supervisor than ah boss, ta make sure it all goes smoothly," he explained. Oh. Well, that made more sense. Derpy perked up and nodded as well, appending, "Oh, except for after, if you hire other ponies to help you with different jobs! Then you'll be the supervisor and boss!" I gave her a skeptical glance, and she just grinned at me even more until I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Fine, but if I end up stapling myself to part of the conveyor or something..." I finally acquiesced, biting the bullet if I had to. "Your loyal helper, Derpy, shall rescue you!" Derpy assured, whipping her right hoof up into a sharp salute. I didn't get to see most of it, however. Sand stuck to the bottom of her hoof, and the arc she used to whip it upwards sprayed me right in the eyes. Derpy gave a panicked squeak as I yelped and flailed for a second before blindly running past her in the direction I knew the lake was in. "Aaah, water! Need water!" I managed to shout, the sand particles having literally peppered the surface of my eyeballs. Of course, I'd not realized that keeping my balance when I couldn't see anything and pain was beating down from my eyes was a lot harder than normal. Three meters later, I ended up wiping out and rolling with a magnificent nosedive, inhaling quite a bit of sand as it got into my nose and mouth. I started hacking and coughing to get it out and flailed sideways in my spasms, only to go into the water instead. Damn it. My eyes finally opened and relaxed against the water, despite hacking sand out of my lungs, water going the other way down my throat. It mixed into a lovely torrent of mud and I gagged instead, trying to get my rebreather to turn on. Then I threw up. * * * * * "Ya sure yer fine?" Big Mac asked softly once more, standing next to the larger fire now as he tossed more sticks onto it. Shivering, I managed to nod to him. "Y-Yeah. Just gotta warm up. Go deliver the stuff," I assured, stuttering as my tongue was still numb. Throwing up underwater wasn't anywhere near as pleasant as throwing up on land, and that really said something. Now my numbed tongue tasted like vomit and sand. "Fine. Ah'll be back after Ah give Derpy's information ta Nurse Redheart," he announced slowly, turning and heading towards the path back to camp again to the east. Derpy let out a weak, whimpering noise to my left, trying her hardest to rub the blanket over me more and dry me off. "I'm so sorry, Mender! That was so stupid. I didn't even think about sand in my hoof!" she apologized, far beyond sounding mortified even at this point. "Eh, Mender's kinda an accident magnet. Even if you accidentally injured him, it's kinda more his luck's fault than anything," Scootaloo muttered, stirring the fire with a stick across from me. I glared over at her, but her eyes widened as her stirring utensil caught fire, distracting her. She dropped it from her mouth rather fast and stepped back as the whole thing ignited ever so slowly. Apple Bloom bumped her to the side suddenly and kicked the stick back into the fire by the yet unburned end, shaking her head. "Don't be mean ta Mender, Scoots. Ya know he's ah nice stallion," she defended sternly. She took on the 'bodyguard' role really seriously. Still, it was nice to have ponies stick up for me. "I was just joking, sheesh. You're right. Derpy should feel terrible," she shot back, giving the redhead an equally biting glare. "Nopony's to blame, really. It was an accident," I corrected, giving both fillies a stern glance while Derpy sighed. Making her feel bad and fighting at the same time was even worse, of course. They shrunk down under my gaze, and Scoots nodded rapidly. My view was obstructed, however, by amber a second later. Shifting my gaze to the left, I saw Sweetie smiling down at me and holding a glass filled with amber liquid in it, straw included. "Apple juice to get the taste out of your mouth, and a sandwich to fill you back up a little!" she chirped, gesturing to the plate next to my hoof as well. I smiled at her and sat up slowly, Derpy hopping in to my left and helping me get into a sitting position. "Thank you, Sweetie. You're a little angel. Thanks, Derpy. Mmm, I'm feeling better," I said, glancing at both of them in turn. Sweetie blushed, of course, and gave a sheepish grin, but Derpy still looked amazingly guilty, rapidly averting her eyes from my gaze. This wouldn't do. My left hoof extended and raised her right ear up from its fallen position, causing it to perk slightly. She glanced curiously back at me, and I gave her a soft smile, shaking my head. "I'm not mad at you, Derpy. I'm also not hurt, and it was an accident. You're my friend and I prefer you smiling, so don't be hard on yourself," I requested softly. Her features slowly shifted to a timid smile, and she nodded, turning to face me more before leaning forwards and lightly hugging me around the shoulders. "I just don't like hurting the ponies closest to me. And I know what it's like to rarely have things go the way you want," she muttered, backing up again after a few seconds and lifting her head up to meet my gaze. Wow, did I ever know that feeling. "Yeah, that I know all about. It seems like I'm cursed with perpetually bad luck. It kinda makes me wonder what I did in a past life or something to deserve it. What, did I habitually kick puppies or something?" I reasoned, toying with the 'past life' idea in my head. Well, technically... "Ah should point out that not everything's goin' badly," Apple Bloom cut in, raising her hoof up to get my attention. I gave her a somewhat skeptical glance, but she just smirked instead and continued with, "Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Nurse Redheart, Sweetie Belle..." My blush got more and more pronounced the longer she went on, and Sweetie giggled after her name, lowering herself and nuzzling into my left shoulder. "I... Well... Rarity and I have decided not to pursue anything!" I tried to defend, definitely not mentioning anything Keela had said. Scootaloo retorted almost instantly with, "Rainbow is more than enough to be totally worth all the bad luck just by herself!" I raised an eyebrow at that, but Derpy chipped in before I could get a word in edgewise. Derpy started snickering and nodded. "You do have a lot of mares interested. At least it turns out that the flower mares were just teasing about adding you to their herd," she offered, giving me a grin. I blinked slowly. Herd? "Oh! Those three are, uh, together?" I asked, tilting my head towards her. She kept her smile and just nodded twice. My brain whirled into movement again as I considered the sudden new information. I wonder... "What'cha thinkin' 'bout, Mender?" Apple Bloom inquired curiously after I went quiet for a little bit. Frowning, I shook my head to myself before looking up at her again. "There's just, well, things I'm not quite sure about considering the whole 'herd' thing. Books don't really go into the dynamics all that well, and I was thinking, maybe, just maybe, I could ask them about how it works in theirs," I reasoned, left ear twitching lightly as I considered it. Assuming they didn't laugh hysterically, of course. Or try to flirt with me more. "I think it's a good idea. You're sweet for even wanting to do that for your mares," Derpy chirped, nodding twice in approval. I started to turn and smile at her when Sweetie sat up again instead, distracting me with the sudden movement in my peripheral vision. "Um, do you think I could come, too, Mender? I'm not really experienced with it either and I, well, wouldn't mind learning more. To be better for you, of course!" she asked, frowning to herself before seemingly steeling her resolve and giving me a hopeful smile. Watching her for a moment, I decided she was more than likely sure that was what she wanted, and nodded to her, earning a happy squeak and hop into the air. She hugged me almost instantly after, as anticipated, and I snickered, holding her closer with my left foreleg. Why did she even ask? She probably knew enough by now that I couldn't say no to her cuteness. My proximity sensors pinged before the conversation could continue, however. A glance showed me Rainbow's signal zeroing in, in direction and distance, and I sighed. Figures, she was coming in hot. The cyan mare dropped below the tree line like a bolt of lightning, shooting around three trees before touching down along the edge of the camp. Her front legs hit first and she grinned, going with the momentum into a gentle flip through the air, rolling twice before skidding to a soft stop right next to Scootaloo, of all fillies. She was showing off for her sister, I assumed. "Whoa! Awesome, Rainbow!" Scootaloo spoke up instantly, voice full of awe and eyes rather wide. Rainbow grinned and wrapped a wing around the little filly an instant later, pulling her tight again. "You know it! I'm feeling more in shape than ever! Tomorrow, I think we're gonna focus on just practicing your flying techniques instead," she revealed, sounding rather confident. Heh, she'd only been practicing the entire time Big Mac and I were talking, even after Derpy got here. I don't think she even noticed my frantic flight into the lake... Scootaloo's eyes got even bigger somehow, and she squealed happily, her little wings buzzing on her back and shooting little orange sparks everywhere, mixing with the fire. I raised an eyebrow as it momentarily turned the fire bright orange as well. That was interesting. "Do you mean it, Rainbow? Can we?!" she pleaded, her hooves propping up on Dash's chest as she gave her the nastiest level of 'filly eyes' I'd ever seen. Thankfully I wasn't on the receiving end of it, this time! Rainbow puffed up and nodded of course, sliding her saddlebag around her barrel a bit and digging into the right side of it. "Of course! But if we're gonna put in an intense amount of training, you'd better eat good! Oh, and healthy, of course," Rainbow added, retrieving a cluster of apples from her bags by the stems and pushing the three into Scootaloo's torso. Eh? Where did she get apples from? I didn't see her leave the lake area, so I doubted she'd shot all the way back to Applejack's farm... "Uh, isn't it almost supper? You shouldn't ruin your appetite for whatever Big Mac is fixing up, too! I wish I could stay and try it," Derpy pointed out, ears flattening a little. I smiled at her, noticing the light flush appear again, curiously enough. Wait, it was almost supper time. Where was Spike?! I suddenly realized he'd never shown up. Rainbow cut off my thoughts an instant later, though. "Hey, she needs to eat more anyway, so we might as well start now. Or she can bring them back and eat them after supper, instead!" the cyan pegasus suggested suddenly, perking up at the new idea. Sweetie tilted her head at the two of them curiously before suggesting, "Won't she be too full to sleep properly then? I know if I eat too much, it gets really uncomfortable on my tummy and I can't get to sleep." Okay, yeah, I just wanted to squeeze her now. "No way! Apples aren't gonna mess with my sleeping, relax. It's not like they're cafe... Can... Uh..." "Caffeinated?" Sweetie offered quietly, earning a glare from the orange filly. Caffeinated apples? Could you do that? I didn't think apples even had caffeine in them. Apple Bloom just sighed and shook her head. "If she wants ta overstuff herself, just let her," she cut in, looking a bit exasperated at this point. Scootaloo looked downright bristly at that, but Rainbow smirked and slipped both forelegs over the little filly's shoulders, hugging her rather affectionately, to my surprise. "Scoots can handle herself and stop eating when she's full. My little sis is tough like that, right?" Rainbow assured playfully, causing Scootaloo's eyes to widen drastically, a light blush dancing across her cheeks as her chest swelled up. It was easy enough to see that the mare really did have a soft spot for Scootaloo. Apple Bloom suddenly smirked a moment later, however. Uh oh. "Well, if yer gonna do all that tomorrow, ya better clear room fer it in yer schedule! Ah guess we'd best get at all our math homework tonight, then!" she chirped, giving me a knowing smile. Oh, low blow, AB! "Oh, how responsible!" Derpy admitted, smiling at her. Heh, she didn't know the half of it. "What?! Aww. We have to at least see if your brother will help us," Scootaloo reminded, looking a little dejected now. Well, her mood went downhill fast. Was math really that bad? "Psh, no we ain't. Ah'll help ya both! Mine's done already," the yellow filly informed, puffing up big and tall while announcing it. Huh, it was kinda like bragging with the way she said it, but I guess she deserved as much. Sweetie's turn to perk up. "What? Wait, how'd you figure it out, then?!" she asked abruptly, sounding surprised. Wait, there was something about this that was a bad idea again. What was it? Apple Bloom just grinned and nodded towards me, and I shifted quickly to a sheepish smile and waved at them. Sweetie pouted a moment later, crossing her forelegs together. "Aww! When did you do that, and why just help Apple Bloom?" she asked. Oh. Oh yeah! This was why it was a bad idea. Apple Bloom's face fell and she coughed lightly, looking away from the two of us. Damn it. Sweetie looked momentarily confused, while a sudden look of dawning shifted onto Scootaloo's expression. I finally just sighed and admitted, "It was when Redheart left me in charge of the clinic when she ran after you." A full three seconds went past with Sweetie staring blankly at me. "Oh," she finally whispered, ears drooping and sinking a bit down on her haunches. Damn it! Derpy looked between the two of us questioningly before asking, "Uh, what happened, if I can ask?" "It was just a mix-up. Sweetie just-" I started to explain before the little white filly suddenly lunged and wrapped her forelegs around my barrel. Eh? "N-No. It's okay, Mender. I was stupid and didn't believe him when I should have. He told me I had to wait to join his herd until I was fourteen, which, well, made sense. He said he'd give me a chance then and I didn't have to worry. But I didn't believe him and thought he was just turning me down, and I panicked. I ran away, and he got stuck watching the clinic while Nurse Redheart chased after me," she elaborated fully, voice low and sounding rather pained the whole time. Frowning, I suddenly realized I had no idea what to say to make her feel better. Instead, my right foreleg just wrapped around her and I gave her a light squeeze against my torso, causing her to exhale quietly and rest her left cheek against my fur. Derpy smiled, however, and laid down, head closer to Sweetie as she dropped to her level. "I know emotions are scary sometimes. I'm afraid of them, too, but you just have to trust in your heart, Sweetie. It's letting you know what you want, and Mender's willing to give it to you if you just wait. Trusting the ones you love is just as important," she spoke, surprising me with her level of insight. Admittedly, I didn't know much about 'love'. Everything my original had experienced was a rushed flurry of secret mating sessions and bursts of passion hot enough to scald, all in-between pretending not to know each other. Even as dense as I was, I had gathered it wasn't the best learning experience and that I probably shouldn't base much off it. This added a new perspective, however. Something I'd sort of known already, but never really saw from this angle before. Sure, I'd mentioned something like love being an 'upgrade' to friendship earlier... Also with sex, as Dash had so affectionately reminded. But Derpy just added another quality to it, hadn't she? Trust. You had to trust those you loved. Maybe that was why Twilight was hurting so badly over what had happened? Looking back upon all of my interactions with her, I realized there wasn't a lot of trust involved for either of us, which was probably why I felt just a little more strongly for Fluttershy instead. She made me feel comfortable because I trusted her fully. With Twilight, I always had that lingering doubt in the back of my head. What if she was spying on me again, or if this was a lengthy experiment of hers? I was, well, afraid of her for multiple reasons. Not just her magic, but also afraid of being used and discarded after the experiment was over. My eyes closed as I sighed internally. We had a long ways to go before Twilight and I had anything resembling an 'ideal' relationship. She'd mentioned trust exercises that Rarity had been talking to her about. Maybe the white unicorn was really on to something? Sweetie blew my inner speculation off its rails with her sudden reply an instant later. "I know that now. I was stupid, like I said! Mender saved my life, and has been super amazing and nice to me, and it feels like I can talk to him about anything. I love him, and now I know enough to trust everything he says! It's not just a crush, either. I'm interested in lots of what he does, and hopefully I can help him, too, in the future, like Twilight and Fluttershy do." I stayed quietly surprised throughout her small speech, and then smiled afterwards. She knew the pitfalls in front of her and was rather savvy going in, unlike her doubts told her earlier. Rarity must have really talked to her about this sort of thing. Derpy looked surprised at the admission, but I just shook my head and gave her another squeeze, drawing her gaze back up to my face instead. "For what it's worth, I believe you, Sweetie. It was the absolute truth. I promise that you'll get your chance when you're old enough," I promised yet again. Her blush came back a moment later, but she smiled happily up at me. Those eyes. Her eyes were soft and dancing with a happy light. It was downright adorable, and I just wanted to pick her up and squeeze her in my forelegs like a teddy bear. But, uh, that might be a little demeaning if I tried that... Plus she was a little big. Rainbow, however, could only take so much cuteness saturating the area. "You two lovebirds are hopeless! Scoots and I are gonna fly a few laps before supper and clear out from the mushy atmosphere," she suddenly cut in, giving an exaggerated gagging motion with her right forehoof before shooting into the air again. Scootaloo perked up faster than I thought possible and flew up after her, looking absolutely ecstatic. Actually, she looked like that every time she took off, it would seem. I watched both of them take off before exhaling and shaking my head. Moving Sweetie to the side again, I eased down and rested against the rock, facing the heat of the fire. Even after being moved, the little filly didn't go very far. Lying down as well, Sweetie simply scooted until her back rested against the front of my barrel, my left foreleg rising up until she settled herself before resting on her shoulder as I relaxed. At this point, I'd gotten rather accustomed to her being near me, or against me whenever I happened to notice. She was starting to get as consistent as Prudentia. "Well, I think things are looking up. Everything's getting back to normal finally and you chasing away those two mean colts has seriously cut down on the amount of pranks targeting me! Have you made any progress on either the fliers or preventing more attacks?" Derpy asked me curiously, once she settled down next to Sweetie. "Actually, yes on both. I can't really say much, but the Elements of Harmony, Spike, and I have a meeting with Princess Celestia a few days after I get back. She's made progress on the flier incident, and I think I might have had a breakthrough for defense," I relayed, trying to remain positive about it. Implementing a detection and blocking grid had never been done before over the area of an entire planet, or whatever it was we were on. In theory, it was possible with enough relays, but I had no idea how to go about it with the technology level Equestria had. It was fairly safe to say, as I hadn't even seen a rocket yet, that they were land-locked to this planet. That made an orbital relay system, well, a bit complicated. To my surprise, Derpy exhaled and visibly relaxed, nodding and smiling over at me. "That makes me feel a lot better! Uh, I didn't want to say anything, but the mayor also asked me to see if I could talk to you and find out if you had any progress. She's, well, I haven't seen her like this in a while. I think she's scared," she whispered, frowning afterwards. That made sense. A peace-loving race suddenly being introduced to concepts like a dimensional attack and monsters coming through would cause a huge ruckus. Now that I remembered, Shining Armor had mentioned something about other cities getting concerned, too. How widespread was this? "Well, I can't promise anything yet, but I think I might have an idea as to how to stop anypony from being able to access Equestria from anywhere else. The Princesses will have to help me make it work, but I have high hopes for it," I assured, realizing anything I told her was going to get back to the mayor directly, and thus, all of Ponyville. Derpy's smile widened, and Apple Bloom giggled as well, curling up half a meter from my head. "Ah'm not all that worried. Especially not right now. Somethin' 'bout Mender makes me relax around him. Ah know he wouldn't let anythin' bad happen to me," she murmured, sliding onto her side and tucking herself into a partial ball with her head aimed at me, still smiling. Despite cute-induced brain lag, I smiled back at her and nodded. "I wouldn't let anything bad happen to anypony in my charge. Hopefully this will make it so I can protect them without even being there. Oh, and you're probably seeing my aura again," I pointed out, gently closing my eyes and using the top of Sweetie's head as a soft chin pillow. "Aura?" I heard Derpy ask, reminding me that I hadn't exactly told very many individuals. Sweetie stirred against my foreleg before tucking herself further under my chin, up against my chest and neck. Thankfully she was careful with her horn this time. That had been awkward on the trip over here in the wagon. "Yeah. Mender's an Earth Pony, so he doesn't have a horn to let the magic out of himself. He uses magic by releasing it from all over instead," Sweetie explained softly, sounding half asleep already. "Oooh, so his whole body is like a horn?" Derpy asked, sounding even more curious, and oddly closer. What, was she looking to see if I had a spiral pattern in me or something? "Yeah. Uh, at some point I realized how to use magic without needing a horn. It kinda, well, broke me inside, however, and now it flows out everywhere, close to my skin level," I elaborated, leaving out the fact that it was actually a recent development. Something had happened. When did I remember how to pull the magic through my skin? I frowned against Sweetie, my eyes still closed as I realized it was more a mental thing all along. Had something in my mind changed after Nirru attacked me? That more, well, feral me was the one who discovered I didn't need my hoof carving to push the magic out, and use other body parts. Tongue casting would probably never catch on, however. Slowly, I relaxed as I let the magic ebb and shift into a basic light spell. I felt it flow gently off my coat and knew that my whole body was now glowing, without needing my other senses to tell me. I heard Derpy gasp, and I smiled gently. "It flows out from everywhere, even when I'm not casting any spells. It turns out that, well, empathic individuals can pick up on it, even if only on a subconscious level. My personality leaks through as well, and it gives them a 'feeling' of what I'm sorta like without even needing to talk to me. As if I were walking around with a giant poster over my head, telling about me," I tried to explain, as much as I understood it, anyway. Of course, I imagine it was rather dual-edged, however. Nothing was stopping perceptive ponies of less reputable intent from taking advantage of it, too. "That must make it really hard ta lie ta some ponies," Apple Bloom suddenly muttered, surprising me. Huh, I never thought about it maybe relaying, um, other things about me, too. Uh oh. She might be onto something. "I wasn't very good at lying in the first place, but probably," I muttered, feeling tired myself. Eh, I didn't have to worry about anypony here, anyways. A sneaking suspicion told me that even if Derpy knew about me, she probably wouldn't be fazed in the least. Speaking of Derpy, I heard her giggle a second later, followed by, "Ooh, my 'gut instinct' about Mender must be spot on, then! You really are a nice stallion." Hum. Sorta, I guess. A light smile came to my muzzle, and I opened my eyes to look up at her again. She was a lot closer, but smiling happily down at me regardless, her right eye locked on mine and the left drifting off towards the fire. "I really do try to give everypony the benefit of the doubt. I'm really happy to be where I am, and really adore all the ponies around me. But sometimes, something really does draw my ire, and that's when I'm not so nice anymore," I muttered, fighting back the light chill running up my spine suddenly. The other me was very much not so nice. Homicidal and sadistic were kinda the opposites, after all. Her smile didn't falter, not that I had expected it to. She struck me as the type of mare to stick with an opinion after her mind was made up, anyways. "Of course! I bet you were really, really not nice to that thing that attacked us. You did so much to protect Ponyville! I know you don't see a lot of it, being with Twilight and the Elements all day, but, um, I hear a lot about the other side of things," she spoke, drawing my attention rather well. Other side of things? My expression must have asked for me, as she giggled and shook her head. "Nothing bad. Ponies just got really scared, ya know? After hearing the amazing story of how you fought off the creature all by yourself until Princess Luna got there, it really gave a lot of ponies hope. I know you don't like it, but you're kinda like a superhero or something. I think, well, I think Ponyville needed something to make everypony feel safe," she explained, looking contemplative as she looked up into the darkening sky instead. I watched her for a second before my eyes softened a bit, my insides relaxing. Something to make them feel safe? I didn't want to be a hero. But maybe I could be okay with being sorta like the town's safety blanket. Being afraid wasn't fun, and I suddenly could relate to them all a lot more. Maybe when they said 'hero'... "It was kinda hard to believe at first. A lot of ponies didn't think it was true, but rumors of your magic shot everywhere, with that barrel incident backing it up," Derpy continued, talking upwards now and more relaxed. Barrel incident? Oh! When I was running away from Applejack, trying to protect Sweetie from a threat that wasn't real. Heh. Not my most stellar idea. Derpy continued regardless, however, with, "Then when Rainbow surprised you and you blew a hole in the side of the hospital, it became a lot easier to believe." Is that what they were saying happened? Heh. Well, I could go with that. Still, better not agree or disagree with it to remain truthful. "I'm not proud that I know how to fight, and have had to resort to violence before. I've seen a lot of things that I really, really would rather not have, and at the end of the day, I'd rather just enjoy the peace," I muttered, being absolutely honest. I saw more than enough hothead soldiers with battle lust to know that it never ended well. Fighting for 'entertainment' got so many of them killed, even if they were really nice individuals otherwise. No, I'd rather be bored and have things be peaceful, even if that thought did make me feel sorta like a grumpy old dude. My eyes snapped back to attention with Derpy's movement, me realizing a second later that I'd zoned out again. Sweetie gave a sleepy murmur as the gray pegasus gently hugged both of us, due to proximity. "I know I never said it, but thank you, Mender. Just for being here and protecting us," she whispered, giving me a light, affectionate nuzzle to the forehead before standing up again, smiling still. Being here so nopony else had to face things like Nirru by themselves. That I could stand behind. Smiling weakly, I gave her a nod back, and she grinned. "Good. Cheer up and take a nap. I've gotta get back with all this news. I see Big Mac coming back the trail anyway, so I'll go say goodbye to him, too," she added, a light whimsical tone drifting into her voice again. I raised my eyebrow to her as that light pink shade came back, but she wasn't looking at me anymore anyways. She shot up into the air and drifted back in the direction of the path a moment later, and I just mentally shrugged it off. It wasn't really my business anyway. Still, she'd given me a lot to think about. Sweetie breathed slowly and gently against my forelegs, and I watched her for a moment before looking up at the curled up Apple Bloom next to me. I could tell she was just resting, but it really did hit me all at once. Something to protect. It was definitely there that night with Nirru. I would have fought to the very last breath to make sure she didn't get anywhere near the ponies I cared about. It had burned through my veins at that point, becoming almost an armor of conviction. It was worse than that, however. My urge to protect them all had almost devolved into hatred that night. It had almost shifted to just wanting to kill her so badly that at times, I had tasted it. No, I wanted to protect them. I had to do my best to remember the reason that I had fought that night, lest I let it change into something else. But now, I realized it didn't just apply to that night. Wasn't my desire to protect them the reason I agreed to this, admittedly surprising, position Tia had tossed my way? I'd not wanted to at first, but if I could take advantage of my own knowledge and better protect them, I'd be crazy to turn down the chance. Plus, she'd set it up so I could just focus on the research aspect of it and not have to deal with publicity, my absolute worst skill. Nopony liked a leader who had to try his absolute hardest to not pee himself in front of large crowds. All I was thankful for was Vinyl's huge stage lights blinding me to the point where I couldn't see most of the audience apart from the first three rows... Smiling at the awkward memory, I relaxed and squeezed the sleeping filly a bit closer, hearing her give a content sigh. She really was sorta like a teddy bear. She'd probably dislike the comparison, though. Yeah, I knew what I wanted now. I'd never stopped wanting it; everything had just gotten a bit muddled in my head. Even my original had only wanted to protect what was important to him. The horror of realizing nothing really was important was just too much. Species only went so far, so I imagine Keela had made things a bit more personal for him. Heh, in more ways than one. But what about after? Why couldn't I remember...? My memories just stopped. It dawned on me a moment later. I was cloned. My memories stopped because I was cloned after he was released from Nirru's 'sessions' by Dr. Kyliona. I honestly should have realized that sooner. That's why I had next to no sensation as to what he was like after all that had happened. I don't even remember his release. Sadly, I guess I knew where Kyliona got the DNA samples from. Pushing that unpleasant thought away, I just focused on the gentle breathing of Sweetie against me. No, I was luckier than he was. I had lots of things that were important to me. I felt stronger than I had been, even a week ago. Even if my luck was horrible, I didn't care. Having things I cared about, and ponies who cared for me, made it worth it. I'd do anything I had to in order to protect them. Maybe that was the sensation Apple Bloom could feel? Relaxing, I slowly rotated my ears and listened to the dull hoofsteps of Big Mac approaching again. Maybe he could see it, too. Deep down, he struck me as a very observant stallion. He was highly intelligent, even if silent most of the time. But maybe that let him see more than most? He gave me a soft smile and nod, sitting down next to the fire, positioning his little sister between us. He ran on a lot of the same instincts. I saw it clearly in his eyes when he practically tore the wall down to rush to Applejack's aid. It takes dedication to go from dead sleep to raging defender in less than a half dozen seconds. I could appreciate that. We stared at each other for a moment before he snickered lightly towards me. I grinned and nodded back, no more really needing to be 'said' between us. With that conversation out of the way, he calmly asked, "Supper?" "Mmm... Supper," I agreed. Plus, that way I could ask Spike where he'd been all day... * * * * * Lying there silently, I enjoyed the warm blankets under me, and the pillow propping my head up as I watched the three Crusaders below me, on the floor. It had taken almost two hours so far, but they'd fought tooth and hoof through four and a half pages of math with very little input from me. Frankly, I thought Apple Bloom was doing an amazing job relaying her knowledge onto her fellow fillies. The soft sounds of the rain hitting the roof echoed through the room as I gave a halfhearted listen to the three squabble over the 'right' way to do the last three problems. The only other noises were the scratching of Spike's claws against shell as he tried to clean Tank up, and the squeaks Big Mac made occasionally as he adjusted the frame of what appeared to be a rolling platform of sorts. It looked big enough to support one of their apple crates, but its size and low-to-the-ground build indicated it was probably for moving them around inside the barn. There'd been half a dozen of them in the cart with us, and I guessed they all needed repair. Of course, my offer to help had yet again been met with just a silent shake of the head, so I'd given up. Watching Spike for a moment, I noticed he was still attempting to get the paint off Tank's shell using careful applications of solvent. I forgave him for never showing up, of course. It turns out he got ambushed by Carrot Top on his way out the door, and roped into helping her add new paint to several cabins. It would seem they ran basic maintenance while they were here, too, which did kinda make sense. Still, he should have kept Tank away from the paint. The tortoise himself looked less than fazed, languidly stretching and relaxing there, almost as if Spike were giving him a good massage. Growing bored, I rolled to my side again and flicked my right projector on, moving another page of data out in front of me to read. Big Mac momentarily looked up curiously at the new light added to the otherwise lamp-lit room, but looked down again a moment later upon discovering it was just me being all weird and cyborg again. Actually, he was just as stoic as Tank, now that I thought about it. Nothing seemed to bother either of them! Everything was in order still. Notes on every single one of the functions the disks could do, and the full chemical composition of all the things the nanites could inject were detailed. How to make the disks and their composition and enchantments were also there. Details on my nanites' programming were included, with what to expect from the healing capacity and body regulation. If the programming given to the nanites in the mares was similar, it was like a watered down version of my own healing and regeneration capacity. The only things I noticed were different about the specs from the nanite manual I found was that they didn't do blood filtering like mine did. Guess they still had to watch what they ate and drank. Heh. Everything was compiled into a 'meager' thirty pages of notes. Twilight was going to love this, especially as I had 'printed' them all out. I also had a ton of paper and ink left as well. It turns out an entire tree makes quite a bit of paper. Oh, and the strawberries were just too good to not finish the whole pile. All that was missing was sugar or cream to dip them in. Regardless, I'd gotten all the information about the nanites and the disks that I could get for her without direct testing and experimentation. I wasn't about to do that by myself, and it was a tad hard anyway without any of the actual subjects here, so I'd reached a dead end along this path. Instead, I shifted to the printouts and data that Keela had tossed me about the link between our two dimensions and how to go about opening a 'hole' through. If I knew how to make one, maybe I could figure out how to stop the process, too? If it was as easy as stopping our Slipstream, then I was set. Well, minus the whole getting into orbit and building massive relay structures around whatever Equestria happened to be. Planet? Dimensional bubble? Eh, I'd just ask Tia. Sadly, everything detailed in her notes were things I already knew. She activated the quantum field generator, created a static area inside of the field of 'hanging' molecules using an Aegis Barrier, then used a small Slipstream Engine to fire a marble sized crystal into the stuck open Aegis Barrier. With the crystal 'encoded' with Equestria's quantum signature, it popped through and created a small Slipstream 'bridge' between the two dimensions that things could go through. Well, non-organic things so far. If a living, organic creature tried to go through the Slipstream effect, it kinda microwaved them rather thoroughly. What came through the other side was somewhat crispier and significantly less living, usually. Very much unlike the 'hole' that Rainbow was capable of tearing in the weakened fabric. Ours was essentially an Einstein–Rosen Bridge that we used quantum energy to get through, avoiding that oh so lovely singularity squish that also tended to make things significantly less living, although quite smaller. Then the shield protected us from the quantum energy. Blah blah blah. Skimming, I noticed it was all things I was already aware of as an engineer. The only things I needed to pay attention to were the quantum signature in the crystal, and the effect it had on the Einstein-Rosen Bridge as it passed through the open Aegis Barrier. Everything I knew about the barriers indicated that, if you passed into an open one, the same thing would happen to you as what happened to the attacks hitting it. Nothing. No, literally nothingness. In theory, it should crush you into a singularity and then jut you away into unattached subspace. That lovely extra-dimensional area we passed through normally when using the Slipstream Engine. It also happened to be where I kept my extra stuff, and where I assumed Pinkie stored most of her party supplies somehow. If you lost the 'link' to your particular space, however, it was lost forever. So why did, instead of falling away into nothingness, passing through the Aegis Barrier in Slipstream using one of these strange Equestrian crystals make you travel between dimensions instead?! It shouldn't be possible, but it was happening and I couldn't just dismiss it. Damn it. No, all I needed to do was figure out how to stop it, not understand it. A bit of consideration later, I flipped to the last three pages of her notes instead, detailing the exiting of the object and closing of the link. The shield was dispelled, releasing the chilled object into normal space safely, then the energy was withdrawn from the link, causing the Einstein–Rosen Bridge to collapse back down into its singularity, and then the generation of it failed and it collapsed upon itself, disappearing and 'smoothing out' spacetime again. That was, well, exactly like our Slipstream. There was no difference in the effect. That meant if I knew what 'direction' the Slipstream was going in, which was the same as its destination, and I knew where it originated from, which was my other dimension in this case, I could flip the quantum wavelength at the exit point. The bridge would then double back upon itself, and the traveling party would end up exactly where they'd entered at, negating the effect. My head hurt a little and I sighed, staring at her calculations. She estimated that instead of spacetime coordinates being used as tracking for the bridge, dimensional ones took their place. That meant she just offset them in order to get the actual coordinates using the Slipstream Engine. The crystal picked what dimension, and the engine told it where at in that dimension. Both were traceable, but only if I knew the encoded coordinates from the crystal. The complexity was starting to make me dizzy, but in theory, my new idea would work. But it would require monitoring the quantum wavelengths of the entire planet. Or whatever Equestria was... Then, when I saw a distortion, I could zero in on it, read the crystal wavelength as it popped through, and flip it, turning them around before they could even exit the bridge. Simple, right? Heh. No, I wasn't that stupid. Testing first, then came crying, then hopefully a working prototype. Then more testing and more crying, then hopefully a solution! I finished typing up my own calculations and notes on the possible prototype, including a crystal array that could be stretched out theoretically as large as I needed, and the master idea. It was a large crystal 'engine' that was meant to pick up any number of incoming signals, calculate them and their natural inverse, then use an energy source to flip them as they came in. Okay! Now I just needed to work on that energy source, how to power the whole grid, and how to get the stupid things into orbit in the first place! Cake, right? Rolling my eyes, I was momentarily amused as the display flickered around with my eyeball motion, and then turned it off. It had taken me a good twenty minutes to draw up the diagram for it and finish my notes on the inverse calculation based off what I knew about stopping Slipstream in the first place. Everything always looked perfect on paper, though. Which scared me, because this didn't look good on paper. That meant it was much, much worse. I peeked back down again, and then raised my eyebrow at three expectant looking fillies presenting ten more pages of math for me to go over. My muzzle shifted into a smile instead and I nodded. "Done then?" I inquired, even though I already knew the answer. "Yeah! It was easy!" Scootaloo bragged almost instantly, earning an incredulous stare from Sweetie in the middle. "It wasn't that easy. But Apple Bloom explained it really, really good! That means you explained it to her really good, too!" Sweetie added whimsically, sounding surprisingly pleased over the whole ordeal. Maybe they were finally seeing the logic behind getting something done within a reasonable time before it was due? I wasn't holding my breath, but it would be nice. Taking their assignments, I peeked over both while making room for the three fillies on the bed. Spike shot an amused glance my way from the kitchen counter as all three piled up with me, Sweetie tucking into my stomach, Apple Bloom sitting by my head, and Scootaloo lazily flopped over my hip, watching me flip the pages with interest, my magic manipulating the pencil into checking or crossing each problem. "Scootaloo has two mistakes, one on page two, and another on page five. Sweetie just has one on page five to go over," I finally announced, smiling to both of them. Sweetie gave a happy cheer, while Scootaloo groaned and swatted her forehead with her left forehoof. "Hey, relax. It's only two wrong, and the first one is as simple as missing flipping a sign," I added, reaching down and rubbing the top of her head. She gave me a weak smile and nod before taking her papers back and sliding down from my side, joining Sweetie tucked in against my curled form. Call me lazy, but this bed was much more comfortable than the rocks earlier, even if Apple Bloom was moving my pillow around uncomfortably with her rump with each shift the filly did. It didn't take long for me to explain where the two had gone wrong, Apple Bloom feeling guilty that she'd forgotten to mention the silly details involved. Honestly, both of them had made very simple mistakes, probably due to trying to rush through the last page. It was always easier to use shortcuts and hurry when the end was in sight, I noticed. Resting, I just let my eyes relax, the inside of my eyelids shading them nicely from the harshness of reality. I hadn't done much today, comparatively speaking, but I still felt tired. I chalked it up to still not catching up on my rest from all the other horrible things that had happened. Carrot Top's words stuck with me, however, and I refused to make any predictions about how my rest tonight would go. Heh. Maybe she was on to something? Sweetie remained tucked lightly into my barrel long after her paper was corrected. That wasn't out of the norm at this point, really. Scootaloo surprised me, however, by staying as well, her face pushed into Sweetie's tummy while her legs tucked into mine. With Apple Bloom at my back with her forelegs lightly wrapped over my shoulders, that made us one big pony pile of laziness on the bed. Not that I was complaining, as they were soft and warm. That, and it would defeat the point of being lazy if I had enough energy to complain about the situation. Apple Bloom gave a giggle as Scootaloo started snoring, and I felt Sweetie smirk against my foreleg. "That tickles, Scoots," she muttered weakly, but not really trying to move away. "She practiced long and hard today. Just let her sleep, Miss 'part the clouds over Ponyville with a magic super ray'..." I warned playfully, pulling both fillies closer against my barrel. "Mmm, I said I was sorry. I just, um, really wanted to feel you in my head again. Last night was nice," she whispered softly. Yeah, that much I admitted to. Having a friend certainly kept my nightmares away. At that, Apple Bloom stirred a little. "Inside yer head?" she asked quietly, respecting the fact that my ears were practically touching her muzzle when she leaned over like that. Scootaloo shivered lightly as she scooted further up Sweetie, pushing her face into the little filly's neck for warmth. My tail curled around and, with a flick, I covered both of their lower bodies with the bulk of it like a makeshift blanket. "Yeah. That same thing he does when you run out of energy, but all warm and cozy while sleeping, and without the horrible pain. Plus, he can control his dreams, and you can play and do almost anything you want inside them," Sweetie relayed a moment later, looking up at me and smiling as she tucked my tail-blanket over the snoozing pegasus against her chest. "Oooh, that sounds neat! Ah wish Ah could try it out," my neck warmer muttered before huffing lightly and blowing my Fluttershy-bestowed braid away from her face. I'd gotten so used to the left part of my bangs being braided that I'd kind of forgotten about it. Not that I was going to remove it anytime soon! To my surprise, a heavier set of hoofsteps sounded from in front of me somewhere, cutting her off. "Ah-nope. Mender needs his sleep, so ya’all have ta leave him be. One filly per bed or ya all go back ta yer own," Big Mac warned suddenly, causing me to open my eyes and look over at him. He really was standing in front of me, looking a bit tired himself. True, it was almost bedtime now. Apple Bloom started to groan, but I shook my head wearily. "I'm not a unicorn. I can only do one connection at a time anyway, AB. But, well, it does help, admittedly. When I'm with somepony in my dreams, it does at least keep the nightmares away," I muttered, feeling myself grow a bit more tired with the admission. Big Mac looked at me for a moment before his eyes softened as well and he nodded. "Maybe Ah should hire ya ta keep AJ company fer ah few nights. She might be able ta get ah full night's rest, then," he muttered a moment later. Somehow, despite the situation and how badly it could have sounded, he managed to convey it in such an absolute manner that I solemnly knew exactly what he was talking about. It wasn't a teasing matter. "They're not pleasant. I wish she'd never been there to see the things she did, but I also have to thank her for saving me afterwards, when most ponies probably would have given up," I pointed out. It was a bit of a duality again. She'd gotten me into the situation, but she also got me out of it despite all odds. Apple Bloom giggled softly and sleepily against my back, however, before shaking her head. "Sis ain't one ta give up, Mender. She always does her best ta make things right again no matter what! That's why she's so torn up over it all," the little filly relayed. Yeah, that fit with everything I knew about Applejack so far. Big Mac sighed and nodded slightly, seeming to think to himself for a moment before adding, "She ain't used ta tha feelin's that night gave her. Betrayin' ah friend, even accidental-like, ain't somethin' that sets good with any Apple, her especially. Just holdin' her while she cries ain't fixin' anything, but it's all Ah can seem ta do. If ya could stop tha nightmares..." There was a pleading tone to his voice that didn't suit him at all, and I had to look away. "I don't even know how to stop my own," I admitted, but sighed a moment later and added, "But I've been meaning to talk to her more about it anyways. If I can figure out a way to help her, of course I'm going to." The big guy relaxed at that and gave me a smile again. "Yer definitely all right, Mender. Ya got mah support. But bedtime now, Ah think." Yeah, I felt rather tired at this point, so I wasn't going to argue. "Can I stay with you again tonight? It's the last night I can for a while," Sweetie Belle asked softly, looking back up at me as she edged a little more firmly into my chest. Raising an eyebrow, my ears perked and I listened to the rain for a second before shrugging. "It's probably not going to outright thunder tonight, but you just want to cuddle, don't you?" I asked her softly, a little uncertain of myself suddenly. Was it okay, even if I knew she considered me in more than a platonic manner? "Eh, just go fer it. It's her last day, like she said," Big Mac suggested as he crawled into his own bed. Wait, when had he gotten all the way over there?! For such a large fellow, he certainly moved amazingly silently. Add Snapshot to the mix, and I was starting to wonder if there was some secret Earth Pony Ninja School around here somewhere. Sweetie grinned and tucked herself into my chest fully, almost as if I'd already said yes. Neither extra filly was moving either, and I started to wonder if I was going to get all three of them tonight. Spike finally finished setting up Tank's water and hopped down from the kitchen counter a moment later, giving us a questioning glance as he walked over. "Uh, we getting lots of company tonight instead of just Sweetie?" he asked, hopping up onto the end of my bed as usual. Big Mac let out a stern coughing noise, and Apple Bloom sighed against my back. "Yer ah traitor, Spike," she muttered, before slowly getting back up to her hooves. I gave her an amused stare as she slipped over me, momentarily bounced off Sweetie's face with her rump, and grabbed Scootaloo as she slid past and off the bed. She was coordinated, anyway! "Ah! No! Warm!" Scootaloo yelped, grabbing onto my tail as she slid away, the combined weight yanking me sideways to the edge of my bed in an instant. Sweetie yelped at the sudden movement and rotated, grabbing onto me as I caught her, stopping her from falling over as well. Big Mac gave an even sterner glare towards our antics, me returning a rather helpless glance as best I could. "Hey, let go of Mender's tail! That's rude, Scoots," Spike warned, hopping forwards and trying to pry the little pegasus free. Unexpectedly, her ears perked up the second he touched her, and she let go, only to latch onto him an instant later. My eyes widened as he yelped, going off the side of the bed in an instant, both of them landing on Apple Bloom with a dull thud. Well, so much for coordinated. "Ow!" the yellow filly squeaked, suddenly finding herself flattened onto the floorboards. "Oooh, even warmer," Scootaloo chirped, wrapping her forelegs around Spike and nuzzling into his neck. Her eyes were still closed, but I kind of assumed she was awake at this point. Or extremely skilled at sleepwalking. Spike looked less pleased. "Ah, help, Mender!" he called out, popping his claw out from under Scootaloo's iron grasp and reaching out to me. Aww, darn. Now that he called out to me, I was obligated to help him somehow. Hmm, but how to get him away from her? Oh! "Mmm, now that's something you don't see everyday. Scoots being cute and affectionate. Could it be, she likes Spike?" I inquired to nopony in particular, a little louder than conversation volume. It had been a while since I'd seen the little filly move so quickly. Her flail away from him was almost instantaneous, and I winced as she stepped on Apple Bloom's back again and slipped over, crashing into the floor on the other side of her now air-less and gasping friend. "Ah! Ow! No, I don't have a crush on Spike! Ew!" she yelped, recovering rather fast for landing on her rump. I guess she only hurt her dignity. My magic slid Apple Bloom back over to me a moment later, a barrier being used as a makeshift scoop for both her and Spike, depositing them back on my bed. Spike rolled once and collected his wits, rubbing at his probably numb arms. My other recovered friend just flopped on her stomach and lay there, eyes swirling lightly. Sweetie hopped over to her, but I already had a plan in mind, slipping into a sitting position. Her massive inhale of air was accompanied by an abrupt squeak as I fired magic off through both hooves touching her back, shooting it straight through her and into the mattress, my fur tingling and standing on edge from the discharge. Cruel? Probably. Effective? Extremely! She coughed for a moment before rolling onto her side and looking back up at us in surprise. Spike, on the other side of her, helped her back up to her hooves, and she smiled back at him warmly. Oh sure, Sweetie and I get bewildered and he gets a smile. For doing nothing but flattening her, I might add! "What, do I have to sleep by myself again?" Scootaloo asked sharply, giving an annoyed stare at Apple Bloom's back. "Ya kinda deserve it after ya landed on me! But no, Ah'm ah nice friend," she returned, glaring back over her left shoulder at the pegasus. Really tired now, I decided to expedite the process a bit. The barrier still being up, I simply tipped it at a forty-five degree angle, sending the surprised Apple Bloom sliding down it and landing on Scootaloo instead. There! Bed cleared. "Ya better go ta sleep now, lil' sis. Scootaloo, too," Big Mac warned, starting to sound a little less easy going and a little more cranky. I guess he needed his sleep, too. "We're goin'!" Apple Bloom yelped, picking up the dizzy looking pegasus from under her and dragging her over to the left towards their bed on the other side of the doorway. Taking my subtle cue, I flicked my magic up again and bumped the crystals on the bottoms of all five lamps still lit in the room, sighing peacefully. Darkness hit an instant later, followed by a yelp and crash over by the fillies' bed. Oops. Maybe I'd turned off the lights a few seconds too soon? Eh, they were probably fine. Sweetie giggled in amusement and Spike shrugged before curling up at the end of my bed. Ugh. Oh, fine. Shifting my eye sensors on, I sent two spotlights of blue directly over both fillies recovering at the side of the bed. "Ow. We're okay," Apple Bloom groaned, struggling to get to her hooves next to her fallen friend. "Speak for yourself. I think I pulled a wing muscle. Ow," Scootaloo tacked on, sitting up and sliding to her haunches instead, stretching her left wing out and examining it in the light of my eyes. At this distance, it wasn't hard to shift to depth scanning and peek into her wing tissue. I did note one of her flight muscles swelling a little bit, and sighed, feeling somewhat responsible for her injury. "You have muscle swelling, Scoots. You also have been overworking them the last few days. Tuck it back up and rest without moving it too much, and it should be fine by morning," I suggested softly, causing the little filly to look up at me curiously. "You can see all that from there?" The thought seemed almost foreign to her, and I realized she must not fully grasp the concept of me having cybernetic parts. But that didn't really surprise me, considering her age and the general technology level of Equestria. "Yup. My eyes are fancy and high tech. Now go to bed, you two. Big Mac needs his beauty sleep," I reminded, smirking at the end. Both fillies grinned, and I heard a soft chuckle from his direction as well. Scootaloo tossed up a salute and Apple Bloom just nodded, returning, "Sure thing! We'll see ya tomorrow. Good night, everypony!" Big Mac gave a tired sounding confirmation muttering that I couldn't quite make out, but Sweetie added a fully formed, "Good night!" Spike only voiced snoring, which I assumed was similar and earned giggling as the two fillies climbed into their bed. I waited for them to settle before turning off my scanners and settling back down again. I grabbed my tedd- Er, Sweetie Belle, and pulled her back under the covers with me after he settled, tucking us both back in again. If she didn't want to, she gave little to no noticeable struggle, cooing softly as I pulled her against my torso. She was soft and warm and helped the nightmares stay away. Who was I to argue with hedonism's natural progression? Sure, 'indulging' in dreams with a friend helped me a ton, but she seemed to very much not mind either. So it was all good! Ignoring logic otherwise, I rested my forehead under her horn and pushed my energy gently into her a second later, hearing her mumble as it connected. "You feel so tired," she whispered a second later. All I could manage was nodding to her, already feeling myself slipping backwards. Sleep would come fast tonight, I realized. Sweetie fell silent as she slipped from my forehead, nuzzling under my neck instead as I pulled her along the connection. One of the greatest feelings in the world was letting yourself fall asleep after you got really, really tired. Even if the fatigue had suddenly snuck up on me out of nowhere, it still felt good. Relaxing, I just went with the flow and let us go.
Chapter 58Author's Note Harsher language than usual in this one. Heads up ahead of time. Chapter 58 It didn't take me long to realize how amazingly little we'd ended up bringing, apart from the tools Big Mac wanted to repair while here. Those had been deposited back into the wagon when he had finished even, so all we had were some personal effects in a bag for each filly, my saddlebags, and Big Mac's saddlebags. Given the depressingly little amount of stuff we had to do, I made a humble suggestion that maybe we should walk around and help other ponies pack their things up, too. That had been both a blessing and a mistake at the same time. Still, Big Mac looked both honestly surprised, and then very pleased at my suggestion. With that, the seven of us set out to be as helpful as we could! Stretching my left leg out lightly, I watched as my magic rotated in place, planes of barriers drifting through the air via lines coming from my forehead. It drew less attention, I discovered, if I connected the magic there. Probably second nature to see and they didn't notice the lack of horn right away. The elderly couple, whose names I'd never gotten, watched in fascination as the three fillies and little dragon rushed about their cabin, snatching up suitcases and bags alike and depositing them onto the front step. There my magic snatched them up with a scooping motion and lifted them through the air in an arc, depositing them on the back of the wagon as gently as possible. Big Mac then slid them further in and arranged it in the back as sturdy and stable as possible. This was the sixth family we'd helped so far, and a small crowd was starting to follow us, if just to watch the performance. I was pleased, if nothing else, at the fact that the whispers and talking I kept hearing were generally pleased and kind in nature now. Even if it got me a bit tired, helping others made me feel warm and fuzzy, and seemed to be doing a good deal of repair for my reputation as an uncertainty. Every time the couple tried to help, of course, Apple Bloom would assure them that they could handle it no problem. The younger families and couples we'd let help haul things, but I had to agree with her assessment. Just let them have a break from having to haul all this stuff. Smiling, I lifted the last of the bags up and set them down for Big Mac, nodding to him as he gave me a smile back and picked the cluster up with his teeth, sliding them against the base of the grouping he'd made. "Well now, that was mighty nice o' ya! How much do Ah owe you fine ponies, for services rendered, o' course," the elder stallion asked gently, smiling as he stepped off the porch of the cabin and towards us. Smiling towards him, I shook my head softly. "Not a thing. We finished with our packing super-fast, so we decided to just go around and help others finish, too. Don't worry about it," I assured. It was far easier, I discovered, to turn down payment for an impromptu service than it was for an extended one planned ahead of time. I think it was that whole 'contracted ahead of time' thing. He looked impressed, but smiled as I nodded to the four younger members of our traveling help squad. Tank obviously couldn't do much heavy lifting, but proved invaluable regardless by hovering around me in low orbit, occasionally bumping and prodding bags that I hadn't gotten fully onto my barrier scoops as they went through the air. The others rushed back up, looking pleased at the large amount of bags in the wagon. Instead, I shifted back to Big Mac. "See anypony else in need of packing help from up there?" I inquired, adhering to the pattern we'd formed so far. Glancing about, he squinted, but then gave me a pleased smile and shook his head. Oh? "Ah-nope! Looks like almost everypony's ready ta set out!" he exclaimed, hopping down from the top of the wagon. Wow! That was fast. "Are we even allowed to set out this early?" Carrot asked, stepping out from the group following us and slowly walking towards Big Mac. A grayish unicorn stallion with darker purple mane and tail, and surprisingly bright green eyes followed after her. A parchment rested, unrolled, upon his flank, and I guessed that he must be Written Script, her husband. Trailing a bit slower was a little filly, also a unicorn, with a more purple coat and golden mane and tail. Oh, she had mentioned a daughter! Big Mac tilted his head, but nodded a moment later, adding, "Ah think so. Derpy said they were runnin' ah bit behind without tha help o' tha Town Organizer, but they should be ready by midday, which is right about now." Town Organizer? Was that even a position? I'd not heard of it, and wondered at the undoubtedly strange stallion or mare that would accept something like that. "Ah, is Twilight okay? I hope she is," Carrot asked almost immediately, frowning lightly. Oh. Okay, no, that didn't surprise me in the slightest. Not nearly as much as it should have, anyway. "She's having personal issues and not feeling well. She'll be fine," I answered for him, smiling gently at the mare, who relaxed and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I forgot that you'd undoubtedly know, being in her herd. Sorry, Mender," Carrot chirped, finally smiling towards me. I snickered and shook my head, but she perked up again and gestured back to the two now sitting behind her. "Oh! This is Written Script, my husband, and Dinky Doo, our daughter," she introduced, grinning back at them. I perked and nodded to each in turn as Big Mac joined me as well. "Um, nice to meet you," I offered, somewhat unsure of what to say. Carrot snickered in amusement before whacking me across the shoulder and almost tipping me over. "You don't have to be all awkward, Mender. Sheesh. You're already a good friend to the Apple Family, so you're totally fine by us carrot growers, too! Uh, well, at least I grow carrots." Her assurance derailed a little bit, but I still smiled and nodded to her. Written Script nodded as well, adding, "It is nice to meet you finally. Carrot, of course, assured me that the articles written about you were complete rubbish, but as you probably know, it's always nice to see something ring true with your own eyes." Well, that was indeed true. Despite 'knowing' all about somepony from countless interactions even, it was always a good feeling when you saw them doing something you knew to be completely in-character for them. That sensation of it being 'right' for them bled off onto me, leaving a content feeling. "Um, your magic is really cool," Dinky whispered a moment later, partially hiding behind Carrot, who smiled happily down at her. Okay, that I could sympathize with. Being nervous around new ponies and large crowds was also something I knew well. Relaxing, I lightly lifted my hoof up towards her, and watched it slowly start to glow a faint blue in color. Her eyes widened, but she made no attempt to move whatsoever. A slight flicker came from the left as a pretty lavender wildflower snapped off lightly and drifted into the air, the thin little line of light that connected it to my body being almost invisible. Sliding it along with the wire, I gently presented it to her, causing her to perk up and stare at it in surprise as it drifted there. A moment later, she smiled to me and her own horn lit up with a soft golden yellow color, the same as her eyes, and took the flower off the little platform I held it on. She drifted it there for a moment before perking up again and tucking it just above her left ear, looking pleased as it hung in her mane, incidentally matching her coat quite well. I'd picked it because it reminded me of Twilight, but it was a pleasant surprise. "See? I told you he was a gentlecolt, Script," Carrot suddenly cooed, sounding rather amused. Huh? Glancing up at her again, I noticed she was smirking at him with a rather knowing expression. Shaking his head, Written Script looked back to me for a moment before finally smiling again and nodding. "Yeah, fine. You were right. He's obviously not letting the newspapers get to him like I guessed, so you win," he finally admitted. Win what? Suddenly, I had the sneaking suspicion I was host to a bet or something. "Yes! I do love your private stories for me. Extra tasty this time?" Carrot requested, winking at him. He blushed and looked away, and I decided I probably shouldn't ask, or I'd regret it. Big Mac took my turning away from her as a hint, it would seem, and nodded to me. "Eeyup! Ah'm gonna go hook up ta tha wagon. Gimme ah few," he requested before trotting back towards our cabin. Relaxing, I smiled and nodded to the Crusaders, then gestured to Spike. He sprinted the distance to me and hopped up as I ducked, settling onto my back, facing away from my head this time. "That was a lot of fun, but I'm really tired now!" he exclaimed, flopping backwards and using my mane as a makeshift pillow. I just walked on as the three fillies fell in beside me, all of us heading back towards the cabin. "Yeah, but I really do enjoy helping others. It kind of gives you that warm feeling in your stomach," I tried to describe, considering it for a moment. No, actually that sounded kinda stupid, but I couldn't take it back now, I guessed. Snapping out of my daze, I noticed that we weren't the only ones on this path. Carrot and her family followed gently behind me, her having a soft discussion with her husband about something. Oddly, he was blushing lightly and keeping his eyes glued onto the path in front of him. Dinky Doo followed behind, not really paying attention as she watched a butterfly drift past. Further, at least a dozen others I didn't recognize were still following me, regardless that the 'show' had ceased. Weird. Averting my gaze, I tried not to feel self-conscious as I walked, starting to get nervous before I even realized it. Why were they still following me? Was I supposed to be leading them somewhere? What did they want?! "Uh, Mender?" Sweetie asked softly to my left. Ah! "Y-Yes?" I spoke up, snapping out of it and glancing to my left towards her. I turned my head just in time to see the path curve off to the left, just like I remembered it doing then. Wait... My legs went right into a rather sizable boulder and over I went, sliding over the thing face first in an arc as I flailed each leg out to its respective side. Aww, crap! Three seconds later, I had my face flat into the dirt on the other side of the stupid thing, limply lying across the top of it as Spike slid off, rolling onto the grass next to me. "Um, rock?" Sweetie pointed out hesitantly as she walked around it and peeked down at me. Why, thank you for that urgent warning. Sliding the rest of the way, I momentarily flipped forwards and fell onto my back instead with a little nudge off the thing. Upon righting myself, I could very easily make out laughter behind me, and flattened my ears back, heat rushing into my cheeks. Well, I'm sure that was inspiring! Written Script was snickering a bit as he looked around the rock at me, but his wife was laughing hysterically on her side in the grass, and added, "I've never seen a pony just sorta flop like that! Ha!" Damn it... The heat rushed further into my face, and I took a couple steps backwards hesitantly, looking back and forth between the amused ponies. They were laughing at me. I'd made an idiot of myself and they were all laughing. At me. The heat reached my ears and I felt them tingle, getting a bit dizzy as I flicked them around. Even Dinky was giggling, and a bit of nausea hit me. This is why I didn't make a good leader! Between chuckles, Written Script managed to walk up to me. "Heh, are you okay, anyway?" he asked, brushing my nose with his left hoof and knocking dirt loose. My voice caught as I looked past him at the others, Carrot wiping her eyes and wobbling to her hooves again. "Heh. Just whoop, and over he goes... Ha!" she whispered to herself, apparently finding it hysterical. The dizziness hit all at once and I couldn't stand it anymore. Spinning around, I scooped up the suddenly surprised Spike before quickly trotting in a straight path through the grass towards our cabin, dead set on not showing my face for at least the rest of the day. "Mender, wait up fer us!" Apple Bloom yelped, and I heard three sets of hoofsteps running up behind me. At least they weren't laughing at me. Why couldn't I even pay attention to where I was walking?! "Um, sorry," I muttered, not entirely sure as to what for, but it sounded right. I didn't look at any of them as we set a brisk pace, reaching the cabin as Big Mac was pulling the wagon out from the little side barn that was set up. He gave me a confused glance as I shot past him, went around the side of the wagon, and piled into the back of it. The tarp was still over the tools, and instinctively, I slipped under it and frustratingly whacked my muzzle into the corner panels. Two weights pushed into my right side as I hid there, and another practically burrowed under me, having no obvious concern for my personal space. Unsurprisingly, Sweetie popped out from under my chest a second later, smiling at me as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo slipped under the tarp to the right. "Oooh, are we hiding? From who?" Sweetie asked, surprisingly innocently. Her smile was very reassuring, however, and I guessed she realized I was actually upset and just trying to be nice. "Everypony but you five. Where's Spike and-" I started to ask, before a rather warm and fur-less form slipped in on the left, squeezing between my side and the wall. He really was warm! Tank was shoved ahead of him, tucked into his shell except for his head and neck as Spike shifted him into the corner in front of me now. I gave the turtle a somewhat confused stare, not expecting him to be so close, and distracting me somewhat from what just happened. To my surprise, he lowered his head and rested it lightly on the top of my muzzle, as if assuring me as well. Maybe tortoises were intelligent, too? "Shhhh," Spike whispered, putting a claw to his mouth and gesturing behind us as the wagon started moving again. I tucked my head back down and tried my best to project the image of a really lumpy bag of sand. They couldn't see me, because I couldn't see them, right? The two Crusaders to my right tucked into my side, wrapping their tails into the tarp as Sweetie hauled mine up with hers, burying her face in my chest. Ah, she subscribed to the same theory! Surely, she was invisible now. Rapid hoofsteps sounded from the other direction half a second later, followed by a bit of rough panting. "S-Stop! Not used to... I can't run like you, Carrot!" I heard from outside, in Written Script's voice. "Mackey, have you seen Mender? He was headed this way, but he got to the top of the hill first and we lost him. Wow, can he move when he wants to!" Carrot exclaimed, not even sounding winded. Maybe it was an Earth Pony thing, considering her husband was a Unicorn? Or maybe it was a berserker thing... "Eeyup," Big Mac answered slowly, not actually stopping the wagon. What?! No, Big Mac! You're my friend! "Uh, which way did he go, then? Is he in the cabin?" she asked hesitantly after a good five seconds of waiting for more information. "Saw him scoot past, but Ah didn't look ta see where he went. Ah gotta get this 'ere cart up ta tha gatherin' spot. Ya know that, Carrot," he explained slowly. Heh, that clever... Every part of that statement was true. Sure, he had 'heard' me get into the wagon and us talking, but he didn't 'see' it. There was a tired sigh, followed by, "All work and no play, Mackey... Fine. He must have gone into the cabin. Come on, Script!" Written Script gave a groan and pant as I heard a set of hooves take off back behind us. A moment later, his followed and I exhaled. "Um, thanks, Big Mac," I whispered quietly after another ten seconds or so, relaxing and tucking my back legs up under me. "Eh, just rest. She'll wise up soon 'nough, but ya at least got til we leave. Saw tha spill, an' there was nothin' ta be ashamed of, Mender," he returned, managing both assuring and easy going at the same time. I guess he didn't need conviction of tone to get his point across. "She probably just wants to apologize and make sure-" Sweetie started to reason. It devolved into a cute squeak as I curled a bit and pulled her against me, closing my eyes. I heard Apple Bloom giggle lightly, but nopony said anything for a good thirty seconds. "I know," I finally admitted, followed by, "It's more a sense of nervousness I get around others. Them laughing at me because I looked stupid was just part of it." It was fine if there was something constructive or involving problem solving for me to focus on, but purely social context absolutely terrified me. It was exceptionally weird because nowhere in my recollection of my original self did he have the same problem. Was this issue purely mine, then? Spike made a light clicking noise and then a humming sound. "So, you have a phobia for crowds, but only when a lot of focus is aimed at you?" he suggested. Phobia. Well, that was actually remarkably accurate. Frowning, I finally nodded gently while tracing a hoof along Sweetie's back absently. She cooed, and I smiled, taking notice and brushing a hoof along her cheek as she pushed her muzzle into my fur. "What's ah phobia?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head towards me curiously. Hmm, that was harder to explain. "It's like a really, really bad fear of something that you can't always explain why. Most of the time you can't control it, and it can get so bad that it practically paralyzes you," I answered after a moment's consideration. Scootaloo perked up at that. "Oh, so that's why you ran away! You got embarrassed, but you were also scared?" "Sort of, yeah. I was disgusted with myself and afraid of what they were thinking of me, so I had to escape," I elaborated, frowning as I considered it. I felt like I had to impress them. It felt like I was being judged for it all, honestly. Maybe those articles had affected me more than I thought? It felt like I needed to assure everypony that they had been wrong, in order to defend myself. The cart slowed a little, and I glanced towards the front panel, but nothing seemed different. I did hear hoofsteps starting to approach behind us, and wished Big Mac would move faster. That would probably be suspicious, though. I was really surprised when he spoke up again instead. "Ya need ta tell Carrot that. She ain't one ta judge ya, an' probably just got tickled by how it looked, is all. Don't mean she thinks less o' ya. She ain't one ta go lettin' ah problem she caused fester, either," he slowly warned. Ah, so she was the persistent type. Wonderful. Still, he was probably right. She'd been nothing but nice to me so far. "Carrot!" he called out suddenly a second later, making everypony in the wagon jump. Ah! No! Traitor! The hoofsteps caught up with the wagon rather rapidly, making a sharp turn as they'd been drifting off towards the camp square instead. "Oh, yeah, Mac? I'm still looking for Mender, so I can't be long," she warned, from right on the other side of the panel behind me. My breathing caught and I went rigid, listening carefully to every little sound. Sweetie's heart hammered against my chest as well, as she pulled herself a little closer. "Ah just wanted ta know why ya laughed at him like that. Ya tripped over things yerself, before," he asked rather calmly. Oh, he wasn't giving my position up. Why was he doing this for me, anyways? She sighed weakly and hesitated, momentarily falling silent before finally saying, "I didn't really laugh at him. It's just, well, how he flopped over like that. It just struck me as hilarious and I couldn't help it! He wasn't hurt or anything, and, well, okay, I just didn't think. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, and certainly don't think less of him for tripping, so don't even try to accuse me of that!" Her tone was rather defensive, which surprised me. She really did feel badly, then? "Nah. Ah knew that already. He just needed ta hear it fer himself," Big Mac assured. I wasn't really surprised at this point. Him being right helped in that regard. He seemed to almost know me better than I did, which said something about his wisdom. Smart and wise? Now that was a rare combination! Silence took over for a few seconds before Carrot finally questioned, "Wait, what? I thought you said-" Oops. My turn to defend him. "He said he didn't see where I went after I ran past him, which was true. He didn't turn and look. I'm sure he felt me enter the wagon, but he was, um, nice enough to talk to me about the situation while pretending I wasn't here," I corrected, lifting myself off Sweetie Belle's barrel and peeking up over the left side of the wagon, the tarp still covering my head like an exotic, oddly yellow hood. Carrot looked surprised more than anything as she shot her gaze up towards me. Written Script, who was following behind her and looking a little tired out, smirked, however and started chuckling. "Remind me never to try to pull a fast one on Big Mac," he muttered, sounding amused at the play on words the big stallion pulled off. He got a glare from his wife in return, instead. "Don't worry. If you ever forget, I'll buck you in the head a couple times to jog your memory," she warned. The scary part was, I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. If I recalled correctly, she took a really bad stance to anypony getting scammed. Oh, wait. Of course I recalled that correctly. She'd almost pummeled Snapshot for it in front of me. If Written Script was bothered by it, it didn't show. "Aww, but then who would you get to write the stories you so love?" he teased playfully, speeding up a little and catching up with her pace. She shifted from irritated to a playful scowl and stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh fine. A week on the couch instead, then," she appended. Was that really a penalty? Given my experiences so far, Equestrian couches were really, really comfy. Did they have an uncomfortable couch, then? Wait, what purpose did an uncomfortable couch serve? That seemed a bit counterintuitive. "That seems more a punishment for you, honestly," he pointed out, oddly wiggling his eyebrows at her. Wait, what did that expression mean? I'd never seen it used before, I suddenly realized. Carrot blushed and looked away from him before giving a weak shove to his right shoulder. He laughed as he stumbled slightly, and then stuck his own tongue out at her instead, mirroring her earlier gesture. That one I at least knew! Dinky Doo caught up to her parents at this point, but shifted a bit more to the right, approaching the wagon instead. "Um, don't mind them. They have weird fights sometimes," she whispered up at me. Weird? Snickering, I nodded down to her in understanding. Oddly, a weird fight sounded better than a normal one. Still, that left one thing I needed to do regardless. "Um, I'm sorry for running away, Carrot. I get self-conscious when I become the center of attention and everypony was laughing at me, so..." I managed to get out, trailing off towards the end. She lost her blush and turned, looking up at me instead while walking alongside the cart. For a moment, she just stared, eyes searching my face before a light smile played across her muzzle and she shook her head. "I'm sorry for laughing, again. You don't have anything to apologize for. We don't have a wagon or anything, and are all packed up already. Mind if we walk alongside for the way back?" she asked. "Isn't that more Big Mac's choice, him being the driver and all?" I reasoned, gesturing to the right at the stallion pulling the cart. Sweetie popped up to my right a moment later, hooking her forelegs over the cart wall as she peeked down at Carrot. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed suit on the other side of me, and I heard Spike smoothing the tarp out again behind somewhere. "Does that mean we're done hiding?" Sweetie chirped, smiling down at the recently spotted Dinky below her. Carrot Top giggled at that and shook her head. "Mackey doesn't mind. I'm only asking because you have to be okay putting up with us for that long. And no, Mender better not hide from me anymore," she returned, giving me a playful wink that sent a chill up my spine. That mare was scary! "Well, when you put it like that, of course you can walk alongside," I muttered, averting my gaze slightly and shivering. Images of her breaking me in half over her shoulder suddenly came to mind. Her expression flattened with a frustrated glare towards me. "It was a joke! You really are too sensitive!" Blinking, I kept my eyes averted and sighed to myself. Yeah, she was probably right. Spike hopped up to Sweetie's right side just as the little filly leaned over and pushed her muzzle into my neck as I shrank down a bit. "Relax, Mender. Carrot is really nice and not meaning anything by it," she assured quietly. Looking over at her for a moment, I exhaled before nodding and slumping against the wall, lowering my head a little. "Yeah, I know. Carrot has been really nice to me so far. It's just, well, it hasn't been a very good vacation and I'm kinda out of it. Really tired, honestly," I admitted, feeling significantly worse than when I left. Well, fatigue-wise, anyway. My leg felt surprisingly better, which was a positive point I clung to. "Yeah! With all tha craziness goin' on, ya barely had time ta sleep properly. Ya should take tha next few days an' rest up," Apple Bloom suggested after a moment of silence. Hmm. Well, it was a couple days or so until Tia wanted to see us, so that was probably feasible at least. I wondered how Twilight was doing, as I more than likely would be with her again shortly. Was it a problem where I'd have to take care of her? If so, I might have to enlist Fluttershy's aid, at least for any meal preparations. Of course, Spike would be an amazing help there, too! "Yeah, you're probably right. I hope Twilight's feeling better as well. Otherwise, I might end up taking care of her instead," I said, releasing my thoughts out loud. Carrot frowned for a moment before looking back up at me again and asking, "Do you know if she’s okay? Did she write? It would suck to get sick during heat!" "Actually, I think it's the estrus causing it. I can't remember exactly what happened, but something about doing something she wasn't supposed to, and it hitting her hard? I think Luna said it was something to do with being in a herd now or something," I tried to relate, frowning as I realized the details were a bit fuzzy. I should have written it down in my database somewhere. Carrot blinked once, and then widened her eyes a little, her pupils shrinking down a bit. Wait, was she...? "Oh. Oh! Twilight, of all mares, is... Uh, slight change of plans, Script! We may want to stop as close as the Apples’ farmhouse and spend a night there, okay?" she suddenly suggested, turning to him instead. Uh oh. A fear reaction from the berserker probably wasn't a good sign. He gave her a confused glance, having redirected his attention down to Dinky Doo instead, but Carrot rapidly shook her head and added, "Remember our honeymoon? First three days?" Eh? His eyes widened a little and he flushed in the cheeks before looking away. "Uh, well, yeah. You got just a little on the crazy side," he muttered, swallowing uneasily. I suddenly had the urge to as well. Carrot nodded at that. "Yeah, well now Twilight has it. I'm sure you remember the doll incident," she reminded. Okay, now I definitely didn't want to know. "Ah! Yeah, just to be safe, we should definitely stay out of town tonight!" he suddenly agreed, mimicking her reaction when I told her. Aww, damn it! Okay, so my likelihood for living through the night just dropped a few dozen percent. But what form would my death take? What problem exactly were they talking about? Would I be blasted apart by an enraged unicorn? Or maybe my cells would tear apart at a molecular level from some sort of radiation she was admitting. The possibilities! Carrot turned back to me after they unanimously decided upon their course of action and warned, "Just be careful that Fluttershy didn't goof and think about you too much as well! You don't want both of them after a piece of you, if you know what I mean. She might not be as powerful as Twilight, but don't look her in the eyes if she's acting weird!" Piece of me?! Oh, oh hell. Did that mean they actually did have carnivorous phases or something during this time of year?! Why didn't any of the books say anything about this? Not being eaten seemed kinda important! "Um, this seems bad! What should I do?!" I asked, eyes widening. "Play dead! Mares in that condition have their senses rattled, and she might not notice!" Carrot advised. "Run! Run until you can't run anymore!" Written Script added, looking kind of like he'd rather be doing that right now instead. But, no! Those were conflicting suggestions! Which one was I supposed to do? Apple Bloom coughed next to me lightly, almost causing me to yelp and flail off the side of the wagon. "Uh, why don't ya just check on 'em first? Ah know Twi can be scary sometimes, but it feels kinda like yer overreactin'," she suggested calmly, peeking down at those two as she said it. Well, yeah. If I could tell if they were dangerous or not via observation, it might stop me from making an awkward faux pas if they were fine. "Yeah, I'll try checking on them first. I mean, how bad could it be?" I seriously questioned. Written Script averted his eyes, and Carrot Top smacked herself in the forehead. Oh, wait, yeah. Wasn't there something she'd mentioned about that whole tempting fate thing? Well, even if I didn't tempt fate, given my luck, I was probably screwed anyway. Smiling, I nodded down to them and dropped back down to the bed of the wagon to at least relax for my last few minutes in Equestria. * * * * * The crowd was maybe even a little bigger than when we'd left. Significantly more unruly, too, as I heard cheers and, scarily enough, wolf whistles as we pulled into the final stretch before Ponyville. I should have just broken off with Carrot and Script, as he insisted I call him, and hid at Sweet Apple Acres instead. Even logically knowing that the attention wasn't focused on me, my apprehension still spiked going into such a high-energy atmosphere. If they were all welding weapons and trying to kill us, I'd be the first to rally the charge. With them presenting hugs and affection, I was hiding behind the lip of the wagon. I guess I was a bit backwards like that. She wasn't in the crowd, but I hadn't expected her to be, of course. Crowds I already knew to not exactly be her thing. To my surprise, however, she was waiting nonetheless. We turned into the outskirts of Ponyville's southern entry and she flitted into the air, my eyes drawn to her beautiful yellow and pink coloring before the empathy link even kicked in. Okay, never mind. Worth it. Smiling, I watched Fluttershy dance upwards from her vantage point waiting on the roof of a nearby house. Her eyes were alive with energy and happiness as she fluttered lazily into an arc, and then drifted right towards our wagon far faster than I had seen her go before. I beamed up at her, hopping up onto the edge of the rim, suddenly not caring who saw me. "Yay, Fluttershy!" Apple Bloom squeaked out, but the yellow mare didn't slow. Uh oh. Heh. Seeing it coming, I braced and hopped up as she flew in, catching her and going over backwards, cushioning her landing as I hit the hay on my back. Smiling, I opened my eyes again to greet her when she simply ducked in and pushed her lips against mine instead. Okay, this was a much better greeting! Closing my eyes again, I pulled her tight and closer to me, the heat coming from her body burning across my fur as she actually wrapped her forelegs around my neck. Despite the wanton 'need' in her kiss, she didn't try to deepen it, and backed up again after six or seven seconds, her mane falling around me and framing her blushing, but very happy looking face. "Mender, I missed you so much! Oh, I never knew how, um, hard it would be to not just fly over to the cabins and pounce on you! Oh, oh my. Um, did I say that out loud? Oh, but it was horrible!" she squeaked, voice drowned out by the sounds of rapid talking, kissing, and pounces going on around us in other wagons and groups. Yikes. It sounded like she led the 'charge', even if by accident. My attention also shifted momentarily to my fellow wagon riders as well. Scootaloo was turned away from me, wings twitching awkwardly and her forelegs crossed, while both Sweetie and Apple Bloom were unabashedly watching, the little unicorn sporting a pronounced blush. Spike we had almost landed on, and he was recovering from his sideways dive to get out of the way, Tank latching onto his arm and trying to lift him to his feet again. Oops. Heh. Fluttershy utterly demanded all my attention, however, reclaiming it by settling down on top of me fully. I blushed and smiled up at her, shaking my head. "I missed you, too, Fluttershy. I'm sorry it was so tough, but I'm here now," I tried to assure, brushing the right side of her mane out of her face. Her smile widened and she leaned in to give me a softer kiss to the lips again before snuggling into my chest, burying her face in the crook of my neck and nuzzling upwards. Holding her tight, I rubbed up and down her lower back, under her fluttering wings before they too settled, wrapping around me. "Aww, ya'all are adorable, ya know?" Apple Bloom suggested, smirking at the two of us. Sweetie Belle watched still, with silent yet avid fascination playing across her features. Heh, I knew she was imagining joining us, lovely images dancing through her mind. If Fluttershy was bothered, she certainly didn't reveal it. "That was terrible! Um, I don't, well, I don't care what other ponies think! Next time I'm coming with you to the cabins. Um, I want to be with you and keep you company. Being apart for this long was horrible," she whispered, pushing her face a little harder into my chin. My blush extended, but she just kept going, adding, "I'm not going to let you out of my sight all day! No, I won't even leave your side all day!" There were no complaints. She smelled amazing, felt warm, and oozed affection with every little word she released. I just squeezed her a little tighter and nodded, kissing her forehead as she cooed and tucked her back legs up, turning sideways so she was in my lap. The soft fur of her thigh slid along, then settled awkwardly along more sensitive areas and I blushed even more furiously. She made no move to, well, move, however, so I just fought myself back under control and squeezed her shoulders gently. Yeah, control. Definitely important in a wagon full of young fillies, an estimated teenage dragon, and a potentially naive and unaware mare. Big Mac pressed on, however, despite the flurry of 'battle' around him. I heard his name shouted out in a familiar accent as we pulled into the slightly less busy town square. Fluttershy's ears perked up curiously, so I slid over to the side, careful to avoid almost flattening Spike again, and boosted us up to the edge of the wagon to peek over the front. Applejack grinned at us from the direction of her market stall, trotting quickly towards us. To my mild surprise, Rarity was hot on her tail, albeit moving at a slower, more refined pace. The orange mare plowed right into Big Mac as he slowed to a stop, pulling him into a strong hug. Rarity shifted to the flank, however, slipping past the reunited siblings and up to the corner I resided on with Fluttershy. "Mender, welcome home, Dear! I must say, you are looking significantly better than when you left even. Your leg looks wonderful, and I see your saddlebags are still in one piece! Why, whomever made them for you must be a master seamstress if it survived all I heard you went through," she cooed playfully, fluttering her eyes up at me. I gave her a knowing smirk as Fluttershy suddenly moved back a little. I shot her a curious glance until I saw her take up my left foreleg instead, examining it with a timid smile on her face. Ah, she must have forgotten. Heh. "It wasn't the most relaxing 'vacation' ever, but yes, you make one heck of a saddlebag set," I complimented back at Rarity, enjoying how she puffed up at every word. "Oh, we absolutely must get caught up. All of us! You and Big Mac must recount the amazing tale of the water rescue, and the apprehension of that unscrupulous mare in the forest! But first, there was a reason I was glad your saddlebags survived in one piece," she teased, winking to me as her horn lit up. Oh? Wait, how did she know about all that-? Rainbow, I suddenly realized, a split second later. How much had she been telling them? Uh oh. Did they already know about what happened with Sweetie, and Rainbow herself? I didn’t think the mare would rat herself out but… Two buttons floated into the air, complete with fastening clasps. My eyes widened as the pinks, blues, purples, and whites glittered in the sun, distracting me out of my sudden burst of paranoia. A star burst right next to a butterfly, with matching colors for each, were carved somehow out of one, solid crystal! No wonder she hadn't had it ready by the time she gave the set to me. Fluttershy gasped as she saw them, and then blushed while Rarity lined them up, presenting them against the back set of saddlebags. "I think they'll go lovely, don't you, Fluttershy?" she inquired, peeking over with an impish grin to the blushing mare. Fluttershy had both hooves covering her muzzle, as if afraid of shattering every window in the town square with a high-pitched squeak if she dare let her jaw open. Instead, she nodded furiously, earning a grin from Rarity. Smiling, I opened my mouth to thank the mare, but she shot me a sudden playful scowl and clamped my muzzle shut with a burst of telekinesis. Eh?! "Don't you even try, Mister! These are already part of the saddlebag set, and as such, you are not- I repeat, not- going to pay for them!" she adamantly warned. A heartbeat passed, and I started snickering, shifting her scowl to a confused head tilt instead. "Rarity, I wasn't going to offer to pay for them. Trust me, I know better than that with you now, when you say gift. You're more stubborn than AJ sometimes!" I corrected. The confusion shifted into a grin instead. Hearing her nickname, Applejack perked and looked past her brother, giving Rarity a scowl instead. "Her, more stubborn than me? Yeah right! That ain't ah challenge, is it?!" she suggested, puffing up a bit herself and stepping around Big Mac fully. Oh boy. Well, it was good to see her being, well, herself. Actually, looking closer, I noticed her eyes were a healthier color, with significantly less bags under them. Hopefully that meant she was sleeping at least a little better now, but I still held true to deciding to have a chat with her about it. Rarity didn't miss a beat, however, turning and flicking her mane to the side slightly. "Surely, you don't think you can compete with moi in generosity, do you? Let us not fight on this most wonderful of days, after all," she returned rather coyly. Well, that wasn't going to go over well. Sure enough, Applejack stomped her hoof down and bristled a little, eyes narrowing. "Oh, Ah can be real generous when Ah want ta be! Name yer terms, an' Ah'll show ya!" she boasted. Huh. As strangely amusing as this was, it seemed a little self-defeating at this point. I raised my hoof up, drawing both their attention at once before carefully pointing out, "Is it really 'generosity' if the only reason you two are doing whatever it is you were going to do, is to win the competition? Normally I wouldn't consider something truly 'generous' if it's only in light of being self-serving." Both mares gave me a blank look, before Applejack averted her eyes and scratched the side of her head lightly. Rarity blushed faintly and coughed, nodding towards me instead. "Okay, you're right, Dear. Forgive us. We got a bit carried away," she apologized. Snickering, I shook my head and held a hoof up to her. "No, it's fine. I was just trying to make sure you two didn't fight. Especially over something I-" Over a hundred pounds of pink fur landed on both of us a second later, flattening both Fluttershy and me down sideways onto the hay covering the wagon's bed. Spike gave out a high-pitched squeal as he flipped into the air, knocked straight out of the wagon by the pink blur. I watched his claws flex, and ribbons of green light shot out and snatched the side of the wagon as he went over, causing me to relax knowing he was okay. Instead, I turned and looked right into Pinkie's eyes as she grinned down at me. "Mender! I totally missed you! Ever since I tried to snuggle you and you got all flustered at me and turned off my connection and then I got sad and lonely in my room, I couldn't stop wondering how you were doing so I baked lots and lots of food up for all of us and now we're going to have a ‘The Stallions Are Back, Again!’ party! Tonight! You're invited. Like now. I'm inviting you. Oh, and Fluttershy, too, of course!" she started rapidly firing off, mouth going almost faster than I could see. Fluttershy let out an airy squeak, followed by, "C-Can't breathe!" Ah! Pinkie gasped in surprise as she started to get off me at the same time I tried to push her back a bit. Neither of our efforts worked, however, as she suddenly vanished in a cyan blur. Well then! Most of the gang was here now, anyway! "Pinkie! I told you to be gentle when they got back! This, is not, gentle!" Rainbow lectured, her forelegs wrapped around the pink one while she held her upside-down from the closest tree. As expected, her change in orientation didn't appear to bother Pinkie in the slightest, who just grinned up at Dash, who held her there by her hips. "Oooh, Dashie! If you wanted me in this position, you could have just asked!" she chirped, winking up at the pegasus for a moment before Rainbow squeaked and dropped her. Pinkie laughed hysterically all the way into the bush at the base of the tree, leaving Dash glaring and beet red up above. Heh, it was good to see nopony had changed while I was away, anyway! I was a little sad that my other favorite mare wasn't around, though. She either forgot, which was next to zero in probability, got busy, which was slightly more probable, or wasn't feeling well, which was likely. Helping the dazed Fluttershy back up to her hooves, I peeked over the side at Applejack and Rarity again. "Do either of you know how Twilight is doing? She doesn't appear to be here," I asked, causing Rarity to glance back my way and Applejack to give a start, tearing her eyes from the tree bound pegasus. "Oh, she's well under the weather, I fear. Hasn't come out of her library for days, and has kept it locked up tight. Applejack and I were just discussing going over there to have a talk with her when you arrived. So timely, I might add," Rarity pointed out, smiling gently up at me. Spike was already next to her instead, apparently having recovered from his spill with record speed with her around. Apple Bloom hopped down from the wagon and trotted over to her sister now that Applejack's attention was directed our way again. The orange mare smiled at her, then nodded to me in agreement. "Yer welcome ta come along. Ah imagine she might actually open tha door if yer there," the farm mare reasoned. This was a lot more level headed than Carrot had made it out to be, which was reassuring. I nodded to her, when Sweetie popped up next to me as well. "Yeah! If Twilight's feeling sick, we should all go over there and try to help her out," the little filly suggested sagely. True! Not to mention there was safety in numbers! For the most part. Except of course when dealing with a being powerful enough to flatten all of town square with a single thought. But I was trying to stay positive! Rarity smiled for a moment, then shifted to a sharp glare almost instantly. Eh?! Sweetie's eyes widened as she started to sink back below the lip of the wagon, but Rarity's blue aura shot around her far faster and hauled her skywards. "Ah! Mender, save me!" she squeaked, lashing out towards me with her forelegs. I caught one of them, allowing her to hang on as she swayed there, Rarity giving her a light tug. "We are going to have serious words, young miss! About how it is absolutely not anywhere near okay to poison the subjects of our affection! Ever!" Rarity suddenly announced, causing the little filly to squeak and accidentally let go of my leg. Her wail was rather pitiful as Rarity hauled her in and spilled her to the ground in front of her. My eyes widened fully as the white unicorn actually flicked her hoof back about a foot and paddled Sweetie across the rump! "Whoa!" Scootaloo muttered as all attention was instantly drawn to the yelping filly and her furious looking sister. My eyes remained wide as I stared at the scene and Applejack sat down again, apparently far too bewildered to continue her arguing, be it playful or not. "Uh, right. Anywho, do ya mind comin' with us ta visit Twilight, Mender? Ah think ya'll help her recover faster. Or at least open tha door fer us," the orange farm mare inquired, muttering the last part with her eyes averted. I honestly didn't think anything would cause Twilight to lock herself inside the library, but I suppose I was still somewhat new here. Glancing over towards Fluttershy for confirmation on her own desires, I noticed she appeared to be just finishing up examination of my foreleg. She gave me a warm smile, me realizing she suddenly became aware I was looking at her. She hadn't been paying attention? "Oh, it's looking much, much better, Mender. The coloring is nice, and your muscles are recovering alongside the fur. I think it's simply wonderful," she cooed, nodding twice to me and gently lowering my leg back to the floor of the wagon. Spike managed to tear his attention from Rarity now, given she was preoccupied with a rather harsh whispering to a very sullen looking Sweetie Belle, and gave us a questioning glance. "Uh, I think he meant to ask if you were gonna come talk to Twi with us," he pointed out, amazingly having apparently paid more attention than Fluttershy had to my conversation. To my surprise, the mare shrank against me a little bit, eyes dancing quickly as she swallowed shakily. "O-Oh! Um, well, if Mender wants to go talk to her, of course! When are we, uh, going to talk to her?" she squeaked out hesitantly. Okay, something was very off. Applejack frowned, and Rarity glanced up from her scolding to give her friend a questioning glance. I probably more resembled Rarity, but at least AJ seemed to know something, asking, "Is this about what happened tha other night?" Other night? The mare in question shrank further against me, burying her face in my barrel and nodding against my fur. I gave Applejack a questioning glance instead as I pulled the pegasus closer against me. "What happened?" Big Mac asked, a rather stern tone to his question as he sat down gently while still hooked up to the wagon. Applejack sighed, but shook her head a moment later, scratching idly at the dirt near her hooves. "Ah don't fully know. Just saw Fluttershy fleein' tha library right quick two nights ago. Normally Ah don't consider Twi one ta give her much fret, so Ah was ah mite concerned, honest, and went ta talk with Fluttershy," she explained in a quieter volume. That was more than a little strange. Turning back and looking down again, I didn't get my head all the way down before I felt Fluttershy gently nuzzle into my neck again. "Um, thank you for helping me, Applejack. I was, well, flustered after my visit with Twi," she whispered softly, sliding down my collarbone and letting her head rest against my chest. The sensation was interesting, as I felt her listening intently to my own heartbeat. It was relaxing, and then I realized it wasn't me that was relaxing while listening to it, but her. "Aw, shucks, Sugarcube. Ya know Ah'd do ah heck of ah lot more fer ya, if ya wanted," the country mare offered, smiling honestly towards her. Rarity nodded in agreement, but looked significantly perplexed still, apparently having momentarily forgotten about her issues with Sweetie. The little filly slowly slid away from her while she was distracted, covering her butt and fidgeting. "What happened, Dear? Surely you can tell us. We are your most sincere friends, and obviously won't spread anything you don't wish discussed," Rarity pointed out, managing a gentle smile to the pegasus. Fluttershy swallowed again, shivering slightly as I pulled her a little closer, the urge to let her bury herself completely inside of me surprising me as it popped into my head. Heh. Maybe it was from her? "If she doesn't want to talk about it yet, we shouldn't push her, Rarity," I reminded quietly, kissing the top of her forehead until I felt her relax again. "It's, um, okay. Thank you, Mender. I feel safer with you here now, and don't mind talking about it," Fluttershy interrupted, giving a light peck to my shoulder before sitting up a little more. I smiled and nodded to her, pushing assurance down the link as best I could. My peripheral vision picked up Sweetie also having slunk far enough away from Rarity to get to the side of the wagon and look up again. Carefully hiding my actions, I pumped the side of the wagon with my right elbow, magic shooting into it, down the wood, and forming a flat barrier under the little filly. At this point, she more than understood it, and tapped lightly on the line connecting it. Rarity sat down finally, giving Sweetie a light scowl but simply rolling her eyes as the little filly was lifted up the side of the wagon like riding an elevator, and deposited behind me again a few seconds later. I felt her instantly cling to my left side, and smiled a little wider as my tail wrapped past her back, pulling her a bit closer. Given the patience and time to compose herself, Fluttershy took a couple deep and relaxing breaths before nodding to herself and opening her eyes again. "Um, I knew Twilight was having problems with her heat this year because of being in a herd for the first time, so I tried to visit her every day to keep her company and her mind off Mender not being here," she finally started explaining, not surprising me in the least. Heh. Not only was it in-character for her, but my passive 'tracking' system for the links also showed that. More than once a day, if those were right. "Well, it was okay until two days ago. She was getting a bit worse each day, looking more frazzled and I didn't think she was, um, taking care of herself as much as usual," Fluttershy continued a moment later, shuddering before sighing and adding, "Well, she couldn't resist thinking about Mender, as I figured was the case. Um, I just didn't realize she was also thinking about, well, me. Oh dear..." About her? I gave Fluttershy a curious glance, but then noticed Applejack starting to blush lightly, and a grin forming on Rarity's muzzle. Okay, there must be implications I was missing, then. Figured. "She didn't, well, try anythin', did she?" Applejack questioned slowly a moment later, a light frown playing across her expression now. Try anything? Oh. Oh! Rainbow's almost relentless flirting and teasing came to mind almost instantly, and I shot the cyan pegasus a sudden, knowing glare. From her tree perch, Rainbow widened her eyes a bit and blushed, looking rapidly away from me as I knew she caught the transition. Slight pink caught my eye on the other side of me, however, and I looked left, only to come face to face with Pinkie instead. "Ah!" I yelped, hitting the side of the wagon and causing Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo to start, the little pegasus almost falling off the edge of the wagon because of it. "What's 'that' look about, Mister?! I'm onto you!" Pinkie warned, tone not entirely serious, but eyes still bugging out slightly as she stared at me intently. Oh hell! But how could she even tell?! Er, apart from her being Pinkie Pie, of course. "Pinkie! Let Fluttershy finish her tale an' git down 'ere!" Applejack demanded, whacking the dirt next to her with her left foreleg. Pinkie gave an exaggerated sulking motion before hopping clear over all four of us and landing almost precisely where the newly formed hoof prints were. Heh, they definitely hadn't changed in my week-long absence, which was assuring. Well, most of them. Twilight was worrying me a little. Fluttershy exhaled, gathering her wits again before shaking her head. "Um, no, not exactly. B-But she, um, p-propositioned me!" she squeaked out nervously. Proposition? For what? Wait... "Oh, how interesting! Twilight moves faster than I would have thought. And to suggest it with Fluttershy first, even!" Rarity chirped, sounding far more entertained than she probably ought to at this point, but I wasn't one to argue. Applejack rolled her eyes, however, shooting the pearly mare a skeptical glare. "Order o' Consumption o' Herds is ah thing of tha past, Rarity. Ya know nopony pays attention ta that stuff anymore," she pointed out dryly. Er, what? Okay, I really should have finished that chapter on herd dynamics in the hospital. Why hadn't I again? Rarity scoffed and rolled her eyes, however. "I know that, yes! It's simply, hmm. Interesting," she finally admitted, smiling politely again before glancing back to Fluttershy. Looking back to the mare as well, I suddenly got an extreme sense of dread, mere seconds before Rarity asked, "So, don't keep us in suspense, Dear! Did you maybe, how do I say, accept this offer?" Uh, wasn't that a bit private?! "Rarity!" Applejack shot back almost instantly, outright glaring at the unicorn now as Fluttershy shrank down against me. Actually, this really did affect me significantly, I realized. What did this mean for a herd, though? Fluttershy caught my stare a moment later, and sank even more, burying her head into my coat again as a sinking sense of almost, well, shame drifted down the link. Uh oh. "What?! I'm merely curious if we are to congratulate our friend or not," Rarity pointed out, smiling politely at the glaring mare. Congratulate? At my confusion, Fluttershy shrank a little further, shivering again. She felt almost sick now through the link before weakly sighing. "It, um, it's okay, Applejack. I... She, well... She was desperate and she really did need help and company, and..." Fluttershy whispered rapidly, hesitating and swallowing a moment later. I tilted my head to her as Rarity perked up, watching us intently. Sweetie tilted her head as well, but more between us than anything, seemingly deep in thought. "Um, no. That's not entirely, well, true. Oh my. This isn't how it was supposed to happen! I really did want to be in Twilight's herd for a long time now and when she, well, asked me that... It was what I’d dreamed about for so long! Plus, I really did want to help her, too! It, well, wouldn't I be a bad herdmate if I said no?" she squeaked out, blushing lightly and slamming her eyes shut again. Oh. That meant that Twilight and her had... Applejack's eyes widened significantly, blush forming fully across her cheeks, while her brother looked more surprised than anything, abandoning his easygoing default expression to shift into a frown instead. Rarity, however, beamed and clapped her hooves together lightly. "Well, let me be the first to congratulate you two! Forming a proper herd is a marvelous step indeed. It’s, well, a bit surprising, but how about we go inside to talk about it," the unicorn suggested, smiling hesitantly towards the shrinking mare before also looking over at me, a bit uneasily. Wait, what?! Pinkie's eyes got massive as she started to almost swell up a moment later. "Eeeeeeee! Oh my! Oh! This calls for an even bigger party! Twilight and Fluttershy are in a herd together now! Oh, I've gotta go get prepared!" she squeaked. My jaw dropped a little as she smashed me in the face with the revelation, but she shot off towards Sugarcube Corner before I could so much as blink. "Can't say I didn't see that coming," Rarity muttered, staring awkwardly after the pink bolt of lightning speeding off. My brain barely processed it, still reeling over fully realizing the exact happenings here. "I didn't," Rainbow muttered a second later, staring with a light frown towards Fluttershy instead of Pinkie. I didn't see any of this coming, and fully agreed with Rainbow. They made a herd, then? I didn't even know what to begin to think about the whole ordeal. It felt like my head was swimming in lukewarm mud, which was slowly getting colder. Applejack finally shut her jaw again and looked up with Rainbow with a somewhat sad expression, but Rarity recovered faster, smiling back at Fluttershy. "Well, I'm happy for you. Now all that's left is to get Mender into the herd, too. But did you really just leave Twilight there afterwards?" she asked, frowning slightly. Ah, that's right. Why did she run away then, if she'd gotten what she wanted? She hadn't been turned down or anything. I swallowed lightly, but pushed it down as fast as I could, everything inside me flattening into nothing again. Fluttershy shivered, still not looking back up at me. After almost thirty seconds, she lightly shook her head, responding with, "Um, I had to run away. It was wrong. I shouldn't have, um... We didn't even wait for..." More ice got added to the pit my mind sank into. I resisted shivering, feeling the sadness shifting down Fluttershy's link instead. No. No, I was the male. Even if I didn't understand how it worked for Ponies, I remembered my other culture. Fluttershy was hurting, and I was pretty sure I was still her male. As such, her hurting was bad, and I was supposed to fix that. I smashed the twisting inside of me down and away as hard as I could, feeling my chest empty out again. It felt like my body dropped a few degrees in temperature as I pulled my lips up into the best smile I could think of. "Well, I'm happy for you, Fluttershy. But you shouldn't have just left Twilight there. We should go see if she's okay," I suggested, trying to bring her mind off it. Getting her near her herdmate again should also cheer her up, right? Fluttershy gave a start at my voice suddenly, as did Sweetie, and both looked over at me. The teal pools met my gaze, and I just maintained my smile for her. Warm and assuring was what I needed to aim for. She just stared at me, a light shiver going through her as she swallowed again. No, this wouldn't do. I didn't know enough about Equestria's social behaviors to really help her, or properly fake a smile, even. I never knew enough, so I'd better just get her to somepony who did. Giving her a nod, I hopped up and downwards from the wagon, landing on my hooves next to Rarity. The mare nodded to me, agreeing with, "This is a very good idea, I agree. I'm... well, glad you’re being understanding about this. Let’s just, everypony get inside and we can talk about this more then." Her voice was slightly hesitant, but vaguely positive sounding still. She always did like staying stately. I maintained the smile and nodded towards her, shifting it to acknowledging instead as best I could. Her expression faltered a little and she tilted her head towards me. "Admittedly, this is a bit surprising to me, too. I thought you'd be a little more shocked than this, honestly," she continued, adding a tiny, forced sounding giggle after. Oh just shut up already, cow. She pretended like she knew everything there was about her friends, but she was just as blind as the rest. A flicker, and I snickered, shaking my head. "It was surprising, but I'm just happy for them. Still, we should check on Twilight. I'm a little worried about her," I insisted. This was taking too long. Fluttershy needed to cheer up and leave, well... No. I turned away from Rarity in time to hide the light spasm I felt run through my right eye, and a headache form. Perfect time to get a headache. Wonderful. I ignored Big Mac's frown as my vision tightened, focusing only on what was in front of me as I stood fully again and walked towards the library. "Uh, Mender...?" Applejack asked softly as I passed her. No. Fuck off, AJ. You weren't important at the moment. All that mattered was cheering up Fluttershy, right? Yeah, that was it. It had to be. Another twist, but I lowered my head and pushed it down hard, making sure not a thing slipped back down the link to any of them, clutching at my right temple with a forehoof. Bitches. All of them. The fake white one, the hateful and backstabbing orange one, the ignorant and annoying pink one, and the selfish blue one. I hated this. What was I even doing here still? I'd never fit in, and they'd never let me. Why was I just letting everypony walk all over me? Fluttershy and Twilight were all I cared about, and they were happy together. Isn't that ideal? My chest twisted in upon itself, and for just a moment, I felt my smile warp into a bent snarl instead. I should just leave, and let them all be at peace. Who cares about what their 'Princesses' wanted for me? I wasn't theirs to command! Fuck 'em... But... No, that wasn't... My eyes opened again, as I hadn't realized I closed them. Warped targeting locks flickered around in my vision, selecting nothing in particular as they danced back and forth, flashing yellow and red. Pixels drifted off them, and a distortion bled across my right eye as I shivered for a second there, exhaling heavily and widening my eyes as I saw my breath in the air. Crap. I couldn’t make them stop targeting random things, and forced the process closed to turn them off a moment later. Shivering again, I felt my body heat back up to normal a moment later. My vision snapped back to normal in an instant, and I twisted my smile up again. Why had I...? I wasn't angry at anything. This wasn't like me. This wasn't... "Careful, Mender," she whispered, her soft smirk twisting up in my mind, tooth sticking out of the corner of her lip and playing over the bottom one before she continued with, "This is their culture, and is totally normal for them. You wouldn't want them to think you were a crazy monster or anything, right?" I glared at her in my head, but for the first time, she actually had a point. This was 'normal' for them, and still far nicer than anything I had before. I should be thankful. Her smile shifted to a more normal one, and I felt her nod. "Good. Just stay calm, okay?" she reminded. Yes, everything was… how it was supposed to be. Perfect. I nodded to her, which probably looked like I nodded to myself. Turning around, I continued smiling towards Applejack and nodded, as if acknowledging her calling out my name. "Are you coming?" I asked her, gesturing my head towards the library again. I had the sudden urge to start snickering as it all struck me as incredibly funny. Her frown didn't shift in the slightest, but she gave me a tiny nod. That would have to do. With that, I turned again and silently headed for the library, listening to their slower hoofsteps following after.
Chapter 59For such a short distance, it was a long, achingly slow walk over to the library. Emotions waged violent war back and forth in my skull, with the twisting, cold sensation dominating my chest. Damn it. Part of me wanted to scream in violent fury, lashing out at everything even vaguely close to me until all was as broken as my chest felt. They had gone and specifically done the one thing I had left for the week in the first place for. They supposedly hadn't been 'ready' for sexual interactions yet, but then they turned around and rutted each other the moment I left! Guess that showed me where I stood with them. Probably screwed up the herd aspect, too, making me an unofficial 'third wheel' for who knows how long. Everything felt like it was done just to spite me. The other part of me acknowledged Fluttershy's sadness and realized she wasn't just using me to get at Twilight. It had probably been one of those 'heat of the moment' choices and maybe they both truly regretted it. I still came to the obvious realization, at least consciously, that I was far from the 'pivot point' of the herd. Heh. They made it without me, after all. You don't get much more non-essential than that. Part of me realized that me thinking otherwise, even subconsciously, was a bad thing. So that made this a good thing, considering. That logic kind of made my head hurt. Well, hurt more. Finally, a smaller, quieter part of me was glad it turned out this way. I wanted them both to be happy, and they most certainly were with each other. This was a natural part of their society. I was 'supposed' to just accept what the females wanted, and a certain sense of comfortable familiarity was involved. It felt 'safer' the less choices I was responsible for. I was less likely to screw up then. When not trying to repair, build, or destroy something, I was fairly hit or miss with making 'good' decisions. All three viewpoints battled fairly equally in my mind. Then I walked into the celery stand, smashing my muzzle into it and flailing to fix my trajectory. That worsened it, of course, and I drifted sideways into a pile of newspapers instead. Well, some things would never change. Blinking, I watched as several newspapers drifted around my fallen self, one landing on my face a moment later. Manehatten Monthly? "Hey, watch out yoo oaf! These ah’ sellin' bad enough without yoo knockin' a bunch over and gettin' ‘em dirty!" the mare next to the pile shouted at me in a rather strange accent. I winced and rubbed at my temple, then tried to pull myself to my hooves again. Applejack ran up and helped me to my hooves, frowning at the unicorn mare as she levitated her papers back into a neat pile. She had a minty coat, a little darker shade than what Lyra sported. Her mane was forest green instead, however, and quite a bit longer. I gave the mare a thankful nod, but was surprised when Applejack tossed out, "Ya should be more polite, Miss! It was an honest accident." "Gah. I don't need yoo whinin' at me, too! Ponies ah’ so rude here!" she spat out, glaring at Applejack. Another pony walked past at that point, sporting a rather calming purple coat and mulberry mane that matched her eyes. She squinted at the newspaper for a moment before the seller smiled and turned. "Ah! Would yoo like ta purchase one o' these fine papers?" she inquired, instantly turning on the cheery attitude. Joy. To my surprise, her potential customer frowned at the paper a moment later before glaring up at the mare. "Yer ah lyin' sack of hogwash, ya phony! Hogwash!" she managed to slur out, flushing lightly in the cheeks as she exhaled afterwards. Er, what? She hacked, and then spat at the unicorn mare's hooves before stomping off angrily. "See?! Ah've been gettin' that all day!" the now irate newspaper mare yelped, pointing after the departing mare with some sort of grapes and berries for a Cutie Mark, it looked like. That was weird. Glancing down at the newspaper, I read the main story's heading. Manehatten? Maybe that was a city in Equestria. Looking down further, I noticed the large print main headline read, "Huge Fiasco in Canterlot! Changeling Scare Makes Some Question Fancypants' Involvement!" Oh. Applejack snorted as well a moment later. "Manehatten, too?! That's 'cause it is ah load o' hogwash! Mender ain't no changelin'. He's ah hero ta this town, an' we don't take kindly ta slander," she pointed out, surprising me again. Honestly, I had no idea why I had called her backstabbing. My head hurt, though, and made it hard to think. "There ain't no bias here! Yoo're crazy! We're just reportin' what we saw, not takin' sides in it. This whole town is biased, ya know? Gah. Maybe this trip was a waste o' time," she groaned. Almost as big a waste of time as talking with her still was. Shaking my head, I just walked past the whiny mare and continued on my way to the library. It was barely past noon at this point and I already felt like crawling back into bed. Heh. Maybe I should just pick Sweetie instead and say screw it? The little filly in question outpaced all the others and was still hot on my hooves, which certainly showed loyalty where it mattered. Or misplaced obsession. I hadn't really decided yet. Of course, in the long run, did it matter? Staring at the wooden door for a moment, I hesitated finally. I hadn't seen Twilight for almost a full week now. She hadn't even bothered to come to the welcome back ceremony despite that fact. But I also knew she wasn't feeling well, which I could understand. Closing my eyes, I fought back the sudden, uncharacteristic irritation and short temper I found myself stuck with. Just calm down, Mender. The Nirru thing was right for once. Freaking out about things wasn't going to make things better. I should either just accept what happened and move on with the relationship, or not accept it and walk away. Getting pissed and bashing things apart wasn't the answer, no matter how I felt. My eyes softened as I opened them again. Who was I kidding? Like I was really going to 'walk away' at this point. It left a bad taste in my mouth and I sighed, looking up at the window again. The others caught up with me at that point, Rainbow looking uncharacteristically concerned instead. "Mender, are you okay? Well, I mean, I know you're not 'okay' really, but, uh, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked hesitantly. Crap. I had suppressed the link to them all as best I could, but I forgot about that 'something extra' she had linking to me, too. She knew I was an abysmal mess on the inside, I suddenly realized. Fluttershy gave a quiet whimper, and I sighed again, glancing over at the cyan mare and shaking my head. "Twilight's not feeling good, and that takes priority at the moment over pretty much everything else. We all want to help her, right? Plus, I think it would help if she and Fluttershy talked about things," I pointed out, carefully choosing my wording to avoid what I actually thought. As expected, she didn't look exactly pleased with my answer, but that much was irrelevant. Turning back towards the door, I stared at the wood for another second before extending a hoof out and knocking gently. Nothing happened. I waited for a good thirty seconds, my ears perking up and twitching lightly as I listened. "Huh. Maybe she's not home?" Rarity asked softly, looking a bit sad at the door. That was weird… Rainbow frowned as well and took to the air, zipping to the upstairs window and looking through. "Uh, she's not in her bedroom..." she reported a moment later. Bringing up the link controls again, I peeked at the GPS location of Twilight's signal. That was all I could access without a full link to the mare, but that was enough for now. "She's in the basement, the link says," I reported, glancing over at the tiny window at the base of the structure that led to there. "Being in the freezing basement all the time probably isn't helping," Rarity muttered, sounding a bit irritated now at her friend. Applejack trotted over to the window in the basement and knocked softly on it. I waited for a second before I saw the orange mare widen her eyes and reel back a bit, then swallow uneasily. "Uh oh. Uh, maybe we should just leave an' come back later?" she suggested, glancing back at us. "Uh, I don't like the sound of that," Spike admitted, earning a nod in agreement from me. Regardless, the door creaked open two seconds later, snapping everypony's attention back onto it in an instant. Oddly, as it slid open all the way, I noticed that there wasn't anypony actually there. Blinking, I peeked into the room from where I was at on the doorstep, not quite brave enough to actually go inside. The smell smashed into me in an instant, almost bowling me over with its potency as I suddenly coughed, gagging as it flooded my lungs. My blood riled up an instant later, pounding through me as my body reacted by itself. Holy hell! It was even worse than Sweetie Belle after the Heart's Desire! The pure amount of pheromones saturating the air actually made me sick to my stomach as my head swam, shooting way past ‘pleasant warmth’ and right into ‘oozing nausea’ territory. "Whoa! Ugh!" Rainbow gasped, reeling back at the same time as me, Spike starting to cough in-between us and plugging his nose. How the hell was I actually supposed to enter the building, even?! "Meeeeeender, you're back! Awwww, and Fluttershy! You came to seeeeeeee me again!" I suddenly heard Twilight sing out in a rather playful, if not slightly creepy voice. Eh?! My eyes widened as I watched Twilight slowly lower herself, upside-down, from the upper frame of the door. A large grin expanded across her muzzle, and her pupils had shrunk down to almost pinpoints as she regarded us both in particular. She didn't even seem to acknowledge any of the others. Further, stray tufts of hair stuck out of her coat in various places, and it didn't look like she'd combed her mane or tail all week. Uh, this was bad, right? "Uh oh," Fluttershy whispered, confirming my unspoken question a moment later. "Uh, calm down, Twi! Yer probably not feelin' too good, an' need ta take it easy," Applejack coaxed, plugging her nose as she stepped up onto the doorstep. "Mmm. I'm feeling amazing, especially now that my two favorite, sexiest ponies are back. I have such fuuuun things planned out! I made so many lovely potions for you, Mender! I’ll make this aaaall better!" she declared, snickering in a sort of crazed delight as her horn lit up, tentacles of purple and crimson energy snaking down from around her. Aww, hell. I tried to turn and hop away, but the tentacles snatched my back leg and I smashed my chin into the step instead, wincing as my vision got blasted into a haze. If Twilight noticed, she didn't seem to care and wrapped more tentacles around me, hauling me off the cement and up into the air as I flailed, leaving behind little strings of blood now. Damn it! I had to work on my armor reaction time… "T-Twilight, stop! Please, you don't want to, um, do this!" Fluttershy pleaded, slipping to my right and raising a hoof up to try to get her herd mate's attention. I got rotated around three or four times in midair before she decided to stick with 'upside-down' like herself, making me dizzy as the blood dripped from my nose and mouth. Being inside the building now, I couldn't think straight anyway as the smells soaked into me from all sides. Nose filter. I had to make a nose filter! Twilight purred, ignoring the light blue aura that grabbed me and futilely tried to haul me away from her. Rarity just wasn't strong enough to counter her magic. The purple mare grinned and nuzzled into my neck affectionately before tasting down my chest with licks and kisses, slowly going lower. I winced and tried to clear my mind, thinking of advanced rocketry functions and density lists as best I could. "Oh, I think I want this. Mmm. I'm never letting you go, Mender. Ah, and I promise I'll get better, Fluttershy, so please don't run away anymore," Twilight asked softly, momentary clarity in her eyes before they hazed over again and she grinned. Uh oh. "Twilight Sparkle! Stop this, right now!" Fluttershy demanded suddenly, snapping both of us out of the haze. Glancing towards her, I slipped away into solid teal, sucking away everything until I could barely breathe. I couldn't move, despite knowing the 'tentacles' had faded away instantly and dropped us both to the floor. I didn't even feel the impact as my eyes widened, almost feeling like they were swelling out of my skull as nothing but teal sank into my very being. Twin pools pulled me in and demanded I not move, listening intently to every suggestion given. What was...? I couldn't think long enough to yank myself away from them! Claws latched onto me and yanked me past Fluttershy before smacking me in the forehead. I winced, feeling my eyes pull back in as I gasped for air. What was that?! "Dude, don't look into Fluttershy's eyes right now! It's The Stare!" Spike warned as I glanced back towards the back view of the yellow mare. Twilight was lying on her back, totally rigid as her pupils expanded several fold, vision locked onto Fluttershy despite being upside-down. I instantly realized exactly what she was experiencing. "F-Fluttershy?" the unicorn managed to gasp out, surprising me that she managed enough willpower to even do that. "I'm ashamed of you, Twilight! You can't take advantage of anypony like that against their will! This isn't you, and you're not thinking clearly. I didn't want to use this, but you didn't leave me with a choice! Apologize to Mender right now!" Fluttershy flat out ordered, causing my jaw to drop. Wait, what?! Why, but, how was... Was this still Fluttershy?! A visible snap in Twilight's expression hit as her eyes started to get watery. Fluttershy had closed her eyes, I realized almost instantly. What was that ability, some sort of projected magical technique?! It even stopped Twilight! The lavender mare sniffed lightly, shaking her head as she just lay down instead. "I'm sorry, Mender. I just... I screwed up! I shouldn't have let you go to the cabins alone. I, um, I'm sorry to you as well, Fluttershy. I promise that I'll-" she started to whisper, looking down and away from us all. I didn't need a link with her to spot regret. A light burst of panic shot through Fluttershy, and she quickly interrupted. "No! Twilight, it wasn't that. You were, um... It was amazing," the pegasus quickly assured, a predictable blush expanding across her cheeks. Rainbow finally grinned at that admission, but I didn't really feel anything at all. Really, it was kind of immature to let this bother me. Rarity was right. I should be happy for them. My own feelings were just being selfish. Twilight gave Fluttershy a surprised stare before returning her blush. "Oh," the lavender mare muttered upon recovering. Heh, I knew that 'Oh' type. That lovely moment of dawning horror when you realized everything you had been acting on had been an incorrect assumption. That sensation I was intimately familiar with. "Oh, that means you were..." she added a moment later in a whisper, looking past Fluttershy and right at me instead. Eh? The yellow pegasus nodded, the gesturing so minute that I almost missed it. "We were wrong to. Mender isn't in, um..." She trailed off for a moment, and then Rarity finished rummaging around in her bag. Twilight let out a surprised squawk as a large blast of powder blue spray flew across her, whipping upwards into the air with a gesture of Rarity's horn. Eh?! She hummed pleasantly as she coated the entrance with the stuff, and then nodded to the bewildered Twilight. "The smells are potent, Dear. You simply must get this cleaned up. Yourself, too," she pointed out a moment later, steering the topic away from the subject in an instant. I stared at her, mildly surprised but realizing exactly what she was doing all the same. "B-But-" Twilight started, looking back towards me an instant later, a flurry of emotions dancing through her eyes so fast I could barely keep up with them all. Rarity coughed sharply, however, snapping a mask onto herself before shaking her head. Oddly, Spike was also wearing a mask and holding another large can of whatever that stuff was. Wait, the smell! It was gone! "No buts! Fluttershy, get Twilight upstairs and into a bath. Wash her thoroughly. This is no way to present yourself," the pearly unicorn ordered calmly, then looked over to the rest of us. "Spike has resistances, and can help me clean the loft and bedroom areas. Applejack and Rainbow, you're on the ground floor," the mare instructed. Applejack smiled lightly, her eyes getting a knowing look in them. I suddenly realized the unicorn hadn't fooled her even for an instant. Rainbow more looked towards me than Rarity, but hesitantly nodded a second later. That was a good question, though. "Where do you want me? Basement?" I inquired, deciding that was really the only floor nopony was cleaning yet. Rarity surprised me mildly by dramatically gasping, however. "Good heavens, no! She spent most of her time down there, and it's likely to be the worst! All of us shall storm its gates when we finish the rest of the library," she announced in her usual dramatic fashion, smirking afterwards. Heh. That made sense, but didn't answer my question. She dug back into her bag upon setting the can down, and also pulled out a few tissues. She shook her head a second later, probably guessing at my next question. "No, instead, I'd like you to go back to Fluttershy's cottage and wait for us to come and get you. I know for a fact that she keeps the place in pristine condition, even during this time of year," she added, using the tissues to gently clean my muzzle as well, the red striking a sharp contrast to her soft blue glows around them. "Oh Dear," Fluttershy whispered softly, eyes widening at Rarity's suggestion. "What?! Why are you sending just him away?!" Twilight asked, frowning instantly. That… that was a good question, but I think I understood. Sadly, Rarity pushed my jaw back up during her cleaning and stopped me from saying anything. The pearly frowned and glanced back towards her a moment later. Yeah, it was obvious, wasn’t it? To get me away from those two due to the, well, discomfort I was causing them. I was curious as to what her excuse was going to be, anyway. "You very well know that he is not only a pony, instead of a dragon, but also a stallion. He's the absolute most susceptible individual here to your smells, and you'd make him stay, no matter how sick he got?" Rarity inquired, a bit of a biting tone underlying in the question. Somehow, she also managed to keep up concentration enough to pull out another tissue and clean my nostrils as well, despite not looking in my direction. I was impressed. Regardless, yikes! She knew how to redirect things in her favor. Plus, if it weren’t for my nose filter and cyborg blood modifications, she'd be absolutely right. Of course, until I 'upgraded' the nose filter to include pheromones, I wasn't exactly 'immune' to them, instead functioning about on part with Spike. Twilight winced, looking down and away from us as she swallowed, definitely feeling that remark. Rarity sighed and softened her eyes, shaking her head towards the mare. "Relax, Twilight. You may talk to him again after cleaning yourself up, obviously. But not here. This is not a safe atmosphere for Mender," she added, resting her hoof lightly on Twilight's shoulder. Despite the manipulation, I realized she really was trying to help. Maybe I'd feel better with a bit of distance and time to think, too? Besides, I couldn't fault her for it. It was hard to argue with the results the mare could get. "Ah'm gonna drop by later, too, Mender. Big Mac wrote me an' said ya agreed ta tha projects. Plus, yer worryin' me ah bit," Applejack admitted gently, turning to me while Rarity was still assuring Twilight. I frowned, and then looked away from the bluntly honest mare, sighing. "If you want, of course. I'll be fine, Applejack," I tried to assure, nodding to her. She didn't look convinced, of course, but returned my nod. "Um, there's food in the kitchen, of course, if you get hungry! And you can wash up in my bathroom. Or sleep on my bed if you're tired. Uh, if you want to, anyway. Just, um, please try to make yourself at home," Fluttershy suddenly requested, turning around and fidgeting back and forth on her forelegs, an entirely different mare from the one who'd just ordered Twilight to apologize, I realized. I stared at her for a moment, noticing how downright flustered and panicked she looked. It was disheartening as much as it was adorable, and I smiled lightly to her, nodding. "You're okay, Fluttershy. Just make sure Twilight's okay for me, all right?" I requested. This wasn't how I thought things would go when I got here, but we didn't have a choice. She gave me a timid nod, relaxing a little, but her eyes still shimmered, a bit of wetness pooling in them. Swallowing, I turned away and started walking back into the town square. No, I couldn't look. I wouldn't want to leave if I saw any more of her. Damn it. Even if I was angry with them and let that side win, I still cared for both of them. Even if they treated me like dirt. I guess that said something about me, too. Either I was amazingly true to my feelings, or the biggest pansy Equestria had ever seen. Heh. "Ah! Where do you think you three are going?!" Rarity suddenly spoke up, giving me a start and knocking me out of my thoughts. Huh?! What was going on? Three sets of hoofsteps froze behind me in the same instant. "Uh, with Mender?" I heard Sweetie squeak out a moment later, sounding unsure. Oh. I stopped walking long enough to at least find out if I'd be alone or not. "No, you aren't, Sweetie. You've caused enough trouble for him and he deserves a break from that. You three can clean the kitchen up," Rarity corrected sternly, no room for debate from her tone, by the sounds of it. She wasn't that much trouble. At this point I was rather fond of the little filly. Although that was probably her hope all along. "Hey! What did we do?! We weren't the ones that tried to poison Mender," Scootaloo reminded, sounding miffed that she was being forced into cleaning as well. I resisted snickering. Apple Bloom sounded less amused, coughing lightly. "No way, Scootaloo! If Sweetie has ta clean, we're gonna help her. We're her friends," the little filly corrected. I heard a soft, pleased coo that sounded remarkably like Applejack an instant later, and smiled. Indeed. Good girl. "Ugh. Fine," Scootaloo relented, with no other struggle. I knew she knew that it was the right thing to do regardless. Hearing the three start back towards the library, surprisingly little argument from Sweetie, I pushed it all out of my head and walked into the town square, intentionally shifting my way into the crowd and out of sight. A dozen steps later, I stopped and exhaled, slumping on my legs and letting out a shiver. My body was fine, but my insides felt exhausted from the internal struggle. I realized I was angry, but felt like an idiot for it. Was I immature, or justified? Did it matter, even? Not really. All that mattered is what I did, not how I felt. I was selfish. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to be with them both. But I retained what I felt were my own morals. They told me that I shouldn't be selfish, and just be happy with what I already have. I didn't want to hurt either of them in the pursuit of my own wants and needs. Staring at the dirt, I momentarily noticed my forward proximity sensor flag a warning and sighed, looking up in time to get a newspaper pushed into my face. Huh? Raising an eyebrow, I glanced around it to find that mare from earlier holding it out with her magic, her horn softly glowing the same color as her eyes, a pale green. She frowned lightly and was looking away from me, not saying a word. Um, what exactly did she want? "Uh, do you need something, Miss?" I asked, somewhat confused as I pushed the newspaper backwards with a hoof. I'd already seen the front page, so if she wanted to show me something, she'd have to be more specific than that. "Jus' take it! Look, it's, well, on tha house, okay? Besides, yoo got it all dirty when ya tripped over it," she muttered, frowning a bit more and making a solid point in looking further away from me. I raised an eyebrow at the paper, noticing it was actually one of the clean ones that were in her sample area, sporting the same numbered corner in marker. She was... She was being nice to me, I realized. But she didn't want to admit that. I smiled lightly and walked past her, shifting my direction towards her shop instead. She scoffed for a moment until she realized I'd altered my course, and then ran after me. "W-Wait! Yoo ain't thinkin' o' goin' back ta my stand, ah’ ya?!" she demanded, catching up fairly easily with my right side. "It's fine. I'll be quiet. I just want to read the main story, if you don't mind, and figured I'd stay near your stand so you could make sure I wasn't stealing anything," I elaborated, wanting to see if the article was indeed unbiased. From the title, it sounded like it actually was and ponies were overreacting. Glancing back when she stopped, I noticed her giving me a confused stare, and smiled to her. She predictably scowled almost instantly and looked away, causing me to smile a little wider. Turning again, I headed back towards her shop, lying down next to one of the stacks of papers and sliding one off the shortest stack. "This one's free, ya dummy. Why didn't yoo want this one? I should charge ya fer that one instead," the strange unicorn muttered, walking up again and standing behind her multitude of piles, glaring at me. Well, I assumed she was glaring as my proximity sensor showed her looking at me, and that appeared to be her standard expression. Given that, I immediately pictured her grinning happily at me instead and tried not to burst into snickering. "That one's one of your samples. Don't you need to keep those? That's what the little number in the corner means, I'm guessing," I pointed out, not looking up from the front page. Generic reporting on what happened during the party in Canterlot, I noted so far. They didn't have the emphasis on Rarity rescuing anypony, or that Twilight was secretly molesting me to keep herself eternally young or anything. That was a good start. "Huh. Guess yoo ain't as dumb as I thought. Hum. Don't mistake that fer a compliment, though! Yer still a dummy," she insisted a moment later. I smiled to myself, nodding without looking up from the article. "Yup. Of course. I'm a complete and total idiot," I agreed. That was at least something I could honestly agree with. Now, if only I could figure out what part I thought was the stupid move. Where exactly had I gone wrong to start this terrible chain of events? To my surprise, they shifted right to reporting on me instead, however. They didn't mention any medical record, but did reveal that I had essentially just appeared in Equestria one day. They also honestly stated that some ponies accused me, and were under the suspicion that I was a Changeling. Then they just went on to report about the fiasco around that and the use of magical fliers to attempt to slander me and spread specific emotions. My eyes widened. They actually said that. The unicorn narrowed her eyes as she watched me. "I'm tellin' ya! They ain't biased!" she snapped preemptively. Well, yeah. Truth. "Yeah, they aren't biased," I agreed, nodding to myself as I closed the second page again, where I had been redirected to from the front. "No! I'm tellin' ya, they ain't... What?" she asked suddenly, shifting from irked looking to a blank expression instead. I simply nodded, setting the paper back down again on her pile. "You're right. The article isn't biased, now that I read it fully," I repeated. She stared at me with a deadpan expression still as I adjusted the pile to be neat and orderly before glancing around her little platform. She didn't have anyplace really for herself, the thing consisting of the bundles of newspapers lying on top of a folded apart box that I presumed she had used to carry them all. A tiny metal lockbox rested in the corner of it, open and containing six tiny, golden coins. Huh. At two bits apiece, that indicated she'd sold three papers. Yikes. My eyes spotted her marker, however. "Oh," she finally muttered, making me realize she was just as linguistically profound as myself. She followed up with "Uh?" as I snatched her marker with my mouth and clicked the cap off it with a flick of my tongue. This was all I could do, really. A few seconds later, I'd written my message across the front of the first sample paper. "Not Biased. -Mender" It was simple, of course, but hopefully ponies would believe it was actually me writing it. She stared blankly at the message, looking surprised. Ignoring her, I steeled my nerves and swallowed weakly, dropping the marker on top of the newly written message. My friends and I had caused her a few inconveniences, so it was only fair I do something for her. Still, I couldn’t believe I was going to do this… Turning, I shouted out at the top of my lungs, "This newspaper is actually really good, accurate reporting!" The mare's eyes bugged out as dozens upon dozens of ponies turned and looked at me all at the same time. I fought down the spike of panic that shot through me, and resisted the urge to run away suddenly. Swallowing the tight knot in my throat, I gestured down to the stacks of papers as at least two-dozen ponies approached. Oh hell. Why had I done that?! "Really, Mender? I saw them, but I guess I just assumed it was more garbage and slander," a stallion spoke up from the front of the crowd. My ears perked and rotated that way as I recognized the voice. Noteworthy gave me a friendly grin as he walked up, and I relaxed a little. "Yeah. Fancypants said he had locked down on the slander, plus this is actually from Manehatten, so I gave it a chance. The story is accurate and unbiased, giving quite a few details on the ongoing investigation," I reported to him, standing a little more upright. If I pretended I was talking only to him, it was easier. The entire crowd started talking all at once. Damn it! "Are they safe? There isn't any magic on them, right?" Rose asked to my right, edging out of the crowd and nudging the closest stack with her hoof at full extension. Heh. Instead of answering, I turned and walked up to the largest stack, my left foreleg and hoof rune flaring up with sky blue light. I could cast from anywhere on my body, but not only was it habit to use my left hoof, but the focus rune engraving pulled the magic even closer to the surface. I wanted to be as accurate as possible, after all! My hoof slid slowly down the stack as I did my best to ignore the dozens upon dozens of eyes on me. The magic danced out along the paper as thoroughly and intrusive as I could muster without literally setting them all on fire. Twenty seconds later, I reached the bottom of the pile, all of them glowing a faint blue now from my residual energy. Not a single thing. Before I literally saturated them, they had been totally devoid of energy. There was no way an enchantment could function and use no energy. It was against so many fundamental rules of physics that it made my head hurt to even consider it, and I was pretty sure Pinkie was on our side. That meant it was safe to assume that the organization operated within the bounds of physics. "They're totally clean. Just normal paper and ink. There's no paper that can do that naturally, right?" I asked, turning to look at Noteworthy. He grinned and shook his head. "Guess they're safe, then! Mind checking the other piles, too?" he requested politely, stepping aside as ponies started to move in, bits being produced. "Of course. Not going to risk anypony by not being thorough," I assured, having already planned on doing that anyway. I so didn't want a repeat of what happened last time! The minty green mare looked totally bewildered at this point as ponies came in from all sides of her, offering bits in exchange for the papers. I smiled at the scene for a second before slipping up and approaching the next pile. In all honesty, I was just happy I wasn't the focus of attention anymore. It took me a good five minutes, but every paper around the makeshift stand was glowing blue. I smiled at my work, having discovered all nine stacks to be totally spotless, as anticipated. It didn't look like Manehatten had anything to do with what happened that day. Three stacks were gone ten minutes later, with a bigger and bigger crowd moving in to see what the initial ponies were doing, and word started to spread without me needing to say a thing. The glowing papers rapidly became quite a hit, it seemed. I guessed my magic was still really weird for ponies. Unfortunately, I discovered a problem after I finished scanning the last one. The crowd was too thick for me to safely navigate out without some serious shoving. I decided to let my lazy side win instead, and simply lay down, reading one of the many papers from the closest pile, trying to learn more about my new home. The opportunity was there, after all. The two big races were coming up, of course, for the cities. The Running of the Leaves was more a holiday than an event, it would seem, with multiple towns each hosting their own race. While it did end up hauling quite a lot of leaves down, it would seem it was more ceremonial than anything. The Cloudy Sky Dash was, in comparison, more of a commercial event, then. The second they mentioned pegasi getting 'sponsored' to fly in it, I knew it took itself a little more seriously. Fancypants was hosting it as well, which interested me. Beyond that, it discussed the incoming patterns of weather that were 'ordered', various markets that were booming in the cities, new fashion trends from Manehatten and Canterlot, and popular celebrities and their lives. I was deeply amused at the image of Vinyl standing on top of a massive speaker system and holding her hoof up victoriously, tables and chairs being uprooted and flung away at the bottom of the picture from what I assumed to be pure vibration. Yikes! Reading the caption, it was from a fundraiser that I'd missed due to Estrus. Bigger cities really didn't shut down, it would seem. Flipping the page, I started to read about Cadance and Shining Armor, ruling in the newly revitalized Crystal Empire. The trade routes were re-established and new products flooded the markets under their rule, and nothing but praise was given, making me realize exactly how amazing their approval rating was. Idly, I wondered if Shining had finished moving all their stuff up there yet. Heh. The crowd started to thin out while I read about the crystal ponies. Peeking up again, I noticed several ponies lingering and chatting about the harsher winter coming up, and the newspaper seller looking very pleased towards me. Oh? She noticed me finally paying attention and hopped down from the platform, trotting over to me. "Okay, I was wrong about yoo. Although now I just gotta ask. What exactly do ya want?" she inquired, eyeing me with playful suspicion. Eh? Want? What did I want? That was a hard one. I thought for a moment, scratching my chin with my hoof before shrugging. "A nice job and income would be amazing. Hmm. Beyond that, just a normal life, but I doubt I'll be getting that for a while," I muttered idly. Kind of depressing, but I'd accepted that at this point. Once a soldier, always a soldier. It was more a lifestyle than a profession anyway. The answer apparently wasn't what she was looking for, if her blank stare meant anything. "Uh, I meant fer helpin' me so much? Um, yoo kinda saved my flank. If I had gone back with those sales, I probably would'a been canned real hard, like," she admitted, averting her eyes away from me and coughing lightly. Oh! Here I thought she was just being sociable. Well, no, I really didn't, but it was fun to pretend. I guess I really did like to avoid anything to do with being 'rewarded'. Maybe it was a psychological thing? That was a whole can of worms with me, though. I gave up around the 'conversing with corpses' part. "Oh, that. It was sort of my responsibility regardless to make sure the papers were safe. Putting out the good word afterwards was just the obvious thing to do. No need for ponies to be unnecessarily cautious if there's no need for it," I reasoned idly, trying to push it away from any potential reward again. It had been a nice distraction regardless. She exhaled quietly, but smiled. "I didn't recognize yoo before, but thank you, Mr. Moon Mender. I'm glad ta see that yoo really ah’ a good pony. Although I'd almost think ya were tryin' ta take advantage o' my post-heat hormones, ya know?" She added a wink on afterwards, and I rolled my eyes. At least she openly advertised that she was joking. "Right. No, I'm quite happy with..." I trailed off, losing my smile a second later. I'd almost said herd. We'd been using that term unofficially for a while, but I didn't realize before that there were 'formal' formations to them. I didn't have a herd. That was... She shifted to a frown and head tilt, but I rapidly shook my head. "I'm happy with my two fillyfriends. Really, I was just trying to be helpful," I finally continued. Happy. I wasn't happy, but close enough. I wasn't being tortured or shot at or blown up, so I had to be happy, right? I'd be a selfish idiot to not be, given the sheer difference in situation. Talk about taking things for granted! "I, um, know pain when I see it. Try ta take it easy, Mender. Yoo deserve ta be happy just as much, if not more than anypony else. If yoo need anythin', and find yerself in Manehatten, know yoo got ah friend," she assured, giving a soft smile before turning again and heading back to her platform. Looking down at the paper for a moment, I exhaled and nodded to nopony in particular. I didn't feel nearly as entitled as she claimed me to be. I rolled the paper up with magic and slipped it into my left saddlebag. Accessing the lower pouch, I used a tiny barrier to scoop out two bits and slide them across the platform to her. She perked and rotated at the sound, then scowled towards me, but I turned and headed towards Fluttershy's cabin before she could say anything. Helping somepony was a nice distraction, but I couldn't escape my own thoughts for very long, it would seem. That fact I at least welcomed. If anything, I think it made me even less a robot... I stopped walking a second later, blinking. Crap! I’d forgotten to get her name… * * * * * Fluttershy's cottage hadn't changed in the slightest since I'd last seen it. For her also being my fillyfriend, I suddenly realized I hadn't spent very much time here at all. Twilight really had sort of monopolized my time, at the very least. Well, no time like the present to even things out, I guessed. Assuming they were both still interested. I couldn't afford to not assume that at this point, and shook the stray thought from my head as I walked up the dirt path towards the cottage. Despite knowing it was empty, it felt full of life still. Birds sang around it, occupying many of the nearby trees, and the more timid natural wildlife seemed to thrive in this area. Further, the flora seemed to flourish, too, the trees looking healthier, the grass greener, and a plethora of flowers dotting the landscape in both natural and Fluttershy-designed clusters. It felt homey, and I warmed up a little inside despite my fur puffing out at the nippy air. To my surprise, absolutely nothing happened when I approached and entered her yard. The birds kept singing, squirrels still stocked up on nuts in the trees, and several rabbits hopped past, acting like I was just another shrub or rock, albeit a strangely colored and moving one. They must feel really safe here. Either that, or they were really conditioned towards ponies, who were largely peaceful and friendly in this town. Or Fluttershy told them about me and I had made it onto some sort of animal 'white list' or something. Huh. Deciding I was probably over-thinking things, I continued on, stopping twice for a flurry of squirrel movement, and another time as a kitten trotted past, momentarily rubbing my foreleg before moving on. Okay, yeah. I had a soft spot for cute things. Feeling a bit better, I finally reached the door to the cottage and slipped a forehoof up onto the handle. A burst of magic rotated it around, and the door gently slid open with a light creaking noise. Hmm. It needed oil. Watching it open, I also noticed its balance was a little off, and tossed up a mental note to fix that. Closing the door again, I froze as my ears rotated around towards her stairs. Singing drifted down them from above, alongside the sound of the shower running. Really bad singing, which was several keys out of tune. Edging closer to the stairs, I noticed that it was a masculine voice as well. Fluttershy had a stallion in her house? And he was using her shower?! I pushed conclusions out of my head as they pounced at me, and shuddered. No, maybe she had a brother or something? Besides, she liked Twilight as well, and definitely didn't seem the type for a one-night thing. Of course, I had also assumed that I was to be included in any herd developments as well, before today. No! Bad Mender. It was probably nothing to worry about! Rolling my eyes at my own thoughts, I straightened myself a bit and walked up the stairs. She probably had male family, too. She never talked about them before, so I couldn't assume she didn't. A burglar was also wildly unlikely to be using her shower, not to mention be in Ponyville in the first place. Actually, I just realized that Fluttershy's door had been totally unlocked. Huh. Eh, even if it was a burglar, I was probably the worst thing that could ever happen to him at this point. A royal guard was bad enough, but an eldritch abomination royal guard was even worse! Stretching out, I walked past the bathroom door and lay down on the couch facing it. No need to jump to conclusions. If it was family, I wanted to make a good impression, not be remembered as the coltfriend who attacked and bucked her brother Butterscotch through a wall, or something. That sounded like a pony name, right? The shower turned off a few minutes later, and my eyes flicked open again, focusing on the door. The singing sadly continued, followed by a scrubbing sound of what I assumed was a towel drying whomever it was off. Thirty seconds later, the door finally opened, and I lifted my head fully. What the hell was that?! Some sort of chimeric monster exited Fluttershy's bathroom. Its head looked sort of like a deformed pony, but it had a mismatched pair of horns sprouting from it, one being a deer antler and the other a goat horn. Actually, all of its body was like that. The arms appeared to be from some sort of large cat and equally big bird of prey. Its tail and right leg seemed to be lizard in nature, with the left leg cloven instead. To top off the weirdness, both a pegasus and bat wing grew from its back. My eyes widened as fast as its did, and it released a surprisingly high pitched scream, rapidly wrapping the towel around itself. Totally caught off guard, I mimicked its scream a heartbeat later, albeit lower in pitch. The cat paw made a snapping motion, and everything went black as something suddenly appeared over my head. My scanners discovered it was a paper bag a heartbeat later as I flipped backwards through the air, residual memory calculating where furniture was for my landing. Barrier blades flicked out of my skin, paper shreds drifted about as I hit and skidded across the floor, glaring at the creature. No attack had been launched after it tried to impede my vision. Despite evasive maneuvers not being needed, it still got distance between us, anyway. It had stopped screaming, and was looking at me with an oddly delighted expression now. Great. Of course, if it was some sort of genetic experiment or something, mental instability wasn't out of the question. "Ooooh! Finally, something interesting happens! Such a strange pony shows up out of nowhere, and nopony even tells me," he announced with a light pout, shifting back to a masculine voice and snapping again. The towel disappeared a moment later, him deciding he was apparently no longer modest. Yup, unstable... Further, he appeared to possess extremely fast spellcasting capacity. I couldn't afford to be discreet, my eyes shifting color and starting to glow as my scanners kicked in and started analyzing the energy fields around him. "Who are you and what are you doing in Fluttershy's cottage?!" I asked sharply, ignoring the gasp as he watched my eyes. The strange creature only grinned, however, standing up tall and proud. "Why, I could ask you the same thing! But opportunity presents itself, and it's been at least five hundred and sixty years since I've been 'scanned' by anything! Oh, and I was a statue then and couldn't even pose properly!" he lamented, holding the back of his cat paw to his forehead as he leaned backwards. Wait, what? He was aware I was scanning him? I didn't have time to contemplate that, sadly, as his short, bristly mane shifted into a long and oddly flowing one, despite there being no wind inside of the cottage obviously. Further, a two-piece swimsuit came out of nowhere onto him, and he started posing in rather seductive looking postures. Uh... Confusion was an understatement, but he spoke up a moment later with, "I'm the fabulous Discord, of course! I'm surprised you haven't heard of me, as I'm very good friends with Fluttershy and the other Elements of Harmony. Why, they changed my entire outlook!" he dramatically announced, flipping up to his feet again and gesturing upwards to the ceiling while in a kneeling posture. Okay, so he was kind of a weird combination of Rarity and Pinkie Pie, with a good lump of crazy mixed in. Wonderful! Wait, had I heard that name before? My mind flicked back to Twilight's 'appended' history lesson, considering the history books hadn't gotten updated to the newest events. She'd mentioned them reforming a 'Discord', who was basically a spirit of pure chaos. So this is what a 'draconequus' looked like. More Latin, I noted. Dragon horse? I guess it made sense. And hey, I was actually going into a situation knowing what it was about for once! "Oh, spirit of chaos, right?" I asked, relaxing and standing upright again. Twilight had put an emphasis on 'reformed', so I assumed that meant he was friendly and I didn't have to slice him into tiny ribbons, and toss the remains into subspace before detaching it and watching them float away into nothingness. Trespassing in Fluttershy's cottage was serious business, after all. He gave another gasp, and then smirked at me. "Why, you do know of me! Although this does appear to leave me at a disadvantage. You're still simply the strange pony invading my dear friend's house, after all," he reminded, gesturing towards me with the bird claw before standing more upright, back to a normal posture. I used the term 'normal' rather loosely with this one, though. "I'm not invading. Fluttershy knows I'm here, and Rarity was the one who sent me. I'm Moon Mender. Nice to meet you," I attempted to greet politely, raising my hoof up. Discord eyed it suspiciously for a moment before waddling over and giving it a shake. "So polite for somepony first meeting me! I'm used to colder welcomes, I guess," he admitted, giving a shiver and snapping a snowsuit onto himself. I raised an eyebrow before four hundred pounds of snow landed on top of me, flattening the entire upstairs with a heavy crash. Ow... Thankfully, this time I'd noticed a distortion effect to the energy grid just before the snow appeared! That gave my subdermal armor time to pop into place, and I stood up again through the snow, feeling significantly heavier with the added inner plating. "Uh, you just destroyed Fluttershy's bedroom!" I yelped, looking around at the damage before glaring back over at the snowman. Snowman? The distortion flicked in right on my left and I skidded out of the way, turning to face him as he re-appeared. "Oooh, good reflexes! But I'm hurt! I'd never damage any of Fluttershy's things, you know," he assured, snapping his fingers again. The snow was gone in an instant, and everything was exactly how it was before. Wait, what? There was no Alteration or Transmutation there, and he clearly snapped the couch into three pieces! How did he repair it without using any shifting magic?! It was almost like he was overwriting spacetime on a local level... He paused a second later, eyes suddenly starting to dance with a bit of energy, and an impish smile forming. Uh oh. "Ooooh, wait, you're 'the' Moon Mender? I have heard about you after all!" he cooed. Ugh. It had been a while since I heard somepony say my name like that. Canterlot, was it? Sadly, he continued talking regardless. "So you're Fluttershy's very, very special friend I hear so much about. Twilight, too?! Why, it's almost scandalous! I must ask..." I raised an eyebrow as he peeked left and right, as if checking to make sure we were still alone before hopping forwards a bit, comically large privacy screens appearing to each side of us. "How is she?" he asked in a quiet whisper, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. Er, what? Blinking, I felt a bit confused, but shook my head. "Uh, last I checked, fine. Well, a little sad, but she was hanging out with Twilight, so hopefully that will cheer her up," I reported. For somepony in her house, he didn't keep very good tabs on her condition, I decided. He gave me a raised eyebrow, instead. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but that will do nicely, and tells me a surprising amount, actually. Wait, sad?" he questioned, eyes narrowing a bit towards the end. My ears flattened back and I sighed, looking down towards my hooves again. "Yeah, I think she feels guilty about making a herd with Twilight without me," I elaborated quietly, really not wanting to remember all that so soon. "Ooooh, Fluttershy and Twilight?! Really?! Oooh, ho ho! I've so got to visit the little bookworm about this. In fact, I think I will!" he declared suddenly. What?! "Wait, they're-" I started to call out. I was cut off, however, as he disappeared in a flash of light, this time not reappearing... "-taking a bath..." I finished to nopony in particular, slapping my forehead with my right forehoof. Okay, that wasn't my fault. There was nothing I could do if the spirit of chaos was impulsive. Of course, I probably should have anticipated that, but eh. I'm sure it would be fine. Besides, if Twilight freaked out and nuked him with her magic, I wouldn't have to worry about it in the first place! As if on cue, Fluttershy's heart rate went through the roof, and I sighed. He really did it. Out of curiosity, I flipped on Fluttershy's audio feed. At first I thought it was broken until I identified the high-pitched squeak as her. "Discord?! What are you-" I heard Twilight start to shout. A dramatic gasp cut her off. "Why, it is true! You two are-" the crazy chimera started to loudly declare. He in turn was cut off by what sounded like several blasts of magic and a feminine scream. No, wait, that was his. Wincing, I turned the audio off again, deciding I'd rather not listen to his fate. Snickering again, I wandered into the bathroom myself a moment later. Actually, given that I hadn't been able to properly wash myself with soap and shampoo for a week, a shower didn't sound all that bad. Smiling, I started the water up as I shifted my bottle of shampoo out of subspace and onto the rim of Fluttershy's bathtub. Twilight had insisted I get my own soaps and whatnot two days after I had gotten out of the hospital for the second time. Or was it the third? Okay, yeah, third if you counted my first visit. Regardless, she declared that I needed a more 'masculine' scent to compliment my own natural smells. It was an awkward conversation, mostly due to her admitting to liking the way I smelled. Relaxing slightly, I slid the curtain over on the bathtub and flicked the shower on. The warm water running over my back felt amazing, and I just stood there letting it soak in. For the first time in over an hour, I just let the tension out of my muscles. They felt thick and tired, as if I'd been walking for days on them. The energy went out of me and I lowered myself to the floor of the tub, watching the water drip down around me. I was so tired, and I suddenly realized it wasn't entirely because my body was healing. No, it had done a fairly good job of that already. It just took so much effort suddenly to 'want' to move. Falling asleep for the better part of a week suddenly sounded really, really appetizing. I felt exhausted, and it seemed to hit me out of nowhere. I wished somepony else could go see Celestia in a few days, and deal with all this dimensional crap. Then I could just snooze in Fluttershy's shower and pretend to be a shower mat. I wouldn't even care if she stepped on me. Lying down felt too good, so I just scrubbed down my mane and tail with the shampoo from there, lazily blocking the water with a barrier when needed. The warm water hazed around me as I sighed wearily, rolling onto my side as I washed down my coat, using actual soap this time and feeling all the cleaner for it. Sadly, the fresher I felt, the more tired I got. By the time I was done scrubbing, it felt like I'd stayed up for three days straight. Was fatigue catching up with me, or was there a different reason for this? Admittedly, my mind was the most tired part of me, especially after the three-way mortal combat of emotions for the better part of an hour. My life was simpler when I just blew things up. It took a bit of effort, but I made a thin barrier up along the rim of the tub. It was so thin that it didn't actually stop anything as I slowly slipped up and through it. The filter kicked in properly, however, as it slowly slid along my fur, keeping all of the water on the other side and leaving me nice and dry. I smiled, then blinked and sighed as my fur shivered, then puffed up dramatically from the process. Damn it. I'd hoped it would avoid that effect. Oh well. At least it was faster. Stashing my cleaning supplies inside of me again, I trotted out into the bedroom and over to where I dropped all my stuff by the couch. It was kind of weird seeing two Aegis Artifacts just sort of lying there like discarded travel bags as I moved past them and hopped up on the couch. To hell with it. I hadn't caught up on my sleep yet anyway, and last night wasn't the greatest, so it was naptime. I crashed over sideways and snuggled into the cushions, enjoying how cozy it was. Minutes passed. Despite how tired I was, my mind just wouldn't turn itself off, bits of the last couple hours stuck on endless loop in my head. It was a pain not being able to decide how I even wanted to feel about everything, and the only thing I could uniformly agree to was that I didn't want to deal with it right now. Unfortunately, as feelings often go, my heart wasn't one to just give up on the issue. Finally, I just groaned and settled it for myself, pushing my face into the end of the couch. I didn't want to deal with it, so obviously the 'easiest' solution was the most practical. Just let them do whatever the hell they wanted and stop freaking out over it. I'd already established how absolutely terrible I was with anything involving social situations. Rarity, who was amazing at them, acted as if it were literally nothing, so maybe I should just follow her lead? I should have just done that from the start. I was the outsider to their relationships, so I should be the one to have to swallow my pride and adapt. Even if only subconsciously, they'd definitely told me of my place in things! Despite the decision actually making me feel worse, at least a decision had been made, and I whacked my face off the side cushion a couple of times before collapsing back onto my side, finally exhausted. To hell with it. I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to sleep. This time it didn't take long, and I let myself fall away backwards, a soft smirk forming in my mind. Just go away, world...
Chapter 60Sleep was a dark and empty thing. It felt like I was barely out when whispers stirred in my head, as if from far away. My ears twitched lightly and my eyes opened over the course of a couple seconds. Dim light greeted me, the room having darkened significantly from my last memory of it, nothing but black outside the window across from me. Crap. How long had I slept? Ever faithful, Clocky reported that it was quarter after twenty-two hundred hours, which honestly explained the relative darkness of the room. The only light came from the stairs leading down to the first floor, and I looked towards it curiously. Somepony had come home and turned on the lights, obviously, but was it Fluttershy or that crazy bastard, Discord? My hoof snagged something lightly as I moved it upwards, however, and I frowned, looking down at my chest. A soft, woven blanket had been laid over me with great care, covering every little inch of myself all the way up to the shoulders. A light smile played at my mouth. Fluttershy. The voices that had stirred me from my sleep popped up again suddenly, and my ears flicked back towards the stairs. "I just don't know. What are we going to do about her?" I heard asked in a soft, concerned voice. I'd recognize it at almost any distance now as Twilight's. She was visiting? Her bath must have gone well after Discord's disruption. There was a pregnant pause before a very timid sigh was returned. "Um, I don't know. Her heats are really bad, and she seems like she's better now and thinking clearly," Fluttershy suggested. Bad heats? What, were they talking about Rainbow? "Yeah. Her apology was really earnest sounding. I can tell she feels horrible and that it's all her fault. Really, I don't think that I, well, I don't really feel angry about it," Twi returned hesitantly, as a rare moment of stumbling over her words. Rainbow was apologizing to her? Did something happen? "Rarity told her to stop going over there. The race is really, really important for her this year, if you remember," Fluttershy pointed out. Oh, oh crap. Did Rainbow tell them about what happened?! Wait, she wasn't supposed to take all the blame for that! Twilight chuckled for a moment, however, then added, "Yeah. It sounds like it was a complete accident, plus the link is barely a tenth of the way completed. As it is now, I doubt it's any stronger than the disks are." Tenth? Wait, this was only ten percent of the link?! Holy hell! No wonder it was a huge deal for Ponies. I'd probably be able to feel almost everything Dash did if it were ten times as strong when completed! There was a long pause, and I relaxed against the cushion again. It didn't sound like Dash was in trouble, anyway. I guess it turned out okay after all. Still, Twilight was probably here to try to talk to me. There wasn't really any point of them coming back here if that weren't the case. I'd kind of figured Fluttershy would be returning by herself after everything that happened, but lying up here in the dark wouldn't change anything. Regardless of my awareness of that, it was remarkably hard to will myself to move. I didn't want to face them yet, or deal with this now. Frankly, I just kind of wanted to run and hide somewhere, and engage in a therapeutic bout of wailing and mauling things. I openly admitted I was childish in that regard. Sometimes I was tired of trying to be a grown up. A sigh from downstairs snapped me out of my irritated stupor. "What are we going to do about the herd, then?" Twilight asked softly. I froze. Eavesdropping was bad, and I was a bad pony, but I listened regardless. Not that I should really care, because if Hell existed, I most certainly already had a very special spot reserved just for me. At first, I wondered if Fluttershy hadn't fallen asleep or something, but finally I picked up the barely audible whine, magnifying my hearing a couple times. Could Twilight even hear that? "I don't know. It's just, um, nothing is going the way it should," the yellow mare finally whispered. A light groan sounded from Twilight, and I winced, toning my audio level down a bit again. "That you don't need to say twice. Did he say anything at all about it?" she asked, sounding tired. Well, I didn't feel so badly about eavesdropping now that she was grilling Fluttershy on me. I guess even 'reformed', she was a rather natural spy. "No," Fluttershy muttered, making it officially the saddest sound in the world. A moment later, she elaborated with, "He just said that he was happy for us and smiled. But his eyes looked... They looked so dead. Oh dear." A knot formed in my throat and I swallowed. She was highly empathic. I should have known she'd notice. Suddenly, I didn't want to go down there after all. I heard a chair adjust itself down there, and hoofsteps on wood for a moment before Twilight let out a light groan. "This is bad. Really bad. Gah. I was so stupid! Why did I send out the herd form?! We need to think of something, Fluttershy. Anything to fix this. Do you think Princess Celestia could do an official appeal for the time limit? Wait, that would require me to actually tell her," she started rapidly muttering. Herd form? Time limit? Suddenly, I took a shot in the dark and guessed there was more lovely news I wasn't aware of yet. I figured there'd be a form for it. Governments run on paperwork, after all. Time limits, however, were usually not in my favor. Like waiting for your planet to explode, as a good example. "T-Twilight, calm down. You're, um, panicking again. Please sit down, if it's okay with you," Fluttershy spoke up, a little louder to get over Twilight's rambling. There was a delay, then a sigh and I heard the chair scrape across the floor again. The unicorn was tense, like earlier. I could tell she'd shifted into complete panic at some point over the week given the state she let herself fall into, but I hadn't realized she could go right off the deep end like that. The image of her grinning face burned into my mind again and I shuddered. My throat knotted up again as I heard crying instead. At least 'anger' wasn't a viable argument anymore. Either of them crying tended to really beat the crap out of that approach. This was a soft sobbing instead, as if trying to hold itself back from tumbling into full out misery. "I'm scared, Fluttershy. We're both going to be lucky if we're not dumped, and after everything we've been through, I really... He's special to me. I don't want one foolish, compulsive decision in the middle of estrus to ruin that for both of us!" Twilight admitted. She gave up on composure when her voice died down and the crying picked up fully. No answer came, and I heard another chair slide out again. Pushing my face into the back of the couch, I sighed weakly. I just wanted the three of us to be happy together. In the long run, did it matter if I had to wait a little bit to get into the herd? Sure, I was sad that they made it without me, but it sounded like they really felt badly about it, too. Plus, seeing how Rainbow got, I really did understand what Estrus could do a bit better. Even if it didn't dictate their every action like it might have their distant ancestors, it certainly made choices a lot 'easier', as Rainbow would have said. They cared deeply for each other, so was it really a surprise? Then what bothered me? I wasn't as important as I'd subconsciously hoped, was a good part of it, I admitted. It felt like a kick to the stomach to fully 'think' about finally, but I guess I deserved that. Equestria was already different enough from my old dimension to give me plenty to be thankful for. I didn't need to be the most important pony to them, and it was just conceited at this point to even think that way. When did I start thinking I was that entitled? "Shhhh. It's okay, Twilight. Just let it out," I heard Fluttershy whisper weakly. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Slowly, I sat up on the couch and let the blanket slide off me. My left forehoof lifted up and I brushed it along the single braid descending from my bangs on that side. "We'll be okay. Mender's a nice stallion, and if we explain ourselves, I'm sure he'll, um, well, I hope he'll listen," she added after thirty seconds passed with just the softer crying. "I-I know. We have to try. Do you think he'll also be, um, angry he was left out? Oh no. We sent him to the cabins to avoid this!" Twilight suddenly murmured, and my ears flattened back. She was just going to work herself into a panic again. I heard Fluttershy try to say something, but Twilight just continued, totally drowning her out. "Oh no. No, no! I'm not safe yet! If I ask him to wait another day or so, though, after everything we have to already tell him, it's going to sound really, really bad!" Okay, yeah, time to stop this. Her rambling ground to a halt a second after my hooves touched down on the floor, my own hoofsteps probably easily heard through the wood. I heard her gasp a second later, and a chair slid out rapidly again as I walked towards the stairs. Oddly, I heard the jingle of the front door's knob a second later before a light thud resounded through the air. Uh... Wait, no, I think I knew what happened. Reaching the bottom of the stairs confirmed it with Twilight flattened on her stomach in front of the door, and Fluttershy on top of her. She'd tried to escape. Heh, it was actually almost cute. Fluttershy gave out a weak squeak as she saw me, and Twilight looked up with an expression of horror. "T-This isn't what it looks like!" Twilight shouted abruptly, rolling and pushing Fluttershy off her back with a light thud. Eh? I raised my eyebrow, sitting down at the base of the stairs. "You weren't trying to escape, then, and got tackled by Fluttershy?" I inquired curiously. I was mildly amused by her dumbfounded expression before she rapidly shook her head. "N-No! I mean, yes! I, well, uh..." she whined, looking flustered suddenly before just groaning and flopping over onto her stomach again. That feeling I could sympathize with. Sadly, this wasn't very conducive to just talking. Standing again, I walked towards both mares as Fluttershy managed to get to her hooves again, looking rapidly back and forth between us. Oddly, Twilight stood fully upright and lowered her head towards me, not saying anything. What was she expecting, judgment or something? "Of course she is. They both fucked up, and now are at your mercy. This is your chance to take control and really get what you want out of the relationship," was whispered into my ear, and I felt her smile. My eyes narrowed, and I shot a mental snarl her way, earning a snicker. Fluttershy's eyes widened, however, and I suddenly realized that I'd narrowed mine in reality, too. "Please don't be m-mad, Mender. Please? We, um, we're really sorry for what happened and we want to fix it, but we j-just don't know how..." she whispered, unease shifting into her voice as she stepped further forwards, past Twilight now. Brave for Fluttershy, but it's not like I was going to hurt her anyway. "I know. I was listening for a while up there. Being a cyborg gives me really good ears," I admitted quietly. The yellow mare looked stunned, but Twilight looked up at me again with a frown. Her eyes searched mine for a second, and I realized she wasn't mad at my eavesdropping, but surprised at what I said for some reason. I further noticed that she still had a light smell to her from before, but had cleaned herself up nicely. Her features softened as she looked at me, and I realized I really had missed her quite a bit. Her eyes widened as I leaned over, but I pushed my lips into hers regardless. Her momentary tension melted instantly as she pushed back a heartbeat later, slipping closer into my forelegs. Fluttershy let out a surprised squeak, and then I saw her slowly smile as I opened my eyes again. Twilight was flushed by the time I pulled away and shivered lightly, mildly surprising me by ducking forward again and pushing into my torso. "I missed you, Twilight. You don't need to run away. I'm not, well, angry at either of you," I muttered quietly. "Y-You aren't?" Fluttershy squeaked, shifting a bit closer to both of us before I reached out and pulled her against Twilight's side instead, hugging both of them. Much more conducive to talking! "No. I'm, well, sad that you two made the herd and left me out of it, and I don't know what to think about you two suddenly jumping your relationship up to a sexual one, but I'm not going to just give up on both of you," I tried to explain. Well, as far as I got myself, anyway. Both shifted lovely shades of pink at that last part. Twilight shook her head against me, however. "The heat, estrus, doesn't control us, per se, but it does make it a lot easier to, well, 'justify' certain courses of action that you might know as not the best choice in the long run. I take full blame for that. My inhibitions were already lowered, and I was the one that solicited Fluttershy," she explained, pushing her face further into my chest before finishing with, "That means that really, the whole herd thing is my fault, too. I was so stupid and sent the form in without thinking!" There was that form again. I pulled both of them a bit closer and sighed. "You're not stupid, Twilight. What exactly is this form, though?" I asked softly. Remembering her when I first opened the door still frightened me a bit. That was about as far from 'proper state of mind' as I'd imagine Twilight to get. Yeah, it didn't honestly surprise me that she did something potentially without thinking about the future consequences. I'd be a hypocrite if I held that against her. "It's, um, a form you fill out when you, well, officially 'consummate' a herd. Well, it's more tradition for the, uh, consummation part. But really, it's for legal things. Um, I know you're supposed to fill one out before getting married, too, or for a herd marriage," Fluttershy explained in a wonderfully awkward manner. So, sort of like getting engaged, but for potentially more than two ponies. Twilight fidgeted against me, and I frowned, not entirely sure of the specifics with just that description. Thankfully, the unicorn was there to elaborate. "She's right. It's both for legal herd founding, and a pre-marital contract. Sometimes both at once. Write the names down on the form, have everypony sign it, then mail it to Canterlot for filing," she added, sighing afterwards and sitting more upright to glance over at Fluttershy instead. Er, well that did indeed get the point across that they were legal contracts, anyway. The little yellow mare only blushed and shrank down a bit, however, so Twilight smiled and continued instead. "Consummation of the herd is just tradition. It used to dictate herd 'ordering' and establish who the 'leader' is, but that's mostly ignored nowadays. We both felt, well, pretty badly about it afterwards and signed it, and I was going to leave it in wait for when you got back home so you could be added but, uh..." Mostly? "It got sent out instead, accidentally. I understand," I finished for her, eyes softening a bit. Now what did that mean for our 'herd' then? Twilight swallowed and nodded, then, as if reading my mind, added, "Normally you can add members to the herd after it's formed, obviously. Happens all the time. But, uh, in order to cut down on, well, hasty decisions being made and causing a lot of paperwork in Canterlot, they implemented a thirty day wait period between 'changes' made to the herd. At least a pre-marital herd, anyway." Oh. So I was stuck as a 'third wheel' for a month. Fluttershy squeaked and shook her head rapidly, causing me to realize that the link was enabled again after I woke up, and functioning quite well at this distance. "No, Mender! We're going to treat you just like you're part of the herd anyway, even if we have to wait to make it official!" she yelped, pushing further into me as she did so. "Ah! Of course! It's only the 'official' herd. I mean, I could try to talk to Princess Celestia and see about waiving the wait time, as it was obviously an accident but, uh, that would mean I'd have to tell her about, well," Twilight hastily added, then shrank a bit, her blush coming back. Sighing, I shook my head towards her and relaxed, releasing both of them. Neither moved, however, to my surprise. Regardless, I assured, "It's okay. Waiting a month isn't honestly that big a deal. It's not a very long time, and it's only a piece of paper, right?" I wasn't quite so good at social things still, and this whole 'reassuring' thing was rather hard, I decided, as both looked at each other with an uneasy glance. Fluttershy shook her head lightly towards Twilight before turning back to me. "This still doesn't feel very good. We shouldn't have, um, done what we did regardless of the herd form. It, well, it was so selfish! It's not just Twilight's fault. I normally have really light, um, heats. I thought I was in control of myself! I should have stopped her. I should have said no and to wait." Her voice got quieter and quieter as she went on, and she shivered lightly after falling silent. Twilight frowned towards her and wrapped her forelegs around the yellow mare, pulling her into a gentle hug. That was how things normally worked, regardless, I realized. Maybe I should just start 'planning' on everything falling apart in the worst possible way? Then, if anything short of complete disaster happened, I'd be pleasantly surprised! There was no easy answer or way to relay my feelings. I didn't even fully understand them myself. Sliding sideways, I rested my left temple against the door and exhaled. Both mares turned to me instead for a moment before I slowly closed my eyes. A few breaths later, I felt two warm and furry sensations push into my chest and smiled weakly. "I just don't know. I'm, well, sad, yes. Originally I was a bit mad, too. I mean, I left partly because both of you weren't ready for anything sexual in the relationship yet. At first I was angry because it goes directly against that, and made it seem more like, well, 'not ready for anything sexual with me', I guess," I started to explain, my eyes cracking open to look at them. It felt good being honest, anyway. That feeling was smashed and I regretted saying it almost instantly as Fluttershy suddenly looked like she just watched a kitten run over by a landslide. Twilight swallowed and shook her head rapidly, her mouth slightly open but no words seeming to escape. After a moment of awkward silence and Fluttershy's eyes starting to water, I closed mine again and shook my head. "I know it's also because I'm male, and neither of you want to risk getting pregnant, too. It's different with me, I know. Now I see that and don't blame you two," I added, not sure how to feel and suddenly being distinctly aware of that tightening in my chest. I was okay with it. Why did it hurt so much? "W-We're not going to do anything like 'that' again until we're really ready this time, so, um, we really goofed up and made some really bad decis-" Twilight started to rapidly defend. A light scraping sound interrupted all three of us, and I opened my eyes again questioningly. Twilight looked momentarily confused as Fluttershy turned and looked into her kitchen. My eyes widened as a full-sized bathtub 'slid' out and peeked around the doorframe. They widened even further as eyes opened up on the rim, and a smirk shifted against the ceramics. What the hell?! "Oh ho ho! If only bathtubs could talk, for what Twilight's saw earlier!" the bathtub revealed in a familiar voice. Oh. Twilight shot him a glare in an instant, her horn lighting up as her eyes narrowed. He made a yelping noise and the entire bathtub poofed away as fast as it had arrived. Shape-shifting? No, he could probably appear as whatever he wanted. 'Spirit' seemed only partially correct, as he had more properties of some sort of quantum entity. It was a little disturbing how he could kind of show up anywhere and seemed to like eavesdropping... "T-That was just, um, snuggling and kissing! Besides, I'm still technically in heat, so, well, it doesn't count!" Twilight defended adamantly, her cheeks shifting a bright pink as Fluttershy shrank a little. Heh. As cute as they were when awkward like this, I didn't see much sense in it. "You two don't have to lie about it, or stop being with each other that way. There's nothing wrong with it," I pointed out idly, looking back and forth between the two of them. Fluttershy wasn't handling the conversation well at all, maintaining a full-face blush at this point. Regardless, she actually managed to retort, with the utmost politeness, of course. "Well, yes, but it is wrong. It's wrong because you're not a part of it," she elaborated. Ah. I had immediate mixed feelings due to the simultaneous revelation that they were willing to abstain and wait for me, and the other revelation that they'd rather abstain and wait rather than just make me part of it. Did they know something I didn't? Suddenly, I started wondering exactly how desirable I appeared to be. This time I blocked out the link as best I could. It didn't take a second for Fluttershy to shift to a frown, however. "Um, please don't hide your feelings, Mender. At least not from us. We care about you very much," she whispered gently, leaning in and nuzzling my right shoulder. It was amazing how fast she could make me feel like a total jerk. I swallowed and looked down instead. "I just... I don't want you two to not be as close or anything because of me. I'm okay with waiting for you two to want me to join in," I muttered, slapping back the selfish jerk inside of me. I valued them both for so much more than that. To say otherwise suddenly felt insulting to them. Twilight smiled gently, and then looked over to her herdmate instead. Eh? Fluttershy simply blushed and nodded timidly, however, earning a smirk back. "I'm not safe yet, unfortunately. My hormone reading was four point five this morning when I took it, and it needs to be under four for me to be completely infertile. It'll be fine by tomorrow afternoon or so," Twilight informed suddenly. I, er, what?! Why was she suddenly telling me this? Fluttershy turned a bit pinker before nodding. "I'm safe already. We really want to be comfortable with you, too, Mender. In a few days, maybe the three of us should, um, try to take steps towards that? If it's okay with both of you, of course!" She barely squeaked out the last part before shrinking down again. I smiled towards how adorable she was before a light twinge went through my mind. A few days? Wasn't I supposed to be remembering something? "That's a good idea, Fluttershy. We want you to be comfortable, too. Also, can you stay here tonight, Mender?" Twilight asked softly, glancing over at me. Huh? I wasn't going to sleep at the library tonight? Fluttershy's eyes expanded to maximum size in half a second flat, but Twilight held her hoof up quickly. "Just for tonight. I'm not fully out of estrus yet, and the, um, pheromones are still all over the library," she muttered, blushing profusely. Oh yeah. Fluttershy wasn't producing pheromones anymore. "Oh. Well, of course. I don't want Mender to, um, be uncomfortable," the shy pegasus murmured, tone shifting to more relaxed as she seemed to realize the reason for it as I did. Twilight lost a bit of the blush, eyes softening as she slowly shook her head. "Not just that. I'm also afraid of not being able to control myself again," she admitted, tone quieter now. I smiled gently at her, leaning forwards and giving a soft kiss to her forehead. Yeah, no matter what, I made the right choice. I didn't like being angry, especially not with Twilight or Fluttershy. Not much really needed to be said, my feelings being fairly self-explanatory. Fluttershy smiled and nodded to her, too, before resting her head on Twilight's shoulder. The lavender mare blushed, but pushed into us a little more. This was really all I needed. All I... Oh. A few days! I should probably tell them about that meeting with Tia. "I suddenly remembered, did Princess Celestia send anything to you two over the week?" I asked, looking between them. Fluttershy looked momentarily curious, but Twilight smiled and nodded. "Yeah, she said she sent you a letter and requested all of our presence in Canterlot in a day or so. I already told the girls," she assured, causing me to relax. I'd figured Tia had sent a letter to them, too, but it was better safe than sorry. At that, the yellow mare perked and nodded to me as well, relaxing once more. "Yeah, it's a bit sudden, but we know why. Um, I was going to also ask, if you don't mind... Do you think you could tell us about everything that happened during the week, if it's not too much trouble? We heard about a lot from Dash but, well..." Twilight snickered softly to herself and nodded. "We'd like to hear it in your own words. She has a tendency to, well, embellish things a bit, and not pay attention to other spots," she added, coughing lightly and looking away, causing Fluttershy to fuss nervously. Chuckling, I nodded to them. "Of course I can, but it might, well, take a little bit. It's a little drafty here. Why don't we use the couch upstairs?" I suggested, not really wanting to relay the entire story while sitting on my rump in front of the door to the cottage. Twilight smiled and nodded, while Fluttershy just smiled, a tiny shade of pink dancing over her cheeks. Deciding we were in agreement, I smiled to both and turned, heading up the stairs. It was really, really hard not to trip when I suddenly picked up on Fluttershy staring at my butt, via the link... * * * * * So many questions! It had taken over an hour and a half to relay all the events that had happened while I was at the cabins to both mares. It had taken another half an hour at least to get through all the extra questions they had afterwards. Between Fluttershy panicking over my getting injured and Sweetie hurting and poisoning herself, and Twilight's avid curiosity about how linking with Rainbow and healing her mental fatigue went, it had taken us long past midnight and into the new day. Twilight almost didn't seem to even care that Rainbow had partially linked with me. I hadn't expected that, but her focus seemed almost entirely on my healing her having worked, and the various enchantments I gave all of them. Fluttershy's only concern was that Rainbow hadn't forced me into anything apart from surprising me with the kiss, which was a no, thankfully. Both agreed that she'd probably be a lot more levelheaded now that heat was over, and that we all should talk about it in Canterlot after the meeting. It made sense. Fluttershy's eight second long yawn had called the meeting to a close, Twilight saying she should go get some sleep after finishing giggling towards the yellow pegasus. Only then had the epic battle begun. "No, really, it's okay, Mender. Um, the couch is perfectly comfy, and you had a really, really hard week, so take my bed!" Fluttershy offered again, blushing lightly while she patted the couch cushion, as if emphasizing how soft it was. I resisted her cuteness as best I could! "Fluttershy, I've slept on tons of couches since I got here, and find them perfectly comfortable. This is your house, so you deserve the bed, Silly," I protested, nudging my hoof in the direction of her extra soft, comfy looking bed a half dozen meters away. She rapidly shook her head, however, and I sighed. We'd been at this for ten minutes now, and weren't going to sleep tonight at all if we didn't settle it. "You leave me no choice, then. I'll have to resort to drastic measures," I warned, standing up fully as her eyes widened a bit. "Um, w-what are those, if you don't mind me asking?" she squeaked out, edging backwards slightly as she watched me approach. She let out a gasp, however, as my tentacles extended instead, and I smiled happily towards her. "Nooooooooooo!" she squeaked out in protest, flailing about as I carried her over to the bed in a bundle of soft, warm tendrils. Snickering, I set her gently down on the mattress and watched her pout up at me. Giving me a timid smile, she hesitated for a moment, starting to open her mouth again. My proximity sensor went off before she could say anything, however. Wait, what?! Something very pissed off, furry, and white bounded out of nowhere and put two padded feet right into the side of my face. With its whole body, it provided enough force to kick my head sideways, tipping me. Flailing, I yelped as gravity took over and I went off the side of the bed with a crash. "Angel!" I heard Fluttershy yelp from somewhere above me as my head spun, giving me a very good, if not slightly dizzy view of the ceiling. What was an 'Angel', and why did it hurt so much? Wait, I'd heard that name before. Given the double vision and developing headache sadly, recollection wasn't the easiest for me. Eh, what's another concussion at this point? There was a rapid thumping from the bed, but I heard a huff instead. "No, that was a very bad bunny! Mender is Mommy's very special somepony, and would never hurt me, no matter what you think you saw! You are not to attack him," Fluttershy scolded suddenly. Bunny? Oh! Yeah, she had a special pet bunny named Angel. I'd forgotten. Crawling up and onto my hooves again, I stood and propped my forelegs up onto the bed. A very pissed off looking rabbit stared at me, its ears flattened back as Fluttershy chewed him out. My eyes softened a bit and I just watched. "You're going to have to behave, Mister! Apologize to Mender!" Fluttershy demanded, still glaring at him. The little bunny's front legs crossed, and he abruptly looked away from me instead, closing his eyes. That was a no, I was going to guess. "Angel!" my fillyfriend protested. It was too late, however. The bunny shot off in an instant, bounding off the bed and running downstairs faster than Fluttershy could grab him. Sighing, I hopped up the rest of the way onto the bed and helped Fluttershy up from her face first flop upon missing the speedy bunny. "Phooey. Um, are you okay, Mender? I didn't think he'd even come up here tonight," she whispered, gaze shifting to me as she straightened out her mane. "Yeah. I got my armor up before I hit the floor. That was your pet, then?" I asked, reaching out and helping her straighten back some of her mane. Actually, it looked rather adorable a bit messy, too, but I might be biased there. She gave me a timid smile and nod, returning, "Yeah. Um, normally I don't see much of him during, well, estrus week. Bunnies go into theirs during our second one and he has a female friend... Um." Smiling, I nodded in understanding of her, releasing her from the need to say anything further. She relaxed and nodded back, looking pleased to not have to finish that statement. "Anyway, he must have, well, heard me yelp when you picked me up. He's been my friend for a long time, and sometimes he gets protective of me. Um, he didn't mean anything by it," she excused, frowning and looking down at her hooves. "I figured that was the reason. He's got quite a kick! I'm leaving my armor on next time around him," I muttered, snickering and earning a soft smile. "He'll warm up to you, don't worry. Um, he has to. I know I'm not giving you up," she added, voice dropping off as she blushed. Feeling my chest warm up a bit, I smiled and leaned over to her, ignoring her widening eyes. She gave a slight shiver as I pushed my lips into hers, but slowly slid closer against me a moment later, relaxing into my hug. I brushed her mane back and cupped the side of her face as she leaned back, having gone from a soft smile to a full out happy one instead. The timing was perfect. "Sure you don't want me using the couch?" I offered one last time, my smile lifting up into a smirk instead. As empathic as she was, she picked up on it instantly and snickered, shaking her head at my teasing. "You'd better not. Mmm. Twilight's been with you while sleeping before tons of times, so, uh, if you don't mind, maybe I could be with you tonight? We don't, well, have to do that dream sharing thing, but I kind of want to cuddle, if it's not too much trouble?" she asked quietly. "Anything you're comfortable with, Fluttershy," I assured, squeezing her gently against me as her smile came back and she nodded. "Um, okay, then! I'm going to go get ready and brush my teeth, okay? I think there's an extra brush in my cabinet, so could you go get that for yourself while I go first?" she offered, standing up again and hopping down off the bed. Oh! I'd not been able to brush my teeth during the entire cabins excursion. My toothbrush was in the library, that's right. Smiling, I nodded and hopped down on the other side. "Right! Uh, I'm allowed to use your toothpaste?" I inquired, watching her trot over to her bathroom. She gave me a skeptical glance back over her shoulder before smiling and nodding happily. "Of course, Silly. I'll be out in a few minutes!" she chirped, in a good mood suddenly. She was the silly one. She should know by now that she didn't have to even ask when it came to cuddles. I adored every inch of her, and feeling her warm fur against me and snuggling up to her while sleeping would be amazing! A surprising burst of giddiness hit me as I swayed back and forth, smiling happily. Okay, Mender, don't weird her out! Toothbrush! Surely it wouldn't be that hard to find. She only had three cabinets up here. Three minutes later, I was eating those words. Toothbrush… Toothbrush… Why was it so hard to find a stupid toothbrush for me?! Glaring, I shifted to the side and opened cabinet number three. At this point, I was considering just forming one with magic for tonight. I only needed it once! My ears perked up, listening to her quiet but adorable humming as she brushed her own teeth behind the carefully closed door. Smiling, I sighed contentedly, actually rather enjoying staying with her. She had a totally different dynamic to her apart from Twilight. I felt more at ease and relaxed with Fluttershy. Looking through the third cabinet like an ancient explorer might peek into a trap filled tomb, I noticed nothing even vaguely shaped like the one I’d had at the library. Damn it! Mane curler, combs, a couple animal bowls, a few bags of powder-looking stuff labeled with bars of soap on them… Getting frustrated, I dropped back down to all fours and looked a bit lower. Maybe she’d meant one of the drawers! Perking up, I smiled as I hopped back over to the larger cabinet that had contained her clothes for special occasions. Admittedly, that dress I saw in there was really pretty, and if I guessed right, I’d have to compliment Rarity on it later! Smiling, I opened the first drawer that was right under the cabinet main doors, and then blinked in mild confusion. Uh, what were these thingies? There was some sort of molded form placed into the bottom of the drawer, shaped indentations that were all filled up with strange objects. They were elongated and very multi-colored, in quite a variety of shapes and sizes. Some looked like carrots, while others kinda more like wiggly pencils of some sort. One was even colored like a carrot! I tilted my head, glancing over them while sliding the drawer out more. Had I stumbled upon some sort of Equestrian culture that I had yet been aware of? Tentatively, my left hoof extended down and poked the closest, pink one. It was easy enough to pick up the enchantment on it, and I perked up. Oh, they were some sort of specialized device, then! Drawing that one out of the mold, I looked it over more closely. It didn’t really have any smell to it, and looked thoroughly and meticulously cleaned. Maybe it had to do with her vet practices? Although why it wasn’t with the other tools downstairs, I didn’t know. Scanning the enchantment over, I found the ‘on’ nub at the base of it a moment later. It only confused me further after I activated it, however, and it started vibrating around on my hoof. What purpose was that supposed to serve? My eyes widened and I let out a startled squeak as it accidentally fell off the side of my hoof and landed on the floor, despite me trying to catch it again twice. I stared as it bounced around on the floor, its function suddenly dawning on me! Ooooooh, these were animal toys! Snickering to myself and watching it bounce around, I created a little walled off section for it with small barriers and just stared for a second. It was quite an energetic little thing, and I pictured a kitty or something bounding about after it. Looking back in the drawer, I stared at the different shapes and tried to guess what animals they were for. Maybe each different animal liked a different color? I tilted my head and slid the drawer out a little more, to its maximum, then widened my eyes at the massive toy in the back. It was oddly reddish in color along the majority of it with a more mottled brown spot thing going, and the base where the activator was appeared to be made of gemstones, both blue and white in color. I tilted my head towards it, immediately thinking of Rarity with the colors and gemstone usage. Trying not to laugh, I imagined the pearly unicorn bounding around after the thing, trying to pounce on it like a cat would. Okay, that was adorable. Rarity would probably find it undignified, however, so I decided to definitely not tell her about that one. Besides, it was huge! Actually, it was almost Big Mac sized, being probably two thirds of a foreleg in length. The mental images of ‘him’ pouncing at it weren’t as cute, being more just strange, and I shuddered, banishing the mental images. Actually, now that I looked at it, its color was very similar to his coat. Staring a little harder, I noticed it also wasn’t as smooth and uniform as the others, looking like it actually had veins running through it. Creepy! Eh, actually it had a lot of dust on it, so maybe Fluttershy thought it was creepy, too? Deciding it was for a meat eater or something, I slid the drawer a bit further closed to banish it from sight, and peeked at some of the others. Heh, these were kinda fun! A minute later, I had five of them bouncing around inside of the open-topped box I had formed, snickering in amusement as I watched their ‘battle’ progress. So far, the wiggly and floppy one with the prong-thingy at the base of it was winning due to sheer mass, but the tiny pink one was really dodgy! Debating who’d win in the end, I suddenly realized why these thingies weren’t down with the other tools. “Oh, these things are for playtime instead, so they’re up here,” I muttered, perking at my realization. Equestrian society was getting easier for me to grasp! “Oh? What’s for playtime?” I heard Fluttershy ask in her usual happy yet soft, sing-song voice. Oops! In my attempts to figure out what the victory conditions would be for the animal toys, I hadn’t heard the water stop in the bathroom. Fluttershy stepped out, rotating around with a small towel in her mouth before immediately freezing in place, dropping it when she saw what I was doing. Swallowing, I snickered sheepishly and nodded. “Oh, sorry. I found your animal toys and was having a ‘battle’ with them. Uh, I’ll put them back,” I apologized quickly, shrinking the box to gather them up again. Fluttershy’s jaw dangled loosely, the pink tint in her cheeks shifting to a full-blown red color that expanded over her entire face in an instant. “An-Animal t-to… Ah… ha…..aaa,” she whispered, it slowly turning into an airy squeak as her eyes rolled up. Mine widened at the same time as she sagged and simply fell over sideways. Ah! Standing, I rapidly rushed over to where she was, panicking! What had I done this time?! * * * * * "Fluttershy, it's natural. I don't think any less of you," I assured weakly, faint blush still on my cheeks after she finally managed to get me to understand what they actually were for. Of course, it was nowhere near the pronounced, full-faced blush she still sported. I kept fanning her with a thin barrier to cool her off regardless. She looked less than assured, and continued shivering and hiding most of her body under the blankets. Okay, so I felt like a total asshole. Keldarian females didn't have toys like that. I thought it was only a male thing! The only accessories I knew existed for that sort of thing were the, well, holes for males and specialized clothing for the females that 'really' liked to exercise their dominant status... "I, um, I don't use them very often a-at, uh, no! I barely used any of th-them! And the big one is Rarity's!" the shivering mare protested. Huh. I had guessed right after all. Uh, wait, why was it the same color as... No, never mind. There were some places even my exuberant curiosity refused to tread. New tactic! "Fluttershy, I kinda already knew you were with Twilight in a significantly more than friendly way. I didn't think that was strange, did I?" I pointed out quietly. Heartbreaking and traumatic, yes, but definitely not strange. Fluttershy peeked up at me again, her left ear popping out and showing one of the only non-pink tinted areas of her fur that was visible. "R-Really? You don't think I'm, well, w-weird?" she hesitantly stuttered out, making me want to haul her out and hug her tight. That probably wouldn't go over well, though. Eh, I was just happy Angel hadn't bound up here upon hearing her collapse and kick my face in again. Smiling through my flush, I nodded lightly, averting my eyes slightly. Regardless of what she thought, the revelation of the toys' existence was an interesting one, to say the least. I decided it was more the stallion in me thinking that, though, and pushed it down. Fluttershy frowned, however, and shrank back into her blankets. Crap. Figured she’d pick up on that. "P-Please be honest, Mender. Um, you can tell me what, well, what you really think," she spoke, followed by a weak whimper. My flushed tint probably got a little darker as her question pulled what I 'really' thought of it right back to the forefront. No, that would just freak her out more! "I'm telling the truth, Flut-" I started to reassure, looking back down at her again. I froze when I saw the look in her eyes, coupled with them starting to look wetter. Ack! "F-Fluttershy, I don't think you want to, um, hear about that. I promise I absolutely don't think that, well, you're weird or anything," I muttered, looking away from her again awkwardly. No, I couldn't keep looking into those eyes. Even when she wasn't doing that potent technique from earlier, it still tore me apart inside. She rapidly shook her head, coming a little more out of the blankets in my peripheral vision. "Please? I really do want to, um, hear," she asked, almost pleading. I was going to be lucky if I ended up in a comfortable enough bush outside to sleep in tonight. Well, here goes. "I, well, I didn't know females had toys for that sort of thing before now. Um, honestly, thinking about you, uh, using them... Well, it's actually kind of hot," I admitted. A long second passed and the anticipated shriek of despair and assault didn't come. Had it happened so fast I hadn't realized I was dead yet? Deciding that was unlikely, I peeked back over at Fluttershy to see, awareness extending heavily towards my own flushed cheeks with the movement of my head. She stared at me in shock, her jaw hanging slightly open. Honestly, I couldn't tell if she was blushing any more than before or not, which was a little awkward in and of itself. My eyebrow rose slightly, however, as I saw two little bumps start to rise up a little in the blanket over her back. Was she...? The second she saw me look, she shrank down again, this time the blush flaring up even more as she squeaked, shaking under the blanket like a dog until it was all wrapped around her, significantly tighter than before. "Ah, I'm sorry! Um, that wasn't... I didn't expect that. It's really, um, h-hot?" I barely heard her ask as she dropped yet again in volume, and the blankets had been added to the barriers between my ears and her mouth. "Well, yeah. I'm really, really attracted to you. Um, in every way, Fluttershy. Thinking of you enjoying yourself is kinda nice," I reiterated, shrinking down a little into a lying position as I felt an awkward stirring. Could we please just go to bed?! I'd committed enough faux pas today! Oddly, she just watched me from under the blankets for a moment before the shivering stopped. I gazed back, noticing a timid lifting of the corners of her mouth. She was happy? I stayed perfectly still as she slowly slipped out of the blanket a little more and leaned over, pecking me lightly on the nose. She was still blushing enough to make me a tad concerned for her circulation, but she finally wore a tiny smile, which was an improvement in my opinion. "Thank you, Mender. Um, I wish I was as b-brave as you. I'm really, uh... What I mean is, you're really handsome and, well... Oh, I can't seem to say it!" she whined, clamping her eyes closed in obvious frustration. Well, it leaked down the link easily enough, anyways. Slipping forwards, I lay next to her instead, but on top of the blankets, of course. She gave me a surprised glance, but gently started to widen her smile a little more as I returned her nose-kiss. "Relax, Fluttershy. I promise. Absolutely promise that you can talk to me about anything you wish. I'm not going to judge you, or even think less of you in the slightest. I just, um, I want to help you, Fluttershy," I explained, resting my head on the mattress next to her. Her eyes shimmered again and she nodded twice, switching back to a shy smile before nuzzling against the side of my muzzle. "Thank you, Mender. I, um, understand. To be honest then, I... I'm attracted to you like that, too! At first I was super worried about still having the estrus hormones in my body and having my smells bother you. I check at least three times a day to see what my, um, level thingy is so I know how often I need to, well, wash up. But you actually staying here is..." she started rapidly explaining, and then froze for a moment, shivering again. Everything she'd said so far was perfectly understandable. Out of all of my friends, her home had the most 'occupants' apart from her, so she was undoubtedly more self-conscious of her pheromones. "It's scary. I want you to be happy and, um, you finding those made me think I screwed up and... I thought you'd think I was a weirdo or something, and you'd never want to come here again," she finally admitted, her ears lowering a bit as she looked down and away from me. Leaning in, I kissed her forehead instead before squeezing her with my left foreleg through the blanket. She relaxed against me a second later, and I shook my head. "Well, you didn't screw up, and I'm very, very happy to be here, Fluttershy. I was already considering talking to Twilight about that, actually," I admitted, honestly. This was as good a time as any to bring it up, I guessed. Her ears perked up and she gave me a curious glance, of course, her flush returning to normal Fluttershy-levels, finally. Elaborating, I explained, "Oh, I just thought that once we actually became a proper herd, maybe it would be a good idea to take turns sleeping at either the library or the cottage? That way you could keep a close eye on your animals and she could keep the library updated, but the three of us could get to snuggle each night." Her teal eyes were dancing by the time I finished, and she rapidly nodded, looking significantly happier at that idea. "Oh, yes! Very much, yes. I'd be delighted! Until we can figure out a more permanent arrangement, that's a really good compromise," she agreed. I could always tell her comfort level without even needing her link, based off how loud her voice was, I noticed. Kissing her on the lips this time, I felt her shiver once, then push into me a bit more. I smiled but kept it chaste, leaning back a moment later and nodding. "I'm glad you like it, and also happy you're not getting after yourself anymore about earlier. It's normal, and not only do I think you're perfectly fine in doing so, I also think it's rather appealing, so relax about it, okay?" She was still a little pink, but her smile stayed this time as she nodded. I resisted the urge to pounce her adorable self and kiss her more, and instead returned her nod, a pleased smile on my muzzle. I'd actually managed to help rectify a social situation! By myself! "Okay, well, you get ready for bed, okay? I'm going to go brush my teeth, and then I'll be back," I said, standing up again now that I was assured my body was a bit more relaxed than before. Fluttershy gave me another happy nod before sinking into her blankets more, giving a content sigh. It was enough for me that she was happy, and I hopped off my side of the bed before trotting around and over to the bathroom, giving a quick glance to the special drawer again as I passed by it. Maybe, just maybe, once we finally got comfortable with each other a ways down the road, she'd show me how they worked. Heh, that was undoubtedly a long ways off, but maybe I'd ask her one day. Snickering silently in my mind, I went into the bathroom, the image of a toothbrush forming from my magic...
Chapter 61I don't know how she was able to do it, but Fluttershy held her link open specifically for me. It was a subconscious thing, it seemed, with me being lightly tugged through an area of her mind that appeared fully dedicated to me. I watched memories drifting past like faint video screens as I walked, surrounded by the haze of emotions danced around me. Her dream was happy, I knew that much. Further, it shocked me to realize that she devoted this much to me. A light flush drifted into my face as I continued towards the distant sunlight, through the mists and floating memories. Fluttershy was beautiful, and I had to fully admit that as I stepped out onto the grass. The pleasant smell of a warm summer day greeted me, with flowery fragrances both soft and vivid, and the smell of the pine she was under. Fluttershy lay happily on her side facing me, in the shade of a large tree, with her long mane drifting out so carefree, spread over the grass. A deer lay nearby, and she was surrounded by at least a dozen bunnies, one of whom was Angel. Predictably, none of the animals even looked concerned with my presence as I walked closer. Something beyond my senses must have told her of my approach, and her eyes opened up as I got closer. Shifting slightly, she gave me a soft smile and stretched her legs out languidly. Surprise shot through me, even though I knew this was a dream, as my eyes fell upon her swollen tummy as her leg no longer partially obscured it. Was this what a pregnant mare looked like? It was curious as to why she was dreaming about being pregnant. There was no need to say anything. The sky brightened around us, emphasizing the emotions I could already see in her eyes. Reaching out with a hoof, she pulled me gently down next to her, folding her tummy and chest against me as our legs entwined. This was a dream I could definitely get used to! Why was she pregnant, though? I knew she would be a good mother, and guessed that my help before she fell asleep spurred slightly more sexual thoughts, despite not going quite that far. My eyes widened a little more as I felt something move inside of her as she settled in. Was this… Was she dreaming that this was mine? Fluttershy gave me a little kiss, then tucked her head under my chin and simply rested against me. Even the bunnies relocated around me, a warm sensation of understanding coming to mind. Yeah, Fluttershy was my mate, and I was 'supposed' to be as close to her as possible. That was the way of things. Relaxing, both of us just let things drift around us... * * * * * My eyes stirred and opened after I felt Fluttershy drift out of the hazy dream world, pulling myself alongside her. The light sound of birds chirping and soft morning sun greeted me, as I stretched along my back, yawning. Both Fluttershy and her sheets smelled really good, and I turned to my right, wrapping my left foreleg around the soft mare next to me. She let out a tired murmur, before rolling and pushing her forehead into my chest, her right wing draping over me. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I felt a soft smile drift onto her muzzle against my chest. "You're still here. I really thought that yesterday might have been a dream," she whispered quietly after another moment. I smiled as well, even though I knew she couldn't see. "Your actual dream was beautiful, too. You make a gorgeous pregnant mare," I complimented, now that I knew she was lucid. In the dream, I knew that she wasn't fully in control, as I didn't go with her as she fell asleep, so I just contented myself with keeping her rest as pleasant as possible. Her teal eyes brightened as she pushed a little more into my fur. "That really was you! I, um, I somehow knew it." She didn't seem too surprised, which was a definite plus. Her empathy and awareness of that link between us was amazing! Her ears twitched a second later, however, and she looked back up at me, a light tint to her cheeks as she asked, "Wait, you thought I was... I was pretty, even pregnant?" "You held the way open just for me, so of course I was going to join you. And no, I said gorgeous, Fluttershy. You were beautiful and very motherly. I just wish I'd been able to fall asleep with you. You'd have been aware of everything, then," I lamented. Not that it had been a very 'bad' dream. Definitely not. Next time I'd have to show her around the dreamscape. I had so many things I wanted her to see! Unexpectedly, her blush deepened a bit and she shrank down against me, pushing her nose back into my fur. "Oh. Oh, my... Then that means, um, all of last night happened. You really..." she muttered, almost inaudibly. Oh. I nodded and held her closer, gently rubbing her back as she looked back up towards me, an intense mixture of different emotions in her eyes. I couldn't tell exactly which was winning as the chaotic thoughts bounced down the link, but I tried to assure her anyways. "I did it to try to help you, Fluttershy, and I won't do anything without your direct consent. I'm your mate, right? Making sure you're not in distress, and helping you when you need it is something I'd do regardless of that, but that makes it okay to take care of your other needs, too, right?" I questioned, both as assurance to her, and to make sure I fully understood the situation. This was the absolute last thing I wanted to get wrong! Her rushing emotions calmed a little, and a light smile played at her muzzle while she relaxed. Seeing her calmer relaxed me, too, of course, and I broached another important point. "Also, if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask me next time. That includes with your urges. I'd gladly help you out any way I can, including with my, well, mouth again," I reassured, unable to fully stop the blush at that last part, rapidly remembering last night. Oh dear... Fluttershy's blush didn't get better or worse at that, and she just shrank a bit more, timidly nodding. "Y-You really didn't mind? Um, I mean, stallions don't usually do that sort of, well... Oh my," she tried to say, stumbling over her own words before falling silent and pushing her face into my coat again. My smile widened as I wrapped my right foreleg around her too and just held her there. Finally, working a bit of courage up, I managed to admit, "Well, yes, Fluttershy. Um, I actually rather liked it, too. Not as much as it looked like you did, but just making you feel so good made me really, really happy." It was difficult to explain, mixing both affection and happiness with lust and attraction. The feelings were complex, I decided. Okay, that time her blush intensified. She gave me a smile, however, despite trying to burrow into me and hide herself as best she could. Then she scared the crap out of me by suddenly gasping and bringing booth hooves up to her muzzle, eyes expanding rapidly. What?! "Oh, oh no! I just, um, realized, I just fell asleep afterwards! B-But you were, well, r-right there when... You must have gotten pheromones all over you. Are you okay? I didn't mean to fall asleep before I could help y-you, too," she squeaked out a second later, surprising me in a different way instead. "Ah, no, it's okay, Fluttershy! I, well, had a few problems afterwards, but it was nothing a cold shower couldn't fix. Then I cleaned you up and changed your blanket, so you don't have to worry about, well, the mess, either," I assured, trying to distract her away from what seemed to be her main concern. It was for her, not for her to return the favor, too. Sadly, my mention of the shower appeared to have the opposite of desired effects as her face fell when I said it. "Oh no. No, this isn't... I'm a horrible fillyfriend to put you through all that and then not help you, too," she murmured, voice becoming more stable as her blush died down. Unfortunately, it was due to her being sad instead, so this wouldn't do at all. "Fluttershy, I did it for you, not for me. You got right to sleep afterwards, which was exactly why I asked if I could help you, remember? My momentary comfort comes very much last in that case," I tried to remind, earning a frown instead. "Mender, no! I, um, know what pheromones do to stallions. Really, I... I, um..." Her eyes widened a little as she trailed off, staring blankly into my chest as I could feel her mind going a mile a second. Uh oh. Did she think of something else traumatic? Her eyes snapped into focus again a second later as they slid down my chest, dropping past my stomach and into the shadows under our covers. Uh? Her blush came back in full force as her eyes shivered lightly, nodding to herself a moment later. "I could fix it. I could make it up to you! R-right now even. I, well, I have to! I'm not going to be a bad fillyfriend," she declared, seemingly to herself as she got a determined look in her eyes. Make it up to me? Why did I not like the sounds of that? "Fluttershy, you're not a bad fillyfriend. Is this actually about-" I started, putting two and two together. "N-No! It's not about, um... I want to make it up to you, but I also want to, well, I want to be with you like this, too. Just like Twilight. A stallion is a little scarier, but I trust you and want to be with you, too," she whispered, eyes softening as she eased against me softly. Fluttershy... She felt nervous through the link, but also honest, her heart fluttering against my chest. She really wanted this, and it wasn't just to 'fix' what happened over estrus? My hesitation spiked, but I felt her pick up on it through our link, and she released steady reassurance back. Relaxing, I gave a nervous swallow, and then nodded to her. That was all that was needed and I gave in, my body readily agreeing with my choice, to my mild disgust. “A-All right, Fluttershy. Just, um, stop immediately if you feel uncomfortable,” I requested, sighing hesitantly. Fluttershy smiled up at me timidly, flush hot across her cheeks as she kissed lightly against my chest, moving further down my stomach with each repeated peck. Oh hell. Was this really happening?! I mean, last night was crazy enough, but was she really going to do this?! The answer was fairly obvious as she ducked down under the blanket, mostly covered from the nippy room air, but easily visible to me as her wings tented out the cover over herself. If it bothered her, she didn't show it, and heated up even more, that familiar murky haze starting to drift down the link as her tongue got more involved in each little kiss, paying homage to a trail down my body. I shuddered, and just resolved myself to letting her do whatever she wanted… * * * * * "Um, are you sure you don't want any help?" Fluttershy whispered yet again, sitting down on my right, next to her toilet. Smiling absently, I shook my head again as all eight tentacles busied themselves, moving washing rags in the tub. "No, having eight extra limbs makes this rather efficient, don't worry. Besides, um, most of the mess was mine, after all," I reminded, my naughty mind replaying how our shower had gone. Fluttershy definitely surprised me, so far proving almost insatiable! As if she picked up on my thoughts, I felt Fluttershy blush furiously through the link, not even needing to turn and look at her. "O-Oh. No, um, I made a... Well, I know I'm, well, messier than most mares," she barely managed to get out, voice dying shortly after. I hesitated, then smiled softly and leaned over, finally turning my head enough to nuzzle into the side of her cheek and kiss her lightly. "It's perfectly fine. Natural, even. Regardless, it obviously doesn't change how I feel about you," I reminded. It also suddenly wasn't so hard to believe that she and Twilight had gotten intimate over the estrus break now, both because of seeing how the hormones affected her, and being much more intimate with her myself now. I wasn't as mad anymore, I decided. It was sad that they did that without me, yeah, but we technically just did the same without Twilight now. I was more concerned and distraught over them filling out the paperwork and forming the herd than anything else. Not that the mare next to me wasn't amazingly skilled at distracting me from my concerns, first with affection and now with downright seduction. Three times now and it wasn't even noon yet! Fluttershy smiled happily towards me, nuzzling back before giving a soft kiss on my lips. "I know, Mender. Thank you. I'm very, very happy that you're my special somepony. Well, my mate now. I'm still, um, a little worried about Twilight being upset, but I guess neither of us have much room to complain, and I'm sure she'll want to join in when she's safe again," she admitted. I didn't have the heart to remind her that was technically today. As much as I was sad that Twilight didn't get to be with us, she couldn't without risking other things. Further, Fluttershy had legitimate needs last night, due no small part to my own stupidity with her toys I discovered. "We'll make it up to her, don't worry. Let's head over there and see if she's up to eating breakfast with us?" I suggested, putting all seven rags together again and wincing at the light squishing noise they made. There had been a lot to clean up after all. Yikes. I wondered idly if that was a side effect of my cybernetics. Fluttershy let out a light squeak and rapidly shook her head as I gathered up the rags, however. "No! Um, I mean, I'll make it up to Twilight. Then both of us will continue to make it up to you! What happened with the herd is far, far worse than, well, this," she insisted, edging a bit closer to me again with a rather pleading gaze. I swallowed and edged back a bit, then noticed her cough lightly, wings rising up a little. It took me a moment, but I realized where the rags were and lifted them away from the side of her head with my tentacles. "Er, sorry. Um, hamper?" I suggested as she rapidly shook the dazed look out of her eyes. Another new thing I'd discovered! Mares were just as susceptible to stallion smells as we were to theirs. Well, I'd figured that out last night, but it was a good thing to commit to memory, I decided. "Ah, yeah. Same spot as the blanket, please. Um, and breakfast with Twilight is a good idea. We should talk to her as soon as possible," she agreed, stepping back as I moved past her and out into her bedroom again, trotting over to the large hamper next to the stairs down. It was almost twice the size of Twilight's, which made sense considering how many animals Fluttershy cleans up after. Fluttershy slipped up next to me as I closed the lid again, and shot me a warm smile regardless of the nervous sensations coming down her link from talking about Twilight. She was in a good mood, despite having the 'tiniest complaint' that she was 'just a little' sore, but insisted that I didn't have to worry at all. Of course, I'd pounced and hugged her immediately afterwards, which just made her squeak and seem even cuter. I swear, living here was going to give me diabetes in less than a week. She followed a step behind me as I walked down the stairs, then dashed past at the bottom and put out several dishes of animal food while I watched. Turns out, they get their breakfast in the morning, too. They literally came out of the walls in droves as she set the dishes out, each giving their own special good morning to Fluttershy in the form of chirps, squeaks, and purrs. Three cats, a dozen mice, four birds, and a strangely mutated squirrel all pounced on the dishes, amazingly enough, side by side. Uh, weren't some of those natural predators to the others? The yellow mare smiled happily as she turned back to me and ran back up, simultaneously answering my question as I remembered who their owner was. I smiled and nodded a second before she plowed into me, kissing me on the cheek before fluttering her wings out and swaying next to me, subtly energetic, if that was possible. Eh, I was just happy that she was happy. "Are you set, then?" I asked, nudging my head towards the door. She stopped swaying, then blushed lightly and nodded, earning a raised eyebrow from me. The link pulsed with sudden awkward embarrassment, and she looked away from me, giggling weakly. "Um, I know it's silly, but a part of me is, um, a little worried that others are suddenly going to know when they look at me. Um, you know," she muttered, both of us skipping the part where I try to get her to tell me the problem. She knew that I wasn't going to make fun of her as much as she knew I wasn't going to give up until she said what was wrong. "Know? What do you-" I started to ask before it suddenly dawned on me and I blushed, coughing lightly. "Oh, that. Um, you look exactly the same, Fluttershy, and we're both fresh out of the shower so I really don't think that's possible. Just relax, okay? Besides, it's normal. Does it matter if they find out? We're both consenting adults, and very much with each other," I reasoned, trying to give her a reassuring smile as I pulled her a little closer. It might be a little embarrassing when the Element Bearers found out, and I sensed an awkward conversation with Twilight coming up fast, but that didn't mean it was going to change anything about our relationships. Oddly, I decided the concept of them knowing was actually worse because they were closer to me. I didn't so much mind even the rest of Ponyville knowing. Well, unless they found out all at once through something horribly unfortunate happening, which was actually a possibility in this town. Note to self, stay away from Vinyl and Pinkie for the morning. Fluttershy still blushed lightly, but a smile came to her face and she nodded twice, kissing me lightly on the cheek before resting her forehead against my shoulder. I gestured towards the door again, and this time she gave a nod. I'd honestly never thought of them somehow figuring out that we'd upgraded our relationship. Idly, I wondered if there was some sort of body language or something that we'd give off indicating as such. I certainly didn't 'feel' particularly different, apart from being even closer to Fluttershy than before. Regardless, we finally made it out the door, and a flock of birds almost flew up my nose, singing greetings towards Fluttershy, me just being the unfortunate bystander. Her nervousness was forgotten as she greeted all her flying friends, saying pleasant tidings to each individually. I just smiled softly while watching her, a few birds seeing fit to use me as a perch while waiting their turn to say hello. This was a new sensation indeed, but I just stood there and let the feelings soak in. Being treated as non-threatening and normal was definitely something I could get used to! "Well, I'm glad you're all doing well and that nopony's sick or anything. Mender and I have to go visit Twilight now, so if you need anything, I'll be there. Oh, and he might be staying with us more often from now on, as he's part of my herd and I care very much for him. He's a very nice stallion, however, so you can trust him just as much as you trust me, okay?" Fluttershy informed, wrapping up and addressing all the birds at once. I blushed, staring at her in surprise as the birds let out a flood of chirps, several dozen circling me with a rather fast pace. I blinked a few times as a feather or two drifted down, and then lightly brushed my mane back, looking on in wonder as they shot off in every direction into the forest around us. "They'll spread the word," she spoke up, smiling softly towards me as I turned back to her. She'd done that for me? "Fluttershy, um, I'm really happy to hear you say those things. I mean-" I started to thank. She ducked in, however, and kissed me on the mouth shyly, giving a bashful smile as she backed up again a second later. "It's the truth, Silly. You'd never hurt any of these animals. In fact, I've heard several nice things about you from one family of birds in particular, and more recently, from a couple of fish!" she chirped, looking pleased at me. My eyes widened a little. Fish?! No, it couldn't be... "Um, from the lake? I didn't realize word would, uh, spread like that. How do you talk to the animals, anyways?" I asked, curious now. She was a pegasus, so it didn't make sense that she'd have Earth Pony powers. She sighed and shook her head, ears lowering a little as she tucked in against my chest. "I know it's weird. A pegasus on the ground and living with, and talking to a bunch of animals. I've just, well, I've always found empathy with them. I can feel them, just like I heard an Earth Pony can. Maybe that's a literal application of my special talent? I just love them all so much, and hearing them is just, well, normal for me," she whispered. It turned into a squeak as I pulled her tight against me and shook my head, smiling finally. "I didn't mean that, Fluttershy. I think it's amazing, not weird or unnatural. Plus, your relationship with them all is nothing short of beautiful. I'm even a little jealous," I pointed out, snickering afterwards. Fluttershy had an enormous heart, and a ton of love and caring to go around, I suddenly realized. Her being 'Kindness' made a lot of sense to me. Her eyes lowered a bit shyly and she blushed fully now rather than just a light tinting. "Mender, I care about you just as much. Um, you also have all of me, in every way. I'm a mom and friend to them but, well, you're my mate," she assured quietly, just to me. It made me feel happy that she was comfortable enough with me to say that, even if it was just for my ears. I nuzzled back and felt her give a content sigh, pushing a little harder into me as her warm fur slid across my shoulder. She was amazing, and I felt lighter. Like it was okay to just spend as long as I wanted with her for the rest of time. But that wouldn't do. We had another member of our herd to talk to, who was just as important. Gesturing back towards the direction of the library, I gave her a soft nod and smile. Fluttershy perked up and nodded back, following after me as I headed towards town. I enjoyed the sensation of her walking right next to me as I went, brushing against my side with every other step. We were a pair, and finally, it felt like I was supposed to be here. Things felt right, and I held that feeling as close as I could to my chest as we headed towards Twilight... * * * * * It was definitely chilly as we trotted through town square. Fall was upon us fully, and soon it would be winter. It made me rather thankful for my heavier coat. Fluttershy was thankful for it, too, pushing up against me as we walked side by side. Every few steps, I felt a light shiver go through her as the wind would hit us. It didn't take us long, however, to cross the square, which presented us with a new set of circumstances. "Oh! Fluttershy! Mender!" I heard Rarity call out as we walked. Both of us stopped and turned, watching the pearly unicorn trot up quickly from behind us, shopping bags drifting after her in a faint blue light. My nose picked up the smells of potent bases, and I wiggled it, trying not to sneeze. Soaps? "Oh, sorry for the smell. I had to pick up more cleaning supplies for day two of Operation Clean the Library. It's quite a mess," she informed, taking notice of my expression. "Ah. Well we're on our way to the library anyways. Is it, err, safe for me to enter today?" I inquired, my tail flicking slightly behind me in mild frustration. After everything that happened last night with Fluttershy, I completely forgot to tweak my filter to include pheromones. Rarity smiled, however, and nodded, adding, "Of course! It's pretty well cleaned now, and the only area we have left is the basement. Sadly, it was hit the hardest and will probably take most of our time today." Yikes! Well, Twilight had spent most of her time down in there, if the radar had been accurate. Wait... "We? Are the girls helping you again?" I inquired curiously, tilting my head as my ears twitched lightly. "Heck yeah! Of course we're helping!" I heard shouted out, my ping giving me a good three seconds warning. I ducked, pulling Fluttershy down with me as Rainbow shot overhead, spinning happily before whipping into a tight flip and landing next to us in a mostly graceful landing. Only 'mostly' because her saddlebags kept going with downwards inertia and hauled her off her hooves. My left foreleg shot out and actually managed to grab her, slowing her down and only earning a little ache in the process as I steadied her. Not that I usually encouraged live field-testing, but I think that meant the leg was healing nicely. Dash grinned and nodded up to me as she straightened herself out a bit. "Um, thanks. You so didn't see that. Did I hear that you're heading to Twilight's?" she asked curiously, gesturing towards the library. I nodded, and then glanced to Fluttershy on my right as she bumped into me, blushing quite a bit now and looking back and forth between Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Uh... Well, they wouldn’t know anything happened unless Fluttershy kept acting like this. "Um, are you okay, Fluttershy?" I asked softly, earning a start and rapid nod. "O-Of course! Um, I'm fine!" she quickly reassured, not sounding very reassuring at all. Of course, Rarity picked up on it instantly, giving a curious head tilt towards the yellow mare. "You're awfully flushed, Dear. Are you certain you don't have a fever?" she inquired, stepping forwards and lightly pushing an ankle into the now shivering mare's head. Rainbow shot her friend a skeptical look as she shrunk away from the touch. This was going, well, badly. Think, Mender! Lacking a reasonably formed plan, or a plan in the first place, I decided the next best thing was to simply draw fire, so to speak. "She's fine, just don't push her too hard. I did something stupid last night and embarrassed her, and she hasn't recovered yet," I spoke up, pushing Rarity's hoof away as the mare gasped. Predictably, Rainbow's eyes narrowed and I prepared my inner armor just in case things got out of hoof. "What?! What did you do to Fluttershy?" she asked almost instantly. Huh, she was actually inquiring first rather than just attacking me. I guess I really did get on her good side. Rarity frowned towards me, but more in a skeptical manner while Dash stalked closer, eyeing me up as I tried to think of something while remaining stoic towards the mare. I could tell them about the toy incident, but I didn't know if Rainbow knew about Fluttershy's 'collection', and that would be even worse. Blatant lie time, then. Fluttershy looked uncertain as she turned back to look at me, obviously not knowing which thing I was referring to, and Rarity glanced back at her instead, raising an eyebrow. Damn it. I couldn't give that devious mare time to think! "I accidentally walked in on Fluttershy while she was taking a shower and ended up staring for longer than I should have," I blurted out. Rainbow bristled, but Rarity outright smirked instead, seemingly looking right through me. She said absolutely nothing, however, which somehow scared me more. "You did what?!" Rainbow hissed, fury bubbling up in her eyes. Fluttershy freaked out and flailed before hopping between Rainbow and I instead. What was she doing?! Rainbow looked momentarily surprised, but Fluttershy rapidly shook her head. "N-No! He's lying! He's just trying to... This is all my fault. If I could have just acted like normal, this wouldn't have happened," the yellow mare squeaked, slumping down to the ground after getting it out. Sighing, I wrapped my forelegs around her from behind, feeling her sink back against me and hide her face using my limbs. "Er, wait, what?" Rainbow asked, shifting from surprise to confusion as Rarity started snickering. She walked up instead and bumped Rainbow into a relaxed sitting position, rather than frozen in her prior threatening stance with the blank look on her face. "Relax, Rainbow. It was a fabrication, his intent to take the focus away from Fluttershy, who I believe is embarrassed due to something else entirely. And given his blush and defensive stance towards her, and their closeness and body language, I believe I know what," she explained coyly, eyes shifting rather devious as they locked onto me instead. Damn it! "This is exactly what I promised Fluttershy I'd avoid today, so if you'd be so kind as to drop it and let us go into the library," I offered, narrowing my eyes towards Rarity instead, who shifted to a more startled expression. If I had to resort to bluntness, so be it. If I had to physically move them out of the way and escort Fluttershy inside, that would work, too. Fluttershy rested a hoof on my foreleg, causing me to look down at her again. She shook her head up at me, and then blushed before turning back to the girls. "This isn't your fault, Mender. I goofed up and, um, they were going to find out eventually anyway, so it might as well be now," she murmured, ears lowering a bit. Rarity shifted to a more concerned smile towards her friend, and Rainbow just looked confused. This definitely wasn't the ideal way to do this, but I guess we didn't have much choice. My eyes widened as I saw Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom approaching from the corner of my vision, suddenly. I turned to look at them, Applejack smiling and waving towards me as she saw me look over. Uh, that shouldn't... I started to open my mouth to tell Fluttershy when she blurted out, "Mender and I mated!" Never mind. I closed my mouth and just sighed, resigning to watching the fireball expand from the crashing train. Rarity looked momentarily happy before freezing, also having spotted the three Apple siblings. Rainbow went from confused, to shocked, to blushing furiously with wide eyes towards me instead. Okay, that didn't help much, but thanks for that, Dash. Applejack froze on the spot, mid step as her eyes widened, locking onto Fluttershy for half a heartbeat before they whipped to her brother instead? To my surprise, he looked actually stunned. I'd never seen Big Mac look surprised by anything, and had no idea what to think of it. Worse yet, Apple Bloom looked surprised as well, but then started blushing and looked away from the two of us really fast. Oh crap. She knew what that meant?! Rainbow saw my stare and looked to her right as well, then gave a start as she saw the three of them, blushing starting to become a downright pandemic. Big Mac slowly closed his jaw again as his eyes softened, shifting away from the shock to something else entirely as Fluttershy looked over towards them as well, seeing all of us shifting our attention. She froze when she saw them, her flush expanding over her entire face as she started to shiver there. Big Mac broke the silence like a sledgehammer to an ice sculpture. "Ah don't think we were supposed ta hear that," he muttered, voice far harder than I'd heard him use before. Okay, I was missing something. To my surprise, he hiked up his shoulders that were attached to the wagon supports and continued, walking right past us and on down the road towards the farm. Um... "Uh, Mac, Ah-" Applejack started, trotting to try to catch up with his sudden departure. "Cleanin', Ah know. Go fer it," he returned without turning around. I sensed overwhelming hostility suddenly, and shivered. Well, actually it wasn't that different from his usual behavior, so I couldn't tell. Applejack looked uncertain, her right foreleg in the air towards him still as if trying to will him back to talk. Apple Bloom rapidly shook her head and sprang forwards instead. "Ah'll go talk ta him, Sis. You go help Twi an' tha others," she said before booking after her brother and hopping up into the back of the wagon instead. "Oh dear," Rarity whispered, watching the large stallion leave, this time with Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I shifting to confused looks. "Okay, now I'm really confused. Why the hay is he acting mad?" Rainbow asked, gesturing in frustration towards Big Mac with both forelegs, the remains of her blush slowly fading on her cheeks. Well, this had certainly distracted from Fluttershy's dilemma, but potentially not in a good way. Applejack sighed and shook her head, looking a little sad instead. "Ah imagine he's upset with Mender an' didn't want ta say nothin'. Ah thought he'd gotten over tha anger but Ah wasn't expectin' this so soon. Probably happened 'cause o' Twi and Flutters durin' heat, right?" she asked, glancing towards Rarity instead. What?! Why was he mad at me?! Fluttershy swallowed, looking back and forth between the three mares as Rarity shook her head and returned, "I've no idea. You'd have to ask Fluttershy what happened, but you know how estrus is, Applejack. Do not blame her for this." Why did we have to blame anypony? Applejack flashed her ears back and rapidly shook her head, stomping the ground instead. "Ah ain't blamin' nopony! It's just frustratin' ta not have anypony ta punch when mah brother's hurtin' so much," she growled, looking a bit irate. Could these two talk without almost coming to blows each time? "I'm confused. Why is he upset in the first place?" Rainbow asked, bringing the topic back to what I was curious about. Wait... My mind flashed back to our 'detailed' talk about Cheerilee, and I suddenly remembered way back at the very beginning of that topic, Big Mac had mentioned a second mare, but dropped it almost instantly after I inquired. If he was acting like this... Applejack sighed and revealed, "It's because mah brother, fer years an' years before Mender even showed up, had ah crush on Fluttershy." Oh hell. I gave in right now and checked another day off my 'normal' wishlist. * * * * * Why, oh why was life never simple here? Well, not that I'd call my past existence simple, even though it technically really was. Fighting an almost omnipresent malevolent race of space bunnies hell-bent on driving all existing creatures of sapience into a violent, early extinction was honestly rather straightforward. You could generally assume that, when you saw one, the reaction was going to be it attempting to murder you. That left fairly little variance to interactions when my only purpose was to make sure they died first. Equestria, while indescribably more peaceful, also was beset by many problems revolving around not having a malevolent race attempting to make everything else extinct. No unified front, no objectified lifestyle set on specific goals, and no overarching structure to society in general. Oh, and most of the ponies appeared to be totally crazy, myself included. There was that, too. I was just a little more efficient at it, was all. Lying on my back, I batted up towards the ceiling with my forelegs out of moderate boredom. The couch was comfy, and I was at risk of falling asleep if I didn't keep moving. Listening to the rather earnest conversation of conviction that happened to be centered on me like a sword poised to fall on my head was only vaguely interesting. It wasn't that I didn't understand the details or felt I shouldn't be involved, honestly. No, it was more akin to thinking that they shouldn't be involved instead. "Ah know how it works. Fluttershy chose Mender, an' Ah ain't angry at her fer that! Fer cryin' out loud, Ah'm happy she's happy. Ah'm just worried fer mah brother, is all," Applejack reiterated for probably the sixth time. I honestly felt a little bad for her, given the fact that she tried to keep the conversation from spiraling out of control, kept smashing down blame when she could, and generally attempted to keep things civil and focused towards recommendations on how to cheer up Big Mac. Her not mentioning me in that non-angry list kept my pity a bit tempered with caution, armor ready in case I got bucked in the side or something. I doubted she'd do that at this point, but I was all for precautions. Rarity huffed, being less for moderation herself as much as attempting to imprint some sort of lesson upon us. "I warned you that this should have been addressed much sooner. Honestly, we should have talked things over with him and helped him over this a week ago. Why don't we all just march over there right now and simply talk with him in a calm and collected manner?" she suggested. Was I honestly the only one who thought everypony should just dip their heads in cold water for a few seconds and calm down? Frankly, what he wanted and decided to do really wasn't any of their business in the first place. Of course, mentioning that would get me murdered on several fronts. "Oh yeah, he wouldn't think that was suspicious or demeaning at all. Shouldn't we just give him some time to cool off?" Rainbow suggested irritably, the distinct sensation of impatience coming down her link that was quite contrary to her statement. Given Rainbow typically lacked the ability to be that subtle, that meant she was impatient about something else. Probably a change in topic, like me. "Oh no. Oh dear. This is bad. I didn't... I mean, I never knew that he... Oh, what am I supposed to do?" Fluttershy whispered quietly to herself. Despite being in severe inner turmoil, and me being what I thought to be the cause for that, she wedged herself as tightly as she could into my back legs, tangling her forelegs around my limbs and using my tail like some sort of comfort blanket. Not that I really minded, of course. Sighing, I gave her a gentle squeeze with my back legs before using them to tow her upwards and on top of me. She didn't resist in the slightest, and instead buried her face into my chest. Nopony noticed, of course, despite her technically being the subject of the conversation. I held her against me rather tightly, feeling those possessive urges drifting back up inside of me. She'd told me she was mine, and I hers, so I wasn't about to let anypony get in the way of that. Not even Big Mac. The most annoying thing is, he knew that. He knew that eventually, Fluttershy and I would mate. We were in a relationship, a herd. Twilight was as well, and I didn't see her freaking out over the whole ordeal. He wasn't stupid, and acting like he was kinda insulted him. Sure, Applejack was only worried about cheering him up a bit, but the others were acting like he was some sort of helpless emotional invalid, when honestly, it shouldn't even be their business. Twilight herself got our 'news' in the worst way possible thanks to all this, of course, but oddly seemed more happy about it than anything. Almost gleeful, in kind of a scary, 'please don't experiment on me' way. Of course, she started asking Fluttershy all sorts of questions about it, but that was sort of flattened by all the drama surrounding Big Mac suddenly. Now she lay on the other side of me, lightly holding my head in her forelegs while watching and listening to everything fall apart right next to us. Twilight turned and smiled as she saw me pull Fluttershy up and hug her. She herself leaned in and snuggled into the other side of my neck, bringing all three of our heads within touching distance as she gave Fluttershy a peck on the jaw. The mare momentarily blushed, smiling at both of us pleasantly. This. This was all that was really important. What she wanted. "You did nothing wrong, Fluttershy. None of this is your fault, and we'll get it straightened out. Wanna just go and talk to him real quick?" Twilight asked, both surprising me ever so slightly, and delighting me that she had decided on such a simplistic solution to the 'problem' that didn't require lengthy planning and parties. Rarity looked shocked and horrified at the suggestion, somehow hearing it despite being in the middle of a rant on ethics and courtesies in a relationship, despite that not applying to Big Mac in the first place. "W-What?! His cool down period isn't even up! You can't just go and 'talk' to him! You should at least let Apple Bloom-" Making a filly try to handle everything by herself didn't seem very responsible to me. That irritation that had been oh so familiar the last few days built up in my system again, and I sighed. "Watch us," I 'suggested', before looking back and nodding to Twilight. She grinned, and the world disappeared as her horn flared to life, reality itself seeming to suck inwards upon us and snap down into an almost impossible singularity that we drifted away from. An instant later, like a rubber band, it snapped out again. Just like that, the couch was gone. Instead, the three of us lay on the open grass with the overcast sky overhead. Fluttershy shivered, and then looked up and around before starting, seeing Big Mac and Apple Bloom all of three meters away from us. Three wagons full of apples rested on the dirt path next to them, and they sat next to a stump with what looked like a checkers board between them. Err... "Yer learnin' right quick! That was ah good move," he complimented, momentarily looking up at the flash of light and nodding to us before returning his attention to the board. "Ah learned from tha best! Hiya, Mender! Twilight! Fluttershy! What're ya doin' 'ere?" the little yellow filly asked, smiling over at us. Heh, thought as much. Twilight giggled lightly as Fluttershy looked more shocked than anything. The lavender unicorn walked up towards them, stretching her back legs a bit. "Getting away from a whole lot of drama and settling it at the same time, hopefully," she explained. Big Mac smirked as he slid another piece forwards, snapping Apple Bloom's attention back to the game instead. "They're still goin' on 'bout that? Ah said it was none o' our business," he asked softly, leaning back as his little sister ducked in to look at the game board instead. "Um, y-you're not upset or, um," Fluttershy asked quietly, taking a couple steps forwards and catching up with Twilight, despite moving like a scared deer. Big Mac stared at her for a moment before chuckling and shaking his head. "Ah should'a known ya'd worry yerself over me. Nah. Mah crush on ya was, well, ah long time ago. Sure, Ah wouldn't have turned ya down had ya suddenly gotten interested, but Ah ain't mad that ya found yerself ah right kind an' proper stallion," he assured, after a moment of thinking about it. Exhaling softly, I shook my head towards him. "All I can do is give everything I can. Everything always was, and always will be their choice to accept me or not," I reminded, agreeing with his implication fully. Twilight frowned and turned back towards me again a second later, shaking her head. "Mender, you need to accept us, too, you know. Our herd forms a triangle, and each bond has to be unbreakable for it to work," she reminded. I blushed slightly and looked away from her, unsure of what exactly to say to that. She was right, of course, but, well... There were still little nagging doubts in my mind. I doubt Fluttershy intended our experience specifically to counter those, but it had indeed helped. I wasn't where I wanted to be, though. "Sounds like ya'all got ah lot ta talk about, too. If ya want, ya could do it 'ere, away from all tha hubbub," Apple Bloom suggested, sliding another piece across the board and earning a grin from her brother. It being a particularly awesome move, or him agreeing with her suggestion, I'd never know. I didn't know how to play checkers, after all. A pop-up shot up a second later, offering its data entry, and I promptly hit the cancel button. Why it looked like a paperclip with eyes was beyond me, but it was bloody annoying! That was the third time it had bugged me about inane stuff. Snapping out of it, I suddenly became distinctly aware that Big Mac was staring right at me, unwavering. I perked, widening my eyes a bit as I instinctively shrank back. Eh?! His viewpoint didn't flinch, but a tiny smirk played across his muzzle. "Yer ah kind, strong stallion, an' ah good match fer Fluttershy an' Twilight. But yer not ah perfect match," he suddenly spoke up. I swallowed, unsure of how to take that or what he meant. Fluttershy's eyes widened and she squeaked in surprise, but Twilight frowned and turned back to him instead. "Isn't that up to us to decide?" she pointed out, voice calculated and level. Was she upset by that? "Ah-nope! Tha only one that can improve Mender is Mender, really. He has ta make the effort ta be better. More decisive an' focused on what he wants an' needs, in order ta better be with you two," he reasoned quietly. Oh. It wasn't about them thinking I was a good match for them, but the fact that I could make myself an even better match. Decisive, though? That didn't feel very comfortable at all, as thoughts went. Twilight didn't reason as far as I did, it would seem. "What does him being indecisive have to do with us liking him? Does it matter? Wait, decisive about what?" she asked, shifting from mildly irritated to simply confused as she looked back towards me with uneasy eyes. Fluttershy started to rapidly look between us, her heart rate gradually increasing the wider her eyes got. What was going on? Big Mac shifted to staring at Twilight instead, fully drawing her attention back to him with his stoic gaze. She backed up a little the same way I did, but he suddenly shook his head. "It don't matter at all," he admitted. Wait, what? Twilight started to relax, when he frowned suddenly and tacked on, "Ya don't need ta worry about what he wants ah bit if yer goal is ta just control an' lead tha herd by yerself." My eyes widened, and Twilight suddenly looked like she had been physically slapped by the stallion. Fluttershy outright panicked, letting out a low whimper as she rapidly shook her head. "N-No! We're not trying to, um, control Mender or anything! I'd never do that, and neither w-would Twilight," she defended hesitantly, her voice losing strength as her nervousness shot through the roof. Why was Big Mac doing this?! My first instinct was to be angry with him, but his tone wasn't accusing or even aggressive, and I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't one to simply provoke a situation. I held my tongue, looking back to the red stallion instead as he kept staring at Twilight. "Ah believe in accidents. Ah know that heat can make things seem like ah good idea when they ain't, but Ah also know that ah mare is still in full control o' herself. Ya both signed tha paperwork fer tha herd, or it wouldn't be official-like. Twilight 'ere even sent it out, despite knowin' on some level what it'd cause. Now she's 'head' o' tha herd, an' its official voice, an' Mender ain't even ah member. Ah don't judge, an' know mah sister can get right outta shape over things she don't like, but it still don't look too good from this perspective," he explained, doing a rather good job of highlighting the core of the issue. Applejack must have been upset after yesterday. Part of me wondered how much Rainbow told her. I felt a little colder, and didn't know what to do suddenly. That frigid doubt crept up into my chest again, and I closed the link before Fluttershy could feel it at this range. Predictably, the yellow mare gave a sudden start and looked over at me, but I stayed locked on Big Mac, frowning a little. He wanted to help us and felt it warranted a bit of direct interference. That much I got and understood. Maybe a part of him only wanted to help Fluttershy, but that seemed unlikely, as he'd included her in the accusation. But she had indeed signed the herd paperwork. Twilight said she didn't know about the waiting period, though. I trusted her, right? Apple Bloom looked up from the board and frowned up at Big Mac as Twilight fell to her haunches, shaking her head rapidly and sending out a sudden spray of tears. "No! It was a stupid accident and we weren't thinking of the consequences, but we didn't do any of it intentionally! If I could turn over the leadership position, I would in a heartbeat, but," she tried to reason. It wasn't really about the- "Ah doubt Mender cares 'bout bein' leader so much as he'd rather just be ah part o' tha herd in tha first place. Ah'm also not lookin' ta accuse ya o' nothin'. Ah'm only pointin' this out ta show ya that maybe, just maybe, ya don't know Mender so good. Yer not even sure what's really upsettin' him," he finalized, leaning back calmly against the tree behind him. Upsetting me. It reared up again, and I knew in that instant that it was still there. As much as I tried to bury it with logic and understanding, realization of how hard it was for them and what I 'should' do because they're females... I was angry. They'd hurt me, and I felt betrayed. But it was an accident, right? It's not like Twilight had ever shown lack of trust in me before, to the point of trying to circumvent my own wishes or anything. Especially not in regards to my feelings for pricing my own business practices. I tried really hard not to start laughing, a bit concerned that I'd start screaming at the same time. It all bubbled inside of my chest and I wanted to throw up, as if it would get it out of me. I wasn't built for anger. I didn't handle it well, nor was I comfortable with it, but it just kept building inside of me over the past few weeks. Twilight shivered and continued shaking her head before muttering, "Mender said he wasn't upset with us. We need to make it up to him somehow still but, well, we're trying and..." Fluttershy continued staring at me, her features starting to fall as her ears lowered. "Mender..." she whispered, causing Twilight's ears to perk up as she slowly turned to look at me instead. I could see them. I could see them and my eyes were closed! They were closed, weren't they? I snapped back to awareness as I noticed the graphical pixel distortions playing across my vision, my eyes fully open unlike what I remembered. Trying not to panic, I disabled the targeting reticles that were flicking across the large stallion I was locked onto. The system refused to respond to me, however, and I force closed the entire process as I shivered, feeling the pressure building behind my eyes as a headache reared up. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry and lash out, beating on the ground until it crumbled to dust around me in rage and frustration. But no, that was childish. That would get me in trouble and lose the trust of everypony close to me. I wasn't allowed to do that, and I definitely didn't want to hurt Big Mac! What the hell was wrong with me?! He wasn't angry with me, and I knew he wasn't trying to steal Fluttershy from me. I didn't even own her like that! I... Fluttershy landed on me hard as I tried to shakily back up into a retreat that I didn't realize I was doing. I exhaled sharply as she tackled me to the ground instead with her full weight before everything went to teal at point blank range. It was a totally new version of what I'd experienced yesterday as everything fell away, but this time, it wasn't disapproving but wanting instead, her muzzle locked with mine at the same time. My chest heated up, and everything became a jumble as she released me from the powerful spell a few seconds later. I was confused now, and really, I just wanted to take a nap and think about all of this later. Fatigue caught up with me hard, and my muscles sagged, just letting her lay on top of me, eyes unable to leave hers regardless. "Don't run, Mender. Please? We don't understand. You're, um, hurting a lot and we want to make it better, so talk to us. Y-You can rest first if you need to but, um, we have to talk about this! I can't l-lose you!" she outright pleaded, stunning me into inability to think again. "We, Fluttershy. We can't lose him. I... Rarity's right. There's just no trust here. We need to fix that, too. Fast. She told me a few ideas and exercises to help but, um, can we, Mender? I want this to work," Twilight requested softly, edging closer and looking surprisingly earnest. It was true. Yeah, Rarity is right. I didn't trust Twilight. Even if I wanted to, my mind still remembered everything she'd done. I wasn't as nice and forgiving a pony as I wanted to be, which horrified me. Trust. To have that, we needed truth first. I made up my mind for once. "Then I can't keep secrets if I want you to trust me. There are, um, things you should know about," I finally admitted. Twilight and Fluttershy both stared at me and nodded, one looking apprehensive and the other concerned, respectively. This wasn't going to be pleasant. After a moment's hesitation, I just started from the top... * * * * * I told them everything, feeling a remarkable sense of Deja Vu while doing so; almost like it wasn't the first time I spilled my guts to these two mares. Our friends caught up to us just after I finished talking about the incident and went into how frustrated I'd become. It wasn't just the missing Elements of Harmony, but also Spike and the other two Crusaders as well. I momentarily wondered what brought all of them, but Big Mac silenced them with a sharp stare, and I just kept talking, happy to avoid the tangent. It was hard enough to start the first time. Stress, frustration, betrayal, female attention, the disks, the Nirru thing, Purdue, the glitches, my being a real pony... I covered everything until there was nothing left and I felt beyond empty. There was nothing in me, leaving me with a cold, hollow sensation inside. And there I sat, staring blankly at the ground with nothing but dead silence from everypony. I didn't bother hiding the links, so at least three of the mares knew what I was feeling. Although, by the expressions, I guessed that more than that knew. The disks were a big enough shock, I imagined, but then to find out that a pony had made the transition across the dimensions before and apparently not survived the experience... Everything else about me was just icing on the cake, I felt. "There are little things inside us?" Rarity asked again, still looking at her forehooves with a shocked expression. I nodded without looking up. "Yeah. They're inactive until you finalize the link, and only do passive operations without," I summarized, that tired sensation coming back again. Rainbow tilted to her side and checked the spot where I'd hit her earlier. I winced from the memory, but nodded, them having already heard that story. Well, minus the parts about her liking Applejack, me just excusing it to only wanting to be with Fluttershy and Twilight at the moment. I got the strange sensation that effectively everypony listening knew I was lying, but nopony said anything. "Yeah, it speeds up regeneration, so you'll heal a lot faster. It also actively fights infection and disease, so you won't get sick again. I can also find your location with them. Then, after I finalize the link, it establishes the mental link for communication and activates a lot of functions that I haven't finished analyzing yet," I confirmed, feeling like I had to keep talking or everything was going to fall apart. A light clapping noise sounded out as Big Mac closed the checkers board up, it having been forgotten for twenty minutes anyway. Fluttershy looked uncertain, fidgeting a meter or so away from me where she'd sat down when I started talking. "Um, I'm more worried about you. If there's something wrong, how do we fix it? I don't want you to be stressed out so much anymore," she whispered, sliding forward and pushing her muzzle under mine, lifting my head up again so I was looking at her. Fix? "I'm running scans right now to see if there's anything wrong with my cybernetic parts, but I... I might simply be going crazy. I don't know what to think anymore." That concept was a lot scarier out loud, I suddenly realized. I shivered, but she shifted forwards again and lightly hugged herself to my chest. Twilight watched her for a moment, her eyes softening a little before she stood and walked towards me as well. She froze less than a meter away from me as I turned my head to look at her. Hesitating, her right forehoof scrapped the ground a couple times before she shook her head and swallowed. "Um, through all of that, you talked a lot about, well, how frustrated you'd gotten, and you never technically forgave us for what happened. At least not me," she pointed out quietly, earning a frown from me. "Twilight, I said I wasn't ang-" I started to remind. "Ya also lied 'bout that. Ah'm guessin' yer actually angrier than ah coon danglin' by its tail, given yer reaction while talkin' earlier," Applejack interrupted, sharp eyes locking onto me fully as I looked away. Damn it. I forgot she was kinda like a living lie detector. Twilight waited patiently, but I just shrugged, looking back over at Applejack instead. "Yeah, I was upset. Sad that they'd made the herd without me, and did the exact thing they said they weren't ready for after sending me away. I... Yeah, I was angry, too. To be honest, I felt betrayed, but none of that really matters anymore. We have bigger issues than my feelings, both in the glitches, and the disks," I reminded, frowning towards the end at her. She knew that. She even knew that the same machines floated around inside of her, too. Didn't that bother her at all?! The lavender unicorn rapidly shook her head in front of me, however, tricking my focus back to her with the movement before I remembered it was awkward looking at her. "No, your feelings are important, too, Mender. We can't do anything about the information about the other pony until we can talk to Princess Celestia, and I'll help you run all the experiments we need on the disks later, but not until all of us talk about everything that's been happening," she corrected. I swallowed uneasily. Everything? Pinkie exploded into movement before I could even gather my wits enough to muster a response to that, hopping up above her friends before landing a few meters away from me into a cartwheel, shouting, "Yes! We need to get you cheerful and happy again! I've got to throw a super, duper, awesome herd formation party, and you can't be sad for it. So really, tell us what we need to do to cheer you up!" A pang stabbed through my chest, and I looked away from her as fast as I could. She froze as I realized the links were still open, and Fluttershy pushed even harder against my fur. "P-Pinkie, please don't, um, throw a party for that until Mender joins, too? If it's not too much trouble and you don't have everything set up yet. It, um, it's only going to remind us of how we screwed up," Fluttershy requested, turning and looking at her friend. Turning down the party? I hadn't anticipated that from either of them, but realized I'd never considered it a possibility. Normally one didn't just turn down a Pinkie Pie Party. Pinkie slowly sat down normally again, looking surprised for a moment before her muzzle slowly closed into a soft smile. She nodded towards me instead, relaxing there. She'd felt my reaction to it, I realized. She was actually agreeing not to do it? I stared at her for a moment before slowly smiling a little myself. Twilight snickered a moment later, looking pleased at the outcome regardless. "Yeah, I don't want to have a party either until all of us can enjoy it. Everything you said was important, Mender. We just can't deal with a majority of it yet, however. The information about the pony that the reports talked about will have to wait until we can meet with Princess Celestia. The disks need a lot more testing, but it's up to Applejack and Rarity if they want to get their links finalized. I... Well, I made up my mind about it finally, yesterday," she suddenly revealed. My ears perked up and I turned back to her fully, surprised by that. Normally, Twilight was indecisive about things revolving around me, and that sounded rather final, in one direction or the other. The lavender mare watched me for a moment, all attention pulled to herself as I waited patiently. Big Mac finally walked up to join the three mares watching, Apple Bloom trotting up alongside him before joining the two other Crusaders, standing next to Rarity. Nopony had gotten upset or angry about the disks, and there hadn't been any panic or hostility about the other news from the report I'd found. That only proved to me that this was a far different place than what resided in my memories. If we recovered from this and stayed friends, we could make it past anything, really. Twilight nodded to herself a moment later, as if finalizing the conclusion in her head before snapping her focus onto me. "I want you to finalize my disk," she finally stated. I was surprised, but prepared for either answer and tilted my head to her. She rapidly shook hers, probably anticipating my doubt. "No, I've thought it through for more than enough time, Mender. Fluttershy's right, of course. I'm not ever going to be with anypony else apart from this herd, so there's no reason to be scared of you. I want to be a full member of the herd and join in on everything, even if the links turn out to be detrimental. You and Fluttershy already have to deal with that, so me being the same changes nothing," she explained, apparently having indeed thought about it a lot. It was her decision of course, and admittedly, a part of me loved the idea of her completing the link. It felt like commitment, and her saying she wanted to be connected to me forever, which did a lot to warm my chest up. There was nothing else for it. I nodded, and she exhaled softly, apparently having been holding her breath. Silly mare. My left eye lit up as my menus flicked to life, scanners activating and locating the connection inside of her, matching the registration on the disk database inside of me. She gave a start, and I smiled lightly, realizing I probably looked weird with one eye glowing blue. "What's that, Mender?" Fluttershy asked, not showing the concern Twilight had a second ago. There was no worry coming from her at all, and my smile widened, enjoying the sensation of her trusting me. "I saw something earlier that I wanted to see if it worked or not. A second," I explained, flicking Twilight's data readout into my left eye. Then I activated the mental ping to do a status update. It was something I couldn't do on an individual not with the full link. My smile shifted into a smirk as the 'are you sure' message from before popped up again, exactly like when I had activated Pinkie's disk. Guess I technically didn't have to be touching them after all. With no more ceremony, I hit yes and the link activated a second later, lighting up and registering Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic. I shifted back to a soft smile towards her, left eye going dark as I mentally greeted, "Welcome, Twilight." Her eyes widened drastically, easily seeing my mouth not moving as Pinkie burst into a fit of mental giggling, and Dash tossed in a mental snicker. "This... This is what your mental communication is like?" Twilight asked, both in her head and out loud as she looked back and forth between Pinkie and me. Fluttershy rested her cheek against my chest, but nodded gently with her eyes still closed, 'feeling' Twilight without needing to look over at her. "Yes. It's amazing for other reasons, though. Emotions can be felt through it, too," the yellow pegasus mentally whispered, a flare of affection and happiness drifting from her and aimed right at Twilight, who outright shuddered and blushed. "Oh, oh wow. It's sorta like how my mom described the soul linking," Twilight muttered, looking slightly dazed. Heh, Fluttershy's feelings were quite the inverse to her normal interactions, running strong and deep with enough force to overwhelm. Being used to it, however, I loved the sensation and missed the mare greatly over the last week! Rainbow coughed lightly, snapping everypony's attention to her in an instant after the reasonable silence. "Ah, no, that link is, well, considerably more intense," she admitted. I exhaled softly and looked away from her, awkwardly rubbing at my right temple. Everypony else shot her skeptical looks, and she flattened her ears back a second later. "What?! It's not a full link, I already said I was sorry, and it was an accident!" she protested an instant later, earning an eye roll from Applejack. I honestly hoped this wasn't detrimental to their relationship, especially if Rainbow ever actually asked her out. That thought earned me an annoyed glare as I pushed it towards the cyan mare in particular. I sighed as I thought of the additional complications involved therein, but then gave a start as I felt a burst of affection from Twilight instead. Eh?! The distinct feeling of being suddenly pleased about my honesty shot into my chest as she smiled and slipped in next to Fluttershy against me, leaning up and gently kissing me on the lips. The feedback loop took her by surprise an instant later as I kissed back, her undoubtedly feeling the hot sensations of herself kissing me as I did. She gave a stifled moan into the kiss instead of backing away, however, a newfound sense of trust dancing through her emotions. Now that she realized I had been honest about the situation involving Rainbow, I think she suddenly realized how honest I had been with her so far. Did that mean she was starting to trust me more? My mind blanked slightly as things distinctly 'more' drifted from her emotions, her wrapping her forelegs around my neck in order to pull me down into her fully, her body heating up against mine. Uh oh. Snapping out of it, everything around me came back into focus as I backed up a few millimeters, coughing lightly. Twilight looked dazed and slightly confused until I gestured to the side at all her friends, giving us a totally stunned look. Well, except for Big Mac, who just lightly smiled. Oh, and Rarity who looked coy. Pinkie looked delighted as well, but I'd anticipated that. The CMC were surprisingly blushing furiously, especially Scootaloo who had rotated around completely and was now pouting in the other direction. Okay, so maybe it was really just Applejack who looked shocked. I intentionally ignored Rainbow, of course, and the slowly rising wings on her back. "Ah! Err, sorry! Um, I'm still, uh... It's these post-estrus hormones!" Twilight whined, blushing furiously as she shrank down in my embrace. Fluttershy smiled and pulled her closer, hugging her softly while I held onto both mares. Rarity scoffed, however, walking over to us with an air of amusement, Spike tentatively following her, but keeping his eyes on Twilight instead, as if she might burst into flames in rage or something if he wasn't careful. Actually, she could technically do that, apparently... "Twilight, you simply must not be afraid of your emotions, Dear. You were romantically embracing a stallion whom you care very deeply for, and he for you. Feeling that and wanting more is natural, and you can't be ashamed of that!" she scolded in a lighthearted manner. Natural? Did she just use a sentence involving 'natural' in reference to me? Huh. That was new. "Regardless, these little things in our bodies don't change nothin'. It ain't like you knew 'bout' em, an' they certainly haven't hurt us yet! Ah say yer fine," Applejack suddenly cut in, thankfully snapping the topic out of the embarrassing directions it had been plummeting. I smiled softly towards her, and she tipped her hat to me. Well, this was turning out better than anticipated so far. Instead of relaxing, however, I turned to Rarity. Her expression was softer as she examined her right forehoof. I couldn't read her beyond that, deciding she looked either slightly relieved, or slightly shocked still. She hadn't taken it well at all. "It won't change me or make all my fur fall out or anything, right?" she asked without looking up, as if feeling my eyes on her. "Not a thing. They don't touch vitamins or minerals, only repairing tissue when needed and fighting foreign agents in your body, such as infection and sickness," I assured, trying to smile warmly towards her. I didn't even know if it was possible for me to make them remove fur in the first place, if I was trying! She stared at her hoof for another moment before sighing and nodding to herself, setting it back down onto the loose dirt that composed the path through the orchard. "Well, I suppose it will have to do, then. Not getting sick will be a boon, I believe," she muttered, giving me an uncertain gaze that made me feel distinctly sad that I couldn't make her happy. "Hey, you won't get behind on your work this winter if you don't get sick again! But then I won't get to cook you breakfast in bed or-" Sweetie suddenly started to lament. Wait, cook?! Oh hell! Rarity glared back over at the filly, shutting her up instantly and causing her to slip backwards a bit, shrinking. "That's quite enough, young lady. You're already in a lot of trouble, so don't press it," Rarity reminded pointedly, causing me to shiver. Yikes! "Aww, but you told me I cou-" the filly tried to retort. "I told you no such thing! My permission extended towards 'talking' to Mender about your future and seriously considering what his reply was. Nowhere in that is 'poisoning' him, you'll note!" the pearly unicorn shot back in a surprisingly hostile fashion. She was more than a little scary, but she had a point. Sweetie was a little, well, strange in that regard. Well, no, more desperate than anything. Now we just had to see if any feelings for me at all remained in two years’ time. A sudden thought danced into my head about Rarity, however, causing me to perk. Everypony looked over at me as my right eye lit up, projecting my data screens from it as I flicked through them with my free left hoof, the other busy hugging two mares to my barrel, of course. It didn't take me long to get back to the actual disk documentation, and slide down to the functions I could input into them. It took a decent amount of scrolling, but I finally found the function I remembered seeing earlier. "Ah, I forgot. This function actually controls the minerals and vitamins supplemented into, or removed from your system, if I had the full link to you. If you were truly worried, I could use this function to doubly make sure it doesn't mess with any delicate vitamin balances, and whatnot," I offered the mare, looking back to her as she stared in surprise at the writing explaining its use. "W-Wait, um, when you say supplemented, you mean it can add vitamins to my system? In specific spots?" she inquired, eyes locking onto the 'location' field in the arguments I could pass along. "Er, well yeah. I'm not a doctor, though, so I've no idea how much to add, or where to apply it, or even what to use, so I was just going to ignore that," I spoke, mostly to myself, I noticed, as Rarity got a faraway look before smiling softly. I raised my eyebrow towards her, but she suddenly focused back on me specifically, grinning this time. "I'll get you a full list! If you could add things directly to my coat and mane, I shall not only forgive this intrusion into my body, but reward you handsomely!" she assured, apparently totally forgetting about her disgust. Or at least she was giving me the benefit of the doubt now and trying to see the positives. Smiling, I gave her a steady nod, which she returned, now looking pleased and managing to make me feel significantly better. Applejack shot her a disbelieving glance, but snickered afterwards and shook her head. "Anywho, Big Mac an' Ah need ta get back ta work. If Ah'm leavin' fer ah few days tomorrow, we gotta catch up on tha farm work. Ah think these ponies have ah bit ta talk about, anyways," she deduced, gesturing towards the three of us as Fluttershy nodded rapidly. Rainbow finally grinned and nodded towards her friend, agreeing with, "Heck yeah! So leave 'em alone for a bit or I'll toss you into the lake! In the meantime, I'll be helping you catch up with the farm work, AJ." Ha! The lake was a ways from here now, but she probably could pull that off. Applejack probably had a lot of work, however, and I kinda doubted Rainbow could pay much attention to 'guarding' us after she got busy. "Thank ya, Sugar. We gotta work hard ta catch up an' make up fer lost time after Ah take off again, so yer help's much appreciated!" Applejack thanked, earning a soft blush and nod from her 'friend'. Although, I also noticed she knocked the 'cube' part off of Sugarcube, and wondered at its significance. "I agree. Let the rest of us depart and give them some privacy. Oh, and any one of us are here to talk if you need it, Big Mac," Rarity spoke up as she trotted past him on the way towards the exit. He nodded back, of course, and for a moment, I impishly wondered what he'd think of the 'toy' she'd had crafted in his likeness. No, I was nicer than that, though. Sweetie smiled happily and made a beeline towards me instead despite the questionable glances of her friends. Rarity made a harsh clearing of her throat, however, freezing the small filly in her tracks. "Aww! But I just wanted to hug him!" she whined, turning to face her sister again. "You're still grounded," Rarity returned simply before a blue aura lit up her horn. The white filly drifted into the air in a pout, slowly following her sister to the rhythm of Scootaloo's snickering. "We'll see ya tomorrow before you leave, Mender!" Scootaloo called out, waving to me happily before bursting off after Rainbow instead, leaving Apple Bloom to trot after her siblings at a slower pace, waving to me as she left. Well, huh. Only Spike remained, to my surprise. I would have thought he'd have left with Rarity, but instead he stood looking at Twilight. "Can I do anything, Twi? I know you've been, well, upset," he asked, looking a bit concerned for the mare. All three of us smiled at him in our own way, Twilight's looking downright grateful. "You've been a huge help, Spike. Go with Rarity and give her some help with the cleaning. Since AJ needs all the help she can get, too, you're very much needed back at the library," she assured, causing him to perk up and nod, smiling to the lavender mare. Heh. I could understand a desire to be useful and needed, that was for sure. "Okay, Twi! All three of you should come back when you're done. I'll get supper ready for everypony," he assured before turning and sprinting after the white unicorn. I smiled as he left before relaxing, letting myself slide sideways onto the grass next to the path and pulling both mares down with me. Fluttershy gave a surprised squeak, but Twilight started giggling as she pulled the yellow mare further down onto her, both of them pressing into my chest. It was just the three of us now. Like it should have been for Twilight to find out in the first place, but I guess that couldn't be helped. Relaxing, I went into the last little bit of my 'truth' session, the only other bits of information being just for them instead...
Chapter 62It was rather peaceful, I decided. Things moving forward rather than stagnant like a lukewarm swamp. It felt like I was making progress, rather than just doing the same thing over and over again. Of course, if I had expected different results each time, I guess the joke was on me. We walked back through the town square side by side. Fluttershy was pushed tight into my right shoulder, affection levels at an all-time high, which I definitely wasn't complaining about. Twilight was close enough to my left side to feel her body heat on my fur, which was a good thing considering how nippy it was getting. Winter was coming. "So it's agreed? All of us try the trust exercises that Rarity told me about? In the meantime, we'll try to, well, get more comfortable with Mender during the trip to Canterlot?" Twilight asked, more for confirmation than anything. I could almost feel the 'checklist' being built in her mind, suddenly having a front row seat to the event. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the lavender mare and earning an eye twitch. "Y-Yeah, I know. Fine, I'll get more comfortable with Mender," she corrected a moment later, causing me to chuckle. Sure, it was awkward knowing exactly what she was talking about, but the exchange was amusing nonetheless. "You don't have to pressure yourself into anyth-" I started to remind, before the lavender mare quickly turned and pushed a hoof against the front of my muzzle, causing me to stop walking. Seriously? Were they really going to insist on this? "Yes, we're insisting on this. You told us the truth about being hurt, so we're going to act on it and make it up to you. A lot. Resisting will only make us try even harder until you feel like the most loved stallion in Equestria," Twilight retorted, smirking suddenly as I blushed. W-What?! Fluttershy's eyes widened a little, looking over at me with a faint flush to her cheeks as I blinked in surprise. "L-Love?" I asked, not quite sure I interpreted that correctly. Twilight's eyes shot open a bit as she suddenly realized where I'd gotten snagged up, and then all three of us were blushing. She looked away a moment later, and then nodded to herself. "Yeah. I think we're well on our way to that. Loving each other, that is. I... I'm not entirely sure what the signs to look for are or how to measure it, but..." She trailed off, and the yellow mare on the other side of me smiled softly through her pink tint, offering up, "You feel it?" Oh. Twilight smiled to her and nodded before leaning in and pushing into both of us, kissing Fluttershy's neck, then mine in the same spot on the other side. Love. That word terrified me. He had said he was in love with Keela, and look where that got him. They were pulled apart, and he was introduced to all new levels of agony because of it, just as bad as the torture itself. He'd set himself up for it, and knew that. It twisted and corrupted inside of him, blackening until he blamed her for it instead. If you never love, you never risk losing love. It's simple and straightforward. It's also lonely, cold, and empty. I was tired of being all three of those. It was spontaneous, but I pulled Twilight closer and moved her to the right. She looked confused until I pushed her muzzle right into line with Fluttershy's. Both mares blushed but tentatively pecked each other on the mouth. Feeling heated, I moved in at the same time and pushed into the sides of each of their muzzles, right where their lips connected. Twilight was surprised, but Fluttershy just melted into it, her muzzle pushing into both of ours at once in a wonderful, warm, happy triangle. Twilight gave in a moment later and relaxed into the shared kiss, just enjoying each other's warmth. A few seconds later, we parted, and I smiled to both of them before gesturing back towards the library again. Yes, moving forwards, even if it was out of my comfort zone. Them treating me was going to be awkward for a while. Twilight nodded and trotted back towards her house, while Fluttershy reapplied herself to my side, kissing my shoulder before following me towards the large tree, turned library. I exhaled softly, and idly wondered what the future would bring, not thinking of anything in particular... * * * * * Things seemed to be speeding up, it would seem. A while back, I was just itching to get out of the hospital, tired of being stuck in one place for days at a time. It felt like things were just going to go faster and faster until everything careened out of control and fell apart. Of course, that was just my gut feeling talking. I didn't know where things were headed, or what would happen, but at least I had a few clear goals. I had places and ponies to protect now! Speaking of, one was right here. Glancing back over my shoulder, I watched Fluttershy shift about and gently place a few more things in her suitcase. She was such a careful and relaxed packer compared to Twilight. It was nice to just watch the grace she moved with. Of course, I didn't mind watching other things either, as she swayed while she walked. Not that she'd complain, I realized, but we'd likely be late. I was a lot more comfortable with her now! How could I not be after yesterday morning? And the shower after, of course. Oh, then that 'supply run' that evening. Rarity certainly was amused when it took almost an hour. Oh, and of course when we got back home. Twilight's was still a mess, even after seven hours of cleaning, so she requested one more day to tidy up. I suspected Twilight was nervous about something else, but Fluttershy was very, very quick to offer her place again. Then there was this morning when we woke up, and again in the shower. Snickering quietly to myself, I slipped up next to her and gently kissed her shoulder. This time she didn't even jump, instead smiling peacefully over at me. It was beyond relaxing. "Did you get the first bag packed?" she asked quietly, to which I smiled and nodded towards her. It had been fairly straightforward. The 'just in case' winter clothing for two took up a good chunk of the bag, and I was surprised when she'd insisted packing a hat and scarf for me as well, but it was all tucked in nicely. Beyond that, her toothbrush, toothpaste, my newly retrieved toothbrush, and her brush and trimming scissors were all safe inside it. She'd mentioned wanting to trim up my coat and mane a bit while we were gone. "Yeah, it's all packed. Is there anything else you want to bring?" I asked, smiling towards her as she wobbled back and forth, thinking about it. "Hmm. Not that I can think of. I mean, I really don't need much, of course. This and my carry-on saddlebags are enough," she murmured, glancing down at them and checking once more what they contained. Normally I'd think it a bit overkill to bring a full first aid kit and trauma package, but knowing my luck, I'd actually go off the stupid cliff this time. Yes, I said it! Do it, I dare you! Fluttershy giggled, looking up long enough from her packing to catch my defiant thought. "You won't need to worry about that. You can't fall off the city. Princess Celestia has an enchantment under it that works like a nice, big safety net," she explained. Oh. Well, that was a perfectly good waste of anger and defiance. "Huh. Wish I would have known about that during the chandelier accident. I would have just ridden it outside and bailed..." I muttered, rolling my eyes slightly to the sound of more of her giggling. Oh well. I could listen to that in particular all day. I smiled and nuzzled her affectionately, earning more of the happy noises as I caught that little spot under her ears where she was ticklish. She shivered and stamped her hooves down twice before dancing away from me wearing a grin. I smiled back before she ducked forwards again and caught my mouth up in a soft kiss. Sighing into it, I pushed back, and she very eagerly deepened it without hesitation, groaning in contentment as I let her tongue slip into my mouth. Oh! Wait, was that ticklish or erogenous? I could never remember. Oh well. She was almost insatiable regardless! She backed up a moment later, flushed and with a string of saliva between our muzzles. "Oh, I wish we had more time. You're just so... Mmm. No, we can't be late. Um, maybe on the train. Yeah. Uh, anyway! I'll grab these saddlebags, and you get the suitcase!" she requested before scampering off, flustered and blushing. I tried not to snicker as I lifted her forgotten saddlebags up and slid them onto my back, hooking the rolling suitcase with a barrier as I followed after her. Hmm. Six seconds, this time. Eight and a half later, I heard her whimper, and watched her slip back inside, blushing furiously. I smiled politely to her and gestured back to her saddlebags as I walked up, earning a nervous smile and wobble. "Oh dear. I'm just a mess. This isn't like me at all, but... I kinda like it. I don't want to leave your side!" she exclaimed, falling into a walking position next to me and lifting her saddlebags off my back with her right hoof. I stopped walking long enough for her to situate them properly on herself. Normally I'd just carry them too, but my leg was bothering me after the surprising amount of exercise the last day or so. Cleaning, I mean, of course. Twilight's library was a horrible mess. How the mare could manage that in 'only' a week was astonishing. We still didn't clean up the entire basement, even after working on it for over three hours last night! "Relax, Fluttershy. You know I don't mind, and very much like you hanging around me," I reminded, winking towards her as we started walking again, me shutting her cottage door behind us. No flock of birds greeted us this time, having already been alerted to our departure for a few days. I turned back around only to be greeted by my blushing fillyfriend as she smiled happily at me, looking more composed. "Thank you, Mender. I've never felt this, well, relaxed around a stallion before. I think it's because I trust you so much. With my life," she suggested, those beautiful teal eyes softening as they looked at me. That did it. She set off the ravenous protection urges inside of me, and I felt my chest heat up as I walked towards her. It didn't help that I was bigger than her, and she so easily slipped into a more submissive role, being perfectly content deciding that she was 'mine'. It didn't set well with me until I realized she liked saying it for some reason, a heated jolt going through her and spiking her heart rate up every time she did. Then it became sort of like role-playing, which I could definitely do. I didn't know the intimate details about their culture, but a happy Fluttershy was easy enough for me to understand! The urge to guard her against the world set her off again in return, feeding a strange possessive to submissive feedback loop between us. The more I wanted to guard her and keep her safe, the safer she felt with me, and the happier I got. For once, the out of control spiral was in my favor with happiness instead. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you, Fluttershy. You know that," I returned, walking past her and letting her slip up next to me again. I don't know why she said she wanted to stay by my side. She already had been for the past twenty hours or so, so she shouldn't have a 'want' for it. If anything, I thought she'd be getting tired of me by now, but I guessed not. We walked in silent, self-assured comfort towards Ponyville's rather modest train station, with her tucked tight into my side as best she could while wearing the saddlebags. I was surprised at the amount of smiles we got towards us. They were the warm, pleased smiles, too. I think it was the first time I'd actually walked with Fluttershy like a coltfriend would. Maybe it was just me, but it felt like a warm bubble was around us, like everypony could 'see' that Fluttershy and I were together. A couple. Both of us made it to the station without trial, despite us both blushing a bit. The one drawback so far of sharing an empathy link was the feedback thing. Fluttershy picked up my rather 'possessive' thoughts halfway there, and instead of them driving her away, she actually pushed a little closer. I kinda felt sorry for her right saddlebag, now. "Ah, Fluttershy! Mender! You made it, and ten minutes early even," Rarity suddenly spoke out to our right as we rounded the station's back entry and arrived on the loading platform. We both gave a little jump before I smiled over at the pearly unicorn, who sat politely next to the train, waving at us. Spike was next to her, looking uncharacteristically happy for somepony who'd just hauled all the luggage that he was leaning against. I took a random guess that it was the purple tail oh so subtly brushed up against his as he rested there. "Yeah, we're here. It was weird having the attendant just wave us through," I muttered, glancing back towards the front of the building. Apart from Rarity, we were the first ones here? Seriously? I'd expected Twilight to be parked on top of, or in the train already with a sleeping roll or tent. This was a personal summons from Princess Celestia herself, after all. Rarity giggled, followed by, "Well, this is a personal summons from Princess Celestia herself. Besides, they know who you are now, Mender." Her accidental similar wording made me do a double take, and I momentarily was paranoid that the crafty unicorn had developed mind reading. "Mmm, yes. It's not a bad thing, you know. Being with, um, a hero is really kind of exciting," Fluttershy murmured. Err, wait a second... Smirking towards her, I nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is. Thank you for the honor, Fluttershy," I returned, bowing politely to her. Rarity smirked instantly while Spike started snickering. Predictably, Fluttershy's cheeks lit up as her eyes widened a little. "O-Oh, I meant you! Oh my... I'm not a hero, Mender!" she refuted. I'd prepared for this moment, and was thankful that I had the book in my saddlebags. Digging to my left, I pulled out my historical reference guide on legends and historical events of Equestria, and flipped through it to the recent appendage to the Elements of Harmony. Fluttershy pounced me and the book before I could get there, however, lightly closing it in my hooves and rapidly shaking her head, blushing furiously. "I don't care what they, um, say about it. I don't feel like a hero," she explained. That, I could associate with. But she was ruthless in squashing it with me, and paybacks were apparently a happy sugar-bowl of tasty goodness. "Oh, I don't care what they say either. Because you're hero enough for me already, Fluttershy," I pointed out, smiling and lightly kissing her on her now very red cheek. "Oh, you two are just adorable!" Rarity chirped, directing both of our attention back to her. Apparently, she'd grabbed the closest thing to her and squished it like a giant teddy at our display of affection. Spike definitely looked like the happiest asphyxiation victim I'd ever seen, however, as she hugged him to her chest. A moment later, she saw where we were looking and tinted ever so slightly pink, setting Spike down gently again and steadying him as he wobbled back and forth. I could have sworn I saw little hearts popping up in his eyes, too. "Oh, sorry, Spikey-wikey. I got exuberant," she apologized properly, brushing her mane to the side again and making sure it was back properly adjusted. "Oh, it's okay, Rarity! You can use me as a teddy any day," he assured, still sounding a bit dizzy. Maybe I should check him over for brain damage from the lack of oxygen? I snickered to myself while contemplating it. Of course, if it turned out he really did have brain damage or some sort of hemorrhaging later, I'd feel like a total jerk. A light groan in the distance stopped me, the tone and voice sounding oh so familiar. I rotated instantly towards the entry to the train station again in time to see Twilight round the corner, dragging not one, but four suitcases along behind her. Ah! A surprised Daisy barely managed to squeak and hop out of the way as I ran past again, shooting out the front of the building and sliding to a stop in front of a very startled Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes softened a moment later and she smiled as she almost instantly recognized me and eased up as I took three of the four suitcases from her. Her mane looked a bit frazzled, and I wondered if she'd slept very well last night. She hadn't even thought to use her magic to haul the suitcases, so I guessed that was a no. "Oh, hey, Mender. Am I glad to see you. Ugh. I... I'm a little scared to admit how badly I've slept with you gone," Twilight muttered, blushing lightly. The blush worsened as I kissed her cheek and gave her jaw a nuzzle as Fluttershy flew up, finally catching up to me. "Well, the three of us will be together tonight in, uh, wherever we're staying. So you won't have to worry about that. You also could have said something," I pointed out, getting a firm grip on the cluster of suitcases that she'd tied together. Yeah, she had to have been tired... "Oh dear. Have you not been sleeping well, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked gently as I hauled the suitcases up the ramp and back inside the building, Daisy smirking at me in amusement from the line now. She was remarkably easy to spot with her green mane and tail, with a light purple coat. Wait, there was something I was supposed to be remembering about- Oh! I shifted my path instead and made a beeline for her. Her eyes widened a bit as I smiled, and she ended up looking to either side of her to check to make sure she was my target. "Hey, Daisy, could I speak with you once you get through the line?" I asked gently. She tilted her head, looking a little startled but nodded. "Oh, of course. Actually, now that I think about it, I kinda wanted to talk to you, too," she suddenly spoke up. I raised an eyebrow towards her, and she giggled, adding, "I saw the fliers." Oh hell. "Well, I should probably warn you that the Apples have reserved my expertise for a few weeks after we get back from this trip," I cautioned, averting my gaze after. This was awkward. It would have been much better to wait to distribute those fliers. Another giggle. Eh? "Oh, I know that, Silly. I'm one of the ponies that are helping for some bits on the side. My whole herd is," she explained simply as she took another step forward in the line. I deftly avoided the pony who just left the ticket booth, then smiled and nodded to Twilight and Fluttershy, who slipped up next to me a moment later with two curious expressions. "Ah, that doesn't really surprise me. Actually, what I had wanted was to ask you about that later, if you didn't mind. Err, and of course, when you have the time. As you know, I'm in a herd now, and kinda, well, inexperienced in such things. You're already in an established herd, and I was kind of hoping to get a bit of advice on how to make it work smoother?" I explained. Fluttershy and Twilight might as well hear this, too. Speaking of, both mares perked up, Fluttershy starting to blush lightly, but Twilight simply smiled and nodded towards me. "That's a really good idea, Mender. Could we be there, too?" she asked quietly, looking over at Daisy as well. The flower mare was smiling happily at this point, and nodded twice. "Of course! I'll be back in Ponyville in time for the fall festivals, and then I'm working on the same project as Mender for the Apples, so any time then," she assured. "It's set, then. Thank you, Daisy," I agreed, giving her a happy nod before heading back towards the train platform. Just in time, too, as the mare ahead of her finished getting her ticket and Daisy moved up to talk to the teller. Rarity gave all three of us a pleased smile as we walked back out onto the loading platform, me feeling significantly better now that I had scheduled some 'herd tutoring' from an expert. My ears twitched a little as I heard Twilight whispering behind me, but I respected the two mares' privacy and shifted them back ahead. Spike slid off the pile of luggage and ran up, helping me with the suitcases as I got close. They weren't too heavy, but there were a lot of them, which surprised me. One also made a rustling noise like lots of papers as he got it hoisted up with the others. Well, Twilight knew what she was doing, so who was I to question? Well, most of the time she knew what she was doing. Hmm, well, at least when it came to non-relationship stuff. Otherwise, she was as clueless as I was, which really said something considering I came from a war-torn dystopia with a breeding problem. Giving a grunt, I pushed the last suitcase up onto the platform as Spike balanced it carefully, and then nodded to him, grinning. He shot me a grin back and lowered the palm of his claw, which I bumped my hoof into before rotating in place. His timing was amazing as he slipped off the stack of luggage and smoothly landed on my back as I walked back to the mares. "It's not that much! Besides, two of the suitcases are for the presentation I need to give to Princess Celestia about everything we've learned," Twilight continued, apparently having been in the middle of being grilled by Rarity when I rejoined. Ah, that explained the paper sounds. "It is important. I have the sneaking suspicion that the official reason we're all being called to Canterlot is to properly establish Dimensional Regulations," I interrupted, voicing my suspicion from the last couple days. Rarity seemed to ponder that for a moment before simply nodding politely. Twilight, however, looked significantly more flustered. "S-Seriously? I don't think I'm prepared enough for that!" she squeaked out. Fluttershy didn't miss a beat in leaning in and brushing lightly against her right side, earning a hesitant smile and exhale. "Well, we have a two hour train ride. Unfortunately. We could get prepared during it. Please tell me you still remember that anti-nausea spell?" I asked, shivering as I remembered my first introduction to train travel. That distracted Twilight, as I'd hoped, and she giggled at the memory before nodding. "Of course! I never forget a spell after I look it up. I'll cast it on you once we all get settled in a cabin. Speaking of, we appear to be missing three, still," she suddenly pointed out, looking back towards the station entrance. Oh yeah, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and- "Oooh, three?! Who else is coming?!" Pinkie asked exuberantly from my immediate right. I shot around in time to see her all of a third of a meter from me and yelped, almost stumbling sideways as I slid away from her now mirthful form. Twilight twitched, then slowly rotated back around to see Pinkie standing on top of the suitcase I'd set down next to Rarity. Oddly, the pearly unicorn herself didn't even look fazed, and Fluttershy just smiled and nodded towards the pink one, as if this were perfectly normal. Oh, wait, it was. Exhaling, I shook my head and whacked Pinkie in the shoulder with my tail, earning another burst of giggling from her. "Don't scare me like that! Sheesh. How you got that close without setting my proximity sensors off, I have no idea," I muttered, frowning at the concept. Twilight gave me a skeptical look as well, to which I just shrugged. "That's easy, Silly! Those are for scary threats and enemies. I'm the friendliest, nicest, happiest pony around, and they thought so, too, so they trust me!" she declared. I stared blankly at her, wondering if I should try to explain that they're not sentient in the first place, so couldn't make a character judgment like that. But then I realized that, given whom she was, she might be right, so I just dropped it to preserve my brain cells. "That just leaves Applejack and Rainbow, naturally. Fashionably late as usual, it would seem," Rarity chirped, sounding more amused than irritated. Snickering, I nodded as well. "Together, even. Why, you don't suppose...?" I let out, allowing it to just hang there between us all. Twilight shot me a knowing smirk, but Rarity gasped outright. "Oh, how scandalous! Why, you don't suppose they've been secretly seeing each other this whole time, do you?!" she asked, taking the bait and running with it, as anticipated. Twilight snickered but shook her head a moment later. "I doubt it. Both of them are too stubborn for that. Rainbow probably overslept after her morning exercises, and Applejack is probably being pried away from the closest apple tree by a crowbar, as we speak," she deduced, giving me rather amusing mental images. Not that Big Mac would need a crowbar when he was capable of uprooting the tree and just carrying her and it over here. "True. She's probably working up until the last minute. She felt horrible that she was leaving Big Mac for a few days to do all that work by himself! I bet she-" Fluttershy started to explain. My newly programmed Rainbow Proximity Alert went off a moment later, and I sighed. Prior to last week, I never imagined I'd have to make a proximity alarm for one of the links built to a tolerance window of a tenth of a second. My world spun as she smashed into me in full landing dive. We flipped once through the air, me lightly pushing Spike towards the luggage as we spun. Lazily, both of us hung at the top point of her arc, her upside down and wincing, and me simply glaring straight ahead before kicking sideways. I rotated and caught her carefully before we smashed into the platform again, six meters from where I started. I landed on my back, of course, and she landed on my stomach. Thankfully, the station was still rather empty. Being indirectly responsible for somepony else's fractured skull and concussion would have been a bad way to start this trip. "Woo! Hey, thanks for the awesome catch, Mender! I knew you'd make a good pillow," the cyan pegasus added, sitting up on top of me and smirking in amusement. She shifted to surprise a heartbeat later as a purple aura snagged her under the front legs and tossed her backwards into the luggage pile, Spike barely rolling out of the way in time. "Please refrain from using our coltfriend as a landing platform in the future, Dash. While I know it's tempting and he wouldn't be hurt from it, it's reckless and could injure a third party," Twilight warned, giving a firm stare back towards the pegasus as she crawled out from the now spilled luggage. She snapped back around to me a moment later, then smiled, sliding in where Rainbow was a moment before and resting against my barrel gently. I smiled down at her, and then widened my eyes as Fluttershy moved in and rested against my right side, tucking herself into us fully as well. Rainbow trotted back up, followed by a slower moving Rarity and an amused Pinkie Pie. "Hey! I don't get a hug, too?" the cyan mare asked, sticking her tongue out towards me before ruffling her mane back up again, making sure it was sufficiently 'messy' still. Hard to believe that the crash actually made it neater. "That's not a hug, Silly! They're snuggling. Like this!" Pinkie pointed out before promptly tackling Rainbow sideways. I didn't see where they went through Rarity, of course, who simply moved her tail out of the way and resumed politely smiling at me. Heh. With all of us together, this was going to be a fun trip... * * * * * It was an interesting sensation, being able to 'feel' Twilight's magic gently massaging and keeping my stomach steady, despite any motion the train would do. It was pleasant, and a little tingly, I decided. Twilight herself rested to my right, and Fluttershy to my left, all three of us on the bench on the left side of the door coming in. Rarity, Spike, and Applejack sat opposite of us, in that order. Despite there being extra room on both benches, Pinkie and Rainbow sat on the floor, looking perfectly content with their choice. What I was most surprised with was that, despite the fact that this was a presentation, everypony was listening perfectly intently to Twilight talk. I would have figured the two on the floor would have fallen asleep by now. Maybe they had and were just amazingly talented at faking it? Regardless, I blamed the subject matter. "That's everything we know so far. In summary, they're made out of natural crystals found here, magically enchanted, loaded up with nanites, and then synced with Mender. After that, if a pony touches them, they copy the pony's Cutie Mark and register them in Mender's database. If he confirms them for full connection, they're then shared with the rest of the 'network', so to speak. The nanites do a variety of things to the host, including regeneration and poison filtration from the bloodstream, and also allow us to talk to each other mentally. Further, they can do other things upon Mender's request, as detailed already," Twilight finished, relaxing after she let the last page slide over on her presentation board. I simply listened in, keeping my eyes closed as I relaxed between my two mares. It was everything I'd mentioned, but expanded in amazing levels of detail as she told them every function the disks had, and their composition. None of their heart rates betrayed anything, and I was uncertain how a few would respond. Fluttershy and Twilight, of course, were the image of perfect tranquility, having already known about it for one, and not really caring for another. I was also fairly certain Pinkie was aware and also didn't care. That just left Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow's heart rate indicated that she might yet be close to falling asleep if left to her own devices, so I assumed she was also in that 'don't care' list. That left just Rarity and Applejack, who I didn't have the capability to remotely read heart rate on... "So, basically yer sayin' that, if he wanted ta, Mender could essentially take complete control o' our bodies an' use us like ah bunch o' fancy puppets?" Applejack herself asked a moment later. I opened my eyes at that, noticing her just staring blankly at me from across the room, with a nervous looking Spike next to her and edging slowly closer to Rarity, who rested with her eyes closed. "Well, essentially, yeah," Twilight confirmed, blinking and looking away uneasily. Applejack stared at me for a bit longer before looking back at Twilight's chart. "Huh. Interestin'. What about you, Rarity? Ya had ah problem with it when he first told us," she inquired. Idly, I wondered what she was doing, but contented myself to just watch. Rarity smiled, however, still keeping her eyes relaxed and closed. "Yes, I did. I was very concerned that the nanites would do something to me automatically. I hold no such concerns of Mender doing anything intentionally, however," she assured. I blushed at that, admittedly surprised at her full-blown trust of me. Applejack smiled at that, to my further surprise. "Spoken as true as ya could get. Ah was just worried. Ah think everypony 'ere agrees we ain't in danger from Mender, o' all ponies," she assured gently. Eh, what's that supposed to mean?! There was a round of snickers, so apparently everypony knew except for me, and I blushed a little more. Twilight smiled after and nodded to everypony before replacing the large pad on the presentation board. Half an hour of travel and she already got through a full subject. She must be delighted. Heh. She situated the new notes before smiling and announcing, "Okay, the next topic is Mender's designs for a device capable of scanning for, analyzing, and blocking extradimensional travel, and what we're going to need to do to get one built and running!" She forgot to mention that 'theoretical' part in the title. Oh well. Settling in to watch the next presentation, I was suddenly distracted by a light pinging sensation. Eh? Keela? Switching my eyes over to record mode, I slipped inside myself and turned Keela's communication line on instead. "Um, Mender? Do you have a moment?" the Keldarian in question whispered, sounding both tired and sad at the same time. Uh oh. "Of course, Keela. Are you okay? What's wrong?" I asked, 'sitting down' inside of my head as I talked openly to her. Pity we didn't have mental video chat, too. She might have found that amusing. There was a slight delay before she sighed lightly and continued with, "I just, well, I need someone to, Err... Somepony to talk to for a little bit." Ah, so she was lonely? "Are you okay? I'm here to talk if you need me," I assured, relaxing and idly watching Twilight's presentation without audio while waiting for Keela's replies. Keela sighed softly again and hesitated for a moment before explaining, "I know this isn't the best topic and you probably don't care, but... It's my sister, Nirru." My eyes widened a bit, and then I frowned, a bit of a chill settling in my chest. What did she do now? Sensing my irritation in the silence, Keela quickly continued with, "I know, she's a complete monster. I can't lie to myself anymore, and... I'm an idiot for doing it in the first place. I love her, and she took care of me growing up. She was all I had, and protected me after our mother passed on and they wanted me to be a breeder... She..." I listened, for what it was worth, but sympathy just wasn't coming for her sister. The fact that, if it hadn't been for Keela, I would have crushed Nirru's skull and not lost a second of sleep over it weighed heavily into the decision. "Yeah. I'm sorry. She killed you, and tried to kill everyone you love. I know, she's a monster. Maybe I am, too, for trying to pretend she was normal? It doesn't matter anymore anyways. She's... She's crazy," Keela continued in a quieter whisper. "More so than before?" I asked idly, deciding that indeed was a most concerning bit of information. "Heh. Okay, yeah. More crazy. She's stopped eating, and she talks to herself almost constantly now. I tried talking to her, but she doesn't respond, talking about how she wanted revenge and that I was corrupted and not her sister anymore. That... That hurt a lot," Keela continued, and I heard a faint swallow afterwards. Sighing, I had to admit that I'd seen it coming. "She's delusional. She refuses to think that I'm anything resembling a nice pony, so you have to be the corrupted one," I suggested. My other self had seen it once before. One of the cloning vat soldiers got totally unhinged after watching his 'little brother' get his head blasted off in the middle of one of our more intense firefights. He totally lost it, refusing to consider the concept that maybe, just maybe, command really was sending us on suicide missions. Logically, he walked into command and inquired as to what part of the missions we were doing wrong that kept getting soldiers killed. Of course, they interpreted it as dissent and we had two funerals that night, but at least he meant well. "I know. It just hurts. She refuses to talk to me now. I don't know what to do. Tym is nice and I can still talk to him about things, but... You're all I have left and I want my sister to be normal again!" she whispered quickly. I heard her clothing bunch up and knew she'd tucked herself up, wherever she was. Normal. She wanted her sister to be normal again so everything would be just fine, and she wouldn't have to only have me to talk to. A spike of anger shot through me, and my teeth clenched lightly. "Normal? Nothing will ever be 'normal' again, Keela! The very individual you're wishing that for destroyed my chances at that very thing! At the same time she murdered me, caused massive amounts of collateral damage, shot panic across all of my country, and threatened everypony I've ever cared about!" I shouted, not quite realizing my volume until I heard myself echo back through feedback with her. Keela gave a sharp intake, then I heard her gasp and choke back a sudden sob, going quiet for a second until she whimpered lightly instead. "I'm... I'm so sorry, Mender. I'm sorry! I... There's no other way to look at it. Everything. It's all my fault. I stood by and let her do all those horrible things without even thinking... I... And now I'm crawling to the one I hurt the most and... Oh hell. I'm sorry. I'm..." she started whispering rapidly. A pang went through me and I sighed, realizing she had it a lot worse. At least I had... Well, I considered them friends, anyways. And Fluttershy. She honestly wanted to be 'with' me. At least, she seemed to. Or she just really liked sex. Twilight... I didn't know about. She seemed earnest, but she was right. Trust exercises were... They were definitely needed. "I shouldn't have snapped. I'm sorry, Keela," I apologized softly, in-between her crying and what sounded like a fist against a metal panel. Silence. Nothing but her quiet whines came over the audio, followed by another sharp intake of breath. "N-No. I see it now. Everything I've done has been for my own benefit. I'm as selfish and monstrous as the council I'm running away from. I ruined your life, and then begged you to help me fix my sister's, the one who did it! I'm... I caused all of this," she continued, shifting gradually to horrified instead. "Keela, stop it. You're nowhere near like them and you know it. Yeah, you made mistakes, but the fact that you love your sister is enough proof that-" I started to point out. "No! Mender, I can't let you... I even gave you that link for my own benefit! All because I was lonely and didn't want you to leave. What better way to keep you here than give you a link to my very soul? I secretly wanted you to take me with you. To haul me away from here and all this... I was hoping that you had enough of, well, him in you to care for me, too. I'm a monster!" she screamed out instead. Banging sounded through her audio link, followed by "Miss Keela, are you okay in there?!" She ignored both. Admittedly, I was at a loss. I knew she would have taken losing him hard, but to be so hurt by it that she was hoping I was magically like him was... I'd guessed she'd intentionally given me that link to her, but this was beyond what I'd realized completely. "Mender," she whispered softly, suddenly, despite the continued pounding. Eh? "Keela. Calm down, I-" I tried to assure. She was hurting badly. More than I'd realized before. I should have guessed this and tried to help her long before now. "Mender, cut the link," she requested. What? "Keela! No, I'm not going to kill you!" I yelped, shocked she'd even ask such a thing. Another sob, then a cough and dull scraping noise I recognized as claws on metal. "No! P-Pretend it was me who tried to kill you. Me who ruined your life. Me who threatened everypony! The link is putting Equestria in danger! Cut it and be free of this all forever. Please!" she begged suddenly. "Keela, stop it! Open the door and let in those who care about you. They all need you, and I'm not going to kill you, Keela. I'm not!" I shouted, glaring at nothing in particular. Damn it. I pinged her twice, requesting transfer, but as anticipated, she ignored me entirely. A giggle. Keela started giggling as I heard the sound of an energy cutter in the background. They were slicing her door open, but it would take a few minutes. She stopped crying entirely, and just started laughing. "You're crazy. You're totally, batshit crazy! I'm crazy, too! We're all crazy! Haha!" she exclaimed, starting to laugh hysterically and cry at the same time. Well, I was crazy, that much I'd give her. My mouth opened to talk again when I heard the light hum of a power cell activating. Eh? "You're crazy. You could save everypony you love and kill the one responsible for hurting you so badly all in one instant, but you won't do it," she whispered, adding another giggle after before choking back a sob. "That's because you're not the one who did it!" I pointed out. She was delusional, too! "But I am. I let her do all of that because I was too stupid to think badly of her. But no. I'm not going to do it again. I'll turn the link off for you," she continued. My eyes widened as I heard the hum increase in intensity with a clicking noise. Hand held pulse laser! Again, there was no conscious decision. Momentarily, my eyes opened in the real world again before lighting up with a burning amber color, swirls of cyan leaking into my vision as Prudentia activated at my side, causing everypony in the cabin to jump in surprise. Summoning enough energy, I 'felt' Purdue wake up and gasp before helping me shift it, and then, together, we slammed it into Keela's link. Keela gasped, probably feeling the wave of heat as my distorted image phased out of her chest. The pulse pistol was already lifted to her temple when my hoof lashed out in an instant. The barrier it was formed of snapped the weapon in half, sending a shower of sparks flying everywhere as the cell in it shorted out, permanently rendering the weapon nothing more than an oddly shaped paperweight before it was ejected. My weight landed on her entirely, and I smashed her to the floor and pinned her there with the barriers my 'body' was made out of. Purdue stepped out next to me and picked the two halves of the pistol up again, giving Keela a sad glance before tucking them into my non-existent saddlebags instead. "Enough!" I shouted, glaring down at Keela as I pinned her. Her eyes widened and she went limp in an instant as I held her there. The door burned open an instant later, a sudden flare of significantly magnified heat melting it away completely before two guards and Tym entered. "Killing yourself to get rid of the link is not the answer, Keela. Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe, I don't think any of those things about you and don't want to lose you either?" I pointed out, lowering my voice a bit but refusing to break eye contact with her. Her eyes were bloodshot, indicating many lost hours of sleep beyond just what the tears had caused, and they started getting watery again as she slowly shook her head. "Miss Keela, no! Don't kill yourself," one of the guards begged, sitting down beside her and setting her helmet down on the floor. "I thought you were smarter than this, Keela. You can come to me long before you get to this," Tym reminded a moment later, the message a little harsh but his tone rather soft and concerned. He sat down as well on the other side of her as she just lay there, looking up at me. It took a bit of effort, but I projected the two guards, Tym, and Keela through me entirely and into the cabin of the train, at the same time I projected the train and all six other ponies into Keela's room. I nodded down at her, adding, "Don't forget, you have six additional friends in Equestria that are willing to talk to you, too, Keela. Talk to us before you do any rash decisions again." Keela kept crying, even harder now as she saw six additional smiles and nods towards her, everypony seeming to at least understand something was wrong with her. Of course, they all knew about the nature of the link I had with the Keldarian. "See? Come to us the next time, too. Any eight of us will easily set you straight, Silly," I assured, trying to fight through the headache as my focus wavered, and everything flickered in and out slightly. Damn. Even though it wasn't my power I was using, it was still my concentration to hold everything together, and brute forcing my way through the link was harder than I realized. "Mender, disengage before you pass out. We got this," Tym ordered, smirking towards me. I looked over at him momentarily before chuckling lightly. He knew me well enough, even though I was technically somepony else. But I think he knew that, too, always referring to me as 'Mender' instead. "You'd better," I warned, smirking to him before nodding and letting the connection snap away to the image of his sudden grin. Momentary darkness followed, and then my eyes opened again on Equestria's side of things. "Ah, sorry about that, everypony," I muttered weakly, rubbing at my temples as the headache flared up a bit. "Mender, it's okay. Keela tried to hurt herself, didn't she?" Twilight asked softly, causing Fluttershy to gasp on the other side of me. I started to nod before I realized I was still channeling Prudentia, and frowned. Normally it turned itself off after I'd completed whatever task it had been directed towards. The glow was still there as well, as I looked away from Twilight. Glow? Sitting in the center of the cabin was Purdue. She looked a bit disoriented, and I realized that her current spot was vaguely where she'd been in the other dimension, in accordance to me. Oh, I'd shifted back while she was out! I smiled as she wobbled and stood up, and then widened my eyes as I realized time wasn't frozen. Twilight's eyes were huge as she stared at the little transparent filly in the center of the room as well. One by one, the mares turned and stared at her, varying levels of surprise on their faces. Oh. Oops.
Chapter 63Oops. Well, things rarely went according to plan anyways. I just attributed it to my horrible luck. Pinkie extended her right foreleg towards the filly, phasing right through her transparent back, causing Purdue to yelp and spin around, backing away from her. "Oooh, who are you?" Pinkie quickly asked. Purdue shivered, looking vaguely in the direction of the mare and shrunk down a bit, pushing her tummy to the floor of the cab. "Pinkie, don't scare her!" Twilight ordered, frowning towards the little filly. "M-Master, are you here? Something went wrong. I can't see without the book being on," Purdue whimpered, looking around the room. And she had to call me that in front of everypony... Twilight gave me a questioning glance, and then looked back to the little filly with dawning understanding, but I slipped off my seat and onto the floor before she could say anything. "Purdue, I'm right here. Can you hear me?" I asked gently. Her ears perked up and she spun in my direction almost instantly, making two bounds before piling into my chest. "Purdue, it's okay. Something went weird with the dimensional transfer. They can all see you for some reason," I told her gently. "They... They shouldn't be able to see me! They can never see me..." she muttered, burying her face against my chest. She was so tiny compared to the others. Even the Crusaders were huge compared to her. "You're the filly that's in Prudentia, right? Purdue, was it?" Twilight asked gently, smiling down at her as she perked up and looked her way. I slid the book off my side and set it down next to Purdue, who seemed to suddenly become aware of it. I nodded for her, and explained, "Yeah, this is Purdue. Normally, when I talk with her, I experience a time dilation effect and nopony else can see her. This is definitely new." "Oh, she's adorable!" Fluttershy squealed, then promptly blushed and covered her mouth. Heh, it would be a tough battle to decide who was more adorable. Purdue, Fluttershy, or one of the Crusaders. Honestly, none of them would win because all the judges and onlookers would be dead by the end of the contest... Purdue busied herself feeling along the book, frowning as she traced its lock with her dark blue hooves. Her mane was also just as pretty as I remembered, me attempting to brush along it with my hoof to keep her calm. It was moderate in length and straight, her apparently having not aged a single day since I last saw her. Must save a fortune on mane trims. With them side-by-side like this, I saw that her colors really did match the book's almost perfectly. Her mane and tail were two-toned copper like the binding and lock, and her coat was the same blue as the body of the book. "This has never happened before. I shouldn't have been able to be closed out of the book! I'm a part of it!" she exclaimed a moment later, shrinking down and away from the world in general while hiding against my chest. "Purdue, calm down. We'll do anything we can to get you back in the book if that's what you want. You don't need to be scared," I assured, picking the book up again and examining the lock. I'd only ever seen it open that one time, and I didn't have a clue how I did it. Purdue exhaled softly for a moment before looking up at me instead. Her vision wasn't as focused as it normally was, and I realized she couldn't see me. Her milky eyes stared blankly in my direction before she slid forwards and just rested against my front. "I, um, I can open the book, Master. It would let me back in then, but... Can you promise me that neither you, nor anypony here will look inside of it?" she asked quietly a moment later. "Eh, why don't you want us looking inside? What are you hiding?!" Rainbow asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes towards the little filly. "Relax, Dash. Ah don't think she's hidin' anythin' dangerous. 'sides, it's not our book ta look through," Applejack reminded, smiling softly towards the little filly as she leaned back in her spot. Smiling, I chuckled to myself before shaking my head. No, my life was complicated enough without seeing what was inside that thing. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would make things a lot more complex... "It's okay, Purdue. I promise that nopony here is going to look in the book," I assured. To my surprise, she looked surprised instead and actually stopped as I set the book down next to her again. "Um, you didn't hesitate. Could I maybe ask, well, why? You aren't the least bit curious?" she inquired weakly, her own curiosity apparently getting the better of her. "You told me not to, so you must have a good reason for it. You've never given me bad or malicious information or advice in the past, and I trust you not to now," I explained. I didn't think it was that hard of a concept. When somepony acted in a consistently honest and helpful manner, they deserved the benefit of the doubt from time to time. The little filly stared at me for a moment longer before smiling and looking down towards her hooves. "Trust, huh? I... I guess I should trust you, too, then. Yeah, I think I do trust you. I'll be back later tonight after you go to sleep and visit you in your dreams. Um, I think I should finally tell you more. Twilight and Fluttershy can come, too," she offered. Oh, this should be interesting! Nodding slowly, I added, "That would be good. Hurry and reattach yourself to the book, though, before you run out of energy," I reminded, rotating it around to face her again. Of course, given what she mentioned to me before, that was just my best guess as to what would happen if she didn't get back inside the book. Smiling, Purdue lifted just the front cover of the book, the lock suddenly not being there anymore. I raised an eyebrow, but she hesitated for almost ten seconds while staring at the white page in front of her. Everypony watched her curiously as she slowly turned back to me instead. "Um, can I ask you one more thing, Master?" she timidly asked, eyes softening slightly. I sighed and shook my head, offering, "Only if you stop referring to me as Master. You know I don't like that." Purdue blushed and nodded lightly, explaining, "I, uh, I could do that. What I wanted to ask you is if I could call you something else? P-Please?" Something else? "Err, what do you want to call me instead?" I asked, unsure of this suddenly. This was a rather unorthodox request. The little filly closed her eyes softly before nodding to herself and exhaling. "Can I, well, pretend that you're my big brother? J-Just for today, even?!" she asked, looking back up at me with pleading eyes. Eh?! Her big brother? Why did she want that? Well, I suppose it didn't matter, as I kinda did think of her as a little sister already. Smiling, I nodded to her, adding, "That's not that hard to do, then, Sis. Just get back in the book and rest, okay?" Her eyes expanded to full size and a pink tint hit her cheeks again almost as fast as her grin. "Ah, thank you, Big Brother! I'll see you tonight!" she exclaimed, slipping her hoof under the cover. She was gone an instant later. Silence prevailed for a good thirty seconds as everyone stared at the book, the cover having closed after she faded away. The lock was slowly materializing back onto it, leaving quite a window of opportunity if one of us wanted to open it up again. She was capable of instantly unlocking it, but locking it again took time? Either that or she was testing me. Heh. Picking the book up, I simply hooked it back up to my side instead, ignoring the lock that was slowly appearing again. Twilight exhaled quietly, and then snickered to herself. "Admittedly, I trusted that you were telling the truth about the filly, but I never anticipated ever being able to actually meet her," she pondered, looking back over to me a moment later. "I somehow doubt she was expecting that either. She panicked easily enough after realizing something was wrong, but otherwise spoke and acted like an individual many years older than she looked," Rarity observed, frowning towards the book as the lock finally snapped on again. "I don't know how old she is, but she appears to be stuck permanently at that age, so you're undoubtedly right," I revealed, earning a pleased smile from the pearly mare. Pinkie looked a bit sad, however, edging back over to the book and sliding her hoof along it. "That's actually really sad. She's been stuck in this book for who knows how long. It must get so lonely in there! She should come out more often, and I'd throw a party for her!" she declared, slapping her right hoof down on top of her left and giving me her best determined look. Oh boy. "Uh, I'll ask her, but she's a bit antisocial, if you didn't notice. She doesn't trust anypony. Not even me," I pointed out. "Um, she seems to trust you at least a little bit. Especially now. She looked surprised when you said that," Fluttershy added, sliding right and pulling me back up and into the seat next to her. She promptly lay down fully and rested her head and upper body against my left hip. Smiling, I eased her further onto me and gently rubbed her left shoulder with my foreleg as she rested there. Spike looked distracted, however, and shook his head next to Rarity as he looked up towards me. "Honestly, she just looked scared. If I were suddenly dropped into a situation where I was blind and in a totally unknown area, I'd be scared, too," he defended. "That's just the thing. Normally she can, well, 'see' just fine. She's still blind, but it's as if she has some supernatural awareness or something. Maybe the book gives that to her?" I pondered out loud, scratching my chin. Twilight absently shrugged next to me before sliding over and mirroring my position with a smile. Ah. Heh. Pulling Fluttershy over, I rested myself against Twilight's hip while Fluttershy rested against mine, becoming a pony pile on the seat. Things were, well, improving, I admitted. Despite as painful as the last few days had been, maybe it would help us in the long run? "The itinerary is set, anyways. We check in with the castle first, and then move our things up to the guest rooms and my old bedroom. Then we'll need to meet with Princess Celestia in order to figure out what she has planned for us for the next three days, in order to sync what we wish to do with her plans," Twilight explained suddenly, closing her eyes as she relaxed into the soft cushion. "What exactly are our things ta do, anyways? Ah thought we were pretty much only 'ere ta meet with tha Princess?" Applejack asked softly. That. That was a very good question, as I had thought the same thing. Twilight sighed, however, and added, "It turns out Shining and Cadance are in town as well for some reason. Our mom and dad heard about us both being here, and asked us to come to supper on one of the days. You're all invited, of course." Oh, I didn't mind her parents, or Shining, but this was the first time I'd be meeting Princess Cadance. I wondered idly what she was like, and if she'd tease me as much as Velvet did. Her being the Princess of Love didn't bode well for that... "Oh, that ain't so bad, then. Ya got anything else planned?" Applejack inquired, sounding more pleased now. She'd definitely be one to support a family event, I realized. "Yes. Octavia Melody oddly sent the organization a letter, with regards to Mender, of course. I'm sure you all remember her. She heard we were coming to Canterlot and apparently didn't have my mailing address. I corrected that. Oh, and she wants to treat us to supper on one of the evenings as well. Desperate to, even," she revealed. Octavia? It mildly amused me that Twilight sounded more pleased about fixing the address issue, but I wondered why Octavia suddenly wanted to treat us. Wait, how did she find out about the trip? This was intentionally kept a secret... "She undoubtedly still feels indebted to Mender still for saving her life. As a high-class mare, I bet she knows many wonderful places to eat in Canterlot!" Rarity exclaimed excitedly. Okay, that didn't surprise me at all. Although she'd never actually 'talked' to Octavia, and I felt she'd probably be in for a bit of a surprise there. The gray mare was far more down to earth than she gave the immediate impression of. "Probably. I don't see why we couldn't, so long as nopony else wants a supper with us. We're running out of evenings. Anything else, Twi?" I asked, nuzzling her hip gently. The lavender unicorn blushed down towards me, lightly shivering at my touch before frowning and looking away again. Uh oh. "Uh, yeah. There's one more place. I wanted to stop by the Marriage and Herd Licensing Branch," she revealed. Oh... Fluttershy perked up, and Rainbow got a confused look on her face, but Rarity softly smiled towards the mare. "Ah, I see. Going to attempt to fix this unfortunate blunder?" she asked gently. Could it be 'fixed' as easy as that? I knew Twi was technically a princess now, but she wasn't one to abuse her title for things. Plus, she seemed to indicate that it was kind of embarrassing for her... Twilight swallowed uneasily but nodded a moment later. "Yeah. Mender is a part of our hearts, and it's only fair that he be a part of the herd, too. Surely I can do something about it, being a princess," she suggested, rotating until she was on her back. I slipped, of course, landing on her tummy instead with one of her back legs to each side of my waist. "Are you sure you want to do that? Given our penchant for media coverage, especially in Canterlot, it might get ugly," I warned. Last thing I wanted was a repeat of last time. Twilight frowned and looked away from me instead, considering it for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yes, I'm sure. This is more important than even another repeat of last time. I don't care what other ponies think about it. I, well, Fluttershy and I only care about what you think, Mender. And don't try to say otherwise, because we know you're upset over it," she answered, cutting me off preemptively as I opened my mouth to say just that. Damn. Was I getting predictable or something? Rarity smiled softly, and Applejack outright grinned a moment later, however. "Darn right! Ah fully support this decision. Do ya need some 'bodyguards', or do ya think it'll be fine?" the farm mare asked, smirking at us. Heh, her version of 'bodyguard' was liable to put the paparazzi in the hospital instead... Twilight giggled but shook her head, assuring her with, "I'm sure it'll be fine. These are just what-if sort of things. I don't plan on going there tonight either. All of today is just for getting Princess Celestia's itinerary and settling in." That made sense, for the most part. "Unless your parents find us. Then it will also include supper," Rarity reminded, earning an eye roll from Twi. Heh. Hopefully just supper. I don't think I could stomach another interrogation session. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just focus on the inevitable for now and deal with variables once we get there. Everypony okay with that?" Twilight finalized. After a round of agreements, we settled back in. It was strange, really. We were starting to feel closer than friends now. Like a team. I wondered idly if Twilight had felt this sort of thing to the others all along. The Elements of Harmony had been a team for a long while, really. Like superheroes, but without the weird costumes. Snickering to myself, I earned a strange glance from Twilight before settling back in myself, shooting the mental image to her and earning a squeak. I'd never tire of these links... * * * * * It was a new record! An hour and a half and I was already regretting coming to Canterlot. Nervously, I fidgeted lightly in the heavy armor that I wasn't used to wearing, feeling bulky and immobile in comparison to the natural stuff I could have popped out. Still, this armor was regal and polished, with gems laid into it. My armor was gunmetal gray with twisted ridges and rows of razor sharp teeth and tentacles. Yeah, for a 'press conference', this was probably ideal. The old wood creaked lightly as I shifted back and forth on my hooves while standing, trying to keep my left leg from shaking. I'd lied to the poor, flustered maid who had to help me get all this crap on and said that the bands weren't too tight on my leg. In reality, it ached something fierce already and I was eager to just get all of it off. Twilight stood to my immediate left, and further to her left was Shining, who was currently talking into the microphone. I tried my hardest to look anywhere but out into the crowd of ponies, noticing the overcast day and light wind chill. That was one good thing about the armor, anyway. Metal was never worn bare, as it would chaff the skin right off somepony over prolonged exposure. A soft leather was under the plates and straps, and was quite warm, if not a bit rubbery feeling. Oddly, the higher qualities of the fake leather felt stranger to me, being a little too polished and slippery to feel 'normal'. This armor was made specifically for me for my new 'role,' it turned out, so it was high quality, to my dismay. Tia laughed, of course. "Yes, again, this organization is a joint venture between three individual cities to lessen the burden all around. Princess Cadance and I personally escorted twenty-five guards of the Crystal Empire here to be part of this effort, and Manehatten has granted another twenty. Adding to the twenty-five royal guards already assigned, we plan to host seventy ponies as the main defense force. This is only a preliminary estimate, and subject to change depending on how things go," Shining Armor continued, answering the questions of reporters as the event went on. Sadly, this time I had to sit through the logistics aspects. Pony taxpayers liked being informed as to where their bits were being spent, go figure. Fluttershy kept sending me reassuring thoughts from the sidelines, thankfully, the rest of the elements sitting in chairs behind us on the low chance that somepony asked a question regarding one of them. But they were already well known, and that was undoubtedly unneeded. Lucky them. "What's the time span of this venture?" one of the reporters asked, raising a hoof in the front row. Ugh. You were supposed to raise the hoof first, and then be nodded to for question asking. Nopony listened, it would seem. Shining was apparently a veteran of many conferences, however, and didn't even give an annoyed sigh. "Indefinite. Although the guards themselves will be kept in reserve until actually needed, apart from training. Research and preventative safety measurements will be constant, however," he returned. Yup. Of course, he neglected to mention that I had intended to do that anyways. I sure as hell wasn't about to let somepony like Nirru back into Equestria, even if I had to personally murder them for trying. Let my status as resident abomination be good for something, anyways. That thought was a bit rougher than intended, earning a skeptical glance from Twilight and a chastising mental stare from Fluttershy. They were definitely not giving up this time! I didn't know whether to be honored or saddened. "What's the estimated influence this organization will have on society?" a mare asked upon being nodded to, standing up and showing her colored vest. Purple with blue stripes? My database activated, popping up the picture I'd snapped of the color reference guide that was put up at the entrance to the large, outside Plaza. Ah, 'Equestria's Society of Responsible Parenting'. They would indeed be worried about that. "If things go as intended, little to none. All technology discovered by this organization is only to be applied to the defense of the citizens against outside threats. Beyond that, we hope to directly influence nothing," the prince explained, without hesitation. His skills in dealing with social things made me jealous. Zoning out again, I returned to looking at the floorboards under my hooves. There were still thirty-seven small nicks in them, which hadn't changed from the last time I awkwardly counted them, both terrified and bored at the same time. It was an odd juxtaposition of emotions, honestly. It kind of gave me the urge to run away in blind panic, like most social events did. So in retrospect, just the norm for me? "Are there any safeguards in planning already?" was asked, catching my attention. Aww, crap. Shining sighed at that and nodded before looking sympathetically in my direction. Well, it was unavoidable, of course. Shivering lightly, I nodded oh so slightly, and he turned back to the crowd. "Yes, there is one in planning already. However, I'm not the best to ask about that. Our head researcher, Moon Mender, can answer that one," he assured. Damn it! Swallowing nervously, I heard the click of my mic turning on as I rotated and walked around the podium Shining relaxed at, going across the other side of the stage. Maybe it was my hypersensitivity at the moment, but I heard every creak of my armor, and every echoing step I made under the magnification of the microphone. Reaching the other end of the stage, I peeked up behind the first curtain row and saw the screen that was rolled up and attached to the stage overhead. Yeah, that would do for the projection system. It was some seriously fascinating crystal arrays they used to magically project things onto the screen, and admittedly, I was interested in seeing them work. My left hoof glowed, and I ignored the light muttering that started up as my energy danced upwards, forming a thin barrier line that hooked onto the pull down tab. Smiling to myself, I tugged it lightly so the screen would unroll and lower. Of course, nothing happened. Raising an eyebrow, I tugged again with my foreleg this time, tilting my head as it jarred, but didn't fall. What, was it stuck? I wondered when the last time they'd oiled it was. Great. I shot a frustrated glance towards Twilight, who walked over as well and looked up at it, tilting her head. "Apologies. We appear to be having technical issues with the display screen," Shining noted, addressing the crowd after watching us for a second. "It's not coming down?" Twilight asked, lighting her horn up and tugging on the ring as well. Huh. She either didn't trust me, or thought that it would have different results when she did it. Either way was probably bad for- I was interrupted a moment later when it was discovered she did indeed have different results. Frowning, I felt a twinge of frustration go down the link and she pulled again, just 'slightly' harder this time. I watched the support struts warp and stepped forwards, putting my shield up over the surprised unicorn a moment before the entire display crashed down on top of us, blowing my mic out with a thundering blast and bringing the support lights down as well. Ten seconds later, six guards had rushed up on stage and Twilight was giving them a very sheepish look as we stood amidst a series of sparking and twisted bits of metal and burning screen. Well, this was about on par with how I'd expected the day to go, so no surprises yet, I noted. Hell, this I could deal with! "May I suggest getting a chalkboard?" Rarity offered from the sidelines. * * * * * This turned out for the better, anyways. Having to draw all of my diagrams and information manually meant that I got to stare at the board for a majority of the time rather than the hundreds of ponies in the crowd! The few glances their way to answer questions about the details of my plan were spent staring over the crowd instead, and trying to not shake loud enough to have my rattling armor picked up in my replacement microphone. The drawing had intentionally been kept vague, as the workings weren't needed for the general public to know about. It was a huge, crystal strut on the ground that would link to a slightly smaller one put high in the sky. It needed to be as high as possible to cover as much of the planet as it could, and to minimize the energy requirements to keep it in place by lessening the gravity. It was easy to explain that part to the crowd by referencing them being able to see further from a really tall tower. Once the top of it was as high as I could get it, it expanded a matrix of crystals through the atmosphere, all tuned to each other to form a 'web' of detection magic. Any disruptions of a dimensional nature from within or below the web would be detected and broadcast to the main spire, and thus, us. We'd have the location the dimensional gate opened at, and be able to send a response team there to investigate almost instantly. Later on, I was hoping to upgrade the tower to be able to actively block the 'connections' to Equestria as well, flipping them back around on themselves to halt any intruders before they even set foot, claw, hoof, or whatever they had on our soil. To my surprise, not only did most of the ponies understand my concept, I appeared to have general approval. Being covered in a protective 'blanket' of magic seemed greatly appealing to them. I couldn't fault them, as everypony enjoyed feeling secure and protected. That same reporter in the front row, however, raised his hoof. "Do we have any guarantee that this will actually work and not just be a colossal waste of resources and time?" he asked, far before Shining even nodded to him. I felt myself twitch on the inside lightly, and a soothing nudge was sent down the link from Fluttershy. I exhaled, nodding gently to myself as I answered, "I've dealt with all of this before on a smaller scale and it worked then. Of course, we're going to build a smaller model first and run many tests on the design before committing any resources to the larger, full project." Duh. No, we were going to build a giant space construct out of expensive materials before even testing it to make sure it worked. They thought I was an idiot, didn't they? If it was one thing I knew how to do, it was engineering. "Not entirely what I meant. I mean, what proof do we have that you know what you're doing? Could we see your credentials, please? Maybe your place of learning and some letters of recommendation?" he continued, not even raising his hoof this time. Another twinge of irritation went through me. To my surprise, a lock-on target appeared on his head. I killed the process again and sighed, making a mental note to check on that stupid user interface program. It appeared to have a few errors in it, and was just a tad too touchy to my emotions. To my surprise, Fancypants stood up from his seat further down the front row instead. "Moon Mender's a graduate of Starswirl's University of Magical Aptitude, and holds a degree in both Engineering and Metamagical Application. On top of that, he's spent six successful years undercover in the field until a month ago. Nopony in Equestria is more qualified for this position, and all of this has been made public knowledge and posted in the castle. Further, I suggest you follow the rules if you wish to remain in this conference," he warned, in a surprisingly stern speech. He was personally standing up for me, and I smiled towards him, nodding gently as he sat back down, returning my polite nod. The reporter glared daggers at him, but with the equally stern stare from Shining, he slowly sat back down before making a statement of throwing aside his notes. Heh. Whatever you think, jerk. Thankfully, the rest of the questions were both uneventful and significantly more positive. I just held the conference as a success due to me neither passing out, nor having the stage collapse on me. Shining Armor continued the rest of the meeting by discussing the actual funding and materials for the spire, and the time frames involved as I sat back down between Twilight and Fluttershy, the former giving me a soft peck on the cheek as I relaxed. Smiling, I looked back at her and we locked eyes. It was hard to stay frustrated when these two lovely mares supported me like this. Fluttershy didn't even want to be here up on stage, but had insisted because she'd be closer to send 'stronger' support vibes down our link. I adored them both, despite the mistake. Sure, it had hurt and made me doubt myself, but we could get past it. I wasn't going to give up on the two of them for it, and that decision made me happy. I wasn't running away this time. Her eyes showed the same level of affection I felt for her, and I momentarily got lost in them until she released me from her subtle spell. I eased back against the rest behind me, our chairs effectively being cushions sitting on the stage and propped up behind us against a board for a backrest. Twilight and Fluttershy each rested their heads on my shoulders, and I relaxed, just listening to the rest of the event with only halfhearted interest. They didn't need me for this part. Now I could just let the stress out. * * * * * "I think you did amazing for not having anything prepared. And the stage trying to kill us," Twilight agreed, walking alongside us as we followed Shining Armor. He snickered ahead of us and looked back, grinning at his sister. "I thought you were gonna pass out from blushing after you destroyed the stage like that, Sis! Now that was hilarious!" he shot back, earning another blush and glare from my lavender fillyfriend. "I'm just glad neither of you were hurt! That was scary," Fluttershy spoke in a relieved tone, exhaling as she pushed with barely restrained possessiveness into my left side. She stuck with me all the way through the discussion with the other representatives as well, despite Twilight only maintaining a loose distance from me. Well, I knew she didn't like large crowds in ways similar to mine and assumed it was that, but I certainly didn't mind either way. Actually, she could be as 'clingy' as she wanted. She was beyond adorable and nopony would hear complaints from me. "Eh, if it's my sister, she can handle it. Although it's nice to see that her choice in coltfriend has skills, too. Oh, and that the ever lovely Fluttershy is with her, too," Shining continued, pouring on his 'court' charm, I'd imagine. Twilight saw right through it, of course, and rolled her eyes, but I noted the blush on her cheeks. Heh. "Yeah, yeah. When do Mom and Dad want us there tonight?" she asked as we turned the side of the stage and headed down towards the awaiting coaches. "Eight sharp. Don't be late, Sis. You know how Dad gets," he pointed out, making me shudder. Okay, so I hadn't had the best of introductions to Night Light. Still, we seemed to part on better standing thanks to Octavia. Oh, speaking of! "Oh, I was going to ask you, Shining. Do you want to go out to eat tomorrow night with us? Miss Octavia Melody wishes to treat us all to food at her favorite restaurant, and I figured I'd extend the offer," I spoke up. Twilight gave me a surprised glance, and then smiled warmly as a burst of happiness shot down the link. Eh? It's a pity the disk links weren't as accurate as the other ones, or I might be able to actually figure out what she was pleased over. Shining smirked towards me as he rotated around, walking backwards. "Oh, lead cellist in the Canterlot Royal Orchestra, right? The one you saved? Sure. Cadance will want to come, too. She's a fan of classical," he agreed, nodding towards me. I smirked back as I noted his attempt to earn brownie points. That I could respect, as it felt... Well, it felt really amazing to be able to treat ponies to things. Income would feel even better. The first amount of bits I earned, I was so taking Twilight and Fluttershy out to dinner. Our first real 'date', if that was the right word for it. Keldarians didn't exactly have it, so it would be a new experience for me. "Talking about me, Shiny?" a female voice suddenly spoke up. Shiny? Oh. My eyes widened as a pink mare stepped out from behind one of the multiple waiting stagecoaches in the street. Her coat was a little softer pink than Pinkie's, and she bore a very unique mane of violet, rose, and gold that flowed well past her shoulders. My eyes shifted up to her horn a second later, and then noticed wings on her side as well. Oh! "Ah, there you are! Are the guards settled into the barracks, then?" Shining asked gently, picking up his pace and trotting rapidly up to the mare. I'd guessed who she was already, but the kiss they shared upon him reaching her sealed the deal. She broke away from him with a grin and nodded, adding, "Getting along quite well, yes. I think the new accommodations are to their liking. We might have to upgrade our barracks back home so our guards aren't envious of the tales they tell about the grand Canterlot one." Shining grinned back towards her as we walked up, Twi running ahead and right up to the mare. "Cadance! I was hoping you'd be here. I'm excited to see you again!" she chirped, earning a softer smile in return. "Twi! I'm glad you're here, too. And what's this I hear from 'our' mother?" Princess Cadance teased, winking towards the lavender mare. Oh! Uh oh... I wondered idly if she'd approve of me, and if she was aware of those oh so lovely newspaper articles a while back. Twilight blushed and wiggled a little before grinning and nodding. "I'm in a herd now!" she announced. Oh. That. Never mind. Princess Cadance giggled and nodded, revealing, "Yup! It's the talk of the town! When they posted the new herd listing and it had both a princess and an Element Bearer on it, the newspaper reporters about flipped! I bet you're going to be getting some interviews while you're in town, too. Congratulations Twi! Fluttershy!" Oh hell. Yeah, time to find some place to lock myself up and hide for a while. I so didn't want to get anywhere near the level of awkward this was going to bring about. "They what?" Twilight asked, voice shifting deadpan as her eyes widened. Huh. Maybe it was a surprise to her as well that the herds were posted publicly. Okay, now I didn't feel so badly. Shining scratched his temple, looking a bit awkward as he coughed. "Ah, yeah, figured that was a mistake. So, should I ask what happened?" he inquired curiously. Twilight shifted a little on the pink side as Princess Cadance raised an eyebrow towards her husband. I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't told about me. Knowing Shining, he was probably being cautious... Or wanted to see if their dad killed me first. "Estrus happened. I was so stupid! We, uh, we were foolish and left out Mender," Twilight admitted, closing her eyes and lowering her head a bit. Rarity, who had stayed back with the other Elements when we approached the Princess, stepped forwards and coughed lightly. "Might I suggest we take this conversation to a more private area?" she offered, gesturing towards a few reporters looking towards us in surprise, one getting out a notebook. Damn it. "Oh, yes. Of course! Let's head back to the castle," Princess Cadance suggested, gesturing back towards the carriage she was next to. Well, this was going to get awkward indeed... * * * * * After the awkwardness of Princess Cadance questioning why I'd chosen their carriage to ride to the castle in, I didn't think the day could get any worse. Oh how wrong I'd been. Hauling our luggage through a swarm of reporters at the castle gates had been horrifying, and I think I got a pencil shoved up my nose at one point. Guards were dispatched as we arrived and had to physically clear a path to get into the castle. If I hadn't already known for sure, this firmly cemented the fact that I never, ever wanted to be a celebrity. "Well, that was unexpected," Rarity murmured, straightening her hair again after a crazed mare had tried to snort it. At least, that's what it looked like from my angle. I admit I might have been wrong, as Spike knocked her away far faster than I thought possible. He was seriously protective of her, that was for sure! "Darn tootin'! Ah mean, seriously. Ah think Ah saw some o' those reporters over at tha conference. How'd they beat us 'ere?!" Applejack asked, straightening her hat on her head. It had gotten jarred about after she shoulder-checked a stallion away from Fluttershy, after all. "Oh dear. Oh dear," Fluttershy murmured, shivering lightly. I smiled and pulled her against me, kissing the top of her head as Twilight turned around and smiled at us. We all relaxed in the first tower's common room now, away from prying eyes and the public in general, thankfully. Twilight slid over next to us and nuzzled Fluttershy softly, adding, "It'll be okay, Fluttershy. I think we should call our parents in here to eat rather than going out to supper. It's way too hectic out there with the conference just finishing." That. That was a really, really good idea. I was all for that. Fluttershy nodded twice, then buried her face into my chest as I held her. Cadance, as she requested I call her, smiled on and nodded. "I'm sorry if any of that was offensive, again. I'd only heard a tiny bit about another member, Shiny saying he wasn't supposed to talk about it yet, and when I saw only you and Fluttershy on the herd, I thought it had fallen through and didn't want to bring it up," she confessed. Twilight sighed and nodded, glancing back at her brother with a skeptical look. "I'd only told you not to tell anypony publicly, you know. You could have told Cadance," she assured. "Heh, it's better to be safe than sorry with you, Sis. Anyway, she knows now. I'm sure that you can fix the herd thing, too, if you just talk to the ponies in the herd and marriage office," he assured. Twilight twitched, and I felt her anxiety spike up again. "B-But now they're posted! Everypony is going to know that I screwed up, now!" she exclaimed, turning in a circle as she paced. A knot formed in my throat, but Fluttershy shook her head rapidly. "Twilight, I screwed up, too. We need to fix it, no matter what," she whispered quietly, pushing up against me again. I sighed and shook my head, interruptIng with, "Both of you, it's fine. It's only a month wait, and then nopony has to reveal anything." Honestly, they were both political figures now and had reputations to look out for as well. Sure, it was a stupid mistake, but honestly, if I had to take one for the team, that made the most sense rather than one of the Elements of Harmony, national heroes. Twilight scowled at that, but to my surprise, Cadance coughed instead, waving a hoof towards me. Eh? "Uh, actually, incorrect. It's a month until the hold on changes to the herd is lifted. Unfortunately, if they add you into the herd then, instead of a normal member, you're listed as an 'appended' member for a three year trial period, holding no actual standing in the herd during that time, and subject to termination if any other member flags a warning, settled in court," she corrected, as if quoting from a book. Oh. No, actually, Princess of Love. She probably knew how herds worked. I had no idea how to even process that last part. Well, three years wasn't too- "Nope. Yeah, no. That settles it. I'm going down there tomorrow and fixing this," Twilight suddenly decided. Ah! "Twilight, you have a reputation to-" I started to warn. She let out a feral scream and tackled me an instant later, causing Applejack to have to bail out of the way as we rolled past. My head finally stopped spinning to the lovely sensations of a mare on top of me, and giving me a rather intense kiss. Eh?! It didn't take but a moment for my brain to short again and I sighed softly, pulling her further down on top of me as she relaxed again. Okay, yeah. She could do whatever she wanted. I heard Cadance giggle a moment later and suggest, "Twi, you should take that to your room. Go. Servants will bring everypony's bags up." "Heh, are you sure you're not in heat still, Twi?" Rainbow asked, snickering in our general direction. "Mmm, just the hormones. Heh. And no, I'll be, um, fine. We need to report to Princess Celestia before doing anything else," Twilight assured in a surprisingly honest manner before standing up and sliding off me. Fluttershy slipped up to my left side a moment later and helped me roll over. Rainbow's grin only widened, and I inwardly groaned. Here it comes. "Especially each other," she agreed, nodding sagely. Ack! Twilight scowled, but Applejack beat her to the punch with a grin, asking, "Ya got plans fer somethin', lover girl?" I lifted an eyebrow towards the orange mare as she trotted past Rainbow and whacked her in the side with her back left flank, sending the smaller, cyan mare tumbling sideways. Not that she'd have been able to properly react with the shocked blush on her face anyway, I imagine. "N-No! I meant them!" Dash quickly protested, scrambling to her hooves again by kicking off the wall. I snickered, and Twilight outright grinned at the display, of course. "Ah, you've returned, and are quite energetic, I see," suddenly cut us all off, coming from the entrance. Tia came in casually, followed by two royal guards in flanking positions. Everypony bowed, except Shining, Cadance, and me, who simply lowered our heads in respect. I still remembered my promise to treat her like normal. "No, no. Rise. This is an informal meeting. I merely wished to talk to Twilight and Mender about what is planned," the sun princess explained, smiling to the bowed ponies. Twilight hopped up at that and nodded to her side, Spike digging a scroll out of her saddlebags, followed by a quill. As if expecting it, Tia just smiled and waited patiently for her student to get ready to take notes, Spike passing the stuff to Twilight. I just sat down next to Fluttershy, preparing to listen and opening a note database on the side, where I kept all my other important dates. Electronic memory was so much more reliable than my organic one... Tia waited for Twi to nod towards her before smiling and starting, "This is a very important series of events, and I wouldn't have called you here otherwise. I know this is close to Applejack's harvest time, and that prime business periods are after estrus for both Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Not to mention a race coming up for Rainbow, if I recall." Heh, yeah. Applejack complained about that for most of the trip. "Oh, banish the thought, your highness. We know this must be very important," Rarity assured, bowing her head politely again. Tia shook her head, however, gesturing behind her towards the guards. A smaller mare stood close to one, and walked forwards at the gesture, her soft lime horn glowing with magic as she lifted up a pad of paper. I raised an eyebrow, but Tia continued with, "Obviously this is important, but you shall not go without compensation for your lost profits. This is a royal accountant, who shall discuss such matters with you after this." Oooh. Well, yeah. That would go a ways towards making Applejack happier. Twilight seemed oblivious, of course, her funds technically from royal stipend already and unaffected by her physical location. "Admittedly, I am curious as to why it is you asked for us. Um, is the accountant..." she started, trailing off as she looked towards the mare. Her mane was an interesting forest green and gold, and she had a light lime or pea green coat, giving her a very green feel overall, making me dizzy if I stared too long. Oddly, her Cutie Mark was three coins growing off what appeared to be a sapling, like oddly smelted fruit. "Ah, yes. This is Ecoshine. She's one of my best accountants, and also in charge of the funding side of Dimensional Regulations. She's very skilled at budget growth, and takes a strong liking to eco-friendly awareness," the Princess explained. Ah. Both guards were also registering on my database as employed by DReg so I didn't even bother, there. "Mmm, hello!" the mare greeted, sounding more like a filly with her higher pitched voice and bubbly manner of enthusiasm. I smiled and nodded towards her, and then looked back to Tia, who looked pleased. Twilight nodded as well and sat down next to Fluttershy and me instead, relaxing. Celestia considered it for a moment before nodding to herself and starting with, "This is the preliminary setting up of Dimensional Regulation. It's to acquaint the four primary leaders of the organization with their respective duties, and get the organization started on its first two assignments." Oooh, she didn't waste any time! Twilight smiled but shook her head a moment later. "I don't imagine Princess Luna needs much explanation, considering she's just our main task director. I also know that I'm head secretarial position and will assist Mender and Shining with their duties. I've read the entire handbook," she assured, earning a snicker from Applejack and Rainbow behind her. "Oh, I suspected nothing less, my ever faithful student. This is more for Moon Mender and Shining Armor to get acquainted with the soldiers and their duties. I'm sure you'll help them both?" Tia elaborated, smiling towards Shining and me respectively. "Of course. My brother and my coltfriend? I'd help them even if I weren't head secretary," Twi pointed out, giggling to herself. Heh, sometimes I had to remind myself that she was my fillyfriend, but then she did things like this and made me feel like it would all work out in the end. Which was good, because given my general luck, we'd need all the help we could get. Shining Armor nodded slowly as well, me noticing out of the corner of my eye as I ogled his sister. Wait, that sounded wrong. "To clarify, I'm the commander and organizer of the soldiers, and Mender is strategic and tactical support, as well as research head?" he asked, smiling over towards me a second later. Tia nodded again, shifting into a more relaxed posture and smile now, apparently pleased that we all had our duties already explained. I knew mine, anyways. Make toys to make any invaders' lives hell, and make sure the troops knew how to best use them. Oh, and pointing out things in battle that I noticed while thrashing Equestria's enemies. I noticed I took a gleeful sense of enjoyment out of anything that made use of my cybernetics. Carefully avoiding any implication of deeply-ingrained bloodlust on my part, I imagined it had something to do with making them 'useful' in my mind. Them being actually valuable for something balanced out the hell they'd made my life so far, anyways. At least a little. Although, all that left an interesting question. As a leading member of Dimensional Regulation, how much did Shining know about me? Tia continued, however with, "Indeed. Everypony seems to know their duties. Of course, I remind you all needlessly that Dimensional Regulation's main goal is peaceful avoidance of dimensional incidents. We research forceful methods purely as defensive measures to ensure we ourselves are not caught unguarded by those, well, less inclined for peaceful relations." Oh, very diplomatically worded, Tia. "Regardless, if such an event does break out, Shining Armor shall shift to a position of commander, and Mender becomes both our tactician and, unfortunately, our trump card. You know the potential invaders' ways, and have the abilities to counter them. I sincerely apologize, Mender," she continued a second later. I swallowed, then noticed Shining Armor didn't even blink, and guessed he was informed fully about me. Slowly, I nodded towards her and offered a weak smile. "I'm used to being a soldier. At least... At least this makes what I am something useful for Equestria, even if it's just a precaution," I returned, acknowledging what I'd been already considering for a while. "Mender, you're already useful. Even without all of the extra parts. But, um, if I may say so, you're something far more important than useful. You're wanted," Fluttershy muttered quietly, nuzzling into my left side to punctuate it afterwards. I blushed lightly, my head whirling at her words. Wanted? I was wanted? Twilight giggled and saw the moment of weakness almost instantly, not wasting the opportunity to pounce. Well, metaphorically instead of literally this time. "Yes, you're wanted. You'd better not think you aren't. There's a reason both Fluttershy and I said specifically that we screwed up. That meant you not being with us forever in a herd was an 'accident', not 'intentional'. You're very, very wanted," she quickly assured, nuzzling my other shoulder and sandwiching me with mare. Okay, I could get used to that! "And don't forget, you're friends with everypony in the room! Well, maybe minus the two guards because I don't think you know their names, but I'm sure that'll change soon!" Pinkie reminded, flailing up behind us and using us as a landing platform, flattening me down instantly. Okay, maybe not so pleasant anymore. Still! "Aurora Bastion and Emerald Blaze," I muttered from under her, causing her eyes to widen significantly. Both guards looked surprised, too. Oddly, I wondered at their names. Emerald signified green, and Aurora could have been a feminine name, but both guards were white stallions with blue eyes. Kinda like some creepy form of clones. Ignoring imagining their Cutie Marks as bar codes or something under their armor, I wondered at the effect. Their flanks had their rank and number engraved on the armor where a Cutie Mark should be, which was the only way I identified them. "Somepony memorized the roster. Impressive!" Cadance chirped, looking on in amusement at our pony pile. Tia smiled and nodded pleasantly towards me, deducing, "Undoubtedly he copied the entire roster into those fancy cybernetic parts of his. I'm sure you have a way of doing that, right?" Heh, dead on, and showing an uncomfortable level of insight into how a computer functioned. "Yeah. I have the full database," I assured, flicking my left eye into projection mode and popping it up to float in the air in front of me, slowly scrolling through the rather long list. Shining looked on with widened eyes as I scrolled through them, but Tia just nodded at it. "Very good. I'll get the most basic matter of business out of the way first. All that's needed is for Twilight and Mender to oversee the construction of a headquarters, bunker, and research center on the outskirts of Ponyville. Construction begins underground after winter hits, and above ground this spring, due to urgency," she informed, losing her smile a bit as she looked back to me. I nodded, assuring her with, "That should be easy enough. I'm experienced in all forms of construction due to my other self, and can design it as well if needed." Figured I might as well offer my services, before somepony else did for me, anyways. It wasn't something I was used to. The other me just had things assigned to him, and then either succeeded or died trying. Literally. I guess he was rather successful! "Splendid! That speeds things up significantly. Ecoshine will give you the details after this. That leaves one more matter of business to attend to while you're here, which will be discussed in detail tomorrow instead, but... Well..." Tia trailed off, averting her eyes and nodding to the guards behind her. Aurora snickered and nodded, heading back towards the large doors. Eh? Twilight tilted her head towards Celestia, but the Princess just smiled and shook her own. "Let's just say, she was rather eager to meet you all, and, uh, one of you again," she revealed. Oh? Oh... The door was opened a moment later, and oh so familiar mare entered, smiling softly towards us all. I immediately noticed there were glowing bands around her hooves, but they didn't appear connected to each other or restraining her in the least. "Um, hello everypony! Heh. Hi, Mender," she called out, waving sheepishly in my direction. Twilight and Fluttershy gave me surprised and confused glances before I smiled and returned, "Hey, Snapshot."
Chapter 65"I'm not sure. Prudentia's active and glowing, so he's probably talking with Keela. She was a mess this morning," I heard Twilight comment, as my consciousness shifted back into my world. My world. Yeah, this was home for me, I admitted. "Yeah. She must be really sad. I hope everything's okay and... Oh! I think he's waking up," Fluttershy pointed out as I stirred, feeling my muscles wake up again and my eyes open. It was always disorienting transferring myself when I wasn't sleeping. Turning my head, I saw Fluttershy lying next to me, and Twilight on the end of the bed, expression softening as my eyes locked onto her. Cracking my back, I rotated around so I was facing Fluttershy instead of the wall, and looked about. "Hey. Am I late for something?" I asked slowly, checking Clocky for the time. There wasn't any weird time delays or anything, and it was still quite late at night. "Just in time for bed?" Twilight offered, smiling weakly but not making any attempt at moving. Fluttershy glanced over at her, but she just nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. "I also wanted to apologize for freaking out earlier. I know it's silly, but I'm just, well, scared. I've only been with a mare once, and never with a stallion, so this is all really new to me," she apologized quietly. I shook my head slowly, considering it before pointing out, "We weren't trying to force you to do anything with either of us, Twilight. I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to, and you certainly don't have to or feel obligated to." She didn't exactly look convinced, however, frowning instead. "Mender, you have urges, too. I know you don't want to force us into doing anything, but you have to realize that you're not. Fluttershy admitted that she enjoyed it just as much, if not more than you. Us taking care of your urges, too, is... It's what lovers do, no?" she asked a bit louder, Fluttershy starting to blush now. She looked even more surprised when I shook my head. "No, lovers love each other. There are no conditions that I've put on that. You could go the next ten years and not do a single sexual thing with me, and I'd still care about you just as much. You told me that you don't think there's anything wrong with me and that you're just scared, so I've no reason to doubt you," I corrected, shifting a bit more against Fluttershy as I rested. Twilight's eyes softened and she looked down at the sheets again, but Fluttershy shook her head instead and kissed me on the forehead. "I think what she's trying to say is that she wants to trust you and do things with you like that because she cares. We just need to work on that trust part first," Fluttershy suggested quietly. I closed my eyes softly, biting back the first reply that came to mind, of course. She didn't have the slightest bit of trouble trusting Fluttershy with that sort of thing. Sure, they say it doesn't matter that I'm an alien or not quite entirely a pony, but they were plagued by just as many subconscious doubts as I was. "You're scared of me, then?" I asked gently, going with the far more diplomatic option. Twilight's eyes widened a bit and she quickly opened her mouth again, but froze as I looked up at her. Hesitation. A second later, she bit her lip instead and looked away from me before admitting, "A little." I had to resist laughing at the irony. She was scared of me just like I'd been scared of her. Well, a part of me still was scared of her. She'd have to try a lot harder to 'accidentally' annihilate me, of course, but I'd let her closer and she was capable of a much more intimate form of pain now. Just like she was causing now, it would seem. But no, I couldn't fault her for being scared of the monster she knew I could become. Still, I felt cold suddenly. I hadn't realized I'd been quiet until Fluttershy nudged me on the shoulder. "M-Mender, are you okay?" she asked, knowing otherwise by the link. She was polite, regardless. "I don't think anything's okay at the moment. Maybe... Maybe we should tone it down a bit until we trust each other a little more? I don't want you scared of me, so..." I offered, looking back up at Twilight, who snapped back to looking at me in an instant. "Um, tone it down?" she asked hesitantly, eyes searching mine rapidly. I looked away and towards the exit again before sighing and adding, "I think I should sleep on the couch." She stared at me, eyes slowly widening as they started to shiver, and she shook her head slowly. "A-Are you... Please, Mender. I want to be your fillyfriend still," Twilight whispered, sliding forwards instead as she shifted towards me. I winced at her getting closer and stood, moving back and away from her as Fluttershy looked back and forth between us. "I... I didn't say that, Twilight. We just need to get away from each other until... I don't know. Maybe the trust exercises will help?" I suggested, swallowing the lump in my throat. She was scared of me, just like I'd been scared of her. No, this wasn't irony. Something just had a sick sense of humor. We couldn't be 'with' each other if she was scared of me. I was a monster, but... "Mender, please. Please, just... I want to get closer, not further apart. I..." Twilight muttered, taking another step towards me. I shuddered, and then closed my eyes. In an odd sort of way, drawing upon my inner monster lent me strength. An inner resolve that I normally didn't feel. My eyes opened again a second later as blue instead, my legs sinking into the bed as the armor folded out and around me, sharp ridges sliding out and tentacles extending towards the ceiling. Fluttershy squeaked and took to the air, looking at me in surprise as I shuddered again and sighed, looking up at the startled looking, frozen Twilight. "This is inside of me, and both of you know that deep down. It's hideous and monstrous, right? How? How can you honestly say that you want to get closer to this?" I asked, dual voices twisting out as I flicked my tentacles back and forth above me. Twilight stared at me for a second before her eyes softened and relaxed again. She smiled a second later and shook her head, to my surprise. "That form being inside of you still hurts you, I know. But I can be easily honest about that. Neither Fluttershy nor I are scared of it. Startled or uneasy when you take that form, maybe. Scared? No. We know it's you in there regardless of what you look like, Mender," she assured. She stood there, unflinching no matter how hard I stared at her. She was... She was telling the truth. But she just said... "Twilight, we talked about this. You need to be honest and open so he understands you," Fluttershy softly reminded, slowing her wing flaps until she landed on the bed again. I looked between them momentarily until shifting my attention fully back to the lavender mare, pulling my armor and extra limbs back inside. So what was she afraid of, then? Twilight hesitated, frowning at nothing in particular on the sheets between her front hooves before nodding to herself. Looking back up at me then, she explained, "I'm scared of you. I'm scared of the power you have over my own feelings that snuck up on me before I could fully understand them. I'm scared of... I'm scared of disappointing you or making you upset. Most of all, I'm scared that, after me realizing that this is something I want, I'm going to drive you away. I don't want you to leave me." I stared at her, not quite processing what she just said. All I could think of was the same mare who told me to get out, and to keep away from her, and who got pissed off at one of her best friends for tricking her into kissing me. What changed? More importantly, why did that information suddenly make me feel vulnerable? She was giving me a lot of power over her, and I realized a moment later that I didn't think I was responsible enough for that. I wasn't 'worth' it. Closing my eyes, I slumped slightly, feeling exhausted suddenly. I already didn't deal well with social things, but all of this was just too much for me. There wasn't enough energy in my body to deal with all of this properly. Maybe Redheart would agree to putting me back in a coma for a few weeks? I might get some proper rest, then. "I'm so tired..." I muttered, feeling my legs start to shake under me. Fatigue would be a good word for it. It was making me feel old. Ancient even. "W-We can go to bed, Mender. It has been a long day," Fluttershy admitted, slipping up next to me, and then squeaking when I collapsed fully on my chest instead. "It's one thing after another. It feels like I haven't slept properly since I got to Equestria. Maybe sleeping for a week straight might get my energy back?" I muttered, shuddering as I lay there. Twilight let out a soft whine before moving forwards and lying down in front of me, nose to nose. "I'm sorry, Mender. You seriously need a vacation. Away from all the hectic stuff, fillies, mares, and maybe even Fluttershy and me..." she whispered, not smiling but looking into my eyes earnestly. I stared at her for a moment before shaking my head. "You two can come," I assured before leaning and lightly kissing her on the lips. Twilight's eyes widened for just a second before she relaxed and leaned forwards into the kiss, exhaling gently. I backed off a few seconds later and tilted onto my side instead. "I'm sad and frustrated that you didn't just tell me all of this, but it's not going to keep me angry for long. Let's just focus on the trust exercises tomorrow, okay?" I spoke, sticking to that whole 'truthful' thing. Twilight's horn lit up, and for just a moment, I was wary. She pulled the covers down under us, however, and slipped up next to me instead, also lying on her side but facing me this time. "I'm sorry, Mender. Again, I'm scared of disappointing you. Which, uh, I suppose I did by trying to not disappoint you. Guess that backfired," she pondered out loud, coughing and averting her gaze. Fluttershy drifted in and lightly stood behind Twilight for a moment before frowning. She stared for a few seconds before I looked up and raised an eyebrow towards her curiously, causing her to blush a bit and Twilight to look over her shoulder at her. "Um, what's wrong, Fluttershy?" she asked curiously a moment later. "Well, it's silly but, um, I realized I can't cuddle with both of you at once, and if I go between you two, you can't cuddle with each other," she explained softly. I blinked, and then looked at Twilight as well, realizing her quandary. She'd have to lie on top of us, which wouldn't be comfortable for anypony involved. "Uh, the only solution until somepony invents antigravity would be to take turns," I deduced, shrugging lightly. Twilight tilted her head, and then scratched under her chin in thought. Uh oh. She wasn't going to... "That's a really good idea! A bed enchantment that promotes antigravity or basic levitation magic over it. Then the individuals can float in perfect comfort at night rather than be subject to gravity! Herds would be able to sleep however they want, even..." she deduced a moment later. I sighed, realizing I probably had more experience with antigravity, and decided to point some things out. "Actually, that's a very problematic idea. Safety concerns are first, as you'd have to restrict the localized effect or risk ponies either drifting off, or drifting out of the area and falling. You'd also have to concern yourself with getting down safely. Turning off the effect and falling onto the bed is fine so long as nopony gets hurt, but otherwise, you might get stuck floating with nothing to create momentum. Further, that would cause ponies to spend at least a third of their time in zero gravity, which would have pronounced health issues, such as muscle atrophy, cardiovascular gradient shifts screwing with blood volume, and bone density problems over long term exposure," I warned. Twilight stared at me in surprise for a moment, and Fluttershy just looked confused as to how we'd gotten onto this topic. Actually, it was a rather off-topic tangent. I was good at those. "Uh, never mind. Let's just take turns. You two haven't seen each other for a few days, so why don't you be in the middle, Twilight? I'll hug your back," I offered, resting my head on the pillow again. Twilight got a smirk on her face instead, however. Uh oh. "Actually, how about we don't sleep at all?" she asked, lighting her horn up softly. That was hardly advisable. I'd be seriously cranky tomorrow, and I didn't even want to think about Twilight's mood if she... Oh. "You want to connect us together?" I inquired, earning a happy smile from Fluttershy and a nod from Twilight. "Oh, I was hoping we'd do that. It's so amazing!" Fluttershy squeaked out, swaying back and forth happily. True. Our positions hardly mattered if we could play together in our dreams all night. Twilight momentarily looked surprised before she squeaked, asking, "Oh yeah! You said that your forehead connection worked on Rainbow. You tried it with Fluttershy, too?" "Yeah. It worked just the same. I suspect I can form one without being a unicorn because of my spellcasting ability," I reasoned, yawning afterwards. Ugh. It was too late to discuss this stuff. Twilight seemed to read my feelings through the link and nodded, flopping over and snuggling into Fluttershy for a moment before touching her horn to the pegasus' forehead. I slid up behind them and watched as the link formed between the two mares, the soft lines of light connecting their foreheads in a yellow and lavender glow. Both opened their eyes at the same time, smiling towards each other. I relaxed a little, watching them now. We'd been through a lot together and it would take a lot more than just this to knock us apart. There was no sense in stressing out over all of it. Of course, a part of that was my tiredness talking, but it was good advice nonetheless. "We're all linked up, Mender. Your turn, and you guide us into a fully lucid dream?" Twilight requested, rotating to face me and leaning her face forwards, horn extended. I nodded and leaned in as well, kissing her instead of touching my forehead to it. She gave a start, and I felt Fluttershy squeak through both links a moment later as well as I pushed the kissing sensation to both of them at the same time, despite Twilight being the only one kissed. The lavender mare exhaled softly and relaxed, leaning into my lips with a slow nudge, giving no resistance as I gently hugged her to me. Her body was warm and her lips were oh so soft against my own and I felt her shudder as if a current was running between us. A few seconds later, I nudged up instead and bumped my forehead into the link fully, completing it and stabilizing it in my mind. "Mmm, that was a pleasant surprise," Twilight admitted, blushing softly as I gave her another squeeze. "Heh. Wanted to get a real kiss in before we slipped away into dreams. It's been a while since we've done this," I reminded, glancing up at the two different lines going into my forehead, one blue and lavender, and the other blue and yellow. She frowned and flattened her ears back before apologizing again. "I'm sorry, Mender. Shining told my parents about it and my dad threw a fit. Now that we're a herd, it's okay, but before..." I bit my tongue, but they both sensed it anyways through both links this time, and Twilight swallowed and rapidly shook her head. "Don't even say it. You are a part of this herd! It will be official tomorrow, even if I have to tear the entire office apart brick by brick until they change it," she assured, looking exceptionally determined. The scary part was, she could... "Relax, Twi. I'm not really that upset over it anymore. It seems like it's going to be an easy fix, regardless," I reasoned, silently hoping I was right. If it was anything like Keldarian bureaucracy, we were in for a world of hurt. She didn't exactly look as confident as I tried to sound, but nodded anyways. "I know it upset you, though, and even if it will be fixed by tomorrow, don't expect it to be the end of us fixing things! We have a lot of making up and apologizing to do, so expect pampering," she reminded. I groaned in mild frustration, earning a giggle from both mares before Twilight rotated around and settled against Fluttershy. I slipped forwards after and snuggled into her back, cushioning the lavender mare between both of us as she pulled the covers up again and draped us in warmth. I think it was one of the greatest pleasures in the world, to snuggle in a warm bed. Especially with the weather getting really nippy outside! "Are we ready, then?" I asked gently, just to make sure, of course. Fluttershy made a positive sounding hum, and Twilight nodded against her a second later, so I relaxed and closed my eyes. It was like they didn't close, of course. Both of them were right there, and I could 'feel' them just as easily as I could see them, all three of us pushed together gently. The links worked overtime at this distance, doubled with the energy links Twilight had set up. They drifted into me instead, both snuggling against my form as I let us sink deeper into sleep. Letting go finally, I pulled us down into a dream instead, keeping my focus sharp as we drifted into the haze and warmth. * * * * * With focus and clarity, lucid dreaming was possible. Both mare's 'woke up' inside the dream almost instantly, realizing it for what it was as my consciousness stirred them. Twilight grinned over at me, nodding as I did exactly as requested and got us into a fully conscious dream. I could control everything here with great precision, which was another perk of being a cyborg, I suppose. Heck, I could probably create a framework and server for the place and run it like a video game or something. But that was silly. Fluttershy peeked around, then smiled as she focused momentarily. The haze around us lifted, instead revealing a soft, sun-lit meadow with a nice, shady tree near us. No shadows existed here beyond that of the tree itself, I knew, and the meadow seemed to expand away forever in almost every direction. A giant mountain existed in one, however, showing the amazing spires of Canterlot off it and shining in the sun. We rested in the shade of the tree as the warm breeze drifted over us. "Nice location, Fluttershy. It's very relaxing," Twilight muttered, exhaling softly as she settled into the soft grass. "She had a similar spot on our first dream sojourn, but I didn't arrive in time to make it a lucid dream," I revealed, resting between the two as we formed a triangle of sorts in the shade. Fluttershy nodded and smiled, momentarily watching a butterfly drift past, bump her nose, then move on. I started adding details, animals, and sounds to the place, setting them to run on script and then ignoring it. A light giggle sounded out, from none of us and certainly not added by me. I smiled, looking to my right as Purdue, in her filly form, trotted out of the corner of my vision, slipping up to us a bit nervously. I eased onto my side and patted the ground next to me, and she took the invitation almost immediately, pouncing and piling into my right side for support. "Hey, little sis. How are you doing tonight?" I asked gently, remembering her request from earlier. She grinned, a light pink tint dancing along her darker blue fur, and nuzzled into me a bit. "Wonderfully, brother. I... I'm really happy that you let me call you that. Thank you," she whispered softly, looking quite happy. I smiled and nodded to her, and Twilight giggled. "Do you see Mender as sort of a big brother, then?" the lavender mare asked curiously, giving the little filly a start. She looked back to Twilight rather quickly, her copper mane flicking as she locked her faded, milky eyes onto my fillyfriend instead. "Oh, well, yes. Actually, he's everything I'd wish for in a big brother. I've wanted to call him that for a while now and only got up the guts to ask today. He's oh so kind to me, and he makes me feel comfortable and safe. It's been a really, really long time since I've felt that way," she replied, looking a bit uncertain, but relaxing again. Neither mare was at all hostile, and the relaxing atmosphere really magnified that. I could tell that this was a bit outside of Purdue's comfort zone. Fluttershy giggled a moment later before adding, "Feeling safe is a definite perk. Mender really likes to protect ponies, and knowing that, coupled with how strong he is, I know I feel really safe when I'm with him. With Twilight here, too, nothing could hurt us." I blushed lightly but couldn't deny that I liked protecting ponies. That extended infinitely more so towards the special ponies in my life. Sure, I'd fight to protect anypony, but I'd stop at absolutely nothing to ensure that my special ponies stayed safe. They all felt it at once, Twilight grinning at my thoughts at the same time Fluttershy blushed heatedly and smiled. Purdue looked surprised as she realized those thoughts extended to her, and then blushed as well, settling in against my side even more. "I'm special, too, then? It's weird. I'm supposed to be a tool. Something to provide functional utility, but so far, you've only ever used me for really important things, or when I offer help. Plus, you care about me, not just the book's powers. It's not something I've, um, experienced before. I'm glad I got to know you after all," the filly declared, relaxing again and settling onto my foreleg like a pillow, her copper locks slipping over my leg. "Of course I care about you, Purdue. As far and near as I can tell, you're a living being with thoughts, desires, and aspirations. Plus, you've been nice to me. You're a good pony," I assured. It was rather simple to me, honestly. She smiled and exhaled gently again, pushing her face into my shoulder before nodding to herself. "I... You're right. I'm not technically alive, but I'm a consciousness inside of the book. I used to be alive, but I died in order to empower the Aegis Artifact. No, that's not entirely accurate. I was, um, killed to power it," she explained uneasily, frowning as she undoubtedly remembered a very unpleasant memory. Fluttershy gasped out, almost immediately exclaiming, "That's terrible! Why would they do such a thing?!" It was still quiet, but quite a bit louder than she normally got. I'd also already suspected 'what' Purdue was, which led to the guess that she was sacrificed for the book. Purdue herself looked momentarily surprised at the outburst before smiling shyly towards the mare. "It was, um, a long time ago, so I'm not really that upset by it anymore. I was turned into an Aegis Artifact because of my powers, however," she revealed. "Oh? I would have suspected you'd have been quite important if you were one of the females born with a genetic power," I pointed out, tilting my head towards her. It wasn't often that a mutation worked in somepony's favor, exactly, but it wasn't unheard of for the genetic changes our magic bestowed to occasionally grant a boon to a newly born Keldarian rather than, say, a third arm. Although, if fully functional, a third arm was kinda cool, too... She smiled shyly but shook her head. "I never told anyone. Err, anypony? Yeah. I was born blind, so they assumed I was a runt and left it at that. But then it was eventually discovered that I had, um, powers. Then I was turned into Prudentia, which magnifies them all several thousand times over," she elaborated. "What exactly is your power, Purdue?" Twilight asked politely. To save the little filly some energy, I answered instead with, "So far, I've seen limited control over localized spacetime, and a sort of narrative clairvoyance of sorts. Err, plus audio." Yeah, I definitely heard Sweetie as well that one time. Twilight widened her eyes a little, and Purdue giggled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can 'pause' a few individuals in spacetime, but it's extremely localized and takes a lot of energy for me. Also, I have the power of 'Narrative', my first owner called it. Um, things show up in the pages of the book, centered on my owner. He's the protagonist, so to speak," she explained. Twilight looked uncertain at this point, and Fluttershy was confused at best. Blinking, I suggested, "Maybe an example, Purdue? They're both a big part of my life, so you should have something on one of them." She blinked towards me, then smiled and nodded, thinking for a moment as she held her small hoof to her chin. "Hmm. Oh, I know! Twilight got her favorite doll, Smarty Pants, from her brother when she was three. She's more upset than she lets on that she lost it when she used it for the Want It, Need It spell, and hopes it will turn up at some point," she revealed a heartbeat later. Uh... Twilight's eyes bulged out almost instantly, a light blush hitting her cheeks. "W-What?! How do you know that? Wait, I'm a part of Mender's life, so your power of 'Narrative' can... You can reveal 'exposition' about things in Mender's life that he might not know?" she asked, snapping onto Purdue's ability rather quickly. I smiled and nodded to Twilight, but Purdue looked a bit uncertain and frowned. "I... Yes, I can. He's never actually asked me to before, though, which is, well, weird. But, I should be, um, honest. Yeah, honest," she muttered a second later. I raised an eyebrow to her, and she rapidly looked away, expression a bit on the guilty side. Uh oh. "I don't just have the power of 'exposition'. Um, Big Mac has your doll, Twilight. He feels really guilty for taking it, but it reminds him of one he used to own as a foal that was lost in a bad fire. He repaired it for you, and intends to give it back to you for your birthday this year, but won't work up the courage because of what Fluttershy would think of him. Eighty seven percent probable," she revealed. Oh. Oh hell. Twilight's eyes widened further, as did Fluttershy's at that. Purdue frowned a second later, however, and added, "Now it's changed. Twilight wants her doll back and is going to go confront Big Mac on it when she returns from Canterlot. He'll attempt to explain that he was just trying to fix it properly and procrastinated, but both know it's a lie. Feelings are soured, and he works himself even harder than normal that evening, trying to forgive himself. Eighty three percent probable." "Purdue, stop," I requested softly, frowning towards her as Fluttershy squeaked, looking over towards Twilight, who softened her eyes a bit. Purdue looked confused before I smiled at her and shook my head. "You don't need to use your powers for us. And I think they'd prefer to not know the future," I explained softly, rubbing the top of her head as I did. She blushed a bit, looking more than a little surprised before softly nodding. "I thought you'd want me to use it more often, now that you realized that I also have 'Probability Foreshadowing'. Um, why don't you want me to use it?" she asked, looking confused now instead. That told me the ability's name, and also that she had to actively focus to use it, otherwise she'd know why I didn't want her to use it. "You're your own individual, Purdue. You may call me Master, but I'm not. You can use your powers how you want to, not how I direct. Just... Sometimes ponies don't like knowing the future. Helping Twilight find her doll was nice of you, but you should probably leave feelings and intentions out of it when you tell somepony from now on," I suggested. I didn't want her feeling badly as she obviously didn't understand, but reading somepony's mind wasn't a good thing. The little filly exhaled gently, resting up against me and nodding slowly. "I think I understand. It's more out of respect for Big Mac, right?" she confirmed, looking up at me after. "Exactly. What he thinks and feels is private. Unless he chooses to tell us, it's not our business to know about it," I explained gently. She stared at me for a long moment before smiling gently and nodding again. "Big brother is a lot different than a normal Keldarian. I, um, like this new perspective, I think," she admitted timidly, as if afraid I'd lash out and hit her for voicing an opinion. I realized at that moment that I wasn't the only one who had been scarred by a 'past life' of sorts. That existence truly was a screwed up place, and I suddenly really wanted to get Keela and her crew out of there. "That's because I'm not a Keldarian, Purdue. And right now, you aren't either," I pointed out, gesturing towards her pony body. She looked confused for a moment, and then started giggling and smiled up at me again. Fluttershy and Twilight joined in a second later, grinning when I shot them a questioning look. Twilight snickered once more before explaining, "Sorry. You two just look so adorable together! You're really amazing with foals, Mender." Oh? Fluttershy nodded rapidly, a warm look in her eyes that seemed familiar. I suddenly had the oddest sensation of Deja Vu, and frowned. I was supposed to be remembering something. Purdue perked up suddenly and looked up at me with a faint frown. "Oh, I just realized, I think I stayed here too long. I'm getting a little tired, so I'm going to leave you three to your dream," she excused quickly. "Oh, Purdue, wait!" I started to exclaim. She was gone before I could say her name, sadly, winking out of existence almost instantly. Damn it! "Whoa, what was with the sudden departure?" Twilight asked, sounding stunned as she looked to me instead. More questions than anything swirled in my head, a memory lingering just at the tip of awareness, but lacking enough substance for me to properly recall it. Both mares stared at me, shifting to confused as I realized I never answered. "Oh, uh, I don't know why she left. I think... I think I started to remember something else, and she was somehow causing that or something. There's a memory, but it's too faint..." I muttered, frowning afterwards. There was no point in hiding anything from them at this point. Twilight frowned, and then shifted over towards me a bit more, resting herself against my side. "Do you remember what you were thinking about when you started to remember? Sometimes it helps to mentally backtrack a bit," she suggested gently, licking my right cheek, just along the muzzle. I blushed, momentarily snapped out of my focus as Fluttershy smiled and nodded twice, slipping over to be in front of both of us, now that they didn't need to give Purdue personal space. Closing my eyes, Fluttershy's expression shot into my mind almost instantly, and I shivered. "You made the comment about foals, and Fluttershy gave me a look. It was warm, um, and I got a sense of Deja Vu from it which triggered the memory," I revealed, ears perking up as I looked up at the two of them. Twilight looked a bit confused still, but Fluttershy actually smiled and nodded. "Yes, I was thinking about what an amazing father you'd be, and, um, how I wouldn't mind having your foal," she admitted, shifting to a darker flush as she gave me a shy smile. I felt my face heat up as well, but smiled and nodded towards her. That was a warm thought indeed. It shot through my mind in an instant. She screamed at me to stop over and over again, tears flowing down her cheeks. I could barely see her. Flames rushed all around me, and the vision of two great wings expanding outwards filled everything with light. They snapped down into a single mighty flap, and then it was gone. I gave a start, Fluttershy's outburst ringing in my ear as I stared into the mare's eyes, her expression confused instead. What was...? I have to remember, huh? "Mender, are you okay?" Twilight asked, sounding rather concerned. The sky had darkened overhead, and I frowned, shifting it back to clear and sunny in an instant. "Ah, sorry. I think I'm starting to remember it a bit, but it's tiring," I excused softly, feeling fatigued from the simple memory, somehow. "You should stop straining yourself. Let's just enjoy the rest of our dream, okay? Um, do you think I could try something?" the lavender mare asked curiously. I raised my eyebrow to her, but nodded. She grinned almost instantly, and I suddenly doubted exactly how healthy that consent had been. Fluttershy looked just as apprehensive, but Twilight stood promptly and looked towards what felt suddenly like the 'north'. She'd oriented us, I realized. The ground blurred away as we suddenly shot up and along a mountain path at several hundred miles an hour. Fluttershy let out a squeak and hopped over the 'nothingness' and into me, and I smiled, stabilizing the image of a 'flying carpet' under us. It was just for show, of course, but Fluttershy relaxed and felt along it as we flew. Twilight was tracing her own memories, I realized, and from our angle through the mountains, this looked like a train route. My eyes widened as the sun shifted overhead and we exited out into a great valley, expanding off into the distance with its flatness, accented only by the mountains frozen beyond. Light snow fell around us, and Fluttershy instinctively pushed closer to me, even though it wasn't cold. I watched the sun glisten across the freshly fallen snow as we zoomed along, our target in the distance fairly obvious. It was a massive spire, made entirely of crystal, by the looks of it. Similar smaller structures expanded from its base a dozen miles out at least, and I knew immediately that this had to be the 'Crystal Empire', where Cadance and Shining ruled. "Oooh, you wanted to visit here?" Fluttershy asked, eyes dancing as she stuck her tongue out to catch one of the flakes of snow zipping past. She gave a start when I made it 'real' to her, the sensation of the snow hitting her tongue and slowly melting. "Heh. Yup! This is the Crystal Empire, as I'm sure you've already guessed," Twilight introduced, turning back to face me as we zipped along, rapidly heading towards the spire. I smiled and nodded to her, earning a grin. "How about Fluttershy and I give you the grand tour?" she offered next, sounding excited. Smiling, I returned her nod before asking, "Does it include an example of the consistency of the Crystal Palace?" Twilight blinked before widening her eyes and whipping around again, the side of the massive crystal spire blurring up faster than I could blink. Amidst a sigh, I put up an Aegis Barrier around us and took control again, just as we collided... * * * * * Smiling, we watched the sun slowly set, sitting on the very upper rim of the Crystal Palace. I took another lick from my frozen popsicle that obviously wasn't real, and enjoyed the sensation of Fluttershy snuggling into my right side. On the other side of her, Twilight sat as well, licking her own popsicle. The sky expanded out into a full orange miasma of hues, bathing us in light as we leaned against the tip of the spire. So far, the tour had been amazing, minus putting that new two-meter wide hole in the side of the palace, and Twilight acting sheepish for a while. Fluttershy was oddly more freaked out that we'd destroyed a section of the architecture rather than almost getting flattened into the consistency of pancake batter, but insisted that she knew she was safe when I was around. Personally, I think she just said it to make me blush, which worked in spades. Heh. "I kind of wish the dream would never end. But we have to wake up soon, don't we?" Fluttershy asked softly, her wings giving a light flutter behind her as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. I smiled, nodding softly as she rested against me. "It's a very peaceful dream, and the company is top notch, but our other friends would miss us," I pointed out. Twilight smiled softly at that before giving her popsicle a final lick and tossing it off the edge. Heh. She gave the sky a sad gaze for a moment before nodding oh so slowly. "It's true. With all the work coming up in the future, I don't know when we'll get to just have a vacation again. Mender needs one most of all, and I don't think starting all the things involved with the organization right away is a good idea. How about we just take a break when we get back to Ponyville?" Fluttershy stared at her in surprise for a moment before asking, "Um, are you feeling okay, Twilight? You've been awfully stressed and you might be coming down with a fever or-" "Heh. Yes, I'm fine, Fluttershy. I know, I know. It's not normal for me to condone not working, but..." she interrupted, trailing off with a frown. Fluttershy was right, of course. Normally she'd be in the position to argue just getting all the work over with, despite the crazy amount of it involved. The lavender mare hesitated for another long moment, scratching her hoof along the surface of the crystal we sat on, and then sighed. "Okay, I give. I'm not good with figuring out my feelings, so I'm just going to be honest. Those last two or three days of estrus, I kind of went nuts," she revealed. Uh... We both gave her a blank stare, and she rolled her eyes, blushing lightly before defending, "Don't look so surprised! Sheesh. Okay, yeah, that much was obvious, but I didn't explain why, now did I?" Well, that's true. I just kind of assumed, and hadn't heard it directly from her mouth. "Um, it was because I ran away, right? And because of the form being sent out?" Fluttershy guessed softly, tilting her head sideways as she regarded the mare. Yeah, that's what I had assumed. She was worried that I'd be angry, and that Fluttershy had been disappointed. Twilight frowned and exhaled softly before shaking her head, surprising me. "Not exactly. I mean, I was really sad that you were gone when I woke up, but I thought you had to go check on your animals early or something. Then I saw the form I'd left in the kitchen where we were talking about it and signed it, and stuck it in the envelope to be safe until Mender got back," she elaborated. Eh? "After I did that, I tried to focus on my experiments in the basement, but I couldn't focus. What I did with Fluttershy was weighing heavily on my mind, and I realized at some point that you might not approve of what we did. Then I realized that you probably wouldn't approve, as that was why we technically sent you to the cabins in the first place. Then, after I started to panic, I ran up and checked the herd contract again, noticing that it said it was based off consummation, which, while being a really old fashioned concept, still meant that I'd probably have to have sex with you before you could sign it. Fluttershy, too, of course," she continued, starting to fidget and actually working herself up with the story about her working herself up. It was kind of ironic, in a tragic sense. Fluttershy blushed lightly, but Twilight shook her head and raised her hoof towards us again before continuing with, "I didn't think I was ready to mate with a male, and the thought still terrifies me, but that's not the point or reason of me telling you this. I stewed on that little bit for the better part of that day, realizing that not only would you probably be upset and that I'd have to officially mate with you, but we already tore off the carbon copy of the paper. It was so tempting to just tear it up and request another copy, but I was worried Fluttershy would be sad or take it the wrong way because she already signed it, so I didn't know what to do. Things got a bit blurred as the hormones kicked in again, sadly. Keeping it in the envelope turned out to be a bad idea, as I must have sent it out on accident with the rest of the book return notices the next day. At that point I was out of it, but I take full responsibility for what happened." So it was an accident, then. Twilight's horrified and guilt-ridden expression probably could have told me that without the story, but it was nice to have the clarity. I opened my mouth to remind her that nothing drastic was going to happen, when she lifted her hoof again and shuddered, taking a few deep breathes. "Not done yet. I... I need to say this last part. I lost it. I totally lost it in blind panic. It took me two hours to find the rules and regulations for Herds, and when I saw that it took a full month to append somepony to one, I shot right into believing that it was all over. There was no way in my mind that you'd forgive either one of us for it, and I was going to get dumped. The prospect absolutely horrified me, and.... Well, I'm embarrassed to admit that I tried thinking up literally anything I could to convince you to give us another chance. Love potions, spells, and more mundane things like making myself into your slave for the rest of eternity. Uh, I kind of went crazy," she repeated. Blinking, I swallowed uneasily, remembering that she'd mentioned several potions she had ready for me from her upside down spot on the ceiling. She held up both hooves at Fluttershy's horrified look, and shook her head rapidly, adding, "I know! It was crazy, and he never would have agreed to that, and I wasn't going to give him the potions once I snapped out of it! I just... I panicked. Pure panic. But it's important, because looking back at it now, I realized I panicked." Oh...? That didn't seem like a good thing. Fluttershy relaxed a bit, and suddenly smiled, realizing something I didn't, apparently. Twilight's eyes softened at that and she stood again, moving past Fluttershy and snuggling into my front, lightly pushing me backwards until she slipped fully into my lap. This was a not entirely unwelcome change of tone, and it surprised me, but I kept my mouth shut as she finished with, "I panicked, just like I would have if Princess Celestia had told me that I failed and wasn't her student anymore. Looking back, I realized that was as honest with myself as I'd ever been. I care about you, Mender. You mean an amazing amount to me and now, I don't want to be without you. Ever. That's why I'm going to step up and fix this. Everything. I've been a horrible fillyfriend to you and Fluttershy, and I'm done with that. From now on, I'm going to treat you two right." Oh... I knew why she was panicking, but was it really to that extent? Fluttershy frowned almost instantly, and I saw it coming. "N-No, Twilight! You've been amazing to me so far. I'm sorry I got scared and ran away. It was just... I felt so guilty that we'd done that without him, and I felt sick because of it. You didn't do anything wrong to me, but neither of us should have signed that paper without Mender there. We weren't thinking clearly at all, and now we both need to fix it. P-Please don't try to take all the blame, Twilight," she pleaded softly, slipping up against my side and nuzzling Twilight's cheek for good measure. Those eyes! I knew I wouldn't be able to say no to Fluttershy like that, and wondered if Twilight had built up more of a tolerance to the- "F-Fluttershy... It, but, it wasn't you who sent... I... I know. Fine, let's both make it up to him, okay?" Twilight suggested, caving in before I could even finish the thought. Well, I guess that answered that. Shrugging, I decided to admit, "While I momentarily, during the height of my anger, entertained the thought of cutting off and just letting you two be with each other, I didn't stay angry for long and I'm not going to leave either of you unless you tell me to." She was being honest and deserved the same. Twilight swallowed uneasily and nodded to me, pushing herself more into my lap and exhaling softly. Her warm fur felt amazing against mine, and I held her close as Fluttershy snuggled into my right side, against both of us. She looked a bit sad, but nodded alongside Twilight, whispering, "I understand, Mender. I know you, well, think that it's your job to, but you don't need to hide things inside anymore. We talked about it for a while and realized how, um, angry you were with us. I can feel it still inside of you, Mender. Let us help you ease that." Ease it? I knew what she was talking about instantly, and it was a credit to her skills at reading ponies to be able to pick up on something even I barely noticed. Of course, they were both literally inside my mind at the moment, so maybe proximity made it easier? Still, how did one go about easing anger away? "I wouldn't call it anger exactly. It's frustration. A deeply rooted frustration and sadness over everything so far. A lot of things aren't exactly ideal for me, and undoubtedly for you two either. I get that accidents happen, which was why I'm willing to just swallow it and take the three years 'appended' status if I have to. I mean, it's just a title, right?" I explained hesitantly, earning the two negative bursts almost instantly, as I'd been anticipating. Still, their consistency made me happy, anyway. "No, Mender. We're going to fix this as soon as physically possible tomorrow. You know that even if it wasn't our fault directly, I don't like leaving things unsettled if I can help it," Twilight pointed out, backing up a bit so she could look into my eyes fully. I sighed and looked away from her, only to be greeted with a similar expression from Fluttershy as well. "She's right. Not only will it hopefully prove to you that we're serious, it will put us all on equal ground again. Then we can focus properly on working out that frustration," she added, smiling afterwards. Okay, I couldn't help myself any further. "Uh, how exactly does one work out anger? Um, we didn't have anything in my world to deal with psychological issues, so this is kind of new to me..." I warned, giving a sheepish look towards Twilight, who suddenly dropped her jaw. "S-Seriously? Wait, no, I should have anticipated that. It actually explains quite a bit," the lavender mare muttered a moment later before promptly slapping her forehead with a forehoof. Fluttershy giggled lightly and leaned into me a bit more before whispering, "With lots and lots of tender loving care, until you can't help but feel amazing and all your tension just drifts away. Oh, it'll be lovely, and I can't wait." That was followed by a blush and peck to my cheek, and I couldn't help but blush as well, sensing at least a 'part' of what she planned on doing already. I had no idea how to handle this sort of thing, as getting gifts or special treatment was a bit foreign to me. My entire stay in Equestria had been awkward like that, as I realized I'd always been 'different' from others. Not always in a good light, of course. "Uh, y-you probably won't need much. I don't hold onto a grudge or anything, and it-" I quickly started to correct. Twilight grinned before shutting me up with a kiss directly to the muzzle, and I squeaked before she backed away and shook her head. "Don't even try it, Mister! You'll be getting lots of affection whether you like it or not. Honestly, Fluttershy's right. Once I get over my initial fear of, um, mating with a male, it will probably be just as amazing as mating with a female is," she concluded, tone getting more and more flustered as she went, even reverting back to more formal terms. Heh. She'd never change. Fluttershy blushed furiously at that, of course, and fidgeted against me before I fully realized the implication of what Twilight just said. Oh! Ha! I raised a playful eyebrow towards the yellow mare, and she got even more flustered, looking away from both of us as I snickered. "She really is amazing, isn't she?" I agreed playfully. The lavender mare on my lap started giggling again, but Fluttershy outright squeaked finally and flailed her hooves lightly towards me, shaking her head rapidly. "I'm not t-that amazing! Um, you two are both amazing instead. That's why I really, uh, like it. Plus, these hormones are horrible this year. I think I'm being affected by being in a herd, too," she finally excused. Twilight smiled softly towards her and nodded, agreeing with, "It makes sense. I think it's more of a psychological thing than anything. Your body knows it has, uh, availability now, so you feel the urges even more strongly. Um, that's why tomorrow night I think, um, I think I want to experiment a little bit with Mender, too. Do you think you could help us, Fluttershy?" Eh?! Fluttershy looked just as surprised as me, as the suggestion totally blindsided me. "You want me to help? I, well, oh! I think I understand. I've been with, um, both of you, so yeah, I think I can help ease things a bit," she agreed, blushing lightly but smiling at the thought. Well then, this was a bit awkward. Suddenly, I realized that mentally I must have gotten a bit 'interested' in the aspect after all. Twilight started to smile towards Fluttershy and nod, but stopped a second later, frowning as she started to look down instead. I quickly shifted, moving the mare off my lap as I flipped over onto my stomach instead. My face felt like it could fry an egg and I shuddered, distinctly looking away from the confused looking Fluttershy and the now furiously blushing Twilight, who apparently realized what had happened. "Uh, yeah. I'm just going to wake us up now. It's oh nine hundred hours anyways," I suggested weakly. Twilight just nodded quickly, causing Fluttershy to frown at the both of us, but I didn't bother waiting. The less time I lingered, the less time the situation had to stew into further awkwardness. With no other delays, I focused momentarily and flicked myself back into consciousness, hauling both mares along with me. Please... Please have rolled over as I slept, body...
Chapter 66Yawning sleepily, I sat on the rather uncomfortable wooden bench and leaned back against the wall, vacant stare aimed at the ceiling. Twenty-seven minutes and twelve seconds so far, wasted by just sitting here idly. The room was beyond packed, unfortunately, but at least nopony was paying a bit of attention to us at all. Fluttershy yawned sleepily, curled up against my left thigh while zoning in and out of unconsciousness. I fully agreed. It was far too early in the morning for this. Still, Twilight had insisted on 'beating the crowd' down here. That had gone poorly at best. The room was quite spacious, thankfully, having enough room along the west wall for six three meter long counters all connected together, with access granted to behind them via a door on the south wall. They were made of nice oak, by the looks of the wood, but only three of them actually had ponies behind them at the moment. That was probably contributing to the delay. A queue was formed in front of all three open ones, with an empty row next to the line of ponies. The signs were self-explanatory enough, but I'd also watched a few other herds already. The lead stallion or mare waited in line, then the rest of the herd was called up through the empty row when they reached the actual counter. Then, when whatever business was concluded, the herd left via the empty row and the process was repeated for the next in line. Good in theory, but it took upwards of fifteen to twenty minutes for some of the herds... They really needed to open the other three counters. Out of pure boredom, I looked about the rest of the room while waiting. Stone brick mostly, the dull color was a sharp contrast to the warmer reds and greens in the rugs and tapestries they'd selected, making it a bit better anyways. Benches largely filled the remainder of the main room, with bathrooms towards the back, next to what looked like private offices. I'd caught myself also marking the exits, sniping angles on the windows, and the structural supports to the place, formulating a solid guess as to the explosive yield required to slice through them with a shaped detonation. Keldarian Engineering Motto. Always have a plan to bring down any structure you lay eyes upon. Old habits die hard, it would seem. Regardless, I made sure that Fluttershy and I were well outside of the sniping angle of the two nearest windows, just in case. "Argh! This is so boring! Why are there so many herds here so early?!" Twilight groaned out along the link, shooting us a frustrated glance from her place, third in line. Two more herds and we'd finally get our turn. I tried smiling softly towards her while Fluttershy gave her a sympathetic expression, mentally suggesting, "There's usually always a lot of tension after the Fall estrus. Separation and hormones can cause bad decisions, and lots of stress in couples that are still together. Coupled with the colder weather and darker days, and it can cause a lot of problems." Heh, that was the truth there. It was a bad decision on their part that caused us to be here after all, but I'd just gotten done trying to cheer them up over that, so I was definitely not going to mention it again. Twilight sighed and nodded, looking a bit glum before adding in a whisper down the link, "I figured as much. It's probably worse in larger cities, especially with the taller buildings blocking even more light. Seasonal Mood Disorder aside, we all know what bad decisions can do. But we're definitely going to fix it now, even if I have to stand in line all day!" Heh, she was resolute about this, anyway. SMD sounded vaguely familiar, however. I'd seen a study on Seasonal Affective Disorder theories applied to prolonged exposure to the Keldarian 'Sky Scorching' phenomenon that was rather interesting, and wondered if SMD was similar, for a moment. Then I decided I must be extremely bored, to wander off on that tangent. "Um, do you think they'll give us any trouble with it, Twilight?" Fluttershy silently asked, expression softening as she looked down a little. I leaned down a bit and gently nuzzled the top of her forehead, giving her a little peck while I was down there. There were more than enough public displays of affection drifting around the room that I didn't feel I needed to worry about a minor one. The yellow mare gave me a timid but thankful looking smile, and I nodded to her calmly. Twilight seemed to consider it for a moment before answering with, "I doubt it. All the forms I've seen so far are simplistic enough, and the waiver releases require a royal signature, which I can provide myself, so..." That was a good line of reasoning, honestly. We had everything they'd require, in theory. And if they required a 'full blood' royal signature, Cadance had said she'd be more than willing to sign for me. The pink alicorn had caught up with us really fast this morning as we were heading out of the palace. She seemed quite intent on formally apologizing to me for the awkward question last night which had caused my small breakdown. I tried to explain that it wasn't her fault, and that I just had flashbacks sometimes if something reminded me of a bad 'memory', but she still insisted. She was definitely a kind mare, and explained that she hadn't meant to sound depreciating of what I'd undoubtedly gone through, which I thought was an amazingly diplomatic way to word it, but it was a nice thought anyway. Regardless, she said she would be at dinner tonight at Twilight's parents' house, so I'd be seeing her again then. Of course, that was a whole different can of worms that I didn't quite want to touch yet. Maybe I should invite Octavia along, too, just in case I need to smooth things over again? "At least there's a large amount of herds here, some of the appointments quite loud. Even if the waiting annoys you, at least consider that we blend in fairly well and shouldn't cause any media controversies this time," I pointed out mentally, pulling Fluttershy closer as she giggled lightly, out loud this time. Twilight smirked, and then admitted back, "That's a positive way to look at it, anyways. So, I guess suggesting that you cause a distraction to weed out the line a bit would be bad, then, right?" Ha! Snickering as well, I returned, "Well I could always go into the bathroom, pop out my throat armor, and roar at the top of my lungs. Bet that would clear the building out fairly fast." Fluttershy giggled lightly, but Twilight held a hoof over her mouth to stop herself from outright laughing. "Ha! The problem is, it would probably cause the workers to clear out, too, and then we'd be here a really long time," she pointed out a moment later, smirking back at me. The mare behind her was starting to give her rather strange looks given how animate Twilight was for not actually talking to anypony. I snickered softly to Fluttershy, happy I was way back here where there was already quiet talking and our motions looked more like we were talking to each other. "Heh, probably. Still, I'm sure you could fill out the paperwork yourself with no trouble. Careful, though. The mare behind you is getting suspicious," I warned, turning back towards Fluttershy instead, who tilted her head past me and at Twilight. "Gah! I can't help but make gestures while talking. Um, I'll try to be quieter so they don't think I'm crazy," Twilight suggested in a flustered a second later. Probably for the best, honestly. Fluttershy sighed and shifted further against me, a somewhat nervous yet bored sensation drifting from her. Ah, I knew that sensation well enough. She wanted to be done with all of this, yet she didn't want to go through with it because she was nervous. I suppose I should consider it a sign of how much she truly cared that she was braving doing this at all. She let out a light squeak and looked up at me as I leaned forwards and lightly kissed her on the forehead. I felt her move upwards and into me instead, oh so carefully lifting up and kissing me gently on the lips after I moved back. We kept it quick and chaste, of course, and she relaxed against my side instead, keeping her warm body up against mine as she relaxed there. Moments like this, however, made me want to stay here forever. The little yellow pegasus had quite proven her devotion to preserving the relationship already, and I was more than content being with her now. Twilight was also in the process of proving herself resolute in wanting to be with me. If this went through without a hitch, I'd also be an official member of the herd. That rang through my mind, and I smiled, holding Fluttershy close as her wings slipped around me. Yeah, sure they both had each other and had definitely shown that over estrus, but they were going to solid lengths to prove that they wanted me here, too, so did I really have anything to complain about? It was hard to stay mad when they seemed genuinely apologetic. But despite my reasoning, why was I uneasy over it still? "You're angry. It's as simple as that. They didn't bother thinking of you until it was too late over Estrus, and if they had, you wouldn't even have to be here," an oh so familiar voice reasoned to my left. My eyes narrowed, the smell of blood permeating the air suddenly. Blood and decay. Damn it. I hadn't heard from her since my tiny breakdown when we got back to Ponyville, and was hoping she'd given up on pestering me. Guess I was wrong. "Me, give up on you? Of course not. You're me, and I'm certainly not going to give up on myself. Besides, you can feel that I'm right, no?" she suggested. Her voice didn't have the edge it normally did, nor was she taunting me, which threw me a bit off guard. Her 'suggestion' the last time she showed herself was rather reasonable, too, which was a bit disconcerting, now that I considered it. Was she growing nicer, or was I growing colder? Holding my composure as best I could, I focused only on talking to her, thinking out, "Leave me alone, Nirru. You're either a figment of my imagination, or a computer error, both of which make you completely insignificant. I can figure things out without your input." Fluttershy shivered slightly, eyes opening again as she looked up at me. Figured. At this distance, and with her amazing levels of empathy, I realized she'd probably be able to tell something was different. The 'sensation' of Nirru smirked, me realizing that despite me not looking at her. All the more proof that she was just in my head, I realized. "How mean. I'm only trying to help you and you lash out so violently towards me. Heh. I like it. You really are an alpha male. I never should have tried to kill you after all, should I have? You'd be a much better mate," she suggested, voice dropping in what I could only describe as a sick attempt to be seductive, largely because of who the voice belonged to. Sadly, I had a feeling she was fully aware of how much the 'seduction' would piss me off instead. "Mender, what's that sensation?" Fluttershy asked quietly, starting to turn around in the direction of the rotting corpse behind her. I reached a hoof out instantly and stopped her rotation, pulling her back to face me. "Don't look, Fluttershy," I quickly warned. Twilight's awareness shifted to us in an instant, a bit of alarm playing at her link. I realized my own heartbeat had greatly sped up, apprehension and unease readily apparent through the two links. Pinkie's link activated a second later as she too became aware of something. Rainbow's followed after, me distinctly feeling Pinkie's alert the cyan mare. Damn it. "Mender, what is it? W-Who is this... I feel something really horrible b-behind..." Fluttershy started to whisper. Nirru slowly grinned, her jaw cracking with a wet snap as it expanded past its normal limits, the drops of blood flying out and towards... No! In an instant, I pulled Fluttershy close to me, snapping all her focus back onto me as I released that empty hunger inside of me at point blank range, aiming just around behind the pegasus as best I could. Nirru's eyes widened in an instant as she started to shout out, "Wai-" Her image was gone, so fast that reality seemed to distort and burn away to blackness where she was. The black nothing, so empty and freezing cold, was there for just a moment, then gone again before one could even fully process its existence. I knew it had been there, though, which was enough to chill me to the bone. Fluttershy gave a start, feeling the sudden emptiness flare up for that split second of existence, but it was gone before she could even complete her jerk. "Mender, what's wrong?!" Twilight quickly asked mentally a second later. Rainbow slid in through the door, to my surprise, less than three seconds later, followed by Applejack fast on her tail. They were supposed to be waiting outside! "It... It's nothing. Well, no, it was her again. But she's gone now. I'm sorry," I quickly apologized, pushing it down the link to all of them at once. Damn it. "I felt her, too! Oh dear. I-Is she always so scary? That was horrible," Fluttershy whimpered, shuddering as she slipped up next to me fully, her warm fur brushing up along mine and relaxing me. I wish she hadn't had to feel that at all however. "What did she even want?! Did she show up just to make us mad?" Rainbow growled, outright hostility evident in her tone of mental voice. Applejack apparently caught on to what happened rather fast, Rainbow saying a few more words after asking that. The orange mare narrowed her eyes dangerously, looking back towards me instead. I sighed softly, considering it for a second before answering with, "She shows up to taunt me about various insecurities, trying to give me 'advice' in how to deal with them." They already knew about her, so I might as well be honest. It had been working well for me so far. Rainbow slowly translated for Applejack as the two mares headed over towards us. "Oh? What kind of things does she suggest?" Twilight asked, sounding a little irritated, the target being her undead and potentially hallucinatory look-alike, to my surprise. It was nice knowing she didn't think I was crazy. "Um, and what was the insecurity this time, if you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy inquired softly, verbally only to my surprise. I glanced down at her, and she blushed, smiling gently at me. That was difficult to answer without hurting her feelings. Frowning, I looked over at the two rapidly approaching mares, and then sighed. No, I had insisted on the truth so far, so I was going to stick with it. "I was momentarily insecure about what happened with the herd to get us into this position to begin with. It wasn't anything major, Fluttershy," I finally admitted, voice still in a whisper. Fluttershy's eyes softened slightly, and I immediately regretted telling her, but she smiled instead a half a second later and pushed into my chest again, sighing softly. "Thank you for being honest, Mender," she whispered back, right into my chest fur as Applejack and Rainbow walked up. I held her gently and watched, somewhat uneasily, at the rather angry looking orange mare and concerned looking cyan one. Had I done something I wasn't supposed to? "Mender, Ah want ya ta link with me. Tha next time this happens, Ah wanna be able ta personally see her, if possible, just so Ah can buck her in tha face," she requested, not so subtle rage underlying her normal tone of voice. I swallowed uneasily and considered the request. Could they see her? That would be beyond horrific if so. Still, honesty. Sighing, I shook my head and explained, "Even if you link with me, I have no idea if you'd be able to see her. I might just be going crazy, Applejack." The orange mare looked less than dissuaded, but Fluttershy shook her head against my chest almost immediately. "N-No, Mender. I felt her behind me. That was horrible, but she's real. I've never felt someone so cold before. Not since King Sombra," she revealed. Eh? Who? My confusion went largely unanswered as Applejack frowned to herself, slowly nodding a moment later. "Ah made up mah mind regardless. Can ya complete tha link with me, Mender?" she finally requested, locking eyes with me but staying completely neutral in expression. This was a bit beyond sudden and I swallowed. "Applejack, we don't know all the effects of the links yet. Plus, you've heard already some of the horrible things they can do. Are you really sure you want to be connected to me of all ponies for the rest of your life?" I hastily asked. Of course, the unspoken accusation was there regardless. Was she just doing this because she thought she 'owed' me? "Ah'm certain. Ta be frank, Ah should'a asked fer this on tha train ride over, yesterday. We all know ya aren't gonna abuse tha connections. 'Sides, Dash 'ere is linked ta ya, an' she's tha element o' loyalty, so her approval means ah lot." I looked over at Rainbow, who stared at Applejack in stunned surprise, apparently having not expected that last statement in the least. Her conviction was solid, and I really didn't have any reason to doubt her. Sighing, I looked down at Fluttershy, who smiled and nodded against my chest. Well, if Fluttershy approved, how could it go wrong? Closing my eyes, I shifted the link displays back up and onto my inner 'desktop', hooking into Applejack's. One ping request later, and I hit the yes confirmation to establish the full link. "Welcome to our network, then, Applejack," I mentally greeted, earning a start from the orange mare, who was still looking right at me when I 'spoke'. Huh. That was amazingly similar to the reaction Twilight had. The lavender mare in question sent happy emotions down her link, while Rainbow grinned and nodded towards the still startled orange mare. "W-Whoa. This is gonna take ah bit o' gettin' used ta. Ah can feel all o' ya," Applejack muttered in a bit of awe, looking between the four of us with wide eyes. I nodded, of course, shooting some amused feelings down the link, and felt Fluttershy add warm happiness into it, too. Dash snickered, then nodded, adding, "Just be careful when Mender and Fluttershy get naughty. Those rather potent feelings can be felt quite a ways away." What?! Fluttershy started blushing almost instantly, and I felt my own cheeks heat up almost as fast as my eyes widened. Gah! Couldn't we get through even a single day without horribly awkward embarrassment?! Applejack smirked instead and looked over at Rainbow, asking, "Is that why ya bailed right fast out tha window last night, all flushed an' bothered?" Oh? Wait, last night...? Pinkie, whose presence was lingering nearby like a ghost might haunt me like one of my hundreds of failed aspirations, decided to finally bust into the conversation with, "Oooh, welcome, AJ! And yeah! Rainbow got flustered when Fluttershy and Mender started making out in bed." There were no words for that. Fluttershy apparently agreed, instead releasing a low yet long whine, her entire face turning red as Applejack started laughing. "Pinkie!" I hissed, trying to get the mare to realize that maybe this wasn't the best time for this. I'd much prefer 'never' for most of her reveals. "Psh, no need ta get all embarrassed-like on us. Ya both know it's natural," the orange mare assured, absently waving a hoof towards us both. Eh, at least I'd rather be talking about this than being insane and seeing corpses that looked like my fillyfriend. Speaking of, at mention of the incident last night, what could only be described as a 'wince' shot down the link from Twilight. Frowning, I shook my head towards Applejack and warned, "Not all of us enjoyed that moment, so perhaps we should discuss something else instead?" Applejack raised an eyebrow towards me, and then widened her eyes as she glanced back at Twilight instead. "Oh, right. Ah forgot that little detail. Ah'm sorry, Twi. Ya know Ah didn't mean anythin' by it," she apologized properly, focusing as she closed her eyes to send it mentally instead. "How come everypony seems better at the whole 'mind talking thing' than me?! It's not fair. I can't even talk using just mental communication yet and I've been doing it a lot longer than AJ!" Rainbow suddenly complained, looking a bit on the miffed side. I chuckled at the comment, and Fluttershy smiled happily towards her regardless. "You'll get the hang of it the more you use it, Rainbow. Just keep practicing," Twilight assured mentally, giving us a happy smile from her place in line. Oh! Which had shrunk, I suddenly noticed. It was true, I hadn't exactly been paying attention to it, but now I realized she was next up, and it looked like the single mare in front of her was wrapping things up rapidly. It was kind of depressing when I only saw one pony talking to them. They usually looked sad while doing so, and I realized a good chunk of them were herds that hadn't worked out for one reason or another. That made this a rather depressing building. Rainbow sighed and nodded along absently while Applejack looked backwards following my gaze, then smirked. "Looks like yer gonna be up next real soon, an' then ya'll be ah proper member o' tha herd. Ah'm happy fer ya, Mender," she observed out loud, turning and looking towards me for the last part. I was a bit nervous, admittedly, but this was hopefully a step in the right direction. The sharp intake of breath off to my left somewhere set off my 'bad news' alert flags. Gasps were usually never good. Looking that way, I saw a strawberry colored mare with light green hair that I didn't recognize. She stood a good three meters away from us, and had her eyes locked not on me, but Applejack instead. All four of us shifted our attention to her, the mares noticing my sudden distraction rather rapidly given that they were all linked to me now. "M-Miss Applejack?! The Element of Honesty herself?! W-Wait, that means..." she squeaked out, eyes shifting to the rest of us. Oh hell. It was worse than I'd thought. An assassin charging at me was much, much easier to deal with. Applejack herself looked more than a little confused, but the mare locked eyes with each of us in turn. "Miss Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash as well! Oh, what an honor it is to see the Elements of Kindness and Loyalty. Wow! C-Could you sign your autographs?" she asked quickly, hopping forwards and pulling a small tablet out of her bag before digging for a pen. Oh? I tilted my head at my lack of introduction, but stayed quiet. Rainbow grinned almost instantly and fluttered around to the other side of Applejack, puffing up a bit. "Sure thing! It's no trouble at all for us to give a signature, right?" she offered, shifting her overly exuberant smirk to the orange mare as well, who smiled but rolled her eyes. "Sure, Ah guess. It ain't worth much, but if ya really like us, then it ain't no trouble," she admitted, shrugging absently. She didn't seem nearly as interested, I noticed. "Aaah! I'm so happy! Wait, this means..." the still unknown mare suddenly muttered before looking forwards into the lines and tracing her eyes through them. It didn't take her long to spot Twilight, looking back at us in confusion, and she grinned even more. "Miss Twilight Sparkle is here! Oh, congratulations on your recent herd forming, Miss Fluttershy," she added less than a second later. That one hurt a bit, feeling somewhat like a kick to the gut, but I decided to just swallow the lump in my throat and remind myself that we were here to fix that little mistake. Fluttershy went from silent confusion to timid fluster even faster than the mare managed to talk, shrinking down and partially hiding behind me, eyes wide. I smiled down towards her and sent some assuring thoughts down the link, brushing her mane back with a hoof and rubbing the side of her muzzle gently. I felt her relax a bit against my left thigh and start to look up at me with a gentle smile, her eyes softening a bit as her link grew more relaxed. Of course, I hadn't noticed that the fan mare had rotated around in the meantime, so needless to say, it was a bit panic-inducing when she suddenly shouted out, "Hey, everypony! It's the Elements of Harmony!" Damn it. It took maybe half a second for them to process the information. Three seconds later, a surge of ponies were moving our way, and Fluttershy squeaked again, looking horrified as they neared. Admittedly, I agreed with her and pulled her back against me, contemplating throwing up a shield to protect us. "Hey! Who are you? What are you doing to Miss Fluttershy?!" the same mare asked as the crowd moved in. Eh?! Fluttershy herself shifted emotions again, moving from her horror as the crowd closed in, to distinct shock as she looked back to the mare instead, eyes widened as if she couldn't entirely believe what she just said. Applejack cut off the crowd, however, stamping her hoof down and calling out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Give us some space, ya'all! This 'ere stallion is just holdin' her, like he has every right ta. He's Moon Mender. Name ring any bells?" she tried to remind after halting the rapid advance of the many, many ponies. As much as I welcomed the anonymity, being stoned as a stalker or 'creep' was significantly lower on my list of things desired. Slightly above riding on a train, however. There was a collective overall 'no', with one stallion to the right of the group moving a bit closer to look at me. "Wait, you're that stallion that was at the press conference yesterday. Uh, I don't remember anything else about you, though," he admitted a moment later. Okay, that made me kind of want to cry. Hadn't Tia spent a good chunk of time explaining exactly who I was supposed to be? "I'm in a relationship with both Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle, who's up there in line right now. There was an... Well, it was a mistake on the form, and I didn't get added to the herd like I should have," I tried to explain, focusing on getting a barrier ready still just in case we needed it. We probably wouldn't, I realized, but I discovered that if I focused on something else, I didn't get quite as freaked out about the large amount of ponies staring at us right now. Fluttershy blushed against me, still not looking at anypony, but managing a gentle nod as well. Applejack smiled back at me instead, then repeated Fluttershy's gesture towards the crowd before adding, "Eeyup! Mender's ah part o' their herd, too. Just got goofed up in tha paperwork, which is why we're 'ere." Heh. Of course, she was the Element of Honesty, and they all knew she wouldn't lie to them. I shifted happy thanks towards Applejack, who just smiled and nodded at me. The stunned silence from the crowd was broken by bursts of rapid talking here and there. Had I said too much? A yelp shot down the link a second later, and I glanced to the right in time to see Twilight throw up a barrier around herself, the line having fallen apart into a cluster around her, all of them talking, too. Wonderful. How soon until the reporters got a hold of this one? I'd been intentionally vague as to not... "Sir? Mister Moon Mender? Might I have a statement, please?" was suddenly asked to my left. I gave a start and looked back, only to find a totally different, almost pure white mare all of a meter away, pad of paper in her hooves, quill floating nearby, and a 'Canterlot Inquirer' hat on her head. Her horn glowed a soft green, the same color as her eyes, and a forest green lock of mane slipped out from under the baseball cap she wore. Canterlot Inquirer? Wasn't that the newspaper that had slammed on Twilight? I blinked, however, uncertain as to what exactly she was asking. "A statement as to what?" I requested, hoping she'd elaborate that a bit more. I mean, if she just wanted any statement, I could start going on about the finer points of magical safeguard construction and the importance of energy stability in enchantments. "How does it feel to not only be abused daily for Princess Twilight's gain, but now to be betrayed by both her and Fluttershy, left out of the herd and any form of respectful standing? Do you feel like you can still call yourself a stallion?" she inquired politely. Err, what? My vacant, entirely confused stare did nothing to dissuade her as she continued giving me an expectant expression. "Uh..." I finally managed to get out. She immediately started writing, oddly. "Moon Mender is beyond traumatized by his situation, barely able to even speak properly to give a statement. We can only offer encouragement as his body heals from its grievous injuries; his left leg a withered husk of what it should be and scars covering every inch of his brutalized body. The Princess of Pain has left a terrible mark on his soul, easily visible through his haunted eyes," she spoke out loud while furiously writing in her notepad. Most of the crowd had started to slowly edge away from her at this point, Applejack giving her a totally blank look next to me, slowly tilting her head. Yeah, I had nothing. This one was in her own special little world, was all I could gather. "Enough!" suddenly exploded to my right, above the roar of the crowd at this point. Everypony fell silent as a manager of some sorts, by the looks of her attire, stood up on a box that she must have dragged over. She looked a bit stressed, and there were a few wrinkles in her otherwise well maintained suit vest, but the dark gray looked good against her cream-toned coat and dark red mane. Her horn lit up with a dark maroon color as she lifted a megaphone in front of her to shout out over the crowd. "This is not the time or place for gossip, fan frolicking, or anything apart from herd or marriage management! Form back into lines in your proper places now, or I'll be forced to ask everypony not complying to leave the premises! Further, would Miss Twilight Sparkle and Miss Fluttershy please come to the back offices instead?" the mare requested immediately upon everypony quieting down. There was grumbling, but I swallowed and nodded towards Twilight, who broke out of line and ran towards us rather quickly. "This is a nightmare! There are reporters here already!" Twilight yelped through the link as she ran up. Fluttershy shrank even further down, using her wings to hide herself as best she could. I moved in front of her protectively and rubbed her shoulder, sending calming thoughts as the lavender unicorn caught back up with us. Applejack glared at the crowd, causing them to rapidly disperse away from us as the unknown mare hopped down from her box and walked over, nodding towards Twilight. "Let's have your business taken care of in a far more private area, Miss Twilight. Not just for your own privacy, but for the sanctity of our daily operations as well," she suggested, rather calm despite everything that had just happened. Now that she was closer, however, I noticed a few stray strands of mane poking out of her otherwise tidy bun she had it tied back in. Twilight showed stress signs, too, with a few locks of mane rising up and away from her normally nicely combed self. "I agree fully. Come on, Fluttershy. Mender," Twilight agreed, looking over at us instead with a shiver. "You two should head back outside," I suggested, looking back over towards Applejack and Rainbow as well. Applejack nodded and smiled, but Dash decided to finish signing the autograph she was on before grinning and nodding. Gah. She was such a ham. Applejack snickered and turned, adding, "Come on, hot shot. We're gettin' out o' 'ere." She snatched a good amount of prismatic tail up in her mouth as she walked past and proceeded to haul Rainbow towards the exit, still signing pads of paper. "Hey! Yeah, yeah. Just two more. You don't want to disappoint the fans!" the cyan mare squeaked as she was drug across the floor, still managing to sign things even while sliding backwards. I was mildly impressed. The mare next to us cleared her throat, however, pulling attention back to herself again. "My name is Golden Band, I might add. I'm the head consultant here and in charge of operations in our Canterlot branch. You may call me Miss Band, if you wish. I assume that Mister Moon Mender is involved as well?" she suggested calmly, looking to me instead. I perked and looked back over at her fully, a bit confused. "Wait, you know who I am?" I asked, a bit surprised that she did when the crowd didn't appear to have a clue. She smiled and nodded politely towards me, adding, "The newest guard lieutenant, head of the newly formed Dimensional Regulation, a dimensional researcher, and if our Princess Celestia spoke true, also involved with Miss Twilight and Miss Fluttershy. If I had to guess, that's also why you three are here. I won't say more in public, however." Okay, now I was impressed. Wait a second... I pulled up the various snapshots that my electronic components had taken during that oh so horrible day. Public speaking definitely wasn't my thing. Regardless, I marked and analyzed all the visible faces in comparative identification, and picked up her three and two thirds of a second later. Ah, yes. She was there at that meeting yesterday. Being a government employee, she might have been mandated so. "Very astute! Yes, let's head into the back rooms," Twilight suggested, this time following after the mare as she led the way. I exhaled, not realizing how much tension was in my body until I realized I'd been holding my breath through a good portion of that little situation. Sadly, a glance towards Fluttershy showed her all but frozen, hiding under her own wings while pressed tightly into my side. Uh... With nothing else for it, I tucked myself down and nuzzled under her, lifting her onto my back as she clung there, heart racing against my back and inner emotions a mess of panic and fear. Sending more calm thoughts towards her, I quickly trotted after the two mares ahead of me, weaving around the ponies who hadn't scattered yet back into the lines and groupings. Yeah, the only thing I could do was get her into a calmer environment. Swallowing, I tried not to think about the newspaper headlines this time as I caught up with Twilight and followed her into a side room... * * * * * "This is a mess, admittedly. Thankfully, however, we know exactly what Estrus can bring, and hold all forms received during that time period for two weeks afterwards just in case things need to be appended or removed," Miss Band explained calmly, after a good five minutes of reviewing our paperwork folder. She'd pulled a pair of spectacles from her desk, floating them up to her eyes while peeking the paperwork over. Twilight almost fell out of her chair as she released a huge sigh before asking, "Oh thank you! Is it really as easy as that?!" The well-dressed mare frowned as she looked it over for another moment before gently setting it down and shaking her head. "Sadly, it's not. I'm not allowed, by law, to append a form that hasn't been entered into the system yet. Thus, a herd that hasn't actually been established legally yet. There are two ways you can go with this, however," she explained. Twilight frowned but settled again, locking onto the other mare hard with a more neutral expression now. My connection to her showed an intense amount of focus. Fluttershy was still slowly calming down from the small panic attack she'd gone through, and snuggled lightly into my side as we sat on the couch off on the right side of the room. Twilight, as potential 'head' of the herd, was the one who actually talked to Miss Band in official capacity, it would seem, and thus, sat in the chair in front of her desk. "The first route is to simply cancel this form submission. You'll be restricted to a month's delay before you can send for another one, but it will clear up the issue," she continued a second later. Twilight frowned but hesitantly nodded, asking, "And the other option?" Miss Band smiled and answered, "Leave this form submitted and simply sign the waiver to immediately add Mister Moon Mender as a full member of the herd. You're technically a member of royalty and can sign it yourself. After the review session in three days’ time, he'll be fully added." Review session? Twilight instantly picked up on my hesitation and nodded in agreement, asking, "What is the review session for?" She was getting better at the links, I noticed. "We've had... Well, to be frank, there have been attempts at forgery in the past with signatures, both of royalty and members of the herd. We know very well that you're part of the royal line, and I'd be watching you sign it today, if so. That reduces your review session to a formality only, but we don't convene until three days from now to actually go over them all. My apologies," our rather helpful branch manager explained almost instantly, as if anticipating us asking that. Err, Twilight asking that. She didn't know we were similar to a hive mind. No, that was creepy if I thought about it like that... There was a long pause before Twilight looked over at us instead, eyes softening gently as she decreed, "I can't make an important choice like that without my herd, of course." Miss Band nodded blankly, turning to look at us as well with professional neutrality. Fluttershy frowned, staring at Twilight for a moment before shaking her head. "No, Twilight. We promised we'd fix this today. 'Fixing' the herd means putting us all on equal ground. I think we should wait the month and just try again then," she spoke up softly, but with conviction. She was feeling better since we got away from the crowd, but her natural voice volume was actually rather low. I sighed and shook my head as well, adding, "It sounds like the review session is more for other herds and ours just can't be signed until then. Why wait a whole month to be a herd when we only have to wait three days if we do that? This is all just a formality, after all, and we're technically a herd already." Twilight's ears lowered as she looked back and forth between us before sighing. "I agree with both of you. Gah. But this..." she muttered before looking back over at the desk in front of Miss Band, staring at the paper on it. I 'felt' the gears spinning in her mind, and her eyes slowly narrowed. Eh? Miss Band cut in with, "Mister Moon Mender really is giving the most sensible choice. It's only three more days of waiting." Eh? Was she supposed to attempt to influence our choice like that? Twilight's eyes narrowed even further as they shifted up to the mare across the desk from her instead. "Wait... No, that's not right. I read up on the rulebook last night about this. There was supposed to be a form for bypassing the month waiting period, too. Why can't we just throw that form away, sign a new form with all three of us, and then just have me sign the waiting period waiver?" she reasoned out. Oh! I forgot about that part. Miss Band's eyes widened a little bit, then blinked as she backed up in her chair, away from the suddenly irritated sounding Twilight. Eh, I didn't blame her. I'd want to give an irritated Twilight space, too. Well, if she were irritated at me, anyway. "Oh, well, what version of our rulebook were you reading? If it was from last year, it probably wasn't updated with the new rule that abolished that form!" she announced, nodding twice afterwards, almost to herself. Twilight's eyebrow rose up slowly as she stared at the mare, but I just sighed and wondered how close pony psychology was to Keldarians. That little flick of her eye when she said that indicated 'creative' brain activity, further indicating that the information hadn't come from prior known information but was just now fabricated, my database informed me. Further, it warned that her backing up, and her back right hoof rotating to face the window indicated defensive posture and a desire to leave very quickly. I momentarily amused myself with the thought of her jumping out the window to escape. "So, what's the real reason you don't want us fixing the herd issue today?" I asked dryly, shooting her a skeptical expression instead. Fluttershy perked up at that and gave me a questioning glance, and then turned to look at the mare as well. She actively swallowed, a sign of nervousness I recognized from firsthoof experience. Twilight went back to outright angry in a fraction of a second after hearing me say that. Miss Band held both her hooves up to ward off Twilight, obviously not realizing that I was just as dangerous, if not more so due to that probability of her tripping my more hostile instincts. "L-Look, it wasn't my call. My boss personally flagged Moon Mender's herd eligibility as automatic denial. All I was trying to do was stop a scene out there," she quickly informed. That, well, didn't surprise me as much as it should have, honestly. Twilight's level of hostility spiked as I watched her teeth clench. To stop any potential fires from breaking out, Fluttershy started sending her calming thoughts a moment later, and the lavender mare took a deep breath instead before deducing, "So all of this, even so far as to recommend the two options you did, was all delaying tactics. Did he inform you as to 'why' Mender is to be denied?" Her tone was strained, and I felt myself getting a bit irked, too. I had a good guess and was really hoping I was wrong. The mare looked away and coughed lightly before nodding and answering with, "I think he's running a full background check on Moon Mender. He, uh, doesn't believe that the papers are real, I don't think." The papers establishing me as a citizen of Equestria? Well, he was right, but probably not for the reason he thought. Twilight slammed her hoof down on the surface of the desk, causing the mare to give a start and snap her attention quickly back to the lavender mare. "Those papers were confirmed by Princess Celestia herself! It's not his place to make a personal judgment on a legal issue because of what he thinks. I want to talk to him myself. Now, if at all possible," she growled out, not sounding at all pleased. Miss Band shivered again, then hesitantly looked back and forth between Twilight, and slightly past her at the door. My legs tightened as I sat there, ready to tip the chair forwards and spring if I needed to. Something was off with this whole ordeal, and I openly broadcasted that to both Fluttershy and Twilight down the link. "Uh, he's out for the day, but I'm sure I could leave a message in his-" the mare started to offer. Fluttershy looked a bit confused at my warning, and then even more confused at the statement, however. "Um, not to interrupt, but, uh, I think I saw his door open at the end of the hall. At least, it said ministry chairman on the wall. Is somepony substituting for him, then?" she asked softly, looking towards our suddenly not so helpful branch manager. Oh! A fascinating observation. Miss Band shifted her eyes over to her momentarily, mouth still open from her prior lie, and hesitated. No, he had nothing to do with this, did he? Further, she was outright lying. This wasn't about a background check at all, or even somepony not believing Tia's story! Her eyes locked with mine and widened even more as mine narrowed. That was all it took for her. Her chair spilled over backwards as she landed on her desk, then leapt completely over the very surprised looking Twilight. My rear legs flicked back before her chair even hit the floor, and I leapt as well, nailing her out of the air and smashing us both into the other corner with the carried momentum, my back legs locking around hers and my front ones trying to get a grip around her barrel. "No! Get off of me, Monster!" she shouted, struggling against my grip that went rigid with that, my eyes widening. Monster? She was one of-! Her horn flared up with a flash of light of rather intense proportions an inch from my face and I yelped, vision blackening and a sharp stab of pain blasting from my eyes, instinctively moving my right foreleg up towards them as a shield. The mare moved backwards at the same time, smashing me into the wall in attempts to dislodge my grip. She was probably surprised when it didn't work, my thick back armor popping out and making me not feel a thing. She tried to dive away, but my back right leg hooked around her knee and tripped her again, causing her face to go into the bottom of the door with a loud crash. She cried out as her horn punched into the wood from the impact, and then she was violently yanked backwards instead. Eh?! I could barely see anything, and momentarily lost where she'd gone once pulled out of my proximity sensor range. It was fairly easy enough to deduce, however, as Twilight growled, "Nopony hurts Mender!" Fluttershy was next to me a second later, helping me up as I rubbed my eyes with my right foreleg, the spots slowly disappearing as the nanites rapidly recovered my sight. Twilight had the struggling mare pinned to the floor with dozens of bands of purple magic locked around her legs, sealing them all together to the point of uselessness. More lines of energy tied the mare to the floor as well, ensuring she wasn't going anywhere at all. My eyes narrowed and I ignored the rapid hoofsteps coming down the hallway, undoubtedly to investigate the ruckus. My barrier activated instead, zipping along the floor before forming a rudimentary box around the mare, just in case she decided to retaliate again with any other magic, and further trapping her inside. The door rapidly opened a second later, hitting hard against the outside wall as what looked to be the ministry chairman and two guards slid into the doorway, shocked looks on their faces. The mare stopped struggling instantly and closed her eyes for a second before slowly opening them and looking over at me instead, with what could only be described as seething fury. "Fine. You win for now, creature. But you're a monster, and you'll never, ever fool any of us, no matter how hard you try," she declared before spitting towards me from inside the cage. My eyes widened a little as I fully processed who she really was. Or at least, whom she really worked for. Her horn flared up a second later and I strengthened my barrier, getting ready to extend more to protect Fluttershy or the three new ponies in the room. Twilight's eyes widened as she saw it, however, and she shouted out, "No! Open the barri-" It was far, far too late. The magic exploded from the mare's horn and whiplashed right back into her own face, snapping her head back in an instant as the flare of light caused her eyes to roll back in her head, and a burst of blood to come out her nose. Ah! My eyes widened as I dropped the barrier instantly and Twilight rushed forward, kneeling down next to the now limp mare. What was that?! Moving forward a bit, I realized that the mare was still breathing, but seemed to have knocked herself out completely. Twilight sighed a second later and shook her head, standing up again and looking over at me instead. "That wasn't an attack. She just shorted her own mind with a memory charm. She's probably not even going to remember whom she is when she wakes up. Not for a long while, anyway," she explained softly. "She didn't want to be interrogated, then. That's some serious devotion," I muttered, staring down at her. Sure, she didn't kill herself or something, but that was some seriously drastic measures to ensure she didn't say anything to the authorities. The stallion that came in with the guards groaned out in mild frustration before reminding, "If it's not too much trouble, can somepony please explain what's going on before I call the guards?" Oh, right. "I am a guard. And yes, but this might take a moment," I warned him, brushing the invisible amulet on my chest long enough for it to fade into sight for a few seconds. He stared at it before sighing and nodding, sitting down in the doorway and nodding to both guards to do the same. Well, this was turning out just amazingly. Twilight nodded as well and started to explain...
Chapter 67"That's so awesome! He totally just signed off on the herd thing, then?!" Rainbow asked in vapid delight, flying backwards and a little in front of our group. Pinkie and Rarity had rejoined us after the appointment, and now we were supposed to head to the castle yet again to get a full status briefing and meet the guards assigned to the organization. This was going to be a really long day, I realized idly while walking. Twilight's parents came after this, of course, for supper. That was going to be a joyous occasion, I imagined. Playfully, I contemplated finding Octavia and hauling her along as a distraction. Twilight coughed lightly to my left, blushing a bit before answering with, "Actually, I think he was just trying to get rid of us at that point. But he accepted both waivers after I signed them, so at least we don't have to worry about Mender not being part of the herd anymore." There was definitely that! I was part of the herd now! Rarity, who walked to my immediate right, frowned, however. "This doesn't make sense, though. Whoever these deviants are, why would they seek to disrupt Mender's ability to join a herd?" she inquired. That was a good point. Unless Twilight's prior guess was correct and it technically had nothing to do with the herd. Twilight nodded to my mental reminder and spoke out loud, "I'm not sure it has anything to do with the herd so much as they were trying to force an official background check on him by a third party agency. They obviously feel that Princess Celestia has already 'succumb' to the 'alien menace' and can't be trusted." Her eye roll afterwards accentuated what she thought about that nicely, I decided. Of course, had the now amnesiac mare not attempted to flee at that given moment, Twilight herself might have acted to stop her instead. Images of fire and magical rays of death sprang into my mind, and I resisted shuddering while walking. The lavender mare gave me a mildly annoyed stare at that, and I remembered that to our 'network' as well. Heh. I smiled gently towards her and earned an eye roll as we kept walking, one of the guards stationed at the inner castle side entry nodding to us as we were let through. Fluttershy felt more saddened than anything, walking behind me and slightly to the left, between Twilight and me. "It's still horrible. Why do they think Mender's so mean like that?" she asked, frowning towards me. I could guess a few reasons, some of them more cynical and jaded than others. Instead, I went with a more neutral option. "They probably think there was no Nirru, and that I'm somehow responsible for the damage in Ponyville," I suggested, ducking as Rainbow almost smacked into my head as she swirled to avoid one of the suits of armor lining the corridor. She wasn't as graceful flying backwards, I noted. Applejack snorted from behind me, looking downright displeased as she walked next to Pinkie, who was on her left and behind Twilight. "They should just listen ta what Princess Celestia is sayin' 'bout Mender! This is ridiculous. If things keep gettin' out o' hoof like this, somepony is liable ta get hurt next time," she spat out in a sharp tone. I neglected to mention the mare's horn going through the door and her blasting her memory away. Even Snapshot had gotten laid out flat by Tank the first time... Still, I was thankful that Applejack and Rainbow had come with us now, even though I'd thought their offer to be 'guards' was a bit ridiculous at first. I should have known better at this point, however. Both of them had done an amazing job of holding back the crowds after the incident, even if Dash had used it to sign more autographs... "It's no fun when ponies get hurt! I'd have to throw them 'get well soon' parties then. I wonder what kind of cake they like?" Pinkie inquired while bouncing along behind us. That was a hard question. Twilight giggled at that one and suggested, "Why don't you just ask them after we catch and arrest them?" Okay, that was cute and I snickered. "That won't work, Twilight. They're too devious. They'd simply lie about what kind of cake they like," I pointed out, earning a grin from the lavender mare. Insulting the ponies she was so upset about hopefully cheered her up, anyway. Pinkie gasped, however, immediately asking, "What kind of monster would lie about cake?! They're even worse than we thought!" Okay, so her priorities were a little off, but she was going in the right direction with it, anyway. Well, she might be onto something regardless if Miss Band was willing to erase her own memories in order to avoid giving away any information. She should be in the hospital at this point, if I had to guess. Nasal hemorrhaging usually wasn't a good sign. Mine largely came from the spike of intracranial pressure that intense magic usage generated. Hers appeared to be more of a direct effect, however. The guards nodded us into the inner throne room, and I followed after Twilight, having to slip into single file in order to get through the side door. Only Tia appeared to be on duty, her sister probably asleep at this point. Oddly, Snapshot sat a couple of meters to the left of the throne, saluting again as we came in. It only took me a second to notice that her eyes were following me specifically. Great. I had the nagging feeling that it wasn't because she thought I was cute or something. "Ah, I'm glad you all made it back safely," Tia greeted informally, obviously not holding court at the moment. Canterlot wasn't exactly known for its mortal danger, so I took a wild guess that she'd heard about what happened already. Everypony bowed gently, and I suddenly felt a massive wave of peer pressure. Sighing to myself, I bowed as well, just to not stand out. The Princess of the Sun smiled but shook her head gently, gesturing everypony up less than a second later, however. "Relax, everypony. I'm not on official capacity, and this is an informal meeting. While there is much to discuss, we also must wait for Princess Cadance, and Prince Shining Armor to show up," she explained softly. Huh. I knew they were definitely up at this hour. Where could they have gone that would make them late to a- My thought was literally cut off by the sound of the other side door opening, and the exact two ponies we were considering walking through. Cadance looked more than a little amused, and Shining looked beyond stressed, so I guessed something bad had happened. "Okay, so why are there dozens of reporters in front of the castle? It took a royal escort for us to get through the main gate," he promptly asked, frowning towards Tia as they walked in. Oh. Oops. "Ooooh, that was us! That was us!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing up and down to my left. I inwardly sighed, and felt a giggle down Twilight's link. The lavender mare withheld her mirth, however, and elaborated with, "There was a complication at the Herd and Marriage Offices. The branch manager there turned out to be in league with those that want to smear Mender's reputation, and attempted to stop him from joining the herd." Their structuring was so strange, now that I thought about it. Why were there both a branch manager and a head chairman in the same building? I understood that she dealt with day to day operations, but wouldn't it be more efficient to have him deal with that, and the periodic executive choices? His job description seemed a bit lax for a pony of such high standing, I noted. That was a bit different from Keldarian culture, too. In my old dimension, the higher up the structure you went, the more obligations you had. When I was just a soldier, all I was supposed to do was the objective and try not to die. Becoming an officer meant I had my concerns as a soldier to worry about still, but I also had to keep track of an entire unit of other soldiers and make sure we were efficiently moving towards our objective. Keela was the same way. She was a scientist on top of being the lead scientist for an entire division, in charge of not only her own work, but the work of dozens of other researchers for the development branch. Err, well, she had been, anyway. Although now her job was significantly more stressful, as she was now responsible for their lives directly. I could see why she wasn't handling it well. I realized a second later that my tangent had me missing a part of the conversation. I had to be careful with that! "-was okay with signing the waiver, and he didn't know anything about her views?" Shining asked, looking surprised. Oh, the chairman? "That's just the thing. He said she'd worked there for fifteen years and had always been a respectable employee," Twilight muttered, looking concerned. That was the strange part. That meant that this organization was either extremely prepared and patient, or had some frightening magic techniques. Tia sighed at that and nodded, drawing everypony's attention to her in an instant. "There's no need to guess, my little ponies. I'm reasonably certain as to exactly the organization responsible for all of this. But in order to explain properly, first you must know a bit of history. This is a story that was intentionally left out of the history books," she admitted, frowning solemnly. Twilight perked up instantly, but I sat down, taking the hint that this was going to be a long one. Tia didn't wait, however, and just launched right into things. "It was roughly thre hundred and fifty years ago that the first of many incidents happened. At first they were small. Objects were reported missing, and petty theft was blamed, although no culprit could be found. Naturally, due to the volume of reports on it, I grew concerned. That's when reports of objects appearing instead started to surface. Normally I wouldn't consider that a bad thing, but these items were not of this plane of existence. The technology and even design involved was not native of Equus, this planet," she started to explain. The bombardment of new data was a bit overwhelming, but nothing was too taxing so far. Hey, at least I finally knew we were on a planet! Twilight tilted her head at that and nodded, adding, "Yes, that was during Princess Luna's banishment. Magical upheaval was blamed for the strange objects," she recited, undoubtedly from something she'd read. Tia smiled towards her and nodded, confirming, "That was indeed the official story. A part of it is even true, as a great magical upheaval was occurring. But it wasn't caused by any anniversary of my sister's banishment, or even by Discord attempting to free himself. It was because our sphere of existence was passing closer to another sphere, and the boundary between the multiverses was weakening." Oh. Wait, three hundred and fifty years? That was the date on the discovery of the 'specimen' by the Keldarians! Tia smiled at my expression and nodded. "Yes, Mender. It lines up perfectly with the date on your report. I was concerned, of course. In secret, as to not alarm my little ponies without proper cause, I set up the Bureau of Extra-dimensional Investigation and Defense. BEID for short. Their job was simple. I needed to know if this phenomenon was going to get worse, and what we could do about it," she continued, sitting down now and relaxing a bit. That was probably wise, given the ponies' tendencies to panic... Shining Armor tilted his head at that and frowned, his left ear twitching slightly in what looked like annoyance. "Wait, so this isn't the first organization that's existed to deal with the dimensional leaks? What was the goal of the first one?" he asked, a twinge of suspicion underlying the curiosity. I doubted Tia would be malicious, but if that organization wasn't around anymore, I had a sneaking suspicion something went wrong. If she was bothered by it, Tia didn't show any outward signs, and simply smiled towards him before informing, "It was quite simple. I needed to know what was happening, what it meant for Equestria, and ways I could keep ponies safe if need be. A team of ponies was formed, mostly out of researchers, and they studied the effect in order to get data on it. I still have all of their notes." As fascinating as that would be, there was a more pressing question instead. "What went wrong?" I asked softly. For the first time in all my dealings with the Princess of the Sun, it looked like I startled her for a moment. Her eyes shifted back to me instead and her smile faded. There was a long six seconds of hesitation, and Twilight started to frown as well, concluding, "They're not around anymore, so there must have been some reason to disband them." Tia finally nodded slowly, looking uncertain for a moment before shifting back to the more neutral expression. "You're right, of course. Both of you. Things went smoothly for about two months, and the data they brought in was absolutely amazing. They found out that this dimension is on a rotation of impossible to calculate complexity, and estimated that every three to four hundred years, we edge close enough to another rotating dimension to cause the leaks we'd been seeing. The information was invaluable, honestly, and I gave permission to attempt to draw information about the other dimension we were connected to..." she explained. Uh oh. She saw my look of apprehension and nodded towards me solemnly. "It went better than I could have hoped for. A viewing spell was established, and we were able to see all sorts of things about the other reality. We were horrified by it. To attempt to comprehend that there existed creatures of such cruelty was impossible for my little ponies. I immediately realized that this other place wasn't safe in the slightest, and suggested they find ways to seal us away from it instead, of which they immediately agreed. But..." She hesitated, looking directly at me with a downright sorrowful expression. She knew about the Grosh already, then. She'd asked me about my spells and potential weapons when we first met because she knew what that dimension was capable of. And now, I suddenly had the dawning comprehension that she knew even more about me than I did. "Aunt Celestia?" Princess Cadance whispered softly, sounding concerned as she stepped away from Shining's side and walked towards the Princess of the Sun. The white alicorn shivered slightly before shaking her head and continuing. "I'm sorry, Mender. I really am. There was an accident. In my haste, I told them to immediately disconnect the viewing link to that dimension. They severed the link without looking into the theory involved, and something horrible happened. For just half of a second, a jagged tear appeared in the lab, over top of the crystal structure we were using for viewing things. Gemstone Weave, the mare responsible for monitoring the connection, was pulled through the rift in that time frame. There was nothing I could do to save her, and the tear imploded on itself and destroyed our array a second later. We lost her..." I stared at her, searching her face for full acknowledgement of what happened. Gemstone Weave. I rolled the mare's name around in my mind, feeling it reverberate through me. She was the one mentioned in the report. That meant she was... Twilight looked confused for a second before her eyes slowly started to widen in realization at the same time that I looked back up to Tia and asked, "She was pregnant, wasn't she?" I already knew the answer, but I just wanted to hear it right from her. Celestia shivered for a moment before nodding, opening her eyes again to look sadly upon me. "Yes, Mender. She was pregnant. She's the one mentioned in the report you'd found. I had... I had hoped she'd survived, but it's clear now that she didn't. I'm sorry, Mender. It's my fault that the accident happened. If I'd been more patient and told them to take precautions, you might have been born here instead, and none of those horrible things would have happened to you," she finally revealed, earning a series of gasps as everypony else caught up to the full realization. For a moment, I felt exposed and vulnerable with everypony turning to look right at me, but in the same instant, I reminded myself that they were my friends. That was all there was to it, as well. Despite wishing I could have known her, I couldn't change what happened. I never had a mother, and didn't know anything about her. What happened to her was horrible, but there was no connection there to her beyond if it happened to a stranger. I shook my head slowly, considering my words before finally speaking. "It's horrifying to think about what happened to her, and I definitely feel sorry for her and her family she left behind. That doesn't change the fact that I never knew my mother, however, nor can anypony here change what already happened. Besides, if I had been born then, in Equestria, I never would have met all these amazing ponies that are in the room right now, and here. I... I don't want the alternative," I slowly admitted. In truth, my answer surprised me a little bit. I'd never considered that I could be somewhere else right now. That I could be somepony else. But the fact that I didn't want to be somepony else was important, I realized. Twilight smiled first and leaned over, nuzzling into me again before kissing under my ear in a soft gesture of affection. I think she realized what I was really saying there, especially about Fluttershy and her. The yellow mare also smiled happily and nodded twice, still glued to my right side, practically. Tia looked a bit surprised by the whole affair, but recovered rapidly and gave a gentle smile and nod before adding, "I'm glad you're taking it well. Even if I couldn't have known what would happen, I still feel responsible for the loss of a normal life and parents for you. If there's anything I can do, please let me know." I considered it for a moment before nodding. There was something, actually. "If it's at all possible, I'd like to know more about my parents. Knowing who they were and what they were like..." I requested, eyes softening a bit as I thought about it. Parents. That was something I never thought about, really. It was something somepony else had this whole time. Her smile faded a bit but she nodded. "Unfortunately, you'll learn everything about them and more in the case files for the investigation. Everything points to, beyond reasonable doubt, BEID not disbanding when I requested. The technology they would have to have access to in order to detect your arrival and your identity only belonged to that group, and it was decommissioned when they shut down, supposedly," Celestia revealed solemnly. Oh. That made a disturbing amount of sense. I guess I hadn't considered how they'd discovered I arrived in Equestria. "Wait, why wouldn't they disband when you requested?" Twilight asked suddenly, looking more than a little concerned over the events. To my surprise, Applejack chuckled and suggested, "Ah'm just ah simple farmer, but even Ah feel mah duty towards tha greater good an' Equestria's protection, Twi. If these ponies felt they needed ta protect tha innocent, Ah imagine they didn't think continuin' tha vigil would hurt nopony." What, they decided it was their 'duty' to do so, then? That seemed easily misplaced without proper guidance, but maybe I was biased given my memories? Pinkie deflated a little at that, however. "Aww, but why are they targeting Mender, now? Can't they tell he's a good pony?" She stopped bouncing next to Rarity, giving me a sympathetic look instead. Sighing, I shrugged rather helplessly to her, and Rarity nodded as well. "Even with the best of intentions, Pinkie, a pony can sometimes do harm while not meaning to. Maybe they truly believe he's tricking all of us and is a serious threat to their country?" the pearly mare reasoned, looking uncertain at that. I flattened my ears back instead. They had already been willing to use magical manipulation to try to turn public awareness against me. "I'm just worried, is all. How far are they willing to go in order to get their message out?" I asked, looking back towards Tia up at the throne. The white alicorn shook her head at that and corrected, "It matters not, Mender. They've already broken our laws and harmed innocent ponies in attempts to 'protect'. Regardless of their abilities or what they think, they were never beyond the law. They tried to assault you through hired agents, and broke into an established news facility to spread magical slander. I cannot tolerate this, even for the best of intentions." Ah, yeah, that was true. They were technically criminals already. Snapshot looked a little uneasy at the 'hired agent' bit, but snapped back to attention and saluting as Celestia turned to look her way. "Regardless, there is the matter of what to do with Miss Snapshot here. She assaulted an innocent pony, and unlawfully spied upon your privacy. This is a serious offense, especially given your recent upgrade to a Lieutenant of the Guard, Mender. I've already talked to her in length about this and come to a proper punishment," the Princess revealed. Uh oh. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was why she was saluting towards me throughout the last ten minutes or so. "Ah, I was wondering why she wasn't restrained and behaving so... Uh... Well, abnormal, even for her," Shining suggested, coughing lightly afterwards. Snapshot herself grinned at that, however, apparently finding it amusing rather than offensive. Strange might not be strong enough, but I had no room to judge in that regard, given that I was the only pony in the room with tentacles. Tia smirked at that and nodded, answering, "Indeed! She actually is wearing a simple magical restraint choker, but it bears similar enchantment to our undercover Guard amulets. Miss Snapshot seems earnest in her desire to repent for what she did, so I've placed her under supervised leave for being so forthcoming with information and cooperative. I sentence her to community service for as long as the case against BEID persists." Community service? Wow. Keldarians would have just executed her on the spot. This was a beyond pleasant surprise. "Uh, community service doing what?" Rainbow asked, giving Tia an incredulous stare before glancing back over at the strange ninja paparazzi herself. That coy smile returned to Tia's face, and I recognized her impish side stirring up again. Uh oh. "Why, an investigator of her talents could be invaluable to the case. So, I'm placing her under Mender's authority for the duration. I'm sure she'll help immensely," she tossed out. What? What?! My eyes widened as I looked back to Snapshot, who saluted extra hard and puffed up a bit at that. That explained her behavior last night, too... "Yup! You're my boss for the duration, Sir!" she announced. Damn it... * * * * * Okay, this was a normal day. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I hadn't been spied on by an agent of a rogue Black Ops squad that was still around from a few hundred years ago. I definitely hadn't been assigned my own guard contingent and researchers, or been placed under the authority of a Princess, read practically physical goddess, of the Moon. Even worse, my fillyfriend's brother most certainly wasn't the field commander for said forces and relied on me for technology and tactics. It was a mantra I kept running through my head as we walked along the darkening street, the magical lamps just starting to turn on as the orange hues danced across the horizon. The dry cobblestone under us made loud claps with each of our hoofsteps, almost a constant drone due to the sheer amount of ponies in our group. And out of the frying pan, right into the industrial oven. Now it was time for another meeting with Twilight's scary parents, this time with her brother and sister-in-law present. The same siblings I'd had a mental breakdown in front of last night. I was on a roll during this trip! Thankfully it wasn't a very long walk, despite my inner monologues running rampant and gleefully going over all the wonderful things that could go wrong. Being attacked by paparazzi, ninjas, or both thankfully didn't happen on the approach to the front door, defeating one of the many theories, it would seem. Still, Shining seemed awfully intent on shoving me to the front of the line next to Twilight, muttering something about the new herd being the one to knock. I smelled a trap, of course. Twilight stared skeptically at the two of us for a moment before making room next to Fluttershy on the doorstep, and gently knocking. Idly, I wondered if it was customary to knock on relatives' doors. Equestria, so far as I'd seen, seemed to keep a rather lax open door policy, with them not bothering to actually lock them half the time. Of course, I'd long since realized that Twilight herself wasn't always the best example to look to for 'standard' pony culture. Sadly, it all served to lull me into a false sense of security as the door actually opened. Turning and trying to put on my best winning smile had me ill prepared for the incoming sharp, pointy looking object! My eyes widened half a second before the wooden stick was shoved into my mouth, getting expertly tucked under my tongue via magical manipulation. Eh?! I quickly noted that Twilight and Fluttershy had been assaulted by similar techniques, as had Rainbow and Pinkie a bit behind me. What the hell?! The object was definitely wood, and reminiscent of an oddly shaped thermometer of sorts. Looking up, I gave a skeptical glance to the rather pleased looking Twilight Velvet standing in front of us, grinning. What, did she have a mandatory fever test before letting guests into her household or something? Twilight looked significantly less pleased, spitting hers out halfway through a red light popping up and a significant negative sound chiming through the air. No fever? "Mother, what are you doing?! This is... But... Okay, so it's been all of four days after estrus for one. Those devices take upwards of two weeks to tell if a mare's pregnant! Further, what are you doing?!" she yelped, pointing angrily down at the glowing red device. Oh. Well, this left me a bit confused as to why I got one as well. Fluttershy blushed lightly and sighed, but kept hers dutifully in her mouth until it too chimed negatively and lit up red. Mine lit up purple a second later, apparently just as confused as I was. Velvet absently shook her hoof, and then frowned at the two red lights as Fluttershy gently set hers down. "Darn. I guess you're going to be as slow as Shiny. And who knows! You had an estrus before this one, no?" she suggested, smiling again. Shining started to laugh behind us, but Twilight just growled out, "Mender wasn't here for last estrus! Plus, again, why are you so intent on this?!" Velvet didn't look all that dissuaded, of course, and instead peeked at mine, which was letting out confused sounding chirps. Did I break it? "Oh relax. I just want cute little foals to spoil and visit and get pictures of! Both of you are perfectly capable of supporting and caring for them. Hmm, what does purple mean?" she muttered to herself as she examined it. Ah, purple must not be the 'positive' color, so at least I knew I wasn't pregnant, then. Twilight just sighed and pulled the offending instrument from my mouth, setting it down next to the others. "It means you can't get a pregnancy reading on a male! Can we please go inside now, Mom?!" the lavender unicorn asked, exasperated now as her horn lit up again. Rainbow, who was glaring at the little red light at the end of hers, spat it back out into Twilight's aura, looking mildly offended. Pinkie however, looked absolutely delighted and amused by her purple one, the tester sticking out of her nose instead as she hopped up and down there. Ah, so Mrs. Velvet's aim wasn't as good for moving targets! Pinkie grinned as Twilight pulled the thing free and wiped it on the welcome mat a few times before setting it with the others. "Oh fine. You all can come in. What about you three, however?" she asked suspiciously as she eyed up Rarity, Applejack, and Cadance after we slipped past. Yikes! Well, at least she didn't seem to care about the loophole Pinkie found. Rarity gasped and blushed lightly, looking away from the unicorn with a huff, of course. "I must say, I'm saving myself for my wonderful Prince Charming. Such accusations are unneeded on my account," she quickly corrected. Applejack just rolled her eyes and walked past, adding, "Apples don't buck themselves. Ain't got time fer stallions." Velvet didn't appear to mind either answer, instead turning to Cadance and sighing. "I know it's hard for you two with Cadance being an Alicorn," she admitted, frowning slightly. Oh? That perked my curiosity a bit, but I waited patiently in the hall next to Twilight and Fluttershy. Cadance smiled gently and shook her head, carefully taking one of the extra two test sticks out of the air and holding it in her mouth. Velvet gave her a soft smile at that, but Shining rolled his eyes. "Sis already warned you it's too soon, Mom. Besides, you tested Mender and not me?" he teased, smirking at her for half a second before the last one got shoved in his mouth as well. He made a surprised squeak, giving a confused blink as Cadance giggled next to him. I tried really hard not to snicker, deciding he probably deserved that. After a moment's hesitation, Twilight just shook her head and walked down the hallway further, Fluttershy letting out a small squeak and following after quickly. Yeah, getting out of the line of fire was probably a good idea. Slowly, I slipped away and headed after the two mares, hearing the chatter between the other Elements dwindle as I turned the same corner they did. The room was apparently some sort of gathering spot for the family, with soft seating and pictures lining the walls. 'Living Room' was it? It was never something I'd gotten used to until arriving in Equestria, of course. Soldiers didn't get luxuries such as this, and in space, mass was conserved as best as possible. More mass meant more fuel needed to start and stop your craft, so rooms were made as multipurpose as possible. This was nice, however. Twilight smiled warmly towards me and patted the seat next to her on the large sofa, Fluttershy having already hopped up onto it on the other side of the lavender mare. Relaxing a bit, I trotted over and hopped up with them, lying down on the more than spacious cushions as Twilight leaned against me. "Regardless of how crazy everything is with this other group, I'm happy that you're part of the herd now, Mender. It doesn't make up for what we did, of course, but it's a solid step towards correcting it," she murmured after a restful few seconds. I frowned and considered that for a second before realizing it was almost exactly what I had going on internally, too. Maybe Twilight knew the answer, though? "Hey, Twilight? Um, something's been bothering me for a bit now. At what point would you consider what you did wrong, well, made up for? I'm sure you two attempting to fix the situation has to stop at some point, right? When do you consider yourselves forgiven, and the situation settled?" I asked, honestly concerned. Knowing what I did to the Keldarians was horrific as well, and if I could, I wanted to somehow make it up to them. The only issue was, what could I possibly do to amend for that? They were dead, and I couldn't undo that. Twilight looked mildly surprised by my question, eyes widening a bit before she really considered it. Fluttershy, however, answered first. "Um, I can't entirely speak for Twilight, apart from what we've actually talked about, but I would like to keep trying to make things up to you until you feel like an equal part of our herd. Plus, well, we both feel really badly about what we did and also need to feel you're an equal part of our herd. So it's really for all three of us," she explained softly, frowning a bit as she chose her words carefully. She acknowledged that it was for them, too, then. Twilight smiled at that and nodded before adding, "She's right, of course. We damaged your trust in us, which is especially harmful as your trust in me was probably a bit shaky before. So earning back that trust is goal one! Then, after we earn your trust back, we hope to treat you at least a little bit, hopefully to show we mean business." Okay, that I snickered at. "I think you two already proved that well enough by going through with that mess this morning. The papers will probably make all three of us pay, now," I warned, shuddering lightly. The lavender mare considered it for a moment before shaking her head in disagreement, however. "I don't think so this time, Mender. After what happened with the papers last time, they've started to get really careful about what they put in their articles, Princess Celestia noticed. I believe that incident hurt Fancypants' reputation, and he wasn't pleased about that at all. Plus, I think he likes you," she reasoned softly. Huh. I wouldn't have thought I'd left that lasting of an impression on him. Fluttershy nodded, however. "Yes, Rarity says they've been rather polite ever since, two covering a new story on what happened in a much more positive way towards you. Equestria Weekly also printed out a formal apology to you," she informed. Oh? That I hadn't heard about. Twilight rolled her eyes and nodded, horn lighting up and pulling a conveniently located Equestria Weekly out from right under the coffee table in front of us. Eh?! "It's a good thing, too. Dad reads this paper all the time, and quite closely. It's no surprise the magic was strong with him when they enchanted the pamphlets. I could tell he felt worlds better after Fancypants officially cleared the air, so to speak," she revealed, looking at the new front page. "Zoning Regulation Fiasco Wreaks Havoc on the Docks?" I read out loud, staring at the main headline. Fluttershy curled up slightly, apparently rapidly losing interest, but Twi at least game a cursory glance at the article in question. "Ah, yeah. That was a big frustration a week or so ago, I heard. It was in Mom's letter. Spices and a few elixirs in the market have jumped in price now because of an interruption in trade with both Zebrica and Prance. Somepony looked back in the records and found double ownership certificates for some of the warehouses on the dock, and there's quite a bit of confusion about who owns what property down there," she elaborated, setting the paper back down on top of the table. Ah, so trade outside of Equestria, then? As interesting as that thought was, the issues with the certificates were significantly less so, so I simply nodded at the paper after her magic released it. That was the problem with official paperwork and such. Whether electronic or managed manually, there was always risk of something screwing up somewhere. My contemplation was disrupted as Velvet came into the room via the same way we had, with everypony else except her husband following. Actually, I'd yet to see him, which was odd. "Make yourselves at home, everypony. I'm very pleased that all of you could make it after all. After we heard about that horrible affair down at the Herd and Marriage Offices, I was a bit concerned that you wouldn't be able to make it!" she exclaimed, looking over towards us on the couch. Twilight gave her a hoof wave and smiled assuredly, however. “While it was quite unexpected and not in the most positive way, we weren’t held up more than an hour or so with it. Still, it does show just how much power these ponies have,” she said, eyes losing focus as she considered that. Indeed, they appeared to have significantly more resources than I’d originally estimated. I’d have to read the reports fully that Tia gave me in order to get a better judge of what they were capable of, I guessed. Velvet frowned at that still and sat down as ponies filed around her and onto the seating locations, with Pinkie and Rarity joining on the other end of the couch from myself. “I just don’t understand why they’re targeting you, of all ponies. I mean, you’re a nice stallion. Possibly too nice. Is it just because of that incident a while back in the Everfree?” Velvet asked, looking between the three of us specifically on this end. Too nice? Wait, didn’t she say that before? “Ooooh, I know! It’s because they’re super jealous that Mender gets to hang out with all of us awesome ponies! Hmm. Do you think they’d stop if I threw them a really big party and promised to be friends with all of them, too?” Pinkie interrupted, hopping in place on the couch twice. Uh… Next to her, Rarity gave a warm smile and nod, suggesting, “While I’m sure that’s contributing to their obvious envy, I believe they have other reasons as well to wish to target Mender. You should perhaps save the party until after we deal with those?” If there were any ponies left after we dealt with those, yeah. No, that was my more negative side speaking. Pinkie appeared pleased with that answer regardless and grinned, earning a giggle from Twilight. “It’s true, anyway. It’s probably because of the incident, not to mention the one even before that which erased his memories. They seem to feel it’s suspicious, and warrants attempting to investigate Mender further via any means necessary,” the lavender mare appended, in a more serious tone. Velvet balked at that, looking horrified for a moment before incredulously asking, “They did all that just to try to get a background check on him?!” Heh. I could see where Twilight got her sharp wit. Idly, I wondered what her profession was. There was a rather derisive snort from the direction of Applejack, followed by, "Ya got that right! They don't believe ah bloomin' thing tha Princess says! Plus tha methods they've been usin' are downright dangerous! An' sneaky." Well, I'm not entirely sure if Snapshot's methods were condoned by them or not, but they'd obviously told her that I was absurdly dangerous, to the point where she anticipated me to outright kill her if she was discovered. That said something about their motive right there. "The Princess and Royal Guard are looking into this on all accounts regardless," Shining Armor interrupted, explaining, "We have multiple good leads and no intention of letting them get away with this. Even though I'm technically not captain of the guard anymore, they still tell me quite a bit, and I'm field commander of Mender's organization. I know we have good Intel." He glanced over at me afterwards, and I nodded to him easily enough. "It's just a matter of identifying their infrastructure. Every organization needs a means in which to communicate and pass resources. Once we find theirs, halting their activities should be within our grasp," I reasoned, remembering enough about what my other self had dealt with. The military wasn't just used against the Grosh, of course, but also to crush rebel factions. Shining smiled at that, with one corner of his mouth upturned in a confident sort of grin. Had that been a test to see if I knew what I was doing, or was he honestly looking for input and pleased with the results? Not that it mattered, as Velvet cut us off anyway, with, "Regardless, let's put all that doom and gloom behind us. This is our first chance to have dinner with both herds that involve our children, and it should be a merry occasion!" Twilight looked around at that with a look of mild confusion. "Uh, where is Dad, anyway?" she asked, raising an eyebrow up. Her brother snickered however and reminded, "This is a dinner, Twiley. If we agreed not to let Mom near anything hot in the kitchen, who do you think is cooking?" Oh? I wondered if ponies had stereotypical gender rolls as well. Last I knew, it was males that were supposed to do the cooking, but maybe it was different here? Although I'd remembered Keela was different in that regard. She actually liked cooking and experimenting with different dishes and flavors. She had served me quite a lot of different... Err. She had served him quite a lot of different dishes in the past. Being two different individuals was really confusing. Sadly, my internal musings once again sliced out a good chunk of reality. "-wasn't even that hot! I don't know why it exploded! It was water!" Velvet defended, stamping her hoof down and looking flustered as her two children laughed. Uh? It took Twilight a good twenty seconds to stop snickering enough to explain, "I told you, Mom. It was pressure that caused the explosion. You didn't make sure it was sealed properly before heating it up." Oooh, I did that before! Wait, no, he did that before. Hey, a negative memory that wasn't directly mine! "How was I supposed to know it would do that? Sheesh. It's easier just to let Night cook anyway. He likes to. Besides, don't tell him I said anything, but he really does want to impress our newest family members," she revealed, winking over towards Fluttershy and me. I smiled towards her and Fluttershy blushed lightly and nodded. Well, it was a good feeling to be included in that regardless. That's what I had wanted, when it came down to it. Inclusion. Shining shuddered at that and rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. "Sure he does. I still remember the absolute grilling he gave me about Cadance. Are you sure he didn't install a lie detector in the basement like he wanted?" he asked, giving his mom a questionable stare. She just sighed, however, and gave an exasperated expression back. Well, that was a good sign, I'm sure. Once more, I began to take note of likely escape routes, just in case. As if on cue, Night Light shouted from somewhere to our right on the other side of the hall. "Dinner's done!" The words rang out, hanging on the air for a second before Velvet attempted to smile and nodded towards Twilight. The prospect of food had never filled me with dread before, but I guessed there was a first time for everything! Twilight swallowed lightly but got up off the couch and headed for the hall again, Fluttershy in tow. Well, here we go. I followed after more slowly, mentally preparing myself. Two windows next to the door without reinforcements, and a weak structure for the main support by the stairs, within twelve yards run... * * * * * Shuddering oh so lightly, I tried to keep the tension in my muscles and neck from being too visible as I took another slow sip of the soup. I barely resisted cringing at the noise of the light slurp sounding out in the dead quiet dining room. Everypony at the table ate as quietly as possible, and not a word was spoken in potentially the most awkward event I had ever attended. Night Light had exited the kitchen in a full suit and tie, with his mane combed back carefully and leaking an air of sophistication. That effectively choked any further attempt at a casual dinner that his wife may have been aiming for. His then formal posture and manner of eating crushed any hope after, without him needing to say a word. It was masterfully done. Every few sips, he would look up again, specifically analyzing me with a steely gaze, as if dissecting my every move. Two minutes in, and I was already wishing I'd just pass out and get the humiliation over with. The others didn't fair all that well, either. Applejack looked back and forth between all the different utensils next to her plate, while her cyan friend smirked while watching next to her. Fluttershy could easily feel my tension and looked flustered herself to my right, fidgeting in her seat. Pinkie looked almost catatonic, staring blankly at her plate as if having shifted to 'Screensaver Mode' or something. Of course, inside she was a chaotic mess, and only the much calmer assurances from Fluttershy through the link were stopping, well, something. I wasn't entirely sure what would happen if that boiling point were crossed, but it would probably be wildly more entertaining than the alternative. Twilight, on my other side, stared up at the ceiling with a pronounced twitch, mental whispers to be calm running through her thoughts like a mantra. Rarity at least seemed to be handling it with little fuss, simply eating politely as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her. Shining was, too, but he was probably used to it. I couldn't see Cadance from my seat, sadly. Velvet, meanwhile, was giving less than pleased glares at her husband, and finally coughed lightly to relieve the tension. Sadly, he immediately picked it back up again with, "So, I heard there was a problem, and you initially weren't added to the herd." While his statement was neutral, the tone he used to utter it made it feel more akin to looking up to find a field of perilously dangling serrated icicles above my head. He left no doubt as to whom he felt was responsible. Twilight's inner mantra ground to a stop like somepony dropping a piano onto a record player, and she let out a cry of frustration. "For the last time, Dad, he had nothing to do with that! If you absolutely have to blame somepony, blame me!" she exclaimed loudly, entirely disrupting the prior silence of the room. Pinkie snapped out of her stupor almost instantly now that somepony else had exploded first. "Finally! I was so bored because we were all sitting here without saying anything and everypony was so tense! I mean, seriously, this is supposed to be a celebration, ya know? We need to cut loose and have lots of fun and stuff. We need some music and streamers and confetti and-" the pink mare exclaimed rapidly, like a high pressure container blasting out air. Rarity coughed and interrupted with, "Pinkie, Dear, I believe you're on the right track, but Twilight is upset at the moment and would probably benefit from being able to speak her mind." That was, uh, interesting. Regardless, between the two of them, they had managed to defuse the tension almost completely, which was impressive. Night Light didn't look pleased, but he was technically in the wrong anyway, so it probably didn't matter. "Oh, okay! But we party afterwards!" Pinkie relented, nodding twice towards a now smiling Twilight Sparkle. "Right, Pinkie. She is right, Dad. We're supposed to be celebrating, but this feels more like an interrogation for Mender, Fluttershy, and me. Why can't you accept my choice of herdmates?" Twilight asked firmly, but a lot calmer than I had anticipated. I kept my mouth shut tight, definitely not wanting to say anything to set this powder keg off! His displeased glare was something out of legend, of course. Thankfully, he had re-directed it in the direction of his daughter rather than me. Surely, she was better prepared to deal with his antics at this point than I was, I imagined. "Twilight, a herd is something honorable, showing a level of commitment to a pony that lasts a lifetime. I don't know what happened, but all I can plainly see is for some reason, you didn't include him in that commitment initially. Now, if he did something to make you doubt him or something, you don't need to protect him from me," he lectured sternly. That inner, more bitter side of me hissed outright at his mention of 'commitment', of course. For just half a second, I snapped back my emotion and pushed it back down, but it was enough of a sample to cause Twilight to wince. Fluttershy pushed lightly into my back on the other side, given that I was still rotated slightly towards Twilight and her father. "Mender, it's okay. Be mad at us. It's not healthy to push all that inside of you," she whispered inside my mind, drawing the attention of the other three linked mares who were too far away to feel my split-second irritation. Stubbornly, I held it regardless, shaking my head slightly, and then giving a start as I felt Twilight's frustration skyrocket. "Stop treating me like a foal! I know what the commitment means, and I was telling the truth! Fine, if you don't understand, I'll tell you, and make you get it. Fluttershy and I screwed up while Mender was away at the cabin and did something we regretted. After talking about it, we came up with a way to apologize to him, and show him we were ready for a bigger commitment with the herd. We signed the paper, and I stored it in the envelope for Mender to sign if he wished when he got back. Then, like an idiot, I spaced out during my Estrus and sent the stupid thing!" Twilight practically screamed, looking both seriously stressed out and pissed off at the same time. Well, technically it wasn't a secret, really. Regardless, at this point, I was more worried about things starting to catch fire again. Night Light lost the edge to his glare at some point during her outburst, slowly shifting from angry to guilty looking by the time she was done. "I... I see. I'm sorry, I... I didn't realize," he muttered, sounding uncertain of what to say now. He shouldn't have pressed her in the first place, but I could see he was originally worried about her. He doesn't really know me at all, obviously, and has probably heard a lot of conflicting things about me. The lavender mare shivered, and I leaned forward and hugged her lightly around the waist, Fluttershy still lightly holding mine. Twilight sighed and leaned back into me before continuing with, "We screwed up. Then we screwed up our apology. I thought he was going to dump us when he found out, and by all rights, he should have. Thinking about that for three days nonstop, I went totally crazy. I was willing to do pretty much anything to fix things and get his forgiveness that I overlooked how destructive the ideas were. I'm sorry, everypony." She'd already apologized for that much, which probably meant she felt guilty still... Sighing, I decided it was only right if I at least gave my assurances. "Relax, Twilight. We can work through what happened one day at a time. Also, I know you don't really know me at all, Mister Night Light, and my word probably doesn't mean anything to you, but I've nothing but respect for your amazing daughter, and I'm not going to do anything to hurt her," I attempted to assure. Hell, if I thought she needed it, I'd outright protect her. Pity I knew better. For a moment, he actually looked surprised before frowning again. "I don't need your assurances. You've proven you're at least a decent pony already, at least to the point where I'll allow you to be with my daughter. I've heard some iffy things about you here and there since our last meeting, but for now, I'll trust in her judgment. Do not make me regret my decision," he warned, giving me a scowl before returning to his plate of food. Well, that was better than kicking me out in a blind fury, I guess. Applejack’s annoyed sounding snort, however, indicated she thought otherwise. “Excuse me?! Ya barely know tha stallion, yet ya’d rather believe some hokey story from ah paper than look fer tha truth yerself?! Ah know him quite good, an’ ya know me, right? Well, Ah say he’s ah perfect gentlecolt an’ this was an honest mistake,” she argued, with fairly solid logic, I might add. She was the Element of Honesty. If you couldn’t trust her, who could you trust? Night Light pulled back a bit at that, shifting his frustrated glare towards Applejack instead, albeit with slight hesitation now. His wife saw the opening and moved in, however, adding, “Dear, you know you can be a bit stubborn sometimes, but you know she’s right. The only information we have on Mender is what the papers say, and that particular article is under serious investigation for unlawful slander, if you recall. Sure, the tabloids are still repeating it left and right, but Mr. Fancypants himself came out and made an official apology, denouncing it. You agree with him, too, right?” Oh yeah, he did, didn’t he? Twilight relaxed a bit at that and nodded in agreement, adding, “More importantly, you trust the judgment of Fluttershy and me. We made a mistake, and that’s the only reason he wasn’t in the herd as well. That’s how important he is to us, anyway. We want to be with him forever.” Okay, it was getting to be a bit much now. I couldn’t manage to stop the warm blush slowly bubbling up into my cheeks as I coughed lightly, looking away from her. Fluttershy giggled in amusement at my expression, and I playfully scowled towards her. “Hey, I just… I’m not used to anypony just giving me praise like that, okay? Both of you are far more amazing anyway, and I’m lucky… and very honored that you two are returning my feelings. So really, you don’t have to defend me. He’s rightful to be suspicious, especially of the stallion he hardly knows that’s dating his daughter, right?” I pointed out honestly. Admittedly, I had the ulterior motive of drawing Twilight away from the flattery angle so I could finally stop blushing, but it was the truth regardless. Twilight frowned back towards me, but Applejack sighed and nodded. “Ah guess that’s true. If somepony came outta nowhere an’ said they were datin’ mah little sis, Ah’d be ah mite suspicious, too,” the orange mare admitted, scratching under her chin thoughtfully with her right forehoof. The pearly unicorn further down the table took a polite sip of her tea, brushing her mane to the side and smirking ever so slightly. “That, and Apple Bloom is a couple years too young for that sort of thing. I imagine you’d be more than ‘suspicious’, no?” Rarity suggested playfully, directing her mirthful gaze towards the now flabbergasted Applejack. “That ain’t what Ah meant! O’ course Ah’d be suspicious if they tried that now! Ah’d probably buck ‘em through ah tree!” she adamantly admitted. True. Even Rarity had technically only given Sweetie permission to talk with me about considering it. I think that was lost in transition somewhere, though. Or the filly was just looking for an excuse to run with that ‘permission’ angle. Either way, I just sat back and watched the banter while taking another bite of my sandwich. Pinkie burst into a fit of snickering at that, wiggling about in her chair at Applejack’s flailing. The cyan pegasus gave a nonchalant wave of dismissal, however, looking amused yet significantly calmer than the apple farmer. “Relax, AJ. I don’t think she was saying you’d let your sister date at her age. I wouldn’t let Scoots either, and she’s not even technically related to me!” she agreed, undoubtedly trying to earn ‘brownie points’ with Applejack. Rarity took the comparison the wrong way, of course. “Wait a second, it’s not as if I gave Sweetie Belle permission to poison Mender! All I did was convince her she should talk with him. Talk!” she exclaimed, setting her cup down with probably a bit more force than intended. Tea sloshed over the side and onto the table, causing her to gasp out in utter horror, eyes locking onto the stain moving across the tablecloth. Sadly, I didn’t have a spell to fix that particular incident. That actually kind of surprised me, given how frequently things were stained when dealing with Keldarians… “Oh, it’s fine, Rarity. It’ll wash right out,” Twilight Velvet assured politely, smiling towards the mare and waving a hoof in her direction. “Don’t worry. I got this,” Shining Armor announced instead. Everypony directed attention to him as his horn lit up. I watched with mild interest, and then tried not to smirk as he lifted Rarity’s plate up and slid it over, covering the stain instead. Rarity stared blankly at her plate, apparently been made speechless by the act. Cadance looked less impressed, raising an eyebrow at it instead before commenting, “Well, the kitchen staff will be pleased to know how stains keep getting rubbed further into the tablecloths.” Hey, that wasn’t fair! It fixed the problem… kinda. “Hey, corners can be cut for the sake of appearance and functionality, no? It’s either visible now and easier to clean later, or invisible now and harder to clean later,” I pointed out, smirking towards him. He grinned back at me and nodded twice, agreeing. Sometimes you have to compromise! Night Light, for the most part, had shifted to mildly confused instead, probably wondering how the topic had derailed so badly. He obviously wasn’t used to dealing with these particular mares. Twilight rolled her eyes at that out of the corner of my vision, but I felt the twinge of exasperation from her link first. “Remind me never to let you cook at our place. You might cut corners and not actually cook things…” she muttered, shooting me a skeptical glance. Psh! Yeah right. I was more likely to literally cut corners. The last thing she wanted was bits of my hoof in her salad. “You’re one to talk, Twi,” came a joking voice from a ways to my right. Oh! Looking over, I was surprised to see Spike come wandering in from the hallway. Twilight looked surprised as well, apparently so much so that she totally missed the jab towards her cooking talent. “Spike?! Wait, you were supposed to be at the palace still. Didn’t Princess Celestia want to go over the new letter codes with you?” she asked, tilting her head towards her assistant. Letter codes? Oh! That checksum stuff that she put on the bottom of the letters to us now. I’d not really asked why Spike hadn’t left with us this morning to go to the herd offices. He snickered and nodded, hopping up in the empty seat between Shining Armor and Rarity before returning, “We did. Got it all memorized now. I was just gonna wait until you got back, but…” He trailed off before looking back towards the entryway. We all shifted to look at the same time, my eyes widening a little bit. Princess Luna stood in the entry, smiling politely towards us all, although looking a bit out of place as she waved slowly. She was in full regalia this time with shiny metal armor pieces and even shinier gems of dark blue hues, and for the first time, I noticed that her hair technically provided mild luminosity in the dark, the hallway behind her lighting up a bit from her ethereal mane and tail. Twilight’s father almost knocked the table over, he stood up so quickly. “Ah! Princess Luna! What a pleasant surprise. Welcome, of course! We have extra food to serve if you’d like to sit down and join us,” he welcomed rapidly, trotting around the table and bowing towards her. Well, at least he was too distracted to be hostile towards me, now. “Oh, if thou insist, we shall. We are actually here to discuss a matter with thy fellow members of Dimensional Regulation, but it is not of utmost urgency. We shall wait until after eating,” she agreed, standing up again and treading in our direction, looking warm and happy at the turn of events. Ah, Spike must have traveled here with her. And she looked pleased, which meant it was probably nothing bad. Or she just really liked eating, and Canterlot was burning down outside. Either way, I suppose I didn’t have to worry. After Luna was seated properly, even so much as getting slid in by Night Light, we resumed eating while Shining Armor got into a debate over trade relations with Cadance, which was only mildly interesting to me. I wouldn’t make a very good diplomat, I decided. Not that Equestria would likely ever choose me to represent it, of all ponies. The Crystal Empire was understandably getting its hooves back on the ground, as far as nations went. Trade was very important and for the most part, their exports were doing amazingly well. The new magical crystal products were a big hit, and admittedly, I was indeed interested in the application of crystal magic and how they interacted. But they didn’t go into details on that, and instead appeared to disagree over imports instead. More specifically, economic focus verses education focus. Twilight and I lost interest after that, with a minor note down the link from her to acquire some magical crystals to test later. I agreed wholeheartedly, earning a pleased giggle from my mare. That still sounded weird in my head… The rest of dinner went largely uneventful, thankfully. Honestly, it was starting to look like I’d get out of this event reasonably unscathed. Of course, I bit the thought back as soon as it slipped free of my inner mind, but it was too late at that point. As if on cue, Twilight Velvet stopped gathering up plates and suggested, “Oh, I know! We should have a big family game night!” Uh oh…
Chapter 68"Uh, tell me again, what was the logic behind this? If he's that angry with me, maybe we should just give him some space," I suggested again, uncertain that this was a good idea. Twilight sighed, adjusting the simple silver tie I wore against the white dress 'shirt' Rarity gave me. This was more than a little uncomfortable, but I admitted to myself that it at least looked rather good, Twilight gesturing to my reflection in the full wall bathroom mirror. Lunch had gone a bit better than expected, at least. As in, it wasn't a complete disaster, nothing caught fire, and I hadn't been kicked out. Or was it supper? What did you call eating at three thirty in the afternoon? Regardless, it turns out he no longer held me in quite as favorable light after the media storm and press conferences. The lavender mare finished adjusting the angle carefully before explaining, "It's simple. Family game night has been an important ritual for us since I was old enough to actually play. By including everypony visiting in the festivities, yourself included, I hope to smooth over relations with my father and you. Oh, and give my mom a bit more exposure to you, so maybe she'll calm down and stop pressing the foals issue." Yeah, I grasped that much, but wasn't this a bit sudden for them? This sort of activity seemed to indicate a deeper connection that wasn't there yet. Twilight waved absently at my concerned pulse through her link and trotted back into the center of the living room, drawing everypony's eyes to her again as she moved. All of us were still here, the living room a bit crowded at this point. With the addition of Spike and Luna, that made a dozen ponies now. Spike and I had given up our seating and Twilight was standing, yet both couches were still full to bursting. Noting the room quieting down, Twilight smiled and nodded to herself before starting. "Okay then! We haven't done this for a very, very long time since Shiny and I moved out, but this used to be a weekly ritual for us. I think it would be really nice, and help celebrate two new herds in the family, if we could do a family gaming night!" she declared happily. Pinkie immediately raised her hoof from the other end of the couch, earning a pause from Twilight before the lavender mare hesitantly inquired, "Uh, yes Pinkie?" "How can it be a family game night if it's in the middle of the afternoon? Shouldn't it be family game afternoon, then?" she asked almost immediately. Huh. Well, technically true, I guessed. If one wanted to argue semantics, of course. Twilight apparently didn't, and gave the pink mare a mildly annoyed stare for a second before sighing and reasoning, "We can call it night because that's when we used to do it during our school days, and for the fact that we'll probably be here until late.” Oh? I hesitantly lifted my foreleg up a moment later, earning an ear twitch and surprised look from our lavender game organizer. She smiled, however, and nodded towards me, apparently assuming my interruption to be slightly more relevant. I hoped idly that I didn't disappoint her. "If we're staying here until late, am I to guess we'll also be eating supper here, and holding off for Miss Octavia's supper arrangements for tomorrow night?" I asked curiously. Night Light, who had looked rather bored and disinterested prior, perked up at that and looked over at me with wide eyes, of course. Twilight didn't appear to notice, and instead smiled and nodded towards me, adding, "Yeah. I figured we could wait until tomorrow to give us more time to donate to her, as she probably would feel cheated if we ate and ran. She is doing this to thank you for saving her life, after all." Ah. Yeah, that made sense, now that I considered it. We wouldn't have time to do any sort of game here and then meet with her afterwards. Part of me wondered at the strange request to dinner for all of us, and another part of me was seriously concerned about how she found out about us coming to Canterlot far enough beforehand to send a letter out to Twilight. Our arrival wasn't exactly announced or broadcasted anywhere. Twilight's father, however, wouldn't leave it at that, of course. "W-Wait, the Miss Octavia Melody invited you out to dinner tomorrow?!" he asked towards me a second later. Actually, it had a rather accusing tone to it, which confused me. Velvet slapped her forehead with a hoof, however. "Actually, she invited all of us, of course. 'Us' being the Element Bearers, Spike, and Mender, I believe," Rarity politely corrected, extending a rather disarming smile towards him as well. He hesitated, then frowned towards her, looking momentarily perplexed instead. Shining nodded, however, smirking before adding, "And then Mender invited Cadance and me! Even offered to pay for us, even though we're, uh, more than capable of buying supper, of course." Okay, now I just felt stupid. Why hadn't I remembered that they were royalty?! Wait, but then would it be rude to not offer, or rude to offer and potentially imply they couldn't afford it?! Fluttershy, sitting closest to me on the couch, started giggling at my inner turmoil through the link. Night Light looked shocked, however. "Wait, what?! Why didn't you invite us as well? We're technically going to be your parents soon," he asked, shifting his attention back to me instead. Uh, what? Uh! Twilight, and probably every mare with a link to me now, noted my sudden panic. She sighed, and then glared rather sharply at her father. "Mender didn't offer because we're eating with you two tonight. You can come if you'd like, but you'll have to pay for your own meals. We can't ask Miss Octavia to pay for ponies she didn't invite," she reasoned, wielding her logic like one might a blade on the battlefield. Her tone left no room for compromise, and her father edged back a bit in his seat, looking more surprised than anything. Twilight was definitely scary still! Thankfully her mother recovered far faster and agreed with, "Of course we can. It's only reasonable. I'd like to see Miss Octavia again as well, as she's a very charming young mare. She obviously feels quite appreciative towards Mender if she's willing to pay for so many meals." That was true, of course, even if her 'life' hadn't been guaranteed forfeit, regardless of me having caught the chandelier. Not to say it wouldn't have been indescribably painful, of course. Being stabbed by a few dozen magical crystals probably wouldn't have been the most pleasant experience, but she was an Earth Pony, and undoubtedly had a rather potent constitution. I still couldn't shake the weirdness of the situation, however. She knew we were coming, somehow. Rarity snapped me out of my internal musings with, "Oh, but of course. She's part of the Canterlot Orchestra! She simply drips with elegance and style, and surely has amazing taste in restaurants as well. Further, she understands and values what Mender did, refusing to let him go unrewarded for saving her so selflessly! She obviously has great personality as well." Uh, right. I had a sneaking suspicion Rarity might be mildly disappointed at how 'normal' Octavia seemed to be. Especially with what she told me about not liking to 'put on airs' or anything. Well, this should be interesting! "Yes, yes!" Twilight interrupted impatiently, following with, "We're set for tomorrow, then. However, we're three minutes late on starting our gaming time and won't get optimal amounts of entertainment out of it now. We should start before losing even more time." Considering I still didn't know what she was going to have us play, I didn't really think three minutes was all that big of a loss. Of course, I was probably biased, as I didn't exactly like board games or cards in the first place. I'd much rather read a book, work out engineering problems, or test new magic to entertain myself. There was a collective series of giggles from my many links, and Twilight glared over at Rainbow and Pinkie in particular, the cyan mare outright snickering and her friend holding both hooves over her mouth. Applejack just smiled in amusement, however, and suggested, "Maybe ya should let us know what we're gonna be doin', first?" Spike continued snickering on the other side of me, despite Twilight's irked demeanor. "I can answer that one!" Shining cut in. "We always do the same game. It's Dad's and Twiley's favorite! 'The Dark Castle'!" Wait, what? That didn't sound like a board game. Twilight grinned at that, however, and Night Light nodded in agreement. Luna, previously quiet, gasped at that and requested, "Surely?! We loved that game in our youth! Please, allow me to be the Stable Master?" Stable Master? Thankfully, the others looked about as confused as I felt. "Uh, how exactly do you play?" Rainbow asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow towards Twilight, who she apparently guessed would elaborate the best. She got a grin in return, and I inwardly relaxed my posture. Yup, we were going to be here a while, in instruction phase alone... * * * * * The wind blew harshly outside, making the rain pelt down like a thousand frozen tears of small foals. Fun times. Another crack of thunder sounded outside, momentarily illuminating the dank lab beyond the intensity that the flickering candles could manage. I grinned, magic swirling around me as I sat, waving my hooves over the crystal clear pool of water indented into the hewn stone floor. Soon. My grin shifted into a twisted smirk as I looked into the water, lit up from within by an unnatural green glow as it shifted, showing their forms storming the outer keep. It was almost too late, and I knew they'd never make it in time now. The sacrifice was almost ready, and once she was silenced forever, I'd be granted power over the darkness itself! The realm of the living would never be safe again. For every pony who yet lived, a hundred generations of dead existed. There was true power there. Of course, I'd have to find something more substantial than skeletons and zombies, I noticed. It was a bit problematic when one's undead minions didn't have brains, of course. The group of do-gooders blew my gate away with a mighty blast of fire from their wizard before storming the inner courtyard, thousands of skeletal and decomposing ponies rushing forth to swarm them. The prince himself led the charge, holy sword shining brightly in his tightly clenched jaws as he spun and slashed, cutting through my minions left and right. The orange one was right next to him, wielding her massive hammer and literally sending the heavier zombies flying away from the group. Hmm. Maybe I could try Diamond Dogs? At least they had more mass... The blue pegasus was just as annoying, I noticed, as she danced above the group with her double crossbows, raining arrows down into sensitive spots on my minions. Why did I even make undead with weak spots? As annoying as it was, it was a bit pointless to consider now. Their pink rogue slipped in and out of the fray as well, also targeting those same weak zones with what looked like a rubber chicken and a spork. Apart from her obviously, well, unique choice in weapons, I wondered at how effective her coloring was at stealth in the first place, but considering it gave me a headache, maybe she was going for a more subtle tactic? Their cleric and wizard, however, were absolutely stunning! The deadly spells of the lavender mare were matched almost equally by the healing powers of the potions dropped by the gorgeous yellow pegasus. Yes, they would become my dark brides after I inevitably dispatched all of their friends. Yes indeed! Grinning, I watched them slowly draw closer and closer to my dark spire. They were going to fall right into my trap, just as I'd hoped. A low hiss of amusement slipped past me, alongside a heated blast of dark green smoke, sparks of magic and sorcery dancing along it. "Mmm, may I be granted the gorgeous bard in the back, Master? She would make a lovely addition to my horde," my dark drake asked from my side, his massive and intimidating form accenting my throne well, if not dwarfing it with his size. His scales were obsidian black with wicked scythe-like spikes extending from his back and shoulders. His sadistic looking grin showed rows of razor-sharp fangs, and his glowing green eyes narrowed while looking at the pearly mare in my scrying pool. "Of course, Doom Fang the Magnificent. I've been meaning to get you a servant for a while now, and if she strikes your fancy, she'll do nicely," I promised, smirking back over my shoulder at him. His grin widened, of course, and at the same time, my current prisoner's thrashing intensified. "No! You'll never get your hooves on any of my friends! They'll make you pay for your evil ways, Moonlight the Vile!" shouted the pretty pink Princess Melodic Repose, or just 'Melody' to her do-gooder friends. I looked over to her before bursting into a mirthful round of crazed, rather therapeutic laughter. Her hope was delicious! It was a pity she was to be sacrificed to my dark Mistress for eternal power, but such was how things worked. "If it's okay with you, Master, I would also love to have the cute looking alchemist in the back, in dark blue. I believe his coat would be fetching against the drapes in my room, although his tacky clothing would have to go," I heard whispered in mirth from the other side of the pool. Smirking again, I nodded up at my sorceress, who looked to be eagerly awaiting our trap unfolding on the heroes. She'd get her prize as well, of course. I might be a total jerk, but keeping those under my employ pleased was merely the sensible thing to do. It cut down on needing replacements after their rebellions failed to thwart my genius and magical prowess. "Of course, Silk Nightshade. Leaving a few living is irrelevant, so long as the Princess is sacrificed," I assured. That said, I turned back to my viewing pool and smirked as the 'heroes' rushed on to their doom. Soon, it would be too late for all of- "Gah! Why do I keep rolling ones?! Twilight, I think these dice hate me!" Rainbow complained, slamming her hoof down on the kitchen table and glaring down at the latest set of ill-fated ones she'd rolled. I blinked, and then raised an eyebrow her way as Twi started giggling in amusement. "I told you to roll out the ones, Silly! That's how these things work. You have to get the ones over with in order to make sure they don't come back and be meany faces!" Pinkie explained yet again, downing another cup of punch in a single toss back of her head. Damn. I still had that theory that her powers worked on the pure levels of sugar she ingested. Night Light continued to glare down at his character sheet with disdain, adding, "And why did I get stuck as the alchemist?! I'm horrible with support roles!" Uh... Velvet, to my left, rolled her eyes and reminded, "You made Mender be the evil warlock, which is usually your role, remember? I at least kept my typical one." That oddly explained so much... Applejack raised an eyebrow at that before asking, "Why aren't Flutters an' Twi on Mender's side, then?" Fluttershy, play evil? I didn't think she could even manage pretending to be mean! Fluttershy perked up at that and surprised me with, "Oh, um, could I? I wouldn't mind changing to Mender's side. I, uh, really didn't want to be against him in the first place." My eyes widened just a little, and I felt my face heat up as I stared at her. Her eyes stayed locked with mine, and she blushed softly herself, offering me a timid smile. Twilight's ears twitched lightly and she frowned, considering it as well, it would seem. "I don't know. I'm most familiar with the wizard's abilities," the lavender unicorn admitted, tone rather hesitant. Velvet smirked next to me and shook her head, adding, "The sorceress' abilities are fairly similar. Although, if my husband were to simply trade places with Mender, this would all be solved." Alchemist, huh? Yeah, I didn't so much mind the sound of that. "No! Nopony's allowed to switch places after the game's started!" Night Light vehemently denied, instantly defeating the entire point in discussing it. His wife looked less than pleased, adding, "We're allowed to change the rules of the game if it's going to lead to upset feelings, Dear." Fluttershy, who was still partly cowering from his outburst, hastily added, "N-No, it's okay! Um, I don't want to cause problems or anything. I... I'll just bow out if we actually get to Mender." The heat came back to my cheeks as I looked back to the yellow pegasus, and she gave me another smile and nod. "Is that really in-character with the loyal healer of the group?" Night Light asked again, raising an eyebrow towards the now startled yellow pegasus. He himself jumped, however, as Rainbow's hoof hit the table next to him, her giving a stern glare to accompany it. "If Fluttershy says she wants to stop when we get to Mender, then she stops when we get to Mender. No questions asked," the cyan mare adamantly proclaimed, irritation more than evident down her link. I shifted a bit of pleased sensation towards her, and she inwardly smiled towards me while maintaining her flank-kicking expression. Night Light promptly backed off, which was probably the smart thing to do, given that Rainbow could probably turn him inside-out if pushed sufficiently. Chuckling, Shining Armor shook his head before suggesting, "How about we just get back to the game, then? Anyone wanting to step out when we get to Mender can, freely. This is supposed to be fun, not make ponies uncomfortable." That was a very good point. I was at least amusing myself by hamming it up to the maximum. I thought the stereotypical villain laugh was particularly effective. His sister smiled towards him and nodded, turning back towards the table again. "Very well. It's my turn anyway. I cast Gryphon's Sight on Prism Burst to improve her accuracy, and then..." * * * * * They were remarkably resourceful! My hooves pounced against the stone stairs as I ran down them, rolling under some sliding debris. Stupid ancient tower! Why did I put so much funding into creepy looking architecture and a gloomy looking location rather than, I don't know, a secret hideout that didn't collapse from a single fireball?! Even better, why did I go for a 'secret' hideout in the form of a sixty story tall, somewhat phallic looking spire that was literally the only structure for a hundred miles in any given direction? That kind of screamed 'evil overlord', it would seem. Oh, and compensating for something. Deciding that I was never going to make it to the bottom in time, and cursing my lack of foresight in installing an elevator, I decided the next best approach would simply be to bail out the window. I gave a shrill whistle as I dove out the closest portal to the outside, hoping that Doom Fang was close enough to hear it. The giant dragon swerved, attempting to cut close enough to the tower to catch me. Sadly, being the size of a humpback whale didn't exactly benefit him at this point, and with all the grace of said whale falling from the sky like a rock, he hit the side of the tower instead and neatly severed the already crumbling tower in two. Damn it... Now, instead of being rescued by my loyal drake, I was falling slightly above him as he panicked and shot fire everywhere, both of us being followed by a few thousand tons of brick and mortar that used to be my lovely base. I sighed and leaned into my dive, catching up with him in mid-air and easily healing him with a burst of negative energy from my evil, all-powerful soul. He recovered and spun, landing me on his back before shooting off and away from the falling tower. Then, an idea struck me! Turning back, I fired off a Shockwave spell out of my hoof, usually one of the most useless of my repertoire. It hit the already falling tower, however, and abruptly adjusted its trajectory as it dropped. My grin widened as the orange warrior, Stalwart Glade, panicked and tried to get away from the rapidly collapsing mountain of brick and wood. Sadly, Prism Burst shot out of the sky faster than I realized even she could go, and plowed into the orange warrior, sending both of them off to the side just a second before the tower hit. I watched in anticipation as the blast of massive dust and echoing crash sounded throughout the swamp, then frowned as I watched the two roll free, the dust settling around them. They were covered in wounds now, however, with Prism's wings and Glade's legs out of commission. Ha! I was lucky their cleric, Gentle Sunbeam, fled the fight at my display of pure awesomeness. We circled around, attempting to flank where Silk Nightshade was leading our elite forces on the ground and get a few fly by attacks off next. We'd win this yet, and then I'd make them pay for destroying my lovely tower and stealing the Princess from me. Well, I'd technically stolen her first, but that was hardly the point! Curse that bard! We'd barely gotten within a hundred meters when the pearly unicorn spun, dancing about with magic wrapping around her like ribbons. Amidst the ribbons of force, however, were a few thousand shards of crystal. I saw it coming and tried to raise a barrier up, but didn't quite extend my hoof in time. The first two waves of the razor sharp splinters got through, tearing into Doom's wings and the more sensitive membranes therein. I winced, the shards slashing across my magically treated fur in various places, shattering and fragmenting when it couldn't get through more than a sliver. Still, I felt the scrapes, and warm liquid coming down my cheek and forehead. Doom Fang wasn't so lucky, however, letting forth a great scream of pain alongside a huge billow of flames. Crap! I'd told him not to do that inside the barrier! The flames bouncing off the inside of my barrier, I screamed too, as they washed up over me instead and we crashed into the ground in a massive fireball, the world spinning and tumbling around me as we rolled like a glorified bowling ball through a line of my own forces before hitting the inner curtain wall of my fortress, Doom Fang thankfully hitting first. Shaking slightly, I stood as my faithful drake righted himself once more. No, wings would heal, and my coat would grow back. Now they'd done it. Now, it was on! Flares of necromantic energy swirled up around me as the ground ruptured, revealing my ultimate secret. I'd put most of my preparation into it, of course. Everything under my courtyard was layer after layer of compact crypts, perfectly designed by my rather engineer-oriented mind to squeeze as much dead bodies into as little space as possible. The magic swirled through the bones by the thousand, literally creating a tidal wave of energy as flesh and tendon awoke, obeying my every will. They worked as one, forming huge spikes and grasping claws to blast out of the ground, lashing up at the heroes from every side! "Stop! Wait, wait, wait, you spent almost all of your preparation points on layering the entire courtyard design with inner crypts?!" Twilight suddenly yelped, looking a mixture of shocked and horrified. Shining Armor nodded next to her, looking somewhat impressed at my arrangement. "Indeed. I didn't think you could even fit this many. I also never considered a strategy for or against, uh, this many undead constructs..." he admitted, staring at the map on the table as I smiled and nodded. Twilight twitched slightly again as she stared down at it as well, sharp eyes scanning every laid out room for anything that broke the rules, it looked like. No, I'd analyzed the rules rather intently, and applied a couple space conserving algorithms to the design scheme based on the requirements. It was one of the things I was trained for. "It's perfectly legit, Twilight. You're just upset that you're losing. Now it's your turn, Pinkie," Velvet reminded, smirking in amusement towards her daughter. Heh, it was the best way I could think of to counteract the heroes' absurd power levels. Spam them with so many attacks and minions that it literally filled every hexagon of the battle board. Regardless... I'd predicted it happening. They knew I'd try a fly by attack. Splendor had waited until the last second to counter me. They wanted me to crash by the wall. That pink mare, whose name I didn't even bother trying to remember, descended from the top of the wall a second later, twin blades extending from her forehooves, one tied securely to each gauntlet she wore. If I hadn't prepared for it by placing crypt guards in the walls, too, it might have even worked. Thankfully I had anticipated the heroes getting inside the keep. "Hold it! Wait, no, just no. You didn't spend any of your preparation points on your actual abilities, did you?!" Twilight asked once again, sounding irate now. I coughed lightly, looking away before shrugging. "I added the armored fur. And a lot of shield spells. But really, the synergies with the necromancer tree just fit together too well!" I admitted. Okay, so I was maximizing only one particular area of my build, but it was working! She glared intensely at me, and I could almost see the smoke coming out of her ears. I take it I wasn't supposed to play this way? Pinkie seemed oblivious to the tension and added, "By the way, I told you my name was Pink Wonder of the Dancing Ribbons, the Fifth, Mare of Mystery and Deception," she explained yet again. I blinked idly towards her, and Twilight stopped fuming long enough to turn and look at her questioningly. Yeah, I didn't know either. "Enough interruptions! I want to get to my turn at some point tonight!" Spike reminded, taking another annoyed sip of his juice before frowning back up at Twilight, who glared back and crossed her forelegs. Right... The three meter long blade slammed out of the wall seconds before... Pink Wonder of the Dancing Ribbons, the Fifth, Mare of Mystery and Deception, got to me. Her gasp was almost as long as her name itself as she spun, barely avoiding the upwards cut from the four meter tall giant that burst out of the wall behind Doom Fang and me, right on cue. The mare spun and dove backwards with surprising finesse, her ability to dodge being much better than her ability to surprise me, it would seem. I shrugged as a second layer of wall broke free above the first, revealing a few hundred skeletal archers as well. Casually, I sat down again on my haunches and waved my hoof up towards the rapidly overwhelmed heroes, and all the archers fired at once, releasing volley after volley of pointy death down towards them. Of course, I was careful to instruct them not to hit the lavender wizard. Marring her beauty would be a travesty. She would be my dark queen after watching all of her friends die, of course. She'd have no choice. Then I'd just have to catch her yellow friend, who was probably still flying South as fast as her wings would take her. As predicted, the lavender mare and her brother, the Prince, put up a joint shielding spell, struggling to maintain it under the waves of attacks from the arrows, massive skeletal arms, and razor bone spikes hitting them from all sides, pushing all but the cyan mare into a tight, defensive formation. They didn't have wings, of course, so I knew I could push them hard and make them fight defensively. Of course, it also clustered them all together, as I'd hoped. Smirking, I raised my hoof again and nodded towards Doom Fang, who grinned and let out a howl. His own necromancer abilities came forth, as he summoned his legion of bone dragons from the sky, and charged at the dome of shimmering light himself. Ah, right. Normally dragons wouldn't be anywhere near stupid, of course, but these ones purposefully didn't have a brain to work with. I'd given Doom Fang very specific instructions for this signal, and he commanded his fellow dragons perfectly. As he stormed across the battlefield, thunder blasting in the background and bones kicking up as he sprinted, all of his dragons swooped together, haphazardly smashing into each other and grappling themselves into what almost looked like a small moon of bone as they plummeted. Then, they all released a massive blast of fire as one, straight downwards as they dropped towards the barrier the heroes were in. Okay, so this might do a bit of damage to the lavender wizard, but I could always put her back together again... The flames lit the dragons on fire as well, of course, but I hardly cared. They had barely used up any of their flame reserve by the time they crashed into the shield, so all of that magic just exploded outwards. Doom Fang also released a point-blank range fire Shockwave into the explosion, sending shards of burning bone shrapnel through the miasma of dragon fire as it rose up in a burning mushroom cloud. There. That was how to use area of effect to your advantage. I'd seen the flash of light just before the ball hit, of course, and smiled. I had to appear confident that my combination attack was going to defeat them, or they'd suspect that I suspected that the lavender wizard had a teleport spell memorized. Well, I didn't know she had one memorized, but it was a distinct possibility that I had to prepare for, just in case. Thankfully I researched what wizards were capable of before designing my evil castle. Sure, it would have been nice if they'd just blown up with the dragon attack, but one never puts all of their bones in one crypt, so to speak. The only part of the courtyard that hadn't ruptured to pieces with the bone attacks was, of course, the area directly where I was standing. Hitting myself with my own attack motions was rather foolish, after all, and I knew I had to leave a full five-yard square to all sides of me to account for the actual crypt room, oddly. Given that a good amount of her group was melee oriented, teleporting practically on top of me was actually a really smart idea. The flash appeared all around me, her magic expanding out as the Prince landed next to me, the pink one whose name I forgot again behind me, and the recovering orange warrior to the other side of the Prince. All three attacked almost simultaneously, obviously having prepared this tactic ahead of time. I was impressed! Thankfully, having memorized almost nothing but shield magic, I aimed my hoof straight down and threw a barrier up under me instead. The lavender wizard, who I now recognized as the genius Glimmering Dusk, frowned for just a moment as she appeared as well, then widened her eyes and tried to shout a warning. Too late, of course. Doom Fang had charged forward, thus removing himself from my 'safe' square as designed. My shield blocked straight down and I activated the last remaining crypt right on top of myself. The huge blast of bone and zombie flesh was blocked, just barely, by my barrier. Instead, I was knocked clear of the magic as the thousands of claws lashed out, grabbing and holding onto the heroes all at the same time, even as I was sent flying away from the three way melee attack. Wow, that might have actually hurt had I not dodged it! Doom Fang caught me as he turned around, smirking at the heroes who struggled and fought to pull free of the grasping claws. Silk Velvet also wore a pleased smile as she exited the safe bunker under the main part of the tower. Her roll as distraction worked wonderfully, it would seem. I grinned as well and nodded to him, instructing, "Burn them alive as expediently as possible, except for the blue alchemist, the lavender wizard, and, of course, the mare you want. I don't care if they get singed a little, though, as I can fix that." Ah, sweet victory. "Wait, aren't ya even gonna do ah little bit o' gloatin'?!" Stalwart Glade suggested, looking horrified as she fought even more against the five claws that held her down. "Hmm, let me think about that... No," I returned, nodding towards Doom Fang again, who smirked before inhaling sharply and preparing his Line of Flame attack, for those precision burning needs. Of course, when making plans with others involved was always a risky gambit. One can't always be assured that the other individuals in one's plans are as dedicated or professional as oneself. Splendor, of course, took this opportunity to immediately stop struggling and shouted out, "Wait! Doom Fang the Magnificent! I've a secret to confess!" I raised an eyebrow and inwardly sighed, wondering if this was a distraction or a plea for mercy. Predictably, the fearsome drake actually stopped, instead listening to her. She smiled winningly towards him, blushing oh so faintly before continuing. "Admittedly, I didn't come here for the glory, or even for stopping evil, no matter how bad a fashion sense it has," she admitted, glancing momentarily over at my black cloak and vest with what could only be described as disdain. I glared at her in annoyance, but she turned back to Doom Fang, ignoring me again. "Wait, what?!" Glimmer asked, staring over at her friend in shock. I just waited idly for the punchline, while preparing 'Plan Three Beta'. It would be unfortunate, but if it came down to it, I'd really rather not die, even if I'd have to put my future dark queen back together again before marrying her. Splendor smirked and nodded to her friend before explaining, "I'm sorry, Glimmer, but it's true. I've been using you all along. I just wanted to get closer to Moonlight because I knew of his legendary drake, Doom Fang. Oh, how his scales glitter in the dark, and his powerful muscles flex. I simply had to meet him, in order to pledge my unending love to him." I continued staring at her, losing brain cells by the second. Did she honestly expect us to fall for- "R-Really?!" Doom Fang asked, voice slipping momentarily into a fit of eager shock instead of his usual intimidation and stoic power. Damn it. The pearly bard smiled and nodded towards him, earning an equally skeptical stare from her lavender friend, who either thought she was stupid or the worst liar ever. Regardless, the bard continued with, "Indeed! I'm oh so eager to do so, but alas, my conscience is getting the better of me now, at the last minute. I find myself unable to actually let the others die for me. Please, I'll go with you willingly and do every little thing you request, if you just let the others go and run away." Ah, it was a plea for mercy after all. Just a backwards and confusing one, I noted. Regardless, it was time to just murder them all, I guessed. Piecing Glimmer back together again afterwards would be much easier than dealing with all this. Sadly, Splendor was far faster and more cunning than I had previously given her credit for. The second I started to lift my hoof again, she shouted out, "Now!" Eh?! Her signal inspired a much faster reaction than normal from their group, Glimmer disappearing in a flash as she lunged sideways into her brother. Growling, I continued lashing down with the signal regardless, deciding that the rest of them could at least explode. My left foreleg continued moving down, however. And down. Until it landed limply on the ground, entirely separate from my own body as her brother reappeared to my left, mid-cut. Oh. Dick move. Glimmer herself hesitated after flashing in again from her teleport, staring in shock at the limb on the ground as I lashed out at her brother with a barrier blade, him barely dodging to the side. Silk lunged in as well, her left hoof glowing a sickly green color before smashing into the shoulder of the Prince, who wasn't paying attention due to barely dodging me. He gasped sharply and stumbled sideways away from her rather weak attack, the real damage spreading through his muscles already, a dark blotch expanding off his shoulder. Her corruption magic was second to none, after all. Way in the back of her friends, the pesky alchemist shouted out as I powered up another energy barrier with my only foreleg left. My eyes flicked his direction just in time to see him whip a potion right towards me instead. Crap! The Prince grinned as he watched the potion come in, and sliced it in midair with all the fortitude he could muster, just as I tried to lift my barrier to it and knock it aside. It shattered instead, of course, liberally spraying me down with the contents, which charged up instantly with a blue glow on me. Ah! Crap! Wait, blue? The Prince dove in, but stopped as he saw the blue glow instead. This wasn't the kinetic magnification I'd been anticipating... The alchemist grinned at my confusion before shouting out, "It's a conductive elixir! Hit him with lightning, Glimmer!" Eh?! Glimmer gave a start, looking over at him in confusion, as she obviously hadn't expected to be called upon to deal the potential deathblow. Damn it! I prepared my next shielding spell, hoping I could beat the lavender unicorn to the punch and- "Dad! I specifically said that I wasn't going to attack him directly! What are you doing?!" Twilight yelped, dropping character almost instantly. I blinked, and then remembered that she had said that before we started playing, slightly after I was forced to be the evil warlock due to being the 'guest of honor'... Of course, I thought she was just saying that to try to make me feel better. He scowled at her instead, pointing out, "It's just a game, Twilight. It isn't as if you're attacking him for real." It appeared to only serve to make her more pissed off, however. "That's not the point! He's my herdmate and coltfriend, plus I said that I wouldn't attack him directly. You have the kinetic potion prepared, too! Why didn't you throw that?" she demanded, shooting him a rather icy glare. I had a sneaking suspicion the whole thing was to cause tension between the mares and me anyway, and she probably had guessed that by now. She knew he didn't like me because of the articles, after all. At least, I hoped it was only because of the articles... "A melee attack might not do enough damage to kill him! Just cast the spell!" Night Light growled back, looking equally angry now. Shining looked back and forth between the two of them, edging away slightly in attempts to undoubtedly stay out of the fray. Velvet looked more than a little annoyed herself, however, and flicked her dice again on the table. The rolling noise alerted all of us, and we looked back curiously towards her rather high roll, giving two sixes and a four. "I'm burning a corruption point and adding myself to the initiative. I cast time lock on Glimmer, freezing her in time for a full two rounds," she coldly reported, looking up at her husband with a smirk. His glare returned a second later, along with an eye twitch. A second set of rattling sounded out a half a second later, however. I looked over at Spike, who was grinning down at his three sixes. Luna, our Stable Master, raised an eyebrow to him from over the top of her screen, and he nodded, stating, "I'm burning a corruption point, too, and made top of the initiative. That flame line attack I charged up? I'm releasing it all right into the alchemist." Ha! Night Light's eyes bulged out as Spike rolled all twelve damage dice onto his character instead of using it in a line attack. Luck holding out, he got absurdly high rolls and hit the alchemist for over ninety points of damage, practically obliterating him instantly. Twilight snorted, and then started actually outright laughing, as her dad got a bit red in the face, glaring at the baby dragon instead. Sighing, I decided to head off the hostility and announce, "My barrier has gotten enough time to charge up, then, given that nopony else can act this round, right, Luna?" "That's Princess Luna!" Night Light corrected almost instantly. Again. I'd slipped up during supper, too, and referenced her like that, and got chewed out despite trying to say she wanted me to call her that. He refused to believe me, of course, despite Applejack and Rainbow chipping in that it was true. Luna herself held a hoof up, however, and shook her head, smiling. "Mender is my dear friend, and is encouraged to use shortened names for my sister and me. Further, yes, Mender. Your barrier is charged," she revealed, nodding towards me instead. Night Light just stared at her with wide eyes, mouth slightly open in surprise. I just nodded towards Luna, however, and added, "Then I cast it, and cover Silk and Doom Fang as well, rejecting the Prince and Glimmer. Then I start casting my prepared escape portal." Idly, I wondered why Shining hadn't bothered to name his character, while he rolled his fortitude save. Sliding the results forward so Luna could see, he announced, "Sadly, I've failed my fortitude save and pass out from the magic affecting me." His tone didn't sound sad, I noted, and I raised an eyebrow over at him as he grinned back. His father looked even more irate, and I started to hope he didn't have blood pressure problems as he yelped towards Rainbow with, "Quick! Your arrows are the only things that can reach them! Disrupt his casting!" Dash raised an eyebrow to him, then grinned and looked to Luna instead, asking, "I don't know. My quiver is on my back, and my legs are held. I don't think I'd be able to reach any arrows, and I already failed my strength check, no?" Oh. They were letting me escape... Night Light saw that clearly at this point, shaking a bit as he glared at me instead, and I tilted my head back a little, wondering why he was angry with me specifically. Luna just giggled, however, and added, "I believe so. Normally that is a loophole, but thank you for playing within the bounds of being realistic, Rainbow Dash. I agree that you cannot reach your arrows." Velvet grinned at that ruling and nodded over at me a second later. "That means there's nopony left that can interrupt us! The warlock casts his portal magic uninterrupted, and the three main villains escape to a far away dimension," she announced. Heh. Twilight grinned at that, and Fluttershy, who was snuggling into my right hip still, let out a squeak as the lavender mare flashed away for real this time. I blinked, the spots still in my vision from the sudden burst of light, and realized she was right in front of us when my eyes opened again. I gave a start, but she pounced onto both Fluttershy and me and kissed me on the cheek. "Congratulations, Mender! You escaped. The heroes rescued the Princess, but evil got away. For once, I'm happy about that!" she exclaimed, smirking towards me from point blank range. Shining Armor snorted at that, adding, "Considering how much you used to rage when Mom and Dad won when we were little, that's really saying something!" She looked back over her shoulder and shot him a mildly irked looking glare, but Rarity shook her head whimsically as she walked back around the table. "Regardless, that's absolutely barbaric! Loping legs off and breathing fire on ponies is just horrible. Could we please play a more civilized game next time?" she requested, giving one of her 'dramatically distressed' looks towards Twilight's parents. I coughed lightly before appending, "While sometimes violence is necessary to protect what's important, you, uh, could have at least cut off the other leg..." My glance was directed towards Shining, who momentarily looked entirely clueless, blinking at me in vague confusion. Yeah, thought as much. He hadn't intended it as a jibe at me. Twilight rolled her eyes, however, and gently lifted my left foreleg with her right one, extending it slowly up and gesturing to the underside with her other hoof while staring expectantly at her brother. Oh, I'd forgotten that I had scars on the underside of my leg, against my barrel. Oddly enough, her gesture drew pretty much everypony's attention instantly, probably out of the pure oddity of it. Night Light's eyes widened a bit, and his wife put both forehooves to her mouth as she looked a bit on the sad side. Applejack paled, however, her eyes locked solidly on the three deep gashes that ran along my rib line where the skin literally tore off in ribbons along with my bone. I knew it had been bad, but... Oh. I also saw the slightly curved scar of where her hoof had slammed into my side, fracturing my ribs underneath into practically dust. Rainbow frowned a bit, looking over at Applejack instead before reaching up and lightly pushing the orange mare's jaw closed, giving her a start out of her daze as she looked over at her friend. Dash smiled, however, and hugged her instead, earning a light shiver before the normally strong mare buried her muzzle into Rainbow's shoulder, sinking against her slightly. I felt my eyelids sag a bit as I couldn't watch any longer and looked away, back towards Twilight. The horror and disgust raging down Applejack's empathy link was enough of a clear sign. Big Mac had been right in that she needed some more support. That night had traumatized more than just me. Twilight surprised me by glancing back towards her two silent parents and apologizing with, "I think we should get back to our rooms and rest up. Um, I'm sorry to just leave like this, but..." Her father shifted back to a much calmer expression before shaking his head. "No, we understand. Seeing how things are now, it's easy to realize the more, well, personal angle that all the newspapers missed, I now realize. Uh, for what it's worth, I'm sorry," he muttered, nodding first towards Applejack, and then towards me. I sighed and returned his nod, not sure what to say about anything anymore. My leg hurt suddenly, more out of the memory than anything. Was it possible for scars in the mind to physically hurt? Fluttershy snapped me out of my slow descent into another spiral with a peck to the cheek and warm smile. I returned it more freely this time, realizing she somehow managed to know exactly how to cheer me up and timed it perfectly. She grinned at my expression and nodded, pulling me gently by the other leg as her wings shifted her backwards towards the closest end to the table. Spike slid out of his chair and moved it out of the way for her, nodding to both of us as we passed before hopping up on Twilight's back as she slowly followed us, looking uncertain. "We're gonna stay here tonight, Sis. I have a bit more to talk about with Mom and Dad," Shining Armor gently explained as he and Cadance followed us towards the hallway. Rarity lingered over by Applejack and Rainbow instead, as Pinkie looked back and forth between the orange mare and myself, looking uncertain as her ears dropped a little. Okay, if there was anything I couldn't stand, it was a sad Pinkie Pie. Mentally focusing, I whispered down her link with, "It's okay, Pinkie. We'll be fine. Just make sure AJ is okay and let us know if there's anything we can do to help, okay?" Twilight's ears twitched as she was close enough to hear it as well, so I just assumed Fluttershy had picked it up, too, being easily three times more sensitive to such. Pinkie perked and glanced towards me for a second before realization fully kicked in and she smiled again, nodding twice and hopping back over towards her other three friends. Heh, that much I could understand. Being at a loss for what to do was never fun. Luna followed us out towards the entryway, her much longer legs easily clearing the distance and catching up as we walked. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry as well, Mender. We cannot change what happened that night, of course, but we can help those hurt by it cope and recover. That's the wisest course of action, I believe," she slowly suggested, gesturing back towards the light coming from the dining room. I knew she meant Applejack regardless. Cadance, who had also followed us, looked momentarily sad before looking at me as well. "I think I'm starting to really realize the gravity of the situation. I know Aunt Celestia already offered, but if there's anything Shiny or I can do as well, for any of you, just let me know," the pink alicorn offered. Tia had mentioned that, yes, but there was something more immediate, of course. "Of course. We need to stop it from ever happening again. I think that's going to be my goal for a good, long while," I returned, frowning at nothing in particular. It was at times like this when I just wanted some materials in front of me and to get to work building that testing prototype for the connection jammer. Of course, I knew myself better than that, and realized at least part of it was me just wanting to work with my hooves on something. Keeping busy and making stuff was a good way for me to vent. Cadance smiled at that and nodded, agreeing with, "Indeed. That's why we're here, and why your new organization has been formed. At first I didn't completely understand why you were put in charge of the research division. I had thought you needed more time to recover after what happened, but I think I see now. I'm glad you're okay and helping us, Mender." Oh? Now she had me curious as to what she saw. Of course, outright asking was probably rude... Luna giggled, however, earning my attention again. I suddenly realized at the same time how informal she'd been over the course of the evening. Twilight's family was a group she could 'relax' with, I suddenly noticed. "You have to admit, Mender, that you're very adamant about stopping and preventing danger to the ponies of Equestria. It's a very pleasant sensation, I mean to say. Not a surprise so much as somewhat unexpected that somepony such as yourself, who should have no allegiance at all to us, is so willing to help Equestria as you are. I believe Cadance is speaking of your conviction to the cause and sense of morality," the Moon Princess suggested, glancing over at the pink mare for confirmation. Cadance looked momentarily surprised by that, but smiled and nodded towards Luna, recovering quickly. Conviction? Morality? I had never really thought about it all that much. Of course, I hesitated using such words myself, as I usually considered them negatively, surprisingly. If I started thinking of myself as morally superior or of righteous conviction, it felt fake to me. It was like I was just pretending to gain popularity or act humble to impress ponies. I didn't want to be a hero. I'd murdered far too many for that title, even if I couldn't consider the Keldarians to be all that innocent in the first place. I'd rather somepony else was responsible for all of this, so I could just limp away and nap for a decade or so. Well, nap and passionately love my two mares, it would seem. Heh. My priorities had been complicated a little bit, I decided. But at the same time, there wasn't anypony else. If I just walked away, Shining, Luna, and Tia would try their best to keep everypony safe, of course, but due to what and who I was, I held knowledge and abilities that were fairly unique. I could teach somepony else about dimensional travel and the theories behind it, but I'd actually crossed the dimensions, and worked the magic to stop a teleport, like I'd talked about. Further, I didn't even know if other ponies were capable of using my particular flavor of magic in the first place, which was all I knew in regards to blocking a link like that. Teaching others anything would also take time, which I wasn't sure we had very much of. So no, if I walked away, it put truly innocent ponies at risk, which might as well be the same as me killing them myself. I couldn't let that happen. I had to protect them, because I was the only pony that could do those things. Was that a hero, however? I didn't have a choice. It was either this, or risk letting a bunch of ponies die. No, a hero was somepony who strived towards saving and helping others because it was the right thing to do. They didn't get lazy or frustrated or wish it were somepony else. That wasn't very 'heroic' at all. Twilight pushed into my forehead, lightly kissing it and startling me out of my heavy thinking in time to see that everypony was staring at me. Twilight and Fluttershy held softer looks, given their more intimate awareness of my thought processes, but the two Princesses just looked sad. Spike looked more confused than anything, but shook his head slowly after a long moment. "I don't know about all that, and I'm not entirely sure what you were thinking about there, but I do know what I've seen myself," Spike interrupted, followed by, "Sure, you can get frustrated from time to time, but even after somepony hurts or annoys you, you're still so kind towards them. So even if you don't agree with calling yourself those things, you can at least know that I think you're a nice pony." He grinned awkwardly at me afterwards, scratching at the back of his spines as Fluttershy giggled lightly next to me. Heh. That felt more real to me than anything. Yeah, I could get downright furious sometimes, and didn't handle my anger very well at all, but I really did want to get along with everypony. I didn't like fighting with others, either physically or verbally, and deep down, I wanted to leave a good impression on ponies. Why was that? Luna snorted and then chuckled at that. "Oh, that much I also agree with. After what Sweetie put you through, I thought you were going to yell at her! But no, you stayed her friend and remained kind to her regardless. That surprised me," she admitted, scratching her chin momentarily before nodding twice towards me. Sweetie was hard to stay mad at, both because she was dangerously adorable, and just a foal. A lot could be forgiven considering she was still learning. She might be considered a 'teen', but her behavior indicated there was a good reason she wasn't considered an adult for two more years. "Sweetie's still learning, so I couldn't stay mad at her. Besides, she's like a puppy. All she has to do is look sad towards you, and it's like you melt," I muttered, shuddering at the memory and earning a giggle from Twilight. "It's good to know for the future, I think. You're amazing with kids, but tend to spoil them, so watch out for that. Got it!" the lavender mare announced, as if taking a mental note on it then and there. I blushed lightly and rolled my eyes, not sure if I should be more bothered by her taking notes that far ahead in the relationship, or the implications therein. Cadance tilted her head for a moment in thought before nodding in agreement as well. "Yes, I believe Mender would make a good father. Are you going to work towards that in the future, then, Twilight?" the pink mare asked. Oh hell. Why did everypony say that?! It would seem it was Twilight's turn to blush, her eyes widening slightly as she froze on the spot. Fluttershy smiled gently and also flushed, apparently more out of sympathy for Twilight than actual embarrassment. I hoped. If not, Fluttershy really did get embarrassed much too easily. "Well, uh, eventually I guess. I mean, well... We haven't even, uh... No! What I meant was..." Twilight started to stammer, her composure slipping further as her cheeks flared up and Cadance started giggling. It was rather cute, her spilling intimate secrets aside... Actually, was it really a secret after what happened at the party a while back? Cadance grinned a second later, and I inwardly groaned. That expression was similar to Rainbow's mirthful one, when the cyan pegasus was about to say something horribly awkward and embarrassing for somepony as a tease. I recognized it instantly, as she'd fired more than one off at me in the past. "Oh, don't worry Twi. I can give you tons of pointers for pleasing a stallion for when you get that far. Trust me," she offered. My mind blanked at that as Twilight blushed even further, flailing her forelegs in the pink alicorn' direction. I so didn't need to think about her and Shining like that! Gah! Twilight gave Cadance a glare that might have been able to vaporize a lesser mare, but just got a wink instead. Her mouth opened to undoubtedly switch to a verbal attack, but her eyes shifted past the pink alicorn and down the hallway before she could say anything. Taking her cue, I glanced backwards at the approaching sensation of several mares that were linked to me, only to notice the others catching back up now. Applejack looked solemn but in control again, and gave us a soft smile as she approached. Rainbow didn’t look quite as convinced while walking next to her, but kept her mouth shut. Hmm. I wondered if there was honestly anything I could do to really make the situation any better? “Sorry ‘bout that, ya’all. Those memories ain’t too pleasant, but ya know that already. Anywho, are we ready ta head back ta tha castle, then?” she asked, catching up with the rest of us and slowing to a stop. Cadance turned and smiled at her, reiterating, “I already told them, Applejack, but it stands to be repeated. If there’s anything any of you need that can help cope or heal from that event, just let us know. You know both Shiny and I are perfectly willing to do anything we can to help.” Applejack momentarily looked surprised before smiling fully and nodding in return. “That’s mighty kind o’ ya, Cadance. Ah’ll be fine so long as Ah can find somethin’ else ta think about. Might pick up ah book back at tha castle,” she considered out loud, tilting her head in thought. Twilight perked at that, of course, and instantly offered to show her to the castle library and archives room, give her the guided tour, and personally recommend several good articles by her favorite academic minds. I had an inclination that Applejack wasn’t looking for scientific articles so much as a good story, but kept my mouth shut this time. A still giggling Cadance had led us to the door as Twilight was still going over the merits of their record keeping system. I was filtering it out at this point and peeked out into the darkening night instead. It was chilly, and I felt my fur puff up as the colder air drifted over me. To my surprise, Rarity slipped up next to me first, smiling back at the others before turning and sitting next to me. “Worry not. I’ll be sure to make you some warmer clothing when we get back to Ponyville. With winter well on its way, you’ll need something to keep warm,” she assured, digging into her side pouch as she talked. “Heh, at least I can pay you for them this time,” I muttered, feeling infinitely better with myself now that I could say that. She, of course, gave me a rather stern glare at that, but didn’t say anything as she pulled a measuring tape out of her saddlebag. Uh, did she seriously carry tailoring supplies with her wherever she… Actually, no, that didn’t honestly surprise me, given this crew. Twilight’s pack probably had an abacus and several notebooks in it, just in case. Who knew what party supplies Pinkie had in hers. Rainbow wasn’t carrying one, but if she were, it would probably have track equipment in it… Rarity carefully measured me around the neck this time, frowning as she peeked at the measurements, then pulled out a small notepad to write stuff down on. A scarf, I assumed? Applejack continued walking, explaining, “Ah told ya, Twi. Ah’m more lookin’ fer somethin’ fantasy. Knights an’ Princesses an’ fantasy stuff, ya know?” Oh, she liked fantasy? Rainbow perked at that, and got a rather impish smirk on her face similar to what Cadance sported a few minutes ago. Uh oh. “Oooh, Knights and Princesses, huh? Do you like romance, Applejack?!” Dash asked, grinning even more as AJ gave a start and looked over at her. It didn’t go as anticipated. “Sure do!” the farm mare answered in a totally honest tone, followed by, “Heck, Ah’ve been dreamin’ since Ah was ah little filly about somepony comin’ along an’ sweepin’ me off mah hooves.” She gave a ‘pleased as punch’ smirk back to Rainbow, who was taken completely by surprise by that answer, now blushing instead. Well, that backfired on her. Rarity smiled as she closed her notepad again and tucked it away alongside the measuring tape. “Well, I for one feel that’s a perfectly honest and admirable goal. There’s nothing wrong with seeking a special somepony to liven your life up. Even you’re looking for that, aren’t you, Rainbow?” the pearly unicorn reminded. Yes, reminded. Her tone wasn’t actually questioning so much as pointing out what she already knew perfectly well, and her smirk towards the cyan pegasus only rubbed that in further. Dash went crimson at that point, glaring daggers at the mare before standing again. “I… Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I?! It… It’s none of your business, however!” she managed to stutter out before quickly storming in the direction of the castle and earning a giggle from Rarity. Twilight held back her own snicker before turning back to Cadance and adding, “I guess we’ll talk more tomorrow. Rainbow is apparently leaving.” The pink alicorn smiled pleasantly and nodded to her sister-in-law, apparently totally unfazed by the antics of the mares at this point. Hum. Would I become that jaded one day, too? I couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing at this point. Did that mean I was already jaded to some degree? Crap! Of course, my debate over what my inner debate actually meant distracted me from the fact that everypony started off without me… Giving a yelp, I ran after them as best I could, Fluttershy smiling and lagging back to wait for me, her wing held gently out. I smiled to her as I paced myself to her speed, and she slipped her wing over my back, snuggling into my left side as we walked. Okay, it wasn’t such a bad thing… Jaded was really just another way of saying ‘gotten used to’, which was probably for the better. Kissing her cheek, I snuggled back as we walked, suddenly not so cold anymore…
Chapter 69"Yes, yes I know, but do we really have to do this now of all times?!" I heard Twilight ask in a mildly annoyed tone somewhere in front of me and to the left. Heh, admittedly, this particular task I didn't exactly get the meaning of, but... "Twilight, you know what you said last night," Fluttershy reminded in return, softly but with a stern edge to her voice. Ah yeah, that had been exceedingly awkward. Fluttershy had been fine with trying to get Twilight to relax, of course, and watching those two kiss had certainly been, well, interesting for me. Sadly, the second I attempted to massage the lavender mare's shoulders during so, she freaked out bad enough to spin around and clock me in the side of the face with her hoof. I was fairly certain it was an accident, of course... Even after the horrified apology, it had effectively ended our 'experimentation' attempt about two and a half minutes in after we finally found the ice pack Fluttershy had brought along. I should practice pulling my armor up, even when I'm not expecting to be attacked. Actually, no, I should write a program that automatically did it for me based off incoming proximity momentum. Moving my left eye around a bit, I was pleased to note it completely restored. Thankfully, she'd ordered me a sizable bedtime snack afterwards, and I'd used the fuel and mass to rapidly regenerate myself. Another use of my cybernetics! Recovering me from my, uh, high-risk lifestyle... Yeah, that was it. Twilight groaned lightly and sighed before returning, "Yes, I remember. Try Rarity's trust building exercises, and then try again tonight, but at a much slower pace." Slower? What, we're we going to take a heated bath while discussing advanced magical theory and smiling at each other in a flirtatious manner for a few hours? Hmm. Actually, that didn't sound all that bad. Mares were fun to massage, too, I quickly realized. If I didn't apply my magic and just kept it low key, I just got to listen to their pleased murmurs and get the warm fuzzy feelings from making them feel better. Of course, mentioning that I'd technically gotten the training from my other self's combat medical training only needlessly complicated things, so that should be avoided. Hooves were harder to use than fingers, though! "Good! I just, um, don't want you giving up. Well, what I mean is, that wouldn't be the best for us as a herd, of course. I'm not trying to be bossy or, uh, tell you what to do! Um, I'm sorry if you think that," Fluttershy quickly apologized, apparently deciding to cover all of her bases. I resisted slapping my forehead and just stood there, polite and oblivious. It was easy enough to picture her expression, even if I couldn't see her through the thick blindfold I was wearing. Well, I could if I really wanted to, but Twilight made me promise not to cheat and use my scanners. She said I could cheat and use my armor, however, if I fell off anything on accident, however. "I don't think Twilight wants to give up, Fluttershy. She's just nervous. Although I'm not entirely sure how leading me around blindfolded is going to help," I admitted, scratching at the side of my head under the thick fabric. Why was it whenever you were denied access to an itch, it always felt so much worse? I 'felt' Twilight smile at that, as a tingle danced along the side of my head and her magic lightly scratched the spot instead, causing my tongue to hang out and my back leg to spasm a bit as I sighed contentedly, leaning into the motion. Oh, never mind! So much better... She giggled as I almost fell over when she stopped, and steadied me again. "It's simple. It's meant for you to boost your confidence and trust in me by having me navigate for you when you can't see. You'll realize I'm dependable and not going to let you get hurt!" she explained, and I could almost picture her nodding along to her own lecture, as if reciting it from a book. Or from Rarity, in this case. I frowned a bit at that, wondering what sort of obstacle course she had lined up for this. "Uh, and what do we do when I inevitably maim myself during this exercise?" I asked, hoping there was a trauma team standing by or something. Although Fluttershy was here, and she was close enough, I guessed. "That! That is what we need to fix! I'm not going to let you get hurt. You can trust in my abilities!" Twilight announced sharply, giving me a start. It wasn't neededly her abilities I didn't trust. That much I kept to myself, however. Just because she was capable of pulling apart- "Mender! Think fast!" I heard shouted in a distinctly Rainbow Dash voice from somewhere to my right. Huh?! Instinctively looking that way, I remembered very rapidly that I was technically entirely blind. Something light and rubbery impacted my face at extreme velocity a heartbeat later, however, with enough impact force to actually knock me back around and topple me over... Then I promptly fell down the flight of stairs we had been standing next to that went out into the inner Palace garden, thankfully popping my armor out as I went. Only my pride and dignity suffered damage by the time I crashed into the dirt just off the side of the path at the bottom of the stairs. "Rainbow! He's blindfolded!" Twilight screamed from somewhere below me. Err, above me? I felt like I was upside down, given the direction that gravity was going in. I tucked my tail up between my back legs for modesty and waited patiently for somepony to come and right me. There was a long pause, followed by, "Oh. Uh, my bad. Should I ask why he's blindfolded? I mean, I didn't think you two were into that sort of thing, especially not in the middle of the daylight in a public place." Uh, no. So much no. This was followed up with, "Ah! No, not the wings! Stop! I'm sorry!" Heh, I guess Twilight agreed with me. "Uh, I'm kinda upside down, I think. Could somepony at least turn me over before somepony gets a free glimpse of my unmentionable bits? Again?" I asked impatiently in the general direction I heard the horrified pleading coming from. The pleading stopped the second I asked of course, and I knew I instantly had Rainbow's attention, given the sudden interest that flicked down the link oh so momentarily. "You're not part of the herd, Rainbow. Thoughts to yourself... And on the mare you're after," Twilight reminded coyly before I heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and wiggled my legs in the air to draw any attention towards me, just in case I fell into a bush or something and was hard to see. Not that I felt any shrubbery or anything around me, apart from what felt like an unfortunate flower that I had landed on. I hoped it wasn't expensive or exotic. Rainbow snorted but didn't reply directly as I felt Fluttershy reach me first, hooking onto my foreleg and helping pull me up and onto my legs again. That familiar feeling energy danced around me a second later and helped me stabilize as the lavender mare caught up. "Are you okay, Mender? Rainbow's compulsive assault didn't hurt you, did it?" Twilight asked, pointedly directing that last part right down the link towards the cyan pegasus, who felt like she was shifting closer through the air. I heard her wings beating as well as she touched down, and then a spike of irritation shot from her towards Twilight, in the form of a glare I guessed. "I didn't mean to knock you down the stairs! I didn't see that you were blindfolded until, uh, after I had sent the beach ball hurtling at your head. Sorry. Speaking of, AJ and I wanted to know if any of you were up for a friendly game of volleyball?" she inquired, sounding hopeful as she quickly changed the topic the second after her apology. Wait, why were they using a beach ball to play volleyball? I knew you could technically do it, but the dynamics would probably be off by- "Why are you using a beach ball?" Twilight asked, cutting off my inner contemplation by just cheating and asking. That was hardly as fun! There was a long sigh after that, and Rainbow revealed, "Rarity won't let us play with a volleyball while on Palace grounds. She says a beach ball is much lighter and softer, and less likely to destroy something valuable when we inevitably get 'wild' with it." "Like my face?" I suggested, raising an eyebrow to the mare before remembering she wouldn't be able to see it anyway. Dash snorted at that before outright laughing and adding, "Nah, I said 'valuable'!" Oh, ouch! Heh, that was a good one, and I'd walked right into it. "Hey! His face is very valuable. I happen to think he's a very handsome stallion, and given your actions over Estrus, I think you do, too!" Twilight accused pointedly. Oh hell. Please, please don't start talking about Estrus week! Rainbow squeaked, and I could practically feel her blushing from here, but Fluttershy cut both of them off with, "Oh, I agree. Mender is oh so handsome, and I wouldn't want him getting hurt, no matter where it was he was injured at. He's very important to us, Rainbow." Her voice was in a whisper, and sounded remarkably close. Practically right in front of- Her lips gently touched mine mid-nuzzle, and I sighed, pushing back lightly as her chest fur brushed along and mixed with my own. Her fresh, flowery scents entered my nose from this close, and I inhaled softly as I felt the wet of her nose bump up against my own as she giggled into the kiss. This I'd never get tired of. I loved everything about her, if I was honest with myself. Her warmth, her cute and almost musical voice, the kindness that almost seeped off her, the lovely smells that reminded me of a warm, spring day... She broke off and smiled against my muzzle, kissing my cheek softly before just resting her head in the crook of my neck against my shoulder. I relaxed and just held her close, realizing my forelegs had slipped around the smaller mare as she kissed me. I couldn't stop smiling, which I was suddenly self-conscious of, but felt happiness coming from both nearby mares, instead. Huh? "Okay, normally that kinda thing grosses me out, but that was kinda cute. Of course, I think Fluttershy makes everything cute," Rainbow admitted, snickering at her own realization. I smiled a little wider into the top of Fluttershy's head, unable to resist. "Not everything..." I corrected, half a second later. It was one of those things I immediately regretted saying due to my impulsiveness, but it was rather worth it as all three mares present immediately picked up my implication. Fluttershy squeaked, Twilight suddenly felt startled, and then, if the signal from Dash was accurate, Twilight was hit by a rapidly expanding cyan wing and knocked over. All three were bombarding me down the link with embarrassment, however, and I barely resisted laughing as I squeezed the fidgeting Fluttershy a bit tighter. "It's natural, Fluttershy," I whispered, down the link, quietly this time. At point blank range, I knew she'd hear it if anypony could. She relaxed ever so slightly against me a second later, indicating she had. "Whoa, Mender making a dirty joke?!" Dash exclaimed in disbelief, her eyes wide and wings still loosely expanded to each side of her, a light flush dancing across her cheeks. Twilight rolled her eyes after climbing out of the flower bed I had just landed in previously. "He's getting more comfortable with us. It's to be expected, given that he came from a different dimension and originally thought we cannibalized our males like some mantis or something," she remarked pointedly. I groaned and rolled my eyes under the blindfold. They didn't have to see the gesture to feel my mild annoyance. "You had to remind me of that. I didn't even know what I was, let alone anything about your culture. Plus, my only prior memories weren’t even mine, of a galactic war that was more than a little mind horrifying and mind numbing. I think I've improved quite a bit," I defended, flattening my ears down lightly. Fluttershy pushed into my chest again and nuzzled me, and I sighed. Okay, it was hard to stay grumpy with her being affectionate. Twilight giggled in front of me again and agreed with, "You have indeed come a ways, Mender. I was reminding you of where you started to illustrate that. You flirting with us now isn't just okay, but totally amazing, all things considered." Huh. Well, that was a weird thing to apply it to, but I could see her point, I thought. It was always hard to tell with Twilight, however. "Uh, right. Sorry, but this is the first time I've even seen him flirt. I'm glad to report that he definitely didn't return any of the affection sent his way during Estrus, no matter how, uh, uncool I got... Sweetie, too, of course," Rainbow reported, voice dropping heavily at the 'uncool' part. There was a sense of deep frustration from her, mixed with utter embarrassment somewhere akin to disgust. She was mad at herself, I suddenly realized. I shook my head before any of the others could say anything and interjected, "I said it was fine, Dash. I'm pleased that you're sincere and apologetic about it and forgave you, but you shouldn't keep beating yourself up over having a few slips. You had a lot of hormones shooting through you, and a ton on your mind with the race and your own feelings." If she was like me, being reminded about things would help. Rainbow hesitated, but I 'felt' Fluttershy smile, which I probably would never get entirely used to. Not that it was an unpleasant sensation, by far. "He's right, Rainbow. We knew you liked Mender, too, and while we told you that trying to squeeze in practice during Estrus with him was a bad idea, nothing really bad happened. You're our friend, and we know you better than that," the yellow mare added softly. There was no hesitation to her voice at all, and I knew she meant every word of that. There was a bit of surprise before I felt Rainbow relax. She needed to focus on practice and Applejack for now. I didn't know what the future held for her in regards to me, and I didn't particularly dwell on it all that much. It didn't feel right to distract her or myself from what should be our focuses right now, which for me was Twilight and Fluttershy. Sure, the mare was cute and her personality was very appealing, but we both had obligations elsewhere at the moment. I'd be delighted if I could see her happy with Applejack. Uh, not that I could see anything with the blindfold on. Yeah, focus on the present, Mender! "Thanks, everypony. I was seriously worried that you two were going to be super mad at me. Um, and thank you, Mender, for not freaking out on me as well. I think I got off lucky with the few launches into the lake. I'm gonna go play with AJ and Pinkie for a bit. Call if you need anything and, uh, good luck with whatever it is exactly you're doing..." Dash muttered, another brief bout of confusion as I felt her glance over at me again, probably at my blindfold. A light spasm of irritation shot through Twilight, and I started to realize how exactly high strung she was on a regular basis. She wasn't very good at relaxing... "I told you, Rainbow. Trust exercises! I lead him around blindfolded so he can gain trust in my navigation abilities, and me in general for being his eyes!" she yelped out rapidly. Dash started snickering, of course, and then inquired, "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm guessing you switch places afterwards, or something?" Oh, we hadn't discussed it that far, yet. I felt Fluttershy turn towards Twilight questioningly, but there was a burst of hesitation from the lavender mare instead. "Oh, uh, wait, why would we do that? Um, I trust Mender a lot already!" she stated. She did? Fluttershy felt momentarily bewildered before it shifted to apprehension instead. "Twilight, um..." she whispered, sounding rather uncertain. Idly, I kind of wished I could actually see, as facial expressions still read better to my mind than these raw feelings. "What?! I do! I trust Mender a lot!" Twilight attempted to assure, kind of doing the exact opposite given her somewhat suspiciously specific denial. Rainbow coughed lightly to draw everypony's attention back her way, and giving me a verbal cue of where she was again so I had a direction to look in, before suggesting, "That sounds exactly the opposite. To be fair, Twilight, you should probably partake in the trust exercises as well. If you truly trust him, it will benefit him regardless because it would show him, no?" I suddenly suspected she'd only pretended to not know what the blindfold was for to get under Twilight's skin... That was indeed a good suggestion. Of course, it also had the effect of, if Twilight had been bluffing, calling her on it and putting her in an awkward position. All three of us shifted back to her instead. Well, I did, and assumed the uncomfortable silence and tension from Twilight meant the others did as well. After a prolonged period of tension, she finally groaned out and agreed, with, "All right, fine! I'll do the trust exercises as well. I already trust Mender, so it's kind of pointless, but if it makes him feel better, then I'll do it." I suddenly had the sneaking suspicion this was going to go very poorly... * * * * * Okay, so 'fate' couldn't be tricked out with reverse logic, it would seem. Sighing, I carefully balanced on the board I felt under me, a bit uncertain given that I knew it was balancing out the window with only the support of a large table and bookshelf from inside the hall. Twilight realized that, given my natural level of rather high punishment endurance now, I didn't gain much confidence in her from having her escort me around like normal. So, this being Twilight Sparkle, she decided to up the ante a little and try catching me as I fell instead. Of course, off the lower balcony was easy, so the gain wasn't that great. Expounding upon that, I could fairly easily figure out why I was now balancing on a wooden plank propped out a window in the tower that was six stories off the ground. Most would wonder if this was a suicide attempt at a glance. Nope! Trust building! Of course, I didn't have the heart to tell her that this still wasn't particularly dangerous to me, and the higher up she got me just increased the amount of collateral damage whatever I happened to land on endured. At least she remembered to warn the guards not to wander underneath... Sighing, I listened to the wind drift past, daylight rapidly dwindling to night as I stood there, waiting for Twilight to tell me to blindly jump forward into open air, under the assumption she would catch me using her magic. Instead, I was treated to the bickering of her and Rarity down below over the 'misinterpretation' of technique, heard quite clearly courtesy of my enhanced ear cybernetics. Of course, I had to admit to being a little insane myself. Here I was actually going through with this plan just because I knew it would make Twilight happy. If I'd had my way, I'd be inside now instead, in Twilight's toasty room, working on my design for the dimensional link interceptor. Sighing, I scraped my hoof idly against the wood, wondering at exactly how long I had before it inevitably gave out from my weight. This was technically attempt three, with attempt one having the board fall out of the window before we could get the counter weight on it, and attempt two being Twilight chickening out at the last second, refusing to shout out ‘Ready’ as agreed. This gave Rarity time to find us, attracted by the noise of the first board splintering into the ground below. Twilight had secured the board with magic this time, so I had no doubt that the base would at least be securely attached until I jumped. Of course, that didn't protect it from snapping under my weight. I frowned a second later, the odd creaking I'd originally heard a minute or so ago shifting into a lower, slightly spread out pace. That wasn't creaking... Turning, I listened carefully to the enchantment at the other end of the board instead, hearing it tick ever so quietly in a slower and slower manner. What was this? What possible function would there be for Twilight's magic to make noise? Nudging my blindfold up ever so slightly, I peeked at the anchor point she'd put against the heavy table, noting the slowly rotating disk that seemed to tie the magic together on the top. Every time it shifted, it made a tick noise, which was beyond weird. Tying in an audible enchantment into your magic was usually meant to serve some sort of purpose, but there were no markings at all on it, and it seemed to be... The disk exploded an instant later, earning a yelp in surprise from me as the blast disintegrated my blindfold and sent me, and the remainder of the board, out the window while on fire. Was she trying to murder me?! I flailed as I rotated twice in midair, trying to center my gyroscope sensor and figure out how I was rotating so I could at least land with some dignity. Sadly, the blast had charred the protective crystal lenses over my eyes, so I couldn't actually see a thing. As a precaution, I turned my inertia dampener on to avoid the inevitable impact the ground represented, and just sighed as I flipped once more before smashing into one of the royal flower gardens in a giant fireball. Landing back first had the added bonus of not landing on my bad leg, which probably would have hurt even through the shock absorbers. Bits of the board rained down around me, pinging off my armor and adding to the collateral damage in general. Twilight, who had been in the middle of loudly voicing the virtues of her exponential expansion of risk verses trust gain, let out a panicked yelp half a second after I crashed into the garden somewhere in front of her, if my calculation for descent trajectory was correct. Just because I had reinforced armor, back up biological functions, and inertia dampening systems now, didn't mean everypony had free reign to see how badly they could damage me! They probably plotted out sadistic methods to hurt me in private, even... I just lay there with my legs jutting into the air, swaying them back and forth in a listless manner until she caught up in a flash of light I could barely see. "Ah, Mender?! Are you okay?!" she shouted from somewhere above me now. I sniffed lightly, and note the burnt smell alongside the familiar crackling of flames. "Your explosives charred my eye lenses so I can't see anything. Also, I think I might be on fire," I warned, not entirely sure if it was me or the ground burning. Or the bits and pieces of the poor board. Wait, was the castle on fire now?! That table the explosive enchantment had been on was made of wood, after all. Why did she even put an explosive enchantment on it?! Rarity ran up a moment later, sounding less than happy with her immediately released indignant huff. "Are you satisfied that it was a bad idea now, Twilight?! Frankly, this has done practically the opposite of building trust with him!" she lectured almost instantly. Well, at least Fluttershy hadn't been here to see this, probably coming back with snacks about now. We could probably get the crater patched up before she got back this time. I was mildly surprised when it felt like half the contents of the nearest fountain was dumped over me, sizzling sounding from all around on my external metal plates. Ah! I was the one on fire after all. I rubbed at my eye lenses as the water got dumped over me, and cleaned them off eventually enough to see as I smiled back up at the horrified looking Twilight. Oh? Looking over, I instead saw that Rarity was the one levitating the water, and Twilight appeared to have encountered some sort of system error and locked up. Great. Thankfully, Fluttershy drifted in to my left, picnic basket of goodies attached to her left forehoof and a worried look on her face. "Oh dear. Did something backfire?" she asked softly upon landing and setting the basket down. I was kind of amused that me lying on my back in a sizzling crater provoked roughly the same level of reaction you'd expect from somepony spilling a glass of water. The inquiry snapped Twilight out of it in an instant, sending her right into panic mode instead. "Ah! Mender, I'm so sorry! I set the minor discharge rune up to knock the board out of the window and stop me from hesitating next time, but I didn't expect it to be that strong! Why was it so strong?! It was supposed to just push the board out of the window! Oh no, you must trust me even less, now," the mare groaned out in exasperation. Hmm. Would it help or make things worse if I admitted that it actually hadn't really changed my opinion of her in the slightest? Her 'minor' discharge rune had still blown me at least twelve meters clear of the side of the tower if I landed over here, so she was still scary powerful and prone to accidents involving that. I didn't quite know what this was supposed to accomplish regardless, as the parts I didn't trust about the mare were on a more personal level than just being at risk of blowing me up. That, I had a sneaking suspicion, was going to be a daily thing. "Actually, I'm fine, Twilight. I'm more concerned about the hole we put in the royal garden, and the fact that there are flames coming from the tower window," I pointed out, gesturing past her and to the orange lapsing flicks coming just above the sill. She spun around fast as the other two looked that direction as well, of course. Well, that lovely table had probably bitten the dust at this point. Twilight let out a piercing yelp and flashed away in a teleport again, another coming from the window on that floor. Sighing, I stood up again and shook the dirt off my back before extending two tentacles for utility purposes. Thankfully, the palace grounds were private, anyway... That thought out of the way, I used the two tentacles to fling myself up towards the burning window a half a second later, earning a squeak from Fluttershy as I shot past. I might as well help Twilight put out the fires. She seriously had to tone down her 'trust exercises'! * * * * * Rarity honestly worked wonders, given her resources. I went from being covered in soot, dirt, and mud, to brushed and dressed in my nice suit vest again in less than an hour. Which was good! The complications involving putting out the raging inferno on the third floor, repairing the table with my magic, and helping the servants scrub the smell out of everything had put us back a good two hours! It didn't help that Tia had laughed for at least five minutes... "Hmm. No, this won't do either. I'm going to try adding a bit more spray to the left side," Rarity muttered, seemingly more to herself than to anypony else. Then, there were times when she got a few kinks in her organization, I noticed. like now. I felt her shake the can before more spray hit my mane as she combed it down again. It already felt like I was wearing a stiff bowl on my head! Still, Fluttershy kept brushing gently along the other side, right along the fur on my neck and shoulders, occasionally getting my back right leg to twitch. It felt amazing, and as long as she kept that up, Rarity could take a blowtorch to my mane for all I cared. Twilight, however, seemed less than entertained. “Rarity, some ponies just have naturally spikey manes. Isn't it good enough yet?" she asked, an impatient edge to her voice. Rarity huffed at that, of course. "We are going to potentially one of the fanciest restaurants in town, Twilight! We cannot afford to relax our public image at such a place. Although admittedly, it would be easier to manage your style without the braids on each bang. Are you sure that-" she started to ask yet again. "No, I'm not going to get rid of them. Fluttershy gave them to me, and they're special!" I adamantly declared, getting a little bit impatient with the process. Fluttershy stopped brushing for just a moment, and I felt her blush through the link. Sadly, I missed the cute spectacle, as I had to keep my eyes closed. Well, I didn't have to, but I was told that getting hairspray in my eyes was a very unpleasant experience. I had enough of those to last several lifetimes now, and was in no hurry whatsoever to acquire more. Rarity let out a sigh, and probably would have continued her protest had Twilight not huffed and reminded, "We have to be at the place in less than thirty minutes! Rarity, I know you want his mane to look perfect, but isn't it even worse for our 'image' if we show up three hours late?" That was a rather good point! There was hesitation before my impromptu mane stylist sighed and I heard the can get set down. "Fine. But if his mane explodes out in his typical spikes and pokes somepony's eye out, you shall have to explain it to them!" she finally relented. Hey, my mane wasn't that spiky! It was more, well, 'messy' as I'd call it. I was rather lazy when it came to my own image, and didn't put much effort into maintaining it at all. That said, it usually just sort of rested wherever it happened to fall after I finished washing it. Oh, except for the twin braids, but I didn't technically do those, so I suppose that didn't count. Fluttershy giggled at the exchange and set her brush down as well as my eyes flickered open. I gave her a soft smile of assurance as I caught her eye again, and she returned an amazingly warm one back to me, looking outright happy. It was always nice to catch her in private like this, around ponies she was purely comfortable with. She was free to be herself then, and seemed so much more 'alive' with her warmth and happiness. Sadly, Twilight interrupted my musings and scenery gazing by shoving me in the rump with her shoulder, pushing me towards the door with a sliding motion. Oh, right, the time. I'd forgotten how punctual she strived to be... Of course, I tended to forget a lot of things for a bit when staring at Fluttershy. Her brother must have shared her punctuality, I decided. He was waiting patiently for us down by the front gate of the palace, Cadance sitting calmly next to him. Or maybe it was the alicorn that was the punctual one, and her babysitting had rubbed off on Twi? I mused upon the possibilities while moving rapidly towards the two, soaring oh so gracelessly through the air. The mares and Spike floated around me, in various stages of annoyance while Twilight sprinted underneath, floating us all along over her like so many oddly lumped balloons. I didn't particularly care one way or the other, and Fluttershy looked perfectly content resting against my chest regardless, but Applejack and Rainbow were less than pleased. Pinkie seemed to actually be having fun, which honestly didn't surprise me, and Rarity just looked mildly annoyed as she used her own magic to keep the wind speed from messing up her mane. Well, that answered a theory I had never been particularly interested in asking about. Unicorns could use their magic inside the effect of another unicorn's spell. "I'm going to hazard a guess that they were moving too slow, Sis?" Shining questioned, raising an eyebrow towards us as we approached. One of the gate guards actually broke his stoic posture long enough to slightly mimic the eyebrow raising, but quickly snapped it back down into the static, uninterested look they seemed to perpetually generate. Twilight slid to a stop, her brother raising his hoof to gently push against her chest as she slid in, halting her forward momentum. She panted for a few seconds before coughing out, "We were late! Oh no, are we late?!" She had announced, with horror, that we were a whole fourteen seconds past eighteen hundred hours when we'd reached the bottom of the tower, after all. That's when we all got picked up. Oddly, the field didn't dissipate when she stopped moving, and we remained lazily levitating above her. Her magic had nothing to do with her physical stamina, I realized. "Uh, by maybe a minute. Although, uh, did Miss Octavia Harmony tell you where she wanted to meet? I don't remember you telling us earlier," Cadance asked softly, straightening Twilight's frazzled mane with her hoof. Twilight froze instantly, and I took a guess at the answer as I watched her pupils shrink a little. Well, this was a lovely time to be actively caught in her magic. I activated my subdermal armor, and prepared to throw shields up around my floating friends just in case. The lavender mare's ears drooped almost instantly, and her magic flickered a second later. Oh. My shields activated, instead making crudely shaped cubes under us all as her magic gave out, and we all flopped a few inches onto those instead, Fluttershy and Spike landing on top of me with a yelp and a squeak. "Aaah! No! I forgot to ask her where she wanted us to meet her tonight in the letter! Now it's going to be too late, and I have no idea where we're even supposed to go, and-" Twilight started to rapidly spew out, flailing her forelegs into the air as she panicked. A soft, yet deeply amused laughter reached our ears, cutting her off. I looked past Shining and was greeted by the sight of Octavia herself sitting calmly over by the sidewalk. Her mane was impeccably styled, and she wore a sleek yet simple black dress that hugged her form, with a softer gray choker sporting a amethyst replica of her Cutie Mark as a clasp. The outfit was accented with a silver bangle on each ankle, and a simply massive cello case strapped heartily across her back. Wait, no, the case more clashed with her outfit than anything, given those heavy leather straps. Still, she was dressed a little more simply than the rest of the mares and myself, which made me feel a bit awkward. Even Spike was wearing a tux for the occasion, as Rarity had insisted on going all out. "I figured not having arranged a spot to meet, I'd just pick you ponies up instead. Oh my! Everypony's so finely dressed," the mare commented, looking us over a second later. Yeah, overkill. This was going to be an awkward evening. Well, not as awkward as last night's, probably, but- To my honest surprise, a taxi rolled up at what I could only assume was breaking land speed records for the stallion pulling the thing. Night Light, of all ponies, bailed out of it into a roll and almost crashed right into Octavia's massive cello case as he slid past her. He momentarily gasped at her rather bewildered look, but then really did crash into the street light instead, getting tripped and sent flying into the shrub next to the castle wall. Actually, I was kind of impressed at the distance he managed to get. Although I might have been able to catch him had I reacted a bit faster... Twilight Velvet stepped out of the taxi with a far more relaxed movement, shooting a skeptical glance towards the flailing bush before shaking her head and walking up to Octavia, who was now smirking. "I apologize, but my husband wished to meet you again, and I agreed that it would be nice to share another dinner with my kids and their new herds. We'll be paying for ourselves, so don't worry about it," Velvet explained politely, giving the gray mare a smile and getting a more knowing one back. Okay, scratch that. This was going to be even more awkward. "Wow, I didn't know you could even slide like that on the concrete! I wanna try!" Pinkie exclaimed a second later, diving off her box and bounding towards the taxi, who's 'driver' was panting and recovering still from his probably strenuous journey. Maybe it would be a new sport? Although pavement sliding didn't sound all that pleasant, honestly. Applejack climbed down off her cube with a much slower pace, while Rainbow simply took to the air, looking pleased to be flying under her own power again. Fluttershy just didn't care regardless and simply smiled again, shifting up next to me and sitting against my right thigh. Spike momentarily eluded me, having no link for me to shortcut towards finding him with. I turned and looked over my shoulder in time to see him on his hands and knees, acting like a stepping stool for Rarity as she moved down off her cube. Uh... "Thank you, dear Spike. You are most assuredly a Gentledrake," she oozed out smoothly, adding a giggle onto the end. It oddly gave me the sensation of watching somepony slowly pour creamy chocolate over a tasty looking cake, and I tried not to drool. Spike looked like he felt it, too, only significantly worse as he visibly swooned while ogling her. By the looks of it, however, she was eating the attention up and posed lightly for him, flicking her mane back. I made a mental note to carry him if he passed out due to forgetting to breath. Rarity, however, continued past him and trotted over to the taxi driver instead. Driver? Puller? It was essentially a yellow carriage with painted checkerboard stripes on the side of it. "Oh dear, this won't do at all. Here, sit down and take a rest, good stallion. You're clearly overworked," she cautioned, helping him sit down, then levitating a cloth out of her saddlebag to dab at his forehead. Spike followed after her, of course, still looking a bit dazed but hopping past to untangle the still taut cords that helped secure the undercarriage to the stallion. Yikes! How fast was he going?! He would have had to make one heck of a turn to twist them like that. Octavia drew my attention instead as she walked up towards Twilight, Fluttershy, and me. "Sorry about the short notice, Mender. When I heard that you and all your mares would be coming to Canterlot, I rushed rather quickly to arrange a nice dinner," she apologized softly, in that hanging accent I remembered. It was more pronounced now that she was closer. Wait, my mares?! "Uh, technically I'm only dating Twilight and Fluttershy!" I hastily corrected, feeling the soft heat enter my face. Curse my penchant for blushing! The gray mare in front of me smirked, and I knew in an instant that she had said that just to get under my skin! I didn't even need a link to realize that much. My surprise doubled when Applejack's foreleg hooked over my shoulders and she gave me a sideways squeeze, playfully retorting with, "Aww shucks, Sugarcube. We like ya just fine regardless." Fluttershy blinked as she was pushed into a lying position when AJ leaned over her, but she smiled up at her friend regardless. Eh?! What was that supposed to mean? Rainbow landed on my back an instant later, pinning Applejack's leg to my back and causing me to stumble slightly as I glanced over my shoulder at her smirking visage. "Yeah! You're our super awesome friend, and we aren't afraid to admit that. Plus, you know that I personally think you're fairly easy on the eyes on top of that," she reminded, causing me to blush slightly. Or I was just heating up from all of the bodies in fairly close proximity, Twilight still smiling lightly as she pushed into my left side. Gah! She instead took it upon herself to attempt to clarify, being easily close enough to catch my confusion over the link. "I think what Applejack is trying to say is that even if you're not dating them specifically, you're a good friend, Mender. All of us have friends outside of each other, as the Elements of Harmony. Sure, we each share something in common and are really good friends, but that doesn't prevent us from growing attached to others," she elaborated, nodding twice afterwards and not seeming to really care that Rainbow's left wing had lazily flopped over her back. Well that much I had, uh, kind of known. I wasn't entirely sure if I accepted it or not, of course, because I somehow couldn't see myself ever being as good of friends with them as they were with each other. That status was 'special', wasn't it? It gave them something in addition to just friendship that connected them. Plus, they were practically world heroines, weren't they? Comparatively, I really was just a normal Earth Pony in the eyes of outsiders. And in my own mind, I realized. Even though it was absolutely stupid, a part of me still longed to be 'normal'. "Oh! Oh! Me too!' Pinkie added an instant later, jarring me out of my thoughts as she hung on the last syllable while sliding across the concrete from the top of the cab. Ah! It was much too late as she crashed into me instead, almost running Octavia over, who was forced to dodge out of the way as she came in. As I was rather weighed down, she didn't move me in the slightest, only knocking the air out of me while flattening herself into my front like she hit a wall. Instead of pain, however, she started giggling hysterically, popping her face out of my chest fur and grinning up at me, legs still splayed out in each direction under her. "Hiya! Me too, Mender! I might be friends with absolutely everypony, but you're still super-duper special to me! You'd better not forget that. I'll remind you any time you ask," she offered, smiling rather honestly up at me, which surprised me a little. It was just a small shade of seriousness, but far more than the silly mare normally showed. Although now I was definitely warming up, and it wasn't from blushing at all so much as having five mares pushed into me from all sides. Okay, I might have been blushing a little bit... Octavia snickered at my obvious awkwardness as she slipped back up into my viewpoint. "As I'm sure you all know already, I was merely attempting to get a reaction out of him, which succeeded spectacularly. This is far more pleasant a reaction than I anticipated, however. How long has Mender been with you all?" she asked curiously, tilting her head towards us. A brief jerk of motion occurred from my left before I could even fully consider the question, Velvet finally prying her husband loose from the shrubs and tumbling over backwards with him, the stallion looking quite a bit more untidy than prior. Cadance and Shining moved over to help him pull twigs out of his mane while he stewed there, looking unhappy. I think that was the first time I'd seen him not directing that towards me! Twilight looked momentarily amused by his dilemma, but turned back towards Octavia a moment later, seeming not bothered in the least by the proximity of Pinkie, whose tail essentially covered her entire chest. "Mender and I have been unofficially dating for the better part of a month, with Fluttershy quickly following just a few days later. It's felt like a lot longer than that, however, and everything's really falling into place easily. Uh, minus a few snags and goof ups, of course," she elaborated, smiling after. Heh, snags? If them forming the herd without me wasn't bigger than a 'snag', surely me turning out to be an abomination of organic metal was. I guess, in comparison, things were going amazingly well. "Ah, right. I'd heard about the snag with the herd. I'm glad you're all making it through that in reasonably one piece," Octavia agreed, politely nodding after that as Rarity and Spike rejoined us, the dragon giving me an amused smirk. Applejack shook her head towards him before he could say anything, however, heading off any potential comments with, "He's ah proper gentlecolt fer all o' us tonight, as his savin' Octavia is why we're here. No reason why he can't get some hugs." I let out an airy puff and shot her a skeptical glance, pointing out, "Hugs are fine, but you mares are kind of squishing me..." I doubt I'd leave a good impression with Twilight's parents if I expired before getting to the restaurant. Fluttershy perked up at that from under Applejack and looked up at me hastily. "Oh my. Are you okay, Mender? I can move over a little if you can't breathe," she quickly offered, truly the only one who actually cared for my plight. Rainbow snickered impishly from my back before I could respond, assuring, "He's fine, Fluttershy. He's just embarrassed that so many smokin' hot mares are giving him attention." Okay, admittedly she got to me with that comment, and I felt my cheeks heat up a little bit. Two of them! I was dating two of them, and that was all! Why did she like to tease me so much about it?! I had a sneaking suspicion that the heat in my cheeks was the exact reason. Pinkie let out a burst of giggling before squeezing my chest a little tighter and wiggling back and forth, shifting the entire pile of mares with her as she swayed. "Mender's super nice, and isn't going to take advantage of any of us anyway. Shhh, don't tell anypony, Octavia, but Mender really, really likes protecting ponies. He's kinda like a superhero," Pinkie whispered after looking both directions down the street. Uh, what? The combination of the pink mare being uncharacteristically somber, whispering instead of making sure half the block hear her, and being genuinely gentle to me had confused me beyond reasonable understanding of the situation. Although, I had actually seen the mare calm and gentle before, so I guessed I shouldn't really be surprised. Octavia certainly didn't seem so. "Oh, I know, Pinkie. He didn't hesitate to put himself in a lot of danger, and quite a bit of awkwardness to save my life, remember? I'm aware that those articles on him were fake. Twilight's articles as well, as I highly doubt any of the Elements of Harmony would use dark magic, or anything even vaguely similar," she reasoned, averting her eyes and looking entirely unimpressed with the topic of the fake articles. I'd figured she'd be one of the ponies unaffected by them, but it was nice to hear it clarified. Still, superhero? I chalked it up to Pinkie just being... Pinkie. Luckily, everypony else seemed to as well. Applejack let out a soft sigh, pulling her foreleg out from under Rainbow and sitting down next to Fluttershy instead, looking a bit dejected. "Ah can't believe anypony believed any o' that trash. Sure, Mender is reasonably new ta tha public eye, but Twilight certainly ain't! And if her story was fake..." she reasoned. Octavia looked contemplative for a moment, and then shook her head, revealing, "I'm not so sure that many ponies did, exactly. The Inquirer is known for its fanciful stories and I think a good chunk of their readers get it largely for entertainment rather than news. I heard some mistrust towards both Twilight and Mender, but quite a bit more confusion. A lot of the ponies I talked to about it felt that Mender's story was discredited more due to their claims that Princess Celestia herself was 'corrupted' by him." Okay, that I chuckled towards, drawing everypony's attention again. "I'm sorry, but that's honestly funny. I do know Princess Celestia personally, and she's so far beyond my level of power that just thinking of me somehow managing to influence her is laughable. I don't think even Twilight could attempt that, and she's the strongest magic user I've ever seen," I explained, looking to my left. Twilight blinked twice in surprise before blushing softly, the hue barely visible against her lavender fur. A bolt of realization struck me suddenly from seemingly nowhere. Pinkie could blush all she wanted and nopony would be able to tell! To my surprise, Cadance giggled at that statement. I glanced over at her and she nodded to me, explaining herself with, "It's a largely true statement, but I can picture her face scowling if she'd heard it. Aunt Celestia doesn't like it when ponies consider her personal abilities, although it gives many comfort to realize she's so capable." Well yeah, having your ruler essentially being a physical goddess was probably comforting. Well, I didn't think she was quite to the level of being an actual deity yet, as even she admitted to mistakes and inability to know everything, but she was damn capable! Octavia made a light humming noise as she looked over at the extra four ponies, raising an eyebrow as I guessed she finally fully considered their existence. "Ah, we have additional guests coming to supper?" she inquired softly, with no noticeable hint of irritation. Whew. "Twilight's parents are paying for themselves, and I'm covering Shining and Cadance, don't worry. You only agreed to treat the Elements, Spike, and myself, I know," I assured quickly, before that came next. I received a nod from Twilight in agreement next to me. The gray musical mare waved her hoof absently, adding, "I wasn't worried about it. As you can see by my accessory, I just came from a gig and the, uh, paycheck is sizable in Canterlot at this level. I could get them as well if you-" "Nope! I've got them covered," I cut her off, smiling towards her as she smirked back. It felt kind of good to do that in return to somepony instead of it just happening to me all the time! Something about having bits was empowering, even if I didn't have very much. It felt good to be able to treat ponies instead of always being the one being treated. Uh, minus the fact that she was already treating me... Damn it. She giggled at my suddenly dejected face, as if knowing what was going on in my mind, before assuring, "Relax. I'll let you, then. I know how downright stubborn stallions can be, although I openly admit to you being one of the most geltlecoltly I've seen in a while. I should really get you hanging out around Vinyl more often. She might ease up on her opinion about stallions," she suggested, contemplating it while rubbing her chin softly with a forehoof. Rarity smiled and nodded back towards the now fully recovered and chipper looking cab 'driver' who was still parked in our location. "Not to rush us, but I was merely curious if we were walking to our destination, or if I needed to hail for a few more cabs," she pointed out politely, smiling at Octavia expectantly. The gray mare froze for a second, obviously not anticipating the question, but then quickly smiled and shook her head. "Oh, no. The spot is close to here and easily within walking distance," she revealed. Ah, good! I'd been against getting into a box that was meant to rapidly roll across pavement at high velocity with no discernable breaks or safety precautions. Rarity nodded at that and then returned the gesture back to the stallion, who grinned towards her and nodded as well before taking off. Heh, I guess it was easy to stand at attention when a pretty mare beckoned. Spike seemed oblivious to the stallion’s enthusiasm, however, as Rarity turned back and smiled back towards him instead. His focus was shot almost instantly and he got that swooning look again that I saw so frequently around her. Heh. He was so transparent with his feelings. I was kind of envious of that, honestly. He didn't really let it bother him. My own stomach grumbling interrupted my thoughts, and I blinked before looking down at it. Fluttershy started giggling softly at the noise and Octavia lifted an eyebrow before suggesting, "Well said! Perhaps we should head towards our destination sooner rather than later?" The burst of dust and sudden weight lifted off my back instantly told me that Dash fully agreed and had taken to the air again. She smiled down at us and nodded happily before adding, "Yeah! I'm hungry, too, so let's go! I hope this place offers some real food, though." Real food? As opposed to what? My mental image of a cardboard cutout sitting at a table was interrupted by Rarity scoffing violently and demanding, "Must you be such a ruffian?! Just because an establishment knows how to properly present its meals doesn't mean that it's not real. Show some class, Rainbow." Eh?! Dash glared down at her for a moment before Octavia raised a hoof, shaking her head towards her. "Ah, I don't believe you'll find yourself wanting, Rainbow Dash. This place serves what I feel is the most delicious food in Canterlot. I eat there quite often," she assured carefully. This caused Rarity to puff up and nod instantly, standing again. "Indeed, a mare of class! Well said. Let us not waste another minute, then. Mender deserves his sustenance," she cooed, sounding oddly as if she'd won some prize or something. I tried not to snicker, wondering if this place Octavia had picked would live up to the image undoubtedly running through her head. The gray earth pony smiled at her exuberance and nodded, standing fully now. "Yes, let's get going, then. I wanted to show you a couple spots afterwards, too, and that would be hard if we completely lose our light," she revealed, gesturing up towards the lowering sun as she headed to the right along the sidewalk. I, and essentially everypony else, stood as well and followed after, Fluttershy still pressed tightly to my right side, as if she'd drift away if she left physical contact with me. That seemed to be her new preference, of late. Octavia started going into details about the docks as we headed in their direction, giving interesting tidbits of information about imports and exports, and new music coming in from other countries while we walked. I listened to the gentle sounds of the wind as we walked, glancing over at the slowly drifting airships nearby with their large balloons and spinning propellers. The world always seemed so alive when I was watching others move about, doing their own thing. Idly, I wondered what other countries were like as we walked along, making a mental note to ask Twilight about them later. Oh, and to ask Octavia how she knew we were coming... Eh, maybe over supper.
Chapter 70The day was starting to turn up now, as I decided I was equal parts amused and relieved at the same time. Obviously, I knew my own weaknesses and didn't exactly look forward to spending an agonizing dinner in a fancy, high priced restaurant. Tilting my head, I took in the sight of the quaint, cozy look ing street café instead. It was a clean looking place, with two eating areas separated into a higher and lower zone with a pleasant looking hedge barrier. Flower arrangements also added a dash of color along the side of the building that was probably their storage and cooking area. Each table seated either four or eight, with a few joined together with custom-designed fittings, it looked like. Each had a nice umbrella-like fixture over them that expanded out from the table at least a meter in each direction, which should provide adequate protection from lesser elements. Friendly looking waiters and waitresses walked about as well, seeming quite happy. The entire place was lit softly by garden lights extending off the hedge walls and candles resting on each table, giving almost a fairyland appearance that caused me to relax a bit. Rarity stared blankly at the place, mouth partially open from mid-sentence when she froze to look at the 'restaurant' instead. I tried really hard not to laugh, and Twilight shot me a smirk as she probably felt my mirth down the link. Octavia seemed knowingly oblivious to Rarity's inner struggle in an oddly paradoxical sense, and rotated to face us as we stopped in front of the entrance to the place. "Here it is. This place is nice and cozy, and I love to come here for supper after playing late at places. Eating here in the candlelight always relaxes me after a long day, and like I said, the food is amazing. Although I believe you're a bit overdressed for the occasion. That's my fault for not explaining, I imagine," she mused, seemingly more amused at that aspect than genuinely sorry. Heh. A little twitch shot through Rarity's demeanor, and she quickly shut her mouth before taking a deep breath and relaxing. "Yes, well, I imagine I might have jumped to conclusions. This... This will work, too. Improvise!" she declared, seemingly mostly to herself. Uh... Her horn flared up a second later, and I contemplated diving for cover when she lifted my outer suit jacket off and put it in her saddlebags. Applejack's and Twilight's dress coverings came next, leaving them in only their sleeker under-dresses that were beneath the cloak-like frilly pieces. Rainbow's fluffy, cloak-like frill was pulled off her dress, shortening it by quite a bit into more of a skirt than anything. She ironically looked more delighted in the new look than the old, but that didn't surprise me much. Fluttershy took her frilly 'shirt' piece off, leaving more of a strapped upper dress piece instead, and smiled as she gave it to Rarity, who nodded. Spike just removed his outer suit jacket like she had done with me, which just left Pinkie, who put the hat back in the saddlebag and gave back the oddly poofy yet strangely appropriate scarf accent. Wow, amazing! We looked far more casual suddenly. Which surprised me, as I noticed Cadance and Shining were already in more casual attire, as were Twilight's parents. Eh? Noticing my stare, Shining smirked and preemptively answered with, "We already knew where we were headed. Octavia's a regular here." The gray mare smiled pleasantly at that and added, "Oh my. To attract the attention of the royal family! Maybe my career is a bit more influential than I realized." "You're head cellist of the Canterlot Orchestra and lead mare of your own quartet. Plus, I know how in-demand your talents are at all the fancy Canterlot parties," Cadance teased, adding a more mirthful smile instead. Octavia grinned in return and nodded before turning and walking up towards the podium that sat near the entrance. A friendly looking waiter sat on a short stool behind it, and looked up at Octavia as we approached. His smile was immediate, then shifted to mild surprise as his eyes drifted past her and to all of us instead. "Oh my, Miss Octavia! You have quite a crowd tonight. New orchestra members?" he inquired softly. She really was a regular here. She released a quiet giggle before shaking her head no, however. "Not tonight. These are very important guests to me, Cufflink, including the one I told you about that saved my life?" she reminded, smile widening a little. I felt my face heat up slightly as I wished she'd used a less grand introduction. What if he recognized me as the 'nutcase' from the Herd and Marriage Offices? His gasp was almost immediate and I winced, feeling a spike of apprehension from each mare I was linked to. Oh hell. He'd recognized something. Was I the nutcase? A 'hero'? That would be arguably worse. "Princess Cadance! Prince Shining Armor! Oh wow!" he exclaimed, hooves extending to his mouth. Crap, I knew it would be the nutc- wait, what? Octavia gave a slow, mildly confused looking blink as she turned to look back and behind me to the left at the royal couple instead. Uh, right! Was 'totally ignored' better or worse, though? It honestly felt maybe a little closer to the 'better' end of the spectrum. Other ponies, both those already eating and those on the street behind us gasped, the ones not currently eating, turned from their tables to also look. Shining flattened back his ears and gave a concerned glance to the unfazed-looking Cadance before quickly looking back to the waiter. "Uh, I don't mean to be impolite, but my wife and I are actually part of Miss Octavia's group, as are the Elements of Harmony and their group. We were hoping to get a table," he corrected, giving a sheepish smile afterwards. My ears perked and I turned back to Octavia, who looked mildly surprised but smiled towards him and nodded. The waiter looked suitably horrified, however. "Oh my! I'm sorry, Miss Octavia. I should not have assumed, of course, that they were part of your group as you suggested. Please forgive me," he apologized, sounding surprisingly sincere. The gray mare giggled, however, and held her hoof up to stop him, assuring, "Cufflink, you know you can just call me Octavia. And it's fine. I'm a bit beyond my normal station, I realize. The Prince and Princess are actually guests of Mender's, not mine. He himself is my guest, however, as are the Elements of Harmony and Spike, the young dragon." Spike himself perked up at that title, seeming to puff up a little at being called 'young' rather than 'baby' or something. The waiter known as Cufflink looked us over momentarily, not really paying me much attention, which I was sort of thankful for. He appeared more fascinated by the Elements and royalty than anything, which honestly made sense. Spike at least was readily identifiable, I considered, much to my amusement. Fluttershy shrank away from the growing crowd from the street, and the rapid whispering coming from the gathering collection of ponies. I gently rubbed her left shoulder as she pushed against me again, hiding herself partially behind me and under my saddlebag. "Ah, yes! Come right with me, and we shall get your group seated in the elevated section. I'm honored that we can host such distinguished guests!" Cufflink exclaimed shortly thereafter, thankfully recovering quickly. There were a few disappointed murmurs from the crowd as we were led away from the street level, but Fluttershy relaxed as we walked, her heartbeat calming again, as I could feel it when she pushed against my side. Twilight slipped up on her other side and shot her a soft smile, more fully covering her from view as we moved and settled into a large, connected set of tables the waiter directed us towards. Yes, it was up to us to make sure our herdmate felt more secure. I took comfort in my newfound responsibility and what it meant, honestly. Seating arrangements were a tad on the tricky side, however. Even the connected tables only sat ten ponies, and we had twelve plus a dragon! I hadn't considered seating when I'd invited Shining and Cadance, of course. The waiter helped Shining and me move a small table over next to our larger one, however, giving us an additional four seats. Given their guest nature, it was decided, with no small amount of protest from Night Light, that Twilight's parents and the royalty would sit there. Velvet said she wanted to catch up anyway, and they were literally all of a meter from us, so I didn't really see what the fuss was apart from not getting to sit at Octavia's table. That said, Spike was to my left and Fluttershy to my right as we settled in. Twilight was to Fluttershy's right and to my surprise, Rarity sat to Spike's left, appearing to be really laying it on thick for the dragon, who was rapidly getting overwhelmed. Heh. Had she changed her mind then about him? I didn't want to ask, of course, so I simply looked across the table instead. Octavia was straight across from me, looking less than pleased that Pinkie was to her immediate right. I'd have to ask her about her frustration with Pinkie at some point. To her left was Applejack, and then Rainbow, who was already staring at the menu. Heh, she had been hungry. "Well then, now that we have seating out of the way, we can finally relax," Octavia muttered, leaning back in her chair as it tipped slightly, bumping up against the massive cello case behind it. There was something to be said about Earth Pony strength, given that the case was larger than her yet she easily moved about with it. She smoothed her black dress out again after getting situated, and exhaled softly. Glancing up, I sniffed the warm air, noting the pleasing smells coming from the kitchen, a far away and subtle smell of engine oil, and a stronger scent of leaves as they fell from the trees all around the city. It was warm, which surprised me, considering we were halfway up a mountain. The docks were also nearby with those interesting balloon ship things, which was probably the source of that faint oil smell. It was probably some sort of lubrication they used in their gearboxes, as I’d yet to see any sort of combustion-based engine. They had maintained the shape of a water vessel as well, despite being airborne with a large balloon and propeller attachments. I doubted that was an aesthetic choice, and considered the aspect of them making water landings as well. I'd have to ask Twilight about that later! "Equestria to Mender. You're spacing out again," Rainbow suddenly spoke up, giving me a start and snapping me out of my consideration for the engineering involved. Oops. Everypony at the table was looking at me now, as was Velvet from our neighboring group, and I blushed a little. Ugh! Twilight smirked, however, revealing, "He had his head on the airships he saw on our walk over. He is an engineer, don't forget." Of course, Rainbow knew that already, given the smirk she shifted into after Twilight said that. Most of them did, actually, given direct input from me when I popped out of my daydream. I also noticed that images were really hard to transmit over our links, but a particularly strong or detailed one could be managed. When I slipped back into my fully aware state, I had no doubt that lingering airship image was still at the forefront of my mind. Octavia, however, looked deeply curious at that. "Wait, do you mean that you've linked with him already, Miss Twilight?" she inquired almost instantly. Oh, err, whoops. Well, technically her vocabulary was accurate... Twilight blushed at that and coughed lightly, and I was suddenly keenly aware of both her parents' gaze on us, her father turning around to look back at her in surprise. Oh. Oh hell. Octavia blinked, then flattened her ears back slightly as her gaze wavered briefly over to her parents before snapping back to her, the mare suddenly looking uncertain. Still, the clever unicorn could recover this, if she just made up something convincing! "Ah... Hahaha! Of course not! I mean, Mender's an engineer and I know him well enough and, uh, saw him looking at the airships!" she quickly and loudly denied. Crap. There was an awkward tension at the table for a long five seconds, Rainbow's face going blank and Applejack giving the lavender unicorn a skeptical stare. Yeah, that was totally bogus, and even I would have been able to tell that much. That really said something, sadly. Regardless, I was so, so very screwed. "Twilight... We need to have words," Night Light spoke softly but adamantly behind her. Her ears dropped downwards as her pupils shrank a little. Damn it... * * * * * Okay, it didn't matter what I did. Everything would eventually devolve into a complete and total disaster. As strong and capable as my cybernetics were, they did absolutely nothing to help me against the problems I usually faced. What use were ten-meter long, bladed tendrils that could rip rock in half when my enemies hid out of sight and used politics to strike at me? Oh, and they didn't help much against Twilight's parents, either. I lay with my head on the table, trying really hard not to cry hysterically as they continued to scream at each other. Of course, for 'privacy', they had taken it away from the table and behind the shrub wall to the alley, but air was hardly effective soundproofing, let alone when the conversation degraded into screaming. "No, there is no redeeming factor for this, Twilight! I will not stand to see my daughter manipulated by some random colt!" her father continued to scream. Well, ironically, I kinda saw his point. I mean, the link he thought we had was essentially equivalent to getting engaged, if I understood it properly. Or was it married directly? I didn't really understand it properly. Regardless, I'd only known Twilight for the better part of a month and a week, which was rather soon to be asking her to marry me. Although that was probably inevitably to follow at this point. "He's not some random colt! He's a stallion, and... And I've never felt this connected to anypony before in my life, until the herd! Why can't you respect my own decision?!" my fillyfriend, herdmate, and equally best friend shouted back. I also agreed with Twilight. He, while wanting to protect her, was doing a fairly amazing job of trampling her own decision-making capacity. That wasn't exactly a show of trust. Her mother sighed wearily a moment later, adding, "I understand you care for both of them, Dear. But don't you think this is, well, a little sudden?" she reasoned, far more calmly than her husband. Shining Armor groaned as well, having followed Twilight over there with Cadance, apparently making it a whole 'family' occasion. "We can't avoid it, Sis. There are some things about the situation that they don't understand, and they deserve to at least be told that much," he suggested. Oh, goodie! Now they were voting to reveal my secret instead. This would go over so well. Sadly, Fluttershy had also gone over there to attempt to support Twilight, leaving me as the only one technically not part of the family. There was, unfortunately, only one of her. Really, I'm glad she was with Twilight anyway. I hid my eyes behind my own forelegs, trying to ignore the gossiping whispers of the random ponies near us who were probably getting quite a bit of free entertainment at my expense. Although that was probably a good thing, as they certainly weren't sitting there for the food anymore. I kind of wished that I could literally crawl entirely behind my own forelegs and hide for a few hours, maybe crying for a bit and getting a good nap in. Maybe that's what the chef had done when he barged out of the kitchen in a stressed state, spewing frustrations in a rather peculiar accent. Apparently he refused to work in such disruptive environments, which I honestly couldn't blame him at this point. Applejack let out an annoyed huff from the darkness somewhere in front of me, and to the left. "This is ridiculous. Mender's proven his worth on more than one occasion. They're actin' like he's some scary stranger!" she spat out, sounding irate. Rarity sighed towards that, now next to me and gently patting my right foreleg. "Well, to them, he is. Uh, a stranger, I mean, not scary. Still, they are most definitely following a 'guilty until proven innocent' model," she admitted, halting her pats for a moment as she thought her words out. "Ugh. That sounds familiar," Applejack murmured back, a bit of the spite leaving her tone. Octavia, however, let out a sorrowful sigh. It was maybe her sixth one in four minutes. "I'm terribly sorry about all of this again, Mender. Me and my big mouth started all of this when I was supposed to be using this time to thank you for saving my life," she apologized, sounding utterly miserable over it. Pinkie giggled lightly at that from the other side of me, adding, "Well, actually, injuring or humiliating him has sort of been an icebreaker for Mender ever since he arrived in Ponyville." Heh, at least she was trying to lighten the mood. I felt a twinge of annoyance from Applejack, but it shifted to confusion instead as I started snickering. "Actually, now that she said that, I think she might be right. It's like I have some hidden quota that has to be met before anypony can be my friend. Heh," I agreed, looking up again. Pinkie smiled happily towards me and nodded twice, pleased that I was at least smiling again, it would seem. Well, I thought she was happy, anyway. Her link worked more off images and colors than direct emotions and thoughts. Right now she was a dark pink, which meant happy, but fighting to maintain that, from prior experiences with the mare. Sadly, they must have at least gotten to the volatile point in the story, as my thoughts were interrupted by Night Light shouting, "You're kidding! You seriously expect us to believe that?!" Ooh, which part? I found myself curious, in a disturbed sort of way. Twilight let out an annoyed growl, shooting back with, "Yes, because it's true! Ask any of the girls, or even Princess Celestia herself if you don't believe me!" I thought I heard Cadance clear her throat after that and softly mutter something about it being a bit loud, and supposed to be secret, but I couldn't be sure. Not that it mattered, as Night Light drowned her out a moment later anyway. "This is ridiculous! If what you're saying about him is true, then he's actually a-" he started to shout back. It was cut off prematurely, however, as a light blue bubble popped up over the entire area around them, shielding them from sight completely and also seemingly soundproof. Oh, good! All of Canterlot wouldn't know my secrets now. Thank you, Shining! Flopping back over onto the table, I gave out a sigh and started contemplating if it was possible to ride out of the shield on one of those sky ships, and then leap off to my death. No, knowing my luck, I'd have some sort of emergency armor reaction from falling, and I'd just make a sizable, pony-shaped crater. Or maybe the ships had their own safety shielding? Rainbow surprised me by joining a second later from the other side, her forehead wracking down just above mine. "Ugh. I hear ya! We didn't even get a chance to order before this, and now we can't!" she complained, whacking her hoof on the surface of the table impatiently. Spike, who had been rather quiet until now, snickered at that and suddenly suggested, "Ya know, they might be in there a while. Mender and Rainbow were hungry before we even got here, and will be starving probably by the time they're finished. They'd probably understand if we just, I dunno, went back to the palace and ate there?" Uh... Huh. Well, honestly, I didn't see a huge amount wrong with the idea. Especially as Dash was really hungry, too. "Spike, what about them? Would it be polite to start eating without them?" Rarity asked, frowning towards the dragon. There was a light, yet visible twitch from Applejack before she pointed out, "Ah dunno. Is it polite o' them ta start this hogwash up before we could even order, fully knowin' that several of us are downright starvin'? Ya fully know he's just raisin' ah stink because he don't like Mender. He didn't say ah thing about Flutters! This is downright immature." It was kind of amazing, the things she had the guts to say. Sadly, she was also true to her nature and not lying. That implied that he simply hated my guts, however... "Oh, yeah! Fluttershy and Twilight would understand. Besides, we can at least tell them that we're, uh..." Pinkie started to suggest before dwindling off. I was suddenly keenly aware of her feeling the raw anger and hostility coming from Twilight. Uh? "...right. Um, Fluttershy! We can tell Fluttershy where we're going!" the pink mare appended, giving a hesitant giggle afterwards. Oh, yeah, right. Didn't want to indirectly become a target of Twilight's wrath. Octavia's ears flattened a little bit, but she nodded at that, saying, "I understand. I suppose I can treat you the next time you're in Canterlot. Might as well drop this case off at-" Shaking my head, I held up a hoof to stop her, earning a questioning expression from the gray mare. "No, no, Octavia. You can treat us the next time we're in Canterlot, yes. I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be back sooner, rather than later. For now, however, you get to come to the palace with us instead and eat there. We kind of ruined your plans, after all. I shouldn't have invited the others after all, it would seem," I corrected, frowning to myself as I glanced back over at the bubble. To have things degrade this far, I must have made some sort of faux pas at some point. Probably that moment when I offered for Shining and Cadance to come, too... Octavia's gasp drew my attention again, just in time to see her eyes get huge. "I couldn't... But... The palace?! I've only been inside on the rare occasion of a musical performance, and never as a royal guest!" she exclaimed, sounding utterly shocked. I blinked at that, not quite understanding her reaction. "Uh, technically you're just a normal guest of mine. I'm just a normal pony, after all. But I don't think Tia would mind either way, especially if we tell her what happened and she can laugh hysterically at it," I mused, that last part largely to myself. Applejack chuckled at that, nodding along before agreeing with, "Eeyup! Ah imagine bein' ah Princess can get mighty stiff sometimes. Cuttin' back an' havin' ah good laugh is good fer her." The ecstatic sensation from Pinkie caught me off guard for a moment, as she momentarily let images of the royal bakery products drift down the link. Heh, she had more than one reason for wanting to go back to the palace to eat, I realized. "Yes! Let Fluttershy know, and then we can get going! I'm starving," the pink mare ordered, hopping out of her seat instantly and abandoning any pretenses of sorrow over the ordeal. Heh. Never change, Pinkie. Closing my eyes, I focused on just Fluttershy and softly sent, "Fluttershy, several of us are hungry, and this situation has shut the restaurant down. We're going to head back to the palace in order to get food, hopefully before Rainbow passes out from hunger." It took her a moment of surprise to realize I was talking to her, and then she sent her characteristic innocent smile sensation back down the link. "Oh, um, I didn't realize we were being so loud! Oh no. I'm sorry. Uh, yes, you should get Rainbow Dash back to the palace to get some food quickly, then. I'll let the others know, uh, when things calm down a little," she assured back, sounding stressed out already, and this only adding to it. I tried my best to send assurance down the link before adding, "Keep us informed. The links will operate essentially anywhere. And hang in there. None of this is your fault." No, if anything, it was Twilight and her father who were oblivious to everything around them. I felt a bit of relief come from her, and a steadier smile as she 'nodded' back. Relaxing, I returned her nod, then opened my eyes again and smiled for real. "We're clear to go to the palace and get some food, then," I informed. It didn't even take two seconds. "Woo! Let's go!" Pinkie shouted before blasting off back in the direction of the Palace. I wasn't surprised in the slightest at this point, of course. Rainbow shot after her, grinning, a second later, while Rarity, Spike, and Applejack hung back with Octavia and me. Octavia was my guest now, so I should probably stick with her. Of course, Rarity was probably too dignified to race, the risk of getting her mane, coat, or dress dirty being too great. Spike was glued to her side as well, so yeah. Smiling, I realized I at least wouldn't have to walk alone... * * * * * We walked slowly down the cobbled path towards the main gate leaving the castle grounds. My stomach was pleasantly full at this point, having had at least four sandwiches, a nice salad, and these delicious slices of fried bread that were dipped in cheese and tomato sauce. Whoever first thought to squish tomatoes and mix them with bread and cheese was a genius! Undoubtedly one of Pinkie's ancestors. Given my link to the mare, I knew she was still enjoying them alongside Rainbow and Applejack. Heh. Rarity smiled pleasantly as she walked along to my left, a very full looking Spike curled up on her back, looking really sleepy. She'd insisted on only a salad and one of the slices that I insisted she try. I got her to admit that they were 'oh so wrong and right at the same time' anyway, and I assumed she meant for her figure. Heh. Regardless, she apparently forgave me enough to help me walk Octavia out. The gray mare in question ate what could only be twice her body weight while fitting into the common room 'scene' fairly well with the rest of us. Rarity finally relaxed around her, apparently realizing that she wasn't quite the 'fancy' pony she'd initially thought. No need to put on airs, so to speak. I think it was a good thing, overall. Octavia currently walked to my right, her impossibly large cello case still perfectly strapped to her back. She didn't even sag while walking! I saw her smirk out of the bottom of my eye, and shifted my gaze back down to her as we walked, curious now. She warned a moment later, "You can stare at me all you want, but a mare might think you mean something if you keep ogling her cello case." What?! Rarity started giggling in amusement for a few seconds before pointing out, "It is a rather large case, Octavia. You must admit, it stands out." The gray mare glanced up at the top of the case that swayed back and forth above her head as she walked, then smiled more honestly, nodding. "I don't normally carry it around, of course, but it does seem fairly obvious, doesn't it? I've had this one for a few years now, though, and I should probably replace it soon. The newer cases are so much lighter, though. It might throw my balance off!" she complained, going in the totally opposite direction I had anticipated. "Huh, normally lighter is better," I muttered, looking back up at the case. For something you had to carry, that was almost universally true, but she was right. Balance had to be taken into account. Adding dead weight to a design was for that reason, but that was usually for vehicles I'd made. Dead weight, of course, being defined as 'non-functioning'. Although was balance a function? That sort of separated it from armor, or a bulkhead. I suddenly realized that I was confusing myself. An odd creaking noise came to my attention as we neared the large gate, two guards opening it slowly for us at the same time. Eh? My ears perked a bit as I swiveled them around, looking for the source of the strange noise as I nodded to the two guards, who returned it. Heh, at least I was recognized here. It didn't take me too long to realize the creaking was coming from Octavia herself, who just started talking again with, "Normally lighter is better, yeah, but I'm so used to carrying this huge thing around that I might start over compensating my movement if-" The creaking noise became loud enough to stop her, mid-explanation as she frowned instead. Wait, that was the sound of leather... The strap buckle for her case came free a second later, and I sighed, bringing my subdermal armor up barely a second before forty pounds of musical instrument crushed me into the cobblestone. The guards rushed over surprisingly quickly as Octavia let out a startled squawk, followed by, "Ah, Mender, are you okay?!" Rarity looked significantly less concerned, smirking down at me in amusement, while Spike yawned and sat up again. "Eh, I'm fine," I muttered, not really having felt much of anything after my armor popped into place under my skin. Sure, it had less shock absorption than my full, ablative plates, but it was far subtler. The guards pulled the case off me easily enough and helped me get back to my hooves. Meanwhile, Octavia slipped around to the other side of me and started picking things up off the ground. Eh? It didn't take me long to notice that the entirety of my left two saddlebags had been spilled out. Damn it! I knew I should have just left them back in the room. It had been my subtle hope to meet Twilight and Fluttershy on their way back, and I was hoping the saddle clasps would cheer them up. "I'm still sorry, Mender! This is all one huge disaster! I didn’t think the strap would give out for at least another week yet…” she groaned, scrambling to pick my stuff up as fast as she could. Week? Oh. My gravity probably didn’t help matters there. The guards looked at each other speculatively, then back at me, slipping back into attention stances, oddly enough. “Octavia, relax. I have, uh, notoriously bad luck, and honestly, it didn’t hurt me,” I tried to assure, giving what I hoped was a calm and reasonable smile. I felt more like an idiot instead, of course. Eh, close enough. She gave me a concerned frown before shoving my map and Twilight’s coin purse back into my bag absently, then reached down again and froze, eyes widening a bit. Huh? I glanced down, and then stopped as I noticed she was staring down at Prudentia instead, which I just remembered had been in my left front bag. Ah! “Hmm?” Rarity hummed curiously, glancing around Octavia at the book. It was just as I remembered it, of course, with its dark blue cover and brass binding and accents. I didn’t fully understand why she was staring at it. Octavia’s eyes shivered a little as she slowly reached down and brushed a hoof across the worn book. “Oh my. This is gorgeous! Are you borrowing it from Twilight? It looks positively ancient!” she cooed, smiling finally as she lifted it up. Uh…? Purdue’s eyes opened in my mind an instant later with a sharp glare, surprising me. Octavia let out a startled squeak as the book flashed away an instant later, re-appearing at my side before sliding gently back into my saddlebag, my small friend’s image disappearing as fast as she woke up. That was… strange. “Ah, sorry. Uh, technically it’s my book. It’s one of the few belongings I woke up with, and it’s, uh, particular about who it lets hold it,” I explained, coughing lightly and shifting awkwardly on my hooves. Octavia looked more than a little surprised, and Rarity gave me a concerned eyebrow raise at the same time. “That’s not… normal. Is Twilight studying it, then?” the gray mare asked, sounding even more curious than before. Crap! Rarity smiled softly, however, and nodded to her, not missing a beat. “Why of course, Dear. She is our resident expert on all things magical, and also happens to love books, so it’s right up her alley. Mender’s a bit sensitive about it, however, it being one of his few possessions from before he lost his memory,” she explained, lying completely in an amazingly graceful and competent way. It was kind of frightening. The gray mare looked at her for a moment, almost sharply in her stare, before relaxing and smiling again, nodding. “I imagine. I’m sorry for bringing it up, Mender. Anyway, we appear to have reached the gate, so I guess this is where we part for tonight,” she reminded, nodding her head towards the large double gate as she talked. Oh, right. Thankfully, Rarity wasn’t as flustered as I was. “Oh, of course. We must wait for our friends to return here regardless, however. What shall you do about the case?” she inquired, looking back over to where it fell. Octavia shook her head as she walked over to it, threading the strap back through the buckle using her hoof and the ground before adjusting it carefully. “It looks like it just slipped loose. Weird, given that it’s meant to hold something a bit heavier than the case itself, just for safety. It should be fine, but I’ll hurry home just in case,” she muttered, sliding it back up onto her back before rotating to face us again. She seemed keenly aware of where the other end of it was, deftly avoiding the guards as she spun. The guards who were still sitting there in rigid stance in front of me… I was starting to get a bit creeped out. Regardless, I decided definitely against mentioning my gravity effect. “Well, if you’re sure you can make it home okay. We’ll look you up the next time we come to Canterlot?” I offered, smiling towards her finally. She grinned fully this time, nodding and adding, “Right! I’ll be fine, as I actually don’t live too far from here. Canterlot Heights apartment suite. I’ll mail Twilight the address for you. I still owe you dinner next time, my treat. And this time, let’s not invite the grumps.” Ha! Smirking back, I waved to her as she trotted off and turned to the right past the gate, waving back momentarily before trotting onwards, presumably towards her apartment. Rarity mused for a moment, watching her go with a soft smile on her face. “Interesting mare, she is,” she murmured, after Octavia got out of earshot. “She’s a lot more relaxed than I thought she’d be,” muttered Spike, who yawned again immediately afterwards and lightly pushed into the back of Rarity’s mane. I noted he was very, very careful not to part or mess up even a single hair, and she smiled back at him. “Oh, I agree fully. I expected her to be a bit more supercilious, given her high standing, audience for her music, and apparently where she lives. Canterlot Heights! My, my, what a prestigious place. She even noticed that I was lying,” Rarity pondered out loud, as if amused. Wait, what?! Rarity noticed my startled glance, then giggled, pointing out, “She didn’t push it, so it accomplished what we desired regardless, no? Anyway, I’m guessing you didn’t intend for Purdue to react that way?” Frowning, I looked back at the book in my bag before carefully closing the top again, making sure to firmly clasp it shut this time. “No, I didn’t. Although it’s rather, uh, partial to me,” I reminded. She momentarily raised an eyebrow to my use of ‘it’, but turned back to the guards a second later, suddenly remembering they were there, probably. Yeah, they weren’t members of DReg, so they didn’t know my secrets. “Uh, is there something you two need? I’m not entirely familiar with protocol here yet,” I warned, rubbing the back of my head slightly. The one on the left threw up a salute, still not moving, before asking, “Permission to speak freely?” Oh! Right. “Granted,” I assured, tilting my head towards him. The day guards were really serious compared to the night ones. He quickly explained, “Our protocol dictates that whenever there is an event needing direct intervention, such as your incident with the cello case, and there is a commanding officer of higher rank nearby, we are to wait on alert standby afterwards until being dismissed or receiving further orders.” Huh? Was there a higher ranked officer nearby? Oh. Oh! “Oh! Sometimes I forget that I’ve been granted ranking again. Apologies. You’re dismissed back to your posts, of course,” I assured, nodding to both of them. They both saluted sharply before heading back towards the gate with a confident strut. Yeah, they were way more serious. Oddly, I didn’t see where the discrepancy would have rested, given that Tia and Luna didn’t seem that different in their dealings. Rarity let out a soft cooing noise, which shifted into a faint snicker. “You handled that quite remarkably, Mender. You’ll indeed make a fine prince one day,” she complimented. Psh, I didn’t handle it that great. I mean, uh… Wait, what? For the second time in rather short order, I found myself giving the pearly mare a blank, dumbfounded stare. “P-Prince?!” I asked, suddenly totally uncertain of what she was talking about. Spike yawned sleepily again, rubbing his eyes before answering for her. “Any pony forming a bond through marriage with direct royalty, or the blood relative of direct royalty, shall be considered a Titled Prince or Princess, offering more direct influence in the workings of Equestria, and its citizens,” he quoted, as if from memory, while looking equal parts bored by it and sleepy. Rarity nodded along to it, of course. “Well said, Spike! Twilight’s taught you well. By marrying Twilight, who is a direct blood relation to Shining Armor, a full Prince, you will become a Titled Prince, just like she is a Titled Princess already. Fluttershy, I imagine, will also become a Titled Princess. It stops there, however, as you cannot grant that status to your foals,” she elaborated upon, looking pleased about the prospect. My head spun, not only with mention of me being a prince, but foals in the future. I wobbled a bit before sitting down again, blushing. “I… that can’t be a good idea. They don’t have any, uh, duties, do they?” I asked, dreading the answer even as I requested it. Rarity looked a bit exasperated at that, if nothing else. “Hardly. They’re merely looked to as outstanding members of society, which they usually adhere to. You, however, have nothing to worry about there. Oh, and as you’ve seen, their signature may also grant special rights and justifications,” she reminded. I wondered idly whom she was referring to with her exception she implied there, but she looked a bit irked by the statement, so I decided not to ask. One furiously pissed off mare was enough per day. Exhaling softly, I sat down again and straightened out my saddlebags. “I’m glad. I don’t think I’d be up to being full royalty. While I’m used to leading soldiers, I, uh… I’m not very good at leading anypony else,” I admitted, frowning but feeling a bit better for getting it off my chest. She puffed a bit of air upwards, making her curled bang sway momentarily before sitting down as well. Naturally, Spike slid off her back, but she lifted her tail up and cushioned him as he landed, gently moving him around to her side with it. He looked a bit surprised at his sudden repositioning, but quickly decided he so didn’t care, if his smile and blush said anything. If anything, Rarity didn’t appear to notice, which actually said something for their relationship, honestly. “I understand that it can be scary. I used to be terrified of what ponies would think of me. Making dresses uses a lot of my own sense of style directly, and really puts me out there, after all. It’s frightening, and I’m always nervous when others are reviewing my work,” she revealed, looking back up at me afterwards. Oh? She seemed so confident normally that I honestly didn’t think anything outright frightened her. Considering it, I decided to just be honest. “It’s strange to hear you say that. You always seem so confident on the outside that thinking about you worrying and nervous seems, I dunno. Against your character. I never realized how stressful it all can be,” I admitted, flicking my left ear a little as I chose my words carefully. Rarity looked momentarily surprised at my confession, and then smiled, a very faint red tint appearing on her cheeks before she shook her head. “You give me too much credit, Mender. I’m sure you’ll eventually see how I act when the stress gets to me. My friends have always been there to help me get through it, though, and I’m glad I can count you amongst them now,” she said, nodding to me afterwards as if confirming it. Spike shifted a little bit, then hugged the tip of her tail to himself before chipping in with, “I’ll do anything for you, too, Rarity. You can rely on me, too.” Heh. I think she knew that already, but him saying it was rather adorable, I had to admit. Especially the way he said her name, like he was trying to savor its taste as it left his tongue. She smiled down at him smoothly, with measured practice and no hesitation, nodding to him as well. “Of course, Spikey Wikey. You’ve been, uh…” she started to confirm. Oddly, she hesitated, momentarily losing her smile as her eyes opened again, looking more fully down at him. He stopped shifting about, looking up at her instead with a rather curious stare, a nervous twitch going into his tail as she faltered. Eh? It wasn’t a very long hesitation, before her smile came back, this time a bit warmer as her eyes softened. “What I mean is, you’ve always helped me out selflessly all along. Thank you, Spike. You mean a lot to me, and I know I will always have your support,” she thanked. For a moment, it almost looked like Spike was going to melt into the cobblestone, slipping between the cracks like so many drops of rain. He really did heat up a little, however, as I was able to feel the temperature shift from here. “O-Of course, Rarity! I’m never going anywhere. You and Twilight are best friends, so she doesn’t have any reason to go anywhere either! So I’m going to stay and help you with anything you need,” he reasoned on the fly, nodding furiously. Heh. Oddly, my mind ran over what she had said to him prior, feeling an odd sort of relief that I didn’t hear the word ‘friend’ from her anywhere in it. I didn’t quite understand my own concern, however. Was that from my other self, instead? Weird. I chuckled regardless and smiled to him, nodding as well. “She usually doesn’t listen to me, but if she tries to take you away, I’ll stop her, Spike,” I assured softly. It wasn’t going to happen anyway, but he still had youthful impulsive tendencies. Rarity huffed at that, however, giving me a soft scowl before asking, “She listens to you, Mender. Twilight just isn’t very skilled at picking up on things. When has she specifically not listened to you?” I gave her a blank, disbelieving stare for a moment. “Today, maybe? I tried telling her that those sorts of trust building exercises weren’t really what we needed. I’m not afraid of what she can do to me physically so much anymore. I’m… more afraid of what she can do to me emotionally…” I admitted, lowering my eyes a bit after I said it. It was true. It didn’t take a trained expert to see how screwed up I was on the inside. I was outright crazy in a few aspects. It hit me then fully, however. I didn’t realize how close I’d become to the mare, until I fully realized what she could do to me. There was a pause, and I glanced up again at Rarity, who was giving me a sad frown. “I… I admit to guessing as much. I recommended those more for her sake than yours, both to show her that she’s not going to break you by doing things with you without planning every waking second of the event, and to try to show her that you’re more forgiving towards her than she realizes,” she explained softly. I paused at that, and then considered it, closing my eyes. Twilight was a compulsive planner, and I doubted that much would ever change. Part of it was because she felt safe and in control when everything was planned out, I imagined. Still, sometimes I did just like doing spontaneous things. Like maybe just settling in and snuggling with her while we did our separate research and reading. Just having Fluttershy close to me felt warm and happy, and I had no doubt the same would apply to Twilight if she just tried it. Rarity suddenly perked up and glanced to the left. The sudden movement caught my attention, and my ears flicked up again, looking to my right to follow her gaze. Twilight stood across the street, ears dropped while she looked at me sadly, before slowly walking towards us. Fluttershy followed behind her, looking a bit tired and weary with her tail sliding along the concrete. Of course, Twilight looked rather worse for wear, too, stray hairs stuck here and there out of her mane, which usually indicated stress on her part. “Why didn’t you stop me, Mender? If they weren’t helping you at all, why did you go along with all that stupid stuff?” she asked softly as she reached our end of the sidewalk. I noticed the guard to my light look uneasy in my peripheral vision, subtly wincing. I sort of agreed with him as I rotated to face her. Fluttershy slipped up next to her instead, however, and pressed her right side into the lavender mare. Twilight stopped and glanced over towards her, uncertain, before widening her eyes a little. I felt my own heartbeat suddenly, gently being pushed through Fluttershy like a sort of empathy link, into Twilight. It was soft and warm, as I momentarily shared the sensation with the yellow pegasi, feeling the soft fur against mine. I instinctively nudged back, my earlier desire to just snuggle close to them both kicking in before I realized it. Both mares blushed, and Rarity tilted her head at the display they put on. Thankfully, the yellow mare explained a moment later. “Do you feel that, Twilight? That sensation he just had for us?” she asked quietly, leaning back and smiling up at the mare timidly. The lavender unicorn remained faintly rosy in the cheeks and managed to nod twice before looking back over at me in surprise. Fluttershy smiled fully at that and explained, “That means he really cares for us both. That’s why he went along with what you wanted. He wanted to make you happy, Twilight.” Heh. The pegasus was subtle when she wanted to be, yet amazingly observant. Maybe not quite as much as Rarity, but she definitely had an eye for body language and the empathy to match. “She’s right. I just wanted you to be happy. I just, uh, don’t know the best way to do that, sometimes,” I admitted, wondering how much she’d heard. Giving a start, I tried to look up as I felt her flick away again, appearing right in front of me. The same alert I made for Discord fired off whenever Twilight teleported, too. Instead of anything hostile, however, I just felt her push into me softly, moving in closer as I looked up. My eyes widened a little while hers closed, her lips gently pushed against mine as her forelegs slipped under mine. For a moment, I was startled, but slowly I relaxed and slipped mine over hers, pulling her closer as she lazily pressed against me, no sense of urgency at all. She broke the kiss a moment later, but kept her snout resting up against mine as she stayed there, soft heat dancing in her cheeks. “You’re right,” she finally whispered, her eyes shifting back to the smiling yellow mare who was walking up behind her and to the right before continuing with, “Just being close feels pretty good…” Oh, Fluttershy had felt what I ‘wanted’ earlier, too. Twilight felt just slightly surprised as I smiled against her muzzle and pulled her chest against mine. I slipped past her face more for comfort of our necks, and pushed my muzzle just under her jaw on the left side, kissing her lightly and rather enjoying her soft scent. She shivered and relaxed more against me, letting out a pleased murmur before resting her head against the side of mine. “I know. I like having you close,” I admitted, smiling to myself a little. Her smile came back slowly. “I understand that now. I’m never going to hurt you again, Mender. Never. Not physically, or emotionally,” she assured. Ah, she had heard that much. I didn’t say anything, as I really didn’t know what to say. Fluttershy slipped up against where we were connected, to my right, and snuggled in, too, looking happy regardless. Heh, that view I could live with forever. This moment was perfect enough. It was the simple things, really, that made it the best. We didn’t need complicated rules and statuses with each other like being in a herd or married or linked. Just this closeness made it worth it. Rarity smiled at us from my left, appearing pleased at the results as well, despite the slipup of the accidental eavesdropping. Spike would probably look disgusted if it didn’t appear that he’d fallen asleep sitting up next to Rarity, his head hanging low and his breathing deepened. Heh. We should at least get him back to the room. I sent that much to the mares against me, and Twilight perked up, looking back over at her assistant. It would seem the pearly unicorn was a step ahead of her, however, suggesting, “We should probably head back to the guest rooms. Spike needs his rest after working so hard with the new letter codes. Oh, I also have one last trust exercise you could try that’s a bit, well, different. It’s more tailored to your specific issues.” She glanced towards me when she said it, and my ears perked, twisting towards her as I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is it that thing you brought?” Twilight inquired, only serving to make me even more curious! Rarity looked more amused than anything, and nodded to her in return. “Quite. Shall I retrieve it once we get back to the tower?” she offered, regaining that impish expression I knew so well, and always dreaded when it was turned against me, like now. It just felt like I was in for quite a surprise. Twilight nodded twice, shifting over and extending her hoof towards Rarity as the unicorn walked closer to us, sliding Spike along with her tail. Oddly, he didn’t even appear to notice. “Yes. If it’s more tailored for us, I want to try it. Anything to help get us closer!” Twilight declared, shifting to her more determined expression. Blinking, I gave her a somewhat confused glance. “Uh, Twilight, I think we’ve gotten closer just with today. Really, we don’t have to rush-“ I started to explain. It was then that I learned how absolutely strange it felt to be in the middle of saying something while teleporting, as Rarity touched Twilight’s hoof with her own. The world imploded inwards and I momentarily heard my own voice doubling over itself for just a split second, moving faster than the sound waves that traveled outwards, before everything was sucked away.
Chapter 71Rarity frowned towards Twilight once more before extending the carefully wrapped box to her. "You have all the details, right? I've put a lot of, well, effort into the creation of this. Be careful with it," the pearly unicorn warned once more as Twilight took the box with an apprehensive look. Spike, who sat sleepily at the base of the stairs, gave a mildly annoyed look instead, asking, "What exactly are we doing here, again?" "I have no idea," I admitted, sighing as I watched the package exchange. At least we were inside now where it was warmer. Maybe I could convince Twilight to set more furniture on fire to keep us warm? If this trust exercise went the same direction as the last ones, that might not be that far of an extreme. Twilight frowned over at Spike instead, apparently entirely ignoring my quip towards the process. "I told you, this is a trust exercise that's supposed to be geared more towards our specific problems, and I'm going to need your help to work with this thing. Mender, stay downstairs until I shoot you a mental message to come up," she instructed, glancing back over towards me with a nod. I nodded simply in return, giving her a questioning glance that was mirrored by Fluttershy, who lay at my side, looking confused. My inquiry sent down her link returned a negative, sadly, revealing she didn't know anything more about this than I did. Although the way Rarity smirked as Twilight turned around and headed upstairs made me extremely uneasy. "What exactly is this about, Rarity? Is this something you made?" I asked as Spike followed Twilight up the stairs towards her room. The white mare frowned at that, then thought to herself for a moment before nodding and explaining, "I made most of it, although some parts were special order. This particular trust exercise is more, how shall I say, custom tailored to your particular issue. I was skeptical on whether the normal exercises would work, regardless." She could have admitted that before we had done them, and saved us, the custodian, and the royal grounds' keeper a whole lot of stress. Sensing my frustration, Fluttershy sat up again and snuggled softly into my left side, earning a quiet exhale on my part. I closed my eyes and just let her nuzzle my jaw for a second before shivering and pecking her cheek, getting her to blush softly. Okay, yeah, staying in a bad mood with her around was really, really hard. I didn't particularly mind, however, and Rarity smirked at the image. "Now you two, thankfully, don't need the exercises at all!" she complimented, smiling towards us and nodding. I started to smile in return when Fluttershy gasped instead, rapidly shaking her head. "Oh no, I should probably do them as well. I hurt Mender not once, but twice! They were so terrible of me to do, and I have to make it up to him and get him to trust me again," she explained, entirely missing the point. Blinking, I raised an eyebrow to her before pointing out, "Fluttershy, I do trust you. Almost unconditionally. Uh, and I really only remember one time you've done something even remotely painful towards me. Oh, except for that time you flew us into the river, but that was partly my fault, too." I mean, I was the one who couldn't walk straight after falling down, like, sixteen hills on my way towards Ponyville. Plus, I think there are only ten or so between Ponyville and my lovely crater site. I was just that bad at directions at that point, and probably hit a few several times. She rapidly shook her head again, however, obviously disagreeing. "No! It was after you woke up as well. I let myself get so scared over what I saw in your memories that... I avoided you! That was horrible of me, and I know I don't deserve to be forgiven, but please, if there's anything I can do at all to help-" she continued quickly apologizing. Oh, that? She wasn't even dating me at that point, so 'avoiding' me wasn't really that big of a deal. At least I didn't think so, but I suppose I wasn't the leading expert on pony culture. "Fluttershy, that was hardly anything major. It just confused me more than anything. Plus, what you saw was really horrible and I don't blame you in the least for not wanting to deal with it," I reasoned, knowing for a pony like her, it would have been even worse. Rarity frowned and nodded in agreement, adding, "He's right, Dear. I know you had affection for him even then, but you were not actually 'with' him at that point, so hardly held to any social obligations. Plus, he's not angry with you, as you can see." I tried to nod at that, but the yellow mare pounced lightly into my chest with a squeak instead, holding herself to me as I wrapped my forelegs around her, giving an uncertain glance towards Rarity, who shrugged, looking uncertain at best. We waited a few more minutes in silence, with me looking around the bottom floor of the tower. It was very nicely built, to be honest. I mean, sure, the engineer in me noticed things like that really fast, but it was more than just the structure of the room. A part of me still stared in wonder at how downright visually pleasing the architecture the ponies made was. It kind of made me wonder what the Keldarians could have created had it not been for that lovely galactic war thing. I think the most pleasant work of art my other self had witnessed was one of the artillery specialists 'doodling' a little flower with a smiley face on it onto the burnt remains of our third moon with a laser battery. I smirked inwardly at that. He'd claimed it would confuse the Grosh, who would have to stop and decipher what a 'smile' was. Heh. We all laughed... I felt an ache in my chest as I slipped out of the memory and into the room again. The fireplace was warm against my fur, and I shivered, not realizing how cold I had become. I moved a bit closer to the fireplace, my hooves making light creaks as they pressed down upon the light-colored wood that the floor was made of. The fireplace itself was made out of the same cobbled stone bricks of the walls, making it look like it was just shaped out of the room via magic. Maybe it had been. The fire flicked back and forth in my gaze, and I just stared into it, blanking my mind as best I could. No, nothing was real apart from this moment. I was right here, and time moved onwards, with or without me. Fluttershy slipped up next to me again and tucked into my right side, sighing softly. To my mild surprise, Rarity also joined us, moving in on my other flank and lying down a little ways from me, also smiling into the flames. Smiling. I was smiling. As much as everything had hurt and how horrible things had been before, I was happy. This place made me happy. No, it was more than that. I felt their every wish now. Their last thoughts as their lives faded. I'd always felt that it was my fault. If I hadn't existed, maybe whoever had those malicious thoughts wouldn't have had a place to put that weapon. Maybe they'd still be alive, then. A part of me now wanted to spit on my older, naive self at the same time. No, the weapon was put into me and fired off during those five minutes of loss of control. That's why all the data from that exact time frame was so corrupted inside of me. There was nothing I could have done to prevent what happened, and definitely nothing I could do now to change it. Failing some sort of magical time machine or something, what was done was done. The weapon would have been fired off with or without me. All it did now was firmly root in my mind that everypony, and everyone, that could yet smile, or cry, or laugh... All who held onto their emotions and could feel equal in others; they all deserved a chance to be happy. Even those in BEID, who had tried so hard to hurt me. Only the ones who'd given up that, and tried to take the happiness away from others truly deserved their fate. The Keldarians might have been doomed, either from the Grosh or our own genetics, but that didn't mean they deserved it, or what happened to them. I wasn't the one who did it to them; I realized that now. But I could live for them, and honor their memories. Desperation, hope, sorrow, loss, pain, and fear... All their final thoughts were stored away inside of me, along with everything that had comprised of them and their genetic code itself. Plus, if I happened to ever find the individual who did do that to them... Well, that was one individual who'd need no hesitation on my part. A mental yelp from Twilight snapped me out of my darkening thoughts, and my ears twitched as if I'd actually heard it as I looked up in the vague direction of her room, suddenly on edge. Fluttershy perked up and followed my eyes as well, with a questioning expression instead of concern. "Ow! Spike, be careful! This is a lot tighter than I thought it was supposed to be. Use the buttons!" Twilight ordered, me turning my audio channel on just to make sure she was okay. "Are you okay, Twi? You yelped," I asked out loud, flicking my audio over to 'speaker' instead, which projected from somewhere below my own vocal cords. Twilight made a squeak, which was easily heard this time and caused Rarity to start, looking over at me in confusion. The lavender mare recovered fast, however, and answered, "Oh, Mender! Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I just got my leg snagged in this thing, and Spike's having trouble with it. Don't worry." Rarity smiled at that and nodded pleasantly, adding, "At least you know he's always looking out for you, Dear. And such useful abilities!" I coughed lightly at that, looking away as I felt my cheeks heat up a bit. Okay, so I might have been a little paranoid, immediately jumping to potential assassination attempts and getting ready to sprint up the stairs and all. This was Equestria, where that kind of thing was unheard of. Even the weapons that Snapshot had used caused quite a stir, with those kinds of things being heavily regulated. The mouth blade had been bought, but the miniature crossbow was apparently hoof-made by her. Which was amazing, considering she had hooves. If she was weirded out by it, Twilight didn't show it and just giggled instead. "I agree. Contrary to what he wants you to believe, he's actually a sweetheart. Now turn off the audio, Mender. This is supposed to be a surprise," she requested. I sighed and nodded to nothing in particular, disabling the speaker first. "And what a surprise it is..." Spike tossed out half a second before I turned off the audio channel as well. He had sounded rather negative with that, an odd mixture of disturbed and annoyed. Well, that surely was a good sign! Rarity giggled at that, not making me feel better in the least. So it was some sort of outfit or something that would help me build trust in Twilight, or help Twilight build trust in me. Sadly, I couldn't think of any particular piece of clothing that could even begin to facilitate that apart from the blindfold I wore earlier. Twilight was taking way too long for it to be a simple band of cloth, however, even if it tied in the back with a button for some unknown reason. Worse yet, she had magic! Why did she need Spike's help at all?! Decidedly giving up on the strange mystery that would be solved for me regardless in hopefully a few minutes, I returned to just staring at the flames as they gently danced. It took me a moment to realize suddenly that there wasn't any fuel in the flames. Huh. Well, I could only assume magic of some sort, although I was a bit concerned as to the fact that I didn't notice the fire simply extending out of the stone floor of the fireplace. I had the oddest compulsion to stick my hoof in it and see if it was actually hot, or if the fire was just some sort of illusion to cover a lesser heat generation spell. Twilight would probably scold me if it turned out to be real flames, though. It didn't take much time after that at all for the mental link to flick on again. "Um, okay. I think I'm set, Mender," Twilight revealed, my 'speaker' kicking in automatically as the connection activated. Rarity perked up at that, and Fluttershy smiled and nodded before the unicorn lifted up a hoof to her. "No, Fluttershy. You should let Mender go up by himself first. This is important," she warned, looking solemn. Oh boy. The only time I'd ever heard anypony suggest going first somewhere was when it was a massive trap. I gave the pearly unicorn a skeptical glance, but she just smiled and nodded towards the stairs instead of actually answering anything. I should have known. Looks like I would only get to know what poison I swallowed after it killed me. Well, no sense in delaying. "Uh, right. I'll go see what this is about, then. See you in a few minutes, Fluttershy," I muttered, managing a smile towards the confused looking pegasus. Rarity giggled at that and added, "Well, I certainly hope you put a bit more effort in than a few minutes. This has been a lot of work, and you wouldn't want to disappoint Twilight," she suggested, giving me that playful pout she was so good at. I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out at her playfully before standing again and heading up the stairs. Hopefully I'd live through whatever this was they had planned. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would undoubtedly prove far more painful than they'd like towards me. No, it didn't matter if I tempted fate towards it or not. Bad things happened regardless, and I'd just given up attaching any sort of superstition to them. Spike was coming down the stairs as I headed up, interestingly enough. Whatever he helped her set up must be done, and he was sent away as well. Strange. He also looked a bit, well, greener than usual. I tilted my head towards him, but he just shuddered as he looked up at me. "Ugh. Uh, good luck, dude. Oh and, um, have fun? So not sticking around to watch, and now I have a few... questions for Rarity..." explained before hurrying past me. Well then, that certainly instilled hope and confidence in me. Like being diagnosed with a rare blood disease, or finding out that you were actually a cybernetic abomination! Swallowing uneasily, I continued up the last spiraling flight of stairs before stopping in front of Twilight's room doors. They were still partially ajar, Spike having obviously not closed them entirely when he left, probably knowing I'd be up shortly anyway. A soft light came from inside, at least telling me that I'd be able to see my incoming demise. Although, it was odd because it was too dim for the main lights. Maybe that was just the fireplace? Deciding I wasn't going to get any further information by just standing outside the door, I swallowed uneasily and slipped inside, slowly shutting the door behind me. If I was going to die horribly, I at least had the courtesy of sealing whatever it was inside with me, while simultaneously limiting the amount of horrible sounds those surviving ponies heard. That was just common courtesy! Oh, that and trying to minimize your splattering after being wounded. I greatly respected the janitorial positions and tried to limit any gore I either created or produced myself. Their job was undoubtedly hard enough as it was. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw within. My jaw dropped practically to the floor as I spotted Twilight on the rug in front of the fireplace. She was indeed wearing a blindfold, but it hardly stopped there. A rather large ball gag was strapped into her mouth, and a series of haphazardly positioned leather straps tied her forelegs to her chest, tufts of her coat sticking out between them. Her back legs were somewhat mobile still, a metal bar with hoof cuffs on each end lying idle nearby that she must have decided not to put on. Lastly, a metal clasp locked around her tail base, and a larger ring was strapped down at the bottom of her horn. Oddly, the horn ring glowed a light blue in color. "Mmph?" she asked out loud, looking in the vague direction of my hoof steps. "Mender? Is that you?" she asked mentally instead. That costume couldn't be what I thought it was! "Ah, yeah. It's me, Twilight. Uh, what are you doing?" I asked out loud, edging a bit closer as I looked the costume over. Yeah, it was made of that fake leather, consisting of a black color and covered in studs made out of a bluish gemstone. It was such an accurate likeness to the special gear from my old dimension that it left little room to doubt. But that sort of thing was used in, well, sexual manners, which deeply confused me as to this situation. She relaxed somewhat and wiggled again, the straps tying her forelegs to her chest not looking the most comfortable. I saw that there were leg holes now that I was closer, as well as a collar with leash attached. The leash lay to the other side of her, seemingly ignored. "Good! Uh, surprise! I guess... I'm not entirely sure why Rarity thinks that this will bolster trust, but maybe it's just a more extensive version of the blindfold exercise?" she questioned, not sounding very sure of herself at all. Raising an eyebrow, I slid the metal leg strut over towards myself and peeked at it. Extendable, with a hoof cuff on each side. Was this one of those 'ordered' items? I didn't think Rarity was proficient in metal manipulation. "Oh, I'm not sure what that part is for," Twilight continued, obviously hearing the scraping noise, and followed with, "This outfit seems to be some sort of highly specialized restraint system meant for unicorns. The suppression ring stops magic from being used, too." She didn't know how right she was... It was also really strange having a conversation using both audio and telepathy. I frowned, however, doubting the validity of that last part she mentioned. "I somehow doubt it's capable of restraining you," I pointed out, sitting down slightly behind her and looking over at the glowing ring. Twilight hesitated for a moment before I saw the ring flare up again, but sputter a second later. "Ah, yeah. I could overwhelm the enchantment on it, but it would short the ring out and damage it. This is Rarity's outfit, and I don't exactly want to break it," she muttered, frowning behind her blindfold before turning back and looking in my general direction. "I don't know what the bar is for either. It's obviously to restrain a leg, but I'm not sure what to do with the other end, so I didn't put it on. Maybe it's to attach to something solid and sturdy?" she theorized mentally, her tongue rotating the ball gag around in her mouth as she 'spoke'. Smirking, I shook my head and corrected, "No, it's not for that. I'll show you what it's for. Move your back hooves apart a bit, Twi." She tilted her head curiously at that, but actually did so, slipping to her back hooves and raising her rump a bit to accommodate the shift. Curiosity killed the cat indeed, but I had a feeling that I was the doomed feline here instead. Unable to resist the amusement of seeing when she figured it out, I slid the bar into place anyway and pushed the cuff onto her leg just above the hoof. Imagine my surprise when both cuffs snapped shut an instant later. The bar extended at the same time, earning a squeak from Twilight as her back legs were pushed apart a good foot and a half. Magic danced along her spine at the same time as the buckles pulled tight, and she let out a panicked yelp as the tail ring yanked into the spine brace of the outfit, pulling her tail up and out of the way completely. Ah! I flailed sideways, looking away from her so fast that I ended up falling over, thankfully not even catching a glimpse of any private bits. Twilight was practically screaming into the ball gag by then, and I realized that falling over had been a mistake as her back left hoof flailed into my lower gut, smashing into me hard and knocking the air out of me. I rolled to clear some distance from her and started coughing on the ground as she managed to flip herself, roll once, and then get stuck in a standing position against the wall. The ring on her horn was going crazy as sparks and flares of magic were shooting off it, and I momentarily worried she was going to set the room on fire! "Twilight! Calm down! I'm not looking!" I managed to cough out, ducking a stray bolt of energy that radiated off her sparking horn. I felt my cheek singe as my armor folded up over my face, covering my eyes just in case. The unicorn froze, panting heavily into the gag and shaking there as her horn flickered and distorted the air around her. The panic I felt down her link lowered a little, and I slid forward as best I could while coughing. The smell of burnt fur in the air that flooded from under my face plate didn't make breathing any easier! Her level of panic continued dancing between moderate and set fire to the room, but I kept sending her as clear of 'yielding' thoughts as I could while edging closer to her. Being able to see would help her... The lavender unicorn gave a start as my mouth closed down on the tie on her blindfold, and I pulled it off instead, not caring as I tore through the fabric of it. Her sight restored, her eyes locked onto me instantly, suddenly seeming to realize that I was definitely in front of her rather than behind her sneaking a peek, or whatever she thought I was doing. I kept the armor up just in case as I bit down on the cord behind her ear next, snapping it and pulling the ball gag out of her mouth. "I don't know what Rarity was thinking, but relax, Twilight. You know me better than this. I'm not going to take advantage of you, or hurt you," I reminded, exhaling as I fell over again, giving out a few more coughs as I finally managed to take a full breath. To hell with this. Reactionary armor was getting programmed in as soon as I had a down moment. "I... Ah, w-what happened?! Why did you do that?!" Twilight asked hesitantly, glancing around behind her as she turned practically scarlet in the firelight. That one I could head off fast. "I didn't, Twilight. The suit is magical, it would seem. Rarity must have enchanted it, but I don't know why she's doing this. Uh, this is something for, um, bedroom activities, Twilight," I warned, glancing towards her back and looking for anything I could see that might disable it. Wait, there was something white sticking out of her tail ring, that wasn't there before... Twilight shivered and swallowed, looking back at me before rapidly shaking her head. She surprised me by instead begging, "Please, Mender. This isn't how I wanted, uh, our first time to go. Please don't look..." I just attributed it to the panic and shot her a stern glare. "Twilight, do you honestly think I'd do that? Seriously?" I asked her, actually a little insulted at the insinuation. She looked momentarily surprised at my reaction before her eyes softened and she looked away from be, losing a bit of her blush. I rolled my eyes under the armor and instructed, "Hold still. It looks like a piece of paper popped out of your tail ring. I'm going to grab it." She froze, eyes widening but holding still like I asked. Slipping forward, I leaned over her and carefully touched the piece of paper, pulling it out and rolling backwards away from her before she could do anything. She gave a start, and then looked over at me in confusion as I slowly eased out of my guarded stance and set the paper down on the floor. My entire stomach was still sore, and rolling hadn't felt very good, I realized as I rubbed the spot idly. "M-Mender, I wasn't going to hit you," she muttered, and then looked down at my stomach in confusion. "You accidentally kicked me when you panicked," I explained, folding the paper open that was still attached to my magic. Okay, Rarity, you had some explaining to do... The paper had a smiley face on it, followed by, "Surprise! I'd say this was a present, Mender, but I have a sneaking suspicion you'll just let her go anyway, being a perfect gentlecolt. Which should be exactly what she needs. You two can be mad at me if you wish, and I apologize ahead of time. The safe word is 'Elegance'." What? I stared blankly at the paper, ignoring Twilight's gasp. She continued with, "Oh no, Mender! Are you okay? I just panicked and didn't think about where you were. Ugh, I'm so stupid! Of course you're not going to-" I cut off her rambling by saying 'Elegance' out loud, getting a confused look from her. The bar snapped off a second later, however, folding back up and away from her legs as all the chest and back buckles came undone, the costume literally falling off her into two parts. She looked beyond surprised when the horn ring flared up and shot off her as if pressurized, looking slightly blackened from the whole ordeal as it rolled to a stop, free of the draw cords that had held it on, and spun for a few rotations in front of the fireplace. Seeing the ring off her, I realized she was back in full control of her magic and sighed, folding the armor off my face and wincing lightly as it brushed tenderly over my cheek. Burns never felt good, and I shivered, numbing the nerves in the area with my cybernetics. "Just like that?" Twilight asked, looking down at the note, and then back up at me before widening her eyes at the burn. I nodded, however, and pointed out, "This wasn't my idea, and I don't know what Rarity was thinking. She says this might be 'just what you needed', whatever that means. Where did she even get a-" Twilight pounced me, however, her horn lighting up as we momentarily fell out of reality. I was used to her teleporting at this point and just closed my eyes until everything pulsed back, and we found ourselves in a bathroom instead. Her bathroom connected to her bedroom, more specifically. She started levitating first aid supplies out from the cabinet while resting on top of me, pulling over ointment and a clean cloth. "I'm sorry, Mender. The flares of energy discharge when I panicked must have burned you. I'm so stupid! Rarity's right, I was so dense that I needed this to really prove the point. Fluttershy's right, too. I... I didn't think I was particularly nervous around stallions, but... No, you're not going to hurt me, are you? Why did I think you would?" she whispered while applying ointment to the cloth. I felt my cheek slowly regenerating but just relaxed while she tended to the burn regardless, watching her as she talked mostly to herself. Fluttershy? I remembered the yellow mare's issues with thinking males were scary, but I didn't think Twilight had any particular fear of them. Although, maybe Twilight's only extended to the sexuality of males instead? She seemed to only be particularly nervous or afraid when that topic was brought up... "It's natural to be afraid, Twilight. Especially when restrained like that. Rarity didn't have to go to that extreme to prove a point," I retorted, lifting up the paper I had been holding when she tackled and teleported us. She read it for a moment before sighing and shaking her head, resuming applying burn ointment. "I'm not sure, Mender. It's like what Fluttershy dealt with. I don't know why I'm scared of you, though. I mean, logically, I know you're not going to hurt me. You obviously care about me and... You just let me go. You didn't even peek," she muttered, slowing down her soft rubbing along my cheek. I opened my eyes again and looked up at her, tilting my head as I saw her frown down at me, hesitating. Noting her not continuing, I decided to add, "You didn't tell me to do anything to you. Any situation like that is supposed to be consensual, even with one of those outfits. That's why Rarity set up the safe word to unlock it so fast." I neglected to mention that Keldarian females didn't bother with that 'consent' part, but figured she probably could already guess as much. Instead of answering, Twilight blushed softly and smiled down at me. I started to give her a questioning glance again when she leaned down instead and softly kissed my lips, melting against my chest as she relaxed. Okay, this was unexpected, but I couldn't complain. My forelegs slipped up and I gently held her close to me, feeling her coo pleasantly into the kiss. I wasn't entirely sure how long we stayed like that, but it must have been at least a few minutes, as soon enough, Fluttershy spoke up through the link. "Um, I don't mean to intrude and I'm sorry. Uh, I just wanted to make sure that you two were all right," she asked quietly. Were we? A glance towards Twilight showed her smiling happily, and she nodded, answering with, “We're just fine, Fluttershy. You can come up now if you'd like. Oh, and Rarity, too. I think we have a bit to discuss." Uh oh. Her smile didn't fade, and I suddenly couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. "Oh, um, okay. We'll be right up in a moment," Fluttershy returned, the link going quiet after. Well, whatever happened next, at least I felt a little closer to Twilight after all that. The mare in question smirked and pounced me into a kiss again almost immediately, apparently determined to squeeze a few more in before they got up here. It would seem that she felt closer to me, too. Suddenly, I think I realized exactly what Rarity had been thinking... * * * * * Yawning, I lazily stretched out on the bed, feeling comfortable finally, and perhaps a bit more like myself now that I had a gauze bandage pad stuck to my right cheek. Twilight lay next to me with her legs tucked under her, eyes lightly closed as she rested there. Of course, on the inside, I was gently navigating her through the sensations required to 'feel' where the other link holders were. We didn't have time to get very far, though, as I realized that Fluttershy's link showed her rapidly approaching the main doors to Twilight's bedroom suite. Both of us opened our eyes at the same time, her glancing slightly to the left at the entrance to her bedroom, and me staring blankly at the wall in front of me. This was either going to go amazingly, or devolve into an awkward yell fest. Again. Twilight might need cough drops by the end of the night. The lavender mare stood up a moment later, hopping off the bed and wandering out into the main room. I hesitated for a moment before sighing and following after. Fluttershy was walking up to Twilight when I exited the bedroom, while Rarity herself lagged behind slightly near the main doorway, looking a bit hesitant herself. I locked eyes with her as I walked out, and she smiled oh so slightly. I returned it, and she relaxed just a little. It was gone a moment later, however, as Twilight's horn lit up instead, levitating the 'outfit' out of the bedroom as well, securely tucked back into its bag, which I had assumed it came out of. "Ah, yes. I imagine you're done using it now. Uh, any damages I should be aware of?" she inquired quietly. Twilight gave her a skeptical, slightly annoyed look before adding, "Just the magical suppression ring. It got a little singed after I panicked when it locked me in," she returned, a sharp tone to her voice that made the mare wince. "I also had to bite through the cord on both the ball gag and blindfold, but it didn't look like those were part of the set anyway," I added, remembering that they had been made of cloth, while the outfit itself was that fake leather stuff. Fluttershy was blushing rather heavily at this point, and glanced over at the bag with a somewhat neutral expression. Rarity sighed and nodded towards the two of us before adding, "If it helps, I fully apologize, of course. I stand by my idea, however, and truly believed it would help you." Twilight frowned and started to open her mouth again, but I cut her off with, "It did. Thank you, Rarity. While your execution wasn't well thought out, the idea worked and I think we both trust each other more." Twilight looked genuinely surprised by my statement, turning to look at me as it replaced her prior anger from the link. If she was surprised, however, Rarity was entirely bewildered. "Oh, um, it helped both of you? It was more geared towards Twilight realizing you weren't going to harm her," the pearly unicorn muttered, tilting her head ever so slightly towards me. "I think she knows that now, yes. But it also helped me realize that. I didn't think Twilight trusted me at all prior, and that... Well, it frustrated and hurt at the same time. But she trusted me to help her take the outfit off without panicking, so..." It was hard to explain what was going through my own mind sometimes, so I just said the words as they came out this time. All three mares were smiling by the end of it, and the tension faded between the two unicorns. Twilight exhaled and nodded, admitting, "Yes, it did help. I didn't even realize how nervous Mender made me prior to it, but not only did it make me aware of the issue, it also went a good ways to letting me realize how much he cares for me. Especially as he puts up with all of this." I smiled towards her, but she leaned sideways instead and lightly kissed me on the jaw, a pink tint shifting into her cheeks. I felt a few heated thoughts drift through the link, causing Fluttershy to blush as well, but the lavender unicorn quickly banished them and turned back to Rarity instead. "That out of the way, I guess all that's left is to apologize for damaging the outfit. Uh, specialty wear like that probably isn't cheap," Twilight spoke up. That was a political way to avoid asking why Rarity had gear like that in the first place. The pearly unicorn frowned, and then simply shook her head, explaining, "The blindfold was the one you used earlier, and thusly, yours. The ball gag was merely a three bit purchase from a, well, novelty store I knew about in town. I picked up a few other things there, too, and it was hardly a big ticket item." Oh. Well, apart from the uncomfortable levels of information she just provided, at least that meant we had only destroyed Tia's sleep mask. I really should have recognized it. Further, the present she gave Fluttershy that I'd found in her drawer didn't seem all that strange anymore. Twilight blinked in mild confusion, then totally ignored all the awkward information in light of instead asking, "What about the magic suppression ring?! I kind of burnt it up, and last I saw, magic suppression items go for easily a hundred bits, special order!" Oh yeah. Making an item that could slow or halt magical flow in such a magically saturated dimension like this one was probably no easy task... "Oh, no, Twilight, I made that one," Rarity answered plainly, in the same way one might comment on the cake they baked. Oh. Twilight blanked completely, her link reading about as surprised as I felt. To complete the finishing touches on the critical system errors we were experiencing, Fluttershy instead spoke up with, "Oh yes, Rarity is good with magic that requires lots of small details! I've watched her do it, and it's quite pretty." Rarity herself smiled and nodded towards the yellow mare. "I wouldn't say I at all compare to Twilight, who embodies the Element of Magic, but I am proficient in spells that require an eye for detail. Cloth enchantment especially. That's what I use the magical suppression spell for the most. Ponies like a mild version of it on their clothes to protect from, well, incidents. They're good at resisting the elements and fire as well," she elaborated, nodding twice before hesitantly glancing toward me instead. Ugh. I saw it coming and flattened my ears down before she appended, "I put several dozen more layers onto anything I make for Mender, of course." Eh?! At that, Twilight finally started to snicker a little, and Fluttershy coughed lightly, looking away from me. I twitched lightly before asking, "How many layers normally go into your outfits?" A number without any context didn't have much meaning. "Oh, why one, usually. Or two for expensive or work clothes," she answered simply. Twilight started laughing instead, of course. "Hee, you do have terrible luck, Mender. Even without the gravity thing," she reminded unnecessarily. Twitching in a slightly more pronounced way, I shot back with, "Some of it isn't luck so much as, I don't know, my fillyfriend planting magical explosives on the wooden plank she precariously balanced me on, six stories in the air?" Twilight looked momentarily horrified, but then it was Rarity's turn to burst into a fit of giggles, which rapidly shifted the lavender unicorn to an annoyed expression instead. Fluttershy looked up the stairs at that point, probably looking for escape routes. I sent her a mental image of the full tower layout I'd collected a second later, giving her a start. Ah, right. She wasn't as pragmatic as I was sometimes. "I said I was sorry, Mender! Ugh, I'll make it up to you, I promise," Twilight assured, quickly turning back towards me instead. I actually anticipated her reaction and stepped forward as she rotated, her eyes widening but her not being able to react in time before I cleared the distance and kissed her gently on the lips. Her startled reaction quickly melted into a soft sigh as she leaned into my mouth a bit, starting to return it. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Rarity slowly start to blush, looking away from the two of us once she realized what she was doing, fully. I smirked into the kiss and pulled the lavender mare against me, just holding her there as I enjoyed the sensation of her soft lips against mine. Of course, then the door opened... "I think I picked up all the food that you wanted. Was there anything else that, uh, whoa," Spike admitted, eyes widening a little as he looked up from his tray of food and saw Twilight and me. Knowingly, I released the mare in time for her to blush and quickly back off a little bit. What actually surprised me was that she didn't actually break away from my embrace, instead just turning her head to look at Spike and smile sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Spike. Mender was, uh, forgiving me," she apologized, giggling at her own coy joke. "Is that what they call it now? My, it certainly gives one incentive to be bad if that's the sort of forgiveness you can expect," Rarity mused, eyes oh so subtly shifting back to look at Spike as he was setting out the food from the tray, oblivious to her attention, ironically. Heh, at least she was warming up to the idea. Ooh, and he'd brought sandwiches! Twilight smiled at that, however, hauling my attention back to her with a gentle kiss to my jaw. "I agree. But for now, I think we're all hungry enough. Are Rainbow and Applejack joining us for a late night snack?" she asked, glancing back to Rarity instead. The pearly mare jumped slightly, as if startled out of some deep thoughts before quickly looking back to us, asking, "Oh, um, what was that, Dear? Terribly sorry." Oh? Fluttershy gave a soft giggle before reiterating, "Um, Twilight asked if Applejack and Rainbow were going to join us. Oh, and where's, um, Pinkie? Isn't she rooming with you?" Oh, that's a good question. Was she in their room already, sleeping? I kind of had her pegged as a night owl, which made that concept weird. Plus, I hadn't seen either of the other two mares since getting back from escorting Octavia out. Rarity smiled finally and shook her head at Fluttershy. "No, Pinkie and Rainbow are out exploring the castle, despite already staying here a dozen times prior. I believe that's actually code for them being bored and looking for some hapless guard to harass. Applejack, however, wasn't feeling very well and turned in early. I'm a bit worried about her," she revealed, frowning towards the end. Uh oh. I knew the night before had, well, bothered her. She hadn't quite acted the same since then. I hadn't anticipated her having such an adverse reaction to just seeing my scars. The yellow pegasus wilted a little at that, but Twilight shot her an assuring smile from my embrace, suggesting, "We can always check up on her later tonight after we're done eating. Maybe bring her something to eat if she's awake? I'm sure she wouldn't mind the company." Yeah, I'd feel better checking up on her as well. I knew what horrible dreams could do, which is why I absolutely detested sleeping by myself. Fluttershy smiled at that, as did Rarity who nodded twice. "Indeed. The poor dear is losing sleep again, I hear. I've been meaning to ask if there's anything you can think of to help her, Twilight?" the unicorn asked, looking uncertain again. The mare that snuggled against me scratched her chin momentarily, the gears revving up in her mind as she considered the question. It took her almost fifteen seconds, but she eventually answered with, "While Princess Luna is certainly the most proficient with dream magic, and can visit ponies innately due to her status as Moon Princess, there are techniques in which we can visit other ponies' dreams. Mender himself developed a definite technique for visiting dreams without needing a unicorn's assistance, and could also probably help." Oh! True. Why beat around the bush when we could just go directly to the source of the problem? Smiling, I nodded before adding something I'd been considering since sharing the dreams with Sweetie a while back. "One thing I'd been wondering about, actually, is if I could use the links to pull ponies into our dreams without being physically there? If so, it might be possible to help Applejack without needing to stay at the farm. But that's an experiment for another night, obviously," I reasoned, tilting my head towards Twilight for input. She perked at that answer, eyes brightening significantly as I saw her sharp mind immediately start to formulate information from that little suggestion. "Oh, I forgot about the links! Yes, it might very well be possible. Although from our experiences, in order to have a truly lucid dream for all, Mender would have to go to sleep first. He's the only pony apart from Princess Luna that I know of that can lucid dream without any sort of prior practice or training," she deduced. Yeah, I wasn't able to pull Fluttershy into a lucid state when she went to sleep before me. Everything was hazy, and I could tell she wasn't considering what was going on to be real. Rarity looked intrigued at all the new information and nodded slowly after a long ten seconds or so. "It would be possible, then, to interrupt whatever nightmare she's having and replace it with hanging out with us, instead?" she inquired, obviously trying to get a summary. I shook my head, however, smiling towards Spike, who slid a sandwich over towards me knowingly. "Interrupting it would be a good thing, but I hope that we can actually dissect the bad dream and show her that it's just that. Maybe, if we can do that, she won't have as many in the future and will be able to sleep better?" I suggested, snatching up the sandwich with a glowing hoof and immediately digging in. This would help my cheek repair itself, too! Rarity giggled at my exuberance before politely picking up a small cup of the tea she'd poured herself, floating it to her muzzle with grace. Twilight looked more lost in thought, and Spike frowned towards the tray as if staring past it. "Just, uh, go into her dream by yourself first?" he suggested slowly, looking back up at me with an uneasy expression. Huh? Oh. Twilight paled, immediately understanding the problem, but Rarity frowned, lowering her cup a little while Fluttershy tilted her head, giving Spike a confused look. To my surprise, the lavender mare shook her head as she settled back into a laying position next to me instead. "No, I think I can go in with him. I saw a lot that night, too," she whispered. We hadn't talked about it all that much. She'd found my leg lying in a smear of blood and gore on the second floor of the library and promptly ran into the bathroom to throw up. It had been blown in through the door to the balcony, I imagined, when Applejack smashed the entire thing free from the side of the tree. It hadn't looked good at all, but she organized a search party for me regardless with Princess Luna's help. She hadn't given up on me, even with overwhelming evidence against me being alive still. Rarity's eyes softened a little bit, and Fluttershy shrank down to my other side, suddenly realizing what we were talking about. She especially was not going in with me until I 'secured' the dream from all gory details that Applejack might be remembering. "You don't have to repeat that experience, Twilight. This is to help Applejack, not make you sick," I reminded, frowning down at the tray. I suddenly wasn't as hungry, but decided I should still make myself eat. I needed the energy to fuel my regeneration. It was kind of amusing how Twilight had started abusing that aspect now, getting me food whenever I got injured. Heh. "It's okay, Mender. I'll be expecting it this time, so, well, it won't be as bad. Still, only we should go in first. Nopony needs to see that sort of thing that doesn't have to," Twilight continued, stirring her tea while Spike poured it, the spoon glowing softly with the colors of her magic. It made sense, and I didn't question it that far. To be honest, I trusted Twilight to know what she was capable of managing. Spike finished pouring her cup and set the larger pitcher down again as I took another bite of my sandwich. He looked uncertain for a moment before speaking up. "Wouldn't Rainbow want to be there, too? Just a thought." Heh, and what a thought it was. Everypony smiled knowingly at that, and I found it amusing how certain things could be universally understood like that so quickly. Rarity smirked further a second later. "That's an astute observation, Spike. Rainbow would certainly gain 'points' with Applejack if she helped to take away the-" she started to deduce. She was cut off by my suddenly surprised expression, followed a second later by Fluttershy's and Twilight's. Rainbow herself popped in over our mental channels, her heart rate going through the roof. I flicked on my speaker just in case. "Ah, M-Mender, help! Pinkie and I just got back and... AJ is..." she started to quickly explain, panting tiredly. She still let what she was saying out loud bleed through into the mental connection, I noticed. "What's wrong with Applejack?!" I asked quickly, pulling up her status connection. Oddly, it showed all green and sleeping soundly. Rainbow centered herself, the sensation feeling a bit on the weird side through the link, and then explained, "She's having a nightmare again, yelping and rolling back and forth in bed. I can't wake her up!" Eh?! Frowning, I looked back at the normal display results, shifting that window over to my projector. Rarity gave it a blank stare as it popped up, but Twilight frowned at it, apparently recognizing the 'nominal' results of an electrocardiogram readout. Wait... I ran the active scan results through a pattern filter. It only took three cycles for it to pick up the fact that her breathing was alternating on a very specific pattern, as was her heart rate. An organic creature couldn't do that... Nopony could regulate their breathing that precisely. Narrowing my eyes, I fired a ping off instead, straight down her link. Three seconds passed, and then four. It should have only taken a hundredth of a second at best, at this range. That wasn't... No, that couldn't be possible. "We need to get up there, now," I warned, standing up immediately and abandoning the remainder of my sandwich, which I normally wouldn't do for the world. AJ held one of the special places in my heart, however, even if she could be a stubborn pain sometimes. Twilight nodded and lifted a hoof towards Rarity again, Fluttershy standing and flopping over my back to touch her hooves against Twilight's side. Spike barely managed to dive in time and grab Rarity as reality fell away, pulling us all inside the implosion in an instant, then yanking us upwards.
Chapter 72It was always disorienting when first falling out of Twilight's teleportation effect. Well, I imagine I would be with all teleportation effects, but I didn't exactly have a lot of comparison. Fluttershy landed rather smoothly against us, Twilight bracing me up with her forelegs as we came to a halt. Rarity landed into a slight stumble as she was standing when we made the transition. Spike moved forward and grabbed her shoulder to steady her while the world slowly stopped moving. Okay, carpeting under me and warm temperatures meant I was inside and in one of the bedrooms, more than likely. Rainbow looked somewhat surprised as we suddenly appeared in the room as well, giving out a yelp as the flash illuminated the surroundings, dropping the wet towel she had in her mouth. The lights were fully on, to my surprise, and it wasn't hard to also make out the shifting orange hoofs up on the bed, despite not being able to see up there from this level. "Ah! That was fast! Uh, I can't get her to wake up, and I don't know what to do. She's having a nightmare," she quickly pointed out, gesturing to the bed from her spot near the bathroom door. Turning, I hopped up onto the bed at the same time as Twilight. She gave a squeak, however, and I moved my head out of the way just in time to avoid a flailing hoof to the face. Thankfully the mare wasn't moving very fast in her sleep, because her outright kicks hurt like hell. Slipping over her, I gently held her still as she rolled, muttering quietly while trying to move her forelegs. "Her eyes are moving fast and her heart rate is way higher than normal. Can we do a dream connection during the REM stage?" Twilight pondered, mostly to herself I assumed, because I certainly didn't have an answer to that. Spike and Rainbow hopped up next, the cyan mare slipping up next to me and taking over holding Applejack still while I tried to get a forehead connection. This was going to be the tricky part, I suspected. Twilight moved up next to me as well and got ready to get her horn into contact range. I tried lining up our foreheads while Dash tried to get a hold of her head. "Ah, wait, can I come in, too?!" Rainbow quickly asked when she saw me start to close my eyes. Eh?! She wanted to come in as well? I didn't have time to protest as a sudden jerk from the orange mare under me caused her to head butt my snout and stars momentarily exploded across my vision. I backed up and held my muzzle while Fluttershy moved in unexpectedly from my right and rubbed it for me. Ah, she had gotten up onto the bed, too. "If you're sure, Rainbow. It's, um, well it might be kinda scary and gross," Fluttershy warned, ears flattening down. Sighing, I finished massaging my snout, and then appended, "Yeah, if she's dreaming about what I imagine she is, I should remind everypony that I did get my foreleg torn off and it wasn't exactly a pleasant image, I imagine." My left shoulder gave a dull throb, remembering the event and causing me to flex it gently. Rainbow just snorted, however, before pushing into the orange mare's back, wrapping her legs around her to stop her from moving around again. "No way. I want to be there for AJ if I can be. I care about her, even not considering my other feelings about her. So bring me in, too!" she adamantly requested. Heh, right. Loyalty. She was also seriously gutsy. That would have been, at the very least, awkward had the mare she was holding woken up during that statement. I can't imagine going from vivid nightmare to romantic confession was advisable. "Fine. I'm going to try pulling you in using just the link first, but if that doesn't work, you two are going to have to use physical contact with my forehead. Just shift me over after I fall asleep," I instructed, glancing to the right at Twilight as well. She smiled at that and nodded promptly to me, probably eager to see if the links worked at distance, too. Rarity nodded curtly, sitting on the bed now. "Yes, Fluttershy and I shall try to keep her still and prevent her from kicking any of you in her sleep. Bruises are never fashionable, and we all know how strong the stubborn mare is. After she settles, and you stop the nightmare, can we join as well?" she requested softly. Seeing all of her friends so concerned for her left a warm sensation in my chest, and I smiled. "Oooh, me, too!" Pinkie squealed out of nowhere an instant later, however, almost giving me a heart attack as she bounced into the room suddenly from the outer walk. Gah! I was tempted to set up a proximity warning for her, too, but honestly, I was afraid of the results it would get. Pinkie had an uncanny ability to not entirely obey the laws of physics. Dash twitched lightly and looked back up at the pink one as she bounded up onto the mattress. "Where'd you go?! I thought you were right behind me when we got back to the tower. You could have helped me with AJ," she asked, looking a bit miffed. Heh. She was worried about Applejack and didn't want to admit it. "Bakery!" Pinkie announced as if it should be the most obvious answer in the world. She then presented her evidence by unloading several bags of baked treats onto the bedside stand from her two saddlebags. Huh. Yeah, I had no comment whatsoever. "Right. Uh, I'm going to start the operation, then. Twilight and Dash are coming in with me first, and then the rest of you follow after we 'secure' the dream. Spike can also join us then," I summarized, smiling over at the lonely looking dragon. He perked up at that and nodded, giving the distinct impression he thought he was going to be left out of the 'experiment'. Rarity giggled at his expression, assuring, "Why of course you can, Spike. Just touch your forehead to my horn when Mender goes to pull me in." Oh, how scandalous! Of course, he swooned at that, and I could practically see the hearts in his eyes as he nodded towards Rarity. In order to fight back my snicker, I instead rotated back to face the orange mare, who was still shaking and shivering. She'd waited too long already. Leaning down, I pushed my forehead into hers, my muzzle sliding along the side of hers to make room as I felt out with my energy. The connection was almost instantaneous, a flicker of light dancing between our foreheads as I closed my eyes. Slipping inside of myself first, I immediately felt the connection with her without even needing the forehead link. Using that instead, I tugged my awareness into her, feeling myself momentarily drifting before my focus snapped back in place. No, I couldn't let myself get sucked into her nightmare! Feeling my lucid state stabilize, I reached out to both Twilight and Rainbow and gave a warning tug. I felt them return it, and I pulled them in. To my pleasant surprise, I felt them both following as we fell into her nightmare... * * * * * There was always a problem with spatial details, I noticed. Ever since I had started becoming lucid in my dreams, I'd noticed that actually dreaming individuals didn't manifest much outside of the current 'scene' in the dream. Everything apart from the dream is a hazy absence, seen as a neutral dark gray by us, I imagine. The mind was amazingly complex, and had a way of making up information in order to protect itself. Like the color pink, which actually had no known light wavelength, so in theory, we just make up what it looks like. Actually, Pinkie made more sense, somehow, considering that. Regardless, Applejack's dream was no different. I stepped out into dark gray nothing, a thick haze or mist spreading as far as the eye could see. Both mares following me took form rapidly, projected into the dream through my own computer assistance. Rainbow's ears drooped as she got a good look around, but Twilight just frowned, an intense focus snapping into play across her expression. "Okay, we made it here, and entering the dream through your links actually works. Now, uh, where's the actual dream?" she inquired, looking around carefully. My eyes closed and I focused, feeling out the emptiness around us. Distance and space meant nothing here as we were actually inside Applejack's mind. It was just a matter of finding where her consciousness currently dwelled. Given the flurry of mental activity that her nightmare was generating, it didn't take me long at all to find just that. It took even less time for me to regret it. The smell hit us first as the mists parted in front of us with my focus. I knew it intimately as blood, in large quantities. I felt Rainbow swallow uneasily next to me, and Twilight's horn lit up with amazing speed, her eyes narrowing forward at the image slowly coming into view. "I found it. It's not pleasant," I warned immediately, just in case they had any last second votes for me to go on alone. Of course, at this 'distance' to me, that being literally inside my mind, neither had any trouble picking up my intended question. "No, Mender. I'm staying here with you this time. You're not facing this alone," Twilight assured with no hesitation whatsoever, stepping up next to me instead. Rainbow closed her eyes for just a second before nodding firmly and opening them again. I was surprised to note anger in them as she re-focused on straight ahead. "No, I'm staying. I have a feeling I'm going to want to kick some dream-pony flank, and no matter how horrible it is, Applejack needs me. Us," she confirmed. Figured that neither of them would want to back out, but it was only polite to ask. Nodding, I turned back to the image at hoof. The scene was barely over a half dozen meters in diameter, forming a 'bubble' of reality consisting largely of Twilight's balcony. I knew it would be here. This was ground zero for Applejack's regrets. Details snapped into focus as I walked towards it, a determined-feeling mare to each side of me. Applejack still didn't respond to my pings, even when I was right inside her mind, which was more than a little disconcerting. The smell was stronger, and the night backdrop of the scene blended seamlessly in with the darkness outside of it. The seething hatred and sorrow almost came alive as we stepped within a few meters, and I frowned. Hatred? Applejack was sealed to the wall of the library tree house, right next to the door out to the second floor balcony. The cage locking her there, and even the position it was stuck at was exactly the same as I remembered from that night, bringing a lump to my throat. No, it was fake. I had to keep her nightmare separate. Sound cut in all at once, giving us a combined start in surprise at Applejack's scream. It was that of misery rather than rage, however, further making the hatred I felt seem weird. She repeatedly struck at the bars of the glowing energy cage as she sobbed, trying to get free and somehow get to me. What was left of me lay on the floor of the balcony in a smear of my own blood, my severed left leg lying nearby but still within sight of Applejack, of course. Glass and wooden shards from the window stabbed into me in dozens and dozens of places, and a blade was actively being pushed, twisting under the bone of my right shoulder. That fake me made pitiful, weak gurgling noises as he struggled shakily, empty eyes staring right at Applejack while his hoof limply reached towards the cage. Twilight, or should I say the fake Twilight form that Nirru had taken, sat next to my fallen dream self, slowly pushing her hoof blade into me while grinning at Applejack. Twilight gasped as she saw herself, then squeaked out, "T-That's me!" Rainbow snarled instead, instantly correcting, "No. That's Nirru, who took your form. She's evil." Her words were laced with venom and far more hostility than I'd ever heard from the cyan mare. It didn't surprise me in the slightest, however, and I nodded as well. "She's right. That's Nirru, and vaguely what I looked like that night, although she never stabbed me again. Applejack's mind is making it worse," I warned, frowning as I shifted my attention away from the orange mare in question and at the surrounding bubble. Something was wrong, but I couldn't place what it was. Dash snapped into a crouch instantly, instead. "Well, let's kick her flank and get her away from AJ!" she snarled, shooting ahead in an instant with her trademark speed. "Rainbow, no!" I called out, far too late, of course. She smashed right into the bubble and stopped as if she hit a brick wall. I winced as she skipped off it and rolled, crashing back into the 'ground' we stood on at the base of the bubble. Twilight called out her name in surprise, then ran after her, sliding up and helping the wincing mare get back up to her hooves. I approached the bubble a bit slower, looking up at it as I closed the distance. "There's some sort of barrier that's surrounding her. I can't even get a ping through it, which isn't good. I don't even know how she managed to do this to herself, unless she's somehow subconsciously blocking us in trying to run away," I explained, glancing over to Twilight for ideas. Rainbow's readings were normal, and I knew she was okay, if not a little stunned. “I’ve never heard of something like this in a dream before. What’s causing it?” Twilight quickly asked, trotting along the side of the bubble after helping Dash back up. The cyan mare gave a frustrated groan, stomping her hooves before reaching out and swatting the barrier a couple of times. I knew that wouldn’t have mattered. The barrier technically wasn’t here, but was instead some sort of block against intruders into the dream. But why? Sitting down, I quickly started to examine it, looking past what we saw and at the connection inwards instead. There was indeed a block there, and a rather adamant one at that. Although Applejack was a stubborn mare, so that didn’t particularly surprise me. Was she really subconsciously blocking us, though? Twilight sat down a couple meters from me, also looking at the shield with a frown. I had no doubt she also knew it wasn’t technically there, and I saw her horn start to slowly glow as her energy felt against it curiously. Rainbow looked through it instead, watching the scene unfold. “You really are foolish, aren’t you, Applejack? You can’t even fully grasp the gravity of what you did, can you?” Nirru asked, her voice entirely different than Twilight’s, which made it seem really weird coming from a Twilight simulacrum. The orange mare struggled to pull herself upright again, bloodshot and wet eyes turning back to the fake Twilight. “Please… no. It… Ah understand! Ah told ya, Ah understand!” she begged. My frown heightened as I’d never seen her beg before, and it was disturbing on several levels. Nirru actually giggled at that and shook her head, adding, “I don’t think you do. Let’s recap! That sounds fun!” How long had this been going on?! A low growl came from Dash next to me as my eyes narrowed. My severed leg was lifted up next using Nirru’s hoof, the gravity distortion visible from her manipulation of it. She spun it around, however, and smashed it into the side of the cage in an instant, causing a spray of blood to go across Applejack’s face as fresh gashes were torn in it. The orange mare yelped and shrank away as if burned, backing into the other corner of the cage. “See?! He lost this leg for you. You were the one that was so pathetic that he had to use his magic to defend you, which directly led to him getting this torn off. Do you realize how much agony he was in? Oh, wait, you don’t, do you? You got away with just a little bruise on your shoulder… How lucky,” Nirru cooed, smirking as she tossed the leg aside and Applejack started sobbing again, smashing her hoof into the floor in frustration. What the hell?! Rainbow paled a little at the sight of the gore, but her anger fought through anything else and she snarled, slamming both hooves into the barrier. “Mender, open this thing! We need to get in there and flatten that mare!” she snarled, looking over to me rapidly. I nodded, explaining, “I’m trying to figure out how to get it open. This is stopping my pings, too, which I didn’t think was possible to do. It’s like…” It was strange. Familiar, but strange at the same time. I’d seen something similar to this, it felt like, but in a totally different situation. What was it?! Twilight stood up on her hind legs and felt up the barrier with her front ones, horn still glowing. It only took her a few seconds to report, “It’s weird. I don’t feel any magic coming from Applejack at all. Earth ponies have magic inside of them all the same, but it must all be locked inside the barrier with her consciousness.” They could do that? Nirru moved again, the wood of the balcony creaking as she slipped back over to my fallen form. A flick of her hoof later, she slammed it down on my neck and Applejack screamed out for her to stop at the top of her lungs. “Aww, you do seem to care about him. Maybe you aren’t lying? But then why did you not believe him at all that night? Why did you buck him through a window, shattering six of his ribs into his lungs? You know I didn’t actually do anything to him. He died from your wounds first,” she teased out, smirking. Wait, what?! I knew Applejack had seen the medical report, but there was no way she could have known about those wounds actually being the ones to kill me. Why was her subconscious even doing this to her?! The orange mare fell to her stomach, spasming once, then twice more. Wincing, I looked away as she threw up across the floorboards. Rainbow brought both hooves to her mouth as she watched, eyes wide and the color drifting out of her face. “Rainbow, look away until we get the shield down,” I warned, shifting to focusing on that instead. So her magic was inside of this thing, too? That meant that some part of the barrier had to be magic in and of itself, right? But that would mean that she was stopping her own magic flow inside of her body while stuck like this. “N-No! I have to help her. Please tell me we can get in there?” Dash asked, standing up again and slamming both hooves into the barrier. Again and again she hit it, but it didn’t so much as vibrate. Brute force wasn’t going to work. The Twilight look-alike smirked at the lack of answer and sat down on my body this time. “But we’ve been through all this already. You know what you did wrong. You betrayed an innocent pony and murdered them, all because of a misunderstanding. Somepony who you told was a friend before that. You’re the monster, no matter how scary he is. Oh, right. He is a monster now, isn’t he? Not only did you kill him, but you also ruined his only dream in life. Now he can never be normal,” she rubbed in. I froze, my eyes widening at the scene. No, I… I had never told Applejack about that. Intentionally, I’d never told her because it would only make her feel bad! There was no way she could have known about that. Oh, oh hell. Were my links somehow sending subliminal information to the mares connected to them?! Twilight frowned, too, looking over towards me as well, although I barely registered her. I shook my head slowly instead, defending with, “No, she shouldn’t know that. I never told anypony about that except for the two royal sisters, Fluttershy, and you! Why would I tell her something that would only make her feel bad?!” Twilight looked momentarily sad while Rainbow’s eyes softened towards me. “I… I didn’t know that either. Mender…” she muttered, looking uncertain what to say. Shaking my head, I looked down and away from her quickly, it suddenly hurting to make eye contact. I made no secret to myself that I found what I actually was to be disgusting. I was unnatural, and would never lead a normal life. I’d admitted that to myself, so why did it still hurt me to see others realize it? Applejack’s voice snapped me out of it a second later. “P-Please, just stop… Ah’m sorry. Ah… Ah’ll do anything ta….” she murmured, ears dropping down as she lay there, covered in my blood. She looked so tired and sick. It was disgusting to think of her like that. Why was she so hard on herself? “Oh, you’re sorry. Well, that makes it all better. I guess that means he can be happy being a freaky monster now and life can resume like normal!” Nirru chimed in, interrupting her in a singsong voice. Ugh. She was the monster, if nothing else. Applejack’s memory of her was spot on, it would seem. Sadly, she continued talking with, “Not! No, what you did can never be fixed. So the only option you have really is to just kill yourself. Of course, that would disappoint all those ponies relying on you, so I guess you’re stuck. Maybe if you beg him enough and do anything he asks, he might not hate you as much?” What the hell?! I didn’t hate her at all. How many times did I have to tell the mare that? Did she really not trust my word in the slightest?! Twilight sat upright fully again, however, glaring at the scene. “This can’t be possible. Are we really seeing only Applejack’s input on the event?” she asked, a certain underlying tension in her voice that betrayed her surprisingly calm demeanor. Only her input? I raised an eyebrow and looked back at Nirru instead. Something was… Applejack let out a groan and smashed the bottom of her cage with her hoof. “Ah already said Ah’d do anything! He… He doesn’t want anything, though. He…” She slumped again, sliding her cheek down the bar of her cage before choking back another sob, only to roughly cough instead. “Psh, he’s a stallion. There’s always something in particular they want. Hmm, you do have a nice, sturdy body, don’t you? So strong and healthy. Why, that’s probably the only use you could be to him anymore. Lift that pretty little rump up for him and give him a few healthy foals. Every stallion wants a legacy, no?” she suggested, standing up fully off the fake body. My eyes widened. That was… It echoed through my mind in a heartbeat. Her tone. It was the same tone I’d heard her use before! "You're stronger than me, Mender. By our oldest laws, that means you can have me. I'll have to do anything you say.” Over and over again, it repeated in my mind. Creeping cold came over me as my eyes narrowed further. “W-What?! Why is she dreaming…?!” Rainbow asked, eyes widening in surprise at the same time Twilight’s did. I ignored her and slipped into scanning mode again. No, it couldn’t be. Could it? Instead of trying to read for energy or traces of enchantment, I switched to code injection instead and did a ping reading on the barrier rather than Applejack. It came back this time, but with firewall details instead. Son of a bitch! It wasn’t a barrier at all! They both felt the spike of anger from me, Rainbow looking over suddenly in surprise as I smashed my hoof against the barrier. This was a firewall. It was being used to intercept my signal and send me a fake one back. But this wasn’t just any firewall. I ran the code exploit into it, and almost growled as I got a confirmation back and the administrator panel opened up for me. No, it was the firewall I made to protect the links inside of myself. I’d left myself a small backdoor, just in case. “That’s not a dream. That’s really Nirru inside Applejack’s nightmare,” I warned, pulling up the command console and switching it to debug. Once it gave me full administrative access, I ran the diagnostics for it. One ‘CPCOR’ was the administrator of it, which didn’t tell me much. It had been up for two hours now, which made sense. “W-What?! Wait, that Nirru that you see sometimes?!” Twilight asked quickly, eyes widening as she stood up again, looking back over at her double. Applejack looked utterly miserable. If that Nirru had been ‘visiting’ her every night, I had no doubts as to why anymore. She was intentionally torturing her. Why was she doing this?! The orange mare swallowed, lifting her muzzle up again with her own vomit dripping from her chin, shivering. “Ah’ll do anything fer him. Anything…” she repeated, her left hoof lifting up and touching against her navel, shakily. No. This was enough. “Rainbow, I’m going to disable the shield. She’ll know something’s wrong instantly. I want you to move as fast as you can and put a hoof into her face. After hitting her as hard as you can, grab Applejack and fly towards Twilight at top speed,” I ordered, forming the image for the maneuver in my head. She was way faster than me. I found the memory address for the cage that was holding Applejack and locked onto it. Rainbow’s surprised look shifted into a determined one instead and she nodded abruptly, turning back towards them and crouching down, her wings expanding out, then extending with jets. Twilight’s horn lit up as she crouched down next to Rainbow, ready to retaliate on anything Nirru came at us with. This was going to be fast… The cage got flagged for deletion a second later, and I rebooted the firewall, taking over complete administration in the same instant. Nirru’s eyes widened, but it was far too late as I flicked the entire thing off. Rainbow flickered, then was gone almost faster than I could trace. Nirru’s head whipped to the side to look over at us, then a fraction of a second later, the cyan hoof cratered into her muzzle and sent her reeling backwards and crashing into the balcony rail. I was moving an instant later, clearing the distance in a single leap, albeit not nearly as fast as Rainbow had. The cage disintegrated as I jumped and to my surprise, I passed Rainbow in midair. Holy hell could that mare move when motivated by something! Applejack was still in the middle of looking completely stunned as she was pulled sideways, wrapped in two blue forelegs. “You bi-“ was all Nirru got out of her mouth before I smashed into her, snapping her back through the railing and sending both of us toppling off the balcony. My processors revved up, expanding on Applejack’s memory and making ground under us as we crashed into it, her on the bottom. My armor was out just as the point of her blade tried to go into my chest half a second later. It snapped off completely on my plating, and all eight of my tentacles shot down and pinned her to the ground completely. “What are you doing here?!” I demanded instantly, glaring down at her close enough to spread the blue glow from my eyes out across her entire shocked expression. I felt my armored lips curl back, the serrated teeth glinting in the moonlight. She smirked a second later, although it lacked the conviction of her usual attitude. “You found me. It didn’t take you as long as I was hoping for. I should have known. Still, I think I got the idea fairly engrained in her. She’d make a good mate for-“ she started to explain. My upper right tendril whipped down into her head an instant later with a satisfying crunch. No, I didn’t even care why she was here, I suddenly realized. I’d look into ‘how’ she got here after this, and make sure she’d never bother Applejack ever again. Slowly, I got up off her body as it started to distort and fade away. I felt unclean just from touching her. Why was she trying to get Applejack to…? No, I didn’t even care. Twilight’s voice called out over our link a half a second later with, “Mender, are you okay? I can still feel you, but that presence that was here is gone…” Hopping backwards, I flicked myself back up to the balcony and landed carefully on the railing, rotating and balancing as I turned to face Twilight. The lavender mare walked up tentatively, shivering and quickly looking away from my fake body. I grabbed the link to that, too, and made it fade away for her. “I’m fine, Twilight. It really was her, turns out. That Nirru that’s inside my head, anyway. I don’t know how she got in here without me noticing, but I deleted her and cleaned the link,” I muttered, frowning at the mess that was left over. It looked exactly like the balcony did that night, with the shards of glass and wood I was lying on, and the cracks that Applejack’s hoof had caused under her cage. Those had later expanded to tear the entire balcony off the side of the tree, I remembered. It was fuzzy, and I was pretty sure I’d lost a lot of blood at that point, so the details were a bit vague. Rainbow herself flew back up after realizing we were in the clear. Applejack clung to her in surprise, her back legs dangling down as she was slowly lowered back to the wooden planks. “W-What? What is this? Ah’ve never been rescued before. Wait… this is ah dream!” she suddenly exclaimed, looking around in surprise. She was lucid! Nirru was intentionally keeping her lucid?! This was practically torture… “It was a nightmare, Applejack. We’re real, however. We connected to you in your mind through the link you have with me,” I revealed, frowning towards the mare. She stared at me for a long second before her eyes softened and she looked down and away. “Ya… Ya heard all that, then?” she asked, although it didn’t really sound like a question. Twilight’s ears flattened down and she frowned at that, looking back to me instead. “Mender, could you get us someplace more pleasant and bring the others in?” she asked, gesturing to the side with her foreleg at the balcony. Oh, right! Nodding, I focused and shifted the dreamscape entirely, now being in full control of it like Nirru had been prior. Things flickered around me rapidly, and then expanded out into broad daylight overhead, the smell of salt water hitting us instantly alongside the sound of crashing surf. The beach expanded out in two directions away from us, the warm sand under hoof as I detailed the area with some mountains in the distance and soft clouds overhead. A nice palm tree expanded next to us, clustering out with several of its fellows to provide shade. From what textbooks had told, the landscape I was forming was similar to what Keldar looked like before the Keldarian’s trashed it to fuel their war machine. It was originally a hot climate, and largely tropical except for the colder north and south areas, which were more temperate in nature. Sadly, the scenery was largely wasted for the moment on Applejack herself, who instead turned and promptly buried her face in Rainbow’s chest fur. Dash looked more surprised than anything, and then slowly frowned as she hugged the orange mare against her. Pinkie answered my ping almost immediately, which didn’t surprise me at all, honestly. “Oooh, AJ stopped shaking and stuff. Is everything okay?!” she asked without missing a beat. I was happy she was first curious as to her friend being okay. “Yeah, Pinkie. Applejack’s okay now. Is everypony set to come in?” I asked quietly. The orange mare heard it regardless, her ear twitching back slightly as her right eye opened, rotating to look at me instead. “E-Everypony?” she asked quietly, sounding surprised. “Of course, AJ! All your friends are here for you. You don’t have to go through this alone, Silly!” Pinkie announced, totally ignoring my question and pulling herself into the dream right then and there. AH! Okay then, I guess she was ready! I didn’t even try to guess how she did that without my help. Fluttershy gave out a soft giggle at her antics, slowly fading in as well, but also holding on to Rarity at the same time, whose horn was still glowing. The pearly mare moved back off Fluttershy and further surprised me, revealing Spike tucked in against her chest. His eyes slowly opened, and then widened as he looked around at the balmy, tropical setting he found himself in. “Oh, this is nice,” Fluttershy complimented, shaking her head lightly and letting the wind catch her mane, it flowing sideways on her as she smiled. Applejack had lifted her head at that point and looked around at the four newcomers, looking entirely surprised at the series of events, also having not quite recovered from the shock of our ‘rescue’. I smiled towards her regardless, deciding to elaborate with, “We’re linked through the disks, except for Rarity, who’s coming in off Fluttershy’s link. We’re all really here, Applejack. This is a dream and we’re all asleep on your bed in the outside world. Rainbow found you having a nightmare and alerted us all.” She looked at me in disbelief for a moment before exhaling and sitting up fully off Rainbow, although refusing to move further away from the cyan mare. “Ah… Ah can’t honestly believe this is happenin’. Ah’ve had that same nightmare every night since it happened…” she muttered, looking extremely tired still. That. That was very important! “Was Nirru there every night like that?” I asked quietly, frowning to myself. I had Twilight’s attention almost instantly, and Rainbow swallowed, obviously remembering what had happened. Applejack considered it for a long moment, frowning to herself before finally nodding. "Uh, yeah. Ah remember not havin' it tha first few nights after tha incident. Those were just black nights where Ah'd pass out an' not remember anything. Uh, Ah think it was two or three days later that Ah started havin' tha real nightmares," she muttered, her eyes getting a far away look to them. Crap. That lined up with when she was registered in the disks then, not when I activated her just this trip. Twilight nodded as well, obviously knowing what I was considering. "It's the disks. When I had Applejack register her Cutie Mark on one, that's when the dreams started. Nirru used the link to get inside and give Applejack nightmares," she voiced. I felt myself swallow uneasily as Rarity and Fluttershy both gasped. Applejack looked more shocked than anything, however. "W-Wait, that was tha real Nirru? Like, the same one that's in yer head and bugs ya from time ta time?" she asked instantly, eyes widening. Slowly, I nodded, afraid to admit it myself. Her nightmares had been my fault then. "I'm sorry, Applejack. I'm going to find out how she got in here first thing tomorrow, and make sure she never can again. Also, I think it would be a wise idea to start having joint dreams for everypony for a few nights, at least until I can sort out how she's doing this. I don't want her to target anypony else because we stopped her here," I warned. Twilight gave me a nod, but Rarity paled a little. It was hard to notice on her already rather pale fur, and I realized it must be a really bad one. Tentatively, I again wondered why the fur of ponies' faces matched their skin tones underneath, but now wasn't a good time to ask. "Um, you think she could target us, too? What exactly, um, was she doing?" the pearly mare asked uneasily, a healthy dose of concern readily apparent in her tone. I shook my head, however, assuring, "No, she can't target you anymore. I know about it now, and am not going to let her." I couldn't stop a bit of the hostility from slipping into my voice, but oddly, it appeared to actually comfort her more, and she gave me a soft smile instead. Maybe that's what Nirru had really been after? To get me upset. I noticed nothing pushed my buttons quite as hard as somepony messing with my friends. It had gotten her murdered the first time. Applejack let out a tired sigh and lay down next to Rainbow before speaking up with, "It ain't yer fault, Mender. Given what Ah know about ya, Ah have ah suspicion ya'd be 'ere tha first night, had ya known. Also, ya really don't wanna ask that, Rare." I blushed a little, realizing she was right regardless. Heh, probably towards Rarity, too. Rainbow didn't look anywhere near satisfied, however. "But... It doesn't make any sense! Why was she trying to convince Applejack to..." Her voice trailed off as she shuddered at the last minute. I amused myself considering if I should be proud of her or insulted. "Um, to what?" Fluttershy asked softly, looking concerned towards Rainbow. Well, she felt concerned as well, given we were close enough to easily pick up base emotions now. Sighing, I finished it for her with, "Mate with me. And I don't know. The first time I saw her, she tried the same thing with me, but more directly, obviously." Rarity let out a squeak, but to my surprise, Twilight only frowned. "It has to be something to do with that DNA thing in you. The real Nirru came here trying to get the DNA out of you to bring back to her dimension, right? But she barely had the patience to wait a few minutes for it. This Nirru not only seems intent on having you actually use the DNA to mate, but has lasted a whole lot longer, using subtlety to try to get her way. Honestly, I don't think she's actually Nirru," Twilight concluded, striking so many pointed statements that it made me want to groan and smack my face into the ground. I'd already tentatively considered that it wasn't actually Nirru, but I was more considering it a virus she put in me at this point. Twilight was right, though. Why the sudden change of motive? Applejack huffed weakly, asking, "So it wasn't who Ah was at all, but just because Ah'm ah sturdy Earth Mare?" Ah, true. She had the highest constitution out of all six of them, and was probably the healthiest, too. If looking only objectively at it, she was the best 'breeding' material. Ugh. Still, she was probably also picked because she had the guilt issue that could be singled out easily. "Aww! Why wasn't I picked, too?! I'm an Earthy Pony," Pinkie chirped, completely missing the point of it being something to not strive towards. To my surprise, Applejack shuddered, then immediately snapped with, "It ain't somethin' ya want, Pinkie! Night after night, tha nightmare just wouldn't stop! Ah don't even know how much longer I could have taken it. Please, somepony make it stop." It was a disturbing cross between pleading and anger in her voice, and Pinkie instantly dropped her ears down. "I'm sorry, AJ. Um, I didn't mean to..." she started to apologize with. Applejack let out a tired sigh and shook her head, cutting her off. “No, Ah ain’t mad at you, Pinkie. It’s just… Ah don’t want ta dream about it anymore. Ah’m so tired,” she muttered, slumping over again and sinking to her stomach against the warm sand. Spike scampered up to her right and rested one of his claws on her shoulder, nodding encouragingly to her. “Hey, relax, Applejack. We have this nice beach now, and a beautiful day, and none of the girls are going to let you dream about that anymore. You’re linked now, so Mender can pull you into here each night,” he justified. Yeah, that was the plan, anyway. I didn’t mention the copious amounts of scans I was doing on all of the systems revolving around the links, and the additional security measures I’d be installing once it was done. There was no way I’d let her do this again. A light cough later, I glanced back over at Rarity, along with everypony else. “Ah, this brings to light an issue. Um, Mender, do you think it would be too much trouble to link up with me as well, tomorrow? I’ve come to the conclusion that it will do me no harm, of course, and would feel much safer…” she requested softly, glancing towards me instead. I really doubted that Nirru was going to target her, given our, well, past history. “The odds of Nirru targeting you are fairly low, but if it would make you feel better, or you just want to join us in dreams each night, then sure,” I pointed out, tilting my head slightly. She returned a nod to me, but seemed unshaken in her desire. “Oh, I realize that. I’d simply feel safer. Plus, I truly wouldn’t mind sharing dreams with everypony, of course,” she furthered. The pink one jumped all over that like a rabbit on a sugar coated carrot cake, of course. “Oooh, you should totally make more disks, and then we could get other ponies in on it, too! If we invite Twilight’s parents, Shining Armor, and Cadance, too, we could have more games every night! That would be so awesome… But I’m totally being a bard next time instead. I think that would fit me so much more instead of-“ she immediately started. Uh… Twilight held up a hoof to her, giggling at that. “As much fun as that would be, I don’t believe that my dad, or Mender himself, would enjoy being linked. The stigma of that alone might give my dad a heart attack. But my brother and Cadance might be a nice idea,” she suggested. Okay, yeah, that I could handle much, much easier. “I’m not entirely sure how to go about making new disks yet. I know how to make the physical parts to it, but a lot goes into them apart from just what they’re made of. I’ll look into it more once we get back to Ponyville,” I offered, lying down in the sand as well. Fluttershy didn’t even hesitate before resting next to me as well. Rainbow looked longingly at the waves, probably wanting to go have fun in them, but turned back and flopped next to the uneasy looking Applejack regardless. To my surprise, everypony, and drake, of course, settled in instead of actually playing like Pinkie had suggested. Applejack perked up and looked around at us when she noted, her ears twitching lightly as a faint pink tint came to her cheeks. “Uh… W-Wait, what’s everypony doin’ lookin’ at me?” she asked, sounding uncertain for a rare moment. Fluttershy simply smiled softly towards her, and Rarity nodded in silent agreement before adding, “You don’t have to attempt to be stoic and unflinching all the time, Dear. You have friends who are here for you, and don’t have to do this alone.” I felt a bit warmer inside as I smiled, too, watching all of them interact. The yellow pegasus to my right perked up at Rarity's words, finally. "She's right. We're all here to help you, Applejack. You know we're not going to let you go through this by yourself. That would be horrible!" she managed to squeak out, eyes widening at the very prospect. Applejack actually let out a weak chuckle at that, relaxing again in her lying position. "Ah don't know what ta say, besides thankin' everypony. Suddenly findin' out that it wasn't just ah nightmare all along is... It's scary. She tried ta get me ta..." she started trying to explain, stumbling at the end. I frowned, watching the orange mare start to shiver again, then rub the sides of her head softly. Rainbow edged over and put a wing over her back, giving a confident smile towards her crush. This seemed to have an almost bolstering effect when Applejack glanced over at her, and she relaxed, nodding. "It's just hard ta make myself remember. But if'in it leads ta catchin' her, Ah'm more than happy ta provide tha information! Ah don't know why she was so sold on tha idea, but she repeatedly tried ta convince me that tha only way Mender was gonna really forgive me was... Well, she told me tha only way was if Ah submitted ta him like some sort o' slave or broodmare an' gave him lots o' little ones," she finished. More horrified gasps, and despite that momentary twinge in my chest that they might be horrified over the thought of being with me, I squashed that idea quite quickly. No, it was undoubtedly the 'slave' part they thought was horrific, in which I totally agreed. Thankfully Rainbow spoke up, giving me something else to focus on. "Eww! That's disgusting! Why would she even recommend that?! It doesn't seem to benefit her at all," Dash immediately pointed out. I momentarily felt like I had been bucked in the face but managed to limit my reaction to just a slow blink. Never mind that something else to focus on, then. Fluttershy almost gave me a heart attack when she suddenly leaned over and pecked my cheek, interrupting with, "They're not talking about the thought of being with you, Mender." It was barely a whisper, but there was hardly any other sound to mask it, and everypony looked over at me regardless. My affectionate mare blushed lightly, suddenly noticing she'd made us the center of attention with that action, and I felt my cheeks lightly following suit. Dash momentarily looked flabbergasted, flailing her forelegs up before remembering she was leaning on them and planting her face into the sand. Thankfully she spit it out and recovered rapidly with, "No way! Using AJ like that is the disgusting part, Mender!" Her adamant correction made me happy regardless, proving it was important to her. "Yeah, I know. It was just a momentary side thought. I'm okay," I quickly assured, not wanting it to devolve into a huge misunderstanding. Instead, Applejack looked back over at me with a slightly sadder expression, asking, "Are you? Ah know, Ah know. Ya always say ya are. Over an' over, there ain't nothin' Ah can do fer ya. She was totally crazy, but also right. Ah don't feel like Ah've paid ya back at all." She mentioned what the actual problem was this time, I noticed. Twilight smiled softly at that, further sliding into my left before exhaling quietly. "Mender asked us a rather important question regarding that a little while ago. You know what happened over Estrus, and both Fluttershy and I were in a panic, thinking we were going to be dumped and he'd leave the herd," she added, slowly narrating what had happened. I knew where she was going almost instantly, of course. "It was horrific. Of course, we tried everything we could when he got back. We had to fix it as fast as possible to prove we cared for him still! Of course, it all came to be pointless as he was willing to give us another chance anyway. Mender holds a lot of anger inside of his heart, and even if he doesn't specifically ask for anything, helping him out through friendship and love is super important. He started by asking us how long it would take to forgive ourselves, however," she revealed. I'd not expected her to mention that anger part, but at least Pinkie already knew of it, which meant the others might have, too. It didn't bother me, I decided. "Forgive mahself? But Ah ain't... Oh," she muttered, eyes widening a little bit. I nodded in agreement of course. "Tia told me that the hardest pony to forgive is yourself. I think that applies to almost everypony here," I appended. All seven expressions lowered a bit, making me realize that they themselves were each processing that. Of course, almost everypony here had some reason or another to be upset with themselves. Some were more justified in that than others, with the yellow mare to my right awkwardly being the least offensive, yet most apologetic. Finally, Applejack smiled at that and nodded slowly. "Ah understand. How about we help each other, then? Ya let me help ya out in any way Ah can, an' in turn, ya can help me forgive mah self, slowly..." she agreed finally. Chuckling, I managed to nod. The mare finally smiled fully at that and relaxed a bit, thankfully. Rainbow had either gotten really brave, or had totally forgotten about her wing that was still over Applejack’s back, but the orange mare apparently didn’t mind at all, so I wasn’t going to say anything. Pinkie hopped up a moment later, wearing a rather large grin. “Woo! We still have time left before we wake up, everypony! Who wants to take advantage of this super-duper awesome beach?!” she asked almost immediately. Applejack looked surprised at first, and then gave her a knowing smirk and a snicker. “Eh, why not? It’s amazin’ ta have ah pleasant dream after all this time, so yer right. Ah should enjoy it. Race ya into tha water, Dash,” she challenged, hopping up to her hooves. Rainbow perked at that, eyes widening as she turned to look at the orange mare, her wing getting moved out of the way when she stood suddenly. If she just realized the wing thing, or was just worried Applejack had noticed when she stood up, it didn’t matter. Pinkie squealed and took off towards the water after the farm mare, both taking advantage of Rainbow’s stunned state to get a head start. “Hey!” she finally yelped, scrambling up and shooting after them a heartbeat later. Smiling, I watched the three hit the waves at almost the same time, laughing and starting to immediately splash each other. This had gone better than I’d hoped, although it left more questions than answers. Spike moved back over to Rarity to my right a bit and sat down again a moment later, running a claw through the sand as he did. “This all seems so real. It’s hard to believe that it’s just a dream,” he muttered, lifting a clawed hand up and letting the sand pour out of it. Twilight frowned at that, and then sighed, resting more against me as she closed her eyes. “It was all too real for Applejack. What’s going on, Mender?” she asked softly, obviously not having dropped the real reason we were all here. Sadly, I didn’t know where to begin answering that one. “I don’t know. Somehow, that creature that calls herself Nirru in my head managed to subtly slip down the link to Applejack and promote her own agenda. I’d thought she was just a figment of my mind to torment myself at first, but now…” It was obvious she wasn’t, if she could use my systems to get at my friends. The full system scan hadn’t been enough apparently. It was time to scan those four processing units that I also had. Each of the large processors had a significant amount of physical memory attached to them. Could Nirru have uploaded a virus during her information retrieval that night? That would explain that thing’s preference for her image. “I think it’s a good idea regardless to start grouping together each night in dreams, if only to make sure she can’t target any of us individually. At least until Mender can fix this,” Twilight suggested, glancing back over at Rarity, who quickly nodded. Yeah, safety in numbers was a good idea, but further, I could guard them specifically if I was there. Although, I doubted she’d even try and risk exposing how she operated further if I was actually in the dream with them. Rarity wanted to be added tomorrow, and then I’d have everypony covered. “Yeah, it’s a good idea. There are still four spots that a virus might be hiding in my systems that I didn’t check yet. I think Nirru might have added that thing to my systems that night in the forest,” I revealed, not wanting to keep anything from the mares. Fluttershy fidgeted to my other side, shifting a bit closer before asking, “Um, do you think you can get rid of it if you find it? She’s really scary and mean, and I don’t want you getting hurt or anything.” I smiled and lightly kissed the top of her muzzle, earning a blush and soft smile from her instead, the worry melting off her expression. “Yes. If I can find her, I can get rid of her with no issue. And I want to, so she doesn’t hurt any of my friends again,” I assured, nodding towards her. A virus in my systems wasn’t a super big danger if she was stuck on one of my processing cores. It was just a matter of running external deletion commands, then. The yellow mare seemed pleased with that answer regardless and nodded. Twilight also relaxed and looked up at the sky instead, smiling at the sunshine drifting across the water and onto us. The line of light it made danced with the waves, a soft warm glow. Yeah, now that I knew about it, I could take steps to stop this. Letting myself relax, I slid down a bit and lay my head down against my forelegs, enjoying the sensation of the fur to each side of me as I closed my eyes. I felt Twilight smile from the link with her, and rest her head next to mine. “Yeah, I’m glad we were able to be there for Applejack tonight,” she added, in a quieter voice. Rarity smiled and rested her head down as well, shifting and letting Spike sit down in the sand against her forelegs. “Yes. I had started to get worried over her nightmares.” Oh, right. Big Mac had expressed concern over them, too. It was nice to see that Applejack had so many there to support her when she needed it. Still, I felt guilty, as this had technically been made far worse by my own lenience. No, I wasn’t going to be lax in my duties anymore. I wanted to protect everypony I could, and even if that meant from myself, I had to try. I started setting up the scans inside of myself while listening to them talk, and the splashing in the background. That fourth, damaged core was what bothered me. I didn’t think anything could even be uploaded to it, but no, it was going to get included in my scans, too. I wasn’t taking any chances at all, this time. With a new sense of purpose, I focused on getting the most thorough scan I could manage programmed in so I could start it up the first thing tomorrow. It would take a good chunk of that day and the next to complete due to the sheer size of the four cores, but the faster I started, the sooner we’d have answers. Answers… I’d been avoiding answers, I realized. I listened to Twilight talk about her own bad dreams after that night, nowhere near as malicious as the one we’d walked into. It was true. I had been intentionally avoiding watching that video, purely because I was afraid to. What if it showed me some other horrible thing about myself that I didn’t know yet? What if it just made everything worse? But no, I now realized that not looking for the answers myself could also put my friends in danger, too. I’d have to watch the thing soon. There was no more avoiding it… I listened to the three mares having fun, and the others closest to me chatting quietly as the sun drifted up on our pleasant scene. It was a new day finally, and I decided I was going to hit the ground running after rolling out of bed. Yeah, our last day in Canterlot, too. One more meeting with Tia, and then we’d be on our way back to Ponyville. It was time for new things, either way. I made the promise to be more responsible once more as I watched the sun gently lift into the sky.
Chapter 73Ever so slowly, my eyes opened up to greet the warm morning light. At first I was concerned, of course. As the light had slipped through my previously closed e yelids, it was so much warmer than usual. It both felt comfortably warm, and looked far more earthy and vibrant. I woke up in a pleased mood, of course, which probably helped significantly. It had gone far better than my admittedly kind of dour imagination had predicted. Then, as my eyes focused, fully open again and ready to meet the outside world, everything went completely wrong. No, the sun had not inexplicably changed its hue and heat output! Of course, had I been more awake, I might have wondered at my logic there. No, the orange shade of light wasn't from the window at all, but reflecting off the very vibrant coat of Applejack, who lay mere centimeters in front of me, snout almost touching mine. They hadn't moved me at all?! To further compound my horror, I quickly observed that the heat wasn't from the sun at all, but instead came from the seven other bodies in remarkably close proximity to me. Fluttershy was practically on top of me, snuggled between Applejack and me, her head coming about halfway up my barrel. Thankfully she was on her back... Twilight's foreleg was draped over me, still hugging me from behind, and I saw the telling glimpses of Rainbow snuggled up behind Applejack, head also on the pillows. Rarity was curled up against Fluttershy's hip, still in physical contact from using the yellow mare as a relay into the dream. Spike must have used Rarity as a relay, then, as he was right up against her chest, being held gently by the mare with his face close to hers. Right, she had to use her horn to connect him, if I remembered correctly. Pinkie snuggled happily into Fluttershy's other side, and my back legs were tangled up in her fluffy, curly mane. Great! Wait, no, I was getting distracted! How was I going to get out of this pile of ponies before any of them, namely Applejack, Rainbow, or Rarity, woke up? Why hadn't Fluttershy or Rarity moved me prior to falling asleep?! They could have avoided this entire awkward scenario! A dozen horrible outcomes flashed through my mind, ranging from a group gang beating, to simply being arrested for some sort of 'Cuddling Without Consent' misdemeanor. In the process of having my small heart attack, the worst came to pass. As slowly and sleepily as I had, Applejack's eyes opened up, looking right into mine from point blank range. Crap. I considered raising my subdermal armor, but that might hurt her hoof as she beat on me. There was a touch of surprise that danced through her eyes, but I could almost feel the memories coming back into her at this range. The surprise was gone a moment later, replaced by a softer expression. Then it was my turn to be surprised! She instead slipped forward and under my chin, lightly pressing into my neck and resting there. Was she trying to lure me into a false sense of security? I doubted it at this point, not because I had the slightest clue what was going on, but from concluding that the Element of Honesty probably wasn't capable of such a devious trap. Instead, she quietly whispered into my mind. "Thank you, Mender." I waited for a second, but nothing else came from her. For fixing something that I had caused in the first place, that had ended up tormenting her? That didn't seem like something I should be thanked for. She snorted on the inside, pushing her muzzle into my shoulder and finally getting me to reluctantly wrap my forelegs around her. It felt strange hugging her in just a friendly manner, feeling the warmth of her fur along my chest, and the small shiver she gave out a second later. "No, Mender. Ah can feel yer real feelin's now more than ever, since ya activated tha link. Yer as lost an' confused as tha rest o' us dealin' with all this, ain't ya?" she inquired with a playful up-tone towards the end, again impressively softly for somepony who had been just introduced to the link communication. Wait, did she just call me ‘lost and confused’? I lifted up an eyebrow to that, but she just smirked. Ha! "You're a confusing mare, Applejack. Thanking me, then playfully insulting me in the next thought," I pointed out, smiling silently. Better than punching, though. Her punches hurt almost as much as her kicks! "Psh! Ah imagine all mares are confusin' 'til ya get ta know 'em. Ah'm rather simple, actually. Ah appreciate who ya are, an' what ya did fer me, is all. At least part o' what she said in tha dream was true, Mender. How do ya make up fer goin' against everythin' ya stand for, an' murderin' ah pony who didn't deserve it?" she asked, finally admitting what the real issue was. Frowning again, I relaxed as she settled against me again. "What do you mean, 'everything you stand for?’" I asked her, feeling Fluttershy stir lightly against my hip, but not wake. A hoof dragged softly down my chest, and she shivered yet again. "Ah'm tha Element of Honesty, but Ah let mah anger cloud mah judgment. Ah didn't believe ah single thing ya said, despite you actin' weird fer somepony caught doin' wrong. Plus yer story was crazy! Somepony tryin' ta lie wouldn't have even tried it," she pointed out. I barely resisted actually laughing at that one. Yeah, I had to admit, claiming Twilight was actually an alien from another dimension probably sounded totally crazy. She smiled a little bit at that, anyway, but quickly continued with, "Regardless, Ah couldn't tell that you were tellin' tha truth, an' she was lyin' through her teeth. She's right. Ah even disabled ya fer her. Ya died from mah wounds. Ah gave ya ta her on ah silver platter. What kind o' Element of Honesty am Ah?!" Her mental voice was getting strained, and I knew it wouldn't be long before it woke Fluttershy up. "You're the Element of Honesty who believed her friend over the crazy stallion with mental health issues whom you barely knew a month. The fact that I was telling the truth isn't important. You stood up for your friend in her perceived time of need," I tried to point out. She looked up at me, expression a tense frown rather than showing any kind of relief. "Ah killed ya! How can you just ignore that?! Plus, yer mah friend, too!" she stubbornly and adamantly reminded. Uh... It only took her half a second to shift into a guilty look, lifting both hooves to her muzzle as she realized she'd actually shouted that. The pony pile quickly jerked to life, Pinkie kicking twice before just rolling back over again, being probably the only still sleeping member. Fluttershy squeaked and sat up at the same time Rainbow sleepily looked over Applejack's form at me. Twilight slipped two hooves carefully around me from behind, not startled at all, however. I suddenly realized she'd been listening the whole time! Rarity thankfully didn't comment on Applejack's position, too busy blushing softly as she realized Spike was still snoozing in her forelegs from last night. Ah, scratch that. Two members who didn't wake up from that. Impressive! Rainbow sighed a moment later, flopping back down onto the pillow instead. Huh. I anticipated a significantly different reaction upon catching me hugging Applejack. “We just got you out of that nightmare, AJ. You don’t have to relive it now…” she muttered, sounding a bit disheartened. Applejack recovered quickly, frowning instead as she dropped her forehead back to my shoulder. "It ain't me tryin' ta relive any of it. Ah just don't want Mender thinkin' that it's his fault all that happened," she quickly corrected. Oh, right. She had already admitted to more needing to forgive herself than having me forgive her. Of course, Twilight had been right, too. I was angry about it all. I didn't know how much, but knew I didn't want to hurt any of them for it, regardless. Fluttershy definitely woke up at that, rotating around and moving more onto me instead. Rarity and Pinkie were forced to rapidly relocate as their pillows, Fluttershy's hips, moved away on their own. "Mender, it's not your fault at all. You couldn't have known what was happening," the yellow mare reminded, lightly kissing my stomach, just under my rib line. "I should have been more vigilant, Fluttershy. My lax behavior enabled the nightmares to happen in the first place," I tried to explain. Applejack instantly snorted at that, interrupting with, "If yer gonna try ta say that, Ah should first point out that mah downright horrifyin' behavior got ya kicked through ah window, yer leg torn off, an' then got ya killed. If ya gave me a few months o' nightmares fer it, Ah'd consider it maybe even fer tha window thing. But ya didn't even mean ta, an' it was barely ah fraction o' that time." Wait, what? It wasn't... No, this was totally different than what she did! I didn't hold any of that against her! Nopony would have believed me. Even Rainbow, the Element of Loyalty herself, doubted it. Although, she at least double-checked after getting a doctor. Twilight interrupted my jumbled thoughts with a sigh behind me, pushing her muzzle up into my mane for a moment before pulling me a bit closer to her. I went with the flow and just let her hold me from behind, Applejack relaxing as she watched us. Finally, the lavender mare added, “What happened isn’t as important as both parties coming to terms with it, and feeling like they’ve made amends. I can hardly see this as Mender’s fault apart from him maybe taking more precautions, but that’s easy to say in hindsight.” I exhaled weakly and lay my head back down on the pillow instead, unwilling to put more energy into thinking about it. Instead, my eyes shifted to the scanner I had running on the side, indicating twelve percent. Soon. To my amusement, Fluttershy slumped over following me, slipping down between Applejack and me. Pinkie crawled up next to us and flopped down across our hips, resuming her use as a pillow shortly after. Thankfully Rarity didn’t follow this time, instead sitting up and absently holding the still sleeping Spike to her chest as she stared off into space. This had gone from feeling scary, to just lazy if anything. Applejack stared down at me for a second before closing her eyes softly. “Ah wanna make this up ta ya. Everything Ah did wrong needs amends. If it eventually feels like Ah’ve done enough, than Ah think Ah can finally be at ease. It might never happen, but… Ah think we can go back ta normal after ah while. Even if Ah never feel like Ah’ve ‘fixed’ what Ah did, we can still at least heal,” she finally stated. It wasn’t a question so much as her finally admitting what she wanted from the start. She looked at me curiously, and I gave her a small nod in return. She immediately slumped her shoulders and flopped forward into my chest instead, giving out a tired sounding sigh as Rainbow readjusted, slipping back against AJ’s back rather easily. “So if I let you, you’ll let us help you heal, too? Twilight and Fluttershy, too, as they said they wanted to ‘make it up to me’ as well,” I suggested, just getting everything out into the open at once. Applejack hesitated, but nodded finally, watching me intently. I ‘felt’ Twilight smile faintly through the link before adding her nod in as well, then appending, “Yes, we do want to make up what happened over Estrus to you as well. But I think you also need to let out that anger, Mender.” I froze in an instant, eyes widening as I went rigid against the pillow. She… She wanted me to, right now? She just openly said that right here?! My breath must have caught, as I was suddenly distinctly aware of the ‘sensation’ of at least four other mares snapping onto that statement and my reaction at the same time. Applejack’s eyes shot back to fully open in an instant and snapped onto me mercilessly, her expression becoming more somber as she asked, “Anger? Mender…” Their stares were too harsh in just that instant, and I slipped down further into the pillows, covering my eyes with my front hooves. Why now? Why did she have to tell them that right now? Fluttershy slipped up me further and kissed my chest softly, and I shivered. I couldn’t retreat, even. She was reminding me that I was still here. “Mender, just tell them. Tell us again,” Twilight requested softly, from so close behind my head that I gave a start when she spoke. Tell them? Just like that? That cold anger frozen so far below the surface wasn’t a casual topic for tea and cakes. It was an exercise in illogical selfishness. It made me want to scream and cry and lash out and hit things in a pathetically childish manner until I got all that anger out of me. But that wasn’t how adults acted. If I stopped to figure it out, given how long I was frozen in a block of ice in another dimension, I was over two hundred years old. Acting like that would be a disgrace. But at the same time, I’d technically only been removed from the ice for… Actually, I didn’t know how long I’d been ‘awake’ prior to warping to Equestria. I only had memories of the last month and change at best. A light sigh from behind me snapped me back into reality. If I wasn’t moving fast enough for her, why didn’t she just tell them all herself? That’s what she wanted, right? The thought shot through me like a bolt of lightning, and I felt her wince, backing up slightly as I shivered again. Applejack swallowed uneasily in front of me, instead suggesting, “Twilight, if he doesn’t want ta talk about-“ No. I didn’t want this to be about me again. I was tired of this being me just running away again. “I’m angry. It’s there, and it’s disgusting,” I interrupted her with, sharper than I intended. She wanted me to say it, then fine, I’d say it. The silence was thick hanging over me, but I continued regardless with, “I’m angry at a lot of things. I’m angry at Twilight and Fluttershy for going behind my back and in an emotional fit, making such an important decision without me. Even in that small moment, it feels like they left me behind and I’m never going to be exactly equal. So many ponies know about it, given the herd and marriage office’s protocol of apparently posting each private hookup in a few hundred point font outside of their building like a giant gossip column.” I spit it out like the taste was disgusting, and felt Fluttershy recoil slightly off me. I didn’t move my hooves to look. No, she wanted this, and what Twilight wanted, Twilight got. I continued into the now toxic feeling of silence, filling it with my even more poisonous feelings in my words. “I’m angry at Applejack and Rainbow Dash, too, for thinking I was a monster capable of abusing the mare I said I cared so much about and not even giving me a hesitant second to try to explain myself, instead attacking me and putting all of us in danger. I’m angry that I lost my only hope of being normal there, and even further disgusted that it was all a lie anyway, even if it hadn’t happened. The pony I thought I’d finally started to become friends with, and the other that I’d been through all of that adventure with had abandoned me and gave me to her instead.” It just kept coming, bits of ice raining down in my mind. Yeah, I was weak. Yeah, it was all an excuse and pathetic. That was me, and I didn’t feel like hiding anymore. “I’m angry at Keela as well, for stopping me from at least getting what little revenge I could grab for myself. I wanted to make her sister hurt so badly for what she did to me. What she had said she was going to do to you all. It was revenge. I wanted her to suffer like I did. I wanted to hit her again and again and again and not stop screaming and crying until I passed out…” It just continued, my voice raising as I went on. My hooves were wet. No. Stopping now wasn’t possible. There were moments when I felt like there was a sword hanging over me. Normally it was that healthy air of caution that told me to stop, but at some points in your life, I guess you just have to laugh and keep charging. “I’m not angry at Nirru. I hate her. The only thing that stopped me from killing her that night was Keela begging me not to. Begging me. I wanted to so bad that I could taste it. She’d hurt me. She had destroyed everything I had wanted to be and hurt ponies I cared about. She threatened to kill you all. I wanted to destroy her. For revenge, and for threatening everypony,” I whispered, feeling like I was choking on ice at this point. I’d slipped past anger and shot right into hatred. It was something I didn’t think ponies even knew about. They wouldn’t understand or even grasp it. Because as much as I wanted to be, and dreamed of it, I wasn’t a normal pony. I could never be a normal pony. Even if it wasn’t for the cybernetics and that writhing monster inside of me, I was tainted. My very memories had things that a pony should never experience. Fluttershy showed me that much. Which brought me to the last one. I hoped Twilight was delighted by now. “And most of all, above and beyond all of this, I’m angry with myself. In every instance that I’m upset over, there are logical reasons for it happening. Keela just wanted to save her sister. Applejack and Rainbow Dash of course chose to believe who they thought was their friend over me, the crazy stallion babbling about aliens and doppelgangers. Twilight and Fluttershy love each other and just got carried away over an extremely hormonal period of time, and sent out the letter by accident. It’s all… There’s no reason for me to be angry at all, but even with the logic right there, I can’t just make it all go away. It disgusts me, and makes me realize that I probably couldn’t have been a normal pony, even without knowing what I do now. I don’t even deserve to be here…” With that, I hit a brick wall. There was just nothing else inside for me to say, despite that urge to just scream at the top of my lungs and smash the walls down until it passed. There were no guards up, and I knew they all realized exactly how I was feeling. Well, Rarity could probably make an educated guess anyway, and I didn’t know if my whining had woken Spike up or not. The dead silence certainly wasn’t giving me any hints. Maybe they’d all left in the middle and I’d been talking to myself? I smirked bitterly inside at that thought, but knew they were all still right here. There was nothing but the cold silence now, nopony daring to even breathe. I knew this would happen. What had she been trying to accomplish by unveiling all of this disgusting trash to them all when they were finally having a happy moment? It was a pointless pile of circular logic and seething, childish emotion. How did she expect to manage any of it? “Mender…” Applejack’s voice shot through the air like a bolt of lightning and I jerked at the sudden sound that wasn’t my own egotistical voice. I suddenly realized I was shaking and hadn’t noticed, keeping my eyes covered up and holding the wetness back as best I could. Maybe if I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see me? Sound logic, in comparison… She hesitated, of course, freezing the second she said something and realized she had no idea what she was going to continue with. Was there anything to say, really? The soundest answer was to simply say to hell with it and go get breakfast. Forget any of this ever happened. Why had she done this? To ‘help’ me? I felt her hoof touch against the back of my neck and bristled, moving away from it quickly. She pulled back in an instant and whispered, “I… Mender…” She didn’t have the slightest clue what to say. I pulled my back legs up, sliding into a ball as I shook my head. This was a waste of their time. “Just go. All of you, just leave. Go get breakfast or something…” I managed to get out, fighting to talk through what felt like my throat swelling up. “No, Mender, we need to-“ Twilight started to continue. No, I was done doing what she wanted for now. She got her way and got me to tell them all. Could she not be content with just that? “Just go!” I snapped out, shuddering again as I pulled myself into a tighter ball. Why wouldn’t my legs stop shaking?! There was another long moment of silence before I felt movement all around me, the bed shifting around. “Come on, Twi,” I heard Applejack order, before the last form right behind me was pulled off the bed forcibly. Good. Just leave. Everypony needed to leave. Soon, there was just nothing. The door was closed at some point, I thought. I couldn’t remember, but double-checked that each and every link from me was as off as I could get them. No more. They didn’t need to feel this from me. She got her way, so she should be happy. There was nopony close enough to hear me or see me or even know I was here. They were halfway to the dining room. I was alone. I just let it all go. Dark tentacles shot out of my body, whipping to the shades and closing each and every one around me. I barely plunged the room into darkness in time before I let out a wail. Over and over again I just screamed and shouted, kicking at the pillows and flinging them against the walls. I just let it go, and stopped caring as everything distorted and my targeting system went totally haywire. There was nothing here for me to murder, so what did it matter? Everything fell away into the blind, dark rage. I have no idea how long it all washed over me. Eventually, I just got tired and fell over against the carpet, panting and crying. I was a little foal again and throwing a tantrum was all I could do to stop from exploding. Finally, that stopped too as I just lay on my side, staring into the dark room. Not even she bothered to show up. Maybe it was self-evident enough to not need mocking this time? Or she just knew that I’d tear her apart almost instantly. For a long while, I just stared into the scarred cracks of my left hoof. Who was I, really…? * * * * * It was all such a mess. Sighing, I tucked the sheets back under the pillows and straightened them back out. Leave it to me to throw a tantrum like a foal, then immediately feel badly about it afterwards like a pansy instead. How I managed to muster up the balls to attack a Grosh ship head on was way beyond me. Having finished the bed, I looked around the room again. For having looked like a small tornado had hit it, everything was now in almost spotless condition. My tentacles had cleaned up the scattered items nicely, and my Alteration magic had repaired the actually broken stuff. Oh, and the gashes in the walls and bed. And the chandelier I tore off the ceiling. Getting it back up there had been a real pain! I tapped the crystal disk on the wall and smiled as it lit back up, scattering illumination throughout the room. Now success on an engineering job; that felt gratifying, however. Peeking both directions when I exited the tower, I was pleased to note that nopony was in the general vicinity. I was sort of worried that half the guard force would have investigated the sounds of the rampage. Of course, they probably would have gotten here minutes ago if that were the case. More likely, this area of the castle was merely quarantined until the royal exorcist got here. Regardless, I straightened up my saddlebags and headed towards the main entry hall. I was starting to wonder if my dry and slightly bitter sarcasm was accurate by the time I'd gotten to the main body of the castle and still not seen anypony. I didn't dare turn the links back on to see where everypony was. Even intentionally blanking my thoughts, Fluttershy or Pinkie were still capable of noticing me. I kind of wanted to find Fluttershy first to apologize for my rather disgusting behavior. Then came Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and I guess Twilight, in that order. Uh, assuming one of the first two didn't kill me. Again. No, wait, that was bitter again. I really needed to work on that. I peeked around the corner of the hallway leading around behind the huge room that served as the main dining room. Two guards were posted by the back doors, and I exhaled softly in relief. Okay, so I wasn't in some parallel, empty dimension or something. I think that might have been a worse hell than my old one. They turned and glanced at me for a moment before resuming staring straight ahead. Huh. Well, no warrant had been issued for me, then. I contemplated the merits of a hermit lifestyle in the Everfree while walking down to the two guards. "Uh, the halls seem kind of empty. Did I miss a memo or something?" I asked the closest one. Of course, would they actually tell a random pony that wandered up to them in the hall? "Yes, sir. While you were resting in the back tower, Princess Celestia called for a meeting with the Elements of Harmony prior to their breakfast. They're meeting behind us in the main dining room with a full contingent of guards," he promptly explained. Oh, right, I was a guard lieutenant now. Wait, they had more than one dining room here? Wait, no, that wasn't the important question. "Is there an emergency?" I asked quickly, powering up my internal generators just in case. He shook his head, however, assuring, "No, sir. All is well. I don't know the details, but I believe the Princess simply wishes to discuss the return trip. You are welcome to go in, if you wish." Oh. Well, that brought about an awkward option. Of course, I was significantly less likely to be murdered in front of the Princess. There was that. Plus, my curiosity was getting the better of me. "Thank you very much for the information. I think I will peek, at least." I spoke as I slipped past them, nodding to their salutes. Of course, leave it to me to walk in on a conversation. "But Discord has been behaving. Why do we need them, Princess?" I heard Twilight ask, sounding surprised. Need what? Thankfully I was hidden out of sight by one of the barriers the cooks usually organized food behind. Princess Celestia sounded much calmer as she explained, "The Elements of Harmony may be required in the future by DReg. This actually has nothing to do with Discord. I'll also be sending along a specific book from the Canterlot Archives in a few days for you, Twilight." Oh! She was sending the actual Elements back with us? Idly, I wondered what exactly they were stored in. Probably some sort of reinforced lockbox or something. I momentarily amused myself picturing them in some sort of ridiculously visible glass case like a museum piece and barely resisted chuckling out loud. "A book?!" Twilight asked, far too quickly to be merely curious. Heh. She'd never change, although that wasn't all bad. I decided eavesdropping was bad, however, and slipped forward around the barrier. Well, time for the fireworks. Tia was sitting facing away from the barrier and didn't see me at first, further explaining with, "Yes, it's an important book containing an unfinished spell towards its end. I'd like you, and possibly Mender to take a look at it and-" Twilight winced at my name seconds before I moved into sight around the barrier. Her eyes widened rapidly, causing Tia to trail off and glance my way instead. "Oh! Good morning, Mender. I trust you are feeling better from your bug?" she inquired politely. Bug? They must have told ponies I was just a little sick. Tia's warmer smile oddly told me she suspected otherwise, however. Their expressions were completely mixed as I glanced past. Rarity and Pinkie were unique, both smiling towards me, the former's sad while the latter was just warm. Fluttershy held just about as surprised an expression as Twilight, although the lavender unicorn was quickly shifting to horrified. Applejack and Rainbow looked incredibly guilty instead, which only served to frustrate me more. This was exactly why I hadn't wanted to tell them in the first place! My irrational and immature emotions were better off buried where nopony could ever see them. But no, she insisted that this was better. I didn't linger regardless, rotating to face Tia before nodding. "I'm a little better now, thank you. Don't let me interrupt," I excused, before slipping over and sitting a little bit behind Rarity on the right side of the group. I noticed Princess Cadance and Shining Armor to the left as I walked, Shining giving me an absent nod, but Cadance frowning towards me before glancing past towards Twilight instead. Tia waited patiently for me to sit down before continuing with, "It's largely decided regardless. The Elements of Harmony shall return to Ponyville with their Bearers. They may stay at the library with you, Twilight. The book will take longer to release, as it's currently being refurbished as we speak. I shall send it to you later, Twilight." Well it did make sense to keep the powerful magic artifacts near the ponies who could use them. Why were they even here to begin- I froze as I spotted the very artifacts in question to the right of Tia. They sat in a ridiculously visible glass case, proudly displayed like some sort of museum exhibit. There wasn't even a lock on the cover! From everything I had heard about them, these were supposed to be artifacts of nigh unlimited power! Even the Aegis Artifacts, which were, for the most part, several orders of magnitude less powerful than the Elements were kept in a vault on lockdown when not owned. Well, uh... Glancing to my left, I noted the book and sword strapped to my saddlebag harness. Was strapping your artifacts to an Eldritch Abomination better or worse than a vault? Twilight snapped out of it a second later, fully facing Tia again. "Ah, yes, your highness. I don't know if I'm capable of completing a spell that Starswirl the Bearded couldn't, but I'll try my very best!" she assured quickly. Who? Wait, if I asked that, we'd be here until tomorrow. The princess of the sun smiled warmly towards Twilight and nodded. “I have no doubt that you’ll manage just fine, my student. Now relax. I believe we’ve been neglecting breakfast until now, and should get to that,” she suggested with a bit of amusement to her voice, standing up from her slightly elevated area that contained the Elements and heading past the actual Element Bearers and towards the table behind me. Sweet! My stomach made a quiet gurgle of appreciation at her suggestion, and I rotated, following after her. Spike seemed of equal mindset and followed after me, giving me a nod and smile as he caught up to my left side. Oh, right. He’d slept through all that. Somehow… I nodded back, returning his smile as best I could. I had to apologize still, but it was better to wait until everypony sat down instead. Pinkie and Shining Armor joined me rapidly at the table as well, Spike to my immediate left, Shining to his, and Pinkie across from Spike. To my surprise, Tia sat down across from me instead, giving a pleased smile as she settled her much larger form at the table. It didn’t take a second for me to realize that, awkwardly enough, we were the only ones that had approached the table. Twilight hesitated, staring back at me, then looking over at Rarity as the pearly unicorn shrugged and walked towards the table as well. Applejack and Rainbow shot hissed whispers back and forth for a second before both turned and looked my way as well. Yeah, this wasn’t awkward at all. “Oh? Is something the matter, my little ponies?” Tia inquired in mild surprise before looking back towards me skeptically. I sighed and just turned to stare down at my plate instead. Cadance finally shifted off the wall and walked to the table as well to sit next to her husband. “Is something the matter, Mender? They’re all looking at you,” she inquired, sounding slightly suspicious. Of course, after my first meeting with her, I fully anticipated my impression on her to be ruined. Maybe I was right? Twilight gave me a start by hopping forward immediately, quickly yelping, “No! It… Don’t make him try to explain it. It was my fault! I pushed him into revealing a secret before he was ready, and he got angry with us.” That wasn’t entirely accurate, but I supposed it would do. To my left, Spike let out a snort, then snickered. “That’s a good one, Twi! Mender never gets angry at anypony, though,” he pointed out incorrectly. Rarity dropped her thankfully still empty cup, and the four remaining mares over to our right froze almost in unison. Whoops. Spike looked surprised by the reaction and shot them a questioning glance before asking, “Uh… right? Wait, did you really get mad at them?” “I… was more mad at myself. Also, I wanted to wait until everypony was sitting down, but… I’m sorry. I acted like an immature foal throwing a tantrum, and I apologize for the behavior,” I said instead, forcing myself to look over at the mares. I was a bit confused as Fluttershy’s eyes expanded in size a bit, including her pupils. She took a moment to cringe to herself before flat out sprinting towards the table. My eyes widened instead as she crashed into my chair, causing Spike to yelp as I landed on him, now carrying a very frantic Fluttershy. He then tipped and crashed into Shining, who flared his horn up and locked his chair to the floor, protecting the now snickering Cadance from also getting flattened. “No, Mender! You were angry with us for a good reason. We shouldn’t have made you tell your secrets. That was terrible! We… please, forgive us,” she quickly apologized, voice dwindling the longer it went on. Twilight disappeared in a flash of light, again abusing her apparent mastery of teleportation magic and winking across the room almost instantly, reappearing on the other side of the shivering ball of fur I now held. “Fluttershy, it wasn’t your fault. I was the one who decided to try to get him to tell, and blurted out the start of it,” she pointed out. I suppressed the tiny spike of annoyance in myself before remembering I hadn’t activated the links again anyway. After a moment of helping Spike tip our chairs back into position, Shining lifted an eyebrow towards the two mares next to me before asking, “Uh, should I ask what happened?” Heh. Why not? They at least weren’t even part of the secret that already got revealed to the ones it would hurt most. “Sure. Why not? They got me to admit to my illogical and absurdly immature anger that I keep buried inside of me, most of the time,” I explained idly, shifting my plate around on the table as a distraction while continuing with, “Even though I know they have their reasons and that they were honest and even justified mistakes, I still can’t just write off being angry with Applejack, Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy.” It was a summary, but it certainly sped up the process. Tia surprised me by smiling softly at that and lifting her cup up, sipping at the tea I hadn’t seen her pour. By the soft, rooty smell, I guessed it was something herbal. She set it down a brief moment later, somehow managing to draw all our attention at once with the rather simple motion. “Thank you for sharing that, Mender, even though you didn’t have to. I realize the sensation now. However, I believe you’re actually more confused about the anger, no?” she suggested, looking back to me again. Eh? Confused… I nodded a second later, gathering what she meant by that. “It seems immature. Applejack and Rainbow were justified in their suspicion of me, knowing me for very little time compared to their friend, Twilight. The fact that they were incorrect isn’t really relevant compared to them wanting to protect who they thought was their friend, as I told them before,” I explained, nodding over to them instead. Tia, of course, appeared to understand immediately, but Cadance frowned a bit. “Are you talking about the incident before your abduction? When that dimensional entity pretended to be Twilight?” she inquired tentatively. I was kind of impressed with her ability to avoid specifics and remain diplomatic. Applejack flattened her ears back at that but nodded, appending, “An’ where Ah kicked him through ah window an’ killed him. Might as well not mince yer words. Ah know what Ah did.” A familiar sounding bitterness was in her voice that I recognized from myself. Oddly, I felt a little better hearing it. If a normal pony could sound like that, too, maybe I was a step closer to that than I gave myself credit for? “We’ve gone over it before. You thought I was hurting Twilight, then I tried to attack her with a weapon. You were only defending her, and you know it,” I reminded, more to make sure Cadance knew the whole truth, rather than just AJ’s version of it. The orange mare scowled at me again, but knew the argument at this point. Both of us blamed ourselves rather than each other, and I knew she was stubborn enough to not change her mind. Actually, I was pretty stubborn about it, too. “Even though you can justify it, however, you do still feel hurt that she didn’t even try to hear you out, right?” Tia asked out of nowhere. My eyes widened a little, but I swallowed the sensation fast and glanced back towards her for a moment. She smiled pleasantly towards me, but I knew she’d already gotten her answer. There wasn’t much one could do when trying to trick out a few thousand year old physical goddess. Well, close enough to a goddess that I didn’t dare argue semantics. I sighed, admitting, “Yes. I understand ‘why’ she didn’t give me a chance, but that doesn’t stop me from being bitter that she didn’t. I haven’t been here in Equestria for long at all, and I get that I’m not that trustworthy yet. Everything is happening so fast that I can barely keep up, and I really just want the other dimension to leave me in peace… I don’t think that’s going to happen, though.” No, it wasn’t the last I’d seen of that dimension. Keela was still working on sealing the hole. Twilight was still working on finding a safe way to break Keela’s link. Until those two things were done, there wouldn’t be any relaxing for me. Rainbow puffed up at that, taking to the air again and hovering over next to Applejack as the orange mare walked over. “Admitting that is fine, Mender! We’re tougher than you think we are, and can take it. Now that we know there’s a definite problem there, we can meet it head on!” she declared quickly, smirking at me instead. Head on? I got a mental image of her firing herself towards me out of a giant slingshot into a massive head-butt, and my forehead gave a sympathy throb. That didn’t exactly sound pleasant. Twilight lifted an eyebrow up at her, but turned to look back at me instead a second later. “Uh, as violent as that sounds, she is right, Mender. You admitting to being angry gives us something to work towards. Helping you through the pain in this case and doing what we can to make it up to you. You’re helping us at the same time to equally forgive ourselves, right?” she pointed out, logic as sharp as usual. It was what Tia had already pointed out. She’d just neglected to clarify what I could do to help them forgive themselves. It was beyond weird, however, to consider me making them feel bad as helping. Shining glanced back and forth between the two of us before raising an eyebrow again. Huh? “I get that much, having read the report. Why are you angry with Twilight and Fluttershy, though?” he asked, tilting his head a bit. Uh… Fluttershy winced against me, and Twilight shot him a disbelieving stare. “Seriously?” she asked, immediately pointing out, “Didn’t you see the huge announcement at the herd office? What about the argument with Dad? Or the discussion at dinner the other night? I screwed up and kind of formed the herd with just Fluttershy and myself over Estrus, leaving Mender out of it! Why wouldn’t he be mad at us?!” Her voice got progressively louder until she was stomping her hooves back and forth in irritation. An errant spark of magic shot up her, and I watched one of her mane’s stray locks pop out to the side from the static electricity. Oh, so that’s how that happened. He backed up slightly with his head, and then frowned. “Twily, calm down! Seriously, I thought you three were already okay with that. I mean, isn’t he a part of the herd now? You fixed it,” he pointed out gently. I could have sworn I saw Twilight’s eye twitch slightly, but Cadance cleared her throat softly instead. “Dear, I believe that just correcting him being in the herd isn’t what she’s referring to when she says it isn’t resolved. It’s a blow to the trust he put into their relationship, which has to be built back up again. You know that’s a long process,” she softly reminded. His expression softened as well and he nodded gently. Oddly, that got Twilight to relax a little as well. “Ah, yes. A similar, although lighter in tone, situation. I believe Mender knows that hormones can cloud judgment, and realizes sending the letter out was an accident, right? However, it’s hard not to feel betrayed by the situation,” Tia pointed out, making an interesting comparison. I considered both situations to be ‘justified’, yes. But even if I found them so, I was upset that it hadn’t been different. Both situations ‘hurt’ me because I wasn’t as trusted or important as I’d thought I was prior. Trust, and importance. It took me a moment to notice they were all looking at me as I thought about it. Blinking, I blushed lightly and looked away, suddenly feeling self-conscious at all the focus. Still, my feelings were right there. “I guess. It makes sense now, however. Applejack didn’t trust me as much as I’d thought, or hoped she did. Neither did Rainbow. I also wasn’t as important to Fluttershy and Twilight as I’d thought. At least not enough for them to fully consider their actions. Both… of my issues stem from me thinking more of myself than what was actually correct,” I pointed out, realizing that during my stay in Equestria, I’d actually gotten somewhat egotistical. Was I ‘justified’ in expecting myself to be more trustworthy and important to the ponies I’d barely known a month at that point? As I anticipated, Twilight and Applejack both gave a start at that comment, but Tia lifted her hoof up and shook her head slowly. “He is right. It’s incredibly hard to figure out how important or trusted you are to others. There is a fine line between being optimistic, and assuming far too much credit for yourself. However, there are also problems with guessing you mean too little to ponies, Mender,” she warned me gently. Ah, well, yeah. If I just assumed they didn’t trust me at all, or thought I was a total loser, I’d be doing exactly what that fake Nirru wanted me to. Burning all my bridges and becoming obsessed with only looking out for myself. Twilight rested her head against my right hip, however, and nodded into me, her horn lightly poking me in the waist and feeling weird. “I’m sorry, Mender. We didn’t intend to make you feel less important to us. I panicked for two days straight after realizing the letter I’d left the form in was gone. Um, I don’t handle stress well, I know. I’d come up with all sorts of situations with you leaving us and never speaking to us again and that’s when I realized exactly how important you are to me. That made me even more panicked when I realized I’d screwed it up again. I thought that would be the final straw,” she admitted, pushing a bit more firmly into my hip. Fluttershy was almost synched up with her, pushing a bit harder into my chest at the same time as I held her against me on the chair. The image of Twilight grinning psychotically down at me from the ceiling when I opened the door popped back into my head, and sent a light shiver down my spine. Matching that up with what she just said, however… Applejack also nodded at that, and then snickered. I lifted an eyebrow towards her, but she quickly explained, "Ain't many things that makes Twilight freak out quite like that. Ah'd say yer pretty important ta her." Twilight's face heated up against my fur and she glanced back at AJ instead with a glare. Heh. Instead of going in a circle again, however, Rarity finally cut in, having been silent up until now. "Applejack and Rainbow Dash feel they've betrayed Mender's trust, as do Twilight and Fluttershy. Mender feels like he's magnifying the issues by overestimating his value to us. Pinkie, Spike, and myself desire to help smooth everypony's relationships again, and now that everything is out in the open finally, I feel we can each begin the process of healing. Going back and forth between the same issues and stubbornly refusing to accept things as they are, however, will get us nowhere," Rarity spoke, calmly and properly addressing each of us as she made a strange sort of third party observation. Well, it was true. Sometimes all this frustration and drama accumulated, and it felt like I was more beating my head into a wall repeating the same arguments while nopony bothered to listen. Of course, I didn't want them to blame themselves either. Ugh. It really was a vicious circle of trying to take the blame from each other. She wasn't done, however, continuing a moment later with, "Frankly speaking, I feel that this is a major step in the right direction. Fluttershy and Twilight have realized how important Mender is to them, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack have admitted to also needing to forgive themselves." "I did?" Rainbow asked, a mildly annoyed tint to her voice. Uh... Fluttershy timidly looked up from me before adding, "Um, not to disagree or anything, and especially not to argue but, um, Mender has always been really, really important to me. I, um, just wanted to let him know that." For a moment, she seemed to address the statement towards the now very confused looking Rarity, but perked up a second later and turned around to me again, smiling softly. I returned her smile hesitantly, not sure what to make of all that. I always sort of knew she felt closer to me than Twilight. Rarity coughed lightly again regardless, and continued with, "Anyway, Mender himself has admitted to his feelings now and is on his way to understanding them. All in all, this has been a good thing for us. We can help each other now, rather than continue going in circles trying to figure things out. That said, however, continuing on an empty stomach would be unwise. We should eat immediately to rectify this!" I suddenly got the sneaking suspicion that entire little speech, while quite pretty, was all an elaborate ploy to get breakfast served finally. Tia nodded towards her regardless with a smile and clapped her hooves together twice. I was a little surprised by three servants coming out of seemingly nowhere behind the barricade with three large trays of steaming goodness. They weren’t back there when I was there a few minutes ago! I hadn’t even heard the door open… Twilight blinked once, looking momentarily caught off guard before looking to her right and simply hopping into the chair there. To my further surprise, Fluttershy simply rotated around in front of me and rested her back and wings against my chest, apparently content to stay right where she was to eat. This would normally make eating nightmarish for me, but thankfully I had my own magic. I was simply glad she didn’t seem horribly upset at me for what I’d blurted out during my tantrum. There was a momentary jostle across the entire table as I turned on all the links again, and five mares all jumped in surprise, Fluttershy almost falling out of my lap. Tia lifted an eyebrow over at the right end of the table, and then apparently realized that all five had jumped at once, looking back to me instead. I averted my gaze from hers, and she smirked suddenly. What?! It might not have been me! “Oh, I could have so much fun with those links,” Tia lamented a moment later, giggling to herself. My turn to smirk then, although Twilight felt more surprised by the comment. Empathy started flowing back in, with Fluttershy first, then the further away mares mere heartbeats later. It was a disheartening sensation as I felt them all still various levels of tender or unnerved. Fluttershy leaned back further against me and rested her head sideways just under my chin, her right ear twitching from the contact against my fur. “We felt what you felt, Mender. Um, it was like feeling Applejack’s dream. It’ll take a little bit to recover from that, but I, well, we all really want to help you get through it, too,” she softly spoke, directly into my mind this time. “It’s more than just me suffering from everything that happened, but thank you, Fluttershy. Look after yourself, too, though,” I reminded softly into her psyche, squeezing her a bit tighter. I felt her blush and heat up as she pushed into my chin with her muzzle, as if afraid I’d let her go if she didn’t try her hardest to hug me. I felt Applejack smile weakly at that, then nod. “Tha promise still stands. Ya let us help with yer feelin’s an’ do stuff fer you, an’ we’ll let ya help with ours. Eventually, Ah think… thing’s will return ta normal, even if Ah doubt we’ll ever feel like we’ve done enough,” she reminded. I remembered what she’d said. Just because they found out that I had a ton of immature anger inside of myself didn’t change what I agreed to, and I nodded. “Us too, Mender,” Twilight reminded, followed with, “We don’t feel like we’ve done enough for you yet either. We didn’t experience what Applejack did, but we still want to help you.” Her inner voice sounded a little worried, and I watched her stare blankly at her plate in front of her on the table. Slowly, the closest food cart shifted around our end of the table, stopping behind Rainbow, who was to her right. Mentally shaking my head, I warned, “That’s just going to take time, Twi. I really do want to trust you two fully again, but… I can’t just force my subconscious to accept that. I get little, nagging doubts in the back of my mind sometimes…” Dash finished picking out what looked like several rather tasty pancakes with syrup and butter, then the cart moved on to Twilight, who turned to greet the nice looking mare who was pushing it. I relaxed, just holding Flutters against me and closing my eyes. That slow, ebbing headache was dissipating now, finally. I attributed it to the stress of all the drama, and Fluttershy was known to be excellent stress relief just to be around, so it made sense. With her, I also never felt like I was imposing, interestingly enough. Like right now, it felt like she was just sucking up the attention I was giving her like a sponge, basking in it almost. I partially attributed that to her feeling badly over what I’d said, although she had been getting closer and closer to me lately. “Aww. You two are adorable,” I suddenly heard from my right. A glance showed me that the cart mare had caught up with us and pushed her tasty smelling goodies behind my chair. Fluttershy perked and opened her eyes at that, blushing softly as she spotted the mare as well, which of course only made her more adorable. I smiled and nodded towards her, rotating in place to give Fluttershy more of a view of the cart’s contents to peruse while I peeked at the pancakes. Dash had a good idea, and I was already fairly certain I was going to go for them, but the omelets looked pretty appetizing, too! My train of thought was totally disrupted at the sound of a slamming door, and a somewhat high pitched, continuous squealing noise. Huh. That was either a very large pig getting sucked into one of the laundry ducts in the hallway, or… A very dirty looking Snapshot sprinted into the room a second later, flailing about and spreading bits of dirt everywhere while squealing loudly. Ah, yes, she was my second guess. Tia gave her a bewildered look as she finally skidded to a stop, and then crashed under the end of the table. Applejack jumped and Rainbow’s wings flailed as she squeaked, both mares backing away from the table as there was a light bump, then scampering noise. Uh… Twilight, who was starting to eat prior to this, lit her horn up and levitated the chair she was sitting on, moving it away from the table as I saw the blur of motion shoot past where she was. I tipped back as well, narrowly avoiding the dark green blur myself as I casually rested the back of the chair against the food cart. Spike yelped as Snapshot popped up right in front of him instead. Thankfully she grabbed his chair to stop him from falling over, and then shot him a wink before turning to me instead. “Ah! Sorry I’m late, Mender! Uh, I mean, Boss! I just spent, like, seven hours in a tree, and lost track of time. It was so worth it, though! You gotta see these,” she quickly explained, lifting her rather large camera bag up and setting it down on top of the table for me, next to my plate. Wait, she’d started working for me already? Wait, no, I had a better question first. “Uh, why were you squealing?” I asked, reaching up and pulling a decently sized twig out of her golden-brown mane, behind her right ear. “Huh? Oh, I turned my tail wrong and poked myself in the butt with a twig,” she muttered absently as she slipped the cover off the camera and popped open the development case. Aforementioned tail swished back and forth while she worked, dislodging the mentioned twig as well as smacking Spike twice in the face before he lifted his arms up to block it, looking a bit annoyed. Uh… Fluttershy moved her toast and bowl of cereal out of the cart, placing it on our plate carefully before smiling and nuzzling me, apparently totally ignoring Snapshot there. “Your turn, Mender. What do you want?” she asked softly, ears rotating to point at me as I smirked at her. “You’re adorable, you know that? Uh, right. Actually, those pancakes looked really good. Could I get a couple of those with some of the toast?” I asked politely, smiling back at the cart mare, who was still giving uncertain glances at the slightly crazy green mare behind me now, somewhere. She jumped slightly as I spoke to her, but smiled and nodded afterwards, her horn lighting up and lifting two pancakes and another set of toast out. I gave a happy nod and took them gently out of the air, my own edged blue fields of force expanding over them and securing them before I moved them over Fluttershy’s head and onto the plate next to her toast. The cart mare squeaked in surprise, then watched with fascination as I set the food down. “Oh, it’s true, then! You really do have your own magic,” she observed. Still smiling, I absently nodded towards her before rotating around with Fluttershy again, who giggled as I moved her into a better position. This was kind of silly, but I wasn’t going to complain. “Oh yes, he does! It’s quite fascinating, too! It seems to work off an entirely different principle than Unicorn Magic! It’s far more focused, with the effects and movements predetermined before he even casts the spell. I’m still studying how the two different types of magic interact, though,” Twilight chirped in, mind totally locking onto the topic and honing in like a predator to prey. I caught her smiling towards me, however, and glanced directly at her, raising an eyebrow. She blushed immediately and looked away again, wiggling her hooves as she suddenly realized what she was doing. The cart mare simply giggled, however, and trotted past us to meet up with the cart coming from the other way, having just served Shining Armor. Uh oh! Would they have a cart duel then to decide who would get to serve Spike? I suddenly pictured them both glaring at each other and moving in at ramming speed behind me. Tia, however, interrupted Twilight’s embarrassment and my imagined mortal tray combat with a giggle herself. “I admit, I’m very interested in the results of the magic comparison. I also wonder if Mender can teach other ponies to use his type of magic. It would be an interesting thing to find out at some point,” she reasoned. I’d never thought about that. Was it possible for somepony else to cast Keldarian spells? “Oh, that would be interesting indeed! We should test that next after we figure out the Keela thing, Mender!” Twilight agreed enthusiastically, ears perking up as she glanced quickly back over at me. I snickered at her eagerness and nodded, but Rarity coughed lightly, drawing our attention again to her position next to Tia. “That is indeed good, but I don’t suggest just giving up on the trust exercises. I really think they’ll help you, Twilight,” she reminded gently. The lavender unicorn sighed and looked away from her for a moment before slowly nodding, and I felt a momentary pang of guilt. She obviously didn’t like doing them, so if I could just figure out a way to get myself to trust her without… Tia perked at the mention of that, asking, “Oh, I forgot about that. Did my sleep mask help out with those?” I froze, eyes widening almost as fast as Twilight’s. Rarity got a light shade of pink in her cheeks before averting her eyes away from the Princess next to her, who was looking confused now instead. Oh, right! We hadn’t told Rarity where we had gotten the ‘blindfold’ from. “Oh, right… uh… Maybe I could, um, pay you for a new one?” I suggested politely, Fluttershy pausing mid bite of toast to look horrified, the sensation of suddenly realizing what we were talking about shooting down the link from her. Tia stared blankly at me for a moment, and I shifted awkwardly. “New one? But… that was a hoof woven sleep mask passed down through three generations of great rulers and made from the blessed fur given freely from the now extinct Jackalopes,” she murmured. My blood froze as my eyes widened at that. Oh… oh hell. I’d just cut through it with my magic! Okay, we’d tucked it back in the costume bag, so all I had to do was go and get it back, then use a bit of Alteration magic to repair the cord! It wouldn’t be- A spike of annoyance shot from Twilight, who gave Tia a skeptical stare. Fluttershy felt confused instead before murmuring, “Um, but Jackalopes aren’t extinct. I have a family living near my cottage.” Huh? Tia of course burst into a small fit of laughter, as did Rainbow and Pinkie from both sides of the table, who’d obviously been listening in. “Oh, wow. Your face was priceless, Mender. No, I picked it up last season at a clothing vender by the docks. Relax,” Tia admitted, still giggling. I glared at her for a moment as I felt the hammering of my heart slowly relax. Damn it! Snapshot, who had prior been digging through her case and totally ignoring us, gave out a squeal of happiness and slid three pictures onto the tablecloth next to our plate. Oh? “I found them! Princess Celestia gave me the idea of scouting out around the alley where they recruited me to see if I could find any activity. Yesterday I went to the area again, but it was still clean as a whistle. Of course, I then realized that they knew I’d been caught, so why would they use the same alley to try recruiting somepony else? Soooooo, I got onto the overlook for town square and hid in a big tree that went out over the cliff while nopony was looking! From there, I was able to keep an eye on not one, but four other potential alleys that were prime recruitment areas. It didn’t look like I’d have any luck at all, but look what happened this morning!” she rapidly explained, getting close to matching Pinkie for speed of speech. Fluttershy, Twilight, and I glanced at the pictures at the same time, the lavender mare leaning against me to peek over at them curiously. The first one showed just a slightly zoomed out shot of a dark alleyway between what looked like a pizza shop and a comic book store of some sort. Ah, she probably took a zoomed shot of each alley so we could place where they were. It was surprisingly clean given what I thought of when I imagined an ‘alley’ of a city. The second showed a darker shape towards the back of the alley, intentionally hiding in the shaded out area behind one of the larger dumpsters. The third picture was by far the most interesting, however. Snapshot had zoomed in the shot quite a bit, probably switching out her lens by the looks of the different number on the upper right. The darker shape had moved out slightly, and was very clearly giving a large envelope to a reasonably well-dressed stallion. The larger stallion in question wore what looked like a rugged variation of a climbing harness with protective layers under it, and the notes Snapshot had written on the edge of the photo actually identified the make and model of the equipment he was wearing. There was a closer magnification on the envelope as well, managing to clarify a large, circular symbol with a triangle inside, and impossible to make out writing around the circumference. Damn. Rotating that one around, I slid it over towards Tia instead. She set her tea down gently and floated the picture up off the table, giving it a good examination. I looked over at Spike and noticed he had a set of toast now, and none of the serving ponies were anywhere to be seen, their carts left carefully lined up a little ways from the left end of the table. Huh. They disappeared just as stealthily as they got here. I momentarily imagined grappling cables from the ceiling as they zipped back up while hanging upside down. Heh. “Confirmed. That’s BEID’s symbol. That proves it. They’re still active, and the ones behind recruiting Miss Snapshot…” Tia confirmed a moment later, floating the picture back over to me. I gestured over towards Shining instead, and she shifted it his way while Twilight frowned. “Who was the stallion in the picture with the BEID agent? Do we know yet?” she asked softly, looking back over at Snapshot, who was checking the rest of her pictures. The green mare frowned before lightly shaking her head. “I have a better shot of the stallion in here somewhere, but I didn’t identify him yet. His gear is climbing equipment with support harnesses, and there were zip flaps on his back for wings. The lumps under them indicated he’s probably a pegasus, which would normally have no use for climbing equipment unless it’s just a hobby. The only other reason would be grappling himself to the side of a cliff for a better viewpoint over a very specific area, probably with a high magnification telescopic lens,” she concluded, making an impressive series of deductions. She might have even been in a similar situation, I reminded myself. “Like the lower Dragon Mountains,” Twilight offered, narrowing her eyes at the pictures. Oh. That big range of mountains a dozen miles or so northwest of Ponyville? Tia absently nodded, adding, “Highly likely. A magically enhanced telescopic lens could see detailed images of Ponyville from there,” she reasoned. Damn. They might be able to spy on us without even being in town that way. Shining finally spoke up a moment later, however. “I’m going to run the stallion’s image past our record ponies. We might be able to get a positive match that way and keep an eye out for him. This is the alley near the Enchanted Comics shop, no? We should investigate it for clues…” he suggested. Ah! “No. Don’t send a full squad. Dress somepony up as a janitorial staff and have them investigate while picking up the garbage from the bins I saw in the picture. We don’t want to alert them that we’re potentially on to some of their recruitment areas. We might be able to get more information if we can keep watching from afar,” I warned, quickly remembering pointers from my other self’s black ops days. Sometimes it was better off not to immediately arrest a target and lock down an area. Valuable information could be learned by just tailing them for a while instead, usually. Snapshot perked at that and nodded rapidly. “Awesome idea! I volunteer to keep an eye on the alley while your agent peeks around. If I move over a tree, I should be able to see the whole thing with my strongest camera lens,” she offered, wiggling back and forth excitedly at the concept. Wow, she was really earnest in her desire to help! Tia smirked, however, and shook her head. “Not your strongest anymore, Miss Snapshot. I took the liberty of getting some specialized lenses for you to use, special order. These are purely for investigating things for Mender, mind you,” she warned, giving a powerful stare towards the now frozen green mare, who rapidly started nodding. I could see the faint glow from her collar at this point, and realized exactly how serious this all was. I doubted it was ‘standard’ procedure to recruit an agent and limit her normal freedoms as a citizen for the duration of an investigation. Although with the group we were dealing with… Snapshot seemed reasonably unshaken after Tia’s gaze left her, and smiled over at me instead. I returned a nod and added, “Good job, though, Snapshot. Could you stick around town then for a few more days until the local operation there is completed? Getting images of the area and any evidence found would be useful.” To my lack of surprise, she threw an immediate salute towards me, tossing in, “Yes sir, Boss! I’ll get lots of detailed pictures, then send word to you in Ponyville.” I noticed she puffed up when saying that, and wondered if she wasn’t exactly used to praise. Snickering, I nodded to her in a calmer manner, hoping it might rub off a bit. “Relax, Snapshot. And you can just call me Mender, really,” I offered, feeling actually ‘older’ when she called me ‘Boss’, oddly. It felt so stuffy. She giggled but nodded towards me, before perking again and digging back into her bag. “That’s right! I wrote down the full specs on that stallion’s gear, and the color gradient information my enchanted lens gave me. Never thought I’d need that enchantment, but I guess it was useful for this! Uh… lemme see…” she muttered, digging back into her bag. I moved out of the way of her tail before shrugging and trying a bite of my pancake that Fluttershy suddenly lifted to my mouth. Right! I should be eating… Fluttershy seemed more than pleased with the thought of personally feeding me each bite, which was strange, but I wasn’t about to deny her anything. She managed to get a bite of her toast in between each of mine, so it was all good. It took Snapshot a good three minutes to find the paper she wrote the information down on regardless, and she let out a low groan when she finally pulled it out. “No! I forgot to record the reference numbers for those saddlebags he was using! Wait, it should still be on the picture…” she muttered to herself, slipping back into her rather messy and chaotic pile of photos and digging out the one with the stallion turned to face the camera. Ah, that was a better shot of him! She had more notes written on that, and grinned at them. “Yup! Got it! Now where’d my pencil go…?” she asked to herself, looking back over at her camera bag. Oh hell. She was possibly the worst organizer I’d ever seen. “Don’t,” I told her before pulling my left saddlebag and explaining, “I have a pencil in here you can use. Twilight should really organize your stuff sometime.” Snapshot gave me a sheepish grin, while Twilight herself heard her name and looked over to see what I was talking about. Her eyes bugged out as she suddenly spotted the inside of Snapshot’s camera case, and unadulterated horror and disgust shot down her link to me. Ha! Thought as much. “How do you find anything with it like that?!” she rapidly asked, earning a confused glance from Snapshot as I popped my front left saddlebag open. The pencils were on the inside, along the back of the bag in the built-in loops, I already knew. They were jostled a little bit, and I momentarily raised an eyebrow before remembering I’d never re-sorted these two bags after I got horrifically squashed by the huge cello case. Right. I pulled a pencil out and tossed it onto the table regardless, snapping Snapshot out of it and earning a smile from her. I snickered, and then started to close the bag again when something white caught my eye. On top of the bag, folded carefully with a small clip over one corner, was a slip of paper. Lifting an eyebrow up at it, I floated it out of my bag and examined it carefully. I didn’t have anything like this in my bags. What was it? Flipping it over, I saw my name printed across the top of it in an obviously mechanical font. Typewriter? Larger printing press blocks? Twilight gave it a curious glance as I set it down on the table and used my magic to slide the clip off the corner. “What’s that, Mender?” she asked softly, watching as I folded it open. “I dunno. It was a piece of paper that was in my saddlebag,” I explained, quickly realizing that a typed message was on the inside. It was finely printed, definitely by some sort of typerwriter if I had to guess correctly. It read, “Investigate the bread loaf bakery, corner of third in the docks side of town. Watch it particularly during the hours of one and three in the morning. Their shipments randomize their deliveries between those time periods. Good luck.” It was signed as, “A Friend”, and that was that. I blinked and reread it twice, Twilight starting to frown at it. Tia gave me a curious glance over her tea cup on my third read-through, and I noticed everypony at the table was watching me, equally interested. Oh, right. “Uh, you might want to read this…” I suggested, sliding the mysterious note over to Tia instead…
Chapter 74Slowly, I walked along with the cool, high altitude air of Canterlot blowing gently around me. The sky above me was gray and gloomy, heralding the rapid end of fall and quickly approaching cold weather. I guessed it was fitting that we would be returning just in time for the end of fall celebrations. It didn't mean a huge amount to me as I wasn't competing in anything. The Running of the Leaves was all I qualified for, and if I didn't use my cybernetics, I doubted I'd make the first twenty meters. Maybe my leg would be ready by next year? I didn't feel like cheating just to run in this one. Cheating in order to pull a four hundred pound, fully loaded luggage trolley, however, was totally worth it. It creaked along idly behind me, tied securely to a thick harness that fit over my saddlebags. I was rather amused that it easily was six times my body width, and three times my length, yet my enhanced muscles let me easily pull the thing without so much as straining. Sadly, I was pretty sure that most of this luggage was Rarity's. Still, I had seen the design board that had been set up in her room. It appeared that she brought her work with her, so I couldn't really fault her for having a lot of bags. Half of these were probably fabrics and materials. Slowing as I trotted, I inwardly groaned, spotting two ponies towards the main gate that I had definitely hoped to not see again on this particular trip to Canterlot. And of course Twilight was still in the castle talking to her brother, step-sister, and Tia. Damn it. Velvet spotted me first, of course, being undoubtedly the more observant of the two. Her sudden shift in focus drew Night Light's gaze, and both ponies turned from their spot by the main gate and looked towards me. Anypony with a pass was allowed within the main grounds, of course, and I had no doubt that both of them had one. The palace doubled as a university for unicorns and other ponies interested in learning about how their internal magic worked, and also had an extensive library on the grounds, if I remembered correctly. "Ah, Mender. We were hoping to talk to you before you left," Velvet explained as both of them closed in on me. Options, options... I could decouple myself and make a break for it, throwing up a few barrier doubles of myself to confuse any spells they shot my way. Alternatively, I could just charge through them and make a run for the train station. It was only two miles or so, and if I picked up enough speed, I could just ride the cart there. Although that would probably run over a few doubtlessly innocent ponies as it went. So lose the luggage, risk flattening ponies, or risk actually talking to them and getting stabbed? Tough choice. Velvet was indeed observant and spotted my ears flattening back, and maybe the fight or flight instincts kicking in. She halted and lifted both forelegs up to me, tipping back into a sitting position while waving her hooves back and forth. "Whoa, peace, Mender. I know we didn't exactly give the best impression yesterday, but hear us out?" she offered softly. Night Light sighed but sat down next to her, apparently cooperating for the time being. I wondered idly what she'd bribed him with that he even came. "For what? To explain why you feel the way you do? I heard most of it from Twi. I agree with you, of course," I finally admitted, slowing my extremely heavy load to a stop over the span of three or four meters. That would have been awkward had I not been able to stop and just run both of them over. Of course, I'd laugh later, but Twilight probably wouldn't be pleased. Night Light blinked slowly, then asked, "Wait, you do?" His tone was disbelieving, and I had a sneaking suspicion none of their mentally prepared score cards had covered that response from me. "Yeah. I'm brand new to things here," I started, keeping it vague due to the public setting before continuing with, "I just met your daughter all of a month and a half ago, and she's accepted me into her herd with a few bumps and mistakes. I know that's probably absurdly fast moving, and then with the mix up with the link, it pushed you over the edge. That's both understandable and even justified." He continued staring blankly at me as Velvet began to frown, so I just decided to finish it out. This was a subject I was at least comfortable with. It was easy to talk about how far short of the bar I fell from time to time. Comfortable and safe, even. Maybe because of whom I was instinctively, or maybe it was engraved from the memories I got from my DNA donor. Or maybe I was just really tired and fed up with everything? "Regardless, I know you don't think I'm worthy of Twilight. Fluttershy's been her friend for years prior to becoming a herd member, which is how it's supposed to work. I'd be the first to tell you that I probably don't deserve either one of them. I don't know why they want me to stay or like me so much, but I do know that I care for them with everything I have and would do anything for them. That's all I can do in response to the feelings they give me, readily," I explained quietly, just openly telling how I felt. If it hadn't been for both of them, I'd probably have simply gone batshit crazy when I discovered I was actually a biological eldritch abomination from another dimension. That was a bit tricky to swallow. He frowned towards me, both of our expectations probably ruined at this point. I wasn't the con artist trying to seduce his daughter, and he wasn't stabbing me in the eyes yet. I kept a healthy air of skepticism, however, as one of those could change in the next five minutes, and I definitely didn't fancy myself as a smooth talker. Instead of drawing a weapon, however, he instead inquired, "So, you really are a...?" There was really only one logical conclusion to that sentence, and I nodded gently. For just a brief moment, my eyes rotated around with their lens equipment and flashed blue, making an audible humming noise, me intentionally turning off their vibration control. In addition to the amusing effect of making my vision wobble about, it gave both ponies in front of me a start as they watched. The effect was gone a heartbeat later, and I blinked, my vision tint disappearing and knowing my eyes were back to amber in color instead of bright blue. "Everything they told you was more than likely accurate. Of course, after Shining Armor muted the area, I and the three dozen café goers couldn't hear any further, so the rest is just speculation on my part," I warned, unable to entirely control the flash of bitterness drifting through me. He sighed and looked away from me, but Velvet outright winced, ears lowering fully. "I know. My husband and I are well aware of the scene we made, and the fact that we probably sounded like foals throwing a tantrum," she muttered, surprising me a little, and giving me no small sense of irony with her word choices. It of course shot right through me, hauling my memories back to my own tantrum this morning and leaving me with a foul taste in my mouth. I shook my head slowly, interrupting with, "No, really, it's understandable. I'm sorry if I was bitter there. Sometimes if feels like I'm the foal instead. You want to protect your daughter because you love her, and I'm potentially the biggest risk to her wellbeing that she has. I mean, why wouldn't you want to confront me about it? It's what parents do, I think. At least, it's what I'd do if I had a daughter in her position." Of course, that was just a theory. I didn't have a daughter or son, and wasn't likely to for a very long time. Especially with how things had been going. "You think?" Velvet asked almost instantly, picking that out of everything I had said, of course. Yeah, she'd do that. Sighing, I quickly explained, "I don't know how a parent is supposed to act apart from speculation and observation. That sort of thing wasn't the norm where I came from, and I don't know who my father was. My mother died before I knew her." That was as close to the truth as they needed to hear to get the point across, and a sour expression came across her face, probably having expected similar. Cracking my back using the harness, I hoisted it again, remembering that I'd told Twilight I'd have these outside the gate by the time she came out with the other mares. Oh, and Spike, of course. Twilight Velvet shifted over next to her husband, making room as I hauled the heavy cart past them slowly. I heard her hiss something as I passed, but given her facing Night Light, and the fact it was whispered, I assumed it wasn't for me to hear. The creaking and groaning of the wagon drowned out anything they might have been whispering after that, and I headed steadily on my way towards the gates. Both guards to either side of the gate threw up a sharp salute as I walked up, and I returned a pleasant and courteous nod, allowing them to fall back into standing position. I was starting to pick up the regulations of the guards after all. Velvet scampered in to my left as I walked through the gate, and I cast her a tentative raised eyebrow before turning and positioning the cart sideways to the right of the gate so I didn't block anypony. She idled past on my left again after I parked, walking backwards as she looked up at the large pile of luggage. Flanking me on the other side, Night Light walked past, still with no weapons drawn. Huh. She let out a low whistle, finally looking back down at me with a timid smile. "You certainly are strong for your size. Oh, and I saw your presentation at the palace. You seemed to know what you were talking about," she complimented. At least, I thought it was a compliment. I supposed it could also be interpreted that I was an impressive enough brute to at least be acceptable, and didn't appear to have been conning the Princesses and her daughter. Night Light sighed again, having been amazingly quiet so far. It didn't last, however, as he finally explained, "Look, I don't like avoiding the issue, so... We came to apologize to you and Twilight. Clear the air and maybe start over, okay? It's obvious she's not going to change her mind about dating you, so we might as well attempt to act like proper adults." I stared blankly at him as Velvet smacked her forehead with her hoof. Well, at least I actively knew he was trying to convince her not to 'date' me now. Did they still call it that when I was in her herd? I didn't know, regardless, so I decided not to dwell on it. Velvet shifted to a glare, however, looking over at him instead. "Dear, you get to have the couch for the rest of the week," she informed, causing his ears to drop back as he glared over at her. Huh? That expression shot right over my head, and I didn't even know where to begin. Did they not both own their couch? No, it was probably something subtler than that. Did they take turns with the couch? Her displeased tone indicated it was some sort of negative thing, which I also didn't get. Some of my best memories were on couches, and they were truly a wonderful invention. Comfy enough to sit or sleep on, while able to stretch out and really just relax. Plus they could sit multiple ponies and give a warm sensation of companionship if desired! "What?! Oh, come on! I'm being civil, like you asked! I even apologized!" he quickly protested. So the threat of this couch was the reason he apologized? Damn. What, was it covered in serrated spikes that rotated around or something? Why would you even make a couch like that?! This only appeared to anger Velvet even more, however, as she yelped out, "No, you didn't! You told him that's why we were here, then proceeded to insult him! We talked about this." If anything, he just looked more frustrated at that. "You heard him! He agrees with me. He has no idea why Twilight likes him and doesn't think he deserves her! Why should we even have to apologize for doing our obvious parental duties?!" he yelled back. Uh, right. Getting a little loud now! I glanced to the left as two mares stopped across the street and started to giggle while pointing towards me and whispering. Damn it! I felt the heat come back to my cheeks as I glared back at him. Velvet's eyes narrowed further, and I bit my tongue, remembering that antagonizing pissed off mares usually led to direct misery on my part. "We're apologizing because I, especially now, think that we're wrong!" she growled out. Uh, what? Night Light looked as surprised as I was before weakly asking, "Wait, wrong? But he just-" She immediately interrupted again with, "He's wrong, too. I see exactly why my daughter likes him now, and frankly, I agree with her now instead. Yes, it was fast. Yes, it was surprising. But now, I think that he's good for her. And given everything he's admitted to today, I think both mares are very much needed for him." Her tone left absolutely no room for even denying any of it, so I decided to just continue watching instead of volunteering my neck for any literal or metaphorical chopping block. Night Light appeared to decide the same, and she continued glaring at him for a second before rotating around to me instead. Oh hell. I braced myself, but her eyes softened a bit and she shook her head quickly. "You have, at the very least, my sincerest apologies. If you find yourself in Canterlot again in the future, please stop by. We would be honored to have you, even if I wouldn't blame you in the slightest for never wanting to deal with either of us again," she offered, shortly before shooting a burning glare to the now fully defensive Night Light. She finished, however with, "You have my blessing to be with Twilight. Please, keep understanding her, and let her help you, too." She reached out and tapped lightly on my chest, right over where my heart was located, and I frowned, looking down at it. My heart? With that, she turned around and stormed off past me, heading back towards the gate to the palace with her tail violently flicking back and forth. I frowned and felt the spot where she'd touched with my hoof. Was my heart damaged? I knew the physical organ was fine without even needing to check my sensors, but it was also obvious she was referring to something else entirely. That bitterness in me was readily apparent, after all. Night Light remained standing there for a moment, looking like he'd been kicked in the face repeatedly. Huh. I recognized that look well enough. Finally, he kicked the stone plate we were standing on and flattened his ears back, staring at his hoof for a moment. "Look, I know you probably think I'm a total jerk and, well... Okay, yeah, I was. As a father, one of the hardest things to do is see your little filly grow up, and admittedly, I didn't handle that as well as I could have," he slowly admitted before looking up and over at me. I stared back towards him, uncertain of where he was going with this. It didn't take him long to find whatever he was looking for in my expression, and he nodded. "We really did get off to the wrong start. I... I apologize as well. Like my wife said, please stop in if you can the next time you're in Canterlot, even if it's not with my daughter. I'd like to get to know you better, too, instead of just complaining that you're a stranger," he finally stated. My eyes widened a bit in surprise, but he didn't leave any room for reply as he simply walked past me and followed after his wife. Huh. Well, guess I was the surprised one in that conversation after all. Or maybe he was, too. I decided it probably didn't matter and sat down again, relaxing in the harness and sighing softly. Maybe one of these days I wouldn't feel so lost coming out of a conversation. I didn't hold my breath, of course, and pulled up my new 'Spider Solitaire' app while waiting for the others. I'd have to thank Keela for transferring it over to me after breakfast... * * * * * I stretched lightly while leaning against the wall next to the door, politely letting the mares enter the cabin of the train first. Of course, my ulterior motive was probably readily apparent as I shivered, cracking my back against the wall. While I was easily strong enough to pull the luggage cart, that harness was murder on the back! I made a mental note to activate my spinal reinforcement augments whenever I did any heavy moving. "Need a massage, Mender? I heard that cracking noise from back there," Spike offered as he strolled up, slowly following behind Rarity. The pearly mare nodded in agreement while giving me a sympathetic look. "Indeed, Mender. I feel simply awful that you got hurt hauling primarily my things," she lamented, at least confirming my earlier suspicion. I smiled towards the two of them, however, shaking my head. "I just need to take proper precautions next time, is all. It was my fault. Although that massage might be nice," I suggested, deciding to see if he was serious about his offer. He started to smile, but Applejack spun around faster than I thought possible for the strong mare. "Did ya just agree ta ah massage? Why don't ya let me give it ah shot? Ah'll gladly help ya out!" she quickly offered, perhaps a bit too fast. I knew she was eager to try to do anything to make amends, but the image from the dream kept haunting my waking thoughts. She looked almost soulless when she had looked up and said that she'd literally do anything for me. That Nirru thing from my mind had been psychologically tormenting her for so long... Rarity lifted an eyebrow to her a second later before pointing out, "He requested a massage, Applejack, not to be broken in half. He isn't a tree in need of bucking." Aww, crap. I was still in melee distance when she said that. In a surprising show of patience, Applejack just gave her a mildly annoyed glare before uttering, "Ah'll pretend that wasn't implyin' Ah only know one thing. Ya want Spike ta do it, then?" She turned to me as she asked the question, her expression completely neutral. Right. "Okay. I'll let you," I agreed after a moment of thought. Rarity started to nod sagely when she suddenly gave a start, looking back at me again. Applejack also looked entirely surprised by the turn of events, but Rainbow recovered far faster. The impish looking mare trotted to the left bench instead, where Twilight and Fluttershy sat. Twi gave her a confused stare as the mare slid around after stopping in front of her, but Dash just patted the cushion right next to the lavender mare. Seriously? "Come on, Mender. Hop up here and relax against Twi. Applejack will get your back and I'll massage your legs. Your left one can't feel good after hauling that huge cart," she deduced. Hey, she actually remembered which side it was! Of course, she picked up on my amused thought and shot me a dirty glare, but I just smirked and hopped up past her, instead turning to face a very nervous looking Twilight Sparkle. Eh? It was a bit of a surprise to see her fidget as our eyes met, but it didn't take long for me to remember the rather horrible incidents we'd had prior to Operation Rescue Applejack. I sighed, but she immediately winced at the gesture, and I tried to instead send her an assuring smile. Touchy, much? Applejack wasted no time in hopping up behind me, of course. "Calm down, Twi. It's just Mender. Yer actin' like you two are new ta tha intimacy thing," she pointed out in a somewhat vague manner. That of course switched her to riled up and partially annoyed mode almost instantly. I couldn't decide which was better. "Excuse me?! What's that supposed to mean? Wait, what has Dash been telling you?!" Twilight demanded, looking rather agitated for a moment before I felt a rather sharp shove and was almost put up her nose, yelping as I collapsed into her chest instead and both of us flopped against the wall behind her. Rainbow didn't seem to pay any attention to her crush flattening both Twilight and I, instead puffing up and vehemently defending herself with, "Hey, why does it have to be me that told her?! I never told anypony about walking in on you two... Uh..." No, too late. Stopping there was actually worse... Applejack snorted, then quickly shot both hooves up to her muzzle as I managed to look back. I felt Twilight turn scarlet at this range, then promptly shout out, "Kissing! There, is everypony happy?! We were kissing!" Rarity lifted an eyebrow at the whole display, and Pinkie started giggling hysterically on the bench next to her, wobbling back and forth. If anything, Spike just looked bored while sitting on the floor next to where Rarity dangled her front hooves down from her lying posture. "So what? I mean, couples kiss all the time, right?" he pointed out, giving a cautious glance to his left at Pinkie as she just started laughing outright. Everypony gave her a confused glance, but she just held both hooves to her mouth for a second before seemingly composing herself slightly. "Hee, I know! It's so silly that Twilight's turning all pink and embarrassed over kissing Mender. If it wasn't so funny, I might think it was strange even! Heee! Oh, or if I was Mender, I'd probably be upset that she thought kissing me was so horrifying, of course, but-" she started to explain, shifting to rapid fire mode on the worst possible topic. Rarity coughed, flicking her luggage case, which conveniently sat next to her, open with her right hoof. In that same instant, a thigh high leg sock popped out in a sky blue aura and tied around Pinkie's muzzle in a cute little bow. If anything, the pink one more stopped to look at it in amusement than any sort of restriction it posed on her. I blinked, raising an eyebrow to the scene before two hooves went to each side of my face and rotated my head to face forward again. Eh?! A slightly guilty, slightly determined looking Twilight faced me, and I debated if I should be excited or getting ready to break through the side window and roll for cover. "No, I'm not letting this one get out of hoof. Here, Mender," she quickly assured, even though I wasn't entirely certain who she was talking to. This communication thing was so tricky and- My thoughts were disrupted as she pulled me down instead, halting just a whisker's distance from my muzzle. Her eyes were locked onto my lips, but flicked up to meet mine for just a second. This close, I could feel her asking for permission, and stunned, I gave her the slightest nod. Her lips touched against mine less than a heartbeat later, and she exhaled softly, pulling me more over top of her as I slid against her form. Her body heat felt a sharp contrast against my fur and I snuggled closer as our muzzles pushed together, rather enjoying her warmth. Dash smirked next to us in my peripheral vision, and I resisted groaning. It might be misconstrued for something else in this situation. "Surprising, but you two were totally using your tongues when I accidentally saw ya," the cyan mare chirped, sounding amused. Ah! Why did she have to try to get me murdered at every given opportunity?! She just harassed the potential nuclear weapon I was currently kissing! The heat picked up against my chest from Twilight, but to my total surprise, her tongue slipped out instead and licked at my lips. Wasn't there some sort of rule or something about making out in front of other ponies?! I opened my mouth regardless, feeling a sort of start of surprise from each connected mare, and all eyes on us. Twilight let out a soft yet pleasant hum as her mouth opened and her tongue licked along the tip of mine. It was almost a teasing gesture, and I tried pushing back against hers, but she danced away back into her mouth again. It took me two tries before I took a risk and decided to follow her back into her own mouth. Twilight let out an oh so timid and stifled groan as my tongue slipped into her, teasing along her as it dipped and tickled the underside of mine oh so lightly. She suddenly felt so much warmer to me as she hugged me more tightly and I pressed down more on top of her, close enough now to even pick up the faint smell of her shampoo. Slowly, I saw Rainbow's wings starting to rise as she stared in shock at us, and inwardly smirked. She probably hadn't anticipated Twilight actually going this far. I hadn't either, of course. That rather familiar sensation crept up slowly, no amount of consideration of physics equations slowing it down. Slowly, I slid my tongue back and parted with Twilight's muzzle, noting her shiver and deep blush. Instead, her lips formed a smile as I cleared my head a bit, taking a few steady breaths. The fire burned rather hot if I let it, Fluttershy certainly not encouraging otherwise. "They're right, of course. I shouldn't be afraid of showing you intimacy. Nothing bad happened there, and the sky isn't falling on our heads, right?" Twilight reasoned out. Of course, me actually looking up to check the ceiling just in case knocked Rainbow out of her stunned state, getting her to snicker. Pinkie let out a high-pitched giggle while wiggling back and forth on her cushion. "That was an awesome kiss! I can't wait for somepony to kiss me like that," she praised, although I wasn't entirely certain if I should feel 'proud' of that. Rarity smirked but rolled her eyes at the display, but Fluttershy nodded slowly behind me. "Twilight's right. Neither of us have a reason to be afraid of you. We'll work things out by helping each other. Oh, um, maybe even once we get back, if you two don't have any, um, problems with it, of course," the timid mare suggested, leaving an out-clause as usual. Of course, maybe only I knew specifically why she worded it like that, but I kept my thoughts guarded from the rest of the links just to preserve her secrecy. Fluttershy and I hadn't been, well, intimate since we left for Canterlot. Twilight tilted her head slightly at that, obviously not picking up the private undertones of the statement. Rarity smirked, of course, but I had no doubt she'd pick it up. There was no reaction from Applejack or Dash, and Pinkie just sent me an image of a balloon filled with cotton candy when I checked on her link. Right. The lavender mare nodded finally before agreeing with, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try some more trust exercises after we get unpacked. Um, I admit to having a problem now, so..." Spike nodded to that, appending, "That's really important! When I had my Dragon Hoarding Instincts, I had the same issue. I kept thinking, well, what's the harm in getting just one more birthday gift? Then it was another and another. Then I was a massive monster destroying Ponyville and kidnapping Rarity! It just kinda spiraled out of control after that..." Wait, up until that point it was still under control? Wait, what was that part about 'massive monster'?! Sadly, Rarity nodded pleasantly before I could actually ask. "Yes, you handled that with maturity afterwards, Spike. Helping rebuild was a very noble thing to do, and talking to us about the instincts and urges is important," she complimented softly, causing him to swell up almost instantly as he smiled up at her. Applejack finally just silently slid forward, a sense of amusement flicking through her for a moment as I felt two surprisingly soft hooves touch against my back. Rarity had been right, of course. Even though I had agreed to the massage because it was Applejack who asked, I had still been picturing her hooves feeling something akin to a flanged mace dragging across my back. Although I was equally terrified of telling her that her hooves felt 'soft'. Twilight relaxed finally and let me simply rest against her chest while Applejack dug in. I guessed that no matter how blunt and inappropriate Rainbow could be sometimes, she really did help disarm Twilight's apprehension, even if it did take a trial by fire, so to speak. Call me very pleasantly surprised, but Applejack worked down my spine like it was second nature to her, systematically cradling then popping each little segment of my back. She hit a particularly nasty snag barely six seconds after starting and I groaned at the pop, trying to keep it quiet but I felt her smirk anyway. She had finesse to know exactly where to press in and how to move her hooves, and an almost impossible strength backing it up for stubborn muscles, but had equal parts finesse to not snap me in two, which was admittedly a good bonus. Twilight hummed softly as Rainbow slipped in and carefully grabbed my left leg, starting at the ankle and gently rotating it, starting her end of the massage. Given her athletic nature, I imagined she also knew what she was doing, of course. After another moment, Twilight finally disrupted the silence. "At least we had an extremely productive visit to Canterlot, despite everything that happened. We're all set up as members of Dimensional Regulation now, the public is aware of our organization and the guards have been assigned, plans are made for further construction in Ponyville, we're bringing the Elements back with us, and we've learned to never let Mender play tabletop games," she summarized. Hey! I gave her a teasingly annoyed glare upwards, and she smirked down at me as Pinkie and Dash started snickering again. Applejack continued working on my lower spine now but muttered, "Ah'm just ah bit concerned about that message that got left in Mender's bags. We never figured out who it was from." Ah, right. That. Rarity frowned at that before verbally reviewing the topic. "Well, it was a typed letter with no magical auras on it, so completely anonymous. It was left in Mender's saddlebags, which he hadn't accessed for at least a dozen hours. During that window, Octavia, two guards, and the two maids that cleaned the room had windows of opportunity to place the note inside. Further, it contained a clue to be investigated that had not been considered prior," she spoke slowly, eyes unfocused as she considered all the points while speaking. That ruled out those immediately involved with the investigation, anyway. Snapshot had been another suspect but would have simply told me herself. There was no need for secrecy with her, given her position. That also meant that the pony who gave the note to me had very, very good sources, potentially within BEID itself. They might even be a member and suddenly decided to have a change of heart. Rainbow fluttered her wings for a second before asking, "We can't figure out anything until tonight, right? That's when the crazy stalker mare is supposed to scope out the place and find out if the note was right, no?" I winced as she popped my ankle, and then moved up my foreleg. Oh hell, why was she doing this to me?! Why had she even volunteered to help massage my leg? Did she just want to put me through misery?! Twilight coughed lightly at the comment before correcting, "Her name is Snapshot, and yes. She said she was going to keep an eye on the place in the note instead of the alley. Regardless, we should have a lot more information over the next few days, if the note is even accurate." Applejack gave a suspicious glance at Dash after my left leg gave out a rather sharp cracking noise and I winced. She didn't need an empathy link to figure out that it wasn't exactly feeling pleasant, of course. Which actually made me wonder why I was letting the cyan mare do it in the first place. Huh... Fluttershy made a low whine, snapping me out of my contemplation of my own sanity, and causing me to glance over my shoulder at her, as she was still on the other side of Applejack. "Isn't it dangerous to split up like that? Um, I know I don't really know that much about how things like this work, but what if these ponies are dangerous? Wouldn't it be risky for both the guard who's investigating the alley and Miss Snapshot if they split up?" she wondered, indeed sounding worried. Although the way she said 'Miss Snapshot' was adorable. Spike shook his head first, however, interrupting with, "Nah, I'm sure they'll be fine. The guard they pick for the undercover thing is probably going to be one of the best they have, plus Snapshot's actually pretty tough herself. Mender fought her, remember?" His tone indicated that he remembered it fondly, but I myself paled a bit. I'd thought Tank had killed her for a second! "Hey, I wasn't trying to fight her! She attacked me first. Tank was the one to knock her out!" I defended before anypony got the wrong idea. Twilight giggled at that and pulled me back down against her before I tensed up any more. "Calm down, Silly. Nopony is blaming you for what happened. Plus, you can attest that Snapshot knows how to defend herself, no? Just relax," she cooed softly, kissing me on the nose after. I blushed lightly but settled back down onto her chest with a little smile. Okay, thanks, Dash. Your brash taunting somehow backfired and got her to totally relax. As if acknowledging my thanks, the cyan mare sent another pulse of agony up my leg, causing me to immediately take my thoughts back as I winced again. Damn it! Applejack sighed and stopped massaging my back at that point, giving a pointed glare to Rainbow instead. "Dash, Ah can't make much progress if yer breakin' his foreleg ta pieces an' gettin' him all tense again!" she chewed out. Wait, that wasn't even the point! The cyan pegasus snorted, glaring right back before defending herself with, "His foreleg is a total mess! It's so stiff, I don't know how he even walks like this. All I'm doing is popping his joints and working them back and forth ta limber them up!" I glanced down at my now swelled and slightly purple foreleg as it shivered there uncontrollably, and flattened my ears back a bit. Fluttershy saw it, of course, before releasing a squeak of surprise mixed with horror. Wait, uh... I couldn't get my warning to even process in the direction of my throat before her hip smashed into Rainbow's side and knocked the pegasus flying into the side of the compartment door with a yelp. "Oh no! It's swelling now, and looks quite agitated. I think a few surface blood vessels got ruptured near the elbow joint, too! Thankfully, I have a full medical kit with me, with anti-inflammatory cream in it," she quickly analyzed. Oh. Well, that was indeed useful! Rainbow finally crawled out of the heap she'd made by the door and glared at Fluttershy, but Applejack tilted her head instead, asking, "Wait, why do ya have ah full trauma kit with ya? Uh, is that burn cream an' reaction shots?" Huh? I looked down at the full medical kit that Fluttershy had pulled out of her saddlebag, and widened my eyes a little at all the supplies. The yellow mare blushed and shifted her forelegs together before whispering, "Oh, um, well, these are for any sick animals I might find while traveling." The last part came way too fast. Was... Was Fluttershy trying to lie? Applejack's expression flattened out into an incredulous, blank stare, but Twilight started snickering instead as Fluttershy fidgeted even more. "All that's for Mender, right?" she asked instead, a second later. What?! Hey! Fluttershy blushed even more, but finally nodded ever so slightly. What was next, they started taking bets on how things would go horribly wrong? My ears twitched, then flattened back as I scowled, but Twilight ruined my attempt at being angry by leaning up again and kissing my cheek. I sighed softly and looked back at her, only to be kissed softly on the lips instead. I 'felt' Applejack smirk behind me, almost without needing the link as she slid forward and managed to continue massaging my back slowly and carefully while the lavender mare nuzzled and kissed my muzzle. Okay, now they were just trying to butter me up. "A proper amount of precaution is good for ya, Mender. You have to admit, your luck is kinda terrible," Rainbow reminded, sliding forward next to Fluttershy finally and reaching out to touch my foreleg again. I hesitated, but she just smiled up at me and I relaxed. No, I trusted Dash. This time, she just stuck to the muscles, softly massaging them along my main foreleg length just under my shoulder, and I sagged, relaxing into the sensation. Ugh, I hadn't realized how tense it had been. Spike snickered at that, cutting in by correcting, "His luck isn't 'terrible', Rainbow." Well I sort of disagreed, but I was pleased he was defending me, regardless. Sadly, he appended, "There are two types of luck. Good luck, and bad luck. He just happens to be really efficient with the bad." Or he was a jerk. That worked, too. There was a round of snickering at that, and I couldn't help but chuckle myself. Okay, yeah, it was true. Sometimes the universe really was out to get me, it would seem. Rarity coughed lightly a moment later, and I glanced towards her just in time to catch her fidgeting. Eh? It was further unnerving that she was staring right at me while looking concerned. When she realized she had my attention, she politely cleared her throat before speaking. "Um, as much as I try to remain at ease, I can't help but think that a bit of proper precaution might indeed be appropriate, Mender. I know that, well, that thing has very little motive to target me, but I remain the only one at risk still. I'm a bit worried that it might single me out purely due to not having any other targets," she finally reminded, looking more than a little uneasy at the thought. Oh, right! I told her that I'd link up with her on the train. It wasn't like I would have forgotten for long, however. Twilight smiled towards her and nodded, easing up on her hold on me as I closed my eyes. It was odd, but sometimes I sort of felt like one of the actors in those cheesy horror movies that Keela used to love watching with me. Er, him, really. He always thought it was just an excuse on her part to act the part of the scaredy-cat, pun intended, and bury herself in his fur while watching, but she really did seem to get into it. So much so that she'd shout out warnings to the actors about to die or get horribly mangled. Sometimes, I kinda felt like somepony was silently doing that for me. I got that distinct unease as the confirmation box popped up. Well, it wasn't like the world was going to explode when I pushed the button, right? Seconds passed, and I relaxed as the box faded away. Slowly, a surprised sensation slipped down the newly formed link, and I smirked, mentally adding, "Welcome to the network, Rarity." She looked and felt even more surprised, noting my mouth not moving. Pinkie promptly cheered, of course, blasting us all with mental prismatic confetti, and causing Rainbow to immediately wince from the not so fond memories of her first experience with Pinkie's mental communication. Of course, admittedly, almost throwing up all over the path we were on wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. A light beep disrupted my focus and caused me to glance to the right instead. Eh? Twilight gave me an odd look, but I didn't see anything in particular in the direction I'd heard it from. Well, that was strange. Then it happened again, to my right once more and twice in a row this time. Ah! Turning further, I rotated completely around and was greeted by a very confused looking Applejack, who realized she was no longer pointed towards my back. "Uh, do ya need somethin', Mender?" she asked after an uncertain yet awkward moment of staring at each other. Well, this was disconcerting. I frowned, instead asking, "Uh, did you beep by any chance? Twice?" It was a long shot, but who knew? Maybe she'd momentarily had a small mental breakdown and started beeping? It certainly wasn't happening to me! No, not at all! She gave me a concerned look, and I frowned again, hearing another double beep from my right. Crap. It was in my inner audio output. One of these days, I was going to program in a way for me to listen to those little voices telling me not to do things. Apparently the ones watching this disaster I called a life knew far more than I. Popping my display up on my eye projection, I was greeted to my command window having opened by itself. Mission parameters were listed across the top of the header with six 'completed' checkmarks. Wait, what? Code was rapidly cycling down the side, referencing some sort of thing inside my black box unit about coordinates and spatial jaunt calculations. Uh, what? Was I supposed to have some sort of FTL system I could plug into? “Eh? What’s that stuff, Mender?” Twilight asked, frowning as she sat up next to me to look at the display as well. “It just popped up after Rarity’s link was fully registered. I think there was some sort of trigger in my set to activate when I got all six ‘energy sources’ linked to me,” I muttered, looking the data over as best I could as it shot past. That's when the splash display for an Icarus System popped up, calculating wing expansion and projection of energy at ratings anticipating almost three hundred centimeters. Wow, it was a good thing I didn't have an FTL system. That was almost as tall as the cabin of the train we were in! What kind of Slipstream jump needed that much energy?! Normally the 'wings' were proportional to the vessel that was making the jump, and that was almost four times my own body length! Rainbow reached up and playfully pushed her hoof through the light projection a few times, but Applejack only tilted her head, staring at the image from my other side. “What’s an Icarus Control System?” she asked, glancing to me instead for an explanation. I pulled up a diagnostic of what it was doing in the background while answering, “Icarus Effect is the name given to the ‘wing’ looking things that precede one of our Slipstream jumps. The actual wings are more akin to energy ribbons that fold the space around us in a bubble, and-“ I almost bit my own tongue as my back started heating up. Oh. Oh shit! Twilight yelped as the heat suddenly started radiating off my back, causing her to lift her forelegs up to try to shield some of it. Reacting as fast as I could, I earned a shocked look from everypony else as I bailed off the cushion, over Fluttershy and Rainbow's heads, and crashed into the floor of the carriage on my stomach. Fluttershy squeaked in surprise and immediately followed, halting only when I shouted out, "No, get back!" I hadn't even finished the sentence before two brilliant arcs of energy shot out of my back, sliding up the entire distance to the ceiling before neatly slicing through, chopping our overhead light in half and raining sparks down on us! Whoops! Overestimated the ceiling height. Wait, no, this was bad regardless! Firing off an FTL launch that was capable of bridging star systems would cause this entire cabin to go off like a two-megaton detonation! Where was it even sending me?! Managing a break point in the code, I picked up enough to note that it had no focal point for the exit. What?! It was just going to toss me off into dark space until I ran out of energy?! Sliding back up along the code, I realized in horror exactly what it was doing, just as it started to build its own Aegis Barrier. "Mender, what’s happening?! What are-" Twilight started to rapidly ask, eyes wide. Naturally, she was cut off by my panicked yelps. "No, stop! No! They’re trying to send me back to my old dimension!" I shouted out over the loud hum of the energy lancing out from my back. The launch timer continued counting down regardless of my protests, with less than fifteen seconds remaining in Equestria. Worse yet, my departure would kill every single pony on the train, alongside decimating a good ten miles of... No. I couldn't let it kill anypony. Especially not these ponies! Pulling a ping code up, I tossed it into an unbound infinite loop and aimed it at the process for the Icarus Control, rapidly overwhelming its lock down attempt simply by assigning all three processors to the spam. It turns out that an Icarus operating system got bogged down if you went over several billion pings a second. Who knew? The timer started to glitch out as I interrupted the process and hacked into the memory allocation for it. Timer, timer... There had to be a way to stop the timer! The wings started to short out as their maintaining energy faltered under the slowdown, and I quickly found the energy ratio integer. I barely had time to turn it down to a negligible value as a crack of energy was spat out, blowing the window out to the cabin as everypony yelped and hit the floor, Rarity and Fluttershy covering their heads. Slowly, my wings sputtered and shrank down to about a meter in height, bits of the ceiling coming down on top of me as I winced, the pane of glass from the light shattering over my head. Damn it! The shorting out continued, and at this rate, the Wings of Icarus would fold back on themselves, imploding into my back. That would still have a detonation radius of several meters though! No, I couldn't let these ponies die, especially! Twilight frantically looked up again, eyes widening as she watched the wings flare up. "Mender! No, I won't let you go back!" she shouted over the loud humming of the energy extending from me. I... I knew she was powerful, but she didn't understand the physics behind it and I didn't think she could stop this. No, while there was a very small probability that I'd survive the implosion, it was far more unlikely that they would. I had to get them out of the radius! Wait… No, no I didn’t. Looking up slightly, I saw the glass shards still flaking away from the now open window, wind blasting around our damaged cabin. No, all I had to do was move the radius away from them, instead! The timer had gone up since I adjusted the power level on the wings, shifting rapidly upwards into the hours before it reversed, instead counting down until the energy crumpled inwards. I had twenty-five seconds. Applejack looked horrified, however, staring at the wings on my back in a much more understanding manner. "Ah saw those before! Nirru used them an' it made that explosion!" she called out quickly. There was nothing else for it. Nodding, I quickly explained, "These are called Wings of Icarus, and normally they're an intentional effect created to let something travel faster than light using Slipstream. I just shorted mine out, and in about fifteen seconds, they're going to implode into me instead, probably causing me to explode in a few meters radius. I... I'm sorry!" Twilight's eyes widened at that, but she fell for the exact same trick she had ages past. Her wave of telekinetic energy grabbed onto the fake, Mender-shaped barrier I threw up as I dove aside. She didn’t get a second chance, and less than a heartbeat later, I had launched myself right towards the window. It was simple, really. Tuck and roll as I exited the train, hit and probably break something, but roll a significant distance away, and then make a really big mess all over the ground, safely away from all of my favorite ponies. A lump slammed into my throat as I realized I didn't even have time to say goodbye. Tucking, I rotated sideways as I went through the window, taking the few remaining shards of glass with me as my momentum easily snapped them. All that anger had been totally useless. Life wasn't even fair enough to give me a chance to fix anything. Could I survive this? Dash was already moving, of course, as she screamed, "Mender, stop!" Too late. My mind whirled in a state of shock at the speed everything had just gone to hell. My wings sliced two lines of melting metal through the wall as I left the window and started to rotate into a ball. I blinked as I aimed towards the ground, however. Okay, slight change in plans, I guessed. I saw the level of the bridge the train was going over slip past a full second later, and glanced down the side of the mountain as I fell. Right. We had only just cleared Canterlot. There were a whole ton of bridges over the gaps that the train traveled over. What wonderful timing. I almost laughed to myself as I stretched my legs down, intentionally slimming my form to speed myself towards the ground, while angling my hooves away from the support strut for the bridge. Blowing up on the support and sending the entire train careening off the side of the cliff would utterly defeat the point, after all. Of course, my odds of living through this had just dropped to almost nothing. Bitterly, I hoped Rainbow had a mop and bucket with her. The overload estimate was at eight seconds when I heard the wings above me. A pair of beats? I rotated as I fell and glanced back for just a moment, noting Rainbow managing to close fast in a dive. Fluttershy had surprisingly dove after her, looking horrified as she tried to match speeds but fell quickly behind. Damn it. She wasn’t supposed to see this. There was nothing I could do though as I killed the links to the mares. They definitely didn't need to feel this. My eyes widened. Half a heartbeat before Twilight's link closed out, her ping hit me, just like I'd taught her. No, she wasn't going to...! Her flash of light appeared next to me in the same instant, and I tried to roll out of the way, but her forelegs wrapped tight around me, her face pushing into my chest with wet tears hitting my fur. "Stop it!" she screamed, her momentum carrying us sideways into the cliff face. Shit! My tentacles lashed out around her from all sides, hitting the rocks and springing us free as Twilight flared with energy. Her magic actually expanded out and grabbed the burning wings extending off my back! Was she crazy?! This was going to kill both of us! What could only be described as dumb shock flooded through me as her eyes opened up again as two white orbs, and her magic grabbed multiple points on the wings and literally forced them apart. My brain entirely refused to comprehend what was happening, it going against everything I knew of with how the ‘wings’ functioned. Was Twilight strong enough to pull apart reality at the seams?! The mare's horn disappeared in a blinding gout of light as my meltdown timer slowed to a crawl. No, this wasn't physically possible! Rainbow narrowed her eyes in a look of pure determination as her wings powered up further and became thin jets along her back, her form flattening out as she sped up. Somehow, a Mach cone started to form around her before she’d even hit supersonic speeds, as if it was physics itself starting to bend and warp under her magic. Was this what it looked like from the outside? The last time I'd seen her like that was when we were flying into hell with only the vaguest resemblance of a plan. Her hoof reached out towards us as her cone tightened around her, and I reminded myself that this was actually how Rainbow usually operated. The timer locked at three seconds, Twilight fighting with the wings as she growled out and the ground rapidly catching up to us. I wondered if this had been a wise idea after all. Had I doubted their intent on coming after me? Had I just assumed the 'lithobraking' would carry me too far back for them to reach within the time limit? Of course Twilight would teleport. Had I doubted her desire to save me? I realized I had, as I looked back at her. I'd anticipated she wouldn't even think to teleport outside of the train cabin and endanger herself. Rainbow had wings and could save herself if need be. She should have left the rescue to her. She still had Fluttershy, even if I didn't make it... No, I didn't want to die. I wanted to stay with them, but in a split second choice between dying and killing all of them instead, there wasn't even a need for me to contemplate. The only hesitation had been figuring out how to get away from them as fast as possible. But she followed me, and risked following me straight into death, too. When had I become so important to her? I missed it. I smiled, looking 'up' at her as we fell. Rainbow burned with energy behind us, her form outlined by the radiance coming off Twilight. At this range, I felt her connection with me for just a moment. That shouldn’t have been possible. I had turned the links off specifically to avoid them feeling anything. For that moment, I was suddenly distinctly aware of that massive well of power seething up next to me. My eyes widened as I looked into Twilight’s eyes, like twin abysses of magic. It was impossible. Her magic, for just a moment, didn’t have an end that I could observe. Her link with me wasn’t through my disks and magic, but hers! She screamed out in rage at my wings, her own magic becoming the light of a small star as she suddenly tore the wings in both directions, to each side of me. In just that moment, with a thin stream of blood slipping from her nose, I thought I saw a flare of light, and wings that weren’t mine. But no, the light almost blinded me before I could even blink. In that same instant, as energy combusted into flames to either side of us that started to crush inwards, Rainbow exploded behind us, that Mach cone snapping like a rubber band...
Chapter 75There was an old saying I suddenly remembered, carried over from my genetic donor's 'Special Operations' days. It had gone something like, "Some days, you were the one holding the gun. Other days, you were the one bleeding all over the place. And yet others, you were the one mopping up the mess." I imagined it was told to impatient new recruits complaining about 'cover up' duty, but it had appreciable applications here. Right now, I felt like the mop... Groaning, I opened my eyes slowly to the voice of a very worried-sounding angel. A slightly blurry vision of Fluttershy hovering in towards where I lay greeted me, and I frowned. Oh, right. The memories of the last thirty seconds or so came rushing back to me all at once, alongside a pissed off throb along my skull, as if my body just tried to smack some sense into me. Damn! The Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow had saved both Twilight and me from the explosion with her sonic blast. The shock wave had easily overpowered the detonation of my Icarus Effect, and she had shot through the blast and caught both of us! Wait, no, something was wrong. My whole body gave a throb of protest as I rolled over onto my stomach, and I winced. Oh yeah. We crashed. Unfortunately, the prismatic blast had carried the plume of smoke from the exploding wings quite a ways with it. Under most circumstances, the huge cloud of multicolored smoke might have been quite pretty, but we had dropped out of the bottom of the cloud far too close to the ground. Rainbow had pulled up hard, and I gave her all the energy I could manage in the short amount of time, but it hadn't been enough. My tentacles braced us as we hit, rolled down an embankment, then crashed into a murky pond at the bottom of the hill. A quick glance showed Twilight wincing as she slowly sat up, leaning against a fallen tree trunk my tentacles had sliced through. Her forelegs had missing fur in spots, burn blisters showing across her skin from the heat the Icarus Effect had produced. Scarily, the inner parts of her forelegs held almost blackened skin, and she hissed through her clenched jaw, sliding back down into a lying position. Dash slowly pulled herself out of the shallow water a meter or so from Twilight, gritting her teeth. Slowly, she limped over to the bank and fell over, holding her back right leg with her forelegs as it shook gently. I saw a bruise on that hip where she’d hit on, and it was no doubt hurting. Still, they were both alive... "Twilight! Mender! Rainbow! Are you okay?!" Fluttershy called out as she settled into a fast glide and quickly closed the distance to us. The relief of knowing the two mares were alive joined with the effect Fluttershy’s voice usually had on me, and my adrenaline wore off as fatigue caught up to me. Giving her so much energy so quickly had really tired me out. Both mares also had a bit of blood coming from their nostrils, indicating they’d used up a lot of- My thoughts died as the pain came alongside the fatigue. It was instant, and I froze the second I rotated far enough to feel the two ribbons of pain burn into my back, slamming my teeth together to hold back the scream. The damn energy emitters had fired off while under the skin of my back?! I confirmed, in horror, that there were two blotches of blood in the grass next to me where I had rolled from, and my forelegs gave out, shaking under me. I fell onto my stomach again, wincing hard as I felt the fluid trickling down my sides. Shit! None of us were getting out of this one unscathed, it would seem. I rapidly equated moving with pain, so I just decided to lie there. There was a very faint screeching noise as well, sounding far off in the distance. A glance in that direction showed not only Fluttershy rapidly landing and running towards us, but the train way up on the cliff braking hard. Its emergency brakes? I couldn't manage to consider it any further as another wave of agony fired through my body and I clamped my eyes shut again. It felt like two burning nails had been driven into my back! No, it more felt like railroad spikes, to take inspiration from the train. Moving the fragmented remains of the Icarus OS aside, and shifting away all the error reports, I finally managed to pull up a damage report. The two wounds along my back had been partially cauterized by the heat, leaving two open holes, each about three centimeters wide, bleeding weakly just below my shoulder blades. Both were almost two centimeters deep, right down where the emitting ports had been before they folded back into subspace. Given the critical errors all over my systems and suggested fixes, I had a suspicion I was safe from unwanted dimensional movement now. Silver lining, anyway. "Oh no, I... I brought my kit! Just hold on, everypony!" Fluttershy assured, running somewhere in front of me before sounding like she quickly deposited her trauma kit down on the grass. The irony of the discussion we'd had about it just a few minutes prior wasn't lost to me. That was the last time I ever question a single thing Fluttershy did! Rainbow finally snorted dismissively, muttering, "I just landed hard on my leg. It'll be fine in a few minutes. Help Twilight with those burns." Heh, she was a tough one, that was for sure. Clearing more of the errors away, I put a permanent lock down on the Icarus OS after returning administrative rights to it to myself. That black box was getting cracked open tonight. It suddenly jumped to the very top of my priority list, because to hell with that. There was no way I was going back there! After it was locked down, I switched priority to my inner systems, managing to only shudder and grit my teeth again as another spike of pain stabbed into my back. Finally sure I wasn't dying, or about to be warped away into a vacuum against my will, priority shifted to pain control as I brought my systems up and dropped the nerves along my back to all of five percent of their normal functioning. The horrible burning sensation immediately fell away into a dull ache instead, and I exhaled softly, feeling a bit dizzy from the sudden contrast. Damn. I might complain, but there were definitely perks to being a cyborg! I heard Rainbow inhale sharply to my left and opened my eyes again. Her eyes were wide as she stared at me before pulling herself over, gritting her teeth as she limped on her back leg. It gave out after only four steps and she stumbled, landing next to me in a surprisingly soft manner. She was rather unexpectedly light, if I remembered correct. She winced still, and I moved my left foreleg to the side to help lift her up. "Mender, are you okay?" she immediately asked, drawing Twilight and Fluttershy's attention instantly, the yellow mare looking up from her trauma kit, and the unicorn widening her eyes towards me. Fluttershy gasped a second later, then rapidly looked back and forth between Twilight and me, hesitating as she grabbed the burn salve. Twilight shook her head and assured, "These are nothing. Mender's really bad. G-Get to his wounds first." The wince of pain she gave while saying it didn't make it look too convincing, and I rolled my eyes at the stubborn mare. "Rainbow, you tend to Twilight at Fluttershy's instruction. She can help me out," I suggested instead, my left foreleg glowing for a moment as I gestured out the magic. This time I wasn't just being lazy! A line of energy shot across the ground and earned a squeak from Twilight as another flexible, cushiony barrier appeared under her and rapidly slid her over towards me, setting her down just to my right. Setting her down in my blood probably wouldn't improve her mood... Dash smirked and nodded, using her forelegs to pull her across in front of me and over to Twilight instead, who just relaxed there in a lying position, looking towards me rather than Rainbow. To my mild surprise, I felt a shaky leg move over and drape over my back right one, letting Twilight pull herself against my side. Thankfully, Fluttershy had already retrieved several towels and a canteen of water from her kit. Wait, towels? "What happened, Mender? You said that, um, something triggered when you registered Rarity?" the ever curious lavender mare finally asked, snapping me out of my errant thought. I'd predicted questions would be coming, but I had also anticipated they'd be a bit more hostile, given my actions. She was full of surprises today. She winced slightly, however, as Fluttershy zipped up and helped Dash lift the two burned forelegs, sliding a soft towel under them as Rainbow started lightly cleaning the wounds after popping open the water canteen with her teeth.. Fluttershy made sure to mouth feed Twilight several herbs as well, for what I assumed was pain, before quickly moving over to me instead, hauling the whole kit with her. Instead of immediately answering, I glanced back at Fluttershy and gave her a soft smile. She stopped and hesitated at that for just a moment, seemingly not expecting me to be relaxed, but I watched her sag a little. She set the kit down a moment later, slower and more controlled this time. We didn't need the links to communicate at this point. I had assured her that I was okay and she could calm down now... Deciding she was less panicked now, I turned back to Twilight before explaining, "Yeah. It was some sort of trigger stuck in my black box to automatically try to return me to the prior dimension once I had 'registered' all six links. In hindsight, let's not do any further untested experiments while in a moving metal box a few hundred meters up a mountain." That one I kinda wished Purdue had warned me about, but no. I had told her to use her powers for herself. Rainbow snickered while gently wiping down Twilight's burns with the cream and a towel. Then the cyan pegasus gave a start as I reached out and slowly started massaging her injured back right leg. The momentary concern melted away almost immediately as my magic drifted into her muscles, and she sagged for a moment, shivering as I tried to identify the damaged areas. Twilight relaxed on the towel in the meanwhile, letting the cream slowly sink in. She stirred a second later, however. "Do you think you could re-enable the links, Mender? The others are probably worried, and we need to talk to the conductor," she requested quietly. Oh, right. I'd turned them all off in light of the horrible agony of the Icarus Effect being projected through my back, and when I potentially thought I would be violently imploding in the near future. Nopony needed an empathic link to somepony doing that! Nodding, I flicked the link system back on, having prior simply killed the entire communication process. Not standard procedure, of course, but I'd been in a hurry! Applejack and Pinkie activated almost instantly, the orange mare answering a bit faster, however. "Rainbow! Mender! Twi! Where are ya?!" she quickly asked, sounding a few steps past 'worried' at this point. Dash blushed lightly at the concern, but Twilight just smiled weakly as I pulled the ponies who were still up on the train into projection from my left eye while working on Rainbow's leg. Rarity looked momentarily dizzy as she looked around, apparently a bit weirded out at seeing two locations at once, but Applejack didn't even look fazed. Further strange, Rarity wasn't in the cabin of the train, and had to be projected onto a split view. Her surroundings sort of looked like a boiler room of sorts, and I saw an unknown pony near her with a conductor's hat on. Oh. Applejack's eyes widened, however, and she spoke instead before I could ask. "Ah! Oh, Ponyfeathers! What happened?!" she asked in surprise, quickly looking across our magnitude of wounds from the sojourn out of the cabin. Of course, she also probably didn't know what had happened in the first place. Before I could answer, my display further lit up with about nine different pings, all recorded from Keela apparently in the space that my connection device had been down. Whoa! Flicking her connection on as well, I assumed whatever she needed was dire and urgent, given her sudden frantic attempts to communicate. Twilight, meanwhile, answered, "We got pretty banged up on our way down. It was a rough ride." Fluttershy nodded in full agreement, of course, quickly cleaning my back, then applying pressure to stop the small amounts of bleeding I still had going on. Whatever she was using to clean was seriously stinging, too! Keela snapped into place halfway through, her eyes widening as her paws flew up to her mouth. "Mender! You're okay! Wait, rough ride?! What happened?" she quickly asked, drawing every mare's attention at the same time except for Rarity, who appeared to be talking to the conductor. "To summarize, I finally linked Rarity, too, and when I did, some sort of black box system activated and tried to send me back. I ended up shorting the Icarus Effect out, reversing the energy into myself, then dove out the window of the train and unintentionally over a cliff... Twilight and Rainbow managed to save me, though." Although, admittedly, the cliff saved me a lot of further pain. If my plan had gone smoothly, I would've smashed into the ground instead and probably been in a world of pain at the moment. Keela's eyes widened even further at that. "That's what happened, then! I suddenly got a huge energy reading from your link, then you didn't answer any of my pings for over five minutes, so naturally, I assumed the worst!" she exclaimed, exhaling softly before looking back over her right shoulder and adding, "You can switch to powering down the FTL drive now!" I blinked and unsuccessfully tried to resist twitching. Wait, she panicked after only five minutes, to the point of ordering the entire mining vessel to power up its jump drives?! Applejack got a smirk as she caught my stray thought, and I suddenly realized that I probably didn't want to know. Twilight looked curious, however, before inquiring, "Where were you going to go?" Oh, actually that was a good question. It wasn't like I was an afternoon stroll away. I didn't even want to think about the absurd energy requirements to make her entire vessel jump dimensions, let alone the phenomenal amount of collateral damage it would cause when it hit the ground. A spaceship of that size trying to operate in-atmosphere was sort of like pointing the cannon of a tank behind you and hoping it would let you fly. Keela blinked, then blushed slightly as she explained, “Well, I was going to warp back to the weak spot that links to Equestria and see if I could send a rescue ship through. Mender could have been under attack or in pain or something!” Wait, she was going to send Keldarians into Equestria just because she didn’t hear from me for five minutes after she detected high levels of energy? While I admittedly agree that the high levels of energy bit was rather suspicious from my end, that seemed really, really reckless. Applejack chuckled lightly, and then totally disregarded it and informed, “Rarity’s gone ta talk ta tha conductor after we pulled tha emergency brakes. Is there any way ya can get back up ta tha train?” Oh, that was a good question. It was, like, four hundred meters up the cliff… Twilight winced, and then slowly shook her head, however. “I used a lot of magic to stop Mender’s teleportation. I don’t think it would be wise for me to cast another spell for at least a few minutes. Mender’s hurt and in no shape to walk yet, and Rainbow and I both have hurt legs,” she warned. Keela almost choked on her tongue by the looks of it, however. “Wait, you stopped an FTL jump with just raw magic?!” she immediately asked, eyes still bugging out. Applejack cleared her throat sharply and shook her head, interrupting with, “Now ain’t the time ta talk about that. How are tha injuries, guys? Do ya need medical attention?” I smiled gently at the orange mare, kinda glad she was more intent on making sure we were all okay first. Fluttershy answered instead, thankfully. "Um, Rainbow's back right leg is injured. It looks like a pulled muscle from landing wrong on it. Twilight's forelegs got burned though from where she grabbed Mender. She's going to need medical attention, um, from an actual nurse. I'm better with animals, but I can apply ointment and wrap them. Mender has two really, really bad burns on his back. They're deep, and partially cauterized," she relayed, shifting to a low whine when she got to me. Oddly, I could almost hear Pinkie bounce once over the links, which shouldn't have been picked up. It didn't surprise me at all. "Oooh, but what about his nifty regeneration?! Oh, wait! Don't we all have super cool regeneration now, too?!" she quickly asked through her link, sounding very much not bothered by any of what just happened. I might be a bit miffed if I didn't just guess that she knew we were all fine so there was nothing to worry about. That sounded more like Pinkie logic. Regardless, I softly explained, "My regeneration, and probably yours, too, as it comes from the same source, works off energy consumption. The more I eat, the more it grabs the extra mass and energy from the food and uses it to repair me. Alternatively, I can just have it eat from my energy directly to repair, but that would make me really, really tired." I think I'd already explained it once to Twilight, but this was for the added benefit of everypony else here, as it technically involved all of them. Actually, now that I thought about it, I probably should have told them all a lot sooner... Rainbow perked at the information regardless, looking towards me before exclaiming, "Oh! That's why I totally slept for, like, ten hours and then woke up to eat three times my normal breakfast! That was the night after you punted me at the lake!" I glared at her for a moment for her wording, very much remembering that moment and the fight we'd had prior. Fluttershy looked momentarily confused, but Twilight simply nodded to that. "Yeah, to heal the damage his attack caused, the nanites probably resorted to taking your own personal energy reserves. It was 'nanites', right?" she inquired, glancing back over towards me for confirmation. I gave her a nod and soft smile, and she grinned. Heh, clever mare, as usual. Suddenly, I stopped and simply stared instead. Clever, but oh so foolish at the same time. Why had she done that? I hadn't really had a chance to consider it since the event. She had teleported outside of the safety of the train cabin and grabbed onto a falling pony with the effective equivalent of burning wings, then used up almost all of her magical stamina to break physics and stop my FTL jump. That left her with nothing left to actually teleport us away again. If Dash hadn't been right there to catch us, all she would have accomplished was killing both of us instead. Of course, if she hadn't, Dash would have caught me, and then both of us would have exploded. A similar scenario, I suppose, but still with less exploding on Twilight's part. But she was friends with Rainbow, too. If she knew I was going to explode, which was likely as I told them all before jumping, she might have acted in order to save Rainbow from that exact fate. But that didn't add up. If she was only worried about Rainbow, it would have been far easier to teleport next to her instead, grab her, and then simply teleport away. She had the added benefit of not even being on fire! But no, she targeted me instead and put the goal of keeping me here above and beyond us both dying, presumably relying on Rainbow to save us both afterwards. Conclusion: they were both crazy. I couldn't help but smile at that, at least. In retrospect, I was probably a little crazy, too, having spent the last thirty seconds blankly staring at Twilight in as creepily a manner as possible, and then suddenly starting to smile. She looked slightly concerned at this point, which was probably a fitting reaction. Still, that also came with another conclusion. She valued me a lot more than what I gave her credit for prior. She cared about me. Probably confusing her even more, I then leaned forwards gently and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes widened for a moment, then she relaxed a bit once her brain caught up with what was happening, then pushed back into my mouth, a hinting of affection in her nuzzle adding to what we shared. I broke it off a moment later, and then nuzzled her along the side of her muzzle, earning a soft blush. "Um, not that I'm complaining or anything, but what's this about?" she asked quietly. Rainbow and Keela also looked surprised, but I felt Fluttershy smile above me. She was both closer, and far better at reading the empathy links than the rest, so she probably knew exactly what conclusion I'd just gotten. Applejack also smiled softly through the link, and Pinkie started rapidly giggling. "Even I can answer that, Silly! You just totally went crazy and almost died trying to rescue him! That's his way of saying, ‘I Love You!’" she cheered instantly, with predictably little tact, as usual. L-Love?! Twilight blushed, too, then stammered out, "It... It wasn't that big of a deal! I was just going to teleport us back if Dash couldn't-" Rainbow held her hoof up at that and shook her head. "Twi, you can't teleport us now, even after resting for five minutes. Do you really think you could have pulled off teleporting us back then, immediately after doing that crazy stuff with Mender's wings?" the cyan pegasus pointed out skeptically. The lavender mare blinked after that and frowned, sliding a little closer against me while hesitating. The gesture almost seemed subconscious on her part. "Well, it might have... You caught us anyway! We were fine," she replied, switching tactics. "Um, Twilight... I don't mean to sound negative, and, um, definitely no offense to Rainbow, but she barely managed to pull up in time, and got hurt doing it. If it had been any other pegasus..." Fluttershy murmured, sounding worried anyway. I imagine that had been very stressful to watch, and I shot her soothing feelings down our link. She blushed softly at that, but smiled down at me and nodded. Twilight looked more fussed than assured, swallowing uneasily and looking back to me instead. Applejack interrupted her before she could even start talking this time, concluding, "Ya risked ah ton ta go get him, Twi. Maybe ya should consider that?" That oh so familiar panicked look started to dance through her eyes, and Twilight almost started to back away before I slipped forwards again and kissed her once more. She froze again, this time in hesitation before shivering and pushing back against my lips quite a bit harder. It was my turn to widen my eyes a bit as she slammed hers shut, actually moving me over sideways with her sudden affectionate press. Fluttershy helped stabilize me as Twilight broke off finally, eyes wet now before she buried her face in my neck. "It was horrible! Please, don't ever do that again, Mender!" the lavender mare shouted into my fur. Softening my expression, I wrapped my right foreleg around her neck and held her against me, not used to seeing Twilight cry. She didn't even seem to care about her own forelegs, which probably hurt quite a bit, too. Fluttershy slipped around and lightly hugged her back, placing a soft kiss onto her shoulder blades. The unicorn just continued to cry against me, and I lightly kissed the top of her head as I held her. Love? It was probably too soon to use that word. Or maybe I was just afraid to? He had said that to Keela after three times as much time as I had been with Fluttershy and Twilight, and look at what happened to him. Scared or not, however, this was the first time since the Estrus incident that I had felt like a part of the herd, rather than just some tag along. That sensation I held on to for all it was worth! There were so many instincts and memories from the Keldarian that donated DNA to me that I treasured any sensation I could call my own. This was mine. I belonged here... That meant being responsible for my own mistakes, however. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I wasn't trying to leave you. I thought we were over flat ground and was only trying to get away from the train and you guys before I exploded," I quietly apologized, realizing how weird that sounded a second after I said it. Twilight lifted her head for a moment to stare at me before nodding twice and resting on my chest again. “I… I know. Things will change now. Everything will be better, Mender. Just, well, please trust in us. Don’t try to do everything by yourself, okay?” she requested quietly, keeping her face buried. Smiling, I just nodded and held her against me, enjoying the sensation of her fur as Fluttershy smiled above me, kissing the top of my forehead before shifting to my back again. Keela smiled happily as well, looking like she was relaxing again finally. I turned towards her instead and nodded, exhaling softly. It felt like I could finally breathe less tensely since that whole incident. She nodded slowly to me, stretching gently in front of my ‘camera’ that drifted slowly next to her, which was actually just an extent of awareness around her body from the link. Beeping went off behind her an instant later, and I watched her ears perk up, her head turning to look back over her shoulder at the large array of consoles under the viewing screens. One of the male Keldarians frowned and pulled up a different display, tilting his head at it. “Weird. Um, Miss Keela? Our sensors are picking up additional FTL static, even though our engine has entered its first ten percent powered down state. Shouldn’t they be decreasing?” he suggested, looking up at her. Wait, FTL discharge was produced both by the engines themselves, and a ‘straight shot’ FTL tether’s other end. Our allies used their ‘Warp’ FTL, which produced that, if I remembered right. The only other race to use a point-to-point FTL system was… The small explosion of energy radiated out like a small starburst on the viewing screen, the dark purple and red ‘bloom’ of light expanding out into a rough circle as the dark object slid out almost effortlessly. Row after row of organic looking sleekness complimented the warp colors with the dark gray metals. My eyes widened at the rough triangle-shaped front of the ship as the rest of the body exited, easily larger than the broken moon Keela’s ship drifted next to, probably three times the size of the old mining rig. Oh. Oh shit. No hails were given as the screen blared up red and alarms went off, reporting twelve of the thirty banks of eight-cluster particle cannons warming up along the portside of the vessel. Twenty micro-missile slots opened up to compliment, and one of the Keldarians somewhere to the right screamed in panic. Rainbow’s eyes shot open as well, undoubtedly recognizing the ship as readily as I did. “Get the shields up! Move us around the moon for cover!” Keela shouted out over the blaring warnings. No, that wasn’t…! “No, drop the energy from the shields and leave just enough to block the alpha strike!” I warned instead, giving Keela a start. She looked back at me in surprise, eyes widening before they flicked to the side instead. I could see her mind whirling and she knew what I was going for. “He… He’s right! Do it! Put the energy into the empty ten percent of the FTL drives! Get us out of here fast!” she corrected, changing her order almost instantly. “R-Right! Where are our exit coordinates?!” the male within view asked quickly, vectoring the energy from the shield into the engines instead and getting the target trajectories of the cannons. “W-What’s that?!” Twilight shouted, eyes wide like the rest of us and drawing fully the attention of Pinkie and Applejack. Rainbow’s eyes narrow at the ship, though, and she hissed out, “Grosh!” There was no hesitation, and I knew she remembered exactly what those monsters were capable of. The lavender mare gasped at that, turning her attention back to my projection as Keela shouted out trajectory, then told the navigator to just pick a random straight line to go down. The readings popped up on the display a second later as fiery light expanded from each cannon barrel, and the rest of the cannon banks started to glow, too. There was more than enough energy to totally fill the FTL up again, if the readings were right. “Use the extra energy to burn retrograde! If you drop closer to the moon, the gravity will throw the missiles off!” I suggested, tensing as I sat up, even though I knew it wouldn’t actually do anything. I couldn’t do anything except for move, though! Hopefully the missiles were tuned for no-gravity conditions… “Do it!” Keela shouted instantly, and the ship rocked as they suddenly flared backwards, slowing their rotation around the shattered moon and lowering almost instantly, the huge Grosh ship sinking upwards towards the top left of the screen. “Ten seconds until Icarus Launch!” was shouted out to the right, as the cannons finally fired. Dozens of searing streaks shot across the thin atmosphere of the moon, sending expanding waves of flame along their wake. The shield flared up and focused into the points of impact, exploding out with burning blasts before fading entirely, just as the streaking clusters of missiles were released. It all happened far too fast. Keela shouted out, "Jump now! We can't be hit by those-" She was cut off as the clusters of missiles streaked out across the horizon, splitting into a dozen warheads each. Being small, they lacked the mass driven momentum and at least eighty percent of them fell far below the trajectory of the mining vessel. Half a dozen scored against the hull, however, and a scream sounded to Keela's left in panic as the command center shook. Another two-dozen missiles were fired off at a higher angle an instant later, followed by the second volley of particle shots. The hull distorted, however, as six massive wings of golden light expanded out and folded down over the ship. Yes! One wing lucked out and scraped across the incoming cluster of missiles, causing a chain of explosions that cascaded in front of the view screen. Keela braced for impact, then shouted out, "Now! Go!" Flak shots were fired from her ship, exploding into a miasma of sensor-disruptive heat and radiation as the ship flickered and melted away into distorted views and perspectives. In the last instant before the ship stretched out beyond the distant stars, a single particle shot whipped into the right side of the vessel's wing assembly. Everything jarred sideways as Keela hit the floor and red warnings lit up across the console. An instant later, the ship warped away, and the connection shut down... * * * * * We rode along quietly, the train slowly moving ever closer to Ponyville. I lay on my side in our newly assigned cabin, given that our first one was more than a little damaged. Turns out that superheated metal was a fire hazard and had seriously burned the floor and left bench before they got it put out. Thankfully the conductor had totally bought Rarity's quickly conceived excuse of the accident being an experimental wing spell gone terribly, terribly wrong. Well, it helped that the Elements of Harmony apparently had a reputation for disaster risk, and I did have brutal looking wounds on my back that matches precisely where wings would be connected. Twilight rested in front of me with her eyes closed and her two forelegs bandaged. Rainbow was lying on her side on the floor next to me, also with her eyes shut gently. I was carefully feeding both of them energy from my reserves and directing the nanites inside of them on the repairs they needed. Fluttershy was pressed tightly into my chest with her back, apparently deciding that I'd probably maim myself if she broke physical contact. Applejack rested on the other bench across from us, looking fatigued from having helped put the fire out. Rarity and Spike sat next to her, Spike trying to brush down Rarity's coat where stray tufts poked out, and the pearly mare herself looking beyond stressed. Pinkie chilled on the floor next to Rainbow, looking over the various pieces of Fluttershy's trauma kit and trying to put it back together again. Of course, it would need major re-supplying once we got back to Ponyville... Rarity fidgeted against her seat and I saw it coming, just like the last four times. "Um, is there any signal yet from Keela?" she inquired politely, but I could feel the tension in her voice as well as from the newly formed link. "Nothing yet, Rarity. Although they might have to do damage control first, and the actual link is still there, so Keela is okay," I assured tiredly. Fluttershy gave a tiny sigh and restated, "None of this is your fault, Rarity." That was true, but I didn't want to say any more than that. There were very select few ways the Grosh could have found their mining ship far into dark space around the remnants of a burnt-out star. Ignoring the astronomically low probability of the ship just happening to blunder into their location at random with weapons hot, that left either a very specific tracking beacon, or the patrol happening to be within a few hundred light-years in order to pick up the quantum flare of the FTL engine humming on standby. There were only a few beacons that could manage similar broadcasting distances, and those were really, really noticeable. Ruling out a magic spell to try to make contact with patrols, which the Grosh wouldn't be able to intercept anyway, that left them being close enough to see the quantum flare. Admittedly, it was Keela's fault for pulling the FTL engine out of standby before ready to use it, but I highly doubted Rarity would share that evaluation, probably concluding that Keela was only worried and doing so because of my little energy display, which was brought about by her 'insistence' on being linked. Although something still didn't add up. Why was Keela so panicked when she got quantum energy readings from me? Did she know something I didn't? Rarity fussed a bit more before sighing and dropping her head again, feeling unwilling to dance around the issue in circles. Pity. I was getting so good at it with Twilight. Resisting the snicker, I carefully kept that thought to myself as I relaxed there. It was almost impossible to stay disgruntled with Fluttershy there. The yellow mare positively ruined any hope of having a grumpy mood. Of course, Twilight had gone a long way in showing me what her true feelings were, and admitted to making a mistake by forcing me to tell everypony all that. Exhaling softly, I decided I didn't want to hold it against the mare any longer. At this point, Rainbow's repairs were done, the inflamed tendon and muscle bunching having been healed rather easily. Sadly, she was asleep, so I'd have to wait until later to get a confirmation on the 'no pain' status. Regardless, my slightly invasive code reported her having a dream about some sort of cloud race and blasting in between various cloud shapes, so I assumed Nirru was leaving her alone. Either that or she'd gotten wickedly subtle, which probably would have little to no effect on Dash of all mares. Twilight was a bit more complicated, having multiple layers of skin to heal and restore, then fur to grow back. I worked on her lowest layers first in order to avoid scarring while doing the same for me. My twin wounds were healed at this point, thankfully, but my back itself required extensive damage repair from the burns. Thankfully, blood loss was minimal, as the wounds had almost instantly cauterized most of the damaged area from the high heat level. I guess I'm lucky that my cybernetic skin was highly fire resistant, or I might have just burned up instead... The lavender mare was looking right at me when I opened my eyes again, mildly surprising me. I'd felt her attention from the link but hadn't expected her to open her own eyes again. "Remember, Mender. If you start getting tired, please stop. They're feeling a lot better already and I can wait to get the rest restored, okay?" she reminded quietly, earning a sigh as I averted my eyes. I knew how Applejack felt now, with wanting to 'fix' what I'd caused but getting constantly turned down for it. The orange mare smirked across the way, picking up on my inner plight as fast as Twilight did, who giggled. "I'm willing to let you help me, but even you have to admit that this was hardly your fault. The only thing you technically 'did' during the whole situation was jump out of the window. I'm not sure if that was the right call, and we'll never find out, but you didn't put that code in your black box," she quickly pointed out, picking up the terminology from my explanation earlier amazingly fast. I'd fully explained what had happened once she recovered enough to teleport the four of us back up to the train. The conductor and passengers had surprisingly agreed to wait there for fifteen minutes until we could get back inside, and were readily sympathetic when Applejack carried me through the two cabins to the end one. I still couldn't walk, which reminded me of the hospital and all the frustrations therein. Twilight, in turn, explained that she wasn't able to cast her healing spells on herself, which is why I volunteered to help restore her forelegs rather than her go through with the, well, somewhat risky plan of trying to teach Rarity the advanced healing magic to cast. Twi had furthered that most forms of magic and spells from a unicorn were really hard to cast on oneself, requiring an advanced understanding of the technique and a larger amount of energy. That did explain why I never saw any unicorns floating around with self-levitation. She'd only recently picked up healing magic for, uh, totally unknown reasons... She didn't know enough about them to risk trying to target herself, which I could understand. A spell created to manipulate your biological functions would be disastrous if miscast. That left me where I found myself now. Dash had been healed rather easily by Twilight, and had promptly fallen asleep during the procedure. Now I was healing Twilight, hopefully until I passed out. Of course, I had kept that last part to myself. In the meantime, all effort had been redirected to cracking the encryption protocols on that black box embedded into me. What was the point of having everything hooked up to me as the 'administrator' if there was an entire secondary system I didn't have access to?! Midway through my irate chain of thoughts, a light beep went off in my inner ear, and I just about had a heart attack before realizing that it was my own programmed-in ping system. Wait, ping?! I activated it instantly, switching it over to my external speaker as a bit of static shifted over the link and I fully patched Keela through, turning my projector on. In hindsight, I probably should have asked her before streaming the video, as she looked like a truck had run her over. There were three bands of wrapping around her head, a large bandage across her left cheek, and thick one doubled over her left shoulder. A female Keldarian I didn't recognize was casting what looked like a healing spell on her stomach as well, directly on the bloody fur there. To top it off, she was decorated in various smaller bruises and her left eye was blackened on one side. My analysis system pieced the damage together and predicted she'd suffered an upper body impact on the left side of significant velocity. Yikes. Everypony near me, as well as Spike, perked up at the sudden noise, then drew their attention to the projected image largely at the same time. Fluttershy gasped immediately after rolling around in my forelegs, holding her right hoof up to her muzzle as she took in all the wounds. I gave Keela a soft smile, sadly knowing exactly how she probably felt. To my amusement, she returned one as her eyes locked with mine and she relaxed visibly. "Uh, hey, Mender. We finally got stabilized enough where I could call you back. Sorry for not getting in touch faster," she apologized weakly, sounding as tired as I felt. Taking in her surroundings, I noted sparking damage all over the control room, with her leaning against the back of what looked like a rotating command chair. Tym, not visible in her immediately vicinity, snorted somewhere to the left. "Don't kid yourself, brat. We barely got life support back online, and you're still bleedin' in the gut. You were the one going on and on about getting back a hold of 'Mender'," he chirped, switching to a significantly higher octave to accentuate my name with and sounding far more amused than one should after surviving an encounter with the Grosh. Predictably, she flushed and glared over in the direction his voice came in, spitting out, "It's not like that, Tym! Gah!" Twilight blinked next to me, then raised a skeptical eyebrow towards the Keldarian, but surprisingly enough, Applejack rolled her eyes instead. "Are ya okay, Keela? What happened after we lost signal?" she asked a moment later, probably annoyed at the lack of a serious attitude from the older Keldarian. Sadly, I'd never seen Tym ever get serious, even in the thick of combat. That's just how he was, really. Keela sighed at that and slowly turned back to the 'camera' with a slight wince before looking up at me again and explaining, "Yeah. I'll live, and the ship is still functional. We took a colossal amount of damage, mainly from our own FTL jump. They grazed us just as we warped out with one absurdly lucky, or very well timed, hit. We're lucky we didn't disintegrate in transit, but they apparently make these mining vessels to take a beating." Well, they were, obviously. Given the nature of asteroid mining, it was expected that a few chunks here and there would blow off and smack into the hull. That's why they technically had military grade armor. At hearing the full explanation, Rarity finally breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness. I'm terribly sorry about everything, Miss Keela. It was at my insistence that Mender finished the final link, which is what caused all of this. We should have, I don't know, warned you first or something so you knew what to expect!" she quickly apologized. Twilight lifted an eyebrow towards her through the faintly translucent image of Keela. "Uh, Rarity, we didn't know what to expect. How would we have known to alert her that something might have happened?" she inquired skeptically. That was a very good point... The pearly mare shot her a frustrated glare back, but Keela snickered at that, surprising Rarity instead, with, "Just call me Keela, Rarity. It's true, though. It was my bad call to charge the FTL drive. That's probably how they found us to begin with. I shouldn't have tried acting with so little information to go off of, but all I knew was there was an FTL signature coming from Mender's side. If something was trying to get into Equestria again and I was only picking up the aftershocks... I wanted to get the ship over to the weak spot to try to interrupt anyone who was potentially attempting to get through." Oh! So that's why she immediately attempted to activate the FTL. Twilight frowned at that before interrupting with, "What are the odds of somepony actually managing to get through to Equus?" I noticed she must have totally smoothed over the 'anyone' nomenclature. Of course, they were similar enough, I guessed. Still, this I could answer. "The weak spot into Equus is ridiculously small. Compared to all of space around it, the odds of actually finding the exact spot without knowing ahead of time right where to look is... Actually, no, there's no probability I could even use to represent it, it's so small. Like finding a single marble in a cluster of identical marbles larger than the entire planet, and that's not even a noticeable fraction of the actual value," I reasoned. To even try to put odds to it was laughable. Twilight relaxed a bit at that and finally nodded, easing into my chest and Fluttershy's head. Keela smiled at the display, then perked and turned to her left as another female ran up and handed her a thin data pad. I waited patiently for her to finish looking it over, then watched as her expression fell, swallowing weakly. "Damage is immense. One of our males that was on engineering duty below deck got injured badly and is in Medical. We also... We lost segments seven and eight off the right wing, and six suffered critical levels of destruction. Oh no..." she whispered, lifting her paw up to her muzzle, her eyes getting wet. The room fell silent on my end, and I lowered my ears, taking a guess that one of those three segments hadn't been empty. Her crew was well past bare bones as it was. She stared at the data pad for another long second before tears actually slipped down her cheeks finally. She let out an angry sounding scream a second later, sounding almost feral as she whipped the data pad sideways and against the floor. The pain was tangible, and nopony said anything as we just watched. The green haired female next to Keela tried to put an assuring paw on her commander's shoulder, but it didn't even seem to register. Instead, Keela let out another howl and smashed the metal grating under her with her right paw, making it ring out and opening up her stomach wound again. "Keela, please! You're injured!" The other, teal haired medic warned, trying to hold her still again as she healed her stomach. Frowning, I finally whispered, "Keela, stop." She froze for a second before shakily looking up at me, her eyes searching mine as they tinted pink from her tears. Seconds passed, and she swallowed again and shook her head slowly, looking a mixture of horrified and hysterical. "I'm... I'm so, so stupid. I can't... I can't keep doing this! I'm not meant to be a leader and now, because of my own foolish, ill-considered, reckless decision... They're gone. They're all gone," she rapidly started spewing out, voice collapsing to barely a whisper before falling away completely, fresh tears joining the others. Keela... She just tucked her knees up and let herself cry, the healer slowly restoring her stomach now that she stopped moving. I wanted to ask, but couldn't at the same time. My memories from him seemed so fresh suddenly. He'd known this moment hundreds of times. Those friends and buddies he knew and lived with... So many died right in front of him. I knew this sensation, having lived through it a hundred times over in what felt like a past life. I barely realized she was talking again. "She... She's gone. She's d-dead. I know. I know, you probably don't care. You hated her, but... She was my sister and now I didn't even get to see her one last time before... Both of her guards, too. Three lives just... It happened so fast. It's not fair. It's not fair!" she cried out into her knees. I had already known on some level. Nirru. I didn't feel happy or sad, really. There was nothing there at all. If anything, realizing I felt nothing hearing about her death was sad enough on its own. But that's how it worked. "It's never fair. Sometimes it's some... Someone that you didn't like at all, and sometimes it was the guy you listened to snore for the past two years. It might be your best friend, or maybe you didn't even know their name. It's still the same regardless, though. It happens so fast, and in that instant, everything that they had been, were, or could be is gone. It's not fair and death takes everything, indiscriminately," I explained quietly, causing her eyes to drift up to me as she listened. The longer I spoke, the wetter hers got again, but I knew she couldn't look away. "Even if I hated her. Even if she did horrible things to me and wanted to hurt me and those I love... It's still the same. Everything she could have done, and everything she was is gone. The sensation of that loss is felt regardless, and I can feel it for you, too," I finished, trying to get her to realize that even if I hated Nirru, I didn't hate her. Keela stared at me for another long moment before getting a weak half smile and curling up again, resting her forehead against her knees. I felt my foreleg get wet as Fluttershy buried her face in my fur, not wanting to look anymore. She even cried for the ones she didn't know. I held her close and she relaxed again, easing me as well because of it. The Keldarian finally nodded against her knees and slowly spoke up with, "Mender, I can't do this anymore. You're so much better at leading soldiers than I am. P-Please. I just want to leave. If I could, I'd take the whole ship and haul us all to Equestria. Our race is doomed, so why bother having any regrets?" She hurt, and everypony could feel it just by looking at her. But she knew as much as we did that we didn't have anything capable of producing the energy required to haul that whole ship into Equestria. No object larger than bus-sized had been experimented with for crossing dimensions. If she had a drop ship with a powerful enough FTL drive, maybe. That would be pushing it, though. "Keela, you know I can't make that call. Even if we had the ability, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule here and obviously have the final say," I reminded softly. She shivered but nodded a second later, face still buried in her knees. "I... I know that! Please, Mender. I don't want to do this anymore. You're so much better at leading than I am. You actually have experience," she muttered, looking up at me again slowly. Her eyes were entirely red at that point, but I forced myself to look away. Twilight stared at me for a good five or six seconds before glancing back to Keela and answering, "That's not a good idea, Keela. While Mender does have experience with that sort of thing, these are your crew members we're talking about. You've done an admirable job so far anyway and-" She was interrupted by another shiver from Keela almost instantly. "Admirable?! I just got two members of my crew killed alongside my sister! All because I was an idiot!" she shouted. Even though she was staring right at Twilight, the words dripped with self-loathing rather than anger towards my fillyfriend. In a rather disturbing, twisted moment, I suddenly realized Keela was heading down the same path as Applejack had. "Keela, stop it. You know as well as any of us that you aren't to be blamed for the actions of the Grosh. Sure, you gave them a slight signal to look for, but they would have had to already be fairly close in order to pick up on even that. Trying to blame yourself for bad luck having gone terribly wrong is foolish. You can't take responsibility for somepony else's acts," I warned her, shifting to a frown as I stared at her. She looked surprised for a few seconds before hesitating and looking away from me instead. I exhaled softly, noticing Applejack's focus on me as well, probably having guessed at my dual meaning there. Both her and Keela were trying to blame themselves for horrible acts that somepony else did. Just being in a position to potentially have prevented the situation doesn't mean much, especially considering they didn't have the benefit of hindsight. We never know how things are going to turn out. I was a bit surprised when Tym suddenly leaned down next to Keela, fully shifting into the picture as the Keldarian looked over at him in surprise. He gave her a warm yet tense smile before patting her on the head slowly. "Relax, kiddo. This ain't over by a long shot. We're going to pull this ship back together again, then do an FTL jump right back to where we were before," he explained quickly. Her eyes widened, a bolt of fear shooting through them, and I quickly shook my head, adding in, "He's right, Keela. It would actually be fairly safe. That was a scouting patrol. They would have attempted to chase after you and pick up your trail. Going right back to where you were before isn't something they'd have anticipated, and they're probably a few hundred light-years away from that point now." Of course, they had no reason to go back there, but I had a sneaking suspicion Tym found something. "Oh dear. Why would you want to go back to that horrible place?" Rarity asked almost instantly, frowning in concern. Keela looked over at her before nodding and turning back to Tym, searching his eyes for answers. He smirked, of course, and slid the tablet back over towards Keela. "The Princess didn't read the entire report, did she?" he inquired pointedly yet in great amusement towards Keela. She tilted her head towards him for just a moment before reaching down and picking up the now slightly dented data pad. He rolled his eyes and continued with, "I'll save you some time. The damage report is severe, given that two sections are missing, and the third is destroyed. But this printout is done by a computer, Keela. Those sections are listed as one hundred percent destroyed because they're not there anymore, not because they actually got destroyed." Ah, right. If the section they were connected to got hit hard enough to total it completely, it probably fired off the safety decoupling. The other two sections probably suffered damage, but it would have been reduced if that happened, possibly keeping the two guards alive. Of course, that would mean Nirru lived, too, but I wasn't going to damn two innocent guards just so she wouldn't make it. Well, reasonably innocent? Eh, at least innocent until proven not so. "Oh, they could be alive, then?" Twilight asked, perking up at that bit of news, having eavesdropped on my little mental tangent as well. Keela's eyes widened and she stood almost immediately, causing her nurse to yelp again. "That... We have to hurry, then! If they're still alive, they're free-floating and need rescue immediately! They should have enough air to last at least a few hours, but we have to prepare, then get ready to move!" she ordered, switching quickly back to analytical mode. Tym smirked and nodded as he stood up next to her, and I exhaled gently. The odds were still not wonderful, but at least it gave her something to focus on. Still… “Keela…” I warned, locking eyes with her again as she turned back to me. The shaky look to her eyes softened, and I saw her relax somewhat. Composing herself, she nodded to me and assured, “I know. The probability is small, but… I’ll be careful regardless. We can’t screw up again like that. Um, thank you as well, Mender. You helped us out majorly back there and… you’re the anchor for my sanity sometimes. Heh.” Oh, well that I could understand. Smiling at that, I nodded to her and surprised Fluttershy into a squeak by hugging her softly under the forelegs. “My herd is mine, so I know how you feel,” I replied, kissing the back of the mare’s neck as she smiled back at me and blushed softly. Twilight grinned at that and nestled herself further into the top of my head. Now I didn’t feel that urge to just pass out so badly, I noticed. Keela smiled towards me, nodding, then nodding again to Tym, who still stood next to her. He turned and whistled, waving his arm around in a circle in the air, and everyone in the command area broke into movement, reinitializing the systems and quickly repairing crucial operations. The Keldarian turned back to me after watching for a moment and added, “I’ll contact you again as soon as we get there. For now, though, I’ll have to ‘hang up’, so to speak. The FTL jump will disconnect us for a moment anyway.” I nodded to her, and she smiled again before returning it, then vanishing in the same instant. Well, at least they were okay. Err, reasonably okay. Okay, so she was a little banged up and three Keldarians might have gotten blown up by the Grosh attack, but at least she was still alive, along with most of her crew. Rarity exhaled softly after the image flickered away, looking tense but a little better off than she had been. Settling back down into a lying position, I just relaxed against Fluttershy as the train rolled on. That made a good metaphor for life, really. Although at some point I wouldn’t mind hitting the emergency brakes for a while and taking a good week-long vacation at least. After a long moment, Twilight lay down against the back of my neck, too, gently kissing my shoulder before resting against me. Yeah, a vacation would be nice. She felt my sentiment through the link, and apparently decided that now wouldn’t be a bad time to start. Wait, could we do that? Was it okay to just say to hell with everything, I’m going on vacation? Relaxing, I decided I might as well give it a try. At least we could for the remainder of the train ride home, which would have to do… I listened to the vibrations through the seat and resumed healing Twilight while we headed ever closer to Ponyville again…
Chapter 76There were at least fifteen or twenty ponies at the station when we pulled in. Several had traditional looking coats and name badges attached to them, and I guessed that quite a few newspapers of Equestria were interested in finding out more information about the Dimensional Regulation foundation Tia had set up. Of course, when three of us exited the train a little worse for wear, they suddenly had dozens of other questions instead. At least all Rainbow had was a limp. Both Twilight and I were totally incapable of walking under our own power, with both of her forelegs out of commission and me both dead tired and having extremely ravaged back muscles. Okay, so admittedly, going overboard with Twilight's regeneration while I was also injured as well was probably stupid of me. Thankfully we had amazing friends, two of which were impressively sturdy on their hooves. Lifting my foreleg up to shield my eyes from the flurry of camera flashes, I tried to keep from getting a headache from the reporters trying to shout over each other, each with a different question. I took full advantage of the extremely fluffy pink mane all around my head and used it to partially block the light anyway, Pinkie totally unfazed despite carrying me and my considerable weight. Well, actually I probably weighed about as much as a healthy earth pony stallion, given my stringy body shape still. Muscles were only just starting to build up again, but my, uh, added parts on the inside contributed to a bit of extra weight. Unexpectedly, a rather familiar looking nurse slipped through the crowd within seconds, medical saddlebags filled to the brim. Her normally tidy pink mane had a few stray locks here and there, and she looked tired as well. "Sorry, everypony! Questions will have to wait until after medical treatment!" she warned loudly, mercilessly shooing the nearest reporters away and clearing a route through the crowd for us. Three larger earth ponies were with her, dressed in guard uniforms and helping to make a path while further dissuading the reporters from pursuit, I imagined. Of course, I could be wrong. While they were admittedly loud, the pony reporters seemed far more considerate than what my Keldarian memories seemed to indicate. They hadn't mercilessly stalked me or my loved ones yet, and they seemed to listen to reason, given that we were injured. Not that it had mattered with the expert and almost practiced ease with which Redheart moved us through the crowd. Applejack followed sharply ahead of us, Twilight resting on her back and the crowd willingly parting for the mare. Within three minutes time, we had been ushered well within the confines of the hospital and headed into a private room. Given the bewildered expressions on everypony else’s faces, I'm guessing I wasn't the only one somewhat surprised by the expediency of the process. Twilight frowned as the nurse closed the room door. It didn't take half a second for the lavender mare to light her horn up. I activated my scanners to peek at what she was doing to the room, out of curiosity. The inside walls of the examination room were coated with a soft glow a moment later, and as suddenly as it appeared, my scanner display of everything outside the room vanished. Ah. That was a rather useful spell! To my very pleasant surprise, Pinkie was amazingly careful in sliding me off her back and into a lying position on one of the lowered medical mattresses, Fluttershy carefully guiding my descent. Given the smaller size of the room, Twilight was slid off Applejack onto the mattress next to me, Rarity helping her similarly with magic and hoof guidance. Nodding at the glowing walls in the meantime, Redheart turned to me instead and inquired, "The pegasus that flew ahead of the train said it was experimental wing magic, but I kind of doubted that. Is everything okay? You weren't attacked, were you?" Ah, right. The last time things got spontaneously obliterated in my vicinity, we had an alien infiltration. "No, we weren't attacked. I registered Rarity's link to the network I have, and it completed some black box mission set for all six Elements. Wings from the Icarus Effect expanded off my back, and it tried to send me back to my old dimension. A quick save from Twilight and Rainbow is the only reason I'm still here," I summarized quickly. After carefully landing on the raised medical bed, Dash grinned, of course. Twilight blushed softly at my words instead and shifted her eyes from me. Smirking, I leaned over and pecked her on the cheek instead, causing her rosy shade to magnify slightly. Redheart listened along rather neutrally as she moved over to Twilight and unwrapped the mare's leg bandages. I'd healed a good chunk of her damage already, but the fur and upper two skin layers were still not the greatest. At least Rarity had a tonic for that 'missing splotches of fur' thing! Rarity shivered, however, for reasons unrelated to my internal monologue, I guessed. Looking stressed still, she appended, "Keela was attacked by the Grosh while attempting to communicate with us to find out what happened, however. The damage to their vessel was quite severe, and we're waiting for them to contact us again." I'm surprised she left out how it was 'all her fault'... Had she actually listened to us finally in admitting she had next to nothing to do with it? Redheart stopped at that and glanced back at the pearly unicorn for an uncertain moment before frowning. "That's bad indeed. Is everypony on her ship okay?" she asked almost immediately, true to her profession's form. "No," I quickly answered, further explaining with, "An attack hit the ship as they were escaping. It blew off two segments on the side, one of which turned out to be their prisoner holding area. It detached, and they're going back to see if they can find it right now, but two guards and Nirru were in it." Redheart looked grim for a moment, the name of the female that attacked us known to her. Probably more so than most, actually, given that she was the one who had to treat both Pinkie and Applejack that night as well. "I hope they get back with you soon, then. These burns are moderate, Twilight. I'm guessing you regenerated?" the nurse inquired, quickly changing away from the unpleasant topic as she shifted her attention to the lavender mare next to me. Her forelegs were burned and missing fur, the skin red and blistered in spots. Admittedly, I didn't know how to diagnose burns, but my readings on the area for her showed only two 'layers' of skin damage now, which was significantly better than when we had started. Twilight looked down at the damage herself and nodded before explaining, "Mender directed the regeneration while we were on the train at the expense of his own energy. The energy coming off his back during that event had been really hot, but..." she muttered, frowning at her wounds. She trailed off, and then was further distracted by my lips gently pushing against her cheek again. The skin and fur heated up against my muzzle, and I didn't have to look to realize she was embarrassed again, but I felt her smile regardless. Quickly, I added, "Thank you, Twilight. You risked a lot to save me and keep me in Equestria. Possibly your life." Her eyes widened at that, as they had before when we tried to convince her of exactly how much risk she'd taken. Was she afraid to admit what she'd done to herself? I'd seen cases like that before as well, although they were rare. Well, he had seen them. Regardless, some soldiers felt more comfortable by never trying to come to terms with what they had to do on a daily basis. I guess sometimes ignorance really was bliss, especially when intentionally invoked. I'd seen it coming, and it was no surprise when Dash frowned and started to let out a huff as she turned to me. I caught her before she could even make a noise by spontaneously adding, "And thank you as well, Rainbow. If you hadn't been there to save the both of us, also risking quite a bit, I don't think today would have had a happy ending." Her jaw clamped down in an instant as her eyes widened, and she just stared at me for a moment before Redheart snickered, drawing everypony's attention to her instead, myself included. She shrugged a second later before adding, "It takes a special kind of pony to risk their life for another. You have a lot of ponies who legitimately care about you, Mender," she explained after a moment's consideration. That didn't match her reaction, and I gave her a confused head tilt instead. It took her a moment, but she smirked a second later and added, "I'm also pleased that Equestria is still as friendly as ever. It gives me faith in ponies as a whole to see such bonds formed so strongly, even with such a rocky start." Oh, so she though it was cute, rather than funny. Got it! Although, wasn't it a little sudden for such a strong bond? Fluttershy caught the question before it even made it to my tongue, and she giggled outright, nuzzling into my other side before shaking her head. "No, Silly. I don't know how things worked like that back in your old place, and I probably don't want to. Um, no offense, of course. Bonds here form within days sometimes, and last a lifetime. Ponies are very, um, social compared to the direction you considered," she tried to explain, that ever present hint of uncertainty shifting a bit stronger as she spoke. Still, with ponies of such high empathy around me, maybe I'd never have to say anything ever again? Pinkie giggled at that, adding a mirthful grin for good measure. "Fluttershy's right! We all became super best friends in less than a day! It's amazing," she pointed out, looking exceptionally pleased at the fact as she said it. Sadly, she was one of those ponies who got animated while talking, and I barely ducked a hoof in time as it passed over my head to the left. She predictably didn't notice. Rarity, who was now softly massaging Twilight's shoulders, coughed lightly at that before pointing out, "Not to dismiss your example, but we're something of a special case being bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Pinkie. Still, it is true, Mender. Normally ponies are very social and quite fast to become friendly." The little dragon next to her rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, however. "I only wish dragons were the same. They can be downright rude to newcomers!" he complained, sounding as if he was speaking from personal experience. Twilight smiled at that before speaking up with, "Don't forget, those were younger dragons, Spike. While probably close to your age, I'm not sure they've gotten as educated an upbringing as you." There was a certain level of pride in her tone and I barely resisted smirking. He gave a softer smile towards her, however, seemingly thankful for the compliment. Sadly, Nurse Redheart was forced to deflate the happier topic a moment later as she finished her analysis. "You're amazingly lucky that you regenerate, Miss Twilight Sparkle. I can imagine that this was a lot worse, and it's still pretty bad. This is a second-degree burn, and the heat damage has gone through multiple layers of flesh. I'm going to wash the areas down and bandage them up again with special cream, but you'll need to come back in after a few days and get looked at again," she warned, frowning down at them. I knew when she was serious, it was time to turn in the chips and just nod in agreement, of course. For once, it wasn't me she was getting serious with! Wait, didn't that have some other meaning? The lavender mare gave a bleak stare down at her own forelegs, swallowing again at their tender look and lack of fur. I nuzzled her gently on the cheek and she sighed a moment later, relaxing back against my shoulder before nodding. "I'm really lucky," she muttered in agreement, sounding tired. She didn't seem very 'lucky' to me, getting these rather nasty burns. Sure, they could have been worse, but she also could have not gotten them in the first place by, I don't know, not having a scientifically engineered eldritch abomination for a coltfriend? Just a thought. Fluttershy gave me a heart-wilting frown of vague, yet somehow also apologetic disapproval, and I averted my eyes from the mare, reminding myself that she was fully capable of reading my active thoughts at this range. She even beat Pinkie out in innate skill of using the links. Speaking of... "Wait a second. Isn't Mender really, really injured, too? Why are you treating Twilight ahead of him and not, I dunno, both at the same time?!" Pinkie herself asked, hopping forward a bit and wiggling her eyes, somehow, at Redheart in a vaguely accusing manner. My favorite nurse seemed more confused by it than anything, of course. While I was a little concerned for my own injury, it didn't hurt all that badly, and I wanted Twilight to get help. Redheart shook her head a moment later and explained, "Mender is going to be looked at, too. Doctor Horse is on his way right now, being the only other pony that has security clearance high enough to look at Mender's injuries." Oh, my doctor. Sometimes I forgot that I also had a doctor, as usually Redheart took care of most of my issues easily enough. His name was a bit weird, but he was a nice stallion, if not overly positive sometimes. That said, Redheart delayed no further in sliding her rolling tray over to her and moving the bin of water off it. I stayed resting against Twilight as she shivered, the warm, wet cloth gently washing the burned skin with soapy water. Despite it probably hurting, she didn't make any noise and just closed her eyes, head turning to the left and resting against my neck. I felt her focus on her breathing instead, and slipped further inside of myself, surprising her a little as I drew her in and away from the pain going through her legs. The yellow mare over me finished straightening my bandages carefully, then smiled as she felt what we were doing. A moment later, somewhat predictably, I felt her drift in towards me as well, snuggling into Twilight's back and finally getting the mare to smile. A tag team nuzzle actually managed to get her to relax a moment later, not even aware of the outside world anymore. To be honest, I have no idea how long we stayed resting like that, somewhere between awake and asleep. There was less awareness of time like this, and it felt like both hours and a few minutes before I felt nudges at my own back. I knew it wasn't hostile, as the sound of Applejack or Rainbow Dash knocking somepony through the wall would have alerted me to ill intent. All three of us opened our eyes almost immediately, Twilight outright surprised to note her forelegs were bandaged up again. The familiar looking unicorn doctor next to me perked up at my sudden awareness and lifted his hooves off me, holding them up instead in a rather universally accepted parley gesture. Admittedly, I wasn't as familiar with him as I was Redheart. Still, he naturally gave off a friendly air with his mannerisms and appearance. He slowly dropped his left hoof while adjusting his thin spectacles with his right, green eyes locking onto my wounded back. I suppose it helped that he was naturally neutral colored, with his orange-tan coat and dark brown mane and tail being rather disarming. The white doctor's coat added to the professional look, which perhaps was a bit misleading in his case. While he had moments of serious absent-minded tendencies and was a little eccentric, he was thankfully very levelheaded under pressure. Actually, that was probably why he was the one to do my surgery after the Nirru incident. I had been panicking prior to that and sliding large chunks from the walls, so he might have been the only doctor to risk it. Well, if he had even noticed. Maybe his Cutie Mark, an electrocardiogram monitor, was alluding to his ability to manage emergency situations? "Friend, of course. I know ponies can sometimes be startled coming out of the inner trance. Fascinating technique, that! You three are very close indeed to manage it in three different directions. Do your links help?" he inquired, sounding curious. Thankfully, despite my surprise over his sudden question, Twilight was far quicker of wit, explaining, "Actually, they totally supplement links with each other, and he has full control over them." Oh, those links! Here I momentarily thought he knew something I didn't! I started to smile and nod when I was yet again interrupted, this time by Applejack. "Uh, not ta change tha topic, but Ah'm kinda curious. What's with tha huge tray o' food?" she inquired, sounding intrigued. Tray of food? I looked around but didn't immediately find what I was looking for, which weirded me out a little. The doctor stared blankly at her for a moment before suddenly seeming to remember, and stepped sideways in my vision. Sure enough, a large tray of food had been entirely eclipsed by his much nearer in perspective chest while he examined my back. Oh, yes! I was beyond hungry. "Ah, right, right! Eat up, Mender! Please, allow me to observe and note the effects of your natural regeneration upon consuming things," he requested, nodding to me twice. I got the sudden inclination that this was a science experiment, but I was far too hungry to care. Not wasting energy with magic, my tongue shot out instead and latched onto the tray, sliding it over towards me before it rolled to a stop. Admittedly, the stallion knew me well enough. While most in the room undoubtedly knew now about my 'consumption-based' regeneration, not many would also pick out my favorites. Six sandwiches were on the tray with an assortment of fried hay patties, practically smothered in grease. Multiple bowls of dressing were also available, including one filled completely with sugar instead of anything cream-based. He also got me a few toasted slices of bread, the waves of heat still drifting up off them. Alongside were some very natural looking jellies, with added sugar sprinkled in. Oh. It took me a moment to note the different patterns in the variety present, but I quickly realized he was testing the effects of different food combinations on my healing. I already knew of course that it was twofold, requiring both mass to help repair things, and fuel to break down for energy. It was an interesting experiment, though, as I wasn't sure if raw sugar or the greasy fats of the patties were better for 'fuel' for me. I immediately made a sandwich out of one of the patties, some thick, tangy dressing, and sprayed a bit of sugar across it before slapping the other slice of toast onto it. Twilight utterly forgot about the pain in her forelegs as she watched on in clear horror. I layered another patty on top of that, ignoring her shudder completely. More dressing was tossed on after, along with a third layer of toast. Yes! Now this was a sandwich! "Um, n-not to interrupt but, uh, is that healthy for him, Doctor Horse?" Fluttershy asked politely a moment later as I squished the sandwich down and happily picked it up. Rainbow started laughing, of course, barely resisting herself while I was making this masterpiece. I think the squishing noise pushed her over the edge. Pinkie chipped in and started giggling next to her while they watched me take a huge bite out of the thing, shivering as the combined tastes danced happily in my mouth. My taste buds exploded into a happy state of bliss, and I barely managed to catch the doctor's reply. "...course! I'm a Doctor. Doctor Horse, of course! He's not quite a normal pony, however, so all of this will simply be processed by his body and converted directly. I merely wish to observe which affects him the best," he explained. Okay, so while he was a little, well, strange, he gave me this awesome thing, so I wasn't about to complain. Plus he seemed to actually understand the process of my body on a more fundamental level. Redheart, apparently far more used to dealing with him, utterly ignored his antics while gently wrapping bandages around Twilight's forelegs again. "Now remember, Twilight, leave these on for the next twenty-four hours, then clean them again with gentle soaps. Wrap afterwards, and then I want to see you back here in forty-eight hours for another checkup," she instructed, giving a rather impressive list of orders. I made a digital list as she went along, but Twilight gave an uncertain frown down at the bandages. The yellow mare still residing between us gained a timid smile before assuring, "I can help you re-wrap them, don't worry. Um, only if you want me to, though!" I smiled at that, but it wasn't noticeable around my sandwich as I kept munching on it. Sure, I could have eaten the thing in one bite, but it was far more pleasant to take my time and enjoy the wonderful blend of flavors. Twilight gave her a soft smile and nod, which got the yellow mare to relax anyway. I was about to point out that Fluttershy probably would have done that regardless, but a ping fired off in my link system before I could. Perking, I quickly swallowed the bite of sandwich I had been working on, flicked on my eye projector, switched the speaker system in my throat on, and activated Keela's connection. Everypony turned to look as the light flared into the room and a slightly transparent version of Keela faded in, about a meter to each side of her also visible from awareness bleed. She was bandaged up now, but still looked rather battered. I recognized the area she was in as the forward navigation bay. In most mobile starships, there was an area of the command room that was devoted to the actual movement and navigation of the craft, and it typically had very easily identifiable consoles and displays. In this case, I saw fully active scanners running. "Ah, Mender! I was hoping you wouldn't be too busy by now. Oh, did you make it to the hospital?" the Keldarian inquired, looking about the room I was in. The link went both ways and let her see within a good five or six meters of me. Nodding, I quickly explained, "We made it back to Ponyville in the time you were gone. Twilight and I are getting looked at right now." Only a slight fabrication, as I figured scientific observation counted as 'looking at me' for Doctor Horse, anyway. Redheart smiled at Keela, having been informed about that particular Keldarian before. "It's nice to finally meet you. Twilight should be fine in a day or two, but Mender's wounds are significantly worse. Doctor Horse is trying to boost Mender's accelerated regeneration using disgustingly unhealthy foods," she elaborated, earning a snicker from Keela and an eye roll from me. "Given that I have two large holes in my back, what I'm eating at the moment should be the least of my health concerns. Still, I'm directing all the intake towards regeneration anyway," I retorted rapidly, shooting a look towards the now smirking Redheart, who'd obviously done it just to get a rise out of me. Well it worked! Twilight, being far more observant than I as usual, instead pointed out, "You're smiling and in good spirits, Keela. Does that mean you have good news?" Oh, right. The whole reason for her cutting communications for a while was to try to find the separated parts of the ship. That had completely slipped my mind after getting the sandwich made... Keela stared over at her for a moment before sighing, sounding really tired. With a frustrated wrinkle to her brow, she lowered her eyes to the panel next to her before picking something up off it. As it came into the focus of the display, I saw that it was a data pad similar to the one she'd had earlier, although significantly less mangled. A report, then? Still, I assumed 'frustrated' was better than 'angry' or 'depressed'. "Uh, inconclusive," she finally managed to mutter, some sort of irritation present in her gaze, if only for seemingly the data pad itself. They lost more data pads that way, I bet... Still, 'inconclusive'? While better than an outright negative result, I was struggling to figure out what that meant in regards to the Grosh. Normally, their modus operandi left things fairly definite as to what happened. My, and everypony else’s confused expressions must have been readily apparent. She glanced up again, blinked once, then looked back down at the pad before elaborating with, "We found what was left of the two missing segments, and recovered their black boxes. They were hit with several category three particle blasts and reduced to less than four percent cohesiveness." Uh... That was fairly straightforward, so I simply waited for the 'but' clause. Twilight was slightly less patient, however. "Wait, so the Grosh blew them up?!" she asked almost immediately, looking beyond horrified. At her clarification of the statement, everypony else mimicked her expression as if it were shrapnel from her explosive outburst. "But?" I asked quickly, interrupting before anypony else could spiral with those thoughts. Instead, I managed to at least draw everypony's attention to myself instead, Redheart and Doctor Horse included. The doctor nodded a moment later before adding, "Quite, quite! The young Miss Keela stated the results as inconclusive prior to this, and that result is very much not. There must be more!" Keela raised an eyebrow to him, but nodded regardless. Hesitating, she looked back down at the sheet before furthering with, "The parts were significantly damaged prior to that, however. The separation shrapnel inflicted significant hull damage, and they were venting atmosphere at two percent a minute with no backup reserve. We would have made it in time to rescue them, but..." She trailed off at that, frowning at her pad instead. She looked about as confused as I felt. Why was that important? Wait... Tym started snickering, again outside of the 'picture' around her a ways. "It doesn't make any sense at all. The Grosh don't fight like that. They're logical to a fault. Why waste ammo and energy reserves when your target is already doomed, and you get a free show of watching them slowly suffer and maybe draw their allies back to 'rescue' them, to destroy them, too?" he pointed out in an odd mixture of amusement and bitterness. Oh. "That... That's horrifying!" Rarity immediately declared, with no hesitation whatsoever. I exhaled softly before agreeing with, "Yes, yes it is. One of the many reasons why I don't want them anywhere near Equestria." I'd figured that being willing to blow myself to bits in order to prevent just that would have left some lasting impression as to how horrible they were. No, wait, I was being bitter again. Keela looked guilty for a long moment before nodding. "I was... I was an idiot to make that link with you, Mender. I'm sorry again. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have had any further trouble. Our worlds would be long separated by now," she apologized. Twilight frowned for a moment while considering that before politely shaking her head and countering with, "No, I for one believe this is actually for the best." Ah, right, that made sense. Wait, no it didn't. Keela gave her a confused yet ultimately vacant stare, seemingly so unprepared by that statement that she didn't even have a proper facial expression ready. The lavender mare actually giggled for a moment at her expression before continuing with, "What? It's true. I've fully read Princess Celestia's case file from the last time. Everything points to these dimensional connections forming in a circular, repeating pattern. If so, I'd rather have the chance to start preparing for it now, and formulate a decent defense ahead of time than simply pass the event by and hope for the best with the next one." Ah. So she'd rather deal with the devil she knew, in other words. That way if an unknown one came, we'd be way more prepared. I never considered the situation as something to learn from, admittedly. Keela looked just as surprised until I winced, drawing everypony's attention back to me as the doctor apparently picked now to pull the bandages from my back. Of course, Fluttershy had worked with what she had, which unfortunately hadn't included stick-free wrappings. Redheart rolled her eyes absently at Doctor Horse's antics, but he totally ignored her, or was entirely oblivious. Instead, he checked the wounds over carefully before nodding twice, to nopony in particular. "Ah, right, right. I just remembered that I couldn't observe your healing if I couldn't see the wound. Hmm. Actually, I appear to have accidentally torn them open again. Oh dear. Nurse, could you get me some gauze and non-adhesive wrappings?" he inquired, surprisingly not sounding all that concerned. Damn it! My favorite nurse was already holding up the bandages when he looked up, shooting him an irate stare. "Mender is our boss, need I remind you. You should strive to not maim your patients regardless, however. Pay attention!" she lectured sharply, earning a pleased yet blissfully unaware nod from him. Ugh. Why was he my doctor again? Thirty seconds later, I was reminded of exactly why as he easily cleaned and re-bandaged my wound. His horn idly spread grayish blue ambiance across the room as he worked, his hooves doing the wrapping while his magic soothed nerves and healed my deeper tissue. It was absolutely second nature to him, given how effortless he pulled it all off. Twilight exhaled slowly a moment later before her horn lit up and a notepad drifted out of her left saddlebag, accompanying quill immediately starting to dance across the page in her neat, yet tightly formed script. "So Mender completed an 'objective' designated inside of his black box, presumably given by whomever put it inside of him, and it tried to automatically return him to his prior dimension. Keela was attacked in response to powering up the faster than light engines, presumably by the Grosh. They then behaved strangely by apparently destroying pointless targets, and showing no noticeable interest in giving chase." She narrated out loud as she took her notes, and I smirked at her extraordinarily scientific method of viewing things. Keela blinked in surprise before quickly pointing out, "Seemingly?! There are chunks of the ship segments floating around the moon in multiple orbits now! You don't get much more destroyed than that." Sighing, I came to Twilight's defense with, "Actually, you can, but apart from that, I believe Twi was referring to your sister and the other two Keldarians, not the ship itself." The lavender unicorn smiled at my intervention, but didn't lift her eyes from her notes, still rapidly writing alongside her now silent thoughts. Keela shook her head twice after that, and shuddered before asking, "But what alternative is there? She's either dead or captured, which is even worse! There's no sign of any escape, that's for sure. Besides, they don’t capture non-civilians! I… I don’t know what’s going on here.” Considering it for a moment, I finally nodded and suggested, “It’s true. They’re acting strange, and something is definitely off. You should get some scans and samples from the wreckage, and then probably get out of there, however.” They’d been lucky with the Grosh being gone when they got back, but that wasn’t something to rely on for any length of time. After considering it for a moment, Keela nodded and added, “Yeah, you’re right. More clues would help us out. We’re also idling in silent mode right now, holding on to our emissions for the time being, but no, I don’t want to endanger us any further. Okay then, everyone! We’re grabbing some scans and samples of the two destroyed sections, then jumping to a new random location in dark space to analyze them!” She ended on the two orders and gestured her hand out while talking to the Keldarians presumably near her on the deck. There was the sound of a flurry of motion, and I realized I’d guessed correctly. She turned back to me afterwards and finally gave a weak smile. “Um, thanks for being patient with me. I don’t think I’m entirely thinking clearly at the moment, and you and Tymandius have been a blessing. I’ll ping you again when we get back to safety with the analysis reports?” she offered in a quieter voice, torso sagging a little. I nodded and smiled back to her in attempts to be reassuring, of course. Fluttershy surprised me by timidly speaking up, however. “Um, I think you should get some rest after that, too, Keela. If it’s not too much trouble, just to, well, relax a little. You look really tired,” she suggested quietly. Keela looked momentarily surprised before closing her eyes and smiling a bit further, nodding slowly. She did look tired. “Yeah, you’re right. After I get the report to Mender, I might just take a cat nap for a few hours. We need to get to safety first, though.” Reasonable, at least. Either that or her inner fatigue was making the prospect sound too good to pass up. Fluttershy nodded at that and recovered her smile, having felt melancholy since the attack had hit our friends. With that, Keela gave a smiling nod and perk towards the ‘camera’ before the link went quiet again, and I felt myself relax a little. Today had kinda sucked, and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Not that I hadn’t gotten my lunch started early. Glancing down, I took note of my forgotten sandwich before picking it up again and taking another bite. Mmm, soggier than I remembered. Figures. Redheart finished adding the last of the wrapping to Twilight’s legs and nodded after, looking somber. “It sounds like everypony’s having a bad day today. Twilight’s recovery time is set to two days or so. No Running of the Leaves this year, however,” she warned, reminding me again of what time it was. Oh! The doctor nodded in agreement as well. “Yes, the burn treatment should have you healed and furred again in two days’ time, but try to limit your walking and activities with your forelegs until then. Mender’s regeneration from the food he consumed is already kicking in and the wounds are looking better already. Fascinating. That means both greasy and sugary fuels work with him. I wonder which is better. No, I’d best observe that later tonight. For now, I’m going to re-wrap his wounds. I suggest he stay with us overnight, however, to insure there are no complications,” the doctor explained, shifting in and out of addressing us and talking to himself. I’d been anticipating that, so it wasn’t really a surprise. “That’s probably for the best. I’ll settle back at the library for tonight, then come visit you later after everything’s unpacked,” Twilight offered, smiling softly towards me. Applejack looked less than pleased at that prospect, instead correcting, “Oh no ya don’t. Yer gonna be resting, an’ we’ll be doin’ tha unpackin’. Pinkie, Spike, an’ Ah got it covered. Ya should probably stay groundside fer tonight as well, Rainbow.” The cyan pegasus winced at that, looking unpleased at the aspect, then nodded reluctantly. Wow. Applejack could get her to do almost anything! “Oh! Right, right. I forgot to take a look at Miss Rainbow Dash’s leg. One moment,” the doctor suddenly excused, grabbing a very small hammer off the wall. Eh? What was that for, reflex testing? The cyan mare fidgeted at that and rapidly shook her head, protesting, “I’m fine, really! It doesn’t even hurt anymore!” That probably meant, given that it was Dash saying it, that it was slightly less than agonizing now. The tension that was drifting down the link from her didn’t make her statement any more believable, of course. The doctor held a hoof up before assuring, “I’ll only do the briefest of tests, worry not. While it’s not your wings this time, I believe you still find your legs quite useful, no?” Oh, had he treated Rainbow before? “Uh, no, really, it’s okay. I’m fine and I can walk by-“ she started to continue. She was interrupted, of course, when he floated the hammer out and lightly bopped her on the knee joint. Her leg shot out to full extension out of reflex and she winced, and then cried out, bending down and holding onto her leg carefully. Redheart finally growled and shot him an annoyed expression before ordering, “Okay, that’s it. I’m taking over from here. Move…” He backed off almost immediately, of course… * * * * * Gently, I relaxed while staring out the window. Crimson and dark orange light drifted over the clouds, day slowly sinking beneath the horizon. A single leaf snapped off its branch a moment later, drifting on the outside breeze as it fell towards the ground far below. I shifted a little bit, and the soft blue aura immediately took it as a cue, my pillows lifting slightly behind me and fluffing again before settling. "They were fine, you know. You're awfully stubborn," I muttered without turning back her way. I felt her smirk regardless, that coy and playful one she got sometimes when 'bantering' as she put it. The links were becoming second nature to me, anyway. "You should never call a lady stubborn, even when she is. To properly compliment, use 'determined'. It works much better," Rarity advised calmly, indeed sounding all too amused. Chuckling, I warned, "Careful. That's an adjective I've heard given to Rainbow. I didn't think you liked being compared like that." The white mare rolled her eyes at that, the smile not diminishing as I turned back to look at her. "Rainbow, while certainly brash and very spontaneous sometimes, is a very dear friend to me, and truly has very admirable qualities. I'm not afraid of the comparison," she assured politely, nodding twice to her own statement. She sat on the chair next to my hospital bed, of course, and had been for almost three hours now. Still, I had to admit to liking her methods a lot more. Applejack and Pinkie volunteered to help deliver the bags back to both Twilight's and Rarity's houses and make sure Twilight was settled in with Spike assisting her. All before moving on to drop their own luggage off, which was rather unsurprising at this point, given the mares involved. Rarity obviously couldn't manage getting her luggage back to her house and unloading it, having taken both Spike and two nearby stallions to haul it to the station in the first place. The mare knew how to use her charm, that was for sure. After unpacking, however, she surprised me by immediately turning around and coming back here instead. I tried to dissuade her, of course, predicting she was going to try to be like Applejack, but instead, it would seem she took her own words to heart. That was something that was really hard to do. She explained that she herself had felt guilty in regards to our injuries, and logically, mine was the most severe. Further, I had nopony 'personally' there to help me, Fluttershy staying with Twilight, and Rainbow rooming with Applejack until her leg recovered. Logically again, Rarity decided that I was in the most need of aid. So to take responsibility for what she felt was partially her fault, she would see that I was well tended to while I recovered. She had outlined a definite goal, and acknowledged what was wrong, so I could hardly fault her. Plus, well, she was good company and I was lonely. Redheart had a lot of other patients, and I wasn't about to 'order' her to tend to only me, regardless of if she offered or not. Twilight and Fluttershy were set to visit later, too, but until then... Rarity tilted her head lightly and smiled, inquiring, "A bit for your thoughts?" I stared at her for a moment before simply smiling and shaking my head slowly. For a moment, I considered what my thoughts actually were, and then instead replied, "Free for you, of course. And, well, thank you. Admittedly, I was rather lonely." Of course, she wasted no time in giggling at that, and I wondered if it was at my expense. "Oh, I noticed, yes. That longing look you gave Twilight and Fluttershy as they left was clear enough. Not the normal look of a stallion ogling two pretty mares either. You care deeply for their company, I know," she observed. None of it was a question, and we both knew that she didn't have to actually ask. As intangible and sometimes confusing as my feelings for the two mares were, I could very easily agree that I loved their company. Still... "That better not be alluding to your own worth. You know I also value your company," I reminded, just in case. She smiled at that, and then nodded more earnestly, the feel of our conversation slipping from playful and into somber and honest. "Yes, I know. Despite your faults, you always have been good at complimenting, you know that? But don't detract from our prior topic. Distraction and absent-mindedness are some of those faults of yours," she reminded. I was impressed with her ability to actively point out negative qualities of mine without actually insulting me. Still, she was right. Nodding, I shifted the larger book closer to me again, its pages still open with a soft felt bookmark within. There was no risk of accidental closure now, and I slid the bookmark to the side as I flipped one of the thick, browned pages. That was the color of most paper the ponies used, I noted. "I'm not sure," I finally muttered, looking over the book that now took over my entire lap. This spread of pages contained a full map of Equestria, cities marked and transit lanes highlighted. "You've already shared a lot, including bringing this in the first place. I'm always glad to learn everything I can about the things, but isn't your throat getting sore?" I asked instead, frowning over at the mare. She held a hoof up to me and chuckled lightly at that. "No, no. My throat is quite all right. Hmm,” she started before pausing and seemingly considering something. I waited patiently for a moment, ears twitching lightly in anticipation of her continuing her thought. Finally, she admitted, “Well, actually, the main problem is that I’m a bit fatigued from the long train ride. Would you be upset if I took a short rest?” Oh! Right, the train ride had taken an hour longer than anticipated. Smiling easily at that, I nodded to her before assuring, “It’s all right, Rarity. Take a nap if you need it. I’ll wake you if something happens or Twilight and Fluttershy get here.” She gave me a polite nod before settling a bit, then curling up on the chair’s cushion. I watched her relax there for a bit before turning and looking back at the large book in my lap. She really had been helpful, and bringing this with her when she came back was amazingly thoughtful. She knew I didn’t know much about pony customs and history. The founding from the three tribes, Tia’s and Luna’s surprisingly passive guidance over the decades, and the relation with the surrounding nations were all rather interesting to me. It was my duty now as a ‘pony’ to know this information. Smiling at that thought, I gently closed the book after slipping the mark back into it, and set it next to me. For now, however, there were other things that I wanted to look into. Rarity couldn’t help me with this, as it was something I had to do on my own. My saddlebags had been stashed next to me on the bed, thankfully, and I opened the clasp on the right one before sliding the large folder out of it. It was amazingly thick, and had a single symbol printed on the front of it. Of course, I now knew the symbol to be that of the Bureau of Extradimensional Investigation and Defense, or BEID. Staring at the folder, I was somewhat surprised in my hesitation. This was the collective knowledge of that organization, including its final reports before shutting down almost three hundred years ago, however. I guess it was just me being weird, but it was still the collective work and effort from quite a lot of ponies. How far from the original premise were the members of BEID today? Carefully, I unhooked the wrapping on it and slid open the vanilla colored folder. Having expected case files and documentation, I was a bit surprised when the first papers within held a note from Tia, a photo, and a small notebook. Oh? I quickly read over the note, quite curious now. “Mender. After a bit of consideration, I guessed that you’d probably be interested in more than just BEID itself, and gathered up a few additional things to give to you. Being their only foal, you should have them regardless. The photo was on your father’s desk, and the notebook is your mother’s journal that she kept for the duration of her stay in BEID, including meeting your father. The packet of information under them was everything I could find on your family. I’m sorry there’s not more, but those were bad memories for a lot of ponies, and loss is felt for many generations for us. I didn’t want to pry where I shouldn’t. Let me know if there’s anything I can answer for you, however. Signed, Tia.” I read the note twice before fully absorbing the information. My birth parents. Under the note was a single picture, showing a large and imposing earth stallion looking surprisingly gentle and happy, and the unicorn mare posing in the picture next to him smiling and waving at the camera while snuggling into his side. She held a surprisingly sharp contrast to him with her creamy white coat color to his much darker bronze. His mane and tail were kept neatly trimmed and styled, I noticed, and were charcoal black in color, slivers of silver mixed in. I reached up absently and slid my braid over from the right side of my muzzle, looking at the silver color mixed in with it, and smiled. My eyes shifted to her instead, seeing a much younger and wilder look to her, with her creamy blue mane and tail lying where it stayed whenever she got up in the morning. To my surprise, Bastion's eyes were my own, a rich amber gold in color as he stared at the camera. Gemstone's were a pretty soft blue tone, which matched well with her coat. I had no idea how long I stared at the picture, feeling very small. These were my parents, but I didn’t know them at all. I didn’t know what their voices sounded like, or how they acted, or what they would have thought of me now. At the same time, they looked so happy, and clearly cared for each other very much. Seeing them now, I wanted to know them. But that wasn’t possible, was it? Swallowing, I slid the picture to the side, putting it gently on top of the note from the princess. The notepad rested on the top, bound in old looking fabric-covered wood, surprisingly enough. The image of a pink gemstone with a ribbon wrapped around it was on the cover, hidden by the picture and note when I had opened the folder. I glanced back to the picture of the couple and saw the same marking on her left, visible flank. Neither of his was shown, however. The book was old but very carefully maintained and cared for. I was almost afraid to open it and risk damage, but the contents were important. I paused at that, considering what ‘important’ meant for a moment. Surely, the contents of the book had next to nothing to do with the case and current investigation of BEID. Neither did the picture. Tia knew I had a personal investment, however, and that made both important, if only to me. Smiling, I made a mental note to thank her when we next met. The larger file behind the book was still a bit smaller than the file itself, of course. Opening that up, I was a bit surprised that it appeared to contain a collection of information on the two ponies, gathered from both official bio information and what looked like letters that Tia had written to families. Had she done this recently, just to get the information for me? I remembered how she had helped me when I was struggling with myself in the hospital after what happened with Nirru, too. And how she’d given me good advice in regards to my memories and interest in Twilight, despite already knowing at that point that I was a cyborg. She was incredibly nice to everypony she met, and truly a good pony at heart, I realized. I appended my prior note to really, really thank her the next time we met, and chuckled at my own silliness. Rarity stirred slightly on the cushion nearby, and I held a hoof up to my mouth, holding still until she settled again, as if that would somehow make me less noticed. She didn’t wake, thankfully, and I relaxed again before looking over the generic information on them. My mother’s name was Gemstone Weave, and my father’s was Bronze Bastion. They were age twenty-two and twenty five, respectively. He was a technical engineer assigned the entirety of the building projects for the group, and she was a crystal resonance expert that apparently was assigned under him, to construct the actual crystal arrays they were using to build the portal device. Interesting. I skipped over the medical information and various bio tidbits and examined the director’s notes on them. He was selected for excellence in the field, specializing in extremely detailed construction on a fine scale, despite being an earth pony. His professional and courteous attitude extended into working well with others, and that got him the leadership position. My mother’s recommendation was less shining, it would seem. She was selected reluctantly due to her excellence in the field, and being one of the only crystal resonance experts with the advanced magic qualifications. Her personality was somewhat unpredictable, though, known for high energy and wavering levels of work ethic. ‘No Discipline’ was underlined three times, and I couldn’t help but smirk a bit. She sounded like a firecracker. Looking back at her journal, my curiosity piqued and I sighed softly. Okay, it couldn’t hurt, could it? I didn’t even know why I had hesitated before anyway. Sliding it back over, I slowly unwound the tie around the clasp of the notepad. On the front page, written in tightly formed but slightly sloppy script, was, “No Reading This! Property of Gemstone Weave!” I smirked at that, then widened into a full smile at the addition under it in slightly brighter pen color. “(This especially means you, Bastion!)” Maintaining the happy outlook, I carefully flipped the page…
Chapter 77"Come on. You know you wanna. We pay you two bits apiece, and you ensure we pass the course. It's just homework," reached my ears, earning a light twitch as they swiveled to face the sound. Ugh. Not those jerks again! Sliding forward while adjusting my saddlebags, I made sure they didn't scrape the wall as I peeked around the corner. Sure enough, two larger mares and a stallion had a first year cornered against a wall. She was shaking, and obviously felt threatened, which was exactly what they wanted for their 'deal'. "B-But, that's against the rules! We could all get kicked out if..." she started to protest, shrinking down a little while stammering, the dust from the brick wall turning her whiter coat a dull gray. The larger mare grinned at that and slammed her hoof into the bricks right next to the smaller mare's head, earning a squeak and shiver. "We're not gonna get caught, so relax. Trust me, things won't be pleasant for you if you say no," she reminded. I'd heard enough. These punks were toast. Slipping my saddlebags off, I pushed them against the wall before sliding and breaking into a sprint around the corner, jaw clenching as I felt the magic surge forth. The big mare heard the sudden noise of my hooves as I flat out sprinted towards them and managed to look to the left, eyes widening. "Oh ponyfeathers! It's Gem! Run!" she managed to yelp out. The dark brown stallion to her left didn't even know what hit him as he turned. My horn lit up and blasted his left leg out from under him with a shot of telekinesis. As he fell, I jumped and used his face as a springboard, easily flattening him into the dirt as I leaped through the air. The bigger mare had started to run, but wasn't prepared for me body-checking her an instant later. I hit hard, but she hit a lot harder, and with me on top of her gut. The air exited her lungs in an instant and I rolled, sliding off her on the other side, pushing the rest of the air out of her with my body weight as she started coughing painfully. A flash of light danced across me an instant later, and I looked up just in time to feel the force of a mallet hit my face. My magic activated instinctively, knocking the blast of energy away from my head even as I spun from the impact, a bit of blood hitting the dirt under me. I managed to keep my balance as I slid and turned just as the third mare actually tried levitating me off the ground, trying to haul me up helplessly into the air and away from her 'buddy' I'd just flattened. Idiot! Never, ever try focusing on levitating a target in a fight. Especially not a unicorn who happened to be an expert at harmonization! Smirking as I wiped the blood from my mouth, my horn flared up just as she tried to haul me upwards. I fired the high intensity sonic vibration right into the channeling point for her spell an instant later. She screamed, clutching both sides of her skull with her forehooves, entirely forgetting that she was standing prior. She planted her face into the ground an instant later, collapsing like a bag of soggy carrots. Ha! I smiled over at the smaller mare, who sat there with a stunned expression on her face, jaw dropped at me. What? She never see a mare kick that much flank before? "You okay?" I asked her, turning to face her fully. Okay, yeah, I was awesome. That probably sounded totally cool. Hey, she was kinda cute, too. Her disheveled mane was a soft green in color and ran to about her shoulders. The color complimented her teal eyes quite well, too. "Gemstone Weave!" I heard shouted out in a very, very familiar voice, and everything sunk around me. Horseapples! Turning, I gave a sheepish smile to the older mare glaring at me and storming over, hauling my school saddlebags alongside her with her magic. Well, that would have been awesome, had I not gotten caught teaching the bullies a lesson. Again... The headmistress of the academy simply tossed my bags to me before ordering, "Nurse, then my office. Now, Gemstone." Gah! * * * * * "So? That's only like your... What? Third time? I think you get six offenses before you have to appeal to the board!" Ether Pulse chirped, being his usual wiseguy self. I rolled my eyes and shot him a glare around my cheek bandage. He knew me better than that, though, and only smirked down at me, brushing his silvery mane away from his cyan eyes. He had a dark blue coat and was a bit taller than I was, which didn't take much given that I had been the class runt. My father's martial teaching more than made up for it, and I knew he'd be proud of me regardless! He always said that sometimes it was worth getting into trouble if it meant doing the right thing. Sighing, I corrected, "Fourth time they caught me. Ninth time I've flattened some bullies. It's always the same thing. Some petty ponies picking on a smaller mare or stallion for some stupid reason. I'd love to see them try to pick on me!" I glared at nothing in particular until he started snickering and gave me a new target. Not that he ever felt threatened by me. "They did, remember? Your first offense was after you skipped their faces off a brick wall. After that, they started running from you," he pointed out skeptically. Heh. He did know how to cheer me up, regardless. Sadly, he continued with, "You're just lucky your grades are so high, or you probably would have been asked to appear before the board already. Seriously, Gem. I know it makes you angry, but you have to just report them. Scare them off if you want, but just let them run away!" He had a pleading undertone that always stung, and I huffed, looking away from him finally. Honestly, I knew he just had my best interest at heart. That made it impossible to actually get angry with him. It just felt like that was doing nothing! Sighing, I relented and nodded towards him a moment later. "Yeah, yeah. I'll give it a shot next time. At least they got suspended for trying to cheat, and put in front of the board. Mandatory therapy might teach them some proper manners," I muttered, getting him to nod and relax. A second passed, and he idly scratched his chin for a moment. Eh? "So, was she at least cute?" he asked a second later, grinning. "Ether!" I yelped, feeling the heat shoot up to my cheeks. It was one thing after another! * * * * * I ran into that mare again, of course. Hard to believe that she was in my advanced magic manipulation and theory class, despite being so young. She has to be at least a few years shy of myself, given her appearance. To my surprise, she actually remembered me and willingly came up to thank me for saving her three days ago. Of course, the bandage on my cheek might have jogged her memory, but I guess I couldn't expect everypony to be like me. As a rule of hoof, if I didn't write it down, it didn't get remembered for more than five minutes. It made classes really hard, but only made me try even harder! My dad believed in me! Her name was Auraprism, or just Aura for short. Her Cutie Mark was a glowing prism splitting a ray into three, which was rather fitting and quite pretty to boot. She was a light specialist, focusing on crystal manipulation to refract and reflect, so we hit it off big time. A lot of my own work was focused on crystal vibration and sound theory, so we literally were both working with the same materials. Now, of course, we were studying intensely for our final comprehension essays, which was our last chance to influence what our instructor thought of our learned abilities. It was three days from now, when we'd sit down in the classroom and get two hours to write up an exhaustive summary of the past semester and everything we learned. Thankfully we could bounce ideas off each other quite naturally. If he passed me, I'd only be one semester away from graduating with honors! Which was good. I had to graduate before they kicked me out for kicking flank first, and asking questions later. "Okay, so following his pattern, he always discusses the physical properties of Equus' various magical crystals. After that's covered for two weeks, their magical aura properties are detailed, alongside how they interact and can relay through each other. That said, we can both at least structure our essays the same. Isn't chronological ordering a good thing?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and watching me as she lay on my dorm bed. Lazily, I had flopped on my back across the carpet and continuously swayed my hooves back and forth in the air above me. Planning out the essay was good, yeah. That didn't stop it from being really, really boring, though. "I dunno, Aura. That sounds so predictable and boring. We should do something to make ours stand out more! He's got, like, twelve of these to read this year, and I don't want to bore him to tears," I groaned out, flailing a little faster in frustration. Aura smiled and giggled at that, her voice gentle and soft. I felt a fluttering sensation in my tummy and shivered lightly, managing to keep it to myself. Over the two months I'd known her, I'd been growing steadily more attached to her. It didn't take Ether's persistent teasing to make me realize I was falling for her. "Not everything needs to be exciting, Gem. Isn't it enough to impress him with your knowledge? This paper is only supposed to prove what we learned, not be a script for a play or something," she pointed out, ability to reason as sharp as usual. Arg! "I know, I know! It's just so boring to write like that! I'd rather be doing experiments or research, not writing about experiments and research. I don't even know what I'm going to be doing when I graduate!" I complained, kicking violently at the air as if I'd just caught it stealing candy from a foal. It was a pity that not every problem could be solved by kicking it in the face. To my surprise, Aura was quiet after that for an unusual amount of time. Slowing my assault on my invisible target, I glanced over at her, only to note her deep in thought. She must have seen the movement of my head, as she perked a second later, looking back up at me carefully. The light was surprisingly bad in my room as we'd been too lazy to light a candle yet, but I could have sworn I saw her blushing lightly. I didn't have time to think on it, however, before she asked, "Have you thought about next semester? Um, I know your roommate is graduating and you need one..." Oh, right. I was rooming with a gryphon from Prance who was studying rune crafting. She was headed back home during Hearths' Warming break and I needed to find another roommate. I'd forgotten all about it! "Gah! I totally forgot! Now I'm probably going to have to post on the searching board for a roommate. It's probably too late to ask around," I wondered out loud, annoyed at myself again. Of course! The moment I don't write something down... My friend rapidly shook her head, however, before suggesting, "I, um, I have a private room, if you remember. It's still got two beds in it, though, and a private bath. If you wanted, well... I mean, you could room with me!" The last part was rapidly spat out and I raised an eyebrow over at her curiously. Her eyes were closed and her cheeks were definitely flushed at this point. It was always easier to tell when a lighter coated pony was blushing. Although she was really, detrimentally shy, which was why she had the private room. No, Gem. Don't jump to conclusions. She was an amazing friend and maybe felt safe around me enough to offer. Trying to put on my best warm smile, I softly asked, "Are you sure, Aura? I don't want to impose, and I know you like a place where you can just escape to." It was true. We'd talked about her panic attacks, and I tried to be as supportive as I could for her. She only smiled and nodded twice, however, before quietly muttering, "If it's you, then yes. You really calm me down anyway." That I hadn't been expecting at all, and I felt a soft heat slip into my cheeks. She smiled as well and slid off the bed a moment later. I barely managed to dive forward before she planted her face into the carpet. Exhaling gently as the light unicorn landed on me, I blinked before she wrapped her forelegs around my torso and added, "Thank you! I was trying to figure out how to ask you for days and I was so scared that you'd actually remember about the room and ask somepony else before I could or that you'd say no or..." I held a hoof up to her muzzle to silence her before she made herself pass out from the run on statement. She just gave me a sheepish smile instead, and I squeezed her to me. "Relax. Ya know you don't have to worry about saying anything to me," I reminded softly. A long moment passed with her giving me a hesitant stare, and I slowly lifted an eyebrow to her. Her eyes slammed shut at that, and I gave a start at the movement. Instead, she pushed her face into my chest and just nodded into my hug. Finally, she managed to mumble a muffled, “Thank you… Um, can I ask you something?” * * * * * Yawning, I slipped back into the dorm room after my early morning energy wavelengths class. I was not a morning pony in the slightest, but thankfully it was my only class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I usually went right back to bed afterwards. Moving past our small kitchen and into the main part of the room, I noted that would be a little different today. Aura was exactly where I'd left her this morning, still snoring lightly. She didn't have classes until two in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, making me beyond jealous. Of course, she shared my first class every other weekday at noon, which was the earliest she had to get up for. I'd come to the conclusion that she was actually far smarter than me, purely based off that. Still, no complaints in the slightest. She was still lying on my bed, her legs and hooves twitching lightly in her dream and making her look even more adorable than usual. Last semester, after she asked me to move in with her for the remainder of the break as well, I'd quickly learned she was also deathly afraid of loud noises, such as the thunderstorm we had last night. A cute mare crawling into bed with me was beyond okay for me, but I thankfully had enough common sense, even when woken up at four in the morning, to not say that to her. She might not realize I was joking and I didn't know how she'd handle it. Hmm. Was I joking? Staring at her for a few more seconds, I smiled as I watched her messy locks slowly drift with her breathing against her muzzle. She was more than adorable, of course, but first and foremost, she was an amazing friend. I wanted to support her as best I could. Of course, Ether teased me mercilessly about the new development, but I'd expected as much. His ways were more than predictable to me after being friends with him for the better part of a decade. I just called him jealous, which he also agreed to, of course. Lying down near her on my bed and staring up at the underside of the upper bunk, I contemplated writing another journal entry before trying to sleep some more. I'd been writing a bit less in it since this semester began, which made me feel a little guilty somehow. I didn't know why, but it felt like I should try to get my thoughts down as much as I could. What was I afraid of? I couldn't answer that, of course, but grabbed my journal from my bedside stand anyway, lifting it with my magic. Might as well. At least it would relax me before trying to sleep more. I knew I was getting tenser, lately. Not having any job lined up for after I graduated was bothering me. I knew I should be focusing more on trying to look into it, but every time I tried, I got scared. Honestly, I didn't want this to be my last year in school. I didn't feel ready for being an adult yet. Aura made a soft humming noise in her sleep next to me, and I smiled again. She talked about it with me already, and didn't want me to leave her alone, even after I graduated. She'd said that ever since we became friends, the bullies had been leaving her be, too, which she thought was really weird. It honestly amused me, up until Ether mentioned to her that I had a 'reputation' for beating the tar out of mean bullies. Of course, she lectured me instead. Hum. Did I see myself staying with her, even after I graduated in two months? The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to throw caution to the wind and just say yes. She wanted to move into an apartment for her next year, and stay with me until she graduated. Of course, I asked her what her plans were for afterwards, curious at her extremely fast attachment to me, but she'd been vague and non-committal. Did she like me as more than just a friend? I blushed lightly and contemplated just asking her, but it would probably give the timid mare a heart attack. Of course, getting us both a few drinks first might help, but we couldn't bring alcoholic beverages back into the dorm and I didn't trust myself to get us back here while tipsy. Last time I'd apparently fired off a few gravity spells while wandering, and woke up to find myself halfway up the side of a four-story building with fireponies attempting to use a ladder to get me down. Dad had laughed for hours... Ugh. I made the mental note to try hinting at her feelings again later, once she was back from class for the day. Until then, I slipped my journal open to my bookmark halfway through, and recorded my thoughts dutifully. * * * * * Smiling towards Aura, both of us relaxed and put away our textbooks. It had been a very interesting class on interaction of energy in crystals, but the sheer volume of notes I had to take had given me a headache. Still, if I used anything other than my magic to write, it was useless as I could never read it later. This would be so worth it, though, as I'd have complete and legible information to study later for my mid and final essays. Just as we were standing up and slipping our saddlebags on, the professor called out with both our names, however. Ah! I jumped, almost scaring Aura half to death as she shivered, then quickly turned around to face the professor with me. "Hold a moment, you two. I'd like to speak with you both after class," he informed. What?! I hadn't been in trouble even once since that incident when I met my now roommate! We intentionally made sure we were writing original and different papers, doing individual research. There's no way we could be in trouble over that! Auraprism looked downright terrified as the ponies filtered out the door. Her legs shook under her and her eyes darted back and forth hesitantly until I bumped up next to her and rubbed the side of her right foreleg. "Relax. I don't think we're in trouble, Aura," I whispered in as self-assured voice as I could muster, considering I was doubting it myself. Our professor, a middle-aged stallion with chocolate brown fur and a black mane and tail, gave away no particular expression either way as he passively watched his students leave. That didn't tell me much, though, as he was rarely seen expressing much of any emotion at all. The doubt melted gently away a moment later, as the professor turned and smiled towards us as the last mare left the room. "Sorry about this, but I have to talk to you two in particular, due to a request from above that I received. You two are the absolute pinnacle of my students, so I've selected you to offer this to," he explained, carefully straightening out his dark blue tie against his suit coat. He was smiling at us! Aura let out a squeak, exhaling as I knew she was instantly relieved. She was thankfully much faster at reacting than I and quickly responded with, "T-Thank you, Professor Crystal Watch." She added a little bow of her head and slight bending of her forelegs to it, giving off an amazingly formal feel before he chuckled carefully and held a hoof up to us. "It's quite fine. You two have earned it. First, I have to ask, have either of you two considered what you're doing after graduation? Your fields match very well with each other, and there's a good chance you'll find yourselves working together," he pointed out, further confusing me. He knew we were roommates and got along well, but mentioning future jobs made me uneasy. Of course, I hadn't given a drop of thought towards it, being my usual procrastinating self, which probably didn't help much. A soft but surprisingly deep chuckle came from the door before either of us could answer, drawing both our gazes. My breath caught as I locked onto a medium sized stallion walking in. His coat was a dark brown in color, with an even darker black mane, contrasting with a silver streak that ran through it, slightly off center. Standing out completely, however, were his brilliantly golden-amber eyes, almost seeming like two small suns as they locked onto me. He studied me with a calculating coldness that his smile didn't convey, and the sensation mixed with the one produced by his immaculately preserved suit of dark blue, giving me an overall sensation of professionalism. To my more immediate surprise, however, was the Royal Guard insignia worn proudly against his right, muscled shoulder. Hello! "You don't need to frighten them by playing up the opportunity, Watch. What he's offering to you is a job, I believe. Oh, unless of course I have the wrong day?" the mysterious stallion spoke, glancing back over at our professor that he'd calmly referred to by a casual name. My jaw almost fell off when the professor openly laughed at that, then shook his head. "Hardly. Although you are late, Bastion. As usual. You're lucky you're not my student anymore, or I'd mark you down. It probably wouldn't hurt your grades, but I know you like everything at a hundred percent," he jabbed, actually joking with his now revealed prior student. Bastion? "Ha! I'm still your student, Watch. I have a hundred years to go before I catch up with your theories on crystal infusion. That's why you're already on the team, of course. Oh, but my manners are poor today," Bastion suddenly remembered, looking back to us instead. At least Aura looked as mesmerized as I did a moment ago. "I'm sorry for being rude, Ladies. My name is Bronze Bastion. I believe you two are the crystal researchers I've heard so much about?" he inquired, amazingly polite and well-spoken. Of course, I wasn't one to buy into traditional stereotypes for Earth Ponies, or anything really. Aura fidgeted and didn't say anything, so I stepped up instead and nodded for her. "I'm not sure what you've heard, and we're not graduated yet, but both of us are crystal researchers in training, essentially. I work with sonic, and she's light spectrum," I explained, gesturing to my roommate in reference. Finally snapping out of it, Aura bowed politely at my gesture and added in a formal tone, "Ah, yes! I'm Auraprism, and this is Gemstone Weave." Oh, right. Names. They were important, too. Bastion smiled and nodded, however, as if knowing them already. "Yup! You're the two most talented crystal engineers in the school, and work very well together as a team. I'm here representing a new... Well, let's call it an initiative from the Princess herself. She's gathering a team of ponies to work on something. It's a full job, and will start almost immediately. Allowances are made, of course, for your education. Your professor's already on the team, even," he explained in length. His left foreleg lifted up and snapped to the side, and a mechanical sound rang out as two folders were carefully shunted from the sleeve of his suit, and then fanned out in front of his hoof. Ah! Was he an inventor of some sort? The folders were extended to us, and we both took one with our magic. The mechanism holding them up let each go as we grabbed them, then folded back up into his sleeve with a whirling click noise. Our professor gave him a smirk, but he remained merely smiling, looking to us instead. "Bear in mind, those folders contain only the public disclosed information. This initiative, in its bulk, is secret. I can't tell you more until you agree to the job opportunity, of course," he warned a moment later. Ah, that made sense. I stared at the folder with a healthy air of reservation. There was a simple triangle with a circle around it at the top, and under that, written with simple text, was, "BEID Initiative". I had no idea what that stood for, and had never seen their logo before. Weird. Although he did say it was a new thing. Our professor nodded as Aura and I flipped the folders open. "Bronze Bastion here is one of my most talented pupils I've ever had the honor of teaching. He's the technical engineer that's in charge of the entire construction behind the project, which is over half of the main goal. All three of us would be working directly underneath him," he narrated as I looked over the first page. Heh, there was a naughty comment in there, but it wouldn't be appropriate for me to mention out loud. Still, I felt my cheeks heat up a little bit as I looked the information over, trying to distract myself. The first page did indeed have the royal seal on it, not that I doubted his word. Our names were also listed, proving that he did indeed know us prior, and giving me a sudden sinking sensation of how real this was. The rest of the members had been blacked out, minus Bronze Bastion and Crystal Watch, listed as Head Engineer and Lead Harmonization Researcher, respectively. Harmonization? When dealing with crystals, that was a generic phrase that referred to how they interacted with the air around them, and nearby crystals. "It's not even listing what it's about. There's also no end of term date for the initiative. This isn't a project, is it?" Aura asked a moment later, startling me. What? What else could it be? Bastion smirked and shook his head, however. "Clever mare. I'm technically not supposed to indulge this information, but I wish to clear the air. This isn't a short-term project. This is a new branch of government being formed, taking in the best ponies from very specific fields to achieve a long-term response plan. Princess Celestia herself has issued our charter, and obviously, this is not a decision to make li-" he started to explain. It reeked of awesomeness and adventure, however. Yeah, done deal. "Oh yes! We're so in. Where do we sign up?!" I promptly interrupted. Bastion blanked out his expression and stared at me, surprise dancing behind his eyes. "W-We are?!" Aura asked a heartbeat later, her tone that familiar mix of shock and horror I so loved. She was so adorable when scared witless! Still, this wouldn't do. Spinning, I pulled her closer and looked directly into her eyes, giving her a start. "Aura! Can't you smell it?!" I asked incredulously. Being adorable, she actually tried to sniff the air before I interrupted again with, "Adventure! This could be history in the making here, and we have a chance to be a part of it! Can't you feel your Cutie Mark singing at the chance? This is fate!" Logically, she stared at me like I was crazy, of course. Bastion promptly broke out into laughter... * * * * * Things hazed in and out as I groaned, lifting my left forehoof up to rub at my head. Disorientation hit me first, and I suddenly realized I wasn't entirely sure where I was, or how I'd gotten here. A throb went through my skull, and I momentarily wondered who'd smacked me with something heavy. "Finally! Looks like Gemstone, the destroyer of worlds, has awoken," Aura's voice sounded out behind me somewhere, causing another scream of agony to dance through my head alongside her volume. Aww, ponyfeathers... The party! Shuddering, I sat up as she slid into bed next to me with a clear glass of cold water. I managed to rasp out a thank you as I took it with my hooves and immediately downed half of it, earning an eye roll. She promptly continued with, "I can't believe you! First you sign us both up for this super important position, and then you get yourself totally hammered at the founding party! Why are you doing this to me?!" I hissed and winced as she started up again literally right next to my ear, then managed to shush her. She waited patiently for a moment as I finished letting my head spin and fell back down onto my mattress. "Look, I'm sorry, Aura. It was a tense midterms. You know that. We have a lot riding on these classes, not just our work for BEID. Besides, we already impressed all the big, uh, important ponies there. We solved the joint harmonization problem over last weekend, no?" I suggested, trying to remind her of the good stuff. She gave me a blank stare, and then reminded, "You drank over half of the apple cider they had at the party. I'm pretty sure you should be dead right now." Psh, details! Oww. My own mental voice was too loud, I quickly realized. "Hey, that wasn't just any apple cider. That was Apple Family Cider! It was totally worth it. I have a high alcohol tolerance. I think I got it from my dad," I corrected, waving off the result. There wasn't even any collateral damage! "Alcohol tolerance isn't... Ugh, no, never mind. You also rotated a half a dozen garden statues around and moved them about so it looked like they were, um, m-mating!" she squeaked out, halting as I held both hooves to my ears and shivered again. Heh, okay, now I wish I could remember that. That sounded awesome! Sadly, she cut me off again before I could ask for more details on it. "Then, you ran around calling me 'DewPrism' when I tried to catch you, claiming I was some sort of nefarious evil from another existence! I don't even know what a 'DewPrism' is!" she squeaked out. Huh. Neither did I, but it sounded awesome! "Hey, I know you're Aura, and I'm better now. Relax. From the sounds of it, I at least didn't cause any collateral-" I started to assure. Her eyes narrowed a little, and I froze. She only let her anger show around me, I noticed. Honestly, I kinda took it as a compliment. "Collateral damage? Oh, I wasn't done yet. Bastion tried to catch you after you set fire to the cider you couldn't manage to drink. Something about never sharing the glory? You ended up tripping him and kicking him in the face!" she continued. Ah! Aaahhhh! Oh no, oh no, oh horseapples! I'd hurt Bastion?! "Figured that would get you if nothing else. Somehow, he was still nice enough to escort both of us back to the dorm. I couldn't tell, but I think you tried to 'thank' him by licking his coat. Whatever you were trying to do, it didn't work and you ended up throwing up into his pocket. He's probably never going to talk to us again now," she tossed on, effectively body checking me while I was down. Oh Celestia, could it get any worse than this?! Shuddering, I swallowed before asking, "Um, please tell me that was it. I didn't destroy anything here, did I?" My damage deposit was already twice as high as normal! I didn't need this stress... Aura' eyes softened and she slowly shook her head before admitting, "No. You didn't destroy anything else. Although, um, I hadn't gotten to the kiss part yet." I froze, eyes widening at that bit of new information. Okay, so it did get worse. I kicked his flank, vomited on him, and then attempted to kiss him. Bastion really wasn't going to talk to me again.... "Please tell me he's just mad at me? This isn't your fault at all, Aura," I whispered, lowering my head down to the sheets. Ugh. Why did I have to get her involved, too?! There was a soft exhale before she giggled in amusement. Oh? "Actually, he took everything amazingly well. If anything, he thought it was hilarious. We still have our jobs," Aura assured as I looked back up at her. Oh thank you! Exhaling, I nodded towards her, but she quickly added, "And it wasn't him that you kissed. Um, it was me." My heart had just recovered, and back over into the ice water it went. I froze as I looked up at her, that faint smile still on her expression. Okay, she wasn't running away or screaming, so knowing Aura, she wasn't upset about it. "Um, I-I'm sorry, Aura. Uh, I..." Honestly, I suddenly realized I had no idea what to say. Was I really sorry? Only that I couldn't remember it. Her flush brightened substantially as she shook her head. "No, um, I didn't mind," she quickly assured, looking down and away from me as a bolt of heat danced into my own face. Oh...? "You didn't? Um, how was it?" I hesitantly asked, guessing that it had probably been her first kiss. Her expression shifted a little sour and she muttered, "It tasted awful. You should really brush your teeth. Especially after throwing up." I smirked, recognizing her attempt to switch the topic. Oh no she didn't. Nodding, I hopped up instead and headed towards our small bathroom that was connected to our bedroom. She gave me a curious glance as she rotated to watch me. "Uh, wait, what are you doing? Why are you brushing your teeth now? I almost have breakfast ready. You might as well wait until-" she started to ask. I held my hoof up to her and shook my head, smirking, however. "Breakfast can wait. Gotta brush my teeth so you can get a proper first kiss instead," I explained. Predictably, her eyes widened almost as fast as the pink shifted to red in her cheeks. Her mouth opened, but she suddenly hesitated, and I waited for a moment. No negative came, and she quickly closed her mouth again and somehow managed to blush even harder. I grinned and winked to her before trotting into the bathroom instead. Tonight should be an interesting journal entry! * * * * * Slowly, I shuffled along behind Aura and Ether, the smells and sights around me barely even registering to my senses as we walked. I hadn't expected him to get on the project as well, given he was an Aura Magic major and they had only recruited five students from our university. Although, now that I'd seen the full scope of the project that was spearheading the organization, it all fell so neatly into place. What had I gotten us into? Our tasks were two fold. Aura and I were to work in tandem to hook up a visual and audio 'receiver' to the massive, mother of all crystal computational engines that our professor was designing. With it, we could manage a controllable 'viewpoint' for our vision, and navigate around where the focal point for the machine was. Despite being senior level work, that was the easiest part. Professor Watch confided his honest speculation in us at that point, however, explaining our second task and what he estimated it would be. That was the real kicker. It turns out, our 'focal point' is far, far from being local. It's come to Princess Celestia's attention, through a pattern in a series of rather strange and mysterious events, that our dimension is drifting closer to some other dimension, and that we're getting close enough to actually have items and spaces 'bleed through' into ours, and vice versa. Our point for our strange machine is in that dimension instead. So yeah. This is crazy, but there wasn't any refuting the Princess of the Sun. Thus, the Bureau of Extradimensional Investigation and Defense was formed. 'BEID' for short. Our goal was twofold as well. Investigate into the nature of the dimensions, including the one we were rapidly linking with, and figure out if it was safe for all of Equus or not. If it wasn't, we were to come up with a way to defend ourselves or stop the process. Easy, right? The actual investigation part wasn't our responsibility, thankfully. Reading situations wasn't one of my strong suits. Aura and I were in charge of putting together the machine and crystal array that would interface with the Professor's and show the sound and images his gave us. Ether's additions to our machine were to give information back to the Professor's device and tell it where to move the 'viewpoint' on the other end. That would have been our introductory jobs had Professor Watch not included us in his end of the machine as well. For instructional reasons, of course. The theories he had casually explained totally blew me out of the water, but what everything came down to was surprisingly easy to grasp. He was essentially using a spike to punch through the barrier between our worlds and 'peek' through. It was nowhere near that easy, of course. His theories indicated that both light and sound would be required to fully 'meld' through the barrier, but only when encapsulated in some sort of aura subspace that Ether was rambling on about. I didn't get it that well, but the results were clear. Through the collection of light, sound, and energy inside of the pocket, we were simulating a pony! It took, what he theorized, was the 'mind' of a pony to be projected off into an inverted resonance field in order to reach the other dimension. As in, tossed off into a singularity, then flung into nothingness. Obviously, a normal pony couldn't live through that, which is why we were making a machine that could make a magical spell that could pretend to be a pony and let us see and hear what was on the other side. Honestly, it made my head spin just thinking about it. I couldn't even fathom why we needed a sapient will in order to push through the dimensional barrier in the first place. "Equus to Gem! The nice mare asked you what you wanted," Ether suddenly called out, snapping me back to attention as I looked up again. The lunch mare giggled and nodded to me as she gestured to her food trays again. Oh, right. Lunch. Giving a frown, I pushed my headache back, along with the free-floating computations and theories, and looked the food over. Nothing looked good, of course, as I had no appetite whatsoever. "Uh, give me a double-decker daisy sandwich, hold the onion. Oh, and maybe a side of pickles," I finally decided after a full ten seconds of staring. None of it looked good, but I knew I could seriously pack it in! I was a growing mare. Aura giggled at that, both of them having waited for me to get done ordering and getting my food before heading along after the line. These were nice, new facilities, and surprisingly well staffed for our first day here. We even got our own rooms, although Aura and I were using hers back at the university until this semester was completed. Then we both graduated, more than likely with honors. Yeah, the social deviant who picked fights and the mare who was two years younger than she should be. That'll teach 'em for holding stereotypes against us! Well, mostly me. Aura had been expected to excel the entire time. "You've been quiet all morning, Gem. Are you okay?" Aura asked timidly as I caught up with her again. She added a soft nuzzle into my cheek as I fell in next to her, and I smiled, exhaling softly. Ether gestured to us as we caught up, and had already found a table in the small dining hall the facility had, connected to the kitchen and lunch line. Both of us headed over to the table, and I frowned while walking. "This just... It's a lot to take in, is all. Plus, are we really going about this the right way?" I asked, swallowing the stiffness in my throat. "This again?" Ether asked skeptically, leaning back in his chair as we both sat down. He gestured absently upwards before reminding, "You know that what we're going to be doing is important, Gemstone. Plus, it's all according to Princess Celestia's wishes herself. How much more 'okay' do you need it to get?" I shook my head, knowing all that already. Having to intentionally lie to my Dad, right to his face, had sucked. Something that felt that terrible could never be 'right', even if the Princess herself walked up and said it right to me personally. Heh, I sort of wondered what she'd really do if she knew the doubts I harbored. "Lying to ponies is never right, Ether. This... I can't comprehend how pretending we're a new type of glasses manufacturer is going to help anypony," I groaned, smacking my nose into the table. The jarring sensation actually went a ways towards clearing my head. Aura frowned at that, then carefully lifted my head up and rubbed my snout with her hoof, as if silently telling me I should stop doing that. I resisted chuckling at her usual level of adorableness. Ether, of course, wasn't satisfied, though. "So what are we supposed to tell them? 'Oh, by the way, there's an alien dimension that's partially merging with our own that might contain unimaginable horrors that wish to eat us. We're trying to figure it out, but frankly, we don't have a clue.'? There would be mass panic!" he exclaimed, glaring at me. I glared back, and then retorted, "Yeah, if you word it like an idiot like that, there might be. Or you could actually tell them what we know. There might also be a friendly race on the other side looking for peaceful contact! Or there might be absolutely nothing in the other dimension and we're wasting our time! That's only one negative outcome and two not. You're the one who's panicking." His return glare was icy at best, and he shoved his food back in front of him, resuming eating and saying nothing. That was his usual defense when I was right. Cold shoulder, then pout until it blew over. Jerk. "Please stop fighting, you two. There's nothing we can do about it either way. Princess Celestia decided to keep it secret for now, probably until we get more information," Aura reasoned, logical as usual. Ugh. Couldn't she just take my side for once? Ether huffed lightly before rolling his eyes. "Finally, somepony sees the logic. We can't just-" he started to repeat. Aura rapidly shook her head, however, surprising him and drawing my curious glance up towards her. "N-No! You're wrong, too, Ether. Both of you are wrong. Princess Celestia's specific orders worded it as 'remaining secret for the time being'. Keeping it a secret forever is indeed bad. Revealing what we know before we can confirm anything is foolish. So, um, you're both wrong!" she explained, before slipping into a hesitant silence. Ether gave her a surprised yet vacant stare, and I blinked twice as she started to fidget under the awkward silence. I couldn't help it. I started laughing a moment later. That was the most assertive I'd seen her, and she was absolutely adorable doing so! I didn't even care that she called me foolish. Ether blinked once and looked over at me laughing before starting to chuckle himself, then join in. Yeah, that's just how we were, I guess. "W-What's so funny?!" Aura squeaked, blushing now as she rapidly looked back and forth between us. "Heh, us," Ether replied, smirking over at me for confirmation. Giving a rare giggle, I nodded and looked back towards Aura. "Oh, and you're adorable when you're assertive. You should do it more often," I tacked on, causing her to flail as her face shifted from pink to red. Deciding she couldn't blush anymore, I shrugged and leaned in, kissing her right on the snout in front of a now smirking Ether. It was stored away in the back of my mind, though. No, I didn't care. Even if nopony ever needed it or saw it, I was going to write down everything I could and put it into my journal. I had to, if only for my own conscience.
Chapter 78I stared blankly at the door, kinda expecting it to melt out and eat me whole at any point now. It was possibly the most opposing door I'd ever seen, which was impressive, considering it was made of simple wood. It had nothing going for it that the half dozen other doors further down the hall to my right didn’t have. No, sometimes, anticipation was my own worst enemy. "Come on, Gem. He's our boss, and it's been two weeks since that incident. We're not fired yet, so he can't be that offended by it," Auraprism reasoned, calmly nuzzling against my left shoulder. I gave an uneasy sigh and looked down from the door, frowning. "I just made a really bad impression on him, and it feels like I need to fix it somehow. Showing up with a stupid progress report and pretending nothing happened just seems so... It feels empty!" I grumbled, gesturing towards the report that was sticking out of my saddlebag. Aura rolled her eyes. I could tell she did without looking at her at this point just by the way her foreleg moved. "You beat up bullies all the time and don't blink twice or lose a drop of sleep, Gem," she reminded patiently, knowing full well that this wasn't the same. She was just trying to get a rise out of me. And it was working... "You know this is different! He didn't deserve getting kicked in the face! Or barfed on! Ugh, I probably ruined that nice suit he was wearing," I groaned out, suddenly remembering I technically hadn't barfed on him, exactly. Was that better or worse? Hmm. Possibly dozens and dozens of bits worth of suit cleaning repairs, or getting covered in slimy mare puke? Tough call! My roommate and fillyfriend rolled her eyes, then pointed out, "It's also different because he just so happens to be a cute stallion, no? I know you better than that, Gemstone Weave. If it was just a normal pony, you'd feel bad but not be this torn up over it." Okay, calling me out on that totally wasn't fair! I glared at her for a moment, getting a smirk in return until I reminded, "Don't forget, you think he's cute, too. You're just trying to get me to go after him so you can get him by association." My tone was playful, of course, and I gave her shoulder a jab as she switched to blushing instead. Called it! "N-No... That would be employee fraternization. Um, I'm not sure if that's allowed. That would make things a lot worse than just puking on your boss," she weakly refuted, not sounding all that sure of herself in the first place. Rolling my eyes, I whacked my head against the door in frustration. "No, I don't think the situation could be much worse, Aura," I muttered, moments before realizing I'd technically accidentally knocked. Ah! Aura gave me a weird look as I stood up straight and proper, brushing my bangs back into place from where I'd just smacked my head. Oh no! Well, I didn't hear any hoofsteps, so maybe he wasn't in his office? Yes! A hope spot for the day! A deeper cough sounded from behind us, causing us both to jump with a start as I whipped around rapidly. Of course, I came face to face instead with the very last stallion I'd wanted to see at the moment, a faint blush on his cheeks. Well, that hope spot was short lived! Aura froze as well, eyes bugging out as she took in his presence as well. How had we both missed him?! How long had he been standing there?! "Um, you're kinda blocking the way into my office," Bastion pointed out a moment later, awkward tone of voice evident. Oh. Right. * * * * * "So, progress on the display devices is already out of the design phase?" Bronze Bastion inquired, sounding impressed. Aura nodded twice to him, finally having calmed down a little after his surprisingly professional obliviousness he'd granted our little faux pas in the hallway. "Yes! While both the visual and audio units are far more complex than what we use presently, enlarging the screen was rather straightforward, and Gem seems to have had no issues allowing the audio to be played back through multiple crystals instead of just the main unit. We're ready to move into testing, I believe," she assured, sounding rather confident of herself. Of course, her work was indeed one of the things she valued most, and seemed to know she was good at. The sound relay system had been cake, though. I could have done that in my sleep. Bastion smiled at that and looked over our results again. Meanwhile, I looked around his office with all the curiosity of a newborn kitten, taking in all of the wonderful gizmos and gadgets of various shapes and sizes. The only part of his 'office' that actually seemed as such was the desk he sat at, and the filing cabinet behind him. The large floor space had a few plastic sheets tossed down and lightly smeared in various organic oils, undoubtedly as lubricant for the weird machines sitting on top of them. Crystals jutted out at various angles, and I busied myself studying what they each were supposed to do. His mechanical work was masterful, and I had realized the first time I'd come in here that there was a definite reason he was picked to make sure the machine was put together properly. He was awesome! It was a pity he was always so polite and proper all the time. Actually, it was probably a good thing. If he wasn't a super nice pony, we might have been fired for that little stunt in the hallway... Note to self, I really needed to look up the rules for this group’s inter-employee relations. “It indeed looks like you’re ready to move into the design phase. All right, then. It shouldn’t take much effort to get a working prototype in two or three weeks’ time, right? That still leaves you a week in there to study up for the midterm essay,” he suggested with a wink. Aura gave a cute blush and wiggled her hooves together for added adorableness, which he, and admittedly myself as well, soaked up. It all crashed apart for me, however, as he continued with, “And honestly, about the party. I told you afterwards that it was okay, Gemstone. You don’t have to feel badly.” Aww, crap. I hesitated before turning to look at him again, blush reforming traitorously on my cheeks. “S-Seriously?” I stuttered out, annoyed at myself for not feeling more confident. Although I had kicked him in the face, then thrown up on him. Still! “I wasn’t exactly at my best there. Uh…” I managed to add before coughing and looking away. I could feel his stare on me, but then gave a start as he chuckled instead. His soft ‘amused yet politely quiet’ laugh always unnerved me, as it was different than his normal purely polite and proper feel he gave off. “Well, to be honest, you actually made the party a lot more entertaining than I’d anticipated it would be. I’m… glad you two came?” he attempted to explain, tilting his head in my peripheral vision. Blinking, I turned and looked at him fully, but found no trace of him lying. It was very unlike him to say, however. “Oh? Oh, right. Normally those things are pretty boring, right?” I suggested, testing the waters a bit. His shoulders lowered a bit and I watched him exhale before smirking and nodding. “Very. I’m not as old as you might think. Those kinds of events… they’re just not entertaining at all. The only reason I went was because it was being held at my house, and I’m the lead engineer for the project. Sends a negative message if I didn’t show…” he explained, coughing slightly, then snickering again. I felt my blood freeze a little bit. “Y-Your house? Those were your statues, then?” Aura asked hesitantly, sounding mortified as she nervously wiggled her hooves together again. Wait, that huge estate was his?! It was like a mansion! Bastion started actually laughing at that. “Yeah, my parents probably would have thrown a fit had they seen them like that! No, I thought it was hilarious. Still, I of course had to put them back afterwards. Got to keep up a collected and organized atmosphere, after all. Although it was a pain without magic. I should have gotten you out there to help me put them back after the party!” he playfully reprimanded, gesturing a hoof towards me. I relaxed a little and smirked at him before sticking my tongue out. Aura saw it a split second later and squeaked, looking back and forth between him and me. “Psh, they weren’t actually at the party? That surprises me. Did you get them moved back before they got back, then?” I asked, assuming they were his parent’s statues, if they would have been upset. Aura gave me a horrified look, then flailed and made ‘shut up’ gestures towards me randomly. Eh? He coughed lightly and looked away before exhaling again. “Ah, no. They left their entire estate to me, their only heir. They’ve been gone for a few years now,” he muttered awkwardly. The other horseshoe dropped, skipping off my head like a weight as I swallowed uneasily. Oh. Ponyfeathers! For a moment, I had no idea what to say, watching him just look to the side like that. Gah! “Ah, um… Look, I’m really dense sometimes, just… Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Um, how did it happen?” I asked, trying to at least sincerely apologize. Risky, yeah, and my fillyfriend looked like she was about to start picking awards up off the shelf and hurling them at me, but I had to at least try. To Aura’s apparent surprise, he smiled and turned back to look at me again, shaking his head. “No, it’s fine. It was a few years ago now. Engineering accident building the new shielding system under Canterlot. That accident where the one pylon snapped and dropped one of the construction baskets? They were in it,” he explained quietly. Aura exhaled softly and shook her head before softly muttering, “I’m sorry. You have our sympathies.” I nodded along, and he relaxed again into his chair. “No, like I said, it was a while ago. It was a terrible accident, but they wouldn’t want me sad, I don’t think. Plus, I think you gave quite a bit of life to the normally empty house, so really, don’t feel badly about the party,” he repeated. Ah! Jackpot! I sensed a possible way to make up for me being dense and potentially redirect the topic! Smiling, I shook my head, and then added, “It doesn’t have to be empty if you have more parties, ya know? It doesn’t have to be just you. Besides, I’m sure you’ve had plenty of cute mares over.” Sure, it was a suggestive statement, but it changed the topic, hopefully in a useful direction. His blush told me his answer before he did, but I let him talk anyway. “Ah, no. I don’t have a fillyfriend. Uh, not a lot of time for one, obviously, with all of this new work coming in. Plus, um, I probably wouldn’t even know what to do with a cute mare even if I did,” he admitted, surprisingly honest. Hmm. He didn’t have much of an ego at all. I suddenly felt kind of guilty for being so underhooved while he was being rather honest with us. I shook my head towards that, and then gave him a more open smile. “You’ve got good looks going for you, and a very honest and dependable personality. I don’t think you’d have any trouble at all. Plus, if a mare, or mares, really likes you, they’re going to be understanding about you still figuring things out, no?” I suggested, regretting adding that plural part on afterwards. Ugh. Too close to what I was actually trying to hint at! Aura even got it as she started blushing again, and looked back over at him uneasily. Bastion smirked slightly. Ah, ponyfeathers! He caught it. “You think I’m good looking, then? Although I think I heard something out in the hall about that. Are you talking about the understanding part from your perspective, then?” he inquired, sounding both curious and amused at the same time. Only me? Also, he wasn’t as shy as I thought at first. Having misread him twice now, I entirely gave up on subtleties. “I… Yeah, okay, you’re definitely alluring. Cute, even. I’m inexperienced, too, but learning fast, so obviously I’d be a huge hypocrite if I wasn’t understanding, which wouldn’t be very awesome at all,” I admitted bluntly, glancing over towards Aura, who looked about ready to pass out now. Could you pass out from blushing too hard? His eyes widened as he looked over at Aura as well, then blushed and coughed. “Oh! Oh, sorry. I, uh, didn’t realize you two were involved like that. There’s no group policy or anything against it, of course, so don’t worry about that. Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to, um…” He trailed off the longer his statement went on, getting quieter and quieter until he just stopped talking. Gah! Back to dense, then. Although now at least I knew about the fraternization rules. I looked over at Aura, but she was just staring at me with a horrified expression, frozen in place. He was looking away from us, probably reeling from what he suspected was us suddenly being unavailable. It was strange and the whole situation felt awkward more than anything. Wonderful. Still, he was only a couple years older than us, however, and didn’t have any experience dating, so his reaction was justified, if anything. Aura was my first ‘interest’ as well for either gender, so I didn’t have any room to talk. It was weird feeling like the one in control of the situation over my boss and usually very professional fillyfriend, though! Sighing, I slid off my chair and gestured for Aura to follow. Her eyes widened and I saw her visibly swallow, but actually do so. It was kind of shocking how much she trusted me, but it gave warm butterflies inside my chest at the same time, and I smiled to her. Bastion looked over at the sudden movement, frowning, and then realizing he hadn’t said anything for a few moments. Instead, he got a questioning look as I slipped around the side of the desk and over to him. “Um, sorry for hesitating. Uh, are you two okay?” he asked, starting to sound a little unsure of what was going on. Confusion? I could work with that! “Yes, we’re fine. More than fine, actually. Thank you for being understanding about the party thing, and for… surprising me about how you yourself reacted to it. But you’re off by one account,” I warned softly. He blinked, that uncertainty in his eyes shifting to more genuine confusion instead. He started to open his mouth, undoubtedly to ask what he was wrong about, when I instead leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips, right then and there. He froze, of course, eyes widening dramatically as I leaned into his muzzle. It was only a moment before he shivered and started to lean into the sensation, and I used my left hoof to cup his cheek softly. Aura sat next to me, jaw dropped as she watched the proceedings, and I opened my eyes again and pulled away. “W-Wha…?” he started to ask, and I only smirked. “See? I wouldn’t mind… trying a relationship out with you as well. But first, kiss her, too,” I suggested, nudging Aura forwards. She gave a squeak and looked back at me in shock a second later… * * * * * Time flew past quickly. It felt like our last semester at school had been a blur. I actually managed to graduate before they kicked me out even! Of course, Aura turned out to be the youngest graduate in the last hundred years, graduating with honors when most ponies were just getting out of grade school and getting their hooves firmly on the ground. Yeah, I was totally envious of her, of course, but I was the first one to admit that she deserved it. Plus it let me meet her, of course. So worth being slightly more stupid! Yes, she whacked my shoulder when I said that. Dad was happy for me regardless, my graduation ceremony coinciding with me telling him about the new herd. He of course thought that Aura was adorable, but had quickly decided that Bastion was too stuffy for me. I tried not to laugh at that, of course, and only assured that he'd grow on Dad. Afterwards, I took them both to the cemetery to formally introduce them to Mom. It was a far more somber affair and probably silly of me, but I felt like I had to. She would have wanted to meet them. Auraprism's parents were amazingly kind, which surprised me a little. I thought her desire to excel might have been partly due to their influence, but it turns out that she was just a hundred percent genius. They were happy for her graduation, of course, but downright ecstatic for the herd announcement, claiming that they knew I'd get her to open up more. It went downhill from there, with foal pictures, gushing hugs, and more than a few awkward hints aimed at Bastion that he needed to get to work on making us a family instead with spring coming. All three of us left with furious blushes two hours later. All of that was three weeks ago now. Mom would smack me for totally forgetting to write in my journal until now. Ironically, she was the one who first gave it to me, hoping it would slowly help with my memory problems. She even showed me personally how to add more pages into the book. The thinner book would go on top, covers and all as I just added a bigger binder to it each time with the pages starting anew behind it. She was a book binder, and I took her lessons to heart. I couldn't look at the original cover without crying, though. She had said she wanted to watch me add more and more pages. This was my fourth extension now, making the book look like a dictionary, practically. It had over a decade of my life in it, and I wasn't about to stop. I promised Mom that I'd record everything I could into it. Truth was important, especially to myself, she had said. That's what felt so wrong about all of this stuff at BEID. No, there were no regrets, as I'd done what I felt I had to in order to be true to myself. Faking a bad allergy day last week, I'd stayed home in bed. After my two herdmates left, I snuck into Bastion's study. Every single schematic and design revolving around BEID's operations was copied down directly into my journal over the course of four hours. This was a huge breach in security, of course, but I didn't care about that. The truth couldn't stay hidden forever. Eventually, somepony had to read this. I double-checked the binding again, and smiled as I saw it was dry enough to open once more. I figured that overnight would be long enough for the glue. Bastion knew how badly I felt over keeping everything a secret, and was at least understanding about my concerns. He'd probably be mad if he found out what I did, but it shouldn't come to that. That was one secret I'd have to keep from him for the time being, to make sure he didn't take away the main one. I made a note right in the journal to tell him about it after this project with BEID was done. We'd be starting a new chapter of our life at that point. Blushing lightly, I remembered yesterday's attempt to console me after our argument about it. Aura had chewed him out for being too insensitive, of course, and he tried to make me supper in my room, delivered to my door himself. Honestly, he should have let Aura cook it, as she was the only one with any real skill in that art between the three of us. Still, I understood a stallion's need to do what he felt was needed. Mares had that too, of course, but tended to show slightly less ego when concerned about it. Still, he was adorable when stammering and trying to apologize, so there was no way I could have stayed angry with him. Even if the food tasted like three-month-old leftovers... Snickering, I considered it again. I'd forgiven him, of course, but neither of us was thinking very clearly. He was upset over the argument and not in his best frame of mind, and I already was a given, due to timing. It certainly wasn't a bad thing in the least, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Aura's parents were going to be very happy in a few weeks. Were we ready for this? Probably not, but I didn't care. We'd talked it through fully, of course, and neither of us was going anywhere. Aura was actually completely understanding as well, which was a pleasant surprise. So understanding that she even joined in afterwards for a bit of stress relief after that rather tense conversation. Only with me, of course. Yesterday played through my mind over and over again, and I stared at my journal on the bed. The entries in this section were going to be quite a bit different, I had a feeling. Was I ready to be a mom? It was scary, but oddly, I didn't feel as frightened as I probably should. My herd was going to stick with me, of course, which definitely helped. But no, there was something else, honestly. I wanted to have a foal. It brought a warm spot into my chest when I thought about it, and I realized that it wasn't a bad thing at all. Given that sudden realization of previously subconscious desires, I contemplated if last night had honestly been as 'accidental' as I'd considered before. No, probably not. Admitting that brought me confidence, at least, and I smiled down at the journal before sliding it onto my bedside stand again. No, I would write more in it later tonight about this. For now, though... Smirking, I looked over at Bastion, who had fallen asleep next to me. It was something he'd promised not to do while Estrus was going full tilt, and had slept in his original bedroom this whole week prior. Big cities and towns like Canterlot couldn't manage to separate the stallions to a different location each Estrus due to logistics, so other precautions were frequently taken. Still, this was him being naughty, so I wasn't going to let him live it down. Aura came back from the bathroom a moment later, of course, and gave me a raised eyebrow as she caught my predatory grin. I winked at her, then slipped up next to Bastion instead and lightly started kissing down his barrel. He stirred lightly, and I smirked, mentally deciding to torment him with teasing for as long as I possibly could. Aura snickered, then slipped back into bed behind me... * * * * * “Wait, so let me get this straight. You three can set up a trans-dimensional viewpoint relay, but not a hot tub?” Ether pointed out in amusement, standing on the deck and obviously doing nothing to help. Popping my head up out of the hole I’d been digging, I spit the shovel out of my mouth and glared at him. “Fine, if you’re so smart, give us a hand, jerk face!” I growled. He only laughed, of course. Ugh, this was stupid! I understood that Bastion had a reputation to uphold as an engineer, but we could have just had somepony come out and help us do this! Somepony who, I don’t know, maybe had set up hundreds of these before? The store had even offered! I turned and looked back over my shoulder at him and Aura after giving up on trying to buck Ether with my mind. Yes, mind. Magic was too good for him. The three of us who were actually doing work were covered in dirt and mud, and Bastion glared down at an incredibly large sheet of paper in front of him, parts strewn everywhere over a good five meters around our hole. Aura frowned and rotated what looked like a pumping system around in the air in front of her, trying various angles to attempt to get a pipe to screw into it. “You know, I could have gotten parts and put my own together far easier than this. Why are these instructions so needlessly complex?! I can’t even tell what part they’re trying to show in this step!” Bastion growled, sounding more than a little frustrated as he stared down at the paper in an accusing manner. Wonderful. It didn’t help that it was smack in the middle of summer, either. Princess Celestia’s sun beat down mercilessly on us from above, seeming intent on making everything just that much more miserable. It had been two months now since we’d moved in, and one since we made the herd official. Things had finally begun to resemble normalcy, but no, I doubted we’d ever achieve that lofty goal. Each of us was weird enough by ourselves, so when you put us together… “Don’t they usually send out some sort of professional to help with this?” Ether inquired curiously, walking down the stairs of the deck and examining our large hole as he carefully walked along the side. Bastion twitched, then glared up at him instead, and he immediately sat down, waving his hooves up in front of him. “Ah, sorry! I know, I know. You three are totally capable of managing this by yourselves,” he assured, not quite sincere in tone. I always knew his mouth would get him either fired or killed one day. I just never realized it would be by me. “We have a hole already. Can I just… I don’t know, whack him a few times with my shovel and throw him in? Then we could call it a day and go inside where it’s cool!” I complained profusely, looking back at our stallion, who smirked at that. Aura gave a snicker at that but shook her head a second later, still not looking away from her confusing array of parts. “Better not. We’re already zoned as residential. I don’t think we’d be able to convince them to switch us to utilitarian,” she warned. Seriously? “Wait, cemeteries are zoned as ‘utilitarian’? That’s kinda morbid, no?” I muttered, not quite grasping how we’d gotten onto this topic, despite me being technically the one to do so. Bastion blinked at that, then pointed out, “Gem, it’s a cemetery. It’s not morbid just because it’s associated with death. By definition, it’s supposed to be involved with that process, but in a healthy and respectful way. Thus, not ‘morbid’.” I glared at him for that, remembering once again how annoying he could get when he shifted into talking about semantics. He totally missed my death glares, of course, having gone back to sending his own towards the instructions. Ether surprised me by lying down on the ridge next to my portion of the hole, however. “It is rather hot out here. Are you sure you should be out here working like this?” he inquired a moment later, the playful tone being dropped from his voice. Oh. Glancing back along my side at my slightly bumped out stomach, I shrugged idly. “I’m not some wilting flower, Ether. I’ll be fine doing physical work for a good eight or nine months still,” I assured, looking back to him instead. He stared at me, and I returned it for a few seconds before he relaxed and nodded, obviously not finding any traces of me lying in my expression. Apparently being friends with me for almost a decade meant that I was fairly easy to read. Who knew? Still… Sitting down, I exhaled tiredly and brushed some of the dirt off my forelegs. Pregnant or not, this was tiring work, and I was more than ready to go inside for a while. Apart from being heavier, I honestly didn’t feel all that different. Sure, my appetite had increased a little, and I was maybe a bit lazier sometimes, but I still felt like myself. Of course, that consideration had me questioning if I had anticipated to feel different just because I had a foal growing in me. I didn’t know what to expect, and it was honestly a little scary now. My herdmates were there for me, but obviously, neither of them quite knew what I was dealing with. Ether surprised me by sighing a moment later and shaking his head. I gave him a curious upwards glance, and he only chuckled sadly. “Hey, I’m just worried about you, Gem. You’re my best friend, you know?” he corrected after a second’s hesitation. I smiled softly at that, anyway. “Yeah, I know. This is just new to me, so I’m a bit edgy. Sorry,” I apologized before grabbing my fallen shovel with my magic. Might as well get back to work. The sooner we had this done, the sooner I could get back inside where it was cooler. Bastion sat up before I did, however, looking down at the instructions in mild surprise. Oh? “Oooohh, that makes more sense. This says that we need a pre-made foundation for it!” he suddenly exclaimed. What…? But that meant all our measurements for this hole were… Arg! * * * * * Everything was changing now. We were four months into development, and had a fully working prototype of our trans-dimensional viewpoint relay. Princess Celestia herself had come down this afternoon to see our progress, and was more than pleased with the results. She actually stood within a meter of me! She even told me ‘congratulations’ on noticing my stomach! Beyond my social shock at getting to actually meet the Princess of our nation, that’s where the actual good parts had stopped for the day. As it turned out, our machine worked. It worked far better than we could have anticipated. We also lucked out majorly, and it turns out the weak connecting point was right next to an inhabited planet on the other side. It was stuck in the geostationary orbital range of the planet, hovering above a rather large land mass on the surface below. It was beyond easy to slip our viewpoint downwards and reach the surface while the Princess was there. None of us were prepared for what we saw. I don’t think even the Princess fully anticipated the level of abhorrent violence and sheer desecration of natural values we saw that day. The tiny, cat-like things of that planet were beyond warlike, with advanced magic focused into violence and destruction, and a technology level far beyond ours. A good chunk of the researchers had to leave the room, falling physically ill from the sights and sounds. I still can’t bring myself to write about any of it in my journal. They were complete monsters. The females held complete domination over the much more numerous males of the species, doing anything they wished to them. Even torture and murder! They were also training absolutely huge armies for some reason, and the Princess feared they might be aware of the connection starting to form between our dimensions and preparing for invasion. The room grew cold at that announcement, and I honestly didn’t know what we could possibly do about it. Would the power of the Princess be enough to protect us if those things really did invade? She had other ideas, however. She said she couldn’t jump to conclusions and ordered us to instead focus on watching their war effort instead of their community and society. She wanted to know what their target was, which honestly made sense. Needless to say, the plan on announcing our findings to the public got pushed back again until we could ascertain the immediate threat level. I sat there, considering the future of our world while staring at the now darkened control panel I helped to make. Everything always seemed so simple when I was making something and getting my techniques to work. I wasn’t cut out for this high-level decision making. The fate of Equestria? Of Equus? Give me a break. Thank Celestia I wasn’t part of the actual research team! There was no way I could come to a conclusion like what she was asking for. The room felt as dark as my thoughts at the moment, with only the backlights on and the console gone dark. There were still a few researchers here, whispering in harsh and quiet tones to each other. We were still shaken up over what we’d seen, that much was obvious. It was so unlike our society that it was almost unfathomable. Like it had come from some dark dream that you woke up screaming from, then didn’t sleep well for a week afterwards for fear of it coming at you in the dark. How could they live that?! I felt them, and looked up and to my left. Bastion and Aura were slowly coming back towards me, with her braced heavily against his shoulder as he helped her along. She’d been one of the first to leave, and our shared sensations told me she’d thrown up multiple times in the staff bathroom. Bastion went back to get her while I stayed and operated the console for the Princess. I knew exactly where she was coming from, and felt kind of ill myself, to be honest. This wasn’t the idealistic ‘protecting the world’ project it used to be, anymore. “Hey. You okay, Aura?” I asked softly as she was lead back over to me. Instead of immediately answering, she first cleared the distance and pushed her face into my chest. I held her there, sitting down so I could wrap my forelegs around her. “Yeah. I am now. I… I don’t want to work on this project anymore, Gem. They have their machine. Can we leave, now?” she asked softly. I looked up to Bastion, but already guessed the answer as he shook his head. “Just a little longer, you two. One of you has to be here in order to use the console controls, at least. Once Watch gets up to speed with how to use it, you two don’t have to be anywhere near it when it’s on from that point on, okay?” he offered, smiling at us again. I relaxed and nodded to him, holding Aura tight as she pressed into my chest. Sighing, I nodded absently to that. “Yeah, I’ll take over the console controls until then, Aura. You don’t have to see anymore,” I assured. She only nodded softly into my fur, and I frowned, squeezing her close. Bastion slipped up and put his forelegs around both of us, and for a while, I just listened to their heartbeats. * * * * * “Yeah, things are getting complicated at work again. I’m still not supposed to tell anypony what we’re actually working on, so you’ll have to wait to hear more, of course,” I explained, resting my head sleepily on the grass. The wind danced over me softly, and I smiled. It was so pleasant here. Part of me always wished I didn’t have to leave, but no, there were things that always had to be done. Snickering for a moment, I slowly stood up and added, “Also, I have no idea how you managed to move like this. Lugging around this much extra weight is… really tiring.” Turning, I smiled gently at the coffin resting up on the rock incline, the golden sun shining down on it. The forest around me swayed in the soft wind as I trotted up and put my forehead on the hard wood, feeling my horn slide along it. She’d been gone for so long, but I still found myself coming here a lot. Maybe I couldn’t let go, like Ether said. No, I couldn’t stay here any longer. I lifted my head and smiled at the soft cloth that covered the glass top to the coffin, and bowed one last time in respect before waddling my way back down the rocks. Range of motion suffered the greatest, especially in my back legs. What really sucked was I was only seven months in! I’d really be ready to have this foal when the time came around, that was for sure! It only took a little bit of waddling for me to make it back to the Long Road, and then head back towards the way we came in. Morning Dove was waiting on the path for me, snoozing lightly in the grass until I got closer. The older mare smiled and lifted her head as I approached, the haze and lights of the ethereal forest dancing around us. “Ready to go back, Dear?” she asked softly, voice rattling a little bit as I helped her stand up again. She was the caretaker for the Canterlot Cemetary, and the head Necromancer here. She said she liked taking me to see Mom so often, and I was one of her most dedicated visitors. Smiling, I nodded to her and followed along after through the parting mist. It always felt like no time at all passed until we stepped out in front of the grand mirror that marked the entrance to the Long Road. I didn’t pretend to fully understand what was behind it all, but I’m not sure anypony did. This was the Ether. I stood in a place that was between worlds, where all of Equus buried their dead. The great forest was theoretically infinite, as nopony had ever found the end. Maybe the Princess knew? The mist kept going forever, too, parting only as you walked along the road. It always felt like the same time passed, no matter whose coffin or burial area you were visiting. Only a trained Necromancer could perform the ethereal jaunt required to pull both of you here. The huge forest also extended off to both sides, a perpetual stream running along its left, where the coffins were. Well, where a Necromancer placed them after the ceremony and memorial was complete. I smiled as we walked up the steps to the huge mirror, the warm breeze drifting around us. This place always calmed me down. If you looked closely off into the forest, you could see the faint images of ponies playing. The ones near the coffins were always those resting within. I learned a long time ago that it wasn’t actually them. Morning Dove explained to me that the hearts and thoughts of our loved ones often travel back to their descendants, even from the Ether. That causes the faint image of them to be seen in the forest. They were usually too far out to be reached, however. That was the only rule of this place. Never, ever go too far into the forest. If you lost sight of the road… Both of us stepped through the surface of the mirror. I could see us resting on the other side, bodies asleep as our minds went into the Ether. Those who left the road would never return to their bodies, and never wake up. They’d pass quietly in their sleep here, in front of the mirror on the other side. The transition was instant, and I gently opened my eyes, adjusting to the dim light as Dove yawned and stretched next to me. “Always a pleasant nap, regardless. Did you get everything you wanted, Dear?” she asked pleasantly, smiling over at me. Necromancers were the guides of the spirits of ponies. They handled visitation into the Long Road for those wanting to pay respects, and also coaxed lost and confused spirits into the Ether where they could rest and be with their families gone before. After a pony dies, they leave behind the magic inside of them, and the essence and sentience behind who they are. Sometimes, the event can be sudden however, and confuses the spirit left behind, to the point where they can’t move on. That’s the second duty of a Necromancer. To talk to them and explain, then help them along to the Ether. The third duty is taking the coffins to the Long Road after the memorial, of course. My father had suggested I become a Necromancer, and I spent a year learning a lot about them. Of course, he also trained me martially for possibly the guard at the same time. But then I got the request to attend University due to my performance in grade school. Mother was ecstatic and begged me to take it. She passed away before I made up my mind, and for me, that sealed the deal. Dad understood, of course. Maybe I really couldn’t let go? “Yeah, I think I did. This is going to be the last time I’m going to come for a little while. Work is getting crazy, and it’ll probably be a good month before it calms down again,” I warned, staring back at the mirror. The mists expanded on the other side, and again, I felt that hollowness after leaving that place. I could see why some Necromancers didn’t come back. She smiled and nodded to me, adding, “It will always be here for you. Peace on your travels, young one.” Bowing to her, I turned and headed up the stairs out of our family mausoleum. Yes, each one had a mirror, even though they lead to the same spot. I guessed it was so each family could have a small tribute on this side, too. The cemetery itself was surprisingly small, only holding a single building for each major family in Canterlot. To my surprise, Bastion was waiting for me when I stepped out of the mausoleum. He smiled softly towards me and nodded as I approached, welcoming with, “Hey, Gem. Aura told me you came here after work, and I wanted to be here when you got out.” I blushed softly, a bit taken by his gesture before nodding and trotting fully up to him, kissing him gently on the lips. He pushed back for a moment before breaking off and nodding back, grinning now. “Heh, I missed you, too. I’m okay, really. You don’t have to worry about me. I just, uh… Well, I come visit my mom a lot,” I explained, probably unneeded at this point. That warm smile didn’t leave his face, and he simply shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. I visited both of my folks before picking you up as well. I just… wanted to show support for you,” he furthered. At my lift of an eyebrow, he quickly tacked on, “No, no. Don’t even start. I know you can handle things on your own, but… Well, it’s the herd’s foal growing in you. We’re here for you as well. You don’t have to do everything yourself, you know.” Sighing, I nodded and joined him as he turned and headed for the main gate. “I know. I’m sorry if I’ve been… prickly, of late. I’m just under a lot of stress,” I apologized. He’d assume it was just from our repeated ventures into the other dimension and seeing all of the horrible stuff there. He’d be partly right, of course. But it was also due to me stealing an abundant amount of data from BEID at this point. That’s really what it was. I was stealing in order to be honest. Kind of ironic. “I know. I think we’re almost done now. Princess Celestia got the full report today, after we finally managed to slip through their barriers over that master library we found. She has the full details on the Grosh now,” he informed. I flattened my ears back but managed to nod as we walked. For as bad as these ‘Keldarians’ were, the ‘Grosh’ that they were fighting were even worse. I guess the abyss really does stare back. I shook my head before asking, “What do you think she’s going to do?” He was quiet for a long moment before finally speaking again. “To be honest, pull the plug on the project. We’ve already proved they don’t even know we exist, and the longer we keep spying, the more chance there is for them to notice something. The window of opportunity for full transit is only five years wide,” he reasoned. Yeah, that would make the most sense. It was curious, to be honest. I had to ask, of course. “Is that the end of the organization, then?” Chuckling, he shrugged as we sat on the corner, waiting for a taxi to pass the street walkway. “I’ve no idea. We’ll need to wait to see what Princess Celestia says after she reads our full report. What will you do after, if so?” he asked in return, glancing back over towards me. I saw a bit of unease in his eyes, and smiled, taking a guess as to his concern. “Well, I think I’ll be a mother for a while, and spend time with my wonderful herd,” I softly assured, adding a bit of teasing emphasis to that ‘herd’ part before nuzzling him. He grinned and nuzzled back, kissing my forehead under my horn afterwards. My herd… * * * * * Ponyfeathers! What a total and complete mess! Slipping my labcoat on, I managed to tie it with only the first cord. The second and third wouldn’t fit due to my swollen belly. In the haste to get ready, only having a half an hour or so, I didn’t have any time to grab breakfast either. Today sucked. Aura smiled hesitantly at me as she helped me straighten the back portion of my coat out, then nodded. “Bastion’s already taken off to meet Princess Celestia. Are we almost ready? They’ll be expecting us soon,” she asked, sounding almost as nervous as I felt. Sighing, I nodded to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Yes, I’ll be right there. Run the console through its runtime tests first, just to make sure everything is running smoothly. I just need to settle my stomach, then I’ll be right there,” I assured, smiling confidently at her. She nodded and gave me another kiss before heading for the entry hall, and I closed my eyes. It felt like I was always rushing lately. After I heard the door close, I pulled out my journal and started to put one last entry into it before I left. Hopefully it would have a much happier one following it by next week, once the stress died down. I hesitated for a moment, however, and touched my swollen tummy. My foal was inside. We knew it was a colt now, and I smiled at that. My little colt. I was starting to wonder what I’d name him, which was probably a bit silly this soon. He still had a few months to go before he saw his first light, after all. Humming gently to myself, I cradled my stomach with both forelegs and just smiled. On quiet nights, I could hear his tiny little heartbeat if I focused inside me long enough. To be honest, I wasn’t scared anymore. This was probably the best decision I’d ever made. It was almost to the point where I was getting impatient now. I wanted to meet him so badly. Maybe, one day, I’ll give him this journal, and he can continue from where I left off. Yes, he should be the one to read it in the future. That decided, I flipped to the very inside of the original cover. I’d not written in this section for years now, and it immediately brought back memories again. Slowly, I wrote on that first page. “Hopefully we’ve shared thousands of conversations by the time you read this message, but I want you to continue with this journal. Then maybe give it to your foals, and then theirs. I just want to let you know that I love you, and am proud of you, no matter what. This shall become our family heritage.” I made the handwriting as neat as I could. It would be embarrassing if he couldn’t even read it, after all. Chuckling to myself, I suddenly remembered Morning Dove’s words to me, and smiled as I added them afterwards. “May you have peace on your travels; always.” Pleased with the results, I nodded to nopony in particular and flipped back to where I was writing before. Yes, that would be enough, I hoped. The last of the secrets of BEID that I could get, plus a bit of stress relief venting. Quickly then, I finished up the latest entry before heading out the door. My little colt… * * * * * “Cause of death?” “Severe blunt force trauma to the skull and upper three spinal disks. We believe she fell from several meters up, wherever the tear appeared at.” “…she would have died instantly. The size of the brain indicates these could be sapient creatures. She didn’t get a chance to rotate in the air from that height?” “Apparently not. Either she was unconscious when she came through the tear, or she willingly chose not to. The interesting thing is that it’s practically the only reason that the offspring in her body survived at all. She took all of the force from the impact using her entire upper body. Almost perfectly.” “You? Admire a specimen? That seems surprising, Doctor Kyliona.” “No, of course not! I’m merely noting that it indicates advanced training. Possibly martial, to know how to fall like that. Besides, it would have been better off had she herself survived to be frozen. We might have been able to reproduce the creature, then. The child is male.” “You’re very right there. Very well. You have full release over the child and the remains of the mother. Both are frozen and shall be delivered to your laboratory later this afternoon. Let’s hope they truly contain that strange energy you feel can save us all.” “Oh they do. Trust me… they do.”
Chapter 79Carefully, I flipped to another page and scanned in the well-drawn pictures. The details were exact, taken by a mare who definitely had a mind for the scientific and knew exactly what to record. There were easily a hundred diagrams in the journal in between her actual entries, plus contact details of every single founding member. She wasn't kidding when she said she was going to record everything. Of course, I was really just moving through the motions of scanning to keep my mind busy. I'd not been prepared for reading that in the least. It pulled me in, and now it was four in the morning, and there was no way I could sleep. The sheer weight of what I hadn't realized I'd lost was staggering now. It never really registered before this. Mother. My mom. I felt my eyes getting wet again and quickly pushed it back out of my mind. No, there was nothing I could do for her. Still, I'd never felt so alone before. The light flickered softly in the gas lamp next to me, and I shivered, drawing the covers up a little bit closer to me. Her journal sat in my lap, having not been opened again since that day. Tia had kept it in pristine condition and hadn't even looked in it. At least according to her. Which means she probably had no idea as to the extent of the information in it, including how the dimensional tunneling device functioned. My eyes drifted to the picture next to me. Gemstone Weave. She looked so happy nuzzling up against my dad, Bronze Bastion. He was grinning, too, and now I realized it was Auraprism who had taken the shot. There was another of the three of them together standing in front of a new hot tub, presumably taken by Ether Burst. The second, almost identical one had him slipping into the shot from the side, horn glowing as he held the camera up and dove to try to make it into the picture. Heh. My eyes drifted to my mom again, and I exhaled weakly. She was torn away from her herd, cast into an impossibly faraway place, and she died there, alone. Coupled with the medical reports on the 'specimen' I also had, it looked like she fell from quite a distance and intentionally shielded me using her body. She died so I would live. The impulsive mare who didn't even know what she wanted to do after graduating made that choice. Damn it. I wiped my eyes again, and then snarled to myself in frustration. It was difficult to manage that anger mixed with loss. Like the other anger I suffered from, there was nothing to attack. Celestia was partially to blame, but she wasn't omniscient. There was no way I'd attribute it to her. That left the only ones possible to blame being the Keldarians and Grosh. I hated most of them already, and couldn't do much with that. I couldn't go back and pull her back through the tear. That was the only way I could fix it now, and it was impossible. So all of that anger just balled up inside of me with no place to go, and made me feel even worse. Maybe a part of me was just being a spoiled little foal screaming how it wasn't fair at all and something like that shouldn't be allowed to happen to good ponies. Even Equestria could be harsh and unforgiving, it would seem. Wiping the moisture from my eyes again, I stared blankly at the journal in my lap. I felt like I knew her personally after reading it, but I didn't know her at all. She'd wanted to meet me, and the feeling now was very mutual. It didn't even stop there, either. I'd never meet my father or other mother either. Both had passed away of old age long before I returned to Equus. They never knew I had survived, and had gone their entire lives severed from my mom and me. There was no closure there, and at this point, it was impossible to get. Softly, I closed the book and slipped it back into the plastic wrapper I'd fabricated for it. This was all I had of her. Of all of them. I had to preserve it. These were the only bits and pieces I knew of that involved my parents at all. And insight into the original BEID project, of course. And Ether Pulse. It was a bit strange that after her talking about him helping build the hot tub in the journal, he just ceased being mentioned at all. He was my mom's best friend, but suddenly he just stops being a part of her life, and she doesn't even mention why. No, it was beyond strange... A gentle knock came to my door, and I frowned, sensors lighting up as my eyes shifted towards it. An assassin probably wouldn't bother knocking, but who knew? Nurse Redheart didn't wait for permission, and slowly opened the door a moment later to peek in. Oh, right. If I was in the hospital, she was mandated to be on duty at all times. I felt kinda bad about it, but she said it got her away from her lonely apartment, and assured me that the staff rooms here were 'swanky', whatever that meant. The way she said it, I assumed it to be positive. "Ah, you are awake, then," she muttered, mostly to herself. At least, there wasn't any question in there anyway. "You could have waited for permission. I might not have been decent," I warned, placing the book on my nightstand on top of Prudentia. Purdue sent an inner confirmation that bad things would happen to anything attempting to hurt the book, and I smiled. Good girl! Redheart smirked at that, of course, before reminding, "We're usually naked, Mender. In fact, you're nude right now. So am I, except for this hat." She gestured up to it at the same time, letting herself into the room fully and shutting the door. If this were a soldier's holovid, I so knew where it was going. Wait, no, I would have known from the second she opened the door, actually. "Stallions have needs, Redheart. I've been away from my herd a full twenty hours now, after all!" I retorted in faux shock and surprise. She gave a slight blush to that one, but continued grinning as she hopped up, then sat down on the end of my bed. That idly made me wonder why ponies had such large beds. Did they just like having the space? Lying flat as I was, my hooves didn't even reach where she was sitting! Well, actually, that was probably a good thing. Her sitting on my hooves via that bouncing flop she just did might have broken my ankles, and extended my hospital stay. Maybe that was her goal, though? "True! But that only gives me incentive to not even knock next time," she pointed out, giving me a playfully lewd wink. Okay, I laughed at that one. "Ah, there's the shameless flirt I know and adore. Although, uh, sorry. I got carried away reading and, well, didn't pay attention to the time," I continued, just getting the inevitable over with. Surely the real reason she was visiting was to lecture me on the health benefits of a good night's sleep. She sighed instead, and I felt uncertain as she looked over at the book. Her eyes slowly shifted back to me, and softened slightly as she reached forward with her left hoof, leaning over me. Eh? I felt her brush along my left cheek and frown before pulling her hoof back and looking at it. Oh. "I figured you'd lost track of time. But you don't have to hide your emotions, Mender. You read the whole thing, cover to cover, didn't you?" she inquired knowingly, looking back up at me fully. She looked honestly tired in the faint orange light of the lamp next to the two books. Something was a bit sad about the whole situation, but a twinge of irony settled in my chest. "I... Don't know what to do with the feelings. But it's okay, Redheart. I know you have a lot on your plate, too, especially with being forced to stay at the hospital when I'm here," I redirected, admittedly still feeling bad about that whole situation. The nurse stared at me for a moment before a soft smile played across her lips and she lowered her head. "You're still stuck on that. You know, that's the fastest way to tell a real gentlecolt from a stallion who's just acting to try to get some attention. You're really torn up over something you did to 'inconvenience' me. You wouldn't keep bringing it up if you weren't," she pointed out. I gave her a blank stare for a moment before sighing and averting my eyes. It was only the… fourth time I’d mentioned it! Damn her. She didn't have to just bluntly point out how much of a pansy I was like that, though. Not that I thought it was 'weak' to care about others, but I'm sure some of the others out there did. She continued a moment later after my hesitation, with, "There's a solution, however. You feel bad, I feel bad, and neither of us wants to 'burden' the other by venting. The obvious solution is to either bottle it up, which helps neither of us, or both let it out at once, which helps both of us. I'll go first." "Can you really just decide something like that by yourself?!" I asked, but she only smirked and kept right on going anyway. She was really hard to deal with sometimes. "I'm a twenty-four year old mare who works in a very demanding occupation. I'm essentially married to my job, which was okay while I went through extra schooling, but... Admittedly, I'm really lonely these days. Cheerilee tried setting me up with a few stallions and mares, but nothing has really 'clicked' so far, you know? That's one of my biggest fears. It's more than just romance. Being alone is scary. Kinda silly and foolish thing to worry about, but..." She trailed off with that and I frowned. This was one of those moments where I knew I was supposed to say something, but I drew a blank. There wasn't much that I could say within the realms of 'mostly sane' that would make her feel better. A painfully slow three seconds passed with me tensing sharply before she started giggling faintly. "You're so much fun to watch awkwardly shift about," she admitted, grinning towards me in a decidedly impish manner. I reeled, but she quickly elaborated a moment later. "I wasn't lying about any of that, though. I'm not as 'grown up' as ponies believe. That unsure little foal in me who was scared to sleep through a thunderstorm without her big brother or parents never quite went away," she spoke, softer this time and sounding fully tired rather than amused. I relaxed at that, at least knowing what she was talking about now. "I don't think anypony is as grown up as they let on, Redheart. Being alone is scary, I know. I've actually not been alone practically the entire time I've been here, so I've gathered that ponies are far more, well... They're a lot more social than the race I used to identify with, I'll leave it at that. But with that in mind, being alone is all the more scarier," I pointed out, at least using my observations so far. That and the touching. Ponies were a lot more comfortable with just friendly touching and hugging. That was a bit strange, too. She smiled softly at me afterwards, and then mildly surprised me by lying down on her right side at the foot of my mattress, closing her eyes tiredly for a moment. Had I woken her up with my light? I knew I was in the special observation room just so she could have the bed that was in the other, attached room. She hesitated, opening her mouth for just a moment before smiling again, as if suddenly thinking of something funny. "So that's the reason. No, I can't believe that's the only thing. Seeing you by yourself in here when I first looked in reminded me so much of my brother. He's the loner type, but always seemed so sure of absolutely everything he did. Maybe it takes the foreign memories and experiences, but no, I like to think that it's just part of your character, Mender. If I were in your position, I'd be freaking out so badly that they'd put me in the hospital just for that," she admitted, snickering after that last part. I blinked, not entirely sure if that was a compliment or not, but I shrugged it off nonetheless. "Being crazy helps. At least, it makes things more interesting," I commented, earning a more cheerful laugh that time. "You're not crazy. That's an ugly word. Let's call you... Unique. You're unique," she declared, earning a raised eyebrow from me before she smirked and shook her head, then brushed the rogue pink bang out of her eyes. "No, no, let me finish. You're a unique stallion. Yes, a stallion. All of the important bits are pure pony, and what's added in can be useful, but it doesn't define you. Further, you're suffering from what we call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Retroactive Amnesia, and Social Anxiety Disorder. Bad experiences can leave lasting scars in the mind, too, Mender. Those heal, especially for you, far slower than the rest of your body." I felt calmer throughout her explanation, and sighed after she stopped talking. Well, she was right there. I healed really, really fast. Momentarily, I reached back and touched my shoulder, indicating no pain at all. Second to Third Degree Burns had covered a good chunk of my back, and now I was fine. Less than twelve hours later, fine. She smiled and nodded at my recognition, then tilted her head as I turned around and closed my eyes again. It took me a moment to formulate, but slowly, I opened them again, letting soft blue light spill out over the bed instead. She relaxed quickly, but my sensors picked up her momentary surprise prior, even pointing out exactly how many centimeters away she was, her heart rate as it lowered slowly, and the fact that there were stress lines along her hooves, likely from too much standing and walking. "I don't really understand, Redheart. I mean, well, I don't get why you're so comfortable around me, especially when I think you have a better actual understanding of exactly what I am than most ponies who know about me. You even told me all of that about you," I reasoned. She was lying next to a mobile planet blender, for crying out loud. I understood that she could justify that I was in control of it and generally tried to be a good pony, but I also had a record for horrific accidents happening around me, alien attacks, and things exploding! I just blew out the side of a train earlier totally on accident, almost slicing my friends into pieces with superheated wings. That had to give somepony even the slightest pause and consideration for their personal safety, didn't it? She chuckled, only serving to confuse me entirely. "Mender, you don't understand, and I don't blame you for that. I just told you all of that because you're my friend and you actually make me feel safe. It's not some magical effect from you that you talked about earlier, or some techno babble from another world. It's simple. You do what you say you're going to do. You try your very hardest to protect those you care about. You show very real remorse when you can't. And the most important part, you really do strive to just be kind and friendly," she pointed out. My blank stare towards her must have been funny, because she snickered again and smiled fully this time. "See? You think none of that adds up to what you could 'potentially' do to us, but that's not really how ponies operate. Your potential can explain a lot, yeah, but it's just a whisper. Your actions and what's important to you, now that's a scream to most ponies. That said, you're a very easy pony to trust and feel safe around, just based on personality," she elaborated. It barely registered as I just stared at her further. How was that a good idea at all?! A reaction based off only somepony's actions without considering their potential at all seemed so haphazard and careless that... She interrupted my thoughts a moment later by adding, "Also, I said you were my friend. You can just call me 'Red', like my other friends do." Oh. That was the problem. It was because she assigned trust before running the logic behind it through her mind. She based it off who I was, which was so radically different from what I was used to. Trust was a value. It came in levels that were assigned based on what you knew, how capable you were, and how dangerous you were. My other self was all three at once, but managed to hold himself slightly more useful than dangerous, so he wore a badge that proclaimed his trust level as seven out of nine. Clearance level seven, to be specific. Based on that bit of recollection, I realized that the concept she just explained laughed in the face of all that. But... Why did it feel better? I knew it wasn't logical. It was less safe. Riskier. But it felt better all around. More fair to the person being judged. Yeah, that was it. "Sometimes I think the problem is me. If we're actually talking about trust, then, I don't think I really trust myself in the slightest. Not to understand pony concepts, and definitely not to fit into the culture here. But I want to so badly. I just want to go back to not remembering who or what I was, and live like a normal pony. Getting my memories back has never been worth it so far. Ever," I whispered, holding my hooves up to look at the underside of them. That cracked pattern was still there on my left one, having regenerated to how it was before she tore it off. The damage even regenerated perfectly, although the scars remained down at the base of my limb, especially along my chest and barrel where it tore. Red spoke calmly and reminded, "I did say we'd both vent. I told you a lot about myself, and you've helped me feel better. You let me feel not alone when I'm around you, which is exactly what I need. So let me help you, too, Mender. You can vent a little as well, you know." Ah, right. That was part of the original 'deal', but it didn't exactly feel like a 'payment' anymore. She'd somehow flipped it around during her talking. Now it really did feel like she wanted to help me instead. Was telling me her issues just to help me relax about it? Lying back a bit, my eyes drifted to the left at the book resting on top of Prudentia, slight plastic shine across the side of it from my lamp. It was easy enough to see where I was looking, and she smiled softly, closing her eyes again. Yeah. Still, it needed to be said, I guessed. “It’s my parents, mostly. I guess I just… I feel some loss as to never getting to meet them. And what happened to them was terrible. There’s nothing I can ever do to make that any better, and that frustrates and saddens me. Reading about all of that stuff involving the Ether in her journal made me hope that, well, maybe they’ve gotten to be together again since then, but…” I wasn’t good with words, especially when I didn’t have time to prepare. “I understand that. They’re your mom and dad, so of course you’re going to want to meet them. That’s one of the most tragic things about everything that’s happened to you. You were pulled out of your own time and left behind really. You have every right to be upset about that,” she pointed out, guessing that I’d been playing it down, even in my own mind. Sighing, I averted my eyes again and then felt her smile, knowing she was right. Yeah, I guess that crying over the situation wasn’t that big of a sin. If it were me looking at somebody else, I’d feel they were justified, too, after all. “Yeah, I guess that I’m not a big wuss for feeling sad about it all. I just don’t know what to really do about it, either. I wish they could have gotten some closure,” I said, turning to look at her again as she reached a hoof forward and slid the pile of pictures closer to her. “Heee. They look happy regardless. You can see the start of her tummy in this picture,” Red cooed, earning a snicker from me anyway. Fluttershy had noticed that, too. Was it some sort of female thing here to notice pregnancies? I didn’t even want to hazard a guess as to the social implications of a pregnant mare, and all things surrounding it. All I knew was that gestation was eleven months, which was three months longer than a Keldarian. That must be brutal! I opened my mouth to ask how rough pregnancies actually were, but she frowned a moment later and pointed back to the picture. “Hey, who’s this other mare?” she inquired, gesturing towards the second shot I had of Auraprism. “That’s Auraprism, my other mom. Her and my dad were left behind after Gemstone got pulled through the rift,” I explained. Redheart got a sad expression for a moment before it shifted to thoughtful instead. Oh? After a moment, she hesitantly asked, “Do you know if you have any brothers or sisters? You were gone roughly three hundred and forty years, which is about… four or five pony generations? That gets confusing after two generations or so.” Brothers or…? Oh! That’s right, Aura and Bastion might have gone on to have foals of their own! She smirked at my blank expression, and nodded. Hesitating, I looked back at the bio information, and then frowned when I realized that it was from the time they were recruited. It wouldn’t be able to tell me anything about their life afterwards. Finally, I just asked, “Is there any way that ponies keep track of this sort of stuff? Uh, I don’t know how important it is to you as a culture, but, uh… Genealogy! That’s the name for it.” Red rolled her eyes and gave me a skeptical smirk, earning a sigh from me before she went on to say, “Yes, Mender, of course we keep track of Genealogy. They’re a Canterlot family, however, so in order to get the records to look at, you’ll need to go visit Canterlot City Hall, which is next to the palace.” Ah. Damn it! I could have used this information just yesterday, even. Now I’d have to wait until we took another trip there, which was in two weeks if I remembered right. Yeah, that’s when Shining said that they’d have the soldiers ready for the first prep training session, which should be a load of fun. I somehow doubted I was going to get much respect, but at least I could properly handle soldiers. That thankfully wasn’t a social situation! “Well, I’ll have to look into it when I go back to Canterlot. Although I don’t know what I’m going to use the information for exactly,” I admitted, suddenly stumbling into a rather awkward point I’d neglected. She tilted her head at that, obviously not having thought of it either. “What do you mean, Mender? Isn’t it obvious? You should look them up and introduce yourself,” she suggested, totally missing the point. “Introduce myself as what? The leader of DReg who just happens to be coincidentally interested in their family’s wellbeing? Oh, and happens to have some genetic traits that look amazingly similar to their own line? It would be even worse if I were actually allowed to tell them the truth. ‘Oh, by the way, I’m actually your great great great granduncle who got sucked away to another dimension before he was born, got frozen for several hundred years, and recently returned and brought a whole dimension’s worth of trouble back with him. Nice to meet you!’ That would be perfect,” I pointed out. Okay, that might have been a little too sarcastic, but I think she got the point, anyway. She blinked at that, then actually snickered, seemingly unfazed by my reaction. “Okay, admittedly I forgot that you were supposed to keep it a secret. Still, you should run it past Princess Celestia. She’s sure to understand you wanting to meet and know about your family,” she reasoned. Exhaling softly, I nodded and rested back against the pillows again. Yeah, that was probably true. “I’ll ask her what she thinks about it, then. I don’t even know if they exist yet, though, so I shouldn’t focus too hard on it yet,” I reminded myself out loud. Red gave me a soft smile and then nodded towards me as I noticed my body finally relaxing. Huh. “You should get some sleep, Mender. Staying up all night isn’t good for you,” she lectured softly. Heh. Smiling at that, I nodded with my eyes closed before adding, “Thank you, Red. You really did help quite a bit.” They opened again rapidly in surprise when I felt fur-to-fur contact. Redheart had gently leaned forward and now hugged my chest softly. I relaxed a moment later and smiled down at her as she gave me a squeeze. I hugged her back and exhaled across the top of her mane, causing her to shiver lightly. Finally, she spoke up with, “It’s fine, Mender. You really do help me a lot, too. More often than you realize. Thank you for being my friend.” She relaxed after saying it, and I chuckled softly towards her, causing her to look up at me with an amused grin. Whatever she was about to say or do next was interrupted, however, by a slow, low creaking noise. Eh? She shifted to a confused look and frowned before asking, “Uh, what’s that?” My ears perked up and I rotated them around, trying to find out exactly where the noise was coming from. It sounded like it was under my bed? Wait, no… “Uh, Red, is this one of those folding-“ The bed latch snapped a moment later under our combined weight, and the foot of my bed came up to greet us with record speed… * * * * * Twilight raised an eyebrow, and then tilted her head at me as I gathered my things up and put them back in my saddlebags. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly at me, but… She reached her hoof out and poked lightly at one of the metal chains strapped around the corners of the bed, which were strapped to various large objects around the room. I said absolutely nothing at all as I finished packing Prudentia and my mother’s journal into the bag and slipped it on over my shoulder. Red looked even more annoyed than me before finally simply warning, “Don’t ask…” She winced lightly, the bandage on her cheek shifting as she said that. They needed to run upkeep on their furniture more often! The latch had almost disintegrated due to disuse, it turned out. I guessed that we just pushed it over the edge with our combined weight on one point of the bed. Or my bad luck was phenomenal, which was practically scientific fact at this point. “Uh, right. I’ll just chalk it up to Mender being Mender. I hope you’re okay, Nurse Redheart,” Twilight finally muttered, turning her attention to the bandaged nurse. Thankfully, it was neglected to be mentioned that I technically bit her in the cheek, more due to our heads literally being slammed together. That wasn’t pleasant at all. Sighing, I reminded, “I said I was sorry. Um, is there anything I can do to fix it?” I’d said it before but it had been met with negative results the first time. The nurse sighed and hesitated a moment before finally admitting, “No, not really. Unless you can give me some of those fancy regeneration nanite things. This really wasn’t your fault anyway.” My marefriend shivered at that for a moment. “I don’t think he should be making any more of those disks until we fully monitor and record exactly what they’re doing to their hosts, and what happened with the incident on the train,” she reasoned, which was actually a really wise course of action. Red snorted, then chuckled at that before shrugging. “I was just kidding. I’ll leave the scary testing to your mares, then maybe get a finished product once all the kinks are worked out of it,” she agreed, sitting back down again on the floor next to my bed, then helping me get down as I slipped towards the floor. Heh. My mares? “Here I thought you liked kinks,” I jibbed as she finally got me stabilized on my hooves again. That much I’d learned fast. Get required assistance from somepony before playfully teasing them. It always worked out so much better. Her smirk was instant, and Twilight’s blush was almost as fast. “Only if I get to wear hoof socks. Now get out of here, you two, before I change my mind about the disk,” she warned playfully. Chuckling, I slipped up next to Twilight, who relaxed and smiled towards me. “Glad to see you’re getting more and more adjusted. Now if only you’d flirt with me like that,” Twilight teased, snickering and nuzzling under my chin. Okay, she walked right into that one, possibly intentionally. “Well, if you’d like to wear socks instead for me, feel free,” I suggested, nuzzling her back. I almost literally felt her heat up, and for a moment, images of me on fire and diving out my room window came to mind. To her credit, however, she didn’t run away this time, instead just glaring playfully up at me with crimson cheeks. “Let’s stick to normal first,” she jabbed, poking me in the chest with her hoof. Uh! I coughed lightly and looked over at Red, who was busy giggling hysterically as Twilight realized what she just said and went rigid against me, the flushed color traveling up across her entire snout and almost to her ears on each side. “Ahhaha… Let’s just pretend you didn’t hear that, Red. Anyway, we’ll see you later,” I excused, earning more laughter now as I pushed Twilight out the door, the lavender mare emitting a low whine the entire way… Thankfully she had recovered by the time we got to the hospital stairs, or we might have had a problem. Sighing hesitantly, she followed me down them slowly, remarkably quiet now before catching up to me on the first floor. She was a little slower than normal, too, both of her forelegs still bandaged lightly due to the burns. For once, I was actually thankful for my cybernetics, granting her the regeneration nanites. My pace slowed once I cleared the ‘safety zone’ and decided we wouldn’t be able to hear any embarrassing laughter from Red anymore, no matter how loud the nurse got. Twilight walked gently along next to me, shifting up close and pushing into my side as we moved around the ponies in the lobby. It was amazingly nice to feel her warm fur again, though, especially after being so lonely last night. I leaned closer into her and kissed the side of her cheek, earning a start and much lighter flush this time. “Mmm, somepony’s feeling snuggly. Are you okay, Mender?” she asked softly, her horn lighting up to open the door for us. I hesitated, and then halted completely with a questioning look as I saw two other remarkably familiar ponies approaching. Eh?! Twilight saw my surprise and followed my gaze, easily spotting their approach. Applejack was flush alongside her brother, leaning heavily into him as he was kept propped upright by her strength. To my surprise, a rather thick bandage was wrapped around his back right thigh, and she was supporting him walking on that side. What happened?! I knew he had taken over farm chores when she was gone, but enough to get injured?! I didn’t think the super heavy physical labor started until a few days from now with Applebuck Season. At least, I thought that started up at roughly the same time as the Running of the Leaves. “Uh, should I ask?” Twilight inquired curiously, causing the siblings to look up at us as they got within a couple meters. Tiredly, I sat down next to Twilight as I watched, still low on energy from the healing process. “Ahnope,” Big Mac groaned almost immediately, promptly looking away again as I raised my eyebrow. Applejack scoffed at his reply before adding, “What tha big lug meant ta say is, he got himself hurt while we were up in Canterlot. Ah suspect ya tried ta start tha harvestin’ early, didn’t ya?” Her inquiry was paired with two jabs to his chest, but the stoic stallion didn’t even budge, stubbornly starting to move forward again towards the steps up into the lobby. “Ah thought ya’d learn yer lesson after tha first time! Gah. Anywho, Ah’ll talk ta ya more later, Twi. Gotta get him checked in first,” the orange mare groaned before nodding to us and following him up the steps. She barely got there before he tipped sideways, and managed to catch him again. Yikes! What in Equus could injure the huge stallion like that?! We watched them go before Twilight snickered and nudged me. Oh, right. Walking. I sometimes forgot about that. Standing up again, I followed after her, catching up as she lagged back, then resting against her side again immediately. She sighed contently at that and nuzzled my neck before reminding, “You never did say why you were so snuggly. Not that I’m complaining, of course.” Oh yeah… “I just missed you while I was in the hospital. Fluttershy, too, of course. Reading the entire journal last night also didn’t help much,” I admitted, remembering Red’s advice that venting was okay. It still made me a bit uncomfortable to bring up, but I stuck to my ground anyway. “Mender… I’m sorry. I forgot that you’d gotten that. You should have said something sooner,” Twilight suggested, voice softening as she stopped walking and pushed into me. Relaxing, I let her slip up and wrap her forelegs fully around my chest. Her squeeze was light, not really jostling the bandage I still wore around my mostly healed back, thankfully. Pulling her against me, I just enjoyed her scents and warmth for a moment. I was still tired from the little sleep, and it felt like I could almost pass out right here and now if I let myself. But no. I kept myself awake and peeked over Twilight’s back while relaxing. The chilly day was getting downright cold now, and her body heat felt nice. All the hustle around town square also made the day feel warmer, a bunch of ponies setting up decorations and festivities. Winter was coming, and ponies were going to welcome it with open forelegs. I even saw a massive stage set up in the center of town square. The next few days were going to be interesting. “Mmm, you’re cold, Mender. Oh! I almost forgot. Here,” Twilight whispered, carefully opening her left saddlebag with her magic. To my surprise, a darker blue scarf made out of a warm knit material floated out of her bag, looking almost three meters in length. The end of it had a silver yarn used instead to make a gear with a heart in it, definitely giving it that customized look. Twilight continued a moment later after placing the middle of the scarf over my neck. “Rarity felt badly for not being able to be here to help pick you up from the hospital, but I assured her it was fine. She still made this for you, however. She knows you’re going to need some winter clothes soon, after all,” the lavender mare explained, smiling as she helped me wrap it properly. The custom Cutie Mark on the bottom hung down my chest when we were done, and I smiled at the design. “I’ll have to thank her later for it,” I admitted, feeling significantly warmer already. Although that might have been from blushing lightly. Being in Twilight’s pack, it smelled remarkably like her wrapped all around my neck. It also had faint traces of Rarity smells on it still, and that soft perfume she used. Twilight nodded happily towards me, looking pleased with her wrapping job for a moment before her ears poked up and twitched lightly. Oh? We both turned and looked towards the stage, where a small construction zone appeared to be going on. By the looks of it, they were making and painting the finish line for the race later. To my surprise, a very familiar draconequus was up on stage as well, looking like he was ‘overseeing’ the construction project. Uh oh. “I’m not so sure. Does it honestly look centered to you?” Discord inquired curiously. The very frustrated forest green mare that was working on it just glared at him, the ‘Finish Line’ text somehow extending off the end of the sign and hanging in the air now. Twilight sighed and broke off from my hug, trotting more briskly up to the stage. Uh, right! After a moment’s hesitation, I took off after her, slightly faster in order to catch up. “Discord! What are you doing? Why are you harassing the ponies trying to set up for the race?” Twilight asked as she walked up, her tone sharper than what I was used to hearing, although not really on the angry side. I couldn’t really do much against Discord given his unique abilities, but I decided I could at least support her, and slipped up next to her to listen. Discord himself perked up and turned around, suddenly smiling widely down at us. Ugh. “Twilight! What a pleasure to see you here! Oh, and Gear Butt! It’s a pleasure to see you, too,” he spoke in a flamboyant tone. Gear Butt?! Twilight growled at that, but the draconequus didn’t exactly look scared. Instead, he continued with, “Oh don’t get upset. I’m hardly ‘harrassing’ these ponies. Can’t you see I’m helping them design their decorations? They’re so much better this way, don’t you think?” Eh? Turning and looking past the stage, I noticed a number of other decorations that Discord had ‘improved’ as well, with Apple Bloom trying to continue selling apples stuck to the ceiling of her sideways stall, and Carrot Top also nearby, trying to pull a massive carrot out of the ground that apparently used to be one of the support stakes that held her stall steady. It crushed it down into the ground now, pulling the entire stall over sideways with it and spilling carrots everywhere. A few gravity defying apples also drifted past, and she slipped on one while pulling upwards, falling on her rump on the ground. Wow, what a mess. “This isn’t helping them, Discord! You’re interfering with their ability to work, and ruining products! Wait, aren't you supposed to be with Fluttershy right now, anyway?” Twilight snapped, starting to get angry now. Sighing, I slipped away from her and ran over to Apple Bloom’s stand, which still seemed to be spilling an almost infinite amount of apples into the air as the filly tried to hold the baskets down. “Ah! Mender, help!” she squeaked, flailing about as the gravity shifted again and stuck her to the ceiling. Yikes! Observing it for a moment, I noticed the rather powerful levels of magic that was spread all over the stand. It was a weird form of enchantment that I’d never seen before, seemingly designed to overwrite the local rules of reality. I assumed it was on a quantum level, but that was with my own understanding of things, so who knew for certain in this case? Still, the core enchantments were rather simplistic, probably due to the speed he created them with. I grabbed the support strand for the enchantment powering it all and yanked it out a moment later. Gravity turned back to normal immediately for the suddenly perfectly upright stand, and Apple Bloom fell from the ceiling. My barrier caught her, quickly extending across like a pillow when I tapped the counter, and she lay there on her back, eyes spinning around and apples spilled everywhere. “Uuugh, Ah’m gonna be sick,” she muttered, looking more than a little dizzy. Well, this wouldn’t do. Rotating, I slid her onto my back gently, stomach down, and closed my eyes. My inner magic projected upwards and danced along my back where she was touching, and I used that to form the link to her instead, giving her stomach a little massage while she rested. I hoped AJ would be back soon in order to help her with this mess. In the meantime… AB just lay there as I trotted towards Carrot instead, who was lying there and rubbing her slightly red right flank. I averted my eyes from her apparently tender private spots and looked up at the giant carrot. Transmutation magic reeked from it, and I guessed its nature without even having to feel out with my own energy. Twilight, in the meantime, had continued arguing with Discord about his interference, the draconequus quickly explaining, “My good friend Fluttershy is quite busy at the moment. She seems to have been gone for a few days, and now her dear animal friends need a lot of attention to make up for that. Further, I’m saddened, Twilight! We’re good friends, yet you seem to want to get rid of me.” The hammy tone never left his voice, and I shuddered. Ah, so he was difficult with everypony, then. I felt marginally better that it hadn’t been just me. “Mender? I heard you got back but what happened? You’re hurt,” Carrot asked, suddenly noticing me. She was remarkably calm for having her market stall flattened by a giant carrot. Maybe she was used to dealing with Discord? “Yeah, there was an accident on the train,” I explained, looking down towards the base of the carrot as I felt the filly stir on my back. Touching the base, I found the original form of the stake stored within. While he wreaked havoc on everything he saw, he also put in ways to easily undo all of his effects, I noticed. Huh. I guess he wasn’t really that bad of a guy, apart from annoying everypony. Pulling the power thread off the base enchantment again, I watched the carrot pop away into a stake again, and a secondary spell go off that righted the fallen stand. Interesting. “Oh! Thank you, Mender! Discord can be downright frustrating sometimes,” Carrot muttered, rolling her eyes before smiling more sincerely towards me instead. I nodded, and then glanced back at Apple Bloom as she raised her head up. “Hoowee… Ah think tha ground finally stopped spinnin’. Thanks, Mender. Wait, is yer back okay fer this?” the little filly suddenly asked, raising herself off my bandage and looking down at it from between her forelegs. Shifting my back muscles under her, I nodded and gave her an assuring smile. “Yeah. You’re light as a feather. Plus, I heal rather quickly,” I reminded. I hesitated a moment later as Carrot gave me questioning expression, then I added, “Uh, they gave me a potion for it at the hospital, of course.” The orange farming mare stared intently at me for a long moment before smirking lightly and nodding back. “Of course. Thank you again for helping me, though,” she finally spoke, sounding like she didn’t believe me for even a second, but oddly, that it didn’t matter really. I didn’t know what to say or do, so I just bowed politely to her, then turned and trotted back over to Apple Bloom’s stall. “Discord, this is ridiculous. You can’t expect anypony to manage to get ready for the celebration if you’re changing things they’re working on without asking! If you really want to help, you need to use your powers to help us decorate. Or I guess you can come with Moon Mender and myself, if you’re this desperate for entertainment,” Twilight shouted, putting particular emphasis on my name while simultaneously sounding like she might throw up with that last offer. Discord perked at that, as if hearing magical words from that offer. Ah crap. Still, he snapped his fingers and reset everything else in an instant, at least saving me a ton of effort. How he managed to control and place all of these effects seemingly at will was totally beyond my understanding. “Ah! Yes, that was his name. You’ll have to excuse me, as I was never formally introduced to him. We had a… chilly first meeting,” he excused, bowing politely to Twilight. Chilly? I shuddered, remembering the small mountain of snow that he flooded Fluttershy’s living room with. Despite my reservations, the rest of the ponies working on the stage looked quite pleased with the turn of events. Setting Apple Bloom down, I helped her start gathering up all the spilled apples and placing them into the water bin she had under the stand, apparently just for this cause. Something told me we were going to almost fill it up… Thankfully the huge bins of apples behind the stand weren’t touched, so we just had to wash off the display apples. “Thanks fer all this, Mender,” she chirped, sounding none the worse for wear despite spending who knows how long in a gravity blender with apples bouncing off her from every direction. “It’s fine, AB. Watching the shop while AJ takes Big Mac into the hospital?” I inquired, more to make pleasant small talk with the filly than anything. She grinned at that and nodded, puffing up slightly. “You bet! Ah’m totally old enough ta sell apples fer tha family! Ah even made five sales before Discord got ‘ere an’ made everything go all topsy-turvey! It was ah mite hard sellin’ apples after that,” she admitted, which was definitely an understatement. “Oh, I’m truly sorry, Apple Bloom!” the apple I was lifting up suddenly exclaimed in a somewhat exaggerated dramatic tone. I yelped and panicked, flailing backwards away from it. Holy hell! The apple had Discord’s face on it, of course, complete with his over the top goatee. “I didn’t realize this was your first time selling apples by yourself! I shouldn’t have been so careless,” he continued onwards, totally ignoring the fact that he scared the crap out of me. It was hard to get a lock on how sincere he was, but maybe that was just because an apple doesn’t have much body language? Apple Bloom slid a few more apples over towards me from where they spilled next to the path and sighed. “It’s okay. Ah mean, AJ probably won’t be too mad. Just tha display apples got dirty,” she reasoned, looking at them lying on the ground as I held my chest. Okay, hadn’t expected my apple to start talking… Speaking of my apple, it gasped momentarily then flashed away in a burst of light. All of the apples were gone, actually. I glanced around until I noticed they were all back, stacked in the bins on the stall… in an oddly pyramid-like shape each. Well, at least they looked clean again. Apple Bloom perked, then hopped sideways and hugged the re-materialized draconequus, actually getting him to look momentarily surprised. “Thanks, Discord! Ah know yer bored, but yer ah good pony,” she thanked, further surprising the chaos spirit. Twilight snickered as she approached, obviously amused at the hesitation from Discord, who seemingly had a soft spot for young foals. Although Apple Bloom was sickeningly cute, and I had a hard time saying no to her as well, so I understood where he was coming from. “Thank you, Discord. That was helpful,” she pointed out, making an example of the event. Discord pouted at this point, crossing his arms and huffing while looking away from her, but I knew he got the hint. There was no reason to be defensive otherwise. Heh. A low whistling noise interrupted my thoughts a few seconds later, however, and I frowned. What was it now?! Wait, where had I heard that sort of noise before? “Memder, lomk oot!” resounded a second later. Uh, what? It struck me a moment after she struck me that it had been a while since I heard aerodynamic wind flow, and that familiar whistling noise it did. My vision was filled with gray for a moment as I got smashed into from the left side, somepony yelping above me as we rolled. She was surprisingly heavy as she bashed into my chest, but despite the impact, I still managed to grab her and pull her wings in during the violent roll to stop her from breaking anything. We came to a sliding stop about two or three meters from where we began, my ribs and left leg kind of hurting from the impact of something quite large and distinctly not soft and furry. Derpy popped up a moment later, sitting up next to me with her eyes spinning for a moment before gasping and nudging me with her right forehoof. “Mender, are you okay?!” she asked softly as the world finally stopped spinning. Oww. For various levels of ‘okay’, I guessed. The large package she was carrying via foreleg and mouth grip spun and slid to a stop next to us, presumably what impacted my ribs and leg. It looked larger than she was, which seriously surprised me that she was able to get off the ground with that thing! “Ah! Mender!” Twilight yelped, running up as well a moment later, followed by Apple Bloom right behind her. Discord trailed a little bit behind, looking remarkably like Rainbow Dash in trying to hold back his laughter. Okay, so he was back to being a jerk. “Wow, I forget how often you ponies don’t even need me to cause chaos!” he chimed in, earning a glare from Twilight and a sheepish glance from Derpy. Wincing, I managed to slowly get up to my hooves again, suddenly gaining a gentle lift from two hooves from behind. Eh? Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Carrot smiling softly at me as she helped me get back up into a sitting position. “Ah, thanks, Carrot. Yeah, I’m okay. That package kinda hurt, though. Wow, that’s big,” I admitted, looking back to the sizable thing. It was in a wrapped, brown paper, which seemed to be typical for any delivery system. Why brown? I suppose they just didn’t bother to dye the natural paper color to keep things cheap to make. “Whoa, that is huge, Derpy! Wait, why is only one pegasus delivering such a huge parcel? You should have had some help…” Twilight pointed out, nudging the large box with her left forehoof. Derpy surprisingly blushed softly and looked away before mentioning, “Oh, Cloudchaser and Flitter were supposed to deliver it, but, um… They had a really bad night last night at the raffle drawing and couldn’t. I didn’t want it to be late, though, and I’m strong enough to carry it! …mostly!” While technically true, she did need to work on that landing part. Although now that I looked at it, her wings really did seem rather powerful, being a bit larger than the average pegasus, and rippling with muscles down her back. Wait, what?! How did a raffle put two ponies out of commission like that? I suddenly got the horrific mental image of the raffle machine exploding and falling over on top of them as they helped run it… Discord looked delighted regardless, and started to slowly clap. “Oh, I concur. You did an amazing job of transporting it, Miss Derpy. Number one in entertainment! Five out of five stars, would definitely order from you again! Why, you even ‘delivered’ it to the right pony!” he chirped, snapping his finger afterwards. A five-pointed crown landed on her head, with a colorful gem for each of the five star points on it. Interestingly enough, she actually smiled at his words, and then grinned up at the crown sitting on her head. It was actually quite pretty. Wait a second… “Don’t tease her, Discord! She was carrying a pretty big package, and did amazingly for that. Wait, right pony…?” Carrot railed off and raised an eyebrow up at the draconequus, but Derpy nodded enthusiastically first. “Yeah, it’s for Mender!” she exclaimed, sounding more than a little happy for that fact more than anything. For me? Slipping forward again, I approached the box with a bit more healthy skepticism than before. The box itself was unmarked on the wrapping, and had no return address at all. “Moon Mender, Golden Oak Library, Ponyville, Equestria” was written in extremely neat script for the address, on three lines. I was more than a little suspicious, suddenly. Large box, almost the size of a pony, delivered anonymously to me, the head of Dimensional Regulation. Frowning, I warned, “Get back, everypony. I’m going to open it. At least five meters of distance and behind Twilight, please.” Derpy and Apple Bloom gave a confused expression, but Carrot squeaked and pushed them behind Twilight, who backed up to six meters. Discord looked more intrigued than anything and remained next to me. I decided I really didn’t care, and doubted normal ordinances would harm him anyway. Twilight got the hint and put up a shield as I put four barriers up around the outer sides of the box. Well, here goes. I prepared to welcome yet another hospital visit just in case. Removing the paper from the top of the box, I braced for impact and pulled it open. After a slow three seconds with no earth shattering detonation, I opened my eyes again and blinked. Okay, so maybe not a bomb. Images of a severed head or something instead hopped into my mind, and I shivered. Snapshot had better not have gotten herself caught! Swallowing, I instead peeked into the box to finally investigate its contents. Instead, I was met with a horror far beyond what I’d prepared for. Discord gasped next to me before adding, “Packing peanuts?! Those monsters! Don’t they realize those get everywhere when you’re trying to dig through them?” I looked over at him, and he momentarily held a blank expression before grinning. Aww crap. A snap of his finger set off an air blast on the surface of the box, and suddenly everything was covered in packing peanuts. There was a moment of silence as everypony nearby was suddenly extremely surprised, then a chorus of groans and complaints started sounding out as they tried to get the vile material out of their fur. Of course, they were all statically charged and stuck to everypony, which definitely didn’t help. Spitting two out of my mouth, I glared momentarily over at the now hysterically laughing Discord before looking back at Twilight and asking, “Are these things at least biodegradable?” I was a bit surprised to see a wall of them instead, where her shield used to be. She peeked around the side of it and raised an eyebrow before trotting over. “Yeah, they’re organic and disintegrate into compost friendly dust in about three days. No bomb, I take it?” the lavender mare asked, trotting up towards me. Oh! Right. The package contents. “No bomb,” I agreed, finally propping my forelegs up on the box and peeking in, ignoring the scrunching noise of the dozens of peanuts stuck to my chest. No rotting smell either, which was also a good thing. Instead, I lifted an eyebrow up at the actual contents. There appeared to be a large jewelry box inside, taking up most of the inside of the box. It was made of a dark wood, both well taken care of and treated, by the looks of it. It had five drawers going down the front, each with a single knob in the center that looked like it rotated. To my surprise, there was also a key lock on every single drawer, just to the right of the knob. The metal appeared to be some sort of sturdy brass, and there were golden inlays patterning the top and front of it. It was a very pretty jewelry box, but I’m not sure who would give me something like it, or why. On top of the box, however, was a slip of paper and a single brass key, resting on top of the note. At least, I assumed it was a note. Hopefully it would explain this a bit better, anyway. Reaching down, I slid the note out from under the key, keeping it on top of the jewelry box as I lifted the piece of paper up. Twilight had gotten close enough to look inside, and was now giving the box and paper an equally puzzled look. I flipped the single folded paper over, and indeed found writing in a script remarkably similar to the address on the package itself. “Dear Moon Mender,” the salutation started, and then went into an actual letter format continuing with, “Enclosed with this letter is a jewelry box and brass key that unlocks the drawers. They’ve remained locked for over two hundred years. As far as I’m concerned, this rightfully belongs to you. The box itself, and all the jewelry and items within belonged directly to your parents, Bronze Bastion and Auraprism. I recently came to observe you myself, and verified with my own eyes that you are indeed that little foal that disappeared so long ago. That said, I feel this rightfully belongs to you, especially seeing as you now have your mother’s journal.” “You are undoubtedly confused as to my identity and how I know of you, but none of that matters in particular. I can say with an honest and open heart that I mean you no ill fortune or harm. Your parents were amazing ponies, and what happened to them and Gemstone Weave was the most tragic incident that, I feel, has befallen ponykind in the last thousand years. They are missed dearly, but would want you to have these things. You have your father’s strong eyes, and your mother’s powerful aura. Carry on and have heart, Mender. I know you’ll make the right choices. You already have. I saw you investigated like I asked, but intentionally chose not to actively bring violence to the scene. You’re honorable, like your mother was. Thank you, Mender.” “Signed, A Friend” I stared blankly at the letter, eyes shaking a little in a way I couldn’t stop. My parents? No, specifically my dad and second mom. Twilight frowned and gave me a questioning look, but I couldn’t make my voice work. Instead, I just slid the note over to her across the open flap of the box and reached in, carefully lifting the heavy jewelry box out of it. It was definitely old, and looked amazingly sturdy. I felt magic almost humming from it, and suddenly realized I could have flung it against a brick wall and saw it bounce off unharmed. This was important. But no, I shouldn’t open it here. The key was slipped into my folded space in an instant, not wanting to lose it. A thought occurred to me a moment later, however. Looking over at Twilight, I saw her eyes getting wider and wider as she read the note, and I wiped my right eye free of the sudden wetness in it. Why now, suddenly? Why was I suddenly getting all this information about my parents? Was it because of this pony who keeps sending stuff to me? Digging into my left saddlebag, I pulled the other note out and opened it up again, setting it next to Twilight, who snapped her focus back to reality. She looked to me once, then glanced at the note as well and frowned before widening her eyes. “The same ‘friend’, then?” she asked softly, taking a guess as to my thinking as I nodded. “What is it?” Derpy asked quietly, somehow sensing that things weren’t entirely happy as she slipped up with Carrot and Apple Bloom. “It’s a jewelry box that used to belong to my mom and dad,” I answered truthfully, turning to stare at it once more. Things just kept getting more and more complicated…
Chapter 80I was so very, very tired. I rested my head on the table I sat at and slid the brass key around with my left hoof. This was utterly pointless. Around me were various jewelry and baubles that were all pretty in their own right, but no questions were answered, and nothing was solved. The only thing I had concluded was this individual had sent me the jewelry box either purely for sentimental value, or I was missing something very fundamental. There was no magical energy here on anything, nor was there any alteration to any of the crystals that were probably Aura’s. I even checked the box over and found nothing in the way of hidden compartments. Everything seemed to match. The key slid idly along the wood, and I frowned. Okay, so maybe the problem was with my expectations. I sat up again and looked over all of the items, determined to at least make one more attempt at gleaning some sort of information out of them before assigning them all over to pure sentimental value in my mind. Three necklaces, assumed to be Aura’s, each of varying shapes and crystal colors. They each had a silver chain, and were very pretty. They also looked hoofmade, which didn’t surprise me given her profession and capabilities. The crystals in them didn’t even register when we used magical scans, however, indicating they’d never even been touched. The chains had a very light enchantment to keep them strong and clean, which they did pass on to the crystals, but didn’t really prove anything. Twilight had explained that a lot of jewelry had that type of enchantment, but suggested I show them to Rarity later, given her talents. After the necklaces came two simple hoof bangles. They were silvery in color, and adorned with a gentle vine pattern along them with a basic clasp. Derpy had pointed out earlier that they were wedding bangles, worn by ponies who were married in official capacity. The fact that there were only two of them really depressed me after that, and I slid them aside. That left only a mane tie, which was a woven golden band and a crystal clasp meant to hold up the mane in a certain way. Aura really didn’t have much in the way of jewelry. Everything else I assumed was my father’s. There were only two other items in the box, both being curious but not very enlightening. A rather beautiful copper toned pocket watch with matching chain was present, although not functioning. It was mechanical, and I assumed there wasn’t chance at all that it would still be ticking after a few hundred years. There was no cover on it, and it had run down on sixteen hundred hours sharp, surprising me by being in military time. The knob at the top remained unturned, and I didn’t touch it beyond that. I didn’t need a watch, and would rather preserve his as it was. Besides, Clocky might get jealous. The last item, or set of items, I guessed, were two forearm bracers that were very, very much customized. They were made out of some sort of hybrid metal, and latched together with leather straps. Attached to the bands were dizzying amounts of mechanical parts, fully adjustable and looking like they could extend a variety of tools and such straight out of the sleeve of whatever coat one happened to be wearing, up to and including several documents stored against the shoulders. They were very impressive, and I recognized them from the description in my mother’s journal. They didn’t really answer anything in particular, but I could definitely see myself wanting to copy the schematics down and try to make my own. That left me at a dead end. There were no unaccounted or secret drawers in the box, and they were all opened now. All of the items were removed and set apart, and there was nothing informational or revealing about any of them in particular. Sitting on the stool, I glared hard at the idle watch on the table before sliding it away from me. My head gave a throb at the noise it made while moving, and I winced. I'd been up here for too long. It didn't help that I got very little sleep last night, either. Still, my urge to just start smashing things was surprisingly high, and I had to will myself to keep my feelings in check. I guess it was stupid to imagine a few clues would be in every strange box sent to me by an anonymous individual bearing items of my parents that they somehow kept away from the rest of my family for the last few hundred years. I was silly like that. More yelling came from downstairs a moment later, making my head ring painfully. "Discord! Rearranging just the titles of all my books is not helping me re-shelf them!" Twilight screamed out loud, probably with enough decibels to get it to Fluttershy's cottage on the edge of town. "What was that?! I couldn't hear you over the sound of my ringing ears from the last time you yelled!" Discord retorted. This was followed by what sounded like a set of cowbells going off, and I sighed. If I caught him unaware, I bet I could slice his head off with a tentacle before he had a chance to teleport! Just one slice! Gah. My body must have heard me, as my vision distorted a moment later and targeting reticles lit up and highlighted several inanimate objects in the room that looked like they'd be really cool to slice into a few pieces. I sort of agreed, but just killed the process for it. That system was inside the black box where my cybernetic controls were all shoved, so I couldn't get at it yet to actually fix the stupid interface errors. A glance showed my decryption at forty percent, which was fairly good given that I only started it a day or so ago. Still, slow! My tentacles extended a moment later, and I rapidly started placing the items back into the drawers where I found them. Once the jewelry box was locked up good and tight again, I slid back in the stool to get up again. The stool's back leg was immediately caught on a slightly bent nail head, and my eyes widened as I slipped backwards. Thankfully my armor popped up fast, but I still bashed my head into the corner of the smaller bookcase behind me, and felt my entire skull vibrate. Wincing, I cursed a few times under my breath as I held both sides of my head with my hooves, curling up into a ball. Damn it! This is why you make sure to flatten or cut off nail heads! Snarling, I kicked the stool across the room, then slammed my hoof down onto the nail, trying to flatten it. I realized that my foreleg had augmented itself a heartbeat later as the whole tree shook under the force of the impact, and a fracture line shot across the board. Oh. Oops. "Discord! Knock it off! What did you do this time?!" Twilight screamed within seconds. Double oops. There was an amused chuckle, followed by, "Such hostility! Why do you always assume that any disruption to the peace is I?" Well, actually... There was no answer from Twilight, and I could only imagine the delightfully skeptical, disbelieving stare she was giving him. After a brief pause, he appended, "Oh, right. Well, this time, I assure you it was not I. It came from upstairs, undoubtedly from your very, very interesting robot coltfriend.” Well, technically I wasn't a robot. Double-checking that I'd flattened the nail, I activated my Alteration magic to seal up the fracture in the wood. Twilight let out a squeak a moment later, and predictably, I heard hoofsteps on the stairs not long after. It sort of amused me how sometimes she forgot she could teleport. Regardless, the plank was sealed up again and the glow fading by the time she got to the top and slid into place a couple meters away from me. It was a bit harder to see her in the now bad light, but still not dark enough to switch over to my optical scanners. I'd been up here long enough to make it to dusk, and the room was bathed in a dim orange light, coming from the last sliver of the Sun as it sank beneath the horizon. It was enough to make out her panicked expression, not that I needed my eyes to realize that. At this range, I could use the link to get information on her heart rate and nervous twitches, even. "Mender, are you okay?!" she quickly asked, her horn lighting up and flooding me with purple light, flaring up my headache again. Slightly less okay, now! "Um, yeah, I'm okay. My stool slipped when I got up," I excused. Her frown told me she didn't buy it, but I supposed that I had to try. Given that the link worked both ways, it was only going through the motions at this point, though. It was really, really hard to lie to them. She lifted her eyebrow before deducing, "That was a bit loud for just a fall. Your hoof is still glowing with symbols, too, which probably means you just finished repairing my floor, right?" Aww, damn it! Mentally noting my obvious slip, I quickly dismissed the channeling effect into my hoof. Yeah, I'd given the floor time to stop glowing, but totally forgot to turn the stupid effect off on me! Elementary mistake. "I... I'm sorry, Twilight. I got angry after I slipped and hit my head. I repaired the damage," I muttered, looking down at the floor to make sure I really had. It was smooth again, as I'd left it. I'm glad I didn't pull the hoof back now, or I might have broken through the floor... She exhaled softly and slipped closer, momentarily blinding me with the horn light before dimming it to just a soft glow. I rubbed my eyes and looked back up at her just in time to get a soft kiss on the lips before she embraced me against her chest. "It's fine, Mender. I'm just glad you're not hurt. I'm getting a bit worried about these anger issues, though. Do you need to talk to somepony about them? If you don't feel comfortable with Fluttershy or me, there is a professional-" I cut her off by rapidly averting my head, then shaking it. "It's... No, it's nothing to worry about, Twilight. I didn't sleep good last night, and I have a bad headache now," I excused tiredly. She gave me another squeeze and nuzzled into my neck before nodding. "Just relax, Mender. Stop trying to examine the jewelry box for now and take a break. I'll run you some bath water in a bit and help wash your back. Fluttershy's also coming over in a little bit to stay with us tonight, and help bandage you up again. Maybe we'll even get you a massage...?" she cooed softly, earning a little blush from me just because of how she said it. Coughing lightly, I pointed out, "That sounds good, but the water will probably be cold by the time you finish reading up on massage techniques." She got a smirk at that, and I grinned back, feeling a little better, admittedly. "Joke’s on you. I'll just have Fluttershy show me her techniques. I heard you love getting massages from her," she shot back. Eh? Wait, Fluttershy had never given me a... Oh. My cheeks felt hot as my eyes widened when I realized Twilight had actually told a dirty joke! Her cheeks lit up too as she averted her eyes, and I smiled. But she got herself with it, too, I noted. "I'm not sure a beginner should start with that sort of massage. Plus, I'm not sure I trust you with the hot wax and horseshoes," I retorted. She snorted, of course. "Ha! Well, I'm confident enough in my abilities to at least- Wait... What?!" she asked, losing her train of thought midway through as her brain finally processed my statement. I started laughing, and she switched to annoyed rather fast. "Normally, I'd be miffed, but it actually feels kinda nice to be flirting with you again," she added after another moment, relaxing as her smile returned. I was suddenly keenly aware of her holding me against her so closely still, and she blushed, undoubtedly picking up the awareness as it flashed through my mind. Instead of letting me go, however, she smiled further, in a soft manner as her eyes timidly closed and she pushed into another kiss. I closed mine as my right foreleg slid up her back, squeezing gently around her and against her shoulder. Shivering, she slid forward and pushed me back against the very bookshelf I'd just brained myself on, my new contact with it far more pleasant than the last. Everything was more pleasant with a warm mare in your arms, being affectionate. The tip of her tongue tasted my lips, and I let her inside with a shiver running the full length of my back, kind of enjoying the new, more confident Twilight. Maybe the kiss on the train had given her a bit of assurance after all? I heard her groan, feeling the vibrations against my mouth as I gave her back another squeeze and slid my left foreleg down, rubbing along the more sensitive area her Cutie Mark was on. While not an erogenous zone, I had learned that the area of the mark was a very potent link to the body's inner magic system, much like the forehead. Shooting a bit of energy out of my hoof had predictable and oh so awesome results of getting her to groan fully, shivering so hard she almost crawled into my lap. The moment felt perfect. I was confident in myself for once, and the heat in my chest surged forth. Twilight was amazing, and I wanted to just hold her and squeeze her forever. It was just us now, and I could feel her feelings burning down the link and into my chest at this range. She wanted to stay with me forever, too, and knew that I felt the same way at the same time. Her knowing that I knew also fired off, and we reverberated back and forth with our emotions, forming a cascading happiness that even overshot the physical sensations of her caressing my tongue, pushing her muzzle against mine as if she were starving. Nothing else mattered. Everything faded away until I was just holding her and pushing back, my own tongue dancing with hers as she pulled me back into her mouth instead, heat stirring through her body as she pushed against me harder, fully in my lap now. Her soft squeaks and gasps were like music dancing along through the wind, like petals of fallen flowers and... Wait. A petal landed on my nose and I blinked, backing away from her and looking at it. Her breathing was heavy and her cheeks flushed now as she looked momentarily confused, and then frowned at the petal as well. Everything around us really was dark, and it was as if we were in a spotlight, with soft music playing in the background. When did...? Oh hell. I gave an irritated look up at the spotlight above, and saw Discord's face grinning down at me. Damn it! "Aww, were the flower petals too much? I was trying to help!" he quickly pointed out. He had a rather lecherous smirk on for trying to 'help'... "Pervert!" Twilight yelped, firing off a large blast of magic at almost point blank range to him. I yelped and dove to the side as the heat radiated against my fur, and Discord promptly screamed like a little girl and disappeared. The blast smashed into the ceiling instead, discharging into some sort of electric miasma that blackened the wood along the area of effect. Were 'stun' spells supposed to produce that much heat?! Of course, Discord was made of rather stern stuff, I imagined. "I shouldn't have offered to entertain him, I guess. I didn't think that sort of thing was entertainment to him. Now I'm never going to feel comfortable in my privacy ever again," Twilight groaned, glaring up at her crispy ceiling now. Shrugging, I pointed out, "I guess if you spend hundreds of years as a lawn ornament, a lot of things are entertaining. Although I imagine intimacy is entertaining to watch for a lot of ponies. Rainbow seems to enjoy it..." My fillyfriend blushed at that, and then nodded absently, looking back down at me. "Yeah, although part of that is just because it's you. Through observation, I've noticed that both her and Pinkie are very selective in their affections, to specific ponies rather than a particular gender," she revealed. I'd normally find such information a bit creepy, but Twilight studied everything, usually with little consideration for social implication, which suddenly made her spying on me make a lot more sense, I quickly realized. Suddenly, I wondered if Tia had even asked her to spy on me, or if she mistook a more benign instruction for something far more serious. It would be interesting to know. Maybe. "Rainbow explained why she liked me, yeah. We had a good, long talk about it, though, and she should be totally focused on Applejack now," I reiterated, having already explained the horrible details of what happened at the camp to her. The lavender mare smiled at that and nodded. "It's Rainbow. She's my best friend, and Loyalty. She's not going to take you from Fluttershy or me, even if she loves you, too. You don't have to keep reminding me," she assured, giving an amused smirk afterwards. I felt my cheeks heat up and I sighed, shrugging. "If you remember the atmosphere of things in my memories, you'd realize why I'm so careful and paranoid about it," I reminded, trying not to feel a little discouraged. This place was still reasonably new to me, and I was at a dangerous point in my adaptation, I realized. I was in between getting the basics down, and having true experience in Equus, which meant my confidence might start outpacing my actual knowledge. The last thing I wanted to do was start jumping to awkward conclusions again. Twilight nodded gently, relaxing a bit before flopping over against me. "Yes, I know. Ponies are quite a bit different than your average Keldarian, though. I'm sure you noticed," she retorted lazily, sounding like the frustration of dealing with Discord was starting to get to her. Nodding, I squeezed her again and rested my chin on the top of her head before agreeing with, "Yeah, your entire culture is different. No hate, no suffering, no bitterness and war torn fatigue. Instead, you try to help each other, support tolerance and fairness, and honestly try to make the planet a better place. Polar opposites. Although the polyamory thing is still the hardest to grasp for me, that also being sort of flipped for Keldarians." "I suspect that's due to our different gender ratios. With about three mares to every stallion here, it's really just probability. There are some herds with all mares, like the Flower Trio, for example. I've also heard of a few with all stallions. Love is the important part," she explained. Most of that I'd already known or guessed, but 'Love' always made me a little nervous. At this range, she had to sense that, but probably didn't grasp the finer details of why it did. That raw agony of that meeting with Keela after his torture. It was fresh, being the 'last' memory I technically had of my Keldarian DNA donator. I assumed it was shortly after that, that Kyliona retrieved the DNA sample that was spliced into me. His pain at being 'betrayed' by Keela, who he thought loved him... Loved... Twilight's soft nuzzle snapped me out of it, and I smiled weakly at her, only to earn a soft head shake. "It's okay to be sad or angry, Mender. Just be open with me. With us," she assured softly. Instead of answering, I just squeezed her closer to me, and she smiled again. "Just his memories sometimes getting mixed up with my own. I'll be fine, Twi. I'm glad you're not upset about Rainbow, though, even if this culture is different." Partly, I wanted to summarize. A larger part wanted to change the topic, however, in order to not talk about that Keldarian, and saw bringing up the last topic again as a much better alternative. The lavender mare snickered at that before admitting, "Well, we are polyamorous, theoretically carried over from evolutionary 'herd' tendencies. I imagine it was important for survival of the whole herd then, but less so now. Our 'herds' are usually small, like you already know, but of course that never stopped me from, well... I'm naturally a curious mare." Uh, did I want to know how that applied? Maybe this wasn't a better topic after all. My raised eyebrow gave her pause, and she blushed lightly before averting her eyes. "I love all of my friends, Mender. I doubt I'm the only one out of us Element Bearers that entertained the idea of forming one big herd with all of us. Even just as friends, we're very close. So while I make the excuse that our culture makes it easier, that's only a half-truth. It's because it's Rainbow, my very close friend, that it’s easier to accept her having feelings for you," she elaborated. Oh. The image of all six of them quickly rushed into my mind, and she scowled before I could catch it and gave me a whack on the shoulder. "Sorry! You should have known what reaction I'd have to that, though!" I defended adamantly, rubbing my shoulder over where she hit it. She smirked at that, and then whispered, "Looks like somepony else is a bit of a pervert, too." The tone shift made me look back over at her, just in time for her to lean in and kiss me again. Heh. Me, or her? I decided not to voice that thought as I just pulled her against me again, totally okay with the evening now! “Twilight! There are library visitors down here! Should you really be upstairs trying to mate with your boyfriend when you’re the only librarian on duty?!” Discord shouted from somewhere downstairs. Oh hell. Twilight’s scream of rage was almost as intense as her blush as she winked away an instant later in a blinding flash of light at point blank range. Wincing, I rubbed at my eyes to get the lingering, Twilight-shaped spot out of them. Discord’s trademark girlish scream came from downstairs a moment later, followed by a couple small explosion sounds and flashes of light coming up the stairs. If he hadn’t been lying about having visitors, they certainly weren’t making much ruckus given the small skirmish happening right in front of them, undoubtedly. I was beginning to see now why everypony in Ponyville was so jaded to practically everything… Giving up on the intimacy at the moment, I instead headed tentatively towards the stairs, ears flicking forward and listening to two more explosions, then a door slamming open and rapid hoofsteps following the undoubtedly fleeing draconequus. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I was surprised to instead see Lyra with a book, giving a bewildered look towards the door that was still rocking back and forth. “Get back here, Discord!” Twilight shouted from somewhere outside, followed by another explosion. Trying to murder him seemed counter-productive to trying to convince him to come back, but I decided not to voice that one either. “Um, hey, Lyra. I can help you check out or return a book if you wish,” I spoke up, slipping up towards the main desk of the library that held the record books. She perked up, then smiled at me as she turned around, blushing just slightly. Eh? She headed up to the desk with the book floating next to her, then set it down on the surface and brushed her mint mane out of the way. “Uh, actually, the book was just a distraction while Twilight was here. I was actually hoping to talk to you,” she explained quickly, giving a sheepish smile. Uh oh. “Uh, wait, why do you want to talk to me, exactly?” I asked, raising an eyebrow towards her. Her sudden grin put me on edge, and I swallowed uneasily. “Iwanttocommissionyouforsomething!” she quickly spat out, dancing back and forth on her hooves. My brain faltered, and I blinked unsteadily at her. “Uh… What?” I managed to ask. * * * * * Carefully, I inspected each piece of wood present, each to the exact size and shape I had specified. Ponies did quality work! Still, I had to make sure that there weren’t any flaws in any of the pieces. It was always a good precaution before you put everything together. That's one I'd learned from experience, sadly. Mrs. Cake stopped for a moment and smiled over the counter she was washing, curiously watching me work. It was late enough in the evening that I knew they'd closed up for the day now, but I didn't realize they were staying closed tomorrow too in preparation for the events the following day. Pinkie had dropped in after her shift to tell me that the wood shipment had arrived with the rest of the things they'd ordered for preparation. Business must be amazing during the Fall festivities! "Are you certain you can get the entire thing set up by opening? That's less than a day away, technically!" she asked, tilting her head as I rotated yet another dowel piece around. I'd come over right away, of course, both to inspect the materials I'd be using, and to ask if they wanted it done ahead of time for their holiday opening. "Yeah, so long as I don't get interrupted too many times," I assured, confident that it was a reasonably small project. Truthfully, it would probably only take me three hours at most with my magic, but I'd gotten into the habit of overestimating the amount of time I'd need when I told others, to give myself a bit of leeway should something go horribly wrong. Of course, this happened more than half the time, so I considered it justifiable paranoia. Mr. Cake smirked while putting a huge bag of flour away under one of the counters in the back, not needing to look at me before remarking, "Barely a month living in Ponyville and you're already starting to get used to things! I'm impressed. Usually it takes newcomers at least three months." Ha! I took that as a compliment, anyway, even if it technically meant I was horribly jaded by things. "Mender works super fast anyway! You should have seen him put Applejack's wagon back together! He was all whoosh, zip, zoom! It even worked afterwards!" Pinkie chirped, still sitting next to me and as energetic as ever. Her order of priority was a bit off there, but at least she was speaking up for me. Still... "That was a makeshift repair job, Pinkie. I only tossed it together so it could make it back to the house before we got washed away in the rain," I reminded, not taking my eyes off the iron latch I slid in front of me. Their metal wasn't as professional as their wood. The impurities were still present in the iron, but it was still of good quality and shape. Looks like the issue was with their refinement process, not the smithing itself. Hmm. Still, it was strong and in a dry location, so it should last at least fifty to sixty years, which was probably acceptable. Mrs. Cake smiled further and nodded at that, however. “Even so, getting it done so quickly is quite amazing. Are you sure you don’t need any rush bonus or anything?” she inquired. That got my attention, and I lifted my eyes up giving her a warning glare, which caused her to start snickering softly, of course. “I know, I know. It was hard enough getting you to accept any bits for this already. Just don’t overwork yourself, dear. Perhaps I could get you some extra payment in food instead?” she offered, gesturing to a tray of donuts they hadn’t sold. She wasn’t going to let this go, I sensed… “Oooh, let’s have a snack, Mender!” Pinkie chirped, hopping up almost immediately and trotting over to the tray. Well, Pinkie deciding for me definitely made my choice easier. Exhaling softly, I looked back at all of the materials with a bit of lackluster tiredness drifting through me. My lack of sleep the night before had caught up with me earlier, and now it was starting to shift from fatigue to exhaustion. The dimmed lights of their front area, warmth of the shop, and food smells all over the place only made me sleepier. Still, I only had a dozen or so more parts to check and I’d be done for the day. Pinkie slid the large tray of donuts up next to me a moment later, flopping down on her stomach and looking over the baked goods remaining. I watched her for a moment, giving a knowing grin as she merrily sniffed over the treats. The mare did enjoy the simpler things, which I had to admit was a virtue. Mrs. Cake finished wiping down the counter after about six more inspections and Pinkie trying to shove a donut down my throat. I finally just accepted one as her boss slipped over. “How goes inspection? They assured me that all of the parts were all right, but the delivery pony from Manehatten is making rounds today and tomorrow. If there are any problems, we’d be able to talk to him directly,” she assured. “So far, it doesn’t look like there are any noticeable splits or fractures. These parts should definitely work to make your delivery system. Did you have a chance to look over the designs?” I inquired, curious if I had made it to their standards. I fully admitted to not being very good at ‘artistic’ design, so I’d provided them with a couple different styles that used up the same amount of resources to make the track for. She considered it for a moment before trotting back to the counter and looking at the three design schemes that were resting there when I arrived. Given the flour, sprinkles, and sugar that had been dusted across them, they were probably there for most of the day. I hadn’t looked very closely at them, but it looked like there were a series of red marks along the bottom of each one that I definitely hadn’t put there. “Actually, we’ve been having ponies vote on them that came in for the last two days. So far, it seems that the two more fanciful and bendy ones are significantly more popular! There’s a slightly higher vote towards the one that’s a straight shot over the counter and has all six tracks ‘race’ towards the bending point. Quite a few younger ponies were interested in ‘racing’ their treats, it would seem. Heh,” she elaborated, sliding into chuckles after. Figures nopony would like the simplicity that was the first design. Secretly, however, I’d only made the first one to get a general layout of the tables and track I’d need. The second two were when I started playing with a Z axis to the track. Still, both of the other layouts were easy enough to manage, as only the track positions changed. Compared to the commission that Lyra had requested, this would be a cakewalk. Still, racing? “Actually, that’s a pretty good idea. When I make the enchantments, I’ll put a slightly randomized variation in speed for each track, decided when they’re launched each time. That way there will actually be ‘winners’,” I offered, smiling up at a now slightly surprised looking Cup Cake. “Oh, that would be awesome! You so have to do that, and then make a little finish line at the end of the first bend, and maybe a little flag that pops up for which track wins! We could even hold special prizes when everypony fills up each track! Like, an extra cupcake or donut to the winner!” Pinkie immediately exclaimed, hopping up next to me and bouncing as she talked. Blinking, I started taking notes on the side for the things getting rapidly added to the project. Sometimes I forgot what actual customers could be like. I’d also need more resources for this, as a flag system and finish line would need cloth and additional mechanical parts. Was there a smith in town? Carrot Cake started laughing behind the counter and trotted up, shaking his head. “I think we should focus on one thing at a time, Pinkie. I’m not even sure if Mender can do all that, let alone get the extra parts needed,” he pointed out pragmatically. The pink mare deflated a little, but nodded. “Oh. Uh, yeah! Sorry, I got a little excited there…” she apologized quietly, sitting down again and wiggling her front hooves together. Okay, yeah, a sad Pinkie Pie was one of the most disheartening things that could ever exist in Equus. Sighing, I bit the bullet and asked, “Is there a smith or parts seller in Ponyville? Doing something like a finish line with just enchantments and wooden cogs would be difficult. Some actual mechanical parts would be useful. I’ll also tackle it only under the condition that Pinkie helps decorate the whole track, and flags.” Pinkie gasped and spun to look at me almost instantly, her smile dancing back onto her muzzle faster than it took me to actually look at her. “Really?! I can help decorate it?!” she asked, starting to shiver again in what I could only assume was a miniature nuclear fusion reaction inside of her that powered her immense amounts of energy. Cup looked amused, but nodded at that. “There is a general parts store in town, next to Quills and Sofas, named Bargain Bin Replacements. They specialize in replacing mechanical parts in already built things, but I imagine you could find some parts there if you talk to them,” she suggested a moment later. Ah! That might be exactly what I needed. “Okay, I’ll go talk to them tomorrow. I assume they’re closed now. If they have the parts I need, though, I should be able to whip up a finish line and flag system for you with a bit of cloth,” I agreed, committing myself to at least trying, anyway. I didn’t like seeing Pinkie sad. The pink mare wiggled about and nodded before adding, “I have lots of arts and crafts upstairs, too! I’ll make the flags and finish line tonight, so they’ll be ready for tomorrow!” Oh, that was helpful indeed! I started to smile to her when my eyes widened instead as she ducked forward and gently pecked my cheek. Minor shows of affection shouldn’t really surprise me from the mare, but there was something about her smile that felt like it said ‘thank you’ instead. Had she picked up me not liking to see her sad from the link? I didn’t get a chance to ask her as she happily bounded away, announcing, “I’ll get started on them now!” I snickered at her energy until she stepped on the now forgotten treat tray and slipped. Her legs went out from under her and she rolled, sliding across the floor as the tray got shot into my legs at what felt like an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound. I winced as the blast of pain shot up my forelegs and they were knocked out from under me. Floor, meet my face. I’m sure you’re well acquainted now. It only took me a few seconds to realize I’d landed on the tray of cupcakes, and the squishy sensation was now stuck to various parts of my chest and barrel. Ugh… * * * * * “Don’t ask…” I muttered, noting Twilight’s confused stare as I walked back into the library at twenty-three hundred hours with cupcake frosting all over my fur. Pinkie had offered to clean me up, of course, but the way she had been eyeing the frosting had unnerved me. The last thing I needed was the mare trying to ‘clean’ me with her tongue. That could only lead to uncomfortable and awkward situations, I imagined. The lavender mare snickered instead and nodded, gesturing towards the stairs. “Fluttershy made it back while you were gone, and is running a bath for herself. She probably wouldn’t mind sharing, so long as you wiped most of the frosting off first,” she suggested with a smirk down at my chest again. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Sighing, I flattened my ears back and nodded weakly. “Will you be joining us, too?” I asked while slowly walking towards the stairs. My ankles hurt from where the tray bashed into them still, and I contemplated turning the nerve reaction down on them. Was it worth the tickling, tingling sensation when I turned them back on? Twilight blushed for a moment, considering it hesitantly before nodding. “Yeah, I’ll come up in a few minutes. I just have to finish washing out the scorch marks I made when chasing Discord. Two left to clean…” she finally agreed, pointing her head towards the one across the floor next to the main desk. I contemplated warning her about using heat-inducing elements inside of a house made from a tree, but decided against it and simply nodded. “Okay. We’ll keep the water warm for you,” I added, finally smiling and heading up the stairs. I felt her eyes lingering on me as I headed up, and then felt a few chunks of the now dry frosting fall off me, and she started giggling again. Rolling my eyes, I hopped up the rest of the stairs and slid to a stop in front of the bathroom door, catching a few more flakes of frosting with a barrier under me as I stopped moving. This stuff tasted great, but was disgusting to wear. Fur was really hard to clean, I noted. Listening at the door for a moment, I heard the water running in the tub, but no other sound of movement. Huh. Discord had better not be waiting on the other side of the door to grin at me or something when I opened it. Trying not to sigh again, I instead knocked lightly. Waiting several seconds, I frowned at the lack of reply and knocked a little harder. A long moment went past before I got a bit concerned and felt out the link. Fluttershy was inside the bathroom all right, but her pulse and breathing were really weak. Cracking the door open, I peeked inside a moment later, then relaxed and smiled again as I saw the yellow mare resting on the side of the tub. Her rump was on the carpet and her forelegs and head resided on the rim of the tub, eyes closed and her mane flowing about, framing her peaceful looking face. It looked like she’d been testing the water temperature when she fell asleep. Heading inside, I lightly closed the door behind me and slipped over next to the snoozing yellow mare. She did indeed have dirt stuck to her in a few spots. Her chest and tummy were especially dirty, as were her hooves and ankles. She probably had a lot of outdoor animals, too, though, and would have to get down on the ground and into the forest to get at some of them. I gently nudged her cheek with my muzzle, kissing her softly until she stirred. The yellow mare’s eyes opened slowly, and she looked up at me, feeling my link close to her as soon as she woke up. A smile danced across her muzzle, her having gotten used to waking up next to me at this point, and she leaned up and nuzzled me lightly before sniffing. Her smile shifted to a questioning look as she sniffed again, then glanced down at me and the sugary coating I’d recently acquired. Sighing, I explained, “Pinkie had an accident, and I was the victim.” Fluttershy’s smile returned and she giggled before nodding and sitting up off the bathtub a moment later. “Um, you shouldn’t get in with all that on you. The water would get really icky. I was going to wash off most of the dirt first, too. I think Twilight keeps extra towels under the sink…” she advised, slipping down past me and opening the cupboard under the sink to my left. Sure enough, there were a few dozen towels stacked neatly according to size and color underneath, indicating both parts of Fluttershy’s guess were correct. The towels were indeed kept under the sink, and Twilight had indeed put them there. “Here,” Fluttershy offered, sliding one out for me to use. I nodded and dipped it in the small amount of water that was in the bottom of the tub before using it to do a hard wipe down my chest. The frosting stuck to my fur like crazy, and I winced, probably taking a few hairs with it as I wiped myself down. At least, when I finally looked, the fur wasn’t missing in clumps or something. I didn’t want to give Zecora’s hair tonic another try, that was for sure. “Did you get tired out taking care of all of the animals, Fluttershy? I can take over getting the bath ready if you want to rest,” I offered to her as she cleaned her forelegs off with her towel. She blushed lightly but nodded and gave me a warmer smile after. “Yes. Some of them didn’t understand where I went for so long, and I had a lot to take care of. Quite a few of the families are getting ready for winter, too, and either migrating or stocking food up. It’s my job in Ponyville to help the nearby woodland critters get ready during Fall, and wake them up during Spring,” she explained quietly. Her eyes were drooping again, and I quickly finished cleaning my own frosting off before I took her towel from her. She gave me a slightly surprised look before smiling as I started to wipe her chest down and clean her fur as gently as I could. It took us almost five minutes to wipe ourselves down of a majority of the dirt and frosting. Carefully, I helped her up into the tub, careful not to stare at any naughty bits as she balanced and stepped down into it. She probably wouldn’t have cared, but noticing that through the link might have flustered her, and I didn’t want her falling. After she slipped into the water, I climbed over the lip myself and eased into the warm liquid. It was hot, but not hot enough to burn or hurt. Just enough to get that warm aching sensation through my cold forelegs. I shivered, and Fluttershy giggled suddenly. Opening my eyes, I gave her a curious glance, and she only giggled more. Finally, she explained, “You’re adorable when you’re relaxing…” I blushed gently, but she slid forward in the water and into my lap instead. I felt her fur against my chest and sighed as she closed her eyes again and laid out on my upper body with hers, her back legs tucked to the left side of me as she got comfortable. I was always surprised by how light she was, and I held her against me, smiling as she nuzzled under my chin and against my neck. “I missed you today, too. I wish there were more hours in the day so I could take care of all my animals and still get to hang out with you and Twilight,” she murmured. I squeezed her close before chuckling gently. “Careful. Twilight might have a time manipulation spell to test if she heard that…” I warned playfully, earning a giggle into my neck, which even felt adorable. “She’s already played with time once. It didn’t go well, so we should be safe,” she assured. Okay, yeah, I was curious, but I really, really didn’t want to ask. It was one of those things that you really wanted to do, but knew ahead of time that it would end horribly. “Well, I missed you, too, Fluttershy,” I finally answered, slipping back to her actual statement before I had gotten snarky. It was accompanied by a soft squeeze to her upper body that made her coo lightly and unfurl her wings a little, stretching them before pushing even harder against my chest. She really had missed me. I could almost feel how urgent her affections were. We sat like that for what felt like quite a while before we heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs. I felt her curiosity bubble up, and I gently nuzzled her ear before whispering, “Twilight’s coming up to join us.” The link had confirmed it was her, and I felt her stop in front of the door, hesitating for a moment. “Um, you can come in, Twilight!” Fluttershy called out, rotating partially on top of me so she could see the door. Twilight gave a start on the other side before slowly opening it and peeking in at us. “I… Well, I know I didn’t feel anything or… Well, yeah. I just didn’t know if you two needed, um, privacy or…” she started to excuse, blushing faintly. Heh. While this was the first time I’d been able to be with Fluttershy alone since actually before we left for Canterlot, I’d like to think we had more self-control than that. Snickering, I shook my head before assuring, “We’re just snuggling. Besides, Fluttershy’s really tired after her long day.” I felt the mare I was holding heat up slightly, but she managed a weak nod. “Um, not t-that tired, but… yes. We’re just snuggling, Twilight,” she agreed. She was always adorable when she tried to cover up things she thought would bother you. Still, for the mare that was literally sleeping on the rim of the bathtub when I came in… Twilight finally smiled and nodded, slipping forward and up to the tub. “Well, if you don’t mind me joining you, then…” she offered, giving us one last time to tell her ‘no’, it would seem. Shaking my head, I instead gestured for her to get in, and she exhaled softly before nodding and rising up over the lip. Getting into the tub was one thing. I didn’t expect her to simply roll, however, and fall into the water right next to Fluttershy! There were slight waves and the yellow mare squeaked in surprise. I tilted my head as I watched Twilight resurface, wet and straight now as she grinned up at me. I felt a little flare of heat enter my cheeks as she crawled forwards again and snuggled against the other side of my chest instead. Both of them?! “Snuggling looked amazing, and I decided I wanted some, too,” she chirped, getting a warmer smile from Fluttershy, who leaned over and kissed her lightly on the forehead, right under her horn. “Of course you can snuggle with us. It’s a big bathtub, and, um, I think we need some together time,” Fluttershy assured, smiling gently as she backed away. Twilight hesitated again, but nodded and relaxed against me, resting her head on my chest a few inches from Fluttershy’s. “Yeah. I think we need to spend a lot more time together. Um, my hesitation is proof enough from me, I guess. I should be comfortable with you two,” she admitted, sounding a tiny bit frustrated. I squeezed both of them and shook my head. “Relax, Twilight. I might not be an expert on relationships, but from my own feelings, I know it takes a while to get used to things. It doesn’t just happen instantly,” I pointed out. She gave me a soft nod before kissing my collarbone. “I know. This is good. This is a good start for us to really build up trust. We’re finally doing good, I think,” the lavender mare whispered, burying her face into the area between my chest and Fluttershy’s muzzle. Fluttershy slipped her forelegs forward and wrapped them around Twilight, holding her gently as I tried to hold both of them at once. My forelegs didn’t quite make it around the two of them, but it was enough to give them both a squeeze together. Again, I lost track of time as the two girls snuggled together against my chest, our wet fur intermingling back and forth as they occasionally nuzzled and kissed. It was beyond adorable, and I suddenly decided that I could probably watch them interact for hours without losing interest. Of course, the more they seemed to exchange affection, the longer and more drawn out each event became. The water was getting a bit cool, but I totally wasn’t going to say anything as both mares kissed rather heatedly while still resting on top of me. I could be really dense sometimes, but I wasn’t stupid! Unfortunately for the continuation of their fun, I was also a male. Focusing became more difficult, and I slid my hips back away from them just in case. Twilight snapped out of it and broke the kiss a moment later, giving me a curious look as I had broken away from them. Fluttershy knew, however, and only blushed furiously before coughing lightly. “Um, maybe the bath isn’t a good spot to… um…” she whispered. Twilight caught on and joined her in blushing before nodding weakly. “Oh! Uh, right… Um, sorry, Mender. We got a little carried away. We haven’t been alone together since we left for Canterlot either, so…” Twilight started to excuse, blush magnifying. Despite her pink cheeks, Fluttershy slipped up on the rim of the tub and grabbed her towel instead. “Why don’t we, um, move to the bed? It might be more comfortable for cuddling…” she suggested timidly. Wait, what?! Was she really…? Twilight’s eyes widened as much as mine did, and her pink turned to scarlet as it danced up the base of her muzzle, too. “W-Wait… today?! Right now?!” she asked, horror starting to slip back into her voice. To my surprise, Fluttershy leaned over and kissed Twilight instead. The lavender mare’s eyes widened, but she relaxed a little and nuzzled back into it before Fluttershy pulled back again. “Calm down, Twilight. Um, just a little bit at a time, right? It’ll be slow, with lots of time to think about everything,” she assured softly. Twilight blushed furiously, but stayed relaxed this time, slowly nodding as she looked over at me. I tried to give her an assuring nod, but also felt my own cheeks flaring up with heat. This was going to be an interesting experience, no matter what happened. I sat in the tub and let them get out first, watching the two dry each other off between more kisses from Fluttershy. There really wasn’t enough room for three ponies between the wall and the sink anyway, so I waited my turn to get out and dry off. Fluttershy turned back to look at me as they finished, her face flushed red in a very familiar way. “Um, pull the plug after you get out, Mender. We’ll wait for you on Twilight’s bed. I’m going to make her more comfortable,” she suddenly shot directly into my mind in a faint whisper, barely audible. Twilight wouldn’t have heard that, and still stared in a mixture of horror and eagerness at Fluttershy’s neck. I gave a light nod, and Fluttershy smiled before standing again and leading Twilight to her hooves. “Come on, Twilight. Let’s, um, give Mender a bit of room to dry off,” she suggested, leading the lavender mare to the door. “Um, y-yeah. Can I, um, talk to you, Fluttershy?” Twilight quickly spat out as they exited the bathroom. Fluttershy gave a soft nod before shutting the bathroom door, and I was left sitting alone in the bathtub, a torrent of mixed feelings running through my mind. This was either going to be really amazing or really disastrous. I didn’t have a single clue as to which way it was leaning. Swallowing uncomfortably, I stiffly stood back up in the tub and stepped over the lip carefully. Using up a second towel for the evening, I slowly dried myself off, hopefully giving them time to talk. Of course, it also calmed me down, too, just in case they backed out of it when I got out there, which also wouldn’t surprise me. With a sense of dread and anticipation, I slowly waited for what was to come while absently wiping myself down…
Chapter 81Sighing, I slowly opened the door and peeked out into the room, not sure what to expect in the slightest. I was dry and the tub was fully drained now, so I really couldn't delay any longer, even for a panic attack. Would there be panic, excitement, something in between, or would both mares be gone, entirely changing their minds and abandoning ship to find a more private spot? Given the myriad of thoughts and feelings rushing through me, I didn't know if I was disappointed or delighted to find both mares watching me from the bed. Maybe Fluttershy springing our first time on me by total surprise was a more merciful method, given that I had no time to think. An awkward four seconds passed with us just staring at each other. There were no new, Twilight-shaped holes in the wall afterwards, so I assumed we were off to a good start. The lavender mare herself appeared to be utterly frozen in place, but Fluttershy smiled softly and gestured for me to approach. I ran through a nervous checklist in my head while carefully approaching, sensations somewhere between eager and horrified bouncing in my chest. Tub draining? Check. Every inch of me clean and dry? Check. Subdermal armor operating at peak performance? Double check! The yellow mare smiled to me as I climbed up onto the bed like I had a half dozen times prior. This time it was nerve wracking, however. Twilight's head rotated in time with my movements as she watched me, eyes massive. She looked as if she were watching some huge tiger stalking up towards her, which was actually kind of sad. My heart sunk a little, but Fluttershy slipped between the two of us and smiled softly at me. "Did you remember to drain the tub?" she asked quietly, momentarily distracting me as my mind was forced to process something other than the sheer horror of the situation. Blinking once, I gathered my wits and nodded. "Yes, it should be draining right now," I informed, earning a pleased nod as she relaxed. To my surprise, she laid down on the blankets instead, partially in-between Twilight and me before settling into a relaxed posture. Wait, what? Twilight looked just as surprised as I felt, and I wondered idly if I had misread her statement as innuendo when it actually wasn't. She really wanted to just cuddle? "I missed this last night," Fluttershy murmured wistfully as she looked over at the lavender mare next to her instead. "Um, don't get me wrong! I love being with you and snuggling and everything, Twilight. I don't mean to imply I don't. It's just... I like it when all three of us are together. We should spend more time as a herd," she quickly elaborated, eyes flashing apologetic as she quickly corrected herself. Twilight visibly relaxed a bit and smiled finally, nodding to her. "I knew what you meant, Fluttershy. But you're right, of course. We should strive to be together at least a few hours each day, not including sleep. We also owe it to Mender to make him feel welcome," she agreed, looking over at me as she added the last part. Relaxing, I smiled and nodded to her. "Thank you, girls. Still, don't neglect your own relationship in order to do so," I warned. That was the last thing I wanted to see! Both mares looked at each other, then Fluttershy smiled and shook her head, sliding up further and snuggling into Twilight’s side. I found myself smiling a bit wider at the adorable display, and Twilight obviously couldn’t help but slide her forelegs around Fluttershy, who nuzzled up into her chest. Yeah, I could watch Fluttershy all day, honestly… Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Twilight’s as they rested together, then her left one extended out to gesture to me with a smile. Ha! Now she wanted snuggles from both of us. Sliding forward, I hugged the yellow mare as well, and Twilight sighed and leaned forward, resting her forehead against mine as we sandwiched Fluttershy between us. Yeah, we definitely needed to spend more time like this. The pegasus gave a content murmur as she wiggled to rotate and snuggle into both of us about equally. I let her adjust, then smirked as she leaned up and kissed Twilight under the chin. She was staying true to her other little secret, anyway. I think I was one of the only ponies in Equestria who knew that baths made Fluttershy really, really affectionate. I decided to potentially reevaluate my conclusion, however, as Twilight sighed and leaned down instead, capturing Fluttershy’s kiss with her own. Maybe it just made mares more affectionate in general? Wait… I watched them kiss for a bit as Fluttershy sighed into it and gave Twilight a squeeze, then felt a familiar twitch. Ah. Fluttershy had managed to defuse that situation expertly. Despite suddenly realizing this, I still felt rather relaxed seeing Twilight happy over it all, so I just rested there, gently rubbing Fluttershy’s back as her wings slowly shivered. Yup, she was still turned on. As the kiss got more involved, and the familiar flush crept up onto each of their chests and cheeks, I suddenly got the random urge to look away in order to give them ‘privacy’. It was kind of silly, really, now that I considered it fully. I was supposed to be here, and that was the entire point of this, well, whatever you’d call it. Exercise in gaining familiarity? Yeah, that was a polite way to phrase it. I felt a little Rarity in my head nodding back to me, and smirked. It was almost thirty seconds later when Fluttershy finally shivered and broke away, her wings shifting back and forth as I slowly massaged around their base. A little strand of saliva connected the two mares, and Twilight was blushing softly as well, and gave an almost hungry grin towards the yellow pegasus, who winked and looked back over at me as well. “We can’t leave Mender out either, though. He deserves a little attention now,” she reminded, causing Twilight’s eyes to flick to the side and lock onto me as well. She hesitated, but Fluttershy shifted around and slipped out of her lap, moving into mine instead as she pushed me gently to the side, into the pillows. Oh? She had a plan, then? “Just to get Twilight more used to you, she’s going to instead watch us, okay?” Fluttershy suggested softly, smiling down at me from over my chest now, blush getting a bit stronger as she searched my expression for affirmation. This might go well after all… * * * * * “And what did we learn?” Fluttershy asked, sounding more than a little annoyed and frustrated over the whole thing. Sighing, I lay carefully on my side on the hospital bed, more IVs put into my foreleg to do pain management along my spine and back, where the spell had shot once it got done ravaging my far more sensitive areas. I still couldn’t feel anything in it, which I was both thankful for, and a little concerned over. That was perfect. Just perfect. “Stop being stupid…?” Twilight groaned, face still buried in my thigh as she wrapped her forelegs around my waist. That was… rather generic, and untrue in her case. If anything, she desperately lacked common sense, not intelligence. Fluttershy kissed the back of my neck softly, snuggling into my back instead as we relaxed there and waited for the full diagnostic to be read out loud. Nurse Redheart looked over the paper in front of her on my bedside table with a healthy expression of skepticism before flipping to the second page. “Admittedly, I didn’t expect you back so soon, or to be assigned yet another night in the hospital, this time for pain management…” she muttered, scanning over the second page much faster. Twilight gave another frustrated groan into my hip, still not looking up at anypony. Exhaling, I leaned back against the two of them a bit more, kind of disappointed that it had all turned out so poorly. “I’m going to be here for a while. You two should at least go home and get some sleep,” I pointed out, checking Clocky only to note it was twenty-three hundred hours. “Mender… Please, I’m sorry. I’m going to make it up to you tomorrow for sure,” Twilight promised yet again, still not looking up from my hip. “It was a mistake, Twilight. They happen. Relax and go get some rest with Fluttershy. It’s late,” I suggested to both of them. Fluttershy kissed the back of my neck once more before slowly standing again. Behind me on the bed, the lavender mare attached to my hip didn’t move, however. I’d be concerned if I didn’t still feel her breath tickling the fur on my Cutie Mark. It was even well past ‘visiting’ hours, but Red wasn’t about to kick them out, obviously. Fluttershy slipped up next to her and nudged her in the side until she at least rolled over. She looked up at the yellow mare with red eyes, still looking rather miserable, despite not being the one that got their spine vibrated. Okay, so maybe I was a little miffed still. But it was hard to stay angry at her when she was so good at beating herself up over it. Wait, that sounded familiar. Oh yeah, it was exactly what Applejack and I were also good at. “Come on, Twilight. Let’s go get some sleep and let Mender do the same. We’ll hold you to your promise for tomorrow instead,” the yellow mare spoke, still sounding more than a little upset. She of course had mentioned that she had missed me the night before when I was stuck in the hospital. This was almost as if the universe was rubbing it in her face now. Twilight nodded and stood at that, exhaling quietly before reiterating, “Again, tomorrow. I will make it up to you.” I gave her a weak smile and she just winced and quickly looked away for a moment before reaching up and brushing her hoof against Fluttershy’s shoulder. They were gone in a flash of illumination to the room. Red shook her head as she turned back to the first page and slid it idly around on the table for a moment, looking tired still. “I definitely need a break soon, so try not to let her maim you tomorrow while ‘making it up’ to you, okay?” the nurse requested weakly, sliding sideways and resting her head on my mattress close to my forelegs. Smiling at that, I offered, “Once you get me set up here, just go rest, Red. I’ve got, what, four hours of pain meds in the bags?” She smiled as well towards me and nodded at that. “You’re a sweetheart. Yeah, I might go take a nap once you get settled. Still, the call button works if you need anything,” she agreed, relaxing a little as she slid the paper onto her clipboard instead. It was amazing how good she was at balancing that thing on her forelegs… I nodded to her and closed my eyes, relaxing against the pillows as I felt her slide the sheets up over me and suggest, “Try to get some sleep, Mender. We’ll make sure you’re okay in the morning, then get you on your way.” Well, with any luck, I should still be able to do the job for the Cakes tomorrow. That I had been worried about, admittedly. “Good night, Red,” I muttered, and the lights turned out as I heard her hoofsteps heading out the door of the room… * * * * * Ugh. What a day. Resting on my back, upside down and looking up at the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner, I stretched out and slid my plans up in front of me again. One master support for both ends of the ‘racing’ stretch would cover the weight of the entire thing, plus an extra forty pounds, so I assumed I was covered there. If the Cakes started making twenty pound donuts, they’d have to come talk to me first… The smaller brackets that held the individual track pieces up were a fourth of the size of the master supports, but I’d need a whole heck of a lot more of them. I also needed four trolleys for the treats themselves, one for each track. They were already built now, and the enchantments were put on them. It was rather simple really. Four spots on the counter where the little baskets would sit. A treat put on the baskets would initiate the tiny side barriers to hold it in place. Once they were ready for delivery, with any number of the baskets filled, a gem under the counter could be tapped and it would form a thin barrier line up to the rail connectors on the ceiling. That would lift all four up, or however many were filled, and start the race. Each treat basket had two possible delivery points to cover the eight tables the Cakes had set up, toggle-able with levers under the counter. The solar rechargeable battery that powered the whole thing was sitting in the window charging right now, and I’d made two replacement gem batteries for them, with the resources already purchased. These gems were really useful for storing energy! So far, I’d gotten the counter set up, the four baskets made, and the complicated starting line finished. Oh, and the three batteries, of course. Which was another issue. If I knew more about the gems and how they worked, I could probably have set up my device to use the universal ‘batteries’ that I saw already being produced, but as it stood so far, I had to modify the battery in order to get it to work with my design. So if they wanted more batteries, for now, they’d have to get them from me instead. Maybe I could upgrade that later down the road once I figure out how the gems functioned. Mrs. Cake was more than understanding, thankfully. She acted like it was already a shock that I’d made them two extra batteries from the resources, which was kind of weird, honestly. Now I was working on the tracks themselves. I’d already had most of the track rails made now, but it was getting on supper time, and I was running out of day to finish all of this in. This was going to take a while to make the entire tracks as well. My barriers held nicely, connected into the ceiling and holding all of my tools while giving me a spot to lay on as I worked. These I worked into enchantments so I could detach them from my energy supply, which was a good thing or I’d be dead tired by now. They also had a solar feed that was stuck out two different windows now, which should be workable for a few more hours anyway. I was running out of sunlight, too, which was another reason to finish this part of the project now, while I still had the barriers. My stomach growled, and I growled back, then proceeded to ignore it. Spike had been the only one at the library when I’d gotten myself checked out of the hospital. Interestingly enough, he refrained from admitting where he’d been the night before. Regardless, Fluttershy had left early before breakfast even, excusing herself over some sort of animal problem to look into. I had the sneaking suspicion it was more than that, given how uneasy Spike had looked over it. Twilight had left as well, apparently for a meeting with Mayor Mare over the upcoming events tomorrow and scheduling things. She’d skipped breakfast, too, and left abruptly, which also sounded bad. So between the two, he hadn’t cooked breakfast. He offered to for just me, but I couldn’t make him whip up an entire meal for one pony. Sheesh. So I’d skipped breakfast, too. And lunch, because I was working. And now supper, because I was still working. Attaching the third bracket, I slid further down the barrier, taking my tools with me as I moved to the next track location. I heard laughter echo out from behind the closed door of the kitchen and tried not to grumble to myself. Not having eaten anything all day caused the lovely smells coming from the kitchen to be agonizing. No, focus! Intentionally speeding up, I went through three more brackets rather mindlessly, following the instructions I’d made myself for position and how far down they needed to be. Working and keeping myself busy was a good way to keep my mind off all of the usual troubles I was having. Of course, I had been worried about what happened to cause everypony to behave so strangely. “Are ya sure he’s in ‘ere somewhere? Ain’t Sugarcube Corner closed anyway?” I suddenly heard in a very familiar sounding dialect. Freezing, my eyes widened as I still stuck to the ceiling, screwing in the fifth bracket for the track. Oh no. Those three could potentially eat up a tremendous amount of my time, and then I wouldn’t finish by tonight! “Of course! Totally saw him go in this morning. I think he’s setting up that cool track thing for the Cakes!” Scootaloo chirped, sounding excited. Figured she’d be interested in ‘anything’ racing. It sounded almost like they were just outside. Looking to my left, down through the window below me, I saw just the tip of a purple tail, which confirmed that all three were looking right at the door. Crap. There was a soft sigh, then Sweetie’s voice added, “Aww, come on. I really wanted to see him today. I haven’t gotten to see him since he got back! Stupid hospital…” It was hardly the hospital’s fault that Twilight blasted me in the… no, no, I was trying to calm down and stay relaxed. Calm, peaceful thoughts! “Uh, ah yah suah? If it’s closed, I don’t wanna get in trawble,” came a very unfamiliar voice, in a hard to place dialect. I remembered back to that interesting newspaper mare, and took a guess at Manehatten. This was a much younger voice, however. Scootaloo assured whomever it was with a, “Yeah! Pinkie Pie’s cool, and so are the Cakes, so I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if we just went in to see Mender. Like we told ya, he’s super cool!” Sighing, I decided it was probably inevitable that they’d be coming in, and quickly got back to work to finish as much as I could before getting interrupted. “So ya say. I guess he must be, given haw much ya tawk ahbout him. Sweetie’s crushin awn him hawd, too,” the new foal pointed out. It sounded like a filly, however. Sweetie giggled at that as she opened the door, explaining, “Of course I do! He even knows about it! He says I have to wait a few years, and if I still have feelings for him then, I can talk to him seriously about it.” I blinked at that, finishing adjusting the bracket I was working on while listening. Admittedly, that was a lot more level-headed than I’d last heard her talk about it. Maybe Rarity had indeed calmed her down a bit. “Aww. Ah thought ya said he was ‘ere, Scoots!” Apple Bloom whined, walking into the room further and practically right under me. Nopony ever looked up… Peeking over my barrier, I saw the three of them slip into the shop, followed by a filly looking to be roughly the same age. She was an Earth Pony, and sported a darker orange coat, short cropped strawberry mane and tail, pretty green eyes, and also no Cutie Mark. She ‘felt’ like a member of the Apple Family just by looking. I assumed it was the colors. Eh. Rolling off my platform, I fell the three meters or so to the floor. All four fillies squeaked and jumped at the same time as I landed, a loud thump and shake going through the floorboards. That wouldn’t have been fun had the floor given away. I was glad I wasn’t in any of my armor. Apple Bloom recovered first, despite being the closest to me when I landed, and smirked at me as I stood up fully again. “Hey, girls. Is there something you needed?” I asked politely, giving the three of them a warm smile, and peeking curiously over at the newcomer. Her wide eyes were shrinking a little, and she looked up at my glowing platform for a moment before returning her gaze to me, looking surprised now but not utterly shocked. “Mender!” Sweetie chirped, running past Apple Bloom in an instant and lightly pouncing my left foreleg, smiling up at me as she hugged it to herself. I smiled down at her and rubbed the top of her head, earning a giggle and a nuzzle to my shoulder. Scootaloo recovered next and smirked, nodding in amusement to me. “I knew you’d be in here working on the Cake’s race thingy! We wanted to introduce ya to the fourth Cutie Mark Crusader!” she cheered, causing me to look back at the new filly, who was now suddenly blushing under the spotlight of the situation. Ah, she had a shy streak in her… AB, however, puffed up and properly introduced, “This ‘ere’s mah cousin, Babs Seed. She’s from Manehatten! She’s visitin’ all o’ us fer tha Fall Festivities. Ah told ya you’d meet her.” Smiling towards the filly, I lifted my right forehoof up towards her. She shrank back slightly and stared at it for a moment before hesitantly stepping up and touching her much smaller hoof to mine, shaking it up and down slowly. “I thawt ya told me he has tentahcles,” Babs inquired a moment later, lifting an eyebrow at me. I raised an eyebrow as well, but shifted to the now sheepish looking Apple Bloom. The yellow filly chuckled weakly, looking back over at Babs before hastily reminding, “Ah told ya! He can pop ‘em in an’ out!” Uh… Sweetie winced at that, and then hissed, “I told you it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell her before getting permission from Mender.” Rolling my eyes, I nodded to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, then instructed, “Close the shades.” They both grinned and shot off to the various windows as Sweetie sat down next to me, in the same instant I sat down. Babs watched them with slight amusement before looking back at me and giving me the appraising eye. I just sat there and let her check me over. It was interesting that she took a short cropped mane and tail approach, giving her a bit less feminine appearance. Still, her build and muzzle structure gave her gender away readily enough. I wondered if the longer styles for mares were just a thing here in Canterlot and Ponyville. The room slowly lessened in light until it was getting hard to see the others. Once the last curtain was pulled, I inquired, “How much did they tell you? And you do realize this is technically a national secret at the moment, right?” Her eyes widened a little and she swallowed before nodding. “Dey said it wos ah big, impawtant secret, yah. That you’re an alien, and some sawt of mechanicol pony?” she explained, tilting her head to me as I nodded. “Yeah, Ti… err… Princess Celestia doesn’t want the secret spread around yet, and neither do I, really. It’s hard enough thinking of myself as a normal pony when I don’t have… large amounts of attention drawn to it. Regardless..." I started, deciding that I might as well get this over with. I closed my eyes and flicked on my full scanners, opening them a second later and spreading blue light across the fillies, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo catching up again. Babs perked up as she saw the sudden color shift and now light being produced by my eyes, the mechanical whirling noise plainly audible in the quiet room as I knew the zoom lenses were rotating around in them, focusing in slowly on Babs as all my eye displays lit up. Her eyes widened as she peeked closer into my actual pupils where she could see the moving images. Smiling at her curiosity, I wondered if she’d be the same once she saw the armor. It folded out as I thought about it, her eyes widening even further as she stepped backwards half a step, shifting to an uncertain look as the ridges of my blackened gray armor appeared. The layers of it folded over my shoulders, torso, back, and down my legs as I left the helmet off intentionally, stepping up as it finished plating over my hooves as well. Now I was taller, larger, and significantly heavier by a good hundred and twenty pounds. “Whoa…” was all she managed to say as she stood her ground and looked me over, her cousin slipped up next to her. “Told ya it was cool! Show her tha tentacles!” the yellow filly chirped, smiling up in the blue light coming off me. Smirking, I nodded as my armor folded over my head, and felt them spasm along my back before slowly extending out. The filly’s eyes got bigger and bigger as the cluster of tentacles extended off my back, going skywards while wiggling slightly as I stretched them out. It had been a while since I used them, but thankfully they weren’t all that stiff. Lowering them to generally drift around me, I extended my right shoulder one, one of the larger ones by a small degree, in front of her slowly. Apple Bloom bumped up against her side and nodded as she calmed down a little, then turned and looked down at the tentacle gently displayed for her. Hesitantly, she reached out and nudged it with her hoof for just a moment before tilting her head to the side. It didn’t move any when she poked it, so she then reached out with both forehooves and squished them around it, letting them poke to each side of it. After a few seconds of this, she smiled again and relaxed, wiggling it about a little. Apple Bloom lifted both hooves up to me and grinned, hopping lightly until my other tentacle slipped down and wrapped around her torso. Apple Bloom cheered happily, earning a surprised stare from Babs as she watched her cousin lifted up with her legs out, pretending she was flying. Scootaloo grinned and leapt over Babs with a flap of energy from her wings, and was snatched out of the air by another of my tentacles. She grinned, then ‘chased’ after Apple Bloom, directing where my tentacle went by which way her torso was turned. Sweetie was content to just smile up at me, two of my tentacles sliding down to wrap around her and gently squish her against my left side, giving her an excuse to nuzzle my shoulder again. “Wow. Ya con control dem awll at once, den?” Babs asked, watching her friend and cousin get spun around in the air laughing, then looking down at Sweetie, who was playing with one of the ones wrapped over her shoulder. Nodding, I added, “Yeah, I can control each one separately. They’re also really strong, but obviously I have to be careful that nopony sees me with all of this stuff-“ As if I’d summoned it myself, the door into the kitchen took that exact moment to open up. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom dropped, landing on my back thankfully after my armor collapsed into me at frighteningly quick speeds, and I sucked tentacles in left and right. By the time Mrs. Cake turned and looked over at me, I was back to my normal self, amber-gold eyes included as I returned her gaze. She raised an eyebrow as she looked around again, looking at the darkened room. For a tense moment, I realized Babs was still holding the one tentacle that was outside of my body, and I didn’t want to just rip it away from her and hurt her. Instead, however, she shifted to the side and covered the tentacle from sight with her body as I rotated it down my foreleg to extend from my elbow instead. Cup Cake looked back to me finally before asking, “Why is it so dark in here, Mender? Surely you could work better with the shades up?” Thinking fast, I simply explained, “I was just showing the fillies magic tricks.” My hoof extended up to form a fun pyramid shape made out of simple barriers above it in the dark, glowing and illuminating the area with the silvery blue light. She perked at the mention of fillies, then looked up at my back as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo waved innocently at her. That brought out a smile and she nodded happily to them. “Ah, distracting him, are you? Well, it’s probably about time for supper anyway, so why don’t you all come in here to get some food?” she chirped, totally buying my blatant lie. Wait, food? My stomach rumbled loud enough to echo in the quiet house and I, and apparently every other pony in the room, turned to look at it. Oh, right. Food. “Um, I’d love to but I didn’t bring any bits with me,” I explained, giving a sheepish look up at Cup’s knowing smirk. “Really, Mender? You’re doing a ton of work for us, and have almost completed it after working for most of the day non-stop. The least we can do is give you a bonus and feed you. Get in here,” she ordered, leaving no room for denial. Shrinking a bit, I nodded to her and earned giggles from my spontaneous passengers. Babs puffed up and smirked at me, nodding as well. “Yah, get in dere and eat wit us!” she echoed. “Oh, now you’re tough stuff, huh?” I asked playfully as I pounced at her, the other two on my back squeaking, then laughing as Babs squealed and slipped under the table, running for the kitchen. Grinning, I continued, “Hang on!” With that, to the surprise of both fillies and Mrs. Cake, I turned once and then leapt sideways. We cleared the top of the table as I tucked my legs up, then descended over the other side. Babs laughed and yelped as we hit right behind her, and we all shot into the kitchen, Sweetie giggling and running under the table after us… * * * * * Over the course of the really nice meal the Cakes and Pinkie had provided, I’d actually learned quite a bit about Babs. Bullying was definitely something I could relate to, of course. It driving her to be the bully was something I’d seen a lot, and admittedly, my donor Keldarian fell victim to, at least in how he handled Keela after the incident. It was all understandable, and she seemed relieved to some extent anyway that I thought as much. She also talked about her life in Manehatten to some extent. Large cities didn’t really bother me, but the other three crusaders seemed almost captivated by it. I didn’t particularly care where I was living at, so long as the ponies I cared about were there. And given that they were all here in Ponyville for the most part, this is where I lived, of course. Rather simple, and I really liked things simple. Babs’ life was a fairly stable one as well. She went to school in Manehatten, but was planning on potentially moving to Ponyville here after graduating. She and Apple Bloom had really hit it off. She even started her own ‘chapter’ of the CMC. It was exceptionally cute. "So yoah really ah membah of the CMC? Yah already gaht yoah Cutie Mark, dough," she pointed out, gesturing to the mark on my hip. Smiling as I ate another piece of the extremely tasty banana bread, I looked over at Pinkie, who grinned and nodded twice, happy to explain it for me. "He totally lost his memory, and apparently forgot what his Cutie Mark was, too! When he showed up in the hospital here about a month or so ago, he was a blank flank, too!" she chirped. Mr. Cake smirked behind her while wiping the kitchen counter down, probably having heard a lot about it already. "Noh way! Fer reahl?" Babs asked, eyes widening as she looked over at me yet again, from my left. Pinkie was across from me, having just plowed through four slices of the bread herself. Sweetie was to my immediate right, Apple Bloom to Babs' left, and Scootaloo across from her, next to Pinkie. The Cakes had given us an entire tray of banana bread slices, which they'd technically run out of frosting for. Without the super sweet layer, however, they made a rather decent 'normal' meal. The fillies were disappointed, but I was pleased just to have the sustenance. Scootaloo smirked and shot back, "Of course! We were the ones who found him hurt near the stream and went to get Applejack. He was closer to the farm by the time he finished washing down the stream," she added. I inwardly sighed as I swallowed my current bite, kinda wishing she'd left choice bits of that out. Aiming to switch the topic back to the intended one, I quickly added, "It's true. I didn't have a Cutie Mark when I got here, and your cousin swore me into the Crusaders before I got it back. I've only had it for about two weeks now. I'm still going to help the Crusaders regardless, though. Friendship is even deeper than finding your Cutie Marks, no?" I had a sneaking suspicion these fillies would remain friends long, long after they all had their marks, after all. Sweetie giggled, then spoke up from the other side of me with, “Once a Crusader, always a Crusader! We’re stuck with each other.” She jutted her hoof into the air as she said it, making it sound more like a rallying cry. The other three smiled and did the same, however, so maybe it was? Snickering, I set my sandwich down and mimicked them, earning a squeak and hug from my right from the little unicorn. Scootaloo frowned for a moment, however, lowering her hoof and scratching at her chin before asking, “What’s going to happen to the Cutie Mark Crusaders after we all get our Cutie Marks, though?” Hmm? Oh. “Yah mean the club, roit?” Babs asked, tilting her head to the pegasus. To my surprise, Mrs. Cake smiled softly as she set another tray of bread down, this time cooked just for us. “It doesn’t have to stop with you fillies. I imagine that, in all of Equestria, there’s quite a lot of fillies and colts that are frustrated over not having their Cutie Marks. Instead of it being something to be put down, however, you could help them to instead see that it’s something that brings them together, just like you girls,” she pointed out, smiling at them all as their eyes widened. “Ya think we could, I dunno, help out fillies an’ colts in other cities? Or even after we get our marks?” Apple Bloom asked, instead looking to her fellow Crusaders. They all hesitated, unsure of that answer, but it seemed fairly obvious to me, anyway. “Sounds like a youth group to me. That said, yeah, I think you could do it. Maybe even register it officially as an Equestrian club?” I suggested. Mrs. Cake was right. The Crusaders were definitely a good thing, and encouraging good things to continue was something I definitely could stand for. “Oh, hey, that’s right! Mender knows Princess Celestia and Princess Luna personally! Could you maybe put in a good word for us?” Scoots asked hopefully, her wings fluttering behind her as she smiled. Heh, I wouldn’t have told her no anyway, so acting absurdly cute was just overkill. I’d expected that when I suggested it, though. Snickering, I responded with, “I’ll tell them if you four want, but I have a feeling they’d think it was a good idea even without me saying anything. Why don’t you ask Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about it yourselves? I think they’d be very happy to hear about it.” Scootaloo gasped at that, but Apple Bloom grinned and nodded rapidly, whacking her hoof against the table. “It’s settled, then! Ah think we should talk ta tha Princesses about maybe makin’ tha Cutie Mark Crusaders official! Think o’ all tha fillies an’ colts like us that we could help find their Cutie Marks fer!” she announced wistfully. I just smiled at that, not saying anything as I munched down another slice of bread, and Mrs. Cake snickered quietly. All four were in agreement with that, of course, and I had a feeling we might be bringing them with our next excursion to Canterlot. Wait, actually, that was a fairly good idea. Perking, I turned and looked to my left at the majority of the Crusaders and revealed, “Actually, I’m headed back to Canterlot for a day or so in a week or two from now. DReg has its first established meeting, and I’ll be meeting with the Princesses then. What would you say to coming along with, if Babs is sticking around that long?” All three perked up as well, then Sweetie leaned over from my right. “Really? You’d take us to Canterlot with you just for the Cutie Mark Crusaders?!” she asked, stabbing me in the face again with the cute levels. I was going to get diabetes yet, at this rate… Rubbing her on the head, I reminded, “I told you, I’m a Crusader, too, and I’m going to help you all as much as I can. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow are coming along anyway, so I doubt they’d mind if their little sisters come, too. Although…” Turning and looking at Babs, she smirked and shook her head. “I won’t be stayin in Ponyville dat long, but I dawt my folks will have any prawblems lettin me come bock fer somethin so important. Could I meet yah, like, the day befoah?” she asked hopefully. Apple Bloom quickly answered, “O’ course! Tha Apple Family don’t turn its back on anypony, especially family!” They smiled at each other, and I nodded in agreement. “Same. I don’t think the Crusaders should do it without you, so we’ll wait,” I assured. All four smiled at me and nodded in unison, and I was pleased to make them happy, even if it did mean delaying my own work. Eh, I’d just stay late if I had to. There was a quiet moment as the fillies dug into the next tray of bread, and I relaxed, finishing the piece I was currently working on. Mrs. Cake sat down to finish a piece herself, then smiled softly at me before commenting, “I’m probably not the first to tell you this, but you’d make a really good father, I suspect.” I felt my cheeks heat a bit as I looked away, and she started snickering, of course. “Ah, I knew I wasn’t the first to tell you that,” she added, somehow magically reading my mind. Or at least my body language. Why did so many mares think that?! I liked foals, yeah, but I didn’t think I was particularly responsible, or amazingly good at taking care of them. Sweetie grinned, of course, then spoke up with, “I think Fluttershy will be the first to have a foal with him!” Ah! I gave her an annoyed shove just under her horn, but she only grinned up at me as she rocked playfully in her chair. “Enough of that. Sheesh. Anyway, I really do need to get back to work, you four. I’ve got to finish this by tonight,” I reminded, gesturing back towards the still open door to the main room. Pinkie giggled at that and hopped up from her chair, nodding. “I know! Why don’t we all help you out?! I mean, I’m done cooking for the night in here and we have all the treats ready for tomorrow, so why don’t we make sure the track is all super decorated and awesome looking! Plus, you’ll get it done much faster!” she cheered. Oh hell. I had a feeling that exactly the opposite of that would prove true, but it was too late now as all of the fillies cheered, minus Babs who looked surprised at the sudden turn of events more than anything. Trying not to sigh out loud, I weakly smiled and nodded to the bouncing mare, then hoped for the best. No, no I didn’t. I was going to be here well into the night at this rate… * * * * * Sliding along my barrier platform, I hooked up the last bracket into the ceiling in its proper location, making sure to get it nice and secure. Pinkie giggled, her back hooves resting on my shoulders as she ‘followed’ me along my sliding motion, laying the track for the treat gondolas right behind me laying the brackets down. I was eating my own words, admittedly, as Pinkie proved quite dedicated as a worker when she put her mind to it, and somehow managed to still have fun while doing so. “This is the last of the track. After this, we just have the start and finish line, then trial runs,” I confirmed, looking up at her before remembering her tail was literally sitting on top of my head, and saw nothing but pink. I did hear a giggle, however, and she chirped, “I can’t wait for the testing! Plus, I got the start and finish lines done last night, so we just have to hook them up! They’re exactly the length you told me to make them.” She seemed proud of that, and I smiled up into her tail, causing her to snicker. No, I didn’t even try to consider if she could ‘feel’ me smiling through her tail. Some things weren’t meant for mortal minds to ponder. Spinning to my hooves, I rotated and caught Pinkie’s as she giggled and slid down to where I just was, then hooked up the last section of the track into the bracket I just placed. “And done!” she announced in a singsong tone as she clipped it firmly into its spot. Smirking, I nodded to her, then lowered our platform segment towards the floor as Babs trotted up with the full tray of tools still balanced on her back, a smile on her face. “This looks reahlly awesome. Ahr we gonna git to see it wohrk tonight?” she asked, sounding more than a little excited, despite her attempts to play the stoic, collected, and mature filly. I was starting to get to know her a little bit, anyway. “Yup. That’s what the test runs are for. To make sure it runs smoothly and nothing catches on fire!” I assured, smirking towards her as her eyes widened a little bit. Scootaloo snickered in amusement before tacking on, “He’s joking. Probably.” She zipped up with her energy wings on, hooking the wire up along the track that Pinkie just laid, not needing the platform obviously to reach it. Flying must be so amazing. Although the other phenotypes had their perks, too. Sweetie sat on the counter, humming a tune to herself as her horn glowed softly. Tiny felt flags that Pinkie had made drifted in the air around her, lifting towards the ceiling and sliding into place along the brackets. Only a single extension of my enchantment came off her horn to power it, indicating she’d gotten better at controlling her magic since I gave it to her. Apple Bloom was also abusing her enchantment, her legs glowing softly and sliding up her back as she lifted the entire parts box, which was significantly larger than she was, and rested it on her back while following Sweetie around the top of the counter, extra decorations drifting out of it with magic. They were all a good team, that was for sure. Mr. and Mrs. Cake also were working around the room, cleaning and wiping things down carefully to prepare for tomorrow. Well, at least when there weren’t cries coming from upstairs that would send one of them running towards it. Little foals seemed a lot harder to take care of. To my surprise, the door opened as Pinkie and I were headed back to the counter to get the actual ‘racing’ components. The setting sun illuminated the pearly unicorn, who gave us a rather radiant smile as she trotted in, looking quite pleased with life in general at the moment. “Good evening, Pinkie Pie. Hello again, Mender. Ah, and Sweetie. How’d I guess I’d find you here?” Rarity chirped, not missing a beat as she swished her mane out of her face and headed over to us. Sweetie blushed softly and fidgeted, but I quickly assured, “She’s actually been quite good. And very helpful.” This only made her hue shift from pink to red, but Rarity smiled more warmly towards me. “I’m glad to hear that. We had many a talking about what she did, and I think she understands now. I’m quite pleased to see her behaving like a proper filly,” she complimented, nodding towards her little sister, who exhaled softly and looked away from us. Heh, she’d probably been expecting a lecture. Nodding, I changed the topic with, “You seem in a good mood, Rarity. Did you catch up on those orders?” I remembered she was worried about being behind after our trip to Canterlot. The mare perked at that, and nodded back with a pleased smile. “Why yes, I did. A wave of inspiration hit me this afternoon, and I just found myself blurring effortlessly through them all. I’m quite pleased. So much so, I decided to visit some friends for the rest of the day and check on how everypony is doing!” she revealed, definitely in good spirits. I wondered at how much of her ‘inspiration’ was shipping Sweetie out of the house for a while, but refrained from commenting on that. “Did ya visit mah sister an’ brother?” the moving box asked, confusing Rarity for a brief moment before she giggled and shook her head, despite the filly obviously not able to see her body language from under there. “Why no, I didn’t have to. Your dear sister delivered food supplies to me that I had ordered earlier this month. She stayed for a good hour talking about the farm, harvest, and preparations for winter. I believe this year is the first in three that she’s actually pleased with the progress,” Rarity admitted, making me wonder what exactly had changed apart from the new lift and conveyor. Still, I doubted they’d make THAT much difference. She continued, however, with, “Afterwards, I visited Fluttershy for a while. Then I tried to visit Mender and Twilight, but remembered that Twilight was at the town hall laying out plans, and Mender was here working for the Cakes!” Her being here led me to assume that this was the next place she visited, but I had to ask anyway. “Did you visit Twilight at town hall?” I inquired, moving the large box off Apple Bloom and setting it down beside the filly, who smiled up at me and stopped glowing a moment later. “Ah, no. Twilight usually doesn’t like getting distracted while trying to plan,” Rarity excused, earning a raised eyebrow from me. The pearly mare hesitated and coughed lightly before adding, “And I heard from a reliable source that she’s in a foul mood. Fluttershy wasn’t doing well either, despite her animal friends trying to cheer her. I believe they got into a nasty fight last night.” Ah. Well, that would explain it. “Oh no! I’m gonna have to go around and cheer them up after this!” Pinkie gasped out, eyes widening as she held her hooves to her mouth while sitting next to me. Well, she didn’t have to, but… Well, okay, actually she might. I momentarily forgot who I was considering. Rarity gave a somber nod to that, then guessed, “I have a feeling it had something to do with you arriving in the hospital last night?” Ah, right, I forgot she was a very observant mare. Sighing, I nodded and added, “You could say that. I, uh… shouldn’t talk about it here, though.” My eye flicked ever so slightly towards the fillies, and a burst of realization shot down Rarity’s link as I realized she caught my hint. “Oh, oh dear. Okay. Do stop by after you’re finished with this, however. Oh, and if you could be a dear and deliver the girls as well? I believe we’re having a slumber party tonight,” she requested, smiling down at the fillies as they gathered closer, Babs catching up from the other side of the room. They gave happy nods, and I snickered before adding to it. “Sure. I’ll walk them over when we finish testing the tracks, then. It should only be another twenty minutes or so,” I estimated, looking up at the starting line directly above me. There was a big asterisk attached to that, of course, as I always planned for the worst of the whole thing just catching on fire, and then me having to rush everypony outside of the blazing building, then battle the flames back and try to save as much of the establishment as I could, hopefully as the fireponies arrived. “You’re a doll, Mender. I’ll see you in a half an hour or so, then,” Rarity agreed, giving me a warm smile before heading towards the door. The short visit led me to believe she planned on continuing our discussion at her place. She probably wanted to know all the dirty gossip, heh. Well, I trusted her enough as a close friend to give her the details, anyway. I wondered idly if she’d laugh. Pinkie nodded enthusiastically at that, however. “Good idea! I’ll walk with you to Rarity’s, then split off to go see Fluttershy! She’ll need the cheering up more, I think,” the pink mare deduced empathically. I nodded, then whispered a short summary of the ‘issue’ into the mare through the link. Her pink cheeks lit up a little and she gave me a sheepish grin before nodding. “Yeah, um, that would probably bother Fluttershy. I’ll go visit her and calm her down, then,” she assured in an uncharacteristically calm manner. Returning her smile, I looked back up at the starting line again. Oh boy. Well, might as well bite the bullet and see if we can get the flag systems to work, then test it. Here’s hoping the fire department had a fast response time…
Chapter 82I felt vaguely like what I felt a zombie must feel like. Shambling along Rarity's nice hardwood floor, I reached the area where she did consultations, and promptly collapsed onto her couch. Lying there, I listened to my own soft breathing and relaxed as Rarity brought in tea, floating alongside her in a pretty, light blue aura. My eyes wouldn't stay open and I was tired of fighting it. "You look utterly exhausted, Dear. Has it been a long day?" Rarity asked politely from somewhere to my left. My eyes refused to open again to check as I formulated a proper reply. Slowly, I nodded, unsure of where to even begin. "I never sleep well by myself," I started. Might as well lead with the most mundane and largest understatement. She smiled as she placed the tea down. I felt it through the link at this distance. "And by that, you mean with a pony to share your dream with. I do recall you having terrible nightmares," she deduced, as clever as usual. Sighing, I gave her a polite nod before carefully picking up my cup and taking a sip of delicious air. Wait... Opening my eyes again, I confirmed that the cup was indeed empty. "I believe we're both past the age of pretend tea parties. That said, let me pour you some first," she suggested with a playful smirk, then giggling at my pout upon setting the cup down again. She could be such a brat sometimes, I noticed. "Oh don't make that face. It was cute!" she assured me, before pointing out, "Besides, eagerness is a very sincere form of flattery. You must really enjoy my tea." Okay, that I could agree with. "Yeah. It's tasty and soothing at the same time. Gives me a little energy back, too, after such a long day," I replied, watching the liquid fill the cup up nicely. I tried really hard not to drool while watching. Now all I needed were sandwiches, and I'd be set. "Oh, I agree. You must be looking forward to going home and getting a good night's sleep, then?" the pearly unicorn inquired politely. I winced at that, barely able to imagine something that could cause Twilight and Fluttershy of all ponies to get in an argument. If it was about me, I'd feel horrible. Sadly, there was a high probability that it was indeed about me. Rarity watched me for a moment, quietly filling my glass with actual tea before giving a softer smile and correcting, “Or I could be wrong. Hmm. If I had to guess, that look is about the news I gave you earlier involving their fight.” Astute as ever. Not smiling back, I flicked my ears lightly as I took my first sip, shivering as the soft blend of flavors slid down my throat. Hum. “Yeah. I kind of knew after last night, things were going to get a little bumpy. There were complications, but I’m guessing you already knew that, given I spent the night at the hospital,” I finally spoke, feeling even more tired after finishing. “Ah, yes, I imagine ‘bumpy’ is definitely one way to put it. Well, you’re in adult company now, so if you wish to discuss what happened, you know you have a sympathetic ear,” she offered, giving a polite smile. Relaxing a little, I nodded slowly at that before just diving in with, “Fluttershy was helping us grow more comfortable with each other in certain intimate ways. Unfortunately for me, and Fluttershy, too, Twilight found out I have a baculum.” Rarity gave me a blank look at that before warning, “Most of that I understood. I’m not very up to speed, however, with anatomy and such.” “Uh, well, a baculum is a bone that runs up through the core of a penis. Mine, like the rest of my bones, is made of organic metal,” I explained, feeling awkward already. Rarity flushed a little at that, but still looked confused. Frowning, she slowly inquired, “Am I to assume this is unusual? I don’t recall seeing such a thing in anatomy lessons, although that was a while ago and my memory could be hazy in that regard.” Nodding, I furthered with, “Fluttershy explained that ponies evolved out their baculum a long time ago, and that I shouldn’t have one. Regardless, Twilight was very interested suddenly.” I shuddered again, and Rarity winced this time. “I believe I can see where this is going. Her ‘tests’ were painful enough to hospitalize you, however? Hopefully with no lasting damage…” Her expression was one of sympathetic pain, and I was thankful that she hadn’t thought my irregular anatomy was bizarre as well. Both Twilight and Fluttershy thinking it was weird was more than enough. Then again, Red hadn’t said anything about it either. I had a sneaking suspicion she already knew, however. I shook my head more slowly before setting my cup down again and answering, “No, no lasting damage. She did some sort of core scan on me right then and there. I’m not a medical professional, but as far as I’ve been told, it shot vibrations down the bone which caused pain. Well, no, that’s an understatement…” I added a groan after that last part and flopped sideways again. To my mild surprise, Rarity huffed instead. “Honestly, there’s a time and a place for scientific study. Your first intimate attempt with your herd is not one of them. I can see why poor Fluttershy was so upset! She was trying so hard to help you two, and then Twilight goes and does that! This is just unacceptable,” the white mare exclaimed, unexpectedly vehement in tone. I’d expected sympathy, but not quite so potent feelings about it. Resting my head on the couch, I exhaled softly and closed my eyes again, wishing I could just sleep right here tonight. “Twilight tends not to think about consequences when she does things, at least socially. I’ve no room to talk there, being quite socially inept myself, but to be honest, she felt horrible about it as well after she realized that it hurt me. I think she expected it to be painless, and I was something of an abnormal case,” I reasoned, trying to at least defend the mare a little, as she wasn’t here to defend herself. “Twilight needs to start considering these things, especially in the event of something so important. I understand that she’s rather inexperienced and has had a rather reclusive upbringing before moving to Ponyville, but that simply means that unexperienced situations should be approached with a healthy air of caution, not brazenly charged into while hoping apologies afterwards will suffice!” Rarity returned, sounding a little upset now, and I suddenly realized she must take intimacy rather seriously. Both of us were interrupted by the bell over the front door going off. I raised an eyebrow, opening that eye at least to look over at her as she frowned in slight confusion. Ah, not expecting guests. They were unlikely to use the front door, but I readied my armor just in case we got a surprise assassin attack or something. “Rarity, are you home?” Twilight called out a little above normal talking volume from the front room. Oh. Oh hell. Rarity’s eyes widened a little, but she quickly held a hoof up to me, shaking her head. I didn’t understand what she wanted, but she ‘felt’ like she was urging me to just stay put. She then stood up and hopped off the couch instead. “Yes, I’m behind the partition,” she returned in a more normal tone, considering the lavender unicorn was technically all of three meters away. Partition? Technically, it was two different rooms, but I guess there wasn’t exactly a door in the archway that separated them, so she could get away with calling it a partition, then. Wait, no, I was distracting myself again… Hoofsteps sounded out heading towards Rarity rather quickly, wet splatting with each one. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m so glad you’re here!” Twilight quickly spouted, making it into the room we were in with record speed. Both my eyes were open at this point, but because the couch back faced the ‘partition’ entry, I couldn’t see the panicked sounding unicorn yet. Uh oh. What now? Rarity momentarily ignored the statement in light of an observation instead. “Twilight, you’re soaked! Did you walk all the way here from town hall without putting up a shield against the rain?” she asked, sounding surprised and slightly skeptical. There was an awkward pause before the lavender unicorn laughed uneasily and muttered, “Oh, heh. I kinda forgot. Getting here was more important!” I was starting to not even want to know. “You won’t be thinking that when you catch a cold. Here, dry off a little and sit down. I have some tea prepared,” Rarity offered. Wait, sit down?! But that would mean… The pearly unicorn’s horn lit up, and there was a door opening noise in the hallway. Two towels floated in half a second later, one shooting over to the couch and getting tossed over the back and cushion next to me, and the other launching itself towards Twilight, who let out a surprised squeak. Rarity’s magic hauled her forward, stumbling about as the towel covered most of her head and back as she got pushed onto the other cushion right next to me. I froze, eyes widening at the mare as I looked back and forth between her and Rarity in horror. What was she doing?! “Stay on and in the towels please while you dry off. For warmth, and protecting my couch and blanket,” Rarity requested politely as Twilight’s horn lit up, at least freeing her head from the towel to glare over at the pearly unicorn. “Blanket? What do you me-“ she started to ask before the blanket too got dumped over her entire form, covering her head again. The incredibly sly craftiness of Rarity continued to astound me as I realized Twilight hadn’t had a chance to even notice me lying here. She finally managed to get her snout at least free of the blanket, and I imagined she looked something like a cowled wizard of some sort, which was kind of amusing given her skills. Rarity smiled politely at her as she sat down as well, sliding an unused cup over and gently filling it with tea. Twilight shifted slightly to the right, her muzzle aiming at the other cup for a moment before she asked, “There’s another cup? Oh, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” “Nothing at all, no. That was for another guest, don’t worry. That’s why I have the tea out, after all. Anyway, you seem terribly distressed, my dear…” Rarity redirected, frowning at her. Twilight exhaled violently as I watched her blanketed head sink. “You probably heard about Mender being in the hospital by now. His bags weren’t in the library, so he’s probably at Fluttershy’s, hiding from me right now…” she groaned out. I lifted an eyebrow and looked to the saddlebag I was still wearing, trying hard not to laugh, as that would be really inappropriate. Rarity smiled assuredly at her and shook her head. “I highly doubt he’s hiding from you, Twilight. I spoke with Fluttershy earlier while you were in with the mayor regardless, and she was also rather worked up about it all. From what she told me, however, she seems to be in a position to forgive and mend the situation,” the mare revealed, not really surprising me with the news. Fluttershy was fast to forgive, after all. The lavender mare relaxed slightly and lowered her head a little ways before nodding. “I shouldn’t have gotten snippy with her. I was the one that ruined the night. It seems like I have to learn every little mistake anew each time, and… Ugh. I love both of them, but some days I think they’d be better off without me. They deserve better,” she murmured weakly, voice dying afterwards. Loved? Closing my eyes again, I felt it bounce around inside of me, and just let it, feeling out my own opinion as best I could. Was I angry with her? A little, but… It wasn’t anywhere near enough to just give up on her. I didn’t foresee myself ever reaching that point. The pearly mare across from us frowned at that, looking like she was about to put in a protest. Instead, I decided we’d been deceitful for long enough. Me technically eavesdropping on the conversation was bad enough, but doing so while Twilight wasn’t in a right frame of mind was even worse. She hadn’t even checked our link yet. Instead, I announced my presence and assured her otherwise in the same instant by sliding her blanket over with my forehoof and leaning over, gently pecking her on the right cheek. Her fur felt damp, and there was a very faint salty sensation barely there. She’d been crying. Her eyes widened and snapped to the right, locking with me instantly as she shifted to a look of distinct horror. Rarity giggled at my display, then shook her head wearily. “As you can see, I don’t think he’s too terribly mad at you anymore. Or he wished to be allowed to partake of his tea again,” she deduced, sounding amused. “Can’t it be both?” I pointed out, backing away as Twilight spun her head to face me fully, eyes still huge. “M-Mender?! But you… What are you doing here?! Wait, how could you forgive me just like that for-“ she started to ask. I cheated and slipped forwards instead, taking advantage of her new facing and kissing her gently on the lips. The lavender mare shivered, then closed her eyes and leaned into me a little as I rested my right hoof over her left. Nothing too pressing. Gentle and calm was what I was going for, and I felt my intent seep into her through our link at this range. Nothing scary. She blushed and parted from me slightly, eyes slowly opening before she hesitated. A moment later, she smiled weakly and shook her head, assuring, “No, Mender. I want to be with you properly. I was foolish. Stupid, even. But no, I want to try again tonight, after we talk to Fluttershy. Um, please?” Her asking permission surprised me a little, but I smiled anyway and gave her another little nuzzle, earning a more contented sigh from the mare. “If you and Fluttershy are sure of it, then it should be okay. Just simple things, though. We need to start even slower this time, plus I’m kinda tired from working with the Cakes’ treat track for a good nine hours…” I warned, trying my best not to yawn again as I suddenly reminded my body that I was indeed rather tired. Rarity snickered at that, of course. “I must admit, it looks quite lovely, Mender. I’m surprised you got it all done in less than a day’s time. Now I feel bad for having you look after the little fillies on top of that,” she said, frowning to herself slightly. Shrugging, I confided, “Actually, they were very well behaved, and helped me out quite a bit. Sweetie was on her best behavior as well, especially compared to before. Please don’t get mad at her.” If I’d known she technically wasn’t supposed to be ‘bugging’ me yet, I might have told her to play it safe and not get her sister mad. Regardless, her sister didn’t look angry, instead smiling and shaking her head towards me. “No, it’s about time I eased up on that. She seems to have learned her lesson, and while I didn’t give her the go ahead, she proved it today. She’s no longer grounded,” she confirmed. I almost expected to hear some gleeful shout of celebration from upstairs, but the thumping and laughter continued undiminished, and I smiled at the thought. She deserved it regardless. Twilight slid to the side a moment later, snapping me out of my consideration as I felt her tuck her muzzle into my neck, and her shoulder rest up against mine. “Mmm, not that I’m complaining, but I’m still curious what you’re doing here. I would have expected you’d head to Fluttershy’s after work,” she inquired, voice sounding slightly stronger. “Oh, I believe I can answer that,” Rarity cut in, before quickly explaining, “I’d asked him to drop the Crusaders off here after he was done working. I’d also hoped to talk with him more about the incident, so in that regard, he’s here for the same reason you are, Twilight.” Well, that was true. I'd hoped to get some advice on some level on how to fix things, but maybe this was actually for the better? Nodding, I idly agreed before adding, "I felt like I needed some advice about things, but didn't want to add more stress to Fluttershy. Plus, Rarity is a lot more skilled than I am with socializing, not having memories from another dimension constantly interfering with things." The white mare smirked at that, but Twilight just rolled her eyes playfully at my typical commentation. What?! My sense of dry humor was a coping mechanism, honest! "Well, despite it being surprising, I'm glad you're not still angry. I could tell you were a bit miffed at me last night, which is totally justified! But I'd like to make it up to you, again," the lavender mare assured, looking up into my eyes as if searching for something. I couldn't be sure if she found it or not, as Rarity interrupted first. "Making it up to him is all well and good, but you must also be sure to learn from the mistake, dear. Part of being truly sorry is the desire to not repeat the offense that landed you in that state. Further, I believe a bit more making up in the other direction is a good idea," she suggested, keeping her tone soft. Twilight shuddered at her words regardless, however, and looked back over at her, eyes softening a little. There was a moment's hesitation before Twilight asked, "What should I do to make it up to him, then, if just trying again tonight isn't enough?" I frowned at that, not liking the wording there at all. "Isn't it up to me how much she needs to make up for? Making her do extra stuff just seems unfair, and like it's only prolonging the bad feelings," I reasoned, also looking to Rarity. The mare across from us sighed before explaining, "Generally the best way to go about learning something in a more lasting fashion is to engrain it into your mind. Repetition is a good way to do that, as is unpleasant sensations, but we don't want the latter getting associated with intimacy. That's just inviting trouble." Well, I guess that made sense. Twilight nodded at that as well. "Not to mention, all three of us put forth effort last night, but due to my mistake, we fell short. Just offering on my part to try again isn't really enough, I suddenly realize. It was my fault that we need to repeat it in the first place, after all. So I should do extra for both of you in order to even it out," she reasoned, nodding twice afterwards. Uh... Was treating it like an equation that needed balancing really a good strategy? Last time I checked, applying math to intimacy didn't exactly work all that great. Rarity gave her a blank stare before snickering and shrugging. "Not quite the reason I had given, but if it helps you see why it's important, I suppose it works. Just remember, your goal is for all three of you to get past this and become more comfortable with each other. Just repeating the same problems over and over again isn't getting anypony anywhere," she reasoned, sounding rather sagely. Now that I thought about it, where did Rarity get all the experience? Wait, no, that was probably rude to ask. I started to open my mouth to agree when a light beep went off in my inner ear. At first, I almost didn't recognize it as it gave me another startled jump, and I quickly checked the still broken FTL program. Seeing nothing changed, I realized a moment later that it was a ping I hadn't heard in a little while! Oh! Twilight and Rarity 'heard' the noise as well through the links, both looking over at me curiously as I switched my left eye to Projection Mode and toggled my voice box speakers on before answering the ping with, "Keela?" She flickered into existence over the tea pot, reminding me that my cup was still sitting on the table. While reaching for it and picking it up, I took in her appearance this time as Twilight and Rarity looked towards her instead. She was honestly looking a lot better than the last time I'd seen her, just a single medical wrap around her torso, and a small bandage on her forehead. She wore a more relaxed looking pair of elastic gym pants, and a thin strapped tank top that was rolled up at the bottom to bare her midriff, keeping the fabric away from the injured area. She appeared to be back standing on the captain's platform overlooking the sensor and piloting suite, and nothing was sparking or on fire today, which was a definite improvement! This time, she wore her pink hair up in a casual ponytail, and greeted us with a soft smile. "Hiya, Mender. Oh, and Twilight and Rarity!" she greeted, nodding to both mares as she noticed them. They both smiled towards her and returned her nod, and I relaxed a little. I'd been a bit anxious before she answered, worried for more bad news. "Hey, Keela. How are repairs coming along?" I inquired, curious if they'd gotten a lot of the damage fixed. Rarity gasped suddenly an instant later, causing all three of us to jump slightly as attention shot back to her. She gave me a scowl, however, and chastised, "Mender! That's not the proper way to begin a conversation with a good friend who's obviously injured! Please, Keela, how are you feeling? That looks remarkably painful." Ah! Really?! I didn't know there was a correct order to pursue information in! The Keldarian snickered at that before correcting, "He's an engineer, Rarity. Him prioritizing the station's status just means he's a good one. But thank you. It's not too painful, as I have some medicine in me to help with that. It's healing nicely. Nowhere near the military grade regenerative nanites that Mender has, but I'm doing okay." I averted my eyes at that, sort of wishing I could share them with her, but that was a bit logistically daunting given the 'distance' between us. "Sorry regardless. Uh, not very good at socializing still. I'm glad you're doing better, though," I agreed, trying to backpedal as best I could. She snickered and absently waved her paw at me, smiling more now. "Again, it's fine, Mender. I'm glad you care. Plus, the vessel's doing a lot better, too, so two positives, no? We finished searching the debris field about three hours ago, actually, and just navigated to a safer spot a few hundred light years away from where they attacked us, back out in dark space. We found some sort of dislodged moon to orbit for a little while, so we have time to process all of the data," Keela revealed, leaning back against the railing of the darkened command center. I noticed there was hardly any activity, then remembered their time was synced intentionally to Equus' rotation now, her wanting to keep the same hours as we did. That meant it was probably the end of their day and everypony was getting ready to turn in for the night. "Did you find anything else out?" Twilight inquired, frowning at that. Figuring out what actually happened would be a good thing, but another spike of apprehension shifted through me. I kind of didn't want to know, but knew it was for the best to find out as soon as possible. Keela frowned at that before nodding, expression shifting to a grim one instead, and I swallowed. Bad news after all, then. "We found out a lot more, yeah. It all became clear once we found the actual destroyed restraining area where Nirru was being held. Security was obviously extra tight there, including the monitoring network we had installed in the area. The data recordings were badly damaged, but the black box survived the destruction and gave us a working log of the entire system up to the point of destruction," she furthered. My eyes widened at that, not having realized they'd had a redundant security network built into the area. She was serious about holding her sister, then. Still... "Log?" Twilight asked, looking over to me instead before requesting clarification. "The written kind that tracks progress or data, I assume?” Nodding, I confirmed, "Yeah. This type is a list of events that are automatically compiled by a computer and stored in a really safe, hard to destroy box, just for an event like this.” Twilight smiled and nodded, understanding it perfectly after that, and I gave a softer smile in return before she leaned over and pecked my cheek. Heh. She was adorable when being all smart like that. She blushed at my inner thoughts, but Keela giggled while watching us, complimenting with, "You two are just adorable. Feels like I'm going to get a blood sugar spike just watching you." Heh. That must be what I felt like after watching the Crusaders for too long... Still, it was rude to change the topic like that. "Heh. What did you find out from the logs, anyway?" I asked, redirecting us back onto undoubtedly the reason she called us, especially so late. Keela lost her smile again, leaning more heavily back against the railing behind her as she looked up towards the ceiling for a moment. Hesitating, she finally explained, “We found two badly burned Keldarian bodies as well. The burns weren’t from the explosion, however. Closer examination indicates cause of death by kinetic slugs.” Oh. Twilight and Rarity both looked horrified, but I frowned at the implication. “Small arms fire from Grosh mech forces. They boarded the segment before blowing it up?” I asked hesitantly. The only race to use kinetic non-ship-class weaponry were the Grosh. Due to their unique atmospheric gasses, using laser or plasma weaponry would cause a huge amount of collateral damage in the resulting explosion. Thus, all of their kinetic ammo was focused on heat reduction from firing and impacts as well. It had the added bonus of going through our armor rather easily, although they did almost nothing against our shields. For that, they used anti-ship plasma shells… Keela nodded grimly to that. “Unfortunately, that’s the only thing I can think of. These were actual slugs, not fragmentation from the explosion. We don’t have any kinetic weapons on the ship,” she confirmed. Crap. “Only two…?” I asked, looking back up at her and right into her eyes. She froze for a moment before shakily nodding. She only said Keldarian bodies. Her guards. “They captured Nirru…? That was the whole point of their boarding,” I deduced. They boarded the segment after it had already been blown loose, shot Nirru’s guards as they were undoubtedly attempting damage control, and took her. They then blew up the segment. Hiding the evidence? Doubtful. Ugh. This raised more questions than it answered, which was usually the case for things. “Yeah. We couldn’t find any trace of her in the immediate wreckage, or with any of the debris that passed into the gravitational fields nearby. Why would they take her, though…?! She’s military. They never take military targets alive!” she groaned, sounding more than a little frustrated herself. That was usually the case, yeah. Civilian targets were usually deemed ‘easier’ to handle. This didn’t make sense, especially with them undoubtedly knowing that she was a high ranking member of the council, and thus, exceptionally dangerous. Twilight frowned at that, being the first to recover from the rather gruesome earlier part. “Mender told me that you were an expert at divination magic, right? If that’s the same as us ponies, that’s for communicating and detecting things at a distance. What’s the maximum range of detection for you, then?” she inquired, shifting to that other awkward topic. Keela exhaled weakly at that and shook her head. “That’s another one of those mysteries. Less about ‘why’ this time and more about ‘how’. They jumped in towards us from outside of my four dozen or so lightyear range on the detection enchantments. In one jump. They knew precisely where we were in dark space without using any known sensors,” she revealed. Either they had technology never before even hinted at to us, or they used some other means to locate her specifically. Both of those options were bad news. “Are you sure that Nirru wasn’t communicating externally?” I asked, the possibility of an insider informant not lost to me. “Positive,” Keela guaranteed, exhaling quietly again and returning her look ‘upwards’, as if some higher understanding would come to her if she continued. Hum. Frowning, I concluded, “That means that the only possibilities are that they have technology we’re not aware of, Nirru was a lot more accomplished a divination expert than any of us gave her credit for or had a sneaky way set up already, or one of the other Keldarians on board had been in communication instead.” That was the only real three possibilities. Of course, that also meant the Grosh were willingly communicating with a non-Grosh race, which was unheard of prior to them surprising me as well, back on the ship. That Grosh did indeed offer me substantial ‘reward’ for cooperating with him, which he would undoubtedly have not followed through on. Still, he talked coherently to me without mass attempts to murder or torture me. That was a definite change. Of course, it also marked how desperate he’d been to not let such an amazing opportunity slip through his fingers. A whole race of sapient, highly intelligent and peaceful creatures that hadn’t been murdered or enslaved yet! For shame! Curbing my negative ramblings, I noted that Keela was still silent, staring up at the dim lights above her. Twilight slid over on the couch and snuggled into my chest, letting me rest my head on the back of her neck and bury my muzzle in her mane. Her natural scents mixed with the soft floral smells of her shampoo from this morning, and I relaxed, feeling her smile against my inner shoulder. Yeah. As bad as all of it was, and despite Keela being forced to live it every day, I couldn’t stop myself from being happy that I was here instead of over there. Regardless of me complaining from time to time, dealing with squabbles between ponies and little mix-ups here and there was infinitely preferred to intergalactic war. It really put a perspective on things. Rarity finally cleared her throat softly and asked, “Keela, are you okay? I know this is all troubling, but if there’s some way we can help…” Actually helping was the hard part. The Keldarian closed her eyes and smiled softly at that, her expression somehow coming off as a little sad still. “No. I just really don’t want to be here anymore. My species might as well be dead, our home is gone, my only remaining family is dead, captured, or worse right now, and everyone is looking to me for answers I just don’t have. I want nothing more than to just forget about all of it and open a portal to Equestria right now. I’d never look back…” she muttered, eyes still closed but a certain amount of pain persisted in her voice. That was a sensation I was familiar with. Fatigue like that was hard to beat. “You should get some quality rest, Keela. Hopefully that’ll make you feel better,” I suggested, remembering that was how I usually beat stress. Smiling at that, she nodded before standing up more fully again. “Yeah, hopefully you’re right. I’m going to get some good food, then go to bed. Thinking can wait until tomorrow,” she agreed, starting to walk towards the large door behind the captain’s platform. I idly watched it slide open automatically for her before relaxing again. “Feel free to talk to us again whenever you need it. Tomorrow too about anything you find out,” I offered, trying to be as understanding as possible. She was in a bad position, and it was even starting to make me tired. Well, more tired. My bipedal friend smiled at that before pointing out, “You look downright exhausted as well, Mender. We should both get some sleep.” “We have to go get Fluttershy first, but I’m sure she’ll let us rest up afterwards. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow with all of the Fall celebrations. They’ll last a good three days after that, so we need to get good and rested up!” Twilight exclaimed, sounding noticeably more enthusiastic now. I wasn’t as readily swayed and only nodded to her, noting my lower back kind of hurt from laying upside down on that flat platform for hours. “Maybe we can just stay at her cabin tonight. We’d better go now, however, as it’s getting harder and harder to move,” I warned, taking my last sip of tea from my cup. This time I wasn’t going to let it go to waste! * * * * * Twilight walked alongside me as we headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage, the gentle night air dancing around us as we walked. There was a bit of a nip to the air, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been earlier today. Twilight also warned me that I might be getting a bit ‘fluffier’ in the future as winter set in. Turns out, ponies get winter coats! I learned something new every day. Learning was awesome, so I wasn’t about to complain! Actually, today in general was rapidly becoming awesome, as everything slid back into place and there wasn’t any fighting anymore. Awesome! “I can’t believe you drank two more cups of the tea before we left. You’re going to crash hard when the caffeine rush wears off, you realize?” Twilight reminded, smirking as she walked next to me. A bit jittery at this point, I realized my hooves were twitching every time I stepped down and glared down at them, as if to silence their subtle mutiny against me. “Hey, I needed to wake up at least enough to make it to Fluttershy’s cottage. Otherwise I would have simply passed out halfway there and you would have had to drag me. Wait, it is called a cottage, right? I’m never certain on my terminology compared to pony language,” I inquired, earning more giggling from the mare. She finally managed to get it out of her system with one last snicker, then confirmed, “Yes, it’s called a cottage. If you’re so curious about things, you know you can ask me anything. Getting you adapted to pony culture would be a pleasure, Mender.” She probably signed her own death warrant with that one, but that would undoubtedly help me out in the long run. If she didn’t mind the barrage of questions from time to time. “Oooh, okay! Well, a good start would be learning about this winter fur thing. How long are we talking here? Does it leave on its own or do we have to cut it? What about maintaining it in the middle of winter? If it leaves on its own, does it all just fall out at once leaving me practically naked in the middle of wherever I happen to be at the given time, or is it a more gradual thing?” I started, looking back over at her curiously as she started laughing again. What?! After recovering from that bout of giggling, Twilight answered with, “About three to five centimeters at most, although most ponies trim it in the winter, too, in order to keep it thinner. It leaves on its own but gradually! Plus, aren’t you already naked? I think the term you were looking for is ‘bald’…” Psh, she was no fun. “I know, I know. Ponies are naked most of the time. Hey, that took me a while to get used to, you know! For that first few days, I kept feeling all drafty all the time back there. Plus, it didn’t help that there were other naked ponies all around and I kept, uh… No, correction, I’ll stop there…” I trailed off, feeling another flush of heat come to my cheeks that wasn’t a caffeine rush this time. Twilight smirked and blushed a bit at that, too, then bumped into my flank, rocking me sideways a little as I twitched and scrambled back onto four solid hooves. “Heh, you should overdose on caffeine more often. It makes your mouth outpace your mind and I actually learn things about you before you censor yourself,” she teased, looking back over at me as I scowled at her. To my surprise, however, she had a more sincere smile, and I was forced to blush more and look away from her as we stopped on the bridge leading to Fluttershy’s cottage. “Relax, Mender. I just want to learn more about you, is all. It’s never come up before, which surprises me. Surely you have likes and dislikes. Needs, wants, desires… Maybe even dreams and a future you want to aim towards?” she suggested, giving a more earnest smile as she sat down on the cobbled bridge. The street lights had already come on all across Ponyville, illuminating us with a soft light against the backdrop of the rising moon. Ack, no! She wasn’t asking about anything like that! Focus, Mender! I fidgeted back and forth for a moment before taking a deeper breath and calming myself again, forcing my hind legs to bend and set my butt down on the cobblestone. “Well, long term things like dreams and a future is kind of… Uh, I don’t think I’ve slowed down long enough to really consider all of that. All of you amazing ponies are in it, though, especially you and Fluttershy. That I can… I can see that easily,” I started. Her blush shifted a more rosy shade as she dipped her head down a little but kept eye contact, smiling shyly. It was rather adorable, and I had to lean over and kiss her softly on the nose, earning another giggle. She was really happy tonight… “I’m glad that we’re in it. Things are looking brighter and brighter for us, and I don’t think I want to ever give this up for anything. That’s why I want us to get past this…” she explained, reaching out and resting her right forehoof against my chest. I took each side of it with my own and held it there as she closed her eyes. “I know. You’re honest, and I can see that. Giving you another chance and being patient is easy because of that. As for my wants and desires… that’s kinda tricky, too. Right now, I’d love a place to relax and snuggle with the two of you, my twitches and vibrations keeping you both warm with the extra heat from the kinetic energy it generates…” I furthered. She started giggling again, then slid forwards into my chest, relaxing further. After a moment of just nuzzling my neck, she smiled against my fur and added, “I think that’s doable. We have to comfort Fluttershy first, though. It sounds like she’s had a bad day, too.” Oh, right. Yeah, Rarity had said that she was downright miserable when the mare visited her earlier. Both of us were interrupted by a squeak, almost inaudible to the naked ear. If one of us had happened to be talking at that moment, we would have probably missed it entirely. Looking to my right, I saw the very mare we’d been looking for outside of her cottage. The little crystal in her mouth was still glowing, and I saw the lantern on the path to her house now lit. She was frozen now, however, looking up the bridge towards us with surprised looking eyes. “Oh, Fluttershy! Just the mare we were looking for,” Twilight chirped, standing upright again and heading towards her slowly. The yellow mare popped the crystal out of her mouth and onto her hoof before tossing it backwards into her left saddlebag, giving Twilight a gentle smile back. “You seem much happier now. And you’re together?” she asked softly, sounding a bit surprised at that fact. I stood as well and trailed slightly behind Twilight, eager enough to simply let her do the talking for now. Plus, the view was better back here. The lavender mare smiled before sitting down next to Fluttershy and looking back at me as I approached. “Yeah. We bumped into each other at Rarity’s, and she, well, helped us through a calm talk. Things are… Well, we’re better now,” she tried to explain. Fluttershy smiled and nodded tiredly, looking like she hadn’t had a very good day at all. She was probably overworking herself to keep the stress levels down, which I could understand. Her eyes widened a little as I didn’t slow down, instead slipping right up and pulling her into a soft hug against me. Slowly, her muscles relaxed as her forelegs slipped up and draped themselves over my shoulders, her releasing a soft exhale. “Mmm, I’m glad. I need you two tonight. I missed you both,” she murmured, pushing her muzzle into my neck. “Oh?” I inquired, smiling as I squeezed her, then rubbed up along her back muscles and working out a soft groan for my efforts. Twilight started snickering again and warned, “Careful. He’s got three cups of Rarity’s tea in him, and I think it makes him frisky.” Hey! I shot a mildly annoyed glare over at Twilight again, but Fluttershy just started giggling. The sound of her being happy made it remarkably difficult to stay mad, as usual, and I relaxed, just holding her tight. That’s when the yellow mare utterly and completely surprised me. “Mmm, that’s okay. If we don’t end up trying anything tonight, I think I’m going to have to borrow him for a little bit and take him out into the woods for an hour or so… Um, if that’s okay with him, of course,” she playfully remarked. Okay, so not a complete surprise, but very daring for a Fluttershy statement. Wait, hour?! Twilight grinned at that before nodding. “I’d already planned on attempt two, this time with less hospital visits, I hope. If not for Mender, for Nurse Redheart, who really needs a day off,” she reminded, getting two nods in agreement. Yeah, Red really needed some time off by the look of it. The last time I saw her, she was almost falling asleep standing up. Now that would just be silly. “Just don’t push yourself, Twilight. I’d suggest the same to Fluttershy, but due to that last comment…” I teased, earning a gentle blush and smile from Fluttershy, and a more relaxed nod from Twilight. “No, I think I’m a lot better off this time around. Do you think we could take a bath or shower first, though? I kind of like being clean, especially if we’re going to be doing anything more intimate later,” she requested. I looked to Fluttershy as well, but she instead perked her ears up and rotated them around, listening behind her for a moment. Finally, seemingly content, she rotated her ears back around and shook her head. “I don’t hear Discord singing in the shower, so it should be okay. Just, um, check the faucet and shower head first. He sometimes likes to hide in there unexpectedly,” she warned. Ah, right. Him being a shapeshifter was sometimes more trouble than it was worth. Well, to us, anyway. He was probably having a blast with it. Twilight looked less than pleased with the news. “Wait, what does he do, spy on you while you’re trying to clean up? Ew!” she exclaimed, making a gagging motion with her hoof. The yellow mare held up two hooves in exchange away from me, making a subtle assuring motion towards Twilight. “Oh, no, no! He more likes to startle me by being found in or jumping out of unexpected spots, is all. He’s actually very proper acting most of the time, don’t worry,” she assured, clearing up my other question at the same time. I guessed he was just a jerk to non-Fluttershys, then. I wondered if there was a way to start cloning her. The world would benefit from that, no? Twilight exhaled softly and walked past us then towards the cottage. “Well, so long as he doesn’t do that while we’re actually in there washing up, I won’t have to try stun blasting him again,” she warned, voice a little louder than needed, probably in hopes he was near enough to hear it. There wasn’t an answer, so all we could do was hope for the best. Fluttershy smiled and pecked me on the cheek before standing again and gesturing me to follow with her head. Relaxing, I stretched out before standing up again and trotting after them, almost feeling like running towards the door instead. No, keep it in check, Mender. You know you’re not good at that ‘sprinting’ thing yet. Keeping my hooves going the right way was sometimes challenging for me still, but at least I could do so without constantly thinking about it now! I was tempted to cheat and write a program to do it for me, but the last thing I needed was it glitching out and walking me off a cliff or something. If that stupid targeting program was misbehaving, I didn’t put much faith in the other codes being executed properly. Walking, thankfully, I headed towards Fluttershy again, who stood in her doorway holding it open for me with a happy smile. I ducked in and kissed her softly on the lips, earning a squeak as I pushed us both inside, the door closing behind us…
Chapter 83Stretching slowly, I yawned and cracked my eyes open. Mmm, that had been an interesting dream adventure. Awareness slowly focused back into place, and I smiled gently as I realized the lavender unicorn was still snuggling softly into my forelegs, muzzle pressed into my chest and a soft smile apparent on her face. She had gotten a lot closer to both of us last night, it felt like. Plus, it was the start of a celebration today! Oh, and my jaw hadn't been impaled on a horn as I slept! The possibility of that happening hadn't eluded me, but hers was kind of rounded, so it probably wouldn't hurt too badly. Regardless, a good day overall! Fluttershy was snuggled into my back at the same time. I chalked up tomorrow night as when both of us snuggled Twilight, if I had my rotations right. Twilight had made a rather easy to follow schedule which fit rather easily into every month having thirty days, which was divisible by three, of course. She really liked that part. Then each of us would get exactly ten nights getting pancaked between the other two. Secretly, I didn't mind regardless. Watching them snuggle together was beyond adorable as well. The only thing that changed was who I happened to be holding. She started going into a more elaborate formula to figure out which direction the center pony would be facing, but we stopped her there, thankfully. The yellow mare stirred behind me first, leaning forward and pushing her face into my mane with a pleased murmur, nuzzling the back of my neck softly. Twilight's ears twitched against my chin as she heard the soft noise, and she started moving as well. Both were the gentle sort of wake ups, not that cold sweat jerking awake halfway through a terrified scream as something murdered you. As Redheart had found out, I was no stranger to those either. Ironically, it was usually me that was killing me. Well, maybe it was just my armor. Either way, I was really scary. Twilight's eyes slowly opened, the two pretty, violet orbs lifted upwards to look at me, her smile widening a little. Ducking her horn, I kissed between them gently, causing her to close them for a second and giggle. I felt Fluttershy smile through our link before she spoke, "I'm glad you two are getting along much better." Her voice was a bit softer than normal with a slight sleepy slur to it that she always had when just waking up. The lavender mare giggled more at that, seeming in fine spirits indeed. "I think that's an understatement after... Well, after all that,” she murmured, a light blush coming back to her cheeks as she buried her muzzle in my neck again, as if to hide herself. As cute as it was, it wouldn't do. Feeling Fluttershy think the same thing and urge me forwards, I nodded and used my right forehoof to slip up Twilight's back, raising her head up gently from the side. Fluttershy peeked around my head at the same time and instead spoke for me. "We really love you, Twilight. Um, you don't need to get embarrassed about showing affection and enjoying each other's company, especially when it's just us here," she assured softly. Twilight watched us for a moment before her eyes softened a little and she nodded, the flushed cheeks still there regardless. "I know. This'll just take me some time to get used to, is all. Um," she started, before hesitating and frowning slightly. I felt her shift around a little under the blankets, and then her cheeks went from pink to red again. "Um, do you think we could take another shower before breakfast?" she asked hesitantly. Gasping, I pretended to be shocked before pointing out, "Twilight! We just took a shower last night! Why do we need to take another one so soon?" I felt light amusement come from Fluttershy, but Twilight squeaked and held her hooves up to me. "But... But after all that..." she tried to protest. I started snickering, unable to keep my poker face at that. She gave me a scowl, instantly realizing I'd been screwing with her, and Fluttershy giggled. "We usually take a morning shower, too, Twilight. Don't worry. We can go get cleaned up,” she assured, letting the mare relax against my chest again. Twilight exhaled softly in relief, then smirked up at me. "Then what are we waiting for? We have a rather big day ahead of us, after all, and the shower takes at least forty-five minutes!" she reminded, hopping out of bed in an instant and bringing that horrible, dreaded cold in from beyond. Arg! Wait, what? "Wait, forty-five minutes? For a shower?" I asked, trying to sit up at least as my body screamed in protest. Fluttershy giggled at that, then kissed my cheek and fluttered past. I gave her a confused look until she glanced back over her left shoulder and winked at me, her tail lightly flicking up and smacking me in the nose. Oh. Oh... Finding motivation from somewhere, I hopped up in bed and stretched. Right. Long showers were cool, too! This day was starting to turn out awesome! * * * * * Sort of. I sighed, staring at the rather significant crowds of ponies practically everywhere along town square and the paths leading to and from it. The direction heading towards the Southeast field was particularly crowded, and I knew that was both the starting line for the Running of the Leaves, and the main cloud bank they'd set up for the Cloudy Sky Dash afterwards. Several friends were in the first race, with both Applejack and Rainbow Dash competing against each other in it, and Pinkie Pie and Spike doing their annual announcing. They also announced for the second race, too, which I heard was quite a bit rougher. I was a bit concerned for Rainbow, hoping she didn't tire herself out in the first race before even getting to the second. Normally she was fine with pacing, but if she got into her 'hot blooded' mode, that might go out the window. Still, there wasn't a lot I could do about it. For now, I had a specific list of things I needed to get done, of course. Twilight had given me a lot to do, and I'd only managed a few of them so far. The mass against my back moved again, and I glanced back at Spike as he readjusted himself on top of me, still reading over a checklist. "Okay, so we picked up the blanket and picnic basket from the library. We got some veggies from both Applejack and Carrot Top. Now we just need to get some sandwich materials from Lily and Daisy, then pick up some refreshments at Sugarcube Corner. Mmm, they do sell those soda bottles there," he read off, checking things off as we finished them. He was looking rather lonely at the library when I arrived with Twilight's list, having spent the night there by himself, so I asked if he wanted to come with and help me get things done. He agreed surprisingly quickly. "The flower trio’s stand is closer, so we'll head there next," I suggested idly, spotting it in the corner of the market. It turns out they don't just offer flowers for decoration, but also ground and snipped flower product for food purposes, in many tasty and varied types. Given that was one of my favorite sandwich stuffers, I was more than pleased to hear this. Plus, they typically had freshly baked bread there as well, more as a matter of convenience than anything. Sugarcube Corner didn't just make sugary treats, ironically, but also baked a lot of more normal bread products. They shared a bit of the profit with the flower trio for selling at their shop, it would seem. Spike snickered at that, then pointed out in an amused voice, "You just want to get the sandwich materials!" I rolled my eyes at that. Admittedly, they were my favorite food, but this was just practical! "Hey, they're closer. Besides, if you behave, we'll pick up Rarity after we get done at Sugarcube Corner," I offered. He froze momentarily, eyes widening before he rapidly nodded and grinned at me. Heh. Predictable, but that wasn't necesarily a bad thing. Squeezing through the crowd, I slipped closer towards the stand, only to note Rose sitting at it instead, surprising me a little. Normally she tended to their stocks instead behind their stand, conveniently where their house was. Lily and Daisy were nowhere to be seen, however. The cream colored mare smiled at me and waved as I approached, and I gave a less enthusiastic one in return, nodding. Crowds made me uneasy, especially when there were so many ponies I didn't know in it. Lots of visitors had come in from practically the entire nation, with Ponyville's wide open expanse of fields and winding country roads being ideal for the Running of the Leaves. The Cloudy Sky Dash was slightly newer, it would seem, having only become tradition about ten or twelve years ago. It was also more commercial, and seemed to take advantage of the large crowds gathered by the older race to get some nice, sky high advertising going on. It sort of made me wonder what kind of economy Equestria had. I'd never paid that much attention. "Glad to see a friendly, familiar face!" Rose chirped as I slipped up in front of the stand, Spike leaning over my head to wave at her as well. I snickered at that, still a bit skittish as my proximity sensors kept pinging against passing ponies. I carefully checked each and every one of them, too, not too keen to be surprised by BEID or something amidst the crowd. "It's strange to hear that, given that I only moved here a month or so back," I admitted, relaxing a little as I turned to look at her again. She gave me a warm smile as she snickered, then assured, "We make friends fast in Ponyville. You're old hat by now, and a nice stallion to boot, so that's grade A in my book." There were a lot of different phrases in there that I didn't quite get, but she kept going before I could inquire, and instead asked, "You're looking a bit... uneasy, though. Any national emergencies we should know about?" Heh. "Haha, no, thankfully. I just don't like crowds, is all," I assured, remembering how easily panicked ponies could get sometimes. She visibly relaxed, then grinned, and I winced. That reaction was usually never good for me. "Aww! You're shy, then! That's really adorable. I thought an important pony like yourself would have been the opposite, but that's just fine regardless! Anyway, are you here for something in particular?" she inquired, perking up afterwards. Whew. I only blushed slightly, having expected something far worse to come out of her mouth. Maybe I was just used to dealing with Rainbow too much? "Yeah, we're here to pick up sandwich supplies for the events later! We're having a picnic after the first race," Spike cut in, slipping the list down over my face and letting it unfurl, completely blocking my sight of Rose as he pointed out the ingredients Twi had written down. Well, this worked, too... The cream colored mare giggled again before starting to move about behind her stand. "Ah, Twilight sent you, then. I'd recognize her writing anywhere. Where's she at, then?" she asked, shifting to a 'polite conversation' tone while grabbing what I assumed was the ingredients on the list. I hoped. "She's the organizer for the events, so she had to go and help them set up about two hours ago. Fluttershy's at Rarity's and awaiting my arrival," I explained idly, shifting about as I stared at the back of the list paper, still keeping an eye on my proximity sensors. Thankfully I didn't need to be able to see in order to detect threats. Rose let out a wistful sigh as she started putting things in the basket for me. "I guess all of us know what it's like to be stuck working during the festivities. Lily and Daisy are down at the field, getting the decorations set up right now. Sometimes, I kinda wish I was a tourist instead, so I could just enjoy the show," she revealed, sounding a bit sad at that. I shook my head, then suggested, "Can't you close up shop after the festival starts?" Of course, the Cakes weren't either, as ponies came in all during the day to get food and drinks. It was unfortunate that Equestria didn't have some sort of broadcasting ability for situations like this. She let out another, softer giggle before hesitating. "No, I really shouldn't. I have morning shift, and ponies are going to be coming all day for food. We're taking turns with watching the shop so the other two can watch the races. They get to see the first race, then I get to see the second with Daisy," she explained, putting the last of the ingredients into the basket. Spike rolled the scroll up again and put it into my saddlebag as I set the pink coin purse on the stand and slid six bits out of it. Spike shook his head at that as I counted out the tiny coins. This was harder than it looked with hooves, but I didn't want to draw undue attention using my magic. "So Daisy gets to see both races? That doesn't seem fair," the dragon pointed out, sounding surprisingly irate about it, despite it technically not being any of our business. Rose blushed lightly at that, then snickered and shook her head. "Oh, well, uh, no, Daisy's paying us both back for it later," she assured vaguely. Huh. "Oh? Okay! I guess it's really none of my business. You're all my friends though and yeah..." he excused, scratching the back spines behind his head in a sort of awkward manner. That I could relate to. My special talent should have been the faux pas. Although what would that Cutie Mark look like? Two ponies in one of those awkward hugs that lasted two seconds too long? My proximity alert going off again snapped me out of it, triggering right behind me and almost making me freak out and fall into a guard stance. Almost, thankfully, or I might have caused another one of those situations. A glance over my shoulder, however, only showed another mare slipping into the queue behind me, looking up at the 'menu' that was hung under the "Three Flower's Delights" sign. Okay, Fluttershy was right. Maybe I should release some tranquilizers into my system. I moved out of the way as I slid my bits forward, Rose taking them and nodding, sliding my basket to me in return with a smile. "I understand, Spike. I know you're just concerned," she returned, giving him a happy expression before, without missing a beat, turning to the mare and adding, "Hello, Miss! How may I help you?" Okay, she'd definitely done this before. I glanced over at the white mare as she trotted up, still looking up at the menu as she brushed a bit of her dark green mane out of her lighter green eyes. Something about her seemed strange, but I was probably being paranoid again. "Um, I'm still looking. Give me a moment," she requested in a gentle sounding voice. Rose gave her a pleasant nod before looking back to me instead. Scratch that. It was probably her vacant, spaced out looking stare as she looked at the board that gave me the strange vibes. "Don't think we forgot what you requested, either! We wanted to let you know that the day after the festivities, we're open for talking a bit about herds, if you're still interested. Lots of ponies have herd troubles," she reminded. Oh! Admittedly, between everything that happened in Canterlot, then falling out of a train while on fire, I'd totally forgotten that I'd requested to talk to them about that. Still, it wasn't too bad of an idea. Nodding, I agreed with, "I should be fine for then. We do have to go back to Canterlot a few days after the festival, but I should still have plenty of time." Assuming nothing disastrous happened, of course. Given my luck, I could be anywhere at that point. The moon, swimming away from sharks in the ocean, Pony Hell if it existed, or far more likely, in the hospital. Again. Motion out of the corner of my eye drew my attention again, snapping me out of my various imagined scenarios of differing degrees of doom. Proximity scans had nothing new, and I turned to note the white mare now staring up at Spike instead of the menu. Oh, I guessed it was a little weird to be walking around with a small dragon on my back. He didn't notice her attention until she spoke, however. "Uhm, I don't mean to intrude, but did you say your name was Spike?" she inquired softly, in a polite but curious tone. The lack of energy behind her words made me a little tired just hearing her talk, but I kept a smile on all the same. Shining Armor had said I needed to at least attempt to appear confident and assured of myself, even when I was totally the opposite. It hadn't been really applicable until now, however. The dragon perked and looked over at her curiously, but I saw no dawning recognition on his face. So he didn't know her, then. "Oh, yes, I am. Heh. Ponyville's resident dragon," he confirmed, giving a somewhat awkward smile. There was a long, even more awkward pause as she just blankly stared at him for almost five seconds. Even Rose blinked slowly and frowned towards the mare after it started to get strange. "Oh. As in, Element Bearer Twilight Sparkle's assistant? A dragon?" she inquired next, still not blinking towards him as she took in details of his form, then slowly lowered her eyes to me instead. They were a pretty bluish green in color, and held surprisingly more warmth than her general presentation betrayed. I got those strange vibes again. "Uh, yeah. I live with Twilight at the library. Um, and yeah, I'm a dragon," Spike answered, shifting to a more confused expression, probably also wondering where this was going. My subdermal armor folded up just in case. Even more startling, she frowned the second my armor went up. Before I could even tilt my head, she asked, "Are you all right, Sir? Your life force just significantly deminished." What?! Alert flags went off in my head and I frowned at her. She could see my life force? She had training of some sort. Lately, 'training' was a bad sign for me, I noted. I couldn't do a scan of her with my eyes while she was looking right at me, but I could use my magic instead. My energy drifted up into my eyes for just a moment, giving me a flickering image of her inner energy paths. That instant was all my computer side needed to get a snapshot, and I examined it while staring at her. To my surprise, while she had a normal web of energy running through her body like a standard unicorn, a huge amount of pooling was behind her eyes, forming two additional 'pockets' of reserved energy that I normally only saw in the chest and head of a pony. Even weirder, instead of 'veins' of energy extending up into her horn, her head reservoir bulged upwards and pushed right up against the base of it. What that would do to her magic, I couldn't really guess. She smiled, however, a heartbeat later, in a disarmingly warm manner. "You don't have to scan me. I'm really a pony. I'm just a necromancer. We train our eyes to be able to see things more readily missed by others. I was only concerned for your wellbeing, but you appear unharmed. And an Earth Pony with the ability to perform magical scans?" she asked, a bit of energy shifting into her voice, coming off as what I could only assume was excitement. A necromancer? Yet again, I had to banish the image left behind by the Keldarian version of that profession, it definitely clashing violently with the Equus varient, it would seem. They almost reminded me more of seers than some 'raising of undead' variety. "Uh, I'm not exactly a normal stallion. Is there a reason you were interested in Spike?" I asked, trying to focus her back on the prior event. Wait, I didn't even know her name. She paused, expression blanking out for a moment as she was apparently caught completely off guard. Rose continued giving her a questioning stare, looking a little creeped out herself. Finally, she seemed to remember with a small start, then smiled again. "Oh, right. I was looking for the library, and knew Twilight Sparkle lived there. I was looking for Twilight Sparkle so I could find the library, and knew Spike was her assistant. Could you please show me where the library is, Mister Spike?" she requested politely, drawing that series of connections out about three times more than needed. He stared blankly at her still, then frowned, looking down at me instead. "Do you think we have time, Mender?" he asked, sounding beyond unnerved by this entire encounter. Admittedly, I sort of agreed with him. My mouth started to open again when the white mare let out a little gasp, eyes widening as she locked onto me instead. There was a surprisingly intense amount of focus in them, as if she was memorizing exactly what I looked like. Okay, I was tempted to see if I could just arrest her right now on account of highly suspicious behavior. I didn't feel comfortable leading her to the library at all. "Did you say his name was Mender?" she asked quickly, her speed belaying a certain eagerness to her. Okay, that made it even worse. Was she trying to be as creepy as possible? "Uh, yeah. Moon Mender. Why do you want to find the library so-" I started to ask. All of my proximity alerts kicked on less than an instant later, and my eyes widened as I started to shift to the left in order to brace, a fast moving object coming in from my right. "Mender!" the cyan mare called out as she dove in. That was all the warning I got to throw a shield up over the surprised Spike, locking him to my back. She hit us with a surprisingly soft thud and kept going, wings a blazing flare of rainbow light as she arced sharply upwards, taking us with her. Slipping my forelegs around her shoulders, I just held on as she grabbed me, and we rocketed upwards and away from Ponyville at about a forty degree angle and at least a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. Damn it! * * * * * I really didn't know why her house had a door. Rainbow shot right in through the open window, and before I even had a chance to ask her where we were going, Spike and I were spilled out onto a rather soft surface, coming to a stop abruptly as we hit a stack of pillows. Ah, she had a convenient landing platform. That's why she didn't use the door. The 'landing platform' turned out to be a bed when I finally got my face out of the distinctly Rainbow smelling pile of pillows. The room was smaller in size, housing only the bed, a dresser and mirror combo, and a bookshelf filled to the brim with Daring Do novels. Rainbow herself stood up slowly on the bed, flexing her wings a bit before tucking them up again. I helped Spike out of the overly fluffy pile, and both of us gave an inquiring stare at the mare that had delivered us here. Well, he had a stare. Mine was more of a glare. "Don't mares usually ask for a date first?" I asked, shifting to a more skeptical expression once my irritation died down. Dash and Spike both flushed lightly, and the mare flailed her hooves at me. "No teasing! I need your help, Mender! Really, really bad! Can you please, please help me?! I'll do anything!" she requested, oddly enough tossing a 'blank check' into my lap, so to speak. Whatever it was, it must have been really important. "I kinda need to know what it is before agreeing to it, Dash. Are you okay?" I asked, frowning as I took in more of her appearance. She had darker circles under her eyes and her coat and mane were slightly more disheveled than usual. She also had a strange scent about her that definitely wasn't from the shower. This was more feminine, yet smelled distinctly like Rainbow. Weird... She huffed momentarily before tossing out, "Okay, so I didn't really sleep more than a few hours last night. No, I'm too freaked out over the races today! Especially the second one! I need more practice, Mender. Bad! You need to help me practice with my wings more! Please? I'll do literally anything you want if you do!" Admittedly, the 'begging' tone didn't fit her very well. Spike frowned finally, looking around the room while doing so. "Uh, why'd ya have to bring us up here just to ask for practice?" he asked, rubbing the side of his head with a claw. Rainbow's ears drooped a little as she sat up fully on the bed, averting her eyes and hesitating. "Look, I... I'm not comfortable with other ponies seeing me like this. You and Mender I trust, and I know you aren't gonna laugh at me or anything. I'm a mess right now. I need to win the race today, big time, but..." she muttered, sounding just as freaked out as she looked. “But…?” I encouraged, tilting my head as I leaned back against the pillows instead. This was still better than crashing us into hay, I supposed, although she could have had better timing. I was still a bit concerned about the ‘necromancer’ mare who so badly wanted to find the library. It explained her abilities to see life force, but she was still a bit strange. Rainbow fidgeted back and forth for a moment before rapidly spitting out, “I just found out that the Wonderbolts are going to be there, too! They might even be competing in the race! If they're going to be there, I'll need a serious edge to win. Plus, both you and Fluttershy seem to think that confessing with the sky writing thing is a bad idea! Now I'm starting to have second thoughts about that, too, and I don't know what I'm going to do about it." Taking a moment to process all of that, I exhaled softly and stood. Wobbling a little on the unstable surface, I walked over to Rainbow instead, who gave me a confused look. She didn't move, however, as I shifted behind her instead and brushed down her twitching wings, kneading my hooves gently into her back. She got the hint and relaxed a little, shivering as I massaged her flight muscles and lower back. She was a mess of knots and spasms, of course, hinting at the stress that lay beneath, even if I couldn't feel it directly at this range. "Rainbow, calm down. In my honest opinion, you've staked too much on this one event. Putting all of your hope in one maneuver or tactic is never a very sound strategy unless you're confident of its outcome. You're not, so maybe you should consider confessing to Applejack at some later time?" I suggested, massaging along her lower back. She groaned, then huffed at that, starting to open her mouth to probably refute that, but I pushed a knot down at the same time and turned it into a stifled moan instead, causing her to shiver. I was kind of surprised she was even able to fly us up here with her muscles like this... Spike nodded at my words before pointing out, "Yeah, Applejack's not going anywhere, and seems to really value your relationship already, so you can honestly tell her any time, can't you? I mean, it might not be as flashy as a huge air show, but maybe she'd appreciate 'subtle' a little more?" Surprisingly wise words for somepony who didn't know the meaning of subtle in his own infatuation. Still, I wasn't one to give good relationship advice either. Rainbow exhaled wearily, then fell forward onto her stomach, letting me follow her back down and get more leverage against her as she relaxed and closed her eyes. "Mmm. I just wanted it to be 'awesome', ya know? She deserves my best, but... I suppose if I scare her off with it, it's definitely not sending the right message. Arg! Feelings and relationships are so complicated!" the mare groaned out, whacking her forehead into her thankfully soft sheets. "I hear you there. I'm sure you heard all about the little event two nights ago by now," I pointed out, deciding that was probably a perfect example of 'complicated' as far as relationships go. Rainbow started snickering at that, and I knew I'd guessed right, a little flush coming to my cheeks. She assured, however, "Don't worry. We made Pinkie swear to not tell anypony else. Rarity doesn't normally gossip either, but there's no secrets between us Elements. That sounded seriously painful." Her tone was surprisingly sympathetic rather than teasing, and I relaxed a little and nodded. 'Painful' was one word for it. I'd have used 'Mind-numbingly Agonizing and Traumatic', but that was just me. "Aww, nopony told me," Spike complained, frowning at the sudden realization of being left out. Exhaling softly, I debated it for a moment before shrugging. "Don't spread it around. It was kind of traumatic for me. Twilight made a discovery about my anatomy and ended up blasting me with an unexpectedly horrendously agonizing spell in a very sensitive and private area," I summarized. Sonic vibrations sent up something with a metal core didn't feel the greatest, it turns out. The dragon winced almost instantly, lowering himself a little closer to the bed and pushing his legs together. "Oh... That's horrible! Why did she do that?!" he demanded, voice strained with sympathetic empathy pain. Dash rolled her eyes at that one before reminding, "It's Twilight. When it comes to 'science', she doesn't exactly pull punches. That's already gotten her in trouble before. This time just caused somepony else to get hurt instead of just her." Ah. Honestly, that didn't surprise me either. Shaking my head, I felt compelled to at least defend the mare, as she wasn't here to represent herself. "She felt truly bad for it already. She made it up to Fluttershy and me," I assured, only realizing the implications of that statement after I'd said it. Unfortunately, the implications in this case were true, which Rainbow undoubtedly knew already. It didn't stop her from grinning, however. "Oooh, you'll have to give me the juicy details later!" she cooed, eyes opening again as she looked back up at me. Shooting her a mildly annoyed glare, I leaned in more and cracked her back in three spots, earning a wince and sharp exhale from her due to my weight. She went right back to smirking after, however, and I just rolled my eyes. "Uh, ew. She's kinda like my sister. I don't wanna hear about it," Spike groaned, covering those fins along the side of his head that I assumed aided his hearing in some way. "Aww, are ya sure? Sometimes sisters and brothers do kinda-" Rainbow started to tease before Spike let out a pained yelp and squeezed his head harder. "Nope! Definitely not! Helping her into the bondage outfit back in Canterlot was bad enough!" he exclaimed, quickly denying her as I chuckled. Ah, right. That was an experience. First time I learned about those anti-magic horn ring thingies. And learned that they violently combust and explode if the unicorn overpowers them with a pure ocean of magic. All in the same evening! I should start keeping a quota for explosions. It might help me make more sense of my life, giving a bit of organization. Rainbow almost choked on her tongue, however. "What?! Why didn't I hear about this?! I have to hear about this!" she exclaimed, sounding absolutely gleeful. I suspected it was less to do with gossip and more to do with laughing hysterically at the story... “As much as I hate to remind you, we’re kind of on a time limit right now, Rainbow. Are you sure you should be practicing this soon before the race, though?” I reminded, not really knowing much about competition events like this. Also, it got me out of having to tell that story, which was always a good thing. Dash groaned, then buried her face back into the sheets instead. “No, it’s a bad idea. I’ll probably get ‘dead wings’ and not even be able to fly up to the starting line,” she admitted, scraping her right forehoof along the mattress. I shifted up to working with her upper back muscles, and she switched to a soft sigh, relaxing against my hooves. “Mmm, I probably shouldn’t even run in the Running of the Leaves, but the two races are four hours apart, so I should be able to rest up between,” she tacked on, starting to plan out things better already. Smiling, I nodded to that, feeling her relax a little already. “I’ll give you a long massage between races, too, don’t worry. We’ll get you back in top shape for the second one,” I assured. She blushed a little at that, a warmer smile on her face as she rested on her tummy. “Mmm, that sounds awesome. Gotta make sure I’m nice and rested up. Might even take a nap right now…” she contemplated, sighing contentedly. Spike lifted an eyebrow at that before inquiring, “Uh, how are we gonna get down then? We kind of need to get our basket back. We accidentally left it at the flower stand.” Oh, oops. He was right. Well, I’m sure Rose would hold onto it for us… Cue snickering. Ugh. “Even if I have a reputation to keep, there’s nopony to see us all the way up here, so I can afford to get a bit of snuggle time in with the two cute boys I got hostage,” she deduced, rose colored eyes opening again to smirk back up at me. I rolled my eyes at that. “Suck up. You just want more massaging. You owe us for the kidnapping, though,” I warned her, smirking right back. She outright grinned, then giggled as she relaxed again. “I’m cute?” Spike asked, sounding genuinely perplexed by that concept, which was kind of sad now that I thought about it. Not losing a beat, Rainbow immediately answered, “Of course! Of course, I’m not going to get in the way of you and Rarity. Looks like she’s finally starting ta get the hots for ya, after all!” Oh, that wasn’t fair! The little dragon blushed furiously as his eyes widened quite a bit. Of course, maybe the encouragement was justified. I thought Rarity was still in the ‘tentative consideration’ stage, but considering there were no secrets between the Elements of Harmony, maybe she knew something I didn’t? “R-Really?! She is?!” he quickly asked, earning an even wider grin from the cyan mare. Sighing, I cut him off and asked, “Do you need anything else, Rainbow? If not, we really do need to finish getting the food for the picnic later tonight after the races.” It was interesting having a ‘picnic’ in the evening, honestly. I always thought they were more an afternoon sort of thing, but I guess that wasn’t completely true. She paused for a moment, and I knew there was something else. “Uh, yeah, actually. I have sort of a… Well, it’s a problem of mine,” she started to explain, hesitating and frowning for a moment. A problem? Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long while coming up with dreadful possibilities for what it could be, as she immediately continued with, “Right. I’ll just say it. I like using my wings. Like, a lot. I have to physically tie them down in order to run hoof races now, as it’s just second nature for me to open them and take to the sky. I’m a bit… Well, I’m worried that it’s going to take a bit more than hemp rope to tie them down after you put the rockets in them.” Oh. Right, those. “Ah, yeah, that’s a legitimate problem. Do you want me to build a kill switch into them?” I offered, that being really the only solution that I could think of. Rainbow blinked, then swallowed at that. “A w-what?!” she asked almost immediately. Oh, right. They weren’t really familiar with electronics here at all. That being so, that undoubtedly sounded horrible. “Ah, no, not like that!” I quickly assured, nudging her back down into a more relaxed position before continuing with, “A kill switch is something that ‘kills’ the functioning of something else. In this case, it’s a switch that I’ll give you that will manually turn off your wing jets. It’ll take me a little bit, though. I have the basic one set up, but I’m going to have to give you control over it.” She nodded back at me, then let me spread her wings out as I brought up the linked node system that was connected to each jet. It wouldn’t be too complicated, but would take a bit of time. Making an actual energy interrupter at the base of the system would be fastest, but the fraction of a second lag that would introduce into the system each time she gave her wings an ‘order’ would be bad. Instead, I used the ones that reworked the base jets themselves, to also get around having to re-calibrate them all to her movements and nerves again. Besides, they were already basically in place, and I was really lazy. Of course, at this point, her ‘enchantment’ was practically cybernetics themselves, given that they were ‘wired’ up to her nervous system. So yeah, a kill switch was strangely appropriate. This one would just turn the jets off. The energy coating on the wings when they powered up was more than likely harmless and gave no speed benefits, so that could stay. I hoped… The process itself took about twenty minutes or so. Showing her how to access the newly implemented toggle switch took a little longer. Given that I knew she had nanites in her body at this point, I simply broke down and took the easy way out, having them project an image onto the inside of her eye, like they do with mine. That showed her the status of her wings and let her toggle them with her mind, which unsurprisingly, she found all sorts of awesome. Heh. “This should let me do the races without being tempted to cheat, then!” she chirped as she flexed her wings out to each side of her, stretching the now relaxed muscles to full extension. I smiled and nodded in return as Spike watched the whole process with a certain curiosity. “Does it feel weird to have tiny little things floating around inside of you?” he asked a moment later, surprising me somewhat. That was one of those awkward questions, considering Rainbow technically didn’t give her consent to have them implanted. If she was bothered by it, it didn’t show, however. “Nope! I feel exactly like my old self still. Actually, so far, they’ve only made me even more awesome! Totally clipped my wing on my window earlier. Uh, I don’t always fly the greatest when I’m stressed out. Got a really fun bruise on my left wing tip, but it healed up and went away in, like, thirty seconds! Totally awesome. The talking in our heads is kinda cool, too, at least when Pinkie doesn’t go all out and make everything go crazy…” Ugh. She had to remind me of that. “Crazy?” Spike asked, looking a little uncertain over it suddenly. Wait, was he…? “Yeah! She’s so hyperactive, and the faster she starts thinking, the faster things start happening from her link and all sorts of images and stuff start appearing everywhere. To be honest, I kinda felt like throwing up,” Rainbow admitted. Smirking, I inquired, “You were thinking about asking for them, too, weren’t you?” His eyes widened a little, followed by his cheeks tinting pink again as he wiggled his claws together. Yup. Thought as much. “Well, um, yeah! They sounded really cool and everything, and… Being able to talk to Rarity and the others in my head would be really nice,” he admitted, turning even redder as Rainbow got a knowing grin on her face. “Careful there, lover boy. If she can hear things from your mind, what if she hears things you don’t want her to hear?” Rainbow teased, having had that exact problem herself, if I remembered properly. Well, it was a valid concern, but she didn’t mention to him that it usually takes a conscious effort to send actual words along. Empathy was the only thing transferred automatically, with no real decision on the pony’s part. Oh, and biological information, but that was only sent to me. His eyes widened a little, a look of dawning horror on his face, of course. I sighed and shook my head, bonking Rainbow on hers and earning a snicker from the mare. “Don’t scare him, Dash. The links don’t transmit actual words unless you consciously tell them to, so relax. It’s a moot point, however, as I’m still not entirely sure how to make more of the disks. In theory, I know how, but I’ve never actually tried to before, so you’ll have to wait for a little bit,” I warned. Adding him to the list of ponies that wanted it so far, which was four and counting. Could the Crusaders technically give their own consent, though? Babs had wanted one, too, after learning about the ones from the others. I hadn’t had time to give her an enchantment yet, however, but had already explained that I wasn’t comfortable with her being so far away from me, just in case something went wrong with it. Relaxing a bit at that, Spike sighed and flopped back against the pillows. “Eh, I can wait a bit. We should get going, however, and get our basket back. Twilight won’t be happy that we’re late as is,” he reminded after a moment’s thought. Ah, right. The cyan mare rolled her eyes at that and hopped to her hooves. “Eh, Twilight plans too much. She needs to be more spontaneous. Don’t worry, I’ll let her know that I was the one who distracted you two. It was important, though! I was seriously freaking out. Uh… don’t tell anypony else that,” she assured, adding the last thought as a suddenly realized afterthought, by the sounds of it. It was kind of sweet that she trusted us enough to not remember until afterwards to tack on the nondisclosure request. Heh. “You didn’t have to worry about us gossiping in the first place, Rainbow. Anyway, can we get a ride back down? Preferably close to the market if you can,” I requested, gesturing towards her window. She gave us a warmer smile before stretching her back out and fluttering her wings a little. “Heck, after an awesome massage like that, I’ll fly ya both to Canterlot and back. Probably safer than the train for you anyway,” she suggested, winking as she hopped off her bed and trotted over to the window. I just snickered, unable to actually disagree with that assessment. She was probably right! Pointedly ignoring the mare’s sudden blush as I climbed up onto her back, I nodded at Spike, who scrambled off the bed and hopped onto mine as well. Grinning, Dash hopped into the air almost effortlessly, despite having the huge amount of extra weight on her back. With a flick of her wings and a burst of energy, we cleared the window in a fraction of a second, and Equestria opened up underneath of us, expanding off into the distance…
Chapter 84While she had gotten us down from her home, true to her word, I hadn't expected Rainbow to stick with us afterwards. Of course, she wasn't needed at the competition until half an hour before they were ready to start, same as the rest of the ponies running. Applejack saw us gliding down from Dash's house as well and met us when we landed. Together, the four of us grabbed our wayward picnic basket and headed towards Sugarcube Corner to pick up refreshments and the pink one. "Whaaa, hey everypony! You made it!" Pinkie cheered enthusiastically, greeting us at the door. Thankfully, Applejack and Rainbow were in the front with me just tagging along. The sound was a little less at this distance, I hoped. "O' course we did, Sugarcube. Are ya all set ta head fer tha race?" Applejack asked, bringing our little group to a halt on the front step. Laughter could be heard inside, and I flicked my ears forward, picking up the sounds of the trolleys moving along the track I'd built yesterday. Heh, sounds like it was a hit. Pinkie bounced in place for a second, probably venting off extra energy to keep herself below safety thresholds. "Yup! But first, you have to see this! It's awesome!" she exclaimed, hopping back inside in a single backwards bound. If I ever tried that blind like she just did, I'd probably flip over and faceplant... Applejack gave Rainbow a confused look before shrugging and heading inside, the snickering cyan mare following. I glanced back over my shoulder to give my passenger a glance, but he only nodded somewhat apprehensively. "We need the drinks. Plus, it's better if she works off some of the energy before I get tossed into the balloon with her. Last time it was... interesting," he whispered. Ah, good point. Cooling her jets before confined to a small space with him was probably for the best. Walking inside, I was more than a little surprised to see the place utterly packed. Only offhoofedly recognizing about a fifth of them, I took a guess that most of these ponies were incoming tourists for the race. Them wanting the track set up for today suddenly made so much more sense. I was probably being silly, but I'd somehow not really considered the fact that ponies were coming here from all over Equestria. It was kind of terrifying, and I was glad I wasn't in the spotlight again. "Look, it's the engineer who made it!" Pinkie screamed as I stepped in through the door. Damn it. At least three-dozen foals, crammed under tables, on tables, running about in the rows, and even a few sitting properly, all looked towards me at once. Damn, there was no choice! "Sorry, Spike," I apologized, getting a suddenly confused look from the dragon before I turned sideways and presented him to the crowd, smiling. Pinkie made the mistake of not naming me specifically... Cheers broke out almost immediately, and they flooded forward as he yelped. "No way, a dragon?!" "Wow, he must be an amazing engineer for one so young!" "Uh, I thought that Moon Mender was the engineer." "Aww, a baby dragon!" I listened to some of the adult ponies commenting as the flood of foals rushed forward and washed Spike back into the crowd, lifting him up to crowd surf as they all cheered. Dang. The younger they got, the more excitable they were! "Mender!" Spike yelped before he was drowned out by the laughter and praise and hauled off into the center of the room. Pinkie was busy laughing hysterically, of course, and Rainbow and Applejack smirked towards me. What?! It was cuter if he was the engineer anyway, rather than a bunch of foals mobbing an adult stallion. "That was kinda mean..." Applejack pointed out, wearing an amused expression regardless as I trotted up around the crowd. "...But totally awesome, too! Seriously, you should go pranking with Pinkie and me next time!" Dash added, grinning as she watched Spike flail and roll while being carried back to the start of the race and the two Cakes, smirking as they watched the proceedings. The farm mare gave her a skeptical look before chuckling and warning, "Careful, prank me an' Ah might tie up more than yer wings before tha race." Huh. Well, she wouldn't be winning like that, I imagined. Rainbow blushed regardless, and I saw a somewhat pointed smirk of amusement on Applejack before she carefully hid the expression. Regardless, the cyan mare rebutted with, "Ha! If you think that's the only way you'll win, go for it. Although getting beat by me crawling along might be awfully embarrassing." The farm mare grinned back, and I saw their back and forth banter starting up a mile away. Walking past them, I headed back towards Pinkie instead, just as I heard Applejack comment something about "Tying her to Berry Punch's house instead." Huh. Pinkie had finally recovered from her bout of laughter, and gave me a large grin as I moved up. "Sneaky, sneaky, Mender! But you left your bro out there!" Pinkie pointed out, nudging a hoof towards Spike bouncing in the air. Bro? Well, he was sort of like a little brother to me, so I suppose that was probably kind of mean, now that I thought about it. Was it okay for big brothers to use their little brothers as bait? Eh. Deciding it had gone on long enough and distracted them already, I nodded to Pinkie, and then tapped the floor with my right hoof. The barrier line popped into the air right next to me, took a ninety degree turn towards Spike, and wrapped around his waist as he was flipped into the air. The cheering momentarily stopped as he failed to fall back down, then turned into surprised gasps as he floated there in the air above them. Spike blinked once before getting pulled towards me, and then dropped onto my back as he sailed in. "Whaa! Oof!" he huffed as he landed on me at moderate speeds, wrapping his arms around my neck to steady himself. "Sorry about that, Spike. I'm still sore from the hospital, however, so you're in a better position to get crowd surfed," I apologized tactfully, ignoring the fact that they probably wouldn't have been able to lift me anyway. Getting out of the spotlight had been a definite bonus, too. Sadly, a couple foals followed him over, apparently interested in the glowing lines that had picked him up and deposited him over here. One I recognized, however. "Hello, Pinch," I greeted as the rose-colored unicorn filly trotted up, lime eyes locked on me rather intently. "Oh, you remember me!" she exclaimed in mild surprise, perking up as she came to a stop with two other foals next to her. An adult mare was following after her as well, with remarkably similar color patterns. She actually had a Cutie Mark, however, being a strawberry next to a bunch of grapes. She was a little darker in coloring, though. Nodding, I agreed with, "Of course. We met at the cabins." She smiled at that, and perked up before glancing over at the adult mare slipping up next to her. "Ah, so you've met my little Pinchy, hmm? I'm Berry Punch, her mother. You must be Moon Mender, the actual engineer behind this fascinating device," the mare introduced, gesturing up to the track that was starting up again, this time with a collection of donuts. Smiling sheepishly, I nodded as Spike started snickering on my back. "Ah, well, yeah. I just figured Spike would enjoy the attention more. I'm not really one for it myself," I admitted, awkwardly scratching the back of my head. My ears twitched lightly as I picked up a smaller voice, with a rather interesting accent that I couldn't place. "Oh, you know him?" the smaller colt next to Pinch asked, looking up at her curiously. I glanced down at him, noticing his very unique looking multi-colored coat. I'd never seen two colors in the coat before for a pony, his being primarily white but having brown splotches on it. His accent made me wonder if he was from a different area, and possibly genetic background. "Yup," Pinch confirmed, doing a little hop before smiling and continuing with, "He was the one who helped Big Mac save Sweetie, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo in the lake." I blushed lightly, and sadly, Berry immediately smirked. "Ah, an inventor, hero, and gentlecolt. Easy to tease, too. Rarity was right," the mare cooed, snickering as I blushed even more from that. Trying to give her my best skeptical stare, I asked, "Rarity's been talking about me?" Pinkie, who I admittedly forgot was there for a moment, started hopping up and down at that, grinning. "Oooh, me too! I've told everypony today about you! Applejack had the idea that word of mouth was way better than advertising for your talent," the pink mare chirped. Oh boy. "Wow, I've never seen anything like this before. It's like something ya would see from Ah special order!" the smaller colt exclaimed, looking up and about at the track again. Snickering, I had to admit that maybe Applejack was right on that account, especially in a smaller town like Ponyville. Leaning down, I lightly held my hoof out. He momentarily looked surprised before smiling again and bumping it with his own, shaking it up and down. "Hello. I'm Mender. I don't think we've met before," I properly introduced, earning a full grin from him. Berry nudged her daughter, however, who squeaked instead. "Oh, that's right! I'm sorry. I should have introduced you two. Mender, meet Pipsqueak. Pipsqueak, Mender," Pinch introduced, gesturing to each of us as she said our names. I nodded to him, but Berry smiled and scratched under her chin thoughtfully for a moment. Uh oh. "Actually, speaking of advertising for you, I do have something I was hoping to talk to you about," she revealed. Okay, yeah, Applejack was right... * * * * * Stretching out, I felt my back crack lightly and shivered. The simple pleasures in life were often the easiest to achieve. More complex pleasures were definitely worth it, too, however. Smiling to myself, I nuzzled into Fluttershy's cheek and earned a soft smile back. She rolled over onto her right side, tucking her wings up and resting against my chest as we relaxed on the blanket. We'd picked a nice spot on a big hill near the start of the race and not that far from the actual finish line, given that it made a lazy circle through a good fourteen kilometers worth of woods and surrounding countryside. I could see most of the track this high up, although probably not as well as the announcers' balloon. The only downside was that the day was heavily overcast, and being this high up exposed us to a lot of winds. My fur puffed up a little, and I pulled the second blanket further up and over us, earning a smile from Fluttershy as she snuggled in. Rarity didn't notice, being wrapped up in the other end of the large blanket almost as well as her mind was wrapped up in the book in front of her. Today was a rather relaxing day, regardless of the stress earlier. At least Berry had only wanted a mechanically assisted fruit crusher. Way easier than the ‘rail’ system that Big Mac had requested… Twilight was nowhere to be seen at the moment, although she greeted us alongside the mayor when we got here. Fluttershy stuck with me after, but Twilight apologized, stating she had a few last minute things to set up before the race. "Whee!" Pinkie continued squealing over the loudspeakers at the same time. Looking up again, I saw the balloon still spinning in a rather fast circle as it drifted about over the starting line. I sent a sympathetic thought towards Spike before glancing down at the ponies milling about near the starting banner. Rainbow was easy to spot given her color schemes. The orange farm mare was behind her at this point, looking like she was trying to murder her at this distance. She had several coils of rope tied around Dash's chest, and had lifted her onto her back legs completely in an effort to tug them even tighter. Smirking, my link flicked open and I warned, "Applejack, killing Rainbow before the race doesn't mean you win by default." I felt the mare smirk as Rainbow flailed away from her and sat down, clutching at her sides and glaring at her. "He has a point!" she yelped, giving an extra annoyed stare. "Ha! Ah gotta make sure ya don't cheat again an' use yer wings. Sure ya were fine last year, but ya remember tha year before that, don't ya?" she reminded. Oh? Rainbow gave a skeptical, blank stare at that. "Yeah, we both tied for last place that year. That really helped me, didn't it?" she pointed out. Last place? That didn't sound like those two at all. Fluttershy felt my confusion and giggled. "They were so busy trying to outdo each other and slow each other down that they finished last," she revealed. Oooh, okay, that sounded more like them! "Don't tell him that!" Rainbow yelped, flailing in our general direction and getting some strange looks from the ponies around her. Applejack started laughing outright at that, however. "Uh, Rainbow, yer supposed ta talk in yer head instead, remember?" the orange mare reminded, nudging her and winking after. Wait, she said that out loud herself! The confused ponies near the two suddenly gave understanding smiles and nods, a few looking over at Fluttershy and me in the direction Rainbow was pointing, the cyan mare now sporting a rosy blush to her cheeks as she dropped her legs to each side of her. Well, now they'd think that we were involved with Rainbow and Applejack like that, but I suppose that was slightly better than just thinking Dash was crazy instead. To my surprise, Twilight cut in a moment later over our links with, "How's the lineup look down at the starting line, by the way? We have the finish line set up now, despite a few goofs, and now it's even facing the right direction." She sounded dripping with sarcasm, and I took a guess that her day had gone downhill since this morning. "We got almost everypony 'ere in tha lineup now. Still missin' Thunderlane an' Cloudchaser, but we were expectin' that. They should be 'ere by race time. Cheerilee's ah no show, though," Applejack reported back. So many ponies I didn't know yet... I almost felt Twilight frown, however. "Cheerilee? She was looking forward to the run, though. What happened?" she asked, sounding concerned. Wait, no, I'd heard that name before. Oh! Right, that was the mare that Big Mac was crushing on. A... schoolteacher was it? "Yeah, she's in the clinic. Pulled her back, right ankle real bad, and sprained her knee on the other side," Rainbow explained. Ouch. Given that my back leg was broken not all that long ago, I could definitely sympathize. Maybe she and Big Mac could share a hospital room and strike up a conversation? I thought back to the extremely quiet stallion, then immediately dismissed that idea. Pinkie snickered madly over the link at that, and I instinctively looked up at the balloon, as if it was somehow polite to look at the pony 'speaking' despite her being several dozen meters away. "Oooh, both back legs at once? She must have had a lot of fun recently!" she chirped, sounding excited. Rarity, who had prior been ignoring the conversation, flushed a little at that nearby on the blanket, which left no mystery as to what Pinkie was referring to. I felt Twilight blush a little too at that, then stammer, "She... No, it's probably just a coincidence! Maybe she fell?" Rainbow grinned almost instantly. "That's exactly what she said when we checked in on her. Huh," the cyan mare pointedly commented, starting to snicker alongside Pinkie. Better not let Big Mac know that. Although, actually... Chuckling, I added, "Hey, Big Mac's in the clinic, too, with a hurt barrel, isn't he?" If Applejack had been drinking something, it would have been ejected out her nose as Rainbow switched from snickers to outright laughing. "No way! That was this mornin' durin' his chores. He said he... uh, fell," Applejack started, and then fell silent as I felt her blush, too. Okay, that was awesome. Pinkie also burst into laughter, this time it coming over the loudspeakers as ponies looked up at the balloon curiously. Heh. Might have to ask him about that later. Twilight, feeling flustered, assured, "It's probably just a coincidence. We shouldn't jump to conclusions!" Rarity finally sighed a little and looked up from her book. "No, it's honestly none of our business at all, even Applejack's. They are both adult ponies and fully capable of making their own choices. If your brother has found a mare to be happy with, you should be happy with him," she corrected, sounding more annoyed at being interrupted than anything. Actually, that looked remarkably like one of those sappy vampony paranormal romance books that Octavia had in her instrument case. "Ah'm not sayin' it's bad! Just, well, maybe they should wait before doin' that sort o' thing!" Applejack fussed. A touch of annoyance shot through Twilight, and admittedly I had to agree. What happened to not assuming? Instead, I gently hugged the still quiet Fluttershy, who perked up and snuggled back into me. The sensation was fired through the link right to Twilight, who relaxed and smiled towards us, even from so far away. "Mmm, I'm going to finish up here, then come join you two. I'm kind of glad I'm not running this year after all," Twilight murmured, sounding more relaxed already. Nodding gently, I relaxed against Fluttershy, and Rarity smiled towards the two of us, also looking like she was calming a bit. Heck, more power to them. It wasn't our business, and I knew how horrifying those lovely estrus hormones could be, just how the smells affected me. Maybe Cheerilee needed some help, too? Meh. Fluttershy and I continued resting, and Rarity went back to reading until Twilight walked back, heading up the hill slowly. Her forelegs were still wrapped and she winced while moving them, proving they were still bothering her a little despite the pain medicine. Hooking her hoof as she stepped onto the blanket, she let out a yelp before falling sideways and into my chest instead. She got her bearings again, then smiled to me before kissing me softly on the muzzle, Fluttershy wrapping her forelegs around Twilight's waist as she sat there. She was quickly assimilated into the blanket nest we'd made. "If you wanted to snuggle, all you had to do was ask, Mender," she murmured, settling against both of us as we slumped back into a slightly larger pony pile now, mostly hidden from the world. Snuggling was one of my favorite pastimes! "Wanna snuggle?" I asked, smirking as she giggled and pushed closer into Fluttershy and me. We rested for a moment before Twilight casually inquired, "By the way, do you know a white unicorn with a green mane and tail, Mender? She came to the practice fields earlier today while you were out getting the picnic supplies." I froze, eyes widening a little at that. Noting my reaction, both Twilight and Fluttershy opened their eyes again and looked towards me curiously. "Green eyes, necromancer, spaced out demeanor? I met a really weird mare while at the flower stand like that. She said she was looking for the library, but suddenly seemed really interested in Spike and me once she started talking to us," I inquired, frowning at that. What the hell?! Twilight frowned, too, then shook her head. "No, she seemed to recognize me instantly, and asked specifically for you when she got there. I thought she might be a DReg contact, but I didn't see her in the roster. Weird. I told her you were still off getting supplies, and she said she'd check in at the Inn and come find us later," she revealed, slipping deeper into her own thoughts. "Do you know anypony else other than us and the DReg ponies?" Fluttershy asked, tilting her head at that. I idly shook my head, remembering who I had and hadn't met before, and honestly, I'd never seen her before at all. Which was weird, as she did seem... sort of familiar. I couldn't place how, though. Rainbow hesitated before mentally adding, "Maybe she's not DReg? Maybe she's one of those other creepy ponies instead!" BEID? Hmm. She didn't seem like their usual type of employee, but... Rarity frowned at that, eyes no longer tracing the text of her book and seemingly focused almost through it now. "That might be the case, but it doesn't feel like their usual approach. This seems a bit too... Hmm. Direct? They're either trying something new, or she's not one of them," the mare considered out loud, earning a nod from Twilight. Shrugging, I reminded, "She did say she'd be back later, so we'll just have to wait and see. If she is a BEID agent, I have confidence that both Twilight and I together can counter just about anything she could possibly try. If we capture her before she can mind wipe herself, we might be able to get more information this time around. If she's not a BEID agent, then there's something else she wants and we don't have to worry nearly as much." Honestly, I wasn't that worried to begin with. Even a direct agent meant to earn the trust of your target shouldn't act so... strange in front of them. It was unlikely she was a member at all. But what did she want, then? As if reading my thoughts, Pinkie giggled hysterically before suggesting, "Oooh, what if she wants your heart instead?! You are a big, important, handsome, strong stallion with lots of connections! If you curled your mane down and started talking in a suave, deep voice and-" Rainbow started laughing, but Twilight cut the chain of devolving commentary off with a clearing of her throat. "Pinkie, this isn't one of those cliché paranormal romance books with the 'perfect but misunderstood' lead male cast. Mender's a 'real' stallion and doesn't need all of those superficial qualities in order to be perfectly acceptable and attractive in his own right," she corrected, eyes shifting towards me as she spoke, a smile dancing onto her face after. Snickering, I leaned over and gently kissed her nose, earning a giggle from the mare. Rarity blushed slightly and slipped her bookmark into the book, closing it softly and stashing it away in her saddlebag. Heh. "I agree wholeheartedly, actually. I'll be the first to admit that I held Mender to a... slightly unreasonable standard when we first met. This caused some feelings that weren't entirely genuine on my part, so I fully acknowledge that such a thing can happen when you're only looking at a stallion superficially, like that," she explained, losing her blush as she gave me a warmer smile. Yeah, that had... Well, it happened. I didn't know what to think of it beyond that. Rainbow nodded along over at the starting line as Applejack sat down next to her. "Totally! I mean, sure, Mender's cute and he blundered into being allowed to be friends with a bunch of totally awesome mares, but he's obviously nothing like that otherwise. Sure, he tries to be kind and gentle, but he's totally socially awkward, puts his hoof in his mouth all the time, trips over his hooves when not putting them in his mouth, and spends most of his free time in the hospital as a hobby. He's obviously not perfect!" she chirped, attempting, by the sounds of it, to further add to the helpful examples. I thought. Maybe. Uh, ouch. "Rainbow!" Applejack hissed, flattening her ears back as she glared over at her friend and Pinkie started laughing again, earning more strange upwards stares. Well, she was technically right. I became friends with these ponies and one dragon purely by coincidence. I was past, however, believing that I met them just out of chance. After dozens of coincidences start to connect together, the bigger picture starts to show something else entirely. Fate? Doubt it. More like design. Fluttershy sighed and leaned into my shoulder a bit more before reasoning, "We don't need to focus on how or why we all met. We of all ponies know how coincidental and fast it can all seem. But the only thing that's important is how we feel now, not what we felt before." Hmm. I really should get the full story of how they met one of these days. I knew the rundown of it, but the details often made the difference. I pulled her a bit closer as Twilight relaxed and sunk into me again. Rainbow held her hooves up and shook them defensively in Applejack's direction. "Whoa! Relax, I wasn't really trying to say he's a bad pony or anything. Sheesh. Just that he wasn't like one of those characters from those stupid books!" she quickly defended, slipping into partly verbal again, which she tended to do when flustered, I noticed. I didn't know if it was better or worse that the nearby ponies were ignoring her at this point. Applejack just sighed and rotated to face the starting line again instead of immediately answering. After a hesitant six or seven seconds, she admitted, "Ah know. It's just... Ah did tha same exact thing ta him, but in tha other direction. Ah judged him off shallow appearances an' demeanor just 'cause he happened ta get too close ta mah little sis. Now Ah regret it, like ah lot o' things, an' Ah ain't gonna let anypony else treat him like that either." Applejack... She sounded downright tired when she said that, and I kind of wanted to trot over there and give her a big hug. "AJ..." Rainbow muttered, frowning as she started to reach out for the mare that refused to look at her. She was interrupted by the race stands announcer first, however. "It's time to line up and get ready, folks! It's time for our annual Running of the Leaves, a deep rooted tradition from the very founding of Ponyville!" Mayor Mare started to speak. Oh, right. She had a speech lined up. Twilight had warned us... Applejack shook her head and stood again, heading for the starting line instead. "Ah'll be fine, Dash. Thanks, though. May tha best mare win," she assured. This might be a long day after all. * * * * * Okay, so it turned out that the two of them were really scary when they paced themselves. They'd stayed close to the back of the herd for almost the entire run. Then, as they rounded the last bend and fell within seventy yards of the finish line, everypony started to speed up. The two of them just sped up more. It really showed me how highly conditioned they were, honestly. In all of five seconds, they were three or four pony lengths ahead of the leader. The next five doubled that gap and it was like the others were moving in slow motion, Applejack's and Rainbow's legs blurring under them as they both gritted their teeth and blazed side by side towards the finish line. It took the snapshot photo to decide which of them had won at the end. Applejack sighed softly as she lay next to us, watching Rainbow and me sort of wistfully. The cyan mare let out a soft groan under me as I pushed down with my hooves, hearing a quiet crack come from just under her wings. She shivered with her entire body and relaxed further against the blanket, my energy heating her muscles and softening the tension as it seeped into her back. Twilight watched my technique with avid curiosity as well, starting to faintly blush while watching my hooves work. I had a feeling she'd be asking for one, too. I understood the appeal of a good deep muscle massage and rub down, but these mares confused me with their level of interest in it. "Are ya sure yer okay, Rainbow? Ah'm not just talkin' yer body, either," Applejack asked once more. Dash cracked open one eye to look over at her, then rolled it shortly thereafter. "I've lost lots of times, Applejack. You ran a better race than me. There's nothing wrong with that, although I'll still try my hardest to take you down the next time, no offense," she warned, turning her annoyed look into a smirk instead. Well, they did say you couldn't win unless you were ready to risk losing. That did make sense on some level. The orange mare relaxed a bit at that, then smirked. Fluttershy carefully dried Applejack's forelegs, just like she had for her cyan friend prior. Rarity had insisted on getting a bucket of water and cleaning them up a bit when they finally limped back up here. It was beyond strange being the one to do the helping when it came to assisted walking. "And yer body?" Applejack inquired, eyes drifting down to Rainbow's lightly bruised right foreleg and scuffed right shoulder. They were far better than when Twilight teleported us over to help them, actually having a bit of bleeding from both mares after the spectacular wipe out they both rolled into after crossing the finish line. Applejack's ankle had snagged in the mud as she tried to turn, and it sent her rolling instead as she went right into her still sprinting friend. Both had done a complete flip, Applejack still bearing the bruise from where the flailing Rainbow had accidentally punched her in the face before they crashed violently into the dirt. Given our proximity and links, Fluttershy and I had stood at the same time, coordinating with Twilight just as her horn flared up. Twilight and I hit the ground running as Fluttershy took to the air and grabbed an emergency medical kit from the sidelines. We'd gotten them mostly untangled from their own legs by the time she got back over to us, thankfully. Dash smiled weakly at that and shook her head. "I'm not dropping out of the second race. I'll be fine, AJ. There's... There's just too much riding on it," she warned, closing her eyes again. The farm mare frowned, but remained silent as she just watched her resting companion. She was tense, but I had already worked a good amount of the bunched up muscles down. Now it was a matter of relaxing her, which would be tricky given how nervous she was. "What's so important about the next race, anyway?" Spike asked, apparently completely forgetting what Rainbow had told us over Estrus break. I gave him a skeptical glance, and his eyes widened immediately, both claws rising up and covering his mouth an instant later. Applejack's eyes locked onto him suspiciously even faster, and I contemplated causing a distraction to get her off the trail, but she still didn't say anything. Pinkie giggled in amusement as she rolled over onto her back, her legs peddling for a moment in the open air. "Relax, you two. You need to rest to recover from that roll! At least those tiny little thingies inside of you-" she started. "Nanites," Twilight interrupted with, still not looking up from the notes she was taking while watching me work. It was a little unnerving. "Right, those! At least they let you heal super-duper fast. Otherwise, Rainbow might really have to drop out of the race, which would be really sad because then she couldn't-" Pinkie started again. Rainbow interrupted her this time. "Pinkie! You relax, too. You're distracting me from the amazing massage," Dash chided, frowning momentarily afterwards. My hoof cracked her lower back, however, and she slipped into a groan instead, shuddering as the heat and soft massaging energy danced into her spine, too. Her wings instinctively fluttered lightly, still resting out to both sides of herself and stretched to full length. Nice cover up for interrupting Pinkie, still. Applejack huffed and went back to just sitting there, watching the cleanup of the finish line area. Sighing, I decided to appease her and offered, "After Rainbow's massage is done, let me get your back, too, Applejack. We can't have you throwing a muscle out cheering for Dash, now can we?" Her ears twitched lightly and I saw a smirk play on her face as Rainbow blushed softly under me. "Well, Ah can't rightly turn down an offer like that. Yer too nice ta me, Sugarcube," the farm mare murmured, glancing back over at me with a softer smile. Twilight perked at that. Uh oh. "Oh, do you think you could give me one, too? I'm intrigued as to how your interesting magical injection technique feels," she requested softly. Well, it wasn't an order, I noted. She really had been changing quite a bit, and hopefully the level of 'crazy' had been detoured a little. I started to nod to her when Pinkie gasped out loud. "Oooh, they totally feel like, guuuuuuh. I'm sure you know that feeling. That nice, heated-" she started. Rainbow cut her off with a sharp growl. "Pinkie! Please... Please stop," the cyan mare begged instead, blushing heatedly now as her wings twitched lightly and she looked up at the mare. Whoa. She got a giggle in return, which only seemed to agitate her further. "It's okay, Rainbow. I'll let you keep enjoying it. I just wanted to ask for one afterwards, too!" the pink enigma chirped, swaying slightly. Uh... Rarity tilted her head at that, then nodded, looking curious. "Admittedly, I've been quite intrigued by the tales from the others already. If it's not too much trouble, might I sample one as well?" she requested properly. Oh Celestia. Was there such a thing as hoof cramps? I really hoped there wasn't such a thing as hoof cramps... Blinking, I slowly nodded to all of them at once, earning varying smiles all around before I turned and glanced at Fluttershy as well. The yellow mare perked up under my attention, then immediately blushed, however. "Oh, no. After everypony else, you're going to be far too tired, Mender. I couldn't possibly ask you to give me a massage, too," she squeaked out, shrinking a little under the sudden focus of attention. My heart did a little skip and I inwardly winced. Okay, maybe she'd intended it, but after that, there was no way I wasn't going to give her a massage, too, even if my hooves were bloody stumps by then. "Fine. Fluttershy gets a massage, too. Everypony does," I muttered, already feeling tired. I never should have offered it to Applejack, but I had to live up to my promises now. "Everypony?" I suddenly heard from a distinctly Apple Bloom voice from the right. I looked over just in time to see the four Crusaders coming up the hill from the other direction, Sweetie now looking excessively eager. Damn it... * * * * * Oh, why?! Why did I have to have nerves in my ankles?! Hoof cramps definitely existed! Wincing, I relaxed a little finally as Fluttershy finished wrapping the bandages around my two ankles. Wrists? Eh, it didn’t matter. I’d look up pony anatomically correct names later. The yellow mare relaxed against me, both of us sinking back a little further into my chair. They were rather comfortable chairs, honestly, which surprised me a little given we were technically in a blimp. A few thousand castings of a cloudwalking spell was apparently out of the question for a large event like this. Ours was one of the smaller ones, but also surprisingly private. I hadn’t realized that a whole bunch of ponies were willing to practically bend over backwards to do favors for ‘Princess’ Twilight Sparkle, despite it being a title only. I really didn’t want to see what they’d act like if she were an actual Alicorn. My mind flashed back to the incident again, like so many before it. It was always easier to remember the horrifically traumatic and mentally scarring events, I noticed. Our minds worked kind of annoyingly like that. That horror I felt when I realized she’d teleported after me while I fell. Dash chased us as fast as she could as we skipped off the cliff, my tentacles forming a makeshift roll cage. Then, beyond everything I knew should and shouldn’t be possible, Twilight Sparkle broke physics and tore the energy from the Wings of Icarus off my back using raw magic. Her eyes were like two stars burning as clear as day right in front of me, and for just that instant, I know I saw wings of energy coming off her back. But there was no proof. None of it showed up on my electronic capturing hardware. The only thing my video feed picked up was that her eyes were glowing, which Fluttershy informed me happened quite often when Twilight went into overdrive mode. I didn’t tell anypony else about what I saw, of course. The event was a bad enough memory for us without me bringing things up at random intervals. The chair cushions felt nice against my back regardless, and I felt myself relax more. The room we were in was small and elongated, three raised rows of six comfy padded chairs each, all facing to the left side, if you entered from the back stairs. The room technically was built right into the side of the blimp, and the wall the chairs faced was glass, giving us all the perfect view of the tracks and the much larger, full-size blimps orbiting nearby. Of course, with Fluttershy and me sharing a chair, Pinkie and Spike gone announcing, and Rainbow actually in the race itself, we weren’t exactly stretching the capacity of the cabin. Twilight was to my left, Applejack to my right, Rarity past her, and the four Crusaders lay on the carpet in front of us. To my surprise, Sweetie and Apple Bloom were still out for the count after the massage and we carried them up here instead. Scootaloo gave a little yawn, looking out over the rather large racetrack. Giving her wings a little flutter, she stretched before shifting her attention to the clock that was on the wall to our left. “How long until the race starts, again?” she asked a moment later, glancing back at us. “Only five minutes now. Better wake the other two up so they don’t miss it,” Twilight pointed out, smiling down at the filly as she suddenly hopped up excitedly and nodded. Her enthusiasm probably wasn’t as adorable to Apple Bloom, who then got pounced on and tickled out of sleep into a squealing, writhing mess of legs getting tangled up with Scootaloo’s. Babs started laughing at the display, and the sheer amount of noise made Sweetie open her eyes again and sleepily look over at what was going on. Closing my eyes, I shifted my focus over towards Rainbow instead, not having to go very far towards the starting lineup, practically right under us. “This is a private line. How’s Rainbow doing?” I asked mentally, opening them again as the image of her pacing back and forth and rapidly stomping her hooves snapped into my mind. “G-Great. Just perfect. Everything is falling apart! How do you think I’m doing?!” she yelped, barely keeping herself mental only as she hopped and did a little flail in the air. Okay then. “If I had to guess, stressed,” I muttered through the link, giving her a blank stare. She glared at nothing in particular and exhaled wearily, halting her pacing. Instead, she turned and nodded towards the side of the viewpoint, letting it rotate around her until it was looking at where she was pointing. There was a collection of ponies doing stretches near the actual starting line that were all wearing similar looking jumpsuits. The blue base with yellow lightning bolt patterns was rather identifiable, and I knew they were all Wonderbolts. At my frown, she flailed again and explained, “Misty Fly, Fleetfoot, Soarin, and Spitfire herself! All four are flying in the race. They’re all professionals and some of the best fliers in Equestria! How am I supposed to win the race now?!” Raising an eyebrow at that, I reminded, “Aren’t you a Wonderbolt, too, Dash?” “I’m a reserve! They’re part of the active team! Plus, three of them are renowned as the best fliers in all of Equus…” she whined. Shaking my head, I continued with, “And you’re the Goddess of Flight. If you recall, we tore into an alien cruiser while dodging heavy weapons’ fire. I’m pretty sure that’s an experience that they don’t have, Rainbow. You’re the fastest pegasus in Equus.” She stared at them, eyes shivering as she listened to me, then swallowed uncertainly. I knew she felt my honesty sure enough through the link, and also knew that I believed it, but she needed to believe it instead. A lot was riding on this race, and I knew she was going to do her best. “Rainbow, you are the fastest flyer in all of Equus. You moved so fast that you bucked physics in the teeth and broke through into another dimension, all while carrying an extra hundred and ten pounds on your back. Another experience I really doubt they have,” I added. A smile played at Fluttershy’s face, her sensing what I was doing without even having access to the private line. Rainbow’s eyes widened as she stared at them, her surprise tempered carefully as her eyes narrowed soon after. “I… No, you’re right. I’m not just a reserve. I’m the reserve that’s going to show them all what she can really do. I do have experience that nopony else in Equus has, and yeah. I’m going to make them see it,” she finally agreed, a grin playing across her lips as she slowly strode towards the starting line. Nodding, I reminded, “We’re all right here with you, cheering you on, Dash. I know you can feel us all.” The pegasus exhaled softly, muscles relaxing and wings slipping downwards and folding again as she headed up to the starting line. Stopping maybe two meters from it, she stretched out and cracked her back, starting her own warm up routine. “Rainbow Dash, we figured we’d see you here! Gonna race alongside us today, huh?” I suddenly heard from a female voice near Rainbow. Eh? Rainbow turned and watched the flame-maned mare walk up, smirking at her as she trotted in. Dash’s grin came back as well as she stood back up again. “Of course I’m here. Sorry, though, Captain. I’ll be racing in front of you instead today,” she warned, that hot-blooded feeling coming back into her. Heh. That must be Spitfire, then. The mare took the boast in stride, just grinning more. “Excellent attitude. We’ll see who crosses the finish line first, though!” Both mares stomped their hooves down, eyes barely an inch apart as they smirked at each other. The stallion behind then snickered, but the white-maned mare behind them instead coughed to get their attention. “As hot as it is to see you and the rookie almost kiss, Captain, we need to finish our stretches before the race,” she reminded, wearing a smirk. Spitfire turned and glared back at her, but Rainbow just grinned wider and spun around to face the race again. “Psh, she wishes. Only two ponies can kiss me, and I’ll be aiming right for one of them alongside the finish line,” she promised down our link, all focus now locked back on the race. Smirking myself, I let the link go into standby again and relaxed. She was in her game zone now, aiming for what she wanted. All she needed was a bump, and reminder that we were all here for her. “-to Mender? Ya there?” Applejack asked, waving her hoof in front of me. I blinked, then looked over at her before Fluttershy smiled, slipping up off me and walking towards the window. “He was talking to Rainbow and getting her ready for the race,” Fluttershy answered for me, looking out and down towards the finish line as the ponies started to line up. I saw the cyan shape wave up at her, and she grinned, waving back. Applejack smirked and nodded at that before sitting back down in her chair. “She’s up against some mighty fine fliers, so she should really be challenged this time,” she admitted. Oh? Her wording there was interesting. Twilight must have caught it, too, as she looked towards Applejack a moment later and asked, “A challenge? What are her chances of winning, do you think?” That was hard to predict, and Twilight should know that already. The orange mare shook her head, however, chuckling. “Ya know Dash better than that. She don’t give up until she’s got what she wants. This ain’t no different, no?” she reminded simply. Well, if it was just a matter for hot-blooded determination, then yeah, this race was already in the bag for her. Apple Bloom rotated and hooked her back legs under Scootaloo before tossing her off and flipping up to her hooves with the force of the kick. She’d really been practicing with the enchantments, I noticed. It was subtle, but I also saw that her abilities without the enchantments on were slowly, steadily increasing. I wondered if it was a sign of her growing up more, or something the magic was doing to her. Scootaloo managed to spin into a hover in midair and grin down at her, wings now strong enough to at least let her hover for a bit without needing the jets. She pointed out the glass window, then excitedly squealed, “They’re lining up! This is gonna be so awesome! Rainbow’s going to blow them all out of the sky and be the best!” The three other Crusaders moved up as she slowly landed and we all watched the ponies lining up down at the start of the race. The track itself was surprisingly complex actually, now that I looked at it. It wasn’t just a race, and included elements of an obstacle course as well. There was a long stretch and turn after the start of the race, which led into a longer stretch of track that started to do spirals lazily through the sky, marked with large cloud rings. Going too far up or down on that portion of the track away from the rings would disqualify you, and you also had to go through each ring ‘at least once’ for it to count. I’d been a bit confused by that in the guidebook, but they knew their racing better than I did, no doubt. After the weird swirly track came another sharper turn. The outer part of the turn was wider, allowing pegasi to just use that if they wished. The inner turn would obviously be the faster option, but a bunch of cloud ‘pillars’ were set up there to dodge around, requiring much faster reaction speed. Following that sharp turn came the long straight stretch back towards the starting line, which would double as the finishing line on the other side. The entire transit was roughly five kilometers, which, while quite large, was probably not much compared to flight speeds. This would be a fast race. The first pegasus to cross the finish line after three rotations around the track would win, which seemed simple enough. Of course, the best laid plans… A group of what appeared to be cheerleader pegasi moved into position on the cloud bed below, starting to get the right and left sides of the stadium fired up as the announcing balloon moved up and into position. Scootaloo was almost vibrating now as she watched out the window, head bobbing every which way as she attempted to look at everything at once. Yup. This booth didn’t need a cheerleader squad to boost excitement, that was for sure. “And they’re lining up, folks! This is the eleventh annual Cloudy Sky Dash, a new tradition meant to mark the official end of Fall and usher in Winter!” Spike’s voice suddenly announced over the loudspeakers. Pinkie’s followed a second later with, “Oooh, look at all the awesome racers this year! We have a surprise celebrity appearance of the Wonderbolts at the track, including their three best fliers, Fleetfoot, Soarin, and Spitfire herself! Does anypony really stand a chance up against that?!” I raised an eyebrow looking up at the balloon, but she continued regardless. “Of course they do! Because Dashie’s down there and she’s going to kick all their flanks!” Pinkie cheered happily. “Pinkie! We’re the announcers, we’re supposed to remain impartial!” Spike hissed, and I heard a light thud from the balloon sounding remarkably like somepony dropping a microphone. “Ow! Hey… wait, what’s ‘impartial’ mean? Does that mean we’re supposed to be really thirsty? Then why did they give us all this cider to take with us?!” Pinkie yelped back. Spike groaned, then whispered, “That’s ‘parched’! No, it means we’re not supposed to pick favorites. Pinkie, are you listening?!” He seemingly didn’t realize how accurate the mics were, and this was all caught by the loudspeaker anyway as Twilight slapped herself on the forehead with a hoof. “I just remembered we had cider up here! This stuff is awesome,” Pinkie chirped in reply, earning another groan from the dragon and laughter from the rest of the crowd. “Anyway! It’s truly anypony’s race this year, because straight up speed won’t win this one. Changing things up this time, we have some obstacle course elements added to the track. I’d like to remind everypony of the rules before we get started,” Spike continued, plowing ahead over the sound of Pinkie guzzling cider. I settled into my seat as he went over the rules I’d already looked at myself. Rainbow was looking pumped down there, having heard Pinkie’s cheer regardless and obviously approved. Although despite Rainbow’s prior reservations, I kinda felt bad for Misty Fly, too, being totally overshadowed by her three ‘star’ teammates. She didn’t look bothered, though, if she was. She was a butterscotch yellow mare, similar in coat color to Fluttershy, but bearing a striking, multi-colored blue mane swept back by natural wind, by the looks of it. She was smiling softly while standing next to Fleetfoot, not seeming to mind at all. Huh. Twilight pulled out a last minute checklist and started going over it. I glanced momentarily and saw drawn images of drinks, snacks, seating, and then one for each pony here at the moment, and resisted sighing as she double-checked each entry. Wait, why did mine have three check boxes next to it? I lifted an eyebrow as she actually checked three times while going through the list to make sure I was indeed still here. She smirked as she felt my glare and stuck her tongue out at me playfully. “With you, you can never be too careful,” she reminded, finally satisfied and rolling up the checklist again, pulling out her soda instead. Rolling my eyes, I playfully bopped her on the shoulder, earning another smirk as she just kept drinking. Things had been surprisingly less hectic and more relaxed with her. Finally, after all this time, I was starting to feel more confident in my life here. Despite the rough start I got, things were finally starting to even out a little bit. Now my only real task left was to crack open the black box in me and permanently rip out any and all coding to do with FTL warping. Reminded of it suddenly, I double-checked its progress as Spike finished up reading about the disqualification rules. The bar slowly ticked up, having decompressed almost eighty-five percent of the black box now. I’d successfully found the encryption key for it, and now it was just a matter of running it through the rather sizable block of data inside me. It didn’t help that it was a literally separated server inside of me, and I got bottlenecked by the wire transmission as well. It should be done in the next day and a half or so, given its current speed. Sighing, I felt content with the progress. Soon, I’d be rid of the other dimension forever. Then, after Keela’s situation was resolved, the link would close again for another three hundred years or so. Given the average pony lifespan, I wouldn’t be around for its reconnection. Hum. I made a promise regardless to make sure that Tia was as prepared as possible by then. “And that’s everything, ponies! Are we ready to race, then?!” Pinkie cheered as Spike concluded the last rule for the event. The crowd exploded into cheering, and in a wave motion, the racers opened their wings up heading towards the back of the cluster. Dash was in the second row of racers, and had a number seven taped to her flank now over her Cutie Mark on both sides. She held a confident pose, but I felt the excitement building up inside of her down the link. It felt like it was contagious with the whole crowd as everypony burst into cheers and outcries in the stands. I saw Spike grin as the balloon rotated around past us again, him giving a nod to Twilight as it did so. “Everypony ready, then!” he warned an instant later. Tension spiked as the lines of pegasi fell into a crouched position, shoulders down, neck out, and back legs geared up like springs. Pinkie grinned and added, “Set!” The second she said the word, their wings shot up in unison, primed to do that first, powerful downflap that would send them flying off the platform in an instant. Rainbow grinned and licked across her lips, her heart rate skyrocketing. “Go!” both mare and drake shouted in unison, the yellow glow lights to each side turning green as they did so. Close to forty pairs of wings exploded downwards all at once. The cloud they had been standing on, despite being some of the ‘stiffened’ type, exploded apart from the force of the wind on it suddenly, and they shot upwards like a multicolored explosion through the front starting line. My eyes shifted blue as they took off, the rotation of lenses audible as I zoomed in and tracked Rainbow in the crowd, locking onto her to keep watch. I tagged the other four Wonderbolts as well, just out of curiosity, and watched as she kept closer to the center of the pack. That close together, she appeared to be more focusing on not clipping her wings with anypony as she slowly pushed upwards and out away from the crowd. The four Wonderbolts in the front also paced themselves, leading the pack easily enough as they kept precision control over their speed. Yeah, saving energy for bursts was a good idea. By the time the grouping hit the first bend, they’d ‘narrowed’ significantly, falling into a much looser cluster to give everypony more wing space as the passing and vying for position started. Rainbow totally ignored it, hanging a little higher than the main cluster, a tactic that Spitfire and Fleetfoot also appeared to be doing. Soarin was in the lead, his larger stallion form plowing through the winds like a battering ram, and I realized that his two teammates were riding his trail to ease their own passage. Rainbow had slipped upwards and into a thermal, also riding the current left behind by the other pegasi as she reserved her own energy. The crowd did the work for her as they moved through the rings, her simply turning a little with each bend to stay in the track they were making as she edged along the pack, speeding up more and more as they moved towards the next turn. The entire group shot out of the last ring almost as one, Spike and Pinkie calling out the leaders. Misty Fly had fallen back and up a little, no longer number four in position, but it almost looked intentional on her part, a soft smile still on her face. What were they up to? Wait, why would the race officials even let a military branch run in the civilian race to begin with? To my surprise, absolutely nopony dared to take the inner track as they hit the second turn. They shot loosely around the bend instead, barely avoiding clipping the pillars as they moved into the wider home stretch. Spreading out a bit into a loose ‘V’ as they shot in, they were still led by Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Spitfire as they shot past and through the finish line for the first time. “Whooo! Lap one is done! Two more to go!” Pinkie squealed, earning another cheer from the crowds. “Rainbow’s in twelfth place!” Apple Bloom groaned, sounding a bit dejected. Scootaloo continued vibrating next to her, however, before correcting, “Duh. She’s conserving her energy for the last lap! That’s how you win a race like this!” She wasn’t wrong. Rainbow almost looked relaxed, focused on something else entirely as they all shot through the finish line for the first time. Lap two went closely to the same, but with the field narrowing even more, and the passing becoming more brazen. Rainbow shifted tactics after the first bend, slipping back down into the pack and folding her legs up even more, becoming more streamlined. Her wind tunnel had probably narrowed significantly, slipping up into fifth place now as she effortlessly neared the front of the pack. They somehow took the second turn even sharper this time, the leaders of the pack rotating almost completely sideways as they arced around the outer most pillars. Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie grinned as Rainbow shifted up to fourth place as they all shot through the second lap’s finish line with her almost able to touch Soarin’s tail. Predictably, that’s when everything went to hell. The cluster elongated even further as they started losing out the jet stream left and right with the aggressive attempts to pass and intercept, actually slowing the whole group down a little. Rainbow dodged two attempts to bump her out of the way easily enough, then hit the first turn right on Spitfire’s tail. What was she doing? To my surprise, Rainbow hit the individual turns of the squiggle rather wide, extending herself a little and moving up right alongside Spitfire, who grinned as her eyes darted to the side to spot her new competition. “Ready for the real thing?!” Spitfire shouted over the extreme winds. “Ask yourself that!” Rainbow shot back, grinning a bit more as she caught up ahead of Spitfire a little, and moved into third place instead. Well, she was placing now, and would get her chance with the spotlight in the victory circle. Somehow, I doubted she’d be happy with that, however. Applejack hopped out of her seat, joining Fluttershy next to the glass in watching as well. Scootaloo looked like coiled snake, her whole body shivering as she pushed her face up into the glass. That’s when their actual plan came to light. Misty shot down into the tighter cluster of the group, suddenly banking as she went along the rings towards the final bend, making a new jet stream that a few of the leaders behind her immediately jumped into in order to make the turn. That’s when Soarin’s wings exploded into movement, him spinning tightly before blasting them forward instead. As if he applied the brakes, his forward momentum plummeted as he fell back to eighth in an instant. Both Fleetfoot and Spitfire hooked the huge current he just made, however, and both shot ahead almost five meters from the pack. The air shockwave hit Dash hard and she winced, her left wing going sideways in the sudden current as she swerved to avoid running straight into Soarin as he shot backwards. Rainbow was forced to cut tight to avoid the collision. Three others had to fall after her, one mare actually clipped by him and sent spiraling. Holy hell! That was more than a little dangerous! The crowd half cheered, half gasped as the two Wondebolts blasted ahead of the pack, and Misty shot up between them, leading six or seven other racers behind her. Rainbow’s eyes shot open in surprise and she shot into the field of pillars instead. She did three sharp turns to avoid pillars, the mare on her tail smashing into the second and coming to a dead stop. I watched Rainbow’s eyes flick upwards as Fleetfoot and Spitfire shot around the bend, Misty Fly and six others barely two meters behind them as they rocketed into the straight. Rainbow fell back to sixteenth place in an instant after the stunt that Soarin had pulled! To my surprise, however, he dropped off the track completely, catching the mare that he spun out and setting her back in the right direction instead, albeit a little dizzy looking. He didn’t follow, however, instead flying up above the track and not bothering to go through the last ring, flying more lazily towards the finish line. For a brief moment, Rainbow panicked, dodging two more pillars and coming up on the last for the turn, her speed still there but far behind the pack now. Her eyes narrowed, and I smiled, realizing that Applejack was right. The mare refused to give up. She intentionally clipped the last pillar instead, scrapping along it with her forelegs and using it to whip sideways into a spin. It completely changed her trajectory and she shot upwards at an angle instead, launching herself a ways above the track. “No! Rainbow!” Scootaloo shouted, watching in horror as Dash fell back in placing, the mare following her letting out a cheer as she passed her position. Wait, upwards…? She wasn’t going to… “Oh no! Rainbow Dash spun out now and has fallen all the way back to seventeenth place! It doesn’t look like the top contender will be placing this year after all!” Spike called out, an actual tinge of disappointment in his voice. The cyan mare grinned an instant later as she hit the apex of her spin and let gravity take over. The spin got her through the turn completely, and put her almost three-dozen meters above the rest of the racers. It looked like she lost control, but she’d done it intentionally. Normally there’d be no way she’d place, but she’d wanted a gravity boost and used her own momentum to get it. There was only one reason I could think of for her wanting gravity on her side. Half of the final stretch was done, and Fleetfoot and Spitfire were neck and neck heading towards the finish line. Misty had fallen back and down, dropping off the track entirely and leaving them the only two Wonderbolts still in the race. The other racers were surprisingly close to them, barely a meter back as the three leading mares fought to get into third place. That’s when Rainbow came in like a bat out of hell. Her gravity assisted swoop was sharp, hitting the track level at a seventy degree angle as the cone of air formed around her from her huge speed boost. She corrected it as she dipped ‘under’ the level of the other racers, turning sharp in what I recognized to be part of the “C” formation from the end of Applejack’s name when she’d been practicing the air writing. Hah, that was clever! The cone stayed, however, energy crackling along it as her eyes narrowed and she sped up even more, her wings a blur. Her thoughts were wild. They danced along the switch to her energy wings, and I frowned. No, she’d promised she wouldn’t use them, even if it meant not winning. She swallowed, pushing her hooves together as I felt her energy flood into her wings instead. A hesitant moment later, she slammed her eyes shut again and pushed the switch away from her instead in her mind. Her eyes opened into a glare instead and her wings folded up, the energy cooking along the sides of her hooves as she burned towards the leading five mares. “Rainbow?!” Spitfire yelped, suddenly catching her sight on the back glance. Dash said nothing as her wings snapped in and she instead pushed right through the tip of the cone. I’d never seen it from a distant perspective before. There was almost an orb of prismatic colors as the air lit up with the energy and light. It was an actual explosion, and she timed it to be at least five meters behind the leading mares, and six in front of the ones behind her. I flicked on my adrenaline and tracking suite as she tripled her speed in an instant, leaving a huge expanding ring of color and a flare of light burning across the clouds near the detonation point. A dozen ponies were forced to go right through the flash, spiraling as they exited and looking a bit on the blinded side. The crowd exploded into cheering and excitement. Fleetfoot’s eyes widened for a brief instant as Rainbow was suddenly just there next to her, forelegs and wings tucked up and shooting past like a bullet. To my surprise, Spitfire reacted a little faster, whipping sideways just as Rainbow shot past and getting yanked into her long, prismatic trail. Scootaloo screamed out a cheer as she leapt into the air alongside the surprisingly loud and animate Fluttershy. My eyes widened as Spitfire brushed past Rainbow’s tail, barely able to ride the current from the Sonic Rainboom as they blurred in towards the finish line. “Rainbow!” the Wonderbolt mouthed, voice being pulled away behind her far faster than it could reach Rainbow, eyes narrowing as she caught up with Rainbow’s flanks. The cyan mare’s eyes narrowed, her wings starting to almost glow as she streaked along like a rocket. Her back legs and most of Spitfire disappeared into a brilliant blazing trail of color behind her, but she somehow started to speed up even more. Spitfire went into a bullet shape as well, one hoof extending up to try to reach past Rainbow’s chest as they came in. I felt an uncertainty from Dash suddenly, and then she steeled herself for something. Uh oh. “In front of you, Captain,” Dash whispered against the wind, her wings suddenly flaring open in an explosion of light. My eyes widened. What?! There were no jets. There was no activation of her enchantment. Her wings expanded, looking briefly almost twice the size of normal as they flared into two massive jets of prismatic light. Spitfire’s eyes widened as Rainbow crossed the finish line three meters ahead of her a heartbeat later…
Chapter 85Just like Rainbow usually liked it, everything was rapidly devolving into a rushed, chaotic situation. Turns out that a pony suddenly finding herself going almost six hundred meters per second wasn't entirely without consequences. I never thought I'd actually consider the physics involved in accelerating a living creature to supersonic speeds without any vehicle until I saw her Sonic Rainboom. This was a whole other issue entirely. In all theory, she should technically be dead, but given that I was no longer surprised to be surrounded by colorful talking ponies, I suppose I had no right to question this either. As I hadn't gotten a measurement prior to her sudden acceleration, I assumed it was about her usual three hundred and forty to three hundred and fifty meters per second top speed. That meant she accelerated an additional two hundred and fifty meters per second in about a tenth of a second. And lived. Oh, right, those consequences. My barrier was still up as I blinked, uncertain of entirely what had just happened. The glass in front of the barrier was fractured inwards by about an inch, held together by a now discovered thin meshing of magical wires. Huh. They had safety glass. Well, learn something new every day. Apart from learning that a pony can break physics. Again. I learned that almost every day, too, though. Rainbow had simply disappeared. Well, it looked like she disappeared. The finish line at least registered her as the winner of the race while the magic sensor was still up. The entire finishing line, flag system, sensors, and winner's circle had exploded a second later in an air burst shockwave that fractured every window on the blimps on this side of the tracks. The one next to us was slowly rotating out of position from the force of the blast, and I felt us swaying as well as all four fillies screamed at once. Theirs was accompanied by dozens more outside from surprised ponies all around. It was far worse off for Spitfire, however. She was at almost point blank range when Rainbow had suddenly sped up like that. Having her tagged, I easily tracked her as her forward momentum was knocked sideways instead, her mouth looking like she was screaming before being sent through the side of the cloud next to the remains of the finish line. Soarin thankfully came out of nowhere and nabbed her out of the air a fraction of a second later. "Help me!" Rainbow wailed through our link, my positioning detection showing her traveling away from us in a somewhat coherent straight line at a little over six hundred meters per second now. She wasn't stopping, so I assumed she couldn't safely, or didn't know how. "Rainbow, can you turn off your wing jets?!" Twilight shouted down the link. "They're not on. This is all her," I corrected an instant later, earning a shocked look from Twilight. Wait. Oh hell. I quickly added, "Don't turn them on, Rainbow!" They were based off her wings' output, but I'd not tested them anywhere near those speeds. Best case scenario, she'd go a lot faster. Worst case scenario, they'd explode. No, wait, there was always a worse worst case scenario. Tear a hole in the fabric of space time and implode all of our existence into a singularity, killing us all instantly? Better... Or was it worse? Meh. There was a moment of hesitation before Rainbow spoke again with, "W-What am I supposed to do?! I can't slow down or stop, and I'm... I'm starting to get really tired!" Great. "Turn around in a wide loop, Dash. Head back towards the track, and I'm going to see what I can do from here," I assured, keeping my voice even as I pulled up my root command and turned her connection on fully. We didn't have time to go for the finesse route at this point. An intense panic bombarded us all instantly as I felt Dash slowly turning, heading back towards the track. Alongside it, however, I felt the intense flow of her body's magic supply. She'd somehow caused some sort of chain reaction that was centered right on her mid-back. It was like the magic was continuously exploding and producing more and more energy while slowly draining her reserves as fuel. Brute force, however. I didn't process it, instead passing the sensations right through the other link and into Twilight instead, who widened her eyes. "Wait, this is an Ether Furnace reaction! How did... what?!" the lavender mare asked in disbelief. "Ah fix, Twi! Hurry!" Applejack reminded, getting Twilight to shake her head rapidly and snap out of it. Frowning for a split second, she quickly shot out, "It's not an out of control reaction. The base amount of fuel is still Rainbow's magic supply. If she cuts the link to that, it'll run out of fuel and burn out harmlessly!" Oh, well that was a far better prognosis than I'd anticipated. I wasn't holding my breath, though. It probably wouldn't be that easy. As anticipated, Rainbow blanked completely. "Uh, what? Just tell me how to turn it off!" she begged, desperation sounding in her voice. I felt her closing in on the track again at record speed and expanded my shield around us completely, getting ready for another potential bombing run. "No, I'll show you!" Twilight relayed, closing her eyes suddenly. She pushed her mind down the link, and I just let her through me entirely like a weird mental relay station. Broadcasting her to Dash instead, I felt the cyan mare's eyes widen even more as Twilight was suddenly felt all around her. The platform burned into view through our empathy camera, but Twilight went calm suddenly. "Land," she instructed carefully. Dash started to protest, but her new co-pilot just glared at her and she swallowed, nodding. Trying something new, I turned my processor core on and pulled part of Rainbow's connection through her link as well, making a strange, tangled web of empathy that linked back to me again. I pushed the pedal down on her already heightened adrenalin levels, and pushed all my processing into her sensory input. Everything slowed down as I suddenly saw through her eyes instead. Rainbow gasped as she suddenly felt like she was moving in hyper slow motion, her heart rate almost doubling. I stayed focused, switching her nanites over to emergency maintenance mode and prepared repairs on standby for a rough landing. Twilight centered herself at the same time, and then both Dash and I felt it. The lavender mare focused and felt out the link leading to what felt like a condensed pocket of energy right under Rainbow's back, hooked right into her wings. In horror, I recognized the location instantly as where I'd wired up the control core for her wing jets. Her magic flow had adapted. The river had adjusted to the new direction it needed to flow in and improvised. Rainbow had 'grown' another pocket of magic in her, looking like it was made purely for high compression of energy. Then Twilight unplugged it. The reaction was almost instant as the energy was cut from her 'reactor' core. It slowed down. The reactions started dropping off rapidly, reducing exponentially as it slowed and ran out of energy. Twilight held it there, all of her focus feeling out carefully into the energy reactions firing off. They dwindled until the whole core stopped processing. That's when Twilight reconnected it, and opened her eyes again. Was that it? Did that simple thing actually work? "It... The jets stopped! I'm gonna try landing!" the pegasus announced, flicking energy back into the wings and burning backwards as she came in at a little over mach one. Still too fast! She pulled a turn that looked almost impossible, gritting her teeth against the g-forces as she went almost at a ninety degree angle. She came in spinning and puffed lightly into the cloud, sliding a few meters on her rump while slowly rotating. Finally she came to a complete stop and blinked twice, looking back at her still lightly glowing wings. Exhaling softly, I killed the connection and Twilight slumped in the chair. "Twi!" Applejack yelped, hopping forward to catch her as I stabilized her from the side. She shivered, then smiled weakly before muttering, "Well, at least I know what it feels like to have wings now. Not something I really want to repeat. No offense, Dash. Are you okay?" Despite the glass having fractured violently, the pieces got larger the further from the center of the pane they got, so I moved over to the left side of the window in order to see properly. Looking back out it, I blinked, then widened my eyes in surprise. Now that nothing was exploding anymore, and the victorious pegasus had landed after her insane burst of speed, the crowd was recovering rapidly... Further, they started cheering hysterically. Rainbow looked sheepish for a moment, a pink tint coming on to her cheeks before she awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, waving out to the crowd of ponies. Spitfire held her head carefully, rubbing the right temple before wiping a bit of blood from her nose. Soarin said something, but she just swatted him away with a hoof and shook her head again, then winced. Well, she was alive, anyway. To my curiosity, she pushed something up on her collar area, and suddenly a mic turned on. "Wow, that was kinda intense. Ow. My fault, though. I shouldn't have followed that closely behind the mare who's known for moving fast enough to make things explode. Anyway, awesome race, everypony!" Spitfire shouted out loud, waving both hooves into the air. I saw a bit of blood coming out of her ears as well, however. She should really see a doctor... Everypony recovered surprisingly rapidly for there just being a large explosion. Quite a few pegasi had already pushed what was left of the victory circle back together again, with its three sort of raised platforms denoting first, second, and third place. Third looked a bit lopsided, though. Spitfire continued with that, announcing, "By the way, none of the Wonderbolts were actually taking part in the race! None of us registered, and I'm actually the presenter of the trophies. Everypony here raced amazingly, whether they made top three or not, and our goal was to make sure everypony did their best. Well, sometimes you work your hardest by having great adversity. We weren't disappointed!" Heh. Well, that explained them just dropping out left and right as the race neared conclusion. Rainbow, the link feeling more stable now, looked like she'd already recovered from her sheer panic and was grinning as she trotted up towards the victory circle. Seriously? She was just going to act like all of that was intentional? Upon nearing Spitfire, she instead surprised me by apologizing. "Sorry about the damage, Captain. I wasn't expecting that to happen. I've never used that technique close to things," she admitted, 'technically' telling the truth. "Does that mean she's done that before?" Twilight asked skeptically, earning a snort from Applejack. "She ain't lying, but leavin' ah lot o' stuff out. If she tested it before, ya think she'd know how ta turn it off," the orange mare pointed out, rolling her eyes at Rainbow's casual reaction to it all. Shaking my head, I quickly confessed regardless. "We need to talk after this. I... I think that happened due to prolonged exposure to my enchantment." Applejack looked surprised, but Twilight just smiled and nodded. "I saw as much. I think I know what happened, too. The only unexplained thing is how she formed an Ether Furnace reaction that small," she revealed, drawing my attention to that term again. I was kind of afraid to ask, as it sounded rather violent. Scootaloo continued vibrating in place, however. "Who cares?! Did you see how fast she went?! It was like, zoom!" she shouted, wings bursting out with energy as she zipped excitedly into the air. My tentacle shot out and caught her, yanking her back down in an instant just slightly before she hit the ceiling face first. "No concussions, Scootaloo. You promised," I reminded, giving her a squeeze around the waist as she grinned up at me and rapidly nodded. In the meantime, three pegasi had already taken their spots up on the winning platforms. My eyes widened and I barely resisted hacking up my lung in surprise when I saw the second place winner was none other than Derpy! Wait, why hadn't I noticed her in the race before?! "-was quite a good move. Next time, however, you shouldn't fly so aggressively. Getting too close to your fellow racers, while bumping is allowed, can still be risky for both you and them," Spitfire finished explaining to the brownish stallion who sat on the third place pedestal. I recognized him as being one of the group leaders that Misty had helped lead into the final stretch. He rapidly nodded, eyes wide as he stared at Spitfire with what could only be described as creepy adoration. The yellowish Wonderbolt, now having her hood down, coughed lightly and moved on to Derpy instead. "You flew quite amazingly today, Derpy. Thankfully, nothing in the rulebook says anything against going through the pillars instead, however. Gotta work on that reaction time still, especially when you get excited," Spitfire reminded, giggling as the gray pegasus grinned and nodded to her. "I know. I just wanted to see the winner as they went across the finish line, so I hurried! I wasn't expecting to place, but so many ponies got blinded by Rainbow's Sonic Rainboom..." she explained, sounding reasonably unfazed by the explosion, too. Huh. Maybe it was a Ponyville thing? Wait, she wasn't blinded? Spitfire smirked then pointed out, "That's almost cheating, but hey, more power to ya!" Derpy winked to her, her other eye swaying slightly off center as she did. Oh. Wow, that was kind of cheating. But eh, in war, that's called an advantage! With that, Spitfire moved up to Rainbow, and gave her a long, pointed glare. Dash rubbed the back of her head and gave a sheepish sort of laugh for an awkward three seconds or so before her captain explained, "For future reference, Rainbow, blowing up the finish line so nopony else can cross it isn't a valid tactic." I blinked, and laughter broke out along the crowd before she continued with, "We have ponies with cameras for just that event. Regardless, astounding use of a gravity assisted crash recovery! And your Rainboom was just as impressive as usual, although a moot point since it's unique to you." I almost detected just a tiny bit of jealousy in her statement, but she winked and turned it playful instead. "I'm sorry! I didn't expect it to do that!" Dash defended, gesturing towards the crater in the cloud now and the bits of flag debris lying about where the finish line had been. Also true. Spitfire laughed at that, then shook her head as she drifted back down to the now vibrating brown stallion with slightly darker brown mane and tail. "Anyway, as tradition stands, each of the placed winners get a moment with the mic to say anything they wish. Just keep it foal friendly. You're up first... Cresent, uh, Moon, was it?" she asked, face blanking for a moment as she struggled with his name. "Close enough!" he announced, earning a laugh through the crowd again before he rapidly shot into, "Willyoubeinmyherd?!" Uh... Spitfire blinked, then asked, "Uh, what was that?" One of those types, huh? Dash rolled her eyes, having gotten the translation through my own link and reaction to it instead. "Will you be in my herd?!" he repeated, only managing slightly slower than the first time. Rainbow kept a straight face, but I was surprised when Spitfire didn't even miss a beat. "Nope. Already in one, sorry. But hey, Fleetfoot's single! Bet if you asked nicely, she'll give you her hotel room number," the Wonderbolt captain pointed out, gesturing to the right at Fleetfoot, who flared her wings up, look of surprise on her face. The brown stallion perked, blinked once, then shrugged before trotting over to her instead, and Spitfire exhaled softly. "Captain!" Fleetfoot hissed, running and hiding behind Soarin instead as the other stallion trotted towards her. Wait, why was she named Fleetfoot if she had hooves? Eh. More laughter regardless from the crowd. "Derpy! Your turn. What would you like to say? Please don't let it be a proposition," Spitfire half begged as she drifted up to her instead, directing her hoof mic to the pegasus. The gray mare snickered before assuring, "Nope! Got my eyes on somepony already. I just wanted to thank all of my wonderful friends and family for supporting me through the years! Also, I wanted to officially welcome my newest friend to his new home! Go visit Moon Mender in Ponyville for all your engineering needs, everypony!" What?! I blanched, and Scootaloo immediately started laughing against my forelegs. Applejack grinned, however, adding, "Bless her heart. She's gettin' at least two dozen apple muffins fer that." Why was she encouraging that?! Wait, I already knew the answer there. Spitfire momentarily looked surprised before snickering and assuring, "Actually, I already saw the posters up. He's got quite an advertisement campaign going. Might have to drop by myself, actually. On representation of the Wonderbolts, of course. We need a new centrifuge, actually, after Dash blew it up last month." Rainbow huffed at that, then defended, "I told you, the weather balloon landed on it and exploded! Why do you think I had something to do with it just because I reported the accident?!" A centrifuge? That wouldn't be too hard to make, provided they didn't want a ton of bells and whistles on it. But was it for ponies or scientific research? I was guessing ponies, but was also deathly afraid of assuming. Soarin loudly cleared his throat, and Spitfire twitched, still glaring at Rainbow. Well, this had gotten awkward. A moment later, the Wonderbolt captain sighed and hovered up to the first place pedestal instead, extending her hoof mic. "Fine. You're still the winner of the race, so you still get your victory announcement. Got anything to say to the crowd, Rainbow?" she asked, quieter with the mic further from her mouth. To my surprise, Rainbow Dash widened her eyes just a little, then froze completely. Oh! This was the whole reason she wanted to win so badly and practiced for so long! Looking to the right, I saw everypony watching her, including Applejack, who raised an eyebrow at the cyan mare's reaction. Slowly, the pegasus looked up at our booth, her keen eyes undoubtedly able to pick up the individual ponies looking down at her with ease at this distance. Uh oh. I just realized, she burned a ton of energy with that final burst. Did she even have anything left for the sky message? Instead of frustration that I imagined that would cause, a wave of indecision and panic shot down the link from the mare. Fluttershy frowned as she slipped up next to me and whispered, "She's having second thoughts." Oh. Quite a lot of ponies had told her it was a bad idea. But she hadn't backed down even after all that. If she was that determined, she could probably make it work regardless. Spitfire frowned, expression shifting to concern after seven or eight seconds passed. "Rainbow, are you okay?" she asked a moment later, giving Dash a start as her eyes snapped down to her captain instead. She hesitated, then looked down towards her hooves for a moment, wings folding lightly against her sides. No, she wasn't. I watched her lips form a smile, even though I couldn't see her expression at this angle. Panic fell away to a lingering sense of sadness almost before she forced her head back up and smiled to the crowd. "Yeah, sorry. Was just thinking. I want to thank my parents for being so supportive of me all the time, even though they couldn't make it to this race. I also wanted to thank my amazing friends who helped me save the world. You've been there for me every time, and I couldn't do this without your support," she spoke, steadily but a little softly into the mic. So that was that, then, huh? The yellow mare in front of her just watched her for a long moment before asking, "Anything else?" Sharp mare, if she realized Dash hadn't said what she wanted. Rainbow stared at her for a moment before nodding once and adding, "Thank you for being here as well, Wonderbolts. Encouraging ponies to chase their dreams is something you've done since I was just a filly, and that's why I'm here. Proof that you really can get what you wish for, if you just set your mind to it and keep trying. Thank you." It was kind of ironic for her to say that, admittedly. "Rainbow!" Scootaloo hissed, frowning in annoyance at her 'big sister' down there. Applejack shook her head, however. "What was so important 'bout that? Encouragin' tha foals is good an' all, but tha way she talked earlier..." the orange mare asked, raising both hooves up in the direction of Dash while wearing a skeptical expression. I stood up as the crowd started to cheer, Spitfire shrugging and hovering around, holding both hooves into the air with a smile again. She really knew how to work a crowd. Still... "I'm going to go tell the captain to land at the edge of the cloud. Rainbow shouldn't risk flying to the ground to meet us," I suggested, turning to head for the stairs. Twilight nodded, looking back over to me with a smile. I started to return it when a flare of pain shot through us all an instant later. My eyes widened and snapped to Rainbow past Twilight's head, the cyan mare wincing and holding a hoof up to her right temple. Each connected mare turned as well afterwards, surprised at the sudden sensation. Pinkie even looked over the rim of the balloon. Dash's eyes widened as she touched her snout with the other hoof, and drew it back covered in blood. Aw, crap. Another spike of pain hit an instant later, this one intense enough for me to wince and grit my teeth at the sensation. Rainbow gasped, holding both her hooves to her head for a moment as the blinding sensation burned white down the connection. She held it for three full seconds before shuddering once, and then it was gone. Her eyes lost their focus a moment later and she slumped, falling over sideways off the platform, Soarin's eyes widening as he burst past the surprised Spitfire to try to catch her... * * * * * There was never a dull moment. If not me, somepony else was almost killing themselves. At least that was an overstatement here. This time. Rainbow rested with her stomach on the gurney, her back legs splayed out to either side of my thighs and her tail haphazardly flopped in my lap as I kneeled behind her, pushing my front hooves down against her back. More energy danced into her tired body and she shivered, eyes fluttering under the deep purple light. Twilight's horn bathed the entire room in a vibrant glow as she kept it solid against Rainbow's forehead, energy seeping into the stubborn mare. Another shudder, and Dash smiled suddenly. "Getting my body and brain massaged at once feels kinda awesome," she muttered, sounding amused but uncharacteristically worn out. "This is kinda serious, Dash. We do exercises for this at the academy. Risking your life to win a race that you were going to win anyway was foolish! What if you'd passed out over open sky moving at that speed?!" Spitfire asked, having personally helped haul her into our cabin as it landed, Twilight waving her over. She was followed by the entire medic team, who rode with us all the way down to the ground again, to one of the ground clinics. The IV was still in her arm, replenishing her fluid levels. She also had a few wires connected to her now, running up to the metal frame of monitors next to her. Those I was also interested in, as they appeared to be more of those interesting crystal display things I’d seen before. "It... It wasn't that bad!" the cyan mare tried to deny, earning a frown from Twilight's focused face. The lavender mare quickly corrected that statement with, "You drained your energy reserves so badly that it strained your life force, Rainbow. If you pushed much harder to sustain that speed, you'd be in the hospital right now rather than just needing some rest." It was just Twilight and I here with the medical team and Spitfire now, both of us directly able to apply aid to the pegasus and thus, allowed to stay. As team captain, Spitfire also had supervision over her fellow Wonderbolt, reserve status or not, and also stayed, much to Dash's chagrin. Rainbow fell silent at that for a moment, hesitating before whispering, "You know why it was important to me. And after all that, I didn't even have the guts to go through with it." Sighing, I pointed out, "Sky writing your message wouldn't have gone very well anyway, Rainbow. You'd have passed out halfway through your name." She shifted to a blank expression for a moment at that, and I almost slapped my forehead, her seriously just now realizing that. Spitfire smirked, however. "So there was more you were going to say. Ooooh, a long standing secret? A confession?" she asked, switching her mood almost instantly as I blinked in surprise. Rainbow blushed at that, looking away from her now grinning captain. "Ah ha! It was a confession! Well, I hate to say it, but your friend is right. You probably wouldn't have been able to fly again if you were that low on energy. How you were even still standing was beyond me," Spitfire continued, shifting to a confused sort of frown afterwards. Uh... The nurse didn't miss a beat, however. "Primarily endorphins and adrenaline, actually. Speaking of, her body has restored its natural energy balance now. Your techniques are quite useful," she complimented, nodding to both Twilight and me. Twilight had been working on her mental state while I was injecting energy into key points along her body's natural flow to 'kickstart' it. Sighing, I nodded and leaned back, having put a bit more energy into that than my normal massages. And by a bit, I meant it felt like I'd gone two days without sleep. Twilight was lucky that she somehow had a small ocean of magical energy to draw upon. Rainbow shifted to a sheepish, weak smile back at me as she undoubtedly felt my tiredness, but Twilight sat up as well, looking none the worse for wear. "Are we okay to go, then?" Twilight asked, looking to the head nurse who was taking readings still. She peeked at a few more of her monitors, then at her clipboard floating next to her before smiling and nodding to us. Admittedly, it was weird seeing somepony in the medical profession that wasn't my all time favorite nurse, Red. This mare had a white coat, too, but her mane and tail were blue instead, and she had a pair of thick looking glasses on that made it hard to see her eyes. Teal, maybe? "Her levels are stable again, and her wings show amazing levels of durability and healing. She should be fine to go, but no flying for at least twelve hours," the nurse reported, causing Dash's smile to fall away almost instantly. "What?! How am I supposed to get back to my home tonight?!" she asked sharply, turning to look at the nurse almost instantly. She then winced as the nurse timed it almost perfectly to slide the intravenous needle out of her foreleg, applying a gauze pad instead with her other hoof. Twilight rolled her eyes however. "Rainbow, do you honestly think that you can't stay with one of us for the night? Relax," she assured, smiling softly at her friend. Dash relaxed her shoulders slightly, but kept her ears drooped as she absently nodded. At least she was okay. Focusing, I momentarily slipped inside myself and sent out, "She's going to be fine. She needs to rest for tonight, and needs somepony to stay with." Even though she knew it was just a mental communication, I saw Rainbow's eyes flicker towards me, watching with interest. Applejack's mental voice came in first. "Whew. Ah'm glad yer doin' okay. Ya can stay with me if ya want, Dash," she offered almost instantly. Predictably, the pegasus blushed lightly at that, but Twilight had started talking verbally again. "We'll go meet up with the rest of our friends again, then. Stay between us in case you stumble, Rainbow," Twilight suggested, hopping down off the gurney and steadying it with her magic while we got off. "I told you, I'm fi-" Dash started to repeat before she touched down onto the floor. Her front legs went out from under her, and I ducked down as she yelped. My forelegs caught her under the chest, and I slowed her down, holding her there for a moment as she caught her balance again. Twilight giggled and helped her stand again before pushing into the other side of her. "Relax. It's okay to get help every once in a while," she assured. The nurse frowned while watching before asking, "Do you need a wheelchair, Miss Dash?" Further predictably, the cyan mare recoiled at that, rapidly shaking her head. "No! No, I should be..." she started to assure, trailing off as I rolled my eyes and tucked my head under her right foreleg. She gave a squeak, but let me slip her up onto my back instead. After a moment, she steadied herself and relaxed as I lifted her up fully and she slid her other leg over my back. "You carried me quite a bit already. Let me do the same in return," I assured. She exhaled quietly, then finally nodded and relaxed, resting her head to the side of my own as I turned to Twilight instead. She gave me a warm smile and turned to the nurse, who nodded towards the door. She slipped a side sheet of paper out from behind the clipboard, and drifted it over to Twilight. A brief glance showed a number two followed by a rather interesting looking circular symbol that I hadn't seen before yet. It was too wide to be a zero. Maybe it was-? My thought process was interrupted when Twilight nodded and floated her bag open, withdrawing two shiny coins and setting it on the only table this small field medic tent had. Oh! The circle thingy was a bit symbol, then. Wait, how had I been here a month and a half and never noticed that? It had been on Carrot Top's sign, now that I recalled. At a glance, I thought that twenty bits was too high for three carrots. Exiting the medical tent, I was mildly surprised to see Spitfire following us. Well, continuing to follow us after exiting, rather than, I don't know, take to the sky or something. "Sure you're holding up okay, Rainbow? The team could get you to Ponyville's hospital in short order," she offered, still sounding a little concerned. Well, she was the team captain, so I suppose all of the Wonderbolts, even the reserves, were under her list of responsibilities, too. She seemed to honestly like Dash, though. "Mmph, everything but my dignity. No offense, Mender," my feathery backpack murmured, sounding disheartened. "None taken," I assured, used to her blunt, in your face statements at this point. Spitfire blinked, then perked up a bit. "Oooh, so you're Moon Mender?" she asked. Twilight's expression dropped into a disbelieving one as she glanced past me to the Wonderbolt on the other side. "Seriously? We were in there the whole time, and said his name while talking to the nurse and confirming he could stay. You didn't hear it then?" she asked, sounding incredulous. Dash smirked, but Spitfire just flicked her bang to the side and huffed. "I was a bit busy chewing out the reserve for almost flying herself into an early visit to the Ether. I have a lot on my mind!" she defended, turning Rainbow's smirk into an ear flattened scowl. Thankfully she couldn't stew for long. "Rainbow Dash! You're okay!" came a familiar sounding voice. I turned my head and smiled as Derpy ran in from our front, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie fast on her tail. Rarity was tactfully hanging back, smiling as she watched with a very, very happy looking Spike riding on her back. Oooh, scandalous! Wait, no, that would be snarky. To my slight confusion, a strange brown stallion ran alongside the slowest of the faster approaching ponies, Fluttershy. Who was he? Wait, had I seen him before? "Ha! The second place winner herself! Oh, and... Uh, you!" Spitfire chirped, frowning as she turned to look at the brown stallion as well. Huh? Oh, right, I had seen him before. Third place winner. He was actually sort of forgettable. Maybe it was his color scheme? His ears flattened back as he skidded to a stop, now next to Derpy in the front, who gave him a puzzled look as if she'd never seen him before. "Uh, my name is Crescent-" he started to repeat. "Wait! No, I got this! Crescent... Crescent Mooning?" Spitfire guessed, blinking once in uncertainty. Rainbow shifted a light red hue, her sharp snort barely containing the laughter from blasting across my ear, and Pinkie started giggling regardless. Crescent Mooning's ears flattened somehow even more, almost straight down against his skull before he corrected, "Crescent Star... Crescent Moon is my brother." Wait, what? But 'Crescent' was a descriptor for a shape and several stages of a moon transition. Stars didn't come in that shape, nor did they have transitions like that. Hmm. Maybe it was a matter of perspective? A star could be eclipsed in various stages by another celestial body, so from the surface of a nearby planet, it could... He turned slightly sideways and gestured at his flank, showing a Cutie Mark of a crescent moon and three stars near it. Oh. Or that. What did that even mean? Spitfire stared at it for a moment before recovering quickly with, "Right! Star! That was my second guess. Uh, anyway, what are you doing here? Weren't you and Fleetfoot going to-" "She turned me down. I didn't even realize that hotel hot tubs needed lifeguards!" he exclaimed, blinking once more. They did? Spitfire stared vacantly at him before snapping out of it and asking in horror, "Oh, of course they do! Ponies can get seriously overheated and pass out in one! Who's going to dive in after them if there's no lifeguard?!" Oh! I hadn't thought about that. Seriously, did they run their hot tubs that hot in Equestria?! "Ooooh, that does totally make sense! Well, thankfully I remembered Rainbow was hurt soon after and went to see how she was doing, and I was going to ask if she was single before I remembered how horribly scary she is, but then I met Fluttershy here!" he explained, nudging his head towards the yellow mare next to him. Wait, what? It was Rainbow's turn to glare at him, adding yet another to his 'Definitely Not Friends' list. "Seriously? How am I scarier than Spitfire?! Wait, why are you hitting on Fluttershy?!" my backpack demanded to know. My eyes narrowed sharply at the reminder. That was an extremely important question. One that would potentially get him a high velocity trip off the top of the hill if he answered poorly. He swallowed before hesitantly glancing between us and finally answering, "Uh, because she's hot? And an ex-model?" Yeah, wrong answer. Wait, Fluttershy used to be a model? The yellow mare, pink from the prior question, now turned red and squeaked, hopping rapidly away from him and scampering forward to hide behind Twilight, who was slightly closer. That lined him up for punting anyway, so I didn't mind. There was a long, stagnant pause with everypony except Fluttershy and Pinkie viciously staring daggers at him. Understandably, he twitched and started sweating, looking back and forth between us. "Oooh, awkward!" Pinkie chirped gently, now swaying back and forth next to Derpy. "Seriously bad idea, Dude. You're informed enough to know Fluttershy used to be a model, but not enough to know she's in a herd already with Princess Twilight Sparkle?!" Spitfire asked, gesturing to the now annoyed looking mare to the other side of me. I hesitated and waited for the 'and' to follow Spitfire's query, but predictably, it never came. Ugh. Twilight shifted to awkward looking instead, apparently also waiting for that non-existent 'and' part. Crescent Stupid Name flailed at that, however. "W-whoa! I didn't realize! Sorry! Ugh. This just isn't my day," he quickly apologized, drooping down a little and almost, just almost, making me feel sorry for him. Sighing, Applejack rolled her eyes before stepping past the still confused looking Derpy. "Look, Ah see that yer ah little, uh, lonely? Ah can understand that, Ah really do. But well, yer comin' on just ah mite too strong, don't ya think? There's ah real nice mare lookin' fer ya out there, without doubt. Ya just gotta calm down ah little an' try not ta scare ponies, ya know?" she suggested, putting on a rather assuring smile. Yeah, that was quite a solid bit of advice, given his performance so far. I'd add a few suggestions to that, by my inner Rarity suggested it would be too crass. He blushed lightly, then thoughtfully scratched his chin before nodding to her, causing her to perk and nod back. "Thank you, Applejack. You're, um, a really nice mare. I can see why you're an Element Bearer and-" he started. Twilight promptly slapped her forehead, and Applejack herself coughed slightly. "Uh, that's better! Seriously. But, uh, no," Applejack answered without even an instant of hesitation. He drooped his ears again, and Twilight twitched. Before I could even process it, he was enveloped in a magical aura and literally launched at a fraction of the speed of sound off over the track, flailing and screaming. Everypony stared blankly at her for a moment before she gave an exasperated eye roll. "What?! He has wings, he'll be fine! Probably," she assured, waving her hoof towards me. I shuddered, reminding myself to yet again not make her angry. Landing from that would probably be mildly painful for me, and I'd cause a lot of collateral damage. "Psh, she's a softy. Featherfall spell on him, too?" Spitfire inquired, holding a hoof over her eyes as she looked off into the distance in the direction he got flung. Twilight sighed wearily before reminding, "While it might be satisfying to entertain in my head, I'm not going to murder somepony for tactless flirting." Oh, right. She continued a hesitant moment later with, "Plus, the Featherfall spell disrupts the thermals around a pegasus' wings, so he has no choice but to float slowly to the ground. Buys us at least five minutes of peace in case he decides to return." Ooooh! Smart! Fluttershy shivered before quietly chipping in with, "Oh, and, um, Moon Mender's in our herd, too." I smiled back at her, causing her to blush faintly again and give me a timid one back. Spitfire perked up at that, then rubbed the back of her head before spinning and looking at Twilight instead. "Wait, seriously? I could have sworn I saw that huge, like, three hundred point newspaper headline about you forming a herd with Fluttershy!" she asked. Ugh. Damn it, Fancypants! My ears drooped again as I was suddenly blatantly reminded of that whole dramatic fiasco. Twilight momentarily looked like Spitfire had just turned and bucked her in the face instead, however. Spitfire reacted a bit faster this time, scraping the ground with her right front hoof before awkwardly rotating slightly to face me instead. Okay, I really didn't care anymore, and just wanted to stop talking about this... "Okay, sorry, sorry! I'm not batting a thousand tonight, that much is obvious. The paper was out of date, got it!" she deduced correctly, rapidly recovering her composure before continuing with, "So I officially apologize, on behalf of myself and the Wonderbolts, as an organization, and congratulate you! I mean, getting to join a herd full of two smokin' hot mares already, serious props!" I stared blankly at her for a long moment, and her grin faltered a little, but to her credit, she kept up the pose, right foreleg extended out in attempts to get me to shake her hoof. Derpy finally frowned, then warned, "Um, I might be wrong, but I think Mender was supposed to join the herd at the same time, and the paperwork got messed up." I looked past Spitfire to Derpy and nodded, giving her a weak smile I barely managed to muster. Spitfire's pose didn't change, but her jaw clenched a little as her eyes shifted over to Twilight, who swallowed nervously and nodded. A long, agonizing six seconds later, her eyes slowly shifted back to me, the sound of crickets chirping in the numb silence around us. Huh. Wait... I looked to my left, where Spitfire had been before violently shoving her hoof down her throat. Pinkie stood there instead, lips pressed together as she made a cricket chirping noise with her mouth, amazingly accurately. She should really show me how she did that, at some point. She stopped and looked at me for a moment after I spotted her, then slowly commented, "Really awkward!" Yes, yes it was. "Uh, yeah. Thank you, Pinkie," I thanked, shifting to a smile and nod towards her. Somehow, she managed to make me feel just a little better. I chalked it up to that strange Pinkie magic she pulled off all the time. Spitfire finally managed to snap herself out of that frozen grin, coughing lightly into her hoof she'd retracted now. "Ah, yeah, yeah it was. Possibly the most awkward moment I've had this year. And I'd bet Soarin ten bits that I could get through the event without putting my hoof in my mouth, too! Ah well. Uh, right. Not leaving Cloudsdale without my PR Cheatsheet ever again," she muttered weakly, finally looking away from me. Shrugging, I admitted, "Awkward moments are something I'm familiar with. To your credit, I would have run away and hid by now." Also the truth, sadly. She smirked at that and turned back to look at me before shrugging. "Nah. A Wonderbolt never shows their back to a problem. Even if the problem is me making a complete fool of myself! Right, I repeat those formal apologies, with additional from me again. Yeah, definitely going to drop by your place later with some generous commission requests," she apologized yet again. As luck would have it, she blundered into my one weakness, and I twitched. Well, one of my weaknesses, next to mares crying, adorableness, pleading foals, static cling in my fur, conveyor belts, loft lifts, apples, rocks, water, trees, and Rainbow Dash. "Ah, uh, no, it's okay! We all goof from time to time, and you're right, you do have a lot on your mind! So how about we just start over? I'm Moon Mender," I introduced rapidly, holding my hoof out to her instead. She gave me a suspicious raised eyebrow before slowly reaching forward and taking it with her opposite, shaking softly. Dash started snickering before explaining, "You tried to pay him. That gets him to give up immediately." Damn it! Spitfire smirked, of course, and I knew it was too late now, so instead, I directed a glare back at my now frustrating feathered backpack. Actually, she was surprisingly light for a full grown pony. How she'd managed to carry me... Applejack just chuckled softly, then shook her head. "As much as Ah enjoy teasin' Mender an' watchin' him squirm, we should get Dash somewhere where she can relax," she pointed out. I rolled my eyes but just stayed quiet. My mouth had already gotten me in enough trouble. "I know Pinkie had her heart set on a picnic under the stars, I do believe this time, a soft resting spot would do Rainbow more justice. I doubt Mender will volunteer for the remainder of the evening, so might I suggest returning to the library? You have that lovely couch in the main room near the fire," Rarity directed, turning to look at Twilight instead. I suppose gathering there wasn't that bad of an idea. Wait, where were the Crusaders? They hadn't come to greet us. Pinkie held her hoof up absently, shaking it back and forth as she smiled. "It's okay! We can always have a nice picnic next spring instead. It is getting a little on the chilly side now," she assured, in a surprisingly calm tone for her. "Oooh, can I come, too, Twilight? I'll be really good and not bother anypony," Derpy asked, suddenly snapping out of her quiet trance over the course of the last conversation. Spitfire snickered at that and added, "Sorry, but I have to call it quits at that. Soarin's waiting for my report back at our hotel, and we have an early practice tomorrow before the next day's festivities, so I gotta run." Oh, right! There were festivities running for almost four days. I wondered idly if I'd get to see any tomorrow. Twilight nodded to both of them, regardless. "It was nice seeing you again, Spitfire," she started, wincing then as the mare blasted off with a sharp grin. After a weaker sigh, she smiled again and turned back to Derpy, with, "Of course you can come. You know you can celebrate with us anytime you want. Uh, where are the Crusaders, though?" Applejack snickered at that before explaining, "Sent 'em back ta town. We didn't know how long Dash would be in there, so they went back ta pick up some medical supplies from tha market." Twilight lifted an eyebrow at that, earning a cough from the orange mare before she appended, “Yeah, Ah know. Ya have supplies in there. Scootaloo wouldn’t stop talkin’ about what she could do ta help Dash, though.” Aww, that was rather adorable. Rainbow blushed lightly, but Pinkie nodded and bounced once before furthering, "Yup! We knew the town has lots of medical and repair supplies stockpiled anyway! The mayor was all sighs and complaining about annual injury reports when Twilight gave her the awesome idea of stockpiling things ahead of time!" Oh, that was rather smart. Wait, annual injuries? The lavender unicorn looked a bit perplexed, however. "Wait, you weren't at the meeting, Pinkie. How did you even... Wait, why am I even asking that? Never mind. Let's just get going back to town. Maybe we can catch the Crusaders and save them a return trip," she reasoned, sighing and starting back down the path off the hill. Hey, I would have liked to hear that explanation. Of course, would Pinkie have even answered? Probably not. Cracking my back lightly, I shifted to make sure Rainbow was still on my back safely, then started after Twilight and the others, resuming my place towards the back of our group. My newfound favorite position held many benefits, greatest of which was them catching any potential attention first and foremost, be it media ponies or otherwise. I ultimately preferred being in the background if at all possible. Some days, it felt like something was conspiring against that. It was almost as if some invisible or impossible to realize camera was following me around wherever I went. Shaking off the surreal sensation, I was reminded of the other reason I liked this placement, eyes locking on to Twilight's swaying hips as she walked down the path, the subtle muscles shifting underneath as she braced against the hill so she didn't fall victim to gravity and slip, bonking her head off the ground and rolling into a crumpled heap at the bottom or... Nope, sexy thoughts gone. Damn it! It was only because I did exactly that before, too! Sadly, I forgot how close Rainbow was in link proximity until I felt her grin against the back of my neck. "Oooh, I hate it when that happens. Nice, tasty thought, and then bam, totally derailed," she mused back into my mind, barely a whisper as she pushed it only to me. Hey, she'd realized how to do that! Finally... "Shush. I think I fell down this hill before on my way to Ponyville the day I landed," I warned, right back into her head. She smirked regardless, and I saw it coming. Well, 'felt' it more so at this range. "Still, good reasons to stay in the rear. To check out the other rears, ya know? Twilight's is nice, but Applejack's is so much, mmm, fuller!" she pointed out, gesturing towards the orange rump with blond tail thankfully hiding more choice bits. I blushed, then she outright grinned. "Ah ah! Eyes only, Mister! She's so mine," she mentally reminded, earning a still blushing glare from me. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow finally, glancing back as she probably felt my flood of embarrassment. Too late. The pegasus was going to pay now. "Oh? Here I thought you'd more want us to share you?" I inquired, as deep into her mind as I could launch it, supplemented with pictures. Rainbow's wings shot to full extension almost as fast as her eyes did. Her cheeks did their best attempt to quickly follow, at least matching her eye color, until she winced. Oh, right, her wings hurt. Fluttershy tilted her head as Rainbow glared at me, still flushed. Heh. Oops... * * * * * Admittedly, this was a lot better than out in the chilly winds for the picnic, and we already had the food all packed! Now everypony had settled in to the lounge at the bottom of the library, with Rainbow resting on the couch, of course. It was rather large, however, and Applejack was resting to her left, and Rarity to her right. Spike sat at the bottom of the couch, right underneath Rarity, of course, and looking quite pleased as to his spot. Fluttershy sat in the large sofa behind me. Well, she was more lying down in it. Her head was tucked up against my cheek as I leaned back on it. Twilight sat to my right, looking more interested in her book than the events in front of us, despite doing so well herself. Pinkie sat to my left, wiggling in excitement every time a new turn came up. It was kind of cute, honestly. To her left sat all four Crusaders, frequently changing places in order to gain what they hoped was an edge, it would seem. Derpy was to Twilight's right, completing the circle on the other side. Pinkie giggled in amusement as her turn came up again, having completed the task of somehow juggling three tennis balls with just her tongue. She reached out and gave the bottle in the center a healthy spin. Rarity had requested a simple, low key game so we all could continue eating while playing, which certainly hadn't hurt my feelings. Pinkie looked a bit disappointed, however, as she put away the volleyball. How she expected us to play that in Twilight's library was beyond me, but at least she had a backup option with Twilight's enchanted bottle. It was simple magic to detect various biological functions keyed in to somepony potentially lying. I said potentially, due to the fact that somepony simply freaking out in panic would also probably set it off, hence special precautions were taken with Fluttershy's turns. So far, it had been a significantly less painful experience than the last time we'd played Truth or Dare. There were no frogs this time, either, thankfully. Apart from the tongue juggling experience, Twilight had also proved she could balance one of the tennis balls perfectly fine on the tip of her horn without using magic, which was also impressive. Rarity had further revealed that she sometimes slept with a coat of beauty cream on in order to prevent 'wrinkles', despite being only twenty. Derpy had shown us her ability to uncannily fly upside down for extended periods of time, which seemed practically impossible, and Applejack openly admitted to getting the cider supplies from Big Mac's stash, with explicit permission. Rainbow was a bit disappointed in that answer, apparently having hoped to get the secret location of Applejack's stash instead. Although at this point, aforementioned cider already had everypony a little flushed, being of the 'hard' variety. Minus me, of course. Yet another thing being a cyborg took away from me... Although maybe that was for the better, lest I go into some horrible downward spiral of alcoholism in order to forget being a planet eating abomination. Heh. Regardless, on my only turn so far, I'd been dared rather strangely by Rarity to use my rather prehensile tongue to try to tie together two ribbons she pulled out of her bag. Derpy didn't even seem to blink at mention that my tongue was different, so I didn't really mind. She wouldn't spread around that I was a 'mutant' or anything, so it wasn't that worrying. Far more worrying was the surprising amount of attention such a simple dare got me, as everypony stared intently at my long tongue curling around to tie a nice bow in the two ribbons. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow also started blushing, and I didn't even want to ask. Probably some secret culture thing I was missing. Slowly, the bottle slipped back around and headed right back towards Pinkie again. What happened if you spun yourself? Eh, there was probably just a rule in place to spin again. Regardless, it slipped past Pinkie herself, slowly crawled just past Fluttershy, and came up right to the edge of my back hoof, which I kept intentionally extended to minimize Fluttershy's hit zone. "Ha! Your leg's out again, Mender! Your turn!" Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly, pointing towards my back leg. She hadn't caught on yet. "Oh, oops. It's hard to keep it under me sometimes. Look at that," I muttered, glancing down at it. Fluttershy blushed lightly, and Pinkie just giggled before asking her question. "So, truth or dare?!" she asked, grinning in amusement. Well, I'd taken a dare before and it had gone rather weirdly, so maybe it was a truth time? Sighing, I answered with, "Truth, this time." This would come back to bite me, I just knew it. Pinkie grinned, and I braced for impact before Twilight coughed sharply. Eh? The lavender mare quickly reminded, “Young ears, Pinkie. Keep it clean.” Huh? A glance showed three of the four Crusaders all leaning in closer. Spotted, they toppled over each other to go back to sitting normal, failing miserably and ending up a big pile of multi-colored limbs. The pink one pouted for a moment before continuing with, “Oh fine. Truth, then. What’s the time where you’ve had the most fun here in Ponyville so far? I gotta take notes!” That one caught me off guard, as I was expecting something embarrassing or horrifying, and I momentarily hesitated. Most fun? It didn’t surprise me when Pinkie actually reached over into Twilight’s saddlebag and grabbed a notepad. “To be honest, times like these are my favorite. When we can all just relax as a group, let things slow down, and just enjoy each other’s company. Emphasis on the ‘slow down’ part,” I answered a moment later, knowing exactly what I’d wanted before she asked. That made being honest rather easy, in this case. “Aww!” Derpy chirped, smiling at me warmly. Rainbow rolled her eyes and made a gagging motion, but I just stuck my tongue out at her. I had the right to want to slow down, having thwarted an alien invasion, built two upgrades to a barn, gotten blown up, having fought off an alien invader, having found out I was a cyborg, finding out who my real parents were, and falling for two amazing and lovely mares, all in the space of a month and a half. Damn. Just listing all that tired me out. Pinkie blinked, then grinned at that. “Likes cuddles and snuggle time. That’s super easy to remember! I didn’t need this after all…” she confirmed before shoving the pad of paper back in Twilight’s bag. I was a bit surprised that the lavender mare didn’t even seem to care. Less surprised when Pinkie slid over and pounced me from the side, tackling both Twilight and me while burying her face under my chin. “Cuddles I can do anytime! We don’t even need a party for that,” she proclaimed, as if it was some astounding and miraculous revelation. Oh Pinkie… Applejack snickered at her antics before pointing out at the glowing green bottle. “Honest it would seem, not that Ah doubted him. But he can’t exactly spin tha bottle with ya flattenin’ him inta tha floor,” she pointed out, grinning at us. Instead of doing the easy thing and just sitting up again, Pinkie instead nodded twice and shuffled a little to the side, moving our pile closer to the middle of the area and near the bottle. Of course… With the scents of freshly baked cookies wafting up into my nose from the pink mare’s mane, I shifted to the right and flailed my right foreleg out a bit, missing twice before whacking the nozzle of the bottle on my third flick. Pinkie giggled from my chest while Twilight rolled her eyes to my vague right side, still smiling, however, as she wrapped her forelegs around both of us instead. The bottle spun rapidly, drifting a bit off center due to my inaccurate, flailing impact on it. Not too much thankfully, and it rotated slowly around, heading for Applejack. Oh boy. The farm mare grinned, sitting up as she prepared undoubtedly for another dare, when the glass rolled over slightly. The raised writing on it must have tipped over at just the perfect time, and the nozzle shifted another inch to the right instead. Rainbow’s eyes widened, the nozzle directed at her right foreleg now. I looked at her, and she looked at me, a sudden frown of annoyance shifting onto her face. In her two turns so far, she’d gleefully indicated that she had wanted revenge for the wing thing on our way over here, but had spun me on neither turn. This was ironic… “Psh, fine. Do your worst. Dare,” Dash announced, smirking confidently at me. Brat… Narrowing my eyes at her, I reminded, “Fine. I’ll get revenge for your last dare against me, then. Getting my stomach pumped wasn’t pleasant.” Or seeing frogs. Or blathering on about all of my secrets in front of the whole party. Her eyes shot open in surprise, and I felt Pinkie’s face heat up, her front hooves rubbing together weakly. “Um, that was kinda my fault, too,” she reminded quietly, sounding like she still felt bad about it. Although to be honest, somepony would have had to get their stomach pumped, so at least it was the cyborg who didn’t realize he was a cyborg at that time. It might have made somepony else really sick. “It’s okay, Pinkie. I’ll get you back later. For now, it’s Rainbow’s turn!” I declared, earning a giggle and nod surprisingly from the pink mare against my chest. Dash puffed up, eyes narrowing as she partially sat up again. “Bring it! I’m feeling a lot better now, and can handle any dare you throw at me!” she assured, starting to grin. Derpy leaned over to Twilight instead, however, and asked, “Stomach pump?” Despite being upside down to Derpy, Twilight snickered and shook her head up at her. “Long story. It was an accident on Pinkie’s part for the ‘punishment’ of backing down from the dare to kiss Fluttershy, which was technically against the rules anyway. He really shouldn’t have been punished…” she explained. “Oh yeah. That was ah lot o’ vomitin’…” Apple Bloom suddenly commented, earning a shudder from Sweetie next to her. I had no luck with potions at all. Still! I smirked, and Rainbow hesitated, but it was far too late. There was a line that nopony could back down from, and I’d crossed it. “Fine. I dare you to kiss Applejack,” I finally ordered. Pinkie gasped against me, putting both hooves to her mouth as she looked over at the couch. For just a second, it didn’t register, and then Rainbow’s confident smirk fell away into a thousand pieces, her eyes widening drastically almost as fast as the flush of color entered her cheeks. Applejack froze next to her as well, cup partially to her mouth for another drink of cider. Her eyebrow lifted at that, but her expression remained neutral as her eyes shifted to look at Dash instead. “W-What?!” Rainbow asked, red coloring flushing up her whole face as her eyes glanced just slightly over at the orange mare, suddenly afraid of eye contact as I felt her heart try to pound through her chest down the link. Okay, maybe that had been unfair… Smirking, Twilight flipped three pages and looked at ‘Truth or Dare Rules’ listing. Figured she’d have a book for having a party. “Mmm, technically any dare including another pony needs to have their express consent, and no acts of intimacy are allowed unless that’s the setting… Although, she DID attempt to do that to you last time, so I’d have to rule this one time as fair game,” the lavender mare concluded, which was impressive for reading sideways. “But that was different! That was… uh…” Dash tried to defend, flailing her forelegs before hesitantly glancing over at the orange mare next to her, who was smiling gently now. “Ah consent,” she assured, taking a big swig of her cider before setting it down and shivering. She sounded more amused than anything as Rainbow’s ears dropped down, somehow getting the red flush all the way to them, now. Apple Bloom was watching her sister in surprise now, both forehooves up on her muzzle. The little orange filly next to her was slightly less reserved, her wings buzzing quietly on her back as she looked back and forth between the two of them. Rarity blushed just slightly as well, stirring her cider a bit while smirking. “You did say anything he could throw at you,” she murmured, sounding far too entertained by this to be healthy. It looked more like Rainbow found herself backed into a corner, her wings twitching behind her as she looked around at the group of mirthful looking ponies all staring at her. Even Scootaloo was grinning as she sat up, watching her sister like a hawk now. Applejack buried the hatchet, however, an instant later. “Ya don’t have ta, o’ course. If yer chicken, ya can just give up instead an’ go fer whatever Pinkie has planned,” the orange mare reminded, gesturing towards the sack Pinkie had next to her. Whatever she had in it was leaking something green out the side of the bag, which was actually rather disgusting. Pinkie gasped at that and sat up, grinning as she reached for the bag. The shift in Rainbow’s expression was instant, eyes flicking down into a narrow glare as she looked over at Applejack instead. “What?! No way am I backing down from this! It just… It surprised me, is all! Ugh, fine!” she rapidly denied, shakily sitting up again. Her orange friend smirked at that and sat up as well, turning to watch Rainbow with tentative curiosity. Oh boy. Was she really going to do it? Admittedly, I had no idea what Dash was going to do when I’d dared her. “Yer hesitatin’…” Applejack chirped, blushing a little herself and smirking, after three seconds went past. I couldn’t tell if she was blushing, though, or just flushed from the alcohol she’d been consuming most of the night. Rainbow let out a growling noise before closing her eyes and shivering, then lunging forward like a cobra. Applejack’s eyes widened and she backed away a little, fearing a head butt instead of a kiss by the looks of it, but Dash slowed and shifted to the side, putting a light peck on the surprised mare’s left cheek. “T-There! Ha!” Dash announced, pointing her hoof and grinning at me, entire face almost matching her eyes, although slowly receding now. The orange mare next to her shifted to a slightly annoyed look instead, however. I blinked, then smiled and nodded at her. “Not quite what I meant, but I was vague, so that counts,” I admitted, causing her to visibly relax and smirk. Twilight started to nod, but Applejack actually snorted and started snickering outright. It was interesting to watch Rainbow’s right ear twitch in the direction of the snickering, followed by her head as she shifted back to a glare. Thankfully, the orange mare explained her mirth a moment later. “Ya called that ah kiss? Ah’ve gotten better smooches on mah cheek from Apple Bloom! Haha! It was kinda cute, actually. Still, that was kinda pathetic, too,” she pointed out, smashing Rainbow in the face with the rather harsh statement. I winced, and Rainbow’s eyes widened drastically, the red shooting back into her face. Twilight looked a bit surprised at that, and Fluttershy shook her head quickly. “It, um, technically counts, Applejack. You shouldn’t be so mean, though. I mean, Mender didn’t specifically ask for-“ Fluttershy started to defend. Applejack shook her head and sat up fully, holding a hoof out to Fluttershy to stop. She over-corrected a little, but focused more, then smirked up at Rainbow instead. “Nah, Ah’m sorry. That was mean, Ah know. Hmm. Maybe Rainbow doesn’t know what ah real kiss is like? Ah’m sorry, Dash. Ah didn’t mean ta tease ya,” she assured, nodding twice and looking amused again. Was she… Was that mocking? I couldn’t tell! I’d never seen such a sly way of doing it if it was... A little frown came from Rainbow, and it looked like she couldn’t decide which it was either. Thankfully she didn’t need to wait long. “But ya ain’t off tha hook fer that pathetic little smooch. Here’s how ya kiss somepony fer real,” Applejack warned. Uh, what? Applejack moved in and closed the gap instead, and almost everypony’s eyes widened at the same time, including Rainbow’s as her muzzle came into contact with the orange mare’s. Pinkie let out a squeak, hooves still on both sides of her muzzle as she blushed, watching the two tentatively kiss for a moment before Applejack’s eyes shifted more hungry than anything and she pushed Rainbow back against the side of the sofa. Rarity’s eyes widened as her cider spilled, and she slid off the side of her cushion and off the sofa completely in order to avoid being landed on as the cyan pegasus was pinned to the fabric. The pegasus’ look of intense shock slowly melting into a bubbly heat coming from down her link, that flush expanding across her cheeks as her eyes closed as well. Holy hell! All four fillies slipped into a shocked blush as they remained glued to staring. I could clearly see tongues moving now as Applejack let out a weak groan, Rainbow shivering under her as her wings seemed permanently stuck rigid to either side of her. Twilight had her jaw dropped, staring at the two as they made out on her sofa. Her surprise didn’t last long, however, as she shifted to looking at the spilled cider with a slight frown instead. Figured. Spike had been even more surprised as the cup almost landed on him, but now slid away from the sofa and was grinning as he watched the two of them. Okay, color me surprised! After a long twenty seconds, Applejack raised her head up again, smirking down at the blissed out yet stunned pegasus, now staring wide eyed up at her. “That’s how ya kiss somepony, Dashie. Ya better practice some,” she muttered, earning a wider flush from Rainbow. There was slight hesitation before a sudden smirk shifted up onto Rainbow, and I felt a mixture of intense relief and searing happiness come from her. It was rather infectious as I started smiling, too. She nodded, then said, “Okay. You’ll have to let me get more practice in, then.” Applejack smirked once before Dash pulled her back down, kissing her again. This one was much shorter lived, however, as Twilight huffed. “Take it upstairs if you two are going to continue. Plus, you’re getting your mane in the cider that Rarity just spilled on my sofa,” she pointed out, gesturing to the expanding puddle of fluid coming from the mug on the floor. I’d be more at ease if the only comfortable piece of furniture upstairs hadn’t been our bed. Both mares blushed this time, but reluctantly broke apart as Applejack helped the still sore pegasus up. Rainbow hesitated, however, before asking, “Uh, not to be uncool or anything but, well, does this mean…?” Oooo. Her newly minted fillyfriend just smirked, however, and nodded before tacking on, “Ah was just waitin’ fer ya ta ask, Silly. Ya were kinda obvious about it.” Ha! Okay, it was true, though. Rainbow must have known it was true, too, and just blushed a little, looking away for a second before smirking outright again, unable to stop the happiness from swelling up in her. “Okay, then! I guess I shall let you be my totally awesome fillyfriend,” she assured, earning a skeptical grin from Applejack, who then hauled her over next to her as Rarity levitated, then flipped her cushion over with her magic. “Yes!” Scootaloo instantly cheered, hopping up and down with her forehooves up in the air. Oddly, Sweetie gave her a pointed glare at that. Twilight exhaled a moment later, horn lighting up as a smaller side closet opened nearby, showing cleaning supplies in it. Spike stood, however, and shook his head in her direction. “It’s okay, Twi. I got it,” he assured, walking over towards the closet instead and grabbing a mop out of it. I sat up off Twilight finally, who smiled warmly up at me and lifted her hoof. Hooking it, I pulled her to her haunches, and was surprised as she kept going and kissed me softly on the cheek. “Well, I’m happy for you two. Knowing what I know now, I know it’s nice not to be lonely,” the lavender unicorn congratulated, surprising me a little further. I was about to open my mouth and mirror her congratulations when we were all interrupted instead by three loudish knocks to the front door. Eh? Twilight frowned, everypony turning to look at the front door. The knocks didn’t repeat, and I couldn’t see anything through the window next to it, mostly because it was night now. “Wait, who could that be? It’s almost midnight now…” she muttered, standing and walking towards the door. Frowning as well, I stood and followed after her. “Twi, wait,” I warned quickly, causing her to stop and look back at me. Her eyes widened at my expression, but then she nodded as I moved past her, guard going up as her horn started to glow. Even lightly buzzed from the cider, I was more than confident in her prowess as I felt her following behind me. Derpy looked more confused by our cautious demeanor than anything, but I couldn’t afford to take chances. My inner armor folded up as well, just in case. Reaching the door, I hesitated as I touched the door knob. I was facing away from Derpy, the only one in the room who didn’t know, so I took a moment to flash an ion scan through the door, my eyes flickering blue for just a moment. The readings showed only a single, smaller sized pony standing on the other side, more slender form probably belonging to a mare. Huh. Bracing, I simply opened the door up, Twilight standing to my right with her horn glowing subtly. In front of me was an oh so familiar looking white unicorn, dressed in a more casual looking button up vest and tiny pair of ear muffs over her ears. She was sitting on the step to the library, and perked and smiled upon seeing me, brushing her light green mane out of her face. “Oh, it’s you again. Is there something you need?” Twilight asked, looking surprised. I suddenly noticed that her new outfit didn’t hide her Cutie Mark, like the last one did. It was a golden framed oval mirror, with the actual glass made out of a yellow and green shading. The mare nodded softly, then apologized with, “I’m terribly sorry it’s so late. After the races, I couldn’t find where you ponies went, and looked everywhere for you until I asked a nice green mare where you’d gone. She said over here, so I went back to the hotel to freshen up a bit, then came over here! I mean, it’s better to catch you now rather than wait until tomorrow and risk you having left again to some of the other festivities and me missing my chance to meet you officially yet again. That would just be downright-“ “Ah, uh, right! Um, would you like to come in?” Twilight asked, cutting her off before she rambled until morning. Backed up with our new conclusion that the slightly crazy unicorn probably wasn’t BEID, I relaxed a little and stepped backwards, letting the mare come inside. The only active danger with her so far seemed to be her slightly slow rambling draining all the energy out of a pony as they tried to listen to it… She stepped inside momentarily, then shivered before lighting her horn up with soft green energy and lifting her ear muffs off her head. Huh. Her magic was the same color as her eyes, just like Rarity’s. But Twilight had a bit more red in hers. No, focus! “Brr. It’s already so chilly this time of year. Canterlot’s usually much warmer, surprisingly,” she murmured, relaxing a little from her tense posture on the step. She was nervous? Although now that I thought about it, her speaking was a little bit faster than it was earlier at the shop. “Oh, the barrier that’s under Canterlot and most of the energy the city uses runs on geothermal power from the mountain, which lightly magnifies the temperature, keeping it a little warmer than the surrounding area due to the heat output of the generators,” Twilight explained, easily shifting into her familiar scientific mode. The mare giggled and smiled to her before nervously glancing at me instead. Spike trotted over to us as well, mop still in hand, and I saw everypony in the lounge area now watching and listening. Right. “Twilight said you were looking for me? Uh, if you don’t mind me asking, why is that?” I inquired, trying to get to the point of the visit so I could at least ascertain her goal. To my surprise, the mare fidgeted, looking suddenly extremely nervous. “I… uh… oh Celestia, this probably going to sound completely nuts…” she muttered, not giving me much faith in how this was going to go. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as the mare composed herself and lifted a hoof up to me. Hesitantly, I took her hoof and shook it, and she smiled again, then introduced in a surprisingly perky tone, “My name is Auramirror. I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to come right out and say it. I’m sorta your great, great, great grandniece. It’s nice to finally meet you, Mister Moon Mender.” Twilight’s eyes widened, and my mind blanked completely. What?
Chapter 86Everything was a blur, as per usual. Although at least it was a neutral to happy blur this time instead of raw panic, rage, or adrenaline. Or even worse, all three. Looking down at the tons of papers, I was a bit overwhelmed by the complete clinical display of identification for the mare sitting across the table from me. Birth certificate, picture identification, graduation paperwork, a DNA analysis writeup, an Ether Spectrogram, whatever that was, a written letter from Tia with instructions to Spike to deliver it when we got a 'strange visitor', and even Auramirror's library card. Well, at least I knew that Tia was feeling impish today... "It all checks through, multiple times over," Twilight muttered, sounding a little exasperated as she glared at the letter once again, explaining that the young necromancer had visited her personally about a week prior to this. Apparently she'd become 'suspect' to my identity before coming forward with it, and Tia knew she was related to me already. Of course, the logical conclusion was to tell her pretty much everything about my situation, apparently. Who needed security protocols, after all?! Auramirror stared vacantly at me for a moment before slowly blinking, back to her more relaxed state now. "I really thought she'd send word ahead of time that I was coming. I made my intentions clear to her that I wished to find you after learning your true identity," she defended softly, without much conviction at all. It was already late at night, and just listening to her made me even more tired. Then there was the other issue, of course... "Hee, it's still hard to believe Mender's, like, three hundred years old! He looks so young!" Derpy chirped happily, sitting in a chair directly to my left and largely unfazed by the revelation that had been literally dropped right in front of her, openly. Again, those security protocols... As if to get us back on track, Owlowiscious let out a ‘hoo’ noise while sitting on our table, sliding forth the books he’d retrieved for Twilight. There was a book there on pony family genealogy and another on necromancers, Twilight’s magic enveloping them both and passing me the genealogy one. Right, my family… Completely ignoring the owl, Rainbow flared her wings out a bit behind me as she sat on the floor, a bit to my left. "Seriously, it doesn't faze you at all that he's, like, an alien?!" she asked, sounding a little annoyed. It was probably because she hadn't found out about it on the best of terms, literally walking in on me transformed. She whacked my back an instant later and I got the hint, sighing as one of my tentacles slid out and wiggled above her in the air. Thankfully, Twilight had put four separate wards up on the library already and I didn’t have to worry about any more surprises. The lavender mare in question narrowed her eyes surprisingly rapidly at that, however. "He's not an alien! He's an cybernetically augmented Earth Pony! Legitimate Earth Pony who was born three hundred years ago, then frozen until about a month and a half ago, when he returned from another dimension," Twilight corrected with a scary amount of conviction. Although it actually made me feel better to hear her defend me like that. Her glare was aimed over her shoulder at Rainbow, who held her hooves up defensively and slide behind me for protection, ironically. Derpy, of course, paid no heed whatsoever, instead watching the tentacle with what could only be described as avid fascination. "Oooh, that's so cool!" she finally squeaked, confusing me even more. Scootaloo made a flying pounce into the air, catching it and hanging by it as I gently swung her around. The gray pegasus continued after with, “And no, it doesn’t bother me. Sure, he’s really old, but the Princesses are way older and look young, too. Tentacles also aren’t the weirdest thing in Equestria.” That… Okay, that was a very good point. "I know, right?! It's awesome! But he's totally an Earth Pony, Rainbow. Big Mac said so, right AB?" Scootaloo reminded. Eh?! Apple Bloom smirked and nodded happily, Applejack also grinning and rubbing the top of her head with no small amount of affection. Her cheek flush had faded over the half an hour surprise with Auramirror so far, the alcohol having a surprisingly short effect on her. How much of that were the nanites, and how much was her absurd constitution? She sat right next to Dash, however, literally touching the pegasus with her side, so I only assumed that their shared kiss earlier had 'upgraded' their relationship a little. At least, that was the sensation coming from both of them as she reached over and pulled Rainbow back against her. "Relax. Dash says things she regrets before thinkin' all tha time. Ya know she definitely appreciates Mender," Applejack reminded, looking at Twilight when she said it. Rainbow still blushed furiously, easily reading the hidden and not so hidden context. Oh, right. I had said that we'd deal with that after she dealt with her feelings for Applejack. I just hadn't expected her to pull that off quite so fast. Well, actually no, that's my fault. She is the 'fastest pony in Equestria' after all. Twilight looked vaguely annoyed at the mention until I swung Scootaloo around into her face. The little filly squeaked, then laughed as she planted herself like some sort of strange alien on my fillyfriend's face, Twilight momentarily flailing before recovering and just sighing into the orange filly's stomach. "Was that really necessary, Mender?" she asked, voice muffled by the fur up against her face. Scootaloo started giggling as her fur puffed out around Twilight's breathe. "Of course. You need to relax a bit, and the best way to do that is to have a cute filly land on your face," I assured. Sweetie perked up, almost hitting her head under the table directly in front of me. "Really?!" she asked, sounding all too eager. Well, she had been holding it back all night, and it was late. "Sweetie, behave," Rarity reminded, sipping at her glass again from the rug, the warm light from the fire playing across her back as she kept herself toasty. Fluttershy sat with her and giggled lightly, watching me pry Scootaloo off Twilight, then just haul her onto my chest instead. Although she was almost too big for that, and I had to hold her on her back in my forelegs to support her. She didn't mind regardless, just grinning up at me before turning her attention back to the tentacle, snatching it as it drifted past again. She was sort of like a cat... Auramirror watched the tentacle as well, her eyes almost twinkling as she slowly revealed, "They have your life force in them. They're entirely natural as a part of you, but your overall energy internally matches an Earth Stallion. Except it's extremely close to the surface, creating a billowing cloud around you that looks like your internal self. It's quite fascinating." Oh. Wait, Red had mentioned something about that too. That my magic was close to the surface. Twilight really did relax, however, before sliding over and resting her head on my shoulder. "I don't care how strange he is, or even if he's not a pony at all, even though I know he is. After a couple close calls with our relationship, I re-evaluated my feelings and decided I want to be with him no matter what," she admitted, getting me to widen my eyes a little as I felt heat drift into my cheeks. That I hadn't been expecting. The unicorn mare across from us just giggled at that before also admitting, "I felt he was in love earlier, too, at the town square. Ponies always have a warm flow around their heart when thinking about somepony like that." L-Love?! I blushed even more as I felt Twilight smile against my shoulder before kissing it. How could I know something like that?! Was I in...? I hesitated, realizing that it made Twilight happy to hear it, and I relaxed. Even if I... Even if I might be in love with her, she appeared to truly want it and reacted favorably. I felt Fluttershy's warmth from here without even needing to turn and look, as well. Of course, my feelings for her felt sharper, and more focused. Her too, then... It scared me when I realized it hadn't been a question. Pinkie, who sat next to Apple Bloom and Spike on the other side of Applejack, surprised me by giggling merrily and interrupting my scary, self-tormenting thoughts. "There's nothing wrong with any of that, Mender. It's not scary, relax," she cooed, startling me as I suddenly realized I'd been broadcasting my empathy there. Ah crap. The lavender mare only smiled a little more and nuzzled my shoulder before looking up at me, eyes soft and curious rather than hard and accusing. Well, that was a vague improvement over my nearest imagined outcome to that revelation. Auramirror giggled before remarking, "Admittedly, I didn't know what to expect when I first heard about you. You've been through so much. I thought that would leave permanent scars on most ponies, but you seem remarkably better than it could have been. Your relationships, I think, are helping a lot." That I definitely agreed with. Without my friends, I'm fairly certain I would have gone totally off my rocker by now. Fluttershy especially. Looking back up at her, Spike gave a questioning frown at that, however. "Wait, how exactly did you figure out who Mender was, anyway?" he asked, sounding a bit confused. That was a very, very good question. Her entire visit so far had more been proving who she was, not how she found out. She must have had some pretty compelling evidence for Tia to just tell her everything. I hoped... She blanked for a moment, which is to say, didn't change her expression immediately. After, she smiled and nodded. "I figured you'd ask that. Like I said, I'm a necromancer. Well, more a necromancer in training. I'm actually only sixteen, but I'm almost done with my preliminary studies with my senior necromancer, and ready to move on to independent study! I think there's only a year of that, but I might be wrong. After I graduate, I also wanted to extend the offer to take you to visit the Ether-" she started. Spike coughed lightly, and she blinked once before lightly blushing. "Oh, right. I'm a necromancer. A standard part of my training has me regularly projecting myself into the Ether and tending to our family line. We leave the paper notes on the coffins to try 'talking' to their spirits, of course, sending messages along from the family. We also care for the coffins themselves and keep them cleansed and pristine. It, well... This is going to sound bad probably, but your mother, Gemstone Weave, has never shown up in the Ether," she explained. Oh. She didn't die in Equestria. Right... Twilight frowned, a sad expression grazing her before asking, "Doesn't that only happen with ghosts?" Wait, what? Applejack smiled weakly and nodded to me instead. "Sometimes, when death comes suddenly or traumatically, tha spirit left behind is confused or lost. Tha other job fer usually more experienced necromancers is ta come an' talk ta tha spirit, an' convince 'em ta move on. That's what happened with mah parents after tha accident..." she explained solemnly. Oh. A sudden pang went through my chest, mostly for Applejack who I just discovered a rather horrible fact about. Did that mean my mother's spirit was in the other dimension then as a ghost, however? Auramirror nodded at that, eyes softening a little as she turned to Applejack instead. "That's almost always the case. I’m also sorry about your parents, Applejack. I know about what happened. I’m sorry,” she apologized, showing sympathy as Applejack simply smiled and nodded to her once. I wanted to ask, but it wouldn’t really be appropriate at the moment. The necromancer turned back to me regardless a moment later and continued talking. “Gemstone, however, was missing, with none of the letters left for her even moved, let alone responded to. No sign of her anywhere in the Long Road, or forests surrounding it. We definitely looked. Uh, just to mention, your coffin is there too, smaller and next to your mother's. You never showed up either, but that's sort of explained now. Um, you're not dead," she explained blankly, momentarily flustering herself again. Uh, yes, I was indeed alive. I think. Yeah, going with alive. Thankfully she continued before I confused myself. "Regardless, it was assumed she was a ghost somewhere, along with you, and we sent out word to other towns to keep a look out for you both. Bronze Bastion and Auraprism completely refused to comment on what happened at all, which I now know was an order from Princess Celestia. They also cut off all contact with the Princess completely after that. I, um, think they blamed her for what happened. The Princess didn't tell me about the incident, only that Gemstone Weave had transfered over to another dimension and not returned, assumed dead," she continued. That was... They blamed her. Tia had some say in what happened, but it really was an accident, by the sounds of it. They must have been hurt beyond imagining, and I couldn't even guess at how much Tia beat herself up over all of it. She lost two friends that were close to the crown, including my father's family which had been connected to the crown closely before that, according to the dossier. Worse yet, she blamed herself for my mother's death. And mine, up until a month and a half ago. "That's... horrifying. Does that mean that my mother's spirit is still in the other dimension? Is there a way we can somehow help her come back to-" I started to ask, frowning as I looked up at Auramirror. "No, she's not," she corrected, cutting me off. Eh?! I felt my eyes widen, Twilight perking up next to me, also looking surprised. The necromancer continued by explaining, "That's what cued me in to you. One day, about three weeks ago, I moved into a trance and did my rounds along the Long Road. Everything was normal until I got to her coffin, and yours. Your letters and pictures were still there on top of the coffin, but all of hers were missing. At first I thought a trickster spirit might be playing a prank on me and hiding them from sight. Only the pony in question may remove the letters from their coffin. I tried dispelling any illusions, but there were none. They were really gone. Shocked, I looked out into the forest to try to see if somehow another spirit had taken them, and that was the first time I'd ever seen my great, great, great, great grandmother, apart from pictures... Her spirit was there, in the forest, talking with the spirit of Auraprism. They both... looked so happy." My mind blanked. Three weeks ago...? That was two weeks after I came back, give or take. But what had happened?! I was numb, and almost missed her continuing to talk. "-so I tried to call out to her. Just a basic 'attention' spell. Actual communication spells are immensely draining for the necromancer, and I don't even know any yet. She turned and smiled towards me, and, uh, stuck out her tongue in my direction. Um..." I blanked for a different reason, then coughed lightly and averted my eyes. Actually, that sounded remarkably like her. "She just spontaneously came back?!" Twilight asked, sounding surprised more than anything, and apparently completely ignoring that last comment. Auramirror nodded regardless, smiling a little. "She just came back. My mentor was shocked as well, and initiated a small communication with her. We'd received no letters from any other necromancers to explain that they found her somewhere, and we also wanted to know where you were. All she said, however, is that she was gone for a long time, looking over somepony with everything she could muster, and that if we wanted to know everything, seek out a 'Moon Mender' and ask him," she revealed. Strike three, and my brain blanked completely, finally. Everything snapped into place in an instant, and I realized that she never came back because she had stayed with me. During my entire three hundred year span as a block of ice. She was watching over me. She... It caught me off guard and I winced, snapping my hoof up to wipe the moisture from my cheek. Damn it. Nopony said anything, the unspoken truth readily apparent as Twilight slipped over and wrapped her forelegs around my stomach, kissing me on the shoulder. Relaxing, I pushed the knee jerk reaction back down to hide it, remembering that essentially everypony here was supportive and good ponies. Derpy gave a soft smile and lightly rubbed my other shoulder with her forehoof as well, looking understanding. A moment later, Applejack just chuckled and smiled, though. “She loves ya, Mender. She’s yer mother, an’ yer obviously tha most important thing fer her, bein’ that she stayed with ya that whole time. Now she’s come back with ya, and is happy with her herd again. Although she’s still lookin’ out fer ya, Ah imagine,” she assured, giving a soft smile. She was right, of course. Despite being sad that she had to sacrifice so much for me, I was happy as well. That her long vigil was finally over, and maybe both of us finally could have peace. Rainbow reached over and lightly rubbed Applejack’s knee. “Your parents, too, AJ. You know they’re looking out for ya,” she reminded, smiling at her new marefriend and looking surprisingly confident in that fact, for potentially the first time tonight. Applejack just smiled softly to her before leaning over and resting on her side instead, her head tucked up against Rainbow’s back left leg. The orange mare looked rather tired, actually, and a glance showed me that all four crusaders looked almost asleep already. No, wait, I think Babs actually was sleeping. Of course, it was well past midnight now, and everything was supposed to have wound down for the night an hour ago, all that halted by my niece’s arrival. Glancing back at her, I noticed she nodded and smiled at me more fully. “Yeah, it is getting rather late. I just wanted to try to catch you and introduce myself before I lost my chance again. There are festivities going for a few days, and I’m staying in town for the duration, so if it’s at all possible, could we talk more tomorrow?” she asked, smile remaining as her eyes shivered while watching me, obviously hoping for a yes. “Of course. I would like to get to know you better. Um, before you go for the night, though, Auramirror, do I have any other family? I know you’re probably the only one that actually knows about, well, who I really am. I was just curious…” I asked, suddenly feeling amazingly awkward. If she felt the same way, she didn’t show it, of course, and only giggled merrily. “Just Aura, for you. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to meet you, Mender. I wanted to let you know that you did have family, and that you’re not alone here. Although it looks like I didn’t have to worry about that,” she mused, eyes drifting over to Twilight, who grinned at her rather impishly. That wasn’t a face I saw very often on Twilight! Smiling to Aura, I nodded and gave Twilight a squeeze before also gesturing over at Fluttershy, who perked up while sitting next to Rarity. “Fluttershy’s with us, too,” I informed, earning another whispy snicker from the mare across from us. “Oh, I know. I do read the headlines, especially after Mister Fancypants himself corrected them to include you in it. That’s actually how I found out who you were. Uh, actually, don’t tell anypony that, as my mentor told me not to look for the name. She said that Miss Gemstone Weave obviously didn’t feel comfortable telling us yet, and would in due time, but I got really curious! I mean, she said that she was watching over somepony far away, and that somepony had to have been her foal. I mean, who else would it be if she wasn’t with her mates? But then she gave a name specifically, and looking up all the news about you showed that you’d ‘suddenly appeared’ and that Princess Celestia herself had vouched for you so I thought that maybe she-“ Aura started to ramble. Again. This time her pace quickened as she realized she might be in trouble for going against her mentor’s wishes, and it was kind of cute. Coughing, she dwindled and stopped as she locked her eyes back onto me, holding my hoof up. “Relax, Aura. We’re not going to tell anypony. Although my past is supposed to be a secret for now, so please don’t tell anypony else,” I warned. She relaxed and just nodded, moving back to her usual smile as her shoulders sagged a little. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I brought so much identification. I know you’re head of that new agency thingy, so I wanted to be sure I proved who I was. Coming here, then getting arrested or something wouldn’t have been fun,” she murmured, scratching her chin as she thought about it out loud, and earned more confused looks from around the room. I… I doubt I would have arrested her just for not proving her identity, but okay. Maybe jumping to conclusions ran in our family? Derpy surprised me by raising her hoof frantically. I looked over at her, confused, as she suddenly looked rather nervous. “I promise not to tell anypony either, Mender! Please don’t arrest me, either,” she requested, making Twilight slap her forehead next to me. Or maybe ponies just jumped to conclusions a lot? “I’m not going to arrest either of you, relax. It doesn’t matter if you’re family or not, ponies don’t deserve to be arrested for something so silly. Besides, you’re my friend already, and I know who you are, Derpy,” I pointed out, giving Derpy a skeptical glance as she happily started smiling again. Rolling my eyes at the silly mares, I finally remembered the book in front of me and opened up to the master index in the genealogy listing. Owlowiscious gave a ‘hoo’ of appreciation for the first pony to use his hard work, regardless. Wait, how did ponies list their genealogy if they didn’t have common names? Aura perked an instant later as she saw me open the book, however, snapping back to happy again as she suddenly revealed, “Oh, I almost forgot about that family question! You do have a really, really huge family. There’s dozens and dozens of us, really. Auraprism and Bronze Bastion had two foals themselves, and the family just exploded from there. You even have another great, great, great, grandniece here in Ponyville!” My ears twitched at that, unable to keep my eyes from widening a little. Oh. Well that would be a lot easier than trying to figure this out, probably. “Oh, I do?” I asked, more than a little curious. Had I seen any mares around that looked like me? Not that I remembered… Although color palettes could probably change dramatically over that many generations. She nodded, of course, before revealing, “She’s got the family’s more dominant eye color like you, actually, although I’ve not met her myself. Bad at faces… wait… What did you say your name was?” She halted suddenly, looking over at Derpy instead. Huh? Derpy blinked, looking a little surprised before glancing over at me as well with… those golden yellow eyes. “Um, what…?” she asked, looking more than a little surprised. Oh… * * * * * The day was much cooler than yesterday. My fur puffed up as I looked out over the overcast sky. The sounds of a lot of laughter and excitement drifted up into my ears, but I wasn't connected to that. It was far away down in the actual fairgrounds area, and I was way up on a hill overlooking it. My magnified sight could easily sweep over the fair itself while I rested on the blanket, another on top of me. Even though I knew where they all were, it was still nice to see them visually. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack were all in the same spot over by a booth clearly labeled The Dunk Tank. The mayor was sitting on the collapsible platform over a pool of some sort of unidentified purple liquid. I assumed it was non-toxic and non-acidic, but I could be wrong if she'd gotten on somepony's bad side or something. The objective appeared to be to stand behind the line and somehow hit the small panel sticking out to the side of the tank with enough force to release the trigger and dunk her for a prize. The catch was that you had to use a baseball to do it, and only got three tries. Applejack had only hit once, using her spin around and buck technique. Rainbow also only hit once with her cup in wing and catapult technique. Pinkie, however, was going on three for three with her lethal inhale and fire out like a cannon from the mouth technique. I was impressed. Twilight had only momentarily left, having seen somepony running one of the fair games that she recognized and apparently wanted to talk to. Zooming in on her instead, I saw her chatting with a solid blue unicorn mare, wearing a rather fanciful cape and apparently running some sort of card magic show or something along the midway, in her own booth. Spike was sitting on her back, looking at some sort of unrolled scroll for her. Interesting. Shifting my attention along the midway, my eyes locked on to inner Ponyville instead. The fair had been extended off the edge of the town, technically, and I could also see most of Ponyville from the hill. The spa was a rather nice looking building, and I momentarily zoomed in on it, but saw nothing particularly of interest. Fluttershy and Rarity were inside, the pearly unicorn managing to convince the surprisingly, well, clingy pegasus to take a moment to get a relaxing spa trip in. Not that I was complaining about Fluttershy wanting to spend time with me, of course. Heh. With all of the Elements and Spike accounted for, I checked up on the Crusaders next. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were easy to find, being with the other three mares at the Dunk Tank and apparently getting treated to prizes. Scootaloo appeared to be wearing a Wonderbolts costume now, and Apple Bloom had a stuffed cow sitting next to her that was almost bigger than she was. Sweetie and Babs were together, too, but harder to spot. Not having a link to them, I had to actually use effort to scan the crowd heading down the midway. My tracking program picked them both out, chatting to each other and heading further east at a slower pace, in the general direction of the other Crusaders. They both had a stuffed animal on their backs, Babs having a puppy and Sweetie having what looked like a bird of some sort. With everypony yet again accounted for, I relaxed inside my comfy blanket, enjoying the warmth and escape from the winds. It was a little silly to like to keep checking on them, but who was I to argue with my inner urges to guard over the ponies I cared about? Still, I was back to being alone now, and I laid my head down on my forelegs, relaxing. I didn’t get very many times when I was really left to my own devices, minus all those hospital stays, of course. I didn’t count those, though. My mind drifted as I relaxed, not really sticking on any one topic and me not really trying to at the same time. Aura said she’d come find me later today to talk more, and I wasn’t really worried about that. There were a lot of things I wanted to ask her, including if she knew about whomever this ‘friend’ was that had sent me my parents’ private items. She might know more about the state of things after my parents passed away, too. Although finding out that Derpy was my niece was more than a little startling. Why hadn’t Aura even noticed what she looked like?! Wait, that didn’t surprise me that much after what happened at the flower stand. The black box was almost decrypted, too, and I was ready to be rid of the stupid thing at this point. Once fully decrypted, I could unpack its contents and then see literally every one of my functioning systems inside of myself. I’d finally have absolute control over everything artificial in my body, which was a good ninety percent of myself, I now realized. Well, the line between natural and artificial was a bit hazy when it came to organic metals and various wetware electronics. Most of my artificial components, such as my power generators and CPU cores, were actually held in subspace compartments attached to me. My bones were organic metal with nanite fabrication in the center. Organs were similar to that of a normal pony but laced with woven composites to be resistant to piercing and sheering forces. Muscles had woven organic metal fibers in them to heavily increase their durability and strength. Nanites filled my bloodstream to saturation level, and heavy military ones were embedded in my muscles, bones, and skin to do fast repairs and reinforcements. Overall, I was heavier than a normal pony of my size by a bit, but not too much. The average stallion was usually between ninety and a hundred and ten pounds, and I was a hundred and twenty five, despite being a little bit smaller than average for stallions. Keela also sent me a ping extremely early this morning that was just in text form, stating they’d gathered all the rest of what they could from the wreckage around the attack area and were getting out of there before their luck ran out. It was probably for the best, given my luck could potentially rub off on them. They’d successfully relocated into dark space, however, rotating slowly around in a drifting asteroid thicket. Now she had the detailed analysis to do for all the samples they gathered, and she said she’d hopefully get results by tonight or tomorrow morning on the location they warped out to as well. I doubted a ‘rescue’ was possible, as there’d never been a successful one against the Grosh yet, but I didn’t want to discourage her from at least doing the research. Regardless, it was back to waiting for me. The sun was slowly rising towards the middle of the sky by now, cloud cover barely letting it shine through as I peeked up at it. I was still tired today, but feeling better, especially along my back. I think it was finally getting fully healed at this point. It still made me lazy, though. Closing my eyes, I withdrew further into the big blanket, it being about fifteen times too large for me alone. The one under me was plaid with all sorts of what looked like Cutie Marks in the squares. The one I was wrapped up in like some sort of amazing pony cocoon was just a simple brown in color, but I was fine either way. It was thick and wool and felt amazing. Midway through snuggling into the blankets, I felt a light ping go off in my mind. It couldn’t be Keela this soon, unless she forgot to tell me something. Chances were, it was one of the mares. A second later, I was proven completely wrong when I pulled my notification panel down. Oh! I hadn’t heard from her in a while. “Yes, Purdue?” I inquired politely and calmly after opening up her link. I got the direct sense of being startled, like she hadn’t anticipated me actually noticing her tiny little ping, but she recovered quickly. “Um, h-hey, Mender. I know it’s been, uh, a really long time,” she greeted, sounding a tad nervous as it whispered inside my mind. Smiling, I relaxed again and let her feel how snuggly the blankets felt. She blushed lightly a moment later and fidgeted, but calmed down a little. I instead offered, “You can manifest if you’d like. No need to stop time or anything.” It was another long moment of hesitation before I felt the energy well up inside of me from the connection to the book. I manifested the book out of sub-space and let it sit next to me on the blanket to make it easier for her. A second later, the energy swelled out of my chest, and I released it, seeing the little slightly glowing, slightly translucent filly fade in on the blanket next to me. She looked around the covered area before looking up at me instead, a look of wide-eyed surprise on her expression. Smiling, I just pulled her against me, ignoring her squeak, and gave her a soft hug. “Relax, ‘Sis’. You’re fine and you know it,” I reminded, putting emphasis on her nickname to also remind her of her other request she’d already made. She flushed lightly, then buried her face in my chest instead as I just held her there. Neither of us said anything for a long time. I was curious as to what she’d been doing, but that could wait. To actually feel her just resting and enjoying lying next to me was good enough, my intuition telling me that the little filly didn’t quite know the concept of taking a break. I just let her relax and enjoy herself. I didn’t stir or open my eyes again until I felt one of the links drawing closer, and heard the hoofsteps. My eyes opened to look up at Twilight, curiously sans Spike, as she walked back up over the top of the hill and smiled towards me, heading over. “Sorry that took so long, Mender. I didn’t mean to leave you up here alone for so long,” she apologized, giving a tenderer smile as she approached the blanket. “I’m not alone,” I corrected. She halted for a moment, tilting her head before I lifted up the blanket against my chest, revealing the glowing filly as she sleepily perked and looked up at me. Her eyes traced where I was looking and locked on to Twilight for a moment before she smiled and rested back against me. Twilight’s confusion snapped to a warm smile instead. “Oh! Purdue, it’s been a while,” Twilight greeted, closing the distance between us and sliding down into the blankets as well. Purdue just nestled into me a bit more to get away from the chilly outside air until Twilight got settled, dropping the blanket back down over us as she slid forward and rested right behind the filly, not actually able to touch her. Then an idea hit me. Accessing the energy of Prudentia, which was conveniently right there, I pushed it into Purdue and formed a shaped barrier inside of her image. The technique was what I used with Keela when projecting over there, so she could physically touch me. Purdue obviously didn’t remember and frowned, poking her own hoof against my chest experimentally. Of course, she wasn’t going to discovery anything like that, given that I could already touch her for some reason. Instead, I gestured to Twilight, who looked surprised before tentatively sliding a little closer, then widening her eyes as she pushed up against the little filly from behind. Purdue squeaked and looked back over her shoulder as she suddenly felt a pony other than me able to touch her. Twilight just smiled, however, and slid in fully, hugging her from behind instead as she rested against my chest. I started adding details to the barrier a moment later, letting the energy colors compliment her bronze mane and tail and the darker blues of her coat until she wasn’t see-through anymore, looking like any other normal foal out there. Well, minus the misty gray eyes, but I imagine there might be a few blind foals in Equus as well, so maybe? Regardless, I added ‘body heat’ and tactile fur sensation to the shield after. Twilight smiled as she felt the changes fall into place on the filly against her chest. “Mmm, if Mender’s my big brother, does that make you sort of like my sister-in-law?” Purdue asked quietly a moment later, immediately smacking us with the awkward questions. Twilight blushed, getting what she was asking and the insinuation that came with it easily enough. She took it well however, with a smile and nod. “Mender and I are together, and in an official herd, so yes. However, we don’t distinguish between relatives by blood and relatives by marriage, so you’re just my sister,” she explained, coincidentally to both of us, actually. Interesting! Purdue smiled happily before slowly rotating and turning around so her back was against me instead. “Um, with our connection, I can feel what my big brother looks like but, uh, I’m still actually blind. I can see your energy, but I… I don’t know what you look like. Could I, um…?” the little filly asked, reaching her hooves up gently. Twilight giggled to her, then leaned in closer and let the two tiny hooves touch against her muzzle. Smiling, I simply watched as the filly closed her eyes and gently felt out around Twilight’s muzzle. I could almost feel her forming the mental image in her own mind as her hooves traced the contours and details of the lavender unicorn’s face. Twilight just patiently kept her eyes closed, smiling softly as her mouth was traced, and then the hooves slipped up around her eyes and felt her cheeks out before moving up to her eyebrows. Ever so gently, Purdue reached up and brushed her hooves along the horn coming from Twilight’s forehead. Her mouth opened a little in surprise, but she carefully felt up and along it, as if it were some wonderful new discovery that she’d never noticed before. Twilight lightly giggled as she felt up along the horn, the sensation possibly tickling a little bit, although I remembered that there wasn’t much feeling in it if they weren’t using magic. I just let her keep going, because it was too adorable not to. After finally tracing her ears, Purdue smiled and leaned back again, looking satisfied finally with the basic three dimensional feeling she had in her mind. I felt it, and suddenly realized it would work in reverse, too. My connection to Twilight opened fully, and the unicorn mare tilted her head towards me curiously as I tugged her into our own mindscape. Purdue gasped, colors exploding around her for a moment as I pulled her in, too. She looked around, eyes glowing softly until they turned a bright golden amber instead, and I gave her my eye color. She turned and looked at me, eyes running all the way down my form before looking over to Twilight, too, seeing her for the first time completely. Twilight caught the eyes, and suddenly smirked, realizing exactly what I’d done. “You’re giving her the input directly from what her avatar should get in the simulation, aren’t you?” she asked, walking towards me through the grid of ground as it formed, growing rapidly into grass. Purdue just gasped, looking around her as the sky exploded into bright blues, with puffy white clouds expanding out. Grass shifted green under us, instead of the dots of life force she was so used to seeing, the individual blades sliding up out of the ground as a tree expanded next to us for shade. The warm sun beat down, and rapidly, I completely reconstructed our hill, but in my mindscape instead, giving the little filly all five senses of input from it. Twilight lay down next to me, snuggling back into the blanket as we watched the filly trot around, looking at everything with a sudden level of interest and excitement. Why I hadn’t thought to do this for her before, I didn’t know, but I’m glad I did now. She scraped at the grass for a moment, getting a bit of dirt on her hoof before whispering to herself. “Grass is green. Dirt is, um, brown. This is what green and brown look like? I don’t… I don’t understand but it’s pretty!” she squeaked, then shifted skywards instead. I smiled while watching her. “The sky is blue. All the clouds you see are shades of white. Celestia’s sun you see glowing in the sky is yellow,” I continued for her. She started to beam as she looked up at all the colors, trotting backwards slightly now until she tripped and fell over, rolling once in the grass before plopping her rump into the dirt again, blinking twice. Heh. Too excited now. It didn’t dissuade her for long, and she hopped back up with a grin and trotted over to the tree I’d made. Looking it over, I saw her flash an access point to my information core, then grin. “Acer glabrum? It’s a maple tree! The leaves are green, like the grass. Trunks of trees are, uh…” she announced before looking down it. “Browns, with dashes of gray, which is just a darker shade of white,” Twilight informed, watching her with amusement as she felt along the bark of the tree. A moment later, a butterfly heeded my request and flitted past her, drawing her attention instantly as she bound after it, watching it wave through the air on its colorful wings. She almost looked stunned, trying to take it all in at once. Finally, she just gave up and spun in a circle, grinning at me before charging back over and pouncing on my chest again, making me slide into Twilight slightly. “Whaaa, thank you, Big Brother! This is amazing! So this is what your world looks like?” Purdue asked, glancing back up from my chest as she looked around again, and I nodded. “Yes, this is Equestria. I’m sure you can see why I want to stay here,” I pointed out, earning a softer smile from my lavender companion. “She probably hasn’t noticed that you gave her your eye color yet, either,” Twilight pointed out, causing the filly to snap to attention at her instead. Chuckling, I reasoned, “Well, she is my sister. It was fitting, I thought.” Lifting my right foreleg up, I let a small standing mirror materialize on the grass, turned to face Purdue instead. Slowly, her eyes widened as she cautiously approached the mirror, looking herself over. She touched her coat first, feeling it along her arm as she saw it in the mirror. The dark blue fur parted as she ran her hoof up to her shoulder, then brushed some of the locks of her soft mane out of her face, examining the strands of bronze against her hoof instead of in the mirror. Finally, she looked back down at the reflective surface, staring right into her own eyes for a moment before blinking once, then twice, then alternating her eyes closed, back and forth. Watching her was rather cute, but when she started shivering, a smile forming on her as she hopped up and down on her right and left legs, back and forth, it skyrocketed right into deadly adorable levels. “It’s me! That’s what I look like… and the eyes are perfect!” she squeaked before turning and pouncing me again. I smiled as I simply held her, feeling her happiness leaking all around me. Interestingly enough, I was kind of reminded of Scootaloo’s first time flying. “This is all so amazing! This makes… oh! This makes the reason I bugged you even more important. I’m sure of it now!” Purdue suddenly announced, snapping back into focus. Twilight tilted her head at that before asking, “Oh? You came here for a reason, then?” Admittedly, it was amusing to see Purdue look at her like she was completely insane. “Uh, well, of course. I need to have a reason to manifest, don’t I?” she asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Ah, less amusing now. “Nope,” I quickly answered, before assuring, “You can show up just to talk or have fun with us if you’re lonely, Purdue. I meant it when I honored your request, and a little sister is welcome any time she wants to be.” The little filly blushed at that, fidgeting for a moment before leaning forward and pecking me on the forehead. I just smiled at her, and she relaxed, nodding twice to herself. “I’m sorry I was gone so long. I’ll visit a lot more often now, but I had a lot of thinking I needed to do. Um, I finally came to an answer, however,” Purdue explained, sitting down in front of me again and giving me her full focus. Oh? Sitting up, I reached the level of her eyes before settling and just listening to her. She nodded for a moment, then continued with, “You told me not to use my powers because you said so, but to use them how I want to. Nopony has ever, um, just given me permission like that. You’re… You’re far nicer than I realized you could be, and genuinely care about me. Even before I told you this, you did all of this for me!” Her gesture was towards around us in general, and I realized she’d valued being able to see all of this more than I could ever imagine. She just kept going, however. “Well, I came to a conclusion. I trust you. Completely. You really are the first owner that cares about me as an individual. Um, I want to use my powers to help you. I’ll warn you if something bad is going to happen that you need to prepare for or avoid from now on, and I’ll also get any information you ask for,” she finally promised, surprisingly me significantly. Frowning, I shook my head, momentarily earning a look of disappointment before I corrected her thought with, “Just warn me about the bad things if that’s what you want, Purdue. You don’t need to worry about me asking you for any extra information. That’s… It isn’t information that I should know about anyway.” Nopony should know the future, and I was kind of sad that she got stuck seeing it all the time. Books must be really boring to read if you already know what’s going to happen. Her frown shifted into surprise instead, then she blushed lightly and smiled, nodding. “I will! I try to keep you safe already as much as I can. But if there’s anything I can’t stop, I’ll let you know immediately!” she chirped, looking relieved instead. Wait, what? Tilting my head, I instead asked, “What do you mean you keep me safe?” Twilight perked at that, picking up what I had already as well, but looking to me instead. Purdue froze. Instantly, as if a sudden spotlight came down on her and revealed she was surrounded by monsters. Oh. That had been a slip up on her part. To her credit, she recovered amazingly fast by fidgeting rapidly again. “O-Oh! Right, I never, uh, told you! Well, you sort of have this… thing. It’s, well, I named it ‘Malice’. It’s an extremely angry… something… that is following you around and constantly trying to cause misfortunes to you. Anything, ranging from something falling on your head, to bigger things, like Nirru stumbling onto where the other prototype pony chassis was in the science lab and using it to come to Equus,” she explained. What? Twilight stared at her like she’d just grown tentacles herself, which I could sympathize with. But still, what the hell?! “Prototype pony chassis?” I asked, raising an eyebrow to the filly. She froze again before wincing and smacking herself on the forehead with a hoof. “Right! I didn’t tell you about that either! Uh, you’re Unit Two. Or Zero Zero Two, I think. The organic mechanical chassis that she was in when you encountered her was Unit One. That was the prototype that Doctor Kyliona had been making to attempt to bridge the gap between the dimensions before she stumbled upon your information,” Purdue explained, looking slightly calmer but still more than a little uneasy. Nodding, I added, “That was the body she was in that I destroyed. It was made out of organic cybernetics just like me. I thought she’d made it, but… well, that answers that, then.” The disks were then only appended with my data afterwards, then. Which means I already destroyed and ate ‘Unit Zero Zero One’, and definitely didn’t have to worry about any access issues with the disks, now. “What’s Malice, then? Wait, how does it affect Mender like that? How do you protect him from something like that?!” Twilight asked, frowning and acting like she definitely didn’t like the sound of that as she got more and more irate. Reaching over, I set a hoof down on her shoulder, and she relaxed a little, exhaling as Purdue went back to fidgeting. Looking back to the tiny filly, I assured her with, “Relax, Purdue. You’re not in trouble. Just tell us about it.” She exhaled as well, a bit more shakily than Twilight, then nodded twice, closing her eyes for a moment to focus. Then she went in to explaining, “Everything works off probabilities. The odds of something happening are usually fairly hard to just guess, but sometimes things happen that a sentient creature doesn’t directly control. These events are events that don’t have a will behind them. Well if you’re, um, aware of these events before they happen, you can potentially attach a will to them and, well, tip them in one direction or another. Doing that, you can influence how things happen, given enough energy.” Uh oh. This was sounding remarkably like quantum theories. I hated quantum mechanics. “So this… whatever it is… is following Mender around and trying to bring him extreme misfortune by influencing events that don’t have a sentient will behind them? Why? What does it want?! What is it?” Twilight asked, shifting from the irritation to a questioning frown, her sensation shifting to more curiosity coming from her empathy link. Purdue shook her head, then continued, “It wants him to suffer. Suffer, not die. It’s, um, sort of like this scary… thing that feels, um…” She started fidgeting again. Four blinks, a fidget, breaking eye contact away and to the right, and an increased amount of breathing, I noted. Sighing, I coughed lightly, snapping her attention back to me before slowly reminding her, “Truth, Purdue. We’re not mad at you and we’re not going to be, so just relax. You trust me, right? I trust you, too.” Her tense look softened, along with her eyes as she stared at me, then nodded. She was beyond nervous, and almost instinctively tried to hide details from answers. What had she been through? Did I even want to know? She focused for a moment before opening her eyes again directly at me instead. “Malice is an amalgamation of billions of Keldarian souls that got eaten by a Weapon of Universal Destruction on the surface of the Keldarian’s home planet. They unite purely through their own hatred over being so suddenly and violently killed, and single-mindedly want their murderer to suffer for the rest of eternity. They, um, think that’s you, Brother,” she fully explained. Suddenly, it felt like she just hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer…
Chapter 87What did you say to that? Was there anything I could say? My focus had waned, ejecting all three of us back to the real world alongside a flood of scripting errors and fatal exceptions. A gesture of my thoughts closed them all, me at least maintaining enough mental faculties to manage basic user interface controls. Everything else was numb as I shivered, suddenly feeling like the blanket around me did nothing to stop the cold wind from cutting through my fur. "Mender!" Twilight squeaked, looking over to me almost immediately. Purdue was still between us, and wavered ever so lightly in opacity before snapping back to completely solid as I refocused the effect. No, no matter how I felt, letting her down wasn't an option. Sure, she could have told me all of this a whole hell of a lot sooner, but she'd said herself that she only recently had started to trust me. I couldn't even begin to guess what the reserved little filly had been through, so who was I to judge if that was fair or not? She herself also looked surprised to still be in physical existence, looking down at her own hooves carefully before poking the blanket with her left one. Slowly, I looked up at Twilight instead, who froze mid exclamation when she locked eyes with me. Something in them caused her to lock up completely for just a moment, but she snapped out of it fast. "No, just no! I don't care what a few billion confused and crazy spirits think. We know you have little to no memories of the event, and from your logs, you weren't in control anyway! Do not blame this on yourself," she almost ordered, suddenly looking quite stern. My words died on my lips before I could formulate them, and I realized that's exactly what I felt was going through my head. They were actually there when I tore them all apart. They saw everything, and had labeled me their killer. Could billions of witnesses all coming to the same conclusion actually be wrong? "Brother, stop," Purdue whispered, looking up at me with her milky eyes. This time I let their color be, knowing I couldn't make her see in this world quite yet. The frozen nail through my chest wouldn't let me manage to focus long enough to change their color anywa. "How can so many spirits be wrong in what they saw themselves, though?" I asked, frowning to myself. Two billion... They were all literally right here. Just thinking about that mass of hostile energy looming over me was enough to turn my blood cold, and for a brief second, I was suddenly scared to risk glancing over my shoulder. The little filly shook her head, to my surprise. "It was you. You did kill them," she answered slowly. I froze, eyes slowly widening as Twilight gasped sharply. I... I almost didn't catch her talking again. "You did kill them, but it wasn't you who was controlling your body at that point. But Malice can't understand that. Its rage and hatred is too much, and clouds its perspective," she explained. The tone of her voice left no room for doubt, and I realized almost instantly that she'd witnessed the event herself, personally. Twilight locked onto that, too. "What happened?" the lavender mare inquired, frowning as well as she pulled the blanket back up over me. I barely felt it, my body now just feeling numb more than anything. I gave a start as she leaned over Purdue a moment later before gently nuzzling into my neck, further sandwiching the little filly between us. If the blue and bronze filly cared, she didn't mention so. "There was a monster inside of you. A great evil. Then someone helped to force it out of you at the last minute. It was almost too late, but you managed to get your body back under your own control, and that's when you made the journey to Equus," she explained softly, sliding in against my right shoulder as the three of us rested there. Honestly, did I even want to know? It seemed like every time I found out more about myself, it only led to me hating myself a little bit more. That was the main reason behind my adamant refusal so far to watch the full tape that I'd repaired. What else could I possibly discover about myself that would be horrifying and destroy my view of what little 'normality' to my life I could scrounge up? One could almost take bets on it. That nagging sensation of horror stirred within me every time I even stared at the file, like some dark beast in the far corners of my mind ready to pounce on me and consume me entirely. But things were getting dangerous already if this 'Malice' could physically manipulate the events around me still. I was fairly certain that I myself could survive its wrath, but that wouldn't be the easiest way to make me suffer, would it? No, something happening to another pony I cared for would be beyond horrible. Malice. Was that what that 'fake Nirru' was in my mind? She'd been absent for a surprisingly long duration, and I had sort of assumed she'd either given up or taken a new approach somewhere else. My thoughts drifted in a controlled sort of chaos as I stared up at the sky, enjoying the soft silence and sensation of Twilight's gentle breathing across my neck. I could feel her relax into me, and my own panic seemed further away. No, I would deal with this, too. My niece, whom I'd given up attempting to apply all of the 'great's to her title, was a necromancer, after all, and might have more insight into how to deal with a few billion hostile spirits. Maybe with the help of fifty or sixty other necromancers, we could just perform some sort of mass-exorcism of a sort and shunt them all off into the Ether? That sounded kind of disrespectful, even when it only bounced around in my own head, though. Although I wondered how much of that was just the deep pity and guilt resounding from my responsibility for their situation. I sent a silent thanks to whatever might be listening that Fluttershy was too far away to pick up on the raw empathy at the moment. The faint sound of wings almost gave me a heart attack, however. It was a slow but moderately powerful sounding wing stroke, which didn't fit either Fluttershy's lighter, or Rainbow's faster flying ambiance. My eyes flicked open to find not one, but six familiar looking incoming ponies, to my surprise. "Look who we found?" Derpy asked, smiling happily as she drifted in alongside the mare I was just thinking about, Aura. She was assumingly the 'we' that Derpy had referenced, meaning the four Crusaders prancing around them were the 'found' entities. I felt Purdue freeze next to me, and I smiled. Well, this would be interesting. The smaller filly slid tighter against me, hiding herself behind my right foreleg, with only enough room for her right eye to pointlessly peek out between Twilight's left one. Well, maybe it wasn't pointless, as I honestly had no idea how the sight of the filly normally functioned. Aura didn't notice her, however, instead sitting down a meter or so away in front of me in the grass. Derpy started to glide in to find a landing spot, but the fillies weren't nearly as reserved, rushing around the necromancer instead on both sides. She let out a squeak, and so did Purdue as two fillies jumped over us, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle collided with me instead. Sweetie just snuggled under my left foreleg, but Apple Bloom froze almost instantly, having flailed and fallen to her left, then come face to face with a surprised looking Purdue, who was reaching behind her with her back left leg for her book, probably looking for an escape route. Figured she'd do that. "Purdue, relax. I'm right here," I assured, causing the smaller filly to freeze again, then slowly look up at me. My talking to a completely new sounding individual snapped everypony's attention right to her, of course, minus Twilight, who just smiled and slid a bit closer on the other side. Sweetie slipped out from under my leg again to peek at the surprise that Apple Bloom had discovered, of course, and over my shoulder, I saw both Scootaloo and Babs come to a screeching stop as they turned to look at the new arrival. Well, new arrival for them, anyway. "Aww, she's adorable," Aura immediately chimed in, not missing a beat, but promptly causing Purdue's cheeks to flush pink. Heh. "Be gentle with her. She's shy, okay? This is Purdue. She's my little sister," I explained, causing the filly's cheeks to go red instead as she snapped up to looking at me, immediately forgetting momentarily about her predicament. Sweetie's eyes got huge as she immediately took in every detail she could about the small filly. "W-Whoa! I didn't know you had a sister!" she squeaked immediately, shifting to a big smile towards her. Purdue shrunk down a little, then hid under my right foreleg again, earning a giggle from Twilight. "Seeing as everypony here knows about Mender, I can safely say that she's actually from his dimension. She's a spirit inside of Prudentia, Mender's big book he carries everywhere. So she's an adopted little sister," Twilight explained, nudging Prudentia as it lay against her left hip. I noticed that the 'book' stopped having problems with Twilight touching it as well, leading me to believe that was actually Purdue inside of the book that had initially avoided contact with her. Despite everypony else's surprise, Aura wasn't fazed, which also didn't surprise me. She only smiled and nodded to that. Derpy lowered herself fully, still smiling as she edged up to Purdue. The filly looked more surprised by her behavior than anything, tilting her head until Derpy leaned forward and bumped her nose into hers. They both blinked once, then Derpy backed off and simply smiled happily again, leaving me a little confused, too. Purdue actually smiled at her, however, so I relaxed and let her do whatever. She was good with foals, too, it would seem. "She looks so normal for being a ghost," Scootaloo muttered, slipping up behind and looking over Twilight's back at Purdue as well, who turned to look at her when she talked. The orange filly then asked, "Why are her eyes all white like that?" Oh... Babs frowned to Scootaloo for a moment before replying with, "It's becawse she's blind." Oh, so ponies did know about blindness, then. Well, admittedly, I had no reason to suspect they didn't. "Wait, what?! Fer real?" Apple Bloom murmured, looking horrified. Purdue frowned at that, her eyes softening as she got a tiny smile on her face and shook her head. "It's not, um, that bad. I've never known what it's like to see anyway, but, well, my powers sort of let me see regardless. I can see vague shapes where ponies are," she explained, causing me to perk my ears up. Oh, that was definitely interesting. Was she seeing some sort of energy, then? Aura scratched her chin for a moment, then inquired, "Shapeless flowing masses around everypony, subtle shades of difference that tells you things about them, and maybe even other colors mixed in?" I looked to Purdue, who looked more than a little surprised before nodding rapidly. The mare giggled at that before continuing with, "You're seeing the magic in everypony. We're comprised of it, and each pony has their own unique 'pattern' of energy that's inside of them that's incredibly complex. The colors, shapes, and other traits can tell you more about the pony." Oh, that was what she saw in me earlier, then. It must be special training that necromancers pick up. Regardless, Purdue nodded again, momentarily forgetting her situation once more and looking towards me instead. "Yeah, Mender's is really light blue with streaks of silver, yellow, and a pretty rose color mixed in. Then it goes deeper, and the blue turns darker and darker until it's almost black," she whispered. I'm not entirely sure why, but I shivered hearing her explanation. Aura got a sadder expression on her face before she nodded and smiled weakly at me instead. Huh? "The streaks represent individuals who've touched upon his soul and left a mark. The silver I'm already familiar with. Gemstone Weave is a part of you, and your link with her will never fade," the necromancer assured, shifting to a more confident smile. The cold sensation faded slowly along my back, and I smiled at that. No problems at all there. If anything, I wanted to get to know my mother all the more. Derpy giggled a moment later, then took a shot in the dark with, "I'm guessing the yellow is Fluttershy, right?!" Heh, I felt the little yellow pegasus all the way from here, and barely resisted smirking. Yeah, that was a good guess. Another giggle sounded from Aura and she nodded, adding, "Having met the mare, yes, I can firmly say that it is indeed Fluttershy. I'm quite astounded at how strong their link is for having known each other such a short amount of time." Fast friends indeed, then upgraded to coltfriend and fillyfriend, and then lovers shortly after. The yellow mare was a very loving pony, and I wasn't about to change her for the world. Sweetie looked curious, however, before pointing out, "Wait, so who's the rose color, then? Fluttershy's coat is yellow, so that makes sense, but..." Rose? Uh oh... "Oh, no, little one. The color of the streak doesn't need to have anything to do with their colors," Aura corrected before explaining, "The color comes from the color of their heart. That's separate from their physical colors, and even their magic color. Yellow is the color of compassion and kindness in its most pure sense. Red however is the color of passionate and unwavering trust and loyalty. The only pony I saw last night with that color was Miss Rainbow Dash." Damn it. Twilight blushed lightly at that, coughing as she averted her eyes. Derpy blinked as well, then looked up at me, of course, curious now. Yes, it was totally my fault. “Uh, accidental encounter with Rainbow gave us a bit more of a connection than intended?” I attempted to explain, unsure of exactly what to say. Aura only snickered and waved a forehoof at me, though. “I imagine you already had a strong connection with her, you also being the same color around your heart. It doesn’t matter how dark the blue becomes, as I imagine ‘loyalty’ to also be closer to your most focused upon virtue?” she pointed out curiously. Loyalty? Well, did a desire to guard and protect count? That’s what I typically felt the most, even if it sometimes got in the way of things. Twilight appeared amused, however. “That I never considered before. Yeah, that probably only helps Rainbow like you even more. You’re closest to her element, after all,” she agreed, examining me even closer, as if that would help. Was any pony really just one virtue? Even Rainbow had elements from the other virtues, particularly the laughter one. They were all kind, although none of them could beat out Fluttershy in that regard. Honest, too, although Applejack also took that to an extreme. Aura was probably right. The Elements were their particular Element not because that was their only virtue, but because they had that particular virtue so well established that it could almost be considered a vice instead. Applejack had difficulty with any lie whatsoever, even those meant to promote kindness and good feelings. Fluttershy was almost too kind, letting herself get abused because of it. Rainbow was extremely defensive of her friends and so loyal that she can come off as almost brash and hostile to others. Pinkie loved laughter and happiness, but sometimes had difficulty understanding emotions that weren’t encompassed by those. Even Rarity had difficulty with her generosity from time to time, putting ‘value’ in inappropriate or materialistic things. If I was ‘Loyalty’, did I go overboard with that defensive thing, just like Rainbow did from time to time? So I had no problem lying if I needed to. I liked being nice to ponies but, uh, okay, so I wasn’t always the nicest pony. I could sort of call myself generous, but even I knew that it was because I had difficulty accepting things for myself. I’m not sure if that ‘counted’ as generosity in that event. Laughter? Uh, no. I wasn’t the happiest or most mirthful pony out there. Magic I could definitely do, and I had some weird styles in comparison to most Earth Ponies, but it wasn’t really my defining trait. So yeah, I’d have to say that they were right. “Okay, yeah, I’ll agree with that. I’m definitely more partial to ‘Loyalty’, then. I’m not sure if that helps me understand ‘me’ any better, though,” I finally admitted, looking to Aura instead. What was the point of all this, again? Maybe it was to warn me against being too protective? It had ended rather tragically for my other ‘self’ and DNA donor, after all. She shook her head, however. “No, the only reason I brought it up at all was to maybe help you find your place a little easier. You’ve been through a lot, and I figured that maybe a better sense of who you are would help you settle into yourself better,” she explained, a surprising amount of wisdom in her soft, slow tone. Despite it taking about forty to fifty percent longer for her to say it, it still made me feel better to hear. She was right, there. Ever since I’d gotten to Equus, I’d been at least a little lost and confused. Anything that helped against that was welcome, even if it took me by surprise. Maybe sensing my hesitation, Babs perked up behind me at sat up fully again. “Maybe ya should go daown there an’ try ta have some fun? Fohget abouwd all this foh ah while?” she suggested. I must have really looked like I was stewing on it… Derpy perked up and nodded at that, revealing, “Oooh, good idea. The mayor said she wanted to talk to you still anyway.” Mayor…? Glancing towards the dunk pit, I noticed a very soggy mare there still, and the memory of before that Estrus week snapped back. Oh, right! She’d wanted to talk to me and I totally forgot! Slapping my forehead with my right forehoof, I nodded at that. “I’d forgotten that she wanted to talk to me. Uh, right. Well, dropping by probably could at least let me set up an appointment,” I suggested, glancing to Twilight, who rolled her eyes at me. “Maybe you should let me do your schedule for you from now on, Mender. Your virtue definitely isn’t memory,” she pointed out. Coughing, I averted my eyes slightly, and Purdue giggled next to me, finally having relaxed a little amidst all the other ponies… * * * * * Okay, I admit to this being my fault. Why had I assumed anything in this town was going to be ‘normal’? Maybe I had expected some sort of government official to be, I don’t know, somewhat saner compared to most of the rest of the populace? Like I said, probably my fault. “Just for the record, this isn’t what I meant when I said to have a meeting with the mayor,” Twilight pointed out yet again, her magic activating to crank the sitting platform back up as we both shifted onto it. Swimming in this stuff wasn’t exactly pleasant or easy, it having more the consistency of maple syrup than water. I could practically feel it staining my fur, too, and sticking to everything in uncomfortable ways. The mayor appeared to take it in stride, however, resuming her ‘proper’ posture as we were lifted back up above the fluid. It was a bit embarrassing to see nothing but glass all around me, and ponies able to see me from all sides now covered in the goo. “Nonsense! Authority figures need to take a good dose of humility from time to time, no matter the position. It keeps ponies realizing that they’re just ponies like them, after all,” she pointed out. Well, I suppose that made sense, but weren’t there better ways to achieve that? I wondered idly how long I’d be green for, and how big of a heart attack Rarity would have when she saw me. Rainbow was still rolling and laughing off to my left, having thrown the ball that dunked us both, after all. It turned out that she and Applejack had been trying to see who could dunk the mayor the most times and I had ‘ruined it’ according to Rainbow, by getting into the tank too in order to talk to the mayor. Applejack refused to play after that… Instead, the orange mare glared at her fillyfriend rather pointedly as she continued laughing at my misfortune. I’m sure that would be awkward later, regardless. The mayor coughed lightly, however, and somehow shifted back to serious, despite being covered in splotches of green slime and wearing a clown costume with a giant rainbow afro. Well, it had a lot of green in it now, but I think it was originally rainbow colored. Her acting serious was kind of a creepy juxtaposition. “Regardless, as you’re now the co-founder of a new branch of government, and responsible for several new constructions coming to Ponyville this fall, I wished to obviously speak to you about some of the details. At least, what you can answer about them,” she revealed. Oh, right. Tia had wanted to construct the research and development facility under Ponyville. I pulled up my scans of the paperwork about it that I had in my database, ignoring Scootaloo gleefully taking up position with a new ball. She, Babs, and Apple Bloom had no problem at all dunking me, which I was both thankful for, and a bit put off by, but ah well. It was all for fun anyway. Sweetie joined Applejack in glaring from the sidelines. Nodding to the mayor regardless, I explained, “Yes, Princess Celestia wishes to establish the Research and Development branch of the Dimensional Regulations here in Ponyville, as both Twilight and I live here. She also wanted to set up a small barracks for the guards that are training in the new developments.” That was the gist of what I understood, anyway. The information I’d scanned in backed that up, minus the exact details of the guards and training they’d be doing, of course. I imagined that was more up to me once we actually started developing stuff, but that wouldn’t be too difficult. At least, I assumed they’d be sending me already trained guards. That might be a dangerous assumption to make, however. I momentarily shuddered at the mental image of a new recruit accidentally blowing his hoof off with a laser rifle, and quickly pushed it out of mind. “Ah, yes. I’d heard-“ the mayor started to say before both of us winced. The baseball instead skipped up over the glass rim, fell down inside with us, and splatted into the green goo, joining a dozen or so that were already down there. Well, at least Scootaloo’s aim was terrible. The mayor coughed before continuing with, “Yes, I’d heard that she wished to set up Research and Development here. You must realize, as a pony responsible for the welfare and health of this community, I’m simply concerned as to the safety that research and development of alien technologies might entail.” Oh, right. Smiling, I shook my head to that before assuring, “Princess Celestia’s actually already fully considered that. The actual facility is going to be set up in a large, underground bunker that we’ll be constructing first. I’m still going over the plans and designs for it to make sure it’s fully up to my own safety standards, but it’s more for keeping things in than out, just in case. I don’t imagine we’re going to have any accidents, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Oops, that was another thing I carried that ‘protection’ thing over to. All of my projects I wanted to be as safe as possible. The mayor tilted her head slightly at that, then asked, “Now, when you say ‘underground bunker’, this is some sort of facility that-“ We both paused as a ball went sailing past the target by a good two meters, crashing into something behind the tank and causing a massive squawk from what sounded like a series of chickens. Uh… Glancing back, I saw Derpy flailing and trying to catch three chickens that appeared to be having panic attacks. They apparently didn’t like the new addition of a baseball embedded into the side of their coop. Well, her aim was terrible, but that filly could put some serious power behind her throws! “Ooooh, looks like your special talent won’t be in ball throwing, blank flank!” I heard squealed from a rather familiar sounding filly in the other direction. Ugh. Glancing back, I saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon trot up, the pink filly in the lead giving a rather malicious smirk to Scootaloo, who glared back at her. They both sat down behind the group of fillies and Rainbow, sipping what looked like milkshakes of some sort. Silver Spoon perked as she saw who was in the tank, then to my surprise, smiled and waved towards me, ignoring Diamond’s annoyed stare at her. Of course, I smiled and waved back to her, remembering what she’d said about her friend from before. It was kind of sad, really. Rainbow bristled at the intrusion and name calling, sitting up from her laughing rather abruptly and glaring at the little pink filly as well. “What, you think you’re an expert at ball throwing now?” she demanded, then rolled her eyes as the filly just giggled. “Please, you wouldn’t catch me touching any of these ugly balls if my life depended on it. Coattail, if you would!” she called out instead. A larger stallion walked up from behind them, his coat gray in coloring and oddly having no mane or tail whatsoever, only the fuzzy gray base of his tail resting over his rump. Further, he sported an immaculate black suit that covered him almost completely, and equally black shades over his eyes. He nodded to her, and picked up one of the baseballs instead. Psh. So, she had to resort to cheating to win, huh? Then she’d encounter cheating to lose instead. My left hoof activated, the magic slipping along the goo stained platform and then under it. Shooting along the underside, it traced the release mechanism as I manipulated the barrier. It didn’t take long for me to find the bar extension to the target pad, and my barrier slipped along the bar behind it, holding it rigidly in place instead while being completely hidden from the front. Derpy, who was behind the tank and now sitting happily with three chickens in her lap, grinned as she watched the energy extend, then smirked over at me, nodding. The stallion’s first throw was strong, and highly accurate. It smashed into the second ring of the target pad with enough force to shake the entire dunking pool, surprising me a little. I felt the energy radiating off the ball, and realized the Earth Pony was using some sort of technique to throw it, a moment later. Was it possible to use empathy magic and sync with a baseball, too? Regardless, my barrier wasn’t going to be defeated by anything less than a Mach two or so impact, and there was only one pony in that crowd capable of that. The target didn’t even budge, and all of the trigger mechanisms were equally held fast. The mayor lifted an eyebrow up, but didn’t say anything as she continued watching the spectacle. “Pff, what?! Are you cheating or something?!” Diamond Tiara demanded to know, glaring over at Rainbow instead, as if she were the one doing it. Dash just grinned, however. “Says the one ordering somepony else to throw for her? Maybe you should step up and try it for yourself? Or at the very least, use one of your own tickets instead of throwing somepony else’s ball,” the cyan pegasus pointed out, gesturing to Scootaloo. Hey! That had been Scootaloo’s last ball! The game manager trotted up as well a moment later, dropping a new ball down for Scootaloo. “She’s right. You’re disqualified from this game for taking somepony else’s ball. This isn’t how we play nicely,” the older looking mare declared. Scootaloo smiled down at the ball, then nodded, picking it up gently in her mouth. Diamond Tiara looked absolutely furious, however, snarling and stomping off, the larger stallion slowly following after her. Silver Spoon took a few more sips from her shake, remaining sitting as she watched, however. After another moment, she lifted her muzzle again and said, “You can do it, Scootaloo. Just relax.” Scootaloo looked surprised by it, too, glancing back at her with a start before smiling and nodding. The ball left her mouth with surprising speed during her flip, and she kicked it with her back legs after spinning around at the same time. My magic dispelled as I released it, watching the ball rotate in the air three times before crashing into the center of the bulls-eye. Smiling, I felt the snap, and both the Mayor and I dropped yet again into the goo with a rather loud splash. This time, I definitely didn’t mind, however. Surfacing again to the sound of Rainbow’s laughter once more, I peeked back in the direction of the grinning Scootaloo, who hopped into the air and buzzed her wings repeated. Heck, if she was throwing the ball like that, I was amazed it was even going in the same direction as the tank. Apple Bloom smirked over her shoulder in time to see Silver Spoon walking away, heading in the direction that Diamond Tiara left in. “Hey, Silver Spoon. Ya can hang out with us if ya really want ta,” the farm filly called out as she left. The little gray filly stopped and hesitated for a moment before smiling back over her shoulder as well and shaking her head. “Thanks, but no. I’m going to keep Diamond Tiara company. Maybe tomorrow,” she returned. The two fillies exchanged nods, then Silver Spoon ran after her friend, who was already almost thirty meters ahead now. Guess she was loyal, too. The mayor and I were slowly lifted out of the slime once again, and she smiled over at me, somehow looking like everything was normal and perfectly well despite being covered from head to hoof in green goop. “Normally I wouldn’t condone unlawful behavior, such as rigging a game, especially with you being a guard of all things. But that was clearly in defense against other unlawful behavior, so I believe you were justified,” she pointedly assured a moment later, earning a grin from me as I realized she’d caught my manipulation. She did know about my magic, after all. “He didn’t have a ticket, so I couldn’t let him play,” I reasoned, shrugging. Rainbow gave me a smirk, overhearing easily as Scoots started giggling at the information. The mayor gave an assured nod, a few strands of slime dripping off her bang as she rotated fully towards me yet again. “Regardless, this is going to be an underground facility, then? With defensive measures in place?” she inquired. Oh, right, I didn’t know how prevalent the term ‘bunker’ was in standard pony society. “Yes, it’s going to be a ways underground, and the walls are constructed out of concrete and reinforced with steel. It also operates with its own environment and is air sealed to prevent any gas leaks, if that much is needed. I can give you the tour of the place during construction and after it’s built, if you wish further assurance,” I explained. Princess Celestia’s policy for almost everything was complete transparency anyway, after what happened with BEID. The exact number of guards released to this program would be reported, just their identities kept secret, as per usual. Our project summaries and goals were also reported, with just the details being restricted. For the most part, unless our discoveries yielded something of immediate and crucial civilian use, we weren’t to release any new technology or information in that regard. That I agreed with. Ponies, for the most part, didn’t need weapons on the scale of what I’d be researching. The mayor visibly relaxed before nodding twice at that, more distracting strands of goo spraying off her mane. It was really hard to take this conversation seriously… “That would be a relief, yes. I’d also like the newspapers to run a story on it if that’s at all possible. The more exposure ponies have to something, the more comfortable they usually feel about-“ Apple Bloom’s now glowing, rune covered hoof bashed the ball directly into the target center with considerable speed, spinning our entire tank around as the trigger gave way and we both yelped, falling into the goo once again. Damn it! I told her not to use that… * * * * * “See ya later, Uncle Mender!” Derpy chirped as she hovered off away from us, earning weird glances and a blush from me. Arg! She was clearly enjoying that way too much. She laughed as I made a pouncing motion at her, and sailed even higher into the air, waving backwards at us as she moved away from the Library. Having talked with the mayor for a good hour and a half about construction specifics, location, and safety precautions, I’d gotten a healthy feel for how pony zoning and building construction worked now. She was also amazingly open about how things worked for Ponyville and what I was to expect during the construction. I didn’t understand quite why she was so eager to be as accommodating and helpful as possible until Twilight pointed out that this is going to bring a huge boost to the town’s economy, having such a large project draw national attention to us. Well, more national attention than the typical slew of disasters and destruction that typically befell the area at least twice a year. Yeah, a bunker was a good idea… We’d also been dunked sixty-seven times, by what I assume was half the population of Ponyville and dozens of tourists here for the fall festival. Trotting into the library ahead of Twilight, I immediately slipped upstairs and into the bathroom to look into the large mirror. Sighing, I noted that my coat was indeed a teal-green color now, with darker green splotches all over it. I’d been assured that it would likely stay this way for the better part of a week until it washed out naturally. I wouldn’t have been so eager to get into the tank if I’d known this much, although Rarity’s horrified gasp, wobble, and collapse onto a couch that almost ran Rainbow over as it sailed in out of nowhere was rather amusing. “I must say, I really like your library, Twilight,” Aura commented politely from downstairs. She’d followed us back at my request. Fluttershy and Rarity had met us on our way back from the tank, the yellow mare looking more perplexed at my new color than horrified. I was just thankful it didn’t smell. Ponies have really good noses, and this would be horrifying if it did. Which was probably why it didn’t. Double-checking I didn’t miss any errant goo spots, I confirmed that all of the splotches on me were indeed just darker splotches now, and headed back downstairs. Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow were already sitting at the main table downstairs, while Twilight was showing the lower shelves to Aura. Spike and Fluttershy came out of the kitchen as I was descending, a tray balanced on her back with tea on it, while Spike followed behind her and steadied the tray, also being careful not to step on her tail. The tray made it to the table without any disasters, and I came up alongside and pecked Fluttershy on the cheek as she let Spike unload the refreshments. Her light blush was worth it, and she gave me a gentle smile, eyes trailing over my coat again before she giggled, not used to me being vaguely the color of her eyes. Still, her coat looked amazing and felt silky against my muzzle, and I saw that she’d gotten her hooves polished and fetlocks trimmed while she was there. She looked amazing, which made me cringe at my own appearance all the more. In fact, Rarity should be- My own thought was interrupted as the door opened abruptly again, Rarity coming in at a brisk pace carrying an entire bag of cleaning supplies with her magic. “I’m back!” she called out in a pleased, sing-song voice as she closed the door again. She’d rushed back home to get ‘products’ to aid me in my ‘natural disaster’ that my coat had become. She wasted no time at all in setting down a large sheet of plastic from her bag, at the end of the main table. Oh, joy. We were to do this literally right now, and in front of everypony. She hummed as she unpacked what seemed to be dozens of bottles of strange fluid, and at least a dozen varying combs of different shapes, sizes, and thicknesses. I was reminded of a torturer gleefully getting out their implements of pain and misery. “I’ll go get you a tub of water,” Twilight assured, giving me a wink as she trotted past and headed upstairs, leaving my niece to her own devices. She didn’t stray far, however, instead wandering over and sitting down next to me, making sure she was at least clear of the meter distance the plastic extended out to. She giggled at my annoyed expression a second later, watching me curiously as I prepared for the horror that was beauty treatment. Rarity looked me over more carefully before requesting, “Fluttershy, dear, you’ll have to help me with this. Plus, as he insists on wearing your braid, you’re going to have to redo it after this. Might I suggest only one side, however? I think that would look far more fetching on a stallion.” Oh? Only one side of my bangs braided? I nodded at that, and Fluttershy smiled happily, drifting up with a light flap of her wings to land next to me instead. Oh, right, the reason I asked Aura to come back with us. I looked over at her momentarily, noting I still had her attention before tapping the floor with my left forehoof. The line of magic shot across the floor, zipped over to the closet, and opened it in one fluid motion. I redirected it afterwards, and flattened it out into a platform as I gently scooped up the box and slid it across my barrier and back towards us. Aura’s eyes widened as she watched the fancy, ornate jewelry box move into her view. I moved it over to me in about ten seconds or so, taking my time and being careful with it as I lifted the barrier platform up and seamlessly slid it onto the table. Applejack’s debate about using magic enhancements while playing sports dwindled as the three mares already seated turned and watched the box with a certain amount of fascination, despite having seen it before. The jewelry box always seemed to invoke this reaction, I noted. “It’s very pretty! And you said this was from Bronze Bastion and Auraprism?” Auramirror asked quietly, reaching out to touch her hoof against the dark wood. “Well, it supposedly belonged to them, anyway. I’m not sure who it’s from. It was sent anonymously, with the signer being ‘A Friend’,” I corrected, nose twitching as that old wood scent came back due to proximity to the box. There were still too many mysteries for me, personally. I’d decided that was one of my pet peeves. I liked clear, presented problems that I could apply an immediate solution to. These ponies that skulked around in shadows and refused to just speak with me upfront about their concerns only frustrated me. Of course, if I thought my government had been compromised by some horrific alien entity… Okay, so I could at least see their point. But that didn’t stop it from being frustrating. Was it one of them that sent this to me? And if so, why? It wasn’t trapped, and the things in it were actually rather valuable, both resource-wise, and for me, personally. And it was just freely given. Were they hoping for a favor or something later out of thanks? Or was this just pity? Dozens of questions zipped around in my mind as I watched Aura slide open the shelves one at a time, peering at the jewelry and equipment inside. “This is indeed their wedding bangles. I’ve seen pictures of them, and items worn frequently by ponies pick up some of their auras permanently. This is grandpa and grandma’s aura, alright,” she confirmed, sliding a hoof over the simple golden metal. Heh, even she’d given up on attaching four or five ‘greats’ before each title. Still, I figured she’d be able to pick up stuff on them that others wouldn’t, and that definitely confirmed the legitimacy of the jewelry. But it also only brought more questions. “What happened to all of this stuff after they passed away?” I asked softly, ears tweaking back as I heard Twilight humming as she came back down the stairs behind me, accompanied by the light sloshing of water. Aura frowned for a moment, and I could almost see the gears and memories turning in her mind as she stared at the box. “Bronze Bastion passed on first, about four months before Auraprism. All of the stuff went to her after he passed, and she had most of his stuff moved back into their home. He owned his family manor still, and they lived there while they were both alive, but he kept a lot of stuff at the various work sites he had to visit,” she explained softly and slowly, looking back over at me as I did my best to absorb the information. Only four months? I remembered about the links and how sad they could make ponies after their lovers pass on. Maybe that lessened their remaining time? “She passed away not long after, a lot of the family saying she just sort of gave up the will to keep going. All of their research and breakthroughs are public and kept in the Canterlot library. The family was spread out after that, and none of us could really justify taking up the space of an entire manor to ourselves, so we gave it back to Princess Celestia a month later,” she continued, detailing out things as she remembered them. Ponies technically only owned furniture and items, I remembered. The land of Equestria belonged to everypony equally for the most part, and buildings and the land itself was publically maintained and cooperatively worked on. That meant that Tia was free to give the manor to a different family if she saw fit and they asked. I wondered what happened to it. My niece must have seen my curiosity, and smiled at that. “I think Princess Celestia still holds a deep sadness over what happened. She simply preserved the manor and kept it unoccupied, which it is to this very day. She told my… well, our family that if we ever wanted it back, we just had to ask. All the personal effects were removed and mostly split up amongst the family members, but quite a bit of it was oddly never found. The wedding jewelry they frequently wore, your father’s personal projects, and their research from the last twenty years of their life just vanished. Now I at least know where the wedding jewelry is, but I don’t know where it was prior. I’m sorry, Uncle,” she murmured, looking over at the box again. Just disappeared? Was it BEID, then? Twilight’s keen mind snapped to attention after she set the water down next to Rarity. “Disappeared? That’s a lot of stuff to just disappear. Did anypony ever look?” she asked, frowning in concern. Oh, yeah, that was a lot of stuff to just go missing. I hadn’t realized how much that probably was, given that my father probably continued his personal projects his entire life. For all of that to just ‘vanish’ was crazy, especially with nopony anywhere seeing what happened. “Yeah. Literally. Silver Sheen, their first foal and a grown stallion by then, was helping to clean the house up. In between him closing the doors one night, and opening them the next morning to get back to work, the projects were just gone. Completely. A lot of the family looked, yeah. Quite a few of his projects were quite valuable to the advancement of many sciences, after all. A lot of his later research, I heard, hinged around the basis of quantum field theory about ether fields around crystals, which, of course, his wife could easily help him with. If they’d had all that data!” Aura gushed, shifting back into her more excited tone that kind of reminded me a little of Twilight. It also had the side-product of having her talk at about normal speed for a pony. Still, that reeked of either a whole lot of ponies moving stuff, or some scary advanced magic… Heh. Or Discord, but he was a lawn ornament at that time. The warm water touching upon my fur snapped me out of my thoughts, and I smiled back at Rarity, who gave me a nod as she slid a brush down my coat. “This is simply dreadful. There’s nothing I can do about the color. It shall have to wash its way out unless you wish to use even worse intervention methods, which I would not recommend. I can, however, restore the shine and feel, removing these nasty clumps,” she assured me elegantly, while managing to frown in disapproval at the very thing she was talking about. “It’s fine, Rarity. It was my fault, but admittedly, watching all the little foals having fun was worth it,” I returned. That was one of the highlights to the otherwise oddly ‘normal’ conversation with Mayor Mare. Aura smirked at that, then complimented, “Mmm, you’d probably make a good father, Uncle.” Damn it! Now I was glad the Crusaders were still at the fair and not here to hear that. My ears flattened back and I frowned at that, glancing to Aura, who still looked absorbed in the jewelry box despite her soft smile. “Why does everypony keep saying that?!” I asked, having gotten that similar comment from at least four sources now. Rarity lifted an eyebrow in my peripheral vision while scrubbing my shoulder down. “Perhaps because it’s true?” she suggested, earning a series of snickers from the other end of the table. Ugh. Sure, they could say that, but that didn’t make me understand the ‘why’ of it any better. “It’s ah compliment, Mender. Ya should take it easy. It means yer trustworthy, good at lookin’ after tha little ones, an’ kind. Any mare would be happy ta have ya father their foals, Ah imagine,” Applejack commented, tossing an amused wink at me afterwards as my face flushed with heat. And then there were those ones that did it on purpose! Rainbow shot her a smirk with a questioning, raised eyebrow, and Pinkie burst into copious amounts of laughter and promptly fell backwards out of her chair. My concern for her safety was never triggered regardless as she simply bounced when she landed and started rolling about, laughter unabated. Even Twilight giggled in amusement again, relaxing as she slid up against my back instead and kissed me between my shoulder blades. The pearly mare to my left just rolled her eyes, and Fluttershy scrubbed a little harder to my right, flush in her cheeks as well. She’d admitted she wouldn’t mind being a mother, and had ‘hinted’ towards next summer’s Estrus, if I remembered correctly. My mind buzzed, and I fought to beat back all of the terrible mental images that flooded in. Damn them all! The resident necromancer seemed mostly oblivious, however. She instead perked up, slowly lifting the box curiously, and peeking under it, oddly. Eh? Well, technically I just called it a jewelry ‘box’. It was actually hexagonal, but that was hardly the point. Jewelry container? “Hmm? What’s this, Mender?” she inquired a moment later, snapping me out of my momentary lapse in attention. Everypony’s attention was simultaneously pulled back to reality as she gently tipped the box back, her horn glowing softly with magic as she lay it on its back. I heard the jewelry gently shift inside of it, but then widened my eyes at the underside. Why hadn’t I noticed that?! Along the underside of the box was a bronze disk, making an almost perfect circle that was three or four centimeters away from each side of the hexagon. It was inlaid with a beautiful pattern of intricate weaves like the vines extending off a flower across the entire thing, the flower itself being in the center. Only it wasn’t a flower. It was an actual gemstone with a woven bronze over the top of it and flower petals expanding off in each direction. The vine weave on the disk was an enlarged copy of the weave over the gem, I suddenly realized. What was this?! Twilight peeked curiously over my shoulders at it, then frowned. “That flower! A flower blooming with a gem in the center and vines going over it… That was Gemstone Weave’s Cutie Mark!” Twilight announced, gesturing past me at the center of the disk. My mother? Why did Bastion and Auraprism’s jewelry box have my mother’s Cutie Mark on the bottom of it? She’d never written about her own mark, so I had no idea… Aura frowned before revealing, “It had subtle life energy in the gem. I could see it because of my necromancer training, but it wouldn’t have been picked up if you were only looking for magic instead.” Wait, it had energy in it still? “Is it dangerous?” I asked, suddenly reevaluating if this was a trap or not. If they knew about Twilight, they wouldn’t have tried to slip a magical trap in, that was for sure. My niece shook her head, however before explaining, “It’s just a keystone. They’re used because they can react to certain things, like a certain type of magic, or even a certain life force.” A keystone? Where had I read about that before… Spike, who had been silent up until now, perked up while sitting on the corner of the table. “Wait, wasn’t that like what Sombra used? His thingy in the throne room only reacted to that dark magic stuff!” he suddenly exclaimed. Sombra? Oh, King Sombra! The Elements of Harmony had defeated him when his kingdom reappeared recently. “Yes, Spike. He used it to hide a spell that created the portal to that other dimension he was hiding in, but that contained magic and I was able to see it,” Twilight confirmed, glancing over at Aura instead. So this contained life force instead of magic? That would mean that it detected life force instead of magic, too, right? Aura nodded, then hesitantly reached out and poked the gemstone in the center of the disk. My eyes widened, and to my surprise, everypony backed rapidly away from the table and the gem itself. Aura, Rainbow, and Spike even dove for cover, a table getting flipped over as a makeshift cover a second later. What did they think it was going to do, explode or something?! Twilight remained behind me, however, horn glowing softly as her eyes narrowed, and we all waited in tense anticipation. The gem glowed softly a couple of times with a faint inner light, then faded dark again. It was almost ten full, tense seconds before everypony stood up fully again from their various covers. A nearby pile of books presented Spike’s head a moment later, and he asked, “Is it done? Did it explode?” Ah, so they really did think it was going to explode. Aura walked up again, then frowned and shook her head. “No, it didn’t activate. Mine wasn’t the right life force, it would seem. I figured it might be keyed in to detect our family’s life force, but I guess not,” she suggested, looking a bit shaken from her flailing dash to hide behind the other table. They can do that? Wait… On a guess, I extended my hoof and touched the gem next. Spike yelped and ducked down beneath the books again, and Aura skidded backwards, looking for her table barrier to return to, as predicted. I didn’t know what I’d expected to happen. Maybe I was hoping to be disappointed by the same results. No, not really. A part of me realized then why this was sent to me. It wasn’t keyed in for our family. It was keyed in for Gemstone Weave. The gem glowed softly, a golden light bathing me that was much brighter than its last reaction. Slowly, the plate rotated around on the bottom of the box, and I felt Twilight tense against my back, her own horn’s glow picking up to almost match the light from the gem, defensive magic undoubtedly getting prepared just in case. I didn’t ‘feel’ any malice, however, when I touched the gem. Instead, I got the sensation of a deep, immovable sorrow. It was a sadness so consuming that it almost made me choke on it all. The gem’s light ‘felt’ like that sadness, and I wondered who these emotions had belonged to. The rotation continued until the gem was upside down. Then the outer ‘disk’ of the bronze disks stopped, and only the next inner one rotated after. It wasn’t a solid disk at all, and instead, held a series of bronze rings. My surprise only compounded as I watched the next ring in raise out slowly with those vine engravings, the vines themselves apparently movable too as they extended out on hard looking bronze spokes. It kept going, stopping every few centimeters and freezing another ring one at a time, going closer and closer to the center. Finally, the main Cutie Mark in the center rotated to facing upright again, and extended out on a long, bronze pole. Several smaller poles extended out the sides of it in uneven angles, and the disks formed a ‘cone’ along the bottom with all of the vines extended out in no real pattern either. Then it stopped. The glow faded, and the box just sat there, not moving. The pole extended from the bottom was twice as tall as the container itself, yet had no discernable extension lines on it. How could it have even fit inside?! But its shape seemed so familiar… Oh. “Uh, what is it?” Applejack asked, edging closer and frowning as she stared at the elongated end. Everypony slowly took in the sight, Spike popping out of the books again as well. I frowned as I brushed a hoof along the rod, bumping the hard metal studs that had folded out the sides of it. They didn’t budge in the slightest, and I smiled, suddenly realizing it all. It had been sent to me intentionally because I was one of only three ponies who could ever open it, and two of those other ponies were dead. Whoever sealed it knew that, and intended it only for me. I also imagine that they knew I’d hear about the other stuff disappearing, too. Putting two and two together, I realized that this was sent to me as both a gift, and an enticement to find the rest of the things that went missing. And they just gave me the ability to do so. “It’s a giant key,” I answered, simply enough. But where was the lock?
Chapter 88It had taken a little bit of work, but we got it to re-activate itself, and it folded back up into its usual jewelry box shape afterwards. There were no bends or folds or anything at all in the main rod of the 'key', however, which could only mean that there was some seriously weird folding space thing going on with it. This didn't add up, however, as Twilight didn't detect any magic whatsoever coming from the box, and that sort of enchantment would apparently be very noticeable. That only meant one thing. It was folded space that wasn't using magic to create it. My parents' research... I stared at the box still sitting on the table, a light frown across my features. It was a key, but I had no idea where the lock was. An awkward problem to have, admittedly. I felt Twilight nuzzle me in the cheek, however, standing to my right still. "Relax, Mender. Staring a hole into the side of it isn't going to solve the mystery any faster," she reminded, earning a nose twitch on my account. Maybe if I put a hole in it, I'd figure out how it worked and solve it, though! But no, I didn't want to break my parents’ jewelry box. Everypony was still there, of course. It was starting to become evening, and the Crusaders should be back in a little bit as well, probably with a huge amount of loot from the fair. Twilight and Fluttershy had stuck surprisingly close to me, for reasons I didn't entirely grasp, but wasn't going to complain about. The yellow mare sat at the table to my left, sipping tea and chatting something about a migration or something with Rarity. Well, it was Fall, so creatures probably would be migrating soon. She was essentially Ponyville's resident 'Woodland Caretaker', I think they called the position. It seemed sort of like a forest Ranger to me, but they might not have had those. Applejack and Rainbow were together, of course, snickering about something over by the fire. I really didn't want to know. I had no idea where Pinkie was, just assuming she was within earshot should I say her name out loud. That was probably how you summoned her, as far as those things worked. That left just my niece and her library guide. Glancing to my right, I looked past Twilight and watched Spike show off another collection of books to Aura, who appeared enraptured by both them and the baby dragon himself. She acted like she'd never met a dragon before, which did kind of make sense, especially given her reaction to him earlier, when we first met. Still, he appeared to be enjoying the attention, showing her book collections she was interested in at Twilight's request. Rarity shot them glances occasionally, which was kind of creepy if I thought about it for too long. Of course, thinking of the mare as my niece was weird enough as it was, even after we decided to drop the tiring amount of 'Greats' before our titles. "I know. I just really wish things could be simpler. Why can't this 'friend' just talk to me like normal?" I muttered, looking away from Aura and back towards Twilight instead. She pondered that for a moment, then shrugged. "It's hard to say. They're probably the same pony, the one that left you that lead on the cafe also signing the letter as 'a friend'. There might be some sort of danger in them revealing themselves, not to you but from somepony else who might find the letters. Or maybe they want to gauge your reaction first?" she suggested, tilting her head to me. That last one would imply they were watching me, which honestly wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Still... "Oooh, or they like games and are being all mysterious on purpose!" Pinkie chirped suddenly, hopping in from the kitchen while balancing another tray of tea on her head. Uh... I watched her bounce, the tray of tea rocking back and forth and up and down precariously as she moved over to the table. My urge to dive for it as it wobbled around was almost overwhelming, and I saw Twilight smirk as she watched me. "Trust me, it's best to just not watch. I've never actually seen Pinkie spill anything before, if it makes you feel better," she pointed out, gesturing back towards the scene. I almost had a heart attack as Pinkie flicked her head back, the tray launching itself violently into the air and actually flipping as it went over the table. Rarity moved her own cup back slightly, still talking with Fluttershy and not actually looking as the tray flipped once fully and landed flat on the table with a smack. The cups vibrated slightly, but all of the liquid in them 'landed' back inside without the slightest spill onto the tray. Witchcraft! Pinkie was somehow using magic! She had to be! No, just no! Feeling my eye twitch, I stomped my forehooves twice, huffing repeatedly as Pinkie looked back and grinned at me. Rarity's horn glowed softly, and the pot of tea lifted off the tray and refilled her own cup, her still not breaking conversation. They... They all ignored it. Probably for their own sanity, I suddenly realized. They were the smart ones here... Ugh. "Nope. I give up," I admitted, exhaling softly and just shaking my head. Twilight scrunched her muzzle up a moment later, then exhaled, her horn lighting up instead. I watched curiously as her saddlebag by the door glowed lightly, and two bits drifted out of it and over to Pinkie's bag instead. Eh?! "You were right. He just accepted it without questioning," Twilight agreed, earning a giggle from Pinkie in amusement. Oh, they were betting on me. Of course. Pinkie just smiled warmly after that, then shook her head. "I wasn't serious! But I did know that Mender would accept it. We've talked together before, and he's my super-duper best friend, just like you all are!" she chirped, somehow getting me to blush, even though it technically had nothing to do with me accepting it or not. Being her friend was entirely different from watching somepony break physics, attend its funeral, then reveal it was still alive by dancing the tango with it in front of the coffin. She broke my brain so hard that even my metaphors stopped making sense! Twilight only smiled, however, looking happy at the results regardless. I nodded, then admitted, "Eh, with Pinkie, I stopped questioning most things. You're definitely one of a kind." I said it with a smile, and she picked up seamlessly that it was a compliment. At least, I assumed she did as she promptly started smiling herself and nodded to me. After a moment, I decided that one of these days, I should probably get to know the mare better. All of them, actually. I knew about them all fairly well, but I'd never really sat down one on one with practically half of them. Pinkie and Applejack especially, in regards to how little I'd spent with them individually. I was the most curious about Pinkie, but Applejack would probably benefit more from that sort of thing. We... We really should talk more about what happened as well, instead of just letting it hang over our heads like this. Just us, this time, with no peer pressure on either of us. A light popping up in the corner of my vision snapped me out of my thoughts. A glance surprised me; a status readout in my right eye display showed that the decryption on my black box had just finished, and a file check was being run to confirm that there was nothing corrupted. That wouldn't take long at all, and I realized I'd get to look over it all tonight. That would give me some peace of mind, regardless. Mysteries inside me were even worse! "The black box just finished decrypting," I informed, snapping Twilight back to attention again almost immediately. "Oh! Excellent. Can I still be there to go over it all with you? I'd really like to know more about it, too," she requested, smiling hopefully towards me, and generally looking cute. Chuckling, I nodded to her, and she did a tiny little hop, looking quite pleased. My heart felt like it flipped in my chest with her, and the urge to just pounce and snuggle her was almost overwhelming. "Excellent! I'll go get a new cup from the kitchen, then we can have tea while we peek!" she chirped, trotting energetically off into the kitchen instead. Her trot in particular caused quite a sway to her posterior, and I found myself staring before I even realized what I'd been looking at. Ah! No, that sort of thing could wait until later! Yikes. Seriously, body? Turning, I instead saw a smirking Pinkie looking right at me. She wiggled her eyebrows, then winked at me before hopping back over to the table and leaving me with what felt like a small sun in each cheek. Crap. Busted. Wait, Twilight was with me like that, so did it even matter?! Wasn't it my right to stare and admire when I felt like it?! I pouted for a moment before rolling my eyes and deciding to help her with the tea, needing a new cup myself regardless. Both of ours, as well as Aura's and Rainbow's, had met with misfortune, having been sent flying in the mad dash to get away from the potential 'bomb' on the table earlier. Twilight was amazing with transmutation magic, putting them back together again from the fragments seamlessly. She still insisted they be washed, however. Never a dull moment... A distortion flickered across my vision, and I sighed. Nope, spoke too soon. It had been far too long since my eye interfaces had screwed up. Was it her again? Looking about, I didn't notice anything unusual, and frowned. No chill going up my spine, or sensation of some horrible abomination smiling widely at me from behind, or even a shadow moving by itself in a corner. I was mildly disappointed, in truth. Another flicker hit a moment later, this time with me alert and waiting for it. My eyes locked on to an image of Purdue instead, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Twilight sluggishly lifting up a cup in the background as things slowed down. The little filly was shouting something to me, but no sound came out. Her eyes opened midway through and I gave a start, seeing two inky pools of black darkness instead of eyes. She flickered, then vanished again a moment later. Huh. Okay, so that was the first time that had happened. "Persistent little bitch, I'll give her that. Careful, though. She'll stab you in the back eventually, just like all females do," came from my right. Ah, and here I was hoping she'd crawled off somewhere and died. Glancing to my right, I was surprised to find an almost pristine image of Twilight walking up and standing not facing me, but looking at the spot where Purdue was in the kitchen. There was no damage at all on her this time, even her horn restored to its original shape. It was off, however, her eyes the most vibrant blue I'd ever seen, instantly drawing my attention to them. Even weirder were the wings extending off her back, tucked lightly to her sides. What, did she have allusions of being a powerful Alicorn now? Time was frozen again, which was normally Purdue's domain, but I anticipated something was different this time. "Long time no see. What do you want this time? Apart from reminding me that I should trust nopony, and that they'll all inevitably betray me," I inquired, turning to face her fully instead. She just smiled, however, a rather disarmingly happy one at that. "Nah. Pretty sure you have the yellow one hooked on you by now. She'd probably side with you if you decided to take your rightful place. This time, though, I'm here in celebration, and to share my honest happiness with you," she chirped, turning to face me instead, that proud smile still on her face. Uh huh. New angle, undoubtedly same old tricks. Although she'd at least gotten me to automatically mistrust her. Still, she'd been getting more and more helpful with each visit, which if anything, was a cause for concern. I preferred my enemies in front of me. She stared at me for a moment before smirking and snickering. "So distrustful. Here I am trying to be helpful even. Today, a celebration! A celebration of me finally being able to show you everything that you could have. Trust me, it was a bitch keeping this a secret from that traitor bitch you seem to like so much," she pointed out, gesturing to the right again, towards the doorframe. It didn't take a genius to figure out whom she was referring to. "Being rude isn't going to earn you brownie points with me," I murmured, idly wondering what she'd been keeping secret from Purdue. The Twilight doppelganger smirked. Fully and outright smirked. I was suddenly struck with unease as I frowned, another distorted image of the black eyed Purdue shouting from behind her. She glanced back over her shoulder with just her eyes, then giggled again and looked back to me. "She's a book. Her powers are extreme, but predictable. A mystery is just that, and maybe it was safe because of the allure of its mysterious nature, or maybe something about the black box itself hid from her powers of exposition. Regardless, with much stealth and a backdoor access point, through a whole lot of patience, I did manage to toss quite a few injectors into the thing, just waiting for you to open your present," she revealed. My blood froze as I snapped to the output window for the copy, in time to note it frozen at eighty-nine percent, errors popping up and warnings about hostile code injection into the mainframe. Aww hell. My vision snapped back to her as I activated the firewall on the entire CPU Core. That left me with only two CPUs, with one now quarantined and the other malfunctioning. She grinned wider, and my eyes expanded in sudden realization. Her grin was right there. I'd seen it so many times but I'd never paid any attention. Probably because I hadn't expected to see anything weird there. Now I did. She had two incisors, to each side of her smirk. They were barely enough to hang over her bottom lip, but now that I saw them, they were extremely obvious. "You're not a female, are you?" I asked, looking back up into her eyes. She laughed at that, sounding outright mirthful. My mind searched for any male Keldarians I knew who might be responsible for this, but the only one I knew who could even vaguely pull this off would be Tym, and he honestly lacked the motivation. "Yeah, I'm not. Sorry. Makes all that flirting awkward as hell, doesn't it? Trust me, I didn't like it either, but this image was convenient, no? Plus, keeping you interested in mares is all part of the plan," 'she' pointed out, suddenly making me want to throw up. That had been intentional, not just to get under my skin?! My mind flicked into action and I dispelled her image, turning and focusing on blocking all incoming connections from the CPU while attempting to get my OS to initiate a lock down on it. I had no idea where the processes were for it, unfortunately, having not foreseen a need to terminate one of my own CPU cores before. More flickering, as my targeting system engaged again and started freaking out, making a little smiled face with all the target locks. I ignored it, distortions so bad now that I couldn't see through all the pixel garbage in my eyes. "Oh come now, pay attention to me, Mender!" the fake Twilight's voice sounded out, immediately from my left. I ignored it and kept focusing on the flurry of command line instructions I executed. "Would you, um, prefer me instead?" a Fluttershy voice asked softly. Bastard! I ignored her, too, frantically looking through the root access of the OS for command executables. It would be ugly, but if all else failed... I prepared a file list that was located on that core, and readied a batch wipe of the entire CPU Core. It would probably terminate my OS, but that might be able to be rebooted. I didn't know where 'he' was, though, which was the problem. Was the CPU just a distraction?! More voices. Seductive whispers, heated groans, laughter. It was coming from all of them. Everypony I knew, including the Crusaders, and I felt sick. He knew them all, too, and had been watching. Damn it! I terminated all of the sound processes I could find, holding my hooves to my head. Damn him! More laughter, as he flickered in right in front of me, wearing Fluttershy's image. I glared, and shattered it away from me, the real Fluttershy not deserving the mockery. He just laughed more, in Pinkie's voice this time as he reappeared to my right. I spun, whipping my hoof out and shattering that image, too. A glance showed me that my root scan of all processes was at seventy percent. Almost! The hooks from the malicious code had obviously hijacked my vision and hearing input already. More laughter, this time in Applejack's voice to my right. No, he didn't deserve to mimic her after what he did. My tail flicked out and shattered that image, too, as two more appeared to my left, of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gently singing. It was distorted, and I could only make out something about roses and rings. I ignored them. A glance around showed distortions around the library. Everypony was turned to me, laughing and frozen in time as their faces distorted and warped. Taking a moment to appreciate his assuming lack of sanity, I growled as I heard him giggle again, switching back to Twilight and behind me again. All I needed was the shutdown command for the CPU Core, and this would be over! "Mmm, I suggest taking the orange one first. She'll get dependent on you fast, and has a nice sturdy body to make lots of foals," the 'Twilight' whispered from behind me. I shivered, and then snarled as I whipped around, shattering that illusion, too. My eyes widened. No, I hadn't told them to... A display popped up on my right eye, showing 'Aggression Sensitivity' set to several thousand percent. No... My eyes looked up again, my tentacle having extended as I spun all of its own accord, forming one of those long scythe blades out of frosted metal, fresh out of subspace. The image was so realistic, Twilight's eyes widening in an instant. Time was frozen, almost for the image too it looked like, a sharp splatter of blood going across her back from the half a meter of metal sticking out the back of her neck. Strands of her mane fluttered to the side, severed abruptly by my blade. My breath caught, her lavender eyes locking with mine, pain and confusion abruptly dancing through them as her body shivered lightly. Red flowed freely down her chest, staining her fur as her right leg gave a spasm. Everything grew cold as she fell, her own weight enough to pull the blade out of her neck as she just dropped to the floor, eyes looking panicked as her legs continued twitching, a sharp gurgling noise coming from her mouth as blood flowed out of there as well. There was a sharp gasp behind me, and I realized everything was moving again, suddenly. Oh. No. No, no, no! "Ooooh, oops! Well, what's one less mare for our harem?" the voice whispered in my ear. I didn't even hear it, taking a shaky step towards Twilight. My body like ice, I ducked forward and held my hoof to the hole in her neck, eyes wide as she didn't focus on me anymore, mouth moving but no sound coming out except for the choking splatters and more blood. No, no, no, this wasn't... this couldn't... The numb, frozen chill consumed me, her body giving one more spasm before going limp. Her eyes stopped shivering finally, and she just lay there, a pool of her own blood expanding under her head. Hoofsteps to my left. Applejack stared in shock down at Twilight, eyes wide with horror as she took in the sight. No. No, this wasn't... I felt like throwing up, but I couldn't feel my chest, or anything for that matter. I just stared down at her unmoving eyes, unable to look away. My hoof was stained with her blood, and I lifted it, looking at the carved in rune as it pooled in the cracks. I had... No. This wasn't happening. I shook her shoulder, trying to dispel whatever trick this was. She didn't respond, eyes still staring forward as a bit more blood oozed out of the wound in the middle of her neck. The smell of blood was everywhere now, and I choked back a spasm through me, my vision getting blurry. I shook her harder, trying to will her awake. There was nothing. It wasn't... "Mender, w-what... What did you do?!" Rainbow asked, her voice sounding echoing and distant, flying in fast to my left. What did I do? What... No, this couldn’t be… I didn’t… "Mender!" she shouted again, and I shivered. I'd heard her the first time. But... "Mender!" It came again, this time right against my ear and in Purdue's voice. Crying out, I clutched at both sides of my head and screamed, the throb going through me as I felt like ice water filled the core of my body. My eyes opened as I clutched at my sides, the distorted image of Purdue fading from in front of me, in the doorway again. Twilight wasn't there. What? Twilight wasn't... Rainbow shook my harder, and I shivered, snapping my attention to the left at her, looking more than a little concerned. Huh? "Mender, are you okay?!" she asked, worry in her voice. Was I okay?! No, she was supposed to be worried about... My eyes shifted back to the right. There was no smell, and no blood. There was no Twilight. They widened as I looked up instead, seeing a very much moving and concerned looking Twilight coming in from the kitchen, two cups of tea dropped on the floor behind her as she ran up. Oh. Oh thank you. Thank you. No, she was... okay... She wasn't... She wasn’t not moving! "Mender, what's going on?!" she asked, rushing up. They were all approaching, and I realized I really had screamed. But that meant... It was fake. It was a distraction. He had wanted me distracted, and knew the perfect way to do it. My eyes looked back to the search progress. It showed completed, and highlighted the shutdown executable I'd been looking for. The user interface showed non-responsive, however. The process had crashed, and dumped the results. Damn it! Other windows had popped up of their own accord, showing a decrypting process running on my own encryption of the links to the Element Bearers. No. No! "Twilight, I'm being hijacked. Get yourself and the Elements of Harmony as far away from me as possible. All the way to Canterlot if you can teleport that far. Hurry!" I hissed out, realizing I couldn't move anything below my neck. The cold was him shutting off my nervous system! Her eyes widened, surprise meeting confusion as she asked, "Hijacked?! By what?!" No, no time for questions! I was still reeling from the image of her lying on the floor, but there was no time to even look up at her. "There's no time! Run! Teleport as far as you can with the Elements of Harmony!" I hissed, feeling the paralysis creeping up my neck. I quarantined off the remaining two cores, hoping he hadn't gotten to them yet, and started using them to slow down his progress on the encryption, spamming his core with garbage data and slowing the connection speed down. He was attacking each link separately, and I tried to quickly bring up the individual statuses as more fake pop-ups displayed in my eyes. "I c-can't!" Fluttershy whined, standing slightly behind me and to the right. Damn it. "Fluttershy, leave me. You have to," I pleaded, trying to force my eyes as far to the right as I could, only managing to make out a yellow shape in my peripheral vision. Twilight gasped, however, and my blood chilled yet again. "I can't... I can't move!" she repeated instead. A sunken feeling entered my chest as I forced all the windows closed except for the status panel. Fluttershy and Rarity were already reading red. Damn it! Thinking quickly, I instead ordered, "Pinkie, Applejack! Grab Rarity and Fluttershy and carry them." Could Twilight teleport them all, and far enough away to get out of my control range?! I didn't know if I could control them at the limit of my broadcast range, but I was banking on not being able to. I gave a start instead as my left eye flicked on, projector activating. The strange Alicorn Twilight appeared in my projector, smirking in amusement. I tried to turn him off, but my eye wasn't listening. A horrific realization later showed me that my tentacles were extending, too. "Oh dear. It looks like I can remotely turn off her heart right now if I wanted to. Did you know he had such power over you all? I wouldn't be going anywhere, if you want your two friends to live for any great lengths of time," he pointed out, sitting down in the image. Fluttershy let out a soft whimper, and I heard Rarity give out a weak, choked groan somewhere behind me. Damn it. Damn it! I switched one CPU off interception, realizing it was already too late, and instead sent the other looking for the prior process list of the third CPU. Affecting my entire OS was impossible now, but I could halt his ability to give commands if I hijacked the only working CPU that he had. Them being completely independent data storage and processing was rather inconvenient for me, now. Twilight snarled, eyes narrowing at the image before demanding, "What do you want from us? Don't you just want to kill us anyway?" That... That was a good point. The fake Twilight laughed, spreading her wings out a little before shaking her head. "Of course not! That would be a horrible waste of genetic material. But I will be forced to kill whomever tries to run. But still, is being a slave to this particular stallion really that bad?" he inquired. Uh... What? My mind blanked, any and all motivation I'd given the fake Nirru prior flying out the window. I'd thought that whole flirting thing, and all the crap she was feeding Applejack, was all just to mess with us. "S-Slave?!" Rainbow asked, flattening her ears back before gasping and squeaking. Her body went rigid, and I watched her link go red. Tch! It was too late. I switched both processors to directly attacking his processor instead. He saw me do it, but just laughed and focused on taking over the Elements instead. Damn him. Wait, no... A memory flashed through me a moment later. It wasn't mine. It was my DNA donor's, and it surprised me. He had been special operations, that much I knew. He was the captain of his own special operations squad, for all the good it had done him. His training, however, was put to excellent use. These CPU cores were a new thing. Combining storage capacity with individual processors hadn't been done before. We'd only been using them for maybe a year prior to the bombardment. They were still experimental, though, and not in mass production! These were the default, prototype models, I guessed. His memories of them came back to me, and in my surprise, I realized he'd studied them for some reason. Weird. Regardless... I now knew there was a factory override still built in, due to their 'beta' status. A diagnostics console could be very, very useful about now. Focusing on that memory, I typed in the command prompt and ran the main CPU executable with a few additional runtime flags instead. Sure enough, instead of trying to reboot the CPU, which I knew would fail, it opened up the command window again, but in diagnostic mode. Ha! "Of course. It's all part of the plan. We were hunted by an obviously superior enemy, and without some sort of coherent plan, the only result would have been our extinction," he deduced. It sounded beyond disturbing hearing it in Twilight's voice. The real Twilight hissed, her link going red, but her horn starting to glow fiercely, energy gathering around her throat instead. "You're the one responsible for the bioweapon going off! You intentionally wanted to kill all of those Keldarians, because you wanted their DNA!" she deduced, her voice echoing out into the air without her mouth moving. Her magic still worked?! It didn't matter, though, so long as he held the others hostage. Although... If she killed me, my control over them all would end. I swallowed uneasily, realizing I didn't exactly want to die. Last resort, then. The fake Twilight giggled and nodded at that, and I inwardly groaned. Well, I had a target, as soon as I figured out who exactly he was. A stirring came from inside of me, and I felt my own anger starting to build. In front of me was more a monster than I ever estimated, and I couldn't do anything to him. Yet. "Of course. We couldn't win. We were going to die regardless. But what if I could make those deaths mean something? What if instead of dying, I could give every one of those Keldarians a second chance? Isn't that for the greater good? That's why I so heavily modified this subject's reproductive systems, both to make pregnancy almost assured, and to make sure that he could switch out the DNA he was using for such. We might not be Keldarians anymore, but we'll have escaped to a place those monsters can never follow. You six will be the first mares to start producing the new Keldarians, of course," he explained. My mind blanked again. He was totally insane! They couldn't escape death, so he let them 'escape' by murdering them all himself, instead?! All to 'protect' his race?! "Yer completely insane. Ah kinda knew that already, though," Applejack admitted, walking up next to me instead and glaring at the image. Her right foreleg was twitching, but she shook it off and ignored it instead. Her anger could be felt through her link without even needing my displays, and I could almost taste how badly she wanted to buck his face off. The corners of the fake Twilight’s mouth turned up slowly at that. “Fighting off the paralysis order. I’m impressed!” he chirped, then followed it up with, “But out of every ‘pony’ here that has dark, hidden little fantasies and secrets, I don’t think you have room to talk about my goals.” Her ears flattened back as she glared at him, but I just wanted to tear him in half even more. He didn’t deserve to know her secrets in the first place. Shaking my head slowly, as best I could, I instead asked, “What, you expect me to just agree with you and go along with turning them all into slaves or something? Seriously? You’ve been inside of my head for weeks now. You should know that’s about the exact opposite of what I’d do.” I felt them all still around me, all six links red now. He knew all I had to do was keep him talking, so he was on a time limit. What would he do, then? If his plan really was what he just said it was, he had to find a way to remove my ability to use my two CPU cores, which to my understanding, wasn’t possible now that the firewall was up. He couldn’t honestly be expecting me to actually agree to his plan. Just in case, I started a smaller scan on the two cores I controlled, just to make sure there weren’t any backdoor links to them. Uh, like the one I’d just used to secure and take them over. His hoof lifted, and he brushed the digital mane away from his eyes before smiling again, that grin looking downright creepy on Twilight’s expression, especially because he forgot to change the teeth. Ponies with canines were disturbing. Actually, that meant that what I was seeing was a residual self-image. That’s the only way the tooth incident would have happened. Like the real Nirru before him, she didn’t ‘think’ to consciously change her eye color, and her illusion ‘defaulted’ to what her real colors were. But that meant that he had a consciousness behind him that could make that mistake. A psyche that was actually controlling his efforts. An AI couldn’t do that. But how did he transfer his actual psyche into some sort of digital form? Or did he…? “Oh, come now. Surely the more… Mmm, base parts of you sees the benefit,” he pointed out, gesturing instead to Rainbow on the other side of me. Huh? I couldn’t exactly turn to look at her, and he blinked for a moment before coughing to himself. “Oh, right. Sorry,” he oddly apologized, then clapped his hooves together once. Rainbow let out a low whine, then stood up shakily, not of her own accord it would seem. She stumbled forwards a few steps, then almost fell on her face as her body started fighting against the movements again. He only chuckled at that, however, and let her stumble, falling onto her chest with a dull thud and wince, her back legs going rigid. She looked rather silly until he smirked yet again and gestured to her. My head rotated by itself to look at her just as her tail flicked up and out of the way. AH! Rainbow let out a sharp squeak, and thankfully I didn’t see much for very long before slamming my eyes shut, him not yet having control over that much. What the hell?! I heard him start to laugh instead, which probably seemed weird to everypony else as he disappeared completely, his projector getting covered suddenly. “Such the gentlecolt! See what I mean, though? Surely you can feel the stirring. The primal urges. The want to claim such a lovely mare as your own, like you have with two already? You could have all the mares you ever want. Nothing in this entire universe could stand up to you at your full potential! You could have it all, yet you deny it. For what? The passing favor of two mares only? If they feel like it?” he asked, obviously not getting it at all. Twilight snorted at that, however, slightly further to my right. “You’d never understand. He’s not like you, and doesn’t need all of that! He’s a good pony,” she defended. Uh oh. I really did feel ‘stirrings’, and realized that he was triggering other things in me too. My body started attempting to shakily stand up, and I winced as I fought against my own muscles, the tentacles expanding from my back. No, no, I wasn’t going to let him do this to me. The fake Twilight just chuckled darkly, however, as I stood up, wobbling then almost falling sideways from my own inner struggle, one of my tentacles managing to brace against the ground on that side. “We’ll see how much he likes this, first. I’m sure she will, too, of course,” he assured. I felt myself shakily step forward, reaching out and placing a hoof on something soft and furred. No! This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening! “Yer ah monster! Let her go!” Applejack snarled, and I felt her tense to my left, fighting to leap forward and tackle Rainbow away from me. She wasn’t moving, so I could only assume she had lost her battle against the nanites already. Growling, I pushed against the movements as much as I could, freezing in place for a moment as he chuckled again, voice deeper this time. Rainbow whimpered, and I felt my tentacles extending without my consent in a downwards direction. I felt them wrap around her waist, pulling her forward instead as I refused to move. Damn it! One of the lower tentacles slid forward as well, and I froze, mind going blank as it reached towards her with darker intents. Then it stopped. Huh? I heard them first. Very light hoofsteps and the creaking of the front door knob starting to turn. But nopony should have been able to mo… Aura and Spike! “Hello! I forgot you two were here still!” the fake Twilight suddenly exclaimed, suddenly in a very unfamiliar male voice. Three of my tentacles whipped out sideways, and flicked over to the door in an instant! No! I couldn’t pull them back, and instead I heard Aura scream as they caught and wrapped around her waist, then smacked into Spike an instant later, knocking him flying into the bookshelf to the right. I heard my niece start to cry as she got dragged back over to where I was by the tentacle, the second one staying to push the door shut again. “Ah, never mind this bitch. Let’s have you mate with this mare instead!” he chirped. I froze, processing that slowly. No. He wasn’t going to do this. Even if he lost later and all I had to do was wait it out, he wasn’t going to get away with hurting them like this. He was using me, and using my… He was using the fact that I was a monster to make me even more of a monster. It didn’t surprise me when I felt that raw anger and hatred inside of me. I was never going to be an ideal pony. I gave up. I hated him. Admitting it felt liberating, and I felt my eyes snap open again instead, my vision running red as I gritted my teeth. He almost looked surprised that I had opened my eyes again, his projection snapping back into place and rapidly looking over at me, smirk shifting to a questioning glance instead. I didn’t care anymore. My muscles screamed, and I almost laughed as I literally forced myself backwards. I heard a snap from my left shoulder, but I kicked off the floor and flung myself away from both Aura and Rainbow in one fluid motion. The monster’s eyes widened, but I was already a bigger monster. It boiled up from inside me, and everything in my mind drenched with the color of blood as I snarled and lashed out directly at the psyche in front of my vision. He was an actual thinking entity, and something I could attack directly! His scream of surprise was satisfying, and I just let them come. I realized it now. That other me was me, but it wasn’t at the same time. I felt them, and knew that deep down, it was also Malice. Focusing up every ounce of willpower I had, I screamed in rage and tore into him, gashing and ripping at every ounce of mental substance I could find with claws made of burning hatred in my mind. He switched to blind, instinctive panic in an instant, and I followed him. We kept attacking until he barely managed to get a mental barrier up, falling back several more steps. Clarity burned through my hatred, and I snapped back to attention as I again used that backdoor access I had found and pulled the control links for the various command prompts right out of his psyche. There was no time. I felt his eyes widen as he lost control, but it was already too late. I ran a lockdown command through all six links and on myself. I felt my entire throbbing body go rigid, the tentacles freezing in their blind flailing as I crashed into the table and broke it in half. The Element Bearers froze up, too, and I felt him struggle to try to get control back. No. I ran a new re-encryption on all seven command prompts, locking them down completely, and then turned to face him in my mind again. The formless image of him started to recover, but I was already moving. No, I could finally do something, and I was going to take him with me. Leaping at him yet again, I focused, then pulled us both deep into my own mind, shutting off my consciousness as we fell into the dark. * * * * * The landing was abrupt. He hit in his back, glowing armor making a dull crashing noise as the air left him, the rocks breaking as we hit. I landed on him with all my weight, cracking his now humanoid chest plate before rolling and sliding along the dirt and rock under us. Rock? The sky was inverted while I was upside down, but was golden orange in color, filled with turmoil and clouds, flares of fire escaping between them. The ground under me as I came up to my hooves was broken and barren, cracks running through the stone and dirt that looked bleached with age. The sky ended where the ground began some two hundred meters from in front of me, and I guessed we were on some sort of rocky plateau. Wait, energy armor...? Abjuration?! Fights between two Abjuration users were typically over in the first three seconds, given our usual attack methods of extending planes of force through our targets at brutal speed. I came out of my roll into a spin, whipping an energy blade up from my left forehoof and parrying the stabbing spear attack up and away from my chest. This wasn't going to be one of those fights... He stood now, having rolled backwards and to his feet just as fast. He'd not fully caught his breath yet, panting bringing attention to the glowing silver, broken-to-hell chest shield as it fell away, then snapped back to reformed an instant later. He also pulled up a few arm and leg plates, and a groin shield, given he was naked apart from those. He was a male Keldarian, looking just shy of a hundred centimeters and covered in moderate amounts of blue fur. I probably outweighed him by a factor of two, but the speed of his attack put me on guard. He was no amateur. The spear yanked back into his left hand as his right whipped down instead a second later, a follow up attack incoming. My tentacle had already shot out when I rolled. It tugging against my left shoulder, I yanked myself sideways as the ground where I was shattered upwards from the force of the massive hammer impact, made entirely from barrier energy, and actually launched me into the air. Acting fast, my right shoulder's tentacle whipped around the hammer an instant later as he pulled it back, too. Using the momentum, I released my still pulling left tentacle, firing myself in an arc like a slingshot, using his own weapon. His eyes widened as he saw the tentacle on his hammer, and he barely twisted to the side as my blade smashed into the hilt of his hammer grip instead, the edge sliding through the pummel like butter and cutting an inch into his shoulder plate before he rolled away. His right arm flicked back as he came out of the roll, and I kicked the pole of the hammer back up and into his cut, simultaneously rolling back out and under the slash as sparks of magic fell around me. He cried out, his other hand holding his head from the feedback of cutting through his own handle, where he'd been controlling the hammer from. Rolling twice more, but leaving my tentacle hooked into the ground, I shot myself at him yet again. This time he realized what I could do and dove sideways, a few strands of his ear fur drifting up and catching fire as he barely managed to bring a leg up into my chest. I went over backwards as he kicked me into the air with his plating re-enforced leg, then spun around with the force, bringing his left hand up with another blade, trying to cut me in half. Doing something I forgot I could do, my left back hoof generated a blade as well, smashing into his in midair as I kicked off it, whipping a tentacle right at his face, gleam of the metal blade reflecting his widening eyes. He dodged it a fraction of a second later, then rolled as I embedded the energy blade into the ground right where he'd been, throwing myself downwards again using the tentacle. I instinctively whipped my left forehoof blade up, driving the tip of it into the very point of his newly formed spear that had been heading right at my face. My other hoof swung around at the same time, but he snapped the shaft of the spear in half, swinging his other hand up to parry the second blade, gritting his teeth as my Earth Pony strength brought it within an inch of his neck. He wasn't an amateur at all! "Tch, it would seem we're evenly matched," he admitted, before tacking on, "Which I expected, from a creature who's using my memories." My eyes widened, and in my instant of hesitation, he spun away from my left blade attack, using my stabbing momentum to pull me off balance and lash backwards with the other end of the broken off piece of spear. The point whipped into my face, and I violently bit down at the same time. Everything halted for a moment, him raising an eyebrow to me, and me grinning, now sharp teeth glowing with barrier energy as I held the point of his spear between them. It was him. It was him all along. He killed all of those Keldarians in some messed up Knight's Templar attempt at 'saving' them. Was he that broken by what he went through and the imagined slights he'd gotten from Keela? Did I even care? That anger boiled in me, and my jaw tensed, cracks going down the tip of his barrier spear as I slowly started to crush it. "I told you, you're me. It's ironic that it's come down to this," he muttered, smirking again as he pulled his spear away and backed up. "You're not me. You're not even you anymore. You used to actually want to save them all," I returned, landing on all four hooves again now that the spear wasn't propping me up. To hell with it. He didn't deserve my pity, just because I suddenly knew who he was. I didn't know how he'd gotten here, but it was really his mind, and I was going to kill him, even if it killed me to do it. If he died here, in our minds, he died in real life, too. So did I, but like hell I was going to go down without hauling him to hell with me. "I am saving them!" he screamed out, snarling before spinning and lashing out with his spear in a long sweep. The tentacle I'd snuck along the ground while he was talking went taut, and I fell backwards, passing under his sweep before yanking myself into a slide and twisting. My right flank raised as I crashed into his legs, directly into his knees as hard as I could. He cried out in agony as I felt them snap against my weight, me taking him off his feet in an instant with my sheer mass. I grappled another tentacle out to my right side as I came out of the slide into a roll. He hit and rolled to the side as I swung around on my tentacle, building up more momentum as I slingshot around. The air left me as we brutally collided, and I winced as I felt the blade bite into my left cheek. It only stung, however, just the base of his blade remaining as the majority of it spun away to my right, cut clean through. My blade fractured instead, shattering along my hoof in long, bleeding smears as both my back knees went into his gut, right between the two plates of armor. My weight carried us backwards, and everything jarred as we smashed into the broken, raised section of rock, made by his earlier hammer attack. My teeth gritted as the blade formed out of my mouth and cut into his left cheek, mirroring my own wound as he barely moved his head out of the way in time. My own blade dug into the solid rock behind him and stuck, of course. Tch. He let go of the blade in his right hand, whipping it up into a palm strike towards my head instead. My bleeding left hoof knocked his hand up and out of the way as I kneed him again in the gut. He winced, then his face suddenly got a lot closer to me! The smash in my teeth was jarring, but I still had the barrier up over them, and he came back with a bleeding forehead, before his other, good leg kicked my hip downwards. Instinctively, I brought my left foreleg down as I fell, belting him in the side of the head and hauling him down next to me. I knew what he was trying, and blocked his right hand's bashing motion with my left foreleg, which was still hooked over his shoulder. I felt it twist, and winced as he tried to wrap around it to grab at my face, but it was too late as I braced my thigh against the ground. His eyes widened. He hadn't noticed that as we fell, my left shoulder's tentacle had latched onto the rock we'd been up against. He tried to bring his left hand up, manifesting a blade to slice my tentacle, but I'd already torn myself backwards, spinning with the force of my own pull, and whipped him sideways with all my strength... Sadly, the force of my own throw unbalanced me drastically. Landing, I winced and rolled as I hit hard, moving backwards until I flipped to my hooves again, magic churning from overuse alongside the throb in my skull. He hit almost ten meters from me, landing hard on his side but rolling out of it and stumbling up to his feet just the same. I spat out blood from his head butt, and he wiped some away from his left eye as he glared at me. The energy had tightened up around his shattered left knee, forming a makeshift brace as he stood fully. I felt warmth coming down my cheek as I steadied myself, my left leg still hurting from that throw. We were fairly evenly matched, but from the looks of it, I was coming out slightly ahead. Maybe I'd win this and be able to return victorious? Spitting blood out of his mouth, he chuckled as he formed another spear of force in his left hand, his right rapidly bruising from my throw. "Looks like your pure, monstrous ferocity gives you an edge on me, Mender. I'll definitely give you that mu-" he started to admit. My eyes widened, and so did his, as the massive ball of radiating purple and red energy crashed into his back. He was taken completely off his feet, the ball wobbling and pulsating for a moment against his armor before exploding, chunks of rock shattering out around the blast as he was flung like a rag doll through the air. Holy hell! Bits of his armor and shattered spear drifted around him, mixing with prismatic energy that had come out of nowhere. My eyes couldn't track it as the cyan mare flickered in out of nowhere, look of absolute rage on her face. The pink blur she was carrying was casually tossed into his falling form like one might deliver a bomb at point blank range. Of course, that description wasn't that far from the truth as the mare flipped once, pile driving him into the ground hard enough to break the stone before giggling and hooking his armor with her hooves, kicking off him in a roll and knocking him into the air again. What was left of his armor shattered completely as an orange blur shot past her, spinning and driving two back hooves into his chest, 'serving' him like a high speed volleyball off to my left. Rainbow appeared behind him again less than a heartbeat later, her wings blazing with rainbow light as she drove all four hooves into his back. I watched the spray of blood come out his mouth almost in slow motion as she whipped him upwards and right towards me, completing their 'pass' between each other. They'd followed me here... I didn't have time to consider that, however. My body felt cold as I took two bounds, then whipped the elongated blade downwards from my mouth. He managed to rotate in the air, but not enough. He hit hard behind me, a sharp and wet crack sounding out, screaming and thrashing as his armor failed him across the remainder of his body and his right leg went limp at the knee. His left arm, shoulder down, landed at my hooves, and I smirked, that hatred twisting inside me at the fitting bit of ironic revenge. Malice was still with me, even here. He writhed, screaming again before clutching the stump of his left shoulder, no real shoulder there at all anymore. I looked up and saw all of them there, Twilight looking utterly pissed with her horn radiating with light. Fluttershy looked horrified over at him for a brief moment before it melted into a look of worry instead, her snapping to me. She started in my direction, but Rarity held her left leg up and stopped her, shaking her head. Right. First things first... Turning, I extended my mouth blade again as I walked in his direction. Flickering barriers held his leg together as he stumbled to his feet, another tight barrier going over what was left of his shoulder to hold those important bodily fluids in. I embraced the cold hatred, and stopped caring how he'd managed to get here. I didn't care what his plan was or if he really thought he was 'helping' those Keldarians. I didn't even care about what Keela would think of me after this point. He'd hurt my friends. He tried to hurt me. He tried to make me hurt my friends. He threatened to kill Fluttershy. He did kill billions of Keldarians, and probably Doctor Kyliona. I was going to end him, and I doubted I'd lose a wink of sleep over it. Applejack and Pinkie caught up fast as I walked towards him, flanking on the left and right, respectively. My 'other' link with Rainbow warned me ahead of time before she even landed, off to Applejack's left, looking equally pissed. I wasn't sure if any of them had the intent to actually kill him, but that wasn't going to save him from me, unfortunately. "Heh. You're all monsters. I try to do the right thing... I was the only one trying to save our race. She wanted to sacrifice us all, just so a furry rat could live. And I'm the crazy one?!" he asked, his right arm forming a shorter, flickering blade as he struggled to keep his footing. It was an act, of course, and I prepared my full defenses as I took another bound forward and full out sprinted at him. He smirked, recognition of me calling his bluff flashing through his eyes. My own widened as he whipped his arm upwards, and I prepared to roll to the side. The blade wasn't in his hand when it completed its arc, however. I spun, turning to the left as the blade rotated in the air past me, shooting off in slow motion. It had made it three meters before I completed my spin, Applejack's eyes widening as she swerved to avoid me. It was six meters by the time I came to a complete stop, tentacles anchoring me into the ground. Fluttershy's eyes widened as she looked back up, the point of the blade a meter from her head. Images of head whipping back, blood spraying upwards with the energy blade sticking out of it echoed all around me. It felt like my soul screamed out. A hundred tentacles descended, tearing through chests and flinging broken bodies through walls. A Keldarian's head was torn free as another tentacle ate his body into a smear of gore. Some attacked, their spells and weapons shattering or reflecting away from the horrible darkness before it consumed them. A thousand souls screamed out in pain, all at once, mirroring my own as the blade closed a few centimeters with her face, me in mid-sprint. Everything fell apart, the world seemingly collapsing around me as my vision focused only on the blade and making my legs move faster. My left foreleg extended, a massive claw of pure darkness grabbing the shard of energy out of the air, stopping it a centimeter from her left eye. Both eyes widened and she looked at the blade, then up at me, look of shock evident in her expression. Rarity gasped next to her, also looking up at me. My vision was hazy and red tinted as I slowly turned and looked back at the monster who'd thrown the blade. It was so hard to think, a thousand voices a second screaming out in my mind, baying for his blood. He was staring at me, eyes wide, just like my three friends were a half a dozen yards in front of him. I didn't know how I'd gotten over here to catch the blade, but I didn't care as I crushed it in my 'claw'. Part of me knew something was wrong, but the rest of me was only focused on making him suffer. I knew what this was... Malice. They were pissed off, and through all of this, they'd thought I was the one who'd killed them. They saw through my eyes, however, and he'd completely admitted to being the one who turned me into a weapon against my will. I felt their hatred, and for the first time, it wasn't directed at me. They felt my pain in that instant Fluttershy was attacked, and for this moment, they agreed with me completely. He needed to die. We'd work together towards that goal. A hundred eyes slowly opened on my left foreleg, the inky, pitch black darkness surrounding it completely. They all locked on to him, the form starting to leak away from my leg as a few mouths with bared fangs, and arms with claws extended, 'melted' out of my form. I felt powerful, and much bigger than I was before. I felt strong enough to shatter the stone with a flick of my claw. Most of all, I really wanted to kill him. Maybe even take a few bites out of his chest as he lay there screaming in his own blood. Slow bites. Had to savor the taste of his failure, of course. So did he, I decided. He leapt forward, only remaining arm extending to grab at Rainbow's back as she looked at me in shock. A hostage? This only worsened the anger in my mind. I felt myself flow like blood, and in between my blinks, I was next to him, his body sprawled out in midair. His eyes widened, sensing my presence just slightly before I whipped my right foreleg to the side, bitch slapping his body away from Rainbow. He hit against the same rock as before, almost thirty meters to my right now, his newly reformed full body barrier shattering on impact as he silently screamed, blood coming from his mouth. Momentarily surprised, I realized his hand was missing on his only remaining arm now, then looked downwards in time to see a fanged mouth biting into it and swallowing the mangled limb. It burned away into black flames as it absorbed into my body, and I added its mass to my own. Five or six more of my eyes opened, and I smiled at him as I turned, suddenly finding myself over in front of him while he tried to stand up. "Well? You're obviously superior to me, the monstrous furred rat. Heal yourself. Stand up, recoup, and fight. Oh wait, you never learned any healing magic," I reminded, not really surprised when my voice came out in about sixteen different tones. The same reason I was 'standing' on my back legs for now. "G-Go to hell, you monster..." he coughed out, rolling over to look up at me. I smirked and lifted my huge, left arm up, the eyes on it all narrowing as additional clawed hands, and one clawed foot, extended out around my main claw. Foot? Eh, whatever. I felt nothing at all as I brought it down into his chest. It smashed through and into rock that was under him. I raised an eyebrow, noting no gore at all as he suddenly wasn't there anymore. That was interesting. Teleportation? A new technique? No, he would have used teleportation to save his arm had he had that all along. Standing up fully again, I crushed the bits of rock my claw took with it. Looking about, I saw him at the far end of the stone plateau we were on, now floating in the air and locked in what looked like some sort of crystal with raw lines of data running through it. Aww, hell. A spike of anger had me in front of the crystal, my eyes staying open this time to note the distorted warping that hauled me over to him. My large claw sunk into the surface of it and passed completely through the other side in an instant, unfortunately. He smirked as it kept going, me hitting nothing but air as I stood fully upright again. Illusion? No, it felt like he was there, by his psyche, but he wasn't there at the same time. Clearing my head trying to think, I winced and felt the darkness fall away from me, landing on all four hooves again. They were powerful, but how any of them could think at all with that thick, heady rage they felt constantly was beyond me. But I knew their pain. I died once, too. Twilight flashed in next to me in a teleport an instant later, with the others running up almost as fast. Rainbow, of course, beat them all there, followed very shortly by Pinkie and Applejack. The captain, whose name I'd never learned, smirked down at me, looking like he'd been put through a blender. "You're right. Your friends are dangerous enough, but you're a complete monster. There's no way I could win against all of you in a straight fight,” he admitted, relaxing in the strange, red crystal, the data access pointers looking almost like an exotic set of runes as they drifted over the surface of it. What was this? As if hearing my question, he nodded to me, then continued with, "This was the only card I had left to play, if I couldn't just kill you and take your body. Instead, I'll ignore you and take your body. You might have re-encrypted all of the access points but I'll have access to them again in, uh... Four and a half hours? Damn, I forgot how long that took," he muttered a moment later, checking his side screen. Wow. I’m so glad I re-encrypted everything. So he was just going to sit in whatever this was until he finished hacking back into me? Well, admittedly it was probably the smart course of action. We couldn't mock him on his lack of bravery if he won and we were all dead. "You coward! You just don't want to fight us because you were losing!" Rainbow shouted, fur raising up with the newly revealed information. Well, I guess we could try to mock him. Just a little. It was rather therapeutic. He stared at her for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah, that's about it. Why should I get myself killed fighting you and your monster coltfriend when I can win just by waiting in here for the time to run out?" he pointed out. I was a bit surprised when Rainbow bothered blushing at his comment, still glaring at him regardless. "What exactly is 'here'?" Twilight asked, looking more annoyed as her horn lit up, a small beam of energy passing cleanly through the crystal, and his neck in the same instant. I kind of wondered what she would have done if that had worked and she'd taken his head off... He averted his eyes until her light show was done, then shook his head. "I'm kind of glad now that Mender never repaired the fourth core. If he did, it might have been reattached at this point and you'd be able to get to me. As it stands, I just have to wait it out in here for the third core to slowly break the encryptions. Again," he answered, smirking down at Twilight once more. Fourth core? But it was broken! In its current state, it wouldn't be able to store an AI on it, much less an actual... Psyche... My eyes widened, and the captain smirked knowingly at me through the red tint. I looked up at him in surprise. "You're not in the core... you are the core! You're... You turned yourself into an Aegis Artifact?!" I asked, eyes widening. How?! Wait, no, when?! Twilight perked up next to me, then looked back up to him in equal surprise. He chuckled in amusement before nodding. "You caught me. Not actually entirely sure what I am at this point, or even how much of me got transferred in that instant. It was either this or let you leave me, stranded and dying on that hellhole of a planet. I mean, damn. What would you have done? So I used the shards of what was left of my Aegis Barrier, and lashed out with my soul link as you started to power up the FTL jump, aiming for whatever part I could reach. Pity that bitch that was helping you realized it and turned the shielding off to my core..." he revealed. My head spun, and I frowned, trying to remember what he was talking about. Everything was a haze, and it was suddenly hard for me to remember what memories were my own. Something seemed so... It was distant, like it was far off and in a fog. Bitch? Who was he talking about? The tiny cat face came to mind, and I took an educated guess that it belonged to Doctor Kyliona. Had she included some sort of Aegis detection code in that final upload to me? I didn't even think that was possible, so maybe I was wrong about whom he was referring to. It didn't matter, though, as I had to figure out a way to access my fourth core in the next four hours or so, despite it not being physically plugged into my systems. Him being able to cheat and connect using just a soul connection was completely unfair. Wait... "Why did all of you follow me?" I asked, looking over to Twilight an instant later. She snapped back to attention, previously being deep in thought by the looks of it, and glanced over at me. Her eyes softened, and she shook her head sadly after a moment's hesitation. "You were acting weird, then talking about being hijacked before this monster pops out and gives us death threats. Why would we make you face him alone after we felt you haul him inside yourself?" she asked, sounding like she thought the very notion was completely crazy. I frowned, not understanding her question fully. Rainbow huffed, however, stomping her right forehoof against the rocks while glaring at me. "You have to stop trying to do things by yourself! We can handle ourselves and help you. You're our friend, too, Mender, and we're not going to let you face things alone," she declared, chest puffing up after she said it. But now all six of them were stuck in here with me. We were all comatose now, instead of them simply being 'slaves' if I'd lost to the captain. I couldn't decide if their fate was better or worse, actually, all things considered. Either way, Equestria was denied the use of the Elements of Harmony at the same time. Exhaling softly, I nodded slowly to Rainbow, looking back up at her as she momentarily looked surprised I didn't try to disagree, then softened in her stance and smiled at me, nodding as well. Yeah, they were my friends, and there wasn't really a point for them not following me this time, I admitted. "You all are so disgustingly sappy. Seriously? Females always want something, so why don't you just do him the favor of telling him outright instead of trying to make him buy all of this love and friendship crap. That's what I hated most about females," the captain spat out, glaring at Rainbow in particular. I couldn't honestly tell if he was just trying to get under our skin, or honestly believed his own garbage. I also didn't care, and frowned, looking up at the gem again. Could I use the same soul link technique to 'connect' to his core, or was it just an Aegis Artifact trick? I kind of wished that Purdue was here to give me some advice on it, but we hadn't gotten around to introducing her into my dreams yet, so I doubted she knew how to follow me anyway. Damn it! "We ain't tryin' ta use him, despite how much ya think otherwise. Ya must o' had some real bad experiences with mares if yer sayin' stuff like that," Applejack murmured, sounding more sad than angry over his comment. He just glared at her, of course. "I don't need your pity, bitch. You're not fooling me, and I know precisely what you want from him! So take your self-righteousness and go screw yourself," he spat out, actually spitting at her a moment later. It passed through the crystal and faded long before it got to us, making me realize that the intangible effect went both ways. The orange mare still instinctively stepped back to avoid its original trajectory, though. Dash bristled again, glaring at him before pointedly gesturing to her fillyfriend. "Applejack isn't a dog, so stop calling her that!" she ‘corrected’, making me blink once. This is why I had avoided all swearing! That way I didn’t have to explain those sorts of words. Twilight coughed lightly at that, probably understanding it a bit better. "Uh, based on the context, it’s probably derogatory in nature. 'Bitch' appears to represent an individual whom he dislikes, potentially a female only, whom he feels is being dishonest or similar, from what I gather." she started to deduce, switching into her scientific mode and making me cringe outright. Bristling, I finally exclaimed, "Stop saying that! It sounds horrible coming from your mouths. Please stop." Twilight blinked at me, then snickered in sudden realization. "Oh, you know what it means, then! Um..." she stated, then paused, looking more fully at me in an almost expectant way. Sighing, I rolled my eyes before giving in. "Bitch is still a female dog, but it's also derogatory for either a female who's cruel or traitorous, mostly, or a male who's particularly 'wimpy' or a pushover," I explained, sighing. How had it come to me having to explain swear words to them?! "Can we just get back ta figurin’ this out?" the orange mare pleaded, gesturing back to the captain. Yup, this conversation had gone completely downhill, and off on a huge tangent away from, I don't know, actually stopping him from taking over my body and screwing us all over?! Twilight wasn't paying attention anymore, however, and frowned instead, looking back up at the gem. Eh? "I kind of wish we had the Elements of Harmony here. I bet they'd work against the crystal," she wistfully murmured. I'm sure she knew the crystal was just a graphical representation of the fact that he'd retreated behind a physical separation from us, so I assumed she was actually referring to the CPU core he resided in. Would the Elements affect electronics like that, though? I somehow doubted the concept of bit wiping or electromagnetic disruption existed here. They didn't appear to have electricity, instead using something called 'Ether Energy'. Huh. Fluttershy suddenly gasped, however, giving me a start. I turned sharply to look at her, only for her to push up against me instead, lifting my left leg up for examination. Oh. “You’re hurt!” she squeaked, carefully brushing the fur over the now bruising area. It would probably cause mild sympathetic damage to my real body, but unlike here, that one had nanites and cybernetics to repair itself. “I’ll be fine,” I murmured to her, only getting half of the last word out before she kissed me gently. I leaned into it, and she shivered, smiling against my muzzle before releasing me. She’d been surprised by my form earlier when I caught the blade, I realized, but it felt like she was refusing to let it get to her this time. I felt warm inside at that, before Twilight frowned in my background vision, past Fluttershy’s head. Fluttershy saw me glancing past her, and turned to look back at Twilight, who was feeling her chest with her own hoof. Oh no. What now? It didn’t look like a pained expression, though, so I relaxed a little. Fluttershy gasped a moment later, and reached down, touching the same spot on her chest as well. Eh?! “I… I feel it! Why can I feel the Element on my chest?” she asked quietly, touching the spot where the jewel should normally hang. I lifted my eyebrow up, then looked as the others each did the same. Rarity shook her head absently, then deduced, “That shouldn’t be possible, should it? We weren’t wearing the Elements when we fell in here. Did somepony put them on us?” They couldn’t use the Elements unless the jewels themselves were on them? For empathic weaponry, that was sort of a weird limitation, admittedly. Twilight nodded to her, regardless. “Spike and Aura were fine before we followed Mender in here. I used my magic and the bits of the table to scratch them a message to get help and send a letter to Princess Celestia. Maybe they put them on us?” she suggested, a very sound idea at that. Well, if they knew where the key to the cabinet was. It was admittedly the only thing I’d seen locked in a while. Not that it mattered, with the big display made out of glass, of course. I tried not to twitch as I considered Equestria’s security measures. Fluttershy closed her eyes a moment later, drawing my attention back to her as a soft, pink glow started emanating from her chest. She surprised me by questioning, “Do we need the necklaces to use the Elements of Harmony?” Oh? A gemstone butterfly, made out of a similar shade as her hair, faded in on her chest, radiating a soft pink light. My eyes widened as no necklace appeared with it, and she smiled, turning to look at Twilight with the glowing jewel just resting against her chest and utterly ignoring gravity. Eh, it wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d seen in my time so far in Equus. Twilight’s eyes widened, and she focused next, an equally soft, rosy hue appearing on her chest as well, in the shape of a starburst. One by one, they each closed their eyes, radiance expanding into the ambiance of the area with six different, vibrant colors now. This finally snapped the captain out of his code work, turning to frown as they all stood around me, covering the area in a soft glow. With all six gems there, they all magnified, and Twilight suddenly smiled. “We can feel them! It doesn’t matter where they are. The only thing that matters is that this is working! We can use the Elements of Harmony here!” she squeaked, trotting happily back and forth on her legs. My mind wavered, and I tried really hard not to suddenly picture that image of her lying on the floor of the kitchen. I suddenly didn’t feel so good… “Uh, hate ta ruin anythin’, but where exactly is ‘ere? If we’re inside Mender’s mind, what happens if we fire off tha Elements ‘ere?” Applejack asked, snapping me out of my thoughts, thankfully. Oh. Oh, right. Would I be targeted by the Elements, too, due to pure proximity? Everypony froze at that, Pinkie blinking twice before reasoning, “But Mender’s not a bad pony. The Elements would ignore him, right?” If only I could be so idealistic to that theory. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have any other options to use at the moment. I suggest using the Elements of Harmony regardless,” I pointed out, taking a few steps back and away from the crystal, suddenly realizing I had no idea on the radius of those gems. Wait, did the radius even matter? He was technically embedded inside my chest in real life. You couldn’t get much ‘closer’ in proximity there. Twilight looked just as unsure as I did, either worried about the proximity as well, or wondering how ‘picky’ the Elements really were. Princess Luna was a good pony, too, but because she was ‘infected’ with the evil that was Nightmare Moon, the Elements banished her completely the first time for a thousand years! If I had to sit for a thousand years on the moon, I wouldn’t be a happy individual either. They all looked doubtful still, and I stomped my hoof down onto the rocks, immediately regretting picking my left one for the task. I recovered my ‘stern’ look after the wince fairly quickly, then proceeded to append, “We don’t have a choice! It’s either use the Elements or just sit here and wait to lose. You six are too important regardless. You have to use them!” The captain snorted at that, however. “And what, pray tell, are these ‘Elements of Harmony’? What, are you going to love and friendship me to death?” he inquired, not looking impressed by the gems in the slightest. Twilight didn’t pay attention to him, instead turning to the rest of the girls. “He’s right. We don’t have any other options other than just waiting to lose. If that happens, it’s not only a problem for us, but we’ll be leaving all of Equus in danger!” she exclaimed, looking back and forth between them all, searching expressions hopefully. It was a long and painful five seconds before Applejack slowly nodded and stood up again, her orange and green apple gem starting to pulse with light. Rainbow didn’t look pleased, but she sighed and made hers start pulsing as well. “This better not hurt Mender, or I’m going to be really upset,” she warned. Well, I’d probably be ‘upset’, too. Big footnote there, depending on what state it left me in, of course. It was hard to be upset when I was dead, I imagine. Or maybe not, ‘ghosts’ being a thing in Equus. Soon, all six gems were pulsing with their individual colors as the girls backed up and away from the captain, who was looking a little concerned now as the area started to fill with the ambient energy coming off them. I’d be concerned for how much this was irradiating my soul or something, but we didn’t have a whole lot of options. “Guess you’re about to find out what the Elements of Harmony are. This is the first time I’ve seen them fired as well, so I guess we’ll both see something new,” I admitted, finally addressing the captain as I sat down a few meters away from him. “Fired?” he immediately asked, ‘standing up’ again in his gem as he looked at the six mares some distance behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to note the glow had picked up tremendously, sympathetic ambiance and energy drifting past me now on the air, like flakes of stardust. Well, if I did die, at least this was possibly the prettiest way I could imagine. Rarity coughed lightly, then added, “You may wish to back up a little, Mender. I know you don’t think it matters, but it might.” I blinked at that, then sighed. Okay, yeah, she was right. It might matter. Standing again, I trotted back a ways to stand off to the side of the six mares instead, watching all of them focus on the huge, radiating glows coming from their chests. The light was soft, and warm, and I found it hard to be scared of it, though. A part of me wondered what it would feel like to be hit with it, but the rest of me realized how crazy that sounded an instant later. Maybe I was more suicidal than I realized? The calming effect was apparently lost on the captain, however, who looked more ‘horrified’ than anything. “Wait, that level of energy… It shouldn’t be possible to bring that much energy into a mindscape! You’re going to kill both of us!” he warned. Fluttershy paused first, but I just snorted. “He’s bluffing. He’ll say anything to save himself,” I assured. Maybe I was the one bluffing instead? Regardless, it had the desired effect, and they all focused again, the radiance burning around them now as the air almost lit on colored fire. It was rather pretty, the swirls of light and energy around them. Then they started drifting into the air, and I realized things were probably going to get weird. Reality itself, for what it was worth in here, started to twist and warp away from them as the energy focused into a single point, being ‘aimed’ towards the captain by Twilight. I realized a moment later that I’d never asked him what his name was. Eh, it didn’t matter, really. The ball of rainbow colored whirling energy expanded slowly, until it was larger than they were and I couldn’t see their forms anymore through the massive glow of the energy. Well, my choice was made. I was glad I didn’t mention my plan to try to copy what he did and make an empathy link in order to connect to the CPU Core. It probably wouldn’t have worked and just gotten us all stuck here anyway. Wait, he was able to bring up interfaces here… It took a few tries, but I finally got it to respond to my will. Bringing up my command prompt using that back door again, I noted that the defenses were still in place, and logged into my own systems from where I was. Everything was on lockdown, tied to the operation of my OS, like I requested. I queued a lockdown removal for the paralysis effects on each of the girls, scheduled to be appended to their nanites in about three hundred seconds. One way or another, his control over them would be gone by then. Apart from the instructions to undo what I did already, however, there was nothing more I could do in my systems, all of them still in lockdown. My attention was drawn back upwards with the blinding flash of light, and I flicked the command prompt closed again. The captain’s breath caught as he took a step back in his crystal, bumping into the other edge of it and not passing through. Oh, he was stuck there. That’s why he hadn’t just used it to avoid attacks earlier. Well, that didn’t work out well for him. There was no time for him to formulate plans or make an attempt to escape. The huge ‘wave’ of light washed out his entire crystal in an instant, a scream of panic sounding off and cut short as the entire thing was washed away in the radiance. I winced, shielding my eyes from the intense light as it arced upwards, as if it had a mind of its own, crashing into the burning sky and exploding into a prismatic ring of color, expanding outwards like one of Rainbow’s Sonic Rainbooms. Huh. Well, I’m sure that wouldn’t have consequences at all! Reality itself shook violently a moment later, the sky warping and twisting into white clouds with blasts of prismatic fire falling from the heavens. The ground around me warped and shattered, crystals jutting out of it in various spots and splotches of grass and a few trees ruptured out of the ground. Holy hell! It was like an inverse apocalypse was happening with me right in the center of it! What did you even call that?! I flailed, then squeaked as a tree erupted under me and carried me up about five meters a moment later, and I decided that I had mixed feelings on this sort of apocalypse. The captain and his gem were nowhere to be seen, and with the lake of colors under me like a thick fog, I couldn’t see the girls either. The sky exploded into white as the backdrop fell away into a huge, bright blue and a golden sun somewhere above. My eyes widened, staring up at the huge, crystal blue abyss above me, clouds swirling out from the beacon of prismatic light going straight up into the blue. It was the calmest I’d ever felt, as a soft and warm rain started to fall all around me. My operating system was less happy. Errors spanned the entire network, showing critical information failure on two of my CPU Cores, being the broken one and the third one that he’d hijacked. Generic exceptions were coming from CPU Core Three, which I contributed to suddenly losing all of the hooks he’d placed into it. Violently. Through whatever the hell energy the Elements of Harmony used. CPU Core Four was simply gone, showing up as one giant null pointer reference. I had no clue what that meant in the slightest, but imagined the captain wasn’t the happiest individual at the moment. It didn’t matter, though. The structure of this ‘virtual’ empathic world I’d created on the fly was falling apart, my OS rebooting itself to try to recover from the catastrophic amount of damage it had just suffered. The Element Bearers got ‘disconnected’ a moment later, only Rainbow’s and Fluttershy’s sensations remained lingering for a moment, Fluttershy crying out and reaching for me, and Rainbow looking shocked. They were gone a moment later, and everything was suddenly quiet. I was scared to move for a while, glancing down at the grass beneath me, hazy mist having risen up all around. There was no operating system. This had become just my mindscape, with no computer calculations or control whatsoever. I dropped down out of the spontaneous tree a second later and looked around through the sun-lit haze. It was a weird place to be, with a haphazardly thrown together mixture of different elements from a lot of different areas, including a grassland and forest at least. The prismatic fog didn’t help make the area feel any more normal, especially with the sun shining down in the blue sky above. I wasn’t waking up, and couldn’t will myself awake. Further, my OS wasn’t coming back, and I idly wondered if there was physical damage it had to repair first. Or maybe something had gone wrong and I’d been nonchalantly tossed into the afterlife with no transition at all? Walking over to where the gem was, I was surprised to see the captain there. He shakily stood up off the ground, bits of his damaged leg and shoulder burning away around him in prismatic light. He was translucent now, and I wasn’t even certain he was fully there as crystal fragments jutted out from him in various spots. “You bastard. They infected me! They infected me with this pathetic sugar-bowl fantasy crap that’s all around us… You should have just killed me! It would have been more pleasant!” he groaned out, voice elevating as he glared up at me, eyes empty and white. His colors were fading, being drawn out by the prismatic ‘leaking’ coming from around the crystals and his damaged areas. He was dying. Sort of. Maybe. I sat down in front of him, no real feelings at all coming up as I watched him shakily stumble towards me. There was so much hate in him. The sun was gone now above, with gray winter clouds returning as it started to snow. The temperature dropped around us, and I realized something was indeed wrong, the colors starting to leave everything, not just him. We might be dying, instead. “You really do hate everything, don’t you?” I asked quietly, watching him slip and fall into the snow that was rapidly gathering around us, landing messily on his chest, having only the stump of one forearm to catch him. He glared up at me for a long moment before simply answering with, “Go to hell.” That was really all the answer I needed. This wasn’t him. This was some sad shard of his prior form. Just a remnant of the captain who hadn’t died with him on that far away planet. Killing this sad creature would be more a mercy than anything. It was like it was some sort of twisted mockery of what he used to be, and what he’d originally wanted. I suddenly felt sick just looking at the image in front of me. Smiling softly at him, I whispered, “Goodbye, then.” He only glared before shakily standing up defiantly once more. “I may be dying, but you’re going out with me, you monster! You’re not going to beat me so easily that-“ he started to deny. I knew where they were now. Feeling them there was as simple as breathing. Still smiling, I just focused and completely opened the connection to Malice. The harsh blackness exploded out of me, not even hesitating for a second. The captain screamed, whipping an energy blade up in panic. He cut off one of the six hundred or so limbs that expanded out of the miasma of hate in front of him. I looked away as his screaming ceased, being replaced by a constant tearing sound. Their rage turned white hot and blinding, me pushing it away just so it didn’t consume myself as well. He apparently wasn’t incorporeal enough to avoid their wrath, and dark crimson lined the snow, spraying past me in long lines. The warm dots hitting my fur were the only warmth left in the area, and I sighed softly. That was that, then. I hoped it bought them some measure of peace. Almost a minute later, the sounds finally stopped. I turned and looked back at the mass of concentrated black nothing as it turned slowly, almost looking disappointed at the five meter wide spray of gore in front of it. It moved like a singular entity, despite thousands of eyes opening up all over its form as it turned to look at me. Mmm. Was I next, then? The creature just stared at me, however, the eyes suddenly softening all over it and almost looking sad. I felt so cold, the drops of red spotting my coat rapidly cooling in the air around me. I shivered, then winced as another flare of light came down out of the sky, a blast parting the clouds in an instant. What?! Malice made a hissing sound, suddenly looking up as the prismatic column of light crashed down into it before it could even move. They weren’t done yet?! My eyes widened as the deafening thunder of a billion souls all screaming at once shattered through the air all around me, the sound vibrations actually blasting the snow away from both of us as I screamed, holding a hoof to each ear. I didn’t hear the explosion, but I felt it as the force shadowed me out, suddenly. The heat flashed my fur back, my silent scream getting sucked away behind me as I was flung like a ragdoll backwards. I felt nothing as I crashed into the snow covered ground two dozen meters away. I skipped once, then twice more before rolling and coming to a crashed rest in the silent snow, the world going cold and empty again a heartbeat later. My body refused to move as I lay on my side, the snow coming down in full force once more, slowly erasing the long path my body had made. Crimson red expanded across it moving away from my vision, and I shivered, just closing my eyes and letting the numbness take me. After everything I’d been through, the last month just piled up all at once. I was so tired. I’d been almost killed so many times, fought tooth and nail literally for what I wanted to protect, and all of it was pointless in the end, wasn’t it? Would I even be around to enjoy what I worked so hard for? Or was it to be my legacy to just clear the way for better ponies who were less broken? The energy faded from my body, and I no longer had the will to even shiver as the cold disappeared, too, falling away to numbness and a vast emptiness. No, I wasn’t going to fight any longer. There was nothing left in me at all, and I felt so very, very tired. The rest of them could have the future. For now, I think I needed a little rest… Everything faded away completely.
Chapter 89Slowly, thoughts stirred. Just the barest hinting of awareness. It crept slowly along my being, a tingling sensation starting at my core and spreading. After a long moment came the sensation of movement. A dull, unfamiliar pulse from my core, steadily beating over and over again. Afterwards, the slow expanding and contracting along what felt like the top of my form. What was going on? For the longest moment, I only knew the interesting new sensations. I was me, and these strange things were happening to me. Then, a whole new level of experience drifted into my awareness. At first, it was a far away whispering. It was something else in me, coming from the top of me, it felt like! It took a long time for me to fully figure out that it wasn't coming from inside of me at all. This was a new experience, and I had no idea what was going on. "Attempt three. This is the most stable results yet. No sign of cardiac arrest this time, and mental activities are off the charts! I think the cybernetics are being accepted, finally!" "I told you. All it took was testing out the new organic models, grown using its own DNA. It's the easiest way to trick the body into thinking it belongs." The sensations were strange, and I didn't understand what was happening. It was all a bit overwhelming until an infinitely soft murmur drifted through me. It was like a wave, and my entire form shivered, feeling something gently wrap around me. "Shh. It's okay, little one. It's called talking. They're talking to each other, using sounds. That's what you're hearing," the gentle voice whispered, right into my left ear. Ear! Her instructions came less verbally and more as understanding, as the definition of hearing and talking drifted into my being. She was also a she, I realized. That was somehow important. She was sharing her understanding of the concepts with me, and I suddenly really wanted to listen to her more. "Pulse is stable. Mental activity is fully stimulated. It's alive, and appears to be fully functioning again," that first voice spoke once more. My newfound understanding told me that it was a male voice, so 'he' should be used. I wasn't entirely sure what that indicated, but it seemed exciting to find out! "A miracle, really. The way those barbarians froze the remains of Subject Zero Zero, without even realizing the subject was pregnant... We're lucky the offspring hadn't degraded even more," the second voice added, sounding faster and somehow agitated. That whisper returned, adding, "She's angry. Anger is hostility. It's a feeling, or an emotion. Those are things we feel." Feel! At that, I was almost overwhelmed at the information drifting into me. Overwhelmed! New understanding took hold in my mind, with hundreds of different feelings described in but an instant. Emotions were something foreign, and a little scary, I suddenly realized. Scary, I now understood directly! "Well, with what little was left of Subject Zero Zero, I doubt they even suspected anything could be alive in there. Regardless, the test was a success. Should I shut it down now?" the first voice asked. Shut it down? There was a moment of silence, a new concept for me, as the two voices had been exchanging words constantly before now. Anger spiked inside of me, and I suddenly realized it was from that gentle entity holding me. "Shut it down? Why would we do that?" the second voice asked, sounding a bit 'surprised'. I was getting good at this! "Well, it was successful. And we can always bring it back to life later, right?" the first voice asked. That inner feeling around me boiled up, anger spiking as she hissed, "No, you can't!" "No, you can't! I mean, you can't just kill him now. He's alive, and let's keep him this way. It will be more useful for the experiment," the second voice theorized. There was hesitation after her first outburst, and I realized she'd felt that sudden anger, too. Another long pause, and then the first voice asked, "Um, he?" The skeptical tone was short lived as the female sharply answered, "Yes, 'he'! The subject is male, so it's proper terminology to refer to him as he. We use proper terms here, understand?" There was a sudden sensation of authority, and I felt a spike of panic from the other entity. Their feelings drifted through the air like subtle waves, and the being that was holding me showed me how to feel them at the same time. "Ah! Y-Yes, sorry, Doctor Kyliona! Um, I meant no offense. Please forgive me," he quickly intoned, shifting to terrified halfway through. Another pause, before this Doctor Kyliona sighed and returned, "Forgiven this time. Now release the anesthesia. We'll let him rest for now." That gentle inner voice explained to me what 'sleep' was as we slowly drifted backwards, everything darkening around me. Mmm, I liked sleep! I decided that sleep felt really nice, shortly before fading away... * * * * * We were in the dark, me understanding what that was suddenly. That nice female moved in gently, then I felt something press against me. Two nudges, and a plethora of new sensations hit me as I felt two things she called eyelids open up. Her own being snapped into focus, and I realized I was getting yet another new sensation bombarding me. Understanding followed, her forehead touching to mine. Vision, or sight! Colors, shapes, light, dark... There were so many things to learn! I quickly took in everything about her, her own knowledge drifting to me with each piece I examined. I took her image in, that soft smile towards me as her sky blue eyes shivered with light. Mane and tail drifted messily around her, the light blue locks seemingly shifting about on an unseen breeze. Her coat drifted, too, almost white in color but with a bit of cream mixed in. She was beautiful, and I felt her hold me gently to her as I suddenly got 'knowledge' of every part of her I looked at. "No need to be scared, little one. You're dreaming, but I can be with you here. I'm still at your side when you're awake, too, but you just can't see me," she promised softly. I knew her. It was instinctive, almost. Wincing at the new lights all around me, I lifted one of my own, much smaller hooves to shield my eyes for a moment before timidly smiling back. "M-Mother?" I asked quietly, afraid that I'd be wrong. She giggled, however, and nodded almost immediately, a gentle calmness drifting through me. I was right! "I'm right here with you, my son. I've been with you for a long time now," she explained, her eyes softening a little, although that eagerness remained. I felt it. She'd wanted to 'meet' me for a really long time now, and was enjoying this. What 'this' was, I didn't quite know. Glowing blue swirls drifted around us in a much darker blue nothingness, us being the only light present here. Hazy clouds drifted about before fading off to black in the distance, and I grew uneasy, looking out into the dark. My mother smiled, turning my head to face her again a moment later. "No need to be scared. I'm right here with you, and always will be. There's no Ether in this very sad place, so we're the only light here. If things go badly, I'll carry you back to our Ether myself, don't worry. Then you can meet your father and other mom, okay?" she assured softly, smiling more earnestly at me. Go badly? It didn't really matter, and I snuggled more into her fur, earning a shiver from her. I trusted her, knowing she really was my mom. She'd take me home if we needed to go. "What's going on?" I asked, my own small voice muffled by her fur. She held me close for a long moment before kissing the top of my head and whispering, "You just woke up. You're with a race known as 'Keldarians'. They're a bad, bad race for the most part, but I've been 'speaking' to this Kyliona. Her heart is repairing itself, through both my influence and the energy we carry with us. You can trust her." Bad race? I instinctively knew I shouldn't ask. We drifted like that for who knows how long, with her just holding me. I had more questions, but I could almost taste her loneliness. She needed this a lot more than I did, and I was happy to just nuzzle into her chest, her tears drifting away around us, both happy and sad energy coming from her. My mother... * * * * * She'd told me what to do. I could hear her in my mind, even if I couldn't see or feel her when awake. Even though I knew how, I wasn't supposed to talk yet. Foal steps at a time, she'd said. Still, eager to test out what I could, this time my eyes opened as I felt myself drifting. Everything was tinted a rather weak green color, and I could feel the plastic tubes attached to the mask over my muzzle, the seal solid and giving me air to breath. The liquid felt strange against my eyes, but I adjusted fairly easily, then looked down at the wires plugged into me in various spots. Plates of organic metal extended out of my skin, just like Mom had warned me about. They'd made me part 'machine' in order to save my life, but she assured me that my essence was completely intact, and one hundred percent pony. I trusted her completely. Past the liquid, I caught my first glimpse of the Keldarians, about six present. They were a small race, about a meter or so tall, and had blue fur as a norm, it looked like. Despite their uniform coat color, they had different hues of color to their manes. Mom corrected me a moment later, revealing that they called the tufts specifically on their heads 'hair'. Some were in the pink hues, and others appeared to be in the blue range. One had dark purple. All of them wore 'clothing' over their forms, and had four additional bumps off their chests, which Mom also explained meant they were female. Weird. "Oh, he's fully awake this time! The cybernetics must be doing their job and advancing his age slightly faster than normal. Nanites are at ninety percent ideal saturation levels as well. With luck, we might be able to remove him from life support in a few days," the one in the back stated, in an all too familiar voice. Kyliona! My eyes locked onto her, taking in her form with interest. She was the one with the purple hair. Given that she looked to be the oldest in the room, maybe it was an age thing? She adjusted the spectacles against her nose, two long bangs framing each side of the glasses, and a tied up bun in the back, looking to keep her longer hair out of the way with as little effort given to it as possible. Our eyes locked, her darker red ones widening a little. The closest female to my tube perked as well, observing, "Oh, he's aware enough to note us talking. I wonder how accurate your theories are about their sapience?" Her voice was soft, and she smiled up at me as I looked down at her as well. She had much shorter hair of the soft pink variety, and sapphire blue eyes. She looked downright young in comparison, although her being closer, I noticed they were only mostly like a cat. Their faces were a bit wider, almost holding a 'bear' look to them. She was pretty. "Their brains are large enough to sustain sapience, I believe, based on his body ratios. If Specimen Zero Zero's upper body had been in better shape, we might have been able to figure more out, but I suppose time will tell," Kyliona muttered, picking her pad of paper up again. There was that 'Subject Zero Zero' again. They had talked about that the last time I was awake, too. The female behind the cute, pink haired one rolled her eyes, however. "There's nothing yet proving sapient thoughts. Given that Subject Zero Zero materialized an estimated fifty meters in the air, yet somehow didn't manage to right itself away from its head before it hit the ground provides evidence to the opposite, self-preservation instincts what they are," she pointed out. Huh? The closest Keldarian looked annoyed at the comment, turning with a glare. "Subject Zero Zero is a 'she', not 'it'. And the only reason Subject Zero One is alive right now is because her upper body shielded the impact. Maybe, if she was sapient, she knew that would happen and intentionally wanted to save her offspring?" the female pointed out. There was a gentle burst of acknowledgement from inside of me at that. "You're the most important thing to me, Little One. I had to give you as much a chance as I could!" Mom whined inside of me. I understood. She'd sacrificed a lot for me. Her body was already gone, but even afterwards, her spirit had stayed with me, ready to guide me back home if my body gave out. I understood that now, and Mom suddenly realized that I already felt 'older' inside. I was growing far faster than normal. "Enough!" Kyliona hissed, glaring down at both of them before continuing with, "This is speculation until we prove otherwise, so keep your theories to yourselves. Also, Keela, I'd like to talk to you after this battery of tests is concluded." Keela? The Keldarian closest to me perked at that, then smiled and nodded, seeming unfazed at the request. Ah, so she was 'Keela', then? I jerked, however, as a little metal prod extended out of the metal bank to my right, then poked me in the side. Nothing happened, however, and I saw the machines start to print things off out near Kyliona instead. After a long moment of studying the paper, she shook her head. "The energy the creature emits is already several times what it was prior. We're getting amazing readings, but the radiation values are high enough to punch through the reinforced crystaline tubing of the life support. We may have to consider additional shielding," she muttered, adjusting her glasses again as she read down lower on the print out. "Taking a few more samples, Doctor Kyliona," Keela reported, typing at the holographic console in front of her. Two more rods extended out, and I flailed as they poked me three more times in the side, a little squeak escaping from me as they actually tickled my tummy. Keela let out a little giggle while watching me, then slapped her paws over her mouth an instant later. The female behind her gave her a skeptical look, but just rolled her eyes instead, typing at her console as well. Okay, I liked Keela a lot more, I decided. After two more rods popped out and started poking at my other side, too, I realized that this was going to be a long awake period, this time... * * * * * Mom giggled, watching me drift about in front of her, flailing. She caught me again, and I clung to her chest instead, earning a laugh as she held me closer. "You're growing up so fast, Little One. I just wish your Dad, Mom, and I had talked more about a name for you. It's been almost three hundred years, though. They're both probably in the Ether by now. I lost everything with them," she whispered, eyes softening a little. Sensing her sadness, I leaned up and nuzzled her under the chin, earning a smile again. "No, I made the right choice, of course. I'm never going to leave you. One way or another, I'm taking you back home with me when I go. I'll not leave my little colt here by himself in some strange dimension. Bastion and Aura would agree. I know they would!" she exclaimed, sounding like she was trying to assure herself of that very fact. "They love you, Mom. Of course they'll understand," I chirped, trying to give her the 'cute eyes' I knew she liked so much. She smirked, and I knew it had worked as she squeezed me closer again. "You're adorable. If we do manage to get back to Equestria, I have a feeling you're going to be a little heartthrob when you grow up," she cooed, grinning rather impishly at me. I understood most of what she said, but that word was weird. Tilting my head to her, I asked, "What's a 'heartthrob'?" She so rarely had to give me more 'knowledge' of things, me being able to think far more clearly, it felt like. She said it was because I was growing up. She grinned, and my mind screamed 'It's a trap!' before she even said anything. "Oooh, it means the mares will be falling all over you to try to get you in a herd. Maybe I'll even get grandfoals one day!" she explained. Oh. Blushing, I scratched the right side of my head with a hoof, then shrugged. "Um, I'm not entirely certain what you mean by 'grandfoals', but I'm not so sure anypony would like me. Um, aren't I partially made of metal now?" I pointed out, hesitating at that. Females were kinda weird, and I wasn't sure if I wanted them falling on me. Mom giggled again, then corrected, "Actually, it appears to be a form of organic metal that's been synthetically grown using your own DNA structure in order to promote the highest possible compatibility ratio and also get it to scan as normal bone and skin structures. It's... uh... wait, no, that's not the important part!" I blinked slowly at that, but she rapidly appended, "No, it doesn't matter. You're a hundred percent Earth Pony inside, and any mare who actually deserves you will be able to see that! If one can't, I'll buck her in the face so hard her actual body will feel it!" I shrank back from her angrily wracking her two forehooves together, and she grinned. "Relax, I'm on your side, my little one. I've just gotta screen any mare after your heart, first! I can't let you get hurt by a mare who doesn't have your best interests in mind," she assured, reaching forward again and squeezing me afterwards. "Do mares really do that?" I asked, tilting my head curiously. She was a mare, but I didn't feel unsafe or unsure of anything while around her. She thought about it for a moment, then explained, "Not usually, no. Your biggest danger is the mare herself not knowing how she truly feels. Trust in your instincts, though, and you'll be fine. Oh, and of course listen to your mother. She has your best interests in her heart, and will always fight at your side!" I smiled at that and nodded twice to her, her returning a single nod back as she relaxed. It wasn't hard to feel her close indeed. She'd attached herself to me, and I didn't think there was anything that could remove that link now. We snuggled for a while longer, with her just smiling and holding me. She’d wanted to do that for a long time, too, I realized… * * * * * Memories flickered by. My head hurt a little bit. The light was too bright outside of the tube, and I winced, lying there on the table and keeping my eyes half lidded. Not being constantly covered in fluids was also weird, but there wasn’t much I could do. There were only three Keldarians with me this time, all wearing heavy yellow suits that looked really weird on them, a big blocky hood over their heads that had glass in front of their faces. I wasn’t entirely sure why they were wearing them, but it seemed important as Kyliona had gone over suit safety instructions before they came into the room. My hearing was really good now! “His medical examination is perfect. One hundred percent ideal saturation levels for the nanites as well, and his cybernetics are fully integrated. I think he’s doing wonderfully,” Kyliona noted, lifting my foreleg up with a gloved paw while I watched her. They were all extremely careful in my treatment, and I felt relaxed. None of them had hurt me, and seemed almost happy around me this time. I wasn’t going to complain. “Are we sure that we got everything right? We don’t have a male example, and I’m not sure how good an idea it was to look to our Allies for ‘equine’ animal structures. This is an alien, after all,” the unknown female pointed out. She nudged me between my back legs again, and I raised an eyebrow back at her. Keela shrugged at that, being the third Keldarian in the room. I also noticed that she appeared to be second in charge, despite her youth. “Sheaths for an extending penis seemed ideal, and a lot of species have a baculum in order to help with mating,” she pointed out. Oh, that was that thing back there that they were referring to. Colts apparently had them. Kyliona nodded at that, assuring, “Don’t doubt Keela, Litta. She’s done a lot of research on all of the gaps to his body structure we had to fill in, and they should be fairly accurate, even if maybe not precise as to his species.” Oooh, so Keela had been responsible for helping heal me, then. I looked back over at the Keldarian, and she smiled warmly at me through the glass faceplate. “I’m not doubting her,” Litta assured, then appended, “I’m more concerned about these suits. Outside of the tube, his radiation levels are twice as extreme as before, and for every day under the accelerated growth, they triple anyway. Are we sure that these will protect us from the energy?” For a long moment, Kyliona said nothing, her paw coming to rest on top of my head as I turned to look up at her. Her eyes softened, and she chuckled a moment later. “Actually no, I’m not. How such a small creature emits this level of radiation is completely beyond our comprehension. We’re also not entirely sure what the energy even is yet, nor what effects it has on our bodies. So far, not a single mutation or malignant change has occurred in anyone, even Keela who was most heavily dosed in the last experiment,” she revealed. Litta seemed surprised by that answer, looking back down at me curiously with her lemony yellow eyes. Keela shrugged to the other side of me, however, drawing my attention back to her as she explained, “The way it seems to exist outside of physicality, it’s amazingly hard to stop it from permeating everything. Only specific materials block it at all. Given that the energy is ignoring organic material completely, we actually have reason to believe that it’s incapable of affecting us. Regardless, I still suggest a lockdown and quarantine on the lab until we can further study its effects.” “I already requested that, and they’re installing the full system locks this afternoon. We’re already in a bunker, so they’re fine with sealing us in, of course. I also have blood tests running on us in the lab,” Kyliona assured, adjusting her heavy glove so that her fingers fit better into it. Keela smiled further, however, looking down at me. Huh? “We still need a better example of how it affects us. A volunteer would be for the best,” she suggested. Volunteer for what? Litta pondered that before shrugging. “We could always request a low rung male be sent in for experimentation. It’s not like the council hasn’t offered, like, fifty of them. I think they may be starting to think we’re weird, not having any live experiments at all,” she suggested, giggling afterwards. The hiss and pop of pressure made everyone jump, including me as I snapped back to looking at Keela. The other Keldarian’s eyes widened as she finished popping the seals on her hood, and folded it back over her head a moment later, fur now fully exposed to the air. “Nah. I’ll do it. I’ll give better reports as to the effects anyway,” she volunteered, smirking over at Kyliona, who dropped into a somewhat disbelieving, if not amused expression. “Uh, no offense, but you’re kinda crazy, Keela,” Litta muttered, looking shocked still. Was the air that bad to breathe in here? I felt normal, anyway. “She just wants to pet him,” Kyliona teased, looking purely amused as Keela grinned, taking off her gloves as well. Pet? My eyes widened as she felt along my coat with her paws instead, dancing up to my shoulders. Then she scratched behind my ears and I shivered, leaning into her touch. It felt really good! She giggled at my behavior, then pointed out, “Come on. You know he’s cute. Do you really blame me?” To my surprise, she lowered her face right down to me, and bumped into my nose with her own, grinning at me. “If you grow a third arm, you’re responsible. Anyway, Litta, go wash down. I’ll clean the tools, and now Keela gets to stay in here for a little bit while I figure out if she’s going to die or not,” Kyliona ordered, gesturing to the other Keldarian. Litta nodded and snickered, waddling over to the contamination lock in her big suit while Kyliona started gathering up all the doctoring tools they’d poked and prodded me with for the last hour. Stepping out of her suit fully, Keela stripped down to just a few articles of clothing covering her, including a sheet or something over her upper chest to cover those bumpy things, and a cloth that tucked up between her two legs, tying back around her long tail. It was the first time I noticed that she had metal thingies too, but they looked significantly less involved than mine were. Hers was a single metal band going through her left ear, and another just under the tuft of her tail, also looking like a ring. I wondered idly what they were supposed to do while she pulled a plastic stick out of the back of her hair and let it fall down into the two relaxed pigtails she had earlier. “Heh. Watching me, huh? You’re certainly curious, little guy,” Keela chirped, looking down at me in amusement before she sat down next to me instead. I turned to watch her curiously, wondering what she was going to do next. My mother smiled inside of me, then stated, “She likes you, and didn’t need any healing on the inside at all, apart from the physical. She already won’t be affected by the ‘radiation’ they’re so worried about, because she doesn’t have any corruption anyway. Both her and Kyliona are safe.” Oh? Did that mean…? She nodded inside my mind, and I smiled, Keela giving a start in front of me. “Wow, it almost looks like you’re…” she murmured, looking down at my mouth curiously. “Um, y-you’re nice,” I finally admitted, voice a bit raspy for never having been used. Keela’s eyes shot open to full mast, and Kyliona dropped three tools she’d been carrying, whipping around to look over at me in surprise. I tried really hard not to snicker, instead just blushing and smiling a bit more at their startled reactions. It was like a fun practical joke that had gone off perfectly! Keela recovered fast, however, then grinned. “Okay, we’re definitely going to have to name you now…” she admitted. * * * * * “Easy. Steady, Azure. You can do this,” Keela chirped, paw braced on my shoulder as I carefully walked along, legs shaky under me. It felt so weird to be trying to move all four of them at once and somehow keep myself upright! It had been two days since I first spoke, and Keela had named me based off my coat color, she said. It was a pretty name, so I didn’t exactly have a problem with it. Mom said it wasn’t very ‘pony’, but it was a good name for now. Kyliona walked alongside us, notepad at the ready as she scribbled a few more notes down. She was in her normal lab suit today, all six of them having given up on the ‘irradiated’ thingy. I understood now that they’d thought I was contaminated or something, and had instead just locked the entire bunker down to ‘protect other Keldarians’ from me and my energy. Kyliona said it was a lie, however, and was to protect me from them instead. They ‘wouldn’t understand’ that I was a living, breathing creature, and might hurt me. All six of them seemed really nice, but Mom said that was because my energy had already ‘changed’ them without them even noticing… “So you say your mother is inside of you, and speaking to you about us?” Kyliona inquired, taking a few more notes before smiling up at me as I stumbled. “Oh, um, yes! She gave me permission to speak to you two finally, and, um, to talk about her,” I explained, recovering my balance carefully with Keela’s help. Kyliona looked back down at her notes, then smiled, looking surprisingly gentle as her eyes relaxed. “I’m not even sure how that would be possible if it were true, but given the strange energy readings from you, I can’t rule out anything,” she admitted. The faint image of my mom faded in behind her, sticking her tongue out at the back of the doctor’s head. “Not like you’re just a soulless husk either, doctor!” she hissed, playfully swatting at the back of her head with her right forehoof. I snickered at the image, and then wobbled and fell over completely. This time, Keela caught me as she giggled merrily. I’d already fallen a couple of times, and had several bandages on myself from the nicks and scrapes. “You’re just so adorable!” she gushed, sliding me over and pulling me into her lap instead. I blushed as she just hugged me close, and enjoyed her warmth and smells. Females smelled good, as I realized a little while ago. She was wearing a simple orange outfit today, most of the scientists starting to dress ‘casually’ since getting locked inside the vault. It was a darker orange sweatpants for her today, and a lighter yellowish orange sweater. It let me really feel how warm she was as she held me against her chest. I looked up at her curiously, then smiled as she squeaked again and held me tighter. She was by far the nicest. Kyliona was nice, too, but felt more formal, as she still wore her partial lab outfit. She chuckled softly, then sat down in a nearby chair instead, looking her notes over. “Well, seeing as we seem to have given up on the ‘learning to walk’ thing for now, we’ll ask you a few more questions instead,” she suggested, flipping forward a few pages in her notes. Oooh, more of this! Keela pecked the top of my forehead, then started braiding the left side of my bangs while Kyliona summarized. “So far, you’ve told us that you come from a dimension called Equus, and your race is actually called ‘ponies’. Although not the only race in this dimension, you’re the most numerous. These six energy signatures that I’ve detected that started this whole project are what you call the ‘Elements of Harmony’, based on six core virtues that are greatly celebrated in your culture. And all of this you learned from your mother, who’s been with you the past three hundred years while you slept in cryo-stasis?” she inquired, probably seeking confirmation again. I nodded at that, then tried to explain, “Yeah. Mom shares her knowledge with me. It’s not really like talking, but more… she just gives me her own understanding of things.” I wasn’t the greatest with my words yet, but Mom said I was making wonderful progress, obviously worlds beyond the normal three day old foal. Just not so much on that walking part. Being inside a tube filled with liquid for my first two days apparently slowed down my progress there… Mm, Keela called that ‘sarcasm’ as well, and apparently I picked that up all on my own, instead. “Oooh, what’s your mom’s name?” Keela asked, causing the image of my Mom to snicker as she drifted back into me. “Gemstone Weave,” I revealed, looking back up at the Keldarian holding me as she finished the braid, then giggled again. “That’s a really pretty name. Do you know who your father was?” she asked almost immediately. She was more curious about the other things, I noticed. Kyliona just smiled and let her talk, taking down other notes while listening. I thought about it for a bit, and Mom nodded inside of me, granting silent permission. “Uh, his name’s Bronze Bastion. My other Mom’s name is Auraprism,” I informed, remembering their names and all the stuff that Mom had told me about them. “Other mom?” Kyliona asked, Keela looking like she’d beaten her to the punch by barely a second. I nodded, then explained, “We have herds. They’re groups of ponies who all love each other. She was the other female in the herd, and not my birth mother, but still loved by the two of them.” It seemed logical enough for me. Keela giggled, then admitted, “It must be weird having so many females and not as many males. Their culture must be completely different from ours!” “Possibly in a very good way. I’m sure you’re well aware of how far we’ve fallen,” Kyliona pointed out, frowning down at her notes again. Oh, that’s right. The goal of this project had gradually shifted over the last few days. It had gone from physically saving them from the Grosh, to saving their ‘souls’ as well from their own corruption. She hadn’t mentioned that in her reports… The Keldarian holding me shivered lightly, then nodded. "Yeah, I know," she admitted, eyes closing as she kissed the top of my forehead again. Kyliona sighed a moment later. "What happened with him and your sister wasn't your fault, Keela. It was his choice to leave the project, and you. You can't control how he feels," she tried to reason. Oh. Keela had talked about a male a few times in our conversations. He was someone she cared deeply for, and didn't like talking about what happened. I think she was 'with' him a while back, and it hadn't ended well. She'd fully given her time and energy to the project, after that. "I know. I just wish things could be different. That he hadn't been hurt, and that my sister wasn't so far gone she couldn't realize love for what it was. But I'm the broken one?" Keela asked, sounding frustrated instead. I could feel it coming off her at this range, Mom teaching me how soul vibrations worked. Kyliona shook her head, setting her notebook aside before reminding, “Your sister hasn’t been the same since that incident. You know she doesn’t trust males.” I suddenly had the sensation of not really wanting to meet this sister of Keela’s. My mom smiled as I let Keela hug me, sort of like a giant teddy bear. It was the same lonely, aching sensation that she had when she held me like this, and I just let it inside. Keela needed to let it out, and I let her cry against the top of my head. * * * * * It really did feel like I was growing up fast, at this point. Hopping off a cube of force I made and up on the table, I looked down at the papers that Keela was writing on, noticing that they were more lab reports. She smiled as I watched her work. Kyliona was in the lab with the crystal samples today, and I was completely bored out of my mind. The older Keldarian felt like another ‘mom’ to me, and Keela felt like a big sister as well. Knowledge was starting to come from somewhere else now, almost exactly like the knowledge that Mom gave me a lot. This was colder, though, and more rigid. It felt calculated and directed, and Keela explained that it was from the DNA they’d rebuilt my own with during those three months or so that I was being operated on in nano-surgery. They’d appended the knowledge from my donor right into my instinctive layer, attempting to give me all of his memories and training as well. The original point of the project had been to send me through into Equus as a sort of ‘scout’, and to do that, they needed somepony who could use and make an Aegis Barrier. The rest of the survival, stealth, and combat training might be useful, too, as they had no idea what it was like in the other dimension. That goal had largely been abandoned, them now knowing what it was like there for the most part. Now they learned about the energy inside of me and Mom, and hoped to send me back some day with her body as well, for proper burial rites. If a few of them could follow as well, the better. Their race was dying, and I couldn’t even grasp the pure horror that must be in that concept. The six Keldarians with me here just wanted to live out the rest of their lives peacefully at this point. “Bored, Azure?” Keela finally asked, watching me start to bat her spare pen around with my two forehooves. My nose twitched lightly as my left ear rotated around to face her by itself with a flick. “A little. Think we can upload some more games to my entertainment suite? I’ve beaten the three we got so far,” I asked, voice hopeful as I turned to smile at her, giving her those ‘cute’ eyes. The ‘first person shooter’ game was okay, but finished fast and wasn’t as deeply entertaining. Plus it was kinda bloody for my tastes, and I didn’t really get the whole ‘undead’ thing. If they had to bite people to spread the disease, you’d think after the first couple of cases, people would wise up and just start preemptively shooting anyone attempting to bite others. I enjoyed the ‘Role Playing Game’ far more, even though it was kinda bloody, too. Still, having a whole party of characters to talk to each other was fun, and I was the stalwart Keldarian hero saving the land from the flood of monsters that came from underground, far to the south! Racing was amazingly boring, however, and I technically hadn’t beaten that one, but didn’t want to play it anymore either after I obliterated my hovercar’s engines by not ‘shifting’ properly. Whatever that meant. She grinned at that and nodded, setting her pen down. “Oooh, only if I get to play it with you! I have just the one I’ve been meaning to try!” she chirped, hopping up out of her chair. “Yay!” I cheered, taking two bounds before leaping onto her chest. She grinned, almost falling backwards from my weight before catching me and supporting me against her. I was a lot bigger now, and getting quite heavy. She told me that based on my mom’s adult body, I was going to be bigger than a Keldarian was, length-wise. Probably heavier, too. I found that hard to believe, but Mom assured me it was true, and said that stallions were even larger than mares in most cases, so I’d be even heavier! “What’s it about?!” I asked, excited to try a new game as she hauled me into the lounge instead, both of us flopping down on the sofa in there. Their individual beds were connected to it, and the sofa was where I usually slept, although sometimes Keela hauled me into her room to stay with her. I didn’t mind, as I knew she was really sad sometimes, still, and she was also warm and smelled good. Being a good listener and teddy bear was easy to do. Helping her by holding her legs down, I watched as her tail bobbed in the air, her upper body hanging off the sofa as she opened the left drawer built into the underside of it and rummaged around inside. Her tail was kind of hypnotic as it bobbed and weaved excitedly in the air, especially with the shiny ring attached to the end of it. It was actually two halves of a ring clipped together, I’d come to realize later when she showed her piercing collection to me. The very tip of a Keldarian’s tail puffed out into a tuft of fur. Under that tuft was just more skin, however, before it got near the end of their spine, which ran the full length of their prehensile tail. She had that skin there pierced, so she could wear clip on rings on it. It had healed to form the hole now, which was there even when she didn’t have a ring on. Her left ear was pierced similarly along the top of it, a tight ring going over the upper ridge. They were just for looks, it seemed, which I suppose made sense, given how much I liked looking at them. They went well with her favorite color of orange, too, which was on her shorts and tank top today. “Heh, you really like my tail,” she teased, earning a blush as I looked away from her, her body dexterously sliding back up and rotating to face me as she resumed sitting normally on the couch. Oh, and Keldarians were rather flexible! Litta came out of the shower area a moment later, wearing only her underwear and idly tying her darker pink hair back in a ponytail. That hairstyle infinitely amused me, especially its name, and I smiled over at her as she caught my eye. She perked, seeing the drawer open, then grinned, trotting over to where we were and flopping onto my back, a light purr starting in her throat. “Loading up a new game onto him?” she asked, yellow eyes locking with mine as I lifted my head up to look at her resting on my forehead. She was nice to me, too, although a little bit shy at first. She’d warmed up fast, especially as that purring sound meant they were content or happy! “Yup! Rocket science, this time! Let’s see how good Azure is at engineering. Wanna play with us too, Litta?” Keela asked, smirking over at her. Oh, engineering? I did enjoy building things, so maybe this would be a fun new game, too? Litta grinned, however, then warned, “Just so long as we don’t use your rocket designs. Azure can build the rockets for us, this time.” Keela huffed at that, crossing her arms over her chest in a pout. “Hey, thirty rockets on the first stage is a totally legit tactic! We’d already decoupled them by the time they exploded,” she reasoned. Uh, exploded? I gave Keela a skeptical look, and Litta burst out into laughter at that. “You know it’s bad when Azure thinks you’re crazy. Ha!” the Keldarian on top of me declared, also earning a skeptical look from me. I wasn’t that bad a judge of character! Keela rolled her eyes at that, then held up a crystal rod to me. Nodding, I sat up more fully and extended a metal plate out of my chest, the crystal tray extending out of it. She set the crystal down onto the tray, and I pulled it back into my chest and started the upload into my storage. “Two and a half minutes!” I reported, perking up and letting my ears pop up. Games were fun, especially when I had others to play them with! Keela pulled out two controllers next, and I nodded, forming two slots in the plate below the crystal rod reader. Having cybernetics was rather useful, too… * * * * * It was so cold. Flashes of memory, and a blinding blast of heat and light. I fell through the dark, cold swirling around me like snowflakes. Everything was falling away, when two soft forelegs wrapped around me, a smile pushing into the back of my neck. I warmed up, the world feeling soft and safe again. Mom held me there in the dark, swaying softly back and forth with me as our light came back into the world around us. “Just a nightmare, Azure. Calm down,” she whispered softly into my ear. It felt so real, but distant at the same time. There was something I was supposed to be… “Just rest. Your body is growing still, and fast, too. It’s taking a lot out of you, but I’m here for you always, my little colt. Rest,” she continued, giving me another squeeze. It wasn’t time to wake up yet, so I just relaxed against her fur. For a long time, we just rested against each other. It was peaceful, really. But there had to be more than just this. We couldn’t stay here forever. “What’s Equus like, Mom?” I asked softly, a moment later. My mind opened up as I felt her hold me a bit tighter. Thousands of images of ponies and places. The sky opening up into golden hues before me, it expanded out to all sides showing the incredible view off a balcony from a mountainside. The house was huge, built right into the upper cliffs next to a massive, towering castle. One of the biggest houses, with a large garden extending out behind it, complete with a pool and oddly constructed hot tub. The mountain overlooked all of Equestria, I realized, the view spanning hundreds of miles in each direction. I saw other towns, train tracks, the sprawling countryside, and even an apple orchard far off in the distance. The sun was just coming up and bathing everything in a soft, warm light, and I smiled, feeling its heat. It was beautiful. Memories sailed on, images of Auraprism and Bronze Bastion flashing past. One was gentle and compassionate, and the other was strong and reserved. Both had immense will, and truly wanted to protect those they loved and cared about. Mom did, too. Suddenly, I realized that’s what I wanted to do as well. Skill and power was pointless if there was no goal to strive for. I’d never really considered anything past my immediate situation, but all of this really got me thinking. “Equus is beautiful. I can’t describe it in words, really. They don’t do it justice,” she murmured, nuzzling the top of my head as she held me. She was sad, and I knew I shouldn’t have asked, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to know where I came from and who I was so badly. I almost didn’t catch her continuing, however. “The four of us were so idealistic and full of hope. We wanted to save our wonderful world and protect everypony in it. But we were foolish, too. The multiverse is a big place. Protecting it all was beyond us, and we ended up sacrificing so much…” Four? She smiled, and flashes of a new stallion appeared, who I didn’t immediately recognize. His mane and tail were longer, and a silvery color. He didn’t upkeep them very well, apparently just letting them rest where they fell in the morning. The color contrasted heavily with his darker blue coat, but his eyes were a rather piercing cyan color. His Cutie Mark was an equally cyan circle with a blast of light rays coming out of the center, like some sort of lens flare. She’d never spoken about any other ponies before, and I didn’t recognize him at all. “Ether Pulse. He was my friend for most of school and into university studies. A year older than me, and I sort of looked up to him like a big brother,” she revealed. I frowned, then looked up at her carefully, but she was only resting her forehead against mine. I shouldn’t ask, but my curiosity burned bright in my mind. I felt her smile against my forehead at that, knowing the question before I even voiced it. “No, I never talked about him. We got in a huge fight about halfway through my last project. We had… Well, it was a difference of opinion on how best to protect ponies. I wanted transparency, and he was under the impression that some things were meant to be kept a secret. Plus, he never got along with Bastion all that well,” she explained, looking a bit sad again. Why didn’t he get along with Dad? From everything Mom said, he was a pretty good pony, and seemed likable enough. “But Dad sounds like such an amazing pony. I didn’t think anypony wouldn’t like him,” I muttered, frowning at the implications. She giggled, however, surprising me. “Oh, no, I realize now that he was jealous. Not just of how skilled Bastion was, but because he had me. All those years of being his friend, and I didn’t once notice that Ether had a massive crush on me. I’ve had a… Well, a really long time to think back on things, and hindsight is almost perfect,” Mom revealed, rubbing her right forehoof up and down my back. Oh, he liked Mom, too. She relaxed against me as we drifted, then smiled softly. “I wonder how he took my disappearance. If I could, I’d apologize to him for not even noticing. But it’s probably too late for that, too. Maybe we’ll see them all again one day soon,” she added wistfully. Ah, in the Ether. If I died in this dimension, she could pull me through into ours and take me with her. Those spirits that belonged to Equus returned to Equus regardless of where they were, she said. She’d felt the tug and resisted it, staying with me instead. “You’ll see him again one day, Mom. Then you can apologize,” I assured. She smiled a little wider at that and nodded, giving me another peck on the head. If my mom was happy, then I was happy! Snuggling against her chest, we relaxed and drifted in the empty nothingness, two dots of light in the vast darkness…
Chapter 90The hum of the machines was rather comforting as I relaxed in the padded examination chair, idly watching Kyliona move about setting up the equipment and double checking everything. Her hair was down today, the dark purple swishing about as she rapidly went over the checklist. Her level of compulsive orderliness had become comforting as well. "Everything seems to be in order. This will be the third attempt of Experiment Sixteen, Section C. Keela, are you ready on your end?" she asked, looking into the monitor that bridged the two active labs at the moment. We were in Lab A, which was rather spacious and mostly dealt with the scanning equipment and analysis servers. Things had progressed quickly over the last two and a half months, and not just in my growth department. After the partial success of the last experiment, I was really, really excited to see how this one was going to turn out! The darker ambiance served to highlight the glowing screen in front of me, three orbs of light drifting about and projecting the image into the air itself. Relaxing, I listened to my internal hum, too, smiling as I felt the computer parts process the data Kyliona was feeding into me. Keela nodded in the side screen to my right, also being projected by one of my hovering orbs. They'd installed this system only last week, and it had not ceased to delight me since. Twenty-four 'self-extension' orbs, for projecting images, playing sounds, or casting my magic through. They told me it would be useful when I did the full jump to 'Equus'. "I'm ready. Scrying is prepared, and I've locked onto the coordinates from last time. All we need is Azure to engage," the Keldarian confirmed, typing into her side computer while her other hand operated the complex spell engine in front of her. They taught me how to do this, and I nodded, feeling the link inside of me churn. It was immensely powerful, and almost immutable to me. It felt like a vastly tall pillar of pure, absolute rock anchoring down into an incomprehensible ocean. The water failed to even shake it, and touching upon it drew me specifically to its location, so I could never, ever be lost. Mom told me it was proof I was a pony, and that I belonged in Equus. I'd grown comfortable with that link since then. Kyliona nodded to that, then gave the go ahead with, “Begin experiment now, Azure.” My eyes started to glow with my own amber light, inner magic activating and grabbing onto all of the links that Keela gave me. Her spell was indeed ready, and I pulled my focus along my link again, feeling it open up before me as easily as drawing a curtain. It went far more smoothly than even our last attempt. My screen lit up, and for a moment, I was disoriented as usual, seeing through two sets of eyes instead of one. The extra set didn't exist, however, I remembered... The dark ambiance was gone, the new vision impossible to ignore as the sky exploded into light and warmth. An orange cascade of a new dawn opened upwards and the horizon expanded out in front of me. We fell, the blast of wind dancing across my mind as I rushed downwards, following the beads of light that Keela's magic showed me in my head. We were a good team. I spun, shooting in an intangible stab through the clouds and rushing down through the Spring air. 'Spring' was something new I'd learned, along with the rest of the seasons. The ground spiraled under me, and I closed my eyes for a moment, just ‘feeling’ the breeze around me as we shot downwards. I heard Keela giggle a moment later, and remembered that I certainly wasn’t the only one here as I shot to the ground instead. The dark ocean of greens and browns flew up faster than I could fathom, and suddenly a thick forest was all around me as I burst down close to the ground and reaching the team’s observation point. I saw a softer smile come from Kyliona as I settled into place, shifting back to my actual vision with one eye. The older Keldarian examined the screen for a long moment before nodding mostly to herself. “No changes since last time appear to be present. Insect and flora are within three percent of their genetic equivalence. Astounding for a dimension that’s, in theory, developed completely separately from this one,” she observed as we reached our usual clearing in the woods. This was the lighter forested area in this region, both less dense of trees and having different types entirely. It was hard for Mom to remember properly as she said she didn’t live in this area, but she thought this place was called the ‘Whitetail Woods.’ “Not entirely no changes,” Keela warned, giving me a mental arrow, and I turned to look in the direction she indicated. On the other side of the clearing, across the gently gurgling stream, there looked to be equipment of sorts set up. There was a fancy box on a tripod with crystals sticking out of it by the looks of it. Wires connected it to a smaller machine that had a paper feed in it, and a few sheets sticking out the bottom. My ears perked up, and I drifted over closer to the machines. I gave a squeak as it started beeping, however. Had I done something wrong?! A prior unnoticed tent opened up just a bit further back into the woods, and to my utter shock, another pony stepped out of it, giving a tired looking yawn and heading over to the equipment. It was a mare, I instinctively knew, and she was rather pretty. Her mane and tail were a golden brown in color, almost matching her lighter gold eyes. Interestingly enough, her coat color was a darker green instead, although it complimented her eyes quite well. Her mane was rather messy, though, and it looked like she’d just woken up. “Oh! This is interesting. I don’t think we’re ready to observe others in this dimension yet, but I suppose this is a prime opportunity. This appears to be another ‘pony’,” Kyliona noted, looking interested as she shifted her glasses up on her nose and examined the mare. I did as well, more for never having seen another pony before now. “It’s a mare. A female,” I informed, and was then nudged in the side by the only other Keldarian in the room. Huh? Glancing back towards Mirin, I saw her grinning again, and inwardly groaned. She was the second youngest member of the team, if you only counted the twins once, and Litta’s little sister, sharing her yellow eyes. Her hair was a light blue instead, however, and done up in pigtails in the back. She didn’t have her older sister’s restraint, sadly. “Is she cute?” she chirped, causing my cheeks to heat up and I swatted at her with my tail, earning a laugh as she flailed and dodged out of the way. There was a snort, then Litta cut in over Keela’s line. “Stop distracting him, Mirin. Wait till later when we’re off duty,” she reminded. Uh… thanks, I think. Keela rolled her eyes in the video feed, then suggested, “Or you could just, you know, not at all?” Heh, Keela was always sticking up for me, which made me happy. Plus, she was one of the highest ranking members here apart from Kyliona, so they all sorta had to listen to her. Her magic was really, really powerful, too! Illusions were fun, and Keela let me play with them quite a bit. Of course, we also used them for more practical uses, too, like that time she linked her mind up with me and helped me make an illusionary image of my Mom so they all could see what she looked like. “Hey, you’ve only claimed him as a glorified teddy bear! Besides, it’s Kyliona’s fault for not letting any boys into the contamination area!” Mirin complained, huffing afterwards, then tacking on, “If he thought Keldarians were attractive, too, we could totally…” Her statement ended abruptly as she put her paw on my back flank and I squealed, flailing away from her as she broke into giggles again. No! Not that again! Ever since the bath incident that made me start washing myself from then on, I’d never heard the end of their teasing! Her giggles ended just as abruptly as a clipboard collided with the side of her head and knocked her over. “Enough! This is important research data, so stop screwing around while working!” Kyliona reminded, glaring at Mirin on the floor, who rapidly held her paws up with an apologetic face. “S-Sorry! Right! I’ll get back to monitoring the video feed!” the smaller Keldarian quickly apologized, scrambling back up to her feet again. Blushing lightly, I got control of the link again and refocused it, snapping the picture back into focus and also adding, “I’m sorry, Kyliona.” The older Keldarian relaxed and smiled at me before brushing her paw gently through my mane, causing me to relax. “Calm down, Azure. It wasn’t your fault, and you’re doing marvelously. We’re getting lots of data, but it would seem we’ve been discovered,” she responded, gesturing back to the screen. Instead, I shifted my attention back down the link and noticed the mare hastily checking the readings, then squeaking as she pulled out another strange machine with an array of crystals on long spokes. It looked sort of like an orrery, but where the planets were replaced by carved crystal spires. To all of our surprise, a voice came out of it a moment later, as all the spires lit up and a hazy image of a pony wearing a dark hood faded in amidst all of the crystals. “Ah, I was hoping you’d call soon. Do you have a report, Snapshot?” the pony asked, voice deeper and definitely male. Snapshot? For some reason, Mom froze up inside of me as well, eyes widening radically. Ah! Wait, did she know Snapshot?! “Yes! You were right. The location of the last two energy readings is activating again! I’m not sure what all these numbers mean, but the last address is three hundred and twelve, like you said to look out for,” the mare, assumingly ‘Snapshot’ announced into the crystal. The hooded stallion was quiet for a moment before exhaling softly. “It’s the same location, then. The same dimension that they connected to before. It’s bleeding through again, but specifically at that location. Why?” he asked, sounding like he was talking to himself. The mare frowned, then glanced back at the readings as the machine took a few more. I shifted closer, trying to peek around and look at what the machine was spitting out. There were lots of numbers on the sheet with labels to the left of them, and I felt Mirin’s display zoom in and start recording all of them as I watched. They could all see this, after all. “Um, am I supposed to do anything, or just keep getting data? Also, are you sure you should keep this from the others?” Snapshot asked, glancing back at the floating projected head with the black cowl over himself. He didn’t answer immediately, and she instead turned back to look into the clearing, then froze. Her eyes locked right onto me, and I gave a start, momentarily locking eyes with her as well before I looked down and saw my now glowing hoof stepping on one of the power cord thingies leading up to the scanning device. Ah! Oh no! “G-Ghost?!” Snapshot squeaked, taking a step back before frantically looking around her, then reaching for a brown bag with a strap that was left near the scanning device. “Camera!” Mirin identified almost instantly, as the dark figure in the crystals turned to look abruptly at me. For a long, scary moment, I saw two glowing blue eyes looking out from under the darkness of the hood, like frozen embers from some horrible underworld. They widened as they saw me, and Kyliona cut in instantly. “Cut the connection, Keela!” she ordered. The image was gone in an instant as I felt the steering magic fall out from under me, and I shivered, flopping onto my stomach from the sudden loss of energy. That was the longest run we’d done yet, and certainly the liveliest. I’d felt rather lightheaded afterwards, as the energy ebbed around inside of me from the exertion. Mirin was there almost instantly, back to looking serious as she got a glass of water up to my muzzle, and massaged my upper back and along my neck where the tension had started to build. She was our healer, after all. She held the glass for me as I took a long drink, then shivered, relaxing against the table. “Are you okay, Azure? There was a lot of magic involved with that equipment, and whomever that other individual was,” Kyliona asked, frowning as she turned the lights back up in the lab. Glancing inside of me, I saw Mom slowly massaging my energy back into working flows, then smile at me, shaking her head. “No, I… I think it was just my imagination. Don’t mind me,” she assured to the unspoken question as to her reaction earlier. There were lingering doubts around her, however, and I raised an eyebrow, but she merely averted her eyes. I knew I wouldn’t get anything more out of her when she did that, and exhaled, shifting my attention back to reality. “I’ll be okay. That was just taxing, is all. I don’t think my inner energy was meant for this sort of thing,” I assured, feeling a bit of the tiredness ebb out of me. Keela smirked at that, then asked, “Which? Projecting yourself across a spatial dimensional gap using applied quantum fields, or doing so while simultaneously letting six others piggyback along your connection to watch?” Uh… “Yes?” I answered, earning a giggle from Mirin, who wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a squeeze. “You’re adorable, Azure,” she pointed out, earning an eye roll from both Keela and Kyliona. Coughing, the doctor rapidly got us all back on track with, “We’ll need to abandon that spot, unfortunately. Despite its close proximity to these ‘Elements of Harmony’, it’s obviously no longer secure. The ponies have higher technology than we thought.” Mom remained silent, but I could tell she was bothered by what had happened far more than she was letting on. Our link worked both directions, and despite her being really, really good at blocking it, I could still feel a bit of her feelings. Kyliona continued a moment later, however, knocking me out of my thoughts. “Keela, get me the readings and metrics from your spell output. Mirin should do another mental check on Azure to ensure he’s okay. Litta, get me an analysis on those number readings from the machine we saw. The twins should get me an analysis of both devices from the output we got,” she ordered, gesturing between the two windows as she addressed the other members of the team. The twins, also in Keela’s viewing window, silently nodded both at once and headed into the engineering lab. They were the last two members of the team and something of engineering geniuses, Amre and Kyre. Both had pink eyes and darker blue hair. Really, the only way I could tell them apart was that Amre always wore her ponytail on the right side of her head, and Kyre on the left. They were also really quiet and shy, although they seemed to like petting me. I’d fallen asleep to them on either side of me like bookends, massaging along my coat. It was rather nice, actually. Mirin grinned at that, and then tacked on, “I’ll give you a full scrubdown and physical, too, just to be sure!” Ack! “He can wash himself, Mirin!” Keela reminded almost instantly, only earning a giggle and nod from the younger Keldarian before she pulled me off the table. Thankfully, I was used to having four legs now, and casually landed on all four hooves before getting hauled towards the decontamination airlock. This was going to be a long day… * * * * * We stood over the silent embankment, fires and death blazing below us equally. The images no longer bothered me, having come into a majority of my DNA Donor’s memories now. Keela sat next to me, legs dangling off the cliff and staff still glowing, her protection and healing magic having enabled us to win the day. The evil, dark creatures had been driven back underground, and we won back the keep they’d overrun earlier in the storyline. Smirking, I glanced back over at Litta and Mirin as they continued arguing. “No, the grunts only count for one point, otherwise your stupid area attacks would obviously get you more! The three captains I took out were obviously worth more than one point, so yes, I win!” Litta argued, gesturing at her gore covered longsword with her other arm, and almost bashing Mirin in the face with the shield strapped to it at the same time, if accidentally. Mirin stepped back away from the shield and glared at her sister irritably, then gesturing with her staff as well. “Hardly! Even if the grunts only count for one point, I killed thirty-eight of them! Even if we make the captains count as five points each, I still totally beat you!” she yelled back, earning another giggle from Keela, who was just amused by it all. They both glared over at her, but she was unfazed as she pointed out, “Azure killed five captains, and took down the dragon boss. Doesn’t that mean he wins?” I blushed, remembering flicking up and catching onto the dragon’s head, then riding it as it flailed around and I drove hoof blades into its neck… It was quite exhilarating, honestly. Mirin huffed, then pointed out, “No! He cheats. He’s, like, trained spec ops or something with those memories!” I averted my eyes, and Keela lost her smirk instantly, shifting to a death glare at the younger Keldarian. “We were the ones who put those memories in him. Yeah, we know he doesn’t need them for when he goes to Equus now, and yeah, we were different people back when making those decisions, but that doesn’t change that we did it to him. Showing blatant disrespect for that is not tolerated!” she warned sharply, causing Mirin to widen her eyes and hold up her paws in front of her, dropping her staff at the same time. “Ah, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean it like that!” she quickly apologized, looking sheepish and uncertain if she was going to be gutted on the spot or something. If these were normal Keldarians, she might have been, however, so I think I understood. Litta shook her head slowly at that, however, sheathing her sword after flicking it clean. It didn’t actually work like that in real life, but I assume some breaks from reality were acceptable. Heh. I wondered idly if there would ever be a videogame about following behind the ‘hero’ and cleaning up the messes they left behind. “I think all of us regret who we used to be to some extent. Getting irradiated was probably the best thing that’s ever happened to us, now that we understand what it was really doing. It’s like someone lifted a dark cloud from our eyes now, and… Well, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Litta pointed out, looking solemn again as Keela relaxed and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I was too big to fully hold anymore, but I could still be an oversized teddy bear if they needed me to. “Yeah. Silly high level energy that ignores physicality. That does explain why those heavy, lead layered, magically woven contamination suits didn’t do a thing to stop it, though…” Mirin muttered, blinking at that. I think she was more upset by the fact that her fancy suits hadn’t stopped it than that it had actually changed her. Keela exhaled into me, hugging me tighter as she buried her shorter muzzle into my mane. “I regret who I used to be, too, if only for it poisoning my memories,” she murmured, arms shaking a little. Mirin’s eyes softened at that, and Litta gave a weak smile as she sat down next to me and slid up against Keela, too. “We know you miss him still. You’re a smart girl, and you know he’s not coming back. We’re here to help you move on past it, though,” she reminded. Keela had tried three times to talk to that male since I knew her. Those were her first attempts after getting locked inside the facility with the rest of the team, to my knowledge. They’d gone, well, poorly. He blamed her for what her sister did to him, on account of not being able to rescue him sooner, or tell her sister to stop. From what I knew of ‘Nirru’, she was a complete monster, however, even if Keela couldn’t or refused to acknowledge that. I don’t think anything Nirru did was Keela’s fault, even if Keela’s lover couldn’t figure that out. Keela just nodded weakly, face still buried in the top of my head, and I rested against her neck, letting her hold me close. Even if I couldn’t really do anything, my mom had explained that just being there for somepony was often a huge help. Being an ear to listen to them, and a shoulder to cry on was what friends did. All six Keldarians here were my friends, I realized, and thanks to our energy affecting them, all six had changed. Keela had changed least of all, already being ‘purified’ of the negative energy that using their magic had built up in them. Mom had explained that it was a critical flaw in how they cast their spells that caused ‘buildup’ inside of them. It slowly corroded their own genetic code over the generations, causing the number of female births to dwindle drastically, and also lead to a ‘cloud’ of negative emotions to hamper their choices, built up over dozens of generations of hatred over their own situation. The energy inside of us pulled that tangling of energy apart at its source, and healed them. Litta nodded to me, then requested, “Unhook us, Azure. It’s getting late anyway, and we can keep gaming tomorrow.” Oh, right! I pulled up my inner clock program and noted that it was already twenty-two hundred hours. Yeah… We tended to lose track of time while playing inside my entertainment suite, especially on weekends. Nodding once, I unhooked all of their psyches from my network, and opened my eyes at the same time as them. Physical contact was required to hook into my psyche, and all three of them were still against me. Keela didn’t move at all, blinking once then snuggling into my chest as my right foreleg draped over her. Litta continued her yawn that she’d started as I disconnected them, this time for real as she stretched against my back. Mirin sat up from my waist after untangling her arms, and smirked down at Keela instead. “You know, you already use Azure like a big teddy bear, so it wouldn’t be a huge jump to-“ she started to suggest. “Finish that and you’ll be thinking you’re a frog for the next hour,” Keela warned, her left eye opening and giving Mirin a dangerously pointed glare. The blue haired Keldarian clamped her mouth shut, awkwardly looking away again as her sister started laughing. Sitting up off me, she grabbed Mirin, then pointed out, “Your mouth is going to get you in trouble one of these days, Sis. Let’s get you back to our room before you’re croaking.” I lifted an eyebrow, but Litta hauled her off us and out the door all of a meter away before I could ask. Looking to Keela, I noticed her having closed her eyes and buried her face into my chest fur again. Eh, she probably wouldn’t be upset. “Croaking?” I inquired, causing both her ears to perk up. She giggled, a soft and tickling vibration into my chest that made me squirm lightly. “The sound a frog makes,” she explained, eyes opening as she looked up at me in amusement. I was as big as they were now, but she liked curling up so she could rest against my barrel instead, and tuck my legs around her. She said it made her feel safe, and I understood that much, feeling the same way when Mom hugged me. Although Mom just gave me a smirk and snicker when I tried asking her about it instead. Ugh. Females were frustrating sometimes. “Good night, you two!” Litta called out behind us somewhere, as I heard their door shut. The main room’s lights dimmed anyway, the light coming through our door lessening as Keela relaxed further. They all had their ‘pajamas’ as they called them, which I guess made it easier to sleep. It was a bit confusing to me, really, given that I didn’t normally wear clothes and didn’t really understand the point. Litta’s pajamas were just a double slip of cloth that covered her chest and then a third between her legs, so I really didn’t know why she didn’t just take them off completely to sleep. They didn’t really look all that comfortable. Her sister, Mirin, wore her undershirt for a top, and also had a little slip between her legs that looked like a bigger version of what Litta wore, but seemed a bit looser and more comfortable. That was reasonable, I thought. Keela had a big, comfy looking overshirt on that typically went down to almost her knees, but also wore an even wider and looser slip thingy between her legs that covered her rump completely, too. She didn’t wear anything on her chest under the shirt though, so I decided hers was probably the most comfortable out of all of them. Mom had explained what a ‘teat’ was on females, and I didn’t really get why they felt the need to cover them up in the first place. Although frankly, the twins probably wore the least comfortable, as they went to bed in full bodied suits, it looked like! How they didn’t overheat was beyond me. “I really should get up and brush my teeth before bed,” she murmured a moment later. Despite that, she didn’t move, however. Huh. Deciding I should still probably ask, I started, “Um, do you still want me in here with-“ “Of course. You’ve been staying in here for a month and a half now. Why would it change tonight?” Keela inquired playfully, eyes opening again as she smiled up at me. Blushing, I shrugged weakly. She already knew that! Coughing, I reminded, “You know I have to ask. It feels like it’s a bad idea to get in the habit of assuming things. Assuming feels dangerous.” Normally she snickered at that, but this time her expression blanked, and I wondered what was on her mind. Was she still bothered over that last turn of conversation from the game? Her eyes softened, then she asked, “Um, you’re right, Azure. I shouldn’t assume either. Do you, um, mind staying in here with me at night? I don’t mean to use you like a teddy bear or something. You know that, right?” Oh. That. Smiling, I nodded to her. “Of course. I know that you’re hurting a lot and that I can at least listen and let you vent. That’s no problem at all. Staying in here, um, also helps me sleep. I can hear your heartbeat, and you smell good. Both relax me, so, well, thank you,” I assured, blushing a little at that. They always got all awkward and changed colors when I mentioned smells, despite Kyliona explaining that my nose was a few times better than theirs, apparently. Predictably, Keela turned pink in the cheeks, too, and I realized I’d made her feel awkward again. She stared into my eyes for a long moment before smiling softly, the blush still not fading. “You’re a lot like he used to be, which reminds me that everyone can have good qualities, too,” she commented finally, causing me to blink. How he used to be? Her smile widened, however, and she tacked on, “But you’re also enough not like him to make me realize that he’s no longer the boy I fell in love with. They’re right. I really do need to let what happened go.” I relaxed, realizing that’s what they’d been telling her all along. I didn’t know what she saw in me that caused her to come to that conclusion, but it was enough that she did, really. Did I care how it came about? If I was able to help her… My eyes widened and my brain completely shut down as her mouth pressed into mine. She leaned up into me, reaching up and cupping my head with both her paws as she kissed me softly. Instincts flared, and I let my forelegs slide up and hold her tighter, and she shivered against me, pressing fully into my chest with her eyes squeezed shut. Her smells were all around me, and I felt relaxed yet wound tight as she stayed against me for another long moment before leaning back again, face flushed and eyes still closed. Oh… Wow… Hers finally opened, but she didn’t look up into mine, and for a moment, she just lay there. I knew what a kiss was, and all the things they could mean after Mom’s ‘birds and bees’ talk with me earlier. After… other memories from Keela’s lover had started surfacing alongside the strange feelings and awkward washing incident with Litta, she’d said it was kind of needed. I’d not expected to actually kiss a female, though! “I… T-Thank you, Azure. You might have been, um, too young for that, but… you’ve helped me start to heal my heart, so thank you,” she whispered softly. She stood up before I could reply, hastily turning away from me, the tip of her tail flicking as she smoothed out her big overshirt again. My eyes traced up her form for a moment before locking on her twitching ears, wondering which of the torrent of emotions in my chest I should try to lock onto first. Her twitchy tail and ears indicated she had a lot on her mind, too, by the looks of it. “Keela…” I murmured, causing her to freeze suddenly. I hesitated, and she turned and looked back at me, her left eye locking with mine for the first time over her shoulder. She searched mine for a long moment, apparently not finding what she was looking for so nervously. She relaxed a second later, and I saw the corner of her mouth turn up into a softer smile. She looked back towards the bathroom a moment later, then snickered lightly to herself. “I’m not leaving. I just, um, want to brush my teeth before bed. Then I’ll be back,” she assured quietly. Her ears relaxed, and her tail twitches turned into sways instead, and I found myself easing back a bit more against the mattress before nodding. “Okay. See you in a bit,” I agreed, watching her head for the bathroom. Her scent was all around me still, and I closed my eyes. That was… new. I felt Mother smirk inside of me and shifted my attention there instead. My mom was relaxing there inside of me, then gave me a wink as I materialized. I suddenly felt kind of awkward, but she only grinned. “Relax. I was just wondering when she was going to admit to it. As much as I wouldn’t mind grandfoals, I do just want you to be happy, my son,” she pointed out, making my cheeks go scarlet. “I don’t think she’s going to do that with me. Sheesh. Maybe, um, it might have been just a thank you for being there for her, too,” I pointed out, plopping down in the emptiness in the room of light that we had constructed over the weeks. She rested on the sofa within, and lay back down before giggling. “If it makes you feel safer to think about it like that, go for it. Just don’t be surprised, or worse, break her heart, if she says otherwise,” she pointed out, earning a pause from me. Her heart. I cared about all of them. I’d grown to know all six of the Keldarians here. Kyliona was like a second mother or aunt. Litta and Mirin were like sisters, really. That made Kyre and Amre feel like little sisters. That was cemented further the few times they fell asleep while petting me, and I had to carry them back to their room and tuck them in. They were adorable… Keela used to feel like an older sister to me. She’d always been there to stick up for me, and give me advice and make sure I was taking care of myself, especially when I was younger. But now… My feelings blurred. I’d always thought she was cute. Was it… Was it wrong to be attracted to a species that wasn’t your own? Today reminded me, with that ‘Snapshot’, that I was fully capable of finding mares attractive, too, but… Keela was far more than just attractive, and not just in looks. It was because I felt so attached to her. But my feelings were all jumbled up. The only thing I could really make sense of was that I definitely didn’t mind kissing her. My Mom was obviously still there of course, and smirked. “That’s a good and important start. There’s nothing wrong with liking to kiss a pretty girl, mare or not. Especially if you share powerful feelings with her. There are at least three major species in our Equus. They don’t usually discriminate between race either, there. Love is love, and should be celebrated, no matter who is involved,” she reasoned, smiling softly at me. I relaxed and nodded back to her, feeling better already. Was it weird for a pony and Keldarian to be together? Not really. Both of us were sapient, and she seemed to fully know what she was doing. I think. Okay, I should ask her that… Mom giggled, then nodded to me as I shifted my attention back outside, noting the lights dimming. I briefly saw Keela’s silhouette against the bathroom light as she shut it off then turned, letting her over shirt drop from her right paw to the floor. My eyes widened as her darkened form sashayed back over, then she snickered and kneeled down on the edge of the bed next to me. “Relax, Azure. You don’t have an issue with clothing, and it’s more comfortable for me to sleep like this, so I was hoping you wouldn’t mind. If it does bother you, I can put it back on,” she whispered gently. I relaxed a little, looking up at her softly glowing eyes, her own inner magic shining through them. Slowly, I shook my head and locked onto what could easily be agreed to. “No, if you’re more comfortable without, then you’re obviously fine,” I assured. My uneasy confidence melted completely as she smiled, and then snuggled in, her chest pressing up against me instead as her magic lifted the blankets up and over us. She was doing this and didn’t really care! Why didn’t she care?! Why did I suddenly care?! I should be fine with nudity! “The kiss, Azure,” I heard my Mother helpfully remind inside of me. I snapped to focus immediately, then looked back to Keela, swallowing nervously. Her smile turned to a smirk almost instantly, and I wondered if this was one of those “It’s A Trap!” moments. “Um, w-what about that, um…” I whispered, swallowing after to try to get a hold on my nervousness. Keela pressed me backwards, seeming unfazed to the point where I swore I felt her smile against my chest fur. Swallowing, I uneasily looked back down at her as she snuggled into me and the mattress, letting the blankets settle around her form before answering regardless of my inability to ask. “It can mean anything you want it to mean, Azure. If you want it to be a thank you, I’ll leave it exactly at that. If you want it to be more than a thank you…” she started, then leaned up a little more and nuzzled me under the chin, getting me to shiver. Ah! That was cheating! “I don’t think I’d mind. You’ve started to capture my heart as well… even if I might have to share you if we escape to your Equus together,” she assured softly. My face couldn’t get much hotter without catching fire, I decided, and I swallowed nervously yet again. What I wanted? Wasn’t that selfish, though? But she said… No, was that a trick? Was she just telling me that to try to get me to say what I really wanted, or was she trying to honestly not influence me? My head spun with feelings, and I knew what I wanted, but ironically didn’t know if I was supposed to want it. Keela grinned, her furred body pressing gently against my chest as she relaxed there, feeling pleased with me holding her. Slowly, and hesitantly, I nodded to her, then leaned down just a little. She met me halfway, gently pressing her lips to mine again, giving another soft sigh before breaking away and smirking. “That’s as good an answer as any. We can talk more tomorrow, though. Try to get some rest, Azure,” she warned, tucking her head against my shoulder blades. Only three months here, and things had already started to get weird. Why did that sound familiar? * * * * * Another shockwave hit the building, dust falling down from the ceiling as it rumbled past. It was hard to believe those shells were hitting over a thousand kilometers away! I swallowed nervously, unable to even imagine the absurd explosion and destruction that was happening elsewhere. “Come on, Kyliona! We need to get going!” Keela shouted, tossing the last of the hard paperwork into the incinerator as we got everything packed up. “We need to finish this upload! It’s almost done, and with it, we’ll have everything we need to make a portal to Equus elsewhere in space,” Kyliona returned, watching the last of the papers scan into the machine, it transferring the data into the database so it was ready to be carried to the ship. Keela frowned, looking over to Litta, who was throwing on her jacket and nodded in return. “Let’s go, Keela. Kyliona and Azure will be evacuated to us before we can leave regardless. She’s team leader,” she reasoned. The pink haired Keldarian frowned still and hesitantly looked over at me, and I gave her my best assuring smile and nod. We locked eyes for a hesitant moment, and she stormed over and glared at me from an inch away. “You’d better make it up there, Mister. I’m not losing you, too, okay?” she ordered at an undeniable, point blank range. Not that I was planning on denying it, but… “I’m not going to leave you, Keela. Nothing will stop me from seeing you again, don’t worry,” I assured, smiling softly at her. She relaxed, eyes softening for a moment before she pulled me up against her and kissed me right on the lips. I smiled into her kiss, and she returned that, too, her tongue lingering against mine for just a moment before she backed off and grinned at me. “You’ll get that and a lot more if you make it onto the ship. Now hurry up,” she ordered, winking at me before turning and heading after Litta, who was also smirking now. Kyliona gave her a skeptical smirk as well, adding, “I still don’t know why I let you do this. It’s either fraternizing with an employee or tampering with a specimen.” Litta grinned at that, then suggested, “Why can’t it be wooing a friend? They didn’t actually mate yet, so I don’t think you can call that ‘tampering’ with the-“ My blush was rather apparent, but Keela’s was almost full faced as she flailed at Litta, who only laughed and danced away from her, then stuck her tongue out. “Careful. You’re sitting next to me on the launch shuttle. Now come on. Catch up fast, you two!” Keela reminded. Kyliona gave an absent nod, then smiled at them as she turned back to typing rapidly at her computer. Both Keldarians nodded back, and then they were gone, the door closing behind them. I watched the door slide shut, then swallowed again, feeling that apprehension build back up now that Keela was gone. I wanted my promise to be true, but being a ‘specimen’, I couldn’t just walk out of here on my own. I needed to be escorted out by the lab director, and pretend to be a dumb animal as to not raise suspicions. She’d already made some bogus story about finding out she was wrong about the radiation. Then we sail out on an escape ship, use my Mom and my energy radiation to ‘infect’ the entire ship, and then take all the willing Keldarians with us to Equus and try to start a new life, far away from war, hatred, and all of this pain. I’d be taking Keela and all the others with me. I smiled at that thought, then realized it rather abruptly. “Half a year ago, wouldn’t it be strange to see them play fighting like that?” I pointed out, looking at where they had been in the lab just a minute before. Kyliona smiled softly as she burned up the last of the paperwork, then checked the upload bar on her laptop again. “Yeah, I agree fully. It’s a welcome sight, isn’t it, Azure? If only all of us could be like that. I think your energy is the key to saving our whole race,” she agreed, turning and smiling at me fully. I nodded in return, and she walked up and rubbed me on the nose, that soft and warm smile on her muzzle. I watched her for a moment, curious, as she shook her head again. “I was still considering staying behind to spread the energy to the rest of the council, but… I think you might be right. I’m starting to feel too old for all this, and with the latest reports…” she murmured, looking back to her laptop. The siege had started two days ago. The Grosh fleet had warped in practically out of nowhere. Intel from our ‘allies’ had warned that they might have developed a new long range warp drive technology that could deliver ships to fixed points with little to no warning, but the council had ignored the threat. Our ‘allies’ had prepared, and warped out less than two hours after the Grosh had arrived, and well before the warships had gotten anywhere near their defensive lines. We were stuck almost as sacrificial bait as the council and important dignitaries were evacuated first. Now it was our turn, still almost a full day in estimate before the siege would hit this part of the planet. The planet was lost, and the death count staggering now. Shaking my head, I pointed out, “You have the energy sample data drops ready, and the council is evacuating potentially with enough Keldarians to restart the race elsewhere. There’s no need for you to personally deliver the samples and data, Kyliona. Come live with us.” She smiled softly at me and nodded her head, indeed looking tired. Her laptop beeping snapped her out of it a moment later, and she glanced over at it. “Ah, the upload is done. Initiating transfer into your cybernetics for safe keeping,” she announced. Her computer beeped again, accepting the instructions and starting the transfer. “That’ll take another four minutes, then we’ll leave. And you can get back to your sweetheart all the sooner,” she teased, winking at me as I blushed again. “You think we’re weird, don’t you?” I asked, never having gotten a straight answer out of her yet. She paused for a moment, then gave me a soft smile, shaking her head. “Azure, I’ll always love you, no matter what choices you make. I also love Keela, like she were a daughter. You two being happy is more than enough for me. Your mom’s right. Love in any form should be celebrated,” she assured, rubbing a paw across my cheek at the same time. I smiled to her, then both of us gave a start as the door opened a moment later. Her eyes looked to me knowingly, and she nodded as she finished closing up the plastic casing on my container, me sniffing idly through one of the air holes at the new individual entering. “Are you sure you should be that close to the specimen, Doctor? It might not have the radiation like you suspected, but it could still be dangerous,” the male voice suggested. I didn’t recognize the Keldarian standing there, but he gave me a look of utter annoyance, and I immediately didn’t like him. He didn’t look much bigger than me, and his hair was a boring, slightly darker shade of blue from his coat. He kept it short cropped on top of his head in a military-looking cut. Kyliona gave a start, then turned to look at the well armored officer standing before her. “You? What are you doing here?” she asked, giving him a frown. He rolled his eyes, then gave a shrug in return before answering, “I was stupid enough to take back my position at special operations, and now they ordered me to make sure you were out and on a drop ship. You may not like it, and I know I don’t like it, but you’ll have to be escorted out by me.” Did Kyliona know him? She exhaled, then nodded, gesturing at her computer. “It’s got three minutes left on the transfer, then we can go. The specimen is invaluable, however, and is coming on board with me. It’s also without danger. Herbivore, as you should know, and docile as a lamb,” she revealed, sounding bored instead and shifting back to her neutral tone I hadn’t heard in a long time. She was good at acting… The nameless Keldarian nodded absently to her before wandering over and staring at me like I was an animal in a zoo or something. He didn’t even look interested really, and I saw nothing but a cold calculation in his eyes. He almost looked through me before exhaling softly and shaking his head. “Just to clear the air, I never had anything against any of your research, Doctor. You’re an amazing scientist, and are really on to something. It was Keela that made me leave…” he spoke up, looking almost remorseful for a moment while he frowned and looked over his shoulder at the doctor. My eyes widened a little as he looked away. Wait, he was the dick that had dumped Keela?! Now I just wanted to buck him in the face for all the pain he’d put her through. Of course, if he were still with Keela, she wouldn’t have wanted to be with me. Huh… Okay, now I was conflicted. I didn’t want her to have been hurt, but I also really didn’t want to share her or not have her. Mom started giggling in my head at my predicament, and I inwardly scowled at her. “I know that. I’m pretty sure all of us knew the reason you left the project,” Kyliona assured, turning back around to lean on the table the laptop was on and look at the two of us. It was a bit weird to think that this was the donor of my own augmented DNA. That meant I could technically pass as him with security checks and various other electronic- His hand whipped up a moment later. I almost didn’t track it as a spike of barrier energy flicked up and smashed right through Kyliona’s stomach, momentarily impaling her to the table before the energy dissipated an instant later. My eyes widened, as did hers as she reached down to touch at the hole in her stomach, her shirt running crimson suddenly. “Then for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. Your lab is in the opportune area for the bomb’s release system, and the cybernetics in your specimen has the optimal operating system for it,” he apologized softly, watching her slide down the table and fall to the floor. I felt frozen, my vision running red an instant later. The shards of reinforced plastic went into the side of his head as my hoof cratered the left portion of his face in, my scream of rage echoing through the lab as I sent him flying almost four meters and crashing into the leftover supply crates. He smashed through them and rolled, coming up to his feet and whipping his hand up, the spear of energy expanding towards me, only to crash to the side as the barrier coating my hoof parried it, knowing exactly what he was going to do. There was nothing left to the front of my container, and I quickly hopped out of it, whipping my other hoof downwards as I dropped. He looked somewhat surprised at my use of magic before falling into a roll and barely dodging the crash of my hammer impact, it rupturing the floor apart with energy as he cleared the distance, yanking a dagger out of his belt. I didn’t care. His expression shifted to actual surprise when I caught his arm with my own foreleg, and he couldn’t push my leg away enough to stab me. There was no way a Keldarian was going to overpower an Earth Pony. Snarling, I instead head butted him in the face, hearing his nose crunch under my forehead. Images of Kyliona falling burned into my mind and before he could even fully stumble back, I screamed again and drove both of my forehooves right into his stomach. There was nothing to cushion his impact that time, and he slammed hard enough into the door to dent it with his armor, him falling to the floor a moment later. No, not enough. Glancing to Kyliona, I saw her not moving still, and bit back the knot in my throat with rage instead. Looking back to the Keldarian, I ran at him again, fully intending to stomp on his skull until it crushed under my hooves like a watermelon. He coughed once, and gasped out, “Override P12z!” My eyes widened as my hoof froze all of four centimeters from his head, my muscles suddenly refusing to move. What?! Gasping and coughing, he struggled out from under me, barely managing to sit up against the door. Blood was smeared all over his face, and his stomach armor that I hadn’t noticed prior was dented inwards and snapped across the front plate. “Holy hell! You’re a complete monster!” he groaned out, staring at me in shock. I wanted to break his face in, and strained against my own muscles. Why wouldn’t they move?! “I’m the monster?!” I hissed out, him widening his eyes a little more. “Calm down. Focus. You can’t move, but you’re not helpless,” I heard Mother whisper in my mind suddenly. Her own focus drifted into me, and my eyes narrowed. His reaction speed was impressive. Most of his right ear landed at the base of the door, my energy blade expanding out from my own face to impale his head. He screamed in pain, clutching the bloody side of his head before reaching for something else at his side. My second attack, pulling the energy blade to the right to decapitate him, smashed into something hard, the energy fracturing as my eyes widened. He held a book out in front of him. It was black and dark orange in color, and it generated an immensely powerful shield that halted my attack. I strained against it, but it suddenly felt like I was pushing against a mountain! What the hell?! “Aaah! Damn it! No, I’m done with this! I only need your body, after all. Prudentia, activate. Use the remaining power we gathered and completely erase that monster’s mind! Oh, and erase all memory of it from the scientists. They’re probably in orbit already, and I don’t need them blabbing on me to the council if I don’t rescue their precious experiment,” he suddenly spoke out loud. My eyes widened, as I suddenly recognized what that was. An Aegis Artifact?! “No!” Mom screamed, leaping in front of me in my own mind, dozens of barriers expanding out and around us. I winced, trying to pull her back, but she snarled and refused to move, holding the barriers tight. Half a second passed, and the male frowned suddenly, looking down at his book instead. Another long three seconds passed as he turned and opened it instead. “Wait, what? Not allowed to target myself with any effects? But that’s not… wait… you’re the monster they gave my DNA to, aren’t you?” he asked quietly, wincing as he looked up at me again with frustration flashing into his eyes. He didn’t look nearly so dignified with his head almost nothing but blood, and I only growled low at him. I wanted him to die so badly that I could taste it. I couldn’t see Kyliona from my current position either. Was she okay? She knew some healing magic, but wasn’t nearly as good at it as Mirin was! “Tch, I can’t erase you, and I don’t think I could kill you in a one on one fight, so time for the next best thing. Ignoring you,” he finally decided, hauling his own backpack off and tearing it open with his claws. My mind raced. I had verbal computer commands that I apparently didn’t know about. Was it possible for me to figure them out and activate them myself? He obviously didn’t know I could talk before this, so he might not have prepared for that… I tried to bring up my access console, but found myself locked out instead. Mentally trying to remember my own passwords, I started inputting them rapidly while disrupting the failure exceptions it kept throwing. No locking me out this time. My eyes flicked back to him as he pulled out a black suitcase and opened it up, withdrawing what looked like a large timer, data console, and wiring connected to a plastic case filled with black goo. He kept his barrier up the entire time, and carefully shaped it as he kicked the case towards me, the console activating. “Damage it at all and it goes off, ending all life in the universe. Wait for it to finish and sacrifice yourself, and it kills only the Grosh, saving those you love who are in orbit right now. Your choice, Monster. Activation code R35a,” he explained, finishing with another release code for me. My chest panel opened up, and one of my cable releases popped out of it, extending out of my chest. Damn it! Passwords flicked through my display as Mom started to bring up her own console. She was about as trained as I was at this dimension’s technology, having been very curious about how it all worked, and started helping me by directly digging into the code behind the prompt, trying to pick up response cues. My screen went haywire behind my eyes as whatever it was connected to my chest and code started spewing across it, injecting itself into my operating system. How did he have so much access to me?! He stood a moment later, sliding through the sparking, partially opened door and stumbling into the darkened hallway as he held his head again, coughing. I think I broke a few of his ribs, too. To my surprise, he hesitated and glanced back for a brief moment before adding, “I didn’t want to have to kill her, but she shouldn’t have still been here. This is for the greater good. You’ll understand eventually.” The anger spiked in me again and I wanted to scream, my vocal cords locking up too as I fought against my own body. That monster! That complete monster! I could barely think, a flare of pain shooting through my shoulder as I felt something pop as I strained against myself. I winced, tears coming to my eyes both in pain and frustration, but he was gone by the time I blinked them away. Damn it! No, this couldn’t be happening… My mind whirled, eyes forcing themselves to the left as far as they could go, but still unable to see Kyliona. I wanted to run to her and make sure she was okay. Heal her somehow, or patch up her wound! No, she was tough and a powerful mage! There was no way a stupid attack like that would kill her! The chair in my peripheral vision moved a little, and my eyes widened. The lights flickered and dimmed as the entire room shook again, almost tipping me over from the shockwave. An idea flicked through me, and I used the movement to rock myself to the left, slowly turning in place with stifled hopping motions. This would have looked stupidly silly if I was in any mood to laugh, my right foreleg raised up still from trying to stomp his skull in as I hopped about in place. Kyliona crawled up slowly to the chair, bumping it a bit before crying out and clutching her stomach. My eyes widened, and I thrashed against my own body, fighting to get it to move. She panted for a second, her hand glowing under her body before she hauled herself up and into the chair, shaking there for a moment. The wound on her stomach was bad, her fur stained red, but there was an orange glow from it now, as a small barrier covered the wound. “Knew I should have… Ha. Picking up some healing techniques seems like a good idea now. Hindsight and all,” she muttered, giving a weak smile as she looked down at me. My eyes felt watery as I tried to tell her to stop talking, but couldn’t move my throat or mouth. She stared blankly at me for a moment before looking down at the device plugged into my chest. To my surprise, she continued, in a surprisingly stronger tone, "I should have known that would come back to haunt me. There's no running from your past, Azure. I've... I'm the real monster. I wanted a second chance so bad, but some things you have to pay for." I looked down at the thing, not understanding what it was in the first place, let alone how it could really do what that monster had suggested. I wanted to pull the plug out of me, but that might set it off, too. Instead, I returned my attention to attempting to hack into my own systems. Kyliona smiled weakly, then glanced over at her laptop, now splattered red across the left side of the screen. I'd seen her use it before, but didn't know why she pulled the cord up out of the side of her neck and brought it down to plug into the computer. She had cerebral implants at the base of her head that were used for processing and data storage. Mom was a few steps ahead of me already, and smiled as she dismissed the command prompt, getting us past the lockdown and into root access. The bomb had already wired into my systems, however. It was a bomb. A surprisingly small bomb, that had a very weird chemical mixture for its explosive formula. I didn't understand the composition at all, and neither did Mom by the looks of her frown. "It's a weapon of mass destruction. Biological in nature. I helped make it, and it’s one of my biggest regrets. I engineered that thing to be able to move at faster than light speeds. It’s… No, all of that isn’t important. It has a flaw,” Kyliona whispered, starting to rapidly type into her computer. Everything was locked down still, and I couldn’t figure out a way to gain access to the bomb. It was heavily encrypted and had an actual firewall installed that was filtering out anything sent to it. The timer was set for ten minutes, and there was no way that I could possibly break through it in time. Wait, a flaw? Looking back up at her, I saw her smile as she typed rapidly at her computer. “I’m setting up… Ah! Tch… I’m setting up a code injection for it. It’s plugged into you now and I can see everything he’s set it up to change. I can’t stop the changes, as he’s already started them… but I can change a few things back afterwards. This will give you back… control…” she murmured, looking tired for a moment, then wincing again as more blood spilled into her lap. I strained against my own muscles, eyes widening as I wanted to rush over and help her instead of me! Mom surprised me by accessing my command prompt instead and typing into it. “You need medical attention,” appeared in the upper corner of Kyliona’s display a moment later. The Keldarian smiled at that, then murmured, “That’s not how Azure talks. I… No, I really did believe you existed the whole time, Gem. We’ll meet soon enough, I think. No, my injury may or may not be fatal, but it doesn’t matter. I… I tried to stop it. But no. I can’t believe it, but… He was a monster. I tried, but the bomb’s already activated. There’s no way that I could even get into orbit before it explodes, so I’m dead anyway, even if I wanted to just abandon your son. Which I won’t…” What?! “Is it too late, then?” my Mom typed into her display. Kyliona relaxed, then added a few more lines of coding to the injection before looking at me fully. With some level of finality, she hit the enter button on the laptop, and I watched an ‘uploading’ bar start. “It will be launched anyway, but… there’s a weakness. A split second code injection into the firewall protocols themselves when they’re scanning a new, incoming link can overwrite them if its less than four hundred milliseconds transfer time. With that, I can use the security hole to inject this code directly into the changes that he plugged into the bomb,” she explained, surprisingly calmly as she turned to look at me fully, crossing her hands in her lap to also cover up the hole through her stomach. Four hundred…? But not even plugging something into me could process against the firewall that fast! That wasn’t possible to- A spike of pain went through me an instant later, and Mom’s eyes widened as she spun her attention around and back to me. I gasped, blood suddenly oozing lightly into my mouth from inside as it felt like I was being torn in half. My spine was adjusting itself inside of me, and I tried to scream but couldn’t as white hot flashes of agony burned through my body. From inside of it somewhere, I heard Kyliona’s voice. “Relax, Azure. Stop tensing your muscles and let them change. He programmed you to age rapidly to physical maturity, and I can’t stop it. I see his intent now, and it’s sick. He means to ‘repopulate’ the Keldarians in Equus, and use your reproductive abilities to do so, alongside the DNA from every Keldarian on the planet after the weapon’s killed them. He’s a monster…” she murmured. Everything was hazy, but my eyes slowly opened up again, the right one stained a red tint for some reason. My body felt heavy, and I still couldn’t move as I felt my legs lengthening and elongating, bones warping and twisting under the nanites’ manipulation. Kyliona just stared sadly at me, blood dripping to the floor now from her stomach. She looked just tired now, and exhaled weakly. “He’s put special instructions to go and eat him, too. He’s pretending to be a soldier on the front lines right now. Pretending to protect while dooming them all. He thinks uploading his data onto your fourth core and taking you over biologically will give him control… heh. I’ve cut the shielding. It will fry his personality core and hopefully any lingering traces of him during the dimensional transit he has planned. You’ll be going home without any of us, Azure. I’m sorry…” she whispered, explaining more as she closed her eyes. But… I promised Keela… Mother frowned, and started typing again. “But the connection speed isn’t fast enough to get past the firewall,” she reminded, it popping up on top of the finished upload window now. The Keldarian just chuckled, then coughed, wincing as she clutched at her stomach for a moment, then relaxed again. Slowly, she rested for another few seconds before quietly explaining, “That’s the weakness of the weapon. We never fixed it before the project was put on pause. They wanted the minds and information of those eaten by it. They’re connected to the system directly to upload it.” Eh? She smiled, looking up at me with eyes half-mast as she tapped the back of her head. “It’s too late. After it eats me, it will be too late… The code injection will fire off when it tries to download my data. I’ll be literally as close as I can be to you then… transfer times negligible…” Her voice failed, and she winced again as my eyes widened. No. No, I couldn’t… The bomb was going to make me eat her?! No! No, hell no! I tried twisting and thrashing again, but Kyliona just smiled weakly. “I… No, I know now that I couldn’t avoid paying for making… I made such a monstrous thing. If my life can mean you can live free, then I’ll gladly… Azure, don’t ever let anyone tell you who you are,” she whispered, wincing again as I felt warmth start to run down my cheeks. No, she didn’t deserve any of this! This wasn’t how things were supposed to go at all! We were all supposed to escape to Equus and be happy! The bomb next to me started beeping rapidly, the black goo boiling up and shattering out of its container as it merged into my body. My eyes widened as black veins shot up my leg, and I tried to scream again as it felt like it was dipped in acid. Kyliona’s eyes softened, her breathing turning shallow, but her smile never waning. “You are you. This won’t change you, Azure. Never let them tell you otherwise. They wanted to use you for themselves. They can’t have you. I won’t let them, ever… Please, Azure. Even if they come after you… Destroy them,” she whispered, eyes closing afterwards. My body warped and twisted under me, and I heard my jaw crack as I fought with everything I had to scream out. Run, get away, get medical help, anything! Tears flowed down my face, and Mom pulled inwards again, wrapping her hooves hard around me as the bomb released one long beep, and then I felt my body pop. My viewpoint exploded, and rushed up towards Kyliona’s face in an instant of pure horror. She just smiled, though. “I love you,” I managed to whisper, watching a single tear go down her cheek. * * * * * I screamed, over and over again. The chorus of millions screamed around me, the world twisting and churning below. Clutching at the sides of my head, my entire body thrashed in agony, its millions upon millions of limbs lashing out. I couldn’t think through the pain, somehow still awake despite my body being constantly ripped apart in every direction at once. I cried and I screamed and I lashed out, barely able to tell where I was aiming. The Grosh were still in orbit. I could see them. I didn’t breath anymore, and this was all their fault anyway. They died first. They tried to shoot me. I ate their bullets. I ate the energy of their lasers, too. Then I ate their ships. I ate them. Slowly. They needed to feel it. There was no thinking. There was too much thinking. Screaming; they were all howling in a symphony of pain and anguish. Everything they ever were, and ever could have been was ended in an instant and added to me. They were all a part of me, and we rampaged across the planet, killing everything. The ones that did this needed to die. But it was a hurricane around me, and I couldn’t think. The soft glow came back slowly, and my eyes closed, gentle forelegs wrapping around me. We drifted, no longer in nothingness, but instead in a hellish storm of screaming and twisting faces, paws, claws, teeth, eyes… Everything whirled around us in raw hatred, but they couldn’t touch the glowing light. It burned them, and Mother held me tight, smiling as we stayed in the middle, safe. Out of the darkness, Kyliona walked as well, no injuries now and not burned by the glow. She sat down near us and smiled upwards at the whirling abyss going into the sky. “It’s like trying to shout into a hurricane. What have I created?” she whispered, their screams not reaching us here. She’d tried talking to them… “You didn’t make this,” Mom reminded, no hesitation in her voice at all as she didn’t budge in releasing me in the slightest. I didn’t want to let go anyway. The tears wouldn’t stop, and I knew I’d never see Keela or the others again now. Everything had fallen apart in less than ten minutes. Everything I had to be happy about was falling away, but I had my mother still. She was with me, and said she’d never leave me, ever. A pulse of green light went through everything a moment later. I winced, but no additional pain came. I’d had enough of the pain for forever if I could help it. The pain was too much to think about. Shakily, I looked away from Mom’s fur for a moment, and saw Kyliona smiling at a small kitten face that was winking at her. She reached out and touched it, and the whole area glowed a soft green as we started to rapidly drift upwards instead. “Checkmate,” Kyliona announced, with a soft smile. My eyes slowly opened. I felt massive. So impossibly huge I couldn’t even fathom it all, so many parts of me to move that it hurt my head to think about, but I was somehow instinctively doing it. The tentacles along my underside stopped attacking the planet and the Keldarians. The Keldarians in orbit stopped dodging and weaving as I stopped attacking them, too. I saw the orbital science pod escaping, from one of my millions of eyes, and weakly smiled. They escaped. The Grosh continued to die, but I didn’t like them, so that was fine. I could hear him as I stirred inside my huge body. “The moment of my ascension. Finally. It’s all realized,” he muttered, sounding injured but obviously still egotistical. Slowly, my head molded out of my body, its original size, and I came face to face with the one Keldarian I desperately wanted to kill above all. Shock didn’t even cut it, as more a look of pure dumbfounded surprise came over his expression. Ah, I knew that sensation. When you just saw something so mind numbingly stupid, or so horrifically unexpected that your brain couldn’t even process a reasonable response to it. “You’re… You’re you, still?” he finally managed to mutter out, his arms still extended as three of my tentacles were embedded into his body, slowly merging with him. It was slightly weird feeling Kyliona’s face extend out from my right ‘shoulder’, and Mom’s extend from my left. Kyliona gave him a wry smile, however, then pointed out, “You should have made sure I was dead.” He blinked once, looking even more confused before the three tendrils reformed completely. They turned into a massive Keldarian ‘paw’ instead, unfortunately for him, complete with claws. Kyliona snarled and whipped her new arm sideways in an instant. His eyes widened in slow motion, his body falling backwards into three amazingly neatly sliced pieces. He didn’t get the peace of rest regardless, Mom suddenly screaming in rage. A large, concrete reinforced hoof crashed into his face an instant later. I watched his cheek slowly cave inwards, spit and bits of broken teeth go flying out the other side of his mouth as his eyes bulged out. She cratered his upper half into the ground almost a meter away from the rest of him, shattering most of his cheekbone and yet again making his head a bloody mess. He twitched there, staring in shock off to the right as he went from ascending to some higher existence in his mind, to dying instead while lying on the broken remains of his planet he failed to protect. “Stay the hell away from my son! You’re never going to touch him,” my mom spat out, glaring at him with the most stabbing rage I’d ever seen. I relaxed, resting against her shoulder inside of me, and her expression softened as she pulled me close again. She had always been protecting me. For a really long time. It was hard for me to fathom how long she’s been in this world, looking over me. He lay there, being nothing more than a head and partial set of shoulders now. Shock was still apparent in his only working eye now, mouth hanging open. No, he needed to see. My mind extended, my magic not taking any form in particular apart from the sheer emotional vibrations Mom had taught me how to feel so long ago. “I don’t know your name, but I give this to you. You deserve to know what you’ve done before you die,” I managed to say, evenly and without screaming at him. I knew what hate was now, and wished I didn’t. But even if I hated him, he needed to see. He started screaming. Over and over again, I gave it all to him. Every last memory. Every last moment of every Keldarian he just murdered. Using the raw empathy waves, I pushed the memories and feelings right into his mind, and kept pushing. Time lost all meaning, and it felt like I was crying as I shoved them all right into his skull as hard as I could. He lay there, no longer moving and eye staring vacantly at the rock in front of him, twitching occasionally by the time I’d stopped. He knew them all. He was now intimately aware of every single life he’d just ended. It was the same present he’d just given me all of five minutes ago. Now he knew how they felt. He saw them now. “What have I done?” he whispered. His mouth wasn’t moving, and I didn’t care. I hated him. They hated him. We hated him. His mind couldn’t handle his own guilt, and I watched him inwardly scream, fighting against the very thing he became. His timer went off in my mind, and I closed my eyes. It was too late. This was all I could do. I felt my body start to pull itself back together again. Space folded in upon itself in impossible ways, the knowledge of the Keldarians and their allies making it so it could overlap so easily, a thousand times over, then another thousand times on that. I felt myself inside of the subspace, unharmed and unhurt. Slowly, my body pulled inwards more and more, condensing and shrinking as I drifted. “It’s time to leave, Azure,” Kyliona murmured, pulling back into me. My mother gave me a nuzzle on the other side, withdrawing as well as I turned and started to drift away from the tormented, broken mess that was the nameless Keldarian who’d doomed them all. It was already too late for him. His plan had failed, in the worst way imaginable. My hooves landed on the broken rock, my gravity warping and twisting around me as the stabilizers kicked in, shattering stones apart to dust as they floated into the air near me. I was no longer me, containing a billion or more other souls inside of me, but I was me all the same. Kyliona and Mom had said so. I would never not be me. Huge wings of light opened on my back, the burning energy of the Wings of Icarus opening up and the atmosphere exploding into prismatic hues. A prism. I could almost see the rainbow light as it drifted before my eyes, reality itself melting away on my uncontrolled jaunt towards Equus. A rainbow, huh? Behind me, I felt it. For just half a second, that evil inside of him won. A consciousness made up of all of the twisted, dark hatred inside of him opened its eyes. Using the shards of his destroyed Aegis Shield that drifted around him, it used a ritual I’d never seen before. My eyes widened as it targeted the only thing it knew about. The spell hit my fourth CPU core barely half a second before everything exploded into light, and reality burned away…
Chapter 92The sun was almost below the horizon, the lights along the street illuminating my way as I walked. I'd grown calmer, and more peaceful the closer I got to the castle. There was nothing in this world that I couldn't manage perfectly fine, and now I felt complete. There was nothing missing from my knowledge of myself. I understood my sadness revolving around Kyliona, and realized she was still inside of me. I'd gotten to meet my parents, and found out that I carried a link with my mother that would never be lost. I'd even come to understand why it had been so easy for me to accept Keela, and her for me in return. I also had a sneaking suspicion I knew who the rest of her science team was now, quite intimately. But that was a question for Purdue later tonight. For now... I looked up at the rather imposing gate, the towering castle behind it. I could see how it could be intimidating, but for me, it just felt comforting instead. Far better than the first time I was here, anyway. It wasn't nearly as surprising this time when both Day Guards, one to each side of the gate, saluted me as I approached. The one on the left was brief, and revealed, "We've been expecting you, Captain Moon Mender. The hospital sent a message ahead of you, and Princess Celestia is most interested in seeing you immediately in the throne room." His voice was soft despite the brief tone. Or maybe it was a she in disguise? It was hard to tell with the enchanted armor on, which was the point, of course. I nodded to the guard and just stepped past as they opened the gate for me. It always felt like I was underdressed when I spoke to them. The castle normally being a shining beacon of diplomacy and order, I was a bit surprised to hear bickering the closer I got to the main gate. "No, I'm not sharing responsibility for this. We literally just returned to active duty. You were completely out of control!" was spoken in a stallion's voice. I raised an eyebrow in idle interest, the owner of the voice sounding familiar. As I got within a stone's throw of the castle wall, I noticed two very familiar looking Night Guards instead. Oh Celestia, it was them. They didn't appear to be actively guarding the door to the palace, so I hoped that I'd at least have a clear passage this time. I wasn't the same pony they'd harassed before, and resolved to simply ignore them. Failing that, petty revenge by tossing them into the courtyard fountain sounded pleasant. I was done trying to act the perfect white Knight at this point. "You at least verbally chipped in! Come on, we're buds, right? I'm not asking you to take the blame. Just to back me up when explaining things to the board," the other stallion pleaded. The last time I'd seen him, he was being violated by a very irate rodent after a tree limb landed on him, both events courtesy of Malice, I now knew. Heh. The other, slightly larger bat pony rolled his eyes and exhaled. Okay, no, that was an improper term. I think they were officially called 'Lunar Ponies', or just Lunars for short. I remembered reading about them in that history book now, something about Princess Luna sponsoring them in order to help them better fit in with the rest of the phenotypes or something. She built her Night Guard almost exclusively from their ranks, I heard. "Look, you know I'm concerned, too. Don't forget, we're both up for review. I just don't think trying to petition your innocence is going to promote the image you think it will. Personally, I'd rather plead guilty and apologize profusely," he pointed out. Oh, actually take responsibility for what he did? Okay, he earned back points with me. I idly wondered what exactly being up for review entailed as I instead headed for the door. Of course, even without Malice's direct influence, I wasn't nearly that lucky. Well, of the good variety, anyway. The bigger guard widened his eyes, finally spotting me as I was about to pass by. Of course, this encouraged the smaller, more annoying one to turn and look my way, too, also looking momentarily surprised. "You!" he immediately exclaimed. Exhaling, I tried my very hardest not to roll my eyes as I stopped and turned my head towards him. One chance. He got once chance to not attack me, then he was getting the fountain. "Flare!" the other hissed, shifting to annoyed instead as the smaller one made a sharp beeline for me. Flare snorted, then assured, "Relax, Starfall, I'm not going to lay a hoof on him." That he was right about, in more ways than he realized. "Do you need something?" I inquired, calming myself and trying to at least remain civil. His comment about Fluttershy threatened to make be buck his face in regardless as it burned suddenly to the forefront of my mind. "Yeah, I just wanted to say that I hope you're happy. Your whining has gotten Star and me put up for review, and at the worst possible time! We could have even been eligible for that new posting, and we're up for transfer! So I hope you at least understand what you've done to us," he announced. I stared blankly at him, rather surprised at his level of conceited arrogance, and not entirely sure where he was going with this. Starfall just slapped his own forehead with a hoof, then ran up next to him in a surprising hurry. "He doesn't mean any of that, Sir. He's just had a bad time of things since the incident, and it's been a rough recovery, especially with the infection and other complications from the squirrel bites," he excused, earning a more legitimate blink of awkwardness from me. Infection? Flare glared pointedly at him, of course, then shot back with, "Sir? What are you, his best friend now? And why are you telling him about that?! He possibly ruined our chances with DReg!" Oh Celestia. These two had been potentially considered for guarding the dimension?! Well, okay, so the one wasn't too bad, but seriously... Exhaling, I finally spoke up with, "It's a good thing to take responsibility for what you did. Your friend could stand to listen to you a bit more. I didn't realize you were up for transfer to Dimensional Regulation, though." The smaller one looked furious, but his friend nodded to me, then surprised me a bit by adding, "I'm also sorry for our behavior. We're completely new to the force and I don't think we were ready for such a high posting. We, uh, might have also had a bit to drink prior. It's in the report." Ah, so he admitted that officially. I wasn't expecting the apology, though. I started to nod to him when Flare stomped twice, looking frustrated before admitting, "Okay, look, fine. I was in the wrong, and I'll even apologize! But we really, really need help. DReg's highest members are meeting after the festival for the official transfer of guards, and our hearing is scheduled for then. That's tomorrow! Frankly, we're sunk without some sort of out. You here is like some sort of miracle, and I never thought I'd admit that... If you could go before the DReg board and say that we officially and sincerely apologized to you, we might just be accepted still!" Oh. That's what he wanted... His friend instead blanched completely, then looked between us before stammering, "Flare, what are you doing?! You know who this is, right?! You can't just-" Oh, so he did know who I was. Well, at least one of them did, anyway. Although admittedly, now I was curious. "Shut it, Star! We need this! Nopony has to know we made a deal. I'll even pay you! Please!" the smaller one begged, surprising me a bit yet again. Why was this so important to him? Sighing, I looked to Star instead and asked, "Who exactly is on the council?" He seemed at least slightly more informed, anyway. He gave me a weak, sheepish smile before saluting and informing, "Prince Shining Armor, who arrived yesterday, Princess Twilight Sparkle, who is set to arrive tomorrow afternoon, Princess Luna, and if you fully recovered in time, which it appears you have, you as well, Captain. Head researcher of DReg and one of two ponies completely in charge of the branch." His list of my titles wasn't aimed at me, but instead hissed violently at his friend, who sat down in shock while staring at me instead. Averting my gaze, that awkward sensation bubbling up that came whenever somepony referenced me by my ill deserved position, I instead corrected, "I'm technically only in charge of the research and tactics. Prince Shining Armor is the one who's commanding the guards. Twilight also does most of the operational stuff." Star remained saluting me, and Flare also remained staring with his jaw slack. At least I knew that Twilight was coming to Canterlot tomorrow regardless. That meant the meeting with her parents could be far less awkward with her actually there instead. If I could find a place to stay tonight, I could at least leave with her tomorrow. I wondered idly who else was coming with her. Was it all of the Elements? They were technically all part of DReg. "So, why do both of you want to join DReg?" I asked, glancing back at Flare in hopes of at least rebooting his brain. It was polite to ask, as they didn't seem likely candidates for the position in normal circumstances. He stared at me for a moment before huffing and looking away, but not managing to muster quite the gusto he had before. "It's a change of scenery. New places and things to do, mares to flirt with, and stallions to make jealous. That sort of thing!" he quickly explained. I raised an eyebrow to him, but his friend just chuckled weakly. "His parents live in Ponyville, and were hitting a bit of a rough spot with several projects they manage. He figured if he was stationed there, at least part of the time, he could help them out," Starfall explained instead. Ruby Flare, as his now discovered profile revealed, just fell into a deadpan expression, then shifted to a slightly annoyed glare to his friend. Exhaling softly, I pointed out, "That actually seems the more proper and just reason for applying. I'm glad to see there's a bit of heart in there." He didn't say anything apart from rolling his eyes, and I turned to Star instead, who explained without prompting. "There's a mare I like. Uh, childhood friend, you could say? I heard she moved to Ponyville and was hoping that, stationed there, I might be able to see how she's doing and maybe, well, finally get the guts to tell her how I feel," he revealed, blushing lightly afterwards. Okay, that was kind of cute. Flare snickered at that, then got swatted in the shoulder by the now blushing stallion. Smiling myself, I nodded to him at that, at least. "Both good reasons, then. I'll talk to Luna about the issues and see what she thinks. I'm pretty sure that Equestria as a whole runs on a second chances sort of thing, though, so I don't see why one mistake should ruin things for you," I reasoned. Plus, I'd be a massive hypocrite if I tried to deny second chances in the first place. I was living one, and certainly was pleased that I'd gotten the chance to. Star looked a little surprised, but Flare frowned suddenly and looked back to me. For a long moment, we locked eyes, then he finally asked, "For real? Just like that?" It was a disbelieving tone, mixed with a fair level of low expectations. He felt like somepony who was used to getting in trouble and seeing the negative in things, now that I paid enough attention to his aura. My memories reminded me that I could do that, I realized. "Just like that. I can't say that I like you, that's for sure, but that doesn't mean I think you deserve to lose your chance, either," I answered, shrugging to him. Another part of me just wanted to end the conversation, because now I was getting a bit fatigued and wanted to talk to Tia and find out what was going on before I crashed completely. That he smirked at, for some reason. "That I can understand. You're... You aren't as bad as I thought you were. Which is good, if we're gonna end up following you into any sort of action whatsoever," he reasoned. I lost my smile at that and turned away from him. "I honestly hope it doesn't come to that. You should, too, because if it does, I don't think it's anything that Equestria's experienced before," I warned, a momentary image of Grosh Warships trying to smash through the portal into this world danced into my head. No, if they got that close, it would be time to activate the weapon again, probably. "That bad?" Starfall asked, sounding serious instead, his friend also looking surprised at the tone I'd used. Shrugging, I corrected, "I can't pretend to know the future. But if we're not prepared, yeah, it's going to be bad. With luck, it'll never escalate, but that's what I'm working for, after all." Being honest without revealing crucial details was tricky, but I thought that was a fairly good stab at it. I couldn't really think of anything further, and both of them just nodded idly to me, so I turned and headed inside the castle instead, through the open door. Surprisingly enough, in all of my trips to this place, I'd never actually entered through the main doors. When I'd been hauling out all of our luggage, I'd exited this way, but... I wasn't anticipating how regal the throne room looked on the way into it. The huge arches expanded up at least four stories, and the entire room seemed to just expand, stretching out in both directions that made a pony feel very small. Walking along the carpet, I saw Luna sitting at the throne instead, and realized the day court must have already cycled out for her night one. It hadn't been long, though, as Tia was still there, talking with her sister and two guards as I approached. The guards to either side of the throne spotted me first, apparently the court not quite open yet as they both trotted forward, then held up a hoof each. They were even symetrical, I realized. Talented! "Halt please, citizen. Please wait there, as the night court is not yet in attendance," the one ordered politely, the light glimmering off his golden armor along the leg he held up. The day guard were definitely extremely polite. As I didn't have a badge, and couldn't expect every member of the staff to have my identifaction, I just nodded and sat down instead. Well, actually I did have a badge, but that would take energy to lift my hoof up to poke it at my chest, and I'd expended most of it hauling my nervous self halfway across Canterlot to get here. Actually, I had nothing against sitting, either. My ears perked regardless, picking up vaguely what Tia was speaking softly about. “…stress yourself out too much. We have reliable and very intelligent ponies already in charge,” she assured gently. Luna nodded to her, looking more than a little distracted, and possibly a bit uneasy. “I know, Sister. Mender and Twilight I don’t worry for. My main concern is we put too much duty on Shining Armor. He must help Cadance to rule a kingdom, after all,” she pointed out wearily. Oh, right. It would be rather difficult for him to remain there and help manage things, and train and manage the troops in Ponyville… Tia considered it for a moment before exhaling softly. “We’ll see. Perhaps we can send an instructor over to Ponyville as well, then just have Shining set up the basics?” she suggested, rather reasonably. Perhaps it was my new perspective of having all my memories back? Maybe I was just getting more comfortable with who I was? It didn’t really matter, though, as I made up my mind. “I’ll help train them, if Shining shows me the basics. I am a soldier,” I offered, speaking up fully. Both Princesses turned and looked at me, then simultaneously widened their eyes a little. The guard that halted me gave me a questioning look, then glanced back over his shoulder at the two Alicorns as Tia turned to face me fully. “Mender! I’d gotten the letter that you were awake, but I thought they’d keep you for longer. Wait, you’re offering to train them?” she asked, suddenly seeming to fully process my statement. Luna recovered far better and smiled towards me instead, her features warming considerably. I nodded, then explained, “I don’t know pony martial arts, however, or how your martial training system works. I’d need to watch Shining a few times first to get it down. My own… Uh, I don’t think it fits a pony mentality very well…” That focus on ruthless efficiency seemed jarring when considering ponies. Eliminate your target as quickly, aggressively, and most energy efficiently as possible. Tia smiled and nodded at that, before assuring, “I’m sure he’d have no problems showing you. It would mean a lot to both of us if you could, as he really is under a lot of stress. It’ll take a huge burden off him. But please, you may approach, of course. You’re our friend, after all.” The guard quickly stepped out of my way as I stood up again, then nodded to me politely. I returned the gesture, obviously knowing he, or she, was just doing their job. I'd have done the same... "How are you feeling, Mender?" Luna asked softly as I made it up to the raised throne section, then immediately plopped down onto my haunches again. Exhaling gently, I considered the question for a moment before going with the truthful approach. "Tired. My brain has been going overboard with the thinking in the last hour and a half or so, and walking here took even more energy," I admitted. If I couldn't be honest with the rulers of Equestria, things were a lot worse off than I thought. Tia nodded to that, her horn lighting up as she slowly undid my saddlebags and lifted them off me. I was going to complain, but the weight being lifted from my back really did help. "Well, you can stay in the castle tonight, either in Twilight's room where you stayed before, or one of the guest rooms," she offered, making me flinch lightly. "Staying in Twilight's room feels wrong without Twilight there. I'd prefer one of the guest rooms, if that's not too much trouble," I requested, looking back up at her. She only snickered, softer light now bathing her expression as the large crystalline chandeliers slowly turned on. It was rather magical to watch the city's lights all turn on at once. I figured the residents took it for granted, but the entire side of the mountain lighting up was still beautiful to me. I'd seen it from Ponyville a few times, and had watched out the window of the tower from Twilight's room the last time we were here. "It's no trouble, Mender. Although we'd both like to know if you're okay or not," she reminded. Oh, right, the official medical report. Reaching into the saddlebags she sat next to me, I pulled out a sheet of paper with my hoof, the soft glow of the magic field flowing over it as I rotated it to give to Tia. Her own golden magic overlapped my blue and silver for a moment before she lifted the page up to get a better look. "Everything appears to be in order. This is good news, anyway. Although you could probably tell us a lot more about things after what happened. Twilight only knew that it was the Keldarian whom shared his DNA with you, and that he'd linked his own energy to your 'core', as you called it," she revealed. My ears perked up and I looked behind me to check how far the guards were. My unspoken question of whether or not they could hear all this was answered as I noticed the room dimmed about two meters behind me. That visual effect was a dampening spell, I remembered, Twilight and Shining both having used it before. Turning back, I saw Luna's horn glowing gently, and she nodded to me. "Worry not about secrets. It is just us here now, and nopony can see or hear anything that happens within," she assured. Exhaling, I realized there was really nothing else I had to be doing anyway, so I started filling them in… * * * * * It took the better part of an hour to explain what had happened during the event. That of course led into what had happened after, and all of my newfound memories. I didn’t exactly go into specific detail so much as gave a basic timeline, but Tia was more than interested to hear what happened after Gem fell through the portal. Both remained silent, having ceased commenting after I’d gotten to the very last part of the story and what happened with Kyliona. With that, though, I'd come full circle. There were no more secrets in my memories, and I felt like a complete pony, to be honest. My name was Moon Mender, and Azure before that. Both were me. Tia and I sat on the steps to the side of the throne, me having fallen silent twice with my story as Luna had gotten visitors for her night court. Now we were alone again, the sun having long since left, and the warmth of the magical wall sconces drifting down on us. Prudentia, the book, lay on the steps to my right, a faint inner glow coming from it. Purdue sat next to it in her pony form, her image reconstructed using my magic so she could be seen, although I had a sneaking suspicion that the alicorns could have seen her before. "You've both been through a tremendous amount of hardship," the Princess of the Sun admitted, frowning as she stared up towards the ceiling. Purdue rested against my leg, looking a bit sad after having heard even an abbreviated version of the story yet again. I wrapped my tail around her and held her close as she relaxed on my right back hip while I sat. Exhaling wearily, I reminded, "This isn't your fault, Tia. It was a mistake, and I don't think anypony blames you for the accident anymore. I told you what my parents said." She'd been completely shocked that I'd spoken with them while unconscious. In theory, it shouldn't have been possible, but after hearing all of the details and how my mother was linked to me, she surmised that it was also the 'density' of my own life force that let it happen. The Elements hadn't destroyed Malice. Far from it, it would seem. Instead, every single soul within the amalgamation was subjected to an extraordinarily large dose of that energy. They'd been 'purified', for lack of a better term for it. I didn't exactly know what that entailed, of course, and honestly, I sort of didn't want to check and see. Regardless, apparently their 'density' was being added to my own soul, them being technically embedded inside of mine. Her explanation was a bit beyond me, but what I got from it was that because of that density, the Ether was more 'real' to me than most ponies. She smiled gently at that before nodding, then looked back down at me. "I'm sorry again, for everything. Even if you forgive me, it takes us even longer to forgive ourselves. I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, and the worst ones are the ones that cost somepony other than me. You paid very dearly for my mistake, as did your parents. I'm... I'm very happy that they're willing to talk to me again. I think I'll pay them a visit later this week after they've had time to clear their heads," she mused, mostly to herself. Yeah, I understood that much. A mistake that you paid for was one thing, but if somepony else ended up suffering... "I think they'd like that. Keela should be contacted, too," Purdue reminded, looking back up at me with big, curious eyes. I looked back down at her, the question nagging in my mind openly. The little filly softened her expression, giving me a smile and nod of permission. She knew what I was going to ask, I suspected. "The captain used your powers to erase their memories, didn't he?" I finally asked, drawing both Luna's and Tia's attention with that. Purdue exhaled, then nodded weakly. My mind whirled, but she started talking first. "My powers revolve around telling the story that's in my pages. 'Foreshadowing' let's me try to find out information about those within the story, which is anypony you interact with enough. I can then use my own power to attempt to predict the most likely probabilities involving events surrounding you, or those ponies. It's purely probability, however," she explained, in more detail than she'd ever used before. I suddenly understood that the level of information she gave me was based on how much she trusted me, not a lack of knowledge on her part. If she was used to dealing with the captain, who was a manipulative monster, it suddenly made a lot of sense that she was so timid and reserved when we first met. Her telling me all of this seriously proved how much she trusted me now, and I was sort of awed by it. "You have other abilities than 'Foreshadowing', however?" Luna asked, now sitting sideways on the throne so she could face down at us fully. Her expression betrayed no emotion other than curiosity, which was a little scary, honestly. Looking back to Purdue, I saw her hesitate, then nod. This one was less certain, and I realized that this was probably a scarier power than just finding out information. After a long few seconds, she closed her eyes and flicked her ears a few times, nervous energy drifting off her before she continued with, "Yes. The book is 'written' in third person perspective with a semi-omnescient narrative. That's the best way I can explain the scope of my sight. I can't figure out much about the actual owner of the book. Mender's feelings and thoughts are hidden from me. Also, tropes that apply to narrative also apply to me, and that's another one of my weaknesses. Like the Black Box in Mender before. It presented itself as a mystery, and I couldn't get my Foreshadowing to work on it, because it was 'supposed' to be a secret. It's complicated, but my last owner used that to his advantage to create the code injections in secret that took over Mender." That was... Okay, that was really, really weird. Her powers took being a 'book' a little too seriously, by the sounds of it. Was that some limitation that an Aegis Artifact had? I idly wondered if a sword had other powers, but because it was a sword, everything was manifested by cutting things. That was kind of sad if I thought about it too long. Still, that didn't explain it fully. "Memories, though?" I asked, frowning as I realized that was entirely different from the powers I already thought she'd had. Purdue shifted uneasily at that, and nodded. "That power the book developed from my own. I didn't have it while I was alive. Everypony within the pages is subject to the narrative perspective. Perspective can be skewed or distorted, however. It's easier for me to do it while it's happening, and that gives the ability to project illusions in the area around the book. But it's also possible to change or alter the perspective that's already happened. Change one thing in the memory of somepony witnessing the narrative, and their mind has a tendency to start trying to 'correct' their own memories to make sense of the change. He made me remove your presence from their memories," she revealed, looking back up at me with a sad frown. Oh. Tia closed her eyes and clicked her tongue for a moment before admitting, "Changing the appearance of the narrative in one spot to confuse, then 'nudge' the mind into making things up to fill in the missing gaps... That's a frightening ability. It also hints at the ability to manipulate temporal stages." Oh. Wait, what?! Purdue exhaled softly and nodded, nudging the book with her hoof. "Aegis Artifacts are made by intentionally invoking a paradox and binding it to an object. They're not supposed to exist, but are extremely powerful because of that pseudo-existence. Dimension is a relative thing, in comparison," she admitted. My head hurt, and I rubbed at both of my temples at once. Damn. I really wished Twilight was here now, if only to understand and explain half of this to me. I wasn't good with 'theories' and that sort of thing, especially once they got abstract like this. "Can you undo it?" I asked, deciding to focus on being productive instead. The engineer in me squealed happily. The little filly gave a start, then looked back up at me before slowly nodding. "If I push the memory back into where it's supposed to be, the mind is going to snap back to the way it was before with the correct memories. The only issue is, I had to do it with an order. Because of that, and the way that the Geas works on my soul, I couldn't undo it myself. You'd have to tell me to, but if I offered the option to you before this..." she revealed. Heh. "You'd have to have explained how the option existed. I understand, Purdue. Relax," I assured, rubbing the top of her head and getting a blush out of the little filly. Luna smiled gently at that. "You know, you'd make an awfully good-" she started. My hoof shot up to halt her almost immediately. "No, please, no! I've heard that a half dozen times already! I really, really get it, yes," I interrupted, ears flicking as my inner feelings fussed about. Even if I loved foals, having one of my own implied many other things that I really wasn't ready for, I didn't think. For one, that would mean that Fluttershy or Twilight was a mother. A mother of my foal! I felt the heat drift into my cheeks, and Luna just grinned in amusement at my antics until I flailed at her. Behind that royal demeanor, she was a massive brat! Looking back down at Purdue, I considered it for a moment before admitting, "I should probably talk to Keela about it all first. Just magically shunting her memories back into place would be a good way to confuse her. Plus, she seemed rather frantic to get a hold of me, so I hope nothing is wrong." As eager as I was to tell her about the memories, I understood that I was actually hitting her with three rather atrocious things all at once. Shock would be an understatement, and it also affected more than just her. My sudden newly restored memories had me easily able to identify each one of her crew now as well, having 'grown up' with them. Tia nodded and stood, catching my attention again with the sudden motion. "It would be wise to talk with her. Obviously I don't suggest trying so here, as visually, that might cause quite a scene should Luna get any more visitors tonight. If I may, for the first two points you wish to talk to her about, I'd like to be present to assist you in explaining things. I'll respect your privacy about the third, and your relationship with her, of course," she requested, surprising me even further. "Oh, to help explain Equus' side of the accident and what happened?" I asked. Keela had never known exactly 'how' my mom and I had arrived in her dimension. Mother's information on what had happened was spotty, everything having been a rush and the theories involved only being partially completed. Keela would be finding out that her ex-lover had attempted to enslave me and everypony I loved, alongside having murdered Kyliona and a few billion innocent Keldarians. She'd also be finding out that her sister had been captured, in all likelihood, and was probably under quite a bit of duress while supplying the Grosh with information. Then on top of all that, she'd get to find out that her memories were fake and that I broke a huge promise to her due to everything that happened. Fun times. The alicorn shook her head, then nodded to Luna a moment later. "Excuse us, Sister. I'll fill you in on the proceedings afterwards, but we really must find a more private area for this," she excused, earning a nod and smile in return. "I understand, of course. Give Keela my regards," she requested, before turning and looking back towards the entry. I saw two more ponies entering, Fancypants being one of them to my surprise. He looked momentarily startled himself to see me, and gave me a smile and nod. Purdue had already vanished from my peripheral vision, and I relaxed. I returned his nod before following after Tia, the Sun Princess retreating down the side hall linked up to the throne room. Prudentia snapped to my side in an instant, looking as if it were connected to my saddlebag at a glance. “I also wish to speak with her about the danger to this dimension that’s still present,” Tia explained, once we were out of earshot of the throne room. Oh, right. Purdue’s prediction about Nirru. My eyes softened and I nodded before admitting, “It’s a wise idea. Although, I’m not sure how much she’ll be able to tell you about that. Last I knew, she was searching for information herself.” The Princess of the Sun nodded, but smiled softly. “I know. It’s more the explanation of the level of threat they could pose that I’m after. You’ll probably be able to help with that too,” she elaborated. Aaah. Yeah, that we could definitely do. If anypony knew the level of threat the Grosh could be, it was us. We walked in fairly comfortable silence, her keeping pace with me carefully, given her much longer strides. She'd smile down at me occasionally while we moved, possibly thinking I didn't notice. My augmented peripheral vision was one of my more frequently used cybernetic upgrades, however. My mind jumped back to what she'd said about deeply regretting what had happened, and it brought new perspective to that first meeting we had in the café. She knew who I was all along. What exactly did that make me in regards to her own feelings? A second chance? Simple relief? Shock at the sheer probability of me standing in front of her three hundred years later? Despite my curiosity, I didn't voice any of my questions, and we moved down the halls in silence, heading towards where I knew the guest chambers in the back tower to be. Ground floor was a nice lounge, which would serve our needs admirably. The door was within sight when that familiar pinging sensation drifted into my mind. It had been about two hours since her last attempt, so I should have expected it. I gave a start in surprise regardless, and momentarily stopped walking, shifting to a frown. Tia glanced back at me, a curious expression on her face, but not saying anything. I silently thanked her for her patience before flicking my 'speakers' on, lowering the volume to comfortable talking distance, and bringing the ping display up. A spike of nervousness shot through me. My feelings and opinion of Keela had drastically changed since we last spoke, and I suddenly realized she'd behave as if I were just Mender. She'd confessed being 'curious' about a relationship with a pony, me in particular, but knowing that we'd technically already been in one before I arrived in Equus... My own feelings confused me now, and I suddenly felt unsure of what I'd even say. What would Twilight and Fluttershy say? I knew I cared for them just as much now. The alicorn in front of me smiled softly and nodded before assuring, "Answer it. One step at a time, Mender. I'm also here for you." I idly wondered what one of my 'pings' looked like to her, or if she was just really good at guessing. Probably neither, given my magic literally made me wear my emotions on my fur. At least to those sensitive to such things... Swallowing the lump in my throat, I closed my eyes and answered the ping. Her voice came immediately, although not directly to me. "Come on, come on! Answer, Mender! I'm worried and, um... what? Wait, Mender?" she asked, halting halfway through talking to herself and I sensed her snap to attention suddenly. I hesitated, my mouth open for almost two seconds before I shivered and finally spoke up. "Hello, Keela," I greeted, feeling slow and stupid and awkward all at the same time. After everything that I knew and that had happened, that was the best I could come up with? "Ah! Mender! Oh thank you, thank you! Are you okay?! What happened?!" the Keldarian asked instantly, and I winced, turning my speaker down again. Tia giggled whimsically to her eagerness, then spoke up with, "I'm here as well, Keela. As eager as you are, Mender and I are almost to a private area, which we'll need to explain things to you fully. Can you give us a moment?" "Oh! Of course, Princess Celestia. I'm just happy to hear from Mender again!" she gushed out, a wave of relief sounding from her voice. I felt guilty about making her worry, even though I knew it technically wasn't my fault. The truth wasn't going to do her any favors, though. I picked up the pace to catch up with Tia, and both of us slipped inside the lounge area. Tia gently closed the door behind us with a burst of light from her horn, and I trotted over to the large fireplace, activating my trusty flame spell to ignite the magical logs within. It was so versatile, good for warming food, lighting fireplaces, and blowing up Grosh vessels! "We're good to go, Keela," I spoke up, knowing the Keldarian was still listening. This time, however, I linked her up completely, her image projecting into the air above me as I felt a newly remembered metallic orb exit my left shoulder. I still had them, even if I'd forgotten they'd upgraded me with the system. My operating system had reset a lot of its defaults when I fried my core, including reinstalling all of the upgrades they'd given me over the six months. Keela spotted it instantly and perked, her left ear twitching lightly before she smiled. "Oooh, you upgraded yourself! That better not be why you didn't answer for a week," she chided, smirking at me instead. A pang went through my chest, and I couldn't return her smile, instead causing her to lose hers and frown at me. Looking away, I corrected, "Actually, you installed the orb projection system. And no, that's not why I wasn't answering." As expected, she only looked confused, her frown deepening, but Tia nodded as she caught up and sat down next to me, both of us illuminated by the soft firelight. "We have a lot to tell you, and almost none of it will be comfortable or pleasing to hear. You may wish to sit down," the alicorn warned carefully. Keela nodded slowly, appearing to pick up how grave it all was, and walked over to her bed, sitting down cross-legged on it before nodding to us. Exhaling softly, I broke into the story a second time of what happened that day. This time, I left Purdue inside of her book, at least sparing her from it... * * * * * Keela had shifted freely between shock, denial, and adamant horror over the course of the story, staring at the videos of the fight and hearing him personally explaining his plans to the seven of us. I'd used them as visual aids to the story this time, Tia taking great interest in watching them carefully. By the time I'd caught her up with the present, event-wise, Keela sat there, looking glum on her bed. My eyes softened as I traced her form, eyes dancing along her sad expression and wishing I could pull her close and let her cry like I knew she wanted to. Exhaling softly, she finally spoke up with, "In my heart, I sort of knew he wasn't the same anymore. Of course I knew he was bitter and in so much pain over what my sister had done, but a part of me realized it was more than that. It twisted and tore him apart, and I almost didn't recognize him when we spoke afterwards." She lifted her paws up to rub at both sides of her head before slowly shaking it. I slowly reminded, "It wasn't exactly him that I was dealing with. It was a fragment of himself comprising of essentially everything that still believed in his plan to 'save' the Keldarians. The real him died the day you left the planet." She rested there for a moment, curled into a ball. I'd told her about her sister as well, but that had gotten almost no reaction in comparison. She already had come to that conclusion based on the research of the wreckage they did during my absence. I should have known, honestly. She looked more haunted now than anything, however. "I'm... It scares me to ask how you found out half of this stuff. He acted like he already knew you from before, but you couldn't have met, could you? Was he involved in your project or something? My... My mind thinks that must be the case, but my heart is telling me that something is... Something's wrong," she muttered, looking back up at me, darker circles under her eyes in this light. Exhaling, I warned, "That's the third and possibly worst reveal. I'll understand if you want to give it a rest for tonight." A part of me hoped she would, given how tired she looked. Another part wanted to at least tell her and get it over with, possibly selfish in not wanting to be alone in the burden of the secret anymore. An even more selfish part of me wanted to just undo the memory modification in hopes of getting her back. That would redefine 'long distance relationship', however... Keela searched my eyes for a long moment before shaking her head slowly. "It's eating you up, too, I can tell. Please, just tell me, Mender," she requested, my own name suddenly sounding weird coming out of her mouth. "You used to call me Azure," I revealed, it just slipping out alongside my own thoughts. Her eyes widened in an instant, the weight of my words hitting her visibly harder than I thought they would. She winced, then held her head harder with both paws, shuddering again. Prudentia activated by itself, and I looked to my left as Purdue faded in, then nodded to me. I returned it, but Tia slowly shook her head. "Calm, Keela. Mender's right. Your memories have been altered using Prudentia's powers, under the order of the captain," the alicorn revealed. Slowly, Keela's eyes widened even further, but she visibly slumped her shoulders slightly before looking back up at me instead. "My memories? W-Wait, did I...? Did I know you before, Mender? No, I had to have if you said I called you... Azure. Azure... Why does that make me sad...?" she asked, eyes softening as she traced my form, a bit of wetness showing in them as they moved. No, as selfish as I wanted to be, I couldn't. Even if I didn't want to try to be a 'nice' guy, this was too huge. Forcing it on her would be completely monstrous. She couldn't go in blind. Not like I did... "The memories you lost might not be entirely pleasant, Keela. I am in them, and now that I remember everything... It's not fair. No, I... It's your choice to restore your memories if you wish. Purdue has the ability to do so, and she'll listen to you. The others are also missing their memories, too. You should talk to Litta, Mirin, Amre, and Kyre about this, too," I warned her. I suddenly suspected that I wouldn’t be able to individually restore their memories. Keela stared at me for a long moment before exhaling softly. “I… How much of our memories is missing? We all shared the same ones, right?” she finally asked, looking just as lost and confused as I expected her to be. “Yes. Six months and change,” I answered simply, feeling a bit helpless, ironically. It was their choice on whether or not to accept the memories back. I felt biased, as I suddenly realized. I wanted them to accept the memories back, purely for my own selfish reasons. Feeling helpless in that case was probably a good thing. The Keldarian stared down at her sheets for a long twenty seconds or so, twirling one of her paws around against its surface. A mixture of confusion and frustration showed in her eyes, them locked on a point far, far away from her. Slowly, she asked, “You’re in the memories, right? I knew you from before. That’s why it was so easy to trust you… but knowing that, now everything just feels fake.” Exhaling, I realized I knew that feeling all too well. It had been subtle, but not having any memories past a certain point had made me feel ‘incomplete’. I wondered if it was different knowing memories were fabricated instead? Probably not by much. “Yeah, I’m in them. You watched me grow up,” I revealed, smiling more softly at her as her eyes lit up. Stressing over my own feelings was silly. What happens, happens. She relaxed, watching me for a moment with a gentle looking smile on her face. After a long moment, she nodded again and agreed with, “You’re right. I can’t make a decision without asking the others, even if I already know what I want. Although I’m pretty sure I know what they’ll want, too. Mirin especially hates secrets. May I ping you back after I talk with them? Probably tomorrow.” That was reasonable, but Tia smiled and nodded before I could do anything, adding, “That would be wise. You have a lot to think about, and I’ll also need to speak with you before too long. If Purdue is right about your sister still being a danger to my little ponies, you understand my concern.” Ah, right, that did make sense. Keela looked a bit surprised, but nodded to that, as did I. “Yeah, I was expecting to talk to you about it anyway. I’ve also got a full report that I want to share with you as well, on the new data we have from the wreckage, and everything we know about the Grosh. Waiting until tomorrow gives me a chance to gather it all up,” she confirmed. It was kind of sad how little we actually knew about the Grosh. Understandable, though, given their usual attempt at communication consisted of ‘so sorry, but we’re here to exterminate you all’. The ones that didn’t get exterminated were actually worse off in that case, and I actually felt somewhat sorry for Nirru. If she thought what she did to the captain was bad… “That settles it, then. I’ll talk to you tomorrow and we’ll take it from there,” I assured. She grinned at me, then shook her head slowly, causing me to tilt mine towards her. Eh? No? “Oh no, you’re not getting off that easy. I’m calling you back tonight, too. I… Well, I just wanted to talk a bit more. I was worried and missed you,” she revealed. I blushed, matching her sudden shade shift with the heat in my cheeks, then nodded to her. That would be awkward, but I found myself looking forward to it regardless. She grinned, and I nodded again as she disconnected the connection. For a long moment, I just stared into the fire, past the position she had floated at before. Wow. Okay, so she was probably more astute at guessing than I realized, and probably pretty much figured out exactly what our relationship had been prior, given my reactions. Still, she seemed to take it positively, and handled the loss of her memories far better than I had when I first came to Equus. Although she did have four others going through the same thing, which I kinda wish I’d had. Misery loves company, and all that. Tia smiled softly while watching me, and I glanced back over at her, honestly expecting her to retire as soon as the conversation had concluded. Surely she had all sorts of princess-y duties to attend to. Or maybe just sleep, like normal ponies. Regardless, she stayed, which I was actually rather thankful for. That loneliness was trying to slowly creep up on me again. “You have a lot to think about, but take it easy, Mender. Relax. Here!” she chirped. Her horn lit up, and a little cord over by the door took to her aura, then tugged down lightly. What looked remarkably like a wind chime made of crystals jingled above it, attached through the middle. The crystals vibrated, however, then started to glow as I heard a servant’s voice suddenly. “Yes, Princess Celestia?” the mare’s voice spoke properly. I wondered how they knew it had been her that pulled the cord. “Ah, Sunny, do be a dear and deliver some tea to the back guest lounge for us. My guest is a bit stressed, so make it something soothing,” Tia requested softly. I blushed, watching her interact with the staff. It was kinda awesome that she knew them all specifically by name. “Oh, of course, Princess. I’ll be right there,” Sunny assured over the gentle crystal background chimes. They stopped glowing afterwards, and were silent a few seconds later. I was rather fascinated by pony technology, but suppressed my desire to ask more about it again. There was a time and place for everything, and reading up on that sort of thing could be done after everything had been dealt with. …however long that took. The princess turned back to me and gave a soft smile, and I relaxed on the warm rug. Yeah, I wasn’t alone, even in a new city like this. I could manage this. Easing my back, I let all of my muscles unwind at once and shivered. A series of pops sprung from my back, and I winced instead, looking back over my shoulder at my twitching spine. Okay, so maybe I was a little high strung… Tia started giggling regardless… * * * * * Stretching out, I let my back crack pleasantly a few times. My fur was a little damp, and the bathroom was fogged up, but I felt a lot better now that I’d gotten a relaxing shower in. They’d apparently washed me a few times in the hospital, but there was nothing quite like the attention to detail I could do myself. Plus, it was already awkward enough realizing a bunch of mares had been running sponges all over my body while I was unconscious. I hadn’t seen a single male on their staff. I’d gotten a surprisingly good night’s rest as well. Purdue had come out after we were alone, and I pulled her into a dream instead. Watching her laugh and run around chasing butterflies was absolutely adorable, and had definitely kept any bad nightmares at bay. I was giving her all the chances I could to experience all sorts of things with ‘sight’ that she hadn’t had before. Equus was a beautiful place, and I was happy to share it. Walking down the hallway, I nodded to two guards as I moved past, both of them throwing up a salute to me. Sadly, I was starting to get adjusted to it, and decided that it was probably for the better. If I was going to use my borrowed information and skills for leading soldiers again, even a fully defensive force, I might as well get used to dealing with them. Plus, they were easier than civilians to handle for me. Crowds of ponies scared me far more than facing down dangerous opponents, ironically. The halls were crowded as I slipped past a few other rather formal looking ponies. Canterlot had its own harvest festival, I understood, despite it being far smaller than the one that Ponyville regularly hosted. From the whispers I’d picked up so far today, the event was viewed as more of an ‘Earth Pony’ tradition, and given the larger amounts of unicorns Canterlot hosted, they seemed less apt on celebrating it. I thought it was rather stupid that they’d give such disdain to it like that, though. Still, Canterlot had seen an influx of attendees to their own festival, so I suppose I picked potentially the second worst time of the year to be turned to stone and abandoned in a strange city. I’d almost gotten to the dining hall when a maid trotted up from the other direction, making a beeline right for me. It was always strange to see ponies in clothing, to be honest, and I momentarily watched the frills of her ‘skirt’ bob around as she approached. “Mister Moon Mender! I was hoping to find you. You have a guest waiting for you in the front courtyard,” she quickly informed, giving me a simple smile. Eh? For me specifically? My stomach growled, and I flattened my ears back, giving a longing gaze to the entry to the dining hall before exhaling softly. Ugh, no, I was too curious. “Okay, thank you for telling me. Also, it’s just Mender, please,” I requested. She gave me an absent nod, and I realized she’d probably completely ignore that last request. She trotted off regardless, heading back the way I came from, and I idly huffed. The Element Bearers wouldn’t be arriving until later this afternoon, so this was way too early for them. Plus, they’d just walk in and find me themselves. That meant this was a pony from Canterlot who knew me. Continuing down the hall instead of pursuing food, I exited into the main chamber that contained the throne. Tia gave me a smile and nod in the midst of talking to two other, official looking ponies who were a few meters from her elegant perch, and I returned it without bothering her further. Her life must be crazy-busy almost constantly. Personally, I had no idea how she did it and still managed to find time to let her mane down, so to speak. Exiting the main doors, I trotted into the courtyard and immediately scanned the crowds of ponies that were lingering about. Great. There appeared to be some sort of official gathering or party of sorts going on, as there were snack tables set up, and soft and drowsy music was playing in the background from what sounded like a piano. I hoped whomever called me out had the common sense to hold up a giant sign to get my attention, as there was probably no way I was spotting them otherwise. Please, please don’t let it be Twilight’s parents… To my surprise, I was proven wrong on both accounts when I saw a familiar gray mare holding her hoof up near the main gate and giving me a big wave and smile. Octavia had her massive cello case strapped to her back, it looking as strange as usual on the much smaller mare, especially with how easily she handled it. It looked like two saddlebags were to each side of her today as well, and she gave me an actual grin as I trotted up. “You called, M’lady?” I inquired, sitting down in front of her and giving a softer smile. At least it wasn’t Twi’s parents. After the last fiasco involving the café shouting match, I was really hoping to avoid seeing them in a public spot. Octavia giggled lightly, then returned, “Such manners. Definitely befitting of a ‘Captain’ of the guard. I’m glad the maid caught up with you, though. I’d heard from a little birdy that you were staying in the castle.” Oh? The musical mare had amazing sources, and if she was the one that left that note last time, they were quite a bit better than even I’d given her credit for prior. “I’m glad to see you again, anyway. It’s… weird being here without the others,” I admitted, coughing lightly to myself. A few ponies were watching me now and whispering, my anonymity having not survived my jaunt across the courtyard, it would seem. There was a photographer nearby who even turned and took our picture, flash off. Octavia just rolled her eyes, however, and assured, “Ignore him. That photographer’s just a tabloid reporter. He doesn’t publish in what many would consider a nonfiction magazine. I’m sure there will be some saucy story talking about how you’re recruiting me for your herd or something by next week.” Ack! Blushing, I glared back at her, and she grinned again. “How can you be so calm about that sort of thing?!” I asked, a bit skeptical as to her outlook on it. She just shrugged, however, and then revealed, “It would be about the seventh article they’ve put me in like that. You have to get used to being in the spotlight, Mender. At this point, I don’t think you’re going to be able to avoid it.” I sank a little, but she just patted me on the shoulder and nodded assuredly instead. “Hey, don’t let it get to you. You have lots of friends to help you through, including me. Speaking of, let’s ditch this atmosphere and get some food. I just finished playing and am starving. Maybe we can actually eat at my favorite café this time?” she offered. Oh, hey, that was a good idea! Perking at the mention of food, I nodded to her, earning another snicker as she stood and effortlessly hauled her cello back up onto herself. I set my internal armor prepped to activate this time as I fell in line with her walking. It looked like she had a shiny new strap on it this time, but I wasn’t about to take chances and get crushed by the thing again. It was a comfortable walk over there, the sun peeking its way through the splotches of cloud cover and warming the morning up. Ponies busied themselves everywhere, and thankfully ignored the two of us walking, for the most part. I smelled all sorts of baked goods and, interestingly enough, sea smells as we turned onto the street running along the dirigible port. Of course, given that the airships had boat bottoms, it wouldn’t surprise me if they frequently did water landings. That would explain the ‘salty’ smells lingering around them. I squeaked as I walked into Octavia a second later. She had her hoof held up and smirked at me, bringing me to a stop as she rotated me to the right to face the café instead. Oh, right! I’d almost walked past it. “You definitely have an eye for mechanical things. I imagine if I’d let you keep walking, you would have gone right off Canterlot’s cliff,” she teased, winking at me. Blushing, I swatted idly at her with my right hoof and looked away. “Bah. That’s what they have the shield under the city for,” I defended, earning another burst of snickering from her, and causing myself to smile, too. She nudged me across the street and towards the café entrance with that, and I looked up to find a familiar looking stallion perched on the stool behind the lectern. “Ah, Miss Octavia. Captain Moon Mender. Welcome back! Just the two of you this morning?” Cufflink chirped, looking pleased to see us again, if not a bit amused. His hat was missing today, and I saw the small horn poking out from under his white mane. His coat was a light brown color, which interested me, as I usually didn’t see ponies with manes and tails that were lighter than their coats. He still wore his impeccable suit jacket, however. Something I hadn’t noticed either last time, was that he had a small scar going across his left eye, almost straight up and down. I’d not noticed many ponies with scars, which was why it was so interesting. Octavia pouted, if anything. “Once again, just Octavia. And yes, it’s just the two of us this time, thankfully. I apologize once more for the disturbance last time…” she replied. Oh boy. And what a disturbance it was. If it wasn’t ponies screaming at the top of their lungs, it was a giant black sphere of magic consuming a portion of their eating space. Then we didn’t even end up ordering anything, getting chased out by the very disturbance we’d created. He snickered and nodded at that before gesturing for us to follow him, hopping down off the stool. Being less spacy this time, I took in the sights of the café. The building itself had a few tables inside it, probably to accommodate if the weather turned bad. Most of the seating was outdoors, however, based off three different tiers of height that went up the hill towards the street corner it was pushed up against. Each tier had several nice stairs that connected them, the middle one being the one we arrived on. We were directed towards the upper, however. Oooh, we’d get a good view over the side of the cliff from there. There were small hedge walls that separated the three different levels, about coming up to pony chest height, and a few artistic fountains at the base of the tiers between the stairs, forming pools of water that ran the length of the separation. It was a very pretty place, really. Octavia and I were seated up next to the building, towards the back of the upper tier and at a two pony table. That meant we were facing each other, which didn’t seem to bother her and she casually set her cello case down on the ground next to her chair. I momentarily imagined it cracking the cement under it, and was a little disappointed at the lack of earth shattering smash. “Ah, a much nicer time we’re having. Maybe this time I’ll actually get to show you the food, provided nothing interrupts us before the waiter can get over here to take our orders,” she said, flipping her own menu open and looking it over as she let it rest on the table. I did the same with mine, and peeked at what I could actually order. We hadn’t gotten this far the first time I was here, the fight breaking out literally before I’d opened my menu, so I had no idea what this place even served. My eyes locked onto the sandwich section almost instantly, however, widening by themselves as I felt a bit of drool build up in my mouth. Smack on the front page was a triple decker grilled hay bacon strip and lettuce sandwich with three flavors of dressing. It was so thick that it was tied together, and even had a nice looking olive stuck into the top of it. I didn’t know what purpose that served, but damn did it make the sandwich all the tastier looking! My Awkward Sense tingled, and my left ear twitched lightly before I tore my eyes away from the page and looked back up at Octavia. She was watching me, both hooves covering her mouth with a light flush, a low, whining giggle coming out of her regardless. I flattened my ears down a bit, then wiped the small dribble of drool off the menu under me, feeling my face heat up a little. “I knew you liked sandwiches, but… heeee,” she cooed, finally bursting into snickering in an uncontrollable fashion, her tail flicking in amusement behind her. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Rarity thinks I should ‘expand’ my palate, but really, I just like sticking to what I like already,” I defended, earning a grin from the mare instead. She snickered again before pointing out, “It was amusing, but I wasn’t teasing. Really, it’s refreshing to know that you’re just happy with what you know you like. It’s… simplistic and down to earth. I like simplistic.” Part of me thought she was just trying to make me feel better, but I did understand her point. “Are the customers ready to order, or should I give you a few more minutes to drool?” Cufflink chirped suddenly, from almost right next to us. I practically jumped out of my chair, whipping my head over to him in an instant. How did he get there so quietly?! He wore a Cheshire grin, so I assumed he just faded into existence next to us, at that point. Octavia snickered, then nodded, guessing, “Mender probably wants the sandwich his drool landed on. I’ll take this breakfast dish combo here, with an extra side of eggs.” She gestured to one of the pancake specials with her hoof, and Cufflink nodded, the floating pad of paper and pen jotting down our orders before he tucked it back into his left chest pocket. “Will do!” he chirped, followed by, “Anything I can get you two to drink to tide you over?” “I’ll take some coffee. I’m not quite awake yet, despite already having my first gig over with,” she murmured in return, huffing to herself and letting her ears sag a little. He smiled and nodded to her before turning to me instead, and I inquired, “Do you have Chamomile here?” Rarity had given me some of that, and I think I liked it the best, out of most teas. Cufflink perked and nodded before writing that down as well, his shorter cropped mane bouncing a bit in the front with his enthusiasm. “Will do! I’ll bring those to you in a second!” he confirmed before trotting off and down the stairs towards the entry to the building. I noticed his Cutie Mark appeared to literally be a white cuff with two cufflinks laying under it, a blue gemstone on each of them. He really did seem to like his job, that was for sure. “He makes coming here all the more pleasant, although he still refuses to drop the ‘Miss’ part. I think he does it purely to tease me at this point,” Octavia murmured, looking amused as well as she watched him trot off. I chuckled at that, mentally agreeing with her assessment. He seemed to greatly enjoy her company regardless. “Maybe he likes you?” I suggested, turning back and smiling towards her as she gave me a raised eyebrow. I tilted my head to her, but she just smiled softly and shrugged. “He might. At the moment, however, my life is a bit too hectic to seek out that sort of thing. Turns out, music demands a lot more hours than I realized it would going through school,” she admitted, chuckling lightly to herself as she relaxed against the table instead. Ah, that was true. “I imagine it settles down at some point. Or do you just like playing at as many spots as you can manage?” I inquired, smirking to let her know that I was teasing. Thankfully the mare was observant enough to not really even need my facial cues, and she grinned back. “You know I like keeping busy. No, I put away a lot more bits than I spend, honestly. I’d be comfortable with an income half of what I currently make, which would free up a lot of my hours. Maybe I just like playing music that much?” she suggested. Oddly, it didn’t feel like she was really asking. At least not asking me. I just listened to her, and she blushed softly, resting her head on the table. For a moment, I thought she’d finished, but a few seconds later, she continued with, “I don’t know. Can I be honest with you?” Eh? Tilting my head, I nodded to her, curious as to what she hadn’t been honest about in the first place. She frowned for a moment, then admitted, “This.” She gestured between the two of us, then at the table. I was a bit confused until I just assumed she was talking about our little breakfast trip. She frowned before setting her forelegs back down on the table and continuing. “This whole… idea that I had to haul you off to breakfast wasn’t just to treat you. I mean, obviously it works out for that, but I had ulterior motives,” she admitted, surprising me a little. Her tone was calm, however, so I just relaxed against my chair and let her continue. “It’s been a long time since I tried dating. I’ve never actually been out on an official date. I wanted to emulate what it might be like, sort of as a trial run of sorts, to get myself mentally adjusted, is all. I was considering maybe trying for a real one in the future,” she explained, looking back up at me and locking eyes with mine. Well, that hadn’t been what I was expecting. “So I’m sort of like a placeholder prop for an imagined date?” I inquired, snickering suddenly. Her ears flattened back, of course, and she shot me a disbelieving yet amused expression. “No, silly. I really do enjoy your company and care for you. You’ve been a good friend. I was just thinking about what a date would be like, and realized that getting you alone for a bit of lunch might be a good example,” she corrected before sticking her tongue out at me. I couldn’t resist laughing a bit at that, which caused her to pout, of course. “I’m curious if you have an actual target in mind, then, if so…?” I inquired, smirking towards her again. She blushed outright and looked away from me, admittedly telling me an answer already, but she still hesitated. “I might… I’ve… not really decided yet,” she defended, crossing her forelegs playfully afterwards. I rolled my eyes, but then glanced over as Cufflink trotted back towards us, our drinks drifting next to him. He smiled and nodded politely, setting them down on the table carefully, then sliding the respective drink to both of us. “Coffee, one sugar, no cream. Chamomile tea with flower included,” he declared, bowing politely to both of us. Octavia smiled and nodded without meeting his gaze, and I raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to smirk at her. Oh? She glared at me instead, and it was Cufflink’s turn to raise an eyebrow, glancing back and forth between the two of us. “Is something amiss with your drinks?” he inquired instead. Octavia blushed a bit more and sat upright before finally assuring, “No, our drinks our fine. Mender is simply being very unsporting and teasing me ceaselessly.” What?! Cufflink grinned at that, looking back to me and opening his mouth to reply. All three of us jumped instead in surprise when somepony shouted out my name literally at the top of their lungs. Blinking, I looked around, not immediately finding the source of the feminine sounding shout. “M-Moon Mender!” she shouted yet again, hesitant this time. My eyes widened as I snapped them over to the only building between the corner of the two streets and the café. It looked like an office building of some sorts, with a light gray brick siding and regular windows on each floor. Dragging my eyes up the four stories to the roof, they widened as I spotted the mare perched at an angle on the clay tiles that comprised the lower part of the slope. They widened even further when I noticed she wasn’t alone. A small filly shivered against her chest, being held tight with both of her forelegs. The mare’s horn was lit up, and floating next to her looked to be some sort of large bread knife, meant for splitting loaves. She held it close to the now whimpering filly’s neck. What the hell?! Other ponies had spotted her, too, many including myself getting up out of their seats. Half a dozen rushed over, and I stood fully from my spot, looking up at her as I moved away from the table. I’d never seen her before in my life, her coat an off-cream color with a bit of gray mixed in, and her mane and tail a muted orange color, with a stripe of dull red running through them. My eyes locked hard with her green ones, and she swallowed, her legs shaking against the filly as she pulled her closer. She was terrified… The filly was light pink with a softer yellow mane and tail, and similarly yellow eyes leaking tears down her cheeks. “Miss! Please calm down. Can you tell me your name?” I shouted up towards her, trying to act as calm as I could while I slowly walked over to the gap in the fence and path that led over to the office building. She jumped lightly at the sound of my voice and swallowed hard, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them and glaring down at me. “M-My name doesn’t matter! I don’t want to have to do anything to anypony, but you… You forced our actions!” she shouted back, steadying herself carefully on the roof. ‘Our’? She was working with others. BEID stuck out firmly in my mind, but I didn’t think they’d resort to something like this. She also wasn’t wearing anything to hide her identity at all. “What have I done, Miss? Please, stay calm and let’s just talk about this,” I shouted, trying to ‘remember’ any training that I’d borrowed about dealing with a hostage situation, other than to try to calm her down. Several guards ran up at the same time, one a unicorn and the other an Earth pony. I was both surprised and not at the same time when they mirrored to either side of me. She didn’t give me much time to contemplate it, however, before continuing with, “You’re a monster! Y-You’re evil and trying to take over Equestria’s government and nopony can do anything to stop you because you’ve duped them all! Well, I won’t let you ruin everything I love!” Oh. Her look of fear mixed with hostility suddenly made sense, and my eyes softened. There was no choice. My borrowed training told me to try to prolong the situation as long as I could and to attempt negotiations with her for the release of the hostage first and foremost while remaining as calm as possible, so I went with that. “Please, Miss. Your problem is with me. The little filly has nothing to do with it, and you don’t want to hurt her. She’s not safe even being up there. Please, you need to let us get you both down safely,” I called back. The mare hesitated, swallowing again before looking to the side, then slowly shaking her head. “N-No! You’re only trying to get me down there so you can stop me! I’m calling the shots! Right now, confess to everypony here! Tell them all the truth; that you’re an a-alien or monster or something!” she shouted out, starting to outright shiver as she shifted her position on the roof. A bit of dust flaked off the tiles and wafted down the side of the building, and I swallowed. Negotiations or not, if she slipped and fell off the roof anyway… I saw them an instant later. Two guards slipped into the alley behind the office building and both nodded to me. One was a unicorn, and the other unfurled his wings as he started climbing up what appeared to be a maintenance ladder installed on the side of the building. My eyes only flickered to them for an instant before looking back up to the mare. Shit. They were going to try a rescue?! My training suggested specifically to not try a direct recovery of the hostages unless safety was practically assured. But there was no way I could get any message to them to stop… My hoof hummed to life with magic, me hiding the light of the energy under the surface of it as I pushed it into the cobblestone. An almost invisible line of barrier energy slipped along the cracks in the cobble under me, and then hit the side of the building, slowly working its way up the bricks and towards the mare. I charged up enough energy under my foot to both not display any outward signs of magic, and hopefully to get a strong enough barrier spell off to catch them if they fell. Or grab the knife if there was a struggle. “So if I tell everypony that I’m an alien, you’ll let us help you get yourself and the filly down? Can you please wait for us to get some safety equipment from the local fire department first? Even with a ladder, getting you two down from there is risky, and I don’t want either of you hurt, just in case,” I called out, stalling for time as my magic went up the side of the building, and the two officers got to the roof. The mare hesitated again, her eyes looking wet as she looked down at the now crying filly. She really didn’t want to do this, she was right. She swallowed, then nodded slowly to me. “Y-Yes! If you tell everypony the truth, I… I’ll come down safely. Get the equipment,” she agreed, exhaling softly as she pushed back against the angle of the roof again. More dust fell, and I nervously watched it as I saw my energy reach the edge of the roof. A helmed head poked up over the other side of the roof almost at the same time, and I made a show of looking to my right at the Earth Pony, then nodding to him. He nodded back wordlessly and took off in a sprint in the direction of what I assumed was the fire department. I really should learn where those things are… Looking back up at the mare, I called out, “Just stay calm up there. Those are tiles under you, so don’t put too much sideways pressure on them, or they might break! Try to stay leaned against the roof if you can, and brace against any wind.” The mare just held the filly tighter and nodded, leaning a bit back against the roof, tears now coming down both of their faces. Two more guards showed up a second later, helping to move the crowd of ponies away from the building edge. There were almost forty all around the building and in the street now, looking up in mixtures of shock and horror. Both of the guards slipped over the edge of the roof and moved closer to the mare, their tails blowing lightly in the wind. Of course, Malice or not, I wasn’t that lucky. The unicorn guard’s eyes widened suddenly as one of the tiles snapped under his left front hoof. He slid slightly, sending two more down the side of the roof and causing the mare to gasp, whipping around in surprise. My eyes widened, but she managed to balance there, wobbling slightly as she panicked and flailed the knife towards the sliding guard! A single tile next to her popped off the top of the roof, my line of shielding exploding upwards. My barrier hit the knife and latched onto it in six spots, halting its path just as it swung in towards the guard’s shoulder. The mare screamed in panic as the other guard opened his wings and tried to dive to grab both of them, and she fell to the side to get out of the way. He missed completely, managing to turn in the air as he fell off the side of the roof and right himself, flying back up to catch her. She whipped her right foreleg out sideways to stop her own roll towards the edge of the roof, still managing to hold onto the filly with her other leg. I used my barrier to stab the knife into the side of the roof tiles instead, then let it go, rapidly charging another burst of energy visibly this time to try to form another barrier. The downside of my magic compared to a unicorn’s is that, while mine is far more energy efficient, it’s not nearly as instantaneous as a spell that listens directly to the willpower of the caster. At this distance, that slowed down noticeably, the burst of magic traveling up the line I’d already made. It was halfway up when the roof tiles gave away. The mare screamed, twisting her other foreleg out and throwing the filly in the direction of the unbroken part of the roof. The pegasus lashed out, but missed her by mere centimeters as he winced, bits of roof tile smashing into him in the air. A green aura shot around the shocked filly as she hit and rolled further down the roof, the unicorn guard sliding down and grabbing her. The mare fell… My eyes flicked to my magic. It was almost halfway up. The barrier could activate there, but she’d hit it face first after falling two stories… I didn’t have time to re-calculate. I looked back up at her, for that brief instant, frozen in mid-fall and screaming. The guard to my left was rushing forward, his horn starting to spark with light. Could he catch her? Would it be any better than my barrier? My eyes turned blue, a different set of calculations running instead. I decided in a split second that I didn’t want the mare to die. Six tentacles shot out of my back a fraction of a second later. Two for her torso, one for each leg. She didn’t have time to even look over at them coming in, them wrapping around her in the blink of an eye. The first story I used to slow her down. The second and last before she hit the ground I slid forward with, bringing her to far safer speeds before she landed on top of me. Without my armor on, she was still heavy enough to cause me to wince when she crashed into my side, still technically ‘falling’ downwards. My tentacles pooled around us as she hit, forming a soft cushion on all sides for her to land on. It was over less than a second later. She froze there, eyes wide as I slowly slid my tentacles off her legs and torso. Shakily, I stood back up, wincing as I lifted my right leg up to feel my right side. It was bruised, but that would heal fast. My ribs were metal now, and not damaged in the slightest. The tentacles slid back into me as I straightened, shifting my eyes back to their normal amber color as I turned my scanners off. I looked back over at the mare, partially curled into a ball and lying against the side of the building. She was still frozen, looking at me in shock. Movement caught my eye instead, and I looked up and to the left as the pegasus guard landed, carrying the little filly, who ran crying to an older looking mare all of a meter away in the edge of the crowd. It looked like the mare was crying, too, and she ducked down fast to grab the filly as she ran up, holding her tight. The mare had a darker yellow coat and a teal mane, but I couldn’t see her eye color. Her mother, maybe? The rest of the crowd stared in shock at me, I suddenly realized, as I rotated halfway around and looked at them all. I felt a cold numbness creep into my stomach as I realized everything was going to hell with absurd speed. Losing my focus, I frowned for a moment, then looked back to my right at the mare instead. No, focus on what I could actually do at the moment. “Are you okay?” I asked her weakly, my voice as unsteady as my resolve. Slowly, she nodded, sitting up a little while shaking heavily. That wasn’t what I had intended, and definitely not ‘safe’, but they were both on the ground now. It nagged at me. Would it have been better to not use my tentacles to save her? The guard might have caught her in time, but… no. That was the only way I had to assure she’d make it. “You need medical attention. The filly should get some, too. Can you guards take them back to the castle infirmary?” I asked, looking to the filly and the older mare instead. The mare wasn’t even looking at me in the slightest, just holding the little foal close. She glanced up at the guards as they approached and nodded, helping the filly back up to her hooves. The guards helped the other mare up from her fallen position, and she winced, holding onto her back left leg for a moment as they helped her brace herself. A sprain, by the looks of it. The little filly had a cut on her foreleg from where she’d hit the roof, too, I realized, looking back over as the guards helped her and her mother towards the castle. The crowd was still frozen, a mixture of confusion and surprise as they looked from myself to the guards escorting the three ponies towards the Northeast. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say or do. Looking back behind me, I spotted Octavia and Cufflink at the other edge of the crowd, both looking at me in surprise as well. My eyes softened, and I looked away from her and sighed. There was nothing else I could do. Tia needed to hear about all of this. Feeling empty, I slowly followed after the guards as they headed towards the castle, feeling dozens of pairs of eyes on me as I walked…
Chapter 93It felt like it took forever to get back to the palace this time. Of course, it didn't help that somehow, word of mouth seemed to be traveling faster than we were. By the time we got within three blocks of the main gates, there were six reporters and a good thirty ponies following me. This was potentially the worst I'd possibly screwed up so far, but instead of really appreciating the sheer horror of everything that was about to transpire, I mostly just felt numb. The day seemed darker, and if anypony was home inside, they'd boarded up the windows and doors for the impending storm. I just felt tired. Octavia had caught back up with me after three blocks or so, having used her superior mass to easily path through the crowd, given the massive case on her back. I was a little surprised to see her trying to catch up with me again, after I'd been forced to abandon her, ruining the little lunch date. Again. Oh, and reveal that I was actually a monster. There was nothing I could think of to even say, and for the majority of the trip, she silently walked next to me. It was almost as unnerving as everything that had just happened. We cleared the palace gates without me so much as glancing back at the reporters screaming questions out to me. They all wanted to know what I was, along with the few more selective questions of what had happened involving the mare, why she did what she did, and of course what was going to happen now. I didn't have answers to most of those, unfortunately. One even asked why I was with Octavia. Thankfully she cut them off blindingly fast with a shout of us just being friends. Hey, we were still friends? That was an upside to the situation, regardless. I turned my head and looked at her as we cleared the castle gate. Four more guards had rushed up upon seeing the commotion and abruptly closed the path off behind us, closing the gate on the storm of reporters following. The party that was still on the lawn ground to a screeching halt as all heads turned to look at my entourage, and I was a bit surprised that the lead guards stopped with all three ponies that had been involved in the situation at the café. I gave them a nod, and all four of them saluted, heading towards the castle with me and Octavia following. The injured mare fell halfway across the yard, giving a yelp as she stepped down wrong on her left foreleg. After hitting that leg against the concrete, I was surprised she’d walked this far, even with the guards’ help. I ducked forward and braced her, causing her to go rigid as she looked back up at me in surprise with mixtures of fear in her eyes. I probably deserved that. Instead, I focused on her leg, lifting it gently, and then frowned. Bruising was going up from her ankle almost all the way to her elbow. My eyes flashed blue for a second, causing her to start, but my scan ran almost instantly along her leg. The surface blood vessels were, as best described, mangled. She'd rotated slightly in the air to not quite land on her face, and was instead heading for a lovely shoulder impact when she hit me instead. Unfortunately for her, a leg went past me and hit the ground, still going an appreciable fraction of terminal velocity. Of bigger concern was the muscles, and how they appeared to be partially torn at the connection with her ankle. "She has a torn muscle. Could one of you carry her on your back to the infirmary first? A second guard can go with to keep her calm. She needs that leg looked at," I requested, glancing to the unicorn and earth pony to my right, who'd been helping her along prior. They were the same two that ran up next to me when the event started, I realized. Both nodded, and the unicorn helped her uneasily up onto the earth pony's back. I nodded to them, then looked to the mother and little filly. "You two should go to the infirmary as well. Can you follow these two guards?" I requested, gesturing my right foreleg towards the filly, who had a little bit of blood running down from her right shoulder. She'd hit the broken roof tiles on that side after the mare threw her. Ultimately better than falling off the roof, but it still needed tending to. The older mare nodded, looking uneasily towards me before suddenly stepping forward. I hesitantly leaned back, unsure of her intent, and the closer pegasus stepped forward towards her, but she surprised me by suddenly hugging me instead. "I... I'm sorry I didn't say anything before now. Everything was a rush, but... Thank you! I don't care how you did it. You saved my little Morning Joy, and that's all that matters," she suddenly thanked. The pegasus relaxed, smiling a little as he sat back down with a dull thunk of his armor. She turned to him as well and grinned. I raised an eyebrow as she pounced on him as well, having carried the filly back down from the rooftops himself. "It's okay, ma'am. I'm just happy that nopony got hurt," the guard admitted. Ah, right! I was supposed to respond to that! "Yeah, it turned out surprisingly well for how it started. I'll probably be down to talk to you again after a little bit, but try to stay calm," I assured her. Assuming they didn't arrest me for creating a huge public disturbance and breaking the little Masquerade we had going. I kinda doubted that was outlined in law anywhere, but so far I had proved something of an exception, so why not? The mare relaxed a little before nodding to me, releasing the captive guard and picking her filly up instead, depositing her lightly between her two saddlebags. Oh, that was clever. I made a note of using saddlebag straps to help carry foals, if I ever ended up with one myself. I watched her catch up with the other two guards before turning back and heading for the castle entrance. Octavia gave a chuckle, catching up quickly on my right. The two remaining guards framed us to either side as we walked, making us look more official than I would have preferred. That's when I realized that I wasn't exactly 'numb' so much as my insides felt like I'd eaten several buckets of ice cubes. My nerves felt fried, and I realized I was oh so slightly shivering as I walked. Damn. Looking to Octavia, I watched her for a moment as we neared the gates. Her eyes flicked to the left at me for half a second before looking back in front of her, her left ear flicking twice. "Don't even say it. No, this changes nothing for me. If anything gives a strong enough witness of character, it's saving my life while asking for nothing in return and at great risk of your own. So regardless of what you may be, I know 'who' you are, and that's all that matters. So don't start," she suddenly spoke up. I blinked, almost tripping on my forelegs as I slowed, staring at her in surprise. She smirked, probably predicting my reaction, and I flattened my ears back a little. Well, I guess she'd made up her mind already. She was a very strange mare. "No room for argument, hmm?" I asked, catching back up to her side. For hauling an extra hundred pounds, she moved with surprising ease. She didn't miss a beat before smiling a bit wider and shooting back, "Of course not. I'm never wrong when it comes to judgement of character. I even knew you'd ask me that." That... That was true, yes. She'd predicted that I was feeling insecure, which probably wouldn't have taken a great leap of logic given what she'd witnessed earlier, but it did imply she at least knew me a little bit. Still... "So how does a musician, even an immensely talented one such as yourself, pick up skills for reading ponies so well?" I asked, raising an eyebrow towards the gray mare. The two guards slipped ahead of us and each opened one of the double doors heading into the palace. Crap, my time was about up. I'd hoped to hear her answer. She smirked, which was interesting enough when it came to reactions. "Oh my. Flattery will get you everywhere. Still, that's an honest enough question. Suffice it to say that I get invited all sorts of places, and have gotten very good at listening. You'd be surprised what you can hear if you just stop to listen in unique spots," she revealed, glancing back towards me with a coy smirk. Unique spots? The things that could be implied from that answer made my head spin, but I knew I didn't have time to consider it. I smiled more earnestly, and for just a brief moment, she looked mildly surprised. That was my opening, I realized. Fortune sometimes favored the suicidal brazen, I think the phrase went. "Thank you, Octavia. I'm glad that you're my friend," I returned. For just a split second, I saw her eyelids flick upwards ever so slightly, a micro-reaction that definitely registered. She controlled her expression with surprising precision, however, and shifted to a milder look of surprise, melting it into a warmer smile afterwards as she nodded. That was definitely an interesting reaction, but it didn't tell me anything specific. Turning, I headed through the small entry chamber and towards the inner doors instead, wiping my hooves absently on the thicker, rougher rug across the floor here. Octavia recovered in negligible time and repeated my gesture, as did the guards as they followed after, then opened the inner doors. "Thanks," I muttered to both of them, earning a nod from the pegasus and a soft smile from the unicorn. I'd have to thank them in more detail later, for their help at the cafe. Pulling my notepad program up, I tacked on all of their guard numbers to the bottom of it. Not thinking I was a monster right on the spot and still actually listening to my orders had to mean something. The inside of the throne room felt even bigger as I stepped through the inner doorway, my hooves making light padding noises on the softer carpet that ran all the way up the center of the room to the elevated throne. I swallowed a lump in my throat upon spotting Princess Celestia. She sat up on her throne, speaking with two ponies that stood at the base of it. I didn't recognize either of them, but from their fancy suit and dress, I assumed they were attending the party outside. The magical torches were already on as we walked up the straight path, and I did everything I could to try to distract myself. It was darker outside, summer light waning already, so I assumed they used artificial lighting more frequently. It made the room feel warmer, however, the sconces projecting a warmer orange ambiance through the air. My insides were thankful for it. To her credit, the Princess was remarkably perceptive. Her eyes locked with mine as we neared the throne, then flicked to Octavia, then the guard to each side of me. She smiled softly a second later, then looked back down at the two ponies in front of her. "You'll have to excuse me. Urgent matters appear to be at hoof, and I must take a private council," she excused. Both stallion and mare bowed politely to her before turning and heading back towards the exit, without another word. The mare looked us over as she walked past, frowning ever so slightly as she hurried to catch up with the stallion. Maybe it was that inner magic of mine giving away my mood? "Ah, Mender. You're back remarkably quickly from lunch, have your rumored lunch date in tow, and are accompanied by two of our guards. This bodes quite poorly," she deduced, giving me a skeptical if somewhat amused smile. "You have no idea..." I groaned, not even sure where to begin... * * * * * Tia exhaled softly, for perhaps the fourth time as she considered everything. I gave her a glance, then turned back to the mare lying in the hospital cot with a heavily bandaged foreleg. Miss Dusk Star was significantly more familiar to me now. She had a grayish tan coat, a strange color to describe. Obviously a unicorn, her mane and tail were dull orange with a few stripes of equally dull red running through them, giving her a very muted color scheme. The only bright color to her was her surprisingly vivid green eyes. Not every pony apparently had complimentary color schemes. She was currently on light pain medication, and was looking rather sleepy as she quietly regarded me. "So far, we know you work for BEID, but that plan wasn't an official scheme of theirs. You joined them three years ago, back when they were only monitoring dimensional activity, predicting the 'cycle' of dimensional movement would re-connect Equus in the near future. Right?" I summarized, looking to Tia, who only frowned further. Star shivered lightly, then slowly nodded. "I... I was acting without consent from the group with two others. One took the filly and hauled her to the roof where I was waiting. The other kept an eye on you and coordinated," she explained, swallowing uneasily. Glancing to my right, I saw the very filly in question sitting up in the hospital cot next to us. Her shoulder was bandaged on the right side, which really stood out on her pink coat. Her yellow mane, tail, and eyes matched nicely, though, and she sort of reminded me of a flower blossom. Morning Joy was a rather pretty name, in that case. Regardless, she was remarkably recovered from the event, now giving a soft smile as she watched me talk to the mare. She’d already forgiven the mare for taking her hostage, which genuinely surprised me... Her mother, an Earth Pony just like she was, sat next to the cot with her upper torso leaning up on the mattress, both forelegs around her filly. She hadn't let her go the entire time I was here, and I suspected before I got here as well. Her coat was a slightly darker yellow compared to the filly's mane and tail. Her own were a softer teal color, managing to mesh well with the yellow, but only because both were darker colors. Her eyes were a brighter version of her mane color, and frequently moved between me and her daughter. Miss Banana Swirl, or just Swirl for short. A local purveyor of all sorts of ice cream treats. I'd already been offered a lifetime supply... Octavia leaned up against her own cello case, piercing lavender eyes locked carefully on the mare as she took it all in. A moment later, she closed them and slowly nodded before furthering, "It fits. A little bird in the pub a few nights ago revealed that BEID was seriously locking down on its members due to a sudden rash of doubt and reconsideration. More than likely, Miss Snapshot is to blame." Eh? "What do you mean?" I asked her, looking over at the gray mare. Bringing up Snapshot out of the blue was a curious deduction. "It's simple. Temporary or not, she was a known BEID affiliate. During her 'mission' against you, whatever that was, she failed. I'm guessing she failed in a way that made them realize she failed, either by lack of a return report, or her somehow telling them," she pointed out. Yeah, when I broke the crystal, it probably disrupted whatever link it had with the other end, I realized, now that I understood how they functioned a little better. She continued regardless with, "Given their opinion of you, at least back then with what those bogus fliers had to say, they probably assumed her dead. Rather gruesome, but their opinion of you appears to be abysmal at best, no offense." I averted my eyes, and she gave me a soft smile, holding a hoof up as her ear flicked. I slowly shook my head, and she exhaled softly, relaxing a bit. To my surprise, Tia cut in instead, however. "But she didn't die. She showed up here a day later, arrested instead. I made no attempt at hiding that fact, and you believe that due to her being not only unharmed, but suddenly changing her opinion on Mender entirely, that it caused doubts," she deduced softly, eyes looking remarkably focused for her more relaxed posture. Ah, right. I hadn't hurt her at all, and she was technically free now, but working for me. That was a far cry from the rape, murder, and cannibalism she herself had proclaimed, I suddenly realized. "It... It's true!" Star exclaimed, then added, "We all got top priority correspondence that, um, essentially said that it would be the complete end of Equus as we knew it if Mender continued to roam free! I... I'd already believed them, but they sent all that out and I got scared. Nopony was doing anything, and no plans were being made to stop him. The three of us got together and decided to try to stop him ourselves..." So it worked a little too well on her and her friends. Although BEID had gotten its wish and got me to reveal myself regardless, ironically, through a complete fluke. The mare herself was absolutely terrified when I'd seen her up on the roof, and it made a painful knot in my throat when I realized it was in regards to me. How many ponies thought I was a complete monster hell bent on destroying their world? Tia exhaled softly, looking up at the ceiling before shaking her head. "We don't have a choice, Mender. The exposure is already too great. I'm going to call a press conference. I'd like you to be there. You don't have to say anything, but having a visual will help," she requested, looking back down and over at me. That. That was precisely what I'd been afraid of for a good hour now. I gave a sigh myself before nodding to her. "I understand. Am I coming as a captain, or just Mender this time?" I asked. Ironically, that heavy ceremonial armor would probably make me feel a bit more comfortable this time, putting another physical barrier between myself and the crowd. The alicorn shook her head, however, replying with, "It might give the wrong message, especially to a bunch of very uncertain ponies. Not wearing the armor will help you look more humble and down to earth. I'm going to go make the arrangements. Meet me back in the throne room in fifteen minutes or so." I nodded to her again, and watched her stand and leave, a bit of a rush to her step. The longer we let the ponies worry, the worse it would be, of course. Slowly, I turned and looked back at Octavia, who stretched against her cello case, then sat more upright instead of leaning on it. She looked at me for a moment, but I couldn't manage to keep her gaze and closed my eyes, settling on at least the truth. "I'm sort of an alien. Techically, anyway," I revealed, opening them again to look at her unchanged expression. She shrugged instead. "So am I whenever I visit Vinyl in Ponyville, 'technically' speaking. You'll have to be more specific," she pointed out, a slightly coy smile coming to her expression. At least her humor hadn't failed yet, which I was thankful for. "My mother and father are ponies. They were from here, Equus. An accident happened and pulled my mother into another dimension. I was frozen there in cryostasis for three hundred years before being crammed full of artifical parts to keep me alive, grown to maturity, then accidentally sent back here to Equus a little over a month ago. I completely lost my memory on arrival and started over as 'Moon Mender' instead. I only remembered everything that happened as of yesterday evening," I summarized, mostly for Octavia. To be honest, I was a little proud of actually getting the gray mare to look dumbfounded for a few seconds, surprise washing over her face. Of course, if she was reacting... A glance to my right showed both Dusk Star and Banana Swirl staring at me with bewildered, wide-eyed expressions. Yup. Joy, however, simply gasped before loudly professing, "Cool!" I looked at the little filly for a moment before smiling a little and nodding to her. Okay, she was adorable, and it was hard to brood around foals. Her mother relaxed a little and smiled as well, but Star frowned. "Artificial?" she asked quietly, looking my body over. I nodded to her, then wordlessly lifted one of my forelegs, letting a couple of tentacles extend out of it. I stared at them as they wiggled for a moment, my eyes shifting blue as I adjusted my scanners over my extra limbs. They weren't 'normal' in the slightest, not technically being flesh so much as a mass of fully functional, completely independent cells all lumped together and networked into acting as one. They formed an organic metal core for strength, and sinew and muscle connecting to it, allowing complete prehensile movement. They could also manipulate the moon-sized folded sub-space that was connected to me at a molecular level, to both pull more matter if I told them to grow, or poke out sharp and pointy things if I really wanted to whack something. They also got 'armored' the same way as I did, if I went into full combat mode. The best part was, apart from acting as a prehensile extra limb, they were entirely useless in the primarily peaceful daily life in Equestria. They mostly just alienated me, especially now. I sort of wanted to just rip them out, but I had no idea where I'd hide a small moon's worth of random matter. Maybe Pinkie would have ideas? "Fake parts. I wasn't ready to be born when they thawed me. In order to save my life, they replaced parts of me with fake versions. I'm partially mechanical. That's how I can make tentacles," I elaborated, gesturing to them. She watched them in more confusion than anything. Octavia reached out with her right foreleg and casually poked one, watching it gently wrap around her hoof. "Seems remarkably harmless, although I'm guessing you can do other things. Admittedly, I wasn't about to guess you were some sort of synthetic pony. We're geared more towards the, well, supernatural here," she explained, looking back up at me curiously. I nodded to her, having expected that much. I unhooked her hoof and withdrew the tentacles before shaking my head. "Nothing really supernatural about me. Apart from all of the artifical enhancements, I'm a normal Earth Pony. It's more complicated, of course, but I'm summarizing. Big Mac showed me that I could do Earth Pony magic, too, and that really proved it to myself, most of all," I said, staring at my own hoof. Now I knew for certain exactly what I was. Reliving my time as 'Azure' had completed my missing memories, and only made me realize what I'd sort of known all along. I was a pony, through and through. The memories I'd started with of another being and another world were the artificial ones. "I'm sorry," Star suddenly murmured, eyes going watery as she reached up and covered them with her hooves. "I'm so, so sorry. You... You weren't keeping any stupid secrets. You were just trying to be normal, and... I ruined all of that. I believed every word they spoon fed us, and I ruined your chance at a normal life," she whined, choking back a sob after as I saw tears slip out from behind her hooves. She had completely changed her mind before I even got down here. Apparently the 'monster' revealing himself willingly to save her life was completely beyond her reasoning before. Admittedly, a part of me realized she was right. Tactically speaking, what I had done was an amazingly poor choice. The unicorn guard might have been able to catch her safely, but even if he hadn't, I could have simply let her hit the ground. As an Earth Pony, nopony would have even batted an eye, acknowledging that there was no way I could have saved her after she fell. My secret would have been safe, and I could have been justified in that she 'deserved' it for what she tried to do to me and the innocent filly. That was only tactically, however. Even reasoning all of that out in my head felt like it rang false, and I was glad for it. It sounded more like something he would have done, and the further from him that I made myself, the better I felt. No, even if there was a chance the unicorn could have caught her, I wasn't about to risk a mare's life on uncertain odds. I was in a position to do something, and any life felt more precious than a stupid secret, even if it made my day a living hell. "No, I made the choice. Your life is more important than me keeping my identity a secret. I don't regret saving you," I finally spoke up. She stared at me, a certain level of emptiness to her expression, like I’d said something not in her native tongue. Octavia fully stood, however, drawing my attention back to her. “And that’s why you’re not a monster,” she declared, in a rather final way. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she hoisted her case back up on herself, focusing on that instead of immediately looking at me. When she did turn back, she instead added, “Now come on. We’re going to borrow the bathroom down the hall. I may be more relaxed than the noble types around town, but you’re still not going out like that on my watch.” Huh? Looking down at myself, I noticed my coat was rather frayed looking, and sticking out oddly in a few places. Some of it was from where I’d slept, but others I couldn’t place. At least not until I remembered Twilight’s last two day freak out session. Exhaling, I nodded to her and stood up as well. Might as well get this over with. Maybe if I just plunged into the proverbial ice water all at once, face first, it wouldn’t be as bad? “Okay, yeah. I should have probably tidied up before I left this morning, after the shower,” I admitted, looking my other, equally messy foreleg over. Apparently brushing was a useful thing for both genders of ponies… Octavia perked and gave a nod, surprising me with a smile instead. “Good! You’re significantly less stubborn than Vinyl. She would have fussed for at least an hour. Let’s go,” she declared before trotting rather perkily out the door of the clinic. Yup. I was never, ever going to understand mares. Slowly shaking my head, I headed towards the door to follow after her, regardless. “Mender, wait,” I heard behind me, from Swirl instead. I turned and looked back her way, noting she’d stepped away from the bed and was now standing at the foot of Star’s. Seeing she had my focus again, she quickly requested, “I really meant it about treating you at my ice cream shop. You saved my little filly’s life, and I don’t want to just leave it like this. Please, I don’t care what time of day or what day of the week. Could you please drop by the shop?” My mind immediately flashed to Pinkie for some reason, enthusiastically bouncing next to me and nodding. Smiling at the thought, I nodded to her, then added, “Sure, so long as I can bring some friends. Pinkie loves ice cream.” The mare dramatically gasped, and I tilted my head to her as she wobbled her legs. “You’re bringing the Elements of Harmony?! Oh, oh, I’ll have to get ready for this, then! Please, um, give me a bit of heads up before coming over, and I’ll have lots of treats for you all!” she exclaimed, clapping her hooves together happily. Huh. Pinkie was well known over here. “I’ll send you a note ahead of time, don’t worry,” I assured, nodding to her as I turned again. This time I got as far as the door before my name was called out. Looking back, I watched Star sit up in bed, frowning. “I’m… No, Snapshot is right. This is just… so stupid. They’re lashing out at you out of fear. I don’t want to work for BEID anymore,” she announced. She was probably right on their motives, anyway. I was pretty sure fear of the unknown was one of those ‘primal’ ones. Although for the scientifically inclined such as Twilight or myself, the unknown was more a driving force. “That’s probably wise. I’m not saying they’re bad ponies. They just seem misguided,” I muttered. It was the first time I’d really thought about ‘why’ BEID was doing what it was doing, but it seemed to make sense. Realizing that they were normal ponies with normal wants and fears was also sort of pushed upon me by all of this. Although that was probably a good thing, rather than imagining them as some nameless entity in the darkness that wanted me gone. She hesitated for a moment, and I admittedly saw it coming. “So, does Dimensional Regulations have need for a typist?” she asked hesitantly, a few moments later. Oh boy… * * * * * “This is a surprisingly big mess…” Shining Armor muttered, sitting next to me and staring blankly out at the stage. My ears flicked, and I glanced over at him before asking, “Which? My run in with BEID, or… this?” I gestured out to the projection screen sticking partially out of the wooden floor of the stage, a bit of smoke coming up from the basic wind up motor it had on the one end. The magic projection system had also been knocked over, scattering a few dozen crystals across the front of the platform and ground in front of the stage. Tia sat at the podium, intentionally not turning around to even watch, letting her head rest on her forehooves as she stared out above the crowd of ponies already gathered. “Uh… yes?” Shining offered, shrugging his shoulders before asking again, “Are you sure you don’t want help with-“ He was cut off as Snapshot shouted, “Yes! I’m fine, and this is all under control! Just give me a moment.” I lifted an eyebrow as she strained, slowly yanking the smoldering display screen out of its crater on the stage. It looked kind of the opposite of under control, but she was very adamant on doing it all herself. It didn’t help that she’d heard about what happened and immediately came to the same conclusion as Octavia. So now she decided that she absolutely had to help correct the situation. A few ponies in the crowd had started to chuckle. A good chunk were still watching me with mixtures of anxiety and curiosity. I was pretty sure the news had gone everywhere by now, for better or worse. They were surprisingly quiet, however, and just waiting patiently for Tia to begin talking. Looking out into the crowd, I was met with so many pairs of eyes looking back at me that I was almost instantly struck with a sort of vertigo. The attention was choking, and I wanted to slowly slink backwards until I fell off the back of the stage, then run and hide somewhere. Having the girls here to help would have been amazing, but they weren’t due in by train for another hour yet, the trip here taking about three. Tia had sent Twilight a letter last night stating that I’d woken up, and apparently the mare had tried to pack up and leave on the hour. I blushed a little considering it, but was glad that Tia had talked her out of it. She was still needed for the last day of the festival that I had mostly completely missed. Rolling my eyes, I stood and walked forward finally, just as Snapshot yanked the projector screen out of the flooring. “Mender, I said-“ she started. “Shush. You’re getting help,” I ordered, causing her to look surprised for a moment until I bumped into her and moved her backwards, then whacked the motor casing on the end of the screen. Friction burn had literally burnt the edges of the rotation axel, and the rope had gotten hung up behind the gear after it had slipped out of the spindle, by the looks of it. Of course, finding this out before she yanked the whole thing off the back wall would have been better, but the damage was done already. She watched curiously as I hooked the other end of the rope and pulled it out of the threading feed, then lifted it up until it popped out from behind the gear assembly. After, I just put it back into the feed and lined it up again, pushing the gears back down into place. A check of the bolt and washer that had secured them showed that it was stripped bare, probably since the last time that Twilight and I had caused it to crash to the floor. Exhaling, I pulled the bolt out with a magnetic spell on my hoof and held it up to the light. This wouldn’t do at all… “Oh, that’s what broke?” Snapshot asked, looking the bolt over after snatching it out of my hoof. “It popped loose, let the gears pull away from the back cover, which let the rope slip off the spool and get stuck in them. Then you pulled on it so hard that the friction caught the rope partially on fire, and the bolts securing it to the wall pulled free…” I pointed out, gesturing to the bits of the wall that were still on the bolts at the back of the screen. Wait, bolts…? She scowled at me, then tossed the ruined bolt haphazardly backwards and crossed her forelegs. “That doesn’t fix it, though! We need this for the presentation!” she whined, energetically flailing her hooves a moment later. Glancing at the back of the screen, I eyed up the bolts there instead. An eye scan showed me the exact same measurements, and I smiled. Universal parts really did make engineering easier! Pulling one of the bolts out of the back of the panel, I instead slid it into the gear assembly and tightened it with my magic. Snapshot squeaked, then did a small dance happily as she watched, her energy and enthusiasm rather infectious, really. Admittedly, focusing on engineering issues instead was helping me calm down, too. Octavia had spent a good fifteen minutes with me in the bathroom. I didn’t question why she had a brush packed into her cello case, and further ignored that it smelled lightly of instrument oil. Still, she’d done wonders working on my coat, and explained that stress tended to cause hormone releases into the bloodstream, and the nerves along our skin reacted with that, sometimes causing our fur to get messed up. I imagine that originally it was used to ‘puff’ us up to make us look bigger and scarier when we were nervous, but it hardly had a place in a more modern setting. I knew nothing about evolution, but was kind of irked that was still a thing. Eh, at least male ponies didn’t have nipples. Keldarians did, which also made me question things. Alas, I couldn’t keep myself distracted forever. After the screen was levitated back up on the wall courtesy of Shining, Tia didn’t have any reason to further delay the press conference. Of course, there was a lot more ponies than just the press in the crowd, them backed all the way out the side gate, as well as spilling out onto the lawn to either side of the assembly area. My neatly groomed fur was threatening to pop loose again, and I closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm that twitchy sensation in my chest. I wondered idly if they made pony ‘hair spray’ for this sort of situation. A momentarily amusing image came to mind of a spastic pony shaking so much that suddenly all their fur popped out at once, sending hardened chunks of spray out into the audience like shrapnel, and I had to resist laughing. Yeah, that would be my luck. Maybe. Maybe Malice was going to play nice from now on? Tia started speaking, however, interrupting my train of thought as I snapped back to reality. “Ah, now that our technical difficulties have been resolved, and as long as I remember not to step backwards into the hole in the stage behind me now, things may begin,” she started, earning a few chuckles and giggles from the crowd. The air was tense and nervous still, however, and I swallowed that lump in my throat that had been building up. I was nervous, too, but for other reasons. “Most of you have already heard about the incident that happened an hour or so ago, I imagine. I’m not certain of the exact timing involved,” she started, shifting to a softer tone while carefully choosing her words. She didn’t have any script and was doing this right off the top of her head, which scared me even to think about. Talking at all in front of crowds was horrifying enough, but to do so without any planned material and about a rather nasty disaster? There were a lot of nods, and Tia added one herself before continuing with, “For those of you who haven’t, I’ll give a brief summary. Moon Mender, one of my guard captains, was having an early lunch with a friend of his at the Green Tea Café downtown. Before they’d gotten their orders, a mare called out to him from the roof of the shipping manifest office next door.” She had to remind me that I hadn’t eaten… I closed my eyes and tried to quiet the sudden sympathy rumble in my stomach, my left ear twitching in annoyance. “This mare had hauled a seven year old filly up with her, and was threatening bodily harm to the young foal if Mender didn’t reveal to the gathering crowd that he was an alien or monster trying to destroy our world,” the princess continued. There was a significant amount of gasps from the crowd, and I wondered at how many actually had heard the whole story. She continued before anypony could interrupt, however. “This mare was scared witless and truly believed Mender to have nothing but ill will towards our nation and world. Mender reacted admirably by attempting to calm her, and get equipment from the nearby fire station to get both of them down safely. Two guards attempted a rescue in the meantime,” she explained, summarizing surprisingly accurately minus the ‘admirably’ part. The Keldarians hadn’t really been big on teaching what to do in a hostage situation, so I hadn’t had much to work with there, fake memories included. Tia exhaled softly after that, lowering her head a little before giving the next part. “The rescue went poorly, and the mare slipped and fell off the top of the roof. She managed to throw the filly to safety even as she fell, and one of the guards caught her carefully. The mare, however, fell four stories,” she revealed, letting that last part hang for a moment. Several more gasps, and somepony in the front managed to call out. “Is she okay?!” a mare asked in the front row, scratching furiously on a notepad in front of her with a pencil. She popped it back into her mouth immediately after asking, with practiced precision. Huh. “Yes, she’s doing quite well. Moon Mender saved her life by catching her. However, he used his tentacles to do so, his magic not charged up enough at the time,” the princess answered. It was as if somepony had hit a big ‘pause’ button on the entire crowd, everypony freezing at the exact same time and locking eyes with me instead. I closed mine, unable to stop my legs from shaking, even as I struggled to maintain my normal breathing. It was like their stares were tangible, able to be felt over my skin and burn like acid. I wanted to crawl away and hide, but… No, Tia had asked me to stay here, so I was going to stay here. There was a long pause that felt like an eternity crept past before she finally spoke again. “I’ve not been entirely truthful to my little ponies, and I apologize profusely for it. There are many reasons for why I did not tell the truth about Mender’s existence. For one, he himself started with no memories of who or what he was. I recognized him, having known his parents, and was desperately hoping that I could give him a normal life,” she revealed, emotion leaking out into her tone, even though she tried to keep her voice even. My eyes opened and I looked to her again, only to see her staring momentarily at the top of the podium as she fought to formulate her words. Something in her eyes made me pause, as I’d never seen her look like that before. She seemed almost… haunted. Finally, she shook her head slowly, then shifted to a different part of the story instead. “Three hundred years ago, there was a rash of disappearances all around Equestria. All sorts of objects simply disappearing from their spots seemingly for no reason whatsoever. My first instinct was a string of burglaries and petty thefts, but the phenomenon quickly grew too widespread. Worse yet, sometimes items were put back in their place instead. Items that were definitely not of Equus origin,” she summarized. Oh, right, the dimensional bleeding effect. There were whispers, but ponies mostly kept silent, so she continued. “Growing concerned, I assembled a team of ponies from several fields of study to look into what was causing this strangeness, and if it was a danger to anypony directly. What they found was… It was startling, to say the least. We are not alone in this, well, let’s call it multiverse. Our universe is one of many in reality, and they travel in ‘cycles’ in time, sometimes getting closer or farther away from us. One such is matching up almost flawlessly with Equus, and when it passed close, areas that had intense pockets of magic caused a reaction, letting smaller items be swapped back and forth between our dimensions.” Gasps. Everypony started talking at once, but Tia held up a hoof in the air, causing them to slowly fall silent once more. Anxiety spiked, in both the audience and myself, it felt like. The princess shook her head, however, and then admitted, “I kept this a secret. I didn’t want anypony to panic. In the meantime, I had the team I’d already created formalized into a government branch called the Bureau of Extradimensional Investigation and Defense, or BEID for short. I then instructed them to look in-depth into this other dimension. The results were horrific, to say the least.” I’d never know if she intended to hang on that point, but the crowd exploded into more talking, questions being screamed towards the stage, and a flurry of restless motion. I felt my own heart thudding harder inside my chest and swallowed, closing my eyes again and pretending I wasn’t up on stage right now. At least they weren’t specifically paying attention to me anymore. “Quiet!” Shining barked suddenly, almost scaring me out of my skin due to being literally right next to me again. Even not being right at the microphone, his voice carried out over the crowd and caused a very familiar looking freezing effect throughout. He continued with, “Let Princess Celestia finish explaining before orderly asking questions, one at a time.” His order was level and even, and I saw many ponies relax visibly below us. Oh boy. Tia nodded at that, replying momentarily with a thank you to him before looking back out over the crowd. “The other dimension is not a pleasant place, and is nothing like our Equus. Everything from their reports are on file, and I’m now making them available to the general public, although I caution a strong heart and stomach if you’re going to go and look at them,” she warned, gesturing behind her as the screen finally lit up, showing data and measurements from familiar looking reports. Dimensional ‘density’ testing, I recognized, showing that how thin the barrier was between our dimensions varied depending on physical location. It was interesting results and actually implied that the bleeding was a ‘localized’ occurrence, mostly over the planet known as Equus, actually. It couldn’t have been coincidental, however. All eyes were drawn up to the huge projection screen instead, and she took advantage of their temporary distraction to continue talking. “However, I was foolish. This dimension had proven dangerous, so I immediately decided to stop the experiments to investigate it and try to seal it off as best I could. This turned out to be a mistake that has haunted me for the last three hundred years. In simply unplugging the experimental device they were using to look into the other dimension, it ruptured, causing a massive tear to momentarily appear connected to that other reality.” Her voice dwindled, most eyes shifting down to look at her instead as her eyes softened. I saw her left forehoof scrape slowly across the podium, but she closed her eyes and focused again before continuing. “We lost one of our own, pulled through the tear into that other dimension. Miss Gemstone Weave didn’t go missing in a hiking incident. She was one of the researchers for the team, and fell into the other dimension,” Tia muttered, a rare moment where the conviction was lost in her voice. Shining frowned towards her, and I saw confusion dance in the crowd, alongside several more shocked looks. Nopony said a single word, however, either too shocked to manage, or not wanting to interrupt. I didn’t know what to say at all, not used to seeing her like this. After a long moment, she looked up again and instead apologized with, “I’m sorry to have lied about it. I was concerned news of the other dimension would bring panic. I officially apologize to her friends and family as well, who missed her dearly. She was survived by her fellow partners in both the lab, and life, Bronze Bastion and Auraprism. Far worse, she was pregnant with a foal on the way when the incident happened.” Ah. And here we go. That brought full on gasps. Several audience members looked to me instead, sharply catching on almost immediately. She didn’t give them time to interrupt, however, instead glancing to the left and looking right at me as well. There was a certain tiredness to her eyes that I could sympathize with, and I nodded to her. She smiled softly and returned my nod before pushing the surprisingly oversized button on the podium, switching the flickering slide behind her again. My eyes widened at what came up. On the image was my full bio instead, done up with profile information and, to my surprise, something called ‘energy signature readings’. Two other signatures were lined up under that, appended onto the bottom with a paperclip, by the looks of it. Combined together, it looked remarkably close to mine, I realized. “This is the hospital’s write up on Moon Mender when he was first taken in. As you can see, they found him to have almost complete retrograde amnesia, retaining only motor functions and rudimentary basic knowledge. He revealed more specific understanding later on, but the important aspect that you can see are his energy signatures at the bottom. As most of you know, the magic inside a pony is entirely unique. Combining the signature from two parents, you can guess within a discrepancy of five percent or so what the foal’s signature is going to be. This is the comparison of Gemstone Weave and Bronze Bastion’s signatures that I ran on a hunch after I spoke for the first time with Mender himself,” she revealed, to me as well as she gestured back at the screen. She then dropped the big proverbial bomb on the crowd with, “They match within three percent. It surprised me at the time as well, but Moon Mender is the foal that Gemstone was carrying when she was pulled through the dimension.” The questions came flooding towards us, non-stop after that. Shining Armor slammed his hoof down hard on the stage, causing pretty much everypony to jump, including Tia and me. “One at a time! Raise your hooves and calm down, everypony!” he shouted out, giving a stern glare to several in the front row, who shifted sheepish instead. One lowered a megaphone, and I had to resist slapping my forehoof to my forehead. The same mare as before raised her hoof patiently in the front row. Shining nodded to her, and she immediately looked to me instead. “If this event happened over three hundred years ago, how is it that you’re still alive, even if you were successfully born in the other dimension?” she asked quietly. I blinked, not anticipating the question to be directed specifically to me instead. Tia frowned, starting to open her mouth, but I shook my head and closed my eyes again. I’d never be able to muster my voice if I had to look at them all staring at me. After a long moment of settling my insides, I finally spoke up with, “I wasn’t born in the other dimension. She was only seven or eight months into the pregnancy. She… My mother didn’t survive her arrival into the other dimension. I only know this all second hoof, but one of the races of that dimension, called Keldarians, found us shortly after she fell through. She was already gone, but they preserved her body, and incidentally me inside of her, with cryostasis. That was a technique they used to freeze us, keeping us in the exact state they found us in. I was like that up until about seven months ago.” Once I started, I knew I couldn’t risk stopping or I’d probably never get going again. My eyes remained closed, and I tried my hardest to stop my legs from shaking, hearing the very light rattling of my hooves on the wood of the stage, getting picked up by the microphone. It took a long moment, but the voice of that same reporter spoke up again, less urgently and more gently this time, to my surprise. “What happened seven months ago, then?” she asked. I opened my eyes again, and she gave me a gentler smile. I hadn’t been expecting that, but I relaxed nonetheless and nodded weakly. “A stronger, far nastier race had been hunting them for over a hundred years. The Keldarians were at the brink of extinction due to these horrible creatures. In order to find other ways to escape, and find somewhere else to flee to where the monsters couldn’t follow them, they launched a bunch of experimental projects. For one of them, led by a genius dimensional researcher called Kyliona, I was unthawed. She’d found unique energy on me and my mother, that she didn’t think originated from their own dimension,” I explained, topic shifting a little more ‘comfortable’ for me, anyway. The reporter looked surprised for a moment, then scribbled more notes down on her pad, and Tia nodded, giving me a smile and gesturing at me with her head. Right, I was supposed to keep talking. Ugh. She said I wouldn’t have to do this! Regardless, I guess I had chosen to speak up so it was sort of my own fault. I swallowed uneasily and shifted how I was sitting, noting a small puddle of my own sweat under me now. Calm down, Mender! Exhaling softly, I closed my eyes again and tried to focus on what was next. Oh, right. “When my mother was unthawed, I was discovered still inside of her. It was much too soon for me to be born, and they had to remove me from her and give me artificial parts in order to save my life. They also meshed my DNA with a few other sources, mostly my mother, to complete missing pieces of it from being frozen for three hundred years. The results is that I’m a ‘cybernetic’ pony, as they called it,” I explained. Tia hit her excessively large slide changing button again, and I looked back behind me as an amazingly large picture of Snapshot’s face came up, sticking her tongue out at her own camera. Uh… The mare off to the side near the projector squeaked in panic almost instantly, diving for the projector and manually flipping to the next slide. Instead, a picture of my profile came up, showing hundreds of artificial parts inside of me in various locations. Well, now I knew who prepared the slideshow, anyway… The small chorus of laughter halted as expressions shifted to curious instead, all eyes focused on the flickering image of light on the screen. Tia smiled at that and nodded, explaining, “Mender was saved by the advanced technology of these Keldarians. He has roughly eighty-five percent of his body augmented by something mechanical at this point. The project that unthawed him was originally going to use him as a scout, to send to Equestria and then report his findings back. Due to the… unique energy that he and his mother radiated, however, the Keldarians themselves that were working on him changed.” I didn’t know if she wanted to mention how technically atrocious they were as well, even if that made the Grosh complete monsters in comparison, but I just let her decide how much to reveal, as I looked back to her. She instead hit her giant button again, and the slide flicked forward once more. This time, Snapshot watched it like a hawk, her hoof over the slide change lever just in case. She was… a very strange mare… To my honest surprise, I was instead greeted by a five meter wide, four meter tall image of Keela instead. It was from the picture we’d made projecting her using my eye augments after they’d met for the first time. She was in her captain’s uniform, and on the bridge of the mining ship, I recognized. Gasps shot up from the crowd again, but Tia cut them off by immediately starting talking again. “This is a Keldarian. Her name is Keela, and she’s one of the researchers that worked with Mender, named Azure at that time, I’m told. They were changed by the residual embodiment of the virtues of harmony inside of Mender and his mother. They quickly were healed of the magical ailment that’s been plaguing their race for hundreds of years, and their dispositions softened towards the then young colt. They did artificially age Mender, but she was one of the ones there to help raise him. All were quite nice to him indeed,” she quickly summarized, smoothing over a lot of the more awkward parts of that story with surprising, practiced ease. A few ponies smiled at the image. A few others just looked surprised or confused. I glanced up at her, feeling a light heat enter my cheeks as I realized her image was being shown to easily over two thousand ponies suddenly. She herself would probably squeak and try to hide under her bed if she knew. Idly, I wondered when she’d be calling me back with an answer on her memory concerns. She said today at some point… A stallion wearing a ridiculously oversized journalist’s cap, next to the nice reporter mare from earlier, raised his hoof next, and Shining nodded to him a moment later. He stood up fully, making himself a little taller before asking, “If Moon Mender has recovered his memories now, is he somehow still in contact with these ‘Keldarians’? If so, what happened to send him back to Equus?” Ah, that was an astute question indeed. Tia must have thought so too, as she smiled at that. “Ah, yes, actually, we are still in contact with them. Mender has let me speak to them directly using his augmentations. They’re quite intelligent and very considerate individuals, I found. Their home planet was attacked by those monsters that Mender told you about already. This picture was taken from a ship they’re actually traveling in, no longer on their planet at all, but in space,” she explained, more carefully this time. I wasn’t sure how familiar ponies were with the concept of outer space, and quite a few gave confused expressions at that, I noticed at a glance. Oddly, I felt a little more comfortable now that my silly subconscious worries about them throwing pitchforks at me was proving unfounded. I didn’t realize it, but somehow, Tia managed to completely smooth over the explanation of what I was, although I doubted they were done asking about it. Exhaling softly, I added, “There was an accident during the attack. The Keldarians who had become my friends tried to get me off the planet with them. Doctor Kyliona, who’d saved my life, didn’t make it, unfortunately. In the panic and confusion, my augmentations activated and I ‘jumped’ to Equestria completely by accident. Somehow, it left me with retrograde amnesia, and I landed in the Whitetail Woods, near Ponyville.” And with that, minus the details about being a weapon of mass destruction, I’d completed the full circle details of my arrival. And I’d just told essentially all of Equestria. It felt like somepony had lifted a huge harness off my back that had been holding me down for quite a while, but at the same time, had bucked me in the gut and made me throw up all over the place. Thankfully without actually throwing up. Although there was still time left in the day for that… Nopony spoke, to my surprise. I didn’t look up, but I saw the mare reporter from before frown at that. Looking across the crowd, Tia frowned as well, then relaxed a bit more. “It’s not a pleasant set of memories, certainly,” she admitted, then continued with, “Mender hasn’t exactly had the best life, forced to grow up in six short months, then thrown into Equestria with no memories whatsoever. Since then, his prior life hasn’t exactly let him rest in peace, either. I found out who he was and tried to not even let him know in hopes he could live like a normal pony. That didn’t work out, however, and he was attacked by another creature from the other dimension. I’m sure you all know the details about that incident already. That’s when he found out himself that he wasn’t a normal pony.” They all heard about that? Some might not have known! We only set about five kilometers of the Everfree Forest on fire, caused a couple earth shattering explosions, and got Ponyville locked down in a state of emergency for a few days… Surely that couldn’t have been that noticeable. This time, most of the crowd didn’t look surprised, instead looking up as the projector changed slides again. I watched it switch instead to a picture of the swath of fire and destruction through the forest, then the mostly obliterated clearing we’d fought over. Oh boy. A few more murmurs sounded out, but Shining Armor surprised me by summarizing instead. “A creature disguising itself as my sister, Twilight Sparkle, attempted to infiltrate Ponyville and use the ruse to get Mender to let his guard down. It almost worked, but Mender noticed discrepancies in her appearance. As most of you know, he’s rather familiar with my sister,” he explained, glancing to me. A bolt of shock went through me and I felt the heat skyrocket into my cheeks as I turned to note his rather impish grin. Ah! Laughter broke out fully at that, but Shining just chuckled and kept talking. Sure, they could laugh now that it was safely in the past! “It saw that it was compromised, and attacked instead. There was an explosion at the library where they were, and the creature kidnapped Mender and retreated deep into the Everfree Forest. Princess Luna herself gave the rest of the account, revealing that Mender had realized fully that he was augmented, and actually did battle with the creature right in that clearing there. You can see the extensive damage to the surrounding area. The creature’s intentions were to destroy Moon Mender and any evidence of his existence, including Ponyville. Realizing this, Mender fought to protect everypony he’d come to know and love, and won. He defeated the creature,” Shining continued, looking back to me instead of the slide. I stared at him, eyes softening a little. He knew what her intent had been? I’d told Twilight about that, so she had to have been the one to tell him. But he praised my actions as rather positive there. Did that mean he really approved of me? After what happened with their dad, and mother to some extent, I had started to question how he felt about me dating his sister, too. Oblivious to our exchange, several of the journalists raised their hooves again. Snapping out of it, Shining looked back and nodded to a female unicorn that was a bit further to the left. She put her hoof down and quickly asked, “If you were able to fight that creature and defeat it, does that mean your, um, augmentations, I believe they were called, enable you to be, well…” She hesitated, and I closed my eyes again, exhaling. I’d seen this one coming. Tia looked to me, but I just nodded before relaxing myself again. “Yes. My augmentations make me physically stronger, tougher, and faster than I normally could be by a significant degree. On top of that, they let me create the tentacles I used earlier to save the mare. All of that is what I used that night to defeat the creature. Originally, when they were going to use me as a scout, they had no idea what Equus was actually like. That’s when they installed all of the combat functions and knowledge of how to use them, because they were worried that Equus might be an extremely dangerous place,” I explained. That I’d prepared ahead of time, having predicted they’d be a bit concerned with the more combat-oriented augments. Smiling, the princess nodded again to me before suggesting, “Perhaps a demonstration would be in order, Mender? Show them the tentacles up on stage, and your armor that you use.” Oh, yeah, that would probably be easier. Relaxing, I nodded to her and closed my eyes again. I felt them stir in my back, and I expanded them, eight long points extending from me and reaching upwards into the air. After I expanded them to a good three meters, I relaxed them and let them lower, pooling around my legs and gently swaying as I stretched the kinks out of them. They were always a little stiff if I didn’t use them for a little bit, I noticed, which was kind of weird. As predicted, everypony started talking at once, in a flurry of slower questions, not quite as panicked as before, at least. Predictably, there was also an explosion of camera flashes across the entire crowd. I felt heavy as I pulled my armor out at the same time, feeling the plates ‘melt’ out of my skin. My legs lifted one at a time as I snapped the huge plated ‘boots’ over my hooves, elevating me by a dozen centimeters or so more than normal. I also gained a good seventy-five pounds in pure plating, and easily heard my hoofsteps on the wood now. My muscles expanded and I felt that flow of power again as I cracked my back, then stood, opening my eyes finally. Everything was lightly tinted blue as my scanners took over completely, and I had a slight ‘letterbox’ effect going from seeing through the reinforced crystal lenses and armor plates over my eyes. Everypony had fallen silent, watching me now as I stood there in full armor, the plates going up my tentacles as well now. Exhaling, I walked slowly in a circle, turning each side of me to the audience, hoping familiarity would breed comfort in this case. In my rotation, I was a bit surprised to see Tia and Shining also staring at me, looking a bit shocked. Huh?! Did I forget the ‘pants’ or something?! Another wave of camera flashes hit me a moment later. Oh, that was just perfect… “Mender, when did your armor change colors?” Tia asked, sounding quite surprised. Huh?! Tilting my head to her, I sat down again and folded my helmet off. After I had full neck movement again, I looked down at my raised foreleg, then widened my eyes as I saw the solid white color instead. Eh?! Each individual plate was white, but there was an engrained overlay of a silvery blue color in a ‘branching’ pattern across the surface of each plate, which definitely wasn’t there before. My dumbfounded expression must have been fairly obvious, Tia frowning after a moment and rotating more towards me. “It must have subconsciously changed without you realizing it. Maybe when you got your full memories back?” she suggested. I was at a loss, realizing I technically didn’t know what had made it ‘black’ before that. It was never really something I’d considered before. Did the Elements of Harmony do something? It snapped into focus inside of me a moment later. A stirring, then a thousand eyes and then some opened up inside of me. My eyes widened a bit as I looked down at my own hoof. I braced, but they only watched me. There was nothing accompanying them this time, I realized. That usual flood of screams and hatred that flowed freely under their presence was absent. Instead, they smiled to me. It was an indistinct feeling, billions of smiles at once. Almost in one unified thought, I felt a ‘thank you’ drift into me, then the focus switched to the armored plate in front of me. Oh. They had done it. I let them get their revenge on who really killed them, and then the Elements of Harmony had purified them all. They were just like Keela and Kyliona now, I realized. Their anger was gone. I imagined that made a more concentrated form of thinking a lot easier. They had thanked me by changing the color of my armor and giving me these designs? Looking more closely at them now, I realized they were a very ‘nature’ feel, and wondered how intimately they knew and understood my inner Earth Pony side. I smiled gently, then thanked them back instead. Shining Armor smiled, too, looking me over. “It doesn’t really matter. I think it looks quite good on you, Mender. Much more fitting than the black stuff you had before,” he admitted as I stood up again to look back at my hips. My Cutie Mark was proudly displayed on the large back hip plates, and glowing a silver color, even visible in the sunlight. I smiled back at it and nodded quietly, taking in the details of the etched gear and heart. The inside of the heart was blue instead, and shining brightly in comparison. Hell, I could probably use my butt as a flashlight in this state. Tia watched us, too, looking relaxed before she softly sighed and turned back to the podium. Oh? She looked lost in thought for a moment before she continued talking instead to the crowd. “There you have it. Everything that I’ve been keeping secret from everypony. I apologize again, and would like to remind that it’s all available for public viewing now. It was a mistake to hide it, and I deeply regret everything that happened,” she started, frowning for a moment before glancing back at me. I saw that pain in her eyes again, and she quickly snapped back to looking out at the crowd instead. “Mender coming back was like an impossible hope of mine. Even more, it turns out that Gemstone Weave has been watching over him the entire time. Her soul has returned to Equus alongside Mender, and she’s now safely in the Ether. She’s been seen on the Long Road now, and is answering communications again, if anypony wishes to welcome her home. All of this… has felt personally like a second chance for me. That’s why I made Dimensional Regulation,” she explained. Oh, right! I figured she was going to talk about DReg, too. The reporters perked up at the mention of that, our big announcement conference having only been about a week ago. The princess continued, however, with, “Due to his experience with dimensional travel, his extensive training in engineering, technology, and combat, and his absolute desire to protect everypony he encounters, I made Moon Mender both a guard captain, and the official head of Dimensional Regulation. Shining Armor is in charge of the guard details in training and the field, and Twilight Sparkle is in charge of everyday management and utilities. Their duty, unlike BEID, is transparent this time. Mender is to research into the other dimension and come up with active defensive measures to protect Equus from any possible dangers it could entail. Every town in Equestria is donating guards to this cause, and due to the centralized location and ease of access, Ponyville is going to be the new seat of governing for Dimensional Regulations. Construction starts up immediately on a house of operations and labs, both of which will be tour-ready when not in active use. We are hiding nothing except for the actual research results, which could be possibly dangerous and subject to extensive filtering.” Murmurs went through the crowd at that, probably due to most of it already being announced last week. It was a good idea to iterate it again, however, in new light. I nodded to her, relaxing as I eased my muscles inside my armor, my tentacles coiling neatly into pools behind me. It was rather weird to have them out in public like this. Tia sighed at that, however, and hit her oversized button once more, switching to the last slide which showed the initial findings of BEID. Oh? She looked a bit sad suddenly when she announced, “Unfortunately, I’ve recently discovered that BEID did not disband when I instructed them to, after the accident. Some apparently felt the need to continue monitoring dimensional activity. They’re responsible for the events of today, the breaking and entering on Equestria Weekly’s printing press, and the distribution of the dangerous magical fliers. I can only conclude at this point that they will no longer listen to reason, and only see Moon Mender as a dangerous threat to Equus itself.” Oh. There was absolutely dead silence as everypony stopped, slowly looking at each other, and then back up at Tia herself. She didn’t look pleased in the slightest, expression grim as she continued. “I officially ask you one last time, BEID. Your agents are undoubtedly in the crowd right now, listening. Disband yourself. You have my word as a ruler of Equestria that this stallion is every bit a pony, just like everypony else here, and no threat to anypony. He only wants to protect his new home, and what you’re doing, whether you intend it to be or not, is a danger to innocent ponies everywhere. Today could have ended in tragedy. I think we all can see that. You got your wish, and forced Mender to reveal himself. So please, stop this foolishness before anypony gets hurt,” she pleaded, looking back and forth across the crowd of ponies. Murmurs went up as ponies looked to each other, probably hoping any ‘agents’ would be readily visible, which I knew wouldn’t be the case. I glanced along the crowd, too, and then raised my view up towards the back gates. My eyes widened. Twilight stood far back towards the gates, luggage strapped to her in a few spots. Her eyes were locked on me and about as wide as they could get, probably due to the fact that I was sitting up here in my fully transformed armor. Oops. Well, I could have thought of numerous better ways to break the news to her. Fluttershy rounded the corner a moment later, looking unnerved by the ponies all around before accidentally running into Twilight. After rubbing her forehead, she followed Twilight's gaze and also locked onto me. Her squeak was suddenly heard over a very welcome link as it reconnected, and she covered her mouth with her hooves, despite there being literally no way anypony could have even heard her over the crowd. Seeing the other four and Spike walking along the side of the fence towards the gate, I took a shot in the dark, guessing I'd be going into the story yet again, soon enough...
Chapter 94I wasn't entirely sure what was worse. The absolutely excessive amount of questions after the press release, or the fact that Fluttershy and Twilight were literally right in the front row and I couldn't just bail off the side of the stage and hug them. Twilight appeared to catch on fast as to what had happened, and I saw her start talking to the other six. Spike still looked a little bewildered by it all, but the longer she talked, the more irate Rainbow and Applejack looked. At least half of the questions were directed at me. Princess Celestia tackled the rest, with Shining Armor slipping down to speak to his sister and friends halfway through. I stood there, silently gritting my teeth as each question shot in, my forelegs shaking quietly, my magic keeping the hooves sealed to the wood so they wouldn't rattle. My armor was hot now at this point, the fur along my face and head damp and matting. With my helmet off, I couldn't do temperature regulation, which was going to be something I'd have to fix in the future. All ranges of topics were covered. How dangerous I was, my moral integrity, if I was still going to be head of DReg, my relationship with the Element Bearers, what my relationship was with the royal sisters, my legality as an Equestrian Citizen, my legal status as a member of a herd, and even how old I should be classified. Most of the questions I felt they didn't have any need to know, but unfortunately, I was the scary alien creature trying to prove that it was a pony. The age thing even I couldn't answer, being mentally about twenty, biologically seven months, and technically three hundred and seven. After a surprisingly long three minute debate, ending with Twilight looking like she wanted to both cry and beat somepony's head in, Snapshot finally just flicked back to my bio page slide and doodled a smiley face and question mark in my age entry. Eh, good enough. The stallion stood up again, his coat tan with slightly darker mane and tail, and surprisingly piercing orange eyes. His horn glowed fiercely as he continued writing, even while grilling me for information. I inwardly winced, him being the one to ask the most brutal questions so far. "What exactly is your intent towards Equestria, and Equus as a whole? The nation, and our planet itself." I stared at him, biting back my immediate answer of 'to live on it'. Princess Celestia had told me to try to stay as direct as possible, and to answer everything with as much honesty as I could muster. Dry sarcasm probably wouldn't be well received. Exhaling, I thought about it for a moment before just starting from the top. "At first, having no memories, I had no intentions one way or another. It was sort of... I took things one day at a time while trying to figure everything out. Once my memories started coming back, I was confused. I didn't understand most of it, and most of my intention was attempting to figure myself out. There were no large scale goals towards such things, at least not until a little while after the attack," I explained, fighting to remember back that far. It felt like ages ago now. He frowned and started to open his mouth again, but the mare next to him glared and cut him off first, surprising me by instead asking, "What happened after the attack?" Her voice was softer, and she gave me another one of her encouraging smiles. She wore her lavender mane up in a bun with two longer bangs framing her face. Two darker purple eyes hid behind a small pair of spectacles, her coat a very pale green color. Exhaling again, feeling the nervous energy dancing around in my chest, I focused and put my thoughts back together again. "I found out that I was cybernetic. That was a big shock to me, along with all of the publicity and high tension around the event. Everything happened at once, and I lost my sense of self. It became a struggle to identify with myself and figure out who I was, if I wasn't a pony," I tried to explain, frowning afterwards. Ugh, why couldn't I just write all this down and have somepony else read it?! Shivering, I continued, "Around that time, after I fully explained at least what I was to Princess Celestia, she broached me with the job for Dimensional Regulations. The main reason, of course, was my knowledge of dimensions, technology, and engineering, but she also helped me to try to figure out who I was. She had wanted me to live a normal life, and tried convincing me that even with the extra parts, I was still a pony. I..." Swallowing, I closed my eyes, unable to look at any of them anymore. All I could feel was everypony's attention on me, judging me and ridiculing me. I could almost hear all of their voices in my head, laughing or throwing insults. The feeling of the stage started to twist around me, and I fought to keep my balance until a hoof touched down on my shoulder, almost scaring me out of my armor. Reality snapped back into place when Tia gently reminded, "Breathe, Mender. Relax." I exhaled, not having realized I'd been holding my breath. My heart slammed in my chest and I swallowed a painful lump, willing my limbs to stop trembling. "Oh come on, he's obviously faking it!" the tan stallion shouted out, not looking pleased at all. I winced, then flicked my ears at the hostile snarl further to the left. "That's so it! This whole thing is a joke!" Rainbow snarled, taking to the air and glaring burning holes into the stallion's face. He took the sane option, nervously backing away from the pegasus and shrinking a little, but she turned her general wrath to the rest of the gathering ponies instead. "Yeah, I get it. You're scared about what happened and the new pony who has extra, mechanical parts! Totally understandable, as I was a little weirded out at first by it all, too. But this isn't understandable! You've sat here for the last hour ripping into a worked up, nervous, and really vulnerable pony just to sate your own curiosities! This is disgusting!" she screamed, definitely not needing a microphone. My ears lowered as I watched her, not knowing if she was really helping or hurting. I looked over to Tia, but she was just calmly watching the flying pegasus, no expression whatsoever, really, but definitely not interrupting. The stage vibrated lightly as Applejack landed on it, too, trotting along the edge while looking out under Rainbow, into the crowd. "Ya'all know us. We're tha mares who've worked real hard ta save Equestria, an' even Equus itself multiple times now. Ah'm hopin' ya trust us ah bit when we say that this 'ere pony is exactly who he says he is. Ah was right there mahself durin' tha attack, an' personally witnessed almost all o' his story! Ya wanna know what his 'intent' fer ya'all is?!" she shouted out, tone more level than Rainbow's, but still sounding a bit upset. I frowned while watching her, but she suddenly slammed both of her forehooves down into the stage hard enough to fracture the wood, the noise echoing out through the crowd as everypony glued their eyes right to her. "Exactly what he's been doin'! He saved Ponyville from that creature! He stopped ah crazy alien plot ta get access ta Equestria! He saved Octavia Melody an' her whole group from ah horrible accident! He saved three foals from drownin' durin' Estrus break! Even without all that, he's been helpin' ceaselessly all around Ponyville... He thinks most o' that is his fault, an' has been workin' ta protect everypony as best he can! His intent is ta protect all o' ya, an' Ah bet he wouldn't hesitate, even though ya'all have been makin' him feel right unwelcome fer hours," she finished, gesturing back to me as I shrunk a little away from her as well. She frowned back at me, looking both concerned, and surprisingly relieved to see me up close at the same time. Tia exhaled softly, surprisingly loud due to the microphone right next to her. Straightening herself, she cleared her throat, then spoke up with, "I trust each and every one of the Element Bearers personally with my own life. They're right, even if I can't always agree with their wordings. I think Mender's about reached his limit for public presentations." I swallowed, wondering if I'd done something wrong or screwed up when I panicked like that. I should have just answered, then the others wouldn't have had to get involved. My head spun as I watched a dozen more hooves raise into the air. Tia frowned, but gestured to one of the mares off to the right, who instead looked over at me. "What are your actual qualifications for leading a national branch of our government?" she asked, lifting her pad of paper up. Tia interrupted instead, almost instantly. "I chose him to lead it personally based on his experience with dimensions, the information they gave him when augmenting him, and his own knack for engineering and technical expertise. Also, I'll be answering all of the questions from now on, so direct them towards me, please. Mender is under a lot of stress, which is rather understandable given the situation," she pointed out. I hadn't heard her be so curt before, and the mare shrank a little, quickly noddfing, then writing more down on her pad. I watched until orange filled my vision. Applejack sat down almost in front of me, giving me a careful look over, while simultaneously blocking a good eighty percent of me from the audience. I raised an eyebrow, but she quickly defended, "They've gawked enough fer one day. Relax, Mender. Ya just woke up last night, didn't ya?" Ah, right, they might not have all the details still. Rainbow landed to my other side a moment later, looking my armor up and down before giving an appreciative whistle, blatantly ignoring the fact that Tia was still answering questions. Probably intentionally, to make her earlier statement all the louder. "Lookin' good with your new armor, Mender," she chirped, playfully reaching out and giving my shoulder plate a solid whack with her right hoof. My balance was still shot to hell and back from my 'almost' panic attack, and it actually tipped me over, unfortunately. She looked surprised as I fell over sideways with a rather loud thud, Tia stopping and frowning over at me as I exhaled while lying on the stage in front of Applejack. Figures. "Sorry, a bit dizzy, and this armor is really hot. Uh, could I get some water?" I asked timidly, giving Tia an awkward, pleading smile. After a moment, she just smiled and shook her head before letting out a chuckle. "Go get some food and something to drink, Mender. The incident did interrupt your lunch," she reminded, immediately causing my stomach to growl weakly. There were a few chuckles from the crowd, but to my surprise, Octavia stood up in the first row. Huh? She gave me a winning smirk before asking, "So, third time's the charm?" * * * * * It was actually rather refreshing when nopony really shied away from me while we trotted down the isle between the crowds. There were lots of stares, but the majority appeared to be of curiosity now rather than fear or apprehension. Maybe the press conference really had helped? Regardless, I put my tentacles and armor away as to not draw excessive amounts of attention, if I could help it. "And she seems okay to you?" Twilight asked gently while sitting across from me at the table. I felt her back left leg gently rubbing mine as we rested, and relaxed. Fluttershy pressed into my left side about as close as she could, gently massaging my shoulder while we waited for food. Shaking my head, I repeated, "She was absolutely terrified. I think they actually got her to believe the world was going to end if she didn't do something about me." Octavia snorted to my other side, still reading over a flash press release from Equestria Weekly, huge picture of me in my armor standing up on stage right above it. "They're absolutely foolish. All they seem to really be good at is scare tactics and trying to sling baseless accusations around. Now look what it got them? This is going to backfire amazingly on them, ponies fully aware now that the whole situation was them endangering an innocent filly to try to force Mender to reveal himself," she pointed out, flipping to the other page and gesturing to the image of the filly and mare on the roof. Rarity smiled softly, even as my ears flicked back, seeing that picture again. "You did a wonderful thing, and made the right choice to save the mare. You revealed your secret saving the very pony trying to slander you, when it would have served you far more to not save her at all. Ponies already see that much," she reasoned out, closing the small news pamphlet with her magic, Octavia nodding to her. Fluttershy pushed a bit closer into my side, rapidly shaking her head, however. I glanced to her, and she instead asked, "Um, how are you doing, though? You had to go through all of that, stand up on that stage in front of all those ponies, and we haven't even heard about how you've been since you woke up!" Oh, right. Everypony at the table blanked except for Octavia, who glanced back and forth before settling on me instead. "Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure how you ended up in the hospital in the first place. If you're so heavily augmented, wouldn't it be really hard to-" she started to inquire. Twilight coughed lightly, covering her mouth with her hoof for a moment before quickly explaining, "He was turned to stone by the Elements of Harmony. Long story, the summary being that we weren't technically aiming at him, but due to circumstances, he just happen to get in the way, too." The gray mare blanked at that momentarily, matching most of the rest of the table for a moment before Rarity instead turned to me, gently leaning over and placing her forelegs on Spike's head to lean over him. He looked momentarily surprised, then shifted to his traditional look of swooning, apparently totally fine with being a temporary table. "Regardless, you should indeed tell us how things have been since you woke up. We were extremely worried for you," she repeated, blatantly changing the topic. Exhaling weakly, I nodded once before assuring, "I know you were. Thanks to my parents, I was able to see what happened while I was a statue." As expected, the theme of confused, 'not quite processing the information' stares continued, and Applejack topped it off with, "Uh, what?" Well, this was going to be a long story. I'd lost track of how many times it had been told at this point, but I broke into the recount once more, this time sparing no details... * * * * * I crunched down on the lightly toasted bread, tasting the mix of crisp hay, tomato, lettuce, and mayonnaise between the slices. It was cooked to perfection, and I had to admit, Octavia was quite right. This restaurant was amazing. There was a light air of presentation to the meal in both delivery and form on the plate, but it wasn't overly stylized or gaudy, and the helpings were extremely plentiful. I was impressed! Octavia was also eating, having been reasonably unfazed by the story, although she had listened with interest throughout. We appeared to be the only two not tremendously affected, however. Fluttershy had descended into a funk, expression looking downtrodden when she realized exactly what they'd all meant to me. Twilight was simply frowning, sliding a fry around on her plate absently with her hoof. The fries were quite good as well, lightly seasoned with both salt, spicy peppers, and a light undertone of garlic. The orange mare was the most stoic, a gentle frown adorning her expression while managing to look slightly angry over the whole ordeal. The ending had gotten to her, with the final actions of the captain and Kyliona. Dash looked miserable instead, sliding her fry plate back and forth next to her in an idle annoyance motion. It was complimented by Pinkie across from her, who refused to halt the nervous fidgeting. She looked back and forth between her friends, uncertain but looking like she desperately wanted a musical instrument suddenly. No, wait, that was coming from her link, not her expression... Actually, Spike just looked hungry, now that I noticed. He was munching on a fry, dipping it in a small blob of ketchup in-between while glancing at me every other bite. Rarity sat next to him, looking a bit distracted instead, her eyes staring at some far away point beyond the wall of the restaurant behind our table. The mood had soured tremendously. "So Purdue, or at least Prudentia, possesses the power to manipulate the memories of perceived events of those already in the 'story', connected to the 'protagonist'," Twilight confirmed a moment later, snapping right to possibly the most pressing concern the story brought up. Apart from Keela's impending decision to get her memories back or not, everything else in my story was just that. In the past. Due to the captain being beyond dead, in an extreme overkill sense, there were no other pressing matters to attend to from that. You don't get much more dead than cut into three pieces, mentally tortured, soul schismed, blown up, beat to hell, purified by the Elements of Harmony, torn apart and eaten by a billion-soul amalgamation, and then purified again by the Elements. Almost any one of those would have done the trick for a normal individual... Octavia shook her head to that, inquiring, "For such a powerful item, doesn't its powers seem awfully, I don't know, specific? What placed all of these 'rules' onto it in the first place?" A very good question, and one that nopony here could properly answer. Twilight exhaled softly, looking a tad frustrated before shaking her head. "I have no idea. All of these limitations are based off invented concepts by sapient individuals. That said, I doubt any natural force of the universe would abide by such limitations," she admitted. Ah, right. Artificially limiting things was definitely a mortal concept. Sighing, I warned, "That would mean that instead, there's a 'who' behind it. So who put all of the rules in place?" The lavender mare locked eyes with me for a moment before nodding absently, looking down at her half eaten salad. Her fork floated up to gather another bite up while she considered it. After chewing and swallowing, she finally theorized, "The most likely candidate is Purdue herself. Her powers artificially limited themselves before she was turned into the book, I speculate. Her mind most likely couldn't handle the sheer scope of what she could see, so it made up limitations as to ease the strain on her. If she carried that concept over to her book form, she might have taken the limitations of a book's narration and applied them subconsciously to her own powers." That would be... interesting. "Or it could be something put in place by whomever made her," Rarity finally suggested, glancing back up at Twilight finally. Ah, right. Purdue never told me who her first master had been. If she behaved like a normal Aegis Artifact, then the one who created her would have been herself, but she acted like that wasn't the case. Plus, all artifacts were very carefully monitored by our society. The sheer levels of energy to make one, and effort involved... It baffled me how one could be made without being detected. Or maybe it was, and she used her memory powers to eliminate the evidence? Fluttershy let out a low whine, however. "Um, what about Keela though? Now that you remember everything that happened..." she murmured, tilting to the left in order to see my face. Slowly, I nodded in her direction, still wondering what the Keldarian would say about it, if she even wanted the memories back. Twilight surprised me by snickering before I could formulate a proper answer. "That's simple enough, no? If she gets her memories back, she's probably going to want to pursue a relationship with Mender again. I have a suspicion that Equestria is going to become a lot more familiar with Keldarians now, and seeing one that's in love with a pony might go a long way towards smoothing that transition," she reasoned. My eyes widened a little, not having expected that answer at all, and by the looks of the rest of the ponies at the table as they turned to look at her, I wasn't alone. Twilight looked back and forth between us before rolling her eyes and leaning back in her chair a little. "Seriously? We're dealing with possible alien threats and alternate dimensions, and the thing that's the most worrying is if it's okay for Keela to join our herd?" she asked skeptically a moment later. Uh... Huh. Rarity coughed lightly, then admitted, "Well, when you put it like that..." Frowning, I instead glanced towards Fluttershy, who caught the motion out of the corner of her eye and turned back to me rapidly, ears perking up. Fighting back the wave of cuteness, I hesitated, then asked, "What do you think, Fluttershy?" Every member of the herd should be consulted, of course. As anticipated, she momentarily looked like I was heading at her on an out of control train. "I, uh, w-what? Um, you grew up with her, and she seems to really, uh, like you, so why wouldn't I approve?" she inquired softly, recovering from the surprise fairly fast. Applejack smiled at that on the right of Twilight. "Yer ah part o' tha herd, Flutters. You an' Twi get ah say in who gets ta join as much as Mender does," she reminded. I nodded to that, as did Twilight, and the yellow mare shrank down again, wiggling her hooves together. Rarity shook her head before reminding, "You should wait to go over this once you actually get an answer from Miss Keela, right?" Of course. Deciding everything ahead of time was probably a bit silly. I took another bite of my sandwich, thinking about everything I'd seen so far in no particular order. It was going to take me a while to really let myself relax, it felt like. My entire life so far had happened in the space of seven and a half months, and looking at the whole thing, everything was a blur moving faster than I could track. I felt eyes on me, and looked up in time to note Applejack staring at me rather intently from across the table. Our eyes locked for a moment before she suggested, "Ya know, Ah think tha best thing fer ya at this point would be ah real long vacation." Heh. That I had to agree with. "Twiley!" I suddenly heard in a rather familiar voice. Everypony perked, Twilight herself glancing behind me to my right. I looked back in time to see Shining trotting up. Several other ponies were at the restaurant gate behind him, gasping and whispering in this direction, and I was kind of pleased that it was him getting the attention rather than the hijinks surrounding the earlier event. "Shining! I was hoping I'd get a chance to see you before we had to leave," Twilight admitted, perking up as she sat up in her chair. Being technically in another kingdom, even if it was still part of Equestria as a whole, undoubtedly made things difficult on their close relationship. Although, I was pretty sure I trumped that with Keela and the other Keldarians at the moment, distance-wise. He sat down just behind me to the right and nodded in my direction before looking back to his sister. "Mom and Dad also asked to see you, Fluttershy, and Mender before you left town. This incident has everypony in a fuss, not to mention they already knew about you being in the hospital before this," he reminded, looking back to me. Ah right, the card. "Yeah, I got their card. How did the rest of the press conference go?" I asked, rotating towards him slightly in the chair. Chuckling, he shook his head for a moment before admitting, "Better than anticipated, but Princess Celestia has a way with words so I'm actually not sure what I was anticipating now. Regardless of how it turns out, though, you did the right thing. I already talked to the Bastion guard, and he admits to not thinking he was going to be able to slow her down enough, in time. It was the right decision." I sighed and nodded to that. I'd already committed myself to that outlook, but it was interesting to hear the input on the guard, too. Fluttershy pushed into my other side, quickly asking, "We never heard about the mare and filly. Are both of them okay?" Oh, right! The ice cream offer. I perked at that, then nodded. "Yeah, they're all fine. The filly and her mother are Morning Joy and Banana Swirl. The other mare is Dusk Star. I got all three of them to the castle's clinic after the incident. Pretty sure the filly is fine with just a superficial cut, but Star has a torn muscle in her foreleg," I explained. Shining nodded to that, and Twilight got a glum look on her face as I spoke. "I used to get ice cream from Banana Swirl a lot. I didn't know it was her filly that it happened to," Twilight murmured. Smiling to her, I slowly shook my head and explained, "They were in good spirits when I left. In fact, Banana Swirl asked me to bring all of you by for ice cream treats, on the house." Pinkie did a hop directly out of her seat, flailing once in the air before landing perfectly again. "Oooh! So done, let's go!" she cheered. Rainbow lifted an eyebrow to her, ducking under the flailing hoof as it shot in. "Uh, Pinkie, we're literally still eating lunch. Relax," she pointed out, putting both hooves on the mare to hold her in the seat for a minute while she vibrated back and forth. Oh boy. So called it. Chuckling, I warned, "She also asked that I said a warning ahead of time, once she found out I wanted to bring you all, too. She wants to prepare." Shining nodded, but Rainbow got a coy grin on her face a moment later. Actually, I almost could even guess what she was going to say, this time. "Oooh, she originally just invited you, huh? Well, I imagine she is grateful," the cyan mare teased. Applejack's expression didn't even shift as she munched on her sandwich. She just moved her left back leg over and shoved Rainbow out of her chair, causing her to land in the still overly excited pink mare's lap. Pinkie just grabbed onto her and grinned down into her shocked expression for a moment before adding, "Free! Ice cream! No teasing, or he might not bring us! Ice cream!" Rainbow just nodded slowly, looking a bit uncertain with a few beads of sweat going down her forehead. I just mentally shrugged and looked back to Twilight, who smiled and nodded. "We can go, of course. We were actually considering staying tonight anyway. The train station just sent a letter in with us, warning that construction of the temporary barracks is going to take another day," she revealed. Oh, right, we were bringing a dozen or so guards back with us. I should talk to Shining and Luna about those two guards, then. Shining smiled and nodded to that before suggesting, "We could head over to our parents after you finish eating, if you want. I... I'm not entirely sure, but I think Dad wants to officially apologize. I know Mom's been on him awfully hard about the last time we were here." Oh hell. That disaster. It surprised me when I heard Spike chuckle softly at that, swallowing the fry he was working on. "Knowing Twilight's dad, that means he's finally stopped being stubborn. Better go before he changes his mind again," he warned, smiling up at Twilight, who giggled in amusement. Oh, right, he grew up with Twilight. "Do you want something to eat, Shining?" I offered, sliding the empty chair out next to me regardless. He considered the seat for a moment before shrugging and nodding, finally. "Eh, why not. I am getting rather hungry, and this place serves amazing food," he agreed. Octavia smiled and nodded in concurrence, and Shining slipped up and sat down next to me. My eyes widened a little as he sat down, Cufflink on the other side of him as he moved past in my vision. The suited stallion gave a perky smile, then asked, "Can I get you any food or drink, Prince Shining Armor?" Shining gave a start, too, and I felt better about him sneaking up on me, too. What, did he moonlight as a ninja or something?! "Gah! Don't sneak up on me like that, Cufflink. And you know it's been just Shining…" he shot back, smirking over at the stallion, who was still grinning. Yeah, he was doing that on purpose, I realized. Octavia was right. The gray mare just rolled her eyes at that. "He uses titles just to get under your skin, don't worry,” Octavia chirped, earning a chuckle from Cufflink, who resumed standing at attention, waiting for order details. Shining scratched under his chin for a moment, considering probably what to get, and I glanced to the left, noticing the crowd of ponies watching us getting a bit bigger. Oh, right. If he was here, that meant the press event was over and news about what happened was probably spreading like wildfire. “Eh, I think I’ll take a toasted hay sandwich on wheat, with lettuce and mayo. Oh, and just a glass of water to drink,” he finally decided, turning to the waiter stallion again. Cufflink nodded, then turned and trotted off with no further fanfare, heading for inside the building again. Shining turned back to us instead, relaxing a little more before revealing, “Overall, though, I think it went well. Nopony was hurt, and explaining who you were and what happened three hundred years ago went a long way towards earning trust of the press and crowd. Fancypants stopped me as I was leaving, though.” “Oh?” I asked, glancing towards him curiously at that. He nodded, then revealed, “Yeah, he’d like to get an interview in with you for Equestria Weekly. He wants to get the truth out before rumors started cropping up.” Ah, right, I figured that ‘all’ the details would be requested of me soon enough. It would take more than just the conference to fix this. I fully anticipated it would be awhile before I was trusted again, anyway. It made me curious as to how Ponyville was taking the news. “When does he want to talk to me, then?” I asked, trying to bring up a schedule in my head. Oh, wait, I had a program for that. A little calendar popped up in my inner eye, and I sorted down to today’s date and brought up my to-do list, which only included catching the girls up, and potentially visiting Twilight’s parents. I shifted possibly visiting the ice cream parlor to tomorrow, provided Pinkie didn’t consider that a mortal sin. Keela calling back was a bit of a large question mark still. “He suggested tomorrow, after I told him you were probably all spending the night. He also suggested that you take the rest of the day off, as you need it,” he returned, smirking afterwards. My ears flicked down, and Fluttershy giggled to my left before leaning over against me again. I felt her soft breath across my left shoulder and relaxed a little, absently nodding to the advice. My body was still recovering from apparently having its insides nuked by an absurdly powerful cosmic force, of sorts, so I guess taking a day off was fine. Pinkie was having none of that, of course. “Oooh, after this, can we go get ice cream?!” she asked yet again, wiggling in her chair. Shining raised an eyebrow, but I cut him off with the simple explanation. “Banana Swirl offered free ice cream in thanks for saving her filly.” It was the cleanest explanation I could think of, and he seemed to accept it, a dawning look of recognition spreading across his face. Twilight shook her head, however, then suggested, “How about after this, we go drop by my parents’ place. After we visit with them for a while, we can go get ice cream after we leave. That sound okay?” The pink one gave her a long, squinted eye look for several seconds. Twilight blinked once before slowly easing back away from her. Half a second later, Pinkie perked up perfectly fine again and smiled. “Okay! That sounds good,” she chirped, and I exhaled, not realizing I’d been holding my breath. Applejack smirked and nodded next to her, declaring, “Ah guess that settles it, then. We’d best eat up if we’re gonna.” Nodding easily to that statement, no hesitation needed whatsoever, I plowed back into my sandwich with much enthusiasm, earning a smirk from Twilight across the table. Hey! There were few things I got to enjoy without repercussions, so I was damn well going to enjoy this… * * * * * Could parents of your mates be considered a repercussion of having mates in the first place? I debated the morality involved as we slowly walked along the sidewalks heading into the more suburban area of Canterlot. The city itself was mostly built right into the mountain, and curved lightly to follow the natural contours of the rock. This included various elevation shifts, and the lower density residential areas spanned slightly lower than the bulk of the town, shifting along the west side of the mountain. The lower altitude made the air a little warmer and thicker, so breathing was just slightly easier. The dirigible docks were further up the mountain above this area, and I idly watched the floating balloon ships go in and out of the ‘ports’, looking mostly for cargo. “I’m not sure. He honestly sounded like he wanted to apologize,” Shining assured, still carrying on a conversation with his sister while we walked. “Ugh. After the mess he made at the café, apologizing to Mender is only the start,” she grumbled back, sounding miffed again. Heh. He should probably apologize to the actual café, too, if he hadn’t already. That was probably quite embarrassing for them, too. Rarity sighed wearily, then added, “Personally, I feel he should apologize to Twilight as well. I mean, she’s quite old enough to be making her own decisions. Love should be celebrated, not buried under old-fashioned nonsense.” Applejack chuckled next to her while we walked, idly pointing out, “Aren’t ya tha one talkin’ about all those ‘prince’ an’ ‘shinin’ armor’ types from those old fairy tales, though? That seems pretty ol’ fashioned ta me. Err, no offense, Shinin’.” He smirked, then shook his head at that before assuring, “None taken.” I wondered idly at how often his name had come up like that in normal conversations… The pearly unicorn huffed, looking away from the orange mare before defending with, “Hardly! Their methods may not be in social circles anymore, but the aspect of a chivalrous, noble soul standing up for what’s right and winning the love of fair damsels is timeless!” While it felt a little overblown, I could at least understand the basic concept there. Heh. Spike nodded along, of course, perched carefully on her back. That was becoming a regular occurrence, I noticed. Rainbow made a gagging gesture while trotting next to me, and I smirked, giving her a playful nudge in the shoulder. She grinned over at me, her amusement transferring down the link in an instant at this range. It felt wonderful to have those back again. At this point, I couldn’t imagine being around my closest friends without them. And now, thanks to me no longer sharing my body with any hostile intruders from another dimension, it was safe again to have them present. The yellow mare to my left perked a little, then chipped in herself with, “Um, personality is good, but you really should consider more how a mate is going to mesh with your own, too, right? Compatibility seems really important.” Well, this conversation had taken a sudden, veering turn off course. “Well, of course,” Rarity assured, then started to explain, “Compatibility is the most important bit. I was merely pointing out-“ She was interrupted by Applejack, who snickered, then finished her sentence for her with, “Tha type o’ male ya like tha most, we know. Yer lucky tha little guy on yer back matches that so well.” Oh Celestia… Rarity was pink before she even whipped her head into a glare, and I saw Spike squeak out loud on her back, then move both of his hands up to his mouth. Twilight averted her eyes, then coughed quickly. “Oh look, we’re almost there!” she loudly announced, drawing everypony’s attention back up towards the incoming house, in possibly the least subtle distraction I’d ever seen, given how forced her tone sounded. Regardless of obviousness of the distraction, it at least worked, and the remaining four meters of the walk was instead done in awkward, looming apprehension. I couldn’t stop worrying, admittedly, if the discomfort from the restaurant was going to carry over into this little visit. Our group spread out when we reached the front steps, and I exhaled uneasily as Twilight and Shining took the lead, and the lavender mare knocked. She looked a bit apprehensive herself as she looked back towards me and smiled weakly. I nodded, trying to look more confident than I felt on the inside, but I don’t think it worked very well, especially considering that at this range, she might be able to feel my individual panicked thoughts. A long and awkward ten seconds went by before hoofsteps could be heard heading towards the door. It had probably been unlocked, and certainly either Twilight or Shining could have just walked right in, but I figured it was more just common courtesy. Plus, there were a lot of us here. There was a bit of rustling, and I lifted an eyebrow for a moment. A long couple of seconds later, the door swung open again quite abruptly, and I suddenly remembered something in the foggy distant memories inside of me. It was too late, however, and I got a stick shoved into my mouth in an instant. Shining had stepped sideways off the porch, cleanly avoiding the stabbing attack of the test stick. Instead, it hit Applejack, who was right behind him at the time. Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy were also simultaneously attacked, and Twilight Velvet stood there just inside the door, smiling in amusement. “Anypony else want one?!” she cheered, sounding entirely too happy for the situation. Once more, my test stick acted extremely confused to be found in a male, turning purple almost immediately. Dutifully, I pulled it out of my mouth and handed it back to her, earning a snicker from the mare. “I’m sorry, Mender. You’re not pregnant,” Velvet announced, and I shuddered lightly. That wasn’t bad news at all. If I somehow was, something had gone very, very wrong somewhere along the line. Twilight looked less than pleased, just spitting her stick out immediately and making it squawk and turn orange on the tip, probably a warning for not long enough to take accurate readings. “Mother! Why are you still doing this?! I told you last time that we didn’t do anything during estrus, and Mender wasn’t here for the first one!” she growled out. “I’m more interested in why she keeps targeting the others, too,” Shining admitted, nudging his head in the direction of Applejack and Rarity. The farm mare didn’t look like she really cared one way or another, making crossed eyes as she looked down at the tip of her own stick. Okay, that was kinda cute. Velvet just rolled her eyes, though, still smiling playfully before assuring, “It’s just a joke, relax. And hey, they might want to know, too. It’s valid information.” This only seemed to make Twilight all the more irked, of course. She hopped once in place, making a surprisingly cute ‘irritated’ noise, and I reached over to pat her gingerly on the shoulder. She exhaled, then looked over at me before relaxing a little. She started to smile, when the oddest little cutesy bell chime fired off, rather loudly. I raised my eyebrow and tried to figure out what that was, but to my surprise, Rarity gave a little jump and quickly looked down at her stick tip. I saw Applejack do the same, but both were met with a glowing red lights. Huh? Oh, had that come from one of the sticks? Wait… All of us slowly turned and looked to the only remaining stick. Fluttershy stood there, both of her eyes wide, pupils shrunk down as they locked onto the bright green end of her test stick. Twilight’s jaw dropped, followed slowly by everypony else’s as the silence dominated. A second passed, then another, and then Velvet suddenly let out a high-pitched squeal of happiness, hopping in place, back and forth on her hooves. I looked back to Fluttershy, and she slowly looked over at me, utter shock mixed with dawning realization mixing in her eyes. Did that… She was…?! My own eyes widened, and hers slowly crept upwards. In slow motion, she wobbled, the stick falling out of her mouth before she limply collapsed sideways, a low squeak escaping from her muzzle as she fell over…
Chapter 95“And… Twilight’s not…?” Night Light asked once again. Twilight herself let out a lower growl before repeating, “For the last time, Dad, no, I’m not pregnant! It’s Fluttershy who is!” She’d said it before, but the still hit me like a flying chunk of bricks. Fluttershy was pregnant. I turned and looked down at the yellow mare resting on the couch, still quite unconscious from her little spill a minute or so ago. I’d caught her before she fell off the side of the steps, but she was out cold before I even got there. It didn’t take long to get her inside, and by then, Night Light had come sprinting. Apparently he had some inclination as to his wife’s tendencies and favorite way of greeting her daughter and friends at the door. When he heard her squeal and start giggling happily, it was like a red alert had gone off through the house. Fluttershy rested on the couch, eyes still closed and mane pooling around her shoulders. I sat next to her resting spot, looking down at the yellow mare. My mind couldn't really even wrap around the concept yet, and I just stared down at her peaceful looking expression. My eyes drifted down to her stomach, and I swallowed, my entire world feeling like it was spiraling out of control like a blimp being piloted by a drunk penguin in a hurricane. While on fire. And laughing hysterically. Now I just needed to decide if it was the penguin or blimp laughing... "Uh, Mender, breathin' might help," Applejack suggested next to me. I gave a start, then inhaled a little, not having realized I'd stopped while staring at the mare on the couch. "I just don't understand. Fluttershy said she was safe the morning I spoke to her before Mender returned," Rarity informed, frowning and looking a little confused. Twilight slowly shook her head, pacing around the center of the room and looking a mixture of frustrated and shocked. "This doesn't make sense. Fluttershy tests herself the most out of all of us due to working with her animals. There's no way she didn't know she was still at risk," the lavender mare pointed out, turning to look back at me instead. There was more 'helplessness' there than anger or frustration. Spike shrugged, sitting towards the recliner that Night Light sat in. "Maybe she read the thingy wrong, or it broke or something?" he suggested. Actually, it breaking was a reasonable guess. Fluttershy wasn't technical savvy, and may not have realized it was malfunctioning. "The stick lit up and stuff when she put it in her mouth to show me," I revealed, wondering if it wasn't supposed to work at all when busted. Twilight frowned at that, considering it for a moment. "What was the exact number? Do you remember?" she asked, looking back up at me. Nodding, I answered, "Zero. It read rock bottom, glowing red." Her ears flattened back almost as soon as I said it, and she frowned. Eh? Was that bad?! Rainbow coughed lightly, then answered for her instead. "Uh, that means dead battery. Every mare knows that. And, uh, most stallions," she revealed. Oh... Pinkie flailed and hopped into the air before I could even process that, however. "Oooh, except for a stallion who grew up in another dimension! He wouldn't know, right?!" she asked, about six decibels too loud. She had a point, however. Velvet made a sigh as she came back in with refreshments balanced on her back, immediately floating a glass of tea over for me. I relaxed a little after I took a long drink, and she smiled and nodded towards me before passing the rest out. “Honestly, the truly important thing to ask is how the parents feel about this,” she pointed out, looking towards Twilight, who huffed instead. Applejack coughed softly to that, adding, “Ah think it’s ah bit soon fer that question.” She was looking at me when she said it, and I exhaled quietly, nodding. My head felt like a blender had bounced through it, and I reached out, slowly brushing Fluttershy’s mane back. “I… think I’m a bit, well… This is a big shock,” I finally admitted, my own voice sounding weird. The orange mare next to me gave a confident smile and nod towards me, and I relaxed a little bit more. At least everypony wasn’t completely freaking out over it. That was a step up from what I’d briefly anticipated in the wake of catching Fluttershy. Twilight slipped up next to me on the other side, sitting down and looking at Fluttershy with a rather empty expression. I gave her a curious look, and she frowned, shaking her head slowly. “It doesn’t make sense, is all. Fluttershy knows how to work one of those and should have known the battery was dead. She also knows how to take her own readings and should have known she wasn’t safe yet. Anything over a forty percent of optimal hormone level in the blood still has some slight risk involved of a mare getting pregnant,” she pointed out. It didn’t matter too much, because my link stirred first. Perking, I immediately looked back to Fluttershy, my ears rising up to catch the faintest sounds of her giving a little sigh. Twilight caught my movement and immediately drew her attention back to Fluttershy, which caused Applejack and Rainbow Dash to as well. Slowly, her eyes opened up, lashes sliding across her fur and teal pupils looking hazed out for a moment before focusing as she slowly looked up. They locked right on me first, and stayed there for a good ten seconds before drifting over to Twilight and blinking once. I leaned down and kissed her muzzle, earning another blink and shiver, then asked, “Are you okay, Fluttershy?” She slowly looked around as the other ponies gathered near the couch, minus Night Light and Shining who watched from their chairs. It was getting a tad crowded now. For a long moment, the pegasus frowned and looked to all of us. Her face flushed a few heartbeats later, eyes widening as they snapped back to me in an instant. I nodded slowly to her, and she seemed to almost shrink, her wings flattening down as her legs tucked up, pupils shivering as they stayed locked with mine. “Fluttershy, shh, it’s okay,” I assured, resting a hoof against her right foreleg and gently rubbing up and down her coat. She froze for a moment before swallowing and slowly nodding towards me. I settled more into the couch, and she instead crawled forward, burying her face into my chest an instant later. Eh?! “I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she quickly started apologizing. My eyes widened, and Twilight gave a surprised look as well, but Applejack just frowned, slowly placing a hoof on her left shoulder. “Fluttershy, hon, you don’t need ta apologize. This is surprisin’, sure, but Ah don’t think-“ she started to assure. The yellow pegasus cut her off with an outright sob, shaking against my fur as her hoof reached up, running down my chest. I let her pull closer, holding her gently as she cried. Twilight frowned and slid closer, massaging her right side. Something was… wrong. “No, I… I lied. I’m so sorry! I thought it would be, um, okay,” she quickly explains, burying her face into my fur even harder, as if she could crawl against me and hide from everything. Frowning, I pulled her whole body a bit closer to me, letting her tuck her back legs up against my stomach as well, her tail curling and partially falling over my back left hip. “Fluttershy, calm down. What’s wrong? Lied?” I asked softly. She winced at the word, then slowly looked up into my face with those expansive teal eyes, giving a tiny nod. I waited patiently, and she finally admitted, “I, um… Before I showed you the testing stick, I pulled the battery out of it!” It came out all at once, and I widened my eyes in surprise. She intentionally sabotaged the stick? Applejack frowned at that, but Twilight just looked more confused, slowly shaking her head to the mare. “W-Why, Fluttershy? I don’t understand,” she asked, causing the pegasus to look over at her, giving a frustrated look. “After what w-we did… Mender felt completely left out. I could feel it. Um, but I was only down to thirty-two percent, and I knew that even if I wanted to try to, well, fix it…” she explained. My mind flashed back to those lovely events surrounding the estrus week, all awkwardness included. Oh… Rarity was the first to admit, “No, I don’t imagine he would have been too inclined to be with you, had he realized you were at any risk at all. Still…” Twilight completed the sentence for her with a frown. “Thirty-two percent should have been safe. Assuming that, you decided to make it read as zero to better convince him that it was all okay,” she deduced rather sharply. Fluttershy slipped back to her prior position of burrowing her face into my fur before just nodding, blushing fully again now. Averting her eyes, Applejack gave a sigh before pointing out, “Even that don’t sound all that bad, Flutters. Ya technically didn’t lie when ya said ya were safe. Just in showin’ him tha stick.” Very true. I probably would have been a lot more cautious had she said she was that high of percent, but how had that worked in the first place? As if reading my mind, Shining coughed lightly before interrupting. “Ah, how exactly did she get pregnant, then, being significantly under the absolute rock bottom percentage of hormones? Towards forty percent, it’s supposed to get exponentially harder and harder to do…” he asked, raising his left eyebrow up curiously. Twilight thought about it for a moment before perking and looking back to me. “Mender, what about your augments? You have cybernetic augments that modify those parts, too, don’t you?” she reminded, tilting her head. Rainbow and Applejack blushed to my right, but Velvet turned and gave me a skeptical look instead. “Oh really, now? So those fancy parts they put into you also boost your virility?” she asked almost instantly, with surprisingly acute interest. Uh… I tilted my head back away from her a bit, and Twilight slapped herself in the forehead, looking annoyed. To my surprise, Shining gave her an even more annoyed look, glaring at her out of her peripheral vision, which only made her smirk more. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know. “Uh, yeah. Long story, but another of my ‘missions’ here was apparently, uh, breeding. Obviously I’m not actually following any of those orders, though, so you don’t need to-“ I tried to assure, She cut me off, edging a bit closer as her cheeks flushed and her grin widened a little. “Breeding, hmm? Well, if you’re potent enough to give Fluttershy a foal at thirty-two percent, which should have been impossible… Can you give those enhancements to others…?” she chirped out, fluttering her eyes at me. My eyes widened a bit, but Shining hissed out, “Mother!” She smiled innocently back to him, and everything immediately fell into place. Oh Celestia, what have I gotten myself into? * * * * * It was just the four of us now in Shining’s old room. Fluttershy rested next to me, still looking guilty. My left foreleg was around her, and she snuggled into my chest while we listened, but she wouldn’t let it go, even after I said that she didn’t do anything wrong. Twilight sat to my right, a little further away while frowning, listening to Shining talk more. “Over and over again. We’ve tried every Estrus for the last two years,” he repeated, frowning down at his own bedspread. It was a rather interesting design, with a bunch of masked and suited ponies who looked like they were using powers or something. Super ponies, maybe? Twilight looked a bit awkward talking about this, but hesitantly asked, “Have either of you, uh, gotten tested? It’s rare, but…” Okay, seeing as this was her brother, I could see where it might be a little awkward, but for once, I wasn’t really feeling it. Memories gave me a lot more awkward things that my DNA donor walked in on in the barracks’ locker rooms. “Yes,” Shining quickly interrupted, sighing wearily before explaining, “Both of us got tested. Both of us are absolutely a hundred percent functioning and working.” Well, that was strange. “So it’s more than likely something incompatible with her being an Alicorn then. Hmm. I’m not sure that Mender’s enhancements could help with that. We don’t exactly know a huge amount about Alicorn genomes,” Twilight deduced, frowning then scratching under her chin. Leave it to a mystery to make her feel more comfortable about the situation. Shining exhaled, flopping backwards onto his old bed before rolling onto his side. “We’re pretty sure it is. I’m willing to try just about anything at this point. I really would love to start a family with Cadance. It’s just… frustrating,” he admitted, slowly frowning. Raising up my left foreleg, I let an orb merge out of it and float into the air instead. It started glowing a soft blue color, and I let a projection pop up on the screen displaying my own more… personal anatomy. The individual upgrades were highlighted, however, and I listed the specifications on all of them to the side, which would be a good indication of what he’d be in for… He perked up, then widened his eyes at the display before sitting up and moving closer to it. It was all there, and I let him read the finer details himself. Fluttershy blushed as she looked up at it, shrinking down a little as she slid into my side further. “I… I really did think it was safe, Mender,” she whispered a moment later, pressing the side of her face up to my left hip as she closed her eyes. Turning, I lightly massaged her shoulders, giving her a softer smile. “While I wish you’d been honest with me, it’s not your fault that we didn’t take, uh, this into account,” I reminded, gesturing towards the glowing display with my head. She nodded, looking a bit sad still, but I leaned in and lifted her head up, kissing her softly. She shivered, then smiled again and leaned into it. For the first time since we’d found out, I felt her relax down the link as we kissed softly. Parting, she gave me a warm smile, a little flushed now, and I nuzzled her nose softly, earning a little giggle from the mare. My ears perked, however, my right one rotating over before I raised an eyebrow and looked to both Twilight and Shining watching us. Eh? “Wow, that’s amazingly adorable,” Shining admitted. Twilight broke down and started giggling, smiling as she looked up, and I felt my cheeks heat up, almost as much as it looked like Fluttershy’s were. Pulling Fluttershy further against me, I relaxed and felt her slowly unwind despite the attention, smiling up at me again. Sighing, I decided to fully assure her with, “I’m not angry with you, Fluttershy. This… It’s a surprise. A huge surprise. Probably to both of us, but…” She gave me a curious look, as did Twilight, but Shining smiled instead as I continued with, “Even if it is a huge surprise, it’s a good surprise. We’re still a herd, and it doesn’t really change anything other than knowing we have quite a bit to prepare for coming up. I’m not going anywhere.” Her eyes softened through my little speech, but she smiled afterwards and nodded, leaning up to kiss my softly on the mouth again. I returned it, letting her fold against my chest and relax as I pushed against her lips. No, this didn’t really change much. If anything, it would probably make our relationship all the stronger. Shining just chuckled at that, however, and I lifted an eyebrow to him curiously. He shook his head, and then shrugged, explaining, “I don’t think anypony really expected this, but you three have a strong relationship already. So she probably already knows just about all of that.” His sister rolled her eyes and swatted him a moment later, causing him to flail and fall over dramatically. She huffed before shaking her head and admitting, “Even if we knew it already, it’s still nice to hear once in a while!” Fluttershy and I just relaxed against the bed until he sat up fully again. I nodded to the projection, and he sighed, looking it over once more before nodding. “Okay, so what’s the rundown on how to get it?” he finally asked, looking back to me. “Unpleasant, if I read the specs right in the documentation. I’m glad I was unconscious as a little colt when they gave them to me, that’s for sure,” I warned, earning another exhale from the stallion. He nodded, though, so I elaborated with, “Three localized nanite injections. They’d have to be rather big needles, but I think ponies make them that large. After, there’s one stabilization injection. I should warn you, that one I’m not sure how to do without it being military grade. I don’t have any other designs built into me, so if you wanted it in time for next summer’s estrus, I probably couldn’t absolutely guarantee it.” He shuddered at my explanation, then gave a skeptical stare at the glowing screen again. “Military grade? Should I be concerned about that?” he inquired a moment later. Oh, right. Nanites were a new concept to them. “It means that the nanites I’m injecting are going to be more aggressive, shielded, and less concerned probably for personal comfort until they get settled,” I summarized, looking back to the projection myself as I highlighted the areas they’d be setting up in. He gave me a frown, and I nodded, appending, "I don't think I can undo this once I give it to you, and I can't guarantee that it's going to limit itself only to the parts that I apply them to." Twilight swallowed uneasily at that, glancing back to him, but he was staring at the projection instead, silently. We waited for almost fifteen seconds before he exhaled and nodded towards the projection. "If it were my call, I'd say yes. But I'm going to have to talk to Cadance about this, first," he confirmed, looking back to me. Having already anticipated at least that much, I nodded to him and looked back to Twilight instead. "I can make the nanites inside of myself, and give the exact insertion locations, but we're probably going to need anesthetics for this, and an expert that actually knows how to give an injection," I warned, not at all interested in performing a minor surgery myself. Given my level of dexterity and natural grace, Shining probably wouldn't want that either. "That's fine. I'll run the procedure past Princess Celestia, and she'll probably get one of the royal physicians to do it," the lavender mare guessed off the top of her head. She frowned a moment later and instead asked, "What will the nanites do if they don't limit themselves to one area?" Ah, right. Shaking my head, I assured, "The same thing your nanites do. Generally sustain your health, keep your system clear of dangerous materials, and regenerate your tissue." It was just a step under what mine did, but I didn't have the schematics for my particular brand of the tiny things. "That actually sounds rather useful," he admitted, shrugging absently at the thought. I started to nod to him when Fluttershy frowned a moment later. "Um, I... I'm pregnant," she suddenly declared. I blinked at her, a bit confused by the seemingly non sequitur. Twilight apparently thought the same thing, lifting her eyebrow up, but Fluttershy just rapidly shook her head, then continued with, "I... I have the nanites in me, too, right? Um, what do they do to a foal growing in me?" Oh! My ears perked as I turned towards her again, flicking her link on and switching the projection on the orb over to her analytics. General biological information popped up, showing good blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, and other such things. I played with the display for a moment, then frowned, bringing up an actual interface for pregnancy information. They had that built in? It indeed showed her listed as 'pregnant' by twenty-three days, listing a green status on the offspring. I widened my eyes a little bit, surprised at this turn of events. "That's surprisingly accurate information," Twilight admitted, looking the display over herself as both Fluttershy and Shining frowned. I nodded, finally admitting, "Good news, bad news time." The yellow pegasus widened her eyes, immediately snapping her attention to me again, and I continued explaining quickly. "It turns out, there's a built in system for pregnancies in the subjects. I really should have already predicted that, given all the other virility stuff they shoved in me," I admitted, flattening my ears back as I gave a momentary glare towards the display. "So it's safe for the foal?" Shining guessed, looking back to the glowing projection himself, although he was trying to see it backwards. I nodded, and Fluttershy visibly relaxed, exhaling softly before Twilight frowned. "And the bad news?" she inquired, looking back towards the screen. The yellow mare's peace was short lived, her attention snapping back to me with that, and I nodded to her. Considering it, I decided it probably wasn't too terrible in and of itself. "The nanites have a lot of readings on the foal already, and I have reason to believe the amount of data will increase as it grows. That means, with very high probability, that the foal will have nanites in it right from the start," I deduced, gesturing to the display screen. Fluttershy stared at the display, frown shifting as she watched. “Um, what does that mean, exactly? The regeneration and stuff that they’d give Shining Armor?” she asked quietly, her eyes sliding back over to look at me instead. I reached out and bumped the floating orb, it giving a brighter flash of light before turning off completely and sinking seamlessly into the hoof that poked it. Having subspace inside of me would probably always feel weird… “Yeah, pretty much. It’s because you yourself have them, so they’re going to be automatically passed on to the foal. If I’d known about this ahead of time, I might have been able to write up a patch so that they wouldn’t do that, but… I’m still not entirely sure it’s possible to remove them once they’re inside a living creature,” I admitted, frowning and thinking about it. If I could make a program for turning them all off at once and relayed that through the system, it might work, but there was no ‘off’ switch built into the nanites themselves. About as ‘off’ as I could tell them to do would be to violently attack and dismantle each other, but that would probably set off a rather horrible immune system reaction inside of the individual. The yellow mare nodded to me, sagging a bit and letting out a soft breath, faint smile returning to her muzzle. “That’s not nearly as bad as I imagined. As long as they won’t hurt the foal…” she murmured, lowering her head and resting it against my upper thigh again. This time, I slid down into a lying position as well, resting up against her side and earning a bigger smile from the cute mare. Twilight was busy planning, however, scratching under her chin for a moment before nodding. “It shouldn’t take too long, then. I’ll talk to Princess Celestia about the details of the procedure. You talk to Cadance in the meantime and see what she thinks. I’ll need Mender to help give the details to the Princess, though,” she requested, shifting her focus back to me. I nodded absently, mind not really on the conversation, but instead the mare next to me. Swallowing this would take a lot of effort. I was going to be a dad. Personally, I wasn’t even fully comfortable with being a pony, but this left me no choice but to accept that life probably wasn’t going to slow down and brake, instead intent on turning me into a speedbump. I absently found my head drifting into hers, and she smiled, nuzzling against my muzzle until our fur intermingled. Shining just chuckled, then headed Twilight off with, “He has enough on his mind, and I’m sure Fluttershy could stand for a bit of attention, too, so let’s plan this out fully later.” The lavender mare pouted, but I simply nodded slowly. “I have a lot of thinking to do, and I’m sure the others are probably waiting on us. Pinkie, for one, wants to get to the ice cream part,” I reminded, glancing to Twilight, who gave a short snicker. It sort of made it sound like a nicker. She shook her head after, and hopped down off Shining’s bed. “Well, we should head back downstairs, then. Our parents probably would like an actual visit before we take off, even if we’re not leaving until tomorrow,” she suggested. Oh, right. The visit had so far been obliterated by the sudden news when we got here, then the consultation with Shining. Exhaling, I looked back to Fluttershy, but she smiled and nodded to me. Ah well. I wasn’t looking forward to being back down with everypony just yet. It still felt… It was awkward, it seemed. They all knew already, and didn’t seem to care, but Fluttershy being pregnant just sort of snapped everything in place that we were together. Together, together. As in, serious. I was suddenly self-conscious as it added a new ‘layer’ of visibility onto the relationship. My thoughts were interrupted by her lightly kissing me, then giving a timid smile and nod. I relaxed, nuzzling her back and hearing her giggle at point blank range, it vibrating through me from two links at once. Yeah, Shining was right. I don’t think we’d be anything but even closer after this. “Okay, okay, come on, lovebirds. Let’s go back downstairs,” Twilight jibed with a smirk. I detected just the tiniest trace of jealousy from her link, though, and raised an eyebrow in her direction. She’d already headed into the hall, however. Fluttershy looked to me, a light frown on her face that matched my own feelings, and I shrugged to her, seeing Shining walk past us in my peripheral vision. Eh, I’d ask her later. Gesturing to Fluttershy, I smiled as she slid off the bed then followed me out, walking directly to my right as we followed Shining down the hallway… * * * * * Her fur was rather soft, and she gave a content sigh as my hooves worked along her back. She smiled back at me while I massaged her, her wings fluttering out a little as I continued. Fluttershy was unsurprisingly tense, and I did my best to ease knots out of her muscles, especially if she was going to be doing any sort of flying later. We were on the couch, with Spike immediately behind me, and Rarity sitting next to him, to his delight. Applejack and Rainbow were squished together into a sofa, and Shining was sitting across from them, looking towards his parents. Twilight sat on the other couch opposite from us with Night Light and Pinkie. Velvet was just coming in with snacks and drinks. “Having our children home regardless is cause for celebration, Dear,” she assured, walking past Night Light, who had prior been concerned that maybe celebrating me getting released from the hospital was too similar to celebrating me getting maimed and blasted in the first place. I could see his point, but he underestimated Pinkie Pie and her love of celebrations. Regardless, I took no offense. “I suppose. The whole town was abuzz before regarding this Dimensional Regulation thing regardless, so the formal moving of guards is rather exciting,” Night Light admitted, taking a sip of his coffee after pulling the cup off the tray. Shining nodded to that, explaining, “Yeah, I’ll be heading down to Ponyville as well to see that they get set up in the temporary barracks. I assume Mender and my sister can handle their transfer to the full on barracks once the testing facility is completed. Oh, I also heard an interesting little blurb from a little birdy that Mender wants to help train the guards?” Oh, I totally forgot that I’d volunteered myself to do that. “Oooh, a birdy told you that?! Can you talk to them, like Flutters?!” Pinkie asked, gasping after as she turned to face Shining. He blinked slowly, then chuckled to himself before shaking his head. “Well, this birdy was about a hundred and fifty kilograms and sporting a rather dark blue color tone, so…” he admitted. “Birds can get that big?!” Pinkie asked further, without missing her cue even slightly. I coughed lightly, averting my eyes as she turned to look at me, before suggesting, “Uh, he’s probably talking about Princess Luna, who is indeed, not a bird.” Pinkie started giggling and snickering while wobbling back and forth, causing Night Light to look mildly annoyed as his cushion was shifted and tilted everywhere. I took a cup of tea from Velvet as she trotted past, giving me a warm smile, and nod. She was in amazingly good spirits today, and this time, I knew exactly why. Regardless, I agreed, explaining, “Yeah, I heard they needed a trainer, and I do have military experience in the memories put into me, so I thought, why not? It seems far more practical than you making regular trips all the way from the Crystal Empire just to train troops, or bringing somepony in from elsewhere to do the same thing, given that I’m already in Ponyville.” “Yeah, that’s probably for the best all around, if you’re sure you can manage. I’ll give you a basic run down of pony training techniques tomorrow, but you should pick them up fairly fast given prior experience. Are you familiar with any martial arts?” he asked, shifting serious as he rotated to face me. Coughing lightly, I admitted, “Uh, probably none that’s suitable for a pony. Or at least a defensive outlook.” The only style I knew was to use the least amount of effort to ‘remove’ threats as quickly as possible. This usually resulted in grievous injuries up to and including death. He raised an eyebrow, but appeared to not want to ask, nodding after. "It's not that big of a deal. Most of them already know the fundamentals. They just need somepony to run them through the daily morning regime, and clean up any sloppiness you see. Your main goal will be training them to use whatever fancy toys research and development makes," he reasoned. Wasn't I in charge of re- Ooh, right. Okay, that made sense. Twilight nodded along, assuring, "It should be fine, as I'm pretty sure these are all well trained guards already. Plus, as much as I don't like to admit it, your reputation as an 'alien' will probably garner quite a bit of respect from them." Well, that was one way to look at it... So they'd either be absolutely terrified of me, or think I was a freak. Eh, close enough to respect, so long as they followed orders. Fluttershy gave me a rather stern nudge with her hoof, and I smiled without needing to even look at her. Yeah, I knew I was too hard on myself. Living out the first six months of my life gave me a fresh outlook on almost everything, including that. "I know. Sorry," I added, causing her to smile and relax again. Afterwards, Twilight started talking about that book again that she was going to be getting from Princess Celestia. Something about it made me think it was more important than just whom she was getting it from, but it went well off my comfortable edge of metamagical understanding. Fluttershy felt warm against me, and I slowly let myself zone out, pressing my muzzle gently into her side. She just smiled, tucking her head around mine as we relaxed at the end of the couch. It was enough for me to just relax for a while, letting my worries and thoughts drift about lazily. Twilight was excited to have the chance to look at the book, from what I vaguely heard while zoning out. Apparently it was written by somepony really important a while ago, and was fairly classified as far as reading material went. Not being the most updated on Equestrian history yet, I of course probably didn’t grasp the true weight of it. At first, I almost didn’t notice. The light ding noise sounded inside my GUI a second time, however, and my eyes opened again. Twilight was still talking, and nothing appeared to be amiss. Pulling my interface out inside myself, I glanced at the display and noticed that the incoming ping was lit up. Aww crap. Looking up, I glanced around the room, biting my lower lip. Applejack looked over to me, raising an eyebrow, but Rainbow looked mostly relaxed, curled up near her hooves in the chair. Everyone was still talking, and I didn’t want to just interrupt, but answering Keela was rather important. Slowly, I decided to take a chance and slide off the front of the couch. Nope. All eyes shifted to me instantly, conversation grinding to a halt. Out of instinct, I froze for a moment, blinking and looking at all the eyes on me before coughing lightly. “Ah, sorry. Carry on. I’m just getting a ping,” I excused, voice a bit on the quiet side as I was suddenly self-conscious without the background talking. Twilight perked at that, of course not just leaving it at that. “Oh, from Keela? Ooooh, then she probably has an answer for you,” she deduced. Suspiciously, Velvet perked very quickly at that. “Oh? That’s that, mmm, what were they called? The kitty in the presentation earlier. That female?” she asked curiously. I fought back the heat to my cheeks and sighed. “Yeah, that’s Keela. Although a few others are probably there, too. I was talking to them about giving them their memories back that were taken away by Prudentia. Loooong story,” I warned, giving Twilight a mildly annoyed look. She only returned a sheepish one, raising her front hooves to give a guarded gesture. Night Light gave a momentary confused look before asking, “Why wouldn’t they want their memories back? Seems like a kind of important thing to me.” Shifting awkwardly, I didn’t honestly know how to respond to that. Thankfully, Rarity answered from behind me instead with, “These memories perhaps aren’t the… greatest. I believe they contain both extreme violence and a rather brutal emotional burden, so remaining ignorant of them might actually be more pleasant.” Spike snickered next to her, then added, “Yeah, it turns out Keela had a relationship with Mender before-“ My tail hit him as I flicked it up into his face, causing him to flail, then fall over sideways onto Rarity, who smirked and caught him. It was too late, though, and Velvet squealed again. Okay, now all she needed was a little bow with heart-shaped arrows or something. “Ooooh, that’s super romantic! You must devise a way to pull her over to Equus, Mender,” the mare declared with finality. Oh boy. Ignoring the logistics of that request, I sighed and shook my head. “She has to get her memories back of even knowing me before, first. Then there are… a few other complications we’d need to take care of, and finally, we’d need to generate a massive, massive amount of energy to perform the transfer. But regardless, I need to answer her ping, so,” I excused, gesturing vaguely to upstairs, where there could be some more privacy. Shining smiled, and I tried really hard not to groan instead. “Well, it’s not like any of it’s a secret anymore. I’m sure that Keela wouldn’t mind meeting our parents, too,” he suggested. Damn it! My ears flattened back, and Pinkie started giggling, hopping around on the couch to face me again and accidentally jarring Night Light sideways into her on the couch, hitting his cushion too and almost flipping it. “Oooh, yeah! Answer it here,” she chirped, sounding excited. Twilight frowned, starting to open her mouth towards Pinkie when I just sighed and flicked the ping on instead. Four orbs melted out of me, causing me to shiver as the static energy danced along my fur from the subspace release. They rotated into the air before all lighting up, projecting a blank, three dimensional box into the center of the room rather abruptly, colored in cyan. The ping flicked on fully a few seconds later, and I shifted my audio output to speakers as Keela squeaked, answering with a start. “Oh! I didn’t anticipate you’d get back with me so fast,” she answered, the cube flickering and rapidly reforming into a slightly transparent version of her. She was in her casual wear, a comfortable looking t-shirt and sweatpants. She perked immediately after the projection completed, slowly looking around inside of her own image bubble, I imagined, at all of the ponies around her. “Ah, sorry for the lack of explanation,” I apologized with, before revealing, “We were in the middle of a, well, family gathering. The two new ponies are Twilight Velvet, and Night Light. They’re Twilight Sparkle’s and Shining Armor’s parents.” I gestured to both of them as they were introduced, and she took them in quietly for a moment before smiling. “Oh, very nice to meet you. Wait, they’re aware of my existence?” she asked suddenly, looking back to me. Oh, right. “Ooooh, awkward!” Pinkie immediately announced, earning a raised eyebrow from the Keldarian. Thanks for that. Although it was true. Shining coughed lightly, drawing Keela’s attention to him before admitting, “Actually, about that… Now all of Equus does, effectively. There was an… incident. It forced Mender to reveal himself in order to save somepony’s life. The truth spread rather fast after that.” She stared at him for a long moment, eyes a bit wide before looking back to me. I nodded to her, and she slowly crossed her arms before returning it. “I see. Are you okay, then, Mender? I’d like to hear about it,” she requested softly, eyes scanning over my form, undoubtedly looking for yet more bandages. Smiling, I nodded to her, assuring, “I’m fine. But it’s a bit of a long story. Got time?” She grinned, and I raised my eyebrow, a warning flag firing off in my head. “Of course! I’ll… refrain from giving you your other answer until you finish, though. Incentive,” she teased. Gah! Pouting, I rolled my eyes and deflated a little. She was as much a brat as I remembered from my time as Azure. Considering it, I smirked a moment later and nodded to her, sitting upright more. “All right. If you have the time, I’ll relay the story again. You could bring the others in to hear it, too,” I suggested. She smiled sweetly and nodded, reaching over and hitting a few more buttons to bring up what looked like a paging system. Twilight raised an eyebrow at me as I watched her like a hawk, but Rainbow, who had suddenly started paying attention again during the ping announcement, slowly started to grin. She felt that familiar feeling from me, I imagined… Keela lifted up her left hand while typing out her message on the screen with her right. She picked up her cup of what looked like some sort of juice next to her, and I slowly grinned. She sipped, eyes locked onto the display screen to the right, and time seemed to slow down as I saw the opportunity and pounced all over it. “Oh, I almost forgot. Fluttershy’s pregnant,” I revealed, hearing a surprised squeak behind me. Keela gave out a gasp mixed with a gurgle, then coughed, spraying blue fluid all over the console behind her projection, and straight down her shirt. Rainbow and I both started laughing at once…
Chapter 96It had ultimately gotten surprisingly cozy. Relaxing there on the floor, Fluttershy rested against my left side, and Twilight was against hers, sandwiching the yellow mare between us. She looked extraordinarily pleased by the turn of events, giving a little smile to both of us every minute or so. Everypony else had pretty much stayed in their spots, minus the new 'additions' to the room. All five of them were here now, Keela flopped on her stomach in the center of the room next to me, in a completely new dark blue and purple pajama set. Honestly, I hadn't thought about that issue when she'd coughed and soaked her front in juice. It was at least partially her fault for wearing materials that turn transparent when wet. Litta sat next to her, in a dark yellow tank top and even darker yellow pajama bottoms. Her darker pink hair was done up in a ponytail as usual, and she lounged lazily on her back. Her little sister, Mirin, had hers done up in a twin ponytail of sorts, looking almost like light blue 'ears' that folded off the back of her head. She was in a rather cute pink t-shirt and surprisingly short set of red shorts. Her yellow eyes, the color shared by her sister, were locked on the twins who sat next to her, the three of them just a meter or so from Litta. The twins themselves, Amre on the left and Kyre on the right, were in matching outfits, as they loved to do, both in full body purple pajama suits. They looked a little older than when I last saw them, but not by very much. Their dark blue hair was worn on opposite sides, purely for identification purposes I was pretty sure. Sitting side by side, it was actually a little creepy, as they had the tendency to look at the same things, too. They both had pink eyes. It was nice to see them all together still, and fond memories danced to the surface from my time as Azure. This was… a little different, though. Looking down to my left, I saw the small filly sitting there, on our side of the universe. Dark blue coat, bronze mane and tail, and bright amber eyes, she smiled up at me gently, sitting next to her book. Purdue, sitting next to Prudentia. I wasn’t about to consider them the same thing ever again, that was for certain. She needed to hear all this, too, however. Keela grinned, still staring at Fluttershy’s tummy before assuring, “Well, congratulations again. Despite the fiasco at the café, this is a welcome bit of good news.” The yellow mare blushed softly, but remained smiling as she gave a gentle nod. “Mmm, yes, I think it’s, well, good news, now that I know nopony is upset over it,” she murmured, yawning slowly, then resting against my shoulder with her cheek. Chuckling to that, I just shook my head. "Fluttershy, I'm not going to be upset over you being pregnant. Not even about the estrus stick. Relax," I assured softly, nuzzling into her forehead. She gave a happy little nicker, then returned my nuzzle under my chin, then giggled. Mirin grinned while watching us, admitting, "Okay, ponies are adorable. Keela, can we go to Equus instead? There’s really no point in us sticking around here any longer, right?” Uh, actually I had no idea what they were even doing, now that I thought about it. Keela rolled her eyes, then reminded, “For one, we need to get a bigger generator to even think about making a stable portal to Equus. For two… I’d like to at least find out what happened to my sister to get some closure before permanently leaving this dimension.” She sighed after, and I brushed my right hoof along her shoulder, earning a smile as my image did so on her end. She couldn’t feel it, of course, but the intention was still apparent. Giving out a murmur of apology, Mirin looked away from us, and her sister exhaled, holding her paw up towards the ceiling. “That’s a discussion for another time, by the sounds of it. Keela’s told us about the fact that our memories are fake, and personally, that seriously bugs me,” she admitted, sitting up and looking directly at me instead. Her eyes looked down towards Purdue, who caught her gaze. There wasn’t any malice, however, and the little filly relaxed, nodding. “I didn’t mean to do it. I was ordered to, by my master at the time. Mender’s now my master, and with his permission, I can undo what was taken,” she explained, nodding to Keela as well. To my surprise, Amre spoke up next, with, “We’re curious…” “What’s the extent of the missing memories?” Kyre finished for her, both of them looking expectantly at me. I saw Rainbow flatten her ears back and shiver while staring at them, but I just smiled and nodded. Eh, it was just how they did things. “Extensive. Six months of memories were modified. As you’ve probably already guessed, this isn’t the first time we’ve all met,” I explained. They both looked to each other, but Keela nodded at that. I glanced back to her, but she frowned, shaking her head for a moment before admitting, “Even if I didn’t know that it was an important six months, half a year’s worth of lost memories is too much for me to ignore. I don’t care if I was tortured the whole time, Mender. My vote is to have them back.” I raised an eyebrow, but Litta immediately tacked on with, “Yup. I don’t care what the memories were. Personally, I don’t like the very thought of that d… uh, jerk having forced me to remember something wrong.” Knee jerk censoring aside, I could also understand that much. I couldn’t pretend to be so pure as to not know what spite was. Mirin exhaled quietly, looking over to me instead before hesitantly asking, “Um, t-there are no, like, huge amounts of physical pain or anything in these memories, are there?” I blinked once, but Litta smirked an instant later. “Pansy,” she shot at her sister, who glared back at her. Surprisingly, however, she continued reasoning with, “Does it even matter? Even if it was something that hurt, we’re alive and still here. It’s just going to be a memory.” Well, that was one way to look at it. Applejack shook her head, however, drawing the attention back to her. “Ah wouldn’t worry about physical pains so much as emotional ones. Sometimes, those can last longer, an’ hurt far worse than anythin’ else,” she warned. A certain emptiness flashed through her eyes, and Rainbow set her hoof down on the mare’s shoulder, shaking her head. The orange mare exhaled, then rested back against the chair, but her point had already set, and Keela tucked her legs up gently instead, pressing her knees to her breasts before shaking her head. “Even if it hurts, emotionally or physically, I’d rather know than not know. The only other option is running from it,” she pointed out, looking back to Mirin, who sighed and nodded. The twins nodded at the same time, however. “We agree,” Kyre added, looking to Amre, who finished the statement in the next breath. “It’s too large of a time period. We’d regret not knowing the truth,” her sister decided. That was all of them, really. Twilight noticed, too, nodding on the other side of Fluttershy. “Then you want the memories back?” she asked, looking to Keela specifically, who nodded. Slowly, the other four repeated her gesture, and I exhaled. That selfish little voice inside of me had gotten its way, and I didn’t have to go on from this point being the only one who remembered the truth of what had happened. Keela nodded, before finally stating, “Yes, we do. What do we have to do in order to go about it?” She looked to Purdue, who instead turned and looked to me. Right… Sighing, I officially stated, “Purdue, use Prudentia to undo what he did to their memories, please.” She smirked, and I averted my eyes. Yes, the ‘please’ was required. I didn't even need a link with her to know what she was thinking in that regard. She nodded regardless, then looked back to Keela specifically. "Are you ready, then?" she asked, a certain air of finality to her question. I couldn't help but feel that certain unease in my stomach. My eyes traced over Keela as she watched me, and I caught myself looking at her in a different light. I quickly looked away as she nodded, to me rather than Purdue. "Do it, then," she agreed. I wasn't entirely sure what I expected. A flashy show of energy and power? The universe rending itself asunder and rebuilding around me? Of course, what did that even look like? Regardless of what I expected, it wasn't what I got. Absolutely nothing happened, and then all five of them jerked at the same time. Keela lifted up both paws to the sides of her head, teeth clenched rather hard. Purdue watched them all for a moment, then frowned and added, “Stay calm. Don’t fight the new memories. Just let them rebuild themselves.” That probably would have been amazing advice before she started the process. I kept my mouth shut, though, and just watched. Keela relaxed, eyes blanking for a moment as she focused on deep breathing. Litta watched her, then followed suit, and the twins turned and lightly put their foreheads together, breathing heavier. They’d always been like that, and my personal guess was some sort of high capacity shared telepathic link, but I could be mistaken. Mirin was the only stubborn one that continued shuddering and rolling on her back, holding her head. Seconds passed slowly, and I counted out to almost twenty before Mirin finally stopped shuddering. All five of them opened their eyes at once, Litta immediately gasping out. “Oh… No, no, no… Kyliona. Wait, Keela…” she muttered, looking towards her friend. Keela just looked at me, dazed for a moment, jaw lowering a little. I turned and looked back to her, and felt the yellow mare against my side tense as she noticed. It felt like forever, with her stuck just looking at me, eyes locked with mine. Thirty seconds passed, and she made a little choking noise, covering her muzzle with both paws. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. It didn’t stop her eyes from getting wet, and a streak going down the fur on her left cheek. Nopony said anything. I didn’t know what to say, or do, or feel, really. It was like dozens of realizations had come crashing down on her all at once, and I was effectively powerless to stop it or help her in any way. Eventually, a tear joined on the other side of her cheek, and I sighed softly, reaching my hoof out to her. She raised her left paw, lightly touching it against the image of my hoof. It was all that it took, and the tears started sliding down. Litta shivered and took that moment to slide over, wrapping both of her arms over Keela’s shoulders. Keela’s thumb moved, stroking slowly around under the image before she gave a little whimper. “It’s… just like I suspected it would be, and now it’s as if it all really happened up until the point the memories become normal again,” she whispered, shaking a little as she looked at me. “Azure…” Mirin muttered, sitting up again finally and also looking towards me. Litta smiled weakly at that, then shook her head to her sister. “He’s ‘Mender’ now, remember? Moon Mender…” she reminded, testing the name out for herself. Fluttershy wiggled against me, then slowly nodded. “Um, yes. His parents actually picked it for him,” she explained, smiling gently towards Keela. The Keldarian smiled towards her and relaxed a little, nodding finally. “He said that much. I like the new name, really. Azure was pretty, but not very pony like,” Keela admitted quietly, wiping her eyes. “Keela…” I muttered, earning a little shiver from her. She quickly shook her head, however, and then stopped me by raising her paw up. “No, I know. This is similar to what I thought it would be, but the scale is… far more than I had anticipated. You… No, you didn’t break any promises to me, Mender. You getting transferred over to Equus alone… it wasn’t under your own power or control, I know that. You know that, too,” she quickly reminded. “Promise?” Rarity asked curiously, less than a heartbeat later. Ah, her romance sense must be tingling. Sighing, I explained, “I promised her when we were leaving that day that Kyliona and I would definitely meet them on the ship. We, uh, didn’t make it.” It was a lot worse admitting it out loud, I suddenly realized. Keela’s paw passed through me an instant later, and she shivered, then slid a little closer. “Mender, it’s okay. None of us could have predicted what happened. It… was a horrible accident. I’m just glad that… at least you made it,” she quietly admitted, eyes still locked with mine. I sighed, shaking my head slowly at that. Not entirely accurate… “I… Kyliona is inside of me. I never told you the reason why my code malfunctioned. She uploaded the backdoor access code to her own cerebral storage, then was the first one that was eaten. She’s inside me with the rest of them…” I muttered, eyes softening a little. Litta and Keela both widened their eyes at that, but Mirin shuddered and added, “Uh, that’s actually kinda really creepy. What exactly can you do with all of them?” Thanks, Mirin… “At the moment, not much,” I admitted, shrugging before explaining, “The bioweapon recorded all their DNA, too, which I can convert into usable gametes for reproduction purposes, or if you wanted to clone them all. Otherwise, nothing, really…” Well, apart from asking them all to help me really murder the hell out of something, but I didn’t particularly foresee a need to do that again in the near future. Rarity huffed behind me, however, causing me to glance back as she defended, “He doesn’t need a use for them. Mender fits in here perfectly fine, and even after everything that happened, as you can see, the ponies of Equus still accept you perfectly fine. If anything, what happened here will only cause those disagreeing to lose even further credit.” Sighing, I shook my head, then turned back to Keela instead, who was still looking at me. “Regardless, I’m sorry, Keela. I did technically break a promise to you, even if I didn’t have any control over what happened. So let me make it up to you? We can… talk more about other things later if you wish, too,” I assured, giving a softer smile to her. The pink one hopped up and down in my peripheral vision before sending an approving shout of, “Yes! I’m big on keeping promises, and that one definitely, definitely, positively wasn’t his fault! But making it up to her is still really important.” Heh, I remembered that much, I was pretty sure. In my stay here, I’d heard a few horror stories involving a Pinkie Promise. Velvet grinned, however, and I braced myself as she assured, “There’s no harm in discussing the relationship you had, and all the possibilities of it continuing and possibly thriving, especially once you all manage to get to Equus.” Uh… An awkward moment later, Litta raised an eyebrow and asked, “Uh, are you always like this?” Night Light just sighed next to her and answered, “Yup.” There was no hesitation, and his wife just grinned at him, looking amused. I glanced back to Keela, and she just bit her lip, eyes trailing over to Twilight and Fluttershy as well. The lavender mare just chuckled, however, and shook her head. “We already talked about it. Fluttershy and I are both fine with you trying to be with Mender and possibly joining our herd, don’t worry,” she assured. Keela’s cheeks were pink by the time she was done, eyes wide as she looked back at me. Velvet started just snickering over on the couch, of course. “I-I… But I’d need Mender’s approval even if I did manage to…” she stammered, eyes locking with mine and searching my face. I just chuckled, however, and nodded to her. “Keela, I cared about all of you, and… I really did like you. Our time got cut short due to things conspiring against us behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean that it’s automatically too late,” I assured her softly. Both paws were back up to her mouth by then, and it felt like the tears coming down were quite a bit different now, a smile playing against her mouth, from the bits of it I could see. She nodded rapidly to me, but Mirin smirked behind her, then suddenly asked, “So, did making that portal to Equus get jumped up a bit in priority?” I blinked, but Keela suddenly smiled and giggled. “Mmm, we’re finding what happened with Nirru, then leaving, I think…” she agreed, giving me a grin as she wiped her eyes with a paw. I blinked again, then blushed a little as Mirin started snickering… * * * * * “You could have given me a little more warning than ten minutes!” Banana Swirl whined as she flailed about in the kitchen behind the counter. I coughed lightly, but Pinkie, bouncing in place to my immediate left, just squealed happily. “You can’t rush awesomeness! Ice cream is soooooo worth waiting for!” she chirped, wiggling all her hooves into the air in the next bounce. I ducked under the flailing hoof instinctively, then sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you more time. I honestly entirely forgot. It’s been… a rather long day,” I admitted, lowering my forehead until I whacked my subdermal armor against the counter with a reverberating ‘tonk’ noise. Nope, didn’t feel a thing. Rainbow snickered at the table behind us, then reminded, “I dunno, Pinkie. I can put quite a rush on my awesomeness. Fastest flier in Equestria!” I looked back at her with a skeptical glance, earning a raised eyebrow until I smirked and pointed out, “Dash, you technically moved fast enough to go through a compressed spatial bridge between dimensions. I think you’re the fastest anything in Equus at the moment.” A technically true statement, as I was pretty sure Twilight’s teleportation technique didn’t involve actual velocity. It appeared to actually cancel it completely during the transition. Predictably, the cyan mare puffed up unbelievably at that, turning a little pink in the cheeks. Applejack, to her right, rolled her eyes, then chuckled to herself. “Eeyup, it went right to her head,” she deduced. The cyan mare stuck her tongue out at her fillyfriend, and I just snickered. That much had been intended when I said it. Still, it was a true statement! “Ooooh, question!” Pinkie murmured, halting her bouncing long enough to shoot it right into my ear and freak me out. Sliding away from her a bit, I shuddered before asking, “Uh, what is it, Pinkie?” She just grinned a little wider at me, of course, before asking, “If she has our orders and knows we’re here, why are we still standing up by the counter while everypony else is over there sitting down? Not that I mind, of course, because standing up is really awesome and fun and I get to bounce this way, plus you’re my friend and I don’t mind being next to you.” I stared blankly at her through the long string of statements, then fidgeted. I actually didn't have an answer for that. I'd gotten so distracted staring at interesting freezers behind the counter and trying to figure out how they functioned that I hadn't actually noticed everypony sitting down already. "Ah, right, we should go join them," I stated blankly, wiggling a little before turning and walking over to the others. My face felt hot, and I knew I was probably blushing. That was the one issue with having a light fur color. It was really easy to see the blushes. Twilight snickered as I came back before asking, "So, figured out the freezers yet?" Gah! Sitting two chairs down, I glared at her, and she just grinned before revealing, "Ice in a certain shape around one of our magnification crystals was discovered to stay at perpetually one temperature if a low amount of Ether is pumped into it. There are coils of ice in the top of the freezers that keep everything inside the glass cool. More intense ones are used in her kitchen area to make the ice cream in the first place." I blinked once, not suspecting the coy mare to actually be helpful. Still, I nodded, thanking her with, "Ah, yes, you guessed right via my link and direction I was staring. I really should look into figuring out these crystals more, however. They seem interesting." Rainbow gave me a skeptical stare, then asked, "Wait, wait, you were seriously trying to figure out the freezers?" I felt my face heat up, but Spike interrupted instead. "Why does that surprise you? He's almost as curious as Twi is, and if she didn't know, you know she'd be tearing it apart to figure it out," he pointed out, shooting a skeptical look at Dash instead. The cyan mare snickered, and Twilight gave a sheepish smile and blush. "Yeah, yeah. I didn't say it was a bad thing! Besides, we should also take it as our responsibility to answer any and all questions and curiosities that Mender has. He's not even been here two months yet, and we should be accommodating," she suggested, more than likely to distract and change the topic. Still, that brought up another thing I was going to ask. "That reminds me, once we get back to Ponyville, could I talk to you, Applejack?" I asked, looking towards the orange mare. She perked, looking over at me with a bit of curiosity and surprise in her green eyes. "Oh? Ya got somethin' in mind, Sugarcube, or just ah social visit?" she asked, tilting her hat up out of her eyes a little. I gave a nod, then explained, "Big Mac taught me something over estrus break, and it recently came up again. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you or him about learning more things about my Earth Pony magic." Her eyes widened for a moment before a warmer smile drifted onto her expression. "Aww, well shucks, that ain't no problem at all, Mender. Although Ah should warn ya, our specialties are actually ah little bit different. He's really good at tha growin', an' Ah'm better at tha knockin' down. Tap tha tree just right, an' get it ta drop all o' tha good stuff," she revealed, grinning to me. Oh, actually... His sounded easier. Doing a burst of magic in a single instant to specifically target all objects connected to the target and dislodge them on impact sounded hellish... Smiling, I nodded to her, then elaborated with, "It's an entirely untapped area of magic for me, and seeing as I'm an Earth Pony, I at least wanted to be able to manage Earth Pony magic. What do you think I'd be best at, then?" I really hoped she'd say growing. Raising an eyebrow to me, she slowly looked around the side of the table at my flanks for a moment. "Uh, if Ah had ta guess, not apples," she warned a second later, grinning at me. Okay, walked into that... My scowl towards her was interrupted a moment later by a very small and very timid poke to my left foreleg. Raising an eyebrow, I turned to my left and looked down, only to be greeted by a surprising amount of pinks and yellows. Morning Joy, who had prior been upstairs, I was told, was shyly smiling up at me, wearing a darker yellow frilled dress, and had her mane done up in two small pigtails behind her ears. Well, that totally defeated my look of annoyance. I rotated in my seat to face her, giving a smaller smile down to the little filly, who returned it rather readily. To my surprise, both of her hooves lifted up towards me, in the almost universal gesture of wanting a lift. I gave a blink, then leaned down and hooked my forehooves under her upraised legs, easily lifting her up and into the air. She was surprisingly light, and I found myself idly wondering what it would be like with my own foal. Upon reaching face-level, she giggled and leaned forward, very lightly bumping her nose against mine before straightening again. I chuckled to her, then gently rested her on the edge of the table, looking at me. My left hoof reached up and carefully moved back the right shoulder of her dress a little ways, revealing white wrapped bandage behind it still. “How are you feeling? Does it hurt?” I asked, shifting back to Joy’s eyes as she grinned for a moment, then shook her head. “Nope! The nurse was really good, and it doesn’t hurt at all anymore. Well, it did a little when I was trying to get my leg through the dress, but I took it easy like Mom said to,” she assured, settling into a partial sit as I supported her against the edge of the table. Fluttershy leaned forward next to me, touching the bandage with her right forehoof and giving the small filly a little frown. “This is a pretty big bandage. You’re a very brave filly for coming through all of that,” she praised, moving the dress back over the wrap and smiling to her, her other forehoof giving the filly a pat on the head. Banana Swirl came out of the kitchen at about that time, then gave a raised eyebrow to her filly. She balanced a large tray of treats on her back, easily half of our orders already, then walked gently towards our table. “Joy, I warned you not to bother our guests too much. Sitting on them might be bothering our guests too much,” she warned, giving a playfully skeptical smirk to her daughter, who flailed instead. “I’m not sitting on him! I’m sitting on the table! Uh, which you also tell me not to do, but, um, he put me up here!” she quickly defended, and I started to chuckle. “She’s not being a bother. If anything, I call this practice for my own foal. Uh, if it turns out to be a filly, of course. Not that that would really matter for just sitting on a table. Wait, no, I wouldn’t want them sitting on the table either, so I guess this isn’t very good practice at all, actually,” I started to explain, promptly walking myself right off the proverbial cliff. Rainbow started snickering the longer I trailed on, but Pinkie actually nodded along as if following my rambling string of thoughts perfectly. I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad for that. Joy perked then suddenly gasped, instead. “Oh, you’re going to be a daddy?!” she asked, zeroing in on that almost immediately. Fluttershy turned lightly pink, shrinking down a little in her chair, but Swirl perked up as she set the tray down. One glance later towards Fluttershy, and she started to grin instead. “Ooooh, are you expecting, Miss Fluttershy?” she asked gently. Despite the rather reserved way of asking, the yellow mare still squeaked. Reaching over, I gently rubbed her shoulder, giving her a warmer smile and nod as she looked over at me. Her blush didn’t fade that much, but she smiled and nodded after, relaxing a little. “Um, yes. We just found out today, actually. I’m sorry. It’s just a bit overwhelming still,” she admitted, exhaling gently and blowing her bangs up a little with her breath. Joy perked even more, a wide smile popping up on her expression as she clapped her forehooves together. I quickly caught her as she unbalanced herself, falling into my lap with a squeak a moment later. Her mother seemed unconcerned with the tumble, instead grinning towards Fluttershy and doing a little hop. “Oh! Congratulations! I know what you mean when you say overwhelming. He’s not here at the moment, but my herdmate can definitely tell you, as he was even more worked up than I was! You get adjusted to it after a while, thankfully, and given how strong your relationship already seems to be, I have a feeling it will get even stronger,” she assured, rubbing Fluttershy’s other shoulder, which seemed to let the mare relax even more. Oddly, a spike of irritation shot down Twilight's link instead, but it was gone in the same instant when I turned to look at her. She gave me a small smile instead as I raised my eyebrow, and I sighed, giving up for now. Smiling down at Joy instead, I helped her stabilize herself, and she gave me a peppy smile upwards. “Hee, good catch. Earlier, too. You’re good at catching ponies!” she admitted, snickering after. Her mother smirked at her, before turning to Fluttershy instead and assuring, “You two are going to be great parents regardless! You’re the kind and nurturing type, I can tell. Not that your reputation hasn’t preceded you of course. Your mate is also very protective and obviously cares about you a lot. I bet he’d be a great father, too, given how good he is with foals.” Gah! I twitched visibly, then asked, “Why does everypony keep saying that?!” The most obvious answer they could give is ‘because it’s true’, but even if it was, that didn’t mean every pony who saw me interacting with a foal had to make the observation! Applejack started snickering at that, then pointed out, “Mender, ya’d need ta be blind ta miss it when yer bein’ downright adorable with a cute little filly like ya are. Plus, we all know ya got tha protective instincts, an’ ya obviously don’t mind foals, given yer toleratin’ one in yer lap. It’s ah compliment.” I blinked, then looked down at Joy again, who just grinned up at me before nodding. “Being around adults that get annoyed easily isn’t fun, no. Oooh, and another thing! If you have tentacle thingies, that’s like a built in playground!” she exclaimed a moment later, surprising me even further. Then, of course, she asked, “Oh, can I see them?” “Morning Joy!” her mother scolded, looking momentarily horrified. I finally managed to chuckle at that, however, the conversation at least falling back into a topic that I could fully digest. My shoulders wiggled slightly before two tentacles slipped out of them from each side. The filly spotted them immediately, eyes widening as they slipped out and wiggled their tips lightly in front of her face. Both she and her mother just stared at them for a moment, and I raised an eyebrow, at least until the filly lifted her hoof up and poked at it. Shifting it slightly, I gently wrapped it around her hoof, giving it a little squeeze, and she smiled at it. After a long moment, she giggled, then reached out to touch her other hoof to it as it wrapped around her first. “Huh. It’s furred, just like your coat,” she murmured, apparently surprised at this revelation. I raised an eyebrow to her, then snuck the other over her dress, wrapping around her lower chest. She gave a surprised squeak as I lifted her up into the air, gently drifting over the table before slowly starting to rotate her around in place. The other slid off her hoof and supported her waist, helping her balance, and she started to grin, laughing as she flapped her hooves like wings. Swirl relaxed, giggling as she watched her daughter ‘fly’ around over the table, then drift down in close. She moved her head to the side as Joy slipped past, then I carefully deposited the filly onto her mother’s back instead, her muzzle going into her mom’s mane. “Eeee, that’s awesome!” she declared a moment later, followed by, “They’re surprisingly soft!” “Really?” Spike asked all of a sudden, looking over at me while raising a claw. “Can I feel?” he asked curiously a moment later. I nodded towards him, moving the right over around Twilight for him to grab with both of his claws. It was strange feeling him poking and prodding at it, but eh. “What are they, exactly?” Swirl asked, reaching out and bumping her hoof against the tentacle I’d forgotten was still near her. I held it out for her after she poked it, and she used a hoof to brush along some of the fur. I looked at them for a moment before explaining, “Honestly, they’re almost exactly like additional legs, except instead of ending in a hoof, they end in a tapered point. There are no bones or anything inside of them, just an organic metal core that controls their movements.” Joy perked at that, asking, “Metal? That’s not something that’s in somepony, though.” Technically true. Twilight just giggled though and shook her head. “That’s why he’s a ‘cyborg’. It’s short for ‘cybernetic organism’, or a normal pony who has artificial parts put inside of him. It’s way beyond our technology, but he got them in the other dimension, where they were put in to save his life,” she explained, keeping her vocabulary intentionally small by the sounds of her tentatively searching for words. Rarity giggled in amusement at that, and I raised my eyebrow over at her, then winced lightly as Spike poked his claw into the side of my tentacle. I pulled it away from him and gave him a frown, earning a sheepish, apologetic smile in return. The pearly mare shook her head at our display, then elaborated with, “I find it fascinating that originally we thought that you were a Keldarian just like Keela. It just amuses me how completely incorrect we were, but pleases me at the same time to discover you were a pony all along.” My eyes softened towards her, and I smiled, giving her a nod in return. Her eyes widened slightly as she felt the ‘thanks’ from it flowing down between our empathy links, but she recovered remarkably fast, and gave me a gentle smile and nod. Fluttershy nuzzled into my shoulder from the left a moment later, then gave my cheek a little lick before agreeing with, “Quite. Now Mender doesn’t have to doubt himself anymore. Having all his memories back should help with that.” I let my right tentacle slide back into my shoulder, then lifted my right foreleg instead, staring at the hoof. It was my hoof, grown like a normal pony hoof, regardless of it being accelerated or regenerated or morphic. Giving a little sigh, I admitted, “My time as ‘Azure’, remembering the first six months of my life, has definitely helped me out a lot.” Grinning happily, Pinkie nodded twice before shoving an entire ice cream sandwich bar into her mouth at once, bits of vanilla ice cream and chocolate crumbs spraying out everywhere. Rarity floated a napkin up ahead of time, opening it up like a makeshift umbrella as the spray hit, but Rainbow on the other side of her took it directly. She gave Pinkie a mildly annoyed glance. Rarity took another sip of her shake as a second napkin floated up from next to her, and offered itself to Dash. I was rather amused at the unicorn’s nonchalant handling of Pinkie’s antics. Tilting her head, Swirl asked, "First six months? Isn't that oddly speci-" "I'm technically only seven and a half months old," I reminded, cutting her off with the explanation I knew it was leading to. She faltered, then blanched at me instead, eyes hitting maximum size within seconds. I nodded regardless before continuing with, "I was aged by the machines they put into me to be about twenty or twenty-one, both physically and mentally. Oh, and technically I'm from Equestria of about three hundred and twelve years ago, which would be my theoretical age. I was frozen for most of that, though, and have only been 'born' for those seven and a half months." I was starting to think that Snapshot was right, and a smiley face was an easier answer. Twilight smacked herself on the forehead, then rolled her eyes before elaborating, "His legal age is three hundred and twelve. His mental and physical age is about twenty-two or twenty-three. His amount of actual experience is seven and a half months. Prior, when he first got here, he had complete retroactive amnesia. Up until about two days ago, he was operating with only a month and a half of experience." I raised my eyebrow again and looked over at her questioningly. "You couldn't have just explained that at the press conference and saved us twenty minutes of debate?" I asked, continuing my skeptical stare after. She huffed, then defended herself with, "I wasn't a part of the conference! I couldn't just get up on stage and-" "We did," Rainbow reminded, giving a mildly annoyed look to Twilight, who widened her eyes a little. The pegasus continued with, "I wasn't about to just let them continue ripping into him mercilessly like that. Asking questions is one thing! What they were doing was just... just..." "Leading," Rarity finished for her, causing the pegasus to blink and give her a curious look. She shrugged and appended, "They were using blatantly leading questions to attempt to steer the conference in a way that negatively reflected Mender's public relations. Chances are, one or more of them were members of BEID." Ah, she'd noticed. Rainbow looked actually surprised by that, but Applejack just snorted. "Ah figured as much. Them varmints just don't know when ta quit. What good would it do ta ask such obvious questions aimin' ta implicate Mender?" she asked, looking annoyed. I sighed and shook my head, however. "To distract is my best guess. Everything that happened today with Joy," I started, nodding over to the filly, who was paying very close attention to me now, before I finished, "wasn't an actual BEID plan. It wasn't thought out. It was a few BEID agents acting out of pure fear due to the propaganda that they were fed. Octavia was right. It looks pretty terrible for BEID's own public relations. So if they can disrupt the press conference about it and try to shove attention back onto me instead, it benefits them." "So they used you as a distraction to try to lesson the blow to their own reputation?" Swirl asked, frowning as she stared towards the center of the table. "Usin' Joy as ah hostage like that is disgustin'," Applejack spat out, followed by, "Ah'm not tha only one who thinks so. Mender gave up his own disguise willingly in order ta save tha BEID agent who did it. Then it turns out she did it 'cause she was so terrified o' tha lies that they spoon fed her that she panicked? Yeah, that don't look too good." Okay, yeah, that was a good perspective on it. Heh. I shook my head, then defended, "I didn't do it for that reason. The unicorn might have been able to catch her, but even he wasn't sure, it turns out. My own magic hadn't pulled back from blocking her knife, so it was literally I take a risk of her possibly dying, or I catch her with my tentacles. If I'd just let her have that risk, I don't think I could have lived with myself." Maybe I was weak and had the inability to make the hard decisions. Sure, politically it would have been infinitely more adventagious for me to simply do nothing. But I would have torn myself apart with the guilt. Rarity smiled at that. "That's called being a pony, Mender. We work together and look out for each other as best we can," she said softly, eyes locking onto mine. I exhaled gently, feeling the tension go out of my back. Being a pony, huh? Pinkie finished licking around her hoof, then smiled and nodded over to Rarity. "Yup! She's right, of course! Some ponies just lose sight of that. Then it's up to other ponies to remind them of what we're supposed to be like. That's all BEID is! A bunch of really scared ponies who've lost sight of what it's like to be a pony, and can't see it in you properly," she chirped. I stared at her for a moment, not having expected the level of depth that answer struck upon. She grinned to me, then promptly shoved another ice cream sandwich into her mouth, of course. I smiled and just gave her a chuckle instead, sliding my tentacles back into my shoulders. Hooking the glass with my hoof, I pulled my own sundae over. I sniffed it twice, the scent of nuts, vanilla, and caramel coming to my nose. Shivering, I licked my lips as I felt an extra wave of saliva come in, and smiled. The spoon on the napkin next to me got hooked to my hoof via the strap, and I teased some of the cream off the top first, sampling it. Swirl slowly grinned, waiting oddly in anticipation as I tasted it. It was whipped cream, sugar mixed in and quite feathery in texture. Sweet but not too sweet, seeming to just melt in my mouth. I shivered, then nodded twice to her, and she danced happily in place. “Eee, I always love seeing my customer’s expressions and reactions when they eat my treats. So I knew I just had to make sure you liked it, especially,” she revealed, giggling after. Instead of answering, I took a bigger spoonful, getting some of the caramel and ice cream this time as well. She grinned, then gently set Joy down, who simply plopped down onto her haunches next to her and gave Fluttershy more curious looks, mostly towards her tummy. I felt my cheeks flush lightly when I considered what was inside of her, but the ice cream cooled at the same time, giving a strange contrast between my mouth and cheeks. I gave a little shiver, then relaxed as I simply enjoyed the dish. Swirl went back to get a second tray after grinning to me again, Rainbow slid her malt over to herself, and Applejack pulled her banana sundae in, too. I was sort of amused at the image of her eating something not apple related, but didn’t want to say anything. After the second tray was delivered, we sat in peace, the only sounds being spoons scraping against glass, munching, and the occasional, “Mmmm!” I let myself wind down as the sun slowly set through the window outside. It had been one hell of a day, with the press conference after all that fiasco, finding out Fluttershy was pregnant with my foal, and Keela getting her memories back along with the rest of the Keldarians. She still wanted me to call her again tonight after we got back into the rooms for the night. She said that she just wanted to talk to me about the things she found regarding her sister, but I had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to it than that. I wasn’t about to deny her, however, rather pleased she’d wanted to spend more time talking with me. A part of me had worried that the memories she got back would be so traumatizing that she’d break off contact, but I acknowledged that as a bit pessimistic anyway. Slowly, the sun set as our snacking went on, and I just closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, feeling Fluttershy’s warmth to my left as she rested against my side. It didn’t take too terribly long for Twilight to slide her chair over and rest against my right, but I just stayed unwinding, doing my best to let the stresses of my day drift away. Here’s to hoping tomorrow would be bet- An image of Carrot Top flicked into my mind, and I ground the thought to a halt before it cumulated. Ah, right, no, wasn’t going to even say it this time. Instead, I just exhaled, resting with my two mares and idly wondering what tomorrow would bring…
Chapter 97Yawning, I stretched my legs out as I walked, moving along at a fairly brisk pace. My fur was damp still, but I smelled quite fresh and vaguely of lavender. Twilight's choice in shampoo didn't surprise me in the slightest, although it was infinitely better than alternative smells I could be sporting. Given how active yesterday had been, even after we got back to Twilight's suite, I was perfectly content to be smelling like flowers. It also shed light onto the reason that I was able to untangle myself from two sleeping mares without waking either of them. Bonus points for distracting them in our dream enough to also slip away even there. I smiled at a maid as I walked past, returning her nod as well. She looked like the same one from yesterday who'd informed me about Octavia. Turning the corner, I instead exited out into a large courtyard, surrounded by an overhang on all sides with carved arches for walls. Shining Armor was standing in the center of it, as I'd been informed, and gave me a nod as I approached. Thirty guards, a mixture of day and night variants, stood in front of him, most not even moving to look at me as I approached. "Sorry I'm a bit late. Took longer in the shower than I anticipated," I apologized. He smiled towards me, then took a sniff and grinned. "And you still didn't get all the smell out. Heh. Regardless, it's fine. You probably beat my sleepy head sister by a good three hours. Who doesn't get up at five?! Sheesh," he muttered. I felt my cheeks heat up a little, but he didn't even seem fazed, so I just mentally shrugged. Chuckling instead, I turned to look at the guards. "I see a few dozen standing here with more practical wake up times," I complimented, getting him to smirk outright and nod, also turning to face them. "Yup! You have the full roster by now, I assume, including your two strange suggestions last night. They've been granted temporary permits under your jurisdiction for the time being. I'm curious, though," he admitted, looking back over at me. Shaking my head, I explained, "I'm a firm believer in second chances. I don't think I'd be here without them. I've a feeling that those two will work extra hard to prove me right, regardless." Luna hadn't taken any effort at all to convince last night, listening to my explanation and just signing off on it immediately while maintaining that coy grin. Of course, she understood second chances, too. I got two immediate grins from the front row, giving away two identities right off the bat. I was amused that the group was split almost perfectly into Night and Day guards, actually. All of the Lunars had wings, of course, and the traditional slit pupils, and all of their coats were the same gray purple hue, although that I knew varied from Lunar to Lunar. The Day guards were more distributed, with at least six Bastion units, a surprisingly few Air Force, numbering only three that I saw, and all the rest being the actual Guard. Were there different types of Lunars, too? Shining gave a smirk to me and nodded, looking back into the crowd again before speaking up, in a more official and significantly louder tone of voice. "Attention!" he barked, causing everypony there to immediately lift both left legs, front and back, and then clap them back into their right ones, standing up straight after. He continued immediately with, "For those of you who don't already know, this is Captain Moon Mender, standing head of Dimensional Regulation and Lead of Research and Design. He'll also be the standing Knight Captain in the field during active duty when I'm not around. This includes training you in the use of the new toys R&D comes up with. All that said, he deserves the utmost of respect!" My mind really wasn't on it, and instead I wondered why they appended the 'Knight' in front of the usual 'Captain' rank. It was probably a temporary title or something to designate which of the Captains was in charge of the others in a given situation. All of them immediately did the hoof motion again, which I realized was probably akin to a salute. I looked them all over, then repeated their motion, solidifying the armor under my skin as I brought my legs together. It made a rather rough clang, remarkably similar to them in armor, despite being a bit more quiet. A couple looked mildly surprised, but they were a remarkably stoic group. Still... One in the front row lifted a foreleg up. Shining raised an eyebrow, but I mentally shrugged and nodded towards them. Royal Air Force B47 did another hoof salute before shouting, "Permission to ask a question, Sir!" "Granted," I muttered, a sort of grim curiosity as to where this was going. The guard did another salute before asking, "I know I speak for a lot of us here when I ask, but... What is the level of threat Dimensional Regulation is dealing with?" Ah, a serious question, then. That I could deal with, but first... Looking over to Shining, I asked, "Is everypony here cleared through security?" Given BEID, it was a valid concern. The full scale of the threat hadn't exactly been disclosed to the general public yet, if I recalled correctly. Of course, I had just gotten Snapshot's report of the rest of the press conference, given that I hadn't stuck around for the remainder. "As much as they can be," he assured, then lifted his head up. His horn glowed, and in a flash, a cubic outline had been drawn around all of us, vision beyond it suddenly dimming somewhat. He held the energy for a second before nodding to me, and I turned back to the rest of the guards. Looking at them for a moment, I exhaled quietly, unsure of exactly how to convey the scale. "Best case scenario, nothing. If everything goes according to the plan we've got laid out so far, Equus won't see a peep of danger, and everything goes on as if nothing's wrong," I started, shrugging after, then continuing with, "Worst case scenario, an ancient race in the other dimension called the Grosh manage to create a stable portal to Equus, and we see an invasion force the likes of which has never been witnessed, ever. They have the technological advancements to literally reduce this entire planet to a fine dust in a dozen hours or so, and are ruthless enough to kill every single creature on the face of the planet just to get at its resources." To be honest, that was speculation. While it was known that the Grosh stripped planets bare of resources, they didn't always. Sometimes they came in and just murdered everything that was murder-able by definition, set fire to everything that wasn't, then left as if they were doing it for the entertainment value. Their expressions were mixed at best, some remaining stoic, and the majority looking a mixture of uncertain and shaken. There was no panic, and I was pleased that at least their intestinal fortitude was on par with the soldiers my memories recalled training. Shining gave a softer smile and nodded towards me before looking back to the guards and saying, "That is why we're actively pursuing our plan, with every intent on getting a grip on the situation before it gets to worst case scenario. This isn't a roll of a die. We can actively control the situation before us, and I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let these monsters anywhere near my loved ones." Their resolve snapped back almost instantly, and I smiled to myself. He was used to talking to guards, that was for sure. As far as I knew, each and every guard here was here specifically because they volunteered, which usually indicated they had a strong desire to actually guard. Nodding in agreement, I continued with, "We're currently at an advantage. We know our enemy, they don't know us, and they currently aren't even aware of our existence. With luck, it stays that way. We also have amazingly bright minds working on our actual plan as to keep things that way. We have the support of all of Equestria, and I have every bit of confidence in our ability to resolve this situation without a single pony getting hurt, which is what we're aiming for. There are also allies in the other dimension that are safeguarding us on that end as well. With luck again on our side, the window of opportunity for any serious threat against Equus is about two weeks duration, already starting. The risk for smaller scale issues persists for a few years after that, but for now, we're focusing on that two week window. That said, I look forward to working with you all." That was the maximum window that Keela gave me for her upgrades and investigation into the wreckage of the wing of the ship. She assured me that they weren't totally insane and going to attempt a rescue, if her sister was even still alive. No rescue had ever succeeded against the Grosh. It only ever resulted in failure and possibly more lives lost. During the investigation, they were also working on upgrading the engine components of the vessel. The area they blind-jumped to had been an old asteroid mining complex. It was a creative way to get materials. Using a fast vessel, they zipped around and 'tagged' asteroids in the thicket, which, contrary to common belief, are actually not all that dense. Quite a bit of distance can be between each rock, but once tagged, the mining complex itself used a low magnitude attraction pulse to slowly pull all of the tags to itself, an inertia shield slowing them as they came in to drift around it. The useful bit was that the field generator that was also responsible for the pulling could be 'flipped' in its output. This was an engineering nightmare that typically created impressive disasters on a large scale, given the field would attempt to then crush a small area into the finest singularity it could muster. It usually failed to crush it down dense enough and only ended up causing a fusion reaction with the materials in question and a nice sized explosion. Of course, if you captured the energy from said explosion after dumping a few more potent sources of matter into the area... It was a long shot, but Keela had scavenged the reactor and a ton of extra parts from the facility. The fuel rods in the core were almost spent, but there was enough left to fire it off at least one more time. The extras would be tossed into the core to add to the explosion umph. Keela's idea was to haul the core to the weak spot leading to Equus, create a sizable localized barrier, encode the jump drive with the destination coordinates of Equus, and then launch the destabilized core into the barrier. The explosion would go through the first side of the Aegis Barrier as if it were tissue paper, her intentionally phasing it into real space in order for it to be ruptured. That's how it worked, of course. The absurd explosion would tear into the void behind the first layer of the barrier and punch through the dimensional separation using the released energy. After the area was 'weakened' by making a sizable hole in it, you fired off the Slipstream right into the area. The computer took over afterwards, the Slipstream shielding isolating you from the effects of the transit, with luck, and then dropped you off at the desired point in Equus. In this case, she was hoping to toss the entire vessel into a safe orbit around the moon. Teleportation magic was well within that range, and the Keldarians would be in Equus... The only issue was if the explosion wasn't big enough. The amount of energy put into the burst that made the hole dictated the amount of 'mass' the hole would support before collapsing in upon itself. Her initial experiments had yielded an impressive array of utterly destroyed test objects she'd attempted to send through. So far, the largest object she'd successfully sent, that wasn't an absurdly powerful Aegis Artifact, was an apple. It was iced over from the transit while being baked on the inside, but their shield should take care of those issues, in theory. The real danger was the hole simply collapsing into a singularity while they were only halfway through it. No amount of shielding protected against that... I snapped out of it a moment later, realizing I'd been zoning out. Shining Armor was still talking, having dropped the barrier now and was apparently discussing the logistics involved with the guards’ soon-to-be transit to Ponyville. Ah, I hadn't missed anything important, then. Well, at least not relevant to myself, given I didn't have a small armory of equipment to transfer, and all the paperwork involved in relocating this many ponies. I'd gotten the vague sensation that ponies didn't actually move around very often. "So, is everything clear on our plans for the rest of the week?" he asked, looking over the gathered guards. They all did the hoof solute again before shouting out affirmatives. He looked over at me, and I nodded in return, earning a smile from the stallion before he addressed them all again with, "All right, then. From this point on, command is transferred to Captain Moon Mender. You're all dismissed to pack and get ready for the train ride in two hours." They all saluted for a final time before dispersing rapidly, heading in all different directions in quite a hurry, which didn't surprise me. He smirked, then nodded to me instead. "You're probably already packed, but you should go wake up my sleepy head little sister, and Fluttershy. They'll probably need a shower before the train ride, too," he pointed out. I scowled at him, feeling a bit of heat in my cheeks again, but he just laughed and trotted in the direction of the throne room. Rolling my eyes, I sulked as I headed back the direction I came. Ugh... * * * * * The seat under me was rather comfortable, and I continued looking through the glass on my right at the countryside as it zipped past. Now that we were lowered out to sea level again, trees rushed past mixed with open fields, and I relaxed, feeling more at home closer to the ground rather than on the side of a mountain. Maybe it was just because I was used to Ponyville? Or it was some deeply ingrained Earth Pony values. Two forelegs rested on my head, and had been for a while now. Looking up with my eyes, I saw the pink mass above me, and she gave a giggle and pointed out things outside again, this time a mountain range in the distance. “Ooooh, that’s the Unicorn Mountains,” she explained, her voice wobbling as she tried to apply an ethereal, ‘mystical’ sound to it before appending, “Probably named because a few of the peaks totally look like unicorn horns!” Twilight scowled across from us, rapidly correcting, “It is not! They’re called that because the original founding group of unicorns were-“ Pinkie cut her off a moment later, blatantly whispering into my ear with, “It’s totally because they’re shaped like unicorn horns…” Twilight just slapped her forehead with a hoof, and I started to chuckle. Adding a light giggle, Rarity nodded next to Fluttershy, who was next to Twilight. “Ah, yes. Vanhoover is on the other side of those mountains. Lovely in the summer, with nice imported fashions from Zebrica. Not so pleasant in the winter, though. Quite a bit chillier than Ponyville,” she informed. I tilted my head to her, a bit curious, and she smiled pleasantly towards me. The train ride had gone well so far, and was almost over now. Admittedly, my apprehension was spiking the closer we got to Ponyville. They’d undoubtedly already heard about the news and knew all about me, given how fast word seemed to travel. I exhaled quietly, and Pinkie slid down my back a little more, instead hugging me around the shoulders. I smiled back at her, and she gave me a little nuzzle on the cheek. “Relax, Silly. You’re getting all tense and nervous!” she chirped, giving me another squeeze. Rainbow gave a snicker from the other side of her, and I glared over at her in time to see Applejack subtly rolling her eyes as well. Huffing, I assured, “I’m just a little worried about their reactions, is all. I’m not that tense!” Pouting, I looked back towards the window and came face to face with a gray pony head in the window. I let out a stifled yelp, flailing backwards and causing Pinkie to laugh as we both tumbled off the seat. Somehow, I landed on my legs, Pinkie having flipped us rather easily into a roll as we went through the air and corrected our descent. No, I wasn’t even going to ask. Looking back up to the window, I saw my now grinning distant niece flying next to the train and looking through the window. Pinkie hopped up and opened the window a moment later, blasting the cabin with air, but Derpy hooked the sill and rolled inside, down Pinkie’s back, and landed with a little plop in front of me, still looking happy. “Uncle! I don’t have to not call you that anymore!” she chirped, sounding delighted. Well, that at least revealed that the news had indeed spread fast. Coughing lightly, I nodded to her, but couldn’t resist smiling. “Yeah, now you can. I didn’t exactly expect this to happen, but here it is. How is Ponyville taking it…?” I asked, not really wanting to know, but knowing that I should know in the first place. My own wording confused myself, and I hadn’t even said it out loud. She giggled. Giggled. Shaking her head after, she assured, “I wouldn’t worry too much about that, Uncle. Although I’m not supposed to tell you anything else, sorry!” What…? What?! My eye twitched a little, but Twilight raised a skeptical eyebrow behind her, looking as confused as my insides felt. “Wait, you’re not allowed to tell us how Ponyville is reacting? Why not?!” she asked almost immediately. Applejack shrugged, however, then pointed out, “She did say not ta worry, which usually indicates ah good reaction. Or at least ah neutral one. Ain’t that enough?” Sighing, I gave a nod and just let it drop. If it was drastically important, I had a feeling Derpy would have just gone through and told me. “I just came to check on you and make sure you were okay! The story was officially told by the news updates released by Equestria Weekly. I helped deliver them! This time I read it over real good first, though!” she assured, huffing afterwards. Rarity smiled and nodded to her, assuring, “We don’t doubt you, dear. You’ve shown unwavering loyalty to your uncle, and don’t need to worry about that. Further, I highly doubt that, after the last time, BEID would attempt to use Equestria Weekly again. It wouldn’t be nearly as effective now that everypony knows about their first scandal.” That was probably true. They’d more than likely try for something other than newspapers now. Derpy blushed a little but stayed grinning at me, then nodded to Rarity. “I still wanted to be careful! Even without knowing he’s my uncle, I felt super bad for falling for that! But no, the article this time around was really specific and neutral about things. It covered the press conference that Princess Celestia put on, and what happened at the cafe,” she explained. Rainbow landed next to me a moment later, giving a smirk and hoof bump with Derpy before nodding over at me. “Sweet. So what are you doing meeting us early?” she reminded, tilting her head to the gray pegasus. Perking at that, Derpy nodded and explained, “Well, the articles were very thorough about what happened, and what the press conference covered, but they didn’t touch upon what Mender’s feelings were at all. Seeing everything just blown open like that and visible to everypony, I’d be terrified… That wasn’t covered anywhere, though,” she explained quietly. I stared at her for a moment, surprise being an understatement. Fluttershy gave an encouraging nod, however, and I exhaled softly, nodding back to the gray pegasus. “It’s been a whirlwind, really. It would be great if I could take a vacation, but that’s not likely for at least a few more weeks, by the sounds of it,” I muttered, and then chuckled dryly after. I then added, “It was more than just the reveal of my identity, though. I also got all of my memories back as well, including a lot of not so great ones of the other dimension… It’s all just a blur.” Derpy gave a little whine, then leaned forward and hugged me gently. Smiling, I gave her a hug in return, relaxing there for a moment. She smelled lightly of a fresh rain, interestingly enough, mixed in with a paper smell, which made more sense given her profession. She smiled again and nodded up at me, and was about to open her mouth to say something further, when the speaker system for the train kicked on. “We’re five minutes out o’ Ponyville now. Expect no delays in arrival. Weather is fair, an’ tha time will be quarter after eleven upon arrival. Ah hope you’ve all had ah pleasant ride!” an older sounding voice exclaimed over the intercom. I recognized the voice as the same one that spoke when we first started, and belonging to the older stallion in the engine room. Given that we were in the first car, I wasn’t too surprised when I saw the door open after the announcement, and aforementioned stallion step out. He had a charcoal gray coat and, interestingly enough, a ‘mustache’ of sorts off his muzzle, graying like his mane was, leaving it just slightly lighter than his actual coat. “Howdy there, folks! Ah’m sure ya’all heard that there message just fine. Need ta talk ta Captain Moon Mender,” he admitted, walking towards me. He gave a long smirk to Derpy as he approached. “Ah, yes, saw ya circlin’ an’ headin’ inside, Miss. Do ya got yerself ah ticket?” he asked suddenly. Derpy gave him a sheepish grin, and I frowned. The ticket for the train seemed more like a formality, given it was only two bits for the trip. I was about to offer to just pay the two bits when he started laughing. “Nah, Ah vouch fer ya, Derpy. ‘sides, yer his niece, so it makes sense,” he cut off, letting me relax a bit. Heh, yeah, I didn’t think they’d care. I stood regardless, turning to face the stallion fully, and he gave me a nod. Curious now, I asked him, “What’s going on?” I had a feeling I knew, but… He didn’t beat around the bush, immediately continuing with, “We’re unloadin’ tha civilians first. All tha guards, an’ their equipment, are in tha last three cars. After we unload tha civilians, Ah’m gonna move tha train up so tha last three cars are right over tha station an’ ya can exit directly. Do they know we’re unloadin’?” Yup, figured. I nodded to him, of course. “Yeah, I sent a message ahead an hour before we left. They already got back with me as I was boarding that there were three carriages waiting to haul the equipment when we got in. I’m going to have the guards help move it once we unload,” I explained, sitting down again while facing him. He considered it for a moment, his right forehoof scratching under his chin. He finally nodded however. “Definitely good then. ‘cuse my concern. Some government things can just be mighty… disorganized sometimes. Once, Ah got stuck waitin’ fer three days up in tha mountains fer another train Ah was supposed ta switch cargo with. Turns out they scheduled me wrong. Disaster…” he finally admitted, slowly shaking his head after. Heh, well mix-ups could happen in any dimension, it would seem. Twilight shook her head, leaning against the wall for a moment before warning, “This is only the first shipment of many, I imagine. With construction picking up now, there’s going to be a huge influx of equipment, workers, and supplies coming in soon.” He nodded to that, chuckling after and assuring, “We can handle regular shipments, worry not. Looks like ol’ Ponyville might be gettin’ ah bit bigger in tha future. Heh.” He nodded to all of us before turning and walking back into the engine room, probably to prepare for the approach. I looked back to Derpy, and she grinned, nodding at me as she stood. “I’m staying with you. Taking off from a train is a lot harder than landing on it, and I think you need all the company you can get for a while…” she admitted, lifting her left foreleg and lightly resting it on my back. Nodding, I shifted on my hooves as the train started to slow, the ever so light vibrations of the breaks being felt through the floor by my rather delicate sensors. I closed my eyes, the vibrations synching up around me and rebuilding the cabin for a moment through sound scans alone, shifting outside to show the tracks zipping by. I ‘looked’ ahead of myself, my positioning software giving me the estimated distance to Ponyville, then calculating out visually where it was, mapping the track under us. I smiled, feeling it mapped out around me. There was no need for me to hide it anymore, now. Plus, with my new sensations and memories from my time as Azure, I felt more in tune with my less organic parts. More comfortable with them. My eyes opened again, blue this time as the two orbs melted out of my shoulders. The projections expanded to the walls, and my scans overlapped the area to seventy percent opacity, washing the walls out and showing the wireframe terrain moving past us as my particle scans picked up as well. Dash grinned instantly, turning around and rotating to look around at the terrain as it zipped past. The others looked about, too, Spike hopping down to the floor and spinning in a fast circle, looking surprised. I relaxed, giving a smaller smile before nodding. “I… It doesn’t matter so much anymore. I feel more like me, regardless of the mechanical parts inside of me…” I finally admitted, looking around as the projections flowed around us. The display held no useful value apart from blatantly displaying my own cybernetic existence, and it felt oddly good to just declare it finally. Applejack, who prior looked around with a frown, glanced over at me, then shifted to a smaller smile. "Ah think Ah understand. It's all about figurin' out who ya are, then bein' happy with it. It's ah lot harder than it sounds," she admitted, giving a soft chuckle afterwards. It sounded remarkably like she was speaking from experience, which surprised me a little. She always felt like the one who knew exactly what she wanted and was doing. I nodded to myself, closing my eyes again as I turned the projection off. The train slowed more, the vibrations lessening around us. I felt her get closer without needing to look, and she gave a warm giggle, nuzzling into my neck. “Mmm, it’ll be okay. We’re right with you now,” Fluttershy assured, her breath on my fur. I relaxed a little, not realizing I had been holding my legs taut, and opened my eyes again, giving the yellow mare a gentle smile. Rarity was on the other side of her, and gave a little giggle at that. “I’m not sure, Fluttershy. He’s not the only one with a bit of news to share,” she reminded playfully, causing a flash of pink to go through the pegasus’ cheeks. Chuckling at that, I repeated, “It’ll be okay. I’ll be there for you, too.” She gave me a softer smile and nod as the train slowed to a stop. Twilight caught up to my right as Rainbow and Pinkie shot towards the side door to the car we were in. Giving a final little sigh, I walked up towards them as they each opened one of the doors. My eyes widened, and to my utter surprise, the sounds of cheering blasted me first, then flurries of motion reaching my eyes. There were at least four dozen ponies on the train platform, most of them cheering happily. Cameras flashed, and balloons drifted over the crowd. To my surprise, banners were strewn over in a slew of colors, loudly pronouncing, “Welcome to Ponyville, DReg!” Oh… * * * * * Slowly backing up, I lined up the two carts with the metal poles stuck into the ground. The tent was a temporary one, but covered essentially the entire foundation of the barracks as it was under construction. I gave a nod, and both Big Mac and Noteworthy started slowly backing them into place inside the tent. It wouldn’t do for the armor and equipment to get rained on. The six or seven guards already inside started unloading, and I walked forward again, helping the two stallions unhook themselves from each cart. Ponies were everywhere, which unnerved me a little, admittedly, a few members of the crowd having just followed us back to the unloading point. Mayor Mare still stood near, smiling pleasantly as she continued to talk. “I fully encourage this, of course, both for the prosperity of Ponyville due to the sudden influx of new faces, and the level of safety it presents. It’s an assurance that brings a lot of peace of mind, especially over the events of the last few weeks,” she assured gently, the newspaper reporter standing right next to her and eagerly writing things down on the notepad floating next to her. Smiling as Mac gave me a grin and nod, I let him step out of the harness before moving over to help Noteworthy with his last chest strap. “It’s not just Ponyville that we’re securing, obviously, but yes, it goes without saying that our response time if anything does happen, mundane or otherwise, is going to be much greater here,” I assured, carefully selecting my words to try to remain as diplomatic as possible. The press conference yesterday still had me on edge. The mayor giggled instead, and nodded. “Of course. I’m sure you’re aware of how morale functions, though, even on a large civilian populous. It’s peace of mind, seeing something visually being done,” she assured, nodding twice to me. Lyra, standing a few meters behind her, coughed lightly. “Uh, actually, a good chunk of us weren’t that bothered. Sure, the Everfree Forest is kinda creepy, and we don’t get lockdowns like that very often, but really, it was only a single explosion and a few roars. How many times has the town suffered massive collateral damage in the last few years?” she suggested, raising a skeptical eye towards the mayor, who suddenly sighed wearily. Uh, what…? “Regardless,” the mayor quickly interrupted, then continued, “As you can plainly see, nopony here has the slightest problem with who you are. Princess Celestia herself has entrusted you with the responsibilities, and she’s an excellent judge of character, so I fully trust you with it. I’m also fairly sure I speak for everypony here with that.” I relaxed a little, then smiled and nodded to her. Lyra nodded as well behind her, then gave me a grin, surprising me a little. She must have finally forgiven me for that whole ‘urine’ incident. Of course, knowing my backstory might have put it into better perspective, anyway. Bon Bon nodded along next to her, then added, “I agree. We already had a certain view of you around town, and instead of forming opinions about you based off the information, it really just added to it.” I blinked, a little uncertain to that, and Lyra gave her a skeptical glance, then assured, “Adding to the already positive opinions of you, she means.” Ooooh. “Well, yeah, that’s what I said,” Bon Bon assured, earning a light glare from the mare next to her, then an eye roll. Twilight snickered as she looked over the checklist she’d started, still standing on top of Big Mac’s cart and taking inventory of it. “Regardless, we’re well on track with DReg itself. Supplies are in order, and everything is actually ahead of schedule. The barracks should be finished within the week, and then we start construction on the laboratory vault that’s going to go under it…” she revealed, looking her list over again. I glanced to my right a little ways, noting we were about halfway between Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres now. The farm was about three kilometers from town, so this was a safe distance away, if something really did go wrong in the lab, which was doubtful. And ‘under’ the barracks was also relative, given it would be quite a ways under, and larger than the barracks itself. Plus the entrance was actually going to be on the other side of the path we were on. Well, road really, despite being dirt. I supposed it would need to have nice upkeep if heavy apple carts were heading up and down it. Speaking of Apples, Applejack slid a rather large crate across the path, pushing it into the area where the other hole was starting to get dug. “Eeyup! Ah wouldn’t mind havin’ ah better road into town, that’s fer sure,” she admitted, pushing the box along with her head. Mayor Mare nodded, assuring, “This road will be upgraded to cobble next summer, all the way to the farm. It’ll need it for the heavier supplies, regardless.” I didn’t have the heart to mention that the road would probably be obliterated by then anyway, due to the construction supplies already set to travel down it. Especially in the winter. Applejack snickered at the news a moment later. “Ha! That’ll be somethin’, that’s fer sure. Things are definitely changin’ around here,” she admitted, trotting back up to us before looking towards me instead. “Ah think, even if ya don’t think yer deservin’ o’ tha title, yer good fer it regardless. Ya just don’t have confidence in yerself…” she pointed out, frowning finally. My first instinct was to agree, which might have said something about her statement by itself. I shrugged lightly, and Twilight snickered again. I kind of wished that Fluttershy was here now. Rarity had taken her back to the Boutique about twenty minutes ago, along with Pinkie, who I more understood was just walking with them. I looked up at Rainbow, who was still here and helping the guards adjust the tent canvas. Surprisingly, Spike was still here, too, holding another list while sitting on top of Noteworthy’s cart instead. I would have figured he’d have left with Rarity, but apparently he was still loyal to Twilight, too. I tried not to snicker out loud… Applejack scratched her chin lightly while looking around, however, drawing my attention back to her. After a moment, she noticed my stare and gave me a soft grin. "Ah, Ah was just thinkin'..." she started. "Uh oh..." Big Mac murmured, smiling gently as he trotted up next to me. She shot him a scowl, then added, "Shush you!" I personally didn't think she should be encouraging him to say even less than he normally did. It didn't take her long to recover, and she continued instead with, "Ah was thinkin', maybe if ya dabble ah bit more inta yer Earth Pony roots, ya might feel more at home an' comfortable with yerself." I raised an eyebrow, but she lifted her hoof and gestured past me, pointing across the path to one of the wild apple trees that was growing in the cleared out area where they started the other construction site. The ‘wild’ trees dotted the area close to Sweet Apple Acres, and were sprinkled liberally throughout Whitetail Woods, if I remembered correctly. It was one of those that I'd gotten my first meal in Equus from. I looked back at her, but she stepped past me and trotted over to the tree instead. Unsure of where she was going with this, I shrugged and followed after her, both of us also earning interested stares from the mayor and Twilight. Applejack looked up into the tree a moment later, then smiled upwards before turning and facing me again. I slowed as I approached, then blinked as she flicked her leg back and whacked the base of the tree. It shook momentarily, then I was surprised as a single apple detached and fell. She held her right hoof up, and it landed in it a moment later, causing her to grin. "It ain't luck. Ah'm real good at harvestin'. Sync with tha tree an' ya can make tha vibrations go right where ya want it. Simplest step is ta knock as many apples down as ya can," she suggested, stepping aside and sitting down, gesturing towards the tree with her other hoof. Oh. My mind did the calculations, and suddenly started reeling as I realized how absurd it was to 'cast' a magical effect in the very instant of physically bashing something. Not only did the timing of the energy release have to be flawless, but you needed amazing focus in order to pull it off that quickly. She gave me a nod as I walked up next to her, then slowly turned around. "Good. Yer not used ta it, so fer now, back up an' keep testin' how far back yer legs extend. Ya wanna be able ta mostly extend yer leg, but just shy o' fully extendin' it, with yer hoof just ah little higher up tha tree than yer back reaches," she explained. I looked behind me, trying to gauge it, and she smiled, then whipped the apple over towards her brother, who surprisingly, caught it in his teeth rather expertly. With both hooves free, Applejack slid closer to me and set them against my hip and shin at the same time, carefully lifting my leg back while helping me keep my balance. "Right 'ere,” she announced, touching my hoof against the rough bark before nodding and explaining, “Just enough fer maximum impact without ah full extension, which can hurt yer joints.” Oh, right. I nodded to her, lowering it and then raising it up a few times while watching, the hoof pushing into the bark of the tree. She watched for a moment, then gave a smile and nod, leaning back again and sitting normally. “Just try whackin’ it ah few times ta get the feel fer it,” she suggested. Big Mac slowly walked over as well, still carrying the apple before sitting down to watch. His hoof lifted up to support the red fruit before taking a crunching bite out of the side of it. Leaning back a bit, I lashed my leg out and whacked the tree lightly with my hoof. As anticipated, there was no give at all, and I felt the vibration go through my ankle and down my shin bone instead. Applejack gave a nod, then appended, “Eeyup. Double kicks apply more vibrations fer ya ta use. Try one o’ those. Ya basically end up with yer hooves restin’ against tha tree, then ya ease yerself back inta a standin’ position.” Giving her a nod, I reared back instead with both back legs and extended out, whacking my hooves into the tree. It gave over double the amount of impact by the feel of it, but it wasn’t enough to actually knock any apples down. I blinked, then realized I was still propped against the tree and stretched out rather unsteadily. Tipping, I tried to lower my hooves to the ground, then squeaked as I slipped. The world rolled over for me, and I landed on my back instead in a dull thud, having done a complete front roll. Applejack’s face slipped into my vision, giving me a warmer smile as she looked down at me, despite the hysterical laughing in the background coming from Rainbow. “Okay, that was mah fault. Ah shoulda warned ya ta get ah little closer ta tha tree first. Probably ah silly question, but ya all right?” she asked, tilting her head a little. “Mmm, I think I dropped my pride somewhere in the roll. Could you pick it up and put it back in for me?” I asked, giving a sheepish smile upwards. She snickered, then hooked my foreleg with hers, pulling me back up to my hooves. “Ah think Twi or Flutters are better equipped with helpin’ put yer ego back in. Let’s try that again, only with ya closer this time,” she suggested, giving a nod as I moved closer to the tree again. I felt my cheeks heat a little, but I just rolled my eyes and backed up a little closer this time. With a little huff, I defended, “I’m not only about romance. I enjoy your friendships, too, you know.” Lining up again, I reared once more, making sure I was closer to the tree this time. Applejack’s eyes widened, and she shouted, “Wait, you’re too-“ I gave a startled jump at her outburst, then widened my eyes as my hooves hit the tree before my legs even fully extended. Missing their mark, a hoof went to either side of the tree instead, and I unfortunately kept going. Everything exploded into a flurry of agony and fireworks, and I vaguely remembered falling forward and onto my side, tucking up into a ball. It felt like someone had driven a railroad spike through my navel with a sledgehammer. Sounds were echoing for a moment, my ears ringing as I gritted my teeth, sort of feeling like throwing up now. “….close ta tha tree…” Applejack finished, a slow ten seconds later before shivering. “An’ right in tha apples,” she appended, wince visible on her face through my eyes’ sudden blurriness. Big Mac nodded next to her with an, “Eeyup.” I vaguely heard distant hysterical laughter from Rainbow somewhere, and both Spike and Twilight ran up into my vision a few seconds later, both looking worried. I stayed curled up, though, guarding my poor, sensitive bits from any additional trauma. Okay, I was going to look into ways of armoring that part of me as well with the dermal layers! Twilight slipped around behind me, gently starting to rub at my flank next to my back right thigh. I shivered, her working along where it hurt the most, interestingly enough, as if she actually knew where- No, wait. I halted that thought immediately, realizing it was Twilight I was talking about, and chances are, she’d already researched it somehow at some point. “No… pretty sure that was my fault,” I admitted, voice a little raspy as I winced. Slowly, I shakily got back up to my hooves, then glared up at the tree instead. My fault, and those damn apples! Ever since arriving here, they in particular had had it out for me! Personally, I was under the opinion that the fruit was evil now. It cut Applejack’s next statement off, however, and she huffed, crossing her forelegs. “Fine, ya caught me before Ah could apologize. Still, Ah shoulda warned ya!” she defended, giving me a little glare. I smirked over at her, and it melted, causing her to start snickering instead. Looking back up at the tree, I sighed and shook my head. “I think I’m going to have to get better at not maiming myself during the kicks before I can even try to mix in Earth Pony magic…” I admitted, exhaling softly as the still snickering Rainbow flew in, with Mayor Mare and the press reporter following. This better not end up in the newspaper! “Ya okay, Mender?” Dash asked, landing lightly to my other side. I gave her a soft nod, then looked back up at the tree, my eyes narrowing again. Applejack raised an eyebrow up, but I touched my left hoof against the bark of the tree. A magical barrier formed, sliding up the bark and growing in a line all the way up to level off with the apples. “Yup, but my pride refuses to leave without getting at least one of the apples down,” I admitted, earning a snicker from the orange mare behind me. Twilight just smiled and looked up as well, watching my magic with as much curiosity as she normally gave it, especially knowing that it was a ‘different’ way of casting from what she was used to. I knew what it was like to be fascinated by anything ‘new’. I’d been getting that particular feeling a lot in the last month or so. Rainbow started giggling after, and pointed out, “Hey, you’ve got the Earth Pony stubbornness down already.” I raised an eyebrow to her, but Applejack snickered, trotting to the other side of me to where Dash was. “Ah dunno, Dashie. Stubbornness is kind of a pegasus thing, too, ain’t it?” she pointedly asked, smirking at the mare. She got a mildly annoyed glare in return before Rainbow stuck her tongue out. Applejack pounced in that instant, pressing her muzzle right up against Rainbow’s, and I was fairly certain I saw her take the entire tongue into her mouth at the same time. The pegasus flushed instantly, eyes widening, and I snickered and turned away, trying not to lose my focus on my magic. Extending the shield out after regaining my attention, I slipped it forward and circled it around the stem of the apple that was lowest hanging. Smiling, I held my other hoof up under it, and closed the circle off, giving it a little snip and letting the apple fall… Or at least, that’s what my intention was. The shield closed entirely, becoming a solid plane of force, and the apple just sat there, not caring at all. I blinked once, staring at the strangely defiant fruit. The hell? Opening the barrier up again, I closed it once more, again feeling it connect through the center, but nothing actually happened. Twilight raised an eyebrow, then looked over at me curiously. I glared at it. It was mocking me. I just knew it! Getting a bit upset now, I withdrew the barrier a third of a meter or so, then instead swung it sideways into the apple’s stem like a sword. It passed through entirely, going out the other side, and yet, the apple just sat there. Giving a little growl, I swung again at it, then again, this time passing it through the apple itself. The apple simply didn’t care, laughing silently at me from its high perch as the barrier seemed to just pass right through it. Arg! Twilight watched, eyes suddenly starting to widen. Huh?! I looked back up at the apple, noticing that its inner red color was starting to get… brighter almost. I frowned until I noted the red tint spreading over the branch as well, as ambient light. The apple was glowing? Well, that had never happened befo- The lavender unicorn smashed into my shoulder a moment later. My eyes widened as I in turn hit Rainbow and Applejack, and then our world imploded inwards, falling away momentarily as the air was pulled away from us. We popped like a bubble a second later, landing in a heap way over by the tent for the barracks instead. I blinked, watching the mayor and reporter landing behind Twilight, the unicorn’s tail brushed up against them, and I frowned, looking questioningly at her. Her shield went up a moment later, covering us. My eyes widened, and I instinctively tossed mine up, too, just as the entire tree across the street exploded into a giant fireball, wood splinters raining across both our barriers as the wave of heat actually raised the temperature around us. My eyes widened and jaw dropped, looking at the huge cloud of dirt and debris, as a miasma of flame and bits of tree rained from the sky. W-What?! How?! But… why?! The ringing in my ears finally died down, and I blinked twice, still holding my shield up as flakes of dirt and burnt wood fell down around us. Applejack sat up slowly, still holding an equally stunned looking Rainbow, and stared at the new crater, dumbfounded. I didn’t even know where to begin understanding what just happened. Spike blinked twice, looking up from his spot on Twilight’s back and raised an eyebrow to the massive hole. “Huh,” he finally muttered, breaking the stunned silence of the group. Everypony looked over to him, and he just shrugged idly. “Eh, at least you blew up the right spot. Now they don’t have to dig the rest of the hole down,” he pointed out a moment later. Twilight slapped herself in the forehead with her hoof…
Chapter 99All the lights were now on, and the sleepy atmosphere of the room had been effectively obliterated. Except for Fluttershy, who was still unconscious. I'd checked over the scorch mark a half a dozen times already, and it was discovered to be a blackened char on the wood of the floor, remarkably shaped exactly like Twilight's Cutie Mark. Besides obviously screaming of magic, there was no additional ash or soot anywhere. If a pony had, well, disintegrated in a flash of heat, there should be at least some remains left. I ran the idea through my mind already that it might have been blown away when I tried to expel the smoke from the building, but there was no trace whatsoever of anything. I paced, pinging the link once again as I bit my lower lip. The ping timed out after thirty seconds on its way to Twilight. This was beyond strange, because that meant it had started to try to go 'somewhere'. If the link were simply gone, it would have just reported failure. But if it timed out trying to get somewhere, reporting successful departure, that meant she was outside of the range of my communication array. I... What? If I wanted to, I could bounce my signal off the moon in orbit. So all I could gather was that she was alive 'somewhere' but not on Equus. What did that even mean?! Rarity lifted a hoof up, resting it against my chest as I paced past her. "Okay, calm down. We can still feel her link. Mender's found many inconsistencies with her disappearance. The magic probably teleported her somewhere," she reasoned. Probably accurate, but I refrained from mentioning my range. Could my signal be blocked by something? Rainbow gave a huff at that before reminding, "Weren't you the one who screamed?" The pearly unicorn looked away from her, closing her eyes and looking indignant for a moment. "It was surprising! And don't be insensitive. Poor Fluttershy fainted, after all!" she defended. My hoof traced the edge of the black star on the floor, and I frowned. I looked to Spike after, and got an uncertain expression and shrug. The letter had already been sent to Tia. No reply back yet, of course. I doubted she was sleeping, but she might have been doing something directly to fix the situation. I gave a weak sigh, and Derpy drifted in behind me and started to massage my shoulders. "Relax, uncle. We're all here for you," she assured gently, giving me a softer smile from over my shoulder. I gave her a smaller smile in return, then nodded. Wait... Uncle. Turning to my other niece, I asked, "Did you see anything out of the ordinary, Aura?" How I'd failed to ask the necromancer already present was beyond me. I blamed overwhelming stress. And the panic. Definitely the panic. Her frown didn't diminish, as she'd been staring at the spot the whole time. She looked to me, then raised an eyebrow. "You mean... ordinary in comparison to what everypony else saw, right? Because watching the Elements of Harmony fire off, and whatever that was, is already quite a bit outside of my usual realm of experience," she admitted, looking back to the scorch mark. She was surprisingly calm for the situation, which didn't honestly surprise me, now that I thought about it. I chuckled lightly and nodded to her, the relaxing presence she seemed to exude being contagious. She slowly shook her head, however, and then explained, "It happened fast, so I can't be sure apart from it being 'weird'. Her spirit is not here, one way or another, but given the unexpected and shocking nature of this incident, if she'd been killed by whatever that was, there would most assuredly be a ghost here. Well, unless she was a very relaxed and easy going pony. Um, was she?" Rainbow started laughing, as did Pinkie and Applejack. Heh. Okay, yeah, that was pretty divorced from Twilight's personality. Rarity giggled even, then corrected, "I think she's serious, but no, in that case. Twilight's known for being, well, fairly high strung." Aura nodded to that, then smiled, slipping back into her slower speech patterns with, "Then I can guess with most certainty that she is not dead." That hesitation again. I raised an eyebrow, and she looked away from me before coughing lightly. After another moment of hesitation, she appended, "That was exceedingly strange, however. The orb of light around her reached into her very being, seeping into her like water into the soil. Her link to the Ether simply... It's hard to describe. It's like it expanded, growing exponentially larger than normal before becoming the whole size of the bubble. Then it pulled inwards and exploded. She disappeared at the same time." I stared blankly at her, and she slowly blinked back in return. "Uh, so... she got pulled through her own link to the Ether? Can... Can that even happen?" I asked, frowning at the thought. She shook her head a moment later, frowning again. "When a pony passes on, their spirit gets pulled through like that into the Ether, where it joins the Ether permanently. But, um, I've never known anyone to physically go into the Ether with their body, too. That would be remarkably unhealthy. Only Ancients are known to be able to do that," she murmured, tilting her head to me afterwards. Ancients? Oh. Oh hell. My ears lowered, and I stared for another moment before asking, "Like... an Alicorn?" The spell was supposed to guide a pony through the steps to doing what happened with Cadance. It only worked on ponies with both the potential to become an Ancient and the specific genetics. Tia had already mentioned that Twilight had the genetics. If she had the potential already as well... Ugh. I suddenly realized that Tia had probably sent her the damn book with this outcome fully expected. "Uh, you suddenly look kinda annoyed," Rainbow muttered, shooting me a skeptical look. Sighing, I shook my head and looked back at the Cutie Mark shaped scorch mark. "Too many coincidences are adding up. If my educated guess is accurate, Twilight's fine, and Tia's not responding because she's actually with her right now. Probably in the Ether," I guessed, shaking my head slowly at the whole situation. A bit of forewarning ahead of time would have been great if that was the case. Aura perked up at that, eyes widening slowly. "Cadance...?" she asked, searching my expression until I nodded, causing her to squeak. I opened my mouth to elaborate when a sudden knock came to the library's door. Everypony looked at each other after a long moment's hesitation, and I sighed, walking over in the direction of the door. With Twilight missing and Fluttershy unconscious, that meant that Spike and I were the only ones left that actually lived here, and I doubted he wanted to see who it was. Opening the door, I lifted my eyebrow slowly as I came face to face with Luna instead. She smiled and gave me a little wave before explaining, "Sorry I'm late. I don't get out of the castle very often, and I found a lovely pastry shop in Canterlot that's open all hours." She slid a large bag from her side and opened it to show off at least thirty wrapped donuts. I blinked, and she giggled, then added, "It's going to be a long night, so I brought treats. We'll probably need drinks, too. May I come in?" I gave a sigh, then nodded, letting her pass me, followed by four night guards, before glancing outside. Sure enough, the sky chariot was parked right in front of the library. If I remembered right, catching the proper thermals and on a good day, a pegasus could glide down to Ponyville in a mere twenty minutes from all the way up on Mount Celestia. Eh, at least she brought donuts... Shutting the door, I followed after them into the main room, where everypony was already bowing. * * * * * "So, um, Twilight's okay?" Fluttershy asked quietly, tucked gently into my side and peeking over my back. She'd felt the link herself and it disappearing off into the Ether, which I apparently didn't get signal to. Regardless, confirmation was nice and all that. Luna snickered, then nodded while taking another sip of her tea. "Quite. Our sister predicted that this outcome would happen, but not nearly this soon. We are surprised as well, but nonetheless, Twilight Sparkle was shunted into the Ether by her spell. Tia went to meet her, and is undoubtedly residing with her still," she assured, giving a comforting smile towards the yellow mare. Dash, further down the couch, gave an excited wing flutter after. "So the explosion pushed her into the Ether?! I didn't know an explosion could do that!" she asked, grinning at the concept. She then gasped after, and tacked on, “Ah! She’s getting wings! I’ll have a new flying buddy!” Oh boy. I shook my head, however, and then corrected the explosion bit, "It can't. She was teleported into the Ether by the spell. The spell just happened to explode afterwards." It was a subtle distinction, but one I was very happy for regardless. Applejack still looked less than thrilled, however. "Is it supposed ta do that, though?" she asked flatly, sounding frustrated. Luna nodded again, then furthered, "Yes, it is. If the individual contains both the proper genetics within their body, and the correct conditioning to their magic." The orange mare looked surprised by that, but I just lightly massaged my temples. "Yeah, Element of Magic. Prone to absurd levels of magical power inside of her body. Capable of extreme feats of magic when pressed, to the point where it almost looks like she's a force of nature," I muttered, noting I'd personally witnessed it at least once, when she hyper-charged her teleportation spell and literally hauled me through a dimensional barrier without it being fully locked onto me. Just slightly scary. Oh, and generating enough raw magic to break the Wings of Icarus, which were technically not even physical, being a visual effect created by a quantum reaction. So essentially she just laughed and broke physics because she said so, somehow... Not that I wasn't grateful, as she also saved my bacon there, but it still frustrated my inner engineer. Things were supposed to be consistent! Drop an apple and it heads towards the closest gravitational force. It's a rule you can rely on! That was like... like... Dropping the apple and having it turn into a cat! Rarity gave me a gentle nudge, then revealed, "Mender, you're doing that thing where you stare off into space with an angry expression again." I blinked, then exhaled and nodded to her. "Uh, thanks! Um, what was I-" I started to ask. Thankfully, Pinkie landed on my back from the stairwell a moment later, with a friendly reminder. "You were letting us know why it was important that she's really awesome at magic! Not that her being really awesome at magic isn't an important thing by itself! That would be kinda contradictory to the art of magic, in both science and culture, having both instrumental and intrinsic values when adhering to the larger-" she started to ramble. Rarity coughed, causing the confusing pink one to perk and look over at her before nodding happily. "Right! So why is it important in this situation?!" Pinkie asked, instead summarizing without getting into the theoretical debate. I nodded, explaining, "She has both the genetics, and the conditioning. She's probably been using that 'hole' in her Ether network her whole life, if I could hazard a guess. I assume she's always shown bouts of extreme magical releases, especially sporadically and when pressed?" Applejack and Rainbow gave each other a sheepish stare, and Rarity coughed again, giving me all the answers I needed. "Well, turns out, that was probably intentional on Tia's part. Probably for this. Chances are, Twilight will be coming back with a couple new limbs," I muttered, giving a tired sigh. Pinkie immediately gasped while lying on top of me, and I regretted my choice in vagueness almost as quickly. "Is she gonna have six legs?! That would be awesome!" she asked almost instantly. I sighed. Twilight probably wouldn't think it was quite so amazing. Luna gave a giggle instead, then corrected, "We believe he means wings. And he would be correct. Like Cadance, we believe Twilight is currently becoming a new Alicorn. An Ancient." The gasps resounded around the room, and I sagged a little on the couch. It was weird, having all of the implications and hints but without any final confirmation. With it confirmed right in front of me, my mind sort of settled finally, it sinking in slowly. So apart from Twilight becoming a non-ancient Ancient, what exactly did that mean? Deciding that was my most pressing question, I voiced it with, "How exactly is this going to change things?" Everypony, minus Luna who already had been, turned to look at me at the same time. I raised my eyebrow up, looking between them all. "Uh, what?" I asked, starting to wonder if I'd blundered into one of those social taboo things again. Rarity frowned, then spoke up. "You seem remarkably unfazed by this turn of events, is all. Well, unfazed or very pragmatic," she explained, then looked to Luna after. The Alicorn shook her head, however. "We believe he came to the conclusion of what was actually happening far before anypony else here. Further, he has had significant amounts of things happen that are out of the ordinary, and is reasonably new to this world still. All those combined probably gives him a fairly dampened perspective on Twilight merely gaining a pair of wings," Luna explained, looking to me for confirmation. Eh? So her explanation was that I was decidedly jaded, and had a lack of association for what it meant to be an Alicorn? Well, okay, that's not too far from the truth. Shrugging, I explained, "I don't fully grasp what exactly an Ancient is, so yeah, it's probably not as big a deal for me. Does anypony care to enlighten me?" I gave a confused look to Luna, and she chuckled softly, then opened her mouth again. An excessively large flash of light hit outside before she could say anything, however. And by 'flash of light', I actually meant it looked like a new sun had suddenly formed on the surface of the planet right outside the library. I winced, shielding my eyes from the window as a chorus of surprised yelps and squeaks sounded out around me. A few seconds later, the link came back online. I was moving before I fully acknowledged it, barely getting the door's knob turned before the rest of me hit it and I was outside a heartbeat later. Applejack followed me mid-leap off the step, and Rainbow shot over us with a single flap. My eyes searched skyward, showing not one but two burning disks in the sky. They shed light out over the entire area like it was the middle of the day, waves of heat and energy coming off them. The center started to sort of 'sag' out of the middle a moment later as they bubbled downwards. What the hell?! Splashes of color came through a moment later, swirling out from the center. The first disk shifted a bright golden color, and the other went dark with deep indigo and mulberry swirls. Oh... It didn't take long for the disks to sink entirely into orbs, falling through the air and descending down towards the area like fiery comets. My eyes widened as they came in fast, and I skidded to a halt along the ground. Dash squeaked, dropping and doubling back, landing behind me as I lifted both my forehooves upwards, a flare of energy coming out in front of me. We got too close! Applejack barely rolled behind the barrier as I suddenly shadowed out a surprisingly large shockwave, two impacts of what felt like raw magic blasting out over the ground. Most of the energy was released in a pressure wave, dirt and grass blasting up around us and against the shield. The bubbles squished then bellowed out in the blast, energy contained within them radiating out into the area itself and leaving a faint luminescence to the air. Light pollution clearing slowly, it didn't take much effort at all to make out the two shapes standing in the radiance. Tia stepped forward, horn radiating as she pulled the energy back into herself suddenly, dimming the area except for the light of the library behind us and the glow of her horn. Twilight stood next to her, eyes closed as she gave a full body shiver, her horn glowing with energy and, both expected and entirely disbelieved, two large wings expanding off her back. Crap... I could only imagine how her becoming an Ancient was going to affect our relationship, now. I felt him first. Looking to my left, Discord stood next to us, looking about as amused as I'd ever seen him look. Yeah, that show of energy was like a sun on the surface of Equus, so he undoubtedly felt it from wherever he found himself most of the time. "Very, very interesting..." he murmured, grinning after as he stroked the tuft coming off his chin. Twilight's eyes opened a moment later, locking on to us instantly as they widened to full size. Yeah, 'interesting' was one word for it. Suddenly, I suspected that Fluttershy was the only one that was going to get any rest tonight... * * * * * I was convinced now. Things in Equus never, ever slowed down. Instead, I took my naps where I could get them. In this case, I was half asleep while lying on my side on one of the lounge couches. The palace staff buzzed around us in and out, half in a panic. I sympathized, anyway. My eyes stayed closed, and I relaxed with Fluttershy while listening to the others talk around me. "I'm just not sure why we have to have a full coronation so soon. What are your active duties as a princess even?" Rarity asked, sounding a little annoyed. She felt it, too, from the link. Everything was a rush. We hadn't slept at all last night after Twilight got back, and I felt dead tired now. We'd all been rushed back to Canterlot via royal carriage, and now Rarity was taking measurements on Twilight with her new appendages for making a ceremonial dress. Given my choice, I'd take the slower train any day over that. Maybe it was my subtle Earth Pony preferences coming through, or a natural sense of self-preservation of wanting to stay near the ground, or as close to it as possible, at least. The train could slow to a stop and get repaired if need be. A flying chariot couldn't exactly stop and pull over if something broke. Twilight herself gave a frustrated sigh, shaking her head slowly. "I... don't know. This is all happening so fast. Ah, I... I have wings now. I'm an Alicorn. This is just too... ugh," she muttered, sagging a little. Rarity coughed lightly, causing the newly created Alicorn to groan and stand up straight again. Repeating her sigh, I nodded in sympathy. "Fully agree, there. We're going to really, really need a vacation after this. And do I have any any 'duties' as a 'Prince' now?" I asked, dreading the answer I'd get. I understood that Ancients were generally seen as, well, ancient, and usually quite wise and powerful. Twilight had that 'powerful' bit down, but she was immensely young compared to the par. So was Cadance, though, and she ruled over an entire empire. This was just crazy... Applejack huffed at that, crossing her forelegs over her chest before pointing out, "Ah think ya have enough on yer plate with tha DReg stuff. Ah don't see why they'd dump new duties on either o' you." I really, really hoped she was right. "Oh dear. Does, um, that mean I'll be a Princess, too?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly, wiggling a little back and forth while against my side. I gave her a softer smile and kissed her cheek, earning a little blush and soft smile from her. Twilight smiled too, relaxing as she watched Fluttershy. "Yeah, but don't worry. I'm not going to have you do any public speaking or presentations or the like," she assured. Oh, joy, so she was going to make me do them, then. She grinned towards me as I gave her an annoyed look, and Rarity snickered. "I believe this is just for official capacity, and to publicly recognize Twilight's status as an Alicorn now. I cannot see them having official responsibilities for any of us this soon. However, Fluttershy has another perk, now being a Princess and in a herd with a Prince and Alicorn," Rarity pointed out. Oh? My mind strained to think of another advantage, but Fluttershy's ears suddenly dropped almost instantly, drooping down as she physically shrank. Uh... "R-Rarity!" she whined, followed by, "N-Not here." Uh oh. My 'bad news' sense started tingling rather abruptly, and I frowned down at the yellow mare, causing her to wince again and rapidly shake her head. The pearly mare frowned after, then asked, "Oh dear. You didn't tell them, did you?" My ears lowered as I looked to Fluttershy as she rapidly shook her head. Twilight frowned as well, looking to Fluttershy, and then over at Rarity. "We have an hour to get ready. We should talk about it if it's a problem," the lavender mare suggested, glancing back to Fluttershy after. The yellow pegasus gave a weak sigh, then nodded. "I... Okay. Just, um, somewhere more private?" she asked quietly. Twilight gave a smile and nod to her, closing her eyes a moment later. I started to raise an eyebrow, but a beam of light hit all of us, then yanked us into a singularity a moment later, everything collapsing around us and streaking away. Okay, she was just showing off now... Our world fell back into place with a padded flop, the bed shaking and dipping with its mattress as seven ponies and a dragon landed on it all at once. Rarity balanced herself carefully, then shrugged and continued to take Twilight’s measurements after the lavender Alicorn had stood back up again. I wobbled a bit on the large bed, then looked around, discovering us in Twilight’s old room in the tower. Huh. Wait… she just teleported me onto a bed… The temptation spiked in me suddenly, and I barely resisted just falling over sideways and passing out. No, I had to hear Fluttershy’s information first! Pinkie shifted up and started to lightly massage Fluttershy’s back as she rested against me again, and I nodded to the yellow mare. She gave a nervous swallow, and then returned my nod before closing her eyes. It was almost ten seconds before she admitted, “Um, I got a letter from my parents, is all…” Oh? I’d never seen or heard anything about Fluttershy’s parents, which, admittedly, was a little strange now that I thought about it. Twilight had talked about her parents quite a bit, despite failing to, well, warn me about their various eccentric behaviors. Rainbow told me about her mother and father, and her mother being a past Wonderbolt. Rarity had mentioned hers, especially in regards to her sister deciding to stay with her to finish out school here in Ponyville, despite them moving to Canterlot. Pinkie had told me all about her family and rock farming, which was surprisingly more interesting than I’d anticipated with the alchemical condensing of raw Ether into rocks. Applejack had even mentioned her parents, although I never asked what happened there. I simply knew that they’d passed on already, rather unfortunately, it would seem. Fluttershy, the mare I was probably the closest to, had never, ever even mentioned her parents, however. Rainbow went from smiling to a grimace instantly, slapping a hoof to her forehead before groaning out, “Oh no. What did they want this time?” Or maybe there was a reason Fluttershy had never mentioned her parents… Fluttershy shrank down against me, and Rarity shot Rainbow a stern look. “Dash! Do try to have some tact. This obviously is bothering Fluttershy,” she pointed out. Rainbow flattened her ears down a little, then gave a huff. “Of course it is! Her mother’s a complete monster of a controlling noble prune, and her father’s a spineless doormat! What did she say this time, Fluttershy? Do I need to fly over there and give her a piece of my mind again?!” she asked, turning back to the shrunken and shivering pegasus. Again? Sighing, I requested, “Rainbow, calm down. You’re scaring Fluttershy, which obviously isn’t your intent. Being upset is okay, but don’t go overboard.” The pegasus gave a tired sigh after, then relaxed a little and nodded to me. I returned it, then looked to Fluttershy, who had buried her face in my shoulder fur. Ah, the ol’ ‘if I can’t see them, they can’t see me’ trick. Fluttershy took a few more deep breaths before letting out a low, pained sounding whine. Sagging for a long moment, she explained, “My, um… well, my mom wants to try to get a court denouncement of me as family lineage. She, uh, doesn’t like the fact that I’m with a unicorn and earth pony.” What. Applejack’s jaw dropped, eyes widening as she stared at Fluttershy. Rarity shook her head sadly at it, and I could almost see the blood vessels in Rainbow’s head flooding with undiluted rage. Giving a small sigh, Rarity appended, “They, well, I really should say she since it’s obvious it came from only her mother, also oh so untactfully sent along a packet of Silphium. Disgusting, really.” Huh? “Silphium… That’s an herbal contraceptive, right?” I muttered, frowning at the implications therein. Rarity nodded to me before sighing weakly again. “It implies just as poorly as you’d expect. She’s giving a tactless hint that Fluttershy should not have any foals with either of you. Rather disgusting, if you ask me,” she murmured, sounding rather offended. Well, that was awkward. Idly, I wondered how horribly they’d flip out if they found out about Fluttershy actually being pregnant. “Augh!” Twilight growled out before huffing twice. Shaking, she finally managed to reveal, “No court system has done a family denouncement in over seven hundred years! No court in Equus would pass that request! What is wrong with her?! That sort of thing only happens in cheap drama serials.” Rarity nodded to that, then agreed with, “And even then, it’s treated as abhorrent and a major disgrace to the issuing party.” That I could see. Applejack shot her a raised eyebrow a moment later, and the pearly unicorn huffed, then defended, “I get bored sometimes, and they’re entertaining!” I put two and two together from her earlier comment suddenly. “And you’re anticipating a sudden change in heart now that she’s instead in a herd with a crowned Princess and a Prince?” I asked skeptically, looking over at Rarity again, who perked up. Dash snorted, however, rolling her eyes before answering instead with, “They value that kinda stuff. Well, Fluttershy’s mother does. Her father comes from one of the ‘older’ and ‘noble’ pegasi families, too, but isn’t nearly as, uh, devoted to the bloodline, so to speak. They might have even done an arranged herd or something, which would be about right up their alley…” Oh, that sort of politics I was well aware of. Keldarians did that crap, too, and I thought it was stupid then, as well. Fluttershy whined, then protested with, "He... He isn't a bad pony! I love both of them, and he tried his hardest. Mother just..." Her eyes softened a little, and I frowned before resting my muzzle against her shoulder. She relaxed a little and swallowed before looking back at me. After a moment's hesitation, her focus came back and she closed her eyes before continuing with, "She's not a bad pony either. She grew up the same way, and doesn't know anything else." Ah. It was weird, knowing that somepony didn't approve of me despite having never met me, but I suppose that was BEID's whole operational standpoint, so it didn't really surprise me, so to speak. That didn't make it set very well, regardless. "Well, I suppose we should wait and see what their standpoint is after the news gets out," I suggested, then tacked on, "Preferably before going over to have a talk with them." A glance at Dash caused her to roll her eyes and huff for a moment, crossing her forelegs over her chest as she hovered there next to the bed. Applejack gave a snort, then hooked her tail with her right foreleg, dragging it down with her ankle and pulling Rainbow next to her on the bed, flopping onto her stomach. "Don't worry. She ain't gonna do anything rash. Ah'm plenty mad, too, but Mender's right. Ain't no point in jumpin' inta action without seein' how they react. If their opinion is unchanged, then we go talk ta 'em," she suggested, giving a pointed glance down at the cyan pegasus, who glared up at her over her left shoulder. Coughing lightly, Spike drew our attention back to him before suggesting, "What about extending an olive branch?" Oh? "Oooh, good idea! Olives are delicious!" Pinkie declared. I, uh, what? Honestly, I couldn't tell if she was confused, or hiding a suspiciously deep statement in that. Rarity simply giggled, then asked, "What did you have in mind, Spike?" He was momentarily distracted by swooning in her general direction before Twilight grinned and coughed, snapping him out of it. "Ah, right! Well, the front row seating in the outdoor auditorium is reserved space, right? For press representatives, court, and dignitaries. But we know that only, like, a third of the court is even here due to the suddenness of this, and there are no visiting dignitaries! That means only five ponies, one from each of the major press organizations, is using it. What if we convinced Princess Celestia to give Twilight's and Fluttershy's families dignitary seating during the coronation? Huge honor, right? And a front row seat for the show!" he suggested. Oh. Twilight looked momentarily surprised before she suddenly nodded and grinned. "Spike, I love you. That's perfect!" she declared, floating him up and pulling him into a huge hug. He wiggled a little, blushing lightly before just relaxing and letting her hug him. "Aww, shucks, Twilight. It only came to me because you had me write down the entire coronation's itinerary," he defended, his modesty starting to show. He immediately shut up when he realized Rarity was literally right next to him, and gave him a fluttering eyelash look. Oh, she was pulling out the big guns! Well, whatever was the appropriate term in Equestria, given they didn't have firearms. "Nonsense, Spikey Wikey. That was a brilliant idea! Why should we wait for them to make up their minds, when we can influence their opinion ahead of time with a show of tact and grace? Plus, it will blow her ugly display clear out of the water, and truly give her something to think about!" she declared, potentially implying an ulterior motive on her part. Not that I was touching that statement with a ten foot pole. Despite being amazingly polite and passive, Rarity scared the hell out of me. Always make peace and friendship with the ones with the silver tongues. Twilight grinned, then nodded again, handing Spike over to Rarity instead and standing upright. "Okay, then! I'll go ask Princess Celestia right now. Plus, they're probably wondering where we are at this point, so we shouldn't keep them waiting. Mender, you're on stage setup this time. With luck, we won't end up with the floor being impaled by the projection screen. Again. Rarity, costume work. Fluttershy, stage prop setup. Think pretty flowers. Dash, synchronize with the weather team and try to push back any bad weather for a few hours if there's any planned. Any leftover time, help the pegasi deliver the announcements. Pinkie, concessions. Work with the castle staff, please. Applejack, help the guard keep the reporters at bay until we're set," she quickly shot out, nodding to each pony in return. We saluted back, and she grinned until Spike raised his hand up. "What do you want me to do?!" he asked, giving a pleading expression. The lavender mare grinned, not missing a beat before pointing out, "Absolute number one assistant, Spike. You're with me on organization detail. Let's go, ponies!" He grinned at that, and Twilight's horn flared up again. Giving a weary sigh, I felt the world implode in against us, once more sucking us away to another place. Guess there wasn't any rest in store for us anytime soon. * * * * * Giving a grunt, I rotated the final bolt into place, then gave a nod down to the two burly construction ponies supporting my ladder and tossing up tools and parts. The projection screen was now fully repaired and placed back up on the standing wall, and now very, very firmly rooted in place. Proper leverage support was everything, and you couldn't afford to skip out on details when you were dealing with a three hundred pound projection screen hanging two stories in the air above a stage that ponies walked on. That was just an accident waiting to happen. That had already happened. Twice. They were lucky the only thing broken so far was floorboards and a few screws. They nodded to me, the one moving back and the second gripping the ladder with both forelegs. I turned and slid down the front of it step by step, dropping onto the stage again. "Secured and sturdy, and the gearbox is repaired. The projector is set up as well. How's the slide presentation of Twilight's spell research, Snapshot?" I asked, looking towards the forest green mare who was loading the projector up. She giggled, then admitted, "We're lucky she numbered the slides. I have literally no idea what she's talking about on half of them. All loaded in regardless, Sir! We're set!" She hopped around to face me with a large grin, then threw a salute up that I returned. "Excellent work. Power up the big slide button on the podium, and let's get out of the way," I ordered. She slid forward and flicked on the podium, making the giant button on the front of it glow a soft cream color. At least it wasn't red. We nodded once more to each other before heading towards the side of the stage again, ponies starting to file in already. I caught a shot of both Applejack and Rainbow Dash in shiny guard armor, sans-enchantment, helping direct ponies into the auditorium area and looking like they were having fun doing it. Smiles?! Very unprofessional for guards, which was probably a good thing given that they weren't. Chuckling to myself, I promptly almost ran into Fluttershy as I turned back around. She gave me a pleased nod, pointing to the last spot to move the pretty flower arrangements into. She had an almost curtain of complimentary violets and indigoes which matched Twilight's colors rather nicely and was rather clever on her part. Using her special brand of Fluttershy charm, there was also a full chorus of birds relaxing along the upper stage, all doing sound tests on a rather pretty song they were working on. I didn't ask how she managed that. "Everything looks splendid!" Rarity chirped, putting the finishing touches on Fluttershy's mane before gesturing me over. I saw the full tux she held up in her magic, and sighed. Damn it. The two construction stallions gave a chuckle towards it as they walked past, the tan one on the right giving me a sympathetic smile before they headed off the stage. Ugh. Wait... Frowning, I looked closer at it, and she grinned. This wasn't the suit I'd worn before. Straight up black fabric, it looked like it almost hummed with enchanted energy. This one was a full three piece, with a double-breasted, notched lapel jacket, four button black waistcoat, and white undershirt. She then had accessorized it with black tie, a silver and sapphire tie bar, and matching cufflinks. It was tailored to my measurements by the looks of it, and I suspected she hadn't just pulled that off one of the back shelves in the castle storage. "I was working on this already for you, and this is reason enough to have finished it. Inspiration taken from a very specific source, I might add," she revealed, opening up the jacket on the right side. My eyes widened as I saw a large series of adjustable straps on the inside, neatly sewn into the jacket itself. It was set up to mount the mechanical workings that my father had designed for his suit! Snapshot, suddenly standing next to me, immediately chirped, “Ooo, it looks awesome!” I gave a start, looking over at her in surprise for a moment before exhaling softly. She only grinned at me however, and I rolled my eyes before turning back to Rarity. "You modeled it after my father's suit?" I asked, causing her grin to widen a little. She giggled, nudging me into turning around before answering with, "Yes, I did. It's designed off his original diagrams, but I added my own touches. The harness straps on the inside are reinforced, and should manage sizes three times what he used. I also made them adjustable with multiple loop slots, in case you tweak his designs on the mechanics themselves. Oh, and it's loaded down with durability treatments for temperature and physical force. Almost as solid as the armor the guards wear, I believe." Credit given where credit was due, I admitted she'd earned the bragging rights for this one. Smiling now, I gave a nod as she helped me into the suit. Her magic made the task rather easy, with buttons hooking themselves up and tugs being made here and there to straighten the fabric against my body. Something was a bit off, though… Raising my eyebrow after a moment, I asked, “Is this magically vented or something?” I kept waiting for my temperature to take a hike, but for some reason, it felt like the air just flowed right through it. The mare giggled, then assured, “I know the discomforts wearing elegant clothing can bring, so yes, there are many spells in the industry to help alleviate those issues.” Okay, this was awesome. I loved magic. “You’ve really outdone yourself with this one, Rarity. This is amazing,” I complimented, watching her perk up and grin again. Snapshot, still eyeing up the suit, nodded rapidly to Rarity as well, asking, “That is awesome! Could I, um, maybe commission you for a dress later? Spy gear included, please!” I raised an eyebrow at her specific request, then chuckled. “I’m pleased you like it, Mender,” Rarity admitted, then appended, “I always get concerned when I make clothing for ponies who don’t know they’re getting the article, or haven’t put any specifications into it. It can be risky.” Ah, that made sense. She also lifted a skeptical eyebrow to Snapshot after, then snickered. “The commission would be a bit more expensive than my normal works, but certainly, Snapshot. I do believe I can consider you a friend of Mender’s at this point, right?” she inquired, tilting her head a little. The green mare perked at that and nodded rapidly. “Certainly! I mean, I got completely conned into almost doing something really bad to Mender when he totally didn’t deserve it! I started out just wanting to make that up to him, but… He’s a really kind stallion, and I’d be happy to call him my friend at this point,” she explained, giving me a softer smile. I blushed a little at that, then returned it with a nod. “Of course, Snapshot. It’s not like I’m going to turn down your friendship,” I explained, then looked back to Rarity again. “Well, I’m grateful, worry not. Thank you, Rarity,” I assured, giving her a warmer smile as she finished tying my tie up and adjusting it. She gave a pleased murmur, but the three of us were interrupted by a flash of light violently blasting in to our left. Wincing, I held a hoof up to block it for a moment before frowning towards the newly appeared Twilight. She hopped back and forth on her left and right legs for a moment before quickly asking, “How’s everything on this end?! Is the stage ready and not on fire? Everypony dressed?!” Giving a roll of my eyes, I assured, “The stage is fine and set up properly. We’re all dressed now, and things are going smoothly.” I’d been tempted to tell her that it wasn’t on fire but exploded instead, but she probably wouldn’t have appreciated the joke. “Oooh, I got the projector set up! Oh, and all the slides are right this time,” Snapshot tacked on. Twilight raised an eyebrow to her at the ‘this time’ part, but relaxed regardless, giving a sigh of relief. Her shoulders sagged ever so slightly, which caused the fabric of her dress to shift and flow. Rarity gave a giggle, then added, “Calm down, Twilight. Take deep breaths and relax. Everything is going smoothly.” The lavender mare nodded to that, setting her hoof her chest before exhaling softly and moving it away again. After a few of these, she relaxed and nodded to both of us. “Yeah, sorry. Just, well, a bit nervous! All ponies know is that there’s a coronation of some kind, and not what’s happening or anything. What is everypony even going to think?” she asked nervously. Heh, I was more fascinated that word hadn’t spread faster than this, given quite a few ponies in Ponyville had woken up during that sizable flash of light and display of raw power. I chuckled, and Fluttershy gave a soft smile, nuzzling up against Twilight and massaging her side. “Twilight, they’re going to think it’s lovely. Why would anypony have a problem with you becoming an Alicorn? You’re still you,” she murmured softly, nuzzling into her neck. Twilight relaxed a bit more and nodded to her, closing her eyes and nuzzling back. “I… no, you’re right, Fluttershy. I was just being silly. I’m still me,” she agreed, snuggling in closer to the mare. I smiled as I watched both of them for a moment until my eyes caught movement behind them. Looking past, I spotted Tia moving up onto the stage and taking her place at the podium, and took a stab in the dark that we were about to begin. Looking back to Twilight, I assured, “Relax, Twilight. We’re all here for you. It looks like we’re about to start.” She perked at that, then turned around and looked back at the stage. Fidgeting for a moment, she then nodded and glanced back at us. Rarity smirked next to me and gave her a wink. “You’ll be fine. I’m going to go join Pinkie in the front row, then. The five of us shall be cheering you on!” she assured, giving her a warm smile before heading down the steps and out the side door to the stage. Snapshot grinned, then nodded to me as well before adding, “I’ll be there too, getting lots of flattering pictures of you guys! Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll get your best angles!” Uh, was that really necessary? She took off after Rarity before I could ask, and I just shrugged. We watched them go, leaving just Fluttershy, Twilight and myself on the stage. Oh boy. I controlled my own nervousness as I waited for Tia to start speaking. “We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary things since she's lived in Ponyville…” she started, the crowd falling silent instantly. Okay, Twilight goes out first by herself, then we come out some time later when our new ‘status’ is revealed. Of course, at that exact moment, a ping came in. Crap. Twilight perked, feeling my spike in irritation, and looked backwards at me. Fluttershy glanced to me as well, as did all four mares in the front row. Honestly, I don’t think I’d ever get used to the shared empathy thing. I nodded to her, then warned, “Ping from Keela. Go on as normal. I’ll see what she wants.” Twilight nodded to me, and I slipped backwards, moving further into the dark of the backstage before flicking up my inner eye displays. I knew the ambient light made my eyes glow, which would probably be a bit ‘weird’ if ponies were to see it. That went against the whole ‘making a good impression’ thing we were trying for, I imagined. Keela popped up instantly in the display, and immediately declared, “Mender! Thank you, thank you! I was hoping you’d pick up. We need to talk.” Well, that sounded positive! Her dire expression didn’t help matters much either. I frowned, then asked, “What’s going on? We’re kinda in the middle of a coronation here.” She swallowed, then rapidly shook her head. “This is important. Really, really important. Ten minutes ago, while we were finishing up our analysis runs on the wreckage and about to pack up our bags, an FTL signature was detected,” she revealed. Eh?! Okay, that was probably bad. “The odds of an FTL signature being a friendly at this point are astronomically slim. You should get out of there as fast as you can,” I warned, frowning towards her. She swallowed, then rapidly shook her head. “I know that. But it was tiny, and not giving off any other energy signatures. We… already looked at it,” she explained, then softened her eyes as she pulled up another screen. My eyes locked onto it, and I recognized it almost instantly, my database bringing up the exact model. “It’s a Grosh probe. Deactivated? They FTL jumped a deactivated probe into your sector? There’s no visible damage on it at all, unless something inside it is-“ I started to theorize. Keela sighed and shook her head. “It’s just deactivated. Intentionally. All its hardware is gutted except its database and short range broadcasting antenna, which was set to go online and start indiscriminately pinging the area fifteen minutes after warping in, but we disabled that,” she further explained. What? Frowning, I considered that for a long moment. The Grosh had never done that before, to my knowledge. There was no strategic benefit to doing this, unless… “What was on the hard drive? The only reason I can see for anyone to do that is to leave a message behind…” I asked, looking back up at Keela. And if everything else was intentionally gutted, it wasn’t an emergency message. It was intentionally sent out like that. The Keldarian swallowed, slowly nodding her head before admitting, “We… have a problem.” She hit a few more buttons, pulling up yet another screen, this time with an audio wavelength display and analyzer up. She hit play on it immediately. A voice I wished I’d never have to hear again came through the link an instant later. “This is a message to my sister, Keela. I’m sorry for probably worrying you. You’ve undoubtedly already figured out I’ve been captured by the Grosh. I’d gotten to thinking, really. Your new male confuses me. He made me think about a lot of things. Honestly, I never realized how selfish I was before now. I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t want to kill me, despite having every reason to, personally. Until I realized he wasn’t thinking about himself there. He didn’t kill me because he wanted to make you happy,” came through in what sounded to be Nirru’s voice. I frowned, but it continued. “So, after thinking about it, I realized that I could still at least help out our race, or even other races that are being attacked by the Grosh. Further, I could still get my revenge against that little rat that put me in this state. So I contacted the Grosh using low density pinging magic to get it around your wards, while you were unconscious and wouldn’t pick them up yourself. Almost screwed up when you changed the entire ship’s sleep schedule to sync up with those rats, but thankfully I picked up the guard shift change. So I called them, told them where we were in exchange for a service and information,” she explained. Oh hell. Keela gritted her teeth on the other screen, but said nothing as it continued. “Now I’ve been taken in by them, and I’m going to lead them into a brand new dimension. A dimension of easy pickings and all new worlds to conquer, without a single thing to challenge them. They’ve promised, in return, to let me command their preliminary invasion force, and to leave this dimension for the new one instead. So I both get my revenge, and single handedly save our entire race. I’m sorry that it’s had to come to this. Also, I don’t forget my debts. Any of the rats you take in and let onboard your ship will be spared. He spared my life, so I’ll spare his. Destroying everything he loves is enough of revenge for me. See? Selfless. Anyway, two days time, eighteen hundred hours, our time. You know where I’ll be. I want you there to watch the start of the invasion. You won’t be fired upon, don’t worry.” I sat there, body numb now as I listened to the recording. Keela searched my expression, eyes wet as a tear slid down her cheek. I looked back to Twilight, who was out on stage already, and frozen in mid-walk now, looking back at me with a frown. Fluttershy looked my way, too, both obviously sensing the distress. Nirru was heading for area with the weakened dimensional barrier. She was coming alongside a full preliminary invasion force of Grosh. We had two days to prepare. Well, so much for that vacation…
Chapter 100I gritted my teeth, nerve endings down my spine feeling like they were shot. My stomach churned and that acid taste was in my mouth as I took deep breaths. Shit. Looking upwards again and to the left, I saw I'd already had their full attention. Fluttershy had frozen, turned mostly towards me with an uncertain frown on her face, knowing something was wrong but not what. Twilight stopped mid walk out onto the stage, her wings still tucked beneath the tailored flaps of her dress, hidden from view. She was looking over her shoulder at me instead, however, eyes uncertainly searching mine. My friends in the front row looked this way as well, and all I had was bad news now. Keela shivered in the image tucked to the corner of my eye, rapidly shaking her head. "No, Mender. I... I love you, but you can't consider anything else. I'm not worth Equus. C-Cut the link!" she repeated, swallowing painfully. Confusion went through the audience as Twilight just stopped walking and looked behind her. Tia frowned, looking towards me as well. What was I supposed to do? My right hoof lifted up and I shook my head, then waved it back and forth in a hopefully ‘desist’ motion as I stared at the white alicorn. Her eyes widened just slightly, then she turned and looked back to the audience instead. "Ah, I apologize, my little ponies. I have to attend to something for a moment. My sister, Princess Luna, will continue speaking in my stead," she quickly excused. Luna frowned, then nodded to her as she stepped up, Tia slipping to the side and trotting towards me. Twilight watched her go past, and Tia leaned down for a moment, whispering something to the new alicorn before straightening and heading for me. Twilight nodded at that, then headed for the podium again, sitting down next to Luna, who had continued the speech I wasn't paying attention to anymore. A glance to the left showed me the rest of the Elements, Spike, and Snapshot gone from the front row, and I sighed. The side door opened again as Tia finally reached me. Her questioning look said enough, and I shook my head, taking another step back as Spike, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, and Snapshot slid in to the left a moment later, the orange mare immediately asking, "Okay, that felt absolutely rotten. What's goin' on, Mender?" I exhaled, using the distance I'd made to project the image of Keela, the probe, and the soundtrack instead, adjusting the speaker volume down to low. It didn't matter, though, as the second Tia saw the sound wave pattern, she frowned and lit her horn up. A small golden bubble coated us all a second later, and I nodded, recognizing the spell instantly as sound nullification. "You didn't have to-" Keela started to protest. Snapshot's eyes widened as she looked the Keldarian over, but I interrupted Keela's words with a shake of my head. "No, Keela. I'm not going to jump to any decision without talking about this. Enough," I interrupted, giving her a frustrated glare before hitting the play button. I went quiet as Nirru's voice started up again, repeating her hateful message to everypony inside the bubble... * * * * * To say things moved quickly with threat of a possible dimensional invasion would be an understatement. Regardless, I couldn't help but think that things had been soured a bit, converting the announcement conference into both an announcement of a new Alicorn and a declaration of a national emergency. Honestly, I hadn't anticipated Princess Celestia to actually remain transparent about what was happening. I also hadn't anticipated the decided lack of panic present in the mass populace of ponies at large. For a race that was naturally on the skidish side, they had become remarkably jaded to world-threatening catastrophes, it would seem. That was three hours ago. Giving a tired sigh, I looked out at the expansive field. It was a familiar place by now, large ocean of grass and flowers with the rather peaceful and gentle Whitetail Woods framing along its side. An even more familiar, if not intimately so, crater was all of a dozen meters from me. The memories it brought upon me, both good and bad, were at least of comfort. A stability. Something that had already happened and was cast in stone. That was where the comfort of the field ended. My attention instead shifted to the five hundred plus ponies that now inhabited it. Dozens of tents were already constructed, and I saw another six at least going up. A large training field had been set up, with literally hundreds of guards practicing surprisingly sophisticated formations within. Shining Armor was easily spotted in full regalia at the head, and I could hear his distant orders from here, without needing any audio magnification. Color me impressed. My discomfort was further accelerated by the focus on me, suddenly throwing me headlong into my role as head researcher of Dimensional Regulations, now the leading organization of defense for this hostile threat heading at us. It was my duty to come up with solutions on how to deal with that. All of it. A hoof lightly lifted my chin, then pulled my head to the side. Looking to my left, I managed to get a slight glimpse of lavender before Twilight pulled me into a soft kiss. Shivering, I pushed back into it for a moment before relaxing and nodding. Breaking off, she gave me a grin and returned my gesture, assuring, "Relax, Mender. We're going to deal with this, and we're going to protect everypony. You're doing fine, and you have lots of help. Nopony expects you to do this by yourself..." At this range, she'd picked up exactly what I'd started to panic about, of course. I was both happy and sad for that... Swallowing, I looked back to the massive cluster of holographic notes projected in front of me, having been all I was focusing on for the last hour. The diagrams for the armor, shield, and lance modifications had already been sent to the lead researchers that had been allotted to the operation. Supplies were already being delivered, including almost eight thousand kilograms of the phase crystals. I double-checked the notes delivered about them in paper, behind the hologram, then looked to my right display screen. "How are the calculations running, Keela?" I asked, trying to stay on focus. The Keldarian looked up to the display again, giving a sigh. "This is crazy, and you're completely insane. Beyond that, they're almost done. I can't believe that this is compiling at all, but... There's no doubt about it," she admitted, looking into the center of the lab space again. Notes were scattered everywhere, and all five of them were working at different stations, and the crystal that I'd sent over was floating in the analysis column in the middle of the room. She stared at it for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "This is a surprisingly colorful phase crystal, but it's also the purist I've ever seen. There's no doubt at all. This crystal is exactly like the samples that we've been using to make our own phase crystals for the last hundred years or so. That means that Equus is the reason we developed our own variant of Faster Than Light travel..." she admitted, exhaling softly. Twilight's ears perked up at that, and she asked, "Does that mean they're pure enough to work?" That was the ultimate question. Keela's refinery process for the phase crystals was top notch, but it turned out that the original crystals were about seven to nine hundred percent more pure, which allowed for a much more efficient energy transfer, it would seem. Kyre turned and nodded towards the display, reporting, "With this pure of a crystal, energy transfer reaches less than three percent average loss." Her twin continued less than a second later with, "This efficient of a transfer will allow dimensional phasing of phased matter with a one to one temporal sync ratio." Sighing, Keela snickered after, and appended, "That means yes. This part of your plan is green lit, via two Keldarian genius twins." Chuckling, I gave a nod to that and looked back at my notes. That just left things on our end to set up. Looking over my shoulder to the left, I spotted Aura still sipping her tea, barely a meter away. She was reading her book still, something about ponies in space or such. It was an amusing concept, but I didn't have time to grill her on it. Either using peripheral vision, or her heavily altered senses, she noticed my attention and looked up with a smile. "Need contact again?" she asked gently. I gave a nod in confirmation, causing her smile to widen a little, and her horn lit up. The effect was instantaneous. Colors bled partially away from the world, mist drifting in all around me with my awareness as everything took on a soft blue hue. The ambient light started to spread gently off objects around me, as if a bloom effect had been applied to my perception. The three of them faded in, visible now that my view was overlaid with the local Ether. They’d been there the entire time, of course. Dad looked up and smiled as he watched Aura start using her spell again. “Ah, welcome back. I see the rest of the plans appear to be falling smoothly into place. How are things on Keela’s end?” he asked, causing my two moms to look up as well, Gem starting to smile immediately. “She’s finished the calculations. Less than three percent average loss of energy transfer. It’ll work on their side,” I assured, giving a nod to him. Auraprism finally smiled at that, relaxing a little. “Thank Celestia. It’s… been a while since I’ve said that, but… at this point, I think we’re past that. We all need to pull together regardless to make it through this,” she murmured, exhaling softly. My mother giggled on the other side of Dad, then shook her head. “It was never Princess Celestia’s fault anyway, and you two knew it the whole time. We’re going to make up for it by helping our son kick some seriously invader flank as well!” she chirped, pounding her right hoof into her left with a grin towards me. Bastion lifted one of his eyebrows up, tilting his head towards her before pointing out, “You didn’t do anything to Princess Celestia. You don’t have anything make up for…” Auraprism frowned and nodded behind him. Chuckling, I shook my head then explained, “She just wants to watch the fireworks…” Both he and my other mother got a dawning look of realization and nodded, but Mom stuck out her tongue at me instead, still grinning. “Hey, you heard that monster’s message. I want to see her eat those words just as much as you do. Literally, if possible,” she growled. My turn to tilt my head towards her, and this time Auraprism snickered instead. “Just write it out on a letter and force feed her the paper after winning. That should make her happy,” she suggested, earning a laugh from dad. I slapped myself in the forehead, but Gem started laughing at that. “Awesome idea! I’d pay good bits to watch that!” she agreed, grinning towards Auraprism instead. Dad finally just sighed and shook his head, chuckling tiredly before looking back to me instead. “Things are almost ready on this end regardless. With the complete diagrams of our prior device, this has been a breeze. The new layout is both far more simplistic with new technologies available, and far stronger with the new focus on this shielding technique of yours. Could you trace this diagram, please, Auramirror?” he asked gently, sliding the hazy sheet of paper over past me, to my niece instead. His very distant granddaughter… She smiled and nodded rapidly to him, moving the paper in front of her and looking it over before her magic started to function, translating the image onto the page underneath of it, which was real outside of the ether. I nodded to her, and all three of them waved, giving me smiles. I nodded, adding, "See you all tonight, then." They were gone after that. Of course, if this went badly, I'd be seeing them permanently in a few days. As would a lot of other ponies, I imagined. But no, I wouldn't let it come to that. Closing my eyes, I steeled my resolve again. No, the plan had come together nicely so far. Now it was on to the hard parts... Looking over to Twilight again, I saw her get a momentary look of recognition, and nod. She instead turned to look out into the field, and then mentally called out, "Girls! It's time..." Five other perks of mental activity shot in, and I swallowed. This should be entertaining, at the very least... * * * * * "Are ya sure this is essential? Ain't Ah strong enough?" Applejack asked hesitantly, looking to her left and down at me as I adjusted more enchantment runes on her side. Twilight gave a sigh, looking up at the counter-weight she lifted with her hooves, standing on her back ones as she wedged herself upwards between the ground and the weight. The counter-weight was attached to a pulley system, which was attached to, so far, twelve thousand kilograms of random objects that we tossed into the large wagon we were using as a 'tray' of sorts. She had the entire thing lifted almost a meter off the ground... Shaking her head, Twilight explained, "This isn't about the weight, Applejack. You're lifting this much by syncing your energy with the bar. Mender is making sure that the energy feedback throughout your entire body is perfectly in sync with your output. He's not making you 'stronger'. He's making you use a hundred percent of your strength." The enchantment magnified that by a bit, but the goal was the same. I estimated that, horrifically, she actually was strong enough to lift at least six thousand kilograms unassisted, which was just disgusting. That put her lift to weight ratio into absurd levels. I didn't even want to try this with Big Mac. But no, the syncing was the important part. "Okay, so this ain't ta lift tha gun thingy, which is actually rather light. This is ta sync with it, right?" she confirmed, furrowing her brow as she looked to Twilight instead, who nodded. I made three more adjustments and watched everything sync up again with a smirk. Applejack widened her eyes a little as she suddenly stretched out entirely, shoving the bar upwards and lifting the entire wagon over two meters off the ground. Giving a nod, I moved to the other side of her stomach, then gently rested against it, starting to push her slowly backwards as she readjusted herself and let the wagon back down without breaking anything, either herself or our equipment. "We're set for test four, now. The sync should be just about perfect," I ordered, nodding towards her then gesturing to the harness we'd left a few meters away. She gave a smile to me and trotted past, slipping back into it and raising it up with her forelegs after she sat down. It wasn't that heavy, barely fifteen kilograms. She felt its weight for a moment, and then focused, syncing with the harness, even though her strength was overkill. The enchantment on the harness mirrored it, and she stood again, the harness floating free of her body this time as she literally lifted it with her aura alone. Earth Pony Empathy Magic at its finest. Her eyes opened again after, and she examined it with surprise yet again. It had drifted around a bit on the second attempt, and the last one had it hovering lopsided near her. Now, it floated perfectly and she looked even more amazed. She was levitating something, so I imagined it was special, yes. Well, even if it was specifically made to be levitated like that. It was still special! The large floating gun lifted up next to her, exactly matching her harness movements, and she nodded to me, her strength of aura lifting it, too. "Ready then, Mender. This thing's loaded with safe stuff, right?" she asked again, giving a frown. Twilight giggled, then nodded, assuring, "Water balloons, courtesy of Pinkie." Because only she could think of using a magical rail cannon to launch water balloons... Smirking, I nodded, then looked out into the field towards the pink one in question. "Pull!" I called out. I heard her excited cheer from here, and she grabbed one of the garbage can lids near her. The flare of pink from her own enchantment activated, the disk on her back right hoof touching the can. It stuck a moment later, and she suddenly did a complete back flip at surprisingly high velocity, whipping the can lid up with her back legs, then launching it almost straight up into the air. Applejack watched it go up. The harness and the cannon followed her eye movement. My own empathy link with her let me 'feel' that she synced with her own vision. She saw the lid, and it was locked on hard now. It reached the apex of its forward momentum, and Twilight called out, "Fire!" So it turned out that Applejack’s special talents were in apples. It made sense to me. More specifically, she was particularly practiced at harvesting the apples, which involved very specific targeting of her synced magic to the apples as she hit the tree. We discovered that if you made a cannon sync with her as she targeted, she could also aim it through the same principle! In theory, she could then ‘harvest’ pieces off the enemy ship. At range. With cannons. The water balloon hit it dead center, before the sound of the gun firing even reached my ears. The small shockwave hit next, like the sound of a whip cracking, as the partially shielded balloon momentarily broke the speed of sound. Well, technically it was moving at a little over five thousand meters per second, so closer to fifteen times the speed of sound, but same difference. Of course, I realized that 'safe' was a subjective term. Applejack winced as the shockwave from the balloon impact reached us, then looked more than a little horrified at the broken remains of the lid as it fell out of the sky at the other end of the field, a good seven kilometers from where Pinkie had tossed it up. Twilight looked to me, and I nodded. “Target testing is a success. Move on to phase two with Applejack. Rarity’s next,” I reported, standing up again. Sending out the call towards her, I got a very distinct ‘one moment, dear’ back down the link. She was currently outfitting the guard armors, so I imagined she was pretty busy, yeah. Applejack perked up at that, then asked, “Phase two? We saw Pinkie’s an’ Rainbow’s upgrades, but Ah don’t think there’s exactly ah ‘safe’ way ta test mine out further…” Twilight gave a giggle and waved her hoof towards the mare instead. “Relax, we kept the prototype cannon,” she revealed, sliding a rather small gun over that wasn’t much larger than the harness Applejack was in. Getting the shield layering and magical acceleration to work had been a serious pain, having taken over an hour, and several cases of ‘almost swearing’ accidents. To work with just the physics involved, we had it firing little orbs of water instead, at a much lower velocity, thankfully. Nodding, I called Pinkie as well, who came bounding over within seconds, looking ecstatic. “Yeah, getting hit by those things might sting a little, but it won’t do any lasting damage that taking a shower wouldn’t. Regardless, phase two is live fire. Pinkie, your system is entering phase three at the same time. You’re up…” I announced, nodding over to Applejack. “Yes!” the pink one shouted, then flipped backwards, balanced for a moment entirely upright while standing on her forelegs, then flipped back off them with a small push, landing on all fours again. “So ready for this! You’re on, Applejack!” she dared instead, a moment later. The orange mare looked momentarily surprised before smirking and narrowing her eyes, the prototype gun floating into the air next to her and locking on. “Fine. Ya wanna do this this way, Ah won’t disappoint ya,” she almost growled, grin widening as Pinkie’s did. They stared at each other for several seconds before the cannon suddenly whipped in and fired right at Pinkie! The mare was already turning, however, her back right hoof lashing out and hitting the orb of water in the air. The glowing disk that coated the underside of her hoof flared with energy as the blast of charged water smashed off to the side, spraying glowing water. Oh boy… * * * * * Fluttershy gave a little shiver as I adjusted the wing enchantments on her back. “Mmm, that tickles. I, um… I’m not sure if I can do this, though, Mender,” she murmured, looking uncertain as she glanced back over her right shoulder at me. Pinkie’s hysterical laughter nearby made it hard to consider her statement. The pink one flipped, spinning as she blocked two more shots, then knocked aside a faint energy ball sent from Rarity as well. Everything that was shot or thrown at her, she was deflecting with her hooves as she flipped and spun, rolled, and jumped. It was quite amazing to watch, her own enchantments maximizing her speed and agility, while attaching the disks to each of her hooves. Rarity’s ‘ribbon network’ enchantment took advantage of her extreme magical precision, allowing her to control a flowing ribbon of individual attacking units that grew as long as she desired it to be. Setting up complex attack patterns were a lot easier with that. The surprising part was that Pinkie was taking attacks from both her and Applejack’s guns, and still hadn’t even been grazed. She was sweating now, but so were they as they continued the running, gunning, and blasting that they’d been doing for the last twenty minutes. My focus shifted back to Fluttershy after, and I gave her an assuring smile. “Fluttershy, we talked about this. You did get passing grades and excellent marks in the normal flight school courses after first year. You also got notes of excelling in midair stability,” I reminded, sliding my hooves up off the enchantment to instead softly massage her shoulders. She gave a little exhale, closing her eyes again as she leaned back against me fully. “I just… you know what I’m like, Mender. Um, I panic. It…” she muttered, feelings of frustration drifting down the link towards me. Giving her a gentle nuzzle, I reminded, “You also don’t stay behind when things you love are in danger, I recall. I have every ounce of faith in you that you can pull this off, flawlessly. All of Equus is in danger now, and I know you’re not going to stand for that. You also know the safety tethers that Twilight and I have set up. I’m not going to put any of you in danger over this…” If I had my way, nopony would be put in danger. While having the six of them there with me also gave access to the Elements of Harmony, I was somewhat reluctant to actually suggest firing it. Picking up on just the residual energy from the Elements was how the other dimension found Equus in the first place. I didn’t want to even think about the residual energy left behind from actually firing them off in the other dimension entirely… Her soft nuzzle under my chin snapped me out of it, and I relaxed against Fluttershy again. She murmured softly, then licked the underside of my neck before admitting, “After you’re done with our upgrades, we should all get some rest. We didn’t end up sleeping last night.” I swallowed weakly, then nodded. The plans were in motion, and their upgrades were my last steps for it. I looked over at the three of them fighting still, and slowly agreed with, “All right. Once Twilight’s enchantment is completed, I’ll rest. You guys can go rest now, of course.” Applejack stopped shooting and instead glared over at me, shaking her head rapidly. “No way! We gotta practice as much as we can with these new thingies, an’ if yer still workin’, so are we!” she declared stubbornly, stomping her hoof down in front of her. The vibrations were felt over here from the impact, and she gave a jump of surprise, sheepishly looking down at the ground in front of her with a soft blush appearing. Okay, that was adorable. My proximity alert went off before I could fully open my mouth to reply. I didn't have time to fully turn and look before a distorted after image of a cyan pegasus shot in, her own inertia field causing a full color spectrum that washed off from the two massive jet streaks her wings had become. The distortion settled, sliding in next to me as she spun in the dirt, the field around her lessening before fading entirely and letting her connect to the ground again. She wore a huge smirk, of course. "This, is, awesome! We're going to kick their flanks all over space!" she declared, excitedly hopping back and forth on her left and right sides. Well, some of us were tired, anyway. How she wasn’t was beyond me. I’d upgraded her after learning that pegasi had an inertia shield to help them with g-force dampening, boosting it as well as hooking her effects directly into her Ether Furnace that had developed in her back. That may have been a bad idea, but the full effects would prove or disprove that in the near future, I imagined. She was… Well, she was quite a bit faster now, and much better at turning and managing her own speed. "That's the general idea. The more overwhelming advantages we have over them, the better. Them thinking we're 'defenseless' is a nice advantage right from the start," I agreed. In theory, overkill was actually a very good thing. Use your best weapons and techniques right out of the gate, before your enemy even realizes you're attacking yet, and crush them without mercy. It was the best way to ensure victory and safety in this case. Twilight listened to me for a moment before looking more fully at me, eyes locked upon mine. "I... Be truthful, Mender. You know these creatures. What opposition are we really looking at?" she asked cautiously, sounding uncertain. I considered it for a moment, well aware of their tactics and strategies, but missing a crucial piece of information. Sighing, I explained, "It depends. If they treat this as a standard invasion, we're looking at what they call a 'Preliminary Invasion Force'. They're methodical to a fault in their tactics. The PIF consists of a flagship, three supporting bombardment warships, and a support fleet for all four vessels that ranges between forty to seventy fighters and bombers each. It's the same force that destroyed the Keldarian's home planet with the 'Planet Buster' beams from the bombardment warships." "Planet Buster?" Rarity asked, stepping back towards the group with her two sparring mates following her. Slowly, I nodded to them as they approached. They were all sweaty now, Rarity and Pinkie breathing hard. Applejack less so, but I imagined she was more adjusted to physical labor. “It’s a particle beam, basically. It fires a stream of high density tachyons at the planet they’re targeting. That’s a quantum particle that moves faster than light. They collide violently with the atmosphere once pulled into real-space, causing molecules to literally fuse with them. The process is called fusion, and it releases an immense amount of energy from the impact. But the stream just keeps going, punching a large hole down through the atmosphere and blazing a trail downwards. It ignites localized parts of the atmosphere, then just crashes through the crust of the planet. They use it when they want to make sure there’s nothing really left of the planet in question,” I explained. We didn’t have the secret of their tachyon generators. In the small handful of skirmishes won, the ships always activated self-destruct mechanisms to obliterate all the vital technology before we could even get close. Rarity looked suitably horrified before asking, “How barbaric! So they basically just blow everything up until the planet rips apart?!” Err, well, yeah, actually. That was about the sum of it. Dash’s nose twitched. “That… sounds kinda cool, but kinda bad at the same time. So, uh, how do we stop that?” she asked after, looking over to me again expectantly. I nodded, then revealed, “Tachyons are weird. We don’t know much about them at all. I think our allies knew more, but they never shared the secrets of their FTL engines, so I don’t know. The Keldarians developed their own FTL drives using fabricated crystals made from these crystals taken from Equus…” I gestured down to one of the many scattered prismatic shards near me. Twilight picked one up and examined it again before appending, “They built the display device using these. When it exploded and tore open the temporary hole, some of the crystals fell through alongside Gemstone Weave…” Looking at her, I swallowed lightly, then gave a single nod to that. “Yes. That was the event that did it. But the point originally was that we only know the very, very basics of how tachyons function. Apparently they chill in subspace for most of their existence, and have some sort of intrinsic link with it. When weaponizing them, we’ve discovered that they have to be within a certain gradient of gravity with their target before they can fire. We’ve seen them try to do desperation shots from outside of that gradient. The tachyons never enter real-space, however, and the beam passes right through the planet instead, entirely harmless,” I revealed after, nodding back over at Dash. Her ears perked, and she gave me a nod, causing her colorful mane to flick to the other shoulder. “Got it! So don’t let them get close to Equus…” she assured, smirking again now. I smiled too and decided to add the last bit. “That, and the charging coils for the cannons produce so much heat that they’re mounted externally. We can also blow them up before they even think about getting in range…” I tacked on. Her grin widened, of course. Yeah, I figured she’d like that option. Twilight was taking notes, of course, looking them over as she examined the rough drawings she’d made of the ships I described. I gave her the dimensions, too, of course, and where all the parts were that were important on it. Knowing what to smash was a vital bit of a successful battle strategy. She looked them over again, then glanced back to the large map that Keela had passed over of the area in question, marked off with quadrants. “So what’s the overall plan, then, so far? Not the actual tactics stuff we already went over, but the strategy,” she asked a moment later. I flicked the projection overlay down with a thought, setting up the strategy so far. The area that contained the proper sync ratio with Equus was highlighted in red a moment later. “This area we have to keep the enemy out of at all cost. Major defensive perimeter. Chances are, the support vessels are going to be too small to initiate a dimensional transfer. That would be impractical, so our goal is to prevent one of the four larger ships from reaching that zone,” I explained. “And if they get through…” Fluttershy asked, sounding uneasy at the thought. I slowly shook my head to that, though. “Our strategy is to halt them on their side, but we have plans in effect for if that fails. It will become a lot harder, however. Once they’re through the bottleneck that’s the portal area, we’re not going to be able to focus on one kill zone anymore. We’d be at a strategic disadvantage then, but hardly defenseless,” I assured. Princess Celestia had also made reference to a last ditch effort strategy she was working on, but I hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with her about it yet, so I left it off the table for now. Applejack gave a firm nod regardless. “Then, they won’t get through. What’s our strategy, assumin’ they don’t?” she asked after, leaning down and looking the map over. Nodding to her, I gestured back to the map again. “Extensive. They assume we’re defenseless. They’ll expect, us having been warned about it, to set up some sort of defense on this side of the portal and attempt to use the gate itself as a kill zone, probably. That’s the best defensive measure I myself could come up with at first. Which is why our current strategy is going to be deployed,” I explained. Rainbow nodded, then summarized with, “They expect us to roll over and try to fend them off, not fly down their throat and tear them apart on the other side of the portal…” I activated to overlay with that, showing a directional arrow, then circling several of the larger planet chunks around the battlefield. “We have significant speed and mobility with our main attack force. Abusing that will carry us quite a ways. Shielding also doesn’t work statistically well with smaller ships versus objects of significant mass. These planet bits can be detonated with primary weapon fire, creating temporary clouds of high density debris around the field of operations,” I pointed out, then animated one to ‘detonate’ on the display, showing it turning into multiple smaller shards. Twilight looked it over for a moment, frowning at that. “You’re… ooooh, it’s denying them from entering those areas for a while, splitting up their forces,” she deduced, causing me to smirk and nod. “Defeat in Detail,” I explained, followed by, “Split up the enemy’s force so we can engage them in smaller chunks at a time and defeat them with overwhelming firepower with minimal risk to ourselves. They won’t be anticipating a defenseless species to try this strategy at all. My intent is to cause significant if not catastrophic damage to their forces before they even realize we’re attacking. Further, the debris from the explosions, and Keela’s own magical prowess, will help significantly limit their detection, causing mass confusion, ideally.” I didn’t like Keela saying she was going to help, but it was pretty much the only way I’d calmed her down enough to not just shoot herself and cut the link regardless. Pinkie nodded rapidly as she looked over the map. “Riiight, because our goal isn’t really to even beat them, right? We just gotta make them give up and run away, which gives us time to bring Keela over here and remove the link!” she reminded. True. We were technically only responding to them to buy time. Keela was almost ready with her generator on that side as well. With the new crystal supply we’d be bringing with us, she’d be able to upgrade the generator in probably less than an hour and create a stable portal for the ship to use. I switched the map over again to show the detonation paths of all the major chunks, then nodded. “She magically covers us, if possible, then we move in from the flanks, separate out large chunks of their forces and systematically destroy them as fast and decisively as we can. The main force holds the defensive line of course, which they’ll either try to rush or use bombardment tactics against. We have counters for both options, especially a rush, which they’ll pay heavily for. I’m also hoping our flank attack will push them into such a strategy,” I revealed, gesturing to the map again and showing the arrow displays of the enemies moving forward into our defensive position. Twilight smiled, nodding at the plan overall. “This… is far more than anyone on Equus I think could come up with. War and battles on this scale is something, well, that was theoretical before this. It was a concept. Something to be avoided at all costs. So, well, we’re lucky to have you, Mender. Thank you,” she suddenly spoke up, causing me to widen my eyes a little. Rarity snickered and cut me off before I could fully register what she said, however. “And no, she isn’t implying that your usefulness is in your ability to plan out this war bit. We value you for you, with your skills simply compounding upon that,” she assured, winking and causing Twilight to give a sheepish smile. “Of course!” she assured, then coughed lightly and nuzzled into my side. I blushed a little, feeling her fur on mine and the heat it generated. Fluttershy giggled, and the pearly unicorn now next to me on the other side smirked at that. “Oooh, a decent effort, Twilight. Covering up a mistake by wooing your mate is definitely a viable tactic,” Rarity purred in compliment, causing the lavender Alicorn to flail at her, turning almost red in the cheeks. After a moment of fluster, she pouted, then yelped, “Rarity! That wasn’t what I was trying to… ugh, just, never mind. It’s, uh, my turn, right?” She looked to me after asking, still looking a bit flustered, but I just chuckled and nodded. “Fluttershy’s about as synced up as I can get her for her enchantment, so yeah, you’re up next. Then we’re calling it a break…” I warned, giving a tired yawn. I’d started running on fumes over two hours ago. Looking up, I noted the sun was slowly sinking on the horizon, and sighed. Tents were set up all over the field now, lights blazing in the dark from the fires. I still heard ponies talking left and right, too. It was a ‘charged’ situation, of sorts, and sleep would be fitful until we were past it, I suspected, for better or worse. Twilight nodded, giving me a smile as she slid forward and settled in front of me as well, right next to Fluttershy. “I agree. Let’s get my enchantment done with and then rest up for tomorrow!” she assured, resting against Fluttershy as my hooves lit up again. “All right. More practice tomorrow, then, and resting up before that night,” I confirmed, and then started working on her enchantment… * * * * * I gave an uneasy sigh, my eyes watching as a few leaves drifted past. I stood on the small wooden platform overlooking three hundred and fifteen stoic looking guards. My armor was fully extended as well, silvers and blues shining in the dawn light. We were almost out of time. If things went poorly, this would be the last sunset that Equestria saw. Refocusing my attention, I turned and looked back out on the crowd, watching them as Shining Armor stood a few meters to my right, going over our strategy and pointing to various areas on the large chalkboard map we had set up on the platform. To my other side stood all six Element Bearers, including the newly crowned princess. That would take some getting used to as well, I imagined. And suddenly, I was a prince. Someone shoot me. Wait, no, never wish for that before going into battle… Looking past Shining, I saw all three other princesses, watching the presentation carefully. They would be staying here, with Tia and Luna managing overhead and strategy on this side, and Cadance bringing in a huge amount of relief effort for all of the guards. Both food and medical supplies were being managed by Cadance during the event, on this side. Unlikely, but we also had medical tents set up, just in case they were needed. So far, our only injury had been misuse of training equipment. I think the training dummy fell on him. I never got the story straight… Everything matched, regardless. Looking up at the board and lines of chalk, I realized I felt perfectly confident in my plan, and our tactics. Our equipment and enchantments were tested and proven. I’d gotten some sleep with Fluttershy’s and Twilight’s help, and a full breakfast courtesy of Applejack. Rarity had even combed me and straightened my mane, to make me ‘look presentable for the guards.’ Now I felt strong, and ready, standing up here on stage in my armor. Maybe it helped that a light coursing of adrenaline hummed through me. Hanging on to the positive feelings, I kept it close to my heart as I watched him finish up the strategic briefing. “So, all that said, you all understand our goal, the plan, and the risks involved. I’m going to be absolutely blunt with you all…” Shining continued, stomping his hoof down before stepping forward towards the edge of the stage and looking out at the sea of guards. A few reporters were there, too, solemnly taking notes as they watched. Snapshot was in the front row, taking pictures of us and Shining as he spoke, of course. Spike sat next to her, looking significantly less sure of himself than the rest of the guards present. He’d be helping Cadance on this side with organization and taking care of the guards. Admittedly, he looked quite imposing and professional in his full armor, helmet at his side. He nodded out at them once more after a long moment of scanning the crowd. “To be completely honest, if we fail here, this is the last day that Equus will see. If we fail here, it will mean the end of our history and culture. If we fail here… We will be erased from history, and every single one of our loved ones, and the very planet that we care for so much, will follow us,” he warned, stoic eyes burning out over the crowd. I saw hesitation in a few, but not a single guard dared even flinch with him watching. He nodded to them all, going silent as he paced to the right. “If we fail here, it will be the end, and the last day this planet sees. If we fail here, it will be exactly the same as if Discord had won. If we fail here, it would be like Nightmare Moon had won,” he continued, finally slowing and turning in the other direction again, walking back towards the setting sun as a smirk built up on his muzzle. Ears perked. I could see guards draw curious, and I smiled. “But Discord didn’t win. King Sombra didn’t win. Nightmare Moon was banished, returning our beloved Princess Luna to our sides. We stood fast through all of those events, again and again. When they first appeared, and when they returned and were defeated by our very own Element Bearers. The Elements of Harmony, which are the embodiments of everything true and just in this great world!” he declared, stamping his hoof down in the same instant. The stomp echoed out through the entire crowd in a wave, each guard shifting more determined as they repeated the gesture. He nodded curtly towards them all, then turned again, walking back into the darker part of the stage. “They did not win. The very spirit of our land has touched upon these mares and magnified their virtues. They’re standing next to us even now, but I will not let them walk into the dark alone. Those enemies of old did not win. They made us stronger, and we’re going to show that to this new enemy. We’re going to march directly into the storm itself, and they will not win!” he shouted, stomping down again. It echoed twice through the crowd of guards this time, their modified armor glowing in the dark as a shout went up to match his. Shining Armor smiled again, turning back into the light and walking forwards once again, his armor almost blazing now in the glowing sunset. He walked along, smiling for a moment only, then called out, “We’re marching out now, right into the storm of their hatred, anger, and greed. Each and every one of you is making new history for our great world. Something to protect and hold dear. We will not back down and let them destroy that. We will not let them hurt what we love. We’re going to show them exactly what Equus’ light looks like, then burn them with it. By tomorrow’s daybreak, they will learn to run at the sight of our light!” They exploded into shouts and cheers, drowning out everything as Shining stomped down with both his front hooves. I felt the tingling in my chest myself, and smirked to him as he looked back at me, returning it. He nodded, and I mimicked his gesture, looking to the right after at the surprised looking Keela in my view screen. “Open the nexus…” I ordered, looking right at her. She hesitated, then gave me a smile instead as she reached down and hit three more keystrokes. “Nexus is opening. T-Minus twenty seconds and counting. Links establishing,” she confirmed, giving me a nod as the sky above us distorted, a purple, scintillating miasma of light shining down over the entire field. My energy readings picked up the distortion, and synced it with the outputs Keela was sending me. It was building just as anticipated. I looked back to Shining Armor and nodded once again. He turned, then shouted out over all of their stomping with only two words. “We march!” It echoed, and they all exploded with another deafening cheer. I swallowed, my own adrenaline riding high as I looked up into the dark and swirling purple. No, nobody threatened those I loved. We’re coming for you, Nirru, and this time, you didn’t have the ability to log out…
Ending 1It's really difficult to grasp exactly how large space is. The easiest way to fully understand it was actually through the opposite, by realizing exactly how small you were. Slowly, I stepped out of the distortion, feeling reality 'roll' me out into this place and my hooves finding purchase on the rock beneath me. And all around me, really. Some were the size of a car, and other floating chunks were as big as moons. Reality was slightly tinted now, my eyes covered in the crystal lenses that folded seamlessly out of my skin. My dermal layer made me immune to the effects of atmospheric differences up to a few thousand atmospheres anyway, so as long as I didn't fall into a black hole... or turn into a black hole... I should be fine. I'd been here before, of course. This was the same spot we'd entered into the last time Rainbow and I had skipped through dimensions. The long cold, broken remains of ship parts drifted around me as well, evidence that the Grosh hadn't bothered returning for the wreckage of their fallen comrade. It only added to the miasma of debris that was in the localized space, thin atmosphere still present causing an eerie effect of being able to hear faint echoing sounds in the otherwise silence. Heavily muted, given that it was probably dozens of tons of rock crashing into each other somewhere in this mess. Given a few million years or so, assuming our star didn't go supernova or something otherwise drastic, this would probably be a planet again. Gravity had a way of attracting things together like that. It didn't bring the inhabitants back, of course, but they were in a better place now. Marginally. Well, about a third of them, anyway. I didn't think the afterlife was quite as clear cut here as it was in Equus. Keela's ship rested amongst the debris. This was as close as I'd gotten to her since leaving this dimension, I suddenly realized. I looked the ship over, noting it was heavily repaired since it was attacked by the Grosh. The missing wing had been simply welded over, converting the usual 'C' shape of the mining vessel to more of a banana shape instead. It would have to do, though. It didn't comfort me in the slightest to see the rudimentary missile pods and lasers strapped to it either. Instead, I looked out through the debris. My eyes zoomed in, telescopic lenses rotating into place as I magnified several hundred times across the open space. My stomach felt cold as I saw them. It was a full preliminary invasion force. I counted three main siege ships, about four times larger than the science vessel Rainbow and I had taken out. That put them at about eight kilometers long, and about one wide. They were armed to the teeth with standard armaments, and each carried two planet buster particle cannons. Worse yet, there was a flagship present. It was easily twelve kilometers long, and two wide. Three times the firepower and probably just as impressive shielding and armor. Accompanying the four giants were around two hundred support vessels, varying in size between a kilometer long to the seven meters or so. This wasn't going to be easy. Thankfully, I already assumed it wouldn't be and prepared accordingly. Keela flicked onto my display on the right side, picture absurdly crystal clear. She looked tense, which was understandable, but gave me a nod and weak smile. "Seeing you right here is... There are a lot of emotions running through me right now..." she admitted, sighing a little. I smirked to her and nodded. "Don't worry. We can talk face to face once you're safely in Equus and we've kicked their flanks all over space..." I assured, 'looking' right at her. She relaxed a little, then smirked back, which was exactly what I was trying for. If I was stuck being a 'leader' here, I had to at least appear confident. I was confident, but clear-headed. That familiar cold sensation had already set in, making everything seem crisp and focused. Emotions lessened, and my head got very active as I embraced the sensations. Thinking during combat, especially when I was also the tactician, was a must. The amused snort over short feed communications to my right alerted me that they'd also made it through. Rainbow walked up next to me, wearing a coy grin as she looked out right at the target fleet instead. "Psh, ha! Seriously? That's all they brought?! I was expecting three times that number. We'll have this wrapped up before supper!" she chirped, snickering afterwards. Not that I really needed to act confident when I was entirely overshadowed by my companions anyway. But they were way more used to the spotlight than I, so they were welcome to it. All six of them were in emergency harnesses similar to mine, the leather bands wrapping over their backs to secure the air tanks, then down and around their stomach to lock together. There were a half a dozen extra straps, however, including one that slid back behind their rumps and under them there, and another two that went around their shoulders, one going under their forelegs along their chests, and the other forming a sort of collar around their necks. Once padded, I’m told the harness of sorts formed the bases for what a construction pony wore for protection, and what the guard’s armor locked onto as a support frame. Theirs was just the strappings, however, for it was lined with strands of silver that the Ether flowed through, supplying energy for the enchantment covering them in a thin layer of pressure-resisting barrier energy. All of it was supplied by the heavy crystals on their chest, also enchanted with an emergency teleportation spell, just in case. I was proud of throwing all that together on such short notice! "Rarity?" I asked, but she gave me a smooth nod before I could even continue my train of thoughts. "Feed back to Equestria is loud and clear, it says. Further, our 'selfie' cams are working properly. That's such a cute name, by the way! I don't imagine you came up with it yourself, did you?" she reported, smirking after as I gave her an annoyed look back. Applejack snickered, causing her smirk to instantly falter into a glare as well, aimed at the orange mare. She shot a wink back to the unicorn in return, then reminded, "Mender can be plenty cute when he wants ta be. Ah admit, when he's serious-like, Ah doubt he'd have come up with tha name, so yer probably right. But Ah know ya know about that cute bit..." Oh hell. Nope, changed my mind. Didn't care. Shoot me now. That left both Rarity and me blushing furiously, but Fluttershy just giggled as she caught up with me, Pinkie doing long, slow hops next to her in the 'almost' zero gravity. I nodded to all of them, just as Twi brought up the rear, wings flicking lightly as she looked over the glowing display that floated after her. Rarity had control points floating all around us in her own custom system, of course, controlled by her ribbon effect. Some acted as cameras for the ponies back in Equestria, while the others displayed small holographic information panels on barrier surfaces. Same tech my orb system worked on, and it was all networked into me. "I'm seeing several larger chunks that are suitable for our needs, as well as several hundred smaller pieces, also useful," Twilight reported, straight to business as I'd expected. My cheeks calmed down and I gave her a nod, looking out and around at the bits of planet around us. Useful indeed. Nodding, I inquired, "And how's thing's Equus-side?" Rarity gave me a pleased, toothy smile and nod a moment later, after checking her own data screens. It had been fairly simple yesterday to use their already existing nanites to install small 'display' upgrades in their eyes. Now they could get computer projections like I could, all linked through my computer systems. "Connection loud and clear. Patching us through to Cadance," she reported, yet another window opening in my vision. I looked to it, immediately spotting Cadance in the image, mid-shout. "No, move the first aid supplies over there! I want easy access for all of the doctors and nurses, just in case!" she shouted, then perked as she spotted the orb drifting around her. Twilight grinned to her, and she winked back before assuring, "I know it's on your checklist, Dear, but everything is running smoothly here. We have Equus' best assistant on the case, remember?" Spike, who was all of three meters from her, wasn't quite out of earshot and blushed, smirking back in her direction. "Of course! Just double checked, and all readings from the generator are nominal. I'll report any strange readings immediately! All of the three hundred guard stations are also online and displaying ready status!" he assured, gesturing to the large display in front of him that was hooked into the main systems. Cadance was in charge of the staff directly tending to the guards, as well as all the medical staff that was there. Spike, meanwhile, was in direct contact with Twilight and keeping a close eye on the magical and technological equipment in Equus for us. Given his vast experience with being Twilight's number one assistant, there was literally nopony more qualified. The lavender alicorn gave a relaxed sigh, then nodded to the dragon. "I'm glad. Keep an eye on things and page me immediately if there are any abnormalities. And good work, Cadance. We're counting on you to keep everything in order there..." she confirmed, smiling more softly again. The Princess of Love snickered, then gave a hoof motion and exhale towards Twi, who nodded and repeated it, visibly calming down. Cadance gave a nod in return finally after, then assured, "I'm on it. I've got to go check on the engineering team to make sure they're ready for the activation then. Once things start, I'll be right here with Spike, don't worry." I nodded to her, smiling as well as the screen flicked off again with a little static, then blip noise. There were several beeps after that, and our Keldarian ally on this end gave an annoyed growl. Raising my eyebrow to her through the viewscreen again, she noticed my attention and nodded. If it was what I figured it would be... Keela sighed, then warned, "We're being hailed. I'm patching it through..." Of course. If we could see them... "You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Nirru asked, sounding a mixture of surprised and amused over the intercom. She then continued with, "The deal was that they go onto the vessel, Sister. That's the only way I'm sparing them. Not that I really care that much about seven tiny ponies out on the rocks in space, but it was indeed part of my very reasonable and remarkably charitable-" Ugh. That offer to shoot me still stood. "Oh, shut up," I finally interrupted, giving an annoyed stare in the direction of the ship, then added, "I think you just like to hear the sound of your own voice. Nopony here cares about anything you have to offer, unless it's a surrender. You have one... single... chance. Turn around now. You can't log out this time." Her image on the data display as it finally patched through was priceless, expression shifting from smug to outright surprised. Then there was a flicker of hesitation in her eyes before they narrowed. She didn't look so great actually, now that I looked her over more in the camera shot Keela’s magic offered. She had a deep gash that looked barely patched shut running into the collar of her space suit, and multiple scars across her neck and face. The lines were jagged, definitely not made by anything all that sharp, and I immediately guessed shrapnel. Guess her pick-up by her 'saviors' hadn't been as gentle as she'd anticipated. "You little bastard. You're taking my offer and just throwing it away, huh? I guess your ego isn't going to let you just step aside," she spat out, hitting a few keys on her dash. The ships started moving into position, and I nodded once. Twilight's eyes softened slightly at the sign, and I saw the energy shift in her horn ever so slightly. The data panel lit up, and I felt the massive energy engines that were constructed just on the other side of reality hum to life. Thanks, Dad. I'll blow up a Grosh warship for you. Keela glared at her at that. "I was wrong, Sister. There's nothing good in you left at all, is there? This isn't ego. Compassion, honor, and duty are all I see. They're willing to stand against you to protect their loved ones, which is something you can't even understand, can you? And they're right..." she declared. I smirked, and Nirru's eyes widened as Keela stood up in her display, the camera panning back to catch all of her as she stepped back from the console. Her controls folded away, data displays shifting purely holographic as they expanded around her from multiple floating orbs. The lights in the command center dimmed entirely, then shifted red as the entire vessel went into battle mode, weapons activating over the entire thing as her crew turned and faced their stations all around her. Her outfit was finally revealed, and I was surprised she'd brought one with her. Segmented plates covered her vital areas, with skin-tight synthetic rubber underneath covering her whole body. Blue lines, glowing with fiery energy, ran the full length of the armor. An Amplification Battle Armor. Keldarians invented it a half a dozen years ago in order to magnify their natural spellcasting abilities. They were rare, though, due to the expensive materials that formed the magnification lines. She'd found two in the supplies they'd acquired when they first appropriated the mining vessel. We found no trace of them in the logs of the ship, and still had no idea what they were even doing there. Tym stood in the background wearing the second one, which scared me just about as much. He was disgustingly powerful, but sometimes I forget that Keela was a full council member, which actually put her magic abilities a rank above his. "You're... going to fight me, too, Sister?" Nirru asked, frowning in the display, a look of momentary sadness almost rapidly passing through her expression. Keela's scans finally came through, showing her as indeed the only living entity on the entire flagship. The other three siege ships had three Grosh each, which was standard. They didn't like sacrificing their own, so most of their vessel designs were heavily automated. Their life support was also immensely expensive, logistically, to maintain, so it made sense. Keela shook her head slowly, her suit flaring up with energy. I was surprised Nirru hadn't noticed the lines were already glowing, which would have indicated that her sister had been using her magic already the entire time. "No, Sister. You're going to leave, surrender, or we're going to destroy you. I cannot forgive you this time, and I'm not going to lie to myself any longer..." she muttered, swallowing weakly and blinking away the water forming in her eyes before glaring upwards again. Her hand moved. "Fire," Nirru growled, on edge already apparently. Space lit up in the direction of the enemy fleet. Seven intense beams of energy streaked across the distance in less than a hundredth of a second, shattering through the mining vessel in multiple places and almost blowing it in half. Parts of it exploded violently, ripping apart and sending bits of debris into space. Nirru frowned, but I just turned and looked back to the enemy fleet instead, not all that surprised. She was willing to attempt to kill her sister to achieve her goals. That told me all I needed to know. "It's too late, Sister," Keela warned calmly. The almost destroyed mining vessel warped and faded away in a distortion of light, eight copies of it warping back into place randomly in the five kilometer radius of space we were guarding. She'd never been there to begin with, and her magic was strong enough to fool organic and electronic senses alike. Nirru snorted at that, shaking her head before finally shooting back with, "It doesn't matter. Your illusion and clairvoyance magic isn't going to win this fight. And seven ponies aren't going to be enough to-" "Not just seven," I assured, then gave another nod. We'd stalled long enough now. The rocks were fully tagged and the engine was charged entirely. Further, we had two full charges of magic ready now, and the plan was set. Time to trigger it and take full advantage of her blinding overconfidence. Keela's magic had been in effect the entire time. The spell was maintained over the entire area, and she manipulated the senses everywhere within. The rocks were already warping around us as my master enchantment fired off. The echoing creaks and groans shattered the peace of space, absurdly loud even through the thin, almost non-existent atmosphere around us. My eyes widened, feeling the energy surge through me from our Ether Engine back in Equus. My magic flooded out in all directions, warping the fabric of the rocks nearby in my already pre-determined pattern. All I needed to do was channel it. For a moment, I knew what Twilight felt like for most of her life. An ocean of magic passed through me, directed by my pattern and spell. For that brief moment, my blue and silver energy cascaded outwards like a small sun on the surface of the rock we were on. Except it wasn't a rock anymore. I tore the mineral deposits from the very chunks of planet around us. Stepping forward, my hooves made clanging noises on metal suddenly, a full sized command center forming around me out of the rocks. It came together blindingly fast, etched from the pattern and flowing like water until it solidified. Impossibly huge, I directed five pieces of the actual continental shelf under us to break apart, drawing in literally billions of kilograms of matter. It was beyond intense, and I gritted my teeth as it flowed through me with the force of a waterfall from space. All of my training aided in simply letting it slide through me, and a bead of blood still slid from my nose, spikes of pain shooting through my skull. The blueprints were all ready to go in the mechanical parts of my mind. Metal, mechanics, instruments, generators... A mixture of technology and magic to form the universe's first hybrid space vessel, all in about twenty seconds. My eyes opened again, wafting energy radiating off my body as I stood in the fully formed command center of our flagship. Six kilometers long, and one and a half wide, we fit the mass specifications of a 'dreadnought' class warship, the second largest classification of space vessels the Keldarians had. "Rest, Mender. We have it from here..." Twilight assured, stepping past me. Inside the vessel, Keela's illusion had been dropped, and I smirked as I saw her literally radiating with lavender and darker red energy, her eyes two beacons of light. Her horn was expanded from her head by my enchantment, and I counted over seventy increments as it split itself eight times, branching off her horn like a single, exotic antler instead. Magnification. I'd taken her enchantment concept from Sweetie's design, and ran with it. Twilight's was unbound, causing branching 'horns' the more energy she channeled, and magnifying her natural energy levels by a factor of five. It scared the hell out of me, and I was rather glad she was on our side. Dash grinned from her spot in the back and nodded. "Oh yeah! Engines, on!" she announced. I 'felt' the back part of the ship light up, looking like six large 'wings' expanding backwards, and based off Rainbow's own enchantment. She was in full control over it, and it was wired right into our main engine clusters. She controlled our speed completely. "S-Stabilization, on!" Fluttershy added, giving a nod and a surprisingly focused look as her wings lit up as well, expanding ten fold off her back in lines of energy. She stood slightly in front of Rainbow, behind me still, and the cyan mare grinned at her as she activated her enchantment. The two massive stabilization planes to either side of our ship lit up, radiating energy from the thrusters that were spread out along them. This vessel had easily twenty times the maneuverability of its weight class, and Fluttershy was in direct control of our movements, synced to Rainbow's reaction speed. Rarity smirked to my right, swishing her mane once to the side before declaring, "Subsystem and Ribbon Array, on." Thousands of spires activated and detached across our hull, floating free as hundreds of screens appeared around her. Her horn lit up, thousands of lines of energy expanding off it instead in a completely different enchantment than Twilight's. Multitasking and precision control, and every single spire reacted to her magic around our entire vessel. Of course, each spire also had a micromissile system and laser array for attacking purposes. Our main guns couldn't be expected to handle swarms of smaller craft accurately, after all. "Heee, main shields, so totally on!" Pinkie chipped in, hopping in place to my left inside of a sphere of energy. A spring platform sat in the center of the sphere where she stood, and four disks activated along the surface of the bubble, tracking the location of her hooves at all times. She grinned and did a rapid, effortless flip, causing our projection shields to expand around the vessel at the same time, the four concentrated Aegis Barriers following her hoof movements along the outside of our ship. Her own senses were hooked directly into the computer's as well, and it was already tested. Her Pinkie Sense worked at whatever range she experienced things at. This also scared me. I nodded, standing up straight again and wiping my nose off. "Data center and tactical overlay, on," I announced, my processing cores all activating at once, including the one I'd replaced to make up for the petrified one I'd lost. Sensor arrays activated across the entire ship, and I took over management of all of the electronic and computer systems therein. Maps opened up in front of me, and I nodded, just as we burst forward out of the illusion. To finalize it, I called out, "Royal Equestrian Spaceforce, RES Celestia reporting for duty." Tia had been saddened by the name, insisting that naming a mountain after her was already overkill, but Shining refused to listen. Heh. Nirru's eyes widened as a massive dreadnought with thirty times the speed and twenty times the maneuverability of the norm shot forward into space, seemingly out of ‘nothingness’, thanks to Keela’s illusion magic. No, she wouldn't even get time to react. "Applejack!" I called out. The orange mare was already at her station in front of us all, smirking. "Main batteries, on!" she declared. A hundred rail cannons folded out of our hull, her forelegs raising and causing them all to extend as her armor folded over her body. The harness activated, and I gave her the data stream of all of the rocks around the enemy fleet. "Openin’ fire," she announced, eyes flashing green for a moment. Faster than any targeting computer could manage, she 'felt' out each and every rock I'd selected. They were locked onto in half a second, and every single cannon fired at once. A hundred bright red apples sailed off into space, each moving at about fifty thousand meters a second, give or take. Even at that immense speed, it still took about four seconds for the barrage to reach the enemy fleet. "Apples?" Nirru managed to ask skeptically, a second before the now glowing fruit collided with the rocks and debris around them. "Shi-" she added, but it was drown out as the entire area lit up in massive explosions, undoubtedly erasing that skeptical look entirely, much to my satisfaction. Of course, the apples had been accelerated through about ten of my barriers on their way out of the cannons, which effectively put the energy they contained equal to about three hundred times what we were using in the tests earlier. The only thing that prevented them from exploding instantly was the sheer acceleration they'd been hit with before going through the barriers. "Now!" I shouted. Fluttershy gave a shout, whipping her wings downwards in an instant, just as Rainbow almost screamed as her own wings flared with energy. Then, for the first time ever, a six kilometer long dreadnought pulled a ninety degree 'backflip', blasting in reverse as hard as it could manage. Twilight smiled, her magic releasing the two hundred kilometer wide chunk of planet we'd been hauling, it passing under us at almost forty thousand meters a second. We rotated, and the lavender alicorn stepped into her station just in front of me. "Ether Furnace Main Cannon, on!" Twilight shouted, her horn radiating out light as it split momentarily into hundreds of branches. Damn. The entire bow of our ship opened up, just as we completed our 'flip'. A massive lock targeted the chunk of planet as it sailed right into the enemy fleet, and Twilight let out a loud bellow at the top of her lungs, her magic momentarily washing out my sight of the cabin around us. It all flooded right down the main barrel, twisted into as tight a corkscrew as she could manage. The beam of pure Ether still expanded out to almost a kilometer wide, tearing out of the front of the ship like a vast solar flare. There was no registered passage of time before it struck the chunk of planet in front of us, the explosion of energy ruptured across the mantle of the plate, and it fragmented, shattering into thousands of superheated chunks that blasted across the entire enemy fleet like a shotgun from Tartarus. My sensors were disrupted from the levels of heat and debris, and I nodded. "Move in for the kill from the right flank," I ordered. No mercy or hesitation now. I closed my eyes, feeling inside of myself at the same time. Smiling, I felt them, billions of eyes all opening at once at the same time as mine did again, feeling the stirring all around me. Twilight nodded, turning back and focusing on recharging the Ether Core while Fluttershy and Rainbow shot us around to the side, bits of burning planet fragments skipping off our shields as we moved... I sighed, and then swallowed before bracing myself. "Malice, awaken..." I finally announced. It was simple, really. We were surrounded by billions of kilograms of matter. We ultimately needed more than one ship to defend this large of an area. Ships needed pilots and crew. Solution! They formed ten at a time, less than two seconds per 'ship'. A base structure of my enchantment carried to a suitably sized rock by a few dozen Malice spirits. They pushed my magic into the rock, my awareness traveling with them all the way back to where we first entered. I could see through their eyes, which was a bit strange at first, just like when we tested this back in Equus. Together, they controlled the transmutation and animated the mechanisms. The crystal warped into its core a moment later, and the clear glass at the top lit up, the image of one of the three hundred guards back home. One by one, they powered up, mechanized ponies made out of bits of planet, each about seven meters tall, and piloted by a guard. Shields and lances formed, carried to each side of their shoulders, both enhanced with Aegis Barriers. The jets were the last to form, and I saw hundreds of trails light up behind us, spreading out over the entire area, then forming a massive Aegis Barrier all interlinked between the points on their shields like a great net. Well, a great net with sharp and pointy things sticking out everywhere, that were actually a combination of lance and cannon. Pony training was amazing fighting in phalanx, I'd discovered. "New technique, Aegis Net established," Twilight confirmed, looking over her data panel before looking back at me. Perfect. Nodding to her, I ordered, "Surprise advantage is ours. Move in for the kill, ponies!" No hesitation. Fluttershy whipped her wings to the side, and Rainbow flared hers with energy behind her. We were gone in an instant, rocketing through space and far to the right of the panicked enemy vessels. Shots were being fired almost randomly through the debris, which was actually doing an amazing job at making it worse, given they were hitting and exploding more of the chunks of planet, and incandescent plasma was drifting everywhere now. Of course, it was also making it kind of hard for us to get target acquisitions, but that didn't really matter. "Twilight?" I asked, checking my system displays. "Twenty seconds," she reported back, and I nodded. No time, then. "Applejack, can you feel them?" I asked instead. Several stray beams flew in while we skidded to the right, and I could have sworn I heard 'twitchy twitch' before three Aegis clusters whipped around and parried them. I saw her focus for a moment, then smirk. "Lively little buggers. Ah can see 'em clear as day with all tha movements they're doin'," she murmured, which was ironic given her eyes were closed. Not that she needed them to ‘see’ her targets, given that they were made out of metal in a complete void. A highly pure grade of metal, which apparently a skilled Earth Pony hooked up to a magical empathy amplifier could ‘feel’ instead. "Open fire, full barrage," I returned, flicking my display over to scans instead. The image feed showed Big Mac grin, then give a shove to the trough feed in Equus. Thousands of apples flooded down the troughs and right into the portal, my displays suddenly picking up on six thousand two hundred and fifty-three 'ammunition' quantities loaded into us. She got the green light and grinned, her magic feeling them out as the cannons opened fire. Each of them targeted individually with brutal precision, as she 'harvested' the enemy fleet with her magic. Apples sailed in-between rocks and timed to arc around minor gravity flows, each smashing almost dead on with their targets. The entire area in front of us suddenly was ablaze in burning orange orbs of flame. A few dozen ships shot through the fire, of course, flying towards us fast. Some were hit, but most of the second wave of apples missed due to evasive maneuvers. "Rarity, you're up. Applejack, switch to the frigates!" I ordered quickly. Rarity's horn lit up just as the fighters swarmed in... Most of them didn't swarm out. Spikes of crystal came alive like a thousand swords floating around our massive vessel, even as we charged through the cloud of fighters at thirty thousand meters per second. Her ribbons came alive, and her precision was absurd as she sliced and cut, ground and ripped. Some were cut in half entirely. More lost wings and thirds of their vessel. Every single one of them exploded violently when hit, leaving single digits left to the swarm as we carried through. "Twilight!" I called out, just as Fluttershy gave a sharp left and spun us away from one of the large planet bits. Pinkie was a blur, shields bouncing around the front of the vessel and parrying bits of rock as we shot into the cloud. "Ninety-eight percent!" she shouted back, her entire body burning with lavender energy as it flicked off the massive crystal orb in front of her. Almost! The third volley from our batteries fired, this time centered in clusters on the larger of the support ships as they turned to try to position guns on us. Flames lit up space in large orbs as dozens of them shattered away, and I heard a chorus of squeaky screams over the intercom from the first Grosh siege ship as they suddenly realized we were literally right there, practically within ramming distance. Missiles fired from the massive ship as we tore through their support like leaves to a shredder. As predicted, they opened up with every port they had, thousands of missiles flying free into space and homing in on us. I smiled. Right into the trap... "Flak," I ordered rather easily. Hundreds of pointed blades zipped around to the front of our ship as we sailed in, not slowing down even slightly. The missiles clustered in to get at our smaller vessel, and Rarity fired. Their barrage of missiles was met with thousands of shards of flickering energy, cascading like snow through space. Every one of her spires was capable of firing off a cluster of raw Ether shards for anti-missile protection. The waves of explosions removed all visibility in a heartbeat, washing away both visual and thermal sensors in a sea of fire. Fluttershy had her cue already rehearsed. She gave a surprisingly loud shout, at least for her, and whipped to the side, and we dipped into a barrel roll under the wave of flames. They didn't track us. Their bottom defenses didn't even come online by the time we shifted under them. At the speed we had been moving, any other ship in our size class would have been limited to just plowing through the flames. "Fire," I ordered, and Twilight smirked. My scans showed the inside of the ship through already established information. We had lined up with their formation perfectly with that roll, though, and I directed the angle upwards. We whipped out of our spin under them, the front of our bow already open and burning with energy. The lance of power ripped through space, smashing hard into the underside of the ship and punching right up through the space that I knew their main coil generator was located at. Being less dense than normal to account for the heat sinks, our main cannon ripped through it like wet tissue paper, punching straight out the other side of their ship at an angle upwards. They all screamed, and the entire center of the ship suddenly erupted into flames and shattering metal. The beam kept going, shattering into the other area of their formation and blowing right into the side of siege ship two, tearing into the exposed coil generator on the side that powered the left planet buster. The explosion was massive, rocking the entire ship to the side as it lurched, catering through several more parts of planet before hitting the third siege ship. The impact was immense, and another huge explosion rocked out from between them as the second siege ship shattered the coil generator on its other side as well, blowing the bottom out of the third ship. We shot past the first one in a heartbeat, Dash opening us up again to full speed. It exploded behind us, tearing itself into three pieces as it disintegrated under the heat of its own generator output going nova. Thirty seconds on the clock, one siege ship down, one incapacitated, and another reeling. Every support ship connected to the first siege ship had also disabled, as anticipated. We were ahead of schedule! Nirru knew we were behind her at this point. "You little bastards!" she screamed out, now seething with rage as she tried to rotate the flagship. We outclassed it about fifty times in speed, however, and our two pegasi worked in tandem, dropping us beneath the range of the upper guns and under the cluster of forces now above us. The bottom cannons opened fire, of course, but Pinkie was already moving before we even turned. Shields parried the five beams, instead sending them lancing across the scrambling support ships. "Charging?" Twilight asked, but I shook my head this time. "No time. Keep the second shot in reserve and power the batteries instead. Full cannon support," I ordered, just as we whipped under the two struggling siege ships as they tried to disengage from each other's hulls without destroying the third ship's planet busters. Heh. "Ah see tha soft spots!" Applejack murmured, looking up as all the batteries followed her gaze. I smirked. Pinkie giggled gleefully, flipping onto her front hooves as her two back ones parried another three beams. "Oooh, tickle their tummies, AJ!" she called out. I nodded to that, trying not to laugh. The cannons opened up again, this time the apples leaving burning streaks through space as Twilight flooded our attack systems with more power. Something was being screamed from the second siege vessel, my translator activating through Keela's relay with it. The Grosh native tongue was translated a moment later, coming up as, "You said the small equines were defenseless, feline whore!" Okay, I laughed. My eyes widened a moment later as the third ship did something mildly unexpected. It rotated instead. The cloud of apples that were incoming instead had the entire second ship 'flung' sideways into them. Dozens scored across the bottom of the second ship, blowing bits of paneling away and tearing off most of the lower armor, but none of them struck true to actually hit the generator as the ship rotated. Over half of them instead crashed into the badly damaged side, exploding mostly harmlessly off the ablative surfaces. Tch. "Evasive maneuvers, roll and get some distance. Twilight, start charging again," I ordered. No, save the other shot... charge again. Plus, our cannon probably couldn't survive the stored shot. At the angle of their rotation, we could dodge their ship, but that would bring us into line with their upper guns, which would hurt. No, better to go into the range of their smaller front bottom guns and get some distance. "Wait!" Applejack shouted, then called out, "One more burst under, everypony! Big Mac, load it!" Wait, what? Load what? Rainbow grinned, and suddenly I got a really bad feeling about this. But no, I trusted them, so I nodded and we lurched forward, rolling and flipping under the rotating ship again. Big Mac looked surprised on the viewscreen and swallowed uncomfortably, which really made me nervous, but then he tossed a single apple down the chutes a second later. I frowned, having never seen an apple like that before at all. It was surprisingly... colorful. "Load it, Twilight, an' charge just that cannon!" Applejack ordered, taking aim as we spun out under them and they opened fire with missiles instead. The alicorn flared with magic, radiating out power that shot right into only one cannon, smack in the middle of our upper deck. Applejack cried out, aiming as her eyes almost glowed with her magic, and the cannon roared to life, firing the apple at almost six times normal speed. Despite being well within the energy levels of the coils, the cannon literally tore itself apart as it fired. Uh... What... What had we just launched? The energy radiated out of the apple as it passed by the swarm of missiles as if they were standing still. They exploded in a long trail following the shot, and my eyes widened at the sheer level of energy put out by the fruit. "Full shields! Evade!" I shouted, Applejack squeaking as we rocked to the side and Pinkie landed on her back, slamming all four hooves together towards the departing apple's direction. There was no traditional explosion. Instead, it almost looked like space 'distorted' for a moment in a huge wave away from the ship. The missiles all exploded instantly, and for a brief second, everything was still. Then the single apple hit the underside of the ship's hull, briefly registering an impact of around a hundred petajoules, hitting with pure kinetic damage as it shattered out into the armor. The shockwave exploded outwards, blasting across our shields in a massive wave of debris and kinetic energy in a fraction of a second. My eyes widened as it didn't stop. The siege ship's armor folded away, almost as if it was just dust being blown by a stiff breeze. It kept going, and going, until I saw clear space on the other side, the ship bending as the shockwave and blast tore it into two halves. Bits of ship drifted for just a moment in a miasma of damage as it buckled to the side from the impact. The clean tear was replaced by fire a second later, and more screaming as the ship suddenly exploded violently. Well hell, we didn't really have to bother targeting the weak spot with that thing! "That woulda made such ah nice pie," Applejack lamented, and I raised my eyebrow over at her skeptically. She just winked at me, though, and suddenly I was terrified. Whatever that apple was, ponies ate it?! They put that inside of their bodies?! I didn't have time to ask, sadly. "Damn it!" Nirru shouted out, blasting all three primary engines off from the back of her flagship. Ah! Instead of attacking us as I thought she would, she instead made a break right for the portal zone with the entire flagship. Okay, so that attack might have been a little too intimidating. "Tch, after her!" I called out, causing Fluttershy to flip us right-side up, and Dash opened us up again. We were faster than her for the first six seconds of her acceleration, I knew, and we reached top speed in ten seconds instead. My vision expanded out, aware of hundreds of different perspectives as I looked 'ahead' of the flagship, to the other end of the battle. As I'd anticipated, she'd sent the smaller ships that were able to navigate through the barrage of rocks forward, almost half of the support fleet attacking our fortification. It looked like it was going very, very poorly for them. Pony mechs were everywhere, floating to and fro, on and between bits of the planet as they shifted and moved the massive net of energy around, entirely blocking off entrance into the weakened area. Shining Armor was right at the front, and gave another bark of orders as he smashed his Barrier Lance right through an incoming ship, kicking off them and drifting back into the main net. Oh! He was leading sallying forces to smash at support ships out of range from the flanks while the bulk of the guard defended the area. I watched him and his assault squad twist and warp away as they retreated again, and realized he was also coordinating with Keela for illusion support. To my surprise, Tym had joined the sortie himself as well. A full exo-suit was attached to his armor, looking like it was an old mining getup. It provided both air and multi-directional boosting power as he nimbly shot in-between enemy ships, pushing their line back almost by himself on the other side. Each flick and movement of his hands caused precise blasts of energy to tear through space in sharp crescents, searing ships in half with ease no matter their size. He zipped away long before they exploded, moving on to more and leaving a wide swath of destruction. I was honestly surprised he wasn't on heavy siege, as his strongest spells could easily level a good chunk of the support fleet. Although that would come at the cost of announcing his immediate presence as he charged the spell, too. No, he was a professional, so there was no sense in doubting him. Keela trusted him as well to do what he was best at. Speaking of Keela, her mining ship still distorted in multiple spots, one occasionally moving and causing the support ships to try to attack it as it charged forward, only to waste a lot of ammo into open space. Flash rewind display in my computer database showed her actually using missile pods deployed all around the battlefield now to fire off ordinances from some of her 'images', lending credibility to her illusions and drawing more fire. Drawing my focus back to the flagship, I winced, watching it bash its way out of the rubble field that we'd scattered, all shields flicking to the front of the ship to absorb damage from the huge chunks of planet it just rammed out of the way. I gestured us down, following into its wake instead just in time to avoid broken bits of the ship's satellite array that had been bashed free. I didn't even want to see the front of her ship at this point, even with full frontal barriers. It would make the engineer in me cry. Still, all shielding focus was now on the front of her ship... "Fire into her engines. Aim for those three main clusters in the back there, Applejack," I ordered, highlighting the area in her display. I then added, "Switch back to charging, Twilight." Without shielding, our batteries weren't going to need the full powered umph to tear up the engines. The ship was unorthodox for Grosh standards. It had two long 'fins' that jutted from the sides of the ship, both mounting a long tube of sorts that ran horizontal to the back engine. Both had thrusters on them, so I assumed they were for assistance and stabilization of the three powerful hybrid engines in the center. Those, forming a triangle, were used for traditional jumping, and as the primary hyperspace propulsion as well, by their shape. Grosh ships didn't use slipstream, like we did, instead using a surprisingly rudimentary hyperspace borehole effect. Powerful and fast, but no ability to turn whatsoever, and unlike our allies, once they went in, they couldn't go out again except for at their destination determined ahead of time. Well, okay, they could, but their ship would come out in pieces and on fire. Applejack needed less than a second to lock onto the engines, opening fire immediately. Dozens of explosions tore through the metal and supplemental shielding almost as if it wasn't there, shredding the exhaust and propulsion emitters in an instant, and even blowing the hell out of the heat sinks further along the sides. The energy overloaded along the right, causing a surprisingly large blast of flames and radiation off into space, and I gestured to the left, our two expert fliers having us swerving in that direction just to be on the safe side. Predictably, the remains of the engine spontaneously vented and performed a rapid, unplanned disassembly mere moments later. The ship rocked, jutting at an angle almost immediately from the force of the explosion. To my surprise, the shield emitters didn't slide backwards into the normal position, however. I raised an eyebrow, then heard a rather pissed off sounding, "Tch!" over the feed through Keela’s magic. "Damn you, rodents! Okay, you surprised me. I'll definitely give you that. But you're going to die horribly regardless," she warned, smirking has she flicked her hand downwards, shattering through a glass panel and smashing down on a button that was apparently on her dash. My eyes widened as the four shield emitters suddenly slid forward instead, powering up to about six times the strength they were before then... No. No! The curving wings of energy formed off them, even as the decoupling discharges tore the back of the ship off. What I thought were the thruster fins slid downwards to each side as the entire ship suddenly accelerated, a hybrid Keldarian engine hidden behind the remains. She had Slipstream and Aegis Barriers! "Full speed!" I shouted out, even before she suddenly lurched forward at three times her prior speed. Rainbow fired her wings up again and we shot after her, both massive ships streaking towards the weakened area. Of course! She gave us way longer than the Grosh would have needed to prepare... because they had to build the flagship! Her plan had never been to assault and capture the area... Twilight looked to me in surprise, but I growled suddenly. "She's going to make a portal here and now. That's not a flagship. It's a giant makeshift portal engine!" I warned. Keela gasped over the feed, looking towards me in surprise, then checking her scanners just in time to see our two ships hurtling towards her area. "What's the plan?!" Shining asked sharply less than a second later, his location reporting as to the left flank of the field of operations again, locking onto the massive ship instead. My eyes looked over the new shape of the ship, with the primary thrusters not actually running, and the entire thrust being provided by the two fin boosters. That was... "Twilight, Keela, can you get me scans and a readout of the output from the main engines? Fast!" I requested instead. Twilight flicked the data screen up instantly, just as Keela started feeding the data into it. "It looks like she's keeping them in standby mode. Oh hell," Keela groaned out. I nodded, seeing the power spikes further inside. Shaking my head, I instead ordered, "Not standby. She's powering up an FTL jump. Twilight, load the backup charge and switch to powering the batteries. Applejack, tear the right fin off. Hard. She'll veer to the right, opening her whole flank to Shining. Shining, there's power couplings behind the two massive shield emitters on that side. Giving you the data display now. Slice one, or both of them if you can..." Shining nodded, slamming his shield onto the mech's flank, then using his forelegs to both grip the massive blade, all energy switching to that instead. "Understood. I'm guessing it'll be a tough cut?" he inquired, narrowing his eyes as we came in. "Like steel cutting through a brick," I warned, then nodded as Twilight switched the two main plugs into the crystal orb in front of her, then flared with energy again. "Full power to batteries. Backup charge allocated," she declared, smirking as all of our guns radiated the same purple energy as the alicorn. The 'backup' charge kicked in, and I smiled. Keela raised an eyebrow, however, then added, "You never mentioned a 'backup' charge in the plan..." Shaking my head, I explained, "There were a few last minute additions. Sorry. Are you ready then, 'backup charge'?" Glancing to my right, I smiled as the second viewscreen opened up. Tia smiled back, nodding through massively glowing eyes. I couldn't see any of her surroundings at all, the entire area looking like the inside of a star, ten large crystal orbs floating around her and radiating with pure Ether. Wait, ten? "Backup charge is very, very fully charged. I added a few more crystals because I was bored," she warned, winking towards me. Oh hell. Sighing, I activated the extra shielding around the cannon and nodded. There definitely wouldn't be a main cannon after this. "Locked and loaded. Open fire, AJ," I ordered, nodding as she glared at the right fin. Flak cannons in the back opened up even as she fired. Rarity fired, too, however, hundreds of mini-missiles swarming into the field of view between the target and us, shooting every which way. Missiles that tiny had limited use in space battles, but I packed most of their mass into the propulsion system for just this use. They lacked the 'punch' the apples obviously had, but ninety percent of the cannons picked up on their much larger heat sources, opening fire on the missiles instead of the apples. Most of the apples streaked through the flames of the detonations everywhere, smashing into their targets with precision. Being hidden primary thrusters, I wasn't surprised in the least when the strut connecting the right thruster literally exploded when the apples tore through the top of it. All that energy shattered out through the side of the ship, sending a flare of power that tore the engine to pieces as it was flung from the ship. Everything happened so fast. Shining and six other guards burst forward, rocketing towards the side of the ship even as the explosion lit up space around us, all prepped for killing blows as their back legs folded up into full thrusters. The explosion rocked the entire flagship's rear to the left, exposing its entire side, just as two charged particle cannons lanced across our stern, tearing half of our engine off as Rainbow screamed. I winced as we rocked from the impact, Pinkie still rolling, her hoof blocking four more as her eyes widened in surprise. She was surprised?! No, wait... Pinkie looked back forward instead, eyes still wide. No, something else had her attention. "No, it didn't work!" she screamed out as well, just as Nirru growled through her comm, Keela’s magic giving us a perfect image of her whipping a stick to the left while pulling another straight down. The left fin booster decoupled instead, exploding out to the side as it detonated. Shining shouted, veering hard to the left as the massive blast of debris scattered through his formation, sparks and smaller explosions raining amongst them. He spun, shield activating instead as he blocked the remaining debris from his troops, but their momentum was gone. The main engines of the flagship went into full burn a second later, and she shot forward, already starting her Slipstream jaunt as the Wings of Icarus expanded from her four engine clusters. The entire ship momentarily looked like an arrow as it started to blur and distort. Everything slowed. I felt myself exhale slowly as I looked back at our display. Engines damaged down to thirty percent. We weren't going to catch up. I looked back up, watching Applejack switch over her display and reload the batteries. Too slow. Rarity looked at a loss, and Twilight was turning back to me, gesturing to the readings that showed the damaged siege warship approaching behind us. "The Elements!" she shouted, nudging her hoof towards the display. On the Grosh ship?! I was suddenly torn, in that instant, as I looked towards the energy output display. Twenty seconds until enemy ship entered Slipstream. Damn it. Doubt hit me a moment later almost out of nowhere, but I realized it was right. No, it was a bad idea. "No, decouple, Dash!" I ordered instead, Twilight giving me an intense frown even as I pulled my harness off and ran past her. Rainbow didn't hesitate, even for a second, as she yanked a cord to her left. Our engines decoupled instantly, launching backwards in a blast of power that sent it flinging towards the huge warship. I watched them veer to try to avoid the huge chunk of our ship, their main guns momentarily moving off course. The cyan mare ran after me, knowing what was next but arguing, "The Elements can hit that thing! It might stop it entirely, and we'll still have plenty of time!" "Then we might ruin our whole point of doing this, if they can get data readings from the Elements themselves! It's not worth the risk! Keela, mining laser on the underside of the hull as they veer. Rainbow, we're launching!" I ordered, looking back at her as she ran up. She frowned but nodded, ducking low into a slide a second later. I jumped, landing on her back as she went under me instead, and she opened her wings up, bursting while in the ship as we flew right for the nose instead. Keela only had two charges ready for the mining laser, but with the way the ship was swerving to avoid impact with our engine, she had a clear shot. The second blast door partition snapped shut behind us, shooting the nose of the command center out like a missile in front of the ship. Rainbow kept her balance, and I grabbed the pull cord on the right, nodding into the left viewscreen. "Twilight, fire!" I ordered. Her eyes widened, starting to open her mouth, but I shook my head, interrupting her with, "We'll be fine! Fire!" She swallowed but nodded, then hit the other button. I looked down through the lower viewing port, watching the massive main gun under us flare up with golden light. It looked like a star itself being loaded into the chamber, flashing out like a spotlight onto Nirru's ship. Well, that wasn't entirely inaccurate, I admitted. Prudentia started to glow at my side, and Purdue nodded in my mind, the Aegis Barrier forming under us just as the massive shockwave hit. Our mech soldiers had scattered already. I had lined up the trajectory. The angle was perfect. None of it prepared me in the slightest for seeing a raw magnified release from the Princess of the Sun, however. Our main cannon magnified it by a factor of ten, and then burned away under the force of the raw power. The front of our ship ruptured from the heat stress, and it was like watching a supernova open up and radiate out under us. My eyes widened, the corona of energy swallowing us up entirely and flinging us along like a spec of dust caught up in a hurricane. We were nothing to the raw power, and Rainbow silently screamed, her voice drown out by the raw noise of the shockwave smashing through our tiny escape pod cabin. Pushing hard and fast, I shoved the barrier straight down, the cabin blowing apart around us. The barrier was shaped, however, and we rode it out of the wave of raw energy like a surfer would on actual water. Getting flung out of the huge beam, I could only stare in shock as it lanced off into dark space, stretching out beyond my sensors, even. It was over two kilometers wide, actually dwarfing the flagship as it crashed along its side, violently shoving it out of its initial path, even as the two left Aegis Barrier emitters turned to so much ash. Nirru's image disappeared into the light as she silently screamed, the flagship spinning as flames burned off its side, explosions and sparks following the debris into space. If I had anticipated even half of that power, I would have just targeted it directly. Who cared about the Slipstream explosion if the wave of energy you were using sent it all into the next star system anyway?! The engines exploded into light behind her, the ship managing to lurch forward on its side as the two remaining emitters warped and distorted reality around the bow. Damn it! The tear through reality never stabilized, however, opening a jagged sideways hole as the ship started to push its way through. "Rainbow, after them!" I shouted as we came out of our spin. Her wings were already fully expanded, and this time, it was just us again in open space. Her wings flared with energy as we shot forward and after the ship. "Follow its draft," I warned a second later, watching as the wings snapped inwards and the entire flagship vanished in a distorted warp. No, even if she didn't have siege weapons, there was no way I was going to let that crazy bitch get through to Equus unchecked. She had traditional weapons and her magic, which was dangerous enough as is. I'd promised that not a single pony would be injured, and I meant it. Looking back to Twilight, I saw my screen split between her and Shining on the left. "Are you two okay?" I quickly asked as Dash leveled us off with the tear that was slowly starting to collapse on itself. "We're recovered, and running interception for The Celestia," Shining assured. I watched him spin and easily dodge support ship fire as he impaled a missile cruiser with his massive lance. Twilight smirked to me and nodded, adding, "We're just blockading at this point. We don't have engines, so you and Rainbow are best at going after Nirru. So get going!" "Roger!" Rainbow confirmed, wings opening up to full burst. We were through the tear in reality before I could even register her answer. Going through Slipstream without a ship was always an interesting experience. It was actually less disorienting using it to hop dimensions, it turns out, due to lack of normal geometric input. As far as I could tell, the space 'between' dimensions was entirely empty. Or at least, it appeared that way through standard visual observation. Slipstream normally screwed with optical sensors because it started translating the optics into non-euclidean geometry. Perspective was shot at that point, almost impossible to predict, so we used spatial location software to navigate instead. Having no geometric inputs at all meant there was, thus, nothing to translate into non-euclidean geometries. It looked like a mostly black 'tunnel', with distorted prismatic light forming the walls that held back the darkness on the other side. I so didn't want to try to punch through those... The flagship was a ways ahead of us, but we were closing fast, Rainbow squeaking in surprise as she dodged some burning, distorted debris. "Careful, Dash! Her ship is heavily damaged..." I warned, earning a nod from her as she zipped over to the other side of the tunnel, and the side of the flagship that hadn't been pulverized by a massive solar blast of death. Rainbow gritted her teeth, her wings opening up to full tilt as we burned after the ship that was rapidly getting larger again in the tunnel. I nodded, leaning as far into her back as I could as I switched through my internal data panels. "We're catching up now. Fifty seconds until interception. Ninety seconds until exit into Equus. You need to get me onto the hull, on the top preferably," I instructed. She nodded, determination shooting through her expression as her eyes narrowed down. The hull had small sentry lasers, but my shielding would be more than enough to guard us as we went past. It wasn't time to play around, and I fully intended to just get up to the control center and tear the entire thing apart. No more Nirru, no more threat. Marking the cockpit for Rainbow, I sent the schematic down her link, then accessed the comm feeds again. "What's happening?" I asked, video feed taking a moment to link up. It popped on a moment later with Keela looking frantic. Great. "We only scored an indirect hit with the mining laser! I didn't expect it, but they ejected the entire remaining planet buster array into the path of the beam as we lined up the lower hull shot!" she reported an instant later. Ah, crap. They realized they weren't going to get through the portal to use them at this point, then. Twilight gritted her teeth in the other screen, then shouted out, "I can't charge the main gun. It's destroyed, and we lost four clusters of the battery cannons when we fired that last shot! We're down to sixty battery cannons for attack, and are relying on flak and Pinkie's shielding for defense." …crap. "Keela, start charging the cannon's second shot, then stealth around for a sneak attack. Shining, take your skirmish force and try to guard them with a small Aegis Net. Twilight, start charging up the teleport escapes," I called back. The lavender mare hesitated for only a moment before nodding and unhooking her own secondary harness. Applejack growled, then got one more volley off before kicking her own harness off, pushing herself out of it. I watched Rarity unhook hers, then run over and help Fluttershy start to undo her own, but Pinkie’s eyes widened instead, still in her spot. I looked over at the enemy ship again, just as she whispered, “Uh oh… We… We should run!” Three large pods ejected off the top of the ship, even as the front of it opened up and folded out. Oh. No! Twilight’s eyes widened as she watched their engines flare to full speed, looking back to the massive, full bow length armored ‘blade’ folded into place. Tym distorted back into reality as he looked back at the ship as well, muttering, “Tch, hell, it’s ramming!” He rotated away from the now exploding and burning remains of the three escape pods and burst towards the side of the ship at full speed, which wasn’t that great for his mining suit. Oh, well at least the Grosh weren’t going to be escaping to warn the others… “Evacuate, now!” Shining screamed out, already in front of the massive ship with his full shields up. There was no way he could stop that! “My… My wing’s stuck!” Fluttershy yelped, fighting with her harness to get the stabilization sensors off her wing. Rarity frowned, tugging at the harness as well to try to rip it out of the wall instead, as Applejack ran over towards her station. No, she couldn’t teleport with that extra mass attached to her. The emergency teleports were built for speed of charge and that would burn out the charge in it! “Fluttershy! Applejack, get her free!” Rainbow shouted out, getting the audio feed at the same time as me. Applejack spun as she ran in, then shouted out, “Ah’m sorry, Flutters! Ah broken wing is better than dyin’, though!” The yellow mare’s eyes widened, but it was too late for her to even react as her friend smashed both of her back hooves straight into the release clamps. She screamed out, her left wing twisting with a snap as the release clamp tore off, metal shattering under the impact of Applejack’s enhanced legs. Rarity winced, tears sliding down her face, but immediately reached out and hit the gem on Fluttershy’s chest as she collapsed, unmoving. My breath caught, and I looked to her monitor, which displayed low pulse rate. Unconscious… Damn. I couldn’t take this… The orange mare gritted her teeth, wiping tears from her own eyes as she hit her chest gem, too. Rarity, Pinkie, and Twilight followed suit, all five gems starting to glow. “Ah… Ah’m sorry, Sugar. Forgive me later…?” Applejack asked softly to the now unconscious pegasus. “Ten seconds until teleportation…” Twilight announced, looking down at her own gem, then biting her lip and looking up at the massive ship approaching, filling up the entire viewscreen on that side. No… It was too close. Her breath caught, and her brother gritted his teeth in the display, activating full speed on his mech. His entire squad smashed into the side of the warship as it came in. Abandoning weapons, they all hit the armor plating in front of the ship, crashing hard into it and holding on as their mechs switched to full thrust mode instead. Hull lasers opened fire on them, but they just kept pushing, slowly starting to turn the massive ship, ever so slightly. “We have to turn around!” Rainbow screamed, looking back at me frantically as she watched. “We can’t!” I shouted back, knowing it wasn’t possible now that we were already in the slipstream and being pulled along in the flagship’s wake at full speed. Twilight gave a whimper, backing up against the wall of the command center, the four other mares pushed into her as her horn started to glow. A barrier went up around them, and she reported, “F-Five seconds!” My breath caught, the ship barely two seconds from impact, the blade coming in that was three times the width of the entire command center. Pinkie cried out, turning to the side and exiting the shield as she ran for her harness. “Pinkie!” Twilight screamed, left foreleg reaching out for her. The signals in Shining’s squad were disconnecting rapidly as the mechs were destroyed. Tym gave out a growl, still four kilometers out as he charged a massive orb of energy from his right hand. No. No! Pinkie’s eyes widened to full, tears sliding down them as she looked to her right, mid-sprint. Time ground to a halt as a distortion hit the side of the ship, and then exploded. Shattering metal and rupturing armor sounded out, deafening at point blank range just as the ship smashed into the side of The Celestia. My jaw dropped as I watched, almost in slow motion, as the entire mining vessel came out of nowhere and blindsided the siege ship. Its armor wasn’t even a comparison, the metal of the mining vessel caving and crumpling under the huge impact. Its sheer mass, however… It almost completely nullified the forward momentum of the siege ship, smashing into its armored side and blowing through plating like a massive wrecking ball. The huge blade smashed into the side of The Celestia at the same time, and the viewpoint for my camera rocked violently as all four mares screamed out, sparks falling down everywhere as the lights died and they were jarred from their hooves. Twilight’s shield flickered as the four of them were smashed up against the wall behind her, but Pinkie hit the side of her station hard, giving a pained yelp as she fell onto her stomach instead. The siege ship and Keela’s mining vessel ‘rolled’ along the side of The Celestia, violent explosions rupturing from both of them, the huge mining laser underneath starting to flare up and burn with sixty percent charge in it still. She’d… “No, Keela!” Tym screamed, staring in shock at the massive collision, even as he slowed down. Rainbow and I looked to Keela’s monitor at the same time, it having gone dark when she’d slipped into hiding to line up the shot. She winced in it, on the floor of her command station with nothing but red light flickering overhead. Litta was in the image, too, lying on the floor a few meters away with blood pooling under her. Blood was on Keela, too, flowing down the left side of her head, but she smiled up at me and rapidly shook her head. “No, this… It’s payment, Mender. I was so stupid for believing my sister and enabling her all this time to do all this evil. This was always our mess to clean up, not yours. We couldn’t let anypony die for our mess! S-Stop her. For me!” she ordered. I clenched my teeth as she gasped, another rock going through the command center that knocked her to the floor again. “No! No, I can still telepo-“ Twilight started to shout out. She was gone a second later, communication feed interrupted with all five of them as they winked out of existence, one by one. Swallowing, I felt my eyes start to get wet as I shook my head rapidly. “You… You need to get out of there!” I called out, feeling my legs start to shiver against Rainbow. Keela smiled, pushing her upper torso off the floor again before shaking her head slowly. “No time. Can’t… walk…” she whispered, then shivered again, wincing. I widened my eyes, looking to her right, and saw the broken railing of the captain’s platform. She’d fallen off it… Her legs were okay, but the way her waist was twisted… She instead looked up at me, then slowly shook her head again. “Stop her. For me. Mender, I love y-“ Her viewscreen disappeared in a sudden radiance of flame and energy, then cut to static. My breath caught, and I watched the mining laser explode. It consumed the entirety of her ship in an instant, and blew the Grosh siege ship in half, sending its parts scattering across what was left of The Celestia. The last of the enemy ships halted all at once, and suddenly, the entire battlefield just stopped, much like my heart did. No. No, it couldn’t have… “Did… Is she…” Rainbow whispered, staring in shock at the snow on the monitor. I shuddered, swallowing as I tore my eyes from it. Swallowing, I refused to process any of it and instead looked at our own data panels. The link to her… It was gone. I watched the connection redline, and the pony mechs started turning off, dozens at a time as their connections severed. That meant Tym… Then I saw that our time until intercept was well past, and my eyes widened drastically. “Dash, we’re behind! Three seconds until exit!” I warned, looking back at her, then up ahead of us, just as she gasped and looked forward again as well. My eyes widened as we were almost on top of the ship, just as it exited the other side of the tunnel and caught the burnt remains of the left wing engine on the lip. Rainbow swerved hard, me bringing my shields up to bare against the huge cloud of debris as it came in. She cried out an instant later, and I winced as well as a large strut smashed off my left shoulder. We were flung sideways into a spiral out into real space again alongside the broken-to-bits flagship. Blood. I gasped as I watched it drift up, some escaping from the thin barrier around her before it sealed back up again. Her left eye… was a mess, looking like a sheet of metal had lacerated it open, and there was a three centimeter wide bar of metal sticking out from the top of her left shoulder. The other end passed out under her foreleg, and she grit her teeth, that leg shaking violently now. Damn it! “Rainbow, evac!” I ordered, turning myself as we drifted so her front faced me, reaching for her crystal. “N-No! I can… Hah… I can still get you to the front of the ship!” she assured, trying to weakly push my arm away. More blood flowed down from both her eye and shoulder, sliding across her torso now. No, she needed medical attention. Shaking my head, I leaned forward and lightly kissed the bridge of her muzzle, causing her other eye to widen just a bit. My hoof contacted her crystal at the same time, and she yelped when she realized what I was doing. “Hey, no, I can still-!” she started to protest, but I lightly pushed off of her and drifted towards the badly damaged flagship. The spell that… Keela had been using to talk to Nirru was gone. I didn’t know if it would have worked between dimensions anyway, but regardless, I had no idea what she was doing. The engine read as powered down, probably having baked itself in the Slipstream transfer, but slowly powering up again. It was only at forty percent output, however, and flames and bits of debris drifted aimlessly off into space. “Mender! You jerk! You’d better be okay! You’re going to be a dad soon!” Rainbow shouted after me, over our short range comm. I turned again, then nodded to her, not having the energy to smile. Maybe I’d smile after the mission was done, and I had that bitch’s head launched into the sun. Firing my tentacles backwards, I latched onto the armor of the ship and yanked myself forward towards the front of the thing just as Rainbow winked away. I exhaled. She was safe now, and they could help her no problem. Pony medical care was amazing… They’d put me back together again after I’d burned my skin off, essentially, plus she had the nanites… Assuring myself that she’d be fine, I flipped as I came in against the hull, hard. My legs didn’t even bend as I hit and slid, skidding across the metal armor as the magnets engaged in my hooves. The armor around me expanded as I slowly walked forward, tentacles fully extended around me as I watched her hull defenses come online. Yup, figured she’d know I was here. Three were sliced in half before they even fired. I parried a laser as it came in, slicing that turret in half, too, as I disengaged the magnets and jumped. A vast majority of the guns went utterly ignored as I used my tentacles to whip myself in the direction of her cockpit instead. Trajectory in place, I threw shields up over myself and curled into a ball as I shot the full length of the ship. Lasers bounced off me rapidly as I moved, and I flung out another tentacle, hooking the bow plating on the side and swinging myself around, only to crater into the metal directly over the command center. Looking down, I saw one of the dozens of cameras focusing on me, and glared down with it, even as my hud lit up with a short range comm communication. Against my better judgement, I patched her through as I stood upright on her hull. “Figures you’d follow me even here. It really is your destiny to try to get in the way of my-“ she started to declare. I interrupted immediately with a low growl of, “Shut up.” Keela’s smile flashed through my head, and I gritted my teeth, my hoof cratering hard into the metal. The fracture shattered through the plating, and I pulled back and smashed into it again even harder. The ablative charge fired off, launching the plate into me, but I swatted it away in an instant and launched it sideways off into space. Turning to face the ship again, I pulled my hoof back, then momentarily raised an eyebrow as I saw the golden glow over the hull instead. “You… You’re not getting inside through that. You don’t have anything that can destroy an Aegis Barrier, and soon, I’ll have the engines back on and be able to…” she started to warn. She trailed off, and I frowned, suddenly noticing the same thing. We were… drifting. She had kept her forward momentum a little as we’d exited the slipstream, but now… we were going sideways? Gravity… Looking to our left in the direction we were being pulled slowly in, I widened my eyes a little. Oh. It was coming up from under the bottom of the ship, from my perspective, which is why I hadn’t seen it before. We were rotating slowly, however, while drifting forward, and now I could readily see the massive wall of gray moving in at frightening speeds. My eyes drifted to the edges of the moon, picking up a purple and blue tint, and confirmed it as I saw the silhouette. There was the glow of magic around the entire thing. Luna was moving it. No, she was swinging the entire moon at the flagship like it was a giant mace. The surface was coming at us at a good dozen meters per second, which, due to the pure mass, would be enough to paste this entire flagship and flatten it into one of the craters. I ran the calculation, and came up with about a hundred and eighty seconds until impact. “What…. the hell? It’s steering towards me?!” Nirru asked, mostly to herself, over the audio. I snorted, then pointed out, “You pissed off one of the two physical goddesses that lead us all, I guess. Oh, you didn’t know about that? Oops. Pity…” Not that I was going to let the moon kill her. Instead, I pulled my data panel open and accessed my subspace storage. “It… It doesn’t matter! Nothing matters anymore. It’s too late. If I’m going to die, I’m going to take all of you little rats with me. Try to stop me, I dare you. It’s too late, and you can’t-“ she started to retort. She hesitated as I drew Ventosus Lacuna out of subspace, the sheath locking to my side with the straps tying around my barrel automatically. “That… You can’t use my own sword against me. Hell, it barely listened to me and I’m a family member. It’s not even going to turn on for-“ she started to point out, apparently failing to notice its changed color schemes. I drew it directly from the sheath and right into the barrier and metal plating behind it with a flick of my neck, holding it in my teeth. It sliced through like butter, flaring with light as it sliced ahead in measured precision. One flick backwards, and there was a nice 'V’ shape in the hull, that I immediately stomped inwards before dropping through into the command center. She stared at me as I stood fully upright, her mouth hanging open. The hull sealed itself up behind me, the atmosphere loss only causing papers to go flying everywhere. Sparks came down from the ceiling light I accidentally cut through, but I walked through them as I got closer to her. She shifted to a glare a moment later, spitting at me as she stood up from her console. “Why?! Why does the sword listen to you and not me?!” she screamed out as I slid it back into its sheath. That was an easy question, anyway. “Probably because you’re a psychotic, egotistical bitch. Just a thought,” I explained, earning a more pointed glare as I looked around the control room. My systems had already hacked into her data stream, and I saw outputs powering up, which would probably be her engines again. But they were drawing in way too much energy to be that alone. I glanced to the side, and saw her corrective navigational course simply switching our orientation to point at the planet. Ah. “Yeah, you can see it. If I’m going to die one way or another, I’m dying on my terms. Ever wonder what happens when a dreadnaught class flagship crashes into a planet at several hundred times the speed of light? We’re about to find out…” she confirmed. My eyes narrowed inside my helmet as she smirked. “You have one chance. Turn it off, and I won’t show you how a real black ops tortures someone. Not for information, of course. Just to see how long it takes before you’re begging me to kill you, like so many others you did the same to,” I spat out, starting to walk towards her again. Her eyes narrowed and she backed up until she bumped into the rear wall. She snorted at that, standing straighter finally. “I… I’m not afraid of you, Mender. Plus I’m in my real body now, with my full magical powers. Do you honestly think you’re capable of winning? Besides, even if I could turn it off at this point, why would I? You’re a pathetic little pony. I don’t think you’re even capable of cold-blooded torture…” she reminded. I shivered lightly. She couldn’t turn it off. That told me everything I needed to know. I watched the flames spark into both of her palms and she smirked, dropping down into a magical combat stance. I simply stood there, however. “You killed her. For you, I’ll gladly make an exception. But, unfortunately, I don’t have time for this now,” I lamented. She frowned, a look of confusion dancing across her expression. “Killed her? Who’s her?” she started to ask. She’d join her in a second, and know then, I supposed. The second she hesitated, I flicked my shoulders back. There was a big downside to a combat style largely encompassing the use of fire. Two tentacles moved up and back behind me as fast as I could whip them. She gasped, but didn’t have time for anything else as I sliced a truly massive ‘V’ cut right across the top of the entire command center. Several explosions later with the air and energy lines being cut, the armor ruptured and blew around us and the entire room was vented into space. Her flame magic went out before it even left her hand as both of us went with most of the room. I rotated once, standing on the ceiling for support as we spiraled out into space amidst a sea of loose papers. Seven orbs of energy were charged along my leg as I spun, and after righting myself, I watched her rotate in a tight circle, fighting and thrashing to pull her helmet up over her head. She was in a Keldarian spacesuit, model at least three hundred or more. A trained military professional could deploy the helmet hood in four and a half seconds. I’d given myself three and took aim while focusing. She finally pulled it over her head, grinning triumphantly at me from upside down as she rotated around to face me again. There was no emotion at all as I fired, putting seven spears of barrier energy through her body an instant later. She stared at me in shock, the thin beams of energy going through both lungs, her heart, her stomach, both kidneys, and right between her eyes. Holding her there for a moment, I shifted all of the poles to blades instead, and yanked them all in separate directions. “Ask her when you see her again. I’m sure she’ll have words for you…” I spoke gently, finally. There wasn’t an answer, of course. What was left of her drifted off into space, and I watched it for a moment before turning and dropping down into the remains of the command center again. Hope she wasn’t expecting an epic magic duel or something. That’s not how reality worked. The navigation computer was still running perfectly fine, not caring at all that the whole room was depressurized. The automatic repair plating couldn’t do much about missing most of the roof. The computer reported full charge of the Slipstream engines in twenty five seconds, however. It also reported that the actual folding engine had been turned off. This came with a whole slew of warnings about the fact that we could hit something in the middle of the jump, of course. The engine read as locked out, which meant I’d have to manually go down there and disable the Slipstream countdown in less than twenty five seconds… It would take me longer to just reach the panel at this point. The moon was still forty seconds away from impact. Did the sisters have a way to block a ship hitting the planet at hundreds of times the speed of light? There just wasn’t any time. I racked my brain as my processors tried to brute force their way past the locks, but the system just disconnected itself fully. Damn it! Options… I couldn’t stop the drive, so that left only two solutions. Slow the jump down long enough for the moon to hit us, or make sure the ship didn’t hit the planet. If I started screwing with the gravity effects from myself, it would force the computer to repeatedly recalculate the pathing, but not slow it down a tremendous amount. Not the dozen seconds or so I needed for it to fall into the moon. I grew cold, swallowing again before detaching my magnetic locks and floating into space. My tentacles guided me as I latched onto the nose of the ship and pulled myself to it. Engaging them again after, I snapped my legs down to the surface of the nose, the very peak of the bow. Equus expanded out in front of me. It was a beautiful blue planet, mattings of greens and browns for the continents. I recognized Equestria, still on the dark side of the planet. They would have slept through it all. I closed my eyes, smiling finally as my whole body shivered. I felt the water in my eyes, pressing up against the crystal plates now. Keela… I wanted to enable the long range antenna and talk to them again. They were probably wondering what was going on. Smiling, I closed my eyes and just let the light of the sun dance over me. My back opened up again, folds of my armor coming out as the Wings of Icarus spread wide. My own FTL software, badly gutted out and only rudimentarily operational at this point, would still suffice. No, calling them would soothe me, but it would only bring them additional pain. There wasn’t any other choice I could think of! The concept was simple. The only issue was, my own FTL drive didn’t have any charge. I set it to charging immediately, but what energy it would be able to gather in the few seconds I had would only power a jump that was all of a fraction of a nanosecond. I calculated that, if I synced my field with the ship’s as it formed, I could use its own field to move in my slipstream effect. But with my calculations, I could only move the ship thirty thousand meters or so before running out of power. That wasn’t enough to even get it a full percent away from hitting the planet. So instead, I was only going to use mine to form the initial Slipstream tunnel. I had enough power to turn the ship. Just barely. Unfortunately, that meant that the ship would take over after I finished turning and just go straight until it ran out of power in the capacitor. About five seconds or so. With me stuck on it. I ran the calculation based on the speed of FTL Slipstream movement, and that would only take me about a hundred and sixty million kilometers away from Equus… I’d hit the shield the ancients set up long, long before that. Which meant I just had to be clever with my aim. I set the coordinates for the sun instead. Looking forward again, I stared down at the planet once more, clenching my teeth. It wasn’t fair. I wanted to scream that at the top of my lungs, but even if I did, it wouldn’t reach anypony that would care. The multi-verse is a rather cruel one. But maybe I was pony enough to make it to the Ether? I smiled at that, then laughed to myself. Prudentia, or should I say Purdue, pinged urgently at my side, almost desperately. No, she deserved another chance, too. Detaching the book, I gave her a smile as I saw her reflection in the gem on the cover. Then I put it into a tentacle and whipped it at the planet as hard as I could, aiming a bit above Equestria. They’d find her rather fast, given the energy the book put out. I detached Ventosus Lacuna, staring at it for a long moment before nodding and instead turning around, releasing it in the direction of what was left of Nirru’s body. Seven seconds until the flagship activated Slipstream. I turned and looked back towards Equus, no longer smiling. There was nothing left now. I wasn’t brave, or fearless, or even honorable. I clenched my teeth again, feeling tears sliding down my cheeks as I shook my head. I wished it was somepony else here. I didn’t want to die. I wished there were other options. But… no, I didn’t want somepony else to die for me either. The energy around the flagship finished radiating out, forming the field of quantum energy. My field synced into it as it started its countdown to engagement at five seconds. That was that, then. Was it a good life? Did I make a difference? I nodded to nothing in particular, shivering as I closed my eyes for the last time. Two seconds left, as the engines started to fire up far behind me. I started to tremble, but I suddenly felt it. Two warm forelegs slid around my shoulders, holding me tight. I smiled. “I love you, Mom. See you guys soon…” I whispered. My drive activated, and reality warped away… Epilogue Twilight gave a sigh, walking down the path through the royal gardens. Left, then right, she glanced both ways after clearing the hedge wall, finally spotting her two wayward companions. Walking up, she gave a soft smile to Fluttershy and Rarity, who turned their heads to look her direction. The unicorn returned her smile, but Fluttershy faltered for a moment before managing a weaker one of her own. She had three flowers fixed to her mane now, matching her eyes and coat. Her flowing dress matched the flowers, of course. Rarity was good at what she did, even if the white bandaging around the left wing stood out a little. "Hey, girls. How are you doing?" the alicorn asked, swallowing lightly and looking back and forth between them. Rarity shook her head gently, suggesting, "My injuries are superficial. The numbing spell is hardly ideal for Fluttershy, however, and only had a few hours duration at most, I should remind. Couldn't this have waited a few more-" "No!" Fluttershy exclaimed, and then coughed lightly, correcting her tone and adding, "I'm not going to wait. He doesn't deserve to have to wait for me. He deserves to be honored." Her voice was strong, with uncharacteristic levels of conviction to it. Twilight had already talked to her, of course, and smiled. "The wing is healing, and she can manage a few hours. This is important to her, and me, Rarity," she reminded, nodding to the unicorn, who managed a soft chuckle. "I know, Dear. I only worry. Mender would be very much against, and insist on waiting, but I do understand, you know. It's important to me, too. How are preparations?" Rarity asked, moving back to adjusting the flowers in Fluttershy's mane, tucked behind her right ear. "Everypony's already started to file in. It's... more than accounted for. We started adding seating in the street outside the garden theatre, and expanded the speakers and screen. Well, second screen. Snapshot started crying hysterically while setting the first one up and put it through the stage floorboards..." Twilight reported, giving a small sigh after. Rarity smiled, and Fluttershy looked down, but the alicorn shook her head after and continued with, "After everypony is seated, it's just you two..." Fluttershy finally nodded, standing again with a light wince. Rarity helped her stabilize, but she just shook her head and straightened herself. "How... How's Pinkie and Rainbow?" she asked quietly, looking back to Twilight instead. The lavender mare gave a soft sigh, then shook her head weakly. "Insisting on not missing anything, of course. I helped Pinkie get comfortable, and Applejack was helping Rainbow into the front row when I left. Dash can't stay for very long, though..." she revealed. "We'd best get going then," Rarity agreed, looking to the pegasus, who only nodded. Together, the three of them headed back the way Twilight came from. After clearing the hedge wall and heading along the side of the stage, Rarity and Fluttershy moved to take their seats as the alicorn turned up the incline and onto the platform instead. Princess Celestia smiled softly to Twilight, who nodded in return, then looked out into the ocean of ponies, a soft smile playing at her lips... * * * * * "We are gathered here today to honor the memory of a fallen hero. A hero that sacrificed his life in order to save not just his friends... Not just his town... Not even his country... He sacrificed everything in order to save all of Equus. There are no words I could possibly give to honor this magnitude of service to our world," Princess Celestia spoke, staring out into the massive crowd. Thousands of ponies watched, gathered from all corners of Equestria and beyond. Hundreds of griffons attended, as well as a few dozen dragons, an entire honor guard of Zebra, and an assortment of others. They spilled out of the garden auditorium and five blocks down the streets of Canterlot, view screens set up to project sound and images from the stage. Most had never even met the stallion, but they had all heard of what he had done. And what it had cost. The Princess of the Sun smiled after that, then gave a weak chuckle. "Yet, reality is sometimes cruel indeed. Despite his unrivaled sense of duty and honor, he was forced to sacrifice everything in order to protect us all. Our only recourse is to do everything in our power to honor our fallen hero, and give him our absolute best. For he might have died to ensure all of us could live, but we can make him live forever by remembering his deeds. That's how legends are born," she continued. Rainbow watched from the front row, no expression to her face whatsoever. The wheelchair looked unnatural with her, as did the heavy bandaging around her torso and shoulder. Bandaging wrapped over her left eye as well, now dead and glass underneath. Applejack sat next to her, staring blankly alongside her marefriend, both just watching the picture that sat on top of the empty coffin, as if looking through it. There weren't any words left to say that would matter to them. The Princess gave them both a smile before looking back out onto the crowd. The silence almost ached as it hung on the air, before a small chuckle escaped her lips. "Of course, if you'd known the stallion himself, becoming a 'legend' would be more terrifying than appealing, but he also knew that sometimes, things happened that we didn't have any say over. He was fast to forgive like that. Just like that..." she admitted, ending it in a whisper before slowly shaking her head, letting a tear slide down her left cheek. Pinkie held no such reservations. Rarity gently massaged her shoulders as she silently sobbed, staring at his picture on top of the coffin the entire time. Spike sat on the other side of the pink mare, frowning as he stared at the grass under his chair instead. He'd not said a word all day. Celestia shook her head slowly, still smiling yet staring down at the blank podium. "It was probably his defining virtue, if I were to be honest," she admitted finally, then went on to reveal, "Due to my oversight and mistake, I ruined his entire life. I cost him and his family the life of his mother, a very brave mare who was loyal to the end and beyond. I cost him his chance to live like a normal pony, displacing him three hundred years into the future in a cybernetic body." A rare show of frustration danced across her features, and her right foreleg started to tremble gently as she closed her eyes. Twilight and Cadance frowned to her right, then looked to each other as she undoubtedly departed any script she might have had. Her sister on the other side just smiled, however, finally speaking up with, "Our sister is right. Forgiveness came so simply to him that it wasn't even a thought. He forgave her... us... for everything. It was just that easy. Yet it was something he himself struggled with in return. He blamed himself for everything that had happened. As if it were somehow his fault that the other dimension had discovered Equestria. That a monster, the very one he personally defeated, was willing to sacrifice innumerable lives to get what they wanted." Celestia smiled at that and shook her head. "I told it to him first, but he summarized it the best. The hardest pony to forgive is yourself. But... It doesn't matter now. I think he has the forgiveness he so desperately sought. Now, I have to try to abide by the lesson I taught him myself, because that same mistake that I made cost him everything. So much that it's now costing the loved ones he left behind, including a foal who no longer has a father, and two mares who have lost their stallion," she continued, losing her smile yet again as she looked to the right. Twilight gave her a more sympathetic look instead, frowning, then looking down to her left at the yellow pegasus that was resting against her legs. Fluttershy stared at the floorboards of the stage still, expression blank minus the tears that wet her entire face. Her left forehoof strayed over her stomach, and she shivered at the Princess' words. Turning away again, the Princess of the Sun looked out at the crowd, eyes tracing amongst the thousands of faces. Finally, she concluded with, "Open talking shall commence for anypony who wishes to speak. But first, let us bow our heads in a moment of silence for our departed hero." Thousands of heads lowered, like a great wave in the silence. The gesture showed countless thanks, personal and impersonal alike. Eyes closed to the sun, the large and golden orb slowly sinking below the horizon in the distance, soft hues of light dancing across the clouds above. The event was scheduled for long into the night regardless, and it would be quite a few hours before sleep for many a pony even after that, tonight… * * * * * "Was all this really needed?" I finally asked, staring across the thousands of golden orbs that lit up the night air. Ponies mingled all around, a long line leading up to the coffin in the distance. Everything was through a thick haze, of course. It seemed to settle down like a blanket over reality. Tia smiled softly, sitting next to me on the hill I relaxed on. It overlooked the small pond in the royal gardens, and had served as quite a scenic spot to watch the funeral from. "I didn't send out invites, Mender. The initial advertisement is all I did. I'm sorry, but these ponies are here of their own accord," she assured, of course. I sighed, my voice echoing lightly in the soft mist. It was a superfluous gesture, given that I didn't have lungs. I shook my head. "It's only hurting them. Why didn't you tell everypony my wishes?" I asked, still upset with her. She stared, watching Fluttershy sitting next to the coffin, Twilight and Spike next to her giving gentle comforts, even as the lavender mare herself cried. We both just watched for a moment before she shook her head. "Grieving is important. For you as well, Mender. Even for me. Why did you forgive me for everything...?" she asked quietly, still not looking my way despite being one of the very few here that could see me. I sat there, the warm mists drifting around me before I closed my eyes. Forgiveness. "You're not that different from a normal pony, Tia. Life here has slowed you down so you match their pace now. You cry and laugh with your little ponies, too. That means you're subject to the exact same mistakes," I explained as simply as I could. She watched me for a moment, then closed her eyes as well, resting there. It took a while, but she finally asked, "Do you think it's worth it?" "Without a doubt," I assured, no consideration needed. She deserved to be as 'normal' as she could muster. She smiled softly, and we sat there in silence for a long while. Ponies came and went. Everything was a haze, the world only partially in focus for me. Everything felt detached and cold inside as I watched all of my friends move on without me. That was how it was supposed to work, wasn't it? It happened to everypony eventually, right? Except it didn't. Tia stirred again, then smiled back at me. There were only a few ponies left at the viewing, and slowly, I stood up. My limbs almost ached from the cold, and I knew if I focused on it too much, it could be maddening. The longer I stayed here, the worse it would get. She nodded, then suggested, "Everything is about concluded, Mender. You should rest now." I knew what she was talking about. I'd felt the 'draw' already, and ignored it. The funeral felt important to me, but I knew I wasn't satisfied. Was that it, then? I was dead and gone now, just like that? Now I knew how my father had felt, undoubtedly. "Rest," I muttered, then chuckled weakly and shook my head, admitting, "I feel restless instead. I don't think I'm ready quite yet." She lost her smile, of course, and gave a small sigh. "Should I talk to Aura and see if she can aid you? Some ghosts do find it difficult to-" she started to offer. My vision flickered, and for the briefest of moments, a few thousand memories flashed past me at the speed of light. Millions of different lives, all wound up with mine now. My eyes locked with hers, a billion other pairs mirroring the gesture within, and she looked surprised as she trailed off to me shaking my head. "No, what I meant was, I'm not going. I'm staying here," I corrected, just getting it over with and fully embracing the cold. They were all still attached to me, woven through my soul itself. Billions of souls all tied into mine, and I knew they gave me an immense energy density to me. Any necromancer in Equus would require my direct cooperation to 'send' me into the Ether. That meant they couldn't make me, even if they'd wanted to. Tia frowned at that, slowly turning to face me fully. "Mender, this can't be ideal. What... What's holding you here? A ghost needs a reason to not move on..." she asked, searching my expression before I turned and looked towards my coffin again. They were still there, all seven of them seemingly standing out through the mists. Twilight especially. She followed my vision, but I answered anyway. "Them. Twilight could take years before she's as attuned to the Ether as you. At least enough to interact with me. Fluttershy can't at all. I... no. I won't accept being apart from them. I'm staying here, and I'm going to continue research on the techniques my father started. It may take me a hundred years or more, but I'm going to find a way back..." I spoke with conviction, looking back at her. She momentarily looked horrified at the mention of that particular line of research. "M-Mender! No, you can't be serious. This happens to everypony, and you need to accept that. Twilight will become attuned enough to even touch you again soon enough, and eventually, Fluttershy will-" she tried to point out. No. She didn’t get it yet. She didn’t realize… I shook my head again, then turned and walked slowly away, letting the mists drift around me as I went. "I’ve already decided," I muttered as I walked. She didn't understand, and it wasn't going to work like that. Not now. It was too late. "I... can't accept being apart from them forever. My mind is made up. I guess misbehaving runs in my family..." I mused, almost to myself. I felt sad eyes on my back as I walked off into the dark night, that crushing cold all around me... * * * * * “No. No, this won’t do at all…”
Ending 2Wincing, I felt the two impacts as they lanced across our stern, tearing our engine to shreds. Pinkie gasped as well, whipping fast and blocking four more with her right forehoof in a sweep as she spun. She completed the turn, looking back at the broken remains of the flagship in front of us, nervousness flashing through her eyes. "It didn't work!" she shouted. My double-check of the flagship's engine showed it was indeed still online, and Nirru pushed all power to the remaining two Aegis Barrier Emitters. She was still going to try to make the jump, even with her ship half blown to hell?! Twilight gestured to her viewscreen, showing the only remaining siege ship heading up fast behind us. Damn it. Instinct told me they were probably going for a ramming attack now that we didn't have engines. "We need to use the Elements of Harmony! If we hit them with it, we should still have plenty of time to go after Nirru!" she shouted. I frowned at that, warning, "But if they can pick up on the Element's energy signatures like Kyliona did..." I didn't feel comfortable with it, even leaving the husk of a ship floating here with those energy signatures on it. "We don't have a choice! We can't leave that thing behind us, and we don't have our main gun anymore!" she shot back. I hesitated, but my gut told me that she was probably right. Kyliona had detected the energy signatures in a pony in order to get the full reading. I had no proof at all that the signature would linger from a flash exposure. I looked back once more before I nodded. "All right. Everypony detach! Use the Elements on the siege ship, then you're with me, Rainbow. We're going after Nirru directly," I ordered. All six nodded, starting to detach as I decoupled myself from the deck. One good part about having magnetic hooves, anyway. While they unhooked their harnesses, I booked towards the front of the command center, sliding in next to the release hatch, and started getting the escape pod ready. The familiar bursts of light started to glow behind me, flooding the entire cabin with rainbow ambiance. Priming the energy release that launched the pod, I glanced back at them, watching all six radiating out their own colors as they lifted into the air. The Elements of Harmony. According to the stories, it was the spirit of Equus itself reaching out to ponies that embodied its natural virtues. Generosity, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, and Magic, working together to attempt to instill hope when all was lost. I think this was definitely a situation that called for that. For a moment, I was lost myself. I looked back inside and realized that, honestly, I was just a spectator. I was seven months old. Ultimately, I'd adopted Equus and the pony's plights as my own, because that's what I was. A pony. But they were the ones fighting for their world. They were the ones that had lived in it for their entire lives. It was them that were the embodiments of those virtues, and despite bringing my own skills and abilities to play, they were actual heroines. Stuff of legend. Ponies would pass on their names until the end of time. Of course, when talking about legendary things, normally I reserved a certain level of skepticism. In this case, however, getting hit by the Elements of Harmony I knew to be very much not a pleasant thing. In a 'sugar-coated apocalypse' sort of way. The energy spiraled around them in a corkscrew, then shot out in shattering prismatic energy. Admittedly, a part of me flinched before it turned away from me entirely and smashed through the wall of the command center. The siege ship didn't even have time to turn to avoid it. Further, the 'beam' of prismatic energy hit open space and exponentially expanded. By the time it hit the ship, it was big enough to encompass the entire thing. It didn't stop, crashing over them like a massive wave before actually doubling back. My eyes widened as I saw it hit and smash through eight or nine times, making sharp loops before all the coils crushed down upon themselves and compacted before exploding in a prismatic blast. I blinked once, and then twice as my eyes cleared. The siege ship drifted towards us still, but their engines were off. Apart from that, it didn't look like anything had happened. "Uh, Keela...?" I asked, looking towards the equally confused looking Keldarian on my right viewscreen. "Uh, life signs are still functioning on board. Weapon systems are on but no longer active. Same with engines. What did it do...?" she asked, focusing her magic towards it. I'd noticed all of the support ships halted as well, leaving our side the only moving thing on the battlefield. Shining frowned, drifting nearby our viewscreens as he looked around the field. "Did it... Did it work?" Twilight asked, landing gently on her hooves and running towards me. I switched Keela up to the projection display, just in time for her to patch us magically into the enemy ship. Neither she nor I were prepared for what we saw. The command center was three major banks of electronic panels and viewscreens, with the central life support column between them, sort of forming a three leaf clover shape of sorts. All three Grosh were plainly visible, a twisted form of a sort of anthropomorphic rabbit mixed with metal cybernetics. Only... They were huddling together near the central column. A quick glance showed life support still functioning, and I raised an eyebrow until the one pointed. The speech was almost so fast that the translator on Keela's station didn't pick up on it. "Feline magic! Please!" it shouted out, all three of them bounding for the orb of magic that undoubtedly showed up inside their command station. Wait, were they...? All three piled on top of each other, looking up into the orb. They were sobbing hysterically. I didn't even know Grosh could cry. "Oh great Gods of the Green Pastures! Please, we're sorry! We're so, so sorry. What... What have we done?!" the one in the middle screamed out. Uh... what? "Is... Is your translator working, Keela?" I asked uncertainly. She slowly nodded, looking just about as floored, but the other Grosh piped up first. "Please! Kind ponies and felines! You have liberated us from seventeen millenia of hatred! Please, we must do something to fix all of this!" he screamed out, almost hysterical as he started shaking there. Oh. Oh hell. The Elements gave them a conscience?! That was a crueler fate than just murdering the hell out of them. Shaking my head rapidly, I finally just muttered, "You deal with them, Keela. Try talking, for once. Never thought I'd say that..." Turning back to the escape pod, I realized that still left us with one psychotic bitch to deal with, who had already slipped through a non-stable portal to Equus. "Rainbow, with me. Everypony else, Evac. Shining, stick with Keela and help defend her if this is some elaborate, absurd trap," I continued, nodding to him as he returned it in his viewing screen. Applejack stepped up before anypony else could react, however. "No. Ah'm comin', too. Shift some o' those gun thingies over onto tha escape pod. Dashie has enough umph ta pull it like ah sled, easy!" she declared. I frowned, then looked to Rainbow a split second later, who nodded in return. Tch. "Fine, just hurry!" I ordered. Thankfully, at the speed that the flagship had limped through the tear into Equus, we were sure to catch up fairly fast. I'm not sure entirely what compelled me to fire Tia's charge directly against the side of the flagship. It would have been far more tactical to target the Aegis Barrier emitters on the front directly, but I wasn't regretting it. The shot was absurdly larger than I could have ever imagined, and we scored an almost direct hit against the side of the flagship. Most of its engine now lay on this side of space, and it barely fired off the FTL jump to activate the tear. Pulling four of the guns and two ammo pods up into the escape pod, I nodded to Rainbow, who had already slipped onto the outside of the hull. AJ and I closed the door to the pod, then ejected the entire thing, just as I saw the other four elements wink out of existence. They were safe. Smiling, I gave a nod again to Dash as she latched onto the energy tethers and locked them into her harness. "Going!" she declared before blasting forward as fast as she could go. I saw the massive jets fire off on her wings, then go prismatic a moment later as we suddenly lurched and were rocketing across space at absurd speeds. Applejack slipped, sliding sideways before I caught her, both of us getting pushed back against the back wall from the pure acceleration. We were through the tear before I even had a chance to look up again, and the eerie distortions of the Slipstream tunnel greeted me outside of the windows. Looking to my left with my eyes, I saw Keela's viewscreen go slightly static, and she nodded to me, smiling again. "Tear is closed on this end. We should be secure for the moment. The Grosh have ejected all of their weapon energy cells and have powered down all non-vital areas of the ship, claiming they wish to cooperate fully. Orders, Mender?" she asked curiously, looking down at her own display as she took in the data. "Is Tym back inside of the ship?" I asked, feeling inside of myself for a moment. They were following me. I felt Malice getting pulled along with us, which meant all of the pony mechs had probably gone inert on that side, nothing remaining to direct the synced movement. "Right here," he answered for her, walking up and ducking down inside the viewing screen with a curt nod. Apart from a light sheen of sweat, I didn't see any further evidence that he'd just been in pitched battle. My display showed his 'kill' count up to a hundred and sixteen support vessels, which scarily meant he took out more than the Celestia had while geared up in a makeshift mining rig by himself. I nodded in return, then ordered, "That means it's safe to power down the relay system. Conserve the power in it, and take all of the energy cells they ejected. That'll stop them from readily reactivating their weapons." "You want DReg's forces pulling back for now? All we can do is watch now anyway…" Shining asked, flicking online on my left viewscreen and giving me a curious look. Keela nodded towards him instead, hitting a few more keys. "Yes, you'll have to once the relay is powered down. But Mender's right. It'll conserve on our power, at least until we can acquire all of the Grosh energy cells. Plus, I think you're more needed on Equus' side to intercept my sister, now," she reasoned. He considered it for a moment before agreeing with, "Done. Log out, everypony. We're going back to Equus and continuing the campaign there. I'll see you there, Mender." He gave me a smirk, and I returned it before his screen flicked away. Keela adjusted more of her consoles, and I watched the lights all flick red on the pony mechs, almost all at once. After they were all red, the relay itself powered down, and Keela looked back up to me, expression going a little grim. "She has only basic weaponry left that can't do bombardment, and a crippled ship. You shouldn't have a problem stopping her at this point, but be careful. She's still got her magic that she can engage you with on a personal level. I... I don't think you're going to be able to capture her. It's too dangerous to try to, Mender..." she warned, swallowing uneasily. I knew that much already, but it was a bit surprising hearing it from her. I nodded slowly before asking, "Are you sure you're okay with this?" It was her sister, after all. Even if she was a complete sociopathic monster hell-bent on committing genocide, family was family. The Keldarian gave a sigh in return. Tym nodded slowly, looking towards her as she hesitated, but Litta slipped up out of seemingly nowhere a second later, wrapping both of her arms over Keela's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Keela. You knew it would come to this when you heard her message, though. We've talked about it," she reminded softly, giving her friend's left cheek a soft nuzzle. Keela's shoulders sagged a little, and she nodded slowly after. "I... know. Make it fast, Mender. Please? I know you have every right to get revenge on her, but... for me, make it fast and painless?" she requested, ears lowering. Applejack looked hesitantly to me, but I nodded slowly after a moment's consideration. I'd not really thought about drawing out her death, actually. I was angry with her, but to be honest, I'd rather just make sure she was out of the picture as fast as possible. Drawing out her end might have been fitting for her, but it was also illogical, giving her more opportunities to act herself. I guess I more associated myself with the 'assassin' mindset than anything. It's what my magic was geared towards. "She won't feel a thing," I assured, nodding towards my friend. She slowly returned my gesture, then closed the comm feed a moment later, shifting to radio silence once more. Would she really forgive me for this? She understood what was at stake, but... Applejack gave a little smirk, sidetracking me for a moment as my eyes snapped to the movement of her lips. Wait... "Ah don't mean ta distract, but are ya at least comfortable?" she asked, sounding coy instead. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what she intended to do, and it worked. My cheeks felt hot as I realized I'd not paid even the slightest bit of attention to my physical body after switching over to communicating with the other dimension. Applejack had still been 'caught' by me, although now I was more 'holding' her instead as she remained tucked against my chest, both of us resting against the back wall. Rainbow smirked at the two of us and gave a wink, causing a light pink tint to go over her fillyfriend's cheeks as well. Flailing lightly, I quickly let go of the mare, feeling like my cheeks were practically burning. "S-Sorry! I got distracted dealing with-" I started to excuse. She giggled, sounding more than a little amused, but interrupted with, "Ah know, Mender. Relax. Yer display thingy says forty seconds ta arrival, though..." Oh! Looking forward again, I saw Dash dodge another cluster of debris as we closed in on the large flagship. The end of the tunnel was closing fast, however, and I estimated that we'd have just exited before catching up with the thing. Eh, it was safer that way anyway. Engaging in a firefight in the middle of a Slipstream transfer was usually reserved for the desperate or suicidal. Or both. Our ability to drop out of FTL at any point came at a price. If a shot disrupted enough of the Slipstream tunnel, it could 'collapse' instead, dropping all of the ships out into subspace rather than real space. There was generally no returning from there after the link was lost on both ends, and all unlucky ships were doomed to drift in absolute void between points of existence until the end of time itself, essentially. Of course, starvation and loss of life support usually struck first, I reasoned. Not that we could 'prove' that. Examining her flagship, I saw that she'd shifted her Aegis Barriers backwards now, covering her rear and single remaining engine. Heh, she probably didn't trust us to not shoot at her in transfer. "Her barriers are up in the back now instead. When she exits, we're going to accelerate and try to get around to the front of the flagship instead. When we do, unload everything you can right into the highlighted part of the command center, Applejack. With luck, we'll just blow away the entire command center with her still in it," I ordered, getting a nod back from the orange mare as she slipped up into the center of the pod again and activated her harness. All four cannons synced with her a moment later, starting to move while tracking where she willed them. "Batteries, activated. Ammunition is kinda low, but we should have enough ta wipe her out..." Applejack announced, engaging her systems with the command phrase. I stood next to her, Prudentia slipping out of subspace at my side, with the image of Purdue flickering in next to me as I walked. "Um, I'm ready with shielding, big brother. Just focus on the strategic highlights," she assured, giving me a soft smile even under the glowing eyes. The book started to radiate a gentle blue ambiance as well, the deep reserve of almost impossibly large energy swelling up. Similar to Twilight, when I 'felt' the book, it was like looking into an impossibly deep abyss. I didn't know how she managed it, to be honest, knowing that ocean of raw energy was inside of her. Of course, she wasn't the only one holding something monstrous within. My eyes lit up just as we snapped out of the other end of the rip, the flagship falling into real space right next to us. The transition was smooth, Rainbow swerving to dodge the last bit of debris as the huge thing cleared the jagged end and snapped the burnt up strut of what used to be the side engine off. My scanners swept the surface as we shot up to it, moving suddenly far faster than it could muster. Turrets slid out everywhere, and my eyes widened. Mentally, I started highlighting them all as I shot a warning to Dash with, "Turrets, Rainbow! Incoming fire!" She winced, watching a blast skip off one of our barriers, the plane of force showing ripples and distortions along its surface before fading back into invisibility. She tucked into a tight roll, sending us further from the ship as we spun to avoid three more shots, arching around to the side. My eyes and electronic suites worked in tandem to highlight the turrets, check their energy output, predict when they were firing, then give the shot angle before they did, the lines displaying in dangerous red in the pegasus' vision overlay. They'd get brighter as they were about to fire, and she started dodging them before they even did, weaving through shots with expert precision as we rocketed along the side of the ship now. To my mild surprise, Nirru didn't shift the Aegis Barrier Emitters up further to match our pace, instead leaving them back by the engines to protect what was left of them. Was she seriously thinking that she was still going to get away? A nagging sensation drifted into me, but I had to focus on highlighting threats for Dash as we shot along. We swerved around the main bridge, starting to make our descent towards the command area around the side in a big swoop, spinning and darting to avoid the incoming blasts of what looked like plasma cartridges. It was a bit strange given the Grosh used largely flash laser and physical shells in order to avoid any extra heat emission that might set off their rather sensitive life support systems. That meant this ship was constructed with a mixture of Grosh and Keldarian tech. The Slipstream FTL didn't seem so odd anymore. Wait... Rainbow was panting hard now, her wings still burning at full strength. The energy fluctuated in them, and I frowned. She was getting tired. That risked the Ether Furnace reaction in her body going out of control again, I realized. I looked back to the fully shielded engines still. No, that would be crazy. But... Nirru was crazy. If that was the case, we didn't have time for a bombardment. Suddenly, Dash hesitated and I frowned, looking back at her. She was looking off to her left instead, however. "Uh, is... is the moon supposed to be, uh... so big?" she asked hesitantly, sounding a little concerned. Eh? I checked my gravity readings, then noticed we were indeed being drawn to the left at a small fraction of Equus gravity. Oh hell. Almost afraid to, I forced myself to look where she was looking. Sure enough, almost forty percent of my vision in that direction was now filled up with rapidly approaching gray moon surface. It was moving quite a bit faster than its usual rotation, and I did a rough speed calculation based off perspective, realizing it would go through our exact location in space in less than two minutes. Well, damn... The dark purple glow coming off the surface, visible easiest at the outline of the giant celestial body, indicated it was more than a little intentional. Luna was swinging the moon at the flagship like a massive, planetary mace. Wow... "Change of plans. Rainbow, slow down and keep us close instead. Applejack, target all forward battery turrets and eliminate incoming attacks. We're a lot shorter on time, I think," I ordered suddenly. Both mares perked at that, Applejack giving me a frown towards my back that I 'felt' through our link regardless. "No bombardment?" she asked cautiously a moment later. Shaking my head, I reported, "No. It could take us almost a minute to get through her armor. I suddenly realized why she's guarding her engines. One strategy open to her still is to just Slipstream the entire flagship into the planet..." I wasn't sure without more detailed readings, but she might be able to pull that off before the moon splattered the ship into a glorified lunar monument to her troubles. I heard an audible swallow from Rainbow as she swerved in, then asked, "That... That's bad, right?" Oh, redefineable for the term. My eyes highlighted all the forward facing turrets within our angle of the command center, and I nodded, moving towards the front of the escape pod. "Applejack, target those turrets. Annihilate them," I ordered, readying the release of the pod's front panel. Rainbow drifted backwards, having slowed to a stop as whisks of her sweat escaped from the one way vents in her 'spacesuit'. Our shields shifted to full frontal protection, hundreds of shots bouncing off us to the sides as the farm mare took aim. Her blitz of glowing apples took several seconds, three dozen that I counted whipping into the hull at high velocity. The apples alone might have been enough to put large holes into it, but the series of explosions literally scoured the surface of the hull near the command center, sending millions of shards of superheated metal off into space around Equus. Probably the first artificial satellites the planet had ever seen, if I broadened my definition a little. After Applejack was done firing, I popped the front of the escape pod, my tentacles already out to the sides and whipping me forward like a slingshot right at the command center, my thoughts searching through my subspace database for another useful item. “If she were to fire off the FTL, it would get up to just around one point three times the speed of light in relative motion as it passed into the location of the planet. But if she disabled the barrier that caused her to pass into subspace, she'd literally hit the planet with the flagship. It looks to be at least four and a half million metric tons. I don't want to stop to do the calculation, but all life on the planet would be eliminated at the very least, if there's much of the planet left, physically. At that speed, it would probably be a very fine dust, to be honest,” I warned, causing the orange mare to pale a little. She was crazy to even consider this. Normal drives had limiters fundamentally built into them to not only prevent the subspace phasing drive from being disabled, but to physically disable the Slipstream drive if it was. This was a custom flagship, though, so I couldn't make that assumption. That sort of attack was... It didn't have a lot of applicable use. Space wasn't exactly 'empty', but actually contained very thin traces of gas in most spots, especially where you saw a lot of activity like planets and solar systems. A ship, or anything really, traveling at hundreds of times the speed of light without having phased into subspace would hit those gaseous molecules as if they were literally bullets shredding the moving object to bits probably before it made it more than a light year or so. But... her ship didn't need to make it a light year, if she only intended to turn it into a glorified superluminal 'bullet' at this distance. I kinda doubted Equus had early warning subspace disruption systems in place. I made a mental note to suggest that to Tia, assuming we were all alive within the hour. "That's bad. Really bad. Let's go!" Applejack agreed, kicking off the back wall and shooting herself after me. Rainbow followed with a gentle burst of her wing's energy, at least looking better than she was half a minute ago. Mentally sighing, I inquired, "I imagine asking you two to teleport out would be out of the question?" Applejack smirked, but Rainbow answered for both of them with, "Of course! I think you're starting ta get us a little. We're not abandoning you at this point!" She grinned after, and I really did sigh finally. The orange mare snorted, smashing into the metal of the hull next to me, denting it inwards as her legs glowed a fiery orange color. I watched the kinetic energy from her impact distort back up her legs, rippling around over her back as it flooded through the magnification coils, and she huffed, her own energy pushing in and kicking it back down her legs in a distorted rush. I hopped for a moment, and Rainbow flapped once to slow her descent for a split second as she came in behind us. My hooves detached from the hull just as Applejack's magic washed into it, along with the huge impact vibration, and I felt her energy 'flex' itself as the metal surface tore itself apart under us. She shredded the plating downwards almost a meter, disintegrating through the ablative layer in an instant as it became nothing more than a fine sand drifting off into space, blown away from the point where the mare stood. Dash landed next to me at the same instant I touched down from my hop. Scary! Applejack gave a nod, and I looked back down to note the glowing energy protecting the inner bulkhead. Aegis, personally created by Nirru. Her close range comm hailed me, and I patched her through as I finished finding the object I had been looking for. "It's too late! You'll never get through the barrier before-" she started to gloat. "-before ya smash yer ship thingy inta tha planet with tha FTL thingy, we know. Shut yer pie hole, if all yer gonna do is listen ta yerself talk," Applejack cut her off, her giving a surprised look over the video feed, even as I withdrew Ventosus Lacuna. The Keldarian frowned as she saw it, her mouth starting to open, undoubtedly to point out that it wouldn't listen to me, when I drew the blade directly into the hull. It seared with energy, momentarily folding time and space around it as it 'melted' through the void and sliced the magic that was supporting it. That was the issue with Aegis Barriers, apart from the other drawbacks. Sure, they were energy expensive to maintain, dangerous to practice and use, and didn't let anything through, including air, but a fundamental flaw in their design meant that if you got someone crazy enough to use an unbound one in an attack... The Aegis Barrier folded along the unbound blade, and just became another extension of it as it sliced through her bulkhead like butter. I made a sharp 'V' shaped cut, then kicked downwards, snapping the sparking metal down into the room below. Sparks showered around it as I realized I had incidentally sliced through a ceiling light, but it hardly mattered, the three of us diving through the rapidly sealing hole. Ah, nanite regenerative bulkheads. Nirru surprisingly wasn't smiling, hitting a button on her console before standing up, then just leaning back against the wall, her arms crossed. "Didn't expect to see you three face to face when I woke up today, but a lot of unexpected things happened, it would seem. And here we are, at the end of everything, face to face again..." she muttered, a rare moment of clarity in her eyes by the looks of it. My localized quantum network had already cracked into her operating system, and I saw the disconnected Slipstream system in countdown to full charge already. It was physically removed now from the network, and I sighed. "It seems that way, yeah. Last resort ramming, hmm?" I replied, looking around the command area. There weren't any further networks that I could make use of, the system already having disconnected from the engines of the ship. Weapons were offline, looking to be battle damage rather than intentional sabotage. Life support had failed, but there was enough auxiliary left over to live until it didn't matter anymore, and it wouldn't have stopped the ship anyway. "Yup. No other choice really. No weapons left, no backup, and a mostly crippled ship. I'll admit, damn can you rats fight when backed into a corner. You've impressed me, and at least earned my respect," she admitted, then pushed off the wall, her hands igniting in flames. My barriers slid over myself like armor, me focusing on dumping energy into them as I shifted into a sitting position. I drew Ventosus Lacuna again, this time holding it level in front of me as Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed my cue, lowering into combat positions. She snorted at that, then warned, "At this range, even if my traitorous sword won't listen to me, I can still suppress its abilities. It won't activate for you anymore." To be honest, I wasn't trained as a fighter. My entire repertoire of moves and techniques were all geared towards avoiding or ending a fight before it really began. At best, neutralization. At worst, assassination. In this case, I sure as hell wasn't going to try to take her alive. Normally, I also prepared barriers to attack with in the form of orbs. However, that was only a habit, and I was in no way, shape, or form limited to using them as such. Reaching full charge, my 'armor' activated, not actually being armor at all. The foreleg barriers expanded like two huge pistons towards Nirru. Her eyes widened in the briefest fraction of an instant before the huge blocks of force crushed both of her shoulders into the wall behind her. My hoof barriers activated next, attached to the two points in her shoulders now and momentarily becoming a really huge slingshot, with the end point on the handle of the sword. She was in the middle of starting to scream in raw agony from the pain from her shoulders, when I let go of her sword and it rubber-banded right at her. The point went a little off course, missing her nose and instead going through her left eye. It stabbed a good seven or eight centimeters into the metal bulkhead behind her, and she went limp and hung there. Both mares jumped to either side of me almost half a second too late, Dash letting out a surprised yelp. I shook my head to the corpse after, then spoke up with, "Disabled or not, it's still a sword. Good luck, wherever you end up..." Applejack gave her a grim stare, then swallowed as she looked back at me instead. "Guess ya really did have it covered. Wow..." she muttered, looking to the cyan pegasus past me. Dash had turned around quickly, fanning her face and looking a little more pale as she swallowed uneasily, but didn't say anything. Sighing, I explained, "Something threatens everypony I know and love, and the planet I care for with everything I am, and I will stop it. No matter what I have to do..." The orange mare nodded slowly to that, then stood again and walked over to Rainbow instead. I looked up at the slowly healing ceiling, then flicked my tentacles out in an instant, smashing it open again. Her barrier was gone now, having dropped a few seconds after we breached the hull, undoubtedly at her whim to conserve her strength. I looked back to Nirru one last time, her body now burning as her own magic went out of control on her arms. The flames flickered, starting to die as the air was vented out of the cabin, and for a moment, I pitied her. If I could go back in time, would it be possible to find the point where it had all gone wrong? That question would take a far wiser pony than myself, and I dismissed it, quickly running out of time. "How long until tha moon hits?" Applejack asked, stuck to the floor of the command center by her own magic as she held Rainbow, the pegasus suddenly weightless. The gravity systems for the room failed, and I kicked off the floor and headed back into space following the ceiling and bits of hull. The scans in my eyes picked up the new distance from the ship, then ran the velocity calculations as I drifted upwards. "Looks to be... forty to forty-two seconds. The FTL jump fires off in thirty one. Gravity isn't going to be strong enough by then to intercept it. We need to do something about the ship still..." I reported, starting to rotate to grapple back down to the hull. Dash caught me instead first, jetting us back downwards as I relaxed. "Blow tha engine?" Applejack suggested, looking over at the two of us as the cyan mare set us back down against the hull next to her. Swallowing, I warned, "It's got a charge already. It'll explode..." "Ain't that tha... oh. We'd get caught in it, too..." she realized, halfway through asking as her ears lowered. I nodded, and Rainbow frowned to my left, looking between us both. "If... If that's what it takes to save all of Equus, do we really have a choice?" she asked a second later. I stood, then chuckled and shook my head. "You two do," I reminded, gesturing to their gemstones before looking back at the engine. There was an alternative, but... Applejack scowled at that, but I was busy running other calculations as I switched to looking at the front of the ship instead. My own gem sat heavy on my chest, and the temptation was there. Mine took over twice as long as theirs did and generated six times the energy output in order to teleport me, due to complications thanks to my excessive amount of folded subspace around me. "There's got to be another way!" Dash exclaimed, looking towards the front of the ship with me. Nodding, I started into a run before adding, "There is. I open my own Slipstream effect in front of the ship as it's about to launch, and use my wake to turn the jump into the sun instead. Launch the ship out into the raw Ether to be burned up." Faster than destroying the engine, no damage to Luna's moon, and more chance of actual success. The explosion still had a chance of just propelling a good chunk of the ship down to the planet instead. Nowhere near as destructive, but it would still leave a rather big hole. "Wait, you can do that...?" Dash asked, running along with me almost immediately. Applejack hesitated, then frowned and took off after us. Nodding as I ran, I explained, "Yeah, it's a tunnel that it opens. Like the 'wake' of an object moving through the air, but in spatial movement instead. That's how Slipstream tunnels wo-" She cut me off with, "Like a bird moving through the air, leading a flock!" I blinked slowly once, then nodded to her, sliding to a stop as she suddenly ground to a halt, widening her eyes. Eh?! "Like... Like that sensation transferring dimensions?" she continued, looking back towards the front of the vessel. It felt like she was getting a plan, but I questioned the validity of whether it was actually being applicable. She took off running again a moment later, far faster this time. Applejack sprinted after her, and I had to activate my leg boosters to keep up. She quickly explained, "Activate it on top of me like you did before! I'm way better at maneuvering than you are." What?! "Rainbow, we won't have time to get off the ship! It'll be going too fast and-" I started to protest. "Horseapples! Just trust me, Mender! You have to trust me for this!" she shouted. But... Applejack bound forward, leaping a warped chunk of metal and landing back in my vision as we sprinted. "Listen ta her! Element o' loyalty, remember? Ya have ta trust us, Mender," she called out. Tch. If they died pointlessly for this, I was haunting the hell out of their ghosts. "Fine, activating Slipstream Icarus drive!" I shouted back, relenting as the energy flared up off my back. My surprise spiked when Rainbow left the hull, wings flaring with energy again as she gritted her teeth. Wait, no, we had to stay connected to the ship to... Her wings expanded out to almost three times what was needed, but she slowed down instead, then looked back at me. I heard her voice in my mind rather than out loud, her breathing already labored against her chest. Jump. Trust her, huh? Applejack took two more full strides before bounding upwards, arching through the air while reaching towards Dash. Swallowing, I pushed back the thousand nagging thoughts and leapt. For a brief second, Rainbow flicked her wings sideways and slowed. That was all it took, and I landed on her back in a fraction of an instant. Applejack went under her instead, and she snatched the mare up with all four legs before her wings flared out again. I draped my forelegs over her shoulders and held on as I tucked myself as close to her body as I could for ease of energy flow. We were gone in an instant. I timed it, then called out, "Seven seconds until the ship jumps! We need to jump before it!" Rainbow's eyes narrowed, the front of the ship looming in front of us and approaching fast. Determination flooded off her, and her form straightened out, profile going trim and sleek as she picked up even more speed. Five seconds and we crossed over the nose of the ship. Three seconds until jump, and we tucked into a spin off the nose of the vessel, her mentally screaming out, "Hit it!" The Wings of Icarus opened up behind me, folding along Rainbow's as she spread them fully. I synced them with her blast of raw magic, and reality folded away in front of us. There was no hesitation, and she was through the distortion in the flick of an eye. She turned hard, whipping us in the direction of the sun, everything distorting and twisting as I projected the movement vector into her eye display. She followed it perfectly, ignoring the warped viewpoints all around us, and we were past the moon entirely a second later. We sped up, and the moon became a spec in the next instant. The ship lurched up, and was suddenly right behind us, burning along the tunnel we were paving for it. I glanced back at it, and felt Rainbow tense as the very tip started to brush against her tail. She screamed, and her wings flared out even more as we shot forward, the sun looming in front of us. My speedometer hit just over 20c, way outside of relative space now. At this speed, we'd hit the sun in less than twenty seconds. Damn. Her plan worked and redirected the ship but... My hoof hit her chest gem, and nothing happened. I hit it twice more, then growled, but shook my head. "The emergency teleport gems aren't working!" I warned in a mental growl. The magic must not function at superluminous speeds. That's just... great. "I'm gonna turn out of the way!" she called out mentally. Uh, w-what?! But if she turned, it would follow us! "Dash, you're paving a path for-" I started to warn. She cut me off with a low growl an instant later. "No, just trust me!" she reminded, pushing faster and faster. Ah! The sun expanded in front of us, impossibly large now as the tunnel started to wobble and shake. The ship behind us twisted and shook as it ground along after us. Rainbow's Ether Furnace was the only thing holding our FTL tunnel open at this point, which meant she was 'naturally' moving at twenty times the speed of light, under her own power, technically. If we lived, I'd have to mention that to her and really stroke her ego. She deserved it after this one, though! The tunnel was starting to come apart under the intensity of the Ether flowing against us. And then Rainbow turned... My eyes widened drastically as she twisted sideways, and then we spun. Her wings folded over us, blurring and distorting, and with a scream of what sounded like pure rage, she smashed straight into the side of the tunnel we were just making! Everything tumbled forward as the wall distorted and warped around her hooves. Her wings folded, remarkably like the Wings of Icarus, and the ship shot up in an instant. Everything ground to a halt as my breath caught. Her hoof touched the nose of the ship and she pushed off, kicking sideways as we flipped backwards. Thousands and thousands of tons of metal passed barely a centimeter in front of my muzzle, and my eyes widened as I watched the engine of the ship disappearing into the sun a heartbeat later as she came out of her tight back flip. We shot sideways out of the tunnel... in a totally new tunnel instead. Her wings warped through space itself as she manually made a new Slipstream tunnel after punching sideways out of our last one. But... But how?! She didn't seem to care as space seemed to fall away from us, flames and energy lashing out behind as we were driven forward down her new tunnel, it rapidly collapsing inwards behind us. The huge ship hadn't made it to the sun hole. The raw Ether output had torn it apart before it could reach, and it had exploded... inside the Slipstream tunnel while ours was still connected to it! She went faster and faster, teeth gritting as her wings became massive pillars of energy cascading out behind us. I looked away from the wall of flames giving chase, instead reaching down and grabbing on to Applejack who was still hanging on to the cyan mare's stomach for dear life. All three of us yelped as the tunnel fell away less than ten seconds later and dumped us out into space, a huge blast of flame exiting behind us as Dash burst to the side instead. My eyes widened as I watched the burning, gaping maw of a dimensional tear slowly close. Wait, that was a dimensional shift... Sitting up on her, a shot of ice rushed through my blood as I saw Keela's ship looming next to us. Oh... Oh hell. We were in the other dimension and our only link just went up in flames... Keela gave me a surprised stare as she patched through to my comm, obviously already realizing the same thing. Epilogue My hooves made light clanking noises against the steel floors of the long corridor. My eyes closed, I simply listened to my hoofsteps on the metal and the gentle hum of the air units along the walls. The metallic clang would echo out with each press, the entire hallway feeling empty. Add the light chill to the air that electronics kept best at, and it was a rather clinical sensation. The atmosphere was more geared for our equipment to survive than us. That wasn't very 'pony', I didn't think. Of course, I wasn't very 'pony' either. My eyes opened, scans sweeping ahead from them in spiraling, mechanical precision. The door slid open in front of me with enough time for me to not have to interrupt my walking speed, and I stepped out into a massive room. Hundreds of holographic displays lined the walls as it expanded forwards into a partial cone shape, shrinking slightly in width as it neared the nose of our vessel. Keela's right ear slowly rotated to point in my direction, and I saw a slight smile play at the corner of her lips on this side. "Welcome to the bridge, Captain," she greeted, turning to look at me with a full smile. Her face showed off her youth, not having aged a single day since we'd met. The mechanical rotation I saw in her pupil for a moment revealed the reason why before my full sensor readings of her body even needed to remind me. "Psh, you know it's Mender to you," I reminded, hopping up and standing on the raised command platform next to the rail she leaned against. She gave a gentle giggle, but a more amused scoff sounded further ahead of me. Dash rotated around in her seat, wry smile on her expression before chastising with, "Flirting while on duty! What a terrible example you set for the crew!" Her voice was lighthearted, and I knew better than to take that seriously. With a snort, Applejack shook her head, then chuckled in the seat next to hers. Both were elevated from the main floor and literally right in front of me, normally positioning them back to back as they worked. They liked it that way, of course, and they got their way being our main gunner and pilot. "Ya only know ta say that 'cause he's had ta tell us tha same tease so often..." she chirped a second later, winking back over her right shoulder at her lover. The cyan mare huffed at that, glaring back at her long time friend, and I chuckled watching the two of them. It warmed me up from the perpetual chilled air, it seemed. Keela gave me a softer, knowing smile, then nodded to me as she relaxed again. She knew most of all. This had been a long journey indeed. "What's the status of the fifth colony?" I asked her, more gently as I glanced back towards the Keldarian. Her smile flicked back to a brighter one, and she nodded to me before replying. "Significantly better than the second, if that's what you're worried about. Our new habitat technology is taking well, and we've managed to colonize four bubbles now, with minimal changes to the outside planet, as you requested. Four hundred Keldarians and growing..." she revealed. I exhaled, then nodded. They got their second chance, given all of the genetic data I'd saved. Rescuing survivors and providing raw genetic data let them spread and grow yet again. Yeah, survivors. Heh. The Keldarians got their second chance at the cost of the last chance for the Grosh. My eyes felt heavy as I looked back up at the scanners, then asked, "How are our friends?" Her smile twisted up lightly at the corner of her mouth. She knew what it was like to hate, too. It was an ugly sensation, but this was an ugly place and we needed it to survive. It made her love a bit more raw and feral, but that was okay, too. "Terrified and in pure defense, just the way you like them. Are we set, then...?" she asked, a bit of excitement building in her eyes. Our real friends had changed everything. Three Grosh turned traitor, and that was all it had taken. They'd given us everything out of pure penance for the atrocity that was their race. We suddenly knew everything about them and their technology. I'd capitalized on that for everything it was worth, of course. Blending our technology together, ours had advanced a thousand years or more. Maybe this is what they'd been afraid of the entire time? Fear. Deep down, they were small little rabbits in a very large universe. A big and scary universe that had treated them like crap in their formative years. I guess if your environment is filled with hatred and death, in order to survive, you transcend. Now, karma turned out to be a harsh mistress, and we were her bloody sword. I nodded to the Keldarian finally. "Yes, we're in position. RES Celestia and Luna, you're on flanking duties as usual. RES Cadance, stay back with fire support and communications. We'll take up point in the RES Twilight. Is munitions ready, Tym?" I asked, glancing to my right viewport. He nodded to me, surrounded by monitors and status displays, most of them with various targeting lock systems. His demeanor shifted serious for a moment as he looked over the master display, then he smirked and it faded just as fast. "Locked on and ready to rip them apart. Communications go first, of course, then engine weak points. No escapes or survivors..." he assured, nodding in my direction again. We'd done this... a lot. We sent a message to each system one week ahead of time. A warning, listing their crimes as a race and our intent to attack. The first three times we did this, they reinforced. The first time their effort was minimal and they laughed it off. We took them apart. There was no call for help, no sound of battle, and no wounded survivors limping home. Their colony went dark, fading into the black abyss of space like so many stars. We destroy communication first, cripple their ships, and then systematically destroy weak spots and defenses. Hit and run tactics out of subspace maneuvers we'd only dreamed of prior. We were 'ghosts' that they didn't even detect until they were already amidst the destruction. Azure's Ghosts is what they called the fleet. Our fleet. Personally, I thought it was the paint job, but it was rather poignant. We were four capital ships strong, beyond bleeding edge technology. Hundreds of support ships backed us up, traveling along our 'wake' and taking advantage of our ability to ghost in and out of subspace. It left only a fraction of a second attack window open for both us and them. The difference is that we had our alpha strikes ready and targets locked, and they didn't even know we were there. Then they died. The only thing we ever left behind was our original message and the utterly hollow husks of their civilizations, with everything burnt to a charred dust as it drifted through space. No messages out. No survivors. They just faded away and we were gone by the time they investigated. Their second and third warnings, they sent the whole fleet. With our tactics, overwhelming maneuverability and firepower superiority, and an immense knowledge of their own tactics, we won. They didn't get any outward communication of us even arriving apart from sudden radio silence. They only repeated this once, however. Now, we were the boogeyman. Our messages arriving was a sign for full scale evacuation. We picked strategic targets, removing power bases and separating their escape paths one by one. It was a long war, and we'd fought it for a very long time. This was our two hundred and sixteenth year since becoming trapped in this dimension. That meant it was another eighty-four years at least before Equus lined back up with us. We had the technology to make the jump right now if we could. I even had their coordinates. So if we were stuck here, we might as well make a difference in the meantime. "Forces?" I asked, staring at the screen of our scans in front of me. Litta shook her head from the second row down. "One siege fleet and one defensive fleet. They're not even going to have time to scream..." she revealed. Shaking my head, I ordered, "No chance at all. No mercy. Communications with overwhelming firepower, then weak points. Cripple then destroy them outright. No escapes..." She sighed at that, but nodded, repeating my words to the other ships. I wasn't going to ever take a chance. These creatures were going to systematically be wiped out or 'converted', one way or another. Applejack sighed, and I saw it coming. Again. "Mender, we've been doin' this fer ah long time. Are ya sure ya really want ta-" she started to ask. I let my nostrils flare for a moment, that chill coming over me again before nodding. "Yup. They had their chance to surrender or run. Now they face justice and get erased," I cut off, staring at her intently. Justice, revenge, war crimes... Whatever you wanted to call it at this point. She looked away, and I knew she'd given up. She lacked the conviction of trying to be my moral compass these days. Even if my own actions damned me in the long run, someone had to do this. The universe wasn't going to give out any freebies at this point, and if someone didn't step up and do something unsavory, we'd all be wiped out by these monsters. When it came down to hospital ships or residential areas, I made sure to do the shooting myself, of course. Tym smirked again. He'd been with me the whole time. He agreed with every word I'd said, of course, and had seen exactly what these creatures were with his own eyes. "If we're done with the traditional pussy-footing around morality up there, we have some monsters to destroy before the day's out. We ready, Mender?" he asked, shifting his full attention to only me finally. "Of course. Fangs out, and move in for the kill," I ordered, gesturing my hoof downwards towards the lock-on displays in the main screen. We shuddered all at once as the ship lurched forward. The orange mare sighed and turned away fully, her blue lover giving her an assuring smile. They'd talk to me later tonight, of course, when the four of us were alone. I... They were my lovers, too, of course. They were all I had left apart from Keela, and it had been... a very long time. For a brief moment, the shimmering yellow mare smiled in my memories, hazy now as all I'd felt of her were pictures over the hundreds of years. Lavender danced amidst, and I smiled, fighting back that spike of pain inside. It had been so very long since I'd seen them. The machines in my blood made me immortal, just like Applejack and Rainbow. They regenerated my biological structure, refreshing my DNA and cells with each cycle. That meant the others would be immortal, too. At least I knew that Twilight and Fluttershy would be waiting when I got back. If we got back. At this point, I'd promised myself to get the two of them home. The three of us included Keela now, and she'd made her own promises. She sought to follow me wherever I go, and got a blood transfer from me to facilitate just that. Then they all promised to follow me, including Tym. Although I suspected he didn't age anyway, with or without nanite assistance. We'd fought relentlessly for this. The monsters had been beat back mercilessly again and again. We'd severed them, cut them off, starved them, and utterly defeated them for two hundred years. Now they had six systems left. They had started with over three thousand. By the time we saw Equus again, they would be gone. I went cold again as our engines hummed, and we flickered out of existence once more... * * * * * We were making a difference. We had found Keldarian survivors and aided them. With the DNA I had, they had started to pick up the pieces of their race. Of course, there was a price. Getting the DNA from me brought my energy with it, and permanently changed them. It corroded the blockages and energy buildup in their magic system. It healed their DNA, and slowly brought them peace. They were returning, day by day, back to the people they used to be before. Happy again, and peaceful. Gentle. Males were treated with respect and equality again, despite being more numerous. That was a price the council had been unwilling to pay, seeing my energy as corrupting and evil, ironically. Our victories carried through and bolstered hope and morale, of course. But it was the technology to survive and thrive that helped them grow. We had multiple colonies now, thousands strong, and they were well on their way to a stable DNA base without needing my input. Almost. They easily would be by the time Equus matched up with us again. And the differences we were making for life here was what kept them going. Applejack and Rainbow saw we were helping, and thus, they allowed me to keep going, too. Allowed it, but definitely didn't like it one bit. "Yer losin' yerself, Mender. Ya need ta stop this. They're almost gone now, and ya know them other aliens could finish 'em off," Applejack murmured gently, resting next to me in bed with her nose against mine. Slowly, I sighed, then shook my head towards her. "You know you'd never leave a job to somepony else, unfinished. It's too risky. We have to make sure that no other race has to deal with these monsters..." I reminded. Her eyes softened a little, and she nuzzled me again. For a moment, we just listened to the sounds of teeth being brushed, and an idle, quiet conversation from the bathroom between the other two. Probably talking about our victory today... "If... that's really why ya do it, then okay. We can see this through ta tha end... but is it really why yer doin' this?" she asked, almost a whisper as her eyes met mine again. I swallowed, then sighed, but all she did was lean in and give me a softer kiss. I returned it, feeling that ice in my chest lessen just a little, and she smiled, breaking away again. "Ah know. Ya miss 'em. Ah do, too. Just... don't lose yerself before we can see 'em again..." she continued gently. She'd lost far more than I. I'd see Fluttershy and Twilight again. But by the time we got back, her sister, brother, and grandma... They were already gone. Guaranteed. We might get to see their foals if they had any, but... Softly, I massaged her chest, and she smiled at my touch. The mattress got weighed down slightly, and a cyan mare flopped onto us an instant later, grinning. "Getting started without me, huh?!" she asked, shooting me a wink as I felt my face flush. Two hundred years and she could still make me turn red. Ugh. "Heh, talkin', Dashie. But Ah think ya knew that..." Applejack shot back, earning a giggle from the other mare. I smiled 'up' at her, then turned and looked in time to see Keela exit the bathroom, entirely nude. It was a rather welcome sight, and she winked to me before sliding in behind me, shorter muzzle nuzzling into the back of my neck. No matter what we faced, we stuck together, and that... That was the important part. * * * * * "No. This just... I can't do this. This isn't right. Not yet. Not just for him anymore..."
Ending 3I looked up at the slowly repairing ceiling, and then flicked my tentacles out in an instant, smashing it open again. Her barrier was gone now, having dropped a few seconds after we breached the hull, undoubtedly at her whim to conserve her strength. I looked back to Nirru one last time, her body now burning as her own magic went out of control on her arms. The flames flickered, starting to die as the air was vented out of the cabin, and for a moment, I pitied her. If I could go back in time, would it be possible to find the point where it had all gone wrong? That question would take a far wiser pony than myself, and I dismissed it, quickly running out of time. "How long until tha moon hits?" Applejack asked, stuck to the floor of the command center by her own magic as she held Rainbow, the pegasus suddenly weightless. The gravity systems for the room failed, and I kicked off the floor and headed back into space following the ceiling and bits of hull. Everything seemed to slow down, and I frowned as I rotated upside down, touching back onto the bits of ceiling drifting upwards. A glance to my left showed Prudentia glowing a fiery blue color on my side, the rest of the color draining out of the world, even as Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed me. This time, their colors stayed, too, however, them not noticing, or be affected by the sudden grinding halt of temporal movement. At least until they got out here with me and spotted the debris stuck in time. "Eh? W-Wait, what's goin' on...?" Applejack asked, noting the ceiling not budge when they hit it, then further discovering the bits of hull frozen in time around us. Nodding, I released Prudentia, letting it float off my side as Purdue slowly manifested on the front of the book, the main gem glowing with energy and projecting her image above it. I explained after, "This is her doing. She's halted time just for the three of us. What's going on, Purdue?" The little filly's soft blue ears lowered, and she momentarily looked uncertain before swallowing intensely. "B-Bro... n-no, Mender... I... I need to talk to you. Bad! I have to warn you!" she suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere. Eh? Her timing indicated that this was probably vital. "Warn? About what?" Rainbow asked, flipping and landing gently next to me, still holding Applejack and helping her latch onto the ceiling. Now we were all 'upside down' compared to the command center above us, but perspective was funny like that. The filly gave a little whine before fidgeting and adding, "I'm almost out of energy. I've... stressed my personal energy through this entire battle repeatedly, but I c-can never make it last long enough! I... I don't know what to do, Mender! I... I can't save you and I'm out of options!" Eh?! My mind was already trying to process what she was saying, but it was reaching blanks. What did she mean, 'can never'? Frowning, I corrected, "It's still Brother, Little Sis. And save me from what?" I tried to keep my voice level and calm for her. She flinched regardless, shifting back and forth on her hooves. It took her a few seconds, but she looked back up at me, tears in her amber eyes. "This. No matter what I do, I can't save you. I've tried over and over and over again. You get the idea to redirect the shuttle after this with your own Slipstream effect, but to escape dying, you have to dimension warp. You get stuck in the other dimension with Keela! All three of you!" she suddenly said outright. Well, there went that calm bit... as that was the plan I had indeed started to form. I knew Purdue had that 'probability profiling' ability, but that was crazy! My eyes widened, both mares next to me following almost instantly. "W-What?! How did you know that.... wait..." I started to mutter before my brain skipped a few gears again. Trying.... to save me? Over and over again...? She could stop time, at least from the perspective of an individual, which was self evident in this situation. But... She winced, as if expecting to be slapped for a moment, but when nothing came, she instead broke into tears. "I lied! I've been lying to you over and over again! Telling y-you never helps! You just sacrifice yourself instead and try to let me free of the Geas... I don't want to be free! I've repeated this same month and a half over and over and over again, trying to find a way to come out without losing anything..." Purdue revealed instead. Oh. Well damn. "Uh... what?" Applejack asked, giving her a bewildered stare before looking over at me. I couldn't process it fully, however, and fought my own mind to pull it all back together. It all snapped into place a moment later. "Your powers... Are literally everything to do with a book, aren't they? That includes flipping back to the beginning and starting to read it again... doesn't it?" I asked quietly. She swallowed, then slowly nodded to me instead, looking down and away. She had been... But that meant... My eyes widened a little, and I continued with, "Oh... Your power... Does that include 'writing' in the book, too?" Her wince told me yes before her mouth needed to. "Y-Yeah. It costs me a lot of energy, but I can 'write' tiny things into the book, changing things each time I start over. I've... been doing this for a long time, trying to find the right combination of things that will save you. This is as far as I can get, though. There's just... no energy left to change anything else, and... I don't know what to do," she finished explaining, slumping against the gem on the front of the book. Then... why tell me directly? Why now, of all times? Both mares with me looked more than a little stunned, Rainbow looking between Purdue and myself before finally settling her gaze on the small filly. "So you're... Well, you're a time traveler? You're a time traveler from Mender's dimension who's linked to him in the form of a strange spirit bound to a book that's been trying to save him from... whatever this is that's going to happen...? This is... what?!" she asked, freaking out halfway through and flailing her forelegs to either side of her. I raised an eyebrow at the pegasus, but Applejack actually chuckled and rubbed her hoof along Rainbow's muzzle, calming the mare. "It's... surprisin', but if that's what she says she is, that's what she is. She ain't lyin'. So, maybe we can put our noggins together an' come up with somethin'? What exactly is tha problem, Sugar?" she asked instead, accepting it all rather easily. It took me a moment, but I pieced all of it back together again. "I... It doesn't matter, no. Nothing's changed in how I consider you, Little Sis. You say the plan works, but in order to avoid getting caught on the ship as it goes into the sun, we have to do a dimensional transfer... which gets us stuck on the other side?" I summarized. Considering everything at once made my head spin, so I just focused on the current problem instead. Purdue looked stunned for a moment, but then nodded, looking to her left. The book projected an image next to her in the same moment, and my eyes widened. There we were, a brilliant miasma of energy washed around us in thick torrents, Dash gritting her teeth as her wings turned into flares behind her. They were two long ribbons of prismatic light dancing off into the dark of space behind us, splashing along the sides of the massive vessel following us. My mind tingled as I watched, and suddenly I started to remember alongside the image. That... It happened. That really happened! I was riding on Rainbow's back, and she was carrying Applejack in her legs. I looked over to the two of them and saw the same look of realization starting to show across their expressions. Slowly, Dash's jaw lowered, and she exclaimed, "I remember this! This is... I did this! Oh my gosh, this is so awesome!" Uh, dramatically missing the point, but yes, she did! Turning, I looked back at the image, remembering three or four different ways suddenly that it could have gone. Frowning, the image felt strange, and I reached forward with my left forehoof and touched it softly. Branches. Every decision made a branch as to how it could have gone. Not just our choices, but how our choices made other choices, and even the inanimate objects we affected. Applejack frowned, watching me as the image started to split and schism. It slowly became a great tree of images, each one varying just a little as it branched out and out. She hesitated, then asked, "Mender, what are ya doin'?" Purdue just watched, eyes softening a little as I spread the image out into three-dozen others. "I've... I've done this before," I muttered, surprised at my own memories. They weren't coming 'back', but were instead appending to the memories I already had. They were there, but I distinctly understood that they were also from alternative timelines. Did that mean that, somehow, I was able to 'remember' all of these branches? Is that how this worked? The little translucent filly shook her head slowly, explaining, "Those are my memories. I've done it... for a very long time. I get the branches of you, master of the book, and anyone you interact with in your 'story'." Oh, that meant... She nodded, and suddenly time seemed to stretch backwards. It was no longer an image just being projected to her left, but all around us in thousands of branches. It curled backwards, some branches joining with others and some spiraling away and into the distance. No, not away. We were going backwards, so that was when they joined, not separated. Images all over, of not just my own memories, but... Rushing through an ancient castle with the others. Constructing a barn. Harvesting apples from the entire orchard. Winning so many races. Flying around in a giant tornado. Helping move massive thunderclouds over the town. It showed all of our memories, not just my own. Spiraling backwards, it went further and further, but... I went the other direction, following the fourth spiraling thread connected to our group. It struck me almost instantly, and I just had to know. There were literally millions of branches. I could see every adjustment she'd made. Over and over, she'd repeated everything. I wanted to tell her to stop, to rest and stop doing this to herself. I followed that thread instead. "M-Mender, stop, what are you...?" Purdue started to ask. I had to know. It was important! Something about how all of this mess actually began was important. It was too late to stop me, and I hauled all four of us down the thread and into a completely foreign set of memories... * * * * * Dancing. Her first memory was dancing. She looked so happy as she laughed and spun, arms extended. It was the sensation of the air on her fur, the weight of her arms pulling at her body, and even her own balance as she moved that attracted her. She'd never seen anything her entire life, after all, cloudy gray pupils looking empty and distant, yet she actually saw forever. She'd been born a mutation. A genetically deformed child. They were getting more and more frequent, and it was always a 'tragedy' when it happened to a female kitten. She'd been born not only a runt, but blind as well. If she were a male, she wouldn't have lasted the night, but because females were important even without sight and strength of body, she was kept alive and simply slotted for breeding instead. Of course, that didn't mean her childhood was much different... The memories flickered like a candle in the wind. So long ago. Something else, too. It didn't exist. Somehow, it felt like the memories didn't exist. Not that they weren't real, but that they were no longer real, somehow. He'd found her. He was a veteran soldier by then, and held a good chunk of rank. He was up for review for both the special forces, and slotted for work as a training instructor. Alongside his magical aptitude and generally acknowledged cleverness, he held quite a lot of prestige. A male such as him was 'allowed' to enter themselves into the breeding programs. Encouraged even. Genetics were valuable, it would seem. It could have been blind luck, or maybe it was some sort of skill or training on his part. Maybe you could even call it 'providence'. But he found her less than two years before she was slotted to begin the breeding program. She was nine at the time, a rather sickly child who seemed naturally scared of everything. He saw past that, however, and realized it was more than fear. She giggled then, sitting down next to me as the events flickered around us, through both vision and memory. Applejack looked horrified by the thoughts and images, but Rainbow purely focused on the small Keldarian in front of us. Purdue smiled, however, and explained, "I was completely blind, but they didn't understand. My mutation was a burden, but also a boon. My dead eyes saw past reality to the temporal streams beyond. It started just a few seconds displaced in any direction. That's forward or back in time, that is. Or maybe it was up and down. It doesn't matter..." The small kitten was curled up on her bed, uniform on and wet moisture dampening the fur of her cheeks. She was waiting for the male who'd 'ordered' her to come pick her up. Males of status were allowed to select personal breeders, after all, and despite being too young, she was volunteered. Largely because they saw her as broken and useless anyway. She wasn't expecting him to smile at her. Or to sit next to her bed for over an hour just talking with her. She didn't expect her first meal to be actual food, and for him to have a room prepared for her. He even had education books ready, and while he was a very busy male, he spent a surprising amount of time with her. Purdue sighed at that, lowering her head and ears as she rested her cheek against my leg. "He started off a lot like you are, Mender. My big brother. He told me that he saw me for what I was, a little girl who wasn't broken and damaged like they thought, who needed to be rescued. Ordering me as a breeder was just his excuse to get me out of there..." she explained, closing her eyes again. Pulling her over, I felt her relax in my forelegs, a smile playing back at her muzzle. The memories jumped and spun, fluttering like a hundred moths around a flame. Hard to track and follow just one. We fell out of focus, a memory of learning here, reading together on a garden moon there, learning how to properly dance even. The little kitten was happy, and she'd found her big brother to protect her. That perverse sense of wrongness still invaded the memories. Like they didn't exist, but did at the same time. Another thing I noticed was that there were no branches here. Just one long line. Three years. I, no, she, remembered it as the third anniversary of the day he'd picked her up. Her big brother, who'd proven time and time again to love and care for her. She even helped him celebrate when he found another female who liked spending time with him. Things were tense, though, and going badly with the war effort against the Grosh, which was putting a lot of stress on him. Purdue nodded along, watching the older looking female Keldarian waiting patiently in a modern apartment hallway, staring at the door curiously yet with empty eyes, seeing through it. She'd been taught to 'look' at things she was addressing or examining, if only to keep up the appearance of being active and aware. One of the many things he taught her, of course. "He met Keela after he saved her from one of the world's under siege. She was a shy girl, who was always second most important to her sister. She fell for the dashing rogue who'd saved her life in the middle of live combat, and started meeting him in secret. She hadn't been ready to tell her sister yet about her relationship, but she was nice to me, and treated me like a little sister when she watched over me. Even started teaching me magic and how to use my powers, seeing as she was a clairvoyance specialist," she explained. A lot of that I'd already known from Keela, but... The little kitten girl sighed, resting with her back to the wall now as she sat on the floor. It had been hours since he'd left, and still, he wasn't back. His dates with Keela usually only ran a few hours, but it had been six now. Keela came in instead, looking a mess and in a panic. There'd been a misunderstanding. This much I knew, too. They'd been caught together, Nirru jumped to conclusions, and he'd been arrested. Keela went to her mentor, Kyliona, for help, but it took time. And in the meantime, he was busy being tortured. It didn't do his sanity any favors... We watched the blur, and after sighing, Purdue narrated with, "She took me to the lab for a few days. It took two and a half days for Kyliona to clear him with the council and essentially draft him into her service. He was in rough shape by then, and blamed Keela for not standing up to her sister, breaking off their relationship. It was... bad. He didn't even talk to me, and he usually told me about everything..." Images of her being pulled through a blurred and stormy street, barely avoiding people as he hauled her along. He was frustrated and angry, and probably more than a little crazy at that point. He had been forced to aid Kyliona in her project as part of the excuse for freeing him. They'd replaced the missing body parts with cybernetics, but couldn't do much for his mind. I knew now that his DNA had gone into me to stabilize my missing bits resulting from the three hundred years of cryostasis and being removed from my mother exceptionally early. As a result, I had his memories and training, intentionally given, from what I understood. They were originally using me as a scout, and didn't know what they'd be sending me into, after all. None of them predicted that it would also transfer Purdue's magical Geas to me as well, after he died... "Raaaah! That's it!" he screamed out, violently kicking his dresser and smashing the front of its drawers open. Purdue sat on the bed, large ears lowered as she kept herself shrunk down, despite him only taking his anger out on inanimate objects. "B-Brother, calm down. I know a lot happened to you, but let me help you! I'll do anything to help you, you know that!" the young kitten pleaded in a low whine. He slowed, breathing hard as he sunk to his knees and leaned against the bed. Purdue slid over to where he rested, putting a paw on his arm, which caused him to start shivering. This wasn't how I anticipated it at all. He was... crying? I frowned, but filly Purdue shook her head. "He was a completely different person originally. Driven, and wanting to make a difference. He only became the individual you knew after having decided that difference was worth any cost. That's when he decided that only he could adequately 'judge' individuals for their 'sins', at least as he put it..." she explained, closing her eyes and sagging against my forelegs. I held her closer, watching her other self trying to comfort the crying Keldarian. Slowly, he looked up at her and shook his head. "It's too late, Purdue. They're all dead... That... monster... She killed my entire team right in front of me. Even if I was set free, I'm stripped of my ranks and titles, and we're probably mere days away from losing this war..." he whispered, shuddering again. His eyes let streams of tears down his cheeks, but within, I saw an even deeper pain stirring. That level of darkness gave way to madness fairly fast, I knew... It was a pity he couldn't see his own eyes. "I'm still here, Big Brother," Purdue tried to whisper, leaning in and nuzzling him gently. He relaxed a little, giving her a shaky smile before closing his eyes again. "You are... If only your powers were stronger. We might be able to save the Keldarians... But we're almost entirely out of time..." he muttered. His hand clenched, his claws digging into his blanket as he gave a half-hysterical snarl of frustration. Purdue persisted, giving soft and gentle nuzzles the whole time, until he relaxed again. Slowly, his ears perked up, and he suddenly widened his eyes. "Wait... no... There's... It's a long shot, but there is one more hope. Only one. But if we're all going to die anyway..." he muttered, shakily looking up at her again. They stared at each other for a surprisingly intense dozen seconds or so, his eyes searching hers as she slowly tilted her head. Instead, he asked, "You said you'd do anything, right? And you trust me?" Oh hell... She momentarily looked confused, but nodded a second later, smiling again. "Of course, Big Brother. I trust you with my life..." she assured. A knot formed in my throat, and I felt the little filly start to shake against me. No, these were memories. It was all over already, right? The real her wasn't what we were watching, but the one snuggling against my legs. I held her tighter, only now starting to grasp just how desperately she needed a hug. The Keldarian in the image nodded, and then stood rapidly. "This is our last chance, then. We can still save them all, but we literally need more time. Of course, it's all just pure theory, but we don't really have a choice, or the time to run comprehensive tests. Stay here. I'll be right back..." he instructed. Purdue nodded, still looking a little confused, but he took off out of the room rapidly, leaving her resting on the bed instead. Time stepped forward again, and a sense of dread hit me. For reasons not entirely known to me, I pulled Purdue closer and rotated her around so her face was pressed into my chest. She shivered, and I felt the barest hint of a smile. "I don't need to see it to know what happened. I lived it..." she reminded, although there was a hinting of affection in her voice. Snorting lightly, I assured her, "Real big brothers don't listen to logic like that. They just guard you anyway..." There was a surprising emphasis on 'real' that I used, but she smiled fully anyway, pushing her muzzle in a bit closer to my chest and letting it brush over my fur. Applejack smirked at my statement and nodded in agreement, then slid over closer and pressed into my side. Her face buried into my shoulder, she helped me snuggle Purdue, then muttered, "Big Mac ain't 'ere, so ya can guard me, too. Ah don't have no desire ta see this either..." Chuckling, I looked over to Dash, too, and then lifted an eyebrow as she stayed staring at the images, ears flicking lightly. She flinched as I turned towards her, and I knew she knew I was watching. "Nope. Not gonna make you watch this alone, Mender..." she suddenly defended, crossing her forelegs over her chest and giving a stubborn huff after. She'd probably been anticipating me to talk her out of it. She wasn't expecting me to just grab her right shoulder and spin her around, pulling her against me, too, instead. She gave a squeak, but I cut her off with, "Good, because I don't want to watch it either. Plus, we have a little filly here who's in desperate need of snuggles." My head lowered, too, resting on top of both of theirs, and then none of us were watching. Not that I needed to. I'd touched the stream, and that told me exactly what had happened. I 'felt' it in my memories. She trusted him absolutely, and he took that and used it to betray her just as completely. There was that sense of surprise at being grabbed, but it was fine, of course. It was her big brother. Muscles relaxed, and she smiled up at him, even as he rested her down on the bed again. Blind eyes sought out his essence, but she'd never been able to read him properly. He always held everything inside as much as possible. But for just that instant, she was surprised to feel a single thing sliding out of his mind. An apology. It was too late to ask him, however. The biting sting slid into her chest, white hot and tearing. She screamed silently, but no sound came out as her strength failed her completely. The heavy blade parted through her, smashing deep into the very beating sensation at her center, then cut away. The pain became blinding, white hot dissolving into numb cold instead as all feeling fell away. Weak thrashing turned into spasms, liquid heat rushing out of her center and leaving her cold and empty inside. He tore the pulsing free of her chest completely, letting the hot fluid splatter over her as he pulled it free of her body. She was left alone, laying there in the cold darkness as it sank around her. He wanted more, however. Her heart was just the catalyst, of course. Out of that cold, freezing abyss, he reached out of nowhere and drove a thousand fish hooks right into her essence itself. The link between them turned absolute, and the Geas tore into her soul, even as he completed the ritual with her lifeblood against the Aegis Barrier. Then it was activated... I held Purdue close, even as she shivered and cried. The other Purdue did the same, but without anyone there to hug her. Instead, she was bound into the barrier itself, which was sealed inside the book in a massive explosion of energy. An Aegis Artifact was born, her life unbound to fuel its energy and creation. The power of the essence, or a 'soul' was used, unshackled by a corporeal form and left to grow upon itself without limit. Hers was unique, however. It was the first Artifact created where the caster didn't sacrifice themself to make it. The trick was in the Geas spell itself... All three of us snuggled Purdue, blocking out the visions entirely. It was a long moment, and minutes passed in silence, the memories having bled off to blissful nothingness instead. I just let her rest, no questions asked, and we formed a furry cocoon around her of warm bodies. She shivered again, snuggling into my chest even as the two mares pushed closer. Applejack felt utmost concern for the filly we held, but Rainbow's thoughts stayed focused entirely on the sensation of my foreleg over her, an uncomfortable feeling shifting through her from our link. She, nor Applejack, had felt any of Purdue’s memories about getting sacrificed, I knew. Left to her own devices, she'd instead been thinking about the other timeline. Purdue had shown us what would happen if we’d gotten trapped in the other dimension. All of our memories, at least of that particular thread of time, had returned fully. I knew all about the Grosh, the technology that we'd recovered from them and where I'd advanced with it, and what I'd fallen into in order to annihilate them from the universe. At the same time, I also felt the connection to Keela and the two mares magnify dozens of times. They'd both been my lovers for hundreds of years, and it was rather hard to ignore that sensation. Things were... getting complicated now. No, we needed to focus on the present. Things could be dealt with in time after. There was only one more piece missing, then. "We're almost there. What did he do, Purdue? I think that's the important part..." I muttered, working off gut instinct now. Or maybe it wasn't gut instinct at all, given how crazy this was all getting. The beginning of this. It was more than just curiosity. It had to hold the key... She sighed, and then nodded slowly. "After turning me into an Aegis Artifact using the ritual, he had to act fast. My awakening released an energy pulse that could be felt hundreds of miles away, like all Aegis Artifacts. It set off alarms everywhere, and special operations squads were already on their way towards our apartment..." she explained. How on earth did he get out of that?! And get reinstated as an agent somehow...? Wait... No, they didn't know about her being an Artifact either! Purdue swallowed, her empty eyes looking up towards me pointlessly for a long moment. Or maybe she really did see something, but it wasn't likely to be something I could comprehend. Her eyes seemed to soften, ears lowering as they closed slowly. "I asked myself a lot over the years, why he was the only individual that my vision didn't work on. At first I thought he was just too powerful, but things didn't add up. I realize now why my vision didn't work on him. It's because he broke everything, and to save me from the madness, my mind blocked him out completely..." she revealed, voice dull and without variation. Broke...? "Broke." Her voice answered it, but didn't at the same time as it echoed around us instead. I was treated to the sensation of the sound 'tearing', and a pang shot through my skull in an instant. No, that wasn't a tearing sound. I watched the sound tear inside of my brain, and it refused to process it. The image was distorted now. Fragmented, I realize. Like the memory was literally coming apart at the seams with warped, blank 'nothing' filling the gaps. He smiled, a distorted grin with bladed teeth warping around and out his face as perspective melted like heated butter. Wait, no, that was the smile he’d given me as ‘Nirru’. My own memories were bleeding in now? "You belong to me now, Purdue. You are now Prudentia. Foresight, in all aspects. Bound to a book, and thus acting as one," he declared. It wrote itself inside of the cover of the book, like absolute law, even as the hooks into her soul twisted and tore. She spoke, even without wanting to. "Yes, Master. What is your command?" she asked, voice empty and hollow, her life's essence held up overlaying the book like some twisted marionette on rusted, bloody chains. Her actual blood drifted around them, still pooling from her discarded physical form, and drifted free of gravity in long strands as the energy exploded out. For that instant, frozen in time, he was at the center of a great explosion of life and power, realized in the exact moment of her death. He lost his grin, causing a chill to go down my spine. "Take my energy, too. All of it. I have only one order," he continued. What...? His eyes closed, even though I could no longer see them, and I simply 'knew' what was happening now. No... this wasn't... He finally ordered, "Erase Purdue from existence entirely..." My mind blanked, reality starting to froth into a boil around us as I heard Rainbow silently screaming, her voice dancing forward like streams of water into the air rather than producing sound. Applejack clutched at her head, body warping partly through mine as we started to burn away. "Yes, Master." With those words, we were undone, and torn asunder. Purdue existed. But then she suddenly didn't exist. But then her power left with her, removing the very force that had removed her. Suddenly she existed again. But then time repeated in an instant and she was forced to erase herself in the same moment. Again and again and again. The thread of continuity frayed, and he wielded a paradox as if it were a weapon, striking one single, very precise blow into the thread itself using his very existence. Reality and causality, however, wasn't such a stable thing. It buckled under the weight of the twisting, infinite repetition in that same moment. There were safeguards, of course. That was the moment I realized that reality strove for balance. It had the ability to fix itself. It wasn't due to some magical contrived plot device from within the paradox loop, but time itself stepping back and mentioning, "Wow, that got messed up." Purdue smiled, guiding us through the abyss with practiced precision. "That's why I didn't want you going back. Watching that..." she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks. It was the worst moment, and last, of her life, and her soul had been used to destroy all of existence. Purdue's mother smiled, giving a nuzzle to her father, but fragmentation stripped their identities away already. Nothing but the 'knowing' of the roles they played was left. Well, more accurately, the roles they no longer played. Purdue herself was erased. Instead, their love didn't bear a child, but a power. At that exact moment... He was past the checkpoints now. It had been a long week of security clearances, and he was on to basic training. So young. He rested on his mattress and gave a tired sigh, closing his eyes for a moment before he remembered. His mother's journal. He smiled, innocent and pure as he pulled it out of his bag to write a new entry in it... and his eyes widened. She had awoken, in the only form she could to both satisfy her destruction and existence at the same time. She was the book. Past security, and fully awoken as an Aegis Artifact, subtly, in that instant of her birth. That brilliant bastard. And he didn't even know... Time flew by, showing him experimenting with the strange new powers of the book, seemingly coming out of nowhere and being served by an obedient soul that was forced to obey him. Laws inside of the cover instructed her to always obey, never tell, and to be a book. He didn't care, of course, not even knowing her real name, and used the book to its full advantage... and that's how everything snapped into place. He'd achieved a rank similar to Tym in a tenth of the timeframe, and set up everything so he was exactly where he needed to be with exactly the resources he wanted. How? By writing it in and reading ahead! I hated him all over again. He hadn't even tried to understand the nature of the sudden change to the book. He hadn't even tried to free her. It was a 'her' and he hated females anyway. At least until Keela. He could be as innocent and idealistic as possible, and it was still all his fault for being a complete idiot instead! I gritted my teeth, even as Applejack slumped against me, and Rainbow shivered at my hooves holding her head. They'd seen everything, too. Everything in that timeline, and everything in the timeline right before us where we were stuck for hundreds of years. I had all of my knowledge of that event, but still... That was the answer, but I didn't know how to actually utilize it. It was right in front of me, and I understood what had to be done, but I didn't know how to get to that point. We were back in that instant, having never departed, of course. All three of us stood on the surface of the ship, having just stopped running. It was pointless. We'd just get stuck again, or die trying. "I don't have anything left. The reserves are empty, even if you ordered me to try to change something..." Purdue whispered, closing her eyes as she slumped against my leg. I didn't feel any weight at all now, and knew we were outside of her mind. But the book was still open, and I could feel it. The massive tree of probability anchored around us, impossibly huge yet all of it fit inside my perspective, even in detail. My own mind gave up trying to figure that one out, and I refused to try. Now I knew she didn't stop time, however. She'd only ever stopped reading, and left our perspectives out of it. Time wasn't stopped at all. We were. Frowning, I immediately asked, "What about my own energy? I saw you took his in the flashback." Applejack recovered fast and immediately shot me a glare, but Purdue's ears just lowered. "Even if I wanted to risk that, he was the one that gave me his energy, not the other way around. I... I couldn't see him. Even then. Especially then. I was never able to see him. He used a spell effect, but I have no idea how he did it, so I couldn't even begin to tell you..." she whispered, starting to shiver lightly. Damn it! Giving a frustrated grunt, I slid my left forehoof across the metal of the deck. No energy left in the tanks, can't access the backup tanks, can't slow the ship down enough, can't redirect it... There was really only one outcome that we could possibly do. There was no choice but to just let it happen and get trapped in the other dimension... I felt him before I noticed him, my senses ablaze and tuned directly into the hundreds of thousands of threads running around me. A new thread just 'appearing' as a single point out of nowhere was definitely unexpected, and caught my full attention. A moment later, I watched a very, very small Draconequus 'slide' down the thread closest to my head, as if it were a fire pony's pole or something. "Ooooh, is this a secret club?! I find ponies in the strangest places sometime, but I do wish they'd inform me when we got a new extradimensional club outside of the chronological flow of space itself... And, of course, it's, uh..." he started before suddenly blanking and staring at me for a long moment. Seriously? Again? My mouth opened, but he held up his paw. It suddenly felt like my lips were all sticky and gummed up! I flailed, but he continued with, "No, no, don't tell me. Uh... bandaid flank? No, wait... that's what you used to be... Gear Butt? Wait, no, I guessed that last time... it had something to do with butt, right?" I force regenerated my lips, but just glared at him. Applejack gave him a skeptical stare, but to my surprise, Dash didn't laugh, rolling her eyes instead. "You're not fooling anypony, Discord. You know Mender's name. Now why are you here?" she asked instead, looking tired as she sized him up. He took it literally, of course, immediately growing back to his normal size. Purdue seemed concerned for a moment before asking, "And how are you here?! This is my own domain outside of time itself! You shouldn't even be aware this instant exists, let alone be able to interact with it!" Applejack raised an eyebrow to her, and then finally smiled at that. "Long story, don't ask. Short story, he's basically ah physical god o' chaos an' has done far stranger..." she explained. Discord, of course, snickered merrily, lounging back on several threads of time like a giant hammock. "Good answer! As to why, well, do I ever need a reason? I mean, really, Rainbow. You know what I'm like when bored, and then you wonderful ponies go out and have a full on battle in space without me! It's like the showing of all time, one night only, and nopony bothered to get me a ticket. I'm truly upset!" he revealed, waving his clawed appendage over his forehead in a surprisingly dramatic tone and gesture. "You're supposed to use a couch, not a hammock," I reminded, relaxing again and deciding I really didn't care why he was here in the first place. He blinked once, looking momentarily surprised before grinning and snapping his fingers. It didn't surprise me in the least, however, when the strands of light reshaped themselves into the exact replica of Rarity's couch, him still on them. Rainbow finally smirked and laughed lightly. "Why thank you! I believe I get to ask 'why' now, right? What's this gathering about?!" he asked, sounding more than a little pleased. Mostly with himself, of course. He used his pawed hand to rub at his goatee while waiting. Applejack sighed, and then quickly explained, "About tha same as usual, Ah reckon. We're stuck 'ere with no way ta get back ta Equus while still divertin' tha ship. Ah don't imagine ya got any fancy powers that'll teleport us back ta tha surface, do ya?" Oh! He was indeed an Ancient. Shouldn't he have the ability to teleport, too? He looked momentarily amused at that, throwing his paw up to his forehead dramatically again before replying, "Oh my! I so wish I could, but truthfully, my magic doesn't function like that. I mean, I could certainly try to move you three such a vast distance, but there'd be no promises that you'd arrive... in one piece..." His body shivered for a moment, then his fingers and arm fell off on the side against his forehead, and he gasped in faux shock. Uh… That probably wouldn't be nearly as pleasant looking if it happened to us. "Uh... that's bad. Is there anything you can do to help us or...?" Rainbow started to ask, shifting to looking mildly annoyed. Predictably, she was ignored as he began blowing on the thumb of his other hand until his arm 'inflated' out of the shoulder, regenerating instantly. After he wiggled his fingers tentatively, he shifted back to dramatic lamenting, continuing with, "Why, it could be even worse! You might end up switching body parts! Or somepony might end up with foal!" Weren't those just generic 'teleportation' myths and superstitions? Despite flushing lightly, Dash glared at him regardless, shaking her head after and turning back to Applejack, Purdue and me instead. "...yup. He's just here to be annoying and useless. So, back to the drawing board?" she offered. Discord frowned, looking a bit annoyed, but I cut him off before he could continue. Sighing, I glanced back to Purdue before asking, "How long can you keep time paused like this?" "About ten more minutes or so before it starts wearing me down. After, I don't know..." she admitted, frowning again at that as her left ear flicked lightly. Applejack recovered next, sighing and glaring back over at the laughing chimera. "Can ya help us at all, or was Dashie right an' yer just here ta be annoyin'?" she asked, a hint of needling in her tone. Discord looked even more peeved before gasping, suddenly standing as his 'couch' vanished as if it had never been there, the strings returned to their prior imagery. "Me? Annoying?! Well, fine! If you truly find my presence such an inconvenience, I shall depart. How very rude, especially treating a friend," he declared, looking offended instead. I still couldn't tell if he was serious or not, sadly. As hammy as he acted most of the time, it was just that, an act, and him shifting to a more normal expression after threw me off completely. He was... remarkably hard to read. The orange mare flattened her ears down, and then sighed before hastily correcting, "Sorry! We're sorry. Yer right, o' course. So we apologize. We'll ask ya more polite-like. Do ya think that ya could help us out, Discord? We're in ah bit o' ah jam..." She lowered her head in a slight bow towards him at the same time, and I almost caught a light bristling to Dash before she whipped her head around to look at Discord again. The draconequus smirked at that, and I repressed a groan. "That's more like it! Hmm, and I'd maybe consider helping you, yes. It's what such good friends do, of course... Plus, it would be a tragedy if something were to happen to Mender. Poor Fluttershy would be heartbroken and have nopony to turn to at all! Except, of course, for her friends, including me, banish the thought..." he assured, suddenly shifting topics in a significantly concerning way. I lifted an eyebrow as his eyes locked onto me instead, a hint of something in them, regardless. I got the sensation before that he didn't like me, but if he really was as 'redeemed' as they claimed, would he really resort to letting us all be 'banished' for hundreds of years, just to get rid of me? Wait... Fluttershy specifically? What was he to her...? He watched me carefully, a smirk playing at his mouth as some sort of acknowledgement undoubtedly flickered onto my expression. He knew exactly what was going on when he arrived, as he'd already acknowledged being aware of the temporal tree that Purdue was manifesting. But he'd benefit somehow from me going away...? Rainbow's ears lowered, and she quickly retorted, "You're not making any sense! If you were our 'friend', you would just help us! This is a serious situation we're in, and you're playing games!" He never flinched for a second, continuing to smirk. "Why, everypony loves games, Rainbow! They're such an enjoyable way to pass the time... oh! I know! Seeing as you won't do something as simple as begging, how about we settle things with a game instead? If you beat me, I'll help you all," he chirped, grinning as he snapped his fingers again, a game board appearing between him and Dash, looking remarkably like checkers. Oh hell... We didn't have time to do that! The cyan mare glared back at him, but everything suddenly felt colder. My eyes widened a little as I glanced down and to the left again, noting Applejack also looking at the small filly in surprise. Her eyes had shifted from the empty gray to a brightly glowing white, focused on the draconequus like two bright spotlights. He froze for a second, looking back over at us with confusion before... His eyes slowly started to widen as he regarded the little filly instead. Slowly, Purdue warned, "You regard Mender, my master, as a rival for Fluttershy's attention now. With that, you've entered into his story. ...I can see you now, Discord." What...? Oh. Uh oh... He hesitated, starting to frown at that. Rainbow perked, losing her glare as she shot a questioning glance back at us instead. Discord quickly defended with, "A... rival? I most certainly do not! I'm far more mature than-" Purdue smirked instead, causing him to freeze again as she continued with, "I see you now. Even you cast threads of choice and thought, Ancient. You wish to selfishly hoard all of Fluttershy's time because she's the only one who acknowledged you without asking for a single thing in return. Who forgave you without hesitation. She lets you forgive yourself, just a little. But in trying to be selfish, you're falling right back into your old ways, Discord. You came here to see if there was a way to subtly make sure at least Mender was lost to the other dimension, so you could see her link with him fade away. This isn't who you want to be, is it?" My eyes widened, and I looked back at the Ancient as he glared towards her, taking two steps slowly back away from us. The mare to each side of me rapidly returned his glare twofold, and I sighed. The game was just to buy time until Purdue ran out of energy for the time stop effect, then. Interestingly enough, a momentary guilty look flickered across his expression. "I... was going to do no such thing!" he quickly assured, crossing his arms over his chest as he pouted, looking away from us and closing his eyes before adding, "My intent was merely to try to encourage you all to solve your problem yourself first, of course! Celestia does that all the time, because ponies learn better when they get themselves out of their own difficulties, right?" Wow, her powers put him on the defensive... I didn't know him very well, but that felt sort of like a rare occurrence. My eyes widened an instant later. Solve it ourselves. No, he was right! That was... Everything snapped into place an instant later. I had just defaulted to assuming Purdue's powers and will was the only way out of this mess the second I learned about her full abilities. But that... sensation. It had told me that the start of all of this had been important. I thought it was so I could understand Purdue's ability to manipulate time, but... That wasn't the case at all. It was so I could see that the captain gave her his own energy to fuel the effect. Even if she didn't know how it worked, that meant it was possible. Solve it ourselves, then. That instinct was back, and now I knew what it was, finally, as all of the pieces fell into place. It was him. His memories affected more than just the training and skills put into my head. It wasn't that unexpected, I decided, that I also got his instincts as well. He had years of experience in using Prudentia, and all of that translated into a certain level of understanding about how the forces worked behind the scenes. "Discord, you're a genius. Thank you," I suddenly interrupted, smiling more earnestly up at the draconequus. He blanched completely, snapping back to look at me with a surprised expression. "I... I am...?" he asked, confusion matching the three other females as they all looked back at me at the same time. I simply nodded, however. "You are. Do it ourselves... That's it. It's what my own instincts had been trying to tell me when I looked back into Purdue's past. I had to understand that it was possible to directly manipulate Prudentia..." I elaborated, turning to the small filly after, who widened her eyes even further. Nodding down at her, I asked, "You revealed all of this to me. That means you trust me, right, Sis?" Her ears flicked before she perked and rapidly nodded, no hesitation at all. Smiling, I then asked, "Every time you've revealed your full powers to me in the past, I ignored it and attempted to free you instead, right?" The ears lowered again as she sighed and nodded. "Yeah. You put my well-being above your own each time. You can't free me from the Geas, however..." she warned, obviously guessing where I was going with this. She was wrong, however. I shook my head, correcting, "Actually, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is more than a little crazy, right? I have a new idea. This time, I'm going to take you up on that offer. You trust me, right? You don't need to do a thing. Just let me use the book directly instead..." Purdue's eyes almost widened out of her skull, although Applejack and Rainbow just looked even more confused. The little filly rapidly shook her head, warning, "Brother, you can't! Well, you can, but... No! It uses a tremendous amount of energy and even if you used up your entire life force, there's no way you can stop the ship in time!" The orange mare frowned at that, turning to look back at me, but I held my hoof up to her and just smiled. "I don't have to stop the ship. And I won't kill myself, don't worry. Inverted logic a given, Discord is right. Fluttershy wants to see me again and for me to come home. So do a lot of ponies, so I can't just assume my life is for only me anymore..." I assured, giving her a softer smile. The two mares with me had also proven that. They had no reason to go along with me like they did, but each of them had aided in helping me get here regardless. They came along because they not only wanted us to succeed, but to add their abilities to mine to help me survive, too. The filly bit her lower lip, but Applejack just looked sternly at me for a long moment before slowly nodding. "Ah trust ya, too. Ah believe ya," she assured. Rainbow looked less than pleased, but huffed and added her own nod as well. "Fine, but if you die, I'm going to go get your soul myself and drag you back here. Don't think I can't, because I'll practice until I can! Then we will have words!" the cyan mare finally announced, glaring at me until I smirked at her. Her anger shifted away into a grin herself, and I nodded to her. "Done. Which is good, because I need both of your help still to do this..." I revealed finally. Purdue finally relaxed a little and nodded towards me as well, but both mares just grinned... * * * * * The time distortion dropped. I barely even noticed it, us already flickering forward in a distorted blur of motion. With her newfound ability to abuse physics, fire off her perpetual Ether Furnace uncontrollably, then just toss all that power into warping her wing jets, Rainbow had discovered that she was capable of mimicking the Icarus Effect and temporarily entering Slipstream. Thus, she was the first living organism ever to enter, however temporary, a state of faster than light travel without any assistance whatsoever. She had assistance this time, however. My computer systems had already locked onto Discord, who had teleported ahead, and now held up a massive, billboard sized neon sign with an arrow pointed downwards at where the panel was that I had described to him, almost at the back of the six some kilometer long ship. We arrived in less than the span of a heartbeat... Dash flipped, letting us go as she spun out of control, completely unable to stop as she exited FTL going over six hundred meters a second. While she spun backwards and fired off her wing jets to slow herself, Applejack and I descended hard directly into the plate, just as Discord hopped away. Purdue shouted, energy flowing around her as her barriers expanded around me, and I hit the plate at over the speed of sound, in full armor. With her barriers focusing on inertia dampening, I put all four hooves down into the metal and watched it twist and buckle, even as my vision shook from the impact. Shielded, Applejack 'rode' down on my back, letting me absorb the entire wave of vibration from the hit, then 'pulling' it out of me as she used her armor to 'sync' with my body. I rolled, tossing myself out of the way as she kept going, then gave a snarled scream as she spun and drove both her back hooves into the same plate. The vibration she ate from me was transferred right through her legs, and for a moment, I watched the pulse distort off the plate as it tried to register the damage. The ablative armor was useless as the entire system disintegrated into a fine dust in a blinding flare of orange light. Trying to catch myself with tentacles to stop my spin, I instead felt forelegs snatch me from space, boosting us both back towards the now gratuitous impact crater. Discord was already down in the center, of course, even as Applejack drifted away into space. Teleportation was cheating... He pointed frantically down towards the side of the crater instead, however. "Oooh, oooh! I found the vibrating bits!" he called out, sounding gleeful, probably due to completely ignoring the laws of physics and somehow transmitting sound inside a vacuum. Rainbow nodded once, and I braced as she flung me at the area he was pointing at. I rotated, pointing my hooves down towards the crater, and got an excellent view of her bursting after Applejack, making a speedy space rescue even before my hooves contacted the broken metal below. Focusing, however, I looked down at the massive power couplings, and then smirked as I felt Purdue fade in next to me, Prudentia open and radiating energy out as she passed the control directly to me. My eyes widened, but she quickly directed me at the couplings, barely saving me from a whole world of torment. Literally. In that instant, everything blurred through my head at once. I saw them being manufactured in the Grosh labs. I saw them being touched up and tweaked for a perfect fit. Them being installed was even shown to me, details of the sealant they were using flicking past, too. I focused, trying to get a grip on the absolute bombardment of data, my head spinning and screaming out in agony, even as I made sure to keep my forehooves connected to the parts in question. "Focus, Azure!" suddenly rang out in my mind. Kyliona. My eyes snapped forward again, and I watched the departed doctor's form gesture with her left arm, parting the haze as she directed me to exactly where I was looking for. She smiled, starting to fade, but then looked surprised as I latched onto her sensation instead, refusing to let go. "No, I'm not losing you again! You're staying at the forefront!" I shouted, her hazy and distorted image snapping into focus, even as she looked surprised. My attention shifted back to the parts, however, running through the final metal restructuring in the facility. Nodding, I pulled my right hoof up, the book drifting up in front of me, even as I kept my eyes trained on those three couplings. They were each the size of a car, but it didn't matter. My own engineering knowledge pointed me right to the three seal lines, and I pushed my hoof down against the book. The effect was instant. The writing started to change on the page, shifting to exactly what I wanted instead. It also simultaneously felt like someone spun around and smashed a sledgehammer into my chest, unfortunately. My magic supplies were depleted immediately, and it felt like my heart skipped a few beats even as my body jerked, and I winced. Damn it! It was too late, though, even as the screaming ache sensation tore through my legs. The energy was gone and used. Minimal changes to very small details, and it still hurt like hell. For just that moment, the cooling cycle on the machine as it rotated around to harden the sealant also skipped a beat. One little fault introduced to the code running the machine was all it took. No longer cooled down, the seal on the coupler would begin to warp and bend from the heat. It would start on the microscopic level, of course, but when the engines activated and Nirru did her first FTL transfer to get into Equus, the heat would utterly tear the metal apart at the seams, leaving long splits along its surface that would cause large energy leaks. Shivering, I looked to the second and third couplers, however. One might not be enough. Swallowing, I shifted back to the beginning of this 'scene' in the book and prepared to modify the other, my chest still screaming out in that cold ache. "Brother, stop it! Y-You can't get all three! One should be enough to slow it down!" I heard Purdue whisper in my mind. Tch... Hesitating, I shook my head before asking, "Even if you can just rewind this, I can handle at least one more, so doesn't it make sense to maximize your chances of this working?" Not giving her a chance to actually answer, my hoof touched the book once again, and I gritted my teeth. If the first one felt like a sledgehammer, this time they'd installed a rocket engine to the back of it or something. My air left me as the shattering pain tore into my chest. The hoof touching the book went numb even as I felt it tugging hard at my life force instead of my magic. Something warm was sliding down my muzzle, a sharp contrast to how cold I suddenly felt, even as I tried to push the change into place. It was hard to focus, my vision swimming even as I felt Kyliona trying to direct me. This wasn't enough! The energy pushed hard against causality. The odds of a second error happening started to go up, but my body faltered before I could push it past the fifty percent mark. I felt my back legs go out, even in the distorted time field that Purdue had created, and winced as my knees hit the cold metal. Head swimming, I focused as hard as I could on my forehooves instead, watching reality mix with my vision of the past back and forth, starting to time itself to the pounding in my skull. Well that wasn’t good... For a moment, I hesitated. This had to be done. There wasn't a choice. With just one, it might slow it down by a half a dozen seconds or so. But with two, they'd cause additional overheating and larger cracks, venting almost three times the energy together. That was guaranteed to slow it down enough... But she could just rewind if it didn't work, right? I swallowed the hard lump in my throat. None of this had ever been about me, had it? The book wasn't actually about the one written in it. No, she had been controlling everything from the very start. She was the hero, if anypony was. My eyes closed, stuck in time as I sagged slightly. Why did I always push myself so hard? I wasn't the hero. I was just another cog in her grand design, and my success or failure was up to the roll of a die, basically. Was I actually wanting to be a hero? Was that the reason I didn't have any issue with sacrifice whatsoever? Or was there something darker there...? She had fallen behind. It wouldn't take her long to find me again, but for now, I was frozen in time an instant ahead of her. I looked back at the small filly, crying out towards me. She was doing all of this for 'me', right? I didn't even pretend to understand why, or what made her decide I was worth the immense, unimaginable effort she'd put in so far. Kyliona smiled, sitting on the coupler next to me as she looked up into the shifting and twisting sensation and textures past our image. Slowly, she chuckled and pointed out, "It's ironic if you examine it a step further. She's doing all of this for you, and you're doing all of this for them. Your species, and those ponies you love. Of course, it's more than that, isn't it?" Her eyes seemed to slice into me as she turned and directed them my way. I shuddered, some of that dizziness sliding away as I stood again, then closed my eyes. More? My mother immediately came to mind, having not only sacrificed her life to save mine, but spent three hundred years in what could only be described as a personal hell in order to stay by my side, so I wouldn't be alone instead. She was selfless and loved me completely, and I realized that I'd changed the second I learned about her story. It was something to look up to, and strive towards. The Keldarian smiled and nodded, looking amused, even with my eyes closed. I remembered she was 'inside' of me a moment later and sighed. Not only did closing my eyes do nothing, she had direct access to my surface thoughts regardless. "The moral of her story, however, is to strive for selflessness while staying true to what you believe in... not that the only way to achieve that is by sacrificing yourself... Maybe it's time you included Purdue in who you were doing this for...?" Kyliona asked, tilting her head slowly towards me. My eyes widened a little. Doing it for Purdue, too? But... I remembered my promise to Applejack and Rainbow, too, and sighed. What could I do, then? Looking back up to my longtime friend for possible suggestions, I was surprised to note her frowning as she stared past me to the left instead. Looking over my shoulder, I froze the instant I spotted her. Nirru was moving, regardless of the temporal freezing, which left rather unfortunate implications as to her current state of existence. There was an empty, yet somehow haunted expression on her face as she walked up towards us. To add to the overall sensation that she'd been run through an industrial power washer, her movements were jerky and she slid her back paws across the lower boundary of our reality with every step. Her colors were faded, looking muted and dull as she got closer, slowing to a halt next to me and staring towards the ground between Kyliona and me. A hesitant, guarded dozen seconds passed, but she didn't even flinch. There were no attacks incoming, and she didn't have her guard up at all. What... was she? She smiled at that thought, but it wasn't her usual sneer. Instead, it was weak and barely existent, her looking even more tired for a second before she stood up a bit straighter. "I'm dead. I'd call you a cheater, but admittedly, there aren't any 'rules' when it comes down to real combat... so truly, good move," she muttered, voice rasping lightly as she finally met my eyes with her own. There was no color left in them whatsoever, nothing but gray emptiness within, giving an exceptionally creepy vibe. Not knowing what else to say or do, I went with, "Thanks, I guess. You look remarkably lively for a dead person. Sort of..." She chuckled at that, sagging again before sliding down to a sitting position instead, legs tucked up against her chest as she rested her forehead on her knees. She was oddly naked, I noticed, however her body was surprisingly formless, showing she had fur covering her but leaving the more specific and finely detailed aspects overly smoothed out and undefined. "It's your weapon," she revealed, explaining with, "You already know it attempts to eat the life energy of individuals, too. Well, it turns out it does that automatically. At range. You might not have gotten my body, but you ate my soul, so to speak..." What...? Aww, crap. She held a paw up before I could respond, and shook her head. "There's nothing to say. Dying... It's amazing how much it clarifies things. Suddenly, the urgency of everything just sort of bleeds away, and in an instant, I was able to reflect upon everything in my life. Maybe that's what they mean when they say your life flashes before your eyes... Although I always thought they indicated it would happen before you died," she added, letting her arm fall limp at her side again after. I watched her for a moment, definitely completely unsure of what to say. The pure stupefied sensation made me entirely forget about the raw agony my body was in. For a moment, anyway. It didn't stop me from narrowing my eyes and taking a step to the side as she suddenly moved closer, however. I didn't predict she could do much to me in her current state, but I wasn't about to take any chances! My eyes widened when she instead knelt down and placed both of her paws onto the middle energy coupler. Her energy stores flooded forth suddenly, and she shivered, watching Purdue's effect start to fire off. "W-What are you doing...?!" I asked her, wondering if she realized she was technically sabotaging herself or not. She was powering the effect! She didn't hesitate, only continued to push her own power into it. "Powering your effect to destroy my own ship's FTL drive... And before you ask, no, I'm not helping you," she assured, earning a frown from my very confused self. Uh, it kinda looked like she was helping me. Shaking her head, she corrected, "I'm helping my sister. You're still a dick, but... she likes you, and she was right. I let my own feelings turn me into a monster, and did nothing but hurt her. She was... the only one I ever loved, and I have to at least try to make things right again for her." Ah. She wasn't apologizing, then. Of course, I probably would have just laughed if she tried, which she understood. She just kept pushing, however. I sighed, then warned, "That's enough of your energy, Nirru. I know you aren't exactly at risk of dying, but if you push any more forward, you're going to mix it with mine and it might make you... more stuck in the cluster inside of me..." That probably wouldn't be pleasant for her, or any of the souls she had gotten mixed in with, I'd imagine. To my surprise, Kyliona had snapped out of it at that point and also stepped forward. "I didn't know this was possible. But she's stuck regardless, so I might as well help, too. Along with a few others that you've made very happy today..." she suddenly informed. My eyes got even wider as image after image distorted along behind her, making her almost look like the head of a massive snake. Paws joined my hooves, some merging out of my legs and chest, and others coming from the side. They rested around and on mine, and energy started to flow freely forward. "What are you all doing?! It's fine enough as is, but... If you guys do this, you're just going to tie yourselves even closer with me!" I tried to warn, looking at the now hundreds of faces of Keldarians I didn't know, all around me now. Every push they made, their energy was getting more and more tangled with mine! Nirru looked up from the flood of energy, locking eyes with me for the first time since dying. If anything, my longtime enemy just looked mildly amused. "I openly admit that I was a fool turning to the Grosh for help. You let our fallen comrades taste victory for the first time in their lives, however. I think you've done a lot of impressing this day..." she pointed out idly. Was that enough to let them risk possibly getting stuck even harder to me?! Kyliona nodded at that, then added, "The energy within you, and in Equus itself, is also liberating them of all that magical congestion you're familiar with. It's a paradise, and I doubt any of us have any qualms with following you back there." Nirru said nothing, and I just closed my eyes and sighed. It wasn't like I could stop them anyway. I wasn't the one in control of the link, after all, with the energy couplers. Opening my eyes again, I looked to the left and spotted a sheepish looking Purdue, sending a glare her way. She just shrugged, however, then added, "Maximizing possibility of success, right? You said so yourself..." I gave a start, then glared even harder. That brat! By then, it was too late, however. All three coupler seals had been skipped, and Purdue cut the link in an instant. The true agony my body was in suddenly readily apparent once more, and I gasped, coughing twice as I watched a splatter of my own blood hit across the coupler I was touching. The coupler that was now partly melted due to a faulty seal line. My eyes widened in an instant, even as Purdue's barrier blocked the sudden gout of radiation coming out of the fracture. Discord's paw touched down on my back a moment later, and we were gone... Pain... It was one of those times again. Although for literally cheating 'fate' itself this time, I guess the bill had come due much faster for me. Rainbow caught me, even after Discord finished his teleport. I hadn't even seen anything about how he did it, momentarily blacking out for completely different reasons. Applejack said something, but it was echoing too bad to hear, even as she helped stabilize me in Rainbow's forelegs. Both of them... Wait... The orange mare leaned forward, nuzzling some of the blood off my muzzle, and then winking as she pushed her nose against mine, our foreheads touching. The stubborn brat... Her energy flowed into me, slowing the spinning in my skull as the pain vanished completely. True. She'd used the least energy out of the three of us there, Rainbow looking about ready to pass out as well. That was the one flaw of her technique, I noted. Well, apart from only lasting about two seconds, of course. Applejack's warmth drifted all around me, slowing my energy down and refilling my very base supply, her smiling as she felt me stabilize. "Gotcha, Mender. Don't worry. Ah'm ah tough gal. It worked..." she reported, pulling back a little, then grinning as she rotated me around in her forelegs. Rainbow was tucked into my other side, looking happy towards me before she turned to watch as well. Discord was even here, too, drifting half a meter away and looking a mixture of pleased and awkwardly embarrassed at the events. I tried not to chuckle, if only to preserve his dignity. With the rotation completed, I saw that the massive ship was still visible, although quite a distance away now. A massive gout of green flames expanded from its side, and my scanners picked up its engine output even from here. It was still powering up the FTL, but its engines had dropped from eighty-seven to fourteen percent output in an instant, pushing its required jump time from twenty seconds all the way up to three and a half minutes. Ha! I grinned and nodded to them both, a look of relief washing over their expressions as they had waited, with bated breath, for my final verdict. We had fought our first, and hopefully only, full-scale battle... and Equestria prevailed. We won... Luna's voice exploded through space itself, telepathic vibrations distorting from the very moon. I winced, recognizing the Royal Canterlot Voice even before her first word formed. "MOST FOUL ENEMY! CONSUME UPON THIS!!!" radiated out, causing the other two to wince as well. "Eat!" Rainbow shouted, correcting her with, "It's supposed to be 'Eat this!'" If the Princess of the Moon heard her, she certainly didn't act like it. Instead, she just appended, "AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF IT!" My eyes widened as I watched what my scanners picked up as a fifteen kilometer wide patch on the surface of the moon suddenly rupture upwards with dark energy, popping out into serrated and jagged spikes instead, even as it careened towards the flagship at several hundred meters per second. My jaw dropped, the unpleasant taste of getting my own blood in my mouth completely overshadowed by watching a celestial body smash into a huge space dreadnought. Well, technically, it was more like the dreadnought hit it, but that hardly mattered! Luna just kept laughing. Even Discord looked horrified as the four of us watched in shock. It was like seeing a big slice of cake get launched out of a potato cannon into a razor wire covered brick wall. The moon didn't even notice, of course. Hell, the ship was a speck compared to it, and I doubt it even slowed it by a few appreciable fractions of momentum. The metal came apart in an instant, the massive vessel flattening, then buckling in slow motion as the expanding fireball was released into space, in a remarkably well-shaped sphere. Having a pre-shaped direction to be released in, thanks to Prudentia's powers, all of the energy inside the FTL drive was released a heartbeat later, like a shaped explosive charge. The gout of green light expanded off into space, like a colorful fountain of energy off the moon for several seconds before it faded completely. Everything went quiet, minus Luna's hysterical laughter, and I slowly blinked, staring at the sheer destruction as I watched the still glowing chunks of moon start to move. Within seconds, the spikes had all but ground up the remains of the huge flagship, pulling it beneath the surface of the celestial body like a million tiny 'mouths' eating the metal and bits of the ship completely. Okay, Luna was absolutely terrifying... I gave a shiver, looking to my right just in time to see Ventosus Lacuna warp into existence next to me. Ah. "Heh, you didn't want to be down there either, huh? I don't blame you..." I admitted, drawing everypony's attention back to me, then to the sword. Applejack snickered, then nodded. "Remind me not ta upset Princess Luna. Ah guess tha sword's yours now..." she pointed out. Nodding, I reached over and used my right forehoof to close Rainbow's jaw, earning a light blush from the mare, who then shivered. "Can we go home now? I need a nap..." she finally muttered, using her left forehoof to wipe some of the blood from her own muzzle. That... That I could heartily agree with. Discord rolled his eyes, and then rotated back to face us, wearing a smirk again. "But the day is young, and I'm sure all your fellow ponies are all set to throw a massive victory celebration in your honor!" he suddenly reminded, voice full of mirth. All three of us groaned, even as I felt Twilight's magic finally find us. Her spell pulled us all away in an instant, reality crushing in upon itself as we were yanked back towards the massive planet below... Epilogue Falling. It always felt like falling. This time, we drifted through emptiness for a long time. Everything had collapsed away into a singularity, crackling with energy that protectively folded around us, probably shifting us into some sub-dimension while we physically transferred ourselves. Rainbow and Applejack both rested against me, my sensation extending to them despite my eyes being closed. We stayed stuck together and held on, until reality tossed us out sideways. It was more violent than her usual teleports, but given the distance we had traversed, it didn't really surprise me. Rainbow's eyes widened, and before either Applejack or I could react, her wings flicked open. She corrected our spin with a burst of her jets, slowing our velocity even as we sailed into the camp. We spun once, lazily through the air as I rotated, tentacles extending from all four legs and six from my back. Tucking, we became a cushioned ball a moment later. Both mares grabbed on tight and I just let us bounce once, then roll to a gentle stop. Tentacles collapsing into me again as the three of us slumped to the grass, dozens of ponies converged on our location in an instant, most wearing medical gear. Ah... hah... It was real. We had won... It was the only thought I had time for before a blur of yellow and lavender crashed into me from the side... * * * * * Everything was happening so very quickly now. Redheart smiled and nodded once to me, pulling back and taking the stethoscope out of her ears. "All of you are in good condition. Injuries are superficial at most, largely consisting of minor contusions and lacerations..." she reported, earning a warmer smile from Tia. We were in an informal circle now on the grass, joined by the previously wayward Luna and Discord, whom everypony apart from the three of us were surprised to see. Turns out, he had been invited to aid and had simply neglected to respond. He of course claimed it had gotten lost in the mail... Absently, I gave a nod while adjusting the ping controls. My transmitters had gotten a little wonky in all of the FTL jumps we'd done, and needed recalibration. The projection orbs drifted around me, showing everything I was doing while the large projection screen displayed my image to the entire field. Hundreds of ponies watched nervously as I finished the adjustments, then sent the ping through to Keela. Luna had set up the projector screen for us to let the guards watch. She picked up instantly, of course. "Mender! You're okay!" she exclaimed, popping up on the screen with her expression looking tense. She sighed a second later, visibly relaxing, and I nodded confirmation to her. "We're all fine. Minor injuries. Are you okay?" I asked immediately. The odds that the Grosh had pulled off a really bizarre and elaborate trap hadn't slipped my mind, and I was eager to hear the outcome. The Keldarian nodded, glancing out at the crowd of ponies through my display for a brief moment before reporting, "The Grosh surrendered completely. They jettisoned their weapons and armor, and we've already pulled the gear on board, so they're literally defenseless. We haven't done anything to them apart from talk, however. They want to make 'amends' and help us..." Her voice was strained, and she sounded like she didn't believe what she was saying. Twilight made an awkward coughing noise, and then asked, "Well, the Elements of Harmony are a form of exceptionally powerful magic which has effects we've not documented yet. This is definitely new but, uh, is it really that unwelcome?" I was the one who shook my head first, earning a surprised glance from both females. "No, it's very welcome. You can backwards engineer the technology from their vessels and blueprints available. I'll draw up more for you later, too," I offered softly. It had been a long day and I was almost completely out of energy. Applejack shot me a knowing glance from across our circle, forelegs still wrapped around Dashie, who was snoozing out already in an exhausted looking collapsed position. The lavender mare next to me lifted an eyebrow to my seemingly inside information, but didn't say anything for now. Keela exhaled, then nodded, still looking a little confused but apparently willing to accept it for now. There'd be a great many things that we'd have to talk about in the future, I imagined. She hesitated, and I felt it coming now. "I... That means you stopped her, right?" she asked, voice softer now as her eyes lowered. How exactly do you tell somepony this...? She already knew the answer, and she was really only looking for confirmation, but... I lowered my eyes instead, and she bit her lip for a moment, but Rarity sighed instead, drawing our attention over to her instead. Once we all glanced over, she shook her head and added, "We all know that our course of action had been sealed the moment she refused to surrender. That said, given the fact that we're still here, the outcome should be fairly obvious." Keela winced lightly, but the pearly mare shook her head and continued, "We understand, Keela. She was your sister. I'm just worried for Mender, who's also my friend. I don't believe he derived any pleasure from what he was forced to do, either." That... Searching my own heart, I felt back on it. I 'remembered' killing her twice, but given how many times we'd been rewound, it was undoubtedly more than that. Both of those times... were just empty. The first time, I was so angry right up to the point, but when she was actually in front of me... it just went blank. It became a job that had to be completed. So yes, Rarity was right. It gave me nothing, and left me with nothing. Swallowing, I snapped out of it in time to note everypony looking at me, including Keela. The Keldarian looked close to tears, but bit her lower lip and nodded, meeting my eyes instead. "I... I know. I'm s-sorry I didn't have the guts to... do it myself and had to ask you, Mender. It..." she whispered, a tear sliding down her left cheek. Sighing, I slowly shook my head. No, there was no point in hiding other things as well. My mind flashed back to the teleport ride back to Equus' surface just a few minutes ago. Nirru had retreated, and started to slide back into the darker recesses of my mind, sinking away into the miasma of souls within. I had stopped her, of course. She demanded why I was helping her, but naturally... I wasn't helping her. I was helping her sister. Looking back up at them, I instead corrected, "Nirru's not gone..." Her eyes widened, and almost everypony near me promptly gasped... * * * * * Things moved remarkably fast. Not quite as fast as when the threat of alien invasion was imminent, but still fairly fast for standard pony life. My eyes scanned over the screen, but it was still reading all nominal. Not that I doubted Luna's abilities, but this was... Looking up and away from the holographic screen in front of me, I saw into the night sky. Dozens of stars danced above, and for just a moment, I felt things slow down and get peaceful again. My long awaited 'nap' had been delayed, of course. It was now five hours since the battle, and DReg was still on full alert... I watched the stars for just a moment before yawning, glancing to the moon instead. It was full, glowing bright in the sky and spreading its luminance over the landscape. This time, however... The dark spot was visible at about seventy magnification of my eyes. A few more rotations of my lenses showed a picture of the portal slowly closing and sealing, ripped right across the surface of the moon. They were suppressing it as well as sealing it, strengthening that 'weak spot' that was on the other side even as they closed the hole. The massive dark spot was an entire mining vessel floating in geostationary orbit between the moon and Equus. Quite a feat, despite Luna's expert control over gravity. And there it would stay. I smiled, watching the dim glow of the dropship as it slowly entered the atmosphere. Well, slow was a relative term, but I digress. They had made it. Tia had stayed true to her word, and about four hours after the battle, had opened up a portal and, to my surprise and Keela's, pulled the entire mining vessel through. Mostly. Looking to my right, I saw another panel on display, showing space coordinates in the other dimension. Quantum entanglement was a rather powerful communication method, it would seem. It didn't even need a direct 'link' between places to function. The one given to me, for example, was from another dimension, and linked to a rather large Grosh ship that had been left in contact with a large colony of escaped Keldarians. Keela thankfully hadn't questioned yet how I happened to know exactly where they had escaped to, including exact space coordinates. Sadly, Twilight wasn't as forgiving. The lavender mare shot a curious glance at me through the translucent image, and my eyes focused past the screen onto her instead. She pushed her face through the image and stared pointedly at me, narrowing her eyes a little and I lifted an eyebrow. "You've been acting weird. I know it was intense, and I know the battle was hard on you, but... This is different. What happened, Mender?! We're worried. You three are... different," she suddenly explained, eyes softening again as she straightened and withdrew her face from my hologram. Looking over it at her instead, I sighed, then closed my eyes. I felt where they all were at this range without needing them open anyway. Applejack and Rainbow were unconscious and curled up against each other on our blanket half a meter behind me. No backup for me this time. It was interesting how I considered those two my closest backup now, my memories from the other timeline left intact. It had already changed our relationship, and I didn't know where. One source of backup remained, however. I looked to my left, eyes still closed, and felt Purdue there, lingering next to her book. Dutifully, Prudentia started to glow, and an image of the little filly appeared next to me. I opened my eyes again and smiled to her, earning a hesitant one back. My relationship with her had changed, too. Although definitely for the better, I knew. She'd been through hell to save me, and... There were no words to express thanks for that. "It's a long story, Twi. And I really, really need to sleep. How about we compromise after this is done. This is our last thing to do tonight, right?" I inquired, shooting her a skeptical glance instead. Debriefing from the battle, navigating Keela to the other Keldarians, laying out a plan for their survival against the Grosh and development of the ghost fleet I knew they could make, organizing Keela's retrieval alongside her whole team over to here, explaining about the fact that I apparently absorb ghosts at ranges of a few meters without intending to, and of course that her sister was still 'here' and inside of me... I was really, really tired. And this was after getting up early, eating a terrible breakfast, and going through a mortal battle for the fate of Equus. Now it was one in the morning and frankly, today had sucked. She looked at me for a long moment before smiling softly and nodding. "Apart from welcoming Keela, who's probably just as tired as you, yeah, sleep is next..." she assured. Several guards towards the edge of the camp breathed sighs of relief, apparently listening in. Campfires danced in the night all around us, and the field was lit up like a small city at this point. They had three flags up, one waving to signal the completion of the landing pad, and I nodded. "Ugh... all right. You let me sleep after, and I'll talk our dream away, sharing with all of you," I assured, gesturing to the mares already sleeping behind us. Well, mares plus Spike, who was definitely not a mare, and quite lacked those parts. My tired brain stalled out for a moment imagining a female Spike, and I sighed, sagging where I sat. Damn it... His head rested against Rarity, and I knew he'd be joining us in our dream shortly. Of course, I had ulterior motives regardless... If I told them in the dream, I'd not only have Purdue, Applejack, and Rainbow as backup, I could also use visuals. The small filly grinned and nodded at that, assuring, "I'll help explain, too. After all this... I... We really won, didn't we? This isn't just a dream, is it?" Her eyes met mine, bright and hopeful, my own colors shining looking up at me. Smiling softly to her, I nodded, then reached down and scooped her up, even as she clung to my chest. I felt her shivering as I just held her there, and Twi smiled gently again, relaxing. It didn't matter. They'd have the truth, and it didn't matter, because everything was going to be good again. Purdue was right. Compared to what we'd been through already, the future was looking a hell of a lot brighter... Fluttershy stirred against my back and I smiled backwards, feeling her eyes open sleepily. She just returned my smile upon seeing I was still there, and then nuzzled against Purdue in my forelegs. "Mmm, practicing?" she whispered, a quiet murmur compared to our voices before. I blushed regardless, of course. Purdue herself snickered, however, and then assured, "Big Brother's good at being a hero, so I'm sure he's good at being a dad, too. I totally wouldn't mind if he was my dad, as a vote of confidence!" She grinned, of course, but I scowled down at her. "Hitting me with both the 'good father' and 'hero' lines at the same time isn't fair!" I shot back, then reasoned, "I can't decide which to be more annoyed over...." Both were just downright embarrassing, and I'd really rather somepony else take the credit. Then they can deal with the spotlight and talking to others and I could do something relaxing... Like a nap, or mechanical physics. Twilight giggled, then assured, "Eh, you'll get used to it. Besides, it doesn't really matter what you call it. If you don't like 'hero', just instead put it as somepony who wants to help and protect others..." That was... Huh. I blanked at that, blinking once, then once again as that screen below my view of Twilight blinked again. A glance told me that the Grosh were reporting in. The Keldarians had accepted their information and surrender based on Keela's explanation, and were very interested in my extensive data. Moving my right hoof up, I typed at the panel for a few seconds, agreeing to the three week observation and transfer of information. DReg was officially multidimensional now, and had Keldarian and Grosh members to account for. Time to make that other time stream at least partly true. Letting Fluttershy slip up and snuggle into my left side, I smiled to her with a nod, then looked past Twilight as the large dropship slowly lowered itself towards the landing platform, several ponies guiding it visually down from the sides. Lots of new things were going to be happening now, and I'd get to see them with my own eyes... Thanks to Purdue, we all were going to see a new tomorrow. Twilight slid into my other side as we snuggled and watched it land not twenty meters away. I felt Pinkie stir behind me at the noise, and the others started to reluctantly drag themselves back to reality at my mental call. We might as well greet our guests before fully committing to that nap... * * * * * Life moved both slow and fast, I realized. You either lived in the moment, or you were a spectator. Sometimes, your role changed depending on the scene, but we were all actors, moving to and fro at the beckoning of fate. Although 'fate' was a tricky concept, especially when my little sister could screw with it at will. Or did she prefer 'daughter' instead? Admittedly, the line was rather blurry sometimes, not that it really mattered. Sometimes I played the joker. Sometimes the knight. Sadly, sometimes I played the prince, too, all paperwork included in that position. I preferred to play the wizard and inventor, of course, challenging myself to new problems and discovering new ideas at the same time. Of course, I was also a lover and friend to quite a few, with those lines getting equally as blurry. But again, blurry lines didn't matter at all, just being a sign that relationships were organic and not to be labeled. Today, or rather tonight at this point, I was to accept yet another title, and stood on ceremony waiting to be called upon. Well, 'on ceremony' hardly adequately described the levels of panic, terror, enthusiasm, apprehension, and glee that tore through my heart in a blinding flurry similar to a house flattening tornado. Did they have tornados in Equestria? Oh Celestia, I hoped not. There was a small crowd at this point, and I certainly hadn't predicted it would be a widely viewed occasion like this, but I suppose it was a festival. The 'Harvest Moon Festival' to be exact. The name felt familiar, but it didn't really matter. Two weeks of more laid back celebration, evenly bracketing Nightmare Night on both sides, the festival was to commemorate a good yearly 'harvest', for all meanings of the word. It made sense really, to be honest. When your species had two very specific times that the females were fertile for, and eleven month gestation periods, it meant that there'd be a whole cluster of births all during a fairly specific time period. Why not make a celebration out of it? This was different, though! Hearing a faint cry from the field hospital tent in front of me, the small crowd of ponies all let out a little cheer, causing me to almost jump out of my skin. I definitely had never heard that voice before! Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell... Twilight gave a giddy little squeal next to me, stamping up and down on her forelegs while grinning at the door to the tent, waiting just as impatiently as I was, it would seem. Dash made a huffing noise behind us, pouting as she sat there on the grass. "Why aren't we in there with her?! This is silly!" she declared, sounding a bit frustrated. I agreed fully! I'd wanted to be in there the whole time, not be kicked out all of ten minutes before the final act! Applejack smirked and gave Dash a gentle shove in the shoulder, causing the cyan pegasus to wobble and steady herself with her forelegs for a moment, looking a bit startled. The orange mare answered, "We're not 'cause it's Fluttershy. Ya know she's self-conscious 'bout things, an' trust me. Ah've grown up on ah farm an' seen it lots. Givin' birth ain't always tha most glamorous o' events..." My mind spiraled at that, and I flailed. "Aaaah! I thought you said it was reasonably safe!" I exclaimed, spinning around to glare at the mare who looked momentarily surprised, then grinned again. Rarity giggled on her other side, then shook her head, the much larger looking Spike holding her from behind, with his arms wrapped under her forelegs. He'd really hit a growth spurt over the winter... "Dear, she means appearance-wise. There's the mess involved, and the smells, and you saw how much liquid was released when her amniotic sac broke! I'm sure she just doesn't want you to see her in such a light," she assured. I huffed lightly, but Twilight smiled more gently to my left now and nodded as well. "We ponies don't have much issues with foal birth, plus she's in expert hooves with highly trained professionals, including your favorite nurse in Equestria. Redheart's not going to let anything happen to your foal especially, don't worry, Mender," she pointed out, causing my heart to skip a beat. My.... My foal. Pinkie just couldn't take it anymore. The tape over her muzzle was already ripping in spots, and her vibration despite being tied up with four tentacles from my back was starting to cause her to shift across the ground. The tape ripped with a loud tearing motion and she squealed, immediately tacking on, "Oh gosh, oh gosh! It's all gonna be fine anyway! There's a new foal coming, and it's Fluttershy's and Mender's!" It was about a hundred times louder than needed, and of course caused even more ponies to head towards our rapidly growing crowd. All of us winced, being much too close for her 'megaphone' voice. Glaring at her, I slipped a third tentacle up and unceremoniously shoved it into her mouth, earning a grin from the pink mare. She wasn't dissuaded by anything... "Pinkie! We taped your muzzle shut so you'd stop being so loud! It's interrupting the doctors and nurses in with Fluttershy!" Twilight hissed, glaring at her as she gave an apologetic look. I pulled my tendril out, and she gave a whine and wiggle, then murmured in a much lower voice, "I'm just so excited... It's Fluttershy having a foal!" At her outburst, my mind began to whirl again, just in time for Rainbow to reach over and whack me in the shoulder instead. "Calm down, Mender. And relax, Pinkie, you're not helping him either..." she pointed out, causing me to exhale nervously. I couldn't deal with this. Why weren't they calling us in yet?! "We found them!" was suddenly shouted in a very Scootaloo-sounding voice from my right. Perking my ears up, I looked to the side just in time to watch the three Crusaders rushing up, alongside my two nieces. Aura had been in town for the festival and dropped in earlier that morning to visit regardless. Derpy had hung out with us for most of the day at this point, but both had left to go check out the midway. Interestingly enough, looking over to them, I noted that Keela was riding on Aura's back. No, they all had a Keldarian on them! Litta was riding on Derpy, Mirin was on Scootaloo, who was actually flying with her, and Amre and Kyre were on Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom respectively. Of course, they were smaller than your average pony and all three Crusaders had hit the same growth spurt that Spike had, so honestly it didn't really surprise me. They were still 'Crusaders', too, even though they all had their marks now. "They're way faster running!" Keela called out as she slid in on Aura, who carefully let her off. All five of them were wearing custom fit, matching jumpsuits with a single stripe going down the side of each in the color of their hair, the rest a blueish gray color. Rarity thought they were adorable, and I had to agree, especially the twins with their matching ones. "We're not sure how far along she is. She kicked us out!" Rainbow grumbled, huffing as she gave a grumpy look in Keela's direction as the rest of the Keldarians dismounted. Scootaloo almost crashed on her face as she slowed down, landing hard and spilling the laughing Mirin against the back of her head for a moment. Figures, she'd pick the rough but exciting 'ride'. "Aww! Is everything okay?" Derpy asked, giving a concerned look towards the door. Aura's eyes lit up almost immediately, and she rapidly assured, "Everypony's health looks fine in there. Awww! And there's definitely a new little aura present now!" There were two gasps next to her, from both Scoots and Sweetie, and the white filly quickly asked, "Little Aura?! Are you pregnant too, Miss Auramirror?" My niece blushed almost instantly, widening her eyes, but Apple Bloom snickered and shook her head, interrupting with, "Ah don't think she's talkin' about a filly named 'Aura'. An aura is another name for life force that's all swirly around ah pony. Mah Sis taught me that!" They both shot her a skeptical look but Applejack snickered and nodded. "That's right! Yer life force drifts up around ya, an' fer ponies trained in it, it's real easy ta see, even through walls," she confirmed. Huh. I think I'd heard about something akin to that. Was it in one of Twilight's books? Wait, no, another time. Fluttershy was giving birth, and I was supposed to be panicking! I flailed abruptly and immediately for good measure. "Is the aura separate from Fluttershy now?!" I asked Auramirror almost immediately, turning fully towards her. Twilight perked her ears up and turned with me, realizing the same thing I did, of course. The still blushing mare looked promptly surprised, then shifted a bit, hesitating before answering with, "Well, actually yes it-" She was cut off by the tent flap opening up, and a smiling Redheart peeking out. She spotted me instantly, and I froze, head snapping in her direction as I waited for... well, something to come out of her mouth. She snickered, then assured, "Calm down, Mender. You're the father of a very healthy looking little filly. The herd can come in now, as we've cleaned her and her mother up..." My mind blanked, and I was only aware of Pinkie deflating visibly in my tentacles to my right. "Whaaaat?! We all can't go in?!" she asked instantly, starting to vibrate again. I frowned at that, then shook my head, drawing her startled glance. "No, Pinkie. Slow and steady. You'll see her in a few minutes, I'm sure, but Fluttershy and she have just had a rather rough experience, so let Fluttershy rest for a moment, and the filly slowly adapt," I suggested. Well, more told, as I wasn't exactly going to grant leeway there. She relaxed a little, then smiled again and nodded to me, causing me to exhale. I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath. The uninvolved crowd started to disperse a little at news that the filly was fine, but our immediate group stayed, of course. Keela smiled and nodded to me, looking pleased before adding, "See? You're a natural. Now stop fidgeting and go comfort them..." Ah! Right. Rarity snickered, then nodded, assuring, "We'll all be right out here. You two go in first, then give us a call when everything's okay." I nodded to her, then looked to Twilight, who seemed almost as nervous as I was. "We... We have everything set in the room in the castle, right? I mean... I think we set everything up right and you're a trained engineer and..." she started rambling, shivering lightly as her wings twitched and fluttered. I leaned in and gently nuzzled her, earning a more relaxed sigh before she nodded again, and we stood. "That I can say for certain. The room is very well set up, structurally sound, and quite ready for an occupant..." I assured. If anything, I was at least certain of my engineering ability. Moving forward, I 'felt' Twilight following after me slowly, and Red nodded, turning around and heading back into the tent. Touching the flap, I hesitated for a moment before Derpy grinned to my right and gestured in with her head. Sighing again, I pushed forward, bumping the flap open with my head before slipping inside. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the brighter interior, and I blinked twice in the lamplight before my eyes made out the 'room' within. It was rather simplistic, but well stocked for a temporary infirmary. Two large medical trunks with shelves folding out of the top of them were on one wall, lined with equipment and medicine. There was a freezer box for food supplies, and two comfortable looking medical cots on the left side of the room. The mattresses themselves were waterproof by the looks of it, and both were well cleaned. My eyes widened as I spotted Fluttershy resting on the closest one, and I made a beeline towards her immediately. Her eyes opened gently as she felt me approach, and a smile danced across her muzzle as I slid over next to her. Twi was right on my tail and sat down behind her instead, gently resting her forelegs against the pegasus' back. "Mmm, hey," Fluttershy whispered, looking a bit tired, but healthy. She assured a moment later with, "We're both okay..." I leaned in and bumped noses with her softly for a moment before she gave me a little kiss, then smiled warmly up at me. We... She'd said 'we'. Her left wing lifted and slid back a little, and my eyes widened as it revealed a very light blue fur. It was similar to mine, but lighter, and very fine. More of a 'fuzz' than outright fur. My breath caught, spotting little tufts of pink amidst it, and what could clearly be seen as a little tail starting to grow out. Pink that was remarkably similar to Fluttershy's mane. Her rump was towards me, seemingly oblivious as her head rested further back on Fluttershy's navel. The up and down motions slowed a little, and I recognized almost immediately that she'd been drinking. Twilight's eyes widened too as she spotted her at almost the same time, both of us watching, unable to even blink as the little filly slowly and carefully raised her head. She gave a little hiccup, and Fluttershy reached her left hoof down to lightly rub at her side, massaging it carefully as her eyes opened again. She looked a bit sleepy, and her muzzle was slightly damp still from the milk, but she turned and gave a tiny smile towards Fluttershy again. That's when she noticed Twilight instead and froze. I blinked once, a bit surprised when I saw her head rotate fully. Her eyes... To my surprise, I'd originally seen just her right eye when she first opened them, and it was an amber color, maybe a little lighter than my own. But as she turned and looked back at Fluttershy, I realized her left was teal, with maybe a bit more blue mixed in than Fluttershy had. Heterochromia? That was a thing ponies could get? She watched Twilight fully now, and I looked between the little filly and the lavender alicorn. Fluttershy giggled lightly and leaned in, nuzzling the small foal's left cheek lightly. "Don't worry. This is Twilight Sparkle. Your other mommy I told you about, remember?" she whispered softly. The small filly relaxed a little, and I suddenly found myself wondering how intelligent foals started at. Maybe intelligent wasn't the right word, but... The little filly perked up after, then gave a little smile before murmuring lightly. The tiniest of squeaks came out of her muzzle, not forming anything really intelligible, but making my heart absolutely melt all the same. Twilight smiled, leaning down to make herself smaller as she rested her chin on Fluttershy's side. "Hey there, little one. I'm your other mommy, yes," she assured quietly, blushing a little after. My heart fluttered again, and I didn't want to even make a sound to ruin the moment. Fluttershy was less reserved and giggled lightly, drawing the attention of the little filly again. "I wanted to run it past you two, but... given her coloring, it just sort of popped into my head. How does 'Sugar Snowflake' sound?" she asked gently. Oh! A name! Twilight grinned at that and nodded, then tried out, "Sugar Snowflake? Snow." Smiling at that, I nodded, then added, "Snowy." That was an adorable nickname. Wait... My hooves moved up to my muzzle to stop the noise, but it was too late. Fluttershy giggled as the little filly perked, rotating around the other direction instead. In that instant, those two eyes, one teal and one gold, met with mine and locked on like a guided missile right into my heart. I froze, of course, the only thing my mind processed was her slow blink, and then she tilted her head towards me. Her little face was framed with the start of a thin pink mane, and it all smashed into me right then and there. She was my daughter. My little filly. Fluttershy nuzzled her again, and then assured, "He's safe, too. That's your daddy. Moon Mender. I told you about him, too." Snowy relaxed, then gave me a tiny little smile, and I felt my chest getting warmer. I couldn't make my voice work, so I just smiled back, probably rather goofily, and slid down a bit closer to her. My forelegs resting against Fluttershy's back legs, I laid my head on my own right foreleg and watched the little filly watch me instead. Time almost froze, my heart swelling in my chest, and my eyes widened just a little as she shifted, then lifted her right foreleg up. My breath caught and my barrel tensed as she reached forward and tentatively brushed her tiny hoof against my nose. I wiggled it for her, and she giggled, one of the most beautiful noises I'd ever heard, causing me to smile fully again. It didn't matter anymore if I was ready or not. She was right here in front of me, and that's all that I really needed. I suddenly just 'knew' that I was going to guard and comfort her, and not let a single thing harm her. I wanted her to grow and thrive and be happy, and nothing was going to get in the way of that. Her hoof pressed a little, and she made a murmuring noise again, relaxing as she watched me. Little wings moved on her back, and I realized she was a pegasus like her mom. But it didn't matter, because I realized she was touching me when I understood that. She understood it, too. That was how Fluttershy had been 'talking' to her. Fluttershy smiled to me at my expression shift, then nodded. "She knows who both of you are now. I... I asked for just you two first because of that. She's a very timid little filly..." she whispered, looking back to Snowy and looking her up and down. To my surprise, the little filly shifted again, using my nose to push herself upwards. She wobbled once, and my eyes widened as she carefully stood up on all four legs. They shook under her, wobbling at the knees and ankles as she tried to steady herself. Twilight smiled and slid closer, lifting her right hoof and lightly touching the filly's left flank to steady her. I moved over, then mirrored her on the other side, both of us helping to keep Snowy balanced as she stood fully for the first time. I'd read that much already. Foals learned to walk rather fast, a carry over from herd migration periods almost thirty thousand years ago. The ability to walk and run was needed for survival and taught fast. Wobbling, Snowy carefully rotated herself, turning around so she was facing Fluttershy's head again, then carefully started to make shaky steps towards the yellow mare. Our hooves rested lightly to both sides of her, helping her stay steady as she wobbled forward. She managed to make it halfway up Fluttershy over the course of half a minute, then stumbled. The yellow mare moved her forelegs up in an instant and caught the little filly, giggling again as she held her to her chest. "She's perfect. I love her... and I love you both," Fluttershy murmured, eyes shifting over to Twilight, then to me as well. I grinned, then slid over and lightly kissed her on the forehead, earning a shiver. Twilight nuzzled into the side of Fluttershy's neck as the four of us relaxed there. The flash of light hit next, and I winced. Redheart grinned as she set the camera down, then winked to us. "Hey, her first picture. It's a moment I figured you all would want to remember, after all..." she pointed out. Heh, okay, she had us there. Fluttershy giggled again, then looked back over at me instead. Hmm? "Mmm, I'm a bit tired, though. Could you watch over her for a few minutes while I rest, Mender? I'm sure our friends will want to see her, too, and she'll need somepony to protect her while she meets them all..." she murmured. Eh...? Me specifically? But... wait... Twilight smirked at that, then nodded, standing once more. "She's right. I'll have time with her, too, don't worry. But her overprotective daddy should handle this," she teased. Arg! I scowled at her, earning a wink from the mare, and to my surprise, another soft giggle from my new daughter. Looking back down at her, I saw she was watching me again. Fluttershy smiled and nodded before fully lifting her wing up, revealing the entirety of the filly once again. My mind blanked as she stood again. She managed three shaky steps on her own before swaying to the side. I caught her immediately, then widened my eyes as she relaxed into my forelegs. Ever so carefully, I shifted her until I was cradling her to my chest. She was so light and soft, and I did my best to carefully hold her, lightly rubbing her side as she looked up at me again. Fluttershy's eyes softened as she watched me, warm smile playing across her muzzle. Red grinned again, then let Twilight back out of the tent before heading over to us both. "You two are natural parents, don't worry. You'll have to show Twilight the ropes, I think. Heh. I'm actually going to go over Fluttershy once again as a final checkup, now that she's separated from the little one for a few minutes," she revealed, slipping over to where Twilight had been a moment ago. I nodded to her, then looked back to Fluttershy before asking, "Just a precaution?" Okay, so maybe I was a little protective... She snickered before nodding, then revealed, "Policy, actually. It's part of our regulations. To be honest, Fluttershy was one of the smoothest cases we've had so far this year. I'm impressed. Everything went about as perfectly as possible, and she's amazingly healthy..." I relaxed at that and smiled, nodding to her again. Looking back down at the filly in my arms, I blinked and froze for a moment, noticing she was looking over my left foreleg instead. Purdue sat there next to me now, glowing lightly as she looked back at Snowy, and for a moment, they both just stared at each other. Oh. Relaxing a little, I explained, "This is Purdue. She's going to be your sister." Purdue perked at that, blushing lightly as she glanced up at me instead, but I smiled and winked down at her. "Purdue, this is Sugar Snowflake, or Snowy. My..." I started, then hesitated for a moment. Fluttershy's eyes opened again as Redheart felt along her side with her hooves, and the mare looked over at me curiously. Relaxing again, I smiled, looking the small filly over again before gently finishing, "She's my daughter." Purdue smiled, then turned to face her again as the filly relaxed, then smiled as well. Just a little. ...and just for a moment before the flap to the tent opened again rather abruptly... So much for gentle relaxation. Looking to my right, I shielded Snowy against my chest, the warm glow of my barrier going over her even as I spotted Pinkie and Sweetie leading the charge... Heh. Life never slowed down, did it...? * * * * * Three years passed, uneasy and unwelcome for their empire. Terror had been struck into their very souls. Less than a year prior, a new foe had emerged. A terrible, terrible force that struck suddenly and without warning out of the darkness of space. They seemed to fold out of the inky black between stars, striking and destroying facility after facility before disappearing without a trace. There was no identity, and no quarter given. Far worse, three months prior, they had lost the entirety of their energy production and research on top of the unidentified attacks. A single beam had come out of nowhere, from the dark of space. It was a brilliant gold in color, and somehow moved many hundred times the speed of light while still in relative space. It was an enigma, not able to exist under their understanding of physics, but there it was regardless. It bypassed all sensors, having struck by the time they even detected it, and released no FTL emissions to be tracked at further range. It hit with precision, and worse yet, all Grosh on-site accounted for what could only be described as a mass hallucination. The explosion took the form of a brilliant and fiery equine, possibly native to species 1459's habitat. It reared up, and for just a moment, they all claim to have perfectly understood a 'Gotcha!' as it rang out through space. At first, they suspected telepathy, but no known translation of the word of sorts was found. Fear was all that was left as the detonation lost shape and destroyed the entire gravity generator. The great experimental megastructure collapsed. They had almost completed the awe-inspiring 'net' that had completely surrounded the star itself. Capturing an appreciable percentage of the energy released from the massive star, the superstructure would have allowed leaps and bounds of research, and almost unlimited energy for the Grosh. With the gravity field destroyed, almost half of the net collapsed into the star itself. Experimental generators detonated, setting off a massive chain reaction. Half a day later, the entire star went nova. The beam was traced back to the one and only known battle with species 1687. The image in the mass hallucination was further attributed to their image. No explanation was ever found, and all interaction with the species has now been blacklisted. Research has ended in regards to finding them, and all insisting on trying to continue were silenced by the governing body. Nothing further exists of the star system that used to house their vast energy systems. Just cold and empty space, driving home the fear they now held for an entity they only knew as 'Celestia'... The End
Chapter 01Consciousness stirred. That fundamental spark of awareness. With it came a sensation of waking up from a long nap. I felt old and dried out, immediately aware of how stiff my muscles were. But there was a new feeling, wasn't there? Or more accurately, there was a lack of something. That urgent sensation. It took me a moment to realize it, but it was gone. Smiling, regardless that my body felt like one big, bandaged bruise, I opened my eyes. I felt the pupils in each eye contract sharply at the light and winced. Several seconds of adjustment later and the sunlight from a brand new morning greeted me through the window. I appeared to be alone in a very familiar looking clinic room. Equestria. I was still alive? For once in my rather short life so far, I just took the moment to relax and let in the light. It took a good five minutes or so of daydreaming before I got down to the business of testing muscles. Oddly enough, despite the massive levels of bandages, I seemed to be reasonably intact. My muscles were stiff and cold but oddly lacked the soreness I was anticipating. Even my forelegs could be moved properly again. A little perturbed, I wondered why I was so heavily bandaged. Did I have bad burns? Was my skin missing? I decided confidently against taking said wrappings off. Unlike unwrapping a gift that’s contents were to be celebrated, I preferred my squishy insides to stay well, inside. Instead, priority quickly dictated that I needed to pee and I rolled to get out of bed. Oh for the love of all that is right and just in the world! That redefined bad idea! Rolling over caused the series of IVs to be pulled from my neck and forelegs, and not in the gentle and happy manner in which a cute nurse would remove them. Wincing, I couldn't halt damnable gravity in time and tried to make my dead drop off the side of the bed as graceful as possible. And it's a stone-filled stomach flop with half rotation! The crowd goes wild! I decided I must still be significantly underweight as the noise of me planting my face into the wooden floor was still rather quiet; not unlike dropping a wet sack of potatoes onto cement. I winced and shook my head. Well, I was off to a great yet predictable start and it had only been my first meter or so of spatial movement. Groaning lightly, I shakily stood up off the ground and tested my leg muscles. They held, thankfully. It would be kind of embarrassing to die two feet from a hospital bed via starvation. Things were looking up! I took a tentative first step and felt a light tugging in strange areas. Huh. Muscle atrophy, maybe? I wasn’t a medical expert so I had no idea what could cause tugging like that. Step two had me writhing on the ground in agony. Again. Son of a bitch! Next time, check for catheter in sensitive bodily orifices prior to accidentally stepping on the connected tube while walking! Burning sensations in awkward places came forth and I groaned again. Okay, so if I had one of those things in me, I must have been here quite a while then. After checking myself for bleeding, I discovered that the catheter was one of the 'soft' variants. Okay, so it mainly hurt because I twisted it sideways before yanking it out. That made a little more sense and I felt considerably better. No blood was usually a good thing in my experience. I resumed my walking, now at a hobbling pace with the newly acquired stinging sensation between my back legs. The bandages were stiff as well so I took things slow and careful as I headed towards the door. That's when I heard voices. "But how am I supposed to plan a party if I don't know where it is?" whined a very distinct Pinkie voice. And the voices were familiar. That was even better. "Jus' hold yer horses, Sugar Cube! Doesn't he have ta wake up first?" replied the unmistakable Applejack. My heart soared. I was actually alive! And in Equestria still! "But, but, but, decorations!" Pinkie continued. A light snickering came next. Wait, that snicker sounded distinctly unlike the other two voices. "Can't ya just load it into your cannon, Pinkie? That would be way cooler anyway," the voice suggested. Rainbow Dash! Wait, she was talking about me and it wasn't vindictive or cursing my very name? I had expected her to be angry after my forced teleportation of her. I sighed weakly. Even if she was, I still couldn't apologize. I don't regret making sure she got out safely. She had a dream here and somepony to share it with. I didn't have much of anything, only having been here a week prior. Oh wait, I still didn't really have anything. My few friends were probably mad at me for the ‘almost dying’ and ‘lying to them’ things. Hopefully in that order, anyway. "Oh, yeah! I forgot about that. It's portable, too!" Pinkie exclaimed, lightening up instantly and throwing a sizable wrench into my moping. "Ah've been meanin' ta ask ya how yeh go about doin' that, by tha way," Applejack mentioned suddenly, sounding curious. Rainbow Dash snorted. "She's Pinkie. Seriously, 'nough said," she replied simply. Sadly, having spoken to the pink mare myself, I had to agree. "Aww! Dashie knows me so well," Pinkie cooed, sounding almost flirty. Applejack laughed and made a clicking noise. "Ah think it's one o' those things ah shouldn't ask 'bout, ah guess," she finally admitted. "Didn't Twilight try that once?" Rainbow asked. "Oh! Yuppers. Then the bees and Derpy happened. Oooh, and the hydra!" Pinkie shot back, sounding excited. Well, that sounded exceedingly unpleasant. The universe is protective of its secrets, I suppose. Either that, or Pinkie Pie is some sort of reality warper with a sense of humor. "Yeah. Let's just hope she wants to come to the party. She still sounded kinda upset the last I talked to her," Rainbow commented. What? Twilight was upset with me? My heart sank a little. Oh yeah, I did kind of lie about coming back and she had to haul me to safety using her magic. She was probably more than 'kinda' upset. "Still? Fer cryin' out loud. It's Princess Celestia. She's not gonna do anything rash," Applejack grumbled. P-Princess Celestia?! My eyes widened. I had upset her and she sold me out to the Princess? Oh no. Images of slave labor camps on the moon came to mind as I started to panic. Surely, I could still apologize? "Oooh, but the Princess said she'd come to the party! Doesn't that mean Twi will probably come anyway?" Pinkie theorized. Everything started to add together. I felt my pupils contract as panic set in. I'd never seen anything to do with these princesses yet. If they were some form of shadow op government and I just offended a prime operative, what was my punishment going to be? Wait, didn't that make all of the Elements of Harmony agents of the princesses? My eyes widened as I realized Pinkie never said what kind of party it was. If party was a code word for execution, I was in serious trouble. It was time for action, then. Looking around the room, I rapidly noticed that there were only two exits. The door obviously led into the hallway, where the agents of death were waiting. That left just the window. All right then, here we go! Hopping up on my bed, I slid the window open and peeked outside. Crap. It was a side window, which meant it opened onto the street. Far too late to withdraw my action now, I ignored the confused glances tossed my way and tried to kick off the bed to hurl myself out the window. Alas, this was only partially successful. The bandages around my legs were way too stiff to get a proper thrust going. The bed went one direction and I went the other at greatly reduced speeds. This managed to get, well, most of me out the window. Oh, and cause those aforementioned sensitive areas to smash into the window frame, making an explosion of agony to dance up my spine as I smacked against the outside of the building with my chest. I heard a rolling sound and a crash from inside as well. Oh, the bed was on wheels. Go figure. I contemplated the errors of my escape attempt while hanging upside down by my back legs. That could have gone so much better. "Moon Mender?" I heard a soft, yet innocent sounding voice from somewhere in front of me. Twisting my head, I managed to see a very familiar white unicorn filly running up to me, purple and pink mane bobbing rapidly. "Oh uh, hey, Sweetie Belle. Nice day, huh?" I tried to distract, voice cracking towards the end due to disuse. She stopped a meter or so in front of me and tilted her head. "Um, yeah. Do you need help or something?" she asked quietly, looking perplexed. I was probably an amusing sight, wrapped up like a mummy and hanging from a window. "What tha hay's goin' on in 'ere?!" I heard a very distinct Applejack shout from behind me. Oh crap! Kicking with my forelegs against the side of the building, I managed to vault myself off the window frame, flip once, and land gracefully on my butt outside. Sweetie Belle dove aside to avoid my descent and winced as I smashed into the ground. "Ow! Sorry, Sweetie Belle! Gotta go," I apologized rapidly, before getting up and hobbling around the back of the building, wincing the entire way. Damn these bandages! She looked surprised but stood up again and followed after me. "Wait, where are ya going?" she asked as I took off across the street. Aside from being a tad stiff and now sore in uncomfortable places, I found that I could move as if uninjured, oddly. Why was I wrapped up, then? Stupid bandages! They were more of a hinder than a help at this point. "Wha?! Horse apples! Where'd he go?" I heard Rainbow Dash exclaim loudly back at the clinic. I dove into an alley between two houses and into a large pile of leaves I found, making sure to bury myself as best I could. There was no time to get away. Much to my surprise, I felt someone messing with my tail a few seconds later. Oh no! It was outside of the pile still. Even more surprising, they tucked it inside and covered it up. I saw a single leaf moved from my right eye, and Sweetie Belle smiled down at my panting form. "You must be hiding from AJ and Rainbow, right? I'll help!" she declared, looking like she was enjoying herself. This wasn't hide-n-seek! My life was on the line, here. "Shhh. I need to get away from them. I need time to think," I whispered. She smiled and nodded, resuming covering me up with leaves. A short ten seconds later, I felt something tiny and warm push up against my chest as she slid in and covered herself as well, going dead silent. Both of us held our breath as hoofsteps could be heard suddenly outside, walking across the harder dirt. Oh crap! How close were they? The hoofsteps stopped out on the street, three meters away or so. I felt Sweetie Belle go rigid and I swallowed, trying to control my breathing. "Wha? Tha hoof prints stop on tha edge o' the grass 'ere. He musta gone off between tha houses, an' towards tha woods?" I heard Applejack reason, thankfully incorrectly. "How'd he get so fast? Dang. I'll take to the air and see where he is," Rainbow returned, before I felt a light breeze. Thank goodness she wasn't closer or she might have blown away my hiding spot! A merry giggling followed, with, "Maybe he's playing a game? Like tag or hide-n-seek? That would be really fun after being cooped up in that room for so long!" "Who knows with that crazy stallion. Why'd he go an' run away, anyway? Ain't it custom ta say yer playin' one o' those games before jus' bookin' it outta there?" Applejack asked, sounding skeptical. Pinkie snickered in amusement. "It's fun either way. Maybe he just wants some alone time?" Pinkie offered in a surprisingly lucid observation. The distinct sensation of her staring right at me suddenly came into being. Uh oh. "But why run away? He could'a jus' said somethin', right?" Applejack questioned. "I dunno. Let's go peek in the forest! We can't turn him down if it's hide-n-seek!" Pinkie declared as if it were a universal law. There was a light, accented groan followed by, "Ya really are kinda random sometimes, ya know that, right?" My blood turned to ice and it felt like my heart stopped as Applejack walked towards our hiding spot slowly, hoofsteps getting closer and closer albeit muffled by the grass. Time seemed to drag forever at that singular moment. It felt like an eternity but she finally passed us by. I watched the tip of her tail stir some leaves at the edge of our pile as she went. Thankfully, my eyes were amber instead of blue like the rest of my color scheme! Blending in might be a little harder otherwise. I turned my visible eye forwards again. Then I froze as I saw Pinkie Pie looking directly at me. She wore a fascinated smile and surprised me by winking rather than sounding the alarm. Instead, she returned to her prior closed-eyed smirk and pounced past, following Applejack. "Do you think we can find him before Rainbow?" she asked in a gleeful manner as she disappeared from vision. What happened? Whose side was she on? "Oh, yer on! Ah'll hound him down in no time," Applejack agreed, suddenly sounding excessively competitive. Whoa! Was she always like that, or was it Rainbow bringing it out in her? "But you're a pony, Silly! You’d need to bark more if you were a hound," was the last thing I heard before the voices disappeared at a surprisingly fast pace. Sweetie Belle and I didn't dare move for a good ten minutes, however. * * * * * The forest along the outskirts was peaceful, anyway. It was a chilly, Fall day and the leaves were beginning to drift off the trees. I vaguely recalled them changing colors before the incident, and I tried to gauge how long I'd been asleep. Now the sun slowly drifted towards the horizon, nightfall coming. I estimated it had been about four or so in the afternoon when I woke up. On further estimate, that made it now close to six o'clock. "So you're worried about Twilight being mad at you?" Sweetie Belle asked, still tucked against my chest and emitting a diabetes-inducing level of cuteness. Both of us were packed into a small pocket we found under a few roots of a large tree. You'd have to be practically on top of us to see us from the air and we were only visible from a meter long segment on one side at ground level. However, it was rather nippy outside. I was kind of glad the little filly had followed me, as she was considerably warmer than I was. Maybe I had lost a lot of blood? Oh, and the company was nice, too. I made a mental note to not refer to friends as space heaters in the future. I whispered back, "Yeah. I overheard them talking about how upset she is." Sweetie giggled. "I don't think they meant mad. She visited you, like, almost every day. You probably just worried her. Fluttershy, too," she explained. "I'm just worried after they mentioned Celestia," I muttered quietly. "Ooh! Princess Celestia? Does she want to see you or something? She was here the day of your incident, but didn't get a chance to talk to you then. Uh, well, obviously," she enlightened, almost managing to confuse herself towards the end. My mind skipped a few gears. "Wait, she was here?" I asked, feeling like the blood drained from my face. Sweetie Belle giggled whimsically. "Yeah, she helped Twilight pull you back. Twilight is a little, well, sad because of that, I think," she explained, frowning a little in concern. "Er, why? She didn't want me back?" I asked, swallowing a tad painfully. It earned me a gentle shove to the chest. "No! She was just sad that she might not have been able to with just herself, I think. She never said directly. I just saw it in her eyes, really," Sweetie corrected, looking a little distracted in memories. It dawned on me that there were indeed multiple definitions of 'upset'. I frowned and considered it. Well, ultimately, I probably just made an idiot of myself again. The best thing to do would be to simply slink over to the library and apologize directly to Twilight. If she says I'm clear with Princess Celestia, then I go and apologize to Fluttershy, who was the next most bothered by my attempted martyrdom. And then everypony else. That was a lot of apologies! "I think you were really nice, though. Sis says you're a dying breed, or something like that, but I think you're honest and kind. I don't really understand but you saved Equestria even if it meant almost dying, didn't you?" Sweetie Belle interrupted, knocking me out of my planning and earning a choked back gag of surprise. "Oh, no, no! I'm no hero, Sweetie Belle. We, well, we don't know how much danger Equestria was ever in, but I didn't want to take the chance. I'm," I muttered, trailing off and realizing the base facts. Sweetie tilted her head and looked back up at me from her curled up position. I sighed and shook my head. "I'm just me. I'm not important enough. I mean, risking all of Equestria just for me? If I did that, even if the threat came to nothing, I doubt I could ever live with how selfish that would be," I continued, wondering if anypony was that important. My friend and tree hiding companion smiled and nodded gently. "You're still important to your friends. But I think I see why Sis likes you. Although it makes her say more and more mean words about Prince Blueblood," she muttered, suddenly looking a tad annoyed. I frowned, still attempting to process my own feelings alongside the dribble of new information the little filly constantly surprised me with. "Prince Blueblood?" I asked hesitantly. I hadn't realized there were any male rulers. "He's a jerk. He made Rarity really upset at the Gala a while back after she was all set to, oh, what did she call it? Court him? I have no idea what that means, but oh was she mad!" Sweetie explained, shuddering. "Are there two princes, as well? Sorry, I don't know much about your lifestyle here and didn't read anything about him in the book Twilight gave me," I asked, trying not to sound stupid. She giggled however and nodded. "That was the first I'd heard of him, too, don't worry. He doesn't have wings like the princesses, so I doubt he's as powerful," she muttered, smiling up at me innocently. "The princesses are pegasi?" I questioned, tilting my head. So much for equal representation. "They have horns too. They're really pretty, with their flowing manes and beautiful jewels. I really, really like their manes," she cooed, swaying happily. Both horns and wings? I hadn't heard of such a being, but it certainly sounded convenient. "So they can fly and cast spells as well? Wow," I muttered, impressed. Sweetie Belle nodded happily. "Yeah. They're so amazing! I mean, Princess Celestia raises the sun each day! Her magic is so strong," she agreed, sounding a tad jealous as she looked up at her tiny horn. "Oh don't worry, Sweetie Belle. I'm sure one day you'll be able to um, wait..." I muttered, trailing off as my brain slowly tried to shift from first gear to cheese. "T-The sun?!" I almost screamed, blood feeling like ice cubes. Sweetie Belle looked surprised but nodded rapidly. "Yeah, she raises the sun each day. Princess Luna raises the moon each night. Why?" she asked, as if it were natural. "B-But it's a massive... How?! Does she rotate the planet or? Even that, it-it's insane!" I muttered, my fragile mind starting to twist in upon itself. I'd heard of powerful magic back on my own world but this was just madness! Sweetie Belle giggled and shook her head. "She raises the sun as her sacred duty. She's Equestria's ruler, alongside her sister. What's so strange?" she asked innocently. My head gave a throb of protest and I suddenly felt exceedingly sore all over. Of course, I had just gotten a lot of exercise. "I-I guess. Um, do you think you could h-help me get to Twilight's library?" I asked her weakly, deciding it was best for my sanity to just not think about it. She smiled and nodded. "Sure. I didn't really wanna do the dumb errand I was on anyway and Rarity will understand if it's to help you out," she reasoned, a light scheming expression dancing across her face. I smirked as I saw her grin. "Naughty little filly. Does Rarity know you're this devious?" I asked her in amusement. "Devi-wha?" she questioned, tilting her head towards me. "Oh, sorry. It means sly, or tricky," I relayed. Sometimes I forgot she was a young filly. She was very patient and mature for her age, it seemed. She was probably more of a mediator for Scootaloo and Applebloom. She perked and giggled, shaking her head. "Nah. She thinks I'm a paperweight most of the time. But she's a nice big sister, don't get me wrong. Just, well, frustrating," she muttered, sitting up and looking a tad exasperated. I nodded and smiled, trying to sit up, too. I immediately smashed my skull into the underside of our tree nook, and winced. Sweetie snickered in amusement before shaking her head at me. She was probably used to me bashing my skull into things by now. "Do you have any siblings?" she asked curiously after a few moments. Frowning as I struggled to squeeze out from under the tree, I rapidly realized I had no idea. "Um, I can't remember. It, well," I muttered before lowering my eyes. Her curious smile shifted to a concerned frown, but I shook my head. "There's a lot I don't remember still, is all. I might have, but I dunno." "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about what happened," she apologized, looking down slightly. Did she really know to begin with? Part of me was glad she was so young. The concept of genocide was probably blunted on a lack of understanding. This world didn't need such concepts and I wasn't about to introduce them. I placed a bandaged hoof on her cheek and gave her a gentle brush, lifting her head up again. She gave me a questioning look until I smiled and shook my head. "I'm glad I can stay in Equestria and not have to leave anywhere. You ponies are wonderful, without a doubt. Anything beyond that... It's all right," I assured her softly. She smiled, eyes softening before nodding and reminding, "We'd best get to the library. I'll keep watch ahead of you until we get there." Wise. Rainbow was probably still in the sky and who knew about Applejack. I didn't know where Pinkie stood still, so that was kind of like rolling a die. Of course, Sweetie Belle was probably right. This was all a misunderstanding, more than likely. I guess I'd find out once getting back to Twilight. Slowly, as I was quite tired and sore at this point, I headed after the little unicorn filly as she rolled across the ground ‘stealthily’. She tumbled from tree to tree ahead of me, peeking out around the sides cautiously. I didn't have the heart to interrupt her playtime with the fact that her jolting motions were probably far easier to spot from the air. Thankfully my bandages were now far from white after all the dirt and grass got involved and were fairly good camouflage. Regardless, town was actually only a quarter of a mile away and we made it back within ten minutes or so, at my current stunted pace. Sweetie Belle slunk along between a natural alley leading up to a side street. We'd have to slip between the two houses and across the street in order to reach the library. She 'scouted' ahead, striking me as a little obvious with her ninja poses, but she was way too cute to tell off. I slipped behind a dilapidated, retired rain barrel while she slipped closer to the street to peek around. That was a fairly obvious choice as she was far less suspicious looking than a walking lump of dirty bandages. Still, I felt a little bad that she was putting her own neck out for me. Sadly, she didn't quite make it to the street before freezing. My eyes widened and I dove into the overturned barrel instead, peeking through a crack in the bottom of it. It was probably the crack that earned its retirement. Sweetie Belle slowly started to back up into the alley but it was too late. The orange earth mare with the blonde mane had already spotted her and trotted over. Crap! "Oh, hay there, Sweetie Belle! Yer lookin' mighty dirty, ha ha! Can ah talk ta ya fer a minute or two?" Applejack asked, sounding friendly enough. I started running escape plans through my head just in case. Sweetie laughed nervously alongside her, and nodded. "Well yeah uh, I mean no, wait, I don't mind of course!" she hastily returned. I made a mental note that the filly was terrible under pressure, for future reference. "Hmm. Are ya all right? Come ta think of it, yer Sis mentioned that ya were missin' a few minutes ago. Hour's late fer ah shoppin' trip, she reckon'. Where have ya been?" Applejack asked, getting a concerned look on her face. Oh no. Sweetie Belle was getting in trouble because of me! "Oh, well... I saw a frog that was lost. So I had to g-get it back to its stream, of course!" she rapidly lied. Ug. It had to be a frog? Applejack momentarily looked confused, but it didn't last long. Her eyes narrowed as she lowered her face to the little filly. "Yer actin' awfully suspicious, Sweetie Belle. Ya haven't happen'd ta see Moon Mender around, have ya?" she questioned, eyes scrutinizing the unicorn filly's every movement. I couldn't let Sweetie Belle get in trouble over me. My mind rapidly tried to think of a way out when I felt the light pulse in my left, front hoof. What was that? Extending my awareness to it, I lifted the bandaged hoof up to my face inside the barrel. It was only lightly wrapped, with tufts of light blue coat coming out from around the edges of the bandage. Did that mean it was in better shape? I felt out what that pulse was and was surprised at the ease of scanning my system. The magic flowed through me gentler now, as if water going through carved grooves, rather than trying to splash around rocky crags. To my curiosity, it drew easily into my left hoof; far easier than anyplace else in my body. A memory stirred in me. This hoof? Sweetie Belle backed up, bumping against the front of the barrel. "I, well, I haven't seen him. W-Why?" she asked weakly, averting her eyes. "Ya don't seem surprised he's up an' about. Yer not fibbin', are ya Sweetie?" Applejack asked, advancing again. No! I had to do something. This hoof! A flash of pained memory slipped through my skull as images of it splitting into the shape of the creation symbol and igniting came forth. Ignoring them, my mind pushed the magic forwards as if muscle memory. Alteration. It was basic magic that focused on changing things. As an engineer I'd been really good at it. Still, I didn't have much to work with. A master blacksmith can only do so much with crude iron. The hoof began to glow as the symbol carved into it lit up with my magic. The bandages unwound themselves and drifted away from each side in midair, causing me to smile. They had been touching the symbol, so I could use magic on them! I could use magic on things that touched the symbol. "Um, well he, uh," Sweetie continued to stutter. "Ya have seen him then! Where is he? Ya know what bad, lyin' fillies get," Applejack warned. I pushed the symbol into the old wood of the barrel. The magic was there. Not the same as a unicorn's and nowhere near as strong as Twilight's in any sense, but it was uniquely mine. My mind touched upon the symbol on my hoof and flooded out into the wood and iron of the barrel alongside lines of magic. Gravity, inertia, thrust, motion... All of these things needed to be modified. "Ah! B-But Applejack, I just wanted to," Sweetie Belle muttered weakly. Applejack just started to step forwards and lean closer when the barrel I was in exploded into movement. I popped out of the top of it as it split in half, the tightly woven boards that made up the sides coming undone and expanding rapidly into a platform and six crude legs. The orange mare looked more than a little startled as I changed the barrel. Taking advantage of her surprise, I sprung forwards using the walking platform and scooped Sweetie Belle up off the ground just as she was starting to turn to look. She yelped, but I nudged her behind me as the top of the barrel folded partially back around us, forming a protective shell. "No! I can't let you punish Sweetie Belle. She was only trying to help me," I warned, scowling at the gawking Applejack. Not giving her time to recover, I folded the top back around us and ordered the platform down the street at full speed. Six ‘legs’ made of iron and wood carried us like a giant beetle towards the library. "Whoa! Cool!" Sweetie muttered as she looked closer at my glowing hoof pressed against the boards. I kept my breathing under control and slowly focused on dodging surprised ponies as I headed for the library. "Sorry! Excuse me! Coming through!" I called out as I swerved and trotted around the clusters in the street. They seemed largely surprised at my makeshift transportation, but were oddly not that panicked. Of course, I was going out of my way to miss them and apologize so they probably assumed there was little danger. Or they were so jaded by the normal happenings in town that they really didn't care about a reasonably non-violent one. "Mender! Hold up ah bit, would ya! Ah just wanna talk ta ya!" Applejack shouted, as I heard a galloping noise from behind me. Damn she was fast! Our platform angled itself down as it sped up, leaping up a hill and making a break along the final stretch for the library. "Will ya wait up?!" I heard her shout, more irritated now. An impossibly powerful impact hit the right back leg a second later, splintering the wood as if it were twigs and causing us to spin violently. Sweetie yelped but I caught and steadied her with my right hoof, forcing more energy through my left. We leapt after one full rotation, using the energy of her kick to propel us at the door. Two tiny shields formed in the platform's outstretched right 'leg' and I spun them as they contacted the door handle. The door popped open in the same instant we crashed into it. I kept a firm grip on the door as we slid across the now familiar wooden flooring. Pivoting, we rotated as the door reached maximum angle and I used our backwards rotation to slam the door shut. Focusing, I rapidly started engaging every lock I could find on the door. "Alright, alright! You don't need to slam the door. I'm coming!" I heard a rather annoyed sounding Twilight call out from upstairs. Oops. I rotated the platform around while peeking through the crack in the front, just in time to see Twilight come down the stairs. She gave us a look of shocked horror shortly before her horn started glowing. Uh oh… Author's Note Doom Pie's Audiobook Chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr_5Qy5aclQ
Chapter 23For having a tear in my suit and a lightly singed sleeve, nopony at the party seemed to mind. Actually, the 'battle damage' had rapidly become a conversation point. After Twilight left, Octavia had insisted on taking me around and introducing me to anypony important she noticed and that wanted to talk. I didn't get much say in it, but her reasoning was fairly easy to understand, even if she was quiet about it. I lost count of the times I paraphrased my thoughts during the accident or explained the enchantments on the suit allowing it to survive so readily. I didn't realize how important clothes were to the high society, even in a culture with no qualms about total nudity! Still, the conversations served to keep my mind busy and off what had happened. That and at least two-dozen ponies took Rarity's information down in the process. I guess my purpose here was fulfilled after all, even if her spoken reason to bring me no longer entirely matched her suspected reasons. She kissed me. Rarity, of all ponies! She wanted a prince with reputation and esteem. I was a nopony with nothing to his name! What the hell happened?! Vinyl noticed my downtrodden expression a moment later and bumped me sideways when I looked at her. "Chill, Dude," she ordered with an amused undertone to her voice. Neither herself nor Octavia had left my side since, and it was a little strange. I hadn't known them for long, yet they were surprisingly loyal. Of course, they also got their fair share of questions regarding the accident. Shaking my head wearily, I nodded to her after a moment's consideration. "I know. I'm just worried that Twilight is going to be upset with me," I repeated, wandering towards the cleanup crew as they worked. The party was essentially ended soon after the accident. The questions I got were from lingering ponies afterwards, largely. A guard had also questioned me in length about what had happened, but thankfully I wasn't in trouble. Again. Fancypants spoke up for me, thankfully. Of course, then the guards recognized me from Twilight's apparent description earlier. I stretched as I stood in front of the chandelier, looking over the damage. The guard next to the rubble that was gesturing the ponies away just nodded to us. Turns out, Twilight has, like, top-level clearance in the palace and surrounding grounds. Apparently she extended some of that to me, and I was allowed to look over the wrecked chandelier without issue. Of course, I'd already gotten a somewhat intimate view of it. The chain was undamaged, I noticed. Tracing it back up, I saw a splintered section of a wooden beam still anchored to the end of it. My memory flared with the image of the ceiling caving away, and I sighed. "The problem wasn't with the chandelier, but how it was attached to the ceiling. It didn't have anywhere near the structural support it should have," I pointed out, gesturing towards the beam still attached. "It was a fast repair job. They wanted it done in time for the party tonight," Octavia revealed, glaring at the chain as if it had personally offended her mother. Not that I necessarily blamed her. It was kind of like me and apple trees. The construction stallion from earlier stood up from the remains and nodded sternly. "You know your stuff. I've looked it over, but as far as I can tell, yer right. The candles didn’t go out after the thing detached, either, did they?" he asked, gesturing towards the scorched blast residue on the crystals. Whoa. Had they literally exploded when the thing crashed? I nodded absently. "No, they didn’t. I'm guessing they were enchanted? Well, whatever they were enchanted with might not have liked the spell I used to cause it to float," I explained. Note to self. When you get some time in the future, compare Equestrian enchantments to your own to see if there’s some potentially explosive overlap. "Sure looked awesome, though!" Vinyl cut in, sounding overly cheery, if not a bit gleeful. I rolled my eyes. "I wouldn't know. All I saw was burning and pain for a bit afterwards," I groaned, looking back down at my suit again. It, interestingly enough, wasn't that damaged. Here I thought that Rarity was silly to fireproof it. "Now, I don't normally do this unless for special orders, but due to your terrible misfortune for accidents, I'm going to weave a few tasteful protection spells into your new suit," I keenly remembered her explaining, just the barest hint of an amused smirk playing at the corners of her lips. I chuckled before withdrawing from the wreck again. Octavia and Vinyl followed me yet again as I wandered back over to the banquet table. They always said that eating was excellent stress relief. "Um, you have second to highest clearance, Mender. You could just go to the kitchen and ask the staff to make you something a little tastier," Octavia reminded as I started putting a light sandwich together. "They already made all of this. No sense in letting it go to waste. Besides, I don't think I'm important enough to warrant special privileges like that," I reasoned, watching the ingredients drift into place. Vinyl seemed more interested in watching my hoof pressed against the table as I manipulated the various barriers into putting the thing together. Octavia smirked but shook her head. "You're a strange one. You're dating Twilight just for Twilight, aren't you?" she inquired, making it sound more like a request for confirmation than anything. "Of course I am. I fell for her before I even knew who she was, fully. She also saved my life. Not to mention she's just so," I started before trailing off and frowning. Octavia's eyebrow rose, but she listened expectantly. Finally, I added, "There's a lot I like about her. She's kind, fun, smart, gentle, entertaining, and absolutely gorgeous, for the basics." "You definitely got it bad. Ha! She's lucky. It's dang hard to find a stallion that wants you for you when you're famous, let me tell ya! How'd ya honestly never hear of her?" Vinyl questioned, sounding surprised before she flopped down onto her haunches. I glanced over at her as my sandwich finished making itself. "I woke up outside of Ponyville with retrograde amnesia. Didn't have a clue who the Elements of Harmony were in the first place, let alone that Twilight was one of them. I'm under the impression that I'm Twilight's first attempt, also," I told, giving them the abbreviated, censored version of my arrival. Octavia lowered her ears and shook her head at the same time that Vinyl looked honestly surprised. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Have you been able to recover any memories yet?" she asked gently, sounding concerned. I slowly shook my head, mentally restricting what I knew I shouldn't say. "Not a whole lot. I know my name and what my talent is. Nopony knew me in Ponyville, either. I've honestly just been focusing on building a new life," I admitted, deciding that much was safe. Hopefully they didn't have complicated background checks in Equestria. A pony literally fading into existence out of thin air might be a tiny bit suspicious. "Mender! I know I'm not supposed to contact you during the day, but I have a bit of news to share. You don't have to answer, but I know you can hear me," suddenly echoed out in my skull, scaring the metaphorical crap out of me. I jumped at Keela's voice and accidentally launched my sandwich up into the air. Flailing, I lashed out with a force field to try to catch it, but it was suddenly whipped downwards instead in a red aura. Vinyl snickered as she caught it in her mouth, taking a rather impressive bite out of it. "Vinyl!" Octavia berated, looking a little upset. "They're fast to make! Besides, I want to watch him use those cool powers more," the cyan-maned mare admitted, smirking after she swallowed the first bite. As irked as I was momentarily, I was also distracted by the sudden compliment mixed with wondering what Keela wanted. I rolled my eyes and fired up the barriers again, proceeding with sandwich attempt number two while I heard my extra dimensional friend clear her throat. "I wanted to let you know that I've been making serious headway on my end of the bargain as well. I've almost gotten a working spell that should be able to send the book directly to you. There are a few kinks in it that I'll try to work out first, however. Further, I discovered that, in theory, I should be able to continue to use the link you control with me to talk to you, even after giving you the book back," she explained. I frowned while listening, a little concerned that a link would still exist between myself and that place, even after the book was retrieved. This time I added cheese into the mix, along with a bit of mayonnaise and hay bacon strips. It looked delicious, and I momentarily focused on salivating over my newly formed snack. Octavia giggled while watching me, adding, "You have refreshingly ordinary tastes. It still surprises me that you're dating Twilight. Although now I see that she's quite grounded as well." I gave her a curious look while slowly chewing my first bite, loving the taste as I swayed happily. "Simple pleasures! A stallion after my own heart!" Vinyl agreed, holding a hoof up as she nodded approvingly. Snickering quietly while my mouth was still full, careful to keep it closed, I reached forward and bumped hooves with her in the meantime. Our gray friend just rolled her eyes and laughed. "The spell and equipment is mostly workable as is. I just can't control the entry point. It will appear somewhere within twenty meters of you, not limited to straight up or down. You'll either have to wait a few more days for me to work the kinks out, or find a secluded spot for the transfer," Keela continued. My ears perked a little out of habit, regardless of the fact that the voice was entirely in my head. After a moment's consideration, I decided that I'd never have normally uttered that thought and still considered myself sane. Maybe I really was becoming jaded by recent proceedings? "Oh, and don't worry about our personal link. Due to its nature, you're in complete control of that one. I can't send you anything using it without you opening it up and letting me. You can also disconnect it at any time. But please tell me as much as you can first! I really do love hearing about new magical theories and, um," she trailed off, oddly. I frowned, but realized my mistake a second later and maintained as neutral a facial expression as I could. "...have to visit Ponyville more anyway. I know I don't visit you enough, and now that I know Mender there, it gives me more reason," Octavia continued from some unheard starting point. She appeared to be talking to Vinyl, however, and I exhaled quietly. They missed the expression, anyway. "Hey, it's all good. I know you're a busy mare," Vinyl waived off, smiling at her friend with a genuine look of happiness. She didn't seem to let much get to her at all. Octavia, however, looked down and sighed, nodding gently. "I know. I still feel badly, though. Plus, Mender saved my life. What just happened is still a little hard to swallow, but I'm definitely feeling no small amount of affection and thankfulness towards him," she admitted before smiling back over at me. She looked momentarily surprised to see me looking back. I felt my cheeks heat up a little and I shook my head, coughing. "You don't owe me anything. I'd be more than happy if you were my friend," I offered, holding a hoof out to her timidly. Her look of mild surprise expanded, but she caught herself a moment later. With a practiced motion that felt like it contained years of experience, she nodded and extended her forehoof to mine, shaking both with just enough force to register, but not enough to be jarring. I was impressed. "Most assuredly so! Are you sure you cannot think of anything else as well? Private orchestra performance? VIP Pass for life?" she offered, smirking at me. Oh, a business mare! Deflating a little, I rapidly shook my head before she continued. "No, no! I definitely don't deserve that. I'm not a hero," I corrected, exhaling softly. Admittedly, I enjoyed her style of music, though. Vinyl surprised me by actually laughing. It was a short series of rather impish barks, almost. "Ha! Tell that to the newspapers tomorrow. I have a sixth sense for these things, and it's telling me that you're going to make the front page," she assured, winking. What?! "Ugh. I just don't know what I'm thinking anymore. Fine, to be honest, I've really enjoyed talking to you. Yes, just talking. I've not handled everything that's going on as well as I've been telling Nirru, and talking to you has helped a lot," Keela suddenly continued, reminding me at the same time that she was still there. Frowning, I sighed weakly. As much as I was annoyed by my own problems, she was still living in a personal hell. It was rather shallow to think my issues the worst. "I suppose as long as I'm not arrested again. I don't see why they'd be so interested," I protested idly, heart not in it anymore. "Oh, true. I mean, you only saved twenty-seven ponies from either a really bad day, or death in general. Totally reasonable. I really like this guy, Tavi!" Vinyl agreed, height of amusement playing through her tone. Octavia actually laughed at that one. I, on the other hoof, just slapped my forehead. "Not you too! I only did what I had to in order to minimize the suffering of anypony," I excused idly, honestly thinking that should be self-evident. Octavia coughed lightly. I raised an eyebrow to her, but the spunky unicorn mare next to her just shook her head. "Duh. Ya could have just stepped back and watched the fireworks. It takes a certain level of balls to leap into the accident and use your nifty contact magic to stop it instead," she argued, managing to do so without losing the entertained tone. Octavia nodded in agreement, effectively double-teaming me with, "As brash as her wording is, she's right. You didn't have to save us, and certainly got hurt in doing so. You didn't even hesitate, however. That's what's called a hero here, even if you do not agree." Feeling ganged up on, I finished off the rest of my sandwich before standing up and stretching. "I just feel a hero is somepony who actually strives towards doing so. If one went out and looked for situations to help with, I'd imagine that would be a lot more heroic," I pointed out, looking down again. The situations just kind of happened to me. I'd keep helping if the events demanded I do, but I simply didn't have the energy to go out and seek them on my own. Lacking that determination, I decided that I wasn't hero material. "Hum. I have a new idea as well. Tug twice instead if you want me to power up the book. One tug will tell me to send an audio probe through if you just want to talk without sleeping. Um, thank you again for doing all of this," Keela cut in yet again, sounding more final this time however. The distinctive radio static sensation faded away shortly thereafter, and I realized she had left once more, probably for a while this time. "...or not, you still acted when you had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Further, in acting, you saved a huge amount of grief and lives. Ponies are going to consider you a hero regardless," Octavia warned, causing me to miss the first part of what she said due to timing. I got the gist of it, however. Having two conversations at once was a pain. "I'm not used to this, really. Honestly, I'd rather everypony just treat me like normal. I just want to fit in and be useful," I complained, brushing my longer bangs out of my eyes. I really needed to get somepony to finish cutting my mane, too. Octavia giggled softly again, her light, city accent bleeding through even into that. "Is it so wrong to appreciate that you saved my life? Besides, everypony likes a hero," she pointed out, resting against the edge of the table. I suppose there was nothing wrong with that if she really wanted to. Unfortunately, that left me at ends with how to actually respond to that sort of thing. Vinyl took that moment to finish off her stolen sandwich and was oddly watching me with interest at the same time. I glanced at her and then noticed that she was actually watching my hoof instead. Giving a knowing smile, I gently extended the hoof towards the curious mare. "Oh, sorry. It's just kinda awesome to see an Earth Pony doing magic. The rumors were true, then," she pointed out, getting a closer look at the hoof. "I've never heard of such. That looks like actual damage, though. Does it hurt?" Octavia asked politely, also looking, albeit in a less intrusive way. Sighing, I stared down at it myself. The grooves were burnt into the hoof itself, but that had healed a while ago. Now it just looked like something had branded the hoof. "It is damage. It only hurts if I hit it too hard or get something wedged in the grooves, though. The benefits outweigh the issues that come along with it." Vinyl got another rather curious expression and I suddenly knew what she probably wanted to ask. She held her tongue, surprisingly, instead deciding to stretch and let me return to perusing for more food. I doubted it was a good idea to tell them how I got the injury. "I'm starting to doubt she's coming back," I muttered after another few minutes passed in silence. The cleanup crew for the damage was starting to give me annoyed glances, and I realized they'd probably rather have all the 'civilians' out of the area. Octavia hummed but nodded. "Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" she inquired simply. "Kinda, I think. Twilight told me that we were staying in her old room in the palace. Rarity was supposed to stay in one of the guests bedrooms," I relayed, frowning. Of course, I had no idea where her room was. "Ha! You should have expected that one, Tavi! I imagine Twilight would know enough to go back there as well," Vinyl added, smirking and winking at me in a way that brought heat to my cheeks. Why did everypony insinuate we were a lot further in our relationship than reality dictated? Octavia smiled and nodded to both of us. "We should probably retire for now, then. I'm definitely going to be visiting Ponyville in the future, so I imagine I'll see both of you again soon," she assured, seemingly rather on the happy side. "Heck yeah! You know you're welcome anytime. You too, Mender!" the electric-maned unicorn reminded, having said similar earlier, if I recalled. "Will definitely do. Pinkie is planning a party in a couple days, actually. She's probably going to invite you regardless, but maybe I'll see you there?" I suggested to Vinyl. She grinned, glasses scrunching up in the process. "Miss a Pinkie Pie Party? Heck no. I'll definitely be there. Maybe I'll even be playing the music," she hinted, seemingly excited again. She indeed liked simple pleasures, I noticed. As Octavia would say, refreshing. We parted ways on pleasant terms, regardless. Far more pleasant than certain other mares earlier that night. Being alone with my thoughts now, I wondered what had happened. Rarity had mentioned liking the princely type, not a bumbling idiot like me. She seemed exceptionally conflicted, however, so maybe even she didn't know? At least, to my absolute delight, Twilight wasn't angry with me over the ordeal. I didn't even know what was going on until well after the fact! Sighing, I wandered down a hallway that exited into a rather glamorous courtyard. I'd been to the guest bedroom Rarity was staying in earlier, which was in the back tower. Was Twilight's room anywhere near those? Two guards posted at the end of the courtyard watched me carefully as I approached. Perhaps I should just ask them for directions? I noticed they were in golden armor, so I assumed I'd get a reply that wouldn't lead me to a broom closet or off a balcony. Still, I was a civilian, so I didn't know exactly what their reaction would be. Ah well. The prison cells were moderately comfortable when I wasn't bleeding all over the place. "Um, excuse me. I'm kinda lost. Could either of you please tell me where Twilight Sparkle's room is?" I asked as politely as possible. The guard on the right remained stoically staring ahead, but the left one nodded gently to me. "Miss Twilight Sparkle is staying in her old quarters in the observatory tower. Would you like an escort there, Mr. Moon Mender?" he inquired back. My eyes widened and for a moment, I didn't know what to say. They knew who I was? He watched my reaction carefully, a light smile playing at his otherwise stoic expression. "Miss Twilight informed us of you already, of course. You are a guest here," he explained after a moment. I considered it for a moment before nodding weakly and agreeing with, "I'm not used to ponies recognizing me, sorry. I should probably have somepony show me where they are. I've only ever been to the guest room Rarity is staying at." "Oh, they're in the same tower as Miss Twilight's quarters. You just need to go up to the top instead. I should also inform you that Miss Rarity canceled her stay in the guest quarters earlier," he explained calmly. My body jolted as I turned back to look at the guard, having started in the direction I came from earlier. "Wait, what? Why did Rarity cancel her stay?" I asked, frowning. She didn't leave because of earlier, did she? "We weren't informed, unfortunately. She canceled about an hour ago. Miss Twilight also asked the same when she came through here looking for her," the other, oddly identical guard chipped in, still staring blankly ahead. My ears lowered a little. "She left then. Is there a train going back to Ponyville tonight?" I inquired next, following the hunch. I doubt she'd simply stay in a hotel to avoid us. The guard I was talking to first smiled a little further and nodded, informing, "Miss Twilight asked that as well. There is one last train to Ponyville tonight. It leaves at midnight, so twenty minutes from now. I do believe that's where Twilight headed for as well. Is there something wrong?" I sighed and shook my head weakly. "Twilight can probably handle it. They got in a, well, disagreement. Rarity left the party rather upset, and Twilight was trying to find her and talk to her," I relayed, contemplating it to myself. If I were to go, I'd probably just make things more awkward and potentially undermine Twilight's efforts. "Shall we inform her that you've retired to her quarters when she returns, then?" the talkative guard suggested. I nodded, finalizing my decision. "Yeah. I shouldn't get in the way. Now that I know where the room is, I should be able to find it on my own." I glanced back down the hall I recognized as able to lead me to that particular tower. The guard nodded politely before resuming his post. What a mess. Slowly walking on, I found the base of the tower I'd been in earlier and started my long passage up the steps. Well, I needed to get into shape again, anyway. It was a pleasant enough night and stayed rather warm around me, even as I climbed up higher and higher in the tower. The view was spectacular, and I took a small moment to peek out each window I discovered on my way. The rooms were stacked on top of each other as I went. Of course, not having to pay attention until I got to the very top made it fairly easy. The doors at the top were actually double, and quite stiff to open. Eventually they creaked free and I peeked into the well-lit room on the other side. My jaw dropped of its own accord as the room was revealed to me. This wasn't a quarters or room, actually. Twilight stayed in a rather luxurious five-room apartment, I quickly realized. Edging inside, I contemplated this actually being the wrong room or something despite the definite tastes of Twilight about. Books appeared to be the primary focus of the first room apart from a rather practical telescope setup. Hey! She didn't need to bring hers after all! Shaking my head, I double-checked the bedroom and confirmed it. Our luggage was placed on the large bed. Damn. This was her place after all. Lowering my ears, and a little scared to touch anything, I peeked about further. There was a full bathroom, of course, conveniently next to the bedroom. A kitchen was also included and similarly attached to the main library area. Lastly was what appeared to be some sort of casting chamber with warnings still in place and set to use. Well, she was the student of Princess Celestia herself, of course. I considered it, feeling more than a little on the tired side. Twilight didn't appear to blame me, but she could still be either a little miffed at remembering what she saw, or worse, awkward. Pacing, I stared at the large bed in her bedroom. In my current condition, it was looking more than a little appetizing. Still, if she came back in to find me in her bed, that would say a lot of things I should probably avoid saying. Deflating, I decided that as amazing as the bed looked, I couldn't risk it. Plus, with both her brother and Celestia this close, all she'd probably have to do is release a slightly higher pitched squeaking and I'd be either thrown back in the dungeon or banished to the moon. Thirty seconds later, I had the lights dimmed down to sleeping range and was stretching out onto the cushions of the couch in the main room. It was a comfortable couch, so it didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. Once I adjusted to the dim lighting, I watched the fire slowly flicker as my body relaxed. What a day. A minute later, I gently closed my eyes, giving two tugs lightly to the link in my mind. The hum of the book powering up forty seconds after lulled me into a gentle drifting sensation. As tired as I was, it took no time at all before I was gone. * * * * * "So, this is the device, then?" I asked, sitting casually on my translucent, barrier haunches. The lab around me was dimly lit, and a device sat in front of me consisting of a long rail and a lot of rings. It was a massive accelerator. Keela nodded, giving me a gentle yet excited smile as she played with the dials on the other side of it. "Yes. It accelerates a charged alloy orb until it's fast enough to activate the Slipstream Drive I've hooked up to it. Once the orb falls into Slipstream, I activate the resonance of the link and the energy from the FTL effect slides it into the other dimension. From there, the hard part begins," she explained rapidly, though most of the concepts I already knew about. "You finished the algorithm that stabilizes the portal the orb creates, then?" I furthered, raising an eyebrow to her. Last I'd heard from her, the object she tried to move twenty meters to the left got cut into two fairly burnt pieces when the portal collapsed and exploded on itself. That seemed detrimental to our goal, although I suppose it didn't matter. Knowing my luck, however, the book would go up like a nuclear blast when cut in half. Keela nodded rapidly, her bangs dancing in time with her excitement. "Yeah, it was a serious pain, but I managed to figure out how to make a stable portal. Interestingly enough, I followed a hunch and figured out that it could be stabilized using the Aegis Barriers. The only problem is that I can't control the exit point yet. This will get you your book, but it would appear anywhere within twenty meters of you or so," she warned, raising an eyebrow at her readouts. So it could arrive potentially inside solid surfaces or, worse yet, inside of me. That would be rather uncomfortable. I watched her adjust several more dials and sigh, glaring at the display. "The portal is so finicky that it's hard to even experiment with it. Further, I've obviously never tried it with an actual connection to your Equestria instead. I've only been working with local spaces," she added, sounding a little unsure. "So there could be further complications during the real attempt," I muttered, staring at the field of disks. It was clever, honestly. She accelerated the orb until activating Slipstream, which was our FTL Engine, then punched the thing through the dimensional barrier using the same Aegis Resonating effect that let me get to Equestria in the first place. Once it punched through, she used the pinhole as a starting point, spread it open more, shoved an object through it, and then let it close. The object would then bleed through the dimensional barrier and 'fall' into Equestria. Well, with a somewhat randomized landing point. Risky. Given my luck and the strange magnetic draw of my skull, it would phase halfway through it and kill me instantly. She sighed and walked around the table before sitting down on the couch next to me. "It's untested, so of course. I calculated the same thing that happened to you and came up with some fairly disruptive results, actually," she revealed, suddenly looking a little guilty. I raised an eyebrow to her, tilting my head as I just watched. "Mender, I don't think Rainbow Dash's Rainboom could have drawn you over to Equestria just by itself. Someone had to trigger a Slipstream effect and mix it with your Aegis shield on this side. You don't remember doing it?" she asked cautiously, looking a little perplexed at my probably gaping expression. No, that wasn't possible. Does that mean that somepony knew about Equestria before I was even sent? It dawned on me in the same instant and I voiced, "Those disks." Keela sighed but nodded minutely. "They do seem almost engineered for the six Elements of Harmony, as you called them. Honestly, I think they're meant for taking sample readings. Maybe the original goal of whatever project you were involved in was to scout out Equestria and get samples of energy sources? " she offered, shrugging absently a moment later. "Project?" I questioned immediately, not sure if I'd like the answer. Keela frowned but shook her head. She typed a few keys on her console to the right of her and another profile popped up on the screen. "Dr. Kyliona. She was the one who stopped your execution and submitted you to whatever her research was. The classified data was lost when our planet blew up. She died in her lab at the same time, it would seem," the pink haired Keldarian explained, gesturing towards the rotating image on the screen. It was that of an older Keldarian woman with a dark red mane, er, hair, and a darker blue hue to her fur. She wore a pressed and very clean looking lab coat as well. "We don't know what she was even working on apart from her specialty being quantum mechanics. She interrupted your execution, stating she might have found a way to 'deliver us from evil' and that you were important to it. She never specified beyond that, and didn't have to, given her rank," Keela continued, rolling her eyes slightly after finishing the statement, as if disgusted with her own words. "It's weird. I thought physically encountering myself would bring my memories back, but it didn't. I don't remember anything to do with her," I muttered, staring as hard as I could up at the image on the screen. As far as I could tell, I'd never even seen her before. Keela exhaled but nodded, slumping back in the cushions and tapping the console again. It folded into the armrest before the screen went dark. "It's okay. I'll keep looking into that as well. I did find a bit of data on her, but it's heavily classified. My computer's been decrypting the data for the better part of the afternoon, now," she relayed, further reminding me that our day and night cycles were off by quite a bit. "I'll let you know if I remember anything more. There has to be something," I promised, frowning a little as I looked back to the machine laid out on the table. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, however. My eyes widened further as I realized it was the sound of a wooden door opening rather than the telltale hissing noise the doors on the ship made. The Keldarian next to me gave a raised eyebrow as I hesitated and glanced to my left. Reality bled, flickering like an archaic movie reel I'd seen once. The image of a door and a small flood of light burned into the dim lab. I recognized the door as the main entry to Twilight's room. "Oops! Uh, Twilight finally came back, it looks like. I gotta go," I excused as politely as I could. Keela grinned, and I caught a surprise blush as it headed for my cheeks. "Remember what I said. Act cute, apologize, and then kiss her on the cheek. If she's like how you've explained her to be, she'll eat it up," she tossed on. I flailed, stomping my hoofs rapidly into the couch before glaring at her, heat rushing up into my face regardless. Which was ironic seeing as I technically didn't have any blood in me. "You're a brat. Anyway, I'll be back later," I groaned. I turned the book off, the last sound of my dimension being her snickering laughter as everything fell away again. * * * * * Jarring slightly, I opened my eyes slowly. It was always a little rough snapping back into my actual body like that. My vision focused just in time to see Twilight gently closing the door. Her features were sunken a little and she looked extremely tired. I watched her carefully as she sighed and her horn flickered up with a bit of light. It wasn’t very bright, and reminded me vaguely of a flashlight, interestingly enough. The cone drifted across the floor, missing the couch completely as she walked right past me, heading into the bedroom instead. Er, whoops. I wasn't expecting that. Of course, it was rather dark in here. My ears twitched as I heard her breathing catch. She made an unhappy sounding murmur before backing up again and shining the light across the library and miniature observatory, again missing the couch but in the other direction this time. The light illuminated her face, showing me a somewhat nervous expression suddenly. She was expecting me to have been in her bed after all? I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad due to that. I didn't want her to worry about me any further, however, and quietly asked, "Twilight?" All I was truly hoping for was to get her attention and alert her to my presence. I’m never that lucky, of course. She made a light squeaking noise and whipped the light directly into my face on the couch. I let out a yelp, blinded completely by the flare of light as I flailed to cover my eyes. The cushion gave way and flipped under my unbalanced weight, causing me to spill to the floor a half second later, blanket tangling me up as I went. "Ah! I'm sorry, Mender! Wait, what are you doing on the couch?" she suddenly asked, helping me untangle my head from the blankets. I groaned and rubbed the spots out of my eyes before looking up at her again, noticing she dimmed the light and made it radiant rather than a beam. "Um, I'm sorry, Twilight. I was worried you'd be upset with me when you got back. Finding me in your bed might have sent the wrong message," I explained, ears lowering a little. I'd rehearsed the apology in my head, but I was still nervous as to what her actual reaction would be. I didn't want her angry with me. Her eyes softened and she smiled finally, exhaling lightly. "I'm just glad you're here and okay. I'm not mad at you, Mender," she assured, shifting her head down slightly. She looked stressed, if nothing else. I mulled it over slightly. Well, Keela was a girl too. Maybe she was right and Twilight would appreciate it? Deciding to take a risk, I leaned forwards and gently pecked Twilight on the left cheek. She made a starting motion, but I withdrew before overstaying my welcome and tried to just smile at her. I had a sneaking suspicious that I might have looked a little nervous, regardless. She blushed lightly before exhaling and visibly relaxing, however, smiling fully at me. "Thank you, Mender. It's been a long day. I trusted you, of course, but the added assurance really does make me feel special. Rarity openly admitted that you had nothing to do with that when I caught up with her at the station as well," she informed, shifting closer to me and resting her horn on my shoulder. Huh. Keela was right. She didn't mind me pecking her on the cheek after all. "She left then," I spoke quietly, it definitely not serving as a question. My ears lowered again wearily. I’d figured as much. Twilight nodded against my shoulder slowly. "Yeah. She was pretty shook up by the time I found her. I couldn't stay angry with her when she was doing such a good job of being angry with herself. I'm worried about her, though. I've seen her when she loses her cool," Twilight confessed, looking back up at me carefully. I frowned, but considered it before suggesting, "Maybe we should come back to Canterlot later? If you're worried about her, maybe returning to Ponyville tomorrow would be a good idea?" Twilight's eyes widened a little, but only for a split second. "Oh, hmm. Well actually, that's not a bad idea. Otherwise we'd have to wait for the appointment with Princess Celestia and we wouldn't be able to leave until two days from now. Are you sure, though? I promised you that I'd have her scan you, after all," she reminded, her ears suddenly mimicking mine in a rather expressive manner. I smiled, a little touched that she was considering me as well. "It's okay, Twilight. I'm sure we wouldn't have to wait too much longer to get another appointment. I'd almost think you were special to Celestia," I added, tossing an impish smile on afterwards. As anticipated, Twilight grinned and batted me playfully in the shoulder. "You're a jerk sometimes. If you weren't my coltfriend, I'd so make you stay on that couch for tonight," she 'threatened' with a rather playful smirk on. I started to laugh before it dawned on me. "Oh, wait. I'm not staying on the couch?" I questioned, suddenly a little surprised. Twilight slapped her forehoof under her horn before snickering. "Wow, Mender. I can't hint any harder that I don't mind snuggling with you while sleeping than I already have. You know, by actually snuggling with you while sleeping," she reminded skeptically, giving me a raised eyebrow. I blushed, coughing lightly again before standing up fully. "Oh, shush. I'm new to all of this. I'm sorry, but I respect your desires too much to risk assuming like I usually do," I excused. Her cheeks tinted pink this time in her own horn glow, but she smiled and nodded. "Thanks again for that. You've been really understanding so far and it's been amazing. Um, do you think we could hold off until tomorrow night for the 'experimentation', though? I'm really, really tired after chasing Rarity down all night," she requested. Frowning, I gave her a perplexed stare. If she was implying what I thought she might be, that left me a little on the confused side. "Wait. Now that I think about it, didn't you mention that last night, too?" I suddenly remembered, wondering if there were deeper implications behind the pattern emerging. She whined as if burned before rapidly stamping her hooves. "I know, I know. I remember what Rarity said on the train, too. I've been nervous and slacking off. Please, put up with me for one more night?" she asked, causing me to frown. Something was definitely off. "Twilight, stop it. Rarity was teasing you. Just relax," I reasoned, trying to calm her down. It’s almost as if she felt obligated to do this every night. She exhaled and nodded weakly. "I know, I know. The book just said that nighttime was the traditional time to engage in such activities, so that's what I've been attempting to pull off. Things just keep getting in the way," she complained, heading back into her bedroom. Admittedly, I pulled off a miraculous recovery from almost tripping over three of my own hooves while following her. "W-What?! Wait, so you've been suggesting the evening 'experiments' because you read about it in a book?" I asked, unable to contain my sudden shock. Things snapped into place rapidly, leaving a lovely sinking, icy feeling in my chest. Oh. Twilight froze in mid-step, apparently not expecting a reaction like that. Slowly, she shifted and turned around, stopping right next to her bed. "Oh, um, is that a bad thing? I mean, I want to do this right and not screw up so I figured following things to the letter would be the best," she reasoned, looking a little confused. I exhaled, confusion shifting to a light melancholy instead, before asking, "Do you actually want to do things like that?" I didn't know which was correct anymore, and my head spun. Why couldn't all of this be simple? Instead, it felt like we were plagued by communication errors. "Uh, what do you mean? Do I want to do what?" she asked, tilting her head gently as she looked at me. My eyes searched hers for a moment before I lowered them gently. "Let's go at a speed you're comfortable with, Twilight. From now on, you only have to kiss me like that when you want to. There's no obligations or quotas you have to meet," I assured, looking back up at her as she widened her eyes a little. "But the book said that was really bad for," she started to protest before I gently pushed a hoof to her mouth. Her guilty eyes stared over my foreleg before I lowered it a moment later. "Twilight, I might be new to this place, but all I can see is what's right in front of me. If you're uncomfortable with anything, we're doing it wrong. Don't listen to the book; listen to yourself," I tried to correct. All I knew is that if she was uncomfortable with anything, it wasn't worth doing no matter how, well, enjoyable I found it. I knew what I wanted in the big picture, and Twilight was far too important to be selfish with. I cared for her. A lot. Her eyes softened as she listened, and she nodded shortly after I was done. "I've never done this before and I just wanted it to be perfect, is all. I'm used to having everything planned out," she furthered, revealing exactly what I had come to expect from the mare. She was extremely reliable like that, if not a little too so. Was there a thing as too reliable? Eh, I doubted it. I smiled at her again and shook my head. "I'm more comfortable with you in control. I guess it's deep-seated from my old culture. You don't need a schedule if you want to snuggle or kiss me. Just do it," I offered, adding a nod as punctuation. Her blush was rather adorable and she smiled softly. "You're indeed a good stallion. I'm glad my brother likes you as well. He's right, I see," she suddenly agreed. I raised an eyebrow, drawing a blank before asking, "Right about what?" I searched back into my head, trying to remember any opinions he might have expressed or advice dished out. Twilight snickered but shook her head quickly. "Oh, nothing. I'll admit, when the mood strikes me, kissing you like that is really, really nice. I've been tired lately due to everything I've needed to do, though. Night isn't as convenient as the book said it was," she muttered, exhaling softly. She did look really tired, now that I looked harder. "Well, let's get some rest then, Silly. Are you sure you don't want me on the couch?" I offered one last time, watching her hop up on the bed with gusto. The luggage started to glow with a soft crimson and purple light before sliding off and onto the floor. I still admired her ability to manipulate things without needing to touch them. If I could have done that, the entire incident earlier with the chandelier could have been avoided! "After everything you just said? Trust me, you did wonders to put my mind at ease with that," she admitted before sliding under her covers and lifting the side closest to me up so I could crawl in. A little spike of apprehension hit me again, but I reminded myself that nothing bad had happened the night before. The only difference this time was that I was willingly getting into bed with her rather than being teleported alongside. Closing my eyes, I nodded to myself before climbing up and sliding under the covers. Twilight made a content cooing noise before sliding over and pressing further into me. I exhaled as I felt her coat slide and mix with mine; her body heat started to warm me up as the blankets settled around me. "This. This I have no complaints about at all. There's just something so relaxing and, I'm not sure. Stable, maybe? I've never particularly felt unsafe in my own bed, but having you here as well almost lets me feel like you'll keep any nightmares away, too," she tried to explain, voice lowering due to lack of energy and proximity, I imagine. I matched her tone and volume, assuring, "I'd do everything I could to keep them away. And you can have this for as long as you desire it." Even if she thought it was a treat, I rapidly realized that this wasn't a bad thing. It didn't tax me in any way to be with her like this. Quite the contrary, actually. Her horn lightly pressed into my forehead, and I felt her presence slip inside of my mind with a gentle shift. She didn't push too much energy in; just enough to perform the empathic connection. It always surprised me when I saw how gentle she could be. One would think with such a massive level of power and skill, she'd have difficulty doing smaller things. Not that I'm complaining. I've felt what it's like to have her shove as much energy as she could inside of me. It was vaguely similar to what I'd imagine being hit by a tsunami would be like. "My turn tonight. Mmm. Maybe one day, both of us will go at the same time," she speculated quietly, folding her forelegs up between our chests as I lightly draped my right one over her waist. Maybe she was getting more comfortable too? "I don't think we're ready for that kind of commitment, by the sounds of it. It's permanent, Twi," I reminded, remembering the details from the train ride. Contrary to popular belief, the only time I specifically wasn't listening was when I was actively throwing up. "I know. Honestly, before you came along, I'd never really thought about relationships that much. I've never really wanted or needed that feeling, let alone understood the feeling in the first place. But feeling you right here makes me understand a lot better. It's a lot like that spark I first felt when we repaired the Elements of Harmony. A warmth I hadn't realized I was missing until that day," she compared, hesitating towards the final part. I perked my ears up at the interesting new information, but didn't interrupt. Finally, she continued with, "It's a lot different from that feeling, too, of course. Whereas friendship felt pleasant and warm, relaxing even, this makes me feel almost stir crazy at times. It's a hot, needy feeling that makes me want to get as close as possible. More tactile and physical than what I share with the other girls." I suddenly got the suspicion that she'd been thinking about this for a while. Of course, if she was freaked out by it when she first discovered I liked her like that, she probably did a lot of analysis on her personal feelings. "The descriptions fit easier than you realize, me feeling extremely similar things to compare them to," I pointed out, smiling gently against her nose. She let out a light, sleepy giggle before nodding, pushing my head down with each motion due to horn contact. "I figured you felt similar. That's what made me realize it wasn't as scary as I thought in the first place. You have wants and fears, just like me. Even tonight, I saw the confusion and shock clearly enough and realized that you were just as surprised as I was by it. That meant a ton to me," she added. I swallowed but nodded gently, still unsure of how to deal with that. "My only thought after was wanting you to not be mad at me over it. Now I just feel selfish for not considering how hurt Rarity was at the time," I groaned, pushing closer to Twilight. She made a light murmur before kissing my nose in return, her energy warming up inside of my mind. "You're very kind, Mender. A bit dense sometimes, but still very kind," she complimented. I felt her smile widen as I knew she felt my eyes roll. "Relax, though. Rarity was feeling better by the time we got done talking. I'd still like to go back to Ponyville and clear all of this up, though. All I managed to do before the train left was convince her that we weren't angry with her," she explained, relaxing slowly as we both calmed down. It was kind of weird in a good way that I could feel her, well, feelings. "I was surprised. Well, shocked, really. I couldn't even process it when it happened. I'm nowhere near the traits I thought she wanted in a stallion," I elaborated, feeling a spike of frustration again. Twilight just nuzzled me, however, and I exhaled. "I think Rarity herself is starting to realize there is no stallion quite as perfect as she was looking for. You do have a lot of attributes she likes, however. You treat her with kindness and respect, and try to be polite whenever possible. Most importantly, none of those traits are an act," she explained, opening her eyes again and staring into my own before adding, "Those are the same traits I appreciate in you. Sure, you can be clumsy, dense, and I've never seen such lengthy conclusion jumping before. Regardless of those negative traits, you honestly care for me and respect me. That's way more important." My ears lowered a little, but I nodded. I was trying to fix a few of those, but it felt like my own body conspired against me sometimes. "Plus, it's nice to find a stallion I have a lot in common with. We both like reading and mental pursuits, and you can talk with me about magic as well," she tacked on, smiling again and suddenly humming pleasantly. I raised an eyebrow, opening my mouth to ask what the demeanor shift was about when she leaned forwards and kissed me directly. My eyes widened briefly before dropping again as I pushed back gently, feeling her smile against my lips. The urgency wasn't there this time and she just melted against me further for a few seconds before letting my mouth go and snuggling again. I blushed but used my right foreleg to hold her tighter, giving a light squeeze around her side. "This. This is nice. I'll never be scared of this," she murmured a moment later, brushing the side of her muzzle against mine before settling into the pillow again. "I have no complaints in the slightest," I agreed happily, earning another sleepy snicker before her breath deepened. Her consciousness slipped backwards, tugging mine down as well. I smiled, momentarily watching her sleep like a beautiful angel before I stopped resisting. Much more pleasantly than the book’s shifts ever could be, I felt myself pulled into her dreams alongside her, sinking into the warm heat to the sounds of her gentle breathing.
Chapter 24Things had gone smoothly so far! And by smoothly, I meant I hadn't thrown up at all on the ride home. Smiling, I strolled off the train after my fillyfriend, who was a few meters ahead of me. Heck, I was so happy I hadn't gotten sick that I didn't even care that I was carrying both sets of saddle bags and hauling all three suitcases plus one new bag. The medicine Twi found in lieu of not having time to research an anti-nausea spell had worked wonderfully! "I still can't believe that we missed the first train," Twilight groaned as she walked. I caught up with her before chuckling weakly. Glancing up, I noticed the sun was already in its final stages of the day. What a waste. This is what happens when you only have one train on the track at any given moment. No wonder they use pegasi for most of their transportation needs! "You were the one who insisted on getting the extra quills and parchment," I reminded, gesturing behind me to the extra bag that was balanced on the three suitcases I was already hooked up to. Twilight flattened her ears back before finally giving in and snickering. "I know, I know. Still, the prices are better in bulk, and I can never go to Quills and Sofas without him trying to sell me a sofa, too! I have enough sofas," she defended, giving me a playful smirk. I nodded and smiled back, a soft and warm sensation drifting into my chest. It felt strange to be walking so casually right next to her, but definitely in a good way. Twilight stopped and turned back to face me after we cleared the train platform. "All right then. Are we set for the plan? You get the luggage and saddlebags back home and wait for a little bit. I'll go talk to Rarity and get her calmed down, and then both of us will wait for you. All three of us need to talk about this," she reiterated calmly. It was indeed a good plan. I liked the part where I didn't talk to her first this time and make an idiot of myself. I nodded and smiled to her. "No problem. How long do you want me to wait?" I asked, just to be on the safe side. Twilight pondered for a moment before shrugging and offering, "Twenty or thirty minutes should be plenty of time. If you're a little late, Rarity and I will just have tea or something." I idly considered that Rarity might not be very comfortable with that arrangement, but Twilight had been friends with her for a long time. Maybe I was underestimating that? "All right! I'll drop these off, wait twenty minutes or so, and then wander over to join you," I agreed, once again happy that she was such a prepared and organized mare. It also only involved me having skill enough to walk short distances without dying! Thus, it was a really good plan. Twilight smiled as well, apparently my extreme positive aura rubbing off on her. "Okay then! See you in a few!" she tacked on before turning again and heading towards the Carousel Boutique. I momentarily allowed myself the distraction of watching her flanks sway as she departed before shaking myself out of it and heading in the other direction towards the library. Yup. Still male. Hauling the extremely large amount of luggage definitely got me a few stares. This time, however, quite a few shocked stares turned into friendly smiles and waves as I passed, letting me return them. I guess I was moving past my ‘outcast’ reputation. I caught a glimpse of Lyra and Bon Bon near the park. Golden Harvest was oddly nearby as well, looking up in the tree as if having lost a kite or something. Heck, a further examination even showed Derpy waving at me from the upper tree branches! I waved back, then winced as the motion of her gesture dislodged the mail bag that was stuck to the tree branch, causing her to wobble and then hover out of the tree again, truly free this time. Oh, Derpy. By the time I decided she was okay and turned back around, I yet again encountered two large, blue pools of color staring back at me, surrounded by pink. Startled, I jumped a little and hopped backwards, bumping into the luggage I was hauling. Pinkie smiled pleasantly at me and waved, hoof movements as packed full of energy as per usual. "Hiya, Mender! You're back from your trip! I missed you. How are you doing?" she asked all at once, surprising me. I was gone technically less than twenty-four hours. She missed me in that period of time? "It was, well, eventful. I got arrested and then released by Twilight's brother, Shining Armor. Then I got drafted into being a stagehoof. Oh, then I ended up surfing across the ball room on a flying chandelier, trying not to catch fire," I summarized, bumping my right hoof along my held up left as if counting with imaginary fingers. Oddly, Pinkie seemed to somehow understand the gesture. "Wooooow! I missed so much! That sounds like fun! And you got to meet Shining. He's really nice," she chirped, nodding enthusiastically. Well, I’m glad that’s the important thing she pulled from those statements. I snickered and nodded as well, enjoying the mare’s outlook on things regardless. "I agree. He didn't seem to have a problem with me seeing Twilight, either," I noted, exhaling gently in long past relief. It was still nice to realize. Now I just had to make a good impression for her parents, for whenever that would happen. Pinkie gave a little spin and sway in place, apparently venting the perpetual energy her body generated in the only way she knew how. I began to understand how she could eat so much, just considering the sheer amount of calories her body must burn through releasing whatever cosmic energy fueled her on a daily basis. "Oh! That reminds me, before I forget to remember to mention it!" she started. For a moment, I tried to follow the path of her logic before remembering whom I was talking to. She continued, undaunted, "I still totally owe you a party for saving Equestria, and another for having such a bad time and me injuring you! I've decided to put both of them together into one super-duper awesome party of the century! Everypony shall be invited, and I mean everypony! This is going to be so awesome!" she rambled, flailing towards the end. Snickering, I nodded once more, singularly this time. "Do you think you could invite Vinyl Scratch as well? Oh, and send an invite out to an Octavia in Canterlot?" I requested politely. Pinkie's eyes bugged out as she stared at me intensely. For the briefest moment, I wondered if I'd offended the pink mare, and slowly lowered my ears. "Oh wow! You have requested guests?! This is so awesome! Vinyl is so cool and plays such amazing music! If you're her friend, maybe she'll even play for the party? Oh, and Octavia, as in the Royal Orchestra Cellist? You met a lot of fun ponies in Canterlot!" Pinkie finally squealed, allowing me a sigh of relief. I didn't want to think about what an angry, vengeful Pinkie Pie looked like, that was for sure! "Yeah, they were both at the party. Octavia wanted to come visit, and Vinyl already said she might like to play at the party," I informed, feeling a bit more relaxed now. Pinkie double gasped, somehow. It wasn't just a gasp twice in a row. No, she somehow compound it exponentially in a way that made my head hurt. "You got Vinyl to maybe consider playing music at my party without me even needing to ask her?! You're awesome, too! Maybe I'll need to turn you into my Party Planning Partner Pony!" she squealed happily before lunging. Oh hell. My life flashed before my eyes as my torso was practically crushed into her puffy pink body. She spun and swayed happily with me, hugging the life out of me as we went. No! I wanted to die by Twilight and Fluttershy hugs! Preferably both at the same time. She finally released me after an agonizing six seconds and bounced back into place with gusto, exactly where she'd been a moment before. "Excellent! Now I just have to see Mayor Mare about borrowing the main hall! This is going to be so super cool!" she gushed, thankfully not asking me anything as I reeled from her prior assault. Wait, why the main hall? "What do you need the main hall for?" I inquired shakily once my brain felt like it had stopped vibrating. "Any one of our houses couldn't possibly hope to contain a party of this magnitude! Just trying to might cause a funplosion. Maybe, just maybe, if I got Big Mac to push a few of our houses together, it might work. But he's a busy stallion, dodging all the googly oogly mares and what not! I mean, he is second most eligible bachelor in Ponyville, after all. Still, he'll be at the party, too, so this should be fun!" she started rambling. I blinked slowly, unsure of how my inquiry as to the location had gotten hijacked into a rant of Ponyville's bachelors. "Wait, who's first?" I inquired curiously. I'd probably regret it in a few... "You, of course! Silly!" she squealed, hopping into the air and flailing her hooves around under her. Another slow blink. That didn't compute at all. "But, um, I'm not single," I refuted, extremely confused now. "Oh, you can't date anypony, Silly! Secret agents can't date. They just have steamy romances and liaisons," Pinkie corrected, adding a low growl and a wink onto the end. I went from confused to flustered and backing up almost instantly, more than a little leery of sudden advances at the moment! Pinkie, staying true to herself, burst into laughter and wobbled happily. Regardless of her mirth and obvious jest, several nearby mares started whispering to each other rapidly. Damn it! "What are you talking about, Pinkie?!" I rasped, glaring at the mirthful pink mare. She gave me an exaggerated wink in return, adding, "Oh, I know. You're not a secret agent. I'll shush." Somehow, the way she said it didn't help at all, and I started hearing giggling alongside the whispers. Shifting my attention, I shot an angry expression towards whom I now identified as Lily, one of the three flower mares. She giggled even more whimsically when noticing my attention and also gave me a wink, earning an exasperated sigh. They were screwing with me. They were all doing this on purpose… "Anyway! I'll get the invitation to you tomorrow! See you a little later!" Pinkie announced before happily bouncing away, proving entirely immune to my death stares. Dang. I'd have to practice them a bit more. Exhaling, I stood back up and shifted my balance back into hauling position. The three suitcases weren't that heavy and had the benefit of wheels, but I still didn't want to pull anything. Or trip and garrote myself, of course. After a few more minutes of casual walking, keeping my pace steady and actually enjoying the exercise, I made it to the town square. A bead of sweat drifted off my brow, and I gave a light flick sideways to dispel it. The sight of the tree house on the other side of the square looked appealing indeed. My trip had already been slowed considerably by the sheer weight of the things I was hauling. "Howdy there, Mender," I suddenly heard called out to my right as I crossed the walkway and entered the marketplace common. My ears perked and rotated before my head did, and I spotted the familiar orange mare fitting the voice. Applejack was selling today? I knew that she and Big Mac took turns tending the stand and they were only here certain days of the week. All of those apples couldn't get bucked by themselves if one of those two was always here selling them, I admitted. "Oh, hey, Applejack. Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom," I greeted politely, eyes picking out the prior unnoticed cyan and rainbow pegasus, and much smaller filly. I had a half an hour to kill anyway, so I wasn’t particularly hurried to get back home. Home. I smiled gently as I walked up, realizing I was already starting to think of the library as my home now. Dash gave me a smirk and nod as I approached, but Apple Bloom squeaked and spun, having been oblivious until I said something. Oddly, it looked like she was more harassing one of the customers than trying to sell the apples. Seeing me, however, she shot away from the confused brown stallion and headed right for me! Oh crap. I braced for impact and let out a stiff wheeze as she collided with my chest, knocking me back and onto my haunches. "Mender! Ah wondered when ya were gonna show up! Are ya hurt?" she asked instantly, giving my front a curious once-over. Hurt? Raising an eyebrow, I looked back up at her sister and Rainbow for a clue. "Rare told us what happened with tha chandelier after she got back last night. Ah thought she was gonna stay longer than that," Applejack relayed, looking a little perplexed. Rainbow caught my frown instantly and fluttered closer, looking interested. "She had a reason for it, didn't she?" the clever cyan mare guessed, dead on as usual. I nodded weakly, averting my gaze from her sharp, rose-colored stare. "Yeah. There were complications and she and Twilight got in a fight. She left, looking pretty upset. I probably shouldn't say more," I explained, trying to filter while I talked. I'm not the best at that, decidedly. Rainbow's ears perked a little as her expression shifted deadpan with an audible, "Huh." I tilted my head curiously at her, but Applejack merely rolled her eyes. "Those two have been darn feisty with each other fer days now! Ah'm one fer gettin' down ta tha middle o' this right now," she spit out, looking a little frustrated over the matter. I shook my head rapidly, however, raising my hoof up to gesture a halt. "No, it's okay. Twilight's over there right now trying to talk to her. I'm supposed to follow after putting this stuff back in the house," I elaborated, trying to keep interference to Twilight's plan as minimal as possible. I doubted things would go well if two irked mares busted her door down. Rainbow nodded sagely, seemingly more content now that she knew Twilight was on the case. Applejack just let out an indignant huff, however, causing Apple Bloom to shift her attention back to her sister, looking worried. "Why are ya goin’? Kinda ah weird choice, if ya ask me," Applejack questioned, causing my ears to droop a little. Well, true. I wasn't the best at talking or defusing situations. Fluttershy was way more empathic, while Pinkie or Dash would do a better job of cheering somepony up. "Sis! That's not very nice an' ya know it!" Apple Bloom defended, turning fully to meet her sister. Applejack softened and shook her head after a moment of staring at the little filly. "Ah didn't mean it like that. Ah'm sorry, Mender. Ah'm just frustrated," she excused, apologizing with a gentle nod. I shook my head, however, assuring, "No, you're right, of course. I'm not the best at the whole talking thing. I tend to do stupid things, socially. Even if this isn't directly my fault, I still feel badly over what happened. So you're right. I'm not going there to help, but because I'm involved." "Oh, does it involve the chandelier thing? That has ‘Mender Accident’ written all over it!" Rainbow asked, suddenly smirking. I felt a distinct heat push into my cheeks as I exhaled, looking away from her again. Applejack snorted, however. "Ah seem ta remember ya did ah real number on ah statue at tha Gala that one year," the farm mare reminded with a smirk. Predictably, Rainbow shifted from mirthful to defensive in less than a heartbeat, turning to glare at her friend. "Hey, I was trying to save somepony, too!" she defended, looking more than a little guilty while doing so. I decided I probably shouldn't ask. Applejack rolled her eyes but turned back to me instead. "If it's involvin' ya specifically, and is between Rare and Twi, Ah have a feelin' Ah know what happened," she reasoned before stepping considerably closer and whispering, "Rarity confessed, didn't she?" Rainbow's eyes widened, her being close enough to hear it as well. Apple Bloom let out a sudden gasp of understanding, and asked, "Oh my! Fer true? Rarity has feelin's fer ya?" Blushing, I sighed and nodded, not really feeling like lying to the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty; not to mention an adorably innocent little filly who implicitly trusted me for some reason. "Whoa! I'm surprised Twilight isn't in rage mode," Rainbow admitted, looking more than a little shocked. Applejack smiled at that and shook her head, however. "They've been friends fer ah long time. Ah think Rarity knew she overstepped her bounds an' Twilight's bein' rightly forgivin'," she pointed out, actually sounding pleased by the way things were turning out. Although, I suppose Twilight hasn't blown up Ponyville yet, so things were indeed going well. Applejack watched me carefully for a few more seconds, and I shifted uncomfortably. Rainbow's ears twitched and she frowned before glancing over at Applejack as well. "You're making ‘me’ feel awkward. Good grief, Applejack. What's up?" she asked a moment later, pseudo-defending me. Kinda. Wait, that reminded me; wasn't there something I was supposed to be remembering? Damn it. Now I was thinking in Pinkie. The orange country mare rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Ah was just curious as ta how Mender 'ere felt about her. Ah've not seen any hintin' that he likes her like that, is all," she explained, looking back up at me curiously. Sighing, I looked down from her for a moment, considering her question. She knew already what my answer was going to be, in all likelihood. Did she really feel the need to actually ask? "I, well, no. Rarity is an amazing mare and a really great friend, but I honestly don't feel the same towards her as I do when I think of Twilight or Fluttershy," I explained as simply as I could. I'd not given it a lot of thought beyond the basic realization, so putting words to it was a little tricky still. Her stare persisted for a few more moments before a light smile danced onto her expression and she nodded sagely. "Ah'm happy yer not lyin' ta yerself. Ya tell her just that and Ah'm sure she'll understand," Applejack advised, seeming pleased again. She was a strange mare. Although I could definitely see why she was the Element of Honesty. Wait, Honesty? Being truthful, or revealing information. Oh! Glancing back towards Rainbow, I noticed she was still looking a little weirded out. Now I remembered! I had made a mental note to chase her down when I got back. Apple Bloom gave me a curious look, but I just smiled down at her before mentally whispering, "Hey Rainbow, can you hear me?" There wasn't the level of realization I was looking for. "Huh? Yeah, I'm still paying attention," she assured, snapping out of whatever daydream she was in and looking back up at me with a faint smile. "Er, well, that's good, Ah guess. Ya got somethin' ta say?" Applejack inquired, turning back around again from her stand. I was suddenly glad she didn't have any customers at the moment, as I was certainly distracting her enough. Similarly, Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow towards Dash as well. My right ear twitched. Hmm. The bitter memory of the cupcake prank drifted into my head and I tried not to smile openly. Rainbow flattened her ears back and shook her head at Applejack. "Uh, not really. I mean," she muttered. Mentally grinning, I launched my daring plot. "Oh, don't mind her. I just wanted to talk to you about the wing thing, and the finer details of how you’re going to let Applejack know you love her," I relayed in an amused mental projection. This time it was like flicking a switch. Rainbow screeched to a halt and shifted her attention over to me instantly, jaw dropped open and eyes the size of teacups. "What are you doing?! You're not supposed to say anything about..." she started to shout, stammering the last sentence before blushing furiously and looking back at Applejack. "Uh, what in tarnation is wrong with you, Rainbow?" she questioned, looking a mixture of surprised and concerned. Oh, oh crap. That played into it a little too good! Rainbow shuddered as if punched, eyes softening as she looked away. "I, um, well, I don't know what he's talking about, of course. He gets these crazy ideas and," she started to excuse, backtracking rapidly while looking utterly hurt. Oops. I couldn't let this go on. "Er, who? Mender hasn't been talkin' in the first place. He’s tha only stallion ‘ere," Applejack asked, giving Rainbow a curious glance. "W-What?" Rainbow asked, shifting from pained expression to confusion a moment later. Sighing, I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Dash. That was a mean trick. I didn't intend for it to go like that," I apologized, verbally this time. The cyan mare whipped her attention back to me, questioning stare rather apparent. Apple Bloom looked downright confused at this point, shifting her attention freely between the three of us, while her older sister shot me a skeptical glance. I closed my eyes and focused again, mentally asking, "Can you hear this as well, Dash?" Her eyes widened, confirming the already mostly proven suspicions. Now she saw me not moving my mouth while doing it, however. That would prove to her that her secret was still safe. Hopefully. "How are you doing that?! I thought you could only do that with Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, more shocked than angry suddenly, apparently momentarily forgetting my rather cruel prank. Of course, system shock could do that. Applejack snapped into realization, widening her eyes a little as well. I nodded to both of them, while the little filly at my hooves finally settled on me, apparently deciding I held the answer to her confusion. "Twilight figured out what caused me to link with Fluttershy like that. I was going to track you down today when I got back, but I guess you saved me the time. In testing one of her theories, she also accidentally enabled the link for you as well," I explained in summary, not wanting to give out details like that on the open street. Dash's ears lowered a little and she looked oddly dissuaded instead. "Twilight could have told me. What exactly does it mean? What caused it?" she asked rapidly. Oh. She was worried, not dissuaded. True. We didn't know a lot about the links yet. "Ah'm interested too, Mender. Ah don't think he wants ta discuss it 'ere, though, Rainbow. It makes sense," she pointed out, snapping Rainbow back to attention. She seemed to relax before nodding to the orange mare. "Oh, can I listen too?" Apple Bloom asked rapidly, shifting her attention back to her sister with a pleading, wide-eyed look. I winced, glad I wasn't on the receiving end of the diabetes-inducing attack. Honestly, she already knew about me being an alien, so I didn’t think there was any point in hiding this from her. Hmm. I made a mental note to tell the other two Crusaders at some point in the future. Her sister must have resistances to the horrible cuteness attack, however, as she simply shook her head. "It's not mah call in tha first place, Sis. Ya should be askin' Mender that," she corrected. Crap. To her credit, Apple Bloom didn't miss a beat before whirling around and blasting me with the expression instead. I wilted, lowering my ears as she shifted closer, wiggling her forelegs back and forth impatiently. "Pleeeeease? Ah won't tell anypony else. Please, Mender? You're so cool; Ah know ya trust meh!" she squeaked, eyes watering a little. I shrank further, and Applejack started to snicker in the background. Rainbow raised an eyebrow with a choice grin as well. Damn it! I knew better than to hold her to absolutely nopony, however. "Ugh. Fine, so long as you keep it a treasured, Cutie Mark Crusader secret," I requested, earning a shocked yet eager expression from the little filly. She’d undoubtedly tell Sweetie and Scootaloo anyway, so I might as well give her permission to. Besides, they should know regardless. "O' Course! Only Sweetie and Scootaloo'll know, an' Ah'll swear 'em ta secrecy tha same!" she assured, hopping gently up and down while promising. I nodded softly and smiled at her, my chest heating up a little as I watched her absolutely adorable expression. "All right then. You can listen, too, when the time comes," I assured. My poor heart. Too much exposure to these fillies might make it explode, I noted. "Yay!" she cheered, spinning in a circle before prancing back to her sister, who looked absolutely amused at this point. Oddly, I'd seen that expression on her before, if I remembered correctly. "Ah repeat, yer dang good with foals. Ah think yer gonna be ah great Daddy one day," Applejack complimented soon after. Oh yeah, now I remember where I'd seen that expression before. Further, I now wished I hadn’t. Blushing, I looked away from them, finally earning a straight out laugh from Rainbow. She was probably silently recovering from the rather scary prank that was accidentally a lot worse than intended. "Heck, Ah'm barely makin' any sales anyway. Let's git inside tha library ta talk," Applejack offered a moment later, smiling instead and nodding towards me absently. "Oh, uh, okay. That's where Twilight keeps, um, them, anyway. I'll show you when we get inside," I assured after earning a strange look from Rainbow. Applejack nodded and turned back around to her stand before shouting out, "Last chance fer apples today! Ah'm closin' up early!" Smiling, I nodded and slowly hauled my baggage up closer to the stand before sitting again and watching a small crowd of ponies rapidly approach. “Them?” Rainbow whispered, drifting closer to me as Applejack drew all of the attention. I smiled and nodded to her, returning her whisper with, “They’re items that made the links between us from my old world.” Her rose colored eyes widened and she momentarily looked apprehensive before her mask of self-assurance painted over it. She nodded gently and landed next to me while we both watched the country mare sell her wares. Apple Bloom apparently decided that meant she was done for the day and hopped up behind me onto the top of the middle suitcase, smiling sweetly at me as she lay down. Smirking at her, I rubbed the top of her head, earning a soft murmur as a light burst of magic from my hoof acted like a brush along her mane. Rainbow seemed pleased as well, watching me pay attention to the filly. She relaxed on her haunches, the tension flowing out of her again as she stretched her wings out softly. I watched with interest for a moment, seeing the muscles along her upper back flex and shift with each movement of her wings. If I was going to improve upon the wing thruster design, I’d have to get rather familiar with those muscles, I had a feeling. Wiring into them would give a lot more control over things, especially for in-atmosphere flying. But first things first… "I'm sorry for the prank, Rainbow. I didn't mean for that to happen," I mentally whispered a moment later, trying to get my sincerity across. Rainbow obviously didn't know how to respond, but her eyes softened and she gave me a rather warm smile before shaking her head. "I'm just glad it wasn't what I thought," she whispered, surprisingly mellow for Rainbow Dash. I would have expected a good solid kick to the skull after that incident. Either the prank had truly shocked her, which made me feel really, really badly, or she was waiting for a more opportune time where she could beat the crap out of me without raising public suspicion. Oddly, I don't think the latter would hurt as much. Honestly, I just wanted Dash to trust me still. "Hmm?" Apple Bloom asked shortly after, glancing over at Rainbow as well. "Oh, nothin'" she assured, giving a nonchalant wave of her hoof. I snickered and resumed waiting for whenever Applejack was finished. Hmm. Sorry, Twilight, but I might be just a little bit late. * * * * * Applejack stared curiously at the disks I'd spread out on the table. Rainbow had picked hers up almost immediately and was flipping it around in her hooves. "This is so weird! This is totally my Cutie Mark!" she exclaimed, looking fascinated. As I predicted, it didn't do a thing when she picked it up. She was already recorded on it, so I didn't think there was anything for it to do in the first place. "These thingies came out o' tha rocks, right? When you poked 'em?" Applejack asked again from her spot on the sofa. Once I told her they operated via touch, she refused to get too close to them, which was probably a good thing. I nodded gently. "Yeah. Fluttershy's disk was in the second rock, while Rainbow's was in the third. Rainbow's was deactivated until I touched it, however," I summarized what I had already told them. Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed. "You mean when Twilight made you touch it, right?" she corrected, sounding a little miffed. I coughed lightly but looked away. Apple Bloom snickered, looking up from where she was rolling one along the table. She'd grabbed one before I could warn her about the touch thing, and absolutely nothing happened. It honestly didn't surprise me that much, but I pretended that I already knew it only worked on the Elements of Harmony. I didn't exactly want Applejack to beat the tar out of me for risking her sister like that. Still, it was a discovery I could tell Twilight! "What happens if I touch a blank one?" Rainbow asked a moment later, shifting her attention to one of the gray ones still lying on the coffee table. "I honestly have no idea." No sense in lying to either of them about it. Rainbow smirked at me before reaching down and resting her hoof across one of the gray disks. My ears drooped and I sighed, realizing I should have guessed she'd do it almost instantly. "Ya really need to work on that forethought thing, Dash," Applejack muttered a moment later, rolling her eyes. The cyan pegasus let out a squeak and hopped backwards as the disk lit up. Hers landed on the table after she dropped it, rolling about in a distracting manner. Regardless, my eyes widened as I watched the gray ones instead, but then I relaxed as only a message popped up over the disk. "Subject 02 Already Recorded" was displayed in the floating holographic lettering. "Whoa! That's neat," Apple Bloom muttered, sliding her hoof through the message a couple of times. It flickered with each passing, but remained floating in the air for a few seconds before fading away. "I guess the disks are linked together and know you're already on one, Dash," I reasoned, shrugging. Applejack frowned and leaned forwards a little now that the light show was done before verifying, "So if Ah were ta touch ah gray one, mah Cutie Mark would appear on it, and Ah'd be 'registered'; whatever that means?" She paused, looking back up at me, so I nodded gently to her. "Then, if ya touched it after, we'd link up just like Fluttershy and Rainbow?" she finished, tilting her head curiously while looking down at the disks. Absently, I nodded. "That's what's happened so far. Apparently, it works if you touch the containers as well. It registered Fluttershy when she poked the rock, after all," I reasoned. "I'm still confused. Why didn't it form the link with me instead of just recording me, then?" Rainbow asked, frowning. That was probably my fault. I hadn't explained it very well. "Ah, Fluttershy touched it, and then I touched it when it was still connected to the rock. You touched it after Twilight chopped it free of the main container. Apparently, it doesn't need a connection to register you, but it does need a connection to hook me up to the disk?" I offered. Rainbow exhaled weakly, blowing her bangs up into the air a little before nodding. "So, kinda because by the time I touched the rock thingies, it was already cut free by Twilight?" Well, that was a far easier way of saying it. I blushed but nodded, a little embarrassed over my own awkwardness. Note to self, still not so great at the talking thing. Apple Bloom hopped away from the table and onto the couch a second later. Glancing her way, I saw one of the glowing disks in her mouth instead. Wait, what? My eyes widened as I looked back at the table, only to find Dash's discarded disk missing! Apple Bloom smiled at me before tossing in a wink and letting the disk drop against her sister's foreleg! "Apple Bloom?" the orange farm mare asked, looking down at her sister again. A heartbeat passed as I stared in horror. Applejack caught my stare and gave me a funny look before glancing down at what I was looking at. A long second drifted by as all four of us now stared at the glowing disks resting against her foreleg, Rainbow's attention having been drawn by Applejack's voice. Applejack practically exploded after the moment passed, diving off the side of the couch to get away from the seemingly inert disk. Well, I guess that means nothing happens if we try to dual-register ponies either! Her sister looked more amused than upset, however. What the hell was she trying to do?! "Don't worry, Sis! It was Rainbow Dash's disk. Ah don't think it woulda hurt ya," she assured, snickering in amusement. "Hey! Give that back!" Rainbow exclaimed, giving the filly a glare before grabbing her disk back. She didn't notice it was her own disk before now? Applejack's head popped up over the armrest again, glaring at Apple Bloom as well. "Ya didn't know that, AB! That was right dangerous!" she warned sternly. The little filly's ears drooped, and she nodded solemnly. "Ah'm sorry, Sis. Ah honestly thought the worst that coulda happened was that ya'd get ah link with Rainbow instead," she professed, causing me to mentally snicker. Rainbow probably wouldn't be nearly as upset about that. Although, as much basis as that guess had, I seriously doubted that would be possible. I called it correctly when I noticed Rainbow blush. Applejack considered it for a moment before shrugging. "Ah suppose yer right. That wouldn't be so bad," she agreed. What? Her reply hit me like an avalanche, flattening my ears back and causing my mouth to drop open a little of its own accord. If she meant what I thought she did there... Wincing, I tried to flatten out my expression as best I could. Dash had been looking at me at the time to avoid Applejack's gaze, and now raised her eyebrows, but I steadied my expression before the country mare herself looked my way. "What's all involved in this linkin' business, speakin' of?" she asked politely a moment later. I searched her expression carefully, silently cursing my lack of social skills. The only thing I managed to get from her slightly raised eyebrow and reasonably deadpan features was that she was either mildly curious or concerned. Maybe she hadn't intended that to be as harsh as it had sounded, then? "You okay, Mender?" Rainbow asked suspiciously, drawing both other females' attentions. Snapping out of my thoughts, I nodded rapidly. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. The only thing we know about them right now is they share a mild empathy link at close distances, and a telepathic link when even closer," I explained casually. "Tele-wha?" Apple Bloom questioned, snapping her attention back to me almost instantly with a large, curious stare. "Telepathy. It means I can talk in Rainbow's head without anypony else hearing it. Empathy means she can lightly feel some of my emotions," I elaborated, smiling warmly at the little filly. As upset as I let myself get sometimes, nothing cheered me up more than a pure dose of adorable. Apple Bloom was dang good at those. Just like Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy. By being a filly, did that mean Scootaloo was also good at them? Truly, I hadn't hung out with her enough to know for sure. Rainbow still eyed me suspiciously, but Applejack nodded and further questioned, "Ya don't know if it has any other effects then, right? Or why yer the one ta get tha links?" Raising my head back up, I shook it weakly, adding, "No, I don't have an answer to either of those. Twilight wanted to look into them more tonight, so she might have more information for you by tomorrow." The icy stabbing sensation withdrew to a dull ache. It made sense that she didn't want a link with me and would rather it be Rainbow. That didn't necessarily mean she didn't like me, right? Hmm. "Ya think Twi would mind if all o' us Elements came back tomorrow ta discuss this? Ah think the others should know, too," Applejack continued, looking thoughtful. She trusted me enough to speak on Twilight's behalf? I warmed a little, taking that as a positive indication to erase a few of my prior doubts. "She's Twilight. She loves magical lectures, so why wouldn't she?" Dash pointed out in amusement, settling back onto the sofa with her coin between her hooves. I snickered at the probably accurate estimate before nodding. "Admittedly, she's right. Twilight doesn't want to hide the information from you girls. She only found out about it the night before last, like I did," I assured, smiling to Applejack. The orange mare seemed to relax a little and nodded to me, apparently relieved that nothing was being hidden from her. "I've also been working on blocking, or at least pushing out the connection. It only works automatically at extremely close ranges now," I added, aiming that one at Rainbow instead. She stared at me for a moment before puffing out a bit of air from her lips, blowing her bangs up in a mild expression of what felt like apathy. "I'm not really worried, Mender. I know you can keep my secrets and you've kinda already shown that you respect my privacy," she reminded, earning herself a blank stare. Huh? When did I do that? Applejack gave her a quizzical glance as well. Apple Bloom didn't appear to be paying attention, and was instead playing with Fluttershy's disk on the table. The cyan mare sighed a moment later before explaining, "Remember when we crashed and you helped me get untangled?" Oh! I blushed and nodded, coughing lightly and looking away. "He kind of had me in a compromising position, but he only helped me get free rather than sneak a peek. So he's totally cool in my book," she elaborated for me, thankfully bulldozing over the conversation that had accompanied. That was the first time I realized Rainbow liked stallions, too. Although technically, that wasn't entirely accurate. She'd never said specifically that she liked mares, if I recall. She only said that she liked Applejack. Applejack-sexual then? Applejack herself snapped me out of my contemplation with a light chuckle. "Ah figured, really. Ah guess he really does only have eyes fer Twi and Flutters," she agreed, smirking towards me in a rather uncomfortable, knowing manner. "Hey! Looking at her like that was an accident. Admittedly, I like her like that, too, but I already told her we move at her pace," I defended, not at all comfortable with the insinuations. Now I was glad Apple Bloom wasn't paying attention after all. It was Dash's turn to laugh. "I figured you two hadn't done anything yet. Disappointed?" she inquired, wiggling her eyebrows a moment later. Applejack rolled her eyes at the same time I scoffed, glaring at the cyan mare. She was certainly blunt. I'd forgotten how matter-o-factly she could talk sometimes. "No. I'm managing myself well enough," I groaned, just wishing they'd shift the topic again. "Sure you are," she continued, agreeing with an exaggerated wink. Ugh. Applejack snickered before standing up fully and walking back around the couch. "Twilight's doin' ah lot better with things; ya don't gotta worry any. Any who, Ah gotta git tha cart an' stand back ta tha farm before it gets dark," she excused, stretching lightly along her lower back. Glancing out the window near the door, I noticed she was indeed right. A peek at the clock told me that it had been a good twenty minutes since I left Twilight. Eh, I'd finish moving the suitcases upstairs before heading over to Rarity's. "I'll hang out with ya until you get back to the farm, AJ," Rainbow tacked on nonchalantly. I was impressed that she managed not to blush. Apple Bloom yawned sleepily before setting the yellow, pink, and cyan coin down on the table again. I gathered up all five of them with my magic and moved them back into the cabinet, careful to not even breath on the one I left in there. "Thanks fer trustin' me, Mender," the little filly added warmly upon closing her mouth again. I smiled and nodded down at her, getting a warm grin back. "You're a Crusader. Of course I trust you," I returned in a proper voice. It kind of reminded me of goofing off with Twilight. Her grin expanded and she nodded enthusiastically, further earning smiles out of the other two mares. "O' course! Cutie Mark Crusaders are forever!" she assured, saluting me with her right forehoof. She giggled at my return salute before wobbling as Applejack picked her up and tossed her onto her back with a flick of her head. "Come on, AB. Gotta git home and go ta bed. There's ah long day ahead o' us again tomorrow," she reminded, smiling back at her sister, who busied herself re-adjusting Applejack's Stetson. "We'll see ya tomorrow, Mender!" Rainbow tacked on, smirking back at me as she took to the air, drifting over to the door to open it for her secret crush. I nodded gently to her, catching Applejack's wave with a returned one before she slid the door shut. For a moment, I simply stared at the darkened wood of the door, suddenly a little bit unsure of what I was doing. I'd been so caught up in the act of actually managing a social situation by myself that I hadn't entirely realized that it was over until it was over. Now I was distinctly aware of a little bit of emptiness left behind. After a long minute, I turned away from the door and checked the clock again. It was eighteen fifteen. That meant I had a good five or six minutes before I should leave, regardless. I had enough time to haul the luggage upstairs still. Deciding to be lazy, I smirked and warmed my left hoof up as the suitcases and saddlebags floated into the air near me, attached to tether-like barriers. * * * * * Twilight had decidedly over-packed. I sighed as I placed her alchemy equipment back where they were supposed to be on her shelves. The only thing she'd used them for was to get a proper measurement for my nausea medication. Of course, after what happened with Rarity, we lost quite a bit of our free time, so I hardly blamed her. My ears perked at the sound of static upon setting down the alembic. I looked around curiously, but noticed no visual cues that might indicate a dimensional disruption. Seconds passed in absolute stillness before the static died down again. Well, that was weird. Either I was hearing things out of paranoia, or Keela was playing with the power couplings hooked up to the book. Actually, if I remembered correctly, the time lag would put her as just barely getting up at this point. Pushing the distraction out of my head, I peeked up at the clock once more; probably for the seventh time in five minutes. Twenty after. I decided to give them the full half an hour just to be sure, of course. That only made sense. It gave Twilight extra time to try to reason with Rarity, right? I shifted back and forth on my hooves. Damn it. What would I even say to her? Now that I thought more about it, what Applejack said just felt insensitive. Another minute ticked by as I idled. Her books were returned to the private shelves in pristine alphabetical order, and most of her instruments were put away. I didn't dare touch the clothes she brought along, of course. Maybe I was trying to be too helpful? I edged away from the suitcases on the bed uneasily, peeking around the room again. It was kind of unnerving to be by myself here. The static sensation creeped into my skull again and I looked around rapidly. Nothing. I contemplated yanking on the link a couple of times to properly indicate to knock it off. She'd better not be trying to scan the book again. We had traded very specific words in that regard! Again, the static died down after barely thirty seconds and I sighed. Whatever. Distracting myself, I peeked at the note on Twilight's desk again. She wouldn't technically need it now, of course. It was written in Spike's rather elegant, if not practical, handwriting, explaining that he heard Rarity came home upset and had gone over first thing this morning to see if he could do anything for her. I smiled softly at it, but kept it where it was. With her being over there right now, she probably found out before I did. Leaning down, I gave my tired leg muscles a stretch before heading back for the stairs. I might as well make my way there, I guess. It would take a little bit to walk there, and Twilight would probably call me late anyway, even without a definite time of arrival. Ah well. The sooner I got it all off my chest, the better. I was halfway down the stairs when a resounding impact hit the main door. Startled, I jumped a little and lowered myself to my belly, halting on the stairs. What the heck was that?! "Ah! Owww," was muttered out a second later, answering my question without requiring further investigation. In fact, the voice sounded suspiciously familiar. Sighing, I stood up fully again and walked over to the door. A peek through the little window in it confirmed my suspicions, and I opened it for the lavender unicorn, who was gently massaging her horn now. "Are you okay, Twi? What are you doing back here?" I inquired, a little concerned at not only her disruption of the plan, but the light bruise that was appearing towards the base of her horn. That looked painful, now that I knew horns were sensitive! She winced and looked up at me, eyes softening in the dim light the room released. "Ow. Yeah, I'm fine. I was thinking to myself and not, um, paying as much attention as I should have," she muttered, looking down and away from me with the hinting of a blush forming on her cheeks. I smiled, but didn't rub it in any further. Besides, she was cute when embarrassed. "Well, what are you doing back here? Was Rarity not home?" I inquired, back to the topic at hoof now that she assured me she was okay. She exhaled weakly, and I swallowed. Uh oh. "No, she wasn't. I looked for a while, but I couldn't manage to find her," she muttered, frowning before slowly walking past me and into the library. I shivered as she walked past. Wonderful. Did she know we had arrived back in town and was avoiding us? No, that didn't make sense. She wasn't one to avoid her problems for this long, it felt like. Maybe she was just visiting somepony for a bit of a talk? It made sense if she was upset about it. Fluttershy maybe? Twilight probably already thought of that, though. I turned and followed her back inside after gently closing the door. Damn it. This wasn't exactly going as smoothly as we initially thought it would. "Was Spike there still or did he go with Rarity?" I asked curiously. Twilight stopped and frowned back at me. "Spike was supposed to be there?" she asked, confirming my answer regardless. He must have gone with her, then. "Yeah, he left a note on your desk upstairs saying he had gone to console Rarity this morning," I informed. She glanced up the stairs in question before sighing and shaking her head. "Perfect. I was hoping he'd know where she was, too. Ugh, this is making me tired," she muttered, stomping her hooves in frustration before lowering her barrel a little and looking downright exhausted. I lowered my eyes and nodded to myself. The 'jet' lag from the train ride followed by her generally high strung manner of dealing with things probably took a lot out of her. The fact that she was showing it to me said a lot, however. I blushed as I walked up and rubbed a hoof along her shoulder, massaging gently. Her muscles felt tense, confirming my suspicions. Twilight glanced back at me and smiled softly, looking downright content with my gesture, although it was hard to tell in this light. The sun was rapidly setting, and I had lacked the foresight to turn on many lights downstairs. "You're so kind to me. Thank you, Mender. Sometimes I worry I don't appreciate you nearly enough," she muttered before resting her cheeks against my hoof. I momentarily worried that such a stretch might be painful to her stiff neck muscles, but she didn't seem to mind all that much. I felt my cheeks heat up again and shook my head in denial. "You're amazing, Twilight. You don't need to worry about anything," I assured quietly. Maybe the thing with Rarity had shaken her up a little more than she let on? Of course, if how she acted on the train was any indication, she had been thinking about it a lot more than she let on. She smirked suddenly and giggled. "Still! Hmm. Actually, I think I need a little break. Wanna come along?" she inquired, her tone of voice changing dramatically. Huh? Suddenly, I noticed my heartbeat increase as I watched her walk towards the stairs. She stopped at the foot of them and smiled back at me, giving a mirthful wink. What did she mean, break? "Come on, Mender. I want to 'experiment' a little bit to help me relax," she murmured, swishing her tail in my direction playfully. The heat magnified in my face as my heartbeat increased again followed by a painful swallow. Now? Of all times, she wanted to do that kind of stuff now?! Was she afraid that Rarity might steal me away or something? "Twilight, is this about what she said on the train ride? I told you I'm all right with waiting," I asked hesitantly, following along after her if not to simply keep up. She paused momentarily and sighed before giving me a soft smile backwards. "I know what you said. I have been thinking about it a lot, but I want this. It'll just be a little bit of fun, okay?" she offered. Hesitating, I frowned at her and tried to search her expression. She was bothered by what Rarity said. I should have figured as much. What was she going to do, though? Hesitantly, I took another couple steps. She took my slow step forward as a confirmation, apparently, and continued up the stairs, a definitely noticeable sway to her flanks with each step now. What was she doing?! My mind sputtered as I couldn't move my eyes off her tail; it would sway in the opposite direction of her hips with each light movement, still covering everything but acting extremely teasing as well. Scrunching my eyes shut, I fought back the heat and promptly almost tripped on one of the steps. No, she probably just wanted to kiss a little! If she knew I was staring at her flank, I'd probably be sent back down the stairs in a rather abrupt manner! "There you are. Get lost?" she playfully teased as I finally rounded the top of the stairs and looked over at her. My breath caught in my throat as I watched her lazily spread her long form out on her mattress, demurely looking up and down my body before gesturing for me to approach. Oh hell. Oh hell! What was she doing?! "W-What are you doing, Twi? Um, this seems a little much for, um," I tried to ask, stumbling over my wording as I stuttered like a schoolyard boy. Ugh. My hormones were going totally crazy and I struggled to keep my body under control as it started to tingle in awkward places. She said just a 'little' fun! "I want to show you exactly how much you're appreciated, Silly. I really do love you, you know. Oh. So. Much," she murmured, snickering at my locking up all of a meter away. Love?! I swallowed and shivered, totally taken off guard by this sudden change in approach. It was something she read. It had to be. Rarity wouldn't have suggested she act like this, would she? She saw something or other today at some point and it must have caused her to panic and think she was doing something wrong. That meant it was practically my obligation to explain things to her and assure her that she was indeed okay, right? I shook my head, stopping my advance despite my body's complaints. "T-Twilight, relax. This is something you read about, isn't it? You don't need to do this. I'm ecstatic that you feel that strongly about it but you don't need to, um, push yourself," I tried to explain, ignoring my body's shivers. She snickered and just looked more amused before leaning forward and pulling me closer to her. "You're such the gentlecolt," she returned before pulling my head forwards. Oh crap. The kiss was a lot rougher and more needy than what I had been used to prior. She practically attacked my mouth, slipping her tongue inside and smiling against my lips as I shuddered. Her heat was absolutely intense as she pulled me against her chest, my back end still hanging off the side of the bed. She moaned lightly into the kiss a moment later as I hesitantly returned a push against her tongue with my own. She broke the kiss a moment later and I frowned, wondering if I had done it wrong. Wait, why were we doing this in the first place?! A thin line of saliva connected our lips still, and she surprised me by licking along mine slowly, gathering it up with her tongue before pulling it back into her mouth. Whoa. "Mmm, good boy. I knew you'd change your mind," she muttered, looking content with her eyes half lidded. I stared at her in surprise, my brain sputtering. She leaned back more, giving me a gentle tug and gesture to get up on the bed with her fully, lips curling into a rather heated smile. I froze and stared. Wait... After a moment, she frowned and tilted her head at me, asking, "Why stop now? I know you don't want to." A cold sensation drifted through my body as I suddenly understood. Everything clicked into place at the same time. My left hoof activated, subtly coating the blankets under her with my magic. She frowned for a split second before I whipped the blanket up with both hooves. She let out a startled yelp as the fabric came alive, tightly wrapping around her and hauling her into the air like a possessed cocoon. After she finished three rotations, wrapping her up tightly, I smashed her into the wall as hard as I could, glaring as her head skipped off the rough wood...
Chapter 38"Pinkie, isn't this a little, um, much?" I asked softly, looking at the banner as she unrolled it. "Congratulations on Surviving an Alien Attack and Saving All of Ponyville from Disaster and Recovering Nicely and Dating Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy and Getting Your Cutie Mark! I'm Sorry I Accidentally Poisoned You and Covered You in Acid and Hurt Your Leg!" I stared blankly at the easily fifteen meter long banner. Oh. She wasn't joking about that. "Well that's, uh, long?" Sweetie Belle offered hesitantly. Scootaloo sighed and asked, "How are we supposed to fit this thing in one room?" That was a very good question. The only way I saw that would even remotely work was... "Wrap it around the walls, of course! This is as compact as I could manage," Pinkie explained, far faster than I could manage. She worked all this out ahead of time, didn't she? The inside of Sugarcube Corner had emptied out considerably after it closed, obviously, leaving just Pinkie, the Crusaders, and Derpy. Oh, and myself. It felt even friendlier now that all the ponies left, but that might have been simply my dislike of crowds talking. "We can handle it, Pinkie. You and Derpy get to decorating the tables," I assured, smiling and nodding to my fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo beamed at me, but Sweetie Belle was still staring down at the elongated banner. I tilted my head at her before lowering myself closer to her level. She must have seen the motion, as she jumped slightly and looked over at me instead. "Oh, sorry! Did I miss an instruction?" she asked hesitantly. I shook my head, of course. "Nope. I was just concerned. You okay?" I tried to keep my voice as gentle as possible. She looked back at the banner before nodding. The head motion was barely perceptible, however, and not entirely convincing. I started to question her further, but she cut me off with, "Did you really stop the creature in the forest?" I raised an eyebrow at the unexpected line of questioning, but figured it was just practice for tomorrow. "The creature foalnapped me. After I heard all the bad things it wanted to do to Ponyville and my friends, I couldn't let it get away. All I did was stop it until Princess Luna got there, though. She got rid of it," I explained simply, making sure to stick to the official story while not technically lying. Sweetie Belle could fill in the parts that had already been elaborated anyway, and I couldn't say any more with Derpy here. Sweetie Belle frowned and shook her head, however. "But you got hurt real bad, didn't you? I mean, a couple fillies at school said you were foolish and probably wouldn't make it," she continued, sounding surprised over something. Wait, what? Why would those kinds of rumors be going around? "No way, Sweetie! We told you not to believe what Diamond Tiara was saying. Mender's really tough and Rainbow Dash herself said that he's awesome, so he'll be fine!" Scootaloo defended suddenly, surprising me. Sweetie giggled and shook her head, however. "No, no. You know I don't really believe those two. I know Mender's amazing. It's just, well, he's only been in Ponyville a few weeks, right? Why did he get himself hurt for all of us?” she questioned. I stared at her for a moment, surprised. I’d not been anticipating this kind of question at all. How did I answer something like that? My mind flashed back to the hatred I’d felt for Nirru. She wanted to hurt my friends and all these innocent ponies. I remembered asking myself how she could hurt these innocent ponies that had done nothing to her. It didn’t make any sense to me. At the time, all I wanted was to make her suffer. I wanted her to suffer for what she’d put me through and what she wanted to do to my friends, just to get at me. A slow yawn came over me a second later, completely unstoppable in its formation. It was like a slow blink. I didn’t remember closing my eyes, but they gradually opened to greet the cool breeze across my face. A forest met my gaze, a dense fog settling in along the ground. I felt light headed as I slowly looked around. This was… A massive tree stood behind me, easily twice as large as any of its neighbors. It looked ancient, like it had taken root eons ago. It felt as much a part of the glade I now found myself in as the rocks and dirt. I suddenly felt sleepy as I shifted my gaze down the trunk of the massive tree. My eyes locked onto a shape at the base, however, and I limped over to where it was. While walking, my mind idly wondered where the metallic clink of my brace was, but I didn’t really feel like checking my leg. Prudentia lay in the grass at the base of the tree. It felt as old, if not older than the surroundings, and I sighed. My hoof extended out and touched the surface of the book. “Are you sure?” was suddenly asked to my right in a feminine voice. It was familiar. Had someone asked me that before? “It’s okay. It’s not too late,” the voice continued softly. I shifted, and then looked slowly to my right to behold a small, unicorn filly I’d never seen before. Her coat was a simple blue in color, and her short mane had copper and gold colorations to it. Her tones were hard to see through the fog, though. Her extremely long tail slid along the grass as she took a step forward, eyes still closed. “Are you sure?” she asked again, quieter this time. My attention shifted back to the book and my eyes softened. The lock was popped open. I don’t remember it being undone the last I looked, but it probably didn’t matter. Slowly, I reached downwards again and opened the front cover of the book, it neatly sliding open to roughly the middle. A blank, white page greeted me. I sighed weakly and flipped backwards, finding nothing but absence of anything at all. My mind felt fuzzy as I shook my head. "Please. Try to remember. Are you sure?" the little filly asked again, sounding sad. I stared blankly at the words that drifted onto the page. "I'm so lonely," they spelled out. A leaf drifted down and landed on the book, lightly accenting the page with its shadow. I looked up at the tree again, branches swaying in the wind and shading the entire grove with its canopy. Ancient. A guardian. It wasn't a bad way to spend eternity. "Wake up." My eyes opened again, suddenly finding myself exactly where I had been standing prior in Sugarcube Corner. Wait, what? What the hell just happened?! Sweetie giggled and shook her head, however. "No, no. You know I don't really believe those two. I know Mender's amazing. It's just, well, he's only been in Ponyville a few weeks, right? Why did he get himself hurt for all of us?” she questioned. I stared blankly at her. Hadn't she asked that already? No, I was probably wrong. Still, I knew what my intent was. It was true. I'd done nothing but run away and put up half a fight when I absolutely had to. But if nothing else, that night taught me something that was truly valuable to me. "I've done a lot of running. But I'm starting to realize how lucky I really am. That night, something threatened everything I've come to adore and love over the last month. Everypony is amazing here, and I'd never want to go anywhere else again. Now that I admit that to myself, I can say that I'm not going to run from that. I'll do anything I have to in order to protect everypony I care about," I explained, smiling down at her softly. Sweetie's eyes shivered a little as she watched me, a timid smile creeping across her face. Finally she outright grinned and pounced forwards, hugging me gently around the right foreleg. I laughed and pulled her tighter, gently wrapping my right foreleg around her back and giving her a squeeze. That's right. I'm not going to run from Equestria, no matter what. If Nirru wanted to destroy these wonderful ponies, nothing would stop me from tearing her apart. I'm sorry, Keela. If it truly came down to her or Equestria, the choice was already made. "See? Mender's awesome. Rainbow Dash is always right," Scootaloo chirped, giving her little wings a flutter as she hopped closer to us. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes behind her but kept smiling, following Scootaloo at a much slower pace before sitting down next to her. Pinkie nodded rapidly in agreement with everything, however, adding, "Things are gonna change for you, Mender! This party is the start of something good, and I'm going to make sure it's done how you want it!" I gave Pinkie a pleased nod before standing up again. "All right, then. First step, I guess, is to make sure we actually get the decorations up," I admitted, grinning at the fillies in front of me. Scootaloo returned the grin while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started giggling. "Good idea! I'll help put the ribbons up along the ceiling!" Derpy said, nudging her chin upwards for emphasis. Pinkie shivered before hopping up onto her hooves again, apparently reaching her limit for sitting still. "Right! I'll decorate tables!" she announced, zipping off before anypony could even acknowledge the statement. I chuckled and nodded down at Apple Bloom specifically. "Okay then. Apple Bloom, you're on bottom. Sweetie's next, and Scootaloo stands on her back and operates the staple gun. Ladder formation!" I declared. All three fellow Crusaders saluted me before hopping up onto my back. I braced myself, forming visible barriers up along my back to help them get into position and hold them there as I slowly shifted towards the wall to the left of me. Finally, the tower of fillies was completed, and I glanced upwards towards the top, giving Scootaloo a nod before passing up the tools and moving one end of the banner into position using my barriers. My magic was going to get a workout today! * * * * * “Pinkie, are you sure you put the streamers under the counter?” I asked, opening the sixth door with only two left to go. Why she stored party supplies under the cashier island counter is beyond me, but I wasn’t one to question Pinkie’s judgment. We were almost done anyway, so I wasn’t in any particular hurry. High-pitched giggling was my reply. My mental warning flags went off and I peeked over the counter at the pink mare, giving her a skeptical glance. Her mental link showed nothing but dancing hard candies and balloons, so I didn’t have anything to go off there. She pretended to still be fussing with the last table, but I saw her tail swaying back and forth in amusement. Slowly, I lowered myself again, hyper-alert now. Raising a frontal shield, I opened the last two counter doors at the same time. To my surprise, the last one had a large tub of streamers in it. Well huh. I guess she was being honest. Smiling finally, I hauled the tub out from under the counter, and then lifted it into the air with a jerk of my barrier magic. The second I looked up and leveled my head off with the counter, there was a flash of green. Everything disappeared into warm, wet, sticky pink an instant later as something latched onto my face! My scream was high-pitched and drawn out as I flailed away from the counter, totally blinded with nothing but pink wetness all over my vision. What the hell?! Something was eating my face! Laughter exploded out from Pinkie and two smaller voices an instant later. I tripped in my mad stumble backwards and ended up rolling across the floor, trying to get my hooves up and pry whatever it was off me. “Aaah! Mender, are you okay?” I heard Sweetie Belle ask, voice following me as I rolled across the floor. I finally managed to pry part of the thing off my face and could see sideways off my right side. Pulsating holes greeted me, and I shivered, trying to get the thing off me even faster. Ew! It didn’t appear to be doing damage, but I didn’t know if it was about to spray acid or lay eggs in my nose or something. The door to the shop opened in my vision as I rolled passed, yelping. Twilight gave me a bewildered, skeptical look as I scooted past on the floor in front of her. “Uh, why is Gummy stuck to Mender’s face?” she questioned as Sweetie finally caught up with me and began helping pry the thing’s mouth open. Gummy?! That sounded remarkably like a proper noun, which probably meant it was a bad idea to activate my barriers and start slicing. Subtly, I powered down my left foreleg and focused instead on getting my back legs up to pry alongside Sweetie Belle. After a good five seconds, the two of us managed to pull the thing off. A moderately sized alligator greeted my newly restored vision, and I stared at it, bewildered. Why was there an alligator in the sweets shop?! “Gummy wanted to say hello, is all! Mender, this is Gummy. Gummy, this is Mender! Don’t worry. He doesn’t have any teeth!” Pinkie introduced, gesturing back and forth between us. My ears flattened back and I glared at her. “I gathered. My face is still attached, after all. What is it?” I asked. A second later, I mentally realized my mistake. “He’s an alligator, Silly!” Pinkie pointed out, giving me a happy and nonchalant nod. Scootaloo started snickering behind her as I smacked my forehead with a hoof. If Pinkie noticed, she was oblivious. I took the time to wipe the alligator spit off my face. Twilight giggled lightly and shook her head. “Gummy is Pinkie’s pet alligator. He stays here with her. All six of us have pets,” she explained calmly after I’d recovered. I sat down again and gave her a questioning look. So Pinkie had an alligator, and I knew Rarity had Opalescence, the cat. Fluttershy had LOTS of pets, technically, and I didn’t know about the others. “Sis has Winona. She’s ah darn good dog,” Apple Bloom answered for me, smiling politely now that she was done laughing at my misfortune. I frowned at her, but nodded thereafter. “I believe you’ve met Opal, Rarity’s cat. Fluttershy takes care of a lot of animals, but Angel Bunny is her own. Uh, kinda,” Twilight continued, blinking afterwards as she seemed to hesitate momentarily. Kinda? Pinkie giggled and nodded along before I could ask, adding, “Yup! Dashie has a turtle!” Wait, what?! The incredulousness must have been extremely apparent on my face, as Twilight started snickering again. “Tortoise. Don’t let Fluttershy hear you call it a turtle. Oh, and I enchanted a gyrocopter blade and strapped it to his shell. Tank is now a flying tortoise,” she elaborated. My head hurt a little bit, but I just nodded along and resisted twitching. I didn’t know why she’d pick one of the slowest animals in existence, but there was probably an interesting and lengthy story behind it. I made a mental note to ask her about it later. “That only leaves you, Twilight. I’ve never seen any pets around the library,” I pointed out, giving her a questioning look. She gave a start, and then tilted her head at me. “What do you mean? Owlowiscious has been there the entire time. Sure, he only comes out at night, usually, but he’s always there with me,” she questioned, looking a little concerned. Wait, what?! I stared hard at her, but couldn’t detect that she was kidding. Seriously? Wait, why did she name him Owlowiscious?! Five syllables were a bit much! “I, uh, haven’t seen him? What is he?” I inquired, starting to get a little paranoid. “He’s an owl, Silly! Couldn’t ya tell?” Pinkie asked, hopping in place next to me with light bounces. I ignored the fact that she wasn’t there a moment ago. Owlowiscious? Ah, then it was a play on words. Owl-owiscious? That sounded somewhat close to Aloysius, which was Latin. Oddly enough, they had Latin here, so that might not be that far off. It made me wonder why they did have Latin here in the first place, but Twilight shook her head and just gave me a soft smile in return, making me decide to just consider it later. “I’ll introduce you to him when we get back tonight. I was actually going to see how the decorations were coming along, but you being here too saves me a step afterwards,” she chirped, nodding twice in my direction. I snickered and shook my head. “I’m glad I’m convenient for you, then?” Predictably, she scowled, and I smirked at her playfully. She finally gave up and pouted as she stood and walked past me instead, causing Pinkie to start giggling mirthfully. Twilight’s tail flicked up at the last second, however, and whapped me across the muzzle. I was blasted with all sorts of distinctly Twilight smells and my mind momentarily faltered, along with my legs as I stumbled. The lavender unicorn gave me a knowing smile over her shoulder before following Pinkie towards the newly set up treat table. What the hell was that?! There was something extremely different about that smell I just picked up. I stared, dumbfounded, at her for a moment before Sweetie Belle gave me a soft nudge. “Are you okay, Mender? We need to finish the balloons,” she reminded, looking up at me with a little bit of concern. I swallowed, and then glanced past her just in time to watch Derpy attempt to blow up another balloon in the background. It deflated as soon as she stopped exhaling, and filled her mouth back up with her own air a moment later, bulging her slightly crossed eyes out. “Er, yeah. Let’s go give Derpy a hoof, then,” I suggested. Scootaloo was watching the gray pegasus with a confused expression, but nodded as I got closer. Derpy stopped her attempts and glanced over at me with a smile when she saw me. I nodded back, and she offered me one of the balloons to inflate. I chuckled. This was going to be a long night. Taking the balloon into my mouth, I inhaled sharply through my nose, then systematically inflated it. Once it reached full size, I used a dozen or so microbarriers from my right hoof to tie it off. How did a normal pony do this? How did Pinkie Pie do this?! There had to be a trick to it for them. Maybe they had some sort of device they used to tie the balloons off? Either that or Pinkie was really just that good with her tongue. A moment later, I decided that sounded wrong. Then I decided to just stop thinking about Pinkie's tongue entirely. "Oooh, awesome!" Derpy cheered as I presented her with the tied off balloon. Scootaloo gave me a smirk and slid the entire box of them over. Damn it. * * * * * Night had long since fallen. I stared blankly out into the darkness through the window for a long moment before closing the shades. With every curtain and shade in the library now pulled, I let myself relax slightly. It was strange how on edge I felt whenever ponies who didn't know 'me' could be watching. Was it a subconscious reaction from knowing the truth about myself? Twilight had returned to the library after the decorations had been put up, and I’d elected to go with her. The CMC of course followed along, despite how late it was getting. Still, neither Twilight or I could honestly say no to those fillies when they looked so downright adorable. Pinkie had come along too, as the only way we could get her to let us leave in the first place was to just let her keep walking and talking about the party as we left. Naturally, she ended up back at the library with us, too. "So the party's starting at six tomorrow night, right?" I heard Twilight ask in the background. She'd be able to check off her double-checked checklist of checking when the party was now. I mentally chuckled as I turned around again, smiling. Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically from the couch, mane bouncing rapidly. "Yup! It's going to be huge! Not as big as if I could have gotten the town hall, of course, but still massive! That's why we decorated the outside, too. Dashie says we're gonna have great weather tomorrow!" Pinkie rambled for a moment, swaying back and forth. Rarity sat politely next to her, deftly shifting her floating teacup away from the sways of Pinkie's mane almost subconsciously. She’d arrived about twenty minutes ago, looking for Sweetie Belle, and made the mistake of sitting down for tea. "It's going to be quite important, I admit. It’s a pity that Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence said they couldn’t attend," she lamented properly. Shining and his wife. It still felt weird that he asked me to call him that. Still, I hadn't met Cadence yet. Twilight said she was nice, though. Not that it wasn't blatantly obvious to consider an Alicorn representing love to be nice or anything. "Well, our parents are going to be here, too. Shiny probably wants to see them as much as I do. Although I'm a bit nervous," Twilight admitted, causing my smile to widen. "I already promised not to throw up or bleed on them, Twilight," I reminded, giving her a smirk as I sat down next to the table. Sweetie Belle started giggling as she peeked out from under the table at me with a playful expression. My lowest right tentacle formed, shooting out and snagging her before she could retreat, earning a happy yelp from the little filly. The lowest one on the other side extended and went in from the other angle, nabbing Scootaloo as well, who was also hiding under there. "Ha! These are still so cool!" Scootaloo muttered as I flipped her upside down. She grabbed the tip of the tentacle and started kneading it like dough. She didn't even flinch when upside down, interestingly enough. I wondered if it was a pegasi thing. Rainbow also seemed to be able to instinctively be aware of her spatial movements. I guess it made sense. Sweetie burrowed into the coil of tentacle I had wrapped around her and nuzzled against it. She was adorable, even if I still saw it as a little creepy. "They're soft and warm! I don't see how anypony wouldn't like these," she pointed out, trying to pull her lower half up into the coil, too. She gave a happy squeak as I lifted her over my head and set her on the coils rolling out of my back. I thought it was the other way around. Why did she like them so much? "Something about too many limbs tends to freak ponies out?" I guessed, taking a shot in the dark. "Ah. It is ah might creepy. Not ta be offensive, o' course. But Ah'm gettin' used ta it," Applejack spoke up, wandering down the stairs from the bathroom. I’d forgotten she was here. She showed up with Rarity, also looking for a missing and curfew breaking little sister. She watched me with the two fillies for a moment before giving a weak smile. Talking to her still felt awkward. She held herself back and watched every word she spoke like a hawk, which felt beyond unnatural. I gave her my best attempt at a smile before her sister landed on my back behind Sweetie Belle. Stumbling, I'd at least managed to stabilize myself using two tendrils before she hit, having just enough warning from the proximity sensors. I could have thrown up armor, but I knew it was Apple Bloom and didn't want her to have a rough landing. She bounced off the coils before snickering and getting tangled up next to Sweetie Belle, who was sitting somewhat like Spike usually did. "Apple Bloom! Yer not supposed ta jump from tha loft," Applejack scolded, frowning at her on my back. "Eh, it's fine, Applejack. My balance wasn't on my bad leg, and the tendrils are soft," I assured, walking closer to the farm mare with the load of fillies I found myself with. She'd come wandering over to Pinkie's before we left to see where her little sister was. She found her, but also found me, which seemed to make her nervous. At least she felt a bit more relaxed now, and had followed us back to the library to discuss the party plans. Rarity coughed finally to regain the attention before continuing with, "Regardless, Mender will be on his best behavior, I'm sure. He's a perfect gentlecolt so you hardly have to worry about him making a good impression." My cheeks warmed a little at her compliment, but Twilight smiled over at me and shook her head. "No, no. That's actually not what I'm worried about. I'm just a bit concerned about my father, is all. He's a bit of a stickler for tradition, and didn't react well when Shiny told him about the mind magic," my fillyfriend explained, shifting back to Rarity. As badly as I felt for her, I was pleased she trusted me. No, she was proud of me. That was enough. "I don't see what the big deal is. They're just her parents. Mine are boring," Scootaloo complained, rightside up now and lowering herself to me with a bit of wing propulsion. "He wants ta make ah good impression. He'll pobably be marryin' Twilight an' Fluttershy in tha future, so havin' their parents like him is good, right?" Apple Bloom pointed out quietly on my back, leaning over Sweetie Belle to do so. Come to think of it, Fluttershy hadn’t said anything about her parents at all. I snickered and nodded back at her before wrapping them in more tentacles for support and hopping up on the sofa next to Twilight. She gave me a soft smile as I lay down next to her and let the fillies go. Sweetie and Apple Bloom stayed on my back, however. "It'll be super awesome, don't worry! They'll be so amazed by the party that they won't even have time to get cranky. Then they'll like you being with Mender, and you won't have to worry anymore!" Pinkie reasoned, somehow managing to sound totally logical while flailing her arms about like a bird trying to take off. Twilight hesitated for a moment before cracking a smile and nodding to her overly excited friend. "Yeah. I'll be happy after tomorrow goes smoothly. I'm sure my mom will love you, but it's just Dad I'm worried about," Twilight admitted, looking over at me again. I returned her smile, but before I could say anything, a light tugging went off inside of my head along with a tiny ringing noise in my inner ears. Oh! "Mender, is this a good time? I need to talk to you. Tug back once for yes, twice for no," I heard Keela ask. She sounded relaxed, so it probably wasn't anything major, but normally I didn't like to keep her waiting for long. If this were a phone company, her long distance expenses would be murder. Twilight must have noticed me suddenly zone out. Pinkie's tail twitched lightly and she perked up, watching me instead. "Ooooh! Who's that talking?" she asked curiously. Out loud, I noticed. Of course, she knew everypony here already knew about me. "Keela?" Twilight asked, a little more business-like but with those curious undertones still. I nodded and gave Keela a light tug back, shifting my left eye to a projector. Scootaloo stopped spinning on the legrest next to me the instant the projection danced out into the center of the room. Keela herself faded into place over the coffee table and gave a start as she glanced around. Given our connection, it was fairly easy to project the room and occupants into her mind as well. After the connection was established, I tried out the new technique I had been working on and enabled the audio uplink too. "Hey, Keela. Sorry for the audience. Meet my other friends I've told you about," I gestured, shifting my right forehoof to the couch across from me. Keela recovered fast and smiled, bowing politely to the three ponies on it. Rarity had shifted to surprised but extremely courteous a moment later, returning a soft nod of her head. Pinkie had simply been curious, and now she added vibrating and grinning to the mix as she watched the Keldarian eagerly. Applejack appeared unsure, but gave the female a calm nod when she saw the polite gesture. It was interesting watching everypony's reactions. A bow was somewhat universal, it would seem. "We have Pinkie Pie on the right; the one excitedly vibrating. The ever-elegant Rarity is in the middle. Last, but definitely not least, we have Applejack on the left. Note the signature Stetson," I continued, earning a giggle from Pinkie, a puff up and nod from Rarity, and a skeptical smirk from Applejack. I felt a little uneasy introducing them like that, but their reactions gave me a bit more confidence. "It's nice to meet you all. I'm Keela, Mender's, um, well..." she suddenly trailed off with the hesitation, looking back at me with a turn in place. I shook my head, however, seeing where she was going. "You're my friend, Keela. You're not responsible for what your sister did," I reminded. Her elongated ears drooped a little, but she nodded. "Nirru," Applejack muttered, giving a light shiver of her shoulders as she got a far away look. Keela nodded as she rotated back around to face Applejack. "Yes, Nirru is my sister. She doesn't treat me like one anymore, but she still is. I'd not realized how far she had let herself fall, and I wish I'd noticed sooner. Still, for what it's worth, she's absolutely terrified of you, Applejack," the Keldarian explained gently. I felt bad for her. She'd lost her sister over this, even if I didn't kill her. Applejack snorted and shook her head. "Only cause Ah kicked her flank. Ah made ah big mistake that day an' don't intend ta make it again. Ah was only protectin' Mender," she excused. She shouldn't feel badly for what she did to Nirru. If it was any consolation, I did a whole lot worse. "Oh, I know. She fears Mender even more after what happened, trust me. I'm happy you helped him. That all of you are here for him. It's amazing," Keela said. I detected a slight hint of sadness in her voice, but she covered it up well. She started to turn when she halted suddenly, eyes locking onto Scootaloo who was sitting on the legrest of the sofa. She'd shifted backwards and partially behind me at this point, watching the Keldarian carefully. Her vision shifted as I moved my head to the side with a nod, showing the two other fillies sitting on my back and watching carefully. "The pegasus is Scootaloo. These two are Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom," I introduced, patting each filly on the head with a tendril tip as I named them. By the time I looked back over at Keela, however, her eyes had softened dramatically and were shivering slightly. "Oooooh, they're adorable!" she squealed, grabbing her hands against themselves and pushing them to her chest. Twilight giggled at the reaction, and I couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly. "What?! I'm not adorable!" Scootaloo denied instantly, seemingly forgetting she'd been nervous a moment ago in light of the horrible indignation. She crossed her forelegs over her chest and looked away, pouting. Keela just squealed louder though, earning a facehoof from Scootaloo and laughter from Apple Bloom. "They are just angels! You didn't tell me you mated already, Mender! Wait, what's the gestation period for a pony?" Keela suddenly asked, confusing herself. I almost fell off the sofa. Twilight's eyes bulged out next to me as her mouth dropped. Pinkie burst into laughter at almost the same instant. "Jess wha?" Sweetie Belle asked, sounding confused above me somewhere. I ceased noticing as I buried my face into the cushion, heat radiating from it. A moment later, I remembered to point the projector at least out onto the coffee table again. Suddenly, I wondered if it might be a good idea to start carrying around an ice pack or something. Was this much blushing really healthy for me? "Ah, about eleven months..." Twilight murmured after a moment's hesitation, sounding more than a little embarrassed. Oh. Well, it made sense that they'd have their estrus cycles in the spring and fall then. The foals would be born into at least a little bit of warm weather, which probably helped. Maybe that was how it developed, biologically? "Oh! So, not his. Ah, sorry," Keela apologized sheepishly. I coughed lightly. Scootaloo tilted her head in my peripheral vision, but Apple Bloom started snickering again. "O' course not. Mender ain't our daddy. Applejack's mah sister," she explained upon calming a bit. "Oooh, that's what we're talking about!" Sweetie Belle finally chimed in, followed by, "No, I'm Rarity's little sister." I saw her little white hoof point over my head and towards Rarity, who gave a polite nod on the couch and smiled towards Keela. Both turned to Scootaloo, who just shrugged idly. "Eh, I wish Mender was my dad! He's way cooler," she admitted. I blanched, eyes widening drastically. "Scootaloo! You should respect your parents!" Rarity lectured, frowning towards the orange filly. Twilight coughed abruptly, cutting everypony off before this could spiral any further into a nosedive. "Uh, not to distract from the topic, but was there a reason that you wanted to talk to us, Keela?" Twilight reminded, tilting her head towards the floating, somewhat translucent Keldarian. Oh yeah! "Oh, well, originally I was only intending to talk to him real quick. I'm really glad I got to meet all of you, though," Keela assured, brushing her pink hair back and out of the right side of her face before rotating to face me again. "What I wanted to tell you was that the research documentation and Ventosus Lacuna are ready to be sent out. The energy buildup we needed to power another FTL Transfer finished an hour ago. Sorry it's taken so long, but it's really hard to gather enough power out here in dark space." I shook my head and smiled at her. "It's no problem, Keela. When are you going to transfer it over?" I inquired curiously. "Anytime you're ready. Again, I'm limited to within twenty meters of you," she reminded. "You were pretty accurate with it before. Could you drop them onto the coffee table?" Twilight offered, gesturing towards it with her right forehoof. Keela swallowed hesitantly but nodded. "Have shielding up around the table. I'm not entirely sure what Ventosus Lacuna is going to do. I've never technically sent an unassigned Aegis Artifact over before. Mender's book was already linked to him, so it didn't put up any resistance," she warned, before turning and typing at something we couldn't see. "Wait, what do ya mean, resistance? Is she sendin' over somethin' livin'?" Applejack asked, suddenly sounding wary. I sighed and lifted Prudentia off my left side, holding it up with a tendril. "Aegis Artifacts apparently have limited awareness. I'm not sure if you'd call it a consciousness, but they can react to things around them by themselves. This is Prudentia, my Aegis Artifact," I explained. Saying that it was 'mine' felt strange. The book seemed to hum pleasantly when I said its name out loud, oddly. Sweetie Belle nudged it carefully with a hoof while I focused on forming an Aegis Barrier around the coffee table. Distortions drifted along the surface of the book wherever she touched, and she giggled at the sensation. It probably felt like static electricity to her. The book started feeding me biometric information on the little filly, but I ignored it completely. Twilight surprised me by leaning past the book and brushing her horn along my forehead while I concentrated, instructing, "After you finish the Aegis Barrier, pass the link over to me. I'll charge it with my energy." Whoa. Well, that was probably overkill, but better safe than sorry in this situation, I supposed. I gave her a smile and nod, tossing her the link at the same time through our shared forehead connection. "Oooh, you're fast at making barriers," Twilight purred, winking at me as she backed off and began to focus. I blushed again and coughed, much to the amusement of both Keela and Pinkie. "Of course he's good at barriers! He only fell short of the mastery position and an instructor level because he was too lazy to take the tests!" Keela pointed out, grinning. I glared at her, memories of him deciding not to take the test flaring up with her mention of it. "Okay, from what I can remember, he didn't take the tests because he felt he could help more in the field," I defended, idly wondering if it was me I was defending or him. "Oh! A very noble aspiration! You've always been a gentlecolt, then?" Rarity inquired, giving me a rather devious looking smirk. Okay, she was laying it on thick intentionally. I knew her enough to know that she always curled her mouth up like that when she was teasing, at this point. "It's all just a show, of course. I'm secretly a bad stallion who's into breaking hearts," I added sarcastically, rolling my eyes. Rarity grinned, but Applejack snorted before she could comment. "Puhlease! Yer tha straightest arrow Ah've ever seen. Ya might not be as honest as me, but Ah know fer ah fact that ya'd never do us harm," she refuted, giving me an unflinching yet skeptical stare. Twilight appeared unfazed by the entire topic. Either that or she wasn't paying any attention to us. "Mender's not an arrow, AJ! You're just being silly now. He's a klutzy stallion with shiny armor and lots of limbs! Sooooooo much cooler than an arrow," Pinkie corrected, rolling upside down and smiling at me while waving. I smirked at her antics and shook my head. "He's not a klutz. He just has a gravitational pull and absurdly bad luck," Twilight appended calmly, relaxing her magic when the barrier was almost six times as thick as I had it. Yeah. Way overkill. Oh, and she was also very right. Sweetie Belle, apparently growing bored with the ripples from the book, slid down my foreleg and plopped next to me on the couch. "Gravity? What does a gravity pull thingy mean?" she asked curiously. I paused, blinking again as all attention focused on me, Twilight apparently content with letting me talk instead. But how should I best explain this in ways they would understand? "Uh, really big objects have a pull towards them called gravity. The ground is massive and keeps us all stuck to it because it's so big," I explained, glancing at the other two to see if they were comprehending as well. Scootaloo seemed only vaguely interested, but Apple Bloom swapped over to where Sweetie had been before and nodded down at me. "We learned that in Miss Cheerilee's class!" she assured. Well, that made things easier. "Well, I have a pull, too. It's not as strong as the ground's, but it's enough to make things fall towards me if they're already falling. Or if they're not doing anything and can roll," I explained. Twilight nodded at that, then turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie! Ball emergency!" Huh? Pinkie perked up and nodded rapidly before ducking under the couch and coming out with a rubbery, blue ball a few seconds later. Wait, what?! Twilight had blue balls hidden under her couch? Wait, something sounded off about that thought. "Here ya go!" Pinkie offered, tossing the ball over the Aegis Barrier. Twilight caught it in her magical field before lightly setting it down on the surface of the barrier. I nodded after she got it stable, and then looked back down at Sweetie. "To explain it simply, I used to look a lot like Keela does. That's what my old race looks like. After I got turned into a pony, however, something happened and I became a lot bigger than I am now. With magic, I'm able to stay small, but sometimes my gravity thinks I'm still really big," I tried to explain. Sweetie Belle tilted her head, but I extended my right foreleg towards the ball, lowering the dial on my gravitational limiter. Sweetie's eyes widened as her bangs started drifting sideways slightly towards me. Twilight gave me a questioning glance as well, then looked back at the ball as it slowly started rolling towards me of its own accord, obviously having no other forces apart from air friction acting upon it. My internal mass was easily able to overcome that, however, and soon the ball picked up speed before rolling right off the barrier. "Cool!" Pinkie chimed in, beaming at me. "Whoa! It suddenly feels like I'm being pulled towards you!" Scootaloo exclaimed, giving me a somewhat uneasy look. Oh yeah. Being a pegasus, she was probably far more aware of gravity. I snickered then shook my head. "Sorry. I'll turn it down a bit," I apologized, dialing my gravity compressor back up. One of these days I should see if there's a repair diagnostic for it. If I could fix the damage the short during the warp caused, I could totally nullify my extra density. "You can control the effect?" Twilight asked curiously, giving me a surprised stare. My ears lowered a bit, but I gave her a soft smile in return, reminding, "I'm part robot, remember? It's as easy as turning a dial. Mine's busted, however, so I can't fully suppress it." Twilight's eyes softened and she momentarily looked guilty over something, but Keela cut in before she could speak. "You could probably fix it, given your capabilities. Anyway, the coordinates are plugged in and the device is primed. I triple-checked the equations, but it should be accurate down to a couple millimeters," she assured hesitantly. The gloom clung to me a bit, but I threw up a mask over my emotions and gave her a nod. "We're ready on this end, then. Release when ready," I instructed. Keela hesitated only for a second before hitting a button on the console we couldn't see. Light exploded from above the coffee table, and everypony in the room winced. Out of instinct, I threw a barrier in front of both groups of ponies. Keela gave out a yelp over the connection and ducked a bolt of energy. The link was momentarily disrupted, but flared back to life mere seconds later. "It's eating up too much energy! It's fighting the transfer!" Keela called out over the deafening hum given off by the reaction. Two familiar looking prismatic wings expanded slowly out over the table. My mind scrambled to think of anything that might be different that we hadn’t thought of between the book and the sword. It was obviously not connected to this reality, so it probably was acting as if she were simply trying to banish it. With a limited, reaction based intelligence, there had to be a way to fix that! Thinking hard, I realized there was really only one way to ‘help’ from this side. The book had a link to me. Maybe if I grounded the energy from the sword as well on this end, it would ease the transfer! My back flexed, tendrils gently shoving Apple Bloom off me as I hopped off the couch. Twilight looked over at me in surprise, mouth opening to say something as I formed a barrier above the Slipstream wings inside of the shield. She didn’t get a chance to start before I brought the thin barrier down into the center of the Slipstream emanation. The jolt of energy rippled through me instantly, causing my muscles to clench up as it passed through me and into the floor. The connection happened instantly, rooting the effect to this side just like the book was. Banking on the blade having the same reaction as Prudentia, I shouted out, “Ventosus Lacuna!” For a moment, the blade pulsed. Then it was as if a ribbon of fire danced across my mind along my connection to the barrier I made. The orb of light and energy expanded outwards from the partially phased in blade, crushing into the sides of the barriers we’d set up for it. For a moment, I saw a single eye opening up and looking right at me in my mind. The Slipstream effect exploded a moment later, snapping my connection barrier in half and blasting me backwards into the couch…
Chapter 64Everypony looked surprised at once as all eyes were instantly redirected onto Snapshot, who trotted in looking quite pleased with herself. "Mender, I was hoping I'd see you again soon! They've been super nice to me here, and you sent along awesome recommendations. For a strange, extra-dimensional alien, you're awesome!" she chirped, earning a blink from myself. Ah, she was just as crazy as I remembered. "You're the one that attacked him in the woods!" Twilight growled in an instant, standing up next to me as her horn lit up, eyes narrowing. Snapshot went from happy to terrified and dived behind the couch as Twilight snarled. Tia sighed lightly and held up a hoof, but Twilight wasn't even looking at her. Slipping up again, I bumped into Twilight's side and slowly pulled her back, kissing the side of her neck. "Twilight, calm down. She's cooperated with Tia so far, and seems honestly interested in redeeming herself," I tried to reason, rubbing the mare's shoulders as she huffed. A little stick popped out from the side of the couch, a white flag tied to it as it waved around. Wait, was she actually carrying that thing around with her, or did she anticipate problems? "I'm sorry! He was significantly scarier then, and looked like he was going to kill me! I... Okay, yeah, accepting the job from the shady, cloaked stallion in the back alley was probably stupid on my part, but he offered me a lot of bits!" was called out from behind the sofa. Back alley? "Snapshot is from here in Canterlot. We've investigated the alley fully, and found no evidence, as anticipated. She's given accurate descriptions of the stallion in question, and surprisingly, we have another eye witness account from a local baker that was dumping trash who saw her there with the stallion. She's also given us her contract," Tia explained further, sliding a roll of paper out of the guard's saddlebag next to her, and floating it towards us. Twilight snatched it with her magic and unrolled it, frowning as she read the document. Snapshot peeked out from around the sofa, looking uncertain as she peered towards me instead. I didn't have the heart to mention that Twilight could have pulled the sofa apart at probably a molecular level, shredding her along with it if she were truly serious... Sure, she thought I was scary, but she'd never seen Twilight truly mad. Anypony whose subconscious rage could vibrate molecules fast enough to light the air on fire around her was to be feared and respected. "So, her purpose was to take pictures of Mender to gain proof of his alien status, or that could be doctored easily to make proof," Twilight muttered, drifting the paper towards me instead. I picked it up with a barrier and pulled it in front of Fluttershy and me, the yellow mare peering over my foreleg curiously to read it alongside me. "Heh, my pictures wouldn't have needed doctoring. The shots of Mender sprouting tentacles were crystal clear. Also, totally awesome if I might add," Snapshot chirped before suddenly frowning and continuing with, "Well, totally awesome when it stopped looking like he was going to rape, murder, and eat me, not necessarily in that order. Uh, I have to admit, ever since I was a little filly, I always wanted to meet an alien!" An alien? Wasn't that highly specific for a pony from Equestria? I didn't see many 'alien' stories floating around in their culture, actually. "Uh, an alien, specifically?" Applejack asked, apparently picking up on my confused expression as well. "Oh, well, yeah! An alien! Or Bighoof! Anything that's unique and awesome, really! My mom used to tell me stories when I was a kid about things like that," she revealed, wobbling back and forth on her legs as she swayed happily. Huh. She was a strange one. Well, so was her mother, apparently. Pinkie looked ecstatic, however, and nodded along happily. "Oh, I know! Mender's tentacles are so fun! He picked me up with them once and was like, 'Woosh! Wooooosh!' and flew me around the room! It was awesome!" Pinkie exclaimed, causing me to sigh. I think she was missing a point somewhere. The sad thing was, I couldn't tell where, as now I was just confused. "Psh, that's 'cause flying is awesome!" Rainbow declared, also totally missing the point. "Two thousand bits for five photos? Wow," Fluttershy suddenly murmured. Eh? Oh yeah, that contract. I looked back down at it, and then snapped a picture to toss into my database. My optical character recognition picked up from there and converted it into text, which I analyzed. Two thousand bits for five clear photos to be delivered anonymously via crystal resonance projection. Alongside it was a warning about how monstrous and horrific I was, and to stay stealthy at all times, and assume homicidal intent if discovered. Okay then, somepony didn't know me very well, it would seem. Well, until you pushed enough buttons to get my more 'feral' mindset to take over, it would seem. I should really get a leash on that. "See? It was a total steal. Of course, you were supposed to be a scary monster, but apart from going a little crazy after I attacked you, you're actually a fairly nice stallion! Huh. They really did lie to me, then," Snapshot muttered, appearing to ponder to herself. Twilight gave her a raised eyebrow, still looking slightly hostile, but more on an air of caution now. I couldn't decide if Snapshot was rather dense, or just outright insane, personally. Of course, me of all ponies calling somepony either of those was kind of ironic, in a tragic sense. Spike, in the meantime, was busy looking at the photos themselves he'd retrieved from my file, and nodded. "Hey, these are still good photos. She caught Mender with his tentacles out and lifting Apple Bloom and Scootaloo," he pointed out. Yeah, I had to be more careful from now on. "Snapshot has indeed given us a lot to work with, and several leads to follow. It's enough to clear her of immediate arrest. I'll explain more to you all tomorrow, however. It's getting late, as I'm sure you're aware. You’re staying in the guest rooms under Twilight’s old room in the tower, and your luggage has already been delivered,” Tia explained. Hmm. Yeah, we had arrived at fourteen hundred hours sharp, had an hour of prep time upon discovering we were holding a press conference. The event itself was a grueling three hours, which put us into eighteen hundred hours. I wouldn't be nearly so irked if eighty percent of the questions asked weren't totally pointless. I mean, really? Did the color of the stupid spire really matter? The location and shade projection of it?! The sheer volume of eye twitches alone that I had to suppress used up enough energy to make me quite hungry at this point. Pinkie started hopping up and down in place, smiling suddenly. "Oh, oh, are we gonna get to eat in the awesome Royal Dining Room?!" she asked rapidly. Uh, for just us? Celestia blinked, then started to explain, "Well, actually, I was just going to have..." Pinkie grinned a little wider, edging closer to her, and Tia frowned, backing up slightly and trying to continue with, "...to have them send... Uh..." The pink one edged even closer, shivering in excitement and suspense. Oddly, I felt tense, too, suddenly as I realized everypony in the room was locked onto Pinkie in fascination. "Oh fine. Yes, you can eat in the Royal Dining Room..." Tia gave in a second later, exhaling as if a great weight was pulled from her chest the second Pinkie squealed and danced away, hopping. Okay, never mind. Pinkie was scary, too. How was I friends with so many scary ponies? Chuckling, I followed after the others as we headed towards the dining room instead, giving a wary eye towards Snapshot as she oddly saluted me as I passed. Yeah, I didn't want to know. * * * * * Admittedly, the food had been amazing, and I now knew why Pinkie had wanted to eat there. The sheer volume of desserts she'd ordered outweighed the actual meal by at least twice, about half of which she hauled back towards the room she was sharing with Rarity and Spike, one of the guest quarters, if I remembered right. Much to my amusement, that also meant Applejack and Rainbow were sharing sleeping arrangements, too. Dash blushed furiously, of course, and did not appear to appreciate my wink towards her after it was announced. At least Spike was happy. Oddly, Snapshot sat directly to my right, sticking awfully close during the whole meal. Sure, I'd stuck up for her, but I didn't think the rest of the mares warranted unneeded fear or anything. Fluttershy was to my left, and Twilight was on the other side of her, shooting me strange glances every other time I looked towards her. After her apprehension levels spiked down the link when I glanced her way in return, I pretended not to notice on every other occasion. "Yeah, I haven't had a chance to talk to you since they told me. It was, uh, a little surprising. What sort of alien are you?" Shining asked politely, giving me a curious glance as he sat across from me. I smiled and snickered, shaking my head a bit. "Uh, the pony kind. I'm only technically an alien as I was born in another dimension. I came from Equestria, however. Or, at least, my biological mother did, as far as I can figure so far. I'm a normal pony, with some added parts here and there, and a scary weapon inside of me that I've essentially disabled on all fronts," I elaborated, upon swallowing my last bite of sandwich. Sandwiches were amazing! Cadance giggled to his left, sliding her hoof along the white tablecloth for a moment before looking back up at me, smiling gently. In the warmer light of the mostly vacant dining room, I noted that she was indeed rather pretty. Her beauty was a regal sort, lacking the practicality of most of the mares I knew. I compared her closest to Rarity, honestly. I think I preferred a more natural sort of look, however. Twilight had a crisp feel to her features, and Fluttershy had an earthy, adorable feel to her that I loved. "A scary weapon that's not the tentacles, armor, and claws? Interesting. What form does it take?" she asked, sounding curious. Really, a rampaging monster was probably scarier to them, given it being easier to understand and imagine. Still, I guess I might as well try to be honest. "It takes two forms, actually. If I turn off my gravity dampener, as close as I can figure, I become an extremely powerful bomb. My mass to size ratio, due to the compressed space inside of me, would cause me to collapse into a singularity almost instantly, with a normalized gravity field radius of about a hundred and twenty kilometers," I attempted to explain. Nope. Two vacant stares met mine, and I sensed Twilight frowning again before I even looked over. She turned, looking over at me with a mix of concern and horror. "Wait, a normal gravity at a hundred and twenty kilometers?! So, if you stood in the center of Ponyville, ponies in Canterlot would fall sideways towards you?" she asked in surprise. That much they understood, Shining widening his eyes at me. "Yeah. Roughly. They're the lucky ones, though. Ponyville, and a good forty kilometers in each direction would be destroyed pretty much instantly, light itself not being able to escape the gravity effect. Where I'm from, they call that a 'Black Hole'. It's not pleasant," I added, causing Fluttershy to shiver lightly. "I'm glad you locked that down hard. Should we ask about the other form?" he inquired, looking uncertain. Sighing, I explained, "Planet consuming blob that eats mindlessly until everything's destroyed and the sun is consumed for energy. That's where my tentacles come from." Short and sweet, but it worked and only Twilight would get the extended version anyway. He stared blankly at me, then raised an eyebrow as a tentacle extended out of my left shoulder, slipped over the table, and broke into smaller tentacles near the tip to gather additional ingredients for another sandwich in front of a now extremely delighted looking Pinkie Pie. Equally expected at this point, Snapshot also looked absolutely fascinated by the example. "Mender, tentacles at the dining table aren't good manners. You could have simply asked one of us to pass you the sandwich materials," Rarity pointed out, smiling in amusement towards me from further down the table, across from Pinkie, who was lifting up stuff for the tentacles to grab now. Shining, to his credit, didn't appear bothered by the actual tentacles at all, although Cadance gave them a wary glance. Instead, he asked, "Why would such a thing even be needed? What were your people so scared of?" Ah, he had to ask that, of course. Figures. At least it was an easy answer. "The Grosh. A race of completely alien motives and mindset, bent on wiping out every species capable of space travel that wasn't them. Their technology was so far beyond ours that it was essentially a lost cause. The weapon inside of me was built in secret and had been intended to be used against them, to tear them apart endlessly as it consumed the rest of the galaxy, ignoring only those programmed in to be spared." It was painful to relay again, to my surprise. At this point, I thought I'd come to terms with the thing inside of me, but feeling and being aware of all that twisting, almost angry mass made me shudder. If I paid too much attention to the sensation, I caught a glimpse of the cold abyss that was inside of me, hungry to tear apart and eat everything it could, and my waking mind screamed in horror, reeling back from the mere presence of the beast within. It chipped away at my sanity the longer I considered it, and that was a precious enough commodity with me, so I tended to ignore the weapon entirely. Cadance frowned, looking sad for a moment before asking, "That seems, well, horrible. Are you sure they attacked indiscriminately like that? Did anypony try just communicating with them?" Her disapproving tone didn't even register as my eyes widened. A thousand times, I'd heard the same thing. They loved surprise attacks, often coming out of nowhere with a heavy alpha strike. It was always the same. Our job wasn't to combat them, but merely to buy time for civilian evacuation, taking losses so they didn't have to. It was thankless, of course. We were expected to die for them. Half of us were meaningless clones, some barely even considered 'intelligent'. Begging. I'd heard the screams of pain and sorrow so often, and it was always followed by begging. Some prayed to some higher power to save them. Others asked the Grosh themselves for mercy. Laughter was all we got in return, and they relentlessly murdered us. A thousand images flashed through my head at once. Friends. Teammates. Squad members. The weapons used in-atmosphere were for 'cleansing' the matter and making sure they had the highest fatality rate possible. Thus, we saw horrible levels of overkill, like anti-personnel shells that exploded into clouds of spinning razor wires and flechettes, or acidic adhesive mists. Hardened bunkers got a pellet or two the size of a baseball shot towards them that were released uncontrolled from FTL, causing the air itself to fuse and explode into plasma and level the whole area. It was death. That's all they became to us. Silence. It was more horrifying than the screams after an attack. That lonely silence that burned into your mind, as you realized how many weren't hearing it with you, and just how alone you were. My ears twitched, and I suddenly became aware of the actual silence around the table, distinctly realizing I'd dropped all of my sandwich materials and knocked the whole tray over when the tentacle went rigid. Damn it. "Sorry," I whispered, my eyes softening as I quickly picked up the tray and put the ingredients back on it, my appetite totally gone now anyways as I tried to will the smell of blood away from my senses, refusing to look anypony in the eye. It was an odd sense of shame and disgust brewing in me, as I felt truly alien then, sitting there. Honestly, it was my experiences that separated me from them far more than my form. "Mender," Fluttershy murmured, brushing her hoof along my shoulder. I pulled my tentacle back inside of me in an instant and recoiled, feeling like I was covered in filth and that I'd get it all over her if she touched me. She squeaked, but I shook my head rapidly, realizing I was standing suddenly as my chair crashed against the wall somewhere behind me. "N-No! I'm fine. I'll be, uh, okay. I just need some air," I excused. Their eyes were all on me, and I knew they saw me as not like them. The sensation burned into my mind, spiraling around me and making me want to scream. But I didn't. My eyes lost their focus as I made myself not look at any of them, turning and running towards the door with a moderate pace. Nopony stopped me. I just kept running, the tension, frustration and panic flooding through my chest in a screaming ache. I stumbled and fell some time later, long after I lost sense of how long I'd been running. I rolled and slammed into the wall at the base of one of the towers, not even feeling the sensation as I curled up there, panting and gasping as the sweat slid down my coat. The nausea was intense, and I fought the light-headedness and urge to throw up as the smell of blood overwhelmed me. No! I wasn't there! It wasn't even me! Slowly, my heart calmed and the world stopped spinning around me. I became more aware of the smell of the flowers in the garden I laid next to, and that terrible smell faded. No, I was never going to be rid of this. Ever. I just lay there on my side, mouth partially open with a slowly expanding puddle of drool wetting the cool cobblestone under me. I just didn't care. The Moon was rising on the horizon now, spreading soft darkness with it that was gently illuminated by its own inner glow. I knew it was magical just from looking at it, and felt myself calm. My name was appropriate, given my affinity for night, it would seem. I didn't even flinch at the flash of light to my right somewhere. Twilight slowly walked up, the gentle beats of her hooves echoed in the relative silence, and I felt her stop right next to me. Was she mad? Sad? Worried? Her link slowly caught up with her instantaneous movement, and I felt distinct concern as she gently lay down right next to me, pushing her warm body into mine. We lay there for quite a while, neither of us saying anything. She didn't have to, me knowing she was worried, and her knowing exactly how 'blended' my emotions felt at the moment. I didn't even bother trying to hide it from the link. Far away, I also felt sadness, and anger from others. I listened a little more carefully, and felt that Fluttershy had been told to finish eating, and Rainbow was seething. Pinkie felt sad, and I remembered she didn't like seeing her friends fight. "Cadance apologizes. She... She doesn't know, Mender," Twilight finally spoke, barely a whisper. "I know. I'm not angry with her," I returned, realizing a while ago that her feelings were based off everything she knew of Equestria. That's why I loved it here. Twilight sighed and nodded against my shoulder. "I know. You're understanding. A lot better than I am with that. There's so much I don't understand. But I know that, deep down, you're really angry, Mender," she added, followed by kissing my shoulder lightly. I shivered and swallowed, not saying anything. Bitterness. I was so bitter, and spiteful. It was a different kind of anger. Rational understanding had nothing to do with it. I knew why Applejack sided with Twilight, and why she broke four of my ribs, fragmenting two through my lungs. I could be rational and understand that. But that wasn't enough. Deep down, I was bitter. She had 'betrayed' me, not even giving me the slightest indication that I was to be trusted. As I recoiled from that pain, a subconscious part of me blamed every drop of it on her. I wanted to deny it. To erase that part of myself. But it reared its ugly head regardless. "My subconscious is different. On that level, um, I'm angry with Applejack for not trusting me. I'm also angry with you two, because it thinks you betrayed me. I'm mad at Pinkie and Rarity as well, for feeling totally insensitive. Rainbow, too, for being selfish and ignoring what I wanted, instead going with what she wished for. Sweetie bothers me as well, more out of self-disgust of not wanting to take advantage of her and knowing she doesn't even know what she wants herself. All of those things I can reason away, but they don't really go away," I muttered, unable to stop once I started. Honesty. It burned horribly, but felt amazing at the same time in a twisted sort of duality. Twilight didn't flinch through any of it, keeping her head lightly resting on my shoulder. I knew that she knew it all already, but it still felt cathartic to get out of my mind. "Do you trust us when we say that we'll make it up to you? Fixing your inner viewpoints is a slow and gentle process, Mender," she assured, pushing herself a little harder into me. I raised my right foreleg up for her as she slipped in against my stomach, surprisingly ignoring my drool as well as she kissed me lightly. I have no idea how long we rested together like that, kissing softly back and forth under the darkening sky, belly to belly. There was nothing urgent really, and I felt no need to consult Clocky, even. Her fur tickled mine as her chest joined against me, too, her heart lightly thudding in time with my own. Slowly, oh so slowly, I felt that tension ease up under her patient ministrations. It was hard to miss at this point. She cared about me. Maybe even loved me. Forgiving was easy for me to say, yeah, but understanding that she truly wanted it and wanted me to fully forgive her was comforting. Her own feelings mixed well with mine through the link as we snuggled. I felt the tension from her as well as it slid away. This had been a rough few days for her, too, and I suddenly understood as much. She gets, well, crazy like that when she panics more than anything. I knew that much already, although that was definitely the worst I'd seen it. But what I'd missed at the time was she wasn't just panicked over Fluttershy. I'd been her first target, and suddenly it all clicked. She'd been freaking out for almost two days straight about sending out that form. She even mentioned at Fluttershy's that she was afraid I was going to dump them. She was scared. Very, very scared. That meant that I was indeed important to her after all. Sure, the herd didn't revolve around me, but as selfish as the inner Mender was sometimes, I realized that was how things were 'supposed' to work. It was an odd feeling, 'sensing' Fluttershy's smile as she glided towards us through the warm air. Twilight felt it, too, her eyes opening and her muzzle drifting a little away from mine, strands of saliva still connecting our lips as she blushed lightly, then looked 'up' towards Fluttershy, according to her orientation anyway. "I'm glad you two are okay," Fluttershy whispered softly upon landing next to us and sitting down. Twilight smiled and hooked the mare's foreleg with her own, earning a widening of the smile until she tugged backwards, pulling Fluttershy over and onto us instead. "Better than okay. I'm feeling amazing, and I apologize, but I started the process of making it up to Mender early," the lavender mare apologized, winking towards Fluttershy. Snickering, I fake scoffed and turned my head up, closing my eyes. "Is that what you're doing? Here I thought you were just being affectionate," I chided. Fluttershy giggled oh so lightly before rotating and flopping fully into us instead. "We do enjoy giving you affection, too, Mender, because we get affection back. You, um, really care for us, don't you? You have to after all this. Most stallions would have just, well, dumped us," she muttered, smiling softly afterwards, but looking just a little sad. It was easy enough to feel down her link, too, and I pulled both of them closer, nodding. "I care for both of you. If I get, um, braver in the future, I'll admit to loving you both as well. That's essentially all I wanted for all of last week. Rainbow and Sweetie being flirty with me was... It was frustrating. It reminded me constantly of the two mares I missed instead," I admitted, remembering those sensations as well. It hadn't been pleasant. "You're with us now, Mender. Don't worry. We're not going anywhere, and you're not going to have to leave us next year. I don't care anymore. I'm going with you next time," Twilight assured, earning a nod of agreement from Fluttershy. I chuckled and nodded to both of them before taking a risk and teasing with, "You just are interested because I can fire blanks, right?" Fluttershy blushed lightly and giggled, but Twilight's eyes shot open wide almost instantly. "W-Wait, you can? Seriously?!" she asked a heartbeat later, jaw dropping open. Well, I wasn't expecting that reaction to the news... "Yeah, turns out that I have a lot of different, uh, options I didn't know about before. I don't exactly know why I was given all these, but..." I added. Actually, now that I thought about it, why did I have these options? Switching DNA sets, heavily augmented virility, cosmetic tweaking... Why did a scout need all that?! Twilight stared at me for a moment, and then frowned. "We should really investigate your various systems and properly document them. I want to help you figure out these things, too," she requested firmly, a sense of duty and discipline drifting back up the link. "Let's all learn about them. I might not be able to help as much as Twilight, but I want to understand you more, Mender," Fluttershy added, smiling slowly up at me. Huh. I hadn't expected them to be interested. "Heh. Shall we go up to the room anyway, before I share more of my inner workings, then?" I suggested, peeking around slowly. Nopony was within my significantly enhanced vision, but I was still paranoid. There sadly wasn't time, however, as the world imploded inwards, everything falling in around us as we seemed to shrink to nothing. In the same instant, it all popped back out again into relative darkness. Fluttershy gave a squeak as a burst of terror shot down her link, but I pulled her close as Twilight's horn lit up with magic. Fluttershy inhaled softly against my fur as Twilight focused, and one by one, lamps turned on around the room. To my surprise, Fluttershy calmed down first, keeping her face pressed into my chest instead. A strong urge to guard her sprung up, and I rested my head on top of hers, whispering, "It's okay, Fluttershy. Look around." The yellow mare opened her eyes again and peeked about upon my request. Twilight smiled gently at her, extending her hoof out and gesturing in a wide arc around her bedroom. I added to the effect by shifting my weight slightly and causing us to bounce on the mattress of Twilight's massive bed. Actually, if this was her room from her years as a filly, why was her bed so huge? "Yup, we're safe," Twilight assured, flopping over backwards and pulling the still uncertain mare with her. I smiled and watched as Fluttershy shifted to a smile instead, then giggled momentarily before Twilight pulled her down into a soft kiss. Oh! Watching them now brought about significantly different feelings than during the party. This kiss was intentionally for one. Also, the fact that they were officially a pair now slammed through me. Did that mean that Fluttershy cheated on Twilight with me? It didn't matter, of course, but I suddenly realized how very much alone I felt. Not since realizing my true nature had I felt like this. I was more careful this time, pushing the feelings away quickly and keeping them from the link. Both mares were distracted as well, probably contributing to them not noticing. Me interrupting their moment with my feelings would be rude, as I knew this was their first time together in relative privacy since the bath that night we got back. I'd had a lot more of Fluttershy since... Distraction. I needed to think about something else. Turning, I noticed that our bags had indeed been delivered properly, and were sitting at the entrance to the main chamber in the other, darkened room. Ah, that would do! I didn't even touch the floor, the purple aura catching me mid-hop. Blinking, I looked back at Twilight, who smirked as she hauled me back towards them, Fluttershy smiling softly from on top of her. "Oh no you don't. Unpacking can wait until tomorrow. For now, we have a lot to talk about and even more snuggling to make up for. You are part of the herd, too, and that will be official tomorrow," Twilight assured promptly. Crap, she'd heard that after all? "Um, actually, I told her. I'm sorry, Mender. I just don't like you feeling sad," Fluttershy corrected, voice whispering through my head. Oh, I forgot how good she was at the links. Still, I hadn't been mad anyways, and it was impossible to stay angry with them anymore. "It's fine, Fluttershy. I just wanted you two to get some time together. I've been kind of hogging Fluttershy the past day or so," I reasoned after getting set back down next to them. Twilight giggled and nodded, to my surprise, before adding, "You're nice like that, but there's a flaw in your logic." Oh? She nodded to my curious burst down her link, and continued with, "I want you, too. Brushing your teeth and other stuff can wait. Come on." Her horn lit up again and slid the covers out from under us a moment later. I immediately fell on my face, of course, having not anticipated the surface I was standing on to suddenly pull out from under me. I heard a giggle, and turned in time to be pulled into two warm, yellow and lavender masses as the covers were pulled back over us. Fluttershy shifted gently a moment later, sliding over so she snuggled into both of us instead as I rotated to properly face Twilight, her forelegs hooking around mine gently. "Good. Let's stay nice and comfy for a while, okay? We can talk like this, and I'll take notes later on your systems," Twilight explained, nodding twice towards me. "Oh, if you wanted to take notes..." I offered, my left eye lighting up slightly. The projection was onto the mattress between us instead this time, and I opened up my note-taking program I'd made, showing the notes I already had on my inner workings as I scrolled through them. Twilight looked more than a little surprised before grinning, suddenly. "You have a note program?!" she asked, already drawing upon a term I'd given her about my workings. Heh. I started to nod, when she squeaked with glee and lunged forwards, pushing her lips into mine again, to Fluttershy's happy giggling. Oh boy. What had I gotten myself into with these two? * * * * * Doing precise things was so much easier with magic. I didn't care what Twilight said about relying too much on mine. I didn't see her brushing her teeth by hoof! No, she levitated almost everything purely out of instinct. Personally, I didn't know how Fluttershy managed to make this look so easy. Of course, she had almost two decades of practice, I supposed, being nineteen. The mare in question carefully flushed the toilet a meter or so to my left as I focused on getting the back teeth. I sensed a bit of embarrassment from her suddenly, and frowned as I glanced over at her. To my surprise, she'd stopped and was staring at my toothbrush instead. That was weird. Why was my toothbrush embarrassing to... Oh. Ack! "I said I was sorry!" I yelped upon quickly spitting out the suds. Fluttershy's blush deepened, but she smiled and nodded, adding, "I know. It's just embarrassing to remember." Well, yeah. That was a given. "This is Mender we're talking about. Him finding your toy collection and having a 'battle' with them honestly isn't that bad," Twilight pointed out idly from her leaning spot in the doorframe. Turning, I shot her a glare, but she wore an amused smile instead and I just rolled my eyes. Fluttershy shifted back and forth on her hooves, blushing horribly now as well. Instead, I focused on her and sent calming thoughts, smiling towards the yellow mare instead. She relaxed her fidgeting and smiled at me as well, then squeaked as I reached out and pulled her into a gentle hug. She was so adorable, and I'd never let anything hurt her. I 'felt' Twilight send a warmer smile our way as she continued looking over the notes we'd completed. It was almost ten now, and Fluttershy was getting tired, so we all agreed to call it a day. Early for the lavender mare, no doubt, but it would have to suffice. Of course, if Rarity hadn't suggested Spike stay with Pinkie and her, we probably would have been asleep by now anyways, if only because he kept an earlier bedtime. "There are definitely lots of mysteries involved with this. These two upload times are important, I can just feel it," Twilight muttered a moment later, earning our attention again as I turned and walked over, alongside Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus nodded, looking uncharacteristically concerned again before adding, "Yeah. Plus, why did they give him all those things to make him really, really virile and capable of switching DNA?" That... That was a very good question. Twilight sighed and shook her head, flicking my holographic display with her hoof and scrolling back up it. She took to technology amazingly fast, once I realized I could project a barrier onto the display for 'touch' capabilities. "Honestly, most of those reproductive functions were added at the same time as the first information upload. That same upload added the schematics for that weapon, set it to be created inside Mender, and then go off. Can it really be coincidental that Mender suddenly finds himself in possession of billions of Keldarian DNA and the ability to switch to producing viable reproductive material with them?" she questioned, deduction ability as sharp as ever. That wasn't a pretty conclusion, however. "Considering it was from the same source, no. It can't be coincidence," I muttered, sitting down next to my two fillyfriends Twilight smiled and leaned in again, kissing me gently on the cheek. "I know it's scary, Mender, but you should watch that video soon. Both of us can watch it with you if you'd like, and we'll be here for you if you need us. It's better to know everything sooner, so we can fix or prepare for something than ignore it," she reminded gently. I flattened my ears back, but Fluttershy bombarded my link with warm feelings as she nodded twice, smiling towards me. "Y-Yes! Twilight and I are here for you. You're part of our herd, and we care for you," she added a moment later, giving me her determined look again. I shuddered, barely resisting the urge to pounce her and squeeze her until she squeaked. Although, admittedly, she'd probably squeak before I squeezed her, so that didn't make much difference... Twilight frowned at that, thinking to herself for a moment before revealing, "I also want to try some of Rarity's suggestions for trust exercises tomorrow. Most of them don't require any special equipment or anything, and we can do them right here in the castle. I need to trust Mender as much as he needs to trust me." I nodded quietly before getting somewhat curious. "What are some of these exercises?" I asked, tilting my head towards her. "Oh, nothing too elaborate. The 'fixing the herd' thing is going to be big for me, but I need to show you that I fully intend to include you. I have to. Other than that, there are basic exercises to do. Blindfolded leading, and catching each other as we fall," she elaborated, smiling towards me after. Heh, the brat knew I would have tried to counter the herd part. "Not to put a damper on it, but leading me around blindfolded, or making me purposefully fall seem like really bad ideas. But eh, Rarity knows her stuff and hopefully the castle will survive," I admitted, scratching under my chin with my right hoof. Twilight gave me an amused nudge before standing up fully, stretching out and cracking her back. "Regardless, we should get some sleep now. My turn to use the bathroom. You two can go lie down if you'd like," she offered, slipping past me and towards the toilet. Looking towards Fluttershy instead, I smiled and gestured towards the exit of the bathroom. She nodded and wandered past me, flicking her tail up almost automatically as I turned to follow her. My eyes widened as she got me in the face, blasting me with those oh so lovely smells before trotting onwards. Gah! Okay, she'd gotten so used to it being 'okay' that she did so subconsciously now. Head swimming a little, I trotted after her, trying to keep my eyes off her swaying rump before hopping up onto the massive bed. Fluttershy gave me a soft smile as she slid over, and I moved in next to her on the right side of the bed. The blankets were amazingly soft, and the mattress itself was extremely comfortable. Twilight was really pampered with this thing! The yellow mare slipped up to me and tucked her head under mine as I pulled the covers back over myself. Smiling, I squeezed her gently, rubbing her sides with my hooves and relaxing there. She shivered oh so slightly, and my eyes widened as I felt her muzzle push against my neck, kissing me gently there. "I missed you a lot during estrus. I know I kinda said it already but, well, I wanted you to know how much," she whispered, her hips shifting forwards and pressing more solidly against mine as our back legs entwined. Her body was a lot warmer than the sheets and I held her close, feeling my fur puff up a little at the contrast. I didn't know exactly what to say to that, the bitterness from earlier still there. I settled for the truth, after a few seconds of consideration. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I forgive you for everything that happened, but my subconscious doesn't. I can't... I can't make it forgive you," I muttered, closing my eyes as another bout of frustration shot through me. I was angry. Maybe I should invest in a punching bag to vent on? Of course, if I were really venting, it wouldn't last long. Maybe just a sturdy looking rock would do? Her grip tightened, like she thought I'd fade away if she eased up. "I know. Things have to get a lot better first. You... You really are equal, Mender. We'll fix this tomorrow, and then you will be. Then, all that's left would be for Twilight to, um..." she whispered gently. She didn't need to finish, our link telling me her meaning easily enough. "Twilight doesn't have to do anything with me if she doesn't want to, Fluttershy. She has to feel comfortable with it, and really want to," I reminded gently. It wasn't essential for the herd regardless, seemingly more of a formality than anything. Fluttershy exhaled softly, pecking my shoulder lightly. "I know. But she will eventually, right? She likes you like that, too, I think. She's just nervous," she pondered out loud, seemingly unsure of herself. I couldn't help but find it a little cute, and smiled to myself. "Maybe. I'm not sure what a romantic relationship without sex would be like, but that's Twilight's choice, not ours," I pointed out. Fluttershy blushed again at my frank wording, and shivered lightly. Well, without sex with me, anyways. That did seem sort of one-sided, but I decided it was pointless thinking about it before it became a reality. "Well, um, I... I'm not afraid of you like that. You'd never hurt me, and it feels so amazing to know that. You protect me and I can, well, be as open as I want with you and share such a wonderful experience with you. I feel like I don't have to be afraid of anything when you're there," she continued, surprising me with her openness already displayed. She really was getting more and more trusting of me, I realized. Oh so gently, I pulled her closer against me and held her, feeling her shiver as her wings flicked out and then in again quickly. Her heartbeat against my fur slowly started to pick up, and I opened my eyes again in time to see her leaning up towards me. Oh! It didn't exactly take much to convince me, and I met her half way, kissing her lightly as my right hoof slipped up higher, cradling the back of her neck under her mane as she relaxed against me. She was beautiful, and as soft and fluffy and sickeningly sweet as it felt to me, I wanted to be with her forever. At that moment, she felt my emotions and apparently decided the same thing, pushing into me fully as her eyes closed, the warmth shared between us as her lips opened just a little. It was naughty, but she invited me, so I took the bait and deepened the kiss, hearing her groan lightly as my tongue played along hers. That heated sensation burned through us and I felt giddy, feeling her wings open up slowly as I dominated the kiss. She always retreated into her own mouth like this, I noticed. At first I'd thought she was trying to treat me or something, but the surge of pure delight was unmistakable, as usual. I'd realized a bit ago that she liked me being in charge, innately slipping into a submissive role. It was awkward for me, as I was never sure if she'd like the direction I was moving us in, but the link made that easier, too, giving me immediate feedback as to my performance. Right now, it was somewhere in the ecstatic range, I noticed. A burst of undiluted pleasure shot down the link as Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around my neck and pulled me deeper into the kiss, earning a heated groan. Her taste was... There was a light crash in the bathroom, and a somewhat dizzy looking Twilight Sparkle wandered out a second later, staring at us with a bewildered glance. We broke apart at the noise, and I stared back blankly, wondering what exactly was going on when I noticed how absolutely flushed she looked. "I... I can feel every single thing you two are doing! A-Ah! C-can this please wait, um, just a day even? Just not tonight?!" Twilight begged quickly, looking beyond flustered. Fluttershy matched her color in blushing, and I just sighed. Figured that was a bad idea. That didn't stop it from being an 'enjoyable' bad idea, but I was a bit miffed at Twilight, too. Still, it was her room. And she looked terrified, which made me feel somewhat like a jerk. Fluttershy squeaked, looking back and forth between the two of us before whimpering and shaking her head quickly. Eh? "T-Twilight, um, could we maybe talk please, if it's not too much trouble?" she asked quickly, surprising me. Twilight flattened her ears back, still quite red and suddenly looking uncertain at Fluttershy, too. "Um, sure. Where do you...?" she started. "The bathroom." Fluttershy hopped up and off the bed almost as fast as she returned her reply, and I was left mildly confused and alone in a very dark room as she pushed Twilight gently into the bathroom and shut the door. "Twilight, you need to..." was all I heard before the door closed. Sighing, I turned off my amplified hearing and the links, realizing she obviously wanted privacy to talk to Twilight. The shy mare usually didn't act like this unless something was bothering her. I took a vague shot in the dark and guessed that it was Twilight's reaction to our little show across the link. Wonderful. A light ping shot in from Pinkie's link a second later. Eh? "Hey, Mender. Is everything okay? I felt Fluttershy's and Twilight's links disappear," the pink one mentally asked a moment later, tone sounding uncharacteristically concerned. Oh? Oh yeah, if there was anypony more skilled with the links than Fluttershy, it was her. "Oh, yeah, they're both fine. They wanted some privacy to talk about something, so I turned the links off," I explained absently. Seriously, to feel that at this distance... There was one room per floor of this tower, and I knew Applejack and Rainbow were under us. That meant Pinkie sensed that through a good twenty meters and two solid barriers. The pink one exhaled gently, and I 'felt' her nod as easily as if she were in the room with me. It was beyond weird to 'see' somepony without actually seeing them. "I'm glad they're okay! I've been worried about you three since estrus. They were really, and I mean, really torn up about it all, and you got really sad. I don't like it when my friends are upset or sad," she revealed. I smiled to myself, but knew she felt it anyway and nodded. "Thanks, Pinkie. Really, you're an amazing friend," I thanked. Honestly, she'd 'only' poisoned me and dunked me in acid. Comparatively speaking, that wasn't that bad. She giggled at my reference and nodded again, giving me another shiver down the spine. "You're a super, duper, awesome friend, too! I'm glad things are getting patched up now. Oh, and I'm really glad Fluttershy's been getting more comfy with you! She really cares for you, and I know that letting you closer has helped both of you! The adorable and happy feelings you two share through the link is amazing!" she squeaked out, sounding ecstatic. I chuckled, then coughed slightly and frowned. Wait... "Uh, how much exactly can you, um, feel down those links, Pinkie?" I inquired, a bit concerned suddenly. Louder giggling was followed with, "Oooh, lots! Like that thing where she uses her tongue to-" Nope! Pinkie's link turned off in an instant, and disappeared to echoing laughter from the pink mare, who was undoubtedly getting a kick out of my misery over it. That better have been a prank... Brat! Groaning out, I shuddered and just rolled over onto my side, not wanting to think about that aspect at all. Damn it! Staring into the dark, I sighed tiredly, the soft voices whispering through the wall next to me, revealing only the fact that they were still talking. Heh. At least that meant they weren't rutting each other. Chuckling mentally at the somewhat bitter thought, I relaxed and closed my eyes, head still swimming with a chaotic blur of thoughts. I have no idea how long I lay there, wishing that the night would just be over and I could get on with tomorrow. It came out of nowhere, and I gave a start of surprise. A ping, but not from my 'network'. Fainter, and slower. I knew who it was instantly by it being the only one of its kind. Keela... Falling into myself, I opened my eyes in my own three-dimensional space and turned the link on. Nothing happened, only silence on the other end. Listening closer, I heard a quiet breathing, barely audible, and relaxed, resting there and waiting. Seconds passed in silence before I heard a light sniff, and then she whined lightly. "I... I'm sorry, Mender. I'm sorry," she whispered, voice barely there. I swallowed uneasily, and pinged her back twice. There was a slight hesitation, before I felt her tail lift up and gently push the ‘on’ button on the stabilization unit that was apparently next to her. She'd anticipated me, or used her magic to guess at probability, being the leading divination specialist before everything went to hell. My form faded in next to her in a heartbeat, the book that suddenly found itself at my side humming to life with immense inner power. The room was her bedroom, and slightly messier than the last few vague shots I got of it based off proximity to her, and my very brief sojourn on the train here. It looked like it had been searched, from a professional standpoint. Based on our last interaction, probably to get any weapons away from her. Keela herself looked worse than the room did. Her eyes were bloodshot, fur and hair messy and matted in a few spots, and her whole tiny frame shook as she stayed tucked into a ball with her face in her knees, leaning against the wall next to her bed. There were no accessories in her hair this time, and it hung loosely to her shoulders. Further, she wore nothing but her underwear, the rest probably removed so she couldn't conceal any weapons until her condition improved. Her eyes told me she wasn't going to try, however. "I'm... I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, Mender," she apologized again, making it sound more like begging than anything. Slowly, I walked up to her instead and sat down in front of her, frowning. A burden. She felt she was a burden on me. On all of Equestria. That feeling I could sympathize with. "Keela... I think I know what you're feeling, but we need to talk. We needed to talk before it came to you trying to kill yourself," I explained gently. She winced and shuddered a second later, but didn't look away. No, I'd learned my lesson. No good came from running away from or skirting issues. Nodding to her, I continued with, "But first, I need you to promise something. If you ever feel doubt, or fear, or loneliness, tug at that connection inside of you first. You're not alone, and don't need to act like you are," I requested. She stared at me for a moment, tears sliding down her cheeks still, but nodded regardless. "I'm sorry, Mender. It's all falling apart and I didn't know what to do and... I thought I could at least be useful to, and help someone else if I, um, got rid of the link," she whispered, eyes softening and looking down again. I clicked with my tongue and she shuddered, forcing her gaze back up to me as I nodded gently to her. "Relax, Keela. I'm only upset that you think you mean so little to me. Calm down and take a deep breath. What's wrong?" I asked, realizing it was probably more than her sister being psychotic. The Keldarian exhaled slowly and nodded, looking a bit more focused, if nothing else. "I'm lost and confused. I've never led anything bigger than a short survey operation, and everyone is looking to me for leadership and important decisions. I've tried everything I can think of to be fair and keep us all alive, but... I can't do this. I'm not a leader, and I'm just going to get us all killed," she groaned out, sinking into her knees again. "Keela, you're a strong individual. You don't give yourself enough credit. What exactly is wrong that you think you can't handle? You've been doing amazingly well so far, and I doubt this will be any different," I pointed out, turning and sitting down next to her instead. She was as riddled with self-doubt as I was. It was strange how my own flaw put me in a unique position to at least cheer her up. She sighed, sliding her finger down her leg before unfurling and stretching out instead, giving me a tired stare. "Where to begin? This mining rig is falling apart at the seams, for one. Without parts and proper repairs, we have maybe a week, tops, before larger ruptures hit," she started, shuddering afterwards. "Larger?" I asked, raising an eyebrow towards her curiously. "There was a breach this morning in one of the emergency air ducts. It blew off one of the extra compressed air tanks and exploded, taking out one of our rotary engines," she revealed. I sighed weakly, biting my tongue as to not mention the merits of making sure things were sealed properly when working with anything 'compressed'. "Isn't there anypony doing maintenance?" I asked instead, switching to a skeptical expression. Keela smiled to herself and shook her head, returning, "No, there isn't 'anypony' doing maintenance. We have one male who's good at electrical work, but that only covers a fraction of the repairs that are needed. He tries, but... I'm not going to ask him to do anything risky," she refuted. "Not asking you to. I'll show you how to make any repairs you need to this thing if you can get the parts. Rim systems. Look for abandoned or forgotten celestial bodies and scan for debris. Any parts will work, or even raw metal if you can find it," I suggested, considering it for a moment. Keela stared at me in surprise, a blank look on her face before she slipped up to her feet and grabbed her personal organizer off her bed stand. "I didn't think about looting. The Grosh do leave a lot of stuff behind. It might be possible to reclaim some of it. You... You'd really do that for us?" she asked softly, turning to look at me with a hesitant expression. "I'm not going to let you all die, no. Relax, Keela. I'm an engineer, and I can at least instruct, even if I don't have a body to fix it myself. Get me a diagnostics panel, and I'll start tossing up notes," I requested, nudging my muzzle towards the nearby console. Keela grinned and nodded, carrying the organizer over and accessing the keypad on the computer. She snapped her fingers a second later and a second stool lifted into the air from the other side of the room and drifted over. I hopped up on it and accessed the damage reports out of pure instinct. I'd done this before, thousands of times, I realized instantly. "This is a mess," I reported blankly, a half a minute later. Most of the reports weren't about damaged areas so much as upkeep or restoration work that they didn't know how to do. She nodded idly while watching me, and then widened her eyes as my left hoof faded into a few hundred tiny tentacles instead, and they started rapidly flicking across her keyboard. One by one, I threw notes and small diagrams into the system, attached to every single flagged damage report that was logged. None of the information was mine, of course. 'He' knew how to fix all of it, and I just let his memories guide the notes. Keela just watched the process with no small amount of awe as I let them write themselves, for the most part. Five minutes later, a hundred and fifteen notes were added into the system, covering eighty-seven percent of the damage reports. I halted and frowned, my proximity sensors going off, and then indicating physical contact on the other side. Damn it. Of course, now they had to finish. "Other side?" Keela asked, smiling lightly as she saved my progress so far. "Yeah. I guess Twilight and Fluttershy are done talking and want my attention again," I muttered, frowning as I shifted my hoof back. "Relax, Mender. You've given us enough repairs to keep us busy for a week, and saved our butts, big time! Go back to your mares," she assured, obviously just trying to placate me, but I knew she meant well. Sighing, I nodded and hopped off the chair again, starting to turn to look at her. Instead, two furred arms lightly wrapped over my shoulders, and she hugged me gently from behind. There was a bit of shakiness to her still, and I felt her squeeze lightly. "Thank you, Mender. Really. Not just for the notes but, um, just for keeping me company and being my friend. I have no idea what I'm doing and, um... Well, it probably would sound a bit weird, but... What would you say if I asked you to sorta take over?" she inquired timidly. I froze, and then slowly turned around to look at her with wide eyes. She grinned sheepishly towards me instead, and nodded. "I'd say... 'You're doing a fine job yourself, and shouldn't try to pass on important management positions to extra-dimensional entities.'?" I offered weakly. Of course, she started to laugh...
Chapter 91It was amazingly similar to where I was before. There was confusion, though. I couldn't quite remember who I was. No, I did, but I couldn't honestly decide which I was. There was a conflict. My head hurt, and I could barely breathe as my thoughts swirled around in a jumble, thousands of voices whispering in my head. Which one was mine?! Regardless, there was a lot that I remembered now. I floated in white nothingness, a photo negative of where I'd been before. It was so white I felt blinded by the absolute light all around me. I squinted, then realized I couldn't really even see myself through the searing brightness. Her forelegs wrapped around me, and I felt an old connection open up again that I'd forgotten I had. My eyes opened, things not seeming quite so bright now as I looked partially back over my shoulder. A smile danced across her muzzle. "Mender. Moon Mender. That's your name now," she reminded, holding me tight. It felt like her forelegs held off the crushing weight all around me, and I could breathe again, with some effort. Frowning, I shook my head. No, that wasn't how it was supposed to work. "That was the name I came up with. Aren't... You're supposed to name me. You, Dad, and my other mother," I declared, not quite sure if it was really 'law' or not, but it felt right. She smirked, and I paused. My memories came back slowly. Wait, no, something was added. The soft light of dusk came through the window. Twilight gave me a warm, happy smile as she spoke, almost thinking out loud as she suggested things. "He's very good at fixing things, both mechanical and involving ponies' feelings. Repairing? No. Too forced. Fixing? Hmm, no. A little too literal..." She trailed off, considering it for a moment. My mother, meanwhile, drifted behind her before swatting her in the head. It didn't do anything, of course, her almost white hoof passing through Twilight with no effect whatsoever. "No, I said Mender! Moon Mender! We already decided on it after I talked to the rest of our herd," she hissed, almost shouting it into Twilight's ear before crossing her forelegs and giving a pout. She brushed her mane back out of her eyes, it filtering the light dancing through the window. For a moment, I almost saw the color, realizing the blue was my own coat tint, or at least very close to it. I'd heard it, however, on some level. Maybe just the faintest whisper even, and I smiled shyly. "Mend?" I offered, looking back at the pretty mare. She grinned, of course. "Moon Mender," she spoke out loud. Spike cheered, and I smiled. It was so long ago, it felt like. I'd heard it, however. She smiled softly now, the mirth faded from her expression. Mother. "We named you. It's not easy trying to communicate with someone I don't have a link with, you know. But no, we gave Twilight that name. She's a very sensitive unicorn, although for good reason," she explained, more 'real' now as I relaxed back into her soft chest. She seemed perfectly happy to stay right here, holding me. I imagined she didn't get the chance very often, especially after I'd forgotten I had the link. "Good reason?" I asked, finding myself mildly curious, above and beyond wondering where I was. Mom just smiled even wider, though, and I remembered yet another instance, this time a bit closer in my memories. It was a reunion, I think. She grinned, golden brown mane bobbing as she tossed up her hoof in a salute as I passed. She was a strange one. But no, it was different. Mom floated along next to me, and I remembered she'd held me when they were talking about my other self. I had felt strangely calm, even without knowing the source. Snapshot was strange, too. Mom had given her weird looks with a raised eyebrow. No, not strange, really. She was strange enough without losing the meaning of the word. She didn't show up right. Every grin she did, every little movement, every laugh or squeal or gasp... There was no vibration that matched it. Despite being so animate, happy, and energetic, there was nothing mirroring it on the inside. She either held it all in extremely carefully and was on guard every waking second I'd seen her, or there was really nothing there, and it was all an act. Strange. Yeah, I guess it still fit. Mom was more interested in my mates, of course. Well, future mate in Twilight, as we technically hadn't 'mated' yet, but that's just arguing semantics. Gem loved Fluttershy, of course, gleeful in what she declared to be amazing chances of getting grandfoals from her. I couldn't argue, really, as Fluttershy did strike me as making a really good mother. She liked Twilight, too, but I vaguely remembered her spending a lot of time kicking her in the head for one reason or another. Heh. This time, she was poking her instead, which I estimated to be a slight improvement. Twilight didn't notice, of course. Why was she poking...? Wait, no, I remembered now. Wait, what?! I didn't see them at the time. Mom wasn't poking Twilight, but playing with faint wings that were on Twilight's back. They weren't fully there yet, the wall showing through the other side of them as we walked towards the Royal Dining Room. Pinkie had insisted, if I recall. No, I was getting distracted. Why did Twilight have wings? I hadn't asked that. Mom did. Tia smiled, but didn't smile at the same time. Only part of her smiled. How did she do that? No, I already knew. Alicorn were Ancients. Ancients existed on multiple layers at once. "Twilight's changing. I've only seen it once before, and this time, I've been guiding it. Last time it almost killed the mare, but... no, not again," Tia spoke, but didn't speak. Only Mom, and now I, heard her. "Oh, right. That new Alicorn. What was her name? Cadbury?" Mom asked, scratching under her chin lightly as she considered it. I decided her goof was probably intentional. Tia smirked, then corrected, "Cadance, and yes. She used to be a pegasus, but due to an extremely rare soul pattern and essentially unique conditions, she somehow triggered the creation of her own Ancient form, then turned into an Alicorn. Twilight possesses the same pattern type, but I'm hoping to guide her more gently towards her change, if she decides to take that route." Twilight, become an Alicorn? That was exciting, yet terrifying at the same time. No, I'd just forget it for now. Mom smiled, a light giggle sounding around me as she held me close. "You don't belong here yet, my son. You need to wake up," was spoken out loud, in surprisingly not her voice. Her smile widened as did my eyes, and I looked past her as a darker shape faded out of the light. "Here?" I asked quietly, taking in every detail I could about my father as he walked up, a warmer smile on his face. His coat was bronze, probably where he got his first name from. His mane and tail were almost black, but with an all too familiar silver streak shooting through them. It was a surprise to see him, but less so to see my other mom step in next to him, giving me a more timid smile. Auraprism. She was somewhat shy, although not as bad as Fluttershy. Reserved, and usually soft spoken. Similar to Dad, who was also reserved, but could be very demanding when he needed to be. Usually to protect his loved ones or values. My mother's own feelings and understanding of the two of them came to me at the same time, trying to make up for a lifetime of not knowing either one of them. Auraprism shook her head slowly before admitting, "We're not entirely sure. Once you pass into the Ether, in theory, the only ones that can communicate with you is either a necromancer, or a visiting Ancient. You're not trained in necromancy, nor are you an Alicorn or Draconequus, so we're not sure." Huh. That was either really good, or really bad. Father chuckled before shrugging. "It feels like we're close to Equus. The planet, not the dimension. You're our bridge from the Ether, and we're piggybacking on your mother, who has a link with you. She's linked to your soul, due to the three hundred years she anchored herself to you while you slept, I imagine," he reasoned, somehow managing to sound completely sure of himself despite intentionally admitting that it was just a theory. I attributed it to experience. Still... I stared at him, eyes softening. For a moment, he got a confused expression to his face, slowly turning to look at me fully with his amber eyes that mirrored my own. Mom rolled her eyes, and my other mom just giggled to herself before reminding, "Dear, this is the first time Mender's met either of us." He looked momentarily surprised, but Gem rested into my left side, nuzzling me gently. I relaxed, feeling safe here as she smiled. "You lost out on interacting with any of us, and it's not fair. But maybe you lucked out in other ways?" she suggested softly, eyes opening as she looked into my own. Lucked out? Aura nodded, looking away from Bastion as she sat down, watching me. "She's right. Such a strong link normally isn't possible. It's why we're here right now, even though you're still alive, Mender. You're not dead," she revealed. My eyes widened a little. Seeing all of them here like this... How could I not believe that I hadn't made it? Bastion smirked at that, then remarked, "He really does jump to conclusions fast. You were right, Gem." Hey! My ears flattened back as I momentarily glared at him, getting a wider grin in return. "Seeing my parents, floating in white cliché nothingness, getting flashbacks from my exceedingly brief life... What was I supposed to believe?" I defended, flailing at him in frustration. Aura giggled at that, of course, while Gem whistled innocently. "He even does her flailing routine. Heh. You have both of them in you," the white and green mare complimented. Her coat was truly white, so much so that she almost blended in with the background lights. Her mane wasn't too far off from her distant descendant who shared part of her name, but much, much lighter in color. The pictures also didn't do her eyes justice, which were a rather brilliant teal color, maybe a couple shades lighter than Fluttershy's. Huh. Her personality sort of matched, too, although Fluttershy still beat her several fold in shyness. But she cheated, having that in her name even! She looked surprised when I smiled to her, then pointed out, "Don't sell yourself short either. You're also my Mom, no?" She surprised me by blushing at that, and then I was surprised when Bastion made a stomping motion with his right forehoof, then grinned. "See?! I told you, Aura. Mender was going to accept you just fine," he teased, causing her to flush more and shrink a little. Smiling, I gave her smaller form a soft hug, and she relaxed a moment later, resting her left cheek against my shoulder. "You earned your biological mom's sense of justice and drive, though. I'm glad for that," she admitted, smiling up at me as I tilted my head. Gem wiggled her ears and coughed awkwardly, and Bastion just shrugged. "She was the best of us," he admitted, before furthering, "She fell through the portal before she could tell us about copying pretty much all of our group's secrets into her journal. And now, fittingly, our son knows every single one of our secrets. I wish she'd told us, but... Now I understand it was the right thing to do." The final part came out as a whisper, and Gem's ears flattened down a little, looking over at him, but he shook his head and held a hoof up to her. "I forgave you already, even though I didn't need to. You were right. Look at what BEID has become now, trying to keep all of their secrets from the populace. Mender... Son," he offered softly. I perked, looking back at him as he fully addressed me. He was so confident in himself sitting there, it felt strange to hear him admitting a wrong so easily. But it only added to that aura of confidence, that he was able to just say he was at fault. I wasn't exactly anticipating what he said next, though. "Princess Celestia dissolved BEID less than a week after the accident. To us, it felt like she was ordering us to abandon Gem and the foal in her stomach to that horrible place. We could not accept that order. Aura, Ether, and I cut all ties with the Princess and royal court, ignoring all summons and refusing all visits. Going against her direct order, the three of us gathered those who thought the same and reformed BEID in secret. Its mission was to recover our own, and guard our great world against such monstrous places, standing guard for everything we loved when nopony else would. Up until just a month or so ago, we'd failed at both of those counts." His explanation caught me off guard, not realizing that they were the original founders. The level of feeling he had for getting us back was, well, I expected it from what I'd heard, but seeing it right in front of me, I honestly didn’t know what to say to that. He scowled to himself, however, looking downright disgusted for a moment before closing his eyes. "It's pathetic, though," he corrected, followed by, "The very thing we set in motion now becomes one of your biggest problems three hundred years later. They put so much emphasis on guarding against the dimensions that they're losing themselves in the process. They can't even see that you really are a pony, through and through. Your mother shames us, Mender." Eh?! Aura reminded me she was still there by nuzzling my collarbone for a moment, looking sad. "He's right. Gem looked over you and guarded you faithfully for three hundred years, despite how much it hurt her. She loves you. And look at all we've done for you both. We lashed out in petty spite at Princess Celestia despite it hurting her gravely, just because she was the only target we had. You couldn't even meet us for three hundred years, and the first thing we cause is to get you attacked and slandered by the very organization we created," she explained, looking up into my eyes again. I didn't know what to say. Three hundred years of pain was a very, very long time. This close, I could feel the immense oceans of regret from both of them that would take a long time to drain off. I rested my head on top of hers and let her shiver against me as Gem hugged me from behind. Finally, she reminded, "You're both just ponies. You have feelings and needs just like Mender and I. Maybe you didn't make the best of choices, but thankfully, there's always time, and now opportunities, to fix them. I talked to Princess Celestia, and she feels deep remorse over what happened. Reach out to her." I got the distinct impression this wasn't the first time Mom had suggested that. Dad looked down towards his hooves for a moment and sagged a little. For the first time, I saw the sheer weight of the ages behind his eyes, and he truly looked exhausted. "Gem, I don't think we deserve her forgiveness for how we acted. But... There are opportunities, and your link with Mender provides us with an unheard of one," he admitted, looking back up at me. I looked up again as he set his strong hoof down on my shoulder, eyes locking with mine a moment later. "Son, I've done nothing for you your entire life so far. Neither of us have. We've just made things worse for you, our own spite coming back to be your problem instead. But please... Aura and I truly apologize for not being there for you, and for causing all of this mess in the first place. If you accept our apology, please, let us help you now that we can," he requested, falling silent to watch me carefully. Closing my eyes, I felt inside myself. No, I knew what hate was. I knew what anger was. Even irritation. There was none of that, and I confirmed the answer I already knew as a light smile came to my muzzle. He tilted his head in a surprisingly familiar way, a habit I hadn't realized I'd copied. Heh. Instead, he froze up as I just leaned forward and hugged him. "No, I can't accept your apology, because you didn't do anything wrong," I replied, feeling him relax a bit and hug me back as Aura's eyes widened to my right. I shook my head, however, and leaned back again before elaborating with, "Your only wrong was wanting to get my mom and me back so badly that you went against your ruler's wishes to try to make that happen. Sure, in hindsight, you might have realized it backfired, but Mom's right. We're just normal ponies who can't predict that sort of thing. If my life has taught me anything so far, it's that the hardest pony to forgive is yourself." They weren't my words, I realized, but Tia possessed immense wisdom she'd garnered over the years. Bastion looked surprised for another long moment before it slowly melted into an uncertain smile. Auraprism was faster to react, however, grinning and pouncing my right side again instead. "You grew up better than any of us, I think. Let us help you, Mender. With our link to Gem, and her link to you, I think we can still talk to you, despite you being, uh, not dead, obviously," she revealed, blinking awkwardly afterwards as Gem snickered. "We want to help you with BEID. Further, I think this 'Dimensional Regulation' has gotten off to a good start, far more so than our organization. We don't want you to face all of this alone," Bastion furthered, nodding to me with a grin as well. Oh! It was my turn to smile and relax, shaking my head. "I won't turn down the help, and I definitely won't turn down a chance to get to know my parents for the first time. But, well, ever since I arrived here, I haven't been alone. Mom looked after me at first, and then I met some very special ponies who I can call my friends," I corrected, my expression softening as I realized how much Gem had done for me. The mare to my left grinned, however, and I felt another one of those familiar "It's a trap!" moments. "Oh, a couple are more than 'friends', we noticed. Barely a month here and you've already got two lovers and a herd! Totally my son!" she chirped. I felt the heat burn into my face, then noticed Aura was almost matching me as she glared at Gem. Bastion just chuckled, however, and shook his head. "Don't worry. We stopped her from watching the intimate bits. Besides, it's natural, no? The three of us had a lot of affection and catching up to do once Gem got back to Equus, too," he reminded. Mom blushed instead, huffing and pouting as she crossed her forelegs, then stuck her tongue out playfully at Bastion. Wow, that was just slightly too much information mixed with surprising levels of Mom being adorable. I was conflicted. Although distraction hit instead as I realized something. Blinking, I looked around, then finding nothing to note, asked, "Wait, if I didn't die, where is here? And what's going on in Equus?" Dad perked at that, then nodded to me. "Astute observation. We're able to view a lot of what goes on in Equus, especially with those we're connected to, such as you. If we're helping you, let that be our first bit of aid," he offered, gesturing to the left. Oh? Raising my eyebrow, I looked to my left, past Mom as the fog slowly parted, a faint image coming into focus. Frowning, I looked a bit closer, then realized it was me in the image! Seeing myself from an outside perspected, I saw all six mares lying around me, completely still as Spike tried to move through them, pulling them into more comfortable positions. "The Princess said she'd be here in ten minutes! We have to see if we can wake them up!" he frantically declared. The view panned over to Auramirror a moment later, who stepped back and forth on her hooves, alternating left and right sides nervously. "This is bad. Really, really bad. They're all fine, but Mender's life signs are all over the place! They all have elevated heart rates, but his life energy is flaring up like crazy," she exclaimed, looking surprisingly concerned for what I had remembered had been about to happen to her before I stopped it all. That's when the lights exploded from above somewhere. My 'view' spun quickly, looking towards the stairs, then barely dodging to the side as the massive rush of rainbow energy shot past. It spun, following the energy as it crashed into me specifically at absurd speeds, contact already being made before the camera even rotated to look back at me. Spike screamed, barely dodging out of the way as he exclaimed, "The Elements of Harmony?!" The jewelry... They were in the upstairs loft! All six mares started to glow, a single color each that comprised of the Elements, I realized. The rainbow radiance exploded out from me into a spinning whirlwind of energy, lifting my body up slowly with it. Each of them either gave a start or gasped as they woke up, but were still frozen in place by the paralyzation effect. Oops. Okay, maybe five minutes delay had been a bit generous of me. Still... My body rose, my own eyes opening even though I didn't recall ever waking up. They were two burning orbs of pure white, however, and suddenly I was rather glad I was unconscious through that. Instead, an unearthly scream I barely recognized as my own voice echoed out as my body started thrashing inside of the light. My chest literally exploded, three tentacles ripping out of my skin in a small spray of blood. To my surprise, they hauled a rapidly petrified CPU Core out of my body, violently throwing it away from me as some of the rainbow light followed it into the air, finishing turning it stone, and not in the gentle way. Sharp ruptures and fractures split across the surface of it as it rotated through the air, several spikes exploding out and destroying the core from within. Despite it exiting my body and my tentacles rapidly retreating, the energy descended upon me still. There was a huge flash of light, and my screaming ended abruptly, drops of my blood landing all over the place as the energy whipped it into the air like some macabre fountain. The miniature tornado crushed inwards and was gone just as the flare of energy ceased. A dull thud resounded through the now eerily silent library as my petrified form landed abruptly on the wooden floor. I stared at the image in shock. The stupid things had turned me to stone?! What the hell?! My eyes softened as the still petrified Fluttershy started slowly writhing and crying, looking at me stuck there, and Rainbow started almost thrashing against her own body. All six of them were stuck there watching me for however long it was before that last order I sent was executed, I realized. They were stuck, unable to do anything. The image faded, and Gem hugged me again, giving me a squeeze. "I followed you, of course. I was the camera in the vision, and came back to Equus when we all felt the disturbance caused by that Keldarian," she explained softly, kissing me on the chest. Bastion nodded, now next to me on my right as Aura held me from behind. He added, "Once whatever was paralyzing them ended a few minutes later, Fluttershy was hysterical. Twilight was panicked, but the Princess arrived soon after that. Apparently Spike sent the letter like Twilight asked. She thought it too risky to unpetrify you in the library, however. They didn't know if ejecting the core had gotten rid of that influence, and your sudden ability to control the Elements of Harmony was worrisome for her." Well, okay, I couldn't fault her for that. It's what I would have done. "What happened, then? Where am I now? How much time has passed?" I asked, staring at the reforming image. They had my form covered in a tarp carefully exiting what appeared to be a train. I was on rollers, probably significantly heavier than normal, I realized. A distraught Rainbow Dash and angry Applejack pulled me, heading down a familiar looking cobblestone street. A few nearby ponies gave the group confused, slightly worried stares as the Princess lead them along, several other royal guards to each side to keep ponies clear of the path. It was Canterlot. The view shifted to inside of the palace less than a heartbeat later, sinking through the floor of the throne room to a large, circular chamber below. It halted, almost ten meters away from me this time, a statue frozen in the midst of what looked to be pure agony, a large chunk of my chest missing still. "It's the casting chamber under the palace. It's only used for experiments that are deemed risky, like spells that are being prototyped or new alchemy formulas with sensitive ingredients. I couldn't even get any closer than that," Gem explained, filling in narration for the scene. Fluttershy and Applejack rested outside of the barriers, the yellow mare looking miserable and the orange one rubbing her shoulders gently. Rainbow was stomping about in the background looking generally pissed off, and Twilight was talking to Princess Celestia, gesturing to the circle. "Are you sure we need to wait? What if this is having some sort of bad effect on him?! The only one who was petrified for a prolonged time like this was Discord, and he's an Ancient," she pointed out, sounding more than a bit concerned. I felt myself warm up a little as I listened to Twilight worry about me. Tia shook her head sadly, though, and then promised, "It's a couple days at most, Twilight. The specialists are coming in from multiple locations around Equestria to protect both you six, and Mender himself if that entity isn't gone. We need to be prepared." Wow. I was kind of honored that I warranted such a large scale 'rescue' attempt, just in case that monster had lived. Of course, I knew he hadn't at this point. Actually, if anything, his death was actually overkill. He'd been cut into three pieces physically, mentally tormented until his psyche split itself into two fighting over his own guilt, got the evil portion of his psyche blasted by the Elements of Harmony, got what was left ripped apart by a billion angry spirits wanting revenge, then had any vague bits that might have still existed nuked by the Elements yet again. Of course, that last one had hit Malice and me as well, but it was a comfort to know how thorough the Elements were in purging evil. Maybe a bit too thorough, but eh. Who was I to say I wasn't at least a bit evil? I didn't think any normal pony, of which I definitely was, didn't have a bit of darkness to them. Rainbow flailed, then screamed something out at Tia, but the sound and video faded away after that. Instead, it snapped back to the six of them, all watching carefully in a loose circle around me, just barely two meters in each direction. Tia gave a nod on the sidelines, and all six of them closed their eyes, the gems they wore starting to glow and pulse. A moment later, I glowed softly, radiating out energy before it dispersed, suddenly leaving me in my familiar azure fur and rapidly closing amber eyes. The large hole in my chest splattered out blood as I just fell sideways like a sack of potatos, including anticlimactic thud sound. Fluttershy cried out and rushed to me almost immediately, followed by Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow an instant later. The paramedic team rushed in from the other side, apparently ready to do with bandages and a full trauma kit. Redheart, interestingly enough, led the charge... The picture faded again as Bastion shrugged, pointing out, "Nothing was found inside of you except for you. The petrified core is a Computer Core in shape only as well. They discovered it was completely hollow, the magic of the Elements only petrifying the casing for it. They shredded the inside, then set it on fire. Uh, I hope that wasn't important to you." I blinked, then decided that they were definitely overkill. "No, thankfully I can grow a new one, this time without the fragmented soul of the evil parts of a madman," I assured, huffing at that. Was the fire really needed after dicing it? Gem snickered at that and rested against my left side, and I heard Aura giggle behind me, massaging my back. "Regardless, they treated you first and foremost, then the Bastion Guard and Necromancers gave you complete scans," Aura explained gently into my left ear. Eh? My similarly named father smirked at my confusion, then elaborated simply with, "The Royal Bastion Guard, Royal Air Force, and Royal Guard make up the defensive forces of Equestria. The Bastion Guard are the unicorns." Oh. Well, the three phenotypes could specialize into unique things, so it made sense to split up their training and whatnot. I made a mental note to suggest that to Shining for DReg as well. "So I'm all clean, then?" I asked, watching as the image shifted to me lying in an unfamiliar hospital room, probably still in Canterlot. The various tubes running into me were familiar anyway, and I exhaled softly. Crap. They had me on life support. How long had I been out? Gem smiled and nodded to me before standing up instead. "Yes, and your chest is completely healed. Redheart made sure you were well taken care of before heading back to Ponyville, so you should thank her!" she chirped, smiling at me. I nodded as I stood as well, Aura and Bastion coming forward and standing to my right. My father nodded gently to me, a soft smile on his face as he assured, "We'll be here whenever you need us, and you can reach us when you dream as well. I know you can pull them in with you, so let us meet your herd soon, too." The request seemed simple enough, and I knew Fluttershy would be delighted to meet my parents, at least. Still... Coughing, I corrected, "Actually, all six of them will probably want to meet you three. Do you mind?" Aura simply smiled softly and shook her head, answering for all of them with, "Of course not, Mender. You're our son, and we want to get to know your friends, too. Plus, maybe it will bring us a step closer to being ready to talk to Princess Celestia again." She softened visibly with that last bit, and I nodded to her. "Tia's a nice pony, but she has a lot of, well, very similar regrets and pains. I think she'd like that," I pointed out, earning a surprised look from both Bastion and Aura. "Told you she told him to call her that. Chill," Gem repeated, smirking at both of them before wrapping her forelegs around my shoulders. "We need to haul you back to your body, though, Mender. I think you've worried everypony enough already," she added. Huh?! "Wait, I'm not in my body?!" I asked in surprise. I thought they said I didn't die! Gem gave a sheepish grin before assuring, "It's just a tiny coma. Relax! I can fix this... Here we go!" Wait, what?! I didn't have time to argue further as she hauled me backwards in a flare of light, my dad starting to laugh behind me. Damn it! * * * * * Note to self, when ponies become spirits, they develop a remarkable lack of empathy for normal mortal concerns. Like the difference between being 'dead' and 'technically dead'. Apparently those are a gray area, and allowed to be completely synonymous once you're 'actually dead'. Bleh. Waking up was about as pleasant as usual after a long term hospital visit. After I had become partly, or mostly, cybernetic, I thought I'd be cutting down on these, but I guess 'fate' conspired against me. I'd have to talk to Auramirror about that after this. Maybe she knew a way to get rid of a few billion potentially hostile spirits? Regardless, I woke up with an immensely dry mouth, nasal congestion, and an incredible stiffness to every single muscle in my body, including my eyes. At least, this time I both checked for and deflated the catheter before 'removing' it. Oh, and I didn't remove it by jumping out of bed this time either. Fun times. The IVs came next, and were less fun to remove, but at least my first aid training paid off. Pity I kept having to use it on myself. I was both comforted and saddened by the fact that the holes in me sealed up almost immediately. Just one more reminder. But no, this was different, wasn't it? Yeah. I was me, this time. Everything was back, and I looked back into my own file systems. As I had wondered, there was no video. It had never been a video, and I hadn't been 'repairing' any of it. They were my own memories, and I had been using some convenient way to block them out and move them out of mind this whole time. To pretend that I hadn't killed and eaten my mother-figure after being turned into a weapon of mass destruction. To try to forget that I broke my promise and left Keela behind. But I had indeed seen her again, hadn't I? I couldn't decide if that was a kindness, or some ironic hell I was being forced to live, now. My eyes stared blankly ahead as I lay in the hospital bed feeling empty of pretty much everything. I was Azure. I was also Moon Mender. I'd favor and use the name Moon Mender now because that's what my parents had named me. There was no disconnect there, though. There was no clear spot where his memories ended and mine began. I was him. He was me. We were the same pony. They were my memories that I remembered, and now I'd probably answer to Azure as easily as Moon Mender. They came as easily now as if I'd lived it myself, which I had, of course. I'd only forgotten. Memories. Every time I got some back, it hurt a little more. And now that I'd gotten them all, I had a full scope on how messed up everything in my life was. Adding this month in Equestria to it, I was seven months old. Seven months. Not even a year of life, and I was in an adult body with adult emotions. I was a fully trained spec ops assassin, essentially. Capable of advanced magical powers and survival training tossed in. Why? Because the lady I ate hadn't been 'purified' yet at the start of her project, and thought I might do well having survival and combat skills in an, at the time, unknown world. I... I couldn't fault her for that thinking. She didn't know they didn't need 'warriors' in Equestria, and had already apologized for it. But what's done is done. Plus, like she'd said during that last conversation, she hadn't escaped her past after all. The pings alerted me, snapping me out of the dark haze. They weren't active. Ping 'logs', I should say. I could view logs now. Right. With him gone, there was no other user left on my system that could share access privileges, and now I was in absolute, ultimate control of all of my fancy systems. Lucky me. I opened the display, and forty-three instances showed up. Oh... Maybe a part of her remembered? She had gotten to trust me amazingly fast. She cast a spell that enslaved her soul to mine under penalty of her death if disrupted, which was kinda weird, now that I thought about it. Even the most trusting of individuals might second guess themselves for considering that sort of thing, let alone acting on it. They'd started four days ago, her only pinging three times that day. The next day saw seven pings. Two days ago was thirteen. That left twenty pings since yesterday. She was panicking now. Of course, she had no way of knowing what had happened apart from me just stopping answering. Oops. Exhaling, I wondered if that monster hadn't quite had the power to 'completely' erase their memories. What if they had something similar to me? A subtle sort of suppression. No, wait, that wasn't the monster's power at all. My eyes widened, and the book was there on the bed like I knew it would be when I turned and looked. Purdue still listened to me, and I felt her out carefully. Her response was a mixture of timid and terrified, slowly peeking out from some hole where she had hid herself. Two eyes slowly opened in my mind, and her image faded in over the book, only for my vision. "U-Um, yes, Master?" she stuttered out, looking like she might pass out completely if I even raised my voice. "Purdue, you know you can call me either Mender, or brother," I reminded, smiling softly to her. If that monster had been her last owner, everything suddenly made so much more sense. He hadn't even known her name. Her eyes widened, mouth hanging limp as it looked like she momentarily couldn't process a reply to that. No, I wasn't him. I had his memories, but they were not mine. I had his training, and his magic, which I willingly took from him. By force, as two occasions had proven. He had deserved getting bucked in the face. This little filly didn't. She felt my own feelings, and I saw her eyes shimmer and start to water. I held my hoof out, and she collided with my chest almost instantly, starting to cry. I just held her there, words not really needed, but her whispering 'sorry' over and over again anyway. "I tried. I tried to stop him, but he knew me. He knew all of my powers and abilities, and had prepared to avoid them," she murmured, answering what I already knew. She looked up, cheeks wet now until I wiped them off, still the only one that could touch her. Shaking my head, I assured, "I already guessed that. It was the only way he surprised you, I know. But he's gone now, and you don't have to worry." Her eyes softened, and she looked into mine for a long moment before nodding. "He... He's gone now. I no longer feel his connection to me. You're now the only one who can command me. I should have warned you about him sooner, though, but I thought he was just some errant bit of code left behind or something," she muttered, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against my chest. I rubbed her back, letting her image slowly fill with her blue and bronze colors now that she felt more at ease. "Purdue, sis, relax. I'm not blaming you, okay? I just wanted to make sure you were okay," I explained, lifting her head up to look at me again. The images she appeared as that day were... Well, I'm just glad they were fake graphical distortions and not something he was actually doing to her. She smiled and shook her head, messy mane flailing about for a moment. "No, he wasn't fully him, and didn't have much power over me at all. That felt like just a part of him, really. All the really bad parts, I think," she muttered, frowning at that. She had known him quite well, I imagined. "I think the real him died that day a month and a half ago. That was more an evil twin, of sorts," I reflected. Although the real him wasn't a saint either, that much I'd seen. He had been driven, and unfettered by almost everything. The only thing that mattered to him was his messed up goal. And I had only gotten in the way. I wasn't even an enemy to him. Just an obstacle. Part of him had refused to admit defeat even after being cut apart and washed away in his own regrets. "She's still a threat," Purdue suddenly warned. My eyes snapped open again, and I gave her a questioning glance, spurring her to continue with, "Nirru. She's not dead. There is a rounded up seventy-three percent chance that she is still a threat to Equus. She wishes she were dead, but she's currently the captive of the Grosh. They're... No, I don't want to predict what they're doing to her." Oh. I shook my head. "Thank you for confirming her fate, but you don't have to go any further than that. Use your powers for yourself, Purdue. They're yours, not mine," I reminded. She gave me a surprisingly cute focused look before nodding twice. "No, I am using them for me. I'm using them for the me who wants to protect you! I'll... I'll only warn you about the really nasty things that I can't stop, don't worry. Apples falling on you, you'll have to deal with yourself," she explained, smiling after. I widened my eyes for a moment, honestly not expecting a joke from the little filly. We both smiled after that, and I held her closer again as she giggled. Yeah, she needed this. If I was going to get my second chance, I was damn well going to try to give her one of her own. After the book was safely back inside of me again, and Purdue cheered up, I sat up fully on the bed and looked down at all the wires against my chest. Ah, right, I was hooked up to an electrocardiogram. That made things a bit trickier, I noted. Glancing up at the beeping noise I'd drowned out until now, I saw it was indeed running just fine, with a little line logging my heart movements. A wire was also coming out of it and running up the wall, then into the ceiling. Crap. No, I was out of excuses anyway. This was a pony hospital in Canterlot, not some limb chop shop run by a Keldarian. Hopefully, I wasn't set to be executed or something for this latest incident. My own dry amusement made pushing the call button easier. Admittedly, the nurse probably would have come faster had I just pulled all the wires off. However, she was in a much better mood when she peeked into the room through the doorway. We locked eyes for a moment, and she hesitated before smiling gently and trotting into the room, a clipboard floating after her, glowing the same color as the green aura around her horn. "Oh, excuse my hesitation, Mister Moon Mender. I was afraid it might be the pink one again to order more room service," she apologized, bowing slightly after coming to a stop. Room service...? No, that didn't really surprise me either. Wait... White coat, aqua mane and tail... Oh, and she was without her reading glasses this time. Oops, she had green eyes instead. I had been close! It was the nurse from the field hospital that had taken care of Rainbow after her wing jet disaster. "Oh, right, my name is Nurse Carejoy, but you can call me Care if you wish, Mister Moon Mender. I'm sorry I didn't, um, recognize who you were earlier at the fair. I'll be your check-out nurse for today," she explained. Recognize? Check-out? I tilted my head slightly, then noted yet again that it was a tick I'd gotten from my dad, but that didn't really bother me. "Checking out? You mean I'm clear to leave? Also, what do you mean recognize?" I asked, head filling with questions already. No, resist bombarding her! "Oh, well Miss Twilight Sparkle is easy enough to recognize, alongside the other Elements of Harmony, but you're rather new to general celebrity status, so I didn't recognize you at first," she explained, doing another small bow. Oh Celestia, I wish I hadn't asked. That explained the formalities, too. Flustering, I flailed my forelegs and rapidly shook my head, and she blinked, taking a step back from me. "No, it's okay. I'm not a 'celebrity'. I'm just Mender, really. Don't add anything to it just because I'm in charge of half of DReg. Um, I thought I'd be staying in the hospital for longer, however," I explained, trying to get her to relax the formal attitude a bit. She eased her posture and smiled, nodding to me afterwards, and I took a breath of relief. "They told me you were down to earth. Um, that's not a play on words or anything!" she exclaimed, eyes widening as she slapped her hooves to her mouth a moment later. Huh? Why would it be a play on... Oh. Earth pony, right. Heh. Snickering, I shook my head again and she relaxed once more, although a few stray hairs stuck out of her mane now. Wow, she was really high stress. Kind of the opposite of Red. "Ah, um, right. No, your healing progress is remarkable. That Zebra potion they gave you worked wonderfully well, although I can definitely see the special situation involved. It's not every day somepony accidentally gets petrified by the Elements of Harmony themselves! Your healing was mostly complete after the second day, and we were just waiting for your mind to rest. Now that you're awake, I can give you a final check up, and clear you for leaving," she furthered, answering quite a bit. Ah, so I was given a 'special Zebra potion', huh? I idly wondered what it really was. High energy pure sugar syrup to boost the hell out of my nanites’ regeneration routines? Back logs showed them working overboard on my chest, which I recognized to have taken a beating when my body spit out the fatally damaged CPU Core. Damage readout showed it obliterated my muscle and dermal layers momentarily, and fractured two ribs on its way out. Exhaling, I slowly inquired instead with, “Petrified?” I didn’t know exactly how much information the nurse was privy to, and didn’t want to reveal any information I wasn’t supposed to. Plus, my mind still felt foggy and it was helping to focus on other things at the moment. She lit her horn up further, setting the clipboard down and lifting the stethoscope up from around her neck. I presented my chest instinctively, and she placed the silver disk to it before admitting, “I don’t really know the details myself. You arrived here six days ago, on the first day of the harvest festival. You were a statue then, and there was something sensitive about your case. Specialists were pulled in from a lot of places before you could be cured. Then you were badly wounded, and they administered alchemical, magical, and medical support to you. You’ve been unconscious for almost four days.” Well, at least I had a timeframe now for myself. The sun was slowly lowering through the window, and I didn’t need Clocky to tell me it was probably close to six in the evening. That meant that eleven or so tonight would have made day four of my coma. Living out six months of my life in four days was disorienting to say the least. That’s when I distinctly realized something. Apart from the nurse, I was alone in the room. I glanced about as she was listening to various spots on my chest, and saw that the room was remarkably bare, little to no sign of passage whatsoever. A few cards rested on the windowsill next to a small pot of flowers, which I took interest in, but there was no sign that the room had been lived in otherwise. I didn’t know what to think, and looked back at the nurse as she was writing on her clipboard. “Um, where are my friends now? The Elements of Harmony?” I asked, not entirely sure what I was expecting her to say. She stopped writing for a moment, then glanced back at me before explaining, “Oh, each of them is rather crucial to the Harvest Moon Fair, and preparations for winter. They stayed for the two days you were petrified, and part of the day after you were cured, but couldn’t for any longer after that, and in your condition, we couldn’t transport you back to Ponyville. We had plans to move you back in a couple days if you hadn’t woken up by then, but obviously that’s not needed now. Oh, and your heart and breathing are perfectly fine.” Oh. Yeah, I don’t know why I’d expected them to stick around. They did have a lot to do in their own lives. Fluttershy and Twilight had been especially busy with the animal hibernation schedule and managing the coordination of the town getting ready for winter. Applejack had her farm to manage with harvests, Pinkie had tons going on with the Fair, Rainbow was surprisingly busy with winter weather moving in, and Rarity had a sudden influx of winter clothing requests, if I remembered right. Closing my eyes, I nodded mostly to myself, and I heard the nurse resume writing. I shivered lightly, realizing that I was mostly alone in a distant town now, with my seven main friends a good distance away. This was the first time I felt mostly by myself since I’d arrived here, and I realized I didn’t even know where I was in Canterlot, only knowing that it was a ‘hospital room’. This wasn’t the clinic that was set up in the castle, that was for sure. The nurse flipped a few more pages in my chart, looking it over once more before nodding to herself, then glancing back up at me with a pleasant smile again. “Everything seems in order. We already tested most of your systems while you were asleep and you’re in amazingly good health after your recovery. Your chest is in good shape now, and you’re cleared to leave,” she assured, nodding twice as if finalizing her statement. I considered it, then frowned, asking, “Um, what about a bill? I don’t think I have any bits on me. How much is all of this going to-“ She interrupted me with a giggle, and I inwardly sighed. “Oh, your bill had come to a couple dozen bits, but Princess Celestia herself already cleared it. You’re something of a special case,” the nurse reminded, confirming exactly what I had predicted, and I sighed fully instead. “All right. Um, thank you for helping me recover,” I added, suddenly uncertain of what I should say, and feeling a little vulnerable. Her smile widened, and the nurse nodded, her aqua mane bobbing in time with her movements as her ears flicked once. “Oh, think nothing of it. I’ll escort you to the exit, as you’ve never been here before. Also, you should take your things,” she suddenly reminded. Oh, right! Trotting over to the window, I looked the cards over. Two were from Pinkie, one wishing me well as soon as physically possible and the other hoping I recovered fully. I wasn’t entirely sure what the difference was, but didn’t think about it too hard. The third was from Octavia, to my surprise, who must have visited me once I was in the hospital. Interestingly enough, she told me to look her up once I woke up, and she wanted to try the visit to her restaurant again, hopefully to actually eat something this time. A smiley face was added after that, and I snickered. The last surprised me even more, being from Twilight’s parents. They wished me well, and told me to visit before I left town. Visiting them without Twilight would be… Well, the only word I could describe for it would be awkward. Retrieving my saddlebags from the foot of the bed, I put all four cards into the left front pouch and turned back to the nurse. Giving a nod, I followed her out of the room and down the hall, swallowing the nervous knot suddenly in my throat. I tried to distract myself instead, looking at the signs and paintings on the wall as we turned down the stair well and hit the ground floor. It didn’t help much, and she stopped and turned, giving me another relaxed nod before nonchalantly walking off to the right, towards what looked like a nurse station. Crap. Looking back to the left after she disappeared, I saw the double doors in front of me, looming ominously as I felt like I was trying to swallow an apple whole. Slowly, I stepped outside of the hospital and looked around. The street was busy, with ponies walking on both sides. They ignored me for the most part, of course, as I was just a normal pony about my own business. Except I had no idea where I was, what I was supposed to be doing, where I had to go, or where I could stay tonight. Well, I knew I could probably find a comfy area in a nearby park to lie down in. I wasn’t afraid to sleep under the stars. Sighing, I looked over the rooftops instead, scanning higher up until I saw the largest landmark possibly available, which was both the continuation of Mount Celestia, and the huge royal castle. Tia would probably want me to check in with her after waking up, regardless. Exhaling, but at least knowing the direction I was supposed to head in order to find someplace familiar, I slowly started towards the huge castle. My thoughts slowly drifted back to Azure, and reviewing my own feelings on everything that had happened. Pinging Keela was set for after talking to Tia, even though I dreaded it. Keela. My feelings played all over the place thinking about her, and I focused instead on just watching my hooves while I walked…
Chapter 98My hoof stamped down on another of the sizzling embers, feeling the momentary warmth before it was crushed into the cold earth and drown out. My fur stuck to me in spots, drips sliding off it as they fell from the sky, giving a cold chill to everything. I looked up and nodded to Rainbow as she moved the large cloud along with us on the ground, adjusting it to put out all the errant flames as she went. “So, any clue yet at all?” Applejack asked, walking to my left as she pushed some dirt up and over another pile of embers. Twilight gave a frown, her magic moving and digging further into the warped and scorched roots of the tree, sighing as she worked. “No, there’s nothing present here that could have done that. Seriously, I’m pretty sure the apple exploded,” she reported, looking back up at the orange mare with concern. Applejack frowned at that, then huffed. “Ah ain’t never seen an apple go up in ah giant fireball like that one did,” she defended, sounding frustrated instead. Sighing, I shook my head, however. “I… think it was reacting with my energy, somehow,” I muttered, giving a sigh as I looked up and around at the crater again. It was a good four meters across, and the tree had been reduced to just so many burnt wood fragments from the temperature. The ground was blackened outwards from the crater another three meters, almost, and the trees had caught on fire within that radius. Thankfully Rainbow had a rain cloud over here within less than a minute for damage control. Twilight slapped her right hoof against her left and grinned. I saw it coming, but she quickly announced, “This calls for experimentation! In, uh, a safer area.” The mayor chuckled, still standing far over at the road and giving us a nod. “Yes, a much safer area, preferably. Might I suggest the rodeo grounds, seeing as they packed that up already and it’s a large, open area with just dirt?” she suggested, not losing that unwavering smile still. I, uh, huh. I looked over to Twilight, who looked just as momentarily surprised. Then she shrugged, and just nodded, giving a smile back to the mayor. Oh boy… * * * * * Thirty-two tests so far. I was fairly certain that we’d scared off every possible bit of wildlife, and probably quite a few ponies, in at least a five mile radius by now. So far, the apples had consistently exploded in a one to one ratio. To keep the damage to a minimum, we used various poles and objects to keep the apples up off the ground, to varying degrees of success. We tried a log, which was blown to bits and splintered in flames. We tried a metal pole that was left over from one of the tents. It was blasted into fragments and straight down the center, warped and melted in half. Twilight even got brave and tried floating the apple with magic at a distance. It took ten minutes to help her get rid of the headache, unfortunately. Now we'd resorted to her simply launching the apples into the air, and me stabbing them with the measured out barrier as they reached their apex. So far, the results were weird. As far as we could tell, the apples reacted directly to my energy, but only when I used my magic with it. I could manipulate them directly with my Earth Pony abilities, making the stems grow nicely and the leaves shade a vibrant green color. But the second I put that same energy into forming magic using the Keldarian style, the apple instead became a small thermobaric device, the initial apple explosion sending burning particles in every direction that literally set the air on fire, making an even bigger explosion afterwards! Doing it in smaller bits, with just apple slices, had proven similar, if smaller explosions. It also let us slow down the reaction with lesser amounts of energy so we could actually see what was going on. It was rather impressive. The explosion was actually ‘shaped’ like the apple crescent, even. We didn’t get the real results, however, until we used a full sized apple, and I just lightly ‘poked’ it with an extremely thin barrier ‘bar’ of energy. I’d intentionally disabled the adjustment limiter on the barrier, making so it wouldn’t try to draw in more energy upon getting depleted, as per Twilight’s request, and sure enough, her guess was spot on. The apple literally ‘pulled’ the energy out of the barrier, sucking it up like a straw and into itself. The energy was finally small enough that the apple instead sizzled, then caught fire instead of simply exploding. Twilight continued to take notes, of course. “Okay! So, it takes four ‘units’ of energy to make the apple catch fire,” Twilight repeated, looking over her notes before adding, “And six units compromise the apple entirely.” That meant reduced it to ash instead of a baked and rather tasty treat. Literally, as we’d tried the one after. She continued, however, with, “And anything higher than nine units of energy will cause it to rapidly combust, exploding. Greater than twelve units cause it to explode significantly larger, through the effect that Mender has called a thermobaric reaction. This explosion also causes a shockwave of air pressure from the vacuum the loss of oxygen leaves behind, and is significantly louder.” And more deadly, but I didn’t mention that part. Ponies didn’t appreciate ‘more deadly’ the same as Keldarians did, especially if I mentioned ruptured lungs and inhaling incendiary particles. At least the apples weren’t toxic, and if the explosion and horrible burns were survived, those caught within the blast were treated with the aftertaste of delicious baked apples for a few hours! The ‘unit’ of energy so far was a centimeter wide circular bar of my barrier energy, five centimeters long. That was a ridiculously pathetic amount of energy to be creating the explosions we were dealing with, which meant either apples here had stupidly high concentrations of fluorine, or something strange was going on with the reactions between them and my magic. I was really hoping for option two there. Or, option three, physics hated me. That was always a good choice, too. Twilight continued, of course. "After fifteen units, the explosion actually shrinks a little and gets quieter again, but the wait time before the detonation is exponentially reduced, a sharp asymptotic relationship as it approaches twenty units, heading towards an instantaneous reaction," she murmured to herself, scribbling a few more notes down. That was a given, due to the initial explosion becoming strong enough to annihilate the apple completely, removing the thermobaric component. Rainbow, lounging on her back against my left flank, rolled her eyes, predictably. "Less egghead talk, more explosions! This is like fireworks!" she chirped, grinning backwards and upside down at me after. I chuckled down at her, causing her grin to widen, but Applejack, who was leaning against Rainbow's right flank, thus facing the same way as me with the apple basket in her lap, shook her head. "Explosions or not, Ah feel kinda bad blowin' up all these apples, rotten or no," she mutters, huffing as she looked back down at the basket. I looked down at all of the yellow, brown, and green mottled apples, and nodded lightly. True, they could at least be mulched into fertilizer. At least, that's where she said they were going before, when Twilight asked for more test subjects. The orange mare jumped at sacrificing a basket of rotting apples, however, rather than watching another entire tree of them explode, then set fire to half a dozen more. Twilight waved a hoof absently in her direction, assuring, "This is a worthy cause! Notes on how types of magic interact is always useful, and if we're going to prevent any further random explosions, this could be really important." This time, I was in agreement with her eager drive towards science, at least. Applejack chuckled at that, then finally nodded, scooping another apple out and holding it over in my direction on her right hoof. "Trust me, Ah know that much. What's tha experiment this time?" she asked, glancing over at Twilight. The lavender mare looked over her notes for a few seconds, then levitated the apple up and consulted her notes. "We have just about everything well documented now. Rate of energy intake, explosive radius, energy output to input ratio..." she murmured, flipping back a few pages in her copious amounts of notes. I looked back at Rainbow for a moment, raising an eyebrow. She perked, of course, giving me a curious look, but I looked back to Twilight before murmuring, "Fireworks?" She stopped, looking back at me curiously. "Fireworks?" she asked in return. That had Rainbow's attention, and she looked between us, ears flicking lightly as I felt her excitement building through the link. I nodded, however. "Thermoberic reactions require oxygen. In theory, that means a twelve unit apple should release significantly less energy and sound the higher up it is in the atmosphere," I suggested. The lavender mare perked at that, then quickly switched over to her most recent notes page. "Ah, true! You said that the thermobaric reaction was the incendiary particles expanding out faster into the air than the destruction limitations of the initial point of the explosion. But if there's less air to expand out into, that should, in theory, lesson the effects!" she declared, quickly writing down the next test clause. Dash looked gleeful regardless, however. "Yes! Does that mean it's my turn again?" she asked, grinning as she sat up and made Applejack move forward a bit, shifting back into a sitting position. Twilight gave a nod, telekinetically tossing the apple back towards her and looking back to her notes as Rainbow caught it between her two forehooves, airborne almost instantly. Giving a more tired sigh, I stood again, slowly heading out into the blackened area. The gentle beats of the wings next to me revealed Rainbow following, and she asked, “Same as the last time?” “Yup. Fly upwards until Twilight says stop over the links. I take aim down here, then send you the ready. You drop the apple, then fly away from it horizontally,” I instructed. That got her optimal distance away from the apple while making sure to clear the sudden upwards burst in thermals. She tossed me a salute, apple balancing on one hoof, then grabbed it again and shot upwards with a laugh. I gave a chuckle and started to set up the charge on the ‘launch’ platform, hooking my magic up into my computer’s targeting system. Another handy use for my magic! Looking up, I locked onto Rainbow, the targeting lock focusing onto the apple afterwards as she carried it up, and my link started sending the height reports to Twilight, live. Twilight nodded to me, watching Rainbow ascend rapidly. “We’ll aim for fifteen hundred meters, then. The air should be thinner up that high, and we should see a noticeable difference,” she suggested. Oh. I took my own pressure readings, calculated my current altitude, and added it automatically to Rainbow’s as she went up, causing her to suddenly gain a good hundred and eighty meters onto her total. Ah, much better. Twilight gave a light whistle down the link, and Rainbow slowed to a stop just slightly over fifteen hundred and fifty meters, still holding the apple. She was a speck in the sky for the most part, my eyes rotating and zooming in automatically as she’d gone up. I saw her about as normal, my lock still on the apple, and the thin magical ‘bar’ of shielding lined up with precision with the target. The lavender mare nodded to me, and I nodded back, then sent my own little ping up at her. Half a second later, the pegasus smirked and dropped the apple. Her wings opened up at the same time in a burst of rainbow energy, and she was gone, sideways. I let her easily clear the distance of the apple, my tracking algorithm picking up how fast it was falling, its acceleration, maximum estimated speed, then calculated it against the speed that the rod was going to be going. Then I fired. The ring of energy shot up first, stretching out almost twelve meters up when the rod launched from the elastic energy tethers, firing off like an arrow at exactly one thousand five hundred meters per second. The rod drove itself into the apple a heartbeat later, sinking in seamlessly. The apple started to glow as it fell, reaching just past the fifteen hundred meter mark before flashing in a blast of light. My eyes measured the radius, matching up the distance and calculating out how wide it was as it went off. Twilight looked to me after the flash, and I stayed watching it, picking up all the data before shaking my head. “Significantly sub-par. That detonation didn’t even cause the particles to stay burning. Estimated output similar to six or so units of energy…” I reported. She immediately started scribbling things down, and I activated the orb that still floated on the other side of her, the projection screen displaying the replay of the detonation and all the actual figures. I counted down the seconds as I trotted back over to the others. Rainbow of course made it back first, grin on her muzzle as she zipped in with her fur puffed up from the wind. “That was awesome!” she declared, flapping for a few seconds before settling down next to Applejack, who started chuckling. Sitting down again, I held my hoof up and formed a barrier box over top of our entire group, with about four seconds to spare. A hot apple ‘rain’ started over the whole area, lasting a couple seconds as the almost mist of sizzling apple debris came in. There wasn’t much of it, and it wasn’t terribly hot by the time it got down to us, but I imagined that was a pain to get out of your fur. Tossing the shield behind us after the event had passed, I looked over at Twilight and watched her write up more of her notes. She was dedicated, that was for certain. I slipped up next to her again and looked over her notes, checking her equation in my head, then nodding. She’d broken down the explosions into grades essentially by the amount of energy units we put into it. She’d tried to name the units ‘Mend’s, but agreed to hold off on that, mostly due to my flailing, I think. “I think that’s about everything, given that proves that it takes oxygen to cause some of the ignition process of the larger explosions,” I admitted, looking back up the page of writing she’d had. Dash nodded as she leaned over my head, looking at the writing as well, although with a more skeptical expression. “Probably good. We’ve been out here for over an hour, and the others are probably wondering where we are. Plus, as fun as it is, I don’t like going up that high. Hard to breathe…” she admitted, huffing. My proximity alarms went off for behind me a second later, however. Eyes widening, I turned, releasing Twilight, just in time to see a flying gray blur go over my head. “Aaah! Too fast!” Derpy yelped, sailing in over us carrying a rather large parcel of sorts. Rainbow was gone in a heartbeat, hooking her hooves along the package from underneath and dragging upwards, helping the gray pegasus get it back under control as they spun and finally slowed down. I extended my tentacles out towards them, and Dash set the box down against them, letting me latch onto it with four of them before unhooking it from Derpy’s harness. “We know you’re strong, Derpy, but this parcel is meant for two pegasi. See the extra strap?” Rainbow pointed out, frowning towards the gray pegasus and earning a sheepish grin. “I know! But I couldn’t find anypony else. This is a holiday, after all. The package said urgent, though!” she pointed out, gesturing to the side of it. Looking down at the standard brown package, I immediately noticed the royal seal and raised an eyebrow. I started reading off, “Royal Seal of Canterlot, return address of the palace. Addressed to one Twilight Sparkle, in Ponyvi-“ The lavender mare almost ran me over as she bumped me out of the way and started tearing into the package, of course. “Aaah, it’s the book! It’s the book!” she cheered, ripping through the paper eagerly, a huge grin on her face. I raised an eyebrow, then suddenly remembered what she was talking about. Oh, right, some sort of research notes or something, including a book that Starswirl the Bearded had started but never finished. Ducking a few flying pieces of paper, I was beginning to question why she wasn’t using her magic when she finally got it open. She immediately looked inside, then froze, a more questioning expression shifting over her. I raised an eyebrow before asking, “Not the book?” Her horn lit up, and instead of a book, three plus several note binders came out of the box. The book on the bottom was the largest, a dark brown in color with a bronze binding. Twilight locked onto that one almost instantly, lifting it separate from the others and smiling at the swirled star pattern on the front. Huh. Taking a wild shot in the dark, I was going to guess that had been his Cutie Mark. She set the others down in the grass, eyes widening as she looked over the cover. “No, it’s the book! It’s also all of his research! This is even more amazing than I’d hoped!” she chirped, hugging the book to her chest before dancing around in a happy circle. I smiled towards her, relaxing a little, and Applejack curiously picked up one of the folders that was in the pile next to her, raising an eyebrow. “What exactly does tha Princess intend fer ya ta do with all these?” she asked curiously, glancing back up to smile at the overly excited unicorn. To the farm mare’s credit, she actually got Twilight to slow down in her bouncing as she explained, “Ancients, the Alicorns and Draconequi, have always had issues reproducing. The bulk of them are outside of Equus’ sphere, and they’ve only successfully reproduced four times! At the rate of expansion of Equus, as in the entire dimension, it’s of concern that it will eventually outgrow their ability to manage the realm.” My head started to spin, then I realized that I’d never read that book on the ‘earliest’ histories of Equus. For her part, Applejack also looked a bit overwhelmed, but Rainbow lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “What’s his research have to do with Alicorns and Draconequi not being able to reproduce?” she asked, folding her wings back and crossing her forelegs in front of her. Twilight stopped bouncing and gave the cyan mare a grin, making me realize that Dash would immediately regret that question. “I’m glad you asked!” the lavender unicorn chirped, then explained, “Starswirl the Bearded created and advanced the amniomorphic spells, the first foray into direct genetic manipulation. His advancements in spellcasting has allowed us to eliminate all sorts of genetic diseases and issues! In his later years, he turned his attention to solving the underlying genetic issues that the Ancients faced. Given what happened with Cadance a few years ago, the topic is being… well, revisited.” Ah, so Tia had her best student working on it. Applejack perked at that, however. “Cadance…? Does his research have ta do with what happened ta her? Ah didn’t think anypony really understood that,” she muttered, tilting her head slightly. Oh, right, she ‘ascended’ somehow to become an Alicorn. Oh, and now Tia had targeted Twilight for potentially the same thing, if my sneaky insight from my mother was correct. The lavender unicorn nodded twice at that, then confirmed it with, “Yes, it was a complete mystery. I was the one that suggested considering Starswirl’s work in the matter, but I thought she’d give it to a group of specialists. That was two years ago. Clearing these from the library took some time, I imagine.” She looked down at the notes in front of her, then grinned again and started wiggling. Ah, I could see the appeal. Ancient texts on borderline secret spell information written by a skilled unicorn she obviously looked up to would undoubtedly cause her to get just a little excited. I nodded to that, anyway. “So make more Ancients by turning other creatures into them, rather than more standardized reproduction. I imagine, in light of alternatives, it beats not being able to reproduce at all, even if they are immortal,” I deduced, looking back to Twilight, who nodded twice. “As far as we can tell so far, that appears to be the case. Cadance hasn’t been able to get pregnant yet either, so it looks like the ‘rules’ of her genetics are the same as a normal Alicorn. Although, heh, if Mender’s upgrade is pulled off…” she tacks on, looking over at me with a grin. I felt myself blush, even though it wasn’t even me that was associated directly with the awkward bits. Dash grinned, and I inwardly groaned before she even spoke up. “Stud! I’m sure Shining would love some of your upgrades. Putting a foal in Fluttershy when she was way under the hormone levels like that. Mmm,” she teased, winking to me after. Okay, yup, that one was more personal. I felt my cheeks flare up fully with heat as I glared at her, which of course only fueled her on more. Applejack snorted, then started laughing, but Twilight lifted an eyebrow over at the cyan mare. “Careful Dash, it sounds like you may like it a little too much there,” she teased right back, surprising me enough to drop my jaw and look over at her. Applejack looked surprised, too, but Rainbow just squeaked, turning suddenly red. “W-What?! No way! Getting pregnant would completely ruin my chances of getting into the Wonderbolts!” she quickly defended, not entirely denying it, however. This caused the orange mare next to her to start grinning as well, and Rainbow hopped away from her, scowling. She quickly added, “Don’t you start either! You know you couldn’t harvest apples like that!” The orange mare just snickered, however, and then shrugged. “Eh, Ah plan on bein’ that way at some point in tha future. Ya know there’s magic ta help with that, heh,” she murmured, standing and smirking as she walked slowly towards the pegasus, who was now flailing and almost the same color as her eyes, at least in the cheeks. Rainbow took off running, and Applejack laughed, sprinting off after her. I raised an eyebrow, watching her chase the pegasus around the full circumference of the rodeo area. Blinking after, I looked over to Twilight, who was also skeptically watching. “We get into some really strange conversations, you know?” I suggested after, giving a light chuckle. She smirked at that before replying, “I couldn’t agree more…” * * * * * Giving a little yawn, I rested on my back on the couch, my eyes gently closed. Fluttershy rested next to me, snuggled into my side as we both relaxed. Well, she was on her stomach, but same thing. Everything felt like a rush, as per usual, and I valued these times I could just chill here. The scents of the library were comforting and familiar, and my friends’ scents mingling in with it helped, too, new and old. Derpy had followed us back, and was resting on top of the couch back, above me and tucked up against the wall. To my surprise, Auramirror was still in town, too, and had been waiting for us back at the library. She was in front of me, sitting on the only cushion I wasn’t stretched out over. That had been a bit awkward, regardless. “Really, uncle. Like I said, they fully explained what happened after, and I saw the change in you with my own eyes. I knew it wasn’t you, even if he hadn’t had the courtesy of being right there explaining what he was doing,” she assured yet again. I gave a little sigh, and nodded. Still, he’d tried to force me into forcing her into sex, and no matter how many times we talked about it, I had a feeling it was going to continuously sit wrong with me. At least it had proved a distraction to him, as he somehow didn’t realize that ponies ran on an estrus-based reproductive cycle, and that ‘mating’ was kind of pointless at the time. At least I hoped it was, still looking through my documentation for any paperwork about my own reproductive system. I nodded, opening my eyes to give her an upside down stare for a moment before answering, “I know. It’s just going to take me a while to put all that behind me, is all. Actually, all of this. I think I really could use a vacation.” Spike snickered, sitting next to Twilight and Rarity over by the fireplace. “Haven’t we been saying that for, like, two weeks?” he reminded, grinning over at me. Twilight didn’t move an inch, staring engrossed into her book instead with a soft smile on her face, but Rarity nodded on the other side of him, turning from the fire to give me a warmer smile. “Indeed, Mender! All of us should go on a vacation once winter settles in. Applejack doesn’t have nearly the workload during the winter, and my own clientele dwindles as well, so we could all spare at least a week and travel somewhere nice and warm,” she assured, nodding twice after. I shrugged to that, looking over momentarily as Pinkie and Applejack came in from the kitchen, the former carrying a large tray of sugar cookies, and the latter carrying a slightly smaller tray filled with what looked like mugs of hot cocoa. Wait, why did we leave it to the two without any magical abilities, extra carrying surfaces, or outright clawed hands to carry the trays filled with treats? They didn’t have any issues with it, of course, Applejack simply lowering and sliding the tray out onto the coffee table with a light nudge from her, not spilling a drop. Pinkie landed on her back a moment later from a backflip, grinning down at her. She smirked up at the pink mare, and I blinked, momentarily wondering where the cookies had gone, seconds before they fell from the ceiling and landed perfectly fine next to the tray of drinks. Nope. Not even going there this time. I shook my head after, then muttered, “Admittedly, I don’t really even need to go anywhere. I think I’d just love a few dozen quiet days relaxing with everypony here, and just absorbing that whole ‘not doing anything’ thing.” Like stopping alien invaders, discovering horrifying truths about myself, discovering how much I hated apples, and other such lovely things. I didn’t even care anymore. All I wanted to do was be able to fall asleep and stay that way for a good fourteen or fifteen hours, at this point. Although the barracks and guard training area wouldn’t be set up until next week, so… tempting. I smiled to myself, but Applejack just snickered and nodded. “Ah agree. Ah think we all could use ah bit o’ ah break at this point. Once tha snow hits, we can really hibernate an’ just rest up,” she assured, sitting down next to the couch all of half a meter from me, and laying her head down on the cushion to stare at me staring back at her. At least until Rainbow drifted in from the bathroom upstairs, flopping onto her back. “Hey, I’ll be the first to tell ya that napping is super important, even for an amazing athlete like me. If you don’t get the rest your body needs, everything just kinda shuts down!” she warned, wings fluttering for a moment before giving me a wink and grin. Minus the bit of self-glorification there, she was probably right. Nopony doubted she was a good athlete. Aura snickered to the other side of her. “I don’t think anypony is doubting that, Rainbow. Looking at his energy levels, I think he’s about ready to go to sleep right now,” she pointed out, giving a softer giggle after. Derpy gave off a particularly loud snore, with almost perfect timing, and I chuckled to myself. “Yeah, I don’t know how getting turned to stone works, but it felt like it seriously knocked the energy out of me. Or maybe it was the ‘living through six weeks of life in three days’ bit? Sleeping for normal that night felt amazing, and I don’t think I’m fully recovered yet,” I warned, closing my eyes again. Fluttershy nuzzled into my side, giving a sleepy murmur herself before assuring, “Well, you just sleep as long as you need to! All day tomorrow if you have to! Oh, between potty and food breaks, of course. Twilight and I will make sure nothing wakes you up,” she chirped, managing to ooze affection from her voice that made me blush. Instinctively, I tilted my head over and gave her a small nuzzle and kiss, smiling against her lips as she kissed back. She broke the kiss a moment later, softer teal eyes looking into mine and our noses touching as she started to giggle again. Aura gave us a smile in my peripheral vision, but I didn't pay any mind, letting myself get lost in Fluttershy's gaze. Aura had congratulated us almost instantly, apparently having 'forgotten' to last time we talked, which meant she knew for almost a week longer than we did that Fluttershy was pregnant. I was almost a little jealous of her and her necromancer training. Although honestly, 'spiritmancer' seemed more accurate. Eh, whatever. Apparently having had enough waiting, Pinkie then announced, "We have sugar cookies and hot chocolate, everypony! Come get some!" I gave a start at the sudden voice, and Derpy murmured in her sleep, then immediately fell off the couch, landing on my chest with a dull flop. I raised an eyebrow over to Pinkie, but my niece stirred and yawned, rolling over then taking to the air again. "Sorry, uncle. I fell," she murmured, giving me a sleepy look downwards as she hovered there. I chuckled and nodded, assuring, "I noticed. You should at least have a cookie and cup of cocoa now that you're up, though." She gave a smile and nod, drifting sideways until she hovered down and landed next to the tray. The energetic pink one had set a cup down on the floor already, whipping it sideways with her hoof. To my surprise, Twilight's horn lit up as it slid in, and it slowed down and drifted up for her to sip at it gently. "Thanks Pinkie," she tacked on after. Was I doomed to start considering Pinkie's antics as just part of every day life, at some point in the future? Of course, I'd already accepted her defying of gravity to be normal! It had started to happen without me even realizing it! “No problem!” the pink mare chirped, then started delivering cups about to others as well. I took my own, taking a sip of the hot fluid and shivering at the chocolate taste as it slid down my tongue. Admittedly, I was perfectly content with moments like this. It was a good example of exactly what I was looking for in my vacation. Well, maybe not exactly, but pretty close. Twilight was halfway through her first sip when she perked up suddenly, looking over the page, and then frowning as she quickly looked back to her notes. I raised an eyebrow, and Fluttershy traced my line of sight back over to Twilight as well. The lavender mare sat up, flipping her notes rapidly, then started to grin before finally announcing, “I think I got it!” Oh? Rarity turned and raised an eyebrow towards her, and Spike perked up as well, asking, “Whoa, already? You’ve only been at it for, like, four hours. Didn’t Starswirl spend, like, twenty-five years to come up with all of that?” The unicorn gave out a snicker, then nodded at that. “He’s done amazing research on this. It probably would have taken me just as long to compile and conclude all of this data. He was just… missing the final piece. Now I see why he never cracked it,” she explained, looking the final page over. Oh? Something he never had? Rarity frowned at that before asking, “What exactly is the purpose of, well, whatever this is, exactly?” She gestured with both forehooves towards the mess of notes, both ancient looking and Twilight’s new ones. The lavender unicorn nodded to that, then gestured to the older notes, revealing an anatomical drawing of a pony but with the overlay of the energy systems inside them, and the variances for the different phenotypes. The notes mostly appeared to focus on the ‘heart’ node, which held the ‘Ether’ link. “This is the core of his research,” she explained, sliding the sheet over, then revealing the one behind it had the drawing of an Alicorn instead. The heart node was massive, and a figure was scribbled next to it just like the other drawing. She continued with, “The heard node contains everypony’s link to the Ether, or the dimension of infinite magic that exists behind and alongside our dimension. It’s the same link that pulls us back to the Ether when we pass on. Everypony exists both here, in Equus, and simultaneously in the Ether, where a chunk of their energy is stored, following them along their whole lives, connected by the link.” She looked to me as she was explaining it, probably realizing I’d not read a lot of the fundamental books yet. I nodded regardless, looking back down at the two diagrams. The Alicorn one was a lot more complicated looking. Twilight smiled, then continued with, “The difference between an Ancient and a normal being, when both are in Equus, is with this node. The physical bodies that the Ancients use are exactly like ours, theirs having manifested through their powers, rather than birthed, of course. Unlike us, however, a vast, massive majority of their energy is kept in the Ether, with only a small fraction of their abilities being able to be pulled into Equus itself.” “So tip of the iceberg sort of thing?” I suggested, suppressing my urge to whimper and cry. Tia just ‘felt’ ungodly powerful simply by standing next to her. I’d hate to see her true form and abilities. Maybe that’s the reason they limited themselves so much. That also meant there were a lot more Ancients that were outside of Equus. They were all doing something to help the continued existence of this realm? Rarity smiled and nodded to that, adding, “Yes. The magic they wove that guards Equus from the infinite Ether beyond it prevents too much energy from coming within the bubble. They can’t risk drawing too much energy at once, or the magic may retaliate against it. It’s one of the fundamental rules that govern Equus now. I learned it in school when I was ten.” Oh, so common knowledge. Nodding along with her, Twilight continued after she stopped with, “Starswirl came up with a new form of magic, however, that lets us look right into the genetics of ponies. This revealed a wealth of new information that wasn’t available prior. Including the genetics of Ancients. Princess Celestia asked him to look into the reproduction issues, to possibly see what’s wrong. He found… something else instead.” I looked down at the links, then guessed, “Something to do with the heart node, by the looks of it.” The lavender mare nodded to that, looking down at his notes before explaining further. “What he found, when comparing different genetics, is that there’s a rare strain inside normal ponies of all three phenotypes that actually is remarkably similar to that of an Ancient, in that area. At first, he pursued it out of thinking that they might be closer with being able to reproduce with an Ancient, but that theory fell through. He did, however, study three individuals that had that rare strain. He explained it as… well, sort of a ‘hole’ inside of that heart node,” she detailed, her magic lifting her pencil again and using the tip to gesture to the diagram in the two areas. I looked closer, my eyes rotating the lenses around and zooming in, to note there was a secondary ‘hole’ indeed, drawn towards the lower portion of the node. I frowned at it, and Twilight nodded softly, staring at it for a long moment. She finally looked back up again, over at Rarity before revealing, “It’s a hole that’s close to the source of the link. A pony’s magic. We draw from the surface, but after examining those rare ponies, he realized that if they ever drew from too close to the hole, and lowered their overall magic down to the point where it was ‘uncovered’, he thinks it might release the pressure on it, and start flooding magic from itself into the individual.” Uh, that sounded really, really bad. Applejack agreed apparently, looking momentarily horrified before asking, “Uh, is that as bad as it sounds? That seems ah mite bit unhealthy fer tha pony.” Fluttershy shrank a little against me, seemingly also following along with what my gut told me. The lavender mare blinked at that, then snickered. “Probably not, no. It would let them tap into amazing levels of power and magic, but… they might not be able to ‘close’ the link down after. He speculated that given the right magic to ‘guide’ them in that state, that they might be able to do some sort of ‘transformation’ and become an Ancient. A roundabout way to solve their reproduction issues. It was pure conjecture until it happened to Cadance,” she pointed out, looking back to Applejack, who looked surprised. Ah. “So Cadance did something that strained her magic so intensely that she tapped into that… hole in her, and she turned into an Alicorn after?” I asked, frowning but wanting to make sure I was still following. To my surprise, Aura nodded at that one. “I used to live in the same town with her before she moved to Canterlot. She was a pegasus then. We lived in a coastal town, Baltimare, and got hit with a surprise rainstorm that came in from the sea. They sometimes happen, but this one was too big even for the weather team to handle. We ended up with partial flooding and a mudslide. It destroyed our train station, and stranded half a dozen ponies in their homes,” she said softly, frowning afterwards. I frowned as well at the new influx of information, but Aura continued first. “Without our train, we couldn’t get word quickly to Canterlot to send aid. We started to try to activate one of our keystone portals to try to send a message through, but the energy they require is tremendous. Instead, Cadance volunteered. She took the message and flew non-stop. Normally a pegasus would have to rest at least twice during, but she pushed on and flew for over ten hours, all the way to Canterlot with the message,” she continued, shivering after. Twilight gave a sigh, looking over at her before nodding, stepping up where she left off with, “She passed out when she got to Canterlot, but not before delivering the message. Canterlot activated its Keystone portal, and sent relief workers through immediately. She ended up saving the lives of dozens of ponies. She slipped into a coma in the hospital, however, her magic going out of control. Princess Celestia personally visited her, then helped her through the ordeal. She woke up as an Alicorn instead.” Well, at least that hadn’t happened to me when I woke up out of one of my many comas. Getting used to four hooves was bad enough, and I was fairly certain I’d be the worst Alicorn Princess ever. I gave myself two hours top before blowing myself up, along with a good chunk of Equus. Rarity looked back down at the notes before asking, “So this spell is what Princess Celestia used to make Cadance into an Alicorn and save her?” Shaking her head to that, Twilight flipped back to the first page of the notes and showed the actual spell computations to us. “No, she used the base version of it. It was incomplete then, and highly risky to use, but it was either that or Cadance would have died. Well, in a way, she sort of did die. Her body was remade, however, as an Alicorn in the same instant. The full version of this spell, which I think I might be able to finish, is supposed to guide an individual to that same result, but without needing to push them to that same state, or risk hurting them in the first place. It would be a way to safely ‘test’ individuals for the potential to become an Ancient,” she explained, sitting up as she levitated the notes with her. I saw the spell documentation copied to her own notes, and a few dozen changes made to them already. Ah, I think I understood, then. “So, what was he missing, then?” I asked, looking expectantly back to Twilight, and causing her to grin. She was just itching for somepony to ask that, I could tell. Without even needing the link to feel her excitement flare up over. She shifted to a happy wiggle, then nodded over at me twice. “Well, apart from a massive energy source, he was missing a way to safely harmonize the magic while it accessed the pony’s link. But, I think, baring a collection of a few dozen skilled and powerful unicorns and a whole lot of customizing of the spell to their styles, we may have a one up on that ‘harmony’ bit, with the six of us here,” she revealed, grinning around the room at them. Oh. Oh hell… Of course, it was Twilight. Despite it being almost one in the morning with half of us falling asleep, five minutes later, the six of them had their amulets retrieved from upstairs, and Twilight wore her tiara crown thingy. I gave them all a skeptical glance, watching as they made a star shape around the unicorn, who was in the center. “Why do we have to do this now?” Rainbow groaned, rolling her eyes and generally looking rather tired. Pinkie bounced along happily with it, though, somehow not seeming the least bit slowed down. “Because it’s super awesome and exciting, and our friend really wants to see if it does something, and we love Twilight and want to let her be super happy and excited?!” she asked, grinning over at the cyan pegasus. I chuckled at that, sitting outside of the group with Spike, Aura, and Derpy. Dash gave her a frustrated look before smiling and chuckling. “Fiiiine, but only for Twilight,” she admitted, looking back to the unicorn in the center, who smiled over at her softly. “Thanks, girls. This is just a preliminary test of the spell. Chances are, it probably won’t do anything as I probably screwed up somewhere and will need to fix it up after this, but I just want to see if the Elements of Harmony are even an acceptable source of energy for it! They’ve never been used to cast a spell before!” she reported, grinning happily as she danced on her hooves again. Yeah, I could kind of see why nopony had ever cast a spell with them before. That sort of was like trying to power house lights with a full-size fission reactor. “And if it does do something?” I asked, starting to feel a bit uneasy. Wasn’t this exactly what Princess Celestia was expecting her to do? Only well rested and after a lot of trial runs? Fluttershy nodded rapidly from her position in the star, but Twilight gave me a skeptical look. “Starswirl found a grand total of three ponies out of over five thousand total tested. Do you realize how astronomically low the odds are that I’m one of the ones with that specific gene? On top of the spell probably just fizzling out, you worry too much, Mender,” she assured. That was still zero point sixteen percent! Plus, with what I already had overheard from my mom’s spying… Twilight focused, however, her crown starting to glow, building up energy at about the same rate my heart sank into my stomach. No, this was bad. This was an amazingly bad idea. The engineer in me wanted to cry out and tackle her to the ground for such foolish, reckless behavior with no safeguards whatsoever, but then I’d just get screamed at. But it might save her life! I was momentarily blinded next, all five points of the star pulsing with energy as the horrific, eldritch energy that was the Elements of Harmony started to hum to life, spraying their colorful and misleading lights about the room. Okay, I might be a bit biased, however. I’d gotten a rather bad draw with them, having also happened to contain an evil monster in me. Still, I’d never seen them actually do something ‘nice’, so I was a little on edge. Or a lot. “Ah, the spell’s accepting the energy!” Twilight shouted over the radiating hum of the six powerful artifacts. She then warned, “It might create a bit of smoke if it fizzles! Could you get ready to blow it towards the open window if it does, Mender?!” I barely heard her over the hum, but nodded. Tentacle fans, coming up! I winced at the violent flash of light as all five beams of energy from the Elements of Harmony smashed into the radiating sphere around Twilight. She smiled, looking up at her own gem as it burst with energy, the pulses expanding out over her as the spell actually started to take hold. Sighing, I pulled two tentacles out of my body, one from each shoulder, and got ready to blow the smoke backwards, as instructed. I also put my eye shields on, as magical or not, I imagined hot smoke to my eyes was probably rather uncomfortable. Sure enough, another flash of light hit an instant later, and there was a small explosion as a blast of smoke shot everywhere. Giving a chuckle, I started spinning the tentacles in front of the three next to me, who were now hiding behind me actually, and the expanding bank of smoke slowed, being pushed backwards. Multiple sets of coughing could be heard from inside the cloud, and I sped it up in order to get it off all of them as fast as I could. Clearing it, I chuckled as it exited the window, probably making it look like the library was on fire or something. All five of them were coughing and hacking, and I frowned, looking over to Fluttershy with a bit of concern. Well, it was still early in her pregnancy, so it probably wouldn’t hurt her too… much… Five? My eyes widened, snapping back to the center where Twilight… wasn’t, anymore. They shifted down to the floor instead, revealing nothing but a scorched black char spot on the wooden floor. What? Wait, that wasn’t… No. No, no, no! I took two more steps forward, staring in horror at the spot as the other five gave questioning looks, then joined me with a few gasps. My blood felt frozen as my body chilled, jaw dropping. My mind refused to even register the charred area, everything grinding to a halt as I started coming up with thousands of things that might have just happened. Then Rarity started screaming, and Fluttershy gave a squeak before falling over sideways, out cold…
